dwell with him in heaven to all eternity John 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be Col. 3.24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ 4. We must walk uprightly whatever we do for God or for men we must do it with an upright heart we must put away all guile and dissimulation and hypocrisie and speak the truth from our hearts and be upright and sincere in all manner of conversation for such as walk uprightly while they live shall dwell with God in heaven to all eternity Psal 140.13 The upright shall dwell in thy presence Psal 15.1,2 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernncle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart Isa 57.2 He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Matth. 25.23 His Lord said unto him Well done good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 5. We must persevere in believing and serving Christ and walking uprightly with him all our dayes Matth. 24.13 He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life No sufferings whatever must deter us from serving of the Lord Jesus though it be the suffering of death it self 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us Mark 8.35 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it SECT 17. 17. Let this affliction put you upon preparing your selves for all other afflictions that God shall try you withal whilst you are in this world When God had been contending with Israel by Fire he calls upon them to prepare for further Judgments Am. 4.11,12 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Afflictions oft-times come thick one after another Job 16.14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous As God dealt with Eli when he began he went on till he had brought upon him all his pleasure 1 Sam. 3.12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin I will also make an end So it is oft-times in his dealings with others when he begins to afflict he follows on with one affliction after another until he hath throughly humbled them and made them lie at his foot therefore one affliction should warn us to prepare for another and as Christ adviseth us in our sufferings from men Matth. 5.39,40 I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also We should be so far from quarreling and contending with those that afflict us that one injury should make us willing and ready to suffer another The same advice is very seasonable when we are under any affliction from the hand of God we should be so far from resisting Gods will that when he taketh one mercy we should resign up all the rest When he sends one affliction we should be willing and ready to suffer another We are exhorted Heb. 13.3 Remember them which suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body As long as we are in the body we are liable to all kindes of adversity and therefore we should stand prepared for whatever afflictions it shall seem good unto the Lord to lay upon us If you desire to know how you should be prepared for all sorts of afflictions See Quest 3. Sect 12. SECT 18. 18. Encourage and comfort your selves in the Lord when any perplexity seizeth upon you or any sad and troubled thoughts arise in your mindes upon the account of your own losses or upon the account of the misery and distress that is like to come upon the Nation by reason of this dreadful Judgment When Ziglag David's City of Refuge was set on fire by the Amalekites and both David and his men had lost their Wives and Children and their substance which made them weep till they could weep no more and besides all this David was in danger of losing his life for the people spake of stoning him in this great distress David encourageth himself in the Lord 1 Sam. 30.6 David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God You cannot readily be in greater distress than David was at this time and if he in his distress encouraged himself in God when he had lost his Habitation Wives Substance c. and was also like to lose his life may not you finde that in God which may encourage you in all your distresses which are not so great as Davids I will propose briefly some grounds of comfort and encouragement besides what hath been said upon the first Quest Sect. 17. page 118 c. to such of the Servants of God as are cast down either at their own losses or at the distress and misery which is like to follow in the Nation upon the account of this sore Judgment 1. God is all-sufficient to shield and defend you from all those evils which you fear will come upon you and to make up whatever good you fear you shall be deprived of now you have lost your Estates Gen 15.1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Alram in a vision saying Fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Why should that man fear any evil that hath God for his shield and why should that man be disquieted for the want or loss of any worldly good things who hath the great and all-sussicient God for his exceeding great reward It may be you will say It is true if I knew that God were my shield and my exceeding great reward I think I should be so comforted that nothing would trouble me but I do not know that God is my shield and my reward this is spoken to Abraham and not to me I answer The same promises and blessings which were given to Abraham do belong to every one that believeth in Jesus
vain But whoever they are that seek and serve the Lord he will give them grace and glory and all good things Psal 34.10 They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Psal 84.11 The Lord Godiva Sun and a shield the Lord will give grace and glary and no good thing will to with hold from them that walk uprightly He doth not only 〈◊〉 but giveth great rewards to every one that keepeth his Commandments Psal 19.11 In keeping of them there is great reward 2. When God enyes his servants or takes from then temporal blessings he give them spiritual blessings When he afflicts their Bodies the is good to their Souls Laius 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him The poorest of Gods servants that have least of the things of this world are blessed with all spiritual blessings Eph. 1.3 and spiritual blessings are for better than temponal blessings 3. The very afflictions and troubles of Gods servants are profitable to them as hath been before cleared from several Scriptures as Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted It must needs therefore be unreasonable to say there is no profit in serving God because his servants meet with many afflictions 4. The great day of putting a difference between them that serve God and them that serve him not is the day of Judgment then it shall evidently appear to the whole world even to them that can see no advantage now in godliness how much it profiteth a man to serve the Lord Mal. 3.14,17,18 Ye have said It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Sord of Hosts They that is they that serve me shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jenels and I will spare them as a man sparrth his own son that serveth him then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not 2. Take heed of being drawn by this affliction to depart from God Satan hath prevailed with some upon the account of their afflictions to turn afide from God and to give over waiting upon him 2 Kings 6.33 This evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer As some took distaste at Christs words and departed from him John 6.60,66 Many of his Disciples when they had heard this said This is an hard saying who can bear it From that time many of his Disoiples went back and walked no more with him So many take such offence at the providences of God that they depart from God and will walk no more in his wayes If you should be followed with this temptation to prevent your yielding to it let me suggest to you these following considerations 1. Consider whom you forsake when you forsake the Lord God is your life and will you not cleave to your life Deut. 30.20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of the dayes Acts 17.28 In him we live and 〈◊〉 and have our being And will you forsake that God without whom you cannot live or continue in your being one moment A man will chuse rather to part with his Estate his Friends his Liberty yea all that he hath rather than part with his life Joh. 2.4 Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life If life be thus dear should you not rather forsake all that you have than forsake God who is your life God is our glory Psal 3.3 Thou O Lard art a shield for we my glory Now many will chuse rather to dye that to part with their glory 1 Gor. 9.15 It were better for me to dye than that any man should make any glorying void God is your friend and hath been your Fathers friend Now no wise than will readily forsake a true and an ancient friend Prov. 27.10 Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not God is orought to be your chiefest joy Psal 43.4 I will go unto the Altar of God unit God my exceeding jay Most men are desirous of and follow after joy and will you be so foolish as to forsake your chiefest joy God is the chefest good there is nothing in heaven or in earth comparable to God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there it none upon earth that I desire besides thee There are many that pretend at least to seek after that which is good Psal 4.6 There be many that say who will shew us any good And will you be so unwise as to forsake the chiefest good Whoever that was in heaven forsook heaven excepting the Devils The best thing in heaven is God Whom have I in heaven but thee and will you forsake the best thing in heaven Did not God make you and hath not he maintained you ever since you were in the world And will you forsake the God that made you and hath redeemed you out of all your troubles and hath maintained you to this day Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father that hath bought thee hath he not made thee and established thee Whom have you to go to if you forsake God can any give you eternal life besides God John 6.67,68 Jesus said unto the twelve Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord To whom shall we go thon hast the words of eternal life Can any forgive your sins besides God Mark 2.7 Who can forgive sins but God only and what a sad condition will you be in if your sins be not forgiven who can save you in time of trouble and who can save you from the torments of Hell besides God Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. You must shortly dye and unto whom will you commend your souls when you dye if you for sake the Lord Psal 31.5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth In forsaking God you forsake your own mercies and involve your selves in unspeakable misery 2. Consider how contrary this is to the example and practice of the Saints and Servants of God in all ages to forsake God because of your afflictions if you observe their practice and carriage you shall finde that they have cleaved to God and continued constant in their walking with God in the midst of their greatest troubles Psal 44.17,18,19 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Jobs afflictions were very
a man to kill himself for our time of life and death is only at Gods disposal Psal 31.15 My times are in thine hand Deut 32.39 I kill and I make alive Now as 't is unlawful for us to avenge our selves because it belongs to God to take vengeance Rom. 12.19 Dearly Beloved avenge not your selves for it is written Vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord So because our times are in Gods hands and it is his Prerogative to kill and to make alive it is utterly unlawful for us to kill our selves 4. We are not our own 1 Cor. 6.19,20 Ye are not your own for you are bought with a price and therefore we must not take upon us to dispose of our selves as we see good but our lives and all that we have are to be at Gods disposal The Lord Jesus died for this end that he might be Lord of our lives and persons and therefore he that takes upon him to live as he list or to die how and when he thinketh good himself sinneth greatly against Jesus Christ for he goeth about to make void the death of Christ Rom. 14.7,8,9 None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself for whether we live we live unto Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living 5. He that kills himself breaths out his soul in the very act of sin and that not of a small but of a crying hainous sin Now we look upon their case to be very sad who die when they are drunk or who are cut off in the act of Adultery or who die cursing and blaspheming God and so it is But is not their case as sad who die in the act of murther 6. He that kills himself tramples under foot one of the choicest of Gods mercies for what mercy is of greater value I mean what outward mercy than life Life is beyond riches or honour c. and therefore it must needs be a great sin to cast away life 2. When Satan presseth upon you with this temptation to make away your selves resist him and thereby you will overcome him Jam. 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you if you yield he will trample upon you but if you resist him he will flee from you If you say How should we resist the Devil when he tempts us to destroy our selves I answer 1. Resist him by Prayer pray to God to take this temptation from you or to give you grace to overcome it and though the temptation continue after you have prayed to have it removed be not discouraged but pray still The Apostle directing us how to deal with Satan after he hath set down several pieces of the spiritual armour that are useful in our combat with this Adversary exhorts us to pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and to watch thereunto with all perseverance Ephes 6.18 If we continne to pray against the temptations of Satan either God will remove them or give us sufficient grace to hold out in the conflict 2 Cor. 12.7,8,9 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me and he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee 2. Resist the Devil with the Word When he tempted Christ to cast himself down from a Pinacle which was in effect to destroy himself Christ resisted this and all his other temptations with the written Word Matth. 4.4,7,10 Three times doth Christ repel Satan with the written Word to teach us to make use of the Sword of the Spirit in resisting all our temptations Doth Satan tempt thee to destroy thy self remember it is written Thou shalt not kill It is said of Luther that he was so violently assaulted with this temptation to destroy himself that for some hours together he was necessitated to press that Scripture upon his heart Thou shalt not kill 3. Resist the Devil by Faith There is a great efficacy in faith to resist and subdue the temptations of Satan Ephes 6.16 Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked 1 Pet. 5.8,9 Be sober be vigilant because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resist stedfast in the faith 3. When Satan follows you with this temptation to destroy your self flie for refuge from this roaring Lion to Jesus Christ cast your selves into his arms commit the keeping of your souls and lives to the Lord Jesus rest upon him to preserve you from being vanquished by this temptation Take some encouragements to flie to Christ and to rest upon him for relief when you are persued with this or any other temptation 1. The Lord Jesus is able to succour thee in all thy temptations Heb. 2.18 In that be himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted He conquered all the powers of darkness at his death Col. 2.15 Having spoyled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it He hath all the Devils in Hell under a lock and he keeps the keys of this lock in his own hands Rev. 1.18 I have the Keys of Hell and of death How easily can he command down any temptation that hath the Keys of Hell and that hath triumphed over all the powers of darkness and spoyled them of their strength In the dayes of his humiliatio he had all the Devils at his command he dispossessed them with speaking but a word Luk. 4.36 With authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits and they come out If in the dayes of his humiliation when he was in the form of a Servant he had such power over the Devils what power hath he in his Exaltation now that he sitteth at the right hand of God in the highest Heavens 2. Jesus Christ is very pitiful to such as are under temptation What God saith to the Israelites Exod. 23.9 Ye know the heart of a stranger seeing ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt The like may be said of Christ he knoweth the heart of such as are in temptation seeing he himself was tempted in all points as we are only he never sinned under any of his temptations That Christs being tempted doth encline him to be pitiful and merciful to us in our temptations you may see Heb. 4.15 We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin He was tempted to this very sin to destroy himself by casting himself down from a pinacle of the Temple and therefore knows how
me in the day of his fierce anger Dan. 9.12 Under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem yet Ezra confesseth that all that they had suffered was far less than they deserved Ezra 9.13 After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast panished us less than our iniquities deserve Our sins deserve eternal damnation Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth shall die They deserve to be punished with the loss of God and the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity 1 Thess 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity Now what are the losses and crosses that we meet with in this world compared with the eternal loss of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and with the torments of Hell that must be endured to all eternity 2. What ever we suffer for our sins we our selves are the causes of those sufferings and therefore have no reason to blame the Lord but our selves for provoking the Lord to lay such afflictions upon us Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord that led thee by the way Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou for thine affliction because thy sins were encreased have I done these things unto thee SECT 6. 6. Consider what abundance of mercy you have enjoyed in former times as well as what afflictions you under go at present this was one argument wherewith Job quieted himself and wherewith he laboured to quiet his wife when she advised him to curse God and die Job 2.10 What shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil As God in the way of his Providence intermingleth prosperity with our adversity and sets the one against the other that no man may find out any cause of complaining against the Lord Eccles 7.14 In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider God also hath set the one against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him So should we for the taking away of all occasions of murmuring under our afflictions set our mercies against our crosses our former and present mercies against our present afflictions and that will convince us that we have much cause of thankfulness but no cause to murmur under our greatest afflictions For 1. We may wonder more that God bestoweth one mercy upon us than at his sending of a thousand afflictions for we are altogether unworthy of the least of all Gods mercies Gen. 32.10 and have deserved all sorts of judgments Dan. 9.7 To us belongeth confusion of faces 2. Though we deserve all kinds of misery and no mercy yet they that have met with most and greatest afflictions if they take a view of Gods dealings with them from the day that they were born to this present time shall find that their mercies have been far more and greater than their afflictions Do we meet with some cross or other every day if we do yet the mercies of the day are greater than the crosses for God sends new mercies every day Lam. 3.23 They are new every morning We enjoy so many mercies every day that we are said to be loaded with them Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with his benefits Have our afflictions lyen long upon us Gods mercies have been of a longer date than our afflictions Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him There are intermissions in our afflictions He doth not alwayes chide Psal 103.9 but there is no intermission in Gods mercies there is not one moment all our life long but he is conveying some good things to us Isa 27.3 I will water it every moment Lam. 3.22 His compassions fail not 3. Every affliction that we meet with in this life is allayed and tempered with mercy yea the bitterest cup that ever Gods people drink of hath more of mercy than it hath of judgment Psal 145.9 His tender mercies are over all his works Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies If we consider the sharpest affliction that God lays upon his servants in their procuring cause which is sin if with the good intended by them if in the principle from which they flow which is Gods love to their souls we shall be easily convinced that there is more of mery than severity in them and so consequently that we have much cause in every thing even in every affliction to give thanks but no cause at all to murmur at the hand of the Lord. SECT 7. 7. Consider that it is the will and command of God that we should be content with such things as we have Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee It was but little which those persons possessed to whom the Apostle wrote this Epistle for they had suffered much for Christ their goods were spoiled and taken from them as we may see Heb. 10.34 yet he telleth them it was the will of God that they should be content with such things as they had If we have nothing more than food and rayment we ought to be content 1 Tim. 6.8 Having food and rayment let us be therewith content It is not said having dainty meat and rich attire let us be therewith content but having food and rayment though never so plain and mean we ought to be therewith content Though you have lost much and have very little left yet there are weighty reasons that may perswade you to be content with such things as you have As 1. Though you have very little left you have more left than you brought with you into the world and more than you can carry with you out of the world 1 Tim. 6.7 For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither 2. Though you have very little you have as much it may be more than Christ or the Apostles of Christ had when they were in the world Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in a very poor condition when he was in the world 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich He was so poor that he had not an house to dwell in Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head His diet was mean when he had nothing but barly bread and two small
and more excellent than ever we saw or heard of or can conceive in our minds 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Such is the excellency of those things which God hath laid up in Heaven for us that the thoughts and hope of enjoying the glory and joys of heaven may fill our hearts with joy and comfort under all the losses and crosses that we meet with in the world Rom. 5.2,3 We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also 1 Pet. 1.3,4,6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations Though a servant of God hath lost never such a fair Inheritance on Earth yet he hath more cause of rejoycing in that incorruptible Inheritance that fadeth not away which is reserved for him in Heaven than of being troubled for the loss of his earthly Inheritance SECT 10. 10. Consider what a great evil it is to murmur and to be discontented at your losses and how pleasing and acceptable it is unto the Lord that you should be content and patient under this affliction which it hath seemed good unto the Lord to lay upon you The Israelites went through many difficulties whilst they wandered up and down by the space of forty years in the Wilderness and because they murmured multitudes of them were destroyed neither the greatness nor the long continuance of the affliction did excuse them from punishment and this example of Gods justice on them is set down for an example to us that we might for ever be deterred from murmuring under any of our afflictions 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer To murmur because God hath taken away our Estates is the ready way to provoke God to take away our lives Psal 106.25,26 They murmured in their Tents Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the Wilderness There is more evil in one repining discontented thought than there is in all your losses though they be very great for the one hath only the evil of punishment the other hath in it the evil of sin And there is more of evil in the least sin than in the greatest punishment All Gods dealings towards his people are managed with infinite wisdom and infinite love in order to the promoting of their good and his own glory and what an hainous sin and how offensive to God is it for a man to murmur when God is doing of him good and bringing glory to his Name seeing also that whatever way God takes to bring about our good is contrived with infinite wisdom and is accompanied with infinite love And as it is is a great evil to be discontented at any of Gods dealings so it is an excellent heavenly frame of spirit and that which is highly pleasing to God for a man in all things to submit himself to God and to lie at his foot and to be content with his will and to say in his heart It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good That is of great excellency which is an ornament to a man in the judgment of a wise holy judicious man that may be deemed more excellent which is accounted an ornament by the Angels of Heaven but that is most excellent which is an ornament in the sight of God and of this nature is a meek and quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3.4 The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price When the Lord hath brought us to lie at his foot he is so pleased with this submissive frame of spirit that he is wont to bestow very great blessings on such as are brought to his foot and are content that he should do what he pleaseth with them Isa 41.2 Who raised up the righteous man from the East called him to his foot gave the Nations before him and made him Ruler over Kings Contentment under the cross makes great afflictions to seem but small ones and small afflictions none at all The Apostle went through very great sufferings as we may see 1 Cor. 4.9,10,11,12,13 2 Cor. 11.23,24,25,26,27 yet having learnt in every estate to be content Phil. 4.11 he maketh a light matter of all his afflictions 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction c. Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us But a discontented mind thinketh small afflictions great and intolerable burdens The loss of a gourd which sprang up in a day and withered in a day was but a small loss yet Jonah being under a discontented mind is so troubled at this loss that he faints under it and wisheth that he might die and is angry with God and justifieth himself in his frowardness and saith I do well to be angry even to the death Jonah 4.7,8,9 Discontent is like a nail in a yoke which frets and galls and pains the neck far more than the yoke it self doth When God layeth the yoke of affliction upon us discontent troubles and perplexeth the soul far more than any affliction can do SECT 11. 11. Consider how patiently and contentedly others of Gods servants have endured and gone through far greater losses and sorer troubles than you have met withal Job lost a very great Estate and seven Sons and three Daughters even all that he had in one day yet all these losses did not provoke Job to repine or speak one foolish word against God or do any other iniquity but he bore all with such a quiet spirit that in stead of fretting and repining he blesseth God Job 1.21,22 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord in all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly When David was driven from Jerusalem by his son Absolom who conspired against him to take away not only his Crown and Kingdom but his life also this was a very great affliction and it was the more heavy because it was his own son that came sorth of his bowels that sought to take away his life 2 Sam. 16.11 and this affliction came upon him for his sin in killing Vriah which he knew very well being foretold of it by Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 12.9,10,11 yet he submits himself to God under all that was come upon him and is willing that the Lord should lay whatever else he saw meet though he should say of David I have no delight in him 2
Sam. 15.26 If he thus say I have no delight in thee Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him It was a sad message which God sent to Eli by Samuel it is ushered in with this Preface 1 Sam. 3.11 Behold I do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle yet Eli upon the hearing of the whole message lyeth down at Gods foot and speaketh not one repining word against the Lord Vers 18. Samuel told him every whit and hid nothing from him And he said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good The sufferings of Jesus Christ were exceeding great yet how patiently did he bear them Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth We are exhorted to take notice of the patience of Gods servants in their afflictions in order to the helping us to bear our afflictions with patience Jam. 5.8,10,11 Be ye also patient Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Behold we count them happy that endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy Thus much may suffice by way of consideration I shall now advise you some things by way of practice for the obtaining and promoting a quiet cheerful contented frame of spirit under this affliction of the loss of your Estates which may be useful under other afflictions which the Lord doth at present or may hereafter trie you withal SECT 1. 1. Lay hold on Gods Covenant wherein he hath promised to give his people contented and satisfied minds under all his dealings with them even when he afflicts them most sorely and taketh away their most endeared comforts and enjoyments from them I will mention some promises to this purpose Psal 37.19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the dayes of famine they shall be satisfied Famine is one of the sorest of Gods Judgements it is worse than War which is also a very heavy judgment David chose the Pestilence rather than War as being the lesser evil but famine is worse than War Lam. 4.9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger Yet in the evil time in Famine though the Famine last many dayes God promiseth that his righteous servants shall be satisfied Isa 58.11 The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfie thy soul in drought or as 't is in the Margin in droughts The Prophet useth the plural number to signifie that God will satisfie his peoples souls in all droughts or in the greatest drought that ever did or ever shall come upon any place When God promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought it implies 1. That he will give us satisfied mindes under the penury and want of all outward comforts for drought brings a consumption upon all earthly enjoyments Hag. 1.10,11 2. That he will stay and support and satisfie our mindes under our greatest sorrows No afflictions bring greater sorrows than Famine which is the companion of drought Jer. 14.2,3,4,17,18 Lam. 2.11,12,18,19 3. It implieth that God will give us satisfied mindes when we walk in the view of death when we see our children and relations dying and our selves are ready every hour to faint and give up the Ghost for want of bread The Prophet describing the Famine that was in Jerusalem saith Lam. 2.11,12 The children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the City they say to their Mothers where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the City when their soul was poured out into their Mothers bosom The wilderness which was a land of drought is called a land of the shadow of death Jer. 2.6 In times of drought God takes away that which is the stay and staff of a mans life Isa 3.1 The Lord doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water Drought consumes our corn and wine and oyl as was hinted before from Hag. 1.11 And of these the Psalmist saith Psal 104.15 Wine maketh glad the heart of man and oyl makes his face to shine and bread strengtheneth mans heart So that when the Lord promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought there is implyed in this promise that when the joy of our hearts when our glory and strength is taken away when all means of supporting life fail when we are in the most desolate places or desolate conditions imaginable he will under all our troubles give us satisfied mindes The Lord hath not only promised to give us contented satisfied mindes under all our troubles but he hath promised to continue us under a contented frame of spirit that whatever changes or alterations we pass through we shall abide satisfied and contented in all estates and conditions Prov. 19.23 The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied he shall not be visited with evil The latter clause of this promise is not to be understood as though they that fear God should not meet with any afflictions but when God doth visit them with afflictions they shall have such abundant satisfaction in God and from God that they shall not feel any evil in their afflictions Another promise of the like nature made to such as fear God we have Psal 25.13 His soul shall dwell at ease dwelling implyeth the continuance of the ease and quiet that their souls shall enjoy that fear the Lord though their outward condition may be full of trouble yet their souls shall dwell at ease Psal 119.165 Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them Which promise Junius interprets to this effect They that love the Law of God shall enjoy such great peace and tranquility of minde that nothing that doth befal them shall take away their peace They may and do fall into troubles and afflictions as well as other men but their troubles shall not take away their peace from them To be content in all estates and conditions is one way whereby we partake of the divine nature and do resemble God now it is by and through the promises that we become partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature wherefore in order to the obtaining of a contented spirit under this and all other afflictions be much in meditation upon the promises of God and apply them to your own souls and plead them daily with God until you have obtained all that fulness of grace and peace which
from him The boastings and triumphings of the soul are in God Psal 34.2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Isa 25.9 Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation The like may be proved of all other motions of the soul they tend to God as their center whence it followeth that the souls rest is in God for all things are at rest when they come to their proper center 2. God is an eternal good If a man be possessed of never such an excellent portion if there be fear or danger of losing what he enjoyeth this is a disturbance to his minde and hindereth in some measure the fulness of his contentment but as for God there is no cause to fear our losing of him when once we have gotten God for our portion for when he bestows himself upon a person he gives himself for a portion to that person for ever Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The soul of man being of an immortal eternal nature no less good than that which is eternal can give it satisfaction 3. God is an all-sufficient Good Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie all the desires of the soul that a man that enjoyeth God for his portion need not desire any thing either in heaven or earth to adde to his happiness besides God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire lesides thee Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie the soul that if a man may be deprived of all worldly comforts and enjoyments there is enough in God to fill his soul with joy though all his outward comforts be taken from him he may still rejoyce in God Hab. 3.17,18 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Such is the all-sufficiency of God to satisfie the soul that the soul may rejoyce and delight it self in God not only when it wants the good things of this world but also when it is surrounded with many evils Rom. 5.3,11 We glory in tribulations we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Psal 44.8 In God we boast all the day long and this was spoken under a time of great affliction as may be seen from the following verses especially ver 22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter We may boast in God all the day long though it be in such a day wherein we go in danger of our life all the day long or wherein we meet with afflictions as hard to be born and as bitter as death it self 4. The Lord is able to satisfie the desire of every creature Psal 145.16 Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing There is that in God which doth or may satisfie all the Saints and Servants of God upon the face of the earth 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee This was spoken to Paul when he was in great perplexity being buffeted with the messenger of Satan which was as irksome to his soul as any thorn can be to the flesh and Gods grace that was sufficient for Paul is sufficient for all that trust in him not only to give them satisfaction but such abundant satisfaction that they need not ask any more Psal 37.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house David was so overjoyed with what he met with in and from God that he could not ask more than God had given him 2 Sam. 7.20 And what can David say more unto thee 5. There is that in God which satisfieth all the Saints and Angels in heaven Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Saints and Angels in heaven are of larger capacity than we are their faculties are more raised than ours they can take in far more joy than we are capable of whilst we dwell here below yet they are as full of joy as they can hold and this their joy ariseth only from the fruition of God Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulness of joy for after they come to heaven they have no enjoyment of any worldly things Eccles 9.6 Luke 20.35,36 neither do they finde any need of any thing that is under the Sun to augment their happiness Rev. 21.23 6. God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficient and therefore he must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all-sufficient for all his creatures There is no creature on the earth nor no Saint or Angel in heaven partaketh of such blessedness such joy and delight as the blessed God and whence ariseth that blessedness and contentment which God enjoyeth only from himself as may be proved by several arguments I will mention three 1. Before ever there were any creatures in being either Men or Angels or other creatures he was God blessed in himself and lived as happy and blessed a life as he doth now he hath an innumerable company of Angels to wait upon him He was God the same God that now he is before ever the creatures were produced into being Psal 90.2 He ever was and ever will be infinitely and eternally blessed and therefore being infinitely blessed in himself before the world was created the creatures added nothing to his blessedness 2. It is evident that God is self-sufficient and that his happiness and blessedness proceedeth from himself and that he needeth nothing that any of his creatures can do to adde to his happiness because the creatures have nothing and can do nothing but what they have from him and do by those influences they receive from him Acts 17.24,25 God that made the world and all things therein seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things 3 If all creatures should be annihilated and reduced to their first nothing God would still continue the same that ever he was and be as blessed as he is at this day Psal 102.25,26,27 Now seeing there is enough in God to satisfie every living thing to satisfie all his servants on earth and all his Saints and Angels in Heaven yea seeing he is self-sufficient and hath in himself that which sufficeth for his own
are not greater than our Father Jacob yet he saith of himself Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth that thou hast shewed unto thy servant We are not better than those Jews that were captives in Babylon for there were many of Gods precious Servants as Ezekiel Daniel Hanniah Mishael and Azariah who chose rather to be cast into a fiery Furnace than to fall down before an Image Nehemiah Ezra c. yet they acknowledged that they had deserved all the evils that they suffered and a great deal more and that it was meerly from the mercy of God that they were not consumed Daniel acknowledged the sufferings they met with to be so great as that they could not be parallel'd Dan. 9.12 yet he saith ver 14. The Lord our God is righteous in all his works The Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the great evils that were come upon the Jews acknowledgeth that though their sorrows were such as scarce any met with the like Lam. 1.12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Yet he saith Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed If we were fully convinced that we are less than the least of all Gods Mercies we should not repine when God taketh away our Estates our Health our Friends or any other mercies from us And if we were fully convinced that we have deserved to be destroyed and cast into everlasting burnings we should not repine when God sends poverty sickness or any other evils upon us 2. Mis-judging of the nature and quality of Gods Providences and of the ends and designs of God in afflicting causeth some to murmur and rep ne at those Providences for which if they understood them aright they would bless and praise God Gods bringing Israel out of Egypt by the hand of Moses was a great mercy his leading them through the Wilderness was to bring them into the Land of Canaan and the straits they met with in the Wilderness were to humble them and prove them and do them good in their latter end Deut. 8.15,16 Yet because they judged amiss of this Providence of God and thought they were brought into the Wilderness to be slain when they were in straits they murmured against the Lord Numb 14.2,3 Exod. 16.2,3 If our discontent spring from this root the way to remove it is 1. To judge nothing before the time but to wait with patience till we have seen the end as well as the beginning of our afflictions Gods dispensations towards Job were very terrible at the first coming of his troubles but the end of them was very comfortable and full of mercy Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittiful and of tender mercy 2. We must judge of our afflictions by Faith and not by sense we must judge of them according to that sentence which is given of them in the Word of God and not according to the opinion of the world or of our own corrupt mindes Sense saith it is a miserable thing to be in affliction but the word saith Job 5,17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Sense looketh upon afflictions as hurtful things but faith judging according to the word saith Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes 3. We must look at the wholesome fruit of afflictions as well as their present smart Heb. 12.11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby As the cloud that parted the Israelites from the Egyptians had a dark side and a bright side Exod. 14.20 so have our afflictions now if we would not sink under our tryals we must look at the bright side as well as the dark side of them at the spiritual and eternal advantages that we reap by our troubles as well as the smart and inconveniences that our outward man sustaineth by them 3. Unbelief and distrust of God is another cause of murmuring when we are brought into straits Ps 106.24,25 They believed not his word but murmured in their tents If our discontent arise from unbelief the way to remove it is to do what we can to strengthen our Faith in the Attributes Providence and Promises of God for if we can but stay our mindes and rest our souls upon God he will keep them in perfect peace Isa 26.3 I might instance in other grounds and causes of discontent but because they will fall more properly under the next head I shall now proceed to the third and last branch of my answer to this question which is The answering of those Reasonings and Objections that arise in the mindes of those that have suffered loss in their Estates by the late Fire which hinder them from sitting down contented under this hand of God Objections that hinder the contentment of those that have suffered loss in their Estates removed SECT 1. Object 1. My loss is exceeding great I have lost thousands of pounds if I had lost but a small matter I could have born it but in regard my loss is so great it troubleth my minde exceedingly and I know not how to bear it with patience Answ 1. Your loss is not greater than Jobs who was the richest man in the Eastern part of the world and lost all his Substance and his Children too in one day yet he did not repine at the greatness of his loss but quietly submitteth himself to God Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. How much soever it be that you have lost God is able to give it you again and much more also 2 Chron. 25.9 But what shall we do for the hundred talents God is able to give thee much more than this Though God took a great Estate from Job yet it is said Job 42.10,12 The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Though you should be brought to poverty yet God oft-times raiseth poor men to such an high degree that he maketh them equal to Princes Psal 113.7,8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghil that he may set them with Princes even with the Princes of his people 3. It may be God saw that you had too much and therefore out of his infinite Wisdom and Love he hath brought you low There is danger in having too much as well as too little Agur prayeth against too great riches as well as against poverty Prov. 30.7,8 Give me not riches lest I
be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord. God brought Gideons Army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred and gave this reason they were too many for him to give the Midianites into their hands lest Israel should vaunt himself saying Mine hand hath saved me Judges 7.2,3,4,7 Possibly for some such reason God hath lessened your Estates lest you should vaunt your selves or think that you were maintained by your Estates and not by the Providence of God It may be God saw that your Estates were so great that they would have hindred you entrance in at the strait gate Mat. 19.23,24 and therefore he lessened them that you might have a safer and more easie passage into the Kingdom of Heaven Would you be angry with that Physician that should draw away a great quantity of blood when as it did endanger your lives you have far less cause of being angry with God for taking away a great part of your Estates when they did endanger the salvation of your souls 4. Though your losses have been very great yet take heed of murmuring and repining against God lest he take away greater things from you By murmuring you will provoke God to take away your lives 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmure you as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now to lose life is a far greater loss than to lose an Estate By murmuring you are in danger to lose the favour of God Numb 11.1 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled To lose Gods favour is more than to lose our lives for Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindeness is better than life SECT 2. Obj. 2. I have lost all that ever I had and am quite undone though my losses had been great if I had any thing left I should have been contented but will you blame me for being discontented when I have lost all that I was worth in the world and am quite undone Answ 1. God saw it was needful and expedient for the accomplishing of his designs in order to the promoting of your good to take away all that you had for God sends no more of any affliction than we need 1 Pet. 1.6 for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations It may be God saw nothing less than the taking all that you had would take off your affections from the world or lead you to repentance or put you upon living by Faith you may be assured that upon some account or other God saw it needful to take away your whole Estates from you else he would not have dealt thus with you 2. By undoing you God aims at saving of you He hath undone you in your outward Estates that he may save your Souls 2 Cor. 1.6 Whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual or as it is in the Margin is wrought in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer The Apostle telleth us here that the Corinthians enduring the same sufferings which he suffered was an effectual means of working out their salvation Now a great part of the Apostles sufferings lay in the suffering the loss of all things Phil. 3.8 It is Gods design to prevent our being undone to all eternity when he chastneth us in this world 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Hath that man any cause to complain whom God undoeth here to prevent his being undone to all eternity 3. If ever you forsook any of your enjoyments for Christ or gave any thing to the poor Members of Christ or any other poor people for Christs sake then you have not lost all for whatever you have given to the poor or forsaken upon the account of Christ or the Gospel all that is yours still it is money laid up in a safe hand which shall be returned to you with an hundred fold encrease Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again That which is given to the poor is not lost it is but lent and it is lent to one that will pay what is lent with interest You that could not see the poor lack when you had wherewithal to relieve them God will not suffer you to lack any thing that is good for you Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack And what is said of that which is given to the poor the same may be said of that which hath been forsaken upon the account of Christ and the Gospel it is not lost but put out to interest and shall be rendered to us again with an hundred fold encrease if not in the same kinde in some other thing as good or better Matth. 19.29 Every one that hath for saken houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life And that this hundred fold is not meant of the recompence that we shall have in heaven but of that reward that we shall have in this present life besides eternal life in the other world is evident from Mark 10.29,30 Luke 18.29,30 4. Though you have lost all that you had yet you have not lost any of the Promises or the Providence of God You are as rich in promises as ever You have God in many Bonds which are of more value than the whole world Though the Fire had consumed all your Goods yet it hath consumed none of your Bonds I mean none of the Promises wherein God hath bound himself by promise that you shall want no good thing but that he will stand by you all your dayes and supply all your needs I will put you in minde of two or three of those many promises that the Lord hath made to this purpose which are more worth than all the Gold and Silver of the world Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he bath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Mat. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you All these things that is food and raiment and all things that are necessary for this life of which Christ was speaking in the foregoing verses And as you have not lost the promises of God so neither have you lost his providence he will take as much care of you now your Estates are gone as he did when you enjoyed them 1 Pet. 5,7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you It is not said who did care for you but he careth for you implying that God doth and ever
will continue his care for his people 5. Though you have lost all yet it is possible for you to be as contented as if you had all the world The Apostle Paul suffered the loss of all things for Christ Phil. 3.8 yet he was as full of contentment in his greatest wants as in his greatest abundance Phil. 4.11,12,13 When he had nothing he was as well content as if he had enjoyed the whole world 2 Cor. 6.10 As having nothing and yet possessing all things 6. Have you not forfeited all that ever you did enjoy either by your unthankfulness or by not serving God cheerfully for the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47,48 or by some other means if so you have no occasion to complain of God for taking away all that you had from you 7. Though you have lost all your Estates say not we are undone for if ye be such as have Faith in Christ and live godly lives God is yours and Christ is yours and Heaven is yours and this world is yours and things present and things to come are yours yea all things are yours 1 Cor. 3.21,22,23 All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods SECT 3. Obj. 3 I do not know how I shall do to live now I have lost my Estate if I could but tell how to live I could be content though my losses had been very great but because I cannot tell how I shall live now my livelihood is taken from me this perplexeth and troubleth my minde very sorely Answ 1. You have as much left you as you brought into this world for 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing into this world we brought not so much as a rag to cover our nakedness withal Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my Mothers womb And though you came into the world in this poor condition yet you have lived comfortably and plentifully many dayes yea many years together and cannot God provide comfortably and plentifully many years more though all that ever you had be taken from you If you say when I was born into the world I had a Father and a Mother and other Friends that took care of me to provide food and raiment and all things for me but now I have no Friends that will take care for me I answer It was not your Parents or your Friends that fed you and clothed you but God by them Jacob lived many years in his Fathers house and afterwards with his Uncle Laban about 20. years yet he doth not say his Father fed him for so many years and then his Uncle Laban nourished him but he saith it was God that fed him all the dayes of his life Gen. 48.15 The God which fed me all my life long unto this day 2. How did you live before by your Estates or by the Providence of God not by your Estates but by the Providence of God if you think otherwise consider such Scriptures as these Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being Deut. 8.3 Man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live Psal 66.8,9 O bless our God ye people which holdeth our soul in life Psal 36.6 O Lord thou preservest man and beast Now if it be God and not your Estates that have maintained you hitherto why should you distrust him for the time to come Is the Lords hand shortned Is he not as able to provide for you as ever he was 3. Remember the counsel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Math. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than rayment If the life be more than meat then doubt not but that God who hath given you your lives will give you meat to maintain your lives and he who gave you your bodies will give you raiment to cloath your bodies withal 4. If all that you have be consumed and you have nothing to live upon live by Faith upon the promise and providence of God Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his Faith We are not to live by Faith for spiritual blessings only but also for temporal And we ought to trust God as firmly by virtue of his promises when we have nothing left as well as when we enjoy greatest plenty SECT 4. Obj. 4. I do make a shift to live for the present but now I have lost my Estate I am afraid I shall come to want before I dye and the fear of want lyeth heavy upon me were it not that I feared I should want my losses would not much trouble me Answ 1. If you fear want now your Estates are gone and did not fear any such thing while you enjoyed your Estates this is a sign that you made your riches your confidence and not God and that is a fearful sin Job 31.24,28 If I have made gold my hope or have said unto the fine gold Thou art my confidence This were an iniquity to be punished by the judge for I should have denied the God that is above 2. Have you not food and raiment sufficient for the day if so do the work of the present day cheerfully and bear the crosses of the day patiently and cast the care of to morrow upon God By to morrow you may be in heaven where you shall need none of these things Mat. 6.34 Take no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof 3. Consider your relation to God 1. God is your Shepherd and thereupon you may be assured that you shall not want Psal 23.1 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want David doth not say I am King of Israel I shall not want or I have a great Estate or I have rich Friends I shall not want but he grounds his confidence that he should not want upon this that God was his Shepherd Now every godly man in his lowest estate hath God for his Shepherd and thereupon may be confident that he shall never want 2. God is your Father and Fathers will not see their children want when it is in the power of their hands to relieve their wants Luke 11.11 If a Son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father will he give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent When the prodigal Son began to be in want and goes to his Father for relief though he had been an ungracious Son that had spent all his substance in riotous courses yet when he came to his Father he calls for the best Robe and fatted Calf and entertains him in a very bountiful manner Luke 15.15,18,19,20,22,23
unloose Mat. 3.11 Whose shooes I am not worthy to bear 2. When it is in our hearts to do any service for God or our Generation God approves of what is in our hearts though we are not able or want opportunity to effect and bring to pass what we desired to do for the advancing of the Glory of God and promoting our own or others good 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Though God did not permit David to build him an house yet God was pleased that there was a desire and purpose in his heart to have done this thing and commends him for it 1 Kings 8.18,19 The Lord said unto David whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart nevertheless thou shalt not build the house 3. God is the Lord and master of the whole world and it belongs to the master of the house to take what servants he pleaseth and to set them about what work he pleaseth and put them out of his service when he pleaseth We that are masters of Families take this liberty to our selves and shall not we grant that to God which we take to our selves 3. If you are troubled because you are disabled from serving God and your Generation use what means you can to prevail with God to call you again into a way of service and to render you useful in your Generation I will commend to you some means whereby you may prevail with God to make use of you to do him service in your Generation 1. Purge out your sins and labour for sanctified hearts and lives Sanctified persons are meet for Gods use and he delighteth to employ them in his Service 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for his masters use and prepared unto every good work 2. Act your faith upon the promises of God wherein God hath promised to make his people useful in their places and serviceable to him in their Generation I shall name one or two to this purpose Deut. 30.9 The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand for good Here are two blessings promised the one is that we shall be full of employment the other is that good shall come of what we take in hand Something of this nature is implied in that promise Mine Elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands Isa 65.22 God hath promised to make us serviceable all the dayes of our life Luke 1.72,74,75 To perform the mercy promised that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life 3. Mourn over your unserviceableness and cry unto God to admit you into his service and offer your selves to undertake any employment that he shall cut out for you and promise the Lord that if he will put you into his service that you will serve him with an upright heart as David did Psal 75.2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly When the Lord seeth such a spirit as this in us he will soon employ us in some way of service as Deborah said Judg. 5.9 Mine heart is toward the Governourrs of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people So is Gods heart towards such persons as freely offer themselves unto his Service the Lord ordained it for a Law that if a Levite came to minister with all the desire of his minde he should be admitted to minister in the name of the Lord Deut. 18.6,7 God will assuredly provide work for those that do so highly prize his service as to cry and mourn after it 4. If you are by this providence disabled from following your former Calling then follow some other Calling for God would have no man live without a Calling When Adam was in Innocency God would not permit him to be out of employment but gave him a Calling to employ himself in Gen. 2.15 And the Lord took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it Chuse rather the meanest Calling than to live without a calling And if God so order it that you must of necessity take a meaner less honourable and more laborious calling than you had before be not discontented at it but comply thereto with a ready and quiet minde Moses that was delicately brought up in a Kings Court by the space of forty years and was so tenderly nursed up by Pharaohs Daughter as if he had been her own Son did not disdain to serve his Generation for several years in a very mean Calling viz. the Calling of a Shepherd Exod. 3.1 Now Moses kept the Flock of Jethro his Father-in-law It is said of David that he served his Generation according to the will of God Acts 13.36 When it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a Shepherd he was content to be a Shepherd and when it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a King he was content to be a King when afterward God drove him from his Kingdom and put him into the condition of an Exile he was content with that condition also 2 Sam. 15.25,26 It is probable that our Saviour himself wrought in the Calling of a Carpenter some time before he entered into the Calling of the Ministry and that is both a mean and laborious Calling and this may be gathered from his Countrey-mens upbraiding him with this Calling Mark 6.2,3 From whence hath this man these things and what wisdom is this which is given to him that even such mighty work are wrought by his hands Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary If you say we would willingly follow some other Calling now we are disabled from following our former Callings but we do not know what Callings to fix upon How shall we come to understand our way and to know what Callings God would have us make choice of now he hath disabled us from following our former Callings Answ 1. Ask counsel of God what Callings he would have you make choice of that so you may serve your Generation arcording to the will of God and not according to your own will The Lord hath promised to direct you in your choice if you seek to him for counsel Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Psal 25.12 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Consider your own abilities both in respect of parts and skill and also in respect of your stock that you have left to trade withal and what Calling you finde your self best able to manage that you may make choice of and look
Such afflictions as make us more humble more heavenly minded or any other way promote the holiness of our hearts and lives come from love Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness The Apostle speaketh of such as are chastned out of love as we may see ver 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth whence it appears that such chastenings as make us partakers of Gods Holiness come from his Love SECT 12. Obj. 12. My loss hath been so great that I am thereby disabled from giving any thing to the poor and this troubleth me very much that I am by this providence cut off from exercising Charity and that I cannot relieve the poor as I was wont to do heretofore Answ 1. Though you have lost much yet if you have any thing left you must will be doing good according to your ability Heb. 13.16 To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased This is spoken to such as had suffered the spoiling of their goods Heb. 10.34 and notwithstanding their sufferings the Apostle tells them they must not forget to do good and communicate to such as were in greater distress than themselves Such as have nothing to live upon but their labor should give something out of their earnings Eph. 4.28 Let him labour working with his hands the thing that is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Acts 20.35 If any say but if I that have but little should give any thing to the poor I may come to want my self I answer Never fear being brought to want by doing acts of Charity Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack If any reply the times are like to prove bad and hard and therefore I that have but little had not need give away any thing but rather ought to lay up all that I can against an hard time Answ The uncertainty of the times and the evils that are like to come upon the earth should not hinder our Charity but make us more abundant in works of Mercy Eccles 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth Loâ— here the Holy Ghost would have us give frequently and give bountifully a portion and that not to one or two but to seven and also to eight when any evils are like to come upon the earth 2. Though you have lost much and have but little left you may give as much as you did before I mean that which God will count as much The widow that gave but two mites cast more into the Treasury in Christs account than those rich men that cast in abundance Mark 12.41,42,43 Jesus sate over against the treasury and behold how the people cast money into the Treasury and many that were rich cast in much and there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing and he called unto him his Disciples and saith unto them Verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in then all they which have cast into the treasury God looks at the heart more than the gift and the more freedom of heart and willingness of minde there is in our gifts the better they are accepted with God A man of a mean estate may give with as free an heart as a Prince 2 Sam. 24.23 All these things did Araunah as a King give unto the King Yet he was but a mean man compared with David he called David his Lord and stiles himself Davids servant ver 21. both he and his Sons were at hard labour when David came to them they were threshing wheat 1 Chron. 21.20 The Churches of Macedonia were very poor and under many afflictions and yet in the depth of their poverty and their greatest afflictions they abounded in liberality 2 Cor. 8.1,2 We do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality 3. Be not discouraged from acts of Charity because you can give but very little in comparison of what you did before for the least and smallest acts of Charity done in a right spirit shall have a great and glorious reward What a small matter is it to give a cup of cold water yet such as give a cup of cold water only having nothing more or better to bestow shall in no wise lose their reward Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Our Saviours rule is Give alms of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you Luke 11.41 They that have much must give much and they that have but mean things must not be discouraged because it is but little and inconsiderable that they can do but must give alms of such things as they have If there be a willing minde to give much God accepts of a mans willing minde though he be able to give but very little 2 Cor. 8.12 4. If your losses be so great that you are able to give nothing to the poor yet you are not disabled from exercising of your Charity You may pitty them as much as ever you did and it is said Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. You may draw out your souls to them which shall not go unrewarded Isa 58.11 If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day You may pray for them you may stir up others to relieve them You may give much spiritual almes when you are so low in the world that you have not one penny of money to give as Peter said Acts 3.6 Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee So though you have no silver nor gold to give yet you may give that which is far better Though you be poor you may enrich your Families and your Relations and your Neighbours with spiritual riches 2 Cor. 6.10 As poor yet making many rich By your godly discourse you may minister grace to those that hear your discourse Eph. 4.29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers To minister grace to any man is a thousand times better than to minister the good things of this world to him It is said Prov. 10.21 The lips of the righteous feed many and ver 20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver When you have not bread to feed the hungry withal feed as many as you can with the
fruit of your lips When you communicate instruction and knowledge to any persons you communicate that which is more worth than all the silver and gold in the world Proâ— 3.13,14,15 Prov. 8.10,11 SECT 13. Obj. 13. If it had been purely the hand of God that had taken away my Estate I could have born it but it was my folly and indiscretion to betrust my Goods in such hazardous places if I had had my wits about me and not have left my Goods where I did I might have saved all or most of them and in regard that I lost them by my indiscretion in the ordering of my affairs this is that which doth chiefly trouble me Answ 1. Who is it hideth wisdom and counsel from men in time of straits Is it not the Lord Job 12.17,20 He leadeth counsellers away spoiled and maketh the Judges fools He removeth away the speech of the trusty and taketh away the understanding of the aged When a wise mans understanding faileth him it is because God taketh it away 1 Cor. 1.19 I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent What is said of the Ostrich she leaveth her eggs in the earth and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them because God hath deprived her of wisdom neither hath he imparted to her understanding Job 39.14,15,17 The like may be said in your case if you left your Goods in any place for security and did forget or not consider the hazard and danger that was in that place or suffered damage by any other indiscreet action it was because God deprived you of wisdom and did not impart understanding to you to order your affairs for your outward advantage The hand of God is not only in all our afflictions but in every circumstance of every affliction Rom. 11.36 Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever If you take not heed while you fret at your own indiscreet carriage you will be found guilty of fretting against the Lord who with-held wisdom and counsel from you 2. Though you managed your affairs indiscreetly yet God managed every thing that befel you and every other person in this dreadful Fire with infinite wisdom Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will There is not only the will but the eternal counsel of God in all the acts of his providence That of the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all Psal 104.24 may be applyed to the works of Gods providence as well as of creation Therefore let this satisfie and quiet your mindes though you carried your selves indiscreetly God managed every thing that befel you with infinite and eternal wisdom 3. If there were any thing of folly and indiscretion in the loss of your estates make a spiritual improvement of the hand of God that went out against you by reason of your imprudent management of your affairs and then your loss will turn to your great gain I will hint two or three things to you for this purpose 1. Do not think your selves sufficient to manage your affairs without asking counsel of God Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Had you asked guidance of God how to dispose of your Goods and not gone upon your own heads it may be he would have directed you to some other course whereby your substance might have been preserved 2. Dread walking in your own counsels for the time to come and be afraid of undertaking any business of moment how wise and prudent soever you apprehend your selves to be until you have asked and received counsel from God To walk after our own counsels is well nigh as bad as to walk after the lusts of our own hearts they both speak an evil state Psal 81.12 I gave them up unto their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels It may be you thought such and such places very secure and thereupon you bestowed your Goods there without asking of God to guide you and they were all burnt if so having smarted for leaning to your own understanding learn with the burnt childe to dread the fire Never venter more upon your own wisdom in any business of moment till you have sought God and are directed by him what to do 3. Learn hence to live by faith for guidance and direction under all sudden and unexpected emergencies of Gods providence We have a promise of being guided continually by God Isa 58.11 The Lord shall guide thee continually We had need be daily eying this and such like promises because we know not what difficulties and unexpected tryals every day may bring forth SECT 14. Obj. 14. I have been a man very industrious in my Calling and by Gods blessing on my labours I had gotten a very fair Estate wherewith I and mine lived comfortably and it troubleth me much that I should lofe in one day what I have been labouring for many years Answ 1. When God bloweth upon our labours and all our earnings are like that which is put into a bag with holes he calleth upon us to consider our wayes Hag. 1.6,7 Ye have sowen much and bring in little he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes Thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your wayes If the loss of all that ever you earned do stir you up to the practice and exercise of repentance ye will say one day It is good for me that I was afflicted 2. Though you have lost all that ever you earned in your Callings you have not lost the reward of your diligence industry and faithfulness which you used in following your Callings for that shall have an eternal reward in heaven As it is with servants besides that wages and temporal reward which they have from their Masters for their work they shall have an eternal reward from Christ in heaven Col. 3.24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ So it is in other Callings they that serve Christ faithfully and diligently in any Calling though never so mean shall be rewarded for ever in heaven for their service besides those temporal blessings which are cast in upon them in this life Matth. 25.23 Well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Therefore I may say to you that are mourning because you have lost all that you have laboured for as the Prophet Jeremiah did in another case Jer. 31.16 Thus saith the Lord refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears for thy work shall be rewarded saith the Lord. SECT 15. Obj. 15. I am consciâ—…s to
far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Thus having laid down some considerations for the quieting and satisfying their mindes that have been great sufferers by this Fire and proposed some things to be practised in order to the obtaining of contentment and having answered the most material pleas that without being removed might hinder those that have been great sufferers from sitting down satisfied under this hand of God I shall adde no more about the first question but proceed to the resolution of the second QUEST 2. What use should they make of their Affliction who have lost their whole or any part of their Estates by the late Dreadful Fire SECT 1. Answ 1. LOok upon this rod as the rod of God It is both our duty and our wisdom to eye God in all our afflictions and to look upon them as coming by his appointment Micah 6.9 The Lords voice crieth unto the City and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it There is no trouble whatever comes of it self or by chance Job 5.6 Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground But all afflictions that come either upon Nations or particular Persons are sent and ordered in all their circumstances by the wisdom and Providence of God Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will When any man is made poor it is the Lord maketh him poor 1 Sam. 2.7 The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up When a Fire is kindled in any City it is God sends it and gives it a commission what houses it shall devour after it is kindled Hosea 8.14 I will send a Fire upon his Cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof Though men or other creatures may be the instruments of conveying our afflictions to us yet we must look beyond them to the hand of God for as Christ said to Pilate John 19.11 Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above the same is true of every Christian no man or other creature hath any power to do him hurt except it be given them from God There is such an hedge about the persons and substance of every godly man that the Devils themselves cannot touch any thing that belongeth to him without leave from God Job 1.10 When the Sabeans had taken away Jobs Oxen and Asses and the Caldeans his Camels and Satan had caused Fire to consume his Sheep and a great Tempest had blown down the house where his Children were eating and drinking and had slain them he looks beyond all these instruments to the hand of God and cryes Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away We wrong and be-lye the Lord when we do not own him either in his word or in his works Jer. 5.12 They have be-lied the Lord and said it is not he SECT 2. 2. Lay to heart this hand of God that hath been lifted up against you To be stupid and sensless under the hand of God is a great sin yet many persons offend in this kinde Isa 42.25 He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of Battle and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew it not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Jer. 5.3 O Lord are not thine eyes upon the truth thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction It is mentioned as an aggravation of Pharaohs sin that he did not set his heart to the Judgments of God but made a light matter of them Exod. 7.23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house neither did he set his heart to this also When we do not lay to heart Gods Judgments either threatned or executed this provoketh God to curse our very blessings Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart When we do not lay to heart the Judgments of God we despise the chastening of the Lord and we must be as careful to avoid that sin as we are not to faint under Gods Correction Heb. 12.5 My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Such as are careless and regardless under the rebukes of God do thereby provoke God to destroy them Psal 28.5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up If any ask how should we lay this affliction to heart I answer 1. Consider in your hearts that by this Judgment God testifieth against you that there is or hath been something in your hearts or lives that is displeasing to him Ruth 1.21 I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty The Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me and therefore commune with your hearts and say what have I done to provoke the Lord to deal thus with me 2. So lay to heart this affliction as to humble your selves under the mighty hand of God The Lord threatned Israel with dreadful Judgements when they continued stout and proud under former Judgments Isa 9.9,10,11,12 All the people shall know even Ephraim and the Inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and stoutness of heart the bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars therefore the Lord will set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and joyn his enemies together the Syrians before and the Philistines be hinde and they shall devour Israel with open mouth for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still God expects that we should humble our selves when his hand is lifted up against us 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Lam. 3.19,20 Remembring mine afflictions and my misery the wormwood and the gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me 3. So lay to heart this affliction as to mourn more for the sin that provoked God to send this affliction than for the affliction it self Lam. 5.16 The crown is fallen from our head wo unto us that we have sinned They bewail
and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come If this judgment that is come upon you will not prevail with you to give glory to God God will curse your blessings Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart If you ask how and wherein you should glorifie God under this affliction which he hath laid upon you I answer 1. Accept of the punishment of your iniquity and acknowledge that the Lord is just and righteous in all that is come upon you Then we give God the glory of his Judgments when we confess him to be just and righteous therein Rev. 15.3,4 Just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name Thus Daniel gave glory to God when Jerusalem was laid waste and the Jews spoiled of their goods and carried captive into Babylon Dan. 9.14 The Lord hath watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works that he doth for we obeyed not his voice Yea do not only confess God to be righteous but also acknowledge him to be gracious in this dispensation say whereas our Houses and Estates are consumed by this Fire it is of the Lords mercies that we our selves are not consumed even because his compassions fail not Thus Lot gave glory to God when his house and goods were consumed in Sodom he looked upon it as a great mercy that he himself was not consumed also Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 2. Though your sufferings have been very great yet give God thanks and praise his Holy Name for what he hath done for you by so doing you shall glorifie God Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me Isa 42.12 Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands This relates to a time of Judgment I will destroy and devour at once I will make waste mountains and hills ver 14. 15. Even when God is rising up to judgment and devouring and destroying we must declare his praise and so give him the glory of his Judgments Let not this seem strange to you that I exhort you that have suffered great lostes by this Fire to praise God and give him thanks for 1. Job did thus when God had taken away all his Estate and Children he blesseth God Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and Job did not sin or act imprudently in blessing God for his losses for it is said in the next words In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly 2. It is the will of God that in every estate and condition and under every dispensation of his providence we should give thanks 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you 3. There is much mercy mingled with the affliction it is mercy that your Estates were consumed and not your Lives it is mercy that your Houses only were burned whereas you might have been cast both body and soul into everlasting burnings and if you cannot give God thanks for the affliction it self yet at least give him thanks for the mercy that was mingled with the affliction 3. Let this affliction put you upon searching and trying your wayes and renewing your repentance and returning unto God of which you heard before for in so doing you shall give glory to God Rev. 16.9 They repented not to give him glory 4. Let this Judgment awaken in your souls a more lively fear and dread of God let it cause you to stand in such awe of God as to be afraid to offend him for then we give glory to God when we are afraid to sin against him Rev. 14.7 Fear God and give glory to him 5. You shall give glory to God by this Judgment if you be stirred up by it to live a more holy and righteous life Isa 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous that I may be glorified If also it make you fruitful in good works John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit 6. Let this Judgment awaken you to a more diligent practice of what is commanded 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God It was your duty ever since you were born to make Gods glory the highest and chiefest end of all your actions if you have not done so you have great cause to humble your souls before God for you have neglected the great end of your Creation Isa 43.7 Every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory If you did seek to advance the glory of God before this Judgment came upon you yet now be awakened hereby to seek Gods glory more zealously with more singleness of heart and do all your works both the works of your Calling and your natural Actions as your eating and drinking and your Religious Actions with more explicite intentions to glorifie God SECT 8. 8. Let the losses which you have sustained by this dreadful Fire take you off from laying up your Treasure upon the earth and put you upon laying up treasure in heaven That treasure which you lay up on earth may be taken from you several wayes you may lose it all in one day or if you do not lose it you must leave it all behinde you when you dye But that treasure which is laid up in heaven can by no means be taken from you but you shall enjoy the benefit of it to all eternity Remember therefore and follow the counsel and command of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Mat. 6.19,20,21 Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also If you ask What is that treasure which we should lay up in heaven I answer All the good thoughts which you think and all the good words that you speak are treasure laid up in heaven Mal. 3.16 They that feared the Lord speak often one to another and the Lord hearkined and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name You see here that God treasureth up in his book of remembrance all the good words which we speak when
great yet they did not cause him to depart from God or cease from serving him Job 23.2,11,12 Even to day is my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier than my groaning My foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the Commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him David went through many afflictions yet none of them caused him to depart from God but he continued to serve and walk with God notwithstanding all his sufferings Psal 119.83,109,143 I am become like a bottle in the smoke yet do I not forget thy Statutes My soul is continually in mine hand yet do I not forget thy law Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me yet thy Commandments are my delights Psal 31.9,10,14 I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing But I trusted in thee O Lord 3. It is a foolish and vain thing for any man to forsake God by reason of his afflictions because by forsaking God a man brings upon himself more and greater evils than his present afflictions are how many or great soever they be For 1. They that forsake God bring upon themselves the guilt of an horrible sin such a sin as may astonish the heavens when they hear of it Jer. 2.12,13 Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be ye horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water Now the guilt of sin is a greater evil than any affliction 2. They that forsake God lose his favour Heb. 10.38 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him What loss is comparable to the loss of Gods favour 3. They that forsake God do not only lose his favour but incense and stir up his wrath against their souls Ezra 8.22 The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him And Gods wrath is far more dreadful than any affliction 4. They that forsake God lose eternal life and glory Jer. 17.13 O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord the fountain of living waters Their names shall not be written in heaven all their portion that they shall have shall be here on the earth What are worldly losses compared to the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven 5. They that forsake God shall be cast into Hell when they dye Psal 225.5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Now where doth God bestow the workers of iniquity he casts them into Hell Matth. 13.41 The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire What are all the afflictions and troubles of this life compared with the torments of Hell 6. They that forsake God shall be forsaken of God 1 Chron. 28.9 If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 2 Chron. 15.2 Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you Now what greater misery can come upon a man than to be forsaken of God 4. Your afflictions should be so far from causing you to forsake God that they should make you to return to the Lord and to cleave faster to the Lord and to walk more closely with God For 1. your afflictions are sent for this very end and purpose to cause you to return to God Jer. 18.11 Thus saith the Lord Behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you return ye now every one from his evil way and make your wayes and your doings good The Prophet Joel having mentioned several great calamities which God was sending upon the Jews Joel 2.1 to the 12. verse tells them ver 12. that Gods end in those Jadgments was to turn them to himself Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart Now seeing your afflictions are sent to turn you unto God and to bring you nearer to God is it not horrible perverseness because of your afflictions to depart from God 2. You had need to turn to God and not to forsake him in the day of your distress because you will not know what to do without God in a time of trouble Isa 10.3 What will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far to whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your glory The Prophet speaketh to such as did not turn to God when he was smiting of them chap. 9.13 David was of another spirit when he saw trouble coming he gets near to God and labours to get God near to him Psal 22.11 Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help Who shall support and comfort you in your troubles and who shall deliver you out of your troubles if you forsake God in your afflictions If you have any support in your troubles it must come from God Isa 25.4 Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress Psal 124.1,2,3,4 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 when their wrath was kindled against us then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul If you have any comfort in your troubles it must come from God Micah 7.8 When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Psal 137.8 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me and if God do not give some comfort by his word your hearts will break and you will perish under your afflictions Psal 119.92 Vnless thy law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine affliction If God do not help you out of your afflictions no man whatseever can help you Psal 60.11 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man None can do more for us than Kings yet if God be not pleased to help us they cannot deliver us from our troubles 2 Kings 6.26,27 As the King of Israel was
we take that we may obtain riches from God I answer 1. Let your first and principal care be to get heaven and the grace of God that may make you meet to enjoy his Kingdom and when you do thus God will not only give you heaven when you die but will add also as much of this world as he seeth to be good for you Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you When men are over-eager in seeking after the world they oft-times miss both of heaven and the world also Prov. 28.18 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him 2. Embrace by faith and set your love upon Jesus Christ he promiseth to fill their treasures that love him Prov. 8.20,21 I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures 3. Repent of your sins and turn to the Lord and then though you be brought low he will build you up again and will give you plenty of such things as he seeth to be good for you Job 22.23,24,25 If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away Iniquity far from thy Tabernacles then shalt thou lay up Gold as dust and the Gold of Ophir as the stones of the Brooks yea the Almighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver 4. Walk in the fear of God and be careful to keep his Commandments Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life 2 Chron. 17.4,5 Jehoshaphat sought to the Lord God of his Fathers and walked in his Commandments and not after the doings of Israel Therefore the Lord established the Kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents and he had riches and honour in abundance 5. Follow your employments with diligence There is a blessing of God goeth along with diligence and industry in our Callings Prov. 10.4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Prov. 22.29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings he shall not stand before mean men 6. Seek after knowledge and manage all your affairs with wisdom and discretion Prov. 24.3,4 Through wisdom is an house builded and by understanding it is established and by knowledge shall the Chamber be filled with all precious and pleasant riches 7. Be faithful and upright in all your dealings Prov. 28.10,20 The upright shall have good things in possession A faithful man shall abound in blessings Psal 112.3,4 Wealth and riches shall be in his house Vnto the upright ariseth light in darkness 8. Shun those vices that bring men to poverty and hinder their thriving in the world such as prodigality and love of pleasure Prov. 21.17 He that loveth Pleasure shall be a poor man he that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Idleness and drowsiness a negligent and sluggish management of our affairs Prov. 6.9,10,11 How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man Prov. 18.9 He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster Gluttony and Drunkenness Prov. 23.21 The Dunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags 9. Be liberal to the poor there may be a liberal soul where there is but a small estate and the more liberal any man is the more likely he is to be a rich man Prov. 11.24,25 There is that scattereth and yet encreaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be also watered himself He that sheweth mercy to the poor honoureth the Lord with his substance Prov. 14.31 And when a man honoureth the Lord with his substance God will multiply it greatly Prov. 3.9,10 Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine encrease so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy Presses shall burst out with new Wine 10. Be content with what God giveth you and then though you have never so little you are a rich man 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great gain SECT 15. 15. If it should not seem good unto the Lord to make up your losses by giving you as much riches as he hath taken from you there is a better way of having your losses made up and that is when God shall make his Providence instrumental to convey those mercies and blessings to your souls which are of more worth than all the riches of the world and this may be done several wayes As 1. If God by this Providence shall teach you wisdom that wisdom which is from above and bring you into more acquaintance with himself and into more acquaintance with the state and condition of your own souls if you gain any degree of heavenly wisdom by your losses then your losses though they have been very great are abundantly made up for wisdom is far better than all the riches of the world Prov. 16.16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver Prov. 8.11 Wisdom is better than Rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it Prov. 3.14 2. If God by your losses shall make you partakers of the fruits and graces of his Spirit if he beget or encrease in your souls humility or heavenly mindedness or self-denyal or patience or any other grace then he doth abundantly make up all your losses for the fruits and graces of the Spirit of God are infinitely better than all the riches of the world Prov. 8.19 My fruit is better than gold yea than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver you may see this cleared by instancing in particular graces as Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 Your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth Humility that also excels all riches Prov. 16.19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud the like may be said of all other graces 3. If God under this affliction shall clear up your right to his Promises if he give you an heart to understand believe obey and delight in his Word if he gives in Promises to your souls out of his Word to stay and comfort and support you then he doth make up all your losses in a gracious manner When God gave in a sutable promise to David in his distress he joyed in it as much as in all riches
new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby Meditation on the word built up David wonderfully in knowledge Psal 119.99 I have more under standing then all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation The Apostle Paul recommends meditation on Gods word to Timothy as an excellent means to promote his growth in grace 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear unto all So also when he took his leave of the Elders of the Church of Ephesus he commends them to the word of the Lord as the means whereby they might be built up in that grace which they had already received Acts 20.32 And now brethren I commend you to God and to the the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified I might have added in the tenth place After God hath prospered you in this work of building and you have finished your houses dedicate them to God It was a custom among the Jews after they had built a new house to dedicate it unto the Lord as you may see Deut. 20.5 but of this I shall have occasion to speak afterward Quest 3. Sect. 7. p. 313. where I shall shew how we should dedicate our Houses to God and therefore I shall adde no more upon this Question but proceed to the third QUEST 3. What shall they render to the Lord for his Mercy whose Houses and Goods were preserved from being consumed by the late Dreadful Fire BEfore I answer this Question I shall premise five or six things 1. It was Gods Providence not your own prudence or diligence or any other act of yours that preserved you from sustaining any loss or damage by the late Fire Psal 16.5 Thou maintainest my lot Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Psal 40.17 Thou art my help and my deliverer When ever a righteous man is delivered from any trouble his deliverance proceedeth from the Lord Psal 34.17 The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles As God ordereth the rain where it shall fall and where it shall not fall Amos 4.7 I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another so it is he also that ordered this Fire what City and what Houses and Goods it should consume and what it should not consume The Fire the Winds and all other Creatures do nothing but at Gods appointment Psal 148.7,8 Praise ye the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fullfilling his word The fire and the wind are ruled by God they spare those whom God appoints them to spare they afflict those whom God appoints them to afflict they do nothing but by commission from God The same God that sets the bounds of the Sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.11 did set bounds to this raging Fire and appointed how far it should proceed and where its flames should be stayed wherefore such as were preserved from suffering damage by this Fire must not ascribe their safety partly to Gods Providence and partly to themselves but must give all the glory to God and say as David did of his deliverances Psal 4.8 Thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety Psal 62.2 He only is my rock and my salvation 2. We ought to look upon it as a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments Neh. 13.22 Spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed especially we should account it a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments in a time of common calamity when multitudes as good or better than we are have been great sufferers When Lot escaped with his life out of Sodom though he sustained some loss by the burning of that City yet he looked upon it as an exceeding great mercy that his life was preserved Gen. 19.19 Be hold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 3. When the Lord hath given us any remarkable deliverance or bestowed any other signal mercy upon us it should put us upon enquiring what return we should make unto God for his benefits When David had received a great deliverance he maketh enquiry what he should render to God for so great a mercy Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me This is needful because God expects that when he hath done great things for us we should be returning something to him Isa 5.1,2 My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and he looked that it should bring forth grapes Luke 17.17,18 Jesus answering said Were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger Where we may observe 1. The Lord Jesus expects that when we have received any eminent favour from him we should return something for what we receive else why did he ask Where are the nine 2. The Lord takes notice who they are that do and who they are that do not return according to the mercies that they receive from God The Samaritan returned to give glory to God the others did not 3. There are very few scarce one in ten that make a return according to the mercies that they receive There were ten cleansed and only one returns to give glory to God 4. When any man faileth to return according to the benefits which he hath received though he be a good man God is much displeased at it 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem God had in a wonderful manner delivered Hezekiah from death and though he was a good man so eminently good that he excelled all the Kings that lived before him and came after him according to what we finde 2 Kings 18.5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him Yet this good man Hezekiah failed to reader again according to the benefit done unto him and what followed thereupon wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem for this very thing 5. It is not every return will answer Gods expectation but there must be some suitableness some proportion between the mercies that we receive from God and the returns that we make to God Hezekiah was not wholly wanting in making return to God for he praised God for recovering him from his sickness Isa 38.19 The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this
day and after his sickness he composed a Song or Psalm to set forth Gods praise and resolved to sing this Song in the house of God all the dayes of his life Isa 38.9,20 The writing of Hezekiah King of Judah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness then follows the Song it self to the 20. verse where he expresseth his resolution by way of gratitude to sing this Song all the dayes of his life The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Song to the stringed Instruments all the dayes of our life in the house of the Lord. Yet notwithstanding all this Hezekiah is taxed with not returning according to the benefit done unto him 6. They whose Houses and Estates have been preserved from this dreadful Fire may know what they ought to return to God for this great deliverance by observing what the Servants of God have returned unto the Lord at such times as God hath vouchsafed unto them any eminent deliverances though it were not a deliverance from Fire but from some other evil and also by considering what special duties God calleth for in his holy Word from such as have escaped those judgments that have fallen upon other men or have received any other signal mercy from the Lord. These things being premised I shall now answer the third Question SECT 1. 1. Render to God your love for his great mercy in preserving your houses and substance from being consumed by this Fire God deserves to be loved by all those whom he preserveth from any evils Ps 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful When David was in a wonderful manner delivered from the hands of his enemies he resolves with himself that he would love God with an entire and an endeared love for the deliverances he had received from him Psal 18. ver 1. compared with the title of the Psalm A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul and he said I will love the Lord my strength The Hebrew word that is used in this place signifieth more then barely to love it notes an inward entire cordial love it is translated by Junius and also by Piscator Exintimis visceribus diligam te And at another time when David was communing with his own heart about what return he should make to God for delivering him from the gates of death upon his crying to him Ps 116.3,4,12 he determins to give God his love verse 1. I love the Lord because he heard my voice and my supplications That thing which a Christian prizeth most and desireth of God above all other things is his love Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life So it is with God that which he prizeth most from us and that which he desireth above all other things is that we should give him our love Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Cant. 4.10 How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouse how much better is thy love than wine and the smell of thine oyntment than all spices If any ask which way shall we express our love to God for this great deliverance I answer 1. By hating and abhorring all evil and endeavouring to root out all manner of sin both from your selves and your families Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Sin is an abominable thing in the sight of God and therefore he entreateth us that if we love him we would not do that which his soul hateth Jer. 44.4 Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate 2. Express your love to God by being careful to keep his Commandments John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments 2 John 6. This is love that we walk after his Commandments God accounted obedience of his Commandments a truer token of love than the offering of a multitude of sacrifices in those times when sacrifices were in use 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 3. Express your love to God by doing all the service you can for his Saints and Servants You cannot be any wayes beneficial to God but you may be to his people Psal 16.2,3 My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight And what you do for them the Lord will account of it as done unto himself Math. 25.40 Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Three times our Lord Jesus calls upon Peter to express his love to him by doing good to his members Joh. 21.15,16,17 Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Lambs He saith unto him the second time Lovest thou me He saith unto him yea Lord He saith unto him Feed my Sheep He saith unto him the third time Lovest thou me Feed my Sheep SECT 2. 2. They that have sustained little or no loss by this dreadful fire wherein so many thousands of persons and families have suffered very deeply have great cause to give thanks unto God for sparing and delivering their substance and their houses from this devouring Fire The Prophet Isaiah having mentioned altime of great desolation wherein a little remnant should escape telleth us what this remnant should render unto the Lord Isa 24.13,14 When thus it shall be in the midst of the Land among the people there shall be as the shaking of an Olive Tree and as the gleaning Grapes when the vintage is done they shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord Four times in one Psalm doth the Holy Ghost call upon the children of men to praise the Lord for delivering them out of their distresses Psal 107.8,15,21,31 O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men When David was delivered from the hands of violent men he was much affected with the mercy of God and determines to give God hearty thanks for it Psal 18.48,49 Thou hast delivered me from the violent man therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing praise unto thy Name To be delivered from the violence
of fire is as great a mercy as to be delivered from violent men and therefore you should resolve to give God thanks for your deliverance as David did for his Be not only affected with this mercy for the present but let the sense and remembrance of it abide with you as long as you live When the Israelites escaped safe through the Red-Sea where the Egyptians were drowned they were much affected with this mercy for a little while but in a short time it was as much forgotten as if it had never been received Psal 106.12,13 They sang his praise they soon forgot his works David was of another spirit he charged his soul never to forget Gods benefits but to bless God and be thankful for them all the dayes of his life Psal 103.2 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Psal 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth Psal 30.12 O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Psal 104.33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being We please God exceedingly when we give him praise and thanks by Jesus Christ for the mercies he bestoweth upon us Heb. 13.15,16 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name for with such sacrifice God is well-pleased Psal 69.30,31 I will praise the Name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than an Oxe or Buliock that hath horns and hoofs God accounts the praise that his servants offer up to him in the Name of his Son melodious and delightful musick Ephes 5.19,20 Making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ To raise up your thankfulness to God for sparing your houses and substance and not suffering them to be destroyed by the late dreadful fire Consider 1. What a great affliction it is to be destitute of an habitation and of necessary food When David was in a wandering unsetled condition he met with such difficulties as made him shed many a tear Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my wanderings put thou my tears into thy bottle And when God gave him a setled habitation he dedicates his house to God and resolves to be thankful all the dayes of his life Psal 30.12 O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever This purpose of giving thanks for ever relates to the time that he dedicated his house to God as you may see in the title of the Psalm When the Israelites were destitute of an habitation and were tryed with hunger and thirst it was such an affliction as made their souls faint within them Psal 107.4,5 They wandered in the Wilderness in a solitary way they found no City to dwell in hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them When Jacob was forced to flee from his fathers house to avoid his brother Esau's fury and knew not what straits he might meet with he looked upon it as such a great mercy to have food and raiment that he Covenants with God to become his servant if he would but give him bread to eat and rayment to put on Gen. 28.20,21 Jacob vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on then shall the Lord be my God To be stricken with hunger and not to have wherewith to satisfie our hunger is a greater misery than to be pierced through with a Sword Lam. 4.9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field 2. Consider how many there are who lived as plentifully and comfortably as you do that were as good or better than you are that are brought to want and exceeding great straits by the losses they have sustained by this Fire And have not you cause to admire Gods goodness and to bless him as long as you live for sparing you when so many have suffered so deeply who yet it may be provoked God less than you have done SECT 3. 3. Let the great calamities that are come upon others and the goodness of God towards you lead you to repentance cause you to humble your souls before God for your sins and to put away far from you all iniquity and to be more careful and conscientious in keeping the Commandments of God Ezra 9.13,14 After thou hast given us such deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandements Rom. 3.4 The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance God expects that we should be led to repentance by others sufferings as well as our own Daniel reproveth Belshazzar because he did not humble himble his soul before God notwithstanding he knew what great things his father had suffered Dan. 5.20,21,22 When his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in pride he was deposed from his Kingly Throne and they took his glory from him c. And thou his son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this When Judah had seen the great judgments which God sent upon her sister Israel and was not brought to unseigned repentance by them God was much offended at it and Judah's case was rendered thereby far worse than Israels Jer. 3.7,8,10,11 I said after she had done all these things Turn thou unto me but she returned not and her treacherous sister Judah saw it And I saw when for all the causes whereby back-sliding Israel committed adultery I had put her way and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not but went and played the Harlot also And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord And the Lord said unto me The back-sliding Israel hath not justified her self more than treacherous Judah When but eighteen persons suffered by the fall of the Tower of Siloam Christ tells us that the meaning of that Providence was to call all that heard of it unto repentance Luk. 13.4,5 In the time of the Law when but one person suffered exemplary punishment and that not by an immediate stroke from God but by the hands of men all Israel was to take warning from his sufferings and to be afraid of sinning against the Lord Deut. 13.10,11 Thou shalt stone him with stones that he die And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall done more any such wickedness as this is among you See also Deut. 17.12,13 Even that man shall die And all the people hear and fear and do no more presumptuosly If the suffering of one man by the hands
fornication but for the Lord Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Now seeing our bodies and souls were created for Gods pleasure Is it not meet they should be yielded up unto God 2. The Lord Jesus gave himself both body and soul for us He yielded his body to be crucified for us which was both a shameful and a painful death 1 Cor. 11.24 This is my body which was broken for you 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed Isa 50.6 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked of the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting Why should we refuse to give our bodies to be burned imprisoned banished tortured or to suffer any affliction for the sake of Christ seeing he gave his body to suffer such a shameful and painful death for us The Lord Jesus did not only give his body but his soul also an offering for our sins Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed Shall we stick at giving our souls to Christ when he did not stick at making his soul an offering for our sins 3. It will be much for the advantage both of our bodies and souls to give them unto God for he will sanctifie them and make them his Temple and come and dwell in them 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them Now who are they to whom the Apostle speaks when he saith Ye are the Temple of the living God c. They were such as had given themselves to God as you may see Chap. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord What greater honour or happiness are our souls and bodies capable of whilst they are in this world than to become Temples of the living God But besides this if we give our bodies and souls unto God he will glorifie both our bodies and souls in an unexpressible manner in the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity The Sun is a glorious creature it dazleth our eyes to behold it God will give his Saints in Heaven a glory equal to the brightness of the Sun Matth. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father yea they shall excel the Sun in glory for they shall be equal to the Angels and the Angels are far more glorious ceatures than the Sun Luk. 20.36 Neither can they dye any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection yea they shall be made like to Christ their bodies shall be made like to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and their souls shall be made like to his glorious soul 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is We that is not our bodies only or our souls only but our persons both body and soul shall be like him SECT 10. 10. Render to God the Sacrifices of righteousness When we have received any eminent mercy from God he expects that we should offer up unto him the sacrifice of a righteous and godly life which will please him better than all the Sacrifices that were offered up under the Law Psal 4.5 Offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness Psal 51.17,19 The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Then shalt thou be pleased with the Sacrifices of righteousness When David was wonderfully delivered from the snares of death he determines to offer this Sacrifice to God namely to walk humbly and holily before God all the dayes of his life Psal 116.6,7,8 I was brought low and he helped me Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Then see what he renders to God for this mercy I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living I have touched upon this head before and therefore I shall not enlarge farther upon it only I shall add two Scriptures which do imply that it is our duty after we have received any eminent deliverances to labour after a more eminent degree of holiness than we had before and are also promises that God will sanctifie our deliverances for the making of us more holy Obad. 17. Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness Isa 4.2,3 In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the Earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem In the former Chapter the Prophet had foretold the ruine of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah Isa 2.8 and here he foretells that a little remnant should escape and promiseth that Gods judgments on others and his mercy in delivering them should conduce much to the promoting of their holiness and cause them to prize highly the Lord Jesus who is understood by the Branch of the Lord Zach. 3.8 by whose merits and mediation they should obtain their deliverance SECT 11. 11. Let this deliverance cause you to seek after and to trust in God for farther mercies and deliverances when you are brought into straits This use God servants have been wont to make of their deliverances as you may see by these instances Judg. 15.18 And he was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised 1 Sam. 17.37 David said moreover The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in him we trust that he will yet deliver us This God expects that when he hath shielded us from or helped us out of one trouble we should trust him when we come into another Psal 115.9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psal 61.3,4 Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong Tower from the Enemy I will
and when God calleth his righteousness his right hand it may imply that Christs Righteousness which is oft called the Righteousness of God as Rom. 1.17 Rom. 3.22,23 is the chief and principal means for the strengthning and upholding of our souls David found great support in all his troubles by looking to this righteousness Psal 71.16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only It is recorded of the servants of God mentioned in the Revelation who went through great tribulations that they were carried through their sufferings by looking and adhering to the sufferings of Christ Revel 7.14 These are they which come out of great tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Rev. 12.11 They overcame that is the Devil who raised up persecutions against them as you may see ver 17. by the bloud of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death 6. Let us get good evidences that we are in the love and favour of God Well-grounded apprehensions of Gods love to our souls will help us to bear up cheerfully under the greatest trials as Persecution Sword Famine c. and enable us to overcome them all Rom. 8.35,37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Perscution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerours through him that loved us The apprehensions of Gods love to us will cause us to love God 1 Joh. 5.19 We love him because he first loved us And when we love God we shall bear any thing that comes from him Love to men will make us bear with all things that we meet with from them The Apostle speaking of love saith It beareth all things beliveth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 How much more will love to God cause us to bear and endure all things that we meet with from God Love will carry us out to suffer all afflictions even death it self Cant. 8.6,7 Love is strong as death Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it When it was a time of great affliction with the people of God they pray hard for the light of Gods countenance and if they could but obtain that they would account themselves in a safe and happy condition notwithstanding all their troubles Psal 80.4,5,6,7 O Lord God of Hosts How long wilt thou be angry with the Prayers of thy People Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Thou makest us a strife unto our Neighbours and our enemies laugh among themselves Turn us again O God of Hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 7. We must get and keep Gods presence with our souls that will fortifie our souls to undergo any troubles with courage and chearfulness Psal 23.4 Yea though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Isa 50.7,8 The Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me Psal 46.2 We will not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be cast into the midst of the Sea And why What put such courage into them they had Gods presence with them ver 5 7. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge This upheld Christ and carried him comfortably through all his sufferings who went through greater sufferings than ever any man met with all Act. 2.25,26 I foresaw the Lord alwayes before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved therefore did mine heart rejoyce and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope As Gods presence with Christ upheld him so it will also uphold us in all our sufferings If any say It is true Gods presence with a man will help him to do great things but God is departed from me How shall I gain his presence again I answer Gods departing from us usually aristh from our departing from him and if after we are departed from him and he is departed from us we return to him he will return again unto us Zech. 1.3 Turn unto me saith the Lord of Hosts and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of Hosts Mal. 3.7 Even from the dayes of your Fathers ye are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them return unto me and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of Hosts After we are returned to God and he is returned to us if we keep with him he will keep with us 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while ye be with him Joh. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you 8. We must get our hearts weaned from the world if our affections be set inordinately on any earthly things we shall find it an hard matter to bear up under our afflictions Jer. 45.3 Thou didst say Wo is me now for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow I fainted in my sighing and I find no rest And what caused Baruch to faint under his tryals we may see the root of his distemper ver 5. Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not Though Baruch was a good man his affections were carried out too much after great things in the world and that made affliction very burdensom to him The Apostle Paul who was crucified to the world was prepared and ready to suffer whatever God should call him to Gal. 6.14 The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Acts 21.13 I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the Lord Jesus We must not only set loose to all worldly things but to our own lives also when we are willing to yield up our lives to God we shall not be much moved by any troubles that come upon us for the Lords sake Acts 20.23,24 The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self Rev. 12.11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death 9. We must accustom our selves to bear our lesser tryals with patience and submission to the wil of God and that will fit and prepare us for greater There is scarce a day passeth over our heads wherein the Lord doth not in one kind or another try our patience and submission to his will now the right bearing of those crosses
should then have perished in mine affliction It was by the help of the word of truth that the Apostle went through his manifold troubles with great patience 2 Cor. 6.4,5,7 Now there are variety of promises which do relate to an afflicted condition which may be of great use to us in our afflictions which we shall do well to store up against an evil day I will mention some of them 1. God hath promised to moderate our afflictions and to lay no more upon us than he will enable us to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Isa 27.8 In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his East wind Jer. 15.11 The Lord said Verily it shall be well with thy remnant verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction This promise is added after the mentioning of Gods unalterable purpose to send four sore Judgments upon the Jews Death the Sword Famine and Captivity verse 1 2. So also after mention of a time of trouble such as there had not been the like God comforts his people with his promise that he would not correct them out of measure though he suffered them to partake of the common calamity Jer. 30.7,10,11 Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacobs trouble Yet the Lord encourageth Jacob not to be afraid Fear thou not O my servant Jacob saith the Lord neither be dismayed O Israel for I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whether I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee but I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished 2. God hath promised us his presence in our afflictions Psal 91.15 He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble Isa 43.1,2 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee This promise hath dependance on the last verse where the Prophet telleth us what calamities were come upon Israel He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle and it hath set him on fire round about and then addeth but now thus saith the Lord Fear not When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee God would not have his people fear any trouble because he will be with them in all their troubles in one as well as another and that not only when they first enter into them but till they are safely passed through all the troubles of this life 3. God hath promised to strengthen and support and uphold us in all our troubles I have mentioned several promises to this purpose already as Joel 3.15,16 Isa 41.10 I will add two or three more Nahum 1.7 The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Psal 37.39,40 The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble And the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they put their trust in him Isa 41.14 Fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel see also Isa 25.4 4. God hath promised to comfort and revive our souls when we are in affliction Psal 138.7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me Micah 7.8 When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Psal 71.20,21 Thou which hast shewn me great and sore troubles shall quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort me on every side Isa 66.13 As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem John 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you 5. God hath promised to sanctifie our afflictions and he hath promised they shall purge out our sins and make us more holy and shall be all of them so blessed unto us that they shall work together for our good Isa 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away their sin Zech. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose 6. God hath promised in due time to deliver us out of all our afflictions 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all God hath promised when he seeth it to be most for our good and for his own glory to preserve us from afflictions Psal 121.7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul Psal 32.7 Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance but when he doth not preserve us from trouble he hath promised to deliver us out of trouble Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me SECT 13. 13. Endeavour to demean your selves in such sort towards God that you may prevail with him to continue still to watch over and preserve both your persons houses and substance If you ask what you should do that you may engage the Lord to continue his preservation of your persons and substance I answer 1. Walk in the fear of the Lord and serve him with an upright and sincere heart Satan saith of Job who was an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.9,10 Doth Job fear God for nought Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and encreased his substance in the land Prov.
of evil Isa 4.5,6 The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence and there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain Prov. 12.7 The house of the righteous shall stand 4. The preservation which God hath promised to his people is not limited to this or that particular evil or to any period of time but it extendeth to all sorts of evils and to all times He hath promised to preserve them from all evils Psal 121. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil Psal 91.10 There shall no evil befal thee Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee And as this preservation is not limited in respect of evils so neither in respect of time he hath not promised to preserve them for a time and then give over his care of them but he hath promised them preservation all their dayes Psal 121.8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psal 125.2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever Isa 46.3,4 Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by me from the belly which are carried from the womb And even to your old age I am he and even to hoare haires will I carry you I have made and I will bear even I will carry and will deliver you If any say notwithstanding these promises of preservation we see the servants of God do oft-times fall into many troubles as well as other men how then can these promises be any encouragement to us to trust in God I answer 1. We must rely on the promises of God when his providence seemeth to run cross to his promise Rom. 4.18 Who against hope believed in hope according to that which was spoken Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him 2. When God doth not preserve his servants from trouble he doth them good by their troubles he fulfils that promise Psal 85.12 Yea the Lord shall give that which is good Now oft-times it is good for the people of God to fall into affliction Psal 119.71 Wherefore we may with much freedom and satisfaction commit our selves to God in our greatest dangers upon this account that he will make all our troubles work for our good when he doth not preserve us from trouble SECT 14. 14. Take heed to your selves and to your wayes that you do not provoke the Lord to send any more such mighty and dreadful Fires as this late Fire was What counsel our Lord Jesus gave the man that was made whole of his infirmity Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee the same may be seasonable to such as have escaped this late Fire sin no more lest a worse thing than what befel those that were sufferers by this Fire come unto you Pharaoh though he was exceedingly hardened in his sins yet when there had been great thunder and lightning was so affrighted at it that he calls to Moses and Aaron and desireth them to pray for him that there might be no more mighty thunderings and promiseth also to let Israel go which was the sin for which God contended with him Ex. 9.27,28 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Intreat the Lord for it is enough that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail and I will let you go and ye shall stay no longer If we be not more hardened than Pharaoh was this dreadful Fire should put us upon confessing our sins to God and reforming our lives and cause us to take heed that we do not provoke the Lord to send any more such mighty Fires amonst us If any say What should we do that we may not have any more such dreadful Fires break out amonst us I answer 1. If we would have no more such dreadful Fires we must make a good use of this Fire so as to be led to repentance by it for if we be not reformed by this Judgment we may well expect that God will follow us with more Judgments Lev. 26.21,23,24 If ye walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins And if ye will not be reformed by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins How we should make a good use of this Fire is shewn at large in the second Question and although the directions given therein do chiefly respect such as have been sufferers by the said Fire there are several things hinted that may direct others also as well as the sufferers how to make a good use of this Judgment 2. We must seek unto God with prayers and tears that he would send no more such dreadful Fires When God contended with the Israelites by Fire by the Prayer of Amos this Judgment was removed Amos 7.4,5,6 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me and behold the Lord God called to contend by Fire and it devoured the great deep and did eat up a part Then said I O Lord God cease I beseech thee by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small The Lord repented for this This also shall not be saith the Lord God So also by the Prayer of Moses the Fire was stayed among the Israelites when God had kindled a great burning amongst them because of their murmurings Numb 11.1,2 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp And the people cryed unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched Prayers and tears are very prevalent with God for preventing and removing of personal and national Judgments Joel 2.17,18 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people When the sentence of death was passed upon Hezekiah by his prayers and his tears he prevailed with God to prolong his life for the space of fifteen years Isa 38.5 I have heard thy prayer I have seen thy tears behold I will adde unto thy dayes fifteen years 3. If we would have God cease
admiration of Gods goodness ver 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee And Psal 73.1,10 Truly God is good to Israel God is good to them when they are forced to wander up and down and are full of affliction ver 10. His people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to thems When Doeg the Edomite had accomplished his mischievous design in causing the Priests of the Lord to be slain for entertaining of David which could not but be a great grief to David yet still he extols Gods goodness Psal 52.1 Why boastest thou thy self in mischief O mighty man the goodness of God endureth continually When the Jews that were carried captive into Babylon had lost all their substance and met with such sorrows that they thought none ever met with the like they notwithstanding all their afflictions think honourably of Gods goodness Lam. 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him unto the soul that seeketh him 3. When you are ready to have hard thoughts of God because of your afflictions turn your eyes from looking at Gods Providences and look upon his Promises they represent God to be full of love when his Providences represent him to be terrible There is a thousand times more sweetness in the Promises than there is shapness in your afflictions David viewing his afflictions cryed out Psal 60.3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment But when he turns his eye to the Promise he forgets his sorrow and is filled with joy ver 6. God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce 4. When hard thoughts of God arise in your minds because of your afflictions behold God as he hath manifested himself in and through Jesus Christ and there you shall see him to be a God of unspeakable love God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son John 3.16 When you look upon God in Christ you shall finde him without fury towards such as believe in his Son when he is executing his greatest judgments Isa 26.21 Behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity Fury is not in me And to whom is it that he saith Fury is not in me it is to such as take hold of his Son who is his strength ver 5. When you look upon God in Christ you may behold him a reconciled Father a God pardoning iniquity transgression and sin 2 Cor. 5.19 a God that hath blessed you with all spiritual blessings Eph. 1.3 a God that will deny you nothing that is good on t will give you all things freely Rom. 8.32 Did he pass by the fallen Angels and look upon you and yet will you not have good thoughts of him Can you harbour any hard thoughts of God whilst you look upon him in Christ Jesus Shall some light and short afflictions make you overlook all the spiritual and eternal blessings which God hath treasured up in Jesus Christ for you If you say this helps me but little because I cannot make it out that God hath given Jesus Christ to me if I could see that God had given Christ to me I think I should never entertain an hard thought of God any more I answer God hath made a free offer of his Son Jesus Christ with all his benefits unto your soul as well as to any other ever since you have heard the Gospel and doth still continue to offer him to you and calls upon you by his Ministers and by his Holy Spirit to come and take him freely Mark 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely By the water of life is meant Christ and life through him Christ and all his saving benefits and the Spirit of God who searcheth the deep things of God and knoweth the minde of God and of Christ assureth us that whosoever will may come and take this water of life freely 5. When you finde hard thoughts of God arising in your mindes by reason of your affliction call to minde what God hath been doing for you from all eternity and what he will do for you in heaven to all eternity God hath been setting his wisdom on work from all eternity to make you happy in the enjoyment of himself and he hath prepared such things for you in heaven as eye never saw the like neither hath ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the worth of them When David in time of temptation was ready to think hardly of God and of his wayes Psal 73.13,14 After he had overcome the temptation he saith ver 28. It is good for me to draw near to God and what caused him to take up this conclusion among other things this was one he had his eye upon that blessedness he should enjoy with God in heaven to all eternity ver 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me unto glory 6. If you would keep up good thoughts of God in your afflictions observe what goodness God manifests to you in your affliction and what good he designs to you by your afflictions If you did observe the dealings of God with your inward and outward man you might see much of the love and meroy and goodness of God in your greatest afflictions The people of Israel met with variety of afflictions when they were in the Wilderness yet there was much of the love and goodness of God in all his dealings with them Isa 63.7,9 And as for the ends and designs of God in out afflictions if you consider what they are you shall finde that in every affliction God aimeth at your good Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God And as you should keep up good thoughts of God so also keep up good thoughts of his Service and believe firmly in your greatest sufferings that it is not a vain thing to wait upon God and this you will easily do if you keep up good thoughts of God so that there is little need of adding any thing more concerning this temptation I shall therefore but briesly hint two or three things and then proceed to the next temptation 1. It is very unreasonable to think that there is no profit comes by walking in the wayes of God when as the Scripture assure us that Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 God never did stir up any man to seek his face in vain Isa 45.19 I said not unto the seed of Jacob seek ye me in