the heavens that thou wouldest come down saith the Prophet that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Isa. 64.1 2. We know God and he is our God our own God of whom or of what should we be afraid Psal. 46. When God roars out of Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem when the heavens and the earth do shake the Lord shall be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Joel 3.16 Every man stayeth up or letteth his spirit fall according to what he knoweth concerning the nature of a thing He that knows the Sea knows the Waves will toss themselves he that knows a Lyon will not much wonder to see his Paw or to hear the voice of his roaring And shall we that know our God be stricken with a pannick fear when he cometh out of his holy place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity We should stand like those that are next to Angels and tell the blind world who it is that is thus mounted upon his steed and that hath the clouds for the dust of his feet and that thus rideth upon the wings of the wind we should say unto them this God is our God for ever and ever and he shall be our guide even unto death Our God! the Creator He can turn men to destruction and say Return ye children of men When our God shews himself 't is worth the while to see the sight though it costs us all that we have to behold it Some men will bless and admire every rascally Jugler that can but make again that which they only seem to marr or do something that seems to out go reason yea though they make thundrings and noise in the place where they are as though the Devil himself were there Shall Saints then like slaves be afraid of their God the Creator of their own God when he renteth the heavens and comes down when God comes into the world to do great things he must come like himself like him that is a Creator Wherefore the Heavens and the earth must move at his presence to signifie that they acknowledge him as such and pay him that homage that is due to him as their God and great Creator We that are Christians have been trained up by his Son in his School this many a day and have been told what a God our Father is what an arm he has and with what a voice he can thunder how he can deck himself with Majesty and excellency and array himself with beauty and glory How he can cast abroad the rage of his wrath and behold every one that is proud and abase him Job 40.9 10 11. Have we not talked of what he did at the red Sea and in the land of Ham many years ago and have we forgot him now Have we not vaunted and boasted of our God both in Church Pulpit and Books and spake to the praise of them that in stead of stones attempted to drive Antichrist out of the World with their lives and their blood and are we afraid of our God He was God a Creator then and is he not God now and will he not be as good to us as to them that have gone before us or would we limit him to appear in such ways as only smile upon our flesh and have him stay and not shew himself in his heart-shaking dispensations until we are dead and gone what if we must go now to Heaven and what if he is thus come down to fetch us to himself If we have been wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves If we can say neither against the Law of the Jews neither against the Temple nor against Caesar have we offended any thing at all of what should we be afraid let Heaven and Earth come together I dare say they will not hurt us Our Lord Jesus when dilating upon some of the great and necessary works of our Creator puts check before-hand to all uncomely fears to such fears as become not the faith and profession of a Christian Brother saith he shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and the children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake What follows ver 28. fear them not And again in ver 31. fear ye not Mat. 10. So again Mat. 24. Nation shall rise against Nation there shall be famines pestilences and earthquakes c. They shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you Many shall be offended and shall betray one another And many false Prophets shall arise and deceive many And yet for all this we are bid not to be afraid for all these things with all other are ordered limited enlarged and straitned bounded and buffeted by the will and hand and power of that God unto whom Peter bids us commit the keeping of our Souls as unto a faithful Creator ver 4. to ver 11. Mark 13.5 to the 9. To wait for God in the way of his judgements doth well become a Christian To believe he loves us when he shews himself terrible to us is also very much becoming of us Wherefore has he given us grace is it that we should live by sence Wherefore has he sometimes visited us is it that our hearts might be estranged from him and that we still should love the World And I say again wherefore has he so plainly told us of his greatness and of what he can do is it not that we might be still when the World is disturbed and that we might hope for good things to come out of such providences that to sence look as if themselves would eat up and devour all Let us wait upon God walk with God believe in God and commit our selves our Soul our Body to God to be kept Yea let us be content to be at the dispose of God and rejoyce to see him act according to all his wonderous works For this is a posture highly becoming them that say of God he is their Father and that have committed the keeping of their Soul to him as unto a Creator A comely thing it is for the Soul that feareth God to love and reverence him in all his appearances We should be like the Spaniel-dogg even lie at the foot of our God as he at the foot of his Master yea and should be glad could we but see his face though he treads us down with his feet Ay says one Son I could if I thought this high God would regard me and take notice of my laying of my Soul at his foot while I suffer for his word and truth in the World Why do but see now how the holy Ghost for our help doth hedge up that way in at which unbelief would come that their might as to this be no room left for doubting For as he calleth the God unto whom we are bid to commit the
Money to them but when necessity says they must either take Physick or die of two evils they desire to chuse the least Why affliction is better than sin and if God sends the one to cleanse us from the other let us thank him and be also content to pay the messenger And thou that art so loth to pay for thy sinning and for the means that puts thee upon that exercise of thy graces as will be for thy good hereafter take heed of tempting of God lest he doubleth this Potion unto thee The Child by eating of raw Fruit stands in need of Physick but the Child of a childish humour refuseth to take the Potion what follows but a doubling of the affliction to wit frowns chides and further threatnings and a forcing of the bitter Pills upon him But let me to perswade thee to lie down and take thy Potion tell thee 't is of absolute necessity to wit for thy spiritual and internal health For First Is it better that thou receive judgment in this World or that thou stay for it to be condemned with the ungodly in the next Secondly Is it better that thou shouldest as to some acts of thy Graces be foreign and a stranger and consequently that thou shouldest lose that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory that is prepared as the reward thereof or that thou should'st receive it at the hand of God when the day shall come that every man shall have praise of him for their doings Thirdly And I say again since chastisements are a sign of senship a token of love and the contrary a sign of Bastardy and a token of hatred Heb. 12.6 7 8. Hos. 4.14 Is it not better that we bear those tokens and marks in our flesh that bespeak us to belong to Christ than those that declare us to be none of his For my part God help me to chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and God of his mercy prepare me for his will I am not for running my self into sufferings but if Godliness will expose me to them the Lord God make me more godly still for I believe there is a World to come But Christian Reader I would not detain thee from a sight of those sheets in thy hand only let me beg of thee that thou wilt not be offended either with God or men if the cross is laid heavy upon thee Not with God for he doth nothing without a cause nor with men for they are the hand of God and will they will they they are the servants of God to thee for good Psal. 17.14 Jer. 24.5 Take therefore what comes to thee from God by them thankfully If the messenger that brings it is glad that 't is in his power to do thee hurt and to afflict thee if he skips for joy at thy calamity be sorry for him pity him and pray to thy Father for him he is ignorant and understandeth not the judgment of thy God yea he sheweth by this his behaviour that though he as Gods ordnance serveth thee by afflicting of thee yet means he nothing less than to destroy thee by the which also he prognosticates before thee that he is working out his own damnation by dong of thee-good Lay therefore the woful state of such to heart and render him that which is good for his evil and love for his hatred to thee then shalt thou shew that thou art acted by a Spirit of holiness and art like thy heavenly Father And be it so that thy pity and Prayers can do such an one no good yet they must light some where or return again as Ships come loaden from the Indies full of blessings into thine own bosome And besides all this is there nothing in dark Providences for the sake of the sight and observation of which such a day may be rendred lovely when 't is upon us Is there nothing of God of his Wisdom and Power and goodness to be seen in Thunder and Lightning in Hailstones in Storms and darkness and tempests Why then is it said he hath his way in the whirlwind and storm Nahum 1.3 And why have Gods servants of old made such notes and observed from them such excellent and wonderful things There is that of God to be seen in such a day as cannot be seen in another His power in holding up some his wrath in leaving of others his making of Shrubs to stand and his suffering of Cedars to fall his infatuating of the Counsels of men and his making of the Devil to out witt himself his giving of his presence to his people and his leaving of his foes in the dark his discovering the uprightness of the hearts of his sanctified ones and laying open the Hypocrisie of others is a working of spiritual Wonders in the day of his wrath and of the whirlwind and storm These days these days are the days that do most aptly give an occasion to Christians of any to take the exactest measures and scantlings of our selves We are apt to overshoot in days that are calm and to think our selves far higher and more strong than we find we be when the trying day is upon us The mouth of Gaal and the boasts of Peter were great and high before the Tryal came but when that came they found themselves to fall far short of the courage they thought they had Judges 9.38 We also before the temptation comes think we can walk upon the Sea but when the winds blow we feel our selves begin to sink Hence such a time is rightly said to be a time to try us or to find out what we are and is there no good in this Is it not this that rightly rectifies our judgment about our selves that makes us to know our selves that tends to cut off those superfluous spriggs of pride and self-conceitedness wherewith we are subject to be overcome Is not such a day the day that bends us humbleth us and that makes us bow before God for our faults committed in our prosperity and yet doth it yield no good unto us we could not live without such turnings of the hand of God upon us We should be overgrown with flesh if we had not our seasonable Winters 'T is said that in some Countreys Trees will grow but will bear no fruit because there is no Winter there The Lord bless all seasons to his peopâ—â— and help them rightly to behave themselves under all the times that go over them Farewel I am thine to serve thee in the Gospel John Bunyan Ingenious Reader BY reason of the Authors absence some small faults are escaped notwithstanding the diligence of the Printer which thou art desired to mend with thy Pen And particularly in Page 192. l. 25. for buffeted read butted p. 194. l. 13. r so I could ADVICE TO SUFFERERS 1 PETER iv 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping
of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator THis Epistle was written to Saints in affliction specially those of the Circumcision for whom this Peter was an Apostle And it was written to them to counsel and comfort them in their affliction To counsel them as to the cause for which they were in afflictions and as to the right management of themselves and their cause under their affliction To comfort them also both with respect to their present help from God and also with reference to the reward that they faithfully continuing to the end should of God be bestowed upon them all which we shall have occasion more distinctly to handle in this following discourse The Text is a conclusion drawn from the Counsel and comfort which the Apostle had afore given them in their suffering state As who should say my Brethren as you are now afflicted so sufferings are needful for you and therefore profitable and advantagious Wherefore be content to bear them And that you may indeed bear them with such Christian contentedness and patience as becomes you commit the keeping of your souls to your God as unto a faithful Creator Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him as unto a faithful Creator In this conclusion therefore we have three things very fit for sufferers to concern themselves with 1. A direction to a duty of absolute necessity 2. A description of the persons who are unto this so necessary a duty directed 3. An insinuation of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take this blessed advice The duty so absolutely necessary is that sufferers commit the keeping of their souls to God The sufferers here intended are those that suffer according to the will of God The good insinuated that will be the effect of our true doing of this is we shall find God a faithful Creator We will first begin with the duty that sufferers are here directed to namely the committing of their souls to God Let them commit the keeping of their soul to him in well doing And I find two things in it that first call for explaining before I proceed 1. What we must here understand by the Soul 2. What by committing the soul to God For the First The soul here is to be taken for that most excellent part of man that dwelleth in the body that immortal spiritual substance that is and will be capable of life and motion of sense and reason yea that will abide a rational being when the body is returned to the dust as it was This is that great thing that our Lord Jesus intends when he bids his Disciples in a day of Tryal fear him that can destroy both body and soul in Hell Luk. 12.5 That great thing I say that he there cautions them to take care of According to Peter here Let them commit the keeping of their soul to him in well-doing Secondly Now to commit this soul to God is to carry it to him to lift it to him upon my bended knees and to pray him for the Lord Jesus Christs sake to take it into his holy care and to let it be under his keeping Also that he will please to deliver it from all those snares that are laid for it 'twixt this and the next world and that he will see that it be forth coming safe and sound at the Great and Terrible judgment notwithstanding so many have ingaged themselves against it Thus David committed his soul to God when he said Arise O Lord disappoint him cast him down deliver my soul O Lord from the wicked which is thy Sword And again Be pleased O Lord to deliver me O Lord make hast to help me let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it Psal. 17.13 Psal. 40.13 14. Thus I have shewed you what the soul is and what it is to commit the soul to God This then is the duty that the Apostle here exhorteth the sufferers to namely to carry their soul to God and leave it with him while they ingage for his name in the World Now from the Apostles Exhortation to this great duty I will draw these following conclusions First That when persecution is raised against a people there is a design laid for the ruin of that peoples souls This I say doth naturally follow from the exhortation Why else need they to commit the keeping of their souls to God For by this word unto God to keep them is suggested there is that would destroy them and that therefore persecution is raised against them I am not so uncharitable as to think that persecuting men design this But I verily believe that the Devil doth design this when he stirs them up to so sorry a work In times of Tryal says Peter The Devil your adversary goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8.9 Alas men in their acts of this nature have designs that are lower and of a more inferior rank Some of them look no higher than revenge upon the carcass than the spoiling of their neighbour of his Estate Liberty or Life than the greatening of themselves in this world by the ruins of those that they have power to spoil Their possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say blessed be the Lord for I am rich Zech. 11.4 5. Ay! But Satan will not be put off thus 't is not a bag of Money or the punishing of the carcass of such a people that will please or satisfie him 'T is the soul that he aims at the ruin of the precious soul that he hath bent himself to bring to pass 'T is this therefore that Peter here hath his heart concerned with As who should say my Brethren are you troubled and persecuted for your Faith look to it the hand of Satan is in this thing and what ever men drive at by doing as they do the Devil designs no less than the damnation of your Souls Ware Hawk saith the Falconer when the Dogs are coming near her specially if she be too much minding of her belly and too forgetful of what the nature of the Dog is Beware Christian take heed Christian the Devil is desirous to have thee And who could better give this exhortation than could Peter himself Who for not taking heed as to this very thing had like by the Devil to have been swallowed up alive as is manifest to them that heedfully read and consider how far he was gone when that persecution was raised against his Master Luk. 22 31-56 57 58 59 60 61 62. When a Tyrant goes to dispossess a neighbouring Prince of what is lawfully his own the men that he imployeth at Arms to overcome and get the Land They fight for Half-Crowns and the like and are content with their wages But the Tyrant is for the Kingdom nothing will
serve him but the Kingdom This is the case Men when they persecute are for the stuff but the Devil is for the soul nor will any thing less than that satisfie him Let him then that is a sufferer commit the keeping of his soul to God lest stuff and soul and all be lost at once Secondly A second conclusion that followeth upon these words is this That sufferers if they have not a care may be too negligent as to the securing of their souls with God even when persecution is upon them For these words as they are an instruction so they are an awakening instruction they call as to people in danger as to people not so aware of the danger or as unto a people that forget too much that their souls and the ruin of them are sought after by Satan when trouble attends them for the Gospel sake As who should say when troubles are upon you for the Gospel sake then take heed that you forget not to commit your souls to the keeping of God We are naturally apt with that good man Gideon to be threshing out our Wheat that we may hide it from the Midianites Judge 6.11 but we are not so naturally apt to be busying our selves to secure our souls with God The reason is for that we are more flesh than spirit and because the voice of the world makes a bigger sound in our carnal mind than the word of God doth Wherefore Peter here calls upon us as upon men of forgetful minds saying Let them that suffer according to the will of God have a care of their souls and take heed that the fears of the loss of a little of this world do not make them forget the fear of the losing of their souls That Sufferers are subject to this may appear by the stir and bustle that at such a time they make to lock all up safe that the hand of man can reach while they are cold chill remiss and too indifferent about the committing of their soul to God to keep it This is seen also in that many in a time of trouble for their profession will study more to deceive themselves by a change of notions by labouring to perswade their consciences to admit them to walk more at large by harkening to opinions that please and gratifie the flesh by adhering to bad examples and taking evil Counsels than they will to make straight steps for their feet and to commit the keeping of their souls to God What shall I say have their not been many that so long as peace has lasted have been great swaggerers for Religion who yet so soon as the Sun has waxt warm have flaggâ—d have been discontented offended and turned away from him that speaketh from heaven All which is because men are naturally apt to be more concerned for their goods carnal peace and a temporal life than they are about securing of their souls with God Wherefore I say these words are spoken to awaken us to the consideration of soul-concerns and how that should be safely lodged under the care protection and mercy of God by our committing of it to him for that purpose by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thirdly Another conclusion that followeth upon this exhortation is this That persecution doth sometimes so hotly follow Gods people as to leave them nothing but a soul to care for They have had no House no Land no Money no Goods no Life no Liberty left them to care for All is gone but the soul. Goods have been confiscated liberty has been in Irons the life condemned the neck in a Halter or the body in the Fire So then all to such has been gone and they have had nothing left them to care for but their soul. Let them commit the keeping of their soul to God This conclusion I say doth naturally flow from the words For that the Apostle here doth make mention only of the soul as of that which is left as of that which yet remains to the sufferer of all that ever he had Thus they served Christ they left him nothing but his soul to care for Thus they served Stephen they left him nothing but his soul to care for and they both cared for that Father into thy hands I commend my spirit said Jesus And Lord Jesus receive my spirit said Stephen Luk. 23.46 Acts 7.59 As for all other things they were gone They parted the very cloaths of Christ among themselves before his face even while he did hang pouring out his life before them upon the Tree They parted my garments among them said he and upon my vesture did they cast lots Mat. 27.35 Mar. 15.24 Joh. 19.23 24. This also has oftentimes been the condition of later Christians all has been gone they have been stript of all nothing has been left them but soul to care for Job said that he had escaped with the skin of his teeth and that is but a little but he doth not escape with so much that loses all that he has life and all we now except the soul. But Fourthly Another thing that followeth from the words is this namely That when the Devil and wicked men have done what they could in their persecuting of the godly they have yet had their souls at their own dispose They have not been able to rob them of their souls they are not able to hurt their souls The soul is not in their power to touch without the leave of God and of him whose soul it is And fear not them saith Christ that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Mat. 10.28 This I say lies clear also in the Text for the exhortation supposes that what ever the sufferers there made mention of had lost They had yet their souls at their own dispose Let them that suffer even to the loss of goods liberty or life commit the keeping of their soul to God As who should say though the enemy hath reached them to their all and stripped them of their all yet I know that their soul is not among that all For their soul is yet free from them at liberty and may be disposed of even as the sufferer will Wherefore let him commit the keeping of his soul to God lest he also through his negligence or carelessness be also spoiled of that The sufferer therefore hath his soul at his own dispose he may give that away to God almighty in spight of all that the Devil and the world can do He may indeed see men parting his Land his Houshold stuff yea his very Rayment among themselves but they cannot so dispose of his soul. They have no more that they can do Luk. 12.5 Fifthly Another conclusion that followeth from these words is this That a man when he is a sufferer is not able to secure his own soul from the hand of hell by any other means but by the committing of the keeping thereof to God Do you suffer are you in affliction for your profession Then
Children for when that golden Image was set up and worship commanded to be done unto it not one that we read of durst stand upright when the time was come that bowing was the sign of worship Only the three Children would not bow 't was necessary that some should shew that there was a God in Heaven and that divine worship was due alone to him Dan. 3.10 11 12. But they run the hazzard of being turned to ashes in a burning fiery furnace for so doing But necessity has a loud voice and shrill in the ears of a tender conscience This voice will awake jealousie and kindle a burning fire within for the name and cause and way and people of the God of Heaven Thirdly there is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness by the voice of providence That is when by providence I am cast for my profession into the hands of the enemies of God and his truth then I am called to suffer for it what God shall please to let them lay upon me Only for the making of thy way more clear in this matter I will deliver what I have to say with a caution or two 1. Thou must take heed that thy call be good to this or that place at which by providence thou art delivered up 2. Thou must also take heed that when thou art there thou busiest thy self in nothing but that that good is 3. Thou must also take heed that thou stay there no longer than while thou mayest do good or receive good there 4. Thus far a man is in the way of his duty and therefore may conclude that the providence of God under which now he is is such as has mercy and salvation in the bowels of it what soever is by it at the present brought upon him Christ Jesus our Lord though his death was determined and of absolute necessity and that chiefly for which he came into the world chose rather to be taken in the way of his duty than in any other way or any where else Wherefore when the hour was come he takes with him some of his Disciples and goeth into a garden a solitary place to pray which done he sets his Disciples to watch and falleth himself to prayer So he prays once he prays twice he prays thrice and he giveth also good doctrine to his Disciples And now behold while he was here in the way of his duâ—â— busying himself in prayer to God and in giving of good instruction to his followers upon him comes Judas and a multitude with swords and staves and weapons to take him To which providence he in all meekness submits for he knew that by it he had a call to suffer Mat. 26 36 37 38. In this way also the Apostles were called to suffer even while they were in the way of their duty Yea God bid them go into the Temple to preach and there delivered them into the hands of their enemies Acts 4.1 2 3. chap. 5.10.25 26. Be we in the way of our duty in the place and aboue the work unto which we are called of God whether that work be religious or civil we may without fear leave the issue of things to God who only doth wonderful things And he who lets not a Sparrow fall to the ground without his providence will not suffer an hair of our head to perish but by his order Luk. 12.6 7. And since he has engaged us in his work as he has if he has called us to it we may expect that he will manage and also bear us out therein either so as by giving of us a good deliverance by way of restoration to our former liberty and service for him or so as to carry us well out of this world to them that under the Altar are crying how long holy and true Nor shall we when we come there repent that we suffered for him here O how little do Saints in a suffering condition think of the Robes the Crowns the Harps and the Song that shall be given to them and that they shall have when they come upon mount Sion Revel 6.11 chap. 14.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Fourthly there is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness By an immediate and powerful impulse of the spirit of God upon the heart This I say is sometimes and but sometimes for this is not Gods ordinary way nor are many of his Servants called after this manner to suffer for righteousness Moses was called thus to suffer when he went so often unto Pharaoh with the message of God in his mouth and he endured as seeing him who is invisible Heb. 11.25 26 27. Paul was called thus to suffer and he obeyed and went and performed that work according to the will of God This kind of call Paul calls a binding or a being bound in the spirit because the Holy Ghost had laid such a command upon him to do so that he could not by any means get from under the power of it And now behold saith he I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Acts 20.22 For he that is under this call has as I said bonds laid upon his spirit which carry him to the place where his testimony is to be born for God Nor shall he if he willingly submits and goes as Paul did but have an extraordinary presence of God with him as he And see what a presence he had For after the second assault was given him by the enemy even the night following the Lord stood by him and said Be of good chear Paul for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem so must thou bear witness also at Rome Acts 23.11 Thus God meeteth his people in their service for him when he calls them aloud to do great service for him The power of such a call as this I say is great and men of ordinary spirits must needs give place thereto and leave a man thus bound to the God that thus has bound him All the help such can afford him is to follow him with our prayers not to judge him or grieve him or lay stumbling blocks before him No they must not weep nor mourn for him so as to make him sorrowful See Acts 21.12 13 14. His friends may suggest unto him what is like to attend his present errand as Agabus did by the spirit to Paul when he took his girdle and bound himself therewith to shew him how his enemies should serve him whither he went Thus saith the holy Ghost said he So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Acts 21.11 But if this call be indeed upon a man all sorrow is turned into joy before him For he is ready not only to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts 21.13 Instances also of later times might be given of a call extraordinary to suffer for
people is foreseen and oft-times the nature of the sin and the anger of the Father is seen in the fashion of the rod. The rod of my anger saith God A bitter and hasty Nation must be brought against Jerusalem an enemy fierce and cruel must be brought against the land of Israel Their sins called for such a rod for their iniquities were grievous Habak 1.6 This should teach us with all earnestness to be sorry for our sins and to do what we can to prevent these things by falling upon our face in a way of prayer before God If we would shorten such days when they come upon us let us be lovers of righteousness and get more of the righteousness of faith and of compliance with the whole will of God into our hearts Then I say the days shall be shortned or we fare as well because the more harmless and innocent we are and suffer the greater will our wages our reward and glory be when pay-day shall come and what if we wait a little for that These things are sent to better Gods people and to make them white to refine them as Silver and to purge them as gold and to cause that they that bear some fruit may bring forth more we are afflicted that we may grow John 15.1 2. 'T is also the will of God that they that go to heaven should go thither hardly or with difficulty The righteous shall scarcely be saved That is they shall but yet with great difficulty that it may be the sweeter Now that which makes the way to Heaven so strait so narrow so hard is the rod the sword the persecutor that lies in the way that marks where our haunt is that mars our path digs a pit and that sets a net a snare for us in the way 1 Sam. 23.22 Job 30.12 13 14. Psal. 9.25 Psal. 31.4 Psal. 35.7 Psal. 119.110 Psal. 140.5 Psal. 142.3 This I say is that which puts us to it but it is to try as I said our graces and to make Heaven the sweeter to us To come frighted and hard pursued thither will make the safety there the more with exceeding gladness to be imbraced And I say get thy heart yet more possessed with the power of Godliness that the love of righteousness may be yet more with thee For this blessedness this happiness he shall be sure of that suffereth for righteousness sake Thirdly since the rod is Gods as well as the child let us not look upon our troubles as if they came from and were managed only by Hell 'T is true a persecutor has a black mark upon him but yet the Scriptures say that all the ways of the persecutor are Gods Dan. 5.23 Wherefore as we should so again we should not be afraid of men we should be afraid of them because they will hurt us but we should not be afraid of them as if they were let loose to do to us and with us what they will Gods bridle is upon them Gods hook is in their nose yea and God has determined the bounds of their rage and if he lets them drive his Church into the sea of troubles it shall be but up to the neck and so far it may go and not be drownded 2 King 19.28 Isa. 37.29 Isa. 8.7 8. I say the Lord has hold of them orders them nor do they at any time come out against his people but by his licence and commission how far to go and where to stop And now for two or three objections 1. Object But may we not flie in a time of persecution your pressing upon us that persecution is ordered and managed by God makes us afraid to flie Answ. First having regard to what was said afore about a call to suffer Thou mayest do in this even is it is in thy heart If it is in thy heart to fly fly if it be in thy heart to stand stand Any thing but a denyal of the truth He that flys has warrant to do so he that stands has warrant to do so Yea the same man may both flie and stand as the call and working of God with his heart may be Moses fled Moses stood David fled David stood Jeremiah fled Jeremiah stood Christ withdrew himself Christ stood Paul fled Paul stood Exo. 2.15 Heb. 11.27 1 Sam. 19.12 chap. 24.8 Jer. 37.11 12. chap. 38.17 Luke 9.10 John 18.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 2 Cor. 11.32 33. Acts 20.22 23. There are therefore few rules in this case The man himself is best able to judge concerning his present strength and what weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or flie I should be loth to impose upon any man in these things only if thou fliest take two or three cautions with thee 1. Do not fly out of a slavish fear but rather because flying is an ordinance of God opening a door for the escape of some which door is opened by Gods providence and the escape countenanced by Gods word Matt. 10.23 2. When thou art fled do as much good as thou canst in all quarters where thou comest for therefore the door was opened to thee and thou bid to make thy escape Acts 8.1 2 3 4 5. 3. Do not think thy self secure when thou art fled 't was providence that opened the door and the word that did bid thee escape but whither and wherefore that thou knowest not yet Vriah the Prophet fled into Egypt because there dwelt men that were to take him that he might be brought again to Jerusalem to die there Jer. 26.21 4. Shouldest thou fly from where thou art and be taken in another place The most that can be made of it thy taking the opportunity to fly as was propounded at first can be but this thou wast willing to commit thy self to God in the way of his providence as other good men have done and thy being now apprehended has made thy call clear to suffer here or there the which before thou wert in the dark about 5. If therefore when thou hast fled thou art taken be not offended at God or man not at God for thou art his servant thy life and thy all are his not at man for he is but Gods rod and is ordained in this to do thee good Hast thou escaped laugh art thou taken laugh I mean be pleased which way soever things shall go for that the scales are still in Gods hand 6. But fly not in flying from Religion fly not in flying for the sake of a trade fly not in flying that thou mayest have ease for the flesh this is wicked and will yield neither peace nor profit to thy Soul neither now nor at death nor at the day of judgment 2. Obj. But if I fly some will blame me what must I do now Answ. And so may others if thou standest fly not therefore as was said afore out of a slavish fear stand not of a bravado Do what thou dost in the fear of God guiding
thy self by his word and providence and as for this or that mans judgment refer thy case to the judgment of God 3. Obj. But if I be taken and suffer my cause is like to be clothed with scandals slanders reproaches and all manner of false and evil speakings what must I do Answ. Saul charged David with Rebellion 1 Sam. 22.8.13 Amos was charged with conspiring against the King Amos 7.10 Daniel was charged with despising the King and so also were the three children Dan. 6.13 chap. 3.12 Jesus Christ himself was accused of perverting the nation of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and of saying that himself was Christ a King Luk. 23.2 These things therefore have been But 1. Canst thou after a due examination of thy self say that as to these things thou art innocent and clear I say will thy conscience justifie thee here Hast thou made it thy business to give unto God the things that are Gods and unto Caesar the things that are his according as God has commanded If so matter not what men shall say nor with what lies and reproaches they slander thee but for these things count thy self happy Blessed are you when men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely lying for my name sake saith Christ. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you Mat. 5.11 12. Comfort thy self therefore in the innocency of thy Soul and say I am counted a Rebel and yet am Loyal I am counted a deceiver and yet am true 1 Sam. 24.8 9 10 11 12. 2 Cor. 6.8 Also refer thy cause to the day of judgment for if thou canst rejoyce at the thoughts that thou shalt be cleared of all slanders and evil speakings then that will bear up thy heart as to what thou maiest suffer now The answer of a good conscience will carry a man thorough Hell to Heaven Count these slanders part of thy sufferings and those for which God will give thee a reward because thou art innocent and for that they are laid upon thee for thy professions sake But if thou be guilty look to thy self I am no comforter of such I come now to speak to the third and last part of the Text Namely of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take the advice afore given Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Two things from the last clause of the Text lie yet before us And they are they by which will be shown what good effect will follow to those that suffer according to the will of God and that commit their Souls to his keeping 1. Such will find him to themselves a Creator 2. They will find him a faithful Creator Let them commit the keeping of their Souls to him as unto a faithful Creator In this phrase a faithful Creator behold the wisdom of the holy Ghost how fitly and to the purpose he speaketh King is a great Title and God is sometimes called a King but he is not set forth by this Title here but by the Title of a Creator for it is not always in the power of a King to succour and relieve his Subjects that are suffering for his Crown and Dignity Father is a sweet Title a Title that carrieth in it an intimation of a great deal of bowels and compassion and God is often set forth also by this Title in the holy Scriptures But so he is not here but rather as a Creator For a Father a compassionate Father cannot always help succour or relieve his Children though he knows they are under affliction Oh but a Creator can Wherefore I say he is set forth here under the Title of a Creator First a Creator nothing can die under a Creators hands A Creator can sustain all A Creator can as a Creator do what he pleases The Lord the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary Isa. 40.28 The cause of God for which his people suffer had been dead and buried a thousand years a go had it not been in the hand of a Creator The people that have stood by his cause had been out of both as to persons name and remembrance had they not been in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped when Israel was going in even into the mouth of the red Sea that ever his cause or that people should have revived again A huge host of the Egyptians were behind them and nothing but death before and on every hand of them but they lived they flourished they out-lived their enemies for they were in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped that Israel should have returned again from the land from the hand and from under the Tyranny of the King of Babylon They could not deliver themselves from going thither they could not preserve themselves from being diminished when they came there their power was gone they were in captivity their distance from home was far their enemies possest their Land their City of defence was ruined and their houses burned down to the ground and yet they come home again there is nothing impossible to a Creator Who could have thought that the three Children could have lived in a fiery furnace that Daniel could have been safe among the Lyons that Jonah could have come home to his Countrey when he was in the Whales belly or that our Lord should have risen again from the dead but what is impossible to a Creator This therefore is a rare consideration for those to let their hearts be acquainted with that suffer according to the will of God and that have committed the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing They have a Creator to maintain and uphold their cause a Creator to oppose its opposers And hence it is said all that burden themselves with Jerusalem shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Zech. 12.3 Secondly A Creator A Creator can not only support a dying cause but also fainting spirits For as he fainteth not nor is is weary So he gives power to the faint and to those that have no might he increaseth strength Isa. 4.29 He is the God of the spirits of all flesh and has the life of the spirit of his people in his own hand Spirits have their being from him he is the Father of Spirits Spirits are made strong by him nor can any crush that spirit that God the Creator will uhpold Is it not a thing amazing to see one poor inconsiderable man in a Spirit of faith and patience overcome all the threatnings cruelties afflictions and sorrows that a whole World can lay upon him None can quail him none can crush him none can bend down his spirit None can make
the keeping of their Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Shall God display his glory before us under the character and Title of a Creator and shall we yet fear man shall he do this to us when we are under a suffering condition and that on purpose that we might commit our Souls to him in well doing and be quiet and shall we take no notice of this Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth c. Isa. 51.12 13. Had God concealed himself as to his being a Creator yet since he presenteth himself unto us by his word under so many excellent Titles as are given to no other God besides methinks it should make us bold in our God but when for our relief he shall add to all other that he verily is a Creator this should make us rest in hope indeed Every Nation will have confidence for their own Gods though but Gods that are made with hands though but the work of the Smith and Carpenter And shall not we trust in the name of the Lord our God who is not only a God but a Creator and former of all things Mich. 4.5 Consequently the only living and true God and one that alone can sustain us We therefore are to be greatly blamed if we overlook the ground such ground of support and comfort as presenteth it self unto us under the Title of a Creator But then most of all if when we have heard believed and known that our God is such we shall yet be afraid of a man that shall die and forget the Lord our Maker We I say have heard seen known and believed that our God is the Creator The heavens declare his glory and the firmament sheweth his handy work and thus he has shewed unto us his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 Behold then thou fearful worm Jacob the Heavens the Sun the Moon the Stars behold the Earth the Sea the Air the fire and Vapors Behold all living things from Leviathan and Behemoth to the least that creepeth in the Earth and Waters Yea behold thy self thy Soul thy Body thy fashion thy building and consider thy God hath made even all these things and hath given to thee this being yea and all this also he made of that which doth not appear Heb. 11.1 2 3. This is that which thou art called to the consideration of by Peter in the Text when he letteth fall from his apostolical meditation that thy God is the Creator and commandeth that thou in thy suffering for him according to his will shouldest commit the keeping of thy Soul to him as unto a faithful Creator He that has the art thus to do and that can do it in his straights shall never be trodden down His God his faith his faith his God are able to make him stand For such a man will thus conclude that since the Creator of all is with him what but Creatures are there to be against him So then what is the Ax that it should boast it self against him that heweth therewith or the Saw that it should magnifie it self against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake it self against him that lifteth it up or as if the staff should lift up it self as if it were no wood Isa. 10.15 Read also the 40th of Isaiah from the 12 to the last verse and then speak if God as Creator is not a sure confidence to all the ends of the earth that trust in and wait upon him As Creator he hath formed and upholdeth all things yea his hands have formed the crooked Serpent wherefore he also is at his bay and thou hast made the Dragon in the Sea And therefore it follows that he can cut and wound him and give him for meat to the Fowls and to the beasts inheriting the wilderness if he will seek to swallow up and destroy the Church and People of God Job 26.13 Ps. 74.13 14. Isa. 51.9 Ezek. 29.3 4. Ninthly A Creator is God the God unto whom they that suffer according to his will are to commit the keeping of their Souls the Creator and doth he take charge of them as a Creator Then this should teach us to be far off from being dismayed as the heathens are at his tokens for our God the Lord is the true God the living God the King of eternity Jer. 10.1 2 10. We should tremblingly glory and rejoyce when we see him in the World though upon those that are the most terrible of his dispensations God the Creator will sometimes mount himself and ride thorough the earth in such Majesty and glory that he will make all to stand in the Tent doors to behold him O how he rode in his chariots of Salvation when he went to save his people out of the land of Egypt how he shook the Nations Then his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise His brightness was as the light he had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the nations the everlasting mountains were scattered the perpetual hills did bow his way is everlasting Then saith the Prophet I saw the Tents of Cushan in affliction the Curtains in the land of Midian did tremble Was the Lord displeased against the rivers was thine anger against the rivers was thy wrath against the Sea that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation Habbak 3. So David The earth shook and trembled saith he the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet And he rode upon a Cherub and did flie he did flie upon the wings of the wind He made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hailstones and coals of fire The Lord also thundred in the heavens and the Highest gave his voice hail-stones and coals of fire Yea he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightning and discomfited them Then the chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils Psal. 18. from verse 7. to verse 15. These are glorious things though shaking dispensations God is worthy to be seen in his dispensations as well as in his word though the nations tremble at his presence O that thou wouldest rend