death in this extremity it is now in The Mother answered I refer that to the will of God But said her friend if God would â—â—fer it to you what would you chuse then Why truly said she if God would refer it to me I would even refer it to God again This is the true committing of our selves and our troublesome concerns to the Lord. 4. The committing act of Faith implies our renouncing and disclaiming all confidence and trust in the arm of flesh and an expectation of relief from God only If we commit our selves to God we must cease from man Isai. 2. 22. To trust God in part and the Creature in part is to set one foot upon a Rock and the other in a Quick-sand Those acts of Faith that give the intire glory to God give real relief and comfort to us 2. Let us see what grounds and encouragements the people of God have to commit themselves and all the matters of their fear to God and so to enjoy the peace and comfort of a resigned will and there are two sorts of encouragements before you let the case be as difficult and frightful as it will you may find sufficient encouragements in God and somewhat from your selves viz. your relation to him and experiences of him 1. In God there is all that your hearts can desire to encourage you to trust him over all and commit all into his hands For 1. He is able to help and relieve you let the case be never so bad yet let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord is plenteous redemption Psal. 130. 7 8. Plenteous redemption i. e. all the stores of power choice of methods plenty of means abundance of ways to save his people when they can see no way out of their troubles Therefore hope Israel in Iehovah 2. As his Power is Almighty so his Wisdom is Infinite and unsearchable He is a God of judgment blessed are all they that wait for him Isa. 30. 18. When the Apostle Peter had related the wonderful preservations of Noah in the Deluge and of Lot in Sodom one in a general destruction of the world by Water and the other in the overthrow of those Cities by Fire He concludes and so should we The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation 2 Pet. 2. 9. Some men have much Power but little wisdom to manage it others are wise and prudent but want ability in God there is an infinite fulness of both 3. His love to and tenderness over his people is transcendent and unparallelled and this sets his wisdom and power both a work for their good hence it is that his eyes of providence run continually throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect i. e. upright towards him 2 Chron. 16. 9. Thus you see how he is every way fitted as a proper object of your trust 2. Consider your selves and you shall find encouragements to commit all to God For 1. You are his children and to whom should children commit themselves in dangers and fears but to their own father Doubtless thou art our father saith the distressed Church Isai. 63. 15 16. Yea Christian Thy maker is thy husband Isai. 54. 5. Is not that a sufficient ground to cast thy self upon him What! a Child not trust its own Father A wife not commit her self to her own husband 2. You have trusted him with a far greater concern already than your estates liberties or lives you have committed your souls to him and your eâ—rnal interests 2 Tim. 1. 12. Shall we commit the â—ewel and dispute the Cabinet Trust him for heaven and doubt him for earth 3. You have ever found him faithful in all that you trusted him with all your experiences are so many good grounds of confidence Psal. 9. 10. Well then resolve to trust God over all and quietly leave the dispose of every thing to him he hath been with you in all former streights wants and fears hitherto he hath helped you and cannot he do so again except you tell him how O trust in his wisdom power and love and lean not to your own understandings The fruit of resignation will be peace 5. Rule If ever you well get rid of your fears and distractions get your affections mortified to the world and to the inordinate and immoderate love of every injoyment in the world The more you are mortified the less you will be terrified 't is not the dead but the living world that puts our hearts into such fears and tremblings If our hearts were once crucified they would soon be quieted 'T is the strength of our affections that puts so much strength into our afflictions It was not therefore without great reason that the Apostle compares the life of a Christian to the life of a Souldier who if he mean to follow the Camp and acquit himself bravely in fight must not intangle himself with the affairs of this life 2 Tim. 2. 4. Sure there is no following Christ's Camp but with a disintangled heart from the world for proportionable to the heat of our love will be the strength and height of our fears about these things more particularly if ever you will rid your selves of your uncomfortable and uncomely fears use all Gods means to mortifie your affections to the exorbitant esteem and love of 1. Your Estates 2. Your Liberty 3. Your Lives 1. Get mortified and cooled hearts to your Possessions and Estates in the world The poorest age afforded the richest Christians and noblest Martyrs Ships deepest laden are not best for encounters The believing Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and induring substance Heb. 10. 34. They carried it rather like unconcerned Spectators than the true Proprietors They rejoyced when rude Souldiers carried out their goods as if so many friends had been bringing them in And whence was this But from an heart fixed upon Heaven and mortified to things on Earth Doubtless they esteemed and valued their Estates as the good providences of God for their more comfortable accommodation in this world but it seems they did and O that we could look upon them as mercies of the lowest and meanest rank and nature The substance laid up in Heaven was a better substance and as long as that was safe the loss of this did not afflict them They could bless God for these things which for a little time did minister refreshment to them but they knew them to be transitory enjoyments things that would make to themselves wings and flee away if their enemies had not toucht them but the substance laid up for them in Heaven that was an enduring substance So far as those earthly things might further them towards Heavenly things so far they prized and valued them but if Satan would turn them into snares and temptations to deprive them of their better substance in Heaven they could
easily slight them and take the spoiling of them joyfully In a stress of weather when the Ship is ready to sink and founder in a Storm all hands are readily imployed to throw the richest goods over-board No man faith it's pity to cast them away but reason dictates to a man in that case better these perish than I perish with and for them These be the wares that some will not cast overboard and therefore they are said to drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. Demas would rather perish than part with these things 2. Tim. 4. 10. But Reader consider seriously what comfort they can yield thee when thou must look upon them as the price for which thou hast sold Heaven and all the hopes of glory even as much as the price of bloud yielded Iudas and so they will ensnare thee if thy unmortified heart be overheated with the love of them as his was 2. Be mortified to your liberty and take heed of placing too great an esteem upon it or necessity in it Liberty is a desirable thing to the very birds of the air accommodate them the best you can in your cages feed them with the richest fare they had rather be cold and hungry with their liberty in the woods than fat and warm in your houses But yet as sweet as it is there may be more sweetness and comfort in parting with it than in keeping it as the case may stand The doors of a Prison can lock you in but they cannot lock the comforter out Paul and Silas lost their liberty for Christ but not their comfort with it they never were so truly at liberty as when their feet were made fast in the stocks they never fared so deliciously as when they fed upon Prisoners fare God spread a Table for them in the Prison sent them in a rich feast yea and they had musick at their feast too and that at midnight Acts 16. 25. Patmos was a barren Island andâ— place designed for banished persons it lay in the Aegean Sea not far from the coast of the Lesser Asia it was inhabited by none because of the exceeding barrenness of it but such who were appointed to it for their punishment so that here Iohn could meet with no more earthly refreshment than what the barren rocks or wild and desperate persons condemned to live upon it could afford Ay but there there it was that Christ appeared to him in unexpressible glory there it was that he had those ravishing visions and saw the whole Scheme of Providence in the Government of this world there he saw the New Ierusalem coming down from God out of heaven as a bride prepared for her husband This made a Patmos become a Paradice never did any place afford him such comfort as this did So that Christians may not think there is so strict and necessary a connection betwixt Liberty and Comfort that he that takes away the first must needs deprive them of the other Again Suppose we should be so fond of our Liberty as to exchange truth and a good Conscience for it cannot God so imbitter it to you yea hath he not so imbittered it to many that they were quickly weary of it and glad of an opportunity to exchange it for a Prison Our own Martyrology furnishes us with many sad examples of it O What will yo do with your bitter dear bought Liberty when peace is taken away from the inner man When God shall clap up your souls in Prison and put your Consciences into his bonds and fetters then you will say as the Martyr did I am in Prison till I be in Prison 3. Be mortified to the inordinate and fond love of life as ever you expect relief against the fears of death Reason thy self into a lower value of thy life Methinks you have arguments enough to cure your fondness in this point Have you found it such a pleasant life to you for so much of it as is past You know how the Apostle represents it 2 Cor. 5. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened And is a burthened and a groaning life so desirable You know also as he speaks in the next Verse that whilst you are at home in the body you are absent from the Lord and is a state of absence from Jesus Christ so desirable to a soul that loves him Can you find much pleasure so far from home You may fancy what you will but upon serious recollection you will be able to tell your selves that till you be dead you will never be out of the reach of Satans temptations never freed from your own in-dwelling corruptions these conflicts cannot have an end till life be ended You also stand convinced that till you be dead your Souls cannot be satisfied nor your desires be at rest have what comforts soever from God in the way of faith and course of duties your hearts are still off the center and will still gravitate and gasp heaven-ward You also know that die you must and the time of your departure is at hand and of all deaths if you might have your choice none is more honourable to God or like to be so evidential and comfortable to you as a violent death for Christ therein you come to him by consent and choice not by necessity and constraint therein you give a publick testimony for Christ which is the highest use that ever our bloud can be put to or honoured by and for the pain and torment as the Martyr said He that takes away from my torment takes away from my reward But even in that point God can make it easier to you than a natural death would be he will be with you in your extremity and administer such reviving cordials as other men must not look to taste at least not ordinarily they being prepared and reserved for such against such an hour O then work out the inordinate love of life by working in such mortifying considerations upon your own hearts and if once you gain but this point you will quickly find all your pains and prayers richly answered in the ease and rest of your hearts in the most scaring and frightful times 6. Rule Eye the encouraging examples of those that have â—rod the path of sufferings before you and strive to imitate such worthy patterns Behold the cloud of witnesses encompassing you round about a cloud like that over the Israelites to direct you Yea a cloud for multitude of excellent persons to animate and encourage you Heb. 12. 1. O take them for an ensample in suffering affliction and patience Iames 5. 10. Examples of excellent persons that have broken the ice and beaten the path before us are of excellent use to suppress our fears and rouze our courage in our own encounters The first sufferers had the hardest task they that first entred the lists for Christ wanted those helps to suppress fear which they have left unto us Strange and untried torments are
dangers when the feet of them that carried out the dear servants of God in bloudy winding sheets to their graves stand at the door to carry us forth next if providence loose their chain and give them a permission so to do and our fears on this account are heightned by considering and revolving these four things in our thoughts which we are always more inclined to do than the things that should fortifie our faith and heighten our Christian courage as 1. We are very apt to consider that as the same race and kind of men that committed these outrages upon our brethren are still in being and that their rage and malice is not abated in the least degree but is as fierce and cruel as ever it was Gal. 4. 29. As then he that was born after the flesh perseouted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now So it was then and just so it is still the old enmity is entailed upon all wicked men from generation to generation multi adhuc sunt qui clavum sanguine Abelis rubentem adhuc circumferunt Cain 's club is to this day carried up and down the world stained with the bloud of Abel as Bucholtzer speaks 't is a rooted antipathy and it runs in a bloud and will run as long as there are wicked men from whom and to whom it shall be propagated and a devil in hell by whom it will not fail to be exasperated and irritated 2. We know also that nothing hinders the execution of their wicked purposes against us but the restraints of providence should God loose the chain and give them leave to act forth the malice and rage that is in their hearts no pity would be shewen by them or could be rationally expected from them Psal. 124. 1 2 3 4 5 6. We live among Lions and them that are set on fire of hell Psal. 57. 4. the only reason of our safety is this that he who is the keeper of the Lions is also the shepherd of the sheep 3. We find that God hath many times let loose these Lions upon his people and given them leave to tear his lambs in pieces and suck the bloud of his Saints how well soever he loves them yet hath he often delivered them into the hands of his enemies and suffered them to perpetuate and act the greatest cruelties upon them the best men have suffered the worst things and the Histories of all ages have delivered down unto us the most tragical relations of their barbarous usage 4. We are also conscious to our selves how faâ— short we come in holiness innocency and spiritual excellency of those excellent persons who have suffered these things and therefore have no ground to expect more favour from providence than they found â— we know also there is no promise in the Scriptures tâ— which they had not as good a claim and title as ouâ—â—selves With us are found as great yea greater sin than in them and therefore have no reason to please our selves with the fond imaginations of extraordinary exemptions If we think these evils shall not come in our days 't is like many of them thought so too and yet they did and we may find it quite otherwise Lam. 4. 12. Who would have thought that the enemy should have entered in at the gates of Ierusalem The revolving of these and such like considerations in our thoughts and mixing our own unbelief with them creates a world of fears even in good men till by resignation of all to God and acting faith upon the promises that assure us of the sanctification of all our troubles as that Rom. 8. 28. Gods presence with us in our troubles as that Psal. 91. 15. his moderation of our troubles to that measure and degree in which they are supportable Isai. 27. 8. And the safe and comfortable outlet and final deliverance from them all at last according to that in Rev. 7. 17. We do at last recover our hearts out of the hands of our fears again and compose them to a quiet and sweet satisfaction in the wise and holy pleasure of our God 5. Cause 5. Our immoderate love of life and the comforts and conveniencies thereof may be assigned as a proper and real ground and cause of our sinful fears when the dangers of the times threaten the one or other did we love our lives less we should fear and tremble less than we do It is said of those renowned Saints Rev. 12. 11. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the Death They overcame not only the fury of their enemies without them but their sinful fears within them and this victory was atchieved by their mortification to the inordinate and immoderate love of life certainly their own fears had overcome them if they had not first overcome the love of life It was not therefore without very great reason that our Lord injoyned it upon all his disciples and followers to hate their own lives Luke 14. 26. not absolutely but in comparison and competition with him i. e. to love it in so remiss a degree as to slight and undervalue it as a poor low thing in such a comparison he foresaw what sharp tryals and sufferings were coming upon them and he knew if the fond and immoderate love of life were not overcome and mortified in them it would make them warp and bend under such temptations This was it that freed Paul from slavish fears and made him so magnanimous and undaunted indeed he had less fear upon his spirit though he was to suffer those hard and sharp things in his own person than his friends had who only Sympathized with him and were not farther concerned than by their own love and pity He spake like a man who was rather a spectator than a sufferer Acts 20. 24 25. none of these things move me saith he Great soul not moved with bonds and afflictions how did he attain so great courage and constancy of mind in such deep and dreadful sufferings It was enough to have moved the stoutest man in the world yea and to have removed the resolutions of any that had not loved Christ better than his own life but life was a trifle to him in comparison with Jesus Christ for so he tells us in the next words I count not my life dear unto me q. d. 'T is a low priz'd commodity in my eyes not worth the saving or regarding on such sinful terms O how many have parted with Christ peace and eternal life for fear of losing that which Paul regarded not And if we bring our thoughts closer to the matter we shall soon find that this is a fountain oâ— fears in times of danger and that from this excessive love of life we are rack'd and tortured with ten thousand terrors For 1. Life is the greatest and nearest interest men naturally have in this world and that which
It is an allusion to workmen who going forth in the morning to their labour gird their loins or reinâ— with a girdle now there is no work wrought by God in this world But his faithfulness is as the Girdle of his Loins The consideration whereof should make the most despondent believer gird up the Loins of his mind that is encourage and strengthen his drooping and discouraged heart Those works of God which are wrought in Faithfulness and in pursuit of his eternal purposes and gracious promises should rather delight than affright us in beholding of them It pluckt out the Sting of David's affliction when he considered it was in very faithfulness that God had afflicted him Psal. 119. 89 90. But more particularly let us behold with delight the faithfulness of God making good six sorts of Promises to his People in the days of their affliction and trouble viz. 1. The Promises of Preservation 2. The Promises of Support 3. The Promises of Direction 4. The Promises of Provision 5. The Promises of Deliverance 6. The Promises of Ordering and Directing the Event to their Advantage 1. There are promises in the word for your preservation from ruine and what you read in those promises you dayly see the same fulfilled in your own experiences You have a promise in Psal. 57. 3. He shall send from Heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth Say now have you not found it so when Hell hath sent forth its Temptations to deâ—ile you The World its persecuâ—ions to destroy your own heart its unbelieving fears to distract and sink you hath not your God sent forth also his mercy and his truth to save you Hath not his truth been your shield and buckler Psal. 91. 4. May you not say with the Church it is of his mercy you are not consumed his mercies are new every morning and great is his faithfulness Lam. 3. 23. 2. As you have seen it actually fulfilling the promises for your preservation so you may see it making good all the promises in his word for your support in troubles That is a sweet promise Psal. 91. 15. I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him you have also a very supporting promise in Isa. 41. 10. Fear not thou for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness O how evidently hath the faithfulness of God shone forth in the performance of his word to you in this respect you are his witnesses you would have sunk in the deep waters of trouble if it had not been so So speaks David Psal. 73. 26. My heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Have you not found it so with you as it is in 2 Cor. 12. 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then am I strong God's strength hath been made perfect in your weakness by this you have been carried through all your troubles hitherto hath he helped you 3. As you have seen it faithfully fulfilling the promises for your preservation and support So you have seen it in the direction of your ways So â—uns that promise Psal. 32. 8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine eye Certain it is That the way of man is not in himself Jer. 10. 23. O how faithfully hath your God guided you and stood by you in all the difficult cases of your Life Is not that promise Heb. 13. 5. faithfully fulfilled to a tittle I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Surely you can set your seal to that in Ioh. 17. 17. Thy word is truth had you been left to your own counsels you had certainly perished as it is said of them in Psal. 81. 12. I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels 4. As there are promises in the word for your preservation support and direction So in the fourth place there are promises for your provisions as in Psal. 34. 9. the Lord hath promised that They that fear him shall not want When they are driven to extremity he will provide Isa. 41. 17. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them And is not this faithfully performed He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant Psal. 111. 5. In all the exigencies of your lives you have found him faithful to this day you are his witnesses that his providences never failed you his care hath been renewed every morning for you how great is his faithfulness 5. You also find in the word some reviving promises for your deliverances You have a very sweet promise in Psal. 91. 14. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him and again Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee you have done so and he hath made a way to escape Our lives are so many monuments of mercy we have lived among Lyons yet preserved Psal. 57. 4. The burning Bush was an embleme of the Church miraculously preserved 6. There are promises in the word for the ordering and directing all the occurrences of providence to your great advantages so it is promised Rom. 8. 28. That all things shall work together for good to them that love God Fear not Christians however you find it now whilst you are tossing to and fro upon the unstable waves of this world you shall find to be sure when you come to heaven that all the troubles of your lives were guided as steddily by this promise as ever any Ship at Sea was directed to its Port by the Compass or North-Star And now what remains but that I press you as before 1. To enter into this Chamber of Divine Faithfulness 2. To shut the Door behind you 3. And then to live comfortably on it in evil days 1. Enter into this Chamber of God's faithfulness by faith and hide your selves there Every man is a Lye but God is True eternally and inchangeably faithful O exercise your faith upon it be at rest in it Now there are two great and weighty Arguments to press you to enter into this Chamber of divine faithfulness 1. Arg. Is fetched from the nature of God who cannot lye Tiâ—â—s 1. 2. He is not as man that he should â—ye Numb 23 19. Neither the son of man that the should repent hath he said and shall he â—ot do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Remember upon what everlasting steddy grounds
make but such observations upon the care of thy God as follow and then tell me whether the world with all its pleasures and delights can give thee such an other entertainment 1. Reflect upon the constant sweet and suitable provisions that from time to time have been prepared for thee and thine by this care of thy God From whence soever thy wants did come I am sure from hence came thy supplies it hath enabled thee to return the same answer the disciples did to that question Luke 22. 35. Lacked ye any thing and they said nothing 2. Reflect with admiration upon the various difficulties of your lives wherein your thoughts have been entangled and out of which you have been extricated and delivered by the care of God over you How oft have your thoughts been like a ravelled skeyn of silk so entangled and perplexed with the difficulties and fears before you that you could find no end but the longer you thought the more you were puzled till you have left thinking and fell to praying and there you have found the right end to wind up all your thoughts upon the bottom of peace and sweet contentment according to that direction Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass 3. Observe with a melting heart how the care of thy God hath disposed and directed thy way to unforeseen advantages had he not ordered thy steps when and as he did thou hadst not been in possession of those Temporal and Spiritual mercies that sweeten thy life at this day Surely the steps of good men are ordered by the Lord and as for thee Christian what reason hast thou with an heart overflowing with love and thankfulness to look up and say My father thou art the guide of my youth It is sweet to live by faith upon Divine care Oh what a Serene life might we live careful for nothing but making known our request unto God in every thing Phil. 4. 6. casting all our care on him that careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. perplexing our thoughts about nothing but rolling every burthen upon godly Faith Thus lived holy Musculus when reduced to extreme poverty and danger at the same time then it was that he solaced his Soul with that comfortable Distich a good lesson for others Est Deus in coelis qui providus omnia curat Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest The Provident care of his heavenly father made his heart as quiet as the child at the breast Christian thou knowest not what distressful days are coming upon the earth nor what personal trials shall befal thee in this world but I advise thee as thou valuest the tranquility and comfort of thy life Shut up thy self by Faith in this Chamber of Divine Care it is thy best security in this world Reflect frequently and thankfully upon the manifold supports supplies and salvations thou hast already had from this fountain of mercies and be not discouraged at new difficulties When an eminent Christian was told of some that way-laid him to destroy him his answer was Si Deus mei curam non habet quid vivo In like manner thou mayest say if God had not taken care for thee how couldst thou have lived till now How couldest thou have overlived so many troubles fears and dangers as thou hast done CHAP. XI Opening the sixth and last Chamber viz. The Love of God as a resting place to believing Souls in evil times SECT I. THough all the Attributes in the name or Chambers of this house of God are glorious and excellent yet this of love is transcendently glorious Of this room it may be said as it was of Solomon's royal Chariot Cant. 3. 10. The midst thereof is paved with love In this Attribute the glory of God is signally and eminently manifested 1 Iohn 4. 9 10. And upon this foundation the hopes and comforts of all Believers are built and founded Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress 〈◊〉 persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword He defies and despises them all because neither of them alone nor all together by their united strength can unclasp the arms of Divine Love in which Believers are â—afely enfolded In this Attribute Gods people by Faith entrench themselves and of it a Believer saith Hic murus aâ—enus esto this shall be my strong hold and fortress in the day of trouble and well may we so esteem and reckon it if we consider 1. That wherever the special love of God goes there the special presence of God goes also Iohn 14. 23. He shall be loved of my father and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And O how secure and safe must those be however times govern with whom God himself maketh his abode For as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 91. 1. He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty And he that is overshadowed by an Almighty power needs not fear how many mighty enemies combine against him 2. Wherever the special love of God is placed that person becomes precious and highly valuable in the eyes of God he appretiates and estimates such a man as his peculiar treasure which naturally and necessarily draws and spreads the wing of Divine care over him for his protection Deuteron 33. 12. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him and the Lord shall cover him all the day long Things of greatest value are always kept in safest custody 3. Upon whosoever the special love of God is seâ— there all events and issues of troubles are sure to be over ruled to the eternal advantage of that Soul Rom. 8. 28. Which consideration alone is sufficient to unsting all the troubles in the world and make the beloved of the Lord shout and triumph in the midst of tribulations But let us enter yet further into this glorious Chamber of Divine love and more particularly view the admirable properties thereof though when all is done it will be found a love passing knowledge our thoughts may admire but can never measure it 1. And first you will find it an ancient love whose spring is in eternity it self Believer God is thine ancient friend who foresaw and loved thee before thou yea before this world was in being the fruits and effects thereof thou gatherest in time but the root that produces them was before all times Prov. 8. 22 23. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was Thus was the love of God contriving and providing the best of mercies in Christ for us while as yet there were no such creatures in the world nor a world prepared to receive us 2 The love of God to his people is a free and altogether undeserved love it must needs be
so seeing it prevented our very being which had it not done yet no motives had been found in us to allure it to us more than others Deut. 7. 7. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor chuse you because ye were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you So that we cannot find one stone of our own merit in the foundation of this love for those whom it embraceth in its arms are Immerentes malè merentes ill deserving as well as undeserving we were loved of God before we were lovely in our selves it is freely pitched upon us not purchased by us Isa. 43. 24. 3. The love of God to Believers is a bountiful love streaming forth continually mercies both innumerable and invaluable to their Souls and Bodies 2 Pet. 1. 3. Christian it would quickly weary thine arm yea let me say the arm of an Angel but to write down the thousandth part of the mercies which have already flowed out of this precious fountain to thee though all thou hast received or shalt receive in this world are but the beginnings of mercy and first-fruits of the love of God to thee 't is the love of God which daily loads thee with benefits as the expression is Psal. 68. 19. And if thou art daily loaded with mercies what an heap of mercies will the mercies of thy whole life be 4. The love of God to believers is a distinguishing love not the portion of all no nor yet of many besides thee 1 Cor. 1. 26. The generality of the world dwell in the Room of common Providence not in the Chamber of special love into which God hath admitted thee this consideration should make thee break out in admiration as it is Iohn 14. 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to me and not to the world 5. The love of God to believers is a love transcendent to all creature love it moves in an higher Sphere than the love of any creature doth Rom. 5. 6 7 8. We read of Iacob's love to Rachel which is so celebrated in the Sacred story for the fervour of it and yet all that it enabled him to suffer was but the Summers heat and the Winters cold a trifle to what the love of Christ engaged and enabled him to suffer for thy sake We read also of the love of David to Absalom which made him wish would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son This love was only manifested in a wish which haply might have been retracted too had there been an exchange to be made indeed but the life of Christ wortâ— millions of his life was actually and willingly staked down for thy Soul We read of the love of one Disciple manifested to another Disciple in a cup of cold water but Christ hath manifested his love to thee in pouring out his warmest heart bloud for thy redemption Oh what a transcendent love is the Divine love 6. To conclude though alas little is said of the love of God it is an everlasting and unchangeable love Hills and moutains shall sooner start from their Bases than his loving kindness depart from his people Isa. 54. 10. Though he afflict us still he loves us Psal 89. 32 33. Nay though we grieve him yet still he loves us Mark 16. 7. Tell the Disciples and tell Peter Peter had grieved Christ denied Christ yet will he not renounce nor cast off Peter SECT II. WEll then if God have opened to your Souls such a Chamber of love where your Souls may be ravished with daily delights as well as secured from danger and ruine O that you would enter into it by Faith and dwell for ever in the love of God! I mean clear up your interest in it and then solace your Souls in the delights of it Need I to use an Argument or spend one Motive to press you to enter into such an Heaven upon Earth If the deadness of thy heart doth need it take into consideration Reader these few that follow 1. Motive Ponder with thy self how sad and miserable the case will be with thee in the days of calamity and distress if the love of God shall then be clouded to thy Soul in those days such as love thee will either be absent from thee or impotent to help thee all thy friends and familiars may be removed far off and whither then wilt thou turn should God be far off too This was that evil which Ieremiah so vehemently deprecated Chap. 17. v. 17. Be not a terrour unto me thou art my hope in the day of evil q. d. O Lord my Soul depends upon refreshment and comfort from thee when all the springs of earthly comfort are dried up Shouldest thou be a teâ—rour to me in the day of evil it will be the most terrible disappointment that ever befel my Soul if thou be kind I care not who be cruel if I have the love of God I value not the hatred of men but if God be a terrour who or what can be a comforter The love of God is the alone refuge to which the gracious Soul retreats upon all creature disappointments and failings This therefore is the main thing to be feared against the evil day 2. Mot. The knowledge and assurance of the love of God is a mercy attainable by a gracious Soul notwithstanding the imperfections of Grace Peter had his falls and failings as well as other Christians yet when Christ puts the question home to him Ioh. 21. 15. Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these he was able to return a clear positive answer Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee Study thy heart Christian and study the Scriptures if thou canst find the sincere love of God in thy heart that Scripture will clear the love of God to thy Soul 1 Iohn 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us If thou lay thine hand upon a stone wall and feel it warm thou mayest conclude the Sun beams have shone upon it for warmth is not naturally in dead stones Our love to God is but the reflex beam of his love to us and we know there can be no reflex without a direct beam Thousands of Christians do at this day actually possess the ravishing sense of Divine love whose fears and complaints have been the same that thine now are that God who indulged this favour to them can do as much for thee 3. Mot. Think how well thou wilt be provided for the worst and difficultest times when the love of of God shall be well secured to thy Soul when the love of God i. e. the sense of his love is once shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost which for that end among others is given unto us we shall then be able to glory in tribulation Rom. 5. 3 5. We may then bid defiance to all the adverse powers of hell and earth and say