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
lose our carnal friends estates liberties and lives than part with Christs truths and a good Conscience as Zuinglius said What sort of death should not a Christian chuse what punishment should he not rather undergo yea into what vault of hell should he not rather chuse to be cast than to witness against truth Conscience 3. A natural death in Christ may be as safe to our selves but a violent death for Christ will be more beneficial to others by the former we shall come to heaven our selves but by the latter we may bring many souls thither The bloud of the Martyrs is truly called the seed of the Church Many waxed confident by Pauls bonds his sufferings fell out to the furtherance of the Gospel and so may ours In this case a Christian like Samson doth greater service against Satan and his cause by his death than by his life If we only die a natural death in our beds we die in possession of the truths of Christ our selves but if we die Martyrs for Christ we secure that precious inheritance to the generations to come and those that are yet unborn shall bless God not only for his truths but for our courage zeal and constancy by which it was preserved for them and transmitted to them By all this you see that death to a Believer is great gain it 's great gain if he only die in Christ it 's all that and a great deal more added if he also die for Christ And he that is assured of such advantages by death either way must needs feel his fears of death shrink away before such assurances yea he will rather have life in patience and death in desire he will not only submit quietly but rejoyce exceedingly to be used by God in such honourable imployment Assurance will call a bloudy death a safe passage to Canaan through the Red Sea It will call Satan that instigates these his instruments and all that are imployed in such bloudy work by him so many Balaams brought to curse but they do indeed bless the people of God and not curse them The assured Christian looks upon his death as his wedding day Rev. 19. 7. And therefore it doth not much differ whether the horse sent to fetch him to Christ be pale or red so he may be with Christ his love as Ignatius call'd him He looks upon death as his day of enlargement out of Prison 2 Cor. 5. 8. and it is not much odds what hand open the door or whether a friend or enemy close his eyes so he have his liberty and may be with Christ. O then give the Lord no rest till your hearts be at rest by the assurance of his love and the pardon of your sins when you can boldly say the Lord is your help you will quickly say what immediately follows I will not fear what man shall do unto me Heb. 13. 6. And why if thy heart be upright mayest thou not attain it Full assurance is possible else it had not been put into the command 2 Pet. 1. 10. The sealing graces are in you the sealing spirit is ready to do it for you the sealing promises belong to you but we give not all diligence and therefore go without the comfort of it Would we pray more and strive more would we keep our hearts with a stricter watch mortifie sin more throughly and walk before God more accurately how soon may we attain this blessed assurance and in it an excellent cure for our distracting and slavish fears 8. Rule Let him that designs to free himself of distracting fears be careful to maintain the purity of his conscience and integrity of his ways in the whole course of his conversation in this world Uprightness will give us boldness and purity will yield us peace Isa. 32. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Look as fear follows guilt and guile so peace and quietness follows Righteousness and sincerity Prov. 28. 1. The wicked flee when none pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lyon His confidence is great because his Conscience is quiet the peace of God guards his heart and mind There are three remarkable steps by which Christians rise to the height of courage in tribulations Rom. 5. 1 2 3 4. First they are justified and acquitted from guilt by faith v. 1. Then they are brought into a state of favour and acceptation with God v. 2. Thence they rise one step higher even to a view of Heaven and the glory to come V. 3. and from thence they take an easy step to glorying in tribulations v. 4. I say 't is an easy step for let a man once obtain the pardon of sin the favour of God and a believing view and prospect of the glory to come and it is so easy to triumph in tribulation in such a station as that is that it will be as hard to hinder it as to hinder a man from laughing when he is tickled Christians have always found it a spring of courage and comfort 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing even the testimony of our Consciences that in all sincerity and godly simplicity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world Their hearts did not reproach them with by-ends in Religion their Consciences witnessed that they made not Religion a cloak to cover any fleshly design but were sincere in what they professed and this enabled them to rejoyce in the midst of sufferings An earthen vessel set empty to the fire will crack and fly in pieces and so will an hypocritical formal and meer nominal Christian but he that hath such substantial and real principles of courage as these within him will endure the trial and be never the worse for the fire The very Heathens discovered the advantage of Moral integrity and the peace it yielded to their natural Consciences in times of trouble Nil câ—nscire tibi nullâ pallescere culpa hic murus aheneus estc It was to them as a wall of brass much more will godly simplicity and the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ upon our Consciences secure and encourage our hearts This Atheistical Age laughs Conscience and purity to scorn but let them laugh this is it will make thee laugh when they shall cry Paul exercised himself or made it his business To have always a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men Acts 24. 16. And it was richly worth his labour it repayed him ten thousand fold in the peace courage and comfort it gave him in all the troubles of his life which were great and many Conscience must be the bearing shoulder on which the burden must lie beware therefore it be not galled with guilt or put out of joynt by any fall into sin 't is sad bearing on such a shoulder Instead of bearing your burdens you will not be able
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
as the fears of such a misery awaken you to prayer for the prevention of it it may be serviceable to your souls but when it only works distraction and despondency of mind it is your sin and Satans snare The Prophet Ieremy made a good use of such a supposed evil by way of deprecation Ier. 17. 17. Be not a terror unto me thou art my hope in the day of evil q. d. In the evil day I have no place of retreat or refuge but thy love and favour Lord that is all I have to depend on and relieve my self by I comfort my self against trouble with this confidence that if men be cruel yet thou wilt be kind if they frown thou wilt smile if the world cast me out thou wilt take me in but if thou shouldest be a terror to me instead of a comforter if they afflict my body and thou affright my soul with thy frowns too what a deplorable condition shall I be in then Improve it to such an end as he did to secure the favour of God and it will do you no harm 2. It is not usual with God to estrange himself from his people in trouble nor to frown upon them when men do The common experience of Believers stands ready to attest and seal this truth that Christians never find more kindness from God than when they feel most cruelty from men for his sake consult the whole cloud of witnesses and you will find they have still found the undoubted verity of that tried word in 1 Pet. 4. 14. That the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon sufferers The expression seems to allude to the Dove that Noah sent forth out of the Ark which flew over the watry world but could not rest self any where till she returned to the Ark. So the Spirit of God called here the Spirit of Glory from his effects and fruits viz. his chearing sealing and reviving influences which makes men glory and triumph in the most afflicted state This spirit of God seems like that Dove to hover up and down to flee hither and thither over this person and that but resteth not so long upon any as those that suffer for righteousness sake there he commonly takes up his abode and residence 3. And what if it should fall out in some respect according to your fears that heaven and earth should be both clouded together yet it will not be long before the pleasant light will spring up to you again Psal. 112. 4. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness You shall have his supporting presence till the comforter do come When Mr. Glover came within sight of the stake he suddenly cries out O Austin he is come he is come 6. Plea O but what if my trial should be long and the siege of temptations tedious then I am perswaded I am lost I am no way able to continue long in a Prison or in tortures for Christ I have no strength to endure a long siege my patience is too short to hold out from month to month and from year to year as many have done O! I dread the thoughts of long continued trials I tremble to think what must be the issue Answer 1. Cannot you distrust your own strength and ability but you must also limit Gods What if you have but a small stock of Patience cannot the Lord strengthen you with all might in the inner man unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness according to his glorious power 1 Coll. 11. And is it not his promise to confirm you to the end 1 Cor. 1. 8. You neither know how much nor how long you can bear and suffer It is not inherent but assisting grace by which your suffering abilities are to be measured God can make that little stock of patience you have to hold out as the poor Widows cruise of oyl did till deliverance come he can enable your patience unto its perfect work i. e. to work as extensively to all the kinds and sorts of trials as intensively to the highest degree of trial and as protensively to the longest duration and continuance of your trials as he would have it If this be a marvellous thing in your eyes must it be so in Gods eyes also 2. The Lord knows the proper season to come in to the relief of your slideing and fainting patience and will assuredly come in accordingly in that season for so run the promises The Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and that there is none shut up or left Deut. 32. 36. Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses In the mount of difficulties and extremities it shall be seen The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the Righteous lest the Righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity Psal. 125. 3. Ubi desinit humanum ibi incipit divinum auxilium Gods power watches the opportunity of your weakness 7. Plea But what if I should be put to cruel and exquisite tortures suppose to the rack to the fire or such most dreadful sufferings as other Christians have been what shall I do do I think I am able to bear it Is my strength the strength of stone or are my bones brass that ever I should endure such barbabarous cruelties Alas death in the mildest form is terrible to me how terrible then must such a death be Answer Who enabled those Christians you mention to endure these things They loved their lives and sensed their pains as well as you they had the same thoughts and fears many of them that you now have yet God carried them through all and so he can you Did not he make the devouring Flames a bed of Roses to some of them Was he not within the fires Did he not abate the exâ—remity of the torment and enable weak and tender persons to endure them patiently and chearfully some singing in the midst of flames others clapping their hands triumphantly and to the last sight that could be had of them in this world nothing appeared but signs and demonstrations of joy unspeakable Ah friends we judge of sufferings by the outside and appearance which is terrible but we know not the inside of sufferings which is exceeding comfortable O when shall we have done with our unbelieving ifs and buts our questionings and doubtings of the power wisdom and render care of our God over us and learn to trust him over all Now the just shall live by faith and he that lives by faith shall never die by fear The more you trust God the less you will torment your selves I have done the Lord strengthen stablish and settle the trembling and feeble hearts of his people by what hath been so seasonably offered for their relief by a weak hand Amen THE END THE RIGHTEOVS MAN'S REFUGE IN THE Evil Day OR A Treatise upon the Attributes of GOD as they are opened in his Promises and Providences
should all that fear God be affected with the appearances and signs of his indignation So was David Psal. 119. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments He that feared not a Bear a Lyon a Goliah yet trembleth at Gods judgments So did Habakkuk chap. 3. v. 16. When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entred into my bones Expressions denoting the deepest seizures of fear and greatest consternations not that I would perswade you to such slavish fear or unchristian dejection as it is not only sinful in it self but the cause and inlet of many other sins But to a due sense both of the evils of misery that will befal the Nation when Gods indignation comes upon it and the evils of sin that have incensed it and to such a fear of both as may seasonably awaken us to the use of all preventing remedies And first 1. O that all would lay to heart the National miseries that Gods indignation threatens upon us It is said Psal. 107. 34. A fruitful land is turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein It was long since told England by one of its faithful watchmen The Nation and Church in which we are is the common Ship in which we are all embarked and if this in judgment be cast away whether dashed against the rocks of any Foreign power or swallowed up in the quick-sands of Domestick divisions it must needs hazard all the Passengers Or if you were sure that for your parts you might be safe would it not be a bitter thing to stand upon the shore and see such a glorious vessel as this Nation is to be cast away To see this glorious Land defaced the blessed Gospel polluted the golden candlestick removed it cannot but affect men that have any bowels Or if this move you not yet to see a stranger to Lord it in thy habitation and thy dwelling place to cast thee out for your delightsome dwellings your fruitful pleasant and well tilled fields to be made a prey for you to sow and another to reap Impius has segetes for the delicate woman upon whom the wind must not blow to be exposed to the lust and cruelty of an enemy and be glad to fly away naked to prolong a miserable life which they would be glad to part with for death were it not for fear of the exchange For the tender Mother to look upon the Child of her womb and consider must this child in whom I have placed the hope of my age for Omnis in Ascanio stat chari cura parentis He that hath been so tenderly bred up must he fall into the rough hands of a bloudy Souldier skilful to destroy It had been well for me if God had given me dry breasts or a miscarrying womb rathan to bring forth children unto murtherers or if you might be safe how could you endure to see the miseries that should come upon your people and the destruction of your kindred Thus far he But alass What security have any of us as to our earthly comforts from the common calamity We may please our selves as Baruch did Ier 45. 4 5. and dream of exemption but by so much the greater will our distress be when it shall surprise us 2. You that are the people of God ought to be deeply affected with the spiritual miseries that threaten us in the day of Gods indignation do you consider what the removing the Candlestick out of its place is A departing Gospel the going down of the Sun upon the Prophets the loss of your sweet Sabbaths and Gospel Feasts and the gross darkness of Popery to fill the earth O it is hard parting with these things it 's said 1 Sam. 7. 2. when the Ark was removed that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Pity your own Souls and be deeply affected with the misery of others the poor Christless world who are like to perish for want of Vision Prov. 29. 18. In the Year 1072 saith Matthew Parâ—s Preaching was suppressed at Rome and then Letters were framed by some as coming from hell in which the Devil gives them thanks for the multitude of Souls sent to him that year 3. But especially labour to affect your hearts with the sins that have incensed Gods indignation So did the Saints in Ierusalem Ezek. 9. 4. they sighed and mourned for all the abominations committed in it So did Lot 2 Pet. 2. 7. He vexed his righteous soul from day to day So did David Psal. 119. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men kept not thy law O who that loves God can refrain tears to see the God of pity the God of tender mercies a father full of bowels of compassion so incensed and provoked to indignation Oh it is an heart-melting consideration where there is any ingenuity If our afflictions grieve God to the heart as it doth Iudg. 10. 16. Our souls should be grieved for his dishonour 4. To conclude get upon your hearts such a sense of Gods indignation as may quicken you to the use of preventing duties So Amos 4. 12. Because I will do this prepare to meet thy God O Israel So the Prophet Zeph. 2. 1 2. Gather your selves together before the decree bring forth It was Moses his honour to stand in the breach Psal. 106. 23. And Abrabam's to plead so with God though he did not prevail CHAP. IV. Confirming the third Proposition viz. That God hath a special and peculiar care of his own in the days of his indignation SECT I. PRopriety and Relation engages Care and Solicitude in times of Danger we see God hath put such a Storge and inclination into the very creatures that they will expose themselves to preserve their young and it cannot be imagined that the fountain of Pity which dropt this tenderness into the bowels of the creatures should not abound with it himself is there such strong inclination in the very birds of the air that they will hazard their own lives to save their young â— much more is God solicitous for his people Isa. 31. 5. As birds flying c. to their nests when their young are in danger So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem No mother is more solicitous for her dearest Child in danger and distress than the Lord is for his people Isa. 49. 15. Can a Woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee A woman the more affectionate Sex forget her child a piece of her self her sucking child which together with milk from the breast draws love from the heart This may rather be supposed than that the Lord should forget his people Two things must here be cleared 1. That it is so 2. Why it is so 1. That it is so will appear from 1. Scripture Emblems 2. Scripture Promises 3.
the unchangeableness of his loves trust in the name of the Lord stay thy self upon the God when thou walkest in darkness and hast no light Isa. 50. 10. Thus shut thy door 3. Improve the unchangeabless of God to thy best advantage in the worst times by drawing thence such comfortable conclusions as these 1. If God be an uchangeable God in his promises and in his love to his people what should hinder but the people of God may live happily and comfortably in the saddest times and greatest troubles upon earth As sorrowful yet always rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. Certainly nothing ought to quench a Christians mirth that is not able to separate him from the love of Christ Rom. 8. 35. 2. If God be an unchangeable God in his love to his people then it becomes all that have special interest in this God to be unchangeable and immoveable in the ways of their obedience towards him God will not cast you off see that you cast not off your duties no not when they are surrounded with difficulties he loves you though you often grieve him by sin see that you still love him though he often grieve and burden you by affliction he will own you for his people under the greatest contempts and reproaches of the World see that you own and honour his ways and truths when you are under most reproach from a vile World CHAP. X. Opening the Care of God for his people in times of trouble as the fifth Chamber of Rest to Believers SECT 1. CAre in the general Notion of it as it is applyed to the Creature imports the studiousness and solicitousness of our thoughts for the safety and welfare of our selves or those we love and highly value Now though there be no such thing properly in God at whose dispose and pleasure all events are and to whose counsels and appointments all difficulties must give way yet he is pleased to accommodate himself to our weakness and express his regard and love to his people by such things as one creature doth to another to which it is endeared by relation or affection To this purpose we find many significant Synonomous expressions in Scripture all importing the careof God over his people in a pleasant variety of notion and expression as Nah. 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him He knoweth them i. e. he hath a special tender and careful eye upon them to see their wants supplyed and to protect them in all their dangers for in the common and general sense he knoweth them that trust not in him as well as those that do and further to clear this sence of the place it is said Ps. 40. 17. The Lord thinketh on them Importing not only simple cogitation but the immoration or abiding of his thoughts upon them as our thoughts are wont to do upon that which we highly esteem especially when any danger is near it And yet farther to clear this sense it is said Iob 36. 7. He withdraweth not his Eye from the righteous As when Moses was exposed in the Ark of Bulrushes where his Life was in eminent hazards by the waters of Nilus upon one side and the Egypan Cut-Throats on the other his Sister Miriam kept watch at a distance to see what would be done to him Her eye was never off that Ark wherein her dear Brother lay fear and care engaged her eye to keep a true watch for him Thus the Lord withdraweth not his eye from the righteous To the same purpose is that expression Deut. 33. 3. Yoa he loved the People all his Saints are in thy hand That which we dearly love and prize above ordinary we keep in our own hands for its security as not thinking it safe enough in any other hand or place And once more Isa. 49. 16. God is said to engrave them upon the Palms of his Hands alluding to what is customary among men who when they would charge their memories with something of special concernment use to change a Ring or bind a Thred about the Finger to put them in mind of it Thus is the care of our God expressed to us in Scripture notions The amount of all which is given us in that one proper and full expression of the Apostle 1 Pet. 5. 7. He careth for you To open this Chamber of Divine care as a place of sweetest rest to our anxious and perplexed minds in times of difficulty and hazard it will be necessary that you seriously ponder Of the care of God 1. The Grounds and Reasons 2. The Extent and Compass 3. The Lovely Properties 1. The grounds and reasons of Gods care for his people which are 1. The strict and dear Relations in which he is pleased to own them Believers are his children and you know how naturally children engage and draw forth the Fathers care for them This is the argument Christ uses Matth. 6. 31 32. Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat Or what shall we drink Or wherewithal shall we be cloathed For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Children especially when young disquiet not themselves about provions for back or belly but leave that to the care of their Parents from whom by the tye and Bonds of Nature and Love they expect provision for all those wants Every one takes care for his own much more doth God for his own Children and indeed he expects his children should live upon his care as our children in their minority do upon ours 2. Gods precious estimation and value of them engages his constant care for them Believers are his Jewels Mal. 3. 17. his peculiar people 1 Pet. 2. 6. his special portion or treasure in this world Deut. 32. 9. and as such he prizes and esteems them above all the people of the earth and accordingly exerciseth his special care in all the dangers they are here exposed to Special love engageth peculiar care 3. The dangers and fears of the people of God in this world are many and great and were it not for the Lords assiduous and tender care over them they must necessarily be ruined both in soul and body by them The Church is God's Vineyard its Enemies as so many wild Boars to root it up Upon this account he saith Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day And indeed it is well for Israel that he that keepeth it never slumbereth nor sleepeth Psal. 121. 4. that our houses are in peace that we and our dear relations fall not as a prey into cruel and bloody hands skilful to destroy that we find any rest or comfort in so evil and dangerous a world it is wholly and only to be ascribed to the care of God over us and ours 4. Jesus Christ hath solemnly recommended
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
Now do your worst we are out of your reach and above all your terrors and affrights Be advised then to sit close to this work clear but this point once and the worst is past O lye at the feet of God night and day give him no rest take no denial from him fill thy mouth with pleas and arguments tell him Lord it is neither for Corn nor Wine that I seek thee but only for thy love bestow thy other gifts upon whom thou wilt only seal up thy love to my soul. And Lastly I advise thee Reader to be exceeding careful when God admits thee into the sense of his love to shut the door behind thee lest thy soul be soon expelled thence by the subtlety of Satan who envies nothing more than such an happiness as this that envious Spirit totally despairs of the least drop of such a mercy and therefore swells with envy at thine enjoyment of it but if ever thou fasten thy hand of faith upon this mercy loose not thy hold by every objection with which he will rap thy fingers 1. If he object the many sharp afflictions and manifold rods of God upon thee call not the Love of God in question for that but remember what â—he saith Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Fatherly Corrections are so far from being inconsistent with the love of God that his love is rather questionable without them than for them they are love tokens not marks of hatred 2. Yield not up thy claim and title to the love of God because he sometimes hides away his face from thee thou knowest the sun is up and going on in its regular course in the darkest and closest day My God my God saith Christ himself Why hast thou forsaken me believe he is still thy God and his love immutable when the sense and manifestations thereof do fail 3. Call not the Love of God into question because of thy great vileness and unworthiness say not when thou most loathest thy self God must needs loath thee too he can love where thou loathest Return return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee what will ye see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two armies The Spouse was exceeding beautiful in the eyes of others when most base and vile in her own What would you see in the Shulamite alas there is nothing in me at the best but Conflicts and Wars betwixt Grace and Corruption as it were betwixt two Armies Cant. 6. 13. 4. Quit not thy claim to the Love of God because he seems to shut out thy Prayers and delays to answer the long continued desires and importunities of thy soul in some cases David would neither censure his God no nor call in question his interest in him because of such a delay and silence Psal. 22. 1 2. My God my God The claim is doubled ver 1. and yet in the next breath he saith I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent Thus I have offered you some advice and assistance how to secure your selves in these Divine Attributes viz. The Power Wisdom Faithfulness Unchangeableness Care and Love of God as in so many Sanctuaries and comfortable Refuges in the days of Common Calamity It is noted even of the Egyptians when the storm of Hail was coming upon the Land Exod. 9. 20. He that feared the Word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses Let not an Egyptian take more care of his Beasts than Christians of their Souls Stormy days are coming God hath provided you a Refuge and given you seasonable Praemonitions and Calls from Heaven to hasten into them before Desolations come The Lord help us to hear his Calls and comply with them which will be as much our Priviledge as it is our Duty And so much of the Fifth Proposition viz. That God's Attributes Promises and Providences are prepared for the security of his people in the greatest distresses that befal them in the world PROPOSITION VI. That none but God's own People are taken into these Chambers of Security or can expect his special Protection in Evil Times SECT I. THis Proposition describes and clears the qualified subject of this Priviledge God's own People and none but such can warrantably claim special protection in evil times and this is consonant to the current account of Scripture Isa. 3. 10 11. Say ye unto the righteous it shall be well with him Wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him He speaks concerning the day of Ierusalem's ruin and Iudah's fall as appears ver 8. So great a difference will God make even in this world betwixt the righteous and the wicked In Nah. 1. you have also a terrible day described wherein Bashan Carmel and Lebanon the most pleasant and fruitful places of the land shall languish ver 4. The mountains shall quake the hills melt the earth and those that dwell therein burnt up ver 5. The indignation and fury of God poured out like fire v. 6. The priviledged people in this terrible day are God's own people they only are taken into security ver 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him i. e. he so knoweth them as to care and provide for them in that evil day and so throughout the whole Scripture you shall find the Promises of protection still made to the people of God When the Chaldean Army like a devouring fire was ready to seize upon the Land the sinners in Sion were afraid fearfulness surprised the hypocrites for who among us say they shall dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burning Yes saith God some there are that shall abide that day viz. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks i. e. God will be a sanctuary to them when others shall be as stubble before the flames Isa. 33. 14 15 16. But for the right stating of this Proposition three things must be heedfully adverted 1. That all good men are not always exempted from the stroke of outward Calamities in that sense the righteous may perish and merciful men be taken away yea they may perish in love and be taken away in mercy from the evil to come Isa. 57. 1. 2. Mica 7. 1 2. 2. That all wicked men are not all always exposed to external miseries but a just man may perish in his righteousness and a wicked man prolong his life in his wickedness Eccles. 7. 15. 3. But in this sense we are to understand the Proposition That none but the people of God have right by promise to his special protections in evil days and that all such shall either be preserved from the stroke of calamities or from the deadly sting namely Eternal Ruin by them