draw never so much yet the well is deep and there is as much as ever was O the bottomless goodness of God! O the inexhaustible fountain of Divine perfection No heart is able to fathom or contain it Demonstration Q But how comes God to be the Saints portion First it flows from Gods free donation God hath given himself to his Saints That is properly a mans portion that his father gives him Now because God can give no greater good then himself therefore he gives himself to his Saints God is their Father and they must have a portion from him and God cannot think any thing below himself a portion for them He can give the world to his enemies I but he gives himself to his children Hence it is said that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 and the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself Psal 135.4 even as a man takes a child and adopts him makes him his own and then gives him a portion so doth God 1 John 3.1 and Rom. 8.17 Now what is the inheritance but God himself Nothing below God is the inheritance of Christ who is the Son and nothing less then God is the inheritance of Saints who are Gods younger children but this is not by humane purchase but by Divine gift For alass all the gold silver in the world is not to be weighed against God as a sufficient price All the nations of the earth are but as a drop in the bucket and as the dust in the ballance Nay as nothing and counted to him less then nothing No this is an inheritance not to be bought by any finite price Nay whatever thou valuest the most yet comes infinitely short of a sufficient price Wert thou more righteous then the Angels or Adam in innocency yet all thy good works would not bring thee in a ray of Divine glory by way of merit Why else had not the Apostate Angels and Adam in innocency the presence of God for their sustentation to keep them from falling but to evidence this truth that mans righteousness cannot purchase the enjoyment of God 2. This flows from a Saints self-denying resignation A true Saint denyes himself in all but God and to him he resigns up himself Self-denial outs a man of all earthly goods in point of affection and affiance and carries him to God alone for sustenance content and comfort So Psal 73.25 A true Christian dare not own any thing as his All but God He hath a true right to all that he enjoys as to use but he doth not account it as his portion No he resigns himself to God as his life and All So David Psal 27.1 God is my life i. e. I live upon God and have all in him I betake my self wholly to him and to him only So Psal 62.1 the word rendred truly signifies only i. e. I betake my self to God alone I go no whither else and the truth is none but a true Christian knows the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of God and therefore he alone lets all go for God Those things which are the wordlings gain a Saint accounts loss for God now when a man hath thus outed himself of All for God he would have nothing at all to live upon if he did not fix on God as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15.19 If our hopes were in this life we were of all men the most miserable What to loose earth and heaven together To deny a mans self in all worldly advantages and not to have a God to lay hold on This is most sad No therefore the Christian is so wise as to make an happy exchange to forsake all for God and having forsaken all for God God takes him to himself Hence is that gratious promise Hos 14.3 The fatherless shall find mercy God is the portion of none but spiritual Orphans he becomes guardian to none other Mercy in God supposes misery in the creature Now when the soul becomes the most wretched and miserable in its own sense then it is an object of mercy Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of God 3. God is a Saints portion by way of fruition he enjoys God truly here and fully hereafter God is not only round about his people as their wall of protection but he is in their hearts as their life and well-head of eternal comfort and satisfaction 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him There is a mutual inhabitation they dwell each in other and so enjoy one another So vast is the soul of man that nothing but God can fill it and therefore God dwells in a Saint so immense and incomprehensible are the dimensions of God that nothing is able to hold them and therefore a Saint must enter into and dwell in God Hence is that prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 3.19 that they might be filled with all the fulness of Christ So that of our Saviour Matt. 25.21 The more an earthly portion dwells and lodgeth in the heart the more it sinks and destroyes the man but this is our life and salvation our glory and our heaven to be full of God Gods indwelling in the soul is its resurrection and exaltation Esay 57.15 16. Now for the right understanding hereof you must know that this indwelling of God in the soul is not essentially as the God-head dwelt in the humane nature of Christ and made up one person but mystical and spiritual 1. By lively impression 2. By gratious influx First God dwells in the heart by lively impression God stamps his own image upon the heart and so lives in it as the father lives in his child a soul conform'd to God is a soul full of God Then is the soul taken up into the life and light of God when it is made like to God holy as he is holy Then God lives in the heart when a spirit of holiness is planted in the heart and when the lines of his glory are drawn upon it so saith the Apostle 1 John 4.12 16. God is love The love of God is his image he that loveth truly and sincerely he dwelleth in God and God in him There are some that dream of an immediate vision of God they see him in his Essence but saith John No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and we in him i. e. If the image of Divine glory be enstampt uppon our hearts and appears in its lively acts of grace and goodness love and sweetness then have we true and close communion and fellowship with the Father So 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another This is to see God know him and enjoy him for the soul to be made like to him transformation of the soul into Divine similitude gives it the fullest enjoyment
his hellish temptations God will bring him out with an holy triumph Hence is that of Psal 5.11 12. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield The Hebrew word signifies thou wilt crown him with a shield Some think that the Prophet alludes to a custome of the Athenians who were wont if a Soldier brought his Shield with him out of the battel safe and whole although he lost his Sword to lay his Shield upon his head and with that as with a Diadem to crown him He that holds fast the shield of Faith in an hour of temptation shall wear it on his head as his crown The trial of a Christians faith which is much more precious then of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire shall be found unto praise honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 And hence is that of the Apostle I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith and from henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Thus I have opened the Doctrine and shewed you what relief flows from God to his people both when their flesh fails and when their heart fails 1. When the natural faculties of the Soul fail 2. When the infused habits of the Soul fail and 3. When the animal Spirits fail Now I will give you the grounds and Reasons thereof Reas 1. Taken from that near relation that is between God and good men He is their Father and they his Children he is their Husband and they his Wife Now this double relation speaks forth that infinite love that God bears to them and special care that God hath of them God bears a love to his people not only like to the love of a Father but infinitely beyond the love of a Father the love of a Father to his Child is but a dark resemblance of the love of God to his Children and therefore as God out-loves all Parents so he out-does all Parents His love is the love of an infinite Father and therefore knows no bounds either of time or measure and his relief is proportionable to his love Relief wrought by an Almighty arm See this clearly held forth Jer. 31.9 I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in straaight way wherein they shall not stumble And why for I am a father unto Israel and Ephraim is my first-born Divine Paternity is one main ground of a Saints relief This is the reason why he will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble because he is their Father You know what dear and tender affection a good Father beareth to his Children especially to his first-born All the Childs wants weakness and grief are a trouble and grief to the Father Much more is God affected with the faintings and failings of his Children So Es 63.8 9. He said surely they are my people so he was their Saviour In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old The Prophet alludes to the Song of Moses Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead him How doth this silly creature bestir her self when her young ones are in danger She stirs up her nest she fluttereth over her young and spreadeth abroad her wings And if all this will not secure them she takes them up and bears them upon her wings But how much more will God who is the fountain of such a disposition in his creature bestir himself and put forth his Almighty arm for the relief of his dear ones He will bear them upon the wing of his providence and carry them out of all danger Satan shall not make a prey of them If any thing will draw forth the bowels of a creature the same will draw forth the bowels of God yea much more Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the Spirit Alas the love of the Creature is but a drop in comparison of the love of God and therefore there must needs be more life and vigour in the love of God then in the love of all creatures As there is more heat in the body of the Sun then in all its raies were they all contracted into one ray so it is here And therefore if an earthly creature be so apt to tender the good and welfare of those that belong to it what propensity is there in the heart of God to relieve his people when they are in any straights Many an Orphan sits down and weeps over himself in his calamity and thus bemoans his condition If my Father were alive he would not see me want he would pity and relieve me in my sad condition Why Beloved there is never a child of God that needs put finger in the eye in this respect for your Father is alive he lives for ever he is an everlasting Father and as our Text saith A portion for ever And as he is a tender Father so he is a kind Husband So Es 54.5 For thy maker is thine Husband Though he will not relieve and help men because he is their maker yet he will relieve and help all those to whom he is an Husband As long as marriage Covenant holds God will take the care of his Spouse in sickness as well as in health in poverty as in riches in weakness as in strength Nay as a good Husband is most tender over his Wife in the time of her weakness and sickness even so is God to his Spouse she shall want nothing that an Almighty hand can provide for her Reas 2. Taken from Gods design in all his peoples straights and necessities God lets them fall into straights that he may have the glory of their relief Whatever hand brings them in it is a divine hand that must bring them out We may say of all a Christians troubles and failings both of Flesh and Spirit as our Saviour said of Lazarus his death John 11.4 This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Lazarus must die yea and be buried also that Christ might have the glory of his resurrection and that after he had been dead four daies His sickness was unto death but not to death eternal for he had a speedy resurrection that made his death but a trance or a long sleep Happy Lazarus as one saith though sick and
strength It was a saying of Luther He that most strongly trusts to Gods assistance he most surely defends himself And I find it written of S. Augustin that after his first conversion to the faith he was grievously vexed with inward conflicts against his corrupt affections and after long strugling with them by a self-strength which he found too weak to overcome and musing what to do more he heard a voice saying in te stas non stas thou standest in thy self and therefore dost not stand Whereupon apprehending that a self-strength could not mortifie and conquer his corruptions he betook himself to the rock of his strength and at last found such inward assistance thereby as made him stand his ground and overcome his enemies And this is according to Holy Writ as you may see Ephes 6.10 12. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities c. i.e. If you would be able to encounter with your spiritual adversaries and to stand your ground you must rest upon the rock of your strength you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Fides sit tecum tecum est Deus in tribulatione Aug. in Psal 90 Have faith with thee and God is with thee And know this that the strength of sin and Satan could never match the strength of God and hence it is that the people of God have ever conquered both sin and Satan at the last and are able to say as Paul thanks be to God that giveth us the victory 1 Cor. 15. 2 Cor. 2. and causeth us to triumph And what though a Christian is beset with corporal enemies yet if he do but set faith on work he shall find strength coming from the rock of his strength to bear him up against them And hence is that of David Psal 56.3 at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee The flesh will have its work in a good man and stir up passions of fear and grief when danger is near I but these shall not get the upper hand if faith be set on work and therefore saith David at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee And as it overcomes our fears so it overcomes our dangers too for it carries the soul to the rock of strength to help us against them Most full is that of Asa 2 Chron. 14.8 9 10 usque fin The like you have 2 Chron. 20.12 13 15 Judges 7.14 Psal 118.6 7 to the 14 David to Goliah 1 Sam. 17.45 This is the first branch of the use Secondly Is God the rock of your strength then give God the glory of your strength Take heed of robbing God that you may sacrifice to your selves but as you have the comfort so let him have the glory 1. By due acknowledgements say in your hearts and with your tongues all my strength is from God and all my strength is in God and God is the rock of my strength Thus doth David Psal 18.32 It is God that girdeth me with strength Psal 27.1 Psal 28 7 8. and he exhorts others thereunto Psal 68.34 2. By a frequent reviewing and recording your experience of heart-strengthening influences call to mind and take special notice of the incomes of strength from God A Christian should be Gods Notary and his heart a book of Records wherein all the memorable incomes of God are written down He that seeth not what God hath done for him will never give God the praise of his doings and he that buries Gods works in forgetfulness makes God a looser by his gains Hence it is that David rouses up his soul and all within him and lays that charge upon himself Psal 103.2 Forget not all his benefits He that will give God the glory of a mercy must shew it written first upon his heart the heart is the first mover in a man all a mans members are but the Organs of the soul that sets them all on work the tongue will sing and praise God when the heart dictates to it and stirs it up now unless a mans memory be active and his understanding quick in reviewing and calling to mind the incomes of God the heart will lie dead and never stir 3. By imploying your strength for God that God may have his own returned with advantage This is Gods end in giving you strength that you may work for him Oh take heed of a sloathful idle spirit for this is to bury your talent in the earth of sensuality and vanity and hence it is that Paul admonishes Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him and not to neglect it 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 This is also his charge upon the Romans Rom. 12.12 an unactive strong Christian is as unprofitable as he that hath no strength and an unprofitable servant is in great danger of five evils 1. Of the loss of Gods comforting presence 2. Of the loss of Gods assisting presence for a time 3. Of falling into some powerful temptation So David fell 4. Of corrupting thy heart 5. Of an abatement of thy strength First Of the loss of Gods comforting presence He that doth not draw nigh to God in duty shall not find God nigh to him in comfort Can any idle servant expect the favour of his Master and a reward at night when as he hath loytred all the day No more may idle unactive Christians How canst thou expect a smile from God or any manifestation of love that spendest thy most precious time and strength in the service of another Master as the withdrawing of Gods quickening presence lays the soul up that it grows dull and heavy so a dull and dead Spirit unto Holy Service oftentimes causeth God to withdraw his comforting presence You have both in one verse Esay 64.7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities The reason why they were so dead and unactive that they stirred not up themselves to take hold on God was because God had hid his face from them and the reason of Gods hiding his face from them was for their iniquities sins of omission as well as of commission Little do Christians think what they loose when they neglect an opportunity of calling upon Gods name seeking Gods face hearing of his word and putting their graces upon exercises Why they loose the comforts of God that are to be enjoyed in those exercises the least ray and drop of which are more to be prized then the whole world God never hides his face so soon and so long from a Christian as when he withdraws his hand from Holy work As Apostasie from God and his ways causeth a total rejection God turns his back upon that man that withdraws from him so a deadness and dulness in the
it i. e. he convinceth a Christian of the greatness and heinousness of the sin It is possible for a Christian that is sound and upright in the main to have so great a failing in his Will that for a time he may but jog on in the way of God that other Christians outstrip him far that set out long after him and yet he may be very insensible thereof until God is pleased to strike a dart of spiritual conviction through his very heart and this wakens and rouzes him up and makes him bestir himself and consider where he is and what he hath been doing all this while A clear place for this you have Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying open to me my sister This is the ingenuous confession of the Church wherein she acknowledgeth that carnal deadness and security that had overtaken her I sleep or I have been asleep Now a Christian never sleeps spiritually or in a spiritual sense but when his Will flags and fails when that falls to a kind of indifferency or is not strongly bent and inclined but grows cold and dead which is the symptome of a sleepy man I but did Christ suffer his Spouse to lie in this sleepy state No! See how he awakens and rouzes her up he calls to her and bids her open to him whereby he let in a beam of divine light and convinc'd her of her sin and this was the first step to her cure this made her open her eyes as when a man awakes out of sleep he first opens his eyes and then he rises So 't is with a sleepy and dull Christian God's first work upon him is to open his eyes that he may see his sin and be affected with it and this will make him stir O beloved it may be you do not know the evil that is in a sleepy estate the sin that is inindifferency and halting in the waies of God and in the weakness of your Resolution to walk therein you take little notice it may be of the coldness and deadness of your hearts unto holy duties or of the fickleness and inconstancy of your Spirits in them but at one time or other you must expect a Soul-awakening voice that will make you open your eyes and then you will see how great a sin it is What though thou dost not cast off the waies of God yet this heartlessness in them is sin enough if God should charge thee with it to sink thy Soul as low as Hell Secondly God cures this sleeping evil by reviving and renewing the inscription and impression of Divine Law upon the heart A good man never grows dull and dead but when Divine Law is not in its full strength and power upon the heart As this is a means of divine life so it is a restorer and renewer of life When the heart is exceeding dead and indisposed to any thing that is good this can quicken it and hence is that of David Psal 119.93 It is a blessed thing for a dead and dull heart to be quickned unto and in the way of God But this will not be unless the word of God come with life and power upon the heart And this effect is worth remembring and a good man will say with David I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me It may be thou goest to read or hear the word with a dead and dull Spirit and by that God quickens thee Oh remember it and never forget it It was a great and wonderful mercy to thee that God did write his Law upon thy heart when he first brought thee under the bond of his everlasting Covenant and then bowed and inclined thy heart to a ready and free obedience thereunto It was a day of power when he made thee willing to take his yoak upon thee And it is a great mercy that he is pleased to revive and renew the characters of this divine and heavenly Law upon thy Spirit when they seemed to be obliterated and blotted out when thou hadst almost lost the power and life thereof upon thy Spirit that there was little stirring or moving in thy Will towards Heaven God deals with a Christian as a man deals with his Watch when it goeth dull and begins to beat slowly he gets the Spring which is the principle of its motion mended and renewed So when the heart of man grows dull and heavie his motions very cold and dead unto any good God mends and renews the Will which is the spring and principle of motion in the heart and for that end he sets Divine Law and will to work upon it When God's Will moves upon our Will then 't is quick and liuely in its motions towards God not else if that be dead towards him the man is dead to any thing that is good I know the Law as it is a Covenant of Works is a killing Instrument it slew Saint Paul and laid him a bleeding before God but as it is a Covenant of Grace so it is a quickning Instrument and sets the Soul a going after God in the use of those means which he hath appointed 3. Sometimes God cures this sad distemper by shedding his love abroad upon the heart Divine Love is both a heart-quickner and a heart-in-flamer We saith the Apostle love him because he loved us first 1 Jo. 4.19 Our love is but the reflex of his Gods love to us is founded in it self He loves because he will love but our love to God is founded on his love Nothing in us moved him to love us but God's love to us moves us to love him and therefore it is that as God manifests his love to us so we are able to love him The love of Christ constraineth us 1 Cor. 5.17 As when the Sun shineth then Flowers open so when the love of God shines upon the Soul it opens to God then the Heart is enlarged for God the Will is carried out with high resolutions to follow him fully in all the waies of his commands As the hiding of Gods face is a great damp upon the Spirit that makes it drive on very heavily in the way of God so the shining of his face is a notable quickner of the Spirit it is like oil to the wheel that helps on the motion with greater ease When once a Soul hath tasted the love of God and got some sense thereof the pulse of holy desires will begin to beat strong after the enjoyment of him it is impossible for a Christian to remain dead under the warm beams of this most glorious Sun It is very observable that no sooner did God call to Israel to return with a gracious promise of healing their backslidings and of pardoning their iniquities But they answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Though their Hearts were turned even quite away from God and their Wills exceeding averse from
by a suitable dispensation and to remember us when we forget him 3. Sometimes God supplies the want of a good memory by a mighty and efficacious blessing of his Holy Spirit so that there is much conveyed into the heart to better that little that is retained in the head A good work may be wrought upon the heart when very few words that are delivered by the Preacher are remembred The word sometimes passes through the soul and leaves a sweet savour behind it although it stayeth not It may be a poor soul goeth to hear a Sermon and upon his return would think he had lost all his pains were it not for this that he hath felt the power and efficacy of the Spirit of God upon his heart to do him good and for this he blesseth God He finds his heart quickned or melted or established in the faith and this is better to him than if he had it all by heart without such gratious effects 'T is good to remember what you hear but 't is better to be what you hear when it may be said of you as our Saviour of his Disciples Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken to you John 15.3 As a sieve will not hold the water that is put into it yet is washed and cleansed by it even thus it is with some hearers though they can retain nothing of the expression of the word yet they are cleansed by the lively and efficacious impression thereof Beloved I speak not this to incourage any one in careless hearing and wilful neglect of retaining what they hear but for the comfort of those who when they have given all diligence in their attention yet their memory fails them in retaining what they have heard And I desire that all would take notice of this one thing that though it be the duty of all to treasure up the word in their heads yet the desire of their souls should be chiefly carried out after an impression thereof upon their hearts Head knowledge is good but heart knowledge is better To be able to repeat a Sermon is good but to live a Sermon is better And thou mayst be sure that God will inable thee to live truth in some measure although thou art not able to express the words thereof as they are delivered to thee And this shall be thy Relief in this case Thus much shall serve to shew you how Divine Relief flows in to the soul when the natural faculties thereof fail 2. Divine Relief flows in from God to the Soul of a good man when his infused habits fail and in the opening of this I must hold to my propounded method 1. I shall shew you that they may fail and how far they may fail 2. How relief flows into the Soul in this case First The infused habits of Grace and Virtue may fail There is not a Grace in a Christian but may fail at one time or other Though the state of Grace abideth alwaies yet every mans grace if any mans doth not alwaies abide in the same state A true frame of Grace shall never be destroyed but the heart of a gracious man doth not alwaies continue in the same frame The stream may not be cut off and yet there may be ebbings as well as flowings It may be low water with a Christian at some time in point of inherent grace as well as spiritual comfort He that hath the most grace may seem like him that hath the least and that in three things 1. In respect of the strength of Grace 2. In respect of the vigour and activity of Grace 3. In respect of the beauty and lustre of Grace First in respect of the strength of Grace Grace is not alwaies in the same strength Abraham was strong in Faith yet his Faith was not alwaies alike We find his Fear too strong for his Faith Abraham's Faith had ebbings and declinings Job's Patience at the first was mighty to bear and undergo his afflictions yet at some time it flagg'd Secondly Grace may fail in point of life and vigour The spiritual life of a Christian may not be alwaies lively and active Faith and love may not die and yet they may stir very little the fire of holy affections not be extinct and yet not flame The Church of Ephesus had left her first Love but she had not left off to love she loved Christ I but not as she did at first So it may be with others there may be an abatement of their love although not an extinguishment of it Thirdly Grace may fail in respect of its beauty and loveliness the beauty thereof may fade much 'T is with a Christian as 't is with a fruit-bearing tree the beauty of the tree is its leaves and fruit Now when the fruit is pluckt and the leaves fallen the beauty is gone Even so the holy fruit of a Christian is the beauty of a Christian that which renders him and his grace very lovely in the eyes of good men but when the fruit is off the tree when you see not the fruit of holiness and of spirituality growig upon him in his season the beauty of a Christian is departed from him And thus it may be with a good man for a time He that formerly acted very humbly may upon some temptation act very proudly He that once acted very self-denyingly may at another time act very self-seekingly He that formerly walked like a Saint and truly acted the part of a Saint may act not only below a Saint but below a man Such changes and varieties are found upon the most gratious frames of Spirit which the best of Saints have in this world The strength of grace may so far abate as that the strength of sin may increase The vigour and life of grace may so far abate as that little or nothing may appear but the deformity of sin Secondly What relief flows into the heart of a good man in this case God is still the strength of his heart 1. By preserving the root and principle of grace alive that would die if it were not preserved by a divine power Every Christian would cease to be gracious as well as fail in the exercise of grace if he were wholly left to himself I but Christians are kept in a state of grace by the power of God 1 Pet. 1.5 Grace in a Christian is the root of a Christian and therefore Believers are said to be rooted and grounded in love Eph. 3.17 and as the root may live when the fruit falls off nay when the trunk of the tree withers and decays that there is little life in it so it may be with a Christian I but how is this Root kept alive Why it is kept by an Almighty power Though a Christian doth not alwaies take care of his graces that they may be liuely and strong yet God doth alwaies take care that the root of grace may live he will keep that alive Divine power
will of God is the practick principle in the God-head so it is a will full of Divine light wisdom and counsel directing it in all its determinations and resolutions Hence it is that as there is not the least spot of error herein so there is not post-repentance thereof Psal 33.11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation for it is the counsel of his will or divine will joined with the highest light wisdom and reason An infinite will sparkling and shining with infinite counsel and reason and indeed the God-head it self must be divided or else a separation cannot be made between the will of God and the wisdom of God no! but as I hinted before they make up one wheel in the divine being and this is that which Divines call eternal providence It is nothing else as I humbly conceive but one eternal and undivided act of Divine Will most wisely determining and appointing all things with the most apposite means and highest end and that after a most exact order and method Ipsa ratio ordinis rerum in finem providentia in Deo nominatur 'T is true as the pre-ordained means so the pre-ordained ends are various I but the highest and ultimate end of all his plots and contrivances workings and administrations is the glorifying and exalting the riches of his Essential Glory This I say is the supream end the end of ends the Corner Stone whereon all the designs and purposes of God do lean and the mark at which they are levelled All other ends though co-ordained with this do strike sail to this and in this respect are but as means appointed to effect it For God being the first and the last the highest being and the best good must needs be the highest and the ultimate end of all his own counsels And that in two respects 1. In respect of his Philantie or self-love which is above all that love that he bears to any other being Great is his love to the man Christ Jesus So John 5.20 The Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth and he will shew him greater works that ye may marvel I but though his love to Christ be thus great yet not so great as that which he beareth to himself nay take all that Love which he expresseth to all beings below himself and you will find it to fall abundantly short of that love which is in God to himself For all Divine Acts are proportioned to their objects and diversified by them that love which God bears to a created being is proportioned to such a being and that love that God beareth to himself is proportioned to himself as he is an uncreated and an infinite being Now as there is a vast disproportion between a created and an uncreated a finite and an infinite being so there is a vast disproportion between the love that God hath for the one and that which he hath for the other he being the highest being must needs love himself with the highest love and therefore cannot but propose himself and his own glory as his highest end For else he should express greater love to a creature then to himself to a less good then to the best good But again 2. It must needs be so in respect of the nature of an end especially of the highest end For this lieth in two things 1. In terminating the act 2. In so doing to give rest to the agent For as the end gives a beginning to the act by drawing forth the agent So the agent is carried on to the attaining of that end and cannot rest until that be accomplished the truth is the work is never perfect but in that and there is no rest but in that Now I beseech you tell me what is there in any being below the supream that may be the highest end in these two respects For can it be imagined that a less good can draw forth God to act when as there is a greater Surely no and therefore he being the highest and the best good must needs be the highest and ultimate end of all his counsels determinations and workings for in himself and his own glory 1. His work is perfected And 2. He himself hath content rest and satisfaction Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats saith God Psal 50.13 No! but offer unto God thanksgiving This this is the joy and delight of his heart Thus we have given a dispatch to the first consideration of this Divine wheel Secondly Consider the motion thereof and you will find that an admirable being hath an admirable motion And therefore it is represented to us by a Wheel in the middle of a Wheel noting out the intensness of its motion As 't is said of Elias that he prayed in prayer i. e. he was intense in prayer So a Wheel in the middle of a Wheel notes the intensness of its motion it hath heat and fervour in it which makes its motion quick and powerful and is an argument of its supereminent excellency and incomparable use 't is true creature motions are sometimes too intense and therefore do miscarry and are of dreadful consequence I but that proceeds from their irregularity and disorder Zeal is good in a good act I but if it be not regulated and ordered by a Divine Light and an Holy prudence it puts the agent upon a great hazard of miscarrying therein As a ship is never in greater danger then when her sails are spread fill'd with a strong gust of wind and her self upon the greatest speed in case that she be not well ballast or wants a skilful Pilot. I but though it be thus oft-times in creature motions yet 't is not so in the Divine For in these there are not only heat but light And therefore in Sacred Writ there is frequent mention made of the eyes of the Lord. So 2 Chron. 16.9 Zech. 4.10 The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth Noting out that all the motions of this internal and Divine Wheel are luminous motions full of light as 't is always in motion full of activity vigour and life so it is admirably regular in its motions it turns and rolls in a streight line When the eyes of this wheel look various ways yet the wheel carries on one design I say this one wheel in the middle of a wheel is all light all eye And therefore there can be no miscarriage in its motion No! as its determinations so all its motions are regular and and orderly This is that which Divines call actual providence which differs from eternal no otherwise then execution from determination Eternal providence is as the head and actual providence is as the hand Actual providence is the evidence of eternal 't is the breaking up of Divine Counsel But you must note this that eternal providence did not cease to be when actual providence first
interest in God And therefore do not conclude against thy self for though thy hand of faith be grown so weak that it can't take fast hold on God yet Gods hand is strong and that will hold thee fast So saith the Prophet nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand vers 23. God held him fast when he was ready to drop from God He had lost the sense of his interest in God I but his interest in God was not lost God was his God though he did not know it And so God may be thine thou mayst have a sure interest in him although thou canst not find the prints of Gods feet in thy soul nor trace him in his ways of goodness towards thee And know this that it is better for thee to have an interest in God although thou knowest it not then to have strong presumptions and be deceived The want of sense and feeling of our interest in God is no sin though it be a great affliction Christ himself was without sense I he was so deep in it that when he was upon the cross he cried out Why hast thou forsaken me I but a groundless presumption is a sin and leads to eternal ruine None ever perished for want of faith of evidence but hundreds perish for want of faith of adherence Oh blessed is the man who believes and sees not that can say with Job Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Though my flesh fails and my heart fails yet I will believe that he is my strength and portion for ever Thus I have answered this case and so made way to application Vse 1. Hence we may infer the sad and woful condition of those who have no interest in God for they that have no interest in God can expect no relief from God in a time of necessity Wicked men have their failings their flesh fails them sometimes and their hearts fail them but no relief comes from God at those times Of all men they are most to be pityed for there is no help no relief for them If I be wicked saith Job woe unto me Job 10.15 i. e. If I be wicked I can expect no mercy no comfort from God Nay hear what God saith himself to such Esay 65.13 Therefore thus saith the Lord behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall bowl for vexation of spirit The meaning is God will not afford them any comfort or relief in times of distress When God invites his own servants to feast with him they must be shut out And if God helps not who can No without me ye shall bow down saith God Esay 10.3 The wounds of the wicked are desperate wounds there is no cure for them Mark that of Job for what portion is there from above and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity The latter verse is an answer to the former and the sense is this all the portion and inheritance that the wicked can have from God above is destruction and a strange punishment Job 20.2 3. God is the strength and portion of a godly man when his flesh and heart fails him but the wicked have no other portion from God then utter destruction a strange punishment So Job 20.27 28 29. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity and the earth shall rise up against him the increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage appointed to him by God Here is heaven and earth set against him the heavens shall reveal his sin and the earth shall punish him for his sin But is there no relief for him in God No This is the portion of a wicked man from God The case of such a man must needs be very black and dismal when heaven and earth and all the creatures therein are armed against him and mustred up by a Divine Hand Where can he have any relief then If God were for thee 't is no matter what sets it self against thee But if God be against thee 't is no matter what is for thee it will not help thee If misery and destruction be all the portion that God will allow thee there is nothing then can save thee If this be all thou hast to live upon to eternity thou wilt have a miserable living of it Vse 2. Hence all those that have interest in God may fetch comfort here is a well out of which all good men may draw the water of consolation with joy And what can afford greater comfort to you then this Doctrine doth that divine relief shall be administred unto you in time of your necessity when your flesh fails and your heart fails God will be the strength of your heart It is a great comfort to a Merchant-adventurer to have an assurance from the Ensuring Office that his Adventure at Sea shall be made good to him in case the Ship miscarries Even so it may be to a childe of God to have an assurance given him that if all fails him without and within he shall have relief from God Why this Text and Doctrine gives thee an assurance hereof and therefore as Job said hear it diligently and let it be your consolation You may take comfort in your greatest discomforts that you shall have comfort If there be enough in God to relieve and help you you shall not want relief Obj. But the doubting Christian may say I could take comfort in this truth had I not walked so unworthy of that former relief I have received from God I can truly say the Lord hath magnified the riches of his grace upon me but I have abused it and it may be just with him to cast me off for ever He hath helped me when I was in a low condition he hath strengthened me when I was in a weak state but I have not made suitable returns thereunto and therefore how can I expect relief Ans Now to such I have five things to say 1. The unsuitableness of a believer to and his unworthiness of relief cannot stop the current thereof As divine relief is not administred to us upon the account of our worthiness as if we did merit it so our unworthiness of it nor unsuitableness to it shall not prevent it Thy miscarriages may cause God to correct thee with failing of thy flesh and of thy heart but cannot cause God to cast thee off if thou hast an interest in him No that love that moves him to correct thee for thy good will also move him to relieve thee when thou art under the rod of correction
A most full place for proof of this you have Psal 106.43 44 45. Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsels and were brought low for their iniquity Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry And he remembred for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies Here is the case First God afforded them relief He had many times delivered them Secondly Here is their unanswerableness to that mercy They provoked him with their counsels Thirdly Although they did deserve to be cast off yet God did not cast them off but as a father corrects his child whom he loves so did the Lord correct them He brought them low for their iniquity Fourthly Did he leave them then No. He regarded their affliction when he heard their cry And why was all this He remembred for them his covenant God did not eye their tempers so much as their interest nor the frame of their Spirits or carriage towards him as his Covenant made to them The unworthiness of a Christian comes and pleads against the Souls relief in time of necessity yet Gods Covenant will carry the day for it And though a Christian may have too much forgotten God yet God cannot forget his Covenant 2. There is nothing more unbecoming a Christian then to doubt of divine relief after experience had thereof Thy other miscarriages and failings may seem worse in the eye of men but nothing seems worse in the eye of God then unbelief There is no sin as one observes so often and so properly called a provocation as unbelief is It may be thou thinkest it but thy modesty and humility to make question or to doubt of thy relief from God and thou art afraid to rest upon God for it in a time of need I but thou little imaginest what thou dost herein Why hereby thou provokest God So you may see Deut. 9.7 8. Remember and forget not how thou provrkedst the Lord thy God Also in Hereb ye provoked the Lord. Now how was that You may see Exod. 17.6 7. Behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb c. And thou shalt smite the rock c. And he called the place Massah and Meribah temptation and strife because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying Is the Lord among us or not They doubted of relief from God in the want of water and hereby they tempted and provoked him Obj. But it may be thou wilt say Israels sin lay chiefly in doubting of Gods power I but I do not doubt of the power of God I know God can do all things and nothing is impossible to him All my doubt is about the will of God for though he can do all he will do yet God will not do all he can Ans Now to this I answer To doubt of Gods will in reference to those things which he hath promised to do is as great a sin as to doubt of Gods power for herein thou callest the faithfulness of God into question and makest him that is truth it self a liar and therefore this must needs be a provoking sin Nay further the attributes of God are so linked together as that no man sins against one through unbelief but he sins against all As he that breaks one command of God breaks all So he that tempts God in one tempts God in all He that doubts of the will of God revealed in a promise doth implicitely doubt of the power of God which is engaged for the performance of it 3. Confidence in God for relief before thou standest in need thereof is a notable help to the exercise of faith in a time of need He that distrusteth God when he is full will hardly trust in God when he is in want I know that many will say they believe in God when all things go well with them and yet when faith is put to a trial indeed they discover that they have little or no faith in them but he that shrinks before the trial comes will hardly hold out in the trial It is not an easie matter to raise thy Soul unto a believing frame it is not done in an instant there must be a daily exercise thereof It is good for us to put faith to its trial before God puts us upon trial that we may have some guess at the strength of our faith When a Christian by dayly exercise hath enured himself to live the life of faith and to cast doubts out of his spirit he can with greater ease live by faith when he hath nothing else to live upon When a Christian can truly say I have trusted God many years and he hath not forsaken me he will be apt to say Shall I distrust him now when my condition calls more for his help then hitherto it hath done I know whom I have believed saith S. Paul and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him 2 Tim. 1.12 Paul doth not say I know whom I do believe but whom I have believed he had maintained the life of faith by a continued exercise thereof and therefore was the more confident of relief from God in a time of need 4. Though through thy miscarriages thou hast rendered thy self unworthy of relief in time of need yet God is most worthy to be trusted for relief Though thou dost not deserve relief at his hands yet he deserves thy trusting in him To trust in God is a duty that all men owe to God As all men are bound to love God and to fear him so they are bound to trust in him And God deserves this trust He and he alone ought to be the sole foundation of every mans confidence but especially of those who have had experience of him It is common for one man to say of another that is tried and found faithful he is worthy to be trusted much more is God He hath bought thy confidence with the price of many mercies and shall God lose his purchase this would be an act of injustice to him And therefore say within thy heart though I am not worthy of relief from God yet because he is most worthy to be trusted in I will trust in him for ever 5. Though thou hast abused relieving mercy yet thou hast not sinned it out Relieving mercy is a fountain that can never be drawn dry And as thou mayest fetch new supplies of strength to help thee against miscarriages so thou mayest fetch new pardons of thy miscarriages And the speediest way to obtain a pardon is to exercise faith on God in Christ for a pardon So Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses Observe this by Christ all