me in the day of his fierce anger Dan. 9.12 Under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem yet Ezra confesseth that all that they had suffered was far less than they deserved Ezra 9.13 After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast panished us less than our iniquities deserve Our sins deserve eternal damnation Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth shall die They deserve to be punished with the loss of God and the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity 1 Thess 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity Now what are the losses and crosses that we meet with in this world compared with the eternal loss of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and with the torments of Hell that must be endured to all eternity 2. What ever we suffer for our sins we our selves are the causes of those sufferings and therefore have no reason to blame the Lord but our selves for provoking the Lord to lay such afflictions upon us Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord that led thee by the way Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou for thine affliction because thy sins were encreased have I done these things unto thee SECT 6. 6. Consider what abundance of mercy you have enjoyed in former times as well as what afflictions you under go at present this was one argument wherewith Job quieted himself and wherewith he laboured to quiet his wife when she advised him to curse God and die Job 2.10 What shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil As God in the way of his Providence intermingleth prosperity with our adversity and sets the one against the other that no man may find out any cause of complaining against the Lord Eccles 7.14 In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider God also hath set the one against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him So should we for the taking away of all occasions of murmuring under our afflictions set our mercies against our crosses our former and present mercies against our present afflictions and that will convince us that we have much cause of thankfulness but no cause to murmur under our greatest afflictions For 1. We may wonder more that God bestoweth one mercy upon us than at his sending of a thousand afflictions for we are altogether unworthy of the least of all Gods mercies Gen. 32.10 and have deserved all sorts of judgments Dan. 9.7 To us belongeth confusion of faces 2. Though we deserve all kinds of misery and no mercy yet they that have met with most and greatest afflictions if they take a view of Gods dealings with them from the day that they were born to this present time shall find that their mercies have been far more and greater than their afflictions Do we meet with some cross or other every day if we do yet the mercies of the day are greater than the crosses for God sends new mercies every day Lam. 3.23 They are new every morning We enjoy so many mercies every day that we are said to be loaded with them Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with his benefits Have our afflictions lyen long upon us Gods mercies have been of a longer date than our afflictions Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him There are intermissions in our afflictions He doth not alwayes chide Psal 103.9 but there is no intermission in Gods mercies there is not one moment all our life long but he is conveying some good things to us Isa 27.3 I will water it every moment Lam. 3.22 His compassions fail not 3. Every affliction that we meet with in this life is allayed and tempered with mercy yea the bitterest cup that ever Gods people drink of hath more of mercy than it hath of judgment Psal 145.9 His tender mercies are over all his works Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies If we consider the sharpest affliction that God lays upon his servants in their procuring cause which is sin if with the good intended by them if in the principle from which they flow which is Gods love to their souls we shall be easily convinced that there is more of mery than severity in them and so consequently that we have much cause in every thing even in every affliction to give thanks but no cause at all to murmur at the hand of the Lord. SECT 7. 7. Consider that it is the will and command of God that we should be content with such things as we have Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee It was but little which those persons possessed to whom the Apostle wrote this Epistle for they had suffered much for Christ their goods were spoiled and taken from them as we may see Heb. 10.34 yet he telleth them it was the will of God that they should be content with such things as they had If we have nothing more than food and rayment we ought to be content 1 Tim. 6.8 Having food and rayment let us be therewith content It is not said having dainty meat and rich attire let us be therewith content but having food and rayment though never so plain and mean we ought to be therewith content Though you have lost much and have very little left yet there are weighty reasons that may perswade you to be content with such things as you have As 1. Though you have very little left you have more left than you brought with you into the world and more than you can carry with you out of the world 1 Tim. 6.7 For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither 2. Though you have very little you have as much it may be more than Christ or the Apostles of Christ had when they were in the world Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in a very poor condition when he was in the world 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich He was so poor that he had not an house to dwell in Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head His diet was mean when he had nothing but barly bread and two small
and did eat of the corn of the land Josh 5.12 The Manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land The water also that came out of the rock followed them up and down in all places whereever they went to give them drink 1 Cor. 10.4 Now as it was with the Israelites whilst they were in the Wilderness so will God deal with all his servants whilst they are in the Wilderness of this world he will guard them and guide them by night and by day he will send in a suitable and seasonable supply of all their wants Isa 27.3 I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Isa 49.10 They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them When your wants are many and you know not how or which way they shall be supplyed remember what is said Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And be assured of this that God who hath been good to you will follow you with goodness and mercy as long as you live Psal 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life It may be you will say I have enough to comfort me if I were but sure that goodness and mercy should follow me all the dayes of my life but though David was sure of this it doth not follow that I may rest assured that it shall be so with me I answer They that come to and close with Jesus Christ shall be blessed with the same mercies that God bestowed upon David Isa 45.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David 5. Great calamities are oft-times followed with great mercies and this is true both as to Nations and particular persons when those Nations and persons are humbled and brought nearer to God by their afflictions Jobs afflictons were exceeding great both in respect of what he met with in his soul body name estate and relations yet God turned the captivity of Job and made his Estate more glorious and prosperous than ever Job 42.12 The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning I will instance in some mercies which God is wont to bestow upon his people either in or soon after they come out of great troubles 1. God is wont at such times to give his people greater and stronger consolations than at other times Psal 71.20,21 Thou which hast shewen me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth Thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort me on every side Psal 66.3,5,6 How terrible art thou in thy works Come and see the works of God he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men he turned the Sea into dry land they went through the flood on foot there did we rejoyce in him When God is doing terrible things he is making way for his peoples joy After David had spoken twice of Gods being terrible in his doings he adds there did we rejoyce in him In the night of affliction God puts such comforts into his peoples hearts as makes them sing for joy Job 35.10 None saith Where is God my maker who giveth songs in the night When they are deprived of outward comforts and are in a solitary straitned condition he giveth them internal and spiritual comforts Hos 2.14,15 I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her and I will give her her Vineyards from thence and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the dayes of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt When our troubles abound he causeth our consolations to abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also abounded by Christ 2. Great troubles are oft-times followed with great pourings out of the spirit and great measures of grace The Prophet Joel having foretold times of great distress Chapter 1. Chapter 2. to the 12. verse tells us what God would do for his people after those great calamities Joel 2.28 It shall come to pass afterward that I will poor out my spirit upon all flesh The Prophet Zephaniah also having foretold great judgments promiseth that they should be followed with great measures of grace Zeph. 3.8,9,13 My determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Observe now what mercies follow these judgments Then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth see also Isa 32.10,15 Many dayes and years shall be troubled until the spirit be poured upon us from on high After the Jews had been under sore troubles by their long captivity in Babylon what an encrease of grace and other choice mercies doth God promise them Ezek 36.25,26,27,28,29 3. In times of great trouble God is wont to afford his people more clear manifestations of his love and to give them more communion and fellowship with himself than at other times Zech. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire they shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say It is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God In the day time the Lord went before the Israelites in a pillar of a cloud but in the night by a pillar of fire Divers of Gods servants that are much clouded in the day of prosperity have clear and bright discoveries of Gods love to their souls in the night of adversity When the three Children were in the fiery furnace the Son of God was so evidently with them that their adversaries themselves could not but take notice of it When the Spouse was as a Lily among Thorns compassed about with sharp afflictions the Lord Jesus conversed with her in a very familiar manner He put his left hand under her and embraced her with his right hand Cant. 2.2,6 And as it is thus with particular persons so also with Nations after God hath afflicted them with great judgments he is wont to bestow upon them great mercies when his judgments lead them to repentance After Judea which was like the Garden of Eden was by Gods judgments made like a Wilderness Joel 2.3 The Inhabitants of the Land being brought to repentance
beholding the things which were done smote upon their breasts and returned We read nothing of their returning to God till the Apostle Peter came and preached the word to them and then follows a great conversion unto the Lord 3000. are added unto the Church in one day Acts 2.41 Wherefore we should esteem it a great blessing and singular mercy to be taught and instructed by God when we are under his correcting hand according to what the Psalmist saith Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law And we should readily open our ears to discipline by what wayes soever God shall be pleased to convey his minde to us God can and sometimes doth teach us immediately by his Spirit but most ordinarily he instructeth both those that are in affliction and others also in the use of means When the Apostle Paul was in great distress and at a loss to know the minde of Christ and cryed Lord What wilt thou have me to do he sent him to Ananias to be instructed what he should do Acts 9.6 God could have taught Cornelius by his Spirit or by the Angel that appeared to him but he chuseth rather to send him for instruction to one of his Ministers even to Peter who should tell him what he ought to do Acts 10.3.4.5,6 Amongst other means reading of the Scriptures and other good Books is one way whereby God seals up instruction to us Daniel was a man of singular wisdom full of the Holy Ghost greatly beloved of God yet he had not all his knowledge by immediate inspiration but much of it was given to him by the study of Books Dan. 9.2 I Daniel understood by Books At the request and for the use of some worthy Friends who were great sufferers by the late Fire I have drawn up an answer to three practical Questions concerning the said Fire the design whereof is to instruct and excite both such as escaped and such as suffered by this dreadful Fire to make an holy use and a Christian improvement of this sad and solemn Providence and also to quiet and comfort such as are troubled and cast down at the loss of their Estates The resolution of which Questions are here presented to thy view Possibly thou mayest have already something of the like nature from more able hands however if the Lord who worketh when and by whom he will shall be pleased by the reading of this small Treatise to convey the least beam of light or breath any quickning influence into thy Soul or to promote in any measure thy holiness or consolation it will be no grief of heart unto thee that thou wert at the cost to buy or at the pains to read it If thou sayest I am not concerned in this Judgment having been no sufferer by it nor any Inhabitant in the City where this Judgment fell and so consequently I am not concerned in the matter that is handled in these questions I answer 1. If thou art not a sufferer by this Fire yet art thou not under other sufferings If so there are several things hinted concerning this Affliction that may be of use to thee under thy Afflictions of what nature soever they be 2. If thou art not a sufferer by this or any other Judgment thou hast the more need to study what thou shalt render to the Lord for his great mercy in sparing thee when his hand lieth so heavy upon so many thousands at this day And then the third Question is of great concernment to thee 3. Though thou hast not suffered hitherto thou knowest not how soon thou mayest suffer by this very Judgment of Fire That passage in Isa 66.15,16 may awaken thee to prepare for fiery tryals Behold the Lord will come with Fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwinde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many And as it is our duty to hear for the time to come Isa 42.23 So it will be our prudence to read for time to come 4. Not only the places and persons that suffer by Gods Judgments but all that hear of them are concerned to make a good use of them When the Lord brought a sore Judgment upon Jerusalem he calls to all people in all Nations upon the face of the earth to take notice thereof and make a good use of it Jer. 4.18,19 Hear ye Nations and know O Congregation what is among them Hear O Earth behold I will bring evil upon this people If any say this Treatise seemeth to be born out of due time it is now several months since London was burnt the impression of this Judgment begins now to wear off from mens spirits c. I answer 1. I hope better things of the greater part that suffered by this stroke of God then that they should so soon forget the hand that hath been lifted up against them but if it should be so that the impressions of this Judgment should be wearing off from many mens spirits there is the more need of using means to revive them again It is to be feared in regard poverty is coming upon many like an armed man and the sad effects of this Fire are and will be felt more and more by the poorer sort that discontent and trouble of minde will rather grow and encrease then wear off and therefore to such at least it will not be unseasonable to minister something by way of consolation though it be some months since they were brought into a suffering condition 2. Such great Judgments as this was are to be kept in remembrance and to be improved for the promoting of repentance and the fear of God all our dayes and not only as long as we live but the memory of them is to be conveyed to the Ages and Generations that are yet to come that they may learn to fear this God who hath done such great things amongst us When there was a mighty Famine in Judah the Lord gives Commandment that the memory thereof should be perpetuated to all Ages Joel 1.3,4 Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation That which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten c. We think unworthily of Gods Judgments if we suppose they are to be regarded for a few dayes or for a few years only They are of larger use Judgments upon particular places and persons are admonitions to the whole world that hear of them as long as the world shall stand It is some thousands of years since Lots Wife was turned into a pillar of Salt yet this Judgment of God on a particular person must not be forgotten by us in this generation nor by others to the worlds end Luke 17.32 Remember Lots Wife It is generally computed to be above three thousand years
themselves in vain Psal 39.6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them If this be the nature of riches if they be like thorns deceitful things not worthy the fixing of the eye upon them c. Why should you be perplexed in your minds for the breach which God hath made upon your Estates SECT 3. 3. Consider that God hath wise and gracious and merciful ends in this dispensation and intendeth you much good by taking away your estates from you When David was robbed of all that he had and his City of refuge was burnt with fire by the Amalekites he found that this as well as his other afflictions wrought for his good Psal 119.61,71 The bands of the wicked have robbed me It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes There is much mercy to the people of God in those paths that carry the greatest appearance of severity Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies It is an unquestionable truth that God designs the doing his people good in every affliction which he layeth upon them Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good unto them that love God And if all work together for your good then also your late losses though very great shall work for your good And is it not an unreasonable thing that you should be discontented when God dealeth mercifully with you that you should be discontented when God is doing you good What though you cannot see for the present how your losses should work for your good you may see it hereafter Joh. 13.7 What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter God may have several merciful ends and design your good several wayes in taking away your estates I will hint three or four gracious ends of God in cutting of his people short in outward things in order to their spiritual good and leave it to you to judge which of these God designs in your losses 1. God sometimes diminisheth his peoples wealth because he seeth that if he should have continued them in the enjoyment of their estates it would have been for their hurt Eccles 5.13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt Riches may be hurtful several ways As 1. when they make us high-minded and rough in our speeches and carriages towards the poor This sin is very incident to rich men Prov. 18.23 The rich answereth roughly 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded 2. When they draw off our hearts from God and cause us to set them upon our riches then they prove hurtful Now the more we have of the world the more apt we are to set our hearts upon the world Psal 62.10 If riches increase set not your heart upon them 3. When they hinder our trusting in God and living by faith and we by reason of the multitude of our riches trust in them Now the more riches we have the more apt we are to trust in them Psal 52.7 But trusted in the abundance of his riches 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 4. When they fill our minds with cares and disturb our peace and this is usual with many rich men to have their minds disturbed about their estates both day and night Eccles 5.12 The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep 5. When they draw a man to or drown him in any sinful lusts as idleness sensuality pride security c. they become hurtful 1 Tim. 6.9 They that will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition Now if God foresaw that your estates would have been hurtful to you any of these wayes or any other way and thereupon took them away that they might not do you hurt you have no cause to complain but rather to be thankful If you say there is no fear that a good man should be hurt by his riches I answer Agur was a good man yet he was afraid lest riches should cause him to deny the Lord Prov. 30.8,9 Give me neither poverty nor riches lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord. Is it not better that God should deny us the enjoyment of riches than leave us in process of time to deny him 2. God sometimes diminisheth our estates and brings us low because he intendeth to call us to great sufferings even to forsake all that we have The more a man hath of the world the harder it will be to part with all that he possesseth for Christ Mar. 10.21,22 Go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions The Apostles who were poor and had but little to leave at the call of Christ immediately left all and followed him Matth. 4.20 Luke 5.28 This forsaking of all for Christ is so necessary when we are called to it that without it we cannot be Christs Disciples Luke 14.33 Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple Suppose God foresaw that if he had not brought you into a low condition you would rather have forsaken Christ than your Estates Hath he not dealt mercifully with you in taking away your Estates which would have hindred you from becoming Disciples of Christ 3. Riches oft times prove great hinderances to our salvation and God takes them away that he may make our passage to Heaven more easie Matth. 19.23,24 Jesus said unto his Disciples Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And again I say unto you It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God Suppose God saw your riches to be clogs to you and that they would have hindered your salvation Was it not good for you that God should take them away Is it not better that you should lose your Estates than lose the Kingdom of Heaven 4. God diminisheth our Estates that he may encrease our Graces Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Ordinarily poor men are richer in grace than great men Jam. 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith Grace is better than riches and have they then any cause to complain whom God maketh poor that he may make them rich in grace and holiness 5. God diminisheth our outward worldly comforts that he
why hast thou made me thus 2. It is for our good to pass through variety of conditions for thereby God awakens the fear of his Name in our hearts and shakes off our security and promoteth the holiness of our hearts and lives A continued course of prosperity without some changes oft-times breeds a great deal of security and forgetfulness of God Psal 55.19 Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God Jer. 48.11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth and he hath settled on his lees and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither hath he gone into captivity therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed If God by this change beger or promote the fear of his Name in your souls that will be better treasure than any that you lost by the late Fire Isa 33.6 The fear of the Lord is his treasure 3. The Lord would have us be so far from being dejected at our crosses that he would have us esteem them a ground of joy Jam. 1.2 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations He would have men of high degree rejoyce when they are brought low as well as men of low degree to rejoyce when they are exalted James 1.9,10 Let the brother of low degree rejoyce in that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low 3. Remember how contentedly our Lord Jesus Christ bore his state of humiliation Though he was Lord of all things yet for our sakes he became poor and took upon himself the form of a Servant and made himself of no reputation to bring us unto eternal glory 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich Phil. 2.5,6,7 Let this minde be in you which was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant Yet there never came one discontented word out of Christs month neither did there arise one repining thought in his minde throughout all the dayes of his humiliation Observe also how contentedly the servants of God have born their changes when God hath brought them from an high to a low condition When David was driven from his Kingdom and necessitated to flee to save his life he quietly submits himself to God 2 Sam. 15.26 When he that was honoured by all the Princes and Elders of Israel had a man of Belial came and cursed him to his face David puts up all his railing language with a meek and quiet spirit 2 Sam. 16.5,6,7,8,9,10,11 5. Though you be brought very low and those that were your friends in the day of your prosperity should now slight and dis-regard you yet if you continue to serve the Lord he will respect and regard you as much as ever he did Psal 136.26 Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever Psal 106.43,44,45 They provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity nevertheless he regarded their efftiction when he heard their cry and he remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies If your hearts be lowly as well as your conditions low the most high God will respect you more than all the great men upon the face of the earth that are of a proud spirit Psal 138.6 Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off Whatever account men may have of the Servants of God the Lord esteemeth very highly of them He counts them his Jewels Mal. 3.17 It is said of them Isa 62.3 Thou shalt be a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal Diadem in the hand of thy God This high esteem that God hath of you may abundantly satisfie you under all the slights and dis-respect that you meet with from men 6. If you be brought to fare hard and meanly by this providence whereas before you had a very plentiful table this should not trouble you for 1. God can make a course and mean diet conduce as much to your health and nourishment as the richest fare in the world Daniel and his three companions who eat nothing but pulse and drank water were of a fairer countenance and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the Kings meat Dan. 1.12,13,14,15 2. Though you should be brought to fare very hard yet as good and better men than you are have fared harder than you and yet did not murmur against God We read of an hundred men that were the Lords Prophets that lived in a cave with bread and water 1 Kings 18.13 John the Baptist was a great person Our Saviour telleth us that among them that were born of women there was not a greater than John the Baptist Matth. 11.11 Yet both his habit and diet were very mean John had his raiment of Camels hair and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wilde honey Mat. 3.4 and he drank neither wine nor strong drink Luke 1.15 Our Saviour himself eat very course diet and yet was thankful for it When many of his friends were about him that came to hear his word he had nothing better to refresh himself after his labours and to give to his Disciples and those that followed him but Barley Bread and Fish and they had no seats to sit upon at their meat but the grass yet Jesus Christ lift up his eyes and gave thanks John 6.9,10,11 Another time being weary and thirsty he had nothing better than water to quench his thirst and he could not with once asking obtain a draught of water to quench his thirst John 4.6,7,9 Jesus being wearied with his journey sate on the well There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith unto her give me to drink then saith the woman How is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria 3. The meaner your diet is the less will be your temptation to excess Such as fare deliciously every day are under a great temptation to make their belly their God which is a fin that will bring unavoidable destruction Phil. 3.19 whose end is destruction whose belly is their God 4. God hath given such of you as are his servants his Son who is the bread of life the bread that came down from heaven John 6.48,51 and the water of life John 4.10 and why should you be discontented because your dyet is mean who have meat to eat that the world knows not of hidden Manna yea who have the bread of life and the water of life SECT 9. Obj. 9. I had a very sweet and commodious dwelling where I lived very comfortably and now I am greatly unsettled I
unloose Mat. 3.11 Whose shooes I am not worthy to bear 2. When it is in our hearts to do any service for God or our Generation God approves of what is in our hearts though we are not able or want opportunity to effect and bring to pass what we desired to do for the advancing of the Glory of God and promoting our own or others good 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Though God did not permit David to build him an house yet God was pleased that there was a desire and purpose in his heart to have done this thing and commends him for it 1 Kings 8.18,19 The Lord said unto David whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart nevertheless thou shalt not build the house 3. God is the Lord and master of the whole world and it belongs to the master of the house to take what servants he pleaseth and to set them about what work he pleaseth and put them out of his service when he pleaseth We that are masters of Families take this liberty to our selves and shall not we grant that to God which we take to our selves 3. If you are troubled because you are disabled from serving God and your Generation use what means you can to prevail with God to call you again into a way of service and to render you useful in your Generation I will commend to you some means whereby you may prevail with God to make use of you to do him service in your Generation 1. Purge out your sins and labour for sanctified hearts and lives Sanctified persons are meet for Gods use and he delighteth to employ them in his Service 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for his masters use and prepared unto every good work 2. Act your faith upon the promises of God wherein God hath promised to make his people useful in their places and serviceable to him in their Generation I shall name one or two to this purpose Deut. 30.9 The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand for good Here are two blessings promised the one is that we shall be full of employment the other is that good shall come of what we take in hand Something of this nature is implied in that promise Mine Elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands Isa 65.22 God hath promised to make us serviceable all the dayes of our life Luke 1.72,74,75 To perform the mercy promised that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life 3. Mourn over your unserviceableness and cry unto God to admit you into his service and offer your selves to undertake any employment that he shall cut out for you and promise the Lord that if he will put you into his service that you will serve him with an upright heart as David did Psal 75.2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly When the Lord seeth such a spirit as this in us he will soon employ us in some way of service as Deborah said Judg. 5.9 Mine heart is toward the Governourrs of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people So is Gods heart towards such persons as freely offer themselves unto his Service the Lord ordained it for a Law that if a Levite came to minister with all the desire of his minde he should be admitted to minister in the name of the Lord Deut. 18.6,7 God will assuredly provide work for those that do so highly prize his service as to cry and mourn after it 4. If you are by this providence disabled from following your former Calling then follow some other Calling for God would have no man live without a Calling When Adam was in Innocency God would not permit him to be out of employment but gave him a Calling to employ himself in Gen. 2.15 And the Lord took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it Chuse rather the meanest Calling than to live without a calling And if God so order it that you must of necessity take a meaner less honourable and more laborious calling than you had before be not discontented at it but comply thereto with a ready and quiet minde Moses that was delicately brought up in a Kings Court by the space of forty years and was so tenderly nursed up by Pharaohs Daughter as if he had been her own Son did not disdain to serve his Generation for several years in a very mean Calling viz. the Calling of a Shepherd Exod. 3.1 Now Moses kept the Flock of Jethro his Father-in-law It is said of David that he served his Generation according to the will of God Acts 13.36 When it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a Shepherd he was content to be a Shepherd and when it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a King he was content to be a King when afterward God drove him from his Kingdom and put him into the condition of an Exile he was content with that condition also 2 Sam. 15.25,26 It is probable that our Saviour himself wrought in the Calling of a Carpenter some time before he entered into the Calling of the Ministry and that is both a mean and laborious Calling and this may be gathered from his Countrey-mens upbraiding him with this Calling Mark 6.2,3 From whence hath this man these things and what wisdom is this which is given to him that even such mighty work are wrought by his hands Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary If you say we would willingly follow some other Calling now we are disabled from following our former Callings but we do not know what Callings to fix upon How shall we come to understand our way and to know what Callings God would have us make choice of now he hath disabled us from following our former Callings Answ 1. Ask counsel of God what Callings he would have you make choice of that so you may serve your Generation arcording to the will of God and not according to your own will The Lord hath promised to direct you in your choice if you seek to him for counsel Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Psal 25.12 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Consider your own abilities both in respect of parts and skill and also in respect of your stock that you have left to trade withal and what Calling you finde your self best able to manage that you may make choice of and look
Christ Gal. 3.7,9 Know ye that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 2. Though your Estates be gone and your outward comforts be taken away God himself will stand by you Though your Estates may fail and your Calling may fail and your Friends may fail and forsake you God will never fail you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee He hath said Who is that God who is a God of truth a God that cannot lye a God that changeth not the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and why should that man be cast down that hath the God of all consolation continually with him yea though not only Estate and Calling and Friends fail but your hearts fail you also yet God will not fail you but will be yours for ever Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever But I am afraid my trials will be so great that my faith will fail me and what can I expect then but that God should fail me also Answer 1. The Lord Jesus will take care of your Faith that it shall not totally or finally fail Luke 22.31,32 Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not 2. Though there may be some partial failings in your faith yet God will not fail to fulfil his promise wherein he standeth engaged not to leave nor forsake you 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself therefore when fears and discouragements begin to seize upon you remember that God calleth to you Isa 41.10 Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Isa 43.1,2 Fear not for I have redeemed thee thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Though the fire be long since quenched yet it may be you will feel the sad fruits and effects of this Fire as long as you live but if you should be not cast down but look upon God that he according to his promise will be with you to strengthen and support you when you pass through the fires 3. You are as dear to God as ever he loves you now you are poor as much as he did when you were rich Psal 40.17 I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me Though your Estates be gone yet Gods love remains firm to your souls and shall continue stedfast towards you although you should meet with greater mutations in your estate and condition than you have done to this day Isa 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindenss shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Whatever dangers or troubles compass you about you are and alwayes shall be compassed about with the loving kindness of the Lord Psal 5.12 Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield Now this is a ground of everlasting comfort and may cause us in all conditions to shout for joy to understand that we are in the love and favour of God as is evident from the 11. verse Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Three times the Psalmist calls out to the Servants of God to rejoyce Let them rejoyce let them be joyful in thee let them ever shout for joy and why what is it which may be a ground of everlasting joy to them in all estates and conditions Many times they are poor and under great afflictions what reason then have they to shout for joy for ever He renders the reason why a godly man may and ought to be alwayes joyful ver 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield That Gods love is a ground of everlasting comfort in all estates and conditions is evident from 2 Thess 2.16 Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation 4. Though your Houses and Estates be consumed and your Trading fail and your Friends should turn away from you and stand aloof from your sore God will not turn away from doing of you good as long as you live Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me When you are in trouble and have no friend in the world to go to if you go to the Lord he will be your refuge and succour and comfort you in all your straits Psal 9.9 The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble Isa 66.13 As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem When the Jews were in the Wilderness God followed them with a constant supply of all their wants The pillar of fire and the cloud never departed from them Exod. 13.21,22 The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people And though they sinned against God yet he forsook them not as Nehomiah confesseth Nehem. 9.19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsockest them not in the Wilderness the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way neither the pillar of fire by night to shew them light and the way wherein they should go And as God guarded and guided them by night and by day so whereever they were he rained down Manna upon them and gave them water to drink he never failed them of a seasonable supply of their wants forty years together Nehem. 9.20,21 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and with-heldest not thy Manna from their mouth and gavest them water for their thirst yea forty years didst thou sustain them in the Wilderness so that they lacked nothing their clothes waxed not old The Manna did not cease till the day that they entred into Canaan
new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby Meditation on the word built up David wonderfully in knowledge Psal 119.99 I have more under standing then all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation The Apostle Paul recommends meditation on Gods word to Timothy as an excellent means to promote his growth in grace 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear unto all So also when he took his leave of the Elders of the Church of Ephesus he commends them to the word of the Lord as the means whereby they might be built up in that grace which they had already received Acts 20.32 And now brethren I commend you to God and to the the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified I might have added in the tenth place After God hath prospered you in this work of building and you have finished your houses dedicate them to God It was a custom among the Jews after they had built a new house to dedicate it unto the Lord as you may see Deut. 20.5 but of this I shall have occasion to speak afterward Quest 3. Sect. 7. p. 313. where I shall shew how we should dedicate our Houses to God and therefore I shall adde no more upon this Question but proceed to the third QUEST 3. What shall they render to the Lord for his Mercy whose Houses and Goods were preserved from being consumed by the late Dreadful Fire BEfore I answer this Question I shall premise five or six things 1. It was Gods Providence not your own prudence or diligence or any other act of yours that preserved you from sustaining any loss or damage by the late Fire Psal 16.5 Thou maintainest my lot Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Psal 40.17 Thou art my help and my deliverer When ever a righteous man is delivered from any trouble his deliverance proceedeth from the Lord Psal 34.17 The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles As God ordereth the rain where it shall fall and where it shall not fall Amos 4.7 I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another so it is he also that ordered this Fire what City and what Houses and Goods it should consume and what it should not consume The Fire the Winds and all other Creatures do nothing but at Gods appointment Psal 148.7,8 Praise ye the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fullfilling his word The fire and the wind are ruled by God they spare those whom God appoints them to spare they afflict those whom God appoints them to afflict they do nothing but by commission from God The same God that sets the bounds of the Sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.11 did set bounds to this raging Fire and appointed how far it should proceed and where its flames should be stayed wherefore such as were preserved from suffering damage by this Fire must not ascribe their safety partly to Gods Providence and partly to themselves but must give all the glory to God and say as David did of his deliverances Psal 4.8 Thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety Psal 62.2 He only is my rock and my salvation 2. We ought to look upon it as a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments Neh. 13.22 Spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed especially we should account it a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments in a time of common calamity when multitudes as good or better than we are have been great sufferers When Lot escaped with his life out of Sodom though he sustained some loss by the burning of that City yet he looked upon it as an exceeding great mercy that his life was preserved Gen. 19.19 Be hold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 3. When the Lord hath given us any remarkable deliverance or bestowed any other signal mercy upon us it should put us upon enquiring what return we should make unto God for his benefits When David had received a great deliverance he maketh enquiry what he should render to God for so great a mercy Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me This is needful because God expects that when he hath done great things for us we should be returning something to him Isa 5.1,2 My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and he looked that it should bring forth grapes Luke 17.17,18 Jesus answering said Were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger Where we may observe 1. The Lord Jesus expects that when we have received any eminent favour from him we should return something for what we receive else why did he ask Where are the nine 2. The Lord takes notice who they are that do and who they are that do not return according to the mercies that they receive from God The Samaritan returned to give glory to God the others did not 3. There are very few scarce one in ten that make a return according to the mercies that they receive There were ten cleansed and only one returns to give glory to God 4. When any man faileth to return according to the benefits which he hath received though he be a good man God is much displeased at it 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem God had in a wonderful manner delivered Hezekiah from death and though he was a good man so eminently good that he excelled all the Kings that lived before him and came after him according to what we finde 2 Kings 18.5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him Yet this good man Hezekiah failed to reader again according to the benefit done unto him and what followed thereupon wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem for this very thing 5. It is not every return will answer Gods expectation but there must be some suitableness some proportion between the mercies that we receive from God and the returns that we make to God Hezekiah was not wholly wanting in making return to God for he praised God for recovering him from his sickness Isa 38.19 The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this
fornication but for the Lord Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Now seeing our bodies and souls were created for Gods pleasure Is it not meet they should be yielded up unto God 2. The Lord Jesus gave himself both body and soul for us He yielded his body to be crucified for us which was both a shameful and a painful death 1 Cor. 11.24 This is my body which was broken for you 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed Isa 50.6 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked of the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting Why should we refuse to give our bodies to be burned imprisoned banished tortured or to suffer any affliction for the sake of Christ seeing he gave his body to suffer such a shameful and painful death for us The Lord Jesus did not only give his body but his soul also an offering for our sins Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed Shall we stick at giving our souls to Christ when he did not stick at making his soul an offering for our sins 3. It will be much for the advantage both of our bodies and souls to give them unto God for he will sanctifie them and make them his Temple and come and dwell in them 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them Now who are they to whom the Apostle speaks when he saith Ye are the Temple of the living God c. They were such as had given themselves to God as you may see Chap. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord What greater honour or happiness are our souls and bodies capable of whilst they are in this world than to become Temples of the living God But besides this if we give our bodies and souls unto God he will glorifie both our bodies and souls in an unexpressible manner in the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity The Sun is a glorious creature it dazleth our eyes to behold it God will give his Saints in Heaven a glory equal to the brightness of the Sun Matth. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father yea they shall excel the Sun in glory for they shall be equal to the Angels and the Angels are far more glorious ceatures than the Sun Luk. 20.36 Neither can they dye any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection yea they shall be made like to Christ their bodies shall be made like to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and their souls shall be made like to his glorious soul 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is We that is not our bodies only or our souls only but our persons both body and soul shall be like him SECT 10. 10. Render to God the Sacrifices of righteousness When we have received any eminent mercy from God he expects that we should offer up unto him the sacrifice of a righteous and godly life which will please him better than all the Sacrifices that were offered up under the Law Psal 4.5 Offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness Psal 51.17,19 The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Then shalt thou be pleased with the Sacrifices of righteousness When David was wonderfully delivered from the snares of death he determines to offer this Sacrifice to God namely to walk humbly and holily before God all the dayes of his life Psal 116.6,7,8 I was brought low and he helped me Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Then see what he renders to God for this mercy I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living I have touched upon this head before and therefore I shall not enlarge farther upon it only I shall add two Scriptures which do imply that it is our duty after we have received any eminent deliverances to labour after a more eminent degree of holiness than we had before and are also promises that God will sanctifie our deliverances for the making of us more holy Obad. 17. Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness Isa 4.2,3 In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the Earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem In the former Chapter the Prophet had foretold the ruine of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah Isa 2.8 and here he foretells that a little remnant should escape and promiseth that Gods judgments on others and his mercy in delivering them should conduce much to the promoting of their holiness and cause them to prize highly the Lord Jesus who is understood by the Branch of the Lord Zach. 3.8 by whose merits and mediation they should obtain their deliverance SECT 11. 11. Let this deliverance cause you to seek after and to trust in God for farther mercies and deliverances when you are brought into straits This use God servants have been wont to make of their deliverances as you may see by these instances Judg. 15.18 And he was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised 1 Sam. 17.37 David said moreover The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in him we trust that he will yet deliver us This God expects that when he hath shielded us from or helped us out of one trouble we should trust him when we come into another Psal 115.9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psal 61.3,4 Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong Tower from the Enemy I will
of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Object I have cryed unto God and hung upon and pleaded his Promises for his strength and still I remain in a weak helpless condition Answ Though it be so yet cry still to the Lord Isa 63.15 Look down from Heaven and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord. Psal 105.4 Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore And wait patiently upon him and in due time he will strengthen you Psal 27.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Isa 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint 4. Keep in Gods wayes when we go out of Gods wayes we cause God to withdraw himself and when God withdraws our strength departs from us as it was with Sampson when his God departed from him his strength departed also Judg. 16.19 His strength went from him How came he to lose his strength by losing the presence of God ver 20. I will go out as at other times and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him so it is with Christians when they lose their God they lose their strength But by keeping in Gods wayes they shall keep God with them and increase their strength That this is the way to get Gods strength to keep in Gods ways you may see Prov. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Psal 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the wayes of them Job 17.19 5. Get your interest in God made out to your souls The knowing of God to be our God conveyeth great strength into our souls and will support us in our greatest troubles What Solomon saith of knowledge Prov. 24.5 A wise man is strong a man of knowledge encreaseth strength is eminently true of this knowledge that God is our God for the more clearly we know God to be our God the more we shall encrease in strength Isa 49.5 My God shall be my strength 1 Sam. 30.6 David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God The knowledg of our interest in God filleth our hearts with joy Luk. 1.47 My spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and joy strengthens the soul Neh. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is your strength Wherefore grow in acquaintance with God if you will grow in strength to suffer the will of God cheerfully Col. 1.10,11 Increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness especially labour to grow in the knowledg of your interest in God 6. Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in your souls the Word of God abiding in you will be a great means to strengthen you 1 Joh. 2.14 Ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one The efficacy and power of the Word of God is wonderful By speaking of a word God created the whole world Psal 33.6,9 By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast By his Word he governs and upholdeth all his creatures Heb. 1.3 Vpholding all things by the Word of his Power Is there such power in the Word as to uphold all things and dost thou doubt whether it be able to uphold thy soul If a mans heart be broken in pieces and melted with grief the Word of God will heal and strengthen him and settle him in a comfortable condition Psal 107.20 He sent his Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions Psal 119.28 My soul melteth for heaviness strengthen thou me according to thy Word 7. If you would be strong in the Lord put on the whole armour of God Ephes 6.10,11 Finally my Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might But some may say How shall we be strong in the Lord the next words shews this Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil No part of the armour of God must be neglected if we would be strong in the Lord. What this armour of God is the Apostle sheweth from the 14 th ver to the 18 th 4. If we would be prepared to undergo all afflictions cheerfully we must labour to get our sins pardoned and get our pardon evidenced and keep clear our evidences of our justified estate Sense of guilt bows down the soul and weakens our strength and renders us unfit for a suffering condition Psal 31.10 My strength faileth because of mine iniquity Such of the Jews as were under the sense of unpardoned guilt were ready to faint under their afflictions when they were carried captive into Babylon Lam. 3.18,19 I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwoed and the gall And if you would know what made their cup so bitter that they fainted under it you may see ver 42. We have transgressed and have rebelled thou hast not pardoned But when our sins are pardoned that will help us to bear afflictions cheerfully Isa 33.24 The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Matth. 9.2 They brought unto him a man sick of the Palsie lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the Palsie Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee Sickness is a great affliction and this man was so sick that he kept his bed yet Christ bids him be of good cheer because his sins were forgiven him before he speaks one word of removing his sickness A man that is in a justified estate may triumph and glory in his greatest troubles Rom. 5.1,3 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ And not only so but we glory in tribulations also 5. If we would be prepared for a suffering condition we must acquaint our selves with and cleave and adhere to the death and sufferings of Christ and labour to understand and get an interest in the imputed righteousness of Christ Christs righteousness is one of the main Pillars our Souls have to lean upon for our support under all our troubles Isa 41.10 I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Our chiefest strength lyeth in our right hand
2.7 He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Protection from evils is a good thing if you walk uprightly with God he will not with-hold his protecting providence from you but as he hath been so he still will be your shield 2. Shew mercy to the Poor and do good with your Estates that is the way to have them preserved Psal 41.1,2 Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies 3. Love the Lord for preserving you hitherto and thereby you shall be preserved still Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him 4. You must not preserve any of your sins from destruction if you would have God preserve your persons and substance for God threatens to destroy both the persons and the substance of such as live wicked and ungodly lives Job 15.20,21,29 The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor A dreadful sound is in his ears in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him He shall not be rich neither shall his substance continue neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth Zophar speaking of a man that spares his sins and will not forsake them among other Judgments mentioneth this that God will not spare but will desteoy such a mans substance Job 20.12,13,15,26,28 He hath swallowed down riches and he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly All darkness shall be hid in his secret places a fire not blown shall consume him The increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath If this merciful providence of God will not prevail with you to cast away your sins your continuing in your sins will cause God to cast away your substance Prov. 10.3 The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish but he casteth away the substance of the wicked 5. Commit your selves and your substance into the hands of the Lord and trust in God who hath graciously preserved you hitherto to preserve you and all that belongth unto you for the time to come There is no better way to engage God to help us than to commit our selves to him and to put our trust in him Prov. 29.25 Who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them Psal 10.14 The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 5.11 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them Psal 22.4 Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them Dan. 6.23 Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God Now in regard that trusting in God availeth much towards our preservation I shall mention three or four considerations that may encourage you to trust in God for preservation of your persons and substance at such times as you apprehend your selves to be in greatest danger of suffering either in your Persons or Estates 1. Consider how solicitous and careful God is of your welfare 1 Pet. 5.7 He careth for you You are as dear to him as the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye He is so careful of your welfare that he giveth all his Angels a charge concerning you to pitch their tents about your dwellings and to take the care of you wherever you go and to deal tenderly with you to carry you in their arms that you may be preserved from being hurt either by evil Angels or evil Men Psal 91.11,12 He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Psal 34,7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Besides the charge that God giveth his Angels to look after his people he himself taketh a special care of them the Lord himself is their keeper and watcheth over them both by night and by day Psal 121.4,5 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand Isa 27.3 I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day His eyes are alwayes upon his people to behold their dangers that the may send them relief and deliverance in due season 2 Chron 16.9 The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards them His hand is alwayes stretched out for their defence Deut. 33.27 The eternal God is thy refuge underneath are the everlasting arms The Lord is so tender of you that he doth as it were lay you in his bosom Isa 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather his lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom 2. This care of God for his peoples welfare extendeth not only to some but to every one of his servants Deut. 33.3 All his Saints are in thine hand Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him The meanest of all Gods servants is of more value than many Sparrows yet there is not so much as one Sparrow forgotten of God Luke 12.6,7 Are not five Sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God Fear not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Surely then there is not the meanest of all Gods servants which is forgotten of the Lord. 3. God is not only careful of his peoples persons but of their substance and habitations Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot Job 1.10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side When you are afraid your houses should be fired or any other evil should befall your habitations think on such Scriptures as these wherein God hath engaged himself to preserve your habitations in safety Psal 91.10 There shall no evil befal thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling Prov. 1.33 Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear
from sending any more such dreadful Fires we must cease from those sins which did provoke God to send this sore Judgment Until the cause of a Judgment be removed we can have but little hope it should cease What sins they are that provoke God to send this dreadful Judgment of Fire hath been shewn before Quest 2. Sect. 4. If we cease from our sins and return unto God we may hope and expect that God will cease from his mighty Judgments Mal. 3.7,11,12 Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes And all Nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a a delight some land After Judea had been wasted with Fire and Sword the Lord promiseth if they would cease from their sins he would remove his Judgments Isa 1.7,16,17,19,26 Your Cities are burnt with Fire cease to do evil learn to do well If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land And I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called The City of Righteousness the faithful City 4. If we would have no more such dreadful Fires we must labour to pacifie Gods anger that is kindled against us The mighty Judgments of God that have fallen upon us viz. the Sword the great Pestilence and this dreadful Fire are tokens of great wrath against this Nation and we may fear in regard there is so little reformation that notwithstanding all that is come upon us the anger of the Lord is not turned away but that his hand is stretched out still as it is said three times of Israel after mentioning great and sore Judgment For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Isa 9.12,17,21 Wherefore we must endeavour to pacifie and turn away the Lords anger else we may expect that the same Judgments will return or some others as dreadful as any of these will fall upon us Now if you ask How shall we get Gods anger turned away from the Nation I shall instance only in these two means 1. Gods chosen ones must get into the gap and cry mightily to God in the Name of Jesus Christ that he would turn away his fierce anger that is kindled against us The Prayers of impenitent sinners cannot prevail with God to turn from his wrath but the Prayers of his Saints and Servants will cause him to lay aside his anger Psal 106.23 He said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them Jer. 18.20 Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them What Prayers the servants of God put up to God in the Name of Jesus Christ are presented by the Lord Jesus unto his Father Heb. 7.25 Rev. 8.3 and when the Lord Jesus interceeds with his Father for the turning away of his wrath from a Nation or a particular person his request shall certainly be granted Zech. 1.12,13 The Angel of the Lord said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words and presently after comes tidings of the ceasing of Gods wrath and his returning with mercy to Jerusalem ver 16. 17. Thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies My Cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem 2. We must every one turn from his evil wayes and turn unto the Lord with all our hearts and then his wrath shall be turned away from us Jonah 3.8,9 Let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Hos 14.1,4 O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity and when Israel did return at the call of God hear what God saith unto him ver 4. I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him Jer. 3.12 Return thou back-sliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever 5. If we would have God cease from sending any more such dreadful Fires we must set our faith on work on the blood of Christ and on the Promises of God It was the blood of the Sacrifice that made atonement under the law both for particular persons and for the whole Congregation of Israel Lev. 17.11 It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul And as the blood of the Sacrifice made atonement for particular persons so also for the whole Congregation of Israel Lev. 4.13,14,17,18,20 These Sacrifices did type out the blood of Christ and signified to us that faith in Christs blood is the way to procure an atonement for our souls and to render God propitious after he hath been provoked to anger by our sins Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood This blood of Christ is available to make atonement for whole Nations as well as particular persons Isa 52.15 He shall sprinkle many Nations And as we should set our faith on work upon Christs blood so also on Gods promises If you ask what promises I answer such Promises wherein God hath promised to cease his Judgments after he hath for a long time been sorely contending with a people We have divers promises to this purpose I will mention some of them Lam. 4.22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished O Daughter of Zion he will no more carry thee away into captivity he will visit thine Iniquity O Daughter of Edom he will discover thy sins Nah. 1.12 Though I have afflicted thee I will afflict thee no more Isa 51.21,22,23 Hear now this thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine Thus saith the Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people Behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling yea even the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee Isa 60.18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy Land wasting nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call thy Walls salvation and thy Gates praise Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirits should fail before me and the souls which I have made Zeph. 3.15 The Lord hath taken away thy Judgments he hath cast out thine Enemy the King of Israel even the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not see evil any more Faith is of great force for preventing and removing of National Judgments and the procuring of National Mercies Heb. 11.32,34 Who through faith subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of aliens We may see here what great things have been done by faith it hath subdued Kingdoms it hath vanquished and put to flight great and puissant Armies it hath prevailed against the â—orest of Judgements as Fire Sword wild Beasts c. By Faith and Prayer we may even as it were hold Gods hands from destroying a Nation when they are lifted up to destroy a sinful people Exod. 32.9,10 And the Lord said unto Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation Though the Lord was exceedingly provoked against Israel yet by the Faith and Prayer of Moses his hands were held that he did not destroy them Moses takes hold of the Covenant and pleads that in Prayer and thereby prevailed with God to turn from his wreth and to repent of the evil that he thought to do unto the people of Israel ver 11 12 13 14. The Lord stir up the like Spirit of Faith and Pryer in his Servants in this Nation that they that make mention of the Name of the Lord may never hold their peace day nor night but may cry mightily to the Lord and give him no rest until they have prevailed with him through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ to turn from the fierceness of his anger and to cease contending with us by his mighty Judgments and until he establish and make us a praise in the Earth FINIS
may encrease our inward spiritual comforts Hos 2.7,14 I will take away my corn and my wine and my wooll and my flax I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her I might mention others of a like nature but I forbear by these you may see that God may intend his people much good when he depriveth them of their estates SECT 4. 4. Consider that though God hath taken much from you he might with equity and justice have taken away a great deal more from you and therefore you have no cause to repine that God hath taken away so much but rather to be thankful that God hath taken away no more from you For 1. God might have taken away your lives as well as your estates When Sodom was burnt Lot lost his house and his goods as may be gathered from Gen. 19. It was evening before the Angels came to him Vers 1. and in the morning about the time that the Sun rose God rained fire and brimstone upon the City Vers 23. Some time was spent in entertaining the Angels in going to his sons in law to acquaint them with the purpose of God to destroy Sodom in fleeing to Zoar so that he saved very little if any of his goods for what could a man that had such short warning of Sodom's destruction and was forced to flee for his life carry along with him Besides the loss of his goods and his house he lost his wife V. 26. and his sons in law and his daughters that were married to them V. 14. only Lot and his two Daughters that were unmarried got to Zoar yet he doth not murmur at his losses but looketh upon it as a great mercy that God had spared his life Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in that thou hast spared my life When the Jews were carried captive into Babylon and Jerusalem was burnt with fire though they had lost their liberties and their dwellings were consumed they did not murmur because of their losses but looked upon it as a great mercy that themselves were not consumed also Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not And notwithstanding their sufferings were very great such as could scarce be paralled by any that lived in former ages as we may see Lam. 1.12 yet they acknowledge that they had no cause of complaining seeing God had spared their lives Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain When the Ship in which the Apostle sailed was cast away and all the goods were lost he makes a light matter of their losses seeing their lives were preserved Acts 27.22,25 I exhort you to be of good cheer for there shall be no loss of any mans life among you but of the Ship Wherefore Sirs be of good cheer He calls upon them twice notwithstanding their losses to be of good cheer because their lives were preserved 2. God might have taken away your souls and cast them into everlasting burnings for you have sinned and The wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 The Angels are more glorious creatures than man yet assoon as they had sinned God cast them into Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment Now if God had dealt thus with you if instead of burning your houses he had taken away your souls and cast them into everlasting burnings your loss would have been incomparably greater than now it is though you had been owners of the whole world For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mark 8.36 5. God might have taken away his loving kindness from you as he did from the Jews Jer. 16.5 I have taken away my peace from this people saith the Lord even loving kindness and mercies Now that would have been a far greater loss than the loss of your estates yea than the loss of your lives for Gods loving kindness is better than life Ps 63.3 Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee David spoke this when he was in the Wilderness of Judah as appears from the title of the Psalm and in this Wilderness he was destitute of all wordly comforts as appears by calling this place a drie and thirsty land where no water is yet enjoying Gods love in this desolate Wilderness he doth not murmur for want of what he enjoyed whilest he lived at home with his father or in Saul's Court but praiseth God for the sweetness and satisfaction which he enjoyed in the sense of Gods love And as David did so may we bless God if he hath not taken away his loving kindness from us whatever it be which God hath taken from us because his love is better than all other things SECT V. 5. Consider how you have sinned against the Lord and what you have deserved for your sins The reflecting upon your sins will make you patient under this and all other sufferings Micah 7.9 I will bear he indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins The calling to remembrance our sins may cause us to take patiently and contentedly the greatest afflictions on several accounts I will mention two 1. How great soever our sufferings are they are far less than our sins have deserved God never punisheth any man in this world either the godly or the wicked according to the desert of their sins Psal 103.10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Job 's sufferings were very great he was the greatest man that lived in the Eastern part of the world and had all his estate taken from him in one day he did not only lose his estate but his children also his body was smitten with painful and noysome boyls and sores his soul also was full of trouble as he himself expresseth it Job 6.4 The Arrows of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in aray against me yet Job's sins had deserved greater things from God than what God was pleased to lay upon him Job 11.6 Know that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth The afflictions which the Jews endured at the destruction of Jerusalem and during the time of their captivity in Babylon which lasted 70. years were exceeding great so great as scarce any people in the world endured the like as we may see by these two Texts of Scripture Lam. 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
fishes for himself and his Disciples and them that came to hear him he was not discontented because he had no better provision but gave God thanks for what he had though it was but barly bread Joh. 6.9,11 He was so poor that he received contribution from well disposed persons Luk. 8.2,3 when the Tax-gatherers came to him for tribute he had not wherewith all to pay them without working of a miracle Mat. 17.24,27 yet this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Tribute money which was demanded of him was no great sum not above fifteen pence of our mony Now shall we murmur or be discontented when we are as well or better provided for as to worldly things than Jesus Christ our Lord and Master was The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord. And as you have as much as Christ had so you have as much or more of this worlds goods than the Apostles had 1 Cor. 4.11 Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place and labour working with our own hands Paul speaketh here of himself and the other Apostles as you may see v. 9. And though they were so poor that they had scarce any thing that they could call their own yet they were as well contented as if they had possessed all the world 2 Cor. 6.10 As poor as having nothing and yet possessing all things Phil. 4.11,12 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need 3. Though you have very little left yet you have more than you are worthy of as hath been hinted already from Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth that thou hast shewed unto thy servant 4. Though you have but little you may live as long and may live as blessed and comfortable a life as you might do if you had all the world You may live as long Luke 12.15 Take heed and beware of covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of those things that he doth possess You may live as blessed and comfortable lives though you be poor as they that have great Estates Luke 6.20 Blessed be ye poor The Apostle Paul who was so poor that he had nothing was alwayes in a joyful condition 2 Cor. 6.10 David had not more satisfaction when he sate upon the Throne enjoying all the delights that his Kingdom could afford than he found when he was in the Wilderness of Judah for when he was in this Wilderness he tells us that his Soul was satisfied as with marrow and fatness whilst his thoughts and meditations were taken up about God Psal 63.5,6 Yet in this Wilderness he was destitute of all worldly comforts He calls it a dry and thirsty Land where no water was ver 1. Many labouring men that work hard all the day to get their living enjoy more comfortable dayes and nights than they that have great riches Eccles 5.12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet whether he eat little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep 5. Though you have but little yet it is far better with you than with those that want the Grace of God and enjoy great Estates Psal 37.16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked For what a righteous man hath he enjoyeth it with the love and favour of God but a wicked man is hated and abhorred of God Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity Now it is said Prov. 15.17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled Oxe and hatred therewith A righteous man when he hath but little hath that which sufficeth him Phil. 4.11,12 But a wicked man is dissatisfied and straitned in his minde under his greatest abundance Job 20.22 In the midst of his sufficiency he shall be in straits 6. Though you have but little God can bless your little that it shall become a great deal before you die Jacob had but little when he went to Laban but God sent him away with a great Estate Gen. 32.10 With my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands It is the blessing of the Lord maketh rich Prov. 10.22 And it is all one with God to bless a man that hath little as him that hath much Bildad telleth Job after he had suffered great losses that if he would seek unto God Though thy beginning was small yet thy latter and should greatly encrease Job 8.5,7 But if God should continue you in a low Estate yet he can so bless that little that he hath left you that you shall have enough to maintain you as long as you live As it was with the Manna that fell in the Wilderness 2 Cor. 8.15 He that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack So it falls out by the providence of God towards his people that though they have but little yet they have no lack of what is good for them Psal 34.10 They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing It may be some will say we have so little that we have much ado to live though provision be plentiful and cheap but suppose times should grow hard suppose God should send a Famine how should we do then that have so little that have much ado to live now Answ If God send a Famine he promiseth to take care of all such as fear him and hope in his mercy Psal 33.18,19 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in Famine Psal 37.16 and 19. verses compared In the 16. verse the Psamist speaketh of the happy condition of the righteous though they have but little and whereas some might think but what shall become of us that have but little if a Famine should come he adds ver 19. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the dayes of Famine they shall be satisfied Job 5.20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death and ver 22. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh When there was a famine in Israel God did so bless and multiply the widows handful of meal and her little oyl in a cruse that she and the Prophet and all her house were nourished therewith many dayes even till God sent plenty in Israel 1 Kings 17. from ver 9. to 17. SECT 8. 8. Consider that God hath left you more and better things then he hath taken from you and therefore how
Sam. 15.26 If he thus say I have no delight in thee Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him It was a sad message which God sent to Eli by Samuel it is ushered in with this Preface 1 Sam. 3.11 Behold I do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle yet Eli upon the hearing of the whole message lyeth down at Gods foot and speaketh not one repining word against the Lord Vers 18. Samuel told him every whit and hid nothing from him And he said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good The sufferings of Jesus Christ were exceeding great yet how patiently did he bear them Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth We are exhorted to take notice of the patience of Gods servants in their afflictions in order to the helping us to bear our afflictions with patience Jam. 5.8,10,11 Be ye also patient Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Behold we count them happy that endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy Thus much may suffice by way of consideration I shall now advise you some things by way of practice for the obtaining and promoting a quiet cheerful contented frame of spirit under this affliction of the loss of your Estates which may be useful under other afflictions which the Lord doth at present or may hereafter trie you withal SECT 1. 1. Lay hold on Gods Covenant wherein he hath promised to give his people contented and satisfied minds under all his dealings with them even when he afflicts them most sorely and taketh away their most endeared comforts and enjoyments from them I will mention some promises to this purpose Psal 37.19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the dayes of famine they shall be satisfied Famine is one of the sorest of Gods Judgements it is worse than War which is also a very heavy judgment David chose the Pestilence rather than War as being the lesser evil but famine is worse than War Lam. 4.9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger Yet in the evil time in Famine though the Famine last many dayes God promiseth that his righteous servants shall be satisfied Isa 58.11 The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfie thy soul in drought or as 't is in the Margin in droughts The Prophet useth the plural number to signifie that God will satisfie his peoples souls in all droughts or in the greatest drought that ever did or ever shall come upon any place When God promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought it implies 1. That he will give us satisfied mindes under the penury and want of all outward comforts for drought brings a consumption upon all earthly enjoyments Hag. 1.10,11 2. That he will stay and support and satisfie our mindes under our greatest sorrows No afflictions bring greater sorrows than Famine which is the companion of drought Jer. 14.2,3,4,17,18 Lam. 2.11,12,18,19 3. It implieth that God will give us satisfied mindes when we walk in the view of death when we see our children and relations dying and our selves are ready every hour to faint and give up the Ghost for want of bread The Prophet describing the Famine that was in Jerusalem saith Lam. 2.11,12 The children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the City they say to their Mothers where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the City when their soul was poured out into their Mothers bosom The wilderness which was a land of drought is called a land of the shadow of death Jer. 2.6 In times of drought God takes away that which is the stay and staff of a mans life Isa 3.1 The Lord doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water Drought consumes our corn and wine and oyl as was hinted before from Hag. 1.11 And of these the Psalmist saith Psal 104.15 Wine maketh glad the heart of man and oyl makes his face to shine and bread strengtheneth mans heart So that when the Lord promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought there is implyed in this promise that when the joy of our hearts when our glory and strength is taken away when all means of supporting life fail when we are in the most desolate places or desolate conditions imaginable he will under all our troubles give us satisfied mindes The Lord hath not only promised to give us contented satisfied mindes under all our troubles but he hath promised to continue us under a contented frame of spirit that whatever changes or alterations we pass through we shall abide satisfied and contented in all estates and conditions Prov. 19.23 The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied he shall not be visited with evil The latter clause of this promise is not to be understood as though they that fear God should not meet with any afflictions but when God doth visit them with afflictions they shall have such abundant satisfaction in God and from God that they shall not feel any evil in their afflictions Another promise of the like nature made to such as fear God we have Psal 25.13 His soul shall dwell at ease dwelling implyeth the continuance of the ease and quiet that their souls shall enjoy that fear the Lord though their outward condition may be full of trouble yet their souls shall dwell at ease Psal 119.165 Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them Which promise Junius interprets to this effect They that love the Law of God shall enjoy such great peace and tranquility of minde that nothing that doth befal them shall take away their peace They may and do fall into troubles and afflictions as well as other men but their troubles shall not take away their peace from them To be content in all estates and conditions is one way whereby we partake of the divine nature and do resemble God now it is by and through the promises that we become partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature wherefore in order to the obtaining of a contented spirit under this and all other afflictions be much in meditation upon the promises of God and apply them to your own souls and plead them daily with God until you have obtained all that fulness of grace and peace which
are not greater than our Father Jacob yet he saith of himself Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth that thou hast shewed unto thy servant We are not better than those Jews that were captives in Babylon for there were many of Gods precious Servants as Ezekiel Daniel Hanniah Mishael and Azariah who chose rather to be cast into a fiery Furnace than to fall down before an Image Nehemiah Ezra c. yet they acknowledged that they had deserved all the evils that they suffered and a great deal more and that it was meerly from the mercy of God that they were not consumed Daniel acknowledged the sufferings they met with to be so great as that they could not be parallel'd Dan. 9.12 yet he saith ver 14. The Lord our God is righteous in all his works The Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the great evils that were come upon the Jews acknowledgeth that though their sorrows were such as scarce any met with the like Lam. 1.12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Yet he saith Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed If we were fully convinced that we are less than the least of all Gods Mercies we should not repine when God taketh away our Estates our Health our Friends or any other mercies from us And if we were fully convinced that we have deserved to be destroyed and cast into everlasting burnings we should not repine when God sends poverty sickness or any other evils upon us 2. Mis-judging of the nature and quality of Gods Providences and of the ends and designs of God in afflicting causeth some to murmur and rep ne at those Providences for which if they understood them aright they would bless and praise God Gods bringing Israel out of Egypt by the hand of Moses was a great mercy his leading them through the Wilderness was to bring them into the Land of Canaan and the straits they met with in the Wilderness were to humble them and prove them and do them good in their latter end Deut. 8.15,16 Yet because they judged amiss of this Providence of God and thought they were brought into the Wilderness to be slain when they were in straits they murmured against the Lord Numb 14.2,3 Exod. 16.2,3 If our discontent spring from this root the way to remove it is 1. To judge nothing before the time but to wait with patience till we have seen the end as well as the beginning of our afflictions Gods dispensations towards Job were very terrible at the first coming of his troubles but the end of them was very comfortable and full of mercy Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittiful and of tender mercy 2. We must judge of our afflictions by Faith and not by sense we must judge of them according to that sentence which is given of them in the Word of God and not according to the opinion of the world or of our own corrupt mindes Sense saith it is a miserable thing to be in affliction but the word saith Job 5,17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Sense looketh upon afflictions as hurtful things but faith judging according to the word saith Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes 3. We must look at the wholesome fruit of afflictions as well as their present smart Heb. 12.11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby As the cloud that parted the Israelites from the Egyptians had a dark side and a bright side Exod. 14.20 so have our afflictions now if we would not sink under our tryals we must look at the bright side as well as the dark side of them at the spiritual and eternal advantages that we reap by our troubles as well as the smart and inconveniences that our outward man sustaineth by them 3. Unbelief and distrust of God is another cause of murmuring when we are brought into straits Ps 106.24,25 They believed not his word but murmured in their tents If our discontent arise from unbelief the way to remove it is to do what we can to strengthen our Faith in the Attributes Providence and Promises of God for if we can but stay our mindes and rest our souls upon God he will keep them in perfect peace Isa 26.3 I might instance in other grounds and causes of discontent but because they will fall more properly under the next head I shall now proceed to the third and last branch of my answer to this question which is The answering of those Reasonings and Objections that arise in the mindes of those that have suffered loss in their Estates by the late Fire which hinder them from sitting down contented under this hand of God Objections that hinder the contentment of those that have suffered loss in their Estates removed SECT 1. Object 1. My loss is exceeding great I have lost thousands of pounds if I had lost but a small matter I could have born it but in regard my loss is so great it troubleth my minde exceedingly and I know not how to bear it with patience Answ 1. Your loss is not greater than Jobs who was the richest man in the Eastern part of the world and lost all his Substance and his Children too in one day yet he did not repine at the greatness of his loss but quietly submitteth himself to God Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. How much soever it be that you have lost God is able to give it you again and much more also 2 Chron. 25.9 But what shall we do for the hundred talents God is able to give thee much more than this Though God took a great Estate from Job yet it is said Job 42.10,12 The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Though you should be brought to poverty yet God oft-times raiseth poor men to such an high degree that he maketh them equal to Princes Psal 113.7,8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghil that he may set them with Princes even with the Princes of his people 3. It may be God saw that you had too much and therefore out of his infinite Wisdom and Love he hath brought you low There is danger in having too much as well as too little Agur prayeth against too great riches as well as against poverty Prov. 30.7,8 Give me not riches lest I
know not well where to bestow my self I can't light of an house that pleaseth me but am put to great straits and am much troubled for the loss of my former habitation and the inconvenience of my present abode Answ 1. You have as good dwellings still as many servants had who were too good to dwell in the world Heb. 11.38 Of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth You are as well provided for as the Apostles of Christ Paul speaking of himself and the other Apostles saith 1 Cor. 4.9,11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place You are as well and better provided for in this respect than Christ himself was when he was in the world Mat. 8.20 The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head 2. Every godly man hath God for his habitation and they that have God for their habitation may well be contented how inconvenient soever their habitation be in this world When the Israelites wandered in a desolate Wilderness by the space of forty years where they had no houses to dwell in they were abundantly satisfied in this that God was their dwelling place Psal 90.1 Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations That this Psalm was penned when the Israelites were in a wandering unsettled condition in the Wilderness appeareth both from the Title and several passages in the Psalm 3. When you are troubled at the loss or for the want of a convenient habitation here on earth comfort your selves with the thoughts and hope of that glorious house which God hath prepared for you in heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 We know if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens The Disciples had left their houses and all that they had for Christ and Christ to comfort them tells them of the mansions that were prepared for them in heaven John 14.1,2 Let not your hearts be troubled In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you The like may I say to you let not your hearts be troubled at the loss of your houses though never so convenient but comfort your selves with the expectation of those glorious mansions that are prepared for you in heaven 4. Had not God unsettled you by this Providence it may be you would have settled upon your Lees Jer. 48.11 It may be you would have said in your heart it is good being here and would have neglected seeking the Kingdom of God and therefore God out of mercy to your souls might unsettle you to cause you to shake off a worldly spirit and to stir you up to make sure of an eternal habitation in heaven 5. If you seek unto God though your houses be laid waste and your selves much unsettled and know not where to fix your habitations God will provide you as good habitations as ever you had Psal 107.4,6,7 They wandered in the Wilderness in a solitary way they found no city to dwell in then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation Ezek. 36.9.10 Behold I am for you and I will turn unto you and the Cities shall be inhabited and the wasts shall be builded But he adds withal that he expected they should enquire of him to bestow this and what other mercies are promised in this Chapter ver 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do this for them SECT 10. Obj. 10. I am by this providence disabled from following my Calling and thereby rendered useless and unserviceable in my Generation and this is that which most of all troubles and disquiets my mind Answ 1. We should covet earnestly to do God and our Generation much service those few dayes we have to live in the world 1 Cor. 15.58 Be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord It is a sore judgement when our dayes are spent unprofitably and inflicted as a punishment of other sins Psal 78.32,33 They sinned still and believed not for his wondrous works therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity It argues great displeasure in God when he suffers us to spend our dayes in an unprofitable manner Psal 90.9 Our dayes are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told This Scripture implyeth that it is a great token of Gods wrath when we spend our years as a tale Now then we may be said to spend our years as a tale when we spend them idly and unprofitably for there comes no profit in telling of Tales 1 Tim. 4.7,8 Tales have this Epithite given them in the Scripture Idle Tales Luke 24.11 what our Translation renders At a tale that is told some Translations as the Greek Arabick Syriack and Aethiopick render As a spider or As a spiders web The sense is the same namely when our years are spent in fruitless labours whereby neither we our selves or others are the better for them this is from the wrath of the Lord. 2. If we do earnestly desire and endeavour to serve the Lord and our Generation and do long for abilities and opportunities of doing service and the Lord grant them not or after he hath made use of us awhile shall lay us aside we must in this case submit our selves to God and say as David did 2 Sam. 15.26 If he say thus I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him There is good reason that we should submit our selves unto God if he should refuse to employ us in doing him any farther service though we have never such strong desires to be serviceable in our Generation for 1. We are altogether unworthy to be employed in any service for God and Christ though the meanest that can be thought of What meaner service could any one have than to stoop down and unty Christs shooes or to carry his shooes after him Yet John the Baptist who was a great person none that was born of women was greater than he according as our Saviour testifieth of him Mat. 11.11 He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mothers Womb Luke 1.15 He was such an holy man that Herod the King of the Jews stood in awe of him Mark 6.20 Yet this great this holy man thought himself unworthy to do the least or meanest service for Christ he thought himself unworthy to unty or carry his shooes after him Luke 3.16 One mightier than I cometh the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
my self of much unrighteousness in the getting of my Estate and now my Estate that I get unrighteously is gone my guilt remains and I am full of horror in my conscience because of my sins and especially for this sin of unrighteousness Answ 1. Such as have been guilty of unrighteousness in their dealings have great cause of being troubled for they have committed an hainous fin which without repentance will most certainly shut them out of the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God It is a sin which brings down great wrath from God 1 Thess 4.6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified It makes a man an abomination to God Deut. 25.16 All that do unrighteously are an abomination to the Lord thy God 2. If you be troubled in conscience for your unrighteousness in your dealings with any man your way to get the trouble of your Conscience removed and to get true and solid peace is to do these things 1. Confess your sin to God You have wronged God as well as your neighbour by your unrighteousness in your dealings and therefore 't is meet that you should confess your sin to God and humble your souls in his sight and if you do confess your sin to God he will pardon this sin of unrighteousness as well as other sins 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1. Leave off and cease from all unrighteous courses for the time to come and then the Lord will pardon all your former unrighteousness although your sin in that kinde hath been exceeding great Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 1.16,18 Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool 3. Flee to the Lord Jesus Christ and lay hold on him by a true and lively Faith Jesus Christ hath satisfied his Father for all our unjust dealings and all our other sins 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God And such is the efficacy of his death and sufferings that whatever guilt troubleth the Conscience the Blood of Christ is able to remove it 1 John 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin And every one that believeth in Christ shall partake of the vertue and efficacy of his Blood for they shall be justified from all things whatsoever they have done either against God or men Acts 13.39 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses The Corinthians were guilty of unrighteousness in their dealings 1 Cor. 6.8 You do wrong and defraud and that your brethren And ver 11. Such were some of you that is unrighteous thieves covetous extortioners c. as is expressed ver 9 10 Yet he adds ver 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Whence you may see that the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all kindes of unrighteousness as fraud theft extortion c. 4. Labour to get into Covenant with God It is one branch of Gods Covenant to pardon his peoples unrighteousness Heb. 8.10,12 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more 5. Make restitution to those whom you have wronged whatever you have taken from any man by fraud or extortion or any other unjust way restore it to him again Ezek. 33.15,16 If the wicked restore the pledge give again that he had robbed walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity he shall surely live he shall not dye none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall live thereby Without restitution where God gives ability and opportunity there can be no true peace of Conscience Job 20.18,19,20 According to his substance shall the restitution be and he shall not rejoyce therein because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly he shall not save of that which he desired Other Scriptures concerning restitution you may see in Levit. 6.2,3,4,5,6,7 Luke 19.8 If any say we are not able to make restitution the wrongs we have done are so great and we have so little left us by the Fire I answer 1. The Scripture even now mentioned may give some direction in this case According to his substance shall the restitution be If you are not able to restore the whole restore as far as you are able 2. If you be not able for the present resolve as soon as God makes you able that you will restore whatever you have gotten unjustly and perform your resolution and God will accept of your willing minde although you want ability to perform what your minde stands to 2 Cor. 8.12 SECT 16. Obj. 16. I am one that serve God and make conscience of keeping his Commandments and both I my self and many others that walk close with God have lost all our Estates and are undone by this Fire when as many that have no fear of God before their eyes but live prophane and dissolute lives have suffered nothing at all by this Fire and this troubleth me very much when I consider how God hath dealt with many of his servants and let others that serve him not go free I am ready to fret at the prosperity of the wicked and to repine at my own afflictions Answ 1. Such a temptation as this did sorely assault David when he looked upon his own afflictions how he was plagued all the day long and chastened every morning and looked also upon the prosperity of the wicked and saw that they were not in trouble or plagued like other men he was envious at the foolish and ready to stumble at this providence and was almost brought to say that all the pains he had taken in Religion was to no purpose Psal 73.2,3,4,5,12,13,14 And if such an eminent servant of God as David was assaulted with this temptation we need not wonder if some of Gods servants in these dayes meet with the like 2. When we
wherefore thou contendest with me If any ask How shall we come to finde out for what sins God is contending with us I answer 1. Go to God and pray to him as Job did to shew you why he contendeth with you Job 10.2 Job 13.23 and after you have sought to God to discover the cause of his controversie observe what sins he brings to your remembrance and sets before you and gives you secret intimations from his Spirit that for such and such a sin he is now correcting you In times of affliction God is wont by his Spirit to present to the view of our souls the sins for which he corrects us Job 36.8,9,10 If they be bound in fetters and be holden in cords of affliction then be sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity 2. Consider what sin your consciences suggested to you when God first sent your affliction upon you for oft-times God represents to us by our consciences what the sin is for which he contendeth with us as we may see in Josephs Brethren Gen. 42.21 They said one to another we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us 3. Search into Gods word and see for what sins God hath been wont to impoverish men and bring them low in their Estates and also for what sins God hath either threatned or inflicted this dreadful judgment of Fire and if you finde that you have been guilty of the same sins you may then know for what sins you have suffered the loss of your Estates by the late Fire I will give some instances in both kindes 1. For what sins God hath either threatned or inflicted this dreadful judgment of Fire and they are such as these 1. Unbelief and distrust of the promises and providence of God Psal 78.21,22 A fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation 2. Neglect of prayer and seeking after God Amos 5.6 Seek ye the Lord and ye shall live lest he break out like Fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel 3. Forsaking of God after we have had much experience of Gods goodness in guiding us and delivering us from many dangers and bestowing many other mercies upon us Jer. 2.15,17 His cities are burnt without inhabitant Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast for saken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way 4. Neglecting to sanctifie the Sabbath in a spiritual manner or prophaning it by doing service or sinful works Jer. 17.28 If ye will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entring in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched 5. Taking of bribes to pervert justice Job 15.24 The congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of Bribery 6. Oppression and unjust and unrighteous dealings Job 20.19,26 Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house that he builded not all darkness shall be hid in his secret places a fire not blown shall consume him it shall go ill with him that is left in his Tabernacle 7. Pride Idleness fulness of Bread and neglect of the poor Ezek. 16.49,50 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom Pride fulness of Bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her Daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy and they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw good Now the way by which God took away Sodom for these sins was by fire Gen. 19.24 8. Resting in outward Reformation without seeking after a renewed heart Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the fore-skins of your heart ye men of Judah and Inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings 9. Murmuring at any of Gods Providences though they be such as bring us into straits Numb 11.1 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp 10. Mocking and misusing of Gods Ministers 2 Chron. 36.16,17,19 They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the Sword And they burnt the House of God and brake down the Wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the Palaces thereof with fire 11. Changing Gods Ordinances and breaking his Covenant Isa 24.5,6 Because they have transgressed the Laws and changed the Ordinances broken the everlasting Covenant Therefore hath the Curse devoured the Earth and they that dwell therein are desolate therefore the Inhabitants of the Earth are burned and few men left 12. Sins of uncleanness as Fornication Adultery c. for these God consumed Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven as we may see Jude 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire 13. Idolatry Deut. 32.16,21,22,24 They provoked him to jealousie with strange gods They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to anger with their vanities A fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains They shall be burnt with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction Several other sins for which God hath threatned this judgment of fire you may see in the first and second chapters of Amos and also in other Scriptures which I shall not mention Consider also for what sins God hath taken away or diminished others estates and brought them low and afflicted them with poverty and that may help you to find out your sins for which God hath impoverished you It is true that sometimes God takes away his Peoples estates to exercise and try their graces as we see in the case of Job but usually when he brings us low and bereaves us of our Estates it is for our sins Psal 106.43 They provoked him with their counsels and were brought
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. When Ephraim was in affliction and found a refractory spirit Thou hast chastised me and I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke and went to God and bemoaned the hardness of his heart and prayed to be turned God promiseth I will surely have mercy upon him that is out of my mercy towards him I will both pardon his rebellious and disobedient carriage under his affliction and subdue his refractory and rebellious spirit That Gods having mercy on him implies both the pardoning and subduing his sins may be gathered from Mic. 7.18,19,20 When the Jews were carried captive into Babylon and found that notwithstanding all the great things that they suffered during the siege and at the destruction of Jerusalem they were not turned from their sins they go to God and pray to him to turn them for they were perswaded that though their afflictions had not turned them yet if the Lord would put forth his Grace and turn them then they should be turned Lam. 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Prayer is of that prevalency with God that no iniquity shall be able to stand long before a praying Christian but Prayer will soon subdue the power and dominion of it Psal 119.2,3 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart they also do no iniquity Prayers and tears will prevail over God himself Hos 12.3,4 By his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him Now if Prayer will prevail over God fear not but it will prevail over all manner of sin 4. When you feel any workings and stirrings of the Spirit of God upon your hearts take heed of quenching or resisting the Spirit when the Spirit of God worketh upon you either in a way of conviction or by stirring up godly sorrow for sin or exciting purposes and resolutions against sin or working in any other way upon our souls and yield your selves to God joyn in and comply with the motions of the Spirit all the workings of Gods Spirit upon our hearts are in order to the bringing of us to repentance that he may prevent our eternal misery Job 33.16,17 He openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man See also ver 29 30. Lo all these things worketh God often times with man to bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living We had need attend to the workings of the Spirit because there is no mortifying of any one sin but by the help of the Spirit Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live And though we can overcome no sin but by the help of the Spirit yet with the Spirits help we may overcome any sin whatever Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh What would God have done for Israel if they had hearkned to him Psal 81.13,14,15 O that my people had hearkened unto me I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him The same will the Spirit of God do for those that yield up themselves to be led and guided by him he will soon subdue their sins and turn his hand against their iniquities and make all their spiritual enemies become subject unto them 5. Look unto Jesus Christ to give you repentance and to turn you from your iniquities God hath exalted Christ to give us repentance Acts. 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins Because we cannot of our selves turn from sin God sent his Son to turn us from our iniquities Acts 3.26 Unto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities If after you have applyed your selves to Christ in order to his turning of you from your iniquities your sins should still prevail over you yet be not discouraged but hope in Christ that in his own good time he will redeem you from all your iniquities and you shall finde that he will not fail your expectation Psalm 130.7,8 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psal 65.3 Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away 6. Rest upon God by virtue of his promises to sanctifie your afflictions for the purging out of your sins and leading of you to repentance The Lord hath made many gracious promises of sanctifying those afflictions which he layes upon his people and causing of them to purge and refine their souls I will mention two or three Isa 27.9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Here are two things remarkable in this Scripture 1. The end and design of God in afflicting his people which is that he may take away his sins This is all the fruit to take away his sin 2. A promise that the affliction which God sends upon his people shall have this effect upon their souls to purge out their sins By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged Jer. 24 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart This promise relates to a time of affliction when the Jews were carried captives into the Land of the Caldeans ver 5. and herein the Lord promiseth among other blessings that this captivity should produce in them an unfeigned repentance They shall return unto me with their whole heart Another promise to this effect we have Zach. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tryed they shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God In the former verse the Prophet speaks of a time of great mortality Two parts therein shall be cut off and die but the third part shall be left therein and then he foretels
to do God good service Phil. 3.6 Concerning zeal persecuting the Church And Saul out of a blinde zeal to the children of Israel and Judah slew the Gibeonites for which sin though done in zeal the whole Land was punished with three years Famine 2 Sam. 21.1,2 2. Look that your zeal for God be true and real and not pretended Jehu pretended great zeal for God 2 Kings 10.16 Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord But it was rather a zeal to establish the Kingdom to himself than any true zeal for God 3. Let your zeal be chiefly exercised in those things wherein the life and power of godliness consisteth in the essential and fundamental matters of Religion and not in circumstantials Pharisaical zeal that was punctual in tything Mint and Cummin and Annise and neglected the weightier matters of the Law as Faith and the love of God Judgment and Mercy was disallowed and condemned by Christ 4. Look that your zeal be not for a fit while the sence of your affliction is fresh upon your spirits but let it be constant Gal. 4.18 It is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing 3. God aims at the making of you partakers of his holiness by this affliction Heb. 12.10 He chasteneth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness These persons to whom the Apostle writes this Epistle had been chastned with the loss of their Goods Heb. 10.34 and this chastning was for this end that they might be partakers of Gods Holiness They were holy before the Apostle calls them chap. 3.1 Holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling They were such as had been sufferers for Christ and had suffered joyfully they had attained to assurance of their salvation chap. 10.32,33,34 Yet these persons were chastned that they might be made more holy Now seeing Gods design in this affliction is to make you partakers of his holiness let this affliction stir you up to follow after holiness if you had only a form of godliness a shew and appearance of holiness before now follow after the power truth reality of godliness if you had true holiness before labour now to be more holy be more holy in your hearts in your thoughts in your affections in your speech and discourse with all men be more holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 As he which called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation This exhortation though it belong to all Gods called ones is more especially directed to such as are in affliction for to such this Epistle is directed as you may see ver 1 6. Let your sufferings excite you to do the works of your Callings in a more godly sort and to perform your Closet and Family Duties in a more holy manner to be more holy in your relative Duties to be more holy in your converses with all sorts of men and to express more of the power of holiness in all manner of conversation 4. God aims at the stirring of you up to a more close and humble walking with himself and to deal justly and mercifully with all men Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God This God required at such a time as he was pleading a controversie with his people as you may see ver 2. The Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel And while he was pleading his controversie he destroyed Jerusalem the chiefest City of the Jews chap. 3.12 Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps And Samaria which was one of the principal Cities belonging to the ten Tribes Isa 7.9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria Micah 1.6 I will make Samaria as an heap of the field I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley and I will discover the foundations thereof Now when God had a great controversie with Israel and Judah for this Prophet was sent to both Kingdoms chap. 1.1 and was laying waste their chiefest Cities that which he required from the inhabitants with whom he was pleading his controversie was that they should do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God 5. God aims at making of you more fruitful by this affliction that you may bring forth both more and better fruit John 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit When great wrath was coming upon the Jews and the axe was even laid to the root of the tree John the Baptist giveth them this exhortation Mat. 3.8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance Now if you would know what it is wherein God would have you more fruitful in you may be resolved from such Scriptures as these Gal. 5.22,23 The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance Phil. 1.11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Col. 1.10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work If then you would comply with Gods ends in your present affliction labour to be filled with the fruits of righteousness abound in all the fruits of the Spirit which are as you heard before love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance Labour to be fruitful in every good work only remember in so doing that you bring forth your fruit to God and not to your selves Rom. 7.4 That we should bring forth fruit unto God for what fruit is brought forth for selfish ends God accounts next to none Hos 10.1 Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit unto himself SECT 7. 7. The losses and other afflictions which you have sustained by this dreadful Fire should stir you up to glorifie God Isa 24.15 Wherefore glorifie ye the Lord in the Fires even the name of the Lord God of Israel In the former part of the Chapter the Prophet speaks of a time of great desolation as ver 1. Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste and turneth it up-side down and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof ver 3. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled ver 11 12. All joy is darkned the mirth of the land is gone in the City is left desolation and the gate is smitten with destruction and then tells them what use they should make of these sore Judgments Glorifie ye the Lord in the fires When God is executing any remarkable Judgments it should awaken all men to glorifie God Rev 15.4 Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy name for thy judgments are made manifest We read Rev. 14.6,7 That when it was an hour wherein God was executing his Judgments that an Angel cryed to every nation and kindred and tongue
and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Revel 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the Abominable and Murderers and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and all Liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Hell fire is so dreadful that you should be willing to do any thing and to suffer any thing so that you may not be cast into Hell fire when you die If you have any sins as profitable to you as your right hand or as dear to you as your right eye you had better a thousand times part with those sins suffer pain and damage and enter into life than retain your sins and be cast into Hell fire when you die Mar. 9.43,44,45,46,47,48 If thy hand offend thee cut it off for it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into Hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched And if thy foot offend thee cut it off it is better for thee to enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into Hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched And if thine Eye offend thee pluck it out it is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched SECT 10. 10. Trust in God for a livelyhood Though your Estates be gone and Trading fail and Times should be hard yet God will not fail you nor forsake you if you trust in him but he will feed you and clothe you and provide all things that are necessary for you Psal 37.3 Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversations be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee These Hebrews as I have hinted before had suffered the spoiling of their goods as we may see Chap. 10.34 and now they might be full of fears that they should not be able to live but the Apostle bids them be content with such things as they had for the Lord would not leave them nor forsake them Consider 1. God knows that you need food and rayment for your bodies as well as grace for your souls Matth. 6.32 Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things and as he knoweth what and how great your needs are so he will take care to supply all your needs Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus 2. God made provision for you long before you had a being the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared for Gods Saints and Servants before they were born for it was made ready for them from the foundation of the world Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Yea before the world began from all Eternity God made preparation for your eternal happiness Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Now if God made provision for your eternal happiness before you had a being then doubt not but he will provide for you that little time that you have to continue in this world 3. God hath given you better and greater things then food and rayment he hath given you life bodies and souls Matth. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than rayment God hath not with-holden his only Son from you and do you think that he will with-hold food and raiment from you who gave you his own Son Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 4. A good man will give his servants convenient food though he have never so many Luk. 15.17 How many hired servants of my Fathers have bread enough and to spare And do you think our good and gracious God will deny his servants their necessary food Doth not God clothe the grass which is but of few dayes continuance And do you think that he will deny you rayment who are made for an eternal state Matth. 6.28,29,30 Why take ye thought for rayment consider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith God out of his mercy giveth food to all his creatures Psal 136.25 Who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth for ever He feedeth the Birds and the Beasts Job 38.41 He provideth for the Raven his food when his young ones cry unto God Psal 147.9 He giveth to the Beast his food And do ye think that he who is styled The Preserver of Men Job 7.20 will not provide food for the sons and daughters of men If you think that the Lord is or will be more mindful of the Birds and Beasts than of Men you wrong him exceedingly Matth. 6.26 Behold the Fowls of the Air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they But of this you may see more Quest 1. pag. 75 76 77 c. Sect. 3 4. Object If any say I could trust God for a livelyhood if I could but see which way I should be able to live but when I have considered which way I should be able to maintain my self and my family I can't see or think of any way whereby I and mine should be maintained and this makes me that I can't tell how to trust in God for a subsistance Answ 1. You have strange thoughts of God if you will trust him no farther than you can see him you will trust a dishonest man as far as you can see him And what a reproach is this to the holy God to trust him no farther than you will trust a dishonest man 2. The property of true faith is to perswade the soul as firmly that those things which God hath promised shall be although we neither do or can see them as we are perswaded of those things which we see evidently with our eye Heb. 11.1 Faith is the
my self into my straits and my troubles by my sins and this keepeth me from trusting in God because my troubles are the fruit of my sins Were it purely the hand of God to try my faith and patience I could in such a case hope in God Ans Though our troubles do come upon us for our sins yet if we humble our souls for our sins and cry to God in our distresses he will raise up deliverance for us Psal 107.10,11,12,13,14 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron becanse they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most high therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distress he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder And again ver 17 19. Fools because of their transgression and because of oheir iniquities are afflicted then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses When David was under such a great sense of sin as made his heart to fail he did yet hope in God for deliverance out of his troubles Psal 40.12,17 Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying O my God When Jonah was cast into the Sea and swallowed up by a Whale it was for his sin in flying from the presence of the Lord yet when in his affliction he cryed to God God heard and delivered him Jonah 2.2,10 I cryed by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice And the Lord spake unto the Fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land SECT 12. 12. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Satan useth to be very busie to tempt us when we are in affliction The two seasons wherein the Devil did in a more eminent manner set upon Christ with his temptations were when he was in the Wilderness Mark 1.13 He was in the Wilderness forty dayes tempted of Satan and when he was entring upon his Passion Luke 22.53 This is your hour and the power of darkness The Devils at that time bestirred themselves to the utmost of their power in tempting and afflicting the Lord Jesus Now God hath stripped you of all or the greatest part of your enjoyments and brought you as it were into a Wilderness now that you must expect to suffer more hardship and difficulties then formerly you may look to meet with more then usual temptations The Devil is ready to take occasion from others afflictions to tempt us 2 Thess 3.3,4,5 How much more will he take advantage from our own afflictions to assault us with his temptations If Satan be busie to tempt had you not need to watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation I might here caution you against several temptations I will instance in four or five 1. Take heed of entertaining hard thoughts of God as though God dealt hardly with you or of his wayes as if there were no profit in serving of God because you have suffered so deeply notwithstanding you have endeavoured to serve the Lord Satan hath baffled very eminent persons with this temptation Job in his haste uttered such an expression as this Job 30.21 Thou art become cruel to me Jeremiah in his distress le ts fall such words as these Jer. 15.18 Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable which refuseth to be healed wilt thou be altogether unto me as a lyard and as waters that fail David being exercised with many afflictions said lin his hast though upon second thoughts he called in his words again that all the pains that he had taken in serving God was ladour in vain Psal 73.13,14 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my bands in innocency for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning To fortifie you against this temptation of calling in question the goodness of God or thinking there is no advantage cometh by serving God let me advise you to do these things 1. Judge of God according to that representation which he maketh of himself in his Word Now the Scriptures represent God to be a good God Ps 86.5 Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon thee When the Lord proclaimed his Name to Moses he proclaimed his name after this manner Exod. 34.5,6 The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness He is so abundant in goodness that his goodness fills the whole earth Psal 33.5 The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. He is so good a God that there are some expressions of his goodness towards every person and every creature upon the face of the earth Psal 145.9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works His goodness is so great that no words can express it we may admire it but we cannot deciare the greatness of it Zech. 9.17 How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty Even in his most terrible acts there is abundance of goodness Psal 145,6,7 Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness 2. Consider what good thoughts of God the servants of the Lord have had in their greatest afflictions though in time of temptation some of Gods servants have uttered some rash expressions derogatory to the good ross of God yet afterwards they have humbled themselves greatly for such speeches as we may see Job 42.3,6 David calls himself fool and heast for speaking dishonourably of God in his afflictions Psal 73.13,22 Take the servants of God when they have been freed from or gotten the victory over temptation and you shall finde them admiring and speaking highly in the commendation of Gods goodness in their greatest afflictions Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good and this David spoke when he was spoiled of his goods ver 61. The bands of the wicked have robbed me and when his sorrows were so great that his soul melted under them ver 28. My soul melteth for he aviness Neither his losses nor his sorrows made him question Gods goodness but he saith under both thou art good and dost good In another Psalm after he had expressed the greatness of his sorrows Psal 31.9,10 I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing He breaks out into
2. Such as seek to get wealth unrighteously seek their own damnation Prov. 21.6 The getting of Treasure by a lying Tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Is eternal death such a desirable thing as that we should seek after it Doth it not come fast enough of it self Consider what dreadful judgments are denounced against such as get their Estates by unjust and unrighteous courses Job 20. from ver the 15. to ver 29. 3. If you wait upon God and put your trust in him and keep your selves honest God will be with you and provide for you a supply of all your needs Phil. 4.8,9,19 Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just think on these things And the God of peace shall be with you My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus Psal 37.3,34 Trust in the Lord and do good and verily thou shalt be fed Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land Isa 33.15,16 He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gain of oppressions that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure And know this also that a little gotten honestly and in the fear of God is better than a great Estate gotten unrighteously Prov. 16.8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right Prov. 15.16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith 6. Another temptation which is like to attend those that have been sufferers by this fire is discontent and murmuring at their losses but I shall need to add nothing more concerning this but refer you to what is said in the first question to prevent murmuring and discontent because of the losses you have sustained by this fire SECT 13. 13. Let the loss of your Estates put you upon seeking after and making sure of those mercies and blessings which shall never be taken from you to all eternity I will mind you of some blessings which if once you can get your souls possessed of them they shall be yours for ever 1. Get an interest in God if you once get the Lord for your God and portion he will be your God and your portion for ever Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 2. Get the grace of God implanted in your hearts when God hath bestowed saving grace upon a man that shall remain with him for ever Psal 19.9 The fear of the Lord is clear enduring for ever Joh. 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 3. Make sure of the favour of God and labour to get into Covenant with him and you shall be possessed of these mercies for ever Isa 54.10 The Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 4. Seek unto God to give you the Comforter and when once you have gotten him he shall abide with you for ever Joh. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Now the way to make sure of these and all other spiritual blessings is to make sure of Christ close with Christ cleave to Christ and abide with him for ever and then all spiritual blessings shall be yours for ever for all spiritual blessings are treasured up in Christ Ephes 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ and if we abide with Christ he will abide ours for ever Joh. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you SECT 14. 14. Seek unto God to restore what he hath taken from you and to make up all your losses There are two wayes of having your losses made up 1. When God shall give you as much riches as he hath taken from you 2. When he shall give you that which is as good or better than what you lost by this fire You may lawfully seek to God to restore your Estates which he hath taken from you so you seek them in Gods way Take your directions from Gods Word for the getting of riches and because many that seek after riches do not seek them in Gods way and so either fail of them or have them not with the blessing of God I shall 1. propose some encouragements to stir you up to seek riches from God in Gods way 2. I shall lay before you some directions out of Gods Word for the getting of riches Now to move you to seek your riches of God Consider 1. Riches are Gods gift he gives them to whom he seeth good 1 Chron. 29.12 Both riches and honour come of thee and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Deut. 8.18 Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth 2. God is able to make up all your losses though they be never so great and to give you as much and more than ever you had After Job had lost all his estate it is said Job 42.10,12 The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning 2 Chron. 25.9 What shall we do for the hundred Talents And the man of God answered The Lord is able to give thee much more than this Though a man be brought very low even to beggery God can easily make him a rich man 1 Sam. 2.8 He raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghil to set them among Princes and to make them inherit the Throne of Glory 3. It is usual with God after he hath brought a man low and humbled him to raise him up again as we see in the case of Job to whom God gave twice as much as before see to this purpose Psal 66.12 We went through fire and through water but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place 1 Sam. 2.7 The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up 4. Those riches that are obtained in Gods way do us most good and convey most comfort to the owners Prov. 10.22 The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it If you ask What course should
we take that we may obtain riches from God I answer 1. Let your first and principal care be to get heaven and the grace of God that may make you meet to enjoy his Kingdom and when you do thus God will not only give you heaven when you die but will add also as much of this world as he seeth to be good for you Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you When men are over-eager in seeking after the world they oft-times miss both of heaven and the world also Prov. 28.18 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him 2. Embrace by faith and set your love upon Jesus Christ he promiseth to fill their treasures that love him Prov. 8.20,21 I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures 3. Repent of your sins and turn to the Lord and then though you be brought low he will build you up again and will give you plenty of such things as he seeth to be good for you Job 22.23,24,25 If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away Iniquity far from thy Tabernacles then shalt thou lay up Gold as dust and the Gold of Ophir as the stones of the Brooks yea the Almighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver 4. Walk in the fear of God and be careful to keep his Commandments Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life 2 Chron. 17.4,5 Jehoshaphat sought to the Lord God of his Fathers and walked in his Commandments and not after the doings of Israel Therefore the Lord established the Kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents and he had riches and honour in abundance 5. Follow your employments with diligence There is a blessing of God goeth along with diligence and industry in our Callings Prov. 10.4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Prov. 22.29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings he shall not stand before mean men 6. Seek after knowledge and manage all your affairs with wisdom and discretion Prov. 24.3,4 Through wisdom is an house builded and by understanding it is established and by knowledge shall the Chamber be filled with all precious and pleasant riches 7. Be faithful and upright in all your dealings Prov. 28.10,20 The upright shall have good things in possession A faithful man shall abound in blessings Psal 112.3,4 Wealth and riches shall be in his house Vnto the upright ariseth light in darkness 8. Shun those vices that bring men to poverty and hinder their thriving in the world such as prodigality and love of pleasure Prov. 21.17 He that loveth Pleasure shall be a poor man he that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Idleness and drowsiness a negligent and sluggish management of our affairs Prov. 6.9,10,11 How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man Prov. 18.9 He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster Gluttony and Drunkenness Prov. 23.21 The Dunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags 9. Be liberal to the poor there may be a liberal soul where there is but a small estate and the more liberal any man is the more likely he is to be a rich man Prov. 11.24,25 There is that scattereth and yet encreaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be also watered himself He that sheweth mercy to the poor honoureth the Lord with his substance Prov. 14.31 And when a man honoureth the Lord with his substance God will multiply it greatly Prov. 3.9,10 Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine encrease so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy Presses shall burst out with new Wine 10. Be content with what God giveth you and then though you have never so little you are a rich man 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great gain SECT 15. 15. If it should not seem good unto the Lord to make up your losses by giving you as much riches as he hath taken from you there is a better way of having your losses made up and that is when God shall make his Providence instrumental to convey those mercies and blessings to your souls which are of more worth than all the riches of the world and this may be done several wayes As 1. If God by this Providence shall teach you wisdom that wisdom which is from above and bring you into more acquaintance with himself and into more acquaintance with the state and condition of your own souls if you gain any degree of heavenly wisdom by your losses then your losses though they have been very great are abundantly made up for wisdom is far better than all the riches of the world Prov. 16.16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver Prov. 8.11 Wisdom is better than Rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it Prov. 3.14 2. If God by your losses shall make you partakers of the fruits and graces of his Spirit if he beget or encrease in your souls humility or heavenly mindedness or self-denyal or patience or any other grace then he doth abundantly make up all your losses for the fruits and graces of the Spirit of God are infinitely better than all the riches of the world Prov. 8.19 My fruit is better than gold yea than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver you may see this cleared by instancing in particular graces as Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 Your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth Humility that also excels all riches Prov. 16.19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud the like may be said of all other graces 3. If God under this affliction shall clear up your right to his Promises if he give you an heart to understand believe obey and delight in his Word if he gives in Promises to your souls out of his Word to stay and comfort and support you then he doth make up all your losses in a gracious manner When God gave in a sutable promise to David in his distress he joyed in it as much as in all riches
day and after his sickness he composed a Song or Psalm to set forth Gods praise and resolved to sing this Song in the house of God all the dayes of his life Isa 38.9,20 The writing of Hezekiah King of Judah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness then follows the Song it self to the 20. verse where he expresseth his resolution by way of gratitude to sing this Song all the dayes of his life The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Song to the stringed Instruments all the dayes of our life in the house of the Lord. Yet notwithstanding all this Hezekiah is taxed with not returning according to the benefit done unto him 6. They whose Houses and Estates have been preserved from this dreadful Fire may know what they ought to return to God for this great deliverance by observing what the Servants of God have returned unto the Lord at such times as God hath vouchsafed unto them any eminent deliverances though it were not a deliverance from Fire but from some other evil and also by considering what special duties God calleth for in his holy Word from such as have escaped those judgments that have fallen upon other men or have received any other signal mercy from the Lord. These things being premised I shall now answer the third Question SECT 1. 1. Render to God your love for his great mercy in preserving your houses and substance from being consumed by this Fire God deserves to be loved by all those whom he preserveth from any evils Ps 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful When David was in a wonderful manner delivered from the hands of his enemies he resolves with himself that he would love God with an entire and an endeared love for the deliverances he had received from him Psal 18. ver 1. compared with the title of the Psalm A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul and he said I will love the Lord my strength The Hebrew word that is used in this place signifieth more then barely to love it notes an inward entire cordial love it is translated by Junius and also by Piscator Exintimis visceribus diligam te And at another time when David was communing with his own heart about what return he should make to God for delivering him from the gates of death upon his crying to him Ps 116.3,4,12 he determins to give God his love verse 1. I love the Lord because he heard my voice and my supplications That thing which a Christian prizeth most and desireth of God above all other things is his love Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life So it is with God that which he prizeth most from us and that which he desireth above all other things is that we should give him our love Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Cant. 4.10 How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouse how much better is thy love than wine and the smell of thine oyntment than all spices If any ask which way shall we express our love to God for this great deliverance I answer 1. By hating and abhorring all evil and endeavouring to root out all manner of sin both from your selves and your families Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Sin is an abominable thing in the sight of God and therefore he entreateth us that if we love him we would not do that which his soul hateth Jer. 44.4 Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate 2. Express your love to God by being careful to keep his Commandments John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments 2 John 6. This is love that we walk after his Commandments God accounted obedience of his Commandments a truer token of love than the offering of a multitude of sacrifices in those times when sacrifices were in use 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 3. Express your love to God by doing all the service you can for his Saints and Servants You cannot be any wayes beneficial to God but you may be to his people Psal 16.2,3 My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight And what you do for them the Lord will account of it as done unto himself Math. 25.40 Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Three times our Lord Jesus calls upon Peter to express his love to him by doing good to his members Joh. 21.15,16,17 Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Lambs He saith unto him the second time Lovest thou me He saith unto him yea Lord He saith unto him Feed my Sheep He saith unto him the third time Lovest thou me Feed my Sheep SECT 2. 2. They that have sustained little or no loss by this dreadful fire wherein so many thousands of persons and families have suffered very deeply have great cause to give thanks unto God for sparing and delivering their substance and their houses from this devouring Fire The Prophet Isaiah having mentioned altime of great desolation wherein a little remnant should escape telleth us what this remnant should render unto the Lord Isa 24.13,14 When thus it shall be in the midst of the Land among the people there shall be as the shaking of an Olive Tree and as the gleaning Grapes when the vintage is done they shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord Four times in one Psalm doth the Holy Ghost call upon the children of men to praise the Lord for delivering them out of their distresses Psal 107.8,15,21,31 O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men When David was delivered from the hands of violent men he was much affected with the mercy of God and determines to give God hearty thanks for it Psal 18.48,49 Thou hast delivered me from the violent man therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing praise unto thy Name To be delivered from the violence
of the Magistrate did strike such terror into the hearts of all Israel as to make them afraid of sinning against God then what a forcible argument should the sufferings of so many thousand of persons and families by the late Fire and Pestilence be to all the people of this Land to perswade them to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord That you may be awakened both by your own mercies and others sufferings to set upon the serious performance of this duty of repentance let me propose to you three or four Considerations 1. It angereth the Lord exceedingly when we go on in an impenitent condition after he hath bestowed any eminent deliverances upon us Ezra 9.13,14 After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping When Israel sinned at the red Sea where they had been in a wonderful manner preserved from the hands of Pharaoh it did mightily provoke God to displeasure Psal 106.7 They provoked him at the Sea even at the red Sea 2. Such as are not led to repentance by Gods goodness are despisers of the riches of Gods grace and do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4,5 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelatirn of the righteous judgment of God 3. Though God may spare you a while yet he will not spare you alwayes but without repentance divine vengeance will persue after you and over-take you and fall upon you to your utter and eternal destruction Luk. 13.3 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Psal 68.21 God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy It is neither wisdom nor riches nor honour nor power nor any other excellency that shall or can exempt that man from destruction that doth not repent of his sins Not Wisedom for He respecteth not any that are wise of heart Job 37.24 Nor Riches Job 36.19 Will he esteem thy riches no not gold nor all the forces of strength Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath Nor Honour Isa 23.9 The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the Earth Neither shall power or strength avail to keep of Gods wrath from impenitent persons 1 Sam. 2.9 By strength shall no man prevail Nah. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the fierceness of his anger Though a man were for gifts and other excellencies equal to the Angels yet none of his excellencies or endowments will keep of Gods wrath from him if be go on in his sins 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment SECT 4. 4. Do not judge those to be the greatest sinners who have been the greatest sufferers by this fire It is a sin which easily besets those that are in prosperity to despise and censure those that are in adversity Job 12.5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease Job's three friends censured him for a hypocrite and an irreligious person because God laid such great afflictions upon him When the Barbarians saw the Viper upon Pauls hand they said among themselves No doubt this man is a murderer whom though he bath escaped the Sea yet Vengeance suffereth not to live Acts 28.4 To prevent this Errour Consider 1. It is expresly against the mind of Christ to judg those to be the greatest sinners that are the greatest sufferers He cautioneth us twice against this sin Luk. 13.1,2,3,4,5 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilat had mingled with their sacrifices and Jesus answering said unto them Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew them Think ye that they were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 2. It is the property of humble persons to think better of others than themselves Phil. 2.3 In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves They are wont to account themselves the least of Saints and the chiefest of sinners Ephes 3.8 Vnto me who am less than the least of all Saints 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 3. It hath been the lot of righteous men in all ages of the world to meet with many troubles and afflictions Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous yea their afflictions and troubles are more than what other men meet withal David speaking of wicked men saith Psal 73.5 They are not in troubles as other men neither are they plagued like other men 4. We wrong God and provoke him to anger when we misjudge his Providences and dealings with his servants Job 42.7 My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath And what was it wherein Eliphaz and his two friends offended in speaking such things of God as were not right Was is not in misconstruing of Gods Providence in sending afflictions SECT 5. 5. Put on bowels of compassion towards such as have been sufferers by this fire and towards all others that are in an afflicted distressed condition and be ready upon all occasions to do all offices of love for any of them as far as it lyeth in your power to be helpful to them Pity them Job 6.14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend Mourn over their afflicted condition Job 30.25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble Was not my soul grieved for the poor Rom. 12.15 Weep with them that weep There is a wo pronounced against those that are not affected with their brethrens miseries Amos 6.1,6 Wo to them that are at ease in Zion That drink Wine in Bowls and anoint themselves with the chief Ointments but they are not grieved for the
vomit he also shall be in derision for was not Israel a derision unto thee was he found among thieves for since thou speakest of him thou skippedst for joy Do not trample upon those that are under Gods feet it is said of God Lam. 3.33,34 He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth If the great God do not willingly grieve the children of men or crush under his feet the meanest sort of men the prisoners of the earth then it doth not become us to grieve or trample upon or crush under our feet any man how mean soever he be Do not oppress any one in his right that is become poor by this Fire in so doing you will be guilty of reproaching God Prov. 14.31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker it is the ready way to come to want your selves Prov. 22.16 He that oppresseth the poor to encrease his riches shall surely come to want It is said of Sodom Ezek. 16.49,50 She did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy therefore I took them away as I saw good If the men of Sodom were destroyed with fire and brimstone for neglecting to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy what shall be done unto them that weaken the hands of the poor and endeavour to make them more poor Do not exact upon those that are harbourless when they come to hire houses of you by demanding an unreasonable price for your Houses Shops or Ware-houses Nehemiah reproves those Jews very sharply that did exact upon their poor brethren after they had suffered great affliction by the Babylonish captivity Neh. 5.1 to the 14. verse By taking advantage of our neighbours necessity to set unreasonable and excessive rates upon our houses we may be guilty of extortion Our Saviour joyns these two together Extortion and Excess Matth. 23.25 Within they are full of extortion and excess Now Extortion is a great sin as we may see 1 Cor. 6.9,10 Ezek. 22.12,13 Have patience towards such as are endebted to you and are disabled by this Fire from paying their Debts and do not deal cruelly with them by casting them into prison or seizing upon that little which God hath left them but wait with patience till God shall enable them to pay what they owe God hath dealt mercifully with you and therefore you should not deal cruelly with your brethren Remember the parable of him that dealt cruelly with his fellow servant after he himself had found great favour with his Lord Matth. 18.28,29,30 The same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which ought him an hundred pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying Pay me that thou owest and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying Have patience with me and I will pay thee all and he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt And what was the issue of this cruel dealing His Lord was wroth and rebukes him sharply delivereth him over to the tormenters ver 32 33 34. Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me shouldest thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow servant yea even as I had pitty on thee and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormenters till he should pay all that was due unto him Do not exercise curelty towards the afflicted any of these fore-mentioned wayes or in any other kinde but let your hearts stand in awe of such precepts as these Zech. 7.9,10 Shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless the stranger nor the poor and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart Levit. 25.43,46 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour but shalt fear thy God Over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule one over another with rigour Rom. 12.10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love 1 Cor. 16.14 Let all your things be done with charity If you cast off all pity towards such as are impoverished by this Fire who knows but God may send a fire to consume your houses This very sin of casting off pity towards the afflicted is threatned with fire Amos 1.11,12 Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof because he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pity and his anger did war continually and kept his wrath for ever but I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the palaces of Bozra SECT 7. 7. Let Gods mercy in preserving your houses from this Fire cause you to dedicate your houses unto God When God gave David a peaceable and setled habitation he dedicated his house unto the Lord and composed the thirtieth Psalm at the dedication of it which beareth this title A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David Some conceive this dedication to have been after God put an end to his wanderings by reason of Sauls persecuting of him and gave him a setled habitation in Jerusalem Others think it refers to his returning to his house after he had been driven from it by Absalom Whensoever the time was that he made this dedication it may teach us thus much that when it pleaseth God to give us quiet and setled and comfortable habitations we should by way of gratitude dedicate our houses unto God Those mercies which we receive from the Lord we should return back again unto him as Hannah when she had obtained a son giveth him unto God 1 Sam. 1.28 He whom I have obtained by petition shall be returned so 't is rendred in the Margin unto the Lord as long as he liveth If any ask How should we dedicate our Houses to God I answer 1. Reform and cleanse your houses put away iniquity far from your Tabernacles if you be purposed to consecrate them unto God Job 22.23 We must not vow and sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing lest we bring a curse upon our selves rather than a blessing Mal. 1.14 Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing If there were any thing of fraud and unrighteousness in building or purchasing your houses make satisfaction to your neighbour before you give your houses to God Isa 61.8,8 I the Lord love judgment I hate robbery forburnt offering Humble your selves for whatever sins either you or your predecessors have committed in your houses whereby they have been defiled for sin defileth not only a mans person but the place where he dwelleth Lev. 18.27,28 Jer. 2.7 2. If you would dedicate your houses to God let holiness to the Lord be written upon your
Children Orphans and Strangers these also ought to be considered in a more especial manner as being great Objects of Charity Job 29.12,13 I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to help him I caused the widows heart to sing for joy God taketh a special care of the Widows and Fatherless and Strangers Psal 146.9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow And we should labour to resemble God see also Job 31.16,17,18,19,20 5. We should minde what opportunities God puts into our hands and embrace our present opportunities and we should be doing good to those unto whom our opportunity leadeth us to do good Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might Prov. 3.27,28 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it say not to thy neighbour Go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee You see here we should not defer our opportunities of doing good so much as for one day I shall add no more upon this head but only put you in mind of the curteous carriage of the barbarous people of Melita towards such as had suffered shipwrack and were cast upon their coasts they received every one of the shipwracked persons in a curteous manner and at their departure did abundantly supply all their necessities Act. 28.1,2,10 When they were escaped then they knew that the Island was called Melita and the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness for they kindled a fire and received us every one because of the presentrain and because of the cold who also honoured us with many honours and when we departed they laded us with such things as were necessary Will it not be a shame for Christians to be wanting in relieving their brethren that have suffered the loss of their Estates by fire when as these Barbarians shewed great kindness to men that they never saw before when they suffered shipwrack and lost their ship and all their goods in the Sea SECT 9. 9. Render your selves to God by way of gratitude for his sparing of you from this sore judgment which hath fallen so heavily upon others Your Houses and Estates are too little to give unto God for this mercy and therefore you shall do well to give your selves both body and soul all that you have and are unto the Lord. When David was debating the case with himself what he should render to the Lord for his benefits he resolves to give himself to God to be his servant and that not only in profession but indeed and in truth Psal 116.12,16 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant 2 Chron. 30.8 Be ye not stiff-necked but yield your selves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord. What the Apostle said to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12.14 I seek not yours but you The like may be said of God He doth not seek ours but us he is more pleased when we give him our selves than with any other gift that we have to give him As a Christian looketh upon it as the greatest favour that God can bestow upon him for God to give himself to him he prizeth none of Gods gifts so much as the gift of himself so it is with God he esteemeth a mans giving up himself to God above all the gifts that he can give to God Let therefore the mercies which God hath given you prevail with you to give your selves your whole selves both body and soul unto God 1. Let Gods mercies prevail with you to give God your bodies Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service It may be some will say What Doth God care for our bodies Will that be an acceptable gift to God The Apostle assureth us it will be an acceptable present when they are preserved holy present your bodies holy acceptable unto God And he telleth us elsewhere that the Lord is desirous of our bodies as well as of our souls 1 Cor. 6.13 The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body Now then we give God our bodies when we keep our bodies in subjection to the will of God when we rule and govern all the members of our bodies by the Word of God when we are content to do or suffer any thing in our bodies for the sake of God that God and Christ may be magnified in our bodies Phil. 1.20 when we do not suffer sin to reign in our bodies neither do yield the members of our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but do readily yield up all the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness to do the will of God this is to give God our bodies And this is that which the Apostle calls for Rom. 6.12,13 Let not sin reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are above from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God 2. Give God your souls as well as your bodies otherwise you do not present your bodies to God a living sacrifice according to the forementioned exhortation Rom. 12.1 for The body without the spirit is dead Jam. 2.26 And if the body be a dead carcase without the spirit then we cannot present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God unless we give him our souls together with our bodies The soul is that which God desires above all things Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart Matth. 22.37,38 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandement And why should any of us stick at this the giving our selves both body and soul unto God seeing it is our reasonable service Let me shew you the equity of what I am exhorting you unto that so such of you as have received great mercies from God may be perswaded by way of gratitude to give your selves the more cheerfully both body and soul unto the Lord. 1. Our bodies and souls are not our own but the Lords and shall we refuse to give God his own Shall we be backward to glorifie God with that which is his own 1 Cor. 6.19,20 Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods God did not make either our bodies or our souls for the service of sin or Satan but for himself 1 Cor. 6.13 Now the body is not for
abide in thy Tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy wings Psal 4.5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. God was much displeased with the Israelites when they did not trust in him notwithstanding he had done great things for them Psal 78.21,22,23,24 Anger came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and had rained down Manna upon them to eat see also ver 32 33. For all this they sinned still and believed not for his wonderous works therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble We render that which is very pleasing and acceptable to God when we put our trust in him for The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 If you ask For what should great and remarkable deliverances cause a man to trust in God I answer 1. When a man hath had any remarkable deliverance out of any trouble it should encourage him to trust in God under all his straits and troubles that come upon him all the dayes of his life Psal 18.50 Great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his anointed to David and to his seed for evermore This Psalm was penned upon the occasion of that deliverance which God gave David out of the hands of Saul as you may see in the title of the Psalm and from this deliverance he concludeth that God would deliver him for ever Psal 6.9 The Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receive my Prayer see the fore-quoted Scriptures 1 Sam. 17.37 2 Cor. 1.10 But some may say How can this be That deliverance from one trouble or calamity should cause us to trust in God for deliverance from another when as we see they that escape one judgment are cut off or suffer deeply by another I answer 1. When God cuts off and destroys those whom he hath formerly delivered it is usually such as distrust him and turn away from him Jude 5. The Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not Josh 24.20 If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he hath done you good 2. When God brings his servants who trust in him into new troubles their faith is not vain but brings down a great blessing for when they are not delivered from troubles they are delivered in trouble and are kept from the evil of trouble that it doth not hurt them and this is a great deliverance Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee 2. Deliverance from temporal evils should encourage the servants of God to trust in the Lord for deliverance from spiritual evils and the bestowing upon them spiritual blessings As for instance 1. When they have had deliverance out of trouble they should conclude that God will also deliver them from all their sins and preserve them in a state of grace till he hath brought them to himself in glory Thus Paul concludes from his deliverance that he had from Nero that God would deliver him from every evil work 2 Tim. 4.17,18 I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom 2. The servants of God that have escaped great calamities and been delivered from great dangers should trust in God for a broken heart to mourn for their sins for God promiseth this mercy to such as escape great judgments Ezek. 7.16 They that escape of them shall escape and shall be on the Mountains like Doves of the Valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity 3. When the servants of God escape out of great troubles it should cause them to trust in God to deliver them from the deceit of their own hearts and to direct the work of faith and repentance in truth in their souls Isa 10.20,21 The remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the House of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth the remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God This remnant unto whom God promiseth faith and repentance in truth are such as should escape the great calamities that were coming on the Jews as you may see ver 21 22. 4. When the servants of God have received any eminent deliverances they should be encouraged thereby to trust in God for power and strength to walk before God in holiness and righteousness as long as they live Psal 56.13 Thou hast delivered my soul from death wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living If any say What grounds have the servants of God to take encouragement from temporal deliverances to trust in God for all spiritual blessings Amongst others that may be named I will mention these two 1. Redemption from outward troubles is given to the servants of God by vertue of the Covenant of Grace as well as spiritual blessings Psal 111.9 He sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever Psal 106.44,45 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry and he remembred for them his Covenant Now when we finde God remembring his Covenant in one kinde it may encourage us to trust in God for all the other blessings which are promised to us in Gods Covenant 2. Redemption from outward troubles is given to the servants of God from the same love of God that spiritual blessings are bestowed upon them Isa 63.9 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 Isa 38.17 Behold for peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption Psal 18.19 He brought me forth into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me Now even outward deliverances being tokens of Gods love to his Servants they may thereby be encouraged to trust in God for spiritual blessings Psal 36.6,7,8 There is much of Gods love seen in his preserving our persons and goods O Lord thou preservest man and beast how excellent is thy loving kindeness his loving kindness should cause us to trust in him therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings And this loving kindeness of God should cause us to trust in him not only for outward but also for spiritual blessings as appears from the eighth verse SECT 12. 12. Let this deliverance cause you to prepare
by these judgments the Lord promiseth to do great things for them ver 21. Fear not O Land be glad and rejoyce for the Lord will do great things The Prophet Isaiah having set forth the miserable and distressed condition of the Jews both in respect of the corruption of all ranks and degrees of men and of the sore judgments of God that were upon them Isa 1.4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Ah sinful Nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger they are gone away backward Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it Your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire your Land strangers devour it in your presence and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers and the Daughter of Zion is left as a Cottage in a Vineyard as a lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Law of our God ye People of Gomorrah After the rehearsal of their sinful and miserable condition he promiseth that if they would be brought to repentance by these judgments ver 16 17. God would do great things for them notwithstanding they were brought very low ver 25 26 27. I will turn mine hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy Tin and I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness And in several other places of this Prophesie the Lord promiseth that when he did return with mercy to his afflicted people he would make their estate far more glorious than ever it was Isa 30.26 The light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven fold as the light of seven dayes In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound Isa 60.15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many Generations Isa 61.7 For your shame you shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possess the double everlasting joy shall be unto thee When the Lord is not only shaking a particular City or Nation but all places and all Nations we should not be startled at it God is but making way for the exalting and setting up of his Sons Kingdom Hag. 2.6,7 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations and the desire of Nations shall come SECT 19. 19. If you purpose to set upon building your Houses which have been consumed by this fire so manage this work as that it may prosper under your hands If you ask How should we so mannage this work of building as to have it prosper under our hands I answer 1. Seek unto God by Prayer to be with you and succeed you in this great work Psal 90.17 Establish thou the works of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it Uzziah built and prospered 2 Chron. 26.9 and how came he to prosper ver 5. He sought God in the dayes of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper By this means Asa prospered in building Cities and other places of strength 2 Chron. 14.7 Let us build these Cities and make about them Walls and Towers Gates and Bars while the Land is yet before us because we have sought the Lord our God we have sought him and he hath given us rest on every side so they built and prospered Now in regard many persons are wont to neglect seeking God in such undertakings as these it will not be amiss if I add two or three considerations to shew those that are purposed to set upon building how much it is their concernment to give themselves unto Prayer whilst they are carrying on this work 1. It is the will of God that in all our undertakings we should seek unto him by Prayer Phil. 4.6 In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and the more difficult and weighty any undertaking is the more need there is of Prayer 2. Such a work as bulding cannot be carryed on but by the help of God and how should they expect Gods help that do not seek it Psal 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain When the Lord had promised that their waste and desolate Cities should be rebuilded he tells them he did expect to be sought to that he might do this for them Ezek. 36.33,37 The wasts shall be builded Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them 3. The Servants of God have been wont to carry on this work of building as well as their other works by Prayer Psal 51.18 Build thou the walls of Jerusalem When Nehemiah set upon building Jerusalem he went through very great difficulties in carrying on that work yet by Prayer he overcome them all and prosperously effected what he went about Neh. 4.9 Nevertheless we made our Prayer unto God Neh. 6.9,15 O God strengthen my hands So the wall was finished 4. God hath oft-times visibly appeared against those persons and their undertakings that have gone upon great works without seeking help and direction from God by blasting and confounding them in their undertakings Mal. 1.4 Whereas Edom saith We are impoverished but we will return and build desolate places thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down When the Inhabitants of Samaria said in the pride and stoutness of their hearts The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars and did not seek the Lord Did they prosper No But God threatned to cut them off branch and rush head and tail in one day Isa 9.9,10,13,14 2. If you would carry on this work of building successfully go about it in faith believing that God will be with you therein and rest upon him for his help and assistance Neh. 2.20 The God of Heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build To believe and rely on the