now to expect and in all perilous and dangerous conditions and circumstances whatsoever are we to trust in his good Providence and Protection and to expect help and relief from him We are not to be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day Psal 91.5 6. We are not so to be afraid of these or the like as to despair of mercy and help from Almighty God but at all times and in all places where we are threatned with any dangers we are to have recourse to him in prayer and then to rest securely upon his divine Help and Assistance and to know that he will be a very present help in all our trouble as the Psalmist saith Psal 46.1 And we are further assured of his blessed help at such times in several other places of his sacred word Psal 91.3 saith the Psalmist Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisom pestilence He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust And God doth give his People great assurance of his Help and Protection when they have great need of them by his Prophet Isaiah 41.10 Fear thou not saith he 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 Behold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded they shall be as nothing and they that strive with thee shall perish Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them even them that contended witb thee They that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee This large exhortation and great encouragement doth God give to his People to rest themselves securely upon him and not to fear their enemies which should thus vanish away and come to nought And if we firmly trust in God we may expect that this promise will be made good to us now and that our enemies shall thus vanish and come to nought And he promiseth to be with his People in all the great dangers that they are brought into Is 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters saith he I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee When thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee And even at the Stake if it should please God to suffer us to be brought thither are we to confide and trust in the Lord Jehovah and to expect that even then he will be a Mighty God and Saviour to us and furnish us with extraordinary help and strength fit for such a Fiery Tryal He that hath promised to be with his People and Servants when they pass thorow the fire and water will be sure to be so with them when there shall be this great occasion for his assistance We are to trust in the Lord for ever and upon no account whatsoever to distrust him and despair of his mercy and succor and help Thirdly We may see that such are blessed and happy that place their Trust and confidence in Almighty God and securely rely upon him and that this will engage him the more firmly to succour and protect them at all times especielly when they most of all want his help and assistance This the Psalmist doth often assert that such are blessed that put their Trust in him Psal 2.12 saith he Blessed are all they that put their trust in him And Psal 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him And Psal 40.4 Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud and such as go about with lyes In these places doth he shew how blessed and happy such men are And saith Solomon Prov. 16.20 Whoso trusteth in the Lord happy is he And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 17.7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought He is blessed because he shall find comfort and refreshment when an evil Time cometh and will not be so shaken and terrified with it as others are like to be And in several places do the sacred Scriptures shew what great good shall be to such as wait and rest upon God and trust in him alone Psal 31.19 saith the Psalmist O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men And Psal 32.10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked saith he but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about And Psal 34.22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate And Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion which cannot he moved The Psalms we see are very full to this purpose exhorting men to trust in Almighty God and assuring them that they shall find great benefit and advantage in so doing And saith God by the Prophet complaining of the infidelity of his People towards him Is 57.13 When thou cryest let thy companies deliver thee but the wind shall carry them away vanity shall take them But he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy Mountain To such doth he promise the inheritance of his land and holy Mountain that make him their Rock and Trust And such as shall now trust in him in this great Day and dark Time that is coming upon us I hope will now be preserved to inherit his land here and holy Mountain This trusting in God is that which alone must afford us comfort and refreshment in the midst of all our sorrows ond miseries that befall us here And this will be sure to do it and will free us the most from all solicitous care and anxious thoughts about the Concerns of this World and set our hearts the most at rest that can be here Such is our condition here in this World that we shall always be lyable to wants and dangers and can have no other security of freedom from them The Revolutions of this World are so various and frequent and our condition here so uncertain that we must of necessity be often exposed to an indigent condition and great hazards and there is no securing our selves against them by all the humane Arts and subtilty that we can use For these are soon frustrated
and in one that is able to help and succour us in all our needs and wants and to save and defend us in all our straits and dangers whatsoever and to preserve and bring us to the enjoyment of his Eternal Kingdom in the World to come And therefore we may well trust and rely upon him at all times Fourthly The Lord Jehovah is a God of love and goodness and tender and compassionate of us and therefore we have the greater cause to trust and confide in him at all times His great love and goodness will be a farther assurance to us that he will be a Rock of Salvation to us in all our straits and dangers He is a God of Love and taketh pleasure and delight in all the works of goodness and mercy and is kind and benign to all his Creatures and desireth the good and prosperity of them all especially of all Mankind This St. John affirmeth that God is love 1 Jo. 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God saith he for God is love And so again ver 16. And this shews how full of love and goodness he is as if this were all in all And his love and goodness is diffused abroad like the light of the Sun and communicated to all his Creatures Psal 145.9 The Lord is good to all saith the Psalmist and his tender mercies are over all his works And to this purpose Wisd 11.24 For thou lovest all the things that are and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made for never wouldest thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it His love is universal and extended to all his works and there is none of his numerous Off-spring and Creatures but shall share therein till they exclude themselves from it by their wilful transgressions and provocations and sin against him with a high hand And for all his Creatures doth he provide and take care and feeds them all This the Psalmist sheweth Ps 104.27 These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good And Psal 145.15 The eyes of all wait upon thee saith he and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thine hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing All his Creatures do experience his great goodness and more especially doth Man do so Our high Creation and the rich preparations that he hath here made for us do shew how full of love and goodness he is towards us And upon this account doth the Royal Psalmist cry out with admiration Psal 8.4 What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet And he proclaimed himself a gracious and merciful God to Moses Exod. 34.6 And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth And this the Psalmist doth often declare Psal 86.15 But thou O Lord art a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth And Psal 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy And to this purpose in several other places And saith God by the Prophet Jeremiah 9.24 I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. These are the things wherein he delighteth and taketh pleasure And this was the Prophet Jonah's reply to God when he spared Niniveh Jonah 4.2 For I knew that thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to Anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil And saith St. Paul Eph. 2 4.5 But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were Dead in sins By these and many more places are we taught how full of love and all manner of goodness our God and great Creator is He is no cruel and merciless Being that knows not what belongs to love and goodness but a God of infinite love and kindness and is greatly delighted in doing acts of mercy and beneficence to all mankind For he doth not onely shew himself kind to the good but also to the evil as our Lord hath told us Matt. 5.45 And we may see that he is a God of great pity and mercy and tender of his People in all their sorrows and miseries He takes no delight to see them miserable and to labor and groan under any Affliction and Calamity but is troubled for them and is then forward to help them and therefore we have the greater cause to rely upon him Like as a father pitieth his children saith the Psalmist 103.13 so the Lord pitieth them that fear him For he knoweth our frame he remembereth that we are dust He considereth our weak and frail nature and what need we have of succour and relief and doth pity us as a Father doth his tender and helpless child His bowels will always yearn towards his Servants whensoever they are in any afflicted and suffering condition and he will then pity and help them Psal 12.5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him And saith he to Moses Ex. 3.7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and I have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters for I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians Thus did God pity them and was moved with their sorrow and misery and redeemed them with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm And saith the Prophet Zechariah 2.8 For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye So tender is he of his People And though the Children of Israel did often rebel against him yet so prone is he to mercy and pity that he was ready to help and succour them whensoever they returned and cryed to him for mercy and help This we may see Judges 10.15 And the children of Israel said unto the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee deliver us only we pray thee this day And they put away the strange Gods from among them and served the Lord and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel And saith the Psalmist Psal 106.44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry And he remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives He cannot shew himself hard-hearted towards his People when they repent and cry
St. Peter 1 Pet. 5.6 7 Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you And upon all accounts whatsoever are we to trust in and rely upon Almighty God in all wants and in all dangers both for the obtaining of all such things as are necessary and needful for us and for the avoiding of all such things as are injurious and hurtful to us And 1 We are to trust in and rely upon the Lord Jehovah the living and true God for help and succor in all the wants and needs and necessities that we ly and labor under at any time here in this World We are to rely upon him for a supply to all our temporal wants or food and raiment and of all other necessaries of this life and not to vex and diquiet our selves with carking care and despondent thoughts nor to have recourse to any sinful and unlawful means to furnish our selves with such things as we stand in need of We are to use our own honest endeavours and to call upon him for relief and then to believe that he will supply us with such things as we want so far as he sees it to be needful and convenient for us And this we are more particularly exhorted to in the sacred Scriptures and are therein assured that God will supply us with all such things as we want and have great need of This the Psalmist sheweth 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 And Psal 34.9 10. O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing And again Psal 37.3 saith the Psalmist Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed Those that do this need not doubt of a supply herein And saith God by the Prophet Isaiah 41.17 18 When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open rivers in the high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water And our blessed Lord doth exhort us to rely upon God in this respect and dissuades us from all anxiety of mind and carking care about the things of this world assuring us that God will not fail to provide these things for us if we serve him as we ought Matt. 6.25 Therefore I say unto you saith he take no thought for your life what ye 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 raiment 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 And ver 28 And why take ye thought for raiment Consider the lilies 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 arrayed like one of these Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be cloathed For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Our blessed Lord here doth let us know that God having given us life and a body will give us also such things as are necessary for the supporting of them and that he well understands and minds what is needful for us And by God's care of inferior creatures he doth assure us that he will have a greater care of us and will be sure not to fail us herein if we seek his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof And to this purpose Lu. 12.22 And often are we exhorted by the Apostles to lay aside all solicitous thoughts about these things and to depend upon Almighty God for them It is our duty to trust in God in this respect and if we should be stript of all in this dark Time that is coming upon us we are then especially to put it in practice and to rely upon the good Providence of God and not to doubt but that he will relieve and help us so far as he shall see it to be convenient for us And for a supply to all our spiritual wants and needs are we to rely and depend upon Almighty God We are to make our earnest prayers to him for the assistance of his Grace and Spirit to enable us to do our duty and to overcome all temptations that shall assault us and for all such Graces and Virtues and other spiritual succors that we have need of and then to depend upon him for relief herein And our blessed Lord doth assure us that we shall be sufficiently furnished with divine Assistance if we do so Lu. 11.13 saith he If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him And saith St. James 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him For the blessed assistance of God's Spirit and for all heavenly wisdom and understanding and power to withstand temptations and for all other spiritual aid and help are we to seek to God and to rely upon him for a supply herein and then we shall be sure to be furnished with a sufficiency of them if we seek them as we ought 2. We are to trust in Almighty God in all the Dangers that we at any time shall be exposed to assuring our selves that he will not then be wanting to us And this is the thing which the Text seemeth chiefly to respect as the chapter sheweth We are not rashly and wilfully to run into dangers and so to tempt the Lord but in all the dangers and hazards that we are brought into by the various Revolutions and Vicissitudes of this World or that do any ways casually befal us are we to trust in and rely upon Almighty God for help and deliverance In all times of the Plague and Pestilence and great Sickness and Mortality In all times of War and Bloodshed and great Persecution and Tribulation such as we are