depart from such persons God threatens it as a sore judgment upon Jerusalem Jerem. 6.8 Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee When God departs in comes all judgments for it follows in the Text Lest I make thee desolate Desolation comes as soon as God is gone yea says the Lord Hos 9.12 Wo to them when I depart from them And though he depart from such by removing his Counsels Gospel and Ordinances He will still be with them in judgment when he is far from their affections he will be nigh to their Consciences then he will shew his terrour and his wrath and then they shall finde that as there is not a sweeter promise thâ—â— this I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so not a more terrible judgment than this I will not love thee nor abide with thee Thirdly A Vse of Lamentation Let us lament our selves who have had God and Christ making their abode with us for many years in their special Providences Gospel-Ordinances c. Yet have we not improved so glorious a Presence so rich a mercy especially we have cause to lament this four-fold neglect First That we have so little acquainted our selves with God and Christ so little prized and observed their presence with us that we have learnt no more of God and Christ but are yet strangers to them so that Jesus Christ may say to us as in John 14.9 Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip so he may say to us Have I been so long time with you in my Providences Ordinances and by my Spirit and yet have you not known my Goodness my Faithfulness my Name my â—aws and Ordinances Sure it is with most of us as with Jacob Gen. 28.15 16. The Lord was with him when he was in his Dream and when he awaked he said Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not So God hath been with us but we have been in a dream or in a sleep all this while but when God shall awaken us we shall say with him God was in this place and we knew it not Secondly We may lament our selves that we have so little conformed to God and Christ God hath been with us but we have refused his company as Ephes 2.12 And had our conversation as without God and without Christ in the world Oh when God and Christ shall depart from us it will be a heart breaking to us and we shall dearly repent the least miscarriages Thirdly We may lament that we have not lived more upon God and Christ to trust in them and depend upon them for Life and Salvation and made him our Counsellor Guide and Strength and lived upon his All-sufficiency we have not made them our Sanctuary our Treasury our Happiness though they have been with us in whom are all things Yet have we lived at so poor a rate as to our spiritual comforts as if we had been under the Hypocrites Curse Job 20.22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he is in straits Or guilty of that vanity mentioned in Eccles 6.2 To have Riches and Honours c. and not a heart to use them To have faith to use them for our comfort we have even starved our selves at the fullest Table and Spring head of plenty Fourthly We may lament our selves that we have not taken more pleasure in the enjoyment of God and Christ in the Gospel and Gospel-Ordinances accounting all Company and delights solitariness in comparison of the joy and comfort that is in the abode of God and Christ especially when God expects we should rejoyce in him and hath promised to abide with such Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness and remembreth thee in thy wayes Two Uses of Exhortation 1. To get the presence of God and Christ with us 2. To endeavour to keep God and Christ abiding with us The first Use of Exhortation Let us be exhorted above all desires to desire Gods presence And above all getting get God and Christ to make their above with you Oh with what ardency and heat of desire doth David express himself Ps 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple and so in Psalm 42.1 2. As the Hart pants after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God when shall I come and appear before God O when wilt thou come unto me And in a multitude of such like Pathetick breathings after God And that we may the more earnestly desire this mercy the abode of God and Christ with us consider three particulars First Consider the presence of God and Christ is the special favour and honor that God bestows only upon his own people By this was Israel distinguished from all the world Exod. 33.16 My presence shall go with thee and in the last verse of the last chapt of Ezekiel it is the Church only that is called Jehiah-Shammah the Lord is there her Founder Preserver and Governor Secondly Consider that they that have God and Christ with them dwell continually at the Fountain-head of consolations as David says Psal 23. I shall want nothing the Lord is my shepherd my cup runs over Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life This Fountain keeps our cisterns full our channels run shal low sometimes but never are they dried up Hos 14.5 I will be as the dew unto Israel he shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon they shall grow up as the Lilly beautiful and fair and as the Cedar well rooted and established He that hath the Sun hath Light he that hath the Well must needs have Water Ille possidet omnia qui possidet possidentem omnia He hath all things who hath him from whom all things come Thirdly Consider that when all comforts leave us God will not when friends forsake and riches profit not in the evil day God is a present help in time of trouble and loves to shew himself in dubiis arduis in the greatest difficulties and on the mount of straits Jesus Christ says truly to us what Peter said rashly to him Though all forsake thee yet will not I. Object I have found God and Christ gone from me says the soul when I have had need of him Answ First That God and Christ may and do sometimes hide their faces from their dearest friends Secondly Though God and Christ do sometimes withdraw from us yet every interruption of communion is not a separation The Sun doth not cease to be when it ceaseth to shine Grace may suspend its acting but doth not lose its being God will not finally forsake his people Thirdly God hath very many gracious ends why he sometimes withdraws and they are always
is not the way for this way of complaining is 1. Fruitless a house on fire is not quenched with tears Murmuring will not scatter the Clouds 2. Causeless Thou hast thy life for a prey Jer. 4 5 6. What a living man and complain and that when 't is for the punishment of his sins this kind of complaining is causeless if you compare sin and punishment together there 's no proportion for sin is a transaression against an infinite God punishment but an affliction upon the finite Creature Sin is an evil against God punishment an evil against the Creature Or if you consider what sin is in its nature 't is a contrariety to Gods nature God is holy sin impurity A contradiction to Gods will God saith Do this the sinner saith I will not God saith Do not this abominable thing which I hate the sinner saith I will 'T is the transgression of Gods pure and holy Law nay 't is a practical blaspheming against all the names of God the rape of Gods mercy and the dare of Gods justice the challenge of Gods power Sin gives the lye to Gods truth and the fool to Gods wisdom And what can sin do more than to take away Gods good name Gods being And that sin would do Or 't is causeless if you consider against whom sin is i.e. God himself who is a jealous God Now a finner takes another lover into his bosome before his eyes yea he is a holy righteous omnipotent almighty living God Thoughts of this may well keep us from complaining Indeed whatever our affliction be we have as much cause to give thanks as to mourn if you consider whatever the punishment be it might be worse or do but look well into it you will see more mercy than affliction Psal 119.75 3. Sinful there is in it 1. unthankfulness while we complain of one affliction we over-look a thousand mercies whereas true grace is ingenious and can see a little kindness mingled with a great deal of severity The Church of God in captivity comparing her afflictions with her mercies breaks forth It is of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed â—am 3.22 blessed be God 't is not yet so bad but it might be worse 2 Cor. 4.8 We are troubled on every side yet not distressed though laid wait for beset on every side put to strive and struggle yet we escape God gives an issue in the temptation We are perplexed but not in despair we are not so helpless that we know not how to turn us we have a God to go to as bad as things are the Lords name is a strong tower persecuted but not forsaken we are shaken out but not to shivers persecuted but not conquered our God hath not quite forsaken us Cast down but not destroyed Psal 118.13 we are cast down but not cast off So Luther They may thrust me back but they cannot thrust me down they may crush me but they cannot kill me or they may kill me but they cannot hurt me they may shew their teeth but they cannot devour Is it a feaver it might have been eternal flames It is scarcity it might be universal famine Is it the danger of losing the Gospel 't is the mercy of God it is not done already Are we in Captivity we might have been in Hell are we in Prison it might have been Tophet The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death Psal 118.18 Though men have lost their bowels Gods compassions fail not God's as faithful as ever he hath taken away some of our mercies but he hath not taken away all he hath left us more than he hath taken They are new they are renewed every morning when old mercies are spent God sends us new he is the Father of mercies begets new mercies every moment Who can number or measure his mercies of one day whatever our fears are O blessed be God he loads us with mercies Now the Complainer over-looks all these there 's much unthankfulness in it and that 's a kind of Atheism She knew not that I gave her corn and wine c. Hos 2.8 2. Pride only by pride comes contention men never quarrel with God about their condition but 't is long of the pride of their heart proud man would fain sin and not hear from God would take liberty to sin but would not have God take liberty to punish Isa 8.3 God must take notice of our duties not of our sins God shall hear of it if he take not notice of our prayers but it shall be by complaining if he take notice of our sins A proud man whatever he hath its no more than his due and whatever he wants God 's his debter Hos 6 14. The want of a Complement undoeth him in the midst of honour if we want but one thing our hearts would have surely nature is proud and ready to pick quarrels with God on the least occasion nay if he will not give that mercy we would take all c. 3 Rebellion God strikes him for sin he strikes against God Jer. 31.18 God draws one way and he another c. 4. Vnbelief He that complains of his punishment never believed sin to be so great an evil or God to be such a one as revealed in the Word 5. Interpretative Blasphemy 1. While we dispute our afflictions and wrangle with the present dispensation what is it but to make our selves wiser than God We seem to tell God how it might have been better and so we do as it were give God counsel When he calls for obedience is not that Blasphemy to set up our wisdom against Gods 2. While we complain of punishment we take sins part against God we do as it were justifie sin and judge God God is unrighteous to punish such a sin as this with such grievous afflictions 3. By complaining we do as it were summon God to our Bar to come and give an account of his actions at our Tribunal What poor miserable Creatures are we that in our afflictions are so far from helping our selves that we commonly add to our own misery No affliction is intollerable till sin come in it The yoke God hath made easie we make intollerable and make God to be our enemy while he by affliction would become our friend Now this being found not to be the way that which God counsels and advises is 1. Self-examination Let us search and try our ways Sin and Hypocrisie lies close and deep therefore we must take pains dig to the bottom set up a tribunal in our own conscience summon try judge our selves over and over in Gods presence He stands at our closet doors to hear what we will say Jer. 8.6 before execution what indictment we will bring in against our selves We can tell what such a Drunkard such an unclean person c. hath done but no man saith what have I done my pride my unthankfulness my unfruitfulness c. 2. Reformation
things Deus meus omnid My God and all things When Jesus Christ came to Zacheus he tells him This day is salvation come to thine House that is both temporal and spiritual preservations and deliverances Salvation doth consist in the total absence of all evil and in the presence and possession of all good Secondly God and Christ have left with us the promises of the Covenant to live upon till we come to the inheritance of the purchased Possession These be like the Widows Cruse that never fails this like the Manna will not be with-held while we be in the Wilderness till we come into Canaan to feed on the fruits of that Land Heb. 13.5 That is a sure Promise in which we may by faith see present supplies I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and in Phil. 4.19 We may possess in that Promise whatever we want My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ Thirdly God hath given us his Son and Jesus Christ hath given us himself as an ensuring pledge of all mercies contained in the promises Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him for us how shall be not with him freely give us all things He that hath not spared his Son will not withhold any mercies He that hath given us the best of blessings will not with-hold smaller mercies He doth always tell his people as in 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for you Thirdly The abode of God and Christ with Believers is their Heaven upon Earth All our happiness is in the abode of God and Christ with us First Consider it is a wonderful mercy of the great God that by his common Providence he is with the works of his hands which is mans safety and David admires at this Psal 8.4 Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him Secondly Consider it is a mercy of the greatest worth and to be for ever admired that God and Christ do not only visit us by common Providence and Inspection as his creatures but make their abode with us as with children and friends O this is our glory God doth not come with a short life for a day for a few dayes but makes an everlasting abode The Church complained when she thought God was departed because he had been with them and made so short a stay Jer. 14.8 Way shouldest thou be as a stranger in the Land and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night c. But when she remembred the Covenant of eternal abode she comforts her self 8 in 9 Verse Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us To be ever with the Lord is all we can hope for and it is mans contemplative happiness to converse in his thoughts with that glory First Consider Jesus Christ hath promised this as our great glory and full reward I will take you to my self they shall behold my glory 1 Joh. 3.3 We shall be like him we shall see him as he is Secondly This abode with God and Christ is the highest Option and aim of all the people of God This was Paul pressing in Phil 〈◊〉 That he might attain to the Resurrection of the dead i.e. the state of them that are risen and with God and Christ Therefore resolves after a long debate with himself Phil. 1.2.1 To be with Christ is best of all And David in Psal 73 at the latter and professes He had none in Heaven but God and there was none upon Earth that he desired in comparison of him Use First of Lamentation and laments three sorts of persons First Let us lament such as be without God and Christ in the world all ignorant and ungodly persons yea this is the sad case of all the Sons of Adam ever since he sinned and lost communion with his God They be brought forth in the world with their backs upon God and with God's face against them What was Cain's grief How was his heart hurried into a world of inconceiveable distempers and distracting thoughts when he must be turn'd out of Gods presence from the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances Gen. 4.14 Behold thou hast driven me out this day says poor Cain from the face of the earth but this is as nothing and from thy face shall I be hid and now where is my comfort and safety It shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me Such persons be as Lambs in a large place Hos 4.16 without a keeper in their most plentiful state What hope have such to escape Hell and Destruction Consider these particulars First Consider it is a very sad case when God and Christ withdraw or depart but for a moment 't is a sad and intolerable moment as we see in the complaint of Christ when God withdrew himself from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and in the example of David Asaph and Heman in Psal 77. and 88. and the whole Church laments in Jer. 14.8 Secondly Consider if God and Christ do never come to make their abode with us here we are never like to make our abode with them hereafter and then it were better we had never been born Psal 73.27 They that are far from the shall perish And this is Hell to be separated from God and Christ 2 Thes 1.8 9. They i. e. the wicked shall he punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power It is Heaven wherever God is in his special abode and that is Hell where he is not present in his mercy and grace Second Vse of Lamentation Let us lament over a worse sort of men and they be such as in Job 21.14 That say to God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways that refuse the Word of Christ and be weary of God and his Ordinances and so reject God as if one house could not hold them both as in Isa 30.10 11. Who say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not c. Cause the Holy one to cease from before us They that stop the mouths of them that speak the Word of Christ or turn away their ears from hearkening to that which is spoken say in effect Let God be gone let Christ depart from us First Consider what an ill frame of spirit it is for men to refuse the presence of God Was there ever wickedness like this that the great God should be as an unbidden guest with his own creatures and have no better entertainment than Christ with the Gaderens who besought him to depart out of their Coast yea which is far worse rejected as Christ was by the possessed in the Gospel Matth. 8.29 What have we to do with thee Art thou come to torment us before the time Secondly Consider it will be a very terrible day when God and Christ
it not unto me ver 45. Beloved there is a time coming when the great God will reckon with ungodly men for all the injuries and wrongs which they have done to his people as if they were done to himself immediately Oh! consider of this you that are true Believers are you invironed round with adversaries either spiritual or temporal you have God for your defence a God infinite in power which is able to defend you from the hardest assaults of your most potent and politick Enemies his Name is a strong Tower the Righteous fly unto it and are safe Are you encountring with great temptations The Lord being your Father he will protect you and not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear but together with temptation will make way for your escape that you may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.30 the Lord knoweth that his Children are liable to many temptations from Satan from the world and from their own corruptions and that they are subject to many afflictions and tribulations from the hands of men and therefore he will be sure to be with them and to be a very present help to them in the time of trouble Thirdly Is God a Believers Heavenly Father then there is a comfort for them that God will pity them and compassionate them in all their afflictions a tender Father pitieth his Children when they are in any calamity as for instance in sickness how will the groans of a Child go near the heart of a loving Parent How do the Agonies of pain in the Child cause grief and sorrow in the Parents heart What means would not a Parent use to procure the health and ease of a Child My life is bound up in the life of the Lad says Jacob concerning Benjamin Oh Absalon my son my son would God I had dyed for thee says David concerning Absalon What sympathyzing and sellow-feeling will a dear and tender Parent have of the miseries of his Children And as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Psal 103.13 The Lord is very pitiful Jam. 5.11 The pity and compassion of the Lord towards his Children is excellently set forth in that Scripture Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear son Is he a pleasant Child I speak against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him saith the Lord The bowels of the Lord do exceedingly yearn towards his people in all their afflictions and distresses and he is full of pity and compassion towards them Fourthly Is God a Father to all true Believers then here is also for their comfort that God doth and always will love them and take delight in them He loves them with an everlasting love they are his chosen Jewels and he will certainly one day polish them though he suffer them to be among the rubbish of the World for a while They are his pleasant pictures and he delights to be looking on them the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 33.18 God takes pleasure to be viewing the new creature which he hath framed by his own Spirit in the hearts of his people and his own Image which he stamped upon them and herein the love that the Lord beareth his Children infinitely exceeds the Love that earthly Parents bear to theirs in that he loveth them continually Earthly Parents they love their Children but their love may be withdrawn from them again and is often times but the love of God will never be withdrawn from his love whom the Lord loveth he loveth to the end and although his loving countenance may be eclipsed for a time and they may lose the sence of his love to them by their failings sinful infirmities yet the Lord loves them still There is nothing shall be able to separate Believers from the love of God Rom. 8.25 and onward the Apostle Paul putteth the question there saith he Who shall separate us from the love of God Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay saith he in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not all the troubles of the world nor tribulations nor any thing that can render Believers less lovely in the eyes of Christ It is not all the Devils in Hell that can withdraw Gods love from his children although they do endeavour it by enticing them to sin by their temptations and then by accusing them to God for sin yet all this will not rout them out of God's love though the Devil do labour to pick a quarrel between God and his people yet it is not principalities nor powers it is not all the power of Hell that shall be able to withdraw Gods love from them Fifthly Is God a Father to Believers Then they may take this for their comfort that he will continually be mindful of them Parents do remember their Children and are mindful of them so the Lord he remembreth his people and will never forget them Isa 49.15 Can a Woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may yet I will not forget thee Earthly Parents though it be but rare yet they may and sometimes do forget their children but God he is more tender and mindful of his Children than earthly Parents are of theirs yea they may yet will not I forget thee c. Though Gods people do too often forget him yet he doth never forget them but remember them in all their conditions even in their low estate God is mindful of them Psal 136.23 Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever Lastly Is God a Father to Believers Then they may take this for their comfort that God will provide an inheritance for them hereafter Fathers provide portions and inheritances for their Children for hereafter so doth God Rom. 8. Now saith the Apostle We are the Sons of God and if sons then heirs heirs of God and coheirs with Jesus Christ How often is the Kingdom of Heaven called an inheritance the inheritance of the Saints or them that are sanctified Acts 20.32 and 26.8 There is an eternal inheritance laid up for the Children of God for hereafter yea the Kingdom of Heaven is their inheritance and it is now preparing for them John 14.2 and they shall have assuredly one day an abundant entrance into their Fathers Kingdom the Children of God
VVhat it is to keep his way First To wait on the Lord is taken more largely or more strictly 1. More largely And so it is the same with serving the Lord attending and following the Lord and takes in the whole duty of the Saints waiting on the Lord as a Soldier on his Captain or as a servant on his Master Psal 123.2 Behold as the eyes of the Servants look to the hands of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress so our eyes wait on the Lord our God So in that Hos 12 6. Turn thou to thy God and keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually 2. More strictly And so it intends a patient expecting the Lords Salvation 'T is the continual exercise of Faith and Hope It is Faith and Hope eekt out so here Vers 7. Rest on the Lord wait patiently So Psal 130. when he cries out of the depths as he says v. 1. then v 5 I want for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his words do I hope My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning I say more then they that watch for the morning We have both these together in that Lam 3.25 26. The Lord is good to them that wait for Him to the the soul that seeketh Him There it is taken as largely as seeking after God but it followes It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord there it is taken for the continued exercise of hope for a patiâ—nâ— expectation of the Lords Salvation Secondly What it is to keep the Way of the Lord here mind The way of the Lord may be understood of that way wherein he walketh towards his People which is aptly stiled the way of his Providence or in that way wherein he requires his People to walk towards him and is properly stiled the VVay of his Precepts 1. â—vere is the way of Gods Providence in which he walketh towards us of which that Psal 18.30 speaketh As for God his VVay is perfect So Psal 25.10 All the Paths and VVaies of the Lord are Mercy and Truth unto such as keep his Covenant and Testimonies Now if it be thus taken here Then to keep his VVay is diligently to attend his Hand and to observe his Carriage and ordering in all that befals his People more especially in all that trouble that comes on them For whatever trouble comes upon the People of God and whoever be the instruments of inflicting the Lord hath his way in it Mit. 6.9 ordering it as to the kind as to the measure as to the season as to the continuance and as to the ends and fruits Now to observe the Lord's Hand and to attend his VVay in ordering his Providences and our troubles this is to keep his VVay So Isa 26.8 In the way of thy Jugements we have waited for thee as if he had said VVe have waited on the Lord and kept his VVay 2. There is the way of God's Presepts in which he commandeth his People to walk And thus is this phrase most commonly taken So 2 Kings 21.21 where it is said of Amon He forsook the Lord God of his Fathers and walked not in the VVay of the Lord i. e. not in the VVay of his Commandments Thus David spake of the way of his Precepts in Psal 119 27. Make me understand the Way of thy Prâ—â—pts And if it be taken thus then to keep the VVay of the Lord is to walk in his Statutes and to observe his Commandments to do them So Gen. 18.19 the Lord testifies of Abraham I know him thet he will command his Children and his houshold after him annd they shall keep the VVay of the Lord to do Justice and Judgement So in Job 23.11 13. My feet have held his steps his VVay have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the Commadments of his lips So to walk in his VVays and to keep his Commandments are the same Deut. 26.17 and Psal 119 1 2. So that the sum of all is However it be with the truly Godly more especially when the wicked do wateh them to do them a mischeif their best way is to attend on the Lord to follow him to walk on in the ways of his Commandements so eying the hand of the Lord in all that befals them as that they patiently expect and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. Thus for Explication I now come to the Demonstration which shall be dispacht by clearing That it is the honestest the wisest the safest the most comfortable and most honourable Way First This is the most innocent just and honest Way yea truly this is the only good honest and right Way I am to shew what is the best for a Godly man to whom no way is good but what is just and honest There are indeed other ways which a man may take when he is in trouble through the wickeds watching him to do him a mischief whereby to escape the mischief intended him but they are not just and honest I shall instance in these 1. By sinfully complying with the wicked in their ungodly ways thereby to abate the edge of their wrath This was the way Peter took when in the High Priests Hall he not only denyes his Master but backs his denial with an Oath yea being among a cursing crew that should seem would not believe him else he falls a cursing and swearing that he knew not the man Mat. 26.74 2. By sinful shifting or shuffling through Lyes or deceitfull Equivocations to avoid the mischief intended This was the way that Abraham took to escape the mischief that he thought at one time the Men of Gerar might do him Gen. 20. and that the Egyptians might do to him at another time for his wives sake wherein though Abraham did not tell a down-right untruth as he excuseth the matter to Aebimelech yet he did sinfully shufflâ— in making use of a deceitful Equivocation for his safety 3. By angerly and revengfully rendering Evil for Evil thereby thiâ—king to pay the wicked in their own Coyn and to avenge a mans own quarrel This was the course that David was about to take against Naâ—al had he not been prevented by Abigals wisdom 1 Sam 25.33 4. By basely deserting the Place that the Lord hath put a man in and requires him to abide in This was that which Shemaiah would have pâ—t Nehemiah upon but he refused to hearken to him in Nehem. 6.10 11. not but that a man forsake his place not only of habitation but also of publick station and employment in some cases when that the Lord calls him off but this is of no base deserting Base deserting is when out of cowardliness and base fear a man withdrawes himself from his place in which and at that time when the Lord requires him to abide that he may provide for his own safety This
express so little to our Brother 'T is an Argument we know not of what spirit we are of as Christ told his Disciples Oh! how unlike to that God whom we profess to be our God He is long suffering patient full of goodness gentleness mercy c. we can bear nothing we can suffer nothing one from another 13. Our great murmuring against Reformation and Reformers God hath heard the voyce of our murmuring Exod. 2.6 As if there had been nothing that would have undone us but Reformation and truly God seems to speak such a word as that was Numb 7.5 in displeasure and anger I will make your murmuring to cease I will take away the cause of your murmuring I would have reformed you and you would not be reformed As Christ to Jerusalem I would but you would not Mat. 23. The time may come when we would and God will not when we shall cry Other Lords have had dominion over us c. Isa 26.13 but thou Lord set up thou thy Government rule thou over uâ—â— and God may say No 't is too late I would have healed you and you would not be healed 14. The great neglect of the care of our Families Truly 't is not the least sin that threatens the removal of our Candle-stick How generally have the duties of Religion been let fall in our families reading the word singing Psalms c. time was when one could not have come through the streets of London on an evening in the week-day but we might hear the praises of God singing of Psalms now 't is a stranger in the City even upon the Lords own day Oh! how have Governours of Families cast off the care of the souls that God hath committed to them How careless are they of the souls of their yoak-fellows that lye in their bosome of their Children the fruit of their loins Masters of their servants c. And in the mean time are ready to stand up and justifie themselves with the boldness of Cain to say to God Am I my brothers keeper Am I the keeper of my yoak-fellows Childrens servants souls Yes thou art the keeper c. God hath put them into thy trust and if they perish through thy fault they may die in their sins but their blood shall be required at thy hand God will say to thee as he did to Cain Thy Brothers blood cryeth in my ear 15. Our indifferences as to matter of faith and doctrine That we have not been more zealous for the Truth of Christ that great trust and depositum which hath been committed to us We have accounted it no matter of what opinion or judgment men be in these latter times 'T is an universal saying No matter what judgment men be of so they be Saints as if truth in the judgment did not go to the making up of a Saint as well as holiness in the Will and Affections As if Christ had not come into the World to bear witness of the truth which was his great design as if it were no matter if God have the heart so the devil be in the head as if no matter that be full of darkness so the heart be for God 16. The unsuitableness of our conversation to the Gospel of Christ 'T is the only thing the Apostles puts the Philippians in mind of and commits to their care Phil. 1.27 and truly in these unhappy dayes it hath been the only thing men have neglected and despised how little care that our conversations should honour the Gospel c. 17. Our living by sense and not by faith Surely my Brethren among all the sins in England that the people of God have cause to be humbled for there is not any whereby we have more provoked God than by that sin of our unbelief murmuring and infidelity have been our two great sins for which it is the wonder of Gods mercy that he hath not caused our carkasses to fall in the Wilderness he may take up that complaint of us that he did of Israel Num. 14.22 Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles which I diâ—â—â— Egypt and in the Wilderness and have tempted me now these ten times and have not hearkned to my voyce surely they shall not see the Land c. And this is the lamentation we may take up that truly to this very day we have not faith enough to carry us from one miracle to another from one deliverance to another from one salvation to another let one deliverance pass over our head and no sooner one Wave rises higher than another but we are ready to cry out with Peter Lord save me I perish and well were it if our fears did issue into tears and cryes after Christ we rather are ready to cry out as those in Ezek. 37.11 Our bones are dryed and our hope is lost we are out off for our parts We are a people that never knew how to honour God in any distress God hath brought us into never learnt to glorifie God by believing if we cannot see him we cannot believe him surely that which God hath done for us in such a succession of miracles it might well at least have been found for our faith during our so journing In our Pilgrimage we might have learned by all that we have seen to believe God we might have made experience to be the food of our faith and upon all the Providences of Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness we might have discoursed our selves into belief as David 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine So Paul He hath delivered and doth deliver we trust he will also deliver Oh my Brethren we dishonoun God and starve our faith by forgetting our experience while we proclaim by our own unbelief that we have a God that we dare not trust If we perish we may thank our selves for it surely if we miscarry that account may be given for it that we find Mat. 13 58. Because of our unhelief There is a rest of God before us if we do not enter in it is because of our unbelief 18. Went of sympathy with the bleeding gasping groaning dying Churches of Jesus Christ They have been in great afflictions round about have call'd to us pitty me Oh pitty me my friends for the hand of God is gone out against me We cannot look any way but we see cause of bitter mourning but we have not laid the blood of Germany Lituania Piedmount c. to heart therefore God may justly lay it to our charge Want of fellow-feeling with our Brethren in their afflictions it is a kind of persecution a kind of being accessary to their sufferings That we have not mourned wept bled with them that we have not lien in the dust smote on our thighs c. God may justly say to us as Ames 6.6 7. They shall go captive with the
taken with them Many a wicked man when he hears a holy man make an excellent Oration wishes that he could do so too it is not from the goodness he observes in it or the principle from whence it comes but from something of natural accomplishments that he is taken with it so a godly man when he hears another pray excellently and live holily he wishes from his heart that he could do so too his aim is to grow in holiness Fourthly The present priviledges of the people of God not onely what they shall have hereafter but what they have here they are freed from a world of evils that worldlings lie under whatever befals them turns to their benefit they may be afflicted but not hurt by affliction the greatest hurt the world does to them tends to their greatest good Worldlings may take away their heads they cannot their crowns there is a real communication of a blessed interest in all that is good for they have an interest in all that God hath or is the power of God is theirs to protect them the love of God is set upon them the righteousness of God imputed to them so as to acquit them from sin so that a Child of God may not onely appeal to the bowels of Gods mercy but to the bar of his justice all the providences of God shall tend to their good In Psal 25.10 the Holy Ghost says All the ways of God are mercy and truth to them that are in covenant with him they are mercy because they are appointed to do them good and truth because they shall certainly do them good Christ and God and all is laid out for the good of a godly man In this world they may go to God and tell him wherein they are troubled pained or afflicted and they are never more welcome then when they ask most from him if thou ask great things from God God is well taken with such requests but if thou ask Riches and Honours these are the low things of the foot-stool God is exceedingly taken with thee when thou askest Peace and Pardon Peace of Conscience Pardon of sin strength against sin power to overcome thy Lusts to withstand temptations The people of God may have from God all that they want and all that they can regularly wish Fifthly These are such as have an incomparable dear and near relation to God they are his delight they are set apart by God as his own his peculiar people though God have a propriety in all yet he hath a peculiar propriety in and a relation to these therefore they are called his children his house his jewels his garden Gods whole treasure and portion is his people as God is his peoples portion so his people are his portion they are those he hath been at a great deal of cost to purchase Sixthly They are such as have the image of God imprinted upon them take notice of this word image for the image of God appears in holiness Now an image does not represent any thing of imperfection or deformity but of excellency If a man takes the picture of a man he will not take it of his back-side or leg or hand or the like but of his face his beautifullest part is chiefly aimed at in the picture Wicked men discover Gods bounty in having wit and wealth this is not the image of God the image of God is that which is most excellent in a man which is holiness the power of God is the hand of God the wisdom of God is the eye of God the holiness of God is the face the beauty of God the people of God resemble God in purity Be ye holy as your heavenly Father is holy there 's the pattern they have 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 having escaped the corruption that is in the world as it is in Ephes 4.18 Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is more of God in grace then in all the works that ever God did in the world beside there is much of God seen in making the Sun Moon and Stars but in giving a man a new nature a renewed understanding in changing of a man from being a vessel of wrath and vessel of Satan in making of him become a new man a vessel of glory God shews more of himself then in making ten thousand worlds Vse Here I shall raise these following inferences If it be so that there is such an excellency in the people of God here then first what excellency shall there be seen on the people of God in heaven If they are so beautiful in their Rags what will they be when they appear in their Robes The glory of Christ shall be admired in them that believe Oh what a Head is he that hath such Members what a Lord is he that hath such attendance The people of God are in a state of non-appearance now hereafter it shall appear what they are the very wicked themselves shall admire them 2. Inference What have we to think of those that have no regard either for Religion or for Religious ones any farther forth then it is deck'd and adorned with advantagious beauty and outward glory If Religion be not lookt upon with a favourable eye from Authority farewel Religion and Religiousness These love the child for the Nurses sake what is the thing in fashion these are for what Authority commands they 'll creep and cringe to when the Deer is shot the Herd flies from her when Religion is shot at then farewell Religion What is this but to have the Faith of God in respect of persons If I love Religion for the countenance of Authority then it is certain I love Reliligion for the Authorities sake this is a sign thou shalt not have communion with those hereafter that thou contemnest here If the people of God are too bad for thee when they are in trouble and affliction they will be too good for thee in glory 3. Inference Note here the excellency of holiness above worldly glory Here a man is dignified by what is conferr'd upon him when outward honour ceaseth the man is contemned but holiness it dignifies a man and shall remain here and hereafter Set a Gyant in a valley he is a Gyant still a Pearl is a Pearl though on a Dunghil a holy man is a holy man though never so much disgrac'd and contemned by men John Baptist had a leathern girdle and had locusts for his food yet there was not a greater than John Baptist born of women He was the forerunner of Christ the friend of the Bridegroom On the other side Herod that was like the voice of God and not of man what was he
against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be so that they that are in the flesh cannot please God Why because there is that principle in them as carries out a real enmity to the Law and Will of God it is as if the Apostle had said They will not be subject to Gods will not obedient to Gods command there is a principle of enmity in them against these things so cannot please God God is pleased when his will is fulfilled his commands observed to please God is in all things so to act that whatever we do we may express a likeness to Gods naâ—â—â— and a blessed subjection to Gods revealed will and this is the first thing A second thing is the proof of the Doctrine they that thus please God he will be with them he will not leave them alone especially in an hour of tryal For my Brethren assure your selves of this that which the Father did for Christ he will do for all his Members 't is true Christs sufferings being greater then ours possibly can be and so his relation to God being higher then ours is he a Son by eternal Generation we onely by adoption he had the presence of God in a more glorious manner then we can expect but yet in our Sphere according to the measure of our tryals and according to our capacity we shall as really have the presence of God with us as Christ had with him that as we are partakers of Christs sufferings so we also shall be partakers of Christs support he that will be present with believers in heaven as he is with Christ he will be present with believers here on earth as he is with Christ in all his sorrows and sufferings Now for the confirming of this comfortable truth I need not speak much Many promises you have in Scripture for it and what ever God hath promised he will certainly make good Turn to that one promise in stead of many Isa 43.2 When thou passest through the water I will be with thee 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 And you shall find too that the Saints have experienced it in all ages God hath made it good Jacob was a man that met with many sharp tryals God exercised him with many troubles you shall find that when he was going to Padan-Aram and was in a very afflicted condition Gen. 28 15. God comes to him and saith Behold I am with thee Gen. 31.5 His father frowned upon him but the God of his father helped him Joseph Gen. 22.20 his master took him put him into prison a place where the Kings prisoners were bound he was in the Prison but the Lord was with Joseph The Prophet Jeremy was thrown into a Dungeon but the Scripture saith God was with him The three Children was thrown into the Furnace of fire but there was a fourth with them and that was the Son of God Dan. 3.25 Paul when he was brought to his trial all men forsook him but God stood by him 2 Tim. 4.16 So the Christians in all their sharp sufferings 2 Cor. 4.9 they were persecuted but not forsaken persecuted by men but not forsaken by God God hath abundantly made out this and doth so still that he will never leave those alone in a time of suffering who desire uâ—â—â—ignedly in all things to please God Nâ—â— the third thing is to shew you in what respect God is with such why this presence of God is an active presence God is not meerly with his people but he is with them in an active way for this is a certain truth God is working when the Saints are suffering I will open this in several particulars First God is with such in his teaching presence Gods correction and Gods instruction they usually go together and where there is the chastenings of Gods hand there is also the teaching of Gods Spirit Psal 90.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and whom thou teachest Christ though he were a Son yet learned obedience by the things that he suffered God teacheth his upright ones many lessons in a time of adversity which they never learned in a time of prosperity For we are like idle boys or bad Scholars that learn best when the rod is over us In a prosperous condition God speaks to us and we mind him not Jer. 22.21 Ispoke to thee in thy prosperity but thou wouldest not hear and this hath been thy manner from thy youth upwards in prosperity God speaks once and twice as Job speaks but we will not hear but in the time of adversity God opens the ears Jud. 8.16 As Gideon taught the men of Succoth with thorns and briers so doth God teach his people by affliction and oh the many blessed truths that they learn when they are under the Rod when they want liberty Oh what a mercy is it to have liberty then when they have not Ordinances as before what a mercy is it to have Ordinances then Oh what an evil thing is it then for them that they have departed from God! God teaches them these things then sin is never so bitter mercy is never so sweet as in a time of suffering Oh how vain and empty is the creature then Oh how sweet is communion with God then I say such things as these God teaches then Secondly God is with such in his guiding presence Psal 73.24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me unto glory When Israel was in the Wilderness then they had the cloud to guide them It is a blessed thing to live under the conduct and direction of the wise God we never have so much of this as in an hour of tryal indeed the people of God never fly so much to God for direction as as such a â—ime as Saul when he was in distress then he calls for the Ephod and thus it is with us under affliction then we look to God Thirdly God is with them in his preserving and hiding presence God is the Saints hiding place their shield their buckler their rock their defence the Scripture expressions are many to hold out Gods protection as to his people God hath a constant care over them to preserve them and save them oh but especially in a time of trouble as the Marriner is never so careful of the Ship as under a storm and God is never so careful of his Church and people as under affliction Jeremy is in Dungeon now God saves him Daniel is in the Den now God saves him The three Children in the Fire now God saves them Peter is in Prison now God saves him The mother never tends the childe so carefully as when the childe is sick and Providence is never so tender to the People of God as under a suffering condition Fourthly God is with them in his comforting Presence 2 Cor. 4.1
resist him to his face Shall Paul resist Simon Peter and shall not the Saints of God resist Simon-Magus shall they resist Hymenaeus and Philetus and shall not we contend with Alexander the Copper-smith 't is but suitable to what God expects and the Exhortation here given us That we should maintain with might and main as that which is our treasure which we will not let go the Faith once delivered to the Saints To put you upon this I might encourage you with several things All the Reasons mentioned are as so many Motives to this holy spiritual contention Shall I tell you of three words further 1. The mercy of God delivering the truth to you should engage you to this holy contention 't is such a mercy as is a Non-such mercy Psal 147. the two last verses He hath given his Judgments to Jacob and his Statutes to Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation How many of the greatest part of those that we call Christians in the world are put like Sampson to grind among the Philistinis Superstition Popery Idolatry Will-worship such things as Jesus Christ never delivered to his Saints having both their eyes out the Scripture light that should have shewed them the truth taken from them and their Consciences that should teach them carried in the pocket of some base Priest that dare not think any other than what he will tell them How many are there even of the very reformed of the world who only get upon some broken plank of Ship-wrack'd truth whereby they swim to the Lord Jesus But God does not deal thus with us you have had the whole Counsel of God revealed to you a glorious light set up in the Nation for a hundred of years past which hath been like the light of seven dayes For these twenty years past the running to and fro of men hath increased knowledge you have learned the truth from Gods faithful Ministers you have received it with much affliction with many temptations it hath cost Jesus Christ dear to send it it hath cost you dear to receive it and will you let it go Your sin above all others will be most provoking to the Lord Jesus 2. I might tell you that 't is a time wherein many let go the faith and methinks the Lord Jesus does by his poor and unworthy messenger speak to this great Congregation as sometimes he did to his Apostles Will ye also go away There are many that have been forward and eminent Professors of the Faith delivered to the Saints that have made Ship-wrack of Faith and a good Conscience will you split upon the same rock God hath kept the truth for you and kept you in the truth hitherto and is coming to see whether you will cleave to it and keep it or no. We have been sucking at the breasts of the Ordinances and dandled upon the knees of Providences and gone on in a smooth way of Profession but what will you do now when you must come possibly to suffer persecution for it to keep the faith you may lose your Liberty Life Estate And there 's a great deal of hazard upon this account because it hath pleased God so to dispose it as that those that should be your guides into truth the Lord is removing them into corners Possibly while they have been with you you have kept the faith but what will you do when they are gone While Moses was with the people they cleaved to the Lord when once he was gone into the Mount they fell into their Idolatry and worshipped a Calf While Paul was at Ephesus the flock kept pure but saith he I know after my departure grievous Wolves shall break in not sparing the flock c. So while you have heard of God who sends voices and warnings to scare away the Wolves and Foxes from you possibly you may keep the Faith but what will you do when God removes them 3. God hath ever had in all ages of his Church a word of his Patience to be kept to try his Saints and therefore it does concern you for to be valiant for the truth In all the series of Gods dispensations with his Church there hath been something or other of the faith of Christ that hath cost them resisting to bloud to sacrifice their lives to lay down all that they have for it by suffering Now even as they so we if not in the same thing yet in the same faith we have still some word or other of Gods patience to keep therefore we need to have on the Armour of Light you must wrestle with the fiery Tryal for there is some Jewel that Jesus Christ puts upon you to wear that Persecutors and Persecutions Heresies and Hereticks will scratch at which you must hold out with loss of life to keep and this must be till the latter part of the rage and reign of Antichrist is out and even as you keep that so will God keep you Rev. 3.10 As you honour the word of Gods patience so God will honour you As you are faithful to him so will he give you the Crown and no otherwise Hence therefore it concerns us all to be armed with a holy confidence and resolution as to this spiritual Warfare in contending for the faith delivered to us But the great thing I shall speak to is Wherein may Christians be helped in this holy strugling and contention I shall only mention five or six things some to fit you for it others to help you in the mannagement of it I shall name them mixtly and not distinct Rule 1. First Bring all Doctrines that are offered you to believe and all practises that are put upon you to practise to the Scriptures the Word of God try them there whether they be to be retained or to be rejected You will have this double advantage by it 1. To discover what is right and what is wrong 2. To have on the best part of your armor whereby to contend against it 1. To discover what is right and what is wrong for the Scripture alone is the Touch-stone of Doctrines and the Trial of Spirits The Scripture does discover it self and doth discover all things that are contrary to it when you are bidden to try all things 't is not by practising all things as some poor giddy-headed Christians of late days have done who have made the practising every opinion to be their trying of it till they have run themselves into all Opinions but 't is the Scripture you are first to trie and then to practise who are like the noble Bereans that were more noble than those of Thessalonipa because they searched the Scripture To bring the Truths that have or shall be taught you or the Doctrines that shall be imposed upon you to the Word of God to see whether they be according to the Truth or no for false Doctrines and false Worship of all things they hate the Scripture most they are alike false coyn or
mock with God in our prayers when we pray that his Name may be glorified if we are dismayed and discontented when God is glorified by us in our sufferings because they are tedious and irksome to our flesh If we are unwilling that God should be glorified by our sufferings If we are unwilling to honour him in an afflicted state why do we then in our prayers pretend to beg that God may be glorified Oh how much is God glorified many times by the sufferings of his people when as he is dishonoured by the secure and sensual lives of many thousands that are in prosperous calm and quiet condition in the World I might give you many instances from the Scripture to such that the sufferings of Gods people have tended very much to the setting forth of the high praises of the Lord. Oh how much have the sufferings of the Israelites been all along of Joh of David of Hezekiah of the three Children of Daniel and so under the New Testament how have the sufferings of Stephen Paul Silas and the rest of the Apostles and Martyrs resounded to the honor and glory of God for whom they suffered Indeed Gods people do more honour and glorifie God by their sufferings than by their doings for him Let us not then be dismayed though we may be in a troublesome and suffering condition seeing this is a condition in the which we are most capable of doing service for God and of bringing most honor and glory to him Secondly Thou that hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven art thou in an afflicted suffering condition in the world to bear up thy fainting spirits consider that affliction and tribulation is that by which God is pleased to cleanse and purge his people from sin Afflictions are like Black-soap which doth seem to soil the Cloath and make it more filthy yet it purgeth and cleanseth it and maketh it more white at length it is as the fire into which the Gold may be thrown yet it is not consumed but refined and puriâ—ied thereby it loseth only its dross so the Saints are not quite consumed by their afflictions but sanctified and they lose only that filth dross and rust that doth mix it self with grace in their hearts by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged saith God speaking of afflictions and this is all the fruit to take away his sin and shall we be unwilling to have our sins purged It is true as for those that are Reâ—robates God usually lets them alone to go on and die and â—erish for ever when as yet God is pleased to correct his people and to cast them into the Furnace of affliction because he intends mercy to them and surely it will be known one day that there can be no greater Judgment befall poor Creatures than to be let alone without chastisements to take their own swing in sin and Oh how many thousands are now in Torment for that they were let alone in their sins and never chastised by Afflictions in their Life time when as Gods people are chastened of the Lord that they might not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 And which is easier to be born external tribulations in this life or eternal torments in the life to come one of these two will certainly befall every man and woman of us either we shall be chastened here or condemned hereafter the wicked are oftentimes let alone here they are not in troubles as other men Psal 73. but they are condemned with the World The Goâ—ly they are often chastized of the Lord here but it is in mercy to them that they may be purged from sin and not condemned with the world And David tells us that by his afflictions he was reduced from going astray and brought back again into the Fold of God Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy precepts And shall we be dismayed at the means whereby we are kept close to God and are kept from falling away from God A man is willing to take a bitter medicine to purge away that disease which would otherwise kill him Nor is he troubled at the working of his Physick though he have many painful gripes so long as it tends to the removing of those obnoxious humours and diseases which would otherways bring him to his grave And shall Christians be afraid of the bitter Cup of Afflictions which by Gods blessing purge away their sins which are the diseases of their Souls and so preserve them from eternal death Thy trials here are to purge thee and cleanse thee that thou mayest not lie in Eternal torments in the world to come And shall Christians be dismayed at that which tends to their Eternal health and Salvation and to the keeping of their Souls from Hell We should rather rejoyce to be in that condition whatsoever it be by which we may be most purged and preserved from sin Standing poâ—ls do usually contract filth and mud So those Christians that are setled upon the lees in a prosperous state and condition they do verâ— frequently get filâ—h and corruption The people of God are never made the freer from sin by their freedom from outward affliâ—tions This then is the second consideration to keep the Saints from being dismayed at their afflictions in the World because thereby they are purged from sin which would otherways prove the bane of their souls Thirdly You that are the heirs of Heaven and have an interest in the Eternal Glory you are in affliction and tribulation in the World be not dismayed For coâ—â—ider that the thing do tend to the exercisinâ— and increase of our â—â—aces and tâ— the making of â—ou eminent in Grace and â—â—linesâ— Aâ—d will you be daunted at that which tend to the making of you more holy Will you be grieved at that which tends to the increasing of your faith patience humility heavenly-mindedness and to the making of you more eminent for holiness and godliness Believers are usually greater gainers by their afflictions in the World than by their external prosperity yea many times they are losers by their prosperity when as they have been great gainers by their troubles and adversity Oh how many have gained in grace and holiness by their losses in the World the servants of God were never more eminent in grace than when they were least and lowest in their outward estate true graces are the diamonds that shine brightest in the darkest night and these shine clearest in the obscurest night of adversity The Saints in Scripture were then most eminent for holiness and godliness and all other graces when they lay under greatest troubles and tribulations from the World and how exemplary in holiness and how eminent in faith and heavenly-mindedness were the Martyrs when they were afflicted tormented imprisoned burned and persecuted with the most grievous persecutions from the hands of wicked men when as the prosperity and pleasures of the wicked did tend
but he whose life is correspondent to his light God will never leave to sit in Egyptian darkness 3. By way of preservation God is always present with those to keep them from evil who study obedience to him in that which is good If God's people abstain from drunkenness swearing Idolatry and the like abominable impieties which inevitably drown the soul in perdition let them not rob the Lord of his glory in ascribing it to the goodness of their natures but let them ingeniously acknowledge it to proceed from the goodness of God that preserves them more than others and many times prevents their falling into those fins which by nature they were prone to as well as the rest Thus David was kept from murdering Nabal Noah from partaking with the old world in their wickedness Lot from following after the abominations of Sodom Joseph from consenting to the lude inticements of his impudent Mistris and those three Jewish Worthies from falling down to worship before the golden Image which Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had set up Dan. 3.16 18. When therefore Gods people consider Judas â—hursting â—aâ—under through black despair Julian dying with revenge and rage against Christ Achitophel dispatching himself for very madness because his oracle was not received one blaspheming another sinfully 〈◊〉 plying with a wicked world and aâ—third running into all excess of riot Oh! let them then also consider the goodness of God and the power of his Grace in preserving them from the like horrie impiettie Every one of Gods people did not the Lord preserve them by his Grace and keep off temptation would soon be a Gain or Achitophel Yea a Devil incarnate Oh then think with your selyes if the Grace of God did not keep off such a sin such a lost such a temptation how had it swallowed us up as the Whale did Jonah 4. By way of Corroboration Those that walk in obedience with God doing what they know the Lord is still present with them essisting them by his Grace and strengthening them in all their weaknesses Whence â—t iâ— that a Christian is able to do duty to resist temptations and to scorn as well the smiles as the frowns of a deceitful world whether seeking by promises to draw into sin or by threatnings to deter from duty but through the Presence of God strengthning him Phil. 4.13 Paul hath as one observes a kind of Omnipotency and to him with every good Christian all things are possible because possible to the Grace of God who is with them The strength of a Christian lies not in himself but in God assisting him the Bird may as well flie without wiâ—gs as he resist a temptation perform duty acceptably mortifie any lust or do any thing prevailing without the Presence of God strengthening As Sampson while God kept him and was present with him no Rhilistine was too strong for him So while God is present with us assisting us by his Grace we cannot fall and when he keeps us not we cannot stand 5. By way of Protection Such as do what they have heard and learned and received with them God is present not only as 〈◊〉 Sun for Direction but also as a Shield for Protection Not only to do them good but also to defend them from evil Psal 84.11 Pharaoh King of Egypt followed Israel but he and his mighty men were drowned and Israel escaped for the Lord was with Israel Saul hunteth David as a Partridge upon the mountains but Saul perisheth and David is made a King For the Lord was with David Haman hateth Mordecai resolving to have him hanged high enough because he would not stoop low enough But Haman himself is hanged and Mordecai is advanced for God is with Mordecai And thus if we study to walk with God he will give us protection and be present with us to deliver us out of all our troubles For the Lord whom we serve is stronger than All and if he be present with us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 Nemo nos loedit nisi qui Deum vincit He only who can overcome God can bring evil upon those that walk in Ocedience with him neither is any man delivered from evil but through Gods protecting him When therefore we see one disgraced another slain One diseased another cut off by the stroke of Death One lose his Estate another his Liberty and we out selves delivered from the like Calamities how can we choose but ascribe it to Gods goodness protecting us therefrom 6. By way of Communication The wicked are estranged from God but the Righteous have access into his Presence and in all the methods thereof he lets out himself communicating of his Grace and Goodness to them Such open to him and therefore He comes in to sup with them that they may sup with him Rev. 3.20 Such are often drawing nigh to him in Duty he therefore draws nigh to them in a way of Mercy and graciou Communication Jam. 4. If they meditate they meet with God and what a blessed Contemplation is that If they hear his Word they meet with God and what a joyful hour must that be If they receive the Sacrament there also they meet with God in Christ and what a soul solacing Feast is that If they how their souls in Prayer there they meet with God And oh what an heaven upon earth is this Oh! Little do any of you that are yet disobedient know what secret Debates what spiritual Incomes what Heavenly Illapses and soul ravishing contentments Gods people find in Communion with him They study obedience with him and therefore he is graciously present with them communicating himself to their souls in every Ordinance So that those who are willing and obedient they eat the fat of Ordinances they have other jâ—yes other pleasures other delights to be feeding upon and solacing their souls withall in the duties of Gods Worship than what the world is aware of Such are satisfied with the fatness of Gods House they sit down under his Shadow with great delight they find his Fruit sweet to their taste and one days communion with the Lord it is better to their souls than a thousand elsewhere 7. By way of Occultation God is an abiding place for his people their Refuge and Fortress in times of trouble Those that keep close to God to do what be loves the Lord will keep close to them to hide them from what they fear In the time of trouble saith David He shall hide me in his Pavillion In the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me Psal 32.7 God hath secret Chambers of Providence wherein to hide his people in time of danger and publick calamities Isa 26.20 21. Come my people saith the Lord enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee Hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be ever-past When danger pursues Gods people he teaches them to run to himself as a most inviolable Sanctuary
wâ—th us all thine remember thy people from one end of the world to the other Thy people are very low this is a time of Jacobs troubles the Bush is burning every day Oh thou the Hope of Israel the Saviour therof shew thy self in mercy to these Nations We bless thee for all thy mercies that thy judgements do not seize upon us every day that thou dost not sweep us away that thou dost not rain Fire Brimstone on England as thou didst on Sodom our sins cry aloud to heaven for vengeance God is greatly provoked every day it is a miracle of patience that thou hast not destroyed us God can pardon the sins of the Nation at once but we are not fit for pardon we do not humble our selves O Lord humble us give repentance to England from the highest to the lowest that we may return unto thee We desire to bless thee that our Eemies have not had their wills over us they said they would pursue and overtake and satisfie their lusts but God did blow upon them and they did sink in the mighty Water and thou hast yet preserved thy Church we pray thee do not leave us nor remove thy Gospel whatsoever thou dost Pour down elle choicest of thy bâ—essings upon our Sovereign Charles by thy Grace of England Scotland France and Ireland Bless him with the Blessing of Heaven and Earth make him a blessing to all of us Bless him in all his Relations the Lords of the privy Councel Look on them that have desired an interest in our prayers known to thee are all of them know their souls in this time of adversity make their beds in their siekness Give Faith to them that complain of unbelief give the Spirit of Prayer to those that complain they cannot pray be a Councellor to those that wan councel in their affaires either by Sea or Land let thy blessig go with them whereever they go Spare the lives of Children if it be thy will Prepare us for thy good and holy Word let it be a savour of lise unto life and let it come with power unto us Oh let us hear it as thy Word not as the word of a poor man but as the Word of God and all for the Lord Christ his sake for whom we bless thee to whom with thee and the Spirit of Grace be given Glory and Honour for evermore Mr. Waltons Prayer in Walbrook O Lord God all our springs are in thee it is good for us to draw nigh to thee through Jesus Christ thou art all fulness thou art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our Father thou art our light thou givest us these blessed opportunities of enjoying communian with thy self God blessed for ever These mercies are forfeited mercies we have abused the blessings of thy House we have grieved thy blessed Spirit therefore it is just with thee to deprive us of these comforts and to make us know the worth of these mercies by the want of them Lord we desire to judge our selves that we may not be condemned with the world Righteous art thou O Lord and just in all thy judgements we confess we are unworthy to have any converse with so holy a God we are polluted dust and ashes not worthy to tread thy Courts and it is of thy mercy that we are not consumed how often have we pluckt fruit from the forbidden tree we have sinned presumptuously against the clearest Light and the dearest love alwaies have we sinned thy footsteps have dropt fatness thou hast shewen mercy to us but the better thou hast been to us the worse we have been to thee thou hast loaded us with thy mercies and we have wearied thee with our sins when we look into our selves Oh the poyson of our natures whatever the Leper did touch was unclean Thus do we by our spiritual Leprosie infect our holy things our prayers had need have pardon and our tears had need have the blood of sprinkling to wash them how vain are our vows how sensual are our affections we confess we are untuned and unstrung for every holy Action we are never out of tune to sin but alwaies out of tune to pray we give the world our male affections and our strong desires we should use this world as if we used it not and alwies we pray as if we prayed not and serve thee as if we served thee not there is not that reverence nor that devotion nor that activeness of faith that there should be Lord if thou wouldst say that thou wouldst pardon all our sins to this time only judge us for this prayer wo unto us what breathings of unbelief and hypocrisie is there now when we approach unto thee we pray thee pardon us for Christs sake Who can tell how oft he doth offend we can as well reckon the drops of the Ocean as number our sins we have filled the number of the Nations sins but we have not filled thy bottle with our tears This is that that doth exceedingly aggravate our sins that we cannot mourn for sin we can grieve for our losses but we cannot mourn for our unkindnesses we have crucified the Lord of life sin hath not only defiled us but hardned us nothing can melt us but the love of Christ nothing can soften us but the blood of Christ O with-hold not thy mercies from us O help us to eat the Passeover with bitter herbs let us look on Christ weep over him let us look on a broken Christ with broken hearts and on a bleeding Christ with bleeding hearts let us mourn for our dis-ingenuity that we should grieve that God that is always doing us good Oh! humble us for our unkindnesse and for Christs sake blot out our transgressions they are more than we can number not more than God can pardon Though we have lost the duty of children thou hast not lost the goodness of a Father Let us be held forth as patterns of mercy so shall we trumpet forth thy praise to all Eternity Whatever afflictions thou layest upon our bodies let not our sins be unpardoned let not sin and affliction be together upon us let their be peace in Heaven and peace in the Court of Conscience We have found this part of thy Word true In the world we shall have troubles let us find the other part true in Jesus Christ we shall have peace Oh let peace and holiness go together make us new Creatures that we may be glorious Creatures Without Faith Christ will not profit us when we can call nothing in the world ours let us call Christ ours Lord draw thine Image every day more lively upon us a more lively hope and a more inflamed love to Christ let us have a spirit of courage and resolution keep us from the fallacies of our own hearts keep us from the defilements of the times make us pure in heart that we may see God that we may have Gospel spirits humble spirits