hundred times and his years be prolonged yet surely I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord which fear before him It shall be well with them in as much as besides the advantage they have an of inward Tranquility Peace and Satisfaction of Mind under all Events they are moreover entitled to an Interest in the Divine Providence which gives them just grounds to look that even their greatest crosses shall be turned to their benefit And of this the holy Psalmist was so fully satisfied that a great part of this Book of Psalms is spent in declaring his sense of it †Psal 27.1 The Lord saith he is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid ‖ v. 5. In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavillion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a Rock * 62.1 2. Truly my Soul waiteth upon God from him cometh my Salvation he only is my Rock and my Salvation he is my Desence I shall not be greatly moved †59.16 17. I will sing of thy power yea I will sing aloud of thy Mercy in the Morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Unto thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy * 9.9 10. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken or as it is in our old Translation hast never failed them that seek thee †18.1 2. I will love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my Salvation and my high Tower ‖ 62.7 In God is my Salvation and my Glory and the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God With multitudes of other like expressions Nor doth he only proclaim his own confidence in God but invites others also to the like Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your heart before him God is a refuge for us And affirms moreover for their encouragement That * 33.18 19. 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 again saith he †34.6 7 8 9 10. That poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him 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 or as these words are render'd in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rich are impoverished and brought to beggary but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing But I forbear to multiply Texts of Scripture in so clear a case and shall choose rather to make some Reflexion upon what I have hitherto been discoursing and so proceed to my next Head And to this end I come to summ up and apply what hath been offered in these following Corollaries Wherefore supposing us to be of the number of those to whom the Promises of God are made such as are careful to please and honour him and are ready to cast their Care upon him for to such only this Argument is directed supposing us I say to be thus qualified 1. We may hence inferr for our Consolation in all Conditions that whatever our estate be how dangerous or how dolorous soever we need never question a deliverance if it be for our good to be deliver'd For that we cannot be mistaken in this is manifest in that our gracious God has passed his word for it and * Num. 23.19 that he is not as man that he should lye or as the Son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good His Faithfulness is engaged on our behalf and he will so certainly fulfill what he has undertaken that it is impossible he should do otherwise †S. Matt. 24.35 Heaven and Earth we may assure our selves shall sooner pass away than one jot or tittle shall fail of all that is gone out of his mouth For ‖ 2 Cor. 1.20 all his promises are Yea and Amen they are unquestionably true and shall in his due time be infallibly made good to all that don't incapacitate themselves for them 2. And therefore if at any time we be not delivered according to our expectation we ought to do both God and our selves the right to believe that it is then best for us that we should not * Si aliquid contra quà m oramus acciderit hoc potius oportuisse quod Dei non quod nostra voluntas habuit minimè dubitare debemus D. August Epist 121. c. 14. it being out of love to us that God is pleased to deny us our Requests because he sees them not proper to be granted us This is a natural deduction from the former and which cannot be questioned without impeaching the Divine Veracity as though he who is Truth it self and can no more deceive than he can be deceived would not be mindful to perform his Promises For one of these two Constructions must necessarily be made of God's suffering the Righteous to be at any time in a state of Affliction either that he doth not watch over them according to his word or else that it is out of kindness to them that he lets them be in this condition And since the former of these is by no means to be imagined concerning a God of infinite Mercy and Truth the other therefore must be owned as the true cause of their Grievances namely that God in his infinite Wisdom observes it to be for their benefit that they be exposed to Tryals and outward Inconveniencies And by consequence they ought in this case to rest satisfy'd that though themselves do not yet God Almighty certainly knows the denying their Requests will be a greater favour to them than the granting them would be Whence again we may observe 3. What Opinion we ought to have of our Afflictions namely that we are to look upon them as the necessary Chastisements of an Indulgent Parent who would not send them unless our Case called for them and who will however be ready to turn them into Blessings to us if we but mind to bear them as we ought And if he let us lie under them only at such times when they may be advantageous to
peccatum D. August in S. Joan. tract 124. He cannot think in this case wholly to escape God's Hand but has all the reason in the World to conclude that these his Miscarriages will need some Chastisement and if they deliver him not over to eternal Torments will however call for some lighter punishment here in this World and that he ought to be very thankful that they end no worse God is infinitely gracious and will not forget to make good all his Promises but yet this hinders not but that our selves may put a bar in the way to prevent our own Happiness by foolishly incapacitating our selves for it And whenever we do so it is a great weakness to delude our selves with a vain Expectation as if our Interest in God's Providence were still the same with theirs who never offended him as we have done He tells his own People the Jews That he would estrange himself from them by reason of their Transgressions and would not attend to them when they earnestly solicited him to become their Protector †Isa 1.15 When ye spread forth your Hands I will hide mine Eyes from you yea when ye make many Prayers I will not hear But then he tells them likewise at the same time how they might put themselves into better Circumstances and might regain his Favour that is to say if they would reform their Lives and turn to him with all their Hearts and walk uprightly before him * v. 16 17. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow and then behold for your comfort †v. 19. If ye be thus willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land This therefore is the way to entitle our selves to the many gracious Promises of Protection that are made throughout the Word of God namely to forsake all those Wickednesses which may hitherto have been a means of with holding his Blessings from any of us There is no such contrivance for arming our selves before-hand against Afflictions or getting rid of them whenever they befall us as utterly to renounce all our Sins which have brought them upon us Let us but amend out Ways and become as holy and devout and religious as strict and regular and unblameable in our Conversation as our Lord requires us to be and we need not question an Interest in all those Mercies and Blessings and that Protection and those Assistances which our God has design'd for his chosen Servants ‖ Psal 91.4 He will gather us under his Wings and we shall be safe under his Feathers his Faithfulness and Truth shall be our Shield and Buckler If we commit our Ways to him casting our selves upon him and by a thorough Reliance resigning all our Desires Wills and Interests into his Hands he will vouchsast us aut quod volumus aut quod malumus either what we most desire or what he knows to be most desirable what our selves like best or what he sees to be best for us But still it is upon this condition that we behave our selves holily and uprightly before him and do not forfeit his Kindness by any sort of wilful Disobedience As may be collected from all the numerous Texts of Scripture which denounce Misery and Destruction and Desolation against all the workers of Iniquity Which I the rather mention at present amongst others for these two following purposes 1. To vindicate the Divine Providence in relation to the manifold Calamities whereto Mankind are obnoxious and to shew where we are usually to look for the true cause of our Misfortunes that we are not to charge them upon God but upon our own transgression of his Laws For after all Mens care in other respects it is no reflection upon God's Goodness though he seem to withdraw himself from them when they have given him just occasion for it by indulging themselves in their Iniquities It is a merciful rather a gentle and moderate punishment of their Offences if he deny them only the Comforts of this Life when they have moreover deserved the intolerable severities of the other And it is but a just and equal method of procedure towards them when any are hardened in their Sins if he make them to suffer for it both here and hereafter Nor is there any thing more plainly declared in Scripture than that * Prov. 11.5 c. 21.15 c. 5.22 the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness and destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity That his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his Sins And again Eccles 8.13 That it shall not be well with the wicked because they fear not before God with multitudes of other Expressions to the same purpose The Apostle S. James charges Mens heavy Disappointments upon their either not seeking to God for Assistance and Support or not doing it aright * S. James 4.2 3. Ye lust and have not saith the Apostle ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and warr yet ye have not because ye ask not ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts And the wise man presents us with a terrible Commination of an amazing and yet certain contempt that God will have for Persons when they dare to apply themselves to him for what they want without attending to what he requires of them †Prov. 1.24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my band and no man regarded but ye have set at nought my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices And no marvel if what is thus threatened be accordingly fulfill'd However this is no prejudice to them that are duely qualify'd for the Divine Favour nor any proof that these shall not have whatever Promises they meet with for their encouragement some way or other made good to them but it teaches us on the other hand to what source the very best are to impute their Sufferings and that though God may have other wise Ends to be served and good uses to be made of them yet their Sins are the only meritorious cause of them 2. To caution Persons against the likeliest means of frustrating their Hopes For
take away his sense of the many other Favours that he yet enjoys especially seeing these are ordinarily many more much greater and more lasting Whereto if I add the numerous Evils from which we are each day delivered forasmuch as we have no security that the next House we come into shall not fall and bury us in its Ruines the next bit of Meat we eat shall not choke us the next breath of Air we take shall not breed some mortal Distemper in us the next unruly Beast we meet with shall not prove our Executioner but only from God's good Providence watching over us and those other more imminent dangers which we ever and anon narrowly escape by Day and by Night at Home and Abroad by Sea and by Land in War and in Peace together with our divers recoveries from very dangerous and even desperate Diseases I need say no more to evince the continuance of God's immense Goodness to our Church our Nation and our Selves and the Care he daily takes of us And now what return shall we make to the Lord for all his Mercies shall we senselesly question his farther Loving-kindness or shall we not rather fix our hope upon him as our best defence in all times of difficulty and danger A steady Dependance upon him for the future is so naturally consequent upon a serious remembrance of his Protection hitherto that nothing can excuse our want of it Had he only promised to * Psal 50.15 sustain men when they cast their burden upon him we ought certainly to have believed him but when besides his Promises of this nature he hath actually wrought very powerfully in our behalf this must necessarily be a very considerable aggravation of the sin of not heartily trusting in him And the holy Psalmist therefore held himself concerned to make a very different use of this Reflection not suffering himself to doubt any longer whether God would condescend to supply his future wants when he called to mind how largely he had already tasted of his Goodness †Ps 3.4 5. I cried unto the Lord saith he with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me And now behold the comfortable and dutiful result of this his Meditation in the next words ‖ v. 6. I will not be afraid of thousands of the people that have set themselves against me round about This was his support that how many or how powerful soever his Enemies might be the Lord who dwelleth on high and who had hitherto been infinitely propitious to him was mightier than them all by far whose wonted Goodness had encouraged him to believe that he should not fail of being rescued out of the hand of whomsoever that might rise up against him And at another time * Ps 23.1 c. The Lord saith he is my shepherd I shall not want He maketh me lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters He restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake And then it follows Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil He could not think that God would ever suffer him to be overwhelmed with any kind of Misery since he had all along been thus gracious to him and had made such ample provision for him And once more to omit multitudes of other like passages in the Book of Psalms †Ps 118.5 6 7. I called upon the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do unto me The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me Nor were these bare words but his Practice was accordingly For when he went forth to encounter the mighty Goliah his Confidence was this ‖ 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he shall deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine And the Apostle S. Paul makes the same Inference from the Consideration of God's Mercy in the preservation of himself and his Fellow-Disciples declaring how when they were encompassed with many and dreadful terrours which would otherwise have inevitably driven them past all hope of escaping they found the remembrance of God's former Protection a Cordial sufficient to bear up their Spirits that they should not sink under the weight of the worst of Evils that might befall them though it were even the cruellest sort of death * 2 Cor. 1.10 Who hath delivered us saith the Apostle from so great death and doth deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us And at another time he speaks to the same purpose with a more particular respect to himself and the success of his Doctrine †2 Tim. 4.17 18. Notwithstanding the Lord stood by me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work And thus ought every good Christian to encourage himself in his God by calling to mind the many signal instances of his willingness to take care of himself and others in their distress A sense of his marvellous Loving-kindness both in this and other respects should engage persons faithfully to depend upon him as their best security in the time of trouble It should dispose us all to weigh seriously with our selves how unequal a return it is for all his Favours to let them slip out of our minds and leave us in fear least he should no longer take care of us And accordingly we should rather argue thus with our selves Whatsoever our present fears or troubles are have we never known any in as bad a condition whom God hath yet of his infinite Mercy delivered from it Nay possibly this may not be the first time that our selves have been reduced to these streights and yet at length the Storm has blown over the Air cleared and we have had a way made for our escape and perhaps with that advantage that we have found our selves in better circumstances than ever before as Trees are ordinarily observed to settle the firmer and take the better root for being shaken by the Winds and a broken Limb when set again is generally reported to be stronger than if it never had been amiss How then can we be so ungrateful so undutiful to our merciful Deliverer as to refuse to put our Trust in him still How should we dread the thoughts of making no better a Return for all his excessive Loving-kindness It were certainly a much properer course more reverent and becoming in relation to Almighty God and tending more to our own security whatever we suffer whatever we
which is far better than any temporal Legacy I can pretend to give them By an unreasonable solicitude for them I may offend God and so may wrong both my self and them but I am certain I have no way to promote the welfare of either like an unfeigned resignation of all my concerns to God's disposal and a quiet expectation of Safety and Happiness from him alone This my concern for them may be very absurd and which would appear so to my self if I could but discover how Almighty God has determin'd to dispose of those I am so concerned for It may be he designs that most or all of them should die before me and then it is certainly a very needless solicitude that I have for their subsistence after my death It may be he sees a mean beginning to be the best way for them to rise and flourish in the World and that if they had been more plentifully provided for at the first they would have been apt to grow idle and extravagant and bring themselves into greater streights than they are like to meet with as they are Or it may be again that he foresees some other Provision will be made for them which I am not sensible of some Inheritance like to fall to them or some kind Friend that purposes to take care of them or to bequeath a bountifull Legacy to them or that has an advantage and wants only a convenient opportunity of helping them to some place of profit that may maintain them Or it may be God sees a plentifull Provision of the things of this life improper for them and that they will do best and be most mindfull of their duty and most desirous to work out the eternal Salvation of their Souls in a low condition and why then should I trouble my self with an unaccountable fear least God should deal more graciously by them than I would have desired of him However the case be with them now or whatever it is like to be some time hence it is plain all my solicitude cannot profit them against God's Will but my Trust in him to take care of them may very much profit both my self and them And indeed the truest the greatest and most lasting kindness I can do them as to their temporal concerns is to leave them intirely to his disposal I confess it is fit that each one endeavour after a prudent provision for himself and any that depend upon him as he shall have opportunity But when he doth what he can in this respect it is very unreasonable and absurd not to cast all farther Care upon God but to take as much thought for the morrow as if he had none but himself to take care of him * S. Matt. 6.34 Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof the trouble and vexation that attends it but when People will be doubling this by their own dissatisfactions at present and their groundless Fears and Jealousies for the future no wonder if they make themselves very uneasie But then it is to be remembred that this uneasiness is perfectly of their own procuring not the Portion allotted them by Almighty God but merely the result of their own folly and so is a burden which they have senselesly laid upon themselves or at least which they might quickly have avoided if they would have been prevailed with to put their Trust in God as becomes good Christians This is a second Instance of the admirable benefit of Casting our Care upon God that it is a singular means of quieting our Minds in all conditions rendring us less afraid of any dangers that threaten us less concerned for any Evils that overtake us and less apprehensive of future Misfortunes SECT III. III. BUT it is yet farther useful for entituling to a better State when we shall be translated hence To which purpose it conduces these three ways 1. As it is a necessary part of Christianity 2. As it is a means of our greater progress in the other Duties of Religion 3. As it is a singular Preparative for times of Persecution 1. As it is a necessary part of Christianity a Duty incumbent upon all that profess themselves our Lord's Disciples which God has plainly and often required in Scripture and the performance whereof he as certainly expects from us as of any other branch of our Religion It is * Heb. 6.12 through Faith and Patience a stedfast Dependance upon him and a chearfull resignation of our selves to his disposal to bear all that he shall lay upon us that we must hope to inherit his inestimable Promises We must not suffer our selves to be discouraged by whatsoever difficulties must never †c. 10 35. cast away our confidence in him if we would obtain the great recompence of Reward laid up for his faithfull Disciples in another World Having had such express command to cast all our Care upon him we may as well think to be saved without a love or fear of him or thankfulness for his Mercies or whatever other Vertue as without a conscientious observance of this Command 2. As it is a means of our greater progress in the other Duties of Religion There is nothing serves more naturally to affright persons from sin and to make them indefatigably industrious in the ways of Piety than a continual sense of God's Presence with them observing all their doings to reward or punish them accordingly For it is not easie to imagine how they should dare to indulge themselves in any known iniquity when they call to mind that they are under his All-seeing Eye and that not the least of their miscarriages can possibly escape his notice This if any thing in the World will excite their utmost diligence in exercising themselves to have always consciences void of offence both towards God and towards Man But now this sense of God's Presence with us is no way so well kept up in our Souls as by a continual reliance upon and application to him for whatsoever we stand in need of It can never be that we should forget that infinite Being to whom we are perpetually looking up for his Blessing and whom we are taught to address our selves to upon all occasions for relief but withall whose Favour we are to hope for no longer than we are careful to observe his Will Whence it comes to pass that our very Wants and Calamities Fears and Dangers become a means of our better Obedience by reminding us of the Relation we stand in to Almighty God the Benefits we receive from him and the returns of Homage that he expects from us For howsoever any may encourage themselves in their Wickedness whilst they have estranged the thoughts of God from their Minds they will very hardly know how to continue this their perverseness when they remember they are immediately going to offer up their Supplications to him for some good thing they want at his Hands The meditation hereof will make them ashamed to displease him
the Father And lastly We have the Faith of the Apostles and first Disciples who ‖ 2 Cor. 1.10 in the midst of the greatest Dangers and even of Death it self were not at all discouraged from continuing their Trust in God and by this means had the happiness to prevail in their design of propagating the Gospel here against the united attempts of both Jews and Gentiles to the contrary besides the singular Honour to which they have been long since advanced in the other World Such signal encouragement have we to the performance of this Duty And on the contrary we never find the Israelites murmuring and distrustful of God's Providence but they were presently made to smart for it That Patience and Long-suffering which bare with them in other cases would not protect them when they set themselves thus ungratefully to affront the Majesty of Heaven God might well expect that the numerous Miracles he had condescended to work for them time after time should have disposed them constantly to place their whole Trust in him And when they took the contrary Course and instead of praising and admiring his abundant Goodness towards them stuck not to reflect upon him as if he were not duly mindful of them they might reasonably conclude that he would avenge himself upon them for it * 2 King 7.1 2. Thus it fared with that incredulous Lord who would not believe the Prophet Elisha foretelling that the next day they should be eased of the Famine with which they were so severely streightened in the Siege of Samaria by the Host of Benhadad King of Syria for †v. 17. having the Charge of the Gate committed to him whilst he was attending there as a just Judgment of God upon him for his diffidence the People trod upon him in the Gate and he died after this manner verifying the Prophet's prediction that he should behold the plentiful Provision that would be made for them but should not be permitted to taste of it And thus it was also with their whole People when they were dissatisfied with that wonderful Providence of God over them above all other Nations of which they had had such ample Experience and began to exclaim against God saying ‖ Ps 78.19 20 21 22. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the stony Rock that the Waters gushed out and the Streams over-flowed can he give Bread also can he provide Flesh for his People This was an affront the Almighty could not bear with and therefore was wroth with them for it so that a Fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel And all for this reason because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation The Summ is that faithfully to put our trust in God for whatever good things we want whether for Soul or Body for our selves or ours is a Duty practised and required by the Prophets of old and by our Saviour and his Apostles since together with great Promises annex'd and Mercies vouchsafed to it and with Threatenings on the contrary and dreadful Judgments inflicted when Men have refused to behave themselves accordingly And now to apply this Doctrine a little more particularly though very briefly 1. If a plain express Command require our Obedience here is a Duty positively enjoyned and not once or twice or only by the by tho' this too were enough sufficiently to notifie our Maker's Will but divers times and upon many occasions in multitudes of places in the Old Testament in our Saviour's Divine Sermon on the Mount and in the Writings of his Apostles Insomuch that it is impossible for them who have any reverence for the Authority of Almighty God any regard for his undoubted and oft repeated Commands to refuse in any case to put their Trust in him 2. If Promises of Blessings annex'd to a careful performance of this Duty can engage us to the Exercise of it we have these likewise Promises of Blessedness in general and again more particularly of Life of security from dangers of peace and quiet of mind of success in our designs and of a competent supply of the good things of this World Whence to the necessary Obligations that lie upon us in point of duty to our Lord here is added likewise very good encouragement with respect to our present concerns whereby the rather to invite us to what is thus earnestly pressed upon us And this meditation must therefore be a farther aggravation of their Disobedience who can find in their hearts to live in contradiction to it 3. If the Denunciation or Execution of Punishments upon any that have been remarkably distrustful of the Divine Protection may serve to awaken Persons into a better dependance upon God for the future the History of the Jewish Nation in the Old Testament presents us with a large Catalogue of heavy Judgments inflicted upon that murmuring and discontented People ◠Cor. 10.11 Of whom the Apostle tells us that they were recommended as Examples for the Christian World to the end that we might take warning by their sufferings and observing how they miscarried by not relying duly upon God might become the more cautious not to split upon the same Rock by imitating that provoking Temper of theirs for which they paid so dear 4. If the Paterns of holy Men before our Saviour's Incarnation and of the Apostles and others afterwards and even of our blessed Lord himself that unspotted Exemplar of an intire submission to his Father's Will can persuade us to the imitation of their unwearied dependance upon God for the gracious Completion of all his Promises these are to be met with in great perfection and great abundance throughout the word of God and will therefore mightily shame us if we steer another course to God's dishonour and our own prejudice at least perhaps to our utter Ruine Examples are as Seneca well observes the †Longum est iter per praecepta breve efficax per exempla Senec. epist 60. shortest and readiest way of Teaching and many times prevail better than Arguments nay against all the soundest and weightiest Arguments to the contrary And we must leave our selves intolerably inexcusable if we are backward to attend to them there only where they manifestly challenge and justly deserve our most serious Attention 5. Lastly If the insinite Glories consequent upon the observance of this as well as of the other Duties of our Religion can inflame our Souls with an ardent Desire after them we have here another especial Motive to a conscientious Practice of it We have a recompence of reward set before us that can never be sufficiently valued an exceeding and eternal weight of glory but which is never to be attained to without a sure Trust in God's Mercy and a steady Dependance upon him to take care of us And what now can any possibly imagine should excuse their neglect of a Duty whereto all are thus indissolubly
obliged and are so many several ways invited Who can hope to approve himself before God whilst he refuses to hearken to his Voice and be governed by him Who can think to be safe in this World that wilfully neglects the only means of his security Or who can promise himself to be happy hereafter Nay who can promise himself not to be ineffably and everlastingly miserable that estranges himself from him in whom alone all his Happiness must consist by abusing his immense Goodness and disobeying his righteous Laws The case must inevitably be very deplorable when People obstinately decline the only means of their own welfare and will by no directions or persuasions or commands or promises or threatenings or mercies or judgments be prevailed with to apply themselves thereto And consider I beseech thee Reader if it be recorded in Scripture as an indelible blot upon Asa King of Judah that being towards his latter end diseased in his feet * 2 Chr. 16.12 he sought not to the Lord for a Cure but to the Physicians only how much greater a reproach will it be to us Christians and how much deeper Guilt will it imply in us who are under stronger and more indispensible Obligations to trust in God and have far greater encouragement in doing it to be still unwilling to depend upon him This argues a notorious Contempt of his unspeakable Loving-kindness and is so palpable a Violation of his Laws and so utterly unagreeable to a truly Christian temper of mind that it is sad to think how any can possibly allow themselves in it It was the weakness of †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. in vit Epicuri l. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Ut Sext. Empir Hypotypos 3.24 Max. Tyr. dissert 29. Cic. de nat Deorum l. 1. Sen. in Claudii Caesaris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lactant. de ira c. 4. Cic. de Divinat l. 2. Salust Philos de Diis Mundo c. 9. Epicurus and his Followers to ascribe all Events to a certain blind Fortune or Chance because they believed it too great a burthen for God to undertake the Government of the World As if the same Almighty Power which at first made all things could not at least as easily preserve them all in Being and good Order when made or as if the same boundless Goodness which invited to the greater would not invite as prevalently to the less And no less absurd are they who believe that God governs the World and that all things are brought to pass according to the Discretion of his Infinite Wisdom and yet will not be induced to cast their Care upon him For if those argued unphilosophically these I am sure act very unchristianly very unagreeably to the Principles of their most holy Religion and very dangerously in relation to their own interest both Temporal and Eternal And oh that Men would therefore be intreated seriously to weigh with themselves how undutiful they are to Almighty God whensoever they refuse to put their whole Concerns into his hands and what deadly Enemies to themselves Let us remember what it is to distrust his Care of us that it is no less than to call his Veracity into question and to slight that Infinite Authority by vertue whereof he commands us to rely upon him in all conditions and that unspeakable Goodness which inclines him to take care of us and that the inevitable Consequence of such a complicated Wickedness must needs be very terrible Had God but barely offered his free Protection to every one that would humbly seek to him for it this one would think should have been charm enough to have induced all that had any sense of his kindness or any tolerable regard for their own Welfare to betake themselves immediately to the shelter of his Wings And they that had neglected it could have blamed themselves only for all the Evils which they had foolishly brought upon themselves by not thankfully embracing so singular a Favour But when besides this he hath farther condescended to back all his Proposals of this Nature with his positive and frequent Commands and his known Vengeance upon the Contemners of them still to keep at distance from him cannot but be an intolerably heinous Provocation It is not to be conceived that he would ever have used these several Methods of address to us if he had esteemed it an indifferent matter whether we rest upon him or not And if he be heartily concerned for it the inference is very easie that he will be highly incensed against all that do not readily comply with what he so oft requires and is so much concerned for And in God's Name what is it we propound to our selves when we act thus inconsistently with the Principles we profess to be governed by What occasion do we hereby give for a like doleful Lamentation with that of our Blessed Saviour over Jerusalem when he would have healed them and they would not be healed would have saved them and they would not be saved and for a like Vengeance too with that which he denounced against that rebellious City Our Lord * S. Mat. 23.37 38. would often have gathered their Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and they would not therefore saith he Behold your house is left unto you desolate And should he proceed to a like doom upon our selves whilst we persist in a distrust of his Care of us should he send all the temporal Calamities to seize us of which our Nature is capable and when we are worn out with these should he deliver us over to his Eternal vengeance it must however be acknowledged that he were righteous in all his doings and our destruction were only from our selves What wonder if that Vessel run a-ground or split upon a Rock whose Mariners in case of imminent Danger refuse the assistance of a skilful Pilot and choose to turn her a-drift and let her steer they know not how Yet how much less hope of safety is there for those that preferr their own vain Imaginations before the Infinite Wisdom of Almighty God taking upon them to provide for themselves rather than wait till he shall be pleased to do it for them For such add direct Rebellion to their Indiscretion not only undervaluing God's abundant readiness to take care of them but provoking him also by their wilful Breach of his known Commands to send forth Storms and Tempests to overwhelm them They highly offend God and wrong themselves at present and to compleat their Folly they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Which being the dismal yet certain Consequence of the neglect of this Duty it is strange there should be such need of exhorting to observe it Nor can any thing but a want of consideration with-hold Persons from the constant Practice of it since without it they can neither