a nobis accipiendo sed omnia nobis promittendâ— Aug. because he hath ingaged himself to us by many great and precious Promises Gods Promises are ingagements upon him God hath made himself our Debter Not by receiving any thing from us but by promising all things to us God hath made many precious promises to us 1 Promises of Preservation Isa 33.16 Hee shall dwell on high his place of defence shall bee the munition of rocks bread shall bee given to him his waters shall bee sure A Promise than which I know none more full in the Book of God wherein all Objections that a fearful heart might raise are answered and taken away Let us view it over 1 Hee shall dwell on high If hee were among his enemies hee might bee in danger But hee shall dwel on high nay on heights as the Word is many Ascents many Heights above the reach of danger out of Gun-shot 2 But suppose they could raise up Mounts and come as high as hee yet they shall not hurt him Hee is in a place of defence 3 But what then His defence is not so strong but it may bee broken thorough No saith the Text that is impossible for his place of defence shall bee the Munitions of Rocks many Rocks and many Munitions of Rocks and therefore impregnable to guard him 4 Why but hee may bee starved out his supply will not alway last There is no plowing and sowing upon Rocks hee may bee famisht out No saith the Text. Bread shall bee given him Hee shall bee provided for 5 But what shall wee do for Water There is no Water to be had out of Rocks You see it was that which posed the Faith of Moses to fetch Water out of a Rock But saith the Text hee shall have Water too 6 Yea but his Water may be spent It will not alway last No saith the Text His Waters shall be sure never failing Waters sure Waters Again in the same Chapter vers 21. The Lord will bee to us a place of broad Rivers and streams wherein shall go no Gallie with Oares nor shall gallant ship pass thereby Shewing the defence God would bee to his People Hee will bee a Stream nay a River between us and our enemies And a broad River a River that cannot bee passed over Why but they may use Oares No saith the Lord Hee will bee a River wherein no Gally with Oares shall pass But a Ship may No nor gallant ship shall pass thereby for the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King hee will save us But what if any ship should attempt You shall see vers 23. God will untackle them Thy tacklings are loosed they could not well strengthen their Mast they could not spread the saile 2. And as hee hath made promises of Preservation from So hee hath made promises of Deliverance out of trouble Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all So Psal 50.15 Call upon mee in the time of trouble I will deliver thee So Psal 91.15 I will bee with him in trouble and will deliver him So Isa 54.17 No weapon formed against thee shall prosper And an excellent promise wee have Isa 43.3 4. I gave Egypt for thy ransome Ethiopia and Seba for thee God speaks here as the Lord and Possessor of the whole Earth Egypt was his and Ethiopia was his and both these hee gave for to redeem his Church The Church was in bondage and captivity you know in Egypt And God gave Egypt for her ransome And how because shee could not bee ransomed and delivered without the loss of Egypt Therefore God gave Egypt for her That is hee would rather lose all the Land of Egypt than his people should not bee ransomed hee would sink the whole Kingdome of Egypt if it stood betwixt his People and Deliverance And so it follows in the 4. vers I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life As if hee had said I love thee thou art more dear to mee than all the World and I do not stick to give the lives of thousands to uphold thine Multitudes shall bee destroyed rather than thou shalt not bee preserved I love thee and therefore I will give men for thee Thus you see God is ingaged to do wonderful things for his Church because of his Promise That love which hath moved him to make these precious promises to us will never give him rest till it hath caused him to make good those promises which hee hath made 3. A third loving Ingagement which causes God to do wonders for his People is because they trust in him Trust is a kinde of Ingagement upon a man although hee had made no promise A man will not deceive another who reposeth his whole trust in him though hee were not ingaged by Promise There is a kinde of Ingagement in Trust it self And shall wee then think that God will when hee hath made so many precious promises to us This were the greatest deceit in the World a Soul-deceit If God should call us off from all other succours from other shelters and tell us that if wee will trust in him hee will bee our succour our security And should God fail the soul this were an undoing-deceit the greatest deceit in the World No my Brethren there was never man who laid up his confidence in God but hee found God to bee that to him which hee expected Faith ingageth all the Power all the Wisdome all the Mercy and Truth of God to help us And if the Power Wisdome c. of God can do wonders for thee God will then do wonders for thee if thou beleeve in him Beleeve saith Christ and thou shalt see the wondrous works of God 4. A fourth Ingagement which causeth God to do wonders for his People is because they seeke him Hee doth not say to the seed of Jacob seek yee mee in vain Hee hath stiled himself The God hearing prayers and bids us call upon him in the day of trouble and hee will hear The Prayers of Gods People they are as so many Ingagements upon God to move him to do for them Faith and Prayer will set All-God awork It will set the Power Wisdome Mercy of God a work for you Faith and Prayer will remove Mountains Nothing shall bee too hard for that people to do whose hearts and spirits God holds up to beleeve and to pray Bee it to thee even as thou wilt Luther having been in his study and earnest with the Lord about the business of the Church receiving a gracious answer hee comes down and cryes Wee have overcome the day is ours And so it fell out saith the story For the Church prevailed There is a kinde of Omnipotency in Faith and Prayer because these two set the Omnipotent God and the Omnipotency of the Power of the Omnipotent God to work for us And I beleeve
that for the compleater deliverance of the Church So it follows They know not the thoughts of the Lord for he shall gather them They gather themselves together and yet saith the Text God gathers them They gathered themselves to ruine the Church and God gathers them to ruine themselves Hee shall gather them as sheaves into the floor and the fuller the load the more welcome to the Husbandman And then Arise and thresh 4. A fourth time wherein God doth wonderful things for his Church is When the enemyes of the Church are carried on with most rage and promise themselves most success against the Church and people of God You see that in the verses before the Text 9 10. when the enemy said in his heart I will pursue I wil overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall bee satisfied on them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them Here they exprest their fury and rage and promist themselves good successe in all And this was the time for God to do Wonders you see in the next vers Thou didst blow with thy wind the Sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters It was so in the Powder-Plot A Plot never to bee forgotten When they had intended to have blown up King People Nobles Commons Senators Senate Laws and Law-makers nay three kingdomes at a blast They could have buried all in one grave and consumed all in one Bonefire Here was their rage their fury And did they not also promise to themselves as good successe in their way Had they not then in their purposes disposed of Crown and kingdom and all the Chief Offices and Revenues in the Land And now was the time for God to shew a wonder for the deliverance of his Church which you know he did A wonder of wisdome in the discovery of the Plot and a wonder of mercy in disappointing of it 5. When Gods People are brought low when all humane helps fail when the Arme of flesh is weak when the stream of second Causes is dry Then is Gods time to shew a wonder for their releif when wee cannot be releeved without a wonder then God works wonders for our relief You see this Deut. 32.35 36. The Lord shall judge his People and repent himself concerning his servants when hee seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up nor left When Israel was brought to those straits the Red-sea before them the Egyptians behind them and mountains on each side them then saith Moses fear not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 As if he had said you are now in straits your extremities are great and now is the time for God to help now is Gods time to do wonders for you There are two times 1. Mans Time 2. Gods Time Mans time is when ever wee are in need when ever we are in trouble but Gods time is only when all helps fail when no releif is in the arm of flesh then all is in God God is ever ready to put forth himself in desperate cases because then his mercy and power will bee most conspicuous his People most thankfull and deliverance most glorious It is an old experienced Truth Mans extremity is Gods opportunity The depth of Mans misery calls in for the depth of Gods mercy It may bee observed in all Ecclesiastical Histories that when deliverance approached then was persecution the hot rest The Scribes and Pharisees blasphemed most when their Kingdome was neerest to ruine In this like the Devil who roars most when his time is shortest The greatest darknesse is before the morning watch when the morning is darkest then comes the day when trouble is greatest then comes deliverance You know when the task of bricks was doubled then was Moses sent to deliver The Ancient Tragedians when things were brought to that strait that there could bee no possibility of humane help imagined they used to bring down some of their Gods out of the Clouds and thence was the phraise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was not much differing from that among the Jews In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Gods promises are never neerer fulfilling than when to sense and reason they seem furthest off from fulfilling This was Abrahams case when at Gods command hee was about to sacrifice his Isaca 6. The time when God doth wonders for his Church is When God doth give and hold up a mighty spirit of Prayer in his People to seek You see this in the deliverance of the Church out of the Babylonish captivity In which deliverance God expressed many wonders of mercy to his Church At which time God raised up A mighty Spirit of Prayer in them to seek As you see in Dan. 9.2 3. And this was prophesyed in Psal 102.13 14 15 16 17. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her the set time is come Why how shall wee know that Now is the time hee shews in the 14th verse For thy Servants take pleasure in the stones and favour the dust thereof that is they mourn and they Pray And therefore it is time for thee to help and deliver as you see in the 17th vers Thou shalt regard the Prayer of the desolate and not despise their Prayer As when the Lord hath an intent to destroy a People he doth either expresly charge them not to pray for them as hee did Jeremy chap. 14.11 Pray thou not for this people and chap. 7.16 Pray not thou for this people neither lift up cry nor Prayer for them neither make intercession to mee For I will not hear thee Or hee doth secretly dead and straiten their spirits that they cannot Pray So when hee doth stirre up the hearts of his People to seek him It is an evident demonstration that God will do great things for that People Hee hath told us that Hee will not forsake them that seek him when the eyes and hearts of Gods People are big with sorrow then is Gods mercy big with deliverance ready to be delivered Wicked men have a measure of sin to fill as God said of the Amorites The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full And Christ to the Scribes and Pharisees Fill you up the measure of your Fathers Mat. 23.22 When the Harvest is ripe then will God put in his Sickle Joel 3.13 put in the Sickle for the Harvest is ripe for the wickedness is great In a word God hath a bag for the sins of the wicked Job 14.17 And God hath a bottle for the tears of his servants Psal 56.8 Hee bags up sins and hee bottles up tears And when once his bag is full of the transgressions of the wicked and his bottle is full of the tears of the Saints Then shall salvation come to Zion then will God stir up himself for the relieving and succouring of his Church When wicked men are ripe for Destruction the Church ripe for
shall not bee VVee read that Ulisses when hee was to pass the Coast of the Syrens hee caused his men to stop their ears that they might not bee inchanted by their musick to destroy themselves But for himself hee would only bee bound to the Mast that though hee should hear yet their musick might not bee so strong as to allure him to destroy himself and leap into the Sea There are some of Gods people who are weak in Faith And when they see Gods outward proceedings of Providence seemingly contrary to his Promises they are apt to bee charmed from their own stedfastness Now as for these it were good for them to stop their ears and to shut their eyes to the works and look altogether upon the VVord of God But there are some that are stronger and therefore may look upon the outward proceedings of God But withall let them binde themselves fast to the Mast the VVord of God lest when they see the seeming contrariety of his proceedings to the Promise they bee charmed from their own stedfastness to the wounding of their own souls God hath promised that Antichrist shall fall Hee hath promised to make his Church glorious And though in outward proceedings hee should seem to uphold the one and evil intreat the other yet let not this weaken our Faith in beleeving the truth of what God hath promised If you put a streight stick into the water yet sense will render it to bee crooked it will appear so to the eye but reason corrects it and tells you though it appear to bee so yet it is not so you put it in streight and so it is Doth reason prevail against sense and why should not Faith prevail against Reason when to outward appearance God seems to bee against us why should not wee by Faith conclude that God is for us even for us when hee seems to bee against us The outward face of things may bee such as may possesse the Church with fear when God hath a purpose to do great things for his Church So you read in Joel 2.21 Fear not O Land bee glad and rejoyce for the Lord will do great things for you It was a time of Joy in respect of Gods purpose and yet a time of fear in respect of their present apprehensions God had a purpose to do great things for them and yet the face and outward appearance of things were such as did at that time possesse the Church with fear It was so but it should not have been so You see what Christ saith in Luk. 21.25 There shall bee signs in the Sun in the Moon in the Stars and upon the earth distresse of Nations the Sea and Waters roaring mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after the things that shall come upon the Earth for the Powers of Heaven shall bee shaken Could there bee a sadder appearance And yet saith Christ when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Here you see Christ doth turn the saddest and sorest perplexities that ever the world shall see into a Doctrin of Comfort to his Church because all these things were but a preparatory to the redemption of the Church One would think this to bee a strange consequent deduced from such an Antecedent A Consequent so comfortable from an Antecedent so terrible that so terrible a Doctrin should afford us an use of Consolation Yet so it is Bee the premises what they will the conclusion is good Bee his Providences what they will his Promise is good and those promises shall turn all those Providences to good And this is the admonition I give you that whatever oppositions whatever troubles whatever evils wee meet withall in the way of deliverance Bee not troubled let not your hearts bee discouraged for this is the way whereby God will do you good making all your evil and trouble subservient to good VVhat the Apostle saith of his Bonds I may say of all oppositions Phil. 1.12 The things which have happened to mee have fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel His prison was the Gospels liberty his straits and bonds the Gospels inlargement his abasements the Gospels advancements As wee say the choicest blessings come out of the fire of afflictions so the greatest deliverances come out of the greatest oppositions And thus much for that VVee will now come to Application Uses First of Information and that of diverse particulars 1 Information touching the greatness of God 1 It informs us of the greatness of our God 1. Of his Power 2. Of his Wisdome 3. Of his Mercy 4. Of his faithfulness toward his people For all these Attributes are visibly declared in every wonder God doth for his Church 1 His Power 1 God discovers the greatness of his Power in every wonder hee doth for them If a man were able to do it it were no wonder Hence hee is said to make bare his arm to reveal his Power And it is attributed to his right hand to his out-stretched arm c. 2 His Wisdome 2. God discovers the greatness of his Wisdome 1. Wisdome in the Manner In relieving in such a way as could not bee conceived 2. Wisdome in the Time In helping in such a time when things are desperate or in such a time when hee gets himself most glory and doth us most good 3. Wisdome in the means by relieving of us 1. By such means as wee never thought of or 2. By such as if wee had thought of would have been judged too small to have wrought so great a deliverance 3. Or by such which wee should rather have judged a means of ruine than of raising us yet Gods wisdome seeth more than wee can 3 Gods Mercy 3 God discovers abundance of Mercy yea and Free Mercy Every deliverance of his Church being wrought out of his own bowels and compassion Psal 136. which is a Psalm of praises for wonders You see at the foot of every verse a declaration of Mercy Hee brought his People out of Egypt for his Mercy indureth for ever Hee divided the Red-Sea for his Mercy indureth for ever Hee overthrew Pharaoh and his Host for his Mercy indureth for ever 4 Gods Truth 4. God discovers his Truth and Faithfulness to his Church God hath ingaged himself by many precious promises to do wonders for them And all the deliverances of God they are performances of promises They may bee all subscribed at the foot of the promise as so many particular instances and experiences to prove the truth of the promise and to discover the faithfulness of the Promiser to us They are so many witnesses to both By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall bee established saith the Apostle It is true it is spoken of the word or man not of the Word of God God is Truth it self You may beleeve him without a witness But yet God hath not
is still to seek in every difficulty and gone in every new strait whereas hee who laies up Experiences and can make use of them feed upon them hee shall be inabled thereby to depend upon God in any strait and difficulty whatsoever Thus you see David God delivered me out of the Paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear and hee will deliver mee out of the hand of this Philistim David feeds on the Lyon And because he hath been my helper therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoyce Now in the passing of this duty of dependence upon you I find two things to bee great enemies to it which be you aware of 1. Beware of Obliterating the Notions of God 2. Beware of burying the remembrance of his works 1. Beware of Obliterating the Notions of God Had Moses seen God and had the same Notions and apprehensions of God at the Rock that he had at the Red sea which was a far greater difficulty then to fetch water out of the rock he could have trusted in God for that as well as for the former But those thoughts and conceptions of God were for the present darkened and over-shadowed with Passion and therefore hee could not trust God then So if David had had the same apprehensions of God when he counterfeited himself Mad for fear of Abimelech the King of Gath or when he was pursued by Saul and burst forth into these words I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul which he had at other times as when he saith Ps 27.1 2 3. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell Though an host pitched against mee my heart should not bee afraid though war bee raised against mee In this will I be confident Or when hee saith to Saul concerning Goliah God that delivered mee out of the Paw of the Lyon c. hee will deliver mee from this uncircumcised Philistim Or when hee saith God is our hope and strength a help in trouble ready to bee found therefore will not wee fear though the Earth bee moved though the mountains bee hurled into the depth of the Sea Hee would not have so fainted in these like or lesse exigences So had Abraham had the same apprehensions of God when hee feigned his wife to bee his Sister which hee had when God made him the Promise of a Sonne or when hee went to sacrifice his Son hee could have trusted and depended on God in this câ—se as well as in the former this difficulty being far short of the other So did Gods people see God at all times as they do at some times they would then be able to depend on God and trust in him in any cases though never so difficult but if they lose the apprehensions and conceptions of God and suffer Passion and fear to raise up a cloud to overshadow and darken their understandings they shall never bee able to beleeve and depend upon God in any difficulty and therefore first hold up the Notions of God of his power wisdom mercy and the like 2 Beware of burying the remembrance of his former works Psal 78.6 7. They were commanded to tell the wondrous works of God to their children that the generations to come might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God Intimating that the best way to keep up their hope and dependance on God was to hold up the remembrance of what hee had done Hee that forgets the one will not be able to do the other And therefore you see it set down as a reason of the Disciples distrust Their hearts were hardned They forgat the miracles of the Loaves Mark 6.52 Intimating that it they had remembred that they had not now been to seek in this present difficulty And indeed the want of the remembrance of former mercies doth cause us to distrust and hinders us in our dependence on God for present and future straits whereas on the contrary holding up the remembrance of former will inable us to hold out in present and future distresses You cannot think his arm is shortned you cannot think God cannot nor can you think God will not that he hath helped before and will help no more for mercy is tyed to the Church by covenant Wicked men may injoy a mercy to day but they can have no assurance to have another to morrow because mercy is not tied to them by Promise or by Covenant But now mercy is tyed to the Church by Covenant by Promise Hee hath tyed his mercy to us by his Truth Psal 25. All his ways are mercy and truth not only mercy but truth All God doth is but Performance of Promises wee hold his mercy by Tenor of truth and may challenge mercy by vertue of his truth And therefore David could say Psal 23.6 surely mercy and goodness shall follow mee all the days of my life Wicked men cannot but the Saints may say Mercy shall follow mee all the days of my life Not in this or that particular but in every passage of Providence as the water followed the children of Israel the rock followed them 1 Cor. 10.4 from one station to another as long as they wandred in that dry and thirsty wilderness 5. Use Doth God do wonders for his Church Then it is good being on the Churches side They have a God with them that can do wonders for them what though our enemys have skill power strength and multitude yet we have a God who is stronger than the strongest wiser then the wisest who can over-power and overplot our enemys who alone can do wonders for us As Plutarch said of the Scythians that though they had no musick nor vines yet they had Gods among them So whatever is wanting to a people if they have God with them there is a plentifull supply of all You may set God against all and hee can weigh down all advantages When Charls the Fift Emperor of Germany sent his Herald with challenge again Francis the First King of France Hee commanded the Herald to proclaim him with all his Titles Styling him Emperor of Germany King of Castile King of Aragon of Naples and of Scicile Francis commanded his Herald to proclaim as often King of France as the other had titles of honor by all his Countries Implying that France alone was more worth than all the Countrys the other had So when our adversaries do glory in their strength in their skill in their power and multitudes let us oppose God against them whom they oppose and there is enough to weigh down what ever advantage the arm of flesh can have against us we have a God with us whiles wee are with him with his cause with his truth And hee can do wonders for us 6. Use Doth
that Act of his patience no less than his power Now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken The Lord is long-suffering c. where you see he makes his patience his power And so it is indeed if you consider what sin is Shall I say no more of it than this which God saith Levit. 26.21 It is contrary to God 1 It is contrary to the works of God 1 Sin contrary to Gods works As soon as God set up and perfected the frame of the world sin gave a shrewd shake to all it unpin'd this frame and had like to have pull'd all in pieces again And had it not been for the promise of Christ all this frame had fallen in pieces again If a man should come into a curious Artificers shop and should with one blow dash in pieces a Piece of Art which cost him many years study and pains the contriving of it How could he bear with it Thus sin did and yet that God should forbear Oh! Omnipotent patience 2. But yet further It is Contrary to Gods nature 2 Sin contrary to Gods Nature God is holy sin unholy God is pure sin is filthy and therefore compar'd still to the most filthiest things in the world to the Poyson of Aspes to Ulcers Soars c. If all the Noysom Pollutions in the world met in one common Stuk it would never equal the Pollution of sin God is good perfect Good Sin is evil universally evil There is good in all other things Plague Sickness Hell it self in a kinde hath a good in it None in sin Sin is the Practical-blasphemy of all the name of God It is the Dare of his Justice the Rape of his Mercy the Jeer of his Patience the Slight of his Power the Contempt of his Love It is every way contrary to God 3. It is contrary to the will of God God bids us Do this 3 Sin contrary to the will of God Sin saith I will not do it Sanctifie my Sabbath I will not sanctifie it Here is Contradiction And who can endure Contradiction It is set down as a great piece of Christs sufferings Heb. 12.3 That he indured the contradiction of sinners against himself certainly it was a great suffering How can a Wiseman indure to be contradicted by a fool And here that Christ who was The Wisdom of the Father should bear with such contradiction from fools here vvas a great piece of Suffering Now sin is a contradiction of God Sets Will against Wisdom and the Hell of a wicked Will against an Heaven of Infinite Wisdom And that God should bear vvith such sinners here is a Wonder You knovv in all the Creatures Contrariety makes all the Combustion It makes all the War in nature it causeth one Element to fight against another Fire against Water Water against Fire It will make very Stones to sweat and burst asunder Travel through the vvhole Creation and you shall not see Any Creature that can bear vvith its Contrary And that God and Sin should be Contrary and yet the Sinner live in the World Here is a Wonder a VVonder of Patience 2 Admire Gods mercy in pardoning sin 2. Is sin so Great an Evil Let us then fall down and Admire the greatness of Gods mercy in pardoning sin You see how the Prophet cryes out and Admires Mic. 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee That pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the Transgressions of the remnant of his heritage It is one of the Greatest works that God doth in the world To pardon sin A work in which he declares All his glorious Attributes His Wisdom his Power his Justice his Mercy his Holiness c. in pardoning sin Men that have cheap and slight thoughts of Gods Pardoning-Mercy have thereby an evident sign They never had a pardon never knew what it was indeed To have a pardon If ever any work in the world did put God to it then this of the Pardon of sin And if ever God do intend thee any good he will instruct thee and rectifie thy judgement in this Touching the Pardon of sin Therefore doth God humble men at their Bringing-in To raise up their esteem of a pardon To advance the greatness of his own Mercy in Pardoning sin And indeed we should not need such great Preparations and Humiliations in coming to Christ if we had but Greater thoughts of the Pardon of sin Men make no more of a Pardon than to Cry God Mercy Swear an oath and then say God forgive me Or say Lord have mercy on me when I dye It was said of Lewis the 11. King of France that He wore a Crucifix in his hat and when he had sinned he would but kiss his Crucifix and then all was done And so the Papists make it no more but a Crucifix and a Confession Ah! my Brethren if ever God mean good to you he will make you Know what a Pardon is Isa 55.7 when God would draw men up to Shew them a Pardon he calls them Above all the World My thoughts are not as your thoughts nor your ways my ways saith the Lord. If they were then I could not multiply Pardons But as the Heavens are higher than earth so are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above your ways I am infinite If Gods Creating-mercy were so great as David vvith doubled Admiration sets it out Psal 8.1 and the last verses O Lord our Lord how wonderful is thy Name in all the world who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens What is then his Pardoning Mercy 3. Lastly Is sin so Great an Evil Then see What cause we have to humble our souls before God this day That vve have had such slight thoughts of sin vvho hath thus judged sin to be the Greatest of all Evils What slight thoughts have vve of sin vve can svvallovv it vvithout fear vve can live in it vvithout sense vve can commit it vvithout remorse All vvhich shevvâ— vve have but slight thoughts of sin vve do not apprehend sin to be such an evil as indeed it is Nay Hovv faulty are Gods people themselves here What mean thoughts have they of sin They are not so watchful against it not so Burdened vvith it not so troubled for it as they ought to be All vvhich shevvs that though sin do appear to them to be A great Evil and The Greatest of all other Evils yet they do not apprehend it to be so Great an Evil as it is Now that you may be able to have some suitable conceptions of sin to the greatness of it that you may be able to see sin exceeding sinful I will briefly present it to you in these Six Glasses 1. Look upon it In the Glass of Nature which though it be but a Dim-Glass a Blown-Glass Sin hath dimmed it yet is this able to discover a great deal of the evil of sin The very Heathen themselves have seen and judged many
appear Bigger than it is The sufferings of the Saints the sorrows of the Saints the sufferings of the Damned are too short The Glass ot the Law the Glass of Christs sufferings which is the greatest this doth not shew sin greater than it is It doth but discover sin in its Just Proportions and Dimensions It had not been justice in God to have required more blood and to put his own Son to more suffering than sin deserved Nor would this have stood with Gods Love his Pity and Mercy to his Son to have put him to more than sin deserved Though now there be mercy more than enough for the greatest sinners as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1.14 yet there was not Justice more than enough exercised upon Christ for the demerit and guilt of sin The Death of Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Adequate Ransome for our souls and sins And yet there is a Redundancy of merit an Overflowing of merit in the Satisfaction of Christ to Ransome a thousand worlds more to that if need were As sin is infinite in regard of the Object so Satisfaction is infinite in respect of the Merit Hence Christs death is not onely said to be A Satisfaction but A Purchase not onely A Payment but A Purchase A Satisfaction it was to the Justice of God for sin Full. And A Purchase of all good things from the Mercy of God to which his Justice in respect of the Validity and Worth of Christs Satisfaction is bound to us But this by way of Digression See then what need there is To Aggravate sin to the utmost because we cannot multiply sin to the greatness of it There will be many singular fruits of so doing 1. This will breed shame and confusion of spirit for sin 2. This will make you advance and relish mercy better When the debt seems little we are ready and apt to undervalue a pardon But when sin appears exceeding sinful this doth make us value mercy prize a pardon When sin is seen the greatest Evil Mercy and Pardon will be apprehended the greatest Good 3. This puts us into the neerest disposition To forsake sin As he who extenuates sin is resolved to continue in sin so he who truly aggravates sin desires to be rid of it 4. Besides It breeds a Displacency with our selves when we consider How ill we have dealt with God 5. It produceth self-judging and self-condemnation as we see in David Psal 51. 6. It will produce spiritual softness and tenderness of heart for sin But this I must pass over USE If sin be the Greatest Evil Then it is the Greatest Mercy in the world to be rid of sin The greater the evil is the greater is the mercy to be rid of it But now sin is the Greatest Evil. And therefore you shall see it set down as the only mercy that comes in by Christ Mat. 1.25 He shall be called JESUS because he shall save his people from their sins As if all other things coming in by Christ were included in this one He shall save his people from their sins He doth not say Hee shall save his people from Hell c but From sin From no other evil in the world And this is the Greatest Mercy When God would speak the utmost even the greatest thought of Mercy that ever came upon his heart when he would set down the greatest work of Mercy that ever the God of Mercy wrought he saith no more but He shall save his people from their sins Sin was the utmost Evil and therefore the saving from sin was the greatest good And hence David Psal 32.1 2. saith Blessed is he whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is that man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin Indeed we have mean thoughts cheap thoughts of pardon of sin and the reason is because we have slight thoughts of sin But if God once open our understanding and make us see the vastness and wideness of the evil of sin and if that he should joyn a feeling sense to that sight and make us feel what sin is if he should let but the least sparkle of his wrath fall upon our spirits for sin it would make our faces gather blackness we should quickly change our note and say Oh! Blessed and for ever blessed are they whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered But lest I should seem to Beat the aire we will therefore Circumstantiate this Mercy a little and you shall see the Greatness of it Though indeed this were enough to tell you that sin is the Greatest Evil Thence would necessarily follow That it is the Greatest Mercy in the world To be rid of sin which will more fully appear if we consider the following particulars 1. First then The pardon of sin is the dearest-bought Mercy and that is something to shew the Greatness of the Mercy You know the Greater the sum is that is to be paid for the Purchase of a thing provided there be no want of wisdom in the Buyer nor want of Honesty in the Seller the Greater still and of more worth is the Thing bought or Purchased But now This Mercy Pardon of sin was a Mercy dear-bought It cost Blood Mat. 26.28 and that Not the blood of Bulls and Goats for that it was impossible it should take away sins as the Apostle hath it Heb. 10.4 What then was it Why it was The Precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. You were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and spot And this The Blood of God Acts 20.28 Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood Now sit down and think what a Mercy that must needs be which is the Price of blood and that of the Son of God There was no Want of Wisdom in the Buyer he could not be over-reacht he knew the worth of the Commodity Nor was there want of justice or goodness in the Seller He was just and would not take one drop of blood more than the thing was worth And he was A Father too and therefore would not put his Son to more sufferings and require more than the thing was worth 2. This is the purest Mercy of all other The Pardon of sin A mercy that comes from the Heart and Good-will of God to you God may give you all other things and hate you You may be Rich and yet Reprobates Great in the world here and be Damned hereafter Dives may have wealth Herod Eloquence Saul Command Agryppa Glorious Apparel a man may do wickedly and yet prosper These things are not Truly good nor Truly evil If good the wicked should not have them If evil the Saints should not have them These are such things as God reacheth from his Hand not from his Heart they are general favors not special Love But this is a Peculiar-Favor the Saints
there is no Acceptation of any service Till our persons be accepted and reconcil'd our performances are abominable But now sin being pardoned here is acceptance for all our services He drinks the milk as well as the wine Cant. 5.1 And eats the honey-comb with the Honey c. 5. Sanctification of every condition to us When sin is removed which was the curse in all 6. Supportation under Crosses Upon removal of sin which was in all the heaviest burden 7. Participation of all the priviledges of the Covenant These are the inseparable fruits of pardon There are other as Peace Joy Comfort Rom. 5.1 which indeed are not so much Fruits of pardon as Fruits of Assurance of pardon not the next but the remoter fruits of pardon USE Lastly Is sin the Greatest Evil in the world Oh then let us Above all things in the world labour to get our selves rid of sin Get a pardon of sin Say with David Oh! Take away the iniquity of thy servant What will the enjoyment of all other goods profit thee if thy sins be not pardoned what profit had Dives of his wealth Saul of his Kingdom c. It is a thing greatly to be lamented to see How active and serious men are about removing of other evils on them and the purchasing and procuring of other goods but yet how slight how superficial they are about getting Pardon of sin Thy Person is under the Guilt of Sin Thou standest a Condemned man and woman Damnatus antequam Natus And God hath given thee time and that time is not a time of Reprival onely but is a time that God hath afforded thee to get a pardon in And it cost no less than the Blood of Christ to procure thee this time it was that that made a stop of the present proceedings of Gods justice against thee else thou hadst been in Hell long ago And wilt thou Squander away This Time wilt thou Neglect This Business wilt thou eat away sleep away nay drink away sin away a Pardon If there were a man condemned to dye and yet were out of Mercy Reprived That hee might procure his Pardon and the King were willing to grant him a pardon would you not think that man deserves to dy who shall now spend this time in drinking in revelling c why this is your case But yet there is another sort that will seek for a pardon but they seek it coldly they seek it formally they seek it sleightly and superficially they seek it as if they had no need of it as if they could do well enough though they wanted a Pardon There is a great deal of dallying with God about this Great business Most men in the World do but Trifle with God about it I will name you five or six sorts of men who are Tristers with GOD in this main and concerning matter and these none of the meanest neither I shall not now deal with your Debaucht People but such as will seem to do somewhat for a pardon 1 Such who will seek and perhaps cry earnestly but yet still continue in the practice of those sins which they beg a pardon of I speak not now of Sins of Course Peccata quotidianae incursionis Sins of daily incursion Sins of Infirmitie weakness and Imperfections in Duty These the best notwithstanding their daily praying for pardon of do yet too often fall into But I speak of grosser-sins Peccata Vastantia Conscientiam Sins wounding and gashing the Conscience And this is a fearfull thing fearfull dallying with GOD. What would you think of such a man who should come to beg a Pardon and yet before the Pardon were given out should run to commit new acts of Treason This is thy case I see many of you living in a Course of sin Potting swilling swearing I am ashamed to name them Do you pray for a Pardon Or do you not pray If you do not pray you are no better than Atheists And do you pray for a Pardon and yet live in the practice of those sins you beg pardon of Oh! what fearfull dallying with GOD is here Oh! you little think what a strong tye this is against sin To pray for the pardon of sin What Have you been confessing sin humbling your souls for sin begging of Pardon of Sin And no sooner turn your backs upon God but return to Sin Ah! This is fearfull dallying indeed And this is a Fearfull aggravation of Sin you think to have something come in for your dayes of Humiliation for your prayers for pardon of Sin you think there is some good in it Why you have begged a Pardon though you have Sin'd yet you have prayed and therefore hope that notwithstanding your sins God will hear your prayers But dost thou live in sin and confess sin Dost thou practice sin and yet pray for pardon of sin Dost thou commit sin and yet humble thy self for sin Oh! These are Great Aggravations of sin these do adde more weight to sin Do you think it would be an Extenuation or an Aggravation for a Malefactor to beg a pardon and yet run to the same Rebellion again would he think this To lessen his sin because he hath formerly beg'd a Pardon No certainly he would look upon this as a Greater Aggravation Why this is thy case And this you shall see was Israels spirit which was so much displeasing to God Jer. 3.4 Thou art my Father and the Guide of my youth They gave God good words compast him about with good expressions But saith the Lord This hast thou done and yet done as much evil as thou couldst v. 5. 2. A second sort who dally with God are such who seek the pardon of some sins but yet keep up the love and liking of others Thou art it may be Pinched and Troubled for some gross sins and thou beg'st a pardon for them when it may be there is some Running-Issue of corruption within which thou Overlook'st some secret Haunt of Villany that thy heart runs out after which thou canst not leave which thou hast no minde to part withal Oh! Thou vain man Thou maist cry all thy life and shalt never get good Thou maist pray as long as thou wilt That One sin kept with love and liking will Turn all thy prayers into sin God will never regard the Prayers of a sin-regarding-sinner Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me though I should never act it in my life Didst thou know the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace and Mercy the Strictness of the Gospel and Severity of Mercy it self against sin thou wouldst see There were an impossibility of having one sin forgiven as long as one sin is unforsaken Justification and Sanctification Gods forgiving and our forgoing are equally as large one as the other As God justifies from the guilt of all sin so he sanctifies from the Corruption of all Sin Grace in God forgives all Sin And Grace in us makes us
Parent The Master to the Servant The Servant to the Master c. Faith is the great Task-Master of the Soul But it is not like Pharaohs Task-Master to command burdens and afford no help To require the Tale of Brick and give no Straw This indeed the Law doth It is an hard Task-Master It commands but gives no ability Jubet fed non juvat Efficit quod imperat Jubet juvat But not so Faith It commands and laies in strength to do It gives what it commands by going over to Christ and fetching strength from him whereby the soul is inabled to obey what it is commanded It is said of Christ That His Government shall bee upon his shoulders Not only in his hand having a Scepter only to command but upon his shoulders wherein there is support to obey commands So it may bee said of Faith which governeth from Christ and by Christ Its Government is upon its shoulder inabling the soul to do what it commands 1. Faith begets Soul-inabling-Principles Principles in the soul suitable to the things commanded whereby a man is inabled to obey All strength for new Obedience ariseth from a new Nature And this new Nature is nothing else but that conformity to the Law of God whereby a man is not only able to obey but willing to obey when Principles are wrought in our hearts suitable to the Precepts when there is a Law within us answering to the Law without us It will be meat and drink it will be natural to obey it is not now hard to pray to clear The yoak is easy the burden is light These things are not tasks but delights not medicines but meat not physick but food Psal 40. I delight to do thy Will saith David and what was the ground Thy Law is in my heart There were Principles agreeable to the Precepts and that made him not only to obey but to obey with delight 2. Faith supplies a man with Soul-inabling-Strength from without Wee have need not only of preventing but assisting Grace not only of operative but cooperative strength not only of inherent but of assistant the continual succours aids and supplies of the Spirit of Christ And Faith doth supply the soul with strength from him without whom wee can do nothing and through whose might wee are inabled to do all things Faith laies in supplies of strength from Christ wherewith wee are inabled for any service It calls in for all the strength of Christ the aids of the Spirit whereby wee are strengthened 2. Faith doth furnish a man with Soul-inabling-considerations 1. From God the mercies of God the goodness and sweetness of God All which do incourage and inable the soul to obey A loving Master makes a diligent Servant A mercifull God a working Christian Nothing doth so prevail with the heart as love The Love of Christ constrains us When Faith shall discover to the heart what we were what we are what God might what God hath done with us it will break out with David with a Quid Retribuam c. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows c. Psal 116.12 This overcomes the Soul with Love That heart that is overcome with the sweetness of mercy is prepared to overcome any difficulty of service My heart is prepared my heart is prepared 2. From the work Faith furnishes a man with soul-inabling-considerations from the excellency of the imployments hee sees a peece of Heaven in tem hee sees these services full of beauty sweetness desireableness No service to the service of the King Oh! what then is the service of the King of Kings 3. From the rewards which God hath promised to obedience And these rewards Faith makes use of to quicken and stir up the soul to Obedience to bee spurs and incentives to us as they were to Moses who had an eye to the recompence of the Reward as they were to Christ himself who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Heb. 12.2 and Heb. 11.26 All which have a mighty influence into the soul to inable and quicken it to Obedience 2. Faith inables the Soul to suffer Yea and to suffer the sufferings of the greatest magnitude You see Heb. 11. Through Faith they were stoned they were sawn asunder were slain with the sword 1. It puts the soul into a suffering frame It deadens a mans heart to the world mortifies a man to to the world and makes a man alive to God A man dead to the world doth not much care either to leave the world or any thing in the world now Faith deadens a mans heart to the World 1. Faith puts the Judgement into a right frame It makes the Judgement lightly to esteem of earthly and highly to esteem of Heavenly things lightly to esteem the favours and frowns of men highly to value the favour and fear the frowns of God 2. Faith prevails with the Will to chuse God above all and to part with all the leave all if they come in competition with God This Faith doth habitually in habituall preparations in the work of Grace when first the Will chuseth with Christ Thus Faith inables the soul to do actually when ever it is brought to tryall 3. Faith works upon the Affections to love God above all to delight in God to fear him c. A man who loues any thing chuseth any thing prizeth any thing above God is a man unfit for sufferings hee is not in a sufering frame If God and these things come in competition they with Demas will forsake God and cleave to the present world Men whose hearts are too much ingaged to the World whose affections are too much set upon the Creature men whose wills chuse any thing more than God whose Judgements do prize and esteem of any thing more than God to whom God is little and the world is great these men are unfit for tryals And therefore this is the first way whereby Faith doth inable the Soul by putting it into a suffering frame 2. Faith doth furnish the soul with suffering Resolutions A beleeving heart is a resolved heart Nothing causeth a suspension in the Will more than Unbeleef Hee that doubteth is like a wave of the Sea sometimes going this way and sometimes carried back again Whereas Faith doth resolve the heart makes the soul resolve as Peter but in a better strength I will dye rather than deny thee Faith doth cloathe the soul with suffering resolutions to go through a Sea through a Wilderness through the hottest Skirmishes the hardest Tryals for Christ You see it every where in Scripture In Michaiah in Jeremiah in the three Children in Daniel in the Apostles And to these I might adde many more As that of old Polycarp when hee was perswaded to deny Christ rather than to dye for Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
seems to hide himself or withdraw himself from our souls withholding either his quickening or his comforting Spirit yet trust still You that walk in darknesse and see no light Trust in the Name of the Lord and rest upon your God Isa 50.10 Trust in God in the darkest night of Desertion cast anchor there as the Apostle did What though the soul were as dark as Hell yet God can make it as light as Heaven That God that caused light to shine out of darkness can also shine into our dark hearts What though there bee nothing within thee nothing without thee nothing round about thee to comfort thee yet there is something above thee Cast anchor in Heaven there 's an Almighty God to stay thy soul upon The Name of the Lord is a sufficient prop and rock to rest upon in any condition The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous flye to it and is exalted Prov. 18.10 or is in safety There 's safety in the Tower when all other sorts and Bulwarks are gone when Out-works are taken and Walls are scaled there is yet safety in the Tower So here when all Out-works are gone when all our Evidences seem to bee gone when nothing appears to comfort us yet the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower to flye to a rock to rest on whereupon being exalted wee are delivered from danger and set out of gun-shot Hence wee read the Name of the Lord opposed to all staies and props which Faith had to rest on Isa 50.10 Hee that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Here is such a bottom for Faith to rest upon that if Faith should fail All God would fail with it His Mercy His Truth His Wisdome His Power c. Let us then cast anchor here and wait till the time of refreshment come wait till all storms and clouds bee blown over Light is sown for the Righteous and joy for the upright in heart But wee must wait with the Husbandman with patience till the crop bee throughly ripe Thou must not look for clear day so soon as thou hast taken shelter nor a calm so soon as thou hast cast anchor but there thou must abide ride at anchor wait till the time of Refreshment shall come from the Lord. Godly security and apprehension of safety do not ever attend the act of Faith at the heels To trust is the act of Faith and apprehended security is the fruit of beleeving and therefore comes not till afterwards Here is thy comfort as was said before if thou diest whilst thou lyest at anchor having anchored on this rock thou dyest in the ship not in the Sea thou dyest in the Covenant and there is safety though the storm never cease Thy condition is safe and secure though thou do not yet apprehend the safety and security of it Never soul miscarried in a trusting way There is not one example in the Word no not one in the World where ever man trusted in God and was ashamed Psal 22.4 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee They trusted and were delivered God hath ingaged himself hee hath not only set the Sun and the Moon and Stars to pawn not only Heaven and Earth but even himself too Hee hath ingaged his Truth his Mercy his Promise his Wisdome and Power to save and keep them who trust in him All Heaven would sink if that soul that truly leans and trusts in God should miscarry 6. In case of outward Calamity not only Personal but National Other Nations God hath dealt withal as with Jerusalem Hee turned them upside down as a Dish and wiped them 2 King 21.13 Indeed wee have injoyed Peace and Plenty Peace with Plenty and Plenty with Peace How many ships deep laden with Mercy hath the stream of the Gospel brought to our shore But yet our sins may give us occasion to suspect the water heating for us Rods are preparing for us except wee return Would you then bee safe in the evil day Trust in the Lord. Hee that trusts in the Lord Mercy shall compass him about Psal 32.10 Hee shall bee begirt with Mercy Mercy shall imbrace him on every side As Faith doth compass Mercy so Mercy compasseth Faith As the Beleever imbraces Mercy so Mercy imbraces him Hee shall bee begirt with Mercy And not Mercy only but all Gods attributes are for him As whilst a man is an Unbeleever all God is against him All the Power of God the Wisdome of God the Justice of God is against him so if one bee a Beleever all is for him Faith makes all God ours his Mercy ours his Power his Justice c. As Jehoshaphat said to Ahab I am as thou art and my people as thy people 2 Chron. 18.3 So God to a beleeving soul all hee is or hath is for its use Faith doth initiate us into Covenant with God And there being a Covenant All God is for us Well then Let this exhort us all to bee resolute and peremptory in beleeving as Esther If I perish I perish in a beleeving way 3. Let this exhort us to grow up in Trust to grow to Perfection There is a Perfection 1. Of Nature 2. Of Degrees All Beleevers have the same Perfection of Faith for kind but all have not the same Perfection of degrees Well then You have that Perfection in the kind labour for this Perfection of degrees also Grow up from trust of Affiance to the trust of Assurance Let us not ever bee staggering and doubting but come to some grounded perswasion of Gods Love labour to bee rooted and grounded in love labour to work out all doubts and fears whereby wee dishonour God wrong our selves 1. Weakening our Faith 2. Hindring our growth 3. Disabling our selves to work 4. Discouraging our selves in our Christian way 5. Gratifying Satan And let us labour to grow up to higher measures in Beleeving Many incouragements might bee named 1. The more thou growest in Faith the more thou growest in the love and favour of God the more thou win'st his Love There is nothing in the World doth so much win Gods favour as a great degree of Faith Abraham was therefore called the friend of God And therefore though thou mayest bee saved with a less degree yet if thou wouldest grow more in Gods favour grow more in Faith 2. The more Faith the more Grace the more love of God the more Hope the more Patience the more Courage Obedience Repentance Humility Thou weak Christian if thou desirest more brokenness of heart for sin more love to God c. Why the way is to strengthen thy Faith 3. The more Faith the more spiritual Comfort the more Peace Joy and consolation These are the fruits of Faith 4. The more Faith the more strength to prevail with God in Prayer And therefore let this put you on to labour for the increase of Faith Grow from Faith to Faith In Temporals
ordinary paths of Providence and goes in Extraordinaries that hee might discover his Glory and Power and advance his own Name This know that it is Gods great design in the World to advance his own Name and make it glorious to the ends of the Earth This is one way God doth it by even doing wonderful things for his Church Hereby God wins a great deal of honour and praise from the Saints and dread and terror from the wicked as the Scriptures speak You know how terrible was the Name of the God of Israel to all the Earth by those great wonders God had done for Israel in Egypt And therefore this was the argument which David used why God should destroy such as were his enemies and work deliverances for such as were his people That men might know that thou whose Name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the Earth Psal 83.18 Great Mercies and wonderful deliverances publish and set forth God when smaller cannot do it Great Deliverances publish great Power great Mercy great Wisdome and great Truth God is lost in smaller deliverances but visible in greater They who are unwilling to acknowledge God in lesser are forced to acknowledge him in greater deliverances and to say with them who without doubt were loath enough to acknowledge it Digitus Dei est hic The finger of God is here None but a God could have disappointed such Counsels None but a God could have discovered such Plots None but a God could have removed such Evils None but a God could have wrought such Deliverances 3. The third Reason why God doth wonderful things for his Church is as to get so to uphold his great Name You have an excellent place for this in Deut. 32.27 God was highly displeased with Israel for their provocations of him and hee threatned to destroy them yet after all this hee saith I said I would scatter them into corners and would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say our high hand and not the Lord hath done all this The like you have in 2 King 18.35 Who are there among the Gods of the Countries that can deliver out of my hand so hee vaunted and God suffered him to soare so high that hee might have the greater praise and his Glory bee higher advanced by the greater downfal of such a Lucifer And this was the Argument which Moses urged God withal when hee threatned to destroy the Children of Israel Numb 14.15 Now if thou kill this people then the Nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak saying Because the Lord was not able to bring this People into the Land which hee sware unto them therefore hath hee slain them in the Wilderness As if hee had said Thou hast gotten thy self a Name by the mighty wonders which thou hast done for thy people but if thou shouldest leave now and do no more thou wouldest lose thy glory which thou hast gotten and the Nations would bee ready to charge thee with weakness and impotency that thou wast not able to do what thou hast promised and purposed to do for thy People The like you have in Deut. 9.28 And in Exod. 32.12 And the same Argument you have in Jos 8.9 When God went not forth with the armies of Israel but suffered them to bee smitten by their enemies O Lord saith Joshua what shall I say when Israel turn their backs upon their enemies If it bee thus what will become of thy great Name Arguing by this that there was a necessity for God to do great things for his People still to uphold that great Name hee had gotten which otherwise would fall to the ground Psal 79.9 Help us for the glory of thy Name and deliver us for thy Names sake And an excellent place you have for this in Isa 48.9 10 11. For my Names sake will I defer my wrath and for my Praise will I refrain it from thee that I cut thee not off 4. Reas God doth wonderful things for his People that hee might inherit wonderful praises from his People Therefore doth God work wonderful deliverances for his Church that his Church might return sutable praises to God again Psal 111.4 Hee hath done his wonderful works to bee remembred As if hee had said it was for this end that God did those wonderful works wrought those great deliverances that they might bee remembred that they might bee kept upon the imagination of the thoughts of the heart for ever As in 1 Chron. 29.18 That wee might bee so many living Monuments of thankfulness so many Trumpets to sound forth the praise of his Greatness and Goodness from Generation to Generation And hee that forgets Thankfulness forgets the end of Gods bestowing of Mercy and robs himself of the fruit and effect of the present Mercy and hinders himself of future 5. Reas God doth wonderful things for his Church to adde torture to the Devil and his Children Gods mercies and deliverances to the Saints must needs inrage the Devil and wicked men When Haman had prevailed so far as to get a bloody decree against the Jews hee joyed exceedingly as one that promised to himself the utter ruine of them all Now God stepping in on a sudden and shewing a wonder to disappoint him in his design No man can conceive much less express how much this added to Hamans torture and vexation Hee goeth home and vexeth himself and vexeth in his bed and could have no rest Achitophel was so tortured that his design did not take that hee was impatient of his Life Hee could not ease himself but by destroying himself The like you have of Balak God hath his wayes to make wicked men gnash their teeth before they come to Hell and this is one way to put them in a kinde of hope of having their will upon the godly as they had in the verse before the Text I will pursue I will destroy I will divide the spoil And then on a sudden over-turning all blowing upon their projects bringing all their enterprizes to nought Oh! this doth make them vex and torture their own souls 6 Reason God doth wonderfull things for his Church and People That both our selves and the Generations to come might be quickned and stirred up to trust in him obey him 1. That wee our selves might bee quickned to trust in him And this you see was the fruit of that great deliverance in the text Exod. 14.31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord had done upon the Egyptians And the People feared the Lord and beleeved the Lord. And this use David made That God that hath delivered mee from the Lyon and the Bear hee will also deliver mee from this uncircumcised Philistine So Psal 63.7 Because thou hast been my helper therefore under the shaddow of thy wings I will rejoyce That
God do wonders for his Church Then let us fall down and adore this God who can do wonders for us Who would not fear thee O King of Nations saith the Prophet Jer. 10.7 It was the speech of an Heathen King when hee had seen the Wonders that God had done Let all men fear and tremble before the God of Daniel Dan. 6.26 When Christ had done that great wonder in calming the rage of the sea the Text tels us They all fell down at the feet of Jesus and worshipped him Gods wonders for us call out for our Worship of him Fall down then at the feet of this God and Worship him Fall down at the feet of his Power and dread it Fall down at the feet of his Mercy and adore it Fall down at the feet of his Wisdome and admire it Admiration is sutable to Wonders It is said Hee shall bee admired in his Saints When wicked men tremble do you fall down and admire and blesse that God adore that God who alone doth wonders 7. Use Doth God do wonders for his Church 7 Use and are wee now in a sad condition A people that shall bee made a wonder unlesse God do a wonder for us Oh! then let us carry our selves in such a deportment and demeanour as is sutable to such who are expectants that God should do wonders for us Oh! that wee could put our selves in a posture fit for mercy and deliverance Seeing you look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness saith the Apostle what manner of persons ought you to bee So seeing you look you expect that God should do wonders for you Oh! What manner of persons ought you to bee in Holiness of Life how holy how humble how spiritual ought you to bee in all manner of conversation Oh! take heed of sinning in the face of mercy in the face of deliverance Lye not swear not c. It was a sad aggravation of Israels sin They provoked God at the Red-Sea even at the Red-Sea it is doubled to put a greater Emphasis on it Psal 106.7 It is nothing but our sins which hinders the current and stream of Mercy if these were removed mercy would come amain Whereas on the contrary sin will not only make our but even the good purposes of God to become abortive to us You see it in Jer. 18.9 10. At what time I shall speak concerning a Nation or a Kingdome to build and to plant it If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice Then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them Many buds and many blossoms of future deliverance have appeared Oh! it were a sad thing if our sins should blast all these and rob us of the fruit of our hopes of our prayers and tears Our sins put obstructions to all Gods proceedings of Mercy And therefore you see when the Temple was to bee built and great things were to bee done for them The Prophet by way of necessary preparation exhorts the people to repentance to cast away their sins Hag. 1.6 knowing this that though God had begun yet if they continued their sins they would quickly make a stop of Gods mercy God would soon repent of his mercy to them God had brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them near Canaan yet their sins comming betwixt them and Canaan turned them back again into the Wildernesse and there they walk in a Round forty years before they could finde admission into Canaan God is gone out before us triumphing in the greatnesse of his strength preparing a way hewing down difficulties levelling mountains turning all our oppositions into good But if you do not leave your sins you will make God quickly to leave you so to work your own confusion Well then You are all expectants of Mercy let every one of you labour to put himself into a posture fit to receive mercy Let every one walk and demean himself as such as looks for great things from God And then that God that hath begun will assuredly make an end Hee that hath laid the foundation and is laying stone after stone upon it every day will not desist till the building bee perfected 8 Use 8 Use Is it so that God doth wonders for his Church then learn 1. To trust in God You see Hee is a God doing wonders And as Christ said Learn 1 To trust in God Mark 9.23 If thou canst but beleeve All things are possible to him that beleeveth Wonders are possible There is nothing too hard for God to do if there bee nothing too hard for you to beleeve There is nothing difficult but to beleeve Hee that hath conquered and overcome his own unbeleef hath done all All things are possible to the Beleever Do not you stick at beleeving and God will not stick at doing wonders for you Heb. 11.33 34. By Faith they subdued Kingdomes stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire c. As Unbeleef doth imprison Gods power mercy and goodnesse It is said Hee could not do much because of their unbeleef And they limited the holy One of Israel So Faith sets God at liberty sets the power of God at liberty Nay it puts on the power and mercy of God Therefore exercise Faith The time of our trouble should bee the time of our trust As Mordecai said to Esther God set her up for such a time as that So I may say of Faith God set up Faith for such a time as this When means fail when there is nothing but weaknesse below when sense and reason are put to it then is it Faiths work to come in And therefore exercise Faith Let not any difficulty undermine Faith Let not any seeming discouragement come between your souls and the promise Zach. â— 6 Things marvelous to you are familiar with God things wonderful to you are easy to God You have Bibles Oh! that you had Faith to make use of them you would there finde all things are possible with God and therefore nothing impossible to Faith 2. Bee incouraged to Prayer This is the great work of our times 2 To pray to God Faith and Prayer will do wonders Faith and Prayer have had an hand in most of the wonders that ever were done in the Earth These will set the great God on doing wonders for us A Prayer made up of promises and put up by Faith will shew wonders in Heaven and in Earth You read what wonders Gods people have wrought by Prayer They have dryed up the Sea Exod. 14.21 brought fire from Heaven 2 King 1.10 Caused the Sun to stand still Josh 10.13 Vanquisht the enemy Exod. 17.12 Praying-Moses did more than fighting-Joshua The day would fail to tell you of all See what wonders followed upon Davids Prayer Psal 18.6 In my distress I called upon the Lord I cryed to my God hee heard my voice out of his Temple my cry came unto his
ears See what followes vers 7 8 13.14 Then the Earth shook and trembled The Lord thundred in the Heavens and the highest gave his voice Hailstones and coals of fire Hee sent out his arrows and scattered them hee shot out his lightenings and discomfitted them And an excellent place you have Isa 54.15 When the enemy shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him That is shall both defend from his violence and put him to flight And it is an observable phrase The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard That is saith one The Spirit of Prayer is lift up When trouble and evil are threatned the enemie comes like a flood irresistably then the Spirit of the Lord stirring up Prayer in his peoples hearts shall lift up a standard against them bee your defence and chase them away When God doth intend to bestow great things on his People first hee gives them the Spirit of Prayer the Harbinger and Forerunner of mercy Jer. 3.19 But I said How shall I put thee among the Children and give thee a pleasant land As if hee had said I have purposes of mercy to thee I have thoughts of deliverance I think to bring thee into thy own land again and do wonders for thee But what way shall I go to effect and bring about this And I said thou shalt call mee my Father As if hee had said I have now bethought mee of a way I will poure a spirit of Prayer upon thee and thou shalt call mee Father and so I will put thee among my Children 3. Bee incouraged to hope as well as to pray Hope 3 Incouragement to hope in God Heb. 6.19 it is called the anchor of the soul sure and stedfast that takes sure hold and then breaks not in the greatest tempest at such an anchor wee may ride in the most overgrown storm They say Clement was cast into the Sea with an anchor fastened to him and could not drown wee shall not in the deepest Waters if wee bee fastened to this anchor for God delights in them who hope in his Mercy Psal 147.11 and whom God delights in enemies shall not delight over his mercy shall prevent their utterly undoing-misery Hope is the Daughter of Faith therefore when Faith hath brought forth the birth of Prayer let it bring forth the other Twin also of Hope And then also 4. To wait on God 4. Bee incouraged to wait For as long as we hope we will wait and no longer as long as you expect and hope your friend will come to you so long you will stay and wait for him but give over hoping once and then you will together give over waiting Hope hath two acts it expects that a Mercy will come and then it waits till it do come as it is confident of Gods goodness and truth that in his due time hee will shew mercy so it is conscious to its own duty and therefore humbly and patiently waits Gods leisure till that time come and this although many cross Providences and greatest dangers should come between yea in the way of thy Judgements O Lord have wee waited for thee saith the Church Isa 26.8 and well they may seeing by experience they ever finde that the Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him Lam. 3.25 And then when you have learned these lessons of trusting in God praying hoping and waiting on him Then you shall say with the Church Isa 25.9 Loe this is our God wee have waited for him and hee will save us This is the Lord wee have waited for him wee will rejoyce and bee joyful in his salvation There are many glorious wonders which God is now to do at the latter end of the World for his Church This time is reserved for a time of Wonders And who knows but this may bee one of the Wonders which God now doth for his Church at this time Could wee but remove 1. Our Unbeleef 2. Our Unthankfulness 3. Our Neglect of Duty 4. Our Unworthy Walking Could wee but 1. Beleeve more Strongly 2. Pray more Fervently 3. Live more Holily And God would do Wonders for us I tell you the way to ingage God to do Wonders for England is 1. To Beleeve more 2. To Pray more 3. To Reform more 1 Would you ingage God to do Wonders for England Beleeve Set Faith on work and you will work in the bowels of a Promise nay in the bowels of God pitch Faith upon God Let Faith have her full and perfect work And there is No Temptation so strong but Faith will conquer No Affliction so great but Faith will master No Prison so strait but Faith will open No Danger so great but Faith relieves us in No Misery so unsufferable but Faith will deliver us out Do but beleeve saith Christ and thou shalt see the wondrous works of God As if hee had said God will do no wonders John 6.4 if you will not beleeve Indeed God can do wonders as Christ said Hee could not do much because of their unbeleef Though unbelief take no Power no Wisdome from God For as the Apostle saith God is faithfull whether men beleeve or no So I may say God is Powerfull God is mercifull God â—â— Wise c. though wee beleeve not But though our unbelief do not weaken the Power of God yet it straitens and limits it Though it rob God of no mercy yet it robs us of all Though he hath mercy yet hath he none for us Well then that is the first Beleeve You have to deal with a God and this God is a God of Power and this God and this power is yours in Covenant And by vertue of that all for your good Let Faith now stirre Mark 9.23 If you can but beleeve all things are possible wonders are possible To Beleeve is difficult but to him that Beleeveth nothing is impossible If you had but faith as a grain of mustard-seed say to this mountain bee thou removed hence and bee cast into the sea and it shall bee done Though Faith bee but weak though but small A grain yet if it bee but lively if a grain of Mustard-seed Acris Fervida if it have Acrimonie and Vivacity in it as Mustard-seed hath one grain shall bee able to remove a mountain That is whatever may bee to the glory of God and the good of his Church be it never so difficult the least Faith if true Faith will effect it and bring it about You shall read in Heb. 11.33 what wonders Faith hath wrought It hath the same Power and the same God of power to deal with still Incouragements to Faith I have given you diverse in the former discourses from the Power from the love of God from all those former experiences that both ourselves and generations before have had of Gods goodnesse As I have shewed at large 2 Would you ingage God pray to