And to the same effect is that of St. James To him that knoweth to do good Ch. 4.17 and doeth it not to him it is sin that is sin to the purpose sin of no ordinary complexion 2. What is done against light hath not only an inconformity to the Rule but some degree of contempt thereof Wherefore in such cases God looks upon himself as despised Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord said he to David when he had knowingly and deliberately sinned 2 Sam. 12.9 3. It argues Corruption to have gotten head and to have grown up to a great measure of strength and maturity it argues such a person to be set upon sin and wholly bent to gratify himself therein whatsoever shall come of it When the light it self shall stand in a man's way and flash in his face and yet he will go on he acts as one so resolved to sin as nothing shall take him off This in the language of the Scipture is to sin presumptuously by which a man under the Law was judged to have reproached the Lord in regard whereof no less punishment was appointed than the utter cutting him off from among his people Numb 15.30 31. And thus far I have only insisted on the consideration of light more generally 'T is light that is refused and contemned and therefore neither the sin nor the punishment of the person so offending can be small 2. 'T is not any kind of light but Gospel light that is so ill treated and this hath yet much more in it than all that hath been hitherto mentioned 1. The light of the Gospel is a clearer light All other light is but darkness to this The Heathens had the light of Nature for their guide but yet they were still in darkness till the Gospel enlightened them for the very Errand of the Gospel to them was to open their eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from darkness to light The Jews under the dispensations of the Law had much more light and yet were heavenly things in great part so vail'd and wrapt up in Types and Shadows as their condition to that of Gospel-times seems to have been but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the noon day-light 2. 'T is a light that presents to our view the most excellent and most desirable things Pardon of sin Acts 10.43 Peace with God Rom. 5.1 Eternal life John 3.36 A kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 An inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 Such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 3. These excellent things which the light of the Gospel sets before us are such as were by infinite Wisdom and unspeakable Love designed and contrived for us before the foundations of the World were laid The most wise and gracious God did in nothing more discover the unsearchable Treasures of his Wisdom and the Riches of his Grace than in the Contrivance of our Salvation in such a way as in which Mercy and Justice so admirably meet together and Righteousness and Peace kiss each other We cannot therefore refuse or slight these excellent things without a manifest disparagement of the Wisdom and Love of God as if neither the one nor the other were considerable herein and as if after all that God hath done the things so wifely designed and graciously proffer'd were not worth our acceptance 4. The Gospel presseth the entertainment of these excellent things with the most cogent and forcible Arguments 'T is not laid before us as a matter of indifferency whether we will embrace what 's tendered or refuse it We are told and assured that as the acceptance of the things proffered will render us unspeakably blessed and happy to eternity so the refusal of them will certainly make us everlastingly and unconceivably miserable He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 5. Besides the external tender of these things in the Gospel the Spirit of God usually more or less accompanies the outward Ministration of the Gospel inwardly working together with it treating with us and solliciting the matters of our peace by Enlightnings and Convictions by stirring up good Motions and Affections Purposes and Resolutions which makes our refusal of mercy after all this much more worthy of the severest punishment 6. Add to all this the consideration of the greatness of the Person who at first published the Gospel and made tender of those excellent things to the World himself while here on Earth and also still continues to do it by his Servants The Lord of Life and Glory the Eternal Son of God who is over all God blessed for ever came in person from Heaven out of the Bosome of his Father on this very Errand that he might make reconciliation for sin Dan. 9. â—4 and bring in everlasting righteousness And offer the fruits and benefit of all to Mankind making this general Proclamation Whosoever believeth shall be saved If but an Earthly Prince should send his only Son to the remotest Parts of his Dominions on purpose to make tender of some great thing to one of his meanest Subjects what an indignity and how intolerable an affront would it be if that his tender should be slighted But here the King Eternal sends his only Son from Heaven to offer us Everlasting Life and we entertain him no otherwise than as if he came in a needless Embassy for so much our most unworthy carriage towards him imports if we do not accept of his Tenders This the Scripture insists on as a circumstance that carries in it no small aggravation of the sin of our unbelief If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken to us by the Lord Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 12.25 And again If they escaped not who refused him who spake from earth much more shall not we escape if we refuse him who speaketh from heaven Now put all these things together and I see not how you can chuse but conclude That as there is no sin like that which is committed against the light of the Gospel so there is no punishment like unto that which will be inflicted for this sin or That this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And so I proceed to the application of what hath been spoken VSE 1. First then To speak to the more dissolute Professors of the Christian Religion From the Premises we may infer That 't is a most vain and empty Plea which many loose Christians think to help themselves with at the day of their account to God They have had their birth and education where the light of the Gospel shines and under the
before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
God in the exact frame due lineaments right proportions and features strength and beauty of perfect Creatures So the poor strait and indigent condition of some so much the more commends the Bounty and Goodness of God to others and provokes them at least should provoke them to so much the greater love and thankfulness to that God who hath been so bountiful to them and hath been pleased to put such a difference between them and others and this albeit they have deserved at the hands of God no more than those their inferiours who are in the most necessitous condition 2. This difference which God hath put between men affords the Rich opportunities of exercising their Charity Pity and Compassion towards the Poor and gives the Poor occasion of exercising their Faith and Trust in God for supplies of Necessaries Patience Humility Contentment with their mean condition quiet submission to the good pleasure of God in thus dealing with them and thankfulness to God for those helps and assistances which he is pleased to reach forth to them by the hands of those with whom he deposited more of the things of this World on purpose that they might be helpful to those who have less 3. God hath been pleased to put this difference between men in regard of the necessity there is of different Stations and Conditions different Services and Imployments for procuring and carrying on the good and welfare of the Community of Mankind Some must govern and others must be governed or else we shall quickly be ruined and all things will run into confusion Some must labour in the Field others must grinde at the Mill others handle the Distaff some must be imployed in meaner other in higher Services in order whereunto it was fit that men's conditions should be suited to those Imployments in which they are to be serviceable to God and their Generation Now the Application of what hath been spoken follows and this will concern all I shall first speak to the Rich and then to the Poor As for the Rich or those whom God hath been pleased to intrust with a larger portion of Temporal things they may hence be minded of their Duty several ways If the Rich and the Poor meet together in all those respects before mentioned and God be the Maker of them all both as men and as considered under the different Adjuncts of Riches and Poverty then may the Rich hence be cautioned and admonished 1. Not to despise the Poor This is that which men who even wallow in plenty and abound with the good things of this Life are very subject to A poor man is many times a contemptible thing in their eyes and as he hath occasion to come near them he scarce meets with those civilities from them that are due to Mankind And usually none are more faulty this way than such as have the greatest obligation to civility and condescension I mean such as were not long since in a mean condition themselves and have but newly been advanced to an higher Station But these and whosoever else may be blame-worthy in this respect should consider what hath above been discoursed of 1. That the poorest and most forlorn Creature who is most despicable in their eyes hath as noble and excellent a Soul as they have themselves or as the greatest Potentate in the World hath and as for his very Body though cloathed with nasty Rags the exquisite Workmanship thereof is no less admirable than that of his that is cloathed with Scarlet and adorned with Gold and Pearls and whatever Nature or Art could contribute to make it beautiful and lovely 2. That the poorest man in the World is as dear to God as they are and as much under the Care and gracious Providence of God for fine Cloaths and Riches and Honours commend no man to God high and low rich and poor are alike to him for he is no respecter of persons Act 10.34 neither doth he rate or value any man according to these things 'T is grace and holiness that he looks after and accordingly proportions his esteem for men The Lord seeth not as man seeth man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16.7 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous Psal 34.15 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 But as for wicked and ungodly men of what rank or quality soever they may be in this World the Lord hates and abhors them Psal 5.5 3. They should consider that the poorest man in all the World is as capable of being admitted to the blisful Vision and Fruition of God in the World to come is as capable of glory and eternal happiness as the richest As God hath given the same Rational and Immortal Soul to Rich and Poor whereby they are both capable of the sight and enjoyment of God so hath Christ died for both and paid the same invaluable price for the Redemption of both and so he hath commanded his Gospel to be published alike to both and therein the same terms of Salvation to be indifferently propounded to the one and the other There is not one Gospel for the Rich and another for the Poor nor are the terms of peace with God and reconciliation to him more easy and favourable for the one than for the other The Gospel puts no difference between men with reference to those different circumstances as to outward things under which they may be It speaks the same Language to all Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13.3 Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.3 Now if God values the Souls of Rich and Poor alike hath taken the same care of and made the same provision for the Salvation of both if Rich and Poor meet together stand both upon even ground and are upon equal terms as to the matters that are of highest importance and everlasting concernment to the one and the other should any man despise his poor Brother upon the account of these temporal things these poor and worthless trifles that signify as good as nothing 2. The Rich may hence be cautioned Not to count the Poor a grievance or heavy burthen to them I mean the honest sober humble modest and industrious Poor As for wicked loose idle and unprofitable Persons whether they be Poor or Rich they are not only a grievance but the very Pests of the places where they live as exposing them to God's wrath and drawing down his Judgments upon themselves and others 1. While you count the Poor a grievance and think how much happier the World would be if all men were Rich as you are you
their Heads before he brings his Judgments upon them This is the usual Course of God's Providence he is not wont to surprize Men with his Judgments before he gives them any notice of the Danger they are in but he first warns them calls them to Repentance and threatens them if they shall still continue in their Impenitency and when all his Warnings are slighted then he strikes Thus he warned the old World and called them to Repentance by the Preaching of Noah all the while the Ark was a building Thus by the Prophets he called the Jews to Repentance and threatned them with the Captivity if they repented not Thus Christ himself called them to Repentance and in case of their Impenitency still persisted in threatned the utter Desolation and Destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem by the Romans Now the Reasons why God is pleased thus to deal with Sinners why he thus calls them to Repentance and gives them warning before he strikes are principally these two 1st That by their timely Repentance and Reformation they may prevent his Judgments and that he may have no Occasion of using that Severity against them which if they repent not will be necessary both for the Vindication of his Honour and in order to their Humiliation and Reformation God doth not afflict willingly Lam. 3.33 nor grieve the Children of Men. He takes no Delight in severe Courses unless where there is a Necessity of them in regard that gentler Means do no Good 2dly He gives Warning calls to Repentance and promises Mercy upon Repentance before he strikes to the End that if Men will take no Warning if sin they will and persevere still in their Sins whatever it costs them the Justice of his Proceedings against them may be cleared that the Sinners themselves may be rendred inexcusable and every Mouth may be stopped or be enforced to acknowledg that he is righteous even when he punisheth them most severely Vse 1. If God be so gracious as to call to Repentance and give Warnings before he strikes let us not be unconcerned at such Warnings let us not flight them or contemn them neither let our Hearts fret or rise against them but humbly patiently and thankfully entertain them and carefully improve them If God's Design in them be to prevent Punishments let not us by our slighting and disregarding them draw those Evils upon our selves which they are designed to keep off 'T is a dangerous thing not to take Warning when 't is given us when God gives it that he may bring us to Repentance by it The Admonition that Ely gave his Sons and the Representation that he made to them of the Danger of their sinful Practices was in effect a Warning from God but they regarded it not and what was the Issue but their Ruine The Spirit of God saith 1 Sam. 2.25 That they hearkned not to the Voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them Psal 68.21 God shall wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of every one that goeth on still in his Trespasses And the making good of this Threatning may They above others expect that still go on in their Trespasses against Warnings and especially if they still go on against many Warnings Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Do we believe this If we do how should we hasten to make our Peace with God especially such of us as have long gone on in our Sins against all Warnings and Calls to Repentance We may think perhaps that because we have been long warned and threatned and yet still God holds his Hand and forbears to strike we are in no Danger it may be the long Patience which God hath exercised towards us makes us regardless of his Warnings and now at length we begin to make account that we may safely enough go on in our old Ways there is no such Danger as hath been pretended But let us take heed how we thus abuse the Patience and Long-sufferance of God Whatever our present Thoughts are or how much soever we may now flatter our selves these two things we shall certainly find in the end 1. That how long soever God may bear with us yet he will fulfil his Threatnings in the end unless by our Repentance we prevent them Heaven and Earth shall rather pass away Mat. 24.35 than any one Word that he hath spoken shall fall to the Ground 2. The longer God is pleased to bear with us and wait for our Repentance the more severely will he handle us at last if still we refuse to be reclaimed Long-continued and abused Patience usually ends in Fury I kept silence said God to the wicked Man the obstinate Sinner that would not be reclaimed I had long Patience with him And thou thoughtest that I was such a one as thy self My Forbearance of thee made thee think that I was much of thy mind and had no great dislike of thy evil Ways Psal 50.21 22. But I will reprove thee and set thy Sins in order before thee Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you As if he had said Though I have born long with thee yet thou art much mistaken if thou thinkest that I will always bear with thee The longer I stay the more terrible and irresistible will my Judgments be when I reckon with thee and come upon thee at last Vse 2. If God be pleased to call Sinners to Repentance and to give them Warning before he punishes them then let all such as are punished justify God and acknowledg that they suffer justly and that they have no reason to complain of God but of themselves For having offended and deserved Punishment God gave them Warning before he would correct them but they would not take Warning If they be punished they may thank themselves they might by their Repentance have prevented it but they would not Vse 3. The same Consideration should also perswade Sufferers to bear with Patience what God is pleased to lay upon them for their Sins They have wilfully made themselves Sufferers and drawn those Evils upon themselves which God would never have inflicted on them if any Warnings would have made them sensible of their Danger and have reclaimed them if any Calls and Invitations to Repentance and Offers of Mercy would have prevailed with them taken them off from their sinful Courses and gained them Is there not all the reason in the World that they should undergo with Patience those Evils which they would bring upon themselves notwithstanding all the Means which God made use of to keep them off Hab. 2.10 Thou hast consulted Shame to thy House said God to the King of Babylon When impenitent Sinners will take no Warnings when they will not be perswaded to take that Course by which alone Punishments may be prevented they
than against your self A due Sense of your Sin and of the Dishonour you have done to God thereby would make you even out of an holy Indignation and Revenge against your self humbly and patiently to submit to the utmost of that Severity which God is pleased to exercise towards you 5. Remember how ill God took it from his People the Jews that they complained the Way of the Lord was not equal which is in effect your Complaint Concerning this he complains and expostulates with them Ye say Ezek. 18.25 The Way of the Lord is not equal Hear now O House of Israel Is not my VVay equal Are not your VVays unequal And so again ver 29. And then he adds ver 30. Therefore will I judg you O House of Israel every one according to his VVays saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be your Ruine As if he had said Whereas ye complain of the Inequality of my Dealings with you unless you repent I will destroy you all and then you will have little Cause to complain of my inequal Dealings They who complain of the Inequality of God's dealing with them had need take heed lest God lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet as he threatens Isa 28.17 Lest he lay heavier things upon them lest he bring such Judgments on them as shall come up more nearly to the Measures the Proportion and Demerits of their Sins How much soever they have suffered God may yet lay much more upon them and yet still punish them much less than their Iniquities deserve 6. Whereas you complain that God deals more severely with you than with many others think with your self 1st That 't is possible your Sins may have been greater than the Sins of such as you have in your Eye greater in respect of the Circumstances and Aggravations of them It may be they never sinned against so much Light and so many clear Convictions against such Mercies and so many Discoveries of God's Love against so many Warnings and gentler Chastisements against so many severer Stroaks when milder Courses would not prevail Can you wonder at it that God deals more severely with you than with others if upon Examination it should be found that your Sins have been greater than theirs 2dly It may be God intends you more Good than many others By sorer Afflictions he means to make you better and so much the better as your Afflictions have been and are greater His Chastnings though severe are no Evidences of his Hatred but Fruits of his Love and of his Purpose to do your Soul much Good by them for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 even as a Father doth the Son in whom he delighteth 3dly What if the time for correcting some others be not yet come even they who have been hitherto spared or been dealt very gently with may hereafter if milder Remedies do no good be as severely dealt with as you have been God takes his own Time and makes use of his own Methods for disciplining all his and some he sees good to handle after one manner some after another as to his Wisdom seems best 4thly What if some of those who are for the present spared should be reserved to the Judgment of the last Day while you are chastned here that you may not be condemned with the World hereafter God may spare some others in Anger and correct you in Mercy for his forbearing to punish is sometimes no Fruit of his Favour but an Effect of his highest Displeasure according to that Psal 81.11 12. My People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up to their own Hearts Lust Object 3. But my Troubles are long and tedious saith another there is no End of them I have been waiting and waiting for Deliverance but it comes not I see others in Trouble and I see them come well out of it but my Feet stick fast in the Mire Answ To this I answer 1. That it is not your Case alone Did not the People of God take up the like Complaint The Harvest is past Jer. 8.20 the Summer is ended and we are not saved The time when we expected Deliverance is over and yet we are still where we were our Afflictions are still lengthened out Was there not a time when Zion said Isa 49.14 The Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Was there not a time when David after he had been long praying for Deliverance and waiting Psal 69.3 said I am weary of my crying my Throat is dried mine Eyes fail while I wait for my God Wherefore have no hard Thoughts of God much less give way to murmuring against him who deals no otherwise with you than he often deals with many of his own 2. Is not the Cause of God's respiting your Deliverance in your self Are not you still unfit for Mercy and is not that the true reason why you have it not God delighteth in Mercy Mich. 7.18 He waiteth to be gracious Isa 30.18 How ready God is to shew Mercy to us when we are ready and prepared to receive it he hath declared in the most pathetical way of Expression Psal 81.13 16. O that my People had hearkned unto me and that Israel had walked in my VVays I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my Hand against their Adversaries The Haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever He should have fed them with the finest of the VVheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied thee And to the same Purpose is that Isa 48.18 O that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the VVaves of the Sea So then we may thank our selves that in our Afflictions we wait so long for Deliverance Our Mercies never meet with any Obstructions in God but in our selves We by our Continuance in Sin by our Remisness and Slackness in the Work of sound Humiliation and Reformation retard and set back our Mercies and then we complain and murmur as if God were slack and unmindful of his Promises as if he were hardly drawn to shew Mercy 3. Deliverance out of Trouble is of God's free Grace we cannot challenge it at his Hands We bring our selves into Trouble by our Sins and he may justly leave us to perish in our Troubles He therefore who doth all that he doth for us out of free Mercy may take his own time to do it when he pleaseth Is it fit that we who are unworthy of any good thing who can demand nothing of him should prescribe Times and Seasons to him and as if we required a Debt of him set him a Day when he should shew Mercy 4. His own Time is the best Time It may seem long to us that we