these permissions of Providence prove singular advantages and blessings to you SECT III. WHat remains then seeing God is Unchangeable in his love to his People pursuing the the great ends of all his gracious promises in a steddy course of Providence wherein he will never effect or permit any thing that is really repugnant to his own glory or their good but that we enter also into this Camber of Rest shut the doors about us and comfortably improve the unchangeableness of God while we see nothing but changes and troubles here below 1. Enter into Gods Unchangeableness by Faith take up your lodgings in this sweet Attribute also and to encourage your Faith thereunto seriously consider a few particulars 1. Consider how constant firm and unchangeable God hath been to his people in all times and streights not one among the many thousands of his people that are passed on before you but by frequent and certain experience have found him so What a singular encouragement should this be to our Faith in the case before us Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee So Isa. 25. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shaddow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as the storm against the wall Neither is there any thing in your experience contradictory to the encouraging reports others have made of God you must acknowledge that notwithstanding your own changeableness who have hardly been able to maintain your hearts in any Spiritual frame towards God for one day together yet his mercies towards you have been new every morning and great hath been his Faithfulness You have often turned aside from the way of your duty and have not followed God in a steddy course of obedience and yet for all that his goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life as it is Psal. 23. 6. 2. Consider how often you have doubted and mistrusted the unchangeableness of God and been forced with shame and sorrow to retract your folly therein God hath many times convinced you that his love to you is an unchangeable love how many changes soever in the course of his Providence have passed over you consult Isa. 49. 14. and Psal. 77 78. and see how the cases parallel both in respect of Gods constancy to them and you and the inconstancy of his peoples Faith then and yours now your fears and doubts are the same with theirs though his goodness and love have been as unchangeable to you as ever it was towards them 3. Consider the Advocateship and intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for you by vertue whereof the favour and love of God becomes unalterable towards his people If any thing can be supposed to cool or quench the love of God towards you nothing in the world is more like to do it than your sin and this indeed is that which you fear will estrange and alienate the heart of your God from you But Reader if thou be one that sincerely mournest for all the grief and dishonour of God by thy sin appliest the bloud of sprinkling to thy Soul by Faith and makest mortification and watchfulness thy daily business comfort thy self against that fear from that singular encouragement given thee in this case 1 Iohn 2. 1 2. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins Look as the death of Christ healed the great breach betwixt God and thy Soul by thy reconciliation at first so the powerful Intercession of Christ in Heaven effectually prevents all new breaches betwixt God and thy Soul afterwards so that he will never totally and finally cast thee off again 2. Shut the door behind you against all objections scruples and questionings of Gods immutability and by a resolved and steddy Faith maintain the the honour of God in this point by thy constant adherence to it and dependence upon it and especially see that thou give him the glory of his unchangeableness 1. When thou shalt see the greatest alterations and changes made by his Providence in the World What though thou shouldest live to see all things turned upside down the foundations out of course all things drawing into a Sea of confusion and trouble Yet in the midst of those publick distractions and distress of Nations Encourage thou thy self in this thy God and his love to his people is the same for ever Psal. 46. 1 2 3 4 5. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved 2. Live by Faith upon Gods unchangeableness under the greatest changes of your own condition in this world Providence may make great alterations upon all your outward conforts it may cast you down how dear soever you be to God from riches into poverty from health into sickness from honour into reproach from liberty into bondage thou mayest overlive thy comfortable relations and of a Naomi become a Marah Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down said as good a man as you Psal. 102. 10. Yet still it is your duty and will be your great priviledge in the midst of all these changes to act your faith upon the never changing God as that holy man did Hab. 3. 17. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither fruit be in the vine the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation q. d. Suppose a thousand disappointments of my earthly hopes yet will I maintain my hope in God O Christian with how many yets notwithstandings and neverthelesses must thy faith bear up in times of trouble or thou 'l sink 3. See thou live upon Gods unchangeableness when age and sickness shall inform thee that thy great change is at hand though thy heart and thy flesh fail comfort thy self with this thy God will never fail thee Psal. 73. 16. O God saith David thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works now also when I am old and gray headed forsake me not Psal. 71 17 18. 4. Live upon the unchangeableness of God under the greatest and saddest changes of your Spiritual condition God may cloud the light of his countenance over thy Soul he may fill thee with fears and troubles and the comforter that should relieve thee may seem to be far off yet still maintain thy faith in
not within its reach till our own fears drive us into it the recoyling of our spirits from some eminent danger may cause the pulse of a true Christian to intermit and faulter how regular soever it beats at other times this will cause great trepidation and timidity in men that are sincere and upright and that is it that brings the snare over their souls Aaron was a good man and Idolatry he knew to be a great sin yet fear prevailed with that good man to give too much way to that great evil Exod. 32. 22. Thou knowest the people that they are set upon mischief saith he in his own excuse in the matter of the golden calf q. d. Lord I durst do no otherwise at that time the people were violently and passionately set upon it had I resisted them it might have cost me dear It was fear that prevailed with Origen to yield so far as he did in offering incense to the Idol the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces It was nothing but fear that made David play the fool and act so dishonourably as he did I Sam. 21. 12. Fear is a snare in which Satan hath caught as many souls as in any other of his stratagems and toyls whatsoever It were easy to give instances so many and so sad as would inlarge this head even to tediousness but I chuse rather to come to the particulars wherein the danger of this snare of the Devil consists And 1. Herein lies the ensnaring danger of sinful fear that it drives men out of their proper station out of their place and duty beside which there is none to be found but what is Satans ground The subtle enemy of our salvation is aware that we are out of Gun shot beyond his reach whilst we abide with God in the way of our duty that the Lord is with us whilst we are with him and there is no attempting our ruine under the wings of his protection If ever therefore he meaneth to do any thing upon us he must get us off that ground and from under those wings and there is nothing like fear to do this then we are as the birds that are wandring from their nests Prov. 27. 8. or like Shimei out of his limits 2. Fear is usually the first passion in the soul that beats a parley with the enemy and treats with the tempter about terms of rendition and as the French proverb is The Castle that parlies is half wone 'T is fear that consults with flesh and bloud whilst faith is ingaged with God for the supply of strength to endure the siege we have a sad and doleful instance of this in Spira he tells us how his own fears betrayed him by parlying with the tempter for thus Mr. Bacon in the History of his life records the occasion of his fall Whilst Spira was tossing upon the restless waves of doubts without Guide to trust to or Haven to flee to for succour on the sudden Gods spirit assisting he felt a calm and began to discourse with himself in this manner Why wanderest thou thus in uncertainties Unhappy man cast away fear put on thy shield of faith where is thy wonted courage thy goodness thy constancy Remember that Christs glory lies at the stake suffer then without fear and he will defend thee he will tell thee what thou shalt answer he can beat down all danger bring thee out of prison raise thee from the dead consider Peter in the dungeon the Martyrs in the fire c. Now was Spira in reasonable quiet being resolved to yield to those weighty reasons yet holding it wisdom to examine all things he consults also with flesh and bloud thus the battel renews and the flesh begins in this manner Be well advised fond man consider reasons on both sides and then judge how canst thou thus overween thine own sufficiency as thou neither regardest the examples of thy progenitors nor the judgment of the whole Church dost thou not consider what misery this days rashness will bring thee unto Thou shalt lose all thy substance gotten with so much care and travel thou shalt undergo the most exquisite torments that malice it self can devise thou shalt be counted an Heretick of all and to close up all thou shalt die shamefully What thinkest thou of the loathsome stinking Dungeon the bloudy Ax the burning Faggot Are they delightful c. Thus through fear he first parlied with the Tempter consulted with flesh and bloud and at last fainted and yielded 3. 'T is fear that makes men impatient of waiting Gods time and method of deliverance and so precipitates the soul and drives it into the snare of the next temptation Isai. 51. 14. The Captive exile hasteth to be delivered out of the pit any way or means of escape that comes next to hand saith Fear is better than to lie here in the pit and when the soul is thus prepared by its own fears it becomes an easy prey to the next temptation by all which you see the mischief that comes by fear in times of danger 4. Effect 4. Fear naturally produceth Pusillanimity and cowardliness in men a poor low spirit that presently faints and yields upon every slight assault it extinguisheth all Christian courage and magnanimity where ever it prevails and therefore you find it joyned frequently in the Scriptures with discouragement Deut. 1. 21. Fear not neither be discouraged with fainting and trembling Deut. 20. 3. Let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble with dismayedness Deut. 31. 6. and faint heartedness Isai. 7. 4. these are the effects and consequents of sinful fear And how dangerous a thing it is to have our courage extinguished and faintness of heart prevail upon us in a time when we have the greatest need and use of courage and our perseverance peace and eternal happiness rely and depend so much upon it let all serious Christians judge 't is sad to us and dishonourable to Religion to have the hearts of women as it 's said of Egypt Isai. 19. 16. when we should play the men as the Apostle exhorts us 1 Cor. 16. 13. We find in all ages those that have manifested most courage for Christ in time of trial have been those whose Faith hath surmounted Fear and whose hearts were above all discouragements from this world Such a man was Basil as appears by his answer to Valens the Emperor who tempting him with offers of preferment received this answer Offer these things said he to children and when he threatned him with grievous sufferings he replied threaten these things to your purple gallants that give themselves to pleasure and are afraid to die And this was the spirit of courage and magnanimity with which the generality of the Primitive Christians were animated they feared not the faces of Tyrants they shrunk not from the most cruel torments and it redounded not a little to the credit of Christianity when one of Iulians Nobles present
Iehoshaphat 2 Chro. 20. 2 3. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat saying there cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria and behold they be in Hazazon Tamar which is Engedi and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. He set himself i. e. he composed and fixed his heart for Prayer in the time of so great a fright and terrible an Alarm But it is rare to find such constancy and eveness of mind as this in like cases it is with most in great frights as the Prophet describes the condition of the Jews Isaiah 22. 2 3. when the City of Ierusalem was besieged and the enemy came under the walls of it that which a little before was the joyous City or as some read the revelling City is now in such a panick fear that it is full of stirs and tumults some run up to the tops of the houses either to hide or bewail themselves or take a view of the dreadful enemy without others prevent the sword of the enemy and die by fear before hand their own apprehensions of misery killed them before the sword of any other enemy once touched them but you read of none that ran into their closets to seek the Lord the city was full of stirrs but not of prayers alas Fear made them cry to the mountains rather than to God ver 5. The best men find it hard to keep their thoughts from wandering and their minds from distraction in the greatest calm of peace but a thousand times harder in the hurries and tumults of fear 5. The sinfulness of Fear consists in the power it hath to dispose and incline men to the use of sinful means to put by their danger and to cast them into the hands and power of temptation The fear of man bringeth a snare Prov. 29. 25. or puts and lays a snare before him Satan spreads the net and Fear like the stalking horse drives men right into it It was fear which drew Abraham that great believer into the snare of dissimulation to the great disparagement of Religion for it was somewhat an odd sight to see Abimelech an heathen so schooling an Abraham for it as he did Gen 20. 9. And for the same evil you find God chiding his people in Isaiah 57. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me There is a double lie occasioned by Fear one in words another in deeds Hypocrisie is a lie done a practical lie and our Church History abounds with sad examples of dissimulation through fear 't is Satans great engine to make his Tempations victorious and successful with men SECT III. 3. There is an holy and laudable Fear a Fear which is our treasure not our torment the chief ornament of the Soul its beauty and perfection not its infelicity or sin viz. the awful filial fear of God natural fear is a pure or simple passion of the Soul Sinful fear is the disordered and corrupt passion of the soul but this is the natural passion sanctified and thereby changed and baptized into the name and nature of a Spiritual grace This fear is also mentioned in my Text and prescribed as an Antidote against sinful fears it devours carnal fears as Moses serpent did those of the Enchanters It 's one of the sorest judgments to be in the fear of man day and night Deut. 28. 65 66 67. and one of the sweetest mercies to be in the fear of God all the day long Prov. 23. 17. The fear of men shortens our days Isaiah 22. 34 but the fear of the Lord prolongeth our days Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Prov. 14. 27. But the fear of man a fountain of mischiefs and miseries By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16. 6. but by the fear of man men run themselves into evil Prov. 29. 25. This Fear is a gracious habit or principle planted by God in the soul whereby the soul is kept under an holy awe of the eye of God and from thence is inclined to perform and do what pleaseth him and to shun and avoid whatsoever he forbids and hates 1. It is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit it is not of the natural growth and production of mans heart but of supernatural infusion and implantation Ier. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their inward parts To fear man is natural but to fear God is wholly supernatural 2. This gracious fear puts the soul under the awe of Gods eye Psal. 119. 161. my heart standeth in awe of thy word 'T is the reproach of the servants of men to be eye-servants but it is the praise and honour of Gods servants to be so 3. This respect to the eye of God inclines them to perform and do whatsoever pleaseth him and is commanded by him hence fearing God and working righteousness are connected and linked together Acts. 10. 35. If we truly fear God we dare not but do the things he commands and if his fear be exalted in our hearts to an high degree it will enable us to obey him in duties accompanied with deepest self denial Gen. 22. 12. Now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with held thy son thine only son from me 4. This fear ingageth and in some degree inableth the soul in which it is to shun and avoid whatsoever is displeasing to God and forbidden by him in this Ioâ— discovered himself a true fearer of God he would not touch what God had forbidden and therefore was honoured with this Excellent Character He was one that feared God and eschewed evil Iob. 1. 3. And thus of the several kinds of Fear CHAP. III. Shewing the various uses of Fear both Natural Sinful and Religious in the Government of the world by providence SECT I. HAving taken a brief view of the several kinds and sorts of Fear that are found among men our nextâ— work will be to open the Uses of them in the Government of this world for one way or other they all subserve the most wise and holy purposes of God therein And we will first enquire into 1. The Use of Natural Fear Which if we well consider it will be found exceeding necessary and useful to make man a governable creature by Law and consequently the order comfort and tranquillity of the world necessarily depends upon it How immorigerous and intractable would the corruptions of mans nature make him and uncapable of any moral restraint from the most flagitious and barbarous crimes had not God planted such a passion as this in his nature which like a bridle curbs in the corrupt propensions thereof If fear did not clap its manacles and fetters upon the wild and boysterous lusts of men they would certainly bear down all milder motives and break loose from all ingenuous bands of restraint the world would inevitably be filled with
following Prescriptions and Rules must not think the Reading or bare remembring them will do the work but he must work them into his heart by believing and fixed meditation and live in the daily practice of them It is not our opening of our case to a Physician nor his Prescriptions and written directions that will cure a man but he must resolve to take the bitter and nauseous potions how much soever he loath it to abstain from hurtful diet how well soever he loves it if ever he expect to be a sound and healthful man So it is in this case also These things premised the 1. Rule The first Rule to relieve us against our Slavish Fears Is seriously to consider and more throughly to study the Covenant of Grace within the blessed Clasp and Bond whereof all believers are I think the clear understanding of the Nature Extent and Stability of the Covenant and of our interest therein would go a great way in the cure of our sinful and slavish Fears A Covenant is more than a naked promise in the Covenant God hath graciously consulted our weakness fears and doubts and therefore proceeds with us in the highest way of solemnity confirming his Promises by Oath Heb. 6. 13 17. and by Seals Rom. 4. 11. Putting himself under the most solemnties and engagements that can be to his people that from so firm a ratification of the Covenant with us we might have strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. He hath so ordered it that it might afford strong supports and the most reviving cordials to our faint and and timorous Spirits in all the plunges of trouble both from within and from without In the Covenant God makes over himself to his people to be unto them a God Ier. 31. 33. Heb. 8. 10. Wherein the Lord bestows himself in all his Glorious Essential properties upon us to the end that whatsoever his Almighty power Infinite wisdom and Incomprehensible mercy can afford for our protection support deliverance direction pardon or refreshment we might be assured shall be faithfully performed to us in all the straits fears and exigencies of our lives This God expects we should improve by Faith as the most sovereign antidote against all our Fears in this world Isaiah 43. 1 2. Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. Isai. 41. 10. Fear not for I am with thee be not dismaied for I am thy God And if thou Reader be within the bond of this Covenant thou mayest surely find enough there to quiet thy heart whatever the matter or ground of thy fears be If God be thy Covenant God he will be with thee in all thy streights wants and troubles he will never leave nor forsake thee From the Covenant it was that David encouraged himself against all his troubles 2. Sam. 23. 5. Although my house be not so with God yet hath he made with me an everlasting Covenant well ordered in all things and sure and this is all my salvation and all my desire though he make it not to grow He could fetch all reliefs all comforts all salvations out of it and why cannot we He desired no more for the support of his heart this is all my desire and sure if we understood and believed it as he did we could desire no more to quiet and comfort our hearts than what this Covenant affords us For 1. Are we afraid what our enemies will do We know we are in the midst of Potent Politick and enraged enemies we have heard what they have done and see what they are preparing to do again we tremble to think what bloudy Tragedies are like to be acted over again in the World by their cruel hands But O what heroick and noble acts of Faith should the Covenant of thy God enable thee to exert amidst all these fears If God be thy God then thou hast an Almighty God on thy side and that is enough to extinguish all these Fears Psal. 118. 6. The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do unto me Your fears come in the name of man but your help in the name of the Lord Let them plot threaten yea and smite too God is a shield to all that fear him and if God be for us who can be against us 2. Are we afraid what God will do Fear it not your God will do nothing against your good think not that he may forget you it cannot be sooner may a tender mother forget her sucking child Isai. 49. 15. no no He withdraweth not his eye from the Righteous Iob 36. 7. His eyes are continually upon all the dangers and wants of your Souls and Bodies there is not a danger or an enemy stirring against you but his eye is upon it 2 Chron. 16. 9. Are you afraid he will forsake and cast you off 'T is true your sins have deserved he should do so but he hath secured you fully against that fear in his Covenant Ier. 32. 40. I will not turn away from them to do them good All your fears of Gods forgetting or forsaking you spring out of your ignorance of the Covenant 3. Are you afraid what you shall do 'T is usual for the people of God to propose difficult cases to themselves and put startling questions to their own hearts and there may be an excellent use of them to rouze them out of security put them upon the search and tryal of their conditions and estates and make preparation for the worst but Satan usually improves it to a quite contrary end to deject affright and discourage them O if fiery trials should come if my liberty and life come once to be toucht in earnest I fear I shall never have strength to go on a step farther in the way of Religion I am afraid I shall faint in the first encounter I shall deny the words of the Holy One make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience in the first gust of temptation I can hear and pray and profess but I doubt I cannot burn or bleed or lie in a dungeon for Christ. If I can scarce run with footmen in the land of peace how do I think to contend with Horses in the swellings of Iordan But yet all these are but groundless fears either forged in thy own misgiving heart or secretly shuffled by Satan into it for God hath abundantly secured thee against fear in this very particular by that most sweet supporting and blessed promise annexed to the former in the same Text Ier. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their hearts and that they shall not depart from me Here is another kind of Fear than that which so startles thee promised to be put into thy heart not a fear to shake and undermine thy assurance as this doth but to
communicate to his people 4. Rule If ever you will subdue your own slavish fears Commit your selves and all that is yours into the hands of God by Faith This Rule is fully confirmed by that Scripture Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established The greatest part of our trouble and burden in times of danger arises from the unsetledness and distraction of our own thoughts and the way to calm and quiet our thoughts is to commit all to God This Rule is to be applied for this end and purpose when we are going to meet Death it self and that in all its terrible formalities and most frightful appearances 1 Pet. 4. 19. Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator And if this committing act of Faith be so useful at such a time when the thoughts must be supposed to be in the greatest hurry and fears in their full strength much more will it establish the heart and calm its passions in lesser troubles you know what ease and relief it would be to you if you had a Trial depending in Law for your Estates and your hearts were overloaded and distracted with cares and fears about the issue of it If one whom you know to be very skilful and faithful should say to you at such a time trouble not your self any further â—bout this business never break an hours sleep more for this matter be you as an unconcerned Spectator commit it to me and trust me with the management of it I will make it my own concernment and save you harmless O what a burden what an heavy load would you feel yâ—â—r selves eased of assoon as you had thus transferred and committed it to such a hand then you would be able to eat with pleasure and sleep in quietness Much more ease and quietness doth your committing the matter of your fears to God give even so much more as his power wisdom and faithfulness is greater than what is to be found in men But to make this Rule practicable and improveable to peace quietness of heart in an evil day it will be necessary that you well understand 1. What the committing act of Faith is 2. What grounds and encouragements Believers have for it 1. Study well the nature of this committing act of Faith and what it supposes or implies in it for all men cannot commit themselves to God 't is his own people only that can do it nor is it every thing they can commit to God they cannot commit themselves to his care and protection in any way but only in his own ways Know more particularly 1. That he who will commit himself to God must commit himself to him in well doing as the Apostle limits it in 1 Pet. 4. 19. and in things agreeable to his will else we would make God a Patron and Protector of our sins Let tâ—â—m that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing We cannot commit our sins but our duties to Gods protection God is so great a friend to truth and righteousness that in such a case he will not take your part how dear soever you be to him if truth be found on your enemies part and the mistake on yours Think not to entitle God to your errors or failings much less to any sinful designs You may commit a doubtful case to him to be decided but not a sinful case to be protected It is in vain to shelter any cause of your own under his wings except you can write upon it as David did Psal. 74. 22. Thine own cause O Lord thine own as well as mine Lord plead thine own cause 2. He that commits his all to God supposes and firmly believes that all events and issues of things are in Gods hands that he only can direct over rule and order them all as he pleaseth Upon this supposition the committing acts of Faith in all our fears and distresses are built I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God my times are in thy hand deliver me from the hands of my enemies and from them that persecute me His firm assent to this great truth that his times were in Gods hands was the reason why he committed himself into that hand If our times ourlives or comforts were in our enemies hands it were to little purpose for us to commit our selves into Gods hands And here the contrary sences and methods of Faith and unbelief are as conspicuous as in any one thing whatsoever Unbelief perswades men that their lives and all that is dear to them is in the hands of their enemies and therefore perswades them the best way they can take to secure themselves is by complyance with the will of their enemies and pleasing them But Faith determines quite contrary it tells us we and all that is ours is in Gods hand and no enemy can touch us or ours till he give them a permission and therefore it is our duty and interest to please him and commit all to him 3. The committing of our selves to God implies the resignation of our wills to the will of God to be disposed of as seems good in his eyes So David commits to God the event of that sad and doubtful providence which made him flie for his life from a strong conspiracy 2 Sam. 15. 25. And the King said unto Zadock Carry back the Ark of God into the City if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good to him q. d. Lord the conspiracy against my life is strong the danger great the issue exceeding doubtful but I commit it all into thy hand if David may yet be used in any further service for his God I shall see this City and thy lovely Temple again but if not I lie at thy foot to be disposed either for life or death for the earthly or the heavenly Ierusalem as seemeth best in thine eyes This submission to Divine pleasure is included in the committing act of Faith Christian what sayest thou to it Is thy will content to go back that the will of God may come on and take place of it It may be thou canst refer a difficult case to God provided that he will determine and issue it according â—o thy desires but in truth that is no submission or resignation at all but a sinful limiting of and prescribing to God It was an excellent reply that a choice Christian once made to another when a beloved and only Child lay in a dangerous sickness at the point of death a friend asked the mother what would you now desire of God in reference to your Child Would you beg of him its life or
as the fears of such a misery awaken you to prayer for the prevention of it it may be serviceable to your souls but when it only works distraction and despondency of mind it is your sin and Satans snare The Prophet Ieremy made a good use of such a supposed evil by way of deprecation Ier. 17. 17. Be not a terror unto me thou art my hope in the day of evil q. d. In the evil day I have no place of retreat or refuge but thy love and favour Lord that is all I have to depend on and relieve my self by I comfort my self against trouble with this confidence that if men be cruel yet thou wilt be kind if they frown thou wilt smile if the world cast me out thou wilt take me in but if thou shouldest be a terror to me instead of a comforter if they afflict my body and thou affright my soul with thy frowns too what a deplorable condition shall I be in then Improve it to such an end as he did to secure the favour of God and it will do you no harm 2. It is not usual with God to estrange himself from his people in trouble nor to frown upon them when men do The common experience of Believers stands ready to attest and seal this truth that Christians never find more kindness from God than when they feel most cruelty from men for his sake consult the whole cloud of witnesses and you will find they have still found the undoubted verity of that tried word in 1 Pet. 4. 14. That the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon sufferers The expression seems to allude to the Dove that Noah sent forth out of the Ark which flew over the watry world but could not rest self any where till she returned to the Ark. So the Spirit of God called here the Spirit of Glory from his effects and fruits viz. his chearing sealing and reviving influences which makes men glory and triumph in the most afflicted state This spirit of God seems like that Dove to hover up and down to flee hither and thither over this person and that but resteth not so long upon any as those that suffer for righteousness sake there he commonly takes up his abode and residence 3. And what if it should fall out in some respect according to your fears that heaven and earth should be both clouded together yet it will not be long before the pleasant light will spring up to you again Psal. 112. 4. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness You shall have his supporting presence till the comforter do come When Mr. Glover came within sight of the stake he suddenly cries out O Austin he is come he is come 6. Plea O but what if my trial should be long and the siege of temptations tedious then I am perswaded I am lost I am no way able to continue long in a Prison or in tortures for Christ I have no strength to endure a long siege my patience is too short to hold out from month to month and from year to year as many have done O! I dread the thoughts of long continued trials I tremble to think what must be the issue Answer 1. Cannot you distrust your own strength and ability but you must also limit Gods What if you have but a small stock of Patience cannot the Lord strengthen you with all might in the inner man unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness according to his glorious power 1 Coll. 11. And is it not his promise to confirm you to the end 1 Cor. 1. 8. You neither know how much nor how long you can bear and suffer It is not inherent but assisting grace by which your suffering abilities are to be measured God can make that little stock of patience you have to hold out as the poor Widows cruise of oyl did till deliverance come he can enable your patience unto its perfect work i. e. to work as extensively to all the kinds and sorts of trials as intensively to the highest degree of trial and as protensively to the longest duration and continuance of your trials as he would have it If this be a marvellous thing in your eyes must it be so in Gods eyes also 2. The Lord knows the proper season to come in to the relief of your slideing and fainting patience and will assuredly come in accordingly in that season for so run the promises The Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and that there is none shut up or left Deut. 32. 36. Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses In the mount of difficulties and extremities it shall be seen The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the Righteous lest the Righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity Psal. 125. 3. Ubi desinit humanum ibi incipit divinum auxilium Gods power watches the opportunity of your weakness 7. Plea But what if I should be put to cruel and exquisite tortures suppose to the rack to the fire or such most dreadful sufferings as other Christians have been what shall I do do I think I am able to bear it Is my strength the strength of stone or are my bones brass that ever I should endure such barbabarous cruelties Alas death in the mildest form is terrible to me how terrible then must such a death be Answer Who enabled those Christians you mention to endure these things They loved their lives and sensed their pains as well as you they had the same thoughts and fears many of them that you now have yet God carried them through all and so he can you Did not he make the devouring Flames a bed of Roses to some of them Was he not within the fires Did he not abate the exâ—remity of the torment and enable weak and tender persons to endure them patiently and chearfully some singing in the midst of flames others clapping their hands triumphantly and to the last sight that could be had of them in this world nothing appeared but signs and demonstrations of joy unspeakable Ah friends we judge of sufferings by the outside and appearance which is terrible but we know not the inside of sufferings which is exceeding comfortable O when shall we have done with our unbelieving ifs and buts our questionings and doubtings of the power wisdom and render care of our God over us and learn to trust him over all Now the just shall live by faith and he that lives by faith shall never die by fear The more you trust God the less you will torment your selves I have done the Lord strengthen stablish and settle the trembling and feeble hearts of his people by what hath been so seasonably offered for their relief by a weak hand Amen THE END THE RIGHTEOVS MAN'S REFUGE IN THE Evil Day OR A Treatise upon the Attributes of GOD as they are opened in his Promises and Providences
should all that fear God be affected with the appearances and signs of his indignation So was David Psal. 119. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments He that feared not a Bear a Lyon a Goliah yet trembleth at Gods judgments So did Habakkuk chap. 3. v. 16. When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entred into my bones Expressions denoting the deepest seizures of fear and greatest consternations not that I would perswade you to such slavish fear or unchristian dejection as it is not only sinful in it self but the cause and inlet of many other sins But to a due sense both of the evils of misery that will befal the Nation when Gods indignation comes upon it and the evils of sin that have incensed it and to such a fear of both as may seasonably awaken us to the use of all preventing remedies And first 1. O that all would lay to heart the National miseries that Gods indignation threatens upon us It is said Psal. 107. 34. A fruitful land is turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein It was long since told England by one of its faithful watchmen The Nation and Church in which we are is the common Ship in which we are all embarked and if this in judgment be cast away whether dashed against the rocks of any Foreign power or swallowed up in the quick-sands of Domestick divisions it must needs hazard all the Passengers Or if you were sure that for your parts you might be safe would it not be a bitter thing to stand upon the shore and see such a glorious vessel as this Nation is to be cast away To see this glorious Land defaced the blessed Gospel polluted the golden candlestick removed it cannot but affect men that have any bowels Or if this move you not yet to see a stranger to Lord it in thy habitation and thy dwelling place to cast thee out for your delightsome dwellings your fruitful pleasant and well tilled fields to be made a prey for you to sow and another to reap Impius has segetes for the delicate woman upon whom the wind must not blow to be exposed to the lust and cruelty of an enemy and be glad to fly away naked to prolong a miserable life which they would be glad to part with for death were it not for fear of the exchange For the tender Mother to look upon the Child of her womb and consider must this child in whom I have placed the hope of my age for Omnis in Ascanio stat chari cura parentis He that hath been so tenderly bred up must he fall into the rough hands of a bloudy Souldier skilful to destroy It had been well for me if God had given me dry breasts or a miscarrying womb rathan to bring forth children unto murtherers or if you might be safe how could you endure to see the miseries that should come upon your people and the destruction of your kindred Thus far he But alass What security have any of us as to our earthly comforts from the common calamity We may please our selves as Baruch did Ier 45. 4 5. and dream of exemption but by so much the greater will our distress be when it shall surprise us 2. You that are the people of God ought to be deeply affected with the spiritual miseries that threaten us in the day of Gods indignation do you consider what the removing the Candlestick out of its place is A departing Gospel the going down of the Sun upon the Prophets the loss of your sweet Sabbaths and Gospel Feasts and the gross darkness of Popery to fill the earth O it is hard parting with these things it 's said 1 Sam. 7. 2. when the Ark was removed that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Pity your own Souls and be deeply affected with the misery of others the poor Christless world who are like to perish for want of Vision Prov. 29. 18. In the Year 1072 saith Matthew Parâ—s Preaching was suppressed at Rome and then Letters were framed by some as coming from hell in which the Devil gives them thanks for the multitude of Souls sent to him that year 3. But especially labour to affect your hearts with the sins that have incensed Gods indignation So did the Saints in Ierusalem Ezek. 9. 4. they sighed and mourned for all the abominations committed in it So did Lot 2 Pet. 2. 7. He vexed his righteous soul from day to day So did David Psal. 119. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men kept not thy law O who that loves God can refrain tears to see the God of pity the God of tender mercies a father full of bowels of compassion so incensed and provoked to indignation Oh it is an heart-melting consideration where there is any ingenuity If our afflictions grieve God to the heart as it doth Iudg. 10. 16. Our souls should be grieved for his dishonour 4. To conclude get upon your hearts such a sense of Gods indignation as may quicken you to the use of preventing duties So Amos 4. 12. Because I will do this prepare to meet thy God O Israel So the Prophet Zeph. 2. 1 2. Gather your selves together before the decree bring forth It was Moses his honour to stand in the breach Psal. 106. 23. And Abrabam's to plead so with God though he did not prevail CHAP. IV. Confirming the third Proposition viz. That God hath a special and peculiar care of his own in the days of his indignation SECT I. PRopriety and Relation engages Care and Solicitude in times of Danger we see God hath put such a Storge and inclination into the very creatures that they will expose themselves to preserve their young and it cannot be imagined that the fountain of Pity which dropt this tenderness into the bowels of the creatures should not abound with it himself is there such strong inclination in the very birds of the air that they will hazard their own lives to save their young â— much more is God solicitous for his people Isa. 31. 5. As birds flying c. to their nests when their young are in danger So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem No mother is more solicitous for her dearest Child in danger and distress than the Lord is for his people Isa. 49. 15. Can a Woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee A woman the more affectionate Sex forget her child a piece of her self her sucking child which together with milk from the breast draws love from the heart This may rather be supposed than that the Lord should forget his people Two things must here be cleared 1. That it is so 2. Why it is so 1. That it is so will appear from 1. Scripture Emblems 2. Scripture Promises 3.
all the people of God to his particular care It was one of the last expressions of Christ love to them at the parting hour Ioâ— 17. 11. And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me q. d. While I have been personally present with them I took the same care of them as a Shepheard doth of his Flock or a tender Father of his Children But now I must leave them in the world and in the midst of a world of dangers fears and troubles against which they can make no provision or defence themselves Father remember them look after them when I shall be removed from them they are thine as well as mine and I recommend them with my last breath to thy care and protection This is a special ground also of Gods care for them 5. Believers dayly cast themselves upon the care of God and resign themselves unto it in their dayly Prayers And by their often renewed acts of Faith than which no act is found more engaging from the creature upon its God though there be nothing of merit yet there is much of engaging efficacy in it Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee We find it so among our selves the more firmly and entirely any one trusteth to us and dependeth upon us the more he engageth us to protect or relieve him Now this is the dayly work of Christians to trust God over all and put all their concernments into his hand which very trust and dependance draws forth the care of God for them 6. In a word the many promises God hath made to his people to preserve support and supply them in all the times of need engageth the câ—re of God for them as often as such wants or dangers befal them for indeed herein he at once takes care for their necessity and for his own honour and glory They trust to his word and rely upon his promises which therefore he will be careful to make good This was the argument which the Church pleaded in the time of eminent danger to engage the care of God for them Psal. 74. 20. Havs respect unto the Covenant for the dark places of the Earth are full of the habitations of cruelty q. d. O Lord thy people are in the midst of cruel enemies take care for their protection and though there be no worth in them to which thou shouldest have respect yet have respect unto thine own Covenant let the glory of thy Name draw forth thy care to thy People SECT II. WE have seen the grounds and reasons of Gods care over his people let us next view the extent and compass of this Divine care and here methinks the Lord saith to his people as he said to Abraham Gen. 13. 14 15. Lift up now thine eyes from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever So here poor timorous dejected Believer lift up thine eyes from the place where thou art and take a view of all the promises in the Scriptures of truth promises of supports under all burthens supplies of all wants deliverances out of all dangers assistances in all distresses to thee have I given them all as a portion for ever This care of God walks the round and encompasseth the Souls and Bodies of them that fear him day and night There is no interest or concern of either found without the line of his all-surrounding Care and every one of his children are enfolded in his Fatherly arms Deut. 33. 3. All his Saints are in thy hand All and every one of their wants and streights are observed by this Care in order to their supply Phil. 4. 19. My God shall supply all your wants 1. Great is the Care of God over the Bodies of his people and all the dangers and necessities of them as they daily grow your meat and drink are daily provided for you by your Fathers Care Psal. 111. 5. He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant It is from this Care of thy Heavenly Father that necessary provisions have been made for thee of which it may be thou hast had no foresight This is the God that hath fed thee all thy life long Gen. 48. 15. It is from the same care thy body hath been cloathed Matth. 6. 28. How much more shall he cloath you O ye of little faith It is through this Care you sleep in peace and your rest is made sweet unto you Prov. 3. 24. When thou lyest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet In a word thou owest all thy recoveries from dangerous diseases and narrow escapes from the grave to this Care of thy God over thee He is the Lord that healâ—th thee Exod. 15. 26. That the incensed humours of thy body had not overflowed their banks like an inundation of the Sea when they raged in thy dangerous diseases is only because thy God took the care of thee and set them their bounds 2. Divine Care extends it self to the Souls of all that fear God and to all the concernments of their Souls and manifestly discovers it self in all the gracious provisions it hath made for them More particularly it is from this tender Fatherly care that 1. A Saviour was provided to redeem them when they were ruined and lost by sin Ioh. 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. 2. That Spiritual cordials are provided to refresh them in all their sinking sorrows and inward distresses Psal. 94. 19. 3. That a door of deliverance is opened to them when they are sorely pressed upon by temptations and ready to be overwhelmed 1 Cor. 10. 13. 4. That a strength above their own comes in seasonably to support them when they are almost overweighed with inward troubles when great weights are upon them the everlasting arms are underneath them Psal. 138. 3. Isa. 57. 16. 5. That their ruine is prevented when they are upon the dangerous and flippery brink of temptations and their feet almost gone Psal. 73. 12. Hos. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 12. 7. 6. That they are recovered again after dangerous falls by sin and not left as a prey and Trophy to their enemy Hos. 144. 7. That they are guided and directed in the right way when they are at a loss and know not what course to take Psal. 16. 11. Psal. 73. 24. 8. That they are established and confirmed in Christ in the most shaking and overturning times of trouble and persecution so that neither their heart tâ—â—neth back nor their steps decline from his ways Ier. 32. 40. Ioh. 4. 14. 9. That they are upheld under Spiritual desertions and recovered again out of that dismal darkness into the
as for gold they shall not delight in it Isa. 13. 17. Riches profit not in the day of wrath Prov. 11. 4. Iob blessed God in the day of his adversity that he had not made Gold his Hope or the fine Gold his Confidence Iob 31. 24. Bless not thou thy self that thou hast such things to bestow thy hope and trust upon Others make Men their Refuge especially great and powerful Men but to how little purpose is it Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help Psal. 146. 3 4. They cannot keep their Crowns upon their Heads no nor their Heads upon their Shoulders the greatest Men are but Dust and what can Dust do to Dust Three things aggravate their misery who misplace their Confidence by bestowing it on any Creature 1. That Creature will certainly deceive them men are deceitful men Psal. 62. 9. Riches are deceitful riches 1 Tim. 6. 17. Every thing you lean on beside God will start aside like a deceitful bow Psal. 78. 57. 2. The disappointment of your hopes from the creature will enflame your affliction and greatly aggravate your sorrow 2 King 18. 21. The broken reeds of Egypt will not only fail but pierce you 3. In a word God will take none into his protection who make any thing besides himself their hope and confidence if we fly from God to the creature God will say to the creature thou shalt go except I have thy dependence thou shalt never have my protection where I have no honour thou shalt have no comfort 4. Consect Fourthly The former discourse yields us also this comfortable conclusion That what ever confusions desolations and troubles be in the earth the Church and People of God can never be wholly exterminated and destroyed seeing such a secure refuge is prepared for them of God Psal. 102. 28. The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee Which is assigned as the true reason of its perpetuity and safety Psal. 48. 3. God is known in her palaces for a refuge The Church's Enemies have tried the utmost of their policies and powers in all Ages against it but to no purpose whilest they have been plotting and persecuting the preserved Remnant have been singing their Song upon Alamoth even praises to their great preserver though they have no external visible defence yet are they as safe as salvation it self can make them for salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks Isa. 26. 1 2. Four things are exceeding remarkable in the Churches preservation 1. No people were ever so fiercely opposed by the powers of this world The Kings of the earth have set themselves and the Rulers have taken counsel together Psal. 2. 2. All methods and artifices have been tryed sometimes to jeer and scoff them out of the Religion so did the Apostate Iulian and sometimes by cruel tortures to affright them from their Religion the variety and more than barbarous inhumanity whereof the Church Histories give us a sad and amazing account 2. Under these cruel Persecutions they have seemed to be utterly lost to the eye of sence and reason I am left alone said Elijah and they seek my life 1 King 19. 10. By whom Lord shall Jacob arise said Amos for he is very small Amos 7. 2. 3. Notwithstanding all which the Church hath overlived all its dangers it is the true Phoenix which hath outlived the Deluge 4. Such deliverances are proper and peculiar to the Church alone no people besides the people of God have such salvations upon record The great and famous Monarchies of the world have dashed one another to pieces like earthen Potsheards Sic Medus ademit Assyrio syroque tulit moderamina Perses And all this by vertue of that promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make afull end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee â— 5. Consect Fifthly to conclude If this be so then it is a deep and dangerous policy of Satan to shut up our refuge in God against us as much as may be in times of trouble Satan like a cunning Fowler despairs of getting the birds in his net except he can beat them out of their coverts it is therefore his great Design to estrange and alienate the Saints from their God as much as he can thereby to cut off their retreat to him in times of trouble a mischief which the people of God have always vehemently deprecated Psal. 102. 2. Ier. 17. 17. And O that we would be ware of it and shun this mischief by our seasonable preventing watchfulness There are among others Three special Projects of Satan whereby he manages this mischievous design against the people of God 1. By drawing their Consciences under guilt on purpose to destroy the liberty freedom and child-like confidence of their souls in their addresses to God This if any thing in the world will do it Iob 11. 14 15. What a loss will that poor soul be at in times of trouble whose grumbling and condemning conscience will not suffer him to look up chearfully and believingly in the face of its God and Father having lost its ancient freedom at the throne of grace 2. By prevailing with them to neglect and intermit the course of their daily duties and thereby to let down their communion with God and in a great measure lose their acquaintance with him This is a dangerous policy of the Devil and an unspeakable prejudice to the soul Oh Christian take heed of a lazy sloathful spirit or a vain and earthly heart which will easily suffer the duties of Religion to be jostled aside and put by for every trivial occasion especially beware of slight formal superficial and dead-hearted performances of duty which is little better than the intermission of them it may indeed prevent the scandal but can never give thee the comfort of Religion 3. By beclouding their interest in God and darkening their titles and evidences by thick clouds of doubts and fears This is the sad case of many a poor Christian in a day of trouble with out-fightings with in-fears Brethren I beseech you think often what those things are which usually put men into such frights and streights when eminent dangers stare them in the face what it is that daunts and damps the hearts of Christians at such times and as you value the peace and freedom of your souls with God give not matter for your consciences to reproach you with mis-spent time indulged sins neglected duties formality or hypocrisie in duties sinister and by-ends in your transactions with God or man preserve the purity and peace of your consciences as you would preserve your two eyes if by such wiles the Devil cannot bar you from your God or shut up your refuge in him your outward troubles can do you no hurt SECT II. The Second Vse Of
shew it self in distracting cares and fears about events which will rack the mind with various and endless tortures 2. Caution Beware of dejection and despondency of mind in evil times take heed of a poor low spirit that will presently sink and give up its hopes upon every appearance and face of trouble it is a promise made unto the righteous Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixes trusting in the Lord. The trusting of God fixes the heart and the fixing of the heart fortifies it against Fear but I know what many poor Christians will say in this case their timorousness and despondency arises not so much from the greatness of outward evils as from the darkness and doubtfulness of their Spiritual and inward condition which doubtless in the very truth of the case which brings me to the last use of this point Vse the Third Search and examine your hearts Christians whether those graces and qualifications to which God hath promised protection in evil times may not be found upon an impartial search in your hearts amongst which I will single out three principal ones as the proper matters of your self examination viz. 1. Uprightness of Heart and Way 2. Humiliation for your own and others sins 3. Righteousness in doing and meekness in suffering the Will of God 1. Uprightness and Integrity of heart and way To this qualification belong many sweet promises of protection such is that Prov. 2. 7. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly Psal. 7. 10. My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart If your hearts be true to God these promises shall be truly performed to you but beware you deceive not your selves in so great a point as this is thy heart cannot be an upright heart except 1. it be a renewed heart the Natural heart is always a false heart 't is only regeneration that gives the heart a right temper and frame all the duties and labours in the world can never keep that heart right in its course which is not first set right for God by a principle of renovation 2. We cannot judge our selves upright except uprightness be the setled frame and standing bent of our hearts Psal. 119. 112 117. It is not our integrity in one or two single actions but in the general course and complex frame of our lives and ways that will prove our integrity to God 3. Then may we reckon our selves upright when the dread and awe of God's all-seeing eye keeps our hearts and steps from turning aside to iniquity Gen. 39. 9. 2 Cor. 2. 17. That 's a sincere and upright heart indeed that finds it self at all times and in all places overawed from sin by the eye of God upon him 4. That man's heart also is upright with God who purely aims at and designs the glory of God as the scope and end of his life and actions who lives not to himself neither acts ultimately and principally for himself but lives to God as a person dedicated and devoted to him Rom. 14. 7. 5. That heart also is upright with God which governs it self and its ways by the directions and rules of the Word Psal. 119. 11 24 133. Happy is that soul that finds such evidences of integrity in it self when it is brought to the trial of it at the Bar of the Word Heb. 4. 12. At the bar of conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. at the bar of afflictions Psal. 119. 87. and at the bar of strong temptations Gen. 39. 9. The eyes of the Lord shall run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of such whose hearts are thus perfect towards him 2. Another gracious qualification intitling the soul to God's special protection in the worst and most dangerous times is the true humiliation for our own and other mens sins Go set a mark saith God upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof Ezek. 9. 4. These that thus mourn when others laugh shall laugh when others mourn Lot was the only mourner in Sodom and he was the only person exempted from destruction in the ruine and overthrow thereof 2 Pet. 2. 7. That 's a sweet and blessed priviledge mentioned in Isa. 66. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the â—reasts of her consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Be contented Christians to bear your part in Sions groans and sorrows you may live to bear your part in her triumphs and songs of deliverance it is an argument of the true publickness and tenderness of your spirits for present and as sweet a sign as can appear upon your souls That you are reserved for better days 3. Righteousness in doing and meekness in suffering the will of God is another mark or note distinguishing and describing those persons whom God will preserve in the evil day You have both these together in Zeph. 2. 3. Seek ye the Lord all ye the meek of the earth which have wrought his judgments seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their Prayers 1 Pet. 3. 12. If righteousness bring you into danger the righteous God will take care of you in that danger and bring you out of it O 't is a singular comfort when a man can say it was not my sin but my duty that brought me into trouble this affliction met me in the path and way of my duty 't is for thy sake O Lord that I am in trouble as the Martyr that held up the Bible at the stake saying This hath brought me hither To conclude Manage all your Sufferings for Christ with Christian meekness as righteousness must bring you into them so meekness must carry you through them if you avenge your selves you take the cause out of God's hand into your own but the meek Christian leaves it to the Lord and shall never have cause to repent of his so doing If thou have an upright heart with God a tender and mournful heart for sin and thou suffer with meekness for righteousness sake thou art one of these souls to whom that sweet Voice is directed in my Text Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be over-past FINIS Mr. Flavell's Two Treatises 1. A Teatise of Fear 2. The Righteous Man's Refuge Psal. 46. Hos. 5. 13. Asyli loco Praestabit vos inaccessos inviolabiles ab his regibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fugio perfect med 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 timor