presently believe and draw refreshment against all thy fears And for that end the Lord affords us his special presence which speaks not the least of terror but only comfort and consolation And as Christ saith Joh. 14. 19. so saith the Father by this Text My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Not as the world giveth which are ready to grumble and to take it away again but saith v. 18. that it may abide with you for ever And why should your hearts be troubled or afraid I am with you saith the Father and my promise is for thee at the present and see believing souls that you approve it There are three special times of fears but this special presence of God to every believing soul will answer all 1. The hour of Temptation is a time of fear when the soul is as a bird insnared by the fowler but then God by his special presence makes way for the soul to escape so that though the Tempter tempt never so craftily yet God hath so promised to succour and relieve the soul that the soul gets cost and by being thus try'd hath this crown set upon the head of it Jam. 1. 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life A wicked man way-lays Satan as well as Satan way-lays him and being dead in trespasses and sins he is not capable what Temptation means and therefore is it 2 Tim. 2. 20. said the Devil takes them captive at his will But now Gods child he finds it to go very hard sometimes with him through temptation and he wrestles tugs and toyls which is a clear sign by his complainings that his soul is capable But fear not holy soul this Job 5. 19. is the hour God will be seen in the Mount and make way for thee to escape out of six and seven troubles Yea when thou art thus try'd thou shalt be crowned hereafter with glory and life and for the present by Gods special presence thou art pronounced blessed for Blessed is the soul that endures c. Jam. 1. 12. 2. As the hour of temptation so the hour of death this is called the King of fears and may truly be so to an unbeliever But fear not thou their fear for God is with us in this hour And though thou thinkest death to be an enemy to thee and a hard passage for thee to dispute yet if thou believest nothing too hard for God then fear thou not this hour of fear for by this special presence God being with thee thou hast no less then the right hand of the Lords righteousness and this delivers thee from death Pro. 10. 2. which is but a parallel to the Text to let us know we should not fear this hour of fear for God being with us we have the right hand of his righteousness And though treasures of gold and silver will not for that will profit nothing in that day and therefore wicked men may fear but fear not thou God is with thee and righteousness delivers from death 3. Being thus delivered from death there is no fear to thee to come to Judgment which is and will be a time of fearful fear Pro. 13. 21. to all wicked men Ah but to a child of God this is no time of fear but of everlasting refreshment Wicked men in their life time have the powerful presence of God their conscience bearing of them witness that they thus were always in his presence and they could not flie it as David Ps 139. 7. speaks but this is their misery they gave no regard to it And therefore Death and Judgment are times of fear because they have Gods fearful presence Christ appears to them as a fearful Judge and as an Avenger of all those injuries offered to him his Cause and Saints And this is the cause why they call to the rocks and mountains to fall upon them it is to hide them from the presence of the Lord Whereas Rev. 6. 16. the child of God hath the Judge his friend and Christ his Advocate and nothing is brought in against him but he himself is brought in with shouts and with welcome love and kindness And therefore believing soul since Gods special presence will own you at that great day of fears and tremblings Mat. 25. 34. saying Come ye blessed come my children come my servants See that you own this special presence now when God is with you and bids you Fear not yea and is so earnest you should believe him Be couragious doubting soul by answering Gods kindenesse saying Come Lord Jesus come quickly Lastly It may be objected Am not I Obj. bid to fear the Lord yea and is it not a Scripture precious qualification yea and that for Saints Psal 34. 9. O fear the Lord all ye his Saints and so likewise Prov. 14. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life and the Text saith Fear not How standeth these Scriptures and such like against this expresse Prohibition I Answer The Scripture is very plentiful A double fear in scripture a slavish and a filial in a double fear A slavish or a distrustful fear a filial or a depending fear a fear as a Passion and fear as a Grace or a gracious fear The first of these is that of our Saviours warning unto his Disciples Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell But now a gracious fear is that of the Prophet Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their hearts Wicked men are often upon this slavish fear and therefore the childe of God is called to fear not their fear Gods children must not have such doubts Prov. 29. 25. and fears and dismayings but rather flie such fears for Gods special presence about believers is perfect love And perfect love casts out fear 1 Iohn 4. 18. perfect love it may take in filial fear but not the least of slavish or distrustful fear And therefore doubting Christian take heed Me thinks I hear thy sighs and see thy tears Let not thy tears be tears of distrust or fearful sorrowing for God is with thee by his special presence forbiding any such tears or sorrows And if tears will needs flow let them be tears of kindnesse let them be like Mary's not onely Luke 7. 37 38. tears of contrition but tears of compassion if thou wilt bedew Christs feet with tears wipe them with the hairs of thy head and kisse them to let all flow from constrained love in the consideration of this special presence that God is with thee Know therefore as thou art a Believer all thy fears should be filial more for love then want and all thy tears should be joyful more from comfort then grief No men laugh louder then wicked men but this is
clearest Spectacle So Heaven it is a great volume but to every believing soul it is contracted into a very small print so that though the Creature put on the choisest Spectacle of Reason he cannot read a word and the Christian though he hath on the Spectacle of Reason and that which is suited to the Print which is Grace yet he can read but darkly yet read he can but 't is obscurely with ifs and ands fears and doubtings And what 's the reason Because he looks through an infirm medium But now put but off or rather put but on the Spectacle of Glory and then we shall see face to face know as we are known Yea and the sum of this the Apostle speaks in that 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a glass darkly but then when the eye of faith is opened to fruition we shall see face to face c. CHAP. IV. The second Excellencie The Lords presence proclaims comfort And what will not this do against fears and dismayings SEcondly Although the fearing soul The Lords presence speaketh comfort to believers against fears and dismayings doth not see this special presence so beautiful and so full of splendor yet know that for the answering of all thy fears and dismayings it shines forth abundance of comfort And thus I charge all you that are the beloved of Gods soul to make use of it for thus God is present with you on purpose to administer comfort to you by his Spirit which Spirit is no less then Gal. 5. 22. love and joy and consolation And what will not this administer against all fears and dismayings 1. First what will not the love of God Gods love is in his presence administer Canst thou say by experience that earthly things administer comfort and refreshment to thy body and shall not Gods love much more refresh and chear thy fearing soul All earthly comforts are but Wine and Wine may chear the heart as the Psalmist speaks Ps 104. 15. But now the love of Christ is ten thousand times better and the Spouse finds it more sweet Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better then wine Now this love of God is with thee by this special presence And if the love of earthly relations as of Father Husband Wife can administer comfort what will not the love of my heavenly Father and Christ my Husband who hath loved me with an everlasting Jer. 31. 3 love Yea when this love is round about me yea such a love that passeth Eph. 3. 19 2 Cor. 5. 14. knowledge Yea such a love that is about Saints is above Angels a love of an attractive sweetness not straitning but constraining the soul to comfort against all fears and dismayings 2. Though the love of God may administer enough comfort yet in this I am Gods kindness yea loving kindness about Believers with thee there is not only Gods love but Gods kindness yea his loving kindness And what will not the loving kindness of a God answer The kindness of a faithful friend is much but the kindness of a Father that 's more But what is this to the loving kindness of a God David tels you it is better then life Ps 63. 3. Thy loving kindness is better then life And he speaks this when his straits were as great as thine can be He was in a bewildered condition yet the loving kindness of the Lord administred comfort above life And that his loving kindness is round about thee by his special presence mark how familiarly the Lord speaks to thee Fear thou not for I am with thee As if he would lay all in thy lap whereby thou mightst be comforted 3. This special presence brings special This special presence hath in it special mercy to remove fears mercy with it yea God thus proclaims himself altogether a God of mercy In this I am with thee there is not so much as a moment of anger for if he was in any way with the soul but mercy the soul might fear as if he had said I am with thee a God of terror the soul might tremble but there is not the least of terror to affright thee in this my special presence but all mercy love and kindness to stir thee up against terrors and dismayings And therefore mark how the Text opposeth all slavish fears saying I am with thee fear not And as perfect love should cast out slavish fear so should mercy take in only hope and to that soul that hopes in mercy mercy alone is about such a soul without the least of terror yea against all terror and affrighting Therefore fear thou not but be thou comforted and hope in mercy Psal 33. v. 18. 4. This special presence is with thee to It is a full joy for a fearing soul against fears comfort thee as it is a full joy and a full tyde of comfort against all thy sorrowings So that if the question should be To what end the Lord encompasseth the soul with his special presence it is that our joy might be full for in his special presence there is fulness of joy Ps 16. 11. And if we take this fulness only to be in glory why should a night of sorrow so much trouble us for that joy comes in the morning And yet being a Believer thou art not benighted Although the Sun be not in the Meridian or in his highest altitude yet he is risen and shines above the Horizon of fears and doubtings So that to you must be applied that of the Prophet Mal. 4. 2. To you that fear my name that is to the poorest believing soul shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings And what joy must this administer when these wings that overshadow thee are no less then all the saving benefits of Christ Redemption Justification Sanctification yea the entrance into glory And to comfort thee they all encompass thee with healing A precious balm for comfort and refreshment against fears and dismayings So that though the soul flag through fears so that it cannot be upon the wing of prayer unto God as Christ speaks unto his Disciples Joh. 16. 24. Ask that your joy may be full the Father doth as it were prevent the soul that is fainting with fears and brings his wings over the soul saying Though you faint and ask not yet do not doubt but fear not I am with thee and in me there is such a full joy that may comfort thee against all thy sorrowings 5. This special presence of God doth There is in Gods being with believers all support to succor against fears not only administer comfort as it hath love in it and kindness mercy and joy but it hath in it for thy comfort all strength power and support So that grant thou art feeble weak and staggering why yet if thou hast a Stander that which way soever thou reelest thou
madnesse and none weep and sigh oftner then believers but this is gladnesse saith David Psal 126. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Now the seed is of the same kinde with the harvest and a believer bearing precious seed why not his life full of precious comforts And thus much for spiritual fears CHAP. VII Containing something in general against Temporal fears THe next sort of fears that are incident unto Gods children is temporal and they are either Personal Family or National fears I shall say something to each of these 1. In general They that are members of the body of Christ and his Church may easily draw forth this conclusion that if God the Father hath given me his Son and himself by this his special presence to succor me against fears and my spiritual adversaries surely he that hath done the greater he will also do the lesse Davids saying is thine 1 Sam. 17. 37. He that delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear will also deliver me out of the hands of this uncircumcised Philistine So he that hath given me such comfort against my spiritual fear how shall I lack any thing temporal that I stand in need on And this is Pauls conclusion who was and did go through a world of trouble Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own son but gave him up for us all how shall he not as if he wonders that any should make once doubt of it but with him freely give us all things And God our fathar is ingaging himself in the Text upon this very account Thus observe the 11 12 13. Verses where he saith That not onely them that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded but them that make war against thee shall perish let them be men or devils hunger cold or nakednesse let what will be that would break a Believers peace they shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought And if you would know how God will accomplish this he tells thee in the same language in the Text as at the 13. Verse Fear not I the Lord thy God will help thee will uphold thee The Lord saith indeed in the 14. Ver. that the Church and people of God are very apt to have fears and dismayings upon a temporal account as well as on a spiritual and therefore he calls the Church and every believer A worm such a one that is a poor go by the ground that the world is very ready to tread and trample under foot but fear not I am with thee to deliver thee as well from temporal fears as well as from spiritual fears And thus much Christ exhorts his Disciples to in that of John 14. 1. compared with the 2. Verse Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me And this he speaks to succor us in our natural wants as well as against our spiritual fears for whereas the soul may say Jesus Christ is indeed my souls portion and perpetual Psal 73. 26. but for this poor body I know not where I shall abide with it why now mark what Christ saith to such a poor body Fear not for I am with you and I am with you to the end of the world I know you are afraid of hunger and of house-room but let not your hearts be troubled I am Iohn 14. 2. your harbinger and I go to take up eternal mansions for you and it is my fathers will that you should not be troubled for he hath meat and drink enough and houses for you all and none shall take them away from you for my father is resolved to have no other Tenants but you and I am resolved to prepare them for you and you alone therefore let not your hearts be troubled against temporal fears And Secondly a more general text you cannot have as being to believers to remove away fears Luke 1. 74 75. That he would grant unto us that being delivered from the hand of our enemies we might serve him without fear that is slavish fear and that this is Gods grant unto Believers the text is expresse Fear not and that it is to be against temporal fears as well as spiritual Compare the scope of this place with that of Gen. 22. 16. to which this prophesie of Zacharias hath relation And God hath performed the mercies promised unto Abraham yea and also doth perform unto every son of Abraham for we may all say Qui loquutus est juravit which spake unto me and sware Why now believing soul do but add the Saints experience the Lords covenant his promise and this his special presence And if against all our enemies and that he would have us without fear then surely against Temporal fears and dismayings CHAP. VIII Objections answered against Personal fears 1. FOr Personal Objections The believing soul may say to the wanting body My wants increase and misery must needs follow want Blessed be God I have a little Meal in the barrel and a little 1 King 17. 12. Oyl in the cruse some bread to feed me a few rags to clothe me a little fire to warm me but the Father of mercies knows what I shall do a moneth or a week hence Ans Poor heart Take but notice of what thou hast said and thou hast said enough to answer all If thou hast said Father of mercies experimentally and as a Christian And thus the Saints have said before thee and found it true 2 Cor. 1. 3. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort Mark here thou hast a Father of mercies and this Father is a God of comfort and he is so against all your temporal fears for He comforteth us in all our tribulation Not only that we should be encouraged against fears but thou shouldst also succour and support others for so the verse following tels thee 2 Cor. 1. 4. Wicked men are often saying Lord Christ Mercy Faith but they speak at large without any sense of what they say But they that sound Father of mercies faithfully they have bread enough to supply all their wants I may say to such a soul as Sampson said to Dalilah Out of the eater Judg. 14. 14. came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness So out of the Father of mercies thou mayest extract all kind of sweets that thy soul or body stands in need of Sampson speaks it by way of riddle but answer thy soul and body too by way of reality That if a father of children will be pittiful and extend all for their supply what will not my heavenly Father who is a Father of mercies And what will not this supply against all thy fears Thou art hungry feed on mercy and thou shalt be refreshed thou art thirsty suck in mercy thou wilt find supply Christian believe it do but draw forth faith and feed
plentifully on mercy for thou hast in this an eternal maintenance and in such a maintenance there is no room left for temporal fears I would have poor Believers do as Abraham doth Gen. 22. 5. when he went to sacrifice his Son he goes up to the Mount with this God will provide my son So do thou get up into this Mount that is come down to thee even Gods special presence there is a Sacrifice kill'd already it is but for thee to eat and thou shalt be satisfied Thou hast not bread thou hast no provision Ah but hast thou dependance Exercise faith but banish fears When Abraham Gen. 25. 5. goes into the Mount he leaves his servants below Stay you here saith he that is Sense and Reason Doubtings and Dismayings these must be left below So must thou concerning thy fears and faintings leave thy servants below and say to all thy wants God will provide for in the Mount of his special presence he will be seen and Can. 5. 1 there thou shalt be abundantly satisfied if Rivers will quench thy thirst then drink and drink abundantly But thou wilt say This is soul-satisfaction Obj. and it is my bodies fears and wants that so dismayeth me I am brought to a morsel of bread and I have no mony to buy and what shall I do Grant this Believer that thou hast but Ans a morsel of bread yet if thou hast flagons of wine and that thou hast for thou hast saith do but suck the breasts of the Promises and thou hast wine and milk a feast of fat things more then the fatted calf and wine upon the lees for thou hast a Kingly fare for God being with thee thou art in the Kings house yea in the Chamber of presence 'T is true thou art but a waiter not on the throne not crown'd but being in the Kings family thou art to fare deliciously every day Thou fearest hunger and thirst do but think how many full meals David made upon Gods word and promises Psal 119. 103. How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then the honey unto my mouth And so Psal 19. 10. Sweeter then the honey or the honey-comb Christ makes the accomplishment of his Fathers will his meat and drink Joh. 4. 32. God feeds Christians two wayes by Promise or by Providence and the special presence God feeds his people two ways answers both I am with thee is as well to sustain thy body as to save thy soul Gods special presence is a supply two ways to a Believer 1. God doth feed his Children literally giving his Child the thing that it sensitively desireth so far as he sees it convenient Thus the special presence works in the letter of the Promise and thus thy faith is called forth by Christ Mat. 6. 30. speaking to his Disciples If God so clothe the grass of the field will he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith and why take ye thought for raiment The Lilies of the field are but under common providence and you are not only under that but Gods special presence is round about you and why will you fear O ye of little faith And for your comfort take that cardinal promise Ps 34. 8 10. O taste and see the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him And saith v. 9. There is no want to them that fear him that is to such that have faith in him And David seems to speak this out of experience for he had found the Lord making his promise good by feeding on him in his straits and troubles And he makes this promise applicable to the bodies wants as you may clearly see in the 10. v. The young Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any thing The authority of this Scripture gives thee every good if thou be an earnest seeker of the Lord. 2. Know as God makes his promise good literally so he doth it mystically and this by his special presence May the body of a Believer say I was hungry but I am supplied my stomack 's gone and my thirst is quenched and my body is warmed I have been grieved tempted troubled but I know not how I am now at ease I have joy and chear Surely may the soul say I have meat and drink and refreshment and none hath given it me but God by his being with me and mystically hath made his promise good in filling the hungry with good things and Luk. 1. 53. sending the rich empty away A Believers body may say unto a rich mans plenty as Mordecai said to Hester For if thou holdest thy peace at this time deliverance Hest 4. 14. shall come unto me some other way however covetous wretch thou and thy goods shall both perish for God is righteous and hath given thee for such a streight as many poor Creatures are in and thou withholdest from them that that 's due thou and that thou hast will surely perish Thus may the Christians experience say I have been troubled in spirit but I am relieved I have lain under temptation but I am succoured I have many a time gone to bed an hungry I have rise refreshed help hath come in some other way May the believer say I have but these two things to keep me alive Godlinesse and Contentment as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6. 6. but I finde this is enough to answer all my fears it is more then money meat or clothes Godlinesse that is Gods special presence and my faith desires to feed here and this is my contentment Away my fears though I am poor yet I am rich though hungry full thirsty satisfied for special presence and faith is godlinesse and contentment CHAP. IX The Lords Presence answereth Objections against Family fears 2. BUt thou wilt say It doth not so much grieve thee for thy self but Obj. for thy family Says the poor believer I have a great charge and these are hard times and things are dear but labors cheap and I have so many small children and how can I chuse but fear when I nor they have nothing to feed on c. Surely thy condition is to be pitied and Ans yet if thou hast faith often think of that promise God is with thee and saith David Psal 37. 25. I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread Now I know you readily assent unto the first that God doth not forsake the righteous for that is his promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee but for the latter that their seed shall not want that Heb. 13. 5. thou doubts of Let me tell thee God doth make good his word and thou must believe it Shall he say and shall not he perform For he is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10. 23. thou and thine must exercise dependance on his promise 'T is the fault of Christians that would live by bread alone Our
is like the Gaderenes still crying Depart ye professors we desire neither your company nor acquaintance How often is it that the men of the world are not at home though at home but wishing this and that because a childe of God is in his house he thinketh every minute seven till he hath done talking and done companying and however his seemings may be yet inwardly he says Depart I desire not your company nor acquaintance O that I were rid of this same fellow not friend though he be a neighbor or a Town-dweller yet being a professor he will not be familiar But now let this worldling have but one of its worldly brats come in O what stroaking soothing and suckering and shaking of hands and brother and brother and brother in iniquity he hath all the welcome as at house and home but to professors the world is not at home to them nor they unto the world like as strangers cold in acquaintance and cold in entertainment And the like measure from the world and in the world findes Christ himself he had but little acquaintance but fewer friends but cold entertainment from all And as he is so are the Saints in this world 1 John 4. 17. and let not Gods children look for better but if we finde the like let us take up Pauls resolution and say and pray and live but not in the worlds crowns nor crosses but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom or whereby the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world Gal. 6. 14. 2. Saints are strangers on the earth in In regard of their desires regard of their desires True it is they are not in their persons until their change comes but in regard of their affections and spiritual desires before their change Saith Paul Phil. 1. 23. I desire to depart and to be with Christ Heaven is my home and Christ is my habitation yea and however I am here in the body yet I am but as a stranger my affections and desires are with the Lord and that at present while we are in the body we wait till our change comes And what is our desire in the mean while David tells you the Saints and holy souls desire in their present state Psa 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee yea though flesh and heart fail yet my desires faint not but in the midst of all my faintings and failings the Lord is the strength and support of my soul and my everlasting portion Ask a worldling Where is your home and your desires at morning noon night and they must tell you in the world and worldly cares our home and heart is where our treasure is laboring all day and casting at night for the things of this life Our conversation is amongst the creatures this is our home and our desires are not to be removed But now ask a Christian Where is your home alas say they not in the body though I am in the body yet I am absent 2 Cor. 5. 6. from my home my home is with the Lord and my desires are to be at home Judge world as you will of the worth of the soul and the esteem of heaven which is mine and my fathers mansion yet methinks that is the place my conversation is in heaven and at present I cannot but desire home A strangers will say Home is home though never so homely So say Gods children in this world I am as it were out of doors I am but a stranger but yet I am hastening and desiring homeward I have another structure above this poor rabernacle in which my desires are centered and my faith is fixed on a home indeed not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. 3. Saints are strangers not onely in regard 3. In regard of propriety of etertainment acquitance in the world and their desires to be in heaven but also in regard of their propriety of the things of the world though all be theirs yet they count nothing theirs Godliness saith the Apostle is profitable unto all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Christians have a lawful use and propriety of creature-comforts as well as others but they dare not interest in them as do others The Christians are strangers and you know they may not hold and keep as do others but though all be theirs as life and goods death and stripes yea all contentments yea things present are the Saints propriety 1 Cor. 3. 22. yet they count nothing theirs but say to every contentment and comfort as well as every scorn and cross These are ours but in this we fix We are Christs and Christ is Gods The 1 Cor. 3. 23. sum of this is own'd and acted by the Saints as you may see Phil. 3. 8. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I might win Christ comparing this but with the 7. ver and you shall clearly see his propriety Worldly gain was his but he counts it loss for Christ such a stranger and a trampler was the Apostle upon this worlds glory notwithstanding his right in all things And that this was the Saints practice being called unto for Christ mark their usuage from the world Heb. 10. 34. they were companions in bonds but took joyfully the spoiling of their goods there is their propriety but in that they took it joyfully there was their esteem and that in heaven there was better and more durable substance which shews their strangeness to their present possessions as the Apostle speaks as having all things and yet as possessing nothing 2 Cor. 6. 10. and as having nothing and yet possessing all things Seeming contradictions but real truth for a Christian to have all and nothing for Christ yea though all be theirs yet they count nothing theirs As strangers when they come to a friends house though they partake of a friends morsels and that with welcom with freeness and fulness yet they wil tel you though it be all good t is not so kindly They like this and eat that and taste of all but say they One bit at home is better and more sweet then all for I am a stranger notwithstanding all my entertainment one dish or one morsel at home is more kindly and sweet So it is with Christians while in this world they may have all things with welcom from the Lord while in this world and ofttimes they have many kindnesses the Lord spreads a Christians table in the midst of adversaries giving a poor soul much comfort solace and contentment yet saith the soul Notwithstanding all these kindnesses I receive in this world and that with the Lords welcom yet all is not
Amalekites at their heels biting and bawling out scorning and reproaching against them This hath been and will be your portion in life or in death But Saints and Travellers do not be dismayed but like the Traveller still journey on holding up your staffe though you never strike the Gen. 32. 9 10. Lord Iesus in both your hands of faith and patience for The Seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head and Christ will be unto his Travellers both in life and death advantage And thus much by way of trial whether we be strangers in the earth or not CHAP. V. Perswading souls to be sojourners and strangers 1. By way of Negation IF the Saints be strangers in the earth then be dehorted and perswaded from this worlds friendship Become strangers though it be your present detriment it is but yet a little while and you will be at home Though here you have many a weary step one stride over death and you are present with the Lord though here you have many a frown and momentary affliction yet then you shall have an everlasting favour and an everlasting Father and an everlasting fruition 1. In the Negative be dehorted not to imbrace this present world and that in three respects First in regard of the evil of it 1 Ioh. 2. 16. All that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Here 's lust and lust and flesh and filth evil in all and all in evil The whole world lyeth in wickedness or in 1 John 5. 19. that wicked one which next unto the Devil is the corrupt Heart of man saith the Preacher in his book of the Creatures Eccles 3. 11. He hath set the world in their hearts Mans heart contains a world the Microcosmus in the Cosmus The little world Man in the great world Nature hath a world of evil and a world of pride Oh but for the Evil sake Christians be estranged and do not imbrace this present world it is a world of evil It is too too much it is in our hearts but it is too too woful if our hearts be in that Secondly in regard of the danger of it danger of this and danger of that but remark the danger as Ioh 1. 2. 15. The Father the love of the Father is not in you What 's that why estrangement from the Lord. Demas hath forsaken us saith the Apostle He speaks it bewailingly as sensible of the greatest danger in embracing the present world He was a stranger to the Faith a stranger to the Church a staggering to the Saints and to be feared a stranger to the Lord. And this danger comes by being an imbracer of the world O Professors Professors look to your footing and take heed of faltering take heed of being Demas in forsaking the Lord and clasping of the world forsaking the fountain and the stream God and his Ordinances and closing with broken cisterns this worlds Cruel courtesies that are Jer. 2. 13. no sooner in but out they are broken cisterns that can hold no water Hang about the worlds neck and kiss it and imbrace it never so much yet it will prove a Iudas to thee it will kiss thee again but it will kill thee at last And then thus forsaking Christ who can save thee Were it not a madness for a poor Seaman after he is lancht out into the deep that he upon some wandering thoughts should then go out of the ship into the midst of the Sea to go unto the shore might not all the Mariners think there was little hope of his life Truly the danger is greater unto every poor soul that is in the Church by profession and yet had rather yea like Demas doth go out unto the world for its embraces All the Mariners I mean the Saints in the ship the Church of Christ may cry out it is a thousand to one he is saved so great is the danger And then thirdly Do not be an imbracer of this world but be a stranger in regard of the certain uncertainty and the uncertain certainty There is no more hold of the world or the things thereof then on a fishes tail Life and goods and all the face of things are fading and perishing uncertain and slippery Our life is but a vapour and all pertaining to life is but meat that perisheth saith the Apostle Meat for the belly and the belly for meat but the Lord shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6. 13. The best of all this worlds imbraces take the glory and comforts of them as Riches Honours gold and silver c. they are but as silver-knives that will cut as well as glitter wound as well as comfort aâ—ponds of sweet water wherein the body may bathe but the soul drown wherewith life is sweetned but not secured Comforts take wings and Man dies and where 's the world and where is he Non reminiscimur post mortem 2. If Gods people are strangers in the earth do not let us expect to be always standards on the earth Our houses with mending and patching and thatching serve many generations but yet in time down they will this great house of this World will also down and all the strong posts of it and in it must to the dust Now Christians should take up Iobs resolution Iob 14. 14. All my appointed time will I wait till my Expectabo donec veniat mutatio change comes or rather I shall expect my change coming Alluding to the Souldier that stands Sentinel expecting of relief as it were and so longs and listens and listens and longs but still waits knowing that his time is limited and his hour is certain So Christians must wait and pray and watch and pray for the stoutest must down to dust Therefore be ye wise and lean only upon the Rock and not on the reeds of this Earths fabrick Gods people must not be Atlas Supporters of the world but Sojourners not Standards in the earth but Strangers in the earth Labour therefore to be stablished in the Faith but look not to be stablished in the World We have no continuing Life no continuing Riches no continuing Comfort or comforts no continuing City house or home therefore let us be strangers expecting one to come where Christ sits at the right hand of God Every thing else is but as yesterday yea we and ours may be gone to morrow as this our Friend to day And happy is that soul whose Evidence is clear For we must not be long stayers nor standards but strangers that on Christ we may both stay and trust who is yesterday and to Heb. 13. 8. day and the same for ever 3. As positive to exhort you to be Strangers in the Earth take these three things and the Lord perswade our hearts into the truth of each according to his will First from former Example secondly from present Experience and thirdly from future Expectation CHAP. VI.