they may be as big as the best and possibly of as good a colour I but yet they are rotten within If you have not only an outward profession for that is an easie matter but if with your outward profession and giving up of your names to Christ you joyn an inward submission and give up your hearts to Christ that you obey from the heart as it is Rom. 6.17 then are you these good Figs to whom God intends good in all your afflictions Secondly If you have a filial fear of God and can fear him for his goodness mark that text Jer. 32.40 41. Saies God I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me And then saies he I will rejoyce over them to do them good with my whole heart and with my whole soul If God have put this fear into your hearts and this fear is a fountain of life to cause you to depart from the snares of death then are you these good Figs. Thirdly If you be of the number of those that love God and are called according to his purpose For that is set dewn Rom. 8.28 And we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God and are called acording to his purpose If you love his ordinances and love his Saints and children and love his presence if you love him for himself and delight in him and desire him only that you can say none but thy self O Lord can give my soul satisfaction and can say with Luther Do not put me eff with these earthly comforts and contentments It is not an housefull of Gold and Silver that I can take up with but I must have thy self and the smiles of thy face and the discoveries of thy love and nothing else And if you are called according to his purpose that is Mat. 22.14 not only outwardly called by his word for so many are called but few are chosen but inwardly called by his Spirit for you must know this promise doth not belong to every one that is outwardly called on a man may be outwardly caled but yet not effectually called there is an outward ordinary generall invitation that a wicked man may have when the Spirit of God knocks at his heart by his word by his mercies by afflictions and by the examples of others and he stifles all the motions of the Spirit and rejects the offers and tenders of his Grace now to have onely this Generall invitation it is not to be truly called for so the Spirit knocks often at the doors of your hearts in many a Sermon and in many a correction and in many purposes of heart I but now if you are called by the effectuall operation of the Spirit of God that the Spirit of God not onely knocks but unlocks the doors of your hearts and makes you willing to accept the invitations of his grace and to give entertainment unto Christ and you can say come Lord Jesus into my heart and rule in me as thou pleasest when he so calls that you hear his voyce and when he saies Seek ye my face thy heart answers Lord thy face I will sock Come unto me saies Christ all yea that labour and are heavy laden Math. 11.28 And the heart returns eccho come I would come to thee O blessed Saviour upon my hands and knees I would come with all my soul when the Spirit of God saies this is the way this is the way of holinesse this is the way of strictnesse and purity so much spoken against every where Is this the way saies a poor soul O! I would walk in it that I might find rest to my soul and I would submit to the Government of Jesus Christ and be as willing to have him my Ruler as my Redeemer if thou lovest God and hast chosen him for thy portion and art thus called and returnest an eccho to the voice of Christ and submits to his Government this is a certain evidence thou art in the number of those the Text here speaks of whom God intends good to in his severest dipensations That is the second thing by way of explication Thirdly With what limitations must this be understood that God in his severest providences intends his peoples good There are but these two limitations I will give you and then I will apply all First When 't is said God intends his peoples good you must understand it thus That this good is not presently and all at once effected but it is by degrees It may be for the present thou findest no benefit at all by thy afflictions but thy heart in thy own apprehension is rather made barder and thou sits down in a disconsolate despondency and dost not see how such a passage of providence workes for thy good at all I but mark what the end will be look not onely at the beginning of a work saies Solomon but consider the end of it give God leave to do his own work Ecl. 7.8 and give him leave to do it his own way and give him leave to do it in his own time saies the Apostle Jam. 5.11 You have seen the end the Lord made with Job And Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace And Deut. 8.16 He humbled thee and proved thee to do thee good at thy latter end He doth not say it was to doe them good presently but to doe them good how ever in the latter end with this limitation therefore it must be understood though for the present thou maist not find it so yet in the conclusion thou shalt find it so Again secondly Another limitation is this when we say that all these providences of God shall worke for good you must not understand them singly and apart but taken joyntly and together and so they will be for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is that which is exprest Rom 8.28 All things work together for good they work together if thou shouldest take one providence alone by it selfe haply thou maist find it do thee no good at all but now put providences together and then thou wilt find them do thee good as one drug in an Apothecaries Shop cannot make a wholesome medicine but put many drugs together and then it will do thee good And one wheel in the Clock you know cannot make the Clock move but put all the wheels together Gen. 42.36 and then it will move Jacob complains saies he Joseph is not and Simion is not and ye will take Benjamen away all these things are against me True take these providences singly by themselves and they were all against him I but at last he had his Joseph again and his Simeon again and his Benjamin again and though for the present they were all against him yet he lost nothing in the latter end Now for the Use of this Point briefly Vse 1 If God in his severest dispensations intend his
Ps 73.28 but it is good for me to draw nigh to God it is good for me to keep close to God in wayes of righteousness if I keep my integrity my integrity will keep me canst thou thus make God thy refuge That is a third evidence whereby thou maist know thou art one of those whom God will not cast off And then fourthly Ask thy soul this question Who art thou willing shall be thy reward at the great day canst thou say my record is in Heaven and my reward also is in Heaven Psal 109.5 that though men render me evil for good and hatred for my love yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God Isa 49.4 for it is observed that the same Hebrew word that signifies work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies also a reward and it is a good observation that Gods work is our wages it is reward enough for us to do service for God Now-canst thou say what reward soever I have here on earth or what injury soever I meet with from men yet notwithstanding I have my reward in Heaven therefore if my enemy hunger I can feed him if he thirst I can give him drink I can overcome evil with goodness and all because I have my reward in Heaven But on the contrary most miserable is the condition of that man that hath his reward here on earth and his portion here below It is said Mat. 6.2 The Pharisees have their reward that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that ever they can look for as the word signifies But then fifthly Ask thy soul this question Hath God the supremacy in thy heart hath he the highest room hath he the best room in thy soul hast thou set up a Throne for God in thy heart whereas heretofore self-love and the creature have been set up above God I but now whatever thou affectest or esteemest thou affectest and esteemest it onely in order to God and in him and for him canst thou say I am resolved I will not hinder nor break my peace with God to keep peace with men O God forbid I should do so as a common souldier doth not break the command of his Captain though he do not obey his Captain if the Generall command the contrary for the Generall must be obeyed though all the inferiour Officers be displeased so here God must be obeyed his voice must be hearkned to though all the world and all the Princes of the world should command the contrary Gods command must stand it is a good rule It is no prejudice to any humane authority to prefer Gods authority before it for if to preserve the dearest enjoyment we have in the world we break our peace with God the Lord is able to dash all the comfort we expect from that enjoyment and to make it either a dead contentment or else a torment to us that we shall have as he said the gifts of God without God himself Bona Dei sine boxo Deo we may have the shell of the mercy but shall never have the kernell of the mercy But on the contrary if we keep our peace with God we shall be sure to find in him whatever we deny for him riches honours friends liberty comforts or any thing we shall have all in him and all will be so much the sweeter to us as they spring from the Fountain and are not conveyed to us by the Cistern as they were before This is a fifth question I propound to you or an evidence whereby you may know whether you are Gods people Can you thus set up a Throne for God in your hearts that he shall have the supremacy and his authority shall be obeyed whoever be displeased or disobeyed Sixthly Can you be contented with God for your portion that is another evidence I would propound to you that if you were to choose a thousand times you would choose no other God but him Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee nothing but thy self O blessed God can give satisfaction to my immortall soul if I have but thee though I be as poor as Job upon the dunghill yet I am rich enough I will say with David Psa 16.6 the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage because the Lord himself is my portion Now if you can thus choose God you may conclude that God hath chosen you if you can thus love God you may certainly conclude tha God loves you and if you are his people you may be assured he is your God and will ever continue to be your God that is the sixth evidence In the seventh and last place Call your selves to an account and see whether ye be Gods Israel yea or no for you see God is the God of Israel God will not cast off his people Isa 44.21 his Israel thou art Israel my servant I will not cast thee away the place I named before Psa 73.1 and truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Gal. 6.16 and peace shall be upon the Israel of God Tell me therefore are you true Israelites are you Nathanaels in whom there is no guile can you turn the insides of your Spirits out unto God and say Psal 139.23 24. search me O Lord and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any way of wickedness in me I cannot deny but there is wickedness in me but see if there be any way of wickedness any course of sin in me so that I make a trade of sin he that is born of God doth not practise sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.3 9. he doth not say he doth not sin at all but he doth not make a Trade of sin as the word signifies Canst thou say Lord thou knowest in the uprightness of my heart I speak it there is not one Duty but I would submit to it and would willingly practise it there is not one sin that I allow in me I would abhor I would detest and reform every sin And can you strive more to be religious than to seem to be religious and do you endeavour to exceed the best opinion that ever any had of you and do you love a faithfull soul searching Ministry that is a great sign of sincerity when a man can say let the word pierce me let it smite me let it wound and cut me so it may cure me let it wound my sin so it may save my soul do you love that Ministry that comes most to the quick and that discovers most of your secret corruptions to you If it be thus with you it is a sign you are Gods Israel and therefore a people whom he will never cast off the Lord will be your God now and at death and after death and to all eternity But
many a fiery dart Sathan seeks to wound us with at one time or other I but God is our help God will not cast us off for all that True indeed we are troubled on every side yet not distressed 2 Cor. 4.9 we are perplexed but not in despair It is an elegant expression in the Greek tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed Cast down I but not cast off we may be cast into adversity and be cast off by men and yet not be cast off by God for all that O what a consolation may this be to every one of Gods children That is an excellent Scripture Isa 54.10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenaxt of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee O comfort your selves with that Text of Scripture therefore as the Apostle saith triumphingly Rom. 8.35 to the end Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nay saith he in all these things we are more than conquerers We conquer when kil'd kil'd and not destroyed death may make a separation between body and soul but it can never make a separation between the soul and Christ Neither things present nor things to come nor bonds nor imprisonment nor sickness nor banishment nor fiery Furnace nor Lionsden nor Principalities nor powers nor life nor death nor Devils nor any thing shall ever make a separation between God and his people he will never cast them off in any of these conditions O that we could but suck the sweetness of this consolation and lay it up as a Cordiall for a fainting day And thus I have done with the first Point of Doctrine gathered from the first branch of the Text the Author of this comfortable message it is the Lord the God of Israel he is Israels God when Israel is carried captive therefore though God may cast off his people seemingly yet he doth not cast them off when he seems to cast them off It remains I should come to the second branch of the Text and that is the message it self I will own them and acknowledge them saith God like these good figgs But of that I shall speak something by Gods assistance in the further prosecution of the Text. SERMON II. Jeremiah Chap. 24. Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel Like these good Figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Caldeans for their good YOu know what entrance I made into this Text two parts I shewed are considerable in it The Author of a comfortable Message and the Message self The Author of the comfortable Message is the Lord described here by his relation to his people the God of Israel and this first branch I have dispatched I come now to the second branch of the Text and that is the Message it self Wherein we have first the explication of a Type and then the application of it The explication of a Type in these words Like these good Figs where the Lord informs the Prophet Jeremiah what is the meaning of the Vision of the two baskets of Figs the one of good Figs the other of bad Figs Like these good Figs saith God so are all those good or godly persons whom I have sent away captive into Babylon so that God here compares the small number of godly ones that were yet carried captive to Babylon to Figs and he compares them to good Figs. But here it may be demanded first Why are these godly persons compared to Figs I answer For these three Reasons briefly First Because all the goodness they had in them was of Gods own planning Isa 60.21 The branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Secondly They are compared to Figs because as Figs you know ever grow more and more till they come to a ripeness and maturity that they may be fit for the Gardiner that planted them so did these godly persons grow more and more in grace till they came to some ripeness and maturity that they might be fit for the service of that God who had bestowed this grace upon them fit to glorifie him here and fit to be glorified of him hereafter And then thirdly As Figs when they are ripe they are very pleasant and delightfull they were much esteemed and desired among the Jews as appears by Hosea 9.10 I saw your fathers saith God as the first ripe in the Fig tree so likewise these godly persons that had the Image of God stampt upon them and were now trees of righteÌ„ousness that brought forth fruit unto God they were very delightfull unto God God was well pleased with them Psal 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy And by the way you may observe there a very sweet conjunction between fearing God and putting our trust in his mercy we must so fear the Lord that we still put our trust in his mercy lest we should despair and so put our trust in his mercy that we fear him lest we should presume but that I quote the Scripture for is this the Lord delights in them thaâ— fear him and it is very much that God should take delight in such poor despicable creatures as we are 〈◊〉 and we have a very strange expression 1 Chron. 29.17 I know also my God that thou takest pleasure in uprightness a wonderfull condescension that the great God of Heaven and earth should take pleasure in any service that such poor worthless worms as we are can performâ—â— that the Lord should take pleasurâ— in us or in any thing that is in us but we must know that uprightnesâ— is the work of Gods own Spirit iâ— our hearts and therefore God fiâ—â—â— bestowes the graces of his Spirit up on his servants which are call'â— the fruits of his Spirit and then hâ— delights in his own fruits according to that of the Psalmist Psal 104.31 The Lord rejoyceth in his own works that is in the works of his own Spirit that he hath wrought And St Austin hath a sweet Meditation upon it Lord saith he do not thou look upon my own works but look upon thy own works in my heart for if thou lookest upon my works I shall be cursed but if thou lookest upon thy own works I shall be crowned God takes delight in his own works he crowns his own gifts not our merits in us Thus you see why they are called Figs. But then secondly it may be demanded How these could be called good Figs when our blessed Saviour saith expresly Matth. 19.17 There is none good but One that is God To this I answer It is true
first Table This is to be truly good if you be thus impartially good without halfing it in the waies of Gods Commandements I beseech you consider and remember this he that makes no conscience of the Duties of the second Table God abhors all the Duties that he performs in reference to the first Table as now if you be unjust in your trading if you be injurious in your dealing if you rob the poor because he is poor and oppress the needy in the gate if you sell the needy for a piece of silver and the poor for a pair of shooes if you take advantage of the poors necessities if you withhold from him that which is his right if you detain the hire of the labourer and of him that takes pains for you as the Apostle St James saies Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your Corn which is detained of you by frand cryeth and the cries of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath James 5.4 whereby the way you may observe that if the detaining the labourers wages that did reap down their Corn was such a crying sin what is it think you then to detain their right that take pains in the Lords vineyard and labour in the Lords harvest I pray God it be not laid to the charge of many in this City if you be unrighteous I say in detaining that which is due to the labourer if you be unmercifull if you be uncharitable in your censures of others know thus much that there is no goodness at all in you though you make never so much shew of Religion if you do not make conscience of duties in the shop God regards not all the duties you perform in the Church and on the Lords dayes if you do not make conscience of the ninth commandment Thou shalt bear no false witness against thy neighbour thou shalt not flander thy neighbour thou shalt not reproach thy neighbour God regards not your obseraation of the fourth Commandment for keeping of the Lords day and this appears by what St James saies If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart that mans religion is vain James 1.26 And indeed it is a thing very observable that the Spirit of God makes the duties of the second Table to be a touch-stone to try the truth of our duties to the first Table pray remember it I will give you but two instances for it First that in James 1.27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world as if he should say Would you know whether you be truly religious or no then see whether you be truly righteous yea or no. And the other Scripture is 1 John 4.20 If a man say he loves God and hateth his brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen As if he should say Would you know whether you love God yea or no which is the duty of the first Table then see whether you love your brother yea or no which is the duty of the second Table Some men are all for holiness but nothing for righteousness some on the contrary are all for righteousness but nothing for holiness But I beseech you my brethren remember this God hates an unrighteous holy man as much as he hates an unholy righteous man Righteousness and holiness the duties of the two Tables must go both together He hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies Luke 1.74 75. that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life And therefore know thus much that although thou beest a man of never so excellent parts and canst talk never so much of Religion and Scripture and hast excellent and admirable gifts in prayer so that thou canst pray like an Angel yet if thou dost not make conscience of the duties of the second Table God abhors all thy parts and gifts and holy language and profession whatsoever This is the first question Are you righteous as well as religious and religious as well as righteous Do you walk with an even foot towards the duties of both Tables But secondly Let me ask you this question Are you sincerely good Are you inwardly good There are many that are seemingly good but few that are really good many that are outwardly good but few that are inwardly good You know what the Scripture saith Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart whose praise is not of men but of God 1 Sam. 16.7 God sees not as man sees man looks at the outward appearance but God looks to the heart Psal 51.6 Thou lovest truth in the inward parts Give me an inward Christian give me a Christian that is ever communing with his own heart that is ever turning his eyes inwards and his heart outwards to God this is a good Christian indeed Hypocrites can perform outward holy duties and many times outstrip those that are sincere and yet in the mean time they are but painted sepulchres fair without but within full of corruption they are but as a dunghill covered over with snow that appears very white without but within there is nothing but filthiness they are but as apples of Sodom fair without and rotten within There are many that are seemingly Saints outwardly Saints but inwardly they are no better than Devils But now tell me Are you the same within that you are without Are your spirits not only free from guilt but free from guile Psal 32.2 O blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile Are you good towards the Lord God of Israel which was the commendation of Abijah the son of Jeroboam 1 King 14.13 There was found some good thing in him toward the Lord God of Israel Indeed unsound and rotten-hearted Christians may be good towards men I but they are not good towards the Lord God of Israel But if you be inwardly good if you be sincerely good then are you good indeed Luther relates a Story of a man that had led a very righteous innocent and unblameable life but when he came upon his sick bed he felt his heart full of doubts and fears and disquietments and was much troubled about his spiritual estate some of his friends came to him and said to him O Sir why are you troubled about your spiritual estate you have lived a most righteous a most innocent and unblameable life I saies he it is true I have led such a life in your eyes but the eye of man and the eye of God doe exceedingly differ
with them and stands by them all the while The use of this point is First By way of Instruction We should take notice of the faithfulness of God and admire it and bless him for it God is a faithful God he is a never changing friend alas we see amongst men friends are false and fickle and unfaithfull they deal with us many times as Job complains his friends did My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook Job 6.15 a Brook that in the winter time hath rain enough yet in the summer time when the cattle stand in most need of water then all the Brook is dried up so saies he my friends deal deceitfully with me in the times of my distress and danger and are then the furthest of all from me and so David complains Psal 38.11 My lovers and my friends stand a loof from my sore and my kinsmen stand afar off But God is not such a friend God is never nearer to us than when trouble is near God never speaks so kindly so comfortably to the hearts of his children as he doth when he brings them into a Wilderness Hos 2.14 Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her When God brings us into the worst condition he is then the best God unto us when we are in the saddest condition we have many times the sweetest communion with our God Psal 73.26 saies David My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my partion for ever And that is a very comfortable passage of the Psalmist Psalm 142.3 4 5. When my Spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my paths When I was almost at my wits end ready to sink down in sorrow then thou tookest notice of me And I looked saies he on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul then I cryed unto thee O Lord and said thou art my refuge and my portion in the Land of the living A wonderfull comfortable passage and O! why do not we break out into admiration and say O! God who is like unto thee who so loving a God who so faithfull a God who so tender hearted and compassionate a Father as thou art that ever ownest thy children when they have most need of thee But then secondly Use 2 Another Use I would make of this Point is this Doth God own us in the day of our fears and streights and in the day of our dangers and distresses and doth God own us before our enemies then it should teach us to own God before his enemies to acknow ledge him before the worst of men and in the worst of times First We should acknowledge God before the worst of men before Papists or Atheifts or Hereticks or Seducers or Hypocrites or Apostates or scorners of Religion for these are the worst of his enemies To own God before his freinds this is no great matter there is no ttryall in that because there is no opposition but see what our Saviour saies Mar. 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generaton of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels Our Saviour doth not say whosoever shall be ashamed of me before a gracious generation for none will be ashamed of Christ then but whosoever shall be ash amed of me before an adulterous generation Though the men with whom we converse and amongst whom we live be never so base and vile though they be never such backsliding provoking scandalous prophane wretches and such as are opposers of God his truth and Gospel yet our Saviour looks we should own him before these men even before an adulterous generation else he will not own us at the great and dreadfull day of his appearing Thus you shall see Paul owned Jesus Christ before Nero that bloody Monster of men 2 Tim. 4.16 At my first answer no man stood with me I hat is when he appeared before Nero yet notwithstanding Paul stood for God then and God stood by Paul Thus Peter John owned Jesus Christ before Annas and Caiphas and before the Priest and Rulers and all those that were the desparate enimies of the Gospel though they threatned and imprisoned them We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Act. 4.20 And then God looks that we should own him not onely before the worst of men but in the worst of times to own God in good times it is no great matter Hypocrites can own God in good times but God looks we should own him in times of apostacy when Religion growes out of credit when it is lookt upon as madness as Morositie as Hypocrisie and I know not what God owns us when others forsake us and therefore God looks that we should own him when others forsake him Thus you shall see Elijah did 1 Kin. 19.10 when there was such a generall apostacy that he thought there had not been a godly man left in Israel besides himself saies he I onely am left yet notwithstanding I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts 1 Kin. 18.40 And very jealous indeed he was for at one time he slew and caused to be slain no lesse than four hundred of Jesebels false Prophets I confess that act of Elijahs was an extraordinary act and much like that of Phinehas one of the High Priests that slew Zimry and Cozby in his zeal for God Numb 25.8 Doubtless this act of Phinehas was also an extraordinary act and by Divine instinct as judicious Calvin well observes but though their actions be not to be imitated yet their zeal is worthy imitation for Elijah owned God when none stood by him And as we should own God in times of apostacy so in times of opposition When there is a desperate contention against the truth we should earnestly contend contend as in an agony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the truth as I once opened that Text to you the Epistle of St Jude vers 3. The more violent men are against the truth the more valiant we should be for it and the more outragious others are in wayes of sin the more couragious should we be in wayes of holiness the more others oppose Religion and Reformation and the power of godliness the more should we hold forth the word of truth and hold fast the word of life by an undaunted resolution Thus the Prophet Jeremiah did Jeremi 6.10 11. The word of the Lord is to them a reproach saies he They have no delight in it therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord I am weary with holding in and Act. 17.16 St Pauls Spirit was stirred it waxed hot within him when he saw the Athenians wholly given to Idolatry And God looks we should own him and his
the earth more easily than you can toss a tennis ball nay fear ye not me that can cast soul and body into hell fire Mat. 10.28 When there is a mighty Prince or Potentate that hath power in his hands to strip you of your liberties of your estates and lives and he is incensed against you O! what terrour and trembbling takes hold of you and how do you crouch and cringe and comply and make friends and study all the ways that ever you can to get the favour of that Prince or Potentate as you read Acts 12.20 When Herod was highly displeased with the men of Tyre and Sidon they got Blastus the Kings Chamberlaine to be their friend and beg tearms of peace for them Now art thou afraid of a mortall man whose breath is in his Nostrils and art not afraid of the great Creator of heaven and earth Isa 51 12.13 Who art thou that art afraid of a man that shalldy and of the Son of man which shall be made as grass and forgetest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Consider this all you that are great ones or men of great estates and therefore think you may bolster up your selves in your wickedness no no know thus much this great Jehovah against whom you sin he is the great Lord he is greater than the greatest it is he that can visit with his anger and with his fury and with his indignation poured forth Nah. 1.5.6.7 The Mountains quake at him and the hils melt and the earth is burnt up at his presence yea the world and all that dwell therein who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks melt before him Psal 149.8 It is he that can bind Kings in chains and Nobles in fetters of iron It is he that is the Lord of hosts that hath all creatures in heaven and earth to avenge his quarel It is this great God likewise that can punish great and small without respect of persons and therefore they on whom God bestows great mercies if they abound in great sins they shall have great punishment inflicted upon them Potentes potentèr punienter as one said Mighty men shall be mightily tormented O whence is it that we no more fear this great God before whom the rocks melt nay the devils tremble Are our hearts harder than rocks Are we more fearless than devils Stand in awe then and sin not most men sin and tremble not but do you tremble and sin not Consider we are all in the hands of this great God as a little fly in the paw of a roaring lion we are all before him as clay in the hands of the Potter nay we are all before him as dry stubble before the consuming fire Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie Are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 Consider what advantage he hath against us and consider also what dependance we have upon him and then learn to sear him and to stand in awe of him This is the first Use it is the great God that hath the rod in his hand and he is the Author of all the miseries that come upon us therefore let us tremble before him The second Use is for instruction and admonition If God be the author of all the miserie that befals us then let us take off our eys from instruments and second causes look not so much at man at the instruments of our misery but look upon God who is the author of our misery O that every one of us could but say as that good woman Naomi Ruth 1.13 saies she the hand of the Lord is gone out against me Could we but look at God the author more than at the instruments of our misery we should have great advantage by it You will say what advantage there is a fourfold advantage we shall have by it First This will work the sweet effect of contentment and quietation in our hearts it will meeken and quiet and calme our spirits that we shall not fret and fume at any dispensation of God though it seem never so harsh and severe Psal 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it and 1 Sam. 3.18 saies Eli when a heavy message came to him It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Secondly This will root out that spirit of revenge that usually is in our hearts when they are burning and boyling against those that are the instruments of our misery We are many times like the Dog that snarles at the stone and looks not at the hand that cast it so we snarl and fret and boyl in our spirits against those who are the instruments of our troubles whereas did we but look at the hand that cast the stone it would take the spirit of revenge out of our hearts Such a spirit was in David as I shewed you even now he looked not at Shimei cursing him but at God that bid him curse and therefore would not be revenged on Shimei Such a Spirit was in Joseph Gen. 45.8 Saies he to his brethren It was not you that sent me hither but God Why may some say it was his brethren for did not they sell Joseph to the Ismaelites and by that means was he not carried into Egypt I but Joseph looks not to the instruments but to God and therefore though his brethren had misgiving thoughts surely our brother will remember this Gen. 50.15 and be avenged on us for all the wrong we did him yet Joseph answers them otherwise 't is true sales he you intended evil to me but God turned it for good therefore be not troubled I have no revenge in my heart and fear not for I will nourish you and your little ones He lookt at God in all And Thirdly this will provoke us to repentance and to return to God that smites us Hos 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up As in the case of mercies if we do not look upon God as the author of our mercies we can never be thankfull and improve them to his Glory So likewise in the case of afflictions if we look not upon God as the Author of our miseries we can never be penitent and humble Fourthly We shall have this advantage also this will work our hearts to a patient and quiet waiting upon God with faith and confidence for deliverance 2 King 6.33 you read of King Jehoram a prophane King yet he taught a true doctrine saies he this evil is of the Lord. A true Doctrine but he made a false use and application of it therefore why should I wait upon him any longer For the reason holds strong on the contrary side this evil is from the Lord therefore I should wait