providence of God since reformation first began in the long Parliament be much admired and the Lord be thankfully adored for it and may we not own a remnant in the Land as a blessing from the Lord who stood in the gap Nay farther it is upon the account of the Saints that the world continues that the fire of God doth not kindle upon the whole Creation which is combustible to melt the heavens and burn up the earth with the works that are therein the floud of waters was onely respited until Noah and his family were secured in the Ark which being done the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windowes of heaven were opened Gen. 7. ver 11. When Lot was entred into Zoar then the Lord rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom Gen. 19. ver 23 24. 2 Pet. 3. v. 9. The Lord is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any of his should perish but when the whole election is brought in then cometh the end when the sealing Angel Apoc. 7. ver 1 2 3. had sealed the servants of God in their foreheads then had the four Angels that stood on the four corners of the earth full commission to fall pel mel upon the earth It will be a dooms day with the world when the cloudes shall catch up the elect to meet their Lord in the air 1 Thess 4. vers 17. 5. And Lastly The Saints of God may mostly advantage their carnal neighbours in promoting their conversion herein they would shew themselves friends indeed if they would use all humble and earnest endeavours to bring them home to God The Judicial Law commanded every Israelite to bring a straying ox or ass home to his master How much more doth the Law of God and Christian love oblige every true Israelite indeed to bring a straggling Prodigal home to his Fathers house All the Saints own it as their duty to glorifie God in their generation and wherein can they bring more glory to God then in helping soules to heaven and how can they find out a readier way to effect this great business then by telling Vnless the Lord had been their help their soules had well nigh dwelt in silence by making a faithfull narrative of their own conditions by nature and by grace when and how the goodness of the Lord was made known unto them upon a saving account Some of the Saints I may boldly affirm have taken this course and prospered Oh that this might be a word from the Lord to awaken up all to this great duty my soul even bleedeth within me to observe the general neglect and great aversness of most to this great business some think their gifts too low and their parts too inconsiderable to carry on a design of this importance others have such honorable thoughts of a Gospel Ministery rightly called and qualified that they judg the anointing of the Lord to be upon them onely for that work and therefore will not take their work out of their hand least they should sin in such an attempt Others cry out let them do the work who receive the wages as though they worked onely for wages which is a very unjust and uncharitable censure Some there be that go higher yet who bid the Ministers sit still for they can do the work better then they and load them with many foul aspersions that they may the better get their work out of their hands I mean their people from under their Ministerial care and oversight indeed the distemper is very sad at this day in the Nation and not a few fall under this last classis I think in no Nation more the Lord rebuke that bold and blaspemous spirit which is gone abroad humble us for our sinnes and shew us the pattern of his house in all the in-goings out-goings and ordinances of it that men of daring spirits may be bounded I like not an invasion upon the Ministry so as to destroy the office of it nor yet an intrusion unto it by men not duly called unto it neither that any who are not in some measure of Gospel-fitness qualified for it should be thrust or thrust themselves upon a people though called by man unto it much less that any should improve their gifts to set up themselves and throw down the faithfull Ministry in the hearts and affections of people least of all that any should be suffered much more encouraged who corrupt the truths and people of God who bring in damnable heresies to draw away disciples after them by reason of whome the way of truth is evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. vers 1 2. formerly made good in those reproaches which were cast upon Religion by the Pagans in the Primitive times and are now cast upon it amongst us by Papists and carnal Professours and both upon the account of Heresies and therefore as I owne the office of a Pastor as distinct from the people being the great bequeathment of the Lord Jesus to his Church and for the spiritual edification of his Church Eph. 4. ver 8 11 12. Bless God for those able pens who have with much learning gravitie weightiness of Arguments and evidence of divine truth propugned and asserted it in these times of great opposition and also thankfully acknowledg the integrity and faithfulness of the Civil and Supream power which hath been as a covering Cherub to the godly Ministery notwithstanding the many temptations which have been upon them to the contrary so as a suitable return both to God and good men I make it my humble proposal to my reverend brethren of the Ministery that they would strengthen the hands of the Lords people and by encouraging Arguments quicken them up to lay out themselves in their several capacities and in a wise improvement in their several advantages to win over sinners unto God If Eldad and Medad prophesie in the camp why should Joshua dislike it my Lord Moses forbid them Numb 11. ver 25 26. If the Christians of our respective Congregations should keep up private communion amongst themselves at due times and in due order or if sober and experienced Christians should minister words of advice and exhortation to their carnal neighbours provided they do it out of right principles to right ends and in a a due manner would it not hear ill if we should cry to my Lord Moses to forbid them rather let us say Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets Ver. 29. and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them that they may receive abilities from God to minister unto others That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4. ver 12. O then my dear Christian brethren rise up in the name and might of our Lord Jesus Christ seek the eternal welfare of your carnall neighbours I will not enlarge upon directions for the right management of this great duty onely entreat you that with modesty and Christian sobriety you
creatures in its highest advancements and advantages yea from the multitude of mountains which Harim Metaphorically relate to the greatest persons and to thing of greatest height and excellency upon worldly accounts Mich. 6.2 Yea combined and associated they shall certainly fail in their hopes and meet with disappointments because Sheker it is in vain they lye or deal deceiptfully there 's falshood in their promises and feebleness in their power which is confidently asserted by that holy man Psal 62.9 Surely men of low degree are vanity Bem-Adam sons of Adam this being a common name to all mankind is used here for men low in the world in respect of estate or power which are as the valleys or hillocks of earth these are vanity little can be expected by way of help from them because of their emptiness who can expect water out of an empty vessel or safety from a mole-hill when a Cannon bullet flyeth at him But what shall we say to the great ones of the world Why men of high degree are a lye Beni-Ishi The sons of Ish men of highest advancements in the world are but a lye they will speak you fair no doubt David had many complements from Sauls Courtiers lift you up into great expectations by their plausible promises and pretensions but in a day of distress their words vanish into smoak and they appear to a needy petitioner as a dry lake to the thirsty traveller Oh! how sadly can thousands now alive with sad hearts bear witness to this truth And Oh that it were not a spot in Gods people What volumes may be writ upon this subject with the tears yea the blood of the oppressed The Lord humble us for this sin and so manage the spirit of our Rulers That they may loose the bands of wickedness under the heavy burdens let the oppressed go free and break every yoak then shall their light break forth as the morning and their health shall spring forth speedily their righteonsness shall go before them and the glory of the Lord shall be their Rere-ward Isa 58.6 8. Then shall the poor and oppressed say the Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice O England where Justice dwelleth See that Isa 9.10 The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sicamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars They run from creature to creature and change creature for creature the weak for the strongest yea do what Art and Nature improved to the best advantage can do for safety but with what success truely very little For vers 12. The Syrians before and the Philistins behind shall devour Israel with open mouth So true is that Hos 5.13 applied to an expectancy of help from any creature disjunctively from God When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb or to the King that should plead their cause or their defender But how sped they Yet could he not heal you nor cure your wounds it is the way of carnal hearts to shift out to the creature for help in times of straights Mr. Burrogh in loc and a sad evidence of a carnal heart so to do But it is a truth handed down from father to son that creature-recumbency avileth not no healing no curing nay 't is not onely not encouraged with a blessing but thundered against with a curse Jer. 17.5 6. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his Arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord wherein doth this curse shew it self It followeth For he shall be like the Heath in the desart Heath-ground is usually barren but Heath-ground in a desart upon which nothing of cost or culture is spent addeth to the barrenness of it nay further And shall not see when good cometh the showers of mercy fall upon this place and the dews of good-will from the Lord distil upon this person in such or such comforts or enlargements I but creature-relyers shall not taste the least of all the noble mans punishment 2 King 7.2 shall be their portion They shall see it with their eyes but they shall not taste thereof no they shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited Oh apply this and let the consideration of this caution you from a creature-dependency use the means but do not trust in them there is nothing provoketh more to wrath nor rendereth the choisest means unserviceable more then this Oh! let us be humbled for this fault for sure it hath been much our fault and our folly which doubtless hath caused the Lord in displeasure to us to dash many excellent instruments in pieces like earthen pitchers and in all our creature-improvements let us wisely sail betwixt these two extreams in tempting of God and an overt rusting to means both which are very dangerous 4. Lastly Take heed of abusing providential appearances and preservations to wantonness by a neglect of those duties you owe to God for them besides the general there is a particular command and call to duty to holiness to repentance to faith to thankfulness c. in every mercy as in afflictions so in preservations the Lords voyce cryeth and the men of wisdome see his name they see and own God in this and that dispensation and hear the rod yea and hear the staffe too and take notice both who and wherefore he hath appointed it what the intendments of God are in such or such a providence otherwise the fruit yea and comforts of both are lost We must not behave our selves like children who when they perceive the hearts of their parents run out in a great deal of tenderness towards them take liberry from thence to play the wantons or Absolom like to act rebellion against them such a frame is very unsuitable to such dispensations and no wayes answering the intendments of the Father of mercies how ill the Lord resents this carriage is evident in many Scriptures See that Deut. 32. vers 10. He found him i.e. Israel in the wilderness he kept him as the apple of his eye I but vers 15. Jeshurum waxed fat and kicked as a wanton colt that is high fed and lusty turneth his heels upon his own damn so played Israel with the Lord his Maker God calleth him Jeshurum from Jashur rectitude or uprightness as expecting this from every true Israelite especially under such engaging providences but in what a cross way doth Israel walk how doth he turn the heels upon God both by murmuring Idolatry and manifold disobediences what then doth God take it well no vers 19. When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sins and daughters Oh! to be sons and daughters near and dear to the most high God under eminent discoveries of divine favour and yet kick this provokes unto great wrath read and inlarge this Scripture in your own thoughts God cannot indure to
all impatient risings of heart against God in a day of distress and will lead out the spirit to submit unto and trust God in the greatest streights For as it followes in the second head of Doctrine The Saints of God do sometimes meet with such distresses Doctrine 2 that cut off all hopes of deliverance from man Reason is at a stand heart and flesh fail carnal policy is at a loss all proud helpers stoop in vain yea Faith it self beginneth to flagge Thus Gen. 21. vers 14 15 16. Hagar with her sonne are cast out of Abraham's family and are now in a wilderness a place inhabited onely by wilde beasts their stock of provision spent and no supplies to be had What then what courss will Hagar take why she layeth down her beloved boy under a bush And what then she goeth a distance from him not being able to bear his dying groanes and cryes and having emptyed her bottle of water she seeketh to emptie her moaning heart by teares seeing nothing but the death of her Sonne as knowing no way to prevent it a great distress a sad streight but not her case alone Many of the Saints of God have come to the emptying of their bottles to cases of utmost extremitie a parralel case was that of the poor widow 1 Kings 17. vers 12. her whole store was spent and markets shut up as to new supplies a handfull of meal in the barrel and a little oyl in the cruse was her whole livelihood and she is now gathering a handfull of sticks to bake one cake for her self and her Sonne and what will she do when that cake is eaten did she see relief coming some other way no these were her thoughts she and her sonne would eat that cake and die It were easie to multiply presidencies of this kinde upon both accounts temporall and spirituall streights of bodie and pressures of spirit have been matter of the Saints complaint 1. Oh then thou that art a servant of the Lord who hast not been brought into these streights upon whom such a day of distress hath not been but findest the incomes of the spirit dost take in comfort from the promises walkest in the light of God's countenance and hast the candle of the Lord shining upon thy Tabernacle as 1 Kings 1.6 That hast been the Lords Adonijah Oh! charge it home by the way of thankfulness upon thy heart that the Lord should lead thee unto the land of rest and not by the way of the wilderness 2. Let thy bowels yearn toward the distressed of the Lord pity them pray for them and administer seasonable supplies of comfort to them considering thy self as being in the body especially let thy heart go out in tender compassions towards the afflicted in spirit to those who are brought into soul streights whose case runneth parallel with that of Heman Psal 88. ver 3. My soul is full of troubles Heb. is satiated with evills hath its fill is brimm'd up yea running over and these so pressing that my life draweth nigh to the grave and then vers 8. I am shut up I am a prisoner under restraint I but it is libera custodia he may go forth with his keeper no I cannot go forth Oh! t is a sad thing to be a close Prisoner to be so shut up that he cannot steppe one foot beyond the grate to take any contentment in the creature any delight in outward enjoyments or any comforts in relations Ah but Heman's case is far sadder he is so shut up that his spirit cannot go forth in prayer to fetch in comfort from the Promises nor healing from the Spirit nor life from Jesus Christ nor pardoning mercy from the God and Father of mercies nor evidence of Electing love nor assurance of Redeeming grace nor demonstrations of Adopting grace nay nor satisfying and soul-quieting conclusions of truth of grace but free amongst the dead like the slain in the grave whom God remembreth no more Dead to duty dead in duty dead from duty spirit dead and heart dead affections dead desires dead comforts dead hope dead faith dead yea all dead Oh! this is sad above what words can express onely the heart knoweth its own bitterness yet this day of distress hath been upon many precious Saints Oh! then draw forth the breasts of consolation to such sad souls Stay them with flaggons comfort them with apples And let this give you incouraging hopes of success in all your applications that the appearances of God are eminent and immediate in the day of his peoples greatest distress which is the main point I pitch upon as being the chief scope of the Text. Doct. 3. The Lord comes in often with seasonable and suitable mercies in times of greatest miseries He loveth to be seen on the Mount to be a present help in the needful time of trouble to help when none else can help when refuge faileth and hope is now at the giving up the ghost See that Gen. 21. vers 17 18. When Hagars fears were highest and her faith lowest as too oft is seen that when fear is up then faith is down when death was coming and life going when the water was spent her patience spent and all spent when she had received the sentence of death within her self for her self at least for her son whom she had given up for a dead childe Then then God heard the voyce of the lad and calleth unto her and biddeth her lift up the lad yea her own faith and hope and spirit for there was an universal sinking in her and telleth her he will make him a great Nation as if he had said Fear not the life of the lad for there are many lives bound up in his life if I should let him perish I should lose a Nation yea a great Nation and that distrustful thoughts might not arise in her heart God openeth her eyes and she saw a Well of water and gave the lad drink Let us pitch down a little upon this Quotation for it is a place of pleasant springs and draw these Observations 1. That the goodness of God is a springing fountain unto the Saints even in a wilderness Psal 107.35 There is alwayes water in this fountain Psal 36. vers 9. With thee is the fountain of life There are springs of providence and springs of promises both which do send forth refreshing streams unto the Saints There are alwayes supplies in the Lords store-house fresh cordials in the Lords closet yea he can and will create deliverances for his Jacobs though Hagar was at a loss yet God was not though the ground was dry to her yet God can bring up springs of water through the secret veynes of the parched earth Oh! there is much support in this duely to improve the Omnipotency and All-sufficiency of God 2. That the Saints themselves sometimes have their eyes so shut up that they cannot see these springs of goodness Sometimes the heads of these springs lye
so deep and low that they are not visible either in promises or in providences Nay when they are open and run yet in some cases the Saints eyes are closed that they cannot see them all seemeth to be dry ground to them Indeed these fountains are shut up to the unbeleeving world alwayes sealed to the wicked so great a stone is rolled by an Almighty arm upon the mouth of this Well that all the strength of nature cannot remove it to dip a bucket in it but to the faithful it is alwayes open they need no Jacob to roll it away See that Zach. 13. vers 1. A fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness This great Gospel fountain the blood of Jesus is open to beleevers to them that dwell at Jerusalem in the Spirit not in the letter of profession Now if this great Fountain be open which feedeth all the lesser springs referring to the blood of the Lord Jesus then sure no lesser springs shall be shut up to them He is the fountain of Gardens the Well of living waters Cant. 4. vers 15. What a precious priviledge is this to have all Gospel-springs open unto us yet here is our misery and it is very great though the springs be open our eyes are sometimes shut now what is a spring of water to a thirsty traveller if he see it not But you will say How shall the Saints get their eyes opened 3 God alone openeth the eyes of his people that they may see these open Fountains that they may behold these streams from Lebanon Hagar saw not the fountain neither could she untill God opened her eyes He that opened the heart of Lydia Act. 16. vers 14. opened Hagars eyes Jesus Christ who hath the Key of David can onely open and shut eyes by his anointing Spirit Apoc. 3. vers 18. This is true in the first work of conversion Act. 26. vers 18. So also in the passage of after comforts 2 King 6.17 The Lord opened the eyes of the young man that he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha The providences and protections of God do circumvallate and encompass the faithful His Angels encamp round about them yet the Lord must open their eyes else they cannot behold them A truth falling in with our own experience how many amongst us saw not that wall of fire which hath been round about us nor those Chariots of fire which have been so eminent a protection unto us in times of greatest danger But 4. God will open the eyes of his people to behold these springs of mercy when they stand in most need of them What had it been to Hagar if her eyes had been opened to have seen many Wells of water when she was in Abrahams family or if she had been in a land of fountains but to be in a wilderness in a land of drought to have the water in the bottle spent and knew not where to fill it nor how to keep her lad alive without supplies of water and then in this streight to have her eyes opened to see not a little water in a pitcher to fill her bottle once with and no more but to see a Well a spring of water where she might have constant supplies Oh! this was a seasonable and therefore a welcome mercy to her this was life to her self her son and to her hopes of after safety Oh this is marvellous sweet and an excellent means to get up the heart in sinking times and conditions 6. Her eyes are opened shee seeth the Well What doth she now do why she obeyeth the voyce of the Lord in filling her bottle with water and giving the lad drink this teacheth us That it is the duty of Gods people to lay hold â—n offers of mercy from the Lord to close in with to own and improve the providential dispensations of God for good unto themselves What is she in a wilderness her bottle-store spent a fountain opened and her eyes opened and doth she sit still is she sullen or is she pettish because supplies came not her own way or at her own time will she not dip her bottle in the fountain because it ariseth in this and not in that plat of ground doth she stand upon such niceties no no but presently she snatcheth up her bottle and goeth to fill it A commendable practice Oh! what we see her do do we likewise in all our streights let us haste to the Throne of grace and when mercy is offered help seasonably tendered let us imbrace it and improve it when Christ opened that fountain of grace shewing the wounds in his hands and in his side to Thomas presently he runneth to the fountain and dippeth his bucket in the Well acting faith by a personal application My Lord and my God Joh. 20. vers 28. So when the Lord openeth his Mercy-fountains to us and our eyes to see them let us not onely sip a little but fill our buckets yea brim our bottles drawing with joy and thankfulness of heart water out of those Wells of salvation Isa 12. vers 3. not quarrelling with men or means but owning the goodness of the Lord in the seasonableness and fulness of our distress What should I mention the Angels staying Abrahams hand when it was lifted up to slay his beloved Isaac What should I name Jacoh's Mahanaim the Host of God which appeared to him when he feared his brother Esau lest he should slay the mother with her children or Joseph in the pit or in the prison or Israel at the red Sea what should I say more the time would fail me if I should reckon up what the Holy Ghost hath recorded of this kinde How often may the saints and how many of them may truly speak the words of my Text Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence but God appeared relief came and deliverance was sent from the Lord in the very nick of time Oh! if God had deferred his help for one hour nay one minute nay less then one minute if time could be parcel'd out into a lesser moment I had been undone life and all had been lost But you will say what moveth the Lord to this full and seasonable appearance for his people in their greatest streights I answer Reason 1. Because God sometimes leadeth his people into streights therefore it is for his honour to fetch them out again Some Commanders have been very bold and forward to lead an Army on but have had little care and skill to bring them off by means whereof many thousands have been slain in some desperate assaults but the Lord of hosts will not do thus he will not fall back with his reserves and suffer his Vriahs to perish by the sword of the children of Ammon he will bring off with safety when he putteth his own people upon danger Exod. 15.3 The Lord is a man of
war the Lord is his name He knoweth the stratagems and postures of warre and like a brave Commander standeth upon his honour and therefore will bring off where he leadeth on Abraham had express order from Jehovah to offer up his son Isaac and we see how the Lord stepped in betwixt the cup and the lip as it were and biddeth him hold his hand when it was now lifted up to slay his Son Gen. chap. 22. Therefore Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-iireh The Lord will see or the Lord will provide ver 14. Moses and the children of Israel received orders from the Lord of Hosts for their march out of Egypt and had their way and quarters assigned by him Exod. 14. vers 1.2 The Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pe-hahireth between Migdol and the sea over against the Sea over against Baal-zephon before it shall ye encamp by the Sea What could be more express then this well what followeth why Pharaoh with all his host pursues them and having got them up into this cramp maketh no doubt but the day is his own and well he might for if we view the ground we shall finde them thrust up into a narrow room and in very sad streights if they look before them and think to save themselves by flight the sea is there and they have neither bridg nor boats to pass over it if they think to wheel on the right hand high mountains are a baracado against them if they think to steal away on the left hand that cannot be done for they must climbe up high and plain hills which will give the enemy a full prospect of them if they think to retreat and to slip back into Egypt by some secret way Mr. Burroughs notes upon Hos 2. p. 30. that they cannot do because Pharaoh's Army is betwixt them and Egypt so that they must march through the head-quarters of the enemy if they attempt that nay to add weight to all they were before Baal-zephon the God of watching an Idol which the Egyptians had high exspectations from being set at the mouth of those mountains before Pe-hahiroth to watch the passage that none might escape without a passport out of Egypt Here Pharaoh overtook them vers 9. These were their streights and 't is plain God brought them into those streights but what doth God leave them in the lurch no God will save them by a miracle he will make a way in the deep for them As they marched between mountains of earth before so they shall march between mountains of water now and they who feared that their enemies would dig graves for them in the wilderness do now stand upon drie ground and behold the whole hoste of Egypt buried under two huge mountaines of water ver 28. and all this the Lord of hosts did to maintain his honour in point of faithfulness to his people and to evidence his power in point of omnipotency upon their enemies as Moses upon another occasion argueth it out with the Lord. Numb 14. vers 15.16 If thou shalt kill all this people as one man then the nations which have heard of the fame of thee will speak saying because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them therefore hath he slain them in the wilderness An high impeachment against God in respect both of power and faithfulness a charge very dishonourable to the Lord and therefore the Lord bringeth them off at least the loyal and obedient ones with honour and safety from all those hazzards he had led them into Hence the Prophet David speaketh in the person of the Church Psal 66. vers 9 10 11 12. Rea. 2. Because sometimes the servants of the Lord meet with troubles in the world for their love to God and management of the Lords work They speed ill with men for their good will to God and are sufferers from men because they will not sinne against God therefore it is that the Lord espouseth their quarrel and taketh part with them This was the case of the three Jewish worthies Dan. 3. vers 12.13 they would not dishonour the true and living God by owning any thing of God in a dumb and dead Idol and therefore are bound and cast into a fiery fornace but how sped they did God suffer them to be cast into that fiery prison and perish there for his debt no God was with them in the fire and fetch'd them out without one peny damage to them their hair was not singed neither were their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them vers 27. In like sort did wicked men deal with Daniel Chap. 6. vers 10. and the Lord brought him off without the least hurt upon this basis the Lord Jesus bottometh that precious promise Luke 21. vers 15. I will give you a mouth and wisdome which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist and wherefore are the vouchsafements of God so eminent unto them vers 12. because they suffered for his name and his cause which truth hath been more then once attested by suffering saints so much of the spirit and wisdome of God hath been discovered in their answers that their adversaries and accusers have been non-pluss'd by illiterate men nay filled with astonishment Thus the Apostle Rom. 8. vers 36. For thy names sake we are led as sheep to the slaughter and what followeth why Vers 37. in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we do over-overcome super-superamus if the cause be Gods we may trust our selves and it in Gods hand and possess our souls in patience when we have this assurance that not an hair of our head shall perish Luke 21. vers 18 19. Reas 3. Therefore God steppeth in to the help of his people in their greatest streights that he may give real testimony of his hearty good will unto them that they may know and their enemies also that they have a friend who will stick to them in the day of their distress affliction is the trial of affection Prov. 17. vers 17. A friend loveth at all times * Hebrew in all times that is in every opportune time in the fittest season now the timings of love the timings of acts of friendship addeth both worth and weight unto it Prov. 15. vers 23. A word spoken in season in his time saith the Hebrew how good is it how good is a word of comfort spoken to a drooping soul in a day of mourning How good is a word of peace spoken by the Lord to a wounded spirit and then when its wounds are fresh and bleeding can any heart but the heart of Experiences conceive what healings those words of Christ brought to the poor woman Luke 7. v. 48. thy sinnes are forgiven thee being spake at that season when
make void the hopes of the wicked Job 36.24 25. that all the world may see and say There is none like unto the God of Jeshurum who rideth upon the heavens for the help of Israel and in his excellency upon the skies The eternal God is their refuge and underneath are everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy before-them and shall say destroy them Deut. 33. ver 26 27. When the wicked thinks to fall upon them and cut them off in the open field then the Lord will be a retreating place unto them the eternal God is their Refuge when they lay load upon them and think to sinke them down with pressing calamities then underneath are everlasting arms to bear them up when they strengthen their leagure and think to cut off all supplies then the God of Jeshurum rideth upon the heavens for their help when they think to starve them out and bring in famine among them then The fountain of Jacob is upon a land of corn and wine when they think to stop up their wells of water and to slay them with thirst Then his heaven drops down dew upon them the Lord filleth their vessels with rain from the clouds so that their water shall not fail thus in all their contrivements The enemies are found lyars and their blossoming hopes are blasted by the Lord so that the Angels in their heavenly Chore may sing this song of triumph in behalf of the Saints Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy excellency Thus have we seen the truth cleared that the appearances of the Lord are eminent and immediate in the time of his peoples greatest distress and the reasons of the point asserted we shall now gather the Vintage and press the full clusters of it to make a cordial wine for fainting Saints in an evill day The Doctrine thus cleared and asserted doth offer us many truths writ with a beam of the Sun known and read of all men As 1. Doct. That the Saints are a people of Gods special care They are much in the thoughts of God and lye near his heart It is a truth God careth for man and beast he exerciseth a general and a providential care towards all his creatures The care of a Creator like the light of the Sun goeth through the whole world his going forth is from the end of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal 19. vers 6. All men yea the worst of men on this side hell are debtors to God and owe all their safety to his care whose is their breath and in whose hands are all their wayes But he hath a peculiar and paternal care over the Saints That Distich of Musculus cometh in fitly Est Deus in coelis qui providus omnia curat Credentes nunquam deservisse potest A God there is whose providence doth take Care for his Saints whom he will not forsake Saint Paul that he might commend Timothy fully to the Philippians useth these expressions Phil. 2. vers 20. I have no man like-minded he could not finde so choice a spirit not a man of his minde he was a None-such and wherein did this singularity shew it self Why in this who will naturally care for your state as principles of nature carry out the Father carefully to provide for the safety of his children Childless persons drive on a single and selfish interest but parents do wrap up their childrens good in all their actings spending many a careful thought on them how to render their lives safe and comfortable So vers 20. When all seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ good Timothy naturally tendered the Churches welfare laying out his thoughts and care how to promote her spiritual advantage A singular patern to which the carriages of few men run parallel in these selfish dayes of ours when the publick is too much drowned and swallowed up in private interests A sad deportment and that which ought to be lamented with tears of blood Oh! should the Lord write after this copy what a woe case were we all in but here is our comfort God careth for the righteous and this speaks his care with the shrillest Eccho that he naturally careth for them even with the tenderest bowels of an indulgent father See that 2 Chron. chap. 16. vers 9. The eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him his eyes run implying the celerity and swiftness of God in hastening relief to his people Isa 31. vers 5. As birds flying so will the Lord defend Jerusalem his eyes run through the whole earth implying the universality of help not a Saint in a dark corner of the world under any streights but the Lord seeth him nay run to and fro the providence of God moveth in circuitu if it be low water now it will be high water anon there are tydes of mercy So Isa 49. v. 16. Behold I have graven thee upon the palm of my hands thy walls are continually before me We read that the names of the twelve Tribes were engraven upon twelve stones on the breastplate of Aaron when he appeared before the Lord Exod. 28. vers 11. And the shew-bread was kneaded into twelve Loaves being therefore called panis propositionis because it represented the twelve Tribes and set upon the table before the Lord Lev. 24. vers 5. to enminde the Lord of his people We say and it too often proveth true out of sight out of minde but now the Saints cannot be out of Gods minde because ever in his sight Oh! the care of God toward his people how great And oh the comfort of his people from this care of God how sweet and precious is it and wherein appeareth this care of God Why in his eminent and immediate appearances for them in the day of their distress hear at what a rate God speaketh Isa 40. vers 27 28. Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God God cannot indure such a distrustful whining spirit in his people It hath an unhandsome reflection upon God as though he had remitted if not cast off the care of his people therefore the Lord comes on with his high intergatories Hast thou not known what an ignorant people Hast thou not heard what a deaf people What keep no intelligence with heaven That the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary his strength is Almighty therefore he cannot faile his care is everlasting therefore hee cannot be weary of helping afflicted ones how eminent and various was the Lords care in Jonah's preservation There is a storm at Sea Jonah is cast
proud Senacherib and upon what occasion to wit the vaunting of his success in wars and what follows why vers 16. Therefore the Lord the Lord of Hosts shall send among his fat ones principal Officers leanness and under his glory he shall kindle a fire May not that contempt which the Lord hath poured upon some ones of you spring much from this root of pride I onely interrogate and such are the respects I bear to the Restorers of our peace and liberty that I wish the Dream may be to those that hate you and the interpretation unto your enemies Dan. 4.19 2. Own the people of the Lord who have owned you and the cause ye have ventured in They have had a large share in the fraughtage of that ship which by the blessing of God hath been steered by you through stormy Seas into safe harbour Read often Prov. 27. vers 10. Thine own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not You cannot own God fully if you dis-own his people who under him have assisted in the work ye have had many Auxiliaries who have helped the Lord and you against the mighty Some have jeoparded their lives unto death with you in the high places of the field Judg. 5.18 It would be very disingenuous to lay such aside as depontani and over-look them as men unworthy of your knowledge now ye sit in the high places of the Nation An heathen mans conscience smote him for this crime The Popish Souldiers that went against the Angrognians said that the Minities with their prayers conjured and bewitched them that they could not fight And did not ye at Edge-hill say with others now for the fruits of prayer and did not ye receive the fruit of it Gen. 11. vers 9. and shall the guilt thereof rest upon you And some again have been upon the Mount when you have been fighting with your enemies in the valley and they have not been your worst friends neither have ye received the least aid from them When Moses held up his hands Israel prevailed and when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed Exod. 17. vers 11. Ye owe much of your success and safety in the late wars to a praying people It was observed and it was very observable that immediately after monthly Fasts ye got ground of the enemy in some places did not the Lord proclaime in your Camp that this and that victory was as well the procurement of a praying Assembly as of a fighting Army And that it was as well fetched from heaven by the tears of his Sanctuary as finished upon earth by the blood of his Souldiery Indeed ye deserve blame if ye sleight them who have wept and mourned fasted and prayed yea wrastled hard for you and by whom the war hath been much carried on in heaven and we are equally blame-worthy if we slight you who have laboured and marched and run the hazzard of limbs and lives yea fought and bled and by whom the war hath been carried on upon earth The Lord heal all hard-thoughtedness betwixt you and us and make us one as ever in the truth and cause of Jesus 3. Be humbled before the Lord A great Queen said she feared more the prayers of Ioha Knox and his Complices than an Army of thirty thousand men Trap in Mat. 18.19 for all the acts of violence and injustice either acted or permitted by you in the heat of war for all the breaches of Oaths or Covenants with God or man for all your failing in or falsifying of the Vows which ye made to God in the day of your didistress And that there hath been any root bearing wormwood or gall springing up among you that of your selves men have arose speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Act. 20. vers 19. It is too evident and hath been that the File-leaders and heads of many errours that I say not of all have been either of or found shelter in the Army both have many witnesses at this day living It took no great impression upon us that some stragling persons blurted off their pot-guns at us but when we were drawn upon by the Souldiery or by a sort of men abetted by them and marching under their protection this was great grief of heart unto us this was a sword in our bones and drew tears from our eyes in our secret mournings before the Lord This made our prophane neighbours scoffe at us when they heard those truths opposed those doctrines contradicted those wayes of the Lord evil-spoken of and those Ordinances sleighted for which ye and we had contested so long with tears and blood This made the Cavalier-Minister laugh in their sleeves and deride when they beheld the faithful Ministers faithful to the Lord to you and to the cause contended for vilified disdained and traduced and that by a party of our own Army when they themselves met with no such trouble from them This we looked upon as very disingenuous to us and as unsuitable returns to the Lord. The Lord clear up his great Gospel truths above all possibility of mistake by his own people and fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the Sea Isa 11.9 that ye and we may go forth by the footsteps of the flocke that ye may feed your kids by the shepherds tents and all of us may know where the Lord Jesus feedeth and where be maketh his flock to rest at noon Cant. 1. vers 7 8. For why should any of you be as they that turn aside by the flocks of strangers 4. Quicken up that ancient zeal those burning affections and that fixedness of spirit in you for the Lord his truth his cause his Ministery and his people which once ye had O if ye find your present peace and pleasure honor and full estates dignity and dominion to begin raise unwholesome damps in your souls the sense of grace received and mercies received so eminent as yours have been and the Nation in you will excellently scatter them if well improved Oh then the Champions of Israel who have vanquished Christ and his Churches enemies in the field draw up gallantly against corruptions in your own hearts As ye have subdued Kingdomes so work righteousness As ye have bled for Christ in time of war so bow down to Christ in time of peace As ye have sealed the walls of the mighty so pull down the strong holds of sin within your own bosomes As ye have cast down the high ones of the earth from their seats so cast down imaginations and every high thought which exalteth it self against the knowledge of God As ye have captivated Nations and people to the obedience of your commands so bring all the thoughts the Nations and people of those little worlds your hearts into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ and his Gospel-commands 2 Cor. 10. vers 5. Your war is an In-land war now the weapons of your warfare are not now
great ignorance and pardon it and quicken up all to keep up a sense of those great things God hath done for us 2. Fruit. This frequent discoursing of mercies healing redeeming quickning and soul-converting mercies c. will more endear God unto the Saints it will unite the heart into a more holy affection unto God Cant. 8. vers 5. When the Church came out of the Wilderness leaning upon her Beloved when Christ was with her in the Desart and brought her forth from a wilderness where she was at loss in her self which way to go and what to do how to get her wants supplied how to have her life secured how to get her feet directed and how to free her self from those briars and thorns wherewith she was intangled and Christ had then come in had born her up upon everlasting Arms and had brought her forth into the plain field Oh how is she affected with this at what a pitch of love doth her spirit soar how doth she press upon Christ how would she get into the heart of Christ and bring Christ into hers vers 6. she puts up this request unto him Set me as a seal upon thy heart for love is strong as death which conquers all men jealousie is cruel as the grave which spares none and is never satisfied the coals whereof are coals of fire which have a most vehement flame many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be utterly contemned What a Pyramid of love is here What an unquenchable flame What a pearl of great price is here and what is the fuel of this great fire What oyle doth kindle it and what preserves it Surely a strong and lively sense of Christs great affection to her when in the wilderness So were our thoughts and discoursings more upon wilderness-grace wilderness-convictions wilderness-illightenings wilderness-preservations and wilderness-deliverances our hearts would be more heated with holy affections towards God then they are Oh sure If there be any water at the bottome of the Well this Bucket will draw it up if any love in the heart sense of mercies will bring it forth and the more we discourse of mercies the greater will be our sense of them Nay farther a serious pondering of and a savoury discoursing over mercies received will bring forth a strong affiance in the people of God it will marvellously scatter those fears and desponding thoughts which too often seize upon the best in a day of distress and will excellently prevail with the heart to bring it off from creature-shiftings and seekings to stay upon God Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience we should never so fully experience the power providence goodness and faithfulness of God if we should alwayes sail upon a quiet sea if our estate was ever prosperous if the scale of adversity were not sometimes the heavier but when we are cast upon rough and rocky seas when we are brought into streights and know not what to do why then we see what a God can do what bowels mercies and tender-heartedness there is in a good God toward us Alas men as men and the best men are but men sometimes and in some cases are apt to fancy God to be like themselves as streight-hearced and incompassionate as themselves to persons in distress but now when an adverse condition hath put it to the trial then they have found it otherwise That as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him Psal 103. ver 11. Nay as the heavens are higher than the earth so are Gods wayes wayes of mercy to his afflicted ones higher than mans wayes And his thoughts thoughts of goodness and good will to his oppressed ones above mans thoughts Isa 55. vers 9. Now this experience workketh hope hope of succour and relief from the Lord in an evill day this works an holy boldness in the Saints makes them lift up their heads and hearts with comfort and say Supplies will come Deliverance will come we will stand still and wait for the salvation of our God They rowl themselves upon God when new troubles do arise quiet their spirits with an expectancy of help from the Lord their sure friend their tried friend their good friend and in an high way of beleeving speaks Davids language Why art thou cast down O my sonl why art thou so disquieted within me hope thou in God for mercy will come supplies will come I have found the Lord to be a good God a faithful friend that never failed me a present help in the needful time of trouble Indeed men may fail as not being able to help but God is Omnipotent he can do abundantly above what we can ask or think or men may fail as being wearied out with often helping I but the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Again man may fail as not knowing the straits we are in or how to bring us out I but our heavenly Father knoweth the things we stand in need of and how to deliver his out of every temptation Lastly man may fail being changed in his affection unto us I but there is no variableness nor shadow of turning with God he loves with an everlasting love These Considerations do caray on the Saints with an holy triumph in their saddest pressures and they say with David I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Psal 43. vers 5. I might multiply Scripture presidences abundantly upon this head but that it is done already in another place Oh friends gather up your experiences and lay them by you among your choisest treasures you will finde them to be singularly useful to you in an evill time and to others also your experiences being faithfully reported to them will comfort quiet and beget holy affiances in them when they are brought into greatest streights Psal 34. vers 2. My soul shall make her boast of God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad Rejoyce in tribulation This was the end proposed by the onely wise God Psal 78. vers 7. why his people should shew forth his marvellous works namely that their posterity might be taught that excellent lesson of living by faith that they might set their hopes on God that they might beleevingly expect help from a faithful from an Almighty God Fruit 4. A lively sense of mercy received leads the soul on in Gods wayes it is a notable friend to Religion and provokes unto love and good works That soul thrives best heaven-ward which is most in the sense and serious meditation of the goodness of the Lord this will carry on the soul amain for God What a gracious frame was Jacobs spirit in when he had the lively apprehensions of rich mercies and great deliverances upon it Gen. 35. vers 2 3. Jacob said
thankfull Christian he that pondereth most upon mercies prayeth God most for mercies Oh! when you take a serious review of that change which is upon your hearts of the drawings of your soules heaven-ward and holiness-ward and compare time with time state with state what you were with what you are how once you affected sinne but now abhor it how once you loathed Ordinances but now you love them how once the wayes and people of God were distastefull unto you but are now delightfull how little you had once to shew for heaven and how much you have now through grace to shew against Hell Oh! this will give the heart a notable vent and fill the cup of praise up to the brim Psal 103. ver 1 2 3. Bless the Lord O my soul sayes holy David but doth he stay here no and all that is within me bless his holy name every instrument must be put into tune every musical key must be touched every fret must be stopt and every string must be struck to sound forth the praises of God nay again Bless the Lord O my soul and why so what 's the reason of this thankfulness O soul thou hast great cause to be thankfull For 1. He forgiveth all thine iniquities thou hadest the the guilt of many and great sinnes upon thee which would have sunk thee down into Hell and Jehovah hath given thee pardon of them all nay farther 2. He healeth all thy diseases thou wast full of noisome and unclean distempers many running sores of filthy lusts and Jehovah hath vouchsafed healing grace unto thee Thou art now a justified and a sanctified person 3. Thou art now redeemed from Hell and destruction and wearest the loving-kindnesses and tender mercies of God as a royal Diadem upon thy head and therefore Oh my soul bless bless bless Jehovah Oh if ever we come to such a sence of pardoning healing redeeming crowning satisfying and renewing grace from the Lord as David we shall then take up David's harp and awake our glory to the praises of a good God could we but fasten this upon our spirits that distinguishing grace hath severed us from those heaps of rubbish that we were mingled with and cull'd us out from the rabble of the world that we were herded with our spirits would be turned to this evangelical duty and ditty and if so how like heaven it self would the Church look how would the militant resemble the triumphant Jerusalem and how would every nook of the Gospel-world ring with the praises of God Mr. Baxter Part 4 Saints Rest page 134. The liveliest embleme of heaven that I know upon earth is when the people of God in the deep sence of the excellency and bounty of God from hearts abounding with love and joy do joyn together both in hearts and voices in the cheerfull and melodious singing of his praises 4. You will live best unto God because You will live most to the glory of God sence of grace received will enflame you with a greater zeal for God and will put every wheel into motion We are naturally slow to action upon the best account the best drive on but heavily few drive at Jehu's rate very few there be whose soules make them as the chariots of Aminadab that make haste in Gods work like the roe or young hart upon the mountains of spices If ever Christians drove heavily the Christians of this age do if ever the elementary constitution of the Church was earth and water now it is little of fire appears unless in unhappy contentions and animosities or else in love to the world and thus most are red hot their affections all on a flame the Lord quench them But Oh! where is their zeal for God where is the courage activity and resolvedness for God where 's the minding of the things of God and holy contendings for God which the Puritans of old that were Puritans of the good old way have discovered there is too much of the Laodicean spirit too many Gallio's amongst us men are high indeed to enthrone their own opinions and perswasions whilest Religion in the main duties of it is neglected they are exact in rything mint and commin and annise whilest judgement mercy and faith the weightier matters of the Law are neglected Math. 23. vers 23. The great Zealots of the times are for the most part men of corrupt and Heterodox Judgments who are violent enough to impose their Errours and false conceptions the Lord take them off from their speed least they out run the Constable as they have done the Covenant He 's a stranger in Israel that knows not these things and he 's no true son of Zion that doth not bewail them but now would we have the water run in the right channel would we have our spirits up in a right zeal for God let our meditations be often and serious upon what God hath done for our soules Oh when a Saint fetcheth oyl from experienced loving kindnesses it makes the wheels run glib when he argues Hath God done thus and thus for me hath he left others of my kindred of my contemporaries of my acquaintance who had the same advantages of Education Ordinances and Gospel-Opportunities with me in ignorance and unbelief and hath he enlightened me called me wrought faith in me appointed me to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ and shall not I be active for Christ shall I sit still brooding over a patch of this base world or drive on the interest of mine own honour or advantage when the name of God is blasphemed the honour of Christ is empeached Gospel-truths are corrupted Gospel-Ordinances reviled and the way of God evil spoken of did Croesus his dumb son cry out for the life of his father and shall I that can speak now be dumb Do I thus requite the Lord is this my kindeness to my friend Jesus Saint Paul had another spirit like that of Calebs 1 Cor. 15. ver 8. last of all he was seen of me also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the emphasis lies in Me there 's an accent upon that word of Me vile Me wretched Me sinful me unworthy Me who was a blasphemer a persecutour and an injurious person but by the grace of God I am what I am by the Grace free grace and rich grace of God I am a chosen vessel a servant of the Lord a believer an Apostle of Jesus Christ and what followes doth he lap up this talent in a napkin doth he sing a requiem to his soul and bid her take her case no saies he his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly then they all minde here how the sense of grace received carries out his soul in activity for God to labour yea to abound in labour for from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum he fully preached the Gospel of Christ and wrote more Epistles then all the other Apostles did hence he exhorteth the Saints vers 58. alway to
in spiritualls Who is he that shall deliver out of my hands I le make you know that ye are wrastling not with flesh and bloud men that are your matches but with principalities and powers who are much above your match there is impar congressus a great disparity in strength and wisdome and all things between me and you What are all the powers of the world to the God of this world what are all the dark plots of men to the projects of the Prince of darkness What are all the whiffling waters to the great Apollion who is the destroyer why answer greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 thy power Sathan is but a limitted power Christ our Redeemer hath thy chain in his hand thou canst not break one link of it nor pass one hairs breadth beyond thy boundaries besides Thou canst have no power against me except it be given the from above If thy Commission hath not pass'd the Signet-Office in heaven it is but a blank piece of parchment Nay farther thy head and thy heart and thy hand too have been all at work in those mischiefs that were plotted and acted against us and yet thou seest we have a sure footing in peace and safety when we were under water we had never come up again but had been quackned in the deep if the strength of thine arm could have kept our heads down when we were shut up in prison we had never came forth if thy bolts and locks could have made fast the doors when we were under the power of our enemies we had never come of with life if thy malice could have turned the points of their weapons against us But God made us to be pitied of all those that carried us away captive Psal 106. ver 46. Our sicknesses had been mortal if thou couldest have spilt the potion or stirred up the humours to have encreased the malignancy of the distempers but in all things wherein thou didst deal proudly God was above thee and he that rebuked thee in thine instruments will rebuke thee also in thine agency He that defeated thee as worldly Governors will defeat thee as spirituall wickedness also That wisdome goodness and power which secured our temporalls against thee will much more secure their spiritualls If thou couldest not spill our blood much less shalt thou be able to split our souls If thou couldest not take away our credit we are sure thou shalt not take away our crown If our goods were out of thy reach much more shall our graces and our glory be He that delivered us out of the mouth of the Lion will deliver us from every evil work and preserve us to his heavenly kingdome But further if Sathan shall argue Who doubts the power of God or who disputes against his omnipotency but wherefore should God put forth his Almightiness to secure you against me what claim can ye make to that mercy and goodness ye speak of let your reply be Gal. 1. ver 4. That Christ gave himself for your sinnes that he might deliver you from this present evil world according to the will of God even your father And that sin and Sathan are they that make this present world evill all evills flow from them If therefore God our father willed the death of his Son to deliver us from this present evil world he willed his death to deliver us from thee and that bastard brat of thine sin also And more John 14. ver 30. The Lord Jesus said of thee the Prince of this world hath nothing in me nor any power over me and if not in Christ then neither in us at least not over us so that thou shalt be able to undoe us and destroy us We are one with Christ he is the head and we the members and we can lay a Gospel claim which is a good title to all Christ and to all of Christ which is communicable to the creature The Apostle gives us good warrant 1 Cor. 3. ver 21. All things are yours and why ye are Christs yea so Christs as that Christ is yours a relative propertie as is between husband and wife Hence 1 Cor. 1. ver 30. He is made unto us of God wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption as if the Apostle had said the wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption which are in and wrought by Jesus Christ are by deed of gift through grace made over unto us So then against thy wiles and stratagems and cunning methods O Sathan We have the wisdome of Christ which is ours for direction to secure us Against thy accusations enditements and charges for sin we have the righteousness of Christ which is ours for justification to acquit us against those heart-defilements corruptions and concupiscences wherewith thou wouldst soil us and foil us we have the holiness of Christ which is ours for Sanctification in some measure to defend us and against thy might and malice treachery and tyranny we have the kingly office of Christ his authority his omnipotency which are ours as to Redemption to protect us Oh this this name of the Lord thus displayed and believed upon is a strong tower in the hour of temptation All the batteries of Hell cannot make a breach in it Now then get into this hold shut the doors upon you and let your temporal preservations be as locks and barrs to forbid Sathans entrance Lift up your shield of Faith embossed with your own experiences and wherever that Lion shall roar upon you give him battel fight him upon his own ground be steadfast in the faith keep true to your own experiences and believe without wavering the unchangeableness of Gods nature and Attributes and the Yea and Amen of all his Promises Improve the sense of eminent mercies and deliverances by way of comfortable assurance to your selves in all your castings down and fears of your eternal welfare But I shall speak little and warily on this head having touched upon it already in a foregoing use and least presumption should get up and carnal Professours should kindle a fire fetching fuel from this passage and compass themselves about with sparks walking in the light of this fire and in the sparks which they have kindled which notwithstanding all these confidencies their doom is pronounced by the Lord himself that they shallly down in sorrow Isa 50. ver 11. Indeed this humour is very ranck Ministers cannot with all their pains preach and pray and print it down And therefore I direct this discourse to the children of the new birth who have the witness within themselves of the work and truth of grace such may fetch much comfort from the appearances of God unto them in a day of distress they may argue Is not the life more worth them meat and the body then raiment Is not the soul more precious then name credit limbs and life Have the mercies of God been so signally remarkeable upon a temporal
and as much off from God as to any real actings for God as though they were under no extraordinary Obligation unto God which is a brand upon them and notes out a very dis-ingenious and unworthy spirit Vocal thankfulness is the least part of gratitude the whole man should be wholly taken up in the duty it is not the water which passeth through a single spout that will turn this great wheel but the full stream which through many pipes flowes from the fountain All that is within me praise his holy name David thought the all of his soul in every faculty little enough for that great work Psal 103.4 nay too little and so Psal 116.9 he saies I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living indesinenter ambulabo I will not onely take a turn or two with God but will walk constantly to the end of the race thorough the exercise of every grace the faithfull discharge of every duty the conscionable performance of every service yea though all the Acts and parts and methods of Religion and all this he engageth as a Testimony of his thankfulness to God for eminent mercy in that full and memorable deliverance which he obtained happily in the desert of Maon 2 Sam. 23.25 26. When God fetched off Saul who had begirt David and his men with his Army where he was in eminent danger to have been surprised had not the Lord in way of seasonable Providence alarum'd Saul by the Philistines who then invaded the land This was a right improvement of such a mercy But alas How few be there who tread in David's steps who act up with such resolution and fixedness of spirit for God under the sence of admirable and obliging Providences How little are Providences taken notice of how little are they improved by most so as to quicken them up to more activity for God are there not many who steal murder commit adultery and swear fasly as though they were delivered to do all these abominations Jer. 7.9 10. do they not act as high in waies of sin as ever It is with many in this point as it is with some vapouring tradesmen who live and spend all in riot and luxury till they are clap'd up by their Creditours but when their friends have compounded for them procured their enlargement and given them a trading stock again they promise fair and fair what good husbands they will be and tuckle hard to their trades for a while but within a short space they forget their poverty and imprisonment and lash out again as much as ever so 't is with many men who being brought off by the Lord from some pressing calamity they speak good words and carry it very well for a little time but then they break out into the same excess of sin and vanity as ever what a sudden and strange work was upon Israel when God had set them upon drie land Exod. 15.31 yet Moses and Miriam had scarcely finished their Psalme of praise when Chap. 15.24 The people murmured and spake high against God O take heed of this spirit lest the Lord swear unto you in his wrath as he did to Rebellious Israel that you shall not enter his rest I shall shut up this Use with that Memento of the Apostle Jude verse 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance how the Lord having saved the people out of Egypt afterward destroied them that believed not that acted not up by faith to those mercies received that improved not those advantages of mercy and providential Administrations which the Lord had put into their hands in subserviency to his glory and their own establishment in that inheritance the Grant whereof God had given to their forefathers Ah friends we have much of Israels blood in our veins of Israels impatiency murmuring rebellion and dis-ingenuity upon our spirits Our feet have often stood upon the brink of Jordan and yet we have not passed over into our land of Rest at least the Canaanites are still in the Land O take heed of Infidelity and unsuitable returns after such signal and astonishing Deliverances both personal and National lest the destroyer come amongst us and disinherit us but let us all learn the minde of God in these glorious Transactions live up unto them and acknowledg before Angels and men that Vnless the Lord had been our Help our soules had dwelt in Silence FINIS A Table of Errata's Page 2. l. 32. read seasonableness p. 4. l. 16. r. people 6. r. Jer. 45. ib. last adde h to the first word 7.10 leave out And 12.8 r. on 14.2 leave out over against the sea 24.21 r. Deut. 4.37 26.4 adde a to gain 28.17 r. his ib. 32. r. confuteth 32.35 r. unto holiness 32.12 r. habitation 33.30 r. Cant. 8. 35. add me in the margin 35.30 r. is 36. 1. r. appearances 37.36 r. commented 40.20 r. 1 Kings ib. 22. r. means of safety 41.25 r. creature 42.18 r. undo 43.30 r. a tempting 46.32 r. was 55.24 r. just complaints 56.3 r. of Jesus 59.25 Leave out the first yea 60.6 leave out those 62.13 leave out our 64. r. cucurrimus 64.14 r. unite 65.30 r. Salvianus 66.6 r. how raw and unskilfull ib. 12. r. expert 67.27 r. possession p. 68. 5. r. slashed 70.9 r. once of you 71. r. that in the margin under the second head ib. 35. adde us 72.25 r. begin to raise ib. 29. r. ye champions ib. l. 30. r. Christ's ib. 34. r. sealed 74.24 r. psal 107 ib. 30. r. census 78.27 r. If they have wearied thee in the land of peace then what wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan Jer. 12.5 89.9 r. beam 90.7 r. cues ib. 34. r. rescuing 92.14 r. Vzzah 100.7 r. Ezek. 9. 102.35 r. discourseth 105.5 r. Witches Samuel ib. r. 1 Sam. 28. 106. II. read nepheshi 107.15 r. the praises of the Lord 109.25 r. and with his own arm 121.35 r. ghnal-banim 122.4 r. quiet 122.4 in the Margin r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 133.21 r. unsuiteable 154.34 for exact r. cast 163.16 r. looked 164.27 r. praiseth 178.18 r. heart-communing 176.39 r. discoursed 181.2 r. woofe 184.31 r. feats 189.32 r. get 194.15 r. propositum 211.22 r. of their 224. II dele But 228.27 r. setters 237.23 r. Isa 43. 241.12 leave out Next ib. 21. r. diseased ib. 24. r. dele not 242.29 r. waxed ib. 38. r. saw Dedica or damnationis Christianorum is to be placed in the Margin of 242. 243.12 r. change 247.18 dele as ib. 25. r. your 251.34 r. physitians 253.7 r. was to ib. 38. r. your 257.22 adde the greatest sinners 260.25 r. Doegs 262.17 vieth 267.3 r. 1 Sam. 13.8 and 1 Sam. 10.8