OCR Text |
Show GroiHids to confirm oHr Faith, of AJfJri~; · He hath faid, The rod of the wicktd fh•V >tat ~lwayurft uponthebac~oftberighteoUJ, Pfalm 125. 3· 2. It is truealfo concerning the Winters ofp<rticul~r-be/ieving So•tlr. Affiicrions in the fle01, hours of Temptation, hours of divine Defertion, (how fitly the notion of Winter agreeth to all thefe I have £hewed you, and that the Spoufe is fubjetled to them I have heretofore £hewed you; ) that thefe alfo will pafs. that they will be over a~d gone Experi ence tellifieth. The Lord will not call off for ever, Lam.3 ·3 r. Pj:.l.3o. 5· Hir anger endureth but for a mo:nmt, in hi! f•vour it life; rl'teping may mdure for a night, but j oy cometh in the morning. The Apollle calls our afHictions light and mommtany: For a fm•U moment have I forfaktn tbee, but :with great merciu wiY I gJther thee. ,In a little ,.ratb 1 bid my J~ce from thee for a mcme11t, but t~>ith everlaftiltg kjndneji will I h~vr mmy on tbee,jaith the Lord. Obferve the terms, A littlr wrath for a moment, for a little moment: but none of thefe aiHiCl:ions being joyous, but grievous, a little time in them to us feems long: and we are too prone to think when this night cometh,that it will never be light again, The Pfalmifi cries out,Pfal.77·7· WiUtbrL.rd cajf off for rver ,and wiU he bt favourable no more .i' Is his mercy clean gone for ever, and will his promife fail for evtrmore .i' Befid es, (therefore ) the confirmation of this from Scripture and all Experience. Let me £hew fame reafons of it which may further fettle·· us in this perfuafion,and give us hope in a day of Evil. Firll, as to Ptrfec~ttio>tt (which are the Churches Winter,) I lnalllnew you that i)Ot only the Truth of God fiands engaged for the £hortning of thole times of bloud, and that Truth of God, jullilicd by an uninterrupted courfe of Providence ; but both the love of God, and his care for his people, and the juflice of God againll his Ene·. mies will bring this to pafs. I. Firll I fay, tht LtrdJ. indulgmcr to , and care of hit own people will enforce it. He hath faid, Zrch. 2. 8. He th3t touebeth you toucbeth the apple of my Eye ; a man is tender of the apple of hi< Eye. The people of God are called his Cbildrm; hi1 Servantt, the membtu of Chrift. How u,nreafonable is it to think that any lliould voluntarily fubjecr his Children, nay the members of his body to the violence and cruelty of firangers. A Father or Mother may fulfertheir Children to receive fame little correction from llrangers for their good, when either they have behaved themfelves unbecomingly towards them, or haove been any way rude: a man that cHr Wimer foaU paft a man niay fulfcr a Chirurgeon to put forr.c of his m(mbe;s ro pain, for their good and advantage; but it cannot be ima;:,ined that a Parent !hould ever endure a llranger .to be always beating his Children, nor a Chirurgmn! always fearing or cutting his fle£h; and can any one think that God £hould indure the fl!aogers of the world, thofe that are his enemies as well as theirs, to be always wounding, and beating, hanging , and burning his Children; thole of whom he hath faid, that they are the Apple of his eye; whom he calls his Jewels, &c. it is one thing to poli01 a Jewel ( this the prudent owner may fuffer; ) it is an other thing to 'debafe i-c, and knock it in pieces; 'tis one thiug to whip, and moderately conect a child, it is another thing to kill it, and always torment it. Gods challenings of his people are rooted in Love (>Pbom he loveth (faith the Apofile)· he cluf!meth; ) being · bottomed and rooted in Love, they. mull needs alfo increafe and grow up in Love, they mu~ be m~afured and regulated by f.:ov~' Love will not .f.Jifer excefs tn pum£hments. Pa~tlnm jitpplicrt{atlf · eft patri. But thi1 i< not aU. 2, Not only Lov' and 1t1:1derne[rin God, will make this Winter lhort, butalfo that care which he hath ofhis people. I [hall in~ · fiance in two things, wherein Scripture fpeaks of Gods care on his peoples behalf. 51. That the Spirit may /lot f~~l. i 2, That they may not put forth their hand to commit iniquity. Firll, I fay th•t the Spiritr of hir peoplr may 1101 fail before bim. As God will have refpect to his own faithfulnefs, that it !nail not · fJil; which he gives as a rcafon, Pj:.l. 89. 33· why he would but vifit their ini<juities with rod1, and thtir tran[greffiont with firipes; fo in all\icting, he hath a care that his peoples Spiri/J jh1U . not fail, If. 57• 16. For IwiU notcnHtmdforev<r, neithrr t~>iU I be a/nuJI wrotb,fo tbe Spiritr jhould fJil be(o'l me, aHd thr S oult ll'hich · I have made; and f,ather to confirm you in this, This care of· God, that the Spirit~ of; his people fhould noi fJil before him, is not in him meerly founded in his pity; but in the ZeaJ,·•which . for his own Glory is infeparabie from his mofi Sacred Majefly; . fori do not underlland by the failiMg ofthtSpiritro[hu people, themeer.Je/UjHia,or faintir.gs of their vital Spirit's; but the falling1 of: |