Inquiry for a Suitable Return for Continued Life In and After Time of Plague, Part 12
DIRECTION XII.
Since you live, after you have been in ſuch danger, truſt God for the future.HAth God ſpared you in ſuch a time of ſo great Mortality and Contagion, then learn to truſt your ſelf, and all your Affairs with God for the time to come: You have lived in time of danger, and have been in hazard of your life▪ and yet God hath preſerved and kept you: God hath called ſome to abide in the City, becauſe they could not remove their habitation without neglect of duty; for, where our duty lies and where our work is, that God calleth us unto; there we may truſt God, though our danger be never ſo great; becauſe, while we are in our duty, we are in our way, and God hath promiſed to keep us in all our wayes in time of Plague, Pſal. 91.11. Many had opportunity of retiring into the Country, without neglect of duty, without running away from duty (thoſe that went from their duty and work, which God expected they ſhould there have done, have cauſe to be humbled for their ſlaviſh feares of death, and great diſtruſt in God) and, the uſe of meanes, for preſervation, is not inconſiſtent with truſting in God, but is ſuppoſed and included in it, elſe it is not truſting in God, but preſumption; but many were obliged to abide upon the place, and God hath preſerved you amongſt them: Oh, what an obligation and encouragement is this for you, for the time to come, to put your truſt in God, in the uſe of meanes, in a way of duty; and, the more you are able to commit your ſelf to God in future dangers, the more you do improve this Providence of God in preſerving of you.
But, becauſe we need all helps and ſupports for putting our truſt in God, I ſhall lay down ſome conſiderations to help you more and more to truſt in God; premiſing firſt the nature of it, that you may perceive what it is, that you are exhorted to, when perſwaded to truſt in God.
Deſcription of truſt.Truſting in God is a ſpecial fruit of faith and hope, whereby the ſoul looking upon God in Chriſt, through a Promiſe, is in ſome good meaſure freed from fretting feares, and cutting cares, about the removing or preventing of ſome evil, or the enjoying or procuring of that which is good.
1. It is a fruit of faith; for therefore a Man truſteth in God, becauſe he believeth, and is perſwaded of the truth of what God ſaith, and believeth the performance of his promiſe, and ſo it is called fiducia fidei.
2. It is a fruit of hope; for therefore I truſt in God, becauſe I hope it ſhall be with me according to his Word: If I had no hope of this, I could not truſt in God, and ſo it is called fiducia ſpei.
3. This truſt hath God in Chriſt, through a Promiſe, for its object; We truſt in God, through Chriſt, eying the Promiſe: For, the Promiſe of God, is the foundation of our truſt in God, and the Promiſe of God draws forth the hearts of his People to truſt in him, Pſal. 119.42. — I truſt in thy Word.
4. The effect of this truſting in God is the quietation of the heart, and a freeing of the Soul (proportionably to the degree of his truſt) from fretting feares, and cutting cares about good and evil, to be avoided or procured, Pſal. 56.3. What time I am afraid I will truſt in thee. Verſ. 4. In God will I praiſe his Word; in God I have put my truſt, I will not fear what Fleſh can do unto me.
The Arguments for the moving you to truſt in God, for the future, are ſuch as theſe.
1.8 Arguments to truſt in God.Will not you truſt in God after ſuch rich and full experience that you have had of Gods taking care for you? Hath God cared for your life, and will not you truſt him for Food and Raiment? experience is a great ſupport for confidence in God, 2 Cor. 1.10. Who delivered us from ſo great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we truſt that he will yet deliver us. When David had had experience of Gods delivering him from the Lion and the Bear, he truſted in God to deliver him from the hands of the uncircumciſed Philistine, 1 Sam. 17.37. When thou haſt been in danger, God hath kept thee; and when thou haſt been in ſickneſs, God hath reſtored thee: and, if it be good for thee, he will do ſo again.
2. Will not you truſt in God that is All ſufficient and Allmighty, able to deliver you from any evil, able to beſtow upon you any thing that is good? He can remove your feares, and he can fill your deſires: According to your perſwaſions of a Mans ability to help you (caeteris paribus) will your truſt be in him, 2 Cor. 1.9. For we had the ſentence of death in our ſelves, that we ſhould not truſt in our ſelves, but in God which raiſeth the dead. That God that can raiſe the dead, may be truſted in any caſe or condition: You have found him able.
3. Will not you truſt in God, that is ſo willing to do you good? you may acknowledge Gods all-ſufficiency to be a ſupport for your truſting in him, but, the doubts that you find in your Soul, whether God be willing to do you good, is a cauſe of your (too frequent) diſtruſt in him: You muſt believe that God is a God of mercy, and ready to do for his People, whatſoever he ſeeth conduceth to his glory and their good: and, you may know his willingneſs by his promiſes, which are various, according to the condition that you are, or may be in: You have found him willing, and yet will you not truſt him?
4. Will not you truſt in a God, that is faithfull in all he ſaith? He declares his willingneſs to do you good, to ſupply your wants, to preſerve you in dangers, by his promiſe: for, a Promiſe of God is a declaration of his will, for the beſtowing of ſome good thing upon his People through Chriſt, and his will and purpoſe he will never change, and his Promiſe he will not ſuffer to faile: Will you truſt a Man that is faithful to his word, and not God? eſpecially after you have found him faithful in performing promiſe unto you.
5. Will not you truſt in God that is infinite in Wiſdom, and knowes how to order all your affaires? when your condition is altogether intricate, and you know not how to winde your ſelf out of difficulties, then your wiſe God can do it, 2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. —And, will you not truſt a God that is able and willing, and faithful and wiſe? eſpecially after you have experienced all theſe in God, in the late dangers and feares of death that you have been in? or, ſhall theſe qualifications of power, willingneſs, faithfulneſs, and wiſdom in Men (in their meaſure) be a ground of your putting civill truſt in them; and, ſhall not all theſe, that be in God without meaſure, be a ground of your putting Religious truſt in him?
6. Will not you put your truſt in God, ſince it is his due, it belongs to him of right? it is a part of your Spiritual Homage which you owe to God: Religious truſt doth ſo belong to God, that it will be Idolatry to place it in any thing beſides, Pſal. 115.7, 8, 9, 10, 11. It doth ſo properly and ſolely belong to God, that it is a Periphraſis of God to be the confidence of all the ends of the earth, Pſal. 65.5. Give to God the things of God, and give to the Creatures no more than belongs unto them: You have nothing elſe to truſt to, you muſt not place Religious truſt in men; not in great Men and Nobles, Pſal. 118.8, 9. nor in Riches, 1 Tim. 6.17. not in Horſes and Chariots, Pſal. 207. not in your own Righteouſneſs and Religious duties, Ezek. 33.13.
7. Will not you truſt in God who is ſo nearly related to you? Men are apt to truſt too much in th…ir e…rthly Friends and Relations: We put civil truſt and confidence in our neer Relations, becauſe of the affection that they bear unto us: Thus Children truſt to their Parents, and Wives in their Husbands, and one Friend in another; God is your Father, your Husband, and your Friend, and yet will you not put your truſt in him?
8. Will not you put your truſt in God for ſmaller things, ſince you truſt him for the greateſt? you truſt in God to deliver you from the torments of Hell; and, will not you truſt him to deliver you from farr leſſer evils? you truſt in him for Pardon, and for eternal life; and, will you not truſt in him for ſmaller matters? Will you truſt him wi…h your Soul, and not with your Body? for Eternal Life, and, not for Temporal? would you truſt a Man for thouſands, and not for Pence? eſpecially, when the Providence of God extends to the ſmalleſt concernments of his children, even to an hair of their heads, Mat. 10.30.
When muſt we put our truſt in Go…? In general I anſwer; At all times, Pſal. 62.8. Truſt in him at all times, ye People; pour out your hearts before him: God is a refuge for us. In Particular, truſt in God,
1. Six ſpecial times to truſt in God.In time of Sickneſs and Affliction upon your Body, Job 13.15. Though he ſlay me, yet will I truſt in him.
2. In time of outward Wants; in the loſſe of all things, 1 Sam. 30.3, to 7. Hag. 3.17.
3. In time of Deſertion; when you have not the ſmiles of his Face, Iſa. 50.10.
4. At the hour of death commit your Soules to him; truſt him with your Soul, Pſal. 31.5, 6.
5. In times of greateſt inconſtancy, Pſal. 46.1, 2, 3.
6. In times of Evil Tidings, Pſal. 112.7. He ſhall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, truſting in the Lord. Thus, if you truſt God more becauſe of the experience you have had in Gods keeping of you, you do, in this, improve this Mercy.