Counsel to the Afflicted, Question 3 · Propositions
BEfore I anſwer this Queſtion, I ſhall premiſe five or ſix things.
1. It was Gods Providence, not your own prudence, or diligence, or any other act of yours, that preſerved you from ſuſtaining any loſs or damage by the late Fire, Pſal. 16.5. Thou maintaineſt my lot. Pſal. 3.8. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Pſal. 40.17. Thou art my help and my deliverer. When ever a righteous man is delivered from any trouble, his deliverance proceedeth from the Lord, Pſal. 34.17. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. As God ordereth the rain where it ſhall fall, and where it ſhall not fall, Amos 4.7. I cauſed it to rain upon one City, and cauſed it not to rain upon another: ſo it is he alſo that ordered this Fire, what City, and what Houſes, and Goods it ſhould conſume, and what it ſhould not conſume. The Fire, the Winds, and all other Creatures do nothing but at Gods appointment, Pſal. 148.7,8. Praiſe ye the Lord from the earth, ye Dragons, and all deeps; fire and hail, ſnow and vapour, ſtormy wind fullfilling his word. The fire and the wind are ruled by God, they ſpare thoſe whom God appoints them to ſpare; they afflict thoſe whom God appoints them to afflict; they do nothing but by commiſſion from God. The ſame God that ſets the bounds of the Sea, and ſaith, Hitherto ſhalt thou come, and no farther; and here ſhall thy proud waves be ſtayed, Job 38.11. did ſet bounds to this raging Fire, and appointed how far it ſhould proceed, and where its flames ſhould be ſtayed: wherefore ſuch as were preſerved from ſuffering damage by this Fire, muſt not aſcribe their ſafety partly to Gods Providence, and partly to themſelves; but muſt give all the glory to God, and ſay as David did of his deliverances, Pſal. 4.8. Thou Lord only makeſt me to dwell in ſafety. Pſal. 62.2. He only is my rock and my ſalvation.
2. We ought to look upon it as a great mercy to be ſpared from Gods judgments, Neh. 13.22. Spare me according to the greatneſs of thy mercy. Lam. 3.22. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not conſumed: eſpecially we ſhould account it a great mercy to be ſpared from Gods judgments in a time of common calamity; when multitudes, as good, or better than we are, have been great ſufferers. When Lot eſcaped with his life out of Sodom, though he ſuſtained ſome loſs by the burning of that City, yet he looked upon it as an exceeding great mercy, that his life was preſerved, Gen. 19.19. Be hold now thy ſervant hath found grace in thy ſight, and thou haſt magnified thy mercy, which thou haſt ſhewed unto me in ſaving my life.
3. When the Lord hath given us any remarkable deliverance, or beſtowed any other ſignal mercy upon us, it ſhould put us upon enquiring, what return we ſhould make unto God for his benefits. When David had received a great deliverance, he maketh enquiry, what he ſhould render to God for ſo great a mercy, Pſal. 116.12. What ſhall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? This is needful, becauſe God expects that when he hath done great things for us, we ſhould be returning ſomething to him, Iſa, 5.1,2. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it—and he looked that it ſhould bring forth grapes.—Luke 17.17,18. Jeſus anſwering, ſaid, Were there not ten cleanſed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, ſave this ſtranger. Where we may obſerve, 1. The Lord Jeſus expects that when we have received any eminent favour from him, we ſhould return ſomething for what we receive; elſe why did he ask, Where are the nine? 2. The Lord takes notice who they are that do, and who they are that do not return according to the mercies that they receive from God. The Samaritan returned to give glory to God, the others did not. 3. There are very few, ſcarce one in ten, that make a return according to the mercies that they receive. There were ten cleanſed, and only one returns to give glory to God.
4. When any man faileth to return according to the benefits which he hath received, though he be a good man, God is much diſpleaſed at it, 2 Chron. 32.25. But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jeruſalem. God had in a wonderful manner delivered Hezekiah from death; and though he was a good man, ſo eminently good, that he excelled all the Kings that lived before him, and came after him, according to what we finde, 2 Kings 18.5. He truſted in the Lord God of Iſrael, ſo that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. Yet this good man Hezekiah failed to reader again according to the benefit done unto him; and what followed thereupon? wrath came upon him, and upon Judah and Jeruſalem for this very thing.
5. It is not every return will anſwer Gods expectation, but there muſt be ſome ſuitableneſs, ſome proportion between the mercies that we receive from God, and the returns that we make to God. Hezekiah was not wholly wanting in making return to God, for he praiſed God for recovering him from his ſickneſs, Iſa. 38.19. The living, the living, he ſhall praiſe thee, as I do this day: and after his ſickneſs he compoſed a Song or Pſalm to ſet forth Gods praiſe, and reſolved to ſing this Song in the houſe of God all the dayes of his life, Iſa. 38.9,20. The writing of Hezekiah King of Judah, when he had been ſick, and was recovered of his ſickneſs; then follows the Song it ſelf, to the 20. verſe, where he expreſſeth his reſolution by way of gratitude, to ſing this Song all the dayes of his life, The Lord was ready to ſave me, therefore we will ſing my Song to the ſtringed Inſtruments all the dayes of our life, in the houſe of the Lord. Yet notwithſtanding all this, Hezekiah is taxed with not returning according to the benefit done unto him.
6. They whoſe Houſes and Eſtates have been preſerved from this dreadful Fire, may know what they ought to return to God for this great deliverance, by obſerving what the Servants of God have returned unto the Lord, at ſuch times as God hath vouchſafed unto them any eminent deliverances, though it were not a deliverance from Fire, but from ſome other evil; and alſo by conſidering what ſpecial duties God calleth for in his holy Word from ſuch as have eſcaped thoſe judgments that have fallen upon other men, or have received any other ſignal mercy from the Lord. Theſe things being premiſed, I ſhall now anſwer the third Queſtion.