Thirty-Six Sermons, Collection of sermons 2 · Group of sermons 1 · Sermon 14
AD AULAM.
Sermon XIV.
WOBURNE. 1647. AUGUST.
Psal. 27. 10.
When my Father and my Mother forsake me, the Lord taketh me up.
1. THings that have a natural weakness, in them to bear up themselves, do by a natural instinct lean towards, and (if they can find it) clasp about, something that may sufficiently support them: but in default of such, will catch and twine about whatsoever is next them, that may be any little stay to them for any little time. So a Hop, for want of a strong Pole, will wind it self about a Thistle or Nettle, or any sorry weed, The heart of man, whilst it seeketh abroad for somewhat without it self, to rest it self upon; doth even thereby sufficiently bewray a secret consciousness in it self, of its own insufficiency to stand without something to support it. If it find not that which is the only true support indeed; it will stay it self as long as it can upon a weak staff, rather than none. Chariots, and Horses, and Riches, and Friends, &c. any thing will serve to trust in; whilst no better appeareth.
2. But that our hearts [deceitful as they are] delude us not with vain confidences, we may learn from the Text, where it is, and where alone, that we may repose our selves with full assurance of hope not to fail. David affirmeth positively, what he had found true by much experience: that when all others from whom we expect help, either will not, or cannot; God both can and will help us, so far as he seeth it good for us, if we put our trust in him. When my Father and Mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. The words import, First, a possibility of failing in all inferiour helps. It is supposed Fathers and Mothers and proportionally all other friends and helps) may forsake us, and leave us succourless: [When my Father and my Mother forsake me.] Secondly, a never-failing sufficiency of help and relief from God. though all other helps should fail us: [Then the Lord will take me up.] The two points we are to speak to.
3. Father and Mother. First, who are they? Properly and chiefly, our natural Parents, of whom we were begotten and born; to whom (under God) we owe our being and breeding. Yet here, not they only; but by Synecdoche all other kinsfolks, neighbours, friends, acquaintance; or indeed more generally yet, all wordly comforts, stays, and helps whatsoever. 2. But then, why these named the rarest; and the rest to be included in these? Because we promise to our selves more help from them than from any of the other. We have a nearer relation to, and a greater interest in them than any other: and they, of all other, are the unlikest to forsake us. The very brute Creatures forsake not their young ones. A Hen will not desert her Chickens: nor a Bear indure to be robbed Mat. 23. 37. Prov. 17. 12.of her Whelps. 3. But then Thirdly, why both named; Father, and Mother too? Partly, because it can hardly be imagined, that both of them should forsake their child, though one should hap to be unkind. Partly, because aforeign. Naz. orat. 16.the Fathers love being commonly with more providence, the Mothers with more tenderness; both together do better express, than alone either would do, the abundant love of God towards us: who is infinitely dear over us; beyond the care of the most provident Father, beyond the affection of the tenderest Mother. 4. But then Fourthly, When may they be said to forsake us? When at any time they leave us destitute of such help as we stand in need of. Whether it be out of Choice, when they list not to help us, though they might if they would: or out of necessity, when they cannot help us, though they would if they could.
4. The meaning of the words in the former part of the verse thus opened: the result thereof is, that There is a possibility of failing in all inferiour helps. Fathers and Mothers; our nearest and dearest friends; all earthly visible helps and comforts, always may fail us, sometimes will fail us, and at last must fail us, leaving us destitute and succourless. The truth whereof will the better appear, if, instancing especially in our natural Parents (as the Text leadeth us) we take a view of sundry particular causes of their so failing us, under the two general heads but now mentioned: to wit, Choice and Necessity. Under either kind three. Sometimes they forsake us voluntarily, aad of their own accord, and through their own default; when it is in their power to help us, if they were so pleased: which kind of forsaking may arise from three several Causes.
5. First, Natural Parents may prove unnatural, meerly out of the naughtiness of their own hard and incompassionate hearts. For although God hath imprinted this natural affection towards their own off-spring in the hearts of men, in asforeign. deep and indelible characters, as almost any other branch of the Law of Nature (O nimiùm potens, Quanto parentes sanguinis vinculo tenes, Natura!) yet so desperately wicked is the heart of man, that if it should be left to the wildness of its own corruption, without any other bridle than the light of natural principles only, it would eftsoons shake off that also: and quite raze out all impressions of the Law of Nature; at least so blur and confound the Characters, that the Conscience should be able to spell very little (or nothing at all) of Duty out of them. Else what needed the Apostle, among other sins, to have listed this foreign, this want of natural affection, in two several Catalogues, Rom. 1. andRom. 1. 31. 2 Tim. 3. 3. Tit. 2. 4. 2 Tim. 3. Or to have charged Titus, that young women should be taught among other things, to be foreign, to love their Children? If he had not observed some to have neglected their duty in that particular; whereof Histories and experience afford us many examples. Can a woman forget her sucking Child, that she should not have compassion of the Son of her womb? Saith the Lord by the Prophet. He speaketh of it, as of a monstrous thing, and aforeign. Eurip. in Phoenis. Act. 2. foreign. Id. in Iphig. in Aul. Act.scarce credible of any; Can she forget? (she in the single number:) But withal in the same words implyedly confessing it possible in more than one: Yea, they may forget: (They, in the plural number) Isa. 49. 15.
6. Secondly, Parents, not altogether void of natural affection, may yet have their affections so alienated from their children upon some personal dislike, as to forsake them. Of which dislike I deny not but there may be just cause. As among the Hebrews in the case of Blasphemy, the Fathers hand was to be first in the execution of his Son, Deut. 13. And both Civilians and Casuists allow the FatherDeut. 13. 7. jus abdicationis, a right of abdication in some cases. But such cases are not much pertinent here, or considerable as to our purpose. For they that give their earthly Parents, just cause to forsake them, can have little confidence that God as their heavenly Father should take them up. But when Parents shall withdraw their love and help from their Children upon some small oversights, or venial miscarriages; or take distaste at them either without cause, or more than there is cause; upon some wrong, either surmise of their own, or suggestion of others; (as Saul reviled Ionathan, and threw a Iavelin at him to smite him; interpreting1 Sam. 20. 30. 33.—22. 8. his friendship with David, as it had been a plotted Conspiracy between his Son and his Servant, to take his Crown and his life from him:) Or when they shall disinherit their Children for some. deformity of Body, or defect of parts, or the like: As reason sheweth it to be a great sin, and not to be excused by any pretence: so it is an observation grounded upon manifold experience, that where the right heirs have been disinherited upon almost whatsoever pretence; the blessing of God hath not usually followed upon the persons, and seldom hath the estate prospered in the hands of those that have succeeded in their rooms.
7. Thirdly, Parents, whose affection towards their Children hath not been sowred by any personal dislike, may yet have their affection so over-powered by some stronger lust, as to become cruel to their children, and forsake them. For as in the World, Might oftentimes over-beareth Right: so in the soul of man, the violence of a stronger passion or affection, (which in the case in hand may happen sundry ways) beareth down the weaker. It may happen, as sometimesEuripid. in Iphig. & alii. it hath done, out of Superstition. So Agamemnon sacrificed his Daughter Iphigenia. The Heathens, generally, deceived by their cheating Oracles, and somePsal. 106. 37. Jer. 32. 35. of the Iews led by their example, sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils, and caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. Sometimes out of revenge. As Medea, to be revenged of Iason for leaving her, and placing his affection elsewhere, slew her own two Sons, begotten by him, in his sight. aVirg. eclog. 8.Saevus amor docuit natorum sanguine matres Commaculâsse manus.) Sometimes out of fear. So the Parents of the blind man owned their Son indeed, Ioh. 9. butJoh 9. 21.—13. Iosephus. for fear of being cast out of the Synagogue durst not speak a word in his just defence; but left him to shift as well as he could for himself. And Herod the great, for no other cause than his own causeless fears and jealousies, destroyed many of his own Sons. Sometimes out of the extremity and impatience of hunger. As in the sad story of the two mothers, who in the great Famine at the siege of Samaria 2 King. 6. 28, 29. Deut. 28. 53.had covenanted to dress their Children by turns, and to eat them: so fulfilling, even to the letter, that heavy curse which God had long before threatned against Israel in case of their disobedience. Sometimes out of voluptuousness and sensuality. As do thousands of prodigal ding-thrifts every where in the World; who by gaming, drinking, luxury, and other riot and intemperance vainly wasting their estate, (out of which, by St. Pauls rule, they ought to provide and2 Cor. 12, 14. lay up for their Children) bring themselves to penury, and leave their children to beggery.
8. And if by all these, and sundry other ways besides, it may happen fathers and mothers so often to forsake their children: the less are we to marvel, if our brethren, kinsfolks and neighbours; if our familiar acquaintance, companions and friends, prove unfaithful, and shrink from us when we stand in need of them: dealing deceitfully as a Brook. It is Iobs comparison, Iob 6. The Brooks in Winter,Job. …. 15, &c. when the Springs below are open, and the bottles of heaven pour down water from above, overflow the banks and the meadows all about, and look like a little Sea: but when the heat of Summer is come, and the season dry, vanish; so as the weary Traveller can find no refreshing, nor the Cattel quench their thirst thereat. Such is the common friendship of the World. Whilst we are full and stand in no need of them, they are also full of kindness, and overflow with protestations of love and service, Amici divitis multi; every friend will say, I am Prov. 14. 20. Sirac 37. 1.his friend also, Yet they talk but vanity all this while, every one with his neighbour: they do but flatter with their lips, and dissemble with their double heart▪ Psal. 12. 2.When we seek to them aforeign. Eurip. in Phoenis. act. 2. foreign. Id. in Here, fur. act. 2.—Diffugiunt …adis cum faece siccatis amici. Horat. Od. 1. 3. Luke 10. 32. Psal. 41. 9. foreign. Naz.in our need, they look upon us stightly, and at a distance; at the most, let fall some overly expressions, that they wish us well, and pity our case (Good words are good cheap:) but do little or nothing for us. It may be, while we are up and aloft, they will crouch under us, apply themselves to us, lend a shoulder, yea, and sweat, to lift us up yet higher. But if we be going down; then at the best (as the Priest and Levite in the Parable) they will see and not see, but pass by, without so much as offering a hand to help us up: nay, it is well if they lift not up the heel against us, and help to tread us yet lower.
9. As then, first, Natural Parents many times want natural affection: so common friends many times want common honesty, and fail those that trust to them. And as they secondly sometimes withdraw their love from their Children upon slender dislikes: so these many times take toy at a trifle, (actum est de amicitia!) and pick quarrels to desert us, when we have not done any thing that may justly deserve it at their hands. And as they lastly too much forget their Children, whilst they too eagerly pursue their own lusts: so these to serve their own ends, lay aside all relations, and break through all obligations of friendship: and if our occasions require something should be done for us, that may chance put them to some little trouble, hazard, or charge, or otherwise standeth not with their liking; put us off, as they did their fellow-virgins, Ne non sufficiat, Provide forMat. 25. 9. yourselves; we cannot help you. This is the first kind, a voluntary forsaking; wherein the fault is theirs: when our fathers, and mothers, and friends might help us, but do not.
10. The other kind is an enforced forsaking, and without their fault: when they cannot help us if they would. Which also ariseth from three other causes; Ignorance, Impotency, Mortality. First, there is in the understandings of men a great deal of darkness, for the discerning of Truth and falshood, even in speculativis, matters which stand at a certain stay, and alter not: but much more for the discerning of Good and Evil in Practicis; matters, which by reason of the multiplicity of uncertain and mutable Circumstances are infinitely various. Whereby it becometh a matter of greater difficulty, to avoid folly in practice, than Error in judgment. No wonder then if the carefullest Parents, and faithfullest Friends be many times wanting in their help to those they wish well to: when either can find no way at all, whereby to to do them good; or else pitch upon a wrong one, whereby unawares they do them harm.
aH…r. 2. Ep. 1.Sedulitas autem stultè quem diligit, urget.
—Nil moror officium, quod me gravat.
The body of a Patient may be in such a condition of distemper, that the learnedst Doctor may be at a stand, not knowing perfectly what to make of it: and so must either let it alone, and do nothing; or else adventure upon such probabilities, as may lead him to mistake the Cause, and so the Disease, and so the Cure; and so in fine to destroy the Patient by those very means, whereby he intended his recovery. So Parents and others that love their children or friends well, and desire nothing more than to do them good; may be so puzled sometimes by the unhappy conjunctures of some cross Circumstances, as that they cannot resolve upon any certain course how to dispose of them, deal with them, or undertake for them with any assurance, or but likely hope of a good effect: but they must either leave them to wrestle with their own burdens, as well as they can; or else fall upon some course at all adventure, (intending their good thereby) which may perhaps in the event turn to their undoing.
11. And as we may fail of needful help from our best friend for lack of skill: so may we also secondly for want of Power. Verily all sufficiency is not to be found but in the Almighty Creator alone. No Creature can yield out of his own sufficiency, a salve for every sore, a supply for every want, a help for every defect: but there is some impotency, some vacuity, some deficiency, in the best. Agar lovedGen. 21▪ 15, 16. her Infant well enough, and knew too well enough what would save his life for that time, if she could tell how to get it. But all the water in the bottle being spent, and no more to be had in that dry wilderness, no help but she must forsake him, and (for ought she knew, and relating but to ordinary means) he must perish. All she could do was, to cast the poor child under a shrub, and get her a good way off, that she might not see him die, and to lift up her own voice, that she might not hear his, Gen. 21. And Moses his Parents, when they had hid him as long as they could or durst, at last forsook him, and left him in the flags Exod. 2. 5. 1 King. 17. 12.by the brink of the River Nilus, Exod. 2. The widdow of Sarepta also, 1 King. 17. in the long drought and famine, being stored of provision but for one single repast for her self and her son, saw no possibility of further relief for her self and him; nor knew how to shew her love to him otherwise, than by dying with him for company. By fire, water, long sickness, suits, plunderings, and a thousand casualties, our distresses may be such; as that our dearest and greatest friends may not be able to relieve us.
12. Nor only are all men subject to Ignorance and Impotency; whereby they may forsake us whilest they are: but they are also thirdly under a state of mortality; and so must needs forsake us, when they shall be no more. Put not your trust in Princes, nor in any child of man: for there is no help in them, Psal. 146.Psal. 146. 2. No, is? Sure some help there is, some little help in them, whilest they live, and are in power? But the meaning is, there is no certain help in them; none for a man to trust to: because there is no certainty how long they shall enjoy that life and power, For so the reason there followeth: For when the breath of man goeth —3.forth, he shall turn again to his earth, and then all his thoughts perish. The Prophets accordingly, Isa. 2. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for Isa. 2. 22.wherein is he to be accounted of? The Soul and Body (in whose conjunction life consisteth) are tied together by no stronger a thred, than the breath that passeth in and out by the Nostrils. Cut that thred, stop that breath, down falleth the tallest, and the stoutest, and the proudest of the sons of men; and when he falleth, all his wealth, and all his pomp, and all his thoughts and devices, and projects and contrivances fall with him. And this the end of every man; the utmost period of the race, the last act upon the stage: neither hath he any more a portion Eccl. 9. 6.for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun. And how should they then help others, that can no longer sustain themselves? Needs must they forsake us, when breath and life forsaketh them. So it is with all other earthly comforts whatsoever; pleasures, riches, honours, and the rest. When their time is come, they vanish; make themselves wings, and away they hie: and when they are upon Prov. 23. 5.the wing, look after them we may a little while, and to little purpose, but reclaim them we cannot. They soon get out of sight leaving us behind to grieve for the loss (as Rachel for her children) mourning, and refusing to be comforted, becauseJer. 3. 15. we are and they are not.
13. The more unwise we, to raise to our selves such vast hopes, as sometimes we do, upon so narrow, so frail a bottom. Would any wise man when he might have a staff, lean the weight of his body upon a crutch of reed? Or trust to a gutter-spout to quench his thirst, when he might go to a spring? Yet so is he that putteth his trust in any earthly Father or Friend, or in any Child of man, or inJer. 2. 13. any other creature or thing, besides God: That forsaking the fountain of living waters, which runneth clear, and can never be drawn dry, diggeth to himself broken pits, that can hold but a little water, and that but muddy at the best, and yet cannot hold that long neither. You shall find set down in Psal. 20. the different confidences of the worldling and the true believer, and their different successes. Their confidences, Ver. 7. Some put their trust in Chariots and some in horses: (and some in other things) but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Their Successes, Ver. 8. They are cast down and fallen: but we are risen and stand upright. David and Goliah met upon these very terms. He came out against David, trusting in the arm of flesh: David went out against him in the 1 Sam. 17. 45.name of the Lord of Hosts. And they prospered accordingly. Behold Goliah is brought down; David riseth: Goliah falleth; David standeth upright. Fallax Psal. 33. 17.equus; A horse is counted but a vain thing (and a vain thing it is to count otherwise of him, for he is truly but a vain thing) to save a man. So are Chariots, and Forts, and Armies, and Navies, and all earthly reliances. He that resteth upon them, down come they, and then down cometh he too. The horse and the Exod. 15. 1. Isa. 31. 1.—3.rider, both thrust into the Sea together. Exod. 15. Wo unto them then that stay on horses, or trust in Chariots: when the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they shall all fail together, Isa. 31.
14. It were good wisdom for us therefore to deal safely; (foreign hath ever been held a wholsom politick Aphorism by the wise ones of the world:) never to rely on those that may deceive us; to esteem all outward helps but as they are, and to use them, and to trust to them accordingly. That is to say, as blessed means of our good and comfort, so long as God is pleased to lend them us, and to sanctifie them to us: but such as we can have no hold of, neither any assurance that they shall not fail us. To honour our Fathers and Mothers; to love our Friends and Allies; to pray for the lives and prosperity of Kings and Princes: Again, to gather wealth by fair and just means; to raise our selves to honours by faithful services and vertuous endeavours; to take our portion of lawful and regular pleasures: These we may do; those we must do. But take we heed we place not our felicity in the enjoyment, or please our selves too much in the confidence, or allow our selves over-much freedom in the use of any creature. Lest as Ionas was over-joyed when the Gourd sprang up, and over-vexed when itJon. 4. 6, 8. withered: so the loss of what we over-valued whiles we had it, over-whelm us with grief and impatience, when we must part from it. Quem res plus nimio delectavêre Horat. 1. Epist. 10.secundae, Mutatae quatient.
15. If we would seriously consider, what defects the things of this world are subject unto, and what Casualties, and frailties: we should reap (at least) this threefold benefit thereby▪ It would make us first, receive these outward things with more thankfulness; secondly, use them with more moderation; thirdly, forgo them with more patience than usually we do. aHor. 3. od. 29.Laudo manentem: si celeres quatit Pennas, resigno quoe dedit; as he said of Fortune. Whilest we have them it will become us to bless God for them, and to make our best of them: But if they will be gone, farewel they: let them go; but let us bear up notwithstanding, since we are neither hopeless, nor helpless. When all faileth, we have yet one string left, which we are sure will hold: even the name of the Lord our God; who standeth ever by us, ready to take us up, when all others have forsaken us. Which is the other Point in those latter words of the verse. The Lord taketh me up.foreign
16. The primary signification of the Hebrew Verb here used, is, together: and so it might allude to that, whereunto our Saviour in the Gospel resembleth his compassion towards the Jews, of a Hen gathering her Chickens under her wings.Mat. 23. 37. But it is here rather translated by taking up, as the word very usually signifieth. 1. And it seemeth to resemble the state of young infants, by the unnatural Parents exposed to the wide world, (as we read Cyrus, and Romulus, and some others, both in Fables and Histories to have been) where they must have perished, if some good body had not taken pity of them, and taken them up. 2. Or the state of some impotent neglected Cripple, like him that lay before the Pool of Joh. 5. 5.—7.Bethesda, and had neither limbs to put himself into the water, nor any friend to help him in. 3. Or the traveller in the Parable, Luke 10. that lay in the high-wayLuke 10. 30.—35. wounded by thieves half dead, where he must have died out-right, if the Samaritan Passenger had not taken him up, and taken order for his tending and recovery.
17. The plain meaning is, that though our Fathers and Mothers forsake us, though all other friends and comforts fail us; because they either cannot, or will not help us: yet our heavenly Father never doth, nor will fail or forsake those that put their trust in him, Yea rather, then is his providence nearest, and his help readiest, when we are most forsaken of others, and left most destitute of all worldly succour. Whence it is, that so often in the Psalms, to procure readier help from God, David alledgeth it as a forcible argument, that he was a desolate Psal. 10. 14.—22. 11.and forsaken man. The poor committeth himself to thee, for thou art a helper of the friendless. O go not far from me; for trouble is nigh at hand, and there is none to help me. O be thou our help in trouble, for vain is the help of man, and many—108. 12. the like. And how often doth the Lord himself (whose general providence watcheth over all men, yea, even all creatures) profess himself yet in a more special manner to be the father of the Fatherless; and to have a special care of the Psal. 68. 5.—146. 9.widow, the poor, and the stranger above others: as being more destitute of worldly succour and friends, than others are? In three Psalms together you have passages—145. 14.—146. 8. 9. to this purpose: In the 145th. The Lord upholdeth all those that fall, and lifteth up all those that be down. In the 146th. The Lord helpeth them that are fallen; the Lord careth for the stranger, he defendeth the Fatherless and Widow. In the 147th. he feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. The observation is common, that—147. 9. he instanceth in aJob 38. 41. Mat. 6. 26. Luke 12. 24.the raven rather than in any other bird: because of all other birds the ravens are observeth bforeign. Arist. 6. Hist. animal. 6. See Aelian. 49. plin. 10. 12.soonest to forsake their young ones. Whether the observation hold or no, it serveth to my purpose howsoever: for if God so sufficiently provide for the young ravens, when the dams forsake them: will he not much more take care of us, when our Father and Mothers forsake us? Are not we (stampt with his own image) much more valuable with him than many ravens?
18. But dictum factum: These are but words: are there producible any deeds to make it good? Verily there are: and that to the very Letter. When Ishmaels Gen. 21. 19.Mother despairing of his life had forsaken him, and laid him down gasping (his last, for ought she knew, or could do to help it) in the wilderness; the Lord took him up: He opened a new spring of water, and opened her eyes to see it: and so the child was preserved, Gen. 21. When Moses his Parents also had forsaken Exod. 2. 6.him (for they durst not stand by him any longer) and laid him down among the rushy flags; the Lord took him up too. He provided him of a Saviour, the Kings own Daughter; and of a Nurse, the Childs own Mother: and so he was preserved too.▪ Take but two Examples more, out of either Testament one;—9. David and St. Paul: both forsaken of men, both taken up of God. How was David forsaken in Psal. 142. 5. when he had looked upon his right hand, and saw no man that would know him, he had no place to fly unto; and no man cared for his soul. But all the while Dominus à dextris: there was one at his right hand (though at first he was not aware of him) ready to take him up: As it there followeth, ver. 6. I cried unto thee, O Lord, and said, thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living. And how St. Paul was forsaken, take it from himself, 2 Tim. 4. 16. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all forsook me. A heavy case: and had been heavier, had there not been one ready to take his part, at the next verse, Nevertheless the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, &c. What need we any more witnesses: In ore duorum, In the mouth of two such witnesses, the Point is sufficiently established.
19. But you will yet say, These two might testifie what they had already found post-factum. But David in the Text pronounceth de futuro, before-hand, and that somewhat confidently. The Lord will take me up. As he doth also elsewhere; Sure I am that the Lord will avenge the poor, and maintain the cause of the Psal. 140. 12.helpless, Psal. 140. But is there any ground for that? Doubtless there is: a double ground; one in the nature, another in the promise of God. In his Nature four Qualities there are, (we take leave so to speak, sutably our own low apprehensions; for in the Godhead there are properly no Qualities:) but call them Qualities, or Attributes, or what else you will; there are four perfections in God, opposite to those defects, which in our earthly Parents we have found to be the chiefe causes why they do so oft forsake us: which give us full assurance that he will not fail to take us up, when all other succours fail us. Those are his Love, his Wisdom, his Power, his Eternity: all in his Nature. To which four add his Promise; and you have the fulness of all the assurance that can be desired.
20. First, the Love of our heavenly Father towards all mankind in general, but especially towards those that are his Children by adoption and grace; is infinitelyaTàm pater nemo: tàm pius nemo. Tertul. de poenit. cap. 9. 1 Joh. 4. 16. beyond the love of earthly Parents towards their Children. They may prove unnatural, foreign, their bowels may be crusted up against the fruit of their own body. But the Lord cannot but love his people. He can as well cease to be, as to love: for he is love. If he should deny that, he should deny himself: and that he will not do, because he cannot; and that he cannot do, because he will not. Potenier non potest. It is impossible for him, to whom all things are possible, to deny himself. The Church indeed, out of the sense of her pressures, letteth all2 Tim. 2. 13. complaints sometimes as if she were forsaken: (But Sion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me, Isa. 49. 14.) But she complaineth without cause; it is a weakness in her, to which during her warfare she is subject by fits: but she is checkt for it immediately, in the very next verse there, Can a woman forget her sucking Child, &c. Yea, they may forget: yet will not I forget thee.
21. Again, their Love may be alienated by needless jealousies, or false suggestions, and so lost. But his Love is durable; he loveth his own unto the End. HeJoh. 13. 1. knoweth the singleness of their hearts, and will receive no accusation against them. Quis accusabit? Who dare lay any thing to the charge of his Elect, whenRom. 8. 33. he standeth up for their Iustification? They alass are negligent enough; unthankful undutiful children: nay (confest it must be) other while stubborn and rebellious. But as Davids heart longed after Absolom, because he was his Son, though2 Sam. 14. 1. a very ungracious one: so his bowels yearn after those that are no ways worthy Luke 15. 21.(but by his dignation only) to be called his Sons. Forgiving all their by-past miscariages upon their true repentance; receiving them with gladness. though they have squandered away all their portion with riotous living, if they return to—13. him in any time with humble, obedient, and perfect hearts; and in the mean time using very many admonitions entreaties, and other artifices to win them to repentance; and forbearing them with much patience; that they may have space Apoc. 2. 21.enough to repent in. And if upon such indulgences and insinuations they shall come in; he will not only welcome them with kind embraces, but do his part also to hold them in, when they are even ready to fly out again, and were it not for that hold, would in all likelihood so do. So as unless by a total wilful renouncing him they break from him, and cut themselves off, nothing in the world shall be able to separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Iesus our Lord.Rom. 8. 39.
22. Yet again, Parents affections may be so strongly byassed another way, (as we heard) that in the pursuit of other delights, they may either quite forget or very much disregard their Children. But no such thing can befal our heavenly Psal. 149. 4.—35. 27. Mich. 7. 18. Deut. 10 15.Father; who taketh pleasure in his People, and in their Prosperity: whose chiefest delight is in shewing mercy to his children, and doing them good. [The Lord had a delight in thy Fathers to love them, Deut. 10.] And whereas the Church (as we also heard) is apt to complain, that she is forsaken and desolate: The Lord by the Prophet giveth her a most comfortable assurance to the contrary, Isa. 62. Thou shalt no more be called forsaken,— &c. But thou shalt be call'd Hephzibah.—(ItIsa. 49. 14.—62. 4. is a compound word, and signifieth as much as My delight is in her: and so the reason of that appellation is there given) For the Lord delighteth in thee. That for his Love; the first Attribute.
23. His Wisdom is the next. Fathers and Mothers (through humane ignorance) cannot perfectly understand the griefs of their Children, nor infallibly know how to remedy them, if they did. But God, who dwelleth in light, nay, who is light, knoweth the in most recesses, the darkest thoughts and secrets of all mens1 Tim. 6. 16. 1 Joh. 1. 5. hearts, better than themselves do. He perfectly understandeth all their wants, and what supplies are fittest in their respective conditions, with all the least circumstances thereunto belonging. When all the wits and devices of men are at a loss, and know not which way in the world to turn them, to avoid this danger, to prevent that mischief, to effectuate any design: the Lord by his infinite wisdom can manage the business with all advantage for the good of his children, if he see it behoveful for them; bringing it about suaviter & fortiter, sweetly and without violence in ordering the means, but effectually and without fail in accomplishing the end.
24. Which wisdom of his, observable in all the dispensations of his gracious providence towards his children; we may behold as by way of instance in his fatherly corrections: As the Apostle, Heb. 12. maketh the comparison between the different proceedings of the fathers of our flesh, and the Father of Spirits, inHeb. 12. 9.—10. their chastisements. They do it after their own pleasure, saith he: that is, not always with judgement, and according to the merit of the fault; but after the present disposition of their own passions, either through a fond indulgence sparing the Rod too much, or in a frantick rage laying it on without mercy or measure. But it is not so with him: who in all his chastisements hath an eye, as to our former faults, (such is his Iustice;) so also and especially to our future profit, (such is his mercy:) and ordereth all accordingly. His blessings are our daily food: his corrections our Physick. Our frequent surfeiting on that food bringeth on such distempers, that we must be often and sometimes soundly physickt, or we are but lost men. As therefore a skilful Physician attempereth and applieth his remedies with such due regard to the present state of the Patient, as may be likeliest to restore him to a good habit of body and consistency of health: so dealeth our heavenly Father with us. But with this remarkable difference. The other may err in judging of the state of the body, or the nature of the ingredients; in his proportions of mixture; in the dose, and many other ways: But the Lord perfectly knoweth how it is with us, and what will do us good, and how much, and when, and how long to continue, &c. and proceedeth in every respect thereafter.
25. Thirdly, whereas our earthly Parents have a limited, and that a very narrow power, and cannot therefore do their children the good they would: our heavenly Fathers power is (as his wisdom) infinite. Not limited by any thing,Psal. 147. 5. but his own blessed will: (quicquid voluit fecit; as for our God he is in heaven, he hath done whatsoever pleased him.) Not hindred by any resistance, or retardedPsal. 135. 6.—115. 3. Rom. 9. 19▪ by any impediments: (Quis restitit? Who hath resisted his will? Rom. 9.) Not disabled by any casualities, occurrences, or straitness of time: (adjutor in opportunitatibus, Psal. 9.) Even a refuge in due time of trouble. That is his due time Psal. 9. 9. Gen. 22. 14.commonly (dominus in monte) when it seemeth too late to us, and when things are grown in the eye of reason almost desperate and remediless. The most properPsal. 119. 116. time for him to lay to his hand, is, when (to our apprehensions) his Law is even quite destroyed, when Men have fallen upon most cursed designs, trampled all Laws of God and Men under their feet, and prospered. And here indeed is theRom. 18.—20. right trial of our faith, and whether we be the true children of faithful Abraham: If we can hope beyond and against hope: That is, if we can rest our faith intirely upon the power and providence of God; not staggering (through unbelief) at any promise, seem it never so unlikely: and continue stedfast in our holy obedience to the will of God, not staggering (through disobedience) at any command, seem it never so unreasonable. Abraham did both: and out of this reason, as the Apostle rendreth it, Rom. 4. because he was firmly grounded in this persuasion—21. of the power of God, that what he had promised he was able also to perform.Zach. 1. 5.
26. The last attribute proposed is Gods Eternity. Our Fathers and Mothers where are they? And do Prophets, or Princes, or any sort of men live for ever? They all pass like a shadow, wither as grass, and are driven away as the Grashopper. When they must go, they cannot help themselves: and when they are gone, they cannot help us. They are mortal men; he the immortal God: they are dying men; he the living God. Life is one of his Prerogatives Royal. All other things that partake of life in any degree, have but a derived life, and such as either shall have an end, or at least had a beginning. God alone hath life in and of himself: and his life alone is measured, not by Time, but Eternity. He is therefore said toPsal. 57. 15. Deut. 32. 40. Psal. 102. 12.—27. inhabit Eternity. He lifteth up his hand, when he sweareth by himself, having no greater to swear by) and saith, Behold I live for ever. His remembrance endureth throughout all generations; and his years fail not.
27. And therefore when our Fathers, and Mothers, and friends forsake us▪ because either their Love faileth, or their skill faileth, or their power failleth, or their life faileth: our heavenly Father, who wanteth neither love, nor wisdom, nor power, nor life, but is infinite in all; we may rest assured is every way accomplished to succour us at all assays, and to take us up. And that he will engage all these for our relief, if we will but cast our selves wholly upon him; we have his gracious promise in the last place, to fill up the measure of our assurance. Whereby he hath obliged himself, not only to give us all spiritual Graces and comforts, necessary for the everlasting salvation of our souls; but also to provide and furnish us with all the good things, and to preserve and deliver us from all the evils of this life; so far as in his excellent wisdom he shall see it conducing to1 Tim. 4. 8. his glory the weal of his Church, and the salvation of his chosen.
28. The particular promises are many, and lie scattered every where in the holy Scriptures: whence every man may gather them for his own use, as his occasions require. I shall mention but that one general Promise, which thoughDeut. 31. 8. Josh. 1. 5. Heb. 13. 5. delivered first to Ioshua in particular, yet was afterwards applied to other persons also, and alledged, Heb. 13. as a ground of such general duties as are common to all Christians; and fitteth as properly as any other to the present argument: namely this, I will not fail thee, nor forsake the. He promiseth, that whosoever else faileth us, yet he will not: all one with what is here presumed in the Text by David. And having promised it, we were very Infidels, if we should doubt whether he will perform it or no. It were to question his wisdom, as if he had not considered what he promised when he passed his word: to question his Love; as if he would not be as good as his word: to question his Power, as if she could not be as big as his word.
29. Having therefore such promises, dearly beloved, it behoveth us to be very wary, when troubles lie long and heavy upon us, that we complain not too distrustfully, as if God had quite forsaken us. And the rather, because it is an infirmity incident to very good men: but yet an infirmity, and so confest by them. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? &c. Davids complaint in Psal. 77. But presentlyPsal. 77. 7.-9. acknowledging it an Error, he corrected himself for it, in the immediate following words, And I said, it is mine infirmity. We by his example, early to—10. silence all tumultuous thoughts, and secret murmurings of our evil hearts, which are so ready to charge God foolishly, and to break out into unseasonable complaints Job. 1. 22.against his most wise and holy dispensations: and that by meditating effectually upon the Attributes and Promises aforesaid. Whoso confidently professeth himself to trust in God, (as almost all do;) and yet repiningly complaineth as if God had forsaken him, (as very many do:) either maketh God a liar, or bewrayeth himself (in some degree) an Hypocrite. He maketh God a liar, if he say God hath forsaken him, when he hath not: and he bewrayeth some Hypocrisie in himself, if he say he putteth his trust in God, when he doth not.
30. And as it becometh us not to be too querulous for … present; so neither secondly, to be too sollicitous for the future. I forbid not to any, but require rather in every man a moderate provident care for the getting, keeping and disposing of the things of this life, in an industrious and conscionable use of lawful means; still leaving the success entirely to the good pleasure of our heavenly Father. But sure, did we firmly believe that his care over us is no whit lesser, but rather infinitely greater than that of our earthly Parents: we would not suffer our selves to be disquieted with perplexed thoughts, nor our spirits to be vexed with distrustful anxieties about the future success of our affairs. Children, whilst they are in their Fathers house, and at their finding, use not to trouble themselves with such thoughts as these, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewith Mat. 6. 31.shall we be cloathed? But leave that wholly to their Father, to whose care it properly belongeth. We are very meanly persuaded of our heavenly Fathers affection towards us, and of his care over us, if we dare not trust him as securely for our dayly provisions; who knoweth that we stand in need of all these things, 32.about which we so needlesly trouble our selves. Enough it is for us, in all things by Supplications and Prayers for what we want, and thanksgiving for what wePhil. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 7. Psal. 55. 22. have, to let our requests be made known unto him; and then to be careful for nothing any farther, but to cast all our care and our burden upon him: and doubtless he will not suffer us to lie and perish; but will take us up, take care of us, and nourish us.
31. Neither, thirdly, let us droop, or be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow, as if some strange thing had befallen us; upon the fail of any earthly helps or hopes whatsoever. If our Fathers and Mothers affection be not towards us, as we think it should; if they have entertained worse thoughts of us than we deserve: if they have not discretion and foresight to give us meet and orderly education, and to provide us means sortable thereunto: if they be fallen into want, or otherwise disabled from doing for us what formerly they intended, or we expected▪ if they be taken from us before we be grown up: If our friends, whom we trusted have proved unfaithful, and shrunk from us when we had use of them; if those proportions of Wealth, Honour, Reputation, Liberty, or whatsoever other worldly conveniences and contentments, we have formerly enjoyed, be pared away to very little, or even to nothing: we have yet one reserve, that we dare rest surely upon; one anchor of hope that will hold in despight of all the World;Heb. 6. 19. even the goodness and faithfulness of our gracious Lord God. To him have we been left ever since we were born: and he hath not hitherto failed nor forsaken us,Psal. 22. 10. but hath preserved us in being; in such a being; as he who best knoweth what is fit, hath thought fit for us. It is our fault, if the experience of the time past do not breed in us hope for the time to come, and that a lively hope, a hope thatRom. 5. 4. 5. Psal. 48. 14. will never shame either him or us: even this, That he Will also be our guide unto death; that he will not fail or forsake us henceforth for ever; but will preserve us still in such a condition as he shall see good for us. Persecuted we may be and2 Cor. 4. 9. afflicted, but forsaken we shall not be.
32. We ought therefore to possess our souls in patience, whatsoever shall betideLuke 21. 19. us in the World: and not to consult with flesh and blood, in seeking to relieve our selves in our distresses, by engaging in any unworthy or unwarrantable practice; or by siding, partaking, or but basely complying with the workers of wickedness, that we may eat of their dainties. Is it possible we should be so ill advised,Psal. 141. 4. Jon. 2. 8. as to think to escape the storm when it approacheth towards us, by making shipwrack of a good Conscience? If we go after lying vanities, (and such are all Creatures, all men lyars, all things vanity:) do we not ipso facto forsake our own mercy, and willfully bring ruine upon us? The short and sure way is, when any danger, any distress, is upon us, or maketh towards us, to run to our heavenly Psal. 91. 4.—37. 5.Father, as young birds do to their Dam, for succour. He will gather us under his wings, and we shall be safe under his Feathers: his faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and buckler. If we commit our ways to him; cast our selves upon him by a thorough reliance; resign all our desires, wills and interests into his hands: he will certainly bring to pass, aut quod volumus, aut quod malumus, either what we like best, or what he knoweth is best.
33. Only let us resolve to perform our part; do faithfully what he commandeth, shun carefully what he forbiddeth, suffer patiently what he inflicteth, and we may then be confident he will perform his part to the uttermost. That when all the World forsaketh us, he will take us up: take us into his care and protectionRom. 2. 7. here; and, if by patient continuance in well-doing we seek it, take us up at the last into the fellowship of that glory, and honour, and immortality, and eternal life, which his only beloved Son hath purchased, and his ever blessed Spirit consigned to all them that love him, and put their trust in his mercy. To that only beloved Son, and ever-blessed Spirit, together with the eternal Father, three Persons, and one undivided Trinity, be rendered by us, and the whole Church, all the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.