A Divine Cordial, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Shewing that the best things work for good to the Godly.
1. THe best things work for good to the Godly: There a…e eight of these.
1. Gods Attribut…s work for good; these three in perticular.
1. Gods Power works for good. It is a glorious power, Col. 1.11. and it is engaged for the good of the Elect. Out of this strong comes forth sweetness *Judg. 14.14.. The Power of God works for good four wayes.
1. In supporting us in misery.
2. In supplying our wants.
3. In subduing our corruptions.
4. In conquering our enemies.
Gods Power works for good,
1. In supporting us in misery, Deut. 33.27. Vnderneath are the everlasting Arms. What upheld Daniel in the Lyons Den? Ionah in the Whales Belly? the three Children in the Furnace? only the power of God. Is it not strange to see a bruised Reed grow and flourish? How is a weak Christian able, not only to endure …ffliction, but rejoyce in it? He is upheld by the Arms of the Almighty, 2 Cor. 12.9. My strength is made perfect in weakness.
2. In supplying our wants. God creates comforts when means …ail: He that brought food to the Prophet Elijah by the unnatural Ravens, will bring sustenance to his people. God can preserve the Oyl in the Cruse, 1 Kings 17.14. The Lord made the Sun on Ahaz's Dial go ten degrees backward: So when our outward comforts are declining, and it is almost Sun-setting, God often causeth a revival, and b…ings the Sun many degrees backward.
3. In subduing our corruptions: Mic. 7.19. He will subdue our iniquities. The Hebrew word is foreign He will put them under the yoak. Is thy sin strong? God is powerful, he will break the head of this Leviathan. Is thy heart hard? God will dissolve that stone in Christs blood, Iob 23.16. The Almighty maketh my heart soft. When we say as Iehoshaphat, We have no might against this great Army, the Lord goes up with us, and helps us to fight our battels; he strikes off the heads of those Goliah-lusts which are too strong for us.
4. In conquering our enemies. He stains the pride, and breaks the confidence of adversariesforeign. Chrys.. Psal. 2.9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. There is rage in the Enemy, malice in the Devil, but power in God. How easily can he rout all the Forces of the wicked! 2 Chron. 14.11. It is nothing for thee Lord to help. Gods power is on his Churches side, Deut. 33.29. Happy art thou O Israel, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency.
2. The Wisdom of God works for good. Gods wisdome is our Oracle to instruct us. As he is the Mighty God, so the Counsellor, Isa. 9.6. We are often times in the dark, and in matters intricate and doubtful, know not which way to take; here God comes in with light, Psal. 32.8. I will guide thee foreign with mine eye. EYE, there is put for Gods wi…dome. Whence is it the Saints can see further than the most quick-sighted Politicians? They foresee an evil, and hide themselvs, they see Satans Sophisms; this is foreign; Gods wisdom is the Pillar of fire to go before, and guide them.
3. The Goodness of God works for good two wayes. 1. Gods goodness is a means to make us good, Rom. 2.4. The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. The goodnesse of God is a spiritual Sun-beam to melt the heart into tears. Oh saith the soul, Hath God been so good to me? hath he reprieved me so long from Hell, and shall I grieve his Spirit any more? shall I sin ag…inst Goodnesse? 2. The goodness of God works for good, as it ushers in a…l our blessings. The daily favours we receive, are the silver streams which flow from the Fountaines of Gods goodness. This Divine Attribute of Goodnes…, brings in two sort… of blessings. 1. Common Blessings. All partake of these; the bad as well as the good: This sweet dew falls upon the Thistle, as well as the Rose, Psal. 33.5. 2. Crowning Blessings. These only the godly partake of, Psal. 103.4. Who crowneth us with loving kindness. Thus the blessed Attributes of God work for good to the Saints.
2. The Promises of God work for good. The Promises are Dei Chirographum (as Austin calls them) a Bill of Gods hand; is it not good to have security? The Promises are the Breasts of the Gospel; and is not the Breast for the good of the Infan…? They are called Precious Promises, 2 Pet. 1.4. they are as Aquavitae to a soul that is ready to faint. Carda… saith, Every precious stone hath some vertue latent in it: The Promises are full of vertue, and that especially in foure Cases.
1. Are we under the guilt of sin? there is a Promise, Exod. 34.6. The Lord, the Lord merciful, gracious, &c. where God doth as it were put on his glorious Embroidery, and hold out the Golden Scepter, to encourage poor trembling sinners to come to him. The Lord Merciful. God is more willing to pardon, than to punish: Mercy doth more multiply in him, than sin in us: Mercy is his Nature. The Bee naturally gives honey; it stings only when it is provoked. But saith the guilty sinner, I cannot deserve mercy: but he is Gracious; he shews mercy, not because we deserve mercy, but because he delights in mercy. But what is that to me? perhaps my name is not in the pardon: He keeps mercy for thousands; the Exchequer of mercy is not exhausted: God hath Trea…ures lying by, and why mayest not thou come in for a Childs part? This Promise is as Bezar-stone.
2. Are we under the defilement of sin? there is a P…omise wo…king for good, Hos. 14.14. I will heal their back-slidings. God will not only bestow mercy, but grace. And he hath made a Promise of …ending his Spirit, Isa. 44.3. which for its sanctifying nature, is in Scripture compared sometimes to Water, which cleanseth the V…ss…l; sometimes to the Word, which is the Fan to winnow and purifie the Ai…; sometimes to Fire, which doth refine Me…tals: Thus the Spirit of God shall cleanse and consecra…e the …oul, making it partake of the Divine Nature.
3. Are we in great dangers? there's a Promise wo…ks for our good, Psal. 91.15. I will be with him in trouble. God do…h not use …o b…ing his people into troubles, and leave them there, but will stand by them, he will hold their head and heart when they are …ainting. And there is another Promise, Psal. …7.39 He is their strength in the time of trouble. Oh saith the …oul, I shall fain… in the day of tryal; but God will be the stre…gt… of …ur h…art, he will joyn his …orces with us; either he will make his hand light…, or our faith stronger.
4. Do we fear outw…d …ants? there is a Promise, Psal. …4.10. They that fear the Lord, shall not want any good thing. If it be good for us, we shall have it; if it be not good for us, then, the not having of it, is good. Exod. 23.25. I will blesse thy bread, and thy water. This blessing falls as the honey-dew upon the leaf, it sweetens …hat little we possess. Let me want the Venison, so I may have the Blessing. Quest. But I fear I shall not get a livelyhood? Answ. Peruse that Scripture, Psal. 37.25. I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his Seed begging bread. How must we understand this? 1. David speaks it as his own observation; he never beheld such an Eclipse, he never saw a godly man brought so low, that he had not a bit of bread to put in his mouth. 2. David never saw the righteous and their Seed lacking. Though the Lord might try godly Parents a while by want, yet not their Seed too: The Seed of the godly shall be provided for. 3. David never saw the righteous begging of bread, and forsaken: Though he might be reduced to great straits, yet not forsaken; still he is an heir of Heaven, and God loves him. Thus, in all these Cases, the Promises work for good.
How do the Promises work for good?Quest. Ans. 1.
1. They are food for Faith; and that which strengthens Faith works for good. The Promises are the Breast-milk of Faith; Faith sucks nourishment from them, as the child by drawing duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page the Breast. Gen. 32.7. Iacob feared exceedingly: His spirits were ready to faint; now he goes to the Promise, vers. 12. Lord, thou hast said, thou wilt do me good. This Promise was his food; he got so much strength by sucking this Promise, that he was able to wrestle with the Lord all night in prayer, and would not let him go till he had blessed him.
2. The Promises are springs of joy. There is more in the Promise to comfort, than in the world to perplex. Vrsin was comforted by that Promise, Ioh. 10.29. No man shall pluck them out of my Fathers hands. The Promises are Cordials in a fainting fit, Psal. 119.92. V…less thy Word had been my delight, I had perished in my affliction. The Promises are as Cork to the Net, to bear up the heart from sinking in the deep waters of dist…ess.
3. The Merci…s of God work for good to the godly.
1. Temporal Mercies, as Health, Prosperity. Mercy works most kindly upon an ingenious ….
1 The mercies of God humble: 2 Sam. 7.18. Then went King David in, and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God? and w…at is my fathers house, that thou hast brought … hithe…to? Lord, whence is such honour conferr'd upon me, that I should be King? that I who did follow the Sheep, should go in and out before thy people? So saith a gracious heart, Lord, what am I, that it should be better with me than others? that I should drink of the fruit of the Vine, when others drink, not only a Cup of Wormwood, but a Cup of Blood? what am I, that I should have those mercies, which others want, who are better than I? Lord, whence is it, that notwithstanding all my unworthiness, a fresh Tyde of mercy comes in every day? The mercies of God make a sinner proud, but a Saint humble.
2. The mercies of God have a melting influence upon the soul, they dissolve it in love to God *foreign. Chrysost.. Gods Judgments make us fear him, his mercies make us love him. How was Saul wrought upon by kindnesse! David had him at the advantage, and might have cut off, not only the skirt of his Robe, but his head; yet he spares his life: This kindness melted Sauls heart, 1 Sam. 24.16. Is this thy voyce, my son David? and Saul lift up his voyce, and wept. Such a melting influence hath Gods mercy, it makes the eyes drop with tears of …ove.
3. The mercies of God make the heart …ruitful. When you lay out more cost upon a …eld, it bears a better crop. A gracious soul honours the Lord with his Substance; he doth not do with his mercies, as Israel with their Jewels and Ear-Rings, make a Golden Calfe; but as Solomon did with the money thrown into the Treasury, build a Temple for the Lord. The Golden showres of mercy cause fertility.
4. The mercies of God make the heart thankful: Psal. 116.12, 13. Quid retribuam Domino? What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the Cup of salvation. David alludes to the people of Israel, who at their Peace-Offerings did use to take a Cup in their hands, and give thanks to God for Deliverances. Every mercy is an Alms of Free Grace; and this enlargeth the soul in g…atitude. A good Christian is not a Grave to bury Gods mercies, but a Temple to sing his praise. If every Bird in its Kind (as Ambrose speaks) doth chirp forth thankfulness to its Maker; much more will an ingenious Christian, whose life is enriched and perfumed with mercy.
5. The mercies of God quicken: As they are Load-stones to love, so Whet-stones to obedience: Psal. 119.9. I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living. He that takes a review of his blessings, looks upon himself as a person engaged for God; he argue… from the sweetness of mercy, to the swiftnesse of duty; he spends and is spent for Christ; he dedicates his foreign to God. Among the Romans, when one had redeemed another, he was ever afterwards to serve him. A soul encompassed with mercy is zealously active in Gods service.
6. The mercies of God wo…k compassion to others. A Christian is a temporal Saviour; he feeds the hungry, cloaths the naked, visits the Widow and O…phan in their distresse; the backs and bellies of the poor, a…e the surrows where he sows the golden S…eds of his Charity: Psal. 112.5. A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: Charity d…ops from him freely, as Myrth from the Tree. Thus to the godly, the mercies of God wo…k for good, they a…e wings to lift them up to Heaven.
2. Spiritual mercies wo…k … g…od: The blessed O…dinances. 1. The Word Preached works for good; it is a savour of life, it is verbum cum u…ctione, it is a soul-transforming Word, i… assimilates the heart into Christs likeness, it is the breeder of Assurance, 1 Thes. 1.5. Our Gospel came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance: It is vehiculum salutis, the Charet of Salvation.
2. Prayer works for good *foreign. Chr. orat. de prec.. Prayer is the Bellows of the affections, it blows up holy desires and ardou…s of soul: Prayer hath powe… with God, Isa. 45.11. Command ye me. It is a Key that unlocks the Treasury of God's Bowels. Prayer keeps the heart open to God, and shut to sin; it a…wageth the intemperate heats and swellings of lust. It was Luther's counsel to a friend, when he perceived a tentation begin to arise, to betake himself to Prayer. Prayer is Bombarda Christianorum *Luther., the Christians Gun, which they discharge against their enemies. Prayer is the Pancreston, the Soveraign Medicine of the soul: Prayer sanctifies every mercy, 1 Tim. 4.5. it is the dispeller of sorrow: by venting the grief it easeth the heart. When Hannah had p…ayed, she went away, and was no more sad, 1 Sam. 1.18. And i… it hath these rare effects, then it wo…ks for good.
3. The Lords Supper works for good: It is an Emblem of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19.9. and an Earnest of that Communion we shall have with Christ in Glory; it is a feast of fat things; it gives us bread from Heaven, such as doth not only preserve life, but prevent death. It hath glorious effects in the hearts of the Godly; it quickens their Affections, strengthens their Graces, mortifies thei… Corruptions, revives their Hopes, encreaseth their Joy. Luther saith, It is as great a work to comfort a dejested soul, as to raise the dead to life; yet this may, and sometimes is done to the souls of the Godly in the blessed Supper. The Sacrament hath a peculiar excellency above the Word preached. In the Word there is the Breath of God, in the Sacrament the Blood of God; in the Word we hear his Voyce, in the Sacrament we have his kisse. The Word proceeds out of Gods mouth, the Sacrament out of his sides.
4. The Graces of the Spirit work for good. Grace is to the soul as light to the eye, as health to the body. Grace doth to the soul as a vertuous wife doth to her husband, Pro. 31.12. She will do him good all the dayes of her life. How incompa…ably useful are the Graces! Faith and Fear go hand in hand; Faith keeps the heart cheerful, Fear keeps the heart serious; Faith keeps the heart from sinking in despair, Fear keeps it from floating in presumption; all the Graces display themselves in their beauty: Hope is the Helmet, 1 Thes. 5.8. Meekness the Ornament, 1 Pet. 3.4. Love the Bond of perfectness, Col. 3.14. The Saints Graces are Weapons to defend them, Wings to elevate them, Jewels to enrich them, Spices to persume them, Stars to adorn them *foreign., Cordials to refresh them: And doth not all this work for good? The Graces are our Evidences for Heaven; is it not good to have our Evidences ready at the hour of death?
5. The Creatures of God work for good to the Godly. 1. Creatures inanimate, Judg. 5.20. The Stars in their course fought against Sisera; the Stars as the Host of God gathered in a Battalio, and by their influences raising terrible tempests, did as it were conspire the ruine of Sisera and his Army▪ 2. Creatures animate. The Angels, those noble Citizens and Princes of Heaven, work for the good of the Saints *Domestici Dei, caeli cives, principes paradisi. Bern.. The good Angels are ready to do all offices of love to the people of God, Heb. 1.14. Are they not all ministring Spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Some o… the Fathers are of opinion, that every Believer hath his …u…elar Angel; it needs no hot debate, it may suffice that we know the whole Hiera…chy of Angels is employed for the good of the Saints. The good Angels do service to the Saints:
1. In life. The Angel did comfort the Virgin Mary, Luke 1.28. The Angel did stop the mouths of the Lyons that they could not hurt Daniel, Dan. 6.22. A Christian hath an invisible Guard about him, the Tutelage, and Guardian-ship of Angels, Psal 91.11. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes. The Angels are of the Saints Life-guard, yea, the chief of the Angels; Are they not all ministring spirits? The highest Angels take care of the lowest Saints.
2. At death. The Angels are about the Saints sick-beds to comfort them. As God comforts by his Spirit, so by his Angels. Christ in his Agony was refreshed by an Angel, Luke 24.45. So are Believers in the agony of death: And when the Saints breath expires, their souls are carried up to Heaven by a Convoy of Angels, Luke 16.22.
3. At the day of Iudgement. 1. The Angels shall open the Saints Graves, and dig away the earth from their bodies, and shall conduct them into the presence of Christ, when they shall be made like his glorious body, Mat. 24.31. He shall send his Angels, and they shall gather together his Elect, from the four winds, from the one end of Heaven to the other. 2. The Angels at the day of Judgement shall rid the Godly of all their enemies. Here the Saints are plagued with enemies, Psal. 38.20. They are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that good is: well, the Angels will shortly give Gods people a Writ of ease, and set them free from all their enemies: Mat. 13.38. The tares are the children of the wicked one, the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are the Angels; as therefore the tares are gathered and burn… …n the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world, the Son of man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things which offend, and them which do iniquity, and east them into a furnace of fire. At the day of Judgment the Angels of God will take the wicked, which are the Tares, and will bundle them up, and throw them into Hell-furnace, and then the Godly will not be troubled with enemies any more: Thus the good Angels work for good. See here the honour and dignity of a Believer, he hath Gods name written upon him, Rev. 3.12. the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, 2 Tim. 1.14. and a Guard of Angels attending him.
Insuper nostro lateri ministros, caelitus addis.
6. The Communion of Saints works for good, 2 Cor. 1.24. foreign, We are helpers of your joy. One Christian conversing with another, is a means to confirm him: As the stones in an Arch help to strengthen one another; one Christian by imparting his experiences doth heat and quicken another, Heb. 10.24. Let us provoke one another to love, and good works: How doth Grace flourish by holy conference! a Christian by good discourse drops that oyl upon another as makes the Lamp of his Faith burn the brighter.
7. Christs intercession works for good. Christ is in Heaven as Aaron with his golden plate upon his fore…head, and his precious incense, and he prays for all Believers as well as he did for the Apostles, Ioh. 17.20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for all them that shall believe in me. When a Christian is weak, and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him; and he prays for three things. 1. That the Saints may be kept from sin, vers. 15. I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evill. We live in the world as in a Pest-house; Christ prays that his Saints may not be infected with the contagious evill of the times. 2. For his peoples progresse in holinesse, vers. 17. Sanctifie them: Let them have constant supplies of the Spirit, and be anointed with fresh oyl. 3. For their glorification, vers. 24. Father, I will that those which thou hast given me, be with me where I am. Christ is not con…ent till the Saints are in his armes. This prayer which he made on Earth, is the Copy and Pattern of his prayer in Heaven. What a comfort is this, when Satan is tempting, Christ is praying! this works for good.
Christ's prayer takes away the sins of our prayers. As a child (saith St Ambrose) that is willing to present his father with a Posie, goes into the Garden, and there gathers some Flowers and some Weeds together, but coming to his mother, she picks out the Weeds, and binds up the Flowers, and so it is presented to the Father. Thus when we have put up our prayers, Christ comes, and picks away the Weeds, the sin of our prayer, and presents nothing but Flowers to his Father, which are a sweet smelling savour.
8. The joynt stock of the Saints prayers work for good to the Godly. The Saints pray for all the Members of the body Mysticall; their prayers prevail much *foreign.. 1. They prevail for recovery out of sickness, Iames 5.15. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. 2. For victory over enemies, Isa. 37.4. Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left, vers. 36. Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians, an hundred and fourscore and five thousand. 3. For deliverance out of prison, Acts 12.5. Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him; vers. 7. And behold the Angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, and his chains fell off. The Angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the Angel. 4. For forgiveness of sin, Iob 42.8. My servant Iob shall pray for you, for him will I accept. Thus the prayers of the Saints work for good to the Body Mystical. And this is no small priviledge to a Child of God, that he hath a constant Trade of Prayer driven for him. When he comes into any Town or Corporation, he may say, I have some Prayer here, nay, all the world over I have a stock of prayer going for me; when I am indisposed, and out of …e, others are praying for me, who are quick and lively. Thus the best things work for good to the people of God.