A Conduit of Comfort. Preached at Saint james before the Commissioners of the Union of the Realms. By W. Couper, Minister of God's word.  The Lord is my Comforter. 
Imprinted at London for W. Ferbrand, and are to be sold at his Shop in Pops-head Ally, near the Exchange. 1606.   

A CONDVIT OF COMFORT.  Rom. 8. 28. 
Also we know that all things work together for the best, to them that love God; even to them who are called according to his purpose.  
My help is in the name of the Lord.  
THis Chapter may be conveniently termed, 
This Chapter is a compend of Comfort.  A Company ●f Christian consolation; for, whereas many kinds of comforts, are dispersed throughout the holy Scriptures, for the strengthening of the man of God, some of every kin● are here gathered together in one, and like chosen Flowers picked out of the Garden of God, are knit together in one bunch, and presented to thee, who art a Christian.  
There are two things only which trouble us in this life. 
The sum and division of this Chapter.  The first, is the remanents of sin in our corrupt nature: this was such a matter of grief to the holy Apostle, that it made him to cry out; O miserable man that I am, 
Rom. 7. 24.  who shall deliver me from this body of 〈◊〉? So despleasant was it to him to live in that body, wherein he found the motions of sin rebelling against the law of his God. And if the Apostle accounted this burden so weighty to him, Alas how should we complain▪ and what cause have we with Ezcchi● to walk weakly in the bitterness of our ●ou●es all our days▪ 
Esa. 38. 15.  in whom the life and power of that sinning sin is far less restrained? Yet lest we should be so cast down with the sense of sin, that we despeare & perish, being swallowed up with grief▪ the Lord furnisheth us with many comforts against it, 
2. Cor. 49.  from the beginning of this Chap. to the midst of the 17. verse. The other thing which may discourage us, is the manifold troubles which follow us in the following of Christ.  
For our Lord is like a Lily among Thorns, 
Cant. 2. 2.  and at an Apple tree among the trees of the Forest: If we delight to sit under his shadow; and if his Fruit be sweet in our mouth, we must be content to walk toward him through many sharp afflictions: 
2. Tim. 2. 3.  therefore are we commanded not only to suffer afflictions as the good Soldiers of jesus Christ, but also to rejoice in tribulations: and if we cannot attain to that perfection, 
Rom. 5. 3.  at the least to count it exceeding joy when we fall into diverse temptations: 
jam. 1. 2.  Yet because no chastisement is sweet for the present, it hath pleased the Lord of his fatherly indulgence, and pity toward our weakness, 
Heb. 12.  to seyson the cup of our bitter griefs, with his sweet comforts; which as he doth in many other par●es of holy Scripture, so specially from the 17. verse of this Chapter, to the 30. wherein the Apostle abounds with consolation; showing himself a faithful Steward in the house of God, most careful to lead as it were by the hand, the weary Son●es and Daughters of the living God, into the Lord's Wine-cellar; there to refresh and stay us with the Flagons of his wine, 
Cant. 2. 4.  and to comfort us with his Apples; 
Cant. 5. 1.  to strengthen us with his hid Manna, and to make us merry with that Milk and Honey, which out immortal Husband jesus Christ, hath proulded for us to sustain us, if we faint not through these manifold tribulations, wherewith we are compassed in this barren Wilderness.  
That this is the Apostles purpose, and order of proceeding in this Chapter, I think his conclusion makes it manifest, which you have from the 31. verse to the end; wherein he draws all that he had said, into a short sum, containing the glorious triumph of a Christian, over all his enemies: the triumph is first set down generally in the vers. 31. What shall we say then to these things: If God be with us, who can be against us? thereafter he parts this general in two: there is (would he say) but one of two that are against us; either sin, or affliction: as to sin, he triumphs against it, verse 33. and 34. Who will lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen? It is God that justifieth, Who shall condemn? It is Christ, who is dead, or rather who is risen again, who is also at the right hand of God, and makes request for us. As to Affliction, he begins his triumph against it, verse 35. Who shall separate us from the ●oue of Christ? his answer mounts up by a gradation, Will tribulation, or anguish do it? yea, will death itself do it? or that which is much more; Will Principalities and Powers do it? no: in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us: Tha●kes therefore be unto our God, who always makes us to triumph in our Lord jesus Christ.  
Now in this verse, 
2. Cor. 2, 14.  as jacob gave his sons his greatest blessing in the last room, so the Apostle giveth to Christians his greatest comfort in the last room, whereof this is the Sum: Our afflictions are so far from being prejudicial to our salvation, that by the contrary, through the Lords marvelous working, they tend to the advancement thereof, & he enlarges the comfort: Not only afflictions, but, all other things works for the best together, to them that love the Lord.  
The parts of the Verse are two: the first contains the comfort: the second, a description of the persons to whom the comfort appertaineth. Now I come to the words.  
Also, that is, besides all the comforts which I have given to you before, I give you yet this further, learning us, 
Our troubles are many▪ but our comforts are more than our troubles.  that albe●t our troubles be many, yet our comforts are more. Many (saith David) are the troubles of the righteous: but the Lord deliureth him out of them all. As if he would say, for every trouble, the Lord hath a several deliverance. 
Psal. 34. 19  Every temptation (saith the Apostle) hath the own issue. Every horn that riseth against us to push us, 
1. Cor. 10. 13.  hath attending upon it an hammer to repress it, (saith the Prophet.) Esau mourned upon his father Isaac: 
Zach. 1. 21.  although he was profane, yet he cried pitifully, Hast 〈◊〉 but one Blessing my Father? But we (with the holy Apostle) may bless our heavenly Father, who comforteth us so in all our tribulations; that as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolations abound through Christ: 
2. Cor. 1. 5.  not one, but manifold are his blessings; and the storehouse of his consolations, can never be emptied. The Lord our God hath not dealt 〈◊〉 nor sparingly with us, but a good measure of consolations, pressed down and running over hath he given to us in our bosom; 
Luk. 6. 38.  his name be praised therefore: and yet how little is all this that we now receive, in compa●●son of these 〈◊〉 joys of God, that he hath prepared for v●; the like whereof the eye never saw, 
1. Cor. 2. 9  the ear never heard of, and the heart can not understand: Surely the greatest measure of comfort that we have in this life, is but the earnest penny of that principal, which shallbe given to us hereafter: If the earnest be so grea●, what shallbe the principal? 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 fruits of the Heavenly 〈◊〉 be so delectable, how shall the full mass thereof abundantly content us, 
Psal. 17. 15.  when we shall behold the face of our God in righteousness, 
Psal. 16, 11.  and shallbe satisfied with his image; when we shallbe filled with the fullness of joy, which is in his presence, and with those pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore?  
We know. If you ponder the Apostles words, 
The Privileges of a Christian, can not be known of them, who do not possess them.  you shall find, that by an Emphasis, he restrains this knowledge to the Children of God, excluding Worldlings and Naturalistes from it. The spiritual man discerneth all things: but he himself is judged of no man. A natural man can not understand the things that are of God. 
1. Cor. 2. 14. 15.  The Gospel is Wisdom indeed; but Wisdom in a misteri●; and Wisdom among them that are perfect. 
1. Cor. 2. 7.  Every Article of our Faith & point of Christian doctrine: every privilege of a Christian, 
1. Cor. 2. 6.  is a Mystery: therefore no marvel that the Gospel be foolishness to the Natural man, who perisheth: And this doth draw us to consider that the excellent things of Christiani●e, can be known of none, but of those that possesseth them. The value, or rather vanity of earthly jewels, hath been better known of some that never enjoyed them, then of them who possess them: but the jewels of God's kingdom such as Peace, Righteousness, joy in the Holy Ghost, can be known of none but of the Christian only, who enjoys them. The new Name, 
reve. 2. 17.  given to the Christian, who can know but he that hath it? and none can know what is the sweetness of hid Manna, except he taste it: therefore saith the Psalmist, 
Psal. 34. 8.  Taste and consider how gracious the Lord is: telling you that the graciousness of the Lord, can not be considered by him who never did taste it. If you go and speak to a Worldling of inwar● Peace, of Spiritual joy, or of the privileges of a Christian, you shall seem to him a Barbarian, or one that speaketh a strange language which he understandeth not; or if he himself speak of them which he sees learnedly hearing or reading, yet shall he speak like a bird, uttering voices which she understandeth not. As the bruit Beast knoweth not the excellency of a man's life, and therefore delighteth itself with Hey and Provander, seeking no better; because it knoweth no better. So the Natural man knoweth not the excellency of a Christian, 
Act. 26. 24.  and therefore disdains him, counting him a fool, a mad man, and the offspring of the world: he taketh the Dung of the earth in his arms for his inheritance: 
1. Cor. 4. 13.  let him brook the portion of Esau, that the fatness of the earth may be his dwelling place: 
Gen. 27 39  let his Wine and his Where abound to him, 
Psal. 4. 7.  he cares for no more: he knows not what it is to have his Soul made glad with the light of the countenance of God. This is your miserable condition, O ye wretched worldlings, ye are cursed with the curse of the Serpent; 
Gen. 3.  ye creep as it were on your bellies, and lick the dust of the each all the days of your life: 
Coloss. 3. 1.  ye have not an eye to look up to heaven, nor a heart to seek those things which are above; most fearful is your estate: we warn you of it, but it is the Lord who must deliver you from it.  
This resolute knowledge is the mother of spiritual courage, 
Resolute knowledge is the mother of patience.  constancy, and patience: therefore the Apostle urgeth it in this place, that the Christian may be made thereby strong, and patient in tribulation: and indeed what needs him fear in the evil day; yea though the Earth should be removed, 
Psal. 42.  and the Mountains fall into the midst of the Sea: who knoweth that the Lord sitteth on his Throne, 
reve. 4.  having the world as a glassy Sea before him, governing all the waltering, changes, & events of things therein, to the good of them that love him? Oh that we had profited so much in the school of Christ all our days, that without doubting, or making any exception, we could believe this which here the Apostle layeth for a most sure ground of comfort, that so we might change all our thoughts and cares into one; namely, how to grow in the love of God, that in a good conscience we might say to the Lord with Peter, Lord thou knowest I love thee. And as the rest of our fears, griefs, & temptations, which many times do so compass us, that to our judgements, we can see no outgate: 
Psal. 37.  cast all the burden of them upon the Lord, who careth for us; and hath given us this promise for a Praemunire: All comes for the best. The Soldier with courage entereth into the Battle, under hope to obtain the victory. The Mariner with boldness committeth himself to the stormy Seas, under hope of vantage: and every man hazardeth in his calling; and yet are they all but uncertanie ventures, and knows not the end: But the Christian, 
1. Cor. 9 26.  runs not as uncertain; but as one sure to obtain the Crown: for he knows that the God of peace, shall shortly tread Satan under his feet. 
Rom. 16. 20.  What then? shall he not with courage enter into that battle, wherein he is made sure over ever he fight; that all the Watriers of jesus shall become more than Conquerors through him? 
Rom. 8. 37.  If we will only stand still, 
Exod. 14. 13.  we shall see the salvation of the Lord, Gideon & his 300. sought against the great Host of Midian without fear, 
judg. 7. 19  because he was sure of victory. David made haste, and ran to encounter with Goliath, 
1. Sam 17. 48.  because he was persuaded, the Lord would deliver him into his hands. The Israelites spared not to enter into the Flood of Iorden, because they saw the Aike of God before them, 
I●s. 3, 16.  dividing the waters: And shall only the Christian stand astonished in his temptations, notwithstanding the word of God go, before him to resolve him, that whatsoever fall out, shall work for the best unto him? The Lord increase us, and make us abound more and more in love of our God; for perfect love casteth our fear. The Lord strengthen our Faith, that through these misty clouds of afflictions, which now compasseth us, we may see that comforttable end, which the light of God hath discovered unto us.  
But we are to beware of the subtle sleights of Satan, who to the end, he may spoil us of this comfort in trouble, endeavoureth by many means, either else to quench this light of God in our minds; 
judge not of Gods working before the end, for that doth greatly impair our comfort.  or else to darken and obscure it by the precipitation of our unbelieving hearts, carrying us headlong to judge of the works of God, by their beginnings; and to measure ourself in trouble, by our present estate and condition, not suffering us to ●●rty while we see the end: whereof it comes to pass, that our hearts being tossed too and fro with restless perturbance, like trees of the Forest shaken with the wind: in our necessities, we hasten to be our own provisors: in our dangers, we willbe our own deliverers, and every way we become the caruets of our own perdition: we have so much the more to beware of this precipitation, because the dearest servants of God have fallen through it, into fearful sins against the Lord their God, and breed great unquietness unto themselves. When David was in extreme danger in the wilderness of Maon, 
Psal. 116. 11.  he said in his fear, that all men were liars. O what a blasphemy! that doing the promises of God, made to him by Samuel the Lord's Prophet, were but lies: and how many times thought he (in his other troubes) that God had forgot to be merciful, and had shut up his tender mercies in displeasure: But when he saw the end, than was he compelled to accuse himself, to give glory to God, 
Psal. 77. 9  & to say: I should have been dumb, and not opened my mouth, 
Psal. 39 9  because thou diddest it: I said it in my fear, but now I see, 
Psal. 116. 11.  Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his Saints. As this precipitation made David to stumble & fall, so will it carry us also to the like inconuencience too, except we, beware of it: For if we should look to Lazarus in the dunghill full of biles & Sores, 
Luk. 16. 19  having no comfort, but from the Dogs, and compare him with the Richman clothed in Purple, and faring daintily every day▪ What can we judge, but that Lazarus is the most miserable of the two? yet tarry while the Lord have ended his work, and Lazarus be conveyed to Abraham's bosom, and the Rich glutton be gone to his place, then shall the truth appear manifestly: All things work together for the best, so them that love God. Let us learn therefore to measure the event of things, not by their present condition, but by the prediction of God's word. Let us cleave to his Promise, and wait on the Vision which hath his own time appointed, 
Abac. 2. ●.  it shall speak at the last, and shall not lie: though it terry, let us wait for it, it shall surely come, and not stay. Let us go into the Sanctuary of God, and consider the end; there shall we find and learn, 
Psal. 37. 37.  that there is no peace to the Wicked, how soever they flourish for a time; and that it can not be, but well with them that fear the lord Mark the upright man, and behold the lust; for the end of that man is peace; but the transgressors shallbe destroyed together, and the end of the Wicked shallbe cut off: So both in the troubles of the Godly, and prosperity of the Wicked, are we bound to suspend our judgement, till we see the end.  
All things work together. 
Many working instruments of contrary qualities and intentions in the world, yet agrees all in one end.  O what a singular privilege hath the Christian, that not only Afflictions, but all things whatsoever works for the best: and not only so, but they work together for the best to him. Many working instruments is there in the world, their course is not one, they communicate no counsels, yea, their intentions often times are contrary; yet the Lord brings all their ways to this one end, To the good of them that love him. Where 〈◊〉 they be, in regard of place: what ever they be, in regard of persons: what ever their purposes be, how soever disagreeing amongst themselves; yet such is the power and providence of that supreme governor our heavenly Father, that All of them, works together to the good of them that loves him. And herein doth his Power and Wisdom appear more clearly, then in the tempering of this great universe, making Elements of so contrary qualities to meet together, & agree in one pleasant harmony. For the illustration of this, let us mark but one example for all. 
Gen. 37.  jaacob sends his son joseph to Dothan, to visit his brethren; his brethren casts him into the pit, Reuben relieves him, the Merchants of Midian buys him, and sells him again to Poliphar, his Mistress accuses him, his Master condemns him, the Butlet (after long ingratitude) recommends him, and Phara●h exaltes him. O what Instruments are here! and how many hands are about this one poor man of God: but how doth the Lord direct them all? yea, beside their own intention to further Joseph's advancement in Egypt, for his own good, and the good of his Church. But now to the particulars. 
All the ways of God, yea even when to walk stubbornly against her children, are for the best to them.   
There is nothing in the world which works not for our weal: All the works of God, all the stratagems of Satan, all the imaginations of man, are for the weal of God's Children; yea, out of the most poisonable things, as Sin and Death, doth the Lord draw healthsome and medicivall preservatives, to them that love him.  
All the ways of the Lord (saith David) are Mercy and Truth. Mark what he saith, and make not thou an exception, where God hath made none: 
Psal. 25.  All, none excepted. But be thou strengthened in Faith, and give glory to God, 
job. 13 15.  saying with the patient job: Albeit the Lord would slay me, yet will I trust in him.  
Sometime the Lord walks in the way of anger, seeming angie with his Children, and to walk stubbornly against them, which hath moved them to power out the like of these pitiful Laments. The arrows of the Almighty are upon me, 
job. 6. 4.  (saith job) the venlme whereof doth drink up my sp●rit, and the terrors of God fight against me: Thou sets me up as a mark against thee, and makest me a burden to myself. Thy indignation lieth upon me; 
Psal. 88 7. 1●  (saith David) Yea from my youth I have suffered thy terrors, doubting of my life. For felicity, I have had bitter grief, 
Esa. 38. 17.  (said Exechia) for the Lord like a Lion, broke all my bones, so that I did chatter like a Swallow, and mourn like a Done. I am troubled on every side, (saith the Apostle) having fightings without, 
2. Cor. 7. ●.  and terrors within: And yet in all these, the Lord hath a secret way of mercy, wherein he walks and works for the comfort of his Children; which albeit for the present we can not perceive, 
job. 13. 24.  and can see no other, but the Lord hath taken us for his enemies: yet in the end, we shallbe compelled to acknowledge it, 
Psal. 119.  and confess, with David: O good was it for me, O Lord! that ever thou correctest me: Therefore also said the Apostle, The Lord is marvelous in his Saints. 
2. Thes. 1. 10  And the Apostle cried out, O the deepness of the riches hath of the Wisdom and Knowledge God 
Rom. 11. 35.  how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! His glory is great when he worketh by means; his glory is greate● when he worketh without means: but his glory shineth most brightly, when he worketh by contraries.  
It was a great work that he did open the eyes of the blind man: 
The Lord works by means, without means, & by contraries: and then is his glory greatest  but greater, that he did by application of spital and Clay, such means as are meeter to put out the eyes of the seeing man, then to restore the sight to a blind man. So he wrought in the first Creation, causing Light to shine out of Darkness: So also in the work of Redemption: for by cursed Death, he brought happy Life: by the Cross, he obtained the Crown: and through Shame, he went to Glory: And this same order, the Lord keeps yet in the work of our second Creation, which is our Regeneration; 
Hos. 6.  he casteth down, that he may raise up; he kills, & he makes alive: he wounds, and he will bind up: he wounds, and he will heal: he accuseth his children of sins, that so they may get remiss of their sins: he troubleth their Consciences, that so he may pacify them; and in a word, the means which he useth in working, are contrary to the work itself, which he intends to perform towards his Children. He sent a fearful Darkness on Abraham, but afterward communicated to him a joyful Light: he wrestled with jaacob, and shook him too and ●ro; but in the end blessed him: he struck the Apostle Paul with blindness, and then opened his eyes, that he might know the Lord jesus: he frowns for a while upon his own, 
Gen. 43.  as joseph did upon his Brethren; but in the end with a loving affection shall he embrace them: he may seem angry at thy Prayers, as he put back the Petition of the Woman of Canaan; 
Math. 15. 22.  but at length, will grant a favourable answer to them: therefore let us learn to possess our souls in patience; let the Lord work by any means it pleaseth him: It is enough that we know, All the ways of God, yea even when he dealeth most hardly with his Children, are mercy, and tends to the good of those that love him.  
And as to Satan's stratagems, it is also out of doubt, 
All Satan's stratagems, work for the best to the godly.  that they work for the best, to them that love the Lord; not according to his purpose in deed, but because the Lord trappeth him in his own snare. If under the Serpent's shape he deceived Adam, under the Serpent's name shall the Lord curse him: and all these weapons whereby he intends to destroy the work of God's grace into us, shall the Lord make forcible to destroy the workmanship of Satan into us, I mean that whole bastard Generation of sinful afflictions, which Satan hath begotten upon our mutable nature, by a most unhappy and unlawful copulation: The experience of all the Saints of God will prove this, that Satan by his restless temptations, doth destroy himself; which is most evident both in his temptations for sin, which tend to desperation, as also in his temptations to sin which tend to presumption. 
How Satan's temptations for sin, doth good to the Christian.  Every accusation of the Conscience for bypassed sins, is a preservative to the Child of God, to keep him from sin in time to come; he reasoning with himself after this manner. If my Enemy doth so disquiet my mind with inward terrors, for these sins which foolishly I did by his enticement, why shall I hearken to him any more hereafter, 
Shall I hear and trust the enemy of my soul, that hath deceived me so often?  and so increase the matter of my trouble; for what fruit have I of all the sins wherein I took pleasure, but terror and shame? And shall I look that this forbidden Tree, shall tender any better fruit hereafter? O what a faithless traitor is Satan, 
Rome, 6. 21.  he enticeth man unto sin; and when he hath done it, he is the first accuser and troubler of man for sin. When he works in us, he is a temptor: when we have finished his work, (which is sin) he is an accuser of us to the judge; and when he returneth, he returneth as a troubler and a tormentor of us for our sins. Stop my care therefore, O my soul from the voice of this deceitful enchanter. His temptations again unto sin are so many provocations, spurring us forward to the throne of grace: for whilst we find his restless malice pursuing that sparkle of spiritual life, whereby the Lord hath quikened us; and our own weakness and inability to resist him: then we are forced with Israel in Egypt, 
2. C●r. 20. 12  to sigh for the thraldom; and to cry with joseph, O Lord our God, we wot not what to do! but our eyes are turned toward thee. And who feels not this? that the grace of fervent Prayer, wherein otherwise we faint, (our hands being more ready to fall down then the hands of Moses, except they be supported) is greatly wakened, and intended in the Children of God, by the buffets of Satan: So they wakened the holy Apostle, 
2▪ Cor. 12. 7.  and stirred him up to such fervency in prayer, that he besought the Lord thrice, that is, many times, to deliver him from them: Yea (which is more) the Lord made them effectual means to beat down the power of natural pride in him, lest he should have been exalted out of measure, through the greatness of his revelations. A wonderful work, that the Father of Pride, becometh against his will, a represser of Pride: and he who first procured this Poison in the nature of Man, is made (contrary to his intent) an instrument to suppress it. Thus the Lord our God out-shooteth Satan in his own Bow: 
How afflictions are profitable to a Christian.  and with the Sword of Goliath, cutteth off his own head: His holy name be praised therefore for ever.  
Now as concerning outward afflictions, it is true, that as the Philistines could not understand Samsons Riddle, 
judg. 14. 14.  how Sweet came out of the sour, and meat out of the eater: So can no Worldlings understand, 
R●m. 5. 3.  that Tribulation bringeth out Patience: and that our light & momentary afflictions, 
2. Cor. 4. 17.  causeth unto us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory: but the children of God hath learned by experience, 
2. Cor. 4. 17.  that albeit no visitation be sweet for the present, yet afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness unto them, who are thereby exercised: and that there is more solid joy in Suffering rebuke with Christ, 
Heb. 11. 25.  then in all the pleasures of sin, which endure but for a season. For as Moses, the mediator of the old Testament, 
Exod. 15. 25.  by his prayer, made the bitter Waters of Marah sweet, that the Israelites might drink of it; so jesus the mediator of the new Testament, by his Passion, hath mitigated to his children, the bitterness of the Cross: and not only mixed it with joy, but made it most profitable. 
Luke. 15. 12.  The forlorn Son concluded, never to return home to his Father, till he was brought low by affliction. And many in the Gospel, were forced by Diseases corporal, to run to jesus, where others enjoying bodily health, did nothing but disdain him. The earth which is not tilled and broken, bears nothing but Thorns and briars: the Vines wax wild by time, except they be pruned and cut: so should our vain hearts overgrow with wild affections, if the Lord by sanctified trouble, did not continually manure them. Therefore (said jeremy) It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. 
Lam. 3. 27.  And David confessed, It was good for him, that he was afflicted. 
Psal. 119.  Yea (saith our Saviour) Every branch that bears fruit, my he menly Father purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 
job. 15. 2.  No work can be made of Gold and Silver, without Fire: and Stones are not meet for Palace work, except they be polished and squared by hamering: no more is it possible, that we can be vessels of Honour in the hours of our God, except first we be fined & melted in the fire of affliction: neither can we be as living Stones, to be placed in the Wall of the heavenly jerusalem, except so long as we are here, the h●nd of God beat from us our prou● lumps, by the hammer of Affliction. As standing Waters pu●●●sies and rots, 
Psal. 55.  so the wicked fears not God (saith the Psa●nist,) because they have no changes. And Moa● keys is sent, (saith the Prophet) because he was not powered from vessel to vessel, 
jer. 48. 11.  but hath been at rest ever since ●is youth. And therefore, O Lord! rather than we should keep the old sent of our natural corruption, and live in a careless security, without the ●ea●e of thy holy name, and so become sitfasts in our sins; no rather, O Lord! change thou us from estate to estate; waken us wid● the presence of thy hand: purge vi, O Lord! with thy fire, and chastise us with thy rods; alway Lord, with a protestation, that thou stand to thy promise made to the Sons of David, I will visit them with my rods, 
Psal. 89.  if they sin against me: but my mercy wili I never take from them. So be it Lord, even: So be it.  
The same comfort have we also against Death; that now in Christ jesus, 
How death also works for the best to the Christian.  it is not a punishment of our sins, but a full accomplishment of the mortification of sin, both in soul and body; for by it, all the conduits of sin are stopped, the weapons of unrighteousness broken: and though our bodies seem to be consumed, yet are they but sown like grains of Wheat, into the ●ielde and husband●●e of the Lord, 
Death compared to the red sea, wherein the Egyptians were drowned, and the Israelites went through to Canaan.  which must die, before they be quickness; but in the day of harvest, shall spring up again most glorious, and shallbe restored by the same holy Spi●●●e who now dwells in them: and as to our souls they are relieved out of this house of servitude, and that they may depart and return to 〈◊〉 from whom they came; therefore have I compared Death to the Red Sea, wherein Phara●h and his Egyptians were drowned, 
Rom. 8.  and sank like a Stone to the bottom, but the Israelites of God, went through to their promised Canaan: So shall Death be unto you, O miserable Infidels! whose eyes, the God of this world hath blinded, that no more than the blind Egyptians, can you see the light of God, that shineth in G●shan, that is, his Church; although ye be in it: to you I say, your Death shallbe a Sea of God's vengeuce, wherein ye shallbe drowned, and shall sink with your sins, heavier than a Millstone about the neck of your soul, to press you down to the lowest Helle●. But as to you, that are the Israelites of God, ye shall walk through the valley of Death, and not need to be a●rayde, because the Lord is with you; 
Psal. 23.  His Staff and his Rod shall comfort you: Albert the terrors of Hell, the horror of the Grave, the guiltiness of Sin, stand about thee like Mountains, threatening to overwhelm thee; yet shalt thou go safe through, to the land of thine inheritance; where, with Moses and Mertam, and all the children of God, even the congregation of the first borne: Thou shalt sing praises joyfully to the God of thy salvation. And thus we see, 
Exod. 15. 11.  how that not only our present Afflictions, but Satan, Sin, and Death, are made, to work for the best, to them that love the Lord.  
Now in the last room concerning the imaginations of men against us, 
How the plots and imaginations of men work for the best to the Christians.  we shall have cause to say of them in the end, as joseph said to his brethren, You did it unto me for evil, but the Lord turned it unto good. The whole History of God's Book, is as a cloud of mani●old witnesses concurring altogether to confirm this truth: I content my sell therefore for all, to bring one. When David was going forward in the Batta●le against Israel with Achish King of Gath, (under whom he sojourned for a while, in the time of his banishment) the remanent Princes of the Philistines, commanded him to go back; and this they did for the worse to disgrace him, because they disinherited him: but the Lord turned it to him for the best: Consider David's estate now, and ye shall see him set betwixt two great extremities. If he had gone back of his own accord, the Phil●stines might have blamed him, and handled him as an enemy: if he had come forward, he should have been guilty of the blood of Israel, and especially of S●ul the Lords annoyted; who was slain in that Battle.  
In this strait, the wit of man can find him no outgate, but the provident mercy of God delivers him in such sort, that no occasion of offence is given to S●ul & his people, because David came not against them: neither yet could the Philistines condemn him, because he went back by their command. So notable a benefit did David receive even by that same deed, wherein his enemies thought they had done him notable a shame: and it should learn us in our straightest extremities whereunto men can drive us, to depend on the Lord; and ever then to hope for an outgate, when we see none. For such is thy providence, O Lord, whereby in mercy thou watchest over those that love thee, that these evils that are intended against them, by thee, are turned into good to them.  
And here we have further to consider, 
If this comfort belong to every member, much more to the whole body and state of the Church.  that seeing this is the privilege of every one that loves the Lord; much more must it appertain to the whole Church of God. It is the portion of Abraham, alber● the Father of the Faithful, yet one of God's Children, I will bless them that bless thee, end curse them that c●rsie thee: And shall it not belong (think we) to all the congregation of the first borne? Will not the Lord be a Wall of fire round about jerusalem, 
Zach. 2. 5.  and the glory in the midst of her? Will be not keep her as the apple of his eye? Shall not jerusalem be as a Cup of Poison unto all her enemies, 
Zach. 12. 2.  and a heavy Stone? Yea surely all that lift it up shall be torn, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it; the weapons made against her shall not prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against her in judgement, shall be condemned. This is the heritage of the lords servants, and the portion of them who love him. For the Church is that Ark of God, 
Gen. 7. 18.  which may mount up higher as the Waters increaseth; but can not be overwhelmed: the Bush which may burn, 
Exod. 3. 2.  but can not be consumed: the House built on a Rock, which may be beaten with wind and rain, 
Math. 7. 15.  but can not be overthrown.  
The Lord who changeth times and seasons; 
Enemies of God's Church, look to their end,  who takes away Kings, and sets up Kings: hath reproved Kings for his Church's sake: and he governeth all the Kingdoms of the earth in such sort, that their risings and fallings, their changes and mutations, are all dispensed for the good of his Church: for there is but one of two sentences, wherein all the judges of the world may judge of themselves, and see clearly their end. Either that, which Mordecai said: Ester, 
●ster. 4. 14.  Who knows if for this thou art come to the Kingdom, that by thee deliverance might come to God's people? 
Dan. ●, 21.  Or else that which Moses in God's name said to Pharaoh, (the first oppressor of God's Church in his adulescencie) I have set thee up to declare my power, because thou exaltest thyself against my people.  
How miserable then are they, who when they are highest, abuseth their power, to hold the people of God lowest?  
Have they not cause to fear, lest the Lord have set them up against him, as an Object of his Power and justice? If we will mark the course of the Lords proceeding ever since the beginning of the world, we shall find, that as he order the state of earthly Power, for the accomplishment of his will concerning his Church; so evermore a blessing follows them, who are instruments of her good: and by the contrary, an invitable cu●ss● follows them, who are the instruments of her evil.  
When the Lord concluded to bring his Church from Canaan, to sojourn in Egypt, he sent such a Famine in Canaan, as compelled them to forsake it: but made plenty in Aegi●t, by the hand of joseph; whom the Lord sent b●fore as a provisor to his Church; and by whom Phar●oh was ma●e so favourable to jacob, that he was allowed to dwell in G●shen: but when such time came▪ that he would translate his Church from Egypt to Canaan, than he altered Pharaohs countenance; he raised up a new King, which knew not joseph, and turned the Egyptians hearts away from Israel, so that they vexed Israel, and caused them to serve by cruelty▪ and all this the Lord did, to the end his people should become weary of Egypt, and enforced by violence to make forward to Canaan, whereas otherways (as it well appears) if they had been daunted as in the beginning, they would have neglected the promised Land, and contented themselves with Onions and flesh-pots of Egypt. Thus Pharaoh by his obstinacy brings on himself, his just 〈◊〉 punishment; and the Lord works to his people their undeserved deliverance: and afterward, when the sins of his people drew to that ripeness, that they had caused their days to draw near, 
Ez●ch. 22. 4  & were come to their tearse, the Lord stirred up the King of Babel, 
●sa, 10. 5.  as the Rod of his wrath, and Staff of his indignation, he s●nt him to the dissembling Nation, and gave him a charge against the people of his wrath, to take the spoil and the prey, and to tread them under ●eete like mire in the streets: and then that the Lord might be avenged of the sins of Israel, he subdued all Kingdoms round about them under the King of Babel, that no slop or impediment should be in their way to hold off the judgement from them: 
Esa. 10. 12.  But yet again, when the Lord had accomplished all his works upon Mount Zion, and the appointed time of mercy was come, and the 70. 
The government of the wh●le earth altered f●r the Church's sake.  years of Captivity was expired, the● the Lord visited the proud heart of the King of Ashur; and for his Church's sake, he altered again the government of the whole earth, translating the Empire to the Medes and Persians, that Cyr●s the Lords anointed, might perform to his people the promised deliverance. All which, should learn us in the greatest changes and alterations which can fall out in the world, to rest assured, that the Lord will work for the good of his Church, 
Psal. 42.  though the earth should be moved, and the mountains fall into the midst of the Sea; yea though the waters thereof rage and be troubled, yet there is a River whose streams shall make glad the City of our good God, in the midst of it, and therefore it shall not be moved: yea they who should be as nursing fathers & mothers unto the Church of God, may forsak her, & become her enemies: but assuredly they shall perish; and comfort & deliverance shall appear unto God's people out of an other place. The Lord for a while may put the bridle of bondage in the Phi●istines hands to humble Israel for their sins, 
Esa. 12 1.  but it shall be taken from them: and the day shall come, wherein we shall with joy draw Water out of the Welles of salvation, and praise the Lord, saying: Though thou wast angry with me, thy wrath is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Yea, Zion shall cry out, and shout for joy, for great is the Holy one of Israel in the midst of her: and therefore in our lowest humiliations, let us answer our adversaries. Rejoice not against me, Oh mine enemy, though I fall, I shall rise: and when I shall sit in darkness; the Lord is a light unto me: I will bear the wrath of the Lord; because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgement for me, he will bring me forth to the light, 
Mich. 7. 8.  and I shall see his righteousness: then he that is mine enemy, shall look upon it, and shame shall cover him who said to me, 
What is a Christians best.  What is the Lord thy God? Now shall he be trodden under, as the mire in the street: yea, so let all thine enemies perish, O Lord!  
For the best. This best, is no other thing, but that precious salvation prepared to be shown us in the last time, reserved in the heavens for us, and whereunto we are reserved, by the power of God through Faith; whereof we learn that our best estate is not yet wrought so as it is accomplished; it is only in the working, 
●▪ Pet. 1. 5.  says the Apostle: and therefore we are not to look for it in this life.  
There is a great difference between the godly and the wicked: 
The wicked man is at his best, when he comes first into the world.  the one enjoys their best in this life: the other, looks for it, and are walking toward it: For if it should be demanded, when a wicked man is at his best? I would answer, his best is evil enough; but then a wicked man is at the best, when he comes first into the world; for than his sins are fewest, his judgement easiest. It had been therefore good for him, that the knees had not 
job. 3. 11,  prevented him, but that he had ●yed in the bath: for as a River which is smallest at the beginning, increaseth as it proceeds by the accession of other Waters into it, till at length it be swallowed up into the deep; so the wicked, the longer he liveth, 
2. Tim. 3. 13.  Waxeth ever worse and worse; deceiving, and being deceived (saith the Apostle.) Proceeding from evil to worse (saith jeremy,) 
jer. 9 3.  till at length he be swallowed up in that Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone. 
Reu. 19 20.  And this the Apostle expresseth most significantly, when he compares the wicked man unto one gathering a treasure, wherein he heaps up wrath to himself, against the day of wrath: For even as the Worlding, who every day casteth in a piece of money in his treasure, 
Rom. 2.  in few years multiplies such a sum, the particulars whereof he himself is not able to keep in mind; but when he breaks up his Box, than he finds in it sundry sorts of Coin, whereof he had no remembrance: 
A warning for impenitent sinners.  Even so is it, and worse, with thee, O impenitent man, who not only every day, but every hour and moment of the day, dost multiply thy transgressions, and defile thy Conscience, hoarding up into it some dead work or other: to what a reckoning thinkest thou, shall thy sins amount in the end, though thou forget them as thou committest them? Yet the Apostle telleth thee, that thou hast laid them up in a treasure, and not only so, but with every sin, thou hast gathered a portion of wrath proportionable to thy sin, which thou shalt perfectly know in that day wherein the Lord shall break up thy treasure, and open the book of thy Conscience, 
Psal. 50. 1●.  and set thy sins in order before thee: then shall Thine own wickedness correct thee, 
I●r. 2. 19  and thy turning back, shall reprove thee: then shalt thou know and behold, that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God: And shalt be astonished to see such a multitude of witnesses standing up against thee; then shalt thou perceive that these sins which thou hast cast behind thy back, 
Psal 90. 8.  the Lord hath set them in the light of his countenance: and then woe shallbe unto thee, for the Lord shall turn thine own ways upon thy head, when thou hast accomplished the measure of thine iniquity: the Lord shall gi●● thee to drink of the cup which thou hast s●lled with thine own hand, and shall double his stripes upon thee, according to the multitude of thy 〈◊〉.  
But as to the Children of God, 
The Christian is not at his best now: it is in the working only.  i● you will ask, When they are at their best? 〈◊〉. Pray●e● be God, ou● wo●st is away, our good is 〈…〉 best is at hand: as our Saviour said to his Kinsmen, ●o may we say to the Worldlings: Your Ti●● is away, but, 
joh. 7. 6.  my time is not yet come. W●e were at the worst immediately before our con●●●sion; for our whole life t●ll then, was a walking with the children of disobedience in the broad way that leads to damnation: and then were we at the worst, when we had proceeded furthest in the way of untighteousnesse, for than were we furthest from God. Our best began in the day of our recalling, wherein the Lord by his Word and holy Spirit, called upon us, and made us turn our backs upon Satan, and our face toward the Lord, and so caused us part company with the children of disobedience; among whom, we had our conversation before: then we came home with the penitent forlorn to our father's family; but they went forward in their sins to judgement: That was a day of division betwixt us and our sins: In that day (with Israel) we entered into the borders of Canaan into Gilgall, 
jos. 5. 9  & there were we circumcised, and the shame of Egypt was taken from us, e●en o● sin, which is our shame indeed, & which we have borne from our mother's womb: the Lord grant that we may keep it for ever in thankful remembrance: and that we may ●●unt it a double shame to return again to the bondage of Egypt, to serve the prince of Darkness in Brick and Clay; that is, to have fellowship any more with the unfruitful works of darkness, but that like the redeemed of the Lord, we may Wak●from strength to strength, 
Psal. 84. 7.  till we appear before the ●ace o●●ur God in S●on.  
Always this difference of estates of the godly and wicked, 
This difference of the godly & w●●ked concerning their best, should learn: us comfort and patience.  should learn us patience: Let us not seek that in the Earth, which our gracious God in his most holy dispensation hath reserue●●or us in the Heaven: Let us not be like the foolish jews, who loved the place of their Banishment in Babel, better than their home: For here we are not at our best, 
1. joh. 3.  now our life is hid with the Lord, and we know not yet what we shallbe: but we know when he shall appear, we shall be like him: 
Exod. 15. 13.  the Lord shall carry us by his mercy, and bring us in his strength to his holy habitation: He shall plant us in the mountain of his inheritance, 
Esa 35. 10.  even the place which he hath prepared; and sanctuary which he hath established: then, Everlasting 〈…〉 upon our hea●e●, and sorrow an● 〈◊〉 shall fl●e away from us for ever. And now till the Lord hath accomplished his work into us, 
Psal. 3●.  let us not faint, because the wicked flourish: neither think we have cleansed our hands in vain, because they prosper, they are to be pittred rather then enured: let them eat and drink, and be merry; sure it is, they will never see a blyther day then that which they see presently: they have enjoyed their Heaven in the Earth: they have received their consolation in this life, 
Luk. 19  and hath gotten their portion in this world. Oh what tongue can express their misery! And yet as Samuel mourned for Saul when God rejected him: 
How miserable are the wicked, who have their heaven in the earth.  and jeremy wept in secret for the pride of his people, that would not rep●n● of their sins: How can we but take up a bitter lamentation for many of you, whom in this time of Grace, we see to be strangers from Grace? We wish from our hearts, ye were not like the Kinsmen of L●t, who thought he was scorning, 
Gen. 19  when he told them of a judgement to come; and therefore for no request would go with him out of Sodom, but ta●●yed while the fire of the Lords indignation consumed them. But rather as Sara followed Abraham from Chaldee to Canam, so you would take us by the hand, and go forward with us, from the Helles to the Heavens. But alas, the lusts of the flesh, holds you captive, your Sins hath blinded you, and the Love of the world doth bewitch you; but all of them in th' end, shall deceive you: For All the labour under the Sun, 
Eccles. ●. 17.  is but vanity and vexation of spirit. When you have finished your task, you shallbe less content than ye were at the beginning: you shallbe as one wakened out of a dream, who in his sleep thought he was a possessor of many things, but when he awaketh, behold, he hath nothing. Like that Rich man, who said in his security, N●w my soul, thou hast much good for many days: and even upon the next day, redacted to so great poverty with him that despised Lazarus, that he had not so much as a drop of cold Water to cool his tongue with: then shall you lament, We have wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity, and it did not profit us. Alas, how shall I learn you to be wise? The Lord when he created man, set him in a room above all his creatures; and now degenerate man, sets every Creature in his heart above the Lord, O fearful ingratitude. 
Deut. 32. 6.  Do you forward the Lord, ye foolish people and unwise? There is nothing which you conceive to be good; but when you want it, you are careful to seek it: when you have it, you are careful to keep it; only you are careless of the Lord jesus, though he be that incomparable jewel, that brings light in darkesse, life in death, comfort in trouble, mercy against all judgement▪ you should set him as a Signet on your heart, as an Ornament on your head; & put him on as that glorious attire that gets you place to stand before God. But what pains do you take to seek him? what assurance have you, that ye are in him? or what mourning do you make, because ye are strangers from him? Can ye say that the tenth of your thoughts & words, are employed upon him? Alas, how long will you wander after vanities, and follow lies? Will ye for ever forsake the Fountain of living Waters, and dig to yourselves broken Pits that can hold no Water? 
Psal. 50. 22,  O consider this (in time) ye that forget the Lord, lest he tear you in pee●es, and there be none to deliver you.  
The last lesson we observe in this part of the verse, 
All things work to the worst, to the wicked.  is this: as All things works for the best, to them that love the Lord; so all things works for the worst to the wicked: there is nothing so clean ', which they defile not: nothing so excellent, which they abuse not. Make Saul a King, & Balaam a Prophet, and judas on Apostle, their preferment shallbe their destruction. If they be in prosperity, they contemn God, and their prosperity becomes their ruin: If they be in adversity, they blaspheme him; and like raging waves of the Sea, cast out their own dirt to their shame. Yea, what speak I of these things, even their table shallbe a snare to them: 
Psal. 69. 22.  jesus Christ is a r●cke of offence to them, the Gospel the savour ' of death to them, 
2. Cor. 5.  and their prayer is turned into sin to them: And what more excellent things than these, as a soul stomach turneth most healthsome food into corruption, so their polluted Conscience, turn judgement into Gall; & the fruit of Righteousness, into Wormwood▪ And all this should provoke us to become good in our persons, or else there is nothing, were it never so good, can be profitable unto us.  
To them that love God. 
The second part of the vese, is the persons to whom the former comfort belongeth.  here follows the second part of the verse, containing a description of the persons to whom this privilege appertaineth, together with a reason of the former comfort: of force All things must work for the best, (that is to salvation) to them that love God, because they are called (namely to salvation) according to God's purpose. The strength of this reason, stands in the necessity and immutability of the Purpose of God, more stable than the Decree of the Medes and Persians; for what he hath decreed, can not be revoked, annulled, not impeded. It is that supreme cause of all, which order all inferior causes and incidents whatsoever, in such sort, that they must work to the advancement of that most high purpose of God.  
This reason is made clearer in the subsequent verse, 
Our calling comes from God's purpose, and ca●●es us to the determined glory.  where the Apostle lets us see how the links of the golden Ch●ine of our Salvation are knit together inseparable, by the hand of God, that no power in heaven or earth can sunder them: whereof it comes, that he that is sure of one, is sure of all. And now let us take a short view of it, for confirming the Apostles reason. Election is the first, and it is the most ancient Charter of the right of God's Children to their father's inheritance. Calling, is the second, and it is that gift of God whereby we are cognosced the Sons of God, and our Election secret in itself, is made manifest to ourselves and others. justification is the third, and it is that Grace of God, whereby we are in●est in jesus Christ in such sort, that we are made one with him, and partakers of all that is his, Glorification is the last, and it is that Grace of God whereby we shallbe entered in the due time, full heirs to our heavenly Father.  
No King on the earth can produce so ancient a right to his Crown, as the Christian, effectually called. No Man on the earth can be cognosced his Father's heir upon such sufficient warrant, as the Christian. For in his Regeneration, the Father communicates to him his Image, his Nature, his Spirit, whereby he begins from feeling, to call G●d 〈◊〉 ●ather; and in life and manners resembles him. No Freeholder so surely infe●t in his Lands, having so many confirmations of his right, as hath the 〈◊〉 Christian, who upon his gi●●, hath received the learnest, the Pledge, the Seal, and the Witness o● the great King. And last of all, the Christian shall be entered to the full fruition of his inheritance, with such joy and triumph in the glorious assembly of the Saints, as the like was never seen in the world, no not in jerusalem that day when Sa●omon sat down in his father's Throne; 
1 Kin. 1. 4●.  then their joy was so great, That the earth rang with the ●ound of them: but nothing comparable to this: and herein stands the excellency of a Christian, and certainty of his salvation.  
For this chain of our Salvation reacheth (as I may say) from eternity to eternity: 
How the Christian is made sure of his election, and glorification.  the beginning of it (albeit before beginning) is our election: the end of it (albeit without end) is our glorification: And these two ends of the chain, the Lord keeps them sure and secret in his own hand: but the two middle links of the chain, to wit, Calling and justification, the Lord hath le●●en them down from the Heaven to the Earth, that we should g●●pe and apprehend them; that being sure of the two mindle Links, we might also be sure of the two ends; because the Lord hath knit them inseparably together. Then thou, who wouldst be comforted with the assurance of thy salvation, take heed to this, making it known to thine own Conscience by a holy life, that God hath called thee, and justified thee: Gripe sure, as it were with the one hand, the Link of Calling, and with the other hand, the link of justification; 
By our disposition in this life, each man hath to consider of his everlisting weal or woe.  then mayst thou know assuredly, Election before the world is thine; Glorification after this, shall also be thine. To make this yet more plain, we are to remember, this mortal life of ours, is a short interjected point of Time betwixt two Eternity's (if so I may call it:) or like a stepping Stone betwixt two Gulfs, whereupon some in fear and trembling, work out their salvation; and so steps from Gods eternal Election to endless glorification. Others again, in wantonness & careless security, drinks in Iniquity with greediness, and so steps from the decree of Reprobation, that most justly they procure their everlasting condemnation: So that every man is to consider of his everlasting weal or woe by his present disposition in this life. Oh that we had sanctified memories, to remember this so long as we are here. If of weakness we fall, we may rise again: and if we have not learned well to repent in one day, we have leave of the lords patience to learn it better an other day: his name be praised therefore, who hath opened a door of mercy to sinners, and with long suffering, waits for our repentance. But he who in the day of his transmigration steps the wrong step, will never get leave to amend it. Where the tree falls, it shall lie there, the wicked dies in their sins, and so steps downward to the deep Pit and Gulf, out of die which there is no redemption. Let us therefore be well advised before we leap. Let us fasten our feet in the borders of that Canaan in time, which shall be done, if we make our whole life a proceeding from Election to Glorification, and that through Calling and justification; which two, is inseparably following them, the Sanctification & Renovation of the whole man, The Lord make us wise in time, that we may consider our course, and think of the end whereunto it leads us: for there is but one of two, as M●ses protested to the Israelites, so do I unto you: I have laid this day life and death before you: the Lord give you grace to make choice of the best.  
But now to return to the words of this description of the persons, to whom this privilege appertaineth, we have these things. First, the Purpose of God: Secondly, his Calling according to his Purpose: Thirdly, the evident token according to God's calling, which is, the love of God. The Purpose of God, concerning thy salvation, thou mayest know by thy Calling: and if again thou wilt try thy, Calling, try it by the Love of God, which thou finds in thee. And of these three, now let us speak shortly.  
According to his Purpose. 
What comfort we have in this, that our salvation is grounded on the Lords unchangeable purpose.  here you see then how the Apostle draweth our Calling from the Purpose of God: and so when he will comfort us with the certainty of our Salvation, he leads us out of ourselves, up to the Rock that is higher than we; he teacheth us to cast our Anchor within the vail, and to fasten our Souls upon that unchangeable Purpose of God. It is most expedient for the children of God, to mark this, because the manifold changes we find in ourselves, do often times interrupt the peace of our minds, that the Lord our God hath in such sort dispensed our Salvation, that the ground thereof is laid in his own immutable Purpose; but the marks, tokens, and pledges, he placeth in them▪ after their Calling, for whom it was ordained. The tokens are changeable, as we ourselves in whom they are, are changeable, but the ground holds fast, being laid in the unchangeable God, in whom falls no shadow of alteration▪ and this should comfort us against our daily vicis●itudes, changes, defects, and temporal desertions: our Faith may faint, our spiritual life may languish, our Hope hoover, our Hearts in praying fall down like the enfeebled hands of Moses; yet let us not despair, no change in us, can alter the Lords unchangeable Purpose: he who hath begun the work in us, will also perfect it. Because I am not changed (saith the Lord) therefore is it that ye, 
Mal. 3. 6.  O sons of jacob, are not consumed.  
This Purpose of God, is called otherways, 
Our salvation is neither in part nor in the whole ascribed to our merits  The will of God, and, The good pleasure of his will: and it doth learn us, to give to the Lord the praise which is due to him, namely the praise of the whole work of our Salvation, should be ascribed to the good pleasure of his will only, and not to our foreseen Merits: that poison of pride, which Satan powered in our first Parents, whereby he provoked them to aspire to be equal with God, doth yet appear in their posterity: the corrupt heart of man ever aiming at this, either in part or in whole, to have the praise of Salvation ascribed to him, and so would start up in the room of God, usurping that glory which belongeth to the Lord, and he will not give to another: then the which no sacrilege more fearful can be committed against the Lord. O man! content thee with that which the Lord offers thee, and let that alone which the Lord reserveth to himself. My Peace (saith the Lord) I give unto you, but my Glory I will not give to an other. It is enough that the salvation of the Lord is thine; but as to the glory of Salvation, let it remain to the Lord: he is for this, called The Father of Mercy, because Mercy bred in his own bosom: many causes without himself, found he without himself, moving him to execute justice; but a cause moving him to show mercy found he never, save only. The good pleasure of his will. Therefore saith the Apostle, The Lord hath called us with a holy calling, nor according to our works; but according to his Purpose and Grace. Surely except the Lord had reserved Mercy for us, we had been like Sodom and Gomorrah, but it hath pleased him in his Mercy, of the same lump of Clay, to make us vessels of Honour, whereof he hath made others vessels of dishonour; and who is able sufficiently to think of so great a benefit? Therefore let the Redeemed of the Lord, 
Psal. ●.  cry out with a louder voice than David▪ O Lord! what are we, that thou hast been so mindful of us? Not unto us O Lord! not unto us, but unto thy name, give the glory: for thy loving kindness, and for thy truths sake; for our salvation cometh of God, that sits upon the Throne, and of the L●●be: to thee therefore be praise, and honour, and glory for ever and ever.  
To them that are called. 
Two callings● outward, and inward.  The Purpose of God, which is sufficient in itself, is made known and manifest to us by his Calling: for our Calling is a declaration of the Decree of our Election, and as it were the secret Voice of God, bringing from the Heavens to our Souls, this comfortable message, That we are the Sons of God. Now we must know, that Gods, Calling is twofold: one outward, which is common also to the wicked, and of it speaks our Saviour, Many are called, but few are chosen: The other inward and effectual, proper only to the Godly, whom the Lord is purposed to save. And this will learn us to consider of three sorts of men in the world, whereof some not called at all; some called, but not chosen: some chosen, and therefore called to be sanctified, lustified, 
All the world stands in 3. Cucl●s, & that none are happy, except they who are within the third.  and glorified. Ye that will take a right view of all mankind, shall find them as it were standing in three Circles; they only being happy who are within the third. In the outmost Circle are all those on whom the Lord hath not vouchsafed so much as an outward calling; and here stands the greatest part of the world. In the middlemost Circle, which is much narrower, are all those which are partakers of Gods outward calling by the Word & Sacraments. And in the third Circle, which is of smallest compass (in regard of the rest) stands those, who beside the outward calling of God by his Word, are called also inwardly and effectually by his Holy Spirit. These are Christ's little Flock, the few chosen, the communion of Saints, the Lords third part, so to speak with Zacharie; 
Zach. 13. 9  the two parts shall be cut off and die, but the third will thy Lord ●ine as Silver and Gold: of them will the Lord say, This is my people: and they shall say. The Lord is my God. It is a great step in deed, that we are brought from the uttermost Circle unto the second, but it is not sufficient to salvation: yea rather they who stand in the second Circle, hearing the voice of God call them to repentance, and yet harden their hearts, and will not follow the Lord, may look for a more fearful condemnation, than they who are in the uttermost rank of all. Weighty are those warnings of our Saviour: Sodom and Gomorah shall be in an easier estate in the day of judgement, than they to whom the Lord hath spoken by his word, but they would not receive it: and that double stripes are for him that knows his masters will, and doth it not. Content not yourself therefore with this, that ye are brought within the compass of this visible Church, and made partakers of an outward Calling; that ye have been baptized in the name of jesus, and communicated at his holy Table: for not every one that says Lord, Lord, shall enter in his Kingdom: except ye find also the Lords inward and effectual Calling, that the arm of his Grace hath drawn you within the compass of this third Circle, and so brought you to be of his own third part, and set you down among the generation of them that seeks the face of God, and therefore forsakes their ●innes, that they may find him.  
Then we see this excellent Privilege is restrained to them who are called inwardly; 
Of the inward calling.  and therefore let us yet a little consider it. This inward Calling, is the communication of Christ's saving Grace, whereby the mind is enlightened, the heart purified by Faith, the affections sanctified, and the whole man reform: For as the Lord by his Gospel, offers to his Children Righteousness and Life, so by his holy Spirit he gives them that justifying Faith, and openeth their heart to receive that Grace which is preached and proclaimed to them in the Gospel. So then, this work of our Calling, is altogether the Lord●: It is his praise that he calls things which are not, 
●. Cor. 4.  and makes them to be. The Lord that commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath given to our minds the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ jesus: 
Psal. 51.  he it is that creates in us a new heart, and putteth a new spirit into our bowels, that we may walk in his Statutes. The Lord promised that he would call many of the Gentiles to the spiritual jerusalem, 
Ezech. 11. 19  to suck out the m●●ke of the breasts of her consolation, & be delighted with the brightness of her glory: 
Esa. 66.  shall I cause others to be fruitful; said the Lord, & remain barren myself? and this his gracious promise hath he most abundantly performed in our days this name be praised therefore.  
As this work is only the Lords, 
This inward calling is the ●r●ne of God, choosing 〈◊〉 in the world his own elect.  so he restrains it only to them who are his own. The outward Calling is extended to all: but the inward Calling makes a particular separation of a few from the remanent: where it is wonderful to see the distinction which is made betwixt man & man in all ranks & estates, by this effectual Calling of two Brethren, as jacob and Esau: of two Prophets, as Moses and Balaam: of two Kings, as David and Saul: of two Apostles, as Peter and judas: of two thieves, th' one is taken, th' other rejected: and thus the Arm of the Grace of God, goes through to every corner of the earth, according to his pleasure, culling out by his Word, from among the remnant of the world, those who belong to this Election. This Grace of God, it enters in a Land, and not into every City: it enters into a City, but not into every Family: ye●, and it will enter in a Family, and yet not come to every person of the Family, of husband and wife, of masters and servants, 
Whereof it comes, that the Gospel where it is preached, makes a great difference betwixt man and man.  of parents and children, of brethren and sisters; often times the one is taken, the other is left: It came to jericho, and weyled out Zacheus: It came to Philippi, and weyled out Lydia and the jailor: It came to Nero his Court, and not to himself: It entered into the Family of Narcissus, and yet past by Narcissus himself: It is the work of God, and marvelous in our eyes. The Gospel is preached to many, but the Blessing brought by the Gospel, lights only upon the Children of Grace▪ And hereof ariseth this daily distinction which we see between man and man: all hear alike, but all have not Faith; all are not edified alike: Some forsake their sins, and follows the Lord: others forsaking the Lord, walks on in their sins. As the Lord governeth the rain, and makes it fall upon one City and not upon another; so he dispenseth the dew of his Grace, that he makes it drop down upon one heart▪ and not on another. And of this I would wish, 
How the heart whereon grace descends▪ not, now in this time of grace, is accursed.  that so many of you as yet are strangers from Grace, should learn to know your miserable state: What a fearful thing is this, that God hath converted so many in the City wherein thou dwellest, yea perhaps many in the Family wherein thou remainest, and yet his Grace never lighted upon thee, but thou art lest in thy old sins: Consider it rightly, I pray you. If the Lord should do to you as he did to Israel in the days of Athab, causing it to rain for three years and a half on all the Lands about you, but not upon your Land, would you not conceive in it a sensible curse of God upon you? O Hypocrite, thou that canst discern the face of the Sky, and take up the tokens of God's anger in the creature, canst thou not discern the state of thine own soul, nor apprehend this for a sensible curse, that 30. or 40. years the showers of saving and renewing Grace, hath descended upon many people round about thee; but never upon thyself? thou possessest thy old sins, and keepest still a hard, a barren, & a fruitless heart. What shall I say to thee? to cut thee off from all hope of Mercy, and so send thee to despair; I have not that in commission: the Lord hath his own time of Calling, and can when he will, of Saul a persecutor, make Paul a Preacher. But one thing I can certify thee of, So long as thou art in that state, mourn if thou wilt, thou hast much cause of mourning; for if this effectual Calling by Grace, go by thee in time to come, as it hath done is time began, it is an evident declaration, that thou art a man reserved to wrath, and not ordained to mercy.  
Now that this Calling flowing from Election, may be yet made sure to our consciences for our greater comfort, 
In the inw●●d calling, the Lord begins at the illumination of the mind.  let us mark the manner of the Lords proceeding into it, and so gather up some tokens whereby we may discern it. As in the first Creation, the Lord began at the light; so in the second Creation, he begins at the illumination of the mind: For we can neither know the Lord to fear and love him, neither yet ourselves and our sins ●right, till the Lord who commanded light to shine out of darkness, shine also into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of jesus Christ: and this light of God discovers to us so many works of darkness, wherewith in ignorance we defiled our consciences, that we begin to be ashamed of ourselves in the sight of God; ye● our very flesh trembleth for fear of his judgements, 
He works motions of sorrow and contrition in the heart.  and we cry out with job: Now my eye hath seen the Lord, therefore I abhor myself. And thus the Lord proceeds from the mind to the heart, working into it such a contrition and godly sorrow, 
Io●. 42. 6.  as causeth repentance unto salvation, whereby the heart that was senseless before, being dead in sin and trespasses, begins now to stir and move; as the heart of josiah melted at the reading of the Law: and the hearts of those penitent jews which were pricked at the sharp Sermon of Peter: then feeling ourselves under death through sin, we begin to bethink us of the way of life, 
Act. 24. 25.  and to ask (with the jailor) What shall we do, that we may be saved? These motions, melt, 
He worketh a respondence and answering of the heart to his calling, & a following of the Lord.  and prickings of▪ the heart, wrought, in the elect, by the hearing of God's word, are the very plucks of the hand of God, translating thee out of Nature into Grace: yet must we not rest here, for Felix may tremble while Paul is preaching: and many for a while, may receive this word with joy, and yet afterward fall away in the time of temptation. We must therefore consider, if there be in the heart a respondence and answering unto the Lord: So oft as he calleth, do we present ourselves before him, ready to follow him, saying with Abraham, here I am Lord: and with Samuel (after he knew the Lords voice) Speak on Lord, thy servant heareth th●●. This answering and following of the Lord, are undoubted tokens of effectual Calling. So oft as the Lord calleth, the Christian answereth: When thou saidst, 
Psal. 27.  Seek ye my 〈◊〉: my heart answered, O Lord! I will seek thy 〈◊〉. If the Lord command, the Christian answereth, 
Psal. 119. 1●.  O Lord! quicken me according to thy loving kindness, that I may apply my heart to keep thy Statutes always to the end. 
Psal. 119. 39  I● the Lord promise Mercy, the Christian answers, Establish O Lord! thy promise to thy seru●nt, and let it be to me according to thy word, for I beleeu● in thee; but Lord, help my unbelief. And thus in the heart of one effectually called, there is a continual respondance to the voice of God, awaiting on the Lord, a walking with him, and a following of him where ever he go, If the Lord have called thee, sure it is thou wilt follow him; and no power of the Devil, of the World, or the Flesh, shall hold thee back from him. When Eliah touched Elisha with his Cloak, he left his Oxen, and came after him. When jesus called on Andrew and Peter, they left their Nets, their Ship, and their Father, and followed him: When he called on Matthew, he left all his gainful trade of the receipt of Custom, and followed him▪ When he called on Mary Magdelen, she forsook her sinful life, and followed him. here is the finest touchstone to try an inward calling. If the Lord hath called thee, thou wilt follow him: but if yet thou be wandering after vanity, walking on in the course of thy sin, turning thy back, and not thy face unto the Lord; deceive not thyself, partaker of this heavenly Calling▪ (wherein stands the only comfort of a Christian) hast thou never been.  
That love God. 
The lo●● of God is a sure token of an inward calling, & of the commendation o● love.  And last of all, to return to the words again, the whole effects of our Inward Calling, the Apostle compriseth under one, to wit, The love of God; and that most properly, for Lou● compriseth all the rest v●der it. Love is the cognoscence of Christ's Disciples, says our Saviour. It is the Band of perfection (saith the Apostle,) and accomplishment of the Law. Love, speaks with the tongue of every Virtue, Pity bids thee help the Indigent, justice bids thee give every man his own, Mercy bids forgive, Patience bids suffer: but the voice of Christian love, commands all these. Holy love is the oldest Daughter of a justifying Faith; that is, the first affection that Faith procreateth and sanctifieth, and whereby she works in the sanctification of the rest. L●ue is the strongest & most impe●ious affection in the whole nature of man: all the rest of the affections gives place unto it, which we may see, even in the man natural and unregenerate: Where Love is kindled, Fear is banished▪ Covetousness coucheth, Ambition is silent. A Coward inflamed with Love, becomes valiant; and a Covetous man is oft times commanded by Love, to be prodigal: yea, the Proud & ambitious man, who otherwise gives place to no man, for obtaining that which he loves, cares not to prostrate his honour to the dust. If Carnal lou● be so forcible, what shall we say of the Spiritual l●ue how much more doth it draw the whole powers of soul and body after the Lord: neither is it possible to do otherways; for every thing returns to his own original, as the waters go down to the deep from whence they came; and Fire tends upward to the own place and region: even so holy L●●e, being a spark of the heavenly Fire, kindled in our hearts by the ●oly Ghost, doth ravish us always upward toward, the Lord, from whom it came, and 〈◊〉 us never to rest while we en●oy him: then we begin to l●ue, when we begin to love. As no Creature can live out of the own 〈◊〉, so the Soul is but 〈◊〉 in sin, 〈…〉 of the love of God. No fear to o●●end him, no 〈◊〉 ●o please him, no obedience to his Commandments can be given by the heart that loves him not. 'twere longsome to speak of all the properties of Love, we make choice of a few, as chief tryalles of our love.  
The fir●● property o● L●ue, 
First trial of love.  is a bur●ing desire to obtain that which is beloved; as a Woman that loveth her Husband unlargnedly, can not be content with any Love token she receiveth from him in his absence, but longeth more and more till she receive 〈◊〉▪ So the Soul which is wounded with the Love of I●sus her immortal Husband, hath a continual desire to be at him. I grant every ●oken sent from him, brings comfort; but no contentment till she enjoys him: whereof comes these, and such like complaints, 
Psal. 42. 1.  As the Hart brays for the rivers of water, so panteth my soul after thee, O my God: O when shall I come and appear before the presence of my God: 
Psal. 143.  my soul desireth after the Lord, 
Phil. 1.  as the 〈◊〉 land: ●or, I would be dissolved, 
reve. 22.  and be with the Lord: therefore come, even so come Lord jesus. But alas, here are we taken in our sins: ●hou sayest thou Lovest him; but how is it then thou longest not to see him, neither desirest to be with him? yea a small appearance of the day of death, wherein we should go 〈◊〉; or mention of the day of judgement, wherein he shall come to us, doth terrify and affright thee. Thou that contents thee with the gy●●s of God, & thinkest not long for himself, thou art ●ut like an 〈◊〉 woman, who if she possess the goods of her husband, regards not, albeit she never see 〈◊〉. 
〈…〉.  The 〈◊〉 are blamed, because they called on the Lord 〈◊〉 for oil & wine, 〈…〉 for worshipping the creature 〈…〉: but more 〈…〉 be condemned for loving the guilts 〈◊〉 God, ●ore than the giver. Let us therefore beware of this 〈…〉. We may indeed rejoice in all the gifts the Lord hath given us, & they should thankfully be received; but always with a protestation, that no thing given unto me here, be allowed unto me for my portion, and inheritance; and that no contentment ever come to our hearts, till we get the full fruition of our loving husband Christ I●sus. If the Love of men compelled the Apostle to ●ay to the Corinthians, It is not yours, but you I seek, how much more should the L●ue of God compel us to say to our Lord, It is not thy gift, but thyself, O Lord! I long for: thou art the portion of my soul: If thou wouldst give me all the worke● of thine hands, yet shall I never have comfort nor contentment, except thou give me thyself: therefore O thou whom my soul loveth! show me where thou feedest, where thou liest at 〈◊〉; 
Cant. 2. 6.  for why should I be as she that turns aside to the flocks of thy companions: Blessed is he that hungers and thirsteth for thy righteousness, for he shall behold the face of his God, and be filled with his image; for in his presence is the fullness of joy, and at his right hand, 〈◊〉 pleasures for evermore.  
The second trial of holy Love, 
Second trial of love.  is Obedience, and a care to serve and honour the Lord in all estates and callings. Preachers must be tried by this rule, Peter, L●uest thou me? ●eede my flock. Governors and Counsellors in your callings, must be tried by this: Can you say with the godly Governor David, I love the Lord● then will ye also say with him, 
Psal. 119. 12  What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? How shall I show to the Lord my Love? and what shall I do in my time, for the advancement of his glory? If you love the Lord, then ●e 〈◊〉 Fathers to his Church; be faithful a●uaun●ers of his K●ngdome, wise provisors to remove the stumbling blocks that impede the course of his Gospel: If ye love the Lord. Stand up with David, and say, Do I not hate them, O Lord! that hate thee● and do I not earnestly contend with them that rise up against thee? Surely I hate them with unfeigned hatred, as if they were my utter enemies. If ye honour the Lord as David did, the Lord shall bless you as he did David. David swore unto the Lord, that he would not rest, till he found out a place for the Lord, even an habitation for the mighty God of jacob. And the Lord swears again to David, that of the fruit of this body, he should set upon his Throne to reign after him. But if otherways there be nothing in you, but a care to 'stablish yourselves and your houses, with the neglect of the glory of God; then remember, the Curtsy of Shebna, and not the Blessing of Eliachim, 
Esa. 22.  shall be upon you: you shall not be fastened as a Nail in a sure place, but shall be rolled and turned away like a Ball: The Lord shall drive thee from thy station, 
Psal. 140. 11.  and out of thy dwelling place shall he destroy thee; for the wicked shall not have his desire; his thoughts shall not be performed, neither shall he be established on the earth, but evil shall hunt him to destruction: the Lord shall take thee, and pluck thee out of thy Tabernacle, and root thee out of the land of the living: and generally all of you in your callings, remember the value of your Christian Love must be tried by the same touchstone; not by your words, 
Psal. 52, 4.  but by your deeds. If any man loveth me (saith Christ) let him keep my Commandments. But here also the hypocrisy of this age is clearly discou●red: In word they pretend the love of God, but in deed, they grieve him with their transgressions: as the jews, they called him King, and bowed their knees before him, but spa●● in his face, and buffeted him: So the bastard Christians of this age, call Christ, their Lord, and bow then knee before him, yet they crucify him, and tramples his blood of the Covenant under their feet: they kiss him, and betray him with judas. It is but a Sceptre of Reed they grant to him, for they give him no commandment over their affections: wherefore, great is the controversy which the Lord hath this day with the men of this generation.  
The last trial of Love, 
Last trial of love.  whereof I will speak at this time (leaving many other) is, Bountifulness. Love (saith the Apos●●) is bountiful. Experience proves this: every Lover is a bountiful bestower on them whom he loves. Ye love your Backs, and spares not to clothe them, yea with excessive Apparel: Ye love your Bellies, and therefore are bountiful daily to them in feeding them: Ye love your Children, and therefore lets them want nothing that is needful for them: yea, ye love your Beasts, and ye bestow largely on them; only you say you love the Lord, but wherein are ye bountiful toward him? It is true, that in nothing can a man be profitable to the Almighty, saith job. But are there no works which should so shine before men, that by them our heavenly Father may be 〈◊〉? Though works can be no merits, yet are they your witnesses: and what have you done to stands, when as you are dead, as witnesses of your ●●ue towards the Lord? Though your goodness extend not to the Lord, yet where is your delight that should be in his Saints, and excellent ones upon earth? Where is your compassion and love toward the Brethren? Are not the men of this age like the fig-tree, that have fair Leaves, but not so much as one Fig to give jesus in his hung●r; hau●●g the sh●w of godliness, but hath de●ied the pour thereof, 
●. Tim. 3. 5.  rendering words enough, but no ●ruites to adorn the glorious Gospel of our Lord 〈◊〉 And so, (if we might proceed) ●uery trial of 〈◊〉, should discover th'hypocrisy and bastard Christianity of the most part of Professors of this age. But, being forced at this time, to conclude; I turn me toward you (whom I know, hath set your heart● to seek the Lord) that I may leave my last blessing behind me unto you, being no more purposed to speak to you from this place; to you, and to every one of you, who can say with Pet●r in a sincere conscience, L●rd thou knowest I love the●: to you here, in the name of God, I ratify this privilege, All things shall wor●● together for the best unto you. Faint not therefore (● beseech y●u) in the course of Godliness, but 〈◊〉 in the grace of our Lord jesus Christ st●●●fast in the power if his might, praying to the Lord 〈◊〉, that he would 'stablish that which he hath wr●ught in you, and bring it forward to p●r●●ction, And now I commend you to that grace of God, which is able to build you ●arther, and to give you inheritance among them that are sanctified in Christ jesus: to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, praise, and glory, for ever. Amen.  
FINIS.