discomfort is to look only to the present, and so they are overwhelmed; but when we look back, we shall find that others have been afflicted before us, it is no strange thing, and others delivered before us upon their dependence on God, and adherence to him. You were not the first afflicted servants of God, nor are likely to be the last. Others have been in the like case, and after awhile delivered and rescued out of their trouble: "Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded" (Psalm xxii. 4, 5). In looking back we see two things; the carriage of the godly, and their success, or the salvation of God: "the patience of Job, and the end of the Lord" (James v. 11). They trusted God, and trusted him patiently and constantly in all their troubles; at last this trust was not in vain, they were delivered, and not confounded; depending on God for rescue and deliverance, they never failed to receive it. Now, in looking back we look forward, and in their deliverance we see our own; at least you are fortified against the present temptation, whilst you see his people in all ages have their difficulties, and conflicts, and also their deliverances; so that you will not miscarry, nor be over tempted by the present prosperity of the wicked: "I went into the sanctuary of God, and then understood I their end" (Psalm lxxiii. 17); that is, entering into a sober consideration of God's counsels, and providences, we may easily discern what is the ordinary conclusion of such men's felicities at last, they pay full dear for their perishing pleasures.

2. Because these are instances of God's righteous government, and instances do both enliven and confirm all matters of faith. Here you see his justice, God hath ever been depressing the proud, and exalting the humble; gracious to his servants, terrible to the wicked. These examples also of rescuing others who have been in like condition before us, show us what the wisdom and omnipotency of God can do in performing promises: when the performance of them seemeth hopeless, and all lost and gone, then they are infallible evidences of his tenderness, care, and fidelity towards all that depend upon him. Now, though we have nothing of our own experience to support us, yet the remembrance of what hath been done for others, the experiences of the saints in Scripture are set down for our learning, for the support of our faith and hope. They trusted in God, and found him a ready help, why may not we? God is the same that he was in former times, and carrieth himself in the same ways of providence to righteous, and unrighteous, as heretofore; still promises are fulfilled, and threatenings are executed. They on whose behalf God showed himself so just, powerful, wise, good, and tender, had not a better God than we have, nor a more worthy Redeemer, nor a surer covenant. If they had a stronger faith, it is our own fault, and we should labour to increase it: the saints are as dear to God as ever. And as to the wicked, they that inherit others' sins, shall inherit others' judgments. It is true, we live not in the age of wonders, but God's ordinary providence is enough for our turn, and those very wonders show that he hath power and love enough to protect and deliver us. Well then, these are instances of his righteous government, and instances which concern us, which is my second reason.

3. By these judgments of old, you see the exact correspondency between his word and works; where his voice is heard, but his hand not seen, his word is coldly entertained; but by his providence he establisheth the

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authority of his law. The word spoken by angels was λόγος βέβαιος, a steadfast word" (Heb. ii. 2). A word may be said to be steadfast, either in respect of the unalterable will of the lawgiver, or in respect of execution, or with respect to the party to whom it is given, who firmly and certainly believeth it. The one maketh way for the other. God is resolved to govern the world by this rule, therefore he doth authorize it, own it by the dispensations of his providence; accordingly, the world learneth to reverence it: "I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard" (Hos. vii. 12). God's word against sin and sinners will at last take effect, and end in sad chastisements; and they that would not believe their danger are made to feel it. Now, his promises will have their effect as well as his threatenings: "Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" (Mic. ii. 7.) The word of God doth not only speak good, but do good. The words saying of good, is indeed doing of good. The performance is so certain, that when it is said, it may be accounted done. We are apt to despise the word of God as an empty sound; no, it produceth notable effects in the world: the sentences that are there, whether of mercy or judgment, are decrees given forth by the great Judge of the world; whereupon execution is to follow as is foretold. Now, when we see it done, and can compare the Lord's word and work together, it is a mighty support to our faith, whether it be in our, or in former ages. For you see the word is not a vain scare-crow in its threatenings, nor do we build castles in the air, when we do depend upon its promises. The judgments of his mouth will be the judgments of his hand; and providence is a real comment upon, and proof of the truth of his word.

4. God's judgments of old, or his wonderful works, were never intended only for the benefit of that age in which they were done, but the benefit of all those who should hear of them, by any credible means whatsoever. Surely God never intended they should be buried in dark oblivion, but that after-ages may be the better for the remembrance of them. Witness these Scriptures: "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and declare thy mighty acts" (Psalm cxlv. 4); "Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation" (Joel i. 3). So, "That which we have heard, and known, and our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, showing the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works, that he hath done: for he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare to their children: that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers," &c. (Psalm lxxviii. 3-8); from all which places, and many more, I observe,

(1.) That we should tell generations to come, what we have found of God in our time, and that we should use all ways and means to transmit the knowledge of God's notable and wondrous providences for his people to posterity.

(2.) That this report of God's former works is a special means of edification, for therefore God would have them recorded and told for the special benefit of the ages following.

(3.) And more particularly that this is a great means and help of faith.

For in one of the places it is said, that they may set their faith and hope in God; and from all we may conclude, that by remembering God's judgments of old, we may be much comforted; as in remembering God s works when the church was first reformed in Luther's time; the delivering of England from the Spanish invasion, gunpowder-treason, &c., for the confirming our faith and confidence in God. All God's judgments that were done in the days of our forefathers, and in all generations, if they come to our knowledge by a true report or record, are of use to warn us, and comfort us; yea, the bringing Israel out of Egypt and Babylon, or any notable work done since the beginning of the world till now.

The USE is to press us to take this course as one remedy to comfort us in our distresses. In distresses of conscience the blood of Christ is the only cure; but in temptations arising from the scorn and insultation of enemies, remember what God hath done for his people of old, and let his providence support our faith: "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Psalm xxiii. 4). Pedum pastorale for the protection and guiding of the sheep, and driving away the wolf; the rod and staff are the instruments of the shepherd. More particularly consider,—

1. What is to be observed and remembered. All the eminent passages of God's providence, when acts of power have been seasonably interposed for the rescue of his people, judgments of all kind, public, universal, private, and personal, our own experiences: "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust, that he will yet deliver us" (2 Cor. i. 10). The experiences of others, not in one, but in every age; for in every place and age God delighteth to leave a monument of his righteousness, and all is for the consolation and instruction of the church. Judgments in our time, judgments in former times, blow off the dust from old mercies, and the inscription of them will be a kind of prophecy to your faith; but especially cast your eye often upon the Lord's manner of dealing with his saints in Scripture; their consolations and deliverances received after trouble, partly because the word of God is a rich storehouse of these instances and examples, and partly because of the infallibility of the record, where things are delivered to us with so much simplicity and truth, partly also because of the manner and ends in which, and for which they are recorded. But if I would have recourse to Scripture, should I not rather make use of the promises? Answer,-We must not set one part of Scripture against another; but examples do mightily help us to believe promises, as they are a pledge of the justice, faithfulness, care, and love of God towards his people; and I know not by what secret force and influence invite us to hope for what God hath done for others of his servants.

2. How they must be considered; seriously, as everything that cometh from God. A slight consideration will not draw forth the profitable use of them; when they are looked on cursorily, or lightly passed by, the impression of God upon his works cannot be discerned, therefore they must be well considered, with all their circumstances (Psalm cxliii. 2). David sufficed not to say, "I remember the days of old," but, “I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I will remember thy wonders of old: I will meditate also of all thy work" (Psalm lxxvii. 11, 12); and surely this should be a delightful exercise to the children of God, as it is for the son of a noble and princely father to read the chronicles where his father's acts are recorded, or the famous achievements of his ancestors :

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein" (Psalm exi. 2). Some works of God have a large impression of his power and goodness, and they are made to be remembered, as it after followeth there; he is ready to do the like works when his church standeth in need thereof. Now they must be sought out, for there is more hid treasure and excellency in them than does at first appear; he that would reap the use and benefit of them, should take pleasure to search out matter of praise for God, and trust for himself. Of all other study, this is the most worthy exercise and employment of godly men, to study and find out the works of God in all their purposes and designs; there is more pleasure in such meditations than in all other the most sensual divertisements.

3. The end is to be strengthened and confirmed in the way of our duty, in dependence upon God, and adherence to him; or that faith may be strengthened in a day of affliction, and our hearts encouraged in cleaving to the ways of God.

(1.) Dependence upon God, which implieth a committing ourselves to his power, a submitting ourselves to his will, and a waiting his leisure; all these are in trust, and all these are encouraged by remembering his judgments of old.

(i.) Committing ourselves to his power is trust and dependence. "Our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace" (Dan. iii. 17); "Being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Rom. iv. 21). Now this is abundantly seen in his judgments of old: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon; which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep?" (Isa. li. 9, 10.) If God will but take to himself his great power, and bestir himself as in ancient days, what should a believer fear?

(ii.) Submitting ourselves to God's will is a great act of dependence; submitting before the event. Now, how may a believer acquiesce in God's providence, and enjoy a quiet repose of heart? he knoweth not what God will do with him; but this he knoweth, he hath to do with a good God, who is not wont to forsake those that depend upon him, he hath wisdom and goodness enough to deliver us, or make our troubles profitable to us. Now, his judgments of old do much help to breed this composedness of mind: "They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee" (Psalm ix. 10); they that know anything of God's wont, and have learned from others, or experimented themselves, or by searching into the records of time have found with what wisdom and power, justice and mercy God governeth the world, will be firmly grounded in their trust and reliance on thee, without applying themselves to any of the sinful aids or policies of the world for succour, or troubling themselves about success; for God never forsook any godly man in his distress, that by prayer and faith made his humble and constant applications to him.

(iii.) If you take in the third thing, tarrying, or waiting God's leisure; for he that believeth will not make haste" (Isa. xxvi. 16). God will tarry to try his people, to observe his enemies, till their sins are full, and tarry to bring about his providences in the best time: "Humble

yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you," that is, deliver you, "in due time" (1 Pet. v. 6). It may be he will not at all afford temporal deliverance, but will refer it to the time when he will" judge the world in righteousness" (Acts xvii. 31). Now, what will relieve the soul, engage it to wait? his judgments of old; at the long-run the good cause hath prevailed, the suppressed truth hath got up, the buried Christ hath risen again, and after labours and patience the fruit sown hath been reaped; therefore, in due time he will look upon our afflictions, in the sanctuary we understand the end of things. The beginnings are troublesome, but the end is peace.

(2.) Adherence to God; this followeth necessarily from the former, for dependence begets observance. Till a man trusts God he can never be true to him; for the evil heart of unbelief will draw us from the living God (Heb. iii. 12); but if we can depend upon him, temptations have lost their force. The great cause of all defection is the desire of some present sensible benefit, and we cannot tarry God's leisure, nor wait for his help in the way of our duty. Now, if God's people of old have trusted, and were never confounded, it is a great engagement in the way of his judgments, to wait for him without miscarrying.

A case of conscience may be propounded: how could David be comforted by God's judgments, for it seemeth a barbarous thing to delight in the destruction of any? it is said, "He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished" (Prov. xvii. 5).

1. It must be remembered, that judgment implies both parts of God's righteous dispensation, the deliverance of the godly, and the punishment of the wicked. Now, in the first sense there is no ground of scruple, for it is said, "Judgment shall return unto righteousness" (Psalm xciv. 15); the sufferings of good men shall be turned into the greatest advantages, as the context showeth that God will not cast off his people, but judgment shall return unto righteousness.

2. Judgment, as it signifieth punishment of the wicked, may yet be a comfort, not as it importeth the calamity of any, but either

(1.) When the wicked is punished, the snare and allurement to sin is taken away, which is the hope of impunity; for by their punishment we see it is dangerous to sin against God: "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isa. xxvi. 9) ; the snare is removed from many a soul.

(2.) Their derision and mockage of godliness ceaseth, they do no longer vex and pierce the souls of the godly, saying, "Aha, aha" (Psalm xl. 15); it is as a wound to their heart when they say, "Where is thy God?" (Psalm xlii. 10.)

(3.) The impediments and hinderances of worshipping and serving God are taken away; when the nettles are rooted up, the corn hath the more room to grow.

(4.) Opportunity of molesting God's servants is taken away, and afflicting the church by their oppressions; and so way is made for the enlarging of Christ's kingdom.

(5.) As God's justice is manifested: "When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: but when the wicked perish, there is shouting" (Prov. xi. 10); "The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength"