Brook, but shortly after, through terrors of conscience, he sought to cut his own throat, but being prevented he fell mad. I have read of Socrates' two false accusers, how that the one was trodden to death by the multitude, and the other was forced to avoid the like by a voluntary banishment. I might produce a multitude of other instances, but let these suffice to evidence how swift and terrible a witness God hath been against those that have been false accusers of his people, and that have loaded their precious names with scorn and reproach: the serious consideration of which should make the accused and reproached Christian to sit dumb and silent before the Lord. 8. Lastly, God himself is daily reproached. Men trouble not to cast scorn and contempt upon God himself. Sometimes they charge the Lord, that his ways are not equal, that it is a wrong way he goeth in, Ezek. xviii. 25. Sometimes they charge God with cruelty, My punishment is greater than I am able to bear, Gen. iv. 13. Sometimes they charge God with partiality, and respect of persons, because here he strokes, and there he strikes; here he lifts up, and there he casts down; here he smiles, and there he frowns; here he gives much, and there he gives nothing; here he loves, and there he hates; here he prospers one, and there he blasts another; Malachi ii. 17. Where is the God of judgment? i. c. no where; either there is no God of judgment, or at least not a God of exact, precise, and impartial judgment, &c. Sometimes they charge God with unbountifulness, that he is a God that will set his people to hard work, to much work, but will pay them no wages, nor give them no reward, Malachi iii. 14. "Ye have said, It is in vain to serve God: and what profit is it, that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?" Sometimes they charge God, that he is a hard master, and that he reaps where he hath not sown, and gathers where he hath not strawed, Matth. xxv. 24. &c. Oh the infinite reproach and scorn that is every day, that is every hour in the day cast upon the Lord, his name, his truth, his ways, his ordinances, his glory! Alas, all the scorn and contempt that is cast upon all the saints, all the world over, is nothing to that which is cast upon the great God every hour, and yet he is patient. Ah! how hardly do most men think of God? and how hardly do they speak of God? and how unhandsomely do they carry it towards God? and yet he bears. They that will not spare God himself, his name, his truth, his honour, shall we think. it much that they spare not us, or our names? &c. Surely no. Why should we look that those should give us good words, that cannot afford God a good word from one week's end to another? yea from one year's end to another? Why should we look that they should cry out, Hosanna, Hosanna, to us, when as e* It were very strange that I should please a world cf men, when God himself doth not give every man content. Sal. N very day they cry out of Christ, Crucify him, crucify him. Matth. x. 25. "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the master of the house Belzebub," (or a masterfly, or a dunghill god, or the chief devil), horu much more shall they call them of his household? It · is preferment enough for the servant to be as his lord; and if they make no bones of staining and blaspheming the name of the Lord, never wonder if they revile thy name. let this suffice to quiet and silence your hearts, Christians, under all that scorn and contempt that is cast upon your names and reputations in this world. And The tenth and last objection is this, "Sir, in this my affliction I have sought to the Lord for this and that mercy; and still God delays me, and puts me off: I have several times thought that mercy had been near, that deliverance had been at the door, but now I see it is afar off, how then can I hold my peace? How can I be silent under such delays and disappointments?" To this objection I shall give you these answers. 1. The Lord doth not always time his answers to the swiftness of his people's expectations; he that is the God of our mercies, is the Lord of our times; God hath delayed long his dearest saints; times belonging to him, as well as issue, Hab. i. 2. “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save? Job xix. 7. Behold, I cry out of violence, but I have no answer; I cry, but there is no judgment. Psal. lxix. 3. I am weary of crying, my throat is dry; mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. Psal. xl. 17. Make no tarrying, O my God." Though God had promised him a crown, a kingdom, yet he puts him off from day to day, and for all his haste he must stay for it till the set time is come. Paul was delayed so long, till he even despaired of life, and had the sentence of death in himself, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. And Joseph was delayed so long, till the irons entered into his soul, Psal. cv. 17, 18, 19. So he delayed long the giving in of comfort to Mr Glover, though he had sought him frequently, earnestly, and denied himself to the death for Christ. Augustine being under convictions, a shower of tears came from him, and casting himself on the ground under a fig-tree, he cries out, O Lord! how long? how long shall I say, To-morrow, to-morrow? why not today, Lord, why not to-day? Though Abigail made haste to prevent David's fury, and Rahab made haste to hang out her scarlet thread, yet God doth not always make haste to hear and save his dearest children; and therefore hold thy peace, he deals no worse with thee, than he hath done by his dearest jewels. 2. Though the Lord doth defer and delay you for a time, yet he will come, and mercy and deliverance shall certainly come; he will not always forget the cry of the poor, Heb. x. 37. "For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Hab. 3. The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it." God will come, and mercy will come; though for the present thy sun be set, and thy God seems to neglect thee, yet thy sun will rise again, and thy God will answer all thy prayers, and supply all thy necessities, Psal. Ixxi. 20, 21. "Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side." Three martyrs being brought to the stake, and all bound, one of them slips from under his chain (to admiration,) and falls down upon the ground, and wrestled earnestly with God for the sense of his love, and God give it in to him then and so he came and embraced the stake, and died chearfully a glorious martyr: God delays him, till he was at the stake, and till he was bound, and then sweetly lets out himself to him. : 3. Though God do delay thee, yet he doth not forget thee, he remembers thee still, thou art still in his eye, Is. xlix. 14, 15, 16. and always upon his heart, Jer. xxxi. 20. He can as soon forget himself, as forget his people, Psal. lxxvii. 9, 10. The bride shall sooner forget her ornaments, and the mother shall sooner forget her sucking child, Is. liv. 7, 8, 9, 10. and the wife shall sooner forget her husband, Is. lxii. 3, 4, 5. than the Lord shall forget his people. Though Sabinus in Seneca could never in all his lifetime remem-' |