fields ? and will he neglect thee, thinkest thou, that art a believer ? If the prince feeds the traitor in prison, surely the child in his house shall not starve. In a word, to allude to that, Luke xii. 28, if God in his pi-ovidence so abounds to the ungodly, as we see he doth ; if he clothes this grass, (for to this the wicked may well be compared, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into hell's burning oven,) ' how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith ?'
Fourthly, Ai't thou at peace with God ? O then shew no discontent at any cross or affliction that God visiteth thee withal. If he hath visited thee first with his mercy, thou hast reason to bid him kindly welcome, when he comes to visit thee with his rod. Thou hast sugar by thee now, to sweeten thy bitter cup. When the prophet Sanniel came to Bethlehem, it is said, ' The elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably ? and he said, Peaceably,' 1 Sam. xvi. 4. Thus when God comes with some heavenly affliction to us, it may make us tremble till we know what it comes for, whether peace- ably or no. Now, if thou art at peace with God, the fear is over ; it cannot but come peaceably. Thou mayest conclude it comes on mercy's errand. What condition canst thou, O pardoned soul, be in, that should part thee and the joy of thy peace with God? Is it the wrath of man thou fearest? Possibly thou hast many enemies, and those great ones, and their wrath as great as such can express. Let it be so ; is God among them or no ? Doth God let out their wrath in his wrath against thee ? if not, thou exceedingly wrongest God, if overmuch troubled, and thyself also. Thou wrongest God by not sanctifying his name in thy heart, whose mercy, I hope, is able to secure thee from their wrath. 'If God be for us, who can be against us?' Rom. viii. 31. Thou needest not fear them, though an ai"my of them were about thee, no more than if they were so many wisps of straw. And thou wrongest thyself also ; how, indeed, can we wrong God and not ourselves ? So long as thou art under the power of such a fear, from man's wrath, thou canst never have the taste of God's love in its true sweetness. Again, art thou sick, poor, and what not be- side ? May not God reasonably expect, that reconciling mercy should stop thy mouth from whispering any word of discontent against him, and prevent all envious glances of thy eye at the prosperity of the wicked? Remember, man, that thou canst say one great word which they cannot, in the midst of all their pomp and woi'ldly glor}', ' Though I lie here poor and sick, yet I am, through mercy, at peace with God.' This well thought on, would soon change both your notes ; the joy of the prosperous sinner into bitter mourning, and thy sorrow, Christian, into joy. Tlie Lady Elizabeth, afterwards England's gracious queen, hearing a simple milk-maid sing merrily in the field, when she, poor princess, being then a sorrowful prisoner, had more mind to sigh than sing, though served at the same time in state as a princess, said that poor maid was happier than herself. And so would the sinner, how great and high soever in the world, think the poorest Christian, with his rags and penury, a better man, and happier in his liberty, and peace with God, than himself, in all his grandeur and worldly gaieties, did he but consider, that in the midst of all these he is a prisoner, not to man, but God, out of whose hands there is no escaping.
Fifthly, Comfort thj'self with this, that thou who art at peace with God now on earth shall feast with G. d ere long in heaven, Rom. viii. 30 : ' And whom he justified, them he also glorified.' And do not think this news too good or great to be true. Here is a word for it, you see. Heaven's number of glorified saints is made up of justified sinners ; neither more nor less of the one, than of the other. Art thou justified by faith, b}' which thou hast peace with God? then lose not thy privilege, but rejoice with thy fellow-saints 'in the hope of the glory of God.' It is before thee ; every da}' brings thee nearer to it, and nothing can hinder thee of it at last; not thy sins themselves, and I know thou fearest them most. He that paid thy great score, at thy conversion, will find mercy enough in his heart siu-ely to pass by thy small debts, which thy own infirmity, and Satan's subtlety, have run thee into. Thou wert an enemy when God thought of doing the first ; but now thou art a friend, and this will oblige him to do the second, that he may not lose his disbinsement in the first; yea, provision is made by God in his method of our salvation for the one, as strongly as for the other. Christ died to make lis, enemies to God, friends with him ; and he Ha^cs now to bring God and us, being thus made friends, to meet in
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. Q^^^