First, There is the same power still in God, that was then ; what he did once for thee, he can with as much ease do again ; and this is one way thy experi- ences may help thee. Thou hast seen God make bai-e his arm, so that except thou thinkest that he since hath lost the strength or use of it, and is become at last a God with a lame hand, hope hath an object to act upon, and such an one as will lift thy head above water. Indeed, the soul never drowns in despair, till it hath lost its hold on the power of God ; when it questions whether God will deliver, this is a sad leak, and will let in a thousand fears into the soul ; yet so long as the Chi'istian can use this pvnnp, I mean exercise his faith on the power of God, and believe that God can deliver when he pleases, though it will not clear the ship of his soul of all its fears, yet it will keep it from quite sink- ing, because it will preserve him in a seeking posture. 'Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,' Mark i. 40; and for thee to say, God cannot deliver, who hast been an eye-witness to what he hath done, were not only to betray thy great unbelief, but to forfeit thy reason also. But, to give a more close an- swer to the question. The saint, from his former experiences even of temporal salvation, may, yea ought not only believe that God can, but also that he will save him in all future straits and dangers of this nature ; only, he cannot con- clude that he will do it in the same way as in former deliverances. And none, I hope, will say, if he hath deliverance, that his experiences are crossed, because God doth xise another method in the conveyance of it to them. A debt may be fully satisfied, as with money, so with that which is money's worth, except the bond restrains the payment otherwise. Now, there is no clause to be found in any promise for temporal mercies, that binds God to give them in specie, or in kind. Spiritual mercies, such I mean as are saving and essential to the saint's happiness, these, indeed, are promised to be given in kind, because there is nothing equivalent that can be given in lieu of them ; but temporal mercies are of such an inferior nature, that a compensation and recompence may be easily given in their stead : yea, God never denies these to a saint, but for abundant advantage. Who will say the poor saint is a loser, whose purse God denieth to fill with gold, but filleth his heart with contentment ? Or the sick saint, when God saves him, not by restoring to former health, but by translating him to heaven ?
I shall wind up this head with two or three reflections to be used by the Christian, for his better improving past experiences when he is in distress. First, Look back to thy ^Jast experiences, and inquire whether thou canst not find that thy God hath done greater matters for thee, than this which thou now hast so many disquieting fears and despairing thoughts about. I will sup- pose thy present strait great; but wert thou never in a greater, and yet God did at last set thy feet free ? Thou art now in a sad and mournful posture, but hath not he brightened a darker cloud than this, and led thee out of it into a state of light and joy? Surely, thy staggering hope may prevent a fall by catching hold of this experience. Art thou not ashamed to give thyself up for lost, and think of nothing but disowning in a less storm than that out of which God hath formerly brought thee safe to land? See Dcivid relieving his hope by recognising such an experiment as this; 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not thou keep my feet from falling?' Psa. Ivi. 13. Hast thou given me the greater, and wilt thou not the less? Perhaps thy present fear is apostasy; it runs in thy thoughts, that thou shalt one day fall by the hand of thy sins, and thou canst not be persuaded otherwise. Now it is a lit time to recall the day of God's converting grace. Darest thou deny such a work to have passed upon thee ? If not, why then shouldst thou despair of persevei'ance ? That was the day wherein he saved thy soul; 'This day,' saith Christ to Zaccheus, 'is salvation come to thy house,' Luke xix. 9. And did God save the soul by converting grace, and will he not keep thy feet fi-om falling, by his sustaining grace ? Was it not both more mercy and power to take thee out of the power of sin and Satan, than it will cost him to preserve thee from falling into their hands again ? Surely, the Israelites would not so often have feared provision in the wilderness, had they remembered with what a high hand God did bring them out of Egj'pt. But may be, it is some outward affliction that distresseth thee : is it greater than the church's was, in cruel bondage and captivity ? yet she had something of
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