1. All that are preserved are not the people of God. In the ark a wicked Ham was preserved ; and those that were preserved in Egypt, many of them were afterwards destroyed for their unbelief, Jude 5. So EzekieFs vision, a part even of those hairs which were spared were afterwards cast into the fire, Ezek. v. 4. Preservation from the dominion of sin and the wrath to come, is peculiar to God's own people; but as for temporal deliverances, we cannot in- fer that conclusion.
2. Nor yet can we say that all God'^s people shall be preserved ; that promise, Zeph. ii. 3. leaves it upon a may-be; many a pre- cious Christian hath fallen in the common calamity; they have been preserved in, but not from trouble.
But it is usual with God to preserve some in the sorest judgments : and the grounds of it are,
1. Because some must be left as a seed to propagate and preserve the church, which is perpetual, and can never fail ; he never so overthrows nations as Sodom was overthrown, Isa. i. 9. This was the ground of that promise, Jer. xxx. 11. " For I am with thee, " saith the liord, to save thee, though I make a full end of all na- " tions whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full " end of thee." And of that plea, Amos vii. 2. " O Lord God '' forgive, I beseech thee ; by whom shall Jacob arise ? for he is " small."" Except the Lord had left a small remnant, we had been as Sodom. Remarkable to this purpose is that scripture, Isa. vi. 13. " But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall " be eaten : as the teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in " them when they cast their leaves ; so the holy seed shall be the " substance thereof."' This preserved remnant is the holy seed by which the church is propagated and continued, Psal. cii. 28.
2. Because God will, even in this world, own and reward the fi^ars and sorrows of his people for the sins of the times, and suffer- ings of the church, with the joy and comfort of better times, and a participation of Sion's consolation ; so Isa. Ixvi. 10. Rejoice ^e zoifh Jerusalem^ ye thai have mourned for her. They that have sown iu tears, do sometimes live to reap in joy, Psal. cxxv. C. They shall say as Isa. xxv. 9. " Lo this is our God, we have waited for him, " and he is come to save us.'' And those that live not to reap do\ni in this world the harvest of their own prayers and tears, shall
338 THE JUGHTEors man's refuge.
be no losers : a full and better reward shall be given them in hea- ven, Isa. Ivii. 22.
3. Because the preserved remnant of saints are they that must actually give unto God the glory of all his providential administra- tions in the world, both of judgments and mercies upon others, and towards themselves : " They that go down to the pit do not " celebrate his praise ; the living, the living they praise him,'* Isa. xxxviii. 18, J 9- Thus when God turned back Z ion's capti- vity, the remnant of the saints that were preserved were they that recorded his praise, Psal. cxxvi. 1, 2. " Then was our mouth filled "with laughter." And fully to this sense is that scripture, Psal. cii. 19, 20, 21. " He delivers those that are appointed to death," i. e. that men had doomed to death, " that they may declare the " name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem."
4. The hiding of the saints in evil days is the gi'eatest discovery of the hand of God in the world ; when he hides them, he shews him- self, and that both to the saints, and to their enemies.
It is one of the most glorious mysteries of providence that ever the world beheld, viz. the strange and wonderful protection of poor helpless Christians from the rage and fury of their mighty and mahcious enemies ; though they walk visibly among them, yet they are, as it were, hid from their hands, but not from their eyes: So Jer. i. 18. you find God made that prophet, among the envious princes, and against an enraged and mighty king, as a de^ ^fenced c'lty^ and as an iron pillar^ and as a brazen wall. And in- deed it was easier for them to conquer and take the strongest fort or garrison, than that single person, who yet walked day by day naked among them. So Luther, a poor monk, was made in- vincible; all the papal power could not touch him, for God hid him. All the world against one Athanasius, and yet not able to destroy him, for God hid him. This is the display of the glorious power of God in the world, and he hath much honour by it.
Well then, if there be a God that takes care of his own in evil days ; do not you be distractingly careful what will become of you in such times ; you cannot see how it is possible for you to escape : but, 2 Pet. ii. 4, 5, 6. the Lord knows how to deliver when you do not. Little did Lot know the way and manner of his preserva- tion till God opened it to him ; nor Noah till God contrived it for him : there was no way to be contrived by them for escape : he tliat knew how to deliver them, can deliver you also.
Leave yourselves to God's disposal, it shall certainly be to your advantage : the church is his peculiar care ; Isa. xxviii. ^. " I the " Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, '* I will keep it night and day."
The more you commit yourselves to his care, the more you en-
THE ETGIITEOUS MAX's llEFUGE. C;39
S^gc it, Isa. xxvi. 2. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, ^' whose mind is stayed on thee, because lie trusteth in thee." He will certainly find a place of safety for his ])eople under, or in heaven.
Neither be too much dejected when the number of visible pro- fessors seems but small; think not the church will perish when it is brought so low. This was Elijah's case, he thought he bad been left alone, that religion had been preserved in his single person, as the phosnix of the world ; but see, 1 Kings ix. 18. God hath enough left, if we Ave were all in our graves, to continue religion in the world ; it concerns him more than you to look to that.
Evmcing tliejburth j)roposiiion^ viz. That God usually premonislt^ eth the worlds espcciallij his own people, of ' his judgments before they befal them.
Sect. I. vJTOD first y>^arns, and then smites, he delights not to surprize men ; when indignation was coming, he tells his people of it in the text, and admonisheth them to hide themselves. " Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to his servants " the prophets,'" Amos iii. 7. Thus when the flood was to come upon the old world, he gave them ISO years warning of it. Gen. vi. 3. compared with 1 Pet. iii. 19. So when Sodom was to be de- stroyed, God would not hide it from Abraham ; Gen. xviii. 17^ " Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do ?"' The like discovery was made unto Lot, Gen. xix. 12, 13, 14. So when the captivity was at hand, Ezekiel was commanded to give the Jews solemn warning of it from God, Ezek. iii. 17. " Hear the word at *' my mouth, and give them warning from me.'"