again all the glorious deliverances that ever he wrought for his peo- ple from the beginning of the world ; to do as much for his church now, as he did at the Red-sea ; and upon this ground the churcli builds its plea, Isa. li. 9, 10. " Awake, awake, put on strength, O " arm of the Lord, awake as in the ancient days, as in the genera- " tions of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded " the dragon .^" q. d. Lord, why should not thy people at this day expect as glorious productions of thy power, as any of them found in former ages ?
Sect. II. Let us view the power of God in the vast extent of its operations, and then you will find it working beyond the line,
1. Of creature-power,
2. Of creature-expectation,
3. Of human probability.
1. Beyond the line of all created power, even upon the hearts, thoughts, and minds of men, Avhere no creature hath any jurisdic- tion. So Gen. xxxi. 29- God bound up the spirit of Laban, and becalmed it towards Jacob. So Psal. cvi. 46. " He made them " also to be pitied of all them that carried them captives.'' Thus the Lord promised Jeremiah, Jer. xv. 11. "I will cause the enemy " to entreat thee well, in the time of evil." This power of God softens the hearts of the most fierce and cruel enemies, and sweetens the spirits of the most bitter and enraged foes of his people.
2. Reyond the line of all creature-expectations, Eph. iii. 20. " God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can " ask or think." He doth so in spirituals ; as appears by those two famous parables, Luke xv. 19, 22. " And am no more worthy " to be called thy son ; make me as one of thy hired servants. " But the Father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, " and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his " feet." The prodigal desired to be but as an hired servant, and lo, the fatted calf is killed for him, and music to his meat ; and the gold ring upon his finger. And in Matth. xviii. 26, 27. the debtor did but desire patience, and the creditor forgave the debt. Oh ! thinks a poor humbled sinner, if I might have but the least glimpse of hope, how sweet would it be ! But God brings him to more than he expects, even the clear shining of assurance. It is so in tempo- rals, the church confesses the Lord did things they looked not for , Isa. Ixiv. 3. And in both spirituals and temporals this power moves in an higher orb than our thoughts, Isa. Iv. 8, 9. " My " thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways ; but " as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts " above your thoughts." The earth is but a punctum to the hea-
348 THE RIGHTEOUS MAT^'s REFUGE
vens ; all its tallest cedars, mountains and pyramids cannot reach it : He speaks, as was said before, of God's pitying, pardoning, and merciful thoughts, and shews that no creature can think of God, as he doth of the creature under sin, or under misery ; our thoughts are not his thoughts ; either first, by way of simple cogitation we cannot think such thoughts towards others in misery, by way of pity ; or under sin against us by way of pardon, as God doth : Nor secondly, are our thoughts as God's in respect of reflexive comprehension ; i. e. We cannot conceive or comprehend what those thoughts of God towards us are; when we fall into sin or misery, just as he thinks them, they are altered, debased, and straitened as soon as ever they come into our thoughts. See an excellent instance in Gen. xlviii. 11. "I had not thought to see thy face, and lo, " God hath shewed me also thy seed." A surprizing providence ; and thus the divine power works in a sphere above all the thoughts, prayers, and expectations of men.
3. It works beyond all probabilities, and rational conjectures of men ; this Almighty power hath created deliverances for the peo- ple of God, when things have been brought to the lowest ebb, and all the means of salvation have been hid from their eyes. We have divers famous instances of this in scripture, wherein we may observe a remarkable gradation in the working of this Almighty power : It is said in 2 Kings xiv. 26, 27. " The Lord saw the af- " fliction of Israel, that it was very ])itter, for there was not any " shut up, or any left, nor any helper for Israel.'' A deplorable state ! How inevitable was their ruin to the eye of sense ? Well might it be called a bitter affliction ; yet from this immediate power arose for them a sweet and unexpected salvation : And if we look into 2 Cor. i. 9, 10. we shall find the apostles and choicest Chris- tians of those times, giving up themselves as lost men ; all ways of escaping being quite out of sight, for so much those words sig- nify. We had the sentence of death in ourselves ; i.e. AVe yielded ourselves for dead men. But though they were sentenced to death, yea, though they sentenced themselves, this power, which wrought above all their thoughts and rational conjectures, reprieved them. And yet one step farther, in Ezek. xxxvii. 4, 5, 6, 7. The people of God are there represented as actually dead, yea, as in their gi-aves, yea, as rotted in their graves, and their very bones dry, Eke those that are dead of old ; so utterly improbable was their recovery : Yet by the working of this Almighty power, which sub- dueth all things to itself, their graves in Babylon were opened, the breath of life came into them, bone came to bone, and there stood up a very great army ; it was the working of his power above the thoughts of man's heart, which gave the ground of that famous proverb. Gen. xxii. 14. " In the mount of the Lord it shall be
THE IlIGHTEOUS MAN's REFUGE. 349
" seen.^' And the ground of that famous promise, Zecb. xiv. T. " At evening time it shall be light ;" i. e. Light shall unexpectedly spring up, when all men according to the course and order of na- ture, expect nothing but increasing darkness. How extensive is the power of God in its glorious operations !
Sect. III. Let us view the power of God in its relation to the promises, for so it becomes our sanctuary in the day of trouble ; if the power of God be the chamber, it is the promise of God which is that golden key that opens it. And if we will consult the scrip- tures in this matter, we shall find the Almighty power of God made over to his people by promise, for many excellent ends and uses in the day of their trouble. As,