4. Shut the door against discontents at, and murmurings against the dispositions of providence, whatever you feel or fear : I per- suade you not to a stoical apathy, and senselessness of the evils of the times ; that would preclude the exercise of patience. If the martyrs had all had the dead palsy before they came to the fire, their faith and patience had not triumphed so gloriously as they did ; but on the contrary, beware of grudgings against the ways and will of God, than which, nothing militates more against your faith, and the peace and quietness of your hearts.
5. To conclude, shut the door against all suspicions and jealou- sies of the firmness and stability of the promises, when you find all sensible comforts shaking and trembling under your feet ; have a care of such dangerous questions as that, Psal. Ixxvii. 8. Doth his promise Jail? These are the things which undermine the founda- tion both of your faith and comfort.
6. In a word, having sheltered your souls in this chamber of rest, and thus shut the doors behind you, all that you have to do is to take your rest in God, and enjoy the pleasure of a soul resigned into the hands of a faithful Creator, by opposing the faithfulness of God to all the fickleness and unfaithfulness you will daily find in men, Micah vii. 6, 7. yea, to the weakness and fading of your own natural strength and ability ; Psal. Ixxiii. 26. " My flesh and my *• heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my por- " tion for ever."' And so much of the third chamber prepared for believers in the name of their God.
Opening to believers the U7ichangeahleness of God, as a fourth chamber of refuge and rest in times of trouble.
Sect. I. JLT is said, Prov. ix. 1. Wisdom hath builded her houses she hath hezon out her seven pillars, \. e. She hath raised her whole building upon solid and stable foundations ; for, indeed, the strength of every building is according to the ground-work upon
ii74« THE RIGHTEOUS MA>j's REFUGE.
which it is erected. 'Debile Jundamentum fallU opus. The wisdom and love of God have built an house for a refuge and sanctuary to behevers in tempestuous and evil times, containing many pleasant and comfortable chambers prepared for their lodgings, till the cala- mities be over-past ; tliree of them have been already opened, viz. the power, wisdom, and faithfulness of God.
The last of which leads into a fourth, much like unto it, namely, the unchangeableness of God; wherein his people may find as much rest and comfort amidst the vicissitudes of this unstable w^orld, as in any of the former. This world is compared, Rev. xv. % to a sea of glass mingled with fire. A sea for its turbulency and instability ; a sea of glass for the brittleness and frailty of every thing in it ; and a sea of glass mingled with fire, to represent the sharp sufferings and fiery trials with which the saints are exercised here below. The only support and comfort we have against the fickleness and instability of the creature, is the unchangeableness of God.
There is a twofold changeableness in the creature ; 1. Natural, the effect of sin. % Sinful in its own nature.
1. Natural, let in by the fall upon all the creation, by reason whereof the sweetest creature is but a fading flower, Psal. cii. 26. Time, like a moth, frets out the best wrought garment with which we clothe and deck ourselves in this world, tcmporaUa rapit tempus. Our most pleasant enjoyments, wives, children, estates, like the gourd in which Jonas so delighted himself, may wither in a night ; sin rings these changes all the world over.
2. Sinful, from the falseness, inconstancy, and deceitfulness of the creature : Solomon puts a hard question which may pose the whole world to answer it, Prov. xx. 6. A faithful man who can find ? The meaning is, a man of perfect and universal faithfulness is a phoenix, seldom or never to be found in this world ; for when a question in scripture is moved and let fall again without any an- swer, then the sense is negative ; but though the believer despair of finding an unchangeable man, it is his happiness and comfort to find an unchangeable God.
The unchangeableness of God will appear three ways.
1. By scripture emblems.
2. By scripture assertions.
3. By convincing arguments.
1. By scripture emblems. Remarkable to this purpose is that place. Jam. i, 17. where God is called '*' the Father of lights, with " whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning ;" no varia- bleness. The word is, -ra^aXXa/*?, an astronomical term commonly applied to the heavenly bodies, which have their parallaxes, i. e.
THE RIGHTEOUS MA\'s llEFUGE. 375
their declinations, revolutions, vicissitudes, eclipses, increases and decreases : but God is; a Sun that never rises nor sets, but is ever- lastingly and unchangeably one and the same ; with him is no va- riableness nor shadow of turning, r^o-rryg airoavAaciLa. The sun in its zenith casts no shadow, it is the tropic or turning of its course that causes the shadow ; the very substance of turning is with man; but not the least shadow of turning with God. And in Deut. xxxii. 4. Moses tells us, God is a roclc^ and his worh is perfect. And in- deed perfect working necessarily follows a perfect being. Now there is nothing found in nature more solid, fixed, and immutable than a rock ; the firmest buildings will decay ; a few ages Vvill make them a ruinous heap ; but though one age pass away, and another come, the rocks abide where, and what they were; Our God is the rock of ages ; and yet one step higher, in Zech. vi. 1. his decrees and purposes are called mountains of brass, that is, most firm, durable, and unchangeable purposes. Thus the immutability of God is sha- dowed forth to us in scripture emblems.
2. The same also you will find in plain, positive scripture asser- tions : such as these that follow, Mai. iii. 6. " I am the Lord, I " change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." And Job xxiii. ] 3. " He is in one mind, and who can turn him ?" Men are in one mind to-day, and another to-morrow ; the winds are not more variable than the minds of men ; but God is in one mind, the purposes of his heart never change. Thou art the same^ or as some translate. Thou art thyself for ever, Psal. cii. 27. Thus when Moses desired to know his name, that he might tell Pharaoh from whom he came; the answer is, / AM hath sent me, Exod. iii. 14. not I was, or I will be, but / AM THAT I AM^ noting the abso- lute unchangeableness of his nature.
3. The unchangeableness of God is fully proved by convincing arguments which Divines commonly draw from such topics as these, viz.
1. The perfection of his goodness.
2. The purity of his nature.
3. The glory of his name.