on horseback, it is by the cross, said Bradford. Hoseaii. 6, 'There- fore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.' By afflictions, difficulties, and dis- tresses God hedges up his people's way. Well, what then? Mark, ver. 7, ' I will go and return to my first husband ; ' that is, to God : I have run away from him by my sins, and now I will return to him again by repentance. The grand design of God in all the afflictions that befall his people, is to bring them nearer and closer to himself. The church could have no rest at home, nor no comfort abroad, till by affliction she was brought into the presence and company of her first husband : Hosea vi. 1, ' Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us ; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.' The great design of God in playing the lion's part with his people, Hosea v. 14, is to bring them nearer and closer to himself. And, behold, how sweetly this blessed design of God did take : ' Come and let us return unto the Lord,' &c. The power of God, the presence of God, and the grace of God, is most gloriously manifested by bring- ing the hearts of his people nearer and closer to himself by all the troubles, distresses, and dangers that do attend them. In the winter season all the sap of the tree runs down to the root, and when a man is sick all the blood goes to the heart ; so in the winter of affliction, when the soul is running out more and more to God, and a-getting closer and nearer to God, it is a most sure evidence of the signal presence of God with that soul. But,
(12.) Twelfthly and lastly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy rendering them invin- cible and unconquerable under all their troubles, distresses, and dan- gers: Kev. xii. 11, 'And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death:' Kev. xiv. 1-4; 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8, 21, 22. By virtue of Christ's blood the saints are made victorious both over Satan and all his instruments ; they set little by their lives in respect of Christ and his truth ; yea, they despised them in comparison of God's glory and the great things of the gospel. They made so little account of them that they exposed them to all hazards and dangers for the cause of Christ. In the days of that bloody persecutor, Dio- cletian, the Christians shewed as glorious power in the faith of mar- tyrdom as in the faith of miracles. i^ The valour of the patients, and the savageness of the persecutors, striving together, till both exceed- ing nature and belief, bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers. It was a good saying of Cyprian, speaking of the saints and martyrs in those days, Occidi poterant sed vinci non poterant : They may kill them, but they cannot overcome them. Rev. xvii. 14, ' These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.' The presence of the Lamb has and will make the saints victorious in aU the ages of
^ Sulpicius. Rupertus saith that God did more gloriously triumph in St Lawrence his patience and constancy, wlien he was broiled on the gridiron, than if he had saved Lis body from burning by a miracle. His faith and patience made him invincible.
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the world. Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, said to Julian, While they suffer they deride us, saith he ; and the torments are more fearful to them that stand by than to the tormented. There is no end in instances of this nature. There is nothing more clear in Scrip- ture and in history than this, that the signal presence of the Lord with his people, in all their great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, hath made them invincible and unconquerable. But now others, that have been destitute of this favourable, signal, and emi- nent presence of the Lord, in times of great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, how have they fled when none have pursued them ! Howfaint-hearted, how greatly daunted, and how sadly discouraged have they been ! How have they turned their backs, and quitted the field, and run from their colours, without striking one stroke ! Many in Cyprian's time were overcome before the encounter, for they revolted to idolatry before any persecution once assailed them. In the Pala- tinate, when there was a warm persecution, scarce one professor of twenty stood out, but fell to popery as fast as leaves fall from the trees in autumn. And so in the persecution under Decius many professors that were rich and great in the world, they soon shrunk from Christ, and turned their backs upon his ways. It is God's favourable, signal, and eminent presence with his people that makes them stand to it in an evil day: Rom, viii. 31, 'If God be for us, who can be against us?' that is, none; but this is a more forcible denying, ' Who can ?' Dost thou Paul ask, ' Who can ?' I will tell thee. The devil can, and tyrants can, and informers can, and perse- cutors can, and the whole world can ; but ridendus est furor inanis : They are as nothing, and can do nothing against us. Wicked men may set themselves against the saints, but they shall not prevail against the saints. What if all the world should strive to hinder the sun from rising or shining, or the wind from blowing, or the rain from falling; or, like those pigmies which went with their arrows and bows to repress the flowing of the sea. Ludibrious acts, and mere follies ! All that wicked men can do against the people of God will be but as throwing stones against the wind. ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' Methinks these are words of great resolu- tion ; as if he should say, We have many enemies, and powerful enemies, and daring enemies, and malicious enemies, and designing enemies, and enraged enemies, yet let the proudest of them shew their faces, and lift up their banners, I fear them not, I regard them not : 'Who can?' who dare be against us? Let me give a little light into this precious scripture, ' If God be for us, who can be against us ?' That is, none.