3 But yet as old as Jacob was, he lived to see all those things work for his good, which he concluded were asrainst him.
46 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25,
honours are not, riches are not, liahitations are not, credit is not. All these are a.i^ainst us ; but in the close we shall find that promise made good in ])owor upon us, Eom. viii. 28, ' We know that all things shall AYork together for good to them that love God, to them that arc called according to his purpose.' 0 sirs ! all the power of heaven stands engaged to make good this promise to you ; and if you would but Kve in the daily actings of faith upon this blessed promise, you would then be able to bear up bravely luider all the troubles and trials, crosses and losses that you meet with in this world ; and you would then experience the truth of Samson's riddle — ' Out of the eater came meat, and out of the strong sweetnes's,' Judges xiv. 14. What Paul said of his fiery trials, viz., ' I know that this shall turn to my salva- tion,' Phil i. 19, that may you safely say of all your fiery trials : We know that they shall work for our good, we know that they shall turn to our salvation. Though wicked insti'uments might design our de- struction, yet the wise God tliat sits at the helm will turn all into our salvation. Those severe providences which for the present may seem very prejudicial, in the issue shall prove very beneficial. Joseph's brethren threw him into a pit, afterwards they sell him, then he is falsely accused, and as unjustly cast into prison and laid in cold iron, Ps. cv. 17, 18 : yet all this issued in his good ; his abasement made way for his advancement ; for his thirteen years' impiisoument he reigned fourscore years like a king, Gen. 1. 20, and xli. 40. David, you know, had seven years' banishment, yet it ended in a glorious reign of forty years' continuance. Job lost all that ever he had in one day ; he was a man under great calamity, he was a si)ectacle of the highest misery, he abounded only in boils, and sores, and rags ; but all this issued in the trial of his grace, in the discovery of his grace, and in the im})rovement of his grace, and in the close God did compensate his very great losses by giving him twice as much as ever he had before. Job xlii. 10. Dear friends, that by all severe providences and fiery trials God will turn your spark of grace into a flame, your mites into millions, and your droj^s into seas, is, and shall be the hearty desire of my soul. 0 sirs ! if Christ be even ravished with one of his spouse's ej'es, and with one chain of hei* neck, Cant. iv. 9, with the least grains and drachms of true grace, how will he be taken with abundance of grace ! how will he be ravished with the flourishing estate of your souls in grace ! Well, remember tliis, the more under all your fiery trials grace is increased, the more God is honoured, religion adorned, the mouths of the wicked stopped, the hands and hearts of weak saints strengthened and encouraged, the smarting rod sweetened, and threatened judgments prevented. Oh that those two prophecies might be made good in ]iower upon all the burnt citizens of London ! That Isa. xxxii. 15, ' Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful iield : ' and that Isa. XXXV. 1,2,' The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing : the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellenc}' of Carmol and Sharon ; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISrENSATlUN. 47
of our God.' 1- Thrice happy will the burnt citizens of London be, if under all their crosses and losses they grow into a more deep acquaint- ance with God, the world, and their own hearts ; with God and his holiness, with the world and its vanity, mutability, impotency, and uncertainty ;• and with their own hearts, and the deceitfuluess, vile- ness, baseness, and wretchedness of them. If under fiery dispensations we grow more holy than ever, and more humble than ever, and more heavenly than ever, and more, meek and lowly than ever, and more tender and compassionate than ever, and more faithful and fruitful than ever, and more patient and contented than ever, then we may be confident that the grand design of God in bringing all that evil that he has brought U|X)n us was his glory and our own internal and eternal good, and accordingly we may rejoice in the Lord, though we have nothing else to rejoice in, Hab. iii. 17, 18. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly. By severe providences and by fiery trials, God doth design the trial of liis peoples graces, and the discovery of their sincerity and integrity to the world, 1 Pet i. 6, 7 ; Rev. iii. 18. Deut. viii. 2, ' And thou shalt remember all the way Avhich the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no/ God knew them well enough before, Avithout any experimental trial of them ; but that he might the better make a discovery of themselves to themselves and to others, he led them up and down in the wilderness forty years : Ps. Ixvi. 10-12, ' For thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou hast brought us into the net ; thou hast laid affiiction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads : we went through fire and through water.' God proves his people, not thereby to better his own knowledge of them, but to bring them to a better knowledge both of their own vices and graces. It is not known what corn will yield till it come to the flail, nor what grapes Avill yield till they come to the press. Grace is hid in nature as sweet water in rose leaves ; but fiery trials will fetch it out. Fire and water are merciless elements, and they note variety of sharpest ■ trials. Now through these God led his people, that so he might dis- cover to them and others both the strength of their graces, and the strength of their sins. God many times exercises his dearest children with fiery trials, that he may discover the since)-ity and integrity of his peojDle to the world. The profane atheistical world are apt very boldly and confidently to conclude that the people of God are a pack of hypocrites and dissemblers, and that they serve God for a livery, for loaves, and not for love, John vi. 26 ; and that they are mercenary in all they do, having more in their eye the hedge that he has made about them, and the gold and silver that he has bestowed upon them, than the honour and glory of the great God ; just as the devil objected against Job, chap. i. 9. Now God, to convince these men, these mon- sters, of the integrity and sincerity of his people, he breaks down the hedge that he had made about them, and turns the wheel upon them,