* Remember that of Zeno, who said he never sailed better than when he suffered shipwreck. ^ Query, ' served God'?— Ed.
232 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25*.
and restored the poor man his goods ; which made the poor man say, Kow I see tliat God may seem to sleep, but can never die. If God lias taken away all, yet remember that God has a thousand thousand ways to make up all thy losses to thee, which thou knowest not of ; therefore do not murmur, do not fret, do not faint, nor do not limit the Holy One of Israel. If thou madest no improvement of thy house, thy estate, thy trade, then it is thy wisdom and thy work rather to be displeased with thyself for thy non-improvement of mercies, than to be discontented at that hand of heaven that hath deprived thee of thy mercies. Remember, 0 ye burnt citizens of London, that you are not the first that have lost your all. Besides the instances already cited, you must remember what they suffered in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Hebrews ; and you must remem- ber that in the ten persecutions many thousands of the people of God were stripped of their all ; and so were very many also in the Marian days, who shrugs or complains of a common lot ? It was grace upon the throne that thou cnjoyedst thy house, thy estate, thy trade so long ; and therefore it concerns thee to be rather thankful that thy mercies were continued so long unto thee, than to murmur because thou art now stripped of all. But,
[5.] Fifthly, W/ie7i all is gone, yet mercy may he near, and thou not see it. When Hagar's bottle was empty, the well of water was near, though she saw it not. Gen. xxi. 19. Mercies many times are never nearer to us than when, with Hagar, we sit down and weep because our bottle is empty, because our streams of mercy are dried up. The well was there before, but she saw it not till her eyes were opened. Though mercy be near, though it be even at the door, yet till the great God shall irradiate both the organ and the object, we can neither see our mercies, nor suck the breasts of mercy. Christ, the spring of mercy, the fountain of mercy, was near the disciples, yea, he talked with the disciples, and yet they knew him not, Luke xxi v. 15. Look, as dangers are nearest to wicked men when they see them not, when they fear them not : — As Haman was nearest the gallows when he thought himself the only man that the king would honour, Esther vi. And so when Sisera dreamed of a kingdom, Jael was near with her hammer and her nail, ready to fasten him to the ground. Judges iv. And so when Agag said, ' Surely the bitterness of death is past, Samuel stood ready Avith his drawn sword to cut him in pieces in Gil gal before the Lord, 1 Sam. xv. 32, 33. So when Pharaoh said, ' They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. I will ]iursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil ; my lust shall be natisfied upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them,' Exod. xiv. 3, and xv. 9, 10; but presently God blows with his wind, and the sea covered them, and they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Soon after Sennacherib had sent a blasphemous letter to king Hezekiah, ' the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in. the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses,' Isa. xxxvii. : and within five and fifty days after, Sennacherib himself was butchered by his own sons, Tobit i. 21. No sooner had the }H>oi)le, as profane sycophants, applauded Herod, and given him
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 233
the honour due to God, but he was smitten by the angel of the Lord, or eaten up of worms, or with vermin — with lice, as his grandfather Herod had been before him, Acts xii. 22, 23. RofFensis had a car- dinal's hat sent him ; but his head was cut off before it came : the axe was nearer his head than his hat. The heathen historian could not but observe, that as soon as Alexander the Great had summoned a parliament before him of the world, he was summoned himself by death to appear before God in the other world. — Now as you see by these instances that dangers are nearest the wicked when they see them not, when they fear them not ; so mercies are very near to the people of God when they see them not, when they expect them not. The Israelites found it so in Asa his time, and in Jehoshaphat's time, and in Pharaoh's time, and in Hezekiah's time, and in Esther's time, and in the time of the judges, as is evident throughout the book of Judges. 1 When there was but a handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse, supply was at hand. Her barrel and cruse had no bottom, who out of a little gave a little. In all the ages of the world God has made that word good : Isa. xli. 17, ' When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.' Ver. 18, ' I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys : I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.' Chrysostom observes. That it is very delightful to the mother to have her breasts drawn. Oh how much more, then, is it delightful to God to have his breasts of mercy drawn ! 0 sirs, look, as many times the mother's breasts are drawn, and near the child, though the child sees them not ; so God's breasts of mercy are many times drawn, and near his people, and yet they see them not. Geographers write that the city of Syracuse, in Sicily, is so curiously situated, that the sun is never out of sight. Certainly the mercies of God are never out of sight, though sometimes the people of God are so clouded and benighted that they cannot see their mercies, though they are near them, yea, though they stand before them. But,
[6.] Sixthly, I answer. That God many times, hy talcing away some ouiivard mercies, comforts, and contentments, does hut make toay for greater and better mercies to come in the room of those he has taken aiuay. He took from David an Absalom, and gave him a Solomon, Ps. Ixxi. 20, 21 ; he took from him a scoffing Michal, and gave him a a prudent Abigail, 1 Sam. xxv. ; he took away from Isaac his mother Sarah, and made up his loss by giving of him Rebekah to wife. Gen. xxiv. 67 ; he took away much from Job, but laid twice as much in the room of all the mercies that he had stripped him of. The Lord many times takes away small mercies to make room for greater mercies, and many times takes away great mercies to make room for greater mercies, yea, the greatest of mercies. But,
[7.] Seventhly and lastly. Though thou hast lost all thy outward comforts in this luorld, yet if thou art a believer, there are ten choice jewels that thou shall never, that thou canst never lose: —
1 Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3 ; 2 Chron. xiv., and xx.; Exod. xv.; 2 Kings xix.; Esther vi. 8; 1 KinfTS xvii. 12-16.