of mercy and sircefness ioioards you, notioitlistanding all the dis- couragements and all the lets that have been in his way ; and will not you hold on in ways of duty to Christ, who hath held on, notwith- standing all discouragements, in a way of mercy towards you ? Oh consider, consider what difficulties the Lord Jesus Christ hath gone over to come to your souls. In Cant. ii. 8, it is said there, ' It is my beloved that comes leaping over the mountains and skipping over the hills.' Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is come over mountains of wrath, and mountains of sin, and mountains of sorrow, and all that he might come to your souls. In Isa. Ixiii. 3, ' I have trod the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me' — or as the Hebrew has it, Umegnamium enish itti, ■'/^^i li^'N I'K □'Qi/QI, 'and of the nations, or of the peoples, there was not a man with me.' He trod the wine-press of the wrath of his Father alone. And so in Isa. 1. 5, G, 'The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned my back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheek to them that pluck off the hair : I hid not my face from shame and spitting.' Oh, the Lord, in a way of mercy towards you, hath come over all difficulties. Jesus Christ never pleaded, Oh this mountain of wrath, of sin, and sorrow is too high for me to go over : and these valleys of darkness are too long and too terrible for me to walk through. Oh no ! but the Lord came skipping over all mountains, and all for the good of your souls. And will not you, upright hearts, hold on in ways of duty to him that hath thus carried himself in ways of mercy to you ? And as he hath, so he doth still hold on in ways of mercy to you, not- withstanding all your provocations and unworthy walking of former mercies. Yet still he holds on in ways of mercy and kindness to you. Witness all those mercies that now you enjoy, the clothes that thou wearest, and the bread that thou eatest, and the house that thou lodgest in, and the bed that thou liest on, when thousands lie down in everlasting sorrow. He hath held on in ways of mercy, and he doth. Oh, this should bespeak you to hold on in his ways, notwith- standing any difficulties that you may meet withal.
3. But then, in the third j)lace. Let all upright hearts seriously consider this, that wicked and ungodly men do hold on in ways of impiety, notwithstanding all the discouragements that they meet with from God; and will not you that are upright, hold on in ways of piety, notwithstanding all the discouragements and afflictions that you may meet with from men ? Wicked and ungodly men, they hold on in ways of wickedness, notwithstanding all the afflictions, and troubles, and discouragements that God exerciseth them with. God lasheth their consciences, and passes the sentence of death upon all their comforts. Afflictions comes upon them as Job's messengers, one upon the neck of another; and yet they remain proud still, and formal still, and treacherous still, and apostates still, and profane still. 0 upright hearts, will not you hold on in the ways of piety, notwith- standing the discouragements that you meet with from men ? Shall wicked men hold on in the ways of wickedness, notwithstanding all discouragements, though God chide them and set his angel in the way to draw a sword upon them, and crushes their bones against the wall, as he dealt with Balaam, Num. xxii. 25; shall wicked men.
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Balaam-like, ride on though the angel of the Lord draw his sword ; and will not you, when men draw their swords, hold on in the ways of well-doing ?
4. Fourthly, Consider solemnly of that agreement that you made ivith Jesus Christ, ivhen you first took Jesus Christ upon the day of your marriage loith Chrisi. Oh, there is enough in that to engage you to hold on against all the discouragements you shall meet with ! Oh remember, upright souls, in the day of your marriage with Jesus Christ, you indented with the Lord Jesus Christ to keep close to him, to hold on in his ways. Then you did say in effect to Clu-ist what Euth said to Naomi, Kuth i. 14-16, ' Where thou goest, I will go ; where thou lodgest, I will lodge ; thy Grod shall be my Grod ; and no- thing but death shall part between thee and me.' When you first gave your names to Jesus Christ, in that day your souls were really married to Christ, then you indented with the Lord Jesus Christ, and in effect said thus, ' 0 blessed Lord ! I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest ; where thou goest I will go ; and where thou lodgest I will lodge ; and thy God shall be my God ; and nothing shall part between thee and my soul, between thy ways and my heart ;' therefore let that bespeak you to hold on in ways of well-doing, notwithstanding all afilictions and discouragements you meet withal.
5. And then again, in the next place. Let upright hearts consider this, that God knoivs how to deliver from troubles by troubles ; he hioivs hoiv to deliver from afflictions by afflictions ; and God ivill by lesser afflictions that befall his people deliver them from greater afflictions; and by those troubles that befall them, he will deliver them from greater troiibles. That saying shall be found true, Periis- sem nisi periissem, I had perished, if I had not perished ; I had been undone, if I had not been undone ; I had been ruined, if I had not been ruined; I had been broken in pieces, if I had not been broken in pieces. I remember a saying of a philosopher, [Anaxagoras,] who seeing great possessions which he had lost, speaks thus, Non essem ego salvus nisi istce periissent, Had not those things perished, saith he, I could not have been safe. God will so order all the afflictions and troubles that befall you in the ways of the Lord, that your soul shall say, Oh, had I not met with this afiliction, I had been afflicted with a witness indeed ; had I not been undone, I had been undone ; had not these troubles and sorrows and discouragements befallen me, it had been worse with me. God will deliver his people, mark it, from spiritual afflictions and spiritual judgments, by the temporal afflic- tions and troubles that befall them. By those afflictions that you meet with in the ways of well-doing, God will deliver you from that security, pride, formality, dead-heartedness, lukewarmness, and censoriousness that otherwise might fall upon you.
I remember a story of a godly man, that as he was going to take shipping for France, he broke his leg ; and it pleased providence so to order it, that the ship that he should have gone in at that very time was cast away, and not a man saved ; so by breaking a bone his life was saved. Thus is the dealing of the Lord with his; sometimes he oxerciseth them with afflictions — it may be he breaks their bones ; ay, but it is in order to the saving of their lives.
352 god's delight in the [Ps. XLIV. 18.