VeR. 22.] SERilOXS UPON HEBREWS XI. 411
fitable that the face of lieaven should always be serene and glittering ; we have need of rains, and winds, and tempests, and foul weather as well as fair. The welfare of the church needs to be interrupted some- times. If the church and the members of it were merely spirit, with- out any flesh and corruption, they might enjoy a continual peace ; but we need troubles and persecutions to keep us in order, lest the worser part prevail : Isa. liv. 11, ' 0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted ! ' "Where we would have no chaff, we use much fanning.
[2.] The church may be much afllicted, but in the issue the church shall have the best; it shall not be utterly destroyed. Christ cannot be a king without subjects : Mat. xvi. 18, 'The gates of hell shall not prevail against it ; ' and Ps. cxxix. 1, 2, ' Many a time have they afliicted me from my youth, may Israel now say ; many a time have they afllicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.' Ever since there was a church, there was a delivering Grod ; the whole history of the bible isa tragi-comedy. Hence Mordecai's confi- dence: Esther iv. 14, ' For if thou altogether boldest thy peace, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.' The Jews were then the only visible people of God, and Esther the only visible deliverer ; but if she held her peace, yet deliverance would come. Premi potest Veritas, non opprimi — Truth may be pressed, but it shall not be oppressed. Now what God ever hath been, he is still the same, the same God is above still. We have as good promises as they. The Jews watched Christ's sepulchre, yet Christ rose again. The enemy hath designed in all ages to destroy the people of God, but God hath defeated their designs and rendered their opposition ineffectual.
[3.] God many times deferreth help to the last : Acts xii. 6-8, Peter was the next day to be executed, and thp night before God brought him out ; till the very last point of time did the Lord defer help. This is the Lord's fashion : Gen. xxii. 14, ' In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.' Isaac was just ready to be offered up; and then the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven, and staid his hand. When the Israelites were shut up, Exod. xiv. 13, ' Moses said to the people. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.' 2 Kings vi. 25, in the siege of Samaria there was a great famine, that ' an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.' And the wicked king said, ver. 33,
* This evil is from the Lord ; why should I wait any longer ? ' Yet God of a sudden gave an incredible plenty to them, chap. vii. So Ps. Ixix, 1-3, ' Save me, 0 God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing ; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried, mine eyes fail, while I wait for my God.' David was nigh to perishing, like a drowning man, but he cried unto God
* in an acceptable time,' vers. 13-15, and God delivered him, and kept his head above the waters, that he was not drowned. As the disciples
412 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XT. [SeR. LVI.
ia the storm were in great danger : Mat. viii. 24, ' Behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the sliip was covered with the waves.' And the disciples came to Christ, ver. 25, ' Lord, save us, we perish ! ' And then ' he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm,' ver. 26. The devil thought he had gotten a great advantnge there ; the apostles were to preach the gospel, and Christ and his apostles were all embarked in one bottom. So it was with Peter: Mat. xiv. SO, ' When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me ! ' He began to sink, his faith would hold out no longer, and the sea would bear him no longer. And so also God loveth to delude the expectations of his enemies, when they come to the top of their desires they miss their aim : Isa. xxix. 7, 8, ' And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and all that distress her, shall be as a dream of the night vision. It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth ; but he awaketh and his soul is empty : or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold he drinketh ; but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath nppetite ; so shall all the multitude of the nations be that fight against Mount Sion.' Sennacherib feedeth himself with the surprisal of Jerusalem, Isa. xxxvi. Now God sutlers this that grace may have the fuller exercise, and that his glory may be the more seen. Help is not denied though it be delayed. Therefore wait for the salvation of God. [4.] God is punctual at his time, neither sooner nor later ; he will come to make good his truth: Exod. xii. 40, 41, ' Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egy})t was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.' Mark the words — ' Even the self-same day it came to pass ; ' God will keep exact touch ; God brought them out of Egypt, but he deferred it till the last day ; his bond was almost forfeited, yet he paid it before sunset. God is most exact in performing his promises ; though they are very ancient, he keepeth touch even to a day. So Ezek. xxiv. 2, ' Son of man, wiite thee the name of the day, even of this same day, the king of Babylon set him- self against Jerusalem, the same day.' So there is a time for the calling of the Jews, the fall of antichrist, and other promises that are to be fulfilled and when. So of Joseph it is said, ' Until the time that the word came, the word of the Lord tried him,' Ps. cv. 19. It may be the troubles of the church do not end when we would wish, but they have a set time determined and appointed by God, and then there shall be an end of them ; there is a secret word of his decree which will in time be manifested ; as when we are sufficiently humbled, then it is fit that means should work for our deliverance. God deferreth till the last hour be running : Job vii. 1, ' Is there not an appointed time for man upon earth ? are not his days as the days of an hireling ? ' Doth not a hireling keep exact reckoning ? Will he serve beyond his time ? If he covenanted for three years, will he serve four ? Mercy is not always ready at our call ; God hath his own seasons for afflicting, trying, and delivering his people : Hab. ii. 3, ' The vision is for an appointed