[3.] Because he can shelter us from all sorts of enemies. All our enemies and dangers, they are all under God and at his disposal. There- fore we are said, Ps. xci. 1, to ' dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' God is most high and almighty, and the enemies of your salvation are something under God, whether men or devils. Men are but poor instruments in God's hands. They can do no more than God pleaseth. When you are in their hands, they are in God's hands : Acts iv. 28, ' To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be
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done.' Devils are not exempted from the dominion and government of his providence ; they can do nothing without leave, whether as enemies of your bodies or of your souls. Pests are thought to be an effect of his malice : Ps. xci. 3, ' He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.' See Job's case chap. ii. 7, ' So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown.' The devils are princes of the power of the air, but God is most high. They must have leave ; if the devil could not enter into the herd of swine without leave, surely he cannot afflict the bodies of men without leave. Oh ! could we dwell above in God, all the frightful things in the world would seem less to us. Though we are in the midst of a thousand dangers, what should we fear, that dwell above in the bosom of the almighty God ? Things the more remote, the less they seem, and the nearer they are, the greater. We that inhabit the earth judge the mountains that are before our eyes to be of an unmeasurable big- ness, and the stars, that are distant from us, seem but little sparks and spangles ; but if we could ascend into heaven, then we should see those globes of light to be of an incredible bigness, and all our Alps and Pyrenees to be but like little spots. Those that converse above, that dwell in the secret place of the Most High, the difficulties and dangers of the Vv'orld seem as nothing to them. They can despise this anthill of the world, as a poor little sandy heap, that is soon spurned into dust. But God's help seemeth greater, and therefore they are not troubled nor afraid. They can say, Eom. viii. 31, 'If God be for us, who can be against us ? ' Goliath frighted all the hosts of Israel, but David went forth against him in the name of the Lord: 1 Sam. xvii. 45, ' Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield ; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.' David could despise the giant, as much as the giant despised David. Compare any of the children of this world with a servant of God, that dwelleth in the shadow of the Almighty, and what a difference will you find ! One dismayed with every danger, troubled with every petty loss ; why so ? Because he dwelleth in the earth, and converseth only with created things, and so small things seem great to him. But now take any of the servants of God, who live in God, as the martyrs ; they are not daunted with fires, swords, wheels, gibbets, beasts ; they are as a flea-biting. They are acquainted with things truly great ; nay, many of the evils we feel come from God himself, from his immediate hand ; as pestilence and famine. None are affected with these things more than a child of God, as they are tokens of his Father's displeasure. He is not stupid and foolhardy ; none hath such a tender sense of the events and effects of providence as he hath. He looketh upon them with an eye of nature and of grace, and seeth God in them ; yet none are less discomposed in such cases. They know none can withdraw himself from God, or lie hid from his eye, when he maketh inquisition for sinners. Quia tefugit, quo fugiet nisi a te irato, ad te pacatum f — He that flies from thee, whither shall he fly, but from thee as angry to thee as appeased ? There is no way to avoid his justice but by flying to his mercy. Kings and potentates of the earth, their wrath may be escaped ; their eyes cannot.
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see all, nor their hands reach all ; but none can hide themselves from him that filleth heaven and earth with his presence. There is no hiding from God but in God.
[4.] Because of the manner of his defence and protection. It is everywhere expressed as a secret invisible thing, that cannot be seen with bodily eyes. So Job xxix. 4, ' The secret of the Lord was upon my tabernacle.' Meaning his gracious protection. So Ps. xxxi. 20, * Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man ; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.' So Ps. xci. 1, ' He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' This keeping is not liable to the view of sense. A man is kept nobody knoweth how ; abroad, yet hidden in God. Natural men cannot discern the way of it. When to appearance they are laid in com- mon with others, yet they are distingbiished from others by the special care of God's providence, God's truth, power, grace, and goodness, whereon faith doth fix itself. It is a riddle and a mystery to the world, which carnal reason knoweth not to improve to any satisfaction and comfort. However it teacheth us to depend upon the providence of God, whether there be any appearance of the benefit we look for, yea or no. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, but it is an invisible tower, only found out by faith, and entered into by faith. Therefore he that would take up his dwelling-place in God must not govern himself by probabilities of sense, but by maxims of faith.