NOTES.
(a) P. 403. — ' Lucida Intervalla.' This is the title of a very singular volume by Carkesse. 4to. 1679.
(b) P. 405. — ' It is necessary we should he just ; it is not so necessary we should live.' The memorable rei)rimand of the man who, engaged in a disreputable Inisiness, and defending himself against the sarcasms of Dr Samuel Johnson, pleaded he 'must live.' ' Not at all, Sir ; there is no necessity for your living,' enforces the apoph- thegm of Sibbes. It is one of the gems preserved by Boswell.
(c) P. 40(J. — ' Miscreants .... that will rob and steal and do wickedly, and yet pray to God to bless tliem in their base courses.' The ' Thugs ' and the appalling system of ' Tliuggism ' furnish apt examples of this. Consult Arnold's ' Marquis Dalhousie's Administration of the Punjaub,' just issued, for narrative of their sup- pression in India. It contains many startling illustrations of Sibbes's words.
ff/j P. 407. — ' AljiUiopliel . . . a wicked politician.' 'Ahitliophol,' or the ' Wicked Politician,' is the title of one of Nathaniel Carpenter's curious tractates. 4to. 1629.
G.
THE SAINT'S HICraG-PLACE IN THE EVIL DAY.*
SERMON V.
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls to him in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator. — 1 Pet. IY. 19.
I AM now to treat of that otlier attribute of God, which should move us to trust in him, namely, as he is a faithful Creator. Now God is faithful, 1. In his nature. He is I am, always like himself, immutable and unchangeable. 2. In his word. He expresseth himself as he is. The word that comes from God is an expression of the faithfulness of his nature. 3. In his works. ' Thou art good, and dost good,' as the psalmist saith, Ps. cxix. 68. God being faithfiil in himself, all must needs be so that proceeds from him. Whatsoever relation God takes upon him, he is faithful therein. As he is a Creator, so he preserves and maintains his own work. As he is a Father, he is faithful in discharging that duty to the full, for his children's good. As he is our Friend, he likewise performs all the duties of that relation, &c. And why doth God stoop so low to take these relations upon him, but only to shew that he will certainly accomplish the same to the utmost ? Whence is it that men are faithful in their relations one towards another, that the father is faithful to his child ? Is it not from God, the chief Father ? That a friend should be faithful to his friend, is it not from God, the great Friend ?
All his ways are mercy and trath, Ps. xxxv. 10. They are not only merciful and good and gracious, but mercy and truth itself. If he shew himself to be a Father, he is a true father, a true friend, a true creator and protector. As one saith, ' Shall I cause others to fear, and be a tj'rant myself?'! All other faithfulness is but a beam of that which is in God. Shall not he be most faithful that makes other things faithful ?
Now, this faithfulness of God is here a ground of this duty of commit- ting om-selves to him ; and we may well trust him whose word hath been seven times tried in the fii'e, Ps. xii. 6. There is no di'oss in it. Every word of God is a sm-e word ; his truth is a shield and buckler ; we may well trust in it. Therefore, when you read of any singular promise in the New
* Title.— See Note p. 401.
t Qu. — ' Be a tyrant to myself?' — G. Rather, ' Shall I cause others to fear tyrants, and be a tyrant myself'?' — Ed.
412 THE saint's hiding-place in the evil day.
Testament, it is said, ' This is a faithful saying,' &c., 1 Tim. i. 15 ; that is, this is such a speech as we may trust to; it is the speech of a faithful Creator.
Considering, therefore, that God is so faithful every way in his promises and in his deeds, let us make especial use of it. Treasure up all the pro- mises we can of the forgiveness of sins, of protection and preservation ; that he will never leave us, but be our God to death, &c., and then consider withal that he is faithful in performing the same. When we are aflPrighted by his majesty and his justice, and other attributes, then think of his mercy and truth. He hath clothed himself with faithfulness, as the psalmist saith. In all the unfaithfulness of men whom thou trustest, depend upon this, that God is stiU the same, and will not deceive thee.
When we have man's word, we have his sufficiency in mind, for men's words are as themselves are. What will not the word of a king do ? If a man be mighty and great, his word is answerable. This is the reason why we should make so much of the word of God, because it is the word of Jehovah, a mighty Creator, who gives a being to all things, and can only be Lord and Master of his word. We know God's meaning no otherwise than by his word. Till we come to the knowledge of vision in heaven, we must be content with the knowledge of revelation in the word.