God, in Scripture, is often said to be a shadow, and his people to be under * the shadow of his wings,' Ps. xxxvi. 7. But God and the church are all one in this, for they that are under the church's shadow are under God's shadow ; for the church is Christ's, and Christ God's. Therefore to be under the church is to be under God, and to be in the church is to be under God's protection. They both agree, as we see, Mic. v. 7. The church is said to be dew, because God bedews the church, and the church bedews others ; and here the promise is, ' I will be as the dew unto Israel,' where the same name is attributed unto God. Christ is a vine, and the church is a \Tine, John xv. 1. Christ is a dew and a shadow. So is the church, because Christ communicates his excellencies to her, and she hers unto others. Therefore there can be no offence in applying this to the church, which is the proper meaning of the place ; for the church is a sha- dow for rest and freedom from annoyance unto all that come under her.
Quest. To clear this a little. What solace and rest do men find under the shadow of the church ?
Ans. There is a rest and a peace in the chm'ch, for all things are at peace with the church, even the very stones in the field. Job v. 23 ; nothing can hurt the children of the chm'ch, ' God wUl be and is a sun and shield unto them,' Ps. xxxiv. 11 : a shield to keep off all iU, and a sun to confer all good unto them. So his promise is to Abraham, ' I will be thy buckler, iuid thine exceeding great reward,' Gen. xv. 1. A buckler to keep ill fi-om him, and ' an exceeding great reward' for good. Therefore it is a sweet shadow to be under the church, where God is all in all to them, who makes ail things work for good unto them, even the greatest evil. Now, what a delightful thing is it to have a resting-place with them which either suffer no ill, or God turns all ill to their great good ! where God is a ' sun and a shield,' a * buckler,' and an ' exceeding great reward,' as he is to his church and children !
And then, again, God is about his church as a ' wall of fire,' Zech. ii. 5, to protect it, not only as a shadow to keep off stonns, but as a wall of fire t<j keep off and consume enemies. God, in regard of protection of his church, is a compassing unto them, as it is in Job. Saith Satan, ' Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and all that he hath ? ' Job i. 10. There was a hedge about Job, his wife, children, and goods, which the devil durst not enter, nor make a gap in, until God gave him leave. Therefore those that are under the shadow of the church, they are safe, and may rest quietly,
VOL. n. z
854 THE EETUENING BACKSLIDER. [SeRMON VIII.
But this is especially understood spiritually. The church is a shadow, and herself under a shadow spiritually, that is, in regard of spiritual evils, from the worst enemies. For out of the church, where is any fence for the greatest ill of all, the wrath of God ? In the church of God there is set down a way of pacification, how the wrath of God is taken off and ap- peased in reconciliation by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ, whereby the believing soul attaineth peace and joy unspeakable and glorious. Out of the church there is no means at all to pacify the greatest ill. Therefore there is no true rest out of the church, nothing but stings and torments of conscience. And as there is a shelter against the wrath of God, which bums to the bottom of hell, so here is a remedy against death and damna- tion. For now death is made a friend to the church, and the children of the church, for the stiug of it is taken away, so that it doth them more good than anything in the world, ending aU their misery and sinning, and opening a passage unto eternal happiness. All other petty ills that attend upon death are nothing. There is a rest from all these whatsoever, for all afflictions have a sanctified use to God's people for their good. There is therefore a rest and refreshing in the church for all that come under it.
And as this is true of the church in general, so it is true of particular families, that are little churches. There is rest and happiness in them. God blesseth all under the roof of a godly man. Whosoever comes under that shadow comes for a blessing, or for fm-ther hardening. We see in the current of Scripture ordinarily that when God converted any one man, he converted his whole family. * Salvation is this day come to thy house,' saith Christ to Zaccheus, Luke xix. 9. When salvation came to his heart, it came to his house ; all was the better for it. So the jailor, when he be- lieved, ho and his whole house were baptized, Acts xvi. 33, When God blesseth the governor once, then it is supposed all the house comes under the covenant of grace. Abraham and his house were blessed. Gen. xxii. 17. But this holds not always, for there was a Ham in good Noah's family. Still there will be the ravens and wild beasts among the tame beasts. There will be an Ishmael in Abraham's family, a Doeg in the church of Judah, a Judas in Christ's family, and a Demas among God's people. That is, let the family be never so good, you shall have some by God's judgment naught in the same. As it is said of Jeremiah's figs, the good figs were exceeding good, and the bad exceeding bad, Jer. xxiv. 3. There is none so good as those that are in a gracious family, and none so naught as such who are naught there. Because they are cursed and under a curse, being bad under such gi'acious means, being like the ground which receives the rain and showers fi-om heaven, and yet is not the better for it, and so is accursed, Heb. vi. 7, 8. If a man who is untoward were in a gracious family, it is supposed he would be better, but those who are naught, where they should be good, under abundance of means, such are in danger to be sealed to eternal destruction. Such being bad, are very bad, who though they break not out to dangerous enormities, because of the place, yet to have a barren, untractable heart under abundance of means, is to be hard- ened to destruction, without a special mercy to make it work afterwards. For some who have Uved in gracious families, though for the present the seed fructified not, yet have afterwards found that seed fructify after a long time, and have blessed God that ever they came under such a shadow. Therefore, though such barrenness be a dangerous sign, yet must we not suddenly either condemn ourselves or others in this case. Because in the things of God in the church it is as in nature. The seed springs not as