danger by danger, from death by death, from misery by misery. Perjissem nisi perjissem. I had been spoiled, unless I had been spoiled; wasted, unless I had been wasted ;* undone, unless undone; and died, unless I had died, may many say. God can provide a chamber of preservation in the belly of destruction, as he did for Jonah in the whale's belly; and make the very miseries of his people to be a tender midwife to their great happiness. We do not always see the fence that is about Job: the devil saw it when Job's friends did not. God can and doth hide by cobwebs. I have read or heard of one of our English soldiers, when we went against some part of Spain, that when the Spaniards came down on our men to have cut them all off, crept under the stairs, into a hole there; the enemy seeking for him, came to the place, and finding a cobweb made over the mouth of the hole where he lay, said, Surely there are none here; so went away, and the poor man escaped. God hath many such cobwebs: and that which we look upon as a mere cobweb, in which is no strength or shelter, God can and doth hide his people by.

Indeed, much of the saints' preservation is put into the hand of angels. And we read, in Ezekiel i., that their hands are under their wings; that is, work in an nnseen way: yet work they do, and bear them up in their arms, hiding, preserving and keeping them by God's commission. God is very willing, then, exceeding willing to hide his own people in evil times.

Behold a shelter in the time of a storm: who would not fly to it? Shall God be willing to hide us, and shall not we be willing to be hidden by him? I know men will say, they are willing to be hidden; who is not willing to be hidden by by God? But, qui vult finem, vult media, &c. He that wills the end, in sincerity, wills the means also. And if indeed, you be willing to be hidden by God, observe who those are whom God hath hidden, or doth by promise engage for to hide, and labour to be like to such.

Those that hide the saints of God are sure to be hidden by God. Two sorts of evil times there are, as in Noah's days there were two floods; the flood of profaneness, which did first drown the world; and the flood of God's anger in water. And in our times, before the last flood and deluge of

* Christus ut bonus medicus aliquando non facit voluntatem ut faciat sanitatem.

blood broke out, there was a flood of superstition and wickedness, that had covered even the mountains of this kingdom. So in all times. And the first flood is the herald of the second. If a man shall provide an ark for God's children in the day of the first flood, God will provide an ark for him and his children in the day of the second flood.

Ebedmelech hid Jeremiah, as the prophecy of Jeremiah tells us, in the day of the king's anger; and therefore God hid him in the day of God's anger.

Rahab hid the spies; and God hid Rahab and her family.* As God doth punish men in their own kind, so he doth reward men both punishments and rewards have the names of their sins and graces engraven in their foreheads.

Our dear brother Joseph, (I mean Jesus Christ, who is not ashamed to be called our brother, as the apostle speaks,) will be sure to put our own money in our sack's mouth. God will hide every hiding Obadiah.

Again, Those that keep the word of God's patience, have a promise to be hidden by God: Rev. iii. 10, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, therefore I will deliver thee from the hour of temptation, which will come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." The word of God's patience, I take to be the truth which the saints suffered for in their time. Sometimes the saints suffer for one truth, and sometimes for another. In the days of Luther, the word of God's patience was, justification by faith alone, and of free grace. In the days of queen Mary, the word of God's patience was, The pope is antichrist, bread is not transubstantiated. Now, says the Holy Ghost, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee," &c.

Those are sure to be hidden by God in evil times, that fear not the fears of men, nor say a confederacy with them that say a confederacy. There are always confederacies against Christ, his cause and his children; and some out of fear are apt to be drawn into those confederacies. See what God says in this case: Isa. viii. 12, "Say ye not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy;

* Si Rahab meretrix salutem consecuta est, cum omni domo sua, quia ducis a Deo missi exploratores semel excepit: quid ille consequentur qui Deum ipsum intra mentis suæ domum frequenter devote receperit? Heb. ii. 2.

neither fear ye fear, nor be afraid." Verse 13, "Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." What then? Then at verse 14, " And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." That is, for those that did say a confederacy; but as for those that did not say a confederacy, the Lord would be a sanctuary unto them.

Those are sure to be hidden by God, that remain green and flourishing in their religion, notwithstanding all the scorching heats of opposition that do fall on them. We read in Rev. ix., that an angel opening the bottomless pit, much smoke ascends, and out of the smoke came locusts like scorpions to destroy, but they might destroy no further than their commission reached; and their commission extends not to the green things. Verse 4, it was commanded them they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree. Some that are dried and withered in their profession; great professors they have been, and are now declined and withered; these may be hurt in the day of the locusts, but whoever remains green may not be touched.

And the text tells us, that the meek of the earth shall be hidden by God; they have a half promise here, and a whole promise in other places of Scripture.

Where is the person, therefore, that is thus qualified? You may go to God, and say, I confess, Lord, I am not worthy to be hidden by thee, I have sinned as others; yet through thy grace, I and my family have been an hiding place to thy children, I have kept the word of thy patience, not feared men's fear, nor said a confederacy with them; I am yet green in my profession, not so strong as the green tree, but yet green as the grass, not withered; and I do apply my soul to the ways of meekness: now, Lord, let me be hidden in this evil day that is come upon us. And, my beloved, as ever you desire to be hid in the day of God's anger, get your souls in-arked in all these promises and scriptures.

Thirdly, Ye may observe from the words, that though God is willing to hide his own people in evil times, yet he doth sometimes leave them at great uncertainties, that they may

not know what shall become of them, only with a may be, of their salvation.

They have more than a may be, for their eternal salvation. "I know that my Redeemer liveth," saith Job. "I am persuaded (saith Paul) that nothing shall separate me from the love of God," &c. Indeed God suffers his own children sometimes, to labour under many doubtings * and fears about their eternal salvation. Luther tells us of one, that lived a very gracious and holy life, yet when he came to die, being filled with doubtings, some of his friends came to him, saying, Sir, what need you be troubled, you have lived most exactly and graciously. True, saith he, I have indeed in your eye, but the eye of man and of God differs; God's judgment is one, and man's judgment another, and therefore now I do fear to die. But there is an insuring office set up "These in the gospel, as to the venture of our eternities. things have I written (saith John, 1st Epist. v. 13) that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Not that ye may have eternal life, but that ye may know that ye have it.

But as for our temporal and outward salvation, God doth sometimes leave his people to a may be. So here; and in Joel ii. 14, "Who knows if he will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?" and Exod. xxxii. 30, " Peradventure (saith Moses) I shall make an atonement for your sin."

God loves to have his people trust to the goodness of his nature. If you have a man's word or promise for a kindness, then you trust to his promise. If you have his promise, you say, But he is full, and rich, and of a good nature, and therefore I will venture on him. And is there not infinite sweetness and goodness of nature in God?‡ As God would have us trust sometimes unto his promise, so unto the goodness of his nature; and therefore sometimes he gives but a may be. We are at great uncertainties with God; and when we are left unto uncertainties, then we think and say, Aye, this is just, I have been at uncertainties with God,

*Fidei certitudo importat firmitatem adhæsionis, non semper quietationem intellectus.-Parisiens.

† Alia sunt Dei et hominum judicia.

Amat Deus; non aliunde hoc habet, sed ipse est unde amet; et ideo vehementius amat quia non amorem tam habet quam hoc est ipse.-Augustin.

sometimes praying, and sometimes not, and it is fit he should be so with me, that I may be minded of mine own sin.

The more uncertain a man is, the more, if not ingenuous, he will fear; and the more a man fears before the Lord, the more he will fly unto God: timor nos fecit consiliativos.

Truly we are not ingenuous enough towards God; were we more ingenuous, we should improve our assurance unto greater obedience. Therefore God is fain to rebuke our want of ingenuousness, and this uncertainty carries a report of it.

But suppose it be so, that in evil times we shall not be able to say what shall become of us, what is our duty then? The fourth doctrine tells us, and so I come unto that, which is,

Fourthly, When the tokens of God's anger are abroad, and his people know not what will become of them, but have only a may be for their deliverance, then, and then especially, it is their duty for to seek unto God.

As the motions of the earth are guided and governed by the motions of the heavens; and the earth's fruitfulness depends on the heaven's influence: so do the motions of our hearts and lives, and all their fruitfulness, depend on the influence of God. When the scales are even, gold-weight, then is a fit time to put in some grains of prayer: who knows but that one prayer then may turn the scales?

It is the duty of all the saints, in days of God's anger, and uncertain times, to commit their ways unto God. I will tell thee, saith Job's friend to him, what I would do in thy case, "Unto God would I seek, unto God would I commit my cause," Job v. viii. "Commit thy ways unto God, and thy thoughts shall be established," saith Solomon, Prov. xvi. 3.

And indeed, there is no such way to establish our thoughts or kingdom, as to commit our ways unto God. Luther hath a notable story to this purpose: There was, saith he, a great contest between a duke of Saxony and a bishop of Germany, insomuch as the duke intended war against him; but before the war, he would send out a spy, to observe the bishop's actions and motions; and the spy being returned, Come, saith the duke, what is the bishop a doing? Oh, sir, saith he, you may easily surprize him, he lives without fear, idle, doing nothing, making no preparations for war. No,