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lutions, assist us in all our performances, comfort us in our troubles, and sanctify us wholly in soul, body and spirit. These are the great things which the Spirit of God doth, and none but He can do it for us; and therefore we ought to desire to partake of Him, and to have both our souls and bodies influenced and governed by Him all our days.

Thus we see in short, how and upon what account we ought to desire God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, who being all equal in substance and glory, ought to be equally loved and desired by us; from whence also you may see the reason why we generally sum up and conclude our prayers, with a hearty desire of these three persons, saying, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore."

SERMON XLVII.

THE PRESENT SECURITY AND FUTURE HAPPINESS OF THE

SAINTS.

SERM.
XLVII.

LUKE Xii. 32.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

FEAR is a passion that all mankind is naturally subject to, ever since our fall in Adam; he had no sooner transgressed the command of God, but the next news we hear of Gen. 3. 10. him, is, that "he was afraid and hid himself."

And we being likewise conscious to ourselves that we have often offended Him that governs all things, we are apt to think, that all things will concur, as they justly may, to punish us for it: this raiseth that passion or motion in our minds which we call fear, and which is therefore both the effect, and in some measure the punishment of sin; for as 1 John 4. 18. the Apostle and Evangelist observes, " Fear hath torment.” It puts the mind into such disorder, that we are in pain, restless and uneasy, while we are apprehensive and fearful of any danger or evil, as all have continual cause to be, who continue in the state of sin, and by consequence under the displeasure of Almighty God; for so long as He is displeased with them, all the judgments which He hath threatened, and they have deserved, are ready every moment to be executed; and whether they do or no, they have always cause to fear that some or other, if not all together, will fall upon them.

But they who upon their repentance and faith in Christ, are reconciled to God, they neither ought, nor need to fear any evil whatsoever, for He hath commanded them to fear

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nothing but Himself, and hath promised to preserve them [Luke 12. from all evil, and so hath given them sufficient ground to turn all their fear into the contrary passion of hope and trust on Him, and expects that they accordingly do it, and so they will if they live as they ought; and as all such endeavour to live, with a firm belief in Him, and His Holy Word, for faith and fear are directly opposite to one another; the greater our faith is, the less is our fear; the greater our fear, the less our faith; and therefore when the Disciples being in a storm on the sea, feared lest they should be overwhelmed with the waves, our Saviour said to them, "Why Matt. 8. 26. are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" Implying that if their faith had been wholly fixed as it ought to have been, in God, they would not have been fearful, notwithstanding the greatness of the danger they seemed to be in; and as He positively requires us all along to believe in God and in Himself, [John 14. according to the promises which He hath made us; so whensoever He saw His Disciples in any doubt, or fear of what might happen to them, He checked and rebuked them for the weakness of their faith, particularly in this very ver. 28. chapter, where He also commands them to "fear nothing ver. 4, 5. but God," and backs His command with the consideration of God's special Providence over all things that are, even the very birds of the air, and the hairs of every man's head, and then adds, "Fear not therefore; ye are of more value ver. 6, 7. than many sparrows," whereby He puts them in mind of the great value that Almighty God Himself sets upon those who fear and honour Him; He hath a particular kindness for them, and therefore they need not fear any thing in this world; for as much as He that governs and orders all things in it, will take care that nothing shall hurt them.

But He knowing our temper, how ready this passion is to rise in us upon all occasions, and how much it disturbs our minds, and hinders us in the exercise of those Heavenly graces and virtues which He requires of us, He repeats the same command again in my text, and enforceth it with such reasons, which if duly considered, would prevent or suppress all manner of cares and fears in us, about any thing in this world, saying, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

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SERM.

XLVII.

ver. 27.

Before, He speaks of the troubles and persecutions which His Disciples would meet with from men, and commands that they do not fear them; but here He speaks in general; Fear not; fear nothing at all in this world, nothing but God Himself: He would not have them indulge any sort of fear of any thing or person whatsoever upon earth, nor trouble their heads about what may or may not happen to them, but always to believe and trust on God and the promises that He hath made them, to defend them from all evil, and order all things so as shall be most for their benefit and advantage.

This I confess may seem very difficult to our corrupt nature, but the reason is, because our nature is corrupt; in the state of innocence, when there was no evil of sin, there could be no fear of any other evil; but our Blessed Saviour, the last Adam, came to restore us to the same state from which we fell in the first, and the nearer we come by Him to that, the freer we shall be from sin, and from all the mischiefs that follow upon it, of which, fear itself is one of the greatest in this life; so that could we get rid of that, by a steadfast faith in God our Saviour, we should enjoy as much peace and comfort as we are capable of in this our imperfect

state.

And verily unless we strive all we can to overcome, or at least by His assistance to keep under those groundless cares and fears that men are generally tormented with, we have made but little progress in His school, who takes all occasions to teach His scholars or disciples this great lesson, and John 14. 1. expects that they all both learn and practise it: "Let not your heart be troubled," saith He, " ye believe in God, believe also in Me." " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And so frequently elsewhere; not that He would have us indulge a stoical apathy or insensibleness of danger, but that we should not suffer our minds to be discomposed at the apprehension of it, but support ourselves under it with a steadfast belief and trust on Him, either to prevent, or bless it to us. And therefore, at the same time that He commands us not to fear, He lays before us such considerations, as are

proper to move His Disciples as such, to obey that command, saying, first, "Fear not, little flock;" He speaks not to the whole herd of mankind, but to His own flock only. Other people are never out of danger, and therefore have always cause to fear, and could not choose but do it, if they saw the danger they are in; and therefore our Saviour doth not say to them, "Fear not," but to such only as believe in Him, own Him for their Lord and Master, and accordingly, serve and honour Him as such. These He calls His flock, because they belong in a peculiar manner unto Him, and He feeds and leads them as a shepherd doth his flock, till he hath brought them to a place of rest. "He shall feed His Isa. 40.11. flock," saith the Prophet, "like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." "They were 1 Pet. 2. 25. once as sheep going astray, but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls." "To the great Shep- Heb. 13. 20. herd of the sheep, as He is called." "And the good Shep- John 10. 11. herd, that giveth His life for the sheep." He purchased [Acts 23. them to Himself with His own blood, and so hath an absolute right and title to them: He looks upon them as His sheep, and they upon Him as their Shepherd; and therefore as He leads them, they follow Him.

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Let us hear what He Himself saith in this very case. "He that entereth in by the door, is the shepherd of the John10.2-5. sheep; to him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice; and a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers." In which words there are two things especially, much to be observed. First, what special notice this good Shepherd taketh of all His sheep. He calleth them all by their names, how many soever they be, He hath the names of every one written in the Book of Life; and can call them [Rev. 3-5.] by it; taking as much care of every one particularly that belongs to Him, as if He had none to mind but that one, which is such a comfort to His faithful people, that they need no other to banish all their fears, and to fill them with

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