I. Scripture-light the most sure light ... delivered in three sermons on 2 Pet.…

Yea, the Lord doth not only give forth encouragement in time of discouragement, and proportion his encouragements unto our discouragements, but he doth make your discouragements, occasional rises and bottoms, unto your encouragements and comforts. The Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam, and then he took a Rib from his side, wherewith he made a help for him; so doth God cause a deep sleep to come upon you in your discouragements, out of which he takes a Rib, and •uilds up a help for you, making the discouragements of the Saints, to contribute to their very encouragements. Hosea. 2.14. Behold, saith the Lord, I will allure her (that is the Church his people) and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her, and I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. But a wildernessed condition is a lost condition, and what comfort can one have in a lost condition? True saith God, ye cannot in, and by your selves, but there I will speak friendly and comfortably to her, and of all the times that I choose to preach Gospel to a poor soul, I choose to do it in a wildernessed and lost condition. But though the Lord do speak comfortably to us, if we be in a wilderness, a dry & barren place where no food, nor comfort is, how can we be but discouraged? Nay (saith the Lord) but I will give her her vineyards from thence: But if we sin & murmur in the wilderness as the Israelites did, the Lord will cut us off as he did them, & a wilderness is a place of trouble, wherein we are apt to murmur, & be discouraged: Nay (saith the Lord) but I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. The valley of Achor, was the valley of Perturbation, trouble, and of great discouragement, when the men of Israel sled, and fell before the men of Ai, for the sin of Achan, Joshua, 7. vers. the last; yet it was an in-let to the Land of Canaan, to the Land of rest. Now saith the Lord, look as it was with them, though the Valley of Achor was a Valley of Trouble and Perturbation, yet it was the door by which the Israelites came into the Land of Rest: So shall it be with you, I will make your Troubles and Discouragements, the very door of your Hope; the Valley of your Discouragements shall be the door, and an in-let unto all your Rest and Comfort. God takes the same way with the Members, as he went with the Head;