A word in season to this present generation, or, A sober and serious discourse…

Fifthly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, then in all your troubles and distresses, &c. maintain uprightness and integrity of spirit ¹with God, 2 Chron. 16. 9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. Psalm 84. 11. For the Lord God is a Sun and shield, the ⟨p. 200⟩Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. This is the largest promise we find in the whole Book of God. The Creature stands in need of two things, Provision and Protection; for the first, the Lord is a Sun, as full of goodness as the Sun is of light; He is a Sun, in that he doth enlighten and enliven his Church, when as all the world besides lye under darkness and the shadow of death; and in that he doth cheer, and warm, and comfort the hearts of his People by his presence and lightsome countenance, and is the fountain from whence all external, internal, and eternal blessings are derived to them; For the second, a Shield: Among all inanimate Creatures the Sun ²is the most excellent, and among all artificial Creatures a Shield is chiefest, and was of greatest use in those days; The Sun notes all manner of excellency and prosperity, and the Shield notes all manner of protection whatsoever, ³under the name of grace all spiritual good things are to be understood, and under the name of glory all eternal good things are to be understood, and under that phrase of, No good thing will he withhold, all temporal good things are to be understood, so far as they make for his glory, and his Peoples real good. Now this choice, this sweet, this full; this large promise is made over only to the upright, & therefore as you would have any share in it, maintain your uprightness,