CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

Lastly, God hath appointed for his Church a set time of afflictions and troubles, ¹as also an appointed time of salvation and deliverance, which made Job say, that affliction riseth not out of the dust, and the Psalmist, Promotion cometh not from the East or West, Psa. 65.6. As there are times of snow and rain, of winter and hard weather, so there are of calamities and exercises of the Church of God, Jer. 30.7. This is the time of Jacobs trouble. Rev. 3.10. It's called the hour of temptation, Rev. 2.10. Fear none of these things, thou shalt suffer, for the devil shall cast some of you into prison, and ye shall have tribulation ten days, that is, a set, appointed, but a short time: Thus you see God in his wisdom doth appoint a dark black hour sometimes for his people, and then afterwards he hath the time of their deliverance; The time to favour her, the set time is come, as Christ had the hour to suffer in, so he had the hour to be glorified in; So that by all these particulars concerning Christ, or the Church, or every believer, you see there is no such thing as blind Fortune, or chance, nor is it according to the counsels and purposes of men, but the great God of heaven he appoints the hours and seasons for all things, and they fall out accordingly.

Lastly, God hath appointed for his Church a set time of afflictions and troubles, ¹as also an appointed time of salvation and deliverance, which made Job say, that affliction riseth not out of the dust, and the Psalmist, Promotion cometh not from the East or West, Psa. 65.6. As there are times of snow and rain, of winter and hard weather, so there are of calamities and exercises of the Church of God, Jer. 30.7. This is the time of Jacobs trouble.