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

Fourthly, God will not take his people immediately out of the world, that so his goodness, mercy and providence, his wisdom and faithfulness may be the more discovered to us. In Heaven there the Church is at rest, it's out of all danger, there are no waves, no rocks: So that the Wisdom and Providence of God in keeping his Church there, is not at all discovered; When the waters were dried up, there was no necessity of an Ark for Noah. The Lord therefore will have us in these dangers and temptations, that so his care and love may be the more manifested; yea the greater the dangers are, the more is his faithfulness discovered, In the Mount God will be seen. Is it not an admirable thing to consider how God hath preserved a Church, a people faithfully to serve him, when hell and the world hath conspired to destroy them? But God by this means hath been made known to the world. The Artificers skill is seen about his metal, when it is in the fire. The Pilates art is manifested, when his Ship is on rocks and waves, and under many tempests. Though the world be a place of our dangers and temptations, yet it's the glass to represent the glorious Attributes of God, and the effects thereof to his children, where God is known not only by Adonai, but by Jehovah, even by every name.

Fourthly, God will not take his people immediately out of the world, that so his goodnesse, mercy and providence, his wisdome and faithfulnesse may be the more discovered to us. In Heaven there the Church is at rest, it's out of all danger, there are no waves, no rocks: So that the Wisdome and Providence of God in keeping his Church there, is not at all discovered; When the waters were dried up, there was no necessity of an Ark for Noah. The Lord therefore will have us in these dangers and temptations, that so his care and love may be the more manifested; yea the greater the dangers are, the more is his faithfulnesse discovered, In the Mount God will be seen. Is it not an admirable thing to consider how God hath preserved a Church, a people faithfully to serve him, when hell and the world hath conspired to destroy them? But God by this means hath been made known to the world. The Artificers skill is seen about his metal, when it is in the fire. The Pilates art is manifested, when his Ship is on rocks and waves, and under many tempests. Though the world be a place of our dangers and temptations, yet it's the glasse to represent the glorious Attributes of God, and the effects thereof to his children, where God is known not only by Adonai, but by Jehovah, even by every name.