A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude

2. Preservation: We are not apprehensive enough of¹ daily mercies: The Preservation of the World is a constant Miracle; The World is hanged upon nothing (as 'tis in the Book of Job:) A feather will not stay in the air; and yet what hath the World to support it but the thin fluid air that is round about it? 'Tis easy to prove that the Waters are higher then the Land: so that we are always in the case the ⟨p. 107⟩Israelites were in, when they passed through the Red Sea; Nos sumus etiam tanquam in medio rubri maris (saith Luther,) the Waters are round about us and above us, bound up in an heap as it were by God, and yet we are not swallowed up: 'Tis true, the danger is not so sensible and immediate as that of the Red Sea, because of the constant rampire of Providence, More particularly, from the womb to the grave we have hourly maintenance from God. Look as the beams in the air are no longer continued then the Sun shineth; so we do no longer continue then God upholdeth our beings by the word of his Power, Heb. 1. 3. Or as 'tis with a Seal in the Water, take away the seal and the impress vanisheth; so do we disappear as soon as God doth but loosen his Hand and almighty Grasp, by which all things are upheld and preserved. But let us speak of those acts of Providence that are more sensible: Into how many diseases and dangers might we fall, if God did not look after us as the Nurse after her child? How many have gone to the grave, nay it may be to Hell, since the last night? How many actual dangers have we escaped? God hath looked after us, as if he had forgotten all the world besides; as if his whole employment were to do us good: He saith, that he will no more forget us, then a woman doth her sucking child; and that we are written before him, and graven in the palms of his hands, Isai. 45. 15, &c. as men tie a string about their •inger for a remembrance, or record in a book such things as they would regard: all these are expressions to describe the particular and express care of Gods Providence over his children. Now what shall be rendered to the Lord for all this? If we could do and suffer never so much for God, it will not answer the mercy of one day: Certainly at least God expecteth love for love; Love him as he is the strength of thy life and length of thy days, Deut. 30. 26. Every days experience is new fuel to keep in the fire: