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<DATE>2008-01-09</DATE>
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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
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<P>THE SHEPHEARDS FAREWELL TO HIS BELOVED FLOCKE OF <HI>S. B. E. L.</HI> Where He hath been above twenty yeeres their weake, yet vigilant Pa&s;tour, I. G. D. D.</P>
<BIBL>PSAL. 37. 25.</BIBL>
<Q><L>I have been young, am old, yet never &s;aw</L>
<L>The ju&s;t abandoned, nor tho&s;e that draw</L>
<L>From him their breath, with beggery oppre&s;t,</L>
<L>He lends in mercy and his &s;eed are ble&s;t.</L></Q>
<LG>
<L>En me, peract&acirc; parte vitae maxim&acirc;,</L>
<L>Senecta jam cana premit:</L>
<L>Nec me u&s;qu&agrave;m rectam per&s;equutum tramitem,</L>
<L>Me&oacute;s ve, &s;en&s;i de&s;eri;</L>
<L>Quaerelave vidi voce, Divitum ad Ostia,</L>
<L>Mi&s;erum rogantes frustulum.</L>
</LG>
<P>Printed in the yeere 1645.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the parish">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE PARISH OF St. <HI>BARTHOLMEWS</HI> EXCHANGE <HI>LONDON.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_BEloved in the Lord, you have your de&s;ire, and I have mine ea&s;e to betake me to a retired life, in my crazy e&s;tate and manifold infirmities of age crept on me, which makes it to me a di&s;ea&s;e and &s;ummoning to the Grave.</P>
<P>God enable me, that patience in me may have the perfect worke, and furni&s;h you all with all his graces, that &s;hall have their continuation in glory.</P>
<P><PB REF="3">This is my hearty prayer, to which God vouch&s;afe a ble&s;&s;ed Ratification.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>For Preaching once yours,
For Praying ever yours,
JOHN GRANT, aged 67.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>THE SHEPHEARDS farewell to his beloved FLOCK of <HI>S. B. E. L.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>PHIL. 4. ver. 4. to 8.</BIBL>
<Q><P>Rejoyce in the Lord alway; and againe I &s;ay Rejoyce.</P> <P>Let your Moderation be knowne to all men: The Lord is at hand.</P> <P>Be carefull for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and &s;upplication, with thank&s;giving, let your re|quests be made knowne to God.</P> <P>And the peace of God which pa&s;&s;eth all understanding, &s;hall keep your hearts and minds through Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN this pre&s;ent evill world, the deare&s;t of God's Saints are often militant (in a warfaring conditi|on often;) and whiles here they are, alwayes itinerant (in a way|faring condition alwayes.)</P>
<P>They have Enemies enough, and &s;trangers are they unto all that are not right to
<PB N="2" REF="4">
Heaven-wards, that are open &s;inners, or but preten|ded Saints.</P>
<P>They are hated by many, and not owned by the mo&s;t; per&s;ecuted by not a few, de&s;erted (in their ex|treame wants) almo&s;t by every one, by all, &s;ure in who&s;e hearts Chri&s;t dwelleth not by faith <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Eph. 3. 17.</NOTE>; So this Apo&s;tolicall exhortation is needfull for their con&s;o|lation, that they take none offence at the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, but that they clo&s;ely buckle them&s;elves to be with him crucified, and &s;oundly animated, perempto|rily to deny their owne &s;elves, to take up their owne cro&s;&s;e daily, and &s;o chearfully and undantedly to fol|low Chri&s;t <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Luk. 9. 23.</NOTE>, even unto death and in death to be his couragious and mo&s;t con&s;tant Followers.</P>
<P>I called this Text an Exhortation; I may fitly call it a chaine of Exhortations, of &s;utable and &s;ea&s;onable Exhortations, and all of them clo&s;ed up in a pithy apprecation.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Exhortation is to the perpetuity of Re|joycing; the next to the moderate behaving a mans &s;elfe in all occurrences.</P>
<P>The la&s;t, to a dependency upon God amid&s;t the throngs of whatever cares the world pre&s;&s;eth us with|all, and enforceth continually upon us, to make us forgetfull of our God.</P>
<P>We are thus to the perpetuity of rejoycing, by our holy Apo&s;tle exhorted, and the Exhortation (to worke us &s;eriou&s;ly unto it) is redoubled, <HI>Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies, and againe I &s;ay Rejoyce.</HI></P>
<P>The againe and againe rejoycing, is the Chri&s;tian rejoycing, the rejoycing it is in the Lord.</P>
<P>Worldlings rejoycings are in their vanities, ever
<PB N="3" REF="4">
with vexations accompanied; mad rejoycings are they, ever ending in horrour: <HI>I have &s;aid of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doth it</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 2. 2</NOTE>.</P>
<P>Mad laughter and prophane mirth, doth it knoweth not what.</P>
<P>Chri&s;ts woe is thereon; <HI>Woe unto you that now laugh, for yee &s;hall mourne and weep</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Luk. 6. 25.</NOTE>.</P>
<P><HI>Extremum gaudij luctus occupat,</HI> all rejoycing out of Chri&s;t is wound up in mourning, and that mourning &s;hall have no ending, nor &s;hall any of the teares thereof be put up into the Lords bottels.</P>
<P>The right rejoycing (that &s;hall be an evermore re|joycing) is the rejoycing in the Lord: That our names are written in the book of Life, is the very life of rejoy|cing <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Luk. 10. 20</NOTE>.</P>
<P>All other rejoycing is but madne&s;&s;e, it is groundle&s;&s;e altogether; it knoweth not what it doth, it doth what it cannot know, that it &s;hall have Gods approbation; nay if it reflect upon Gods revealings, cannot but know, that reprobation will thereof be the di&s;mall conclu&s;ion.</P>
<P>But the Chri&s;tian rejoycing, is an evermore rejoy|cing; <HI>Rejoyce evermore,</HI> is our Apo&s;tles expre&s;&s;ion <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">The&s;. 5. 16.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>In the hope of the glory of God is their rejoycing, that have in their hearts this a&s;&s;urance by faith, that their names are in the records of Heaven indelibly re|gi&s;tred.</P>
<P>In the hope of the glory of God is their rejoycing <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Rom. 5. 2.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>And not onely &s;o, the Apo&s;tle addes further, in the three annexed ver&s;es; but we (the rejoycers in the Lord) glory in tribulations (not onely rejoyce, but even glo|ry in them) as knowing that tribulation worketh pati|ence, and patience experience, and experience hope, and
<PB N="4" REF="5">
hope maketh not a&s;hamed, becau&s;e the love of God is &s;hed abroad in our hearts by the holy Gho&s;t, which is given unto us.</P>
<P>You here may cleerly &s;ee the wide difference now be|tweene the rejoycings of &s;inners and of Saints, of pro|phane worldlings, and of religious Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>The one is deceitfull, vani&s;hing, peri&s;hing and in perdition enwrapping; the other fixed, eternall, happy making, and &s;o continuing in tho&s;e in whom it takes place, being in pro&s;perity and adver&s;ity &s;till the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Plenties &s;well it not up, neither wants ca&s;t it downe, calme times never make it forgetfull of God, nor tu|mults deterre them from the con&s;tant &s;ervice of God, in whom God works it by the Mini&s;ters of his owne ap|pointing.</P>
<P>This <HI>rejoycing in the Lord alway,</HI> this <HI>againe and again rejoycing,</HI> is the joy in the holy Gho&s;t; it is that glad|&s;ome, that &s;weet, that comfortable motion of the heart by the Spirit of Adoption, &s;tirred up in the elect Ser|vants and Saints of God, upon the feeling of Gods love to them-wards in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as the forerunner and a&s;|&s;urer of the life eternally happy. Both in earthly and &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings have we the tokens of Gods love to us-wards in Chri&s;t, e&s;pecially in the &s;pirituall.</P>
<P><HI>The Kingdome of God is righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost,</HI> writes our Apo&s;tle <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Ro. 14. 17.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>When Chri&s;ts joy remains in us, our joy becomes the Full joy <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Joh. 15. 11.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>It is the joy un&s;peakable, the glorious joy, &s;o by Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;tiled <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1. 8.</NOTE>: and fitly, becau&s;e of Heavens Kingdome, it is a maine part.</P>
<P>With all joy and peace through beleeving, are the e|lected and &s;elected ones of God filled <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Ro. 15. 13.</NOTE>.</P>
<P><PB N="5" REF="5">A very Heaven is in their con&s;ciences, and a con&s;tella|tion is there of all vertues and graces, beamed from the Father of Lights in his Irradiations upon them.</P>
<P>This Saint <HI>Paul</HI> appreca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">es to the Romans, and I in his words to you; <HI>The God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in beleeving, that yee may abound in Hope through the power of the holy Gho&s;t</HI> <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Ro. 15. 13.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>This were a fit bough alwayes to be chirping on; but our Text is a Tree of many boughs and branches, and gladly bird-like, would I be upon them all in this one Houre.</P>
<P>To the next then doe I &s;wiftly betake me, and that is Moderation, <HI>Let your Moderation be knowne to all men.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;tian moderation is the bridler in of our affecti|ons, and the bounder of our pa&s;&s;ions, throughout our conver&s;ation among men of all ranks and humours.</P>
<P>The &s;elf-willed are the perpetuall di&s;turbers of them|&s;elves and others, even of all within their reach; they will doe no right, they will endure no wrong; but the &s;o|berly moderate and wel-tempered Chri&s;tian &s;o ballan|ceth him&s;elfe, that he carrieth every thing even, and in all occurrences, keeps him (&s;o neere as po&s;&s;ibly he can) in a &s;tare of Aequality.</P>
<P>To neither hand &s;werves he, but alwayes &s;teadily be|haves him&s;elf (never at at any time giddily) in all man|ner affaires; extremity hurries not him on, but Aequity pov&s;eth and guideth him; never is he rigidly &s;trict, to pre&s;&s;e on others what is unmeet, but ever watchfull to keep his feet from running into injurious wayes and cour&s;es, and his hands from wrongfull doings, upon whatever occa&s;ions or urgencies.</P>
<P>Right Chri&s;tians accommodate them&s;elves unto one
<PB N="6" REF="6">
another by way of concord, wheras di&s;cord even in things triviall, maketh wounds and keeps them open by rigo|rous au&s;terity and very niceties, not of con&s;cience onely but even of credit.</P>
<P>That of <HI>Abraham,</HI> the Father of the faithfull, is quite forgotten in the&s;e riged and rugged times.</P>
<P>Saith he to <HI>Lot</HI> (the elder to the younger, the Unkle to his Nephew) <HI>Let there be no &s;trife I pray thee betweene me and thee, nor between my Heard-men and thy Heard|men, for we are Brethren</HI> <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Gen. 13. 8</NOTE>.</P>
<P>When &s;trife is not heeded &s;oone and &s;peedily modera|ted, a Gangrene makes it uncurable, and nothing but rooting out and cutting off will be the i&s;&s;ue; a bloody i&s;&s;ue, till the one or the other party even bleed to death (and not &s;eldome both) there is no &s;tay.</P>
<P>Stories are fraught with &s;uch relations, and it were wel that we &s;eriou&s;ly and clo&s;ely &s;tudied them, that we (in the &s;ame kind) become not a Tragick-hi&s;tory to the times en&s;uing ours.</P>
<P><HI>We are Brethren,</HI> is a &s;trong argument to breake off di&s;|cords, and in the clo&s;e&s;t bonds of concord to be reunited.</P>
<P>Nearne&s;&s;e in blood pre&s;&s;eth the duty upon us, near|ne&s;&s;e in the faith of Religion, and in the religiou&s;ne&s;&s;e of faith, farre much more.</P>
<P>Look we on the Vocation wherewith we are called, that of Chri&s;tianity, a right worthy Vocation, and be it our care (yea and our con&s;cience) to walk worthy thereof; we have it from Apo&s;tolicall Intreaty and In|junction <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Eph. 4. 1.</NOTE>, and it were well we hearted what is by him there &s;ubjoyned: <HI>Be your walking</HI> (that is, your Chri|&s;tian behaviour and conver&s;e in the world) <HI>in all lowli|ne&s;&s;e and meekne&s;&s;e, with long-&s;uffering, forbearing one</HI>
<PB N="7" REF="6">
<HI>another in love, endeavouring to keep unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: There is one body and one spirit, even as yee are called in one hope of your calling. There is one Lord, one Faith, one Bapti&s;me, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.</HI></P>
<P>And the clo&s;e of the Chapter is &s;utable hereunto, and home to the poynt we are on in our Text, the expre&s;&s;i|on of our Moderation <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">ver. 31. 32.</NOTE>; <HI>Let all bitterne&s;&s;e and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evill &s;peaking be put away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Chri&s;ts &s;ake hath forgiven you.</HI></P>
<P>And note here with me, that the Apo&s;tle &s;aith not bluntly, be ye moderate, but let your moderation be knowne; &s;o evident, that it may be undeniably apparent, knowne, evident; apparent to men, to all men, to all men that have eyes and wils to &s;ee it, and judgements to conceive of it as it is.</P>
<P>When we are moderate, not for Vain-glory, but for Gods glory, not to be pointed at for &s;uch, but to be &s;uch indeed; not to be admired of others, but to build them up to Heaven-wards by our example, (in right in|genity and Dove-like &s;implicity) is that which our A|po&s;tle laboureth to worke us unto; and that of our Sa|viour likewi&s;e drives it home <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 16.</NOTE>: <HI>Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Which pa&s;&s;age of our Saviour by that of his Apo&s;tle Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> is &s;et forth to the very life <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2. 11. 12.</NOTE>.</P>
<P><HI>Dearly beloved, I be&s;eech you (as Strangers and Pil|grims) abstaine from fle&s;hly lusts, which warre again&s;t the &s;oule, having your conver&s;ation hone&s;t among the Gentiles,</HI>
<PB N="8" REF="7">
<HI>that whereas they &s;peake again&s;t you as evill doers, they may (by your good works, which they &s;hall behold) glorifie God in the day of Vi&s;itation.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Pliny</HI> the younger, (<HI>Procon&s;ul</HI> under <HI>Trajane</HI> the Em|perour, of Chri&s;tians the fierce per&s;ecutor) ob&s;erving the Moderation of the Chri&s;tians, then in all their de|meanours and light&s;ome behaviour in the dark&s;ome world, recommended them for &s;uch to that Emperour, and it turned his enraged fiercene&s;&s;e again&s;t them, into an order taken for their indemnity and &s;ecurity a|mid&s;t the maliciou&s;ly bent again&s;t them: When a mans wayes doe plea&s;e the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Prov. 16. 7.</NOTE>: And this leads us by the hand to that which followes in the Text (as annexed with this Exhortation) <HI>The Lord is at hand.</HI></P>
<P>At hand the Lord God is, as being every where, at all times pre&s;ent; at hand the Lord is by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his grace, to bring his choyce ones in Chri&s;t out of&punc; all the endangerments they are in, by the &s;infulne&s;&s;e and weakne&s;&s;e in their nature corrupted.</P>
<P>At hand the Lord is in the cour&s;e of his judgements, to help them to right that &s;uffer wrong, and (in his la&s;t judgement) to render unto every man according to that he hath done in his body unpartially.</P>
<P>Our onely pre&s;ent help, in whatever troubles, is the Lord our God. At hand he is to re&s;cue us out of our in|tricate dangers; at hand he is, to extract us out of what|ever plunges; at hand he is to pull us out of the hels and horrours of our various &s;innes and entangling per|plexities, by &s;ealing unto our beleeving &s;oules the par|dons by Chri&s;ts blood &s;ealed and ratified by the Spirit of his promi&s;e: Let not the Epicures, Perepoteticks,
<PB N="9" REF="7">
Stoicks of the times work their poy&s;ons into our hearts: the former (Epicures) deny the providence of God, and to the wheelings of Fortune a&s;cribe the events of all the affaires in the world.</P>
<P>The middlemo&s;t (Peripatecians, <HI>Aristotles</HI> clo&s;e Ad|herents, Admirers and Adorers) are in their Univer&s;ali|ties (God with them, is no minder of particulars:) The la&s;t (Stoicks) bind God &s;o unto cau&s;es &s;econdary, that by fatall nece&s;&s;ity all things come to pa&s;&s;e, and that no|thing is by divine providence ordered.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides the&s;e, the world hath a rabble of vainly &s;uper|&s;titious, conceiting God after their owne fancies, not as he hath in his Word revealed him&s;elfe to us, namely, a God at hand and not a farre off, to the moderators of them&s;elves according to his pre&s;criptions.</P>
<P>Among all <HI>Davids</HI> P&s;almes be that familiar unto you by frequent meditation (<HI>P&s;al.</HI> 107.)</P>
<P>A mappe it is of Gods being at hand to all his punctu|ally, and &s;tirres up all (in all occurrences) to take notice of Gods Handy-work, and to prai&s;e him ever for his goodne&s;&s;e, and for his wonderfull works to the children of men (<HI>ver. 8. 15. 21. 31. of that precious P&s;alme.</HI>)</P>
<P>In the temporall ble&s;&s;ings of our God, are his &s;piritu|all ble&s;&s;ings therein chanted forth mo&s;t harmoniou&s;ly.</P>
<P>At hand our God is to the wanderers in de&s;art places; at hand God is to the &s;hut up in de&s;mal pri&s;ons (feitered and tormented there;) at hand God is to the ca&s;t upon their &s;ick beds, and with various di&s;ea&s;es to&s;&s;ed there, and grievou&s;ly turmoyled.</P>
<P>A four-fold exemplification of Gods pre&s;ence in mens troubles, and of his re&s;cuing them graciou&s;ly thereout, is in that P&s;alme di&s;tinctly &s;pecified.</P>
<P><PB N="10" REF="8">The two former examples are of the calamitous in a vagring condition (in a to&s;&s;ing on the Land and on the Sea) repre&s;ented &s;o as if we even &s;aw them tempe&s;t|beaten.</P>
<P>The two latter examples are in a condition not va|gring indeed, but fixed; yet &s;o fixed, as tranf-fixed, as put to pains above humane &s;upportment; Externall vio|lence in pri&s;on-extremities, internall grievance in varie|ties of di&s;ea&s;es, try the mettals of Gods endeared ones; There is the patience of the Saints put to it; Therein the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ryall and the proof of them to be true and &s;ound, cleer|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">y evidenced; Gods temporall deliverances in the&s;e kinds are remarkable, but our &s;pirituall deliverances exceed all the temporall by farre.</P>
<P>The Churches deliverances by her Saviour the Lord Je&s;us, &s;hould often be revolved in our thoughts, and all the yeer (yea all our yeers on Earth) &s;hould be a Chri&s;t|ma&s;&s;e in this regard, a fe&s;tivall, continuated and cele|brated rejoycingly.</P>
<P>As Chri&s;t, before he was exhibited to the World in the fle&s;h, was once promi&s;ed, and often re-promi&s;ed, and our Forefathers in the faith thereby &s;u&s;tained in their longings for him and expectations of him; &s;o after his manife&s;tation in our nature, and fini&s;hing the work of our Redemption therein: Fir&s;t he gave direction for the Faith Chri&s;tian, by the Apo&s;tles and their clo&s;e Succe&s;&s;ors; and afterwards, when Here&s;ies and Sci&s;mes had tainted the &s;ame, he againe reformed it, and conti|nueth that ble&s;&s;ed Reformation.</P>
<P>I have here before me a world of matter, but I mu&s;t take up and &s;peed me to the next Bough, largely di&s;pread and into many branches di&s;tingui&s;hed: <HI>Be carefull for</HI>
<PB N="11" REF="8">
<HI>nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and &s;upplication, with thank&s;giving, let your requests be made knowne to God.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Be carefull for nothing.</HI>) A double carefulne&s;&s;e we read of, a carefulne&s;&s;e forbidden, and an enjoyned care|fulne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>This latter is a taking thought, both in what and how we may approve our &s;elves unto, and in our per&s;ons and whole deportment on earth plea&s;e our good and graci|ous Father which is in Heaven, wherein his Sonne our redeeming Lord he hath prepared the Man&s;ions of eter|nity for us, after our pilgrimage in this vale of mi&s;ery.</P>
<P>By doing the will of our Father, as in his Word he hath revealed the &s;ame to us, is this care taken, and by us con&s;cionably performed.</P>
<P>This is to us recommended in the <HI>Corinthians</HI> <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7. 11</NOTE>, <HI>The &s;or|rowing after a godly &s;ort, what carefulne&s;&s;e hath it wrought in you?</HI></P>
<P>This carefulne&s;&s;e is a &s;tudiou&s;ne&s;&s;e to avoyd the track of &s;inne and &s;inners, and a clo&s;ene&s;&s;e of adherence unto God in a way of holine&s;&s;e that leadeth to happine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>When we take due thought for the welfare of our owne &s;oules, and for the drawing of others with us on to God, this way are we carefull, and God accepteth of us in Chri&s;t, and highly approveth us.</P>
<P>Yea, a moderate carefulne&s;&s;e for the things of this life, without di&s;tru&s;tfulne&s;&s;e in God, is both good and commendable; but when our Apo&s;tle chargeth us to take care for nothing, it is Anxiou&s;ne&s;&s;e he points at, and di&s;&s;wades from.</P>
<P>This is interpreted by that of our provident Lord; <HI>Care not for to morrow</HI> <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Mat. 6. 34.</NOTE>, our faith on Gods Providence mu&s;t ca&s;t diffidence out of us.</P>
<P><PB N="12" REF="9">Saint <HI>Peter</HI> thus expre&s;&s;eth it; <HI>ca&s;t all your care upon God, for he careth for you</HI> <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1. 7.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>Where the word <HI>All</HI> is emphaticall, and very ex|pre&s;&s;ive.</P>
<P>It is not &s;ufficient for a right Chri&s;tian, to ca&s;t this care, or that care, or the other on God.</P>
<P>Nothing mu&s;t excrutiate us who have God for a Provider.</P>
<P>It may fall out that the very lighte&s;t cares may &s;o pre&s;&s;e us downe, that we may become unfit to undergoe the very le&s;t burden of our calings, as not the greate&s;t can be too heavy for us, when the whole load of our cares are on God, the perpetuall care and provider for us.</P>
<P>And in the word <HI>Ca&s;t</HI> likewi&s;e, an intimation is there worthy our clo&s;e&s;t ob&s;ervation.</P>
<P>It &s;ignifies, that we &s;hould rou&s;e up what perplexeth us, and roule it all on God.</P>
<P>Be we rid of Anxieties, as for us over-ma&s;terfull; but no burden is over-heavy for his Shoulders.</P>
<P>And how &s;hall we ca&s;t all our cares on God? by let|ting our reque&s;ts be made knowne to God.</P>
<P>God is ready to free us of our cares, and to take the charge both of our per&s;ons, and of what concerns us for good; but he will be reque&s;ted of us, and then &s;hall we be under his wings for &s;helter and for &s;afety. It is not to informe God that we put up reque&s;ts to God; no, he knowes our thoughts afarre off, he knoweth them ere they ari&s;e in us, knowes them ere we can mold them up into reque&s;ts, and &s;o put them up unto the Throne of Grace.</P>
<P>It is not &s;imply for the manife&s;ting of them to God, but to obtaine Gods approbation of them, and of us for them.</P>
<P><PB N="13" REF="9">Chri&s;t will di&s;claime the knowledge of Hypocrits at&punc; the la&s;t day (<HI>I never knew you&punc;</HI>) and yet who are more in prayer then they? but their prayers are but Ayre|beatings, as &s;ounding bra&s;&s;e, or tinkling Cymbals, all their devotions.</P>
<P>Reque&s;ts made knowne to God are &s;uch, as God by effects makes it knowne, that he hath with approbation admitted them.</P>
<P>When we thrive to Heaven-wards, and are provided&punc; for on earth to contentment, it appeares, that we have not been at our prayers in vaine.</P>
<P><HI>To all that call upon him God is neere, but &s;uch mu&s;t they be as in truth call upon him</HI> <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 145. 18.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>Otherwi&s;e he knowes them not with approbation, with acceptation heares them not.</P>
<P>When we are true of heart, Gods Ears are full open to our reque&s;ts, and never have we in them repul&s;es from him.</P>
<P><HI>Aske and it &s;hall be given you, &s;eeke and yee &s;hall find, knock, and unto you &s;hall it be opened; for every one that asketh receiveth, and he that &s;eeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it &s;hall be opened</HI> <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg">Mat. 7. 78.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>When our reque&s;ts unto God are faithfull, earne&s;t and con&s;tant, God takes notice of them, and we from God have &s;ea&s;onable an&s;wers.</P>
<P>Reque&s;ts put up to men are often frivolous.</P>
<P>Either to grant them is not in their power, or not in their will; but neither are in God wanting, and nothing &s;hall be to them wanting who are nor deficient in this reque&s;ting duty, but are in it &s;o earne&s;t, that with <HI>Jacob</HI> the Patriarch, they will not let the Lord goe, till from the Lord they find and feele a ble&s;&s;ing, and in that ble&s;|&s;ing
<PB N="15" REF="10">
full &s;weetly enjoy God: Now our reque&s;ts unto are God made known by prayer, &s;upplication, thank&s;giving; A touch mu&s;t I needs give you of each of them, and God by his Spirit touch your hearts in the u&s;e of them all.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Prayer is our reque&s;t unto God our Hea|venly Father, for the &s;upply of what may &s;u&s;taine us and fit us for Heaven, that may enable us (both tempo|rally and &s;piritually) to hold on and to hold out in our callings, till hence we are called to our abode in glory, to our Man&s;ions of eternity.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Supplication is our reque&s;t to God, by way&punc; of deprecation, either to have evils removed from us, or &s;weetned to us: Sinnes and mi&s;eries involve us here, but Gods providence is over us, and all &s;hall work for the be&s;t unto us, who by con&s;tant &s;upplication referre our &s;elves unto, and both alwayes, and in all things de|pend on God, and although he even nay us, are fully re&s;olved (with that man of the right mettall, holy and patient <HI>Job</HI>) to tru&s;t in him.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, Thank&s;giving is a reque&s;t to God to ac|cept of our thanks (our poore thankes) for his richly multiplied benefits on us conferred in Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>As it becommeth the righteous to be thankfull, &s;o in all things rendring perpetuated thankes unto God, by them God is invited to the continuation of ble&s;&s;ings, to their &s;etled a&s;&s;urance of his eternall favours.</P>
<P>In that which u&s;ually we do call the Lords Prayer are all the&s;e reque&s;ts uncomparably couched, Prayer, Sup|plication, Thank&s;giving.</P>
<P>Be it in our hearts alwayes, and in our mouthes of|ten upon occa&s;ions.</P>
<P>Thus pray we ^z, and pray we this; when ye pray, &s;ay
<PB N="14" REF="10">
<HI>Our Father</HI> ^a; and never forget we that prayer, le&s;t in our owne (without an eye on that and clo&s;e with that) we be lo&s;t as in &s;o many Wilderne&s;&s;es full of intricacies, full of enormities, full of endangerments.</P>
<P>I clo&s;e with that of our Engli&s;h <HI>Bernard.</HI> In the Lords Prayer, whether we regard the brevity, per|fection, authority, method, efficacy or nece&s;&s;ity of it, it is to be beleeved, that no Saint or Angell is able to march the plat-forme thereof; being large for matter, &s;hort for phra&s;e, and &s;weet for order: Take withall (for the cleering of this branch in our Text, and for your right apprehending and u&s;ing of the Lords Prayer) the Explication and Application thereof from the &s;ame Author (and others) thus; <HI>Our Father</HI> (by the right of creation, by the merit of compa&s;&s;ionate and bowell-mercies, by the gracious provi&s;ion of things needfull and u&s;efull for us;) <HI>which art in Heaven,</HI> (the Seat of thy Maje&s;ty in the very radiancy of glory, the Inheritance of thy children by adoption and grace, the Kingdome of endle&s;&s;e and un-di&s;turbed happine&s;&s;e;) <HI>hal|lowed be thy name</HI> (by the thoughts of our hearts, by the words of our mouthes, by the works of our hands) <HI>thy Kingdome come</HI> (that of grace to in&s;pire us, that of pow|er to defend us, that of glory to crowne us;) <HI>thy will be done</HI> (in our weale and in our woe, in our fulne&s;&s;e and in our needfulne&s;&s;e, in our life temporall, and at our death the change of this for a better life;) <HI>in Earth as it is in Heaven,</HI> (in us below as it is in the glorious An|gels above; done willingly, readily, cheerfully, faith|fully; done without the very lea&s;t murmuring, without any let or any manner hindering, without fraudulent and deceitfull jugling, the cheating way of &s;erving God&punc; in the complementalne&s;&s;e of Religion;) <HI>Give us this day</HI>
<PB N="16" REF="11">
<HI>our daily Bread,</HI> (for the nouri&s;hment of the&s;e our de|caying bodies, for the &s;pirituall feeding of our Heaven|bred &s;oules, for the reliefe of all our nece&s;&s;ities, whe|ther bodily or &s;pirituall, whether for our &s;u&s;tentation here for a time, or preparation for hereafter, to the dayes of eternity;) <HI>And forgive us our Tre&s;pa&s;&s;es,</HI> (tho&s;e wher<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">by thou our Father art in the cour&s;e of our &s;infull live di&s;honoured, our Neighbours any wayes wronged, our &s;elves heedle&s;ly endangered, and with many mi&s;eries perpetually even day by day enthralled;) <HI>as we forgive them that Tre&s;pa&s;&s;e again&s;t us,</HI> (that have hurt us in our bodies, that have hindred us in our goods and e&s;tates, that have wronged us in our good names and reputati|ons;) <HI>And lead us not into tentation,</HI> (the tentation of the world, lying and rotting in all manner of wicked|ne&s;&s;e; the tentation of the fle&s;h, our bo&s;ome-inticing <HI>Dalilah,</HI> over-neare and over-deare unto us; the tenta|tion of Satan, our common adver&s;ary, the perpetuall hunter of us to utter perdition and de&s;truction:) <HI>But deliver us from evill,</HI> (forgive that is pa&s;t, remove that is pre&s;ent, what is to come graciou&s;ly &s;o prevent, that nothing may ever make a &s;eperation between thee and us, thee our Father, and us thine adopted ones in the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the Sonne, as of thy nature, &s;o of thine en|tire&s;t love:) <HI>For thine is the Kingdome,</HI> (to rule and over|rule all:) <HI>thine the power,</HI> to command and to doe all:) <HI>thine the glory,</HI> (to be all in all to all thine:) <HI>and all the&s;e for ever and ever,</HI> (in the world that is pre&s;ent, and in the world that is to come,:) <HI>unlimited is thy Kingdome, thy power and thy glory, Amen,</HI> (thou &s;ay&s;t it and &s;o it is:) <HI>Amen,</HI> (thou doe&s;t promi&s;e it and &s;o &s;hall it be;) <HI>Amen</HI> is our eccho to what thou &s;ay&s;t and promife&s;t; <HI>so be it</HI> Heavenly Father, is the faithfull <HI>Amen</HI> to all the re|que&s;ts
<PB N="17" REF="11">
our gracious Lord hath taught us, to put up affe|ctionately unto thee.</P>
<P>And now from the Apo&s;tles Exhortations to various duties, which (in a plaine way) we have explained; pro|ceed we in the la&s;t place, to the Apo&s;tles clo&s;ing up of all with a right &s;utable apprecation; <HI>and the peaco of God which pa&s;&s;eth all under standing &s;hall keep your hearts and minds through Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall briefly &amp; clo&s;ely open this, &amp; leave it with you as an hearty farewell of your worn-out Pa&s;tour, who&s;e prayer ever &s;hall be for your thriving to Heaven-wards.</P>
<P><HI>The peace of God</HI> was the Apo&s;tles apprecation to his <HI>Phillipians,</HI> and is mine to you; once mine, but now left to your owne choice of a Preacher, and God fit you with one that may fit you for God.</P>
<P>By the peace of God (in this pa&s;&s;age) conceive that peace which God worketh in beleeving con&s;ciences, as an effect of the Go&s;pell to them &s;incerely preached.</P>
<P>My &s;oule a&s;&s;ures me, that I never delivered any thing from this Pulpit that was un&s;ound, untrue; never huc&s;te|red the Word of God to the humouring of any, for by|ends of mine owne, never hood-winked any Pari&s;honer by forged interpretations, raked out either of the Chan|nels of <HI>Rome,</HI> or Dung-hils of <HI>Am&s;terdum;</HI> otherwi&s;e (even of a child from my beleeving Parents, &s;oundly Prote&s;tant) learned I Chri&s;t, and both in truth and cleer|ne&s;&s;e have &s;o taught him.</P>
<P>And this Te&s;timony of mine owne con&s;cience (on it &s;elfe &s;eriou&s;ly reflecting) is to me as thou&s;ands of Wit|ne&s;&s;es: God &s;o deale with my &s;oule, as I have been faith|full to you-wards (in the whole cour&s;e of my Mini&s;tery among you) for the &s;olid good of your &s;oules: And now my prayer is for you, that the peace of God may &s;ettle
<PB N="18" REF="12">
in you; onely that peace is the peace &s;urpa&s;&s;ing, a peace that hath no bounds, no termination, no expiration.</P>
<P>The peace it is the onely peace that pa&s;&s;eth all under|&s;tanding.</P>
<P>The World conceives the Godly to have no peace, but the godly know that the wicked World hath none, no not when it is at the quiete&s;t; we have it from him that had it immediately from God (<HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> that Pro|phet Evangelicall, or propheticall Evangeli&s;t) <HI>There is no peace (&s;aith my God) to the wicked;</HI> and in that one Pro|phet we find it twice recorded <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">chap. 48. 22 &amp; 57. 21.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>And he addes this compari&s;on to &s;et it forth to the very full; Sea-like the wicked cannot re&s;t; when any winds trouble them, their waters ca&s;t up mire and dirt, and with their ful&s;omne&s;&s;e and noy&s;omne&s;&s;e, not a cor|ner is there any where that &s;tinks not of them; yet even in their di&s;turbances, a peace there is in godly con&s;ci|ences, a peace pa&s;&s;ing the capacity of worldly mens un|der&s;tandings, a &s;etled and a &s;etling peace.</P>
<P>And no mervail, for it keepeth their hearts and minds through Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>Li&s;ten unto the legacy of Chri&s;ts bequeathing.</P>
<P>The Hearts keeper it is, and the minds keeper, and both in the right temper of un-di&s;turbed tranquility&punc; <HI>Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you; let not your heart be troubled, nei|ther let it be afraid</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Joh. 14. 27</NOTE>.</P>
<P>The peace of the world is like the world, fickle; now on, &s;oone againe quite off, ever giddy never &s;teady: <HI>The children of men are deceitfull upon the weights, light as vanity, yea then vanity it &s;elfe lighter</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 62. 9.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>And wi&s;e <HI>Salomon</HI> (the Sonne of religious <HI>David</HI>) proves throughout his <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes,</HI> that book of proofes by him experienced.</P>
<P><PB N="19" REF="12">But the Peace of God through Je&s;us Chri&s;t, or that peace we have bequeathed us from Chri&s;t is &s;uch a peace, which as the world cannot give us, &s;o it cannot take the &s;ame from us: Our Peace-maker is the &s;ecurer of the peace we have from him; our hearts and minds are in &s;afe cu&s;tody thereby. Out of Satans reach they are, and above the malice of every &s;atanically-minded and handed wretch (yea and tongued too) in both &s;exes. We may have our good names by &s;lan|derou&s;ne&s;&s;e blemi&s;hed, our e&s;tates by the violence of plun|der ruined, our temporary lives by the bloodine&s;&s;e of war or by any manner of di&s;ea&s;e (pe&s;tilentiall or otherwi&s;e) ta|ken from us; but the peace made between the God of faith|fulne&s;&s;e and our beleeving &s;ouls is altogether unbereavable.</P>
<P>Hel! gates cannot there be prevalent, where Gods pardon and peace are entred; and where in the blood of Chri&s;t be|leevers are &s;ealed (by the &s;pirit of Chri&s;t) to the day of full Redemption. I &s;hall now referre you to the pre&s;ent clo&s;e peru&s;all (and to the practicall u&s;e, whiles you have a day on earth to live) of that 91 P&s;alm, It begins thus, <HI>He that dwel|leth in the &s;ecret place of the mo&s;t high &s;hall abide under the &s;hadow of the Almighty:</HI> and it thus concludes, <HI>he &s;hall call up|on me and I will an&s;wer him, with long life will I &s;atisfie him, and &s;hew him my &s;alvation.</HI> Here (and in the re&s;t of that P&s;alm) is the peace of God di&s;played, a peace pa&s;&s;ing the under&s;tanding of naturall men, as not at all therewith ac|quainted a peace keeping the hearts and minds of the rege|nerate in an heavenly temper, and filling them with joy un|&s;peakable &amp; full of glory <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1. 8.</NOTE> <HI>The Kingdom of God is righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, peace and joy in the holy Gho&s;t</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Ro. 14. 17.</NOTE>. And our Saviour tels us that this Kingdom is within us <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Luk. 12 11.</NOTE>. A Kingdom it is that comes not with ob&s;ervation, loe, it is here, or, loe <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> there, is but frivolous di&s;cour&s;e: for behold the Kingdom of God is with|in you, it con&s;i&s;teth (as formerly you heard from St. <HI>Paul</HI>)
<PB N="20" REF="13">
in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, peace &amp; joy in the holy Gho&s;t, all within all in the hearts of beleevers. When Je&s;us Chri&s;t dwels in the heart by faith (as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> averreth he doth <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 3. 17.</NOTE>) &amp; every Beleever knoweth it) there is rejoycing in the Lord, there is the un&s;tinted expre&s;&s;ion of Moderation, there is the a&s;&s;u|rance of the Lords a&s;&s;i&s;&s;ance, there is a ca&s;ting on God the care of our welfare in a perpetuated laying downe of our reque&s;ts before him in prayer, &s;upplication, thank&s;giving, and there the peace of God which pa&s;&s;eth all under&s;tanding keeps through Je&s;us Chri&s;t the hearts and minds of Chri|&s;tians. I hope what I have at this time delivered is gene|rally under&s;tood, and my prayer is that it may particular|ly be derived into practi&s;e. If wirh this re&s;olution you ap|proach the Lords Table, my hope is (and my prayer &s;econds it) that you will (hence-forward) prove thriving Chri&s;tians, that you will grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3. 18.</NOTE>. Not to goe forward in Re|ligion is to goe backward, is to pull downe what formerly we have built up; is to end in the fle&s;h, although we have be|gun in the &s;pirit. And from any &s;uch cour&s;e the Lord divert us all, and make our wils plyable to his will in all things, to his glory in our &s;alvation. The Lord evermore ble&s;&s;e you and evermore keep you all; the Lord make his face to &s;hine perpetually upon you all &amp; unto you all, &amp; to all your po|&s;terity be un&s;tintedly gracious; the Lord lift up his counte|nance upon you all, &amp; give you al his peace that pa&s;&s;eth all under&s;tanding, to the keeping of all your hearts and minds in all integrity through Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Righteous, to whom (with thee; O Father, &amp; the holy Gho&s;t, from you both our comforter, three Per&s;ons, one very God) b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ll glory to all eternity, <HI>Amen&punc;</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
