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<DATE>2013-01-28</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>HABAKK&V;KS</HI> PRAYER Applyed to the Churches pre&s;ent occa&s;ions, on <HI>Hab.</HI> 3. 2.</P>
<P>AND <HI>CHRISTS</HI> COUNSEL To the Church of <HI>Phila|delphia,</HI> on <HI>Rev.</HI> 3. 11.</P>
<P>Preached before the Provincial A&s;&s;embly of <HI>London.</HI> By that late Reverend and faithful Mini&s;ter of Je&s;us Chri&s;t Mr. SAMUEL BALMFORD, Pa&s;tor of Albons <HI>Wood&s;treet.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL>Jer. 30. 7.</BIBL>
<P><HI>Alas, for that day is great, &s;o that none is like it; It is even the time of Jacobs trouble. But he &s;hall be &s;aved out of it.</HI></P></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>E. M.</HI> for <HI>Adoniram Byfield</HI> at the three Bibles in <HI>Corn-hil</HI> neer <HI>Pope&s;head-Alley.</HI> 1659.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>Judicious</HI> READER,</HEAD>
<P>_FOr &s;uch the works of this holy man of God Mr. <HI>Sa|muel Balmford</HI> (now with the Lord) require and de&s;erve: Here is repre&s;ented to thee a Forlorn-hope, or two Scouts, being a &s;mall parcel of tho&s;e many excellent pieces intend|ed
<PB REF="3"> for the pre&s;&s;e; &s;ent before <HI>ad vada tentanda,</HI> not as if the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign"> were of higher &s;tature in worth then others their fellows, and therefore fitter for it: Among all Su|perlatives, Compari&s;ons are excluded: <HI>Pharez</HI> and <HI>Zara</HI> &s;trove with equal &s;trength for precedency of birth; but this piece to &s;atisfie the importu|nity of friends hath broken forth fir&s;t. The Author was a per&s;on of eminent Ortho|doxy of Word and Life, by both which, as a burning and &s;hining light, he was an exact and powerful Teacher; the ob&s;ervant eye of impartial conver&s;ers with him finding
<PB REF="3"> the Tran&s;cript of his Sermons in his life, his actions being living, walking Sermons. He was a man of a meek and mo|de&s;t &s;pirit, cloathed with hu|mility; lowly in heart, but high and eminent for gifts and graces in the e&s;teem when li|ving, and honoring remem|brance now dead, of tho&s;e that are be&s;t able to judge of real worth. An excellent husbander of time, a painfull Student, of great diligence and faithfulne&s;&s;e in all Tru&s;ts and Relations, of much Candor, affability, communicativene&s;s, and conde&s;cention in matters capable of it, but immoveable where &s;ence of duty obliged
<PB REF="4"> him. Not forward to &s;peak, and therefore his words were more &s;avoury by lying long in the falt of a delibe|rate minde, and admini&s;tring more grace to the hearers. A man of a publick &s;pirit, pi|tying &s;ouls, mourning for the &s;ins of others, and deeply lay|ing to heart the afflictions of the people of God abroad, and their di&s;&s;entions at home, as the&s;e en&s;uing Sermons do abundantly te&s;tifie. For his labours in the Mini&s;try, he was one would not do the work of the Lord negligently, nor offer unto God what co&s;t him nothing, or a corrupt thing, when as indeed he (if
<PB REF="4"> any) had a male in the flock, and was a workman that need|ed not be a&s;hamed. He thought the delivery of Em|ba&s;&s;ies from God to man, mo&s;t needed and be&s;t de&s;erved care|ful preparation, and therefore cho&s;e rather to approve him|&s;elf to his Ma&s;ter, and the al|wayes &s;maller number of ju|dicious hearers by an indu&s;tri|ous &s;earching the Scriptures, and digging to the bottome of that excellent Mine, than to &s;pare him&s;elf and plea&s;e the mo&s;t by taking up with the neare&s;t, uppermo&s;t, and le&s;&s;e precious parcels of Ore: he hung not forth Alchimy lace that a little wearing by judici|ous
<PB REF="5"> meditation would have changed the colour of, but of &s;uch true and pure metal as would wear brighter and brighter. When &s;ome tho|row injudiciou&s;ne&s;&s;e and po&s;|&s;ibly prejudice (the Lord give &s;uch repentance to life) ac|counted his bodily pre&s;ence, (as they <HI>Pauls)</HI> weak and con|temptible, and felt not the e|vidence and demon&s;tration of the &s;pirit in his words, others more judicious and candid hearers, Chri&s;tians and Mini|&s;ters have had their &s;ouls hang|ing on his lips, and heard him with joy and delight to their great profiting. Though he well knew the di&s;tempered
<PB REF="5"> palate of the&s;e di&s;ea&s;ed times, yet would not this fi&s;her of men bait the ground to draw multitudes about him with curious enquiries and &s;pecula|tions, unprofitable though plea&s;ing notions, <HI>quarum in|ventarum &s;olus fructus e&s;t, in|veni&s;&s;e)</HI> nor talking imper|tinencies without book, or fil|ling up vacuities by mo&s;t in&s;i|pid and nau&s;eous tautologies. He did not by &s;trength and &s;train of lungs, comick actions, peculiar modes of carriage, (having more of affectation than affection in them) make up defect of matter, nor cloud wi&s;dom with words without knowledge, wrapping up my|&s;terious
<PB REF="6"> non-&s;en&s;e in &s;ilken phra&s;es, nor dre&s;&s;e up &s;ober truths in the meretricious garb of enticing words of mans wi&s;dom: nor yet did he pro&s;titute the Word to the contempt of the worldly-wi&s;e, or di&s;advantage it to better-minded, more judicious hear|ers by flatne&s;&s;e or rudene&s;&s;e of &s;tile, but &s;ought out accep|table words, tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign"> making words &s;till &s;er|vants to matter, neither going before vainly, nor yet follow|ing at too great a di&s;tance neg|ligently. He did not leap into his matter without trying and &s;howing the ground he went upon, but accurately weighed
<PB REF="6"> the Original, carefully con|&s;ulted with expo&s;itors, &s;olid|ly &s;tated the &s;ubject of his di&s;|cour&s;e, and then excellently divided the Word of Truth by exact natural Method, and faithful application to the dif|ferent conditions of &s;oules, therein not venting his pa&s;&s;i|ons, nor concealing Gods truth. He was every way &s;uch, as not to have known him was an unhappine&s;&s;e; to have in|deed known him and not ho|noured him, an impo&s;&s;ibility: Of him the world was not worthy, he therefore is taken away from the evil to come.</P>
<P>The&s;e things I freely te&s;tify from the full knowledge I had
<PB REF="7"> of him, having by him been allowed the happine&s;&s;e of a free conver&s;e and intimate ac|quaintance with him, by which I mu&s;t acknowledge my &s;elfe to have been much and often profited.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thomas Par&s;on.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="endorsement">
<PB REF="7">
<P>_THe Reverend and Learned <HI>Author</HI> of the&s;e en&s;uing Sermons, (very &s;ea&s;onable and u&s;e|ful for the&s;e times) was a <HI>Mi|ni&s;ter of Chri&s;t</HI> endued with ve|ry good abilities, a <HI>workman that needed not to be a|&s;hamed, rightly dividing the word of truth;</HI> full of <HI>piety, mode&s;ty, humility,</HI> and <HI>inte|grity;</HI> Sound in the <HI>Faith,</HI> im|movable in the <HI>Truth,</HI> painful in his <HI>Mini&s;terial imployment,</HI> and one who hath left a <HI>precious</HI>
<PB REF="8"> <HI>name</HI> behind him among &s;tall tho&s;e who throughly knew him. And therefore unto the te&s;timony gi|ven of him by my <HI>Reverend Brother,</HI> I do freely, chearfully, and mo&s;t heartily &s;ub&s;cribe,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Edm. Calamy.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>Errata.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 1. in the Text, for receive, <HI>r.</HI> revive, for people <HI>r.</HI> years, p. 2. l. 21. for open <HI>r.</HI> opine, p. 5. l. 15. <HI>dele</HI> and mercy, page 6. line 9. for u&s;e <HI>r.</HI> ver&s;e, page 13. line 10. for P&s;al. <HI>r.</HI> I&s;ai. p. 15. l. 4. for favor <HI>r.</HI> wrath, p. 34. l. 21. for know <HI>r.</HI> known, p. 41. l. 2. <HI>dele</HI> experienced and appeared, p. 53. l. 4. for of <HI>r.</HI> by, p. 66. l. 26. for keep <HI>r.</HI> kept, p. 72. l. 11. for Chri&s;t <HI>r.</HI> Christians, p. 78. l. 8. for u&s;ual <HI>r.</HI> u&s;eful, p. 84. l. 9. for apprehen&s;ion <HI>r.</HI> approach.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="8">
<HEAD><HI>Habakkuks</HI> Prayer apply|ed to the Churches pre&s;ent occa&s;ions.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>Habakkuk 3. 2.</BIBL>
<Q>O Lord, I have heard thy &s;peech, and was afraid: O Lord, receive thy work in the mid&s;t of thy people, in the mid&s;t of the year make known: in wrath remember mercy.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Prophe&s;ie of this holy Prophet is term|ed a <HI>Burden,</HI> e&s;pecial|ly in regard of the &s;ad and heavy threatnings and cur&s;es which are denounced again&s;t &s;everal &s;orts of per&s;ons in it. When it was that he &s;aw this burden, that is, when he
<PB N="2" REF="9"> received it from the Lord in a Pro|phetick-Vi&s;ion, or when he held it forth to be &s;een of the people of God, by a Prophetick publication, is not preci&s;ely certain; No doubt it was not long before the captivity of the <HI>Jews</HI> by the <HI>Chaldeans,</HI> and &s;o either in, or after the raign of <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh,</HI> but more probably a good while after it, than under it; yea to me it &s;eems not improbable that it was about the be|ginning of <HI>Zedekiahs</HI> reign, after the <NOTE PLACE="marg">So <HI>Danae|us.</HI></NOTE> Jews had ta&s;ted &s;omewhat of the bitterne&s;s and ha&s;tine&s;s of the <HI>Chalde|ans</HI> in carrying away <HI>Jehoiakim</HI> to|ward <HI>Babylon,</HI> though they had not yet gone through the breadths of the Land, nor compleated the captivi|ty of the <HI>Jews,</HI> as they did, not ma|ny years after. But let this be left indifferent to the Learned to open at plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>The Contents of this Book are held forth mainly in three parcels, according to the divi&s;ion of it into three Chapters.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="9">
<P> In the fir&s;t we finde the &s;ad con|dition of the Jews, (their perver&s;e di&s;obediences and pre&s;ent impunity &s;eeming burdenous to the Prophet him&s;elf:) (the people of God at that time, though much degenerated) laid down partly by way of com|plaint made to God, partly by way of menacing from God, that he would in a &s;trange manner bring them under the power of the <HI>Chalde|ans;</HI> And then, upon the Prophets Deprecation that God would not utterly de&s;troy his people, but cha|&s;ti&s;e them in mea&s;ure, e&s;pecially, &s;ince he took tho&s;e whom God was about to make as the rod in his hand, and the in&s;trument of &s;courging, to be wor&s;e then they who were to be &s;courged.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd Chapter, after the Prophets profe&s;&s;ed <HI>&s;tanding upon his watch to hear what the Lord will an|&s;wer him,</HI> we finde he had an an&s;wer by way of <HI>vi&s;ion,</HI> tending to the comfort of Gods people, but &s;uch as
<PB N="4" REF="10"> they were to <HI>wait for till the appointed time</HI> that the vi&s;ion was to &s;peak, that is, till it &s;hould be manife&s;ted effe|ctually; For all that are <HI>ju&s;t</HI> and up|right before God are to <HI>live by faith,</HI> and that faith to &s;hew it &s;elf in a wait|ing, tarrying patience. And that excellent Principle, <HI>The ju&s;t &s;hall live by faith,</HI> we may finde three times alledged in the New Te&s;tament, <HI>viz. Rom.</HI> 1. 17. <HI>Gal.</HI> 3. 11. <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. 38.</P>
<P>Now the Contents of that com|fortable Vi&s;ion, concerned the down|fall and ruine of the <HI>Chaldeans,</HI> the wicked enemies of Gods people, and that for their un&s;atiable pride, and ambition, and covetou&s;ne&s;s, and cruelty, and drunkenne&s;s, and Ido|latry. But beloved, God looks to be &s;ought unto for the fulfilling of all his praedictions in behalf of his Church and people. Therefore</P>
<P>In this third Chapter we finde the holy Prophet framing a <HI>Prayer</HI> in the behalf of the Church, and for the u&s;e of the Church doubtle&s;s in after|times.
<PB N="5" REF="10"> And accordingly <HI>Luther</HI> notes it as a Prayer or Song (for it is metrical in the Hebrew, and &s;et for Mu&s;ical In&s;truments) which hath been <HI>[in quotidiano u&s;u per omnia pa&s;|&s;im templa]</HI> in daily u&s;e almo&s;t in all Churches; though (&s;aith he) mo&s;t commonly as Nunns read the P&s;al|ter without under&s;tanding. Now the Contents of this Prayer lies &s;ummarily in Petitions concerning the Church of God, and in grounds of tho&s;e Petitions, taken chiefly from former demon&s;trations of Gods power and mercy, and mercy to|ward his Church, and in profe&s;&s;ed confidences and rejoycings upon tho&s;e a&s;&s;uring grounds. Therefore</P>
<P>I &s;hall not &s;pend time in a punctual Analy&s;is of it, nor &s;peak any thing of the <HI>In&s;cription</HI> of it in the fir&s;t ver&s;e; only, this we may note, that as it was &s;et or compo&s;ed according to variable tunes in the Hebrew cal|led <HI>Shigionoth</HI> (as our Learned Tran&s;lators glo&s;s it) &s;o may it be
<PB N="6" REF="11"> made u&s;e of on various occa&s;ions by Gods people. And as this Prophet &s;ealed up the Doctrine of the life of Faith in this Prayer by the exerci&s;e and demon&s;tration of it, &s;o &s;hould we do in making any accommodati|on of it unto the Churches pre&s;ent occa&s;ions.</P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI> This &s;econd U&s;e which I have taken for my pre&s;ent &s;ubject matter to treat of, holds forth the grand reque&s;t of the Prophet, and which he mo&s;t intended in this Pray|er, and that indeed which all that fol|lows in it referrs unto, either in the nature of argument that it &s;hould be granted, or of con&s;equent upon the &s;uppo&s;ed grant of it. The whole ver&s;e contains</P>
<P N="1">1. A preparative of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ear in the way of addre&s;s to God, <HI>[O Lord, I have heard thy &s;peech, and was afraid,]</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. A Prayer of Faith; and this Prayer brancheth it &s;elf into two or three Petitions.</P>
<LIST>
<PB N="7" REF="11">
<ITEM>1. <HI>O Lord, revive thy work in the mid&s;t of the years;</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. In the mid&s;t of the years make known.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>In wrath remember mercy.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Petitions that are of near affinity one to the other, and full of Em|pha&s;is in the expre&s;&s;ions: For the fir&s;t is the chief and primary; The &s;econd may be taken to be but an enforcement of the fir&s;t, by a Rhe|torical Anadiplo&s;is or <GAP DESC="foreign"> taking up again the&s;e terms <HI>[In the mid&s;t of the years]</HI> and adding only <HI>[make known]</HI> &s;omewhat abruptly, yet &s;o as by an ea&s;ie reference we may ga|ther his meaning to be, Make known thy reviving, or revived work; And the third implies the &s;ame thing; only involves an Argument from the nature of God, to urge the fore|mentioned, as we may hear in the Sequel.</P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI> Begin we with the Prepara|tive of Fear. <HI>[O Lord, I have head thy &s;peech, and was afraid.]</HI> What
<PB N="8" REF="12"> &s;peech means he? Not the &s;peech, or fame, or report that is of thee, (though the Original word <HI>Sual</HI> &s;o &s;ignifies) but the &s;peech that hath been &s;poken by thee; And that as partly concerning the Calamities thou ha&s;t threatned to bring upon the Jews, and partly concerning the de&s;truction thou ha&s;t threatned to the Chaldeans: And hearing this, <HI>I was afraid;</HI> What? (you may &s;ay) afraid of the judgements of God denounced again&s;t the Chalde|ans the enemies of the people of God? Its even of them, <HI>Ne Judae|os etiam in Babylone captivos involvat clades Chaldaeorum &amp; omnino deleat,</HI> (&s;aith <HI>A Lapide)</HI> Le&s;t the Iews al&s;o &s;hould be wrapped in the &s;ame bundle of de&s;truction with the Chal|deans, being found re&s;ident among them, and &s;o be utterly ruined together with them. Now touch|ing his Fear, after what manner he was affected, we may gather by what was &s;aid after at ver&s;e 16.
<PB N="9" REF="12"> where he makes recognition of his temper before he had prayed, and gathered &s;trength and confidence upon the remembrance of Gods wonderful workings. <HI>Therefore when I heard, (lo) my belly trembled, my lips qui|vered at the voice, rottenne&s;s entred into my bones.</HI> The pa&s;&s;ions he was &s;truck into were very great, and the trouble of his Spirit, and the Symptomes of it upon him were very terrible, though all tending to good, &amp;c. Well,</P>
<P><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> We have here to ob&s;erve, that The be&s;t of Gods &s;ervants are, and ought to be affected with fear and trembling at the denunciation of Gods judgements, and e&s;pecially at the Progno&s;ticks and &s;ignals of dan|gers and mi&s;eries hanging over the Church and people of God. <HI>My fle&s;h trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgements;</HI> &s;o <HI>Da|vid,</HI> P&s;al. 119. 120. Good King <HI>Jeho&s;haphat</HI> having certain intelli|gence of grear Forces of combined Enemies preparing again&s;t him&punc; and
<PB N="10" REF="13"> Gods people, <HI>he feared,</HI> 2 Chr. 20. 3. <HI>And Jeho&s;haphat feared, and &s;et him|&s;elf to &s;eek the Lord, and proclaimed a fa&s;t throughout all Judah.</HI> And &s;uch a feare well tempered ought to be found in them, upon &s;uch occa|&s;ion, and that mo&s;t rationally; For con&s;ider with me, I be&s;eech you.</P>
<P N="1">1. The &s;peech, and voice of God when it is but preceptive onely, and in the way of commanding, is enough to &s;trike his people with fear, as it may be pre&s;ented to them in a Ma|je&s;tick manner; So it did at <HI>Mount Sinai,</HI> when God delivered his Law to his people, though then they &s;tood upon good terms with him; For there is a dreadfulne&s;s ever in the Soveraign Maje&s;tique Pre&s;ence of God. See <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 89. 7. <HI>God is greatly to be feared in the a&s;&s;embly of the Saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.</HI> Much ra|ther then when he utters him&s;elf in the way of threatnings of judgments, which are mo&s;t fit to beget fears in the &s;oul.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="11" REF="13"> 2. We know that the very good|ne&s;&s;e of God, and his pardoning mer|cy, &s;hould work the &s;oul about by the way of love unto a Reverential and Cautionary Fear of offending him, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 130. 4. <HI>But there is for|givene&s;s with thee, that thou maye&s;t be feared.</HI> How much more properly then may the &s;everity of God, and his menaced judgements cau&s;e a trem|bling fear in them whom they con|cern?</P>
<P N="3">3. We finde God offended at men, and tho&s;e of his own people, not only for formal &s;infull matters of provocation, but even for not fearing as they &s;hould, and not trembling before him in the way of his judgements. So with <HI>Judah;</HI> I <HI>&s;aw</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>when for all the cau&s;es whereby back&s;liding I&s;rael committed adultery, I had put her away, and gi|ven her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous &s;i&s;ter</HI> Judah <HI>feared not, &amp;c.</HI> Jer. 3. 8. So with the remnant of <HI>Judah</HI> during the Captivity in <HI>Baby|lon,</HI>
<PB N="12" REF="14"> who went down into <HI>Egypt;</HI> For God threatned them for having forgotten the wickedne&s;s of their Fa|thers, and for not being humbled at that day, nor having feared, &amp;c. <HI>Jer.</HI> 44. 9, 10.</P>
<P N="4">4. And on the contrary we finde God in a ju&s;t expectal of this fearfull trembling di&s;po&s;ition at the voice of his threatnings and judgements, and well plea&s;ed with it; <HI>The Lion hath roared, who will not fear?</HI> Amos 3. 8. <HI>Shall a Trumpet be blown in the City, and the people not be afraid?</HI> Jude ver. 6. <HI>To this man will I look, &s;aith God, even to him that is poore, and of a contrite &s;pirit, and trembleth at my word,</HI> I&s;a. 66. 2.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But what manner of fear and trembling at Gods threatnings may this be which is required? Doth not the Scripture &s;ay that <HI>The righ|teous man &s;hall not be afraid of evill tidings, becau&s;e his heart is fixed, tru&s;ting in the Lord?</HI> P&s;al. 112. 7. And doth not the Scripture divers
<PB N="13" REF="14"> times forbid, and reprove the people of God for their fear of enemies, and oppre&s;&s;ors, and a &s;ad, and calami|tous condition under them? Who <HI>art thou</HI> (&s;aith God) <HI>that art afraid of a man that &s;hall dye, and of the &s;on of man that &s;hall be made as gra&s;s, &amp;c?</HI> and that ha&s;t <HI>feared continually be|cau&s;e of the fury of the oppre&s;&s;or,</HI> as if he were ready to de&s;troy, &amp;c. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 51. 12, 13.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It mu&s;t be granted there is a great deale of fear that the poor people of God are &s;ubject unto in this life, which is, and may mo&s;t ju&s;tly be interdicted, and forbidden to them, and checked in them by the Spirit of God, as being inor|dinate, and &s;infull in &s;undry re&s;pects; and yet it mu&s;t be held that there is a fear of threatned judgements from God, which is not onely indulged to them, but falls under duty. There is a great deale of ba&s;e &s;lavi&s;h fear in the ground of it, &amp; of exce&s;&s;ive fear in the degree of it, and of either pre|po&s;terous,
<PB N="14" REF="15"> or otherwi&s;e un&s;ea&s;on|able fear in the time of it, as it then works un&s;ea&s;onably when God after a time of long publick triall, and affliction, di&s;covers him&s;elf by &s;un|dry tokens, and evidences ready to comfort his people. And &s;o in that place mentioned in <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 51, 12, 13. [See the Context thereabout] But while God &s;peaks terrible things un|to his his people, they ought to fear; Provided that their feare be thus qualified.</P>
<P N="1">1. It mu&s;t be a Fear that hath the great God properly for its Object, and not the Creature. I take it to be generally ob&s;ervable in the holy Scripture, that God finds not fault with his people, or any other for fear|ing him; no, not meerly in regard of his power and wrath, as King of Na|tions; See <HI>Jer.</HI> 10. 7. <HI>Who would not fear thee, O King of Nations? for to thee doth it appertain: fora&s;much as among all the wi&s;e men of the Na|tions, and in all their Kingdoms, there</HI>
<PB N="15" REF="15"> <HI>is none like unto thee.</HI> And <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 90. 11. <HI>Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, &s;o is thy favour.</HI> I&s;a. 19. 16. <HI>In that day &s;hall Egypt be like unto women: and it &s;hall be afraid and fear becau&s;e of the &s;haking of the hand of the Lord of Ho&s;ts, which he &s;haketh over it.</HI> But for fearing the Creature, &s;uppo&s;e the in&s;trument he u&s;eth of his wrath, or puni&s;hing di&s;plea&s;ure, is that werein the ba&s;e degeneration of hu|mane fear lieth, that men look not at, or con&s;ider not the chief Efficient and Meritorious cau&s;es of judgment threatned, but the matter of it, &amp; the In&s;truments of it only; And &s;o, not at the hand of God in it, and his di&s;plea&s;ure &s;tirred up by &s;in, but at the hand of man, or other Creatures executing it, and the matter of lo&s;s or &s;mart in it; Their fear is not be|fore the Name of God <HI>(Mal.</HI> 2. 5.) but before the names and faces of men. Now this is ba&s;e, and quite contrary to the temper that God re|quireth,
<PB N="16" REF="16"> who in ca&s;e of judgements, or dangers, would not have &s;en&s;ual, but &s;piritual con&s;iderations taken on; for they that know Gods Name aright, &s;hould learn (by an holy Chimi&s;try, as it were) to ab&s;tract a &s;pirituall fear of the Creator from the carnall feare of Creatures, and pre&s;erve that fear by them.</P>
<P N="2">2. It mu&s;t be a Fear that ri&s;eth not onely out of Self-love, as appre|hen&s;ive only of per&s;onal dangers: But a fear that ari&s;eth from true bro|therly charity born towards the com|munity of Gods People, and appre|hen&s;ive of Divine anger kindled again&s;t them, and of dangers to|ward them. This Prophet feared in the behalf of the people, and prayed in behalf of the people of God, and not of him&s;elf, either only, or chiefly. Publique re&s;pects &s;hould outweigh private, in all that would be accepted of God in their addre&s;&s;es to him. Yea indeed the regard of the publique Intere&s;t
<PB N="17" REF="16"> &s;hould &s;wallow up the regard of pri|vate Intere&s;t in all tho&s;e that would finde good acceptance with God; as it did in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> when God threat|ned. See <HI>Exod.</HI> 32. 9. <HI>&amp;c. And the Lord &s;aid unto</HI> Mo&s;es, <HI>I have &s;een this people, and behold, it is a &s;tiffe|necked people.</HI> Deut. 9. 18, 19. &amp;c. <HI>And I fell down before the Lord, as at the fir&s;t forty daies and forty nights; I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, becau&s;e of all your &s;ins which ye &s;inned, in doing wickedly in the &s;ight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. (For I was afraid of the an|ger, and hot di&s;plea&s;ure wherewith the Lord was wroth again&s;t you to de|&s;troy you.) But the Lord hearkened un|to me at that time al&s;o.</HI> And in <HI>Da|vid,</HI> 2 Sam. 24. 17. <HI>And</HI> David <HI>&s;pake unto the Lord when he &s;aw the Angel that &s;mote the people, and &s;aid, Loe; I have &s;inned, and I have done wickedly: but the&s;e &s;heep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be again&s;t me, and again&s;t my Fa|thers</HI>
<PB N="18" REF="17"> <HI>hou&s;e.</HI> For affection toward Gods people may be &s;uppo&s;ed as wrapping under it &s;ome re&s;pect al&s;o to the Name and Honour of God, le&s;t it &s;hould &s;uffer in their ruine and de&s;truction; [Note for this &s;ome of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his expre&s;&s;ions, &amp;c.]</P>
<P N="3">3. It mu&s;t be a Fear that is trou|bled as well at the &s;ins which are the cau&s;es of Gods threatnings, as at the threatnings them&s;elves, and &s;o it mu&s;t be a holy Fear, as was this Prophets, witne&s;s the beginning of his Prophe&s;ie. For as the &s;ting of death is &s;in, &s;o the &s;ting of every pu|ni&s;hment and affliction is &s;in to &s;uch as have a right feeling.</P>
<P N="4">4. It mu&s;t be a Fear that doth not drive away from God, but car|ry the party po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with it to God; Not a fear fil'd with diffi|dence and de&s;pair, but with hope of Divine mercy. And &s;o, not a fear according to the &s;tamp of the fir&s;t <HI>Adam,</HI> who, when he had &s;inned, <HI>hearing the voice of the Lord in the</HI>
<PB N="19" REF="17"> <HI>Garden was afraid, and hid him&s;elf,</HI> (Gen. 3. 19.) but a fear well be|&s;eeming the followers of the &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> Principled in Faith, and &s;o inclining to &s;eek to God by Prayer; as knowing there is no way to flee from God, but to God; from his wrath, but to his mercy. And this operation we find here this fear had in the Prophet.</P>
<P><HI>Applic.</HI> All the u&s;e of this Point that I commend unto you, Beloved, &s;hall be by way of Exhortation.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, To con&s;ider if we have not at this day &s;uch a voice or &s;peech of God in our ears as may make us afraid. True; we have no &s;uch Prophets among us as <HI>Habakkuk</HI> (for ought I know) to &s;ee burdens in way of ex|traordinary Vi&s;ion, and to declare them; But, know we that God threatens really as well as verbally, and menaces may be gathered from his Providences as well as from his Prophe&s;ies; And tho&s;e &s;ad threat|nings which are denounced primari|ly
<PB N="20" REF="18"> and directly but to one Nation, or People, are appliable in &s;ome pro|portion, to other Nations or People of like condition for guiltine&s;s. Briefly then take we a review whe|ther ought of the Prophets &s;peech be|fore to God, or of Gods &s;peech by him be applicable to the people we relate unto, that we may perceive whether we have cau&s;e to be afraid.</P>
<P N="1">1. Look we into the fir&s;t complaint of the Prophet touching the &s;ins of the people He complaines that <HI>&s;poiling and violence are before him,</HI> and there are that <HI>rai&s;e up &s;trife and contention</HI> (Chap. 1. 3.) <HI>that the Law is &s;lacked, and judgement goeth not forth, but wrong judgement proceed|eth,</HI> ver&s;e 4. And is there no|thing of like complaint that may be made among us?</P>
<P N="2">2. Look next unto the threatned &s;ad condition of the <HI>Jews</HI> under the pre|vailing power of the <HI>Chaldeans,</HI> (be|ginning at ver. 5.) &amp; con&s;ider whether
<PB N="21" REF="18"> (I will not &s;ay any &s;uch things have been brought in upon us, but) whe|ther we may not ju&s;tly for our &s;ins have &s;uch brought in upon us; May we not ju&s;tly fear to hear of &s;uch a <HI>work wrought in our</HI> dayes, as to <HI>move all to regard and wonder marvellou&s;ly,</HI> as &s;carcely to be <HI>believed though it be told us?</HI> May we not ju&s;tly fear to hear of &s;ome <HI>bitter and ha&s;ty Na|tion</HI> marching <HI>through the breadth of the Land, to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the dwelling places that are not theirs?</HI> And may we not fear to hear of &s;uch as are de|&s;cribed, Chap. 1. ver. 8. 9, 10, 11. <HI>Their hor&s;es al&s;o are &s;wifter than the Leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their hor&s;emen &s;hall &s;pread them&s;elves, and their hor&s;e|men &s;hall come from far, they &s;hall fly as the Eagle that ha&s;teth to eat. They &s;hall come all for violence: their faces &s;hall &s;up up as the Ea&s;t winde, and they &s;hall gather the captivity as the &s;and. And they &s;hall &s;coffe at the Kings, and the Princes &s;hall be a &s;corn unto them:</HI>
<PB N="22" REF="19"> <HI>they &s;hall deride every &s;trong hold: for they &s;hall heap du&s;t and take it. Then &s;hall his mind change, and he &s;hall pa&s;se over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his God.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Look again into the &s;econd com|plaint of the Prophet, beginning at ver&s;e 12. of the fir&s;t Chapter (where the Prophet expo&s;tulates with God, <HI>why the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than him&s;elf, &amp;c.)</HI> and may we not ju&s;tly fear to finde men made as the fi&s;hes of the Sea, and as the creeping things that have no Ruler over them? to finde men catching others with the Angle, and with the Drag, and then <HI>&s;acrificing to their Nets,</HI> and <HI>burning incen&s;e to their Drag? &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Look lastly</HI> upon the judgments denounced upon the enemies of Gods people, and con&s;ider for what cau&s;es, and withall whether we have not cau&s;e to fear being among &s;ome that commit &s;uch &s;ins; A woe is denounced again&s;t the <HI>Chaldean</HI>
<PB N="23" REF="19"> becau&s;e <HI>he enlarged his de&s;ire as Hell, and could not be &s;atisfied, but increa&s;ed that which was not his, and how long?</HI> It is threatned that they &s;hould <HI>ri&s;e up &s;uddenly that &s;hould bite him? and awake that &s;hould vex him, &amp;c? that the rem|nant of the people &s;hould &s;poile him, be|cau&s;e he had &s;poiled many, &amp;c.</HI> Chap. 2. 6, 7, 8. A woe is denounced a|gain&s;t him <HI>that coveteth an evill co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e to his hou&s;e, that he may &s;et his ne&s;t on high, and be delivered from the power of evill.</HI> Ibid. ver. 9. Woes al&s;o are denounced again&s;t <HI>bloody builders,</HI> and again&s;t <HI>ranting drunkards,</HI> as well as &s;uper&s;titious foo|li&s;h Idolaters afterward in that Chap, and may we not fear &s;itting among &s;uch per&s;ons as are under &s;uch woes? Have not we cau&s;e to fear the <HI>voice of the rod,</HI> (Micah 6. 9.) as well as <HI>of the Word?</HI> I &s;uppo&s;e ye grant it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Therefore in the next place I exhort you to examine whether ye fear as ye &s;hould, and to take on &s;uch
<PB N="24" REF="20"> a fear and trembling at the words, and working of the great God as is meet; Even &s;uch a fear as may draw towards God, and drive on to prayer; &s;uch a fear as may be the be|ginning of wi&s;dom, in this re&s;pect, that it makes us fly unto the Name of our God, as unto a &s;trong Tower, either to keep us from, or to defend us in the mid&s;t of Dangers, and bring us with &s;afety, and comfort out of them. And &s;o make fear, not an ob&s;tacle, or impediment to duty, but a preparative unto duty. As &punc;tis &s;aid, <HI>Noah being warned of God, moved with fear, pepared an Ark, &amp;c.</HI> (Heb. 11. 7.) &s;o let godly fear in us &s;et us a preparing &s;omewhat that may tend to the &s;ecuring of the rem|nant of Gods people, at lea&s;t in way of Prayer, as doth the Prophet in our Text. To who&s;e Prayer of Faith I now pa&s;&s;e over.</P>
<P><HI>[O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, &amp;c.</HI> Here are di|vers terms to be opened before we
<PB N="25" REF="20"> can well pitch upon matter of In|&s;truction. As</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. What is the [work] of God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. What Gods [reviving] of his work.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. What [the mid&s;t of the years] in which he is prayed to revive it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. What is [making known] in the mid&s;t of years.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>I know there is another reading of part of the&s;e words by the Greek Septuagint; For that clau&s;e <HI>[in the mid&s;t of years make known]</HI> they read to this &s;en&s;e, <HI>[in the mid&s;t of two living Creatures thou &s;halt be known]</HI> and much de&s;cant there is among Expo&s;itors, Ancient and Modern, upon that pa&s;&s;age &s;o ren|dred; generally they under&s;tand Chri&s;t for the party to be known: but who the two living Creatures &s;hould be in the mid&s;t of whom he was to be known, they vary much in opinion; <HI>Tertullian</HI> hath his ap|prehen&s;ion, and <HI>Origen</HI> his, and la|ter Writers theirs; but becau&s;e that
<PB N="26" REF="21"> is a reading not approved by judici|ous, either Prote&s;tant, or Pontifi|cian Expo&s;itors, I will not &s;pend time in any particular recital of dif|ferent opinions.</P>
<P>There is another reading of the fir&s;t clau&s;e of this Prayer in the Old Engli&s;h Tran&s;lation, varying from our New (which it may be &s;ome of you finde in the Books you u&s;e) it runs thus, <HI>[Revive thy work in the mid&s;t of the people]</HI> but why they &s;hould render the &s;ame Hebrew word [<GAP DESC="foreign">] &s;o differently in the two clau&s;es, e&s;pecially &s;ince it &s;ignifies [years] and not [people] for ought I have found, I cannot finde any &s;atisfactory rea&s;on. Taking therefore our la&s;t Tran&s;lation to be mo&s;t con&s;onant to the Original, I keep to it, and &s;o come to the open|ing of the words. Wherein my chief regard &s;hall be unto that litte|ral &s;en&s;e which the con&s;ideration of the Context leads us unto.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="21">
<P> Fir&s;t then, what <HI>work of God may here be meant?</HI></P>
<P>I propound it to you in a double notion, but hardly &s;eparable; take we it partly for the people of God them&s;elves: For his Covenanted people are his &s;pecial work, or a &s;pe|cial piece of his workman&s;hip, and he hath ever accounted his Church his peculiar above the generality of mankind, in and upon whom he hath given proofs and evidences of his mo&s;t excellent vertues and At|tributes. <HI>Ask of me (&s;aith he) things concerning my &s;onnes, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me,</HI> I&s;a. 45. 11. See al&s;o <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 60. 21. and 61. 3. There &s;onnes and the work of Gods hands are made Syno|nyma. <HI>The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; for&s;ake not the work of thine own hands,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David,</HI> P&s;al. 138. 8. Accounting him&s;elf in &s;pe|cial manner the work of Gods hands; Con&s;onant to this the Apo&s;tle &s;peak|ing of the Church of Believers under
<PB N="28" REF="22"> the New Te&s;tament &s;aith, <HI>We are his workman&s;hip, created in Chri&s;t Je&s;us unto good works, &amp;c.</HI> Eph. 2. 10.</P>
<P>But again, take we this work part|ly for the work of Gods gracious Providence in behalf of his people, <HI>Status populi, vel Eccle&s;iae,</HI> as <HI>Calvin</HI> &s;peaketh; And &s;ignally here in our Text is the deliverance and free|dom of his people from under the power and captivity of the Chalde|ans and Babylonians looked at; As is manife&s;ted by the Context.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>What may this reviving of the work of God be?</HI></P>
<P>It may be reduced unto two heads al&s;o;</P>
<P>One is, <HI>The pre&s;erving alive of the work of God,</HI> (for the Hebrew word <GAP DESC="foreign"> in Piel, as it is here u&s;ed, &s;igni|fies <HI>&s;impl. Vivum con&s;ervare,</HI> as <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 22. 29) <HI>All they that be fat upon earth &s;hall eat and wor&s;hip: all they that go down to the du&s;t &s;hall bow be|fore him, and none can keep alive his own &s;oul.</HI> And thus it refers to Gods
<PB N="29" REF="22"> work in the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, not in re&s;pect of the life of individual per&s;ons of the Church, &s;o much as in re&s;pect of the generality or community of the Church, <HI>q. d.</HI> pre&s;erve thy Church alive, con&s;erve a body of people to thy &s;elf alive, let not that whole workman&s;hip of thine peri&s;h: nor the work of grace in thy people, (that may be al&s;o under&s;tood) for people do not live as Gods people, or as his Church, unle&s;&s;e the life of grace and holine&s;&s;e be pre&s;erved alive in them.)</P>
<P>But another thing is, <HI>The re&s;toring of the &s;tate of the people of God,</HI> (for &s;o the Hebrew word al&s;o &s;ignifies, as in 1 <HI>Chro.</HI> 11. 8. <HI>Nehem.</HI> 4. 2.) and thus it refers unto the work of God in the &s;econd acception, <HI>q. d.</HI> Re&s;tore thy people againe to their former &s;tate of livelihood, or a liveli|ne&s;&s;e wherein they were before; They &s;hall be but as in &s;tate of civil death while they lie in thraldom and &s;ervitude under the Chaldeans,
<PB N="30" REF="23"> and thou ha&s;t intimated by the Vi&s;ion of grace which I have &s;een, that thy people &s;hall not die, but &s;hall live by faith, and that their enemies and oppo&s;ers lie under thy woes and cur&s;es, and &s;o &s;hall come to ruine and de&s;truction; and therefore be plea&s;ed to put life and vigour into that work of thine, in behalf of thy people, or as &s;ome others glo&s;s it, <HI>Effice, &s;u&s;cita, adimple,</HI> effectuate it, rear it up, accompli&s;h it. <HI>Opus enim dum non impletur, qua&s;i mortuum cen|&s;etur, &amp; oblivione &s;epultum.</HI> Sanctius. And it is u&s;ual with the Hebrews, as we all may perceive by the tenour of Scripture, to attribute life Meta|phorically unto things properly without life, and to call their re|&s;titution and reflouri&s;hing again, from a weak, decayed, broken e|&s;tate, a reviving, &amp;c. But now for the time,</P>
<P>Thirdly, What may <HI>[the mid&s;t of years] be,</HI> that he thus iterates?</P>
<P>Beloved, there is &s;uch variety of
<PB N="31" REF="23"> Expo&s;itions given of this circum|&s;tance among the Learned, that I &s;hould ill husband my time to enu|merate them, unle&s;s it would be to better purpo&s;e. This only I &s;hall doe; fir&s;t, touch briefly upon &s;ome that I cannot clo&s;e with, and why, and then lay before you that only which I take to be intended chiefly by the Prophet.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, I take not this Phra&s;e barely to &s;ignifie <HI>[Intra annos praefinitos &amp; de&s;tinatos &agrave; Deo]</HI> within the compa&s;s of the years appointed by God (as &s;ome note <HI>medium</HI> to be taken <HI>Phy|&s;ice, &amp; vulgariter,</HI> as in <HI>Gen.</HI> 2 9. and <HI>Exod.</HI> 3. 2.) for I conceive, that though this be a truth, that God did, and will fulfill his determined work within his appointed time for them, or in <HI>plenitudine temporis,</HI> in the fulne&s;s of time determined yet this is a &s;en&s;e that falls too &s;hort of the Empha&s;is of the doubling of this Phra&s;e in our Text, which may &s;eem to import more than &s;o.</P>
<PB N="32" REF="24">
<P> Yet &s;econdly, neither do I take the mid&s;t here <HI>(Geometric&egrave; &amp; pre|cis&egrave;)</HI> for the mid&s;t according to a preci&s;e mea&s;ure, as &s;ome do; For they that think he prayes that this reviving work of God might be wrought either about the middle of the years of the worlds duration, pre&s;uming it &s;hall la&s;t 6000. years, or ju&s;t between <HI>Samuels</HI> Prophecy|ing, and Chri&s;t his coming, or &s;uffer|ing, (&s;uppo&s;ing ju&s;t 490. years be|tween that Prophet and the Capti|vity in <HI>Babylon,</HI> and as many be|tween the Captivity and Chri&s;t) they build upon uncertainties, and that in the judgement of our late&s;t <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Annotators, &amp;c.</P>
<P>What con&s;truction then may we make of this expre&s;&s;ion? The mean|ing may be taken up, as I conceive <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>As the P&s;almi&s;t prayed for him&s;elf, or rather in behalf of the Church,</HI> P&s;. 102. 23, 24.</NOTE> with tho&s;e whom I account mo&s;t ju|dicious, in the&s;e two particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>In the mid&s;t of the years,</HI> i. e. In the middle cour&s;e of thy Church or people, while yet they are not
<PB N="33" REF="24"> grown up to a maturity or ripene&s;s of age, &s;uffer them not to peri&s;h, but hold them up in life. Now that ancient people of God (&s;aith <HI>Calvin,</HI> and our <HI>Genevian</HI> Annotators after him) came not to their fulne&s;&s;e of age till Chri&s;t, and therefore &s;hould they not have been held up in a Church frame till then, they had &s;unk as it were in the flower, or middle of their age, therefore he prayes thus, &amp;c.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>In the mid&s;t of years,</HI> i. e. <HI>illo|rum calamito&s;orum &amp; infaelicium dierum, &amp;c.]</HI> of tho&s;e calamitous and unhappy dayes or years, when thy people &s;hall be under the Chaldean bondage, when they &s;hall be tum|bled headlong into mi&s;eries, and be even overwhelmed with the waves of afflictions ru&s;hing in upon them, and over them, then do thou revive thy work, thy work of promi&s;ed grace and goodne&s;s on their behalf. <HI>[Etiam&s;i videmur destinati e&s;&s;e morti, tamen nos re&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e,</HI> &s;o <HI>Calvin]</HI> And
<PB N="34" REF="25"> this I take to be the mo&s;t genuine &s;en&s;e of this expre&s;&s;ion; This <HI>mid&s;t of years,</HI> being as emphatical as <HI>Da|vids mid&s;t of troubles,</HI> P&s;al. 138. 7. or <HI>the mountains being carried into the mid&s;t of the Seas</HI> P&s;al. 46. 2, &amp;c. But to proceed to the la&s;t Quere.</P>
<P>Fourthly, what means that abrupt &s;peeh <HI>[make known] in the mid&s;t of &amp;c.</HI> what would he have made known? Truly 'tis very ea&s;ie to ga|ther both what, and how, by refer|ring to the foregoing words, <HI>viz.</HI> Make known thy reviving, and re|vived work, &amp;c. Let it be actually &s;een that it is thy work, that &s;uch people are thine, and that &s;uch works of Providence for them are thine; let them, and all the world about take notice of it; And with|all in &s;o doing, make know what a God thou art, as for wi&s;dom, and truth, and power, and other excel|lencies, &s;o for mercy, <HI>in wrath re|membring mercy,</HI> as follows in the la&s;t clau&s;e; Of which excellent and
<PB N="35" REF="25"> comfortable &s;entence I &s;hall be able to &s;peak but briefly, and that as a ground onely of that one point I &s;hall &s;peak unto for our in&s;truction, which I gather up out of this branch of the U&s;e, thus</P>
<P><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> There be good grounds for the people of God to build their faith and prayers upon, that God will pre&s;erve his Church, and re&s;tore it unto a comfortable condition in the mid&s;t of the greate&s;t dangers or mi&s;eries they can fall into in this life. Or thus, Gods people may rely on him for reviving grace amid&s;t their mo&s;t perplexed, de&s;perate, and (ac|cording to man) deade&s;t condition. When there is otherwi&s;e no hope of recovery, they may hopefully ap|ply them&s;elves unto him. I take the Ob&s;ervation in this frame, bcau&s;e I finde the Prophet praying to this purpo&s;e; and all warrantable pray|ers are grounded upon Principles of Faith; and this Prayer was intended for the u&s;e of Gods people, and not
<PB N="36" REF="26"> for the Prophet him&s;elf onely, as if the Spirit of God from heaven had &s;hewed them how God was to be &s;ought unto. And therefore we might &s;tate the Point thus, That it is the duty of Gods people to pray unto him to revive his work in the mid&s;t of mo&s;t unlikely years. So <HI>Calvin.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI> Now that in the depth of di&s;tre&s;&s;es, the people of God have good ground of reliance on him for reviving grace, I will fir&s;t &s;hew by way of In&s;tance, and then of Rea|&s;on.</P>
<P>By way of <HI>In&s;tance,</HI> to make it ap|pear that God hath revived his work in the mid&s;t of calamitous and di&s;a|&s;trous times, be&s;ides tho&s;e of the Babyloni&s;h Captivity; I will mind you but of two mo&s;t memorable ca|&s;es <NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;tan|ces.</NOTE> out of the Scriptures. We are not to omit that reviving was grant|ed, for which mo&s;t directly this Prayer was made; In that God hath pre&s;erved life of grace in his people
<PB N="37" REF="26"> druing the Captivity, refre&s;hing and confirming them by his &s;ervants the Prophets, as <HI>Ezekiel, Daniel</HI> and others, le&s;t they &s;hould de&s;pair, and utterly &s;ink with grief; and re&s;tored them, &amp;c. witne&s;&s;e <HI>Haggie,</HI> and <HI>Za|charie</HI> following.</P>
<P><HI>One before that Captivity, viz.</HI> Gods deliverance of his people out of <HI>Egypt;</HI> For in the mid&s;t of the years of their bondage there under <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> while they were groaning heavily under it, and felt their pre&s;|&s;ures, tasks, and burdens multiplyed upon them; then God &s;ent them reviving comfort by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and wrought their deliverance wonder|fully, when according to man they were out of all hope of any &s;uch thing. And this is that ca&s;e which this Prophet mo&s;t of all commends to their Po&s;terity in this Prayer, as a ground of Faith by way of pre&s;ident; Though there be &s;ome mixed re|ferences in it to &s;ome other writings vouch&s;afed them in langui&s;hing and
<PB N="38" REF="27"> fainting ca&s;es while they were in the Land of Canaan; Among other ver&s;es, &s;ee the 13, 14, 15, &amp;c.</P>
<P>Another after the Babyloni&s;h Cap|tivity, <HI>viz.</HI> The redemption of his people wrought by Chri&s;t. For in the mid&s;t of years of &s;ad and mourn|full condition, when his people were much degenerated and corrupted, though they had the &s;econd Temple &s;tanding among&s;t them, yet much polluted in wor&s;hip, as well as in other &s;infull cour&s;es, and thereupon left de&s;titute of Prophets for a time, and deprived of the Royal dignity among them, being &s;ubdued by Ro|mans: then was Chri&s;t &s;ent into the world, and when the hearts of the be&s;t were troubled with longing ex|pextation of a Me&s;&s;iah; <HI>Venit Chri|&s;tus cum morbus creverit ad &s;ummum paroxy&s;mum;</HI> Then Chri&s;t came (as a great Phy&s;itian) when the di|&s;ea&s;e was grown to the highe&s;t and &s;harpe&s;t fit of it, then came he to work the Patients mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary
<PB N="39" REF="27"> &s;piritual deliverance; And this is that reviving act which divers, Pontificial Expo&s;itors at lea&s;t make the Allego|rical &s;en&s;e of our Text, and think it mo&s;t intended by the Spirit in this place. But it may &s;uffice to take knowledge of it as an in&s;tance for proof of a reviving work of God, and &s;urely the mo&s;t eminent of all other to &s;piritual con&s;ideration; For certainly look how much their deli|verance out of <HI>Babylon</HI> &s;urpa&s;&s;ed that out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> &s;o much, and more, doth this &s;piritual deliverance by Chri&s;t &s;urpa&s;&s;e that out of <HI>Babylon. Jer.</HI> 16. 14 15. and 23. 6, 7, 8. <HI>There|fore behold the dayes come, &s;aith the Lord, that it &s;hall no more be &s;aid; The Lord liveth that brought up the Chil|dren of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>out of the land of</HI> Egypt: <HI>But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the Children of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>from the Land of the North, and from all the Lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their Land, that I gave unto their Fathers. In his</HI>
<PB N="40" REF="28"> <HI>dayes</HI> Judah <HI>&s;hull be &s;aved, and</HI> I&s;rael <HI>&s;hall dwell &s;afely; and this is his Name whereby he &s;hall be called</HI> THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUS|NES. <HI>Therefore behold, the dayes come, &s;aith the Lord, that they &s;hall no more &s;ay, The Lord liveth, which brought up the Children of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>out of the Land of</HI> Egypt: <HI>But, The Lord li|veth, which brought up, and which led the &s;eed of the hou&s;e of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>out of the North Countrey, and from all Coun|treys whither I had driven them, and they &s;hall dwell in their own Land.</HI> And this is intimated to be &s;o &s;trange and wonderfull, that the former &s;hould not be remembred in compa|ri&s;on. <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 43. 18, 19. <HI>Remem|ber not the former things, neither con|&s;ider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing: now it &s;hall &s;pring forth, &s;hall ye not know it; I will even make a way in the wilderne&s;s, and rivers in the de&s;ert.</HI> And this is the Grandmother and ground|work of &s;uch &s;pecial deliver|ances
<PB N="41" REF="28"> of the people of God in &s;undry quarters &s;ince experienced as ap|peared, and of which it might be &s;aid as of the threatned puni&s;h|ment of his people before, Chap. 1. 5. <HI>Behold ye, and regard, and wonder marvellou&s;ly; for God worketh &s;uch a work in your dayes, which ye will not believe, though it be told you, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Rea&s;ons"> <HI>Sect.</HI> But from In&s;tances come we to Rea&s;ons, and there are &s;o many in&s;inuated in our Text, as we need not at pre&s;ent look further for more.</P>
<P N="1">1. God may be relied on for re|viving grace in a dead condition, be|cau&s;e he is the <HI>Lord Jehovah,</HI> Al|mighty, to give a being unto what he plea&s;eth, as the being of beings; and therefore able, as to give a being unto his threatnings, to actuate them, as the ju&s;t ground of fear (before) &s;o to give a being unto his promi&s;es and &s;peeches of grace, as the ground of hope. We &s;ay &s;ometimes of men that they are good to help at a
<PB N="42" REF="29"> dead lift (yet finde them often fail|ing our greate&s;t expectations) but that can be &s;aid of none in compari|&s;on of God. And therefore we may believe, becau&s;e this makes for the glory of his power. This was <HI>A|brahams</HI> ground of believing he &s;hould have a childe by <HI>Sarah: He being fully per&s;waded that what God had promi&s;ed he was able to perform,</HI> therefore <HI>he con&s;idered not his own bo|dy now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the dead|ne&s;&s;e of</HI> Sarah's <HI>womb, nor &s;taggered at Gods promi&s;e, but was &s;trong in faith, giving glory to God,</HI> Rom. 4. 18, 19, 20, 21.</P>
<P N="2">2. Becau&s;e the work here &s;uppo|&s;ed to be revived, is Gods own work (as we heard) Now it &s;tands upon the glory of his wi&s;dome to pre&s;erve, and &s;u&s;taine his own &s;pecial work, and not to let it fall and die under his hand, and not to leave it in the mid&s;t unfitted, unfurni&s;hed. There|fore was that Prayer of the P&s;almi&s;t,
<PB N="43" REF="29"> <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 138. 8. <HI>The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: for&s;ake not the works of thine own hands.</HI> And therefore is that application made to God by the Prophet, <HI>Jer.</HI> 14. 8, 9. <HI>Oh the hope of I&s;rael, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, wherefore &s;houlde&s;t thou be a &s;tranger in the Land? Why as a man astonied? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the mid&s;t of us, and we are called by thy Name,</HI> (thy work) <HI>leave us not.</HI> Apply that other al&s;o in <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 26. 12. <HI>Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou ha&s;t wrought all our works in us, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Becau&s;e it concerns the glory of Gods goodne&s;&s;e and mercy; And it is his mo&s;t excellent nature, in the the mid&s;t of wrath to remember mercy, (as we finde in the la&s;t clau&s;e of our Text.)</P>
<P>By the way enquire we, Is there any wrath, or furious indignation in God properly? No; He is not &s;ub|ject to &s;uch pa&s;&s;ions as man is; <HI>Fury</HI>
<PB N="44" REF="30"> <HI>is not in him,</HI> I&s;a. 27. 4. The ju&s;t and &s;evere execution of puni&s;hments is called his wrath, &amp;c. Then why is his wrath &s;aid to be &s;omewhat &s;tir|red up again&s;t his people?</P>
<P>We an&s;wer, Gods wrath relates rather to the &s;ins than to the per&s;ons of his people; The oppo&s;ition ri&s;ing in him is not properly again&s;t his own work or people, but again&s;t Sathans work in them, or their own evil works.</P>
<P>And &s;econdly, the &s;tirring of his wrath or anger argues rather their apprehen&s;ion and &s;en&s;e, (who feele &s;mart and affliction) than his affe|ction &s;tirred up again&s;t them, who doth but as a Chirurgian, or a Father, handle roughly, and correct his own for their good.</P>
<P>Now hence we may the better conceive how 'tis &s;aid in way of Petition, <HI>Lord, in wrath remember mercy;</HI> And this we are to conceive as an eminent excellency in God a|bove the Creature, that in wrath
<PB N="45" REF="30"> he can and will remember mercy to|wards his own workman&s;hip, his Church, his people. How, remem|ber? By a merciful change of his work of Providence, and &s;o giving real arguments of a mercifull re|membrance. Now this the poore impotent creature cannot do when it is in pa&s;&s;ion; Man is &s;ubject to forget him&s;elf, and forget mercy in his wrath and fury, nor can he &s;top and cea&s;e &s;uddenly in his hot execu|tions, and turn his cour&s;e, becau&s;e he hath not his pa&s;&s;ions at &s;uch a check or command; but God can never forget him&s;elf, and he can ea&s;ily hold up his &s;evere&s;t executions; See <HI>Exod.</HI> 32. 11. to 14. <HI>And Mo&s;es be|&s;ought the Lord his God, and &s;aid, Lord, Why doth thy wrath wax hot again&s;t thy people, which thou ha&s;t brought forth out of the Land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore &s;hould the Egyptians &s;peak, and &s;ay, For mi&s;chief did he bring them out, to &s;lay them in the</HI>
<PB N="46" REF="31"> <HI>mountains, and to con&s;ume them from the face of the earth: Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil again&s;t thy people. Remember</HI> Abra|ham, I&s;aac, <HI>and</HI> I&s;rael <HI>thy &s;ervants, to whom thou &s;ware&s;t by thine own &s;elf, and &s;aid'&s;t unto them, I will multiply your &s;eed as the &s;tars of Heaven: and all this Land that I have &s;poken of, will I give unto your &s;eed, and they &s;hall inherit it for ever.</HI> Numb. 16. 46, 47, 48. <HI>And</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>&s;aid unto</HI> Aaron, <HI>Take a cen&s;er, and put fire therein from off the Altar, and put on incen&s;e, and go quickly unto the Congregation, and make an atone|ment for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is be|gun. And</HI> Aaron <HI>took as Mo&s;es com|manded, and ran into the mid&s;t of the Congregation: and behold, the plague was begun among the people, and he put on incen&s;e, and made an atone|ment for the people. And he &s;tood be|tween the dead and the living, and the</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="31"> <HI>plague was &s;tayed.</HI> P&s;al. 30. 5. <HI>For his anger endureth but for a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may en|dure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning</HI> and 138. 7. <HI>Though I walk in the mid&s;t of trouble, thou wilt revive me, thou &s;halt &s;tretch forth thine hand again&s;t the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand &s;hall &s;ave me.</HI> And therefore in the mid&s;t of the years of the afflictive &s;en&s;e of Gods anger, there may be expectation of a mercifull reviving; therefore in the mid&s;t of the cords and bonds of &s;ervitude, there may be expecta|tion of a merciful breaking of them; <HI>Et ubi funis tenaci&s;&s;imus fuerit, rumpitur;</HI> Where the cord is &s;tiffe&s;t, and &s;tronge&s;t, there it is broken &s;ud|denly (&s;aith <HI>Luther)</HI> when God is plea&s;ed to &s;hew mercy.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="U&s;e"> <HI>U&s;e</HI> 1. This Point &s;erves fir&s;t to &s;tir us upto a comfortable exerci&s;e of Faith, that God would be plea&s;ed to revive his work in the mid&s;t of
<PB N="48" REF="32"> the&s;e years, &amp;c. Why? what years are they? I cannot &s;ay they are years of Gods peoples &s;ervitude or cap|tivity under the <HI>Chaldeans</HI> or <HI>Egypti|ans,</HI> (ble&s;&s;ed be God for tho&s;e free|doms and liberties which are yet left unto us) But we are in the mid&s;t of years of di&s;&s;entions even among brethren; of divi&s;ions and di&s;tra|ctions of hearts and wayes; of wars, and bloody ho&s;tilities between the profe&s;&s;ed Members of the Church of Chri&s;t, of various concu&s;&s;ions and &s;hakings of Foundations; of confu|&s;ions of tongues, tenents, and practi|ces, of eruptions, and overflowings of errors and bla&s;phemies; of con|tempts ca&s;t upon Gods Mini&s;ters and Ordinances; and di&s;&s;entions or &s;hatterings in pieces of Church A&s;|&s;emblies in manifold places; In a word, we are in the mid&s;t of the&s;e years wherein it &s;eems to me God hath dealt, or is dealing with our Na|tion, as he threatned to deale with <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> in 2 Kin. 21. 13. (when
<PB N="49" REF="32"> withall he threatned to make that people a prey, and &s;poile to their enemies) <HI>I will wipe Jeru&s;alem</HI> (&s;aid he) <HI>as a man wipeth a di&s;h, wiping it, and turning it up&s;ide down;</HI> God hath been wiping us, and wiping us, and in an overly way of clean&s;ing and purging us, but is he not &s;o doing it as he is turning us up&s;ide down? Surely then beloved, we are in the mid&s;t of tho&s;e years wherein we need to pray that <HI>God would revive his work and make it known, and in wrath re|member mercy.</HI></P>
<P>True it is, we know not what pe|riods God hath determined to &s;uch years as we are in; we &s;ee not our &s;igns; we have not any foretelling Prophets, as the P&s;almi&s;t complain|ed, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 74. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Wee &s;ee not our &s;igns, there is no more any Prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.</HI> It is not therefore with us as with the Jews, <HI>Jer.</HI> 25. 12. <HI>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e when &s;eventy years are accompli&s;hed, that I will puni&s;h</HI>
<PB N="50" REF="33"> <HI>the King of Babylon, and that Nation &s;aith the Lord for their iniquity, and the Land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetuall de&s;olations.</HI> And 29. 10. <HI>For thus &s;aith the Lord, That after &s;eventy years be accompli&s;h|ed at Babylon, I will vi&s;it you, and perform my good word toward you, in cau&s;ing you to return to this place.</HI> Nor have we like grounds of duty as <HI>Da|niel</HI> had, <HI>Dan.</HI> 9. 2, 3. <HI>In the fir&s;t year of his reign, I</HI> Daniel <HI>under&s;tood by Books the number of the years, wherof the word of the Lord came to</HI> Jeremiah <HI>the Prophet, that he would accompli&s;h &s;eventy years in the de&s;olations of</HI> Je|ru&s;alem. <HI>And I &s;et my face unto the Lord God to &s;eek by prayer, and &s;upplications, with fa&s;ting, and &s;ack|cloth, and a&s;hes.</HI> Yet this we may, and ought to do.</P>
<P N="1">1. Hold to the general grounds and principles of faith. 1. Believe that God hath revived his people in the mid&s;t of far &s;adder years than we have yet &s;een, according to foregoing
<PB N="51" REF="33"> in&s;tances, and others that might be given. And 2. Believe (and therefore the rather) that God can revive his work in the mo&s;t &s;eeming difficult ca&s;es. And 3. Believe that God will not for&s;ake his own work to leave it to ruine, or under imperfe|ction and a langui&s;hing condition continually; And 4. Believe that God is of &s;uch infinite mercy, that in wrath he will remember it, &amp;c. But I commend that of <HI>Bernard</HI> to con&s;ideration as an approved truth, <HI>Deus olcum mi&s;ericordiae ponit in va&s;e fiduciae.</HI> But then</P>
<P N="2">2. We mu&s;t not faile to do, what we in this Congregation are &s;olemnly in doing this day, <HI>viz.</HI> we mu&s;t ply God by prayers; For we know that whatever God determines to his people, though they know he hath determined it, yet he requires and expects his people &s;hould &s;eek unto him concerning it. See <HI>Ezek.</HI> 36. 37. therefore did <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;o pray, &amp;c. Much more ought we, in ca&s;es
<PB N="52" REF="34"> wherein we have no circum&s;tantial grounds of a&s;&s;urance, &amp;c. that we may obtain at length a&s;&s;urance and e&s;tabli&s;hment.</P>
<P N="2">2. This may &s;erve more &s;pecially to &s;tir up to &s;eek God for a reviving of his work of Reformation in the Church, in the mid&s;t of the&s;e years of di&s;turbance and hinderance of it. For my part, I take that to have been the work of God which was &s;et afoot &s;ome years &s;ince in this Nati|on for a Reformation in our Do|ctrine, Wor&s;hip, Government, and Di&s;cipline; But how hath it now, and that for a good while lien &s;till almo&s;t, and how hath it been ca&s;t back! How have clo&s;e counter-workers undermined it! and open enemies oppo&s;ed it! how mi&s;erably is it defaced! How do &s;ome Defor|mations out-face it! And how do &s;coffers mock at it, like tho&s;e <HI>Sama|ritans,</HI> Nehem. 4. 2. will the&s;e few <HI>Jews</HI> revive the &s;tones out of the the heaps of the rubbi&s;h, &amp;c? And
<PB N="53" REF="34"> we could point at the cau&s;es of all this; Mainly, The not counte|nancing and furthering of the work of Civil Authority; But beloved, if it be Gods work begun for his peo|ple (as many of us here, I pre&s;ume, doubt not but it is) we may believe it &s;hall be revived, and perfected &s;ooner or later again&s;t all unlikeli|hoods; And accordingly we may pray that in the mid&s;t of the years of un|likelihood it may be revived; that in&s;tead of having our Land darkned over us in the clear day, and our Sun &s;et at noon, (a cur&s;e denounced <HI>Amos</HI> 8. 9.) light may ari&s;e unto the Church in the mid&s;t of ob&s;curi|ty, &amp;c. <HI>(I&s;a.</HI> 58. 10.) and &s;o &s;trength be rai&s;ed in the mid&s;t of weakne&s;&s;e, and liveline&s;&s;e &s;pring up in the mid&s;t of dying langui&s;hings. We may u&s;e that argument in re&s;pect of this work, which the people of God <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>And the work hath had but a little revi|ving, as</HI> Ezra 9. 8.</NOTE> u&s;ed, or was u&s;ed for them in re&s;pect of their Land, <HI>(I&s;a.</HI> 63. 17, 18.) The <HI>people of thy holine&s;&s;e have enjoy|ed</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="35"> <HI>it but a while,</HI> and in a &s;mall &s;cant|ling, &amp;c. But to draw to a con|clu&s;ion.</P>
<P N="3">3. Would we have God revive this work for his people? Then we mu&s;t pray al&s;o that God would revive his work in his people, and with it his people them&s;elves; and each of us is to look that it be revi|ved in him&s;elf. What work is this?</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>The life</HI> of Faith in the main. Remember, <HI>The ju&s;t &s;hall live by Faith</HI> (Chap. 2. 4.) that is, Faith &s;hall be a principle of life exerci&s;ing many lively acts in them: and they &s;hall attain to the life of Re&s;taurati|on and Comfort by believing Gods promi&s;es; And therefore we are not to lie down in any dejections&punc; or de|&s;pondences of mind through di&s;tru&s;t of Gods power or promi&s;es in any ca&s;e that may conduce mo&s;t to his glory in his peoples good.</P>
<P>Secondly, The Spirit of prayer for the reparation of Zion, the &s;piritual
<PB N="55" REF="35"> re&s;torement of the Church; for when the Lord &s;hall &s;tir up his &s;ervants more generally and heartily to pray with melting compa&s;&s;ionate affecti|ons toward the &s;piritual dilapidations, &amp; deformities of his Churches, it will be a good &s;ign that the &s;et time to fa|vor his Zion is come. See <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 102&punc; 13, 14. <HI>Thou &s;halt ari&s;e, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea the &s;et time is come. For thy &s;ervants take plea&s;ure in her &s;tones, and favour the du&s;t thereof.</HI></P>
<P>3ly. Re&s;olutions for be&s;t endea|vours in behalf of the work of Refor|mation; This concerns you all, beloved, in your &s;everal places; and therefore to be far from being ob|&s;tructors of it&punc; through worldly and carnal ends, in&s;tead of being its pro|moters and advancers; and they that have pretended to build with Gods people, when they have intended to hinder (as they in <HI>Ezra</HI> 4. 2, 3.) God will di&s;cover them. But more e&s;pecially this concerns you, my re|verend
<PB N="56" REF="36"> and much re&s;pected Brethren of the Provincial A&s;&s;embly, to look that you put forth revived &s;pirits to|ward this work. If that were true, <HI>(&s;ano &s;en&s;u) Jupiter, quos &s;ervare vult, &s;u&s;citat;</HI> then 'tis as true,<HI>&mdash;eos, per quos &s;ervare vult, &amp;c.</HI> If God quicken up tho&s;e whom he will &s;ave, then tho&s;e by whom he will &s;ave o|thers in&s;trumentally. O let us there|fore through grace, [<GAP DESC="foreign">] &s;tir up the gifts and graces of God in us, let us quicken up our &s;elves to u&s;e all coun&s;els and endeavours for the furtherance of Gods Church-work; and joyntly attend upon, and pro&s;ecute all tho&s;e good means ac|cording to our tru&s;t undertaken, whereby it may be carried on for|ward, waiting on God for the i&s;&s;ues of all our prayers, and all our en|deavours, which &s;hall &s;eem be&s;t to his heavenly wi&s;dom. However events &s;hall fall out to us in our time, re&s;olve as our Prophet doth infer, ver. 17, 18. <HI>Although the fig|tree</HI>
<PB N="57" REF="36"> <HI>&s;hall not blo&s;&s;ome, neither &s;hall fruit be in the vines: the labour of the Olive &s;hall faile; and the fields &s;hall yeeld no meat, the flock &s;hall be cut off from the fold, and there &s;hall be no herd in the &s;talls: Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord: I will joy in the God of my &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="37">
<PB N="59" REF="37">
<HEAD>Chri&s;ts coun&s;el to the Church of <HI>Phila|delphia.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>Rev. 3. 11.</BIBL>
<Q>Hold that fa&s;t which thou ha&s;t, that no man take thy crown.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe&s;e are a parcel of the words of Chri&s;t immediately direct|ed unto the Angel of the Church in <HI>Phi|ladelphia;</HI> but me|diately to that whole Church, and every Member of it; yea intended for the good of other Churches al&s;o,
<PB N="60" REF="38"> and therefore of ours; For <HI>he that hath an ear, let him hear what the &s;pirit &s;aith unto the Churches;</HI> It is the common <HI>Epiphonema</HI> which our Lord &s;ubjoyns to all his Epi&s;tles un|to tho&s;e <HI>A&s;ian</HI> Churches, written ac|cording to the dictate of his &s;pirit, by the pen of his Apo&s;tle <HI>John,</HI> in the &s;econd and third Chapters of this Book. He would have every one that hath an hearing ear, to lend his attention to that which is &s;poken by his &s;pirit to what Church &s;oever, in that &s;uch is the general nature of all Churches, and Church-Members, as either they do, or may &s;tand in need of all &s;uch divine admonitions as are addre&s;&s;ed occa&s;ionally to any of them.</P>
<P>Now whether tho&s;e &s;even particu|lar Churches written unto by our Lord in this Context, were Types of &s;everal Churches of &s;everal con&s;titu|tions, and temperaments and condi|tions to follow in after-times by di|vine providence, I will forbear to
<PB N="61" REF="38"> a&s;&s;ert po&s;itively, though I cannot but &s;ay what I think, that the inven|tion of one of our own Worthies was very bright and clear in finding out tho&s;e &s;uitable corre&s;pondencies be|tween the&s;e &s;even, and others &s;uc|ceeding down to this pre&s;ent age re|&s;pectively.</P>
<P>Now for that Church in <HI>Philadel|phia</HI> (to which my Text is part of that which was written) this is re|markable concerning it, that it &amp; that of <HI>Smyrna</HI> were the only Churches of all the &s;even which our Lord Chri&s;t openly reproved not at all, wheras he found &s;omething reproveable in all the re&s;t; as on the other &s;ide, it is re|markable concerning that of the <HI>Lao|diceans,</HI> that it was the only Church of the &s;even which Chri&s;t commend|ed not at all, whereas he took notice of &s;omething commendable in all the re&s;t; and why this? not becau&s;e there was nothing faulty or imper|fect in tho&s;e of <HI>Smyrna</HI> and <HI>Philadel|phia,</HI> but to &s;hew how much the
<PB N="62" REF="39"> Lord favoureth humble mode&s;ty: nor becau&s;e there was nothing good in that of <HI>Leodicea,</HI> but to &s;hew how much the Lord di&s;liketh proud vain-glory. But I wave &s;uch general Ob&s;ervations.</P>
<P>I draw nigh to the words read unto <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sect.</NOTE> you; And not to take up any of our time with an exact Analy&s;is of Chri&s;t his Epi&s;tle to <HI>Philadelphia,</HI> becau&s;e. I &s;hall go near to draw all the lines from the utmo&s;t circu~&s;tance of it in|to the center of my Text, know only that after he had given te&s;timony to the pre&s;ent good that was in her (ver. 8.) and a&s;&s;urance of after goodne&s;s he would &s;hew to her (ver. 9, 10.) both in &s;ubduing di&s;gui&s;ed Adver&s;aries, and in pre&s;erving her under tempta|tions, he comes in the words I have hinted upon, to exhort her unto duty upon a double motive.</P>
<P>The duty is, To <HI>to hold fa&s;t that which &s;he had. Brevis e&s;t hortatio, &s;ed Emphatica valde. Pareus.</HI></P>
<P>The fir&s;t motive (which is placed
<PB N="63" REF="39"> in the front) is taken from the &s;pee|dine&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t his coming <HI>[behold, I come quickly.]</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd (which follows in the rear) is from the po&s;&s;ibility of dan|ger upon neglect of that duty <HI>(that no man take thy Crown.)</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t of the duty. Touching which, take up this Ob&s;ervation, that</P>
<P><HI>It concerns the best of Gods</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ob&s;er.</NOTE> <HI>Churches and people to hold fa&s;t that which they have.</HI></P>
<P>I purpo&s;e to handle this Point (which is the principal in the U&s;e) &s;o as ye &s;hall perceive it reacheth not only Church-Officers, but al&s;o Church-members, and tho&s;e of what condition &s;oever, this duty be|ing of univer&s;al concernment to all Gods&punc;people, though I may interlace &s;omething that will bear re&s;pect to Church-Angels, and Officers. For the opening of this, con&s;ider we</P>
<P N="1">1. What it is which the Churches and people of God re&s;pectively are to hold fa&s;t, &s;ince every thing that
<PB N="64" REF="40"> every one hath is not worthy to be held fa&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. How they are to hold that fa&s;t, or what their fa&s;t holding is in way of duty.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That which <HI>Philadelphia,</HI> (and &s;o other approved Churches of Chri&s;t) had worthy to be held fa&s;t, was,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Word of God, and the Name of God; <HI>thou hast kept my Word,</HI> and ha&s;t <HI>not denyed my Name,</HI> (&s;aid Chri&s;t, ver. 8.) Under this Word, and Name of God, &amp;c. is to be under&s;tood that whole truth whereby God in Chri&s;t had reveal|ed and manife&s;ted him&s;elf and his will unto his Church; whereby his Church knows what he is, and what he hath done, and what he hath willed and commanded his people to believe and do. Hence it was &s;aid to the Church of <HI>Sardis</HI> (ver. 3.) Re|member how thou ha&s;t received, and heard, and hold fa&s;t, &amp;c. Part of which truth <HI>Philadelphia</HI> is minded
<PB N="65" REF="40"> of ver. 7. in that de&s;cription of Chri&s;t, from his 1. <HI>Holine&s;&s;e,</HI> 2. <HI>Truth,</HI> and 3. <HI>Having the key of David:</HI> (which three Branches point at his three Offices, <HI>Prie&s;tly, Prophetical, Kingly,</HI> as &s;ome judiciou&s;ly learned think.)</P>
<P N="2">2. The Ordinances of God for Go&s;pel wor&s;hip, and Church Admi|ni&s;trations are in&s;inuated in this con|text as enjoyed by <HI>Philadelphia:</HI> For (mark it) Chri&s;t remembers her that he had <HI>&s;et before her an open door, and no man could &s;hut it,</HI> (ver. 8.) <HI>i. e.</HI> He had given her fair opportunities, and open and large means for the propagating of the Go&s;pel, and ad|vancing of Go&s;pel-work, many bars of ob&s;truction and hindrance being removed out of the way; So that Go&s;pel-Admini&s;trations had free cour&s;e or pa&s;&s;age among them, as 'tis &s;aid it had among the The&s;&s;aloni|ans, (2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 3. 1.) Yea, we may ga|ther from part of his Title which he purpo&s;ely takes up in writing to her,
<PB N="66" REF="41"> <HI>(viz. He that hath the key of David)</HI> that he had not onely u&s;ed his key for opening to her, but likewi&s;e given her the keys both of Doctrine and Di&s;cipline Mini&s;terial under him&s;elf to open and &s;hut unto others. And no doubt this Church was not want|ing to that (according to her pow|er) which was commended in that of <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> (cap. 2. 2.) <HI>viz. in not bearing with tho&s;e that were evil,</HI> but <HI>trying them which &s;aid they were A|po&s;tles, and finding them lyars, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Good works or practice ac|cording to the Word and Ordinan|ces of God. For 'tis the fir&s;t part of Chri&s;t his te&s;timony given to her, that <HI>He knew,</HI> (i. e. approved) <HI>her works</HI> (at the beginning of v. 8.) And what might her works be? Doubtle&s;s of as good account as any of her &s;i|&s;ters; works of charity, and &s;ervice, and faith, &amp; patience, as were her &s;i&s;ters of <HI>Thyatira,</HI> (cap. 2. 19.) And for pa|tience it is expre&s;&s;ed here (ver. 10.) <HI>that &s;he keep the word of his patience,</HI>
<PB N="67" REF="41"> <HI>i. e.</HI> &s;he exerci&s;ed patience accord|ing to Chri&s;t his word and pre&s;crip|tion. So that (to &s;umme up all, and according to the tenour of other Scriptures compared with this,) if the people of God be con&s;ider|ed in the general notion, All that which they are to hold fa&s;t, is, 1. &s;oundne&s;&s;e of Doctrine, and 2. Holine&s;&s;e of life and conver&s;ati|on, which are mentioned together in 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1. 19. <HI>Holding faith and a good con&s;cience, &amp;c.</HI> To hold faith there, is to hold the Doctrine of faith, or to <HI>hold fa&s;t the form of &s;ound words;</HI> as 'tis phra&s;ed, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1. 13. And ro hold a good con&s;cience, is to hold &s;uch a practice according to that rule of faith, as an enlightned con&s;ci|ence may witne&s;&s;e to be good, or to be rightly con&s;ciencious in walking and working according to that rule.</P>
<P>Again, if the people of God be con|&s;idered collectively, as embodied together in a Church frame and order,
<PB N="68" REF="42"> that which they are to hold fa&s;t, is, tho&s;e Church-Ordinances which Chri&s;t hath given them, whether about duties of wor&s;hip to God, or government among them&s;elves, or about the enjoyment of tho&s;e liber|ties, or priviledges or powers which he hath granted them. In reference to which under-Ordinances, the mo&s;t judicious under&s;tand the Apo&s;tle &s;peaking thus to <HI>Timothy,</HI> I <HI>charge thee in the &s;ight of God (&amp;c.)</HI> that <HI>thou keep this Commandment,</HI> (i. e. that body or rule of Command|ment laid down in the premi&s;es) <HI>without &s;pot, unrebukeable, untill the appearing of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> 1 Tim, 6. 13. 14. This for the ob|ject that is to be held fa&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI> Next for the manner of holding fa&s;t, what is it? The Holy Gho&s;t u&s;eth &s;undry words in &s;everal places, which are all of them &s;ome|times rendred by our Tran&s;lators in|to the&s;e terms of holding fa&s;t, yet of &s;omewhat different importment.
<PB N="69" REF="42"> But by collection of them together we may more fully take up the na|ture of this duty. When St. <HI>Paul</HI> bids <HI>Timothy,</HI> 2 Tim. 1. 13. <HI>Hold fast the form of &s;ound words,</HI> he &s;aith <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>i. e.</HI> hold them as having and retaining them by thee in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; But there is more than that barely in this duty. For when Chri&s;t bids the Church of <HI>Sardis (&s;upra</HI> ver. 3.) <HI>Remember what thou ha&s;t received, and heard, and hold fa&s;t, (&amp;c.)</HI> his word is [<GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>i. e.</HI> hold, or keep, or ob&s;erve with all diligence, as that which is committed to ones carefull cu&s;tody; But yet there is more imported in this duty; For when Chri&s;t bids the Church in <HI>Thyatira, That which ye have already, hold fa&s;t till I come,</HI> (cap. 2. 25.) his word is <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the &s;ame word radically is u&s;ed here in our Text, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>i. e.</HI> hold fa&s;t &s;trongly; u&s;e not onely a carefull eye in keep|ing, but put to they utmo&s;t &s;trength
<PB N="70" REF="43"> in holding fa&s;t that which thou ha&s;t, that keeping it vigorou&s;ly, thou may&s;t keep it al&s;o per&s;everantly and con&s;tantly to the end. And a per&s;everant holding fa&s;t is here in|tended by Chri&s;t (as well as cap. 2. 25.) as may be gathered from the annexed Motives. Now unto this &s;trong and vigorous holding fa&s;t of Truth and Holine&s;&s;e, Faith and good Con&s;cience, there is requi|&s;ite,</P>
<P N="1">1. Firm purpo&s;e of heart, and &s;tedfa&s;t re&s;olution of will to per&s;e|vere in the profe&s;&s;ion of &s;ound faith and Doctrine, and in the execution of Gods commands, according to place and power, and in the practice of holine&s;&s;e, &amp;c. If there be not fir&s;t &s;trength in the will and re&s;oluti|on, there will be none found in ex|ternal practice and exerci&s;e. The vi|gour of the heart conduceth much to the vigour of the hand or foot; Hence it was that <HI>good man, and full of the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> exhorted the Chri&s;tians
<PB N="71" REF="43"> at <HI>Antioch,</HI> that <HI>with purpo&s;e of heart</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">If there be weakne&s;&s;e in the &s;pi|rits, there will be weakne&s;s in the joynts; if weakne&s;s in the heart, weakne&s;&s;e in hands and limbs.</NOTE> <HI>they would cleave unto the Lord,</HI> Act. 11. 23. And <HI>the Apo&s;tle Paul</HI> calls upon us <HI>to hold fa&s;t the profe&s;sion of our hope without wavering,</HI> (without declining or tottering any way) therefore in a fixed and firmly &s;etled manner, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. 23.</P>
<P N="2">2. Vigorous putting forth of &s;trength in the way of conte&s;tation with others, for the maintenance and defence of Truth, and Purity of Do|ctrine and Wor&s;hip, and holy Go|vernment and practice, &s;o farre as is warrantable in a regular way; We are to <HI>contend earne&s;tly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints,</HI> Jude 3. and to <HI>&s;tand fa&s;t in the liber|ty wherewith Chri&s;t hath made us free, that we be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage,</HI> Gal. 5. 1.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But what need is there of &s;uch &s;trong actings to hold fa&s;t Truth and Holine&s;&s;e?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> There is need of &s;ome &s;trength in a double re&s;pect.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="72" REF="44"> 1. To hold up again&s;t inward faintings and langui&s;hings; We know that every thing is ready to fall and drop out of our hands when our natural &s;pirits faile within us; and we are faine to take Cordials &s;ometimes to &s;trengthen our &s;to|macks to retain what is taken down, which otherwi&s;e either through nau|&s;eou&s;ne&s;s or other weakne&s;&s;e would be quickly ca&s;t up again. So it is too often in the ca&s;e of the failing of gracious &s;pirits in Chri&s;tians through &s;piritual faintings, they are too ready to let fall divers truths of God, and to &s;tick in the profe&s;&s;ion of them, and to let fall practical ex|erci&s;e of holine&s;s, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> let di&s;&s;olve away the regular a&s;&s;emblings of them&s;elves together. And all this ei|ther through a nau&s;eating wearine&s;&s;e of &s;uch things by the great gathering of ill humours, or through &s;ome cau&s;ele&s;&s;e fearfull pu&s;illanimous ap|prehen&s;ions; And therefore &s;aid Chri&s;t to the Church at <HI>Sardis,</HI>
<PB N="73" REF="44"> (ver. 2.) <HI>&s;trengthen the things that remain, which are ready to dye.</HI> The remaining good things in a Church of Chri&s;t, are &s;ometimes through the weakne&s;&s;e of inward Principles rea|dy to langui&s;h and dye away, and therefore need be &s;trengthened.</P>
<P>Again, there is need of &s;trength 2ly, To retain again&s;t external vio|lences, or forcible attempts of others to wring from Chri&s;t what they hold of good, or to make them fling it away, or &s;hake it off from them. <HI>Robore hic opus e&s;&s;e judicat, quia plu|rima &s;unt quae fidelibus haec dona ex|cutere po&s;&s;unt, ni&s;i tenere omnibus mo|dis contendant,</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Pareus in lo|cum)</HI> We might be encouraged by many examples of Martyrs, yea &s;ome Heathen may be alluded to, as that of <HI>Attilius</HI> the Roman, who fighting for a Ship at Sea, held fa&s;t on her with one hand after another till both were cut off: <HI>Valer. Max.</HI> another who&s;e hands were off, held fa&s;t with his teeth; &s;o chri&s;tians &s;hould <HI>mordicus</HI>
<PB N="74" REF="45"> <HI>tenere.</HI> But I &s;hall have occa&s;ion to &s;peak more of this point by and by, under one of the Motives in the Context.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But it may be asked again, What need the people of God be charged with care of duty of this na|ture, &s;ince there be &s;uch precious promi&s;es made unto them that the Lord will keep them, and pre&s;erve them, and his graces in them, &s;o that they &s;hall never depart, or fall away from him, nor ever be plucked out of his hand; but be kept, by the power of God through faith unto &s;alvation? See <HI>Jer.</HI> 32. 40. <HI>Joh.</HI> 10. 28, 29. 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 5. They that be|long to the Lord, &s;hall retaine that which &s;hall bring them, or &s;uffice to accompany them to everla&s;ting glory and happine&s;s; and why then need they be &s;olicitous about hold|ing fa&s;t that which they have?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> We have to an&s;wer di|vers things.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, For particular per&s;ons, even
<PB N="75" REF="45"> &s;uch as are elect, and called, and per|&s;waded too of their intere&s;t in &s;uch precious promi&s;es, they notwith|&s;tanding the&s;e promi&s;es, are obliged by command from God to look to their own &s;elf-&s;piritual pre&s;ervation, and that in a &s;ub&s;erviency to Gods providence for the accompli&s;hment of his promi&s;es. It was not &s;aid un|groundedly by that Ancient, (&s;o it be rightly under&s;tood) <HI>Qui creavit te &s;ine te, non &s;ervabit te &s;ine te,</HI> &amp;c. God hath ordered mo&s;t wi&s;ely and ju&s;tly, that the fir&s;t &s;park of grace which he giveth to his beloved ones, &s;hould be employed and improved in&s;trumentally under his own &s;u|preme agency for both their pre&s;er|vation, and advance of their happy condition; Therefore (mark it) the fear which he puts into their hearts, that is, that holy circum&s;pect fear, (not &s;ecure pre|&s;umption) is made a pre&s;ervative for their not departing away from him, in that <HI>Jer.</HI> 32. 40. And though he
<PB N="76" REF="46"> keep them by his own power, yet it it is through the continued acting and exerci&s;ing of their faith that he keeps them unto &s;alvation; In that 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 5.</P>
<P>Secondly, For particular Church|es gathered in vi&s;ible communion and frame of Government, there be no promi&s;es made unto any of them, (for ought I have heard, and remem|ber) nor ever were, that they &s;hould be perpetually pre&s;erved either without decay, or without di&s;&s;olu|tion; and therefore there is no cau&s;e why Church-members &s;hould be re|mi&s;&s;e and negligent in holding fa&s;t tho&s;e Church-Ordinances, Liberties, and Priviledges which they enjoy at pre&s;ent, if they regard the good of that collective body whereof they are, becau&s;e they have no ground of promi&s;e to pretend for &s;ecurity a|gain&s;t a &s;uddain change and altera|tion.</P>
<P>Yea thirdly, &s;uppo&s;e a promi&s;e made to a particular Church for its
<PB N="77" REF="46"> pre&s;ervation for a time, yet the Lord will not have that Church &s;lacken her care, and endeavour of pre&s;erving her &s;elf, no not during that &s;ea&s;on. My proof by way of in&s;tance is near at hand: Chri&s;t made a promi&s;e to this Church at <HI>Philadel|phia</HI> (in the ver&s;e before my Text) that he would <HI>keep her from the hour of temptation that &s;hould come upon all the world, to try them that do dwell upon the earth,</HI> and yet pre&s;ently he forewarns her to hold that fa&s;t which &s;he had; This is very ob&s;ervable; She might not expo&s;tulate, Lord, &s;ince thou wilt keep me, what need I take any care of keeping my &s;elf? No; Churches as Churches mu&s;t learn to &s;erve under Gods promi&s;es and providences for their own good as well as particular Chri&s;tians: And Gods known purpo&s;ed indulgences &s;hould not occa&s;ion his &s;ervants neg|ligences. How much more cau&s;e then have tho&s;e Churches to take this warning, which have no &s;uch
<PB N="78" REF="47"> &s;pecial promi&s;es made unto them, as none of the particular Churches of Chri&s;t (for ought I know) have at this day?</P>
<P>The&s;e things being in &s;ome &s;ort cleared, I &s;hall pe&s;ent you with what I have further to &s;ay in the way of u&s;ual improvement of the Doctrine delivered.</P>
<P><HI>U&s;e</HI> 1. Fir&s;t, I be&s;eech you to make u&s;e of this Point by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">y of Caution in reference to the Object. We have heard what it is which the &s;ervants and Churches of Chri&s;t re|&s;pectively are to hold fa&s;t. Now becau&s;e there is a tenacity, a di&s;po|&s;ition to hold fa&s;t &s;omething or other in every one, and yet every thing which one hath is not worth holding fa&s;t, therefore let us try what it is only that we have; be &s;ure to hold fa&s;t that which is good: ye know well the Apo&s;tles Precept, 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 5. 21. <HI>Prove all things, hold fa&s;t that which is good:</HI> we have found the things in kind, that &s;ingle Chri&s;tians, and con|joyn'd
<PB N="79" REF="47"> Chri&s;tians in Church-fellow|&s;hip are to hold fa&s;t re&s;pectively: <HI>viz.</HI> matter of Doctrine, and of Re|ligious and Moral practice, and of Church-admini&s;tration; Now all the&s;e are to be proved, and then &s;o farre as found good &s;tedfa&s;tly re|tained. Here divers things might be &s;poken touching the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of proving and trying.</P>
<P>Touching the cour&s;e taken for <HI>proving;</HI> what, would the Apo&s;tle have Chri&s;tians wander up and down into every Conventicle, or every corner to hear the broachers of all &s;orts of Opinions? or, would he have Chri&s;tians adventure to tra|vell into all Countries, and to in|termingle in all &s;orts of companies, to get information what all men hold, and all men practice? O no; Beloved, wofull experience in our times, &s;hews that a number of light-headed, curious gadders, and travel|lers, having no balla&s;t of weighty judgement in them, are &s;o to&s;&s;ed up
<PB N="80" REF="48"> and down with the various kindes of Opinions and waves of mens pra|ctices, cla&s;hing and breaking one up|on another, that they &s;carce ever come to &s;ide at Anchor at Sea, much le&s;&s;e put in at any &s;afe Harbor, but &s;till fluctuate as Scepticks in Opi|on, and Antinomi&s;ts in practice, and half Athei&s;ts at lea&s;t in both; We need not wander up and down for variety to bring under trial; for we may finde too much brought home to us to our own places, to ex|erci&s;e our judgements if we have any, and if not, to di&s;tract and di&s;quiet us.</P>
<P>A great part of <HI>Solomons</HI> curious &s;carch experimentally was &s;o unne|ce&s;&s;ary and un&s;eemly, as we may &s;uppo&s;e it co&s;t him a great deale of repentance afterward. I &s;ay no more of this.</P>
<P>But then again, for what is nece&s;|&s;arily brought under our eye for proving, remember that our onely true te&s;t, or <HI>touch&s;tone,</HI> or rule for <HI>proving, is the written Word of God.</HI>
<PB N="81" REF="48"> And yet here we need begg of God &s;ound wi&s;dom how to make a right u&s;e of this proving touch&s;tone; for &s;urely it is mo&s;t gro&s;ly abu&s;ed, and wre&s;ted, and perverted among our people at this day, what through want of Learning, what through want of humility, becau&s;e they would be dogmatizing. And I fear there be crept in among them a number of Popi&s;h and profane witts, who though &s;ecret &s;coffers at the Scrip|tures, are leaders into manifold Errors by counterfeiting very great|ly a reverence to Scripture Authori|ty, and urging the letter of it, and expre&s;s commands, and examples from it, while in the mean time they aime at both the di&s;paragement of Scriptures, and the confu&s;ion of their &s;illy &s;elf-conceited follow|ers. The Lord direct us all to a right e&s;teem and u&s;e of holy Writ; for 'tis po&s;&s;ible there may be &s;uch found like tho&s;e of old who <HI>melted,</HI> and moulded their <HI>golden earings</HI> (of pre|cious
<PB N="82" REF="49"> Doctrines, if right u&s;ed) into <HI>Idolatrous Images;</HI> And &s;uch as can turn <HI>a bra&s;en Serpent</HI> from a divine in&s;titution, to become a &s;uper&s;titious Idol.</P>
<P>Thus having con&s;idered well what cour&s;e we take in the way of Trial, let us, (as was &s;aid) <HI>hold fa&s;t only that which is good;</HI> Onely pure and holy Doctrine, onely approvable, gracious practice &s;uitable to &s;uch Doctrine; and in Church-re&s;pects, whether as Pa&s;tors and Teachers or other Eccle&s;ia&s;tick Officers, onely &s;uch admini&s;trations, and wayes of Government as may be found a|greeable to the minde and word of our Lord Je&s;us.</P>
<P>It is ob&s;ervable, that duty of this nature in our Text, <HI>viz. to hold what was had already,</HI> is either expre&s;ly, or implicitely charged upon every one of tho&s;e <HI>A&s;ian</HI> Churches written to by Chri&s;t, except that of <HI>Laodi|cea;</HI> for all the re&s;t had &s;omewhat commended in them, but &s;he no|thing,
<PB N="83" REF="49"> as if &s;he had nothing worthy to hold fa&s;t; But why this? Had &s;he not much precious Doctrine re|tained by her? Grant it, yet it &s;eems while &s;he held her luke-warm temp|er in point of Government and Di&s;|cipline, all her Doctrine was as if it were not; O Beloved, that we had not yet among&s;t us a number of old <HI>Laodiceans</HI> ob&s;tructing what they can, all proceeding in way of a right&punc; wi&s;e, and &s;ober Reformation, and zealous onely to damp the zeale of people that way, and &s;tifly to hold fa&s;t humane &s;uper&s;titious inventions, and their proud vain-glorious con|ceits of them. The Lord &s;often and bend their &s;pirits.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="U&s;e"> <HI>U&s;e</HI> 2. A &s;econd U&s;e of this Point let be by way of <HI>Exhortation,</HI> or Inci|tation to the act&punc; O that we would all &s;tirre up our &s;elves to all care and diligence to hold fa&s;t what good we have, and let us all be &s;tirred up thereunto at pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>Surely there are very &s;trong Mo|tives
<PB N="84" REF="50"> hereunto, which may ea&s;ily be perceived, if we look about us. I &s;hall only pre&s;s a little tho&s;e two, which lie on either hand the duty in our Text, or what is equivalent thereunto.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is in the beginning of the ver&s;e, <HI>[Behold, I come quickly]</HI> &s;aith the Lord Je&s;us; A Motive taken from his quick apprehen&s;ion unto them. Now that &s;peedy coming of his needs not to be under&s;tood meerly of a per&s;onal vi&s;ible com|ing, but of his coming in &s;uch ways of providence, as wherein he was to be under&s;tood as vertually and effe|ctually pre&s;ent for the mannaging of them, and &s;o we mu&s;t needs un|der&s;tand the phra&s;e, Chap. 2. 5, 16. <HI>Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen&punc; and repent, and do the fir&s;t works, or el&s;e I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candle|stick out of his place, except thou re|pent. Repent, or el&s;e I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight again&s;t them with the &s;word of my mouth.</HI> Where his quick coming was doubt|le&s;&s;e
<PB N="85" REF="50"> in a way of puni&s;hment, or cha|&s;ti&s;ement, &amp;c. But how are we here to under&s;tand Chri&s;t his quick coming?</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>In a way of Trial.</HI> He had intimated immediately before, that there was an <HI>hour of tentation coming upon all the world, to try them that dwelt upon the earth:</HI> and he is to be thought to be in that trial, profe&s;&s;ing him&s;elf to be the <HI>(&s;earcher of the reins and heart,</HI> Chap. 2. 23.) and here as referring unto it, he &s;aith, <HI>Behold,</HI> [take notice] <HI>I come quickly, viz.</HI> to try you among other in that hour of temptation; what hour was that? Im|mediately it &s;ignified (as &s;ome Ex|po&s;itors think with good con&s;ent) that per&s;ecution which &s;oon after followed upon the Churches under the reign of <HI>Trajanus</HI> the Emperour, and in which per&s;ecution <HI>Philadel|phia</HI> was tried as well as other. <HI>Stra|bo</HI> the Geographer writes that <HI>Phi|ladelphia</HI> was <HI>[terrae motibus crebr&ograve; concu&s;&s;a]</HI> often &s;haken with Earth|quakes; Well, whatever natural, or
<PB N="86" REF="51"> proper Earthquakes, &s;he as a City with the region thereabout was &s;ub|ject unto, certainly as &s;he was a Church, both &s;he and others in tho&s;e Primitive times, were often &s;haken with Political Earthquakes, &s;haking violences and a&s;&s;aults by Adver&s;a|ries, threatning their ruine and de|&s;truction. And le&s;t this con&s;ide|ration &s;hould not &s;eem to reach us at this day, take notice, that in the judgement of many godly learned, there is now an <HI>hour of temptation</HI> drawing on upon the pre&s;ent reform|ed Churches of Chri&s;t which &s;weetly an&s;wer to <HI>Philadelphia,</HI> (to &s;ay no more) wherein they are likely to be extreamly &s;haken, and &s;o tryed to the purpo&s;e; Nay, be there not &s;ome &s;ymptomes that &s;uch an hour is already entred upon &s;ome of them? Is there not an horrible tempe&s;t al|ready ri&s;en among the <HI>poor reformed Churches in Piedmont,</HI> which hath al|ready &s;haken divers of them in pie|ces, and &s;cattered them among the
<PB N="87" REF="51"> Mountains, and &s;ome other neigh|bouring places where they may hope for no &s;helter? Now how &s;oon, and how farre the like Earthquakes may &s;hake other Churches and places, the Lord onely knows; but the proba|bility of a time of &s;haking triall to pa&s;&s;e over all, may be &s;ufficient ground of warning to hold fa&s;t what good we have; Never are men more in danger to let go what they have, than when they are terribly &s;haken: never were the <HI>Di&s;ciples</HI> in more danger of taking &s;candal at Chri&s;t, and letting go their hold of him, than when <HI>Satan de&s;ired to &s;ift,</HI> and <HI>winnow them as wheat,</HI> (Luke 22. 31.) Therefore in apprehen&s;ion of &s;uch a time, that the reformed Churches abroad, and we together with them may hold fa&s;t that we have, They that &s;eem to be <HI>as pil|lars in the hou&s;e of God,</HI> (Gal. 2. 9.) (though they be not u&s;ed as that pro|phetical <HI>Simeon</HI> did tho&s;e Material Pillars before an Earthquake, yet)
<PB N="88" REF="52"> need &s;uch a warning as he gave them, Stand fa&s;t, for we &s;hall be &s;ha|ken.</P>
<P>2ly, under&s;tand here Chri&s;t his coming quickly in <HI>a way of mercy</HI> to moderate the trial, &amp; to deliver from the power of temptation, <HI>q. d.</HI> I come quickly to re&s;tore thee; Thy troubles and trials &s;hall not la&s;t long; The tri|als of the Church of <HI>Smyrna</HI> were mea&s;ured by dayes, and were called <HI>tribulations of ten dayes;</HI> (&s;uppo&s;e years to be under&s;tood by dayes, as u&s;ually in this book, that was no long time) But here the Churches time of temptation is mea&s;ured, (I cannot &s;ay by hours, but) onely by an <HI>hour;</HI> it is foretold onely to be an hour, that is, a very &s;hort time of tem|ptation, And truely Beloved, &s;uch &s;hort trials 'tis conceived and hoped will be the remaining trials of the re|formed Churches, how &s;harp &s;oever they may be for the while; But what|ever their duration may be, ye know what the Apo&s;tle &s;aid, that <HI>our</HI> (the
<PB N="89" REF="52"> Churches) <HI>afflictions are but for a moment,</HI> (2 Cor. 4. 17.) Now therefore as Chri&s;t &s;aid to his Di&s;|ciples, what? <HI>Could ye not watch with me one hour?</HI> So I &s;ay, &s;hall we not hold fa&s;t what we have one houre, not one moment, after which all hard trials &s;hall be over? O let this per|&s;wade us! E&s;pecially, &s;ince we are to under&s;tand Chri&s;t his coming quickly.</P>
<P>Thirdly, <HI>In a way of judicature,</HI> to call men to an account, and to di|&s;tribute rewards according to their works; To &s;hew him&s;elf gracious and bountifull to &s;uch as do hold fa&s;t the good they have till he come, and &s;evere toward others. See Chap. 22. 12. <HI>And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to e|very man according as his work &s;hall be.</HI> Heb. 10. 37. <HI>For yet a little while, and he that &s;hall come will come, and will not tarry.</HI> James 5. 8. <HI>Be ye al&s;o patient; &s;tabli&s;h your hearts: for the</HI>
<PB N="90" REF="53"> <HI>coming of the Lord draweth nigh.</HI> But the meditation of this will carry me into the &s;econd Motive following the duty in the latter part of this ver&s;e; pa&s;&s;e we therefore over unto it.</P>
<P><HI>[That no man take thy Crown,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Motive.</HI></NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>i. e.</HI> that no man take away thy Crown, or that thy Crown be not taken away from thee? <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>hic idem e&s;t quod</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, Matth. 5. 40. <HI>(Brightman)</HI> And doubtle&s;&s;e want of good hold fa&s;t hath lo&s;t many a Crown. It is an argument taken from the danger of lo&s;ing her Crown if &s;he did not hold fa&s;t: But withall in&s;inuating a Crown a&s;&s;ured unto her keeping fa&s;t her hold. Well,</P>
<P>Our fir&s;t enquiry here may be, <HI>what means he by her Crown?</HI> It is taken two wayes.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for that Crown &s;he had in &s;ome &s;ort already, <HI>viz.</HI> That honour which this Church had partly gotten, and was further to get by that holy
<PB N="91" REF="53"> Spiritual grave manner of admini|&s;tration, and ob&s;ervation of Gods Ordinances which carried that lu&s;tre of excellency and Authority in it, as convinced the mindes, and affected the &s;pirits even of Adver&s;aries, &s;o that they which were formerly of the <HI>Synagogue of Satan, which &s;aid they were Jews, (i. e.</HI> true wor&s;hippers of God, and of the onely Church of God) <HI>but were not, &s;hould come and wor&s;hip before the face of that Church,</HI> and acknowledge her beloved of God, and honourable, ver. 9. And in &s;ome &s;uch re&s;pect as this, did the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> call the <HI>Philippians</HI> and <HI>The&s;&s;alonians</HI> his <HI>Joy,</HI> and his <HI>Crown,</HI> Phil. 4. 1. 1 The&s;. 2. 19. For how came he to e&s;teem them &s;o? In that God was plea&s;ed by his Mini&s;tery to tran&s;late them out of darkne&s;&s;e into the kingdom of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and to make his Mini&s;tery in&s;trumentally powerfull to bring them under the yoke of Chri&s;t and to lay down their former pride, and profe&s;&s;edly to
<PB N="92" REF="54"> &s;ubject them&s;elves to the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, (2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9. 13.) yea, when per&s;ons convinced &s;hall be ready to fall down upon their face, and wor|&s;hip God, and confe&s;&s;e that God is in his &s;ervants (and Ordinances) of a truth, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. 25.</P>
<P>Secondly, For that &s;uperexcel|lent Crown, or highe&s;t honour and dignity in Heaven which God hath promi&s;ed out of his free grace, to be|&s;tow upon tho&s;e who per&s;evere in Faith and obedience to the end; that which is called the <HI>Crown of life,</HI> Chap. 2. 10. the <HI>Crown of righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e,</HI> 2 Tim. 4. 8. a <HI>Crown of glory that fadeth not away,</HI> 1 Pet. 5. 4. Now Beloved, for the Argument;</P>
<P>In re&s;pect of the former Crown it &s;tands thus. If thou do&s;t not hold fa&s;t what thou ha&s;t, thou art like to lo&s;e the glory of Go&s;pel-Mini&s;tery, and the due reverence and authority which it hath had hitherto more or le&s;&s;e in the hearts of men, and may yet further have if thou be not want|ing
<PB N="93" REF="54"> unto thy &s;elf, and negligent to retaine and keepe tho&s;e Ordi|nances and Priviledges which make for thy &s;piritual honour; And it is po&s;&s;ible for a particular Church in time to lo&s;e its Eccle&s;ia&s;tick Crown here below, as it fared long &s;ince with that Church of <HI>Philadel|phia.</HI></P>
<P>Again, In re&s;pect of the other Crown of life and glory never fading, the Argument &s;tandeth thus. Thou had&s;t need u&s;e all thy prudence, and diligence, and fortitude to hold fa&s;t what thou ha&s;t, and to per&s;evere un|to the end, le&s;t being at a lo&s;s of grace, thou be al&s;o at a lo&s;s of glo|ry. <HI>Thou stande&s;t by Faith, be not high-minded but fear,</HI> &s;aid the Apo|&s;tle, <HI>Rom</HI> 11. 20. And look we to our &s;elves <HI>that we lo&s;e not tho&s;e things which we have wrought, but that we re|ceive a full reward,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle <HI>John,</HI> (2 Joh. 8.)</P>
<P><HI>Quest.</HI> But doth not the im|plyed danger and caveat upon it
<PB N="94" REF="55"> in this &s;en&s;e infringe the certainty of the per&s;everance, and &s;alvation of the Saints?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> No, it doth not. For in the community of a vi&s;ible Church there is a mixture of Hypocrites with &s;incere Profe&s;&s;ors; Now Hypocrites may lo&s;e the Crown of glory, be|cau&s;e they never had really either true Faith, or holine&s;&s;e, but onely &s;eemed to have them, and therefore though they lo&s;e that Crown which was propo&s;ed to them to runne, and &s;trive and labour for, yet is not the tenure of divine Election in the lea&s;t weakened by their failing, becau&s;e though they were called externally, yet not elected, and never had the faith or grace of the Elect. And for &s;incere Chri&s;tians, who onely are ele|cted, though they &s;hall not lo&s;e the Crown prepared and re&s;erved for them, yet they have need of &s;uch caveats as this.</P>
<P>Partly to minde them, though they be kept by the power of God
<PB N="95" REF="55"> to &s;alvation yet in them&s;elves there is a Principle of defection and Apo|&s;tacy, and were they left unto them|&s;elves they &s;hould let go all grace, and lo&s;e all glory, and therefore need be the more wary.</P>
<P>Partly to keep them from loo&s;e|ne&s;&s;e, and defection; for Exhorta|tions and Admonitions from the mouth of God, and &s;et on by the Spirit of God, are in&s;trumental in Gods hand to &s;tirre them up to du|ty, and hold them in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">er&s;everance. The premi&s;&s;es con&s;idered, O Beloved, how &s;hould we be &s;trengthened in our re&s;olutions, and actuated in our &s;tronge&s;t endeavours to &s;tand fa&s;t, and hold fa&s;t that truth, that grace, and all tho&s;e &s;piritual li|berties and priviledges be&s;towed upon us.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="U&s;e"> <HI>U&s;e</HI> 3. A third U&s;e of this point may be to give and take &s;ome <HI>Di|rections</HI> for the more effectual pra|ctice of this Rule, &s;ince it is a thing both of &s;o much difficulty, and of &s;o
<PB N="96" REF="56"> great con&s;equence to ob&s;erve it. In the way of hopefull means therefore be plea&s;ed to take notice of the&s;e few particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. Would we hold fa&s;t what good we have per&s;onally, and Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|cally? Then take an humble recog|nition of our own weakne&s;&s;e re&s;pe|ctively. It is &s;aid of this Church of <HI>Philadelphia</HI> a little before, at ver. 8. that <HI>&s;he had</HI> [<GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>a little &s;trength;</HI> (and, indeed this duty of holdfa&s;t is directed neither to live|le&s;&s;e per&s;ons, nor meer impotent per&s;ons in &s;piritual re&s;pects) but it was but a little &s;trength. So it was with her that was one of the be&s;t of the &s;i&s;ters; we are then to be humbly apprehen&s;ive of the &s;malne&s;&s;e of our own &s;trength, even when we are at the be&s;t; And then be&s;ides, we may reflect back, and con&s;ider whe|ther in &s;ome particulars we have not &s;lipped back with <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> and <HI>fallen from our fir&s;t love,</HI> and whether we are not in &s;ome particulars in a lan|gui&s;hing
<PB N="97" REF="56"> condition as <HI>Sardis,</HI> and &s;o need to <HI>&s;trengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye;</HI> But I &s;ay we are to be humbly &s;en&s;ible of our little &s;trength at the be&s;t, and that will di&s;po&s;e us to more care to hold fa&s;t what we have, &amp;c.</P>
<P N="2">2. Take we, and keep we fa&s;t hold on God by Faith, and in the frequent exerci&s;e of Prayer, imi|tating <HI>Jacob in not letting of him go.</HI> He looks that his people &s;hould do &s;o; even to take <HI>hold of him and his &s;trength,</HI> (in a good &s;en&s;e) <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 27. 5. not in a way of pre&s;umptuous con|te&s;t with him, but for our own &s;up|port by him <HI>Stirre up our &s;elves to lay hold on him,</HI> I&s;a 64 7. For why? <HI>Qui habet habentem omnia, habet om|nia:</HI> &s;o <HI>Qui retinet, &amp;c. In his own might &s;hall no man</HI> (no Church) <HI>be &s;trong:</HI> but we may be able <HI>to do all things through Chri&s;t &s;trengthening us,</HI> and therefore we are alwaies to <HI>walk</HI> and act <HI>in the &s;trength of the Lord,</HI> (P&s;al. 71. 16.) Maintain &s;ound
<PB N="98" REF="57"> Doctrine in the &s;trength of the Lord; keep the way of holine&s;&s;e in the &s;trength of the Lord; perform all Church-duties in the &s;trength of the Lord, &amp;c.</P>
<P N="3">3. Let it be our holy covetous aime to be getting more of that good which we are to hold fa&s;t. Men of the world are ready to think that in externall things, if they be not on the increa&s;ing hand, they are on the di|mini&s;hing; And what &s;hall we think of our condition in Spirituals? If we look into the Evangelical Parable of the <HI>&s;ervants</HI> that had <HI>Talents,</HI> or <HI>Pounds</HI> committed to their u&s;ance, we may finde the <HI>evill &s;ervant</HI> there keeping his Talent, and <HI>wrapping it up in a napkin</HI> (and did he not then hold it fa&s;t?) but that proved neither plea&s;ing to his Ma&s;ter, nor comfor|table to him&s;elf, becau&s;e he &s;hould have been imploying and improving it, which becau&s;e he was not, there|fore he was &s;aid <HI>not to have,</HI> and &s;en|tenced <HI>to have that taken from him</HI>
<PB N="99" REF="57"> <HI>which he onely &s;eemed to have.</HI> For without &s;ome improvement a &s;tock cannot long be kept entire together. Wherefore in &s;piritual things, belo|ved, if we would with <HI>Philadelphia hold fa&s;t what we have,</HI> we mu&s;t affect the commendation of <HI>Thyatira,</HI> (Chap. 2. 19) <HI>to have our la&s;t works more than our fir&s;t,</HI> to advance in &s;olid know|ledge, in true and &s;incere holine&s;&s;e, and if it be po&s;&s;ible, to have our af|ter Church-Mini&s;tery, Church-A&s;|&s;emblies, Church-Admini&s;trations better than our former. This I &s;ay mu&s;t &s;till be our aime, or otherwi&s;e we &s;hall be &s;oon ca&s;t backward; when men are in a broad wheele, either to crane up things from the earth, or to draw up baskets out of the water, they are &s;till &s;teping for|ward, or el&s;e they could not &s;tay in the &s;ame place and circum&s;tances of po&s;ture where they are, (as it is al&s;o with Birds in a turning bell|cage:) And &s;o when Chri&s;tians or Church-Members are &s;et into &s;uch a
<PB N="100" REF="58"> frame, as the wheele of occurrents is &s;till turning upon them, either they mu&s;t be &s;till &s;tepping forward, or el&s;e they cannot keep the &s;ame &s;ight of their &s;tation, but be driven back|ward and overturned.</P>
<P N="4">4. We mu&s;t be indu&s;trious, and zealous in all the affairs which make for the pre&s;ervation and improve|ment of what we have: I commend that clu&s;ter of Apo&s;tolical precepts unto you in <HI>Rom.</HI> 12. 11. <HI>Be not &s;loathfull in bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, (but) fervent in Spirit, &s;erving the Lord.</HI> And the&s;e are connexed, and &s;ubordinate one to the other; Fir&s;t, <HI>Not &s;loathfull, i. e.</HI> neither altogether idle, nor remi&s;&s;e, or carele&s;&s;e how we do what we pre|tend to be doing, how &s;lowly, how &s;eldom, how &s;lightly; For he <HI>that is &s;loathfull in his work, is brother to him that is a great wa&s;ter,</HI> (Prov. 18. 9.) &s;o farre will he prove from a holder fa&s;t of what he hath; For the &s;loathful gets nothing, as the wa&s;ter &s;pends all; and &s;o in their emptine&s;s
<PB N="101" REF="58"> and needine&s;&s;e they come to &s;hake hands together.</P>
<P>Again, If we would not be &s;loath|full, we mu&s;t be <HI>fervent in Spirit;</HI> for &s;loathfulne&s;&s;e is from coldne&s;&s;e of temper corporally, or &s;piritually: and activity is from heat and ferven|cy; &s;o that unle&s;s one be &s;omewhat zealous, he cannot be con&s;tantly la|borious. As the light is gone in a manner, when the flame of a candle is extingui&s;hed, and the fire will quickly die out of the &s;nuffe: &s;o is it in Spiritual ca&s;es; unle&s;&s;e we be &s;omewhat fervent for truth and ho|line&s;&s;e, for Church-Ordinances and Di&s;cipline, we &s;hall quickly leave acting for them, and be at a lo&s;&s;e of them. Therefore <HI>be fervent in Spi|rit:</HI> And to direct our aimes and in|tentions in it, know, la&s;tly, (ac|cording to that Scripture) that we mu&s;t look at <HI>the Lords &s;ervice,</HI> as <HI>&s;er|ving the Lord,</HI> we mu&s;t be fervent in Spirit, and not &s;loathful in bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e. The Apo&s;tle bids ordinary
<PB N="102" REF="59"> <HI>&s;ervants</HI> do their Ma&s;ters &s;ervice, not as <HI>looking to them onely, but to the Lord,</HI> (Ephe&s;. 6. 7. Col. 3. 23.) How much more then &s;hould they approve them&s;elves to the Lord with all fervency of Spirit, who&s;e &s;ervice and bu&s;ine&s;&s;e is about the matters of God and his hou&s;e! The&s;e con&s;i|derations &s;urely may be helpful to Church-Officers and Members to hold fa&s;t what they have.</P>
<P N="5">5. If we be re&s;olved for con&s;tan|cy in holding fa&s;t what good we have, then let us &s;hew our &s;elves lovers and ob&s;ervers of all good Or|ders; Enemies to Order are Ene|mies to Con&s;tancy; Both together availe much for great i&s;&s;ues and at|chievements; But pervert or di&s;turb the former, and you &s;ubvert or breake the latter: cryers down of all Forms are <HI>[mon&s;tra informia]</HI> un|&s;hapen Mon&s;ters, as oppo&s;ite to God in their endeavours as may be; for whereas God brought a bounti|ful <HI>Creation</HI> out of a Chao's, They
<PB N="103" REF="59"> would reduce all into a Chao's again, might they have their will, or wi&s;hes, for ought appears by their words. Plainly therefore, would we retaine either &s;oundne&s;&s;e of Doctrine, or holine&s;&s;e of life? we mu&s;t pray, and endeavour to keep good order in all Church-Admini&s;trations. Marke that of the Apo&s;tle in <HI>Colo&s;.</HI> 2. 5. <HI>Rejoycing</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>and beholding your order,</HI> and the <HI>&s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e of your faith in Chri&s;t.</HI> He joynes Or|der with &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e, and puts Or|der (though the le&s;s) before &s;tedfa&s;t|ne&s;&s;e of faith, (though the greater) becau&s;e Order conduceth much unto &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;s. And wherefore is there &s;o much un&s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e this day among our people, even about the mo&s;t important points of Faith, but becau&s;e they are all out of Or|der? No Rule held over them, their Traces cut, the Reins ca&s;t upon their necks, and the communalty of them unskilful to rule them&s;elves; I &s;peak in reference to Spirituals: They
<PB N="104" REF="60"> wander from one Church unto ano|ther, now they are in one Conven|ticle or A&s;&s;embly, and then in ano|ther; In one place they meet with &s;ome good Principles (it may be) but in another with bad, and gather matter of corruption of minde, and practice one piece after another, and how then &s;hould they hold fa&s;t what good they had? How much then doth it concern us all in our &s;everal places, to keep Order and Rules of Government? And would to God our Rulers at length would power|fully help us all to keep &s;uch as may be &s;ound, undoubtedly approve|able.</P>
<P N="6">6 Exerci&s;e patience (as this Church did ver. 10. <HI>keeping the word of Chri&s;ts patience,</HI> not only the rule pre&s;cribing patience, but patience it &s;elf pre&s;cribed by that rule.) For patience is nece&s;&s;ary unto per&s;eve|rance in a good profe&s;&s;ion, in a good practice, whether publickly or pri|vately. The impatient per&s;on doth
<PB N="105" REF="60"> not <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;s his own &s;oul,</HI> (&s;ee <HI>Luk.</HI> 21. 19.) he hath not an hold fa&s;t of him &s;elf, and therefore what el&s;e can he hold fa&s;t? If we would like good plants retain our moi&s;ture, our &s;u&s;tenance, and <HI>bring forth fruit to perfection, it mu&s;t be with patience,</HI> Luke 8. 15. If we <HI>would do the will of God</HI> (ac|cording to our places) throughly, and con&s;tantly, &s;o as <HI>to receive the promi&s;es, we have need of patience,</HI> Hebr. 10. 36. Wherefore do &s;o many depart from God, and turn from his truth, and will, and way, but becau&s;e they are impatient, and will not wait Gods lei&s;ure, till he vindicate his own cau&s;e, or means effectually for the clearing up of Controver&s;ies, and reforming of things ami&s;s, and &s;o falling a mourn|ing that things are carried cro&s;&s;e unto their former Principles, and per&s;wa|&s;ions, they fling out and are carried headily any way that may give them mo&s;t pre&s;ent contentment, whate|ver it may do afterward. But
<PB N="106" REF="61"> not to tire your patience too long:</P>
<P N="7">7. Approve we our &s;elves right <HI>Philadelphians,</HI> that is, (according to the Etymon of the word) <HI>Brotherly lovers,</HI> and lovers of the Brethren. See 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 4. 9. <HI>But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you: for ye your &s;elves are taught of God to love one another.</HI> Heb. 13. 1. <HI>Let brotherly love continue.</HI> Without this we cannot keep long in any good order: nor keep in patience long, &amp;c. Nor (which is the main) keep long in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion and pra|ctice of truth and holine&s;s. Mark that Context, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 12, 3. <HI>Forbear|ing one another in love. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.</HI> If we break in point of love, we quickly break the bond of peace, and love being broken, we cannot long keep the unity of the Spirit; what is that? Unity in the di&s;po&s;ition of our &s;pirits, in judge|ments and affections: But there mu&s;t be more then that, <HI>viz.</HI> 2. Unity of
<PB N="107" REF="61"> our &s;pirits in a&s;&s;ent and adherence to Gods Spirit, his Doctrines, his Prin|ciples, his Ordinances; that &s;o our unity may be evidenced to be 3. U|nitiy wrought by the Holy Spirit of God, knitting us together as Mem|bers of one My&s;tical body, after a Spiritual and My&s;tical manner. To the keeping of this, I &s;ay, brotherly love is requi&s;ite. No marvel there|fore if we hold not fa&s;t what we had, (I &s;peak of the common hold fa&s;t) &s;ince there is &s;uch want of brotherly love among us, &s;ince our peo|ple are fallen into &s;o many Divi&s;i|ons and breaches; A condition with tears of blood to be lamented; And O that all <HI>Sarden&s;es</HI> and <HI>Laodiceans</HI> about us would <HI>tran&s;ire in ca&s;tra,</HI> or rather <HI>in tentoria Philadelphen&s;ium.</HI> Then might we &s;ee happy times, and God can bring them on when he plea&s;eth.</P>
<P>Mean while, let us Beloved &s;hew our &s;elves right <HI>Philadelphians,</HI> of an humble, meek, loving, gentle, yet a
<PB N="108" REF="62"> couragious, and tenacious &s;pirit to hold fa&s;t true Doctrine and Di&s;ci|pline, holine&s;&s;e of life and conver|&s;ation. Our love one toward ano|ther will &s;trengthen the hearts and hands one of another, and the failing of it as much weaken us, &amp;c. Let Angels, and Officers of Churches think of this in the fir&s;t place, who are to be Lights and Guides to others in the wayes of Love, and Peace: But then all the Members of our Churches in their &s;everal places.</P>
<P>And (to clo&s;e all) Let us &s;hew our &s;elves <HI>Philadelphians</HI> in our &s;ym|pathetical affections in love towards our Brethren of the reformed Churches beyond the Seas, and of neighbouring Nations, becau&s;e we all profe&s;s to hold the &s;ame good things of God, both for Doctrine and Di&s;cipline for the main &s;ub|&s;tance of it: More &s;pecially &s;ym|pathize with them who are now in an hour of temptation to try them. Pray that though they could not
<PB N="109" REF="62"> hold fa&s;t what they had in Hou|&s;es, Lands, and other outward po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ions, nor Mini&s;ters, nor Churches, nor their neare&s;t relations (many of them) yet they may hold fa&s;t true faith and good con&s;ciences to the end (as many of tho&s;e that have been ma&s;|&s;acred already, did to the end) as divers of their Ance&s;tors al&s;o did &s;ee many foregoing Generations; And con|tribute al&s;o toward them in love&punc; for the relief of their nece&s;&s;ities, as we &s;hall be &s;hortly called upon to do in our re&s;pective places.</P>
<P>Now who &s;o in the u&s;e of &s;uch meanes, &s;hall hold fa&s;t that which he hath of Truth, and Grace, and per&s;evering overcome, Chri&s;t pro|mi&s;eth him in the ver&s;e following, that <HI>he will make him pillar in the Temple of his God, and he &s;hall goe no more out.</HI> A ver&s;e very well worthy our attendance unto a fur|ther explanation of it; but the time now cuts me off, &amp;c.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
