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<DATE>2012-03-27</DATE>
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<NAME>Holly (Beeman) Smith</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>Jeru&s;alems Glory, OR, THE <HI>SAINTS SAFETIE</HI> In Eying the Churches Security, wherein is &s;hewed the Captives Redre&s;s:</P>
<P>Being an Invitation to all the different minded men in the World to become one; with the advan|tage of Unity, and the danger of Va|riety from the Example of the Saints and Servants of God, as well in former as the&s;e latter times.</P>
<P>Offered to the View of the 97 Builders imployed in that Work, for the Building of the True Temple, and all others.</P>
<P>By THOMAS WATSON, a lover of peace.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Rom. 2.13, 14, 15.</HI></BIBL> For not the Hearers of the Law are ju&s;t before God, but the Doers of the Law &s;hall be ju&s;tified, for when the Gentiles which have not a Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, the&s;e having not a Law, are a Law un|to them&s;elves, which &s;hew the work of the Law written in their hearts, their Con&s;cience al&s;o bea|ring them witne&s;s, and their thoughts in the mean while accu&s;ing, or el&s;e excu&s;ing one another.</Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. C.</HI> for the Authour. 1661.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Courteous Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Having pre&s;ented the&s;e few following ob|&s;ervations to your view, de&s;iring your &s;e|rious meditation, &amp; your moderate &s;en&s;ure on what I have here in&s;erted; and if I have of|fered nothing more to thy view then what was manife&s;tly known to thee before, yet do not di&s;dain it, nor the day of &s;mall things; but rather rejoyce to &s;ee the &s;ame light break forth in me, as thou ha&s;t pri&s;ed in thy &s;elf; and know that he that goeth up to Heaven by <HI>Jacobs</HI> Ladder, mu&s;t not di&s;dain the fir&s;t
<PB REF="3">&s;tep; but &s;uppo&s;e that this my &s;mall Treati&s;e &s;hould meet with no acceptance within thy more &s;olid fiction, but that it may &s;eem alto|gether opo&s;ite to tho&s;e thy friendly gue&s;ts, that have had admittance granted to a&s;ociate them&s;elves within thy more noble confines; yet &s;eeing I have tendered my mind to thee &s;o freely, expecting rather to involve thee in the circumference of my love, than any waies to render thee the object of my envy; let it &s;uffice thee, rather to pa&s;&s;e by tho&s;e things that may &s;eem oppo&s;ite to thy under|&s;tanding, with a dubious &s;en&s;ure, and not conclude ra&s;hly, that all things that may &s;cem difficult to thy apprehen&s;ion, mu&s;t en|forcedly be fal&s;e; but rather imagine there may be wrong con&s;truction enforced upon my endeared intention, as well as an igno|rance in my writing; for many things may po&s;&s;ibly &s;eem current to thee in thy own agi|tations, when it may be, if they &s;hould but be brought to the Touch-&s;tone of Chri&s;t, and his Apo&s;tles, would prove no better then held by cu&s;tome and u&s;e from others, rather then from the reall grounds of the Scripture: even &s;o it is very probable, that &s;everal con|&s;tructions will be concluded upon this my &s;mall Treati&s;e; for he that doth appear in
<PB REF="3">print to the open view of all men, mu&s;t not think it har&s;h to receive the retorting frowns of a di&s;liking &s;pirit in &s;ome things, wherein it may be he may be void of offence, or at lea&s;t of offending them. And as for my part, had I not learned to have born &s;uch a burthen, it had been in vain for me to have taken a Pen in my hand, &s;eeing I intend not my pre&s;ent to any particular per&s;on, yet to every one, and among&s;t &s;o many &s;everal imagined waies of wor&s;hip, I am nece&s;&s;itated to be lookt at a|wry by &s;ome, and in ca&s;e my di&s;likers &s;hould take a Pen in hand with any other intent, it is very probable they might be fru&s;trated in their aime; and if I had looked for an applau&s;e from men, I might have injoyed more in &s;i|lence then in manife&s;ting my mind, and laying my &s;elf openly to the view of my enemies, if any &s;uch there be; but let all men con|clude, if they expect any an&s;wer from me in that nature, they will be far mi&s;taken in their intentions for I have not &s;o learned Chri&s;t, as to make him my &s;talking hor&s;e, to carry my envy; but rather de&s;ire his a&s;&s;i&s;tance as an ayd, to admoni&s;h all men; for love hath &s;o much of the nature of truth, that it will abo|li&s;h all envy, and pride, and &s;elf-conceited|ne&s;&s;e and fear, &s;o that I would have all men
<PB REF="4">to under&s;tand that I account it below me to take notice of any any ones prai&s;e, or di&s;|prai&s;e in this thing, yet not below me to manife&s;t what I have received, and to con|tend for the truth, and not to bind my Ta|lent up in a Napkin, lea&s;t I &s;hould neglect the doing of the will of my Ma&s;ter, and &s;o be called to an account for it: therefore I do not pri&s;e the &s;en&s;ures of any, I having &s;uch a freedom in my intention as to my writing this my weak and more reall information.</P>
<P>And as for what any one is plea&s;ed to &s;tate me, either their friend or enemy, I have this hope, that as I &s;hall not be much moved by any various manife&s;tations in men, &s;o likewi&s;e I &s;hall endeavour to keep my &s;elf from de&s;er|ving any envy from any one, knowing that truth may have many Batteries, yet the Fort will be re&s;igned fully to it at the la&s;t; happy is he that is a Souldier in this undeprivable conque&s;t, great will be his reward above all the endowments of this life, he need not pre&s;&s;e after the en&s;laving rudiments of this life, to &s;erve where he ought to be &s;erved, &s;o as to Captivate that noble grain of wheat, by any un&s;eemly tares of mans inventions, but his delight is in a more higher and bright lu&s;tre far tran&s;cending any injoyment in this
<PB REF="4">life, or of this fabricating, what though his time here in this his earthly Tabernacle &s;eem as it were a pilgrimage of di&s;tre&s;&s;e to what others do enjoy, yet when he looketh homeward, he hath more cau&s;e to rejoyce then to mourn; for what plea&s;ure can any man a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf of in any thing that is decayable, if he do but ca&s;t his eye toward the Rock from whence he was hewn. Suppo&s;e thou &s;hould&s;t be made heir of all the promi&s;ing delights that the whole earth could afford; yet if thou do&s;t not im|prove them to the advantage of thy Lord and Ma&s;ter, it had been good for thee if thou had&s;t never known any thing of that nature, but &s;uppo&s;e thou &s;houlde&s;t make a right u&s;e of them, yet can&s;t thou not a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elf of any continuance with them; for thou art not at thy own di&s;po&s;ing, but mu&s;t give up thy power to him of whom thou rente&s;t or bor|rowe&s;t thy time &s;ince thy appearance in thy fir&s;t State. O loo&s;e not the &s;ub&s;tance for a few fading vanities, which are but as dry Husks, that can never &s;atisfie any, though they have never &s;o many of them, it is the nature of them to breed de&s;ire, and not to quench de&s;ire, nor to enrich your Trea&s;ury of content that is but a Pearl; but that mu&s;t be received from the Bridegroom, when he
<PB REF="5">cometh to welcome his gue&s;ts, and to adorne each of his friends with a Crown of glory and immortality, and eternal life, which every one &s;hall receive that hath the wedding gar|ment on, when he &s;hall appear in his glory, to &s;hew us the heavenly man&s;ions that he hath prepared for us; therefore let us u&s;e all endeavours po&s;&s;ibly we can to nouri&s;h that more noble Seed, and let us beware we do not &s;tifle it in its womb, but rather &s;eek to cherri&s;h it by feeding upon moderation, that &s;o its Birth may be ha&s;tned, and its glory ma|nife&s;ted, and then thy plea&s;ant pa&s;tures will be beautified with that incomparable Lilly, even righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that &s;o it may produce the effectual crop of peace and holine&s;s, with|out which no man can &s;ee God, &amp; let us not become only hearers of the word, but doers of it al&s;o, knowing that the time pa&s;t may &s;uffice us to walk as we have walked, in the vanity of our minds, therefore now let us &s;eek to lay a&s;ide all &s;uch &s;uperfluities of naughtine&s;s that we may learn to receive the grafted word in meekne&s;s, that is able to &s;ave our &s;ouls, and not to &s;pend our time in eying the &s;eeming delights of this world, but ra|ther manife&s;t your &s;elves to be &s;uch as &s;eek a Kingdom who&s;e foundation is laid in truth
<PB REF="5">and righteou&s;ne&s;s, and to lay up our Trea|&s;ure, where neither Moth nor Canker can po|lute, nor thieves break thorough to &s;teale away, that &s;o we may ayme at that mark in which we may have ju&s;t cau&s;e of joy in the end; for where our Trea&s;ure is there will our hearts be al&s;o: &s;o &s;hall we approve our &s;elves to be the friends of God by doing the will of God, and then our beauty will be|come perfect thorough his comeline&s;s, and we &s;hall receive an unction from the Holy One, whereby we may come to know all things, yea, even the deep things of God; and to per|&s;i&s;t from one degree of righteou&s;ne&s;s to ano|ther, and to trea&s;ure up for our &s;elves that hope that will purge out all uncleanne&s;s, and cau&s;e us to walk more wi&s;ely, and to mourne over him whom we have pierced, that neither grave nor death may have any more then what was a&s;&s;igned them from the beginning, that &s;o we may joyfully and conqueringly &s;ing, <HI>O death where is thy &s;ting, O grave where is thy victory?</HI> This is the conque&s;t that we have gained if we Love God, we &s;hall not want that &s;piritual food, becau&s;e he loveth us, and hereby &s;hall we know if we love him or not, for he that loveth God keepeth his Commandments, and his Commandements
<PB REF="6">are not grievous unto him. Thus de&s;iring each one that &s;hall peru&s;e this my vulgar yet more loving pre&s;ent, to wholly uncloath them&s;elves of all envy, lea&s;t whereas they think to dart my weak endeavours with any envions dart, they over-&s;trein their hand in venting it, and &s;o make them&s;elves altogather unfit for their more expedient war, by &s;eming to inflict any former grudge upon this my pre|&s;ent Treati&s;e; but I would advi&s;e any one that hath any thing again&s;t me, to let me &s;uffer for that, in that nature that they do &s;uppo&s;e me to be guilty in, rather then to defame any one thing here, that their con&s;cience may tell them is truth, and let them render me what they plea&s;e, I hope I &s;hall have love e|nough to bani&s;h all thoughts of envy, that may &s;eek to encroach into my delightful Trea&s;u|ry, from whence this &s;mall Treati&s;e did pro|ceed. I know many may be retorting upon me for the vulgarne&s;s of my Speech, but let them conclude, had I had as much lea&s;ure to indite as they may have to peru&s;e each word, I might have mended &s;ome of tho&s;e expre&s;&s;i|ons that they may judge correctible, but let not any envy my mean in&s;tructions, know|ing that they might proceed from as effectual a fountain of fervency as if they had had the
<PB REF="6">glo&s;&s;e of more curious wits, a&s;&s;uring them|&s;elves it is an ea&s;ier thing to correct an error in anothers Book, or to think they can, then to write a Book void of others &s;en&s;uring the &s;ame by them, if not proving it, thus let it &s;uffice each of my &s;uperiours, that I have not any ways hindered the building of the Tem|ple intentionally, but rather endeavouted to lend them my helping hand, to hew one &s;mall Stone fit for the builders u&s;e, and if I finde that my endeavours may any wayes further or ha&s;ten the work, I &s;hall have great cau&s;e to rejoyce, and it will be a great encourage|ment for me to per&s;evere in my intended work, and to continue, &s;eeking to plea&s;ure you with one more effectually wrought; therefore let me entreat you not to di&s;pi&s;e the workman&s;hip of this, I knowing my &s;elf altogether unworthy to be employed &s;o far as to take theis work in hand, yet if my will|ingne&s;s &s;tir up the Spirits of any in the per|&s;uance of this work, let them attribute the honour of it to the chief owner of the work, by whom I was both employed and in&s;tructed, and if any thing may prove advantagious to you in this my invitation of love, repay it to my In&s;tructer, and do not &s;et up an Image in your hearts to be&s;tow any thing of obedience to it, but &s;acrifice your whole heart to him
<PB REF="7">from whom you receive your life, and beeing, that &s;o we may pre&s;&s;e forward toward the marke of the price of the free calling of God, by yielding him all the preheminence of what he hath wrought for us; and let us manife&s;t our &s;elves to be his &s;ervants by plan|ting the fruitful Vine of Love, that &s;o our Lords Vineyard may yield him its propper fruits in due &s;ea&s;on; and as he hath demon|&s;trated him&s;elf to be a God, and a Father to us: &s;o we may re&s;ign up the &s;trength of our minds, to &s;erve him in his commands, and then we &s;hall receive the reward of good &s;er|vants, which will be unto us of more value then all the delight&s;ome Husks of this life, which at the be&s;t are but tran&s;itory and changeable, as in re&s;pect of our more dura|ble riches. What though all the unfrequent gu&s;ts of per&s;ecution may meet us in our pro|gre&s;s, into the &s;everal Revolutions in this world, whence po&s;&s;ibly we may receive the lo&s;&s;e of all other &s;eeming plea&s;ures, by tho&s;e that are contradictors of the truth, yet here will be our comfort, that we have a trea&s;ure that no man can take from us; if we keep clo&s;e to the truth, no one can take away that trea&s;ure that is laid up for all tho&s;e that &s;hall be found Conquerours, by the overcom|ming of the lu&s;ts and pride of this world, in
<PB REF="7">their exactne&s;s in the wayes of truth, their plea&s;ure will be in de&s;iring to be at their home and center, knowing that there they &s;hall take their repo&s;e, whereas before they are di&s;&s;olved from their earthly tabernacle, or hou&s;e of this life, per&s;ecutions and afflicti|ons are, or ought to be as welcome gue&s;ts as joy is expedient in that that is to come, and herein is that ancient &s;aying verefied, that the way to Heaven is thorow a Helli&s;h &s;tate of per&s;ecution; therefore in thy highe&s;t a&s;pirings let this be thy aim, that Gods plea&s;ure may be thine, and take up thy Cro&s;&s;e and follow him, not valuing all the lets and impediments that may &s;eek to hinder thee, from returning to thy con&s;tant and abidable re&s;t, by de&s;iring thy beloved to make ha&s;t to involve thee in his arms, where thou may&s;t &s;ing unanimou&s;ly all prai&s;e be to thee O God; And in the mean time de&s;ire thy beloved, to <HI>&s;et thee as a &s;eale upon his heart, as a &s;eal upon his arm; for love is &s;trong as death, and jealou&s;ie is cruel as the Grave: the Coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a mo&s;t vehemene flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nei|ther can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the &s;ub&s;tance of his hou&s;e for love, it would utterly be contemned,</HI> the 8. of <HI>Canti|cles</HI> or <HI>Solomons Song,</HI> the 6, and 7. <HI>ver&s;es,</HI>
<PB REF="8">This is the Jewel that when a man hath found he &s;elleth all that he hath to purcha&s;e it, even the hidden <HI>Manna,</HI> that a man may eate, and &s;atisfy him&s;elf with all; which is food, only for tho&s;e that have the white &s;tone given them, and a new name, written in it, that no man can read &s;ave he that receiveth it; this is the new Commandment, and the old, even that which was from the beginning, Love worketh no evil, neither rendreth evil for evil; but contrarywi&s;e good and forgiv|ene&s;s to his Brother, yea, if he offend &s;eventy and &s;even times a day; this is perfect love that abhorreth &s;lavery by ca&s;ting out fear, he that getteth this pearle in&s;ureth to him&s;elf a &s;afe hiding place, where his Enemy cannot dert him by his reioycing over him; for though he &s;eeme to fall, yet he &s;hall ari&s;e, and the Lord will be a light unto him; and <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 30.5. <HI>For his anger endureth but a moment, in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Farewel,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>T. W.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="8">
<PB REF="9">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>PAge 7. line 19. read their for our. p. 17. l. 13. r. this Law-giver for the Law-gi|vers. p. 22. l. 2. r. may for nay. p. 27. l. 20. dele as. p. 29. la&s;t line, r. need for more. p. 40. l. 5. r. end of a for end a. p. 58. l. 25. r. a righteou&s;ne&s;s for for righteou&s;ne&s;s, and the true wheat for thy wheat. p. 59. l. 8. r. hide for hid. p. 62. l. 12. r. and under for that un|der. p. 64. l. 2. r. he had for had. p. 63. l. 2. r. a&s;piring for a&s;pirations. p. 97. l. 26. r. your Father for our Father. p. 94. l. 26. r. but con|trariwi&s;e for contrariwi&s;e. p. 70. l. 25. r. &s;o &s;ay for &s;ay &s;o.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="9">
<HEAD>JERUSALEMS Glory: OR, The <HI>SAINTS</HI> Safety in Eying the Churches Security.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSALM 137.3, 4, 5, 6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For there they that carried us away Captive, re|quired of us a Song, and they that wa&s;ted us, required of us mirth, &s;aying. Sing us one of the Songs of Sion. How &s;hall we &s;ing the Lords Song in a &s;trange Land? If I forget thee, O <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> above my chief joy.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis <HI>P&s;alm</HI> in general, was a repeatal of the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in remembrance of their Captivity, as you my read in the fir&s;t and &s;econd Ver&s;es, and hath relation to their weeping and being oppre&s;&s;ed for the decays and wa&s;tings of <HI>Sion,</HI> and al&s;o their &s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of their enemys
<PB N="2" REF="10">Deri&s;ion, both in deriding them for their pre&s;ent &s;ufferings, and for their former mentioning of <HI>Zion,</HI> and that their deliverance &s;hould be by the hand of him, who had been manife&s;tly known to them in times pa&s;t, by the name of the God of <HI>Zion.</HI> This text was <HI>I&s;raels</HI> repeatal, and it is, or may be any one mans or any peoples, that can by experience condole the&s;e &s;ad e&s;&s;ects. I &s;hall not &s;tand to repeat a further rehear&s;al or Catalogue of the general di&s;cour&s;e of the Repeaters of this <HI>P&s;alm:</HI> but I &s;hall in perticular in&s;i&s;t upon the words before mentioned in my Text, in which I &s;hall only ob&s;erve the&s;e Five perticular heads.</P>
<P N="1">1. The People demanding.</P>
<P N="2">2. The People demanded of.</P>
<P N="3">3. The thing demanded.</P>
<P N="4">4. Their an&s;wer to the thing demanded.</P>
<P N="5">5. And I a&s;tly, the an&s;wer of God to them in the thing An&s;wered.</P>
<P N="1">1. The People demanding were the <HI>Babiloni|ans,</HI> or men of <HI>Babel;</HI> for &s;o it is plainly under|&s;tood in the fir&s;t clau&s;e of my text, <HI>for there they that carried us away captive,</HI> If any one be &s;o &s;crupulous as to know where it is detracted from, let him but ca&s;t his eye to the fir&s;t words of this <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> and he may an&s;wer him&s;elf, it was <HI>by the rivers of Babylon, or the rivers in Babylon,</HI> for there was it that the&s;e pri&s;oners of hope were carried.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="10">
<P N="2">2. The people demanded of was the <HI>Jewes,</HI> as is in&s;tanced in the 5 ver&s;e, <HI>If I forget thee O Je|ru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The thing demanded is mirth, or one of the Songs of <HI>Zion,</HI> as is plainly in&s;tanced in the la&s;t clau&s;e of the 3 ver. &s;aying <HI>&s;ing us one of the Songs of Zion.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. The peoples an&s;wer to the thing demanded, that is plainly under&s;tood by the&s;e words, <HI>How &s;hall we &s;ing the Lords &s;ong in a &s;trange Land?</HI> or rather as &s;ome do read it, <HI>How can we &s;ing the Lords &s;ong in a &s;trange Land?</HI> judging it an im|po&s;&s;ibility &s;o to do.</P>
<P N="5">5. The an&s;wer of God to the <HI>Jewes</HI> in the thing an&s;wered; the thing an&s;wered you have plainly in the 4 ver&s;e, <HI>How &s;hall we &s;ing the Lords &s;ong in a &s;trange Land?</HI> but do but mark the an&s;wer of God to the&s;e ca&s;t down and deject|ed <HI>Jewes,</HI> in the 5 and 6 ver&s;es, <HI>If I forget thee, O</HI> Jeru&s;alem, <HI>let my right hand forget her cun|ning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not</HI> Je|ru&s;alem <HI>above my chief joy.</HI></P>
<P>The Doctrine in general will be this, That Gods deare&s;t and choi&s;e&s;t people may be left in &s;uch a &s;treight, that they may not know how to &s;ing the Lords Song. I &s;ay, that tho&s;e people whom God intends chiefly to make u&s;e of to manife&s;t him&s;elf to in love and kindne&s;s, and to &s;et his
<PB N="4" REF="11">name as a pillar in the mid&s;t of, may be driven to &s;uch a &s;treight, that it may &s;eem impo&s;&s;ible in their apprehen&s;ion to &s;ing the Lords Song.</P>
<P>But before I proceed any further, let us con&s;i|der the&s;e 4 particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. What this Song of <HI>Zion</HI> &s;ignifies, or rather what is here meant by the Lords Song?</P>
<P N="2">2. What it is that di&s;inables or captivates a People from &s;inging this &s;ong of <HI>Zion?</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. In what Land or &s;tate this &s;ong of <HI>Zion</HI> may be &s;aid to be really experimentally and truly &s;ung in.</P>
<P N="4">4. By what means a people may be &s;aid to be made capable, or learned in this School to &s;ing the Lords &s;ong?</P>
<P N="1">1. What this &s;ong of <HI>Zion</HI> is, or what the <HI>Jewes</HI> enemies might here mean by the demands of <HI>I&s;rael? Zion</HI> is the City that God doth ac|cept of for the improvement of all tho&s;e that are of the &s;tock of <HI>Ahraham,</HI> and the Linage of <HI>Da|vid,</HI> in that &s;tate wherein it is witne&s;&s;ed that <HI>A|braham</HI> was Gods friend, and <HI>David</HI> a man after Cods own heart, and therefore God giveth this re&s;timony of it, as he witne&s;&s;eth, that he would and did delight him&s;elf in them, to wit, <HI>Abra|ham</HI> and <HI>David,</HI> even &s;o he witne&s;&s;eth that his dwelling is in <HI>Zion,</HI> &amp; that <HI>He hath de&s;ired it for his habitation, P&s;alm</HI> 132.13. and as he hath it <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 76.2. <HI>Zion is the City of the living God,</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="11">and <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 84. and 7. <HI>They go from &s;trength to &s;trength, every one of them in Zion appeareth be|fore God.</HI> And &s;o the &s;ong of <HI>Zion</HI> ari&s;eth from the occa&s;ion of Gods dealing with his people in that di&s;pen&s;ation, that he &s;hewes and manife&s;ts him&s;elf to his people in.</P>
<P>But it is generally ob&s;erved, that where&s;oever there is any mention made of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;inging of <HI>Zions</HI> &s;ongs, there is mention made that the oc|ca&s;ion of their &s;ong hath relation to &s;ome con|que&s;t or other that they had gained, either over moral enemies as men, or &s;piritual lu&s;tful wicked|ne&s;s in their hearts, wherein they had experienced Gods love in &s;ome way or other more then u&s;ual, but I &s;uppo&s;e the &s;ong that the&s;e <HI>Baby lonians</HI> did require of them, was only that &s;ong &s;ung unto God at the time of their deliverance from the <HI>Egyptians,</HI> and other &s;uch like enemies: there|fore I &s;hall not &s;peak of the former in this place, but &s;hall refer it till I come to open my text further, and &s;hall chiefly in&s;i&s;t upon this part, becau&s;e it is mo&s;t &s;uitable to this our purpo&s;e in this particular; for that &s;ong that was demanded of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> was &s;uch a Hymne wherein was mirth to be u&s;ed, as their enemys did under&s;tand mirth, not that they thought that the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> &s;hould ever again be delivered forth of that &s;ervitude that they by conque&s;t had &s;ub|jected them under, as is plainly in&s;tanced in <HI>Ne|hemiah</HI> 4. and the beginning of the Chapter, by
<PB N="6" REF="12"><HI>Sanbalat</HI> and <HI>Tobiah</HI> the <HI>Amonite,</HI> who &s;tood and mocked them, &s;aying, <HI>What will the&s;e feeble</HI> Jewes <HI>do? will they fortifie them&s;elves? will they &s;acrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the &s;tones out of the heaps of rubbi&s;h, that were burnt? Even that which they build, if a Fox go up, he &s;hall break down their &s;tone wall;</HI> which words was &s;poken by the &s;ame enemies that <HI>I&s;rael</HI> is here in this <HI>P&s;alm</HI> making mention of, as you may read in the 2d Book of <HI>Chronicles</HI> the 36 chapter the 5, 6, and 7, ver&s;es, and that the&s;e were the people that were carried away captive in the time of <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> and is made men|tion of in the 1. of <HI>Ezra,</HI> and the 1. <HI>that the word of the Lord by the Prophet</HI> Jeremiah <HI>might be fulfilled.</HI> I &s;ay, the&s;e are the People of whom is required a &s;ong.</P>
<P>Now let us &s;earch what &s;ong it is that <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had u&s;ed to &s;ing to the God of <HI>Zion,</HI> if we do but turn to the 15 of <HI>Exodus,</HI> we &s;hall find what it is that <HI>I&s;rael</HI> makes their mirth, and what is the occa&s;ion of their mirth or &s;inging. The cau&s;e of their &s;ong was chie&s;ly occa&s;ioned, by their be|ing delivered from the hand of <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> and the fury of the <HI>Egyptians,</HI> the &s;ong chiefly con&s;i&s;ts of pray&s;es to their God, whom they owned to be their &s;trength and their &s;alvation, and their deli|verer, as is manife&s;ted quite through the whole &s;ong: therefore I &s;ay the &s;ong of <HI>Zion</HI> that is
<PB N="7" REF="12">here made mention of, is prai&s;es to their God, for their deliverance from their open and manife&s;t enemies, and in <HI>Deuteronomy</HI> the 32. there we have <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;inging another &s;ong, of the &s;ame na|ture as this, prai&s;ing God for all his mercies in keeping and delivering his people, &s;aying, it was the Lord alone that had delivered them, and that they had not in the lea&s;t de&s;erved it at his hands. Again we have <HI>Debora</HI> and <HI>Barak</HI> &s;inging a &s;ong of the &s;ame, in <HI>Judges</HI> the 5. in remembrance of what the Lord had done for <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> in making u&s;e of &s;o mean an in&s;trument as a woman to take a King pri&s;oner, <HI>It was God (&s;ay they) that went forth to fight the battel, yea, the Stars fought in cour&s;e again&s;t Si&s;era, yea they fought from Hea|ven.</HI> Thus I &s;ay, the &s;ong of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> or the <HI>He|brew</HI> &s;ong as &s;ome tran&s;late it, or the &s;ong of <HI>Zion,</HI> as is here &s;poken of, and demanded of the&s;e <HI>Jewes,</HI> is prai&s;es to our God for their deli|verance, and a&s;cribing of him the honour; and now they being taken &amp; carried captive by their enemies, was deprived of &s;inging this &s;ong, by be|ing deprived of the victory: and &s;o the <HI>Egypti|ani&s;h</HI> or <HI>Babylonian</HI> deriders might ju&s;tly laugh at them, and deride them by rea&s;on of their re|&s;traint, &s;aying, Sing us one of the &s;ongs of <HI>Zion</HI> or prai&s;es to your God, for your deliverance from us, when God had given them into their hands as pri&s;oners. I will not &s;ay but there
<PB N="8" REF="13">may be more gathered forth of the&s;e words in a higher nature, but I &s;uppo&s;e, I may &s;afely avouch this to be the &s;ong that was demanded, and &s;o I &s;hall pa&s;&s;e it over at this time, I having not time to enlarge my &s;elf &s;o far as I could wi&s;h I had; or then I &s;hould open every particular clau&s;e, &s;o plainly as God hath given me ability, but I &s;hall &s;carcely give a touch to each thing that I have intended.</P>
<P>Secondly, or the &s;econd things is this, What it is that di&s;inables or captivates a people &s;o that they cannot &s;ing this &s;ong? I &s;hall be very brief in this place, I &s;hall only give you the&s;e 3 particulars, and &s;o &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the third parti|cular of my text.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t and greate&s;t debarment that a peo|ple can meet withal, that may hinder a people from &s;inging this &s;ong, is chiefly their &s;ins; this I am &s;ure will hold with the opening the text, to the full &s;cope of the&s;e words. I &s;ay that &s;in is the fir&s;t &s;tumbling block that occa&s;ioneth a peo|ples un&s;ufficiency to &s;ing this &s;ong of being deli|vered from the hand of their enemies as you have it in the 1 of the <HI>Lamentations</HI> of the Pro|phet <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> and the 8 ver&s;e, <HI>Jeru&s;alem hath grieviou&s;ly &s;inned, therefore &s;he is removed, all that honored her de&s;pi&s;e her;</HI> yea this Prophet was the me&s;&s;enger &s;ent oftentimes, to bid and warne the&s;e people to teturn from their evil wayes,
<PB N="9" REF="13">as you may read at large in his Prophe&s;ie, as in the 36 chapter and the 20 ver&s;e, and &s;o to the end of the chapter, is very plainly declared, that his love and zeal for <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> is not a little ma|nife&s;ted; for though the King did burn the Role that he had pre&s;ented, in defiance of his words, yet is he as willing to write another at the com|mand of the Lord, as ever he was to write the fir&s;t, that if it had been po&s;&s;ible to have wrought any good upon them, he would not lack means to intreat them to repent, but all was in vain, the people were altogether bent after their own will|fulne&s;&s;e, even from the King that &s;at upon the Throne to the Prie&s;t that &s;at in the Temple, as the Prophet lamenteth &s;orely in the 2. of Lamen|tations 14. ver&s;e, <HI>thy Prophets have &s;een vain and fooli&s;h things for thee, they have &s;een for thee fal&s;e burdens, and cau&s;es of bani&s;hment.</HI> It &s;eemed a plea&s;ing and melodious Vi&s;ion, that the&s;e Prophets did &s;ee for <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> as indeed it is too to frequent with mo&s;t, if not all people, if they once bend their minds to any one vanity, to hear &s;uch Prophe&s;ies as will &s;ecure them, as they think, from being in any guilt if they &s;hould practi&s;e and follow that vanity: therefore it was the opinion of an ancient. Heathen, that if any man did &s;peak well of any of his practi&s;es, that he would ask him what it was that he ask'd him for? for he &s;uppo&s;ed, that if any man did &s;peak highly
<PB N="10" REF="14">of him, it was to deceive him, that he might gain honour or a reward by it: and therefore he had a fervent affection for tho&s;e that did mo&s;t &s;eem to envy him, &s;aying, He had none that in&s;tructed him more then his enemies, for be &s;ure that if they knew that he did offend, they would not hide it, but would reproach him for it, whereby he came to know in part, how far he did offend in the thing, I wi&s;h many Chri&s;tians have not a wor&s;e rule then this.</P>
<P>Secondly, Gods &s;ury is the &s;econd cau&s;e by which a People are made de&s;titute of &s;inging this &s;ong; for as &s;in is the fir&s;t motive cau&s;e: &s;o Gods fury is the effected cau&s;e of their un&s;ufficiency, for when God is moved by &s;in to afflict a peo|ple, and that he hath waited a long time, it may be day after day, and week after week, and year after year, and yet can &s;ee no hope of their re|turn, then his fury is moved, and it may be he will &s;lay &s;ome of them with the &s;word, and give others to the famine, that &s;o he may revenge him&s;elf of them for their high provocations, wherewith they have provoaked him to do it, &s;o that they &s;hall know if his &s;word once be gone forth in fury, it will tot return void of effecting the cau&s;e of its being moved: &s;o that whil&s;t God is a taking vengeance upon a people, they cannot in any wi&s;e be &s;aid to be &s;en&s;ible of &s;inging this &s;ong; for the &s;ong is prai&s;es to God for de|liverance,
<PB N="11" REF="14">and no people can &s;ing this &s;ong, un|le&s;&s;e the Lord be reconciled to them as a friend in love and peace.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Or the third thing that hinders a peo|ple from &s;inging this &s;ong, is the want of the Lords pre&s;ence in times of tryal; for though his love may be as great to them in the time of tryal as in peace, yet if it be not manife&s;tly known to them to be &s;o, they are very much di&s;inabled to &s;ing this &s;ong, as it is recorded of <HI>Job,</HI> in the 19 chapter of <HI>Job</HI> and the 6 ver&s;e, and &s;o along, <HI>the Lord hath overthrown me</HI> (&s;ays <HI>Job) and hath caught me in his net, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard, there is no judgement. He hath &s;et darkne&s;s in my paths, I am de&s;troyed on every &s;ide, I am gone and my hope hath he removed like a tree.</HI> And as <HI>Solomon</HI> in&s;tances el&s;ewhere, <HI>Oppre&s;&s;ion maketh a wi&s;e man mad:</HI> &s;o that I &s;ay, who&s;oever doth not &s;ee the Face of the Lord to &s;hine victoriou&s;ly in his &s;ight, cannot experi|mentally and knowingly &s;ing this &s;ong, but is (as it were) a &s;tranger to the real and punctual har|mony that the &s;ingers &s;ing in, by whom this &s;ong is and mu&s;t be &s;ung by, but I &s;hall &s;peak more fully to this in my following di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>The third particular is, In what Land or State this &s;ong may be experimentally and really &s;ung in? for this, fir&s;t we mu&s;t under&s;tand, it is only to be &s;ung in the Land of deliverance; and here|in
<PB N="12" REF="15">doth it an&s;wer with a perfect coherence to the text, as it is opened, for it is not the place that hinders them from &s;inging this &s;ong, but it is the want of Gods power to a&s;&s;i&s;t them in any place, that makes the Land &s;eem &s;trange for a people to &s;ing this &s;ong. <HI>I&s;rael</HI> could not account the wil|derne&s;s a &s;trange Land, by rea&s;on they could &s;ing it there, &amp; though it was as &s;trange a Land as <HI>Ba|bylon,</HI> as in re&s;pect of their acquaintance with the place, but as in re&s;pect of their participating of the love &amp; favour of God in the place, the Land of <HI>Ba|bel</HI> was &s;tranger to them then the Wilderne&s;s, for in the wilderne&s;&s;e they were delivered from their enemies, and in <HI>Babel</HI> they were re&s;trained from their liberty by their enemies, &s;o that they can|not &s;ay, but they were re&s;trained from &s;inging this &s;ong, &s;o long as they were confind to be pri&s;oners; and therefore did they complain of the decays of <HI>Zion,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Zion</HI> was the City of their delive|rance, and that being wa&s;ted, they were by that means made Heirs of a &s;trange Land, by being &s;tran|gers to the &s;ong of <HI>Zion,</HI> for this &s;ong cannot be &s;ung out of <HI>Zion,</HI> or the Lords fortified City: and therefore &s;aith the Prophet <HI>Zachariah,</HI> in the 2 of his Prophe&s;ie and the 12 ver&s;e, <HI>And the Lord &s;holl inherit</HI> Judah <HI>his portion in the holy Land, and &s;hall chu&s;e</HI> Jeru&s;alem <HI>again;</HI> the Lord is plea&s;ed to call <HI>Judah</HI> his portion, and he will inherit him in the holy Land. Now there is
<PB N="13" REF="15">no place that can be &s;aid to be unholy, as to what it was made at fir&s;t, but by a peoples pollutions in the Land, as you have it in the 102. <HI>P&s;alme,</HI> and the 19 <HI>ver&s;e, The Lord hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary, to heare the groaning of the Pri&s;oners, and to loo&s;e them that are appointed to death,</HI> well, for what pur|po&s;e did he loo&s;e the&s;e Pri&s;oners; it follows in the next words <HI>to declare the name of the Lord in</HI> Zion, <HI>and his prai&s;es in</HI> Jeru&s;alem, and as you have it in the 99 <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> and the 2 <HI>ver&s;e, the Lord is great in</HI> Zion, <HI>and he is Hie above all people,</HI> that is as much as if the Prophet &s;hould have &s;aid the Inhabitants of <HI>Zion</HI> have &s;et the prai&s;e of the Lord High above all people, or the prai&s;e of all people, yea even the Lord to Reign in their hearts, and &s;o you have it in the la&s;t ver&s;e of that 2 of <HI>Zechariah, be &s;till or &s;i|lent O all fle&s;h before the Lord, for he is rai&s;ed forth of his holy Habitation;</HI> for when the Lord is rai&s;ed forth of his holy Habitation, it is to Conquer and &s;ubdue, and &s;ilence all fle&s;h, that he him&s;elf may be lifted up in <HI>Zion,</HI> in <HI>Judah,</HI> or in <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> or in the Inhabitants of tho&s;e places that are Jews indeed, and in action, and not by being Jews, or Sons of <HI>Zion</HI> by name, or profe&s;&s;ion only, for tho&s;e are the true Jews, and Sons of <HI>Abraham,</HI> that build up the decayes of <HI>Judah,</HI> and do the works of <HI>Abraham,</HI> for as
<PB N="14" REF="16"><HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid <HI>we de&s;ire to know no man after the fle&s;h, yea though we have known Chri&s;t after the fle&s;h, yet henceforth know we him &s;o no more,</HI> and as you have it more plainly, <HI>Romans</HI> the third, the 28, &amp; 29. <HI>ver&s;es, he is not a Jew that is one out|wardly, neither is that Circumci&s;ion that is out|ward in the fle&s;h, but he is a Jew that is one in|wardly, and Circumci&s;ion is that of the heart in the &s;pirit, not in the letter, who&s;e prai&s;e is not of men, but of God,</HI> &s;o as I &s;aid before, the people that willingly and joyfully do &s;eek to repaire the breaches of <HI>Judah,</HI> are &s;uch as mu&s;t inherit the promi&s;es of God made to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> and &s;hall &s;urely be Inhabitants in this Land, where this &s;ong of <HI>Zion</HI> may be really, and expe|rimentally, and truly &s;ung in; but I &s;hall leave this perticular at this time, and &s;hall de&s;ire eve|ry one that is de&s;irous to be an Inhabitant of this Land, to take notice of what his duty mu&s;t be in <HI>Zion</HI> or in <HI>Judah,</HI> to which I &s;hall &s;peak more fully when I come to &s;hew you the Lawes and the Ordinances that are in this Land.</P>
<P>And &s;o I &s;hall proceed to the fourth perticular, by what meanes a people may be &s;aid to be made capable or learned in this &s;chool to &s;ing this &s;ong.</P>
<P>I &s;hall endeavour through Gods a&s;&s;i&s;tance to make manife&s;t unto your view the&s;e two follow|ing Ob&s;ervations.</P>
<PB N="51" REF="16">
<P>Fir&s;t, It chiefly concernes us to &s;earch who is the Law-giver in <HI>Zion,</HI> or who it is that in&s;truct|eth <HI>Jacob</HI> or <HI>I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, What the&s;e Lawes or Statutes are, that are taught or ought to be taught in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and how to be ob&s;erved.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Let us con&s;ider, that God is made men|tion of in &s;everal places to be the In&s;tucter of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> as <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 78.5. <HI>He e&s;tabli&s;hed a te&s;timony in Jacob and a Law in I&s;rael,</HI> and in <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> the 48. and 17. ver&s;e, <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the holy One of I&s;rael, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth the by the way that thou &s;houlde&s;t go.</HI> And in the 51 of <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> and the 4. ver&s;e, <HI>Hear|ken unto me O my people, and give ear unto me O my Nation; for a Law &s;hall proceed from me, and I will make judgement to re&s;t for a light to the people.</HI> If any one be not &s;atisfied that it is &s;po|ken to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> the foregoing words will certifie him better, and as you have it in the 40 of <HI>I&s;ai|ah</HI> and the 9 ver&s;e, <HI>O Zion and Jeru&s;alem that bringeth good tydings, lift up thy voice and be not afraid, and &s;ay unto the Citys of Judah, be|hold your God.</HI> I might in&s;tance hundreds of pla|ces more to prove this truth to you, but I &s;up|po&s;e it to be needle&s;s; for wherever there is any mention made of the Author of <HI>I&s;raels</HI> Lawes, and Statutes, God is made mention of in &s;ome
<PB N="16" REF="17">one degree or other to be the giver of them, if it be mentioned of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> as <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> or as I have defi|ned <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in my forementioning of them, which is not <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in name or &s;hew, but in truth &amp; ve|rity, it may be &s;ome one or other will be inqui&s;i|tive to demand of me What God is? as I have oftentimes had objected again&s;t me, but I &s;hall &s;peak very little to that in this place; but in ca&s;e any one be de&s;irous to know farther, if I find him willing and de&s;irous to be &s;atisfied, in this or any other particular that I &s;hall make mention of, I &s;hall endeavour to &s;atisfie him (if it be po&s;&s;i|ble) at any time or in any place convenient. Fir&s;t, God is &s;aid to be the <HI>Alpha and Omega, the fir&s;t and the la&s;t.</HI> Secondly, God is &s;aid <HI>to feed his flock and that he is their Shepheard;</HI> and in other places to be <HI>God of fury to the wicked,</HI> it is one thing to look upon him as he is in him|&s;elf, and another to look upon him as he is in us, or in his manife&s;tations; but I &s;hall deferr this di&s;cour&s;e in this place, &s;uppo&s;ing the unfold|ng of it would be rather a &s;tumbling block then any thing of edification to many: therefore I &s;hall advi&s;e every one whatever, to a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf that there is no iniquity in him, and that he is a hater of lyes, and a de&s;troyer of all the devices of the wicked. Thus I &s;hall proceed to the &s;econd particular, What the&s;e Lawes or Statutes are that are given to <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in <HI>Zion,</HI> or the Holy
<PB N="17" REF="17">Land, as &s;ome read it, or <HI>Judah,</HI> or in <HI>Jeru&s;a|lem,</HI> and how to be ob&s;erved.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, let us con&s;ider that as the Law-giver is holy, &s;o are his Statutes and Lawes holy al&s;o, as you have it in the 119 <HI>P&s;al.</HI> the 137 <HI>ver&s;e, Righteous art thou O Lord, and upright are thy Judgments, thy te&s;timonies that thou ha&s;t Com|manded are Righteous and very Faithfull,</HI> and as you have it in the 7 ver&s;e of this <HI>P&s;alme,</HI> I <HI>will pray&s;e thee with uprightne&s;s of heart, when I &s;hall have learned thy Righteous Judgments,</HI> &s;o that you &s;ee plainly that the Statutes, and Lawes, and Commandements of the Law-givers to the&s;e Inhabitants, is Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Truth, and Equity, and Love, and Faithfulne&s;s; and as you have a Righteous Law-giver, and Righteous Lawes, &s;o you mu&s;t ob&s;erve to &s;erve him in Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, if you intend to be a Subject in this Land, as you have it in the 118 <HI>P&s;alme,</HI> and the 19, &amp; 20. <HI>ver&s;es, Open to me the Gates of Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, &amp; I will go into them &amp; prai&s;e the Lord, this Gate of the Lord, into which the Righteous &s;hall enter;</HI> Thou mu&s;t not &s;tand to frame a &s;er|vice to &s;eek the bounty and gifts of men in it, but the Commands of God; happy is that people that is brought to that uniformity, that it may be truly &s;aid of them, that the Statutes of the Lord are duely ob&s;erved in their land: But before I proceed any further, let us con&s;ider what danger
<PB N="18" REF="18">may en&s;ue upon tho&s;e that are Inhabitants in this land, if in ca&s;e they &s;hould obey and keep the Statutes and Lawes in this land.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t I &s;ay, That no man as man, but is very apt to de&s;erve the being ca&s;t forth from inhabi|ting in this land, but the Law-giver is a God of Mercy as well as Ju&s;tice; but in ca&s;e thou art as &s;trict an Ob&s;erver as may be, yet thou can&s;t a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elf of no con&s;tant content in all things; for whil&s;t thou art in this thy decayable and frail Building or Hou&s;e of this world, there will be &s;trivings and turmoilings in the &s;everal re|volutions and changes; and whil&s;t we are &s;tri|ving to conquer them by our more high a&s;piring, the World, the Fle&s;h and the Devil will be &s;tri|ving to &s;hew us their pre&s;ent &s;eeming delights, thinking to intermingle out more &s;erious and rea&s;onable undertakings with tho&s;e things that have nothing but a &s;hew onely of godline&s;s in them, and nothing of the power: This is the great warfare in which you mu&s;t engage as a Combitant, if you come into this land; for <HI>the fle&s;h will be &s;triving again&s;t the &s;pirit, and the &s;pirit again&s;t the fle&s;h, and tho&s;e two are contrary:</HI> So that if you will &s;eek after any dutable riches, any trea&s;ure that the moth and ru&s;t will not de|&s;troy, but it will abide all trials that are of this life, and will be the purer each time that it is ca&s;t into the fire; I &s;ay, if you &s;eek to deal in
<PB N="19" REF="18">&s;uch commodities, you mu&s;t expect the frowns of the&s;e your enemies, nay, your King will be trying you, how your Zeal is agreeable to your Profe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>But lea&s;t you &s;hould think to e&s;cape this &s;courge or correcting hand of God, I will endea|vour to &s;hew you that it is good to bear it, and continue &s;tedfa&s;t to the end, though there be a twofold Affliction incident to the peculiar and chiefly beloved of God, yet they &s;hall receive a Diadem at the la&s;t, that will cau&s;e them to ac|knowledge it was good for them they were Affli|cted.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, There is an Affliction that God &s;uffers his Children to be exerci&s;ed withal, as in re&s;pect of their having to do or dealing with things of this life.</P>
<P>Secondly, There is an Affliction as in re&s;pect of our dejections in things appertaining to our chiefe&s;t content, as when we are hindred of our commer&s;e with our God, and ly &s;ighing &amp; com|plaining as <HI>Job</HI> and &s;everal others of his Servants have done, <HI>Job</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>I look for him on the one &s;ide, but he is not there, and behind me, but I can|not find him, no he hideth him&s;elf.</HI> He would not appear to an&s;wer <HI>Job</HI> in what <HI>Job</HI> did de&s;ire, neither would he plead with him till his time was come, <HI>Job cryed out of oppre&s;&s;ion,</HI> as you have it <HI>Job</HI> 23.3. and 19.7. This is the burthen&s;ome&s;t
<PB N="20" REF="19">Affliction that may befal the Children of God, yea, yea, it &s;eemeth &s;o burthen&s;ome &s;ometimes, that they may be brought to que&s;tion, their con|dition to be wor&s;e than meer worldlings, that have no joy in any thing el&s;e but what they grap|ple after in this life, as <HI>David</HI> plainly in&s;tances, <HI>I &s;aid it fareth better with the wicked than with the Righteous, but when I went into thy Sanctua|ry, I found it was better to abide one day within thy Courts than in the pre&s;ence of wicked men for ever,</HI> P&s;al. 7.73. How doth God &s;ee them, &s;ay the wicked, though we &s;courge them? Nay, <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes, therefore are his People brought thither, and water of a full Cup are wrung out to them.</P>
<P>But let not any man mi&s;take me herein, and think that I &s;peak of Gods withdrawing his affe|ction from his People; but my meaning is only thus, that God withdraws him&s;elf in love to us, even as the Apo&s;tle hath it, <HI>Heb.</HI> 12.6. <HI>Every &s;on whom I love, do I rebuke and cha&s;ten;</HI> to keep our thoughts from vain con&s;tructions, that all men are very prone unto, to have high thoughts of their own &s;trength, and their own ability, and their own righteou&s;ne&s;s, and peradventure ne|ver dive into our own hearts to acknowledge to whom we are obliged for it, but forget the foun|tain from whence it flowes and &s;prings to us, as the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of the <HI>Romans, They had a zeal to God, but not according to knowledge,</HI>
<PB N="21" REF="19">Rom. 10. and the beginning of the Chapter, <HI>They being ignoraut of Gods Righteou&s;ne&s;s, went about to e&s;tabli&s;h a Righteou&s;ne&s;s of their own, and did not &s;ubmit to that Righteou&s;ne&s;s that was of God:</HI> Even &s;o we are apt to conclude with our &s;elves we have this good qualification, or this good ble&s;&s;ing, or I am &s;o Ju&s;t or more Righteous in &s;uch a degree than &s;uch and &s;uch are, when we do not con&s;ider if we are &s;o, that it is Gods mer|cy to us more than our de&s;erving, but rejoice in our &s;elves far above our Sphere, and look not back to him that gave it us; for this take one Scripture more of the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7. ver&s;e, <HI>If ye have received it, why glory ye as though ye had not received it?</HI> Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord.</P>
<P>Be &s;ure of this, That who&s;oever doth receive any gift of grace, or any benefit to his &s;piritual refre&s;hment, or any enjoyment to his Souls hap|pine&s;s, or in general any ble&s;&s;ing from the Lord, and doth not attribute all the prai&s;e, all the glo|ry, all the preheminence and honour to God that gave it him, it had been better that that man or woman had never receiv'd it, for he doth nor here in forget God that gave it him, but robbeth him of that prai&s;e and honour that is due to him al|&s;o, or employeth that to his own prai&s;e, or the prai&s;e of &s;ome other thing that is due to God alone; &s;o that that which might through due
<PB N="22" REF="20">obedience and thanks to God have been a ble&s;|&s;ing, nay, herein become a cur&s;e to him that em|ployes it thus, for <HI>to whom much is given, much will be required;</HI> and if that &s;ervant &s;hall be accounted an evil &s;ervant, <HI>That laid up his talent in a Napkin, and re&s;tored it &s;afe to the owner a|gain,</HI> without any lo&s;s, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25.24. What will he be accounted that robbeth his Ma&s;ter and devideth the talent, and takes part of it him&s;elf for his own u&s;e, and yet hath the face to &s;ay, I have improved my talent better than &s;uch and &s;uch men, and doth not account? But it is well enough with him, &amp; that he hath not been behind with the Lord in giving him what is his due, and if any man make any thing fit for his u&s;e, hee will look to have the preheminence of it to him&s;elf, &amp; yet he will not render the &s;ame to God.</P>
<P>O learn of the Bea&s;ts of the Field, and do not envy their &s;ervice, unle&s;s ye will act above pretence, <HI>The Oxe knoweth his Owner, and the A&s;s his Ma&s;ters Crib, but I&s;rael hath not known me, my People have not known their God,</HI> I&s;a. 1. And as you have it in the eighth of the Prophe&s;ie of the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> and the 7. ver&s;e, yea, <HI>The Stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed time, and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow ob&s;erve the time of their coming, but my People know not the Judgments of the Lord:</HI> And I remember, the Prophet <HI>Ezekiel</HI> being
<PB N="23" REF="20">&s;hewed the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions of the People in his time, that the Lord &s;hewed him &s;ome that did not let to work abominations in the Temple of the Lord, as you have it <HI>Ez.</HI> 8.16. <HI>And he brought me into the inner Court of the Lords Hou&s;e, and behold, at the door of the Temple between the Portch and the Altar were about twenty men with their backs towards the Temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the Ea&s;t, and they wor&s;hipped the Sun toward the Ea&s;t;</HI> By the Ea&s;t, as &s;ome Tran&s;late it in this place, is meant the&s;e peoples looking for the chiefe&s;t light to con&s;i&s;t in the wor&s;hipping of the Sun: This is a &s;ad Omen of the &s;tirring or awaking of Gods fury, when a people &s;hall bend their mindes to idolize any imaginary conceit of their own devi&s;ing, and be|&s;tow that honour to it that is due to God; he will have thy whole heart if he hath any thing of thee, and that in the right wor&s;hip too, and not in any way that we think is mo&s;t rare, becau&s;e it is mo&s;t harmonious in our &s;ight; but in the exact way of the foregoing Admoni&s;hers, even Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, and the Martyrs that were made to &s;eal it with their blood, &amp; not by praying to Saints and Martyrs, but to ob&s;erve and do the things that they did; I mean the works that they did, and to prai&s;e God in the &s;ame way as they did, and in the &s;ame thing; and let us &s;eek to <HI>pre&s;s forward toward the price of the high Cal|ling
<PB N="24" REF="21">of God,</HI> and a&s;cribe honour to whom honour is due.</P>
<P>I de&s;ire you my beloved Friends, yea, every one to whom this &s;mal Treati&s;e &s;hall come to, &s;eriou&s;|ly con&s;ider with your own hearts, how far you are behind with the Lord in this Particular, by rea&s;on of our unthankfulne&s;s, that we have &s;ecu|red our &s;elves with, under the banner of forms and cu&s;tomary &s;ervices, and have not looked into the in&s;ide of things, to eat the kernel of the Nut as well as gather the Husk and the Shell; as the Nut can in no wi&s;e grow without the Shell and Husk, &s;o no man can experience the ta&s;te of the Kernel by eating and feeding of nothing but the Leaves and the Husk of the Nut; God loo|keth as well to thy heart as to thy tongue, there|fore if thou praye&s;t to God, look that thy heart be joined to thy tongue, and that thy tongue &s;peak no more but the real Symptomes of thy heart, and that thy heart be chiefly bent upon the doing of the Will of God, and not upon the beggerly rudiments of the world; for if thorow practice or cu&s;tom of others you frame any Prayer only, &s;o learned as by Book and not by heart, you might ju&s;tly think your &s;elves far &s;hort of the receiving any benefit by them from God; I do not &s;ay but learning is very good, take it in its place, for we can be no &s;ervants of God, but by utterance &amp; manife&s;tation: But this is my
<PB N="25" REF="21">end, that no man &s;et a higher price of words than they &s;hould do, but con&s;ider the word is chie&s;ly to thy &s;elf in thy heart, and therefore con&s;ider that thy heart be joined with thy tongue, e&s;pe|cially in Prayer and Prai&s;es to God; for if thy Prayer or Prai&s;es to God be builded upon no more durable a Rock than formal or cu&s;tomary u&s;es, it will be in danger of being blown up by the incroaching gu&s;ts of covetou&s;ne&s;s and hopes of worldly honour and preferments of mens ap|plau&s;e, and the&s;e will get uppermo&s;t in thy agi|tations, and &s;o thou wilt cau&s;e the more noble and excellent Wheat corn to be choaked by the Tares and Thi&s;tles in thy more worthy Land or Vineyard; for if thou ha&s;t no deeper root in Religion than this, thou wilt &s;oon be brought and ea&s;ily be won to leave this upon any &s;mall occa&s;ion; for if one mu&s;t be left, then farewell Pro&s;e&s;&s;ion, for I mu&s;t leave thee to embrace ho|nour, &amp; riches, &amp; plea&s;ures, I &amp; the good words of men, thou &s;halt have the name &s;o long as my better Friends can have their free entertainment; but if one mu&s;t be left, then farewell Prayer, and farewell Prai&s;es, for I can Pray as well in another Di&s;pen&s;ation, but I &s;hall get nothing but the ill will of men, and the lo&s;s of honour and e&s;tate if I continue in this way, it was good and honourable, but now it is ba&s;e, I have have had the company of my Friends wealth, and honour, and applau&s;e,
<PB N="26" REF="22">but I mu&s;t now follow them further, or el&s;e they will leave me; O it is a &s;ad thing when Religion, &s;ayes God, is one thing to day, and a contrary the next day, onely for money and &s;elf-ends: This is one way of wor&s;hipping God, &s;o called; but I fear it is no better than a wor&s;hiping of thy &s;elf, and that in the wor&s;t &s;ence too, for thou do&s;t but herein toyl to gather Coals &amp; Faggots to con&s;ume thy &s;elf in the la&s;t day without the great mercy of God, for this manner of &s;erving God or rather thy &s;elf; it may be performed in any Di|&s;pen&s;ation, or any &s;ort of profe&s;&s;ion; but if thou ta|ke&s;t up thy re&s;t in any &s;uch like abe&s;s or Centere&s;t thy &s;elf in any fabrick of this nature, know a&s;|&s;uredly, God will bla&s;t it in the end, if it be builded upon no &s;urer a foundation than &s;elf|ends and notional expre&s;&s;ions; it may be God may let thee alone for the time that thou ha&s;t to &s;pend in this world, but the end will prove the bitterer; the wicked&s;t of men may &s;eem to have a re&s;t, yea, a plea&s;ant one to their minds and de&s;ires it may be, but it is not la&s;ting, it is not abidable, as the Prophet hath it, <HI>E&s;ay</HI> 48. the la&s;t ver&s;e, <HI>There is no peace to the wicked, &s;ayeth my God;</HI> That is, no abiding nor continuing peace; therefore value thy future peace beyond any pre&s;ent &s;eeming content in this life, for thou mu&s;t give an exact account of all thy actions in the end; do but mind what <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ayes of it,
<PB N="27" REF="22"><HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 11.9. <HI>Rejoice O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the dayes of thy youth, and walk in the wayes of thine own heart, and in the &s;ight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all the&s;e things, God will bring thee into Judgement; therefore remove &s;orrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thee:</HI> Therefore I &s;ay, look well, yea narrowly to thy wayes, le&s;t whereas you think to build a Tabernacle fit to entertain the Holy Gho&s;t in your Profe&s;&s;ions, you deceive your &s;elves, and build an Altar to &s;acri|fice to the Prince of datkne&s;s, in deceit to thy Souls ruine, and eternal torment: But to|&s;hew you more plainly the de&s;cription of the Afflictions that Gods deare&s;t and choi&s;e&s;t Chil|dren are incident and lyable to in this life, I &s;hall onely give you as brief a definition as I can, onely to give you an introduction into the re&s;t, it being my intention to &s;peak more fully to the duty of a Chri&s;tian in this life, as well as in other things, how to bear the afflicting &amp; trying &s;courge of Gods lovely cha&s;ti&s;ements; but before I proceed any further, give me leave to lay this down as a maxim undeniable, that God never tryeth a Nation or a People generally with &s;uch tryals as to deliver them into the hands of their enemies, unle&s;s it be for their &s;ins; but the&s;e tryals that I intend to enter further into, are &s;uch which the Children of God are lyable to in par|ticular,
<PB N="28" REF="23">when their Father doth withdraw his pre&s;ence from them, as in re&s;pect of &s;hewing them what he hath done for them, although his love may be as great to them at that time as ever, &amp; the&s;e are many times in many things not only &s;truke at, but overturned in their expectation; not that I ever read, that God did ever hide him&s;elf to any of them &s;o far, but that ere long time was over, they found it was not in vain to &s;erve him, but that he did appear one way or o|ther to them, to manife&s;t him&s;elf a loving and a tender God; as <HI>Solomon</HI> hath it in the <HI>Canticles</HI> 5. and the 6th ver&s;e, &s;peaking of Gods with|drawing him&s;elf from the Church, for their high thoughts of their own Righteou&s;ne&s;s, as you may read in the third ver&s;e, <HI>I have put off my Coat, and how &s;hall I put it on? I have wa&s;hed my feet, how &s;hall I defile them?</HI> She thought her &s;elf &s;ecure enough, and clean enough, yea, too clean to entertain her Beloved, though he told her, <HI>That his Head was filled with dew, I but his Locks was filled with the drops of the night;</HI> So that his Calls was too dark for her to under&s;tand, although his voice &s;eemed to be like the voice of her Beloved, yet &s;he could not think by the drops of the night that hung upon his Locks, but &s;he was too clean to entertain him then; but when Chri&s;t had <HI>put in his Hand by the hole of the door,</HI> then her <HI>Bowels were
<PB N="29" REF="23">moved for him,</HI> and pre&s;ently her Hands <HI>drops with mirh;</HI> as &s;oon as Chri&s;t put his Hands into the holes of the door, &s;he de&s;ired to have more Society with him; but when &s;he <HI>opened that door, &s;he could not find him, for he had withdrawn him&s;elf, and was gone from her view,</HI> and would not appear to her in that dore or manife&s;tation, although &s;he acknowledgeth that her Soul failed her when he &s;poke; which is as much as if &s;he &s;hould think that that Di&s;pen&s;ation was not &s;o efficacious to her in which &s;he thought her &s;elf &s;o clean in, as that in which Chri&s;t did de&s;ire admit|tance in, and therefore her Soul failed her, or her confidence, and &s;he <HI>&s;ought him but could not find him, &s;he called for him but he gave her no an&s;wer;</HI> So that &s;he &s;eemed to be at a lo&s;s now, whereas before &s;he thought her &s;elf to be clean.</P>
<P>The Watchmen found her as they walked a|bout the &s;treets, and they &s;more her and woun|ded her, and the Keepers of the Wall took a|way her vail from her: This is the greate&s;t tryal that can any wayes befal the Church of God, to want the pre&s;ence of God to an&s;wer them in their Afflictions; and indeed, it is no more but the ab&s;ence of God, or his not appearing to an&s;wer them in what they think to find him in, that cau&s;eth this Affliction to be &s;o great; as this Church did not perceive, that &s;he had any
<PB N="30" REF="24">need of &s;uch gue&s;t as Chri&s;t, &s;eeing he did not appear in that cleanne&s;s that &s;he thought her &s;elf ble&s;&s;ed in; but when &s;he had &s;melt of the plea|&s;ant odour that proceeded from him, then &s;he falls to enquiry after him, and <HI>chargeth the Daughters of Jeru&s;alem to tell her Beloved if they found him, that &s;he was &s;ick of love;</HI> When &s;he had experienced the &s;mell that he left be|hind him, then &s;he could not be &s;atisfied with|out him, and &s;he doth not go to expect him in <HI>Babylon,</HI> or to bear tidings of him in <HI>Egypt</HI> or <HI>Edom,</HI> but of the Daughters of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and there it was that &s;he found him examining <HI>her what her Beloved was more than another beloved,</HI> as you have her Demon&s;trating or Anatomizing of him from the 10th ver&s;e of that 5th Chapter of <HI>Solomons</HI> Song to the end; and when &s;he hath &s;et him in as magnificent an Applau&s;e as &s;he could well manife&s;t, then &s;he comes to &s;um all up in one word, <HI>He is altogether lovely;</HI> But before Chri&s;t appeared to manife&s;t him&s;elf to this Church to open their eyes, they were laid down to &s;leep &s;ecurely, &s;uppo&s;ing them&s;elves Righ|teous enough, and clean enough, and pure e|nough in that which &s;he had received: Look well to your &s;elves all you that profe&s;s your &s;elves to be Actors upon the &s;tage of Religion, that you do not entertain this gue&s;t of &s;elf-con|ceitedne&s;s, and &s;o &s;hut Chri&s;t out of doors; for
<PB N="31" REF="24">this Church had not long before as high a &s;ight, and as &s;en&s;ible an under&s;tanding as any that ever I read of in the Old Te&s;tament, as is in&s;tanced in the &s;econd Chapter of <HI>Solomons</HI> Song, and the &s;eventh ver&s;e, <HI>I charge you O ye Daughters of Jeru&s;alem, by the Roes and Hinds of the Field, that ye &s;tir not up nor awake my Love, till he plea&s;e;</HI> And yet now he is awaked, &s;he will not open the door to him, nor give him any entertainment, and all is occa&s;ioned by <HI>his Locks, being filled with the drops of the night;</HI> but when he had &s;haken them off, then &s;he comes to find the &s;ame truth again to feed of, as is in|&s;tanced in the eighth Chapter of that Song of <HI>Solomon,</HI> and the fourth ver&s;e, if you do but mark the third ver&s;e, you &s;hall plainly find how &s;he is enabled to let him take his repo&s;e, <HI>His left hand &s;hould be under her head, and his right hand &s;hall embrace her;</HI> The&s;e words are my&s;te|riou&s;ly &s;poken, for the left hand of God is &s;eldom made u&s;e of to admini&s;ter his embraces to the People or Church of God, unle&s;s it be &s;uch em|braces as he be&s;toweth upon them when his Locks are filled with the drops of the night; for God doth mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly unvail our minds with the &s;trength of his right hand, when he hath laid his left hand under our head, and then he &s;hall not be awaked, till he plea&s;e: Oh! it is one of the fulle&s;t &s;ayings in the whole Scrip|tures,
<PB N="32" REF="25">it is as much as if they &s;hould have &s;aid; not my will, but thy Will be done O God, and yet this Church not to know her Beloved: Now this is a &s;ad and &s;udden alteration, as I remember the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah</HI> hath &s;omething of this na|ture concerning the Daughters of <HI>Zion, Jere|miah</HI> the fourth and the la&s;t, <HI>I have heard a voice as of a Woman in travel, and the angui&s;h as of her that bringeth forth her fir&s;t born, the voice of the Daughter of Zion, that &s;preadeth forth her hands and bewaileth her &s;elf, &s;aying, Woe is me now, becau&s;e of Murderers.</HI></P>
<P>Why what is the matter <HI>Zion?</HI> Why do&s;t thou cry out? What need is there for thee to complain, thou that art the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t? Can the Husband forget his Beloved Wife? No &s;urely, he hath promi&s;ed great things for thee, look what the Lord thy Redeemer hath promi&s;ed to do for thee, <HI>E&s;ayah</HI> 33.5, 6. <HI>The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth on high, he hath filled Zion with Judgment, and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and Wi&s;dom &amp; Knowledge &s;hall be the &s;tability of thy times, and &s;trength of Salvation, the fear of the Lord is his &s;trength;</HI> and in the 20th ver&s;e, <HI>Not one of her &s;takes &s;hall be removed, nor any of her cords thereof be broken;</HI> and in the eighth of the next Chapter, <HI>For it is the day of the Lords vengeance, and the year of Recompences, for the controver&s;ie of Zion.</HI></P>
<PB N="33" REF="25">
<P>Oh <HI>Zion, Zion!</HI> what need is there for thee to fear, the Lord is exalted in thee, yea he hath accepted to dwell with thee, and <HI>to be lifted up in thee,</HI> he hath &s;et the two Pillars of his Name in the mid&s;t of thee, yea what greater Pillars is there to manife&s;t his Name upon the earth, <HI>than Wi&s;dom &amp; Knowledge,</HI> &amp; then to give this Chara|cter of him, <HI>The Fear of the Lord is his &s;trength:</HI> Oh! what &s;tronger Fortre&s;s can&s;t thou have <HI>Zion,</HI> than the fear of the Lord, than the love of thy God? For thus it is here meant, for this is not a &s;lavi&s;h fear, nor a dreadful fear, nor a terrifying fear; no this is &s;uch a fear that is here made men|tion of, that may well be compared to that that the Apo&s;tle calls love, yea <HI>perfect love that ca|&s;teth out all &s;uch &s;lavi&s;h fears;</HI> and God promi|&s;eth further to be her &s;ecurity, <HI>No one &s;hall ever move any of her &s;takes, neither &s;hall any of the cords thereof be broken:</HI> And he will not only be her &s;afety to keep her &s;ecure, but he will take vengeance of her enemies al&s;o, and plead her Controver&s;ie with tho&s;e that ri&s;e up again&s;t her; &s;urely, any one would think that <HI>Zion</HI> might &s;leep &s;ecurely, I but <HI>Zion</HI> is here &s;preading forth her hands, crying, <HI>Woe is me now, my Soul is wea|ried, becau&s;e of Murderers;</HI> as if &s;he &s;hould have &s;aid, my Comforter hath left me, my Be|loved is gone, my joy is turned into bitterne&s;s, my melody into &s;adne&s;s, my mirth into &s;ighing
<PB N="34" REF="26">and &s;obbing, yea as &s;he plainly expre&s;&s;eth, <HI>E&s;ai.</HI> 49.14. <HI>The Lord hath for&s;aken me, and my God hath forgotten me:</HI> Yea, ju&s;t now was this Prophet a proclaiming her Deliverance, and the opening of her eyes, as you may read in the following Ver&s;es, <HI>Though a Woman forget the Child that &s;ucketh at her Bre&s;ts, yet will not I forget thee;</HI> No, he then &s;hews her, that <HI>He had engraven her upon the palms of his hands,</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">id her behold it: So that as I &s;aid before, the Church of God and the People whom he loveth with an unmea&s;urable and ever abiding love, may be at &s;uch a lo&s;s, that many times they may think the Lord hath withdrawn his affe|ction clean from them; but I &s;eldom find, but God &s;tayeth up their hearts &s;o, as to tru&s;t in him, that their Deliverance mu&s;t be through him, though many times he tryeth their fidelity and zeal to him and his Name, and at other times doth afflict them for their back&s;liding and carele&s;s walking, to bring them to a more clear under&s;tanding, that &s;o they may walk worthy of &s;uch a God, who hath laid up &s;o good things in &s;tore for them: I might &s;peak a great deal more to this manner of Gods dealing with his choice&s;t and peculiar people in this life, but I &s;hall forbear to &s;peak any more in this particu|lar, but &s;hall refer what my intention is to &s;peak further, till we come to &s;peak of them, I mean
<PB N="35" REF="26">the Children of God, yea tho&s;e that are dear unto him, jointly in their duty.</P>
<P>There is a &s;econd Affliction incident to the&s;e beloved ones, but whereas you have them con|quered in the former as it were, you now have them Conquerours and Champions, for now the Captain of their Salvation bids them go on and fear not, &s;o that <HI>now neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre&s;ent, nor things to come is able to &s;eparate them from the love of God, which is in Chri&s;t Je&s;us:</HI> Now here you have the Shepherd leading forth his Sheep into the plea&s;ant pa&s;tures of content, and now they know his voice &s;o well, that they will not give ear to &s;trangers, what though they be tempted with all the &s;trangers &s;eeming delights, with his rich rewards according to appearance, with all his promi&s;es of preferments, and all the inchantments that he &s;eemeth to pre&s;ent them withal, yet all the&s;e will not intice them from tho&s;e fruitful pa&s;tures, nothing can allure them from this contented medow, where they have the pre&s;ence of their delightful Shepherd, giving them their meat in due &s;ea&s;on, &s;o that <HI>&s;tolen waters do not &s;eem &s;weet to them, nor bread eaten in &s;ecret, plea&s;ant to them;</HI> no, they know that the a&s;&s;otiates and re&s;orters thereunto &s;hall have their portion with Unbelievers, in a place or degree far remote from their re&s;t, from their
<PB N="36" REF="27">content, from their delight, <HI>For their delight is in the Law of the Lord their God;</HI> and to mani|fe&s;t his prai&s;e and his glory in working wonder|fully among&s;t the &s;ons of men, and to declare unto others what God hath done for them, and for the welfare of their Souls, <HI>And all &s;orrow and &s;ighing will flee away from them, neither the voice of mourning &s;hall any more be heard in the mid&s;t of them, for the Lord that is their Redeemer is al&s;o their Husband,</HI> who bideth them <HI>awake and put on their &s;trength their beautiful garment, for the uncircumci&s;ed and unclean &s;hall no more come into thee, what though thou ha&s;t drunk the Cup of the Lords fury in times pa&s;t, yet thou &s;halt henceforth drink it no more, but it &s;hall be taken forth of thy hand, and given to them that &s;poiled thee,</HI> E&s;a. 52.1, 2. and the la&s;t ver&s;e of the 51 Ch. So that <HI>now thou mai&s;t ari&s;e from the dust</HI> and &s;it &s;till, for the Lord will redeem you from all your captivities that have been the occa&s;ion of your di&s;tre&s;&s;edne&s;s, that have cau&s;ed you in times pa&s;t to howl and weep, you &s;hall be delivered from all your burthens that ye have unju&s;tly born, for the Lord hath taken upon him <HI>to plead the Controver&s;ie of his People;</HI> So that now they need not fear what befals their bodies, for they have a &s;ufficient and &s;atisfactory con|tent, that it &s;hall fare well with their Soul, <HI>They fear not him that is able to kill the Body, and can do no more, but him that is able to kill
<PB N="37" REF="27">both Body and Soul, and to ca&s;t them into Hell:</HI> What though the world rage again&s;t them, and their neighbours envy them, and their kindred, and chiefe&s;t of their Relations here below do make a mocking and &s;coffing at thee, is it any more than the Captain of your Salvation hath engaged you to by his &s;ufferings? Know you not that if you will be his Di&s;ciples, you mu&s;t wear your Ma&s;ters Livery? Yea, though it be dyed in as deep a Crim&s;on as his was on the Cro&s;s, <HI>Is it not &s;ufficient that the &s;ervant is made equal with his Ma&s;ter?</HI> I am &s;ure, any earthly &s;ervant would account it a great favour, that he &s;hould be admitted to have a garment made of the &s;ame piece of cloath that his Ma&s;ter doth wear him&s;elf, even &s;o will all the&s;e that have experienced the honour and reward that is laid up at the end of their journey, which no man can prevent or hinder them of receiving.</P>
<P>Therefore I &s;ay, the&s;e are not at all amazed at the&s;e things, no they are no more than the honourable garments that all the gue&s;ts of the Bride-chamber mu&s;t put on, yea and that with much willingne&s;s too, if it be laid down for you, or tendered unto you; for &s;urely, there is no man but will rather chu&s;e a Diamond than a Cornelian if he hath experience of the worth of both in mens e&s;teem, even &s;o will all tho&s;e that have experienced the love of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and the
<PB N="38" REF="28">content that is in his wayes, and the reward that &s;hall be received by owning of him in Truth and Righteou&s;ne&s;s upon the face of the earth, in the pre&s;ence of all contemners of it, and all contra|riers of it they will &s;hew them&s;elves to be Chil|dren of their Father, and &s;ervants of their Ma|&s;ter, and Stewards that will manife&s;t their Ma&s;ter to be one that is not onely able, but willing al&s;o to give unto all tho&s;e that will labour in his Vineyard of the abundance of the plea&s;ant fruit thereof, yea they will tell unto others what a loving and tender God he hath been to them, and what content they have had in obeying him, and what &s;afety there is in his paths, as <HI>So|lomon</HI> hath it <HI>Proverbs</HI> 37.7. <HI>All his wayes are plea&s;antne&s;s, and all his paths are peace:</HI> Yea &s;urely, the way of the Lord is great plea&s;ure to them that know the plainne&s;s, and the evenne&s;s, and exactne&s;s of it aright, to them it is a great plea&s;ure to walk in this way; but the &s;lothfull cryeth out, <HI>There is a Lyon &amp; a Bear in the way,</HI> and therefore he will not venter, he will lye down and take his ea&s;e, and fold his eyes a little more in &s;leep, or in his dark and ob&s;cure re&s;t, I he will ra|ther put things to the hazard, as men had u&s;e to &s;ay, then he will encounter with this Lyon that will meet him and bereave him of all his lu&s;tful de&s;ires, and of all his worldly plea&s;ures, and of heaping together the unrighteous Mammon of
<PB N="39" REF="28">this world, by couzening and defrauding the &s;imple, and by u&s;urping the ju&s;t priviledges of the poor, the innocent and the harmle&s;s; I but here is &s;omething more yet, for here is a Bear al&s;o which he mu&s;t meet, if he will take his pro|gre&s;s into this way, that he mu&s;t encounter with, which at the be&s;t will affright and &s;care him, if not tear him in pieces and devour him.</P>
<P>Whereas tho&s;e that have been exerci&s;ed to &s;uch a manner of walking in this way, as to enjoy the plea&s;ant Sun-&s;hine of Gods mo&s;t glorious and unfathomable love, they know after the dime&s;t and darke&s;t night, the morning will pro|duce light again, and di&s;pel the darkne&s;s; &s;o that though they &s;ee never &s;o dark a cloud of Gods fury in the way, yet this &s;hall not be a Bear to them, no, they know that the Sun will break thorow it, if it be &s;o that they keep con&s;tant in this way, and do not run a&s;tray from the punctual rules thereof; it is not a Pri&s;on or a Dungeon that will fear them. nor any earthly power, that is contrary to the truth, that wil daunt them; no, they know that if the powers of men do not &s;tand, according to the truth of God, I &s;ay, their lives will not be dear to them, not &s;o dear but that they will rather part with their lives than part with that portion of truth that they have received, &s;o as to call light darkne&s;s, and darkne&s;s light, to di&s;honour him whom
<PB N="40" REF="29">they know is able to keep them &s;afe in their evil|le&s;t and wor&s;t of dayes, look well to it I be&s;eech you every man and woman, and lay not any bur|then upon one another, by unju&s;t and unrighte|ous walking, for this is the end a Chri&s;tian, that God &s;hall have no di&s;honour by his walking, for if you deny God in this particular, pray that he may not deny you before the Angels in Hea|ven.</P>
<P>But before we proceed any further, let us con&s;ider what ob&s;ervation we ought to take in the performance of the&s;e holy Laws; for as I have &s;hewed you in the forementioned Lawes, you mu&s;t ob&s;erve that as the Law-giver is Holy, Ju&s;t and Good, &s;o are his Lawes Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and Peace, and Love, and Faith, and Truth, and Patience, and Equity, and Ju&s;tice, and For|givene&s;s, and who&s;oever doth not ob&s;erve and fulfil the&s;e Lawes, will lye lyable of being ca&s;t forth of this land, and from participating of the benevolence and fruition of this Law-giver.</P>
<P>Therefore let us walk wi&s;ely in our &s;tation, for this &s;hort time that we have to abide in this our frail hou&s;e or fabrick of earth, that when we come to give an account of all our actions, we may approach before his Throne with all bold|ne&s;s, by laying fa&s;t hold upon him that <HI>is our Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Peace, and Sanctification and Re|demption;</HI> knowing nothing of evil by our
<PB N="41" REF="29">&s;elves, and yet knowing nothing of Ju&s;tifica|tion in our works or by our works, as proceed|ing from them that is, there's no one that is an Inhabitant in this land of <HI>Zion,</HI> but mu&s;t ob|&s;erve and do the Will, of him that is the Law|giver, and the&s;e are the duties of the &s;ubjects in this land, the which when <HI>I&s;rael</HI> did di&s;cern, they had broken, and that it was onely the de|cayes of the Statutes and Lawes of <HI>Zion,</HI> that had been the occa&s;ion of their Impri&s;onment; the which now con&s;idered, cau&s;eth their grief, yea, and that in &s;uch a nature too, that they could not keep it in, but it bur&s;t out.</P>
<P>Therefore that all Captives that are in capti|vity, in any re&s;pect as to their inward freedom, may know which way to ea&s;e and relea&s;e them|&s;elves, let them ob&s;erve and keep the&s;e follow|ing Invitations, that in ca&s;e they have broken the&s;e Lawes, they may mourn for the decayes thereof, and amend their wayes by walking more wi&s;ely, that &s;o they may be delivered, for that is repen|tance to amend your wayes, therefore take my advi&s;e, and pre&s;s forward.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, let us con&s;ider what the&s;e Lawes are, that &s;o ye may know how to keep them, the <HI>fir&s;t and greate&s;t Commandment is, to honour the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy Soul;</HI> and the &s;econd is, <HI>To love thy Neighbour as thy &s;elf, on the&s;e two depend all the Laws in&s;tanced
<PB N="42" REF="30">in the Law and the Prophets,</HI> Mat. 22.37, 38, 39, 40. Not that they are differing, but hold all in one, or both in one; for thou can&s;t not honour God more in any one thing than by lo|ving thy poor Neighbour, it is the poor God as I may &s;o &s;ay, or rather the &s;ons of God, that hath need of thy charity, and not he that is the Creator of all things; for Chri&s;t &s;ays plain|ly, biding them to <HI>&s;tand on his right hand, for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, and a thir&s;t and ye gave me drink, and &s;ick and in pri&s;on, and ye admini&s;tred unto my nece&s;&s;ities; verily verily I &s;ay unto you, ina&s;much as ye did it unto the&s;e lit|tle ones, ye did it unto me,</HI> Mat. 25.34, 35, 36, 40. ver&s;es: So that I &s;ay, if thou art minded to prai&s;e God on the earth, or whil&s;t thou live&s;t here, deal ju&s;tly with all men, and as near as po&s;&s;ible thou can&s;t make that thy direction, to deal the &s;ame bread to others that thou would&s;t have God deal to thee, for fear thy heart &s;hould &s;o far de|ceive thee in doing to others as thou would&s;t they &s;hould do to thee; I &s;ay, that is a Rule of Rules, if truly ob&s;erved, but beware thy heart do not deceive thee in this, and thou thinke&s;t thou do&s;t it, when thou falle&s;t far &s;hort of it, and &s;o deceive thy &s;elf.</P>
<P>For I account it the one and onely way to &s;et forth Gods prai&s;e, to deal faithfully with all men in all things, e&s;pecially to them that are
<PB N="43" REF="30">without or of another mind, for who knoweth but hereby thou mai&s;t gain him to do the like, whereas if thou &s;hould do to the contrary, he would not onely be imboldned to do the like, but would reproach and defame thy way of wor|&s;hip, and bring a &s;candal upon all others that walk in the &s;ame profe&s;&s;ion as thou walke&s;t in, and not onely &s;o neither, but di&s;honour thy God al&s;o; I would de&s;ire all profe&s;&s;ors whate|ver, to be wary in this re&s;pect, le&s;t the Hea|then condemn us in that great day of Tryal, and do not enquire concerning the <HI>uncon&s;tancy of the times,</HI> nor the evil of the dayes, but take the Apo&s;tles direction, <HI>If any man de&s;ire to live long, and to &s;ee good dayes, let him refrain his tongue from &s;peaking evil, and his lips that they &s;peak no guile.</HI></P>
<P>And as it is beneficial to us, to &s;peak and act the Truth, &s;o as I &s;aid before, it is the only way to manife&s;t Gods prai&s;e, for as for what is done in private, is done onely upon the account of our Souls, it is onely a conference between God and us, &s;o far as concerns our Souls welfare or reward; but what we do before men, is either to &s;et forth the prai&s;e or di&s;prai&s;e of God; and whereas Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Give not your Almes before men:</HI> He doth not command you to hold up your charity before men, but not to give it only, becau&s;e men do behold it, we mu&s;t not make it
<PB N="44" REF="31">our chief end, to give it to be prai&s;ed of men; for if we give it thus, we have our reward; but if we give it before thou&s;ands, and could as free|ly give if there were no man by, and give it one|ly to nouri&s;h their bodies, knowing that we are but &s;tewards of it, and our Ma&s;ter may take it away from us when he plea&s;eth, for it is given us but for this intent, to feed the hungry and cloath the naked, and to admini&s;ter to the nece&s;&s;ities of &s;uch as are in di&s;tre&s;s, and in &s;uch ca&s;es it ought to be as really theirs as ours, for we are but &s;tewards of it, and if the Lord of the Hu&s;|bandry do find that we do not di&s;tribute faithful|ly according to his Will, he can take it forth of our hands in a moment, and call us to an account for our &s;teward&s;hip; do but mark what the A|po&s;tle <HI>John</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>If any man hath this worlds goods, and &s;eeth his Brother in want, and &s;hutteth up the bowels of compa&s;&s;ion from him, How dwel|leth the love of God in him?</HI> the fir&s;t of <HI>John</HI> 3. Chap. 17.</P>
<P>Not that I conclude, that the love of God mu&s;t be in every man that doth relieve the needy; but be &s;ure, the&s;e are the manife&s;tations of God in his people; there are &s;ome it may be will re|lieve the poor, becau&s;e their fathers have done the like before them, and &s;o they will not have their name decay, but will &s;eek to uphold it a|mong&s;t men.</P>
<PB N="45" REF="31">
<P>And others it may be will give to the poor, becau&s;e they will exceed &s;uch and &s;uch men that have as great e&s;tates as they have, that they may have more prai&s;e than their Neighbours: But alas! all this doth not reach the mark of a Chri|&s;tian, for <HI>thou mai&s;t give all thy goods to the poor, and thy body to the fire to be burned, and yet have no charity, and it profiteth nothing,</HI> 1 of the <HI>Corinthians</HI> and the thirteenth Chapter, and the third ver&s;e, no <HI>the poor widows mite,</HI> Mark the twelfth, and the forty third and fourth ver|&s;es, is more than all this, and that is as little as may be, if it be &s;o that you ca&s;t your gift into this Trea&s;ury with any acceptance; there|fore do not &s;tay your &s;elves upon this as any &s;ure foundation, that it is enough to give, but you mu&s;t give it with all your heart, yea, <HI>even as to the Lord,</HI> knowing that it is one of the greate&s;t pre&s;idents of a Chri&s;tians verification.</P>
<P N="2">2. And as you mu&s;t be willing and cheerful, &s;o you mu&s;t be careful too in your Almes, you mu&s;t not do it as if you did not care how you did it, or when you did it, or as though you did not care whether ever you did it, or not as there is too many do now a dayes, it is to be feared they do the work of the Lord ne|gligently, Religion is too too commonly lookt upon with too carele&s;s an eye, only for outward &s;hews and ceremonial tradi|tions,
<PB N="46" REF="32">as I &s;hall &s;hew you more hereafter.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, you mu&s;t &s;tudy to do good works, yea, how to do them, that you may glorifie God in your doing of them, and advance his Intere&s;t, and magnifie his Name, and that he may have the preheminence of all; and therefore Chri&s;t bids them, <HI>Math.</HI> 6. in the beginning, <HI>Take heed when you give your Almes, and that you mu&s;t not let your left hand know what your right hand doth:</HI> So that it &s;eems there is a left hand that is contrary to the right, that is prying into thy giving of thy Almes, yea, it &s;eems &s;uch a left hand, that is apt to declare thy bounty to be prai&s;ed of men; and therefore Chri&s;t bids thee take heed, as in the next ver&s;e he plainly inti|mates &s;o much, <HI>That thy Almes may be in &s;e|cret, and thy Father that &s;eeth in &s;ecret, &s;hall reward thee openly:</HI> This left hand is a member of that body of which you have mention made of the right hand in the former Chapter ver&s;e 30, that <HI>if it offend thee, you mu&s;t cut it off,</HI> le&s;t it &s;hould be the <HI>occa&s;ion of the whole bo|dy being ca&s;t into Hell:</HI> I wi&s;h that we have not too too many &s;uch hands in our profe&s;&s;ions in the&s;e times, that rather admini&s;ter to our applau&s;e in Religion here before men, than to the glory of God, or the relieving of others that are in di&s;tre&s;s.</P>
<P>Look well into your hearts I be&s;eech you, and
<PB N="47" REF="32">examine them thorowly, that you may repent if any &s;uch thing be <HI>while it is day,</HI> for God will find you out in the end; therefore I &s;ay, you mu&s;t be careful in your deeds of charity, if you intend either to glorifie God, or reap any benefit to your &s;elves in it; do it <HI>with all diligence and fervency of &s;pirit,</HI> even as <HI>Paul</HI> chargeth <HI>Timo|thy,</HI> &s;o ought every one to make it his charge and duty to be careful in this particular, le&s;t you deceive your &s;elves and wait for a reward when you have had it already of men, from whom you &s;ought it in your intent of parting with your gift: I mu&s;t confe&s;s, in this thing or particular you may come very near to the mark in your own conceits, for to feed the hungry and cloath the naked, and relirve the oppre&s;&s;ed, that is, a very good work, if done to a good end; But how can&s;t thou &s;ay, thou do&s;t it to any good end, or aim at Gods glory, when thou &s;ette&s;t thy &s;elf in the highe&s;t and fir&s;t degree in thy Almes, and ha&s;t re&s;pect unto thy own prai&s;es, that men &s;hould adore and prai&s;e thee for it?</P>
<P>No no, do not not mi&s;take thy &s;elf, for <HI>no man can &s;erve two Ma&s;ters, for either the one or the other mu&s;t be neglected</HI> and not honoured, God will admit of no partners, he will either have all thy &s;ervice, or el&s;e he will not accept of any; I &s;ay, he will have no partners, but as he crea|ted and formed all things, &s;o he will have the
<PB N="48" REF="33">preheminence of all things, both by thee and all others, either to your eternal happine&s;s, or el&s;e by &s;hewing his power upon thee, to thy de&s;tru|ction; therefore you mu&s;t re&s;olve to be careful, if you expect the prai&s;e of God, or have any love to his Name, to do his work willingly and zealou&s;ly, and to be wary that the Devil do not deceive thee in any one thing, and &s;o take away the effi|cacy of it from thee by any of his cunning wiles, for he will watch all opportunities to en&s;nare thee in thy charity, knowing it to be one of the grand Pillars of a Believers warfare.</P>
<P N="3">3. As you mu&s;t be willing to give your Almes, and careful how you give them, &s;o you mu&s;t be ready to give them; for if you &s;ay, you are or would be willing that any one that is in di&s;tre&s;&s;e, &s;hould be relieved, yet many times when your con&s;cience tells you, that &s;uch and &s;uch poor people are in di&s;tre&s;s, you are not &s;o ready as to give them that relief that may in any competent mea&s;ure dimini&s;h their grievances, as the Apo|&s;tle hath it, <HI>Do all things with all readine&s;s</HI> and 2 Cor. 9.2, 3. <HI>For I know the forwardne&s;s of your minds, therefore I boa&s;ted of you to them of Ma|cedonia, that Achia was ready a year ago:</HI> The Apo&s;tle doth make his boa&s;t of their readi|ne&s;s, to admini&s;ter to the nece&s;&s;ity of &s;uch as were in di&s;tre&s;s, yea, he urgeth it to others, that they might walk by this Example, as not know|ing
<PB N="49" REF="33">any of more u&s;e in this life, it being one of the needfulle&s;t effigies of a Chri&s;tian, as <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith of it, <HI>That your zeal in it had provoked ve|ry many to do the like:</HI> Therefore I &s;ay, as you profe&s;s your &s;elves to have received the love of God, &s;o let your love abound toward your Bre|thren, as Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Let your light &s;o &s;hine be|fore men, that they &s;eeing your good works, may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven,</HI> Matth. 5.16. For God is the Father of &s;uch love, and he will not be a&s;hamed to own tho&s;e that do this work with willingne&s;s, and carefulne&s;s, and readi|ne&s;s, for we do herein as it were repre&s;ent him on earth, for he be&s;toweth his ble&s;&s;ings upon us meer|ly of his own willingne&s;s and freene&s;s, as it is ex|pre&s;&s;ed, <HI>Of his own will begat he us in Chri&s;t Je&s;us;</HI> and he is al&s;o careful of us, And &s;hall not we be careful to &s;erve him? As you have it, <HI>The true Watchman of I&s;rael neither &s;lumbers nor &s;leeps;</HI> and he is al&s;o ready no be&s;tow his mercies and ble&s;&s;ings upon us, for it is expre&s;&s;ed <HI>Matth.</HI> 6.8. <HI>He knoweth before hand what we have need of;</HI> as if he &s;tudied to know our wants, and to keep tho&s;e things ready for us again&s;t we have need of them, <HI>For he that asketh receiveth, and he that &s;eeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it is opened unto him,</HI> Matth. 7.8. So that if you will but go to the Fountain, you may drink free|ly, it is not locked from you, unle&s;s you bring a
<PB N="50" REF="34">poy&s;oned Pitcher with you, to de&s;troy your &s;elves &amp; defame the Fountain, &amp; then I hope you will acknowledge his love to be as great in this as in any thing; &s;urely, men would be willing and careful, and ready to &s;erve &s;uch a God who is &s;o good to them, if they did or do any waves render their own welfare; I wi&s;h you could but experience the Apo&s;tles words in this particular, although he was &s;peaking of another when he ut|tered the words, which are the&s;e, <HI>The love of God con&s;traineth me, yea, I am accur&s;ed if I do not do according to his will.</HI></P>
<P>So &s;urely, any one that doth profe&s;s him&s;elf to have received more than others, he will and mu&s;t enforcedly man fe&s;t it in the &s;ight of men, upon every or the mo&s;t part of his occa&s;ions; I do not put this mo&s;t part in, to keep any from &s;tri|ving, to walk in the highe&s;t and exacte&s;t manner that may be, but knowing the choi&s;e&s;t of Gods People may be overtaken in a fault, but not that any of them can pa&s;s by this fault without great remor&s;e and grief of heart for it, and they could willingly redeem the time, if it were po&s;|&s;ible, either by a private Repentance, or publick in&s;truction to others; but this is a &s;tile too high to &s;peak of in the&s;e dayes I fear, and yet a&s;&s;ure your &s;elves, it is no more than ought to be in every profe&s;&s;or, for if you do but &s;eriou&s;ly con|&s;ider in your own hearts, you will find it is not a
<PB N="51" REF="34">carele&s;s thing to profe&s;s Chri&s;t, and acknowledge your &s;elves to be his Servants, for you mu&s;t ex|pect to do his Will, if you will be approved worthy of &s;uch a Ma&s;ter as I &s;hall &s;hew you more plainly hereafter.</P>
<P N="4">4. As you mu&s;t be willing to be&s;tow your cha|rity, and careful how you do it, and ready to be|&s;tow it, &s;o you mu&s;t be bountiful and liberal, in your deeds of charity you mu&s;t not lay up in your corrupt trea&s;uries, to buy &s;uch a Lord&s;hip, no nor &s;uch a &s;mall Cottage, neither if you &s;ee that your poor Brethren are in nece&s;&s;ity, or want: It <HI>was an excellent Ob&s;ervation of a late decea&s;ed Scholar, who when the Officers of the Pari&s;h came to him for moneys, they argued the needfulne&s;s of mens bounty in &s;uch a good work, &s;aying, There was none of more concernment than to repair the Temple of the Lord; he an&s;wered them, It was both needful and ju&s;tifiable before God and man, but he bid them beware they did not re&s;pect the dead Temple for the living Temples, and &s;o fail in their intent in both:</HI> So I would entreat all tho&s;e that profe&s;s them&s;elves to be religious in their actions here, of obedience to Gods Will, that they do not mi&s;take them&s;elves and adorn the dead Temple with &s;uperfluous varieties, when the living Temples wants a &s;ufficiency to keep them&s;elves alive, look well to your &s;elves: I ac|count it my duty to deal plainly with you, I fear
<PB N="52" REF="35">it is too too common in our dayes, for that love I beat you in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, I could wi&s;h it were otherwi&s;e with many of you, for if you neglect the repairing of the living Temples, there is no|thing that will hold in any harmonious tune in religious obedience, it is not enough to &s;ay, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, but you mu&s;t &s;hew your &s;elves to mind the Tem|ple of the Lord, for it is not a fained profe&s;&s;ion nor a guilded ceremony that will &s;erve your turn, nor mine in the la&s;t day, but as we profe&s;s our &s;elves to have received more than others, &s;o let us walk more righteou&s;ly and more faithfully than they do, that we may not condemn them with our tongues &s;eemingly, and condemne our &s;elves in our actions in the &s;ight of God and men, for we may &s;eem here before men to be zealous for the Lord, and it may be think really that we are &s;o; do but mark what <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ays, <HI>There is a way that &s;eemeth right, but the end is the end of death,</HI> Proverbs 14.12. And in <HI>E|&s;ayah</HI> 1.11. <HI>Unto what purpo&s;e is the multitude of your Sacrifices to me? I am full of your Burnt|offerings and your Sacrifices, I de&s;ire not &s;o much of this</HI> manner of ceremonial &s;ervices without you will work the effects of them; that is, <HI>To cea&s;e to do evil, and that they would learn to do well, and &s;eek Judgment, and relieve the oppre&s;|&s;ed, and Judge the fatherle&s;s, and plead for the widow, and then come unto me and I will rea&s;on
<PB N="53" REF="35">with you, and though your &s;ins be as red as &s;carlet, they &s;hall be as white as &s;now, yea, though they be as red as crim&s;on, they &s;hall be made as wool:</HI> If we bring the&s;e Sacrifices before the Lord, he ac|cepts of them, and will delight him&s;elf in us, but if we forget to bring the&s;e with us, we had better to &s;tay away than come before God in vain, to expect a Ble&s;&s;ing when there is none a&s;|&s;igned for us, it is to as much purpo&s;e for a man to think he hath a true Faith in Chri&s;t, when he hath not charity, as it is for a Builder to think to build a Tower, when he hath but one &s;tone to build it; do you not mind what the Apo&s;tle <HI>James</HI> &s;aith to &s;uch &s;ort of men, <HI>James</HI> 3. and la&s;t, <HI>As the body without the &s;pirit is dead, &s;o faith without works is dead:</HI> It is true, thou mai&s;t have a faith to believe there is a God, even &s;o <HI>Pharaoh</HI> King of <HI>Egypt,</HI> Exod. 9.27. <HI>He did believe there was a God in I&s;rael,</HI> yet he would not obey him, nor leave the wor&s;hipping of Idols, till the Lord did overthrow him and his Ho&s;t into the mid&s;t of the Sea; and as you may read of <HI>Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel</HI> 3. <HI>He did believe that the God of Daniel was the God of gods, and Lord of Kings,</HI> Dan. 2.47. yet he did &s;et up an Image contrary to what <HI>Daniel did wor&s;hip, and commanded all people to fall down and wor&s;hip it:</HI> So as I &s;aid before, it is not e|nough to have a faith, but you mu&s;t have a work|ing
<PB N="54" REF="36">faith, a living faith, a &s;tedfa&s;t faith, and an upright and charitable Faith, for as <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, 2 Cor. 9.6. <HI>He that &s;oweth &s;paringly, &s;hall reap &s;paringly, and he that &s;oweth bountifully, &s;hall reap bountifully, let every man give as he hath purpo&s;ed in his heart, not grudgingly or of nece&s;|&s;ity for God loveth the cheerful Giver:</HI> Not but that God is able to provide a &s;ufficient &s;atisfaction for his Children without your aid or help, but know, he will try thee O man, how far thy cha|rity will extend toward thy weak and helple&s;s Brother, God doth not make u&s;e of us for need, but for his plea&s;ure that he taketh in &s;eeing us improve our talents, and that we &s;hould mani|fe&s;t to all the world, that we are a People that have a God exceeding all other gods, in love, and tenderne&s;s, and bounty, and &s;trength, how would all people &s;tand reviling of our God, and di&s;dai|ning our way of wor&s;hip, if they &s;hould &s;ee us walk undi&s;cretly and loo&s;ly, they would be apt to &s;ay, lo, behold how prophane and vain a thing it is for &s;uch and &s;uch men, who profe&s;s they walk in a higher and more clearer light than they have done or than we do, but they can let their Brethren lack bread and cloaths, and can wear &s;uch needle&s;s tryphles, and build &s;uch and &s;uch brave Hou&s;es that we can live without, and con|tent our &s;elves without; I &s;ay, the&s;e things may be done, if that thing that is more needful bee
<PB N="55" REF="36">not left undone, but if one mu&s;t be left undone, I &s;ay look that you leave the le&s;s needful &amp; u&s;eful undone, for know the life and body of thy poor Brother is altogether as precious in the &s;ight of God as thine, this thy undi&s;cret and vain carriage doth give thy enemies advantage to revile thee, and to defame thy Brethren, and to bla&s;pheme the worthy Name of our God, whereas if we walk more &s;trictly, more wi&s;ely and more chari|tably, the mouths of all &s;uch people will be &s;top|ped, and they will be ready to commend thy way of wor&s;hip, &amp; to prai&s;e tho&s;e that you do a&s;|&s;ociate your &s;elves withal, and to glorifie the Name of <HI>God, by which you are called:</HI> So that if you will profe&s;s your &s;elves to be Servants of God, you mu&s;t walk in the wayes of godline&s;s; and think not that it is the performance of your duty, to talke of charity and love, but you mu&s;t make it your bu&s;ine&s;s to admini&s;ter and di&s;tribute your charity to all &s;uch as are in di&s;tre&s;s and want, knowing that if you will manife&s;t your &s;elves to be imployed in his work, you &s;hall receive a re|compence worthy of your labour, <HI>For if God &s;pa|red not his onely Son, but delivered him up to death for us, that we might be freed from the power of death:</HI> Surely, thou wilt not think thy &s;a|bout too much, to &s;erve him in thy e&s;tate, or ra|ther in his ovvn; I &s;ay, thou vvilt not be &s;o unju&s;t a Steward, to let thy Ma&s;ters &s;ervants dye for vvant
<PB N="56" REF="37">of food, when he hath provided enough for them, no certainly, thou wilt rather walk up and down from one end of the Vineyard to the other, to &s;ee that all thy fellow &s;ervants have their meat in due manner and due &s;ea&s;on, if thou do&s;t re|&s;pect the love of thy Ma&s;ter, and the prai&s;e of it will redound &s;o far to thee in the end, if thou performe&s;t his Will, as that he will make thee one of his Family for ever, and thou &s;halt reign in joy and gladne&s;s to eternity: Now he which doth this work of charity, mu&s;t ob&s;erve that he have not more re&s;pect for him&s;elf than for God in his heart, for look for it, for the Devil will never leave &s;earching, to find out one tradition or cu&s;tomary &s;elf &s;etting up, to find out &s;ome one devi&s;e or other, if thou take this work in hand, to repre&s;ent thee un&s;table in thy underta|kings in one re&s;pect or other, knowing it to be one of the greate&s;t Forts that a Chri&s;tian can acquire, for his unattemtible and unanimous re&s;idence, if truly and exactly built, for without this uniformi|ty it is impo&s;&s;ible to put on the whole Armour of God; nay, I dare be bold, that no man what e|ver can a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf, to put on any part of the Armour of God, and not take up this with it; For how can it be &s;aid that you have armed your &s;elves with Truth, when you have not obeyed the God of Truth? Or how can any man &s;ay, <HI>That Righteou&s;ne&s;s is his Brest-plate,</HI> when he
<PB N="57" REF="37">hath neglected to do his Ma&s;ters bu&s;ine&s;s, and hath left his Ma&s;ters Commands unobeyed? Or how can any man &s;ay, <HI>His feet are &s;hod with the prepa|ration of the Go&s;pel,</HI> when he walketh in ob&s;cure and dark wayes? If you have your feet &s;hod with the Go&s;pel, you will walk in the path and way of the Go&s;pel: Now Chri&s;t is <HI>the True and Righteous way,</HI> de&s;cribed in the Go&s;pel, and he thought it not too much to &s;acrifice his life for us, <HI>and greater charity thou can&s;t not have,</HI> than to yield up thy life in obedience to the God of love, <HI>and no man can come to the Father, but by and in him.</HI></P>
<P>And as for thy taking Faith to be thy &s;hield, when thou goe&s;t to with&s;tand the Devil, thou wilt be overcome, if thou do&s;t not take love a|long with thee, for the Devil will quickly find out a place to dart thee in, if thou leave charity behind thee; for this take what the Apo&s;tle &s;ays, <HI>Shew me thy Faith by thy works,</HI> and then thou mai&s;t put on the <HI>Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, for as he that redeemed you is holy, &s;o be ye holy in all manner of conver&s;ation;</HI> 1 Pet. 1.13. and el&s;ewhere, <HI>hereby &s;hall all men known that ye are my Di&s;ciples, if you love one another,</HI> John 13.35. <HI>And the fruits of the Spi|rit are love, joy, peace, &amp;c. Gal.</HI> 5.22. So that I &s;ay, it is in vain to think of with&s;tanding the Devil, but that he will wound thee in one re&s;pect
<PB N="58" REF="38">or other, if thou do&s;t not put on all thy Ar|mour, even the whole Armour of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. He that undergoeth this duel, or maketh war again&s;t this enemy, had needs be very &s;tudious to know, yea, knowing what it is that he is to encoun|ter withal, for thy <HI>enemy goeth about daily to &s;eek to circumvent thee:</HI> So that when thou make&s;t war again&s;t lying and deceit, beware he doth not o|vercome thee, by imputing a &s;trength to thy &s;elf in thy &s;triving, and &s;o get into thy harbour, and weaken thy &s;trength and fort; likewi&s;e, when you fortifie your &s;elf again&s;t unrighteou&s;ne&s;s, he will be pre&s;enting thee with a &s;eeming righteou&s;|ne&s;s, that if you are not very watchful, &s;hall give you more content &s;eemingly than any that you have cho&s;en, if you do not know experimen|tally the odour that is in your choi&s;e, for he will endeavour either to delude thee that thou art more righteou&s;s than &s;uch and &s;uch men, and &s;o &s;et thee a judging of others, and a taking Gods Office forth of his hands, that he may bereave thee of the efficacy of thy labour that way, or el&s;e endeavour to Sow &s;ome tares among&s;t thy wheat &amp; make you delight your &s;elf in embracing, for righteou&s;ne&s;s for &s;ome one &s;elf end or other for his tares are many times &s;o like thy wheat, that it is hard to gather them out of it, without it be &s;o that thou art very well in&s;enced of the nature and ta&s;te of them; and as for thy ferven|cy
<PB N="59" REF="38">for the Go&s;pel of God in oppo&s;ing all his a&s;|&s;aults, for this likewi&s;e he will not want endea|vours to &s;tir up enemies both of thy &s;eeming friends and known enemies, that if he cannot en|tice thee to a fal&s;e under&s;tanding of them, he will endeavour to &s;creen thy mind to abu&s;e thy knowledge in matter of action, if it be po&s;&s;ible, and &s;o hid it from thy di&s;cerning of it; but in ca&s;e he finds thee &s;o watchful that he cannot make a conque&s;t of the, according to his will or de&s;ire this way, then po&s;&s;ibly he will try thee further, if God permit him power, &s;o as to put thee into Pri&s;on, nay, it may be to take away thy life al&s;o, for thy &s;ervent zeal for the Go&s;pel; but know if thou art brought &s;o far, thy God will not leave thee then, though thou mai&s;t &s;eemingly have a Cloud for a &s;ea&s;on, yet the Sun will pre|&s;ently break thorow, and expel the darkne&s;s of the time at an in&s;tant, yea, in a moment of time; happy is he that overcometh all the re&s;t, to give Te&s;timony of his fidelity in this to all Beholders; but I &s;hall &s;peak &s;omewhat more to that hereaf|ter, &s;o I &s;hall defer it at this time.</P>
<P>But you mu&s;t pre&s;s forward &s;till, you are not yet come to di&s;cern the difficulty of this your urgent and needful care, for we are now to di&s;|cu&s;s the grand part of his enmity, in &s;eeking to keep us from believing in the Captain of our Sal|vation, and in relying upon him for all out
<PB N="60" REF="39">&s;trength, now he is labouring to deceive us of taking up this Wapon of Faith, &s;o he will en|deavour to fix our minds upon our own &s;trength, and to tru&s;t in what conque&s;t we have, it is meer|ly of our own care, and of our own vvatchful|ne&s;s, yea, he vvill not leave any corner of thy heart unattempted, if he &s;ee that there is any po&s;&s;ibility of getting vvithin thy vvalls under a pretended notion of friend&s;hip, that &s;o he may deceive and rob thee of this thy Weapon, it be|ing the chief Weapon of our defence, if truly fixed, by vvhich vve are enabled to quench all the fiery darts of the vvicked, and &s;o keep our rare Jevvel from all his demonical delu&s;ions, for if he once get this &s;hield of Faith from thee by any de|ceitful contrivance, he vvill make a conque&s;t of thee at his plea&s;ure, for he knovveth it is not for him to a&s;&s;ault any that have this &s;hield in their hand to defend them&s;elves vvithal; I &s;ay, it is not for him to attempt the overthrovving of the&s;e by any ordinary vvay that is contrary to their vvay of vvor&s;hip, or to &s;tand in oppo&s;ition to maintain a pitcht battel again&s;t &s;uch vvho have their Faith truly grounded and fixed upon the love and &s;trength of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, but he vvill not lack flatteries, &s;uch as may &s;eemingly &s;ympathi&s;e vvith the true and grand emulations of truth in &s;hew &amp; profe&s;&s;ion, though it &s;hall differ in the in|tent or end of their doing it; therefore I &s;ay, he
<PB N="61" REF="39">that is a Warriour in a Chri&s;tian warfare, mu&s;t not war onely again&s;t known waverings, and un|con&s;tancy, and un&s;tability of mind, but again&s;t &s;eeming &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;s, and &s;eeming confidence, and &s;eeming unmoveablene&s;s al&s;o, for you mu&s;t &s;tand upon your watch and examine every thought that cometh by you, and try it whether it will a|bide the Touch-&s;tone or not in every particular, before you grant it admittance, for you may be deceived if you do not take great heed, for the Devil may appear in the likene&s;s of an Angel of light, and do many things unlikely it may be as thou thinke&s;t for him to do, for he can be as faithful and as religious as the Scribes and Phari|&s;ees, but he will not be willing that you &s;hould attribute any thing to God as proceeding from him, or that you &s;hould aim at his glory in the performance of it; but as I &s;aid be|fore, though your work of Faith be &s;eemingly, the &s;ame in &s;hew or ceremony, yet it will not be the &s;ame in event and effect, yet it hath been &s;o like the true Faith, as that the People of old have cryed, <HI>Peace, peace, when the Lord hath not &s;aid it:</HI> Yea, he hath been &s;o &s;ubtil in his end, as that he hath deceived both Prophet and People, and he did appear very &s;ubtily with the&s;e Scribes and Phari&s;ees, for they did give the effigies of true Faith in many re&s;pects &s;eemingly, for it was built upon Almes and the fulfilling of
<PB N="62" REF="40">the Law and Prayers for their &s;ucce&s;s in it, but they gave their Almes to be &s;een of men, and therefore they had their reward, for as they gave them to be prai&s;ed of men, even &s;o they had the prai&s;e of men for their gifts, and as for their aim to fulfil the ceremonies and rites of the Law they were very exact in many re&s;pects, as to <HI>pay Tithes of Mint and Ani&s;e,</HI> Mat. 23. But to relieve the oppre&s;&s;ed, and plead the cau&s;e of the needy, they had &s;mall care of that, and they would make a con&s;cience &s;ermingly to God, as to <HI>pray often to him, that under a pretence of Reli|gion in this they would devour Widows hou&s;es;</HI> &s;o as they &s;eemed to be exactly religious in the fight of men, they were not religious hardly in any one thing before God.</P>
<P>For it is not &s;o ea&s;ie and idle a thing as many think it is to be a Chri&s;tian or a Chri&s;t-like man, for if you build your Faith upon any other Rock than Chri&s;ts Death and Re&s;urrection, I &s;ay if you do not war again&s;t all other fabricks, you cannot exerci&s;e your Faith with any good warrant; I &s;ay, if you do not pull down and root up all other appearances that are not one with this, and hold in concurrance in this as proceeding from the &s;ame root &amp; center which Chri&s;ts undergoings have meritoriou&s;ly crowned us withal, you can in no mea&s;ure exerci&s;e a Faith with any good Warrant, but we &s;hall yoke our &s;elves with bur|then&s;om
<PB N="63" REF="40">impediments in our more higher agita|tions and Divine a&s;pirations, for no clear eye can di&s;cern things of &s;o bright and clear an ap|pearance, &s;o Divine manife&s;tation much le&s;s be|lieve them, it is not to believe that it is any thing of our own merits that a true Faith mu&s;t be built upon, but all &s;uch thoughts and conclu|&s;ions &s;trike at the original grounds of a true Faith, as and is contradictory an enemy to it as may be; do but mark what the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of the grounds of a true Faith, <HI>Rom.</HI> 3.24, 25, 26. <HI>Being ju&s;tified freely by his grace, through the Redemption that is in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, whom God hath &s;et forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood, to declare his Righteou&s;ne&s;s for the Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I &s;ay, at this time his Righteou&s;ne&s;s, that he might be ju&s;t, and the ju&s;tifier of him that believeth in Je&s;us:</HI> Chri&s;t will not look upon you as partners in the grounds of your Faith, for as he hath conquered all &s;uch enemies who did lead us captive at their will by his &s;uffering for us, to pacifie the Devine fury of his Father, and to be a propitiation for to interceed with his Father for us, that he might reconcile all differences that did hinder us from having a peaceable and compleat union and ownne&s;s with our God, that &s;o he might be our Father as well as his Father, and our God as well as his God, and
<PB N="64" REF="41">that he might rejoice in us as Brethren, being united and annexed with him by what had under|gone for us, that &s;o we might jointly declare the manifold love of God, and &s;ing prai&s;es to his Name; I &s;ay, this was the intent of Chri&s;t in his interceeding to the Father for us, onely he would not have us &s;light his undertakings for us, and &s;o deceive our &s;elves, and di&s;honour his mockings, and his &s;coffings, and deridings that he did bear for our offences, when we &s;hould have peri&s;hed to all eternity, had not he &s;tept in be|tween our &s;in &amp; his Fathers wrath, and did that for us that we were not able to do for our &s;elves; &s;o that he will have us to own him to be the Au|thour and Fini&s;her of our Faith, <HI>Heb.</HI> 12.2. So as I &s;aid before, you mu&s;t War again&s;t every appearance of evil, and every thing that &s;eeketh to oppo&s;e this vvay of grounding your Faith; but I &s;hall leave it to your &s;tudy, to examine how many &s;uch gue&s;ts you have given entertainment to, as thinking them to be your Friends, intend|ing to &s;peak a vvord or tvvo more of it in &s;ome of my follovving di&s;cour&s;e, if God permit time and leave.</P>
<P>And as you have re&s;i&s;ted and mu&s;t re&s;i&s;t all the foregoing invocations of this your invious, yet more &s;ubtil enemy, &s;o you mu&s;t engage again&s;t all his extrin&s;ical and &s;eeming vvayes of en&s;na|ring you in your charity, for he vvill not leave
<PB N="65" REF="41">&s;triving to conquer thee by craft, if it be po&s;&s;ible, if he &s;ee that it is in vain to tempt thee other|wayes, he will promi&s;e thee great gain and great content, yea, he will give thee all the inticements and the allurements that the whole world can afford, and he will per&s;wade with thee that thou mai&s;t keep all the&s;e and be charitable too, he doth not care how fair a pretence thou make&s;t of being charitable, but be &s;ure of this, he will &s;trike at the very root of it, if it be put in practice with any true intent to Gods glory, and that if you are not very exact in your deliberating your &s;elves, he will be too hard for you in one re&s;pect or other, for if you war again&s;t him in maintaining your deeds of charity, and do not war again&s;t his ends in your charity, or again&s;t your own pride and &s;elf|&s;eeking, you had as good lay your weapons down, and do not pretend to with&s;tand him when you go about to fortifie his &s;trength, for he had as live have you profe&s;s and practice both, &s;o as he can but delude you to &s;et up an Idol to offer it to, for it is no better if we offer any prai&s;e to any imagined thing that is due to God, for an Image or an Idol is no more nor le&s;s than to &s;et up any thing in our Devine wor&s;hip, and attribute more honour to it, and have more e&s;teem of it than is due to it by Gods appointment; this will be a hard &s;aying for many profe&s;&s;ors to pa&s;s by, and yet it is no more than you will find to be true in
<PB N="66" REF="42">the end; the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah</HI> hath a notable expre&s;&s;ion to this purpo&s;e, <HI>Jeremiah</HI> 44.25. the people would not be beaten down <HI>from offering &s;piced cakes to the Queen of Heaven;</HI> not that you read any thing that they had any formed &s;ub|&s;tance, but an imaginary fancy; and as the Apo|&s;tle &s;aid in his time, <HI>There are Gods many, and Lords many, bue unto them there was but one God and Father of all things;</HI> and as he hath it in another place concerning others, <HI>They wor&s;hip|ped the creature more than the Creator, who is God for ever, Amen,</HI> as you may read <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.25. as he plainly expre&s;&s;eth in the foregoing ver&s;es, that they <HI>changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like corruptible man and birds, four footed bea&s;ts, and creeping things;</HI> Even as if the Apo&s;tle &s;hould have &s;aid, that they wor&s;hipped them&s;elves, and be&s;towed and attri|buted that glory that was Gods own by due right to them&s;elves, and gloried in &s;o doing, and de|lighted them&s;elves in birds, and four footed bea&s;ts, and creeping things more than in the Creator, from whence they had their being; and therefore he &s;ayes, <HI>God gave them up to un|cleanne&s;s, through the lu&s;ts of their own hearts, to di&s;honour their own bodies between them&s;elves:</HI> Be&s;ure, that when they came to that degree of apo&s;ta&s;ie, God would not leave them without pu|ni&s;hment for it, but lets them run into all un|&s;eemly
<PB N="67" REF="42">behaviour, as you may read the 20, 30, 31. ver&s;. of this Chap. when God gives up a people to their own lu&s;ts &amp; de&s;ires of their own hearts, they run on from one degree of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s to another, till at la&s;t they are &s;o captivated by their own lu&s;ts, that though they come to &s;ee that they act contrary to the rules of natural rea&s;on, yet they have &s;mall or no de&s;ire to leave it, but run on &s;till and per&s;i&s;t from one evil device to ano|ther, <HI>from committing fornication with</HI> their own lu&s;ts, to <HI>covetou&s;ne&s;s, and malignity, and &s;o to murther and debate, and having no under&s;tanding, they become Covenant-breakers;</HI> as the Apo&s;tle in&s;tances, <HI>They were without natural affection, implacable and unmerciful:</HI> Therefore I &s;ay be|ware of Idolatry, and do not make it your bu&s;i|ne&s;s to wor&s;hip the&s;e and &s;uch like Gods, as the Apo&s;tle hath it plainly, <HI>Phil.</HI> 3.19. <HI>Who&s;e gods are their bellies, and who&s;e glory is their &s;hame;</HI> but fix your Faith aright in Gods pre&s;cribed rule, and then you will be able to wage war with the Devil in his cunninge&s;t de&s;igns, but it will require your fervent care continually to watch, that you may know and be &s;ure to be provided for his co|ming.</P>
<P>For if you &s;eek to do the Will of the Father, which <HI>is Holine&s;s and Purity,</HI> you mu&s;t ob&s;erve what his Commands are, and do not think to &s;e|cure your &s;elves by notional pretences and literal
<PB N="68" REF="43">expre&s;&s;ions, rudely rea&s;oning with your &s;elves in the wor&s;t of &s;ences and the extravigants of cour&s;es, accounting it a &s;mall &s;in to offend God, or to walk contrary to his Commandements of <HI>Love and Chartly, Peace and Truth;</HI> for if you walk contrary to this, you may profe&s;s what you plea&s;e, but if your actions and intentions do not an&s;wer what your pretences &s;eem to blaze forth into notional extreams, as I may &s;o account them; I will not value that opinion, though they pretend to be Saints or Angels, for if they walk &s;o loo&s;ly as that their own hearts condemn them in their intention, much more may God condemn them, who &s;eeth in &s;ecret and knoweth in &s;ecret, happy is he that can try all things with <HI>Solomon,</HI> and yet not be linked in his affection to any thing; I &s;peak as in re&s;pect of his &s;erving or idolizing any thing below God, he can rejoice with a Heroick &s;pirit, not onely <HI>that Devils are made &s;ubject to him, but that his name is written in the Book of Life;</HI> he can try and &s;earch into the &s;e|condary powers of the world, and yet not like to the Phylo&s;ophers of the Heathen conclude, <HI>That the Images of them &s;hould be wor&s;hipped, becau&s;e, as they &s;ay, they repre&s;ent their Gods to them, and that the reverencing of God is the un|covering of the head, or the &s;prinkling with holy water, and exterior expiations, and exteriour ornaments for our Devine pray&s;es, as mu&s;ical har|mony,
<PB N="69" REF="43">and burning of wax candles, and light, and ringing of bells, and adorning of temples, altars and images, in which, as they &s;ay, is required a &s;pecial reverence, and comeline&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>This is not a Garden for &s;uch to plant their Vine in, who by the Spirit of Jehovah can like the Bee &s;uck Honey out of the Thi&s;tle, and yet account the Honey-&s;uckle the more rarer flower; he that is truly grounded in this, will well know what I mean in all the re&s;t, it is not the Sun, Moon nor any inferiour light by which they walk or act, but acknowledge a more &s;upream and &s;plendant brightne&s;s to be their guide in all things, and that they can try all the&s;e, and make it experimentally appear that they &s;eek the ho|nour of him which governeth and ruleth all things, even as he plea&s;eth, and when he plea|&s;eth to alter them? They are made &s;ubject to him at all &s;ea&s;ons, yea, he giveth them a brighter &s;plendor at one time than at another to our ap|pearance, And what is the glory of any thing, but in the manife&s;tation of it? Oh! happy is he that like the Bee can go to Thi&s;tles and &s;uck vertue out of them, as well as forth of the &s;weete&s;t Flowers, though they are more in e&s;teem in their &s;ight, it argues the &s;pirit of di&s;cerning as well as the Spirit that tryeth and &s;earcheth, he needs not fear the being deceived that knoweth honey when he tryeth it, much le&s;s he that knoweth it by
<PB N="70" REF="44">&s;ight, he will not like the Wa&s;pe lye prying after the Bees Ne&s;t, when he can &s;uck the pure&s;t forth of the Flower, and peradventure there may be a more bitter &s;ting in the Ne&s;t than he bring|eth power to expel, as the Snake doth com|monly keep both Bee and Wa&s;pe away, though they have both &s;tings, yet let this be your ob|&s;ervation, that the le&s;&s;er mu&s;t be &s;wallowed up of the greater, or el&s;e be put to flight, thrice happy is he that is truly conquered by the true Swallower up of all things.</P>
<P>He can plead a true and certain intere&s;t with any man or all men, for whatever doth branch forth it &s;elf, if really engrafted into this Stock, it will be abidable, although the winter fro&s;ts may &s;eemingly eclip&s;es the beauty of our profe&s;&s;ions, yet it cannot reach our root, but we &s;hall retain &s;o much &s;ap there, as will cau&s;e our branches to flouri&s;h again in their &s;ea&s;on; for as the <HI>Phylo|&s;ophers conclude, the Sun will not &s;pend all his year in a &s;ign, where he hath his detriment or fall, but will by his progre&s;&s;ive motion in his exactne&s;s, in his line or circuit go &s;trait forward, and doth not look backward as though he was afraid of tho&s;e captivating powers, that have, as I may &s;ay &s;o, do|minion over him at &s;uch times, as is apparent in our Horizon, that that power that he a&s;&s;ureth him&s;elf of in March, he is deprived of in Sep|tember, and that glorious &s;hew of heat, yea even
<PB N="71" REF="44">to &s;corch us as it were in July, is over&s;wayed by the unequal frequenting of a Januaries approach; yet &s;ay they, the Sun doth continue going forward &s;till, notwith&s;tanding all his repul&s;es by the unfor|tunate &s;olicits of his mo&s;t potent enemies.</HI></P>
<P>Even &s;o he that doth really know the worth of grace, and the benefit of his endeavours, that Chri&s;t hath purcha&s;ed for all them that will be|lieve and lay fa&s;t hold upon him in his Death and Re&s;urrection; I &s;ay, &s;uch a one that is truly &s;en&s;ible of what worth and value Chri&s;ts Death and Life is to all tho&s;e that enjoy a portion of it, effectually operating, over all the lets and impe|diments that are in the way to hinder his true di&s;cerning of it, he cannot but pre&s;s forward, accounting him&s;elf happy in each &s;tep that he ad|deth to his journey, wherein he di&s;cerneth that he getteth ground, you need not to urge &s;uch a one to be wary, for he cannot but di&s;cern when he getteth ground, and when he hath lo&s;t, for if all men &s;peak well of him and a&s;&s;ure him of peace, yet if he in &s;earching find any corner of his heart not &s;wept, be &s;ure he will not cry peace to him&s;elf, but will take the Be&s;om of righteou&s;|ne&s;s and truth, and will carefully &s;weep it out, and make all clean within, for he cannot &s;leep in quiet till he hath got his hou&s;e clean.</P>
<P>As no earthly man can take his re&s;t when he knoweth that there is a thief within his hou&s;e
<PB N="72" REF="45">that will take all advantage to rob him, but will rather ri&s;e and lock up his chiefe&s;t Jewels, that they may not be taken away from him, if in ca&s;e he cannot get him forth of the hou&s;e; but though they are locked never &s;o fa&s;t, and there be not a|ny thief within his hou&s;e, yet if he hath any trea&s;ure that he taketh much delight in, he will be watchful, le&s;t any one &s;hould break into his hou&s;e unexpected, and bereave him of that in which he &s;o much delighteth:</P>
<P>Even &s;o a di&s;cerning Chri&s;tian that knoweth there is a thief within his hou&s;e, he cannot but dread the wor&s;t of things, &s;o long as any &s;u&s;pected enemy is within his confines, but if he know that there is none but he hath tryed all of them thorowly, yet he will &s;tand upon his watch, and keep his doors locked about him (when he is at home and when he goeth abroad) he is wary with whom he doth confer as a&s;&s;ociates fit for his re|&s;ult, &s;o that whether he is with the Lord at his home, or whether in the turba of the mind, yet he will be watchful, that <HI>&s;trangers do not inter|medle with his joy,</HI> in any way to deprive him of that enjoyment by which he can convey his &s;oul to its mo&s;t fixed bli&s;s, no man can beat him off of this his watchfulne&s;s, when he hath once ta&s;ted the love of God, &s;o as to witne&s;s that he is &s;atisfied with it, not that I think it is enough to &s;eem &s;a|tisfied or to talk of being &s;atisfied, but I &s;peak
<PB N="73" REF="45">of them that are really and indeed &s;atisfied; you have a notable Text of Scripture in the 4th of <HI>John,</HI> Chri&s;t tells the woman of <HI>Samaria, that he that drinketh of that water that he &s;hall give them, &s;hall never thir&s;t again;</HI> and in the 6th of <HI>John</HI> he tells the Jews, that <HI>their Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderne&s;s and were dead, but who|&s;oever &s;hall eat of that Bread which I &s;hall give them, &s;hall live for ever:</HI> I will not &s;ay but ma|ny may ta&s;te of this Bread in &s;ome mea&s;ure in ma|ny degrees, and yet never hardly &s;tand upon their watch, to keep Dogs from eating of it out of their mouths, as I may &s;o &s;ay, and carrying it a|way out of their &s;ight, and bring them &s;ome of their old dyet, even Garlick and Onions; the&s;e are &s;uch as were taken in the Parable for the <HI>&s;tony ground, in which the &s;eed wanted root, yea, the heat of the Sun cau&s;ed it to wither, but that which fell on good ground, brought forth plenti|fully,</HI> even unto the harve&s;t: Therefore I &s;ay, he that warreth in this life, mu&s;t be &s;ure to watch when the enemy doth &s;eek to a&s;&s;ault, and batter down his Walls, and to defame his Weapons, and to poy&s;on them with his intermingled &s;eeming delights, whereby he doth lye in wait to infect us, even as a Fi&s;her doth lay baite for to catch his intended prey.</P>
<P>So that you &s;hall have baited hooks, &s;uch as you will think are very rare and agreeable to &s;uit
<PB N="74" REF="46">with your di&s;po&s;ition as near as may be, and to advance his own ends, he will fit you if it be po&s;&s;ible, for he hath variety of plea&s;ant dainties, if you will but be per&s;waded to deal with him, he will deal for &s;mall profit rather than loo&s;e your acquaintance, if it be but a making &s;light of your word, or a &s;elf-conceitedne&s;s in your wor&s;hip, or to wor&s;hip for cu&s;tom, or to believe, becau&s;e others &s;ay, it is true, when it may be you have no warrant in your own hearts that it is true, but becau&s;e others &s;ay, it is &s;o, therefore you will be|lieve it, for you are &s;ure that &s;uch men would not &s;ay it, if it were not &s;o, as I have heard many &s;ay, when they have had no other rea&s;on to be|lieve it, but becau&s;e other men have affirmed it.</P>
<P>Alas! my poor Friends, you that have no o|ther ground for your Faith than what another doth give you; I &s;ay, that you that &s;atisfie your &s;elves with what others &s;ay, and do not enquire whether it be according to Gods Holy Word that is left us for an Example, you are far from know|ing what you fix your Faith upon, and you will be like to the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> that could fol|low <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> becau&s;e they &s;aw that God did work many Miracles by him, but when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was lon|ger in the Mount than they &s;uppo&s;ed he would have &s;tayed, they are pre&s;ently at a lo&s;s, and charge <HI>Aaron to make them a God to go before them,</HI> Exod. 32.1. and as we read they were
<PB N="75" REF="46">forty years under his Preaching to them, and yet it is recorded of them, that they knew not the wayes of God; there is many Writers that affirm them to be a peculiar and ab&s;olute People by their de&s;erts, but I find no &s;uch thing recor|ded in Scriptures, therefore I &s;hall &s;peak what is made manife&s;t to me, though I know it will &s;eem har&s;h to many, to believe what I have here in&s;er|ted, but I would have them to take notice, that it is one thing for a People to be made happy by de&s;ert and obedience, and it is another to be made happy by Gods infinite mercy and forgive|ne&s;s, as you have <HI>I&s;rael</HI> made happy by Gods love and compa&s;&s;ion to them in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, but not by de&s;ert; there is a great difference between Gods loving a People, &amp; a Peoples obey|ing God, therefore I would de&s;ire every one to &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider when they read or hear what is the occa&s;ion of the words &s;poken, and the time when it was &s;poken, and the di&s;pen&s;ation that the People were under when it was &s;poken, and what degree of faith the People were heirs of by know|ledge, that it was effectually to be made theirs, for if your enemy can but intrap you, he will &s;oon be more potent, if it be po&s;&s;ible, for he hath an apple for <HI>Eve,</HI> and &s;o to betray <HI>Adam,</HI> and a di&s;contended pride in <HI>Cain</HI> to bring him to murther <HI>Abel, Gen.</HI> 12. and a fear in <HI>Abraham,</HI> to make him deny that <HI>Sarah</HI> was his Wife, and
<PB N="76" REF="47">a Fea&s;t for <HI>Noah,</HI> to make him commit fornica|tion with his two Daughters, and a Covetou&s;|ne&s;s in <HI>Jacob,</HI> to deny his Brother <HI>a Me&s;s of Pot|tage,</HI> unle&s;s he would a&s;&s;ign <HI>him his Birth-right,</HI> Gen. 25. and afterwards he feared that God was not able to help him to the ble&s;&s;ing of <HI>I&s;aac</HI> without his deluding of his old Father, and be|lying the truth, and a pride for <HI>David,</HI> that he might <HI>number the People,</HI> and &s;o di&s;plea&s;e his God, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 24. and a lovely <HI>Delilah</HI> for <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> that he might take away his life, <HI>Judg.</HI> the 16.</P>
<P>I might in&s;tance &s;everal things more of the&s;e his forementioned &s;tratagemes and cunning devices which he hath made u&s;e of, as is apparent in the Old Te&s;tament and New, to which I &s;hall refer you; happy is he that keepeth his watch and &s;tandeth clo&s;ely armed, ready to an&s;wer him in any of his attempts, that he may rejoice over all his workes, that hath gained the Victory by kee|ping clo&s;e to the rule of his pre&s;erving and de|fending Saviour, knowing that it is by his &s;trength that he doth &s;tand, by giving heed to the nar|row&s;t and difficul&s;t of his Command, ob&s;erving it meerly for the glory of his Father, knowing that he can no wayes &s;hew him&s;elf to &s;eek a Kingdom that is not of this life, unle&s;s he renounce the plea&s;ures of this life, <HI>For who&s;oever calleth God Father and abideth in &s;in, is a Lyar,</HI> John the
<PB N="77" REF="47">fir&s;t the 1 Chapter and 4. Becau&s;e he calleth God Father, when he hath not known God in his manife&s;tations, neither doth God own his actions.</P>
<P>There is a People whom I have heard much of, that when they are going about any thing that they imagine, will hardly bear the ra&s;te of the Scripture, they will &s;ay, that they will enquire of God, whether they may do it or no, and &s;o will through the &s;trength of the de&s;ire of their own wills, draw the &s;ence and intent of the Scrip|tures to what they plea&s;e, or what plea&s;eth their fancy be&s;t, and think them&s;elves &s;ecure enough too, if they have but framed a Prayer for God to direct them in it, though it may be they will not hearken to what God putteth into their mindes at that time neither, but adhere rather to what is more beneficial, as they think, for their own ends, not that they will blot the Scripture clean out in &s;hew, but it &s;hall &s;eem difficult to them in &s;uch ca&s;es, and &s;o will under a pretence of Re|ligion, do tho&s;e things that neither Rea&s;on, E|quity nor Scripture will bear them any Te&s;timony of; This is as much as if they &s;hould go to en|quire of God, whether they might freely mur|ther a man or not, and if their de&s;ire be drawn out to it, and in ca&s;e God do not &s;hew them &s;ome wonder or &s;ign, or pre&s;ently pour down &s;ome Judgement upon them, they &s;hould be free to do it.</P>
<PB N="78" REF="48">
<P>This is as a great a delu&s;ion of the Devil, to draw any mans mind to Prayer, for God to di|rect them in any thing, when their minds are ab|&s;olutely bent to do wickedly; I &s;ay, it is one of the highe&s;t provocations to provoke Gods fu|ry that you can invent, as the P&s;almi&s;t hath it, <HI>The Prayers of the wicked are abomination unto the Lord:</HI> It is a thing too common in our dayes, for many men to content them&s;elves with a form of Prayer, when it may be they under&s;tand not any one petition of what they require, nor that the thing that they require be according to the Will of God or not, which he hath left for our in&s;truction, but rather &s;eek to bring the Will of God to tho&s;e things that may &s;tand with their advantage and their benefit, and if they can but keep them&s;elves from the Laws of men, taking hold of them, they think they &s;hall be &s;afe enough, &s;o that they can but have the prai&s;e and applau&s;e of the great Rabbies of the times, they look no further; but it was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> choice, <HI>Ra|ther to &s;uffer afflictions with the Children of God, than to enjoy the plea&s;ures of &s;in for a &s;ea&s;on,</HI> Heb. 11.25.</P>
<P>But tho&s;e that &s;eek a Kingdom in this world, they take little or no care for their future joy, but think it &s;hall alwayes go well with them, be|cau&s;e they imagine it is rather better with them than with the Righteous at pre&s;ent, and they &s;ee
<PB N="79" REF="48">no alteration, but Gods love is as much to them as to any one &s;ort of People, and they flouri&s;h as <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>like a green Bay-tree,</HI> and have no frowns from God, neither &s;ee any change, there|fore they go on &s;ecurely as they think, and they will per&s;i&s;t in their own wayes &s;till, as the P&s;almi&s;t hath it <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 55.19. <HI>God &s;hall hear and afflict them, even he that abideth of old, becau&s;e they have no changes, therefore they fear not God:</HI> It is not enough to think of being &s;ecure, becau&s;e they &s;ee no change, God may let thee alone it may be for the time that thou art to live or abide in this life, but be &s;ure of this, you mu&s;t come to give up your account at the la&s;t day, where all your actions will be tryed by the fire, whether they will abide or not, and whatever we have done in this life, mu&s;t be brought before the Judgment Seat of God, where great mens words will not &s;erve our turn, nor all our former &s;eeming Friends can bayle us, but Ju&s;tice will be Ju&s;tice, as well as Mercy will be Mercy, God cannot lay neither of them a&s;ide; therefore &s;tay not your minds upon great mens ability, neither upon the pretended friend&s;hip of any man or men, for it is thy own con&s;cience that mu&s;t appear to excu&s;e, or el&s;e accu&s;e thee; &s;o that I &s;ay, rather loo&s;e the friend&s;hip of all other &s;eeming friends than wrong this thy chief Friend, which if he be for|ced to be thy enemy, will do thee more wrong
<PB N="80" REF="49">than all thy other friends can do thee good, &s;et|ting Chri&s;ts &s;ufferings a&s;ide, and they will be of &s;mall or no effect to thee, if you give ad|mittance to any unrighteous gue&s;ts; therefore rather loo&s;e all the friend&s;hip that may any wayes &s;eem to prefer thee in this life; yea, thy right hand, than endanger the being &s;hut forth of Hea|ven; it is not any other friend, &s;ave thy Con|&s;cience, that mu&s;t give an account for thy actions in this life, it will lye upon thy &s;elf, either for good or evil, <HI>The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Pearl, that when a Marchant hath found, he &s;elleth all that he hath to purcha&s;e it,</HI> Math. 13.45, 46.</P>
<P>Even &s;o he that hath ever experienced the love of God, will leave his Father and Mother, and all other &s;eeming friends whatever, rather than loo&s;e this Pearl, or act contrary to the Truth; yet Chri&s;t doth not any wayes advi&s;e Children to be di&s;obedient to their earthty Parents in re&s;pect to their obedience, if it be po&s;&s;ible to content them or obey them, but rather advi&s;eth them to be ju&s;t obeyers of God, by keeping the Commandments of God, commanded to be kept in the pre&s;ence of God and men, and not that any one can ima|gine him&s;elf to be an approved fulfiller of the Laws of God, &s;o long as he acts unju&s;tly between man and man, as I <HI>remember it was hi&s;torically expre&s;&s;ed of the judgment of &s;ome Heathens, con|cerning
<PB N="81" REF="49">the opinion of the Chri&s;tians, that they judged the God of the Chri&s;tians was not a good God, by rea&s;on of their unfaithfulne&s;s one toward another, and their unhumane carriage toward them:</HI> It is a &s;ad omen of conver&s;ion, when they that &s;hould become a pattern to others to walk by, become a reproach and defame to their God, or rather the God of truth in their actions towards men; I never did read that Chri&s;t or his Apo&s;tles did leave them any &s;uch example, but rather to approve our &s;elves to be examples of the Flock, and not Lords over Gods Heritage, and ro offer <HI>no offence neither to the Jew nor Gen|tile,</HI> 1 Cor. 10.32. but rather &s;hew our &s;elves to be &s;uch as &s;eek to glorifie the Name of God by our uprightne&s;s and exactne&s;s to men.</P>
<P>Even as it is recorded of the Prophet <HI>Daniel, Dan.</HI> 6.4.5. <HI>Then the Pre&s;idents and Princes &s;ought to find an occa&s;ion again&s;t Daniel concern|ing the Kingdom, but they could find none occa&s;ion nor fault fora&s;much as he was faithful, neither was there any errour or fault in him; then &s;aid the&s;e men, we &s;hall not find any occa&s;ion again&s;t this Daniel, except we find it again&s;t him concerning the Law of his God:</HI> Faithfulne&s;s is a happy ornament, though they that wear it may be per|&s;ecuted by men, yet they will be upheld by God.</P>
<P>Oh! let us not pretend to be &s;piritual Wal|kers, when we have not acted the things
<PB N="82" REF="50">that meet Morali&s;ts account no le&s;s than their du|ty to do, le&s;t we become heirs of that wo pro|nounced again&s;t the Seribes and Phari&s;ees, <HI>Math.</HI> 23. for pretending to be more righteous than any one &s;ort of people in their time, and <HI>under a pretence of long Prayers, devour widows hou&s;es, and pervert the cau&s;e of the needy:</HI> Oh! let me intreat you, to look to your Souls, and do not <HI>make your liberty a cloak of maliciou&s;ne&s;s and deceit, but go to the light, that your deeds of darkne&s;s may be reproved:</HI> And know, you can no wayes tempt God more than to pray to him with any &s;elf-endedne&s;s, you do no better than &s;eek to pull a cur&s;e upon your own heads, but when|ever you would be directed to pray, take the&s;e three Directions:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, De&s;ire with the help of God, to bani&s;h all &s;elf-ends and &s;elf-aims, that &s;o you may come to under&s;tand the Will of God in the Scrip|tures.</P>
<P>Secondly, Con&s;ider really with your &s;elf, that the thing that you do de&s;ire, is not to the preju|dice of any one, but that you do as you would have others do to you, in ca&s;e they were in your condition.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Be &s;ure that you u&s;e as much mercy in your undertakings, as you would have God u&s;e to you in the la&s;t day, and then if you find that all the&s;e agree in and with your underta|kings,
<PB N="83" REF="50">you may expect an An&s;wer a&s;&s;uredly from the Lord, that is to &s;ay, a Ble&s;&s;ing.</P>
<P>For do but mind the &s;trange appearances of men in our times, in their interce&s;&s;ions to God in Prayer, one prayeth for the re&s;toring of one thing, &amp; another prayeth for the throwing of that thing down, and one will per&s;ecute another, becau&s;e he will not wor&s;hip God as he would have him wor&s;hip him, and another will &s;eek to take away the life of others, becau&s;e they will not be con|formable to what they conceive is the right way of wor&s;hip, &s;o that Religion may but be your cloak, you value not what rule you have for your actions; Oh <HI>England, England!</HI> ha&s;t thou for|got a People that the Prophet complains of, <HI>That drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far away from</HI> ob&s;erving his wayes: Oh! that I could but cau&s;e thee to under&s;tand the <HI>things that belong to thy peace, before they are hid from thy eyes;</HI> then &s;urely you would own God to be a God of peace and love, and not &s;uch an imagined fancy as mo&s;t men imagines him to be, and then you would come to under&s;tand that obedience is better than &s;acrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams, and to cry, <HI>Who is Paul? and who is Apollo? and who is Cephas? Paul plants, and Apollo waters, but it is God that mu&s;t give the encrea&s;e,</HI> 1 Cor. 3.</P>
<P>It is far better for us to leave off profe&s;&s;ing
<PB N="84" REF="51">our &s;elves to be religious, than to pretend to a great height of Religion, and walk in the unhu|mane rudiments of the world, for who&s;oever will be a Di&s;ciple of Chir&s;t, <HI>mu&s;t take up his Cro&s;s and follow him,</HI> in his wayes as he walked in; he mu&s;t not turn back to fetch any &s;elf-end to carry along with him, for if he do, he will endanger the being &s;hut forth of the Bride-cham|ber, neither may he be freed from many encoun|ters with the perver&s;e enemy of all mankind, but mu&s;t take up his Cro&s;s and march forward thorow per&s;ecutions, and afflictions, and cro&s;&s;es in this life, and the more he &s;eeketh to &s;erve his Ma&s;ter, the more he will be had in di&s;dain, not that any can tax him with inju&s;tice either to God or men, but wherever Chri&s;t hath a Church, the Devil will be labouring to lay one &s;tone or other, you may go on a great way, and build a very fair Tabernacle with moral &s;tones, and have the love of men, and not the hatred of the Devil; but if you come to under&s;tand your task, what it is that you are to build, be &s;ure he will &s;eek to torment you, and make your wages as uncomfortable as he can, he will have a <HI>Cain</HI> to per&s;ecute <HI>Abel,</HI> and a <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> for <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> and an <HI>E&s;au</HI> for <HI>Jacob,</HI> and ten Brethren again&s;t <HI>Jo|&s;eph,</HI> and whole Cities and Nations again&s;t the Prophets and Apo&s;tles, nay, he would not leave Chri&s;t unattempted.</P>
<PB N="85" REF="51">
<P>So that as I &s;aid before, if you will enter into this Company to be one of their Society, you mu&s;t not think it too much to be a fal&s;e prophet in o|thers e&s;teem, but as all your Fore runners have done, count it your joy that you do not de|&s;erve it at their hands, what though you are counted a Magician with <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Daniel,</HI> or a wor&s;hipper of a contrary thing with the mo&s;t part of the Prophets, or a changer of cu&s;toms and a prophane per&s;on, or a wine-bibber, or a mad man, or a breaker of the Sabbath with Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, account it your joy to bear the reproach of the&s;e things, but be &s;ure to keep your &s;elves free from de&s;erving any of them, but ap|prove your &s;elves to be his friends, by doing what he hath commanded you, and then let the world rage, and the Devil &s;pit his venemous poy|&s;on how he plea&s;e, God will provide you that that will expel it.</P>
<P>And whenever you are brought to that maturi|ty of knowledge, as to experience the love of God as it is in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, you will not &s;ell your Birth-right for all the &s;eeming preferments, and advancements that any unrighteous tempter &s;hall &s;eek to betray you withal, look to the branch and you will mo&s;t commonly find what it is that nouri&s;heth the root, if it be nouri&s;hed by any inward &s;pring, or grow by the River &s;ide, it will flouri&s;h, although the &s;howres of rain do not
<PB N="86" REF="52">come &s;o frequently as they were u&s;ed to do, for he that knowes not how to &s;uffer with him, never knew how to rejoice with him, and he that is his, knowes how to do both.</P>
<P>But let not any one mi&s;take me herein, and think that I conclude that every one that &s;uffers, mu&s;t &s;uffer for Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s, I hardly did ever read that any Morali&s;t could &s;uffer for what he did maintain, or &s;eek to maintain, if he could any wayes prevent his &s;uffering; but in ca&s;e he could not avoid &s;uffering, any man will rather chu&s;e that in which he hath had mo&s;t experience, as a Phylo|&s;opher for his Phylo&s;ophy, and a Mar&s;halli&s;t for his Adventures in War; but happy is he that can lay down his life as freely as keep it, upon the ac|count of his Lord and Ma&s;ter, in due re&s;pect to his honour and glory, and not for &s;elf-ends, or &s;elf-glory.</P>
<P>Many I know will be harping at the&s;e expre&s;|&s;ions; but let them know, that as I do not con|clude the Scriptures to be void of rea&s;on, &s;o al&s;o I conclude, that it is beyond the moral rea&s;on of men, to find out the depths of the Scripture.</P>
<P>And as concerning War, I mu&s;t count it is a thing in fa&s;hion in our dayes, and for me to &s;eek to alter this fa&s;hion, I &s;hall lye liable to the cen|&s;ures of men, yet let the Scriptures be true, and have that re&s;pect to them that you &s;hould have,
<PB N="87" REF="52">and then let me be what you plea&s;e, I &s;hall be brief in this particular at this time, onely refer you to tho&s;e words of Chri&s;t that he left with his Di&s;ciples, <HI>Mat.</HI> the 26. and 52, &amp; 53. ver&s;es, <HI>Put up thy Sword again into his place, for all they that take the Sword, &s;hall peri&s;h with the Sword, Thinke&s;t thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he &s;hall give me more than</HI> 12 <HI>Legions of Angels, but how then &s;hall the Scrip|tures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?</HI> and 2 Cor. 10.4. <HI>For the Weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pul|ling down of &s;trong holds, ca&s;ting down imagina|tions and every high thing that exalteth it &s;elf again&s;t the knowledge of God;</HI> This is beyond the work of a moral &s;word: And <HI>Epke&s;.</HI> 4.3. <HI>Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the</HI> bonds of peace; and <HI>James</HI> 4.1, 2, 3. <HI>From whence comes wars and fighting among&s;t you, come they not hence, even of your lu&s;ts that war in your members, ye lu&s;t and have not, ye kill and de&s;ire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war, yet ye have not, becau&s;e ye ask not, ye ask and re|ceive not, becau&s;e you ask ami&s;s, that ye might con&s;ume it upon your lu&s;ts, he that is a Friend of the world, is an enemy to God;</HI> and as you read in the fir&s;t Book of the <HI>Chronicles</HI> 28. and 3. <HI>But God &s;aid unto me, thou &s;halt not build a hou&s;e for my Name, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t been a man of
<PB N="88" REF="53">war, and ha&s;t &s;hed blood;</HI> So that if that Tem|ple of God could not be builded by blood that was but a Type of the true Temple; &s;ure|ly, the true Temple cannot be builded with blood or war, but in peace; it is not that <HI>Egypt</HI> is righteous enough to build the Temple of the Lord, though they may be made a &s;courge to <HI>E|dom,</HI> as <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> was to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> I will not accu&s;e a defen&s;ive &s;word, becau&s;e I have &s;een that the manife&s;tations of God are not all of them made known to any one man; but I cannot find that any Di&s;ciple of Chri&s;t &s;hould u&s;e a mor|ral &s;word, as he is a Di&s;ciple of Chri&s;t, or a Builder of the true Temple, for he that is a Buil|der of the true Temple, ought not to take re|venge again&s;t his enemies, but commit his cau&s;e to the Lord, to whom vengeance belongs; and therefore Chri&s;t bids us to forgive our enemies, lea&s;t we &s;hould &s;eek vengeance where God &s;eeks none, for we are apt to condemn where God ju|&s;tifies, and to &s;et our &s;elves upon his Seat; Where is any of Gods Me&s;&s;agers, but have re|ceived this cen&s;ure from the men of their times? Therefore le&s;t we &s;hould be liable to this failing, Chri&s;t warns us not to <HI>judge our Brethren, le&s;t we be judged, for to his own Ma&s;ter he &s;tandeth or falleth:</HI> Nay, we are forbid to judge, accord|ing to what it appears to us, <HI>John</HI> 7.24. <HI>judge not according to appearance, but judge Righteous
<PB N="89" REF="53">judgement:</HI> And no man can judge by appea|rance in many things, but he will doubt whether he judgeth right or not; therefore as we cannot mea&s;ure Gods love, let us forbear judging our &s;elves to be better than others, le&s;t we underva|lue Chri&s;ts &s;ufferings.</P>
<P>But as concerning an offen&s;ive War, I find not any grounds in Scripture for it, and if any man can &s;hew me any Scripture for it &s;ince the death of the Te&s;tator, at which time the Te&s;tament was of force, I &s;hall not take it ill at his hands, for I have not &s;o learned Chri&s;t as to flatter any one, <HI>Job</HI> 17.5. <HI>He that &s;peaketh flattery to his friend, the eyes of his Children &s;hall fail;</HI> Prov. 27.5, 6. <HI>Open rebuke is better than &s;ecret love, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the ki&s;&s;es of an enemy are deceitful.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ome one may Object, Why did not Chri&s;t bid the Souldiers lay down their Armes, that came to ask him what they &s;hould do, he did not di&s;encourage them in their undertaking, but bids them do violence to no man, and be content with their wages?</P>
<P>I An&s;wer, That any man that is a perfect Per|former of this part of his duty, may give a ju&s;t account of his actions, but you mu&s;t ob&s;erve that he that advi&s;es them to that, commanded al&s;o that they &s;hould <HI>love their enemies, and ble&s;s them that cur&s;e them, &amp; pray for them that de&s;piteful|ly
<PB N="90" REF="54">u&s;e them,</HI> Mat. 5.44. <HI>So &s;hall you approve your &s;elves Children of your Father which is in Hea|ven.</HI></P>
<P>But I &s;uppo&s;e that Chri&s;t did never advi&s;e any of his Di&s;ciples to go to War with the wor&s;t of their enemies, nor to fight for a Kingdom of this world, but rather &s;uffrr by the men of this world, if one mu&s;t be; and as for his advi&s;e to the Soul|diers, I &s;uppo&s;e it was rather that they &s;hould not break their engagements in what they were enga|ged in, as in re&s;pect to their Governours, or their loyalty to their promi&s;e, rather than his owning of the War to be according to the Will of God, for tho&s;e for whom they fought were &s;uch as Chri&s;t doth condemn to be meer worldlings; And therefore how could their cau&s;e be good? And yet he would not advi&s;e them to break their engagements, but to act truth, that tho&s;e whom he had &s;poke again&s;t for doing of inju&s;tice, might not have any thing to accu&s;e him of, nei|ther in advi&s;e nor action; For what difference is there between the Righteous and the Wicked? But onely in their actions, as in re&s;pect of their honouring or di&s;honouring of God: It is a ve|ry vain thing for any one to think they are &s;piri|tually Righteous, when they are not morally ju&s;t; For how can any man &s;pirituallize him&s;elf, and not u&s;e morality? For whatever is mani|fe&s;ted to be acted between man and man, is ex|ternal,
<PB N="91" REF="54">in re&s;pect of decayablene&s;s and non|continuance; therefore God expects, that as you have received a Talent of Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Truth, &s;o you &s;hould act truth and deal ju&s;tly with all men, and not to boa&s;t of a Talent of Truth and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, when you act contra|ry, and do not improve it, but abu&s;e the true u&s;e of it, for God is better plea&s;ed in the ju&s;t demeanour toward men, than with thou&s;ands of &s;acrifices by your pretences in Religion, even as that is in&s;tanced of the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in the time of <HI>Jo&s;huah,</HI> as you may read <HI>Jo&s;huah</HI> 9.19. they could not kill the <HI>Gibeonites,</HI> becau&s;e they had made a Promi&s;e, that they would not de&s;troy them, although the Lord had commanded to de|&s;troy all tho&s;e people and places, &s;hewing them the danger of making a league with them, as you may read <HI>Deuteronomy</HI> the 7th. Oh! how would many in our dayes &s;wallow &s;uch an Oath, and never think them&s;elves hardly the wor&s;e for &s;o doing! &s;hould &s;uch a thing extend to their own ends in any one particular, the&s;e people might have pleaded that they could not di&s;obey the Commands of the Lord, who had comman|ded them to de&s;troy both young and old, and that they entered into Oath with them upon no other account, but as being a people that lived at a di&s;tance from the place which God had given them, and that it would be a great danger of their,
<PB N="92" REF="55"><HI>&s;ons marrying with their daughters, and their daughters with the Gibeonites, and &s;o intice them to follow other gods:</HI> Therefore being forewarned by the Lord, they would prevent the wor&s;t, being it was upon a &s;piritual account, as indeed it would have &s;eemed with many of our mo&s;t zea|lous Profe&s;&s;ors; but the Princes of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;ay, <HI>They may not do it, for they had entered into Co|venant with them, to let them live:</HI> Therefore they would not become Covenant-breakers, but would make a Covenant to be a Covenant in deed as well as in words; I will endeavour to &s;hew you 3 Rea&s;ons, why the Princes of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> would not break this Covenant, when the peo|ple did earne&s;tly de&s;ire it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, In re&s;pect they had not broken the Com|mand of God willingly or knowingly, and in ca&s;e they &s;hould break this League with the <HI>Gi|beonites,</HI> they &s;hould offend again&s;t him in both, for that God that is the God that bid them keep tho&s;e Covenants and Commands, bids them al&s;o act <HI>truth, and lye not one to another;</HI> that they may demon&s;trate to all people that they wor&s;hip a <HI>God of Order,</HI> and a God that will not lye: Therefore &s;eeing that they could not keep both, but that they were circumvented in one, they would be as exact as they could in the other; many look at what God &s;ayes in one re&s;pect, but not at others, it had been good if <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had not
<PB N="93" REF="55">entered into League with them, to the contrary to have de&s;troyed them, but &s;eeing they had, though it was upon an account, as they thought of &s;trangers, nay, they asked them if they did not live among&s;t them, and they &s;aid no, they came from a far Countrey.</P>
<P>I fear very few Profe&s;&s;ors in our time would be &s;o exact in their carriage, for the prai&s;e of their Ma&s;ter.</P>
<P>Secondly, They knew they &s;hould very much di&s;honour their God in not confiding, that he was able to keep their &s;ons and their daughters from believing or wor&s;hipping the gods of the Hea|then, if they &s;hould marry one with the other, it would &s;eem a very di&s;honourable part for <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI> when they had engaged to <HI>Gibeon</HI> to break their Covenant, for fear the <HI>Gibeonites</HI> &s;hould draw them, or their &s;ons or daughters from wor|&s;hipping that God whom they &s;erved, it mu&s;t needs argue that they give evident witne&s;s, that their God is not &s;trong enough to encounter with the god of the Heathens, and that is the way to wor&s;hip a god that is not; but in ca&s;e thou art en|gaged, I find no Scripture grounds that you &s;hould ever fal&s;ifie your word for others, being wor&s;e than you, for that is the way to make thy &s;elf wor&s;e than they, whereas if <HI>Gibeon</HI> live with <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> who knoweth but <HI>I&s;rael</HI> may convert <HI>Gibeon;</HI> however, <HI>I&s;rael</HI> will be <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;o long
<PB N="94" REF="56">as they keep in this mind; <HI>It was the opinion of an antient Heathen, That no man could be &s;piritually good, if he was not morally ju&s;t; and his rea&s;on was, That the &s;piritual God was a God of Order.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ome one may Object, Suppo&s;e that tho&s;e that I have engaged to, &s;hould give me any ju&s;t occa&s;ion to break my Covenant, they being as deeply engaged as I was, it is they that became Covenant-breakers, and not I; I hope I may freely break mine, without wronging my Con|&s;cience at all?</P>
<P>I An&s;wer, It is one thing to be found an Of|fender in the &s;ight or judgement of men, or their cu&s;tomary In&s;titutions, and another to be found an Offender in the la&s;t day before the ju&s;t Judge of Heaven &amp; Earth, the Laws of men it may be may clear thee, and &s;o thou can&s;t not be &s;aid to be an Offender of them; but if thou approve&s;t thy &s;elf not to be guilty of refu&s;ing the advice of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, thou mu&s;t look further than what the Lawes of men do intimate; in &s;ome things the Lawes of Nations are differing, many Kingdoms allow that which others condemn, but God is one intire being, and his Law the one edifying Truth, which teacheth us not to render evil for evil, contrariwi&s;e but good; &s;uppo&s;e you are but engaged conditionally, even as by indenture, where there are Obligations laid upon both &s;ides, and thy Partner breaks his part
<PB N="95" REF="56">of the Obligation, thou can&s;t not but account it evil in him; And wilt thou commit the &s;ame e|vil by breaking thy part, when thou condemne&s;t the &s;ame thing in another? Chri&s;t advi&s;eth, us, that if any man compel us to go with him a mi&s;e, to go two; and if any man &s;trike thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other, thou &s;halt not an&s;wer for this offence, but for thy own. And I mu&s;t confe&s;s, it is my opinion that no one can with any &s;afety break their engagements for the time they &s;tood engaged at fir&s;t, though you may receive great in juries by the other par|ties default; the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> doth plainly in|timate as much in his fir&s;t Epi&s;tle 2. Chapter 19, 20, 21. ver&s;es, <HI>For this is thank worthy, if a man for con&s;cience toward God endure grief, &s;uf|fering wrongfully, for what glory is it, if when you are buffeted for your faults, ye take it patient|ly; but if when you do well and &s;uffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God:</HI> The Apo&s;tle doth not advi&s;e the &s;ervant to break his Covenant to his Ma&s;ter, becau&s;e the Ma&s;ter doth break his, but rather &s;uffer what puni&s;h|ment the Ma&s;ter &s;hall inflict upon him; yea, herein is a Believers joy, that he is accounted worthy to &s;uffer for maintaining the truth in any one particular, for all are not called to &s;uffer in one manner or way, though fle&s;h and blood may not &s;eem &s;atisfied with it, by rea&s;on
<PB N="96" REF="57">of the pre&s;ent angui&s;h of &s;pirit, for no <HI>affliction &s;eems joyous for the pre&s;ent, but grievous, yet after ward, it yieldeth the plea&s;ant fruit of righteou&s;nes,</HI> Heb. 12.11. So that though it may &s;eem to ter|rifie thy outward man, yet thy inward man will be &s;trengthened, the which ought to be rather nouri&s;hed than neglected, and though it may &s;eem to prove di&s;advantagious to thee in this life, yet here will be thy joy that thou ha&s;t obeyed the Truth, and can&s;t look death in the face with great boldne&s;s, by thy exactne&s;s in thy word to all men, even as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks in <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 15.4. con|cerning tho&s;e that &s;hall be Inhabitants in <HI>Zion,</HI> among&s;t which one thing that is found needful, is to keep his Word, <HI>Though he &s;weareth to his hurt, yet he changeth not;</HI> revenge belongeth to the Lord, if you receive any wrong, commit your cau&s;e to him, and do not &s;eek any revenge upon any man; but let not any &s;eek to circum|vent me in this my de&s;cription, I put a difference between the People of God promi&s;ing, and a peo|ple that are in darkne&s;s, but I &s;peak of them that engage, when they are in the tuition of the Lord, or at lea&s;t wayes own them&s;elves &s;o to be, and a difference between the promi&s;es of the Law or under the Law, as they were under&s;tood, and the promi&s;es under the Go&s;pel, for under the Law any man might put away his Wife, onely giving her a Bill of devorcement; but Chri&s;t tells us,
<PB N="97" REF="57">that it is adultery, to do it in the Go&s;pel, and cau|&s;eth them to commit adultery al&s;o, that are put away in that nature; &s;o it is not every thing that is cu&s;tomary with men, that is ju&s;tifiable in the &s;ight of God.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had experienced, that God did make it his de&s;ire to keep tho&s;e engagements that he had made to them, as it is often mentioned in the Scrip|tures, though they had broken their engagements as to their particular and general failings, yet God was &s;o tender, lea&s;t he &s;hould break his part, as that he doth as it were &s;tand and meditate, before he will any wayes in&s;i&s;t upon any urgent or au&s;tere puni&s;h|ment, and doth often invite them to return and review their wayes, and turn to repentance for their back-&s;liding, that he may have mercy on them, and defer his anger; God is ju&s;t and merciful, and it can|not be &s;aid of him that he did ever break any engage|ment to any per&s;on or people, for as his promi&s;es have been to his people many times but conditio|nally.</P>
<P>For as he engageth to be a God and a Defender to them, if they will keep his Laws, and ob&s;erve and do his Commands, &s;o likewi&s;e he often enga|geth, that if they will not keep his Law, or per|form their part, that he will puni&s;h them, and leave them to their own wills and their own de&s;ires, and let them go on in their own filthine&s;s, until they have fulfilled the de&s;ires of their own wayes, and then he will take the Rod and &s;courge them; &s;o as I &s;aid before in this parricular, God is as ju&s;t
<PB N="98" REF="58">in performing this part of his Covenant, as he was in performing the other, by rea&s;on of the entailment of Truth that did force him to it, but in re&s;pect to tho&s;e promi&s;es that are made ab&s;olute, he is &s;o exact in keeping them, where there is no entailment to the contrary, as that he will keep his word, though a people do offend him and vex his Holy Spirit, as is in&s;tanced by his promi&s;e to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> in relation to his cau&s;ing their &s;eed to inherit the Land of <HI>Canaan;</HI> and although his People did oftentimes offend and vex his Holy Spi|rit, yet neverthele&s;s, he being a God of Truth, he would not be moved &s;o far as to make his Promi&s;e null and void of effect.</P>
<P N="2">2. As he had promi&s;ed that he would render up the onely beloved of his delight his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us, to the mercies of wicked men, even to do after the imaginations of their own hearts with him, &s;o far as concerned life to their appearance, &s;o he did fulfil it to the full, although they had denied to own him in his interce&s;&s;ions, for a con|di&s;cention of love and unity; yea, they did not own him to be their God, they would have none of him nor none of his in&s;tructions, but did beat his Me&s;&s;engers, and impri&s;on and kill his Prophets, and &s;hewed him all the unhumane re&s;pect that po&s;&s;i|bly could be, and did him all the di&s;honour that lay in their power, yet neverthele&s;s God had pro|mi&s;ed that he would provide an acceptable &s;acrifice for the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham, A Lamb without blemi&s;h or &s;pot:</HI> And though the People were never &s;o
<PB N="99" REF="58">wicked and unhumane, and Breakers of all the Or|dinances, Laws and Commands that he had given them to ob&s;erve and do, yet he could do no le&s;&s;e than perform his Promi&s;e; Otherwayes how could it be &s;aid that he was a God of Truth?</P>
<P>So as it is plainly under&s;tood, that God hath been compelled by Truth many times, to be&s;tow his gracious favours and mercies upon his People, when they have de&s;erved a cur&s;e, and oftentimes, though it might with true acknowledgment and obedience be|come a Ble&s;&s;ing to them that receive it; &s;o it proves to tho&s;e that are ob&s;tinately bent, even a cur&s;e by their not prizing of it as they ought to do, even as Chri&s;t was to <HI>Judas,</HI> and &s;everal other of the Jews.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, The <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> dur&s;t not break their pro|mi&s;e with <HI>Gibeon,</HI> for fear of di&s;honouring their God, and provoking him to anger, by making him odious in the fight of the Heathen, who do hold of this judgement, That if they do once promi&s;e a thing, their gods will afflict them, if they do not effect it, And &s;hould <HI>I&s;rael</HI> act below the Hea|then? The very Heathen would condemn their God of inju&s;tice, as indeed it was <HI>Jacobs</HI> an&s;wer to his &s;ons, <HI>Simeon</HI> and <HI>Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me &s;tink before the Inhabitants of the Land, and I being few in number, the Canaanites and the Perizites will gather them&s;elves together and &s;lay me, and all my hou&s;hold;</HI> As you may read at large in the 34th Chapter of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> and the 30th ver&s;e, <HI>Jacob</HI> accounted it a greater offence for <HI>Simeon</HI>
<PB N="100" REF="59">and <HI>Levy</HI> to break their Covenant, than to let their Si&s;ter remain with <HI>Hamor,</HI> as indeed &s;eeing &s;he had been the occa&s;ion on the one part of working the defame in <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> even &s;o they had made <HI>I&s;|rael</HI> to &s;tink before the Nations on the other &s;ide, and &s;o con&s;equently the God of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>And if you do but mark in the following Chap|ter, you &s;hall find that God doth take notice of it in the fir&s;t ver&s;e, God calls <HI>to Jacob to go up to Be|thel, and dwell there:</HI> If you do but turn to the 28th Chapter of this Book, you &s;hall find what <HI>Jacob</HI> did promi&s;e in <HI>Bethel,</HI> whether he is comman|ded to return, that is, to his promi&s;e in <HI>Bethel, That if God would bring him &s;afe to his Fathers hou&s;e, he &s;hould be his God:</HI> Now God had per|formed his promi&s;e, but <HI>Jacob</HI> had failed in his, in that his &s;ons had broken their Covenant with <HI>She|chem</HI> and <HI>Hamer.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> Well, but what doth God call <HI>Jacob</HI> to go to <HI>Bethel,</HI> or to his promi&s;e in <HI>Bethel</HI> to do?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It was to take notice, that he had broke his promi&s;e, and therefore he commands <HI>Jacob to build an Altar there,</HI> for he would not an&s;wer him on that Altar El Elo&s;ie <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> or in the breaking of the Covenant, but in <HI>Bethel,</HI> or his owning of him to be his God, and therefore <HI>Jacobs</HI> fir&s;t work is to clean&s;e and purge <HI>his hou&s;e of Idols,</HI> as you may read in the 35th Chapter, and <HI>to bury them in Shechem,</HI> before he could go up to <HI>Bethel,</HI> and tells his Family, that they <HI>mu&s;t change their garments and be clean, and then ari&s;e and go to build an Altar
<PB N="101" REF="59">in Bethel, and &s;eek the Lord that an&s;wered him in his di&s;tre&s;s,</HI> and by that means a terrour did &s;trike into the hearts of the neighbouring Cities that they journed &s;afely.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had purcha&s;ed Gods di&s;plea&s;ure not long before this engagement was made with the <HI>Gibeonites,</HI> as is in&s;tanced in the 7th Chapter of <HI>Jo&s;huah,</HI> and the 11th ver&s;e, <HI>I&s;rael hath &s;inned &s;aith the Lord, in breaking their Covenant which I commanded them, they have al&s;o &s;tolen and have put it among&s;t their own &s;tuff, and therefore they could not &s;tand before their enemies:</HI> So you may &s;ee plainly, that God is very exact to have <HI>I&s;rael</HI> keep his Law and Commandments, and had they not en|tered into Covenant with the <HI>Gibeonites</HI> to let them live, they dur&s;t not have pre&s;erved any of their lives, but &s;eeing they had engaged to do it, though it was unknown to them of their living in that place, God was plea&s;ed better with it than if they had broke their Covenant, and <HI>Gibeon</HI> is not the la&s;t in proce&s;s of time that laid their helping hand to build the Temple of the Lord in <HI>Judah,</HI> as you have in the third Chapter of <HI>Nehemiah</HI> and the 7th ver&s;e, which &s;hews that God was well plea&s;ed with <HI>I&s;rael</HI> for their keeping their Covenant, in accepting of the <HI>Gibeonites</HI> into his favour for <HI>I&s;raels</HI> &s;ake, whereas <HI>Achan</HI> offending again&s;t him, when there was no Obligation to urge him to it, he will not be friends with him nor with <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> till they have de|&s;troyed him, but <HI>I&s;rael</HI> mu&s;t fall before the men of <HI>Aie,</HI> yea, and tho&s;e that have not offended with
<PB N="102" REF="60">polluting them&s;elves in the forbidden inticements; therefore it is not that men do fall before their ene|mies alwayes for the &s;ins that they commit them|&s;elves, but for the pollutions of others <HI>I&s;rael</HI> is &s;aid to &s;in in that one had &s;inned, even <HI>Achan,</HI> and God would &s;uffer even 36 of the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> to dye before the men of <HI>Aie,</HI> and the re&s;t to flee for <HI>A|chans</HI> offence; therefore I would entreat every man whatever, that profe&s;&s;eth him&s;elf to be a Chri|&s;tian, to take heed of offending God in this, or any other thing; for be &s;ure, if God do not take up a controver&s;ie again&s;t us for our back&s;liding, yet we may be the occa&s;ion of his fury again&s;t others that are more innocent than we; for God will not be friends with <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> till the Babyloni&s;h garment be burned, and <HI>Achan</HI> &s;toned.</P>
<P>Look to it as well as you plea&s;e, you know your pay will be according to your work; I need not tell you, that there are more Babyloni&s;h garments than one, and I &s;ear &s;ome that profe&s;s high Notions, have clothed them&s;elves with them from the crown of the head to the &s;ole of the foot, onely wearing a religious cloak over it, to deceive; O men, look well to your &s;elves, and let not your own hearts condemn you before God, and before I will not con|demn you, but I &s;peak my mind plainly, be|cau&s;e there is too too many that heal your wound too &s;lightly, even as the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah</HI> com|plains in the 6th Chapter of his Prophe&s;ie and the 14th ver&s;e, <HI>They have healed the hurt of my Daughter &s;lightly, crying, peace, peace, when there
<PB N="103" REF="60">is no peace:</HI> So it hath plainly appeared in our time, that we have pretended to a great mea&s;ure of light in Religion, But where is the man that cryed, We are all fell &s;hort? But rather accounting that the Judgement that is fallen upon thee O <HI>England</HI> be|longed to <HI>Rome</HI> and the Bea&s;t, accounting of Chri&s;ts Reign in per&s;on, and not minding to &s;et up his Power in our hearts, ju&s;t as the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> did account them&s;elves happier in the Land of <HI>Canaan</HI> whil&s;t they were in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, than they did in the plea&s;ure of God, by which they were to enjoy it, and &s;o fell to murmering and re|pining at Gods dealing with them according to his plea&s;ure; therefore he &s;lew that generation of men, and would not &s;uffer them to enter into the Land at all; &s;o may I &s;ay of thee O <HI>England,</HI> that ha&s;t had more di&s;cour&s;e of the throwing down of <HI>Babylon,</HI> than thou ha&s;t had zeal to the God that &s;hould throw <HI>Babylon</HI> down into the bottomle&s;&s;e pit; if pretences could have done it, I mu&s;t con|fe&s;s thou mighte&s;t have gone a great way in it, but you &s;ought to <HI>clean&s;e onely the out&s;ide,</HI> and did not furbi&s;h the in&s;ide to an&s;wer it; it would be a very &s;mall &s;atisfaction to thee to have Chri&s;t reigne a thou&s;and years upon the earth, and to begin his reign, before he hath been lifted up in thy heart, therefore <HI>fir&s;t &s;eek the Kingdom of God and the righteou&s;ne&s;s thereof, and then <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;ure all other things &s;hall be added unto you;</HI> and do not think to dwell with the Father, unle&s;s ye eat the fle&s;h of the Son, and <HI>if ye eat the fle&s;h of the Son, ye &s;hall live
<PB N="104" REF="61">by him, even as he liveth by the Father,</HI> John 6.56, 57. Therefore do not think of &s;atisfying your &s;elves with any thing below him, but be &s;ure to eat that which the Scriptures doth manife&s;t to be in him: Thus wi&s;hing the one Almighty and infinite being to direct both you and I, that we may not look at things as they appear cu&s;tomary, but as they are in reality and truth, that we may believe in him that is our peace, <HI>By adding vertue to our Faith, and to Vertue Knowledge, and to Knowledg Temperance, and to Temperance Patience, and to Patience Godline&s;s, and to Godline&s;s Brotherly Kindne&s;s, and to Brotherly Kindne&s;s Charity, and if the&s;e things be in you and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> 2 Pet. 1.5, 6, 7, 8. <HI>For &s;o is the Will of God, that with well-doing you might put to &s;ilence the ignorance of fooli&s;h men as free, and not u&s;ing your liberty for a cloak of malitiou&s;ne&s;s, but as the Servants of God,</HI> 1 Pet. 2.15, 16. And if you have &s;o learned Chri&s;t, as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">o ob&s;erve and do the&s;e things that you are invited to, you need not fear what man can do unto you, but you will get into a &s;tronger harbour, &amp; take your repo&s;e, and wait till you hear the voice of the Bridegroom, crying, <HI>Come my People, enter thou into thy Chamber and &s;hut thy doors about thee, hide thy &s;elf as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over-past,</HI> E&s;ay 26.20.</P>
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