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<DATE>2012-01-26</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="illustration">
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<P><FIGURE>
<HEAD>The Mo&s;t Hon^b^l^e. William Marqui&s;s of Lothian</HEAD>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>TWO SERMONS PREACHED Before His MAJESTIES HIGH COMMISSIONER, And the ESTATES of PARLIAMENT. By the appointment of the Provincial Synod of <HI>Lothian</HI> and <HI>Tweddale.</HI></P>
<P>Upon Sabbath the 7th. of <HI>May,</HI> 1693. Unto which is &s;ubjoyned the Sermon Preach|ed at the opening up of the Synod. <HI>May</HI> 2. 1693.</P>
<P>By Mr. <HI>William Vetch</HI> Mini&s;ter of <HI>Peebles.</HI></P>
<P>From <HI>Haggai,</HI> 2.4.</P>
<P>And <HI>Col:</HI> 4.17.</P>
<P>Edinburgh, <HI>Printed by</HI> John Reid, <HI>to be &s;old by</HI> Alexander Hen|der&s;on, <HI>Book &s;eller in the Lochen-booths,</HI> Anno 1693.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>UNTO HIS GRACE WILLIAM DUKE of HAMILTON THEIR <HI>MAJESTIES</HI> HIGH COMMISSIONER For the Ancient KINGDOM of SCOTLAND, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>MAY it plea&s;e your Grace, If I had an Offering, that might be any way Acceptable, There is none to whom it is &s;o much due, as unto your Grace; And that becau&s;e I drew my fir&s;t Breath, and had my fir&s;t Education, where the Ancient, and Noble Fa|mily of <HI>Dowglas</HI> was the Grand Planet, Regnant in that <HI>Hemi&s;phaere.</HI></P>
<PB REF="5">
<P> Secondlie, Your Grace, by the Alwi&s;e Providence of <HI>GOD,</HI> and the Choice of our Great, and Gracious Prote&s;tant King, being made his Maje&s;ties High Com|mi&s;&s;ioner to this Parliament: Stand in the place of <HI>Zerubbabel,</HI> in my Text, and are chiefly concerned to notice, What <HI>GOD</HI> calls for at your Hands, in Or|der to the Building up the <HI>walls of Our &s;econd Temple,</HI> the foundations whereof have been wonder|fullie and mercifullie laid &s;ome Years ago; And now, Your Grace, and this Honourable and High Court of Parliament, are again called to carrie on this begun Work, both by the Providence of GOD, that hath put a New Opportunitie in Your hands; And the Call of the Preached Word Awakening and &s;tirring You up unto the Work. And O that Your Grace, and this Honour|able Court, may give &s;uch a &s;peedie Return to both the&s;e Calls as this <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Government did: For we may &s;ee from the fir&s;t chapter of this prophe&s;ie of <HI>Hag|gai,</HI> that within the &s;pace of three weeks &amp; three daies; after this Prophets fir&s;t &s;ermon, they fell zealou&s;lie to the work, and that with great courage and unani|mitie; And al&s;o without anie further delay, or anie vi&s;ible di&s;&s;ent among them, and whereas the &s;toute&s;t of them before had no great mind to the work, now when alarmed by the Prophet, in the Name of the LORD, the verie weake&s;t and mo&s;t timorous, are forward, and bold to carrie it on. Thirdlie, And who could be &s;o fit in all the Nation for this Work, as Your Grace; Being not onlie of &s;o <HI>Noble a De&s;cent,</HI> where <HI>Va|lour</HI>
<PB REF="5" MS="y">and <HI>Courage</HI> has been remarkablie for &s;o manie Ages <HI>Connatural to the Family:</HI> (And let it not be lo&s;t in You, e&s;peciallie when called to lay it out on &s;o <HI>Noble an Interprize,</HI> as the <HI>Propagation</HI> and <HI>Protection</HI> of <HI>Religion, Liberty</HI> and <HI>Property:</HI>) But al&s;o, being advanced to Repre&s;ent the <HI>Chief Fa|mily</HI> of the Kingdom, and whom GOD has ble&s;sed with a Goodlie Per&s;on, Excellent parts, a Numerous, Noble, and Hopeful Progenie: A Ble&s;&s;ing that fitts You to &s;peak with Your Enemies in the gate; And that <HI>Divine Hand,</HI> that has now promoted Your Grace, to &s;o high a Tru&s;t, wherein Ye may do great things for the Advancement of CHRISTS Kingdom, will look for &s;ome proportionable Return: If the Great <HI>Land-LORD</HI> of the World expect a Rent from the meane&s;t Cottage: What a large Revenue mu&s;t he look for, from &s;o great Families; For, <HI>to whom much is given, of them much will be required.</HI> Learn to pay this, and it will draw down not onlie Ble&s;&s;ings on Your &s;elf, but on your Po&s;terity. It was the Honour of <HI>Abrahams</HI> Hou&s;e, that from Father to Son, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> many Generati|ons they were Heirs of the &s;ame Promi&s;e. <HI>Heb: 11.9.</HI> O that there were &s;uch a Succe&s;&s;ion to be found in the Hou&s;e of the Nobilitie, and Gentrie of our Land: But alace Plentie abu&s;ed, di&s;po&s;es to Sin, and Vice: And it is toe Ordinarie for the Greate&s;t, and brave&s;t Spirits, to think the Power of Religion, a ba&s;e and mean thing, which taketh off from their Grandeure,
<PB REF="6">and E&s;teem among men, and that the &s;trictne&s;s of it, is inglorious: But a Conjunction of Goodne&s;s and great|ne&s;s together, is the mo&s;t Lovelie and comfortable thing in the World; And greatne&s;s without Goodne&s;s will be a Ta&s;tle&s;s Cordial at the Long Run.</P>
<P>I have pre&s;umed to thru&s;t the&s;e following Sheets un|der Your Graees <HI>Patrocinie,</HI> being per&s;waded that a Favourable Smile from &s;uch a <HI>Potent</HI> Prince, will give them &s;ufficient Protection; And although the Fab|rick be mean, yet the <HI>Statline&s;s</HI> of the <HI>Fronti&s;piece</HI> may beget a Curio&s;ity in many to look into it: hoping that your Grace will Pardon wherein <HI>I</HI> have pre&s;umed, and will Favourably accept of the &s;mal token of my Sincere affection to your Grace, and tho&s;e Noble Fami|lies (for they that have not Gold mu&s;t offer <HI>Goats</HI> Hair) I make Bold to &s;ub&s;cribe my&s;elf,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your GRACES Mo&s;t Humble Servant, In the LORD, <HI>WILLIAM VETCH.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
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<HEAD>THE EPISTLE TO THE READER</HEAD>
<P>THERE is none in my Station, (I confe&s;s) &s;o unfit to appear in Print, as I am, But the re&s;tle&s;s importunity of &s;o ma|ny per&s;ons of all ranks, occa&s;ions me to do violence to my own inclinations, in pub|li&s;hing the en&s;uing &s;ermons; which you have here laid before you, with little addition, or alteration: Only let me tell you, that although I opened up this text, <HI>Haggai</HI> 2: 4. As it referred to the preceeding and &s;ub&s;equent ver&s;es of the Chapter, by way of Lecture, and did intermit according to the Cu&s;tome; yet I have thought fit to put it, and the Forenoons Sermon together as one Entire Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>Another Rea&s;on moving me to this under|taking is, That &s;everal things &s;poken in that Great Auditory upon this Subject, are Mi&s;re|pre&s;ented,
<PB REF="7">Mi&s;taken, and Mi&s;-improven, which this may be a mean to Cure, and Remove.</P>
<P>The Entertainment I acknowledge is &s;o Cour&s;e and Mean, that I cannot promi&s;e it an univer&s;al Acceptance: Seeing too too many in our Day, (wherein Fancie and Opinion, that Witch and Enchantre&s;s has got the A&s;cendant of Religion and Rea&s;on) are more devoted to what may plea&s;e their palat, then prolong their health, and life. But if it may (as it is) be any wi&s;e &s;erviceable to the publick good of the Church, and the work in hand, and any way profitable to any particular well wi&s;her, of that Intere&s;t; I have attained my End. I am,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>One of ZIONS Well-wi&s;hers, And thy Servant, W. V.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="sermon">
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<HEAD>The Fir&s;t SERMON</HEAD>
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<Q><BIBL>HAGGAI <HI>2: 4:</HI></BIBL>
<P>Yet now be &s;trong. O <HI>Zerubbabel,</HI> &s;aith the LORD, be &s;trong, O <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> &s;on of <HI>Jo&s;edech</HI> the high Prie&s;t, and be &s;trong all ye People of the Land, &s;aith the LORD, and work: For I am with you, &s;aith the LORD of Ho&s;ts.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>I Shall for Lecture open up the&s;e words, as they referr unto the preceeding and &s;ub&s;equent part of the Chapter, and ob&s;erve &s;omethings from them, and then go on, and pro&s;ecute that Doctrine, which I think mo&s;t &s;uitable to this Occa&s;ion; I &s;hall not have time to give a large, or Critical Ex|planation of the Text, with Re&s;pect to the per|&s;ons mentioned in it, or the Prophet that de|livered this Me&s;&s;age, or annent the time that he was &s;ent to that People, for fear I come &s;hort of the main things I purpo&s;e to &s;peak to this Honourable <HI>Auditorie.</HI></P>
<P>We do not read that this People of the <HI>Jews,</HI> to whom this Propher <HI>Haggai</HI> was &s;ent, had immediately after their return from the <HI>Babylo|ni&s;h</HI> Captivity, any Prophet among them, and
<PB REF="8" MS="y">yet they had &s;uch as were able to direct them in their work: But they proving &s;infully and &s;hamefully negligent and &s;loathful, for a con|&s;iderable while after their return, in the work of Reformation which GOD had called them un|to: And for which they had the Civil Autho|rity even <HI>Cyrus</HI> his grant. The LORD at length rai&s;ed up this prophet <HI>Haggai,</HI> and after him <HI>Ze|chariah,</HI> to awaken and &s;tirr them up to their dutie, in carrying on this Work that was begun &s;everal years ago.</P>
<P>Their neglect and carele&s;ne&s;s in this matter was occa&s;ioned partly from their own timerou&s;|ne&s;s and weakne&s;s, being but few when compa|red with their Ance&s;tours who builded the fir&s;t Temple, and with the multitude of Enemies that at pre&s;ent oppo&s;ed them, &amp; no wonder they were timerous, having been &s;o long houled and kept at under in <HI>Babylon.</HI> Where their long af|fliction and Captivitie had di&s;pirited them.</P>
<P>Partly this neglect was occa&s;ioned from the bold and violent oppo&s;ition of enemies that did what they could to mart the begun work of GOD in the Land; Such as <HI>Sanballat</HI> the <HI>Horo|nite,</HI> and his Complices.</P>
<P>Partly from their too too much minding the things of the world, and preferring them to the things of GOD, as we have them reproved for it
<PB REF="8" MS="y">chapter 1&s;t. ver. 4th. Is it time for you, O Ye, to dwell in your Cicled hou&s;es, and this hou&s;ely wa&s;te? and this is a di&s;ea&s;e that abounds much in our days!</P>
<P>This &s;econd chapter wherein my text lves, is full of encouragement for them, to proceed in the work, notwith&s;tanding of the di&s;courage|ments on the one hand, and the oppo&s;itions they met with on the other.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t encouragement lys in the latter words of the text, from the promi&s;e of GOD's Pre&s;ence with them in this work, <HI>For I am with You, &s;aith the LORD of ho&s;ts: therefore be &s;trong and work;</HI> you need not fear all your enemies that oppo&s;e you, when I am with you.</P>
<P>The &s;econd encouragement for removing their timerou&s;ne&s;s, and &s;piriting them to their work is taken from the &s;tanding Covenant that was between GOD &amp; them, &amp; that of a long &amp; old date, even &s;ince the day that he had brought them out of the land of <HI>Egypt;</HI> where we have to admire GOD's faithfulne&s;s to them in keeping this Covenant, when they were guilty of many breaches thereof to him. Ver&s;e 5. <HI>According to the Word that I covenanted with you; when ye came out of</HI> Aegypt, <HI>&s;o my Spirit remaineth with you, fear ye not.</HI></P>
<P>The third Encouragement to go on in their
<PB REF="9" MS="y">work is taken from the Lords promi&s;e to com|pen&s;e the external de&s;picablene&s;s and meanne&s;s of this fabrick they had begun, and about which they were &s;o di&s;couraged, becau&s;e it had not that Exten&s;ivene&s;s and Largene&s;s of Building, neither had they <HI>Solomons</HI> riches to give it that internal &s;plendor and Glory that <HI>Solomons</HI> Temple had, all this the LORD promi&s;es to make up, with his own Glory and the Mediators per&s;onal pre|&s;ence, ver&s;e 7: 8, 9.</P>
<P>The 4. <HI>encouragement</HI> to proceed in the <HI>begun work</HI> is: that although for their neglect they were fal|&s;en under many Judgements, and e&s;pecially that of famine, as in the preceeding Chapter <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> 6. <HI>Ye have &s;own much, and brung in little,</HI> and al&s;o in this Chapter, <HI>When they came to an heap of twenty Mea&s;ures, they proved but ten, when they came to the Pre&s;s to draw out fifty Ve&s;&s;els full, it filled but twenty, Ver&s;e</HI> 16. By which ye might ea&s;ily have conjec|tured that I had a controver&s;y with you; And itconcerned you to have enquired unto the cau|&s;es of my controver&s;ie: But now &s;ayes the LORD <HI>If ye will proceed in the work, O</HI> Zerubbabel, Jo&s;hua <HI>and the people. I will remove the&s;e Judgements, and bring Ble&s;&s;ings in the room of them.</HI></P>
<P>The la&s;t Argument which is very con&s;ider|able to move and encourage them to go on in their work, and &s;hould have great weight with
<PB REF="9" MS="y">us; Who are affraid of the Nations about us is the LORDS promi&s;ing Safety and Security to them, in the mid&s;t of great Commotions, and de&s;olating Judgements upon the Nations round about; As if he would &s;ay, though I make Kings and Nations fall by the Ears and de&s;troy one another, though you may hear it or &s;ee it, yet it &s;hall not come near you, and this ye &s;ee in the la&s;t ver&s;es of the Chapter, and it is like that &s;weet Promi&s;e to the Church, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 91.7, 8. <HI>Ver&s;es, A thou&s;and &s;hall fall at thy &s;ide, and ten thou&s;and at thy right hand: But it &s;hall not come nigh thee; Only with thine eyes &s;hall thou behold and &s;ee the reward of the wicked.</HI></P>
<P>In the <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> we have read to you more, par|ticularly we have the&s;e things to be con&s;idered. 1. The Exhortation <HI>be &s;trong</HI> and work, this is the Call which the LORD &s;ends by the Prophet <HI>Haggai.</HI> 2. We have the per&s;ons to whom this Call and Me&s;&s;age is directed and &s;ent, and that is to <HI>Zerubbabel</HI> to <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> and to all the People: Magi&s;trates Mini&s;ters and People, they are the Per&s;ons to whom this Call comes. 3. We have the per&s;on calling, and that is the LORD of Ho&s;ts, by his Prophet <HI>Haggai.</HI> Thus &s;aith the LORD of Ho&s;ts. 4. We have the Arguments which the LORD makes u&s;e of in this <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> to pre&s;s them unto the giving of a Cordial and pre|&s;ent
<PB REF="10" MS="y">Obedience unto this Call and Me&s;&s;age, and the&s;e Arguments are two, which ye would do well to take notice of, one of them is taken from the Patience of GOD, another is taken from the Promi&s;e of GOD. That which is taken from the Patience and Forbearance of GOD, lyes in the fir&s;t Words of the <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> (yet now) after &s;o long a fore&s;lowing and neglect of the Work in you; (as if the LORD would &s;ay) and after &s;o long Patience and Forbearance in me, it concerns you to fall upon this Work that I call you to, I might have come and de|&s;troyed you after I brought you out of <HI>Babylon,</HI> for your unan&s;werablene&s;s to My Command, yet have I forborne and &s;tretched out My Pa|tience towards you, and put a new opportunity in your hands, and given you a new Call, ought not My former Patience and Forebear|ance, and My pre&s;ent Goodne&s;s to lead you to Repentance, to mourn over and redre&s;s the wrongs that you have been formerly guilty of.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Argument that he backs this Call withall, is in the la&s;t words of the Text, and that is the promi&s;e of his being with them in this undertaking, <HI>For I am with you &s;aith the LORD of Ho&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5ly. We have this me&s;&s;age delivered with a double note of attention, to the leading men in Church and State, (per&s;ons too incident to be
<PB REF="10" MS="y">heedle&s;s) importing no le&s;s than this, that it concerned &s;uch as them at this verie Juncture, to give ready Obedience to GOD's Call, to be Zealous, and &s;o a good example, to all the pe|ople under them: this note of attention calls all to take &s;pecial notice of GOD's Me&s;&s;enger now unexpectedly &s;ent to them, and al&s;o of the me&s;|&s;age that he carries.</P>
<P>And then in the la&s;t place we have this remar|keable, Thus &s;aith the LORD, thrice repeated, the de&s;ign of which I take to be this to clear, &amp; confirm them in this call, as if the Prophet <HI>Hag|gai</HI> had &s;aid, <HI>it is not my me&s;&s;age,</HI> a <HI>&s;ick-brain fancie,</HI> or notion of mine, but it is the command of JEHOVAH the <HI>Lord of Ho&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P>I might ob&s;erve from the&s;e words &s;everal things; As</P>
<P N="1">(1.) That the People of GOD may be cal|led by a <HI>wonderful ca&s;t of Providenee,</HI> and an Ex|traordinary <HI>Hand of GOD,</HI> out of great trouble and affliction, to carrie on a work of Refor|mation, and yet when they are mo&s;t clearly called to it, it may meet with great Rubbs and and impediments: You &s;ee they were called to this, and yet it meets with great oppo&s;ition; and they al&s;o notwith&s;tanding of GODS Call, were carele&s;s and &s;uperficial in pro&s;ecuting this &s;o great, &s;o nece&s;&s;arie, and &s;o profitable a work.</P>
<P N="2">(2lie.) I might ob&s;erve this, That the LORD
<PB REF="11" MS="y">takes &s;pecial notice of His people, how they manage precious opportunities for His glory, his Churches good, and the advancement of Reli|gion which are put in their hands, and therefore he &s;ends this Prophet <HI>Haggai</HI> to reprove their by pa&s;t di&s;obedience and negligence, and to a|waken them to their dutie for the future. But the main Doctrine which I take to comprehend the very &s;cope of the words is this, <HI>That it is the dutie of all ranks of people in a land, to be &s;trong and join cordiallie and unanimou&s;lie together to carrie on a begun work of Reformation, when the LORD eminently calls them to it, &amp; promi&s;es to be with them in it.</HI> And this is the Doctrine, that through the LORDS A&s;&s;i&s;tance, I purpo&s;e to &s;tand on, in pro&s;ecut|ing whereof, I &s;hall follow this method.</P>
<P N="1">1. To &s;hew you what is meant here by, <HI>(be &s;trong)</HI> and that I &s;hall do fir&s;t po&s;itively, &s;hew|ing what it truely imports. 2. Negativelie, what it prohibites.</P>
<P>In the next place, I &s;hall give you the Rea|&s;ons of the doctrine, why all ranks of per&s;ons in a Land, &s;hould be &s;trong and join cordially together, to carrie on a begun work of Refor|mation, when the LORD eminently calls them to it.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, <HI>I</HI> &s;hall give you the u&s;e of all; This is the work that lyes before me. Fir&s;t,
<PB REF="11" MS="y">then by <HI>Being &s;trong,</HI> is po&s;itively, and plainly meant in Scripture phra&s;e, to take courage and re&s;olution, that per&s;ons of all ranks, whom GOD calls to his Service, &s;hould put on cou|rage and re&s;olution, e&s;pecially &s;uch as GOD &s;ets up in publick Offices; Ye may &s;ee this clear in the ca&s;e of <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> in his fir&s;t chapter, ver&s;e 9, When the <HI>LORD</HI> calls furth <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> to in&s;tall him in a publick Office, which he was to ma|nage for bringing the People of <HI>GOD</HI> through <HI>Jordan,</HI> out of the wilderne&s;s, and to bring them to the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of <HI>Canaan,</HI> and to go before them as their Captain General in the Warrs, by which they were to execute <HI>GODS</HI> threatned judgements in de&s;troying the&s;e Nations that were accur&s;ed, and were to meet with manie a bloodie Rancounter in the doing thereof; how does the <HI>LORD</HI> in order to all this, encourage <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> in this 9 ver&s;e, <HI>Have not I commanded thee? Be &s;trong, and of a good courage, be not afraid, nei|ther be thou di&s;maid, for the LORD thy GOD is with thee, whither&s;oever thou goe&s;t.</HI> Magi&s;trates are to be men of courage, <HI>Exod.</HI> 18.21. <HI>Thou &s;halt</HI> (&s;aith the <HI>LORD</HI> to Mo&s;es,) <HI>provide thee able men, out of all the people, &s;uch as fear GOD, men of truth, hat|ing covetou&s;ne&s;s.</HI> The Original word in the He|brew, <HI>is men of courage and &s;trength;</HI> Yea, they that are in publick Office mu&s;t not only put on
<PB REF="12" MS="y">courage and re&s;olution, but they mu&s;t evidence it in the right management of the tru&s;t put in their hands <HI>Nehemiah</HI> chap. 6.11. <HI>Should &s;uch a man as I flee;</HI> Nay, I will neither fear, nor flee, but &s;tand it out again&s;t <HI>Sanballat,</HI> and all his Complices, and all their power, their &s;coffs, their threats, their plots, this was the An&s;wer he gave to &s;uch as were telling him &s;uch fright|full &s;tories. That the Enemies would be too &s;trong for him, that they would runn him and that work down, that he was come from <HI>Ar|taxerxes</HI> with a new Commi&s;&s;ion to propagate and carrie on; but he puts on Courage and Re|&s;olution as an Antidote again&s;t all the&s;e Fears: I &s;ay, That per&s;ons that are Magi&s;trates and Mi|ni&s;ters, and &s;uch as have a publick Tru&s;t com|mitted to them by the <HI>LORD,</HI> &s;hould be men of great courage, e&s;peciallie in a time when Refor|mation and Temple-work is in hand, as in my Text.</P>
<P><HI>Samuel</HI> was a man of courage, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 15.25. to the 30 ver&s;e, when he told King <HI>Saul</HI> plainlie his &s;ins, And <HI>That GOD had rejected him therefore, and rent the Kingdom from him.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Elijah</HI> al&s;o was a man of great Re&s;olution and Courage, as you may &s;ee in that conference be|tween <HI>Obadiab</HI> and him, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 18. ver. 15. &amp;c. And when he told a threatning <HI>Abab,</HI> ver. 18.
<PB REF="12" MS="y"><HI>That it was he and his fathers hou&s;e that troubled I&s;rael, in that he had for&s;aken the LORD and follow|ed</HI> Baalim.</P>
<P>And the Prie&s;ts of the <HI>LORD</HI> were men of Courage; 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 26.17, 18: when they re&s;i&s;ted King <HI>&V;zziah,</HI> invading the Churches priviledges</P>
<P N="2">2ly. I take this to be meant by <HI>(be &s;trong and work)</HI> to be Livelie, Active, and diligent, in the work which they were now called to by the LORD, that they not only have a fittedne&s;s for their work, but that they be faithfull and di|ligent in the di&s;patch of it, and indeed I find that the Wi&s;e man. <HI>Eccle&s;:</HI> 9: 10. does com|mend diligence &amp; activitie in all a mans lawful bu&s;&s;ine&s;s in the world: <HI>What&s;oever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, &amp;c.</HI> How much more commendable mu&s;t it be, to be active and diligent in the great concernments of GOD and of His Hou&s;e, and Glorie, that mu&s;t be a thing much more regarded than the concerns of our own hou&s;es; And that 1&s;t becau&s;e the mat|ters of God are preferable to our matters, that is the thing, that &s;hould be upon the heart, and Con&s;cience, and affections of everie per&s;on, of publick tru&s;t, they &s;hould &s;et the matters of GOD foremo&s;t, like tho&s;e per&s;ons, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 137 <HI>ver:</HI> 5, 6. <HI>If I forgetthee, O Zion; If I preferr not thee, to my chief Joy, let my right hand forget her cunning;
<PB REF="13" MS="y">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB REF="13" MS="y">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB REF="14" MS="y">and let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Secondly.</HI> This diligence and Activitie for <HI>GOD</HI> and his matters with which we are entru&s;|ted, is the diligence that brings in the greate&s;t Reward: though alace it is little believed; there are many of you that hears me this day, that if you would lay out your &s;elves in places and &s;tations for <HI>GOD</HI> and his work, it would bring you a greater reward, than you are aware of, and you will be made to &s;ee that your neglect in this thing will be of dreadfull con&s;equence at the long run, and that the per&s;uite of the things of the world, which divert you from this main bu&s;ine&s;s, will bring you no comfort, and be of no &s;ignification, except it be to di&s;quiet your con&s;cience, and increa&s;e your torment.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> From this con&s;ideration, People of all Ranks &s;hould be moved to great Faithful|ne&s;s, Activity and Dilligence in the Matters of GOD, becau&s;e the Enemies that oppo&s;e this Work, are very diligent, lively and active, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 38.19. <HI>Ver&s;e, But mine Enemies are lively, and they are &s;trong, and they that bate me wrongfully are multiplyed.</HI> The Godly man complains here of his Enemies (you &s;ee) That they were &s;trong and livey, but does this di&s;courage him; Nay, but on the contrare, it awakens him to a more vigorous pro&s;ecution of his Work.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> This Exhortation being directed to
<PB REF="14" MS="y">all &s;orts of Per&s;ons, States-men, Church-men, and Commons (to <HI>be &s;trong</HI> and work) it calls all tho&s;e cordially to unite and joyn together to build up the Temple of GOD, who&s;e founda|tions are already laid, and then they &s;hall ac|compli&s;h the Prophe&s;ie of the latter dayes, <HI>Zeph:</HI> 3.9. <HI>For then will I turn to the people a pure Language, that they may all call upon the Name of the LORD to &s;erve him with one con&s;ent:</HI> And as the words are rendred in the Originall Lan|guage, they &s;hall &s;erve the LORD with one Shoulder; I &s;uppo&s;e that many may have heard of the Father that had a great many Sons, and when he was going to make his Latter Will, he called for them, and commended unto them a keeping of Unity, and Harmony to|gether in their Conver&s;e and Bu&s;ine&s;s, which would greatly tend to their Comfort and Ad|vantage, and to demon&s;trate this to them, he cau&s;ed bring a Sheaf of Arrows, clo&s;ely tyed to|gether, and gave them to the Elde&s;t to break, but he could not breake them, and &s;o he gave them to the Younger &s;uce&s;&s;ively, and they could not break them, but when they were di|vided, they were ea&s;ily broken, &s;o it is with Magi&s;trates, Mini&s;ters, and People in the Land; When they unanimou&s;ly and cordially joyn together in the Work of GOD, they cannot
<PB REF="15" MS="y">ea&s;ily be broken, and de&s;troyed; We &s;ay, <HI>vis unita fortior,</HI> and Unanimity in the work of GOD when all joyn together as it were with one Shoulder without lying by, or interfeir|ing, or drawing back, or ob&s;tructing one an|other is a good taken of a thriving work, when Magi&s;trates make &s;uch Laws as authorize only the true wor&s;hip of <HI>GOD,</HI> and take care to &s;ee them duely execute, that &s;uch as hinder uni|formity in Religious Wor&s;hip may be remov|ed, that &s;o the Doctrine, Wor&s;hip, Di&s;cipline, Government of the Hou&s;e of the <HI>GOD</HI> of Hea|ven, may be according to the Laws of the <HI>GOD</HI> of heaven through the whole Land: For purity of Doctrine does not con&s;i&s;t in a Lawle&s;s Liberty or Tolleration for men to do, and &s;ay what they plea&s;e in matters of Religion: But it con|&s;i&s;ts in a joynt uniformity to Wor&s;hip <HI>GOD,</HI> according to his own precept, and this promi&s;e (they &s;hall all &s;erve the <HI>LORD</HI> with one Con&s;ent) which was calculate for the latter days: So much then you &s;ee is implyed in this Exhorta|tion <HI>(be &s;trong) viz:</HI> Courage and Re&s;olution, Activity and Diligence, with Unity and Har|mony.</P>
<P>In the next place I come to &s;hew you nega|tively what this Exhortation <HI>(be &s;trong)</HI> prohi|bits, or what is not meant by it. As 1. It for|bids
<PB REF="15" MS="y">timorou&s;ne&s;s, for men to be po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a humane or &s;lavi&s;h fear, that keeps them back from their Duty to <HI>GOD,</HI> and His Work in their Station, this is a thing very unbecoming to &s;uch as are <HI>Zerubbabels, Jo&s;huas,</HI> and <HI>Nehemiahs,</HI> &s;hould &s;uch per&s;ons as they fear, Whom had they to be affraid of, but cur&s;ed <HI>Canaanites,</HI> and &s;uch as were no better in after Generations: What could <HI>Nehemiah</HI> and the&s;e that were with with him be affraid of, when he was come from <HI>Babylon,</HI> cloathed with the Kings Letters and Au|thority, in order to the carrying on of the for&s;lowed work of Reformation; &s;urely he had not the King, neither the <HI>GOD</HI> of Heaven; nor the hone&s;t party of the Land to be affraid of; I know none that might be a terrour to him, and them that were joyned with him but the <HI>Gerizzim</HI> party, who were &s;infully united to op|po&s;e violently and cunningly the building of the Temple, and the true Wor&s;hip of <HI>GOD,</HI> that they would &s;o gladly have de&s;troyed: Let me &s;ay it to this Honourable and High Court of Parliament without offence, and in all Hu|mility, what have you to be affraid of, that you &s;hould be Faint hearted in the Work of GOD; &s;urely it cannot be of the GOD of Hea|ven, nor of our Gracious King and Queen, not of the Prote&s;tant Princes abroad, nor of &s;uch
<PB REF="16" MS="y">as are true Prote&s;tants at home; &s;ure all the&s;e will be Cordial Friends to our carrying on the Work of Reformation, and when ye have all the&s;e on your &s;ide, you may well <HI>be &s;trong,</HI> and put on Courage and Re&s;olution, for you have a mighty great backing: But of whom are you indeed affraid? Is it of the Pope, or of the <HI>French</HI> King, and his Allies, or is it of the <HI>Geriz|zim</HI> party of the&s;e Lands, That they get up their head again, and that ye and your Po&s;te|rity, and E&s;tates be ruined? Surely the Mid|wives of <HI>Aegypt</HI> will ri&s;e up in Judgement again&s;t you, who were in wor&s;e Circum&s;tances then you are, and yet were not affraid of the wrath of the King, but even over the Belly of Dange|rous Laws befriended the Children of <HI>I&s;rael:</HI> How much more &s;hould ye whom GOD in his Providence has rai&s;ed up to Midwive out the Churches deliverance, and are under the ter|rour of no bad Laws, to frighten you from your work: Put on Courage and Re&s;olution to help your Travelling Mother the Church, to bring forth the Man-Child of a Glorious Refor|mation, and then I may promi&s;e ye &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed as the&s;e Midwives were, <HI>Exod.</HI> 1.21. Of whom it is &s;aid, <HI>becau&s;e they feared the LORD, be made them hou&s;es:</HI> That is he pre&s;erved, and Increa&s;ed, Propagated, and Enriched them and
<PB REF="16" MS="y">their Familys. Will you read &amp; believe that Scripture, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 51.12, 13. ver&s;es, compared with the 7 ver&s;e, <HI>I even I am be, that comforteth you, who art thou that thou &s;houlde&s;t be afraid of a man that &s;hall die, and of the &s;on of man that &s;hall be made as gra&s;s, and forgette&s;t the LORD thy Maker, Who hath &s;tretched forth the Heavens, and laid the foundations of the Earth? And ha&s;t feared continualie everie day, becau&s;e of the furie of the oppre&s;&s;our, as if he were readie to de&s;troy, and where is the furie of the oppre&s;&s;our.</HI> And ver&s;e 7. <HI>Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings.</HI> For ver&s;e 8. <HI>The Moth &s;hall eat them like a Garment, and the Worms &s;hall eat them like Wool, but my Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;hall be for ever, and my Salvation from Generation to Generation.</HI> But if the&s;e Enemies were never &s;o formidable, and numerous. Let me be&s;peak you as the Leaders of the <HI>Phili&s;tins</HI> did their Armie, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 4: 9. <HI>O Be &s;trong and quite your &s;elves like men;</HI> do your duty with Re&s;olution, Cou|rage, and Faithfulne&s;s, and the LORD &s;hal be with you to deliver the Land from the&s;e Task-Ma&s;ters: But if <HI>ye be not &s;trong,</HI> &amp;c: then you may provoke GOD to let us fall before the <HI>Phi|li&s;tins,</HI> even at <HI>Ebenezar,</HI> ver&s;e 1. and 2. The place where GOD has hitherto helped, will you take that prophetical Encouragement for the latter dayes to animate you to the work,
<PB REF="17" MS="y"><HI>Dan.</HI> 11.32. <HI>For tho &s;uch as do wickedly again&s;t the Covenant, be Corrupted by Flatteries, yet the People that know their GOD &s;hall be &s;trong and do Exploits:</HI> And if there be &s;till any of you fal&s;e and faint-hearted, in the Matters of GOD and the King, then I Proclaim <HI>Gideons</HI> Proclamation, <HI>Judges.</HI> 7.3. <HI>Who&s;ever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead:</HI> And that Pro|clamation, <HI>Deut:</HI> 20. and 8 ver&s;e, <HI>And who is there that is fearful and faint-hearted, let him go and return unto his hou&s;e, le&s;t his Brethrens Heart faint as well as his Heart.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, This Call, <HI>be &s;trong and work,</HI> thrice repeated, and thrice backed with, <HI>Thus &s;aith the LORD,</HI> prohibites all further delay of the mat|ter, this People had done it too too long. You that are Magi&s;trats, Mini&s;ters, and people would delay this bu&s;ine&s;s no longer, for by &s;o doing: 1&s;t. You di&s;courage friends, and begets many fears in them, and doubtings what may be the I&s;&s;ue of &s;uch delays, and whether this begun work will thrive or not, and this cannot but be|get a great deal of &s;orrow in the hearts of the Godly,</P>
<P><HI>Secondly.</HI> This gives great encouragement to the oppo&s;ite partie, and puts a further opportu|nitie in their hands, to gather to a greater &s;trength again&s;t the pre&s;ent work, to marr it, and if they
<PB REF="17" MS="y">could to overturn it: yea your fears and back|wardne&s;s gives the enemies to take greater heart and Courage: Therefore let me &s;ay to you as the <HI>Gibeonites</HI> did to <HI>Jo&s;hua, chap.</HI> 10, 6. <HI>Slack not thy hand, from thy &s;ervants, come up to us quickly and &s;ave us, for all the Kings of the</HI> Amorites, <HI>that dwell in the mountains are gathered together again&s;t us.</HI> You &s;ee the &s;ad effects of a &s;hort delay, <HI>Exod:</HI> 32, 1. When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;tayed but fourty days u|pon the mount, the people fell to Idolatrie, and what if your lingring to bring us out of the &s;ad, I had almo&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Sodom like &s;tate,</HI> that we have too long been into; draw down remarkeable Judgements on us, as it did on that people. <HI>Gen:</HI> 19, 16, 17 <HI>ver:</HI> and are there not many of the people of <HI>GOD</HI> crying out, as it is <HI>Judges</HI> 5, 28. <HI>Why are his Chariot wheels &s;o long of coming.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> This Call in my Text (<HI>be &s;trong,</HI> &amp;c.) prohibits a Lai&s;h carele&s;ne&s;s, and a <HI>Gallios</HI> un|concernedne&s;s in the great matters among&s;t your hands, and calls for Seriou&s;ne&s;s, Wi&s;dom, and diligence in the managing of &s;o great a Tru&s;t, and not to be like that People, of whom it was &s;aid, <HI>they dwelt carele&s;ly, Judges</HI> 18.27. <HI>They were a quiet and &s;ecure people, and the</HI> Danites <HI>came upon them, and burnt their City with fire:</HI> Ye know <HI>Gallios</HI> Character, <HI>Acts</HI> 18.17. ver&s;e, <HI>He cared for none of the&s;e things:</HI> And is there
<PB REF="18" MS="y">any thing <HI>under Heaven, that we &s;hould be &s;o much concerned about,</HI> or <HI>careful of, as the Work of GOD committed to us.</HI> And Magi&s;trates, and all other per&s;ons concerned would often Remember, that as it is <HI>Great Tru&s;t,</HI> that is committed to them, &s;o they mu&s;t <HI>An&s;wer for the right or wrong Management</HI> of it before an <HI>Impartial Judge,</HI> which &s;hould make us to endeavour &s;o to act in our Station, as we may be approven, and accepted of him in that day. But peradventure this Argument will have greater weight with many, GOD in His Providence, hath put our Religion, Libertys, and Properties in one bot|tom, and he mu&s;t have been very blind that did not &s;ee, that when our Religion was almo&s;t gone, our Liberties and Properties were follow|ing hard, and running the &s;ame fate, the one was going with the other. Therefore we would do well to have a &s;pecial re&s;pect to, and care of the Work of GOD, now while we are called to recover it, and e&s;tabli&s;h it, for it is the &s;ure&s;t mean, for pre&s;erving our Liberties and pro|perties, and if we neglect the one, GOD may be provoked, to permitt our Enemies to Robbe us of all.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> This Exhortation <HI>(be &s;trong)</HI> &s;eeing it calls (as we have &s;aid) to unitie and Harmo|nie) &s;o on the other hand it prohibites Magi&s;trats,
<PB REF="18" MS="y">Mini&s;ters &amp; people to fall into divi&s;ions and fac|tions; for that will indeed make them weak, &amp; &s;o mar, &amp; retard the work they are called to, If Satan &amp; his in&s;truments can make <HI>GODS Mini&s;ters</HI> and people, to differ and cla&s;h among them&s;el|ves, they know it will prove a notable mean to for&s;low the work of GOD among your hands; <HI>divide &amp; impera</HI> is a Stratagem &s;till made u&s;e of in all Ages; and it is not out of fa&s;hion yet, and O that we may not have no more rea&s;on to lament the divi&s;ions of our <HI>Reuben, Viz:</HI> (our rulers as the fir&s;t born were) with that Lamentation, with which <HI>Deborah</HI> and <HI>Barak</HI> Lamented their divi&s;ions, becau&s;e they came not out to help the LORD again&s;t the mighty, but abode among the &s;heepfolds; when they were eminently cal|led, to ari&s;e and unanimou&s;ly to appear, and joyn for the reviving of the Work of <HI>GOD,</HI> that was lying in the A&s;hes, and though all the peo|ple of <HI>GOD</HI> in the Land were called to joyn with them, from all Corners; and help them in this work; Yet many lurked and withdrew, fear|ing that Undertaking might not pro&s;per, and then if they had joyned, their E&s;tates would have been Ruined; how was <HI>Deborah,</HI> and <HI>Ba|rab</HI> affected with this, as we may read in that doubled Lamentation, <HI>Judges,</HI> 5.15. and 16. ver&s;es, ver&s;e 15. <HI>For the divi&s;ions of</HI> Reuben,
<PB REF="19" MS="y"><HI>there were great thoughts of Heart, and the&s;e divi&s;ions the more they thought on them, were more deeply affect|ing &amp; wounding, &amp; therefore they mu&s;t &s;igh and lament it over again.</HI> ver&s;e 16. <HI>For the divi&s;ions of</HI> Reuben, <HI>there were great &s;earchings of heart enquiring (as it were) what might be the cau&s;e of the&s;e lamentable di|vi&s;ions, as al&s;o what might be the Cure.</HI></P>
<P>I come now to the Rea&s;ons of the Doctrine, which &s;hew you why all Ranks of people in the Land, &s;hould <HI>be &s;trong</HI> and joyn cordially and unanimou&s;ly together to carry on a begun work of Reformation.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;on</HI> 1. Becau&s;e it is <HI>GODS</HI> Work; the building of His Hou&s;e, and the reforming of His Church from corruptions that it has been defiled with; is the mo&s;t Honourable, Emi|nent, and &s;pecial Work, that <HI>GOD</HI> calls the Children of men to, in this World. <HI>David</HI> did &s;ee, and think it to be a very Honourable and Excellent Work, when he made &s;o many, and great preparations to bring home the Ark, which was fourty years out of its place: When he mu&s;tered up Thirty thou&s;and of the cho&s;en men of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> to bring it from <HI>Kirjath Jearim:</HI> and we may not only &s;ee his fortitude and cour|rage in this Undertaking but his Zeal, as ye have it &s;et down, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 132. <HI>I will not go up to my bed, nor give &s;leep to mine eyes, nor &s;lumber to mine
<PB REF="19" MS="y">eye lids, till</HI> I <HI>find out a place for the Mightie GOD of Jacob.</HI> And when they came to the Ark, you &s;ee what is their &s;upplication. Ver&s;e 8. <HI>Ari&s;e, O</HI> LORD <HI>to thy re&s;t; We are come to carrie GOD back again;</HI> (&s;o to &s;peak) and the Ark of GOD, that has been &s;o long out of the Land, and out of the Sanctuary, we &s;ee al&s;o how glad|ly, he would have been at the building of the Temple, and what preparations he had made for it, But when he &s;aw that the honour was to be conferred upon his Son <HI>Solomon,</HI> how does he pre&s;s him to forwardne&s;s, and faithfulne&s;s in that matter. 1 <HI>Chron:</HI> 22. to the 14&punc; <HI>Now my Son, The LORD be with thee, only the LORD give thee Wi&s;dom and &V;nder&s;tanding; and give thee Charge concerning I&s;rael, that thou maye&s;t keep the Law of the LORD thy GOD, then &s;halt thou pro&s;per, if thou take&s;t heed to fulfil the Statutes and Judgements, which the LORD charged</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>with concerning I&s;rael: Be &s;trong,</HI> &amp; of good Courage, dread not nor be di&s;mayed: So that you &s;ee what e&s;timate this great and holy man, put upon the work of GOD, and how concerned he was about it, as the princi|pal bu&s;ine&s;s he had to do in the World, and 1 <HI>Samuel</HI> 2.30. ver&s;e: GOD hath &s;aid, he that ho|nours me, I will honour. O how dangerous is it, to have an opportunity put in our hand, to &s;erve GOD, and his Intere&s;t: and not to guide it well, and what ever figure any of You
<PB REF="20" MS="y">may make in the World; yet you only &s;ignify &s;o far in the &s;ight of GOD, as You act for him in your Station and Generation, and do you not know, that many may &s;tand for a great &s;umm &amp; make a great figure in the eyes of men, that will &s;tand but for <HI>ciphers</HI> in <HI>Heavens Arithmetick.</HI></P>
<P>Rea&s;on &s;econd. As it is GODS Work &s;o he vi&s;iblie, clearly, and eminently, calls us to it, and that by the&s;e &s;ix Calls.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> By the call of his word; for the Refor|mation we are called to, is that which is &s;uited unto GODS Law, contained in his written Word, and the LORD hath Honoured <HI>Scotland</HI> beyond many other Nations of the World, in that he hath written unto us the great things of his Law, <HI>Ho&s;ea,</HI> 8.12. O that we may not count them a light thing: And may it not be &s;aid of us; as <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 146: 19, 20: <HI>He &s;heweth his word unto</HI> Jacob, <HI>his &s;tatutes and his Judgements unto</HI> I&s;rael. <HI>He hath not dealt &s;o with every Nation.</HI> Have we then GODS Laws, His Statutes, and his Judgements, then certainly we have them either for &s;omething, or nothing, and can they be given us for any thing el&s;e, but to direct our &s;ervice and obedience to GOD, and is there a|ny of you, the honourable members of this Parliament, that will make Laws and promul|gatt them, and would not take it ill, if the peo|ple
<PB REF="20" MS="y">did not Obey: Would you not Judge &s;uch di&s;obedient per&s;ons to the Law to be Rebells, and puni&s;h them accordingly: Of how much &s;orer puni&s;hment will they be found worthy, that take no heed to the Laws of GOD, reveal|led in His Word, that they may give a Con&s;tant and Con&s;cientious Obedience thereunto.</P>
<P>Now the Reformation that we are called to is mo&s;t &s;uitable unto this Divine Law, which has been owned contended for, and witne&s;&s;ed to by the Godly party in the Land, and that of all Ranks both while they lived, &amp; when they dyed, and that as the pure&s;t Reformation of any <HI>Prote&s;tant Church;</HI> and this was te&s;tifyed many years ago, by a great man of this Nation; who Ble&s;&s;ed GOD that he was born in a Church, who&s;e Reformation was purer then that of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> of <HI>France,</HI> or <HI>Geneva:</HI> And &s;eeing we have Ordinances, Means, and Opportunities again put in our hands: Per&s;ons of all Ranks had need to take Care to manage them &s;o, as we may give a good accompt of the Tru&s;t committed to us. But lea&s;t I tran&s;gre&s;s too far and tre&s;pa&s;s upon your patience. I &s;hall Clo&s;e at this time.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="21">
<HEAD>The Second SERMON</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>HAGGAI <HI>2: 4:</HI></BIBL>
<P>Yet now be &s;trong, O <HI>Zerubbabel,</HI> &s;aith the LORD, be &s;trong, O <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> &s;on of <HI>Jo&s;edech</HI> the high Prie&s;t, and be &s;trong all ye People of the Land, &s;aith the LORD, and work: For I am with you, &s;aith the LORD of Ho&s;ts.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THERE is nothing more to be la|mented by the Sons of Men, then this one thing, that we have &s;inned our &s;elves unto &s;uch a benighted and dark Conditi|on, as that we can neither take up our danger aright to flee from it, nor our Duty, and what is the righte&s;t &s;ea&s;on for the right performance the reof: So that in this Ca&s;e we are more to be pittied then the bea&s;ts of the field. <HI>For the Ox knoweth his Owner, and the A&s;s his Ma&s;ters Crib; But I&s;rael doth not know, My Peo|ple doth not con&s;ider:</HI> I&s;aiah, 1.3. Yea, <HI>Jer:</HI> 8.7: <HI>Yea then the birds of the Aire, for the &s;tork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the Turtle and the
<PB REF="21">Cran, and the Swallow, ob&s;erve the time of her coming, but My People know not the Judgement of the LORD;</HI> And is it not a great peice of Conde&s;cending Love and Mercy in GOD, that when we neither know nor con&s;ider our Work, nor the &s;ea&s;on of it, he Conde&s;ends to &s;end Me&s;&s;engers to put us in mind of both; This people when they proved Ne|gligent in the greate&s;t and mo&s;t Important bunne&s;s, in which their happine&s;s was folded up: He &s;ends the Prophet <HI>Haggai,</HI> to tell them what they had to do, and what they had neglected, and that if they would mourn for what Sins they had committed, and what duties they had ne|glected, &amp; be zealous and careful for the future in an&s;wering and obeying what GOD called them unto, all bygones &s;hould be bygones. (If I may &s;o &s;peak) yet <HI>now be Strong,</HI> &amp;c. You know the Doctrine I was upon: That it is the dutie of all Ranks of People in a Land to joyn Cordially and unanimou&s;ly together to carrie on a begun work of Reformation, when the LORD Emi|nently calls unto it, and promi&s;es to be with them in it. I am come the length of the 2d. rea&s;on of the Doctrine, to &s;hew (this Honou|rable Auditory) that as this work, is the work of GOD, &s;o he doth Eminently call you to it, and that fir&s;t by the call of his word, as
<PB REF="22" MS="y">I have touched: for if the Laws of Heaven given to the <HI>Jewi&s;h Church,</HI> did obliedge them to re|nounce all Idolarrie, and fal&s;e wor&s;hip, and to reform and wor&s;hip GOD, preci&s;ely according to the Divine Iu&s;titution, do they not equallie oblige us, are they not the rule in our day, as well as they were in their day, he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> not given us the&s;e &s;tatutes, laws and Judgements for that very end, that he gave them to the Church of old, which if we do we &s;hall live in them, and which if we di&s;obey and de&s;pi&s;e, they will not a little contribute to aggravate our Con|demnation.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Call, To carrie on a begun work of Reformation, is that of eminent and re|markable providences, when there has been nothing for many years, but a mixture of &s;ad things to the Land, and the work of GOD in it, carried on by the <HI>black Hor&s;es,</HI> and <HI>&s;peckled Hor&s;es,</HI> (if I may &s;ay &s;o) &s;trange and &s;ad di&s;|pen&s;ations of Providence, whereby <HI>Jacob</HI> was given to the <HI>&s;poil,</HI> and <HI>I&s;rael to the Robbers,</HI> where|by we were brought unto the brink of the pit, &amp; ready to peri&s;h, all our expectations failing us u|pon the right and left hand, giving all up for lo&s;t, both our Civil and Sacred concerns, that at &s;uch a nick of di&s;tre&s;s as this, the LORD &s;hould by his wonderful providence rai&s;e up a
<PB REF="22" MS="y">Deliverer to his own Church, another <HI>Cyrus;</HI> Yea and greater then <HI>Cyrus,</HI> to give us &s;uch Revi|ving from our bondage, as we are Witne&s;&s;es to this day, this is a thing that Remarkably calls us to ob&s;erve the doing of the LORD, and he who &s;ees it not to be the doing of <HI>JEHO|VAH</HI> mu&s;t be lamentably blind: And does not our great and Gracious King; be &s;peak you the Honourable Members of Parliament in the words that <HI>David</HI> be&s;poke his Princes. 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 22.17 <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> To the end: <HI>David al&s;o commanded all the Princes of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>to help</HI> Solomon <HI>his Son, &s;aying, is not the LORD your GOD with you; and hath He not given you Re&s;t on every &s;ide, for he hath given the inhabitants of the Land unto mine hand, and the Land is &s;ubdued before the LORD, and before his people.</HI> Ver&s;e, 19 <HI>Now therefore &s;et your heart and your Soul to &s;eek the</HI> LORD <HI>your</HI> GOD; <HI>Ari&s;e therefore, and build ye the &s;anctuary of the</HI> LORD GOD, <HI>to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and the holy Ve&s;&s;els of</HI> GOD <HI>into the hou&s;e, that is to be built to the Name of the</HI> LORD. This is a thing that any thinking Per&s;on, when they &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider: Cannot but admire, and &s;ay, that this is a remarkable and Eminent call of the providence of GOD, to carrie on a be|gun work of Reformation when &s;uch an unde|&s;erved, and unexpected opportunity is put in
<PB REF="23">our hands, and I am &s;ure nothing will make his Maje&s;tie more renowned in after Generati|ons of the World, than that he has keeped &s;o ju&s;t a proportion, between his fir&s;t declarations for the &s;aftie and good of the <HI>Prote&s;tant Religion,</HI> and his future actings; and in this he Acts like the high and Noble Family of whom he is de|&s;cended, who have been the great Protectours, and Propogators of the <HI>Prote&s;tant Religion</HI> and is not this a new call of his Providence: that though we the&s;e years bygone, have not &s;o well manage opportunities pur in our hand, for advancing the work of GOD; he gives us this one opportunity more: For if he had not &s;hewed his more then ordinary care the&s;e years bygone to pre&s;erve the work that he had begun, and to keep the Ark in its returning from being over|turned by &s;pecial ca&s;ts of providence, this be|gun deliverance had been utterly fru&s;trated, and &s;poiled by our ill management; but O that we could admire the wi&s;dom and goodne&s;s of GOD (and I take it as a Token for good) that he has pre&s;erved his begun work over the Bellie of the cunninge&s;t and &s;tronge&s;t devices of adver&s;aries, and of the undexterous and carele&s;s management of friends.</P>
<P>The <HI>third Call,</HI> To carrie on the work of Re|formation, is from our <HI>Mother</HI> the Church of
<PB REF="23" MS="y"><HI>Scotland,</HI> and that natural dutie, and becoming kindne&s;s, that we owe to her, as &s;uch who is not yet got out of her Ruines, &s;he calls to us who are her profe&s;&s;ed Children, as the Jewi&s;h Church did of old to hers, by the Prophet <HI>I&s;a|iah</HI> Chap: 51, 18. <HI>ver&s;e. Is there none to guide her among all the Sons whom She hath brought forth? is there none that taketh her by the hand, of all the Sons that She hath brought up?</HI> They would be counted unnatural <HI>Children,</HI> that would no help their na|tural Mother, that gave them a natural life, out of her afflictions and di&s;tre&s;&s;es; how much more unnatural Children mu&s;t they be, that will not help that Mother out of her mi&s;eries and trou|bles (E&s;pecially when an Eminent Opportu|nity is put in their hands) from whom they pretend to derive a Spiritual and Eternal Life: They that refu&s;e to do this, they evidence them|&s;elves to be ba&s;tards, and not true &s;ons of the Church. The&s;e per&s;ons hearts are like to that Mother, that &s;aid to King <HI>Solomon,</HI> &s;he <HI>would have him to divide the Child,</HI> but the true Mother was of another Sentiment, who &s;aid <HI>I would ra|ther ye &s;hould be Mother,</HI> fal&s;e as you are than the Child &s;hould be divided; And by this &s;he di&s;|covered her naturall Affection. I &s;ay then, we Evidence, our &s;elves to be Ba&s;tards, and not true Children of the Church, that are nor for ad|vancing
<PB REF="24">the work of the Hou&s;e of GOD, for &s;etting up all the Pillars and Ordinances there|of. The Doctrine, Di&s;cipline, Wor&s;hip, and Government of the Hou&s;e of the GOD of Hea|ven, according to the Laws of the GOD of Heaven, (the work mu&s;t not be divided) and doing what in us lyes <HI>Nehemiah</HI> like, for that end, he was a man concerned in the City of his GOD, and &s;epulchres of his Fathers that were lying wa&s;t, he was a man that &s;ought the well-fare of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> And what did he? I will tell you what he did, he obtained Letters from the King to Rever&s;e Letters and Orders that the Enemys of GOD had received for hindering of the building, for you will &s;ee in the Book of <HI>Ezra,</HI> Chap: 4: from the 4: ver&s;e, <HI>That the people of the Land who were Gerizzim party did exceedingly weaken the hands of the people of</HI> Judah, <HI>and trou|bled them in the building.</HI> And ver&s;e 5: <HI>They hired Coun&s;ellours again&s;t them to fru&s;trate their purpo&s;e,</HI> &amp; the S. ver&s;e gives an account who they were, <HI>Rehum the Chancellour, and Shim&s;hai the &s;cribe, and the re&s;t of their Companions,</HI> mentioned ver&s;e 9. And when they obtained the&s;e Letters, they &s;oon put them in execution to marr the pro&s;|perity of the People, and Work of GOD; as you &s;ee in the 23: ver&s;e, of that Chapter, <HI>Now when the Copy of Artaxerxes Letter was read before
<PB REF="24" MS="y">Reburn, and Shim&s;hai, the &s;cribe and their Compani|ons, they went up in ha&s;te to Jeru&s;alem, and to the Jews, and made them to cea&s;e by force and power, &amp;c.</HI> But hone&s;t and good <HI>Nehemiah</HI> was much concer|ned for this, and was at no quiet till he procur|ed Letters from the King, that his &s;top might be taken away, that &s;tood in the way of the Re|formation, he is made the Remarkable In|&s;trument to di&s;cover this plot, that was for o|verturning the new begun Work of GOD and removing the impediments, and was never at re&s;t till he got the Work &s;et on foot again.</P>
<P>Now if the LORD in His Wonderful and gracious Providence, rai&s;e up &s;ome &s;uch Cour|tier or Cup bearer in our day (<HI>Nehemiah</HI>-like) when the ca&s;e of our Church, and the Work of GOD in the Land, runs &s;o much parallel with this, to get the plots and Plotters di&s;cover|ed, that opo&s;e this begun Work of GOD, the Letters ranver&s;e, and the Impediments remov|ed, and In&s;tructions from the King, to carry on the begun Work of GOD; Should not this be ob&s;erved, as a new and Eminent call of GOD, for Clearing, Confirming, and Encou|raging all Ranks of people in the Land, to build up the Walls of the LORDS Temple a|mong us; And in this gla&s;&s;e of Providence may we not &s;ee clearly, that new Plots are like
<PB REF="25" MS="y">old Plots, new Oppo&s;ition to the Work of GOD, like the old Oppo&s;itions, and new De|liverances like old Deliverances.</P>
<P>The <HI>Fourth</HI> Call to carry on this begun work of Reformation, is from the Noble Examples and Pre&s;idents in Scripture, who when ever the Providence of GOD put an opportunity in their hands, opened the doors of the Hou&s;e of the LORD, &s;et up the In&s;tituted Wor&s;hip of GOD and removed the corruptions and defilements that <HI>Idolaters</HI> and others had brought unto the Temple, ye &s;ee a famous In&s;tance of this Wor|thie of our Imitation in that good King <HI>Heze|kiah,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron:</HI> 29: and 3: ver&s;e, <HI>He in the fir&s;t Year of his Reign, in the fir&s;t moneth, opened the doors of the hou&s;e of the LORD, and repaired them, and he brought in the Prie&s;ts and the Levites and gathered them together unto the Ea&s;t &s;treet; and &s;aid unto them, Hear me ye Levites, &s;anctifie your &s;elves, and &s;anctifie the hou&s;e of the LORD GOD of your fathers, and carrie forth the filthine&s;s out of the holie place.</HI> Ver&s;e 6. <HI>For our fathers have tre&s;pa&s;&s;ed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our GOD, and have fore&s;aken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs, &amp;c.</HI> See al&s;o what good <HI>Jeho&s;aphat</HI> and tender <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> did in this matter, for Re|covering and Advancing the work of Re|formation;
<PB REF="25">as they were great men, &s;o they were greatly concerned in their day and Gene|ration for the Truths of GOD, for which they bear an honourable and &s;avourie charac|ter in all Ages, while others that were oppo&s;ers of GODS work have a black mark put upon them.</P>
<P>The <HI>Fifth Call,</HI> To carrie on this work of Reformation, is from the eminent Apo&s;ta&s;ie, and abounding wickedne&s;s, and profanitie that has followed thereupon in our Land; great back&s;lidings, as they call for great Repentings, &s;o al&s;o for Remarkable and great Returnings; e&s;pecially when GOD gives unto People repea|ted calls thereunto: and have not we had &s;uch Remarkable and Repeated Calls, both from the VVord, and eminent providences; GOD has again and again &s;poken to us in that lan|guage that he &s;poke to His Church in the days of <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> as you may &s;ee in his third chapter the 1, the 14, and 22 ver&s;es, where we have the call for Returning thrice repeated, And O that the Inhabitants of our Land might give in &s;uch an an&s;wer as is recorded in that 22 ver&s;e, <HI>Return ye backsliding children,</HI> there is the Call, <HI>and</HI> I <HI>will heal your backslidings,</HI> there is the motive, And O that we could give in &s;uch an an&s;wer as fol|lows, <HI>Behold we come unto Thee, for Thou art the
<PB REF="26" MS="y">LORD our GOD.</HI> O ye who pretend to be con|cerned in the work of Reformation, will ye &s;ee if ye can prevent Souls from going down to the pit: Let there be &s;uch Laws made and revived, and carefully put in execution, as may &s;uppre&s;s crying and abounding abominations, incon&s;i&s;|tent with a true and through Reformation, &s;uch as Sabbath-breaking, &s;wearing, drunkenne&s;s, and whoredom, the predominant &s;ins in our Age, that cannot but draw down vengeance on the Land if not prevented. As al&s;o, all Anti|chri&s;tiani&s;m errour, and ungodline&s;s, and &s;ee|ing the &s;ea&s;on of doing this is put in the hands of Magi&s;trates and Mini&s;ters, if they joyn not together and make a right u&s;e of it, for the end given, then it is likely to draw down that threatned judgement, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 24.13. ver&s;e, <HI>Be|cau&s;e I have purged thee, and thou wa&s;t not purged, thou &s;halt not be purged from thy filthine&s;s any more, till</HI> I <HI>have cau&s;ed my furie to re&s;t upon thee.</HI> And that judgement which our Saviour pronounced upon that people who had a day and &s;ea&s;on of Refor|mation and Salvation given them, but they made ill u&s;e of it, and therefore you &s;ee, <HI>Luke</HI> 19.41. how He laments their folly, (and that with tears,) before He pronounce their doom, <HI>if thou had&s;t known even thou, at lea&s;t in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they
<PB REF="26" MS="y">are bid from thine eyes.</HI> And we know not how &s;oon the day may come, when our Enemies &s;hall ca&s;t a trench again&s;t us, and lay us and out Temple even with the ground, becau&s;e we know not the time of our vi&s;itation; VVe never read that Chri&s;t wept but twice, and one of them was at the pro&s;pect of the death &amp; burial of His Ancient Spou&s;e, the <HI>Jewi&s;h Church:</HI> VVe have had a Three years and an half Go&s;pel-day, which is thought to have been the time that CHRIST the <HI>Sun of Righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> after He ap|peared to preach the Go&s;pel, &s;hined in the Orb of Go&s;pel Ordinances unto this Church, And yet that day proved not the day of their delive|rance, but only of their Tryal, and of ripening of them for a more de&s;olating &s;trock of Judge|ment, under which they ly unto this very day, And may we not be affraid that this be our ve|ry ca&s;e, for we have had as long a &s;ea&s;on, and are like as badly to improve it: And there|fore I may put this Que&s;tion to one and all of you to re&s;olve; VVhether this be a time of try|all, or a time of deliverance that we are under? (for &s;everal judicious Chri&s;tians do doubt of it) But you who are the Members of this Hono|rable Parliament have an opportunity to put in your hands, which if you manage well, may give a deci&s;ion unto this Que&s;tion: And O
<PB REF="27" MS="y">that you may have wi&s;dom, Courage, and Re|&s;olution given you &s;o to do.</P>
<P>The <HI>&s;ixth Gall,</HI> To carrie on this begun work of Reformation, is GOD's promi&s;e to be with you, whom he calls and employs in this publick &s;ervice, and this is plainly, and I may &s;ay power|fully expre&s;t in the la&s;t words of the Text (<HI>for</HI> I <HI>am with you</HI>) this is a clear and Comfortable promi&s;e, and then he backs it with power and Authority, and O that it might be &s;o upon our hearts, when he &s;ays, I <HI>am with you &s;aith, the</HI> LORD <HI>of ho&s;ts,</HI> This tittle JEHOVAH is thrice repeated, but in the la&s;t place it is thus expre&s;t the LORD <HI>of ho&s;ts,</HI> which mu&s;t import &s;ome what beyond the former two, and has certainly a great Empha&s;is in it, the &s;cope of which I take to be for removing their fears, and &s;tirring up their Zeal and Courage: As if he would &s;ay ye are but a few ct weak Companie to undertake the Reformation, who have been in mi&s;erie un|der the <HI>Babyloni&s;h</HI> Captivitie, and firy furnace of a prolonged affliction, and &s;o have not that Cou|rage that is nece&s;&s;arie to carry on my work: But if you would &s;tudy and endeavour to have right uptakings of me, as the LORD <HI>of ho&s;ts,</HI> Stronger by far than all your Enemies, then ye will not be affraid to go on in the work, when you &s;ee I am able to &s;ecure you again&s;t all op|po&s;itions;
<PB REF="27" MS="y">And indeed right uptakings of GOD and his promi&s;ed pre&s;ence, will be argument e|nough to put <HI>Life</HI> &amp; <HI>Courage</HI> in the mo&s;t timor|ous Member of this hou&s;e, to act vigorou&s;ly for GOD and his intre&s;ts, when inferiour Creatures are backed with &s;uperiour, they will put on cou|rage, and venter far: a cowardly Souldier or Servant when he is under a couragious Captain or Ma&s;ter, will be quite another thing than alone how much more &s;hould Magi&s;trats, Mini&s;ters, and people be valiant for the truth, when they have GOD to own them. <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 118, 6. <HI>The LORD is on my &s;ide: I will not fear what man can do unto me:</HI> and how &s;afe and &s;ecure will that Land &amp; that Church, be about whom the <HI>LORD</HI> will be as a wall of fire; whatever carnal rea|&s;on may &s;ay to the contrair, and to have <HI>God</HI> not only to be a wall of fire round about, But to be the Glory in the mid&s;t of us, mu&s;t be a de&s;ireable &s;tate, for as this will reflect com|fort upon us who are lodged within &s;uch ble&s;&s;ed Boundarie, &s;o it will reflect terrour upon the Adver&s;aries, which will make them not only not to come neat, but to flee away as you have it; <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 48.3.4.5. and 6 <HI>Ver&s;e. GOD is known in her palaces for a Refuge. For Lo, the Kings were A&s;&s;embled they pa&s;&s;ed by together, they &s;aw it, and</HI> &s;o they marvelled, they were troubled, and
<PB REF="28" MS="y">ha&s;ted away, fear took hold on them and pain as a Woman in Travel: And O what a Rich promi&s;e have we for &s;uch a &s;ecuritie, if we will but an&s;wer GODS Call, and be found in our dutie, <HI>Zech.</HI> 2.5. <HI>For</HI> I <HI>&s;aith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glorie in the md&s;t of her:</HI> Why &s;hould we be affraid, for if we under &s;o many eminent Calls of GOD, and &s;o many gracious promi&s;es of his pre|&s;ence and conduct, then we are under a Captain General that never failed his Church, &amp; can ac|compli&s;h their compleat deliverance, over the greate&s;t enemies that oppo&s;e it, he can lay <HI>Pha|raoh</HI> and his Army in the deepths of the Sea, and divide the mighty waters that his Redeemed might pa&s;s through, He can make the little hills and great mountains to get out of the Way, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 114, ver&s;e 3. <HI>The &s;ea &s;aw it, and fled, Jordan was driven back, The mountarns skipped like Rams, &amp; the little hills like Lambs:</HI> why what was the mat|ter, could not thou O Sea, have kept &s;till thy ordinary motion and currents? &amp; you little hils and great mountains your ordinary po&s;ture, and place, and have &s;topped the deliverance of the Church out of <HI>Aegypt,</HI> and their march towards <HI>Canaan?</HI> Was it the terrour of <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> and his ho&s;t, or of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the armies of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> that made you quite your ground, and
<PB REF="28" MS="y">give way: No, no, it was for none of the&s;e, if they had not been headed by the Mighty <HI>GOD</HI> of <HI>Jacob;</HI> it was the pre&s;ence of <HI>JEHOVAH</HI> that made the Earth to tremble, the depths dry up, and the mountains get out of the Churches way: ver&s;e 5. What ailed thee, O <HI>thou Sea, that thou fledde&s;t? Thou Jordan, that thou wa&s;t driven back? Ver&s;e</HI> 6. <HI>Ye mountains that ye skipped like Rams, and ye little hills like Lambs? ver.</HI> 7. <HI>Tremble thou Earth, at the pre&s;ence of the LORD, at the pre&s;ence of the GOD of Jacob.</HI> What need you fear then to throw down the Groves? Repair GODS Altar, and build His hou&s;e, <HI>Gideon,</HI> and <HI>Nehemiah</HI> like, when the LORD of Ho&s;ts is with you: may you not clearly &s;ee, that your help is in the <HI>Name of the Lord,</HI> but your fear is in the name of man! Are you <HI>Zerubbabels, Jo|&s;huas,</HI> and <HI>Nehemiahs?</HI> Per&s;ons in publick Tru&s;t? then ye ought to carry like <HI>God,</HI> becau&s;e ye are in <HI>Gods</HI> place, And carry by your Offices that Tittle in the World, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 82.6. <HI>I &s;aid ye are Gods, &amp;c.</HI> And among other things ye &s;hould re&s;emble Him in Courage, and Holine&s;s, are none of the lea&s;t. What a vile &s;ight is it to &s;ee a drunken <HI>god!</HI> or a &s;wearing <HI>god!</HI> (if I may &s;o expre&s;s it) And how unbecoming a thing is it al&s;o to &s;ee a trembling <HI>god!</HI> You that ought to be a terrour to others, and would be &s;o, if you
<PB REF="29" MS="y">manage that Office and Tru&s;t aright, with that Courage, Re&s;olution, and Boldne&s;s, yet when you faint in it, in order to the work of <HI>God,</HI> it &s;ayes that other per&s;ons, and inferiours too, are a terrour to you.</P>
<P>Now for removing of this di&s;temper of Hu|mane and &s;lavi&s;h fear, that Courage and Re&s;o|lution may take its place. Let me recommend this one Remedie unto one and all of you, e|&s;pecially &s;uch as &s;tand in publick Office, and it is a cure with a <HI>(probatum e&s;t)</HI> tryed, and left to Magi&s;trates, and Mini&s;ters, by that great man <HI>Mo&s;es, Heb.</HI> 11.27. ver&s;e, it is &s;aid there, <HI>He feared not the wrath of a King, as &s;eeing Him who is invi&s;ible:</HI> And yet any might think he had great rea&s;on to be afraid of &s;o potent an Ene|mie, who with his Ance&s;tours had detained the Church in bondage for four hundred years, and &s;o it is like que&s;tioned neither his power, nor his right to detain them; But the Text tells you what was the Antidote again&s;t this fear, <HI>Viz. That by Faith be &s;aw Him who is invi&s;ible;</HI> his faith was at work in <HI>heaven to get God</HI> to <HI>coun&s;el, a&s;&s;i&s;t,</HI> &amp; <HI>&s;trength|en</HI> him, while his hands were at work on Earth, to relieve the Church and people of <HI>GOD</HI> from their Long and &s;ore Bondage, I wi&s;h that all the great Ones of the Land, and e&s;pecially &s;uch as are in publick Office had the Exerci&s;e of this Faith, by which they might
<PB REF="29" MS="y">take up the <HI>Almighty power of God,</HI> and his <HI>E|very where Pre&s;ence,</HI> that &s;o their fears and faint-heartedne&s;s, might be removed, if <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had been po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with many peoples fears <HI>in our day;</HI> it's like he would have made an Act of Com|prehen&s;ion, and Compounded with <HI>Pharoah,</HI> and &s;o matted the Churches deliverance: This was the Remedie, that good <HI>Hezekiah</HI> al&s;o made u&s;e of, to encouradge his Subjects and Souldiers, again&s;t the fears and threats of a very bold and huffie Adver&s;ary, as you may read 2 <HI>Chron:</HI> 32. Ver&s;e 7. <HI>Be &s;trong and Couragious, be not afraid, nor di&s;mayed for the King of A&s;&s;yria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there is moe with us then with him.</HI> Ver&s;e 8. <HI>With him is an arm of fle&s;h, but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battels.</HI> And while he made u&s;e of this excellent Remedy, for their Sup|port and Encouragement, under &s;uch &s;ad Cir|cum&s;tances, how &s;uccesful was it for the relief of the &s;pirits of that people: Therefore it is &s;aid in the Latter part of the 8. Ver&s;e. <HI>The People re&s;ted them&s;elves upon the words of Hezekiah King of Judah.</HI></P>
<P>But did this great King, and his people re&s;t &s;o upon the LORD, as to neglect the u&s;e of Ordinary means? No, for we &s;ee Ver&s;e 5. <HI>That he &s;trengthned him&s;elf,</HI> by the u&s;e of all outward means, <HI>and built up all the wall that was broken, and he rai&s;ed it up to the Towers, and another wall
<PB REF="30" MS="y">without, and repaired Millo in the City of David, and made Darts and Shields in abundance.</HI> And ver&s;e 6. <HI>He &s;et Captains of warr over the People, and ga|thered them together to him in the &s;treet of the gate of the City:</HI> And yet he counted all the&s;e outward lawful means, but as a Quick &s;and in compari|&s;on, for you &s;ee in the 7. and 8. ver&s;es, which we have read, he dropt his main Anchor upon the ROCK of Ages; And the I&s;&s;ue declared that he was no loo&s;er thereby.</P>
<P>I come in the next place to the u&s;e of the Doctrine. And fir&s;t, <HI>It reproves one and all of us, in the different, Stations, Offices, and Circum&s;tances that we are into, for our negligence and unconcerned|ne&s;s in carrying on this work of God, when &s;uch a rich occa&s;ion, and eminent call has been put in our hands.</HI> But if we will mourn for our bygone negli|gence, and amend our wayes for the future, and fall vigorou&s;ly to this Reformation Work which my Text calls us to; then we may expect that <HI>God</HI> will pardon bypa&s;t neglects, when he &s;ees our future faithfulne&s;s and diligence.</P>
<P><HI>The &s;econd &V;&s;e is,</HI> To Exhort one and all of you. E&s;pecially the Members of this Honourable and High Court of Parliament, carefully to &s;et about this <HI>begun work of Reformation,</HI> and to take notice of <HI>Gods call</HI> to you this day, for this end and purpo&s;e: For, if I know any thing of the
<PB REF="30" MS="y">mind of GOD, this is the Me&s;&s;age he has com|manded me to deliver you, and what obedience ye give to it, the <HI>Divine Eye</HI> will certainly ob&s;erve: And if ye will an&s;wer <HI>Gods call aright,</HI> there is a &s;ixfold Reformation, that all of us in our Stations mu&s;t endeavour.</P>
<P>The <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> is, Per&s;onal Reformation, which <HI>God calls</HI> for at the Hands of every per&s;on in par|ticular, <HI>Ezeck:</HI> 18. Ver&s;e 30. <HI>Pepent and turn your &s;elves from all your Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, &s;o iniquity &s;hall not be your ruine.</HI> And ver&s;e 31. <HI>Ca&s;t away from you, all your tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, whereby ye have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, and make you a new Heart, and a new Spirit; for why will ye die, O hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> And this per&s;onal Reformation is not only com|manded in the <HI>Old,</HI> but al&s;o in the <HI>New Te&s;ta|ment,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor:</HI> 7: 1: <HI>Let us clean&s;e our &s;elves from all filthine&s;s of the fle&s;h and &s;pirit, perfecting Holine&s;s in the fear of God.</HI> Heb: 12.1. <HI>Let us lay a&s;ide every weight, Yea, and our predominant &s;ins that &s;o ea&s;ily be&s;et us:</HI> All which Scriptures tells us, both the nece&s;&s;ity of this Reformation, and the dif|ficulty of it, which &s;hould awaken us unto great diligence and care there about.</P>
<P>And as this per&s;onal Reformation is Com|manded of GOD, &s;o it is Commanded to others by tho&s;e that have tryed it, and found the good of it them&s;elves: as <HI>David</HI> did to his Son <HI>Solo|mon,</HI>
<PB REF="31" MS="y">and his Princes, 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 22.19. <HI>Now &s;et your heart, and your Soul to &s;eek the LORD your GOD:</HI> And it is recorded to the Commendati|on of <HI>Jeho&s;ophat,</HI> 2 <HI>Chro:</HI> 20.3 <HI>That he &s;et him|&s;elf to &s;eek the LORD</HI> Kings, Nobles, Gentrie, Mini&s;ters and others, will be bad Reformers of &s;uch as are under their Charge, who &s;eek not the LORD them&s;elves: O that our Clo&s;ets, our Con&s;ciences, and our Conver&s;ations might be witne&s;&s;es to our Per&s;onal Reformation; It is clear enough from Scripture, that the LORD may make u&s;e of great Per&s;ons for the Church, and Children, who yet may be Strangers unto per&s;onal Reformation them|&s;elves, as <HI>Jehu</HI> and <HI>Joa&s;h</HI> were but one of the be&s;t motives to make per&s;ons in publick tru&s;t, care|full for the Reformation of others, is to be truely Reformed them&s;elves.</P>
<P>A <HI>Second</HI> Reformation which we &s;hould en|deavour in our &s;tation, and that is Family Re|formation what an Excellent patern, does <HI>David</HI> lay before us for this, <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 101. Particularly the 7 <HI>Ver&s;e, He that worketh in deceit, &s;hall not dwell in my Hou&s;e.</HI> And how is <HI>Abraham</HI> com|mended by the LORD for this thing? <HI>Gen.</HI> 18 19 <HI>Ver&s;e. For I know him that he will Command his hou&s;ehold after him, and they &s;hall keep the way of the LORD.</HI> O what a heavie Reckoning
<PB REF="31" MS="y">will many Ma&s;ters of Families and Parents meet with, for their neglect of this at the great day, be&s;ides the Judgements that it draws down upon them, and their Families in this World: one In&s;tance whereof ye have, not to name others. <HI>Zech.</HI> 14.17 <HI>Ver&s;e: And it &s;hall be, that who&s;e will not come up of all the Families of the Earth unto</HI> Jeru&s;alem, <HI>to wor&s;hip the King, the LORD of Ho&s;ts, even upon them &s;hall be no rain.</HI> Which tells us, that per&s;ons and families who make no Con&s;ci|ence to attend upon the publick In&s;tituted wor|&s;hip of GOD, it is to be feared that they are &s;trangers to a per&s;onal and family Reformation at home; whereas per&s;ons that make Con&s;ci|ence of family Reformation will not dare to &s;light and neglect the publick In&s;tituted wor&s;h|ip of GOD.</P>
<P>A <HI>Third Reformation,</HI> That we &s;hould endea|vour in our &s;tations, and that is <HI>Sanctuarie Refor|mation, Hezekiah</HI> is an excellent pattern in this, who him&s;elf &s;et about it &s;o timeou&s;&s;ie, 2 <HI>Chron:</HI> 29.3. ver&s;e, <HI>In the fir&s;t year of his reign, in the fir&s;t moneth did he open the doors of the hou&s;e of the</HI> Lord, <HI>and commanded the rubbi&s;h to be taken out, and &s;et up Prie&s;ts and Officers therein, and gave them a &s;trict charge to mind their work;</HI> Lamenting the defile|ments and corruptions that had crept into it: To this I may add the nece&s;&s;ity and profitable|ne&s;s
<PB REF="32" MS="y">of Univer&s;ities and School Reformation, a thing greatly nece&s;&s;arie in order to Sanctuary and publick Reformation; For where Semina|ries of Learning are tainted, they prove the Bane of the Church, and State al&s;o.</P>
<P>A <HI>Fourth Reformation,</HI> That we &s;hould endea|vour in our Stations, is <HI>Judieatorie Reformation,</HI> That all the Judicatories in the Land, from the highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t, may be reformed: for upon &s;earch it will be found that many of them are not filled with &s;uch per&s;ons, as have &s;ound principles di&s;po&s;ing them to Advance the pre&s;ent work of Reformation, neither true loy|altie to their Maje&s;ties, nor affection to the E&s;tabli&s;hed Government, Great care therefore &s;hould be taken by the <HI>&s;upream Judicatorie</HI> of this Nation, that truth which is fallen in our &s;treets, &amp; Judgement, may be rai&s;ed to their feet again, And that the iniquitie, oppre&s;&s;ion, and Inju&s;|tice, for which the Land mourns, may be re|moved, and we may have no more occa&s;ion for that Complaint, <HI>I&s;a:</HI> 59.14, 15. ver&s;es, <HI>And judge|ment is turned away backward, and Ju&s;tice &s;tandeth a farr of, for Truth is fallen in the &s;treets, and E|quity cannot enter:</HI> You in whom is lodged the Supream Power, would take care, that the poor, who hang to long on, and cannot get their Cau&s;e di&s;cu&s;&s;ed, may get Ju&s;tice Execut|ed
<PB REF="32" MS="y">&s;peedily, and that without partiality.</P>
<P N="5">5ly, You &s;hould al&s;o take &s;pecial Care, of Militarie, or Armie Reformation, that &s;uch Officers only get and keep their Commi&s;&s;ions, as are true to the E&s;tabli&s;hed Government: You have had &s;ufficient warnings of the&s;e things already, to make you warry in time coming, but I mu&s;t freely tell you that friend&s;hip Inte|re&s;t, and Covetou&s;ne&s;s doth often &s;poile the&s;e things.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> You are called in your Stations, to mind a National Reformation, that the <HI>LORD</HI> may be wor&s;hipped according to the pre&s;ent E|&s;tabli&s;hed Government (which is mo&s;t &s;uitable to the Word of <HI>GOD,</HI> and to which we &s;tand greatly obliedged) from the one End unto the other, according to the Example of good <HI>Je|ho&s;ophat,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron:</HI> 16: 4: <HI>And Jeho&s;ophat dwelt at Jeru&s;alem, and be went out again through the peo|ple, from Beer&s;heba to Mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD GOD of their Fathers:</HI> Your Care and Zeal in this Matter would make you bear that excellent name in future Ages; <HI>The repairers of the Breach</HI> of the Church of <HI>Seotland,</HI> and <HI>the re&s;torers of the Paths to dwell in, I&s;a.</HI> 58: 12: This would be a mean to prevail with the <HI>LORD</HI> to come and dwell among us,
<PB REF="33" MS="y">and fill his Hou&s;e with his Glory. Magi&s;trates &s;hould command it, Mini&s;ters &s;hould preach it, the People &s;hould pray for it, and Souldiers over&s;ee it, where it is needful: And if all per|&s;ons concerned would act Cordially and unani|mou&s;ly with Re&s;olution and Couradge in their &s;everal Stations, as they are called and Em|ployed: I doubt not but our Land might yet be called <HI>JEHOVA Shamma,</HI> the LORD is there.</P>
<P>But that I may &s;hut up this Di&s;cour&s;e, I &s;hall only add a few Motives; and but name them to pre&s;s you to this Duty.</P>
<P>The <HI>Fir&s;t Motive</HI> is this, That if you whom GOD hath put in <HI>Publick Tru&s;t,</HI> and Authority, take care to build GODS Hou&s;e, ye &s;hall be no loo&s;er by it, for this is the way to engage GOD to build, and perpetuate your hou&s;es: If ye will e&s;tabli&s;h His Throne, that he may reign in the Hearts of the Inhabitants of the Land, in &amp; by his own Ordinances; This will be a no|table Mean for e&s;tabli&s;hing the Kings Throne, <HI>Proverbs,</HI> 29: 14: <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 89: 2: 3: 4: ver&s;es, &amp;c.</P>
<P>The <HI>Second Motive</HI> is this, That the Genera|tions to come, will ble&s;s you, who were In&s;tru|mental in your places, to recover the Ruined Work of GOD in the Land, and to get the pure Go&s;pel Light &s;et up every where: To let
<PB REF="33" MS="y">the Wilderne&s;s-Travellers &s;ee the way to the Kingdom: Will not the po&s;terity that came After us, &amp; get the good of this Reformation, &s;ay, ble&s;&s;ed be &s;uch a Noble family, and &s;uch a Gentlemans family and po&s;terity, who laid out them&s;elves for the true wor&s;hip of GOD, who when it was ready to be &s;wallowed up and ex|tingui&s;hed, who recovered it out of the hand of the Enemie, and delivered it cleanly and &s;afely down to us their po&s;terity, or el&s;e we had peri&s;hed in &s;uper&s;tition and darkne&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> This &s;hould pre&s;s you to a through and univer&s;al Refotmation in the Land, be|cau&s;e it will be a notable Bulwark, to defend us from the inva&s;ions of adver&s;aries, &amp; I lay it be|fore you that are States men, and are for State policie, as one of Heavens politicks, for the &s;ecu|ring the Nation, under the pro&s;pect of mo&s;t imminent dangers, you have a tryed in&s;tance of this, 2 <HI>Chron:</HI> 17.7. Al&s;o in the third year of <HI>Jeho&s;ophats</HI> Reign, he &s;ent to his Princes, even to <HI>Banhael,</HI> and to <HI>Obadiah,</HI> and to <HI>Zechariab,</HI> &amp; to <HI>Nathaneel,</HI> and to <HI>Micajah,</HI> to teach in the citys of <HI>Judah,</HI> and with them he &s;ent <HI>Levites,</HI> ver&s;e 8 and 9. <HI>They taught in Judah; and had the Book of the Law of the LORD with them, and went through|out all the Cities of Judah, and taught the people:</HI> and the 10 ver&s;e tells us, what a great &s;ecuri|ty
<PB REF="34" MS="y">it brought along with it, to the Land, <HI>For the Fear of the LORD, fell upon all the Kingdoms of the Lands that were round about Judah: &s;o that they made no war again&s;t Jeho&s;ophat,</HI> this you &s;ee is the &s;weet advantage, that ari&s;es from true &amp; through Reformation, and &s;hould not this move you to make u&s;e of it, and then you will have GOD's &s;ecurity, and GOD's &s;ecurity is the be&s;t &s;ecurity.</P>
<P>Shew your &s;elves therefore <HI>Men of Courage,</HI> and <HI>Zeal</HI> for GOD, and his cau&s;e, and intere&s;ts, and ye need not que&s;tion, but he will be for you.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> And I &s;hall add no more, your being active and faithful for GOD &amp; his work, will upon a reflection, even under troubles and tryals in this World, be verie &s;upporting, and refre&s;hing, But <HI>O</HI> What a cordial will it be in a dying houre, when all the Compo&s;itions of Apothecaties have lo&s;t their Reli&s;h, &amp; when nei|ther Riches, nor Honours, nor plea&s;ures of this World, will have any &s;ignificancie: with good <HI>Hezekiah, I&s;aiah,</HI> 38: 2, 3. ver&s;es. <HI>Turn your faces to the wall, &amp; pray, Remember now, O</HI> LORD, <HI>I be&s;eech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in Truth, and with a perfect Heart, and have done that which is good in thy &s;ight.</HI> I &s;ay this will be the Great &s;upport, and Con&s;olations of your hearts, who are per&s;ons of publick tru&s;t, when ye come to
<PB REF="34" MS="y">the la&s;t &s;tep, between time &amp; eternitie: Let me therefore with all humility and earne&s;tne&s;s, Be|&s;eech you, O <HI>Zerubabel,</HI> his Maje&s;ties high Com|mi&s;&s;ioner, &amp; you who are the Officers of State, and you the re&s;t of the Members of this honou|rable Parliament, in the words of my Text, Yet <HI>Now, O Zerubabel, be &s;trong, &s;aith the LORD, and be &s;trong O Jo&s;hua, Son of Jo&s;edech the high Prie&s;t; and be &s;trong all ye people of the land, &s;aith the LORD; and work, for I am with you, &s;aith the LORD of Ho&s;ts;</HI> Even &s;o be it. <HI>AMEN.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="35">
<PB REF="35">
<PB REF="36">
<PB REF="36" MS="y">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>Col: <HI>4.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And &s;ay to <HI>Archippus,</HI> take heed to the Mini&s;trie which thou ha&s;t received in the LORD; that thou fulfill it.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THE Occa&s;ion of the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul,</HI> his writing this Epi&s;tle from <HI>Rome,</HI> while he was Pri&s;oner there, unto this Church of <HI>Collo&s;&s;e</HI> &s;eems to be from the Information he bad by <HI>Epa|phras</HI> the Mini&s;ter of the place, holding furth the danger, that, that Church was into, of be|ing corrupted both in her principles and wor|&s;hip, and that as well from Jews upon the one hand, as Gentiles upon the other.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tles &s;cope in this Epi&s;tle, is to confirm them, in the Doctrine Preached by <HI>Epaphras,</HI> their hone&s;t Mini&s;ter, and to pre&s;s them to the further knowledge &amp; practice of Godline&s;s; and that both as to the General and &s;pecial duties of
<PB REF="37" MS="y">Chri&s;tianity, in the conclu&s;ion of this Epi&s;tle, which is from the 9 Ver&s;e to the End. We have &s;everal &s;alutations, wherein &s;ome are &s;a|luted and Commended as Ver&s;es 10.11. Some &s;aluted and exhorted, that they may &s;tand per|fect and compleat in all the will of GOD, as <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 12: <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Some are &s;aluted and directed, as <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 16, and &s;ome are &s;aluted and admoni|&s;hed as in this Text: <HI>And &s;ay to</HI> Archippus, <HI>Take heed to the Mini&s;trie which thou ha&s;t received in the LORD, that thou fulfill it.</HI> As if the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> would &s;ay to the People, Commend me al&s;o to <HI>Archippus</HI> your Mini&s;ter, and tell him from me, to take heed that he do not his work carele&s;lie, and by halfs; But as he has received his Commi&s;&s;ion from the LORD, &s;o let him fulfil it, and that by the con&s;tant and diligent performing of all the duties belonging to &s;o great and weighty a Charge.</P>
<P>Whither this <HI>Archippus</HI> was Collegue to <HI>Epa|phras,</HI> or whither he was Pa&s;tor of the <HI>Laodecean</HI> Church, (as &s;ome Interpreters a&s;&s;ert, and the connexion with the proceeding ver&s;e, &s;eems to favour it) I &s;hall not determine, and it is a matter of no great importance; for wherever he was Mini&s;ter, it is like he was fallen Remi&s;s in his Office, A Fault, that I fear too too many of us may be charged with, which remi&s;&s;nes
<PB REF="37" MS="y">flows &s;ometimes I conceive from prevalent cor|ruption within, and too much love of the world without, As al&s;o from the&s;e di&s;couragements that Mini&s;ters often meet with from their people, either upon the account of their unprofitable|ne&s;s, under the means and pains be&s;towed upon them, or upon the account of that oppo&s;ition which their people make to the work of GOD among their hands.</P>
<P>Thir words at fir&s;t view, fall into two parts, <HI>viz.</HI> an injunction and a me&s;&s;age, The injunction is to the people, in the&s;e words, and &s;ay to <HI>Ar|cbippus,</HI> the me&s;&s;age they are to tell him from the Apo&s;tle, <HI>is to take heed to his Mini&s;trie, how he has received it, and how he may fulfil it aright.</HI></P>
<P>But this ver&s;e being an Exhortation, contains more particularly in it the&s;e four things, Fir&s;t, The per&s;on exhorted, the <HI>Lazie Mini&s;ter.</HI> 2. The thing he is exhorted <HI>to take heed to thy Mini&s;try,</HI> &amp;c. 3. We have the Arguments pre&s;&s;ing this heed|fulne&s;s: 1. Its a tru&s;t, and per&s;ons mu&s;t take heed to their tru&s;t, becau&s;e it is not &s;o much their own matters, as others they are to be con|cerned about. 2. It is a great tru&s;t that Mini|&s;ters have committed to them, when they have the Precious, and Immortal Souls of Men, to take care about.</P>
<P>The fourth thing in the words, is the <HI>modus,</HI>
<PB REF="38" MS="y">or the manner how he is to notice and manage this Mini&s;try, he is to heed it and manage it &s;o, as to fulfil it. And the&s;e that would di&s;|charge this Office aright, mu&s;t carefully mind not only the Exten&s;ivene&s;s, but al&s;o the Inten|&s;ivene&s;s of this Work, for the meer tale of du|ties will not be &s;ufficient to fulfil this Mini&s;try, except they have their proportionable weight and mea&s;ure, even &s;uch as will make them pa&s;s, when tryed and weighted in the ballance of the Sanctuary.</P>
<P>Thir words affoords us three Doctrines; the fir&s;t Doctrine is this, That People perceiving their Mini&s;ter fail in the Office of his Mini&s;try, may and ought to admoni&s;h him, but in Love, and with all due re&s;pect to his Per&s;on and Of|fice, 1 <HI>Timothy</HI> 5.1. <HI>Rebuke not an Elder, but Ex|hort him as a Father,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>There is no power of Jurisdiction in the Peo|ple from this Text, to inflict Church Cen&s;ures on their Mini&s;ter: For all that is &s;aid here, in|ferreth no more, then &s;uch an admonition as any private Chri&s;tian may give him.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Doctrine is, That great Heedful|ne&s;s is required of Mini&s;ters in order to the right di&s;charge of their Office.</P>
<P>The third Doctrine is, That among other Con&s;iderations pre&s;&s;ing us to fulfil this Mini&s;try,
<PB REF="38" MS="y">this &s;hould be none of the lea&s;t, that we have re|ceived it of the LORD.</P>
<P>Of the fir&s;t Doctrine I &s;hall &s;ay no more, and this third Ob&s;ervation will be touched in the Pro&s;ecution of the &s;econd, which is that I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon, as being mo&s;t proper to this Occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>And that I may doe it as briefly as po&s;&s;ible, I &s;hall in the fir&s;t place &s;hew you &s;ome of the&s;e Qualifications implyed in this Heedfulne&s;s (that the Text calls for) which are nece&s;&s;ary to the right fulfilling of a Mans Mini&s;trie.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> I &s;hall give you the Rea&s;ons of the Doctrine, and thirdly the u&s;e of All.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Qualification then implyed here, as nece&s;&s;ary to make a Mini&s;ter take heed to man|nage his Office a right is, Wi&s;dom and Know|ledge, and that not only in the Speculative, but in the practical part of Religion. I think both the&s;e are needful to make a Mini&s;ter <HI>apt to teach,</HI> 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.2. or el&s;e his Mini&s;try will be rather Art-work, then Heart-work. Un&s;ancti|fied witts have been in all Ages greatly prejudi|cial to the Church, and we have not wanted &s;ad In&s;tances thereof in our day.</P>
<P>I &s;ay then, that the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, mu&s;t be men of Knowledge, for they are Watchmen, and Watchmen mu&s;t have Eyes in their Head,
<PB REF="39" MS="y">therefore they are <HI>called Seers,</HI> 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 9.9: Come let us go to the Seer, they are to point out to the People their Way, their Danger, and their Duty, as we may al&s;o &s;ee from <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 21. and 6. <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> to the 13. <HI>Ver&s;e, And if they be blind, what hurt may &s;uddenly befall the Church,</HI> I&s;aiah 9. <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 16. <HI>For the leaders of this People cau&s;e them to Erre, and they that are led of them are de&s;troyed.</HI></P>
<P>Ignorance cau&s;es Error, and Error De&s;tructi|on, therefore &s;aid the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> to the El|ders of <HI>Ephe&s;us, Acts</HI> 20.28. <HI>Take heed therfore unto your &s;elves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Gho&s;t hath made you over&s;eers, to feed them, viz:</HI> With Knowledge and Under&s;tanding, that they may be &s;oundly principled, &amp; right in the Faith, and he gives the rea&s;on of it, <HI>Ver&s;es</HI> 29. and 30. <HI>For grievous wolves will enter in among&s;t you, &s;peak|ing perver&s;e things to corrupt your People, and to draw Di&s;ciples after them.</HI></P>
<P>Mini&s;ters &s;hould be like the bea&s;ts about Chri&s;ts Throne, <HI>Rev:</HI> 4.6. <HI>Full of Eyes within and without, before and behind:</HI> Within looking to the Frame and Con&s;titution of their own Hearts, without to the Duties they ought to perform, and the Snares and Dangers they mu&s;t beware of, in following of their Duty: They mu&s;t have Eyes looking before them unto God for Coun&s;el and Direction, and they mu&s;t have
<PB REF="39" MS="y">eyes looking behind them unto the flocks which they lead. Every Mini&s;ter is as it were the Trea&s;urer of the place where he lives, <HI>Malachy</HI> 2.7. <HI>For the Prie&s;ts lips &s;hould keep Knowledge, and the people &s;hould &s;eek the law at his mouth,</HI> and if the Mini&s;ters want this Trea&s;urie of Spiritual know|ledge and Wi&s;dom, they will not be able to di&s;tingui&s;h aright between Truth and Errour, Sin and Duty: They cannot in&s;truct the Igno|ant, re&s;olve doubts, quiet the troubled Con&s;cience feed the Hungry, &amp; comfort the <HI>di&s;couraged Soul.</HI> Let <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> have blind and ignorant Watch|men, but Our LORD JESUS CHRIST &s;hould have &s;uch Mini&s;ters as are throughly furni&s;hed for every Good Work, 2 <HI>Tim:</HI> 3: 17: <HI>That the Man of GOD may be perfect, throughly furni&s;hed unto all Good Works.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd Qualification implyed in this <HI>Take heed,</HI> (for a Mini&s;ters right di&s;charging of his Office) is painfulne&s;s and diligence, for knowledge mu&s;t i&s;&s;ue unto action: Mini&s;ters are Angels, and Angels are not only full of Eyes (as I &s;aid before) but al&s;o full of Hands and Wings. <HI>Ezek:</HI> 1: 8: <HI>And they had the Hands of a Man under their Wings on their four &s;ides,</HI> &amp;c: Therefore it is &s;aid, <HI>Rev:</HI> 4: 8: <HI>That they re&s;t not day nor night,</HI> they know much, therefore they Act much.</P>
<PB REF="40" MS="y">
<P> The Heathen could tell us that unpractical knowledge &s;ignifies nothing, <HI>Scire tuum nihil e&s;t, ni&s;i te &s;cire hoc &s;ciat alter.</HI></P>
<P>And the <HI>Aegyptians</HI> painted a Tongue with a hand under it to &s;hew that knowledge, when practiced was good. And we &s;ee that the ble&s;&s;ing is not promi&s;ed to the bare knowledge, but to the practice of Commanded duties, <HI>John.</HI> 13.17. <HI>If ye know the&s;e things, happie are ye if you do them, and</HI> Rev: 22. Ver&s;e 14. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have Right to the Tree of Life, and enter in through the Gates unto the City.</HI> We are Spiritual harve&s;t men, and the Crop is very precious, which we are to gather in, If it be lo&s;t by our &s;loath, we will pay dear for it.</P>
<P>The third qualification implyed here (in this, <HI>Take heed to your Mini&s;trie</HI>) is faithful|ne&s;s: O how much need had we to take heed that we do our Mini&s;terial work faithfullie, now faithfulne&s;s is a proportioning our obedi|ence to the Command: to be impartial in all the Admini&s;trations of the hou&s;e of GOD: See what a charge the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> gives <HI>Timothie,</HI> 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 5.21. <HI>I Charge thee before GOD, and the LORD JES&V;S CHRIST, and the elect Angels that thou ob&s;erve the&s;e things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partialitie.</HI> Where we &s;ee
<PB REF="40" MS="y">that he that is partial cannot be faithful, an un|faithful Mini&s;ter is perfidious both to GOD and man. <HI>Zeph.</HI> 3.4. <HI>It is &s;aid there, their Prophets are light and Treacherous per&s;ons:</HI> Treacherous Per&s;ons in the <HI>Hebrew,</HI> as a Learned Interpreter ob&s;erves, is <HI>Viri Praevaricationum qui debitam Deo &amp; populo fidem pariter violaverint.</HI> And it is the highe&s;t Treacherie that can be, to be fal&s;e to GOD and Robb Him of the Souls of men; That is worthy of our Con&s;ideration recorded. <HI>Ezek:</HI> 3.20. <HI>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t not given him warning; He &s;hall die in his &s;in, but his Blood &s;hall I require at thine hand.</HI> Now if a Mini&s;ter may Peri&s;h for not warning of Sinners, much more for Encour|aging them to Sin, by corrupt Doctrine, and a Lewd life, for If death be in an Gmi&s;&s;ion, much more mu&s;t it be in po&s;itive Evils. Let me add one word more on this head, that a faithful mi|ni&s;ter, mu&s;t be a fearle&s;s Mini&s;ter, he mu&s;t not be affraid of the faces of men, when he is to de|liver the Truths of GOD. The LORD four times in one <HI>Ver&s;e. Ezek.</HI> 2.6. <HI>Forbids the Pro|phet to fear. And thou Son of man be not affraid of them, neither be affraid of their words, though Briers and Thorns be with thee, and thou doe&s;t dwell among Scorphions: Be not affraied of their words, nor di&s;mayed at their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ooks, though they be a Rebellious Hou&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>A Fourth qualification nece&s;&s;arie for man|aging
<PB REF="41" MS="y">this office implyed in this exhortation <HI>(take heed to thy Mini&s;try)</HI> is prudence which is nece&s;&s;arie to direct us in the dexterous man|agement of all the parts of our work, and more e&s;pecially as to the Methods whereby, and the Sea&s;ons wherein they may be done to the be&s;t advantage, and there is no part of our Mini&s;terial work, which requires more pru|dence in the right managing of it, then that of Reproof, to do that &s;o as it may be accepted as a kindne&s;s by the per&s;on reproved, and as an ex|cellent Oyle that will not break the head, as the P&s;almi&s;t expre&s;&s;es it. <HI>P&s;al:</HI> 141. <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> 5. <HI>Let the Righteous Smite me, it &s;hall be a kindne&s;s; and let them reprove me, it &s;hall be an excellent Oyl; which &s;hall not break my head:</HI> For as faithfulne&s;s and wi&s;dom ponders the nece&s;&s;ity of the duty; So prudence does con&s;ider the fitte&s;t time, and manner of application with re&s;pect to the per|&s;on, with what prudence and dexteritie did <HI>Nathan</HI> prepare <HI>David</HI> in that Parable. 2 <HI>Sam:</HI> 12. from the fir&s;t <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> to the 6th. before he came to touch him in the quick with; <HI>Thou art the man, Ver&s;e</HI> 7.</P>
<P>Fifthly, if we would take heed to fulfil this Mini&s;trie, we mu&s;t be &s;incere and &s;erious <HI>Ecle&s;:</HI> 9.10. And it is not Liklie that we will pre&s;s Go&s;pel Truths and holine&s;s, &s;eriou&s;ly home
<PB REF="41" MS="y">upon others, until we know the &s;weet and good of them our &s;elves, and the Apo&s;tle tells us. 2 <HI>Cor:</HI> 1.12. <HI>Ver&s;e.</HI> That &s;incerity in our work and walk will be no &s;mal ground of our re|joycing, when our con&s;ciences within, and beholders without can te&s;tifie, that we endeav|oured &s;incerely and carefully to Manage this tru&s;t committed to us, and Mini&s;ters had need to take heed to this, becau&s;e their work lying about &s;piritual things they are more apt to be deceived by hypocri&s;ies creeping in both to their hearts and duties, and many a time the frequencie of them, is like to take away the fervencie of them: Mini&s;ters therefore would often mind that word, to keep them diligent at their work, 1 <HI>Cor:</HI> 9.27. <HI>Lea&s;t when I preach the Go&s;pel to others, I my &s;elf be a ca&s;t away.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6ly. This <HI>take heed,</HI> includes con&s;tancie and per&s;ervance, we mu&s;t not think to do this work by fits and &s;tarts; Nor be like the&s;e <HI>fooli&s;h Gala|tians, Galatians</HI> 3 <HI>chap.</HI> and 3 <HI>ver. To begin in the &s;pirit, and end in the fle&s;h,</HI> we mu&s;t not put our hand to the plough and look back, Ye know what CHRIST &s;ays of &s;uch, <HI>Luke</HI> 9.62. <HI>They are not fit for the Kingdom of GOD,</HI> they are not fit for managing of his Kingdom aright in this world, and if they do not that, they may be affraid to be &s;hut out of his Kingdom in the next.</P>
<PB REF="42" MS="y">
<P> I come next to the Rea&s;ons of the doctrine, why Mini&s;ters mu&s;t be very heedfull, and care|full about their Mini&s;terial work, and that 1&s;t. Becau&s;e it is a great tru&s;t far above any other tru&s;t in this world, when immortal Souls are committed to us, about which the thoughts of the mo&s;t high have been concerned from Eter|nity, and for the Redemption of which GOD manife&s;ted in the fle&s;h, &s;hed his precious blood: &amp; for e&s;pou&s;ing of whom he has put us unto the Mini&s;trie. I think we &s;hould never go this er|rand, but with <HI>Abrahams &s;ervant. Gen.</HI> 24 12. <HI>We &s;hould pray, O LORD GOD and Father of My Ma&s;ter JES&V;S CHRIST,</HI> (Who has promi&s;ed him a great backing and a numerous &s;eed, upon which he may &s;ee the &s;atisfaction of the travel of his Soul) &s;end me good &s;peed this day, and put forth thy power in the preached Go&s;pel, that Thy people may be a willing people, O but it be a high and a great calling to trade about the &s;aving of Souls, one of which is a more precious Jewel than the whole world can purcha&s;e or re|deem, And CHRIST tells us this out of his own Mouth, <HI>Matth:</HI> 16.26. <HI>Surely of all other per&s;ons Mini&s;ters &s;hould be mo&s;t diligent, who have both their own Souls to &s;ave, and others.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd rea&s;on why we mu&s;t take heed to our Mini&s;terial work is, becau&s;e it is a difficult
<PB REF="42" MS="y">work, partly from the various and numerous e|nemies that oppo&s;e it, Satan that roaring lion, and re&s;tle&s;s enemie of the Church &s;tanding at our right hand. <HI>Zech.</HI> 3.1. Al&s;o what principaliti|es and powers and &s;piritual wickedne&s;&s;e&s;s in high places, what rulers of the darkne&s;s of this world have we to wre&s;tle again&s;t. <HI>Eph:</HI> 6.12, yea what oppo&s;ition from men among whom we live, &s;ome with open violence breaking down as far as they can the carved work: others under a vizour and pretence to build with us, like the fal&s;e apo&s;tles; intending nothing le&s;s then to bring us back to abandoned Corrup|tions in the Hou&s;e of GOD.</P>
<P>Partly from our own Ignorance (the work is made difficult) which di&s;ables us to manage this tru&s;t to the be&s;t advantage, how hard is it for Mini&s;ters to &s;peake aright to the various Ca&s;es and Conditions of their People, and to find fitt words to hold forth the Evil of Sin by, the Loveline&s;s of Chri&s;t, The beauty of Holi|ne&s;s, the danger of living carele&s;ly and uncon|cernedly under the means of Grace, and re|peated offers of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>The third Rea&s;on why Mini&s;ters had need to take heed to their Mini&s;try is this, that there has been Mini&s;ters in the Church, (and we have had &s;ad In&s;tances of it in our days) profe&s;&s;ing &amp; pretending highly for CHRIST, and the pure&s;t
<PB REF="43" MS="y">work of Reformation, that afterwards when the Occa&s;ion and Tentation offered, have be|trayed the cau&s;e, di&s;covered their rottenne&s;s, and ruined the Church, and Work of GOD, as far as they could. Some of them bewitched and enticed with the Riches of this World &s;o to do, like <HI>Judas</HI> and <HI>Demas:</HI> Others with the Honours of this World, like <HI>Diotrephes,</HI> and O how many <HI>Archippus</HI>-like even in the be&s;t of times would be found <HI>Coldriffe</HI> and <HI>Remi&s;&s;e</HI> in this great Work.</P>
<P N="4">4ly. We mu&s;t take heed to our Mini&s;try, if we con&s;ider what a great LORD and Ma&s;ter we have received it from. And who&s;e Eye is alwayes upon us, to &s;ee how we manage this tru&s;t as it was upon the Angels of the &s;even Churches, and his writting to them &s;ince he A&s;cended, and di&s;covering their failures and &s;hort comings, with the puni&s;hments due thereunto, &s;hould be a warning to Mini&s;ters in all &s;ucceed|ing Ages of the Church, to take heed to their Mini&s;trie.</P>
<P N="5">5ly We had need to take heed to our Mini&s;|try, when we con&s;ider with what a &s;evere certi|fication, our great LORD and Ma&s;ter has com|mitted it unto us, <HI>Ezek:</HI> 17, 18. <HI>ver. Son of man I have made thee a Watchman to the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, therefore bear the word at my mouth, and give them
<PB REF="43" MS="y">a warning from me, when I &s;ay unto the wicked thou &s;halt &s;urelie die, and thou give&s;t him not warning from me, nor &s;peake&s;t to warn the Wicked from his wicked way, to &s;ave his life, the &s;ame wicked man &s;hall die in his iniquitie, but his blood will I require at thine hand.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6ly Mini&s;ters had need to take heed to man|nadge their tru&s;t aright, &s;eeing a &s;evere account will be required of them, for it is a &s;teward&s;hip that mu&s;t be reckoned for, and none of us know how &s;oon that me&s;&s;age may be &s;ent unto us, <HI>Luke</HI> 16.2. <HI>Give an account of thy Steward&s;hip, and whether we have received moe or fewer talents, we would alwayes remember to be &s;o laying them out, and impro|ving of them, as tho&s;e that mu&s;t give an account. Heb.</HI> 13: 17.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly.</HI> Such Mini&s;ters as have been heedfull and faithfull, &s;hall be greatly rewarded, <HI>Dan:</HI> 12 3 <HI>And they that be Wi&s;e, &s;hall &s;hine as the bright|ne&s;s of the firmament, and they that turn many to righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, as the &s;tarrs for ever and ever. Matt:</HI> 24.25, 26, 27. <HI>who then is a faithfull and wi&s;e &s;ervant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his hou&s;hold to give them meat in due &s;ea&s;on, Ble&s;sed is that &s;ervant whom his LORD when he cometh &s;hall find him &s;o doing; Verily I &s;ay unto you, that he &s;hall make him Ruler over all his goods.</HI> Rev: 2.10. <HI>Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee a Crown of life.</HI> We would keep con&s;tantly and clo&s;ely to this
<PB REF="44" MS="y">work, and pro&s;ecute it with the greate&s;t dili|gence that believe &s;uch a reward as this, which will eternaly compen&s;e all the labour and toyle in this World: We would al&s;o frequently con|&s;ider what &s;evere puni&s;hments &s;hall be inflicted on the heedle&s;s and &s;loathful &s;ervant, <HI>Matt:</HI> 24 <HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 48. Unto the end; <HI>But, and if that evil &s;er|vant &s;hall &s;ay my Lord delayeth his coming, and &s;hall begin to &s;mite his fellow &s;ervant, and to eat and drink with the drunken. The Lord of that &s;ervant &s;hall come in a day, when he Looketh not for him, and an hour that he is not aware of, and &s;hall cut him a&s;under, and appoint him his portion with hypocrites, where &s;hall be weeping and gna&s;hing of Teeth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>I</HI> come now to the u&s;e of the Doctrine, <HI>is heed|fulne&s;s,</HI> in managing of the Mini&s;terial work &s;o nece&s;&s;ary in all the forementioned re&s;pects; Then let all of us that bear this office take heed to out Mini&s;try, for this is the voice and call of my Text to every one of us, and e&s;pecially with re&s;pect to tho&s;e two things that ly in the latter part of the words.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is to take heed how, and from whom we received this Mini&s;trie, whether from the LORD JESUS CHRIST or not, who is the only LORD and head of the Church, and who&s;e prerrogative it is to &s;et up and &s;end forth Officers unto his Church, <HI>Ezek:</HI> 2 3. <HI>And He &s;aid unto him Son of man, I &s;end thee unto the
<PB REF="44" MS="y">Children of I&s;rael, I Who &s;it upon the Saphirine throne,</HI> as you have it in the fir&s;t Chapter of this Pro|phe&s;ie of <HI>Ezek:</HI> 26: <HI>Ver&s;e, And who has all power in mine hand.</HI> Chri&s;t is inve&s;ted with all power in Heaven and in Earth, <HI>Matth:</HI> 28: and 18: <HI>Ver&s;e, and therefore &s;ends forth Officers unto all Nations.</HI> And for this End, we mu&s;t &s;ee that we be come in at the right door, for there are &s;ome, as Chri&s;t tells us, who call them&s;elves Sheepherds, that come not in at this doar, <HI>Jo:</HI> 10: 1: <HI>Ver&s;e, But climb up another way,</HI> if we be right Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, we mu&s;t come in at three doors. 1. The door of an Internal call of GOD upon the Soul. 2. The door of the External call of the People. 3. The door of a legal <HI>Mi&s;&s;ion</HI> and <HI>Ordination, by the laying on of the hands of the Pre&s;|bytry.</HI></P>
<P>A &s;econd thing that lyes in the latter end of the Text, about which we mu&s;t take &s;pecial heed is this, that when ever we find out &s;elves entered by the right door unto this great and difficult Work, we mu&s;t take heed to fulfil it: Every Mini&s;ter mu&s;t take heed to fill up a right both the doing part, and the &s;uffering part of his Mini&s;try, &s;o as the work may not &s;uf|fer or be blamed on his Accompt: The Apo&s;tle took care of this, and &s;ets it as a Copy before thir <HI>Collo&s;&s;ians,</HI> Chapter fir&s;t,
<PB REF="45" MS="y">24: <HI>Ver&s;e, Who now rejoyce in my &s;ufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the Afflict|ions of Chri&s;t, in my fle&s;h, for his bodies &s;ake, which is the Church.</HI> The metaphor may be taken from a piece of curious drawn work, that the per&s;on, in filling up thereof, never puts in a &s;titch, but they look on both &s;ides to &s;ee it be rightly done, and they Papper it over to keep it cleanly that they may get the ma&s;ters appro|bation, &s;o &s;hould both Mini&s;ters and Chri&s;tians be very careful, both in their doing and &s;uffer|ing work, that they fill it up with all dexteritie, and keep it &s;o as it may be pre&s;ented with all purity; For I do believe that GOD has cut out &s;o much doing and &s;uffering work for his Church in the world, and that this is divided and &s;ubdivided to &s;everal Societies, and Per&s;ons, every one their part: So much for the Church in &s;uch an Age and place of the World, and &s;o much for &s;uch an other Age and place of the World, and every Per&s;on ought to notice what is their particular allotment, that they may do it both proportionably, and commendablie, and not be like an Ignorant, carele&s;s, and ne&s;ty &s;eam&s;ter, to whom in a &s;uit of curious Hang|ings was committed: The doing of a head, or a hand, or a Leg, and when it comes to be &s;et to|gether, it is either not filled up, or di&s;propor|tionable,
<PB REF="45" MS="y">or fullied, and &s;o mars the beauty of the whole &s;uite, and when the ma&s;ter comes in and &s;ees how unhand&s;ome it is, and calls the per&s;ons guilty; How will they be a&s;hamed? with what care then &s;hould Mini&s;ters and peo|ple that profe&s;s Religion, to obey GODS Commands, and follow the noble Example of CHRIST and His Apo&s;tles, &s;o mind to fill up what proportion, of either doing or &s;uffer|ing work that is committed to them as they may be able to abide the tryal of that day, and not be a&s;hamed. This is that which the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> &s;eems to call all the People of GOD to, both mini&s;ters and others in this Text, with re&s;pect to the doing part, and in that of the fir&s;t Chapter 24 <HI>Ver&s;e,</HI> formerly cited as to the &s;uff|ering part, but alace this is too little heeded by many.</P>
<P>Now that we may di&s;charge our Mini&s;teri|al work well; Let me Intreat our care as to the&s;e four things.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Let us take care to be well &s;een in all parts of our work, the Doctrine, Wor&s;hip, Di&s;|cipline, and Government of the Church; and the Duties Relating to the&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Let us be well &s;een into the ca&s;es of our People, that we may know how to in&s;truct, Exhort, Reprove, and warn them both &s;uitably
<PB REF="46" MS="y">and &s;ea&s;onably, as to their various ca&s;es and Conditions.</P>
<P>Thirdly, In the doing of the&s;e things, let us alwayes keep our eye upon the right Rule, which we are to work and walk by; every Cal|ling has &s;ome Rule to work by, which requires &s;ome Studie to know, or el&s;e a Per&s;on will but Bungle in his work. Now no calling hath a &s;ure Rule, but the Chri&s;tian calling, therefore it is that others varie in their Methods: But the Chri&s;tian hath one &s;tanding Rule (The word of GOD) which is able to make the man of GOD perfect: this we mu&s;t preci&s;ely keep by, and mu&s;t not make the impo&s;itions of men, Education, Cu&s;tome, Example, or Antiquity, our Rule, or any part of it, which the woman of <HI>Samaria</HI> pleads. <HI>Job:</HI> 4.20. For the ju&s;tification of their wor&s;hip in Mount <HI>Geriz|zim,</HI> being two hundred Years &s;tanding, But CHRIST Told her, <HI>Ver&s;e.</HI> 22. <HI>Ye Wor&s;hip ye know not what,</HI> you have the wills, Examples, and Traditions of men for the warrant of your wor&s;hip, but that is neither Law nor Light, nor Rule to you, &s;eeing ye want my word which is the true Standart, and your good Intentions will neither make that wor&s;hip which you dote upon acceptable to GOD, or profitable to you: For all Corrupt and fal&s;e wor&s;hip
<PB REF="46" MS="y">carries no other Character in the E&s;timation of GOD, but &s;uch as is recorded. <HI>Ho&s;ea.</HI> 11.12. <HI>Ephraim compa&s;&s;eth me about with lies, and the hou&s;e of I&s;rael with deceit;</HI> we would bewar of be|ing of that number, and endeavour to be of the tribe of <HI>Judah</HI> which ruleth with GOD, and is faithfull with the Saints.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> If we would fulfill our Mini&s;trie aright, <HI>Let us wre&s;tle much with the LOKD for his promi&s;ed Spirit</HI> to teach us all things that concern the di&s;|charge of &s;o great an office, to put us and keep us in a right frame for our work, to in&s;truct us by a &s;trong hand both what, and, how to &s;peak to our people: And that he would make it fir&s;t &s;a|vorie to our own Souls, and then go along with us in the di&s;pen&s;ing of the word &amp; &s;eale it on the hearts of the hearers; for the Kings me&s;&s;age is be&s;t belived &amp; obeyed when it has the King's &s;eal at it, then peoples faith will not &s;tand in the wi&s;|dom of Mans words, but in the power of GOD. 1. <HI>Cor:</HI> 2.4.5. <HI>And my &s;peech and my preach|ing, was not with enticing words of mans wi&s;dom, but in demon&s;tration of the &s;pirit, and of power, that your faith may not &s;tand in the wi&s;dom of man, but in the power of God.</HI> And in the whole of our work, let us chiefly aim at the good of Souls, the enlarge|ment of CHRIST's Kingdom, and the Glory of GOD, <HI>from Whom, and by Whom, and to Whom are all things, to Him be Glorie for ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
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