faith will quickly correct sence and make us subjoyn it is good for a man to have hope and quietly to wait for salvation of the Lord Psal 68.13 and when we are lying among the Pots to wait for the time when we shall be as the Wings of the Dove covered with silver and her Feathers with yellow gold Secondly The tenth Consider the exceeding great terrour of God when he is angry his wrath burneth like fire It maketh the green tree to be like a burnt stick what will it do to the dry It maketh the most godly to become like a bottle in the smoak Psal 119.83 Psal 22.15 Psal 32 4. It dryeth up their strength like a Potsheard It turneth their moisture into the draught of Summer knowing the terrour of the Lord be perswaded to make peace with him in time venture not on his hot displeasure The tasting of the forbidden Aple will cost thee wonderfull dear Though which yet in the act of sin without madnesse cannot be supposed thou should be certain to escape Hell Thirdly The eleventh The Church here is a Brand pulled out of the fire a fire-brand to burn her enemies to Ashes it is exceeding unhappy to be an instrument of the Churches trouble Though God be angry with his people and he be very just in casting them in the fiery Furnace of his wrath yet woe to all these who are Bellows or Fewell to that fire who do vex the Church in any way Our Prophet Zachary in his twelfth Chapter sheweth That to all these who had taken up Jerusalem and the people of God to cast them away from their habitation as a stone out of a sling To all these Joh. 12.3 I say Jerusalem became a heavy and a burdensome stone to cut and to crush them in pieces Her Neighbours thought to have swallowed her down quick and to have drunk her off as a potion of sweet Wine but she becometh to them a Cup of trembling Zach. 12.2 a draught of poyson which maketh them tremble stagger and fall without rising and which is the Metaphor of our Text The people of God become a torch of fire in a Sheaff Zach. 12.6 to devour all their enemies round about on the right hand and on the left Nebuchad-nezzars Image when the little stone did fall upon its feet was not onely broken all to pieces Dan. 2.25 but also made like the chaff and was carryed away so violently by the winde that no place was found for any part thereof All the persecuters of the Saints have miscarryed for this cause above any other The greatest Monarchies and Kingdoms that have been upon the earth are vanished and no re-likes of them appear this day None who are wise will touch the people of the Lord for they are the apple of Gods eye the hurt whereof he cannot but avenge It is extreme dangerous to be employed by God himself in the chastising of his children for usually when the Lord returneth in mercy to embrace his chastised childe the rods of his anger and staves of his indignation are cast in the fire Isai 10.5.16 17. till they be burnt to ashes Lastly consider the mercifull reasoning of the Angel The last Jerusalem is a brand well-near consumed in the fire of Gods wrath and therefore ought to be pitied and freed from further trouble How extremely contrary is this to Satans logick and his instruments conclusions they adde affliction to the most afflicted they presse most the godly when they finde them weakest and on the brink of ruine we have their language in the 71 Psa 11. God hath forsaken him persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him Psal 83 4. It is then when they say Come and let us eut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel be no more in remembrance Long sufferings and extreme misery are to Satan and wicked men provocations of further persecution but to God they be arguments of favour and deliverance Hence it is that the godly lay out before the face of God in their mourning their sufferings to the full as most pregnant incitements to compassion Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me Lam. 1.12 wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Dan 9.12 under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem The Lord alloweth us to spread out before him all the matter of our present grief and of our future fears hereby as it were to stir up the compassionate bowells of his mercy We would be crying to him not onely to pull the tree of our Church and State out of that fire which hath already burnt up very many Branches and is like if not quickly quenched to go to the very Root but further we would be earnest for that burnt stick when it is pull'd out of the flame that the dews of heaven and the Sun-shine of divine favour may fall so plentifully upon it that it may yet again flourish and bring forth fruits better and more aboundant then ever and it may become a pleasant and fruitfull Vine under whose shadow we all may lie down in peace enjoying the blessings of God and singing with a loud voyce his praises for our deliverance from all our present afflictions FINIS
when the darknesse of affliction over-shadowes Ierusalem the godly cannot rest they cannot keep silence but importune their God for the light of a glorious deliverance A second reason The second reason this Practise of the Saints is according to the will of God Ezek. 22.30 I sought for a man that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it Isa 62.6 I have set watchmen on thy wals O Ierusalem who shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and make Ierusalem a praise on the eath A third reason The third reason this duty hath the promise of a blessing both publick and private Unto the Elders and Priests while they are assembled Ioel 2. For fasting and prayer is laid out not onely the goodnesse of God in generall that he is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse repenting him of the evill but particularly in the 18 they are assured he will heare their prayer and answer it he will have pity upon the afflictions of his people and be zealous for their deliverance Besides the publick benefit the carefull practise of this duty procures much private good When the salvation of Ierusalem breaketh forth as a Lamp every Inhabitant shall not be partaker of her joy Sundry shall see it and not taste of it as that Prince of Samaria 2 Kings 7.2 when it shall be well with the Church it may be ill with them As ravenous beasts and theeves after their roving up and downe in the darknesse of the night at their pleasure when the morning light doth arise they take them to their dens and caves wherein oft they are hunted to their death However these who now stand mourning for Sion shall rejoyce in her joyes when they come they shall eat the fruit of their present labours the teares they now sow in sorrow shall then be reaped in joy See an excellent promise of this Isa 66.10 Rejoyce for joy with Ierusalem all ye that mourn for her that ye may sucke and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations that ye may milke out and be delighted with the aboundance of her glory Ye shall be comforted in Ierusalem and when ye see this your heart shall rejoyce and your bones shall flourish like an herbe Sometimes it pleaseth not God to relent his anger towards the publicke yet it goes well in private with the practisers of this duty the mourners for Ierusalem Ezek. 9. are marked by the Angel and saved in the day of destruction 2 Pet. 2.7 8. Noah and Lot who vexed their righteous souls for what they heard and saw among their wicked neighbours get themselves and their families preserved in the day of vengeance Lamenting Ieremiah Ezek. 14.14 and for his cause his servant Baruch and friend Ebedmelech are well intreated by the hand of the most cruell Enemy yea when the wrath of God is greatest when Noah Iob and Daniel are not able to save either son or daughter yet they shall deliver themselves have their own soul for a prey Another Reason The fourth Ezek. 10.18 the neglect of this duty is a dangerous provocation When the glory of God goes from the Cherub to the threshold of the Temple and from thence to the midst of the City Hos 5.15 and from thence to the mountaine when the Lord goes to his place that he may be sought after early and in his going makes frequent stands looking back if any will sollow and lay hold upon him that he may returne if so be that none take notice or care of his removall it much encreaseth his anger This is one of the complaints of Isaiah Isa 64.7 There is none that calleth on thy name that stirreth up himselfe to lay hold on thee This is made a great cause of the publike calamity Ezek. 42. I sought for a man to stand in the gap for the land but I found none therefore have I powred out my indignation upon them I have consumed them with the sire of my wrath and however God should be good to the publike yet it shall not goe well with the private contemners of this duty be they more or fewer be they high or low Publike men whose peculiar duty is to meet the Lord and stand in the gap when they see the floods of his wrath comming downe to overwhelme the people of their charge if they run away like foxes to their holes being careful for nothing but to provide for their own heads woe and vengeance from God is denounced against them Ezek. 13.4 O Israel thy Prophets are like the foxes in the desert who have not gone up to the hedge neither made up the gaps for the house of Israel to stand in the battell in the day of the Lord Therefore in the third verse Woe unto them and in the ninth they shall not be in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel What extreme woe is it to be blotted out of the book of life to be deleted out of the Catalogue of the people of God Neither onely publike men but the meanest of the people are plagued for the neglect of this duty Isa 22.12 In that day the Lord did call to weeping and mourning but behold joy and gladnesse the slaying of oxen the killing of sheep and drinking of wine this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye saith the Lord. The Use of this Doctrine is for your encouragement The Vse For encouragement to go on in the present exercise with diligence Ier. 48.10 Ier. 14 17. Isa 5.25 to go on with all diligence in the present work of humble supplication You see God is well pleased with this labour it hath been the exercise of all the Saints on the like occasion it is the Lords speciall command he hath annexed to it most comfortable promises and to the neglect of it very fearfull threats onely let the work be done with diligence and constancie to doe the work of the Lord negligently procures a curse wherfore this day when thou standest before the Angel in all the bent saile of thy spirit offer to God the sacrifice of thy contrite and broken heart Let thine eyes run downe with teares night and day for the great breach and grievous blow wherewith the virgin daughter of thy people is already broken that notwithstanding the rivers of blood already shed the anger of the Lord is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still that as yet there is no appearance of any cancelling of that Commission which the Lord hath given to the sword to bathe it self in the blood of men without number of all ranks and estates These judgments outward and visible are the causes of great mourning but the sinnes of the land
State ought to be the setling of the Church how necessary soever ought not to precede the setling of the Church In this the interest of God in that the interest of man is chiefest If any could be so impious as to avow their postponing of God to the world yet they would do well to be so wise as not to marre their own ends by the mis-order of their proceedings Except the Lord build the house of a Kingdom the industry of the wisest men is for little purpose And how shall the Lord concurre with men in building their state when men are so carelesse of his Honour and Service as not to build his Church Nehemiah laid not a stone in the wall of the City untill Zerubbabel had set the Cap-stone on the wall of the Temple It cannot without injury be denyed that the endeavours of this noble Senate for the House of God have been greater then any Parliaments we ever read of in this Land That notwithstanding their excessive Labours the Work is not yet neer an end it must be imputed to all others rather then to them That most Reverend Learned and Pious Assembly of Divines on whose shoulders the task of Religion is principally devolved cannot in any Justice be charged with neglect of dutie herein They have so many and so notable witnesses of their daily indefatigable Labours that no honest mouth will be bold to fasten the least slander of this fault upon them How then cometh it to passe that the Wheels of the Lords Chariot should move with so slow a pace This is it which all the godly farre and neer do vehemently desire to be taken in the most serious thoughts of every Religious Member of either House It passeth I confesse mine and every common understanding to hit upon the true and full Cause and the solid remedy of this great Evill whereof the world doth see and proclaim the sad and sensible effects By this wearisome procrastination to erect the Discipline of God The bitter fruits of that Anarchy that so the Laws of the Gospel might be really execute it cometh to passe that millions of men and women live as they list in Blasphemy and Drunkennesse Chambering and Wantonnesse Strife and Envy Ignorance and Impietie without the controll of any spirituall correction Beside these open vices which like a flood without the opposition of any Bulwarke carry down to hell such a multitude of souls there is another more subtill device of Satan whereby daily many thousands are destroyed Heresies and Schismes under the colour of Truth and more then ordinary devotion eat like a Gangreen and Canker run like a Pest from City to City to the over-spreading of the whole Land without all possibilitie of remedy so long as Christs Discipline is holden out at doors How can it be but the losse of so many thousands so many millions of poor souls which prophanenesse and errour daily doth destroy should not cry to Heaven for judgement against them be who they will who for what respect soever are retarders or but faint promovers of the Lords Ordinance the onely spirituall the onely proper remedy of all these heavy evils There be some who care for none of these things the losse of souls the flourishing of Satans Kingdom the defiling of Christs Crown in the dust toucheth not so much as the utmost skin of their carnall heart Let such worldlings bewar they feel not sooner then they expect the civill inconvenience which to them alone is considerable of that matter whereof we speak For what I pray should hinder numbers of our people rooted in prophanenesse upon occasion if they were tempted to desert the Cause of Religion and side with the enemy for our ruine Can constancy be certainly expected where piety its onely bottome cannot be found Also what disturbance may be wrought in the state by the multitudes of Hereticall and Schismaticall people habituated by long custome in their wayes of errour It is no difficult matter for wise men to prognosticate who either from story or experience are acquaint with the ordinary course of humane affairs These and many other the like lamentable fruits of the too too long Anarchy of this Church are a matter of daily discourse to many but of great sadnesse and heavynesse of heart to the children of God A remedy of them none doth expect out of Heaven from any but the wisedom and zeal of this high Court To these who have no experience of the many strong invisible Impediments Too long consultation is very dangerous whereby the motion of all publike good Works use to be retarded it seemeth a prodigie that the reparation of this Church should stick so long in the way especially when they consider that no Protestant Church to this day did ever stay the half of the time in purging the whole Body of Religion in Doctrine Worship Discipline and all as this Land hath already spent on some few points of Discipline alone It seemeth they were incompassed with as many and great difficulties in their action as we are in ours Consider when we will Germany or France Scotland or Holland we shall finde the hands of their Reformers were fewer and weaker for all worldly strength and their opposers whether ye speak of Princes or Clergy or Nobles or People were more and more potent then ours this day However we have little reason to pretend difficulties from any of these quarters by the mercy of God these two by-gone yeers neither Prince nor Papist nor Prelate nor any open Malignant have been able in the least degree to stop the wished Reformation Such an imputation during the named time cannot be charged upon any of them what ever may be said of their will yet the good hand of our God hath circumscribed their power within so narrow a line that for any resistance of theirs it was fully in our hands to have set up what ever Church-policie we had found meetest in the most and best parts of the Kingdom I do verily think if any Church in the World had taken our present course they should have found it exceeding hard ever to have attained to their wished end If England either in Edward or Elizabeths dayes If Scotland either in their first or second Reformation had suspended over all their Kingdoms the exercise of any Reformation till every puntillo thereof had been Scholastically debated in the face of an Assembly till every Dissenter over and over had made to the full against every part of every Proposition all the contradiction his wit his learning his eloquence was able to furnish him It seemeth apparent that these tedious delays had casten them so open and given such pregnant advantages to the enterprizes of their active adversaries as easily they had been surprized and all their designes crushed before they had ended half their consultations or so much as begun their practise And who knoweth what all this prodigall expence and spinning out of precious
most certaine will to bring about all humane affaires as to his owne glory so to the reall good of all that love him it would be in us an impious and unexcusable uncharitablenesse to suspect the end of any worke which he hath begun much lesse of this great Reformation now in hand whose foundation God hath laid whose wals he hath so farre advanced whose gracious and beautifull Capstone in his time must be set on maugre all opposition These two considerations are very fit to under-prop a weake mind in its fainting under the weight of griefes and feares Forgetfulnesse of what hath been is the chief cause of disquietnesse Eccles 1.11 but behold a third which if not removed makes both the former without all use and fruit There is no remembrance of former things neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after However it be most true that all our present troubles of Church and State be no other but the selfe-same which in former times have befallen the people of God and which oft the hand of God hath wrought to a happy conclusion yet our forgetfulnesse our ignorance and inconsideration makes all these accidents and Gods providence about them to be in vain and fruitlesse unto us as if never such matters had been For the remedy of this great evill The remedy hereof the maine cause of many minds perturbation and disquietnesse this day to helpe us to know and remember what hath beene of old our mercifull Father beside other very profitable histories in humane writs hath made for us a perfect Register in his holy Scripture of the ancient passages of his providence wherein as in a glasse we may behold the cleare Image of our dayes and by a judicious comparing of what we read with what we feele by a wise paralelling of times with times we may attaine to such patience and comfort in our worst dayes as will support us with hope and confidence of a glorious deliverance from all our present affliction For this end it is that we have read in your honourable audience this portion of the Prophet Zachariah Israel in the dayes of Zachariah is a patterne of our present condition for as in the whole prophesie so especially in this third Chapter he sets downe a Register of the estate of old Israel in his dayes so like to our times that we may justly take the one for a type a patterne a lively image of the other The people of God after a long captivity in Babel after many yeers oppression both in Religion and civill liberties at last by the hand of God were delivered Their Babylonish tyrants too strong for their weak hands to deale with in a suddain were overthrowne by the hand of God so that afterwards these oppressors were never able to stand The poore captives returned freemen in great joy to Ierusalem with full hope to set up quickly both their Temple and Citie to restore without any impediment both their Church and State to the ancient glory But incontinently they were troubled with so many enemies both at home and abroad that they gave over the worke begun and for too long a time fainted in a pitifull despaire to get either their Temple or City rebuilded so great were their crosses and insuperable their difficulties in their intended and joyfully begun reparation of that ruined Church and Kingdom notwithstanding when all hands were hanging downe and all knees were feeble when a hopelesse fainting had stupified and taken away the wonted care of the publike from the hearts both of their Princes Priests and people the Lord in mercy wakened them by the ministery of two new Prophets Haggai and Zachariah whereby he put againe in all their spirits so vigorous a life that they set upon the work with such a magnanimous and zealous resolution as nothing could withstand them to the very end and perfection of their endeavours they never rested till both the Temple and wall of the Citie were fully accomplished The vision set downe in this chapter The division of the chapter and the matter of the first part thereof was one of these heavenly messages whereby that undaunted courage was inspired in the breasts of that otherwise languishing and discouraged people you may divide it in three parts In the first you have the great impediments of all their designes for the reparation of their Church and State In the second the removing of these impediments In the third the ground and cause of their removeall The first two parts are intertext and woven in together from the beginning to the eighth verse the great impediments of all their endevours were not men but spirits were not forraine but homebred enemies not others but themselves Satan stood at Ioshua's right hand to resist him Ioshua was cloathed with foule garments with his owne manifold sinnes and the sinnes of the people whom he represented before God these sins were the fountain of all the opposition they found from any man many enemies there were to the Work of God in the midst of Israel many in the neighbouring Countries many in the Court of the King of Persia but the Leader of all these was a malignant spirit a powerfull Devill so malapert and impudent as to oppose Ioshua before the face of Christ himselfe Yet neither men nor devills were their principall enemies the great sins that notwithstanding all their troubles the people still did commit were the strength of the Devill whereby he stopt most the progresse of the great and gracious work in their hand As for the second part Of the second the removall of all the named obstructions this was in the favour of God first in rebuking the Devill that was unsatiable in malice who not content with all the fire of tribulation wherein that poor Church and Kingdom was already made like a Charcoale a Brand a Burnt stick taken out of the fire did farther assay to burne them to ashes and without pity went about to destroy them all utterly 2. That strong hold of Satan the sinnes of the Priests and People is broken downe the mercy of the Lord freely pardons all their transgressions Neither this only but a third blessing is granted the graces of the Spirit are poured out upon them for Sanctification The foule garments are pulled off and change of new glorious garments is put on In the fourth place a gracious Covenant is made with Ioshua for two things 1. His continuance in service before God in the temple while he lived next for a place when he died among the Angels who stand in heaven before the throne of God In this is the great comfort of the repairers of Sion of all the sincere friends of Jerusalem That albeit for a time they have strong and dangerous wrastlings with men and Devills they be oft vexed with the guilt of by-gone transgressions with the strength of present corruptions with
that have drawne them from the hand of God are more lamentable yet the greatest cause both of lamentation and seare is that great impenitency and contempt of repentance which appeares in the most of men Though the Idolatries the Adulteries the Bloodshed the Rapines the Ignorance of God the profane contempt of the Gospel and many other crying crimes of this Land be evident to the eye of all though the great wrath of God be revealed from heaven in his most heavie judgments upon the midst and all the corners of this poore countrey yet too few doe strike upon their thigh Ier. 31.19 to be grieved for what they have done not to speak of the madnesse of our enemies whose heart is plagued with induration their Court their Clergy their mis-led people running on in their wonted wayes as the horse to the battell If we will look upon our selves we shall find that hardnesse of heart that carnall and stupid security doth lye upon the spirits of too many It were very good for the people of God to set before their minds the causes of that heavie wrath which long has lyen upon these Dominions especially to search out the grounds of provocation which most neerly concerne themselves to make a diligent enquiry of those sinnes which have bin committed within their doors with the Lamp of the Word and the greater light of the Spirit to goe through all the corners of thy owne conscience and what ever causes of wrath thou findest there to lay them all out in an humble Confession earnestly supplicating for mercy in Christs blood for amendment by the power of the sanctifying Spirit deprecating wrath and these fearfull effects of it which this day are visible upon the estates upon the bodies upon the soules of many thousands of people This duty also would be performed with constancy and perseverance And with constancy thou must stand in this posture of Prayer till that cloud be pierced and dissolved wherein God long has wrapped himself Lam. 3.44 Lam. 3.49 Nebem 7.3 5. Psal 14.7 Lam. 2.18 19. that our Prayers should not passe through it thine eye must trickle downe and not cease without intermission untill the Lord look down and behold from heaven The mourning and separation of the fifth and seventh moneth must continue all the yeares of Sions captivity when the Lord brings it back then and not before can Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad when the Lord shall be good to Sion and build up the walls of Ierusalem then may we sit down under our Vine and Figge-tree to eat of the fat and drink of the sweet But till then teares should run down like a river day and night we should give our selves no rest the apple of our eye should not cease we should arise and cry out in the night in the beginning of the Watches our hearts should be powred out like water before the face of the Lord and our hands lifted up to him for the life of our children our Husbands our Fathers our Brethren our most beloved Friends who all very quickly may be in hazard if the hand of the Lord be stretched out still Every one would be carefull conscientiously to use this means for hereby the meanest may be profitable to the distressed and languishing publike The reason hereof When Monies are wanting none are able to supply but the Rich when Errors and Schisms are to be beaten in pieces by the hammer of the truth of God none can be serviceable but the Learned when State divisions are to be cured none can help but the Wise when Battels are to be fought none can appeare to purpose but the couragious and strong But for the duty in hand which makes more for the curing of our present evills then all that either Wealth or Wit or Learning or Strength is able by it I say these may do notable service who have a very small or no portion in any visible gift even poor simple unlearned weake women if they have the spirit of prayer and will set themselves to wrestle with God they may help to remove the obstructions and further the cure of the publike miseries when all the wealth wit learning force of the kingdom cannot promove the breadth of an inch our wished ends every one must try and examine his own practise of this most needfull duty to be grieved or comforted according to their performance and care herein A Second doctrine from the former ground in all our approaches to God we must stand before the Angel A second doctrine In all our prayers we would imploy Christ Isai 22.22 Christ the Angel of the covenant must be interposed betwixt God and the soul for he is the onely way none can come to the Father but by him the keyes of the house of David are laid on his shoulder he is the only door by a wrong door or a right door if fast locked there is no entrance through him we have both an accesse to the Father Ephes 2.18 We have boldnes to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way Heb. 10.20 The reason of this is first the wisdom and goodnes of our God The first reason who when man by the fall was banished from his presence and could have no more immediate fellowship with him hath appointed a mid-man for reconciliation to stand betwixt him man that the friendship which could not immediatly be kept might be renewed continued by such a mediation 1 Tim. 2.4 I here is one God and one mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus Heb. 8.6 He is the mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises However we have promises that God wil be our God and will receive us as his people that he will remember our sins no more that he will give us an eternall inheritance yet in him only it is that we have any right to any of these promises for he only is the mediator of that Covenant Heb. 9.15 A second reason The second when we come alone to our God we cannot be welcome we are so defiled with the guilt of by-gone sinnes while we live sinne lives in us and betwixt the holy pure eyes of God and our sinfulnesse there is so great a contrarietie that if these two should meet without some interposition the justice of God would be a consuming fire to us When ever therfore we are bold to draw neer to him it is necessary to have this Angel standing betwixt us to cover our sinnes to divert wrath by the sacrifice of his soul for sinne to purchase friendship by the sprinkling of his blood to extinguish the flames of wrath A third reason The third who ever will stand before God who is to speak to that Majesty who is to walk or have any fellowship with him must in some measure be like him Heb. 12.14 holy as he is holy for without
Pastors of Gods House when they stand too high in worldly pomp above the people their light in so great a distance vanisheth and scarce is visible to men so far below them Yet it would be carefully considered That the Lights of the House of God be not too much brought down and set too low to put them under a bushell to set them under the feet of the family were to mar their shineing and hinder the communication of their light Above all great care would be used that when the superfluity of Oil which did choke and extinguish rather then maintain the light of some Lamps shall be diverted unto better employment neverthelesse that no Candle of God in any part of this Land be permitted to languish much lesse to die for want of so much Oil as is requisite for a convenient subsistence But a word to wise men and half a word of this kinde to men so religious and zealous for the House of God is enough So much for the Impediments which Satan made to the reparation of Sion Now follows their Removall in the which are three things i. A Preface The Lord said unto Satan 2. A Paraphrase on the second verse The Mean whereby these Impediments were removed and that Opposition quasht Christs cursing of Satan or his prayer to the Father to rebuke and represse him 3. Two Reasons of this Rebuke 1. Jerusalems election then her great sufferings For shortnesse we shall onely give a brief Paraphrase of all the words together without long exposition And for Doctrine we shall touch but on some few Observations which for Use we shall remit to your own meditation As for the Preface The Lord said unto Satan How Spirits can speak Angels and devils communicate with God and one with another not by speeches for Language requires bodily instruments which these Spirits want but as they apprehend every object without senses so they expresse what they have apprehended without Language in a way above our humane nature which we do not understand However in this place and elsewhere oft where by way of Vision the communication of one Spirit with another is represented for our apprehension all is set done in speeches as the ordinary way wherein men communicate their thoughts one to another The Lord said unto Satan Christ the Lord. He who before was called an Angel is here named the Lord even Christ as we shewed before the Lord and Creator of all the Heir even as he is man of all for there is one God and one Lord the man Jesus 1 Cor. 8.6 to whom the Father hath given a Name above all names and hath set all things under his feet Principalities and Powers themselves to be his servants and he their Lord and God The matter of his speech is an Invocation of the Father to reprove Satan The Lord speaketh to the Lord The Lord speaketh to the Lord. Psal 110 1. the Son to the Father so the words of the Psalm are to be taken The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand And that of Genesis Gen. 19 24. The Lord rained down fire upon Sodom from the Lord. The Son leadeth to the Father as to the fountain of the Godhead and all divine Operations which importeth no diversity of Essence Substance or Matter in the Trinity but onely a distinction of Persons and an heavenly Order in these Persons as in Being so in Operation The Father being the first The Son the second The Spirit the third but all equally infinite in Glory Power Eternity and all divine Attributes in these there is no inequality no posteriority among them This now is to be believed from divers Scriptures but not to be thorowly understood till afterwards when we shall see God as we are seen of him The rebuking of Satan imports not onely a bitter and sharp reproof of his malice What is the rebuking of Satan to his confusion and shame but also a restraint and cohibition of his power by the mercifull and strong hand of the Father This is repeated because of Christ his zeal to Jerusalems welfare and his detestation of Satans wicked designes against her The first Reason of that Reproof is The Lords chusing of Jerusalem to be the place of his Worship The first Reason of the Rebuke and Habitation of his Church Satan had the rest of the earth for his service but not content herewith that one place which the Lords Election had reserved for his own little Flock the malice of that unreasonable spirit would not leave to God The other reason The second Reason That same one place that one poor people which God had chosen out of all the families of the earth to be his peculiar Treasure had been cast in the fiery furnace of heavie tribulation and was but lately drawn out of the fire that mercilesse spirit the devill nothing satisfied with all the miseries of Jerusalem went about to procure her utter destruction and burning down to ashes that so on the whole earth there should have been left none at all to serve the Lord But Christ remembring his Election and having compassion upon their former sufferings defendeth their Cause poureth shame on the malice of Satan restraineth his power chaseth him away that he may no longer retard the welfare of his people From the Preface The first Observation Christ his wonderful patience towards the very devill observe the great patience and long-suffering of Christ he holdeh his peace long and when he speaketh at last to Satan it is but to rebuke him This evil spirit had seduced and destroyed the souls well-neer of the whole world he standeth here before the Lord for to swallow up the small remnant Did not such horrible wickednesse require a present destruction from the Lords hand and not a reproof onely from his mouth Consider well the Lord his way of proceeding with all the wicked both men and devils There is a time appointed for their full destruction and till that day come the Lord holdeth his peace or if he break out in words or deeds against them it is but in a small degree of wrath in comparison of what is following Satan is reserved in chains till the last day where he is to be bound and cast in the lake One of these spirits could say unto Christ Matth. 8.29 Art thou come to torment us before the time When the wicked are most proud and insolent God laugheth at them for he secth their day is coming the day of their vengeance the yeer of recompences the morning the hour of their calamity All of us would consider the state of our soul the abominations which conscience telleth us we are guilty of think them not forgotten with God though he keep silence and permit us to go on in the ways of our own heart without trouble or if he reprove it is but by his Word Now and then in the publike Ministery