Ah ah Doe ye think that sobs and groans will doe it Of such Libertines and profane scoffers David speaks t Psa 14.6 The Counsel of the poor afflicted ye would make abaâ—hed because Iehovah is his hope that is Ye have derided the Godly when yee heard them in affliction to call upon the Lord and would discourage them from making God their Hope by faith and prayer Indeed this strikes deep when the Enemy reproacheth our prayers Iob found it so u Job 12.4 I am as one mocked of his neighbor calling upon God And David sadly complains of it x Psa 42.3 My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say Where is thy God Again y vers 16. As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me while they dayly say unto me Where is thy God A man that hath a weapon thrust to the bone cannot bear it long he must have it forth or dyes Though it be a grievous thing to have our prayers reproach'd yet this help we have by it namely it will force us to be the more fervent and earnest with God and not to rest day nor night till there be A TIME OF FINDING We finde in Scripture that the tryumphing of the wicked hath layn very much upon the Spirits of Saints and therefore have desired a Time of finding that the Enemy might not insult z Psa 13.34 Consider and hear me O Lord lest mine enemy say I have prevayled against him and those that trouble me rejoyce Again a Psa 140.8 Grant not O Lord the desire of the wicked further not his wicked device lest they exalt themselves What is it that Apostates and other wicked men would have That Mourners in Zion might have no Time of finding And what would they do should they have their desire It is not to be uttered the wickedness they would commit The Jewes report of one presuming to enter into the Holy of Holiest and abusing the Treasure there was by the hand of God immediately smitten The prayers and groanings of Saints are no other then Choyce things in the most Holy place And therefore when men begin to deride and reproach these Holy things surely judgment is not far off I remember Hezekiahs words b Isa 37.3 This is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children are come to birth and there is not strength to bring forth What he speaketh there is our present case when the child is at the birth the woman hath her sorest travel then either death or a speedy deliverance That our Tears Prayers and Sighings are reproach'd it hath brought the Work to the Birth Ah! how Zion now travels as having her last and sharpest pangs and throws upon her Methinks I hear her cry c Luk. 8.24 Master Master we perish But fear not Zion hear what thy God speaketh d Isa 66.9 Shall I bring to birth and not cause to bring forth As the Lord by the blasphemous reproaches and scornings of the Enemy viz. Priests Lawyers and Soldiers hath brought the work to the Birth and put the sharpest pangs now upon thee so he will speedily work out thy salvation e Isa 9.7 The zeal of the Lord will perform this 2. Because the Lord knowes we are weaklings Secondly Mourners shall have a Time of finding Because the Lord f Psa 103.14 knows their frame and remembreth they are dust Things that are brittle and tender should they be roughly handled would soon break to pieces As the Lord knows we are weaklings Babes Bruised reeds and smoaking flax so g Heb. 4.15 He is touched with a feeling of our infirmities and h Isa 57.17 will not contend for ever lest our spirits should fayl before him If a father should see his child at his foot gasping for life would he not pity him and preserve him if he could from perishing i Jon. 2.7 When my Soul fainted within me said Jonah I remembred the Lord and my prayers came unto thee into thine Holy Temple And this also makes me think a time of finding is nigh Because the Name of God and the Cause of Christ lies with such weight upon the Spirits of Mourners as they are even fainting under it Poor Hagar could not indure to hear the death-groans of her child for though she had heard him awhile weep and cry for water yet when she thought he was fainting away k Gen. 21.15 16. She leaves him and goes a good way off and lifts up her voyce and wept As DEATH-GROANS are now upon travelling Zion so the Lord sees it and he will not do as Hagar did go off from her there is no need for the water is not spent in his bottle but out of his fulness he will speedily supply her by granting her a blessed time of finding If a man should hear lamentable groanings and screeches at his gate and looking out at his window should behold poor people ready to starve through cold and hunger he could not having enough by him suffer them to perish It is thus with many of Gods people at this day they lie ready to starve before the Throne of Grace either FINDING or FAINTING And will he suffer such to famish Surely he will not he cannot for his promise l Pro. 10.3 Psal 107.5 6 7. is to do otherwise Suppose a Beast carry a burden so long as through weakness it begins to sink what man would not pitie it though it be a Beast and ease him of it The BURDEN hath been so long on the Lords Little ones and the m Dan. 7.25 Horn so weared them out as poor hearts they seem almost tyr'd One cries n Psa 94.14 My foot slippeth another o Eccles 7.7 Oppression makes him mad others p Ezek. 37.11 Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost c. others q Psa 125.3 The rod of the wicked hath been so long upon them as they are ready to put forth their hands to iniquity All this God knowes to be true and he knowes r Mat. 26.41 the flesh is weak and * Ephes 6.4 Col. 3.21 Parents must not provoke ther Children lest they be discouraged But what may we gather from it Our God will suddenly come and not keep silence to save all the meek of the earth Better one man should die then the whole Nation perish Methinkes things are come to that STRAIGHT that if Christs Enemies live his faithful Friends die if their spirits fail not the others will If God do not suddenly arise for his great Name some Sobbing-hearts wil break at his foot But fear not thou Worm-Iacob Å¿ Isa 43.3 I will give men for thee saith the Lord and people for thy life He will give the Little Horn to the burning flame The Last Apostacie shall perish THE HYPOCRITE SHALL REIGN NO MORE rather then thy Spirit shall fail for
of honesty and liberty but you shall hear them bitterly exclaim against some persons for their falshood Covenant-breaking seeking themselves and opposing the work of God yea now and then a discontented houshold-servant will be twitting his Master publickly at his nose for casting off the interest of Christ and his people and complying with the Malignant party What said Nabals servants of him to their Mistress e 1 Sam. 25 17. He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him Belial signifies one without yoak or lawless as if they should say There is not a man alive worse then our Master he cares not what he says nor what he does nor who he wrongs his will is a Law and ordinarily they who have done him most good as David for example he is most spightful and malicious against and if any man do but speak to him of his covetousness cruelty unthankfulness or seem to cross him in his pride and wilfulness he will stamp and stare and curse like a mad-man or devil and do him what mischief he can Therefore certainly evil is determined against our Master and against all his houshold Reader take notice when thou hearest some SERVANTS to call their Master a son of Belial that is one that will be under no yoke no Law or Government one that is an enemy to good people and cares for none but such as wil be servants to his lusts and will this is a great return of prayer for howsoever some servants have not the grace nor honesty to leave such a Nabal nevertheless speaking so openly against his wickedness as they condemn their own sinful standing so they justifie all other servants which have cast off such a SON OF BELIAL Lastly There is another sort who like their places as ill as their Masters and have not a good word for either onely the old Serpent hath taught them a trick to cozen their own souls which is to keep their places in hope to serve their Country the better if a turn or change should come Mock on we know well enough did not these men love themselves a great deal better then they do their Country they would not support oppression as they do for their base pay hire But an ill-favoured face needs painting Fourthly the Lord hath been earnestly cal'd upon that howsoever the Witnesses should be slain f Rev. 11.9 Rev. 12.17 yet not suffered to be burnt but that a remnant of the womans seed might be preserved to keep up the memory of the work and cause of Christ Now truly I think the Father of Mercies hath not in any one thing more clearly answered the Soul-Groanings of his people then in this For 1. Consider how grievously Gods people have been tried and tempted these three or four years not onely by great poverty and outward wants but by the entisements baits of worldly advantages as riches honor promotion pleasure h Mat. 4.9 all these things will I give thee IF THOU WILT c. A man that should stand before the mouth of a Cannon going off or walk upon the ridge or pinacle of a Tower or sail among most dangerous rocks and sands it would be thought very strange if he should escape all danger Some of Gods people lately have had a more wonderful deliverance if the snares be minded which the Lord hath broken for them i Psa 107.8 O let them confess to Jehovah his mercy and his marvelous works 2. Howsoever the love of many is grown cold and they are turn'd with Demas and with the Dog to the world and their vomit again yet hath the Lord preserv'd a litte flock Rev. 3.4 a few names which have not defiled their garments by partaking with the last Apostacy but through grace l Jam. 1.27 have kept themselves unspotted from the world When Gideons Army of 32000 came to be 300. then indeed it was excellent and glorious Judg. 7.7 and meet for the Lord to work Israels deliverance by it Though the followers of Christ are very few in number to the worshippers of the Beast yet this I may say as the prophet saith of the Figs they are n Jer. 24.2 very good the Lord having by their many temptations trials purified them unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works CHAP. VIII FIftly It is A Time of Finding when there is no staggering at the Promise But the things asked are by Faith obtained A Time of Finding when the things asked are seen and received by Faith So certain as if they were already in our own hands Thus o Sam. 1.18 Hannah was sure of the Child as if he had been in her armes So p Exod. 14 13 14. Moses at the Red Sea saw Pharoah and his hoste drown'd before ever they went into the water In dividing the Land of Canaan not onely did Joshua and the people by lot lay out the Inheritance of every Tribe in the Countreys which they had conquered But likewise all other parts of the Land which at present they possessed not And this they did believing what was not yet in their hands it should be theirs so sure as the parts and places already taken No lesse confident and certain are Saints now i. e. as some of the Canaanites are cast out Moncks Fryers Arch-Bishops Bishops So q Lev. 18.28 the Land ere long shall spue out the rest of r Dan. 7.27 them And it shall be given to the Saints of the most high Though the Israelites after they came out of Egypt had a stop for forty years in the wilderness yet God gave them the peaceable possession of Canaan according to his promise So Jerusalem and the Temple were built Howsoever thorough the malice of the Enemy there was some stop put to the worke awhile True it is the worke of God THE GOOD OLD CAVSE hath met with A TROVBLER an ACHAN for through the falshood and hypocrisie of some men it hath been killed and layen in the street like the dead bodies of the Witnesses howsoever not suffered to be put in graves But what of all this so mercifully hath the Lord answered the Cries and Tears of this people as by faith they see it risen and like a Conquerour standing on its feet to the Terror Shame and Ruin of the Adversaries Quest But wherefore hath the Lord suffered his work to be stopped and to lie as it were under a death Ans Howsoever neither men nor Devils could have stopped it had he pleased not to have had it so Yet he would have it stopp'd a while for these Reasons 1. To dismisse from the worke some Regiments of prophane Esau's and worldly Demasses who followed it not for love but loaves Such Hypocrites and rotten hearts the Lord could not endure to see in his work and therefore brought his Army out of the Field to disband them and to Å¿ Ps 125.5 lead them forth with the
where now pray pray pray you are come to the Finding time and the mount where God will be seen Thirdly It is a Time of Finding 3. When the Enemies of Zion are at the highest When the enemies of Zion are at the highest that is Tryumph and insult as if all were theirs and that they shall see sorrow no more x Psa 10.3 the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire that is perceiving his designs and actions to prosper by hypocrisie apostacy falshood c. he glories in it and thinks now that neither God nor man can reach him y Psa 119.119 Thou puttest away saith David all the wicked of the earth like dross the scum or dross when it is upmost and covers the liquor then it is taken off and thrown away so when tyrants and persecutors have Saints under them make account to wear them out by cruel usage and cry victory victory then coms the revenging hand of God upon them treads them as dung under his feet Thus was the Lord found of good Hezekiah note a Isa 36.13 14 15. chap. 37.10 the message which Rabshakeh brought to him from his master and what was in the letter which Sennacherib sent him Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee hath any of the gods of the Nations delivered his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria Oh the height of this filthy scum but how did the Lord meet with him not onely in giving a wonderful deliverance to his people but by destroying his Army and the blasphemer also Thus likewise it was with b Exod. 15.9 10. Pharaoh c Esth 5.6 Haman d Act. 12. Herod c. and in our time with the King and Bishops when they were highest in pride pomp and insolent practises against the Lord his cause and people he cut them off with a witness and the like may we expect upon those who domineer hold up their heads and look big e Exo. 5.2 Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce f Isa 51.23 Bow down that we may go over g Dan. 3. Whoso falleth not down and worshippeth the golden Image shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace But whereunto may I liken such men and others following their steps to nothing fitter then to a boil or botch when it is swoln big and risen high then it breaks and what follows rottenness and stink Are they swoln big and risen high in power titles places c. it is a sign they will break the sooner and as the waves of the sea after their lifting up and roaring a while leave behind them nothing but mire and dirt so when the Lord shall cut them off what then will remain but the infamous memory of their former Apostacy hypocrisie and lies It is truly my opinion were Gods people as fit for mercy as their enemies are for judgment were they as lowâ— humiliation and Reformation as the other are high in pride blasphemy atheism we should soon see a vial powâ—ed out upon them That place h Jer. 12.1 2 3. in the Prophet me thinks notably agrees with our time They are all happy that deal very treacherously But how doth he describâ— them Thou art neer in their mouth buâ— far from their reins As the water-maâ— in his boat rows one way and looks another so these profess great things and talk much of God and his ways but in their practises and actions are most vile and wicked what follows Prepare them for the day of slaughter When the beast is fat and ful flesht then the butcher knocks him down We know now well enough why the Lord hath suffered the Apostates to enjoy such faâ— pasture viz. the very pastures or places which fatted other beasts before them it was as i Hos 13.6 the Prophet saith that they might be filled and their heart exalted and so made fat and fit for slaughter k Psal 119.126 It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made voyd thy Law He doth not say It is time c. because they speak against thy â—aw slight it and regard it not but â—ave made it voyd signifying when â—en are grown to such a height of wicâ—edness as the Laws of Christ are deâ—troyed by them his cause and interest â—hrown down to raise themselves righeousness and truth made voyd to set up oppression and falshood then indeed it is high time for the Lord to work yea and then is the TIME in which he wil be FOVND of his faithful ones hungring and thirsting after righteousness Fourthly It is a Time of finding 4. When Saints make Jesus Christ their all When SEEKERS make Iesus Christ their ALL all their hope stay and trust and can truly say with the prophet l Ps 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee If we discern such as will not trust in us but love to stand upon their own ground we leave them to themselves to shift as they can as on the contrary the more we see our selves trusted to the more we take care for them When the Lord sees a poor soul gives up ALL to him leaves hiâ— case wholy with him depends altogetheâ— upon his power goodness faithfulness as he delights to see his children in such a frame so they may be sure he will take care for them and it shall go well with them m Psa 18.6 In my distress saith David I called upon the Lord and cryed unto my God he heard my voyce out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ear But when did David cry and found the Lord thus good to him n ver 2. after he had made him his rock and his fortress his strength his buckler the horn of his salvation and his high tower A man that stands upon a rock when he hears the sea roar and the waves violently beating against the rock all this puts him not into any fear for he knows where he is to wit out of danger so it is with every gracious Saint he is beyond the reach of men and Devils no adversary power can hurt him I do remember what I was once told by a good old man a * Mr. Pateman dwelling at Mosley neer Brimmingham Nonconformist-Minister dwelling nigh me a neighbor of his being in prison for witch-craft he went to visit him this wretched man confest to him that he had hated him a long time and fought to do him mischief and for this end there was a compact between the Devil and him to destroy him the witch spoke often to the devil for to hasten their design now the devil told him he had several times attempted it but could not effect any thing and gave this for the reason because he found him still either in prayer and communion with God or had
altogether at nought as being glad he had met with such a BARGAIN and sped so well Verily I think that blood is not more like blood then Esau and the Revolters of this age are like one another Neither since Esau's time till now have any generation of men so MATCHT HIM in prophaness and this I shall plainly demonstrate by the Parallel First Let it be considered what they have sold such a Glorious Cause as never was I think in the hands of men before Not Civil-Rights and Liberties alone but the GREAT CAVSE of God the Interest of Christ and of his Kingdom Laws People m Psal 84.10 David thought it was honor enough if a man might sit at the threshold of Gods house that is be in the lowest placeâ— and meanest service In the late wars he that was but a common-soldier to fight against Tyranny and Idolatry truly his place and service was very honorable then how much more a General Colonel Capt. c. besides the Lord was pleased to honor them with the Birth-right they were the first-born I say the first to have brought the King home and to set the Crown upon his Head What could have been done more to men But Secondly What have they sold their Birth-right for Oh It grieves my soul to think of it that ever such a thing should be told in Gath and published in the streets of Askelon that it should be said among the Heathen EMINENT PROFESSORS OF RELIGION AND MEN PRETENDING GREAT THINGS FOR CHRIST AND ZION HAVE SOLD THE GOOD OLD CAUSE FOR A MORSEL OF BREAD n Jer. 2.10 11. Consider diligently and see if there be such a thing Hath any Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit We think those foolish in their trades that should lose many peeces of gold to have a little bad coyn Let them look over their Bargain what have they sold and what they have for it Alas their Courts Titles Parks Pleasures c. are all bad coyn Lentils meer vanity and lies o Pro. 11.4 things that will not profit in the day of wrath But the Cause and work of God which they unworthily have given up had they been faithful to it would have been better to them then gold yea then fine gold all the things that men desire not to be compared to it It is reported that those wicked Spirits commonly called Fairies having stolen the true child out of the cradle do secretly convey and place in the stead thereof somâ— changeling of their own what truth iâ— in it I know not but this I know tâ— be true the Devil hath dealt so witâ— Apostates by a cunning sleight hâ— hath taken the true Child from them that is THE GOOD OLD CAVSE and hath left in the room of it a poâ—starv'd changeling here the buyer mâ—â— wel say It is naught it is naught 3. Are they sorry for what they have done do they repent of it p Jer. 6.15 Nay they are not at all ashamed neither can they blush but rejoyce feast and sing having made such a Bargain Iudas after he had betrayed Christ took little pleasure in the money which he had for the Treason q Mat. 27.3 45. He brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests and Elders saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood And he cast down the peeces of silver into the Temple and departed c. But these men have not yet so much remorse on their conscience for what they have done but the Courts Castles Titles Power c. the Money they had for the Innocent Cause are the things they glory in and brag of I might have mentioned the greediness of Esau's appetite to the dish that red that red there Gen. 25.20 The doubling of the word is to shew his hast and gluttonous desire the color and tast seem'd so pleasing and entising unto him Whether they have not been â—ike a Lyon greedy of his prey Psal 17.12 Like greedy dogs which cannot have enough Isa 56.11 let their own practise be witness But there is one thing wherein Esau is more to be excus'd if there may be any excuse made for him then some now he lay under some necessity r Gen. 25.32 I am saith he at the point of death and what profit shall this Birth-right doe to me But these men could not plead Esau's necessity they were not ready to starve but had enough and therefore their sin was the more prophaneness it may be call'd to sell such a Blessed Cause not only for so LITTLE but having no need so to do The Conclusion is If Esau for his prophaneness were denyed a Time of Finding others then following his steps and being as prophane or more may not expect to find it better in their own case 2. No time of finding for old Hypocrites whose bones are full of the sins of their youth Secondly There will be no Time of Finding for old Hypocrites whose Å¿ Job 20.11 bones are full of the sins of their youth and do continually seek to hide and cover them under religious pretences as fasting praying weeping c. A old Hypocrite is like a child born crooked no earthly medicines can make him right and straight or like to old cloth which being rotten will not bear the needle and thred and therefore not to be mended Some men through their long hypocrisie are become as rotten as dirt no hope of mending for they have so accustomed themselves to play the hypocrites by weeping praying c. as t Jer. 13.23 the Blackmore may sooner change his skin and the Leopard his spots then they cease from dissembling and mocking God in religious duties They who from their infancy are accustomed to take poyson in small quantities do inable their stomacks to digest more till by long custome and increasing the quantity it becometh so familiar to their stomacks that instead of poysoning of them they are nourished by it Thus it is with such men who from their youth have used themselves to hypocrisie and falshood and risen by degrees at length specially when they come to be old their hearts are so hardned and conâ—ciences seared as their hypocrisie is no poyson no trouble to them but it turns to their nourishment it feeds them like meat and drink and they cannot live without it It was a great sin in Iudas to deliver his Master up into the hands of his enemies the Scribes and Pharisees but the sin of Iudas had not been half so bad if he had not so hypocritically betrayd Christ u Mat. 26.49 He came to Iesus and said Hail Master and kissed him So for any man to deliver up Christ in his truth and Cause into the hands of his bloody enemies viz. Priests Lawyers Papists c. under a pretence of Religion and the honor of God this comes neer
Presbyterian very little The Common wealths men and Fift Kingdom men al under hatches Their crown is fallen they must go for a company of ideots giddie heads sillie fellowes In a word all without name that beare a faithfull Testimony to the good old cause Hence I am perswaded and in the fear of God I speak it by the 7000. Names of men is meant such members and officers of Congregationall churches and other Professors of Religion as have greivously revolted from the Lords work and the Interest of Christ and his people The judgement followes Were slain As the Witnesses were not corporally slain So may this be understood of a spirituall death upon the Churches Officers Worship Government Which is worse more grievous than the other Neither is this without some appearance already For 1. Is there not an earth-quake in their Churches From whence else are all those Rents Divisions Distractions 2. Is it not evident that the Lord of late hath very much withdrawn his presence from them so that they have not the power comfort and sweetness of his ordinances as formerly 3. Do not the gifts and parts of their Officers sensibly abate and wither 4. For the Characters of the last Apostacy viz. Self-seeking Coveteousnes Pride c. do they not spread and appear like a Gangreen every day more and more But 5. What means this bitter complaining of late among the new raised Masters and Doctors That the sons of Zerviah are too hard for them not onely get away their places but jeer and deride them If half be true which themselves report the Lord hath met with them already for their unfaithfulness Now howsoever these things are but a beginning and little to what probably will follow yet enough to shew if the earth-quake be not come there is a Type of it at least 11. The other nine parts of the City which I take to be the Civill power these are left to the stokels e Deu. 32.32 33. For their vine is worse than the Vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah their grapes are of gall their clusters are bitter their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruell venome of Aspes A reason why they are f Rev. 14.19 20. cast into the great wine-presse of the wrath of God Observe Reader Reaping is mans work but to cause earth-quakes is proper to God This makes me think that the judgment on Churches and professors will be by some immediate hand of God but the other which is to be executed upon the Civil state will be by the hands of men g Dan. 7.26 They shall take away his Dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end So then though the latter Apostacy be the subject of the first vial yet it must be understood as Church and State and the judgements distinct 12. No sooner are the effects seen of the first viall but h Rev. 11.18 the Nations are angry i Ps 99.1 Iehovah reigneth the people are stirred As k Rev. 16.2 men that have noisome and grievous sores upon them are extreamly impatient so prophane men and Idolaters when they shall see the kingdomes of this world are become the kingdomes of our Lord and his Christ as they will soon do in the effects of the first vial oh how will they storm and ragel no torment like it But the children of the kingdome will do otherwise l Ps 97.1 The Lord raigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitudes of Isles be glad thereof I shall conclude with a short word Though these things should come to passe yet they may be so mixt as not easily observed when the Lord shall bring them forth without marvellous and serious Watchfullness If to a little wine as much water be put Though the wine remaine in the vessel yet not so well to be known wine as if no water had been mixt with it It is my Opinion with much Confidence when the witnesses shall stand on their feet and ascend up to heaven and the first Angelis pouring out his vial and the earth-quake come Here the works wayes judgments and appearances of God will be so manifold various and strong That in this regard very few even of Gods own people at first will discern or understand how the JVDGMENT WRITTEN is executed upon the little Horne Bottomless Beast and last Apostacy m Luk 21.38 Watch therefore and pray alwayes that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass and to stand before the sonne of man FINIS