of a Souldier anâ— the visible witnesses of his valour and his vâ—â—lour the Crown of his honour 5. 'T is a Victorious Cross In this War thâ— conquered conquers Patiendo non resistendo Aug. Euseb l 4. Hist c. 13. and patience only wins thâ— field Christianos victores evadere dum mâ—â— malunt pro sua Religione qudm Imperatorum 〈◊〉 ctis parere That the Christians became Coâ—â— querours while they chose to dye for their 〈◊〉 ligion rather than to obey the Edicts of 〈◊〉 Emperours Anton. Imp. was confest by an Heathen Eâ—â— perour himself 2. To kiss the rod. Kiss the son lest he be angry Psal 2.12 Kissing imports Salutation 〈◊〉 welcom entertaining of a person or thing â—â—luntary submission to it and a full and free 〈◊〉 conciliation with it Can you will you thâ— kiss the rod not only in the Author or Efficient but in the Instruments or second Causes of it It is not sufficient that the child kiss his Father that corrects him but he must kiss the rod too But to prevent an Objection or a Mistake here I must add That God doth not expect nay he will not that his children should kiss the rod on any other account but as they are rods in their Fathers hands Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness nor with the workers themselves farther than the Law of God and Nature do allow or the Christian duty toward their Souls requires Take heed of striking hands with the Gibeonites of complying or compounding with the rod. 3. To improve the Rod. To this end walk with God under it and wait upon God in it When the Streams run foul below draw up to the Fountain and dwell there If the Floods be upon the Earth repair with the Dove to the Ark where thou mayst be at rest Walk with God in his way and by his Rule when he is not pleased to walk with thee in thy way and by thy rule Then is the rod improv'd when it touches with God's design You have heard they are Teaching Rods oh learn by them Establishing Rods oh take root under them Comforting Rods oh suck out the marrow of these bones Feeding Rods oh shut not the mouth too fast against them Let them in and set them down and digest them when God offers them and so your growth and improvement shall abundantly appear I am fain to post over these things that I may not be prevented in what I chiefly aim at If it be but a Rod Use 3 and the Rod of Fatherly Discipline and Love then Christian let me offer these three rich Cordials to refresh thy spirits in such a case 1. It proves thy Adoption And in nothing terrified by your Adversaries which is to them an evident token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God Phil. 1.28 If ye endure chastning God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not Heb. 12.7 But Solomon tells us Ob. Eccles 9.1 that no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him How then shall I know what or when afflictions are conclusive of Adoption 'T is true Answ 1 God is not wont to set his Seal to Blanks but where Adoption is this is one Seal or Evidence of it No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him if he hath nothing else to know it by this is no adaequate but an assistant or completive Evidence These Evidences are not so discernable Coming Answ 2 as Going When David had gotten through he looks back and concludes It is good for me that I have been afflicted We may judge something from the Cause for which and the Instruments by which we suffer but most safely from the work and operation oâ— them the manner nature and fruit of their working Then doth the Physick promise a Recovery when it kindly works upon and forcibly works off the Cause of the Disease The teaching establishing comforting feeding improving and improved Rod is the restoring and sealing Rod. But when it works the contrary as on too many it doth and like the Troubled Sea casts up mire and dirt or but at halves when it stirs the Pool and causeth sin to come in remembrance and makes the Soul it may be stomach-sick but carries it not off in this case in this sad case it seals too but as to thine Adversaries It is an evident token of perdition 2. It seals to thy Portion It is a faithful saying For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee sayes Peter what shall we have therefore Verily I say unto you sayes Christ that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration in the work the duties and difficulties of Regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matth. 19.27 28. This is the day of thy labour and every stroke thou strikest in it is in earnest of thy Rest As sure as thou seest the Sun shining in the Heavens the Evening is at hand which shall crown thy dayes work For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed toward his name Heb. 6.10 Bear up your spirits then He that hath espoused you will shortly marry you and celebrate your blessed and glorious Nuptials in the house and kingdom of his Father for ever O the ravishing Songs the joyful Epithalamiums that shall then be sung He that hath hired you will surely and fully reward you when you shall know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1.18 Though thou art sweating toyling suffering sighing weeping now by this thou mayest know that thy rest remaineth 3. It works for thy good And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 All these things which seem to be against thee are directly making for thee God is now emptying thee from vessel to vessel that thou mayest not settle on thy lees that thy old tast may not remain in thee that thy scent may be changed and thou mayest be prepared for the Cup and Table of his Glory He would never thus winnow and grind thee but that he might have thee nearer to him and make of thee Savoury meat such as he loveth and feast himself with thee to all eternity Nay it makes for thy present good The tryed Silver is now Current Coyn and they that scrupled at it before that call'd it Brass base and counterfeit Metal that scour'd it cut it and curst it and blasphem'd the sacred Stamp and Coiner of it are now asham'd of themselves and glad would they be Math. 25.8
thou shalt shortly taste and see when Gods vintage and Burning-time is come what this hony is which now seems so sweet in thy mouth 2. When Gods worship which he is ever most tender of is prophaned or idolized God calls his Church his Spouse Cant. 5.1 and is married to her Jer. 3.14 His Worship and Institutions are his Coition with his Church whereby he begets children unto himself and therefore the abuse of his worship he justly calls Adultery and spiritual Fornication a violation of Covenants and a breach of Conjugal union This was commonly one principal cause of Gods Controversie with his first Wife his ancient Spouse and that which he hath mostly manifested his furious Jealousie about Several Instances might be produced but examples of this nature are obvious and occurrent almost every where in the old Testament Again Gods Church is his Garden Cant. 4.12 and a garden inclosed too he keeps it under lock it is his own Peculiar he will allow no plants here but those of his own setting Humane Inventions and Traditions of men unscriptural Ceremonies and significant signs farr-fetcht by the under-keepers of this Garden are weeds which God will root up he will not have his Garden new modell'd nor adulterated with mans bastard ornaments the wrongs that are done here are sacrilegious wrongs 3. When Professors lose their zeal for God and the pure and strict wayes of God Because Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold Matth. 24.12 And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another ver 10. This was spoken as a presage of that dreadfull Destruction which Christ there foretold And that day sayes the Apostle that great and terrible day of the Lord shall not come except there come a falling away first A general Apostasie is a certain Omen of approaching Misery This was part of Gods accusation against Ephesus Rev. 2.4 Thou hast left thy first love and what then ver 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Was not this the cause why God put away his own chosen Israel and gave her a bill of divorce Jer. 3.6 8. What complaints hath God taken up on this very account Why is this People slidden back by a perpetual backsliding Jer. 8.5 And my people are bent to backsliding from me Hos 11.7 How tenderly does God seem to take it Therefore if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 And the more gross and general this Apostasie is the more dreadful the more universal the more speedy execution of wrath it doth portend 4. When charity among brethren is dying But if ye bite and devour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another Dulce nomen pacis Cicer. Gal. 5.15 Discord hath a more natural tendency unto ruin than almost any other sin A house divided cannot stand sayes Christ and therefore this is one principal scope of the Commands of the Gospel to beget and quicken love and charity among brethren You shall scarce find any one thing in the new Testament so much prest as this For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another 1 Joh. 3.11 But when God sends a spirit of division among his children and dashes child against child it is sufficient evidence of his high displeasure 5. When Covenant-breaking lies unrepented of What was it that overturn'd Zedekiah and his people Jer. 34.8 After they had entred into sacred bonds in the house of God to release all their servants that were of the Jewish seed and had for a time performed it but afterward dealt deceitfully with them and brake their Covenant ver 11. Therefore from ver 17. to the end you may see the issue Behold I will proclaim Liberty for you saith the Lord to the Sword to the Pestilence and to the Famine Other known Instances to this purpose might be given but I forbear 6. When those sins for which God hath taken up a controversie are not removed Sufferings as I have said are the direct and proper effects of sin the only successful course to heal the effect is to antidote the cause Israel cannot prosper Iosh 7. nor stand before his enemies until Achan be executed There 's no sayling Ion. 1.4 while guilty Jonas lyes aboard but death and ruin on every hand When God is shaking his rod against a People and they regard it not warning them by his Prophets and as it were planting his Ordnance and setting his battel in array against them and they tremble not at it what is this but a bold challenging of the Almighty and even a daring him to go on and to do his worst now what can be expected in such a case but that God should arise in the fierceness of his hottest wrath and avenge him of his enemies Isa 1.24 3. We come in the next place to consider How farr or in what respects we our selves are under the symptoms or the strokes of the Rod And in order hereunto we will weigh our present estate by the fore-mentioned Prognosticks 1. Hath not God been packing up his Jewels How many hath he taken away of the eminent bearing-Pillars both of Church and State whose lamented funerals have set a sable Astracism on their sad Elegies God hath seem'd to begin his harvest among them and to fill his hands with ripe Fruit nay may I not say in a sense to strike down thousands at one blow even of those that were giving suck without compassion either to Nurse or Babe but I will not insist here Res ipsa loquitur 2. Hath not God seem'd to withdraw his presence at least in some respects Blessed be God for any tokens of his quickning presence among us that there is yet so much of the life of God in us as to carry us out in an unwearied search after him yet 't was so with the Spouse when her Beloved had withdrawn himself Cant. 5.6 I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer And is not this our very case How long have we cryed to God for bread and as yet we have stones instead of bread or if bread we have it but as God threatned Jerusalem in another sense by weight and by measure 〈◊〉 15. by crummes and by drops yet blessed be God for the crumms that fall from his â—â—able Hath not God seem'd to defeat the â—â—rayers and frustrate the hopes of his people 〈◊〉 that they lye as the slain in the streets at â—he feet of the lusts and wills of all that â—ass by 3. Hath not God been crossing the course of Nature by strange Signes and Prodigies such and so many as no age in England could ever parallel I need not
I say for these Characters will never be expung'd those leaves but by the same Divine hand that ingraved them If thou hast not substituted the Lyes and Impostures of thy own deceived heart but wilt be faithful and ingenuous here thou shalt find a true and plain interpretation of Providence We may not expect that God should speak to us immediately from Heaven vivâ voce or by any miraculous Revelations or Enthusiasms as some giddy Brains would pretend unto this were indeed Phanaticism nomine re But The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart The Word speaks and the Rod speaks and Conscience will compare these together and from thence draw up a full and perfect Declaration and both prove examine and answer every Article of it if it may but be suffer'd to execute its office in you The great reason why we are such strangers to God is because we are such strangers to our selves Nemo is sese tentat descendere nemo Pers Affliction hath a great I fluence as on the other powers of the Soul so especially on the Conscience either to soften or to fear it Every stroke on Pharaoh left him harder and harder Why will ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more But where the rod is intended for good and works toward that End there it softens and quickens the Conscience What a blessed effect had that Rout at Ai on Joshua and his people Josh. 7. They presently fly to God to know the Cause and as soon as ever the thing was hinted to them how industrious and restless were they till they had found out the very Man and executed Gods Law upon him and so remov'd the Guilt and the Wrath â—om Israel oh that God would once set our Troubled Camp on the like course in a like general sincere and effectual manner Manaseh's Fetters was that softned Manasseh's Conscience a Chro. 33.11 12. 'T was Neâ—uchadnezzar's affliction that humbled his â—roud hear Dan. 4.33 34. 'T was the stroak â—rom Heaven that opened Saul's eyes Act. 9. 〈◊〉 Christians take heed of hardning your â—earts under the Rod an affliction is never removed but it leaves either a curse or a blessing behind it Therefore whenever God takes his rod over you or layes it on upon â—â—ou as you respect the spiritual and eternal â—â—ace and welfare of your poor souls awake â—our Consciences and find out the Cause and â—â—e Meaning of it 'T is not enough to groan and mourn under the burden this is but Naâ—â—re's common course which if this be all is 〈◊〉 Gods account but as the ungrateful howling 〈◊〉 a Dog Hos 7.14 Nay it is not enough neither to bewail any external though spiritual â—â—ss for if this be all that your care and â—oughts are taken up about those that sate at â—â—e door of the gate of the Lords house weeping 〈◊〉 Tammuz Ezek. 8.14 were almost as â—â—ligious 〈◊〉 you Take this for a second Direction Set Conscience on work and that 〈◊〉 a lively impartial and regular way acquainâ— your selves with Gods and know upon what termes he is with you O my brethren theâ— is a great deal of self trying and self doâ—ying work before you But how Conscient is to be put to it in this duty I shall shew yâ—â— more at large hereafter 3. Though the Rod may be general yet tâ—â— Voice is particular Besides those more private and personal evils that every Town Congregation Trade Family or Person are conplaining under there are National and Pâ—â—lick miseries which are the common Calamites wherein every individual Member is particularly concern'd and so the voice directs its 〈◊〉 stinct and particular Items to every one paâ—â—cularly and to every one it sutes it self seasonably and proportionably It is a voice of Humiliation to my Pride of Mortification to tâ—â— Covetousness of Self-denial to the Lust and Revenge of another of Quickning to tâ—â— Negligence and Cowardice of another 〈◊〉 Establishment to the Haesitation and Unresolvedness of another of Peaceableness and Charity to the Tumultuousness and Censoriousness of another c. And to one it speaks with more terrour and dread to another in calmer and sweeter Dialect according to the nature and height of that guilt or corruption 〈◊〉 aims at Therefore reason thus with your selves God hath now taken up his Rod and is comet plead with me though the lash fall more 〈◊〉 verely on others yet I am in the same Condemnation and am as much concerned as ever those were that are now lying in heaps at 〈◊〉 feet oh how shall I how dare I think of running from or justifying my self before God! hay a provoked and an avenging God Alas Christians mistake not 'T is not so much for the Oaths and Blasphemies the Drunkenness and Sodomie the Sabbath-Breaking and Idolatry of Gods enemies those sons of Belial that are among us that God hath taken up this Controversie with us he hath I will not say a few but many things against us 'T is for my sin and for your sins that God hath torn up our hedge and thrown down our wall and laid us waste As Mr. Bradford that blessed Martyr acknowledged in his Prayer Lord it was my unthankfulness that brought in Queen Maries daye it was my unfruitfulness that caused the untimely death of King Edward the 6th And those Christians that were banished and fled in Queen Maries dayes professed where-ever they came that God for their unthankfulness had taken the Gospel from them If then you would learn the language of the Rod and understand the meaning of it take this for another Rule with you Believe it that God is now speaking from Heaven to you to me and to thee in particular oh what an awe and dread should this cast upon us Suppose you should hear God calling out of Heaven to you by name what a dismal astonishment would â— strike you into why Man what dost thou think Is the Lords Rod a dumbrod or else hath it nothing to say to Thee because possibly as yet it hath not much to do with thee or is this a feigned Message an Errand of my own that I am now come from God unto thee in Do'st thou believe I am forcing thee with a lye or else is it true what I say Well then if the aim and level of the Rod be at thee and at me in particular is it not time for us to hear lay it to heart Shall the arrows of Gods a venging Fury strike us through the very heart before we will be perswaded to look for the sin or the guilt there O my brethren we stand Gods Butt this day and be sure that either in your Lusts or your Lives he will shortly his you out 't is not the White which men shoot at but the Black that God levels at O separate separate your selves that you be not found anon among the slain of Gods Battel 'T is not Covenant-Interest shall excuse you here
scour of that dust and filth they had contracted No wonder if our Dust hath brought us to the Dust that we are fallen among the Potts and caused to lick the Dust we were so greedy of Sirs I hope you will not censure my plainness and liberty of speech I have taken upon me to speak to such as can far better instruct both themselves and me and I confidenth perswade my self that these are no strang motions with you nor Wounds that wiâ— ranckle 2. Starrs are ordained for light Ye are the Light of the World sayes Christ Matth 5.14 And Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works ver 16. You are the Lamps of the Sanctuafie whose oyl was to be pure oyl-olive Levit. 24.20 Num. 8.4 Rev. 3.18 and the Candlesticks for Light which were to be of beaten Gold We are God's Apothecaries whom he hath sent with his Eye-salve to recover a poor blind World Now I beseech you let us consider what Lights have we been in the Sphears wherein God had plac't us Did we study to enlighten those that sate in Darkness To speak to the Capacities and Consciences in the Convicting Evidence and Gospel-simplicity of the Spirit Han't we too many at least and too often endeavoured to imblazon our own Parts or Learning Han't we been more affected with our own words than with our Master's Work and drest up the pure and simple Truth as an Harlot Han't we set the Lords Candle under the Bushel of our private Honour or Interest No wonder then that God hath remov'd his Candlestick and caus'd our Candle to go out Hive we been constant burning and shining Lights or too-like poor dwindling Tapers or the faint Flashes of an Ignis lambens rather burdensom than useful Have we been like Stars indeed that appear brightest in the most told and bitter night Oh my Brethren that we could sit down now and consider as we sit by our Lahai-roi where thou God seest us Why is my Sun set at Noon Why have the black Shades of the Night prevented me Is not this much my own doing Of what nature or kind was my Light Had I any other than what I bare in my hand Of what use was my Light either to my self or others What can my people witness for me What can my Family my Wife my Children my Sojourners my Servants say for me have they or might they have walk't in my light nay have I even forc't them to light their Candles at mine Hath the Word of God dwelt richly in my Head in my Heart in my House in all wisdom or han't my Family been much like other mens as Ignorant as Idle as Proud and it may be as Prophane as many others Han't the Springs of Knowledg been too much confin'd to and lockt up in my Pulpit as if I were a Minister no where but there And is not this much of the matter that God hath now lockt up the Pulpit from me that he hath cast me out of his Eden and planted his Flaming Sword which turneth every way to keep the way of this Tree of life 〈◊〉 Oh that such thoughts might pierce our hearts now that we are sitting with out broken Pitchers by those Waters of Affliction 3. Starrs are appointed for Influence Tâ—â— are the Salt of the Earth saies Christ Math 5.13 Oh! what a savoury and seasoning Influence have we had on those with whom we have had to do Salt you know hath a virtue to suck out corrupting humours and to preserve from putrefaction Alas can we say that our Patients have never Gangrenated under our hands for lack of proper savory and seasonable Preservatives In Rev. 8.11 We read of a Starr whose name was Wormwood which fell from Heaven as it were a Lamp it fell on the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters and the third part of the waters became wormwood Now hath our influence been like that of the Tree at the Waters of Marah Exod. 15.25 of a â—leansing healing nature or too much like his Star whose Name and Nature was wormwood Hath our Communication and Conversation both in publick and in private â—een so seasoned with Salt that our very Presence hath daunted the Impudence of Sin And our Countenances been a rebuke to a Wanton Licentious Prophane World May 〈◊〉 be said of us as of John the Baptist that â—erod feared him and observed him Hath â—he austerity and holiness of our lives been â—â—ch as could command respect from an Heâ—d and fasten Convictions with Authorial on the hearts of the proudest Sinners Have we been like the Pleiades whose sweet â—â—fluence hath overcome those malign Iob 38.31 and saturnine Spirits over which God hath made 〈◊〉 vertical Or rather han't we been like the Moon whose growing big and full hath â—een fatal to the sick and weak in our Flocks And now that we are cast out as unsavoury salt to be trodden under foot of men the Lord â—umble us pity us spare us 4. Starrs are ordained for Direction Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 No Sea in the World is so dangerous and fatal to Mariners as this Sea of the World to Man So many Rocks and Shoals and Quick-sands and Hirricane-Storms as every Passage and Step is attended with what need is there of faithful and skilful Pilots 'T was a sad Voyage for Paul and his Companions Act. 27.20 When neither sun nor Starrs in many dayes appeared and no small tempest lay on us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away God hath set us for Sea-marks because the Road is dangerous that scarce one of a thousand comes sale to Land Or as the Star in the East for the direction of those that are so wise as to steer by such a Point Alae how many rich Vesselâ— of precious Merchandise have there miscarried irreparably and eternally and it may be much through our sinful Neglects either we have been obscur'd and not to be seen when we should have appear'd for God in the desperate hazzard of poor souls or have been so general and uncertain that the purblind World could not apprehend us or else have been out of the way and deviated from our sacred Sphears and so led them by an evil Example either directly or accidentally on the very neck of ruinâ— Oh! how should it cut our hearts to consider how many brave and hopeful Vessels we have sad cause to fear have for ever miscarried under our Conduct and that in serene and Halcion Floods The Lord convince us forgive us and have mercy upon us 5. Lastly The Seven Stars are an united Constellation Therefore Christ compares the Breasts of his Church to two young Roes that are Twins Cant. 7.3 And to a company of horses in Pharaoh's charriots Cant. 1.9 Not only for their Strength and Beauty but for their Union and Oneness of Work and Way And is not