A SERMON PREACHED On the 30th of January 1683 4. Being an ANNIVERSARY FOR THE Martyrdom OF King CHARLES the First By JOHN BVTTLER B. D. LONDON Printed for Randall Tayler near Stationers-Hall 1684. A SERMON Preached on the 30th of January 1683. LUKE 21. Verse 25 26. And there shall be Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars And upon the Earth Distress of Nations with Perplexitie the Sea and the Waves Roaring Mens Hearts failing them for Fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth For the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken THere is Prophetick mention of two Fatal Times as they are fore shewn by the Prophet Daniel and by our Saviour Jesus Christ There shall be Dan. 12. 1. saith Daniel a time of Trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time and at that time thy People shall be deliverd And this seems to be the very time my Saviour Fore-Bodes by the Signs in my Text mentioned For if we observe He adds saying then as much as to say when you see those Luke 21. 27 28 29 30 31. Signs shall they see the Son of Man coming in a Cloud with Power and great Glory And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your Hands for your Redemption draweth nigh And as sure as the Sprouting Fig-tree is a Prodromer that Summer is at Hand even so when ye see these things that is the Signs in my Text c. Then know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand By the Son of Man spoken off by Christ seems to be understood the same Person who by Daniel is Stiled Michael the cheif Prince Of whom as 't is said here that He shall come so it is spoken there saying he shall stand up And both these seem to speak of the coming of Christ to Reign but that not Personally as some imagine but by his Vicegerent as saith the Prophet Isaiah Kings shall be thy Nursing Fathers Isa 49. 22 23. Dan. 10. 21. when I set up my Standard to the People and they shall bring thy Sons in their Arms c. And thus Michael the Son of Man or the Cheif Prince shall stand up and come to deliver the Ancient Jews and Israelites his People out of Captivity by the Hands of Christian Kings his Earthly Angels and Ministers or Vicegerents The Total Sum of all which things Amounts thus far That the Jews and Israelites shall be converted to the Christian Faith and then shall be delivered out of Captivity by the mighty Power of God and be restored unto their own Ancient Country and Land called Palestina but immediately before those Days shall be great Tribulation such as was not Mal. 24. 21. since the beginning of the World to this time no nor ever shall be But now withal we are to understand that this time of Trouble or Tribulation is to be twice repeated whereof once as has been afore shewed and another time before that when the Abomination of Desolation shall be set up in the holy Place And when Michael Dan. 9. 26 27. Luke 21. 32 is also called Messiah all come in Person and shall be cut off but not for himself in the midst of the Week there shall be and follow the first Tribulation which was to be fulfilled before that Generation wherein our Saviour lived was quite passed over And this has already been fulfilled once or acted repeated over the first time And is to be expected to be acted over a second time and that second time is justly supputed to be near at hand Now to Calculate these things Regularly and Exactly according to what is expressed by that Holy Prophet and confirmed by our Saviour The ground Plot of all these things is the coming and standing up of Michael who is the Messiah our Chirst our Saviour who came first personally in order to Suffer that we may be Redeemed At this time He came unto his own and his own received him not but took and Crucified slew him and Joh. 11. 11 Acts 2. 23 Mat. 27. 25. called down the Vengeance of his Bloud upon their own Heads and upon the Heads of their Children And hence followed the first Direful Tribulation the like whereof was never known before It was in the Thirty Third Year of our Saviours Incarnation upon Friday the Third of April at a little after Three a Clock in the Afternoon at Joh. 19. 30 what time hanging upon the the Cross He bowed down his Head and Died. And on the Thirty Seventh Year after on the Fourteenth of April Titus with the Romans at a Pascal time shut in the Jews into the City of Jerusalem by a close Siege at what time it was infinitely Joseph of the Warâ— throng'd with People who from all parts had come thither to the Passover On the Third of May he took one Wall by Assault and on the Eighth of May another Wall On the Fourteenth of July the dayly Sacrifice ceased for want of Victims On the Twenty-Fourth of July the Castle called Antonia was taken by the Romans and the same day the Northern Porch of the Semple was burnt and on the Twenty-Seventh Day the Western Porch was burnt by the Jews themselves On the Eighth Day of August the Romans entred the Temple and on the Tenth Day it began to burn with Violent Flame Then did the Romans kill the Preists and prophaned the Alter and the Bloud ran down the Steps like VVater in a time of Rain On the Eighth of September being Saturday or the Dio. â—ewish Sabbath the Romans entred the higher City and took it At this Siege were slain what by Sword Plague and Famine 1100000 Mortals besides what were slain at other times and places and sold for Slaves Here ceased the dayly Sacrifice and the Abomination of Desolation was set up and continued standing so until the times of Trasanus and Hadrianus Emperors of Rome In time of Euseb Dio. Trajanus the Jews Rebelled in Egypt and Kyrene and Kypuus and Mesopotamia and endured vast Slaughters In time of Hadrianus they Rebelled in Judaea and were soon tamed But in the Year 128 Hadrianus converted Jerusalem into a Roman Colony and called it Aelia-Capitolina Euseb Dio. and erected the Temple of Jupiter by the side of the Jewish Temple whence occasioned the last and Fatal Rebellion of the Jews under Barchochebas their Leader who slew many Romans and Christians but in the Year 135 or one Hundred and Three Years after Christs Euseb Dio. Death with much difficulty they were utterly Broken and Ruined and by Wars at this time Perished 580000 Souls besides Infinite Numbers more who died of Fire Plague and Famine Then was a Swines Head Engraven over the Gates of the City with other Pagan Images and the Jews were utterly forbidden ever to come there more unless once by the
First That the Daily Sacrifice ceased on the 24th of July in the Year of Christs Incarnation 70 for want of Victims next the Abomination began to stand up on the same Year and on the next Month when Idol Sacrifice was layd upon Gods Alter and when the most holy place by Fire was Converted into Rubbish and was Troden with profane Feet and continuing in its Ashes it was made desolate But especially the Abomination and Desolation was then perfected at what time Idol Temples were erected in the Place of Gods House the whole Nation of the Jews utterly driven away Root and Branch out of the whole Kingdom by Aelius Hadrianus And this Abomination of Desolation and Cessation of dayly Sacrifice lasted until the Reign of Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour who in the 7th Year of his Reign of Christ 313. set fourth Edicts in Favour of the Euseb Eccl. Hist Christian Religion Licinius Maximinus the other Emperours assented unto the same But in the End of the same Year Maximinus perswaded by his Magitians renewed the Persecutions but was Routed in Battel by Licinius and soon after in 314 Died of the hand of God And then every where Idolatry was Destroyed and Gods Gospel Worship was set up at Jerusalem all Idol Temples being there abolished and cast out Here therefore ending the Abomination the daily Sacrifice being restored Hence are we to begin the first Term of Daniels Times and to reckon onwards The times mentioned are two whereof Ezek. 4. 4 5 6. Dan. 9. 25 26 27. the first is of 1290 and the second 1335 days which according to the usage of Holy Writ are to be understood of so many Years as they are called Days And now count we from the Year of Christ 313 an Addition of 1290 Years and they will set us in the Year of Salvation 1603. Which is the very Year whereon King James came into England and began to possess the Crown of great Britain and on the same Year was the Saventh great Conjunction in the Fiery Triplicity and at the end of the Year was a new Star in Seventeen degrees of Sagitary And the second Term mentioned by Daniel which bounded his 1290 Years was the Time Times and an half So as 't was not the deliverance of his People which at end of those Years was forshewn for the Years are long since come up and gone by and no such thing is done and the fore it follows that at end of this Date or Term of Time the other mentioned by the same Author is to take place And thus after 1290 Years from the Abomination of Desolation set up is to follow a Time Times and an half and then is to be expected the Deliverance And so from the coming into England of King James there was to be expected a Time and Times and an half and then shall follow the Restoration of the Jews And whether we will have it the time of Reign of One King and Two Kings and an Interregnum or any other way and whether we will esteem these times to be reckoned by our Kings Reigns in England or Germany or at Rome it cannot be long to the end thereof The second Computation of Time mentioned by Daniel is 1335 days which also turned into so many Years and added unto 313 do set us in the Year of Christ 1648 at end whereof the most sacred Prince our late Sovereign of blessed memory King Charles the first of great Brytain Suffered Martyrdome and then the Sheepheard being smitten the Sheep were scattered and many of them cut off and the residue were tryed and refined as Silver or Zech. 13. 7 8 9. Gold tryed in the Fire And on the same Year was the Grand Signiour or great Emperour of the Turks at that time Lord of the Holy Land cut off Summoned Tryed and Condemned by the pretended high Priest or Mufti and the rest of the Divan somewhat after the rate Mr. Ricauts Turkâ—sh Hist of our Saviour And on the same Year were great troubles in the Empyress of Russia and Abassia and in France and at Naples in Italy and diverse other places But especially here in England both Magistracy and Ministry the two Holy Offices appointed by God Almighty and sometimes executed by Christ were utterly cut off and abolished and the whole Body of the holy People who had in any wise stood up in defence of holy Authority Power and Discipline in Church and State were dissipated Slain and driven into Exile And he that did these things was especially the late Protector Oliver Cromwel a Man of obscure Birth who advanced his Fortune by perjury and Lyes Hypocrisy Murder Rapines and Rebellions and therefore appears to have been beyond Pope or Turk or Mahomet the greatest Impostour that ever was born and most Eminently the Man of Sin beyond all Men besides that ever were known or Read of And thus have we attained unto the utmost Term of the last Number in the Year of Christ 1648 â— 1335 Years precisely since the Abomination of Desolation set up and taken down And now therefore Blessed is he who waiteth for that we have arrived at the Year 1335. And the time of the Gentiles seemeth to be fulfilled They having done unto a most holy Prince Defendor of the Faith true Ancient Catholick and Apostolick in a great measure as the Jews did unto Christ And now therefore to the Jews says our Saviour Look up for the Day of Redemption draweth nigh But unto the Heathens the Pagans Hereticks and Schismatical Christians Unto you waite a time of Trouble and Tribulation such as never was since there vvas a Nation even unto that same time saving that trouble of the Jews long since acted vvhereof this of yours is but a second part of the same once more repeated over again according to the Nature of your Crime in Comparison of theirs these hastening to be as those vvith them once vvere Dayes of Vengeance that all things Luke 21. 22. which are written may be fulfilled And novv as there have been are and are further Expected Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the Sea and Waves Roaring Mens Hearts failing them for Fear and for looking after those things which are comming on the Earth for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken These vvords are foreboding marks of those Days of Tribulation I have mentioned before and a discription of the State of that Tribulation and the ground Plot of both 1. The Marks foreboding are called Signs and are Described by their Scituation either in the Sun or Moon or Stars or on the Earth Signs in the Sun and Moon are all extraordinary and unusual Eclipses as when Total and the Stars appear by Day or is accompanyed with strange Meteors or Constellations Unusual and Stange Colour such as black or bloudy or pale and dark for any long
it is I Answer Some have died to expiat this Bloud-shed and of those some by the immediat hand of God both before and after it was shed such as Brooke Pym Hambden Stroud and Hoyl Rouse and divers others and some by the mediat hand of Justice such as Harrison Cary Cook Peters and the rest and so too it was in the Case of Christs Bloud Herod and Pilat died of Gods hand Jos of the wars Lu. 19. 41 42 43. Ch. 23. 34. and others came dropping after and Thousands and Ten Thousands Perished here and there for the same Reasons Jesus Christ seemed more then satisfied with these and less then these things who Prayed and wept in Prayer and was earnestly intent with God that his Murderers might be Pardoned as also it was done by our good King who suffered But yet Gods Vengeance would not be so satisfied For though it slept long yet Wrath and Vengeance too came at last and when it did come with a Vengeance it came indeed For after Christs Bloud almost forgotten and all things seem'd with them so very safe that the very chief Murderers made a pish at it when the Apostles talk'd of bringing this Mans Bloud as they contemptuously call'd it upon them and most of the great ones were dead in their Beds And yet at 37 Years end after Christs Death Inquisition came at last after Christs Bloud And then as our Saviour had forewarn'd was such a time of Tribulation as from the World beginning unto that time the like had never been before Mat. 24. 21. For look by how much it had been the longer ere Vengeance came when it fell at last it fell so much the heavier and more foul even unto utter Desolation and Extirpation of those on whom it fell and so is it to be feared it may be here There was a King and a great King that was a most Innocent and Holy Man that has been slain and there was a most Reverend and Innocent Church-Man even one who stood to Minister before the Lord our God was put to Death in cold Blood and many Thousands and Ten Thousands that were truly Loyal Subjects and Innocent and Holy Men were slaughtered in the Wars and under colour of Law which made the matter so much the worse great Robberies were committed by Taxing and Sequestration and Decimation and such like Courses and all this was done not only without dread of Gods Majesty who says touch not mine annointed and do my Prophets Ps 165. 15. no harm but also Entitling Gods Cause to their Murders Rapines and Rebellions as if the most High had been also such an one as themselves But now what says Holy Writ to these things But that He who sheds Gen. 9. 6. Num. 35. 21. Mans Bloud by Man shall his Bloud be shed And that Bloud defiles a Land so as by no means it can be cleansed but by the Bloud of him whose Guilt lies at Stake Yea so it is that if a Man be a Murderer or a Robber be it but of a privat Man yet most an end though it be 20 or 30 Years after first yet at last usually Gods Vengeance meets with him by one chance or another yea though he have the Kings Pardon to help him out it will not save him from Gods displeasure when he makes Inquisition for Bloud and Ps 9. 12. forgets not the cry of the Humble And is it so with single and private Persons How much worse then may we justly expect it will befal such impudent wretches who shamed not in open sight of the Sun and in cold Bloud to justifie the worst of Murders and to Entitle the Name of the Lord thereunto Lord who shall stand the Vengeance when the Bloud of such as Charles the First of England of blessed memory and the Sacred Arch-Bishop Laud the Earls of Strafford Darby and Montross the Lord Capel and the Reverend Huet and multitudes of such Noble and Holy Martyrs lying under the Altar shall cry out with a loud Voice saying How long Lord Holy and True dost thou not Judge and Avenge our Blood on them Rev. 6. 10. that dwell on the Earth This seems in truth to be the cry of the Martyrs in Queen Marys days unto whom it was answered They should rest yet for a little Season until their Rev. 6. 11. fellow Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled and white Robes were given unto every one of them to rest in in the mean time And the Fellows and Brethren tarried for are those Martyrs of our late times That those Martyrs of Queen Marys days were an Holy People their Trial in Fire did plainly testifie and that the Faith and Worship which they practised was truly Religious and Holy is witnessed by the Martyrdoms they indured therefore And were they an Holy People and was their Worship Holy and Allowable so then must needs be the Faith and Worship of all such who trod exactly in the same steps and endured the same Tests And does the Bloud of such Sacred and great Saints lie at Stake calling for Vengeance and that accompanied with Brethrens Bloud of so great weight as was that of our Predecessours Then let the Jews look up for they are risen up who have equalled their iniquities and the Redemption of the Jews therefore draweth nigh But as for us we have great Reason God knows to look down and let all wise Men consider it The Irish Rebels in 1641 who Murdered so many Thousand Protestants have in some measure tasted Divine Vengeance for the same And the Scotish Rebels who were at bottom of all our Woe and gave the first Alarm to all the Bloud of the late times and did tear and rend our Church-men as Swine would do by the best of Jewels have in some measure been whipt for so doing and that somewhat severely But our English Rebels whether Presbyterians Indipendants or others who Murdered the Two great Witnesses of Gods House the Bishop first and then the King and that not Treacherously and Rashly as the Papists in France did by the two Royal Henry's there but solemnly and in cold Bloud by a Court of Judicature Intitling the God of Heaven to have a share with them in their Sin did act a Murder with a Witness mingled with Hypocrisie and Blasphemy in a high degree and yet have not to speak on been once called to account for the same But alas the time is now coming on and the Children then unborn must Rue the time for the Bloudy Insolencies of Cromwel and Bradshaw and their other Fellows For the Bloud of these Days was of more Worth and greater Value and is more to be mist then Teâ— Thousand times Ten Thousand common Protestants These were Saintly Rebels who did these things and therefore it seems as if God has designed to make it known to all the World how much they were Diabolical Hipocrites Many of
Metropolis will pay for our Repairs within a few Years after even Fire for Fire and Bloud for Bloud For 't is but a Factious and Seditious Crew of them who as it were marked for Vengeance are so haunted by an evil Conscience and diabolick Furies that they cannot rest till they pull down Judgments upon their own heads and ruin upon their Families But so soon as Gods Work shall be done on these there is a Virtuous Breed of Loyal Hearts who never yet bowed knee to Baal who shall at once rise up and destroy the Destroyers and burn the chastizing Rods. And thus have I mingled hopes and fears among my humble Conjectures and Prayers and all to this end that beâ—t possible evil Men may be drawn in to see and repent their grievous Sins and good Men may be prepared to glorifie God and to give him the praise of all his glorious Works And so much for this second form of Tribulation The 3d. is described in respect of the Wrath and Bitterness and the Torments that are to attend it Wo be to them saith our Saviour who shall be with Child shall give Suck in those days Intimating that the Bitterness of the Distress and Wrath shall be Lu. 21. 23. so great that People shall not know which way to turn them or what to do in hopes to have help When Wars shall come thick and Barbarous Souldiers shall range about like roaring Devils seeking whom they may devour Robbing VVounding and Killing all they meet then Old and Young will be forc't to Fly as they can and leaving their Goods to save their Lives in those days what shall the poor VVoman do with a small Child at her Breast or a smaller in her Body Loath she is to hazard the Fruit of her VVomb to save her own Life and therefore She Flies with the Babe in her Arms till tyred with the Burthen in her Bosom when 't is too late with an heavy heart she leaves it to the Mercies of the Merciless and becomes her self at the next step an Object of the same wrath VVithin the walls She is rather worse than without where preserving Life a few weeks the longer the Famine bites worse there then the Sword did in the Fields Here the Mother has not Food to satisfie her own Hunger and yet is fain to feed her tender Infant from her Heart-Bloud until violent Hunger constraining necessity of Nature draws her in to flay and eat the Fruit of her VVomb to allay the fierce Bitterness of incessant Hunger And such was the hardship in Jerusalem that one Miriam a rich Matron after many constraints having sodden the Flesh of her Child to quallifie her hungry Appetite was rob'd of it when ready to sit down and eat by the rude and Seditious Rabble led in by the smell to find the Prey and finally She dyed as Thousand others did the painful lingring death of Famine But our Saviour has not intailed the whole Flock of Woes on teeming Women alone but rather instanced in one case leaving us to judg of the rest and of the whole Body of Hercules by his Foot Hence therefore are we to conceive or saying to our selves woe also to the great Rich Men mighty and wealthy in Mony and Land whose Heart 's glued to the World as fast as the good Womans bowells to her sucking Infant when they shall see their Barns full of Corne all of a light Flame and their Feilds full of Cattel quite emptyed drove and cleared their Chests full of Mony Rifled their Daughters ravished their Sons Slain in the VVars themselves shut out of doors Languishing in some Ditch as full of Care and Grief as their Hearts can hold ignorant for Anguish of Spirit whether be best for them to Dye of Hunger Languishing in obscurity or to be Slain by the Sword or to expose themselves a Captive at the Enemies Mercy For when the Rich Man looseth his VVealth it is as if his Armes were tearing from his Shoulders or as his Soul driven out of his Body and Flying for refuge into the Arms of De vils But to go on we may conceive in that Day Woe also to the Voluptuous and loose Livers Adulterers Drunkards Gamesters and such like who know nothing to make discourse on but their fond Pleasures of Vanity and Folly These are they whose God is their Belly whose Glory is in their shame who mind Earthly things Philip. 3. 1. Who can no more Live without Wine and VVomen Chambering and VVantonness then they can Swear and Swagger without an Head VVhen these therefore shall see the Days that they must be kik't and Spurnd like Dogs and may not Budg one Word of answer nor turn again that they must be Stript and Rifled both of Mony and Cloaths and all the Cringing Fawning and Flattery that every they were bred up to cannot gain them one Meals Meat nor an half-peny to Buy one Corn of Tobacco or a lick of Brandy Woe therefore to those Quondam Blades who were wont to Huff and Hector all they met and who but they where-ever they came but then barefoot and barelegd with match-cord on their Arms crouching and beseeching like Beggars leading to the Stocks shall be fain to sneak and shrink before every Ragged Boy who drives them with a VVhip as a Pedlar does his Ass VVoe to them that do now call Evil Good and Good Evil for that in those Days they shall find the difference But yet again to go one Step further VVoe also to the Proud and Scornful ones who are us'd to take State upon them and were never yet made to stoop nor to bow the Knee for that in those Days the Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the Rich Men and the cheif Captains and the mighty Men and every Bondman and every Freeman shall Rev. 6. 15 16. hide themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains and shall for great fear and anguish of Spirit beg of the Rocks and Mountains to fall on them and to hide them from the Pursuing VVrath Oh that such might call to mind the Nobles of Jerusalem in the Siege of that Famous City who when the Temple was on Fire and they standing on the VValls had fair means to escape and yet desperately possest with bitter angush of Spirit and confounded in the perplexity of their woful State threw themselves headlong into the Burning Flames of the Rubbish of the Holy Temple rather then make escape to lengthen their desperat Lives Joseph of the Wars Lastly VVo VVo to the whole Crowd of the Prophane VVorld because in those Days all their whole Hopes shall at once expire and turn to Dust Oh how unspeakably Lamentable was that Agony of all People at once in the Holy Land at what time the Flame of the Temple like the blaze of a mighty Bonfire ascended with violence up to Heaven then was there an Universal Shriek all over the City and
on the Mountains all about far and wide every where within Sight of the Fire the doleful Noises answered with Mutual Outcrys and most bitter Moan And as if it had been their only remaining pleasure to bewail there was no end of their Lamentation For on the Temple of the Lord as they called it having fondly set their Hearts when they saw it on a Light Flame it represented in their Phantasies as if the Body it self had been an Hell-Fire where remained no more Hopes but that the Soul also must needs Perish Now in our Days we have no such Temple to Lament but yet every Man has his Diana which is as great in his Imagination as was Diana with the People of Ephesus which when it happens to be destroyed our whole hopes do fail therewith and when a Mans Heart fails it is as when the Foundation of an House gives way at what time besure the whole Building is to Perish therewith while the Spirit bears up it bears all Calamities but when the Spirit is once wounded then a Mans burthen immediately becomes insupportable For in such a Pro. 18. â—4 case dispair approaches and like a Storm oppresseth the Mind and Imagination after which follows such a Confusion in all Thoughts that a Man is no longer able to Govern himself by Council but Rashly exposes himself unto the Mercy of every Eminent Danger as the Jewish Nobles when they threw themselves head-long into the Fire or as Judas when he Hang'd himself And such is the like to be the Torment of the ensuing Threatning Times So much therefore may serve for this three-fold Description I come next unto Application If things stand thus as we have the warranty of Christ and of Daniel for it Then what kind of Persons ought we to be and that in all admonition of solid Reason as well as in Obedience to the Dictates of Conscience and Duty The answer is obvious For there is but one Path to follow that bespeaks safety all others being visibly defeated and that is to pursue the Peace of God which consisteth in these few Rules 1st Set your Affections upon things above and not on things here Col. 3. 2. below there is a necessity in the case this whole world is like to Perish the Heavens will be melted down and the Earth burnt to ' Ashes but the word of the Lord abideth for ever God is a present Psal 46. 1 2 3 help in time of trouble therefore saith the Psalmist we will not fear though the Earth be removed and the Mountains carryed into the midst of the Sea though the Waters thereof Rear and be troubled and the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof In God is safety and no where else Necessity therefore requires it that we set our affections on things above and not on things here below For Col. 3. 2. when such Tribulations come the like whereof were never known Riches Honours and Pleasures are but Bul-works of Straw that can make no kind of Fence no not at all or like Plaisters wrong applyed which vex the Wound but heal it not while the greater a Man is in Wealth and Honour he is but as it were the greater bait allowing to be the sooner devoured But in Christ Joh. 16. 33. there is Peace and in a good Conscience is true safety Now here will some say it may be so but the Virtues of Object Gods Peace and the Glory of things above are matters above us hard to be attained And though the things of this Life are failable yet the others not appearing unto our Eye we must lean unto what we can reach and let them go as far as they can and the rest we must adventure The truth is The Natural Man perceiveth not the things the An. good and great and glorious things of God because they are only spiritually discerned and he has not the Faculty of spiritual 1 Cor. 2. 14 1â— discerning But yet 1st He may perceive that there be some that have that Faculty and by Vertue thereof do despise the World in Comparison of those things of Heaven which by Eaith they do discern And 2dly If others have it why may not we also gain such a Joh. 16. 7 13. Ch. 3. 3 5 Ex. 36. 26. Faculty seeing Christ has promised to give us also of his Spirit whch shall teach us all things both by Enlightning our Minds and changing our Hearts And 3dly If so what great incouragement have we to try and improve our Faith that by using the means such as Reading Hearing and Prayer we may at last see how good the Lord is and so attain for our selves an Assurance of Safety beyond the Weak and Treacherous supports of Worldly Pomps and Vanities The importunity therefore of Eminent Dangerous Times Pregnantly requires and Commands as we hope to be saved and do render our own welfare both here and for ever to take and follow such an Effectual Course as may serve us come the worst come that can come But here again will some say and confess that it may be good Object Council perhaps that is given to look towards Heaven but that the setting of the Affection that way which is altogether superna-natural is matter of so great difficulty that we have no hopes to compass it and besides the Afflictions by the way thereto are so Sharp and Severe that without some incouragement from the things of the Flesh which naturally we understand there is no Subsisting In answer to this by our Saviour is proposed saying In your Patience An. 2 possess ye your Souls Intimating that Patience is a Remedy La. 21. 19. sufficient to support us under all Afflictions and Temtations and however miscarriages may befall our Bodies yet our Souls shall be Safe and Chearful and quit of all Dangers Patience is a Divine Vertue whereby a Man is enabled to bear his Cross with as much ease as if it were not the Essence and Strength of this Vertue consisteth in a Stock of Courage and the Power of Habit Facilitating endurance The Horse is a Beast of great Courage and crys Job 39. 20 21 22 23 24 25 c. Pro. 28. 1. A Ha at the sound of a Trumpet and rejoyceth at the Battel and the shouting of the Captains And when the Righteous are made by the Grace and Power of Gods Spirit bold as Lyons can not they Scorn at Fear think we as well as an Horse and endure the Wracking and tearing of Flesh as well as a Mastiff-Dog and if so then with how much the more ease shall they bear with the loss of Goods and Fond Pleasures And Habit consisteth in the Practice of use which makes endurance easie The Labouror by his use and habit of Labour can abide to dig all Day with as much ease as a Gentleman stands by and looks on The Philosophers and Pagan Men of old were enabled by meer acquired Habits to despise Wealth and Worldly