at him Hail King of the Jews and make a sport at his misery And thus many times the cursed Lusts within insult and triumph and mock the poor Soul when it is in this miserable strait and upon the nick of Life and Dâ—ath Can you read it 7. They sought false witness against Christ They were busie to search and enquire out all that could come against him right or wrong they matter not And if you mind in this day there will be a most strict search and enquiry made if any can come in against the Soul to prove it a Deceiver and Hypocrite in all it hath done or said for Truth Can you not read the Parable What inquisition is made by the high Priests to prove against the soul that all its best good was tainted all it hath ever done or spoke for God that all this was in deceit and a base selfish taint ran in all that there is no singleness in the bottom to carry it through This is the thing the Enemy mainâ—y aims at and this cuts to the heart as a sword to be thus upbraided and dog'd with accusations and outcries within that all was but deceit and the Soul shall come to nothing c. And this I would have you mark what will surely befall us in the day of our calamity what dealing we may look for and expect if we will follow our Master and tread in his steps Many speak much of the Death of Christ but they come not to it to know and feel it in themselves But if we never be planted together with him into his death never shall we partake of his resurrection if we come not to the same submission of heart to say Thy Will be done And in this word I told you seven Things were considerable which Christ accepts of and consents unto though the Execution was yet to come and pass upon him 1. He submits to be betrayed by one of his own House by a Disciple one of the Twelve one that goes for a Friend and had another heart given him though never a new heart 2. He submits to be betrayed into the hands of sinners a multitude come against him and there I opened to you seven particular Aggravations Now to come to the next Thing 3. He submits and yeelds to be put to death wrongfully He is falsly accused falsly judged falsly condemned They bring nothing truly but only lyes against him and yet he submits to take up death though never so unjustly condemned They lay that to my charge which I never did and therefore their Witnesses could not agree there is ever a jar will be between lyes One comes and witnesses This man blasphemed and said I am the Son of God another says This man said I will destroy the Temple of God made with hands and in three days raise one made without hands And this was a lye He had said no such thing but spake of the Temple of his Body And thus is the Soul dealt within this day false Witnesses come against it and upbraid it Well you said once you should never be moved you should never be left nor forsaken of God but that he was your Father for certain and you should be saved When alas the Soul that is to be saved never durst conclude any such thing till it be sure indeed but in its best day ever it stands in fear and jealousie what the end shall be Other Witnesses come and bring in a false charge on the other hand ' Well you said once there was no God no ' Heaven no Hell nor Life to come And this is a flat lye also The Soul to be saved could never nor durst ever say there was no God though it hath truly complained and bewailed that it knew not God nor Heaven nor the life to come it was dark and ignorant in these cases as a blind creature and this was its heavy woe and bitterness And all this while the Witnesses agree not they differ in their Tale and their Accusations are all false and unjust and groundless no one true thing is brought against him and yet he must dye still they cry Crucifie him crucifie him and he submits to take it up But what is the reason why must he dye when no just Cause is found against him 1. Because it is determined so it is the determinate Counsel of God it should be thus though brought about by wicked hands 2. He dyes for the glory of God that his Power and Might and Truth and Faithfulness might appear the clearer in raising up from the dead As Christ said of the blind man Not for this mans sin nor his parents was he born blind but for the glory of God Alas were man to dye for sin for that very cause and no other he might dye again and again ten thousand times over and never have done the work No but precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints They dye not to satisfie for their sin but for the glory of God Did the Father lay any thing to the Prodigals charge when he came home No his sin was that he came no sooner the father was ready to receive him notwithstanding all his rags and riotous behaviour this hindered not his acceptance but his keeping away from his father that was his great sin When they accuse Christ as a glutton a wine bibber a Companion of Publicans and Harlots a Breaker of the Sabbath a Blasphemer and would put hâ—m to death for these alas they charge him unjustly he is not guilty of these So all that is layd to the charge of the Soul in that day by the Enemy all the hypocrisie and deceit and envyings and coverings and lustings alas all this belongs not to the Son of God the Truth is clear But these are the Devils goods his ware and he and his goods must perish together The Truth is free and disowns and hates all and the man take him as separate from that evil Spirit as standing alone and he is harmless and innocent only his woe add misery is to be cumbered and pestered and plagued with these goods of the Devil lodged within him But now the Accusation and Charge is never layd rightly and truly for then the Enemy must accuse himself which he will never do He never hits rightly on the sore where the Souls great woe and misery and weakness lies that is hid from these false Witnesses but they venture to speak desperate and punctual lyes if it were possible to destroy the Soul by them if you do but mind how the wheels move within when ever the man is indeed put to a strait and stands in anguish then the Lyar steps up and witnesses falsly then they say acted by this Spirit 'T is you Moses and Aaron that have made our savor stink in the nostrils of Pharaoh and his servants and you have brought us into this Wilderness to slay us with thirst It was all
have shew'd you seven Ways by which if the Lord prevent not men may come in upon us to destroy the Body Now I come to the next general Thing Viz. Thirdly The Exhortation given Fear not them that can kill the Body And why should not They be feared 1. Fear not in regard of them that shall do it 2. Fear not in regard it is but the Body they kill 1. Fear not them that can kill the Body Fear not the men the persons that shall do it and that for these four Reasons 1. Because they are but men and man at his best estate is altogether vanity Alas They that go about to kill this body what are they themselves but a vain thing a nothing a shadow how ever strong and high conceited they may be yet alas all Nations are but as the drop of a bucket and what is a man that shall soon fade as the grass that he should be feared 2. Fear them not because they are but the Instrument the Rod in the hand of another and they cannot move nor stir a foot or hand farther then they shall be suffered and permitted and ordered They are but like the wheels of a Clock take off the weights and the Clock stirs not Alas though they may threaten and resolve and take counsel never so strongly yet they are not their own Lords they shall do neither more nor less then the hand will make use of the sword and therefore our Fathers in all their sufferings have looked through and beyond the instrument to the hand that rules and acts all I was dumb saith David and kept silence because it was thy doing 3. Fear them not but rather pity them Alas 't is woe and misery enough to all such as shall have a hand in this work They are imployed about a hard service it is their misery they are hackned by the Devil to do this mischief against the Truth As Christ saith of Judas It had been good for that man he had never been born Who ever shall be an instrument in this work alas 't is misâ—ry enough their case may be pitied by us rather then their malice feared 4. Fear them not in this respect because before their plots be ripe they may be cut off and dye and be layd in their graves How many such Cases have been known Haman what a strange plot and how surely had he layd it to cut off the Jews root and branch I but the mischief returns upon his own head before his plot comes to an issue he is cut off himself Alas how soon is it done His breath is but taken away and man turns to his earth and in that very day all his thoughts perish All plots and designs and contrivances come to nothing Remember O my People saith God what Balack consulted and what Balaam answered And yet see how all their designs were frustrate and blasted and came to nothing And in our own Kingdom how many plots have been thus prevented when they have been even ripe for execution So in that Powder Treason when all was fit and but now a candle only wanting to destroy and blow up all yet in the very nick it is found out and prevented Therefore fear them not if God will prevent he can soon do it be they never so strong and desperate and malicious yet He can but take away their breath and alas they may be rotten and stink in their graves before their plots are accomplished When the wicked flourish like the grass and the workers of iniquity like the green herb yet then it is that they might be cut off for ever So that were we but truly principled and instructed we might have our greatest encouragement where we make our greatest fears viz. from the strength and heighth and flourishing of our Enemies when they carry all before them yet Fear them not 2. Fear not them that can kill the Body in regard of the Body which they can kill They can reach no farther then the Body and what is the Body 1. That is but a poor outside a shadow it is but as the cracking of a shell to kill the Body 2. The Body is a perishing thing that will soon dye of it self if none should take a sword against it it will soon dye and moulder 't will fall of it self like the fruit of a Tree let it but alone till it come to be ripe and you need not shake it the fruit will drop and fall of themselves Therefore Fear not them that can kill the Body They kill but a dead man cut down a little grass like Jonas gourd up in a night and gone in a night 3. Fear them not for they kill but the Body and that is not that which is to enter into glory this body is to turn to dust this flesh and blood which you see is not to inherit the Kingdom this Corruptible must put on Incorruption this Corn must dye before it shall bring forth that Body which is to abide God giveth to every seed his own body as it pleaseth Him He will give a Body but not this body this flesh and blood which is sown in Corruption therefore Fear not them that can kill the Body And I could wish that always in all our fears and threatenings from men these seven Considerations might stick by us to keep us up from fearing both in respect of the men themselves and also the Body that only is in their power to kill Alas it is but a poor Cask when they have done their worst that they can touch that which will soon dye alone and save the labour of being killed and should it hold out never so long yet this is not it that is to enter into glory it must break and go to the grave at the last Earth must go to Earth Corruption cannot inherit Incorruption No unclean thing must enter into that City and this is an unclean house a Body of Death and Sin In my Body saith Paul I find no good thing but a Law of Sin in my members rebelling against the Law of my mind and that must dye and not enter into life And thus far you heard the Negative opened What you are not to fear Fear not them that kill the Body c. And how have most of our days hitherto been spent about this body and how are the world all of them lost and drowned in carings and providings about this what to eat and what to drink and what to put on We have been more foolish in this then the Lillies and Sparrows and Ravens they take not these cutting and perplexing cares and yet they are preserved and provided for and what have all our carings brought about to us but sorrows and misery they have not added the least cubit to our stature But now we come to the fourth thing 4. Who then is to be feared Fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell Fear Him fear the Lord He that
foregoing Verse According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledg of Him that hath called us to glory and vertue Where four things are layd down in which these precious Promises are fulfilled Life Godliness Glory Vertue These are the exceeding great things promised to be though not yet attained For it is one thing to have a Promise given and another to see the accomplishment of it as Christ saith to his Disciples I will send you the promise of my Father the Holy Ghost was promised before but yet to be sent by Christ 1. The first thing promised to which you are called is Life as the promise was to Sarah That according to the time of Life God would surely visit her and she should conceive c. The Spirit of Life is promised to you though yet the Thing is to be accomplished For how do we lie at present in our graves like Dead men long out of minde how dry and desolate and waste because the Spirit of Life that should quicken and enliven is not come The time of Life is not accomplished but the promise is gone forth that at the set time He will surely visit Sarah and the dry womb shall conceive though Abrahams body be dead and Sarahs womb dead and all seem to work to the contrary For great is the desolation now upon us We are sealed in our graves under death but yet this is the promise That the Dead shal hear the Voyce of the Son of God and live And This is an exceeding large and precious Promise 1. Life implies in it a freedom from death a recovery and deliverance out of its power Alas to Live is another manner of thing then we have conceived it We have gone about and acted and spoke like living men but have we Lived in all this have we been yet ever acquitted and freed from fears of death The Terrors of Death made me afraid saith David Are you not yet kept all your life time under this fear of Death You can never have rest nor quiet because the Jaylor is ever at your heels you are not yet freed from him Death reigned it is said from Adam to Moses now Adam was made a Living Soul He had a life to see and know good and evil but yet he could not come at it could not reach the Tree of life a sword was set to keep him off there But the second Adam is a quickening Spirit He hath life in Himself He was raised up by the power of God never to dye more and this is life indeed Now how many in the World are there that never yet came to be Living Souls to have understanding and light to know good and evil but when brought to that yet there is no freedom from Death Death reigns from Adam to Moses to that farther light which comes in by the Law opened and read to the Soul When the Commandment came saith Paul sin revived and I dyed Death yet reigned And now to be freed from this cruel Tyrant from eternal Death and to be made partakers of Life is an exceeding great and precious mercy Who can value it 2. The Man that is alive is capable of instruction and teaching He can hear and learn from others but the Dead know nothing at all saith Solomon while we lie dead in darkness fears unbelief faintings of spirit so long we know nothing hear nothing we are capable of nothing of the minde of God All is confused and without order in this land of Death What is the reason think you there is such a stupid senceless careless Heart upon you not an ecchoing back as was in Davids Heart When Thou saidst Seek my face My Heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek Why is not this minde and quickness and breathings of Truth in you Why you are dead Death reigns sin hath dominion you are not yet freed from that body of Death For were you but alive it were impossible but you should hear the voyce of the Son of God Truth would touch you and that is the first thing to be done to give you life and then sense and hearing will follow But you are now as unsensible at times as a post in the house and therefore you come and go and come and go and nothing is done why because you are under death It is not yet the time of Life and He will make us know we cannot quicken our own souls Adam would have been reaching to the Tree of Life when his Eyes were opened to know Good and Evil I but a flaming sword is set turning every way to keep the Tree of Life and if ever Adam live again it must be upon other terms He must be raised by another power and that freely of gift For he is now a dead man and cannot quicken his own Soul unless that quickening spirit of Life be put within and here lies the great strait to lie at the mercy of another whether He will ever again give life or not and if he will yet it must be in his own time too and not ours and therefore the Church is at a strait and complains There was none could tell her how long How long we must lie in the dust in our graves before Life shall be given we know not we cannot get it out of his hand Truth would never be good and sweet if we could attain it by our reachings Many may press in to take the Kingdom by violence and stealth but the Examiner will come Friend how came you in hither But of a certain this Promise of Life is given to some of us Hear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken The word is gone forth that you shall surely be visited at the Time of Life and till this be accomplished you cannot be capable of instruction Your reason and thoughts cannot reach it but are to sit silent in your graves till Christ shall call Lazarus come forth and so life be given and put within and this will be an eternal Life never to dye any more Death is no more to have dominion but yet it reigns This is your hour saith Christ and the power of darkness and whilest this government is up and those noises of Hell are within we cannot hear the voyce of Truth till the Soul is freed from the stormy wind and tempest and a calm be made We many times go about to quicken our selves and get life at our own hands and so reach up hopes and conclusions and promises to bear up a while but alass all must down again we must to our center to our graves till the spirit of Life be put in We are asking what we should do and what is our way as if then we could easily turn and do it but alass there is a mistake in the bottom Life must first be given us and we must rest in our graves till then and sit in silence in our darkness and
wisdom and will believe God no farther then we can see him but keep off our misery though we are warned by the voyce of the Cryer and warned by our own hearts to know how deceiveably they have dealt with us yet we will hold our hold and not give up all flesh for corrupt and wretched and cry out In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing Till this we must welter in our misery no Cure will come 3. We have been warned by Providence of this an ordering Hand of God hath preach'd That all flesh is grass How hath it taken away some of us by Death and how hath the world a late been let loose upon the rest What plots and contrivances are there on foot to break us a pieces if the Lord prevent not What stirings are there and waitings for our halting And what mean all these stirs and hurly-burlies Sure they have an end they come for the destruction of the flesh they come to shew that flesh yet lives that there is a fleshly coming together fleshly hearing and trusting in our outward mercies crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and so rest in the shadow and come not to the preparing of an Ark indeed And therefore you see how it hath fallen upon some of us to be divided and taken away by force and carried to strange Tryals And think not with your selves that they were greater sinners then the rest No but certainly unless we repent that are yet left together the Hand will go against us and the men of the world shall have their wills to root us out from being a People Therefore if we shall be warned this day to lay it to heart it will be well if the Word and the Work and the present hand of Providence if all make you consider and know that all flesh hath corrupted its way and that out of flesh you must come then it 's well Out of Sodom you must come that is certain and if one thing will not do it another shall We have certainly lived all of us besides the mercies afforded We might have been Teachers of others for the time but alas we have been dull of hearing and have need to be taught into the first Principles of repentance from dead works Therefore there is need now at the last you should be warned That all flesh is grass and this you will grant in a word But come to particulars and there your fleshly wisdom wilâ— be Judg what is right and what is wrong and flesh will never judg it self and so all is kept off from seizing upon the heart for certainly else you could never keep up to live alone as you do upon your own thoughts and counsels without the Lord As it is said God is not in all their thoughts Oh therefore Consider this all you that forget God! And whilest it is called to day harden not your hearts Fall under the mighty hand and own your misery and if you know it not be jealous and enquire with fear What means this voyce of the Cryer ' Am I indeed so corrupt and miserable and know it not Say with Job What I know not teach thou me till the Thing be opened for some way or other this Lesson must be learn'd you That All flesh is grass and the Lord spares none of you and nothing in any of you but All flesh the whole House of Israel have corrupted their way You are all guilty and have turned aside to vain things and have forsaken the Lord days without number and the strait is not yet upon you The Lord make you sensible where you stand But then 2. We have been warned of that too as Noah was That the End of all flesh is come before God How often hath this been told you That He will not always bear His Spirit will not ever strive The Patience will wear out at the last nay it is even expired and if the Lord move you not with fear as Noah was moved to prepare an Ark desolation will surely come the Flood will overtake you some way or other either Death will come and bind us fast from our wills in the grave or sufferings from unreasonable men will come to shatter us asunder and break us in pieces and then whither shall we turn for counsel and help in our straits How may we then prize the days which we now slight Surely one way or other God will take to bring All Flesh to an end And if we have no other hope nor confidence but in the flesh if we stick still in our self-wills and fleshly minds we shall not be able to stand in that day It is not your high looks nor great thoughts that will then carry you out not your knowledg of Scriptures nor understanding of Mysteries none of your carnal hopes nor carnal fears nor carnal reasonings will now stand as they have done formerly but the Flood will sweep away all that is born of the flesh Therefore if we shall be made to judg our selves before-hand and cry out O search me and try me if there be any way of wickedness in me and bow under the Judgment then it 's well for us But if there be such a saying within I shall have peace in the way of my own heart this evil shall not come that is spoke of I shall have ease and rest and dye in my nest saith Job if thus you put the evil day far from you it will surely overtake you unawares in a day when you think not of it when they were eating and drinking and marrying the Flood came c. 3. We have been also warned as Noah was to prepare an Ark We have been minded often both from a Word without and stirrings within to look after a sure testing place a Refuge a shelter that which will keep off all Floods and storms and Tryals Though the Earth be moved into the midst of the Sea yet saith David I will not fear His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord And in another place My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed There is sure such a place whither the Righteous can flee and they are safe In the Name of the Lord in that Tower under his wing in the secret of his Pavilions in his Bosom in his Love when that is opened to the Soul and a mansion given it there Now if thou hast all parts and knowledg and operations and good desires and good resolvings all these will not save thee in the day of the Flood The Waters will get above over all the high Mountains the whole Earth how high soever it be yet if it be of the Earth if it be born of the flesh and the will of man it will not stand But There is a Rest for the People of God Wast thou ever brought into that Hath the Lord Jesus ever shewed thee thy lot and portion in that Eternal Love that thou art chosen there
ravished my heart with one of thine eyes that is the thing to be beloved to find favour in his eyes Love will bear all things Love is as strong as death Love will save to the utmost and this Lot fal's on some Though Esther be an unlikely maiden one of another Country of mean degree yet she pleased the King and obtained kindnesse of him Chap. 2.9 and vers 17. and the King loved Esther above all the women and she obtained grace and favour in his sight and this is the thing that brings the Crown to her be she what she will Thou art fair my Love my undefiled Though she complains I am black yet he loveth her and Love sees no faults she is comely in his eye this is the portion of the chosen Generation 3. What a man chooseth to himself He taketh it out from other things he gathers it near to himself Thus is it with God He pulls the Brand out of the burning He takes the Poor out of the Dunghill leaves them not there and this is a sure token of choosing indeed where he leaves not a man or woman in their darkness in their bonds in their snares but pulls them out separates the Wheat from the chaff who hath translated us out of darkness into the Kingdome of his dear Son and in the Revelation it is said they were redeemed to God from amongst men and Christ saith because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you He takes his chosen ones out of their chains out of their filth out of a perishing condition cuts them off from the old stock That which he intends for a vessell of honour he takes it out of the Lump he leaves not his own in the same Lump with the rude world Now this is the great thing to be considered whether you are yet thus pulled out hath he made thee indeed to differ from the rude world art thou pulled out of the old Kingdome of Sathan where the whole world dwell in wickednesse though in severall ranks forms and degrees yet in the same Kingdome still not a new Creation made but this will make it appear he chooseth thee if thou canst say with David He plucked my feet out of the Snare he brought me up from the nethermost Hell and saith Jonah yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God that is his Salvation there it appears God is God We would vainly promise our selves as the whole world do to be saved by his love onely and so quietly passe our Lives in our own wills here and go to Heaven when we die but alas if ever saved we must be taken out of the condition we stick in Come out from amongst them my people that ye partake not of her Plagues Many have great words and great knowledge and light I but they are not yet translated out of the old Kingdom they remain still on the same stock but things that are chosen are taken out of the midst of other things and therefore Moses speaks to Israel Was ever such a thing known as that God should go to take to himself a people out of the midst of another people by great signes and wonders c. to take out of Snares and Bonds and Intanglements for God to say Come out of all and be you clean and be my people and I will be your God I shall inquire of you are you thus chosen are you pulled out of darkness and out of death and joyned to all the living Though in never so mean a place ne-never so despised an outcast though but a living dog yet if living if taken out of death and planted into a new Life that is the thing If there be that seed of Life it will ever be stirring and moving and bending like the Needle touched with the Loadstone set it where you will it can never rest untill it come into its right place till the Soul be brought to God Now there is a restless spirit in the Cains and lost ones but that is onely out of Torment the worm that never dyes and this restless spirit never moves towards God but runs from him but to this Centre the spirit of life ever tends to come from and out of all things unto God c. 4. Things that are chosen have no hand in their own choice All that befalls this Chosen Generation is of mercy and free goodness who made thee to differ nothing they could do could ever make a difference but the Case stands thus Two things lie together and a man passing by takes one and lets the other lie the things have no hand in it so is it in this choice of God all is done according to the pleasure of his own will see and read as you go that you may have nothing to glory and boast in nor challenge the least to thy self as if he saw some readiness or activity or towardliness in thee more then in others no he saw nothing but his own pleasure if there be any thing good in thee he put it there you have not chosen me saith Christ but I have chosen you This will make it appear free indeed when you shall be made to see there is no hand of yours in it but of his own good will begat he us No man ever begun first to seek after God but I was found of them that sought me not else no Soul would ever be saved Can a stone move upward no nothing can move to God but what came from God none can go to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven It is contrary to man who is born from beneath from the Earth to move upward his Centre is below unless he be pulled and drawn and born up and carried upon Eagles wings he falls to the Earth like a stone the natural man cannot please God he neither will nor can be subject to the Law of God and this is that God may have the glory alone in the work of Salvation as he says in Isa It shall be to me for a name and for a praise That he should save such unlikely ones and out of stones raise up children to Abraham this will seem wonderfull I did not think to have seen the Lord here saith Hagar when she had given up all for lost this will make the Soul say indeed as David doth God alone doth all 5. Things that are chosen are set apart for some speciall use a man hath some end in choosing them so was it with God in this choice he had a peculiar end and design to bring about and he chooseth some for that purpose but why are not all the world for this use True they might have been had he put in them the same spirit had he fitted the vessel to that purpose but he spends a great deal of cost and pains upon some he prepares the Vessell for that very purpose to put in new wine Old Bottles
but saith Paul I would to God you did reign viz. that it were such a reigne as would last and hold Now who spake he to not to the rude world nor to the ignorant but such as he had in his heart to live and dye with such as he had espoused to Christ the match was made but not the thing done they were not wrought off from all things nor wrought up to that one husband into the minde of Christ though out of a light instruction and choice the thing was owned and approved And here the man gets peace and ease and liberty is free from guilt and torments and perplexities the man can goe on either hand if a mind to God and Truth thither he can turn if a mind to the Creatures he can turn thither the door is open and he can suck sweet from every thing his wayes are all washt in butter smooth soft and easie And here saith David my mountain was so strong I said I shall never be moved here the man sits as a King this is his day of reigning But II. There is another dispensation follows a time of the Devils reign this is a sad and wofull change Another king arises which knows not Joseph the man when he was King he knew God and owned truth and joyned it with him in his Kingdom though yet in the throne Pharaoh will sit above the man was uppermost in all But now another king rises that will not know Joseph and he deals cruelly with Israel then the hard Task-masters and cruel burdens come he will know nothing but his own will and lust and cruelty And Wo to the inhabitants of the world when the devil comes down to reign amongst them when Jeroboam reigns that makes Israel sin And how often have our fathers been at sore pinches and cried out in bitterness of soul when this time of the devils reign was upon them It is a woful kingdom indeed a cruel reign And these seven Woes lie up in it 1. One Wo is that he is a strong man How have our fathers owned his might and cried out under it Thou hast delivered me saith David from my STRONG enemy for he was too strong for me And again My enemies live and they are MIGHTY And Hezekiah cries out Lord I am opprest undertake for me And again We have no might against this GREAT HOST Alas when the man compares but himself to him what a Nothing is he to this great Goliah but as a fly a worm a gnat a stripling and he a man of war from his youth And here the heart sinks and dies at the very thoughts of dealing with him Was he but an ordinary enemy that might be matched any ways and the thing but feasible to fight with him then Man would have some hope but alas he carries all before him Shall not one be cast down at the very sight of him as 't is said of the Leviathan who was a type of the devil Iron is counted as rotten wood to him he laughs at the shaking of a spear Who is able to deal with this monstrous Leviathan If ever you but begin to reason and tamper the matter with him you are certainly foiled and worsted he will surely get beyond you 't is in vain to contend with him But let him vaunt and boast and rail on the Kings commandment is not to answer a word that 's the way Truth points us to to be still and lie under and say with Christ This is your hour and the power of darkness Until we can go out against him as David did in the Name of the Lord let us never stir though he come and vaunt himself and reproach Israel fourty days yet there is no other way but with Hezekiah to spread the Letter before the Lord and cry under the misery 2. He is not onely strong but a thorowout malignant enemy maliciously set and bent to destroy all truth exalts himself above all that is called God root and branch he strikes at all he deals as Herod who killed all the children from two yeers old and upward that he might be sure to meet with the childe Jesus and not let him escape So this malicious enemy kills every budding and springing of God in the soul he kills all the light kills the single love kills all the good desires that not so much as a right word or desire or groan may live and in all this his aim is utterly to destroy the Truth the principle of God sown in the soul Alas he cares not else if he can but kill the little spark of the Spirit of life he cares not what else passes by and lives Let us hear and meet together and eat and trade and take ease and content this is not the thing he is set against so but to smite the king of Israel onely that is his plot that was the wicked counsel of Ahithophel to kill David onely and bring all the people back to Absalom Neither small nor great doth he strike at but the King onely he cares not what lives so the Lord Christ the Truth the Seed of life the Heart and Minde of God may die in us Such a height of wickedness is in him that nothing else will content him but the death of all that would be a Lord over him a controuler a King this Herod cannot bear That which sits in the kings gate and will not bow to him that resolved Truth that will not fall down and worship the Idol nothing will content Haman but the death of this though he get Decrees against all the Jews though invited to the Queens banquet and sit next the King yet nothing will content him whilst this Mordecai lives that Seed of God that root of the matter that which will not stoop and buckle to him that he aims at and his fingers itch to cut off this name of Israel for ever And Oh what a Wo is this to be under such a cruel malicious enemy that would not give a moments respite not so much as a little breathing-time for the Truth not a little hope not a little desire not the least stirring of an inclination but he 's upon it presently if it were possible to stop every chink that the smoaking flax might not have the least vent but be utterly extinct and quenched 3. A third great Wo lies in this that he hath a time and power given him of God to afflict and try God allows it and gives him leave to strike Job This is YOVR HOVR saith Christ an hour was given them And God saith I will cause them to pass under the rod. And 't is said in the Psalms He TVRNED the hearts of their enemies to hate them He gives him his time and commission to rend and tear waste spoil and imprison and none can call him to account for it his Commission will bear him out Alas what a day is this In the time when the Man reigned he promised himself
is more miserable still but then to be in a Famine too that the Soul can turn no whither for bread the Nobles come to the pit and there is no water the poore and needy seek water and there is none c. This is a wonderfull hard case indeed 4. Another misery of these Lepers was They were encamped round about with the host of the Syrians their enemies were all about them on every side and though they were such sorry worthless things so full of woes and miseries that it might scarce seem worth the while to kill them yet they stand in great fear of their Lives too lest their enemies should fall upon them and slay them for an Host was now come forth a sworn company of profest enemies against all that belong to Israel and have entred a League to cut off and destroy both root and branch and though the Soul be but as a dry leaf a Partridge upon the mountains a thing of no worth as David pleads with Saul Alas against whom is the King of Israel come forth against a flea such a sorry thing as I am So the Soul sometimes pleads alas what a wretched creature am I I am destitute of God and truth shut out from his people all overspread with a loathsome Leprosie ready to dye for hunger dryed up to nothing with want and famine and is not this misery enough Is there need of other force and violence an Host to come against me the Soul sometimes seriously debates the Case What is the meaning that all should thus conspire against a poor desolate creature a thing of nothing a few sorry Lepers that will soon dye of themselves though all should let them alone are you come out against me with Swords and staves saith Christ alas they might have spared that labour he was now in a most painfull agony in a bloody sweat his Soul was sorrowfull unto death under the sense and burthen of sin no need of a Sword against him The Soul that is indeed sensible knows and feels it is miserable enough though no enemy from without should ever strike a blow against it to be void of God a stranger to the Common-wealth of Israel to be a Leper full of sores to be ready to starve for hunger is not here load enough But to all these to be in continuall fears of death from an Host of enemies who can utter the miserie of this condition Surely if the Lord remove us not hence we cannot long live and continue here But 5. Another thing considerable in their present condition is The lively sense and feeling of their misery they were not asleep then the woe had been lesse but they feel where the shoe pinches As for our iniquities we know them the misery and fears lie hard upon their Souls If we sit here we dye and if we go into the City we dye the famine is there if we fall to the Army of our enemies in all appearance we dye they will surely kill us a great Strait it is truly if your Souls were sensible of it to lie still in a barren wilderness is to dye surely and if you stir a foot to get out there are pits to fall into and wilde beasts ready to devour and it is a thousand to one if one mischief or other do not destroy But all spoke in the general I told you had no force nor power in it if it come not home to us in our own conditions therefore I shewed you how the Case was ours we were the men we are the Lepers La. 3.1 I am the man that have seen affliction saith Jeremy by the rod of his wrath I told you 1. How we were out-casts cut off cast out from the common blessings which belong to Israel the word takes no effect hearing speaking and praying together they take no place touch not the heart but all we get is put into a bag of holes It comes in at one ear and goes out at another nothing abides to be blest unto us we said in our prosperity in the day of our flourishing we should never be moved nor see sorrow I but now how desolate are we voyd and destitute of all good how do we sit many a day not one good and sober thought doth passe through us because we sit as outcasts 2. An evill disease hath taken hold of us we are all overspred with the leprosie so that we cannot speak nor have any dealings with one another but we are in danger of being infected and tainted whatever we do or say or designe a selfish taint getâ— in and spoils all Let all your words be seasoned saith the Apostle but how unsavoury a breath runs in all ours unsavoury to our selves and unprofitable if not infecting to all that hear us 3. The famine is sorely upon us also and like to that which was in Samaria a Famine that puts us to it so hardly that we are made to eat our own children the fruit of our own thoughts and wisdom and reason we have no Bread from Heaven now rained upon us but Bread from the earth that is from beneath our own fleshly thoughts and counsells we have nothing else in a Strait to refresh our weary Souls withall all is spent and the Prodigall seeks to fill his belly with the Husks that the Swine eat and they fail him also 4. There is an Host of enemies hath beset us Troops that continually seek our lives and wait for our halting both from within and from without and they threaten like Goliah never to give over till they have given our flesh to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air till they have undone us when the poor soul sits sadly bemoaning it self alas I am an outcast shut out from the favour of God and of his people and am made to sit alone in my chains Alas I am a Leper and unclean My wounds stink and are corrupt a loathsome disease hath all over-run me there is no sound part from head to foot Alas I am ready to dye of the famine the word takes no place hearing is not blest to me that which was once dearer then thousands of Gold and Silver sweeter then the Hony and Hony comb more sought for then necessary food yet now all is gone the Soul is empty and dry and heartless the famine hath consumed all and yet must an Host too come against the Soul in this case this adds to all our misery greatly Here new fears perplex the Soul lest the enemy come unawares and slay it The Lepers know not what shall befall them and they are sensible of all these miseries now upon them Alas you that go and come and sit here as pictures and are no more sensible then the stones in the wall all this is nothing to you and I am wondering sometimes how it is possible you should thus sleep away your time and never consider you are going apace to Hell and
they should not enter into his rest and so they that were invited to the Feast and draw back and make excuses see what comes of it he swears they shall not taste of his Supper I could desire you might never come hither to hear unless there be a heart indeed to go on it is not easie dallying with the truth not like going to ordinary Chuâ—hes and meeetings there you may hear many years and never be touched to the heart nor found so guilty for not going on in the Truth but it will not be so here the Word will surely take place and be either a savour of life to life or of death unto death And thus I have opened to you the present miserable condition the Lepers sit in and brought it home to our own case and the case indeed is miserable to sit down in it and if ever we rise it will be a wonderful recovery You that are sat down O consider and think of it for if you are left here it had been good for you you had never been born Then I have shewed you how they were hem'd in with Death if they go back they dye if fall to their Enemies in all appearance they dye I apply'd it to our particulars and shewed you three Things we were brought to from which if we turn back it is no less then Death 1. We have seen the end of all the Doctrines of the world an end of all the ways of false worship 2. We know how we are short and what we want and that nothing but a certainty and clear evidence of the love of God opened and sealed to our Souls and that we may be made like to him nothing else can ever content and satisfie us 3. We are come to receive and entertain the Proclamation of a self-denying way to bid farewell to ease and quiet and self-pleasing and take up the Cross dayly and if in any of these Cases we fall back we are surely undone And now to speak of the last Thing observed from the words III. THE GREAT SUBMISSION AND BUCKLING OF THEIR SPIRITS Come and let us fall into the Host of the Syrians for we can but dye Can but dye Alas and is that little How are their Souls ground to powder and their hopes layd in the dust and they venture with their lives in their hands In this Buckling of the Lepers I would observe to you three Things 1. They rise for they were set down but are made to look about and say If we sit here we dye And must they rise now This is a strange time and case to stir in what when out-casts when Lepers when almost starved when cast off on all hands I now they rise need makes the naked man run They do not stand to dispute the case as our hearts sometimes do Alas I am unclean and an out-cast and filthy and should I now look towards God But if the famine pinch'd you to the heart it would make you up and be going and not reason the case I am ragged and torn and uncomely 't is not a time to look for any message from God whilest the case is thus with me Alas Hunger stands not upon manners and modesty it says Give me bread or I dye The sore famine buckles the heart and makes it stoop to any thing It turns to the hand that smites it falls at the foot and says Let him say and do with me what seems him good Lo here I am 2. In this submission of theirs they fall into the Host of the Syrians they fall upon the sword Now the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God with this it cuts and divides and pierces to the heart and when the Soul is brought to this pinch it bows indeed it accepts of all Let him read and say and do what he will let me hear all his mind the judging part the cutting part that which most strikes to the quick The heart is not now coy and nice and stands upon those terms of picking and choosing it says not This is too sharp and the other too cruel I cannot bear that hard saying or the other dealing No but now to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet Every word of God is good saith Agur. And Paul under this buckling of heart cries out The Law is holy just and good but I am carnal c. Thus the Leper crouches down and lays his neck to the block if the sword will spare it well if not it lies to take the blow I can but dye and with Esther If I perish I perish 3. Consider the carriage of the Lepers in this great strait They rush not on furiously and desperately and say Come all shall be well they take not the Kingdom by force nor do they go utterly fainting and despairing shutting out all hopes of their lives by hard conclusions but with a sober submitted spirit they venture ready to take up what ever befalls bâ—â— whether life or whether death that they leave and conclude not the matter And in this posture doth the Soul truly buckled ever draw near to God And therefore when ever you are upon your hasty conclusions one way or other saying Sure I shall come to nothing or sure all will be well with me you say you know not what both are alike false and come not from a submitted heart that stands in the strait and gives not up all for lost in the worst time How did Josephs Brethren expostulate the case and plead with him when he seemed most harsh to them and though they buckle and own We are all my Lords bondmen we are guilty yet they plead and hang on him and cannot give over but O my Lord saith Judah let thy servant I pray thee speak a word in my Lords ears c. This is a token of a Soul that is at a want indeed Many talk of a Heaven of a God and of an eternal life but 't is but in way of complement they are not at a want indeed their Souls are not fired with a thirst for the living God but want will carry through all Though the Soul be an out-cast and the enemy reproach it and upbraids how ill it hath dealt with God and how can it ever hope for mercy yet nothing can stop or hinder it the needs press it on and the noyse continually rings in its ears If we sit here we dye Now for Use of this Consider 1. Do you indeed hear this voyce in your Souls ever living and speaking and giving no rest If I sit here I dye O that it were the Lords will to thunder it in your ears that you might ever hear it sounding If we sit here we dye Who of you have attain'd to that certainty that are sure you shall never fall short There is a two-fold Death A Death of your good and light and love and enlargements and attainments that may be come to in the Truth and here you
among the People and this the Soul shall find true in it self there is a time when Christ is strong and can get away from them a time when the Soul could deal with its lusts and curb and beat them in when ever they appeared and like Sampson when ever the Philistins came to bind it It could but arise and shake it self and get loose again I but there is a time when Sampsons strength is departed and the Philistins prevail and carry him by force and put out his eyes and make him grind in a mill and he cannot withstand such hold do sins lay upon the Soul They take such fast hold on me saith David that I cannot loook up and again speaking in the name of Christ My sinnes are gone over my head as a burthen too heavy for me to bear they stick close to the Soul that it cannot get loose they stick as the flesh to the bones that the Soul is no wayes able to shake off these Lions and Tygers and devouring beasts that lay hold upon it it is impossible for the soul to get them off but it â—s led captive and made to serve and follow whither this wicked rabble will lead it and here Iob cries out That which my Soul refuseth to touch is made my sorrowfull meat and so Paul cries out that he was a slave and sold under sin and that which I hate and would not do that I do saith he such a strange haling is there and leading captive by sin And this you will all have a time to find true that your iniquities will be too hard for you you will not be able to stand before them they will prâ—vail and have the victory else what need that challenge to Death and Hell where is your victory if they had not the victory once yes they surely will have the victory over all but now not to be left in Hell not to be holden of the grave but to be raised up by the same Almighty power which raised up Christ this will be the Salvation but this will be the sad day to the Soul when it shall be thus left in the hands of Sinners In those dayes they shall mourn c. We promise fair I can submit to be ruled ordered and part with this and other and be denyed of my wil and runs of heart alass you know not your heart nor the multitude and strength of your enemies They wil surely come to be too hard for you that you shal not be able to get out of their hands but a base rabble company of unworthy lusts which somtime the Soul hath scorn'd should touch it now lay hold lead it away like an ox to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the stocks and it cannot help it nor wring any ways out of their hands 4. They bring him to the high Priest and set him before a partial unequal judg that is set against him and right or wrong will certainly do what he can to put him to death and thus is the Soul dealt with in this day when it is betrayed into the hands of its lusts They presently lead and hale it to be judged by their own King the Devil he sits in the seat of Judgement to hear and cast the matter he who never favoured Truth was never a friend to it but a murtherer from the beginning seeking all wayes and means to destroy yet He must now be Iudge and condemn and accuse and upbraid the Soul in this day of its calamity Now Shimei comes out and upbraids and curses David Come out thou bloody man Now all the blood of Sauls house is come upon thee Alas there was another hand in it he was clear and innocent concerning Sauls blood he had spared his life when it was in his hands to slay him and had done good to Sauls house but yet this false charge must be laid in his dish and he must bear the railing and go away as guilty O Lord if your Souls be awake and do but mark the carriages within you will see what a stir this wicked Judge makes to find some false accusation or other for which he may pass a sentence of death against the Soul how doth he bestir him to prove that all that ever the soul had or did was but a deceit and in hypocrisie and no truth was in the bottome of it and this is a token you were a deceiver saith the Judg and this proves you will come to nothing you ever had a base taint in all you did a base selfish end and here the poore creature stands amazed and silenced at these cruell charges when presently this wicked Judge is upon its back and will not give a breathing time but asks an answer Answerest thou nothing to what these accuse thee of he calls for an answer in a moment when the Soul stands amazed and nonplust and knows not how to get up a sober thought or word at such an instant to plead for it self yet then they press to have the Sentence pass against the Soul as if there were nothing of truth and singleness but a dissembling hypocriticall heart in all 5. When Christ begins to speak for himself presently one smites him upon the mouth answerest thou the high Priest so why saith Christ If I have spoken evil bear witness of it but if good why smitest thou me So if you can read the Parable when ever the Soul in this day goes about to speak a word for it self though never so fairly and soberly and according to truth opening the thing as it is presently one or other of this Rabble multitude flap it on the mouth some base fear or discouragement comes in What dare you look towards God Dare you speak or plead a word for your self Are not you found guilty and deceitfull here and there And do you look for mercy so that when this work must pass of bringing the Soul to death all things must work to that purpose it may not have liberty to speak a word to clear it self how innocent and clear soever it be 6. They crown him with Thorns A Crown of Thorns indeed 'T is said of the Thorns that they choked the seed and made it unfruitful A Crown of cares and pesters come in which way to take and what to do to escape this hand and get from the blow Oh that the King of Glory should wear such a Crown as this He that was born to a Crown of Glory a Crown of Gold yet he too must be rent with these Thorns He was under cares and fears and therefore 't is said He was heard in the things he feared He looked about to his right hand and to his left to see if there were any to help but he found none This Crown of Thorns rends his head the cares and fears which in the day of his flesh did beset him Then they put on a Purple robe in derision and scorn they mock
fire and live in the water That which nothing can shake But so far as the Salvation hath wrought a work indeed the Soul can say with David Though the Earth be moved and the Mountains cast into the midst of the Sea yet in this will I be confident c. So far as I am saved I am saved Death where 's thy sting Hell where 's thy victory This condemns and judges the World That this Ark takes in no water That there should be no staggering in the Soul but like Mount Zion which cannot be moved Wilt thou still hold thine integrity said that cursed Wife I says Job till I dye I will not give up my integrity But the man be he who he will be he never so wise bold and resolute to carry it out who hath not this Assurance by a sure and tryed work in his Soul I dare lay down my life for it there are times of staggerings and doubtings within calling his condition in question do what he can Let him nail his god never so fast yet Dagon must fall before the Ark some searching word of Truth will get in between the joynts of the closest armor and pierce their confidence do what they can 6. Noah condemns the World in this That though he be safe in the Ark and hath attained a sure refuge from the Flood yet this satisfies him not he is not at rest yet but sends forth the Dove to enquire about the abatement of the waters There is a condition beyond a sure and safe condition when Christ himself the Saviour is to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father when He promises to pray the Father to send them ANOTHER COMFORTER the Spirit of Truth to abide with them for ever And this is that Dove which the Soul can now send forth to carry out its requests to God and bring tydings from him And this is that which condemns the World That they have no such intercourse with God they have no such Spirit given to make their requests known by Though they may cut themselves and cry aloud O Baal save us yet no Answer comes there is not this Dove which Noah sends forth that can bring an Olive branch of Peace in its mouth and give a sure intelligence that the waters are abated that the wrath is ceased 7. He condemns the World by the real work of saving his house He prepared an Ark to that purpose to save his house and it did the thing intended He did save them And this judges all the World who though they build much yet they save none The wall and the dawber fall together They flee from their sheep when the Wolf comes and leave their eggs in the dust like the Ostrich But Noah did the thing he did save his house He left them not in the mid way till he brings them into the Ark He travels and is pained in Soul till Christ be formed in them This is that Interpreter one of a thousand that can shew to man his righteousness and never leaves till that be done and this condemns the World That sensual and devilish part will never endure thus to stick to the work to cleave to a people through all gainsayings opposings and ill requitals Many can preach so long as they may have honor and gain and be well thought of but now take away their Money or cross their Wills let them be despised and dishonored and they can presently be gone and leave their people and rid their hands of trouble so that they will stick to none farther then they can serve themselves and their own ends and thus nothing comes of their preaching They bring their people to nothing in the conclusion I have known some Ministers my self that have been preaching these thirty years and not a man converted by them What a miserable case is this But alass they were never taught themselves and how can they teach others But the Noahs they have a charge given them over their people they cannot get from them so easily You shall not see my face unless your youngest Brother be with you said Joseph They must not leave a hoof behinde that belongs to Israel Such a charge as this is layd upon me concerning some of your Souls That if you fall short I shall bear the blame for ever The blood will be required at my hand if I deal not faithfully and bring you home if you are not saved to the utmost But the encouragement to me is That some have gone through this work Noah did save his house his labor was not in vain and the Promise to Christ is He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied Noah is rewarded for his many years labor He saves his house And if the Lord would please after all my twenty years Travel and Preaching but to give me a People that might indeed build this Ark and attain to a sure knowledge of their Eternal Condition That they shall LIVE FOR EVER It would requite me for all if some of you might come forth thus to be Judges of the World and build such an Ark of Truth as that all the Dagons and Idol-worships of the World must fall before it III. The third Effect that follows this building of the Ark is this He became an Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith And about this three things may be considered 1. What is this Inheritance It is a very large Inheritance it is to enjoy the Lord to be joyned and made one Spirit with him The Lord is my portion saith David The Lord is my lot my refuge the lifter up of my head This is a wonderful large Inheritance Great is the Portion of his People Thus shall it be done to the man whom he delights to honor He shall have an Inheritance in Light an Inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away no altering of it When I awake I am still with thee saith David His Inheritance abides sure to him Many have a great Portion to look on they have a great stock of Peace and Knowledg and Hopes and Confidence I but a worm eats through the Gourd in a night Riches make them wings and flee away Thus is the hope of the Hypocrite His house falls when he comes to lean on it His great bulk of confidence is but a heap of chaff which the wind soon blows away But David could say The Lord is my Portion I have enough The Lord lives and blessed be the Rock of my Salvation 2. What is it to be an Heir To be an Heir is to be born with a right and title to an Inheritance to have an Estate fall to one by right so that it cannot be cut off it can neither be sold nor given away from the Heir Now this is wonderful To be born with such a right and title to Eternal Life such a neer Interest in the Lord that nothing can separate from him neither tribulation nor sufferings nor life
nor death things present nor things to come None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand saith Christ This is wonderful 3. How came Noah to this Inheritance He became Heir of the Righteousness which is by FAITH He came to it by beleeving That is the way how this Portion is made over to all the Noahs even by Faith Though it belongs to them before yet they enjoy but as they receive and they receive as they beleeve Be it unto thee according to thy Faith They begin but with a little flock a little beleeving O ye of little Faith saith Christ but a small grain of mustard-seed A little Faith to set up with and that too of things not yet seen things out of sight out of hand and yet by improving this little how doth it grow and grow and spread to a large Tree What encrease comes of it It leaves not growing till it brings up the Soul and joyns it in to God himself till Noah is made an Heir of Righteousness And therefore O Lord that you were but brought to stick to this small beginning to beleeve the word of Prophecy which is gone forth concerning you How might it grow and encrease to a mighty and large Portion I have thus spoke many and great things to you from these words but the Sum of all hath been to this purpose 1. To shew how short you yet are where you lie and stick in the mire and have no Ark to receive you know not what shall become of you in the latter end 2. That your Souls might be put to a strait to look after such an Ark as Noah prepared such an Assurance and Security as may hold out in a Deluge such a sure certain and unquestionable estate as may stand in all storms and judg all the false ways and rotten shelters of the World And now if the Lord seize not the thing upon your hearts but it slip off like water as many words do then I know you will have no peace in your own consciences and you will never be Judges of the World nor come to Honor Noah was moved with Fear to the building of an Ark but now if that will not do it if Fear move not yet Will not such an Inheritance such a security move you as may be attained to There is a sure place there is a Rest there is a way of Wisdom which no fowl hath seen where no ravenous beast destroys which nothing can reach nor disturb The Lord seize it home upon your hearts to consider it THE Chosen generation AND ROYAL PRIESTHOOD WITH THEIR True Marks and Characters SERM. IX May 11. 1651. 1 PET. 2.9 But ye are a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of Him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvelous Light The Analysis I. A CHOSEN GENERATION At first all lay in one lump till the choyce made by God In choosing seven things considered 1. Men weigh and consider before they choose so God pitched on a people to be his with deliberation and advice not at random 2. Men affect what they choose what ever the thing be in it self so the Lord set his love upon a people delighted in his portion 3. Men separate and take out of other things what they choose so God pulls the Brand out of burning takes His out of all the World 4. In choosing that which is chosen hath no hand at all so God chose his people freely nothing in them to move him 5. Things chosen are set apart for some special use so the Lord had an End an use intended for the vessels of honor 6. Men promise themselves something in the things they choose so God expects fruit from his Vine Love and entertainment from his Chosen 7. Men have a special eye and care of things they choose so Gods Eye is after his Chosen in all Tryals and Sorrows II. A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD of the royal race sprung from the Lord himself of that stock Whence three things considered 1. They have an Interest in God can go to a Father not a Judg. 2. Hence great boldness to go to God fear and shame are cast out 3. Hence they prevail in what ever they ask according to his Will All was brought home to Particulars And lest all thrust in seven Notes were layd down to distinguish this Chosen Generation 1. A certain close in their Souls to Truth onely no shadows can deceive them 2. A certain weariness always upon them giving no rest in all enjoyments A want still 3. God is ever their utmost thing All others are content with Parts and Gifts c. 4. This Spirit presses on to the highest and most single way though never so sharp to it 5. This Generation have secret hintings spring at times That they belong to God 6. In greatest falls and sins no hintings as if utterly cut off because of sin 7. A witness always in their Souls That when ever they have a heart to return they shall be received The Father stands ready to receive the Prodigal He waits to be gracious this Hope ever speaks not thus with the Cains or those that belong not to God 1 PET. 2.9 But ye are a Chosen Generation c. GO round about Zion tell her Towers Mark ye well her Bulwarks that ye may tell it to the generation following For this God is our God for ever and ever He will be our Guide unto Death Psal 48.12 And again The Lord hath chosen Zion And again He will surely hear the afflictions of the afflicted and answer their cry Though they may now seem forsaken and forgotten though abjects and out-casts in the eyes of the World disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious So was it with our Lord and Master and so will it be with all them on whom the Father hath set his Love in like manner However the World may look on them or they judg of themselves yet in the Eye of God 't is thus Ye are a chosen Generation c. Now there is great need to distinguish between things and things that the Trumpet may give a certain sound who are this chosen People that are thus beloved for it belongs not to all men I came not but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Many widows were in Israel but onely to one poor widow of Sarepta was Elijah sent And it is not meet saith Christ to take the childrens bread and give it to the dogs Some are dogs as some are children and Peter tells Simon Magus plainly Thou hast neither lot nor part in this matter Lest every one should thrust in there are bounds set not All but YE are a chosen Generation Not every one that says Lord Lord shall enter Not every one that comes and hears and sits in the house among the children is of this chosen Generation of that blessed seed No but in Isaac shall