the badge 't is the beauty 't is the blessing of the Church My Dove is but one saith Christ the daughter saw her and blessed her Yea there the Lord comâ—…andeth the blessing even life for evermore Exod. 36.13 Phil. 1.27 Zach. 11.10,14 Cantic 6.9 Psal 13.3 throughout 5. Vnfeignedly both as concerns the external management of your Confession and the internal minde wherewith you confess You may not corrupt the Word of God nor contemper humane traditions with divine truths or cunningly dawb over your own worldly ends or errors yea or Gods work and interest with the enticing words of mans wisdom This work must be done in demonstration of the spirit and of power As of sincerity as of God in the sight of God so should you speak in Christ 2 Cor. 2.17 Col. 2.18,21 1 Cor. 2.45 Alas for the old holy simplicity and sincerity of Profession which is swallowed up most-what in the sink of selfish policy though spread and shadowed over with several guizes of piety Christians look to your spirits as well as speech Be sure you speak the truth in and from your hearts Bring us forth your good things out of the good treasure of a good heart Psal 15.1,2 Mat. 12.34,35 Let your thoughts sense what your tongues speak That is the excellent Confession which comes from experience in the speaker who speaks what he feels and is usually consequented with choicest effectâ— in the hearers who feel what the others speak 1 John 1.1,3,4 Act. 4.20,21 6. Vniversally both as respects things and times with the limits premised You must never flinch till you have finished your testimony nor forbear confessing till you have finished your course but must fight it out to the last drop in the good fight of faith as ever you would finde that Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge reserveth for his victorious Confessors who will not quit the Cause nor desert the Colours Rev. 11.7 2 Tim. 4.7 On with your spiritual armour you holy Confessors you and I in this cause abhor Civil gird them fast about you having the shield of faith in one hand and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God in the other These are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of sinne and Satan Follow the Captain of your salvation who was made perfect through sufferings Love not your lives to the death You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin Behold Christ hath set before thee an open door A bold Confession will have a blessed Conclusion in an happy Conquest or an honourable Crown Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life Rom. 13.12 Eph. 6.11 19. 2 Cor. 10.4 Heb. 2.10 Rev. 12.11 Heb. 12.6 Rev. 3.8 2.10 7. Vnoffensively Give no offence no not in any thing or unto any man that the blessed Gospel be not blamed 1 Cor. 10.32 2 Cor. 6.3 Lord it not herein over other men as if their faith were to be limited by thy faith much less by thy phancie 2 Cor. 1 24. 1 Pet. 5.3 Be lowly and meek in your answers to them that ask you yea though they are adversaries to you 1 Pet. 3.15 2 Tim. 2.25 Set aside whatever matters or modes of expression may justly harden or provoke them and study to please wherein thou mayest profit them 1 Cor. 10.33 Rom. 15.2 Comport your selves agreeable to the circumstances you are in Others lose the benefit and your selves may lose the blessing of your Confession by an unbecoming circumstance oft-times therein Mind what they can now bear who are private men Iohn 16 12. and whose authority they also bear who are publick Magistrates That your zeal for God may be tempered with submission to Governours as it ought and so neither those not these may take any just offence 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Rom. 13.4,5 8. Vltimately for God 'T is the end specially of intention that puts the due estimate upon any employment or action Spiritual exercises without spiritual ends signifie nothing in Gods esteem Zech. 7.5,6 Hos 7.14 The true value of all Confession whether vocal or virtual active or passive is principally from your end in Confession not from the end of Confession finis operis but from your end in Confession finis operantis Whatever profession you make or persecutions you endure if your purpose and design thereby determine but in your selves in self-applaus self-approbation c. you miserably destroy the same as to your souls advantage and our Saviours acceptation because you therein make your selves your God your idol and manifestly usurp upon the throne of God and shall therefore reap nothing but shame and sorrow Ier. 17.13 16.10,11 Psal 73.27 See then that you do not spoile all at last with not intending God upmost Let your Confessions of the Truths of God conclude and terminate alone in the God of Truth If your ends be rotten you ruine all and abuse Religion Though your bodies may be burnt neither souls nor bodies shall be blest And though you may be killed and called Martyrs yet as long as Charity toward God was not your principle and the Glory of God was not your end you shall be sure to lose the Crown of Martyrdom FINIS
Jerusalem 6. § Sixthly and lastly look you outward behold the spirit of glory rests upon you the sequel will be victory to you you are secured in your lives till you have finished your testimony and secured in your liberties so far as it may further your testimony I. First The spirit of glory rests upon you while you are vilified for your testimony If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified 1. Pet. 4.14 You may bind such contumelies to you as a crown of glory and as a Diadem of beauty T is a grace a great grace that is put upon you Phil. 1.7 Acts 4.33 Others curses do but contribute to your blessedness Here Christ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you when they shall separate you from their company and cast out your name as evil and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad c. Rejoyce and leap for joy c. Mat. 5.11,12 Luke 6.22,23 II. Secondly The sequel will be victory to your testimony if not a vindication of your selves too Oh the succession of conquests which have been made down along all ages by the sealed confessions of the sacred martyrs What acclamations are there victory victory Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ For the accuser of our brethren is cast down c. How overcame they By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony For they loved not their lives to the death Rev. 12.11,12 True it is that the Christian may lose but Christ gains The confessour falls many times in the quarrel but the cause riseth by his fall And if it cost you bonds so Christ and his Church gave liberty nay if it cost your blood so these live by your death you have lain in prison and presented your lives in martyrdom to good purpose Farther it may be attended with your vindication also Philadelphia kept his word and denied not the name of Christ Therefore saith he Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Rev. 3.8,9 There were white robes given to every one of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held Rev. 6. Vntil the number of their brethren which should be killed as they were should be fulfilled ver 9 10 11. Let the adversary know they shall see and be ashamed for their envy to Gods people And such as cast out the holy confessors for his name sake saying let the Lord be glorified our Lord Jesus in his own time shall appear to the joy of these and they shall be ashamed Yea shame shall cover their faces which said unto these where is the Lord your God Isa 26.11 66.5 Mic 7 8,9,10 III. Thirdly You are secured in your lives till you have finished your testimony You are immortal till your witnesse is delivered and your work is done And who can desire to live longer that liveth in and for God here and hopeth to live with God in glory hereafter when he hath finished his work he had to do in grace 'T is said when the two witnesses had finished their testimony then and not till then the beast that ascended out of the bottomlesse pit overcame and killed them Rev. 12.7 They never fell till their testimony was finished O ye believers the year month week day hour of your end or death and of effecting their design is under a divine limit When our Saviour taught in the Treasury and therein to the very teeth of his adversaries so that they might have easily taken him in the eye of second causes and by wicked hands have slain him yet as full of enraged malice as they were no man laid hold on him Why what was the reason 'T is immediately subjoyned For his hour was not yet come John 8.20 But when that hour once came they forthwith laid hands upon him and led him away to Caiaphas and so to crucifying Luke 22.53,54 Fear not them then which can kill the body so as to flee or forbear thy duty For besides that they have no more that they can do Luke 12.4 they are under an almighty restraint in this also The daies and accidents of your lives yea the very hairs of your heads are all numbred Not only the essential or integral parts of his confessours but the very excrementitious are under the lock and key the care and custody of their Lord Christ Job 14.5 Luke 12.7 Mat. 10.30 And when you have finished your course and filled up your confession let the enemy kill you he cannot hurt you He shall but let your soul out of prison which is therewith immediately let into his presence who forthwith crowns his faithful confessours with a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7,8 Phil. 1.20,21,23 IV. Fourthly You are secured in your libertie too so far as it will further your testimony And can you reasonably expect or religiously endeavour more So long as liberty will best serve the ends for which you were made are maintained or new-made you shall be sure to have it i.e. so long as it will be most useful for you to serve God by it He ensured Paul as much Acts 18.9,10 23.10,11 26.16,17 And you may by faith warrant your interest in the same promises as far as concerns the same profession and your continued preservation will best promote the same ends The particular security or promise to Joshua is applied as of general extent to all that professe and imbrace Jesus Josh 1.5 Heb. 13.5 Nay the more eminently you keep up the life of profession the more indearedly will he keep the liberty of your persons as it may and will best subserve the same in a loose and perverse generation You have his promise Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of tentation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 3.10 Away with your fears then and act faith The gates of hell all the united power and policy thereof shall never be able to prevail against sincere profession though they may sharplie persecute it Mat. 16.18 Nor Satan himself nor any his subtilest and strongest agents and instruments can touch either your selves or states till God suffereth it whose glory you are pleading for and whose Gospel you professe They cannot move one link further then he lets them out the chain in whose hands it is Rev. 20.1,2 Job c. 1 and 2 'T is true your profession may cost some of you a prison But your denial of him will cost you
unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you And should not you then desire to know and devoutly acknowledge them Exod. 25.17.23 1 Pet. 1.12 One Angel gladly publisheth those glad tydings of great joy And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praysing God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men Lu. 2.10,13,14 2 How gladly they esteem hereof as of happiest worth and blessedness They rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come But are still breathing out their Hosannahs and Hallelujahs Blessing and honor and glory and power for ever and ever Hallelujah and Amen Hallelujah Rev. 4.8 ad finem 5.8 ad finem 19.1,3,4 c. Ah Sirs how much more are we indebted and ingaged Did Christ take on him the nature of Angels or came he to take away the sin of Angels or to transfer Salvation upon Angels Grant that the elect Angels received benefit by Christ But were they redeemed from death from hell by him were they brought out of the hands of wrath justice by him were they brought from under the authority and vassalage of sin and Satan by him Was Christ made sin for them or made a curse for them or were they made the righteousness of God in him c. No 't was for our sakes that he became poor that we through his poverty might he made rich He was delivered for our offences and rose again for our justification He was wounded for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him c. Oh! where is our ingenuity then What monsters of ingratitude shall we be If the Angels so affectionately celebrate him and there is not one Angel but worships him and we alone shall be averse to confess him 2. Look you downward Turn your eyes from above to things beneath There are few objects but fit you with one Argument or other Look you to the damned in hell to the devils of hell to the droves of sinners or to the dear Saints of our dearest Savior which are upon the earth I. Look you to the damned in hell Oh! What would they now give for such an opportunity of confessing and closing with Christ as they sometimes lost but you still have and perhaps are loytering away But alas it is now too late for them See that it be not too late for you also Luk. 1 6.1â— ad finem Why were they cast into this burning lake But that if they did ever hear of Christ they would not accept of and acknowledge him But either voluntarily and frowardly they did refuse him to reign over them or fearful and unbelieving as they were they would not venture to confess him and faithfully continue with him in and under the Cross Jo. 3.18.19 Luk 19.24.27 Rev. 21.8 Heb. 10.38,39 II. Look you to the Devils of hell Lo these not onely know and believe but have confessed and born testimony to Christ Not from affection to the truth but from anguish and pre-apprehension of torment We know thee say they who thou art Jesus thou Son of the most high God Mar. 1.24 5.7 Mat. 8.29 Doth fear extort a confession from Devils and shall neither saith nor love extract a confession from Disciples III. Look you to the droves of sinners that are upon the earth How many thousand are there that yet continue in their sins unconvinced unconverted estranged from and enemies to the life of Christ God hath ordained your confession of Christ in order to their conviction and conversion That they that are not will not be wrought upon by our word our preaching may yet be won by your conversations by your convincing practices Or if not saved by them yet at least that they may be shamed and silenced by them 1 Pet. 2.12.15 3.1.16 Mat. 5.16 Will you deny so righteous and so reasonable a matter when souls must else rue and perish And happily those of your own relations who should have glorified God in and for you upon earth but may now blaspheme God and curse you for this your carelesness shall I say or cruelty in hell Up therefore and be doing What knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband Or how knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife thy childe thy friend thy servant c. 1 Cor. 7.16 IV. Look you to the dear Saints of Christ upon the earth Are there not such as are weak among them that need strengthning Such as are wavering that need setling Such as will be wounded through your silence and are likely to wander from the faith of God and fellowship of the Gospel through your miscarriage in not making manifest the savour of the knowledge Sirs will your confession of Christ quicken none will it confirm none will it comfort none Or are there none to be quickned confirmed comforted Nay how many are there to be excited how many to be exhorted how many to be edified every where Oh then where is your communion of Saints where your kindness for souls where your comforts of love and consolations in Christ Read and remember the reiterated charges of our Savior 1 Thes 5.11.14 Heb. 10.24 Col. 3.16 3. Thirdly Look you backward To the practice of your Saviour To the precedency of his Saints Or to what is past of yâ—ur selves I. Look you to the practice of our Savior What a good confession did he witness before Pontius Pilate 1 Tim. 6.13 Christians he hath gone before you he hath given you an example he tells his accusers Judge and all To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I shou d bear witness unto the truth Jo. 18.37 O you that say you abide in Christ should you not be and behave your selves in this world as he was and did in all imitable vertues and actions and will you lose the end of your birth of your being of your reason discourse speech in not glorifying God and withal lye so miserably short of the example of our Savior which his own hand hath wrought to bring us unto God Jo. 2.6 4.17 1 Pet. 2.21 II. Look you to the precedency of the Saints how many bold and blessed confessors have you the old Testament and new Testament over The time would fail me to tell you of all the holy Apostles and Prophets and people of all capacities and callings which kept the commandments of God and held the testimony of Jesus Lo one hundred forty and four thousand standing with him upon mount Sion having his Fathers Name written in their foreheads i. e. whose profession of godliness was visible open and conspicuous Rev 12.17 14.1 Gird up the loynes of your mind then A Saint A Christian and ashamed or afraid to confess Christ how unlike is it to the spirits of the saints that breathed in the primitive times and stories Those offered themselves