no other opposition or temptation whatsoever â—…meron Lastly In respect of the Consequences and Issues of â—ath so also there is something in death peculiar to he â—ints First by death they are delivered from the powâ— of Satanâ— grace here in this life doth free a man from â—…e Dominion of Satan but it doth not free him from â—…s temptations and to be continually annoyed with the â—…llutions and suggestions of this unclean spirit for the â—…cked one to touch them 1 Joh. 5. tactu qualitatiâ—o is â—e great affiction of their lives and it is that wherein â—eir spiritual warfare doth mainly lye it was not the â—st part of the humiliation of Christ for Saâ—an to have â—…ch an access to him and to propose such suggestions â—s 〈◊〉 this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship 〈◊〉 when he had but onely an access unto Christ by representations from without and not by suggestions within but he hath by reason of the darkness that is in us a more immediate access unto our spirits but our warfare shall be at an end and we shall be for ever freed not onely from the dominion but the temptation of Satan forever Christ makes use of the Angels in Ministerium and the devils in exercitium but both but for the time of this life and no more and therefore in the world to come after death there shall be no more of either to the Saints for ever 2. From the being and in-dwelling of sin which is the great misery that the Saints complain of Rom. 7.24 but he that is dead is free from sin that natural fountain of corruption original sin shall be perfectly dryed up and the soul shall never think a vain thought never speak an idle word any more for ever nay they shall not only be freed from sin actually as Adam was but even from a possibility of sin also that as the wicked after death are given up to sin as part of their torment and are in malo obfirmati so the Saints shall be in bono confirmati not onely they shall not sin but be freed from the fear of a possibility to sin for ever 3 For the perfection of their grace the Saints have here the first fruits of the earnest of glory and that is so precious to them that they sell all to buy it and count all things loss and dross in comparison of it and yet still there are many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things wanting in their faith and their love c. but 1 Cor. 13.10 then that which is perfect will come and that which is but in part shall be done away and these first fruits shall be swallowed up of glory 4 They shall be with Christ and receive the reward that he has prepared for them they shall enter into their masters joy here in this life Christ is said to be with us but after this life we are said to be with him yea to be ever with him he shall never hide his face more but it shall be communion without intermission and without interruption for ever says Bernard Christus est cum Paulo magna securitas Paulus est cum Christo summa faelicitas If a little of the presence of Christ be so sweet here when we have it in his spirit O what will his eternal presence in glory be thus dyes the wise man thus he enters into peace thus he rests upon his bed having walked before God in uprightness 2. Doct. When the righteous man dyes he is taken away from the evil to come the Lord had formerly told them that evil was prepared a sword was already barhed in heaven to make a sore slaughtâ—r and in verse 9. of the former chapter the Lord invites the beasts of the field to come and take their part of the prey now these are some that the Lord will hide in the day of his wrath Zeph. 2.3 the Lord hath a double hiding place for his people in evil times sometimes he hides â—hem in his pavilion and the secret of his Tabernacle upon the earth his chambers of peculiar providence and sometimes he hides them in the grave even the chambers of death in which in times of affliction Gods people do desire to be hid Job 30.23 and many of them are hid in meâ—cy from the evil that is coming on the earâ—h Thus when a flood came upon the world God provided an Ark for Noah and as he had an Ark for Noah so he had a grave for Methusalah who is conceived to be taken away the same year that the flood came upon the earth Gods usual course is either his people shall stand in the gap to turn away his wrath and his judgements which sometimes are deferred for the elects sake and if the Decree of God be gone forth and the judgement must come then the Lord takes his people out of the way before it come so the Lord dealt with Hezekiah he defers the judgement till after his death there shall be peace and truth in his days and Iosiah the Lord says to him because thy heart was tender Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace and shalt not see the evil that I will bring upon this place and the inhabitants thereof thereforâ— the Lord Rev. 19.13 having described the rise of Antichrist and the general pollution ond corruption that should follow all men should worship the beast and wonder after him blessed are the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth were they not blessed before yes all that dyed in the Lord are blessed from the beginning of the world but now to be taken away in a time of so great tryal it is a more special mercy upon these three accounts chiefly 1 That they may be preserved from the pollution of the times in which they live therefore the Lord takes them away it is a very hard matter for Gods people to live in times exceedingly evil and yet to pass through such times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspotted and and not to have a taint and tincture of the present corruptions upon them to keep their garments whiteâ— now that the Lord may preserve his people unspotted from the world he doth translate them before hand takes them away from the evil to come 2 The Lord takes them away that they may be freed from the vexations that his people are in when the abomination of desolation is set up as Lot when he lived in Sodom they vexed his righteous from day to day with their ungodly deeds Gods people are mourners in Sion and they do with that their eyes were a well of water to weep for the sins as well as for the sufferings of the times and the Lord sees that their spirits cannot bear such dishonor as is done to his great Name and therefore he takes them away beforehand to better company even the souls of just men made perfect 3. God takes them away from the persecutions and afflictions of the times
he beleeves that death shall be unto him a blessing and not a curse 1. Cor. 3.23 all things are yours that is in ordine ad spiritualia whether life or death 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness 2. Cor. 5.1 We know that if this Earthly house of our Tabernacle were disolved we have a building with God c. And towards the time of a Saints death Faith commonly puts forth the most glorious acts the Sun shines brightest at its setting so that the soul can say with Ambrose nec pudet vivere nec piget mori c. 2 In respect of the Church though he never lives to receave the promises nor to see them accomplished yet as they have exercised faith upon the great things promised and have laid up prayers for after times so they dye in the faith of them that they shall be fulfilled in their season Heb. 11.23 God will surely visit you saith Joseph and therefore what difficulties soever they see rais'd against it yea the Archers shoot at the Church yet his bow abode in strength his faith holds out and can look through all opposition whatsoever 3 For their posterity Men are commonly troubled what shall become of the little ones they leave behind fatherless and friendless Orphans but his fatherless children he can leave with God and the widow that trusts in God shal not be forsaken although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure c. Luther in his Will says Lord thou hast given me wife and children I have neither Land to bequeath them nor houses nor portions to leave them onely tibi reddo nutri doce serva ut hactenus me pater pupillorum judex viduarum Thirdly The dye in obedience to God Obedience is not real if it be not universal a submission to the will of God in doing as well as suffering in dying as well as in living Rom. 14.8 None of us lives to himself nor none of us dyes to himself but whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord for grace having made God a mans utmost end it is his glory and a submission unto his will that is the great th ing in that mans eye whether in living or in dying if God will further use him he is content to live and if the Lord will translate him he desires to dye and so God may be glorifyed in him whether in life or death he passeth not and when he hath honored God in his life he desires that he may honor God in his death also 2 In reference unto death it self and so there is something peculiar to the death of the Saints take these three things First Though death in it self be a fruit of the Curse yet unto him it is turned into a blessing though it be a curse in the thing yet it is a blessing to the man because he having his Covenant changed he is delivered from the Curse Christ being made a curse for him A Curse hath two things in it First something that is evil in it self Secondly The wrath of God therein Now unto the Saints death is not evil and therefore they have desired it I long to be dissolved and to be with Christ neither is it a fruit of Gods displeasure to them but it flows from his fatherly and eternal love that it may be a passage unto a better life whereas all other men dye by vertue of that ancient Curse The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye and in death the wrath of God abides upon them Secondly Unto the Saints death hath no sting 1 Cor. 15.55 Death is compared to a Serpent which by nature we fear and flye from and the thing that is dreadful in it is the sting but if that be taken out there is no fear of the serpent now the sting of death is sin and this is taken off by the surety 2 Cor. 5.21 for he hath made him to be sin for us and therefore there is no sin stands upon our score that should cause us to fear the serpent for ever but other men dye in their sins Joh. 8.21 and have all their sins to answer for before the judgement seat of Christ and not a drop of his blood shall take one of them off his score Thirdly Over the Saints death hath no dominion Rom. 5.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now what is it that doth constitute death in dominion that is when it can put forth its utmost power and there is none to control it but there comes upon a man quicquid mortis est usque ad novissimum it hath a power to keep them under for ever but unto the Saints the dominion of death is controlled for death entred by sin and it reigns by it therefore when the dominion of sin is broken the dominion of death is also so and the Saints are freed from the dominion of him that as an executioner hath the power of death that is the devil Heb. 2.15 Psal 49.14 but for wicked men death shall feed on them and there is none to deliver them but for the Saints the gates of hell shall not prevail against them I know that there is a Dalile interpretation commonly given and received from that scripture Mat. 16. First gates is put for the power of hell because the strength of Cities was in their gates but surely this seems not to be the meaning for by gates of hell is meant that power which should oppose the Church and surely gates by their strength might be for defence unto them but not for offence unto them without they were propugnacula non â—ppugnacula they did not fight with gates Secondly Anciently Councils did usually sit in the gates and so it signifies all the council and the policy of hell but that also seems not well to agree with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which signifies to prevail and overcome by power not by policy by strength and not by art but that which prevails most with me is that our Divines have commonly asserted against the local distance that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never put for Hell or the place of the damned but either for the grave or the state and condition of the dead and if that â—e true then we read of the gates of the grave Job 38 17. Isai 38.10 of the power of the grave to keep â—hose that are under its possession and so Christ doth argue from the greatest to the least no enemy shall preâ—ail because even when you are brought under the Dominion of death and the power of the grave yet you â—hall have a glorious Resurrection and the grave shall â—ive up its dead and being risen you shall dye no more â—…th shall no more have Dominion over you the gates of â—…e grave shall not be able to prevail against you and â—…erfore
for he knows our frame and in all our afflictions he is afflicted therefore the Lord does as we our selves would do in the same case if we had a child abroad at school and we did foresee some great evil either of pestilence or famine to be neer unto that place where the child was we would send for the childe home beforehand that he might not partake in the misery with the rest so God hath put his people to nurse to school in this world and if there be evil neer he doth send for his people home beforehand and cause them to go forth out of the world to pr serve them from the evil of it 3. Doct. Therefore when godly men are so taken away it is matter of serious consideration and high lamentation unto them that survive and it s their sin if they do it not it is that which David doth complaiâ— of and bewail Psal 12.1 there is not a godly man left and the faithful fail amongst the children of men and they were wicked ones that were exalted on every side Mic. 7.1 the good man is perished out of the earth the godly men were taken away so that when the Prophet did come to seek them he was as men that did seek grapes after gleaning found here and there one and as one that seeks the first ripe fruits but finds none for the good man is perished and there is none upright amongst men for they all do lye in wait for blood every man hunts his brother with a net and when the world is preparing their nets to catch the Saints then God withdraws them from the world and their loss should mightily assect us Consider these three things First The Saints are our glory as they are Gods Iewels so they are the excellent ones of the earth and so they should be to us 2 Cor. 8.23 it 's said they are the messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ and those that Christ glories in we should also glory in and as we should rejoyce in the addition of any one into the number of the Saints amongst us so we should look upon it with mourning and grief of heart that any of that number be taken away and the more useful any man is to the Church the more honorable he should be in your eyes they are vessels of honor sitted for the masters use Now as scandalous professors are spots in your feasts so sincere ones are stars and it is a great abasement and the eclâ—psing of the glory of a Church to have an eminent light put out of it Secondly When the Saints are taken away it 's a dangerous sign that wrath is determined because the Lord takes away and withdraws the pillars of the Earth from off the earth it was a sign that Samson intended the fall of the house when he pluâ—kt down the pillars the Lord doth commonly before judgement come make way for his indignation and one special way by which he doth it is by taking away those that stand in the gap to divert it the Lord may say to Moses let me alone but yet Moses will still wrastle with the Lord but when Moses is gone now who shall strive with God for his people Thirdly All our protection defence and blessing depends upon the Saints that are amongst us for it is by their Covenant that the world stands and that all the Creatures are continued â—n their being and let me tell you after the Lord has gathered in the wheat into his barn it will not be long ere he does burn he chaff with unquenchable fire if he do but once say to his people Come â—e blessed go ye cursed to the wicked they will quickly follow after and therefore they do so bewail the taking away of Elijah as the Chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof their strength and their fence was gone for this is a truth the strength of a Nation next to God lyes in the Saints they are the shields of the earth for if it be for their sakes that the world stands God will provide a place for them of safety when the rest of the world is consuming as we see in Zoar a place may be preserved for the sake of the people of God and indeed they are the partition wall between wicked men and temporal wrath yea and eternal wrath it is the Saints that keep the wicked so long out of hell whatever the world thinks of them they are a blessing to the world Gen. 12.2 Mic. 5.7 as the showers upon the grass are a blessing so are the Saints by their prayers and their Counsels and their pains and their gracious example and holy conversation every way a blessing so that as Nazianzen saith of Iulian when he was smitten and had a wound it was to him indeed Lethale vulnus But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So we may invert it and say this of a saint that dyes 't was indeed a happy wound for him for to be with Christ is best of all but though a saint have advantage by it yet it is a misery to the place to the Church to the Commonwealth where such a one lived â—ea even the whole world is a loser by the death of a saint and therefore Iudah was so sensible of the loss of gracious Iosiah that they made a great publick mourning yea a yeerly mourning for a long time after sine supplicationibus non staret mundus is the Jews proverb the world is upholden by the prayers of the saints Vse Hence learn that the ways of holiness are the best ways for that is the best way that leads a man to the best end there is a double goodness in holy walking First absoluta there is a goodness in it self it being a conformity to the good will of God Secondly There is a goodness in holâ—ness which is respectiva in respect of the end unto which a man is thereby brought and we see finis dat mediis bonitatem amabilem I know that the unworthy would have many prejudices against the ways of holiness the Saints in their lives are afflicted and chastised every moment and they go mourning all the day long and they cannot put themselves in the glory of the world cannot partake of the jollity of the times as he saith spiritus Calvinianus est melancholicus but look not upon their outside but their inside look not upon them in their life but in their death and then let me tell the greatest gallant of you all you will give a world to change estates with them at their death in whose life thou wouldest by no tearms be conformable unto What would Dives have given after all his glory all his delicacy to have changed with Lazarus in his death let it be your work therefore to dye the death of the righteous and to set this the more home upon your spirits take these four considerations 1 Consider the great end why we came into the world was that
we might learn to dye well for Heb. 9 27. it is appointed to all men once to dye but death comes not presently and the end of a mans life is that he may consider his latter end Deut. 32.29 men do not live here to get riches and injoy the good things that are present and the pleasures of sin are but for a season this life is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the school of death which teaches men how to dye 2 It is the last act of a mans life the close of all his actions and for a man in his life to burn as a Torch to shine as a light and afterwards to go out in a snuff as the foolish Virgins and the foolish Builders in Iobs affliction there was nothing desirable but yet there was in the end which God made with him that which was very desireable Iulius Caesar when he was taken in the Senate he plucked down the robe he wore about him Ut honestè caderet It is the night that commends the day mark the end of the righteous man his end is peace 3 At death all outward excellencies will leave a man Iob 4.21 their excellency goes away and they dye without wisdom for though there be a flower in the grass which has a glory in it yet Psal 90.11 it quickly comes to nothing so shall all the excellencies that men so pride themselves in their learning parts wisdom and policie knowledge in the Scripture and in the common works of grace it is all but flesh and will take its leave at death and it will be said of you as one of the Antients said of Caesar who was one of the greatest men in the world in his time Ubi nunc pulchritudo Caesaris quò abiit magnificentia tua What is become of his glorious magnificence his Armies Triumphs and Trophies 4 At death your eternal states are cast it is aeternitatis ostium the door of eternity there is a Double time set to the sons of men 1 A time of working 2 A time of rewarding A time of working here they toyl and labo urbut at death the Lord doth call the labourers to give them their hire every man shal have his peny but after death comes judgement there is no more time of working for after death remains nothing but judgement then for ever But what shall a man do that he may be blessed in his latter end I will set before you these five things and the Lord teach you to profit by them 1 Let me exhort you to get union with Christ and thereby thou art translated from death to life for this is a truth no man dyes well that doth not dye in the Lord. What a sad thing is it to think that a second death must follow death rides before and Hell follows after nihil facit mortem malam nisi quod sequitur mortem when death in sin went before and eternal life is not begun in thee 2 Serve thy Generation and thereby lay up a good foundation against that last day Act. 13.36 Fight the good fight and finish thy course be abundant in the works of the Lord It s said of Saul Sam. 13.1,2 he reigned two years over Israel he reigned twenty yeers but after he was rejected of God no more is counted of him nor will it be unto all those that spend their lives unprofitably that are but as empty trees onely serve to cumber the ground are unprofitable both to God and man vita fabula est in qua non refert quam diu sed quam bene 3 Number your days and consider your latter end with Joseph of Arimathea walk with thy Tomb. A man shall not need much Arithmtick to number his days they are so few and yet he will need a great deal of grace to number them they are so evil and so death shall come upon thee not as a stranger but as a friend that brings peace along with him and rest 4 Exercise faith much on the dying graces of Christ and the promises the Lord made Ioh. 16. to all Christians dying as well as living of his fulness we shall receive grace for grace it is our business in this world to be made conformable unto Christ not onely in our life but also at our death and then the Lord says of his people they shall be mine Mal. 3.17 what a glorious creature will a Saint be in that day when God himself looks on him as a Iewel 1 Cor. 3.21 all things are yours then a Saint enjoys perfection enough when he has a full possession of God Psa 16.11 in thy presence are fulness of joys and on thy right hand are rivers of pleasures for evermore and then when a Saint has such a glorious advantage by death shall not we say blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord 5. Lay up a treasury of prayers that thou mayst be fitted for this great change if a man be in any straight or any sad condition nature will prompt him to seek relief and he will take any course that may deliver him out of it especially since God hath made such a promise Call upon me in a time of trouble and I will hear you and if a man be so careful to avoid and prevent these lesser changes that they may not do him harm how much more should he be industriously careful touching this great change Psal 34. the Psalmist begs that he may know his latter end Psa 90.12 so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom and therefore a man should lay up a treasury of prayers in his life time and they will be as so many comforts to him on his death bed he shall then have a gracious answer of all those prayers Vse 2. Let us lay to heart the loss of the righteous man that we be not guilty of that sin condemned in the Text. I know it has been a thing condemned or at least always suspected funeral Panegyricks as being a badge of the false Prophet and by a funeral Oration we do as the Papists do think to send souls to heaven after their death even those that have been posting to hell all their life but yet seeing the name of the righteous is as a precious oyntment poured out and that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints and seeing it was an Antient custom to do the Saints of God honor at their death I think it but our duty to consider of our loss in this brother at this time though it be but to carry a torch after him to his long home first he was a man of a gracious spirit in whom the Lord had wrought the good work and a through work of Regeneration he was one that feared God above many that had truly given up his name to Christ one that had oyl in his vessel and did not onely shine by profession before men one that was not indulgent
power now there shall be much of the power of Godlinesse of the life of Christ manifested in them thy people shall be all righteous the branch of my planting that I may be glorified Esay 60.21 It is the Bride the Lambs wife having the glory of the Lord upon her Rev. 21.10,11 it s true there shall not be perfect holinesse in the Saints for there is a Tree of life for medicine as well as for meat Rev. 22.2 and they shall not be without Hypocrites those that shall cleave unto them by flattery but yet there shall be a glorious spirit of discerning even of them also and they shall be without not onely that make but they that do love a lie Thirteenthly This Church shall have abundance of converts and their Ordinances shall be exceeding fruitfull to bring in souls into the Lord Ezek. 37.9,10,11 Where the Waters come every thing shall live and there shall be a multitude of fish even as that of the great Sea exceeding many thy Gates shall be open continually not shut day nor night that they may bring the riches of the Gentiles and their Kings shall be brought and they shall flie as a Cloud and as Doves unto their Windows because of the glorious Majesty of the Lord that is seen amongst them c. Fourteenthly They shall be brought home into their own land and they shall dwell there they shall dwell in their own Citie as in the days of old and Ezek. 12. Ezek. 37.25 Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place even in Jerusalem they shall dwell in the land that I gave to Jacob their father wherein their fathers dwelt they shall dwell there even they and their Children and Childrens Children for ever Fifteenthly There shall be a perfect union between the ten Tribes and the two Tribes and the hatred shall depart that breach was never yet made up But then the sticks shall become one Ezek. 37.19 The envy of Judah shall depart and Ephraim shall vex Judah no more I wil gather them out of all Countries whither I have driven them in my anger and I wil give them one heart and one way and then Jehovah shall be one and his name one c. Jer. 32.39 Sixteenthly They shall be the great instrument in the hand of the Lord for to ruine and destroy the Turkish Empire when the Lord shall bend Judah for him and fill his bow with Ephraim Dan. 11.40.44 We read of the King of the South whom tidings out of the North and out of the East shall trouble There are several reasons why by the King of the South I conceive to be meant the Turkish Empire as that which had the next power and exercised the next Tyranny over the Jews and being come to a height there is tidings from the East and North troubling the gathering together of the Jews Ezek. 37.7 when the bones came together there was a great noise and a shaking and standing up they became an exceeding great and formidable Army and he saith that these bones are the house of Israel returning into their own land here is the tidings that trouble the King of the South there the Turk invadeth the glorious holy Mountain and then he comes to an end and none shall help him it is Euphrates must be dried up to prepare the way for the Kings of the East Rev. 16.12 that they may join themselves with the Western Christians Seventeenthly At their returning to the Lord there shall be by them a wonderfull blessing upon all the Gentile Churches their gain shall be much by it they were gainers by the Jews rejection their casting off was the inriching of the World their diminishing the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulnesse Rom. 11.12.15 it shall be as life from the dead it is not I conceive spoken of the Jews that there comming in should be suddenly and by an act of almighty power as a resurrection as it is resembled Ezek. 37. but it shall be unto the Gentiles as life from the dead that is as misery is exprest by death so all joy and happinesse is exprest by life it shall be as it were a resurrection put a new face upon the world that as it shall be a glorious condition upon earth when all the Saints shall arise and stand upon the earth with joy being perfected in their graces and in their faculties so shall this be even unto the Gentiles as well as unto the Jews a resurrection Eighteenthly With the calling of the Jews the Kingdome of the God of heaven shall be set up that which is now so commonly called the fifth Monarchy shall begin when the four Monarchies are destroyed which shal be with the drying up the River Euphrates that is the Turkish Empire It s true that Christ hath a Kingdome during the rule of the Monarchies in the dayes of those Kings God doth set up a Kingdome but it is a little stone and it breaks the Image by degrees and then afterward becomes a Mountain and the Kingdome given unto the Saints of the most high Which in the Book of Dan. 7.27 it s meant the Jews who are every where called the holy people not of the Gentile Saints Dan. 8.24 and 12.7 and therfore it is they must take the Kingdome and possesse it and it shall be given to them which is not wel applied by all that will call themselves Saints and holy people as if they were to take to themselves the rule of all the Kingdomes of the world Nineteenthly Unto this time the perfect fulfilling of all the prophesie of God doth belong there are degrees of fulfilling the prophecies more or lesse in all times but it s unto this that the perfections of the World are reserved Rev. 10.7 its never before the 7th Trumpet sound that the mystery of God is finished that is all those secrets that were in the bosome of God to perform and which he revealed unto his servants the Prophets all those do not receive their full accomplishment all that God doth intend to do for his people in the advancement of his son in this World is now fulfilled and accomplished Lastly And this glorious condition shall continue unto this people unto the day of judgement that they shall suffer no more the Sun shall no more go down nor the Moon withdraw it self Esay 60.20 I will set my Tabernacle in the middle of them for evermore Ezek. 37.26 by an everlasting covenant and I will plant them in their own land with my whole heart and my whole soul and I will never turn away from them to do them good there shall be no more sorrow nor crying all tears from their eyes shal be wiped away and no more curse as they formerly had Rev. 22.4 they shal be cast out of the land no more c. There Sun did rise and set but now shal go down no more These things require further discussing then one hour permits But having
of the world Now if men be under the hand of God in wrath and one judgement doth make way for another God will punish them seven times more surely they must be utterly destroyed at the last so it was with Rome one Judgement makes way for another and one vial doth prepare and fit the subject for another So that as unto the Saints one mercy doth but prepare the subject and open the door unto another so also to ungodly men one judgement makes way for another and their hearts are hardned unto their own destruction Fifthly it is the expectation of Christ and all the Saints and all their prayers have been poured out this way First it is the expectation of Christ he is sate down at the right hand of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expecting the rest which God hath promised him that all his enemies shall be made his footstool and Christs prayers shall be heard and his expectation shall not be frustrated nor made void and all the Saints have laid up prayers for it for Rev. 16.1 the vials come out of the Temple there is a double voice in this book a voice from the throne quod immediate a deo prosiciscitur and out of the Temple cum precibus sanctorum Impetratur Brightman Brightman Therefore all the degrees of wrath that Rome hath had upon her hath been from the prayers of the Saints and not by their Power and it hath been their expectation long ago that Rome should be utterly ruined Lactantius Horreo dicere dicam tamen quia futurum est Romanum nomen de terra amovebitur Now God that hath raised this expectation in the hearts of his people and drawn out this supplication he will not frustrate their expectations he will fulfill their petitions Doct. 2. All the Roman Power shall utterly fall they shall be destroyed with double destruction Jer. 17.18 and the sword shall be double upon them Ezek. 21.14 Babylon is fallen is fallen First the destruction of Babylon as from God it shall be pure wrath without mixture Rev. 14.10 they had a cup of fornication with which they made all Nations to drink Now God hath a cup of indignation also that which they must all drink and it is poured out without mixture if water be mixed with wine it breaks the force of the wine so that it doth not so soon bring a man to drunkenness as pure wine does this notes summum poenae severitatem judgement without mercy Here the judgements of God that he executes upon men have mercy mixed with them there is a mixture of light with all their darkness non dantur puraetenebrae but in Hell there shall be judgement without mercy and fury without compassion and truly the judgement that shall come upon Rome shall have a great resemblance of the Torments of Hell with it and therefore their judgement is very terrible Secondly it shall be an utter destruction which shall be the more Tormenting because it shall be in the height of their hopes Rev. 18.7 when she shall say I set as a Queen and am no widdâ—w and shall see no sorrow the thoughts of Babylon have been and still are high and are eminently confident of victories and successes and yet ver 8. her plagues come in one day as Sodoms with fire and brimstone Rev. 14.10 they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone God will as it were rain Hell out of Heaven upon them he hath fire and brimstone for this spiritual Sodom that they shall not know it till it comes upon them when they think themselves safe then shall judgement come and Babylon shall fall into the Sea like a mill-stone suddenly and irrecoverably Thirdly the judgement shall come upon all parties and upon all degrees and conditions of men that joyn with them all those that do partake of their sins shall have a share of the plagues there is a vial upon the earth that is upon the common people Secondly upon the Sea also there is a vial the jurisdiction of Rome Thirdly upon the rivers their ministers and Instruments that advance this authority all the ministerie of Rome that carry abroad this power over the world Fourthly upon the Sun all Princes and Magistrates and all powers so far as they hold of Rome Fifthly there will be a vial also upon Rome it self the throne of the Beast in the Lords time all this will be accomplished and the day hastens apace and there is no degree from the highest to the lowest that shall escape no place shall protect a man for the vial is poured out by the Lord and there is no escaping Fourthly there is an utter desolation described it shall become an habitationfor Devils which love to be in solitary and desolate places and it shall be a cage for every unclean and hateful bird as Sodom was it shall be a monument of wrath unto all the world Isa 13.19,20 Rev. 18.22,23 The voice of Harpers and Trumpeters shall be heard no more in thee c. and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee c. Fifthly God will stir up the Instruments of vengeance to do their utmost to destroy them as he had before put it in the hearts of the 10. Kings to set her up so shal he also put it into their hearts to cast her down they shall make her desolate and naked and eat her flesh and burn her with fire Rev. 17.16 and Rev. 18.6 reward her as she rewarded you double upon her double and if the Lord put a principle of vengeance into the hearts of men and command them to do it surely the destruction may be exceeding fearful when the Lord does bid and command men to be cruel Lastly it shall make way for their eternal destruction For a man to undergo Temporal afflictions though they be grievous yet it were not so much so his soul might be saved in the day of the Lord but when death goes before and Hell follows after this is the greatest misery Now this is the condition of all that follow the Beast and receive his mark whose names are not written in the Book of the Lamb and therefore Rev. 19.20 the Beast was taken and the false Prophet and they were cast alive into a Lake that did burn with fire and brimstone Truly then it is terrible when judgements do make way for a mans everlasting destruction and eternal ruine Doct. 3. The destruction of Rome and every degree of it the Saints of God do look upon as matter of joy and triumph the righteous shall be glad when he sees the vengeance that shall come upon Rome and shall with a holy scorn say as they do upon the fall of litteral Babylon Isa 14. How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning Rev. 19.1 There is a voice of much people in Heaven Heaven that is put for the Church saying Amen Hallelujah because the Lord had judged the great whore c.
The spirit of God came down in the likeness of a Dove A Dove as it is without guile so is it without gall also and a righteous man is not only thus within but in his conversation his light shines before men he is alwayes walking in his uprightness Secondly In his death and so he is said to perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in the Hebrew is either put for temporall or eternal death Iohn 3.16 that they should not perish but have everlas ting life but here it 's meant of temporal death the disunion between the Soul and the Body and so to perish is to dye Matth 8.25 Master save us else we perish And it 's said also they are taken away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in unum colligere They are gathered unto their Fathers here in this world they are scattered and some live in one place some in another but death is a gathering there is fasciculus viventium even a bundle of the living as the tares are bound in bundles so is the wheat also Thirdly After his death the Soul in this life is full of trouble here in this life but a little peace enters into him my peace I give unto you but then after this life he shall enter into peace here a little joy enters into him but then he shall enter into the Masters joy for ever and for their bodys they shall rest in their beds as the grave is commonly called it being the sweet sleeping place as 2 Chron. 16.14 it is said of Asa that he slept with his Fathers and they buried him in his own Sepulcher and laid him in a bed which was filled with sweet odors c. Secondly Here is a publick loss bewailed the righteous perish and there is no man that doth apponere cor Mich. 7.1 woe is me for I am as the Summer-gatherings the good man is perished out of the Earth the taking away of the godly is the great loss and matter of great mourning unto those that survive Thirdly Here is a publick and a common evil reproved the foolish and unthankful world is no whit affected with the loss of those of whom the Lord says the world was not worthy of and this want of affection is grounded upon the want of consideration no man lays it to heart no man understood that they were taken away from the evil to come Fourthly Here is a secret of providence discovered godly men are taken away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à faciebus mali from the evil to come there being a storm coming the Lord doth hasten to gather in the Corne into the barne before-hand That I should speak unto al these cannot be expected at this time there are only three points that I shall pick out of them all First Godly men dye not as other men doe it is peculiar unto them to enter into peace and rest in their bed c. Secondly Godly men are usually taken away in mercy before an evil come Thirdly When they are taken away it should be unto them that survive matter of serious Consideration Affliction and Lamentation First This is made the peculiar portion of the righteous and mercifull men at their death they shall enter into peace Doctrine Godly men dye not as others doe there 's a great difference between them and others in their death There is indeed a great deale of difference between men in their lives they are men of another spirit of another generation they walk by other principles they aim at other ends they live upon other comforts then others doe and therefore they are men of another value and esteem they are the excellent ones when the greatest amongst men if they be wicked are vile persons they are amongst men as gold amongst the dust of the Earth and as diamonds amongst the common pebles in the streets But the great and the grand difference between them is in their deaths there is something in a special maner in death peculiar to the Saints and this we are specially to observe Psal 37.37 the end of that man is peace this Balaam could observe Numb 23.10 There is a death peculiâ—r to the righteous Proverbs 14.32 The wicked shall be cast away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death The opposition shews the difference When a godly man shall be gathered a wicked man shal be destroyed cast away and when the godly man dyes he dyes in hope but the wicked man at death he breaths out his soul his life and hope together But seeing they do both dye the righteous man as well as the wicked we see also that wise men dye as well as those that are foolish and for the manner of their death to outward view there is a great resemblance Eccles. 2.16 as dyes the fool so also dies the wise man yet there is a great difference Ahab and Iosiah a wicked and a gracious King they both dyed for the manner of their deaths it was much alike they dyed both in War with the same words in their mouthes turn thy hand for I am wounded and yet it s said of the one he dyed and was gathered to his fathers in peace though he dyed in War What is therefore in death that is peculiar to the Saints how dyes the wise man this will be seen in three things First in respect of the persons dying Secondly in respect of death it self Thirdly in respect of the fruit and the consequence of death First In reference unto the person dying for a godly man dyes in the Lord. Rev. 14.13 he doth sleep in Iesus 1. Cor. 15.18 which implies two things First an union with him a being in him Secondly A dying in him by the power and efficacy of the same union now we doe not only reade in Scripture of our being in Christ but also living in him working in him bearing fruit in him c. Now a man doth live in Christ when by the Almighty working of the Spirit of Christ the Graces of Christ appeare in him and he lives no more according to Men in the Flesh but according to God in the Spirit so we are said to die in him when by the Power of the Spirit of Christ by vertue of our union with him we do exercise these dying graces that were in Christ for their be in him living and dying doing and suffering graces and when by vertue of our Union living by the faith of the son of God a man doth exercise these Graces then is a man said to dye in Christ work in him suffer in him live in him so that a godly man dies in the Lord he is one with him and even in death the Mystical union is not dissolved and the dying graces that were in Christ and which a Saint doth receive by vertue of union with him those graces he doth exercise as Christ doth for he dies in him Secondly He dies in Faith First in respect of himself
to the Crown and he being a gracious man did turn from all the abominations of his fathers and the land having peace for the first ten years of his reign he spent that whole time in reformation in reforming the corruptions of Religion and thought himself as a Magistrate so highly concerned in it that he used his power to take away the Altars of the strange Gods c. and his Authority was not onely destructive as some would allow the Magistrates to destroy what they will so they build nothing but it was astrictive also for he commanded Iacob to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do his Law and his commandments This glorious work of Reformation being begun for about ten years carryed on never was any great work so begun in this world but mighty mountains of opposition have been raised against it nowhere is an Army of Ethiopians raised against him the greatest that we read of in any story of a thousand thousand chap. 14.9 and though it may be it was not their direct aym to hinder the work of Reformation yet this doubtless was Satans aym in stirring them up for as the aym of the good Angels is beyond that of the Instruments which many times they use Dan 10. last and when I am gone forth lo the Prince of Graecia shall come He shall fight with the Prince of Persia but is over-ruled therein to another end then himself intended So is the aym of the evil Angels also but the Lord who delights in Reformation and loves to see Temple-work go on will not suffer this good work to perish under so great an opposition and therefore this mighty Army shall not stand before a Reforming Prince and a praying people but they were all smitten before the men of Iudah and they returned home to Ierusalem laden with the spoil in great abundance At this time the Lord stirred up the spirit of Azariah the son of Obed who went forth to meet them he preached this Sermon unto the King and unto the victorious Army and he saith hear me O Asa and all Iudah and Benjamin Gods Messengers may require audience and obedience in the Name of God from the greatest men upon earth and that when they were in the height of their prosperity and glory for the Lord hath exalted his word over Nations and kingdoms to root out and to destroy and to build and to plant and it is not the least charge given against Zedechiah that he humbled not himself before Ieremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord for though the men dye yet their words wil live and it will asuredly overtake men though they may seem for a while to escape it Zach. 1.6 Did not my words take hold of the fathers the sum of the Prophets Sermon is here laid down in three Doctrinal Propositions First That the Lord is with You whilst you are with Him Secondly If you seek Him He will be found of you Thirdly If you forsake Him He will forsake you Here is a Doctrinal Proposition with a particular Application the Proposition is this That they that do forsake God shall be forsaken of God 2 The Application is that if ye forsake God he will also forsake you that he hath so gloriously delivered and for whom he hath so eminently appeared riding upon the heavens and his excellency on the skye yet if he will turn his hand and consume you after he has done you good this is â—o perish with a double destruction as for a man to dye after he hath had some quickning works upon him is to be twice dead so for a man or a people to perish or be destroyed after the Lord hath done them good and seemed to rejoyce over them this is to perish with a double destruction For the opening of this Doctrine there are four things in the Text which are to be considered First we see that the desertion of a people never begins in God the Lord doth not forsake them till they forsake him There are two sorts of acts that God exercises over men some Actus dominii acts of soveraignty Secondly Actus justitiae the one respects men as creatures the other respects men as sinners Preterition is an act of soveraignty and that begins in God but desertion is an act of Justice and therefore must begin in us for the cause of all punishment the meritorious cause is to be found in the creature and doth begin in us and not in him It s true that all acts of mercy do begin in God and they have no ground in the creature he loves us first he shews mercy freely and what ever he doth it is for his own sake there is nothing in the creature that procures it The rise and foundation of mercy is in himself but acts of Justice have their rise from us for he doth in all judgements cleer this unto the creature that he doth not without cause any thing that he hath done and the Lord saith of all judgements hast thou not procured it to thy self is not this the wages that you have wrought and laboured for is not this the harvest which answers the seed that you have sowen for they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption c. So that the Lord doth never reject us till we reject him he doth never forsake us till we forsake him Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life but acts of grace begin in God and they are meer gifts but all acts of Justice begin in us and are but the fruits of our own deservings he rejects us because we reject him first c. Secondly it may be supposed that they that have had the Lord much with them and have had great and eminent experience of his presence going with them yet they may forsake the Lord and depart from him Israel did so they forgat God their saviour who had done great things for them in Egypt wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red sea as Psal 10.6,21,22 and they that forget God will quickly forsake God a people may arise unto that foolish confidence in their own present condition that they may say Ier. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more at thee a strange expression and they may walk towards God as if they were put into such an estate that they should now need God no more but that they could live without him we have now no more need of fasting and praying days of humiliation may now be intermitted for not onely months but yeers together What is this but for a people to say We are Lords we will come no more at thee we have not now the same need of God that we had in times past 2 Chron. 26.15 Vzziah was marvellously helped till he was strong but when he was strong his heart was lifted up unto his own destruction Isa 29.1 there
together for good by their Covenant all things are yours whether life or death c. 1 Cor. 3.22 Now this dealing of God with men living in the Church under the same Ordinances and enjoying the same priviledges being so different there can be no reason given of it but meerly the different Covenants under which they stand for God hath been and is alwaies mindful of his Covenant and according to it doth alwaies dispence himself to the creature Vse Let it awaken every natural man to seek for a translation Thy misery by sin stands in two things First that thou art under Adams Covenant Secondly that thou bearest his Image now we many times see our misery by the one the evil of our waies but few are sensible of the other the evil of our state and that is the greatest for this makes thee a bond-man whilest thou livest for the Covenant genders unto bondage and it cuts thee off from all hope of an inheritance hereafter for the bond-woman must be cast out with her children This is the translation which the Apostle speaks of being translated into the Kingdom of his dear son Col. 1.1 this is the passage from death to life Iohn 5.24 In this passage a of man there must be a double change First mutatio moralis a Relative change as when of a bond-man a man is made a free-man of a servant he becomes a son Secondly Physica a natural change that is when of a sick man he is made sound the first is the change of a mans Covenant and the second a change of his Image the one is done in Justification and the other in Sanctification and by both these old things are past away all things do become new 1 Cor 5.17 This translation all the people of God that ever went to heaven had experience of and this is that I desire all men in a natural state may be awakened to seek after But you will say who be the men that stand under this first Covenant I hope there be none such amongst us You may judge your selves by these two rules First he that is under the second Covenant hath an interest in him who is the prince of the Covenant he that was given as a Covenant to the Nations Isa 42.6 for we heard before that the two Covenants were made with two different heads and it is union with them that brings a man under either Covenant it is being in Adam that makes a man stand under the one and being in Christ that gives a man interest in the other for a man must be in Christ as he was in Adam that is in him legally standing under his Covenant and in him naturally that is bearing his Image Now if a man would know whether he hath an Interest in Christ or no let him take the Apostles rule and lay it unto his own soul impartially 2 Cor. 5.17 he that is in Christ is a new creature he is not barely new dressed or hath gotten a new out-side but he is within renewed in the Spirit of his mind he hath a new understanding new apprehensions of persons and things and those things which before he counted foolishness now he doth know them to be his only wisdom and those persons that he looked upon as the scum and off-scouring of all things these they judge to be the excellent ones of the earth and those dark and carnal apprehensions of the waies of God and the mysteries of Godliness that he had before they are now done and past away they have no affection to them for it is not enough for a man to have new words and new actions there is many a man abstains from the practise of many sins that their hearts love and many a man for some respects takes up the practise of some duties that his heart hates but such a man now loves that which before he hated and he now hates that which before he did love that which before was to him the only matter of his joy now becomes the only object of his sorrow thus he that is in Christ is a new creature If so then surely they cannot take themselves to be new creatures that have not so much as renewed their actions that were drunkards and so continue were Sabbath-breakers and Swearers and Userers and Scoffers and so continue still the comfort of whose lives comes in by evil it is their meat and drink they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence Prov. 4.27 It s their cloathing Pride compasseth them as a chain violence covers them as a Garment Psal 73.6 and it is their recreation it is a pastime for a fool to do wickedly Prov. 10.23 and there be no recreations that have any pleasure in them unless they be sweetned by sin surely thus walking in their old waies it is impossible they should be new creatures and not being new creatures they are not in Christ and not being in Christ the Prince of the Covenant they have no interest in the new Covenant Secondly he that is under the first Covenant is a bond-man as Ismael whereas he that is under the second Covenant is the son of the free-woman and receives from the Lord by that Covenant a free Spirit Psal 51.12 First he is in bondage by earthly engagements he can have no engagement but it is a snare to him The false Prophets were honoured by some of the Kings of Israel therefore they could not speak the truth to him neither to reprove his sin nor to discover the mind of God I must do such a thing though it be against my conscience to give such a man content I must not reprove such a sin because it will displease c. the Prophet Michaiah had a dis-engaged Spirit in this respect Secondly in bondage unto sin and under the power of their own lusts that though they may see many evils in themselves and confess it yet when occasion and opportunity serves and the lust represents it self they are no more their own thy cannot resist Eyes full of Adultery that cannot cease to sin 2 Pet. 2.14 and as men use to say they cannot choose c. Thirdly in bondage unto the creatures under the power of them 1 Cor. 6.12 one man cannot live without his honour another without his minion another without such an estate and all the thoughts of their hearts run out about such things and are wholly busied about meat and drink and cloathes and money and play and this wholly drinks up their spirits Fourthly in bondage under the guilt of sin and slavish and servile fears they go all their life long with a galled conscience filled with fearful apprehensions of death and Judgement for they all their life long for fear of death are subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 Consider seriously of these particulars and unto such men I speak as being as yet under the first Covenant and I exhort them to seek to be translated I speak not this to
therefore it must be universal yet that since the fall all unregenerate men are under this Covenant I will further prove it by these Arguments First it will appear from the conveyance of the guilt of Adams sin Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death came upon all because sin came upon all how so seeing there be many dye that do never sin The Apostle answers though they have never sinned in their own persons yet in him as a publike person they did sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom all have sinned we were all in him and therefore we all sinned in him now how were men in Adam they were in him two waies First legally by vertue of the Covenant which God made with him we were parties therein we were as well bound to the duty had as true an interest in the mercy and life promised and were as liable unto the curse that should follow upon the breach of the Covenant as he and therefore all mankind fell at once The Covenant it seems that God made with the Angels he did not make it with the whole Angelical nature and therefore some of them fell and others stood but ours being made with the whole humane nature and we being all involved in one Covenant when in Adam our Covenant was broken we all fell in him and therefore speaking of this Covenant Saint Chrysostom tells us Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hand writing of Adams Covenant was ours as truly as it was his Secondly naturally and so we bear the Image of the earthly receiving from him the same nature that he had 1 Cor. 15.49 if he had stood he had conveyed unto us an undefiled nature and we have from him a corrupt nature by the fall so that whatever is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 now seeing his sin is conveyed unto us because we stood under the same Covenant with him it must needs follow that so long as a man stands guilty of Adams sin so long he stands under Adams Covenant and that must needs be till this sin be done away in Christ Secondly to be freed from the Law as a Covenant of works is in Scripture made a special favour vouchsafed unto none but them that are in Christ Rom. 6.14 we are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 7.1,2,3 the Law is brought in as a dead husband that hath command over a man no more but it is Christ that cancels this hand-writing Col. 2.14 it is a liberty wherein Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 Now how hath Christ made us free from the Law how is it done and how are we not under the Law the Law hath in Scripture divers uses Est instar Paedagogi regulae fraeni speculi now in all these respects believers are under the Law it is not a hand-writing cancelled in either of them but sub ratione pacti so they that are in Christ are not under the Law but under grace that is either for righteousness or life for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10 4. If none are freed from the Law as a Covenant but they that are in Christ then all unregenerate men who are without Christ they stand under the Law as a Coevnant still Thirdly God deals with all unregenerate men according to the terms of the first Covenant for God deals with and dispenseth himself unto men according unto the Covenant under which they stand and therefore we shall find the dealing with those and with believers is exceeding different according as they stand under different Covenants First he expects perfect obedience in their own persons indeed the Lord requires perfect obedience still and wherein we come short in the least degree we sin but yet because the perfection is not to be found in us it is made up in the second Adam in the obedience of the beloved for there is commutatio personae but not Justitiae but this is not vouchsafed unto any unregenerate man neither a change of his righte ousness it must be perfect nor of his person for it must be personal righteousness for this Covenant admits no Mediator so that of all the obedience of Christ not any goes to perfect their obedience and of all his sufferings not a drop of his blood goes to take away one of their sins off the score for they are without Christ Eph. 2.12 and it is in him alone that God is well pleased Math. 3.17 Secondly he rejects their most glorious works for the least failing in them See it in Jehu 2 King 10.30 God saith of him He had diligently executed what was right in mine eyes and hath done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart and yet in Hos 1.4 he saith I will visit the blood of Iezreel on the house of Jehu and in them Isa 1,11,12 though they were things commended by God yet he abhors them if thou dost evil sin lies at thy door Gen. 4.7 whereas it is not so with them that are under the Covenant of grace I perswade my self many of their works are rewarded that have had if you look upon the thing it self as great imperfections as there have been in those works that unregenerate men have been punished for if there be a willing mind though the work be not answerable yet it shall be accepted 2 Cor. 8.12 and the good Lord will pardon a man though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary 2 Chron. 30.18,19 Thirdly he hates their persons for their works sake Gen. 4.7 if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted the person 's cursed for the works sake Gal. 3.10 but under the new Covenant it is the love of the persons that makes their Services be accepted Abels offering was offered with sin as well as Cains yet Gen. 4.4 God had respect to Abel and then to his offering but he respected not Cains offering because he had no respect unto his person the weakness of Abels person made not his services rejected but so it did Cains God is angry indeed at the sins of the one but there is ira simplex ira redundans in personam he doth never hate their persons when he is angry with their works but he deals with the wicked under the first Covenant hates their services for their persons sake Fourthly all things are turned into a curse to them that are under the first Covenant for this Covenant deserves nothing for the breakers thereof but the curse Gen. 2.17 and they are cursed in the Basket and in the store Deut. 28.7 their Table made a snare Psal 69.22 curse their blessings Mal. 2.2 That Covenant being broken brings forth death And these temporal Judgements are but the praeludia judicii futuri but under the Covenant of grace unto them all things are turned into a blessing Rom. 8.28 all things work