Prophets and our Saviour also that God would never deal worse with any then with that Nation And the Prophet Ieremiah saith he that believeth shall never cease from giving fruit and the Psalmist that his leaves shall never quite fall off and Christ saith that he which beareth any fruit in him shall be purged that he may bear more In him is all our fruit found and in him we go in and out and still find fresh pasture and he that once drinketh of His living waters never thirsteth more or is quite dry but still findeth a fountain in him flowing up to Eternal Life And St. Paul saith If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved For which also he citeth two great Prophets Isaiah and Joel which is cited also by St. Peter in his first publique Sermon For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved For this Jesus is Lord of All even Davids Lord also and Rich unto All that call upon him And Paul also saith that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Which was oft no little stay to one I sometime knew in great anguish fearing the good Spirit had forsaken him And to all that so acknowledge Christ for their Lord and as their Lord worship him as the Psalms bid us and call upon him the same Apostle saith that no temptation comes but common unto man And that God is faithful and will not suffer them to be Templed above their strength but with the Temptation will provide an Issue that they may be able to bear it Which is also the last Petition in Our Lords Prayer and so sure to be granted And to All so acknowledging Christ St. John saith If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse And to All such he saith If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sin and not for ours onely but for the sins of the whole World which are some of the sweetest places in the Bible and belonging to All that call on Jesus of Nazareth which I see you do And to All such and therefore to you also St. Paul the great Teacher of the Gentiles writeth as from God in Heaven and his Son Jesus the Judge of all men and Angels also that if we judge our selves as I see you do we shall not be judged by him which is one of the greatest and highest Prerogatives or Royalties a mortal man can be capable of The Jews speak of it as one of the first things delivered by God to Moses and by him to Joshua and so down through all their Elders and Wise men in all ages to be Slow to judge or very slow in judging and it is one of the greatest and most difficult things in the world to be a righteous Judge in any matters of concernment more of our selves and yet more in matters of another world and yet most of all for all eternity so far above our sence and reason also that we know not how to guess about it but by Revelation The great thing foretold of Christ in the Psalms and Prophets is That he was to be the great and most supream Judge of all Persons in all Causes Which we might track through all the Bible up as high as Enoch Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all c and for this he received a most solemn Commission and was fitted and filled also with the spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Councell Power and Fear of-the Lord yea to make him very quick or tender in the Fear of God that he might judge righteous judgement And this was one great reason of his being made Man that he might be our Peer and an equal daies-man between God and us that should not make us afraid with his Terror when he judged us it being so consonant to Reason and to Scripture also that the Power Legislative Judiciall and Executive should be in distinct persons and run in distinct Channels God would have it so in himself also and came out in the person of the Father giving the Law though indeed the Free persons that receive and submit even the Law-takers are the great Law-makers But the Sonne is the Judge and the Spirit executes his judgements For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself and the Son quickneth whom he will and hath given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Son of man Jesus Christ therefore being the great and only Judge having all judgement committed to him no man may pre sume to make himself a Judge or take it on him but when Christ committeth it and then onely As he commandeth and directeth Let me therefore first desire you to consider that you run not on a Premunire or be Anti-christian or a Traitor against the main office of Christ while you judge your self or any other for who hath made you a Judge or a divider If you say Christ hath bid you judge your self you must be sure of your Commission that you have it and can read and understand it also For his own general rule out of his own mouth was Judge not that ye be not judged And he that taketh upon him to judge and condemn another or so much as to think evil of his neighbour and t' is worse of a stranger whom he knoweth not speaketh evill of the Law and judgeth or condemneth the Law yea and it may be the Law-maker also And though Christ did promise first to his twelve Apostles Judas also it seems being among them that they having followed him in the Regeneration should sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And afterwards even after his last supper before his death he said to them Yee are they which have continued with me in my Temptations and I appoint you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel there being then also it seems twelve with him and so Judas also though Saint John saith he went out immedately after the sop Yet this was not to be till he himself was to receive his Kingdom and As he did receive it at his Fathers hand and appointment which was not till after Death and Resurrection and Ascention to his glory Then he received gifts for men and for the Rebel also Then and not till then he gave out the Spirit which was not to be
he had Blessed him He appeared to Abraham by the Name Elshaddai God Almighty and Abrahams believing but This Power was imputed for Righteousnesse But afterwards by the Name Jehovah which speaketh his Will also And I will be what I will be or what I can be As the Words are and not as some read them I am what I am which the lowest Creature may be said to be And at the Close of the Baptists Testimony of Christ in the third of John This is made the very Ground work of our Faith and Hope in Christ and coming to him because the Father hath loved him and given All things into his hand And so doth himself also make it several times in That very Gospel For the Father Loveth the Son and sheweth him all he doth and will shew him greater things then these that you may Marvel For as the Father quickens the dead even so the Son quickeneth whom he will For the Father judgeth no man but hath commited all judgement to the Son that all men should Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father For as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given the Son also to have Life in himself and hath given him Authority to execute Judgement also because he is the Son of Man And again the Hour is come that the Son of Man should be Glorisied But as a Corn of Wheat he must first die that so he may be made a quickening Spirit and then he shall bring forth much Fruit for he will not die as a Fool dyeth But will improve his death to the utmost and do as much good as he Can and will Work while he may VVork Least the Night come and then he cannot VVork He will therefore do what is in his Hand and Power to do and will do it with all his Might Remembering him that said withhold not thy hand while it is in thy Power to Work Say not to thy Neighbour goe and come again to Morrow When it is now in thy Power to do him Good And now shall the Prince of this World be cast out And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw All men unto me and Him that cometh to me will I in no wise I will not I will not cast him off or cast him out But walk while you have the Light least Darknesse come upon you These things he spake and did Hide himself from them But he came and Cryed again He that seeth me seeth him that sent me I am come a Light unto the World and he lighteth every one that cometh into the World that whosoever believeth should not abide in Darknesse If any Man hear my Words and believe not I judge him not for I came not to judge the World but to Save the World and these things I say that you might be Saved And again Jesus knowing that the Father had given All things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God he riseth from Supper and took a Towel and girded himself and washed his Disciples feet O see his Heart when he hath Power for all this is because the Father had given All things into His Hands And when Judas was gone out immediately after the Sop though St Luke seem to make him present at the Sacrament and one of the twelve of whom or to whom he spake of twelve Thrones and Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel he saith Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him and if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straightway glorifie him And shall not All bow to him and to the Glory of God also And if God be glorified in them God will glorifie them with himself or where is the stress of our Saviors Argument And again It is expedient that I go for else the Comforter will not come and when he comes he shall convince the World of sin For so God loved the World that he sent his Son not to condemn the world or Judg it but to save the world by That which he will give for the Life of the World And again which he shall give unto you for Him hath God the Father sealed And again I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall glorifie me and shall receive of mine and shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine therefore I said that he shall take of mine and shew It unto you And again Father Glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie Thee a Good Comment on the Lords Prayer for who can first give to God that it may be given or can lend that it may be paid again As thou hast given him Power over All flesh that he should not onely may but should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And if That be not yet plain enough before in That very chapter he repeats it again saying I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me For they are Thine And all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine and I am glorified in them And his saying here I pray not for the world stands as much alone without a Fellow or any like it as most words in all the Bible And how can we build any great matter of Faith upon That which hath not two or three Witnesses to confirm it Yet if it were said I Will not pray for the world Is it more or more obliging or concluding than That in Hosea Call her Lo-ruhamah I will no more have mercy upon the House of Israel and I will not have mercy on her children and I will not be their God And yet he did turn again and had pity on them because he delighted in Mercy and where it was said You are not my People There it shall be said You are the Sons of the Living God So also Thy Name shall be no more called Jaacob but Israel And yet God himself often called him Jaacob after This. So also I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And I did not command your Fathers or speak to them concerning Sacrifice And in the same Prophet They shall teach no more saying Know the Lord. And You murmur not against us but God And they have not rejected Thee but Me. As in the Gospel I came not to Judg the world nor will I Judg you And again I do not or I will not call you Servants And You shall ask me Nothing And when thou makest a Feast Thou shalt not invite thy Friends In all which and divers other places sure we do not believe any absolute Negative but Comparative Or at least not so definitive but such as may be reversed And why should that saying I will not Pray for the world if he had said so oblige Christ
read in the Psalmes and Epistle to the Hebrews with the four Watches or Watchers and the four and twenty Elders of which again when we shew all measures borrowed from the twelve hours of darknesse or the twelve sons of Ishmael and the twelve sons of Light or of Israel they all fall down and Worship Praying and singing Praises to the Lamb also even as cloathed with flesh as well as to him that sat on the Throne which yet was Christ also as is clear from many passages but Christ in more Majesty and Glory of the Deity then onely as a Lamb slain For it was the Lamb exalted and set down in Glory even in his Fathers Throne As of old the 24. courses of Priests and of Levites and of Porters or Watchers or Singers and other Officers so ordered by David who was also the 24th from Noah as the number of his Name in Hebrew and the 14th from Abraham as also his Name when written without a jod as frequently it is and signifieth love and a Fathers Brother or a very neer kindsman so in the Revelation those 24. Elders did fall down in Adoration to the Lamb even to the Lamb that was slain they had Harps it s said and golden Vials full of Odours which are the praiers of Saints Which may intimate that as our great High Priest over all the Houshold in Heaven and Earth The great Angel of the Covenant offers up his own Incence with the Prayers of all Saints to his Father So these Intercessors also to the Lamb even the Elders of Churches offer up their Churches yea and other Saints Prayers to the Lamb. For the whole Bride and the Spirit acting the Bride also do not onely converse with Christ as her Husband but Worship him also as Her Lord as Sarah called Abraham and she is so commanded in the Psalmes both to Kisse him and to Worship him And she so practiseth in the Canticles and the Revelation also crying to the last come even come and so come Even come Lord Iesus come quickly It may also be easie to shew very many if not most or all of the Prayers and praises in the Psalmes are plainly directed to Christ and many commands and encouragements to call upon him there also As He arken unto my cry my King and my God for unto Thee will I Pray my voice shall thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayers to Thee and will look up And again they that know Thy Name will trust in Thee for Thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek Thee And again Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Thou wilt prepare their heart and thou wilt cause their ear to hear And again Blessed be my Rock and blessed be the God of my Rock and my Saviour clense me from my secret sins and keep me that presumptuous sins prevail not over me and let the words of my Mouth and the Meditations of my Heart be acceptable in Thy sight O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer And again Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever and ride on prosperously because of Truth and Meeknesse of Righteousnesse And to the Spouse of Christ He is thy Lord Worship thou him And again Be still and know that I am God Clap hands all People sing unto God with Triumph He shall speak the people under us He shall chuse our Inheritance for us even the Excellency of Jacob whom he loved and his blessing prevailed over all the blessings of his Ancestors And again gather my Saints together and I will speak and then declares the forme of the great Judgement both to the good and evil And concludes call upon me in the day of thy trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me plainly spoken by Christ and repeated by the Psalmist afterwards Saying In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee for Thou wilt answer me And in an other Psalm Thou calledst in trouble and I did deliver thee and answered thee in the secret place of Thunder And what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee And again Trust in him at all times ye People and power out your Souls before him And again Praise waiteth in silence for thee And to thee shall the Vow be performed O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Iniquity prevaileth over me but thou hast made Atonement for our transgressions O our Jesus or our Salvation The hope of the ends of the Earth and them that are a far off in the Seas And again my lips shall ever praise Thee and and in thy Name will I lift up my hands when I pray And again Thou hast ascended up on High Thou hast led Captivity Captive Thou hast received gifts for men even for the Rebbels also that God may dwell among them And thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that thou hast wrought c. And again In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee for Thou wilt answer me and Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy to all that call upon Thee Or as St. Paul to the Romans Lord of All and Rich unto all that call upon him plainly spoken of Christ. As that also of the Lord speaking unto my Lord Sit at my right hand c. And then the Psalmist speaketh to him the Lord at Thy hand shall smite through Thy enemies and Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power and the Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever cited so remarkably in the New Testament by the Apostles and by Christ also asking the Jews who it was there or how David called him Lord. And the 102. Psalm being entituled a prayer of one afflicted when his soul is overwhelmed in him and poureth out his sighing before the Lord is plainly spoken to Christ as we see by divers verses cited in the Epistle to the Hebrews as spoken to Him and proving Him to be the Son of God and so are many other like passages cited in the New Testament and applyed to Christ. As also the context will shew speaking somewhat that belongeth properly to Christ and not to God but as he is in Christ and the Humane Nature and so he hath eyes ears heart and hands and passions also and affections which are else improperly given to God or supposed to be in him and so he descends to earth ascends on high Returning also to judge the World Which is oft spoken by David to Him he calleth Lord and King and Judge of All. But the Father judgeth no man but hath committed alâ— judgement to the Son and authority also to execute judgement because he is the son of man And often doth the Psalmist speak to a Lord or King or Judge as Job also saying I will make supplication to my Judge and my Redeemer liveth a phrase also frequently
Precious in his eyes shall be their Bloud and yet more precious their souls which himself said was so exceeding precious as not to be compared with the World must it only be precious in our own eyes and shall it not be so in his also Let us then bowe down to him as the third Captain of 50. did to Elijah saying Let my soul be precious in thine eyes and the soules of thy servants for so the words are in the original And himself summed up all the Law into Love adding also that it was a little love to love a friend or one that was lovely or like us fair and beautifull kind and thankfull even sinners and Hypocrites do so but I say unto you love your enemies and them that hate you pray for them that persecute you revile you blaspheme and offer all despite to you Blesse them that curse you yea blesse and curse not be ever blessing and never cursing In a word Be mercifull as your Heavenly Father is mercifull and then addeth Judge not that you be not judged Which is the more to be marked because himself so often intimates that although the Father hath committed all judgement to him and authority to execute it also as we shewed before yet that he neither came to judge the world nor will judge it or any man it may be in his own person but will commit it to his Children who shall judge the world and Angells also and then the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory to seperate those that are judged And there also none are condemned but those that justifie themselves for if we could or would Judge our selves we should not be judged Yet even then also we are judged by the Son of man For we must all stand before his judgement seat who yet loved our nation and our nature and was made our Advocate and under the same Law with us The same Law of Love And did any man ever Hate his own flesh though he may chasten it and keep it in subjection Plucking it under the eyes as some render the Apostles phrase Or if he could hate his own flesh will he not love his own Spirit and his owm Image Will not That love seek to propagate it all he may he hath received the Spirit without measure He is infinitely full of that as Elihu speaks which is as New Wine yea as Fire in his bones and heart which as the Spring in the watch is ever clicking and the cause of all the beating in the Arteries and all the Pulses and it must have vent he cannot hold it in So it hath now pleased infinite Wisdome and Goodnesse to screw it selfe into the finite heart of Christ in his humanity so that he cannot hold it in or stifle it if he would as that which is infinite might have done and so swallowed it up as that we might never have seene or felt or any way enjoyed it But infinite is now so riveted into finite that this finite cannot comprehend it or detain it if he would He cannot detain it in unrighteousnesse not so much as he may the wind in his hand or all the great Ocean in his bowels So that if his eye were evil or his heart hard and narrow when he seems so kindly to invite and call and woo us to his dainties which the Scripture yet forbids us once to tast from an evil eye or from one that cryeth eat and drink but his heart is not with us which the soul of God abhors Yet indeed if Christ do but love himself and his own Spirit and his own ease he still will and still must give out freely having received that which is too great and strong for him to hold in and keep down if he would being an infinite Fountain still flowing up and still flowing out with Rivers of living water round about him So it is in all that do but receive some little drops of it from him How much more is it so in himself that hath it without such bounds and limits O how is he straitned t is his own expression till he poure out himself and his Spirit among us It cannot be taken from him against his will and yet it cannot be held in but is as an Ointment or a sweet perfume in ones hand the more it is pressed and heated the more it flows out and sends forth it's sweet Odours And she came behind him saying If I can but touch him or so much as the hemme of his Garment I shall be healed and vertue went out at every touch As the sweet perfume and precious Ointment on the Sacrificers head it drencht his Beard even Aaron's beard which yet was but an Excrement and to be cut off with every Sissors and it ran down through all his Garments and to every hemm and Fringe of them although to be changed and laid off very many times besides every nights rest And the Laver of old in the Tabernacle had no cover how much lesse the great Molten Sea in the Temple which had such a Fountain or Fountains still flowing up in it or into it as the very words in the Hebrew may teach us Have you not seen a tender Mothers breast so full and swel'd for want of sucking that she hath been glad of a strangers Child to draw it when her own could not or would not So and much more is it with the full breast of Jesus Christ which is such an infinite Fountain that the more it gives the more it may And if thou knewst the gift of God and who it is that giveth thou wouldst ask and ask again and never give over asking as we found before in Acksa and divers others till he filleth thee also with the upper and the lower springs Rejoyce yee then and be glad with him all yee that love him rejoyce with him all yee that mourned after him that you may suck and be satisfied with those breasts of Consolation And a drop that runneth over for he hath enough for his Children Servants Strangers Cattle all his Creatures every drop hath power enough to make us hunger and thirst and long for more till it may stretch out our narrow hearts and make them as wide as the very Heavens And he hath received gifts for Rebels also and his own Law was he that received freely mâ—st give freely yea and he said It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive As if he thought himself also and made himself more blessed by giving out freely then by receiving all the fulnesse he hath which would be a burthen to him if he could not did not give out freely as he receiveth And for more clear expressing his own mind and heart and will for doing good according to his Power which is still the measure of goodnesse also He hath not only promised to receive All that come to him and by no means no means to cast them off or out but also to
deceived and God needeth not your Lye for him or against your self in any thing And if you judge amisse of your self God is so Holy and Just that you never need fear that He will confirm or execute your wrong Judgement And if you judge rightly of your self you are not so miserable as you conceive your self but as you do that which is one of the Highest and Hardest Acts possible which is to judge ones self rightly so you have one of the Greatest Bbessings which God giveth to the Sons of men or to his own Son which is a right understanding of a right Judgement which was the Great Argument used by the greatest and best man that ever lived to prove that he was of God and had His Spirit and a Will also moulded into His Holy Will for else he saith he could not Judge Righteous Judgement And who ever doth this of himself and his own sins is in a special manner partaker of the Holy Ghost whose proper work is to convince us rightly of sin Righteousnesse and Judgement and who ever judgeth himself rightly shall not be judged of God Here he stopt and sweetly bowed and turned aside a little but returned soon again looking as cheerful as he could well force himself It being not very easie so to clear up his eyes and face but that it might be seen though he hid it that he had wept Which also pierced his Guest both to see the Fathers affection and his own misery Who was still so unhappy as he some way expressed to be a burthen to himself and all he conversed with supposing he had grieved or displeased him by some of his expressions But when the Good Father perceived those thoughts with a most sweet tender and melting look he replyed No my Dear Brother no you do not burthen me at all or in any thing displease me But as my general duty bids or helps me in some measure to mourn with every one that mourneth and to weep with every one that weepeth So my particular respect and affection now forceth me if at least it can be force upon a Fathers tender bowels to yearn over his son or a brother over his own dearly beloved brother Yet there is somewhat in You that maketh me melt in Joy rather then sorrow tho it may be unutterable for I cannot expresse it I saw you were my Neighbour at the first as a Man and so I found my self obliged This is Little and low both to Love and Honour you for that Image of God I ought to acknowledge in you and the great Law of Love that commands Brotherly kindenesse bids us adde Love also yea and to strangers also for the same chapter that bids us Love our Neighbour as our self bids us Love a stranger also as we love our selves And among divers reasons why we should love strangers it is sometimes added Because God loveth strangers Yea and we are bid to entertain them so As if they were or might be Angels seeing some had unawares so entertained Angels But now I see somewhat more in you not onely a Man and my Neighbour but a Christian also and my Dear and pretious Brother whom the Angels do attend and love and honour as a lively Image of their great Lord and Master Jesus Christ. And how is it that the Brother of my Lord thus cometh to visit me And you are so far from having committed that great sin against the Holy Ghost which you so much fear that you are still under the most gracious workings of that Holy Spirit Whose great work is to convince the world even the world and not onely the Apostles or Disciples but the World of Sin Righteousnesse and Judgement which is also promised to the World even to the World and is fulfilled in you who are thus under the convincing spirit of Promise And it will also comfort you for the same spirit that convinceth is also the Comforter and where it wounds it heals and when it hath convinced both of Sin Judgement and Righteousness which is there promised it will also comfort It being the promise or indeed the property and nature yea and heart of God to heal and quicken whom he wounds and kills which from Moses Song runs all along through the Psalms and Prophets Who tell us If he wound he will heal Yea though he kill for two dayes He wil revive and quicken on the Third For he will turn again and have compassion on us because he delighteth in mercy though he cause grief for a while and yet not willingly or from his heart afflicteth the children of men which is his Strange work But Mercy is his Child his Son and comes as naturally from him as a child from any father For he is the Father of Mercy yea of a multitude of mani-fold Mercies which are also One with the heart of Christ for He is the onely begotten of the Father and yet His Father is also the Father of Mercies so that Christ and Mercies lay together in one womb and indeed are the same for how else is Christ the Onely begotten of the Father And you are under the tender mercies of Christ even that Christ who is Mercy it self and this holy Spirit of Promise will certainly be your Comforter being already I see your Remembrancer to bring to mind his words one of his proper Works having also convinced you of Righteousnesse enough in him Everlasting Righteousnesse to satisfie God and sanctifie you And I hear you not onely acknowledge him to be the Son of God and sent of God to be the Saviour of the World but also you are convinced of sin because you have not believed on him the great promise of that Comforter and are made most truly and highly to value defire long and pray for him and To him which you could not but by the gracious workings of that Holy Spirit of promise whose great work was and still is to set up Christ as he set up his Father Which Character given by Christ of his own spirit is repeated also by the Apostles And St. John gives it as the Touch-stone whereby we should try the spirits saying Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God and again he that confesses that Jesus is the Son of God dwelleth in God and God in him and again whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and again He that is born of God sinneth not that sin or worketh not sin which is a common phrase in the Language of the Law of Moses and other places of Scripture Doeth not sin So but that the seed of God still remaineth in him as the sap of an Oake or Teile when it casteth its leaves as the Prophet Isaiah in that most remarkable Chap. cited in the six first books of the New Testament For the Jews rejection and return again as an emblem of the whole Worlds Restoring or Resurrection it being plain in the
Palm tree which it also signifies as That which Riseth by Pressing down and was used at the Feast of Tabernacles and yet also by the Jews shaking their Palms Thrice every way crying Hosanna Hosanna As their Fathers did to Christ spreading Palm branches as we read in the Gospel But how Hated and Cursed Things and Persons may be Loved and Blessed as changed by Him that is not changed as we read in the same Prophet to which also St. James alludeth who also telleth us We are All begotten by One Father and that He hateth putting away in himself also I hope more than any person We must speak anon When I consider the solemn engagement of God to his Son Ask of me and I will give thee all Nations and the utmost ends of the Earth or in the Gospel-words Ask and thou shalt receive seek and thou shalt finde knock and it shall be opened which was first said to Christ before he said it unto us and he saith it to every one and with that also Because it is so to every one therefore so to you or them that then heard him I have often thought it such a ground of Faith and Hope that instead of doubting whether I was given to him or not I have often pressed it on him Ask me that thou mayst receive me seek me and thou shalt finde me and by vertue of the Covenant my hard heart also shall be opened to thee if thou wilt knock heartily Now thou saist thou standest at the door and knockest O but do it heartily which is the great Law of All Servants and thou art the Lords Servant and so called through the Prophets Gospel all the Bible And the Lords servant must be gentle towards all even to them which oppose themselves c. I have also judged it an unworthy thought of God to think he would so solemnly bid him ask what he would and whom he would and then to tye his tongue or narrow his heart so as he durst not or he would not ask as many as he could dispose or manage And to put it out of doubt I see him very solicitous to perswade and assure us that the Father hath so far prevented all his asking or our fears doubts that he hath given him all Things all Persons all Power in Heaven and Earth And on this Rock he grounds his Calls and all our Faith and Hope and coming to him For we must needs have staggered at all his words and promises till with Abraham we were fully perswaded that he was able to perform what ever he promised and this was imputed to him for Righteousness and not unto him only but unto us also it shall be imputed a strange expression to the Gentile Romans If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our Justification We erre greatly not knowing the Scriptures and the mighty Power of Christ which if we knew we should not dispute his will but rowle our selves upon it as we daily pray and say Lord if thou wilt thou canst make us whole and cleane The God whom we worship is able to deliver us out of this Pit and fiery Furnace was it not a great mystery But however we will not worship the Golden Image of the Beast or him that was or is to be a Beast and to eate grass as an Oxe nor will we receive his character or name or number of it though set up in the plain of Dura every Generation of this World made up of 6. in bredth and 60. in height 666 was also the number of Talents of Gold brought yearly unto Solomon But of this again in our discourse of times and numbers weights and measures And when our Saviour himself came to dye and all the Scripture was against him that he could not live yet he was not afraid to put himself upon the infinite Power of God with Father if it be be possible and all things are possible The Angel to the Virgin said all things shall be possible with God and Christ several times with God all things are possible and at his coming down from the Mount an embleme of his second coming he addeth all things are possible to him also even to a poor weeping man that believeth All things are possible to thee O Father and to mealso they shall be possible But not my will but thine be done on Earth and my Earth also as in thy highest Heavenly Throne which shall also be my Throne And Father I will that those which thou hast given me to whom thou hast given all things may be with me and see my Glory and sit on my throne also And his Throne is established with Mercy as we read in the Prophet Isa. Yea rather with Mercy than Truth or any other thing for so the Proverbs say Mercy and Truth preserve the King but his Throne is established with Mercy So that if he cannot hold both he must let go Truth and all Justice rather than Mercy For Mercy shall triumph over all Judgement and in Judgement he still will still doth remember Mercy And he that sheweth not mercy in all things and all times shall have no mercy shewed him and himself bid them go learn what that meant I will have mercy and not sacrifice or mercy rather than any sacrifice He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord delighteth in to do Justice but especially to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Ride on prosperously because of Truth and Meekness of Righteousness and seeing God accepteth mercy rather than any other sacrifice let him guide thee also in the way he shall chose and best accept as the Psalmist speaketh I will therefore sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever for I have said mercy shall be built up for ever Mercy and Truth shall go before thy face O blessed are the people that know that joyfull sound and understand it They shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance in thy name they shall rejoyce all the day for they that know thy name will trust in it and in thy very Justice they shall be exalted Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace do kiss each other Melchizedek the King of Righteousness is also King of Salem that is Peace and his Throne of Judgement in the Revelation is a white Throne and is established with mercy For his mercy endureth for ever for his mercy endureth for ever Even that Mercy which is Over all his works and his compassions never fall And Solomon saith he that honoureth his Maker hath Mercy on the Poor He shall hear the Poor when he cryeth and him that hath no Helper no Helper He shall save their souls and shall redeem them from deceipt and violence or as this Psalm is expressed in Ezechiel He shall offer sacrifice for every one that erreth and is simple