People together are warranted If all such means of worship must be ordered by special Institution or they shall be unlawful God must upon the matter have no Worship at all from us in the meanes which he himself hath ordained because it is impossible to use these meanes and not to do many things which he hath not instituted To return to Prayer that a true Prayer may be made to God in a Set form cannot be denyed because things agreeable to God's will may be disposed therein as in the Lord's Prayer and it 's possible for the heart and affections to go along with it and faith and other graces to be exercised in it But you question whether Ministers may read in the Congregation prescribed Formes of Prayer imposed Admit it were unlawful for them to do it yet it is warrantable for you to be present at such Prayers because all Prayers wherein you joyn are stinted to you and you are tyed to the forme of words uttered by him that prayes nor is a holy good prayer made evil to him that hears it for the possibility aforesaid Obj. But the Prayers in the English Liturgy are Formes neither holy nor good for the Book it self is an Idolatrous Book the Mass in English Answ This is as true that light is darkness and white black Consider what is the matter of the Popish Mass prayers in an unknown Tongue to Saints departed and to feigned Saints receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in one kind an unbloody sacrifice offered up for quick and dead the real Presence satisfaction for Venial sins temporal penance for mortal sins blotting out the Second Commandment or confounding it with the First c. Blackness and Darkness and what is the matter of our English Liturgy reading the Holy Scriptures in a known Tongue the calling upon God in the mediation of Christ and not upon Angels and Saints for the living and not for the dead the administration of the Holy Supper in both kinds singing of David's Psalms c. all White and Light Obj. But sundry of the Prayers are found word for word in the Mass-Book Ans So may a true Man's goods be found in a Thieves Den and the goods of the Church may be in the possession of Antichrist an Usurper which goods she may lawfully require and take back again not as borrowed from him but as due to her self being the rich Legacies which Christ bequeathed to his Church which Anti-christ had seized upon the Good therefore in the Mass Book belonged not to Anti-christ but the foul gross Errours which are purged out of ours Obj. But there are foul errours and gross corruptions in our Liturgy which are not purged out Ans Admit there be or were yet there are no Fundamental Errours nor any that bordereth thereupon objected The corruptions objected are misapplications of Scriptures frequent repetition of the same things disordered Prayers and Responsories breaking Petitions asunder c. No errours that concern the main grounds or chief heads of Christianity but faults that may be tolerated and for which a Christian hath no cause to separate Suppose a Teacher misalledge a Text of Scripture or that something be amiss in his Prayer when he exerciseth his own gifts is this a ground sufficient to separate from the Ordinance of God or reject the good for that which is amiss Nor is there any doctrinal passage in any of the Prayers that may not bear a good construction and so Amen may be said to it Charity binds us to take every thing in the best sense nor can you think it pleasing to God for some evil that may be fastned upon some passages to with-draw communion especially when communion may be had without approving of any of the errours or corruptions though we do not for their sakes with draw from the communion of the Churches while they are exercised Obj. But most of the Ministers that officiate in these Congregations are either blind or superstitious or prophane or idle or Drunkards or Whore-masters and they that are not of this last Tribe are most of them Apostates from their Principles and therefore we cannot bring our hearts to hear any of them pray read or preach Answ You may finde as bad as any of these in the Church of Israel and as many for the space of Ground before our Saviour's time and in his Dayes and in the Apostolical Churches and yet you do not finde any of the People to have forsaken the publick Ordinances of God How far the charge is true or false I shall not now meddle In some Countreys I am sure that there are many sober godly Orthodox able Preachers yet in possession of the publick places And if you know any Countrey where it is worse consider if Christ himself did not joyn with worse O that I could perswade with you to lay sadly to heart the greatness of the sin of Divisions and the grievousness of the punishment threatned against it and that hath been executed for it and that the Leaders and Encouragers of private Christians to make this sinful separation would read oft and meditate much upon St. Judes Epistle to v. 20. And that the multitudes that are willing to be led by them would follow the prescription of the meanes here to preserve or recover themselves from this seduction v. 20 21. And that both would leave off their reviling the Government Ecclesiastical and the Ministers that conform and peaceably and submissively behave themselves by the example of Michael who though an Arch-Angel and contending in a just cause and disputing in an Argument wherein he was very knowing did not durst not bring a railing accusation though his adversary was the Devil But committed the cause to God saying The Lord rebuke Thee Though Quakers who pretend to follow no other Rule save the Light within them use ordinarily such railing and reviling Language yet let no such word ever be heard to Proceed out of your Mouths who profess to follow and walk exactly according to the written Word of God The last sort of Persons are those of your own House Fellow-members of the same Family and your Fellow-commoners your duty in reference to these is manifold I shall earnestly commend this one namely to live in Unity with them to move you effectually hereunto behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell in unity together It is like the precious Oyntment upon the Head that ran down upon the Beard even Aaron's Beard that went down to the Skirts of his Garments as the Dew of Hermon and as the Dew that descended upon the Mountain of Zion For the Lord commanded the blessing for evermore Psal 133. a Song of Degrees purposely pend for the knitting together the Hearts of God's People in the blessed band of Unity Emphatically propounding both the profit and pleasure redounding there-from Behold a matter worth the marking how good in regard of profit and how pleasant in regard of delight
end I am the Lord I change not Jesus Christ yesterday to Day and the same for ever His works indeed of the first Creation are changable to the worse and weaker but so is not he of old hast thou laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure they all of them shall wax old like a Garment but thou art the same And so are all his works of the second Creation The renewing graces of his holy Spirit the older they are the newer and fresher and more flourishing they grow They that are partakers of them can say as Caleb did to Joshua Forty Years old was I when Moses sent me to espie the Land I am this Day fourscore and five Years old as yet I am as strong this Day as I was the Day when Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for War both to go out and to come in So it is said of Moses who was an hundred and twenty Years old when he dyed yet his Eye was not dim nor his natural force abated How much more may it be said of the everlasting Lord God that his Eyes are as sharp sighted as ever nor is his Divine force abated The Eyes of the Lord run too and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him Is his hand shortned that it cannot redeem Or have I no power to deliver Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his Eare heavy that it cannot hear And as his Power is so is his Mercy and Truth The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto Childrens Children Thy faithfulness is unto all Generations This House therefore with all its Furniture is alway new and fresh which can be said of no other nor is it new formally only but also effectively Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary His strength never decayeth nor doth his will ever alter towards his who by a never failing Power of the Holy Spirit are carryed as it were upon Eagles Wings to Heaven to the mark of their supernal Calling Yea their Wings grow like unto Eagles that is they grow young and renew in spiritual Vigour 9. It is a dwelling house dwelling in as well as dwelt in an habitation inhabiting in each of its Inhabitants which no other house is God is oft said to dwell in Heaven Unto thee will I lift up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens Look down from Heaven and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory I dwell in the High and Holy Place The Heaven is my Throne We must not understand this placing God in Heaven as if he were totally circumscribed there for this is contrary to his infinite greatness Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord. Nor must we think he is so in Heaven as if his sight of things below were hindered by Heaven as a Curtain drawn before him as those great Fools thought for this is contrary to his Omnisciency But he is said to be in Heaven because he doth there most immediatly and visibly manifest his Majesty and exhibit the fulness of his Glory and because from thence he doth most manifest his powerful providence wisdome justice and mercy we are commanded when we pray to him to conceive of him as being in Heaven to teach us to raise our Souls as high in praise as possibly we can above the Earth beyond Heaven our thoughts cannot soar As also how to make Prayers pleasing to God both for matter and manner God is as oft said to dwell on Earth to have his Residence among his ancient People in the Land wherein they dwelt Defile not the Land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the Children of Israel The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Blessed be the Lord out of Zion which dwelleth at Hierusalem I have surely built thee an House to dwell in A setled place for thee to abide in for ever In that place as in the flitting Tabernacle which Moses made he caused his Name to dwell that is he made manifest and known in those places the sacred Signs of his Presence as it were by his own proper name His Majesty and Glory in singular and wonderful effects of Grace and Power Every regenerate and faithful Man and Woman hath ever been is and will be owned and acknowledged the Temple of the Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God These things are signifyed by this dwelling of the Spirit in Believers 1. That his Spirit is effectual and mighty to possess and govern them enlightning their minds to know and powerfully guiding them to do the known will of God 2. That his Presence is continual not as of a Guest who lodgeth for a Night at an Inne and is gone next Day nor as a Sojourner but as an owner and Possessor to abide for ever I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abâ—de with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth he dwelleth in you and shall be in you 3. The manner of his Presence not by Infiniteness of Power as he is present to all Creatures to sustain them but by his grace and healthful effects If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he shall quicken your immortal Souls and mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 10. It is a movable Habitation according to the motion of those that dwell in it accompanying them whithersoever they go covering them where-soever they are Some Creatures carry their Houses about with them So doth every new Creature They are never out of this their own House The Israelites during their abode in the Wilderness dwelt in Tents Forty Years The Arabians and other People do so constantly having no firm Habitations In time of War and in travelling these moveable Houses were and still are in use Places to dwell in so made as they might be
over all other Creatures He dearly bought and purchased this Habitation for all the Elect which they had forfeited by their first offence and hereupon were outed of it He gave himself a Ransome for them all a Price fully answerable to their Souls and to this Inheritance In him they may have been said to have received at the Lords hand double for all their sins And for them it were and not for himself only that He fulfilled all Righteousness and thereby paid the whole debt of obedience to the Law which they did owe to God All spiritual blessings whereby they are made meet to be made partakers of this blessed Mansion Faith Repentance and Holiness though they be Gospel Gifts of God and obtained meerly through his Mercy yet is this mercy obtained from God only through Jesus Christ Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in him we have Redemption through his Blood Which also purgeth our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God and thereby we have boldness to enter into the holyest and through his Intercession it is that we have our abiding there Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Or bring a Writ of Ejection to them Who is he that condemneth Or who is he that passeth Sentence that they must avoid their House It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us He dyed for and in their name and stead whereby they are absolved from all their forfeits He is risen again for their Justification to acquit them as it were by manner of solemn Judgment His Resurrection was a certain argument that God was reconciled and that this habitation was regained for them which could not have been if he had remained dead For the continuation of the Payment would alwayes have shewed the Imperfection of it And as he is at the right hand of God in the Heavenly Glory fully manifested so they are at his right hand Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen And there he maketh Intercession for them by continually representing himself his Righteousness Merit and Love before the face of his Father and so preserves them in his favour and love from which nothing shall be ever able to seperate them by him they have and hold possession 14. It is a habitation best accommodated of any other The conveniences belonging to it are numberless and matchless The excellency of the meanest of them cannot be worthily uttered nor sufficiently magnified by the tongue of Men and Angels No such passage into any House as this When the Queen of Sheba had seen the House that King Solomon had built And his ascent by which he went up to the House of the Lord that most stately Bridge and great terrace born up with exceeding strong Walls which he set upon that hollow place and deep praecipice which divided Mount Zion from Mount Moriah by which they went from the royal Palace to the Temple There was no more Spirit in her she was ravished beyond her self How insinitely more ravished would she have been had she seen by the eye of faith as probably she did and so was the ascent and passage into this house which is the Lord. The Apostle tells us that he by his blood hath made a new and living way of entrance into the holiest for all believers who by a lively faith represent unto themselves his humane nature with all that he hath done in it for them and hereby get into the innermost fruition of Gods grace and glory He in his own Person is the way and passage into this super coelestial Pallace I am the way no Man cometh unto the Father but by me Nor is there any house that hath such Air. Kings have had a care of this especially that the edifice when erected might have fresh Air and cooling Gales of Wind continually Jehoiakim whose pride in building is blamed is brought in thus expressing his purpose I will build me a high house Chambers through Aired the Hebrew hath it so and so the Septuagint exposed to blasts on every side No house hath such continual refreshing Gales as this Christ breaths upon his proper houshold for an external sign of the Internal operation of his spirit He still doth so upon his whole houshold of faith shedding the love of God abroad in their hearts by his holy spirit to whom their common Mother makes this Prayer each is heard and granted Awake O North Wind and come O South and blow upon my Garden By these two Winds of contrary qualities is signified the same spirit working either coolness and refreshing of Comfort or heat and fervency of Zeal And Moreover that every Wind shall blow profit to every one that loveth God as every one doth that to him that dwelleth in him Nor hath any House such Gardens and Orchards with Variety of Flowers and Fruits and fresh Springs therein nor such Walks and Arbours belonging and adjoyning to it as this hath The loss of this parcel of Ground which was stored with such excellent Plants and Trees and enriched with more fruitfulness and beauty than any other part of the Earth called Paradise and the Garden of the Lord made for Mans use and delight and out of which he was excluded and to which he might no more come neer because of his sin is abundantly made up to all that dwell in God Who have liberty to eat of the fruit of every Tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food Yea Of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God and to drink of the Water of Life freely and to walk at liberty Yea themselves are the Gardens and Orchards of this House wherein he walks and delights to feed Nor have any Gardens and Orchards and Springs such Fences and Guards about them as these A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed in that Day sing ye unto her a Vineyard of red Wine I the Lord do keep it I will Water it every moment Lest any hurt it I will keep it Night and Day I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about Nor is there any House that hath such Lands and Revenues such a stock belonging to it The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Every Beast of the Forrest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills I know all the Fowles upon the Mountains They are all before me ready at my service The World is mine and the fulness thereof of the upper as well as lower World Every one that dwells in this house may say truly all these are mine The Apostle says so All things are yours Entirely refinedly
common judgments with evil ones yea it is observed that when God brings any common judgments he usually begins with his own the dearly beloved of his Soul Yea that his stroaks are sorer upon them than upon any others Yea and when wicked Men whose habitation the Devil is as they are his for he dwells in them yea they are incarnate Devils when these I say are free from all manner of outward evils pious Men who have made God their habitation have immunity from none And that they are more-over obnoxious to inward afflictions terror of Conscience and wounds of Spirit which is an intolerable pressure and therefore the promise must be understood of their freedome from the form of poenal evils which is the revenging wrath of God and the power such evils have to separate the Soul from the Love of God And the meaning is they never have any dram of God's revenging justice on them A little of his chastising wrath some afflictions may have for a little moment nor shall any of them singly or all of them joyntly be able to separate them from his Love in Christ Nay they shall all co-operate for the furtherance of their spiritual and eternal good They believe as they are taught to pray that God would deliver them from all evil That is that he will either keep away evil imminent that it come not at all or that he will so assist in suffering as that they shall not sink under the burden or that he will take away the force and strength of the Instrument that it shall not be able to act according to its Nature or that he will remove the evil clean away or finally that he will take them away from the evil to come or that he will alter the nature of the evil and turn it to good One of these ways God will deliver them whose habitation he is and any of these ways is this promise made good to them No more need to be said to prove the Lord the best Habitation and them to be the most yea the only happy ones who have made him their habitation THE SECOND SERMON THe Question will be what it is to make God our Habitation And how may we know that we dwell in him To the first part of the Question I answer it is to make choice of him to close with him and to cleave unto him 1. To make choice of God as the sole Seat of our Souls rest and the only object of the Worship and Service of our whole Man The chief end and use of a House is well known to be rest Where is the House that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest Every Man's House is the place of his rest My People shall dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places I Nebucadnezar was at rest in my House Rest is both the Privation and a perfection of motion That in respect of the acquisition of the end of motion For therefore things move that they may rest Rest is deservedly esteemed a choice and chief good We may say of it what the Preacher doth of Light Truly Light is sweet Truly rest is sweet It was no deception of sight in Issachar when he saw that rest was good The truth is it is the good of goods It may be said of it as David did of Goliah's sword There is none like that give it me No good like this of rest all other good things without it availe nothing All Creatures desire rest the wild Beasts of the Desart and of the Island the Satyr and the screetch-Owle seek and finde for themselves a place of Rest It 's noted as a comfortable priviledge which Foxes and the Birds of the Air had above our Saviour that they had Holes and Nests to rest in The Dove sent out of the Ark sought but found no rest for the soal of her foot therefore returned again to that place of her rest Special Order is taken for the Oxe and the Ass that they should have One Day of Rest in Seven It kils the heart of the Earth to be alwayes tilled and therefore the Country-man lets it lye sometimes fallow that by taking rest it may get heart The very Devils affect a House upon this account The unclean Spirit gone out of a Man walked through dry places seeking rest and finding none I will he says return unto my House where I came out where I had rest Yea God himself seems to be joyed when a House of rest was builded for him to dwell in Arise O Lord unto thy rest the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it for a Habitation and he blessed the seventh Day because that he rested thereon from all his Work The best thing one friend can wish to another or procure for another is rest The Lord grant that you may finde rest my Daughter Shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee And the worst mischief one can do his Neighbour is to spoyle his rest Lay not wait O wicked Man against the dwelling place of the righteous spoyle not his resting place The goodness and badness of every Mans condition is measured by rest This hath more rest than the other Yea for rest Death it self is desirable Why dyed I not from the Womb Why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the Belly Then had I been at rest There the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together Though bodily rest be a great good and promised as a blessing Thou shalt take thy rest in safety Israel shall be in rest and quiet yet it is not to be compared to the rest of the Soul which indeed is the Soul of rest And without which the best resting places with the greatest conveniencies that the whole World can yield can give no content witness Haman And the transcendent excellency of this rest is evidenced by its contrary a restless unquiet mind is a burden importable Let the Question be put concerning this rest which Job propounds But where shall wisdome be found and where is the place of Understanding Where may we finde the Souls Rest and what is the place of its repose The Answer is given negatively that it is not to be found in any Creatures They will each of them give the same answer which the depth of the Sea doth It is not in me the Depth saith and the Sea saith it is not in me Herb. Ch. Peace Sweet peace where dost thou dwell I humbly crave Let me once know I sought thee in a secret Cave And ask'd if peace were there A hollow Wind did seem to answer no. Go seek else
Word of God and all other meanes of grace and in the Saints of God and a more fervent zeal against sin in our selves and others and for advancement of God's glory For zeal is nothing else but a flame issuing from the Fire of Love And because there is a zeal which is not according to knowledge the five requisites in the exerting of our zeal ought to be examined namely whether we have a good cause and calling and a good Conscience and use only good meanes and aim at a good end Where there is true love to Men it will be extensive to all and manifest it self by unfeigned desire of their salvation and an earnest desire to procure them all the goods their necessities require according to our ability and even to our greatest Enemies compassionate affection towards them pitying and grieving for any evil that befalls them with a gentle usage of them in speech and action Thus are we commanded to deal with our Enemies Oxe or Ass Moreover we are bound to pray for the pardon of their sins and conversion of their minds and manners and readily to relieve them But especially we prove our dwelling in God by Love to the Brethren Christs whole spiritual Kindred that are knit to him by the bond of faith and among themselves by that of love Those on whom we discern the new Man put on which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness though different from us in judgment in points of faith that are not fundamental Our love to these must not only be unfeigned So it must be to all others and with a pure heart free from Lust and evil surmising but with extraordinary heat of affection Having thus proved the Doctrine and resolved the Question we proceed to Application And there are three sorts of Persons to be dealt with 1. Such as are or may be sure they have not yet made God their Habitation 2. Such whose Habitation the Lord is sure enough but they have no comfortable assurance that he is so 3. Such as have this assurance The first of these are the greatest part of the Visible Church as for the rest of the World which are 28. or 31. by computation they are without doubt without God in the World wherein there are no less than one and thirty sorts of Hypocrites of whom eleven come not up so high as the profession of the true Religion The other 20. Persons the true Religion without being truly Religious Affecting the Name Religion but dis-affecting the thing The description of each of these are legible in Crook's Characters Now an Hypocrite shall not come before God cannot subsist in his presence much less have his abode in him Many of them have confidence in Gods mercies But the Hypocrites hopes shall perish whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a Spiders Web their hopes shall be as the giving up of the Ghost For what is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul Will God hear his cryes when trouble cometh upon him There is no hope of mercy for them no though the fittest objects of mercy The Lord shall have no joy in their young Men. Neither shall have mercy on their Fatherless and Widdows for every one is an Hypocrite Nothing but woe is their Portion as appeares by those 8. woes pronounced against them by our Saviour in one Chapter And he makes them as it were the Free-holders of Hell All others but as Inmates holding under them And he hath given 14. Notes together whereby they may be known any one of which raigning in any Man proves him to have nothing to do in God that God is not his Habitation but that he is a Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness It is too manifest alas that most among us are out of God by what hath been spoken in answer to the Question 1. There are none in comparison that will be perswaded to make choice of God Not only the whole World out of the Church lyeth in wickedness as in a deep puddle have chosen to live under the power and command of the wicked one and with the Swine to wallow in the mire and filth of Sin but also the whole Multitude that is within the Body and Kingdome of Christ Yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations When I called none did answer when I spake none did hear but they did evil before mine Eyes and chose that wherein I delighted not They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would have none of my counsel My People would not hearken unto my Voice and Israel would have none of me No for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Strange Nations and Gods their Idolatries Superstitions and Customes They choose new Gods that came newly up whom their Fathers feared not From the least of them even to the greatest every one is given to Covetousness from the Prophet even to the Priest every one dealeth deceitfully They have chosen the Tongue of the Crafty Such a choice most of the sacred stock and Members of the Church of old made The Sons of God saw that the Daughters of Men were fair and they took them Wives of all which they chose Without making any distinction for spiritual matters or Religion did intimate was to be done and such a perverse choice the Jews long after made who were the only Visible Church For Salvation is of the Jews They cryed all not this Man but Barabbas They denyed the holy One and the just and desired a Murderer to be granted unto them And no other choice do the generality of the World among us at this day make The World hath three Daughters The lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life One of which every one chooseth before God the Voluptuous the first the Covetous the second the Ambitious the third And who or where is he or she that is not one of these Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are Enemies of the Cross of Christ Whose God is their Belly whose Glory is their shame who mind Earthly things 2. There are as few that lay hold on God joyn themselves to him close with him There is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Where are there any that do as those Children returning to Judea did the Children of Israel and the Children of Judah together of whom it is said They shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thither-ward Saying come let us joyn our selves unto the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be
noted and taxed and threatned in many new builders of old and which it is to be feared will be found in too many of your fellow builders whose Houses will be contiguous with your selves what those crimes are may be gathered from such Scriptures as these Woe unto him that buildeth his House by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong that saith I will build me a wide House and large Chambers and cutteth him out Windowes and it is ceited with Cedar and painted with Vermilion Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his House that he may set his Nest on High Thou hast consulted shame to thy House for the Stone shall cry out of the Wall and the Beam out of the Timber shall answer it That shall say I was laid here by biting Usury and this shall answer I lye here by cheating and violence extortion and oppression All the people shall know that say in the pride and stoutness of Heart the Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stone The Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars We will raise up our Houses in greater splendour and Glory than ever they were Their Goods shall become a booty and their Houses a desolation they shall build Houses but not inhabit them Whereas Edom saith we are impoverished but we will return and build the desolated places Thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down For as much as their treading is upon the Poor and ye take from him burdens of Wheat ye shall build Houses of Hewen Stone but ye shall not dwell in them Ye planted pleasant Vineyards but ye shall not drink Wine of them For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins They afflict the just they take a bribe and turn aside the Poor in the Gate from their sight They build up Zion with blood and Hierusalem with iniquity the Heads thereof judge for a reward and the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets thereof Divine for money Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us no evil shall befall us Therefore shall Zion for their sakes be plowed as a Field and Hierusalem shall become heaps I will smite the Winter Houses with the Summer House and the House of Ivory shall perish and the great Houses shall have an end saith the Lord. For behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great Houses with breaches and the little House with clefts Woe unto them that joyn House to House He will destroy the House of evil doers Whoso rewardeth evil for good evil shall not depart from his House Though you with whom I am dealing are not of the number of these wicked Men that are building with you yet it is your part and duty to take good notice of the Lord 's just punishments which he hath threatned to inflict upon them and take warning thereby not to follow their foot-steps nor to tread in one of them The righteous Man wisely considereth the House of the wicked which being wholly built and filled with Goods gotten by evil means shall bring them to fall into ruine so far shall it be from being any stay unto them Take heed of partaking of their sins that ye receive not of their Plagues See that terrible and flaming place I will bring the curse forth and it shall enter into the House of the Thief legal as well as illegal and into the House of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and of him that sweareth vainly as well as falsly that sweareth by the inch as well as by the Ell by his faith and troth as well as by his Maker Petty as well as bloody Oaths and it shall remain in the midst of his House and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the Stones thereof 3. If you have not yet begun to build take the wise Man's advice 't is the loving advice of your living House Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thy self in the Field and afterwards build thine House Regulate your self and your Building according to thy Purse Cast the cost before-hand Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after he hath laid the Foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him They will do as much and worse if you finish with other Mens Money which you owing are unable to repay By no means run in debt take thine own measure Owe no Man any thing but love 4. In carrying on this work as in all others of your particular calling approve your selves to God and Men to be good Men by doing all things according to the rule and guidance of well instructed natural reason A good Man will guide his affaires with judgment Through wisdom is an House builded and by knowledge shall the Chambers be filled with all precious pleasant riches I need not tell you what is the prime means in order to this end namely prayer For the Lord giveth wisdome out of his Mouth cometh knowledge and understanding He is the Author of reason in Men and in the guiding of their actions even in all manual matters If any of you lack wisdome let him ask it of God Your God will direct you to order your Buildings that there may be a prevention of deadly mishaps as he directed his People of old in theirs When thou buildest a new House thou shalt make a Battlement for thy Roof that thou bring not Blood upon thine House if any Man fall from thence In all other points of prudence and fore-sight you shall finde him your Instructer 5. When then the work is done and your Houses fit for Habitation remember and imitate God's people in ancient times in dedication of their new-built Houses solemnly blessing the first enjoying of them by Prayers and holy Hymns consecrating them to God to be Houses of Prayer and little Churches wherein Duties of Religion should be performed every Day and all things done therein even natural actions to the glory of God by Governours and governed according to that of the Apostle Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God This was Josuas religious resolution I and my House we will serve the Lord. Now because all these Five Divine Domesticks are apt to have their mindes too much upon the things of the World they that are Housless and Landless to be solicitous how to get a House and livelihood they that have Houses of their own but are prohibited to live in them to have a hankring desire after Liberty they that have their Houses free to live in and sufficiency how they may add house to house increase their substance