refuge Dost thou flye unto him in all thy streights and to him only or hast thou recourse to some other rock to some other refuse Take heed of trusting in man and making flesh thine arm There 's a curse denounced against such Jer. 17.5 Dost thou go down into Egypt to strengthen thy self in the strength of Pharaoh know then that thou trustest but upon a broken staff and a bruised reed as Rabshekeh said to Hezekiah 2 King 18.21 even in a shadow And that the strength of Pharaoh shall be thy shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt thy confusion Isa 30.2 3. Dost thou put thy trust in Princes or in the Sons of Men know that thou trusts but in a shadow likewise Judg. 9.15 and that there is no help in them their breath goeth forth they return to their earth in that very day their thoughts perish Psal 46.3 4. And that its better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man yea then to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. Dost thou trust in graven Images and say to the molten Imares ye are our gods know thou shalt be turned back and be greatly ashamed yea confounded Isa 42.17 Psal 97.7 Is thy trust such as is the hope of hypocrites know that the hypocrites hope shall perish and be cut off and his trust shall be as a spiders web Job 8.14 Dost thou make gold thy hope and say to the fine gold thou art my confidence trusting in the abundance of thy wealth and strengthening thy self in thy wickedness know that this is an iniquity to be punished by the Judge for that thou deniest God that is above Job 31.24 28. Yea further know That God shall destroy thee for ever and take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living And the righteous shall see and fear and laugh at thee and say Lo this is the Man that made not God his strength Psal 52.5 6 7. Dost thou trust in thine own beauty and play the harlot and pour out thy fornications know that God will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged and will give thee blood in fury and jealousie and throw down thine eminent places and break down thy high places and strip thee of thy cloaths and take thy fair jewels and leave thee naked and bare and execute judgments upon thee Ezek 16.15 36 38 41. Dost thou trust in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these and notwithstanding Steal Murder and Commit Adultery and Swear falsly and Burn Incense unto Baal and Walk after other gods and stand before the Lord and say thou art delivered to do all these abominations know that these are lying words that will not profit but consider rather what the Lord did to Shiloh where he set his name at the first for the wickedness of his people Israel Jer. 7.4 8 12. Dost thou trust to thine own righteousness and commit iniquity know that all thy righteousness shall not be remembred but for thine iniquity which thou committest thou shalt dye for it Ezek. 33.13 Dost thou trust in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men know that therefore a tumult shall arise among the people and all the fortresses shall be spoiled Hos 10.13 14. Dost thou trust in thine own purity and say stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holier then thou know that thou art but a smok in Gods Nose and a fire that burneth all the day Isa 65.5 and that the Lord hath put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Job 4.18 19. But after all this perhaps thou wilt say Thou wilt trust in thine own heart for that will not deceive thee wilt thou do so know then thou art but a fool for thy labour in Gods account Prov. 28.26 Thy heart will deceive thee for it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Jer. 17.9 Thus you see that God alone is to be trusted in and to trust in any thing else will be but as an Egyptian Reed to lean unto And as God alone is to be our rock and our refuge so are we to make him our rock and our trust at all times So is the Exhortation Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your hearts before him God is a refuge for us Psal 62.8 So Isa 26.4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength At what time I am afraid saith David I will trust in thee when his enemies were ready to swallow-him up In God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me Psal 56.3 4. And what said Job Though be slay me yet will I trust in him I will maintain mine own ways before him Job 13.15 Is it a time of evil tidings thou wilt not be afraid if thy heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112.7 Dost thou fear the Lord and yet walk in a dark disconsolate estate even then art thou to trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon thy God Isa 50.10 And as thou art to make God alone thy rock and thy refuge and trust in him at all times so with all thy heart Not leaning to thine own understanding but in all thy ways acknowledging him and he shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.5 6. Yea the Lord shall help thee and deliver thee he shall deliver thee from the wicked and save thee because thou trustest in him Psal 37.40 This David acknowledged Psal 22.4 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Well then wouldst thou have God to be a help and defence unto thee Trust in him He is a Buckler or a sheild to all those that trust in him Psal 18.30 Prov. 30.5 For who is God save the Lord or who is a rock save our God Psal 18.30 31. 1 Sam. 2.2 He is the rock his work is perfect for all his ways are judgment a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 Wouldst thou be stedfast and unmovable as the rock whereupon the Church is builded against which no storms nor tempests no nor the gates of hell shall ever prevail Trust in God They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Psal 125.1 Wouldst thou possess the land and inherite Gods holy Mountain see that thou trust in him Isa 57.13 Wouldst thou be fat and flourishing and not cease from bearing of fruit and that blessedness shall be thy portion Trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man that
further in Isa 49.25 26. A dreadful place to all cruel Oppressors of Gods people saith the Lord there I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I will save thy Children And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine And Amos 2.6 Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof Why Because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes So Isa 52.4 5 6. Thus saith the Lord my people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause Now therefore what have I here saith the Lord that my people is taken away for nought they that rule over them make them to bowl saith the Lord and my name continually every day is blasphemed Therefore my people shall know my name therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. By which it is very evident that the Lord does not onely intimate unto us how sorely he plagued the Egyptians because they had grievously afflicted and oppressed his people which voluntarily and of their own accord went down into Egypt but also that he will much more grievously plague the Assyrians that carried them away out of their own Land the Land of Canaan which he had given them for an Inheritance and there dealt so cruelly and unmercifully with them So sorely displeasing is it unto the Lord when those that rule over his people shall make them to howl that is to cry bitterly to mourn and lament so ely as it is rendred Jer. 4.8 and Ezek. 21.12 To this agrees that in the 50th Chap. of Jeremiah and the 33 and 34. Verses Thus saith the Lord of Hosts The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah were oppressed together and all that took them Captives held them fast they refused to let them go Their Redeemer is strong the Lord of Hosts is his name he shall throughly plead their cause that he may give rest unto the Land and disquiet the Inhabitants of Babylon What we may understand by the Lords pleading of the cause of his people here and disquieting the inhabitants of Babylon that oppressed them that of Jerem. 51.35 36. doth evidently declare The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon shall the Inhabitants of Sion say and my blood upon the Inhabitants of Chaldea shall Jerusalem say Therefore thus saith the Lord behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee and I will dry up her Sea and make her Springs dry When the Lord shall plead the cause of Sion then will he take vengeance for her that is he will avenge himself of his and her cruel oppressing enemies According to that which the Lord of Hosts the mighty one of Israel speaks in Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries and avenge me of mine Enemies This is the time when he will make his Arrows drunk with blood and his Sword to devour flesh And then what follows Rejoyce O ye Nations with his people for he will avenge the blood of his Servants and will render vengeance unto his Adversaries and will be merciful unto his Land and to his people As it is in Deut. 32.42 43. This is that time which is called by the Prophet Isaiah The day of the Lords vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversies of Sion Isa 34.8 called by Jeremiah the vengeance of the Lord our God the vengeance of his Temple Jer. 50.28 And take notice then how severe the Lord will be He tells us that his Sword shall be bathed in Heaven and it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the people of his curse to Judgement By Idumea we are to understand Edom or the Edomites who were the highest Kindred of the Israelites but notwithstanding they were their greatest enemies and oppressors And therefore said the Lord by the Prophet Obadiah Vers 10. For thy violence meaning the Edomites against thy Brother Jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever And these are a Type and Figure of all the enemies of the Church of God who indeed do boast and brag that they are descended and born of the Church crying up the Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord setting up a Worship of their own devising and are in the practise of Sacraments and Ordinances as the true Church and Spouse of Christ yet indeed and in truth do hate persecute and oppress the true spiritual and sincere worshippers of Jesus Whereby it is very evident what dreadful plagues and punishments the sin of oppression doth bring upon a Land and Nation 2. The second Pestilential sin is the sin of Persecution and hatred against God and his people As God hath his Arrows of his deliverance for the preservation of his people against their enemies 2 King 13.17 So he hath the Arrows of his Indignation and wrath which Job being under a spirit of desertion and temptation apprehended were within him the poison whereof he said did drink up his spirit Job 6.4 So David in the like condition That the arrows of the Lord did stick fast in him and his hand pressed him sore Psal 38.2 And the Prophet Jeremy in his Lamentations He hath bent his bow saith he and set me as a mark for the Arrow He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins Lam. 3.12 13. I say whatever might be the apprehensions of these holy and righteous men yet surely the Lord has his arrows of his sore displeasure and wrath which as the instruments of death he hath prepared and ordained against the Persecutors Psal 7.13 And this of the destroying Pestilence is one of the sorest and sharpest of them as reckoned amongst his four sore judgements Ezek. 14.21 And as the wicked do bend their bow and make ready their arrows upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart Psal 11.2 So the Lord he has his bow and arrows and his Bow is bent also and his arrows he hath ready Psa 7.12 which he sends out and scatters his enemies with Psal 18.14 With these he breaks their bones and pierces them through Num. 24.8 yea makes them drunk with their blood Deut. 32.42 These are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies Psal 45.5 The Instruments and means that the Lord makes use of against his enemies are piercing yea so piercing that the heart the closest and strongest part even that wherein life consisteth shall be peirced thereby The arrows of the Lord are like the swords of Saul and Jonathan which did execution and returned not empty 2 Sam. 1.22 You think by flying away and hiding your selves in the thickets of the forrest you shall be secured from the stroke of these arrows of Gods vengeance but know if
sold for money According to what the Prophet Isaiah complained in his time Isa 1.23 Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of Thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards they Judge not the Fatherless neither doth the cause of the Widow come unto them Or as he proceeds further in Ezek. 22.26 27. Her Priests have violated my law and have prophaned my holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane nor between the unclean and the clean Her Princes in the midst thereof are like roaring wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls and to get dishonest gain And yet says the Prophet Micah They did lean upon the Lord. How lean upon the Lord not with a holy trust and confidence which is ever accompanied with godliness but in hypocrisie out of an impudent arrogancy and a vain bold and carnal presumption as if God was engaged to protect them let them live and do what they pleased Like those that the Prophet Isay speaks of That swore by the name of the Lord and made mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousness And yet they called themselves of the holy City and staied themselves upon the God of Israel Isa 48.1 2. Or like unto them in the Prophet Jeremies time that cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet in the mean time they oppressed the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed innocent blood and did steal and murder and commit adultery and swore falsely Jer. 7.4 6 9. But how intollerable this was with God the sequel makes it evident Therefore shall Sion for your sakes be ploughed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps that is shall be utterly destroyed and laid waste So little care and regard had God of Sion and Jerusalem and of his holy Temple it self being thus polluted and defiled And therefore saith the Lord in Ezekiel 3 2. ult have I poured out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads saith the Lord. So again for this doth the Lord threaten That their houses shall be turned unto others with their fields and wives together And he will stretch out his hand upon the inhabitants of the land For saith he from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness and from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly Jer. 6.12 13. Which avaricious or covetous disposition was so predominant in them in the Prophet Isaiah's time Isa 56.10 11. That he termed the Watchmen then which were the Priest and Rulers of the people as Jer. 8.10 and Eze◠〈…〉 not only blind and ignorant and dumb doâ—â— that could not bark c. but greedy dogs also th t could never have enough Like dogs strong in desire in lust in appetite greedy and unsatiable that could not be satisfied with money or large revenues And what follows in the next chapter v. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth said the Lord and smote him and whether this might not be a smiting with the pestilence Deut. 28.22 27. comp with Ezek. 33.27 and 31. verses I shall leave it to the wise to judge How did he smite Gehazi with the Plague of Leprosie for this thing 2 King 5.27 so highly provoking a sin is this sin of Covetousness unto the Lord. And oh that this were wisely considered and applied by the men of this Generation yea by the carnal and earthly minded Professions of our times For sure it is That the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6.10 6. The sixth Pestilential destroying sin is the sin of Cursing and Swearing and False-swearing This was the sin of Shemei that cursed David mentioned in the 2 Sam. 16.5 And see how the Lord did return his wickedness upon his own head being slain by the Command of King Solomon 1 King 2.44 46. This the Psalmist lays down as the certain Character of a wicked man that his mouth is full of Cursing and deceite And what imprecations does he use in his Prayer against him Break thou the Armes of the wicked and the evil man Seek out his wickedness till thou find none Psal 10.7 15. Rom. 3â— 14. So in the 109. Psal Let Satan stand at his righthand and when he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin let his days be few his Children Fatherless his Wife a Widow his Children Vagabonds and beg their bread Let their be none to extend mercy unto him let his Posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out let the iniquity of his Fathers be remembred with the Lord and let not the sin of his Mother be blotted out and let the Lord cut off the memory of them from the earth And mark what follows As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him As he cloathed himself with cursing like as with a Garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually It is true the Apostle Peter doth apply something of this to Judas who betrayed our Lord Christ Act. 1.20 But it cannot exclude all other the cursed enemies of Christ who love cursing and cloath themselves with it as with a garment So Jer. 23.9 10. Mine heart within me saith he is broken because of the Prophete all my bones shake c. because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness For the Land is full of Adulterers for because of Swearing the Land mourneth To this agreeth that of the Prophet Hosea Chapter 4.1 2 3. verses Where it is said That the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish The dreadfulness of this sin is further set forth by Zacharies flying roll Zach. 5.3 4. This is the Curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth for every one that stealeth shall be cut off and every one that sweareth shall be cut off c. I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall enter into the house of the Theif and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the Timber thereof and the Stones thereof And in the 3. of Malachy and the 5. I will
Lord smote the people with a very great plague And the name of that place was called Kibroch-hattanah that is the graves of lust because there they buried the people that lusted Hence it was that the Apostle treating of the bountiful dealings of God with the children of Israel said That with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness Now these things saith he were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted 1 Cor. 10.5 6. This is a sore evil an intestine evil a sickness indeed that gnaws and torments the very heart called therefore the Plague of Discontent which many of the people of God themselves as well as the men of the world are too too often infected with when not contenting our selves I say with the mercies and blessings which God affords us we fall a lusting after evil things as the Israelites hereafter flesh to satisfie their lusts loathing the heavenly Manna which God gave them And our desires oftentimes are so inordinate after them that like unto Rachel in the case of her barrenness though otherwise blest with many comfortable enjoyments we are crying out Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 I cannot live my life will be a burden unto me if I have not this or that I must have it whatever it cost me though I part with half of my estate nay with Herod it may be to the half of the Kingdom for his Herodias sake because she pleased him and to satisfie this lust Off must go John Baptists head Mark 6.22 23 24. Or like unto Haman who though he was so highly promoted in King Ahasuerus Court Yet saith he all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate Hest 5.13 Mordecai could not bow the knee nor do him that reverence as his proud ambitious heart panted after and this sowres all other his great advancements and enjoyments and now nothing will satisfie him less then his destruction and the total destruction of all the Jews Hest 3.9 So violent are persons set upon the satisfying of their lusts oftentimes though it be to their own hurt This was the sin of the Israelites they could not content themselves that God was their King and that he should reign over them but they must have a King to reign over them like unto other Nations rejecting the Lord and his Government who himself had saved them out of all their adversities and tribulations 1 Sam. 8.5 6 7. and chap. 10.19 And how great this wickedness of theirs was in the fight of the Lord the signal testimonies of his displeasure did evidently declare it 1 Sam. 12.17 So is it not just with God when a people falls a loathing of the heavenly Manna of Gods Word and where hath the Gospel been more powerfully preached and more obstinately contemned then in England that the Lord should send a famine in the Land if not a famine of bread and a thirst for water yet a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord Amos 8.11 O that this was seriously laid to heart and fruitfully applyed both by Professors as by the propbane persons of this Nation So dangerous and destructive a thing it is to cherish a carnal dissatisfied and discontented spirit against the Lord. 10. A tenth Pestilential and God-provoking Sin is the sin of Pride and Ambition and a trusting in an Arme of flesh not relying on the mighty power and faithfulness of God This was Davids sin in of numbring the people which was followed with a sore Prstilence among them See the second of Samuel 24. Chap. comp with 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan he provoked David to number the people that he might know how many valiant men there were in Israel that could draw the sword And questionless Davids heart was lifted up hereby when Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto him there being in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand And what should move David to such a thing but a proud ambitious desire to know the strength and number of his men of war accompanied with a distrustfulness of the mighty power of God and his All-sufficient arme which had so often saved and delivered him out of the hands of Saul and from the hand of all his enemies As in the 18th Psal wherein he praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous deliverances For this Davids heart smote him acknowledging that he had sinned greatly in what he had done and prayeth that the Lord would take away his iniquity for he had done very foolishly Yet the Lord would shew his justice make all the world to see and know that he will not indulge sin no not in his dearest Servants and most beloved Saints but if they sin they must expect to suffer and smart for it As Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And therefore he puts David upon his choise of three things whether the Famine the Sword or Pestilence he would make choise of and this did put him into a great streight but he chose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men for that the mercies of the Lord are great So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba Seventy thousand men And when the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem ready to destroy it it is said the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed the people It is enough stay now thy hand This also was Edoms sin Jer. 49.16 17 18. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee the pride of thine heart O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock That holdest the height of the hill though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee down from thence saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation every one that goeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss all at the plagues thereof As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour Cities thereof saith the Lord No man shall abide there neither shall a Son of Man dwell in it This was King Asa's sin before mentioned in the 2 Chron. 16.7 8 and 9. vers so sharply reproved and punished by the Lord. For this was a dreadful wo denouned against the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Isa 30.1 2 3. Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that they may adde sin to sin That walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow
and frame of spirit was David in when he could not perform the fervent desire he had to serve God among the faithful How bitterly does he bemoan his being deprived of the comfort of the publick worship of God during his exile and the blasphemies of his enemies which caused his spirit even to be overwhelmed As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Meaning in the House of the Lord the Tabernacle where the solemn worship of God was celebrated and the Ark of the Covenant was where God dwelled 2 Sam. 6.2 or where the Lord gave visible signs of his presence And mark what follows My tears saith he have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God His tears were as his bread he fed and fillid himself with tears as if they were his onely food and sustenance according to that in the 80. Psal 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Meaning his own people oftentimes who are at his very foot praying and supplicating at the throne of grace And such a frame of spirit shall be found also in them as shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward They shall be going and weeping and in this spirit of mourning they shall go and seek the Lord their God All which doth evidently shews forth what will be the temper and spirit of all right-repenting souls and what a frame of spirit the Lord expects his people to be found in when his hand is lifted up even in this time when he sends the destroying Pestilence among us Now consider in what frame of spirit art thou before the Lord this day Hast thou found thy heart broken as it were into shivers for thy sins Has the sight of thy sins made thee to sigh for thy sins and to mourn kindly before the Lord for thine iniquities Hast thou ever shed a tear before the Lord for thy secret sins or thy more open and notorious abominations Surely if in such a day as this when the Arrows of the Lords Indignation are flying abroad if thou shalt be found in a Carnal Light Frothly Frolick Voluptuous Vain-spirit a lover of thy pleasures more then a lover of God putting far away from thee the evil day and causing the seat of violence to come near like those the Prophet Amos complains of Who were at ease in Sion and trusted in the Mountain of Samaria That lay upon Beds of Ivory and stretcht themselves upon their Couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall That did chaunt to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of Musick like David That drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the chief oyntment but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph I say if in such a day as this under such a severe and sore visitation as this thou shalt be found in such a spirit and temper as this sad and deplorable will thy condition be For mark what the Lord threatned those carnal fleshly sensual rejoycing ones Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Amos 6.1 to the 8. vers So dangerous and highly provoking a sin when the present dispensations of God together with thine own personal evils do call for a mournful frame of spirit that then thou shouldst be found in a spirit of carnal merriment and rejoycing As the Lord complained by the Prophet Isa Chap. 22.12 In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye This they spake in a scoffing manner as if they had said our Prophet tells us that we shall soon be destroyed and slain or carried into captivity let us then be jovial and merry as long as we may But mark how hainously did the Lord take it at their hands And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts Meaning that it should never be forgiven unto them unless they did cease from sinning For so the word till or untill in Scripture phrase does usually hold forth Gen. 28.15 2 Sam. 6.23 Matth. 1.25 I shall add hereunto that in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2d where the Prophet setting forth the terribleness of Gods approaching Judgements in the 12th vers he exhorteth them to this repenting and relenting frame of spirit as the only means to pacifie the Lords wrath and indignation from breaking out against them or for the removal of it Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil So in the 15. vers Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctifie the Congregation c. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach And mark what follows Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people This was that spirit also that was found in the people of Nineveh when destruction was threatned upon Jonahs preaching Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. It is said they believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least yea the King himself arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and caused it to be proclaimed that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God and turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that was in their hands and saith he who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not See what signal demonstrations were there here of the inward sorrow and compunction of their hearts O how will this Example of Nineveh repenting and sorrowing for their sins rise up in judgement against the men of this generation Luk. 11 32. Where is the covering of sackcloth to be seen Any outward demonstrations of a relenting spirit to be discerned Where
righteous and just Lot that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked meaning the Sodomites among whom he lived For that righteous man dwelling among them saith the Text in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.7 8. He lived among abominable men that cared neither for right nor reason and this greived and tormented his righteous soul as if it had been upon a rack as the word implies So it is said of our dear Lord that he was greived for the hardness of their hearts Mark 3.5 But to bring it more close to the present visitation of the Lord and what a special preservative and antidote this gratious qualification of soul is for the keeping off of this severe stroke of the Lord Look into Ezek. 9. even the whole Chapter there you shall find that the Man who was cloathed with linnen which had the Writers Inckhorn by his side was commissionated from the Lord to go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a Mark upon the Foreheads of the men that did sigh and cry for all the abominations that were done in the midst thereof And after him follows the men who had the slaughter weapons in their hands and they were to go through the City and smite and slay utterly old and young both Maids and little Children and Women but not to come near any man upon whom was the Mark. God had a remnant among this wicked and backsliding generation and they must be first marked and these are described to be such as did sigh and cry for all the abominations of the times and all that time the iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah was exceeding great the Land was full of blood and the City full of perversness and what other their abominations were the Chapter before doth evidently declare it In like manner when the Passover was to be instituted was the blood of the Lamb to be a token to the children of Israel upon the houses were they were So that the Lord seeing the blood that was struck upon the door-posts did pass over them and suffered not the Destroyer to come in and smite them when he smote the land of Egypt The Plague was not to come upon the Israelites to destroy them Exod. 12.12 13 22 23. Well then wilt thou be of the number of Gods marked ones that the Destroying Angel may pass over thee and the plague come not upon thee when God is smiting the land as now he is by the destroying Pestilence O see then that thy heart is brought into this holy frame to sigh and mourn not only for thine own personal evils but also for the crying sins and abominations of the times But surely if thou canst swim down with the stream of the times and hear the holy and precious name of God dishonoured and blasphemed daily his Spirit derided his Saints and Ordinances villified and defamed his Messengers abused and the way of Holiness reproached Or if thou canst behold wickedness walking up and down with a bold impudent forehead and men and women of a filthy impure spotted conversation and not shed one tear nor sigh and mourn under such National abominations surely it argues that the grace of saving and sound Conversion and Repentance was never yet effectually wrought in thy soul if so thou canst not but mourn under the sence of sin whether in thy self or in any other The want of which temper and spirit in the case of the Incestuons person made the Apostle Paul to reprehend the Church of Corinth telling them that they were puffed up and had not rather mourned that be that had done that deed might be taken away from among them 1 Cor. 5.1 2. Well then if you would be Gods marked ones see that you be Sions mourning ones remembring what our dear Lord hath left on record for the abundant satisfaction and refreshment of such sorrowful souls Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 It is taken generally for a mourning or sorrowing for sin as it stands in opposition with a spirit of jollity and voluptuous living Luk. 16.19 25. Such shall be comforted they shall never miss of outward and inward comforts They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Psal 126.5 Their sorrow shall be recompensed with gladness For to this end was Christ anointed to his Office of Mediatorship That he might comfort all that mourn whether upon the account of sin on the miseries of Sion To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion to give unto them beauty for ashes beautiful garments goodly apparel instead of ashes which they were wont to strew upon their heads and sit in them when they mourned as a testification of their excessive sorrow and greif Job 1.8 Jonah 3.6 Mat. 11.21 The oyle of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness by which we are to understand the beautiful resplendent refreshing gifts and graces of the spirit of God Heb. 1.9 That they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Isa 61.2 3. Oak-trees of righteousness trees of the greatest strength and duration by which is meant that those that are ingrafted into Christ by faith and such are all true mourners in Sion they shall not only bring forth fruits of righteousness but they shall also have firme durable and permanent consolation and strength in Christ Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and sorrow and mourning shall flee away Isa 51.11 Secondly If thy repentance be sincere and sound and such as will stand thee in stead in a calamitous day It will then work in thee a true hatred and abhorrency of all manner of evil Job abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes Job 42.6 â—o in the 40. of Job and the 4. verse Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Wo is me saith the Prophet Isaiah for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Isa 6.5 But to come more close as to the present dispensation and visitation of the Lord. In the 6th of Ezekiel The Lord having threatned the Pestilence among other his sore destroying Judgments and how the slain should fall in the midst of them He promiseth nevertheless that he will leave a remnant that should escape the Sword among the Nations And how must this remnant be qualified What thoughts and apprehensions shall they have of themselves by reason of their abominable sins See the 9. verse of that Chapter And they that escape of you saith the Lord shall remember me among the Nations whither they shall be carried Captives because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me and with their eyes which go a whoring after their Idols And what follows They shall
hunted troubled ond afflicted soul The life of Faith in reference to thy Salvation Sanctification and Preservation As to thy Salvation Let the truly-humbled soul grieved and graoning under the heavy weight and burden of sin throw itself into the meritorious and merciful arms of Jesus Christ wounded broken and bleeding upon the Cross and there let it hold and hide it self for ever in full assurance of eternal life by vertue of that promise Joh. 3.36 He that beleiveth on the Son hath everlasting life 2. As to thy Sanctification If thou keep thy Faith the fountain root and heart as it were from which all thine other Graces spring in life and vigour thou wilt pray more comfortably be more couragiously patient hear the Word more faithfully receive Christs Ordinance of Breaking bread more joyfully spend the Lords day more delightfully confer more chearfully meditate more heavenly and walk in all the ways of new obedience with more strength and conquest over corruptions For ordinarily every one shall find the exercise of other graces to be comfortable or cold according to the liveliness or languishing of his faith 3. As to thy Preservation both temporal and spiritual in crosses afflictions and all Gods outward angry visitation let thy Faith be exercised in the power of such Promises as the Psa 89.33 and 50.15 Heb. 12.6 7 8 11. 1 Thes 3.3 1 Tim. 2.11 Act. 14.22 Luk. 9.23 Isa 63.9 Secondly Act Faith in the power ability all-sufficiency and omnipotency of God Power can do much but omnipotency can do all and is above all He is able to do whatsoever he pleaseth Psa 115.3 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered Job 9.4 The Angels which excel in strength are at his command Psa 104.4 and subject unto Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 The Devils apprehending the power of God do tremble Jam. 2.19 All the power that men and devils have it is given them from above Joh. 19.11 And for other creatures he saith to the deep be dry Isa 44.27 He commands the earth and it opens her mouth Num. 16.30 31. The consideration of whose mighty power made the Psalmist thus to break forth O Lord God of Hosts who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the Sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them thou hast broken Rahab in peices as one that is slain thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm Thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand Psa 89.8 9 10 13. At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Jer. 10.10 Beware then how we call into question the power and all-sufficiency of God How we speak against God This was the sin of the Israelites and it was highly provoking unto the Lord. It s said they spake against God and said Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people therefore the Lord heard this and was wrath Psa 88.19 20 21. Moses also he falls expostulating the case with God The people amongst whom I am saith he are six hundred thousand footmen and thou hast said I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole moneth Shall the Flocks and the Heards be slain for them to suffice them or shall all the Fish of the Sea be gathered together for them to suffice them And what Argument does the Lord use to convince Moses of his carnal if not incredulous reasonings But this Is the Lords hand waxed short thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not Numb 11.21 22 23. And the Lord rained flesh upon them as dust and feathered Fowles like as the sand of the Sea though it was given as a great judgement unto them Psa 88.27 The same Argument does the Lord make use of when he falls a reasoning with his people the Jews upon the account of their dereliction or rejection and that they might yet have sound ground of hope still of their restauration though they had sold themselves for their iniquities and could not produce any Bill of Divorcement of the Lords putting of them away in Isa 50.2 Is my hand shortned at all that it cannot redeem or have I no power to deliver Behold at my rebuke I dry up the Sea I make the Rivers a Wilderness their Fish stincketh because there is no water and dieth for thirst I cloath the Heavens with blackness and I make sack-cloth their covering So Isa 59.1 Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear Which may be an excellent support to our faith Let thy Faith then be exercised in the mighty power of God in these following particular cases and seasons 1. In times of great difficulties and streights 2. In times of sore sicknesses 3. In times of great sinning 4. In times of Worshipping and Serving the Lord. 5. In times of great suffering for the Lord. 1. In times of great difficulties and streights Know that the same Almighty power who could smite the Rock and cause the waters to gush out and the streams to overflow can furnish a table in the Wilderness can give bread and provide flesh for his people Take heed now of such irrational absurd and preposterous reasonings The Lord smote the Rock and gave water in abundance but can he now furnish a table in the Wilderness I remember the time when I was in great streights for bodily and soul refreshments and the Lord smote the Rock in a strange miraculous and unexpected way and the Waters gushed out and the streams over-flowed I had comfortable supplies for soul and body and that in a plentiful manner But can he now help me in my streights and supply my necessities now all conduit pipes are cut off and all visible means of supplies and supports are taken away Taxes are multiplied and increased our Trade is gone the Gentry gone and such as gave life and being thereunto have laid aside and betook themselves to a retired life many gone beyond the Seas because they could not follow their callings and be suffered to enjoy the freedom of their consciences too God hath smitten some of my dear friends or relations who were instruments in his hand of my comfortable sustentation and supportation and now my Wife and Children begin to stare me in the face to sob and sigh and I have not wherewith to releive them The sight and thoughts of these things do even break my heart and wound my very bowels within me what shall I do what course shall I take for a livelihood Methinks I hear such doleful complaints among thousands destressed Families in the City at this time Is it not a time and
God that affliction commeth not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks flye upward Job 5.6 7. But if sores and sickness comes not forth of the dust from whence come they then Surely from the powerful immediate overruling hand of God So said Eliphaz Job 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole So Job himself acknowledged ch 19.21 Have pity upon me have pity upon me O my friends for the hand of God hath touched me So David Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal 38.2 And consider that as a sparrow falls not to the ground without Gods providence so the Plagve and Pestilence and all other Sicknesses and diseases are guided by his own immediate hand and he onely doth smite when and whom he pleaseth and know that the same Powerful hand that took away thy health can in a moment take away thy breath and then thou diest aad returnest unto thy dust Psal 104.29 This should make thee lye down patiently at the foot of God and with all willing and chearful resignation of spirit with good old Ely say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 And with Job Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2.10 But whatever affliction he layeth upon thy loins or what strokes soever upon any of thy dearest relations see that thou murmur not nor charge the Lord foolishly or unjustly say not with the King of Israel Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6. ult 2ly Let the sence of the mighty hand of God which is upon thee humble thee deeply So says Peter Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 This will evidence it self inwardly in a sight and sence of thine own great unworthiness in an abhorring thy self in dust and ashes and loathing thy self for all thy abominations in a tender sense of temptations either in thy self or others in a hatred of Hypocrisie a willingness to suffer affliction and a contentation in some measure to the will of God in what estate soever it shall please God to bring thee to Outwardly towards God it will keep thee lowly in the use of means and in a continual fear and awfulness of Gods presence not caring to be counted vile for the service of God And in carriage towards men it is such a grace as is not affected in words or gestures nor is it censorious arrogant or contentious but makes a man go before in giving honour and not to think much to equal himself with them of the lower sort This is the time now to be narrowly searching into thine own heart and mourn under it and bewailing now thy want of love unto the Lord and thy abounding love to sin do thou cover with sorrowing what breach thou hast made with sinning and remember That had thy sin never been so sweet then thy sorrow had never been so bitter And know that God is now awaking thee from all thy secure sleeps that every minutes breathing he lends thee more may be spent in preparing to meet Jesus Christ at the Judgement of the great Day which that thou mayst effectually do with all thy might with fear and trembling as before the Lord remember that the next step from this life thou takest is into eternity 3ly Thus waiting till thy change come Be further in the exercise of Faith in the power of thy mighty Redeemer as to a glorious resurrection of thy body when laid asleep in the grave Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up thee also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 and then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and then this mortal shall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.53 54. 3. Act Faith in the mighty power of God in times of great sinning and prophanation of the name of God So Jeremy speaking of the customs of the people that they are vain and of their Idol-gods that they are altogether bruitish and foolish and the stock is a doctrine of vanities he sets the great and mighty Jehovah against all their Heathenish gods Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might Who would not fear thee O King of Nations Jer. 10.6 7. So in the 10. verse But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation So the Prophet Habakkuk he sets Faith on work in the mighty power of God in a time of great sinning and of treacherous and cruel dealing Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine Holy One we shall not dye O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he Think upon the mighty power of God when men grow bold and impudent in sinning do they oppress the poor and crush the needy Amos 4.1 Know that this mighty God can soon crush them under his feet Lament 3.34 and feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and then they shall know the Lord to be the mighty one of Israel Isa 49.26 Does the horrible impieties and wickdness of men greive and wound thy heart Know that he that is thy God is the God of salvation and he shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespass Psalm 68.20 21 verses And what says Solomon If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province Marvaile not at the matter For he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they Eccles 5.8 4. Act faith in the mighty power of God as in times of great sinning so in times of serving and worshipping of God So did Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar the King had made an Image of gold and set it up to be worshipped and that whoso fell not down and worshipped the said Image should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery surnace And who is that God saith he most blasphemously that shall deliver out of my hand What said Sadrach Meshaoh and Abednego O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
hefore us which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast c. Heb. 6.17 18 19. And this was it without all question that made the Apostle break out with that holy boldness and exultation of spirit Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 to the end Now this stability and firmness of Gods love grounded upon the faithfulness of God may be a great support to the poor doubting soul that is apt to question the Love of God and the certainty of its eternal estate in Christ 2ly This Faith in Gods faithfulness is to be acted upon the account of our Vocation or Calling to and confirmation or establishment in the Grace of God God is faithful saith Paul by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord And therefore will he confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.8 9. That God who hath called you unto the communion or fellowship of his Son not externally only in point of Ordinances Church-fellowship and Publique-worship whereby we profess to have communion with Christ and his benefits but internally in a special manner whereby we are really united to him by faith and by the spirit of Christ and so are made partakers indeed of all the glorious benefits priviledges and advantages of his death resurrection ascension intercession Rom. 8.32 Eph. 3.17 1 Joh. 1.3 This God who hath so called you is the faithful God faithful in the performance of all his promises he hath made to confirm you unto the end not to leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 as many freinds do in time of adversity not to cast you off Rom. 11.1 2. as many Parents do their Children not to forget you as many cruel and unnatural Women do their sucking children Isa 49.15 No surely he will not do it his faithfulness is engaged to stand by you fear not he will be with thee be not dismayed he is thy God he will strengthen thee yea he will help thee yea He will uphold thee with the right hand of his righteousness Isa 41.10 And make an everlasting Covenant with thee that he will not turn away from thee to do thee good but will put his fear into thy heart that thou shalt not depart from him Jer. 32.40 So the Apostle Paul praying for the Thessalonians that the very God of peace migh sanctifie them wholly and that their whole spirit and soul and body might be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ He makes this the ground of his confidence Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.23 24. So 2 Thess 3.3 But the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil Why shouldst thou then fear of falling away or of thy persevering in the grace of God when Gods faithfulness is engaged forthy establishment 3ly This faith in Gods faithfulness is to be acted upon the accompt of a Christians temptations and conflictings with sin and Satan 1 Cor. 10 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful observe that I pray you who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Thou poor tempted soul thou thinkest perhaps that no temptations are like unto thine but thou art mistaken thy temptations are not singular but in common with others other men have been exercised with the like And thou art apt to think thou shalt sink under thy temptations thou findest so little strength to undergo them but what saith the Apostle God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above your strength but will proportion suitable strength according to your trials Gods Faithfulness is engaged to help you and to support you under all your temptations and trials Would Satan then make thee beleive that thy sins are of that nature and magnitude that they shall not be forgiven think upon Gods faithfulness then who is engaged to pardon thee So saith John 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confest our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It would be an act of unfaithfulness and injustice in God if he should not pardon and forgive poor penitent sinners who confess and forsake their sins But God is faithful and just and cannot falsifie his word If we beleive not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 4. This acting of faith in Gods faithfulness is of excellent use in order to our standing fast in the faith and continuing in our publique faithful testimony for the Lord Heb. 10.23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering and why for he is faithful that hath promised faithful in performing what he hath promised Josh 23.14 And what hath he promised Surely as hath been declared before to establish and keep us from evil and confirm us unto the end 1 Cor. 1.8 According to that also in 2 Thess 3.3 But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil Stablish you in the faith lest you fall from it and keep you from evil to wit the Devil lest he subvert your faith by evil men as the instruments of his art or it may be taken more generally for any evil as the Apostle declares in the 2 Tim. 4.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly Kingdom And therefore we may upon this consideration be much encouraged to hold fast our profession and not to be staggaring or wavering in our honourable and faithful testimony for the Lord. 5. This acting of faith in Gods faithfulness is of excellent use to encourage us as to a suffering state for Christ and to Christian contentation under the Cross It is a faithful saying saith the Apostle that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Rule or reign as Kings so the word it seems imports if we endure all manner of tribulations with patience and stedfastness in the faith And it is a faithful saying saith he a certain sure firm credible irrevocable word not to be questioned or doubted Or we shall be glorified together with him as the Apostle expresseth it Rom. 8.17 and
vessel Psa 2.9 Rev. 19.15 The very same is promised to the Gospel-suffering enduring over-coming Saints in the latter day Rev. 2.26 27. Is it prophesied or fore-spoken of Christ that out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword even a two edged sword that with it he shall smite the Nations Revel 1.16 and Revel 19.15 The same is prophesied and fore-told of the Gospel-Saints in the latter day Psal 149.6 7 8 9. Is it promised to Christ that God will answer him when he calls upon him that he will be with him in trouble deliver him and honour him And with long life will satisfie him and shew him his salvation Psal 91.14 15 16. If this should be applicable only to Christ in that place which I conceive ought not to be yet are the same promises made to Gospel beleivers in other places of Scripture Psal 50.15 Isa 42.2 and 65.24 Mat. 7.7 Job 5.19 Psal 34.17 19. Joh. 12.26 Eph. 6.2 3. Object But these promises of temporal preservation and deliverance of honour and long life were made upon the accompt of Legal Obedience Answer True If upon the accompt of Legal then surely upon the accompt of Evangelical obedience For Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 If therefore thou dwellest in the secret place of the most high thou mayst beleive thou shalt abide under the shadow of the Almighty and be delivered from the noysome Pestilence That is thou mayst beleive thou shalt have glorious protections and sweet heavenly refreshments from the Lord. Shadow signifying both protection and refreshment as here in this place so Numb 14.9 Isa 30.2 Psal 121.5 Isa 51.16 and 49.2 and 4.6 and 25.4 and 32.2 Psal 17.8 and 36.7 And in particular a preservation from the noysome Pestilence So then if thou makest God thy Habitation thou mayst beleive that no evil shall befal thee nor that any Plague shall come nigh thy dwelling that is no punishment or plague no affliction cross or calamity shall come unto thee from the Almighty as to hurt thee This is the fift Spiritual Receipt and special preservative against this Pestilential Sickness The Sixth Spiritual Receipt 6ly The sixth Soveraign Antidote and Preservative against this Infectious Disease is this Get a merciful tender pittiful and compassionate heart This as it will demonstrate us to be like unto God himself who is the fountain of mercy Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful Luk. 6.36 So it will denominate us to be such as are righteous before God Psal 37.21 who live in the power of that Religion that is pure and undefiled before God And surely if thy heart is melted with the sense of Gods everlasting mercy to thy self thou canst not but have thy heart drawn forth compassionately towards such as are in misery necessity and distress But if the world hath locked up thine heart and congealed the bowels of thy compassions towards thy poor brethren let the blaze of thine outward profession shine never so fair and manage the duties of external holiness never so demurely and keep the times and tasks of daily duties with never so great austerity nay though thou be able to amuse weaker Christians with some affected strain'd and artifical fervency in Prayer for by the meer power of hypocrisie and vain-glory a man may pray sometimes to the Admiration of others especially less judicious I say for all this if the holy heat of Brotherly love doth not warm thine heart and upon occasion work affectionately in thy soul thou wilt discover thy self to be rotten at the heart-root and that there is little of the true love and grace of God in thee or hope of salvation For the dissolving therefore of thy frozen heart and the enlarging of thy bowels of pity towards the poor Brethren of Christ Jesus without which never think hereafter to look him in the face with comfort or to find mercy at the great day Consider well that place in 1 Joh. 3.17 Who so hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him And above all other motives of mercifulness to the poor necessitous and distressed members of Christ methinks that Argument which Paul presseth to this purpose in 2 Cor. 8.9 should melt the most flinty heart For ye know saith he the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich Shall the onely dear innocent Son of the All-powerful and ever-blessed Lord and King of Heaven and Earth dis-inrich as it were and disrobe himself of the Royalty and Majesty above and become so poor that whereas the Foxes have holes and the birds of the Air have nests yet he not where to lay his head that through his poverty and pouring out his heart-blood he might crown us with the inestimable riches of heavenly glory with joys and pleasures for evermore And shall not we worms and wretches most unworthy the least bit of bread we put into our mouths part with something of our superfluities to releive the fainting soul of him for whom Christ died and which he will take as done unto himself Mat. 25.40 Though it be but a cup of cold water only Mat. 10.42 Besides the last and everlasting doom at that great and dreadful day to wit either the glorious sentence of absolution Come ye blessed or the dreadful sentence of condemnation Go ye cursed c. shall be pronounced upon the godly according to the effect and fruit of their faith which works by love Or pass upon the Reprobates for omission and neglect of this most excellent duty of mercifulness to the poor members of Christ Mat. 25.40 41. Consider withal as an inflaming Motive to draw forth the bowels of thy compassions to poor needy and necessitous souls that by laying out thy self cheerfully seasonably liberally and yet but according to thine ability towards such Deut. 15.10 2 Cor. 9.7 Prov. 3.27 28. 2 Cor. 9.6 Prov. 11.25 2 Cor. 8.13 14. Act. 11.29 Thou shalt hereby become a Creditor even to thy most glorious and bountiful Creator For he that hath pitty upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again Prov. 19.17 Now what a Motive I say is this to be merciful that we shall make God himself our debtor the ever-springing fountain of bliss and Lord of all goodness who doth all things like himself omnipotently bountifully above all expectation as becomes the mighty Soveraign of Heaven and Earth If he works he makes a World If he be angry he drowns the whole face of the earth If he love the heart blood of his dearest Son is not too dear If he stand upon his peoples side he makes the Sun to stand still and the Stars to fight If he repay he gives his own all-sufficient