derided by them about you Psal. 44. 13. Tears may be given you to drink in great measure Psal. 80. 5. Vile accounted c. Lam. 3. 45. Even as a scum 1 Cor. 4. 13. Wild beasts and boars out of the wood may waste you c. Psal. 80. 13. Seeing this is so will you take the course prescribed that if possible none of these things may come upon you or if they should that your eternal estate may be secured First What can you object against it 1. Is it not the course that God hath prescribed That it is has been proved before therefore you can't object 't is not required you cannot say Who hath required this for you have heard that God does 2. Is there any unreasonableness or unrighteousness in the prescribing of it Can you object against it as being unreasonable and unrighteous nay is it not most reasonable and righteous that having sinned and provoked God you should consider confess humble c. 3. Is it not that course that others with success have used as Nineveh and 2 Chron. 12. 7 12. Can you object and say others have taken this course to no purpose Ahabs external humiliation was not without some success The judgment was deferred upon it 1 King 21. 29. 4. Have not others perished for want of taking this course See 2 Chron. 36. 12. of Zedâ—kiâ— to 18. Dan. 5. 22 to 29. of Belâ—hazar Can you now object and say others have neglected this course and done well enough Thus you see you cannot object against this course Secondly Can you think of a better a safer course Can you or you or you c. speak if you can by your silence I take it for granted that you cannot Thirdly If you cannot are you resolved upon this To consider confess c. Fourthly If you be not resolved on this course as yet must I dismiss you unresolved and desperate as they Jer. 44. will you say as they ver 16. 18. 12. FINIS GODS Gracious Presence THE SAINTS Great Priviledge 2 Thes. 3. 16. Now the Lord of Peace himself give you Peace alwayes by all means The Lord be with you all YOU have Peace Blessed be God long may it last it is not like to be long-lived unless God work wonderfully Application therefore should be made to him that he who is the God of Peace would be pleased to give it alwayes and by all means The close of the Verse is that which I intend to say something unto as the Lord shall enable me The Lord be with you All. This is Pauls Valediction to the Thessalonians and shall be mine to you In this Valediction you have 1. Pauls wish and desire the Lord be with you 2. The extent of it The Lord be with you All. He leaves out none of them he wisheth well to them all and that which he wisheth is the Presence of the Lord with them All their welfare standing therein The Lord God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost we must not leave out any of the Three for we cannot be without the Presence of any one of them nor can you have the Presence of the one without the Presence of the other for these three are one and where One is All are Of the Fathers and of the Sons and of the Holy Ghosts coming to be with his People You read Joh. 14. Jesus said if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him O for faith to believe this that the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with such Whosoever goes from you you may be sure the Father and Son will come if you love him and keep his words See verse 23. And for the coming of the Holy Ghost See Joh. 15. 16. I will pray the Father saith Christ Here 's a praying friend and praying friends we use to say are our best friends and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth verse 17. That he may abide with you for ever mark that when he comes he will not be like a wayfaring man that comes for a night and then is gon but he will abide for ever when I came down from Heaven I came with a purpose to return again when I had done my work here but this Comforter my Spirit shall abide with you for ever Well then the Lord be with you the Father Son and Holy Spirit be with you the eternal Jehovah who hath his being of himself and gives being to all things else even the being of performance to his promises This Lord be with you Be with your whole man This Lord be with your Bodies This Lord be with your Souls This Lord be with every part of your Bodies and with every Power of your Souls The Apostle in his former epistle praying for these Thessalonians 1 Thes. 5. 23. Prayes thus The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then the Apostle would have the Lord â—o be with their whole man not with a part of it not with their Souls and Spirits only or Bodies only but with their Spirit Soul and Body and the same Apostle praying for Timothy prayes The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit 2 Tim. 4. 22. It matters not who are absent so Christ be present his presence is more then the presence of the nearest and dearest relations The Lord be with you all not only with a part of you I know not which of you to leave out of my Prayers For you all have need of Gods presence whether you be Saints or Sinners If Sinners you have need of the Lord to be with you to convince you and convert you And as for those that are Saints I know none that have so much grace that they need no more the Lord therefore be with them to establish confirm and encrease grace in them the Lord be with you at all times If God be absent at any time we know not what to do Some of you have had experience that when God hath withdrawn never so little your case hath been bad enough The Lord be with you in all places We can be secure and safe in no place without his presence The Lord be with you in all conditions in all estates for if you be in the most prosperous estate you cannot tell how to be without God Jehosaphat thought so 2. Chron. 20. 12. In the fulness of a mans sufficiency he may be in straights Job 20. 22. You cannot be any where in any estate a minute without him You believe it to be a Truth that in him you live move and have your being Act. 17. 28. not naturally only but spiritually too The Lord therefore be with you at all times in all conditions
bestowing mercies on us See Psal. 130. 4. Luke 1. 73 74. Psalm 105. 39. to end 2. Is it not to you that God applies himself in this beseeching way even to you who have received mercy to be begotten again quickned pardoned called renewed and saved T is to you he comes and beseeches by all his mercies be not conformed to this world Others that have not received these mercies he cannot beseech by them 3. Had others received the mercies you have and being beseeched by them would they not think you be perswaded 4. Will you hazard and endanger your selves by conforming to and keeping company with the men of this world Jehosaphat did so 1 Chron. 19. 1 2. and wrath was upon him therefore Josiah did so 2 King 23. 29. His forwardness to pleasure the King of Assiria cost him his life The Israelites conformed to Egypt in Idolatry Exod. 32. 1 2 3. And Gods wrath waxes hot against them v. 10. And to the Moabites in Adultery Numb 25. 1 2. and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them If you live after the manner of wicked men you are like to be judged after their manner Ezek. 23. 4 5. If the Assirian or others will persecute after the manner of Egypt they shall be punished after the manner of Egypt Isa. 10. 24 26. 5. Doth not God find fault with doing after the manner of others See 2 King 17. 33. 2 Chron. 13. 9. 6. Is not that which is highly esteemed among men abominable in the sight of God Luke 16. 15. That course of life which is most contrary to the fashions of the world is most commendable and acceptable to God The further we go from the world in our speech gesture attire works and actions the nearer we come to true Godliness Jam. 1. 27. GODS severity against MAN for Iniquity Ezek. 24. 13 14. In thy filthiness is lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I the Lord have spoken it c. HAth he said it and shall he not do it Hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Numb 23. 19. Did he not make it good against the Jews his own peculiar people 2 King 25. begin Jer. 39. 1 c. Jer. 52. 4 And if God spared not them the natural branches Rom. 11. 21. will he spare us Take heed England Take heed London lest he also spare not thee If God have brought evil upon the City which was called by his name should ye be utterly unpunished ye shall not be unpunished See Jer. 25. 29. If they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup who might rather have expected favour then you If these have assuredly drunk are you those that shall go altogether unpunished you shall not go unpunished but shall surely drink See Jer. 49. 12. Nay if God spared not the Angels nor a whole world will he spare us 2 Pet. 2. 4. I would hope that God will not make a full end of us but will correct us in measure yet sure he will not leave us wholly unpunished Jer. 46. 28. But if there be lewdness in our filthiness and we will not be purged God will cause his fury not only to creep but to rest upon us as it has done upon others In these two verses not to speak of the context for time will not give leave we have a heavy judgment threatned with the cause and certainty of it 1. The judgment threatned Thou shalt not be purged c. Till c. 2. The cause of it In thy filthiness is lewdness because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged 3. The certainty of it I the Lord have spoken it c. In thy filthiness In thy sin which is filthiness Sin so called 2 Cor. 7. 1. In thy Idolatry Covetousness Pride Prophaneness Hypocrisie Oppression Is lewdness obstinacy for she would not be purged from it and rejoycing Jer. 11. 15. Because I have purged thee I have sought to purge thee by Admonitions Exhortations Counsels Threatnings Reproofs Corrections And thou wast not â—urged All labour was in vain and fruitless As for the word of the Lord they would not hearken to it Jer. 44. 16. Zech. 7. 12. Thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more Thou shalt be Warned Exhorted Counselled Threatned Reproved no more but shall be left to perish in thy sins as desperate and incurable Till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee Till I have satiated satisfied my wrath and eased my self of my adversaries and avenged me of mine enemies Isa. 1. 24. Till I have purged them in Hell fire sayes one which will be ever doing but never be done Doct. God will at last cause his fury to rest upon a people that will not be purged from their filthiness God will and this will of his is 1. Most just Because God has offered them mercy and they would none of it Thus A Subject commits high Treason against his Prince for which he is condemned His Prince out of pitty sends him a pardon which he rejects tears and tramples under foot If the Prince resolve this man shall dye for it is not his resolution just See Ezra 9. 33. Dan. 9. 14. Lam. 1. 18. 2. Most unchangeable for Numb 23. 19. At last He is not hasty but slow to anger He being God and not man Hos. 11. 9. can bear long and does yet will not alwayes but at last will punish Isa. 42. 14. 65. 6. and here in the Text. Cause his Fury Anger Indignation Wrath. Fury is an anger never at rest till it has taken revenge To Rest to Abide Fury has come and gone judgments have come and gone have been sent and called back again laid on and taken off for a considerable time but at last they shall rest Upon a people though professing and called by the name of the Lord though known and formerly saved by the Lord. That will not I say will not because the Highest does so often lay the blame there Jer. 6. 16. Their will was against purging they loved their filthiness They loved to wander Jer. 14 10. 5. 31. 11. 15. When thou doest evil then thou rejoycest See Jer. 18. 12. Be purged from their filthiness By any means whether fair or foul whether Warnings Exhortations Counsells Threats Reproofs Sabbaths Sacrifices Mercies Judgments Whose Filth Scum Rust remains Their Filth notwithstanding all the Floods they have been in Their Sâ—um and Dross notwithstanding all the Fires they have been in Their Rust notwithstanding all the Filings they have had I might heap Scriptures for proof hereof but I shall confine my self to this Prophet Ezâ—k 5. 13. 9. 8 9 10. 16. 42 43. 21. 17. You may read Deut. 29. 20. 2 Chron. 36. 15 with 17. Jer. 7. 20. 11. 14 13. 14. 14. 12. 18. 11 12.
the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy 2. Rea. Because he is so sutable to our condition therefore is his presence so much to be desired We are in misery we are unworthy we are weak and yet provoking And doth God suit with such with such as are in misery yes for he is merciful and with such as are unworthy yes for he is gracious and with the weak yes for he is strong Doth he suit with such as are provoking too yes for he is long suffering and with backsliderâ— yes for he is a God that healeth backslidings And doth he suit with such as have neither money nor price yes He will love them freely Surely mercy and misery do well agree and so doth graciousness and unworthiness strength and weakness Now hence it is because no person or thing in all the World suits so well with our condition as God doth that his presence is so much to be desired and prayed for 3. Rea. Because God is so useful for us therefore his presence is so much to be desired VVhat say you to a portion is not that of use VVhat say you to an Inheritance is not that of use VVhat say you to the Light is not that of use VVhat say you to a shield in Battel is not that of use VVhat say you to a shelter in a Storm 〈◊〉 not that of use VVhat say you to a Refuge a Rock a Tower when you are pursued is not that of use God is all this The Lord is my Portion saith my soul Lam. 3. 24. The Lora is their Inheritance Ezek. 44. 28. Psal. 16. 5. The Lord is my Light Psal. 27. 1. The Lord is a Sun and a Shield Psal. 84. 11. The God of Jacob is ouâ— Refuge Psal. 46. 11. The Lord is my Rock my fortress and my deliverer my God my Strength in whom I will trust my Buckler the horn of my salvation and my high Tower Psal. 18. 2. Now no wonder the presence of God is so desirable because he is so excellent and so sutable a good and so useful for us 4. Rea. Because God is so lasting a good There are many things that may 〈◊〉 well with us and be very useful to us but they may be of little continuance they may he short lived Husbands Wives whom God hath so suited that none could possibly be suited better must part Husbands do not live for ever with their Wives and Parents do not live for ever with their Children nor one friend with another But God is a lasting good The everlasti 〈…〉 g God Isa. 40. 28. Hast thou not known hast thou not heard 〈…〉 at the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the eâ—ds of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary 5. Reas. Because all other good will do us no good without him The Creature nay all the Creatures are but Cyphers without him The Creature is not Bread you mistake if you think so why do you spend money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not â—sa 55. 2. The Creatures name is vanity vanity of vanities saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity Eccles. 1. 2. The 〈…〉 is a thing of nought Amos. 6. 13 〈…〉 It is not Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou 〈…〉 thine eyes upon that which is not Sirs how many things is there that have been in your possession of which you must now say they are not My VVife is not my Husband is not my Father is not my Mother is not But will it ever be said God is not Christ is not The Holy Spirit is not No no. Hence 't is also that the presence of God is so much to be desired above all other things because all other things will do us no good without him Jehosaphat a Prince a potent Prince whose Militia was Eleven hundred and threescore thousand besides what he had in Garrisons 2 Chron. 17. 12 c. 'T is said he waxed great exceedingly yet sayes he 2 Chron. 20. 12. We have no might neither know we what to do but our eyes are unto thee This he speaks in reference to God without whom indeed they had no might at all He looked upon all the Forces he had as nothing without God And so are Riches and so are Relations Alas they are nothing without God Reas. 6 Because God alone is enough he is enough without any thing else God needs not the Creature to supply us to support us to refresh revive and comfort us He needs not the Creature to direct or counsel us It pleaseth him to make use of the Creature and to afford it most times but if he deny it he can do it without the Creature It was an excellent saying of that Martyr If you take away my food God will t 〈…〉 e away my hunger Truly Sirs God hath made a little serve the turn many times when others with their much have been in want In the midst of their sufficiency they have been in straights Job 20. 22. Remember that of Habakkuk I wish the same frame of heart to you that he had Habak 3. 17 18. Although the figâ—ree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the slock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no heard in the stalls How then would he be able to live yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation When there is no meat in the fields or stalls there is yet a God in Heaven and he knows how 't is with us and that we have need of these things Matth. 6. 32. and if the Father know that his child wants bread he shall not want it long if his Father be able to relieve him what ever you want if you want not faith it will be well enough O for the skill of living by faith It is nothing with thee to help sayes Asa in his prayer to God whether with many or with them that have no power 2 Chron. 14. 11. God with us is more then all besides 2 Chron. 32. 7 8. I come now to the Application If the Gracious presence of God be so grea a priviledge and therefore so much to be desired Then hence be Informed 1. Happy are they that have God graciously present with them Take your Bible and read Deut. 4. 7. 33. 29. 2 Sam. 7. 23. Lev. 26. 11 12. Happy the Congregations and Habitations that have this Name The Lord is there Ezek. 48. 35. and that may be called the Throne of God Jer. 3. 17. This is matter of rejoycing Sing and rejoyce O daughters of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord Zech. 2. 10 11. See also Rev. 21. 3. 2. Miserable are they with whom God is not that want his gracious