because there have been some ignorant People in the Neighbourhood of the Place of my Nativity who did therefore refuse to hear that part of the Word of the Lord which was committed to my Ministration because they imagine or say I am not long fiâ—ed and settled in the countrey O Foolish People and Unwise Should any one therefore refuse to hear the Antient Prophets or Christ in the Days of his Flesh or the Apostles because they did not always tarry in one place Or refuse to hear the Jewish Priests who were in their time Worshippers of the Father and accepted with him because both Priests and People did three times in the Year go up to Jerusalem The right Practice and Inference from hence should be for People to hear such a one more gladly and earnestly and to lay hold of every Opportunity letting none slip because he is not always a Preacher among them How Ridiculous and Nonsensical would this seem and appear if People would not go to such Itinerant Judges for Justice because forsooth they do not come and inhabit in the particular place of their abode And it is a like Errour in Things pertaining to the future and endless Life to refuse to receive Knowledge at the Priests Lips Mal. 2. 7. Only because they do according to the especial Ordering and Appointment of God Run to and fro Dan. 12. 4. For the increase thereof and for the Publishing and communicating forth of the same Said he whose Example I desire to follow in this my Generation for hereby I shall have boldness in the Day of Judgment because as he was so are we in this present World Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers businefs And so I speak unto ye my Country Men and Neighbours Would ye not have me to be about my God and Creatours Business What is that Some of ye may be ready to think and say Why To declare unto Jacob his Transgression and to Israel his Sin Micah 3. 8. To bring Jacob again unto him Isa 49. 5. And to endeauour to gain one Point that is if I could be somewhat instrumental by his Blessing and Grace and by the continued goings forth of his eternal Truth I will cry unto God most High unto God that performeth all things for me to bring over the People of this Nation unto the obedience of one of his Commandments for this would be an inlet and help and it would make way by degrees and in succession of Time to bring them over unto the Obedience of all the others I have often thought that if it shall appear at the last Great Day of the Lord when he shall write up the People and Rehearse from the beginning of the World all things as they were done that I was a doing the Work of the Lord all along as it seems to be according to his Word and Commandment now Thou shalt not have thy Brother in thine Heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Lev. 19. 17. To teach Transgressors thy ways and that sinners may be converted unto God Psal 51. How will they especially some of my nearest kindred according to the Flesh be ashamed and confounded who have opposed and reproached me and yet much more will they be ashamed and confounded who have Oppressed Persecuted and Imprisoned me Then the lying lips will be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contempuously against the Righteous Psal 31. 18. And they will wish that those Hands had been before that cut off which have acted cruel and tormenting things against me And they who did not hear but they did forbear for they are a Rebellious House yet now shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them That is one who did faithfully and truly declare and tell them of their Transgression and Sin One who neither had nor yet did pretend to have extraordinary Assistances or Measures of the Spirit nor yet more knowledge than others of his Generation But as Paul saith I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry 2 Tim. 1. 12. And He that is faithful in the least is also faithful in much So according to that Ability and Knowledge God had given me as his Creature I have the Testimony of mine own Conscience That I did endeavour all along to be faithful for the most part even to handle his Word According to the integrity of my heart and the skilfulness of my hands Ps 78. 72. And I would Not hide his Righteousness nor conceal his Truth Psal 40. 10. Which arose and he made known in my Heart Though when he Who gave authority to his Servants and to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch Mark 13. 34. Shall call me to an Account about this particular Work he had allotted and set out to me for it is here said That he gave to every Man his work Herein I shall give up such like an Account That as it was managed by me it was accompanied with several Failures and Imperfections Yet nevertheless this will be some joy and lessening of the other Grief that however I did endeavour to get it done and finished thinking it better to have it done any way then not at all The Lord opened mine ears and I was not Rebellious Which will be some hope and comfort in that Day I ought To have feared no more nor be dismayed neither be lacking Jer. 23. 4. In the last great Day of Judgment The Lord will shew who are his and who is holy and will cause him to come near unto him even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him Numb 16. 5. At that Great Day of Decision all Things that are written in the Scriptures concerning his Church and People and concerning his doings towards the Children of Men will be fulfilled and laid open Then shall be known what Prophets have been in the several Generations and Countries The Lord will recount his Worthies and bring them forth by their Names who were for Signs and Witnesses to his People Then also those Things which are now in the Dark and which People are in doubt and question whither there is any thing of God in it will be brought to open Light And then God who is judge himself will speak and testifie Psal 50. 6 7. How He even He himself was concerned therein and he will make all his Churches yea even all his Reasonable Creatures know that he was God even their God and consequently they should have received him for their Lord and Governour Many more things might here be spoken as touching this but for the more full Declaration of them we refer you to the Hearing of that Day Both as pertaining how the Case stands between God and all Mankind in the general and also as to every Individual and Particular Soul For He who hath Created
Saint to Gentile as well as to the Jew to Bond or Free yea to all of the Race and Lineage of Mankind To turn aside the Right of any Man whatsoever or to subvert any Man whatsoever in his cause the Lord approveth not So that if herein I have only delivered and made known the truth as it is in the Scriptures of God then also it is the truth as it is in Jesus for Jesus is the Word of God Then I say That when the Dead small and great shall stand before God I shall have boldness in that Day when I shall at the Bar of his Judgment Seat implead the People of this my Generation and Nation for their not hearing or not receiving that part of the Word of God which was committed to my Ministration and themselves may meet with fear shame and confusion of Face when they are called to give an Account for the same then also shall they know who did forbear That there hath been a Prophet among them They are in our Text called Rebellious who did forbear for so many things in the Scriptures of God are spoken forth against them who are non hearers or who refuse to hear his Word Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee Psal 50. 17. This evil people which refuse to hear my words Jer. 13. 10. Yea there is much more said against them then those Cautions are against Deceivers or Take heed what ye â—ear Where again it is observable That we are not forbid to hear but intimation is rather given That we should hear as well as prove all things for how could we Prove them unless we did first hear and know them We ought to Take heed what we hear that is Examine and Prove well what we do hear Seeing that these things are so I admire how any who pretend to have the real fear of God can or do turn their backs upon the Preaching of his Word Such who forbear and refuse to Hear Read or Receive it would have the Word of God which like its Author is without Uariableness or Shadow of turning to be fashioned and modelled according to their own Imaginations and Lusts Which same Imaginations and Lusts of Men are different from and contrary unto the Word of God A manifest Evidence that there is a spreading and prevailing Corruption Transgression and Iniquity in this Nation because that the multitude of People is so very much zealous for it for the multitude have been all along for what is either contrary unto or different from the Law and Revealed Will of God Even from the days of your Fathers ye are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them Mal. 3. 7. This Word Ordinance doth denote an established and fixed Order of things according as God hath appointed them And here it is witnessed and affirmed That in the several Generations and Countries the People have varied from and have not kept them Now there is more credit to be given unto the affirmation of the Word of God that being a forerunner of his future Judgment then to all the Uindications and Hypocritical Pretences of the People themselves that they have not gone away from his Ordinances when indeed they have or then indeed is to be had to all the sayings of Bishops Doctors or Preachers the Priests and People themselves Who Rob Father or Mother and say it is no Transgression Prov. 28. 24. When indeed it is a Transgression And so it will clearly appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ when another Scene and Face of things will be seen over what is now then they which justifie themselves before Men and who are highly esteemed amongst Men will be abomination in the sight of God Luke 16. 15. And on the other hand that solid sincere unaffected Piety that universal Zeal for God and for all his Commandments indefinitely without exception not keeping some and neglecting others as the manner of many is at this Day but an actual observance of all them not breaking the least Commandment Mat. 5. 19. For any specious end or pretence whatever although this be now spoken against and reproached by Men who are the Transgressors will yet be commended and accepted by God In all probability and likelihood the Stream and Multitude of the Jewish People did run against Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon with as much Zeal Heat and Enmity As we have seen and known the greater part of the Inhabitants thereof do hate him that was King over this Nation and for these twelve Years last past They would not have him Reign over them Luke 19. 14. And that for the same Reason For as our People feared that such a one would Conquer and Enslave them after French Methods and compel them to Popery So peradventure the Antient Jews might have secret indignation and hatred against Nebuchadnezar because he had made a Conquest over them for this belongs to Conquerors to be inwardly and secretly hated though they are outwardly feared And also because this Nebuchadnezzar was an Heathen an Idolater and a Stranger and as it was Not lawful for a Man that was a Jew to keep company with any other Nation so they did conceive and keep up unkindness and hatred against them Notwithstanding this mind of the Jewish Nation yet Ezekiel a true Prophet of the Lord in his seventeenth Chapter doth speak â—undry thing in behalf of the King of Babylon according to humane Apprehension whereas in Truth he speaks for the Oath and Covenant of God which the Jewish Nation had taken unto him So that here it might have been Objected and Upbraided unto Ezekiel What dost thou go about to destroy the Worship of God which at that day was among the Jews and to bring in the Heathenish customs Inasmuch as thou would'st have us retain our subjection unto an Heathen King and not rebell against him as we have done Nevertheless the Prophet Ezekiel doth there speak sundry things against their Rebellion Nay It is not so much Ezekiel as the Spirit of God God which spake by him who knows best what is his own Laws and what is pleasing in his Sight Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord and read for therein it is written That we should have our Conversation honest among the Gentiles least the Name of the Lord should be Blasphemed and the way of Truth evil spoken of amongst them That we should carry out selves wisely towards them that are without Recompence to no Man evil for evil Provide things honest in the sight of all Men Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Now seeing that our God hath given such and such Commandments and many more to the same purpose as may be seen in the Old and New Testament here to allude unto that saying of Peter in Acts 11. 17. What are we the Ministers and Preachers of his Word that we should withstand God Or that we should vary from his Word and Commandment
Because that in the following Discourse the Reason is Recited and Answered why my Ministry is Rejected and not Received by this Ignorant but more especially Corrupt World therefore I thought it Expedient and Necessary to Publish the same EZEKIEL ii v. And they whether they will hear or whether they will for bear for they are a Rebellious House yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them IF we could now know and discern as we shall know and discern In the latter Daies ye shall consider it perfectly when we shall be actually carried forth from Time to Eternity then we should have other kind of Thoughts concerning the Things of God then we have in this Life and on this Earth Who shall ascend into Heaven That is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the Deep That is to bring up Christ again from the Dead But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach The Word of Faith will in a manner do all this that is bring down things out of Heaven that they are made known unto us all one as the things of this Earth This Word of Faith makes invisible things to be in a manner visible and things Future to be Present unto us Of this sort are the whole Scriptures of God which contain an Orderly Declaration of things which are most surely believed among us So that they are the Word of Faith which we Preach The Scripture doth chiefly speak of things which are yet to come and will be fulfilled after that we are gone off from the Stage of this Earth and we shall find it so upon the reflection and remembrance Of this sort is the Text I have here chosen which partly speaks of things Present and partly of things to come And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Hereby their Proof and Trial is had as to this present Time for this denotes forth their present kind of Demeanour and Behaviour hereupon But by that Phrase Yet shall know The particle shall is an Adverb of Futurity and by what is further expressed on That there hath been a Prophet among them is shewn forth a Recollection that so it hath been which they were not aware off and did not altogether so clearly discern then The Reason of my choosing this Text to Discourse on here is to this effect Inasmuch as I have been a Preacher unto the People of this my Generation and Nation for several Years last past and as yet my Ministry hath been Rejected and not Received amongst them whereupon I am forced to make this or the like return That I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people Isa 65. 2. I have laboured in vain and spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my work is with the Lord and my judgment with my God Isa 49. 4. As for every Sin there is some seeming excuse so for their not hearing the Word of the Lord at my Mouth There hath been such an imagination in the Minds of People To speak out those Thoughts of Heart it seems to be to this purpose As some did contend with Peter that he went in to Men Uncircumcised and did eat with them Acts 11. 3. So the people of this Nation have heard a certain kind of Rumour or Report That I have Written and Spoken sundry things in behalf of a Papist and inasmuch as Popery is not the truth as it is in Jesus as indeed it is not which I do hereby acknowledge as much as themselves From hence they would Fallaciously and Falsly Reason and Conclude That I have not Taught nor yet as long as I retain these Principles do I teach the way of God in truth And therefore it is that they turn their backs and they refuse to hear the Word of the Lord Preached by me If in all this I have not been unfaithfull to God nor yet in handling his Word Neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Psal 44. 17. 18. But I have affirmed his Word and Commandment only in the same manner as they stand Recorded in the Book of the Lord Then those non Hearers are convinced out of the Law as Transgressors for refusal or neglect to hear the Word of God is Sin and Transgression It seems very strange That those who seem to Preach and Talk very much against Sin yet themselves in this matter give way unto and are guilty thereof But it is no new or unusual thing that some speak against Sin in the general and yet at the very same time themselves are guilty of the same in the particular Nature hereof True it is that Popery is made up of Idolatry Superstition and Errour But yet we are in no wise allowed by the Christian Religion which doth command That ye resist not evil Mat. 5. 39. Recompence to no Man and if so it ought not to be done to a Papist Evil for Evil. Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with good Rom. 12. 17 21. So that it is not true and uncorrupt Religion but contrary to it To Murder Rob or do any Evil or Wrong unto a Papist Unless People are become altogether ignorant and dull of Apprehension It is a most easie thing to be conceived and understood That a Man may be no Papist and yet do no Evil or Wrong unto a Papist Agreeable hereunto is the Will and Commandment of the most High God who doth not esteem Papists to be worse than Idolaters Strangers Heathen or Publicans of Old As to them God declares himself and his Will to be on this manner I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against false Swearers and against those that turn aside the Stranger from his right Mal. 3. 5. Such is the Revealed Will of God And moreover it is the same Robbery and Injustice in the Nature of things to disposess or spoil a Papist as any other Person What I have Written in behalf of a Papist did amount to no more then this That meerly or so far only as he was a Papist he ought not to have been turned aside from his Right which I grounded from Mal. 3 5. aforecited And also from Lam. 3. 35 36. To turn aside the Right of a Man before the Face of the Most High To subvert a Man in his cause the Lord approveth not Which is as plain a Declaration of the Mind and Will of God as any thing in the World can be and altogether as plain and self-evident as that maxim is Whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto ye do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets In this place of the Lamentations it being said Man indefinitely it extends equally and all one to Sinner as to
Or that we should be silent so as not to make mention of this Word and Commandment of the Lord because that it will displease the People in that they have lately acted contrary thereunto Far be it from me and let my Tongue cleave to the Roof of my Mouth if ever I should be a Men-pleaser after this manner For if I yet pleased Men I should not be the servant of Christ By his Grace and Assistance and invisible Protection I will go on and proceed to behave my self truly in his Covenant that is to speak out and assert the Commandments of God exactly in the very same manner as they are However my Ministry is Received or Rejected by the Multitude or whether I do bear the Scorn and Reproofs of the High and Mighty People as David himself witnesseth he did whose example herein I am conformed unto I am determined through Christ that strengtheneth me to follow the Lamb who is the Word and the Word is God and so the conducts and leadings of Divine Truth Whether soever it goes whether I have many or few hearers for herein God will be more glorified and hereby I shall give a good and right Account of my Ministry It hath been the way and method of Satan in the several Generations and Countries and so he continues to do at this Day that where he sees and discerns for he is both a knowing and discerning Spirit that such a ones Ministry would do more good than others or that God hath anointed such a particular Creature of his with the Oyl of gladness above his fellows There Satan the Enemy will labour and endeavour some way or other to puzzle and perplex his Ministry so as to render it either of none or if that is not possible yet of less effect And though what is of God will stand in spite of Men or Devils and the same will be received nevertheless by some of the Servants of God Yet many others in such a time of Temptation and Trial will fall and go utterly away For Example whereof we may have recourse unto the History of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles whose Writings and sayings do abundantly shew forth and manifest the Reproaches and perverse Usage of the People concerning them Of our Lord and Saviour himself Being made better then the Angels Heb. 1. 4. And greater then all the Prophets yet we thus read He is despised and rejected of Men he is despised and we esteemed him not Isa 53. 3. And yet in him was the words of our Text literally fulfilled And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious House yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them Even that Prophet of whom God by Moses spoke I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him Yet in the Days of his Flesh some of the People of that Generation did hear Christ and others again did forbear and not hear him Who Reproached him for a Deceiver Mat. 27. 63. And many of them said he hath a Devil and is mad Why hear ye him Joh. 10. 20. And yet some of the very same Persons after they had Crucified and Put him to Death then they did confess and acknowledge Now the Centurion and those that were with him even those People who had Reproached Persecuted and Rejected him watching Jesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly saying truly this was the Son of God After that they had crucified the Lord Jesus then they did know and own him to have been a Prophet yea the very Son of God And so it was with the other Prophets after they had Persecuted and Slain them and after they had finished their Testimony and Ministry or after that they were Dead then the People could Remember and look back that such an one was a Prophet or an eminent Servant of the Lord. Lo when this is come to pass then shall it be known that there hath been a Prophet among them The foolish and absurd Nature of Men doth more prize and esteem of things by their want then by the having them Like as we value Health in the time of Sickness So such a precious Jewel as a sound faithful understanding Ministry which is Health and Life to our Souls which feeds them with Knowledge and Understanding even this is more esteemed when it is lost then when had and enjoyed Like as in the time of Samuel The Word of the Lord was precious in those Days there was no open vision So when a thing is common or present or easily had then also it is apt to be refused and not esteemed off But when the same is past by and irrecoverable then they wish for and desire it Another Reason why those eminent Instruments of the Glory of God in their several Generations were rejected by the People thereof because they did Preach and Teach what did vehemently and violently contradict the Lusts and Will of Men and they would not endure that but keep unto their own Lusts still and thereupon they Reproached Rejected and evil entreated the Servants of the most High God who did teach the way of Salvation There is somewhat of this in all even the worst and most disobedient of Men They have some Sense and Apprehension of the Great God over all and they fain would be at Peace and Reconciliation with him for as he doth good so he can punish and make miserable as is evident to the most Ungodly and Ignorant by that Sickness and Death which he sends upon the Children of Men And therefore though they have Transgressed and do still go aside from the way of his Commandments They would so have it as if God had given no such Commandments at all Like the question of the Serpent by whose Temptation they are still acted Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every Tree in the Garden By which he would cunningly suggest and instil into their Minds as if God had not said so Even so a Thought doth arise in the Hearts of the Disobedient as if God had given no such Commandments But when his faithful Ministers do affirm that he hath then they seem to be Setters forth of strange Doctrins and to Bring some new things to their ears Hence there are that Raise up strife and contention Hab. 1. 3. For these Ungodly Men walking after their own Lusts will strive and contend against such who Preach the Word and Commandment of God against their Ungodliness and Lusts Therefore as it is in the following words The Law is slacked ver 4. When it is either forgotten or broken by them If we look back unto the particular History of the Prophets and Apostles we shall find that the Reproaches and evil Entreaty of the People against them did arise for this
horrible Suggestion did peep forth and was just perceived in my Mind as if it would be Unrighteousness in God if he should suffer me to be plagued and holden like other Men But blessed be his Name it was not so with me For he hath been with me in five Troubles and hath delivered us from so great a Death and doth deliver In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us 2 Cor. 1. 10. And he caused the Enemy to intreat me well in the time of Evil For in every Prison or House of Confinement I was in I had more favour and kindness shewed unto me then any other Prisoner But as to the former part of this Thought of mine a seasonable Answer did recur to my Mind on this wise viz If thou wouldst have God do more for thee then for other People in seeming like outward Condition then thou shouldest see well to it and endeavour that Thou even thou dost exceed and go beyond those my fellow Creatures and Brethren in Godliness and Holiness and by a greater Zeal for the Name and Glory of God and by a greater Diligence and Labour to Promote and Propagate his Religion and Truth in the World Through and by thy Sufferings To bring many Sons and Daughters unto Glory And if God should restore unto thee the joy of his Salvation and uphold thee with his free Spirit then to make the right inference and Practice afterwards Then will I teach Transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee Ps 51. 12 13. For I should be alike Zealous and Earnest for all the other Commandments as for those particularly for which I Suffered And so I should have reproved all manner of Sin and Transgression even in all People From the greatest to the least And so in the meanest all one as in the highest as I did reprove the Sin and Transgression of the Rich and Mighty People for which my doing they threw me into Bonds and laid Persecution on my Loins Holiness unto the Lord and Obedience to all his Commandments is what God indispensably expects and requires from all his Servants and Creatures But he looks for higher Degrees and a greater Measure thereof in his Prophets unto whom he Reveals his Secret and brings them near to himself For so it should be done by the Man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee Psal 65. 4. and whom Almighty God doth delight to Honour The Psalmist Pronounces such an one Blessed For certainly the more Godly or the more Devoted and given up to God any one is he will have the more Peace and Comfort in this Life and be the more Happy and Blessed throughout all Eternity In the visible Church of God in the several Generations and Countries There have been all along Observed to have been those of the Devouter sort and so there was amongst the Philosophers or Professors of Philosophy a stricter sort then the generality of the rest And truly it is this Devouter sort and Stricter sect of Religion I mention this to all that shall Hear or Read these Words to quicken and exhort them unto the utmost Preciseness and Circumspect walking who when The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force They do also thus take it by force We Read that when the Lord was to descend upon Mount Sinah or when Moses was to deliver any extraordinary Message from God unto the People or the People were to meet with God Then the People were to Sanctify Purify and Prepare themselves four Days before hand and not to come near their Wives And what these did for a set Time his Prophets and especial Servants did throughout the general Course of their Life That is in the Things pertainign to God they did somewhat more than others Mat. 5. 47. For they were much more Godly than the common standard and size of Religion as it was then in the World But here I will speak of mine own Infirmities Instead of my being more Holy and Sanctified then others instead of my being harmless and undefiled and separated from sinners And whereas I should have exceeded the rest of my Brethren in Godliness considering what kind of Testimony I bore forth and I suffered for yet contrariwise I fell into a Worldly kind and manner of Life and did retain the vain and foolish things of Pride and the Fashion of this World all which was in no wise agreeable but contrary unto the Spirit of the Antient Prophets Good God! How much did I herein fall off and go aside from his High and Heavenly Calling This shews and hereby it may be discerned and seen how easy it is for the Things which savour of Men and of the fleshly corrupt Nature and of the Pride of Life to creep in and intermingle with the best and most Divine Works Now there was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them Job 1. 6. Even so in the most Divine Things somewhat of the Devil the World and the Flesh will come in and mingle therewith The best Men have most Temptations and the best Works meet with the most Opposition which would endeavour to defeat and spoil it And so when I was employed in a Noble matter wholly a right work to allude unto Jer. 2 11. I did not then so carefully and watchfully see to it as in duty I ought to have done least I should omit or be guilty of somewhat which would render it of none or of less effect But through my neglect and failure herein I wish I could speak it Weeping Satan got an Advantage over me as to serve his own Pestilent Destructive Ends in Letting Hindring and Resisting of Good I had need to take up a great Lamentation as to my self even To Weep with the Weeping of Jazer Jer. 48. 32. As I Remember from whence I am fallen And I should herein Repent and do the first works As I Recollect and can apprehend how very much I am now fallen short of what I was Originally Created unto I have often heard a secret and still Voice speaking unto my Spirit like that in the Prophet O Israel thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified And so it hath seemed to me As if Almighty God had called me by my express outward Name O RICHARD STAFFORD Thou art my Servant and Creature in whom I will be glorified Truly this is a great word and belongs to every Inhabitant throughout the whole Earth whether Male or Female Bond or Free High or Low Rich or Poor they are all and severally the Servants or Creatures of God in whom he will be Glorified That is either in their Salvation or Condemnation The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the Wicked for the day of Evil Prov. 16. 4. The Servants of God are such who obey him and keep his Commandments and do the Things which please
him In these he is glorified to their own Good and Comforts But those again may be more properly stiled the Creatures of God than his Servants who live at random and in forgetfulness of their Maker and in these also he will be glorified to their own Evil and Punishment In that day there shall be upon the Bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord Zech. 14. 20. So it should be written upon the Fore head of each of us and it should be engraven upon the Tables of our Heart so that it may be continually in our Mind and Remembrance O Man or Woman calling Him or Her by their respective Names Thou art my Servant in whom the invisible God will be glorified As this following is a nearer and more honourable Relation Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6. 17. 18. Even so it is here it is a better and more comfortable Diversity for the Lord Almighty to say unto us Thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified then if he should only say Thou art my Creature in whom I will be glorified For his Servants shall serve him Rev. 22. 3. But amidst the Common and Promiscuous multitude of Mankind There are many Rebels and Enemies in whom he will be glorified though it be to their Destruction And they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after covetousness Ezek. 33. 31. And so by the outward posture of People and by their coming to the publick places of his Worship they make a shew of much Honour Reverence and Obedience unto God but their Heart goeth after their own Pleasure or Profit They are still for doing their own Will and for going after their own Thoughts They will sit a Sermon out but after it is over and they are gone from it they are apt to say Their Lips are their own Who is Lord over us There are those who are yet more Disobedient and Rebellious for they will not so much as come to the place of Hearing Others again will Hear and not Obey And another sort are forgetful hearers of the Word As when Jesus Discoursed of that True Bread which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World The Hearers thereupon said unto him Lord evermore give us this Bread John 6. 32 34. So it is evermore the desire of my Soul and so it is of all Faithful and Knowing People when we hear such an one is a good Minister Preacher or Teacher Lord evermore give us the Preaching and Teaching of thy Spirit For though the outward Teachers should be removed into a corner Isa 30. 20 Or if the lot of our Habitation is cast into a Barren Ground where is a Dead Ministry or Dull Teaching yet the Spirit within us is Life and by this Spirit we know the Things that are freely given us of God For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. Even so the Elect do know and discern more of the Things of God than other People even by the Spirit which he hath given them So they do now know and discern more of the Appearances and Doings of God unto the World and to his Church then the mixt Multitude Shall the Lord do any thing and not reveal the same unto his Servants the Prophets So his Elect Servants do know and receive them for such that is for those to whom God doth communicate himself more then to his Ordinary Creatures when the same was not understood by the generality of the People There was never yet any true Prophet of the Lord but who did approve manifest and commend himself to the Hearts and Consciences of some of his Servants And so it is that whereas the common People in the Words of our Text Shall know that is in the latter Days and towards the end of Time That there hath been a Prophet among them The Elect Servants of God know the very same at the Time and whilst the Prophet is among them Those Prophets were Ordinary or Extraordinary By the Ordinary Prophets I mean the common Priests who were to Read and Expound the Law By the Extraordinary Prophets are to be understood such whom God had Anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above their fellows To whom he had made known more of himself then he had done unto the common Stock and Level of Mankind The Denomination of the Word Prophet comes chiefly from Prophetare which signifies as much as to Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgression and the house of Jacob their sins Isa 58. 1. And so every common Minister or Preacher of the Word as he is Faithful and True in the Discharge of that part of the Office may be called a Prophet both in the Old and New Testament Acceptation as when we read of the Schools of the Prophets Is Saul also among the Prophets By this Word is denoted that distinct Rank of Men such as are the Priests and Clergy among us at this Day And so we read in the Gospel For ye may all prophesie one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14 31. 32. But as one Man now is seen to excell another in Strength Greatness Beauty Wisdom or such like according to the manifold Variety of the Creation and Workmanship of God So the same everlasting God the Creator of the ends the Earth had also amongst them to whom he Communicated a greater measure of his Spirit and of the Knowledge of himself and of the things pertaining unto his Kingdom than unto others as we read in the example of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles Said Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour I must go and Preach the Gospel in other Cities for thither am I sent And so the Prophets and Apostles were as Captives removing to and fro Isa 49. 21. And travelling from Place to Place for to Preach the Word of God and to make known his Truth And as Wisdom crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets She crieth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the City she uttereth her words Prov. 1. 20. So their Residence or Habitation for the most part was in or near the City of Jerusalem the chief City of Judea where the Palaces of their Kings Rulers and chief of the People were This I do the more willingly take notice of
the Object of Knowledge is present and visible Things Now Faith is the Principle and Foundation the Sum and Substance the Marrow and Kernel the very Vitals and Inwards of all Religion For first of all Faith fixes and terminates on the unseen God who made all things both visible and invisible both Things present and Things to come But then besides we are Creatures that are continually passing on we being here in a transitory Life and in a transitory State And we hast on and continually make towards those greater and more abiding Things to come Now as Faith doth discover apprehend and lay hold of all these things it thereunpon becomes to us all in all Saith Jesus Christ Have Faith in God Mark 11. 22. And it being elsewhere said The just shall live by his Faith So that I would chiefly recommend and put my Readers in mind to have Faith in God and live by Faith That as the Apostle saith Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God Even so do ye live by Faith and be full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost that whether ye Sleep or Wake whether ye be busy or idle whether ye be in your Shops Barns Houses or Fields whether ye be upon a Journey or sitting still Nay even whilst ye are eating your necessary Food or not eating in whatsoever Posture or Action ye are in let your Hearts be always musing and thinking and be full with expectation And looking after those things which are coming on the Earth Luke 21. 26. And shortly after that we depart hence will be manifested before us with open Face For the Divisions of Reuben there was great thought and searchsearching of heart So after the invisible and future things of God which pertain to us Men let there be continued Thought and searching of Heart To give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure Let this be all your Labour and Care And as ye always Breath and your Pulse is continually beating so let your doings and movings be towards and in Subordination and tendency to this great end how to secure and lay hold on the better Things for your Portion Thus to have Faith in God and to Live by Faith is indeed the way to be Carried from Faith unto Salvation The Third Practical Use and Inference is To teach every one of us to be of an Obedient Humble Lowly and Trembling Spirit It hath been aforesaid that the wicked Ungodly and Disobedient would fain have the Commandments of God be fashioned according to their imaginations and Lusts and when they have indeed Sinned they would so make a shew as if they had not sinned or as if the Commandments of God were not so as they are Recorded in his Book and delivered by his faithful Ministers I have Read among the â—ayings of Luther That nothing displeaseth God more than when we Defend and Cloak our Sins and will not acknowledge that we have done wrong as did Saul For this is Adding Sin to Sin and a linking one Transgression on to another That is when such have Sinned or Transgressed In speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the Heart words of falshood Isa 59. 13. To vindicate themselves and it is a Persisting still in their Stubbornness Disobedience and Rebellion which instead of lessening doth aggravate and increase their Guilt and it doth provoke God more and more By that manner of speech Conceiving and uttering from the Heart words of falshood Is meant and intended when People will of set purpose invent and speak lies and words of Falshood at the very same time when they know it to be so only to cloak and excuse their foregoing Sins But all this both the lying false Spirit as also the Perverse Disobedient Rebellious and Refractory Spirit is far from the Godly as we may know by the Examples of David and Hezekiah By the way though a parcel of ignorant People or Men pleasers who are Corrupted by filthy lucre do imagine or say That a King or Rich Man ought not to be Reproved Yet we learn and know the contrary from the Word of God that they both may and also they ought to be Reproved if they commit Sin or Evil all one as inferiour People We may Read in 2 Sam. 12. That when Nathan Reproved David he did not imprison Nathan for it as Amaziah and other Ungodly Kings would sometimes do unto the Prophets of the Lord but he acknowledged his Offence And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And so when Isaiah denounced that sad Message to Hezekiah and his Posterity What is the Return and Answer which Hezekiah made thereupon Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken Isa 39. 8. Both David and Hezekiah were Servants of the Lord who were overtaken with a fault but yet they are for our Example and Instruction how we should behave our selves under the Reproof of the Word either in the publick Preaching and Ministry thereof or when we are Rebuked privately as one Man doth his Neighbour Namely not to Rankle in Spirit nor conceive Enmity and Hatred against the outward Person of him that doth it like Ahab to Micaiah I hate this Man for he Prophesieth not good concerning me but evil Not to kick against the Reproof because it pricks the Conscience in which sense notwithstanding people harden themselves now in the mean while yet hereafter it will be found true It is hard to kick against the pricks Nor yet should any one dare to Reply against God Rom 9 20. Nor yet as it is in the Marginal Reading there to Answer again for this is a sign of a Malapert and Saucy Servant But as the one is to give so the other ought to receive the Reproof In the Spirit of meekness and to acknowledge that he hath Transgressed against the Lord his God and that he hath not obeyed his voice Jer. 3. 13. But now he is heartily sorry for it and unfeigendly resolves to mend his fault and do so no more The end and Requiring of the Law is Obedience And this is the way when we have not performed that to make it up and supply it so as to render and yield it for the time to come All that God doth require of us and the only way to please and be reconciled unto him is to obey his Word to have a great fear and dread of the invisible God in our inward Parts and a care not to offend him and to express forth whatever Honour and Reverence we possibly can towards him For though when we are full and in Health Youth and Strength we are apt to despise him and say in our Heart tush God we care not for thee Yet on the other hand when we are in Hunger Want Cold Affliction or Pain and more especially when Old Age begins to creep on when the Floods come and the Winds blow and
his Danger then he will be certainly Drowned and Perish Just so is the Condition of all People in this World We are by Nature the Children of Wrath as well as others And as such Death and Hell followed with him Rev. 6. 8. Like a cruel and devouring Dog doth run after and pursue us So that the same Word which the Angel spake unto Lot doth belong to â—…ery one of us Arise and escape for thy Life And truly unless we do arise and escape for our Life and unless we are warned as the Preaching and Ministry of the Word gives the warning and unless we take the warning which the Obedience to the same word doth As it is written By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet prepared an Ark to the Saving of his House Heb. 11. 7. But if it were not for this we should certainly fall into the Damnation of Hell And those People who like Brutes Beasts go blindfold through the vale of this Life without any sence apprehension or fear of the Damnatino of Hell they will more certainly fall 〈…〉 The Reason why any are so fearless and unconcerned as to this as too many are is because they see it not But if Hell Fire was evidently set fâ—…h before their Eyes They would be at their wits ends and think they could never get far enough off from so terrible a thing Even as Lot did arise and escape for his Life to avoid the Flames of Sodom and Gomorrah So where they see it by Faith will reasonable people arise and escape for their Life to avoid the Fire and Damnation of Hell all one as we now see they do whatever they can to run from an Inundation of Water of from the Sword of a devouring Enemy In this last Instance when people fly from the Sword from the drawn Sword and from the greiousness of War Are they then without fear In no wise unless they shut their Eyes or are stupid and then such are soonest knocked on the Head Even so again it is here The last Enemy Death dogs us at our heels And as it is said in the Book of Revelations Hell follows with him And can then people live without fear And yet for all they who live most without fear of Hell will soonest fall into it I have read of Damocles sitting at a Table feeding upon Dainties and good Chear but directly over his Head there did hang a drawn Sword by a single and weak Thread Such an one as long as he did not see it might be without fear but if he did look up and behold it then he can be no longer heartily and really merry No more then Belshazzar could when he saw the hand writing upon the Wall In like manner The Wrath of God which in Scripture is called the Sword of the Lord is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of Men and it hangs directly over all the Children of Disobedience and all the Sinners and Transgressours of the Earth by the single Thread of their uncertain Lives For this same Wrath of God will be really executed upon and sensibly felt by them after that their Breath is gone out of their Nostrils and their Souls are departed from their Bodies How then can any Live in pleasure upon the Earth and be wanton and nourish their hearts as in a day of Slaughter Unless to compleat the Paralel in this also Herein they become Like thâ—… Beasts that Perish As to be quite insensible and ignorant thereof Alas Notwithstanding the Brute Beasts are thus insensible and ignorant in the mâ—…n while they must at length come to the shambles and then they smell Blood and they would fain not go but they are pushed in Even so those who by multitudes are going on in the way to Death and Hell when they come near to the first then they begin to know and are sensible of the other also but then it is too late And the door was shut Mat. 25. 16. Time past cannot be recalled in a Thought neither will a Desire at the last gasp be accepted for a godly and well spent Life They who in the midst of Life and Health go on securely without the fear of God and of his Threatnings and in unmindfulness of their Latter End Even these will not be without fear when the Time is come that they must Die But the Soul will indeed Shiver and Tremble as She is taking her flight forth into the invisible World Or if she should be hardened and rendred insensible through a foregoing Deadness in Trespasses and Sins or through Bodily Pain and Sickness which take up and employ all her Faculties at that time yet after she is actually dissolved from this Tabernacle of Clay then if she is loaden with Sin and Guilt will succeed A certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Heb. 10. 27. For in the World to come there is no hardening against God or the sence of his Judgments Therein the Devils believe and tremble All people must and will fear one time or another But as the Wise Man saith Happy is he that feareth always who fears most in this World that he may fear least in the World to come For from this kind of fear that is a fear of God and a fear to Sin against him doth proceed a good Conscience thence is no fear that is slavish or hath torment Then comes Perfect love which casteth out fear But as it is written When the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and loan horrour of great darkness fell upon him So now the Sun of our Life is going down let it be both our Desire and Prayer and also Endeavour that a Filial and Reverential fear a great Aw and Dread of the invisible Lord God may fall and always remain upon our Souls and Spirits That for these very few now they are fewer then ever they were yet remaining Days of our Pilgrimage we may Walk in the fear of the Lord and in the Comfort of the holy Ghost against the time comes when we are to fall severally Asleep in the Lord Jesus and from thence ever to awake after his likeness It hath been fulfilled already as to the Inhabitants of this Nation and Generation The same is now fulfilling whilst I am Publishing these things and it will be yet fulfilled as to their â—uture kind of behaviour towards my Ministry For all will not believe though a Man declare it to them whilst I go in and out amongst them But especially it will be more evidently clearly and illustriously fulfilled after that we are all departed off from this Earth Behold I have told you before And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Why do not some hear and others forbear For they are a Rebellious House Notwithstanding now they call themselves Christians but as All are not Israel who are of Israel Rom. 9. 6. So all are not Christians at this Day who hold fast the Name thereof Yet They shall know that there hath been a Preacher among them who hath Preached the Words of God and of eternal Life Consider what hath been said and the Lord give you understanding in all things So Witnesseth RICHARD STAFFORD a Scribe instructed in the Law of GOD and in the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST As Paul was in the City of Jerusalem brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel So I was for the space of Six Years Educated at Magdalen Hall in Oxford FINIS LONDON Printed in the Year 1700. And are to be Sold unto such who Will receive the Love of the Truth that they might be saved 2 Thes 2. 10. And who will Consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance to the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. and towards the outward labour and charge of Making known his Truth 38. 19.