set before other men and exalted above them for in Church societies it is not outward honours or wealth that exalts men men may be great men yet have but mean gifts and of little honour and esteem in the Church of God but also they are called by terms of authority they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place and v. 7. they are your Guides Leaders and Commanders and therefore it is taken from the Master or Pilot in a Ship that turns it about to steer it in its right course and therefore they were of old called The Masters of Assemblies Eccl. 12. and this appears so much the greater if you do consider also that they speak to you in the name of Christ for 1 Thes 5.12 They are over you in the Lord and what they do require by vertue of their office they can do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as an Embassador hath great power because he speaks in the name of the King and they can enjoyn you as you owe obedience to Christ in whose name we speak and whose work we do therfore he that rejecteth you rejecteth me 1 Cor. 5.4 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ deliver such a man to Satan if they did it in their own name there were little power in it indeed but in the name of Christ there is great authority and there is this the more to be added because as it is a power given them by Christ and Christ is despised in them so it is a power given them by your own consent now for a man to give consent to put power into a mans hand and afterwards he denyes him the exercise of that power which he hath given him it is for a man to Judge and condemn himself in the thing which he himself allows therefore it layes a necessity upon you of subjection to this power both for conscience sake and as a thing that was done by your own free election and consent and so there is not only an authority that commands it but a Law of love also as a woman subjects her self to her husband not only as God hath commanded it and given him authority over her but also from a principle of love because this is the man that I did chuse to my self to obey and to be subject unto all my dayes therefore a double Law is broken in this respect and this still argues the greatness of an Officers power in the Church It s called the power of the keyes which doth note a very great authority and office Isa 22.22 power in the house the ordering of governing of all the affairs in a family shall go through their hands as it is said of Joseph what ever was done in all the land of Egypt he was the doer of it so it is true of them what ever is done in the Church of God it must go through their hands they must also be the doers of it and Math. 16.19 it is the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven which is meant both of grace and glory a power to bind and loose in the Church by vertue of the Institution of Christ and what they do bind and loose or they remit or retain shall be so done in the world to come in the Kingdom of Heaven so that they shall open Heaven to the Church and if they shut them out heaven shall be shut out if they binde upon their consciences so will the Lord also in the world to come in Heaven and in this respect it is a far greater power then if a man had the keyes of the authority and Government of all the Kingdoms of the Earth Thirdly the subjects of this authority it is not the bodies lives of men or their estates but the authority is spiritual and it relates unto the soul only and this will appear First because it is managed only by spiritual means as the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world the management of things in the Church of Christ are not to be done in the way of the world it is not by any outward power and greatness or by authority and force of arms c. but all is ordered by the word 2 Cor. 10.5 The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God for it is this that is the Scepter of the power of Christ and all the authority that he doth exercise by his Ministers and Officers under him it is by the word only and if they wil not hear the word let such a man be unto thee a Heathen man let him be Anathema Maranatha to the coming of the Lord we must leave him as a man incurable we can do no more to him 1 Cor. 16.22 if the word will not reclaim him we have no way to deal with him but to set before him the Judgement that is written which if he despise then Church-Officers have no more to do but as they when they refused the Gospel did shake off the dust of their feet it will be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement they have no power either to imprison or afflict their bodies or seise upon their estates if they obey not they can only leave men to the Judgement of the Lord. Secondly answerable unto the power such are the censures and they are all spiritual they relate unto the soul they can inflict no corporal punishment upon men but the Punishment in Scripture and first a binding of their sins Joh. 20.21 as they pardon sin in the conscience and in regard of their Church-state by receiving them after sinning upon their repentance So there is a binding of sin upon the conscience convincing a man of the guilt of sin and also the putting him out of the society so that the mans sin is bound in his own conscience and before the Church and the Lord saith It shall be bound in heaven and shall not be pardoned to him or if he be godly he shall not have the sense of pardon till by this ordinance of Christ he be again received Secondly they withdraw communion with him 2 Thes 3.14 If any man obey not our word note that man and have no fellowship with him that he may be ashamed all this is in reference to the soul that the man may be reclaimed it is only Mingle not with him that when he shall see all godly men to avoid him as a Pest and his communion as some filthyness he may thereby take shame to himself Thirdly deliver him to Satan 1 Cor. 5.4,5 Ordinances are means to inflict spiritual Judgements as well as to convey spiritual Blessings cast him out by a Judicial act from the Assemblies of the Saints and so being cast out he is in the world where Satan rules he shall have nothing to do with Ordinances more and yet all this is with special respect unto his soul it is for the destruction of the flesh that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord therefore all power
Jacobs trouble Lam. 1.17 The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that the Adversaries shall be round about c. therefore by Jacob here is meant only Judah that is the two Tribes that did not depart from God in the Revolt and Apostacy of the ten Tribes and that those of Israel that for conscience sake did leave their Habitations and went and dwelt in Judah and Jerusalem yet there 's a time of trouble for them also 2. What 's meant by the time of trouble It 's in the Original Hab. 3.16 tempus augustiae a time of straits which is called a day of straits when the Lord did come up upon them and invade them with his Troops for so the Army of the Babylonians is called when they should be led into Captivity by the will and command of others for their Persons and Estates to be made use of as a prey to serve the wills and ends of strangers and servants For strangers Jer. 30.8 Strangers shall no more serve themselves of them And for servants Lam. 5.8 Servants rule over us and there 's none to deliver us out of their hands Now when the walls of the City were broken down the Temple destroyed the Worship of God prophaned and all the Ordinances of God trampled under foot all Order Authority deposed and all things subjected unto the wil and lusts of a conquering Army now it was a time of straits great straits in point of conscience for they would now be working them about to their way and perswading them to worship their Gods Jer. 10.11 Now to be under the power of men and not to be subjected to their lusts and serve the lusts of men it 's a great strait and straits also in respect of the affliction having their lives alway hanging in doubt having their bread by weight and their water by measure and in respect of succour in a great strait also for there was no deliverer Lam. 1.3 All her Persecutors overtook her between the streights that there was no escaping no way to avoyd them and therefore 2 Tim. 3.5 These shall be difficult times in which men should meet with great and variety of straits that they should not know which way to turn themselves c. Thirdly it 's called a great day magnum pro formidabile Cal. Terribilis aut mire calamitosa à magnitudine supplicii magnus nominatur Theodor. And we doe read of five Great Dayes in the Scripture First the day of the Lord spoken of in Malach. 4.6 I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and terrible day â—f the Lord that is interpreted Luk. 1.17 of John Baptist who was to be the forerunner of Christs coming And this is called a great day for the great manifestations of God wherein life and immortality should be brought to light by the Gospel the great changes of Ordinances and the great destruction of the Enemies the terrible Judgements that should then be poured out for Mal. 4.1 The day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all that do wickedly shall be stubble that is when the Sun of Righteousness doth arise with healing in his wings c. And for the terrible Judgements that under the Gospel the Lord would pour out upon the world and that is meant Acts 2.28 Joel 2.3 The Sun shall be turned into darkness the Moon into blood before that great day of the Lord come It 's spoken of the great Judgements that the Lord Christ would pour out upon the world and thereby make way for the receiving the Gospel publickly for he doth shake Heaven and Earth and thereby makes way for the coming of the desire of all Nations for out of the Throne when Christ is exalted comes thunderings and lightnings and voices Rev. 4.5 Secondly there 's the great day of Jezreel Hos 1. last That is when the Lord shall call home his antient people and gather together the outcasts of Israel Which shall be a day in which the Lord shall appear in his glory for when he doth build Zion he doth appear in his glory a day of the restitution of all things a day of enriching of the world a day when new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of heaven and a day in which the kingdoms of the earth shall be given to the Lord and his Christ and there shall not be any more any pricking bryer or any grieving thorn in all the land there shall be no more a Canaanite in the land forever all persecuting Powers shall be subdued Thirdly there 's a great day when the battel Armageddon shall be fought Rev. 16.14 When all the Powers of the earth shall rally and gather together their broken Troops against the Church of God they shall be the greatest combination that ever hath been and in which all the opposite Powers shall be utterly and finally broken and thereby way shall be made for the vial poured upon the air which brings in the binding of Satan chap. 20. Now this battel with the issue of it we have chap. 19.19,20,21 Now from the great preparations that the enemies do make and the great destruction which then they shall be sure to find and the great things which shall follow upon this and that in this day the Lord will make way for therefore it 's called the great day of God Almighty when the Lord shall fulfil all his promises and prophecies and Christ shall be cloathed with a garment dipt in blood and his name shall be called the Word of God Fourthly the day of Judgement is a great day also the Angels are said to be reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgement of the great day for then shall the son of man sit upon the throne of his glory and all Nations shall be gathered together before him and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepheard divides his Sheep from the Goats c. and he shall then passe a finall sentence an eternall judgement upon the eternal estates of men and set a gulph between them for ever which they shall never pass when he hath so done he shall resign or give up his kingdom unto God the Father and then all the present wayes of administration shall cease Fifthly when the Lord brings any speciall judgement or affliction upon his people that also is called a great day Zeph. 1.14 the great day of the Lord is near it 's a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness that Trumpet and Alarum against the fenced Cities and against the high Towers it 's a threatning of the same Judgement there which here the Prophet speaks of the captivity of Babylon and it s called the great day of the Lord and so it 's here called also Fourthly it 's said that it 's such a day that there is none like to it that is First it is the greatest evil that ever befell that people they had been smitten with Pestilence with scarcity
and that doth delight him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to retaliate that men may abundantly eat the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices and the Lord makes in this retaliation a greater speed with some men then he doth with others answerable to the Mercies bestowed and abused some mens sins are as a basket of Summer-fruit quia maturitatem suam sunt assecuti Am. 8.12 Drusius they that have stood long under mercies and under Ordinances they do ripen the sooner and the Lord will surely hasten his work upon such a people habet sapientia justitiae sua compendia the Lord knows how to finish the work to cut it short in righteousness for a short work doth the Lord intend to make in the land Rom. 9.28 How long soever the work be that God makes with any other people yet with an unthankful people that lives in high abuses of goodness he will surely make a short work with them Fifthly At the same time when we begin to forsake God he doth begin to forsake us for so much must be taken from the beginning of the verse the Lord is with you whiles you are with him so we and some others render it dum fuistis Therefore the same date that our departing bears unto God the same also doth the Lords departing bear unto us at the same time when the Prodigal did but set the first step to return to his father the father did set forth to meet him and at the same time that any man departs and turns away from God at the same time doth the Lord turn away from him also and though it be not presently visible for our Apostacy from God is first in the inward man our souls draw back from him Jer. 6.8 at the same time also his soul departs or is dis-joynted from such a people and in such cases the Lord is very exact in observing of the time he keeps an account of it unto a day as we see it in Saul 1 Sam. 13 13,14 Now would the Lord have established the kingdom upon Israel for ever but now thy kingdom shall not continue now Saul departed from the Lord and from this time forth the Lord did forsake him and therefore 1 Sam. 13.2 it 's said that he reigned but two yeers over Israel that is Legitimè non rejectus á Deo so Junâ—post biennium a Shemuèle fuit so that though the kingdom did continue so many yeers â—fter or he continued in the kingdom yet he reigned as King but two yeers now he rejected God and now the Lord reâ—ected him from being King over Israel and though men discern it not yet there are symbolical precepts by which the Lord doth try men even at this day the Lord puts them upon such a business puts such power and such authority into their hands which they abusing and their heart departing from God in it they are under an evil aspect from God from that time forward that though their lives may continue and though they may for a time continue in their authority yet from that time he Lord departs from them and they do by degrees wither and decay insensibly degenerate in their zeal for God and his people Sad are the Records and the aspects of God upon great men in this kind such a day I tryed a mans integrity and his faiâ—hfulness I put power into his hand to honor me with it and yet his spirit departed from me his heart was false and unstable with me therefore from that day my soul is disjoynted from such a man will honor him no more Saul reigned long after before the people but from that time no longer in Gods account Sixthly In the same degree that a people do forsake the Lord will the Lord also forsake them and so much the Hebrew word also doth seem to import in existendo vos cum eo in your being with him he will also be with you and in your forsaking of him he will also forsake you The Lord departs from a people gradatim by several removes to see if there be any that will stir up themselves to take hold of God As the glory of the Lord departed from the Temple Ezek. 10.11 first he goes up from the Cherubins unto the threshold and from thence to the middle of the City and from the City unto the Mountain and these removes of God from us are answerable unto the degrees of our departing from him for in these things the Lord doth exactly observe a proportion As it is in the matter of outward afflictions so it shall be also in spiritual desertions Ezek. 7.16 as pride doth bud so the rod doth blossom violence doth rise up unto a rod of wickedness their rod is taken out of their own sins their own wickedness doth correct them and answerable to the growth of sin in them so doth the rod grow for them that it may be corrected And so it is in desertion also with the upright the Lord will shew himself upright if mens hearts be wholly with him he will be perfect and intire with them but if men be for God onely in shew he will be for them and with them onely in shew if they give unto him onely outward obedience he will give unto them onely a temporal reward if they do offer unto God but external service and that which is seemingly service but really a sin he will bestow upon them outward blessings that is that which shall be seemingly a blessing but really a curse a blessing in the thing but a curse to the man For the Lord will hold a proportion as we forsake him so he will in the same measure and degree forsake us also All the children of destruction are not born at once Hos 1. the first is Iezreel and the last Loammi yea and Gods own people answerable unto their departing from God so they shall find the Lords withdrawment from them David had his first ways 2 Chr. 17 and the people of God have their first Rev. 2.4 and they that do decline from God in holy obedience they shall finde the Lord will depart from them in reference to a gracious presence it shall not be with them as it hath been in times past they shall remember with bitterness after their departure from their former husband that it was better with them then it is now 2. Let us now look upon the grounds of this Doctrine that upon our forsaking of God he will forsake us and they are different according unto a double state of men in this life some are in a state of Nature and some are in a state of grace First they that are in a state of nature forsaking God shall be utterly forsaken by him and that for ever for the Lord doth deal with men according to the tenor of the Covenant under which he stands in all his administrations he is always mindful of his Covenant Now all men in
enemies and their sins are grown unto a height Rev. 14.18 when the grapes are fully ripe when men do add unto al their sins contempt of God and say Who is the Lord it is an argument they are not like to stand long that doe stretch their mouthes out against heaveâ— and their tongues run through the earth When Instruments doe rise against their maker and the axe is against him that hews with it then I will send amongst the fat ones saith the Lord and kindle a burning under their glory Thirdly when the hearts of the people of God are low and their spirits do fail and they say our bones are dry our hope is past and we are cut off Ezek. 37.12 When the Son of man comes shall he find faith upon earth Men will not beleeve it Luk. 18 8. And though ye see no waies or means of deliverance yet remember It is not by power nor by might but by my spirit Zach. 4.7 And the earth did help the woman The Lord can make use of any Instruments for the Redemption of his servants The barborous Nations came in for their succour which I fear will be the Judgement upon this Nation GRACE ABUSED At a Fast for abused Liberty Febr. 28 th JUDE 4. Turning the Grace of God into wantonness c. THE word propounded for this daies humiliation is that we may take shame to our selves before God for that horrible abuse of that Gospel liberty which God hath given us which is the fruit of the Prayers the Tears and the Blood of the ancient Saints of God amongst us Rara quisquam circa bona sua satis cautus it 's a very rare thing for men to walk worthily under Mercies that they have earnestly desired when they are enjoyed There are two things that most men desire and they are Power and Liberty and when they have attained them I may say they are unto men as they describe waters suis terminis difficilè continentur They are easily apt to run over in what vessels soever you put them in I can my self remember when Arminianism did first invade this Nation how much the old Puritans for that was then the term of reproach were affected with it how the Ministers preached against it and writ against it and the Saints fasted and prayed against it as that which they looked upon as the inlet of Popery for if you will receive it first in its doctrine the same persons will quickly begin to set it up in its worship also And it was so much layd to heart by the godly Patriots of the Nation that I have been assured from good hands that they drew up an Act of Parliament to be past against it in the Parliament at Oxford which they did intend to have stood upon and by an Act of the Civil Authority to have supprest it had not the Parliament been in a sudden in an untimely manner broken up and yet now we can cry out against Popery and yet maintain with open face the Doctrines of Popery and that under the notion or name of the greatest liberty that can be and I can remember also that in the Bishops time when the people of God could not have liberty to meet without danger or the name of a Conventicle though it cross Tertullians notion for he saith cum boni coeunt non est factio dicenda sed curia c. and in danger of a High Commission How would the people of God have rejoyced at the Liberty that now they may enjoy and how sad it is to see how they are neglected by some and strangely prophaned by others they cannot be liberi unless they be Sacrileâ—i as Augustin against the Pelagians c. And this being the work of the day to humble our soules for theâ—e corrupt opinions and abhominable practises that under the notion and conceit of abused Liberty are broken forth amongst us that which the Lord requires of us is this That we should not only cry out against it as many of us doe but have our hearts seriously affected with it and desire the same for our Governours also that do injoyn this Fast that they may be humbled for that for which they do enjoyn upon us a day of Humiliation for every new Fast is a new obligation both to them and to us against this evil not onely to speak against it and pray against it but also to endeavour to reform it in our places to the utmost of our power for there is not any thing that is a greater provocation unto God then a cloak of Religious duties drawn over any corrupt intention Of a Jezebels Fast and a Pharisees long Prayers the one to shed innocent blood and the other to devoure the estate of an innocent person and both are an abhomination to the Lord. And this being that which is appointed for the humiliation of this day to help you therein and to administer somthing unto your thoughts I have made choice of this Scripture now read unto you The grand exhortation in this Epistle is set down ver 3. Contend earnestly for the faith once given unto the Saints The thing that you must strive for is the Faith the Doctrin of Faith the Doctrin of the Gospel which ye cannot keep without contention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies pro viribus it is to strive with all their might or as some render the word it's to strive one after another in your places and successive Generations in super certare or certamen repetâ—re It 's not enough to strive once and to assert the Truths but ye must do it again and again after one another as often as the Truth of God is opposed And he gives the reason of this exhortation First because it is a depositum that the Lord hath in mercy delivered unto the Saints Rom. 3.2 which the Lord requires them to keep You are but Stewards of it it is committed unto you that you should transmit it unto posterity Secondly it was but once given and therefore you cannot expect that if you part with it the Lord will again bestow it unto you It 's like the fire upon the Altar that was at first kindled from heaven and was there by the industry of the Priests to be kept alive and was never to go out it was but once given it was Gods free Grace to bestow it and he doth expect that it should be our care and work to preserve it Thirdly he doth press this from the danger of it in regard that the enemies lye in wait there are certain men crept in unawares c. First false Teachers they doe not rush in for then they would be observed but they creep in secretly and in an unobserved manner Rev. 13. A beast rising out of the earth There 's a temporal power of the Pope for he is represented under a double vision of two Beasts First a Beast with seven heads and ten horns that is he did
can alledge to defend it the greatest plot that ever the Divel had and so it is with Popery they 'l alledge the same Scriptures together with us Secondly The bitterest enemies that ever the Church of God had have been those that have owned the same Scriptures with themselves as the Samaritans and the Jews and the Papists unto us for hereby wickedness comes under the title of a Duty John 16.2 They shall suppose that they do good service and Paul saith I verily thought that I ought to do many things against the name of the Lord Jesus he did it in Duty and did Sin conscientiously as I may say c. Vse The Lord hath given you Liberty in many things such as we could not have expected that ever our eyes should have seen done Now let me exhort you Do not turn this Grace of God into vantonness Use not your Liberty as an occasion â—o the flesh Take heed of this way of sinning above all other to make the Word of the holy God a Patron of Lust abhor those men above all other men next the Divel that are best skill'd in Scripture to this end that they may justifie an evil way Truly I shall say better our old bondage or suffering again if this be the use we make of it if our new liberty be a liberty in sinning One disputes for Free-will and Universal Grace and he hath Scripture for it another he disputes against the regulating power of the Law and he hath Scripture another against Prayers but when the Spirit moves him and he hath Scripture another against the Sabbath and others for all manner of wickedness for they say we live in God and others plead for swearing for it 's an Ordinance of God Thou shall swear by his Name and others plead for mixt multitudes in Ordinances and they have Scripture and others act for every ignorant and confident fellow to preach in our publike Congregations for say they the Scripture says as every man hath received the gift so let him minister c. whereas we know the publike ministery is an Office and it is committed unto some and not to all 2 Cor. 5.17 Consider but these four things and I have done First Is this the return you make for all the goodness of God towards you Consider the evil of it First hereby you do dishonour God in that which is highest to him and which he has most exalted next to his Son Psalm 138.2 His Word is exalted above all his Name Now to lay the Word of God aside and to count it as a strange thing Hos 8.12 is a great evil much more to turn it against the Lord and gather rules from the Word to justifie that which the Lord himself abhors Secondly Hereby you do gratifie the Divel for that hath been his great Design First when the Lord hath at any time powered out a higher measure of light as in Luthers time then rose up abundance of heresies and so in the days immediately succeeding the Apostles and when the Lord works any great changes tending to Reformation for cast Satan down in one kind and he will rise in another as when Rome Pagan was cast down now there is a floud upon Rome Christian c. and by degrees to be at last gathered together into the See of Rome Thirdly No men brings on themselves greater destruction then these men do who turn the grace of God into wantonness by bringing into the Church damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are men ripe for destruction and as I have told you the Lord will make it eminently appear that they are the greatest enemies to his glory and his Churches good and therefore God reserves them for worse punishment then other wicked men shall have God looks on them as men of Blood Bloody men that are drunk with the blood of souls the sons of perdition men of sin 't is an Hebraism that signifies an eminency in every one of those kinds of sin that wicked men are guilty of and it is not only reserved for them hereafter God will not stay till he gives punishments and rewards at the day of Judgement as he will do to all men both good and bad but they shall receive an earnest of damnation here in a special manner as well as hereafter God will exalt their damnation above other mens Primogenitus Sathanae Hereticks are the first born of the Divel and they shall have a double portion with the Divel in his Inheritance Fourthly This is a dangerous fore-runner of destruction to any Nation or Church Truly if if you bear with the woman Jezabel God will not bear with you for he is tender of his Truths and prizeth them above all the world Heaven and Earth shall fail before one tittle of that shall fall to the ground Christ made that the great signe of the destruction of Jerusalem that it was neer There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets many and so 1 John 2.18 There are many Antichrists and hereby we know it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it s not spoken of the end of the world but of the destruction of the Jewish state and it drew very neer upon this ground because many Antichrists had turned the grace of God into wantonness and made use of the Word of Christ to the dishonour of Christ in opprobrium Christi and it was the over-spreading of heresie that did give the Sarasins footing in the Eastern Empire and seeing they are willing to be deceived the Lord let out that floud upon them therefore oh all you that fear God that desire to serve him as he has revealed himself in his Word whose spirits God has drawn forth to prize the truth of the Gospel Take heed of false Teachers Hold fast the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints For if damnable heresies do creep in amongst you Consider nothing threatens destruction so much as they do THE Just Mans End AT THE Funerall of William Ball Esquire a Member of the House of Commons ESAY 57.1 The Righteous perish and no Man lays it to heart IN these words are four things to be considered First here 's a godly man described in his life and that either in respect of his inward disposition or his outward conversation In his disposition of soul hee is a Righteous man and a merciful man also A Righteous man hee had need have good eyes that finds out such a one for Psal 53.4 The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men and he found none righteous Indeed in a legall sence there is none but hath an allay in a Gospel sence there is arighteousness that is imputed upon justification and there is a new image infused upon sanctification and both these must concur in the righteous man and the merciful man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of mercy who hath attained mercy himself and who is ready to shew mercy unto others
beset us Isa 6.6 and 7.8 when the Lord saith Whom shall I send the Prophet saith send me non tardat uncta rota but see the contrary in Moses and Ionah and this makes men in all the duties God cals them unto no longer then corruption is bribed to drive heavily Fourthly This makes all our services the more sweet unto God the more clean the heart is in them Mal. 3.4 Then shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord c. Psal 66.18 But if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me the duty would be more valuable in Gods account Luke 21.3 The poor widdow cast in more then they all because her mite came from a purer spirit then their great gifts therefore such services of the Saints Christ cals them the honey and the honey-combe wine and milk to shew how acceptable they are Cant. 5.1 Lastly consider the glorious motives and encouragements we have therein as First the promises Ezek 47.8 and Zach. 13.2 Secondly the Spirit of Christ to be a spirit of burning Isa 4.4 and when the Church is in the purest condition yet alwaies this spirit is leading her on to perfection still the spirit and the Bride saith come Rev. 22.17 and Christ and the Father love the purity as well as the prosperity of his people and if we would set faith on work he hath promised to manifest it Iohn 14.20,21 In that day ye all know that I am in my Father in his counsel in his â—osom one with him in Majestie and in power and we have the same purposes and intentions towards sinners and you in me your nature and your infirmities you are in my bosom and in my heart cloathed with me and living with me and while I live you shall live I dyed your death and you rose my resurrection I bear your in firmities and you are filled with my fulness I pray your prayers and you weare my righteousness and I in you not only by my righteousness to justifie you but by my Spirit to purifie you by my wisdom to guide you and by my power to keep you and by my glory to Crown you You unto whom I will say Enter into the joy of your Lord these are the better promises of the Gospel and it is the lowness of mens spirits want of Christian greatness of mind grounded upon the consideration of this that is the true cause why Christians lie fettered with their old failings and out-grow their infirmities no more then they do A Set Time FOR Iudgement JER 8.7 The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the Iudgement of the Lord. EVery faithful Minister of God hath a double reference First unto the particular Flock over which God hath made him an Over-seer Acts 20.28 Secondly unto the Land in general where he lives unto whom God hath made him a watch-man to foresee danger Ezek. 3.17 and a Trumpeter to discover it Numb 10.8 For first every private Officer in the Church is to have a publike spirit and so to perform his particular duty as to have respect unto the general good a Minister is so limited to a particular Flock as he must also remember that he is the servant of the whole Church and as every particular Church hath an interest in the gifts of all 1 Cor. 3.21 so every particular Minister is to have a care of the good of all though in a more peculiar manner of the Flock committed unto his own charge Secondly there are not only Congregational and Personal sins and mercies but there are National also and there are times when God cals a people to be humbled for the one and to be thankful for the other and in both these the Ministers of the Gospel must be employed as Trumpeters to sound forth the praise of God and as watch-men to give warning of Gods displeasure and of the time and approach of Judgement Being thus debters unto both we must pay both debts in their season and be so far careful of our particular charge that also we forget not to be faithful to the Nation and Church wherein we are for this is the common Ship in which we are all embarked and if this in Judgement be cast away whether dashed against the Rock of any forraign power or swallowed up in the quick-sands of domestick divisions it must needs hazard all the passengers Or if you were sure that for your parts you might be safe would it not be a bitter thing to you to stand upon the shore and to see so glorious a Vessel as this Nation is to be cast away to see this glorions Land defaced the blessed Gospel polluted the golden Candlestick removed it cannot but affect men that have any bowels Or if this move you not yet to see a stranger to Lord it in thy habitation and thy dwelling to cast thee out for your delightsom dwellings your pleasant and well-tilled fields to be made a prey and for you to sow and another to reap Impius has segetes c. for the delicate woman upon whom the wind must not blow and that scarce dares venter to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for tenderness Deut. 28.26 to be exposed to the lusts and cruelty of an enemy and to be glad to flie away naked to prolong a miserable life which they would be glad to part with for death were it not for fear of the exchange for the tender mother to look upon the child of her womb and consider Must this child in whom I have placed the hope of my age for omnis in Ascanioâ—stat chari cura parentis he that hath been so tenderly bred up must he fall into the rough hands of a bloody souldier skilful to destroy it had been well for me if God had given me a miscarrying womb and dry breasts rather then to bring forth children unto murderers if you might be safe how could you endure thus to see the evil that should come upon your people and the destruction of your kindred as it was her expression Hest 8 6. I do not Rhetorize and fawn to draw your affections your Brethren are a sad Comment upon what I have spoken and Ireland the stage upon which you may see this Tragedy acted before your eyes And is this nothing unto all you that pass by are you nothing concerned in the misery of your Brethren is not the Lord come neer un to you and may not you be consumed by the same fire tunc tua res agitur c. is not Iudah neerly concerned in the desolation of Israel can we see the dealing of the Lord with our Brethren say I shall sit down as a Ladyfor ever I shall see no forrow shal we say when the over-flowing scourge shall pass over it shall not come at us Isa 28.15 shall we