THE LAMB CALLING HIS Follovvers TO Retirement Being an Humble Enquiry into the duty of Churches Ministers and all that fear the Lord under the present dispensation of God By one that would be found though unworthy the Lords Witness and Servant and of all his SAINTS 1 COR. 4. 5. Judge nothing before the time Printed in the year 1662. TO THE READER THe different apprehensions of the People of God in this day concerning their present duty being cut off from their publick liberties of Worship gave occasion to the ensuing Enquiry some judging it of absolute necessity to assemble openly though they expose themselves or at least their Teachers to the utmost hazard others that Retirement is that which the present dispensation calls for which later this brief Discourse endeavours to prove as justifiable from the Scripture and the practise of the People of God in former Ages but more especially to be the voice of the Lord to his people in the present day in which there is a concurring judgement of many But that Retirement which is first called to namely unto the Lord Jesus himself which is briefly prest in the former part is that which is commended to all as absolutely necessary as ever they expect to be found under his wing at his coming and appearing and Reader hear the call of Jesus Christ therein that thou mayst lay up thy immortal soul with him that when storms are coming upon the World thou mayst be found in thy Sanctuary in thy Chambers of Rest and Safety where they shall not reach thee As to the Case of Retirement from open Assembling it is plainly stated from Scripture evidence as is humbly apprehended wherein if there be not enough said to satisfie a doubting Conscience yet at least there may be sufficient to engage humble and sober minds to a mutual forbearance The duties of all Saints under this Retirement are but briefly hinted because of brevity and in that they have been more at large prest by the Servants of God in the two years of mercy we have enjoyed as the peculiar blessing of this City to the honour of the Lord Jesus the establishment of the Saints in the faith and worship of the Gospel and in the Resurrection of the Cause of the Kingdom of Christ in these Nations the vindicating and asserting whereof hath as is hoped left a gratious and powerful impression and savour upon the Spirits of the Lords people that so they may be found the more quietly submitting to the dispensation of the Lord as blessedly establisht in the forementioned truths and may in those holy principles in which they have been built up continue in a more private way edifying one another in love as those in this their retirement that are waiting for the speedy return of their Lord that when he comes he may find them so doing This you may do as under the wings of the Almighty in a probable security and not hasten your selves into your own sufferings and if the providence of God single out any of you to a suffering testimony in the loss of liberty or goods or to banishment verily you will know the tender heart of Jesus Christ towards you and his faithfulnesse in making up all to you and yours and that in this life a hundred fold Be quiet you Captives of hope for in returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietnesse and confidence shall be your strength And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into corners any more but thine EYES SHALL SEE THY TEACHERS Do not think that the Lord is now at the end of twenty years work and that the present dispensation is the last issue of all his glorious providences you have sometime believed that the Exaltation of the Lord Jesus would be the issue of all the shakings the Lord hath made in these Nations and you have as great if not a greater ground to abide in the same Faith as ever Take heed of a bewildred Spirit under the dark providences the Lord is leading us but consider what the Lord hath been doing and what work hath been upon the wheele and by faith labour to look to the end of the Lord and you will be able quietly to wait for him I wish the Case in hand had been stated by an abler hand but finding nothing herein I have found my Spirit often looking for light from the Father of lights drawn out to cast in this mite to the present Generation of the righteous as hoping that the voice of the Lamb is in it in the main scope of it And though it may be in what is hinted about the death of the witnesses I may differ from some of the Lords Servants yet I promise my self their forbearance it being an houre of enquiry and we would be all glad to know the mind of Christ in our day Something more may be offerd to consideration to clear those hints and of the nature of the Kingdom of Christ in this World if the Lord permit Now the blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve all his in this houre of temptation and lead us into his whole Counsel and Will to whose immutable grace I commend thee in the patient waiting for Zions Redemption The 25. of the 5. Month 1662. Resting Thy Brother and Fellow-Servant in the Patience of Christ ESAY 26. 20. Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast THE special Wisdome of the People of God in all Generations under the variety of his dispensations hath been to know what the Lord hath spoken and called his People to under them in the knowledge of which hath been bound up their mercy and peace in every Generation All their miscarriages have been for want of attending hereunto either in a day of peace and outward blessing or in a day of affliction and judgement The safety of this people to whom this word was spoken Enter into thy Chambers c. did lye in the obedience thereof at that day which let us a little more particularly consider This Prophet though many years before the day of it spake of the Captivity of Judah and also of her return and restauration with the blessings that should attend it which restauration he more at large begins to discover at the 14. Chap. For the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob and will yet chuse Israel and set them to their own Land c. Upon which the Prophet having denounced the burden of the Lord against Babylon Chap. 13. threatens all other Nations to the 25. Chap. that but helped in or rejoyed at the day of his Peoples Captivity as Moab and Syria and Egypt and Tyre c. As is more generally exprest ch 17. 12 13 14. Wo to the multitude of many people which make a noise like
thy former loving kindnesses c. The Covenant of God with his people is built as upon two Pillars Mercy and Faithfulness Psal 89. 2. For I have said Mercy shall be built up for ever thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very Heavens I have made a Covenant with my chosen c. Under these two doth David shelter as the Wings of the Cherubims 57. 1 2. God shall send forth his Mercy and Truth and shall save me Mercy to pitty and forgive Faithfulness to fulfil his Word here is a safe shelter for Saints in every strait David and other of the people of God get under these Wings of God and are at peace David near twenty times in the Psalms is putting these two together thy Mercy and thy Truth shall prevent me and in them I trust If all the Mercy of God and all the Truth and Faithfulness of God be my portion what need I fear here is sweet and safe retirement for Saints in an evil day But how do poor Souls retire into this Blessed Name of God a Merciful Almighty Unchangeable God as a Rock for them 1. By seeing thorough the Light of the Spirit the Emptiness and Vanity of all other refuges that nothing below an unchangeable God of all Grace through Jesus Christ can be a refuge for a Naked and Forlorne Soul in Psalm 62. David mentions two things which the heart is apt to make a reguge Men and Riches vers 9 10. of both these he saith they are a lie and vanity And if riches increase set not your heart upon them do not think them a meet refuge for you in any day specially a day of distress if neither the sons of men nor riches be a shelter then in God saith David is my Salvation and my Glory the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God Yea He onely is my Rock v. 6. seel Psal 142. 4 5. I looked c. v. 4. And what did he see Why Refuge failed him every refuge was too low too short too weak to shelter him here was conviction of nothing but emptyness in them vanity upon them all What then why vers 5. I said Thou art my refuge and my portion there is that in Jesus Christ to ensafe me and satisfie me the two great ends to which the soul moves in all its desires now I have them not in Creatures they can't be a refuge not a portion but God in Christ is both is All This is a conviction we should pass under every day 2. We retire into this Blessed Name of the Lord by Faith He is a Rock Psalm 62. the Rock of Ages or the Everlasting Rock nothing below himself is so Faith sees him so as a sinking man in the Waters sees a Rock and makes to it and sees him onely he onely is my Rock Now here 's the ensafeing Act of Faith it can lay up all concernments of Soul and Life with an unchangeable God here I adhere fasten cleave Oh O that Blessed Glorious Name a Gracious Almighty or All-sufflcient and Unchangeable Saviour in the day of my trouble Oh set me on this Rock that is higher then I Psal 61. 2. Then let Waves and Billows beat against me they may break themselves but shall never break the Rock I shall not be moved Psal 62. That 's the stability faith gives the Soul let Sins Temptations Troubles beat against me I shall not be moved thus Faith can triumph at all times Trust in him at all times God is a refuge for us In shaking times in dying times all is safe with him yea when the Heart is overwhelmed and desolate Faith thus relieves and fetcheth up the Heart in all its sinkings let the Soul see a storm coming away it hastens into its Refuge into the Chambers of strength and shuts its door till it be overpast Because this is the Work of Saints and the call of the Lord to them at this day Consider it a little further First Jesus Christ presents himself to a poor soul as an open refuge let the sin burden distress inward or outward be what it will this door of Grace stands open the sinners of the World pass by it and will not enter the more their misery but poor souls that are beaten out of one hold after another and see at last this door of hope opened in the valley of Darkness and Fears runs into it unbelief would draw the Soul back Satan would shut the Door against it but the soul ventures and venture it must or sink and perish and gets into Christ and he holds out a hand and bears it up opens Blood and Righteousness and Grace and bids the soul make use of it and here the Soul retires every day under this shelter t is driven and it can be quiet and safe no where else if the heart be stealing out else where to other shelters in the World or of its own Satans World and Conscience set upon it And the Soul flies back and gets into its strong hold again No living safely else where Now Jesus Christ is an open refuge in every precious word of free Grace Esay 55. 1. Rev. 21. 6. 22. 17. c. which words Believers see as a blessed safe Retirement when they are stormd out of every thing else and evidences are bemisted Secondly Jesus Christ presents himself a sure refuge for Souls to Retire into He sprinkles blood casts a Mantle of Righteousnesse a Mantle of Love and Grace and Power over the soul that gets into him and who then can harm it Guilt and Sorrows and Temptations and Pressures can follow the soul to the Door but cannot enter with it He is near that justifieth who then shall contend Esay 50. 8. there is safety T is true the soul is not alwayes apprehensive of its own safety but hath its fits of Fears and Mis-givings through Temptation and Unbelief as in Davids Case and mark it Psal 31. 22. For I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes neverthelesse thou heardest the voice of my Supplication when I cryed unto thee here was sad Apprehension I am cut off though he had words of Promise to the contrary but yet he cryed to the Lord in that distemper but what did the Lord cast him off because of that mixture of unbelief No neverthelesse he heard and saved him a Case of great relief for Dark Doubting Souls So that Jesus Christ is a safe sure strong impregnable shelter all the World can't get a soul out of it all is safe there Obj. But may not my life go for it for all this Answer That which is indeed thy life the life of thy soul the immortal life that is most safe hid or laid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. Because I live you shall live also John 14. your life is as safe as my life t is bound up with my own yea t is the same with my own the life I live I live in you As
Christ lives in the Father so Believers live in him and have their life fed in him and from him and therefore they shall never die but have Eternal Life What more Then to live for ever and so to live for ever as Christ himself lives surely thats a Blessed Safe and Glorious Life This is your Life But secondly If Jesus Christ will use thy natural life in all the concernments of it who shall reach thy life Not the World not all the Persecutions of it no nor thy liberty neither Jesus Christ hath charged himself with both and all the interests of thy life he will order thy race and every step thereof to that end in which he will most be glorified in thee and theresore be putting it by faith into his hand every day and say as Jesus Christ himself did in the interest of his life Father Glorifie thy Name John 12. 29. This was when our Dear Saviour as a man was solicitous about his life and his soul was troubled and cries save me from this hour vers 27. but yet bows to the Will of his Father Glorifie thy Name No man shall touch thy life till thou shalt say I have finished the Work that my Father gave me to do John 17. 4. So that Jesus Christ hath charged himself with the care of thy life liberty and all the interests thereof as well as with the pretious life of thy Soul Thirdly the loosing thy life is the saving and finding of it as to life Eternal the death of thy natural life makes way for the True Spiritual Immortal Glorious life The cutting off this momentary life issues in a higher and more excellent life so that there can be no miss of it faith sees a life in death and that by it Mortality is swallowed up of life Thus Jesus Christ is a shelter to thy life And so I have opened how Jesus Christ calls his Saints to retire into himself by way of safety and protection Secondly Christ calls his own to retire into a more intimate communion with him in a time of indignation when storms are up The second Thing 2. This call of Jesus Christ into a more intimate Communion with him should blessed souls attend to in such a day into the Chambers of his Presence so Song of Solomon chap. 1. 9. Draw me we will run after thee the King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more then Wine the upright love thee there is sweet and intimate communion Now how doth the Lord bring a soul to this Answer Jesus Christ shews himself to the soul in a greater Beauty and Glory then a soul had seen him before and thereby Humbles Empties and Awakens brings it lower and to be viler in its own eyes takes down all the high thoughts and conceits of it self makes the Soul know its own poverty whereby it becomes less then the least of all Saints renders pride and passion and selfishness and temerity and censoriousness and hypocresie with all fleshly corruptions more abominable and loathsome and the soul abhors it self in the dust too good for it is burthened and groans under the pressuresmentioned cryes mourns after a further cleansing healing and a more pretious conformity to Jesus Christ cries out for the Spirit for Holiness for Light and Strength and cannot live without them this is the way to more intimate communion here is a Vision of the Lord Jesus in his Holinesse Beauty and Glory that renders the Soul thus infinitely vile in it self and draws out such a panting after him Then it hath further Attractives of love We will remember thy love more then Wine Then how Free how Pretious how Eternal how Glorious is the Lords love to a worthless wretch whose sin is worse then the sin of Devils for they never sin against this love Oh that the Lord should not onely in pitty save me but in love die for me who can reach or understand it Thus is Glory and Love let in upon the soul And then the upright love thee Oh that I might love the Lord uprightly love him and love him uprighty love him for himself love his Glorious Person be enamoured with the Beauties of his Holinesse that I might see his Glory and for ever admire and adore him thus souls when he pleaseth thus to shew himself are taken into his Banqueting House and his Banner over them is love they retire into him and sit under his shadow with great delight and his Fruit is sweet to their tast Song of Solomon 2. 3 4. This is pretious and Heavenly employment in such a day when the Lamb calls to Retirement when the heat of the Sun begins throughly to beat against it and the soul finds little shadow in the World then the shadow of this Rock in a weary land a land of sin and trouble is sweet and plesant retirement indeed The effect of this special Retirement into the Chambers of our Lord Jesus under his shadow is sweet peace and rest of mind and spirit when the Waves and Billows come against us a blessed stilnesse a composed acquiescency in the Lord and a freee resignment to him the allaying and rebuking the tumultuous workings of our hearts a casting our care upon the love and care and faithfulnesse of the Lord in every condition In the Multitude of my thoughts my careful thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Psal 94. 19. yea in this blessed Retirement cryes out Return into thy Rest oh my soul Thou hast been wandering after other rest too too much but hast not found where to put thy feet therefore now return to thy sweet safe proper Rest abide and dwell there and that for ever So the soul can in some good measure sanctifie the Name of the Lord by believing and trusting on him and waiting for him making Christ his Portion and Everlasting strength and doth in patience possess it self One word by way of more particular Application 1. If this Retirement into Jesus Christ into the chambers of his Grace be the great interest of souls What a case then are poor forlorne sinners in that have no shelter for soul or life or any thing but what the wide World as you speak can afford them which will not keep off a storm not one drop of the Wrath of the Almighty Verily the Wrath of the jealous God is ready to come forth into the Nations of the earth after a little stilness that hath been upon them who is coming and saints do hear the sounding of his feet to tread upon them in his wrath and trample them in his fury Esay 63. and then where will all your shelters be When it shall be said to the scoffers at the report of his day Behold you despisers and wonder and perish for the Anger of the Lord shall smoak against you Oh awake and tremble believe and tremble and see your confidencies to be lying