then faithfull dealing with God and the advantages it hath by his hand And as for straightes and difficulties which come in this way reade that place Isaiah 48.20 21 22. and it will set you above them all or any man else that hath any thing of the Spirit of God in him Goe yee forth of Babylon flee from the Chaldeans with a voyce of singing c. verse 20. But they might object Lord wee are poore and few in Babylon that have any hearts to this and wee are to goe a long Journey and by many potent enemies and alas wee shall be eaten all up ere we come there what with our owne wants and weaknesses and others violence Observe what a secret answer God gives to this in the verse that followes And they thirsted not when he led them thorow the desarts he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them he clave the rock also and the waters gushed out there is no peace saith the Lord unto the wicked As if the Lord had said 't is not a harder taske for me to provide for you all in your journey from Babylon to Jerusalem then for your Fathers in their journey from Egypt to Canaan whilst they obeyed my will did they or could they want water bread protectiō or provision whither soever they went but when nothing would draw them and keep them on to this then I pronounced them wicked and there was no peace to them Propose my pleasure and to this submit and talke not of wildernesse Serpents Scorpions or any thing else nothing will undoe you but disobedience to my will Let this place be thought on by all when I am gone to mine You are Honourable Worthies going out of Babylon according to the call of God which hath been long upon us by his faithfull servants many of which are scattered and many fallen asleep whose eccho at this day to you am I. Goe out and leave not a hoofe Egypt and Babylon and Rome are one spiritually and answerably should be departed from And doe not carnally object 't will worse become you then any of our Fathers heretofore having seene what you have seene In your wildernesse in your greatest straights God will still appeare and carie you through so much is shadowed and sealed in this Scripture and such persons and Nations as cannot receive this have their doome also sealed No peace shall be unto the wicked saith the Lord. Hitherto I have spoken to direct your cariage to God I have onely a word more to direct your cariage to men and so I shall shut up all Be faithfull to God of which I have at large spoken and towards men be wise and humble Gallant things will now every day come into your hand if you be followers of Christ and faithfull to your God as he was and as they shall still come into your hand chuse such instruments still to be imployed about them as most suite the pleasure of God these and these onely will be the prosperous agents Upon one stone shall be seven eyes Zach 3.9 Be every one of you like that stone Saul immediately after his unction was much surely indowed with wisdome and observe whil'st so whom he takes next to him men whose hearts God had touch'd Saul went home to Gibea and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touch'd but the children of Beliall said How shall this man save us And they despised him and brought him no presents but he was as though he had been deafe which was heavenly wisdome indeed Charash which signifies much attention and per antiphrasin no attention at all Surduit siluit 1 Sam. 10.27 To take persons next you whose hearts God hath touch'd will render you disregarded at least if not scorned but by whom by sonnes of Belial Can such a Parliament and such an Army that consists of such Sectaries and strange spirits save us you must diligently heare now that is not at all you must be deafe this will be your wisdome Because God hath given the Judgement of the Whore under the whole Heaven to the Saints of the most High Dan. 7. And the battle-axe of Babylon is the rod of Gods inheritance Jer. 51.19 Upon my mountaines will I tread him under foot saith the Lord of the Assyrian And this is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth Isa 14.25 26. Whom God hath said shall be his battle-axe those doe you thoose and to whom he hath given this Judgement of the Whore to them doe you let his pleasure prosper in your hand You may lose honour presents from sons of Belial this way but you will have honour from the Lord. Neither will the clamour of ignorant unworthie persons alwayes last Adoniah kept a great stirre a while about his title to the Kingdome but at last when he saw how manifestly God was with Solomon he comes with other language to his mother and indeed saith he the Kingdome was my brothers from the Lord 1 King 1.16 So when these shal see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in the hands of his people they will change their note and say the worke was theirs from the Lord and the Parliament did but appoint such as God appointed long agoe Towards men be wise be humble You are in place above others but 't will be your glory to be in spirit below all 'T is very observable what Discipline Kings were to be kept under by the command of God Deuteronomy 17.15 16 17. They were by no meanes to set a stranger over them which was not their brother neither was he when set up to multiply horses nor wives nor silver nor gold but to have the word of God diligently opened and applyed to him that he might feare the Lord and keepe all the words of his Law and that his heart might not be lifted up above his Brethren c. Disparity of place must not take off a brotherly parity of spirit let the place be never so high you cannot want temptation to exalt your selves above what is here written Jesabel said unto Ahab Dost not thou governe the Kingdome Arise and eate bread and let thine heart be merry I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth the Iezreelite 1 Kings 21.7 Pride is that Jesabel which is apt to creep into the bosome of the best men when in high places What doe not wee governe the Kingdome is not all now in out hands May not we doe what wee list give and take smile and slight as we please I beseech you Honourable Worthies He covereth the faces of the Judges of the earth if not where and who is he Job 9.24 every time you goe through Westminster-Hall and every time you enter in at the Parliament-dores cast your eyes upon both hands possibly of one side or other you may see Christ sit in a poore oppressed condition unpitied by all passers-by Many a poore widow stands with a Petition in her hand written with the heart-bloud of her husband and subscribed with a thousand thousand teares because she can get no eye to reade it no hand to preferre it nor no bowels to dispatch it Sir sir I beseech you read this 't is a very legible lamentable character within and without lamentation mourning and woe like Ezekiels roll and yet every one passeth by and over-lookes her As you may eate up the sins of the people by winking at them so you may doe their miseries How sad is this may you conceive to such a poore soule and how sadning to the Spirit of the Lord that is in you that can so voyde of bowells goe by The tith possibly of some trifling time that is spent by you O what service might it doe to put bread into the mouthes of many that are ready to starve Alas poore creatures of which this Kingdome is now but too full whither should they come but to you The widow hath no husband but you the fatherlesse hath no Father but you the cripple hath no legs but you the wounded have no money to buy plaisters but from you all the oppressed are bid by God to call you Gods Fathers and if you cast them off too when they have cast off all for you or if you shall while them off when they tell you Sir this is our last meale in the barrell and this our last oyle in the cruse I must goe home and eate this and dye if you doe not help me The Lord Jesus be mercifull to us these living rafters of the house will crie out against us all I beseech you I beseech you Neither did she strengthē the hand of the poore and needy therefore I tooke them away as I saw good Ezek. 16.49 50. Honourable Worthies let as little guilt lie at your dores as possible may be I assure you Judgement lies not farre off it I know your necessities are great and yet I professe my heart I feare there be some cases if not more pitied will make your necessities greater Remember 't is but a Kingdome of men which you rule and that the most High also rules in these Kingdomes of men Seven times shall passe over thee said God to that great and lofty Prince till thou know that the most High rules in the Kingdomes of men and giveth it to whom he will Daniel 4.32 Misery enough attends that greatnesse that cannot stoope to hand and heart the condition of the distressed Honourable Worthies I have said and with much simplicitie of heart have I delivered the message of my Master all these things which I have spoken I humbly judge to be the pleasure of the Lord which if they may prosper in your hands I will say of your Kingdome as Daniel speaks of Nebuchadnezars Dan. 4.15 that let the Lord humble us as he pleaseth and make seven times passe over us till there be nothing but a stump left as truly now t is not farre from it yet this stump shall be with a band of iron and brasse Errata FOr patients page 13. line 28. reade patience For art p. 13. l. ult read 〈◊〉 for pretii peccatum p. 4. l. 22. reade peccati pretium FINIS
and said I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after mine owne heart which shall fulfill all my will which is spoken in opposition to Saul who did fulfill but a part Christ did not baulke one title Heaven and Earth shall passe Matth. 5. but one title of the Law shall in no wise passe till all be fulfill'd such parts of Divine will as were most debasing of Christ were fulfilled as well as other parts which were dignifying he stoopt to men who were not worthie to stoop to his shooe latchet Suffer it to be so now for thus it becomes to fulfill all righteousnesse Matthew 3.15 as if Christ had said the will of the Lord shall prosper in my hand though I lie at any ones foot Take the next word in the text and it will carrie it to this sense the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper Tsalach it signifies the carrying on or the carrying thorough of a thing against all difficultie a breaking through or a cutting through with the foote As if God had said My will will be much opposed by Devills and men yet he into whose hand I have put it will breake through all The word is used 1 Samuel the 10. the 6. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophecie The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee Tsalach will breake in upon thee and thou shalt prophecie whether thou wilt or no. 'T is used in the 2 Sam. 19.17 There went a thousand men of Benjamin over Jordan before the King Tsalach brake through before the King Thus shall he into whose hand Gods will is put breake open the everlasting doores and breake in upon dead soules and breake down whatsoever hinders their eternall life Consider the word in its simple signification or consider it in the time in which it is here put Shall prosper by his hand Which future tense carries us not so much to the futuritie of the worke as to the certaintie of it as noting upon what strong bottome it beares to wit the Justice of God and this in a double respect Gods voluntary chusing Christ and owning him to be his servant 'T is a matter of justice that whom I voluntarily take and owne to any businesse of mine I should cleave to him and assist him as I am able This I take to be the emphasis and life of those words Psalm the 89.20 I have found David my servant with my holy oyle have I anointed him with whom my hands shall be established mine arme also shall strengthen him the enemie shall not exact upon him and I will beate downe his foes before his face c. I have found David my servant c. Matsa I have laid hands upon him or taken hold of him so the word is rendred Psal 116.3 The paines of hell tooke hold upon mee I have laid hands upon my Son and therefore t is but Justice I should keep hold of him and that these hands which I have laid upon him should be every way vertuall to him and they shall be so the enemies shall not exact upon him The word used for exact is Nasha seducere decipere and signifies to seduce cheat and deceive and so is rendred Jer. 29.8 Let not your Prophets deceive you c. As if God had said the times through which my Sonne shall passe will be full of craft and if it were possible to deceive mine elect but it is not possibe because hee is mine elect he is my servant and because my servant he shall deale prudently not the subtlest wit in the world shall put a trick or cheat upon him in order to any punctum of my will The word Nasha hath no affinity with Nasag which signifies to be overtaken and catcht as huntsmen doe their prey Christ is the Hinde of the morning hunted from Sun-rise to Sun-set but having Hindes feet he cannot be taken Thou hast made my feet like hindes feet saith Christ oft in the Old Testament Christ cannot be taken nor overtaken hunt and catch and lay snares who will Saul Judas or all the violent craftie hypocrites in the world A bow of steele is broken by his hand Hell is naked before him not onely open but naked as a thing without all strength or force to hurt because one walking in this furnace with him the support of the God-head You have the Father telling all the world that he goes upon this ground along with the Sonne to wit that he is his chosen servant Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect c. I have put my Spirit upon him my mantle and livery as my servant he shall not faile nor be discouraged not darkned or broken till he hath set Judgement in the earth i. accomplished all my will Isa 43.1 2 3 4. Upon this ground God sticks close to us because his chosen servants see it largely and comfortably set forth by the same Prophet Isa 48.8 9 c. and therefore bid againe and againe though wormes yet not to feare because wormes upon such a ground Shall prosper the futurity of the word points at the certainty of the worke upon another ground of Justice that is Christs merit Christ hath bought and paid to the utmost farthing for all that may accomplish him in order to any part of the pleasure of God towards the creature this is a ground granted by God himselfe in the text When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinne he shall see the issue thereof c. There be many difficulties about the creature but may be all infolded in one to wit sinne Man would have the heart of God were it not for sinne and he that hath the heart of God hath his hand and can doe any thing Now Christ hath paid the price of sinne fully and presents in our person a primitive state and so hath bought the eare the hand and the heart of God that is a full concurrence of the Father for all executions and accomplishments in order to the creature which is the reason of that strong language of Peter in his converting Sermon VVhom God hath raised up He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demanded life of thee c. Psal 21. having losed the paines of death because it was not possible that he shorld be holden of it Acts 2.24 Not possible why the reason is rendred verse 27. Thou wilt not suffer thy holy One to see corruption Christ is a holy one that is legally holy thou hast made his soule an offering for sinne bought the soule with a soule an eye with an eye a tooth with a tooth he hath purchased all the fulnesse of the God-head to concurie with him and therefore I should be unholy to a holy one if I should leave his soule in grave c. Compare with this place Isaiah 50.6 7 8 9. verses I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the haire I hid not my face from
this Ecclesiastes 7.10 An impatient man thinks that the revolution of all times should be of the same aspect that present times should be as full of trade as full of friends as full of peace and plentie as former times or else that former times were better then these Men doe not inquire wisely as the wise man saith Times and conditions are to be called good or better not as our owne will but as the will of the Lord prospers in them I may be more poore more contemptible then I was in time past yet if Christ be made more rich and more glorious hereby I am bound to say that this time is better then the dayes past Possibly the will of the Lord in order to the men of this generation may be to put them to it in all that is dear that our worke shall be to labour as it were in the fire to bast and waste our selves out about the refining furnace to bring out the next age more pure and holy then this wee may sow and others after us reape as they did before us in order to many mercies then which now we have if Christ make such a noble work to succeed and take by us wee are bound to say that these are very happy times * Luke 9.30.31 and this Christ will 't was sealed in that apparition two appeared in glory and spake of Christs decease There is a communication of this in a degree and 't was done for our sakes as it is said of other cariages Messengers appeare to our soules in glory when about the hardest parts of the will of God a spirit of glory and of God visiteth us which is the hand of Christ prospering his Fathers will Impatient men are blind they can see no glory but that which is externall all that ever God hath said about the glory of times is onely this in my text that his pleasure should prosper by the hand of Christ and this indeed is the glory of times and persons in every age Doth the will of God by the hand of Christ prosper within thee without thee in the world in thine owne heart then t is a glorious time that wherein thou shouldest content and solace thy selfe * Every time is best to its best improvers The still breathing of every age should be the will of the Lord be done Patience hath two things in it as I formerly told you perturbation removed and expectation seated in the place of it and the Doctrine in hand inforceth both Be still and know that I am God Psalm 46.10 The one expression notes passion allaied and the other expectation raised Know that I am God that is that I will accomplish my will so it followes I will be exalted among the Heathen c. Let your expectation be pure to such a height the point in hand lifts Weeds creepe up by every flower and in every ground unlesse very well look't to Confidence becomes carnall and then dies as instruments die and swels and flants as they live and prosper millions of such men are not worth a straw in a storme they are the great bubbles of boysterous weather which break as fast as they swell The Nations shall blesse themselves in him and in him shall they glory or shine Halal what ever hath been done for us hath been done by him what ever is to be done for us or for others is to be done by him if ever England shine or any instrument in England 't will be as in his hand by whom alone all shall prosper Expectation pure the spirit is solid very high and yet very low never at a losse let times and things goe how they will but when 't would speake of the vertue and excellence of that hand by which the pleasure of the Lord is fulfilled and truly there one may pardonably lose ones soule T is not an easie thing to be pure in expectation one is like a child that hath been used to be caried that when set downe to goe alone catcheth at every thing next it and there hangs and will not let goe and yet falls at last with its props in his hands God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God Psalm 62.11.12 The speech of God in providence is of great eccho especially in some more remarkable works God speakes in providence so wonderfully sometimes to a person or to a Nation that it sounds oft in a mans soule once twice that is frequently that God alone does all and a man is readie to say so oft and yet in a renewed distresse old unbeliefe revives and the soule dies The Psalmist in the context bids not to trust in poore or rich one is vanity t'other's a lye saith he but trust in the Lord at all times and then renders the reason in the words forecited Power belongs to the Lord. Which is no more then the enforement of my text the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand The word of the Lord is very pure so should our building upon it be 't was very gloriously taught in that significant providence to Abraham The Ram caught behind him Genesis 22.13 * I heard behinde mee a voyce of a great rushin blessed be thâ— glory of the Lord from his place Ezek. 3.12 Gods glorious place is behinde us The pleasure of the Lord doth prosper at his pleasure and as his pleasure sometimes before us that is in wayes which we can reach and serve Gods providence in sometimes again behind us that is in such wayes as wee cannot reach to lend him the least concurrence in to teach that our expectation should be purely plac'd upon his word and that wee should say to our soules in all straights The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Abraham had no hands behind him neither doe men ordinarily goe that way to catch things yet there was the Ramme caught Hitherto I have exhorted to contentation Imitation now I shall exhort you to imitation and so close up the point and the day Be followers of Christ as deare children what shall prosper in his hand let that prosper in yours according as you are able to give prosperity to things and in the pursuit of this particular give me leave Honourable Worthies to apply my selfe more particularly to you Be valiant for the truth upon the earth be so in heart be so in tongue and hand give not the Prophets and people of the Lord cause to mourne over you as Jeremy did over the generation of his time They bend their tongue like their bow for lies but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth Jeremie 9.2 3. 'T is a gallant thing to lay hearts and hands upon all that which Christ doth and say let this prosper though I dye if it will not grow without warring with my bloud yet I cannot hand off nor heart off the will of the Lord be done you have many
that bout by God indeed T is observable here how this Heathen speakes to a Christian as t were in his owne dialect to divert him from doing unlike a Christian Forbeare thee from medling with God who is with me that he destroy thee not Here may I ground such a distinction as this A man may have God with him which hath not God in him as a man may have God in him which oft-times and in many things hath not God with him There be many poore creatures in the Land whose lives possibly nor discretion can by no meanes be pleaded for as being very unworthy of their calling as Christians and yet possibly these may have God with them though not God in them that is they may as that Heathen have the advantage of some parcell of truth against those that come forth to warre against them and so stand capable of divine assistance under that notion from him who is ready to owne every beame of his and to looke upon 't and love it though the Orbe in which it shines be not not move not so sutably as wee would and so it may be dangerous and deadly to set voluntarily upon them and persons and States of great account may split themselves upon persons and States of none and then our shipwracke will be much at one for miserie whether it be upon this rocke or that whether we split our selves upon them that have God in them or them that have God onely with them and not in them Secondly consider honourable Worthies you cannot vote nor act so singly in sin nor at so low and so cheape a rate as the people may they cannot by their vote involve you in guilt let them vote what they will but you may involve them and your selves The vote of the people may make more noise upon earth then yours but yours will make more noise in Heaven then theirs The axe in your hand is an axe to the roote if you cut and wound 't is not one but all you beare or strangle a Nation in a day The poore Heathen Prince had this light and load in his conscience Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him What hast thou done to us that thou hast brought on me and on my Kingdom a great sin and yet Abimalech only the actor his place spread and spattered his sin over all the Kingdom and so will yours You should thinke how strong your breath is and how many you kill or save everie time you goe to speake The speech of Samuell to the people is seasonable here to be considered Come let us Goe to Gilgall and renew the Kingdom there 1. Sam. 11.14 this was spoken upon the unction of Saul The whole Kingdom was at Gilgall because such men were there and about such State businesse So I may say to you honourable Worthies the whole Kingdom is at Westminster because such men as you are there together and upon such State imployments and therefore I beseech you be noble in spirit In terraque patris cur telum perpetiuntur and say like those Come let us goe to Gilgall and renew the Kingdom there call upon one another and stirre up life in one another Come let us goe downe to Westminster and renew the Kingdom there let us goe and be valiant for God his people and this poore dying Land * That the Kingdome may not be base and unable as the Prophet speaks in another case to lift up it selfe Ezek. 17.14 The word for renew is Chadash and doth not note a naked alteration of a thing but such an alteration as hath in it a restauration to renew as the Eagle doth her bill and there is the word used Psal 103.5 and that it notes a restauration read Isa 61.4 where it is so rendered You cannot I know as times and things now stand with us I will accomplish my wrath upon the walls and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter and will say unto you the wall is no more neither they that daubed it Ezek. 13.15 want temptations of all sorts to the contrary Some may flatter but of such I will say unto you as the Prophet When thou art spoiled what wilt thou doe thy lovers will despise thee they will seeke thy life Jer. 4.30 When the Kingdom is destroyed by harkening to flatterers and selfe-seekers what will ye doe If you shall to please fawning men or froward men displease God and betray all into the hands of his wrath what will these unworthy persons advantage you when the guilt of the bloud of thousands lies upon your consciences will you send then for those Clergie men or States men which mislead you why you may and miesrable comforters will they be the Holy Ghost hath told you here what such wil then bee unto you upon such a disadvantage of time they will despise you spit in your face I they will be the first that will seeke your lives Wherefore honourable Worthies be followers of Christ as deare children and of no body else but as they are followers of him and let the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your hands be valiant and faithfull for that for all that and then let smile or frowne who will and I am perswaded you will save your selves and a sinking Kingdom I say for all that because truly when I read that place 1 Sam. 28.18 I tremble it 's God speaking by the Devil to Saul Because thou obey-cast not the voyce of the Lord nor executed'st his fierce wrath upon Amalck therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day He did in part but not in full execute the will of God he spared the fatte and this made him leane a man without a Kingdom a man without the Spirit of God and such a one is a leane creature indeed all the will of the Lord did not prosper in his hand and therefore neither he nor his Kingdom ever prospered afterward Take heed of this and the rather because flatterers fleshly spirits are for abatments even upon truth it selfe if you run to the end of the line say they you will run your selves out of breath and destroy all What if it be the golden line that wee run by such persons and Counsels I doubt indeed out-run conscience and too fast for such an honourable body as you to follow our ruins come not by being faithfull but by being base I speake not of fidelity here in opposition to wisdom nor any other grace for all the vertues of Christ are consistent and like Ladies goe hand in hand unto their Lord and husband Jesus Christ All our ruins at this day are for ought I know the fruits of such counsels and practises as before mentioned Nothing makes the way of a mans spirit so wide and sweet within him as fidelity to God and to his Conscience 't is so in bigger bodies nothing makes the way of a Kingdome more quiet and prosperous within itselfe