dark hours of Temptation that have passed through Fiery Tryals and have endured great Fights of Affliction have taken joyfully the Spoiling of their Goods that have rejoyced they were accounted worthy to suffer for my Namessake that have not loved their Lives to the Death How will such a Confession of their Names by Christ put Eternal Honour on the Saints O! look beyond this gloomy Valley of the Shadow of Death to an Inheritance in Light Col. 1.12 Look beyond this short Night of Sorrows and Sufferings to the bright and glorious Morning of the Resurrection Ps 49.14 Though Saints now bow down and are laid as the Mire of the Streets Is 51. last Yet the upright shall have Dominion in the Morning they shall tread down the Wicked they shall be as Ashes under the soles of their Feet Ps 45.14 Mal. 2.3 Abigal went forth to David in his Afflicted State 1 Sam. 25.4 14 40 42. Married and followed him in a Wilderness and afterwards did partake of his Honour and Prosperity We read that after Sauls Death he led her out of this Wilderness-state into the Royal City of Hebron 2 Sam. 2.2 Even so if you now go out to Christ while his People are in a Wilderness Afflicted and Persecuted in the world Jesus Christ will make you partakers of his Honour Felicity and Glory The time will come when this Spiritual King David will lead his Afflicted Spouse to his Royal City above will place her at his Right Hand and delight in her as his Hephzibah for ever 8. Direct We must be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5.18 As there is such a strong and swift Current that always runs in at the Straits Mouth into the Mediterranean Sea that a Ship cannot come out at the Straits Mouth if it hath not a good stiff Gale of Wind So truly there is such a strong Torrent of Self-love and Carnal Affections that runs into the Camp of this World that a Soul can never come out to Jesus through the Streights of Afflictions and Sufferings and cross this violent Stream of sinful self-love and worldly lusts if the Sails of our Souls be not mightily filled with the Gales of the Spirit The Hebrews after they were enlightned endured a great fight of Afflictions Heb. 10.32 And who is it that doth enlighten but the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17.18 Our sight is cleared and recovered by the Spirits Eye-Salve Rev. 3.18 so that we can see more and further than the rest of the World Hence Saints are called Children of Light Luke 16.8 because they look into and take hold of another world As Stephens Eye was extraordinarily fortified and improved that he could see up into Heaven and behold Jesus at the Right Hand of God Acts 7.55 56. So the Spirit doth so renew and enlighten the Eyes of Saints Minds that they can see Invisible Heavenly and Eternal things And it is this sight that establishes the Heart against the threatnings and terrors of the World That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit John 3.6 that is Such are Spiritual Creatures and are also called Heavenly 1 Cor. 15.48 If you are Spirit you will not lust after and be captivated by Carnal things If you are heavenly Creatures you will not stoop and bow down to this Earth for your Happiness It is by the Spirit that we must mortifie the Deeds of the Body and Members upon Earth Rom. 8.13 Col. 3.5 These lusts that are fixed on fed and filled by Objects on Earth are tempting and drawing down Souls to a Center and Portion here below and it is by the Power of the Spirit only that we can repress and subdue them The Apostle bids Timothy to partake of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God 2. Tim. 1.8 If we are to bear them our selves and were left to the frailty of Nature how soon should we be foiled and overcome But Saints by the Spirit and its power are enabled to deny themselves to conquer the Flesh and tread the world under their Feet Christ hath promised not to leave his People comfortless John 14.16 18. but that he would send them the Comforter What the Spirit shews John 16.13.8 Rom. 16.17 Eph. 1.13 testifies seals to the Souls of Believers is sufficient to buoy up the Hearts of Christians against all Temporal Evils If the Spirit could make supply instead of Christs Bodily Presence with his people if it could chear them in the absence and withdrawing of Christs Humane Nature can it not much more comfort us in the absence or loss of outward Enjoyments As a Tree that hath a River at its Root can retain its Verdure and Flourishing Sate though there be a great Drought and no Showers come upon it Jer. 17.8 Ps 5.2 So if we have the Comforter within if we are watered by the Rivers of its Consolations may we not be satisfied from our selves Prov. 14.14 though we have no Showers of worldly comforts or enjoyments If men would stir and labour and thereby excite their Natural Heat they would not absolutely need Fire in the coldest Weather to warm them So if Christians did more stir up Faith and walk in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Acts 9.31 they would little need or regard the worlds consolations If you be led by the Spirit of Christ it will in some measure work in you as in him it will raise in you such apprehensions and kindle in you such Affections as were found in Jesus He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 That is He is of the same Spirit of the same Temper of the same Disposition and Inclinations with Jesus Christ As if the same Soul did animate many Bodies these several Persons would be of the same Will and have the same Affections So the Spirit of Christ dwelling in his People the same will be in them as was found in Jesus Rom. 8.9 Phil. 2.5 O! how freely did Jesus Christ yield himself to sufferings and death Ps 40.7 8. Lo I come I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my Heart And what was the Will of God that Jesus Christ did delight to do We are told what this Will was in Heb. 10.10 viz. that Jesus Christ should offer his Body once for all How difficult and hard was this Service yet such a Law of Love to the Father and perishing sinners was written in the Heart of Christ that he was straitned till this Bloody Baptism was fulfilled Luke 12.50 Though his Cup of Sufferings was so deep so large tempered with so many bitter Ingredients yet he resigned himself and said Father if this Cup may not pass except I drink of it thy Will be done Matt. 26.42 When Peter tempted him to favour spare and indulge himself he sharply rebuked him and said Get thou behind me Satan thou art an offence to me Matt. 16.22 23. How did Christ deny himself and subject his Will to the Will of God And when Christ was raised from the Dead how did he despise and disdain to be tempted to stay here below by the best things of this World Would the Riches Honours Pleasures of this world then have allured the Eye captivated or chained the Heart of Christ here below Could such things stay or stop detain or six him here below Was he not exceedingly raised in his Mind and Affections above the best things of this world This was his Request and Prayer to the Father Now glorifie me with thy own self with the glory that I had with thee before the Foundations of the World John 17.5 His Mind did soar upwards his Heart did aspire to a heavenly Kingdom and Glory Now if this Spirit of the Lord Jesus do dwell in our Hearts will it not fix our hearts and fortifie our resolutions to go through Fire and Water Floods and Storms for the Honour of God and for the Glory of Christ Shall we be of timerous base dastardly Spirits if the blessed Spirit of Jesus do dwell in us And shall we not slight also and contemn turn our Eyes from and our Backs upon all the Beauty and Excellency of this world if the Spirit hath given us a sight of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Shall we not cry out to God as the Psalmist Ps 73.25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee How will such a Soul rate away and rebuke tempting Objects and say Get you gone I have fatness and sweetness I have fulness and satisfaction in my Lord Jesus my Eyes are closed against your Beauty my Ears are stopt against your Charms Christ I have chosen and I see no cause to repent of my choice to him therefore will I cleave and stick for ever And that you may obtain this blessed Spirit and all Spiritual good things as flowing from him Bow your Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And if Parents that are evil do yet know how to give good gifts to their Children much more shall our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11.13 FINIS
be defiled by touching Sacrifices on whom the sins of Men were laid and so Christ was Condemned and cast out of the Gates of Jerusalem as if he were a very unclean loathsome and abominable Person having yet no sin of his own but being burthened with the sins of his People O! what reproach was this for Jesus to be separated and thrust out from among the Citizens of Jerusalem and then as a Sacrifice to be burned in the Fire of the Vengeance and Wrath of God without the Camp as those Sacrifices for sin were burnt in Material Fire without the Gate on the Day of Atonement And this is further to be observed that the Blood of these Beasts so charged with sin was yet brought into the most Holy Place in the Temple to sprinkle the Mercy Seat and to make Atonement by it in a Type even so though Christ died as an Infamous Person in the Eye of the World and as one charged with the sins of his People in the account of God yet his Blood as most precious is brought into the true Heavenly Sanctuary cries in the Ears of God and is pleaded before his Glorious Throne for the blotting out our sins and the making our Peace with God Thus our Transgressions which are our true and real shame and Reproaches are covered and wiped away before the Lord O! did Jesus Christ die to take away those sins that would have been our Eternal Infamy and Reproach and shall not we willingly go forth to Jesus without the Camp bearing the just and undeserved Reproaches from the World 4. Reas The World still banishes Christ thrusts and keeps him out from among them This is their Language against God and his Son Christ Come let us break their Bonds in sunder and cast their Cords from us Psalm 2.1 2 3. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us Is 30.11 We will not have this Man to Reign over us Luke 19.14 his word hath no place in them John 5.38.42 and the love of God and Christ dwells not in their Souls and may I not here apply the words of the Prophet Jeremiah They have saith he rejected the Law of the Lord and what Wisdom is in them Jer. 8.9 so I may say the World rejects the Lord of this Law and what Wisdom or Excellency is there in them O! shall we value the Favour Esteem the Friendship or Communion of such a World as rejects Jesus Christ Fox Martyr It is related of Bishop Ridley that it repented him that he had Eaten and Drank that he had accepted any Meat or Entertainment in the House of a Princess that refused to hear the Gospel Preached when it was by him offered to her and shall we Magnifie the kindness of a World that is unkind to Jesus Christ will not yield to his Authority entertain his Kingdom submit to his Laws or accept of his Salvation O! should we not call that Place and those Persons Ichabod 1 Sam. 4. two last Verses that thrust away Christ will not suffer him to dwell and reign among them Where is Glory if Christ be excluded and kept out what is Trade Honour Riches if Christ be absent O! how desolate how solitary how uncomfortable should that place and people be to us here we may not protess Christ may not Worship him and enjoy Communion with him in his Ordinances 2 Chron. 11.14.16 as the Levites and Israelites came away to Jerusalem If the World rage against us would separate us from Christ and obstruct our Converse with him how freely and readily should we go out from such a World When the Israelites by their Idolatry had highly provoked God and done much to drive him away and to berave themselves of his Gracious Presence among them Moses took the Tabernacle and Pitched it without the Camp far off from the Camp and those that sought the Lord went out of the Camp unto the Tabernacle to Worship God Exo. 33.7 So truly the World sets up so many Idols of jealousie in their Hearts and so put the stumbling Block of their Iniquity before their Faces that Christ cannot delight in them or dwell among them his Tabernacle is as I may so speak Pitched without this Camp and shall we not go forth to the Tabernacle of Christ and enjoy Communion with him though by this we lose a place in the Worlds Camp O! will you not follow Christ and resort to him will you prize their Favour or court their Friendship that slight and reject Jesus Christ As Amos 7.10 the Idolatrous Priest accuseth Amos the Prophet of the Lord to the King of Israel and saith the Land was not able to bear his words And Ezek. 3.7 the House of Israel will not harken unto thee for saith God they will not harken to me Jer. 12.8 Mine Heritage is unto me as a Lion in the Forrest it crieth out against me therefore he hated and forsook it And shall we linger and stay in such a Camp where God and Christ are not listened too where the Word will not cannot be born where Sinners indeed cry out against God when they pretend only to declaim against and revile Men O Righteous Father saith Christ the World doth not know thee John 17.25 As for Christ he was in the World and the World was made by him and yet it knew him not John 1.10 and the Spirit of Truth the World cannot receive because it knoweth him not John 14.17 And should we be much concerned or dejected if such a World doth not know us 1 John 3.1 but reproaches and casts us out 5. Reas We cannot be Faithful to Christ or enjoy Communion with him for ever if we do not go out to him without the Camp if we do not venture and Sacrifice all for Christ if we be ashamed of him before Men he will be ashamed of us before his Father and his Holy Angels if we deny him Mat. 10.32 33. he will deny us but if we confess him he will confess us before his Father in the Great Day of Judgment We cannot serve two Masters Mat. 6.24 especially when those are contrary to each other and each of them demands our whole Heart and Service we cannot please God Christ and the World too Know you not that the Friendship of this World is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God Jam. 4.4 You cannot keep in with the World but you must break with God you cannot gratifie and oblige the World to you except you will fashion your selves according to its Pattern and Example you must drink in its Corruptions stain your selves with its Filth and run with them to the same excess of Riot else they will exclaim against you and speak Evil of you 1. Pet. 4.4 If you have not ductile Consciences flexible and compliant Spirits and Tempers if you cannot change say and unsay the World will not care for you it will be
is the true savour of Christianity and without this a Nominal Christian is as Salt that hath lost its savour and is good for nothing Luke 14.34 35. He that taketh not up his Cross and followeth Christ is not worthy of him Matt. 10.38 If ever you will approve your selves true Christians you must be ready to leave the Camp and go out to Jesus 3. Mot. Consider what will earthly Comforts avail or advantage thee without Christ If thou forsake him and cleave to them they will prove a Curse unto thee O! how hurtful and pernicious is that to our Souls that entices and draws us from the Son of God 1 Tim. 6.9 and as a Weight doth plunge us and sink us down into perdition and destruction The lusts of men after these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do immerse and drown Souls in Destruction These earthly things are as a Weight that do press down a Racer and hinder him from running his Course Heb. 12.1 It is the cares about or the inordinate enjoyment of these things that overcharge the hearts of men Luke 21.34 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest your hearts be as a Ship too hard or deep Loaden that therefore is in danger to founder and sink down in the Sea and cannot well make way in its Course Are not those things mischievous to us that hinder us in our Race and that obstruct us in our Voyage towards the Haven of a Blessed Eternity It is said the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them Prov. 1.32 They are Simple that turn away from Christ to any Creature and though they seem to flourish for a time in the World yet their Plenty feeds and fuels their lusts and so helps forward their ruine and destruction Thus their Table proves a Snare to them Ps 69.22 and by all their Prosperity they are but Fatted for the Slaughter and more fitted for Destruction Can the enjoyment of any of these things countervail the loss of Jesus Christ or be a sutable Portion to us in the room of Jesus Christ How easily can God imbitter all these things to us and make us sick and weary of them Judas could take no pleasure in the Pieces of Silver for which he sold Christ Mat. 27.34 Francis Spira could not endure to look on his Children for the love of which he had denied the Truth of Christ vid. Hist of Spira he could not abide to eat any thing so weary was he of life all he took was forced as it were upon him A wounded Spirit who can bear The Favour of Princes will not bind up broken Hearts or set broken Bones or heal wounded Spirits An Apostate may suffer more in one Nights Horrours for denying Jesus Christ than a sincere Christian endures in many days Torments for owning and confessing him Account therefore nothing can be either safe or sweet to you which is the Hire of an Harlot or the Wages of Iniquity I mean that you enjoy as the reward of your Treachery to Christ 4. Mot. If you go forth without the Camp if you are cast out as Spiritual Lepers in the Worlds Eye or are led out as Malefactors to Execution you are but treated as your Head Lord and Master was and are you better than he Marvel not saith Christ If the World hate you for it hated me before it hated you John 15.18 It called the Master of the House Belzebub and will it begin to Honour or cease from reviling his Servants Matt. 10.24 25. You are not above Christ or are to expect better usage than he had The world was a Wilderness to him and shall it be a Paradise to us He received here his Evil things and shall we expect our Good things on this Earth Is it fit that Members should lead a pleasant and delicious life under a Head Crowned with Thorns Did the World cast out Christ and will it take us in if it excercised so little Hospitality towards the Son of God will it open its Doors to us 5. Mot. If by going forth to Jesus you expose your selves to Temporal Evils yet he will be a shelter to you from greater and worser Evils Is 32.2 a covert from the Wind a refuge and hiding-place from the Tempest of the Wrath of God Though you may be the worlds Butts to be shot at yet you shall not be Gods Mark Christ will be your Shield to guard you from the Eternal Arrows of Divine Vengeance He is a Rain-bow round about the Throne that Storms shall not fall from Heaven to overwhelm you Rev. 4.3 He is a Priest on his Throne a Mediator at the Right Hand of God to maintain your Peace with Heaven and to deliver you from the Wrath that is to come You shall not be Food to the Worm that never dies nor fuel to the Flames that shall never go out The Blood of this Paschal Lamb is sprinkled on Believers to keep destroying Justice out Though the world draw upon you yet the Sword of God is for ever sheathed towards you Though men cast you out Christ will seek you out and take you in God your great Creditor will not arrest and imprison you and Conscience shall not accuse and condemn you for you are sprinkled from an Evil Conscience by the Blood of Christ though winds do blow high without yet there shall not be a Storm and dreadful Earthquake or rather Heart-quake within in It is worse to be cast as unsavoury Salt out of the House of God Luke 14. last than for our constancy and faithfulness to Christ to be thrust out of the Camp of men and this greater Evil Christ frees from For the Sons of God shall abide in his House for ever John 8.35 6. Mot. When you are called to go forth of the Camp to Jesus what are you required to leave but what you are already dead to if you are true Christians Col. 3.3 For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God In Christ Believers are already dead to the Natural life that flows from the first Adam This life Christ hath laid down extinguished and abolished for ever in himself He is risen again to a more Excellent Higher and Nobler Life and this Believers should repute reckon and esteem as their Life The Apostle intimates that we ought not to regard the Natural life as our life but to account that is our life which is hid with Christ in God and that we are risen with Christ Col. 3.1 and so have the beginnings and first Fruits of this new and glorious life Now what are all the Riches Honours and Pleasures of the World to a dying or to a dead Man Why should we be so sollicitous or anxiously careful about a life or the concerns of that life that is abolished by Christ and that we are dead to in Jesus our Head All the Delights and Comforts of this world are but the Appendixes or Appurtenances of this life that is abolished by Christ and Saints are
a Crown is laid up 2 Tim. 4.8 an Inheritance is reserved 1 Pet. 1.4 a Rest remains for them Heb. 4.9 While their Bodies feed on God's Creatures their Souls may delight in and feast on their Fathers Love accounting that he gives bread to them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant Psal 111.5 that he spreads their Table fills their Cup Psal 23.5 annoints their heads and hearts with Oyl of Joy as Ointment was poured on great and noble Guests when they were entertained at a Feast Cant. 1.12 Mat. 26.7 They take all as coming immediately from God Gen. 48.15 The God that fed me all my life long He looks beyond Joseph Egypt and all Creatures he ascends to God as the Priests had the Lord for their Portion he provided and gave maintenance to them the Altar was as it were their Field from whence they had Bread and Flesh Mal. 1.22 therefore what was brought to and laid on it is called the Fruits of it as if it grew there for the Priests that had their Portion of the Sacrifices and are therefore said to live upon holy things and partake with the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 Even so God is the Portion of his People even in Temporal as well as Spiritual respects Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Their very outward Enjoyments are as Shew-bread or Face-bread as it is in the Original Exod. 25.30 They receive them as those Loaves of Shew-bread from the Face of God they see his Face and Love in them and therefore may call them Peniel Gen. 32.30 They take their daily Provision as a Dish sent from their Father's Table as Joseph is said to send Messes from before him to his Brethren Gen. 43. last Their Food is seasoned with the sense of their Father's Love and with the hope of his Kingdom and Glory and so their Sawee is better than their Meat Besides after this Hundred-fold in the present time they are to inherit Everlasting Life Christ saith He that loseth his life shall find it but he that finds it shall lose it Mat. 10.39 David said Died Abner as a fool 2 Sam. 3.33 So I may say Do Saints die as Fools Do they lavish out their Blood and rashly squander away their Lives Surely no they well understand themselves and know what they do if they lose their Lives for Christ they shall find a better Life for their very Bodies They lay down the vile common Plebeian Life of the first Adam but they shall at the Resurrection receive and take up the Honourable Royal and Glorious Life of the second Adam Phil. 3.21 He shall fashion our vile Bodies like his glorious Body If we be faithful to the death we shall receive from Christ the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Mark that Expression The Crown of Life This very Life is a Crown it is a Royal Life Rom. 5.17 it is said That they that receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life So that Saints lose a base and common Life and are recompensed with a Kingly Life All Vails shall be taken off all Clouds shall be scattered all Reproaches shall be wiped away from the Saints the righteous shall shine out in the kingdom of their father Matth. 13.43 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sun that disperses all Clouds But those that resolve to save their lives shall lose them This is certain that by a fond and sinful sparing of their Lives here they shall cut themselves off from all the Glory and Blessedness that Saints shall enjoy in their Souls and Bodies Hereafter they shall only Be to be Miserable and be continued to endure the Blows of an Almighty Arm to drink the Wine of the Wrath of an Eternal God and this is but a Husk and Carcase of Being Isa 66. last to be preserved to be Fuel of Everlasting Flames This State of the Wicked therefore is not called Life but the second Death yea sometimes in this Life Apostates meet with remarkable and infamous punishment and quickly lose that Life that sinfully they preserved He in Queen Maries days that said See Foxes Acts Monuments he could not burn for the Gospel of which in King Edward's Days he had been a forward Professor was himself and all his House and Family burnt in the Night by a Fire that rose suddenly And the Priest that denied the Truth in France to save his Life and was discharged out of Prison as he was going home met with two Men that had a quarrel with him for merly who fell upon him and killed him See Clarke 's History of the French Martyrs Secondly I shall now lay down some Directions how you may attain such a frame of Spirit as will incline you readily and freely to go forth without the Camp to Jesus Direction 1. Endeavour to get a clear sight of the Shortness of Life and the Vanity of all the Things of this World Surely every man walks in a vain shew Psal 39.6 What is this vain shew I answer It is the Natural Life and the earnest and restless Endeavours of Men about it and for it This Life is but a vain shew of Life as a Shadow that hath the shape of Man's Body but yet is but a vain shew of a Body or a Picture that hath the resemblance of a Man of his Head Face Body Hands and Feet but come to handle it there is nothing but Canvas and Colours there is only a vain shew of a Man and of his Members but no Flesh Bones or Life So this present Life is but a Shadow a vain shew of that true and real Life that flows from Jesus Christ and is to be enjoyed for ever with him And all the Labours and Toil of Men to provide for and maintain this Life is but a vain shew of Business Men seem to do something but indeed do nothing to purpose as long as they neglect theit Souls It is a busie Idleness a laborious doing of nothing just like Children that make Pies build Houses dress Babies and talk over every piece of their Work as if it were some very serious weighty thing and all is but a piece of childish Folly and Vanity When God awakes to judge the World how will he himself despise and render most ridiculous and contemptible to others this Image of worldly men Psal 73.20 How will he deride their Folly that forget their Souls cast God and his Word behind their backs banish the Thoughts of Eternity out of their Minds and satisfie themselves with such a vile Life and such a vain Image of Happiness And the Psalmist in this 39 Psalm ver 6. saith That a worldly Man heaps up Riches and knows not who shall gather them He seems to allude to the Custom of some Countries where the Corn is heaped up and set Artificially in the Field so as to preserve it from Weather till all