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A29372 Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London by Willam Bridge, late preacher of the word of God at Yarmouth. Bridge, William, 1600?-1670. 1668 (1668) Wing B4463; ESTC R28532 153,225 263

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for the Apostle saith That we are not to suffer as evil doers But I pray tell me When did any of the people of God suffer for the Cause of God but there were such glosses as these saith Haman These are a rebellious people and it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them And so when Christ himself suffered He is not a friend to Caesar but an enemy Well then came the Apostles and when the Apostles came what a guise was put upon their sufferings These are seditious and th●se that turn the world upside-down are come hither And do not you finde in Scripture and experience that it is no new thing for men to persecute Religion upon the account of Religion Saith Christ For which of my good works go ye about to kill me No no thou art mistaken we go not about to kill thee for thy good works but because thou breakest the Sabbath c. So that 't is no new thing to persecute Religion even upon the account of Religion But then you will say If it be so how shall I be able to know that I do truely suffer for the Name of Christ How shall I be able in the midst of all these blinds and disguises How shall I see through them all that I may be able to say Nay but in truth I do suffer for the Name of Christ Why you have heard it in the general already onely a little more particularly to open it If you do suffer for the Work of the Spirit of God upon your heart the Work that the Holy Ghost hath wrought upon your heart If you do suffer for the Truth which is properly the Truth of the Gospel whatsoever disguises men put upon your sufferings plainly you suffer for Name of Jesus Christ Again if you suffer for the Cause of Christ for the Ways of Christ for the Ordinances of Christ for the Children of Christ for the Liberty which Christ hath purchased for you then you do suffer for the Name of Jesus Christ But thirdly if you do suffer for the worship of Christ as it is distinguisht from Jewish worship from Antichristian worship from Worldly worship then you suffer for the Name of Christ for the Worship of Christ is the Name of Christ And all Nations go forth in the Name of their God Now if you do suffer for the worship of Christ as it is distinguished from the Jewish worship from Antichristian worship from Worldly worship then you do plainly suffer for the Name of Christ The worship of the Jews and the way of the Jews was National but the worship of Christ and the Gospel is Congregational The worship of Christ is distinguisht from Antichristian worship For that 's humane and by humane inventions but the worship of Jesus Christ is Divine and from Heaven The worship of Christ is distinguisht from the worship of the world for that 's Pompous that 's Ceremonious a carnal worship like unto the world it self but the worship Jesus Christ is plain and simple Such worshippers doth the Father seek as worship him in spirit and in truth Now if you do suffer for the worship of Christ as it is distinguisht from the worship of the Jews Antichrist and of the World then you do certainly suffer for the Name of Christ Fourthly if you do suffer for the not-doing of that which Jesus Christ hath justified his own Disciples for the not doing of then do you suffer for the Gospel and so for the Name of Jesus Christ Now look into the 15 of Matth. and you shall see what Christ did justifie his Disciples in And the Scribes and the Pharisees came to Christ and they say unto him Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders What 's that for they wash not their hands when they eat bread VVhy that 's an indifferent thing surely the Disciples would not stand off for an indifferent thing Yes that they did I and Christ justified them in it But this was hatcht with the tradition of the Elders of the Church and surely they would not stand off now Yes that they did and Christ justifies them in it for Christ said Why do you also transgress the commandments of God by your traditions So that if you do suffer for not doing that which Jesus Christ hath justified his Disciples for the not doing of then you suffer for the Gospel and for the Name of Christ Fifthly If two things be laid before you and there is sin on the one hand and on the other hand there is suffering for Christ Sin on the one hand and suffering on the other If now you chuse rather to take up the suffering the● to commit the sin you do plainly suffer for the Name of Jesus Christ And therefore look whatsoever the reward is that great reward is which they shall have that suffer for the Name of Christ all that reward is yours Be of good comfort all that reward is yours O and if ever you be call'd to suffer for the Name of Christ go away rejoycing that you are accounted worthy to suffer shame or any thing for the Name of Jesus Christ O what great encouragement is here from this great Rewarder Who would not be willing now to suffer for the Name of Jesus Christ But you will say to me What shall we do that we may be willing to suffer for the Name of Christ for I confess I am very backward and unwilling to suffer for the Name of Christ Do you say so But it may be you are not convinced that it is for the Name of Christ But are you sensible of your unwillingness Why I use to say this He is not far from a grace that is sensible of a contrary evil And 't is a true speech He is not far from humility that is sensible of pride he is not far from faith that is sensible of unbelief So he is not far from being willing to suffer for the Name of Christ that is sensible of his own unwillingness But now suppose that for the present you be very unwilling to suffer for the Name of Christ You may know this That willingness to suffer for the Name of Christ is part of our suffering Grace and suffering Grace is given upon suffering ground Vnto you it is given not only to believe but to suffer The opportunity to suffer is the gift of God The will and heart to suffer is the gift of God And the strength to suffer is the gift of God These are three gifts in one gift But when is this suffering grace given It 's given upon suffering ground In that hour there shall be wisdom given you well to be willing to suffer for the Name of Christ is part of our suffering grace and therefore when you come upon the suffering ground then you shall have the suffering grace I but you will say Indeed I find my heart extreamly backward to suffer for the Name of Christ What shall I do
do stand in the court of the house of the Lord. Again would you know how you may grow in grace Beloved let your eye be stedfast upon the greater and higher matters and objects of the Gospel The Apostle for this end doth lay the great things of the Gospel before the people and prays for them that they may be filled with all the fulness of God But I pray see what an expression he hath in 2 Cor. 9. 8. And God saith he is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye always having all sufficiency in all things All-sufficiency is a great attribute of God they have it in a kinde That ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work Mark what great things he lays here before them And if you look into chap. 6. of the Epistle to the Hebrews vers 6. you sh●ll finde that the Apostle gives this plain direction that now I am upon for our growing in grace and perfecting holiness in the fear of God Therefore saith he leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works c. Good people mark Let us go on to perfection how not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works Some there are that are always laying the foundation and all their life they are questioning whether their work were right at the first or no Oh I am afraid I was never truly humbled at the first their whole life is nothing but a laying of the foundation-work why saith the Apostle Let us go on to perfection c. Be not always in this work of laying the foundation if you would go on to perfection And as for my self saith he I go this way to work as you may read in chap. 3. of this Epistle to the Philippians Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing forgetting those things which are behinde and reaching forth to those things which are before I press towa●ds the mark Mark it 's a similitude taken from those that run in a Race saith he I do as those that run in a Race they stretch out their bodies towards the Price so do I and saith he as it is with those that run in a Race they do not go backward for to measure the ground that they have gone over but they forget what is past and press on to that which is before so now do I I forget that which is past not onely so as not to rest upon it but I forget what is past I am not always laying the foundation of the doctrine of repentance from dead works but I press on to that which is before And so would you be perfect and would you grow let your eyes be upon those things that are before Again if you would grow in grace cut off all those superfluities that grow out of your heart and give up your selves wholly to the Word of the Lord in this world If you would have a tree grow you slip off the lesser sprigs that grow out of the sides they will hinder the growth you will say so saith the Apostle Wherefore laying aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness receive with weekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls James 1. 21. But again if you would grow in grace and abound yet more and more observe what gifts or graces God hath given you and labour to improve them Beloved God doth give some gift or special grace to every Christian and that gift or grace is as a Spade or Shovel to dig out more out of the Mines of Christ Every bird hath its bill and by the bill it doth take in its meat whereby it grows and every Christian hath one gift or another whereby he doth excel and with that gift or grace you should now go unto Jesus Christ who is the great Ordinance and fetch out more Observe I say what that gift and grace is and labour to improve it more and more I will say no more in this but if you would grow in grace studie much of the love of Jesus Christ and you shall finde that these two are put together by the Apostle in Ephes 3. For this cause saith he I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord J●sus Christ c. that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and hight and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Mark how these go together the more you see the love of Christ the more you will love God and the more you love him the more you will obey him and the more abundant you will be in the work of the Lord. Therefore as ye desire to grow study the free love of God in Jesus Christ and hereby you will be able to grow and to abound yet more and more And that you may do it give me leave to speak here a little by way of encouragement hereunto and so I will winde up all Beloved in the Lord when you hear of Gods blessing any in Scripture he saith Increase and multiply So then the more you do increase in grace the more your gifts and graces multiply the more you do carry up and down with you a testimony of the Lords blessing upon you Besides herein you glorifie God the Father Herein is my Father glorified saith Christ in that ye bring forth much fruit 'T is the glory of the husband-man that the tree bring forth much 't is the glory of God the Father that ye bring forth much that ye abound more and more And the more and greater our opportunities are and means of growth the more are we all encouraged for to grow in grace Let me appeal to you a little have not your opportunities and means for growth been great here Communion of Saints it is a great means for to grow in grace Here you have time here many Saints meet together and in poor Country-towns possibly a poor Christian may travel three or four miles before he can meet with one that may refresh his thoughts here you have the opportunities which you have not in other places Communion of Saints standing in the courts of the house of the Lord is a great means for to grow in grace Preaching of the Gospel and the Word of Gods grace is a special and great means of growth it 's call'd the rain of plenty or the plentiful rain It is a true speech It is the year and not the soyl that doth make the fruit if the rain falls seasonably and the sun shines seasonably then you have fruit Now
you do suffer according to Christs example which you may do if you suffer with the same spirit and disposition that Christ did suffer in the strength of Christ set all upon the head score of Christ Fifthly if you would so order and manage all your sufferings as that they may turn to a good account then take heed that there be no contradiction found in the way of your suffering A man may be very stiff and stand out here and yet he may yeeld there Saith the Apostle If I build again what I have destroyed I make my self a transgressor And Blessed is the man that condemns not himself in the thing that he allows 'T is possible I may build that with one hand that I may pull down with another Possibly a man may be very stiff and stand out at such a thing and yet he may yeeld there There may be contradictions found in the way of our suffering And let me tell you this if it be thus your sufferings will come to little Take heed that there be not contradictions therefore found in the way of your sufferings Sixthly if you would manage your sufferings so as they may turn to a good account then let your eye be more upon the Publike good then upon your own private loss more upon Gods designe then your own detriment more upon Gods dishonour then your own grievance or your own pressure 'T is good for a man to be spiritual and savoury in his suffering our Saviour saith Such worshippers the Father seeks c. and truly I say Such sufferers doth the Father seek that suffer in spirit and truth whose spirits are savoury in their sufferings And when is that when that your eye is more upon the publick good then your own private loss more upon Gods designe then your own detriment more upon Gods dishonour then your own grievance and your own pressure Sevently if you would so order and manage all your sufferings as that they may turn to a good account then let your eye be upon that and observe what that is that you have most delighted in and that your heart is most upon in this world and give that up to God the first thing you do for truly nothing is done till that be done 'T is said of Abraham that God tempted Abraham Divines observe that Abraham met with ten temprations but it 's never said before that God tempted him till he spake to him to offer up his son Isaac Why there was his heart and his love and his delight And where doth a mans temptation grow but where his Isaac is he shall be sure to be tried there Here was Abrahams heart here lay his temptation And so it may be my heart is upon my house or upon my land or upon my trade and I cannot part with this I can part with any thing else but when it comes to this I am ready to say The good Lord pardon me in this Many say I will not adventure to suffer any further for the Name of Christ then I can secure my trade or my land or relations but when it comes to this I cannot part with these I must have my trade c. Here 's a but comes in Anamas and Sapphira they parted with a great deal but it came to little because they had a reserve And so if we have our reserves with the Lord our sufferings will come to little So that observe that you give that up first to God that your hearts are most upon for nothing is done in suffering till that be done Eighthly if you would so order and manage your sufferings as they may turn to a good account then let the load and let the weight and the burden of all your sufferings be drawn upon the wheels of faith and love those two wheels of faith towards God and love towards man Saith the Apostle By faith Moses chose rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God How so why by faith he saw him that is invisible and so trampled upon visible things And by faith he had an eye to the recompence of reward and so overlooked these things And by faith he saw greater wealth in the reproach of Christ then in all the treasures of Egypt And so the three children they suffered by faith and it turned to a good account And as for love you know what the Apostle saith If I give my body to be burnt and want love it profiteth me nothing So then as ever you desire your sufferings may turn to a good account let your faith towards God and your love towards man be exercised And let these be the two great wheels that all your sufferings shal be drawn upon Ninthly if you would order your sufferings so as they may turn to a good account then labour to be serviceable in and by your sufferings If ever God call you to a prison labour to be as serviceable in and by your suffering as ever you can Peter was in prison what came on 't was there any converted No. Why so Peter slept I but Paul and Silas they sang in the stocks and they preach in the prison and there 's the Jaylor converted They were serviceable in and by their sufferings and it turned to a good account And therefore if you would desire that your sufferings may turn to a good account labour to be serviceable in by your sufferings as God calls you into Tenthly when you have done all and suffered all then say and think in truth that you are unprofitable servants and let your eye be wholly to the sufferings of Christ offer your own sufferings upon the sufferings of Christ in reference to your acceptance For though you may have an eye to the recompence of reward to encourage you to suffer yet you are wholly to look to the sufferings of Christ in reference to your acceptance And therefore when you have done all think and say you are unprofitable Two men went up to pray and the one he was a Pharisee and the other a Publican The Pharisee he comes and praises God he was not as the Publican I thank God I am not as this Publican I fast and pray and I am not as this Publican Well there comes the Publican and he smites himself upon the brest and says I am a poor sinner Oh! the Lord be merciful unto me a poor sinner So say I Two men go up to suffer and there 's one stands and vaunts and saith I thank the Lord I am not so cowardly and dastardly as these poor-spirited men that dare do nothing my flesh shall fry in the fire But the other stands at a distance and saith Oh I am a poor creature I am afraid to suffer and I am afraid I shall betray the Cause of Christ Now I tell you this poor trembling soul that is last shall be first and he goes away rather justified Eleventhly and lastly if you would so order and manage your
sufferings as they may turn to a good account praise God over your suffering and pray to God under your suffering I put these two together praise and pray This is a certain thing those sufferings shall turn to a good account that Christ blesses How shall I know whether Christ will bless my sufferings Why if I can bless God over my suff●rings God will bless my sufferings to me And then are you call'd at any time to suffer go away rejoycing that you a●e counted worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ Yet notwithstanding not onely bless and praise God over your sufferings but pray unto God under you● suffering● And what should you pray for Pray unto the Lord that he would turn your sufferings unto a good account There is an old promise wrapt up in the Apostles prayer 1 P●t 5 10. The God of all grace who hath called us un●o his eternal glory by Christ J●sus af●er that ye have s●ffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen s●ttle you So then have you suffered a while you may go then to God as to the God of all grace and say Lord through thy providence I have now suffered a whil● thou art the God of all grace make me perfect confirm me stablish strengthen and comfort me and let all these sufferings turn to a good account Thus praise God under your sufferings and pray over your sufferings and so shall you manage and order all your sufferings as that they shall turn to a good account The way to obtain a sure and great Reward SERM. III. Matth. 19. 28. And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting life IN this Scripture we have our Saviours answer unto Peters question propounded at ver 27. Behold Lord saith Peter we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore Our Saviour answers in the following verses and his answer is partly Comfortable and partly Cautional The Cautional part I have spoken to among some of you from vers 30. But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first The Comfortable part I spake unto the last Lords day in another Meeting And being now desired to speak the same things unto you considering that they are of present and universal concernment I shall do it as briefly and plainly as I can The Comfortable part of Christs answer you have in v. 28 29. wherein our Saviour Christ doth shew what great reward those shall have that do suffer or leave any worldly interest for him and for his Name-sake Which reward doth either relate unto the Apostles or unto others It relateth unto the Apostles in vers 28. Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration that is in the preaching of the Gospel Preaching of the Gospel is a regenerating work The preaching of the Law is convincing work the preaching of the Gospel is regenerating work Ye which have followed me in the regeneration in the great work of preaching the Gospel when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel That 's their reward peculiar and proper unto them The reward which is more large extending unto all v. 29. And every one not one of you shall be rewarded that are mine Apostles but EVERY ONE that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or land for my Name-sake shall receive an hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting life From whence then I took up this Observation and you may observe from the whole thus much That whosoever shall leave any worldly interest for Christ and for his Name sake shall be sure to be well rewarded He shall be well rewarded for he shall have an hundred-fold in this life and everlasting life in the world to come And he shall be sure to be well rewarded for he hath put a verily upon it Verily I say unto you and every one that hath forsaken houses c. So then the Doctrine is clear That whosoever shall leave or forsake any worldly interest for Christ and for his Name-sake shall be sure to be well rewarded For the clearing of this first we must enquire what it is to leave any worldly interest for Christ and for his Name-sake Secondly what the reward is that such shall have that do so and wherein it consists And Thirdly what assurance we may have of such a reward And first of all if you do enquire what it is to leave any thing for Christ forsake any worldly interest for Christ I answer that a man may leave and forsake a worldly interest for Christ two ways Either by his own will or the wills of others We do leave and forsake a worldly interest by our own wills when we do voluntarily and freely deprive our selves of our commodity or satisfaction for Christ as the Apostles left their ships and nets to follow Christ We secondly do leave or forsake a worldly interest by the wills of others when through their oppression or persecution we are deprived of our own commodity and satisfaction for Christ and that is called suffering Our Saviour Christ here hath respect to both and in both these respects it's true That whosoever doth leave any worldly interest for Christ and his Name-sake shall be sure to be well rewarded But then still to clear it Quest What is it to leave any worldly interest for the Name of Christ Answ The Name of Christ is that whereby Christ is made known unto us as the name of a man is that whereby a man is made known unto us A man is made known unto us by his name so Christ is made known unto us by his Name That whereby Christ is made known unto us that 's his Name Now Christ is made known unto us by his Spirit and by the Gospel By his Spirit he is made known unto us for as God the Father is made known unto us by Christ his Son so Christ is made known unto us by the Spirit He shall take of mine and shew it unto you such Christ And upon this account therefore when a man doth suffer any thing for the Spirit or for any working of the Holy-ghost upon his heart or soul then he is said to suffer for the Name of Christ And upon this score it was that John the Baptist was accounted a Martyr of Christ and enroll'd among the Martyrs of Christ John the Baptist if you look into the story did not suffer for any Gospel-truth John the
Faithful witness Rev. 3. write These things saith the Amen the true and Faithful witness That is Christ Christ is the true and the faithful witness and therefore those that are his they must be witnesses too that they may be conformed to him Thereby they also overcome as you have it in Rev. 12. And they overcame him by the Bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony They overcome by the Bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony by witness-bearing So then the Saints and people of God they are Christs witnesses In Anti-Christian times they are Christs witnesses and if they be thus described why then should not we look unto this work especially Bearing of witness to the truths and wayes of Christ This is the work that we are born for For this cause saith Christ was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I might bear witness unto the truth This is the work of our Generation witness-bearing to the truths of Christ in opposition to the waies of Anti-Christ in Anti-Christian times This is the work of our Generation This is the work which there is a thousand years of glory and comfort promised unto above other things as you read in Rev. 20. This is the work Witness-bearing to the truths of Christ in opposition to the wayes of Anti-Christ This is the work that hath the Crown and Name of Martyrdom A Martyr what 's that but a Witness Every witness more or less is a Martyr We take the word only for them that dye But every witness is a Martyr This is that work which sometimes is necessary to Salvation Rom. 10. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation This is the work I say therefore that sometimes is necessary unto Salvation And this is that work which Jesus Christ will own and acknowledg before all the world He that confesseth me before men him will I confess before my Father and all the Angels in Heaven And if this be the great work why should we not all of us look to this work especially this witness-bearing You will say what shall I do that I may be found faithful in this witness-bearing what shall I do that I may witness a good confession in these dayes of ours Something by way of Rule Something by way of means and yet not long because I must pass on to other things Rule 1. Something by way of Rule Be sure that your testimonies do agree Though there be 100 Witnesses about a business if their witness don't agree 't will be of little worth And now so it is Christs Witnesses this day are divided into many Opinions and Perswasions but they may agree in the main for Christ they may all agree in opposition unto Anti-Christ If that you wou●●●ave your witness valid and good labour you tha● are the witnesses for unity in your testimony T●●re are three saith the Apostle John that bear witness in Heaven speaking of Gods testifying of the truth of Grace There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost these bear witness of Christ and their witness is good why For these three are One 1 Joh. 5. 7. And saith he at the 8. v. There are three that bear witness on earth the Spirit and the Water and the Bloud The Spirit I come to know that I am the child of God by the testimony of the Spirit bearing witness with my Spirit that I am the child of God And I come to know that I am the child of God by the witness of water by the testimony of Sanctification And I come to know that I am the child of God by the testimony of Bloud by the testimony of my Faith relying upon the Bloud of Christ And these three agree and these three agree in One. The testimony is good because they agree in one So in our testifying of Christ If our testimonies do agree our testimony is good that 's the first thing We have bin too much divided God knows we have and he hath punisht our Divisions with Divisions 't is time to unite our testimony If you would bear witness unite your testimony 2. If you would witness a good confession in these dayes of ours then you must be willing to own the truth of Christ to own it whensoever you are called thereunto 't is said our Saviour Christ he witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate Pray what kind of witness was it was it any long confession or large n● ●ut the manner on 't was this when they call'd him before them to give an account of any fact he left them to prove it When they called him to give an account of the Doctrine that he held Art thou the King of the Jews then he owned it He left them to prove the fact and he owned the truth so should we do And indeed if that we be not willing for to own the truth when we are called thereunto why how can it be that the mark of the Father should be written upon our Foreheads only We read of the followers of the Beast that they received a mark in their right hands and in their Foreheads both why in the Forehead and why in the hand In the Forehead sometimes to wear it openly And in their right hands to put it into their pockets and to hide it They can own it sometimes and sometimes they can hide it but the followers of the Lamb they have the mark of their Father only in their Forehead Therefore I say If we would witness a good Confession we must be willing to own the truth whensoever we are called thereunto 3. If you would witness a good confession in these dayes of ours then you must be willing also for to suffer for the truth of Christ Those that cannot suffer for the truth of Christ and run the hazard of a suffering they cannot bear their witness fully See how they go together in Rev. 13. 10. Here is the patience and Faith of the Saints The Faith of the Saints and their Patience do go together So in chap. 14. ver 12. Here is the Patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Patience and keeping the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus they go together And therefore that 's a third thing 4. If you would witness a good Confession then take heed that when you hav born your testimony you do nothing that may revoke the same either directly or by consequence Some bear a good testimony to the truths of Christ but then they revoke their testimony by somthing that they do afterwards either directly or by consequence Mark what is said of John in Joh. 1. 20. 't is said of him He confessed and denyed not but confessed I am not the Christ He confessed and did not revoke his testimony He
offer a great Sacrifice unto God But this is the thing I bring it for The more Religious end any evil action hath the more holding and continuing is that evil action Now wicked men for their malice they shall have a Religious end they shall think they do God good service their malice therefore and their wrath against the people of God is never dying and an everlasting wrath Thus you see what kind of wrath it is It is a violent anger It is a fraudulent anger It is a Mortal anger It is a blasphemous anger It is an unreasonable anger It is an insulting anger It is an universal anger against all the people of God upon one mans occasion And it is an everlasting and a never dying anger But then secondly How comes it to pass that there should be such a deal of anger and wrath in the hearts of men against the people of God for the people of God are a quiet and a peaceable people 'T is true so they are But who more quiet and peaceable and meek than our Lord and Saviour Christ he lift not up his voice in the streets and yet who ever bare more anger and wrath from men than He. Yea the Saints are not only quiet meek and peaceable but beneficial to the men where they live The innocent delivers the Land Yet notwithstanding saith Solomon in Eccles 9. I have seen a sore evil under the Sun there was a little City and few men within it And there came a great King against it and besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdome delivered the City yet no man remembred that same poor man Then said I Wisdom is better than strength nevertheless the poor mans Wisdom is despised and his words are not heard So though the Saints and people of God do deliver a Nation and are exceeding beneficial to the people where they live and where they are yet they shall be despised yet there shall be wrath and malice in the hearts of men against the Saints of God But you will say how doth this come to pass that there should be such a deal of wrath and malice in the hearts of men against the people of God First of all the Saints and people of God and the men of the world they are directly contrary one unto another they are contrary in their Birth and in their Original For the men of the world they are of their Father the Devil who was a Murderer But the Saints and people of God God is their Father They are not only contrary in their original but they are contrary in their principles For the one are the Seed of the Woman and the other the Seed of the Serpent whose Principles are contrary The Seed of the Bond-woman at the best and the Seed of the Free-Woman Yea they are not only contrary in their Principles but they are contrary in their Worship For the Worship of the World is a pompous and a carnal Worship but the Worship of the Saints is Spiritual Such worshippers doth the Father seek that Worship him in Spirit and truth And as their Worship is contrary one unto another so their deeds and their practices are contrary For why saith the Apostle did Cain kill his Brother Abel but because his deeds were evil and his Brothers good Now one contrary seeks to destroy another Why these are contrary They are contrary one to another contrary in their Original Contrary in their Principles Contrary in their Worship Contrary in their lives and Practices And therefore no wonder that there is such a deal of wrath and anger in the hearts of the men of the World against the Saints and people of God But secondly The Saints and people of God they do not regard the men of the World and the men of the World they think so Now for high and lofty men to be slighted and not regarded this makes them angry In Dan. 3. when the three children would not bow down unto the Image There are certain Jews say they to the King that thou hast set over the Affairs of Babylon Shadrach Meshach and Abednego These men O King have not regarded thee Why they think now that if the people of God don't bow down to their Commandments and to their Idols that they don't regard the Magistrate These men have not regarded thee And the truth is Godly men that are the Saints and people of God they cannot regard them For blessed is the man saith the Holy Ghost that regardeth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lyes God hath given a blessing to those that regard not the proud Now wicked men cannot bear this that they should not be regarded high and great men of the world that they should not be regarded and therefore no wonder that there is such a deal of wrath and anger in their hearts against the people of God 3. The Saints and people of God they do withdraw from the men of the world and do separate from them Come out from among them and be ye separate touch no unclean thing Now when we withdraw from men and from their Worship We do condemn their Worship and the men of the world don't love to be condemned Noah condemned the world And by the separation of the Saints from them they do condemn them and they don't love I say to be condemned To separate from them and from their Worship this they cannot bear The Saints do separate from them and therefore there is such a deal of anger and wrath in their hearts against them 4. As the Saints and people of God do separate and withdraw from them upon which they are much provoked So the Saints and people of God do hinder them in their proceedings A man doth not love to be hindered in his proceedings the Saints and people of God they do hold wicked mens hands that they cannot proceed hold their hands by their Prayers I remember a story of Mr. Tyndal that blessed first Translater of the Bible into English that dyed a Martyr in Flanders being then at Antwerp and much respected by the Merchants there There was a great report of a certain juggler that could bring a dish of meat from any Princes Table and so set the Table that they were at with several Dishes from several Princes Tables Pray saith Tyndal to the Merchants will you let me be at your Supper Yes and so they carried him And when he was there the Juggler tryed his skill and sweat and took a great deal of pains but saith he I cannot do it there is some man here that doth hold my hands And Tyndal only set himself to this to believe that he should not do it I speak it only to this that the people of God they hold their hands And in this 76. Psalm The men of might they find ●●t their hands There brake he the Arrows of the Bow