is so weak it appears at a great Distance and therefore little In short my Use is this We are more obliged to be full in our following God than Caleb was from his temporal Portion Estate Church-State Politick State 1st It 's the Substance that is in our Expectation the Shadow and Type was immediately in his 2ly Forty Years was he to wander in the Wilderness before he set one Foot upon the Land I could never see from the true Canons of Chronology Scripture or Providence any Ground to countenance the Prophecy of 1697 indeed this is truly 1699 but yet I cannot think we shall continue 40 Years in the Wilderness 3ly Our present Circumstances are full of Straits Want of Trade Money full of Fears assaulted with a powerful Enemy no Appearance of Victory Distress in our Naon abounding Sin and Judgments but I. R. was it worse than theirs in the Wilderness All second Causes against them and their Pilgrimage under the Commination of God to destroy them all before these Years were at an End or they see the Land of Promise 4ly Compare their Means of Salvation with ours their Light and Hope of Salvation with ours and our Condition is not only better than their Wilderness-Condition but better than their State under a triumphant David or a peaceful Solomon for 1. We have the Exhibition and the History of that Perfect Righteousness that Everlasting Righteousness that Eternal and Plentiful Redemption that they could only look at in a Prophecy and it may be understand as little as we do of his glorious Reign when he shall appear the second Time without Sin 2. We have a full Remission of Sin their Remission was a kind of Pretermission or Preterition of Sin which Rom. 3.25 is called the Forbearance of God The Difference seems to lie in these things 1st The Price was not yet paid 2ly The same Sins for which they had offered Sacrifice were brought to their Remembrance again by new Sacrifices implying their not being in a constant State of Favour with God hence their Consciences did perpetually accuse them Heb. 10.2 and their Fears torment them 3ly They were under a Typical Curse for non-observance of some Ceremonial Law which was almost impossible to observe but under the New Testament there is no kind of Condemnation to them that are in Christ there is no more Sacrifice for Sin which imports Divine Justice to be fully satisfied Divine Wrath fully appeased all things are ready and we are invited to the Marriage-Feast Remission in this full Emphatick Sense is promised as the Due of the New Testament Jer. 31.34 and historised as its Privilege Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.22 Christ to us is a full Surety an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fidejussor Expromissor hence Believers under the New Testament who grow in Grace and Knowledg enjoy a more perfected tranquil secure and peaceable Conscience though thro Backslidings they sometimes doubt if they be the Men but doubt not about the Validity and Acceptableness of the Sacrifice 4ly Our Light is much more clear our Vail is thinner and our Stile more familiar the Contrivance of Divine Wisdom in the Salvation of Man is more perspicuously declared since he who was from Eternity in the Bosom of the Father is become a Preacher of it I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren I have made known thy Name unto them A 5th Advantage is the Manner of teaching by Effusion of the Holy Spirit on the Hearts of Men to convince of Sin Righteousness and Judgment this is the Gospel's Glory this makes Believers Christ's Epistles this makes our Subjection to all his Ordinances a willing Obedience We see a Reason for it as well as Authority for it which renders all our Service a reasonable Service even the severest bearing of the Cross The Difference is so great that our State eminently is called the State of Faith Gal. 3.23 After that Faith is come and before that Faith was Their State is a State of Hope By Hope we are saved for Christ who was the Hope of Israel and whom they looked at as future and to come is present to our Faith we hope for eternal Life through him but we believe in him as already having given Satisfaction and now sitting at the right Hand of God our Intercessor It may be on this account we are called perfect they Children in Christ A 6th Advantage is the Difference between their Church-State and ours I do humbly conceive that in many places where two Covenants are mentioned the difference is not between the Covenant of Works under the first Adam and the Covenant of Grace but between the Church-Covenant under the Law and under the Gospel by the former all that were of Israel were of the Church they came in by Generation and Birth the second Covenant-Constitution requires Regeneration the former filled the Church with profane Persons and therefore required a rigid Yoak severe Discipline frequent Ejections the other is more holy and Heaven-like Church-Members are more like Sons having a Spirit and Air of Liberty they had Fathers of their Flesh who chastised them at pleasure we own no Pastour to have paternal Authority that is to chastise at Pleasure Call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven and one your Master even Christ hence frequently Christ forbids to imitate the Gentile Lordship in his Kingdom and the Apostles to exercise Lordship over God's Inheritance How powerful should these Motives be to undertake his light Burden and easy Yoak to follow him fully in every Ordinance of his Institution to follow the Lamb whithersoever he leads us to bear whatever Cross his Providence imposes But yet the 2d thing is the more native Subject of this part of the Text the Correspondency Proportion or Identity between the Work and Reward what he ventured for he shall enjoy Solomon makes the true Moral of it The Backslider in Heart shall be filled with his own ways and a good Man shall be satisfied from himself If there be not a heavenliness in a Man's Temper before he die his Hope may deceive him in expecting it then They that plough Iniquity and sow Wickedness reap the same but the Righteous shall eat the Fruit of his Doings Sin and Hell Holiness and Heaven agree like Conception and Birth When Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when 't is finished brings forth Death as hatred to God unfits for obedience to God so it incapacitates to enjoy God Can he that has Enmity of God in his Heart take pleasure in the Fruition of his Company Is not the Place of Darkness most sutable to them that love Darkness rather than Light Is it a cruel Sentence for God to say Depart from me to them whose Souls say to God Depart from us When Christ has long importuned us to use him as our Advocate and Reconciler is it harsh to say I will not speak a word for you If the
little ones that believe on me the like in Mark 9.42 Ver. 36. we find that it was such a Child that Christ took in his Arms such an one that has Angels for its Guardians such an one as the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.15 such as were brought to Christ in the Arms of others not on their own Feet the Bringers whereof the Disciples rebuk'd not themselves being uncapable of Converse Jesus says the Kingdom of God consists of such And if there were no actual Sin in them I should be apt to have Charity for all of them for the much more on the second Adam's Side will scarce suffer any to be condemned where that is alone without the least Fruit or Effect The greatest Objection lying against these Texts is that the Infants spoken of seem to be capable of Offence to which if we take the Interpretation of Chrysostom with other Fathers for an answer to offend here is not barely to give an evil Example but to reject which was a Fault Christ reproves his Disciples for the Interpretation is the more receptible because Offending and Receiving are put in opposition to one another The common Opinion of Calvinists is that they have the Seeds of Faith or some Gift like Faith or a certain Inclination to Faith so that there is scarce any Party left but Socinians to join with in denying Infants to have any Faith * Indeed Mr. Lock denies Ideas innate but determines not how early they may be conveyed by Senses neither does he ever pretend to bar Heaven's Influence from creating Ideas in a Soul where its Case is not a span long nor its bodily Tools fit for Work Indeed Socinus says about the State of Adam that it 's ridiculous to attribute Faith in God to Infants and is like to the Dream of a feverish Man but I cannot dream of any particular Persons interested in the Righteousness of Christ without an Union to Christ and how one can be in Christ without Faith or the Spirit which works Faith is more than I can conceive of or than the Scripture informs me of which as generally attributes the Applicatory Work of Grace to the Spirit as the Redemptory to the Son 2 I find some sanctified from the Womb and even that sanctifying Grace in such Exercise as to move the very Organs of an Embryo in the Womb. Luke 1.44 The Babe leaped in my Womb for Joy Jer. 1.5 Before thou camest out of the Womb I sanctified thee How Sanctification can be without Faith is inconceivable that being it the Heart is purified by that the Soul lives by that we are clothed with Righteousness by there can no Assertion be more without Exception than that John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Flesh and Blood cannot enter there and whatsoever is born of the Flesh is Flesh so that one must be born of the Spirit before he can enter thither But 't is observable that the Spirit blows where he listeth neither the Indisposition of the Body nor the Corruption of the Soul can impede his Creative Influence and it seems to me very unreasonable to deny a Spirit 's Converse with the Father of Spirits without a Capacity of conversing with Man in order to the one the Soul must learn how the Glass of the Senses represents such Objects to it nay there is need of Learning and Observation to know the right Hand from the Left it 's a Relation few of 40 Years understand a Hand is a necessary Organ to the Body but a very foreign extrinsical thing to the Soul If we come from Scripture to Experience and Observation we find it essential and necessary to the Soul to think it 's as natural for a Spirit to think as for a Body to be long broad and thick 2ly Wherever Thoughts are they are good or bad Gen. 6. The Imagination of the Thoughts of their Heart are evil continually All that proceeds from a Spirit is moral Christ says that defiles not a Man which goes in at his Mouth but what comes out of his Heart 1 Cor. 15. As the Father of Spirits is a quickning Spirit the Soul is a living Spirit the Image of him who is a pure Act. How can it live without Thought our Body cannot without Motion or be sanctified without good Thoughts If that sleep what can awake it 3ly We find it was a common Opinion in Christ's Time that an Infant was capable of sinning before it was born which he never thought worthy Refutation or Denial Did this Man sin or his Parents that he was born blind If being born blind was the Punishment of foregoing Sin then the Infant could act Sin why not Faith too 4ly Can they inform us of the Difference between a Soul newly formed by the Hand of God and after ten or twenty Years of Age that a Creative Operation of God should be needful to work Faith in the one but not able enough to create it in the other One should not make Exceptions to the Scriptures general Assertions without some clear and solid Reason this the Socinians grant His common way of saving is by Faith and common way of working Faith is by Creation and what Impediment can resist or render the Subject uncapable of that Influence Original Sin is more powerful by Habits radicated in the Adult than in Infants the part of this now under Consideration is the Want of that most like Image of God the Sense of Likeness and Image an Hebraism God cures that Privation by planting it in the Soul the Scripture informs us it consists in Knowledg Righteousness and Holiness Are the Infants sanctified without being transformed into the Likeness of God that is a Contradiction and it is as great a one to imagine the Image of God without Knowledg Psal 8.3 Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained Praise This is not objectively only as the Heavens declare God's Glory but actively with their Mouths which Mat. 21.15 was fulfilled by the little Children that went with their Mothers to the Temple though Luke 18. the Disciples began it 's like the Hosannas yet even Sucklings of two or three Years old filled up the Chorus And could their Tongues praise him and not their Souls think of him I cannot imagine that the Difference between a Suckling's Soul and a new-born or unborn Babe's is much 5ly Can all the Pains of an unregenerate Man study himself into a Spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2.12 The natural Man knoweth not c. And can the want of that Pains hinder the Holy Ghost from induing the Soul with that holy Unction Suppose the Child die and be carried in the Arms of its Angels to Glory will it want Knowledg there or do the unprepared Organs while in the Body prevent the Holy Spirit 's Influence 6ly Take the Experiment of a pregnant longing Woman and we may find
Courage and Charity he would have ventured against the Sons of Anak he run the Risk of the turbulent Rabble when nothing but God's immediate appearing could have saved his Life He would fain have saved Israel and have perswaded them not to rebel against God whatever was the Consequence Moses shewed yet more of this Spirit who preferr'd the saving of the People to the monopolizing all the Promises and the whole fruitful Land for his own Family 7. Of an healing uniting Spirit If she found any to be of the Houshold of Faith it was not in her Power to shut up Bowels of Compassion though she was settled in particular Fellowship with them whose Customs her own Judgment most harmonized with yet she was for a Bond of Peace wherever there was Union through the Cement of the Holy Spirit she was not for rejecting whom Christ had received a great Rule for Communion Rom. 15.7 Though their Faith be weak yet Rom. 14.1 they are to be received and not tormented and vexed with doubtful Disputations about Meats or keeping Days or some one particular Ordinance as that of Circumcision At first the believing Jews rejected the Fellowship of the Gentiles for want of it they unjustly compelled them to it But afterwards when the Roman Governours began to distinguish between the Jews and Christians thro' Pliny's Information and that the Jews were hated of the Romans and cut off for their cruel Murders and Slaughter but the Christians more favoured for their peaceful Tempers some of the Gentile Believers though unjustly too rejected the Communion of the Jews this was Diotrephes's Fault 3 John ver 10. Ecclesiastick * Vide Ittig de haeres Stockmannum Authors inform us that his Pride in doing by himself what was only in the Power of the whole Church to do was his great Sin There is in our Day the like Fault among some about Infant-Baptism the less the Difference is the greater the Sin is in making that Difference a Partition-wall of Division The Difference is not about the total neglect of the Ordinance though I do hear some are run to that Extremity both Sides grant its Necessity and Use as an initiating Ordinance the first visible Mark of a Disciple or Christian he that utterly omits it is by Profession a Pagan though it may be a Believer indeed he deals basely by the Saviour he believes in 2ly The Difference is not about the Subject I confess some run to the Extremity here too baptizing all presented to them viz. Believers for if we did not think that some Infants had Faith we should baptize none of them The Question is then about the Objects or Grounds of Charity Now let the Error be on which Side soever the Question is whether it be a sufficient Ground of Separation or refusing Communion because my Charity is more extensive than yours I may be think since God has revealed it and we see it fulfilled though not without many Exceptions of bad Children that God's common Road and Method of bringing his Elect upon the Stage of being is thro' the Loins and Bowels of them that are Elect and Believers though he has not tied himself to it then indeed it would be more than a Ground of Charity there being many Proselytes in all Ages even out of Cham's Line yet this is the King 's high Road and indeed the Stop that was put to it in cutting off this Entail among the Jews and beginning afresh with the Gentiles engrafting these formerly wild Branches to suck fully as much Spirit and Oil from the Root as the native Branches was such a Deviation from this wonted way of Divine Influence that it has been but once in the World will never be again was not without repeated Prophecies to prevent stumbling about it and that once was not a total Deviation from the common Road many being continued 2ly Because it was for a time only touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers there is a Life and Resurrection to come to their Dead * I desire in this to be understood as observing the Difference between the Jewish Church and God's Method of propagating Churches among the Gentiles 3ly They have no gross Iniquities no visible Outbreakings no apparent Blains or Boils from the bitter Root of Original Sin they have only against them what is conveyed through the first Adam and what secret Emanations from it are contained within the Compass and Sphere of pure Thought or Imagination But then we have the much more of abundant Grace the much more of the second Adam for them I do assert that this Extent of Charity in any Man though professed and put in practice ought not to be a Bar for which any Christian Church should refuse him Fellowship and Communion The second Difference is about the Manner or Quantity of Water this initiating Ceremony is to be performed with if Dipt or Sprinkled Let us now take a like Case we can think on without Prejudice viz. the Cup in the Lord's Supper Suppose then some scrutinous Mind and scrupling Conscience should question whether any receive the Lord's Supper who drink not a whole Cup it is said Drink this Cup Is sipping drinking or is a Sip a Cup Would it not be unreasonable to refuse a Man Communion that would only take a Sip when the Body of the Church were for each drinking a Cup It would be of this Importance Sir you shall not be of our Church if you take not off your Cup. Some Controversy like this was between the Gentile Christians and Jewish notwithstanding which Paul Eph. 4. informs them the Baptism was one One Lord one Faith one Baptism From Mount Sinai until Christ's Resurrection that is during the Jewish Church-Constitution Dipping was the manner after Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28. he gives a new Institution more sutable to the Constitution wherein he intended to make light Burdens and easy Yokes after which we hear not of their going to the Water but the Water coming to them Acts 10.47 Some other differences Acts. 19. there were between John's Baptism and Christ's but that is not my Business it is Union Love Peace notwithstanding that Difference that is my Business and shall conclude it with a Saying of a Friend and Brother If a Seal should be set to a Blank sometimes and God afterward condescend to fill up the Bond however valid such an Act might be among Men no doubt it 's good in the Sight of God The 4th Branch is the Practice that flowed from this Temper of Mind He followed the Lord fully wholly constantly uprightly there was a Fulness in what Good he did This Fulness * Josias turned unto God according to all contained in the Law David had respect unto all God's Precepts and refrained his Feet from every evil Way Psal 119.128 I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right Eustathius says the Law is copulative in the Precept Love God and thy
being offended with Sin or morally swaying no Scepter distributing no Rewards or Punishments by the Measures of moral Laws are of the like Tendency and render a Man liable to all Temptations Robbery Murder or Adultery under the probable prospect of Advantage and Pleasure with Secrecy or Impunity must be his common Trade therefore the Discovery of his Sentiments is a just Ground of driving him from all Civil Society But both by Scripture and Reason we are not only convinc'd of the Necessity of the Connection but the several Joints and Links of that Chain or Relation are revealed to us 1. Negatively there is not nor cannot be the Relation of a moral Proportion not in Sinners not in Adam when innocent not in Angels Mr. Baxter most Orthodoxly says the Doctrine is blasphemous to think that meer Nothing form'd into a Being and thereby indebted for working or serving Faculties or Capacities that its putting them in exercise or that the Fruits and Effects of their Growth should as much oblige God as the Subject of them is oblig'd to God 2. There is not the Relation that is purely federal by virtue of a Promise If thou live holily without Spot thou shalt be happy that was Man's Condition before Sin in the Covenant of Works There is not nor cannot be any such thing in the Covenant of Grace God having to do therein with guilty Rebels who have neither Power nor Will to change the Temper of their Minds Nor 3. Is there the Relation of Merit by reason of our Works having an Interest in Christ as the Papists phrase it tinct a sanguine Christi tho we and all we do are acceptable to God on that Score for meriting on that Bottom supposes this that though we cannot merit at the Hand of God without him yet we can merit at his Hand and that is of equal Absurdity with the former for there is no Proportion between our Service to him and his for us he needs not such Service at our Hands nor requires it nor could we perform it if he did The Dignity of his doing and suffering was from his Deity We have nothing in us proportion'd to his Humanity we are as much his by the Title of Redemption as God's by Creation so all we can do is due But though these are justly laid aside the Connection is stronger than a threefold Cord that is not easily broken for there is first a natural Connection Heaven grows upon Love to God Hell upon Hatred Happiness upon Holiness as sutably and naturally as the Fruit Leaves and Branches of a Tree grow from the Root or Seed of its kind Be not deceived God is not mocked for what a Man sows that shall he also reap A Man by sowing the Seed of Darnel Thistles or Nettles may as soon and as truly expect a brave Harvest of Wheat or Barley as a Man with an habitual wicked Life may expect Heaven for the sake of Jesus Christ 2. There is the Relation between Means and End Preparation and Possession a Journey homeward and Rest at home to him that 's abroad Suppose one should freely ransom a Slave from Algiers he can never enjoy his Privileges Possessions and Relations in his own Countrey without the Pains and Fatigue of a Sea-Voyage the Danger of the Waves and Billows of the Bay of Biscay Suppose one freely give an Estate or a Place of Honour at Court to a Beggar or Stranger he can never reap the Fruit of it without Pains he must fit and prepare himself for it 3. The Phrases of Connection are of a legal Tenour by reason of the Remunerableness of the Matter from the Tenour of the old Covenant as we see the New Testament delights in Old-Testament-Phrase for instance buried with him in Baptism the Jewish Way of baptizing being burying-like So what is now rewarded of Grace retains the old Phrase it had when it was by a Covenant of Works 4. There is a Relation with respect to the Subject to such and such Works are promised rich and everlasting Rewards because he who only can do them has a Right and Title to the Reward by the Promise and Grace of God 5. There is a Relation in respect of Christ and our being in him There was a Proportion between Works and Reward in the Mediatorial Covenant and therein he is considered as our Head So when one is in Christ the Promises are made to him in a legal Form by reason of Christ on whose Account he has a legal Right and Title to them tho abstractly considered none at all Thus we may see there are Motives sufficient to drive from Sinfulness or draw to Holiness without the Doctrine of Merit or Legal Conditions therefore we are to keep that fundamental Doctrine at the Bottom of our Hearts whenever we go about comparing our Works with the Reward we expect as we find Caleb did Josh 14. he begins to plead for Hebron as if it were on Merit I spied out the Land I brought word again as it was in my Heart I followed the Lord fully but bottoms that on Moses's Oath and that Oath on the Lord 's speaking that Word to Moses but Foundations lie deep and are not discover'd on all Occasions If the Lord will lies latent in the Thoughts of every Believer in all his Enterprizes yet one would not lightly and customarily express it lest it turn into a form of prophaning that Sacred Name and Sacred Assistance except on solemn Occasions when the Mind attends it with adoring Thoughts as David 1 Chron. 29. when he and his Princes had offered for the Temple 13005000 lb. of Gold and 2537530 lb. of Silver they offered it willingly but with solemn Acknowledgments that both it and the Heart and Willingness to offer it was of God and humble themselves under the sense of so great a Mercy as that Temper of Mind I have only these two things to make Application of in this Affair 1st That the Woman was very sound in this Faith 2ly That she was very holy in her Life The 3d Head is the Temper of Caleb's Mind which is only described from its Diversity and being alien from the Spirit of the Day not only another from the Canaanites or Egyptians but another from the Israelites Eph. 2. it 's the Character of one yet in the Gall of Bitterness and under the Power of Satan that he follows the Course of the World he was none of that Spirit and Temper his was contrary and opposite to the Course of the World they were blind and ignorant he of great Sagacity and Judgment they Unbelievers Tempters Provokers and Rebels he a Believer and an obedient one they were proud carnal selfish he not 1st A Spirit of Discerning a Spirit of Judgment and sound Mind was with him indeed there was little Opportunity for discovering this until the Wars and Wilderness were at an End yet his Judgment and Reason the grand Foundations of Learning outshin'd no less than
Christ 5ly By it the Soul is preserv'd in danger 1 Pet. 1.5 it 's the Soul's Shield of Defence and Sword of Defiance 6ly By this we have Access to God and approach the Throne of Grace with Boldness 7ly By this we are patient in Tribulation we can suffer Reproaches while we trust in the Living God and have hop'd-for things realiz'd and presented to the Soul 8ly It 's a Rarity and yet a very seasonable Grace Egypt was a Type of Popery and the Wilderness a Type of the Brinks of the Church's Deliverance Faith was then rare but 2 of 700000 entred Canaan for want of it Heb. 4. So Christ says When he comes scarce shall Faith be found upon the Earth Would we know the Reason of our turning thus into the Wilderness again when we thought we were on Mount Pisga we want Faith It 's the very time for the Faith and Patience of the Saints and they want it like the foolish Virgins some want Oil all are asleep when the Bridegroom calls 9ly As it 's rare it 's difficult it 's as easy for God to produce it in the youngest Infant as in the oldest Man it 's a Fruit of the Spirit of God not of our Spirits all things in Man are against it nothing for it the stronger his carnal Reasonings grow the more difficult is the Work of Faith The Philosophers were the Gospel's greatest Enemies To suppose it in Adam before the Fall had been to suppose what was repugnant to and would have overthrown his State Fallen Man needs the Spirit to convince him that he is in Unbelief needs Christ being given for him needs a being given and drawn to Christ by the Powerful Arm of the Lord. Let not us be among the common sort of Israelites that despised the pleasant Land and believed not his Word Psal 106.24 who could not enter in because of Unbelief Heb. 3. last Zachariah who walk'd in all the Ordinances blameless was struck dumb 9 Months for an Act of Unbelief Luk. 1.20 Christ upbraids his Disciples for defect in another Act Mark 16.14 We have great and precious Promises of a better Canaan a more glorious Theocracy let us strive to enter by Faith The Emperor's Victory over the Turks his planting his Ephodical Tent between the Seas in the glorious Land would open a Pisga Sight of it to us Dan. 11.45 Shall not we believe God's Word or can we deny his giving of it His Word his Promise his Covenant his Oath we have his Seal we have the Experience of our Fathers we have Was not God always faithful Obj. But we cannot believe of our selves Answ 1st We can forbear many things which may hinder the Exercise of it as a Woman may prevent Miscarriage 2ly We can be humbled for gross Sins and let Convictions take place 3ly We can use Means and be diligent in the practice of all Ordinances 4ly We can be watchful in the use of them waiting with Fear and Trembling if the Angel will move in these Waters 5ly We can try it endeavour go about it seek out the Promises meditate on them propose them 6ly We can do this in subordination to God waiting if he will bless the Loaves in the eating 7ly Exercise Acts of Self-renouncing in the Performances Gal. 2.16 even the very Act it self That we might be justified not by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ 3. A great Esteem of Divine Blessings and Favours They despis'd the pleasant Land Psal 106.24 Deut. 8.7 Hos 2.8 This Caleb did not he greatly esteem'd the Land there is yet a better Country and City Heb. 11. in our Promises My Parallel was a great Admirer of this New Jerusalem and no unthankful Undervaluer of our Day of small things she was not of his Temper who preferr'd a part of Paris to a Portion in Paradise All come short of this Pattern who love Egypt If any Man love the World the Love of God is not in him 2. If any are lazy and strive not to enter by the strait Gate into this Rest 3. When Heaven is not counted worthy the Dangers and Difficulties we incur by the way when the Anakims conquer our Faith Let us think on singing the Song of Moses and the Lamb of the 5th Kingdom in Succession 4. A Publick Spirit Her Pains were not so much for building her own Family as the Church of God a great and pious Zeal of this kind was like the Sacred Fire on the Altar that never went out I may say she went about continually doing good to the Rich minding them of their Duty with that Prudence that I never heard her complain'd of as a busy Body or the like to the Poor relieving them the Decay of this is of a mighty threatning Aspect Many counted Patriots of their Countrey have discovered Self too much a powerful End and Principle and the Effect of it is among the Body of the People they think there is no such thing as Tribuni Plebis If any Man seem to shew a Zeal for his Countrey the Vulgar Verdict is Does he want a Place never was a Nation less liable to idolize the Princes of their Tribes yet no doubt there are Calebs among them without some remarkable Revolution none or one is like to be our Lot The Heat of Contention between Non and Con never did appear more abated this Government seems like the Tree that sweetned the Waters of Mara yet where is the Man of so publick a Spirit as to reform the Abuses both Sides complain of One is that the Curses of the Law should stand in place of the Discipline of the Gospel publick Prayers are constantly according to form said in Lent for mending this hence is a publick Acknowledgment that the Church wants the primitive Discipline 2ly That there should be no Partition between the World and Church of Christ no Door of Entrance into the sacred Society of Saints this has made the Church the World the vilest and most abominable of Men like the Abomination that maketh desolate sitting where they ought not profaning the Lord's Table confirming their own Damnation it were a Season to perpetuate the Honour of some Publick Spirit but most mind their own things few Christ's 5. Of a Peaceable Spirit Caleb was none of the seditious Rebels that were for casting off Moses and making another Captain under whom they might return to Egypt My Parallel imitating our unerring Pattern has often rebuk'd such hasty Disciples that were immediately for bringing Fire from Heaven on Samaria she was no Despiser of Authority though a Longer for that fifth kind of Government that all the Kings of the World shall never prevent happy they who kiss the Son and put their Trust in him It is nigh and necessary Let us follow Caleb's Example not a Corah's or an Absalom's filling our own Place doing our own Business and with Faith Prayer and Patience wait for Christ's second Coming 6. A Spirit of