Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	judah_n	lion_n	wantonness_n	72	3	16.2517	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77979	An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the prophesy of Hosea· Being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhil London. By Jeremiah Burroughs. Being the fifth book, published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simson William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1650 (1650)	Wing B6070; Thomason E588_1; ESTC R206293	515,009	635

this honor from you saith God you shall not swear any more the Lord liveth Applica Many superstitious people they will make much use of the titles of God in their mouths and have many expressions about God that carry much devotion with them they will cry out our blessed Saviour our Lord and Saviour and the blessed God and honouring the Lord and the like they will I say have many titles of God in their mouths and expressions that carry much devotion with them but God cares for none of these all the while they worship him according to the traditions of men after their own inventions God care● not for all their seeming honouring him for all their devotion let them appear to men to be never so devout God rejects those devotions when they reject his pure and sincere worship God loves not to have his worship mixed Zeph. 1.5 there God chargeth them for swearing by the Lord and by Malcham that they would put both together what is the meaning of that Malcham there signifies a King for so the Hebrew word doth and it seems that this people though it is true they would sometimes call their Idols by the name of King Honoris gratia to give respect unto them yet there is some probability that in this place more is intended namely that they would worship God yea but they would worship their King too they would swear by God and by Malcham Zeph. 1.5 Opened they made their honor of their King come too neer the honor of God that is one thing I say that seems to be specially intended here they would not reject the true God but they would set the honor of their King too too neer the honor of the true God It is true both are to be honored but one is to be honored more than the other and the true distance between both in giving honor is duly to be observed and not to jumble them both together to swear by God and to swear by Malcham not observe the true distance between them both Much less to prefer the will of their Malcham their King before the will of their God Note God cares not for any honor that is given unto him if we make any Competitor with him It is true indeed God rejects not the worship of his Saints because of some mixtures of evil Caution for there are none that do worship him so but they do mix some sin with it But now such as chuse to themselves some way of sin that set up in their hearts and lives some way of sin and then think it sufficient to give God some outward service and to put off God so while at other times they follow their own ●usts such worship God rejecteth therefore saith the Lord here to these Idolaters You shall not swear the Lord liveth It follows Verse 16. For Israel slideth back as a back-sliding heiser Here first Israel the ten Tribes is compared to a heifer and to a back-sliding heifer A heifer Heifer that ●●red the wantonness of Israel And here is one argument why Judah must not offend a● Israel doth let not Judah offend as Israel doth for Israel as 〈◊〉 back sl●ding h●ifer Israel through his sin hath 〈…〉 to be a vile a wanton heifer but the emblem of Judah is to be a Lyon Gen. 49.9 Judah is a Lyons whelp he stooped down he couched as a Lyon and as an old Lyon who shall rouse him up It is true that Judah should not refuse the yoke thorough wantonness and perversness but through a magnanimous spirit he should not be willing to be brought under the yoke of bondage Israel is as a heifer that through wantonness doth refuse to be brought under the yoke but let not Judah do thus for Judah is as a Lyon and although Judah be a Lyon yet he should come under Gods command to be subject unto him but when it comes to be in bondage unto men and that in matters of Religion Judah should have a magnanimous spirit a Lyon like spirit and should cast off the yoke of men in that regard Let not Judah be like Israel Judah is as a Lyon Israel as a heifer And the word that is translated back-sliding commeth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies perversness as well as backsliding It is translated in Scripture stubborness rebellion as in that place of Duteronomy about the stubborn and rebellious child Exposit there is the same word that is here and many other Scriptures might be shewen how this word is taken otherwise than here for back-sliding Israel is a stubborn a rebellious a perverse people therefore let not Judah be so And I find the Seventy translate it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Israel the ten Tribes they were like a stung Bullock Juvenca oestro percita as if so be they had by a kind of witchery or by the byting of some venemous thing been put into a fury or madness that is the force of the word according to the translation of the Seventy they translate it I say by such a word whereby they would signifie that Israel was not now like a Heifer only wanton but like a Heifer that was bit with some venemous thing and ran up and down like a mad thing There is a great deal of difference between the wantoness of a beast and a beast that runs up and down in a fury and madness as being bit with a mad-dog Thus this people was Ephraim goeth on madly As many wicked men go on in waies aparantly against light and conscience and against the Word though they know it will prove to be their eternal ruin and destruction Conscience tels them so yet they go on in a madness violently in a rage even down to the pit This was Ephraims condition here And that which made Ephraim do so it was his prosperity Reas Ephraim was grown prosperous and had plenty of food was fed full and large and that made them go on in such a fury and rage in the waies of wickedness and sin That was now fulfilled of Ephraim that was prophesied of him Deut. 32.15 Thou art waxed fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he fors●ok God which made him and lightly esteemed the Ro●k of his salvation Note Oh when a people is waxen fat and grown prosperous then they kick and spurn and forsake God that made them and lightly esteem the Rock of their salvation God and his Truth and his Saints and his Ordinances they are nothing with them they lightly esteem them why because they are waxen fat they are in their prosperity Applic. You shall have many men upon their sick beds highly esteem of the Ministers of God and of the waies of God and of his word and worship and then Oh send for such and such to come to us but when they are in prosperity they lightly esteem God and all that

concerns God This was the condition of Ephraim Where have you a man almost but if God let him prosper except he come in with abundance of his grace but he grows wanton in his prosperity Judah was almost in the same way though here the Lord would not have Judah to be like Ephraim as a wanton heifer spurning and kicking with the heel yet it appears in Jer. 2.24 that Judah was not much unlike them Judah is there compared to a wild Ass used to the wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure all they that seek her will not weary themselves but saies God in her month they shall find her take her when she is full of spirit and strength and there is no dealing with her but in her month when she is more weakened then they shall find her So many men take them at some times when they are in the ruff of their pride and prosperity there is no dealing with them but when God hath tamed them by affliction then you may talk with them and then they will hear you Israel is as a back-sliding heifer The word that is translated heiser here it is in the feminine gender though it is spoken of the ten Tribes because being stubborn and raging mad in wickedness though they did seem to themselves and others to be of brave spirits yet the Lord looks upon them as people of base and effeminate spirits of poor and weak spirits There is none that are stubborn and proud but they think themselves to be of more than ordinary spirits they are the only brave spirits Obser but the Lord looks upon those that are stubborn and proud as base and weak spirits and therefore speaks of them here in the feminine gender Now the Lord will feed them as a Lamb in a large place I find some Mercer and Vatablus they would carry it thus Lautè ut Agnus pastus mox mactatur As a Lamb when it hath large food it is soon slain so God threatneth Ephraim here that he will soon make an end of them only he will let them prosper for a while and feed them largely but it shal be for the slaughter Many men that are fed largely and are in their prosperity they think themselves blessed God intends them only for the slaughter But I think that is not the meaning of the place Obser they shall be fed as a Lamb. But thus As a Lamb. They are as a heifer raging mad but I will make them as a Lamb I will bring such affliction upon them as that I will tame the pride of their hearts Have you not seen experiences of this kind did you never see a ruffianly blasphemous proud stubborn spirit when the hand of God was upon them tamed Fed as a Lamb. Parce ac tenuiter not fed as a heifer that noted their prosperity but fed as a lamb that notes their adversity for the food of a lamb differs from the food of a heifer that which will feed a lamb will starve a heifer Now saith God they have been proud and wanton by their prosperity but now they shall have short Commons I will bring them down I will lay them low they shall be but as a lamb that picks up the grass in the wilderness As a lamb in a large place That is dispersed among the Countries amongst the Assyrians and Medes in their captivity which was a very large Countrey They would not be satisfied with Canaan which was a narrower Countrey and with that Sheep-fold of mine that was there they shall have more room saith God they shall go into a large place but it shall be into their captivity Or rather which I conceive to be the full scope of the holy Ghost in these words I will feed them as a lamb in a large place That is as a lamb that shall be alone one lamb he speaks of a lamb singly because they shall be scattered They had society and might have made good use of their society where it was but they did not regard to make good use of it to edifie themselves in the fear of God they shall be scattered one in one place and another in another and they shall be as a lamb alone in the wilderness succourless helpless shiftless bleating up and down in the wilderness in the wide vast wilderness and none to have any regard unto them simile As now if you should see one poor lamb in a vast wilderness in a mighty great heath and in a wilderness where there are a great many Wolves that are ready to devour it and there is no body neer it no shepheard to look after it none that regard it but it goes bleating up and down alone and none takes any care of it what will become think you of this lamb what a succourless condition is it in So saith God they have been wanton heifers but I wil feed them as a lamb in a large place their condition shall be just thus they shall be carried into captivity and there they shall be bleating and howling and crying out and in danger of Wolves but there shall be no body to regard them and succour them It is a great deal safer for a lamb to be in the flock though it be more pind in than to be thus alone in a large place We love our liberty Obser and we may have liberty enough but this our liberty may prove to be our misery To keep within the compass of Gods commands is the best liberty of all as David professeth Psal 119. Then shall I have liberty when I keep all thy commandments As for all other liberty it will certainly bring us into straightness therefore Rom. 2.4 5. where tribulation and anguish is threatned to be upon the head of every one that worketh wickedness the word translated anguish is straightness of place they shall have straightness of place you would have elbow room and would fain get out of Gods limits though God may for a time let you have such liberty yet the conclusion will be anguish of spirit Applic. Oh my brethren there is largeness there is room enough in God our souls may expatiate themselves in God we need go no further for liberty If we would have liberty out of God out of his bounds our liberty will prove our undoing and utter destruction society of Saints to be improved Let us make much then of the to society of the Saints while we are not yet through Gods mercy scattered up and down in other Countries as some of our brethren have been though thorough Gods mercy some in strange Countries have met with Gods fold and have been in Gods fold there but others have been scattered about and have walked up and down in the streets and have known no body and have had none to help them in any strait but now we may meet together we may be in Gods fold and have our hearts refreshed we may go into our

we should fall in these times yet we shall fall into the bosom of our Father and into the arms of Jesus Christ How much better is it seeing that men are like to fal to take such a course before their fall cometh that when they do fall they may fall soft fall into the bosom of their Father and into the arms of Jesus Christ and not fall in their iniquity And if we fall thus if our fall be not in our iniquity but in the cause of God and rather for our grace than for our iniquity then we may be of more use in our fall than we were in our standing As it is with the Corn simile the Corn that falls into the ground doth fructifie and is of more use when it is fallen than it was when it was in the granary Young men fallen in this war And so many godly men many young ones that are fallen within these two or three yeers but God knows it hath not been in or for their iniquity but in the Cause of God and in the exercise of their graces they are fallen but they are fallen into the arms of God and into the bosom of Christ and they are as fruitful in their fall as they were in their standing for no question but there is much fruit to be reaped from their falls and God hath a plentiful harvest for England that will come out of their falls Judah also shall fall with them Mark Exposit first Ephraim shall fall and then Judah for indeed Ephraim was first in sin the ten Tribes they first forsake the true worship of God and they brought in Judah together with them and the text saith that Judah shall fall with them This is here mentioned to aggravate Ephraims sin and the judgment of it thus Oh this shall lie heavy upon Ephraim one day that not only he hath ruined himself but he hath ruined Judah too he hath brought Judah into his sin and involved him in plagues together with himself From hence the Note is That It is a great aggravation for any one to think what misery be Obs 1 bringeth others into If God do but enlighten any ones conscience it may be Gods hand is upon thee for thy sin This is grievous Oh but together with the sin have not I by my counsel by my example by my countenance brought others into s●n and I have brought them into misery as well as my self It may be there be many in hell at this time that I have holpen thither It is true Gods hand is upon me I am falling and whither I shall fall I know not I see hell open and I may fall into it how ever I am afraid of this that there are some fallen into hell already of whose sin I was the cause and is it possible that I should be preserved out of it must I not follow them and fall thither too when they are already fallen thither through my wickedness You therefore that have been Company-keepers and ringleaders to wickedness and many of your companions are dead and gone without any manifestation of repentance you had need to be throughly humbled Obser 2 Further It is no plea you see for any one to say I will follow the example of others If you will follow the example of others you must perish with others Judah followeth the example of Ephraim and Judah must fall with Ephraim Obs 3 And further If Gods people even Gods people I say if they comply with wicked men Gods people suffer if they sin with others defile themselves with their pollutions they must except to fall with them in outward judgments Judah was the only people God had upon the earth and as Israel is a type of the Apostate Church so is Judah a type of the true Church yet it seems that Judah though the true Church and the only people of God that did preserve the worship of God in the greatest intirenes that was in the world yet I say Judah they did very much comply with Israel and complying with Israel in false worship they must fall with them Come out from amongst them my people lest being partakers of their sins you be partakers of their plagues too And this I make no question is the reason why so many of Gods servan●s fall at this day Use why so many fall in these times they have complied with the times and defiled themselves though we cannot say so of every one of them that fall in this Cause yet it is to be feared in many And it may be though we dare not determin of Gods waies for the thoughts of Gods waies in mercy are higher than our thoughts higher than the Heavens are above the Earth yet we have cause to fear that many if not most of this generation shall fall before God bringeth forth this glorious work of his in saving Zion Chap. 1. 7. and chap. 5. 5. reconcil'd But here is a difficulty In the first Chapter you heard there that God though he threatned Israel yet he saith I will have mercy upon Judah but here he saith Ephraim shall fall and Judah also shall fall with him Now for the reconciling of that we are to know that though Judah fall with Israel yet there shall be a great deal of difference in their falling Israel the ten Tribes shall fall be brought into captivity so as never to return again I mean never to return from their captivity in that way as Judah did Judah was to return again after seventy yeers so Judah fell with them Observ but they fell not as they fell Though the Saints therefore may be scourged with rods yea with scorpions as they are at this day as well as wicked men yet the Lord doth not he will not take his loving kindness from them There is yet one particular more to be observed and it is from the Hebrew particle Gam Judah also shall fall with them and I make no question but the Spirit of God holds forth this Note from it viz. That The falling of the Saints together with wicked men it is of special consideration Observ There is much in it some special matter to be considered of in the falling of Gods people together with the wicked Indeed it is that which in these daies puts us to a stand we admire at the waies of God his judgments are past finding out we must adore them in what we do not understand That the hand of God should be stretched out against wicked ones against such as have corrupted his worship by their own superstitious waies it is no mervail but that so many of his dear Saints so precious in his eyes in all Countries about should suffer such hard things and fall together with the wicked we are at a stand and we know not what it meaneth What Judah fall also with Israel when God had no other people upon the face of the earth surely there is some

quasi teredimis Teredo is a worm that eateth out the heart of the strongest wood Minutissimus vermiculus saith Luther upon the place And Plini saith it is the worm that breeds in Ships at Sea and eateth out the heart of the strongest Oake● plancks at Sea but yet often translated rottenness because the worm causeth that wood to be rotten Prov. 12.4 A vertuous woman is a crown to her husband saith the text but she that makes ashamed is rottenness to his bones There is the same word a woman whose behavior is such in company as makes ashamed is rottenness to a mans bones be they never so strong That for the reading 2. Scope For the scope of these words what it is that God aimeth at which is That judgment should come 1. Secretly 2. Gradually 3. Insensibly These three things That wrath that I intend to let out upon Ephraim and Judah shall First be very secret as the moth doth eat the garment secretly Secretly so my wrath shall be there shall be no noise of it for a while And it shall be gradually gradually too that 's the second I will go on by degrees a moth and rottenness doth not consume the garment or the wood all at once but one degree after another And then thirdly Insensibly insensibly They shall not so much as perceive it they shall not see for a long time how My wrath is out against them and yet it shall consume them That 's the scope But what is the reason of the difference of the expression 3. a moth to Ephraim and rottenness to Iudah Reason of the difference that 's the third If God intended only to shew his secret gradual insensible judgment then one expression might have been enough a moth or rotteness either of them But the reason of the different expression is this Israel was to be destroyed sooner than Judah Judah should hold out a time longer than Israel should though both of them were to be destroy●d at length As strong wood heart of Oak it holds out longer though there should be a worm in it than a garment doth when a moth is in it so Judah held out above a hundred yeers after this threat after this rottenness began in them longer than Israel did for the time that this moth was in Israel of which we shall speak presently unto Israels captivity it was but some two or three and fourty yeers but it was one hundred and threescore yeers from the time of Gods being a rottenness unto Judah But Fourthly When was this time 4. Wh●● To what time doth this refer when was God a moth unto Ephraim and rottenness to Judah For that and to shew the story of it it would require some time I only refer you to the Scriptures that have the stories of both these when the moth began and when the rottenness began In the 1 King chap. 15. from verse 8. and so on to the end of the 17. chapter of the second book of the Kings there you may find the time when God was a moth unto Ephraim And for Judah in 2. King chapter 16. there you may find how God was rottenness unto Judah and it was from Ahaz his time to the time of their being carried away captive into Babylon which was about an hundred and sixty yeers And Josephus Josephus in his book besides the books of the Scripture in Lib. 9. chap. 12. and Lib. 15. towards the latter end and Lib. 10. chap. 10. He likewise setteth forth the condition both of Ephraim and of Judah when the Lord was a moth unto the one and rottenness to the other 5. What i● is for God to be a moth ●●ttenness But that which will be more useful unto us will be to enquire the m●●ning What it is for God to be a m●th and rottenness to 〈◊〉 people ●ot indeed there is the same thing sign●fi●d in both these expressions only as I told you the fi●st signifies a quicker di●patch of Israel and the second a more slow dispatch of Judah but in the effect the same is signified Now God is a moth and rottenness unto a people many waies As 1. in the spirits of men 1. weakness First He is a moth in the very spirits of people There is a secret way of God● wrath upon a people in their spirits which is not perceived in the world As thus When the spirits of men in a Nation grow weak and cowardly The weakness and cowardlines of mens spirits shews a judgment of God upon them that is a a● moth to them And so it was in Israel as you may find it in that 2 King 15 and so on There their Governors did what they list one kild another and another kild him and the people laid down quietly and dared not to appear in the least way to find fault with any thing done And then a base sloth of spirit that seiseth upon the hearts of people 2. sloath a dulness a sordidness of spirit minding low things not regarding any worthy and honorable achievement when men are thus then God is as a moth and rottennes● to them When there is raising of jealousies one against another in their spirits 3. jealousies and divisions envying one another and divisions in the spirits one of another then God is a● a moth and rottenness as we know a moth in a garment doth make the thread that it doth not hang firm together and rot●enness makes the wood that one part doth not unite together so firmly as it did b●● yet in a secret way so though open wars indeed devour in a publick way but secret jealousies in the hearts of people that one dare not trust another and secret divisions that there are in their hearts this is like to a moth and rottennes● As a moth in a garment and rottetnness in wood so secret jealousies and secret divisions in the spirits of men in a Kingdom consume and destroy them 4. self-ends 5. f●lsness in publick trust And then base compliance for their own ends And lastly falseness of spirit in the trust committed to them When you see this prevail in the spirits of men especially of those that are put in publick trust then is God a moth and rottenness unto that people And that is the first A moth and rottenness in the spirits of men Secondly A moth and rottenness in mens counsels As first 2. in councels 1. blindness In blindness that they shall not be able to see the plots of their enemies they shall not know their own advantages nor how to improve what they have They shall not hit upon the right means to cure themselves There shall be a perplexity in their counsels a contradiction in their counsels one counselling one way and another counsel another way They shall ensnare themselves in their counsels There shall be much folly in their counsels 2. blasted And they shall be blasted

like those in Christs time who put him to a stand they were so difficult and cross that neither John nor Christ himself could please when John came they cryed out of him that he was ridged and harsh and when Christ came he was mild and gentle and of him they said he was a winebibber and a friend of publicans and sinners John had that which Christ had not and Christ had that which John had not and yet neither of them could please these But it may be objected God knew not what to do Object how is that he could have put forth his almighty power and turned their hearts and that presently how then is it said God knew not what to do To this I answer that God was not bound to do this Answ for God had used all means to prevail with Ephraim and Judah which the most loving and compassionate friend could have done Suppose a man were in such a condition that for his cure there were all the Doctors of Physick in the Country where he lived gathered together and these should consult advise and p●●pound things for his recovery and nothing do it you would wonder what the matter should be would not all this aggravate and set forth the danger of the disease and the difficulty of the cure All this is in God and much more and it is put forth for the good of souls I have put forth more power wisdom love and mercy than man can do now shall this be an aggravation in respect of the creature and not of the Creator all means to do you good have been put forth excepting my almighty power and yet the work is not done Obs 5 The condition of that people is very sad when no means can do them good then that fearful judgment may be pronounced upon them Jer. 6.30 Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Ezek. 24.13 Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged any more until I have caused my fury to rest upon thee Obs 6 It is a thing that goes very neer the heart of God to see those that are nigh unto him to be perverse in their waies What for Judah to forsake me It is sad to find crosses and untowardness in Ephraim but to meet with them in Judah where my Ordinances are in a special manner and they so neer unto mee and I so tender of them 't is much to behold of what knotty crabid spirits Gods own people are A piece of wood may be sound yet full of knots and very tough What goes neerer a man than to find crossness in his wife his children or friend 't is not so much from a stranger as from one in relation Even so God takes the unkindness of his people to heart more than the wickednesses of the ungodly Obs 7 It is not enough to worship God better than others if we be of perverse spirits This was the sin of Judah because they had the Ordinances in a purer way and worshiped God better than Ephraim Applicat for Engl. they thought they might continue in this their sin Oh that this were not Englands sin at this day Let us be humbled for it that we may escape their judgment For your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benegnit●s miscricordia Also Sanctitas pictas vestrum vel est ri Vide Kimchi of kercher Your goodness That is your kindness or your mercy as the word signifies in the Original it is chesed the same word which we have in the sixt verse your mercy I will have mercy that is your piety and godliness in the strickt signification of it but mercy in the large sense The Seventy Translators render the words your mercy your goodness but why your goodness yours because either of Gods goodness towards them or their goodness their holiness which was in them Gods goodness towards them which is called ours somtimes Gods goodness as in Rom. 11.31 That through your mercy they might obtain mercy by that mercy which God bestowed on you you may encourage the gentile to come in 2. Their goodness which is double either to their brethren or their piety holiness both these were as the morning cloud or as the early dew that goeth away If the first signification of them be taken then the sense runs thus Gods goodness to them was as the morning cloud that is They by Expos 2 their sin had drove away Gods mercy and goodness from them even as the wind carries the dust before it God was in the way of mercie to them in appearances and they by their sins put them all away from them Bernard Bernard saith that the wind of their unthankfulness did drive away the flouds of mercy from them much more the dews of mercy Now God forbid that this should be our condition the clouds of mercy are over us and the dews of mercy are upon us now should we by our sins drive these away from us what a woful case should we be in Therefore let us not only pray to have the dews of mercy but also the clouds to shower down rivers of mercy Though I do not think this to be the principal scope and sense of the words ye it may be noted and afford us useful Expos 3 meditation but the proper meaning of the words seems to signifie their own goodnesse which may betaken 1. more strictly for mercy and compassion towards one another because in the sixt verse God calls upon them so earnestly for mercy notwithstanding all their shews and promises of reformation it was but in hypocrisie like those in Jer. 34.15 16. of whom God saith That they were turned and had done right in his sight in proclaiming liberty to their servants but they had polluted his Name again by causing those servants formerly set at liberty to return and bringing them into subjection so that people which are for a time pitiful and very merciful afterwards grow cruel and hardhearted Let us take heed of such a disposition which is so great an evil App●i● we when together sometimes can joyn in love and unity pittying each other and bearing with each others infirmities bearing Christian admonition patiently but these good words and fair shows are vanished come to nothing where are those refreshing showers of love friendship which you were wont to water each other withal in your Christian societies In the room of these there now grows nothing but the lusts of pride passions and sad dissentions among us which parch and dry up all these good seeds of love and gentlenesse I desire to presse this the more because the Scripture is pleased to make use of this expression of the dew to set out the sweetness of a Christian spirit Psal 133.3 Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwel together in unity How

pleasant is it It is like the dew of Hermon and like the dew that descended upon the mountain of Zion as that refreshed the grasse so is this affection of mercy and love in the Saints He compares it not to a dew that dried up presently but to a dew which descended down and there the Lord commanded his blessing Psa 133. expound Church-fellowship even life for evermore There Where Even in the communion of his Saints This is spoken particularly of Church fellowship Oh then take heed that your mercy and bounty in releeving your brethren and persecuted Saints be not as the dew that passeth away the Lord hath not made his mercie no not his mercy in dewing the earth as a morning cloud that vanisheth away and comes to nothing Oh let not our mercy and love be only in shows and proffers withot any truth and reality our mercies should come like showers upon those who have been parched with the burning rage nnd malice of the adversary help those that suffer for a good cause Now the Lord expects more from us in this duty than at other times we must not only pity them and give them good words saying Alas my Brother and alas my Sister and no more I would I could help you the Lord pity you and help you you must not only do thus but in actions and reality you must releeve them with your money and provisions Is it not with too to many of us as it was with those in James 2.15 who say to a brother Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled but give them not wherewith to do it what good doth this passing cloud do them it is but an overture but perhaps you will say that you have not been as an overture a cloud passing away you have bedewed the Saints in their need you have given something but perhaps t is but a poor pittance and that out of your abundance know that this is not sufficient it must be a constant dew and proceed on in degrees of mercy we should rejoyce that God gives us an opportunity to shew our love and mercy and not think much at it doing that you do forcedly or repiningly therefore let not our mercy be as the dew that passeth away Thus much of the words in this signification of mercie Now if we take the words in a large sense as in Scripture they are often taken and in this place also for their goodness and piety and in this sense there is much of the mind of God in the words they are so full of marrow and sweetness as can be desired Now in that God should express godliness and piety by such a word as mercy Note from thence The necessity of this grace of love and brotherly kindness in regard Obs 1 godliness it self receives its name from them though by nature men are passionate and rugged grace will mollifie them of covetous men it will change them to liberal and make them free-hearted for grace is part of the Divine Nature Nothing is so communicative as God the highest good The more excellent the nature the more cōmunicative and according to the height of any creature is the communicativeness of it as the Sun being sublime and excellent is most communicative so a gracious man hath he parts they are not for himself but for the Church hath he an estate he distributes and communicates of it to the Saints and according as grace ariseth in the soul wil communicativeness arise a true Christian is not close handed If grace hath its denomination from hence Then surely this Obs 2 grace of mercy is most excellent because the whol frame of the new man is set out by it and by this it is expressed When we use to set out the whol of any thing by a part we do not express it by an inferior part but in some thing which is eminent in it as by prayer many times is expressed the whol worship of God as be that cals upon the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved Rom. 10. Expos 1 As the morning cloud and as the early dew In these words God charges this people for three things in which their notorious hypocrisie was expressed Clouds and dew passing what they imploy For their vacuity and emptiness their words were empty sounds they were clouds without water as Jude expresses it Jude 12. 't is the high commendation of Christians to be full of God of Christ and ful of grace and knowledg of which Ephraim had a shew but it was but a shew Expos 2 For their falfness and desembling they had a heart and a heart towards God they dealt treacherously with God they were all in shows but in the bottom nothing but vanity Expos 3 For their unconstancy and sickleness As rain in the clouds shews much but is by the wind presently blown over the clouds now are all black and lowring but in a short time are blown over and there is a perfect cleer sky even thus it was in their goodness though they made glorious shows in their reformation yet were they all empty false and unconstant Thus it was in the general in the reformation of the Land when things were reformed in the Kingdom it was but by halves and in their particular turnings it was but as the morning cloud many times there was great appearences of reformation but they were like the early dew which presently goeth away The ten Tribes and Judah did make such beginnings in reformation and setting up the worship of God that if God were truly worshiped by any people in the world it would be by these that they would set God up high in their thoughts high in their practices and this was very burdensom to the Spirit of God therefore he saith What shall I do unto thee Ob Ephraim What shall I do unto thee Oh Judah We find glorious shows of reformation to come to nothing as appears in these many examples 2 King 1 9. and the 10. chapters Jehu made great shows when Joram asked him Is it peace Jehu he answered him What peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many And in the 10. chapter what a slaughter doth he make upon the Priests of Baal Well what came of this reade but on in the chapter verses 29. and 31. it is said That Jehu departed not from the sins of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin What a cloud of hopes was there in Ahahs time 1 Kings 18.39 all the people cryed The Lord is God the Lord he is the God upon the miracle which was wrought by Elijahs prayer when the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice but this all vanished in the people and for Ahab himself the text saith he did abominably in following of Idols so that there was none like unto him who sould himself to work wickedness 1 Kings 21.26 27. When the Prophet comes to him