of Grace than to look up to Electing Grace Knowing Brethren your Election of God and giving diligence in every Grace to make our Calling and Election sure The Apostle hath given us a great Admonition for Adoring Supream Grace Rom. 11. 32 c. God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all That is upon all that he will have mercy upon He hath shut them up in such a way that they could not stir if his Grace did not open the way O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out For who hath known the Mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counseller Who could direct God what he should do in the eternal concernments of Souls Or Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced unto him again Can any say to God Thou hast done unjustly or unrighteously that thou hast not chosen me Why what hast thou done or any Creature done to oblige him If he hath I dare assure him it shall be recompenced to him to the uttermost But I assure him he that replies thus he is a Bold Man and Proud and Haughty is his Name And as Christ saith Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to Babes For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever And therefore I desire to be among the number of those that do not quarrel with God That dare not enter a contest and a contention with him concerning his Eternal Choice Let us humble our selves every one at his foot and say Of thee and through thee and to thee are all things and I desire to be to thy Glory Thus let us make our selves nothing before God nothing at all but make him all We never did any thing for him we could never lay an Obligation and therefore we have nothing to say but Free Grace Free Grace Free Love and Free foreknowledge of God 2. In the Second Place This Parable in this dreadful part teaches That we should all be beholding to Christ and to the Free Grace that is in him the Pardon of Sin the Righteousness of Christ his Bloud and his Redemption Here 's our all I say here is our all For as I opened to you the Great Point is Whether in Christ or not Whether Christ be in us and whether we are in him Whether we are found in him as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. 7 c. Here 's the Point That every one may depend upon the Righteousness of God in Christ It is not the works that we have done but according to his own mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit And here the wise Virgins reached out themselves to be found in Christ and only in him but the Foolish Virgins fell short here 3. Thirdly We can do nothing but by the Spirit of Christ Our only hope is in the Spirit of the Lord our God And therefore the foolish Virgins were mistaken That they did all in their own strength and power They trusted in their own Beauty they trusted in their own Virginity and did not mind the Righteousness of Christ the Free Grace of God and the Spirit of Jesus Christ I come to the Fourth thing I proposed and that is To answer the Objections that may be made against this state of this Case I have given you And I desire to speak plainly yet in very short to you in this matter You may say then What can any one do What hope can there be Though I am in the True Religion and in the True Worship of God and though I am in an unblameable Conversation and yet I may be lost and undone because I have not Wisdom because I have not something that I am not able to apprehend or to be sensible of Now therfore I 'll satisfie you in this because you may think In all Religion there lies a discouragement upon us If things be thus Therefore I 'll Answer you in Two things very briefly First Let no man mistake for I am sure Let any thing be preached that can be preached yet there shall not so much as be one Moral Person fewer in the World I am sure that the measure of Restraining Grace of Preventing Grace of Morallizing Grace that God will give to the World nothing of Discourse or Opinion shall be able to straiten it or to lessen it I say I am sure of this There shall not be one Honest Man in the World less because Christ preached to that young Man that had kept all the Commandments from his youth Thou art yet under a great difficulty as to the Kingdom of Heaven A man might have taken the Advantage of that discourse of Christ with this young man and have made a Clamour and noise of it and said here 's one that despises and discourages a good young man for he saith How hardly shall such a young man that hath kept all the Commands from his youth enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but Christ knew very well that he should not hinder or lessen or straiten Moral Honesty or Goodness in the World by what he said for he knew all these things are in God and from God and there shall not one hair from the head of Morality as I may so speak Fall to the Ground because of any thing that can be said for There is a Common Grace of Morality and Honesty given out from God and Christ and whomsoever he thinks fit to Receive it They shall receive it and must receive it and they shall be under the power of it and live suitably to it And so for the Grace of God There shall no one be hindred of his Graee Let men have as many Conceptions as they can have of things and however Discouraging if his Truth be duely spoken and in the season Therefore dont think that the preaching of the Truth of Scripture can do any hurt for God is allwayes present breathing in the Word both with a Spirit of Morality and common Gifts of Righteousness and also with a Spirit of Grace and none shall be ever able to straighten his Spirit in any of the Effects of it And the Truths of God spoken according to his Word shall be subordinated to it In the Second Place I do always acknowledge and Declare with Greatest Freedom and Sincerity That this is the onely way of Preaching the Gospel To preach it so that Every one should be Sensible of True Holiness and True Grace And yet withal They must be Sensible of Free Grace the free Grace of God the free Choice of God Free Grace in the Righteousness of Christ of the Spirit Blowing where it listeth and where it pleaseth as our Lord tells us These things are not to be Divided nor Justled out one by another for they both stand
worthiness of those that Speak or for the Ability with which they speak but the Source of all is this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel that we have in the Word of God And indeed If we had not a Tongue to speak it or Ears to hear it yet to behold the mighty Government of God and Christ the evil of Sin and the excellency of Grace and of the Spirit of God and of the Salvation of Christ throughout it is to put you into Heaven to introduce you into Heaven even while you are here upon Earth Do not think that it is a small thing that these excellent Promises these excellent Doctrines these excellent Exhortations and Counsels are Administred unto you For it is even Heaven upon Earth this very Word of God and for the preaching of it that is only a further Ordination of God that every one may have it spoken unto them and be persuaded In season and out of season and that there might be a more forcible Application upon the Souls of Men. But if we have but the Word of God this Scripture lying in our Houses we have the Kingdom of Heaven I may say lying in our Houses in this Sense I am now speakjng of it to you You have it because you have this excellent Doctrine of Christ And there are Scriptures there are many Scriptures that are so exceeding clear and plain that he may run that reads No one that hath but this Book of God either that he Reads or that is ordinarily read to him but he may say I am exalted herein to Heaven because I have such an excellent Scripture such an excellent Gospel continually before me So the very Sound of it the very Motion of it in the World it is the great Happiness of those parts of the World that have it And we have great Reason to say in this place in this City in this Nation and especially wherever God lights up a clearer Taper and Torch of his Gospel we have Reason to say That Heaven is come down to us and that we can go when we please and Read one of the excellent Sermous and Discourses of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel That we can go to the Epistles and read those admirable Things that the Spirit of God hath given out by the Apostle Paul James and John These things you do not Apprehend the great Advantage of them We talk of Heaven and we would be glad to go to Heaven and Heaven is the great Burden of all our wishes and all our hopes Behold saith Christ the Kingdom of Heaven is here among us the Truth of his Word lying open to us How dreadful therefore will even that Dust that gathers upon our Bibles from day to day be I say what a Testimony will it be And as our Saviour saith to those that he sent out to Preach his Gospel It shall be more tolerable saith he for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those that refuse it And the very dust of your feet saith he when you depart out of that City shake off as a witness against them Mat. 10. 14. So the very dust of our Bibles will rise up in Judgment against us because when God hath opened the Windows of Heaven to us in it we have refused and scorned and despised and to Speak in our ordinary Language counted it as a Book out of date because we have had it so long O! If you did but know what a value the Martyrs in the Days of Queen Mary set upon it when the Light was but just sprung out what a value did they put upon the Scriptures And indeed if God were cutting us short and a Famine of his Word coming upon us we should then say what a great Treasure is God taking from us And yet how many Hours do we pass in the Day and not read of Christ and of the Kingdom of Heaven that is so pourtrayed and explained in the Gospel to us There is a Time that is set out to us by Prophecy and there 's great Reason to hope that it is very near when this Kingdom of Heaven in the Everlasting Gospel shall Ride as it were Circuit or rather at one time be heard from the midst of Heaven throughout the whole Earth Rev. 14. 6. I saw an Angel fly through the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Kindred and Tongue and People This Everlasting Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven It shall be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Whereas now in many parts of America and whereas now in the whole Plat of the Regions where the Mahometan Power is and where Antichrist is There is a concealment of this Gospel a denial a shutting of it up from the Acquaintance and Knowledge and Reading and Hearing of the generality of the People it is here Preached in such a way as to make known the great Counsels and Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to Men. But In the Second Place The Kingdom of Heaven is in the mighty work and operation of the Gospel of Christ upon our Hearts Then when we find Christ to be the Pearl of great Price and sell all to buy him when we look upon him as the onely Treasure and the onely Riches when our Hearts are under the beginnings of Grace and the powerful Operations of it then is the Kingdom of Heaven come to be within us Matth. 13. 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field which indeed is the least of Seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that the Fowls of Heaven lodge in the Branches of it This is an Expression of the Preaching of the Gospel which if it be received and taken in in the power of the Gospel upon the Heart It is indeed a little thing in the beginning but it spreads more and more upon the Heart and Life And the Kingdom of Heaven ver 33. is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened This is the Preaching of the Gospel and also the power of it upon the Hearts of Men. And when it is a Seed that takes upon hearts and brings forth abundantly Fruit to Eternal Life that also is the Kingdom of Heaven And ver 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant Man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it This is the Kingdom of Heaven coming within a Man giving him such a value of Jesus Christ that he looks upon all things else as the Apostle saith
you You may go to your Farm and to your Merchandize c. Every one your own way Now is the Invitation made and now it is to be taken Now it is to be closed with now it is to be accepted Hearken therefore every Soul that hears this Discourse Behold thou art Bidden to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb Thou art invited to that Great Feast of the Kings Son Thou art earnestly perswaded that thou wouldest be present there and that thou wouldest partake of the Splendor Glory and Magnificence and of the Happiness of that Day Take heed now that thou don't make Light of it and say what 's this to me You will certainly Repent it another day You will fall to Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth that you would not be perswaded when you were thus Graciously bidden by Jesus Christ and by the Voice of his Word and the Voice of his Gospel Therefore hearken to this Invitation Hear whoever it be As it is said Isa 55. Where there is a great Description of this very Kingdom of this very State of Paradice As you may find in the last Verse Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir-Tree and instead of the Brier shall come up the Mirtle-Tree And it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an Everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off Now Ho every one that Thirsteth So the Chapter begins As you know we make publick Sounds and Proclamations So Ho every one that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters c. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not c And if any should say this is nothing but onely a Noise of Words and of Discourse saith God ver 9. As the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts For as the Rain cometh down and the Snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but Watereth the Earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater So shall my word be that goeth out of my Mouth It shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall Prosper in the thing whereto I sent it Therefore assure your selves that this Word It will not return in vain It will Prosper to that very End You may be sure such a Feast there is to be Therefore take great care concerning your selves what you will do about it how you will order your selves about it Vse 2. In the Second Place I shall point out to you how you may prepare your selves You must take care of this First of all that you get a Wedding-Garment As it is said Mat. 22. He saw one there that had not on a Wedding-Garment And he said unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a Wedding Garment And he was speechless The Man was so confounded he was so ashamed of the thing that he had nothing at all to say The King came in to see his Guests and he saw a Man that had not on a Wedding Garment The Man had nothing to say he knew there was no Reason for him to say any thing And what is this Wedding Garment It is an interest in Christ an Interest in His Righteousness a being Cloathed in Linnen White and Pure washed in the Blood of the Lamb. And tho the Person did not despise the Wedding He made a Profession as we do of Christianity to come to it Yet in the next verse ver 13. The King said to his Servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness And There shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth For many are called but few are chosen Therefore look diligently to this thing That tho you seem to speak fair you will come and you will be there and you do make a pretence And yet you have not the Wedding Garment Christ and his Righteousness Oh how sad will it be In the Second Place You must look diligently to this too That you have Oyl in your Vessels and not onely in your Lamps This you see is in Matth. 25. The Foolish Virgins never thought of Oyl in their Vessels but onely in their Lamps That is you must have Grace you must have a Holy and Spiritual Life from Christ That will be able to last out and to endure that very Time But I shall not speak more of it Because I shall come in a full Discourse to Treat of it Vse 3. The third use I would have you make is I would have you observe and consider but a little How this Notion of a Feast hath been Corrupted by the Anti-christian World What a Company of Feasts have there been of Man's Institution The Feast of such a Saint and such a Saint and Feasts that never were appointed by God Yet they have come into use and they remain in observation And how came this It is by that Counterfeit Christianity Antichristianism came in Feasts that never were ordain'd by God And I wish with all my heart there were not Reason to bewail not the Anti-christian World onely but even our Protestant Profession There 's nothing looks more Scandalous and more Strange than setting up Feasts that the Gospel never appointed nor Instituted I say I pray with all my heart that they that have Power and Authority in these things may consider it For when Jereboam departed from the purity of Religion Instituted by God in the Old Testament He made Feasts and Times of his own So the Christian World hath done And the Rellicks and Refuse of it are still among us We keep up Times that never were appointed That there 's no mention nor Signature of in the Gospel I do not speak any way to desire to Reflect or to be Censorious but to speak the Truth of things according to the Word of God For it is onely of Jehovah himself to appoint his own Feasts And He hath kept up to us The Feast of the Lord's Day and the Feast of the Lord's Supper as Preparatory to that Great Festival of the Kingdom of Christ And no other are we to make nor to Devise of our own Hearts Vse 4. The Fourth and Last Application is this That you would seriously consider this Marriage of the Lamb this Great Feast how near it is For as the Jews were mighty careful to keep Account of Days and the Motion of Times and Weeks They were to Account as Scripture-Expression is Lev. 23. 15. In that Case so we ought to Account the Time And methinks it is a very great Amazement and a very great Sadness That there should be no more Diligence nor Care Neither in the Publick Ministry of the Gospel nor in Private Christians to Count the Time and to know how near it is to this Great Festival For tho you may think you are Excused Because it is said
Watch For ye know not the Time Yet I shall shew you That hath quite another sense And that it speaks that every one should look that they have the Truth of Grace and Oyl in the Vessel and the Wedding Garment This is the Watchfulness that the Spirit of God confines us to But in the mean time we ought to be upon our Watch-Tower and to know the Times appointed by God For it is great Hypocrisie However we may think it Great Modesty that we do not Discern the Signs of the Times To be Instructed in the Times from the Signs the Scripture hath given us from Time to Time That we may come to know when this Great Coming of the Kingdom of Christ shall be And that our Hearts may be greatly preparing and in a Readiness for that Great Day c. is one Branch of the great Duty of Waiting for his Appearance SERMON V. Near the Time of the Shaking in London c. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on to Ver. 13. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom THE Words that I shall place the present Discourse upon are those Viz. While the Bridegroom Tarried while the Bridegroom delayed While the Bridegroom Delayed his coming While He whiled out the Time As we in our English Language speak and as the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifys While the Bridegroom Delay'd or Tarried or spent Time They all Slumbred and Slept I have you know in this Parable shewn you the Great Intention of it That it Represents the Glory of that Nuptial Feast That Wedding That Marriage of the Lamb. And I have already opened the several Preparatory Particulars in it I shall now at this Time Discourse upon what I have proposed The Bridegroom Tarried And so I shall endeavour to lay this Foundation That the coming of Jesus Christ hath not been since He spoke this Parable Neither is it yet immediately to be The Bridegroom Tarried And therefore herein I shall endeavour to open to you First How strange it is according to Scripture-Discourse that the coming of Christ has been so long delay'd And I shall Answer to you the Objections that arise from it against the Truth of Scripture concerning the Bridegroom's coming And so how this delay and many Scriptures can be reconciled In the Second Place I shall give you the two Great Reasons especially why the Bridegroom 's coming is Delay'd And then In the Third Place I shall enquire the Signs when this Tarrying of the Bridegroom is like to be at an End And I shall endeavour so to Discourse this as to resolve you concerning the Present Face of the World That we are in a Time you know all very well of very great Commotions of the Nations and as the Scripture Expression is We hear of Wars and Rumours of Wars continually And you know God hath both in other Nations and in a part of this Nation the beyond the Sea given us Great Reason to consider that shaking of the Earth that was so dreadful in a part of our Nation tho beyond the Sea And that gentle Admonition that he hath given us of it so lately in this very place In this very City I would therefore Discourse that point to you how far we may look upon these as Signs of the near Coming of the Bridegroom And then I shall close up the whole in the Application of it I begin with the First And that is to Discourse to you how strange it may seem and disagreeable to Scripture that the Bridegroom hath so long Delayed his Coming And I shall remove the Objectons against the Truth and Verity of Scripture Notwithstanding the Delay of the coming First therefore it seems very strange that such an Evil State of the World should continue beyond the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ Seeing there is such an Infinite Grace of God in a Mediator and that he pleased to give his own Son to Lost Man That whoever believes in him should not perish bat have Eternal Life It is no wonder we may be ready truly to say That the World continued till Christ came till He Dyed and Rose again and till there was an Universal Preaching of the Gospel in His Name But why should it last any longer So Great a Thing was done Then in the World that there can be no Expectation of such another And therefore sure there was nothing now to do but for Christ to have a Kingdom as Great and as Large and as Glorious as the Scripture assures he shall have For as I have noted to you and I desire that you would bear as I have said before That Scripture in your Mind Gal. 4. 4. When the Fullness of Time was come God sent forth his Son It is no wonder that Time should last till The Fullness of Time came But that it should last beyond is very strange God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Children And God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son to all those that are his Children to cry Abba Father These were so Great Things that till this Fullness indeed it is no Wonder at all that God bore up the World because he had such a Great Discovery of his Love and of his Grace to make and by which Men had been Saved all along before even the Fathers in the Old Testament And by which Salvation is to be alone expected and received 'T was no Wonder therefore I say that God bore up the World to that Fullness of Time But now it is strange that it should last any longer than that It is Wonder there has not been a Kingdom of Redemption and of Glory ever since But now to Answer you in that Particular and by a Place of Scripture as Notable as this Fullness of Time is There is another far Greater Appearance of the Glory of the Redemption of Christ For you know All That was in Humiliation It was in an Incognito-State in a Disguise of the Son of God Humbling Himself into the Form of a Servant and to Death the Death of the Cross But All This is to Appear in Glory And as there was a Fullness of Time for that First Manifestation of Christ So there is Ephes 1. 10. a Dispensation of the Fullness of Times not only of Time but of Times or of All Time That he might gather together in One all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in Him Till that Date be come the Kingdom of Christ cannot be Let me therefore desire of you That you would keep these Two Places of Scripture always in your Thoughts with Relation to the First Coming of Christ and with Relation to his Second Glorious Coming and Appearance There is the Fullness of Time and
with relation to God and Religion a Virgin And yet notwithstanding this because he is a foolish Virgin all the Misery here exprest comes upon him Let us therefore consider our selves I would hope That we might have a very good Title and Pretension to this Stile of a Virgin and that we hold the Truth of the Gospel and the Purity of Worship and the Holiness of Conversation in regard of all outward Appearance and yet let us look well to this That we are not Fools therein And therefore I 'll set out to you in several particulars according to the Wisdom of our Lord Jesus in this Parable I 'll shew you the danger of being a foolish Virgin and in what kind of Circumstances they shall rise and how it shall be with them as it were from first to last as our Lord hath here given to us and yet I 'll do it with brevity for the things will be very plain And if we would be but faithful to our selves in taking notice of them and laying them up in our hearts and examining our hearts according to them There needs not much to be said but thought and considered and meditated upon much by every one of us in relation to each particular The First thing which expresses the circumstances in which foolish Virgins shall arise is this They will presently begin to make the best of that Name of Profession and that Name Virginity that hath been upon them They 'll be ready to say I have had a Lamp I carry that to be sure with me I have had a Name of Profession and Christianity upon me I have Endeavoured to Hear and to Pray and to Receive the Lords Supper and to keep the Lord's Day I 'll be certain to take that along with me for all the Virgins arose and Trimmed their Lamps The wise indeed had Right to do it and they did it upon good grounds and the foolish did the very same thing and therefore it is significantly exprest in the Text All those Virgins not only wise but foolish They arose and Trimmed their Lamps That is they set out their Profession as large and as favourable and with as much advantage as they could Now therefore Here is our great Point to look to this That we have not only the Lamp of Profession but that we have the Truth and Sincerity of Faith and Repentance of Holiness of an Interest in Christ and in his Bloud I 'll give you two Scriptures to this case one on the side of the wise Virgins and one on the side of the foolish Virgins and so pass on And I would desire you would take notice of these Scriptures that may be helpful to bring these things to your Minds That all of us may enter into deep Reflection and serious Examination upon it In the 1 Pet. 1. 22. saith the Apostle speaking of these things seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren c. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God and now observe how he had Discoursed of this Point before ver 17. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear In what fear does he mean not in a slavish fear as I shall shew you presently but in a holy care in a holy awe in a wise and judicious search into things and so he speaks ver 7. That the Tryal of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tried with Fire might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ O let every one take this Scripture into Mind into serious consideration and pass the time of our sojourning here in a holy and wise and judicious Awe and Fear That the Tryal of our Faith though it be tryed with Fire c. Observe how notably the Apostle speaks as if he should say Your Faith will be tryed with Fire with the Fire of that Day whether it be true and right Faith or not And it will be tryed in a moment and instantly because a short work will the Lord make upon the Earth For as I told you it will appear presently by the Thoughts we have about us by the Company we come with by the Bodies we have on And this will be in the Face of the Fire you must come and if it be only a drossy-Faith it won't stand the Fire it won't be able to endure If it be only a painted Faith it will presently come to nothing And therefore saith the Apostle look that your Faith be found to Honour and Glory and Praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ And then on the Side of the Foolish Virgins Consider That in the 13th Chapter of Luke 26. Then shall ye begin to say We have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets They shall begin to say when they find the Door shut upon them They shall begin to say Lord We have Eat and Drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets But he shall say I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity ver 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I expound it Especially though I don't deny that at this time there are some Half-seekers that cannot enter But it is especially at that time of the coming of the Bridegroom They shall seek to enter and they shall not be able When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut the Door c. Then shall ye begin to say We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets So here 's the First thing they endeavour to make the best of their profession that they have had here in the World So will all foolish Virgins do in all their Duties of all that they have said for God or any good works but If the power of these things have not been it will not be able to carry any out though we shall endeavour to make the best of our Profession that 's the first Description of the State of the foolish Virgins when they arose 2. I come to the Second thing that our Lord here mentions And that is They shall presently be sensible pray observe that that their Grace doth not hold out that they were but counterfeit that they were but dross that they were but Tinsel For presently they say they want supply Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out It is a sad and woful thing That a Man should lose all the Prayers and all the Profession that he made here in the World And yet when he comes into his Body again though he was sent out of the
fair in the Wisdom of God and they are both to be offered to the Minds and Consciences of men and they shall both work Effectually for the great ends and purposes that God hath appointed And as as Christ saith If any one be offended let them be offended Why Because every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up That is there shall be no Plant lost but what God leaves to it self in his just and righteous Judgment That is A Moral Man and an Honest Man and a Sober Man so by the Grace of God he shall be so still God hath chosen and mark'd him out to be such a one And he that is truly good he shall be so And yet all this shall be conveyed in the power of Preaching and in such kind of Threatnings and Promises such kind of Expostulations as Scriptures speak and therefore I would not have you think that these things should be put to a Jarre by any Mens Preaching for every one is under the righteous Government of God Now therefore let Truths run ever according to the Word of God let them run freely as a stream from Free Grace Let them then be with all the Freeness and Publickness spoken of that can be And as it is said in Exodus 14. There was a Pillar of Cloud and a Pillar of Fire in one And the Pillar of Cloud was turned that is the dark side was turned upon the Egyptians and the light side upon the Israelites So I say when the Word of God is preached the Light side shall be upon the person that God will have a sober honest righteous good man and the dark side shall be upon the dissolute and upon the prophane and upon the intemperate And so the dark side shall be upon them that God leaves to themselves and the Light side shall be upon those that God will bring under his Grace and under his Spirit and under the Power of Holiness And so I have Discoursed the Doctrinal part of this great Point to you and I hope so That none of you should have any just cause of being offended at what I have spoken but that it should engage every one of us to run up to Grace and to Christ for the hopes are greater that I have laid down to you out of the Scriptures wherein our Springs lie then when they call upon us for our own Action and Duty And when they do so they shew us the great necessity of Christ of the Spirit of Christ of Free Grace For don't we see Men are Preaching up Free-Will and Works as much as they can And yet for all that was there ever so much prophaneness and wickedness was there ever any less Power and Life of the Gospel since the Reformation than now there is And therefore though the Pulpits be full of this yet we don't see the powerful Grace of God go along so that we have reason to rejoice at such Preaching but those that Preach the Righteousness of Christ without Works and set forth the fulness of Free Grace and of the Supream Dominion of God and yet in a way of Holiness I can remember and trace back That there were great effects of this Mens Lives were mightily Changed and Reformed They were mightily changed notwithstanding that this Preaching was endeavoured to be stifled and stopt There were many effects both in City and Country in bringing Men to God and to Christ by that Preaching and so there are still and therefore to close all in the Application 1. In the First Place I would earnestly beseech you That you would prize this Grace And Oh! that God would be pleased to turn the Bright-side of what I have now spoken on and that you would go into your secret Closets and Meditations and lay your selves low before God and acknowledge the freeness of God's Grace One have I chosen and another have I left Be not afraid of this I say it shall do you no hurt at all God may make it a time of Love And the more you depend upon Grace upon the Righteousness of Christ the more holiness and the more you shall find the Power and Breathing of the Spirit of Jesus Christ upon you And therefore Remember the Three things whereupon we stand viz. The Free Grace of God before the Foundation of the World The Righteousness of Jesus Christ our whole Trust as to our acceptance witâ— God The Spirit of Grace in building up in the ways of Holiness And 2. In the Second Place Let not from all that I have spoken any think That any thing will be accepted without sincerity of Grace For where-ever there hath been the Love of God or the Righteousness of Christ that hath taken hold of any ones State and Condition and where the Spirit of God hath taken hold upon any ones heart there shall be sure to be the mighty Effect of Grace and Holiness and Spirituality and that in a Man 's own action he shan't lie still and say I 'll see what God will work upon me but he shall be up and be up and be doing because the Lord is with him He shall be active and full of motion striving and full of industry because the Light-Side of the Scripture is upon him and he is kept from every thing that offends His foot shall not be taken as Scripture saith while he holds himself close in dependance upon Free Grace upon the free Choice and Election of Grace I am sure you shall not be ashamed if God move your hearts and if the Light-Side of Scripture be upon you in these things you shall find God will be your Confidence and your sure and strong hold his Name in these things shall be your strong Tower to which ye shall run and be safe In the Third Place I desire you would give me but one Moments time to move you to beg for the Coming of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and for the Time it shall first be preparing for its Glory and which I have declared to be so near upon so great Ground of Scripture Now I would give you Ground of earnestly begging for this Kingdom of Christ and the succession of it And why Because there shall be great Converting Grace bringing in Strangers to God and to Christ There shall be a greater Power in bringing men to the Purity and Simplicity that is in Christ Then many foolish Virgins yet shall be made wise many not Virgins yet shall be Espoused to Christ And if you say Why was not this always The Answer that I shall give you is this It is in the power of God to dispence Grace as he pleases You may as well say Why had not our fore-Fathers the Gospel as pure as we have Why had they not the Scripture so clear And why had they it not in their own Language Two or Three or Four or Five Hundred Years ago It was a dangerous thing within these Two Hundred Years to
forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation You see here all the whole World of Mankind at that day of the Coming of Christ they either rise to the Resurrection of Life or to the Resurrection of Damnation nothing is then to be done more This is a most evident and apparent Truth And as I have made out to you Spirits coming in to Bodies come either full of the notices of Eternal life or full of the Notices of Eternal Death They carry all the Characters upon them They rise either to Honour or to Everlasting shame and contempt And therefore as the Apostle speaks Ephe. 5. Awake thou that Sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life ver 14. We must look well to this That we hear the Voice of the Son of God now and live The time is coming and now is the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Now is the quickning time according to it Men come forth The time is begun now saith he and it shall go on to the very coming of the Bridegroom that they that hear the Voice of the Son of God shall live ver 25. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from death unto life We must look whether we have shot that great Gulf of passing from death to life for this is a Gulf to be passed now which in that future state cannot be passed As you know in that 16th of Luke 24. There 's a great Gulph fixed between us and you so that they which would pass from you to us cannot neither doth any pass from us to you that are in those Regions of darkness So I say the Gulf is now to be pass'd There is a Pass now but there shall be none in that State they are past from death to life It is as if our Saviour should say They have shot the Gulf And therefore let us consider whether God hath changed us as it were from West to East Whether he hath turned us to the Rising of the Sun of Righteousness with Healing in his Wings Whether he hath turned our thoughts to Eternity and from the present World and all the Impurities of it Whether the Face of our Spirits are to the Kingdom of God or not Let us look seriously to all those Scriptures that teach us concerning the truth of Conversion concerning the truth of Faith concerning the truth of Repentance It is our duty undoubtedly to trim our Lamps in this reguard now and to search and ransack every thing in our own souls that we may be assured of the truth of Conversion and that our hearts are so turned to God that they can never be turned back again That we turn our hearts back so to Christ That we say Whither should we go thou hast the words of eternal life To find that God hath so engag'd our hearts and thoughts to himself that we can never more revolt from him And though we fall and there are many things that we complain of and bewail and have reason to humble our selves yet notwithstanding this our souls have that Union to Christ we are so knit to him That the Golden Oil still runs out upon us from that great Son of Oil that he empties out of himself to us That Holy anointed one that stands before the Lord of the whole Earth is continually supplying and giving out to us from himself 2. The Second thing that I proposed to you by way of direction to this watching is That you would look to this to be earnest instant in fervent Prayer and to pray especially to this very Point That you may be counted worthy to stand before Jesus Christ at his coming Our Prayers ought to be for the present state of Grace indeed and for all the signs of it but we are to have a continual ardency in Prayer to stand before Christ For if you consider if the very Coming of Christ should be now if he should now be coming and appearing every one would be ready to run to their Prayers to those Prayers they have accustomed themselves to nay those that have used themselves to a common and formal way of Prayer would be ready to stretch out themselves to a higher way Wherefore let us endeavour after this to pray continually as if Christ were coming That we may be delivered from the Guilt of Sin That we may be delivered from all our corruptions That we may be in Robes washed white in his bloud That we may be in the Wedding Garment That we may have every thing suited to the Glory of his Coming and Appearance So you shall find our Saviour directs his Disciples upon this very account Luke 21. Watch ye therefore saith he and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man at his coming Take heed that our hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and with the cares of this life But that we are in a continual posture of expecting the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And in the 12th Chapter of Luke 36 And ye your selves like unto Men that wait for their Lord when he will come because of the Wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately We should take great care of the state of our hearts now that we may at that very time be found not so as Gluttons Drunkards are but Watching Praying But you know There 's no such thing as Gluttony and Drunkenness in the Future State of Spirits there 's nothing of the cares of this life in that future state but they are the things that now oppress and that now take away the hearts of Men. And this know saith he ver 39. That if the good man of the house had known what hour the Thief would come he would have watched and not have Suffered his house to be broken through Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of Man cometh in an hour when ye think not The Argument therefore Lies that we should do now what we would do For just so we shall Rise and Appear as hath been made out There ought therefore to be a holy violence upon every ones preparation by Earnest Prayer and Supplication for that Day we ought every one to pray as if just that very day was upon him We should pray with the same Earnestness as if that Day were even now upon us This therefore is that Great Rule that our Saviour gives us in Relation to that Time that we should so pray now That we should not at that Day be in the Confusion and in the Horrour of those Things Luke 21. 35. Watch ye and pray that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man You see here that ye may stand before the Son of Man there must be a watching to prayer and a watching upon this very account O! that we could be sensible of that Day and stir up our supplications in that very point So the Apostle Peter For I would endeavour to argue the Scripture upon you that the great Intention and Earnestness of our Prayer should run to that very Point of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand and therefore watch unto Prayer Let us be continually watching unto Prayer upon this very account because the end of all things is at hand If we considered that it would engage and stir up our Prayers Be sober and watch unto Prayer for our Prayers will meet us then we shall rise in them at that Day 3. In the Third Place Our Watchfulness should stand in this in a constant living sence of the Word of God especially in this great point upon us That we should have a Meditation upon the Word of God It is a very hard thing for us to entertain our thoughts in the Night when we are awake or when we are alone it is a hard thing to know how to employ our Thoughts and to engage them And therefore if we could take the Word of God That would keep us in an awful sence of God and of eternal things David often speaks of his Meditation in the Word of God Psal 119. I meditate in thy Word I meditate in thy Statutes it is my meditation all the day And Psal 1. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly c. but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night Saith David I stir up my self I awake in the night that I might meditate in thy statutes If we could seriously bring into our thoughts the Meditations of the end of all things but we are so concern'd for this little spot of Time even for that next Moment that is before us what we shall eat and what we shall drink and what we shall put on and how this and that shall be maintained If our hearts were but suitably and proportionably fixt upon that What shall we do for our Eternal Condition How shall we bear that Day Would not any one set that Day before him if he were really possest of it If a Man were to Plead his Cause and whole condition in this World who of us could keep his Heart and Thoughts from oft running into 't Now if we could keep our Meditations upon those Scriptures that speak of this Eternal Condition I beseech you endeavour to get up your selves and to aspire to it by the Grace of God and that you would meditate on these things as the Apostle Paul teaches Timothy Meditate on these things that thy profiting may appear to all men He speaks indeed there of the preparation for the work of Preaching of the Gospel But let us apply it for we are every one concerned in this Great Point to be Preachers to our selves Certainly if every one be not a Preacher to himself all other Preachers can do him no good at all And the Excellent Truths that lie in the Word of God can do no good till a Man comes to Preach them to himself The Book of Ecclesiastes is in the English of it the Book of the Preaching soul that Book of Solomon which we call the Book of the Preacher it was the Book of the Preacher first to himself Eccl. 1. 1. It is observed by Learned Men the Word signifies The Preaching Soul Every one should be a Preaching Soul to himself and Preaching this Great Point Of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ And this would engage our Watch this would be like the snuffing the Lamps of our dark Apprehensions and blowing up the Flame of our cold and benumm'd affections It would make the Light more clear and it would be like the blowing up the fire it would enflame and warm us with the strength and vigour of those great apprehensions that pertain to the Coming of Christ Indeed it is very sad That the present state of the World is so covered and so darkned and so eclipsed and so chill'd and even frozen in these things We can go into no Company nay we our selves though we are sensible of these Truths we speak them and hear of them yet we don't know how to converse like the Servants of God That we might be all Preachers to our selves and one to another in them It is earnestly to be hoped and prayed for That a betterstate of things may come on and that the Spirit may be poured out abundantly And Would as Moses said all the Lords People were Prophets I cannot reasonably think that Moses spake of a thing that was impossible But surely there shall be a time that every one of the Servants of God shall have something to say as Prophets of the Lord one to another And this is the time that is earnestly to be expected and to be Prayed for I make no doubt but the World shall have such a Time of preparation in order to the Great and Glorious Coming of Christ Acts 2. 17. Pray observe God will pour out his Spirit to this very end to this very purpose saith the Apostle I will pour out my Syirit upon all flesh and your Sons and you Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams Every one shall have something to offer to another concerning God And on my servants and on my hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie And I will shew Wonders in Heaven above and Signs in the Earth beneath c. And the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud before that Great pray observe that before that Great and illustrious Day of the Lord come He will come in the still Voice of his Spirit poured out and of every one being enabled as Moses saith as a Prophet For would Moses do you think have said Would every Atome of Dust upon the Earth could be a Star he would not have wish'd such a thing or That all the Drops of Water in the Sea might be turned into Gold and Pearls These things would have been strange in Moses because they are things that never shall be But now That all the Lord's People shall be Prophets That 's a thing God will certainly do and awaken the World with before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come In the mean time Let us endeavour to be Preaching-Souls unto our selves This is a thing I am sure that no one can have reason to be offended at Let Men be never so severe that none must Preach but such and
Judgment Heaven and Hell And indeed though I look upon it as a great Scripture-Truth and which hath so great Evidence as cannot be contradicted yet I am far from pressing any one to take into Consideration I mean those Apprehensions concerning such a Kingdom of Christ So that they should take off any thing from the serious Meditation of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell And I would desire only those persons to take them into Consideration that find they are more enlivened and more enlarged and more enflamed by the strong Consideration of the Great Things Scripture hath spoken and that are in a visible and apparent way to bring forth the Glory of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ And therefore I hope there is nothing that can be justly Taxed in endeavouring to seek further into the Doctrines of Christianity beyond those that are but the Beginning Principles of the Doctrine of Christ I would exhort every serious Christian to make these it his continual Meditation and that nothing may take off the edge of his Spirit in these things Say now Am I not to die And must I not come to Judgment Is it not said It is appointed to all men once to die and after this the Judgment Am I not immediately to come into a Judgment and determination of my Eternal Condition And am I not to stand before Christ in Judgment Don't we all own that And is there not a Heaven and an Eternity of Happiness And is there not on the other hand a black and dark Eternity even utter darkness and for ever O that God would enable us to carry this all in our Minds the Eternity of Happiness and the Eternity of Misery You know great Princes are Pictured with great Globes in their hands but Jesus Christ hath those Two great Globes the Keys of Death and Hell and Eternal Life to give Let these things be our plain and constant Meditation Let us cut off every thing that we think is singularity I am still of the same Apprehension that the Scripture hath declared a visible Kingdom and Glory that is near Yet I beseech you that you would get these into your constant Apprehension And O that they might fall upon every one Let nothing of Notion or Opinion take off from these Great Things Let us continually take our Walk and Meditation into those Regions beyond this World Let us say I am to go out of this World and this State and O how Great must the Change be That I must immediately enter into an Eternity of Happiness or an Eternity of Misery Nothing will make the Doctrine of Christ so powerful as to have a strong Meditation of these Things And then In the Seventh Place Let us take heed of the sins of the Time wherein we live though by all means we are to take heed of the open Prophanenesses that are in the Wortd but I beseech you That we may all look to this There are the peculiar Sins of those that are called Virgins There 's something peculiar to every Time And therefore as I have intimated to you in that Rev. 3. 1. That Church of Sardis I have for some time look'd upon it to be the Pourtraiture of these very Times and this very State we are upon It is a Picture of the Church of Christ in that State we call Protestant and in that State we call The Reformation And therefore observe how that is described and let us look very diligently that we don't fall into those very sins And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis Write These things saith he that hath the Seven Spirits of God and the Seven Stars I know thy works That thou hast a Name that thou livest and art dead O Let us take heed of having a Name To be a Protestant is a Name to live To be of the Reformed Churches is a Name to live Take heed Is it not the General State of this very Age of this very Time We have a Name to live and yet are dead Among all the several Professions and Churches of Christianity in the Reformed way at this Day surely it is a Sin that lies upon every one They have a Name to live and yet are dead We find it one in another but every one may find too much that he hath a Name to live but is dead We may say to our selves Is this like one that is come out of Popery upon the account of Conscience and upon the account of Truth and the Word of God This is a Name to live because say we the things that Papists profess and that they do are not according to the Word of God Why now if it be a Name to live to come out from among them Take heed that we are not dead If we have not the Power of Godliness in the Profession of the Reformed and Protestant Religion It is but a Name to live be watchful and strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die O! how truly may we say That the Things in order to the Kingdom of Christ they are ready to die every where among all sorts of Professors How ready is the Publick Way of Worship to die for want of the Power of what they Profess And if you look upon the Congregated Professors with what reason do they complain They are grown very Proud very Worldly very Vain notwithstanding all their Profession So here 's a Name to live in order to the Kingdom of Christ but they are ready to die Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die Here 's that Watch that Christ speaks of We should take heed and watch that the things which remain and are ready to die might be quickned and have a new life For saith he I have not found thy Works perfect before God I have not found them filled out and filled up They are just like a Stalk of Wheat that looks as if it were something and yet like one of Pharaoh's lean Ears if we come to search and enquire into it and to Rub it as we speak in our hands we find it to be nothing so indeed we may sadly complain when we come to Rub Profession either in others or in our selves it is very thin and lean and lank And therefore our works are not filled up before God Now what saith Christ I will come upon thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee Let us therefore be very diligent in this thing to look to have the Power of our Profession to have the Power of the Protestant Religion to have the Power of the Reformation For indeed It is a very sad thing that so many of us as have a Zeal against Popery a Zeal against the Corruption of that State That yet we should sink so much below some of the Devotionists among them For undoubtedly There are some among them that seem to be under a greater Profession than many Protestants
the Servants of God Oh Revolution It immediately pass'd upon them All and there were Loud Voices in Heaven upon it proclaiming that Revolution The Kingdoms of this World are bocome the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ And this is done at Half Time Ending which signifies Suddenness and Surprise When this is done He who does it Comes with strong Hand His Arm Rules for Him He understands his own Work In the midst of All the Perplexities of it His work is before him He understands it perfectly and throughout Every Spring every Wheel to be moved Every Pin of Connexion But that which may much indeed Terrify and Discourage is the Great Unworthiness of All Sorts and Degrees of Men of Nations and even of Churches so that some very Sweeping Judgment and Desolation rather or at least is first to be expected The Hope yet is That when God works for his Kingdom and seems to be Lifting up his Hand to Destroy He will work for his own Names sake in a Deliverance He will consider He to whom the Kingdom is to be Given is worthy And when the Lord Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant comes into his Temple He does not expect to find Refinement ready to his Hand but He comes to Refine He hath given an Example in the Apostle Paul of All Long-suffering and Patience especially prepared for that very Time Those who shall Hereafter in a great distance of Time Believe on Him His Reward is with Him He expects it only from Himself when his work ie so before him And even to Impenitents there is first a time of Warning and Testimony and then the Day that will Burn as an Ouen and the wicked are as Ashes under the Soles of the Feet After this warning is the perdition of ungodly Men reserv'd for punishment I know very well Notwithstanding all this Assurance and the Reason of it I have given It will be said yet to me Seeing this Year 97 is in so near on Approach and there are no Appearances of such a Succession or opening of the Kingdom of Christ ought it not therefore to shake your Confidence and put a diffidence upon such a continued Affirmation of such a Kingdom to make any Entrance at this Time In Answer to this I would make this Humble Profession or Confession in these Three things First I cannot be shaken in my assurance Because I find my Grounds in the Word of God unshakable and unmoveable A False Witness that hath no Foundation Perisheth in this Sense He cannot Bear up to nor continue in his Testimony But He that Heareth and knows on what Grounds He speaks Affirmeth constantly He that hath seen nothing as the Ground of his Prophecy is like a Reed shaken with the Wind But they that have the Word of the Lord Continue to speak it While I am so certain The Kingdom of Christ Enters its Succession without any delay whenever the Last of the Four Kingdoms Ends That the Third Woe of the Seventh Angel that Sounds the Kingdom of Christ Cometh quickly I look to see therefore what assurances there are this Last Kingdom even its Last State is upon giving up I find then the Times and Half Which are the Term of the Last State of the Last Kingdom By the Time since Constantine By the Time since the Christian Empire Demised By the Time since Mahometanism and more Particularly the Ottoman Empire hath entred the World By the Time since the Reformation first entred by Luther just ending All these have such Lively Sculptures and Engravings in the Sure word of Prophecy and their Times so Delineated I do not better know the Course of the Months in the Year the Days in the Month or the Hours in the Day then I know the very Last Year of the 1260 Days of Years is now entring and to Run its Circle and that within its Circle the Kingdom of Christ will come into its Succession The Second thing that I most Humbly desire to be Stedfast Unmoveable Unshaken in and upon is the Exceeding Riches of the Grace and Loving Kindness of God in Jesus Christ the Great High Priest and Apostle of my Profession That Shepherd of the Sheep that is to Shine forth as the Great Prince to have That great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Fold that is a Court One Shepherd and One Fold the Goodness and Faithfulness of the Spirit of Truth Guiding into all Truth Glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ by taking of the Things That are His and so of his Kingdom and shewing them to his Servants and shewing them Things that are to Come I have Great Assurance in his Tenderest Mercies having Led and Guided and Supported me thus far in the Search after his Kingdom and Manifested so much to me He will not Leave me to be ashamed of my Hope I can Humbly say before Him as his Servant Jeremy Oh Lord thy Words have been Found and I have Eaten them and they have been the Joy and the Rejoycing of my Heart I Humbly therefore Expostulate with Him Wilt Thou Wilt Thou be to me as a Lyar I know it is Impossible He should Lye He is God that cannot Lye And therefore herein His Servants may plead with Him The Vision shall not Lye He will not be as Waters that are not sure of which he hath given so Lively a Description in comparing the Unfaithfulness of Friends to Them My Friends have dealt Deceitfully with me as a Brook and as the Streams of Waters that pass away Which are Blackish by Reason of Ice c. But what Time they are warm They Vanish when it is Hot They are Consumed out of their Place the Paths of their way are turned aside They go to nothing and Perish The Troops of Tema Looked and VVaited The Companies of Seba were Confounded Because they had Hoped they came thither and were Ashamed Jer. 15. 15. c. Job 15. 15. c. How fully does this Express what Jeremy understood by Waters not sure And how Applicable to My Case if the Hopes I have of the Kingdom of Christ should prove mistaken It may be said Indeed if I were sure I had the Right Sense of Scripture-Prophecy the Argument were enough sure I therefore herein Rely on his Grace that he hath Guided me into the Truth of his Word that as I am sure His Word cannot Fail He cannot Lie so neither can any Iron any Created Power break the Northern Iron or prepared Steel of his Wisdom Truth and Power But lest any should say If you have such a Fasth have it to your self before God and Happy are you if you do not find Reason to Condemn your self in what you so much approve This therefore is my Third Profession The things that I have so heard and seen by continual search into Meditation upon and seeking Divine Direction in I cannot but speak I look upon the Kingdom as of those Things wherein we should confess Christ and not