hard for those that are left that you be not utterly stript and bereaved Be prudent foresee the evil and hide your selves take the presage to be awakened to meet your God in that way wherein he is ready to receive and be reconciled to a sinful People and repent of the evil which he is ready to bring upon them lest otherwise if you now neither believe nor consider Your sad experience do to â—late convince you and extort that better confession from you that such have been taken away from the evil to come FINIS The only sure way to prevent threatned CALAMITY As it was delivered in a SERMON Preached at the COURT of ELECION May 24. 1682. Jer. 26. 12 13. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the Princes and to all the People saying The Lord sent me to prophesie against this House against this City all the words that ye have heard Vers 13. Therefore now amend your wayes and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord with repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you SUch is the unhappy entertainment that plain-dealing and open-hearted reproofs do meet with in the World that when they are most needed they can be least born The fouler the stomack the more nauseous is the Physick when the malady is come to a dangerous Crisis and every symptom bodes a sad and sudden change men are better pleased with â— cheating quack that dissembleth the dâ—sease and engageth all shall be well then with an honeâ—â— and faithful Physitian who tells them the distemper is malignant the issue dubious and without the application of some speedy and eâ—traordinary means desperate He that will â—ndertake to lay open the true state of degenerous People by ripping up their sins displaying their impenitencies and applying the threatnings of â—â—â—ine displeasure shall expose himself to the hatred and injurious usage of those for whom he doth this kindness Apostacy being a spiritual frenzy and herein expressing an affinity with madâ—en in being enraged at none so much as those that in love seek their cure The truth of this our Prophet here experienced who being sent by God on an unthankful errand for when men love the distemper they do by consequence despise the remedy and hate him that brings it And I therefore call it unthankful 〈◊〉 from its own nature for what can be a more obliging courtesie than to give men timely notice of eminent dangers counsel how to avoid them But from the disposition of those who were to receive it whom custom in sin had wedded to â— complacency in it whose pride and presumptioâ— had made them inpatient of all threatnings and in whom deep rooted impenitence had obstructed the reception of every advice calling them to reformation being thus sent he faithfully and clearly opens their state shews them their hazzards directs to such duties as the present circumstances required promiseth them a good issue if they were so followed but denounceth ruine if they were neglected And now as if he had been guilty of Treason and had joyned hands in some dangerous conspiracy the Priests Prophets and People in a transport of fury lay violent hands on him in the very Temple and nothing can satisfie their hellish rage but the Prophets life The Princes who though possibly they had but little if any thing more of Religion then the rest yet pretending to more civility enterpose in this fray and call the matter to a legal hearing which by the over-ruling providence of God determineth in his delivery out of their hands The Principal things observable in this transaction are the Peoples Accusation and Jeremiah's Apology The former is briefly touched in vers 11. in which while they pretend to accuse they undertake to Judge and with a full cry pronounce him a man of death This man is worthy to dye or the judgement of death is for this man as the Hebrew text reads it Which lest they should seem to have spoken of prejudice they article against him for sedition For he hath spoken against this City nor need witnesses be sought for they themselves had heard it with their ears We see what different interpretations the words and actions of men ly open unto how change of times changeth mens opinions of things how dangerous it is for men to speak the truth in Apostatizing times Micah the Morasthite delivered a more fearful because a more positive Prophesie in the dayes of Hizekiah Mic. â— 12. Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forrest And yet was not branded for a turbulent person nor prosecuted as a ring-leader of sedition but received as a Prophet of the Lord and his prediction â—mproved to repentance which averted eminent desolation Jeremiah so threatens calamity as withal to promise mercy in case of sound repentance and he is an offender prophesieth against the City and no less than his blood can serve to expiate his crime How happy a thing is it to preach to a pious Generation who because they hate their sins love their reprovers How unhappy to come to a People wedded to their wicked waves who count those their enemies who are so to their lust As for the Prophets Apology I need for the present occasion to take notice only of the just defence which he makes both of himself and his prophesie which is contained in the Text. The Persons before whom he makes it are the Princes and all the People under whom we may list the Priests and Prophets unless we look on these as his accusers and the other as those to whom he appeals as Judges The Vindication it self consists of two Parts 1. A clearing up of the Authority by which he had spoken Their Lord Jehovah sent me to prophesie Divine Authority gives a supersedeas to humane Laws They may make it Capital to speak against their wayes and doings but if God Authorize his Servants to it it is no Crime in them but a duty to cry aloud and not to spare The Prophets Commission comprizeth the full of their Accusation He might have prophesied against other Nations without their offences but that he doth it against this City this is the provocation He therefore asserts his particular charge To prophesie against this House and this City Grotius indeed lenifies the expression and would have the words read To this House and to this City Noting that the prophesie was for them and not against them And indeed conâ—â—cing and awakening preaching would be so if a People had wisdom and grace rightly to improve it But suppose it against them yet if God be against a People and would have them to know it should the Prophet obey man or God Especially if he exceeds not the bounds of his commission which Jeremiah here further asserts for the Lord sent him to speak all the words which they had heard he had not added
as Potters shreds with the Scepter of his Power USE That I may render these truths practicable and accommodate them to the use and benefit of this People give me leave to deal in all plainness and integrity As I would not give flattering words lest God should destroy me so neither would I designedly provoke or move any to anger except it be at his sins I shall therefore endeavour to speak words of truth and soberness and yet chuse rather to offend man than provoke the most high There are two Uses I have to suggest unto which I shal reduce those few words which I have to speak the one by way of Conviction the other of Exhortation 1. For Conviction Let us solemnly consider and rightly weigh whether or no those words which have been spoken against this Place and People on such occasions as this were not such words as God commanded those that delivered them to come and speak I must confess when I seriously look upon this People in their constitution Civil and Ecclesiastical molded in the one under wholsome Laws in the other under strict and sacred Covenants When I consider that the management of these is under the hands of Pious and Prudent Magistracy a godly and learned Ministry When I think how many there are whose hearts are upright with God and do not wickedly depart from his Covenant When I mind that by the very confession of unprejudiced strangers here is more of sobriety and honest conversation then almost in any place they have occasion to be conversant in It seems hard to believe that God who is full of Mercy and Pity who knows this frame of ours and minds that we are but dust should declare against us though many infirmities should appear in the midst of us And could be willing to think that all the warnings menaces which have been uttered by these or those were nothing else but the mistakes of an irregular though well minded zeal or the dumps and night visions of some melancholick spirits and thus indeed were the Prophets of old censured But when I throughly weigh all circumstances in an equal ballance I dare not but conclude that the Lord hath sent them to speak all these words What they have spoken is for the most part upon Record and commended to us in Print Wherein we are impeached for degenercy threatned with the Judgements of God if we amend not and thence solemnly advised and invited to Repent If they understood the mind of God then are we far from being safe and secure from eminent dangers I know they have been condemned by some contemned by many more scarcely believed by any if we are to take the evidence of mens faith by their works But if we shall ponder such things as these they may leave conviction behind them 1. They were the Lords faithful Watch-men who gave this Alarum Not men that came upon their own heads but were set up by the will of God to descry and give notice of his mind to his People And these are such as God is wont to make known his counsels to Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his Servants the Prophets They were such as truly feared God and would not dare to prophesie lyes in the name of the Lord. 2. They were such as loved and laboured for the peace and prosperity of this People Who could truly with the Prophet appeal to him who knows the heart that they desire not that woeful day Friends and not Enemies to our Zion who loved and stood up for the way of these Churches who prayed for the peace of our Jerusalem Who mourned in secret for the sins of the land and to their ability strongly endeavoured to stop the course of them and to prevent the eruptions of God's Wrath Who preached the displeasure of God with pitty and compassion entreating and encouraging to Repentance 3. They delivered not these messages without many heavy pangs and throes upon their own spirits This roll was bitter to them and with a great deal of reluctancy and unwillingness did they declare themselves I my self have heard some of them expressing what Combats what Wrestlings they have had in their own minds how loth to speak how fearful about their message how well they could have been content to enjoy the good-will of the People and how greatly unwilling they were to be an occasion of adding to the guilt of those that had already run too deep on account with God And could they have so satisfied their own consciences and been clear of blood would have altogether held their peace Yea sometimes had said as the Prophet Chap. 20. 9. I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name 4. There hath been great harmony and concurrence in these Testimonies It hath not been the voice only of one or two but such things have been told us from year to year And though God may put a lying spirit into four hundred false Prophets yet he is not wont so to deceive his own servants If they all are misled what shall we do or where shall we seek for the Word of the Lord or would not that it self be a clear evidence of Gods great displeasure against his People if it be indeed arrived at this that there is no Prophet nor any one that can tell how long 5. God himself hath sealed the truth of their warnings with many awful Providences The language wherof had there been no interpreter hath spoken his anger with clearest demonstration The Rod hath spoken as well as the Word and every Rod hath come after such solemn Words of warning as have been too generally entertained in the quality of tales and falshoods And if God hath in part accomplished the predictions of his servant may we not rationally and Religiously Judge that the remainder shall have their time of accomplishment too except we shall attend to the due means of prevention 6. The Grounds and Reasons of these threatnings are found in the midst of us They have not only declared the anger of an holy and jealous God but also drawn up our indictment and entered God's Plea against us and fully answered all our reasons of appeal They have shewn Judah their Transgressions and the house of Jacob their Sins yea such sins as according to the word of God that rule of procedure between him and his People are found to be incentives of Divine displeasure such as raise up God's jealousie and kindle his anger against those that are so found guilty of them Nor yet have they done this of their own meer surmize But 7. We have at least verbally acknowledged a Judgement in many yea the most if not all which they have charged us withal Witness the proposed grounds for many days of fasting issued out from those who stand as the representatives of this People Witness the confessions and acknowledgments which have been on such dayes made
against all the misgiving Objections of Flesh and Blood establishing the truth of our present state of Adoption without any doubting or questioning of it The Emphasis of the assertion lies in the word Now and it looks either backward to the words foregoing or forward to these that follow it stands between two dark Clouds and scatters them both He had told them of this great dignity and glorious title but sence seemed to contradict and say 1. If we are Sons why then are we not known are not the Children of a Prince acknowledged by the Subjects but the World tramples us into the dust and persecutes us unto death and would God suffer this if he was our Father well saith he they neither do know you nor him and a Princes Son is of no repute with him that know him not from a Peasant but for all this you are Sons and your Father knows you though the World doth not and that may satisfie you But 2. If we were Sons we should be in a more happy condition whether the World knew it or no but we live in the midst of sorrows and sufferings both of body and mind we are encompassed and almost overwhelmed with miseries and is this the portion of Sons do Kings wont to neglect their Children and suffer them to live in misery well but still this shakes not the conclusion for although the happiness we are entituled unto appears not as yet yet now we are Sons and there shall a time come when we shall be made to look like such We may first take the assertion it self into our consideration now are we the Sons of God and from hence we may observe this Doct. The poorest and most despised Believers in the World are now the Sons of God The Apostle speaks of such as had received the anointing of the Spirit Cap. 2. 27. of such as had known the Father and believed on Christ ver 13 14. and these are they whom he pronounceth owners of this happy title In the opening of this Doctrine we are to consider 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God 2. How we come to be his Sons 3. What is the profit or advantage coming to us by this relation 4. The evidence or how it appears that we are such 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God A. The Title of a Son is a title of Relation and hath a Father for its correlate God is pleased to assume this Relation to himself and to acknowledge it between him and his Creatures that so he may express his love and goodness to them by such things as may carry to their conception the greatest evidence or demonstration Father and Son among Men are relates standing very near one to another and have such considerations and respects in them as very nearly resemble that Covenant relation which there is between God and his People Hence it is Anologically expressed the same affections and engagements that Fathers bear to their Sons the same doth God to his People the same interest that Children have in their Fathers love and care the same have Believers in God Now among Men persons come to bear the denomination of Sons in two wayes viz. either by natural Generation or voluntary Adoption After the former of these wayes God hath but one Son begotten by an eternal and undeclarable Generation after the latter he hath many Sons even as many as believe in the Name of Christ Joh. 1. 12. So that by the Sons of God we are to understand all those of the Children of Men who by Gods free Adoption are made to bear the relation title and priviledges of his Children It is a word borrowed from the customs among Men who when they Adopt one to be their Heir do give him the title of their Son and although it differ from that in two main points viz. 1. That God was not put upon it thus to Adopt any because of the deficiency or want of a natural Son which is the main incentive to it among Men that so they may have one to Heir their Estates nor yet because his Son had given him any just provocation to reject and disinherit him for which Men do sometimes abdicate their own Children and adopt a Stranger No God had an only begotten Son in whom he placed his delight from all Eternity who had never given him any displeasure in the least but had afforded him everlasting satisfaction yea then when his Father put him upon the highest proof of filial obedience calling him to do and die for sinful man he cheerfully replied Lo I come to do thy will Oh God Psal 40. 7. this Adoption therefore was an effect of his abundant overflowing Grace that it should be the good pleasure of his Holy Will to joyn poor Believers unto and admit them to be made coheirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ And 2. That God doth not do it to make them inherit by way of succession which is the case among men and the ground and design of humane Adoption being because man is mortal and must in a short time die and leave all his earthly possessions and name behind him hence that they may have one to bear up the their name and possess their livings which they can no longer in person enjoy they substitute one in their room so that as long as the Adopter lives the adopted is kept out of possession and must be content to wait for his portion till the other goes off and is often in the mean while put to many and hard shifts whereas God lives for ever and yet Believers are not entituled to but have actual participation in all the good things of God according to their present state and capacity immediately after their Adoption and eternally Men say when I die you shall inherit but Christ saith because I live you shall live also I say although in these things it differs and evermore the antitype is something more glorious than the Type yet in the main notions of Adoption they agree viz. 1. As that so this makes an absolutely free choice of the subject if men do much more God may take a liberty to do with his own what he pleaseth the Adopted could have laid no claim to his Title if it had not been freely conferred upon him he can give no other reason for it but the good will of him who chose him unto it if he had left him out and named another in his will he could not have charged it as any wrong done unto him Gods Adoption is an act of free Grace and a discovery of his greatest love Context ver 1. Behold what manner of love c. it is said there to be a love given or bestowed and how free it is will appear 1. From the antiquity of the Foundation of it it was founded in Gods eternal Decree where we were chosen to this priviledge Eph. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of
is good to have Laws as a Testimony of your dislike of such such practices though never prosecuted against the breakers of them But besides that the violating of one â—aw with impunity will naturally embolden to a like violation of others under the same presumption such Laws will indeed be a witness not for but against a People that they thought and were in conscience perswaded it was their duty but had not courage or zeal enough to put it in execution There are many sins some very crying profane and scandalous Sabbath breaking beastly drunkenness desperate cursing and swearing woeful and miserable idleness There are good and wholsome Laws against those sins let there be such a check and restraint laid upon them that our streets may not be witness of them If these do prevail God hath said that the Land shall mourn for them Great industry and zeal is needful here when sin is grown impudent the exerting of it will be your honour and by doing these things you shall verifie the title God hath dignified you withal that you are Shields of the Earth 5. To the Reverend Elders the Messengers of Christ that you be faithful to God to this People and to your own Souls in particular much to study and preach the sins of the times and places you live in God hath placed us as Watch-men to descry danger and give due warning of approaching evil Let us be faithful in our places vigilant in our work much in contemplation seeking to find out the mind of God and not afraid with boldness to declare it though the times may seem hardly to resent us We have an account to give for Souls and God will demand of us what is become of those who were committed to our charge Above all let us take care to do as we say and be ensamples to the Flocks It may be by this means you shal not only save your selves but also those that hear you Beware of being Idol-Shepherds they are evil times we live in men love to be let alone and encouraged in sin but let us have no fellowship with their works of darkness but rather reprove them In all your dealings with men be plain and faithful Some may for that say with Ahab Art thou he that troubleth Israel But be not angry but compassionate and mourn in secret for them Let us study to be men of knowledge fixed in principles holy in conversation in a word let us do all we can more than we do if it be possible to save a Generation from the wrath of God and impending Calamities Let us be still more plain more particular more serious in this great work To hasten towards a Conclusion I shall strike but one blow more on these nails to fasten them and so recommend all unto him who is the great Master of the Assemblies It is an opinion which some seem strongly to be built upon and it renders them strangely presumptuous viz. That the foundations of this People are unmovable that our civil constitutions and Church Covenants have so engaged the presence of God with us that we ly out of the reach of forraign mischief Thus the Athenians once chained down the Image of Minerva their Tutelary Goddess to her station and so thought they had secured themselves from all dangers of being subjugated by any enemy or oppressed with any evil And to think to oblige the true God with verbal Covenants and formal profession is no other than to make him an Idol Yet thus the cry of many speaks in the language of those Jews Jer. 7. 4. The Temple of the Lord are these Forgetting how many wayes they have disobliged and giving God just reason to be ashamed to own or acknowledge them How fond such thoughts as these are the â—uinous heaps of many renowned places which once enjoyed as much of Gods presence with them as any in the World do stand for monumental witnesses The more of God hath sometimes been among you the greater is your sin and the speedier may be your Calamity If growing weary of his Government you abuse all your liberties to desperate licentiousness There is nothing so dear or precious unto God or sticks so close and near unto him but if it once comes to interfear with his Glory which is his beloved end and he will upon no pretence part withal he can remove it far enough from him See Jer. 22. 24 25. You have here the only remedy to recover a sick and dying People this will nothing else will affect it True Repentance and through Reformation never come in vain though when Judgement was gathered into a thick Cloud and ready yea beginning to drop down in a storm of fury but it hath blown it over This God proffered Judah here when they were almost ripe for ruine and this God once again this day proffers to you Oh be not proud and stiff-necked be not obstinate and rebellious Why will you dye Obey the voice of the Lord do what he bids do what your Consciences say you ought to do do what you have before God confessed your selves guilty for because you have neglected to do it Do what all reason and equity requires and for the omission whereof you have no just ground or pretence do this and live Be willing and obedient and you shall eat the fruit of the Land Be grieved for Sin and Apostacy and it will grieve God to put you to grief But if all that is said from time to time be disregarded if these counsels prove as water spilt upon a rock and though you can lend an ear to hear these words with patience yet will not do them but can slightly cast them out of your minds and throw them behind your backs they will stand on record against you and become a farther aggravation of your guilt And in that day when all those things shall come to pass of which you have been so frequently and solemnly warned and the Lord shall suffer none of the the words of his Servants to fall to the ground Then shall you know there have been Prophets among you FINIS All Plots against God and his People Detected and Defeated as it was delivered in a SERMON At a FAST kept by the first gathered Church in BOSTON Jan. 25. 1682. Prov. 21. 30. There is no Wisdom nor Understanding nor Counsel against the Lord. THe vulgar Plea that Proverbs are Independent sentences usually so placed as to stand intirely by themselves without any co-herence with the Context may suffice me from looking beyond the Text it self for an Analysis The nature of Proverbs being a contraction of large a weighty truths into a little room and binding them up as so many portable Jewels for the better accommodation of the Christian Pilgrim in his Journey challengeth our more diligent attention to them The words before us are a choise Elixir or precious Cordial extracted on purpose to comfort the hearts of the People of God and
keep them from fainting when they see all the wit in the World and the deepest polititions of earth and hell gathered into a combination against them In the Words are two things observable 1. A presumption or supposition of a deep and desperate conspiracy in which we may consider I. The Conspirators who are not plainly named but are tacitly Characterized and we are to suppose them to be the deepest heads and profoundest Counsellors in the World Men of Wisdom Understand and Counsel Devils also may without force to the Text be comprehended under them â—hose perspicatious spirits who are of a vast intelligence and long experience II. The quality of the Conspiracy intimated to be made with the maturest deliberation which the farthest reach of the most politick created understanding could attain unto Whither so many several things be aimed at in the divers expressions of our Text as by wisdom a natural callidity and excellent ability to contrive means most sutable to the fairest attainment of our end by understanding an experimental knowledge gathered by Observation and History built upon and further accomplishing of that natural â—agacity and by counsel an improving of both the former by deepest study and consultation contriving how they may with best security of the success accommodate means to their design or whither by the accumulation of so many words be only intended to set forth the height of mens wit and industry in this plot is not much material â—â—ther way we are to suppose these Conspiratours to have done their best and made the conjâ—râ—t on as strongâ—â— and secure as their combined wits can possibly devise 3. The Object against whom this conspiracy is made against the Lord. The word translated against sometimes signifies before or in the presence and so one Translatour renders it q. d. Man's counsel is vain or to no purpose whiles God looks on or because God seeth it But the word is also frequently used adversatively to signifie against and so the generality of Translators and interpreters do here carry it And it is the Lord Jehovah against whom men are thus supposed to take counsel and here we are not only to look upon such as included within the plot and here intended who by open and professed hostility do take up Arms directly against God saying with proud Pharaoh in daring defiance who is the Lord that I shouldâ— let Israel go but it also extends unto all those who do collaterally oppose themselves against him and such are all they who do 1. Seek to overthrow his purposes decrees and by their own counsels to disanul his hoping to establish them notwithstanding he hath otherwise determined Thus did Joseph's brethren seek all courses to frustrate the counsel of God which he had signified about the advancment of their brother 2. Labour to nullifie his promises and make his word by which he hath engaged himself to his People to fall to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seelâ—ng to throw blocks in the way of his 〈◊〉 which may give check to his 〈◊〉 to performance Thus Saul sought by alâ— means â—o hinder David from receiving the promised Crown 3. Contrive how they may subvert and root the true Religion out of the World by destroying the sincere fearers of God and suppressing the true profession of his Name As Sanballat Tobijah did against the Jews when they were weak and feeble 2. We have the disappointing defeating and total routing of this treacherous plot intimated in that expression there is none Which negative particle is three times inculcated in the Original Text insinuatiug that it is a truth not dark and dubious but notorious We are not to interpret the wise man as if he intended to assert that there were no such designs at all as though he denied the being of such a thing that cannot be his meaning the Scripture often asserts the quite contrary and the Records of the Church tell us and experience hath proved it too true that in all ages there have been such conclaves as these bandying against the Lord and his anointed His true intention therefore is that all such undertakings are wholly succesless that they study and plot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purpose that they are so fru 〈…〉 â—pointed that they become as if they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God enjoyes himself in as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tranquillity and is as far from being 〈◊〉 by them as if there had been none at all â—hey do not so much as disturb him Hence Doct. The strongest Conspiracies and most subtle combinations against Gods purposes promises and People shall be altogether ineffectual Let the wisest men upon earth and the most knowing Devils in hell proceed with the most mature deliberation lay all their heads together take never so much time to consult find out the most probable wayes to effect and never so curiously contrive to obviate all possible accident which might otherwise defeat their purposes and provide the greatest strength of a created arm to put in execution what they have so plotted against God Yet all this contrivance and cost shall be to no purpose these counsels shall be overwhelmed and resolutions brought to nothing The Scripture is so full for this both with Testimonies and Examples that it would be endless to essay the producings of all that is there recorded for the evidence of it See how the Psalmist expresses it Psal 2. begin Where he brings in the enemies sitting at the Couâ—â—â—â— Table beating their brains and contriving hâ—â— they may prevent God in his 〈◊〉 And God in the mean while deriding aâ—◠〈◊〉 at all their enterprizes and in despite of the 〈◊〉 giving being to his decrees and accomplishing his word So true is that of the wise-man Prov. 19 21. There are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand We may take up the explication of the Doctrine in these following propositions Pro. 1. That there alwayes have been and still are those in the World who are designedly set against the Lord. There are such desperate and fool-hardy ones that bend all their wits and power against the God of heaven And if any should enquire who these Nimrods be Or where these Gyants dwell I answer in general every wicked man is he that so doth It is part of his description given Job 15. 25 26. He stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty c. But in a more especial manner all those that set themselves against God's People to oppress persecute and as far as in them lyes to root them out are herein accounted by the word of truth to stand against God So the Psalmist Psal 83. 3. with 5. They have taken crafty counsel against thy Peo-People They are confederate against thee They may possibly in words confess God and Christ yea and be so foolish as to think they do God the best service when they do the most against his servants But still God takes them for his 〈◊〉 and
Husband 2. There shall be an happy meeting in the air in the morning of that day between Christ and his thus adorned Spouse where they shall meet him as in the quality of a great judge so as their Friend their Husband their Saviour coming to finish and compleat their Salvation and take them home to himself they shall meet him who is the beloved of their Souls whom they have longed for whom they have often prayed to make hast and whose appearance they have loved And the state in which he shall come will add to their glorious manifestation all that pompous attendance of Angels those ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands of ministring Spirits waiting upon Christs coming to fetch home his Spouse shall reflect upon them to shew how blessed they are see 1 Pet. 4. 16 17. and that glorious coming of Christ Dan. 7. 9 10. 3. When the great judgement is set these shall be placed on the right hand of Christ Mat. 25. 23. He shall set the sheep on his right hand which is spoken after the manner of Men intimating the honour and dignity which shall be conferred upon them and this shall be most conspicuous Rev. 1. 7. Every eye shall see him and if him then them that are so placed they shall then appear to be his Favourites and Friends to be such in whom he takes delight to make them honourable and happy 4. In the process of the great judgement they shall be openly cleared and acquitted from all those false imputations of Hypocrisie and iniquities which here were cast upon them their sincerity shall be made manifest and now it shal be known that they were not such fools as the World judged them to have been that they were not the troublers of Israel as they were censured to be it shall by this appear that they had a God whom their Enemies thought to have had none they shal stand in the judgement and no accusation shall prevail against them nor any be to condemn them Rom 8. 33. 5. There shall be an happy Sentence past upon them adjudging of them to a Kingdome and Crown and Glory Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdome and when this comâ—s to pass it shal make amends for all their sufferings and sorâ—ows which here they underwent for Christ when he shal declare them blessed and bid them to come with him and be where he is in his Kingdome that prepared Kingdom that Kingdom which is filled with all Glories and all the World shall hear this Sentence pronounced then shall they appear to be happy men whiles those standing on the Left hand are tremblingly waiting to hear a contrary doom 6. They shall have that honour conferred upon them to be assessors with Christ and to judge the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World after what manner this shall be is not for us to determine Christ is the great Judge their lives when they were upon Earth did condemn a sinful Generation Heb. 11. 7. and these may be alledged there and they shall certainly assent to and acquiess and rejoyce in the righteous Judgment which Christ shall pass upon his Enemies and shall in a royal equipage sit and attend as so many Judges until that great affair shall be finished 7. When the great work of the last Judgement is over they shall all return with Christ to Heaven when that great Court shall break up the Judge with his retinue shall go again to his own place where they shall appear happy indeed now shall the ungodly World see these Darlings of Christ and beloved of his Father to be carried away into everlasting joyes to be taken nearer to Christ than Angels themselves who shall no sooner be gone but they shall leave the other in endless Torments with Devils and damned Spirits where when they come home to their Kingdom and every child of God is placed upon his own Throne and the Man Christ himself having resigned up his Mediatorial Kingdom into the hands of his Father shall solace himself with theirs and them with his company for ever recreating and sporting themselves each in the other when Eternity shal be filled with fresh joyes and delights new and ravishing continually when they shal ever be with the Lord and there shal be no tediousness in those perfect pleasures but the Soul shall be alwayes satisfied in them now shall it appear what it is to be a Son of God But what are those happy entertainments of that place none but one that hath been in the third Heaven can know and did he know he could not utter or if he could utter we could not conceive noâ— credit but such things there shall be and then they shall be known fully to them that enjoy them and to the wicked they shall appear sufficiently foâ— their conviction and confusion 3. Why this discovery is reserved till then Ans The timing of all divine dispensations depends on the Soveraign good pleasure of God but yet there seem to be â—ivers good reasons why this making of them to appear should be allotted to that time 1. It is the time when Christ himself is to appear and it is fit that the redeemed should wait for the discovery of their glory till he that redeemed them cometh in his besides their appearing depends upon his till the World be made to know that he is both Lord and Christ they cannot acknowledge that Believers in him are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory and if Christ be willing to tarry till then for his manifestation his People then have no reason to murmure or to think the time of their clearing long 2. There are many Elect who are chosen to be Sons that must be brought in and suffer many things for Christ in fulfilling their testimony and there will be till that time a gathering in of such and it is the holy pleasure of God that they that are gone before should wait that there may be a full and universal discovery made of them all at once Rev. 6. 9 10 11. if they should appear sooner the World would be afraid to do to them as is appointed 3. The Day of Judgement is the fittest time for this it is a day appointed for the setting of things to rights to clear up all false Judgements and Mistakes which there were here it is a Day wherein the presence of all the Creation shall be to look on Heaven and Hell being for the while emptied of all their Inhabitants to come to this meeting and general Assembly so that it will be the greatest Glory and most pompous appearance when a Child of God on such a day and in such a presence shall be openly owned and rewarded when he shall be set to view in all his glorious state and the proclamation shall be audibly heard from one end of Heaven to another saying Behold a Son of God and so shall
it be done to one whom the King of glory delights to honour VSE I. For Information learn we hence 1. That this Truth may satisfie us in the great reason why the People of God are not now known nor esteemed by the World it is because the time of their manifestation is not yet come we are often ready to think in our selves if we are his Children why doth he suffer us so little to be taken notice of and so much contemned and are hence prone to judge and censure his Providence in this respect whereas it is his Wisdom and good pleasure that it should be so Christ had his mean and obscure state upon Earth and so must his followers if we would be like him in glory we must be conformable to him in obscurity God hath his appointed seasons Men do not as yet know God nor Christ how then should they know his Children but they shall know him they shall see him and be astonished at him and they shall see and know his People and it is our duty to think Gods time the best 2. How miserably mistaken shall the Saints Persecutors ere long find themselves to have been about the Children of God whom they persecuted they think if they can but get the People of God under ground if they can but see an end of them in this World there is then an end for ever and now they can triumph over them and promise themselves henceforward never to be troubled with them any more they have their wills and hearts desires and are apt to boast over them and say where are now your great confidences your faith your hope what is become of all your Prayers and resolute patient sufferings in expectation of a desired end methinks I see what blushing what confusion of face what dismal consternation these poor cheated wretches are filled withal when as soon as they look out of their Graves in the morning of the Resurrection one of the first sights that accosts them is those very Saints whom they oppressed persecuted slew and hoped they had perished for ever appearing before them in highest state and glory shining in robes of Majesty and blessed in the company of Jesus coming to see the fearful judgement executed upon their proud Enemies and it will be no little aggravation of their misery to see those whom they despised contemned and hated made thus happy when they themselves are for ever miserable and when that shall be verified concerning them Psal 49. 14. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning then shall they confess how foolish they had been so to despise and abuse those honourable and precious ones 3. The Children of God ought not to value themselves according to what they are at present but what they shall be at Christs appearing If the present visible condition of the Saints were the only rule of judging themselves by they might reckon themselves among the most unhappy of mankind and hence when their judgments have been byassed that way and they have looked with a carnal eye upon themselves which is bounded on things present they have been ready to be envious at the wicked and foolish men but if they could ever keep an eye firmly fixt upon the day of revelation and contemplate what is providing for them against that day could they but fetch up the evidence of those unseen things and feed their hearts with such thoughts they would soon turn their envy into scoâ—n at least pity and confess their former thoughts to have been ignorant foolish bruitish USE II. For Exhortation to the Children of God the great Lesson which the Doctrine teacheth you is to live by Faith all a Believers Consolation is laid up in the promise and must be thence extracted by Faith when Paul would strengthen the hearts of his Corinthians with the thoughts of their future Glory he inserts this necessary parenthesis 2 Cor. 5. 7. For we live by Faith not by sight The Saints Life of Glory is an hidden Life at present Col. 3. 3. Your Life is hid with Christ in God It is hid from the sight of the World and hid from their own sence but Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith must carry us as far as the great judgement that day of Christs appearance and thence we must gather our comforts and present supports and there are three things especially unto which we should exercise our Faith upon this consideration Viz. 1 To a patient bearing of all the afflictions and troubles of the present time troubles and afflictions are unwelcome Ghuests to the mind of Man nature is averse to them and if grace doth not afford something to sweeten them they will be hard to bear and there cannot be a greater cordial against these Faintings then a due application of the consideration of that happy day wherein the glory of the Children of God shall be made manifest this hope will put life into the Soul Rom. 8. 24. For we live by hope the thoughts of this day were those which did put courage into Christians in their greatest adversities and made them valiant in suffering for God and Christ yea to contemn and despise those sufferings and speak of them as poor things and scarce to be valued see what Paul thinks of them Rom. 8. 18. Not worthy to be compared with the Glory to be revealed and 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment How David contents himself in such a meditation Psal 17. ult I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness And Asaph Psal 73. 24. when a Child of God sits down and thinks with himself thus I that now suffer for Christ shall Reign with him ere long I that now am judged and condemned by the World shall shortly at Christs Bar be approved and acquitted that for which now shame and reproach is cast upon me shall then be my glory what though I am now in heaviness through manifold temptations am despised disgraced trampled upon and made a mock and laughter for a wicked World when Christ shall appear then I shall be honoured approved arraâ—ed in state and crowned with Glory and they that now despise me shall see it they that will not now believe shall then know that my reward was with God how can he châ—se but find his heart quieted and the tumults thereof appeased with such thoughts as these yea quietly to suffer all things for Christ in these hopes of Glory 2. To a chearful willingness to tarry and wait till Christ shall appear for the manifestation of our happiness be we content to live obscurely and die obscurely and be forgotten for a while this should satisfie our mind when we are ready to think it long to remember and consider that Christ defers our appearance no longer than he doth his own that as soon as he shall appear we shall appear with him and is it not enough that the Disciple be as his