and garnishings and curious works all was to express what a life is to be attained a life of Glory and Freedom and Peace a life free from all snares and bonds of World or Devil 2. God will have a House built that there may be a certain set way of worship a place whither the Tribes may go up the Tribes of the Lord that every man go not on rudely in a conceited preposterous way according to the thoughts of his own heart Thou shalt not worship in every place which thine eyes shall see but in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his Name therein As there is but one God and one Truth and one Hope so he hath appointed but one way set down one order and rule for all and not left men rudely to the rangings and rovings of their own vain thoughts and conceivings as all the world now take up ways of Religion according to their own imaginations but he hath a Zion a House of prayer a Temple where Brethren live in unity joyn with one heart and soul in offering spiritual sacrifices and there will he be found There he hath commanded the blessing and life for evermore Why could not David worship God as well in the wilderness Was not God there As many now plead Why is not God every where and may not we serve him where ever we will But David cries out and is at a great strait to see the glory of God in the Temple no other place would serve him And why was all Israel once every year to come to this temple to worship What was the meaning of it think you You 'l say perhaps the Law is gone and abrogated Well but what was the end and substance of the Law That stands still Christ came not to destroy the Law but fulfil it to bring about the End of God the thing typed out by the Law Now as 't is said of Israel That the vail was upon their hearts that they could not see to the end of the Law when Moses was read So this hidden end none can reach but to whom God shall open the Parable but this was the end the Temple pointed to to shew that God then had and ever would have an orderly and quiet and sober way of worship in a people joyned together and made up into one heart and one soul and they to worship in spirit and in truth according to his ordering and appointment as that unction received shall teach and not according to mans conceits thoughts and imaginations 3. He will have a House built to be a spectacle and standing witness to condemn the world by For now who will not say that God is to be worshipped I but they worship after their own heart and devices according to the number of their Cities so are their gods as every one conceives and makes a shape of worship in his own thoughts But who knows the minde of God in all their worship Who joyns in to this Body of Christ the true Temples where the Holy Ghost dwells and spiritual services are performed to God It is said in the Acts Of the rest durst none joyn but they magnified the people the way was too strict I it is the greatest Circumcision in the world to mans will to joyn in here to be a member of this building it calls for a whole giving up of a mans own wisdom his own will his own interests no stone in this House must lie loose from another no Soul live apart to it self and for it self but all in love to serve one another and this will condemn all the ways and joynings of men in the worship of God for they all live as Lords love and seek themselves in what ever they do they cannot endure to come up to such a joyning and such an order where no Self may live Though many enter into Church-orders and Church-fellowship yet alass there is no true life nor spirit in it they still live loose as Lords and Rulers one over another there 's no walking in love and meekness and patience to serve others and deny themselves But in this building there is a mutual help and supply in love every member says to another I have need of thee The foundation lies lowest I but it bears up the whole building and what would the foundation be but lost rubbage if not built upon and joyned to the rest of the House All minister and help receive and give honor to other and say For they are worthy O the peaceable Life that is to be attained But we are far short of it at a great distance from that uniting from that supporting that serving that prizing and seeing the need each of other We are brought together indeed but live like loose stones scattered and alone and prize not the mercy given us nor make use of it and this is the reason we prosper not but a blast follows in all we sow much and reap little we labor and strive and tug again and again but nothing comes of it we cannot nor shall ever be able of our selves to withstand the Devil and lusts and entanglements till we are brought to be a one people to receive help from one another this is the way and ordinance of God and here he hath commanded the blessing If we were but once made naked and open-hearted to one another in our tryals and temptations Oh how wonderfully might we be strengthened against the Enemy and helped on in our way and this would clearly condemn the world who in their own Consciences know they are not built up into a one-hearted people singly and truly and heartily to serve one another in love and peace not seeking themselves in all But how we linger and the building of this House is neglected I remember the motioning and stirring to this work was up in some hearts at least twenty years since but the Bishops they got up and crushed all the tender buddings that the work ceased and since this Parliament the Lord hath graciously procured Liberty to be proclaimed a door open for this work and many have begun to build but they prove Houses of their own invention and contrivances not the Lord House but we that are surely called and invited to it and that of God both from stirings within and a call without we make no use of the opportunity offered but plead It is not time to build the Lords House because we have no heart to the work c. Thus I have shewed the Reasons why God will have a House built 1. That there may be a standing place of Worship whither the Tribes may go up where all may meet and agree together in one heart and way Daniel though he be in Babylon yet opens his window and looks towards Jerusalem in his prayers and when they sat by the rivers of Babylon they wept and remembred Zion they called to minde the worship the services the solemn assemblies where God had
But then For some of you whom indeed I know and who yet lie dead in your graves fast bound in chains and fetters under darkness and fears and sorrows and are no ways able ever to get out to you this promise of Life is made That God will make the dry bones live and raise you out of your graves It concerns you to look after it For he hath promised and will perform He will surely keep his Word unto Jacob and his Covenant to Israel God will say to all that keep us down in chains and bondage Let my People go that they may serve me Let my Captives go free The time will come when he will turn our mourning into joy and fill our tongues with laughter and our mouths with praises when he shall bring back the Captivity of Israel when the Time of Life is come And now it followeth to go on That you might be made Partakers of the Divine Nature All this I have spoken of is to pass upon the Soul before there can be this partaking of the Divine Nature to be joyned in and married to it There may be somewhat of Life and Godliness and Glory and Vertue springing in the Soul but yet it may be but one alone as a chaste Virgin indeed single and loose from all and fit for a Husband but not yet married the House must be thus swept and provided and made fit but yet the King is to come to lodg in it It is yet a farther thing to become fruitful and have children in the Truth therefore the next thing to enquire into is Secondly What is it to partake of the Divine Nature The Holy Ghost is this Divine Nature spoke of Now Christ saith He will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it only to such as ask it such as are at a strait to cry for it and only living men can cry and ask and to them he will give this Holy Spirit God communicates and gives in to the Soul a Holy Seed of his own Nature and Being as really as in the outward generation of a man A seed must first be given and received before ever a child can be brought forth So is it with the Soul a seed of God must be really planted in and sown there somewhat of his own Being and Substance left behind in the Soul to stay abide and grow and spread or else there can never be fruitfulness expected If God only come and go as a wayfaring man and take not up his abode so long we shall never be setled down to any thing truly unmovable but up and down as His coming or going away is As the Spirit came on Saul and came on Balaam so long they prophesied and spake of God and were as it were new men but the Spirit departs again and then they are as other men the same they were before But now to have God dwell in man to take up his abode This is my Rest here will I dwell for ever this is a mighty thing indeed 2. To be made Partakers of the Divine Nature as it implies an abiding and setled planting in of a seed of God so it is secondly a known and felt-thing in the Soul there is a certain close and meet of the man He receives the seed in the man is brought to hear and feel and know that God is nigh 3. This Divine Nature where it is thus given in by God and received by the man it brings forth of its own kind and Image He gives to every seed it s own body Adam begets a son in his own likeness natural and carnal and earthly and selfish having his centre wholly downwards And so the Lord He begets Children like Himself in Patience Love Singleness Justice Meekness c. Where this Divine Nature is sown it will surely grow up into the likeness of its Father it will own its Father in its countenance it will turn the man into the same mind and will and desires and if not so yet do the man what he can whether he will or not this Truth wil act stir and bring forth like it self and in this it will deal plainly and truly and shew the man where he is it will not be bribed to dawb with untempered morter and yet is merciful too tender-hearted easie to be entreated full of all good fruits c. Now then 1. This may be of Vse to enquire what it is we would come to would we receive this Divine Nature and joyn in and be marryed to it It is certain you can never have children nor be fruitful in the Truth unless you are marryed in here Though you should be Virgins and be brought to stand clear and loose from all intanglements yet you can never have children to keep your name alive in Israel you will live and dye alone without you are brought to joyn into this Spirit of Christ Though we may have Fathers and Instructers to care and provide for us yet that Promise cannot take place In stead of fathers thou shalt have childrē whom thou mayst make Princes in all Lands We can never leave a seed after us that may grow up to be Princes in the Truth to make it spread in the world and run and be glorious but at present we are far from this there is a very ill spirit in us not willing to see another thrive and prosper in the Truth We would neither enter in our selves nor suffer them that would How few of us are yet reached out to this Thing to long for and desire to be Partakers of the Divine Nature We would rather starve and live on any Husks any shifts and sharkings then come near God for a Feast our hearts choose rather a Dogs life hunger and ease Hungry indeed we are many times at a want for somewhat but if we can get but a little ease in our want we can bear it and so the strait gets off and this may discover that great ill will that is in us to the thriving and prospering of the Truth c. 2. This may inform you what the End of all is all the Promises of Life and Godliness and Glory and Vertue they all tend to this end That you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature The Door is yet open the Promise and Call is yet after you It belongs to you as it did to Ruths kinsman to marry Ruth and purchase the Inheritance but if you shall slight it and say as he did I cannot redeem it for it will spoil my own Inheritance if we shall answer so No we cannot come so near to partake of the Divine Nature to dwell with God He will be a consuming fire He will cross and spoyl all our wills and delights and designs If we shall thus judg our selves unworthy of eternal Life then Lo He turns to the Gentiles He will turn to another people for sure He will find out some that will be glad to receive Him whose
made thee He that Rules and Orders all Fear Him but why should we fear him 1. Fear him because we are his Workmanship he is our Maker he is the Potter and we are his clay we had our Being and Frame and mould and all we have from him 2. Fear Him Because he can bring thee down on a sudden He can secretly twist away thy life and all thou hast thou knowst not how How soon was Judas striped and twisted out of all his mercy and presently left to ruine He was but now among the Disciples and lookt upon as one of them for they all questioned themselves as much as him and by and by he hangs himself when he is but left to have his run and therefore saith David Thou holdest our souls in life if he do not hold and maintain and keep up thy life every moment alas thou art soon gone and wilt sink to nothing when thou art in thy jollity and mirth in the midst of thy bouls if a hand writing do but come against thee how soon may thy mirth be quashed the knees tremble and knock together and the face be turned to paleness Alas therefore should'st thou not fear him When I consider Him I am afraid of Him saith Job for He is of one mind and he will bring to pass the thing appointed for me He can turn all upside down in a moment at such an uncertainty stand all our ways and enjoyments when at the best much like a stout resolved Souldier riding up bravely furnished and with a courage to charge in the face of an Enemy but on a suddain a bullet comes and lays him down and all his strength and courage is gone in a moment so soon can this Lord take thee off in any of thy injoyments therefore Fear Him 3. Fear Him because he doth all without let 〈◊〉 controul nothing shall hinder when He begins He will make an end All men and all creatures have a Controuler that can frustrate their enterprises but the great God hath no controuler He gives no account of his matters if he will not favour a man either in Soul or body but lets a blast seize upon him alas the man must fall and all the world cannot help him 4. Fear Him because in thy own Conscience tho◠canst witness Thou hast justly offended Him he hath occasions and advantages enough against thee O Lord how many ways might He justly take thee off might he not stop thy breath when thou sleepest might he not make thy meat to be thy poyson art thou not a sinner in all and liable to Him if He should take advantage therefore Stand in awe and Fear before Him 5. Fear Him because He will certainly bring thee to judgment he wil call thee to an account for all thy ways That which hath been done in secret which no eye saw and no man could ever charge thee with all thy secret thoughts thy covetings and lustings and envyings the secret turnings within He will bring all upon the stage nothing shall pass therefore fear this Judg for Thou knowest not at what hour thy Lord may come And Good Lord if He come in a time unthought of and finde thee froward and fretting and envying and lusting and saving thy life in any creature Alas what then will become of thee if thou beest thus surprized and surprize thee He may For we know not the hour when the Thief will come therefore there is cause to fear 6. Fear Him because there is mercy with Him that He may be feared He will have a reward for them that fear him If thou fear men either they may neglect and not minde to reward thee or else may not be able but the Lord will surely reward them that fear Him and those that wait on Him shall not be ashamed And therefore there is great reason from these several Particulars why He should be feared And now I shall speak of the two other general Points from the words which come in as an enlargement and farther ground of this Exhortation Fear Him that can destroy both Soul and Body in Hell where these two things are yet to be opened What it is to have the Soul destroyed and then what it is to be in Hell Fifthly What is it to have the Soul destroyed what ways doth God take to do that 1. He destroys the Soul by withdrawing the sap which should maintain it when God gives up the Soul to it self and leaves striving and motioning and knocking this is one way by which it is surely destroyed For it will soon dye and sink of it self if it be not followed and hunted and kept up and maintained dayly 2. Another way of destroying the Soul is when God gives it up to beleeve lyes to feed on ashes and that like a canker will soon eat out all the life and power and spirit of Truth The Soul is made uncapable of receiving Truth nothing can enter nor seize Though there be never such a power and strength and clearness in the Word yet nothing can take place and this is the wonder that God speaks I will work a wonder in your days that a man shall not beleeve though it be told him I will destroy the wisdom of the wise And again In hearing they shall hear and not perceive and in seeing they shall not see because a deceived heart hath turned them aside given up to beleeve lyes c. 3. Another way of destroying the Soul is by leaving it alone out of the Nursery out of the heart and care of the People of God that there is none to take it in none to look over it nor enquire after it none to turn aside to ask how it doth Alass this will soon destroy the Soul to be thus cast off and left alone without the care and counsel and pity and encouragement of the Truth to have none to plant nor water nor till it that ground can bring forth nothing but bryars and thorns and so is nigh unto cursing c. 4. Another way God takes when the Decrees are gone forth to undo a Soul is this He shuts out all prayers and intreaties and means that are used to turn his heart to the creature that nothing shall prevail with Him though there should be any to stand up to pray and plead yet He will not hear Though Samuel and Moses and Daniel should stand up yet could not my heart be turned towards this people Put them out of my sight saith God And so to Samuel God answers Why prayest thou any more for Saul I have cast him off And this is a sure way of undoing the Soul indeed If God be against it who can stand for it who can deliver out of his hand 5. Another way the Soul is destroyed by is when God takes away all its gates and fences and lays it open to sin and Satan to have their full course and run without stop or let All the floods of ungodliness and
owned and received and prized He shall be welcom to them then even the feet of such as bring glad tydings of peace Then will the Soul say with Abigail Let me wash the feet of the servants of my Lord the King He shall be welcom indeed in that day And this glads and rejoyces and keeps up his spirit to think on this time I had verily fainted saith David unless I had beleeved to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living That bare up his heart There is hope in the latter end saith God to Rachel that thy Children shall come again to their own borders How ever they are now in captivity and lie scattered broken as if utterly forsaken yet they shall return And for these causes Christ weeps over Ierusalem over his people out of joy where ever and in what case soever he finds them yet this joy lives in the bottom I would you might never forget these Particulars But 2. And when He beheld the City He wept Another Reason why He weeps is out of sorrow because He findes them in their blood He grieves to see Ierusalems wickedness to see her hands embrued in blood to see her killing the Prophets and opposing and fighting against her own good There is no other way for Her ever to be saved but by hearing the voyce of her Prophets and obeying them And now to thrust these away saying We will not have this man rule over us for Truth to finde the sons of peace the saved ones in this strange condition hating and striking against their own chief good and best friends This causes a weeping It is a gladness indeed to finde the sons of peace to see a Nathanael an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile one in whom the Spirit of Life the Seed of God is planted Truth joys at this and if this be not in the bottom there is no ground for Truth to work upon No Physician goes about to take a dead man to cure If there be not a Seed of Life there is nothing for Truth to care for and pray and weep over But now where that seed is yet to finde such a Soul or such a people stoning their Prophets to finde his own Children rebelling and standing against Him this causes Truth to weep And when He beheld the City He wept c. Now this Sin hath three Aggravations in it which cause Truth to weep 1. It is an unnatural sin for them to kill their Prophets which came to instruct and inform them in the way of Life Alass in killing your Prophets you kill your selves you murther your own Souls And what murther is so cruel and unnatural as that Who shall save you if you kill your Saviour Him whom God hath sent to be a Saviour and Deliverer If you thrust away this Moses who shal bring you out of Egypt and lead through the Wilderness Nothing so unnatural as for a man to cut his own Throat such a thing is it for any to slight and contemn that Truth which comes to save them 2. It is an ungrateful Sin It is not right nor allowable to render evil for evil to hate our Enemies But to reward evil for good to return hatred for love and mercy and bowels shewed us Am I therefore your Enemy saith Paul because I tell you the truth This is wonderful ungrateful I will send my Son sure they will reverence Him but now after all to take this Son too and kill Him that was sent out of love and exceeding tenderness this is the ungratefullest sin in the World To refuse Him that speaks from Heaven that can open to you the minde and heart and love and good-will of God this Christ weeps at to finde them in so ungrateful a sin 3. It is a venturous and desperate sin That moves Christ to weep to see the hard venture what to sleep upon the top of a Mast To venture to kill their Prophets and the present offer of Grace and know not whether ever another Prophet shall be sent them or no O what a venture is it God hath truly sent me to you to warn you to come out of Sodom and to tell you God hath purposed to destroy the City and will you venture to linger in it still Had Lot stayd but one hour longer he had been destroyed with them but the Angel layd hands on him and pulled him out the Lord being merciful to him This is the next to that unpardonable sin which David prays against O keep me from presumptuous sins that I may be innocent from the great Transgression The Lord warn and prevent you and lay it to your heart to consider how guilty we are in all these Particulars how unnatural we have been and cruel to our own Souls to murther the Truth sent to gather us and then of all transgressions 't is the most ungrateful What people in all the world have been so kindly dealt with so followed and waited on and born with Line upon Line Instruction and Counsel and Love have followed us and to murther this Truth after all how ungrateful is it And then how desperate have we been and venturous in a Passion like the profane Esau to sell all for one morsel of bread to venture all at a blow and what ever comes on it desperately resolve We will not have this man rule over us Well may God say to us Because I would have purged you and you would not be purged therefore you shall not be purged till you dye Do you hear what is spoke It concerns all you are all guilty the Lord lay it not to your charge I know not a People in the World so venturing all at a cast as we have been Come Life or Death yet there hath been a punctual standing out and slighting the Call of Truth to have our wills Thirdly Another Cause Christ weeps over Jerusalem is to find her in that miserable condition of ignorance that she knew not the Things which belonged to her Peace O that Thou hadst known even Thou in this thy day c. But They knew not the day of their Visitation they knew not their time this Christ grieves at Work whilest it is day whilest you have the Light with you for the night cometh wherein no man can work But they had played in Summer they slighted their seasons and opportunities and knew them not knew not the Things belonging to their Peace Man naturally looks after the things that concern his ease but is not so minding what belongs to his peace But it is this Peace only that must stick by us in a strait in a time of need when ease and enlargements and all fail then will this Peace abide and this Christ weeps for to see their ignorance though it is well in one respect that they were ignorant I obtained mercy saith Paul because I did it ignorantly And had we done what we have done fully knowing we had sinned
more be its own now at its own hand and disposing The Wife must not please her self but her Husband If ever you come to be Christs Wife you must do something for him Do you look always to live as children to be nursed and tendred and fed and never to do some service for the Truth c. And then 2. If you come to be a Wife to Christ it will be expected you should be fruitful to bring forth children to keep the name of Truth alive after you Will you onely leave a stone behinde you like Absalom to keep up your names Shall it be said of you Here a stony heart lies that dyed without any service done for the Truth He hath left no children behind to speak for him Would you be content to dye in this condition and thus dye you must if you never come to be marryed to Christ you can have no true children without a Husband if you be not given by God into his bosom as his Wife And thus I have opened to you one branch of this Will of the Father in giving a people to his Son Christ and that in a threefold relation 1. In the relation of Children 2. In the relation of a Sister 3. In the relation of a Wife Which are but several steps and degrees according as the growing up of the Truth is c. 2. Another branch of this Will of God is That Christ should lose none of those that are thus given Him And this is the happy thing to be given of God to Christ in any relation If but His in the lowest station if but as children or if higher given him as a Sister though not yet a Spouse yet this is the Happiness That this is the Will of the Father that of all that He hath given me saith Christ I should lose nothing If but His in the lowest degree the case is happy And therefore this is the great and weighty matter to be known as the ground of all Would you know what shall become of you would you know whether you shall be lost or not Why are you given to Christ into his charge and care do you know that Are you his children in the lowest degree His Else if you are not children then you can be no heirs you have no right nor portion with Him and if you be children it will appear the Truth will be stirring towards you nursing and serving and ministring to the Soul dealing gently and tenderly as a Nurse or a Mother that you may not be lost c. About this two things were considered 1. What it is to be lost 2. How comes it that All are not lost since all are Prodigals and wander like the lost sheep why not all lost 1. What is it to be lost It hath these several things in it 1. To be lost is not to be of that stock and kindred which the Lord Christ is sent to gather The great and main thing which is the cause of perishing is the being left to a mans self That is enough to undo a man Thy destruction is of thy self O Israel Men are already sure enough in Hell and destruction if there be not a recovery were but the sense of the thing upon them The carnal minde is enmity to God and is not subject neither can be to his Will And now to be but left here not to be sav'd out ans pluck'd out of the fire this is to be lost not to be of that number not to be that lost sheep which Christ seeks up as he says Ye are not of my sheep And when some plead Oh open we have eat and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets yet He answers I know you not you are none of my sheep the Father gave me no charge over you to seek and gather you and therefore Depart from me This is to be lost 2. To be lost is to have the Gospel hid If our Gospel be hid saith the Apostle it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded their eyes c. That is a token of a lost condition when the Soul is blinded that there is neither a knowing of the Mercy nor a knowing of the Judgment I will sing of mercy and of judgment saith David Many they get up Gospel-words and speak of Mercy but they know it not They can live loosely and vainly and carnally and as they lift But the Gospel is for Judgment as well as Mercy That sends a sword The Word of the Lord is quick and lively more piercing then a two-edged sword It cuts and divides and squares and orders And if either of these be hid either the Mercy or the Judgment if this Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost 3. To be lost is to be given up to beleeve a lye to be setled down to deceit that nothing of Truth can seize or enter Charm the Charmer never so wisely yet the Ear is stopt I 'l hold my hold says the heart there is such a secret resolvedness in the Soul when it is given up to beleeve a lye And this is to be lost to be left here to feed on ashes on any thing that is short of a sure condition That which will not endure the fire nor stand in the day of Tryal though it may carry never so fair a shew before man If man may judg by his own wisdom of himself He is the bravest thing in the World so long as he may beleeve his own thoughts and feed on a lye But if Truth comes indeed to search and judg him then he will be found the basest thing in the World the most vile and wretched 4. To be lost is to be given up to an evil Eye to think much at the prospering of the Truth and grudg all that is done to and for it A Judas-like spirit that grudged the ointment should be spent upon Christ and thought it too good This evil Eye to grudg at anothers enjoyment this is a certain canker that will destroy us if we are not delivered It is a dangerous thing to take offence and dispute and reason against the Truth to speak evil of the things we know not And to be left to this evil Eye to grudg and think evil and turn Traytor to Truth is to be lost and undone 5. A fifth thing that makes to a lost condition is to be left out of the care and heart of the people of God to have none to look after the Soul nor minde it as the Curse is in the Psalms against Judas his children Let there be none to take care of his fatherless children let them be vagabonds and beg their bread And if there be not some to stand in the gap for you you are in a miserable case to be left without the prayers of the Lord Jesus in his people for you to be left out of the care and cries of that
should have said No thy love is too heady Let her go out of the Camp seven days and bear her shame and then let her be received again But Paul could say I have learn'd in all things to be contented both how to abound and how to want And this is that which God delights in Sober love ordered love He that rules over men must be just saith David ruling in the Fear of God in Soberness in Humility c. to be wise slow to do evil swift to do good more ready to hear then to offer the sacrifice of fools What need of this When we are but a little brought from our hypocrisie and can truly say our love is single then we think sure this is enough No but yet be you sober that 's the counsel But who will be wise none but the Prodigal that has learn'd experience Peter meant singly when he said to Christ I will lay down my life for thy sake But how heady was it He was unsober in it He knew not that was to be fulfilled that was ordained before of God that he should deny him All you shall this night saith Christ to him be offended because of me and shall leave me for it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered abroad He little thought of this Alas is there no other way to find this Soberness but through sorrows through banishments sending into Captivity This is hard dealing indeed But now the Prodigal can tell this Mystery now he has learn'd Sobriety he is made to admire at the way his father took to make him a sober man Now he can say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted A friend loves at all times And now he seeth That Love is as strong as Death It has Hinds feet it hath quickness singleness and soberness and when you shall be thus shod then love as much as you can nay then you cannot but love And thus the son is welcom'd Bring hither the best robe and put a ring on his hand and shooes on his feet And if ever we shall see this Return then shall we be made to say as Paul Thanks be to God that we are the servants of sin But who would fetch pearls from the bottom of the Sea It 's ten thousand to one not to be spoiled in this venture For there shall be but a remnant saved here and there one as the shaking of an Olive tree here and there one in an uppermost branch What to be found dead and stinking in the grave as Lazarus to be incompast about with Harlots c. and yet get home again Sure the Prodigal did not discover himself to the Citizen he joyned to that he was a Jew for then he would not have received him he was fain to use all the shifts he could for entertainment And so do we and yet we can find none that pities us we cannot so much as feed with the swine But what has God wrought that no inchantment nor divination should be against him Oh the wonder that ever he should welcom his Prodigal with such entertainment as I have shewed you But 4. The next thing considerable in his Entertainment is And kill the fatted Calf c. The Robe I shewed you what it was I also shewed you why he must have that put on before he has meat and why the rings and shooes go first seeing he came out of the Land of famine and the main cause that moved him to return was because his father he knew had bread enough and he perished for hunger I shewed you the Reasons c. But why must he have such abundance And this is not all neither Bring the musick there must be dancing and mirth too Well may this be likened to Jacobs ladder for it reached to Heaven The fatted Calf what 's that The Everlasting Righteousness to be establisht with the free Spirit Seventy weeks saith Daniel are determined to finish transgression and make an end of sin to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in the EVERLASTING RIGHTEOVSNESS c. Dan. 10.24 This David cries out for when his blood-guiltiness lies upon him O deliver me from my blood-guiltiness saith he establish me with thy free Spirit Psal 51.14 12. With that Spirit Christ could say It 's my meat and drink to do the Will of my Father This made David say Thy Word is dearer to me then my necessary food But what benefit is it to the man or woman that eats this fatted Calf There are three Benefits considerable that comes to him by this meat 1. There 's refreshment to the weary Soul When the Inwards are dying and sinking and tyred quite out when hunger has smit the Inwards for want of the enjoyment of God how good then is the Spirit of Truth to refresh to the heart After a great abstinence after a long time of distance then Christ saith But I will send the Comforter the Holy Ghost who shall abide with you for ever After many a weary step and hard pang for want of meat a mans inwards close together and as it were devour themselves Is it not enough that I take my flesh in my teeth saith Job I lookt on my left hand and none stood by me and on my right hand and found none to comfort me And O that I could find him saith Job Alas Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire is come it is a tree of life After a weary journey long want every morsel is good nay bitter things become sweet But 2. The second use of meat is to strengthen mans heart so is the Communion of the Holy Ghost a Strengthener to the Soul As Paul prayeth concerning the Ephesians That you might be strengthened saith he in your spirit with might in the inward man that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love c. Rooted and grounded As if he should say That now you may be able to stand strongly and unshakeably through temptations and provings and all storms as the Prodigal here now never more having a mind to wander from his fathers house and this will be your happiness indeed if ever you attain to it We have had many deliverances and experiences and helps in the wotk but are not yet made able to stand but as David says we mount up to Heaven and down again to the deeps not yet come home But when God shall have given victory then will there be a sure standing we shall then move no more when once establisht upon mount Sion that steady Foundation which shall never change nor wax old as a garment then shall we stick to our Principles and not after a vow enquire as now we do But 3. Meat if a blessing be with it makes a man look well have a good countenance but how through want does a man look lean and ill favored Wo is me saith
in the Beloved Nothing else will carry it out against the Flood when that comes to overflow nothing then but that everlasting Rock Many are wise and great and honorable and knowing in their generation famous and men of renown but alas when they come to dye they have no understanding but are found like the beast that perish They are to seek their shelter when the storms beat But now to have a portion made over to thee in that Eternal Love that will be a sure Ark in the time of the Deluge this will be the happiness And such a condition as this you have been warned of God and are warned to press after and to rest in nothing till this Ark be prepared for you II. Consider next He being moved with Fear c. The Warning takes place upon him and leaves an impression behind it moves and touches his heart and that from these five Considerations 1. He was moved with fear from that warning to him That All flesh was corrupt a fear seizeth on him and makes him enquire Is it indeed so as the Lord hath spoken Though I see not so clearly that All is so corrupt and vile yet what means this warning from God Surely the case is worse then I yet see it sure I am leaning and hoping in some wrong thing some arm of flesh or other that the Lord warns me thus Hence the Fear moves upon him and makes him look inwards Now doth this come home to your doors Do you enquire whether these things are so or not Alas how is it with me How stands the case between God and Me What means the complaint and cry That All is corrupt Doth the Lion roar and are you not afraid Or do you stand upon your terms with Corah and say All the Lords People are holy We are not so base and vile as you would make us believe If you plead so you shall know shortly as Moses said to them who are the Lords People and who are not The search and dividing will come and if thy money be good thou art not afraid to bring it out Thou wilt not shrink from being enquired into Thou wilt come to the Light if thy works be good But this will be a testimony the case is bad if either there be a snuffing and taking it ill to be put thus on the Tryal or if a shuffling it off and laying it aside till to morrow or if a fear and shrinking and covering the condition close to your selves or if a wilful stubbornness and scorning to come to the Touch-stone If thou be a scorner thou alone shalt bear it that is certain thou shalt be alone by thy self and woe to him that is alone Who ever is in an Error or evil way he is surely alone in it There are not two in the whole world that are fully together in an evil way but some flaw and difference creeps in do what they can for it is a spirit of confusion and division and there is no true Vnion and Oneness but in the Spirit of Love and Truth Therefore enquire if there be not a canker-worm a taint in all thy best things in thy Knowledg Fear Hope Believing Desiring c. if all be not corrupt And will not this cause a Fear 2. He was moved with Fear to consider Is an end of all flesh coming Is a Judgment so near Is it certain that an Account will be called for from me in all my ways and nothing of flesh shall stand and do I sleep in this condition Am I secure and the Judgment so nigh at the door ready to destroy all Hence the Fear moves and works upon the sensible Soul Now enquire whether this Fear touch upon you or not If you are not brought to be knit up to the Lord Christ and be made one Spirit with him you will be sure to be left behind to the perishing world I wonder sometimes how you can have any rest upon your spirits how you can go through your business and eat and sleep and talk or mind any thing whilest your Souls hang at such an uncertainty and thou knowest not what shall become of thee in the latter end If there be nothing but flesh in thee though never so high and fair and refined yet it will come to an end it will not stand in the fire for what is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord Now if thou searchest into thy self art thou sure thou canst find any thing better then flesh another spirit seed of God and then art thou sure that this is thine and shall ever abide with thee and be in thee For if the Spirit be taken from thee as it was from Saul then thou art miserable for that alone must stand in this day Therefore art thou sure thou hast that which will carry thee out through Death and Hell when the Flood comes to drown the whole Earth Now you are at ease and quiet and in health and go and come at will but do you not think a Flood will come and sweep away all flesh Do you not think you must dye and part with all your wills and loves and desires that are not born of God Therefore what need is there this Fear should seize upon you lest you should not be able to stand in that day 3. He was moved with Fear in this Consideration That he is naked and hath no Ark to betake him to The Judgment is at hand the Deluge ready to seize and he hath no shelter nor place to turn to and this makes the case harder to him then the rest of the World which saw not the danger and hence the Fear seizeth Alass his shelter is not yet prepared the Ark not made Now do you search and enquire into this Have you an Ark at hand to receive you or not Are you provided for such a day or no Are you sure you shall stand in the fire and not be consumed Do you know you shall go through with your building and that mock not fall upon you This man began to build but was not able to finish Doth this Fear touch upon your Souls as it did on Noahs There is a Rest for the people of God that 's sure an Inheritance in Light reserved for the Saints But is it your portion or is it not I wonder I hear not that voyce among you to cry out Oh who shall stand when God doth this when the Searcher comes with his fan in his hand with refiners fire and fullers soap when every plant shall be plucked up that my heavenly Father hath not planted This may seem light now and a vain enquiry to many that are high and at ease and think to dye in their nests as sure they could not but mock at Noah in his day What is this Fool doing What need of all this stir to build an Ark what need is there to what purpose I but when the Flood comes where are the Mockers then What is
in all Ages save the People committed to them Moses he stands up in the gap and the anger is turned away Phinehas he stands up and the Plague ceased David he stands up and takes the sin and the blow upon himself 1 Chron. 21.17 It is even I that have sinned and done evill but as for these sheep what have they done Let thine hand be upon me I pray thee c. Thus he stands up till the destroying Angel puts up his sword till the thing be done he requests for and thus Noah and all the preachers of righteousness prepare an Ark to the saving of their House the people committed to them II. Another Consequent upon Noahs building an Ark is this by which he condemned the world all the world is condemned by it and that in these seven particulars 1. Noah beleeves Gods Word and is Warned God tels him Noah all flesh hath corrupted his way and it repenteth me I have made man wherefore their end is come before me and I will surely bring a Deluge to destroy them all now therefore look to it stay not in all the plain get away from the tents of these wicked men hasten and build an Ark to keep off the danger that thou perish not with them and he believed God 't is said c. But who will beleeve this report now if God Himself should speak or an Angell from Heaven if one from the dead should come we would not beleeve if we beleeve not Moses and the Prophets Now who will beleeve if such a certain word as this be witnessed to them Well deceive not your selves I can surely tell you from God that misery and destruction is certainly coming on if you stick in this condition if you get not an Ark a sure shelter and refuge astrong Tower to flye to you will never be able to stand therefore Knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade you lay the thing to heart defer it no longer I but who will be warned by all this none of the world will the world within us and the world without that will go on its old way do and say what you can Charme the charmer never so wisely the Blackmore will not change his skin nor the Leopard his spots this carnall and sensuall and Devilish mind within us it wil yet feed on carrion though it be a thousand times warned it will not be warned though it be told and told and told Well this way will surely undo you if you stick on any seen things and come not to give up all and lay down your lives you will certainly be miserable and loose your lives yet this spirit in us will not beleeve but it will put the evill day far off and mock at the making of an Ark. It will plead what need is there of this ado and God he is merciful one shift or other this world will ever finde to be at ease but wo to them that are at ease in Syon c. Noah he is warned the new Heart the sensible Spirit that heares the Word and stands alwayes in awe and trembling that is warned and this is that which Judges the world for they are not 2. Noah beleeves though he be warned of things not seen as yet he disputes not with flesh and blood about the matter but beleeves and this condemns the world who would not argue But what shall we have if we leave all and what need is there of it yet till more danger appears who would build an Ark when no flood is seen and not say with Job No I am well I shall dye in my nest who that is strong and in health and hath all enjoyments about him will then beleeve a change will come Who breaks through all snares and entanglements and says Let me go stand aside all is uncertain all may soon be taken from me this life is a mortal life and all my enjoyments are nothing if the Deluge come therefore strive not to comfort me let me go about the work to prepare an Ark Who breaks through thus resolvedly No the heart stands rather to dispute Sure this man says he knows not what there 's no such danger And thus the time is reasoned out And if you will stand thus pleading till the Flood come unawares and take you yet remember I have told you these things I have dealt truly in warning you And as Christ saith all this have I said that you might be saved But yet you are disputing and reasoning Alas what can I do to help my self And thus we linger and come to nothing Sure all this which I speak to you is as a Tale that is told Lord how I feel the hardness of your heart and that the Word enters not into the stone But sure it is if the Word take no place the Blow shall the Flood will come and destroy this world 3. He condemns the world in this He sets to build an Ark alone He stays not for great and wise ones to joyn with him in the work but builds alone though all scoff and say What will this Babbler say what is this fool doing Will he bring in new Laws and Ordinances and go contrary to all Customs and Orders and Rules of our Fathers and Leaders and wise ones Well but this moves him not Do ye what you will saith Joshuah I and my house will serve the Lord I must go on saith Noah The Soul that is indeed at a strait must go through all Lets and set upon the work It must leave all Relations Father and Mother and Friends and say to all If you will not go with me I must leave you Let the dead bury their dead but follow thou me saith Christ But this is the pleading of all the world Do any of the great ones the Scribes and Pharisees beleeve on him Do the Minsters and godly Divines go this way And here they sit down saying We 'l not be wiser then all men but follow our Teachers Well saith the Soul that is indeed at a strait Go they as they will yet I must go this way there is a press within I know not what shall become of me and 't is time now to look out if neither Father nor Brother if none in the World will joyn with me yet I must go to Zion Alass I am at a strait Alass what shall become of me in the latter end This strait will surely come upon your spirits and run through all enjoyments your eating and drinking and buying and selling nothing shall give you rest And were you indeed here you would not stay for company you would look out for bread to eat were you ready to starve And who ever is thus pressed on through all to build this Ark he condemns the World who all sit down at ease And thus that world in us is condemned by that restless spirit of Truth that is always reaching and crying and pressing forward 4. This condemns the World That Noah
fire and live in the water That which nothing can shake But so far as the Salvation hath wrought a work indeed the Soul can say with David Though the Earth be moved and the Mountains cast into the midst of the Sea yet in this will I be confident c. So far as I am saved I am saved Death where 's thy sting Hell where 's thy victory This condemns and judges the World That this Ark takes in no water That there should be no staggering in the Soul but like Mount Zion which cannot be moved Wilt thou still hold thine integrity said that cursed Wife I says Job till I dye I will not give up my integrity But the man be he who he will be he never so wise bold and resolute to carry it out who hath not this Assurance by a sure and tryed work in his Soul I dare lay down my life for it there are times of staggerings and doubtings within calling his condition in question do what he can Let him nail his god never so fast yet Dagon must fall before the Ark some searching word of Truth will get in between the joynts of the closest armor and pierce their confidence do what they can 6. Noah condemns the World in this That though he be safe in the Ark and hath attained a sure refuge from the Flood yet this satisfies him not he is not at rest yet but sends forth the Dove to enquire about the abatement of the waters There is a condition beyond a sure and safe condition when Christ himself the Saviour is to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father when He promises to pray the Father to send them ANOTHER COMFORTER the Spirit of Truth to abide with them for ever And this is that Dove which the Soul can now send forth to carry out its requests to God and bring tydings from him And this is that which condemns the World That they have no such intercourse with God they have no such Spirit given to make their requests known by Though they may cut themselves and cry aloud O Baal save us yet no Answer comes there is not this Dove which Noah sends forth that can bring an Olive branch of Peace in its mouth and give a sure intelligence that the waters are abated that the wrath is ceased 7. He condemns the World by the real work of saving his house He prepared an Ark to that purpose to save his house and it did the thing intended He did save them And this judges all the World who though they build much yet they save none The wall and the dawber fall together They flee from their sheep when the Wolf comes and leave their eggs in the dust like the Ostrich But Noah did the thing he did save his house He left them not in the mid way till he brings them into the Ark He travels and is pained in Soul till Christ be formed in them This is that Interpreter one of a thousand that can shew to man his righteousness and never leaves till that be done and this condemns the World That sensual and devilish part will never endure thus to stick to the work to cleave to a people through all gainsayings opposings and ill requitals Many can preach so long as they may have honor and gain and be well thought of but now take away their Money or cross their Wills let them be despised and dishonored and they can presently be gone and leave their people and rid their hands of trouble so that they will stick to none farther then they can serve themselves and their own ends and thus nothing comes of their preaching They bring their people to nothing in the conclusion I have known some Ministers my self that have been preaching these thirty years and not a man converted by them What a miserable case is this But alass they were never taught themselves and how can they teach others But the Noahs they have a charge given them over their people they cannot get from them so easily You shall not see my face unless your youngest Brother be with you said Joseph They must not leave a hoof behinde that belongs to Israel Such a charge as this is layd upon me concerning some of your Souls That if you fall short I shall bear the blame for ever The blood will be required at my hand if I deal not faithfully and bring you home if you are not saved to the utmost But the encouragement to me is That some have gone through this work Noah did save his house his labor was not in vain and the Promise to Christ is He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied Noah is rewarded for his many years labor He saves his house And if the Lord would please after all my twenty years Travel and Preaching but to give me a People that might indeed build this Ark and attain to a sure knowledge of their Eternal Condition That they shall LIVE FOR EVER It would requite me for all if some of you might come forth thus to be Judges of the World and build such an Ark of Truth as that all the Dagons and Idol-worships of the World must fall before it III. The third Effect that follows this building of the Ark is this He became an Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith And about this three things may be considered 1. What is this Inheritance It is a very large Inheritance it is to enjoy the Lord to be joyned and made one Spirit with him The Lord is my portion saith David The Lord is my lot my refuge the lifter up of my head This is a wonderful large Inheritance Great is the Portion of his People Thus shall it be done to the man whom he delights to honor He shall have an Inheritance in Light an Inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away no altering of it When I awake I am still with thee saith David His Inheritance abides sure to him Many have a great Portion to look on they have a great stock of Peace and Knowledg and Hopes and Confidence I but a worm eats through the Gourd in a night Riches make them wings and flee away Thus is the hope of the Hypocrite His house falls when he comes to lean on it His great bulk of confidence is but a heap of chaff which the wind soon blows away But David could say The Lord is my Portion I have enough The Lord lives and blessed be the Rock of my Salvation 2. What is it to be an Heir To be an Heir is to be born with a right and title to an Inheritance to have an Estate fall to one by right so that it cannot be cut off it can neither be sold nor given away from the Heir Now this is wonderful To be born with such a right and title to Eternal Life such a neer Interest in the Lord that nothing can separate from him neither tribulation nor sufferings nor life
would break presently they were not intended for that use You see Saul had of this wine in him he was among the Prophets the spirit of God was upon him but the Vessel broke and all ran out and was lost so Judas he was a Preacher and went in and out with Christ and had enjoyments and seasons of Truth but the vessell had holes and all was lost and came to nothing and therefore it is said of some that they make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience All is shattered and broken and gone as if it never had been some are compared to the Corn that grows on the house top though it be green and flourishing yet soon withers and comes to nothing It was sown there by some chance or carried by some fowl the Husbandman never intended to have a Crop from thence so may it be and hath been with many that are very green they have Light and Knowledge and parts and Forwardness I but they grow upon the house top the place was not intended for that purpose to bear a Crop the stony ground flourished for a time but soon dies for want of root ye did run well saith Paul but they were left and soon turned aside but now whoever is pitched upon by God and made a chosen vessel he is set apart for some end some service say ye saith Christ the Master hath need of him and he speaks to Ananias concerning Paul He is a chosen vessel to carry forth my name whoever of you are thus chosen and pickt and gathered by God out of the world out of relations and all your straglings Do you think God hath no end in it Is it think you you should still live to your wills as you did and walk as other Gentiles no sure it is that you may do him service be his and no more your own 6. Things that are chosen men expect more from them then from other refuse they leave behind A man when he is hungry chooseth bread and not a stone and he looks for more refreshment and nourishment from that then he would from a stone God expects not to gather grapes of thorns he looks not to reap where he never sowed the unjust Servant accused him falsly in that but if he please to take advantage he may he may come in an hour unthought of as Christ came to the Fig tree and cursed it because no fruit was on it though it is said it was not the time of fruit it seems strange but such a Lord is he if he will take the advantage if he will be extream to mark what is done amisse then who may stand He can if he please cast a man into sickness and torments of body or let loose horrours upon his Soul there is cause and advantage enough to be taken if he will make a man an example a witness of his power and severity for the Gospel hath that in it too it is to be preacht for a witness to all as well as for Salvation to some but now from his own his Chosen Generation He expects somewhat out of Love If I be a Father where is my Honour he expects fruit from you he looks for sweet grapes from his Vine he expects you should hear Sure they are my people they 'l be ordered and perswaded and prevailed with he expects better entertainment from them then from the world and though it falls out that they are the chief of Sinners and found the most ill requiting of all People I but it is their shame and their sorrow and their Sin he looks for other fruit he looks for more where he trusts with more where he trusts with Heavenly Treasure I sayd They are my People Children that will not lye and in all things he expects their moderation that at all times they stand open and ready to receive him that alwayes their Lamps be burning and their Loyns girt as those that expect their Lords coming and he is grieved if they disapoint him therefore he complains The Ox knows his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider This grieves him to be thus dealt with at their hands 7. Things that are chosen are more looked after and more carefully minded then other things they are not layd scattering about but charily reserved So doth the Lord deal with his chosen He takes them into his bosom hides them under the shadow of his wings Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and if their Death be precious if an eye after them then in their blood if the minstration of condemnation be glorious if there be Love in that work of bringing to Death Then how much more Love will be seen in bringing them again to Life He says of his Vineyard that He watches it night and day And in the Canticles My Vineyard which is mine is continually before me There is no time he watches it not night and day take in all In the Light and in the Darkness in their sorrows and in their enlargements still he watches whether we sleep or wake yet the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps If they are sent into captivity it is for their good there his eye is after them If the three children are cast into the furnace there is a fourth like the Son of God He will walk with them there If Daniel be cast into the Den of Lions his God is there to shut the Lions mouths If Joseph be sold into Egypt God goes with him if he be cast into prison he is with him there and findes favor for him where ever these chosen go a special eye is after them when they wander from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People yet there He suffers no man to do them harm but reproves even Kings for their sakes Touch not mine anointed c. His charge is given out to secure them a guard is set about them that nothing may harm them He shall give his Angels charge over thee and they shall preserve thee in all thy ways This is his care of his chosen and this is their safety and happiness Before I come to make Use of this I would speak something of the next words A Royal Priesthood This chosen Generation is intended for that to be a Royal Priesthood to offer up Prayers and Praises to God Hitherto saith Christ you have asked nothing in my Name because as yet they were not brought to beleeve the words of Christ They knew not they were a Chosen Generation till at the last when he was about to leave them then he says to God And these have beleeved that thou hast sent me There is no coming to your Priesthood till you are first brought to know and beleeve you are a Chosen Generation A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD Royal of the royal Blood born of God sprung from that stock and kindred And hence three great Priviledges belong to
satisfied And therefore â—ohn says concerning some I write unto you that have BELEEVED that you may know you BELEEVE c. But how shall we know this Chosen Generation I shall propose these seven Characters to you to consider 1. In this Chosen Generation there is a certain natural instinct of a close when ever God and the Truth sown in their Souls come to meet when they come but neer one another there is a natural turning and cleaving together The Loadstone and the Iron never meet but they close and feel one another and gather neerer and neerer Now examine if it be not thus with you where ever you meet with a living breath from the Lord doth it not touch something in you Doth it not turn and strike the heart and cause a strange natural close in your spirits When Christ put but his finger in at the hole of the door the Spouses bowels were turned presently 'T is not so to other Lovers The Loadstone will not cleave to all metals nor to wood and straws though you gild them never so fairly Now all the rest of the World are taken here They all wonder after the Beast when it hath any likeness of the Lamb upon it they cannot know Wolves in sheeps clothing They take down all good words and earnest desires and hope and love and zeal that speaks for God They are taken with shadows and pictures and cannot distinguish between words and words voyce and voyce Their gods have no breath pass through their throat they live not to discern and distinguish and divide between things and things all that hath the same shadow to them passes for the same thing but my sheep know my voyce saith Christ That touches them and the voyce of strangers they will not hear Where this chosen Generation is there is a certain distinguishing relish and taste Doth not my ear taste words saith Job Nothing will please nor take this Truth where-ever it is sown in any but its own kinde and there it naturally cleaves and closeth 2. You shall know this Chosen Generation by this They can finde no rest for the sole of their foot no place where to lay their head Though they run and hunt never so about and about for ease and rest yet they can finde none They are certainly disappointed and wearyed out of all things All they come neer cries out to them as the Lepers of old unclean unclean Come not to me I cannot satisfie The Earth says It is not in me and the Sea It is not in me They can sit down no where but the stool is pulled from under them and they hasted up to their journey Vp Elijah why fittest thou here Every thing their hearts would pitch on is made either too hot or too heavy for them to carry either we cannot carry our lusts they have so much lumber and luggage belong to them or else they are too hot and burn our hands the thorns are too sharp it is too hard to kick against the pricks Therefore I have often said of all people in the World it is in vain for those that belong to God to go about to please themselves in any lust for they shall be sure to be hunted out Others may enjoy their wills and sit down in sin and take content in the Creatures their eyes may swell with fatness they may have their hearts desire I but the Davids may not I am chastened every morning and plagued every moment They have no rest in this World but are always like strangers and Pilgrims though weary and tired yet alass they must not take up till they come home All grows wearisom and tiresom to their Souls nothing can ease nothing quiet nothing satisfie nor fill up their want no pleasure nor enjoyment If I say My Bed shall comfort me yet there he is met with and affrighted If I go up to Heaven or down to Hell or fly to the utmost parts of the Earth yet no where can he sit down for ease but this spirit findes him out he can finde rest and satisfaction no where Job hunts through all places and searches the perfections of the choycest Creatures he findes the place of Gold and a place for Silver a place for Pearls and Treasures but yet all this is too short for the want where is the place of Wisdom still He had tryed all things and yet findes them wanting Now many through idleness sit still and will not take the pains to hunt thus they will not try whether the Creatures can content them or not but saith David I have seen an end of all perfections I see that all things come to an end When all means and ways and plots are proved out to the utmost yet then the Soul is weary of all its labors and cries out Ye are all Physicians of no value you cannot help me 3. By this you shall know the Chosen Generation God is their utmost their utmost Hope utmost Proposal the utmost thing of all his People but he is not the utmost of others they follow Christ but for loaves some base selfish thing or other is their highest If they may have but what their hearts run after they could sit short of God well enough Give them ease give them peace of Conscience give them Knowledg and great enlargements of spirit and they have enough This contents them I but this Chosen Generation give them what you will nor Gifts nor Parts nor Enjoyments of the World nor enlargements of Truth no not Heaven it self to be saved would not be enough to them but God is the utmost thing the Center to which their Souls tend To see the Kings face is their desire else what will their lives avail And this I would propose to you Whether ever any thing thou mettest with in all thy life was enough to thee whether it was the utmost thing That thy Soul could sit down in No sure I am nothing can stop the cry of this Elect It cries night and day when straitened and when enlarged still it cries When Jacob had wrastled all the night with God and now he says to him Let me go for the day breaks Is not that enough Will not the day the light content thee to know and see and be enlarged No it will not I will not let thee go unless thou bless me He wanted a farther blessing yet I would have you weigh the thing in your own Souls whether it be thus or no with you and do not always stagger be not faithless but beleeve 4. This is another sign of this Chosen Generation it always gathers and cleaves closest to them that are most excellent All my delight saith David is with the Saints and them that excel in vertue It chooseth to come up to the foremost to the worthies of Israel Now others drozel away their time without any such aspiring desires If they might but come to Heaven and be saved at last That were enough to them
They are not pressing on to the utmost mark where the bullets are thickest and the battel hottest as this chosen generation do according to that right minde that is planted in them They long with Moses if possible that they may go over this Jordan they are ever crying out of their shortness Jacob though Pharaoh reckon him an old man yet he complains his days were few and evil and that he had not reached the age of his fathers in their generations I but he would have reached the greatest attainment That which is of this stock presseth to the utmost mark prizeth that Truth that friend that deals most plainly nakedly and exactly with it it chooses the wounds of a friend and goes where the sword cuts sharpest This cannot the Hypocrite ever endure 5. This Chosen Generation have often still and secret hintings speaking within them That they indeed are of this stock that they do belong to God how ever they are stopping the ear and putting it off Now the children of Hell they hunt and seek for such a voyce that they may be cozened and deluded and the Devil he speaks peace to them and they are given up to beleeve a lye but the Children of God are followed and followed with such a secret whispering in their Souls that rises up without their pumping nay when they run from it it speaks Surely they are my people they are my chosen I will be their God Now either we are not sober and so listen not to hear this voyce or else we wilfully stop the ear and run from it for such a base temper is in man against his own good or else through ignorance the Soul runs wrong when it doth hear it goes to Eli as Samuel did it runs to this and the other thing to know the meaning of it because as yet it is said Samuel knew not the Lord but the time comes the Lord will go on and call Samuel Samuel so long till all the chosen of God that are called according to purpose shall be made to hear and own it distinctly and say Speak Lord for thy servant heareth 6. This chosen Generation in their greatest transgressions and iniquities when most guilty and left to themselves yet never find such a witness speaking in them that they shall be cut off utterly for it Now to all the Cains he will peak destruction for that very cause a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be because thou hast killed thy brother and his blood cryes to me therefore thou art cursed c. but to his own he speaks no such thing he shews them not their sin to destroy them nor drive them from him he hath a care of that in all his rebukes So when Nathan was sent to shew David his great sin of Adultery and murther before he had well finished his charge lest such a thought should seise on him as if God would utterly cut him off He addes 2 Sam. 12.13 The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not dye He never says that word to the Soul of any of his own Iniquity shall be your ruine that sin shall utterly separate no saith Paul nothing shall be able to separate nothing not Principalities nor Powers of Hell not the heights or depths of Sin nothing shall seperate from that love of God to whom that portion belongs Now mind and consider and attend whither all along your Journy you find not such Leadings in your spirits as these I speak off 7. You shall know this Generation by this whenever there is a heart in them to return there is a heart in God to receive He stands open and ready at all times there are such breathings in the souls of his people that witness this for him and can set to their Seals that God is true in this particular that he is alwayes open hearted and waits to be gracious Mind whether it be not thus with you when ever your souls are in a sober frame and you can speak truly and not as Job saith the words of a man that is desperate which are as wind when ever you are your selves I say and sober see if there be not ever such hints speaking in you that God is ready continually he waits to receive whenever you will come At what time soever a sinner repenteth c. And if thou wilt return O Israel return to me as if he should say Go to no other if thou wilt return here is a heart open I am ready for thee Return to me O Israel Now let none get up the words and shadow of this that have not the substance that idol will â—ot stand though never so often raised and held up by force yet it will down but you who are indeed the chosen of God and loved of him if I shall ever live to see you brought out and delivered you will know what I have said and be my witnesses how these leadings have been all along your days with you However at the present it be the weak time with you and hour and power of darkness when fears and jealousies confusions and doubtings have their time to rule I but what saith the Spirit still What speaks that seed of life Are not these stirring within Is there not an invisible and strange close in thy soul when God and the Truth in thee meet When Joseph and Benjamin meet what a kiss is there and turning of Bowels Then again dost thou not finde that all creatures are too short all is weary to thee no rest or content to be had there but there is a pressing on through all to the utmost point to God himself thy life and Portion Is it not thus And so for all the other Characters are not these things so Now if you have heard and believed this You can surely witness to it He that believs sets to his seal that God is true and till you shall set to your seals and believe this That you are this chosen Generation and your souls stand setled in it till then you can never enter into the Priests office to go to God with boldness to go in all straights no we cannot go with that weak Prayer Lord I believe help my unbelief till somewhat of this Faith be risen up and stuck to by us Why do we put it off any longer Why are not we now battered Why not this night What hinders If ever we begin we must begin with this little grain though there be but a dim seeing but a half eye open Yet the star must be followed if ever we will come to Christ and the promise is The eyes of them that see shall not be dim Now it is a dim seeing indeed now we see but darkly but however if we did but stick to this dark seeing then we might go and pray for a farther light that it may grow cleerer and cleerer to the perfect day But why are we so loth to believe that this good is intended us It is
a wonderful unnatural thing in us But well as Peter saith the long sufferance of God is salvation Shall nothing hinder No gainsayings nor longings but the long-sufferance will stand and knock and wait out all till it be our salvation This will one day be prized There is a chosen Generation amongst you that is certain Now do you hear it Do you believe it When will you open the Door and lay down all weapons and say Well I will never speak against the Lord more But say with Job what I know not teach thou me It is sure you have been the bush in which the Lord hath appeared the fire hath been trying and purging and burning in you and you are not yet consumed but when will you turn aside to see this great wonder When lay it to your heart I must leave and desire the Lord would give you understanding into what hath been said and above all that you may not war nor fight against it in your minds but soberly inquire Is this my lot Is this my Portion to be one of this chosen Generation It will at last cause your souls to admire The Poor WISE MAN And LITTLE CITY Against The GREAT KING And His BULWARKS SERM. X. May 18. 1651. ECCLES 9.14 15. There was a little city and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdome delivered the city yet no man remembred the same poor man The Analysis FRom the words was observed I. The Lord ever had a Little City under the Sun A People built together in Unity and Love In three respects compared to a City 1 A City is for habitation so God to dwell in his People 2 It is a place of Free-Trading so God will be free to trade in sorrows sufferings inlargements What he pleaseth with his people 3 It 's a place of safety So God looks to be safe in his People in his Name to be kept from reproach and sufferings II. This is but a Little city and that in three respects 1 It makes but little noise in the world Little notice of it 2 Little in compare of many thousands left But a small remnant 3 Little not easily seen nor found without a diligent search III. There are but few men in it Little or no help in it but a few men left and they tremblers unable to defend it Hence three things considered 1 Few men in it that no flesh might have to glory in saving it 2 All is emptied out of the room that God may dwell in it and be seen that the poor mans wisdome may appear 3 Few in it as no strength to withstand or keep off the lean enemy Every Temptation and snare too hard IV. A great King comes against this little City and builds Bulwarks Great opposition from the devil His Bulwarks are made of Earth any thing that springs thence knowledge parts zeal Hope 's these Bulwarks he can imploy to keep off the Truth V. In it is found a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivers the City Whence two things considered 1 Where he is to be found In the City not out the kingdom of God within you Christ in you else reprobates 2 How shall this poor man be known How shall you know whether Christ be in you These seven signs were laid down of it 1 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin the man wholly convinc'd that sin is too hard for him He cannot help himself 2 Where Christ is the soul cannot utterly despair it cannot be drowned In the bottom of hell Jonah lookt toward the Temple 3 There is ever a love to that which is of it 's own kinde if God be your Father you would love me saith Christ Truth ever loves Truth 4 Where Christ is ever a light goes along to search and discover all the secret carriages and wiles of the enemy He is a true searcher 5 Where Christ is He will never yield up this City though it cost his life yet with the three children we will not worship the golden image 6 There is a secret looking after God and expecting from him in the lowest day never a whole giving up all for lost 7 Where Truth is It can look through all heaps and swarms of enemies to God that he is still able to deliver and who can tell but he may be gracious ECCLES 9.14 15. There was a little City and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found it a poor wise man c. IN the verses before Solomon speaks of a strange Case which is very contrary to Reason to believe or see into vers 11. I returned and saw that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance hapneth to them all None of these will carry through by strength shall no man prevail and the wisdom of this world is foolishness and as for Riches they make themselves wings and fly away But well saith Solomon though all this takes not this Wisdom and strength and riches and skill cannot deliver men but they are taken in an evil net like the fishes and snared like the bird Yet for all this there is a wisdom that will stand there is a condition of deliverance to be attained I saw this wisdom under the sun and it seemed wonderful unto me There was a little city and few men in it and a great King came against it and besieged it and built Bulwarks against it and yet a poor wise man was found in it and he by his wisdom delivered the City This wisdom is indeed wonderful and too high for a fool The words in themselves are a metaphor taken up by the Holy Ghost by which he would express himself in things obvious to mans sense and reason and humane capacity and thereby lead the soul into the invisible minde meaning and intent of Scriptures For there is a hidden invisible meaning runs in all the Scriptures which none can read but those that buy eye-salve of Christ to anoint their eyes those who are taught of God and led into the meaning of them by the same Spirit which once breathed them forth The Scriptures are a deep Well and none but men of understanding can draw it out for all others the Well is too deep and they have nothing to draw with they can by no means reach the invisible minde of Christ From the words these things are observable I. That always the Lord had a little City under the Sun In all times he had his people a City built together where his Name lived and this was the strait of all our Fathers in their
delivered thorow the Red-sea And we will build him a habitation Oh that such a minde were risen up though but in two or three of you that any of you were brought forth to be such a City where God might take up his abode and be free to do his own will whatsoever pleaseth him where he might dwell securely always a watch and faithful oversight to preserve his Name and Truth from suffering Josephs watchfulness in all our ways crying out when tempted to any thihg that is not right How can I do this great evil and sin against God How can I deal falsely with my Citizen my King that dwells in me and hath committed himself unto me If you have indeed a minde to become a Citie for God to dwell in you must first be a People compact together and at unity in your selves a perfect union and close of heart as Christ prays That they may be one as thou Father and I are one Such a neerness and freedom and communion with God as John speaks of And truely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And if we come not to this point to be such a Citie to him truely all our profession and hearing and gathering together all will vanish into nothing Nay better had it been the Name of the Lord had never been called upon by us then that we should take his Name in vain which will be if we come to nothing after all if we have begun in the Spirit and should end in the flesh if make a shew and profession and resolution to stand to his Truth and Name with our lives and then like the children of Ephraim who carried bowes shall turn backs in the day of battel this would be a taking of the Name of God in vain if left that any thing be too hard for us and make us depart and say We will follow him no further 2ly Observe THIS CITY IS BUT A LITTLE CITY a little one and that may hint out these three Considerations 1. Little in that it makes no great noise no bulk in the world no great notice is taken of it but a poor obscure worthless thing it is looked upon to be and therefore 't is said of Christ He shall not cry nor lift up his voice in the streets He makes no great bustle in the world by power and strength and reason and much talking to maintain his Cause but gathers to a corner amongst a few a despised company of Publicans and Harlots and blinde and lame the abjects of the world and these he teaches and opens the parable in private 2. A little city in compare of the many great and vast cities of the world that make a mighty shew and take up a large compass They have multitudes on their side they plead all the wise and learned and rational men in the world joyn with them I but this will not prove you to be the little City The whole world it is said wondered after the Beast and the whole world lies in sin and it is a broad way that leads to destruction and many walk in it But it is but a LITTLE CITY where God dwells and therefore there is need to enquire into all your Preachings and hearings and huntings and setlings down to any people abroad Have we found the RIGHT CITY yet in all Men mistake God hath not his kingdom in this world he hath not a multitude that will hold out to follow him but fall and fall away as the multitudes that followed Christ did till he came even to the twelve and asks them What will you also forsake me Baals Prophets indeed they are many they are three hundred and fifty I but the Lords Prophet is onely one despised Micaiah and he never prophesied good to Ahab If you seek this City indeed expect it not in a multitude What care and designes and plots are spoke of to settle a whole kingdom whole Churches and Congregations in a way of truth Alas when all is done that can be you can get no gold but where it is though you dig and dig never so in a wrong soil there is but a remnant when all is done Though Israel be as the sand of the sea yet but a remnant shall be saved but a few if we hang never so on husbands and wives and children and would carry all our friends a long with us yet alas a parting must come if they be not of that little Remnant 3 A Little City in that it is hard to be found you must look wishly or you 'll never finde it out you can hardly spy the houses of this City they lye so low unless your eyes be very good you would never think this to be Christ What this Jesus The Carpenters son whose Father and Mother we know Is this he No the world cannot find him but two or three wise men that are led by a star here and there one a Philip a Nathanael a Peter they can truly say We have found the Messias he of whom Moses wrote but it is wonderful hard to spy him out and therefore there is great need for you that are seeking this City to be very careful where you pitch and greatly to be jealous over your selves and enquire again and again that you may not be cheated but meet with the true one for 't is wonderful hard to finde it and therefore see in what a posture the true seekers are Jer. 50.4 The children of Israel and the children of Judah go together with weeping and supplication and aske the way to Zion with their faces thitherward See how they are bent to the thing and with what fear and earnestness they seek Zion Alas if we finde not the true City we are undone and the City is but Little Many Cities indeed there are in the world Cities of silk and purple and scarlet of gold and silver and all precious wares great hopes and confidences and faith and knowledge and high words c. such Cities may easily be seen and found but if ever you finde this little City you must have a new eye given you such a one as Moses had to see things that are invisible things that appear not at all here but are a great way off in another world as Christ saith my kingdom is not of this world and if you have not such an eye as this given you seek and enquire and aske never so long you will never meet with the true Christ for he is not easily found It is not common Bread to be had every where you may indeed eat Manna bread from Heaven Powers and enlargements and refreshings and yet die for all that your fathers eat Manna and are dead but now the true bread the bread of life that is hard to come by to be saved indeed to the utmost that is another work Here the multitudes fall off at this hard saying Here are no full harvests to be expected but three
but saith Paul I would to God you did reign viz. that it were such a reigne as would last and hold Now who spake he to not to the rude world nor to the ignorant but such as he had in his heart to live and dye with such as he had espoused to Christ the match was made but not the thing done they were not wrought off from all things nor wrought up to that one husband into the minde of Christ though out of a light instruction and choice the thing was owned and approved And here the man gets peace and ease and liberty is free from guilt and torments and perplexities the man can goe on either hand if a mind to God and Truth thither he can turn if a mind to the Creatures he can turn thither the door is open and he can suck sweet from every thing his wayes are all washt in butter smooth soft and easie And here saith David my mountain was so strong I said I shall never be moved here the man sits as a King this is his day of reigning But II. There is another dispensation follows a time of the Devils reign this is a sad and wofull change Another king arises which knows not Joseph the man when he was King he knew God and owned truth and joyned it with him in his Kingdom though yet in the throne Pharaoh will sit above the man was uppermost in all But now another king rises that will not know Joseph and he deals cruelly with Israel then the hard Task-masters and cruel burdens come he will know nothing but his own will and lust and cruelty And Wo to the inhabitants of the world when the devil comes down to reign amongst them when Jeroboam reigns that makes Israel sin And how often have our fathers been at sore pinches and cried out in bitterness of soul when this time of the devils reign was upon them It is a woful kingdom indeed a cruel reign And these seven Woes lie up in it 1. One Wo is that he is a strong man How have our fathers owned his might and cried out under it Thou hast delivered me saith David from my STRONG enemy for he was too strong for me And again My enemies live and they are MIGHTY And Hezekiah cries out Lord I am opprest undertake for me And again We have no might against this GREAT HOST Alas when the man compares but himself to him what a Nothing is he to this great Goliah but as a fly a worm a gnat a stripling and he a man of war from his youth And here the heart sinks and dies at the very thoughts of dealing with him Was he but an ordinary enemy that might be matched any ways and the thing but feasible to fight with him then Man would have some hope but alas he carries all before him Shall not one be cast down at the very sight of him as 't is said of the Leviathan who was a type of the devil Iron is counted as rotten wood to him he laughs at the shaking of a spear Who is able to deal with this monstrous Leviathan If ever you but begin to reason and tamper the matter with him you are certainly foiled and worsted he will surely get beyond you 't is in vain to contend with him But let him vaunt and boast and rail on the Kings commandment is not to answer a word that 's the way Truth points us to to be still and lie under and say with Christ This is your hour and the power of darkness Until we can go out against him as David did in the Name of the Lord let us never stir though he come and vaunt himself and reproach Israel fourty days yet there is no other way but with Hezekiah to spread the Letter before the Lord and cry under the misery 2. He is not onely strong but a thorowout malignant enemy maliciously set and bent to destroy all truth exalts himself above all that is called God root and branch he strikes at all he deals as Herod who killed all the children from two yeers old and upward that he might be sure to meet with the childe Jesus and not let him escape So this malicious enemy kills every budding and springing of God in the soul he kills all the light kills the single love kills all the good desires that not so much as a right word or desire or groan may live and in all this his aim is utterly to destroy the Truth the principle of God sown in the soul Alas he cares not else if he can but kill the little spark of the Spirit of life he cares not what else passes by and lives Let us hear and meet together and eat and trade and take ease and content this is not the thing he is set against so but to smite the king of Israel onely that is his plot that was the wicked counsel of Ahithophel to kill David onely and bring all the people back to Absalom Neither small nor great doth he strike at but the King onely he cares not what lives so the Lord Christ the Truth the Seed of life the Heart and Minde of God may die in us Such a height of wickedness is in him that nothing else will content him but the death of all that would be a Lord over him a controuler a King this Herod cannot bear That which sits in the kings gate and will not bow to him that resolved Truth that will not fall down and worship the Idol nothing will content Haman but the death of this though he get Decrees against all the Jews though invited to the Queens banquet and sit next the King yet nothing will content him whilst this Mordecai lives that Seed of God that root of the matter that which will not stoop and buckle to him that he aims at and his fingers itch to cut off this name of Israel for ever And Oh what a Wo is this to be under such a cruel malicious enemy that would not give a moments respite not so much as a little breathing-time for the Truth not a little hope not a little desire not the least stirring of an inclination but he 's upon it presently if it were possible to stop every chink that the smoaking flax might not have the least vent but be utterly extinct and quenched 3. A third great Wo lies in this that he hath a time and power given him of God to afflict and try God allows it and gives him leave to strike Job This is YOVR HOVR saith Christ an hour was given them And God saith I will cause them to pass under the rod. And 't is said in the Psalms He TVRNED the hearts of their enemies to hate them He gives him his time and commission to rend and tear waste spoil and imprison and none can call him to account for it his Commission will bear him out Alas what a day is this In the time when the Man reigned he promised himself
and ransacked I but Christ when he comes he takes away his armour all that in which he trusted and hoped and said Now I am safe I shall sit as a Queen for ever I shall never see sorrow I but all his armour and fence is taken from him and this is a downfal indeed when he is thus found out and nothing can hide nor cover him any longer his coat of Male is taken from him and then Truth can easily enter then nothing appears but the mans nakedness and guilt and shame then the man cries out with Paul I am the chief of sinners then the Word takes place and enters and every arrow sticks Thine arrows stick fast in me saith David Then the man falls under as a poor naked helpless hopeless thing then he is counselled by Christ to buy eye-salve of him and gold tried in the fire and fine linen for he is found wholly naked and blinde and miserable We had thought Christ had ruled in us and we had been for God and the Truth we had thought our zeal and forwardness and speaking for God should have passed currant but take away this armour of the devil and then we are found out to be a wretched deceitful people a lye and deceit appears to be running in all and that there is nothing single for God and Truth without base selfish ends of our own And this is the first work Christ is to do in your souls to spoil this strong man of his armour else no Word of truth can ever come nigh and seize 2. After Christ hath taken away his armour he then seizes on his goods and DIVIDES THE SPOYL the spoyl Why what use can Christ make of his spoyl what can he do with all the devils goods You may see the thing illustrated Jer. 15. where God speaks thus Let that which is for death go to death that which is for the sword to the sword that which is for the famine to the famine and that which is for captivity to captivity 1. That which is for death to death some of these goods are presently to go to death to be utterly destroyed The enemies which you have seen to day saith Moses you shall never see them more The malignant disposition that was so wickedly bent against all prospering of Truth that evil eye that which lay in the way that one step Godward could not be taken that must be utterly destroyed and cut off for ever that abomination must live no more that ill favour that gave a taint and poison to all our ways and thoughts and words that man to Death Christ will say to that unclean spirit Come out of the man and enter into him again no more That enmity of spirit and hatred and ill will to all good the end of that is to be destroyed for ever That Cain-like love that hates its brother and would not suffer the least breathing nor prospering nor looking up of the Truth for according to that evil disposition in you if you minde it the heart rises against all good where-ever it appear though in a childe in a brother in a husband or wife yet the enmity works and hates to see your offering accepted and mine laid by as nothing But before Christ can ever come to reign this must certainly die and a whole turn of soul be wrought and we made naturally to love and chuse the prosperity of the Truth 2. Something must go to the sword That which is for the sword to the sword The Word of God that sword of the Spirit that shall still go on after that great enmity is slain to search and judge and quicken and stir up the man and cut off what hinders that the soul may grow up into the minde of God and as it hath born the image of the earthly so to bear the image of the heavenly as we have given our members servants to sin so to give them up to be servants of righteousness to be as free and voluntary and earnest in the service of the Lord as ever we have been to serve our selves to spend and be spent for the truth this the sword must do cut out a way thorow all rubbish for this minde to arise It must cut away all that sloth and carelesness that sluggish and carnal minde that sits still at home and would not come out to help the Lord against the mighty When Christ shall come to deal with us indeed and use his sword this must all be cut away and the soul pruned 3. Something must go to the famine That ill taint and setled indisposition that has been gathered and contracted by long custom in evil that hankering and lingering after the wickeds dainties all this must to the famine and be worn out by degrees and pined by little and little till it come to die Where-ever the heart is taken and hangs on the creatures on eating or wearing or trading or whatever enjoyments by degrees and degrees a secret moth shall eat and consume all a wasting and consuming famine must cure this evil disease 4. Something must go to Captivity and that is the last enemy to be destroyed the Devil he will yet keep some hold and footing and not be utterly routed so long as there is any dust to be the serpents food so long as the man hath any life beside the life of God I but now Christ shall designe him to captivity he shall be under a hewer of wood and drawer of water a servant to Christ he shall lord it no more He shall be bound for a thousand yeers and that will be the souls greatest happiness to keep him but in his prison that he may not break forth do his mischievous pranks but lie in his dungeon and be an underling to Truth though he still live for some Canaanites will ever live in the land to be the souls trial c. And thus I have opened to you this Day the great block that lieth in our way the bonds and shackles that hold us so fast It is Satans day 't is his hour and the power of darkness the mans Day of reigning is declining and laid aside in most if not all of you the man is not suffered so to bear sway and go at liberty and soar aloft in his minde but there are secret checkings and mindings of a shortness and the black feet appearing make the feathers fall And in some of you it is an empty and desolate Day you are left without much stirring either from God or from the enemy The land is void of both her kings But the greatest and sorest Day which lies sore upon some of us is The reign of the enemy and then wo to the inhabitants of the world Wo to that Land indeed where the Wicked are in Authority I opened to you the several Woes in it And now to make some Use 1. Examine How is it with you Every soul look home do you feel this strong enemy Do you
false they were sent to be their Guides and Deliverers to bring thâ—m to the good Land But the Lyars mouth was open and this Christ is made to submit to to have his Life taken from him unjustly and without cause 4. Another Thing Christ submits to when he says Thy Will be done is to be put to the worst and shamefullest death of all The Circumstances aggravate the Death 1. He is crucified among two Thieves as one of that company guilty as they He is numbered with transgressors The Truth suffers as guilty though it be clear as Deceivers and yet true saith Paul Truth suffers between the Man and the Devil they are the two Thieves The Devil he is the great Thief he steals to himself Lordship and Power and to sit in the seat of God and to be Disposer of things He brags and vaunts All this will I give if thou wilt fall down and worship c. Alas they are none of his goods Then the Man he is a Thief too he steals a little hope and ease and rest a little release of his burthen when it presses very sore and this Thief steals for his want to satisfie his hunger and therefore he may be saved with Christ But between these two the Truth must dye as one of that number as a sinner and transgressor We have looked amiss as if the man only and the Devil were to suffer but the Truth in us because clear therefore that might scape No no that must suffer and lead the way to the man or else he alas can never suffer nor go through death But the good shepherd when he puts forth his own sheep he goes before them He suffers first and drinks the first cup. But 2. Where do they crucifie him Out of the City out of the place of blessing and carry him to the place of a skull as one of the Evangelists hath it a field of blood as another calls it but by both it appears to be a loathsom unworthy disgraceful place a place of filth and rottenness Out of the belly of Hell have I cryed unto thee c. No better a lodging for the Soul in this day then the belly of Hell it self and this Christ submits to 3. Yet further The Souldiers part his garments among them And truly this is a very sad case to consider How the Lusts that crucified the Truth yet they will divide its garments and put them on and they 'l be covered with a garb and covering of Truth The wisdom of the flesh that puts in for a share the hasty and eager zeal and affections they plead for a share the strange imaginations they plead a share and all will seem to be Friends to Truth notwithstanding they have but now put it to death yet they part his garments among them And this is a sad case to the sensible Soul that is bereaved of the Life of its Truth and of the garments also that hath lost all such a Soul can cry out bitterly with Mary They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have layd him 5. Yet further He submits to be left and forsaken of all his Friends His Disciples left him and fled Might he but have had them to stick to him in this day of his calamity it had been a great support and stay but they all leave him and are scattered every one to his own And herein lies a sore aggravation of misery if your Souls can read it that now in this woful day when all these woes are upon the back and press the Soul to death almost yet this must come in to add to all the rest That all the good that ever the Soul hath done and thought and laboured in the Truth all is now scattered and leaves it What ever it hath done singly and honestly and out of the good-will sown in its heart towards the Truth all the labours under the Sun now take their leave and seem vanity and vexation of spirit And here Christ cries out I have spent my labour in vain time will come you will forget that ever you had a good thought or a good word or did any thing for the Truth all wil leave you and be gone when now your Souls can sometimes hold on the innocency and single mindedness within and truly pray to be remembred according to that inward cleanness yet a day will come when all this will be laid aside and forgotten I forgot prosperity saith David and in another place he compares himself to the Dead that are forgotten for ever How had Christ once his Disciples about him and ready to his command when he sent out the Seventy two by two and now to be left of all and not one to stand by him this is a hard Trial and if it were not hid from the Soul if it could foresee what a day of Scattering of all its good and labours would come upon it as though they had not been it would discourage and make it flag in all its actings for God if it thought such a day of stripping all were to come They pierced my hands and my Feet saith Christ His Hands that had laboured in the Truth and his Feet that had ran the way of his Commandments These are now nailed fast to the Cross and he is not able to stir them The day will come when your Souls will hate all the Labours you have taken under the Sun when that Strait shall be upon you to crie out My God My God Why hast thou forsaken me Mark what I say for the day will surely come upon you and then all your Works and Labours will leave you All the good that ever hath passed upon you will not stand you instead in that day nor answer that Strait O Lord how is my Soul troubled when I feel how senselesse you are and far off from having the thing seise upon you indeed But it will surely come and then you will remember what hath been told you this Condition will befall you to be left alone as Christ complains Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and my acquaintance into darkness 6. Another misery greater then all is this His father hides his face from him he seems to forsake him and become an enemy that he cries out my God my God c. My God he can yet say but not my father he hath hid himself from the house of Jacob all the bowels are hid But why must this befall Christ that his father leaves him 1. He hides himself that he may not see the death of his childe the father cannot endure that and therefore he turns aside and hides his face his bowels and tenderness and puts on another habiâ— Cloaths himself with vengeance as with a garment when this work of death must pass then he seems all anger and hardens himself against the cries and tears of his Son then he comes with Refiners fire now the fire that hath no mercy