those Nations without driving them out hastily neither delivered he them into the hands of Joshua V. 23. according to that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 7. That the Tryal of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire may be found unto Praise and Glory and Honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ A second Reason may be for the encrease of their Graces according to that saying of the Apostle James 1. 2 3. Knowing that the Tryal of our Faith worketh Patience and therefore the Apostle Paul did glory in Tribulations knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope and Hope saith he maketh not ashamed Rom. 5. 3 4. A third Reason may be because Troubles and Afflictions being rightly improved worketh good to a Soul to Eternity and so saith our Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light Affliction which are but for a Moment worketh for us a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen they are Eternal And further God by these Actings keeps a Soul close to himself and thereby gives it opportunities continually either to Pray or to Praise him for Deliverances For this Invasion together with the abominable Blasphemies of Sennacherib drives Hezekiah to his God and so saith the Text For this cause Hezekiah the King and the Prophet Isaiah Prayed and cryed to Heaven vers. 20. Men that walk close with God in time of Prosperity can with boldness go to God in time of Adversity with an assured confidence of a gracious Answer Hezekiah and Isaiah no sooner Pray but Speed and another opportunity is now put into their hands to return again with Praises in their mouths to the Throne of Grace for the Lord sent an Angel to cut off all the Mighty men of Ualour and the Leaders and Captains in the Camp of the King of Assyria So he returned with shame of face to his own Land and when he was come into the House of his god they that came out of his own bowels slew him there with the Sword V. 21. Whence we may note That when Gods People cry to him there is no staying the raising an Army or Money or the Making or Providing Ammunion but when they are in a Suffering condition they dispatch a Messenger to Heaven in a moments time to the Captain of their Salvation who himself was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2. 10. And such a Messenger who can neither be stayed by the way nor his Message intercepted even the Spirit of Truth who will tell the truth of their Cause and help their Infirmities and express their Condition with groans that cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit Rom. 8. 26 27. God is a free Agent and cannot be limitted to any means but acteth how when and which way he pleaseth For Hezekiah and Isaiah no sooner Pray but an Angel is as soon dispatched into the Camp of Sennacherib for are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister for those who shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. And this Angel destroyes his Mighty men Captains and men of Valour Hezekiah we see spake truth when he encouraged the People saying Be not dismayed at the King of Assyria for there is more with us than with him with him there is an Arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our Battels ver. 7. and 8. Happy it is then with the People of God when they can trust God for their Deliverance and observe that Word of Command from the Captain of their Salvation Mat. 24. 6. Then when they shall hear of Wars and rumours of Wars Nation against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom that then they be not troubled but can take that good Advice that once Moses gave to Israel of old Exod. 14. 13. Even to stand still and see the Salvation of God which he will work for them The Angel finisheth his work with speed which causeth Sennacherib with shame Confusion of face with speed to return into his own Land Whence we may note That whilst men depend upon an Arm of flesh upon every Defeat their spirits are more or less dejected whilst he that trusteth in the Lord is not afraid of evil Tidings for his heart is fixed Psal. 112. 7. When Sennacheribs confidence in which he trusted viz. His Great men his Captains and his men of Valour were brought down then Shame as a Vail begins to cover his face whilst the Righteous are bold as a Lyon and shall not be ashamed in the evil time Psal. 37. 19. An Arm of flesh will fail For all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth and the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely the People is grass saith the Prophet Isaiah 40. 6. and 7. Therefore the People of God trust in their God because that in the Lord Jehovah is Everlasting strength Isaiah 26. vers. 4. The Text saith That Sâ—…nnacherib when he returned he went into the House of his god Now his god was one of the gods of the Heathens which had neither eyes to see not ears to hear hands to handle nor feet to walk and so uncapable of doing him good as that he could not give good Advice nor afford good Assistance neither to him nor to his People yet such is his Zeal notwithstanding his wickedness as that he must into the House of this his god Whence we may note That the worst of men generally are under some Form of Worship either to a false god or to the true God after a false manner in which usually they are very zealous although in other things desperately wicked Whence we may further note That it is not Zeal under any Form that makes that Form the true Form of Godliness but it is the special Appointment of God in his Word of Truth that is the onely and alone Way God will be worshipped in in which he requireth men to be zealous The Apostle Paul whilst he was in his unregenerate condition his Zeal led the way and marched in the Van whilst his Knowledge lay behind in the Rear which caused him so to make havock of the Church as he himself confesseth Phil. 3. 6. Gal. 1. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 9. And saith he Acts 26. 9. I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareâ—…h which thing I did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints did I shut up in Prison having received Authority from the Chief Priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them V. 10. And I punished them oft in every Synagogue and
14. The Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Therefore be sure O King thou have Thus saith the Word of the Lord for thy Warrant for God is a jealous God and will not be served with any thing but what is of his own And this did Hezekiah throughout all Jndah and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God and in every work that he began in the service of the House of God and in the Law and in the Commandments to seek his God he did it with all his heart and saith the Text He prospered Chap. 31. 20 21. Whence we may note That whilst Hezekiahs heart was upright to God God prospered him and thus we find in Holy Writ That whilst men with a perfect heart have a careful eye in all their undertakings to please God God hath a tender eye over them to prosper them And thus whilst Joseph is answering his lustful Mistris with a How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. Though Joseph by her revengeful malice be cast into Prison yet God is with him v. 21. And God gives him favour in the eyes of the Prison-Keeper insomuch that the Prison-keeper looked not after any thing that was under his hands and the Reason is added vers. 28. Because the Lord was with him and that which he did the Text saith The Lord made it it prosper And thus whilst Daniel in the Babylonish captivity is resolved in his heart not to defile himself with a portion of the Kings Idolatrous Meat nor of his wine God bringeth Daniel iuto Favour and tender Love with the Prince of the Eunuches Dan. 1. 3 9. Insomuch that the Eunuch will venture his head to the King his Master rather than Daniel shall want that food he desires V. 10 14. A good encouragemant for the People of God in the very worst of times even to take up a Resolution to eye God in what he would have them to do in all things and not at all to fear the faces of men though never so great for if Shadrach Meshach and Abednego will not bow to Nebuchadnezzars Image but keep themselves close to their God God will keep as close to them and one like the Son of Man shall walk with them in that seven times hot fiery Furnace to preserve them Dan. 3. 16 25. Will Daniel Petition no other but the true God though against the Decree of the King that God will send his Angel to shut the mouths of the Lyons that they shall not hurt him Daniel 6. 10. 22. Therefore suffer me to bespeak thee and thy People O King in the Language of Azariah the Son of Obed which he once uttered to King Asa 2 Chron. 15. 1. Hear thou me CHARLES and all England Scotland Ireland and in particular thou proud voluptuous and vain-glorious City of London the Lord is with you whilst you are with him if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you And let not the King be angry if one that is counted a Fannatick speak once more to him not in his own Language but in the words of the Spirit of the Lord in the Prophet David to his Son 1 Chro. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of thy thoughts if thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever Thou knowest O King thou hast had a casting off and that that casting off may not be for ever be perswaded to turn to thy God with all thy heart We usually say That he that would move another to weep must first cry himself he must first begin the passion thus God hath done God hath begun a Work God hath first troden a Path for thee O King to walk in God hath made a Return to thee most miraculously and far I presume beyond thine own Expectation or the Imagination of many others therefore O King Prepare to meet thy God have a care thou walk not in any By-Path but onely and alone in that Path of Returning which God hath troden for thee and as God hath been Miraculous in his Returning to thee O be thou as Eminent in thy returniug to him this is that which I am confident the Lord looketh for at thy hands for so saith the Lip of Truth it self Luke 12. 48. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and the same voice hath the Spirit of the Lord in my Text But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the Benefits bestowed upon him therefore wrath fell upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem And that I may come to the handling the words themselves I shall briefly shew what God did for Hezekiah that caused him to look for so suitable a return from Hezekiah After these things and the establishment thereof Chap. 32. 1. That is After the Reformation that Hezekiah had made as I have in part laid down and as in the three foregoing Chapters is more particularly discovered After these things and the establishment thereof Sennacherib King of Assyria came and entered into Judah and Encamped against the fenced Cities and thought to win them to himself Whence we may note That though men walk never so close with God yet they cannot be exempted from the malicious endeavours of wicked men David we know is Recorded in holy Writ to be a man after Gods own heart who in the Confidence of his Soul sometimes can say The Lord is on his right hand he shall not be moved Psal. 16. 8. And anon in Psal. 17. 8. he begs of the Lord to hide him under the shadow of his Wings from the wicked that oppress him and from his deadly Enemies Now he will not fear what man can do unto him And anon he cryeth out That one day he shall fall by the hand of Saul Good men are at an uncertainty of quietness or tranquility on this side the grave If the Sons and Daughters of God had too much Happiness and Peace in this life they would then begin to settle upon the Lees and satisfie themselves with that which cannot profit God knows what is fitter for his than they do themselves and therefore it is that he suffers his dearest Children to undergo great Tryals and that for several Reasons First for the Tryal of their Faith according to that of Judg. 2. 21. I will not saith the Lord drive out any of the Nations which Joshua left when he died and the Reason is added That through them I may prove Israel whether they will keep the Way of the Lord to walk therein as their Fathers did keep it therefore saith the Text The Lord left
That we see by common Experience That they that are hunger-bit when they come to their full of Diet they run upon it with greediness like Israel of old 1 Sam. 14. 32. Who flew upon the Spoil and took Sheep and Oxen and Calves and slew them on the ground and the People did eat them with the Blood Which was contrary to the Law of God and which became their sin Even so hunger-bit Souls many times eat with that eagerness that they do not onely sin in their Excess but also Surfeit themselves to the loss of their lives This then may serve for a Use of Caution to thee O King that of a long time hast been a Stranger to this Land of thy Nativity and hast been forced to wander from one Kingdom to another Nation from one Language to another People in penury and want and now being come to three Kingdoms of thine own flowing with Milk and Honey and yet abounding in all manner of Excess of Riot let me Caution thee in the fear of the Lord that thou surfeit not thy self upon the profits nor pleasures thereof nor let thy Men of Valour neither Domestick nor Forreign that are lately come over to thy assistance cause thee to put thy confidence in an Arm of flesh lest thy heart be lifted up and so thou forget thy God to thine own ruine Neither surfeit thy self with too much blood-shed lest thou make thy self Blood-guilty and so God begin a new Inquisition but rather shew Pitty and Compassion Love and Lenity and rather Lament than Launce and rather Triumph over the killing thy Corruptions than thy Subjects and resolve to refer thy will to the Lord who saith Uengeance is mine and I will repay it Rom. 12. 19. I would here be understood in a good sence for I do not desire the Obstruction of the due Administration of Justice but that it may be so administred that Mercy may be intermixed therewith and also that Relenting and Sobriety and not Exaltation and Inhumanity be in the Execution For I know That it is an Ordinance of God For Magistrates are set up for the punishment of Evil doers Rom. 13. 3 4. For the Law is not made for the Righteous man but for the Lawless and Disobedient for the Ungodly and for Sinners for Unholy and Prophane for Murtherers of Fathers and Murtherers of Mothers for Man-slayers for Whoremongers and for them that defile themselves with man-kind for Man-stealers for Lyars and perjâ—…red persons or any thing else that is contrary to sound Doctrine 1 Tim. 1. 9 10. And seeing the Apostle saith That in many things we offend all James 3. 2. For if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. O then be perswaded to bring thy self to the Bar of Gods Justice and there Arraign Judge and condemn thy self for saith our Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 31. If we would Judge our selves we should not be Judged but when we are Judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World And this O King is the readiest way I know of to render duely to God and to keep thy heart from being lifted up that so wrath fall not upon thee and thy Kingdoms I beseech thee then in the fear of the Great Jehovah consider what I say and the Lord in Mercy make thee Wise that as thou art an Heir to a Crown of gold here so thou mayest he made partaker of that Crown of Righteousness which never fadeth away which saith the Apostle The Lord the Righteous Judge shall give to 〈◊〉 at that day and not to 〈◊〉 onely but unto all them also that love his appearanâ—…e 2 Tim. 3. 8. And so O King let thy Soul in the singleness thereof Eccho with mine and say Even so come Lord Iesus come quickly A DECLARATION Of a small Society of BAPTIZED BELIEVERS undergoing the Name of FREE-WILLERS about the CITY of LONDON WE well knowing that we are and have been mis-represented to the People of this and other Nations as well by particular Letters from friend to friend as by publick Intelligence in Pamphlets and News-Books by which means we have been rendred odious in the eyes almost of all and as it were made a by-word and a hissing to all were notwithstanding willing according to the requirement of our Saviour Luke 21. 19. In our patience to possesse our Souls and silently to wait upon our God for a clearing of our innocency and the cleannesse of our hands in his eye-sight But lately having had a view of a Declaration dated the 12th of December last made by some Persons of the particular Judgment in which some others of another perswasion have joyned to the which in severall particulars we cannot in the least assent We therefore thought it our bounden Duty for the vindication of that Truth which we are in present profession and practice of as also fearing lest they having declared to publick view we by our silence should be looked upon either to be of the same Judgment with them in what they have declared or else guilty of all or some of those five Particulars they in that Declaration say the Baptists in general are charged withall have therefore set pen to paper and shall first give a particular of the said five Charges and then as in the presence of God lay down our real Judgments and Perswasions grounded upon Scripture record to those Charges by which it will be apparent that we are not guilty of them at all and that we differ from the said Declarers in point of Judgment and if we shall in any thing therein derogate from the minde of God we shall desire in the Spirit of love to be rectified by better Judgments from the word of truth and shall think our selves happy gainers in such a Christian reproof Say they we being mis-represented to the Nation 1. As such as are opposite to Magistracy 2. That we would destroy the Publick Ministry of the Nation who differ from us in some things about Religion 3. That we do countenance the People called Quakers in their irregular practice 4. That we do endeavour a toleration of all miscarriages in things Ecclesiastical and Civil under pretence of Liberty of Conscience 5. That we desire to murther and destroy those that differ from us in matters of Religion To the first we positively say that we are so far from opposing Magistracy as that it would be to us matter of great rejoycing to know who were our Magistrates But farr greater to see such set up who are men fearing God and hating covetousness that so 〈◊〉 might be duly executed without respect of persons and Judgment 〈◊〉 down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream that so there might be no more leading into captivity that complaining in our streets might have an end But for our parts to take a carnal weapon in our hands or use the least violence