day of Jerusalem rase it rase it even to the foundation thereof Psal 137. vers 7. Thus did the Egyptians gape and gaspe after prey Exod. 15. vers 9. I but God cometh in and dasheth their expectations in pieces yea beateth out the brains of that Leviathan and this maketh the hearts of their enemies melt and run like wax before the fire and thus God reacheth his great end which is to make void the hopes of the wicked Job 36.24 25. that all the world may see and say There is none like unto the God of Jeshurum who rideth upon the heavens for the help of Israel and in his excellency upon the skies The eternal God is their refuge and underneath are everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy before-them and shall say destroy them Deut. 33. ver 26 27. When the wicked thinks to fall upon them and cut them off in the open field then the Lord will be a retreating place unto them the eternal God is their Refuge when they lay load upon them and think to sinke them down with pressing calamities then underneath are everlasting arms to bear them up when they strengthen their leagure and think to cut off all supplies then the God of Jeshurum rideth upon the heavens for their help when they think to starve them out and bring in famine among them then The fountain of Jacob is upon a land of câ—rn and wine when they think to stop up their wells of water and to slay them with thirst Then his heaven drops down dew upon them the Lord filleth their vessels with rain from the clouds so that their water shall not fail thus in all their contrivements The enemies are found lyars and their blossoming hopes are blasted by the Lord so that the Angels in their heavenly Chore may sing this song of triumph in behalf of the Saints Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy excellency Thus have we seen the truth cleared that the appearances of the Lord are eminent and immediate in the time of his peoples greatest distress and the reasons of the point asserted we shall now gather the Vintage and press the full clusters of it to make a cordial wine for fainting Saints in an evill day The Doctrine thus cleared and asserted doth offer us many truths writ with a beam of the Sun known and read of all men As Doct. 1. That the Saints are a people of Gods special care They are much in the thoughts of God and lye near his heart It is a truth God eareth for man and beast he exerciseth a general and a providential care towards all his creatures The care of a Creator like the light of the Sun goeth through the whole world his going forth is from the end of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal 19. vers 6. All men yea the worst of men on this side hell are debtors to God and owe all their safety to his care whose is their breath and in whose hands are all their wayes But he hath a peculiar and paternal care over the Saints That Distich of Musculus cometh in fitly Est Deus in coelis qui providus omnia curat Credentes nunquam deservisse potest A God there is whose providence doth take Care for his Saints whom he will not forsake Saint Paul that he might commend Timothy fully to the Philippians useth these expressions Phil. 2. vers 20. I have no man like-minded he could not finde so choice a spirit not a man of his minde he was a None-such and wherein did this singularity shew it self Why in this who will naturally care for your state as principles of nature carry out the Father carefully to provide for the safety of his children Childless persons drive on a single and selfish interest but parents do wrap up their childrens good in all their actings spending many a careful thought on them how to render their lives safe and comfortable So vers 20. When all seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ good Timothy naturally tendered the Churches welfare laying out his thoughts and care how to promote her spiritual advantage A singular patern to which the carriages of few men run parallel in these selfish dayes of ours when the publick is too much drowned and swallowed up in private interests A sad deportment and that which ought to be lamented with tears of blood Oh! should the Lord write after this copy what a woe case were we all in but here is our comfort God careth for the righteous and this speaks his care with the shrillest Eccho that he naturally careth for them even with the tenderest bowels of an indulgent father See that 2 Chron. chap. 16. vers 9. The eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him his eyes run implying the celerity and swiftness of God in hastening relief to his people Isa 31. vers 5. As birds flying so will the Lord defend Jerusalem his eyes run through the whole earth implying the universality of help not a Saint in a dark corner of the world under any streights but the Lord seeth him nay run to and fro the providence of God moveth in circuitu if it â—e low water now it will be high water anon there are tydes of mercy So Isa 49. v. 16. Behold I have graven thee upon the palm of my hands thy walls are continually before me We read that the names of the twelve Tribes were engraven upon twelve stones on the breastplate of Aaron when he appeared before the Lord Exod. 28. vers 11. And the shew-bread was kneaded into twelve Loaves being therefore called panis propositionis because it represented the twelve Tribes and set upon the table before the Lord Lev. 24. vers 5. to enminde the Lord of his people We say and it too often proveth true out of sight out of minde but now the Saints cannot be out of Gods minde because ever in his sight Oh! the care of God toward his people how great And oh the comfort of his people from this care of God how sweet and precious is it and wherein appeareth this care of God Why in his eminent and immediate appearances for them in the day of their distress hear at what a rate God speaketh Isa 40. vers 27 28. Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God God cannot indure such a distrustful whining spirit in his people It hath an unhandsome reflection upon God as though he had remitted if not cast off the care of his people therefore the Lord comes on with his high intergatories Hast thou not known what an ignorant people Hast
death doth strip a Saint of his wealâ—h not of his works there shall be a resurrection of your prayers and piety yea honorable mention will be made of your charity to the poor Saints at the great day Mat. 25.35 I was an hungry and ye fed me c. Oh comfort your hearts with these considerations duly weighing what ye have read and you will find when you sive most in a lively sense of grace received and in the improvement of it you live best to your selves as to a greater freedom from sin a closer walking with God and living a life of greatest comfort 3. A sober and savourly collection of grace received will make you live best to others No man is born to himself says the heathen and no man liveth to himself says the holy Ghost Rom. 14.5 he is a monster in nature that centers onely upon himself and is fitter to dwell like an Anchâ—ret in a Cell or like a leper apart then in a community with men and Christians as there is a circulation of the blood in natural bodies that every part may receive warmth and spirits to supply its want and to render it serviceable to the whole So ought there to be a circulation of gifts and graces in the body mistical upon spiritual accounts therefore says the Apostle We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the wâ—ak either bear with them or bear up the infirm and weak Christians as pillars do the poise of the whole house or parents bear their babes in their armes and not to please our selves that is not to live onely in a way of self-pleasing as men acted by principles of self-love but vers 2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification for even Christ pleased not himself The end of Christs coming into the world was not to seek great things for himself upon a carnal and self-pleasing score nay though the cup and cross were displeasing unto him as man and he prayed against them yet when he considered that the will of his father was to bring many sons unto glory and that by making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings he presently submitted and said not my will but thine be done Here 's our pattern in the pursuance of others good our lives should be as so many Sermons on the life of Christ as one saith this is to walk as Christ walked and this will give boldness in the day of Judgment Now we shall best seek our neighbours good to edification when we keep up a sence of our own wants and weaknesses supplies and succours we shall thereby be like the good Scribe Matth. 13. ver 52. which is instrutied to the kingdome of heaven who hath things new and old in his treasury to bring forth upon every occasion The Rabbins Proverb is Lilmed le-lammed Learn that ye may teach and the Scribe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extrudit copiose alacriter freely and fully gives forth his store to the needy hearer Christians as well as Ministers must be like full paps Mr. Trap. in Mat. 13.52 which pain the nurse with their fulness and therefore draw them out to their babes that they may be drawn or like Aromatical trees which sweat out their soveraign gummes and oyls But alas how few such sweating trees grow upon English ground how many dry breasts have we every where and those that are full have sore nibbles that will not give suck because of the painfulness in drawing Truely when I observed this great evil amongst the Christians of our age and Nation I was pressed in spirit to provoke unto love and good works and to publish my thoughts by way of brotherly advice unto them that a wise and faithful improvement of our own cases and graces would excellently advantage the good of our neighbours I shall instance in some Particulars 1. Your own experiences faithfully communicated will maâ—veilously encourage young Converts they will be as a staff in the hand of the weak whereon to stay New beginners have many fears and pull-backs at their first setting forth for heaven many adversaries that do way-lay them and many enemies that do pursue them Egypt at the red sea and Amaleck in the wilderness Satan levies all his temptation to render the seed of grace abortive in their soules so that it would bring forth fruit to perfection at a slow rate if the Lord Jesus who planted it did not also water and preserve it and that every moment Isa 27. vers 3. Bendes when the Lord gives a converted sinner a vision of himself lets him see his own vileness the heaps of sin and lust the springs and falls of corruption in his nature how he lies under the guilt of black and horrid sins open to the wrath of an Almighty and sin-revenging God and ready to drop into the grave and hell out of which there is no recovery Oh the fears that are upon his spirit the dismal thoughts that roul up and down his mind the dreadfull sound that is in his ears but now if you that are Christians of some standing in the grace of God would impart your experiences and tell him what your fears and terrours and troubles were and how the Lord gave you in comfort and establishment sure this would mightily encourage a young convert and have a special influx to his peace quietness and consolation This was the Apostle Paul's way 1 Tim. 1. ver 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners That is the Doctrinal part which indeed flowes with much comfort into the heart of an humble believing sinner as Mr. Bilney Martyr found in a great conflict But now the Applicatory part gusheth out with streams of comfort and what 's that of whom I am chief howbeit I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-sâ—ffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting as if he had said One great reason next to the secret purpose of his own free grace why this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was so exceeding abundant towards me even to a pleonasme of mercy was that I might be held forth as a pattern of free grace as a monument of pardoning and sparing mercy to all sin-laden and sin-loathing persons who are the true Penitents Oh how would a wounded spirit yet healing a broken heart binding and a drooping soul reviving from such discoveries of misery and mercy of guilt and grace sin and salvation there would no be such sinking of spirit neither would the wounds of many be so long raw and bleeding if experienced Christians would be free in communicating their conditions and comforts unto them and would like the good Samaritan pour in the wine and oyl of their experienced mercy 2. This would be a mighty support to weak believers the experiences of stronger
17. And truely how should we admire the goodness of the Lord that the plague hath rid circuit through most Nations in the world in late years and that by a desolating mortality in some places and yet hath not for this many years broke forth in any raging manner in this Nation of ours ought not this distinguishing providence of God since reformation first began in the long Parliament be much admired and the Lord be thankfully adored for it and may we not own a remnant in the Land as a blessing from the Lord who stood in the gap Nay farther it is upon the account of the Saints that the world continues that the fire of God doth not kindle upon the whole Creation which is combustible to melt the heavens and burn up the earth with the works that are therein the floud of waters was onely respited until Noah and his family were secured in the Ark which being done the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windowes of heaven were opened Gen. 7. ver 11. When Lot was entred into Zoar then the Lord rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom Gen. 19. ver 23 24. 2 Pet. 3. v. 9. The Lord is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any of his should perish but when the whole election is brought in then cometh the end when the sealing Angel Apoc. 7. ver 1 2 3. had sealed the servants of God in their foreheads then had the four Angels that stood on the four corners of the earth full commission to fall pel mel upon the earth It will be a dooms day with the world when the cloudes shall catch up the elect to meet their Lord in the air 1 Thess 4. vers 17. 5. And Lastly The Saints of God may mostly advantage their carnal neighbours in promoting their conversion herein they would shew themselves friends indeed if they would use all humble and earnest endeavours to bring them home to God The Judicial Law commanded every Israelite to bring a straying ox or ass home to his master How much more doth the Law of God and Christian love oblige every true Israelite indeed to bring a straggling Prodigal home to his Fathers house All the Saints own it as their duty to glorifie God in their generation and wherein can they bring more glory to God then in helping soules to heaven and how can they find out a readier way to effect this great business then by telling Vnless the Lord had been their help their soules had well nigh dwelt in silence by making a faithfull narrative of their own conditions by nature and by grace when and how the goodness of the Lord was made known unto them upon a saving account Some of the Saints I may boldly affirm have taken this course and prospered Oh that this might be a word from the Lord to awaken up all to this great duty my soul even bleedeth within me to observe the general neglect and great aversness of most to this great business some think their gifts too low and their parts too inconsiderable to carry on a design of this importance others have such honorable thoughts of a Gospel Ministery rightly called and qualified that they judg the anointing of the Lord to be upon them onely for that work and therefore will not take their work out of their hand least they should sin in such an attempt Others cry out let them do the work who receive the wages as though they worked onely for wages which is a very unjust and uncharitable censure Some there be that go higher yet who bid the Ministers sit still for they can do the work better then they and load them with many foul aspersions that they may the better get their work out of their hands I mean their people from under their Ministerial care and oversight indeed the distemper is very sad at this day in the Nation and not a few fall under this last classis I think in no Nation more the Lord rebuke that bold and blaspemous spirit which is gone abroad humble us for our sinnes and shew us the pattern of his house in all the in-goings out-goings and ordinances of it that men of daring spirits may be bounded I like not an invasion upon the Ministry so as to destroy the office of it nor yet an intrusion unto it by men not duly called unto it neither that any who are not in some measure of Gospel-fitness qualified for it should be thrust or thrust themselves upon a people though called by man unto it much less that any should improve their gifts to set up themselves and throw down the faithfull Ministry in the hearts and affections of people least of all that any should be suffered much more encouraged who corrupt the truths and people of God who bring in damnable heresies to draw away disciples after them by reason of whome the way of truth is evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. vers 1 2. formerly made good in those reproaches which were cast upon Religion by the Pagans in the Primitive times and are now cast upon it amongst us by Papists and carnal Professours and both upon the account of Heresies and therefore as I owne the office of a Pastor as distinct from the people being the great bequeathment of the Lord Jesus to his Church and for the spiritual edification of his Church Eph. 4. ver 8 11 12. Bless God for those able pens who have with much learning gravitie weightiness of Arguments and evidence of divine truth propugned and asserted it in these times of great opposition and also thankfully acknowledg the integrity and faithfulness of the Civil and Supream power which hath been as a covering Cherub to the godly Ministery notwithstanding the many temptations which have been upon them to the contrary so as a suitable return both to God and good men I make it my humble proposal to my reverend brethren of the Ministery that they would strengthen the hands of the Lords people and by encouraging Arguments quicken them up to lay out themselves in their several capacities and in a wise improvement in their several advantages to win over sinners unto God If Eldad and Medad prophesie in the camp why should Joshua dislike it my Lord Moses forbid them Numb 11. ver 25 26. If the Christians of our respective Congregations should keep up private communion amongst themselves at due times and in due order or if sober and experienced Christians should minister words of advice and exhortation to their carnal neighbours provided they do it out of right principles to right ends and in a a due manner would it not hear ill if we should cry to my Lord Mâ—ses to forbid them rather let us say Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets Ver. 29. and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them that they may receive abilities from God to minister unto others That God in all things may be glorified through
thought which exalteth it self against the knowledge of God As ye have captivated Nations and people to the obedience of your commands so bring all the thoughts the Nations and people of those little worlds your hearts into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ and his Gospel-commands 2 Cor. 10. vers 5. Your war is an In-land war now the weapons of your warfare are not now carnal but spiritual your enemies are not High-landers but In-landers not Cavaliers but Corruptions not the wilde Irish but the wilde Asses Colr principles of proud corrupt nature And now as your conflicts are harder so your conquests will be happier As your enemies are more dangerous so your victory will be more glorious Prov. 16. vers 32. he that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that scaleth a City Oh it would be very sad and much sadden the hearts of many of your Christian friends if any of you who Sampson-like have slain the Philistins should yourselves be slain by a Philistin Delilah that your locks should be cut and the strength of the Lord should depart from you Oh how would the Daughters of the Philistins rejoyce how would the Daughters of the uncircumcised triumph when this should be told in Gath and published in the streets in Askelon and how would the Daughters of Israel weep over you and say How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battel the spiritual warfare How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished 2 Sam. 1. vers 24.25 27. Oh then stand to your Armes make good your Sacramentum militare your military oath to be true to Christ and his cause there is not such a thing in a Gospel-sense belonging to your Christian warfare as an honorable retreat Mr. Gurnab part 1. of his Christian in Compleat Armour pag. 374. not such a word of command in all Christs military Discipline as fal back and lay down your arms till called off by death as a Reverend Divine saith Oh then now the war is ended and the Lord hath given us peace by your means attend that spiritual work and spiritual war and go to the Armoury of the great Captain of our salvation opened by St. Paul Eph. 6. vers 11 12 13. c. and take out such peeces as you want yea every peece of Armour that you finde in that spiritual Magazine that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand that so having fought the good fight of faith ye may hold on eternal life and receive that Coronam militarem that Crown of righteousness which the Lord will give to all those who love his appearing 2 Tim. vers 4.7 8. 4. Here is a word from the Lord to Mariners and Sea-trading men And O that our Sea-Commanders and Souldiers would rightly improve this truth If this poor Treatise shall come into any of your hands the good Lord set it upon your hearts If the appearances of God be eminent and immediate to any in a day of distress sure they have been so to you ye of all men do see much of the power and providence of God at least may see it if your eyes be opened and your mindes savingly inlightned The Psalmist tells us and though I be not a Seafaring man yet I beleeve it they that go down to the Seas in ships that do business in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep for he commandeth and raiseth up the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof they mount up to the heavens they go down again to the depths Psal 10. vers 23 24 25 26. Cannot ye comment upon this Text cannot ye seal to this truth their soul is melted because of trouble runs as thin as water they are ready to dye for fear of death Junius understands it of extreme vomiting as if they were casting up their very hearts One doubted whether he should reckon Mariners who were put to Sea amongst the living or the dead in the censure or Registry of a Nation Another sayes that a man will go to the Sea at first I wonder not but to go a second time it is madness They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man nutant nautae vacillant cerebro pedibus there is a great deal of elegancy in the phrase and it is very significant men that are full of drink that are loaden with liquor they go with a very unsteady and tottering gate reeling now against this wall and now against that if they walk in a narrow street so Mariners in a storm are thrown first on one side then on the other side of the ship A tempest is a sad Sea-quake which throws all on heaps nothing hardly keeps due order and its right place in the ship again a man that is down drunk as the phrase is is reason-struck his intellectuals are shattered he is fit for no head imployment so Mariners in a storm are at their wits end all their skill and strength fail them at once All their wisdom is swallowed up Heb. that is the art of Navigation is now of no use unto them Card and Compass and all laid aside and forced to let the ship run a drift hath not this been your case in great stress of weather Have ye not met with such a storm at sea which hath brought forth all these fears and terrors in you have ye not often thought ye should have been entombed within walls of water and your bodies should have become a prey to sea-Monsters especially when engaged in a dreadful Sea-fight But was the sea alwayes rough the windes always high the ship alwyes in danger to be split or sunk no Ver. 28. Then they cryed to the Lord in their trouble then if ever a storm at sea will make seamen pray though they seldome do it on dry land yea cry thus Jonah Chap. 1. Vers 5. Then to wit in a storme The Mariners were afraid and cryed every man to his God Qni nescit orare discat navigare Rarae fumant felicibus arae He that cannot pray let him go to sea if he fears God or danger he cannot but pray but what doth God hear their cry yea he bringeth them out of their distress ver 29. He maketh the storme a calm so that the waves thereof are still Thus it was in that great storme Matth. 8. vers 26. when the ship was covered with waves through the violence of windes which rolled and dashed them over it The Lord Jesus rebuked the windes and the sea and 〈◊〉 was a great calme he did but once chide those creatures and they submitted but against how many chidings of the Lord do these rebellious hearts of ours stand out winde and sea will rise up in judgment against us at the great day and will condemn us every drop of water in that sea upon which you sail will be a witness of your monstrous
appear to my help and will he refuse help to his beloved spouse was my trouble but as a racking cloud soon blown over by the wind of Gods favour and shall the Churches calamity be as a dark heaven set round with raine surely no though the nations do rush like the rushings of many waters yet God shall rebuke them the word signifies shall sharply and severely chide them or destroy them which implyed in the following words and they shall flee farre off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like a thing rouling before the whirlwind and behold at even tide trouble and before the morning he is not this is the portion of them that spoil us and the lot of them that rob us Isa 17. ver 13 14. O then be encouraged to hope and pray and pray in hope when the Church is brought into greatest straits when the Armies of Gog and Magog do go up on the breadth of the earth the number of whom is as the sand of the sea and compasse the camp of the Saints about and the beloved city that fire shall come down from heaven and devour them Apoc. 20.19 Let Davids practice be your pattern argue the Churches deliverances from your own if a man bestirre himself to quench a fire that hath taken hold of a remote cottage how much more will he lay out himself to preserve his manner house If a King send out his troops to secure a petty village from the Rovers how much more will he draw up his whole Army to secure the Royall city If the death of one Saint be precious how much more precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of many precious Saints O! God will be seen upon the mount Caelar-like he will either finde or make a way for their escape the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of every temptation 2 Pet. 2. ver 9. to fetch a Lot out of Sodom and a Judah out of Babylon The Churches extremitie is Gods opportunity when the tale of bricks is doubled then Moses will come as one saies 2. Improve your providential preservations by way of comfort in all your sufferings for the name and in the cause of Christ the Lord tells you tribulation in this world must be your portion and it is a characteristical mark of a true believer to be hated by the world they that have the crown in their eye must bear the cross upon their backs Now in the greatest tryal of affliction for the Gospel ye may draw forth and drink the wine of consolation ye may comfort your spirits by a serious reflection upon your experiences when ye remember what incomes ye had what strength what support what revivings of soul whilest ye lay upon such a bed of sickness were exposed to such hazzards environed with such dangers hedged in with such calamities when ye consider how the Lord fetch'd you off how seasonably Providence stepp'd in to your relief and how wonderfully God appeared for your deliverance Thus the Apostle argues in his own case 2 Cor. 1. ver 8. He tells the Church a great trouble which befell him in Asia it may be that at Ephesus Acts 19. ver 23. or that mentioned 1 Cor. 15. ver 32. but probably some other which Saint Luke mentions not which trouble he aggravates by three notable circumstances 1. We mere pressed out of measure above strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the burthen of a strong man should be laid upon the shoulders of a weak childe their being no proportion betwixt weight and strength 2. We despaired even of life had doubtfull thoughts arising in our hearts that we should not come off with life Note The most holy men have in this life their fits of unbelief 3. We had the sentence of death within our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the answer of death or we passed the sentence of death upon our selves I but God that raiseth up the dead delivered us from so great a death and what Inference doth faith make from hence why it begat an holy affiance in him that God would yet deliver him as if he had said I am yet to live in the world I have not yet finished my course nor fulfilled my Ministery and I know that bands and imprisonments for the Gospel yea trouble and persecution wait for me I but here 's the benefit of experience that God who supported me when I was pressed out of measure and above strength revok'd that sentence of death which I had passed upon my self and delivered me from so great a death he will yet deliver me he will graciously come in with supplies and support unto me that the gates of hell shall not prevail against me and why so confident Paul what bottomes this assurance why the name and nature of that God in whom he trusts his name is Jehovah I am I was and I am to come or I will be Now if you say there was danger I reply there was a God If you say there is danger I answer there is a God and if you fear there will be danger I believe there will be a God Jehovah answers to all these and he that was Jehovah to me in my former is Jehovah to me in my present and will be Jehovah to me in all my future sufferings for the Gospel He is I am in his nature as being yesterday to day and the same for ever and he is I am in his attributes and appearances for his people He is I am in his love to them he loves with an everlasting love even unto the end I am in his Covenant which is everlasting that he will be the God of his people unto death And he is I am in mine own experience I have found him to be so to me and therefore I do comfortably argue my heart into an expectancy of help from this God and may easily say He hath delivered he doth deliver and he will deliver me The same argument may the Saints take up by way of comfort and hope to themselves in times of persecution when they consider their former deliverances and Gods unchangeableness And now give me leave to make some digression in commending my thoughts by way of comfort to you and to my self in case we should be called forth to a suffering condition much hath been spoken and much to purpose on this subject yet all is little enough and many of the Saints have found it so in an hour of temptation 1. Lay this upon your spirits that your sufferings are upon you for God for his names sake it is ye are killed all the day long and led forth as sheep unto the slaughter ye suffer not as evil doers or busiebodies in other mens matters but for Religion sake the Gospel sake and for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers as the Apostle affirmes of himself Acts 26. ver 6. and therefore ye
army is marshalled the stroak is from God the horse is prepared against the day of battel but safetie is of the Lord Prov. 21. ver 31. But suppose Sathan should deny the consequence of the Major for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a subtle opponent and argue though God did deliver in temporals yet he will not in spiritualls Who is he that shall deliver out of my hands I le make you know that ye are wrastling not with flesh and bloud men that are your matches but with principalities and powers who are much above your match there is impar congressus a great disparity in strength and wisdome and all things between me and you What are all the powers of the world to the God of this world what are all the dark plots of men to the projects of the Prince of darkness What are all the whiffling waters to the great Apollion who is the destroyer why answer greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 thy power Sathan is but a limitted power Christ our Redeemer hath thy chain in his hand thou canst not break one link of it nor pass one hairs breadth beyond thy boundaries besides Thou canst have no power against me except it be given the from above If thy Commission hath not pass'd the Signet-Office in heaven it is but a blank piece of parchment Nay farther thy head and thy heart and thy hand too have been all at work in those mischiefs that were plotted and acted against us and yet thou seest we have a sure footing in peace and safety when we were under water we had never come up again but had been quackned in the deep if the strength of thine arm could have kept our heads down when we were shut up in prison we had never came forth if thy bolts and locks could have made fast the doors when we were under the power of our enemies we had never come of with life if thy malice could have turned the points of their weapons against us But God made us to be pitied of all those that carried us away captive Psal 106. ver 46. Our sicknesses had been mortal if thou couldest have spilt the potion or stirred up the humours to have encreased the malignancy of the distempers but in all things wherein thou didst deal proudly God was above thee and he that rebuked thee in thine instruments will rebuke thee also in thine agency He that defeated thee as worldly Governors will defeat thee as spirituall wickedness also That wisdome goodness and power which secured our temporalls against thee will much more secure their spiritualls If thou couldest not spill our blood much less shalt thou be able to split our souls If thou couldest not take away our credit we are sure thou shalt not take away our crown If our goods were out of thy reach much more shall our graces and our glory be He that delivered us out of the mouth of the Lion will deliver us from every evil work and preserve us to his heavenly kingdome But further if Sathan shall argue Who doubts the power of God or who disputes against his omnipotency but wherefore should God put forth his Almightiness to secure you against me what claim can ye make to that mercy and goodness ye speak of let your reply be Gal. 1. ver 4. That Christ gave himself for your sinnes that he might deliver you from this present evil world according to the will of God even your father And that sin and Sathan are they that make this present world evill all evills flow from them If therefore God our father willed the death of his Son to deliver us from this present evil world he willed his death to deliver us from thee and that bastard brat of thine sin also And more John 14. ver 30. The Lord Jesus said of thee the Prince of this world hath nothing in me nor any power over me and if not in Christ then neither in us at least not over us so that thou shalt be able to undoe us and destroy us We are one with Christ he is the head and we the members and we can lay a Gospel claim which is a good title to all Christ and to all of Christ which is communicable to the creature The Apostle gives us good warrant 1 Cor. 3. ver 21. All things are yours and why ye are Christs yea so Christs as that Christ is yours a relative propertie as is between husband and wife Hence 1 Cor. 1. ver 30. He is made unto us of God wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption as if the Apostle had said the wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption which are in and wrought by Jesus Christ are by deed of gift through grace made over unto us So then against thy wiles and stratagems and cunning methods O Sathan We have the wisdome of Christ which is ours for direction to secure us Against thy accusations enditements and charges for sin we have the righteousness of Christ which is ours for justification to acquit us against those heart-defilements corruptions and concupiscences wherewith thou wouldst soil us and foil us we have the holiness of Christ which is ours for Sanctification in some measure to defend us and against thy might and malice treachery and tyranny we have the kingly office of Christ his authority his omnipotency which are ours as to Redemption to protect us Oh this this name of the Lord thus displayed and believed upon is a strong tower in the hour of temptation All the batteries of Hell cannot make a breach in it Now then get into this hold shut the doors upon you and let your temporal preservations be as locks and barrs to forbid Sathans entrance Lift up your shield of Faith embossed with your own experiences and wherever that Lion shall roar upon you give him battel fight him upon his own ground be steadfast in the faith keep true to your own experiences and believe without wavering the unchangeableness of Gods nature and Attributes and the Yea and Amen of all his Promises Improve the sense of eminent mercies and deliverances by way of comfortable assurance to your selves in all your castings down and fears of your eternal welfare But I shall speak little and warily on this head having touched upon it already in a foregoing use and least presumption should get up and carnal Professours should kindle a fire fetching fuel from this passage and compass themselves about with sparks walking in the light of this fire and in the sparks which they have kindled which notwithstanding all these confidencies their doom is pronounced by the Lord himself that they shallly down in sorrow Isa 50. ver 11. Indeed this humour is very ranck Ministers cannot with all their pains preach and pray and print it down And therefore I direct this discourse to the children of the new birth who have the witness within themselves of the work and
are reprooved who though they remember the mercies of God tell large stories of their eminent preservations and seem to be much affected in reporting of them which signifies little in Gods account yet they do not live up unto them they do not receive any teaching from them more to engage their hearts to God but live as loosly and as much off from God as to any real actings for God as though they were under no extraordinary Obligation unto God which is a brand upon them and notes out a very dis-ingenious and unworthy spirit Vocal thankfulness is the least part of gratitude the whole man should be wholly taken up in the duty it is not the water which passeth through a single spout that will turn this great wheel but the full stream which through many pipes flowes from the fountain All that is within me praise his holy name David thought the all of his soul in every faculty little enough for that great work Psal 103.4 nay too little and so Psal 116.9 he saies I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living indesinenter ambulabo I will not onely take a turn or two with God but will walk constantly to the end of the race thorough the exercise of every grace the faithfull discharge of every duty the conscionable performance of every service yea though all the Acts and parts and methods of Religion and all this he engageth as a Testimony of his thankfulness to God for eminent mercy in that full and memorable deliverance which he obtained happily in the desert of Maon 2 Sam. 23.25 26. When God fetched off Saul who had begirt David and his men with his Army where he was in eminent danger to have been surprised had not the Lord in way of seasonable Providence alarum'd Saul by the Philistines who then invaded the land This was a right improvement of such a mercy But alas How few be there who tread in David's steps who act up with such resolution and fixedness of spirit for God under the sence of admirable and obliging Providences How little are Providences taken notice of how little are they improved by most so as to quicken them up to more activity for God are there not many who steal murder commit adultery and swear fasly as though they were delivered to do all these abominations Jer. 7.9 10. do they not act as high in waies of sin as ever It is with many in this point as it is with some vapouring tradesmen who live and spend all in riot and luxury till they are clap'd up by their Creditours but when their friends have compounded for them procured their enlargement and given them a trading stock again they promise fair and fair what good husbands they will be and tuckle hard to their trades for a while but within a short space they forget their poverty and imprisonment and lash out again as much as ever so 't is with many men who being brought off by the Lord from some pressing calamity they speak good words and carry it very well for a little time but then they break out into the same excess of sin and vanity as ever what a sudden and strange work was upon Israel when God had set them upon drie land Exod. 15.31 yet Moses and Miriam had scarcely finished their Psalme of praise when Chap. 15.24 The people murmured and spake high against God O take heed of this spirit lest the Lord swear unto you in his wrath as he did to Rebellious Israel that you shall not enter his rest I shall shut up this Use with that Memento of the Apostle Jude verse 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance how the Lord having saved the people out of Egypt afterward destroied them that believed not that acted not up by faith to those mercies received that improved not those advantages of mercy and providential Administrations which the Lord had put into their hands in subserviency to his glory and their own establishment in that inheritance the Grant whereof God had given to their forefathers Ah friends we have much of Israels blood in our veins of Israels impatiency murmuring rebellion and dis-ingenuity upon our spirits Our feet have often stood upon the brink of Jordan and yet we have not passed over into our land of Rest at least the Canaanites are still in the Land O take heed of Infidelity and unsuitable returns after such signal and astonishing Deliverances both personal and National lest the destroyer come amongst us and disinherit us but let us all learn the minde of God in these glorious Transactions live up unto them and acknowledg before Angels and men that Vnless the Lord had been our Help our soules had dwelt in Silence FINIS A Table of Errata's Page 2. l. 32. read seasonableness p. 4. l. 16. r. people 6. r. Jer. 45. ib. last adde h to the first word 7.10 leave out And 12.8 r. on 14.2 leave out over against the sea 24.21 r. Deut. 4.37 26.4 adde a to gain 28.17 r. his ib. 32. r. confuteth 32.35 r. unto holiness 32.12 r. habitation 33.30 r. Cant. 8. 35. add me in the margin 35.30 r. is 36. 1. r. appearances 37.36 r. commented 40.20 r. 1 Kings ib. 22. r. means of safety 41.25 r. ereâ—ture 42.18 r. undo 43.30 r. a tempting 46.32 r. was 55.24 r. just complaints 56.3 r. of Jesus 59.25 Leave out the first yea 60.6 leave out those 62.13 leave out our 64. r. cucurrimus 64.14 r. unite 65.30 r. Salvianus 66.6 r. how raw and unskilfull ib. 12. r. expert 67.27 r. possession p. 68. 5. r. slashed 70.9 r. once of you 71. r. that in the margin under the second head ib. 35. adde us 72.25 r. begin to raise ib. 29. r. ye champions ib. l. 30. r. Christ's ib. 34. r. sealed 74.24 r. psal 107 ib. 30. r. census 78.27 r. If they have wearied thee in the land of peace then what wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan Jer. 12.5 89.9 r. beam 90.7 r. cues ib. 34. r. rescuing 92.14 r. Vzzah 100.7 r. Ezek. 9. 102.35 r. discourseth 105.5 r. Witches Samuel ib. r. 1 Sam. 28. 106. II. read nepheshi 107.15 r. the praises of the Lord 109.25 r. and with his own arm 121.35 r. ghnal-banim 122.4 r. quiet 122.4 in the Margin r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 133.21 r. unsuiteable 154.34 for exact r. cast 163.16 r. looked 164.27 r. praiseth 178.18 r. heart-communing 176.39 r. discoursed 181.2 r. woofe 184.31 r. feats 189.32 r. get 194.15 r. propositum 211.22 r. of their 224. II dele But 228.27 r. setters 237.23 r. Isa 43. 241.12 leave out Next ib. 21. r. diseased ib. 24. r. dele not 242.29 r. waxed ib. 38. r. saw Dedica or damnationis Christianorum is to be placed in the Margin of 242. 243.12 r. change 247.18 dele as ib. 25. r. your 251.34 r. physitians 253.7 r. was to ib. 38. r. your 257.22 adde the greatest sinners 260.25 r. Doegs 262.17 vieth 267.3 r. 1 Sam. 13.8 and 1 Sam. 10.8