Enemy to Rejoyce o're thee and he set up the horn of this thy foe 18 Their heart cried unto the Lord O wall of the Daughter Of Zion day and night let tears run down like a river Give thy self O Jerusalem no rest nor quietness Let not the apple of thine eyes cease whilst thy foes oppresse 19 Arise and cry out in the night in the first watch with grace Pour out thy heart like water now before Jehovah's face O lift up thy hands towards him for the life of thy sweet Young children that for hunger faint in top of every street 20 Behold O Lord and consider to whom thou this hast done Shall the woman eat their own fruit and babes of a span-long Shail the Priest and Prophet be slain in the Lords Sanctuary 21 The young and old lie on the ground in the streets openly My Virgins and my young Men are fallen by th' sword sadly Thou slew'st them in thy angry day thou kill'st without pitty 22 Thou cal'st as in a solemn day my terrours round about So that in the day of the Lord's anger none scaped out Nor remained those that I have swadled and brought up so Mine Enemy hath consumed my sin hath caused this woe CHAP. III. the man that affliction saw by the rod of his wrath Into darkness but not to light he led and brought me hath Surely against me he is turnd he turns his hand all day My flesh and skin hath he made old he brake my bones alway He built against me and compass'd with gall and travel me He set me in dark places as they that of old dead be He hedgd me round I cannot scape he made my chain heavy He also shuts out my prayer when I do shout and cry With hew'n stones he inclos'd my ways my paths he made un-straight Like Bear or Lion secretly for me he lies in wait And he hath turn'd aside my ways and in pieces pull'd me Yea he hath made me desolate great is my misery He bent his Bow and set me as a mark for the Arrow The Arrows of his Quiver he made through my reigns to go I was a Scoffe and derision to all my own People Also their song all the day long this to my sore trouble He fil'd me with bitterness he made me drunk with wormwood He brake my teeth with gravel-stones with ashes he me clad And thou hast also removed my soul far off from peace And I forgat prosperity by this my bitterness And I said my strength and my hope from the Lord is quite gone Minding the wormwood and the gall in this my affliction My soul doth still remember them and is humbled in me This I recall to mind therefore have I hope Lord in thee It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consum'd quite Because his compassions fail not we live still in his sight They are renew'd ev'ry morning great is thy †Faithfulness The heb word signifies also Truth truth in them The Lord 's my portion saith my soul therefore ' I le hope in him The Lord is good unto them that wait for him patiently And good unto the soul that doth seek him effectually It is good that a man should both hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord which unto his is * Psal 85.9 nigh It is good for a man that he the yoak in his youth bear He sits alone and silence keeps for on him he bar't there He putteth his mouth in the dust if perhaps hope may be He gives his cheeks to him that smites frl'd with reproach is he Nevertheless the Lord will not cast off for ever such But though he cause grief yet will he express compassion much According to the multitude of his mercies often For he afflicts not willingly nor grieves the sons of men To crush under his feet all the poor prisoners of the world To turn aside mans right before the face of the high Lord. To subvert a man in his cause the Lord doth not approve Who saith and it comes to pass when God wills it not above Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not good and evil Why doth the living man complain man's plagu'd for being sinful Let 's search and try our ways and turn back to the Lord quickly Let 's lift our hearts with hands to God that 's in the heavens high We have transgressed and rebel'd thou hast not pardoned Thou hast cover'd us with anger and us persecuted Yea Jehovah thou hast us slain and hast not pittied Thou coveredst thy self with a cloud and our condition now Is such that our prayers could not unto thee Lord pass throw Thou mad'st us as the off-scouring and refuse among men All our enemies against us their mouths daily open Fear and a snare is come on us distresse and destruction Therefore with rivers of water mine eye still runneth down For the daughter of my People most sore destruction Mine eye drops down and ceaseth not without intermission Till the Lord look down and behold my case from heaven high For th'daughters all of my city my heart 's mov'd by mine eye Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird causlesly In th' dungeon they cut of my life and cast a stone on me Waters flowed over mine head then I said I am gone I call'd upon thy Name O Lord out of the low dungeon Thou heardst my voice hide not thine ear at my breathing my cry Thou drewest near bid'st me not fear that day I call'd on thee My soul's causes O Lord thou plead'st thou didst my life redeem Judge thou my cause O Lord again for thou my wrong hast seen Yea all their vengeance at all times thou perfectly didst see And their imaginations all wrongfully against me Thou hast heard their reproach O Lord all their †So in the Hebrew thoughts ' gainst me still The lips of those my foes that rose against me to my ill Also their ungodly device against me all the day At their down-sitting and rising I am their †So in the Hebrew See in Job 30.9 the same word song alway Render to them a recompence O Lord according to Their handy works give them thy curse yea them hearty sorrow Persecute and destroy them in anger from under * The thy Glorious heavens who onely art the Lord God Almighty CHAP. IV. HOw is the gold now become dim How 's the most fine gold chang'd In †So heb th' head of ev'rystreet the stones Of th' * Heb. sanctity Sanctuary out are pour'd 2 The precious sons of Zion like to fine gold how are they Esteem'd as works of Pottets hands the prtchers made with clay 3 Yea the †Heb. See Mal 1.3 Dragons draw out the breast they give suck to their young My Peoples daughters like fierce * Marg. owles of desarts is become 4 The sucking child's tongue cleaves to the roof of his mouth for drought The
some allowance was granted to the widdowes of Ministers deceased These things Considered and the low rates at which the Tiths were Let and Set at in divers Counties because some would not pay others would not take them to Farme and the Country poor and worse stock'd so soon after the wars will evince there could not be much spare espcially considering that the Act lasted but for three years viz. till fifty three and what was done since let them account who medled therein and acted under O. C. which I and many more of my brethren did not nor took any Salary at all nor any other Maintenance whatsoever since withall what was setled upon me together with some other Preachers was by the Committee for Plundered Ministers long before that And let me deal freely and truely with all the world in this particular I never received by Salary and all other waies for my Preaching in Wales from Christians and from the States putting all together since the beginning which is above twenty years but between six seven hundred pounds at most and I can with much clearnesse confidence and comfort call God the searcher of all hearts to witness and I do call him to record on my Soul that to my knowledge and remembrance I had not any thing directly nor indirectly but what was ordered me nor have I nor any other for me I expresse it without any Collusion or Reservation so much as a Pound or Shilling of any money from any tyths or otherwise in my hands belonging to the Publick I humbly challenge bid defiance to envy it self to prove the contrary and I desire to be called to an account if I be suspected for I will maintain my innocency herein till I die And yet my Accusers have some by writing who were ashamed to put their names thereto and others by word published That I had many thousand pounds of the Tyth-mony nay had purchased of Kings-Rents and Lands some thousands yearly or at least many Hundred pounds per annum where as now it is returned to the King again it appears it is under seventy pounds yearly and I never received any year of that above sixty six pounds ten shillings this the Auditor and Country knowe sufficiently and let them or any other disprove me herein if they can And whereas it is charged that many good godly men were turned out of their livings But I did not know any such and I suppose it will be yet easy to prove the contrary by their former and present practices however for my own part I often publickly tendred this to the ejected Ministers that if they could bring any in that could manifest they received any spiritual good from them they should as far as it lay in my power be restored but none produced such Further as a Consequence therof it was complained that the Sabbaths were profaned whereas men might ride throughout some Counties neither see men working travelling nor playing upon the Sabbath the like I am sure neither was before nor now is our enemies themselves being Judges But they further object that the people were turned Infidels Papists So many do where the powerfullest means are if they come not under them But why then do these men complain so many are turned to be quite contrary and were these accusers faln out with such men then how come they now to own them so much But to disprove that take this single instance In a few years time a great part of former Edition of the Welsh-Bible was bought up and afterwards two Editions more one of the New Testament and another of the whole Bible of these two I believe are sold off at least between 5 and 6000. by this you may perceive that Religion did grow Also in the beginning of the Wars there was but one or two gathered Congregations in all Wales and in some Counties scarce one that made Profession yet it hath pleased the Lord so to blesse the weak meanes there that there were lately and hope are still above 20 gathered Churches in some 2 in some 3 some 4 or 500 members with their officers differing little in opinion and Faith and walking in love and the fear of the Lord. Having given this brief account of the former endeavours of some who yet acknowledg their weakness and want of wisdom therein to propagate the Gospel Be pleased now to cast your eye upon the late Restriction which I might well call persecution of the Gospel in Wales To omit mentioning the great wrong unto many scores about May and June 1660 in committing and continuing them in Prison without any cause but to fulfil that saying Quicquid volumus facimus since there hath been very violent proceedings especially in some Counties where some poor and peaceable people have been drag'd out of their beds and without regard of Sex or Age have been driven some twenty miles to Prison on their feet and forced though in heat of Summer till their feet were much blistred and they ready to fall with faintness to run by the Troopers horses receiving many blows and beatings In Merionydd sh Others as if they had been Brute-beasts driven into Pinfolds or Pounds where they were kept several hours their enemies in the interim drinking in an Ale-house and forcing the poor people to pay for it though they tasted not of the drink then bringing them to the Sea-side and leaving them in the night in danger of being swallowed up by the Sea Others were committed to Prison at pleasure kept there many moneths and yet their cattle and sheep to the number of above six hundred taken from them and sold Others forced when they were called to the Quarter-sessions to walk in chains which should not by law upon any such ground be put upon them unless they had atempted to make an escape or break Prison Others who were quietly met together after their usual manner for many years to worship God and edify one another were cast into Prisons without any Examination or Commitment upon them that they could understand contrary to the Jewish Roman and our English Laws Nay such was the enmity of the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the Woman that though the King was pleased to grant by his Proclamation Christian liberty for some time yet upon the next Lords-day following after the receit of the said Proclamation some of the Officers of one Corporation drag'd and hal'd some poor women that were hearing of the Word of God into an Ale-house and kept them there till after night and until they made them pay for the Ale which these disturbers did drink Besides all this ejecting the Godly Preachers that would not conform and indicting many hundreds for Recusants which are not indeed so and under the notion of suppressing Conventicles and unlawful Assemblies hindring the meetings of Christians to serve God which according to the letter of the Law and the opinion of many
generation But we have esteemed this good Word and bread of Life as the Israeliles did the Manna f Num. 21.5 light bread we have been sto-mach-ful sick surfeited with the sweet and fat things of Godshouse yea as 't is said We have been almost in all evil in midst of the Congregation and Assembly g Pro. 5.14 We trampled and trod under foot the good pastures which God had provided for us and which the Saints and Martyrs of former daies would have greatly Prized The fire of Religion was much vanished into the smoak and air of brain Notions and self-conceited opinions many taking up profession as they do fashions because they would be in the Mode of the times and like the Gibeonites feigning themselves to be what they were not becoming Proselytes either for fear as many became Jewes when they saw them prevail for fear of them h Esa 8.17 or advantages creeping through Churches into Councils Armies Custom-houses and other places of honour and profit And others under pretence of being for Reformation Uniformity Order and Church-Disciplin drove on as it may be wel suspected their own particular designes for now being themselves persecuted they urge the same Scriptures arguments for liberty of conscience which they then would not allow to their dissenting brethren How also hath the name of the Lord been blasphemed by the sad principles of some who under pretence of higher attainments endeavoured to root up the very foundation and main principles of Christianity And others by their loose and licentious behaviour and practices have given cause to God to say as once Jacob did to his Sons Simeon and Levi Ye have troubled me to make me stinck among the inhabitants of the Land i Ge. 34.30 Hath not Christ been again wounded in the house and by the hands of his friends Yea pressed k Amos 2.13 wearied l Esa 7.13 43.24 and his heart broken m Ezek. 6.9 with the sins of his own servants Was he not forsaken as formerly by his own Disciples Did not the chiefest of his Ministers too much imbrace this evil world by removing from lesser to greater Livings did they not over dispence with their own principles to comply with the contrary where Earthly booty did byasse choosing that end of the Scales that did weigh heaviest of the World And did not the Rulers yea those that pretended to be the greatest Reformers make it a great part of their work to get to themselves and to give to one another and their friends not only the chiefest and gainfullest Offices but the Estates of their Ememies nay have not some been delinquifyed and decimated more for their Estates than for their Crimes Ah! how miserably did most men forsake their principles and former practices building what they did once destroy and deny what they had before in words and writings professed and when they had dismounted and dethroned their enemies and got up into their Saddles and seats and trampled upon their pride with as great pride till God had rejected their confidences and suffered them to crumble to nothing and their strength which was made an Idol to depart from them And not only they but the gathered Churches though encreased with Members Gifts and Wealth did decline and decay in Love Zeal Spiritual watchfulness Self-denial Humility Pitty to and praying for others and how bitter sour and selvish were we grown besides the secret sins which God our own consciences only knew our apparent sins became a stumbling block to the poor world And God had cause to say to divers of his Churches as he once did to Israel How art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me u Jer. 2.21 And what hath my beloved to do in my house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many and the holy flesh is departed from her o Ch. 11.15 Consid 3 3. Consider how necessary the present tryal upon Gods People is if need be saith Peter you are in heaviness through manyfold temptations p 1 Pet. 1.6 God saw a need of it before it came and we see a need of it now it is come It came as seasonable as ever Frost did in Winter or Rain in Spring We should account this preventing Grace and say with Job Thy visitation hath preserved my Spirit q Job 10.12 The heat of prosperity would have burnt us if God had not sent this Cloud of affliction to cover us Oh where had the most part of professors been in a short time if God had not stept in Our wise Physitian Christ knew by our complexions that we were running into a dangerous distemper and therefore hath given us preventing Physicks and this is the way that God sometimes takes to heal his People He went on frowardly in the way of his heart mark that I have seen his waies and I will heal him r Esa 57.17 18. God hath brought us into the pound not to starve us but being shrewd Cattle to keep us from further mischief According to that saying I will hedge up thy waies with Thornes and make a Wall that she shall not find her pathes Hos 2.6 and she shall follow her lovers and shall not overtake them Consid 4 Let us consider the time of prosperity Peace and Liberty we have enjoyed we have had a late Jubilee a long Vacation and as good and seasonable a Harvest to provide and lay up in store against the Winter as any could desire And now we should consider what stock we have gotten and laid up For every true Christians heart Can. 7.13 laies up somewhat for Christ and something for himself and he is like the wise Scribe or Housholder mentioned in the Gospel able to bring forth things new and old out of his treasury t Mat. 13.52 The time of Prosperity ought to be a time of gaining and the time of Adversity of spending grace and of bearing and enduring A Christian should never do any thing for Christ v 2 Tim. 1.11 12. but he should expect to suffer for so doing for how can an enemy that flings a stone or shoots an Arrow against his Enemy bene facere male audire but expect the same flung or shot to him again and every Christian is so to the Devil and his Kingdom Consid 5 All afflictions and tryals as they are the Appointments Ordinances of God are profitable to his people that are exercised therewith And for that end chiefly doth the Lord lay them upon them as the Apostle saith That they might be partakers of his Holinesse w He. 12.10 God blesseth this Ordinance to do good when other Ordinances fail and God prepares by this fire such Physick nay indeed it is Physick it self as removes and cures those Cronical old and long continued diseases and sins of the Soul which are not healed otherwise or by other means And David experienced this
16.6 Job 22.15 whether waies of Darkness or Light sincerity or hypocrisy spirituality or formality undefiled or spotted the way of Gods Commandments or of mens Traditions the way of honesty or dishonesty It 's bad standing worse sitting but worst of all walking running persisting and especially pleading for any sinful way Take heed therefore you Sons and daughters of Zion lest you be and continue in Babylon but flee out of the midst there of g Jer. 51.6 When God threatens to destroy her going or running out of her will not serve the turn but you must fly for her Judgements will come suddainly in one day nay in one hour Death Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt up h Rev. 18.8 19. And beware lest you lodge in her Suburbs or be backward as some will be to come out of her as it appears that notwithstanding One Angel cryed and that mightily That Babylon that great City is faln is faln i vers 2. Yet another voice was heard from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins lest ye be partakers of her Plagues k vers 4. Lot in Sodom was necessitated to be sent and plucked out of the midst of the overthrow l Gen. 19.26 In the name of the Lord therefore be exhorted by the words of the Apostle Peter to save your selves m Acts 2.40 41. from this untoward generation Consid 10 Consider one another n Heb. 10.24 as the Apostle exhorted the Hebrewes in a time of great and sore persecution and affliction for without this there cannot be a performance of those other duties as exhorting comforting edifying and bearing with one another This consideration is very necessary in a day of affliction and tryal because then there will be the greatest temptation to be selvish and sensorious and every one will be ready as the Proverb is to seek to save one or himself but every one should like Nehemiah seek the welfare of Israel o Neh. 2.10 of all the people of God or like Mordecai That did seek the wealth of the people and speak peace to all his seed p Est 10.5 For all believers are like the boards of the Tabernacle that were perfectly joyned both above and beneath q Exo. 26.24 and God hath tempered the whole body of his Church together so that every part should Sympathize with each other and care one for another And whether one member suffer all the members shoud suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoice with it r 1 Cor. 12.24 25. puting on bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meckness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another Å¿ Col. 3.12 13. pitying the tempted strengthning the Weak helping to recover and set in joint again those that are faln relieving the poor gathering up the halt and lame giving the same measure of allowance to others which we expect from them making the falls of others our own fears and seting before our eyes the tryals of others for warning to our selves Consid 11 Consider the mighty works that God hath done and that he is doing So the people of God did formerly Thou art the God that doth wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people t Psa 7.14 And David being in affliction wrote a Psalm which he calls a Psalm to bring to remembrance u Psa 70. and Caleb remembred the words that God had spoken of him to Moses forty five years before w Josh 14.6 7 10. And wherefore did God cause Manna Arons rod c. to be laid up or the Stones taken out of the bottom of Jordan to be pitched upon the other side or doth God so often put the Israelites in remembrance of their Redemption out of Egypt but that he would have them still mindfull thereof it being also so great a Sin in men to forget the works of the Lord as that it is said to forget God himself as appears clearly by comparing two Psalms together where the same story is related in the one it is said that they i. e. the Children of Israel forgot his works x Psa 78.11 and in the other that they forgot God their Saviour y with 106.21 Consid 12 Again the time of affliction is a time for men to consider their latter end and yet as God formerly wished it z Deut. 32.29 and complained that men did not do it a Lam. 1.9 So doubtlesse as by sad experience we find it is now notwithstanding the weapons of death are drawn and pointed at our hearts and heads and this King of terror himself is ready to come in at our windowes and doors dayly and many younger stronger and better than we cut off suddainly yet we lay it not to heart but put off thinking of this great Debt and little think how amazing and perhaps unwelome it will be to us when it comes We find many of Gods Worthies and stout Champions as Job David Hezekiah and Peter when they came to encounter with this Leviathan like the men of Israel when Goliah appeared to them fearful Job when he thought to comfort himself grew afraid of sorrowes And why Because saith he I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent b Job 9.27 28. Fear of Gods imputing Sin to him made him fearful lest God should impose more affliction upon him and so take him away with his stroke another time he saith The Graves are ready for me c Ch. 17 1. he thought where ever he came he was to dye and there was a Grave pointed out for him and ready to swallow him up David also though a man of great faith is said to be one while sore a fraid of Achish another while of going up to Gibeah 1 Sa. 21.12 because of the danger of death in both places another while he cries out That the terrors of death were faln upon him d Psa 55.4 and therefore doubtless he praies unto the Lord to spare him a little e 39.13 Also when Hezekiah was but bid prepare for he must die see what a sad and lamentable writing he wrote thereupon I am deprived saith he of the residue of my years I shall see man no more mine age is departed from me and removed as a shepherds Tent f Esa 38.1011.12 c. And did not our Saviour foretel Peter When thou shalt be old and another shall gird thee as the custom in that kind of execution was and carry thee whither thou wouldest not This spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God g John 21.18 19. Peter as far as he was flesh and blood was unwilling to suffer Nay our Saviour Christ himself as he was man prayed that if it were possible his Father would let the Cup passe from him By all these instances Mat. 26.29 we may take warning
how unfree even many choice Saints may be to dye when they are brought to it and yet some like Paul may desire it Phil. 1.21 and it 's like to be most easy and lest terrible to them that fear it most and consider of it and wait for it most seriously and constantly Consid 13 Lastly As an Encouragement to goe through all Tribulations Persecutions and Death it self Consider Christ h He. 3.1 and the cloud of witnesses i 12.7 and Martyrs that are gone before who are passed over and through all those floods and are safely arrived to shore and got off this troublesome turbulent Sea of the World to the Calm and quiet Haven of Salvation For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds k Ch. 12.3 or as it is in the verse before look on him consider him in his suffering state and behold him in his glorified state By his sufferings he taught us the way by his now living in Heaven he shews us the wages Jacob went gladly down into Egypt because Joseph was there It should be no more to a believer to follow Christ through suffering and Death than for a woman that lives from her husband in a Cottage and strange Country to pass over a River or a narrow Sea in a safe vessel too to go to her husband to live in a Kingly-pallace and in her own Country with him for ever Having finished the Considerations In the next place be pleased for to hearken to a few Counsels which are judged necessary and seasonable Counsel 1 Be perswaded that whatsoever affliction any of you Christians are under already or shall be brought under it is in love from God to your Souls For whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth a Heb. 12.6 and as many as I love saith Christ I rebuke b Rev. 3.19 Amo. 3.2 As God said to Israel of old therefore you only have I known of all the families of the earth wheras on the other side the not punishing of the wicked is a sign of Gods hatred to them c Hos 4.14 And therefore have no hard thoughts of God how long and sore soever he whippeth and Chastiseth d Esa 63.8 For when he sees blood on the Rod his pitty will fly up into his face towards you and fury towards the Rod e Exek 38.18 which are the wicked in his f Es 10.15 hand Couns 2 Be also certain and confident that all his Corrections will be for your good and profit As David by experience could say It is good for me that I have been afflicted g Psa 119.71 And the Apostle saith He i. e. God corrects us for our profit h He. 12.10 As a disobedient Child after his father hath corrected him is received into his Fathers favour again so saith the sixth verse of that Chapter Affliction drawes the Anger with it out of God his Father and the cause of anger which is Sin out of the Child See Esa 1.25 27.8 Jer. 30.15 17 Dan. 11.35 12.10 Zach. 13.9 Heb. 12.11 1 Pet. 4.14 5.10 and more in the experiences following Couns 3 Labour to commit your selves and all your concernments to the Lord even as Christ and the servants of God formerly did He i. e. Christ Commited himself or as it is in the margent his Cause to him that judgeth righteously i 1 Pe. 2.23 So it is said That the poor man committed himself to God †Ps 10.14 or as it is in the Hebrew he leaveth himself to him that is when he suffers unjustly he gives up himself and cause to the Lord judging that there is safety in no other and by doing this patiently God takes it so acceptably that he should trust him with all and that before and above all others too that he counts it as the Apostle saith a wonderful expression thank worthy or worthy of thanks k 1 Pet. 2.19.20 from him As a Nobleman or Land-Lord when one of his poor Neighbours or Tenants refers his life and all he hath to him to determine thereof will say I thank thee Neighbour or Tennant for thy good opinion of me There must be a good perswasion in that Soul as Paul had l 2 Ti. 1.12 of Gods power and faithfulnesse that will commit the keeping of such a Jewel as the Soul is to him and yet why not for he is said to keep it m Pr. 24.12 And Peter who had experience of self-keeping or rather loosing his own Soul had learned that Lesson and therefore taught it unto others Wherefore saith he let them that suffer according to the will of God mark that not if they suffer otherwise for then he will not keep them commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator n 1 Pe. 4.19 Do but secure your Souls in that safe hand and then you need not fear suffering Further Couns 4 Be advised not to fear any creatures whatsoever This exhortation is very often given in Scripture Fear not Moses gives this exhortation both to Israel o Deut. 13.6 and Joshua distinctly fear not nor be afraid of them fear not neither be dismaid p pag. v. 7. and three times doth God in one Chapter exhort his People Israel not to fear q Esa 41.10.13 14. though their enemies were strong and did strive against them and they but like a Worme yet they were not to fear them Our Saviour Christ likewise gives the same exhortation three times in the tenth Ch. of Mathew r Mat. 10.26 28 31. And it 's worth consideration what little cause men have to fear poor Mortals who are but grass worms and thimbles full of dust as likewise that it is Idolatry in a high degree to fear Creatures and the fear of man bringeth a snare that is draweth men into a snare But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe ſ Pr. 29.25 Also the fearful are the first sort that are threatned to have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone t Rev. 2 8. And God commanded Jeremiah not to fear his enemies and yet of all the Prophets he seemed to have most cause upon pain of being consumed or broke in peices before them u Jer. 1.17 Rev. 2.10 Fear God self and sin you need fear no more And as Christ saith Fear none of those things that you shal suffer Object But are not men commanded by Solomon to fear the Lord and the King Pro. 24.21 Answ Paul resolves that case clearly Rom. 13.3 4. Ro. 13.3 4. where he saith Rulers are not a terror to good works or workers Eph. 5.11 but to the evil Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power or nearer the Greek But wilt thou not fear the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise
he doth it to prove and try them Deu. 8.2 2 Chr. 32.31 He repents him for afflicting them Deu. 32.36 Ps 135.14 He feeds fans and purifies them by afflictions Mich. 6.14 Esa 1 25 27 9. Heb. 12.10 he then remembers them and the Covenant he made with them most of all Psa 136.23 Ne 9.17 he is not ashamed then to own them for his people He. 11.16 he shewes them mercy purposely that their enemies may shew them mercy Jer. 42.12 1 Ki. 8.5 he will throughly plead their cause against their enemies Je. 50.34 51.3 and he stretches his hand against the wrath of their enemies and restrains it Ps 138.7 86.11 rescues them out of their hands when they think they hold them fastest Je. 50.33 34. And he saith he will cut off their enemies before their faces and they shall no more oppress them but they shall fee their fall Ps 58.8 9 10 11. Es 17.19 Je. 46.18 Pr. 29.16 and they themselves shall be in due time perfectly delivered Ps 37.4 Pr. 12 13 Je. 24.7 1 Coe 10.13 And God will yet set his Son upon his holy hill and Kingdom in despite of his enemies Ps 2.6 Es 9.6 and if any wil detain Gods Ark the Church they will have cause to say as the Philistines did woe to us 1 Sam. 4.7 Let all therefore that fear God love Christ and wish well to Zion say with Jeremiah so be it O Lord Jer. 11.5 Some Scriptural Observations Spiritual Experiences pithy Sentences and plain Comparisons tending to Edification IN the first Creation The Old and New Creation compared God created the matter and substance of the Creation first and afterwards divided and formed the same So in the second or New Creation or in the work of Regeneration Gen. 1.2 so called 2 Cor. 5.17 Gal. 6.15 Ephes 2.10 first God createth Principles or infuseth the habits of Grace so called into men when there is none Phil. 2.12 Act. 9.4 5. and then distinguisheth and divideth the same 2. In the distinction between the parts and Works of the first Creation Ver. 4. some are higher and some lower as the Firmament higher than the Earth So some part of the work of Grace is in the supernal or uppermost room of the Soul that most stately building of God the Understanding in which is placed true Light and Knowledge and in the Will the Wine-Celler of God is seated Obedience 1 John 5.20 2 Cor. 10.5 3. Between these two are placed the Affections some whereof as Joy Love Desire and Hope are like the VVaters above the Firmament V. 7. and the other as Sorrow Grief and Hatred like the Waters below the Firmament 4. In the first Creation God's Spirit moved upon the Waters V. 2. So in the second Creation the Spirit convinceth quicknetâ— sanctifieth c. Jo. 16.8 6.63 1 Pet. 1. â— 5. In the first Creation V. 3 6 9.20 26. God by his Command and Word made all things so by his Word God works Regeneration and Grace in the Soul John 4.41 and 6.63 1 Pet. 1.23 Jam. 1.18 Psal 19.7 6. In the order of the first Creation or rather Formation V. 3. Division or Distinction God created and formed Light so in the order of Regeneration God first creates Light and Knowledge 2 Cor. 4.6 Acts 26.15 18. 2 Cor. 3.16 Heb. 8.10 7. In the first Creation the Lights as the Sun Moon and Stars were appointed to divide V. 14 16. and distinguish the day from the night So in the second Creation or Regeneration Jesus Christ his Spirit and Graces do distinguish Believers from Unbelievers and between themselves in the state of believing and regeneracy and the state of unbelief and unregeneracy in which they were in before Rom. 8.10 11. Eph. 2.12 13. and 5.8 1 Thess 5.5 1 Pet. 2.10 1 Joh. 3.4 8. In order the Evening Ver. 5 13 19 c. or time of darkness and disconsolation is before the morning or day of comsort and consolation set down in the first Creation So is the darkness sorrow fear trouble bondage doubts and disconsolations of a Christian first in his Conversion or his whole time in this Life is the evening of that Eternal Day they are to live with Christ in Heaven See Prov. 4.18 Psal 88.6 Isa 50.10 1 Cor. 13.9 1 John 3.2 9. In the first Creation the Trees V. 12. and so doubtless the Herbs had their Seed in them which brought forth fruit So the Trees and Herbs of Grace true Believers and Regenerate Persons have the seed of the Spirit the Word of God and his Grace in them which is the cause of their bearing spiritual fruit 1 Joh. 3.9 Mat. 13.23 2 Pet. 1.4 10. VVhen God in the first Creation had made the Creatures V. 21 25 c. he saw them all good So when God hath wrought the second Creation or work of Sanctification in the hearts of men he sees them good and not before Psal 37.23 Rom. 5.7 11. In the first Creation God made Man after his own Image that is in soveraignty over the Creatures or like the Father Son and Spirit that is consisting of spirit soul and body 1 Thess 5.23 So in the second Creation or Regeneration God doth create Men after his own Image in Knowledge Righteousness true Holiness and Love Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 1 Joh. 4.17 18. 12. In the first Creation God made some Creatures one day V. 5 13 19 c. and some another till He had finished the whole So God he makes some new creatures one day and some another and some in one Age and some in another till He hath converted his whole Elect and Redeemed number 13. In the first Creation V. 27. God created the Woman in the Man and then out of the Man and for the Man So in the Restitution of Man and Ch. 2.18 21 c. the Church of God is chosen in Christ and made holy by his Holiness and for his Glory Ephes 1.4 and 3.9 Ezek. 16.14 Hos 3.3 1 Pet. 2.9 14. VVhen God made the Creatures at first he commanded them to multiply and accordingly they did So when God works Grace in the hearts of his People he commands that they grow in grace and they do so 2 Pet. 3.18 Psal 84.7 and 92.12 13 14. Lastly VVhen the Lord had ended the work of Creation he rested Ch. 22.3 and the Sabbath begun So when the Lord hath finished the work of converting all his People then the Eternal Rest and Raign of the Saints will begin Matth. 13.48 49. Mark 13.20 27. Saints should fear every Sin but no Sufferings Psal 4.4 Revel 2.10 There is a guilt that Saints may communicate to others and contract from others both to be removed by new acts of Faith and Repentance It is a great ease to and unburthening of the Soul to confess Sin sensibly humbly brokenly and with hatred to it It is the property of a true Christian
Profession and Practice of him Persecution Clear knowledge of Christ in the understanding begets fervent love in the heart and both Godliness in the life When a man is imprisoned and shut up from men he is the more shut up with God Account it not restraint as long as thy heart can goe out towards God and his people and waies in affection and Prayer Retiredness and close imprisonment drives a man to hold closer Communion with God and to a stricter Search of himself I would be glad to be out of the World when I have no Service to do for God in it He that would live for himself only or chiefly in the world is not worthy to live a day in it If I may not have Liberty to serve Christ I would have the Glory to Suffer for Christ Never fear Death but when sin is in the way to it either as a cloud hiding thy assurance or as a provoking Cause pulling death as a punishment upon thee Com. I would not have God pluck me to heaven in Anger As a master seeing his Servant sleepy or sloathful turns him out of the field and from his work to sleep and take his rest at home I would willingly work for Christ to eternity if I could without asking any more wages then I had already and skill power and delight to do his work If an Earthly Jubilee or outward deliverance come to Gods people whilst thou live here be rosolved to give both thy Ears to be bor'd through and to abide with him and return no more to sin or the world Never reckon what thou hast of outward and wordly things unless it be to Praise God for them or to Serve God better with them Compar Take heed that preparatory meditation to prayer doth not prevent Prayer it self or put you beside Prayer Secret Prayer is either a familiar Speaking to God and with God or a pouring out of the heart before God through his Son our Saviour by his Spirit Sometimes ejaculations or short and suddain Pantings and breathings out of desires to God may be more acceptable to him and prevailing with him then long prayers One of the three Radicall sins spoken of in 1 Joh. 2.16 is every man's master-sin My strongest greatest and most fervent frequent desires were to be found in Christs reghteousness to convert sinners to be Holy in all manner of Conversation and to have my lot and living among and with the people and Saints of God There may be great difference between the temper of a Christian one time and another yea in the excercising of his gifts in Praying Preaching c. I often found my heart in dayes of humiliation more affected and melted by the Prayers of weaker then stronger Brethren And likewise observ'd that sometimes in matters of counsel and advice in the Church God hath given out his minde more clearly and convincingly by such as were less esteemed in the Church then those that were most esteemed Even as the hindermost Hound hits upon the Scent when all the pack besides lose it True Godliness and Hypocrysie are best discern'd in turnings and changes either when they change their conditions by Marriages or are exalted to offices or when new opinions begin to grow Com. Mark when you see a Professor that hath been careful to walk with other Christians and to follow the Ordinances of God constantly and closely if he begin to lagge behind and to with-draw he is surely under some sore temptation or hath faln into under some sin or which is worse may be dangerously suspected for a Hypocrite The like of one that hath been very confident and cheerful and is grown doubtful and sad Com. As the sappyest wood will hardlyest take fire so the Spiritualest Christian is hardlyest overcome with temptation and corruption 1 do not remember that ever fear and threatning did as mnch prevail with me as love and kindness or that I did atempt to overcome any man so much by might and cruelty as by perswasion and mercy I never repented me since my Conversion of any thing I said did or suffered for Christ or for walking in his way of joyning with his people nor resolved to goe on in any sin or turn back from the way of God or aside from the Commandements of God or to leave Church-Society One sin hath cost me more Sorrow then all my Sufferings It is happy to dye in the Lord and honourable to dye for the Lord. A Prison or persecution is to a Christian as some scaring thing that one sees in the night at a distance but when he comes near it and to know it he is not at all afraid of it Com. A man should hold sin as one would hold a hot-iron ready to fling it out of his hand but hold the Gospel and his Profession as a man would hold a Silver-cup that hath dainty meat in it which though it be hot yet he will not let it fall or like a glass that hath wine in it which a man will not willingly let slip out of his hand Com. Seek to find out your own Errors before another find them out and to write your own Errata's Com. It is now with all or most Christians as with men that had been at a very great and full feast who have Surfeited thereby and are stomack-sick and willing rather then to continue so to take a vomit and cast up all to the dogges so Christians had rather cast up all the sweet Morsels and mamocks of worldly things which they have swallowed down to the wicked againe then have them lye as guilts upon their Consciences or blocks between their Souls and Christ The Kings of the earth will ere long be Fanaticks that is wise fools and see their folly and madness in joyning with the Beast against the Lambe But first the Lamb must give one sound overthrow and fall to the Beast Rev. 17.14 16. When the Lord is trying his People they should be trying themselves I never remembered that I had such a hard thought of God as to think he did wrong me in or by any thing he layd upon me Com. Christians should not desire deliverance before the time appointed for that is as if a woman should desire to have her child born before the full and due time Com. Some mercies are big-belly'd mercies that have many mercies in their wombes as Election Redemption c. Com. Election is like the conception Redemption like the quickning in the womb Conversion like the birth and Perseverance in holiness like growth Com. A man that goes up stairs step by step may come to the Top at last as well as he that strides two or three steps of the stairs at once so a soft-pac'd Christian by continuance and perseverance will reach heaven at last It is a commendable thing in a Traveller so to travel in the mornning as to continue or mend his pace in the Evenning Soe for a Christian to run faster the
is because they do not behold their own vileness and the reason why men do not see their own vileness more is because they do not apprehend God's Goodness more clearly and fully God's Goodness and Grace are experienced much 1. In keeping the soul from sin or recovering the soul after falls out of sin 2. In succouring the soul in time of temptation 3. In supporting it under Affliction 4. In quickening it to and carrying it through Duties When a Christian comes to be as weary of his Sins as of his Sufferings God will certainly put them to an end One of the chiefest works of the soul is self-examination and yet a Christian will find himself most backward thereto and soonest weary therein The more a soul is exercised in spiritual meditaion the less with carnal temptation The more frequent and powerfull in private Prayer the more free from and the more potent against Corruptions Com. A true Christian may sometimes as far as he is fleshly desire and long to have his Lust satisfied like a man in a Feaver that desires what is hurtful to him but when he is out of that sick and sinful fit he can praise God that he was kept from it Take the best Christian at the worst and you cannot discern any difference between him and a wicked man and so a Hypocrite on the contrary Seasonable and unexpected Mercies are very sweet and acceptable Com. A Christian in affliction is like the Divi-Duck upon the Water sometimes swimming pleasantly upon the top of the Water and sometimes again diving under Water and yet as safe then as at any other time Justice should go by rule in all things and neither fame falshood nor favour should point out persons for suffering Fame False-witness or Zeal for the Truth I expect will bring me to my Death if it be unnatural It is a common principle in Nature That no man can or should judge his Enemy or be Judge in his own Cause A suffering Christian should see that Innocency be the ground-work of his Suffering and Patience the perfection thereof or Innocency the beginning and Patience the effect thereof To be in a little Prison is in one sence better than to be in a great one for a man shall not weary himself so soon in walking in it And what is the whole World but a Prison to a Christian Slothfulness is the Cradle of Sin which the Devil rocks Christ wil be soon sensible of those Saints Sufferings that are sensible of their own Sins It is the least of Afflictions to be afflicted by men for they can afflict but the outward man only and of all Enemies Man is the weakest But God Conscience yea Satan and Sin can and do afflict the Soul which is more intolerable There is no power in the Creatures to do either good or hurt but as God disposes them for it is God that puts his Sword into their hand Ezek. 30.24 Com. Persecutors do with Christians as men do with Fish that are upon dry-land fling them into the Water and their own Element Heaven and they think they harm them in casting them into their own Center Christians should no more fear Men nor care for Afflictions or Persecutions from them than Wives and Children should fear to see their Husbands or Fathers carry Swords Axes or Rods in their hans for so and no otherwise are the Wicked in God's hand Psal 17.14 Isa 10.15 Take heed of reproving or upbraiding another in self-passion or to provoke his passion The Lord now shakes his visible Church as a Tree is shaken that the rotten fruit may fall off Christians in and under their Sufferings should be growing holy and through their Sufferings be going and growing more happy They have but a slight Profession whose Profession doth not lead them out of Sin and through Suffering Some Observations and Experiences concerning Dreams 1. That some are divine and doubtless from God 2. Some others natural either from the constitution of the body the businesse wherein one's mind or body have been exercised about or from the nature of the meat that one hath eaten or of the weather if wet and moist then doleful and sad Dreams c. 3. Some diabolical or from the Devil sometimes these are obviously wicked as murderous malicious unclean gluttenous c. But those that are most dangerous are delusive Dreams such doubtless as the false Prophets had Jer. 23.25 and 29.8 Zech. 10.2 Jude v. 8. whereby the Devil deceives them and they deceive others Satan can spin a fine small thread from our fancies and imaginations and then weave a Cobweb to take the foolish Flyes that are more doted about Dreams then diligent to learn or to do their duties according to the Scriptures Yet let not this make Christians either condemn or cast away all their Dreams For 1. God promised that in Gospel-days some Christians should dream Dreams Joel 2.28 Act. 2.17 2. God did in Gospel-dayes to wit in the dayes of Christ and his Apostles manifest himself to divers of his People in that way Matth. 1.20 and 2.12 Act. 18.9 3. This way of revealing Knowledge and God's Mind unto men was before the Law Gen. 31.10 11 24. and 37.5 Job 33.15 Numb 12.6 and by no Scripture appears to cease Careless hearing makes carnal hearts and carnal hearts make cursed lives Be not too forward to draw on Persecution but rather be preparing for it against it comes for do but keep a good Conscience and shew it in a godly Conversation and you will be sure not to want suffering He that will be much in self-denyal must be much in self-tryal If we could be contented to be altogether without Christ or with part of Christ we need not suffer Persecution An Erroneous Conscience is a sore Judgment for a man sins if he follow it and a man sins if he goes contrary to the dictates of it That Preacher preacheth well that by the help of the Spirit drawes his Sermon out of the Scripture and his own heart and shewes it in his practice before he utters it in the Pulpit and he speaks to the heart that speaks from the heart For what a Preacher does aswel as what he speaks is Doctrine to the People The chief end of all the Scriptures is to know God and to worship him rightly being known Truth brings no Absurdity with it The end of the Law is not to bring men under its Righteousness but under Christ's Righteousness Com. A man that is in Christ is like a man that hath a great Stock it will make him active Christ is a Retreating-Place to Believers Psal 116.7 Com. The Promises of God are as Herbs in a Garden we are never the better for them unless we know their nature and how to use and apply them Com. Believers are sometimes like Pumps that have water in them and yet seem dry till some fresh water is poured into them So they are as those that have no Grace