66 Reproach Reproach see Apostacy Reprobation Reprobation see Note Dangerous sign Restitution Why no pardon without Restitution 320 Scripture for Restitution 321 Repute Repute not to be trusted 421 Reverence We are with Reverence to hear the Lord speak 416 Rich Rich see High-minded Root What 's the immediate Root of Faith 177 Rule Rule for matter of Meditation 7 The general Rule of Worship 437 S Saints Priviledg of Israel refer to the Saints 11 Saints see Law Affliction Prosperity Satan Satan's great design 71 Sanctifie Gods Love sanctifies all things 84 Scare see Ministers Scripture What the Scripture presses much 297 Scripture see Restitution Self Wherein self appears in sin 512 Self destruction see Aggravation Sensual Sensual things see Fill. Servants Servants should love one another 76 Servants see Recreation Sign Sign see Carnal heart Similitude Similitudes what and how to be used 350 Sin Sin see Imitate Sinner A sinners duty 340 Soul Soul see Guiding Spirit Gods Spirit grieved only by the Saints 89 Spirit see Church Gods Spirit bitter to some 406 Slaves Gods Sons slaves for a time 14 Slavery God hath his time to call his sons out of Slavery ibid. Spiritual Spiritual things see Little State The State of the Saints is very secure 154 Steps The steps of Apostacy 432 Stout The Character of a stout heart 107 Stratagem Stratagem see Devils Success Success no note of a good Cause 536 Superiors Superiors should win by Love 74 Superstition Superstition see Beginning Suspense Suspence a cause of great evil 123 Swearing see Kissing the Book Sword For the Sword to be in a City a sad thing 113 T Tartness see Ministers Terror see Jehovah Terrible see God Their see Arabian Thoughts Gods Thoughts from eternity concerning his Elect 79 What thoughts we should have of outward comforts 456 Time see Slavery Tools see Iron Trading Oppression in Taading a great evil 313 Tradesmen Vnder Tradesmen to oppress is wicked 314 Tradesmen see Meditation Trembling Trembling due to God 416 Trembling see Alteration Tribes see Confidences Troubles Great troubles at the raising of Christs Kingdom 184 Truths Truths not necessary to be imposed 98 V Vanity The vanity of proudmen 445 Priests may be vanity that seem to be much for God 352 Vindicate How the Saints are to vindicate Reproaches 410 Violence see Magistrates Use The use of Reason in Religion 440 W Wait How we are to wait on God 303 Why we should wait 304 Way To be guided in our way is a fruit of Love 32 The way to Vniformity 70 A way of Holy Revenge 108 Gods waies not our waies 118 Weeping Weeping not sutable to a high Spirit 247 Wilderness Wilderness see Conduct Wind Creature-hopes are but winde 202 Wives Wives or Husbands not to be forced on Children 390 Word Word see Drawn Work Work see Chief One Work of the day of Judgment 511 World World see Honor Worship Worship see Rule Corruption Wrath Proneness to wrath not Gods Image 150 Y Yong Yong see Confident Z Zeal All men should shew Zeal 〈…〉 r God FINIS Heb. The scope of the Chapter Where the Chapter ends The cohâ—eâ—ence Obs 1. Tota Scriptura hoc praecip 〈…〉 è agit ne dubitemus sed certo speremus 〈…〉 danâ—u credamus Deum esse misericordeÌ„ benegnum patientem Luth. 〈…〉 Rom 9. 11. 12. The phrase opened Excussâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat eum qui crebâ—ò sugum parentis vel Heri excutit quamvis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ternov in 〈…〉 c. What a child Israel was Ezek. 16. 1. c. applied Wherein the love of God to Israel stood Obs 1 Jer. 12. 7. Obs 2. 〈◊〉 3. Gods ancient love to England An instance of it England the first Nation in the world that God chose for the embracing Religion by publick Authority Lucius of England is said to be the first Christian King Centur. Cent. 2. Cap. 2. Tit. de Propagation Ecclesiiae 〈◊〉 J. Balai Catal. Who also by publick Authority established Christianity about the year 169. Lucius in lucem prodit de patre coello J. B. Author primus apud Britones Religiones erat Rossaei Britania God remembers the kindness of Englands youth first love Particul persons should recal Gods antient love unto them when they were children A Rule how we may never want matter of meditation Obser 4. Obs 5. Gods waies of mercy and affliction toward Israel a type of his waies toward his people in all ages Gods love doth not find but make the person lovely Object Answ How to know whether God will love us or no Obs 6. Youth What will compleat the comfort of our lives Jer. 2. 2. How we may know whether God loved us when children Nimis serò te amami Aug. Exod. 4 22. Jer. 31. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obs 1. Priviledges of Israel refer to the Saints Malach. 3. 17. Saints therefore not under the Law Psal 89. 30 31. c. Obs 2. Jer. 2. 14. Use Obs 3. The Church one in Faith Spirit Babtism c. Eph. 4. 4 5. not in outward incorporation and visible Government Obs 4. Jer. 12. 17. Deut. 32. 10. observed Gods Sons slaves to Satan oft-times and for a season And to wicked men which is the admiration of Angels God hath his time to call them out of that slavery Obs 5. Exod. 12. 42. Applicat to England The Text as cited Mat. 2. 15 further expounded Hierom Matthew's interpretation seems strange to some * See Bucer on Matth. 28. P. 197. shewing that the Apostles allegations of Scripture were not proper unless to such as the holy Ghost enlightned to see the mystical sense of them and except we shall say that those Expositions were received things in those daies as are among the Jews now the Chaldae paraphrase expounding many places of Christ which according to the Letter have another sense and this perhaps may be the saâ—er to affirm because else it may seem the Apostles could not so well have charged the Jews with Obstinacy as Act. 13. and Chap. 28. and else where Opinions about the place in Matthew Junius in loc Paralel lib. 1. Paral. 6. Isa 2. 9. Isa 9. 6. 3. preferred so Hierom on Hos 11. 1. expounds it Exod. 12. 46. and Joh. 19. 36. compared Things accidental are under providene Great things intended of God by smal 2 Sam. 7. 14. Heb. 1. 5. compared also Obs God som way or other aims at Christin all his works which to see wil be one part of the Saints glory A similitude A fruit of Gods Love and of Christ's Spirit to understand the reach of God in Scripture A comfort to the Saints in their sufferings that they have a conformity with Jesus Christ by them Those that fly with their children The danger and length of Christs flight into Egypt The inward tentations of the parents 〈◊〉 Christ in thei 〈…〉 flight Expos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70. 2 Cor. 5. 4. illustrated Calvin in
when God loved him you may find in Ezek. 16. 4 5. c. And as for thy Nativity in the day that thou wast born thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all and then in the 5. verse None eye piâ—ed thee to do any of these unto thee to bave compassion upon thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born then in the 6. verse And when I passed by tree and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Livâ— yet I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Again and again and then in the 8. verse Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Well but wherein did God manifest that he did love Israel when he was a Child Mark the 8. verse When I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine The Love of God to Israel i exprest in these three particulars First That God made a Covenant with him Oh 't is a great mercy of God and a fruit of great love that such an infinite God would be pleased to make a Covenant with his people to bring them into Covenant with him all man-kind was in Covenant with God at first but falling from that first Covenant there was but only a peculier people that God took into Covenant with himself and made it as a fruit of his great love to take a certain people into Covenant with himself more than others And secondly Thou becamest mine that is I had separated thee for my self and took thee for a peculier one to me and intended special mercy and goodness to thee Thou becamest mine so as that I should have a special propriety in thee and thou shouldest have a special propriety in me And then thirdly I confirmed all this by an Oath I sware this unto thee Was not here love for God to Covenant to take in to such propriety and to swear that we should be his Thus when Israel was a child I loved him that 's the meaning of this Scripture Now the Note of Observation is this First That it is the priviledg of the Church and of the Saints for God to love them God loves his people this is their priviledge he loves them with a special love In the 12. of Jer. 7. they are called the dearly beloved of Gods soul see how God loves his people God he delights in his Saints and there is nothing in the world that should sanctifie a gracious heart more than this That God loves him And as Gods love is extraordinary to them more than to other People so their love again should be reflected upon God in a more than ordinary way There 's nothing can be a recompence to Love but Love that 's certain Love is never satisfied but with Love And therefore seeing God professes love to his people he doth expect love from them therefore he will not be satisfied with any duties you perform whatsoever you do but it must be out of Love Love must have Love and know that you cannot prize Gods love more than God prizes yours there is nothing in Heaven and Earth that God prizes more than the love of his Saints and therefore if ever Gods love or Gods prizing of your love may gain love Oh you Saints love the Lord. That 's the first But Secondly It 's a great aggravation unto sin to sin against love For to that end God here shews that he loved them that he might aggravate their sin so much the more and cleer himself Many times you make in the daies of your humiliation and at other times many aggravations of your sin that your sin it is against knowledge this is great That your sin it is of an hainous nature that it doth a great deal of hurt that it brings you under dreadful threatnings that it provokes the wrath of an infinite God against you these are great things for the humbling of your hearts for sin But above all aggrevations for sin this is the great aggravation That your sin is against Love that though God hath shown much love to you yet you sin against a loving God and a gracious God God begins with this aggravation being his scope here to cleer himself and to charge his people of ungratefulness yet God loved them Oh! sins against love are great sins indeed But Thirdly I loved him when he was a child 〈◊〉 very 〈…〉 to mind Gods old love That 's the Third Note The love of God unto us when we were children yea the love of God unto our fore-fathers the love of God unto a people when they were at the first beginning the ancient love of God to a people 't is of very g 〈…〉 use it is of great use for al to consider of the love of God in former times to them nay brethren it would be of very great use for us to consider of ancient love of God to England And I will give you one remarkable Note of Gods antient love to this Nation that 's this That it was the first Nation that ever God set his heart upon for the chusing of the Gospel the first Nation in the world that by publick Authority did submit to the Gospel and certainly God remembers that love of England For we find it recorded it 's true we cannot expect Scripture for this because it was â—â—nce the time of any Scripture but so far as we may give any credit to Stories we find it of all Nations upon the face of the Earth the first that received the Gospel with the Countenance of Publick Authority And this is not a little matter Certainly the Lord remembers the kindness of our youth and the old love of England and the first love of England in receiving the Gospel Indeed God caused the Gospel to be preached to other places before it was to England I but there was no placâ— that by the countenance of Publick Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it so soon as England did and therefore England may be said to be the very first fruits of the Gospel in that respect Oh! 't is good for us to consider of that and many good uses we may make of Gods old ancient love when we see any further expressions of Gods love it may encourage us upon the thoughts of his former love there was an old love and this God continues his old
Thirdly It 's a great aggravation of mens sins if they be called to duty after God hath called them out of misery and they do not obey it After thou comest out of an affliction whether bodily or spiritual God expects thou shouldest as diligently hearken to his call that calls thee to duty as thou doest take hold of his mercy when he held it to thee to deliver thee out of thine affliction charge thy soul thus Oh wrenched heart that I have I called to God and God hath heard my call and now God hath delivered me and calls me to a duty and shall I stop mine ears against Gods call Oh how just were it for God to leave me in misery when I turn my back to him when he cals me to a duty Fourthly For men not only to disobey Gods call but to turn away themselves from it and from those that speak to them in his Name this is very wicked a high degree of sinfulness before God In Jer. 2. 27. They have turned their back unto me but not their face and so in Jer. 32. 33. They turn their backs that 's more than not to obey Our backs that is to refuse to obey to resolve not to obey in Jer. 18. 17. God threatens them that in the day of their calamity he would shew them his back too as when a Traytor is petitioning to his Prince so long as the Prince is but willing to parly with him and reade his Petition there is hope but if the Prince turns his back and will not look upon his Petition there 's no hope then So there is hope of people that we may bring them to obedience so long as they will hearken to the Word but if once they turn their backs then there 's little hope so when God turns his back upon sinners there 's little hope then Remember you that turn your back upon calls to obedience Oh! remember that Scripture in Jer. 18. 17. that God threatens in the day of your calamity he will turn his back to you Now this wickedness men do not grow to on a sudden at first they are loth to be convinced that such a thing is a truth but at length when the evidence of truth comes cleer they in a desperate way turn their backs upon it and resolve not to hearken to it a famous instance you have of this in Jer. At first they said that Jeremiah did not speak the Word of the Lord but afterward As for the Word of the Lord that thou hast spoken we will not hear Fifhly It is yet a higher wickedness to have our corruptions irritated by the Word and provoked As they call'd so they went away When mens hearts grow as Lime that the showers of the Word shall inflame them this is a sad condition indeed when the more cleer evidence they have of the Word the more desperate wicked they grow We find it so in some places when the word comes with the greatest power this is all the effect it hath upon the hearts of men to make them the more desperate wicked You wonder sometimes that where the Word is preached with power men should grow more wicked wonder not at it for where the Word doth not convert sinners it doth harden them Sixtly From the extream perverseness and stubornness of the Jews we may learn this Lesson That Gods free Grace is very great and very strong the Lord was merciful to his people that were thus stuborn and stout but the more they were call'd to obedience the more wicked they grew and yet Gods mercy continued towards them for a long time together and indeed in that God should set his heart and love upon such a people as this it is one of the greatest helps against despair almost as any we know Do but look into the Book of God and reade of the people of the Jews what wretched froward perverse stuborn stout-hearted people they were and yet that God of all the people of the earth should chuse them to be his peculier people Oh! the free Grace of God! there 's nothing that God hath in his design more than to honor free Grace I confess I had thought to have spent some time in shewing to you the extream stubornness of the people of the Jews and all to this end to magnifie the free grace of God towards such an unworthy people you find that God doth so himself when he speaks of his Mercy to that people he doth give them this notice That he would have them to know that what he did for them was not for their own righteousness in Deut. 9. 6. Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good I and to possess it for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people As if God should say I might magnifie free Grace whereas I might have chosen some other people that might have been more yeeldable to my hand I chose you that it might appear that all that I did was out of free Grace In Psal 78. 8. Be not stuborn as your forefathers were they are called stout-hearted stiff necked strong they seem to be of strong spirits but it is strong against the truth and though stubornness hath a kind of Glory in it yet the truth is there is nothing but weakness in it in Ezek. 16. 30. How weak is thy heart saith the Lord seeing thou doest all these things the work of an imperious whorish woman They are said to be strong-hearted stiff hearted but saith the holy Ghost how weak is thy heart and you shall find in Scripture that they are called stiff necked and Iron-â—inewed and that they walked contrary to God and that they are perverse and crooked and that they had hardened their hearts and made them like an Adamant and saith Stephen You have alwaies resisted the holy Ghost and impudent children and rebellious children It is very observable if you read those Scriptures presently after they came out of the Land of Egypt within three daies after God had shown them such a miraculous work they fell to murmuring nay they did not stay so long for it is said in Psal 106. They provoked the Lord at the Sea even at the red Sea And in Exod. 16. 2. 28. and in chap. 17. ver 2. the people did chide with Moses again so reade the story of Exodus Numbers Deuteronomy Judges and the Kings and you shall find them continually rebelling a people with an Iron sinew against God and yet for all that the Lord makes choice of this people and loves them Oh! free Grace the free Grace of God When your children are stuborn and stout against you consider of this you think it a grievous affliction to you Oh! but there is none in the world that are so crossed with stuborn children as God himself is And though you
saith That Love bears all things I am loth to mention any further lest there should be any occasion of stirring up any spirits and so hindering the fruit of Love Let me say on the other side there may be too eager censure the other way that is to censure such as are of a different way and judgment that they do it altogether out of their self-ends and self-aims I verily beleeve that on the other side those brethren that do differ they may be consciencious in their way and do it out of zeal to God and to what they apprehend to be truth We should apprehend one another so if we see there be nothing else wherein they do manifest corruption of heart but meerly in their waies of difference in their judgments and opinions Now if both could but thus judg each of other that they both are upright in what they do pursue One side imagins that our part is Gods mind and the other side judges that that party is Gods mind let us judg now that they do it in uprightness except it apperrs some other way then we should quickly come to close and joyn hearts together if we had such upright opinions one of another therefore the more it is the design of the Devil to break those Bonds of Brotherhood and of Love the more should we labor to unight together And you who are Superiors labor you to gain your Inferiors by love Oh let those tie together do not say of your inferiors they are of untoward dispositions and how can my heart be towards them to love them Oh! none of your inferiors are more untoward unto you than you are unto Christ and Christ if he should not love you because of your untowardness what would become of you Now consider of this when your servants and children are untoward Why should that hinder love when as my untowardness doth not hinder the love of Christ to me I remember I have read of Monica Austins Mother her husband being an Heathen and that some of her neighbors that had Christian husbands wondred how they came to live so lovingly together saith other Christian women that were neighbors Our husbands are Christians and yours an Heathen and yet you live more lovingly with him than we do with our husbands She answered them It may be when your husbands do any thing that provokes you you are presently froward with them but I labor to overcome my husband by love so to gain his heart to me and upon that we live so lovingly together Christianity teaches me to perform the duties of a wife to my husband though my husband be an Heathen I verily beleeve there are many godly men and women that sometimes when the one is godly and the other is wicked You will say How can that be Yes though there be godliness yet there may be such frowardness and passion as may cause wonderful disturbance but on the other side where there is godliness and love there is such an overcoming with Love that though the man be wicked and never so harsh yet he hath the nature of a man in him and so long as he hath the nature of a man in him he will be overcome by Love and therefore that 's the way to bind men and women together Would you be united more than ever yet you have been labor to cast the Bonds of Love one upon another let the husband study how to overcome his wife with love and so the wife the husband and then there will be a sweet union indeed and so for Masters and servants there should be Love there to unite one to another though the master be above the servant yet the master should account it a happiness to him in that his servant doth love him there is not such a distance between you and your servants as there is between God and you Oh! it 's a sweet thing when a man can say in his family I bless God all my familie loves me And whatsoever they do they do it out of love to me It may be you are harsh towards your servants and you will make them do what you command them to do and they dare not do otherwise yea but what 's that but do your servants love you do they do all for you out of Love you might have as much obedience from your servants as you have and have it a great deal better than you have if you have it out of love and so likewise in a family when one servant loves another as it was said of David in 1 Sam. 18. 22. All his servants love thee all Sauls servants did love David so those that are servants should labor to live so in families as all the other servants should love them But you will say They are so wicked that how can I hope to have love from them Yes Though they cannot love thee as thou art godly yet godliness hath something in it that is common to the excellency of mans nature Yea and those that are in place of power in the Magestracie they should labor to gain those that are under them by love as the greatest in a family if he be a Lord or an Earl should not think it too much to gain a servant by Love so those that have the greatest power in Government they should not think it too much to gain their meanest Subjects in a way of Love we see it was thus with David 1 Chron. 28. 2. Then David the King stood up and said Hear me my Brethren and my People See what a sweet expression is here of a great Prince Then David the King stood up and he said Hear me my Brethren and my People he did not sit down Majesterially and say My People and you that are my Subjects and that are under me I command you to do thus and thus but he stands up unto them and saith Hear me my Brethren my People This was a way to gain the hearts of people unto him You know Absolom he sought in a false way to steal away the hearts of people by a gentle carriage I remember I have read of John the Second a King of Portugal he chose his Emblem to be a Pelican that he might express his love to his Subjects upon this ground for the Pelican when her yong ones have been bitten with Serpents she feeds her yong ones with her own blood and thereby cures them now upon this this King of Portugal chuses the Pelican to be his Emblem thereby he would testifie his readiness to let out his blood for the good of his Subjects for the healing of his Subjects He would not feed upon his Subjects blood but he would rather let out his own blood for their good This is the commendations of a Prince not to seek to feed upon Subjects blood and to raise up his Honor and Prerogative by his sheding of
it 's an excellent thing to be able to understand the reach of God in his Word as I may so say and it 's a fruit of love It 's a fruit of the love of Jesus Christ to his Saints that we should know his mind more than other men do And certainly if the people of Israel had but known this when they first went into Egypt and returned back again that the Lord did aim at Jesus Christ in it Would it not have been a comfort to them if they had known that God intended to make them conformable to his Son Would it have been a comfort to them to have known it Then certainly it must needs be a comfort to the Saints to know now that in all their sufferings they have a conformity to Jesus Christ we know it now and that 's the reason why we do suffer it is to make us conformable to Jesus Christ the Jews did not know this that which was the reason why God would have them suffer but we know it and therefore in all our sufferings we should exercise our faith in the sufferings of Jesus Christ Do we suffer thus and thus he did so to take away the sting of our sufferings and in a special manner you that have been driven from house home if there be any here that have been driven to fly for their lives and perhaps you have been driven to go among strangers Oh! but your suffering is not so great as the suffering of Jesus Christ was he fled for his life when he was but an infant and did not only fly to strangers but to his enemies to the Egyptians you are driven but from one part of England to another Oh! exercise your faith in this it was a very strange work of Gods providence that presently after he was born he must fly for his life you that are fain to carry your children with you Oh! remember how Joseph and Mary was fain to do it was fain to fly for the life of Jesus Christ and carry him and this flight was a great deal more than your flight for they were fain to fly to Egypt Now supposing it was by land as that many reasons may be given they were fain to fly a matter of an hundred miles through the desert wilderness where there was no habitations you fly from one town to another and find relief they were fain to fly above an hundred miles it 's fifty leagues which your Marriners accompt three miles to a league and was in the very desert between the Land of Canaan and Egypt Now though it 's true the people of Israel was fourty yeers in the Wilderness but it was not through the length of the place three daies journey might have carried them into the Land of Canaan but it was fourty years that they were about it God prolonged it and they did intangle themselves and were stubborn and Rebellions and so it was prolonged though the way was but in its self short but yet certainly this flight of Joseph with Christ to Egypt must needs be sad and miserable it cannot be conceived that any of your flights should be so said and miserable as that was for they could not carry any provision with them but were fain to fly in a private way to save the life of Jesus Christ Oh! how often do you think did Joseph and Mary look upon this Babe when they were flying through the desert Wildernes think What is this the Son of God Is this the Savior of the World Is this he that should be the redeemer of Israel Is this he that is God and Man Is this he that is the second person in Trinity that presently after he is born we must fly for his life through a desert wilderness Oh! the strange work of God in the very work of Mans Redemption Things were so low and poor and seemed to go on in such a contrary way as it would have put any ones faith to it to have thought that Jesus Christ should have done such great things as he did Oh my brethren this is the way of God to put the faith of men to it especially at first So it was with Christs flight into Egypt It follows VERS 2. As they called them so they went from them c. AS they That is Moses and Aaron and other Prophets and Ministers of God sent unto them they called them to serve the Lord and to worship him according to his own way And especially they called them from Idolaters and false worship As they called them so some turn it that is Though they were so called so called yet they went from them When the means of God is so powerful to resist then is a very great evil If our Gospel that is our Gospel preached with so much plainess and power is hid it is hid to those that are lost But take it here As they called them that is Look what earn 〈…〉 ess there was in Moses and Aaron and other Ministers of God to call them from their evil waies so much stubornness and stoutness was it for them to go against it Calvin thinks it is Because they called them THEREFORE they went from them Because they called them that is They went from them for the very nonce as we use to say Because Moses would have us do thus and thus we will do the quite contrary for the very nonce They went from them that is Turned their backs upon them like stuborn Children and Servants when they are called they will not hear but turn their backs upon you so did they to Moses From whence observe First It is a mercy of God to have Gods Ministers calling us to obedience Who are we that God should send his Messengers after us What need hath God of us Suppose we go on in the waies of death and perish what shal God lose by it But this is Gods mercy that he will cal after us God may say If you will go go on and perish everlastingly Oh! but he doth not so Secondly When God hath called us out of affliction it is a great addition of mercy to call us out of sin unto duty and we should account one as great as another We think it a great mercy if the Lord will call us out of an affliction but when God calls us out of a misery and calls us to a duty Do you think that that 's as great a mercy That 's a sign of a sanctified heart indeed You are in sickness and under great extremity if God should say I wil give out my Word to deliver you that would be a sweet word you would say I but when God gives out his Word to call thee out of thy sin to a duty thou shouldest as joyfully take an hint of that Word of God too Oh! do you prize Gods call unto you from sin to duty as much as from misery to prosperity
5. He shall not return into the Land of Egypt but the Assyrian shall be his King because they refused to return He shall not return TO give you first a short paraphrase of the words for there 's no difficulty in them and then the Notes of Observation It is As if the Prophet should say Howsoever he thinks to help himself with ease to shelter himself there yet he shall not but he shall go into Captivity into Assyria for all means that have been used would not bring him to return So then the Observations First That which hardens mens hearts against threats in their sin is some shifts that they have in their thoughts let the worst come that can be yet I have such a relief My Brethren it 's a great mercy of God to take mens spirits off from all their vain shifts and hopes so as to be throughly convinced that there 's no help in any thing in the creature in Heaven and Earth but only in my turning to God and casting my soul down before Mercy if that saves me not I am undone for ever when the heart comes to this I say God is in a gracious and merciful way working I see my sin my affliction that is upon me and feel it though my heart would be shifting this way and that way yet God hath convinc'd me nothing can do me good but I am lost and undone what ever course I take except I return to God and humble my soul before him and seek his face and obtain meroie from him Secondly He shall not return to Egypt It was a verie strange perverseness to think of this shift to go back to Egypt why was not Egypt the place of his bondage and the Egyptians still retained their cruelty and yet they thought of this help that they would turn to Egypt rather than to God From whence the Observation is A stout heart cares not whither it goes rather than it will return to God As the Prodigal will rather go to the Swine to feed upon husks than to his father like some stout children they care not what miseries they suffer rather than they will come and humble themselves to their parents They will hang themselves and drown themselves and seek their fortune as they use to say rather than be perswaded to come in and submit themselves No never as long as they live though they die yet they will not and thus their hearts are stout and while they think they are stout against their parents they are stout against God too yet God hath waies to bring mens stout hearts to yeeld Thirdly A stubborn heart though God be in any way of mercy God calling them to waies of mercy yet if any thing crosses them they will foolishly and desperately wish their return to their former condition of misery If you make any thing that God doth an argument to a stubborn heart for duty if it pleases him not he will reject all that 's done for him and say he had rather be as he was before let me go into Egypt again stubborn hearts if they meet with any cross in their way this is their unthankfulness that because they are vext and crost in some one thing they will I say foolishly and desperately wish that they were in the the condition that heretofore they have been in Oh! thus it is with many of us how foolishly how wickedly have we thought and said it was better with us heretofore then now let us return to our former condition This is thy folly and thy desperat wickedness But saith the text He shall not return though he thinks of returning as if the holy Ghost should say do not please your selves to think it is but to return to Egypt you cannot be worse than now you are for God hath worser things for you And my brethren this is our case this day let not us think of returning to our former condition certainly if we should take such a course to return to our former condition we should be far worse than we were before our danger would be far greater this is certain to the view of any men that have their eyes open that our condition in England must either be far better than it was or far worse than it was There 's many say Oh! we were thus and thus in former times and if we were but as we were we should do well enough Oh! let 's not think of that we must certainly either be far better or far worse than we were for if we think of returning it will not be to Egypt but to Assyria which will be worse The Fourth Note is this God knows how to cross wicked men of their wills to spoil them of their plots they please themselves with this and the other thing they will do thus and thus if they be put to this shift then they have a second and a third yea but there 's a God in Heaven that hath determined otherwise Never were wicked men more cross in their plots than they are at this day They have said that they would do thus and thus but God hath said they should not and they have not done it Now God in his Mercy crosses his people of their wills that are set upon sin but when the wicked are crost upon their sin it is because God hath other waies to bring about greater evils to them To bring them to Assyria Well then whatsoever any mans thoughts and desires are the Lord deliver us from turning into Egypt again And likewise the Lord grant the Assyrian may not be our King It follows The Assyrian shall be his King The Lord deliver us from both That an Assyrian may not be our King Why an Assyrian why was he threatned to be their King You shall find that he was one of a cruel stout heart an hard heart and a proud heart the Assyrians were so They were a generation of men of cruel proud stout hard-hearted men Isa 10. 5. Oh Assyrian the rod of mine anger saith God and in the 7. verse It is in his heart to destroy saith God of the King of Assyria and in the 12. verse When the Lord hath performed his whol work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks Oh! 't is a sore evil to be put under the rage of a proud and a stout hearted man who will set his heart against God himself who though God fights against him yet will stand it out though his design is crost yet he will not come in he will not give glory to God though his will cost him the blood of many thousands yet he goes desperatly on he regards more his own will and lusts than the blood or lives of millions For people to have such a stout heart armed with power raised with pride enraged with
had there it 's impossible but flesh and blood would suggest many thoughts to Abraham to keep his heart in suspence But what took Abrahams heart off from suspence to resolve fully what to do in such a case the text saith The God of Glory appeared to him it was not only God but the God of Glory My Brethren when God is calling you off from all Creature comforts from all things that may quiet your hearts in the world and you have strong temptations to keep you in the waies of sin let but the God of Glory appear to you and this will take up your hearts this will bring your hearts to a full resolution Oh! blessed blessed are those souls though they have continued long in suspence yet at length the God of Glory appears to them in the midst of their doubts and temptations and hangings off And if there be such a force in this then learn to present before thy soul that is in such a suspence the Glorie of the great God look up to this great God 't is the infinite high God that I am called to Oh! thou suspending thou wavering soul look up to this most high and answer this call of God unto himself answer it thus Oh Lord Thou art an Infinite Blessed Glorious Being the Supream Being of all I am a poor vile worm that lie under thy feet it 's mercie that thou wilt vouchsafe to look towards me thou mightest have let me gone on in base waies and perished to all eternity without giving me any call to thy self but now that thou shouldest give me a call to thy self the high and glorious blessed Lord this is mercy Lord I come and with fear and trembling fall down before thee saying Lord what wilt thou have me to do Those who have been wavering and afterwards setled they have found that this hath been the thing that hath setled them some dreadful authoritie of the high God that hath come to their hearts in some truth beyond what formerly he hath done and this hath fully taken off their souls to him And then Fifthly The true Worship of God is an elevating thing Then are they called to the most high when they are called to the true Worship of God for it raises the soul to the most high Mens inventions are low things are base and unworthy things Oh consider whether thou findest this in the Worship of God doest thou find thy soul raised up to the most high in his Worship thou doest never worship God aright except thou findest in some measure thy soul raised up to the most high in his Worship let no man look upon the Worship of God as a low mean thing know when thou art to come to worship God thou hast now to deal with the high God whom Angels worship and adore 't is that God who is far above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth thus thou art to look upon the Worship of God Oh! how far are most men from this when they are worshiping of God! very few there are that lift up their hearts to the most high even in the duties of Worship And so it follows in the words None at all would exalt him Why If God be the most high God how can he be exalted I answer He is so high as he cannot be more high than Himself God cannot be more excellent than he is in Himself God cannot make Himself better than He is nor more glorious in Himself than He is Therefore no creature can make him more than he is all that all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth can do for God can ad nothing to him In Nehem. 9. 5. He is exalted saith the text above all blessing and praise Yet then God accounts Himself to be exalted First When he is known and acknowledged for the High Supream First being of all things when we fear Him as a God when we humble our selves before him as before a God when we are sensible of the infinite distance there is between him and us when we are willing to lay down what we are or have or can do for the furtherance of his praise when his Will is made the Rule of all our waies and especially of his Worship when we make him the last end of all when 't is the great care of our souls and work of our lives to do what possibly we can that he might be magnified lifted up in the world and when we account the least sin a greater evil than can be recompenced by all the good that Heaven and Earth can afford unto us and now God accounts Himself exalted by us And this is the Work that all of us have to do to give up our selves to the exalting of the Name of this blessed God He is worthy so worthy of honor from us creatures that though ten thousand millions of Men and Angels should perish eternally for the furtherance of the least degree of his honor he is worthy of it all so high is this God and therefore know it to be our work to endeavor in our places to exalt him and blessed is that man or woman that when they are to die are able to say Oh Lord thou hast been high in my heart thy Wisdom I have adored and submitted mine unto it thy Will I have honored and yeelded mine likewise to it and it hath been the great care of my soul that I might do somthing in my place to lift up thy Name according as I have been able I say thou maiest go out of the world in peace as having done in some measure that thou camest into the world for Oh! you whom God hath exalted let it be your care to exalt this God and especially the Saints of the Lord know God hath exalted you on high and expects that you should lift up his Name he hath lifted up you out of the depth of miserie from the nethermost Hell he hath joyned you to his Son he hath made you one with his Son He hath loved you with the same love wherewith he loveth his Son he hath made you Heirs Co-heirs with his own Son he hath given his Angels to be ministring Spirits to you he hath made it his great design to honor himself in your eternal good the greatest work that God hath to do in the world it is the honoring himself in your Glory he hath prepared a Crown of glory for you Oh then do you joyn together to exalt the Name of this God who hath lifted up you who were such poor vile worms let the high praises of this God be in your hearts and mouths for ever in Psal 108. 4. Thy mercy is great above the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the Clouds mark what follows in the 5. verse Be thou exalted O God above the Heavens and thy Glory above all the Earth Oh Lord we see thy mercy is exalted above the Heavens and thy truth
there were mighty stirrings in Gods heart pleadings of Justice and pleadings of Mercy but Gods mercy overcomes gets the day as it were Mercie triumphs over Justice The Observations When we have stirrings between Mercy and Wrath the stirrings of Mercy should rather prevail the bent of our hearts should rather be in them When we have workings this way and that way which is the most benign side the arguments had need be very much the stronger for wrath than for Mercie If the arguments have any equality or neer any equalitie in them certainly the arguments for mercie should prevail they do so with Gods heart Oh! be you like God in this And then Secondly When there are stirrings with God and temptations to draw to sin the stirrings for God likewise should prevail Have not you found it thus many times in your selves you have had stirrings in your hearts to such and such duties and at the same time there hath been temptations coming to such and such sins now I put it to your Consciences as in the Name of God Cannot you tell divers times how the temptations to sin hath got the day you have been rather carried from God to your base sinful lusts and your Conscience hath been overcom Conscience hath pul'd and drawings of the Spirit have been very powerful but yet temptations have been more powerful and you have gone that way Oh! be ashamed of this that it should ever be said That at such a time there were stirrings with Conscience and Temptations Temptations and Conscience stirring together yet that Temptation should overcome Conscience Thirdly Gods mercies do not free his People from all fruits of displeasure But I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger And my brethren this is not meant meerly of the times of the Law for this anger of God upon them is to this very day But yet it is not fierceness of anger like that of Adamah and Zeboim There are no question among them the elect Ones of God at this day God wil not have this called the fierceness of anger So 't is displeasure 't is captivity long captivity They are a reproach and a by-word to the world and yet not fierceness of anger Our discontented hearts are ready to call every little affliction fierceness of anger Oh! how fierce is God if we suffer any little And indeed did we but know what anger our sins deserve we would learn not to call every affliction that is upon us no nor our greatest afflictions fierceness of anger Fourthly We should acknowledge mercy though we suffer hard things If yet we be not utterly not everlastingly cast off acknowledge Mercy it is Mercy my Repentings kindled I will not execute fierceness of anger Why Because they were not as Admah and Zeboim Learn we all this This day whatsoever afflictions are upon me though it may be you are ready to say Such afflictions are upon me as upon none we are ready to think our afflictions to be the greatest of all yea but bless God that thou hast not fire from heaven to consume thee and thy family for this might have been thy portion this fierceness of Anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim God here compares himself to a Captain that comes with his Soldiers unto a Town I suppose many of you in this place may easily come to understand the meaning of this word by what they have seen and felt themselves Soldiers come to a Town and there they pillage it and away they go and so the poor people think Soldiers have been here and I hope we shall do well enough now and think all 's over It may be within a month or two after the same Soldiers come again and utterly ruin the place and strip them of all But now saith God I will not return to destroy Ephraim that is Though I lay my hand upon them and afflict them and take away many comforts from them yet when I have done that there I 'le leave I will not come back again with a purpose utterly to ruin them This I might do I might return upon them with one evil upon another but I will not do so From whence note There is no cause that sinners should be secure when some evil is upon them to think this is all now they know the worst No God may justly return upon them again and again If thou turnest not to God under thy affliction God may justly return upon thee to ruin thee Indeed if thy afflictions were such as hath caused thy heart to return to God thou maiest then hope that God wil not return upon thee but if so be thou behav'st thy self frowardly under thy afflictions I say thou maiest justly expect that God should return upon thee But Secondly God is very gracious to his people when evil is upon them he will not ad and ad till he utterly destroy them but he will forbear that he might have some subject for his Mercie he will not contend for ever For I am God saith he and not man Here 's an argument that is very full I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger for I am God and not a man Before God took upon him the person of a man in those yernings of his bowels that is When he would express his mercie mark there God would come in the most familier way to make us know the meaning of his mercy but when he comes to speak of Anger there he would have us know that he is not like to a man in way of Anger in the way of Mercie saith he if there be the most merciful man upon earth know that I am like him but when I come to anger I am not like man in the way of anger God is verie desirous that we understand fully his heart in the waies of his mercy but when he speaks of the execution of his wrath I will not do that why For I am a God and not a Man And mark the strength of this expression the difference between God and Man in the point of the execution of wrath you will find it very useful to you First for the opening of it and then for the several Observations to be drawn from it As first Man is of a weak spirit not able to rule his anger Man if he be but a little heat with anger it 's turn'd into rage and there 's no rule at all but I am not man saith God I am God I am no man 't is not with me thus I am not of a weak spirit I am able to rule my anger in Nahum 1. 6. the Lords anger there is said to be furious but I find the word in the Original The Lord of anger so Montanus turns it a God that 's able to rule his anger and expresses it in the midst of the expression of his greatest wrath I am God and not Man Man the word is not Adam but
death was out against them even now they do it Thus did Ahab in 1 Kings 16. 30. And Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that we 〈…〉 fore him he added evil From whence observe this That when destruction is neerest then evil men are wickedest Now their sin ripens apacâ— when the scum grows highest then it 's neerest the fire and so the neerer it is to the fire the higher it will grow It 's a great sign of the neerness of mens times that they are not long when they grow notoriously wicked See a man that hath been forward in that which is good heretofore he may have failings and yet the Lord may pity him but now let this man grow to be very wicked not only to abate of his profession but grow to be very wicked expect the ruin of that man suddenly it will not be long And then Secondly It is a great aggravation of mens wickedness to sin after Gods threats and in the times of Judgment when they are under Gods hand Oh! when God appears against us we should presently submit at the least holding up of his finger but this is the pride of men not to stoop even when the hand of God is against them and the rather because they would justifie their sin if they should stoop and yeeld upon the hand of God coming out against them this would debase them but they rather will stand out the more that they might justifie their sin that they are not thus and thus as men would take them to be And then a Third Note is this That when men have lost their credits honor and esteem through the just Judgment of God then they grow more base and vile in their sinful waies than ever Ephraim had a great deal of esteem and honor but he lost it through Gods just Judgment and now he and the people together sin more and more We find this usual that mens esteem and credit though they have very base hearts within all the while yet it will keep them in a very fair way but now you shall have many men that though they liv'd very fair so long as they had esteem and credit yet if their credit be but crack'd and their este 〈…〉 e but gone they will prove very sordid in their waies As 't is in a Garden you know if a man have but a few weeds grows up in it he will have them pull'd up but if it be over-grown with weed then he doth not much care for it but lets it run more and more so it is in mens hearts indeed though there be something amiss in them and their names kept up they will reform but if once they have fallen so as their honor credit and esteem is gone then they go on more and more and fall still more and more to further and further wickedness or as 't is with a man when he hath a new Garment Oh he is afraid at first of every little spot and much more afraid of a rent but if afterwards the garment be come to be sullied much or be dirtied a little he is careless of it then then he never stands brushing of it so as before It is thus for all the world with men in respect of their hearts and in respect of their lives and therefore it is good for men to look to it betimes when their names begin but a little to be lost when they may see the just hand of God beginning to come then to reform for if they let themselves go upon liberty they will grow vile and abominable They sin more and more And then a Fourth Note is this That there is no stop in Apostasie let men Apostatize once from God and there is no stop then they cannot tell whither to go then if once they be rowling down a man may not think thus I will but roul thus far and there I 'le stop no if you be once rouling you will roul and roul down to the bottom and you know not whither you may roul or fall If a man should leap into the water and say I will but sink thus far to the middle and no further this were but folly you will sink more and more so it is with Apostates I verily beleeve those that did make slight at first they did not think that they should go so far Oh! God forbid that they should do such things as were so vile and abominable yea but when once they are rouling when once they are sinking they 〈◊〉 and sink more and more till they roul into the bottom 〈…〉 pit of Hell they sink more and more till they sink into the very bottomless gulf into such things as they would abhor before There 's a Curse upon the wicked in Psal 35. That God would set them in slippery places and that the Angel of God should persecute them when men will go out of the waies of God into the slippery paths of their own it 's just with God that an evil spirit should drive them on in those waies It is in going from the waies of God just as you shall find it in your traveling in Champion Countries there 's a High-way goes to such a Town and there 's another way that lies close by it and you it may be are got out of the right way and so go on and think it will bring you to the place where you are traveling but it winds you out of your right way and so you go further and further out of the right Road perhaps some miles before you are aware of it And so it is in Apostacie it may be at first when they are got out of the way of God they think it not so much but then these evil waies wind them out by degrees so that they grow further and further They sin more and more I wil give you the steps of an Apostâ—t going more and more from God First When one doth apostatise and sin against God if it be any sin against knowledge though never so little For sin of meer infirmity I cannot call Apostasie but if it be ever so little against knowledge this breaks the bond of obedience when I wil venture to do that which I know is against God this bond of obedience being broken no marvel though you fall and sin more and more Secondly Every act of sin hath such a nature in it as to encrease the habits Corruption doth grow by acting As it is with Grace every act of Grace doth extend Grace in the heart of a man the way to grow in Grace is to act Grace much so that when you are acting of your Grace you do not only that that is your duty but you are growing in Grace for when you are acting of Corruption you are not only doing that that is evil but you are encreasing it and therefore every sin that causes us to decline from God makes
us to go more and more from God Thirdly Every sin that is against Conscience it weakens the work of Conscience the Authority of Conscience will quickly be weakened when it is once broken break but off the yoke of Conscience and Conscience will be weaker than it was before At the first time when a man sins against Conscience his Conscience hath a great deal of strength in it and mightily troubles him at the very first but having had a flaw as it were it grows weaker I remember a notable story which that reverend and famous Divine Doctor Preston hath of one in Cambridg that had committed a great sin and he had this temptation upon him Do the act again and your Conscience will trouble you no more and this temptation did prevail upon him he did it again and then he grew a very sot indeed and went on in his wickedness Every sin doth somewhat to weaken Conscience and therfore one that fals off from God will sin more and more Fourthly When a man hath once fallen off from God in any degree according to the degree he doth lose his comfort that he had in God for some kind of comforts Hypocrites may have as there may be Common gifts of the Spirit to enable them to do service so there may be Common Gifts of the Spirit to comfort them they may tast of the Powers of the world to come many have some flashes of joy but when they are departed from God then they cannot have so much comfort as they were wont to have and when they have not the comfort they were went to have they must have it some way and they are fain to go sharking up and down to get it some where else I cannot have that comfort in God as I was wont to have I was wont when I was troubled to go read the Word I could find comfort there let me go into good Company I could find comfort there let me go into the presence of God I could find comfort there but now I cannot and so the heart must have comfort some way or other and therefore goes more and more from God Fifthly When one hath sin'd against God then his spirit and holy duties comes to be very unsutable they are harder than they were before it 's a more difficult thing to get his heart to any holy duty than before and so comes to neglect Duties and by neglecting them his Corruption grows they were a means to restrain Corruption verie much for when a man is abroad and takes liberty yet when he thinks thus yea but I must pray before I go to bed I must go to prayer and how shall I beg Grace from God another time when as I wilfully sin against him this curbs a man so long as he can keep any kind of sutableness between his heart and holy duties though he should fail in some kind of things he would quickly recover but when he begins to have holy duties so vail'd as he leaves off holy duties then he will sin more and more for the curb is taken off Yea Sixthly The presence of God is terrible to an Apostate he cannot think of God without some terror before he would often think of God and speak of God but now he puts off the thoughts of God because they are terrible to him and having put off the thoughts of God and Gods presence being terrible it must needs be that he must wander up and down even more and more be as a Cain wandering away from the presence of God Yea further The thoughts of whatsoever might turn an Apostates heart to God are grievous to him If he hath gone away if he thinks of turning to God Oh presently will be presented to him some difficulty that will make him even put off al those thoughts and rather give himself liberty to his own waies Yea further there 's this in it That when a man hath sin'd against God one sin cannot be maintain'd without another one sin calls to another to help it and maintain it As now you find it ordinarily when a man hath done wrong to another man he knows not how to carry it out but by doing him more wrong to crush him if he can And so there 's divers other sins that have many sins depending upon them if a man be engaged in a business that is sinful that he might carry out his business a great many other sins he must commit and so comes to fall off more and more Yea further The pride of mens hearts is such as when they are once got into an evil way it 's a mighty difficult thing to keep them from not justifying their evil men love to justifie what they have done when they have sin'd they will grow more resolute and violent that all people might think that they have not the least kind of recoil in their hearts you think many times when you see men mighty strong and violent in an evil way you think surely they are fully satisfied in it Oh! you are mightily mistaken in that they may be very violent and very strong in their way only that they might perswade other folk though their own consciences tels them that they are not satisfied and thus the pride of mens hearts makes them sin more and more And besides If they have grown far in their sinful way then they grow desperate they grow into desperation they little hope ever to recover themselves so as before and therefore go on more and more Yea And God in his just Judgment withdraws himself from them God withdraws those gifts and common graces that they had and saith God Let them go on He that is filthy let him be filthy still Yea and besides Gods withdrawing there 's 〈◊〉 judicial Act of God upon them To give them up to their Corruptions and give them up to the Devil It 's a dreadful thing when the Church doth it but that 's for the salvation of the soul and for the destruction of the flesh but when God delivers up one to his corruptions that 's for the destruction of the soul Do you rule him saith God because he would not be rul'd No marvel then though an Apostate sin more and more Oh! stand against the beginning of sin what you can keep a trembling frame at the beginning Oh! had this people done so at the first they trembled Oh! had they but kept that trembling heart continually it would have kept them from abundance of evil And so do not some of you remember that there hath been a heart-trembling at the very thought of those things that it may be some of you now practice Oh! happy had it been for you that you had kept your trembling frame And you that are yong beginners in whose heart there is a trembling frame you tremble at temptations you tremble at the thoughts of sin at the first
Excommunication see Difference Excuses Excuses of deceiptful dealers 319 Mens excuses 515 F Faith Faith see Church Encouragement Root Faculties Faculties see Love Families Families see Imperiousness False False see Encrease Fill Men fill themselves with sensual things 445 Forced Forced see Blows Wives Folly Folly of Apostats 307 Form A form of answering to Gods call 128 Forgiveness Healing with forgiveness a sweet Mercy 95 Free see Grace Free grace of God to our Ancesters 222 Fruit To understand the Scriptures is a fruit of love 20 Fruit see Way G Gift see Ministry God Gods great design is to magnifie free grace 25 God deals gently with his people 53 Gods great design in the Gospel 70 God deals roughly with the great and graciously with the grieved and oppressed 500 God will be a Lyon to them that forget him ibid. Why God compares himself to a Leopard 502 God is to be preached as terrible 508 God see Christ England Know Trembling Help Healer Merciful Godly heart Godly heart see Difference Good Good see London Company Good Cause Good Cause see Success Goods Goods ill got the third Heir enjoyeth not 319 Government Government see Church Guides Guides their changeableness 31 Guiding Why the soul needs Guiding 32 H Hear Hear see Reverence Healing Healing see Forgiveness Healer God will be acknowledged the Healer of his people 40 Help God delights to Help men in misery 519 High minded Why the rich are apt to be high minded 459 Honor Honor of our inferiors must be preserved 55 God hath little honor in the world 132 Hope Hope see Wind Host Host see People Humbles What humbles most effectually 287 Hurtful Hurtful see East Wind. I Jacob What God spake to Jacob at Bethel 264 Jacob's mean condition 356 Jacob's flying into Syria 358 Why Jacob is sent away so meanly 359 Jacob hath the blessing renewed at his going away 359 Why Jacob served seven years for Rachel 394 Jehovah Jehovah what it infer's 273 Jehovah what it should mind us of 274 Jehovah what terror is in the Name 291 Jehovah what Consolation in the Name 292 Jehovah see Excellency Jews One of Gods special Covenants with the Jews 427 Ill-got Ill-got see Goods Image Image see Wrath Imitate Imitate God in resisting temptations to sin 149 Immoderate Immoderat desires to be taken heed of 537 Imperiousness The Imperiousness of some in their families 416 Increase Whence such Increase of false Doctrine 205 Increasing see Lyes Inferiors Inferiors see Honor Ingratitude Ingratitude see Perverse spirit Insolent Insolent see Bass Israel What a child Israel was 3 Wherein Gods Love to Israel stood 4 Israel see Mercy Instances Instances of the working of Gods heart towards England 148 Instruments Instruments see Abuse Iron Iron Tools unfit to build God's Tabernacle 343 Israelites Why the Israelites would have a King and Princes 530 Judgment It may prove a Judgment to invent a way to satisfie Conscience 211 Judgment when to be Executed 300 Judging Judging see Error K Kingdom Kingdom see Troubles King King see Israelites Kings Kings see Caution Kissing Against kissing the Book in Swearing 443 Know What it is to know God 447 L Labor Labor see Prevailing Language The Language of the sin of Apostacy 409 Law Saints not under the Law 11 Liberty What use we should make of Liberty 96 Licentiousness Licentiousness see Evils Lives Lives how to compleat the comfort of them 10 Leopard Leopard see God Lyon The Lyons property 504 Lyon see God Little A little of Spiritual things serves mens turns 455 London Gods mercy to London all this War 114 London's good is to be labored for 115 Love Gods Love doth not find but make the person lovely 8 Love commands all the souls faculties 64 The Love of Christians formerly compared with our divisions 72 Love see Persons Children Fruit England Love see Superiors Convince Notes Magistrates Love see Servants Sanctifies Overcomes Love see Relations Element Lyes Several waies of encreasing Lyes 206 M Magistrates Magistrates must deal by Reason rather than by Violence 51 Magistrates should govern by Love 76 Mark The Mark of the Beast 313 Marriage Marriage founded on consent 391 Married condition Married condition see Blessing Mean condition The mean condition as well as the greatness of our Ancestors is to be regarded 392 The mean condition of Moses 396 Meditation A Meditation for passionate spirits 464 A Meditation ser Trades-men in London 469 Merchant Merchant see Canaanite Mercie Gods mercy towards Israel is a Type of his waies with his people 8 Mercy when to be shewn 299 Mercy see Carnal props London Plea Affliction Merciful hearts neerest to God 173 Ministers Ministers pattern 35 Ministers must convince not scare men 51 It's Ministers duty to open Gods Love 66 Ministers should be wary in using tartness 150 Ministry The Ministry a magnificent gift 346 Why men profit no more by the Ministry 345 In chusing our habitation we should have regard to a good Ministry 347 Monopoliz To monopolize Commodities is oppression 313 N Necessary Necessary see Truth New New Officers see Pride Notes Notes to know whether it he Love or Hatred by all that is before us 540 Note of Peprobation 3â—â— O Obstinate Obstinate see Devil Oppression Oppression of others after deliverance from oppression is a great evil 97 Oppression see Deliverance Monopolize Oppression see Conscience Trading Evil. Opression see Under-trades-men Overcome Gods Love overcomes all unworthiness 84 Outward Outward Comforts see Thoughts P Pardon Pardon see Restitution Parents Parents and Masters must use more conviction than correction 52 Particular Particular persons should remember Gods ancient Love 7 Particulars affect most 294 Passionate Passionate spirits see Meditation Peace A blessing for them that hastens peace 112 People Gods People are his Host 272 Perseverance Perseverance why more frequent under the Gospel than under the Law 69 Perverse A perverse spirit the punishment of ingratitude 401 Piety Piety raiseth the heart more than Pride 126 Plea The plea of Justice and Mercy 140 Popery Popery see Beginning Posture The posture of a Congregation 417 Prayer Prayer see Encouragement Priests Priests see Vanity Preserve Preserve see Honor Prevailing Prevailing recompenceth all our labor in seeking 242 Pride Notes of pride in some new Officers 461 Priviledg Priviledg see Saints Procession Procession see England Profit Profit see Ministry Promise No command in the Gospel without a promise 91 Prosperity Many Saints worse for prosperity 453 Prosperity see Exalted Proud Proud men see Vanity Providence Things accidental are under providence 18 Provoke How we should provoke one another 464 Provoking Provoking God see Aggravation Provoking sins expressed 465 Punishment The punishment of Apostacie 409 R Reason Reasons of Jacob's taking his brother by the heel 219 Reason see Magistrates Use Relations The love of all Relations in Gods Love 85 Religion Religion see England Reformation Reformation see Awaking Recreation Times for Recreation to be allowed to Servants 101 Repentance Repentance a Gospel-Grace not of the Law