THE Absolute Truth and Utmost Certainty OF THE Word of God AND That all Things which are contained in the Scriptures yea to every Tittle and Iota thereof will be fulfilled Demonstrated in a Discourse on Rom. IX 6. By RICHARD STAFFORD formerly of Magdalen-Hall in Oxford Isa 55. 10 11. For as the Rain cometh down and the Snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the Earth and maketh it to bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the Thing whereto I sent it London Printed and are to be Sold by Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIX ROM IX 6. Not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect ONE of the Greatest Prejudices against the Preaching and Publishing of the Word of God is in that so very few are converted by it and do Obey it Let Men Preach till their Hearts ake as the common Proverbial Speech is and tire out their Lungs spend their strength yea Seek out acceptable Words as Ecclesiastes did and do all that ever they can in the work of the Ministry both by studying in Gods Statutes as Davids Practice was and also by Prayer and Diligent Labour yet still the World will not be Reformed nor brought off from their lees of Corruption and Iniquity They will go on in their old former ways Ungodliness and Wickedness let the Ministers and Servants of God say and do whatever they can Therefore it is that the Word is called the Weakness of God 1 Cor. 1. 25. In that it is deemed to be unable and insufficient to effect the very thing it doth intend at that is to bring People over unto the obedience of the Law of God and to Regulate their lives and manners The Commandment is Holy Just and Good in it self Thy Precepts concerning all things are Right Yet here lies the great stumbling Block and Rock of offence which quite keeps off the ungodly and mixt Multitude from getting over it and the steps of Good and Faithful People do well nigh slip thereat In that Notwithstanding it is so little obeyed and so very little heed is given unto them by the Generality of People They will indeed talk of the Commandments of God and make a shew as if they had performed 1 Sam. 15. 13. And were guided thereby but all along and in the mean while They do walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts Isa 65. 2. And according to their own Will Humour Inclination and Imaginations It is a common saying that People will have their Will whatever it cost them And it is to be feared as there is real Ground for this Surmise from the Word of God that too many are bent and resolved upon their own Will though they should be damned or condemned for it at the Day of Judgment and it cost them no less than the Loss of their precious Immortal Souls VVe read in the Old Testament of the Lords Controversie with his people and this is the Controversie which he hath with the Inhabitants of the Earth VVhether they shall do according to his VVord and Commandments and be led by the silent and inward Dictates of his Spirit Or they think speak and practice for the heart of every one of them is deep Our Lips are our own VVho is Lord over us Thoughts are free according to their own Supposal and Imagination And so it is of the Words and Actions in the Children of Disobedience They speak and do as they list This is a Controvercy which at the last will be decided to the Creatures Punishment and Misery The Psalmist doth speak further of the people of his Generation They corrupt others and speak of Wicked Blasphemy Their Talking is against the Most High There is indeed that Knowledge and Outward Worship and inward Reverential Esteem Universally received amongst the people of this Nation that hardly any unless some very few Debauch'd and Ignorant Young Men of the Richer sort do talk directly and immediately against God himself For this would be so odious and detestable that even the Common Multitude would not bear it But if they do not speak out because that they profess that they know God but in Works they deny him But they think and Act to the very same purpose God sees and knows the thoughts all one as if they were wrote in Great Letters upon the Foreheads of those who did conceive them And he doth make alike construction of their Actions as if they did speak out the same what those Actions do Import Things are confused and seem perplex through the doings of Sinners and Hypocrites By the former of which I mean those who are open Barefaced and Manifestly Sinners Who will own that they Commit Sin and Transgression and make excuses for it and cry out Lord have mercy upon us or the like By Hypocrites I intend such who observe all the Parts and seasons of the Worship of God and other things pertaining to Religion and yet they live in the Breach and Neglect of some of the Commandments of God But whilst they seem to be Righteous and Religious when they are not And they justify themselves before Men whereas God knoweth the heart And what is highly esteemed amongst Men is an Abomination in his sight Whilst they commend themselves and call themselves Godly and Lean on the Lord Micah 3. 11. As Counterfeit Gold doth sometimes Shine and Glister more then true So they Profess more Honour and Obedience to God then perhaps his very Elect and Real Servants Hence our way is the more intricate to trace and find them out then those who are downright Sinners and Ungodly Whatever are the doings of all the Children of Men the Word of God doth find them out And however the Rebellious and Disobedient would render it ineffectual and useless that is not binding and obligatory to them and that it should be rather falsified then fulfilled when it speaks of Mens obedience unto Righteousness for as for their Part they will not yield it As we see and observe these things in the World we are not thence to doubt in our own Mind But it these and such like things still we may have Recourse to this great Assertion of the Apostle Not as tho the Word of God hath taken none effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel That is They are nor all the Servants of God who have the Name and pretend to be so or do herd themselves in their Number I did therefore choose and thought Good to insist upon these Words chiefly if not for the Removal for it will still abide and remain yet for the right understanding of that first Prejudice which in the very beginning lies against the Word of
Imperfect Creatures For the Lord is not slack as concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness for a Thousand Years is as one day with the Lord 2 Pet. 3. 8. For he will finish the Work and cut it short in Righteousness Because a short Work will the Lord make upon the Earth Rom. 9. 28. Yet as to us the time appointed is long Return O Lord How long Psal 90. 13. And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry Day and Night unto him tho' he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily Luke 17. 7 8. How long O Lord Holy and True Dost thou not iudge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Rev. 6. 10. Tho' it was said sixteen hundred years ago that God would avenge them speedily it is not done as yet But tho' it be somewhat long as to our Expectation and Desire yet it will be sure at last and it will be all done together as may be understood from the following Verse here And white Robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little Season until their fellow Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled And so the Destruction of Sinners and Transgressours shall be together Isa 1. 28. Even of all Generations and Countreys So that such being the Decree and Order of God ye are in no wise to think Not as tho' the Word of God hath taken none effect For it will be all found true in its Season Not one jot of the Law shall pass away until all be fulfilled And not one of the sayings therein as to future things shall fall to the Ground till it shall indeed so come to pass Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away The Grass withereth the Flower â—adeth but the Word of our God shall stand for Ever Isa 40. 8. Hereby also it may be understood that Unbelievers and the Ignorant Multitude are certainly deceived in their Imaginations For whereas they Judge very much by Events And because they see no such dreadful Judgments poured down upon Sinners That all things happen alike to all and continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation Men and Women fall asleep and dye as People usually do they think falsely They may therefore do as they will It is the Preachers Trade to cry out against sin but they are vain Words for they come to nothing Whereas we speak of future Rewards and Punishments and the Time of Decision is not yet come Son of Man What is that Proverb that ye have in the Land of Israel Saying The Days are Prolonged and every Vision faileth Tell them therefore thus saith the Lord God I will make this Proverb to cease and they shall no more use it as a Proverb in Israel but say unto them the Days are at hand and the effect of every Vision Ezek. 12. 22 23. This Answers to the very Words of my Text For it shews that the Word of God hath some and will have yet a greater Effect As the same is again Affirmed But the Word which I have spoken shall be done saith the Lord God Ezek. 12. 28. And tho' the Vision which we see With the Eyes of our Vnderstanding being enlightened is yet for many Days to come and we Prophecy of the Times that are afar off yet they will be present and near also And it is therefore thus ordered by the Wisdom of God to prove the Children of Men these forty fifty or sixty Years To know what is in their Heart whither they will keep his Commandments or no Deu. 8. 2. And He said I will hide my Face from them I will see what their End shall be for they are a very froward Generation Children in whom there is no faith Deu. 32. 20. According to the Revelation of the Mystery Mark that which was kept secret since the World began But now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the Everlasting God made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16. 25 26. Here is the Mystery of God Revealed and Manifested which same Mystery of God at length will be finished as He hath declared to his Servants the Prophets Rev. 10. 7. For things were purposely so ordained to prove all Nations whither they would yield an Obedience of Faith That they might walk by Faith and not by Sight And herein the other Scriptures agree and have Relation He that believeth shall not make haste Isa 28. 16. Which being twice Quoted by Paul in Rom. 9. 33. Rom. 10. 11. The latter Words instead of shall not make haste is shall not be ashamed Both put together make up near the same Sence and Meaning and exactly Pertinent to the matter in hand That is as much as to say That whosoever doth know and really believe the things of God in the very order as they stand and are Determined He shall not make haste As to think or go about to get them fulfilled sooner then their appointed Time And whoso is fully perswaded of and doth embrace them by Faith He is not ashamed in this World for following after invisible and future things but more especially He shall not be ashamed it is spoken in the future tence in the World to come for they shall be Actually given and made Good to the Soul that seeketh them By Faith we apprehend and lay hold on these Encouraging Promises And they that be Wise In the Margent it is Teachers shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament And they that turn many to Righteousness as Stars for Ever and Ever Dan. 12. 3. Brethren if any of you do err from the Truth and one Convert Him Let him know that He which Converteth a sinner from the Errour of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a Multitude of Sins James 5. 19. Here it hath been Scoffingly and Sarcastically objected unto us What you Convert Sinners They will not be Converted by thee Go and Convert those at your own House But Jesus said unto them A Prophet is not without Honour but in his own Countrey and among his own Kin and in his own House Mark 6. 4. And He commonly doth the least good amongst them Like as the light of a Candle on a Candlestick gives light to those further off but casts a dark shadow next round about it self Moreover ye are to know Not as tho' by our own Power or Holiness we can make this Lame Man to walk Much less to run in the way of Gods Commandments Nor yet by our own Knowledge or Wisdom can we bring any one back into the right way who was gone astray We do utterly Disclaim and Renounce whatsoever is of self or our own But yet when He that Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings
yet hotter which shall be for their Punishmentâ— when they Tag or Link on an Oath or Speech of Vain Swearing to an Expression when the sentence which they speak would be more perfect and entire without it Or if to their Actions and Doings they Annex Iniquity and Transgression Nevertheless so it hath been so it is and so it will be during the Time of this Generation Altho at length there will be an End of Transgression And the Wicked shall be no more Psal 104. 35. For in what Prayer the Spirit of Truth doth dictate is included a Promise that so it shall be Yet until these latter Days and that Time is come the World will go on in Sinning let what will be spoken or declared against it Herein the VVord of God hath its Effect For hereby it is confirmed I had almost said seen but I am sure it is perceived that there is a Devil VVho deceiveth the Nations and deceiveth the whole World Rev. 12. 9. For these be the Days of Vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled Luke 21. 22. So it is as to the foregoing Sin and Transgression which bring these Judgments on the Earth It must needs go on in its course that the Scriptures might be fulfilled which say in Mat. 7. 13. and Mat. 25. That some yea and the greater part of Mankind shall go away into Everlasting Punishment But as our Lord said concerning offences It must needs be that offences come But Wo unto that Man by whom the offence cometh Mat. 18. 7. So in like manner it may be here applyed that the Scriptures might be fulfilled It must needs be that the greater Part of Mankind shall go away into Everlasting Punishment But Wo unto those Particular Souls who shall have their Lot and Portion in this matter For they can no more cease to be miserable then they can cease to be This is as certain tho' as yet it is not altogether so evident and visible then that there is a World which we behold or an Earth which we tread on For saith the same Word by the which the Heavens and the Earth were Created and the same Truth by the which they are now upheld and the things therein are Connected together Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my VVords shall not pass away Tho' it is imagined and said that seeing is believing It is an improper Expression For faith is the evidence of things not seen And that which a Man seeth He doth not so much believe as know yet for my Part when I think of Heat or Read the 25th Chapter of Matthew How that all Nations shall be Gathered and Christ shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on the Right hand and the Goats on the left and shall say to the one Come ye Blessed c. And to the other Go ye Cursed I say All this is as evident and manifest to me as iâ— I did now see that Great and Terrible sight with my outward Bodily Eyes And truly if we did see that vast and doleful herd of Condemned Criminals as they are going to the Place of Everlasting Punishment we should fear For it is a thing Infinitely more to be Pitied then now a little Commiseration doth arise as we behold Sheep or Cattle going to the Shambles and Slaughter House What God hath said by his Son Jesus Christ shall certainly come to pass So that this will as certainly be as if we now saw it with our Eyes For it will as certainly be in the appointed Time as that we now present were once living on the Earth What can be more forcible to make us take the utmost heed that our selves be not among them It would be an hard Case if there was not one in such a Parish or Neighbourhood who should go to Heaven But I trust that several will as I am assured from the Scriptures of Truth That all those will who have a Good Conscience and are willing to live honestly in all things Heb. 13. 18. So it would be Melancholly and Dismal to suppose But yet it is justly and truly to be feared that some in this Neighbourhood I do not know one of them but the Lord knows who the very Persons be that are in such a place now Who shall be found amongst those Goats at the very last Day But either to convince them thereof or to make it known unto them would make their Life hang in doubt and fill them with a fearful Expectation and give them a trembling heart So to point them out by their Names and Distinct Persons it would make all Christians Note that Man or Woman and have no Conversation with them If he or she should prove certainly a cast away or a Condemned Creature at that Day But every one would be afraid or shy of them in the mean while as now they are of a Man that is to be hanged or put to Death I do here somewhat allude to those Words of the Apostle If any Man obey not the Word of this Epistle Note that Man and have no Conversation with him that he be ashamed So if any Man or Woman amongst ye do not obey those things which have been here alledged unto ye from the Word of the Lord If there be any who will despise and go frow ardly in the way of their heart And further if there be any who shall do Presumptuously and Sin with an high hand as of set Purpose to Sin and Transgress more and more because such things have been spoken against that and all manner of Sin and Transgression Truly my Brethren Partakers of the same Flesh and Blood these and such like are sad Signs and Prognosticks that such very Persons will be indeed found among that Number of Goats at the last Day and to them I am now sent with heavy Tidings It would be good for them if they had never been Born And upon them this Word Preached and Published will have its effect like the Sun which doth melt Wax but harden Clay for Evil but not for Good And here People should not so much as keep Company with such so as to Encourage them in their Evil Deeds or so much as barely to Countenance them in their Rebellion Transgression or even in their Contempt of the Lord God But only to warn exhort and testify that they seeing themselves as it were cut off from the Society of Mankind by perceiving the Inconvenience and Misery thereof may understand the ten Thousand Times greater Misery to be cut off and deprived from the General Assembly and Church of the first Born which are Written in Heaven And from God the Judge of all and the Spirits of just Men made Perfect And this would be some means for them to turn out of the wrong way which leads unto Destruction And they may be ashamed of Transgressing without a cause Psal 25.
all the Reproof and Admonition of Christian Friends and Acquaintance And what is yet more and nearer and closer unto them Notwithstanding all the Accusings and Dictates of their own Conscience which is Gods Witness in Man or Woman yet still There are a People in the World who will not hearken unto the Voice of all these Tho' it must be carefully said as to Temporal Judgments that they therefore Refuse and Disobey because the Lord would slay them But as to futurity The Lord is not willing that any should Perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. However He affording them the means thereof after continued and repeated Provocation as to that he gives them up at length to themselves to their own Hearts Lusts and to walk after their own Counsels in which they going on will Perish Everlastingly God hath suffered it so to be That Satan works with all Deceivableness in them that Perish which comes upon them through his continued Temptations and Suggestions I have oftentimes thought that People would never do so of themselves as now they do in Offending Displeasing Despising and Provoking of God but that an unseen Enemy doth stir them up Like as it is recorded But there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work Wickedness in the sight of the Lord whom Jesabel his Wife did stir up 1 Kings 21. 25. In the Margent it is Incited So tho' there is a great deal of Wickedness in the Heart of Man by Reason of original and inbred Corruption for Flesh and Blood will Imagine and Practice Evil Yet this Corrupt Nature would never proceed and tend so far especially in immediate Rebellion against and Provocation or Despising of God for what is shewed forth against his Word is against God himself as it will be found by his Interpretation and Judgment at the last tho' perhaps this may be now besides and out of the Mind and Intention of the Creatures unless this Infernal Jesabel whose Right Name is Belzebub did stir and incite them up Now the Serpent was more subtle then any Beast of the Field which the Lord God had made Gen. 3. 1 He is more cunning then all or any of the Sons or Daughters of Men as they are merely such without the assistance and direction of Gods Word and Spirit He tempts suggests and doth whatever He can that each one in particular may lose Heaven and fall into Hell He walketh about seeking whom He may devour It is his continued Business and Employment So that it is not altogether so much to be wondred at tho' indeed it is a matter of Horrour and Grief Psal 119. 53 158. and Sighing Ezek. 9. 4. That when God hath made such very severe Declarations from Heaven against all manner of Sin and Transgression and against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men. Which also will be Executed upon and sensibly felt by them after that their Breath is out of their Nostrils and their Souls are departed from their Bodies Yet Nevertheless in this Time of Provocation and in this Day of Temptation or Trial in this Wilderness of the Earth still People go on therein and do the same Yea rather more Greedily and Earnestly then they would have done if God had revealed no wrath and future Punishment against the same I knew a Man who after he had been convinced of the Sin of Unrighteousness and after He had heard the Word of God declared against it Yet the next opportunity afterwards He would more eagerly Practice the same And so when the like hath been done to Harlots and Unclean Persons the Sin and Danger of their course hath been laid open and made known unto them by my Ministry of â—…e Word it hath been told unto me that at the very â—…e moment they would for all Practice the lesser Acts of Lasciviousness This sheweth after what manner the Spirit of Disobedience doth work in the Children thereof And when they will of set Purpose Transgress yet more and more in plain and downright opposition to the Word of God and to the Preaching and Ministration thereof When they will run greedily after the Errour of Balaam for Reward Jude 11. Or to the Errour of any of their own ways any Law or Ordinance of God to the contrary Notwithstanding VVhen they will break these Bands asunder and cast away these Cords from them And they will do it the rather because the Lord by his Word and Ministers hath forbidden it This and such like in the very Truth seems to be that Sin of Presumption or that Sinning with an high hand whereof it is written The Soul which doth Presumptuously shall be cut off from my People saith the Lord. Ay But the People of the World do not value nor fear that Threatning for such Persons who do Presumptuously and Sin with an high hand do commonly live out their appointed Time in Health Strength Wealth and Prosperity as other People do Yet Alas In this they are Ignorant or Unmindful that God hath another Place besides this Earth and another time besides this Life wherein He will fulfil and make true his Word For tho' a Sinner doth Evil an Hundred Times and his Days be Prolonged yet it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him Ecles 8. 12. But the sinner being an Hundred Years Old shall be Accursed Isa 65. 20. By which Phrase of Accursed we are given to understand that the Word of God doth speak Evil of him now for so Maledictio the Latin Word for a Curse doth signify and it shall go Evil with him at the last VVhen all the Curses that are written in this Book shall be upon him Deu. 29. 20. And shall be also Excuted and the Lord also shall Blot out his Name from under Heaven so that Himself shall not go there This is to be cut off from Gods People when they shall be Blotted out of the Book of the Living and not written with the Righteous Psal 69. 28. So that tho' when He heard the Words of the former Threatning He blessed himself in his Heart saying I may live as long as other Men and VVomen tho' I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add sin to my Lawful desires For that is Adding Drunkenness to Thirst â—…asmuch as Thirst is a Lawful and Necessary desire whâ—…as Drunkenness is a Sin So the Course of the World goes on that whereas such and such Thoughts Words and Actions are Lawful and Necessary People go on to graft and add thereto Vain Thoughts False Words and Sinful Actions of their own whereof there is no need For as Thirst may altogether as well or rather be better quenched and satisfied without Annexing Drunkenness to it So People might think speak and Act altogether as well yea better then by conceiving Vanity speaking forth Falsehood or Acting of Evil. It is yet seven timeâ— a greater Sin and will make the Oven or Furnace seven Times
3. Or that they should ever despise the Lord their God It was aforesaid that the foregoing Sin and Transgression which bring these Judgments on the Earth must needs go on in its Course that the Scriptures might be fulfilled What are these Judgments They are declared in Math. 24. and Luke 21. Rumors stirs and commotions of Wars Nation against Nation and Great Earthquakes shall be in Divers Places Luke 21. 11. And there was a Great Earthquake in Jamaica in June or July 1692. There was an Universal shaking of the Earth throughout most Parts of Europe in September 1692. And in January 1692. There was the Greatest Earthquake in the Islands of Sicily and Malta so as to swallow up an Hundred and Six score Thousand Inhabitants then ever I heard or read of in History since Man was Created on the Earth These are Great Earthquakes in Divers Places and Fearful Sights and Great Signs there have been from Heaven As the Great Comet about eighteen Years ago which is no long Time according to the Course and Reckoning of Time in the Decree of God and according to Scripture Account And for ought we know that gentle Universal shaking of the Earth in England France Holland or the Low Countreys Wherein it is more observable and shews that the Hand of God is somewhat more in it then the ordinary Course of Nature Because it happened thus at the very same Minute of Time in other Places which were distinct and separated one from another by the Great and Wide Sea All this may be a forerunner of a much Greater Earthquake from which we are no more secured and absolutely preserved by the Advantage of our Countreys Scituation and because such things have not been so usually among us as among others For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lords and he hath set the World upon them For He who stretcheth the North over the empty Place and hangeth the Earth upon nothing Can find out this way to Punish us if he please As it is yet more certain that tho if the Earth should not swallow us up alive yet it is but a very little while and it will receive and devour our Dead Bodies as also it gives Assurance of what he hath promised which hath been in some measure already and is yet to be fulfilled Saying Yet once more I shake not the Earth but also Heaven Hag. 2. 6. Heb. 12. 26. Which is not only set forth by way of Greatness of Expression or to signify only the Men and Women contained therein but it shall reach and affect even the very Elemental Bodies even the whole Creation according to 2 Pet. 3. As our selves shall one Day see All one as we now hear that those foregoing signs are fulfilled And as at such a Season of the Year we behold all the Trees shoot forth and the Grass doth grow then we know of our selves that Summer is near at hand So likewise when ye see these things come to pass know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand Now it is nearer then ever it was yet But we are given to understand farther that by the more then ordinary appearance of these foregoing signs we are just entring upon if not falling into those Great and Glorious Times Whereof the Scriptures do abundantly speak that it shall be in the latter Days that the Great Things of God shall be fulfilled And tho' Christ said Sixteen Hundred Years ago This Generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled By which kind of Expression faith is exercised and proved as also the understandings of Men are somewhat Puzzled yet take and include Christ himself into that Generation for he was then in the Days of his Flesh and a Generation includes all that are living therein and it holds literally true in that sence for He the Son of God hath not passed away But was without beginning of Days or End of Life but abideth continually But I do verily believe That tho' there is never a Christ now on Earth nor an Enoch nor yet any such of whom there is a saying That any now living shall not die Yet before all the Young Men and Children and Infants that are now Breathing on this Earth are gone off from it there will be yet somewhat a Greater and more extraordinary Manifestation concerning the Kingdom of God then hath been in all the mean Generations since Christ and his Apostles were on the Earth And this I do assuredly gather because the Time of the Promise draws nigh Acts 7. 17. As is Manifest from the yet greater Appearance and Conspicuousness of those foregoing signs here mentioned All this put together should induce us to lay these things to heart and to tremble and fear continually before the Lord God of Heaven and Earth for what he hath already done on the Earth as also out of Expectation of what he will do yet further Which Expectation our hearts should be always very full off and in no wise Choke and Stifle the sence thereof with Gluttony Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life and so that Day come upon you unawares Luke 21. 34. Which is brought in upon this occasion As Moses said upon that terrible sight at Mount Sinah I exceedingly fear and quake So the same mind should be at all Times and in all Places in all the Servants of God as to what they have heard or seen He hath done more lately is now a doing and will shortly bring yet greater things to pass then all these in this Earth the lower Part of the World As God at first made all things and doth now uphold them by the Word of his Power so some of them do move and go on according to his Will Appointment and Decree Known to God are all his Works from the beginning of the World and so it is as to what He will do towards the End thereof as our selves know what we intend to do at such a Time hereafter if we have the same Mind and Will Strength and Opportunity Life and Power of Action or such like The want of any of which do often cause a neglect or failure of the same But now with God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning He is Almighty and Eternal What He once Decrees Purposes or Wills he doth certainly bring to pass and he speaks of things before they are done While they are yet Springing up do I tell you of them And so it is when he speaks of things before-hand and they do afterwards come to pass in like manner then it is that his word is fulfilled There are a Thousand Instances of this in Scripture and so very many for the whole is but an orderly Declaration of such things that it is superfluous to mention Particulars Those who know somewhat more of God then the ordinary and common Multitude do apprehend perceive and observe that as all things are Gods from the Cedar in Lebanon to