of the Law either going over and beyond it or doing otherwise than that hath prescribed or not doing what that hath enjoyned So that those stubborn Souls who will not live according to Words are convinced as transgressors and offenders of the Law of the most high God and they shall be dealt with accordingly for now they are under the Threatning and Curse and they shall hereafter be sensible of the Punishment and Misery Who is he that saith he will not obey the Law of God If any should do so as to the Laws of the King and our Country judgment would be executed upon him of Death or Banishment or loss of Liberty or Member according to the several sorts of Punishment among us And albeit our God doth keep Silence for a while and doth not execute Sentence speedily upon the Sons of Men yet it will be far worse with them who shall thus behave themselves towards the great King of all the Earth the Lord God Almighty It is near the same thing whether they speak out with a loud voice or say so in their Heart or practice it in their Life and Manners that They will not have God to reign over them see Luke 19. 14. Who set themselves against the Lord and against his Anointed saying Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their Cords from us Psal 2. 2 3. For they will not be holden in by invisible Restraints nor be kept away from their own doings by sense of any Divine Law and Obligation Our lips are our own who is Lord over us Psal 12. 4 But those who think and act after this manner are the worst sort of Sinners who do presumptuously and sin with an high Hand Few will own as much though more do so The general course of Transgression is by way of Excuse and Delusion and these do take up the forementioned Plea That because of the multitude of Words and the falshood Vanity and Evil of many of them therefore they do not live according to Words But as the Apostle saith There are it may be so many kinds of Voices in the World and none of them is without signification 1 Cor. 14. 10. So a Word is but as it were a Voice expressed and articulated And every word if it be proper and taken singly is significative but when they are connected together in a Sentence and are to shew forth the sense and meaning of somewhat then they are to be judged of and discerned There is Truth and Fulshood right Words and wrong But we should in no wise reject the Truth and Right because there are of the other worse sort for if we do that we certainly run into the other and so out of a shew to avoid Falshood and Wrong it is so managed by the cunning delusion of Satan that we do hereby fall into it The World and all the things we have to do with here are made up of Intermixture and Contraries where is Right and Wrong Good and Evil Truth and Falshood Apparent and Real So that if we have not the one we must have the other If we have not the better we shall meet with the worse And therefore if we would indeed have the better we must know and choose it accordingly but not despise and set at naught the more excellent things for this is submitting unto the worse According hereunto the Wisdom of God teacheth If thou shalt learn to put a difference between the Holy and Prophane the Clean and the Vnclean then shall ye be meet to come into mine House Such shall be meet to partake of the Inheritance with the Saints in Light who can thus seek out and discern things in this place of Darkness They shall be fit for Heaven who can and also do escape the Corruption that is in the World through Lust and thus order their Conversation aright here on Earth The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Net that was cast into the Sea and gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to shoar and sat down and gathered the good into Vessels but cast the bad away Matt. 13. 47 48. And so whatever thoughts arise or are suggested to our mind we are to entertain and nourish the Good but to extinguish cast forth and not admit the Evil. In like manner it should be of the words we hear or read we are to gather and receive the good words into our Hearts but to cast the bad away The Wheat is to be gathered and laid up in the Treasure of our Heart but the Chaff is to be blown away Knowledge and Truth are to be sought after and received but Imagination and Falshood are to be thrown out They are both mixed together for as by Learning and by right Consequences we come to the knowledge of the Truth so a false and deceitful kind of Reasoning will present it self and fallacious and mistaken Consequences will arise through the Sephistry of Satan and his Instruments which we are likewise to discern before we pronounce Judgment and try before we Believe Now every Man hath either the right and true Promises or others which are not And because all People pretend unto and would have the first through Pride and Self-conceit they mistake which they have already for them and so they will have no more nor better The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge but Fools despise Wisdom and Instruction Prov. 1. 7. VVhen our Heart and Understanding is first lifted up towards God and then looks down and sees things as he sees them which must be in their very Nature for certainly he knows them who made and Establish'd them VVhen the Apprehensive Faculty is enlightned from above and endued with that which cometh down from the Father of Lights we do first know and consider of the Great God over all and then how all other things were Created by him but now they are under him to Govern and Rule according to his good Pleasure both the things in Heaven the things in the Earth and the things under the Earth Some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your Shame 1 Cor. 15. 34. Neither have they the understanding of his Law this is to their worse deserving And whatever they pretend unto others or seem to themselves to know it is separated from them both That is they discern somewhat of the Creatures without the Creator And because they understand not his Law neither do they perceive that Obligation they are under and the true connexion of things one to another So they are destitute of the true and useful Knowledge and in the Language of the Holy Ghost they are direct Fools Vnderstand ye Brutish among the People and ye Fools when will ye be wise Psal 94. 8. VVhich it is impossible they should be as long as they despise and reject the means of Being so VVhat is real VVisdom and Instruction may seem to them as Folly and
that vast and wide Place to which the great and wide Sea is not so much as a small single Pool of Water is now to the whole Ocean Every thing above is so astonishing that all the Wonders of the Deep are not so much as the purling of a little Brook or Stream To see the King in his Beauty and to behold the Land that is very far off Isa 33. 17. is infinitely more delightful than the Gaudiness of Eastern Emperors or all the pleasant Places of all the Earth Our Souls shall mount up there after they have for some time dwelt in this earthly Cottage They now are weary of and get above all things here and do apprehend the other by Faith which will be revealed in Sight and Enjoyment God doth all things in his own Order O that thou wouldst rent the Heavens that thou wouldst come down Isa 64. 1. He might open and display his own Majesty and make himself seen in his Glory or he might infuse his Word and Spirit immediately into the Hearts of every Soul of every Nation under Heaven to give them Knowledge and Assurance that these things are so But he hath spoken to the World by the Prophets his Son and Apostles who lived in the Land of Judea and others are to receive it from them and to publish it forth throughout the World Thus our Lord and Saviour gave Commission and Direction And accordingly his Apostles did travel about on Horses and Ships unto the Places afar off to make known these things and so their Words went out unto the End of the World But we according to his good and gracious Promises do expect a more universal preaching of his Word and sending of his Spirit As He is the Confidence of all the Ends of the Earth and of them that are are afar off upon the Sea Psal 65. 5. So he will manifest and make himself fully known unto them Our selves as yet know him by Faith we hear of him with the Hearing of the Ear we see it written of him we understand and perceive from within but the Words of Life and Knowledge may be sent and published unto others By the Help of Ink and Paper we may speak to those whom we have not seen and to the Nations afar off Men and Brethren of every Country of the Earth let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried Whilst he lived he ruled over one single Nation of small Extent and he was likely to have been thrust from that by his Son Absolom but the Lord sustained him He had no forreign and new Conquests nor did he enlarge Territories Himself was not made the Head of the Heathen nor did People whom he knew not serve him Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an Oath to him that of the Fruit of his Loins according to the Flesh God would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne He seeing this before spake of the Kingdom of Christ that it should extend over all He shall have Dominion also from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the Ends of the Earth and so as is further said in the Seventy Second and Eightieth Psalms Thou hast delivered me from the Strivings of the People It is the general Stile of Prophecies to run in the Present or Preterpefect Tense which saith things are ready or have been when it speaks of things to come which denotes the great Truth and Certainty thereof that it will as really be as if it was at this present Moment or had been already fulfilled It is the Word and Promise of the high and lofty one who inhabiteth Eternity to whom all things are present and before him Who sits above and hath in his Power the Times and Seasons He is above all Difference and Distinction of Times but according to our Capacity and Understanding he expresseth himself in this wise Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost Parts of the Earth for thy Possession Psal 2. 6 8. God hath established his Worship and Kingdom by little and little and ordained that those who submit unto it should do it freely It was a considerable Time before he brought his first Begotten Son into the World and then he endued him with such Power and Excellency that others might believe on him as sent from God and come to serve and honour him for whoso doth honour the Son he doth honour the Father also All People had sufficient Reason and Invitation to come unto him yet none is forced His Throne was set up in the appointed Place for the Law shall go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Micah 4. 2. Every Man or Woman that will may be obedient to it We are to fear the Name of the Lord whom we have heard of and we are to comply with his Will which is made known unto us Herein is the Kingdom of God superiour and different from that of Men for we ought to obey him that is invisible before those whom our Eyes see And it was never known nor heard of among the Children of Men that those did exercise Authority whom none of their Subjects ever saw God is a Spirit and is manifested unto and in our Spirits and he is also evident to the outward Eye for this sees the things which his Hands hath made Our selves do inhabit in and discern the Temple wherein also he dwells and which he fills with his Presence Heaven is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool So that we have as great Assurance that the Lord is King as that there are Governours over such particular Nations or as a Son is assured that he had a Father or a Servant that he hath a Master And there should arise the same continued Obligation of Duty towards our God as is actually given to those earthly Relations according to what is written Vnto thee lift I up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens Behold as the Servants look unto the Hand of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden unto the Hand of her Mistress So our Eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have Mercy upon us Psal 123. 1 2. A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine Honour and if I be a Master where is my Fear saith the Lord of Hosts Mal. 1. 6. which is the most reasonable and natural thing in the World for in him we live and move and have our Being as certain also of your own Poets have said for we are also his Offspring For as much then as we are the Offspring of God we ought in all Times and in all Places to give all Honour and Obedience unto him And so accordingly we should if we had the Knowledge and did not forget God
that formed us nor receive in wrong Prejudices and false Apprehensions of his supreme and most excellent Being Our Ignorance Corruption and Satan's Temptation make us turn aside and then some strange Imaginations make us unwilling to return All which might be discovered to be Falshood Mistake and Error so soon as they are fully known Where God calls unto the Children of Men they struggle and give backwards and are not willing to come and this is the Strivings of the People This Manner of Speech is not intended of Heathens and such as have not known nor heard of God for they are expressed afterwards but it is meant of those who go under the Name of Israelites whom he vouchsafes to stile his own People These have some Faith and Knowledge but it is dark and imperfect they conceive somewhat of God but it is Error and Falshood they apprehend somewhat of his Law but not fully and thence comes to be in them an evil Heart of standing off from God The general Deceivableness of Heart which keeps them off for there is a Thousand Kind of little Surmises which may be answered in like manner is here reduced unto these Three Particulars 1. They think that themselves are as it were forced unto Obedience and they do not love to be compelled against their Will 2. Some imagine that they have so grievously offended God that they dare not to come 3. Which is the principal Reason of all the Generality of People think that if they submit presently unto the Obedience of God they shall be Losers and disappointed of so much Pleasure Profit and Conveniency in the mean while They shall miss of so much imagined Happiness and fall into Sowerness and Misery If these Three Points can be cleared and the Heart of Man throughly satisfied as to each of them then it is just and equal that he should not defer one Moment longer but turn immediately unto the Lord their God CHAP. II. Here that Proposition is at Large discussed That People are not forced and compelled to the Obedience of God but they are left herein to their own free Choice or Refusal FOR the first Cannot they imagine That if it was the Mind of God that any should be compelled to his Service could not he have brought the whole World unto his Obedience before this Time when they have continued for some Thousands of Years in their Iniquity and Transgression He who fashioneth their Hearts alike Psal 33. 15. and knoweth our Frame Psal 103. 14. could also have put into us the same instant Necessity and Inclination to his Worship and Service as to our Meat and Drink that without it we should grow faint and perish He could have determined the Powers of Soul only one Way as in Brutes and have moved them towards his Law and Will as they are carried by Instinct to natural and sensible things he could have implanted into every one that strong Desire of following the thing that good is as after Life and Breath and they should abhor and flee from Evil with the like Care and Earnestness as from Death and Destruction He could have so hedged up all our Ways that it were not possible to go from him if we were never so eagerly bent on Backsliding no more than we can now get out of a strong Prison He might have so compassed us in of every Side that we could not avoid fulfilling his Command no more than any one doth now escape from under a Guard Neither can we hide from him who is every where and in all Places He might give us as sensible Evidence of his taking Knowledge of all our Ways as a King doth of any Treason committed in his Presence for which we should incur his severe Wrath immediately Verily thou art art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour Isa 45. 15. and so hast done ever since the World began to see what the Children of Men will do God hath discovered himself no more than what was necessary for to exercise our Faith and Trial. He hath just made known his Name and Power amongst Men but further it is left unto them how they will carry themselves towards the Lord their Strength and Redeemer It is a wonderful thing to consider how the God who made and filleth and is all things should yet be so little manifested unto Men That he who is all Brightness and Glory should not be seen among us That he who made and fashioned us in whom we live and move and have our Being should not be perceived by us That when he filleth Heaven and Earth with his Presence yet any should live without God in the World Surely Darkness hath covered the Earth and gross Darkness the People The Sun gives Light upon it by Day and the Moon by Night and yet there is a greater Darkness round about which the dull Element perceives not there is yet a worse and greater Obscurity in those who see and walk therein Strange that it should not be yet universally fulfilled in all People At that Day shall a Man look to his Maker and his Eyes shall have Respect unto the holy One of Israel Isa 17. 7. for he might see him with the Eyes of his Vnderstanding being enlightened all one as he doth with his bodily Eye see the Works of God and the Earth which we tread on By the Air which a Man breaths and moves in he might have a Sense and Resemblance of him who is invisible who doth also beset him behind and before and is with him in his going out and coming in and is acquainted with all his Ways There is no going from his Spirit and Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy Right Hand shall hold me Psal 139. 8 9 10. And so he doth equally in the narrow Places of our Abode Whether we be on a Journey or a walking in our Chamber or in the lower Parts of our House whether we be alone or in Company God is all along present with us but through Imperfection the Soul is not well intent on several things together and his Creatures too often make us forget the Creator As we behold them we are unmindful of him that is invisible their Talk and Discourse too often make us not think of his Word and Law Nevertheless these Failings might be rectified and we might have a continual Sense of him and of his Commandments that we might not fall nor offend But here it is to be admired that when there are so many things to bring to the knowledge and Remembrance of our God yet Mankind for several Generations should be so sottishly ignorant and unmindful of him Every thing we see taste and handle is his Work and Creature which should renew
do Iniquity shall be cast immediately thereupon into a Furnance of Fire and then the boldest worker thereof would fear tremble and refrain He could stir up those terrible ones from under the Earth Devils and infernal Spirits the Executioners of his VVrath who should over-awe poor Mortals all one as a mighty King with his Armies doth now make them do this or that thing at his pleasure For hath he not the same power as Man to whom he gave being and hath before committed unto him the Power of doing whatever he doth Cannot he who sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grashoppers do as much or rather more than any two-footed Creature that now walks thereon Cannot the High and Lofty One who sitteth upon his Throne and commandeth over the Armies in Heaven who are greater in power and might as that wide place above is bigger than this spot of ground here where we dwell send forth his Authority and execute the same here Is this too far off when it is his Footstool for he filleth all places and all things even those under the Earth with his presence If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there Psal 139. 8. Even now he sends sorth his Lightning unto the Ends of the Earth and his Arrows go throughout the World But because God doth not yet manifest his Power and shew forth all his Might a thought doth arise in them who know not God as if he cannot do this They who have a little more knowledge are sometimes apt to imagine That because he acts here by outward means which are but little and small that by reason of them is the Defect and they are unable to atchieve such great and mighty things whereas his infinite Wisdom and Glory are here to be seen in ordaining strength out of weakness VVho first made he will also enable them to perform what he would have them to do He can send forth his Angels or other Instruments whom we have not known nor heard of as yet A Temptation doth arise that though God can yet he will not do thus for so we have heard in Old Time and in our days over and over and yet all things continue as they were since the Creation But the Apostle in 2 Pet. 3. 5 6. answers this by what God did of Old both by Creation of and Drowning the VVorld For this they are willingly ignorant of That by the Word of God the Heavens were of Old and the Earth stamding out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of Vngodly Men. That same VVord which spake them first into Being acquainted Noah Gen 6. of the intended Flood and afterwards this same word brought the VVaters for God Commanded them The same VVord hath likewise said that it shall be thus in the latter days to which we now haste Thus it is determined upon all those who in the mean time have been Ungodly or are or shall hereafter not give regard to the great God above or are disobedient to him for all such are ungodly without God in the VVorld who do not live in sense of Submission and Duty under him These might even now conceive that as in the beginning the Lord laid the Foundations of the Earth and it abideth as they find by moving and dwelling thereon As they see the gathering of the VVaters which is called Sea and as we behold the Heavens upheld and the Stars in their Courses and Places So surely doth the threatning lye against such and will be fulfilled when these things shall be so changed as we are further foretold of As before it was observed of the stedfastness and immutability of the Promise from Isa 45. So from 2 Pet. 3. it may be gathered of the utmost certainty of the Evil and Good things there spoken of They seem therefore to be out of sight and to come to prove how we in the mean while will be concerned and affected towards them There is a little imperfect Good in the One at present and a lesser Evil and Harm in the other but God will so add further that the one shall be perfected in Reward and Happiness the other shall end in Punishment and Misery My Son forget not my Law but let thine heart keep my Commandments for Length of Days and long Life and Peace shall they add unto you Prov. 3. 1 2. and when the first is ended there shall succeed Immortality and Glory And the Peace here shall go out in Ravishment Extasie and unutterable Rejoycing So again Sin which now hurts for a moment doth bring on Torment for ever What occasions Sorrow and Vexation doth deliver over to the VVorm which shall never die VVhat occasions Sickness and Pain doth likewise bring forth Death and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire All that is seen or had here is but an earnest of like and worse things to come The less do fore-run and give notice of the greater And as in the former case by the comfort and satisfaction of the one we should much more desire and pray after that which exceedeth So by the sensible inconvenience and trouble of the latter way we should much more abhor and dread the End thereof which is Death As we now taste and feel it is thus so we may believe and be fully assured it shall be so hereafter as the faithful and true VVitness saith Behold I have told you before By the real Good of one way we may well depend further upon the substance of things hoped for By the hurt and deceitfulness of the other we may be sufficiently forewarned of the Destruction and Misery in that way The Nature of Rewards and Punishments Exhortation and Dehortation Promises and Threatnings do denote that Man is left to his Liberty and Freedom All these do inform and acquaint him how things stand pertaining to him That he might partake of the Good and avoid the Evil. God hath thus established the Connexion and Order of things They are set before Mankind and placed so near that they are become as closely appendant to him as his Flesh and Spirit so they must have the one or the other His trial is appointed in things absolutely necessary which he cannot be without as Meat Drink and Rayment to the Body and in Thoughts as to the Soul which are the very Essence of it for the Soul will cease to be when it shall cease to think And lest the Soul should degenerate into Sloth and Bruitishness of that we are rouzed up to take heed by the Parable of the unprofitable Servant whose Doom was Cast him into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth VVho would not receive and ascend up towards the Light but walked all his days in
In this Case the more usual VVay is to try all Means to obtain a Reprieve or Forgiveness and if that cannot possibly be had then indeed the former Resolution was the more excusable But if it might have been obtained unless for such provoing Attempts or they would use them of set Purpose here it is the very Heighth of Folly and Madness For they wilfully bring upon themselves such Evil and Misery under which they smart only for a slight and sudden Humour which soon passeth away and for which they are condemned by all understanding Men. Thus it is as concerning Offences between Man and Man But yet it is ten Thousand times more unreasonable as to Sins against God For do we provoke the Lord to Jealousie Are we stronger than he If any are perversly resolved against him they will see and feel who will repent of it first God or themselves The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousie shall smoak against that Man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Deut. 29. 20. All this may be done at this present time even when he knows not or is not sensible thereof But now it would be better if he were sensible of as much because then he might fear and tremble submit and then endeavour to be reconciled unto him in the mean while Lay hold of his Strength and make Peace with him who saith Fury is not in me Isa 27. 4. But if this be neglected what will the poor Creature do when the Anger and Jealousie of the Lord which before did smoak to give VVarning shall burn out with fiery Indignation to consume the Adversaries when all the Curses that are written in this Book and now lie against him shall be actually executed upon him For behold the Day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all the Proud such as will not submit in the mean while yea and all that do wickedly shall be Stubble and the Day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall not leave them Root nor Branch Mal. 4. 1. Let them at present he never so great in their own Opinion or many for Number Yet when the Earth and all the Works thereof shall be burnt up they shall be likewise devoured in the general Conflagration What is a single Potsherd to stand before him when he shall sweep away with one Beesome of Destruction all the Generations of the wicked since the World began Thou carriest them away as with a Flood they are as asleep Psal 40. 5. Thus we evidently perceive of those Generations whereof one cometh another goeth and the single Persons flourish and grow up again They are cut down at any Time or wither And in the mean time By thy Wrath are we troubled Vers 7. It is now revealed from Heaven We now and then perceive some Glimpses thereof and we do startle and fear Those who are farthest off and most exempted from this Wrath yet they commonly have most Thought and Apprehension thereof As again to whom it is most due and threatned by reason of their evil Deeds they do what they can to shut out the Sense and Knowledge thereof For otherwise it would press in so hard and close upon them that then they must not continue in Sin Even in those who fence and harden themselves most yet ever and anon a sudden Flash of divine Vengeance darts into their Minds which strikes them with Dread and Horror and by the trembling and Astonishment it gives it doth sufficiently convince there is one mightier than they Our God indeed now keeps Silence and is out of Sight as also he forbears in this Time of Tryal yet he hath declared and made known that he is angry with the wicked every Day Psal 7. 11. who again Day by Day transgress against him For they speak and do those things against God which they dare not do against their fellow-Creature But when Man hath finished his Time of sinning the Number of the Days of Transgression are accomplished and God comes to reckon for them altogether For the Destruction of the Transgressors and of the Sinners shall be together Isa 1. 28. Then whatever he thought or did as concerning this almighty Judge when the things concerning him have an End then the most mad and prophane Wretch that ever trod on the Earth will be forced to take up Julian's Confession and Acknowledgment Vicisti Galilee and in another Sense then the Prophet spake in O Lord thou art stronger than I and hast prevailed Jer. 20. 7. Why thus much may be clearly discerned in the mean while for let Man consider himself or who made him his Flesh is as Grass which grows up towards withering His Breath is in his Nostrils and who breathed it in he can take it out whensoever he will His Strength is confined to such a Degree beyond which he cannot do more His Stature bodily Dimension and every thing he hath is limited to such a Size And certainly he who hath determined him on every Side hath Power over him Who made all Men he can do more to such a single Person than one Man or Thousands can do to another There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy As he doth good so he can punish He can do both in a greater Degree and more eminent Manner than any of the Sons of Men can do one to another Even to the utmost that we are capable to receive and to endure For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts Isa 55. 9. This is brought in to confirm his Promise of Pardon and Acceptation Vers 7. So again is his Punishment and Requital He can contend and be wroth so long even just till the Spirits shall fail before him and the Souls which he hath made Which also he can uphold and continue yet longer to sustain his Vengeance as long as himself is pleased to inflict the same His Loving Kindness is better than Life for it extends yet further so likewise the Power of his Anger is more to be dreaded than Death for it is even beyond that Upon all Respects God's Displeasure and Punishment doth exceed Man's Displeasure and Punishment and consequently it is more to be feared and more Care ought to be taken that it be avoided The several Actings and Obligations towards God rise greater and higher than to the best and greatest of Men for God is more than all So neither is that Rebellion and Contempt to be used towards him which Men will not admit of from one another God is greater than Man Yea all Nations before him are as the Drop of the Bucket He will keep the Feet of his Saints and the wicked shall be silent in Darkness for by Strength shall no Man prevail
Contempt and cast them into a bottomless Pit to suffer the Vegeance of eternal Fire In God is first contained and from him is derived every good and perfect thing even what is enjoyed or can be further desired by the Sons of Men. O Lord the Hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from me shall be written in the Earth because they have forsaken the Lord the fountain of living waters Jer. 17. 13. God sendeth Rain upon the just and the unjust He giveth common Mercies promiscuously and indifferently to all but there is somewhat more and greater in being the Hope of Israel Somewhat is hidden and reserved there only for those who come unto him as again who forsake him miss thereof And when this shall be opened and actually given then Shame Vexation and Anguish will possess those who by their former demerits and provocation have lost their share and portion in this matter They that depart from me shall be written in the Earth When they have left and gone aside from him above they must cleave unto and pursue after somewhat And they cannot follow after any thing but what is in this place where they live And seeing they have chosen the Earth either the Men or Things therein let them make the most thereof But what will they do when the Earth and all the Works thereof shall be burnt up When themselves and others who inhabit here shall die And if they thought themselves well enough because tho' the things herein are perishing yet themselves are perishing likewise and they serve for their Time Nevertheless they must remain elsewhere for they have immortal Souls and returning Bodies And what shall they do throughout the Length and Space of Eternity when all the things wherein they before trusted are utterly gone and removed from them Even the Men of this World which have their Portion in this Life Psal 17. 14. might thus know and conclude As they thought it worth their while to secure this Place and Time who were for getting the best and fattest things that they might live happily and comfortably who were for the greatest and wisest Company in the whole Country of their Abode they might have looked up and have learned to be acquainted with thee O King of Nations for as much as among all the wise Men of the Earth and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee They might understand and seek after the Lord whose is not only the Earth but the whole World and all that is therein for he made Heaven and Earth and all things Who whilst they lived did bless their own Soul Psal 49. 18. did so hug themselves with the Comforts and Conveniencies of this short Time they might much more hope for and endeavour after the good things of Eternity and take a more diligent and greater Care how themselves might live blessed for ever They might have further trusted unto him who as they experimentally found did good giving them Rain from Heaven filling their Souls with Food and Gladness So the Lord will perfect that wich concerneth them Psal 138. 8. Those perishing and fading Comforts were an Earnest and Assurance that he would give the true and enduring Happiness for such who should endeavour to be found worthy for to receive the same If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon who will commit to your Trust the true Riches Luke 16. 11. As he provided them with the meat which perisheth which was had by Labour Dressing and other forgoing Means and that did preserve Health and Life for the Time so likewise he afforded the Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life which also was to he had by using such Means of Grace And as many as did receive and comply with the Workings of that Grace they shall be crowned and actually invested with the other to which it did tend and grow up As he is the God of the Earth so of the Heavens also And as he hath determined our Dwelling and Abode here for a Space so he will take us up unto the Heavens for evermore Here we have no continuing City but now we desire that which would continue and that must be an heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City Heb. 11. 16. which like himself must remain for ever He took us out of our Mothers Womb and doth hold us up from the Cradle unto the Grave In the mean while he reneweth his Mercies and Preservation every Morning and there is still something more than all this Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with Benefits even the God of our Salvation He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the Issues from Death Psal 68. 19 20. In that Word Salvation is comprised more than can be possibly had in this World Salvation imports to be free from all Evil Fear and Danger which none is in this World For consider of those who are in the most safe Condition and think themselves so yet the last Enemy waits for them which is Death and thence is Fear and Doubt But we have Assurance from our God who brought us into Being who carrieth us thro' here who is Lord of Life and hath Power over Death that he will give a Rising and Deliverance from that Now we have the most doubtful Apprehensions concerning Death and the future State For though on this Earth we are encompassed about with Fear Pit and the Snare yet we know what is the utmost of things here and what usually happens unto others So we are contented and freed from Terror and Amazement But further on if we did consider rightly we have more Hope and Security from the Lord being our Hope and the God of our Salvation And there he declares beforehand that neither he nor we shall be ashamed For hereby he will do more for us than we can ask or conceive and we shall find it to be infinitely more than we could expect and which will make an abundant Compensation for whatever Difficulty Loss or Trouble we did sustain in coming to be Partaker thereof And though our God shall cause us to inherit high Places Isa 58. 12. yet we shall not be in the least Danger or Suspicion of falling Thou shalt be far from Terror for it shall not come near thee Isa 54. 11. We shall be more strongly secured from every Evil or Misery and be wholly exempt from the Thought and Apprehension thereof as we shall be let into the Possession and Enjoyment of all Good and Excellency so the Continuance thereof to everlasting that we shall never lose nor be deprived of it will be made so sure and ratified unto us as they are certain of that Moment wherein they have it or as we are at present sensible that we live and breath or that we have what we grasp at this Instant
shall fall therein Hos 14. 19. The VVise and Prudent know the difference between vain words Exod. 5. 9. those there were not so tho a Proud Ignorant and Ungodly Pharaoh did call them so and the words of Truth and Duty the VVise and Prudent know the difference between what words pertain to real Instruction and what words are of empty Speculation what serve unto Godliness or tend unto vain Jangling what is good unto the use of Edifying or ministers only unto Idleness and Vanity But Sinners do contrariwise in all these They chuse and are employed in the worse instead of the better And though they make their boast not to regard nor live by Words yet they are acted by Thoughts which Thoughts are made up of Evil and Vanity Falshood and Folly And even all their Thoughts might be uttered and written in Words as themselves know what they think and by what they are guided which they could speak forth or set down and then they become words But if these did appear in like manner how ridiculous and foolish and vain would they be Destroy thou them O God let them fall by their own Counsels Cast them out in the multitude of their Transgressions for they have rebelled against thee Psal 5. 10. Which is accordingly fulfilled for they go on in their own Counsels till they fall and are Destroyed and they are intangled in the multitude of their Transgressions till they actually drop into Punishment and Misery The Holy Ghost calleth them a Rebellious People which walketh in a way that is not good after their own Thoughts Isa 65. 2. This is the Question and Controversie which the Lord hath with the Inhabitants of the Earth whether they shall do according to his revealed Will and Commandment or go after their own Thoughts Indeed they are for the last because it hath a shew of Pride Humour and Conveniency but this is their Reward and utmost they will have for it will never attain to any real and lasting Good And when a single VVorm of the Earth shall prefer and follow his own will against that of the great Lord of the VVorld it doth Provoke the Lord to Anger conninually Isa 65. 3. As if their own Thoughts were better than God's Thoughts They will strive for Masterdom and have their own Imaginations and Sayings above the VVill and Commandment of God This is plain Walking contrary to him to which is threatned that he will bring seven times more Plagues upon them according to thiir Sins Lev. 26. 21. And again it is further added Then I will walk contrary also unto you in Fury and I even I will chastise you seven times for your Sins Verse 28. If ye walk contrary c. Their manner of doing is expressed in the Present Tense For now is the time of their Trial but how God will deal with them is Future for it shall be rendred accordingly As also to prove in the mean while whether they will be reformed from their Sin and Iniquity and do according to his Law Indeed all People do one or the other Either they live according to what is contained or directed in the word God or according to what is thought and Imagined in the Hearts of Men. VVhich as aforesaid might be expressed forth in words so it is near the same thing Or the Men are led by the Temptations and Suggestions of Satan which also as they appear to the Mind in an intelligible manner so they might be spoken forth But none will plead outwardly for them and therefore the Question in short turns upon this Point VVhether we shall go according to Divine or Human VVords for all People High and Low Rich and Poor are guided continually by one or the other VVhich of the twain is our bounden Duty and which is the best and also which is the wisest way for the attainment of Good and Happiness that hath been largely before demonstrated There is Line upin Line Line upon Line Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept Here a little and there a little Isa 21. 10. throughout the whole Book of God And yet more in quantity and number of words hath been delivered from the Tongue and Pen of his Saints of the several Generations since the World began So much hath been said and done to make this appear unto the ungodly and disobedient in order to restrain them from the Error of their ways that if it was all written as indeed a great deal thereof is I suppose that a Man's whole Life would not suffice to Read it Nay they seem to reject it because of that seeming multitude of words touching this Matter yet themselves go according to their own Thoughts though these are more than what do occurs to their Mind concerning Goodness and Duty They are acted and led by the multitude of their own Thoughts and they do not refuse to go according to them for all their vast number Like Brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed They follow the Herd not knowing whether they go for they perceive not when they are pressing on to be Killed and Destroyed And there are also to be found too many called Reasonable Creatures who remain altogether as Ignorant when they are in the way to Death and Hell The way of Ungodliness and Sin leads directly to it and yet too many continue therein without fear They have the Multitude and Fashion on their side and they are for doing what the most do especially those of the Richer sort They are for going according to the course of the World though they should be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11. 32. And they think it good to swim with the Stream not knowing that it tends to the bottomless Pit Satan who deceiveth the whole World Rev. 12. 9. hath found out this device to blind them in his and their own Deceivings so called 2 Pet. 2. 13. For they imagine that they do not Err because they have so many of their side however they shall fare as well as the most and they shall be in the same condition with others according to whom they do in this present World To do as others do is one Thought by which the Men of this World act and it is here expressed forth in words So it is the same principle of Action which they hold unto tho it be not spoken out or written But to do barely as others do without regard had to Good or Evil Duty or Sin to what is Commanded or what is Forbidden is Transgression and Folly now which ends in Punishment and Misery hereafter Alas such do not consider there is a great God over all who now looketh from Heaven upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth and considereth all their Works who hath given a Law for them to live by and he is to judge and render to every Man according to his Deeds If People did consider throughly and would do acccording to the Most they should do according to
God's Will for himself is more than all the Generations of Mankind and so more than all that are now living He is more than ten thousand times ten thousand kind of Creatures which are any where in the World above the Firmament or in the vast and spacious Air in the habitable parts of the Earth or any where underneath and without the visible World for all things were created by him whether Visible or Invisible Thrones or Dominions Principalities and Powers Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Matt. 6. 10. So it is more Universally as Heaven is greater than Earth which is but a part and next to nothing The Innumerable Company of Angels Heb. 12. 22. Those many sorts of Creatures whether Animate or Inanimate Those ten thousand of his Saints whereof Enoch prophesieth Jude 14. The hundred and fourty four thousand of all the Tribes of the Children of Israel and that great Multitude which no Man could number of all Nations and Kindreds and People and Tongues Rev. 7. 4 9. All these obey and fulfil the Word of God and they do his Pleasure And those are many more than all those Rebels now living upon the Earth or those Generations of sinful Men since the World began Whom the Lord hath carried away as with a Flood Psal 90. 5. to be delivered over to the Lake of filth and stink or like the Grass which in the Evening is cut down and withereth Verse 6. and is to be burnt with unquenchable Fire And so it will be of all those which are yet to succeed until there be an End made of Transgression and the Sinners be consumed out of the Earth and the Wicked be no more Psal 104. 35. A little after the Creation All Flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth Gen. 6. 12. which caused the Flood whereby the World that then was being over-flowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment and Perdition of Vngodly Men 2 Pet. 3. 6 7. As certainly as the Flood came upon those in the days of Noah so certainly shall the whole World be consumed by Fire The Punishment and Vengeance of God are executed by Fire and Water which do drown and consume many as well as few And Death that consigns them over unto it hath reigned from Adam ever since Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their Glory and their Multitude and their Pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Isa 5. 14. which hath been and continues unto this day to be fulfilled So it is a vain Shelter and foolish Safety to think to escape with the Many for God can and doth as easily deal with them as with few We sensibly know that within seventy or eighty Years within the compass of the Age of a Man he doth quite empty the Earth of all its Inhabitants and causeth others to spring up in their stead whom again he takes away in his own order And though now they assemble themselves in Companies to commit Wickedness and gather by Troops to do Mischief Yet they drop away one by one into the Bars of the Pit and he scatters them that they fall severally until they all die away and come to nothing He doth now give his express Command by his Servant Moses Thou shalt not follow a Multitude to do Evil Exod. 23. 2. and forewarns us by the Son of his Love whom he sent to Redeem and Preserve us from it Wide is the Gate and Broad is the Way which leadeth unto Destruction and many there be which go in thereat Matt. 7. 13. So that who is for being amongst the Multitude He will be amongst them also and so he will miss of that narrow way which leadeth unto Life Nor will he be one of those few who find it Indeed there is an Inclination in Man to do as the rest of his Brethren do but then he hath some seeming Reason for it or he is void of Understanding as to have no set and inward Principle of Action and then he can just conceive what others do and order himself to do according Example is a sensible and visible thing and thereupon it hath such a strong Prevalency over most and it is yet stronger over those who know not what it is to live by Faith nor act by hope of unseen things But they are most led on thereby who least think within themselves A Multitude is made up of several distinct Persons which conspire in one thing or near the same But it was received of one or few before it is made known unto and embraced by many and then the like Disadvantage lay against it as now they conceive on the other side But it is said now it hath the more general Acceptation Why the most do swallow it without Examination And who admit thereof must have some Rule Then which God hath given none other unto Men besides his Word which is to try Good and Evil Duty and Transgression as also what may be discerned from the Truth and Reality of things There is no other way under Heaven whereby we may be Happy but this only Now every one desires to be Happy that is To enjoy what Good he can and to avoid Evil. Even those have that Wish and Intention who turn aside every one to his own Way Who live as their Neighbours and Acquaintance and as the rest of the World do why this hath a shew of Peace and Good Will and they do hereby avoid the odious thing of Singularity and the Irksomness of Reproach But they should do well to consider in the first place of Glory to God in the Highest How is that annexed to their kind of Peace on Earth and Good Will towards Men. Their Hearts should be lifted up with Angels and the Heavenly Host towards him who sitteth above and remaineth King for ever And how is he honoured by such a kind of Life as the Inhabitants of the Earth lead which is made up of Forgetfulness of their Maker Sin and Sloth How are his Statutes kept and his Laws observed Are Peace and Truth met together as in the days of Hezekiah see Isa 39. 8. Or is it like the Hills of the Robbers the Assemblies of the Ungodly and Wicked an Agreement together to preserve their old accustomed Ignorance Corruption and Error And then those who would teach Knowledge and guide into Truth shall be reputed Enemies to Civil Society and Troublers of Israel the Church of God And what is the commonly called Good Will but to let every one do what is right in his own Eyes Not to meddle with their Sins and Transgressions To avoid Sound Doctrine Reproof Correction Instruction in Righteousness for all this hath a shew of Disturbance It is said to spoil Family-Peace and good Neighbourhood Even in this Antichristian Age wherein things are
Practical Discourses On Sundry TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE Wherein is shewed and made known The absolute Necessity for all People TO Turn Immediately Unto the Lord their GOD. By RICHARD STAFFORD formerly a Batchelor of Arts of Magdalen-Hall in Oxford LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. To the Courteous READER THE Subject of this ensuing Book A Call to all the Inhabitants of the Earth to turn immediately to the Lord their God is Great and Good Even what all the Words and Preaching that have ever came forth into the World in all the several Generations and Countries have endeavoured at For Christ also hath once suffered for Sins the Just for the Vnjust that he might bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 8. Besides the Sufferings of Christ The End and Intent of all the Words which Christ spake or made known and so it is the same of all the Transactions which have ever passed between God and Man are that he might bring us to Himself who is God Though this hath been indeed effected of some few Peculiar People of the several Generations yet it hath not been of the Multitude and Generality of Mankind Notwithstanding God was manifested in the Flesh and put to Death in the Flesh but quickned in the Spirit for this alone End and Purpose How can it then be expected that one who is born out of due Time and the least of all in the Kingdom of God can by publishing a few words more accomplish so great a thing when all the Books and Preaching in the World have not yet done it Especially when the Word it self which was made Flesh and dwelt among us Full of Grace and Truth who spake as never Man spake did not so bring it to pass that all should though some did believe on him Far be it therefore from me to expect or imagine That this little Book or Treatise of mine will ever have so great an Effect But it is only offered as another Mile to be thrown into the Treasury of Divine Truths It is the Thoughts of one single Creature which have arose in his Mind whereby himself is actually perswaded to God and good things and to turn unto the Lord Immediately Luke 12. 36. As Paul conferred not with Flesh and Blood but immediately went to Jerusalem So for my part I would utterly lay aside all Carnal and Worldly Considerations and immediately give up my self to the Guidance of the Lord as he leads me in the way to Jerusalem that is above whithersoever that way goes And I do desire that these same Thoughts may be published and made known abroad Out of this Hope and Expectation If Peradventure the God of all Truth who perswadeth us throughout our Life in all the several Circumstances and Conditions thereof That we may be able to perswade other Men and Women by the very same Thoughts wherewith our selves are perswaded of God He fashioneth the Hearts of the Sons of Men alike Psal 33. 15. and it is commonly seen That by what one is perswaded another under the like Thoughts and Circumstances is Perswaded also And if the like things were made known unto and believed by the mixt Multitude and generality of Mankind as is to the elect People and real Servants of God in all outward Likelihood and Probability They would also be brought over unto God To this alone End and Purpose are these Words laid before Men that whosoever will may read And for such who will not read the Saying among the Latins is Pertinaciae nullum Remedium Posuit Deus So we the Ministers of his Word cannot tell what to say to it Nor do we know how to help and remedy it though we would never so fain But we can only warn such Behold ye Despisers and Wonder and Perish Such are in real danger to fall under the same Doom as the Sons of Eli and Amaziah did Notwithstanding they bearkned not unto the Voice of their Father Because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2. 25. But Amaziah would not hear for it came of God that he might deliver them into the hand of their Enemies 2 Chron. 25. 20. And so it is They that will not Hear Read and Receive the Words of Instruction Knowledge and Reproof It is a certain foregoing sign that such will be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power It is commonly alledged that there is no new thing under the Sun and there is nothing said especially in Books but what hath been said before for my part I would endeavour somewhat further in what I publish to the World which as yet is not so clearly made known in other Books and Sermons or otherwise I would not publish at all Or at least I would seek out acceptable Words and that which is written may be upright even Words of Truth Eccles 12. 10. If Words or rather Sentences of Truth are indeed brought forth Although they be without Method and Connexion as there are very many of this sort in the following Treatise yet they are never the less worth for want of that All one as pieces of Gold or so many Pearls are not the less valuable although they be not linked and chained together Again Although my writing here is not with enticing words of Mans Wisdom nor yet according to the exact Rules of Oratory But things are expressed so plainly that they may be understood by the meanest Capacity Nevertheless God is more glorified and the Reader may be more edified hereby then in what is called more Learned and Polite Discourses It was both a puzling and also a sudden Question of Pilate What is Truth To me it seems to be the expressing forth the Nature of things as they are with the Connexion between themselves and how they pertain to us Men. Things are again divided into Visible and Invisible Present or Future Now the present and visible things soon pass away and are but little But the great Object of what is commonly called Divine Truth which is the subject of the ensuing Book is only invisible and future things which are the only thing needful even the greatest and nearest Concern All things are Gods for he created them and the principal Matter here insisted on throughout the whole is what God requires of Man with a Word of Exhortation to enforce him the more to the Obedience and Observance of the same and more especially what God will do unto us Men and Women the reasonable Inhabitants of this Earth both hereon in the latter days and also after that they are gone off from this Stage of the middle part of the World As to that great Controversie which the Lord hath had for so many Generations past and foregoing concerning their universal Obedience to Himself their God Psal 50. 7. which all the words that ever came forth and were made known in the World heretofore
the Sense of the Creator yet all these are made an Occasion to forget him the least conceiving or inward reasoning would instantly have led up to the Apprehension of him That it must be some one who made all these things for even as to the Houses which we inhabit we must conclude that some one did build them though it was before we were born And so this great House of the World must needs have been framed by him who built all things and he that built all things is God Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Heb. 11. 3. The Heavens continue standing as they were from the Days of the Creation yet that once was and must needs have been But then further the very Continuance and upholding of the things created doth most plainly demonstrate this eternal Power and Godhead For I lift up my Hand to Heaven and say I live for ever Deut. 32. 40. This may be clearly seen for the vast Roof of the Sky is kept up without any mighty Beams or Pillars He stretcheth forth the North over the empty Place and hangeth the Earth upon nothing but then it abides only by his Support He upholds all things by the Word of his Power He forms and gives Life and Breath to the several things therein They are born move a little between and then they die one after another Hereby giving us to signifie that himself alone is eternal and immortal without Beginning or any Ending They increase fade and decay which is a manifest Token of Difference from his own infinite Perfection Fullness and Unchangeableness They are divided and separated from one another which again distinguishes from him who is all in all whose Spirit filleth the World They are very little and small which is another Diversity from his infinite Greatness They are contemptible and weak wherefore to him alone belongs all Honour Glory Power and Strength He hath shewed himself to be the Lord and a jealous God by the very Frame of things which have been as it were of set Purpose so contrived that they should not draw off the least Glory Excellency and Admiration from the great Creator and supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth How all these have been abused and stifled by the most detestable Ignorance and Folly by the utmost Malice and Perverseness of Mankind and by the manifold Devices of Satan and by sundry other Ways will be one Day particularly disclosed when all things shall be reckoned up in order as they have been done and transacted in this Earth Things have been turned and perverted just contrary to what they were first intended O strange Sottishness and Blindness O wicked Folly There is a Rehearsal of it throughout the Thirty Second Chapter of Deuteronomy and the Reason of all may be somewhat understood from the Twentieth Verse 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 is no Faith If God did not hide himself or if they had but Faith still to apprehend him it is impossible that Mankind should be so unmindful or negligent of the things pertaining to him For they who are thankful for common Mercies and daily Benefits and catch at every little thing if these did clearly apprehend how all things are God's and themselves have from him whatever they enjoy they would also give the same continual Thanks unto him and having this Earnest and Pledge they would seek diligently after the great things of God Who admire at every little Novelty they would much more be astonished at the Wonders of his Majesty Who are so careful to please their Superiours according to the Flesh least they should receive Injury or Oppression and also they are sincere and loving towards them if they receive Good and Benefits from them these same People would be alike obedient and fearful to displease the Lord their Maker unto whom the Inhabitants of the Earth are but as Grashoppers or a Compapany of creeping Worms If we were made alike throughly sensible that as God doth good so he can punish more than one Man doth to another there would be the like Reverence and Awe unto him It is certain that he doth give us already whatever we enjoy and is not that which we have constantly even from our Youth up more than those little Additions of Kindness we have now and then from another and consequently such do require greater Gratitude and Love And then what he is further pleased to promise doth not that infinitely exwhatever can be thought of or named or ceed had here May we not wisely and with Advantage renounce what now might be had if it doth hinder from the Hope and Expectation of that as that same Word which makes known the great Salvation and the Means how to obtain it doth expresly declare One might run over many Particulars which would manifestly shew That if the things of God were really believed and considered of there would be the same yea more earnest Care and Labour after them than after the things of this Earth And we should perform our Duty to him in all things which he requires of us as we give Honour and do Offices one to another But this hidden Mystery of the Kingdom of God and of the Divine Dispensation hath puzzled the Understandings and Actings of Men. Indeed Man hath a confused apprehension of things but he knows little distinctly and acts yet worse towards his Maker Either he doth not know or not believe or he is inconstant and imperfect as to both Or when he knows the hindrances he wilfully gives way and is kept off by them and when he sees the Temptations he doth yield unto them or an unseen Enemy fills him with imaginations and excuses and a deceived heart hath turned him aside Isa 44. 20. We should be exceeding careful about our Understanding to have it informed with true and right Thoughts If we may rightly apprehend the Dispensation of God's Kingdom and the Nature of things before us which pertain to us It is called the Mystery of the Kingdom and therefore we should Pray for the Spirit to search and unfold it to get it throughly known and revealed If we may use such a familiar comparison that as by the like Arts and Policy Men get a temporal Kingdom Preferment and Riches so we might endeavour after those things above Which is done by Knowledge Industry and a resolute putting forth The first instructs in the right way the others set a going and moving forwards We should first Pray and seek unto God That he would lead us forth by the right way that we may go to the City of Habitation Psal 107. 7. and so in all our Works and Labor in order thereto And then it may be observed how things are established and also to be
must be some act and endeavour in Man There must be both a willingness and compliance in him to accept of what God hath done for him Agreeable hereunto is the whole Divine Revelation and that form of Speech our Saviour makes use of in reference to himself and his Disciples He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me Mat. 10. 40. And he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke 10. 10. The one is a willing Act and the other a wilful Refusal So his Servant John speaketh unto the World He which is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Righteous still Rev. 22. 11. Not that it is the Mind of God that any one should continue in his wickedness for he hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that he turn and live But after former Calls there comes this kind of Speech That such an one may choose he may do what he will for God seems to cast him off and this makes People the more willing to come as we have an Example hereof in Judges 10. 13 14 15. As on the other hand when things are proffered and seem to be made easie they contemn it and do keep off The whole History of the Church ever since the World began and also the Method of his Spiritual Dispensation doth plainly shew that all Men are left to their free Liberty and Choice whether they will serve God or not And if it seem Evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the Gods which your Fathers served but as for me and my House we will serve the Lord Joshua 24. 15. If thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted and if thou dost not well sin lieth at the door Gen. 4. 7. Truly God is the great King over all the Earth and he hath Right to Rule over all its Inhabitants He is the Lord and Governour of the World and it is meet that he should exercise Authority and receive Homage from all things which he hath made How much more from such a small spot and little part of his Creation as the Earth is Every one who doth in the least consider must acknowledge God's Dominion most just and due in the general for our selves assent unto that Honour and Obedience which are given to those several Relations of King Father and Master Whereas those according to the flesh and our own Fellow-Creatures are not so much in comparison of the high and lofty One as a single dust of the Ballance is to the whole Fabrick of the World or as a drop of a Bucket to the Sea or as a single Grashopper is to all the Creatures that have Life and Breath So there should not be the least grudging at his Superiority and Regining over us And as our selves like to have things done readily and chearfully so likewise it is reasonable that God should expect the same of us Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power Psal 110. 3. God is the same from all Eternity and hath at all times the very same Power for he can do all things and whatsoever he pleases But as it is said in another place Many a time turned he his Anger away and did not stir up all his Wrath Psal 78. 38. So likewise he hath not yet in this Earth nor doth now exert all his Power and Might Indeed sometimes he doth make a little more then ordinary manifestation thereof as in those Signs and Wonders which he wrought of Old Time and then we hear what effect they had for they did cause an impression upon the Minds of People and they were for the time Reverent Submissive and Obedient towards God He might have continued the like tokens among them and have given them a succession of more which also should have spoken as sensibly unto them as out of the Cloudy Pillar That it was because they kept not his Laws which he gave them These things were done once or twice in the several Generations that passed through here not to every Generation but to those in former time that they might tell their Children to come to see if they would be perswaded to keep his Statutes and observe his Laws by what they heard God visibly did amongst their Forefathers Those Miracles were soon over and did not remain long among them To prove whether the Remembrance would have the like effect as when they were present and before the Faces of People Who were over-aw'd by the sight of such dreadful Things might still call to mind the same and perform a free and ready Service And so as they did look back and had heard of the things done heretofore so we now living may likewise reflect on the same And we who now stand in these latter days on the Earth may look forward to what may be in our time and in the Generations following When God shall yet in a more extraordinary manner than since the beginning of the World or Man was Created on the Earth Bow the Heavens and come down declare his Power and Presence in a much more visible and eminent manner than ever of old time when the Lord God shall dwell amongst us and Reign before his Ancients Gloriously Who would not fear and obey thee O King of Nations forasmuch as thou containest all the good and excellency which is any where to be found amongst the best and wisest of the Sons of Men. For thou first gavest unto them what is now loved and honoured in them And therefore more Reverence and Love and Thanksgiving and good Will belong unto thee of whom are all things Thou didst therefore communicate a light and imperfect measure of Good unto the best of Men lest they should draw off from looking on thee who art All in all When God himself shall come and appear even the Rebellious also shall submit unto him for they shall be over-awed with his Majesty and Greatness and they shall be likewise perswaded thereunto by his Goodness and Truth The desire of all Nations shall come and he shall so clearly manifest himself to be indeed what he hath revealed himself Loving unto every Man He doth good and filleth our Souls with Food and Gladness when this is throughly known then all former Prejudices and Aversation against him shall vanish and be utterly done away In that day shall this Song be Sung by his Elect and peculiar People This is the Lord whom we have waited for and others shall be astonished and confounded within themselves how it came to pass that they should either despise or conceive evil Thoughts against him They shall bite their Tongues for Indignation which did utter hard Speeches against his Majesty The Lord and his Saints shall convince them of their ungodly deeds Jude 15. and they shall be so vexed within themselves that they would even of their own accord cut off both
their Hands and their Feet which did offend and were instrumental to commit Iniquity and cast them into the fire Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal 73. 1. He shall more plainly demonstrate himself to be thus than that the Sun doth now give Light to the lower World or that he gives Rain which wets and moistens the Earth He shall sensibly manifest himself to be agreeable unto our Nature He is suitable unto and shall most fully satisfie every Desire in the Soul of Man Stretch out your Understanding every way conceive to the utmost more than is possible to utter whatever you want or would have our God shall be yet more unto us This was somewhat discerned before by those who were of a pure Heart They had a little Taste and foreconception of his Goodness The more they did search into it the more they did find and were satisfied therein But the Generality of Mankind were willingly ignorant of this They did not like to receive God into their Knowledge nor seek after and understand his Nature and Properties Thence came to be in them an evil Heart of Forgetfulness and Aversation towards him for they could not be unmindful nor yet have any Estrangedness had they known him How is it possible to forget him who created all things and is all in all who filleth Heaven and Earth with his Presence How can any one refuse the desiring of him who is the chief and only Good From whom is derived all that is really profitable and truly sweet unto us Who even now is kind and poureth down his Benefits upon us but hath reserved for us greater and more enduring things The things present do justly require our Praise and Acknowledgment but the things to come do call for our Obedience and Duty We should even now speak out of what we have and do something for God in Expectation of what we shall be Partakers That we should shew forth the utmost Good-will towards him now we are in the Way and he hath put us in a Capacity to do it We may by Faith apprehend and fully rest in what he promises so it is our Wisdom and will be our Advantage to give all Readiness to perform what he doth require of us Wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him without Spot and blameless 2 Pet. 3. 14. Such Wages and Reward are sufficient to put upon doing every Tittle of our Duty to cleanse our selves that we may be meet Partakers and when we have done all we come short for our Services are in no wise proportionable to the expected Recompence Not the Thousandth Part thereof could have been thought of and expected unless God had been pleased to make known and promise it and still we are to wait what he of his own good Pleasure will do for his Creatures There are many Considerations which also should make us willing in the Day of his Grace and Forbearance as we shall certainly be in the Day of his Power If we would now understand what we shall then be sensible of we should even at this present Time do after the required Manner for the very same Reasons as we shall then wish we had done it What prevails upon his own peculiar People to do such and such things would do the same as to others for they also are Men of the same Passions and Inclinations but these were governed and rectified by the Knowledge and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Even we should move and press earnestly to the Mark of the high Calling if we would further receive and attend unto what would quicken us from within Paul did labour more abundantly than the other Apostles because of the greater Degree of Grace which was in him Grace is an active Principle and stirs up to be continually doing the Will of God Yea there is the like Inclination towards the same in the Soul as the Body hath after Meat and Drink Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Mat. 5. 6. When there is the same earnest Appetite after all the things of God expressed by that one Word of Righteousness as others have after the Increase and full Enjoyment of their Corn and Wine here is an assured Promise of obtaining and of full Satisfaction Now an earnest Desire unless it be suppressed by Sloth or Negligence puts upon Action and using the Means to obtain for in Desire there is Torment and we must do something to be freed from that or else seek to quiet and stupifie it Again This same Desire commonly points out and shews some future and distant Good which may be had upon such things to be done before and also there is a Want in the Soul of the same thing which is suitable unto her Nature We were therefore put in an imperfect Condition that we might ascend up and labour after what is further set before us There is such a Sense and Consciousness of this in Mankind that they do actually endeavour to embetter their present Condition where there is any Probability and Likelihood and where they do not it is through wretched Sloth or dull Ignorance In this the rational Creatures differ from brute Beasts for these only live to eat and labour They just breath and are not sensible of more Whereas Man acts after and can conceive things more excellent Now if there be the like Assurance and Certainty to obtain them as the things before us then it is a reasonable Inference That there should be a like and greater Endeavour because of their infinitely more Worth and longer Continuance The greatest worldly Good doth not satisfie when had and of this we must be certainly deprived in a short Time whereas the heavenly good things are proportionable to our utmost Desires and shall for ever remain So that was there but a doubtful Expectation of such great and enduring things a Probability that they were and a Possibility that they were not yet one might give up and leave these present things upon the alone Venture if we may so speak of those things to come Whatever doth now pertain to us and is had by us doth utterly perish and come to nothing They are all along passing by and at length Man dies and is taken away from them So the things of this World are no Foundation for it slides away and also our selves are decaying Now if there was no more how come in those Desires after continuing and durable things When we see every thing passeth away wherefore do we even now covet after what remains When our selves are continually dying why do we thirst after Immortality And since we do Day by Day haste to that State where we seem to cease to be what means that earnest Inclination to have a Being for ever There is a strong Perswasion and assured Confidence that we shall not die
get so much and then enjoy our selves according as the Phrase of the World is or to please our selves with keeping an Abundance as the covetous Mammonist doth Yet still this is a meer conceit and a Reasonable Creature cannot be filled or satisfied with that and here Psal 49. 17 18. lies express against him For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his Glory shall not descend after him Though whilst he lived he blessed his Soul All the Service and Labour after Mammon is evidently determined within this short Time and it stands in no stead at all further Now an Account shall be demanded what we have done here What Provision was made against the Time to come What Foundation was laid in by good Works Wherefore was all their Labour about perishing and temporal things And not about the eternal which do remain Every one is to give account for his Talent and how he improved it to the Glory of his Master that he may receive Authority and Commendation proportionable It shall be recompensed to every one according to what he hath done Where was more done there shall be a greater Reward so that all the Actions of a Man tend as much to himself in that State as what is done in the present Time The unprofitable Servant is to be bound Hand and Foot and to be cast into outer Darkness Every one is called to work in the Vineyard and if any one doth not come as soon as he is called as those did in the Parable Mat. 20. himself must answer before Almighty God for the Refusal to obey his Commands And also People do not attend nor rightly consider how they willingly deprive themselves of so much Wages and Recompense Seeing that God hath revealed himself to be so bountiful and good a Master Servants should shew themselves accordingly unto him and as it were meet him in the Way of Righteousness They are to strive who should run fastest who shall perform their Work with a more willing and chearful Mind and to offer themselves who shall make the first Assault or do such an Act of Duty for even thus much is done for our Masters according to the Flesh Is not God more gracious and better than they Are not his Benefits as valuable Ought not his Favour and Good-will to be more esteemed But his good things are to come why whatsoever we now have and enjoy did first proceed from God and is his own Man hath the Use of some things but God hath the Propriety of all But the greater things also will be actually present as those things now before us are and then these present things shall be utterly done away So they are upon equal yea more Advantage than what is now before our Eyes Tribulation Anguish and self-Indignation will be upon every Soul that did neglect them for perishing Bubbles and empty Nothings Which then they find as before they might have learned to come to nothing at all for they were just had and passed by And yet by the Nature of them by the utmost Certainty and Reality of future and invisible things they might have been perswaded to seek diligently after them For the same Word of Truth which spake of the one hath told us of the other also By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made Psal 33. 6. And upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. which hath created and given to each thing its Nature and now connects and holds things fast together as they are The same Word saith For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth Isa 65. 17. so that as certainly as things now are and stand after this manner as they do at present they will be likewise so fulfilled as we are foretold of Those gracious Promises in Isa 45. 17 18 19. are confirmed with the like Reason which is as it were inserted between them viz. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting Salvation Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without End For thus saith the Lord that created the Heavens God himself that formed the Earth and made it he hath established it he created it not in vain he formed it to be inhabited I am the Lord and there is none else I have not spoken in secret in a dark Place of the Earth I said not unto the Seed of Jacob seck ye me in vain I the Lord speak Righteousness I declare things that are right Here is an Answer and full Satisfaction given to that common Question and Thought what do People get by the Service of God They expose themselves to prevent Self-denial and Labour but what Recompence and Gain For if others are diligent after worldly things they do commonly obtain But here we are assured of that which cannot be had in this World To be saved with an everlasting Salvation There is no present Return to exercise our Faith and Waiting So that now we become liable to Shame and Disappointment by labouring for nothing Yet what saith the Witness of God Ye shall not be ashamed World without End At long run it shall not be thus At the End of Time it shall be otherwise and this is ratified by what we now see even his lesser Works are done for some Purpose as in the Instance here assigned the Earth was created to be inhabited But here again Faith is exercised for some things seem to be created in vain and a Part of the Earth is not inhabited as barren Mountains and the waste howling Wilderness yet there are also Creatures of some Sorts and God may have great Intents and Purposes herein which we know not as yet but shall know He asserts himself by his Name the Lord to be ALMIGHTY the chief and only Ruler and none can controul him so that he will perform what he hath said If one thinks within himself to do thus or makes private Promises there he may alter his Mind or Falsify and meet with no Discredit but only from the Person to whom it was entrusted But God declares out of the Thoughts of his Heart and speaks out publickly to all the World that neither the Seed of Jacob nor any one who doth the Works of Abraham or comes within the Covenant made to the Patriarchs shall seek him in vain Again He confirms it further by his righteous Nature and declaring the things that are right So we may be bold to say that where in serving him we submit our selves to present Loss or Labour there God is pleased to speak in Righteousness and thence we may assuredly gather that he will render a Reward accordingly But as he is gracious and bountiful it will as much exceed our Works as if one should give a Thousand Pounds to a Labourer when he deserves no more than a Penny God is not unrighteous to forget your Work and Labour of Love Heb. 6. 10. He will take notice of every thing that is done purely for him
for the Work is as profitable and beneficial to the one as Payment is to the other But the Case is otherstise between God and us for first he hath wrought all our Works in us he brought us into Being and hath fed us up hitherto And one Way or another he hath prevented assisted and directed in those things which more immediately relate unto him though we are heedless as not to discern it no more than we perceive how we live and move in him which yet we do all along that to him belongs all the Glory and Praise thereof The utmost in Man is his Liberty of acting and working together with the Grace of God but still he first implanted that Power and Ability and when it turns towards Good it was God and his Grace that weighed down the Scale and over-ruled it unto the right and true Way Alass We are such small and finite Creatures that the utmost we do is very little and next to nothing For if the best Performances of the greatest and most diligent Saints on Earth be considered what is their Righteousness unto him Or what receives he of their Hands Even they come short of what they might have done yet more for they might have further improved their Talent Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof Mat. 21. 43. But since the preaching and Promulgation of the Gospel to the World no Nation hath yet brought forth such Fruits God knows what will be done in the latter Days as might be justly expected from it Nothing hath been done answerable to the precious Truths contained therein It was the Lord who gave the Word who planted the Trees but the Ground hath not brought forth suitable Increase thereof The Husbandmen have not manured and dressed it as they should have done And what Fruits have been or shall at length spring up from it Lord thou hast but what is thine own They are but living Instruments all one as the Spade or Pruning Hook in the Hands of the Gardiner and at last the Work suffers Loss and Disadvantoge by Reason of those employed therein If they do any thing rightly it is of God that they do so but the Weakness and Fault is of themselves only God worketh in us both to will and to do He hath shewed us how so that all things and all our Works are to be attributed to him only He sits above and Christ at his Right Hand expecting what his Servants will do for him in like manner as till his Enemies are made his Footstool Both which are consequent one to the other for by means of his Servants he will overcome the rebellious and make them submit under him The Lord looketh down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God Psal 14. 1. That did rightly apprehend the End of their Being in this World and did look after their Maker that by the things known already did ascend yet further That by what is known of God did seek out yet more if they could find out further Trace and Footsteps of this invisible Being As his Way is in the Waters he rideth upon the Wings of the Wind and the Clouds are the Dust of his Feet so we may see God in every thing To behold him not only in the Sanctuary but in every Part of his Temple which is Heaven and Earth and in each Part and Corner thereof To behold him in his visible Works and to perceive him in his invisible things To understand that great Relation of the Creator and his Creatures But more especially how we are concerned with that God with whom we have all to do What he doth require of us and what we are to render unto him The Phrase of looking down to see doth plainly denote that they are left to their Freedom and Liberty The same is likewise signified in the Parable of the Vineyard Isa 5. and Mark 12. 1 2. where God hath done all things that were necessary and reasonable and looks what will come of it Whether those Powers of acting he hath endued the Sons of Men withal will be employed in the right way or in extravagant things or be folded up in Idleness and Sloth Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit John 15. 2. To all is committed at first some Grace and Power in order to spiritual things but who do not use it accordingly it is withdrawn from them But to them who manage aright is committed yet more that they should labour according to the Strength given them For whatever is in us is to be used and put forth Knowledge is to be communicated and still further Degrees and Increase thereof is to be sought after in order to impart that forth again Truth is to be declared and spoken out and this also is to be sought after and received for the aforesaid End and Purpose As the Blossom is to the Fruit so is Knowledge to Obedience and good Works The first is the Principle it goes before and gives Hope of the Fruit which is better and accordingly will end in that unless it be blasted and withered So this is the Beginning of our Duty for we cannot do any thing in order to God unless we know somewhat of him We cannot keep his Law till we apprehend what it is As there is an Unwillingness Aversation Forgetfulness of God and good things so there should be something to overcome that to stir up our Remembrance to keep this always in the Imagination of our Heart O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of Israel our Fathers keep this for ever in the Imagination of the Thoughts of the Heart of thy People and prepare their Heart unto thee 1 Chron. 29. 18. Nevertheless it is too often seen through the marvellous Subtilty of Satan who doth every way endeavour to beguile and to beat off that many have good and right Knowledge but it remains as it were blasted for it lies dead within and doth not shoot forth into well-doing Many times it drops off and Perishes having no Root or Stalk in them for taking no Delight and apprehending no Good therein they suffer it to pass through their Understanding as Water running through a Pipe which may wet and moisten a little for the Time but returns to its former Driness They may be a little affected for the Time but afterwards they do not mind nor give heed thereafter It makes a goodly Shew and Appearance without but it is meer Leaf and Colour and nothing worth unless it grows towards Fruit and Perfection God is not to be served by halves As he requires the whole Man so he would have his Work finished and compleat or else a tending towards it if it be such as he will
the Mist of Ignorance He shall be thrust down to the lowest Dungeon and be confined unto utter Darkness For the former seeming Ease and Stupidity there will succeed continued self-indignation His Soul was then employed about somewhat and if not about that Talent intrusted with him by the God of the Spirits of all Flesh yet he had some little Thought or seeming excuse for his Refusal and Disobedience The knowledge was conveyed in the Obligation and Necessity thereof was considered in the Mind and there was a willing delay and putting it off In those debates and reasonings within there is a manifest thinking this or that way Now the Scale turns on this side and then on that And as there is a capacity to think freely so there is a power to do accordingly or a contrary froward going on in his way or a wretched doing nothing at all The Lord knoweth our frame Psal 103. 14. the disposal and tendency of each part of our Nature and accordingly in his VVord and Truth application is made to the Children of Men. To this end are those several kinds of Expostulation in the Psalms Prophets and throughout the Old and New Testament Some things are to inform and teach the Understanding others are to subdue and bring over the VVill and the several Affections are particularly spoken unto So that read where you will you may find some part of your Soul moved And then there is the example of Saints recorded who were Men of like Passions and Infirmities with our selves that we also might do the same which others have done before us God addresseth himself to us as we are Men to judge of the equality of his ways and of what he saith and commandeth us He bringeth us up and implants a capacity to know the Good and refuse the Evil. He giveth Senses to discern between one and the other He acquaints us over and over with the very Nature of things at present and also forewarns us of things to come Survey the whole Dispensation and Exercise of God's Dominion over us Consider each part and method thereof Look into the mystery of the Kingdom Remember his doings of Old Time Think upon what he doth now and also take in the Consummation of all what he hath said and sworn he will yet perform Then thou mayest understand that as he made People free so he would govern them as such He would have them serve him with joyfulness and gladness of Heart and what they do it should be with a willing and ready Mind for the Lord loves the answer of such a Soul when he saith Seek ye my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek That comes at first as soon as he is called and afterwards is in a continual readiness to receive further Direction and Command and then is in an actual and speedy performance of the same VVhere is a willing Mind there is no seeking out Excuses and Delays There is no shifting and trying to put it off There is no Controversie or Dispute of Mind whether I should serve God presently or not For if there is a right Knowledge of him and of the Terms upon which we are to enter into his Service we come as readily to him as one that was hired to the best of Masters according to the Flesh who will give the greatest VVages and most kind Usage Saith our Saviour unto his Disciples and Followers Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you Friends John 15. 15. Here is yet a nearer Relation and Honour to be admitted into Friendship with him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Faith apprehends this exceeding Priviledge and esteems of it more than to have for assured Friends the King all the Nobility and Gentry of this or the Neighbour Nations Or if Love is lessened when it is divided into so many Particulars it is better than to have two three or a few only of the greatest and wisest Personages on Earth Christ unto the Believers Soul is the chiefest of Ten Thousand nay he is more to her than all the Persons and Things in the VVorld Now where is an intimate Love and Union as we expect his Grace and Benefits and hope for Gifts from him so likewise we must do the things he saith and whatever he doth require Our Voice and Desire is Come Lord Jesus come quickly and his Answer is again to the Church And behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give to every Man according as his work shall be Rev. 22. 12. And seeing the time allotted for that VVork is short though it was spoken to the Traytor Judas it may be also applied to his faithful Disciples and Followers What thou hast to do do quickly VVe have his own Example and Words for it I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day The Night cometh when no Man can work John 9. 4. Accordingly he did go about doing good and preaching the Kingdom of God making known all things he had heard from his Father The Wise Man calleth upon us Whatsoever thy Hand findeth thee to do do it with all thy Might For there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest Eccles 9. 10. So whatever God and his Christ commandeth and requireth of thee do it with all convenient Speed and as soon as thou canst before the Opportunity slip from thee or the Means be taken away or thy self be cut off for thou art but Flesh and always dying After this is done God may have more for thee He will proportion thy Reward according to thy Labour If thou diminishest ought from that thou wilt lose so much of a greater Recompence The more thou dost at this present the more thou wilt receive for all Eternity What is done each Day or Hour is laying up a Treasure for many Ages There may be somewhat of this signified in the Words of our Saviour who speaketh the same to us as he did to the Disciples Ye say that there are Four Months and then cometh Harvest Lift up your Eyes for the Fields even now are white unto Harvest John 4. 35. And he that reapeth gathereth Fruit unto everlasting Life We may think and deceive our selves that such a Work is to be done hereafter when if we consider throughly all things are now ready for the Performance of the same But admitting it were not to be done until then yet such good Acts may be done in the mean while which are preparatory to that as the Husbandman fits all things in the mean while or we may in the Space between serve God to some other End and Purpose That no Day pass over our Head without doing some thing to the Glory of God and to the Benefit of Souls Every thing here is in order to eternal Life and as we are here always going towards that and the Life we
vile and poor Many such like things might be objected against us if we came in our own Name or if we did promise them by our own Merit Excellency and Power But seeing we come in the Name of the Lord who hath created and ordained all things who will do nothing but he will reveal it to his Servants the Prophets Whatever his eternal Purpose and Decree is concerning Mankind he will some way make it known unto them by acquainting it to some who are to publish it unto others He hath so ordered that it might be known They do all hear the Rumour and they might seek after Acts 15. 17. and find it Salvation and the good things of God are forced upon none They may be brought nearer and pressed more urgently upon some than upon others yet still there is Liberty of Refusal Again they are not so far off from any but they may come near and receive them and to whom it is most inculcated and offered yet it is not all done to their Hand For Trial is had whether they will seek yet further There must be somewhat of Man's own Act and willing God doth manifest himself to be friendly and loving unto us by that constant Provision of temporal Mercies and also by doing all that lies on his Part for spiritual good things It is expected what we will do reciprocally as to what he doth require of us Saith the Son of God As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you Continue ye in my Love If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love even as I have kept my Father's Commandments and abide in his Love John 15. 9 10. Here we have Assurance of the divine Favour to us and we are instructed how we may continue and express our good Will towards him viz. by keeping his Commandments God is no Respecter of Persons but whosoever of the Children of Men doth this he is accepted with him Whosoever doth the Works of Abraham he is a Friend of God as Abraham was James 2. 23. which Word Friend imports that we do a thing presently and readily at his requiring By much Importunity we we may get a Kindness from a common Neighbour which he will do not out of Affection and Esteem towards us but to be freed from the Trouble which we give him by our Importunity But where is real Love and Friendship there is constant Readiness to do mutual Offices even before the other asks or upon the least Intimation that such a thing would be acceptable unto him Now to apply the Case as it stands between God and Mankind As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me Psal 18. 44. Nothing can be more just and reasonable than that he should require Obedience of his Creatures Is he not more to all of them and to each singly than one Man is to another He is infinitely more kind than Father or Mother Husband Friend or Brother for even he ordained these Relations and stirs up what he first put in those Bowels of Mercy and Compassion one to another Of God are all things and now he ordereth them as it pleaseth him So he is the Author of all good we ever received and as he made he doth now sustain us and loadeth us with Benefits May he not expect something from us even all that we can render unto him To acknowledge him in all things and to walk always in the Way he shews unto us and to observe those Commandments he gives us Lord How strange is it that a Creature should make any Dispute or Controversie concerning it As we live by him so it is meet we should live as he would have us Both the Members of Body and Faculties of Soul should do according as he made and designed them Therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's 1 Cor. 6. 20. The Potter makes Vessels to serve for those Uses he intended them and other Artificers which frame moving Instruments make them turn or go as they please Hath not the Lord the same Power and Understanding who hath given such Skill and Capacity to others And he who fashioned every Part of us might also have ordained that all within us should necessarily have so moved according to his Command and Will as the Pulse continually beats to keep Life and Motion Who formed the Heart to turn either way to Good or Evil he might have determined it only to the first who enabled us to think this or that he might have confined us to good only and he might have kept out from thence Wickedness and Vanity all one as we now remain ignorant of many hidden and unsearchable things If we had a right Knowledge of God we might discern how he is the Creator of us and of all things who made my single Person he hath made Millions of the same Sort And who created Mankind he hath also Ten Thousand times ten Thousand several Sorts of Creatures both living and inanimate all which are for his own Glory and to minister unto him Who hath called the Generations from the Beginning Isa 41. 4. and ordained them to succeed one another after that Manner as we see they now do And shall a single Atom an individual Dust and Ashes refuse one Moment to comply with his Will Nay if several do so besides yet it is thine and the other 's single Disobedience which make up and encourage the Corruption of many But let their Number be never so great they are but as a Swarm of Flies and Locusts And if they do mutter forth hard Speeches or commit ungodly Deeds it is but in very little and sudden Acts. And what is all this Sin and Wickedness to the whole World of Creatures which declare the Glory of God and shew forth all his Praise What are the refractory and stubborn Worms of the Earth to those Armies of Heaven which fulfil all the Pleasure of the Almighty When he commands the Children of Men to do after this or that manner they go on frowardly in the Way of their Heart yet his Throne is for ever established above the Circuit of Heaven and there he sits governing the World and for ought we know a Thousand others God exercises the supream and alone Authority over all Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming Fire The Spirits are for the sudden and quick Dispatch of what he would have done and for the effectual Performance of the same And the flaming Fire is to burn up and consume all that lets or hinders and so make way for his Purpose He hath already fixed and ordained things in their appointed Courses and Places He hath appointed those several Motions and Bounds He hath sent forth his Word and given a Law He garnished out the Heavens by his Wisdom and laid out the Foundations of the Earth by his Understanding And we see it abideth according to his Ordinance for all things serve
carnal Considerations or worldly Inducements no present Motive nor yet a like Danger and Inconvenience did hinder or excuse with him but he immediately went to Jerusalem Undoubtedly all these did for the best and God was well pleased with them He did accept and reward them more than those who seek out for Excuse and Delay or such who first refuse to hear his Gracious call or if they do at any Time hear or it is made known unto them yet they will not yield unto it The Word of Exhortation stands continually for all People both young and old to hear and read it The Spirit and the Bridegroom say always come There is one knocking at the Door of their Hearts for Admission God is ready at all Times to set up his Kingdom within us his Law is already written in our Heart and inward Parts He sends his Prophets rising up early and sitting down late Who being dead speak yet unto us in their Writings There are constant Dictates of Mind to serve and obey our Maker There are Examples of those who do it in our Age and Circumstances of Life There is hardly a Chapter or Verse throughout the whole Bible but some way or other calls and stirs us up The Scripture is opened and alledged The Word preached in the several Congregations throughout our Land and in all the Nations of the World are a Sermon to us also For we are the same Creatures and stand in the very same Relation to the great God over all as those several Persons who hear such and such Truths with their outward Ears We might also know and hear more than we do and those who hear and understand are to declare it unto us to acquaint their Neighbours and Kinsfolks and they to others So that the Word of God might dwell richly and have free Passage among us There is a sufficient Call and Warning to all People in their several Generations and Ages of Life God now commandeth all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead Acts 17. 31. As every one knows Christ to be a Saviour so there is the same Notice conveyed that he is to be our Judge And as God shall bring every secret thing into Judgment all the Actions of our Lives for each single Day will be called to account So it will be demanded why such and such did not come when they were called as they sensibly knew by a powerful Conviction over their Spirits when it was inculcated over and over to Day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your Heart When they might have considered more and more and themselves did find that the more they did consider the more they were pressed instantly to close with Christ and therefore they did put off considering their Wayes They might at such an Opportunity have heard God's Word which would have urged them to have turned from their evil Ways and therefore they would not attend to them They might at such a Day and by such Means have learned the Knowledge and Fear of the Lord but they would not His Statutes were laid before them but they would not let the Ears hear which were made to hear nor the Eyes see which were ordained for that End And further when the Thoughts thereof did recur to the Mind they would put them far away When God rises up and enters into Judgment how shall Men answer for such things And whosoever now looketh upon or hears what is written in these Lines and he is convinced of the Truth and Sincerity of them but if he should go away and not comply with the Purport thereof or be willingly ignorant or take no notice for fear he should be brought over unto God more suddenly than he otherwise intended how will he give account to the Judge of all Men for the same Even to that God who knows all his Thoughts and Imaginations concerning this or any other matter who will reprove and set the things he hath done in order before him even from the Time he had the Beginning of the Knowledge of Good and Evil unto the Day of his Death God knows all things but we know not as God knoweth and therefore we are so puzzled and distracted in things pertaining to him He seeth all things in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth at one Sight and knoweth all things to the utmost as they are known But we now see one thing and then another in order and Succession of Time as he shews them unto us Those Things which are more hidden and invisible he reveals them by his Word and Spirit and still we know nothing perfectly and comprehensively And it may be all confined to things pertaining to us Men which is not the Ten Thousandth Part of the things to be known nor yet one Half of what doth immediately relate unto and concern us The Sum and Comprehension of all is to know God and his Law our Duty to him in each particular and when we do vary from it It may be observed that the whole Scripture which is called the Lord's Book may be all reduced to this Besides the natural imprinted Knowledge God is there more discoverd to us by the History of the Creation of the World his Manifestations unto his Servants that worshipped and feared him his wonderful Works that he did from Time to Time the Descriptions given of him in sundry Places and also the Commandments enjoyned to the Sons of Men. The Law was given by Moses unto which he added much Exhortation to the Observance thereof So did David and the Prophets whose Writings were to press People unto Obedience and a Reproof of Transgression Which last was an orderly Declaration of Matter of Fact and according to Truth how People did turn aside from the Commandments delivered unto them It was a Telling of or Declaration unto the House of Jacob their Sins and Transgressions Which was expressed in general or more particular Terms but yet so plainly that every Offender might understand himself was spoken of and called upon for to amend his Doings There is a strong Sense and Obligation upon the Heart of Man to keep the Law of his Creator and he is sensible of as much every Time he is put in Remembrance thereof As on the other hand he is troubled with Shame Regret and Condemnation when he thinks of and more especially when he is told of his Sin and Error This proceeds from the Consciousness of having offended God and from the Fear of his Anger and Judgment A secret Thought doth arise from Ignorance or Unbelief that either God doth not see or not take notice of such evil Deeds and will not require for them But such an one brings their Sin to Remembrance and makes it recorded before God which
hitherto hidden from some because they would not search the Scriptures for there they might have found it so and accordingly have prepared to have given up their Accounts The good may be hence quickned to do more to take hold of every Opportunity to lay up a greater Foundation against the Time to come to seek and do the Work of the Lord diligently and to improve every Talent to the utmost And the evil might presently have ceased to do wickedly turn and be more zealous in the other Way Faith apprehends so of things future as Memory and Recollection is to the past Herein appears the Excellency of the Understanding and reasonable Soul that she sees things afar off and remembers those behind But those things here are scarce worth our Remembrance but what things we are further told of they are all Wonder and Astonishment because they are so exceeding great and enduring Which will fill the Soul though opened wide and to the utmost and satisfie every Wish and Desire and these things are always to remain When these things shall be present before us we shall admire and be vexed within our selves that we did not more towards the obtaining them Even thus it will be of those who considered and did most that usually Men do Our Fathers received the Promises and saw them afar off they now stand more abundantly confirmed unto us being so indubitably made known that we are more fully perswaded of them and do embrace them So the Exhortation runs yet more forcible to cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God and to do all things that we may be found accepted of him at the last Day Even thus much we may discern at present that the Lord sitteth above all his Creatures He hath revealed how we the Inhabitants of the Earth are to behave our selves towards him He hath prepared his Seat for Judgment and his Kingdom ruleth over all neither is any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight But all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do We cannot know him as he knoweth us for he seeth us and all our Ways clearly but we now see thro' a Glass darkly And as we are mere Creatures who have nothing but what we have received so we know nothing but what he first made known and revealed unto us Our Saviour abode on the Earth Forty Days after his Passion on the Cross and Resurrection from the Grave speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 1. 3. very few of which are recorded And though many things are written which he made known in the Course of his Ministry yet the beloved Disciple John saith Many other things truly did Jesus in the Presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book John 20. 30. So before his coming into the World God discovered his Will by Prophets and holy Men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And there have been since further Manifestations of divine Knowledge and Truth And yet still the Skies will be more opened and Righteousness shall be poured down Drop down ye Heavens from above and let the Skies pour down Righteousness Let the Earth open and let them bring forth Salvation and let Righteousness spring up together I the Lord have created it Isa 45. 8. He shall come down like Rain upon the mowen Grass as Showers that water the Earth Psal 72. 6. Truth shall spring out of the Eorth Psal 85. 11. Both as to the Element it self and also as to the Inhabitants thereof Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee Then shall the Earth yield her Increase and God even our own God shall bless us Psal 67. 5 6. He shall make known those Arts and Means that the Earth shall yield her Increase so abundantly that there shall be no hungry and empty Soul but there shall be more than sufficient for every Creature whatever He shall give such a plentiful Fleece on the Sheep and may discover those other Ways for cloathing as to cover all the naked in our Land Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-House that there may be Meat in mine House and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts If I will not open the Windows of Heaven and pour ye out a Blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it Mal. 3. 10. Mankind hath been hitherto proved wihther they will obey and trust in their God The poor hath been a long while suffered among them to see whether they will will provide for and do them good and they have not yet been so obedient and trusted unto him as they should But let them once do so let all the People praise him and then prove him whether he will not do those great things for us Whether he will not deal yet more bountifully even in those things for the sake of which People now transgress against him The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof Psal 24. 1. The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts Hag. 2. 8. so he can disclose it whensoever he will perhaps more than hath been yet seen and talked of And I will give thee the Treasures of Darkness and hidden Riches of secret Places Isa 45. 3. He can shew us where are the several rich Mines and some way bring to our Knowledge whatever Worth and Excellency lies hid at present in the Bowels of the Earth So there may be sufficient yea and abundance for all And there may be such exceeding Plenty even of the formerly beloved Mammon that they shall even loath and not esteem it because there is no such intrinsick Goodness in it as was supposed And things will be as readily done without as heretofore they were greedy and eager after it The Nature and End of every thing relating to us shall be perfectly understood and how they conduce to our real Good and Happiness As things shall be fully made known which tend to the Use Well-being and Delight of the Body so the same will be discerned concerning the Soul The hidden Man of the Heart will come forth and as that even now doth clearly appear in the Sight of God so it will be yet more manifested to our View that we may also know what is in Man as we see his outward Face The Thoughts of many Hearts shall be revealed so we may as evidently perceive them as we behold the working of their Hands or their goings up and down upon bodily Feet The Lord saith behold all Souls are mine Ezek. 18. 4. He challengeth a peculiar Property in them and yet he hath sent forth a peremptory Decree The Soul that sinneth it shall die The Soul hath a Knowledge of this which cannot be shaken off so imprinted that though it may be somewhat defaced yet it cannot be worn out The Desire and Tendency
riseth up to somewhat which we see not but yet know believe and hear of There is a Consciousness of Duty to one above all one as the Servant hath to his Master and as there do arise Joy and Satisfaction when his Duty is rightly performed so there is Regret and Condemnation when it is neglected There must be some Thought or a stupid Forgetfulness and even for that there is some Imagination or secret Excuse But if that is distrusted as it may for God will not allow of any Dispensation from not serving him and there cannot be any thing more needful to a Man or Woman than how to secure his or her own eternal Welfare So Negligence is the certain Way to miscarry and so sink into eternal and remediless Misery And thereupon the Soul is stirred to arise up and be doing She must forecast and look out how to secure her self in this most important Concern And when she is put upon thinking and seeking there is one above who doth see and consider all her Motions Who offers to assist and guide her who causes her to know the Difference between Thought and Imagination The first apprehends a thing really as it is but the other is hood-wink'd by Delusion and Appearance and conceives things otherwise than they are This imagines too much in earthly things and too little in heavenly In all the Circle and Amusement of Mind there is one who would bring us out In all the Ignorance and Perplexity of Soul we might at length come to Knowledge and Assurance As we are confounded and distracted in the things below we might lift up our Ears and hearken unto him that now speaketh from Heaven This is Life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17. 3. The same God who gave us a Being here and lent us a short Time on Earth hath prepared and ordained the other also and told us what we may do that we may lay hold of it All our Knowledge is to be derived from this Beginning from the Creator who is most worthy we may descend down to the Creatures And because many things hinder darken and obscure this Knowledge we are therefore to take heed of and avoid them Casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Oebdience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. God and Christ discerneth every Thought and Imagination as plainly as if they were wrote upon Tables of Stone and when these Imaginations are brought forth and spread before the Faces of those who conceive them they fall of themselves and eve-Thought submits to the Obedience of Christ as the former Disobedience is laid open and the Unreasonableness thereof is shewed What is that high thing which exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God If it be truly examined it will be brought low Can any thing be higher than the most high Or greater than him who made and comprehendeth all things Yet there doth lie in the Heart of Man a most absurd strange and false Imagination that it as it were a condescending to him to know and seek after his Maker The wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God Psal 10. 4. He is already high and exalted in his own Esteem and he would not lose ought from that but if he should once have a true Understanding and spiritual Light of God he would Repent and abhor himself in Dust and Ashes Job 42. 5 6. It would utterly take off from the Conceit of his own Excellency God is most worthy of our Knowledge so of Honour Glory and Praise for he hath created all things and for his Pleasure they are and were created Also our selves were made by him and endued by him with Power and Capacity to know even inferiour things and by them we should ascend up to him who is all in all If any thing is worth knowing he doth infinitely exceed even in that Respect for which such a thing is to be known And he further contains in himself those innumerable Excellencies and Perfections a little Part and Shadow whereof is scattered up and down in the several Creatures The more we know God the less we esteem of all other things for they come so exceeding short of his exceeding Greatness and Glory that in Comparison of him they are meer Vanity and less than nothing Indeed those who are alienated from the Life of God who have no Sense nor Apprehension of him may be like those in a low Dungeon or a dark Room where is no Beam of Light and such may esteem the shining of a Glow-worm or the dim burning of a Candle before the Sun which they never saw And so are all the fantastick Apprehensions or Conceits of the things before us separated from Faith and the Knowledge of God Then he may think himself his own the chiefest and most lovely in the lower Creation But if God doth once shew himself then all those former Imaginations presently vanish away If the natural and ungodly Man can but conceive in his Mind concerning the high and lofty one who inhabiteth Eternity Heaven is his Throne and the Earth his Footstool let it be asked what was it that ever any Man fancied to be higher and greater than this If the natural Man can but discern the Works of God how that in Wisdom he made them all and formed also Man with a reasoning and contriving Faculty how that he established that Order and Connexion of things which is throughout the World and each Part thereof How can any Soul conclude any thing pertaining to God to be Foolishness only because himself doth not clearly apprehend it when in every thing which he discerns somewhat more there also he sees great Wisdom and Knowledge Shall Mortal be more wise than his Maker Who gave him and all the Generations of Mankind the Knowledge of whatever they seem to know If all those Thoughts of Heart and Conceits of Mind which have been entertained and cherished in the Hearts of the several Sons and Daughters of Adam were brought forth as they shall be one Day when God shall evidently display himself with the very Reality and Truth of things they will be vastly different one from the other Out of Sion the Perfection of Beauty God hath shined Psal 50. 2. When he makes but a small Appearance of himself and we know but in Part yet then he may be discerned to be wonderfully great and glorious what will he be when he shall unfold himself wholly and then we shall know even also as we are known We shall know God as he now knoweth us and we know one another Behold now we are the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know than when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3. 2.
tending towards Good or procuring Loss and Evil to themselves Every one Desires good to himself and would avoid evil Hurt and Inconveniency As he is a Man of Understanding and Prudence to let him Judge and do according to the most likely Way to obtain the one and avoid the other See I have set before thee this Day Life and Good and Death and Evil I call Heaven and Earth to record this Day against you that I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Therefore choose Life that thou and thy Seed may live Deut. 30. 15. VVhoever reads or hears these Lines whether thou examinest them in thy Closet or by a casual View whether this Book be read to thee by another or few or many be present To each Man or VVoman singly I do apply my self and I call the Angels to witness that these things be set home to thy Heart that this doth not turn for a Testimony against thee and when such things were laid before thee thou wouldst not mind but refuse Thou Man or VVoman of whatever Rank or Degree of whatever Age State or Condition of Life young Men or Maidens yea and Children that can in the least apprehend what I say I speak to you all severally and joyntly even in this very Moment of Time in this very Instant now even in the same Day that this is declared unto you I speak to every one of you in the Prophet's Phrase BEHOLD YOVR GOD. And I do most humbly and earnestly intreat of his divine Majesty which he is more ready to do than I to ask him O Lord God Almighty behold thy Sons and Daughters that from this Hour and Day they may take thee for the Lord their God consecrate themselves entirely and universally unto thy Service improving this and all their remaining Days for every Opportunity to do good and carefully watch against and eschew all Occasions of evil Hence forward to mind nothing but God and the things pertaining to him how they may most please and be accepted with him If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Yea blessed is he that readeth or they that hear that they may know these VVords and immediately without any Delay keep and observe the things written therein CHAP. III. That Surmise and Imagination is spoken unto whereby some People think that they have so grievously offended God that they dare not come unto him THe second Hindrance which keeps People off and was proposed to be spoken unto in the Beginning of this Book is that some imagine that they have so grievously offended God that they dare not come unto him The first Example of this we have in our Father Adam And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou And he said I heard thy Voice in the Garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself Gen. 3. 9 10. A Consciousness of his Guilt and Disobedience did make him keep off yea and unwilling to approach unto God when he was called Perhaps he thought that God knew not his Transgression but would discern it by some outward Sign when he came somewhat nearer VVhereas God both saw and heard them talking under the Tree in the midst of the Garden and did more clearly discern their Temptation and Sin than he could inquire and be informed afterwards But he came and would examine the matter after the Manner of Men. Both to vindicate his Justice and also to manifest that he yet continued his Grace and Familiarity to our Nature For even in the Curse and Punishment pronounced Mercy is intermixed A most precious Promise is conveyed into what may seem a terrible Sentence It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Gen. 3. 15. Thus Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment and even overcometh it at last And whereas it is said I will greatly multiply thy Sorrow and thy Conception In Sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the Days of thy Life Vers 16 17. Here also is somewhat released of the pronounced Punishment for God who is sovereign doth not execute in so severe a Degree as his VVords did seem at first to import for though indeed there is Trouble Pain and Sorrow in our coming into and Continuance in this VVorld yet blessed be God it is not altogether so continually grievous as what might have been expected when the VVords first proceeded forth Thus is the Lord merciful and gracious even when he is righteous and just And as his Mercy is over all his VVorks so it comes in as a Balm to mollifie his Vengeance God first calls upon our sinful Parents to shew that he had not quite cast them off and that they should not languish under a perpetual Separation from their Maker He finds out a Method of Reconciliation and Accommodation Tho' withal he ordained them and us a Punishment yet we may truly say the Lord hath punished us less than our Iniquities do deserve Hence we may learn and be encouraged that if we have not heretofore obeyed the Voice of his Commandment yet still we ought to come when he calleth us and it shall not be worse but better for us Thus saith the Lord behold I frame evil against you and devise a Device Return ye now every one from his evil Way and make your Ways and your Doings good And they said there is no Hope but we will walk after our own Devices and we will every one do the Imagination of his evil Heart Jer. 18. 11 12. VVhen People have committed much already their Conscience is accused of Sin and they are sensible how that they are obnoxious to God's VVrath and Punishment and fearing they shall one Day suffer under it they think it the same if they suffer for much as for little and so they fall from one VVickedness to another Nay with some there is a most strange and horrid Imagination as Persecutors and such like who conceiving an Hatred and Enmity against God but dreading withal he will be stronger than they when they come to meet him and therefore they take Advantage in this Time of Trial and Forbearance as it were out of foregoing Revenge to act stubbornly rebelliously and contemptuously against him as eveâ— they can It is written in the Revelations of those who gnawed their Tongues for Pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains and Sores and repented not of their Deeds Rev. 16. 10 11. Some again did give Glory to God for his Judgments The first Sort whilst they were yet in the VVay did provoke him yet more who at length was too hard for them and hath delivered them over unto the Tormentors Like as we have known or heard of some desperate condemned Rebels who might have their Pardon if they would sue and make Supplication for it but they would not through Stubbornness or a pretended Bravery and therefore they did all the Mischief they could before they died
in that Book which we are now required to believe and they are much beyond what Words do express of them Here it is said simply God is good to Israel A plain Assertion but himself will manifest and shew particularly that he is transcendently good to his People both as to what he doth for them at present and what he hath further provided for them Even what the World are apt to esteem less I mean those spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus which are in Preparation and Order to those great things to come The sensual Man doth tast and perceive how sweet and desirable it is to gratifie the Flesh which hinders from discerning the things of the Spirit But he that is spiritual doth exceedingly relish the Knowledg and Meditation of the most high and he doth more esteem of the Light of God's Countenance and the Gladness which he puts into the Hearts of his People than what arises from the full Enjoyment of Corn and Wine In a more especial manner God is good to such as are of a clean Heart that is when it is cleansed from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit when it is freed from Sin and Ignorance when it comes out from among the Pots Psal 68. 13. when it is lifted up from the Earth and disintangled from the Affairs of this Life then it doth also clearly know and perceive the Goodness and Loving Kindness of the Lord. Those who were heretofore alienated through wicked Works come to be acquainted with God when once such wicked Works are truly repented of and forsaken Who were by reason of them slavishly afraid but when once they are assured of actual Forgiveness and Pardon then they are in Peace Who were kept off by wrong and false Apprehensions and Prejudices when they know him truly and certainly they find nothing but Loveliness and Excellency in him If they ever came to Repentance they will be really sensible and actually perswaded of thus much at last But why will they not suffer themselves to know and be assured of thus much at first What need of departing away from our God Isa 59. 13. when we might abide well with him all the mean while and if we go away we must return again or be eternally miserable Why should we provoke or make him our Enemy when there is no need of it at all Is he worthy to be sought unto at last and not at first also Though many go astray and return there may be indeed more Joy and Welcom at first yet it will be better with those who continually serve God Neither transgress they at any Time his Commandment or in as few Instances as possible Son thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine Luk. 15. 31. The whole and continued Current of God's Favour is upon these God will proportion his Reward according to Mens Deeds For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he will reward every Man according to his Work Mat. 16. 27. The Labourers in Mat. 20. came all as soon as they were called Neither did they stand idle a Moment longer and so they received equal with those who bore the Burden and Heat of the Day But in this Christian Nation none have that Excuse of not being called or hired For every one in every Place may come to the Knowledge and Service of God as soon as they will It is unnatural to be unmindful of the Rock that begat thee and to forget God that formed thee especially when we more lately sprung up from him and the Sense of him was fresh and perceptible in our tender Years and his new Workmanship So we conclude that it is most acceptable to retain and increase that Knowledge which we had from the beginning to remember and abide continually by the Root from which we spring to be ever mindful that we are Plants of our heavenly Father's planting to be Branches of his Vine to be purged by him and be growing up in him till we bring forth Fruit to derive our Sap and Fatness from him and as we partake thereof from him so to be glad and rejoyce therein to hear of the loving Kindness of the Lord early in the Morning my Soul shall make her Boast thereof and be glad To recount youthly Experiences of divine Favour wherein is to be had more real and lasting Satisfaction than in all the Vanity and Folly of our first Years How sweet is it to recollect Through thee I have been holden up ever since I was born Thou art he that took me out of my Mother 's Womb. My Praise shall continually be of thee and so it hath ever since my Tongue could speak plain or I did conceive the Words which I uttered forth Thou art he with whom I have been acquainted in the Days of old That is no Confinement whose Heart is enlarged and whose Understanding opened to conceive of the great things of God and Eternity Whilst others thought of hungry and insipid Recreations or the short and empty Delights of Sin His Body was at Liberty to go here and there but kept off from what would occasion Weariness and hasten Destruction He did glorifie his God thereby and not make it an Instrument of Sin unto Iniquity He did preserve it in due Health Strength and Sobriety by declining those things which naturally bring on Weakness and Diseases And then by living under the continued Sense and Apprehension of a good God He is just so as a reasonable Creature should be for he can rejoyce in the God of his Salvation Be thankful and take Comfort in the things before him Men may live with the same Content and Freedom under his Government as Subjects under a lawful and an excellent Prince and Children under a good and loving Father God is infinitely and essentially good and also loving to Mankind for he doth actually communicate forth his Benefits unto them That he is so in his own Nature none can deny nor have the least Doubt But is he so as pertaining to us Why we taste and find it so The more any one partakes of the divine Nature and Approaches unto his Likeness he is carried out with the more earnest Desire of doing good to his Brethren and Fellow-Creatures and he actually doth the same according to the Power and Opportunity put into his Hands Now this is a manifest Token of the infinite Goodness of the Godhead because he hath put such a Spirit and Mind into his Servants to do the very same His Goodness doth as much exceed that of the greatest Saint on Earth or of that Person who was ever most beneficial unto the World as the whole Sea doth exceed a single Drop 'T is God who doth manifest and shew forth one Ray of his Goodness and Truth through such an individual Creature and cause him to do whatever he doth Here we are in the Dominion of the Prince of
the Power of the Air even where Satan's Seat is and he doth hinder or resist or defeat all the Good he can His Devices are subtle and his Instruments many so he is the Cause of all the Evil and Misery which are scattered up and down in the Earth God suffers it to be thus for our Trial and other wise Reasons that by our overcoming he may have the greater Glory But because of this many are apt to doubt of God's Love to the World Whereas by this means he doth prove the Children of Men towards him For by their being amidst Temptation and evil the Trial of their Faith may be had whether they will follow the thing that good is Whether they will still resolutely put forth and countermine the Devices of the Enemy and so make them of none effect or cause him to fall and that he shall lose more than he got thereby God suffers many things to come to pass for our Trial whereof we are apt to stagger concerning his Love and Goodness to Mankind but thereby he hath shewed how they may approve themselves more than Conquerors and then he designs to crown them with greater Glory and Happiness This may be applied to the particular and several Dispensations which happen of whatever Kind they be each may be observed by a discerning Person to exercise our Faith and Trust Now for a Season if need be ye are in Heaviness thro' manifold Temptations that the Trial of your Faith being more precious than of Gold that perisheth might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. It is irksome at present and we are apt to have hard and distrustful Thoughts but this is because we know not all the Reasons thereof and how our End shall be yet more excellent and happy Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought where there was no Water Who brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter End Deut. 8. 15 16. This will be really found though it be hid from some and they are not sensible thereof all along Indeed this makes the rejoycing more at the End because it happens better than was expected but yet to know thereof beforehand makes that we fail not nor be discouraged Isa 42. 5. That we do not grow weary nor faint in our Mind nor abate one Tittle of our Duty nor yet desist waiting on the Lord not to be tempted so as to say with that profane King This Evil is from the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. but rather to make the contrary and right Conclusion This Trouble Opposition and Resistance is from Satan the Adversary I will endeavour through God's Grace to resist him more vigorously until he is bruised down under my Feet Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample under Feet because he hath set his Love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my Name He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in Trouble I will deliver him and honour him Psal 91. 14 15 16. As long as any one is in God's Way he is safe to carry him through all Difficulty and Danger that he may overcome and be crowned at the last It is said before He shall give his Angels Charge over thee to keep thee in all thy Ways Psal 91. 11. This Promise is exceeding particular and even so is the whole Psalm for Safety and Preservation over and from the several and successive Kinds of Evil there-mentioned So that we may trust and conclude that by what God hath done hitherto he will go on to establish and finish the same Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward Heb. 11. 35. It is not an hasty nor a fond Presumption nor yet a vain Conceit for it relies upon the whole Truth and Authority of God's Word which also speaks of the Evils and Hardships which we meet with in the mean while which we find to be so That same Word doth also assure us of Strength to hear and go through with and at last of perfect Deliverance and Victory out of them This is the Favour which the Lord beareth unto his People until he doth actually visit them with his Salvation Psal 106. 4. But for those who have sinned with their Fathers who have committed Iniquity and done wickedly how is it with them Will not the following Verse give them a Glimpse of Hope and Comfort Our Fathers understood not thy Wonders in Egypt they remembred not the Multitude of thy Mercies but provoked him at the Sea even at the Red Sea Psal 106. 7. If the Question should be asked wherefore do all Mankind sin and transgress against the Lord Have they not a present Temptation and Desire of seeming Good which they imagine God would hinder them of Not knowing that God hath provided greater Pleasure and Happiness for them and more Peace and Comfort in the mean while They are ignorant of this for otherwise they would receive the Good that exceedeth They do not understand the greater Multitude of God's Mercies for then they would not behave themselves rebelliously and contemptuously towards him Like Words unto those of Peter in Acts 3. 17 18. may be applied to Mankind of past Generations And now Brethren I wot that through Ignorance ye sinned thus as did also your Father Adam A present desire of pleasure and greatnessled him into the Transgression and so his Sons and Daughters ever since have had some seeming Reason why they committed Sin against God To be advanced a little more and better from their present imperfect State Now were they assured that what God would do for them would be beyond all this then they would endeavour to continue stedfast in his Covenant Were they fully ascertained that they should have greater Good by keeping his Judgments at all times than by declining from or walking contrary unto them either they would not transgress at all or in fewer Instances than now they have done God knoweth all things As he suffers so he doth likewise behold the whole course of sinning ever since he created Man upon the Earth until this day with the several Temptations Excuses Circumstances belonging to it as also to what degree of Extenuation or Provocation it might have and also the measure of Ignorance and Imperfection He doth not need to be informed thereof for He likewise discerns that Willing Ignorance that contempt and refusal of Instruction of set purpose The way of the just is uprightness Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just Isa 26.
thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea which mounts up and ascends on high So it is here said in the following Verse of this Psalm last quoted I will praise thee with Vprightness of Heart when I shall have learned thy righteous Judgments Both which are given to signifie and from hence we may learn that the Happiness of God's chosen doth not only consist in a perfect Peace and true Satisfaction of Mind tho' these are things very desirable and beyond what the World gives But it breaks forth into Singing and Joy unspeakable full of Glory That I may see the Good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the Gladness of thy Nation Psal 106. 5. Here are ascending Steps one after another There is not only a Freedom from Evil and Misery nor yet only a Stayedness and full Content of Mind but it hath further Delight and Refreshment and also can express it self forth as others shew forth outward Signes of Rejoycing So that when the World shall be perfectly obedient and what is consequent to that reconciled unto God when his People shall be all righteous Isa 60. 21. and each Man and Woman throughout the Earth observe all Parts and every least Tittle of their Duty to God they shall not be dull nor yet in deep Silence But they shall be more merry talkative and pleasant in speaking of and praising God for his wonderful works than now they are or have ever yet been about other things Their Heart shall rejoyce as through Wine their Heart shall rejoyce in the Lord Zech. 10. 7. which will very much exceed the Mirth of Tabret or Harp or the Joy of Feasts Their Talking shall be of God's Doings declaring his Truth and singing forth the Praises of the Lord In which they shall find more Variety yea and agreeable Satisfaction than heretofore in spending their Time in hearing or telling of some new thing some little Novelty idle Story or foolish Jesting They shall more rejoyce in the several Parts of Duty than formerly in the Pleasures of Sin for a Season All the Briskness and pretended Merriment of that compared with the Joy and Exstacy of God's Chosen shall be darkened and exceeded as the Light of the Moon is by that of the Sun or as the small and faint burning of a Candle is to the Lights of Heaven The seeming Activity of Souldiers and men of Valour all that Shew of Briskness Renown and Courage whereby in Times past the Abaddon and Destroyer hath stirred up Thousands to butcher and kill one another shall be infinitely exceeded by the Lord of Hosts and by his Army of Saints according to what is written They shall run like mighty Men They shall climb the Wall like Men of War and they shall march every one on his Ways and they shall not break their Ranks They shall run to and fro in the City they shall run upon the Walls they shall climb up upon the Houses They shall enter in at the Windows like a Thief and the Lord shall utter his Voice before his Army for his Camp is very great for he is strong that executeth his Word for the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide it Joel 2. 7 9 11. Their Speed Resolution and Order shall as much exceed that of the most excellent and victorious Army which was ever heard of since the VVorld began as they do a Flock or Herd of Sheep God is glorified by Action when the Powers which he hath given are exerted and then he will give yet more when little Creatures do great things when what before lay hid is put forth Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power Psal 110. 3. The Lord himself shall again awake as one out of Sleep and like a Giant refreshed with VVine As he endues every thing that hath Life and Breath with Powers of Action or Motion so himself will cause that that it be manifested forth he will subdue his Enemies in the hindermost Parts and put them to a perpetual Shame Those tormenting Passions shall be stretched out and come sorth in the VVicked So again the delighting Affections shall be stirred up in the Good and vent forth in the utmost Gladness and Pleasure Thou shalt increase my Greatness and comfort me on every Side I will also praise thee with the Psaltery even thy Truth O my God unto thee will I sing with the Harp O Thou holy One of Israel My Lips shall greatly rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed Psal 71. 21 22 23. Here in this VVorld of Opposition Sin and Temptation we do meet with great and sore Troubles but when once those are done away there will succed a more than proportionable Degree of Joy and Consolation This is figured by that Phrase so usual in the Prophets of Joy in the Harvest It is but a faint and imperfect Comparison to set forth the Transports and Extasies which shall be of God's People As a Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so shall the Lord rejoyce oves his People and they reciprocally shall joy in the God of their Salvation who were formerly possessed with Horrour and Dread they do at length arrive at Reverence and Good-will and then their Souls do greatly rejoyce in God and he doth put Gladness into their Hearts more than can be expressed by Corn and Wine or any worldly thing When we do sincerely and actually endeavour to be holy as he that hath called us is holy then he is perfectly reconciled unto us Notwithstanding his infinite Greatness he doth humble himself to become familiar to our Nature All former Averseness and Enmity are vanished away And we being fully resolved to keep his Commandments at all Times and that our Lord shall guide us continually he doth according to his gracious Promise keep him in perfect Peace whose Mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth on thee We may see and perceive a tittle Representation hereof in the Communion of Saints here on Earth who when they are obedient and like-minded do find exceeding Joy and Sweetness with one another as they talk of and derive it down from the God above The like will be much more in the Times of universal Reformation when the whole Earth shall be at Rest and Quiet it shall break forth into Singing Isa 14. 7. the one before the other The Pleasures of Sin or the Laughter of the World are not so much to that as sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal compared with the best Musick All carnal Joy is now sudden mix'd and unsatisfying But what comes down from the Father of Spirits or arises from doing his Will that doth remain and is sincere gives a blessed Expectation till we awake after his Likeness and are satisfied with it The Joy is suitable with our imperfect Condition here it increases as we grow up towards Perfection and is in us a Well of Water springing up unto eternal
several Acts thereof as often as they were proved and tried They are a Rebellious People which walketh in a way that was not Good after their own Thoughts Isa 65. 2. and not according to the Directions of God's Word and the Dictates of his Spirit Unto which they did owe an Allegiance as soon as they were born and an Obedience as soon as ever they came to the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But casting off and giving no heed to that they are here truly and properly termed Rebellious Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the People Which strivings of the People are those Struglings and Doubts and givings back in the Heart of Man before he yields up himself unto the Obedience of God and of his Christ These Strivings would dethrone God and Christ out of the Soul And so they have strove and endeavoured for many Generations successively in the Hearts of the several People thereof To which the answer of the Lord is ever since the days of Noah unto this time My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh Gen. 6. 3. for himself hath heretofore and doth still strive with the Hearts and Consciences of Men. In which I will by no means so express it as to say That the Spirit of God hath been overcome But they have rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit Isa 63. 10. They have quenched the Spirit 1 Thess 5. 19. for that thing may and hath been done which we are there cautioned and commanded against so that God doth declare His Spirit shall not always strive with Man that is He will leave off Fighting and Contending with Man for to come to his Obedience but give him over for that he also is Flesh that is wholly given unto Evil and Corruption and to falling away and turning aside Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty Years and afterwards in the time of Moses it is reduced to threescore and ten and fourscore Years see Psal 90. whereby we are given to understand and it is as much as if God should say whether Man will obey me or not whether he will yield unto the strivings of my Spirit or provoke me to withdraw it yet his days shall be near the same he shall live out however the appointed Time according to the Age of a Man And though the Multitude of the People both Men and Women of all the former and present Generations have done thus perversly and contrariwise with God Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise is he not thy Father that hath bought thee Hath he not made and established thee Yet as he had one good and godly Family in the midst of a whole ungodly and idolatrous Generation whom he was sure of and who were according to his Mind For I know Abraham that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen. 18. 19. So amongst so many rebellious and sinful Generations of Men and Women which have been successively one after another since the World began and the like is at this day and it may be a very few more are to succeed Yet after all these God who calls the Generations from the beginning Isa 41. 4. hath one peculiar Generation in his Eye all of which like Abraham their Father in all their Families and Places will take care that every one of them not one excepted shall keep the way of the Lord To do Justice and Judgment That the Lord may bring upon them all those things which he hath afore spoken of in his Word concerning the Times of Universal Reformation when Thy People shall be all Righteous The Sinners shall be no more When he will make an end of Transgression and bring in Everlasting Righteousness And that God hath such a Generation in his Eye and fore-knowledge is expressed in Psal 22. 30 31. on this wise A Seed shall serve him It shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation They shall come and shall declare his Righteousness unto a People that shall be born That he hath done this So that as it was said of Abraham He will command his Children and Houshold after him So they will teach their Children and Posterity They shall declare this unto a People that shall be born That the Lord hath done this VVhat is that VVhy when the whole Earth heretofore was Corrupt Evil and gone aside he hath brought them all to rights again as appears and is manifest by that Seed then living upon the Face of the Earth which shall serve him And whereas heretofore The People of some Generations and Countries did serve him for a spurt as we commonly express it Upon God's sending forth some Judgment The Inhabitants of the Earth did learn Righteousness or upon his doing some extraordinary and more than usual thing in the VVorld they would serve him earnestly and diligently for the present Season or for a few Days VVeeks Months or Years But here was the fault and failure that afterwards they would return again to their former Sin and Ungodliness and to their Formal Customary VVorship Though they did keep the Commandments indifferently well for a very little while yet they did again quickly go aside from the Commandments of God And so things have gone on after this rate and manner ever since the Creation But it will be better and otherwise when those Times of Universal Reformation shall come from the pouring out of the Spirit of the Lord. They shall fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endureth throughout all Generations Psal 72. 5. That is during all their own Life-time and down forward during that of their Children and Posterity which shall ever succeed henceforward The Children of thy Servants shall continue and ther Seed shall be established before thee Psal 102. 28. This is in opposition to that common and true Saying heretofore and now That Grace doth not go by Inheritance for many Godly and Graâ—ious Persons have Ungodly and Graceless Children VVhereas the Promise here speaks The Children of the Servants of the Lord shall continue in the fear of the Lord all one as their Fathers did and their Seed that ir further down shall be Established before thee That is they shall be fixed and firm in the VVorship and Service in the Obedience and doing the VVork of the Lord as their Immediate Fathers and Grandfathers were CHAP. VI. It is made known in the general from the Scriptures of Truth without any Reflections on particular Nations Governments that at length there will be an end of all Wars THere is a time of War and a time of Peace Eccl. 3. 8. And so the course of the VVorld hath went on interchangeably sometimes one and sometimes another ever since that Battel we Read of in Gen. 14. VVhere Abraham
Righteousness and Holiness were ingrafted into the Hearts of all Men so that they did live and were led by it at all times and in all places The Spirit of God would dwell in them 1 Cor. 3. 16. As God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my People And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord God Almighty 2 Cor. 6. 16 18. VVhat is requisite to all this we may read in the first Verse of the following Chapter Having therefore these Promises both those aforementioned are included for it is expressed in the plural number let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Be ye clean ye that bear the Vessels of the Lord Isa 52. 11. And from what is written Thou hast taken Captivity Captive VVe learn that God hath taken even Sin and Corruption Captive which heretofore did hold the Children of Men in Slavery and Captivity But when every Thought in them also is brought into Captivity unto the Obedience of Christ God will plant somewhat else in the room thereof Thou hast received Gifts for Men even the qualifications of his Grace and the fruits of his Spirit Yea for the Rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Psal 68. 18. So that though Men and Women have been Rebellious and Disobedient formerly yet when those Rebellious Thoughts and Imaginations are brought into Captivity when the Gifts of God are first lodged in the Soul to make it ready and meet beforehand the Lord God himself will come and dwell amongst them also So that whereas it was before mentioned And the Lord said My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh Gen. 6. 3. And the reason hereof was assigned because the Flesh did so very often overcome the Spirit when the Children of Men did Rebel and Vex and Grieve and Quench the Spirit yet the Blessing and Saying of Gad is made good and herein is found true A Troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at last Gen. 49. 19. So a Troop of Lusts and a Legion for they are many of Temptations have overcome the Spirit but the Spirt shall overcome them at last And the Spirit shall have that Dominion and Prevalency in the hearts of all Men that all its Dictates and Motions shall be so willingly and immediately obeyed and complied withal that there shall be no striving of the Spirit with Man for he shall forthwith and presently go as that commands him to go and come as that bids him to come and do this or that according as the Spirit saith without any such thing as Reasoning and Perswasion or striving in the Heart for there will not be the least Reluctancy or Unwillingness God who sees and knows the things afar off doth foresee this also that even Flesh will become so Spiritual that they shall obey all his Commands and execute his Statutes without any striving of the Spirit but only upon the first motion and making of it known unto their Hearts CHAP. VIII Towards the end of Time and in the latter days All the Inhabitants of the Earth will be turned and brought over unto God Which will be done and accomplished by the Pouring out of the Spirit upon us from on High IF it be asked But when shall these things be I Answer Tho there may be some tendency and preparation thereto in the mean while yet we must not expect nor look for it absolutely and fully Vntil the Spirit be poured down upon us from on High Isa 32. 15. Which shall acquaint us with the things of God and of Heaven in a most wonderful and plentiful manner that we shall then know them as clearly distinctly and truly as now we do the common things of this Earth which are now visible and present before us My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain My Speech shall distill as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the showers upon the Grass Deut. 32. 2. After that very manner hath the Word and Spirit of the Lord came to the several Men and Women of the former Generations by Droppings and Distillings like small Rain and as the Dew or Showers But this pouring forth of the Spirit upon us from on High will be like great Drops running on continually together or raining down Bucket fulls at once as the common proverbial Speech is When all the Fountains of the great Deep shall be broken up and the windows of Heaven shall be opened Gen. 7. 11. In this sence also So that all the things that are in the Earth or Sea or in the Hearts of the Children of Men shall be openly disclosed and made known And the windows of Heaven shall be opened so that we shall as clearly see and perceive the things there as now by looking through the Window thereof we see the things that are in such a Room of an House as when we are in it and look through the Casement we see the things in the next adjoining Court And that it will be all thus made known Universally at once we are given to understand by what is Written Drop down ye Heavens from above and let the Skies pour down Righteousness Let the Earth open and let them bring forth Salvation and let Righteousness spring up together I the Lord have Created it Isa 45. 8. God hath made and ordained that it shall be so that the Heavens shall drop down the things contained therein They shall be so made known unto and had by us as if they were actually dropped down and next to us The Earth also shall open and bring forth the things contained in her which heretofore lay underneath and hidden All this shall be done together And it is observable how they are all expressed by these two VVords Righteousness and Salvation By the first is shewn forth the nature of them as they are fixed and connected together after the Image of him who Created them that is in eternal and immutable Righteousness And because that in the Earth those things are which now hurt and destroy therefore God who causeth Light to shine out of Darkness and by his own way of working Which is marvellous in our eyes will cause that both Heavens and Earth do open and let them It is expressed in the Plural Number and therefore both of them shall have an hand and part in it As to bring forth Salvation and Righteousness is to spring up together with it Intimating that besides that Righteousness which the Skies shall pour down another Righteousness shall spring up together with it By the Phrase of Springing up we learn that this will proceed out of the Earth Truth shall spring out of the Earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven Plal. 85. 11. That is both
from out of the Hearts of the Inhabitants of the Earth as also from the Element it self And Righteousness shall look down from Heaven more clearly and visibly than ever it hath done yet But wherefore is it that we hear so very much that in the last days of all God will pour out his Spirit upon us from on High Isa 32. 15. For I will pour Water upon him that is Thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thine Off-spring Isa 44. 3. And it shall come to pass afterward in the last days saith God Acts 2. 17. that I will pour out out my Spirit upon all Flesh Joel 2. 28. And there is not altogether so much mention made of the Word then For after Jesus Christ who was the Word and the Word was God was taken away in his Bodily Presence from among Men he ordered that his Disciples should tarry at Jerusalem until they had received the promise of the Father and were endued with Power from on High And so in the beginning was the Word and all things were Created by it that were Made And during all this mean while they are upheld by the word of his Power And whilst these Generations pass through here the Word is to them all in all towards the making them a People prepared for the Lord and to give them an Inheritance amongst all them which are Sanctified But at the very ending Conclusion and shutting up of all things The Spirit is to do the main and principal Office But we read not altogether so much of the VVord then as aforetime Besides that the VVord is in Order and Succession of Time before the Spirit for Jesus Christ came first into the Flesh and then afterward the Holy Ghost was given according to that Emphatical Remark of one of the Inspired VVriters for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet Glorified Another great Reason hereof may be assigned That as the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever and ever who created Heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein that there should be Time no longer Rev. 10. 16. For Time will be lost and swallow'd up in Eternity as a River or Brook is now lost when it empties it self into the wide Ocean So we may easily gather and understand that when all these things here mentioned shall be so perfectly and wholly made known and seen face to face when what is now afar off and Future shall be Present and just before us when Faith shall be turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition when Prophesies shall fail Tongues cease and Knowledge shall vanish away VVhen the whole Creation of God shall be new and changed from material and sensible things into Spiritual then we may conclude also That WORDS shall be NO LONGER But the things themselves heretofore expressed and apprehended by them shall succeed and be given unto the Creatures God doth all things in his own Order He first made known unto his Creatures the Words of Eternal Life and then afterwards he invests them with the thing it self of Eternal Life and then it is consequent that the words thereof should cease and fail as the Scaffold falls down or is taken away when the Building is Perfected and quite Finished Like as now in common Life there is great talk of such a Person 's coming as of the Messiah among the Ancient Jews but when he is come indeed then all that talk perisheth which did relate thereto For since the beginning of the World Men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Isa 64. 4. But when that great and enduring thing shall be actually given to the Creature by that God whom he hath waited for then all the thoughts of Heart and words of Mouth that were before concerning it will cease and come to an utter end VVhat Truth we now see written in a dead Letter or we hear in an outward Airy Sound or we conceive in our Mind will one day appear as a shining Ray of Light For Whatever doth make manifest is Light Eph. 5. 13. And all things then will appear in the Light of the Lord. And so this great Matter which we are contending for all along and perswading People unto shall be instantly and altogether done by the Spirit So that Jesus Christ the Son of God shall be delivered from the Strivings of the People and be made the Head of the Heathen and a People whom he hath not known shall serve him As soon as they hear of him they shall Obey him So that there is not need of many more words to enforce the Exhortation But by VVords Knowledge or Notice hath been given that one day so it shall be for all things which are written in the Scriptures of Truth must be fulfilled And also there is this further benefit and use of words that we are hereby taught and put in mind to be in a Readiness and Preparation for the same The VVord doth convert Sinners from the Error of their way like the droppings of Rain or the distillings of Dew that is it doth now and then bring in some individual Persons and that also is done by degrees and in succession of time But the pouring out of the Spirit from on High shall bring them in by shoals and multitudes and do the VVork Instantly and Immediately As soon as they hear of me they shall Obey me Then thou shalt see and flow together and thine Heart shall fear and be enlarged because the abundance of the Sea shall be converted unto thee the Forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee The Multitude of Camels shall cover thee All the Flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee Who are these that fly as a Cloud and as the Doves to their Windows Isa 60. 5 6 7 8. By all which kinds of Speech we are given to understand that very many in number shall flow and come over and be Converted unto God And the Sons of Strangers shall build up thy Walls This is near to the same purport and meaning as what is said in our great Scripture out of which I have here opened and alledged things all along The Strangert shall submit themselves unto thee The Strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close Places Those are Strangers who before had not known God nor Christ For although known unto God are all Men and Women as they are his Creatures yet God and Christ doth not know them as to be in Covenant with them I never knew ye depart from me ye that work Iniquity Matt. 7. 23. But they remain Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel who are without Hope without God in the World And yet here is
the assured Promise that these shall come to be acquainted and submit themselves that is to yield Obedience unto God and his Christ according to what he hath afore spoken of in another Scripture I will say to them which were not my People Thou art my People and they shall say Thou art my God Hos 2. 23. The Strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close Places Besides that abundant Conversion of them at last those which shall be converted before they shall so fade away and come off from their former Strangeness towards God as that it shall not be perceived Like Men Ashamed which Steal and flee from Battel so they shall be ashamed of their former Ungodliness and sinful doings So that they would rather seem on the contrary as if they had obeyed and served God from the very first When these come to be acquainted with and to believe a future State and condition of Happiness and Misery they shall look about how to make sure for themselves that they may be happy and sure therein And they shall be afraid out of their close Places or of those Imaginations and Deceits in which heretofore they trusted and built a false Hope on Thou puttest away all the wicked of the Earth observe the Particle All like Dross Psal 119. 119. As wax melteth before the Fire so let the Wicked perish at the presence of God Psal 68. 2. All this will be done more suddenly and as it were at an instant when the times of universal Reformation come on and God doth bow the Heavens and come down and he poureth out his Spirit upon all Flesh Then all VVickedness will so vanish and disappear that the place thereof shall know it no more and it will seem as if there had been never any such thing on the Earth All that gross Darkness and Error will be utterly and for ever gone off from the face of it when this true Light shall begin to shine universally and openly in all the habitable parts thereof The People shall then shew forth their Zeal for the Lord God of Hosts VVho is he that said but so much as in his Heart Shall the invisible God reign over me Or shall I obey his standing and written word Let these People be brought forth that the Saints of the most High may inflict some Punishment on them But they shall not do it in the least For Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. And again The Lord shall judge his People Heb. 10. 30. Deut. 32. 35 36. And the Lord will not begin to execute it then presently when he is glorified in his Saints and had in Honour by all that are round about him As an unknown Malefactor amongst a great multitude of People when he is asked for who did such a Theft or Murther Which being known and evident must be concluded that some one did it he is sure to keep Silence and seem all one as the other innocent People lest he should be betrayed and discovered In like manner it will be when the Lord shall Plead with the Inhabitants of the Earth who will be a vast number gathered together of all Generations and Countries and he maketh Inquisition for so much Sin Iniquity Transgression and Wickedness as hath been actually done on the Earth So much hath been committed and it must have been by some Persons Who was it by Name that did it Then shall they be exceeding sorrowful and afraid and begin every one of them to say Lord is it I The particular Guilty themselves shall keep Silence and they shall be found Speechless Matt. 22. 12. Or if they are asked as concerning another Matter then they will perhaps speak out or deny hereby to wave and take of the suspicion of that also whereof they were indeed Guilty In that day there will hardly be found any who will own themselves to have been amongst the Enemies and Adversaries of the Lord. The Adversaries of the Lord shall be ashamed which as they shall be then conscious of themselves so they will endeavour to hide it as much as they can But they shall be afraid out of their close Places of shelter and absconding whether it be the Clefts of the Rocks or the Holes of the Mountains For though their Fellow Creatures would be puzled hereby end be at a loss and difficulty to whom to assign such hidden things of Dishonesty or many secret acts of Sin and Wickedness And when even the Persons themselves who committed the same shall make such a goodly outward shew of having Worshipped Honoured and served the Lord and they not knowing the limits of his Mercy nor the periods of Time of holding forth his Scepter of Grace nor yet discerning for the Heart of every one is deep the reality and sincerity of their Repentance it is hence impossible that they should either find out or judge Righteously and render accordingly to the several People But the Judge of all the Earth will do Right He is not as Man but a God of Knowledge by whom Actions are weighed 1 Som. 2. 3. Who sees Hearts as clearly as we see the outward Faces and he knows things long since past or yet to come as we do the present Moment In opposition to their Hiding Concealing and Dissembling Thine hand shall find out all thine Enemies Thy Right hand shall find out those that hate thee thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine Anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his Wrath and the Fire shall devour them Psal 21. 8 He will first find and set them out and then afterwards take his own time to punish them According to that Divine Method Having a mind to revenge all Disobedience when your Obedience is fulfilled So he will first have that Seed which shall serve him It shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation And when the days of their Obedience and Service are fulfilled then he will begin to call to account the former Generations For it is first said Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousnesness and then afterwards it follows And the destruction of the Transgressors and of the Sinners shall be together Isa 1. 27 28. And I will punish the World for their Evil and the Wicked for their Iniquity Isa 13. 11. But like as it is written I will leave a few Men of them from the Sword and from the Pestilence that they may declare all their Abominations among the Heathen whither they come and they shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 12. 16. So here it may be supposed that God will have one Righteous Generation after so many Rebellious and Sinful ones that by comparing both those Contraries together I do here speak after the manner of Men He may know how to proceed to Recompence and Punishment We read that when God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the Earth it
all this long Fight and Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Earth wherein the Lord did Fight against them with the Sword of his Mouth even that two edged Sword which is called the Word of God And these Rebels did again fight with him with all their Vngodly deeds which they have Vngodly committed and with all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him Jude 15. Yet after all God hath the better and upper Hand Though they did as it were Murder his own Divine Majesty in putting to Death his Prophets Son and Servants God hath raised up his Son already and he will also raise up all them again and bring them along with him Alive to Judgment when When he will tread down his Enemies in his Anger and Trample them in his Fury Isa 63. 3. and He will slay them Luke 19. 27. serving them as they did his Anointed and his Chosen ones Still the Lord liveth and Blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be Exalted The Psalmist goes on to speak in the Person of Christ who must Reign till he hath put all his Enemies under his Feet It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the People under me He delivereth me from mine Enemies yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me Which was eminently fulfilled when those that rose up against him lifted him up upon the Cross and afterwards God lifted him up from the Grave wherein they had put him into the highest Heavens in his Ascension and sitting now at his Right hand where he is now lifted up infinitely above all his Enemies Thou hast delivered me from the violent Man who is as contrary to the Meckness and Gentleness of Christ as a Wolf is to a Lamb. But here God the Everlasting Shepherd who brought again the Lord Jesus from the Dead did deliver and restore this Lamb of God safe again from out of their Mouth after they had taken him and with wicked Hands Crucified him Therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing Praise unto thy Name Great deliverance giveth he to his King who in that day in reality and very deed shall be King both of the Jews and also of the Gentiles yea of all the Earth and to his Anointed which is the very Christ to David and to his Seed for evermore By which last word the Son of David is included of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came and also all the Seed and Children whom the Lord hath given him from the Beginning from thenceforth and for evermore in the most Universal comprehensive and extensive Signification throughout all the Earth and to the end of Time from thenceforth throughout all Eternity Which is here so expressed for our Understanding and Apprehension For there is no passing throughout all Eternity for into that is an entrance and in that is a continuance but no going through any part of what is without Succession of days or ending of time but like God himself the Ancient of days abideth continually the same And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slaâ—n and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall Reign on the Earth Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that is in them heard I saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Rev. 5. 9 10 12 13. After this I beheld and lo a great Multitude which no Man could number of all Nationt and Kindred and People and Tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their Hands and cried with a loud Voice saying Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be to our God for ever and ever Amen Rev. 7 9 10 12. FINIS Practical Books Written and Published by Richard Stafford OF Happiness Wherein it is fully and particularly manifested That the greatest Happiness of this Life consisteth in the Fear of God and keeping his Commandments in opposition to the Pleasures of Sin or the pretended conveniency of Disobedience Rules and Directions for the prevention of and Recovery out of Sickness A Discourse against Partial Obedience Or that dangerous Deceit so universal amongst them who call themselves Christians of keeping some of the Commandments of God and neglecting others Some Thoughts of the Life to Come With a brief account of the state of Religion as it 〈◊〉 now in the World The great Benefits of Christ to all that Believe on and Obey him Being a Treatise on Hebrews 2. 15. VVherein it is shewed and made known how People may be freed and delivered from that slavish fear of Death whereby they are subject to Bondage throughout their Life-time And also how they may be saved and preserved from the Evil and Danger of Death when it shall approach nigh and come actually upon them An earnest Call to all the Inhabitants of the Earth to Turn immediately to the Lord their God