end I am the Lord I change not Jesus Christ yesterday to Day and the same for ever His works indeed of the first Creation are changable to the worse and weaker but so is not he of old hast thou laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure they all of them shall wax old like a Garment but thou art the same And so are all his works of the second Creation The renewing graces of his holy Spirit the older they are the newer and fresher and more flourishing they grow They that are partakers of them can say as Caleb did to Joshua Forty Years old was I when Moses sent me to espie the Land I am this Day fourscore and five Years old as yet I am as strong this Day as I was the Day when Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for War both to go out and to come in So it is said of Moses who was an hundred and twenty Years old when he dyed yet his Eye was not dim nor his natural force abated How much more may it be said of the everlasting Lord God that his Eyes are as sharp sighted as ever nor is his Divine force abated The Eyes of the Lord run too and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him Is his hand shortned that it cannot redeem Or have I no power to deliver Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his Eare heavy that it cannot hear And as his Power is so is his Mercy and Truth The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto Childrens Children Thy faithfulness is unto all Generations This House therefore with all its Furniture is alway new and fresh which can be said of no other nor is it new formally only but also effectively Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary His strength never decayeth nor doth his will ever alter towards his who by a never failing Power of the Holy Spirit are carryed as it were upon Eagles Wings to Heaven to the mark of their supernal Calling Yea their Wings grow like unto Eagles that is they grow young and renew in spiritual Vigour 9. It is a dwelling house dwelling in as well as dwelt in an habitation inhabiting in each of its Inhabitants which no other house is God is oft said to dwell in Heaven Unto thee will I lift up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens Look down from Heaven and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory I dwell in the High and Holy Place The Heaven is my Throne We must not understand this placing God in Heaven as if he were totally circumscribed there for this is contrary to his infinite greatness Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord. Nor must we think he is so in Heaven as if his sight of things below were hindered by Heaven as a Curtain drawn before him as those great Fools thought for this is contrary to his Omnisciency But he is said to be in Heaven because he doth there most immediatly and visibly manifest his Majesty and exhibit the fulness of his Glory and because from thence he doth most manifest his powerful providence wisdome justice and mercy we are commanded when we pray to him to conceive of him as being in Heaven to teach us to raise our Souls as high in praise as possibly we can above the Earth beyond Heaven our thoughts cannot soar As also how to make Prayers pleasing to God both for matter and manner God is as oft said to dwell on Earth to have his Residence among his ancient People in the Land wherein they dwelt Defile not the Land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the Children of Israel The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Blessed be the Lord out of Zion which dwelleth at Hierusalem I have surely built thee an House to dwell in A setled place for thee to abide in for ever In that place as in the flitting Tabernacle which Moses made he caused his Name to dwell that is he made manifest and known in those places the sacred Signs of his Presence as it were by his own proper name His Majesty and Glory in singular and wonderful effects of Grace and Power Every regenerate and faithful Man and Woman hath ever been is and will be owned and acknowledged the Temple of the Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God These things are signifyed by this dwelling of the Spirit in Believers 1. That his Spirit is effectual and mighty to possess and govern them enlightning their minds to know and powerfully guiding them to do the known will of God 2. That his Presence is continual not as of a Guest who lodgeth for a Night at an Inne and is gone next Day nor as a Sojourner but as an owner and Possessor to abide for ever I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abâ—de with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth he dwelleth in you and shall be in you 3. The manner of his Presence not by Infiniteness of Power as he is present to all Creatures to sustain them but by his grace and healthful effects If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he shall quicken your immortal Souls and mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 10. It is a movable Habitation according to the motion of those that dwell in it accompanying them whithersoever they go covering them where-soever they are Some Creatures carry their Houses about with them So doth every new Creature They are never out of this their own House The Israelites during their abode in the Wilderness dwelt in Tents Forty Years The Arabians and other People do so constantly having no firm Habitations In time of War and in travelling these moveable Houses were and still are in use Places to dwell in so made as they might be
Jesus Christ apprehending and applying the promises of pardon made in his blood Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved 2. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit By spirit are meant the gifts or workings of the Holy Ghost which are twofold one inferiour once slightly enlightning Mens mindes this is common to the Elect with many reprobates who are said to be made partakers of the Holy Ghost All that before God are rightfully baptized receive the Holy Ghost according to the promise No Man being able to say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The other is a supream gift peculiar to the Elect only a new quality of Holiness infused into the Soul transforming the whole Man effecting a real change and alteration of the whole Man from evil to good enabling him to make a good confession and to walk in Love which are the two next Characters 3. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God This confession includes and comprehends in it four things 1. A distinct and cordial knowledge of this and all other fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith which are inseparable in their own Nature For if Jesus Christ be the Son of God all his Doctrine must be a Divine and everlasting truth Especially of that which the Gospel reveals concerning Christ namely that he is an alsufficient Saviour and offered indefinitely to every reasonable Creature that will receive him in a Matrimonial Covenant as a Wife receives her Husband to be governed by him and to cleave unto him in every condition 2. A lively assent of the mind to all this is an undoubted truth with a free and full consent of the will to this blessed offer for the incomparable goodness of it rolling and relying upon his Person and merits for the obtaining of remission of sins and everlasting life after Death According to that of the Apostle This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners 3. A Verbal acknowledgment of these and all other known and believed Gospel Verities with an open profession of them before the face of the World That this is necessary to be found in every one that would approve himself to have Interest in God and possession of him as his Habitation appeares belike in God's grace by Christ is by faith in the heart as in a lively Spring and in confession as a continual respiration both which are promised in the Gospel For what saith Moses The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Nor can the one be without the other For when God hath once said unto any Mans heart I have called thee by thy Name thou art mine That Mans heart cannot but answer and say Lord I am thine O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant And what he hath heard in the Ear he cannot but declare in the hearing of others One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand and surname himself by the Name of Israel All manner of Persons that shall joyn themselves to me with my Church shall make open profession of my faith and service and therefore he that is ashamed of Christ and his Words in an adulterous and sinful Generation that would hate and reproach and persecute him for a strict profession thereof or is affrighted hereby from making such a profession God will never own nor Christ acknowledge such a one Their hidden faith shall not hide them from the wrath of God who will take Eternal Vengeance on them for their Cowardize They who through carnal fear shall not dare to make profession of my truth saith Christ shall have their part fixed in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone These lead the Van in the rout of Reprobates marching thitherward Among the Chief Rulers many believed on Christ but did not make publick profession of believing in him for fear of excommunication this faith of theirs was properly no faith For a true and lively faith confesseth that with the Mouth which is believed in the Heart This duty of confessing God was figured under the Law by the shaking of things offered waving them to and fro before the Lord which signified the shaking of our Lips as in uttering and speaking forth his praise By him let us offer the Sacrifice to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name So the telling forth frankly and boldly what we hold in matter of Religion 4. A Vital confession joyned to a Verbal There are some whose lives give their Mouths the lye They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work Reprobate Unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee God is love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him This is a sure note and character of our dwelling in God when we finde that we love God for himself and our Neighbour for his sake In obedience to his Command Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And because of his Image which is more or less visible in every Man by this we may try the truth of the first note for the love of God is the root of all true obedience to his Commandments Nothing we do is good in his sight unless we do it out of love to him When our Saviour gives the sum of the precepts of the first Table he does it in these words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Giving us thereby to understand what makes all the service there required to be acceptable unto God The same makes the duties of the second Table so Let all your things be done in love Follow the truth in love Above all these things put on Love This makes them all lovely Love is the fulfilling of the Law Qu. How may we know we have this love to God and Men Answ Where there is true love to God the heart is softned The sight and sence of sin will fill it with sorrow for offending God thereby Zech. 12. 10. Psal 51. 3. Luk. 7. 38 47. and there will be a Daily increase of hatred of sin a greater desire after and delight in the
of sound words Let us hold fast our profession of Christian Faith and Religion in words and deeds That which ye have already hold fast till I come Especially this grace and gift of assurance which is a Jewel of the greatest worth in the World For as the happiness of having it so the misery of wanting it is unspeakable We cannot love God heartily when we doubt whether he loves us We can have little heart to pray our spiritual fight will be uncomfortable our peace unsetled our patience heartless all heat to holy duties will be utterly dampt in us This is made an effect of lively Faith and an assured mark of those who are living Members of Christ namely to hold fast that degree of assurance Christ was faithful as a Son over his own House whose House are we If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end See an example of this fast holding and keeping this Pearl of Price in the Spouse of Christ how servent her desires were how forcible her endeavours to make his singular presence with her familiar with her alwayes It was but a little that I passed from the Watchmen great worldly wise Men but I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go We are as oft exhorted to add unto those good things which we have and hold to increase our spiritual store to grow in all Graces Besides this giving all diligence add to your Faith Virtue to Virtue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity Grow in Grace We beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God So ye would abound more and more That ye would increase more and more with the increase of God Grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ This will be both for our comfort and credit profit Lord thy Pound hath gained other Five Pounds be thou over Five Cities Especially we should desire and add degrees to our Faith as of adherence so of experience and evidence make it our Prayer Lord increase our Faith and this will bind others praises of God on our behalf We are bound to thank God alwayes for you Brethren as it is meet because that your Faith groweth exceedingly The great benefit and necessity of this knowledge of assurance may be motive sufficient to perswade you to give all diligence in the use of all means to preserve and increase it You will be sure to meet with temptations to doubt of your interest in God of your being in him to question whether you are Children of this Family Christ himself was thus assaulted though dwelling in the bosome of his Father If thou be the Son of God You must all dye shortly you may presently For what is your life it is even a Vapour which appeareth for a little Moment and vanisheth away Now if you be without assurance that you dwell in this heavenly House when Death drives you out of your Earthly How full of Horror and Torment must your Hearts needs be not knowing whether Heaven or Hell must be your dwelling place to all Eternity Whereas if you knew you were in the same House with Christ this would quiet your heart from all fear As soon as Christ was come into the Ship wherein the Disciples were tossed the Wind presently ceased God through Christ being your Habitation your Light and Salvation whom or what should you fear while you live and when you die God is our refuge therefore we will not fear And this and this only is able to make and keep your hearts lightsome in every condition Yea knowledge of your abiding in God will give a sweet relish as to every comfort So to every cross I have lost a dear Husband Wife Child Friend a comfortable dwelling but not my dear God And the more assurance the less fearful and more chearful Now the means to preserve and increase assurance are the same wherby you gained it The outward are those Ordinances of God and exercises of his holy Religion which he hath sanctified to this end to bring us unto and into himself and to work in us a comfortable assurance thereof especially the Word Sacrament and Prayer The more inward and spiritual are care to keep a good Conscience Diligent observation of your own ways Consideration of the experiments you have had of God's favour towards you renouncing your selves Resting only upon the free Grace of God in performance of the conditions required on our part looking oft over your evidences and holding the Conclusion To learn by heart and put in practice all those duties that are incumbent upon all those to whom the Lord even the most High vouchsafeth this high Prerogative of admission to and possession of his blessed Self to be your proper Habitation The general duty is to walk worthy of the Lord who hath effectually called you out of the World and out of your selves into himself and hath justified you and partly glorified you with glorious priviledges graces and comforts For whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified This the Apostle Paul frequently presseth I beseech you that you walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called You know how we exhorted and charged every one of you that ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you into his Kingdom of Glory Of God whose Livery you wear whose Image you bear of whose Houshold you are To walk worthy of your Vocation is to walk holily for the general Vocation of all Christians is to be holy as God is holy unto whom they are called in Jesus Christ As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation And as he presseth them to this worthy walking So he presseth God by Prayer for them that they might by his grace be enabled to walk declaring withall sundry Ingredients and Concurrents that make these paces and steps they take regular and graceful and the end of the course joyful We cease not to pray for you and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdome and spiritual understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness Let knowledge shew you the wayes you should walk and sanctification carry you on an end therein and patience uphold you till you come to the end of your Journey when you shall receive the end of your Faith even the salvation of your Souls The
are not straitned in us but you are straitned in your own Bowels 4. It is a House no less lightsome than large God is light and in him is no darkness at all in this light we shall see Light The Lord will be unto thee an everlasting Light When there was a thick darkness in all the Land of Egypt The Israelites had Light in their dwellings All that are Israelites indeed have light in God their dwelling place When all others in the World sit in darkness and the shaddow of Death And they do contemplate the light of his Mercy Truth and Power With open Face beholding his Glory by which they are transformed more and more into his Image Sometimes indeed they are compelled to sit in darkness of dangers and distresses inward and outward Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light He hath led me and brought me into darkness but not into light But even in this darkness they are not altogether without light they have the light of God's Word They Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a light unto my Path. And in his Word they have the light of his promises that he will bring them out of that darkness whereinto he brought them and turn their grief and afflictions into joy For thou wilt light my Candel the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness Yea even when and all the while I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a Light unto me God is a Sun ten thousand times more full of Light than this material Sun and it is impossible that he that dwells in the Sun should want Light 5. It is a warm House Light hath heat in it emiently as the Peripateticks say yea it is both warm and cool A Summer and a Winter House both great Men were wont to have several Mansions for these two several Seasons of the Year This House is as some choice Roomes in some great Houses are warm in Winter and cool in Summer Many there are that dwell in God who have more Winters than one every Year scarce one Summers day in many Years I am afflicted and ready to die from my Youth up Yet in the sharpest weather this House of yours keep their hearts warm So that the Spouse said I sleep but my Heart waketh They can say with Paul As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing I am filled with comfort I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations Being justified by faith we have peace with God and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also Because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Although the Fig-Tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall faile and the Fields shall yield no increase the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation If it be objected that this is not alway true that they who dwell in God are alway thus joyful nay many times their hearts have not the least sense of comfort yet in such a case they have a warmth and heat that is far better and includes abundance of comfort in it and in due season will flame forth namely that of love and that both of desire and complacency Set me as a Seal upon thine arm for love is strong as death The Coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame many Waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it This warmth their hearts never want though sometimes the sense of the second motion of it may seem to them as dull as that of their joy Nor is there any time wherein they cannot say with David My Heart was hot within me Yea discouragements from the World are so far from cooling your love to God that they make it hotter as Water cast upon Lime so Michol's scoffs were to David's Zeal such is a flame issuing from the fire of Love If this be to be vile I will yet be more vile than thus Others of God's People have many Summer Days yea almost all their Days all the Year long for many Years together are such Job had such a long Summer all which time God's Candle shined upon his head The secret of God was upon his Tabernacle His most wise Conduct governed his House provided plentifully for it He washed his steps with Butter and the Rock poured him out Rivers of Oyl Hyperbolical termes As if he had said I enjoyed all my goods and pleasures according to mine own desire When the Eare heard him then it blessed him and when the Eye saw him it gave witness unto him He sat chief and dwelt as a King in the Army Was both beloved and feared yet in all these hot Sun-shine Dayes of prosperity this House of his kept his heart cool towards the things of the World He lived in continual fear of loosing them I feared saith he a fear and it came upon me I never all this while gave my self over to carnal security I alway affrighted my heart with the apprehension of the Accidents of this life and contained my self in fear and humility towards God and within the bounds of modesty towards men Hear him making a solemn protestation how cool his heart was kept from evil concupiscence and cursed love to Women I set a watch saith he at the entrance of my sences made a Covenant with mine Eyes That my Soul might not by them receive any vicious enticements to uncleanness Or if my sences had been at any time allured by any object of sin yet my heart which is the seat of God's Spirit hath opposed them It never walked after mine Eyes And as for temporal good Though I had exceeding great store of them and all justly gotten yet was I free from rejoycing carnally or setting my whole delight in them nor did I put any confidence at all in them Thus loose was this holy Man's Soul kept from the things of the World The lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life And so was the Soul of Moses who living by faith in God had his affections so cooled to the pleasures of Egypt that with ease he forsook them all and with joy joyned himself to the Ignominious condition of his brethren 6. No House is so full of goods as this is none so stored with all things both for necessity and delight Houses that are high and strong and large and lightsome and warm if they want provision of good and furniture are far from being accounted good Houses These only where there is a fulness of Houshold stuff
over all other Creatures He dearly bought and purchased this Habitation for all the Elect which they had forfeited by their first offence and hereupon were outed of it He gave himself a Ransome for them all a Price fully answerable to their Souls and to this Inheritance In him they may have been said to have received at the Lords hand double for all their sins And for them it were and not for himself only that He fulfilled all Righteousness and thereby paid the whole debt of obedience to the Law which they did owe to God All spiritual blessings whereby they are made meet to be made partakers of this blessed Mansion Faith Repentance and Holiness though they be Gospel Gifts of God and obtained meerly through his Mercy yet is this mercy obtained from God only through Jesus Christ Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in him we have Redemption through his Blood Which also purgeth our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God and thereby we have boldness to enter into the holyest and through his Intercession it is that we have our abiding there Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Or bring a Writ of Ejection to them Who is he that condemneth Or who is he that passeth Sentence that they must avoid their House It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us He dyed for and in their name and stead whereby they are absolved from all their forfeits He is risen again for their Justification to acquit them as it were by manner of solemn Judgment His Resurrection was a certain argument that God was reconciled and that this habitation was regained for them which could not have been if he had remained dead For the continuation of the Payment would alwayes have shewed the Imperfection of it And as he is at the right hand of God in the Heavenly Glory fully manifested so they are at his right hand Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen And there he maketh Intercession for them by continually representing himself his Righteousness Merit and Love before the face of his Father and so preserves them in his favour and love from which nothing shall be ever able to seperate them by him they have and hold possession 14. It is a habitation best accommodated of any other The conveniences belonging to it are numberless and matchless The excellency of the meanest of them cannot be worthily uttered nor sufficiently magnified by the tongue of Men and Angels No such passage into any House as this When the Queen of Sheba had seen the House that King Solomon had built And his ascent by which he went up to the House of the Lord that most stately Bridge and great terrace born up with exceeding strong Walls which he set upon that hollow place and deep praecipice which divided Mount Zion from Mount Moriah by which they went from the royal Palace to the Temple There was no more Spirit in her she was ravished beyond her self How insinitely more ravished would she have been had she seen by the eye of faith as probably she did and so was the ascent and passage into this house which is the Lord. The Apostle tells us that he by his blood hath made a new and living way of entrance into the holiest for all believers who by a lively faith represent unto themselves his humane nature with all that he hath done in it for them and hereby get into the innermost fruition of Gods grace and glory He in his own Person is the way and passage into this super coelestial Pallace I am the way no Man cometh unto the Father but by me Nor is there any house that hath such Air. Kings have had a care of this especially that the edifice when erected might have fresh Air and cooling Gales of Wind continually Jehoiakim whose pride in building is blamed is brought in thus expressing his purpose I will build me a high house Chambers through Aired the Hebrew hath it so and so the Septuagint exposed to blasts on every side No house hath such continual refreshing Gales as this Christ breaths upon his proper houshold for an external sign of the Internal operation of his spirit He still doth so upon his whole houshold of faith shedding the love of God abroad in their hearts by his holy spirit to whom their common Mother makes this Prayer each is heard and granted Awake O North Wind and come O South and blow upon my Garden By these two Winds of contrary qualities is signified the same spirit working either coolness and refreshing of Comfort or heat and fervency of Zeal And Moreover that every Wind shall blow profit to every one that loveth God as every one doth that to him that dwelleth in him Nor hath any House such Gardens and Orchards with Variety of Flowers and Fruits and fresh Springs therein nor such Walks and Arbours belonging and adjoyning to it as this hath The loss of this parcel of Ground which was stored with such excellent Plants and Trees and enriched with more fruitfulness and beauty than any other part of the Earth called Paradise and the Garden of the Lord made for Mans use and delight and out of which he was excluded and to which he might no more come neer because of his sin is abundantly made up to all that dwell in God Who have liberty to eat of the fruit of every Tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food Yea Of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God and to drink of the Water of Life freely and to walk at liberty Yea themselves are the Gardens and Orchards of this House wherein he walks and delights to feed Nor have any Gardens and Orchards and Springs such Fences and Guards about them as these A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed in that Day sing ye unto her a Vineyard of red Wine I the Lord do keep it I will Water it every moment Lest any hurt it I will keep it Night and Day I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about Nor is there any House that hath such Lands and Revenues such a stock belonging to it The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Every Beast of the Forrest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills I know all the Fowles upon the Mountains They are all before me ready at my service The World is mine and the fulness thereof of the upper as well as lower World Every one that dwells in this house may say truly all these are mine The Apostle says so All things are yours Entirely refinedly
particular duties are many in sundry references both to things and Persons The first of the former sort we will dwell awhile upon are Earthly Houses and Habitations Some whose dwelling Place the Lord is have no House on Earth which they can call their own Of those that have some are not suffered to live in them and of them that have this liberty some have very poor Houses with as poor Furniture or other Conveniences Others have convenient Dwellings with an indifferent outward estate and some few have gentile and stately Edifices with riches and honour in abundance 1. To those that have no earthly Houses of their own but are in a state of beggary or next to it of whom some there are who never had any others had comfortable ones but have lost them by Fire or other casualty and so are for the present Housless to these I have this word of Exhortation Let not your hearts be troubled 1. Because you are not without Fellowes and Companions better than your selves that are in the same Housless condition you have heard of some Of whom the World was not worthy Who wandred in Deserts and in Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth And of the blessed Apostle St. Paul Who both hungred thirsted and was naked and had no certain dwelling place And of our blessed Saviour Who had not where to lay his head And you know how little it troubled these holy Ones that they were thus destitute how well pleased with their want it being their Heavenly Fathers good pleasure that it should be with them as it was And how joyfully those believing Hebrews took the spoyling of their Goods knowing that they had in Heaven a better Mansion and a better and an enduring substance 2. You are not without a House which likes you best and which you would not change for the best House in the World You hear God asking you as Elkenah did Hannah Am not I better to thee than Ten Sons Had you not rather enjoy me and do you not finde more comfort in me than in Ten Houses And your Heart answereth truth Lord. And can it then be troubled It may be said of all Houses compared with this of yours as it 's said of all Nations they are as nothing less than nothing and vanity And in truth all Houses and Riches which others inherit are not though they seem to be You only and your fellow Inhabitants inherit that which is Esther had good reason to be content when she was preferred to the best place of the House And so have you who are preferred to live in the best House and in the best place the very heart of it You are not only graven upon the Palmes of God's hands but you are in his heart set as a seal there Yea I will rejoyce over them to do them good with my whole heart and with my whole Soul How then can ye choose but rejoyce exceedingly in the want of all Creature comforts yea though you have to boot the present feeling of the greatest outward evils And say with the holy Prophet Although the Figg-Tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yield no Meat the Flocks shall be cut off from the Fold And there shall be no Herd in the Stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my Salvation The Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance The Lines are fallen to me in pleasant places Yea I have a goodly Heritage Having nothing I. possess all things having the Haver of all things 3. You may and ought to take comfort in the promises which God hath made to his People in this case of Poverty which for the present pincheth you He is pleased to bring you to this want of house and maintenance that he might humble and prove you to do you good in the latter end And he is able and no less willing to help you either by inclining the hearts of the rich to shew compassion upon you to receive you into their Houses and feed you at their Tables or if you have but Pulse to eat he can make that nourish you better than Kingly fare yea he can make you go in the strength of one Meal made of a Cake baken on the Coals Forty Dayes Qu. But may we expect God will work Miracles now adayes Yes that we may rather than his promise should faile Is my hand shortned at all This resolve upon that the Eyes of the Lord run too and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him And of this also that all things are possible to him that believeth And therefore with Job resolve to trust in him though he slay you and to dye rather than to help your selves by any unlawful means and cast off all solicitous carking thoughtfulness for your Bodies where to dwell and what to eat and wherewith ye shall be cloathed Ponder those Seven Disswasives from distrustful cutting dividing distracting cares And having Food and Rayment how little how course soever be content therewith Considering that a little that the righteous Man hath is better than the riches of many wicked Nor do you doubt all but if God see that a House with wealth and riches may serve to further your spiritual and eternal good you shall not fail to have them before you dye He hath raised the Poor out of the Dust and lifted the needy out of the Dunghill and set him with Princes And so he will you Hear his express primise Wealth and Riches shall be in his House or if you live and dye poor and mean your Children shall be blessed with abundance His Seed shall be mighty upon Earth And you that were some Years since wealthy but by the rage of the Fire or malice and fraud of Men or other mishaps are become as poor as Job do not despair of recovering your losse but remember what the Man of God said to Amaziah who demanded of him What he should do for the Hundred Talents The Lord is able to give thee much more than this and how he gave Job twice as much as before Wait upon God and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land Yee have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is pittiful and of tender Mercy 2. To you that have Houses of your own but may not live in them at least cannot with any safety 1. See and acknowledge the hand of God in your expulsion as in every other Cross so in this you should a Divine Providence It is God that and not Man only that hath thrust you out 2. Examine the cause of
in the Light but sit in Darkness and in the shaddow of Death Namely 1. Grosly ignorant ones that are utterly unacquainted with the first Principles of the Oracles of God These are in Satan's Power under his Government who is the Ruler of the Darkness of this World against these is the wrath of God revealed from Heaven in temporal and spiritual and Eternal Judgments Knowledgè being the Foundation and Seed of all saving Grace they must needs be graceless that want it 2. Wickedly erroneous ones those who hold in their judgments Doctrines overthrowing the Christian Faith these are not many Doors from Death For every fundamental Errour hath a damnable defilement being a Leprosie in the Head the worst of that kinde of Plague 3. Openly prophane ones that live in the omission of known duties and in the practice of known gross sins Who for the pleasures of the Flesh renounce the Heavenly blessings as Esau did who for a Morsel of Meat sold his birth-right Fornicators Thieves Drunkards Revilers Swearers Sabbath-breakers c. This ye know that no such have any abiding in God but dwell in the Devil whose they are and whom they serve and with whom they shall abide eternally without Repentance 4 Meer civil ones who live not in any open offence against the Second Table but are utterly regardless of the First which are of absolute necessity to prove Man's being in God The Gospel teaching us to live godly as well as righteously and soberly Nor without holiness shall any Man ever see God 5. Hypocrites who though they seem to have a prime respect to the First Table which Christ calls the First and great Commandement yet they make little or no Conscience of the Second Table duties love not their Wives are cruel to their Children and Servants will lie and cheat and cozen tipple c. The damnable estate of these hath been sufficiently discovered and that the lowest place of Torments in the burning Lake is assigned for them 6tly Haters and Blasphemers and Persecutors of the ways of Godliness and of them that walk in those wayes by word or deed This is an evident token of Perdition and the wrath of God shall come upon such to the utter-most if they perish in their malice The duty we owe to all these is to mourn for their undone condition and to desire and strive earnestly to convert them That they may be in capacity to live and lodge with you under the same Roof and partake of the same glorious Priviledges and Graces and Comforts So you ought to do by these when you have occasion to converse with any of them as Lydia by Paul and Silas constrained them to come into her House and abide there at least by earnest invitation and perswasion as Jael did Sisera with another manner of mind Turn in my Lord turn into me fear not You are bound to have the same tender and cordial affection towards all these that are out of God's grace that Saint Paul had towards the Galatians that were fallen from grace My little Children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you 1. Be in pain for them as a Woman in travel is Grieve and groan and sigh and weep bitterly for them as Lot did for the Sodomites With whose filthy conversation he was vexed for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing hearing vexed his righteous soul from Day to Day with their unlawful deeds I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved Rivers of Waters run down mine Eyes because they keep not thy Law O that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Teares that I might weep Day and Night as well for the sins as the slain of the Daughters of my People For they be all Adulterers an Assembly of treacherous Men and bend their Tongue like their Bow for Lies They proceed from evil to worse Samuel mourned for Soul Even mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carryed away Jesus grieved for the hardness of the Heart of the Jews Beheld their City and wept over it Out of much affliction and languish of heart I wrote unto you with many teares Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly whose Glory is their shame who mind Earthly things For loves sake love to God who is dishonour'd and your Countrey which is endangered and to these poor Creatures that are destroying their poor Souls and your own Souls which you will preserve from infection by this means lay sadly to heart and grieve affectionately for the sad dark doleful damnable condition so many thousands in this Land are in Should you come into Houses full of dead Men that had slain themselves would not your Eyes affect your Hearts could you forbear tears You can scarce come into any House where some are not spiritually dead and destroying their own Souls which is a thousand times worse 2. Pray for them Brethren my Hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they may be saved O that I shmael might live before thee If any Man see his Brother sin a sin which is not unto Death he shall ask and he shall give him life God shall pardon him and by that means free him from everlasting Death Father forgive them for they know not what they do Lord lay not this sin to their charge There are none you know or meet with worse than these for whom Stephen thus prayed they were stiff necked so hard that they were not to be made plyable uncircumcised in Heart and Eares as prophane inwardly and wicked as the Heathen themselves though they outwardly in their Bodies carryed the Seal of God's Covenant They always resisted the Holy Ghost by whom God's truth was not only propounded but the truth of it likewise so powerfully demonstrated that they could not contradict it but only by obstinate malice They gnashed upon that Holy-man with their Teeth from madness and malice which they bear to the Evangelical Doctrine which he preached and they stoned him with Stones to Death Pray also that God would work a change in their mindes and manners draw them by a merciful Violence out of Satan into Christ 3. To your mourning and prayers add utmost endeavours using every one according as his Nature and Condition shall require Of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the Fire The simple weak and seduced deal gently with Those that are hardned and perverse and corrupters of others be as much as in you lyeth Instruments of their Salvation by more severity Save them with fear namely by a lively denuntiation of God's Judgments darted into your Consciences pulling them out of the Fire that is doing what you can
excellencies and transcendent perfections of God So this especially of sublimity that he is most high This did David I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will sing praise to thy Name O thou most high I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the most high As he did himself so he stirreth up all others to do so O clap your hands all People shout unto God with the voice of Tryumph for the Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over the Earth Let the Saints sing aloud upon their Beds Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth And this he tells us is a good thing at all times especially on the Sabbath Dayes It is a good thing to sing praises unto thy holy Name O most High His Universal Regiment is to be acknowledged This matter is by the Decree of the Watchers and the demand by the Word of the holy One to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of Men. 2. His wonderful humility and condescention The Lord is high above all Nations and his glory above the Heavens Who is like the Lord our God who is most High who humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in the Heaven and in the Earth He doth not disdain from his High Seat of Glory to provide for all Creatures both Terrestrial and Coelestial He hath a gracious and loving care of vile Wormes and grievous sinners yea vouchsafes to make their hearts if humbled and contrite for their sins his dwelling place For thus saith the High and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is high and holy I dwell in the high and holy Places with him also that is of an humble and contrite Spirit The humility of the Son of the most high God being the same in substance with him and equal in power and glory condescended to match with a Maid of our Family that had neither beauty nor dowry A greater condescention than if the greatest Emperor on Earth should marry the poorest and most deformed Virgin upon Earth assuming a humane Nature with his Divine Person In all things like unto Man excepting sin and in that nature to suffer poverty hunger thirst weariness and other humiliations even unto Death Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation Annihilated himself and brought himself as it were to nothing Took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the habit of Men And being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross 3. Consider the exceeding high honour he hath done you to be Servants in such a House to himself whom you have made your House by choosing him and cleaving to him Nebucadnezar could not desire a higher honour for the Three Worthies whom he saw walking in the midst of the Fire than to call them Servants of the most high God Nor the Angel that appeared to Daniel in the Vision of the Four Beasts and interpreted it to him for the Subjects of God's Kingdom than to call them Saints of the most high Yea the Angels themselves glory in this title I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren And James stiles himself not the Lords Brother but the Servant of the Lord. And God himself Moses not King in Jesuran but my Servant My Servant Moses 2. In Prayers I will cry unto God most high Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights We are commanded to pray to God as being above in Heaven to teach us among many other things that our Prayers should be sent forth with such fervencies that they may reach and pierce Heaven where God is to cry as David did O my God I cry in the Day time in the day time and in the Night season He heard my cry My most earnest desires in Prayer arising from feeling and fear of misery And so did Moses Wherefore cryest thou unto me God seeming to chide him for so doing but it was not for his fervent praying but for his fearing and fainting his Faith beginning to fail and to let him know that he was more ready to hear than he to pray 2. Learn humility of the most high God Be ye followers of God as dear Children Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another So if God have condescended unto us we ought to do the like to our Inferiours there being infinitely more distance and disproportion between God and us than there is between us were we the highest Princes on Earth and they poorest Beggars For they are all our Brethren Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us Be not therefore high-minded but condescend to Men of low Estate And learn of me saith the Son of the most High for I am meek and lowly in heart Lowliness of mind will make you high with God and meekness of word shall make you sink into the hearts of Men. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus You that are higher than others in gifts wealth or dignity disdain them not but demean your selves humbly toward them and honour shall uphold you 3. Take heed of provoking the most High or of contemning his Counsels least you provoke your selves to the confusion of your own Faces as the Israelites did of whom it is said That they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the Wilderness Yea they tempted and provoked the most high God kept not his testimonies They contemned the Counsel of the most High Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 4. If you have provoked him to anger against you as David did when Satan provoked him to number the People enquire and desire to know the true means to appease him and to be reconciled unto him Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God And turn ye to him with all your heart to him I say and not as Ephraim of whom it is said They returned but not to the most High Renew your purposes and resolutions and vowes of more wary walking for the future and when upon your humiliation and reformation he is returned unto you with mercies offer unto him thanks giving and pay your vowes unto the most High 5. Comfort your selves against all the injustice and disorders of the World and against all the Plots and Conspiracies of wicked Men against the Church and People of God Marvel not at it but look higher and expect seasonable relief
believers and those that are regenerate by God's spirit apply themselves to the obedience of the Law without constraint or terrifying having the habit of righteousness and holiness in themselves as an inward and living Law They have no need of the horror and constraint of it and also being justified by Christ they are freed from the condemnation of it seeing that a Soveraign pardon stayeth and endeth all Actions and Condemnations grounded upon the Law Great Houses with the Gardens Orchards Parks and Grounds belonging to them have their bounds and limits made by Walls Pales and Hedges That great glorious House which Ezekiah saw in a Vision had its limit This is the Law of the House upon the top of the Mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most Holy God is said to have determined the bounds of all Mens Habitations upon Earth The Ten Commandments of the Moral Law are the Bounds Walls Pales and Hedges set round about the House wherein you that are Saints on Earth inhabit beyond which you may not pass but must keep within this compass As the Waters dwelling within the great Channel have their bounds which they are commanded to keep and forbidden to transgress pass or go over I establish saith God to Job my Decree upon it speaking of the Sea break up for it my Decreed place set Bars and Doors to it Figurative terms to express the concavities wherein the Sea is enclosed and said hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud Waves be stayed You are commanded in like manner to keep within the bounds of your Decreed place and you are bound to keep within them under a greater penalty than that which was laid upon Shimei when he was confined to his House by Solomon and to the City of Hierusalem the Walls whereof were his utmost limits The King sent and called for Shimei and said unto him build thee an House in Hierusalem and dwell there and go not forth thence any whether For it shall be that on the Day thou goest out and passest over the Brook Kidron that thou shalt surely dye Abide within So long as you do so you abide with God Cursed be the Man whose Heart departeth from the Lord. As a Bird that wandereth from her Nest so is a Man that wandereth from his place Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed who do erre from thy Commandements Thou hast trodden down all them that erre from thy Statutes Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Every Sin small and great is a transgression of the Law Exceeds the bounds which God by his Law hath appointed unto Men for the moderating regulating of their thoughts words and actions And every transgression and disobedience every commission and omission received a just recompence of reward If at any time through frailty or violence of temptation you pass these bounds If at any time said I Alass who doth not every Day both in thought word and deed There is not a just Man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not In many things we offend all David a Man after God's own heart passed these bounds oft through infirmity once most abominably Well consider what is to be done after such excursions Consider your wayes in your hearts Bend your minds very diligently weigh ponder think seriously with your selves what you have done Most Men are guilty of this neglect No Man repenteth of his wickedness saying What have I done Remember this and shew your selves Men bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Be ashamed and confounded to have been found out of the bounds of your House Then shalt thou remember thy ways and be ashamed What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Let it not be said of you as of the generality of the Jewes in Jeremyah's time Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination Nay they were not at all ashamed neither Let the review remembrance and thought of every ordinary sinful digression by rash anger or any bitter expression against Wife Husband Childe Servant Neighbour by vain empty idle unprofitable conference at any time by intemperance in Eating or Drinking though never so little beyond necessity or honest delight making you unfit for divine service in either of your Callings by immoderate sleeping or not being up as early for God as for your selves or spending more time in dressing your Bodies than your Souls by wanton glances of your Eyes or lusting after strange Flesh or abusing the lawful duty of Marriage by envying and grieving at the outward welfare of others or discontentment with your own health wealth credit or carking distrustful caring for to morrow or hasting to be rich by passing rash censure upon the spiritual estate of others or speaking of their faults and follies with mirth by silence at the unsavory speeches of any or conniving at their miscarriages not reproving them at least by discountenance for fear of giving them offence by having too great a hankering of heart after things not evil in themselves Tobacco Hunting Hawking Angling Gameing though not for gain but sport by suffering buying and selling thoughts and vile distractions to have incursions and lodging within you in holy Duties Let the thoughts I say of these and numberless other sinful digressions fill your Souls with shame and blushing ing and sinful abhorrence Much more if you call to mind grosser crimes Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Nor let your shame for taking so many steps out of your Heavenly Fathers House or sense of selfloathsomeness hinder your return thither but say as that unclean spirit for it is lawful and stands with godliness honesty and reason to learn of an enemy I will return unto my House from whence I came out And as that penitent Wife that had stept aside from her Husband I will go and return unto my first Husband for then was it better with me than now So did the Prodigal resolve to do I will arise and go to my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thy iniquity Go and knock at the Door of Divine Mercy confess your folly accusing and judging your selves Surely it is meet to be said unto God who hath revealed himself not only in his Law by commanding and threatning but also in his promises of grace to comfort and encourage by the remission of sins so the Italian reads the word following I