impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of heaven for one whose heart is touched with and cleaves to the present evill world to be an inheriter of the world to come which God hath promised as a reward to the faithfull followers of the Lamb True in this day you must ask a world Heathens for an inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession but not this present world for your selves but another for the Son your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ yet for your comfort know you are not under an exclusion for you must ask a world for Christ as he is your head your King that from him you may receive according to the Decree of God what your portion is Of his fullnesse you may and shall receive grace for grace He that hath in this old world been faithfull over a few things which the Lord hath given him in charge shall in the new world to come be made Ruler over many things and enter into the joy of his Lord Mat. 25.21 And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat. 19.29 But he that doth not by the exercise of a faithfull spirit make such a retreat out of the world shall perish in the ruines of this world If our spirits be right the counterpaine of the spirit of our Lord in this day our prayer to our God and father will be for the utter dissolution of this old world and the bringing forth the new Heavens and new Earth promised for the performance of those glorious and admirable Promises which the God and father of our Lord Jesus hath made concerning this matter Now if our hearts be not wholly taken off this present evill world that voyce Come out of her my people will seem to us as the speech of righteous Lot to his Sons in Law as the speech of one that mocketh and not hearkening to it we shall perish with the world at best if any such temper'd soule be saved it will be as by fire he will suffer great losse What advantage then can the enjoyment of this present evill world be unto us 3 Take not up your rest in any attainment though you may have taken many a step in following your Lord and gotten on high above the world and it may be the rest of your brethren yet take not up your rest there but keep on your pace endeavouring daily to mend it in following the Lamb be not contented nor satisfied with any thing below the sitting downe together with your Lord and Saviour at the right hand of glory in those Mansions of the fathers house which your Lord is gone before to prepare for you and hath promised to come againe to receive you that where he is you may be also Rest not untill you see your Lord the Son of man sit in the Throne of his glory and then shall you sit upon Thrones also Mat. 19.28 I say take not up your rest in any attainment otherwise you will be of the number of those first which shall be last in vers 30. Those that are lag now will get before you to your great regret of spirit and as in the next Chapter a part of those many which be called but not chosen to the work of the day and so you will run a great hazard of missing that glorious reward the gift of your Lord To raigne together with him 4 Remember this That in this day in the carrying on the work your Lord hath put into your hands there must be no guile found in your mouth you must be without fault before the Throne of God Your Lord expects you should exercise such sincerity of spirit in your following him in this work as that you be not defiled with any of that guile that hypocrifie and doublenesse of heart and tongue the worlds mouth hath alwayes been filled with In the matters of the Kingdome of your Lord and his out-goings against the world in this day you must be without guile and without fault so clear as that God sitting on his Judgement Throne may see no fault in you without fault before the Throne of God Let it be so and when your Lord comes you will hear his blessed voyce calling unto you Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 5 Would you be such as God will teach knowledge and make knowne his mind to in such a day of wrath as this is Then it 's not my counsell but the Lords be weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Isa 28.9 Whom shall be teach knowledge and whom shall be make to understand doctrine or the stammeringe of lips as the margent hath it at this day them that are weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Be yee weaned from the milk of the worldly carnall professing Church be drawn from the breasts of her consolation and the Lord will teach you knowledge and make you to understand doctrine there shall not be a stammering of the lip in the things of God in this your day but the Lord will make you acquainted with it to the understanding of it Instead of her milk and her adulterous breasts he will give you the teachings of his good spirit making you intimately acquainted with his blessed everlasting Gospel Though he withdraw from the worldly professing Church that his word is but here a little and there a little among them as he formerly dealt with the carnall yet professing Church of Ephraim though his word hath been among them precept upon precept precept upon precept and line upon line line upon line but now it 's but here a little and there a little the Lord is gotten to the threshold off their house and is departing quite away from them I say notwithstanding this he will manifest himselfe to you if you be weaned from their milk and drawne from their breasts separate your selves from have nothing to doe with the worldly though professing Church he that hath made this Promise will performe it for he is faithfull let who can charge him in the least with the breach of any tittle of his word and promise 6 Be upon your watch that you let not slip the nick of time God gives you to and he expects you should doe your worke in The time when God expects you should receive his Son and exalt him among you as your King is then when he is rejected by the worlds refined Rulers and they enter into Associations Combinations against him to break his bands asunder and cast away his cords this is the time for you to stand up and declare for the Decree of God the father on the behalfe of your Lord and Saviour and the very nick of time which you are not upon your perill to let slip as you will answer before his father and your father is then when these wicked yet professing Rulers are going about to execute their abominable Counsells crying LET VS let us doe it break his bands and cast away his cords then it 's your work and duty to stand up and cleave to your King follow him whithersoever he will lead you I say slip not your time for it concernes you if you will not owne him now before the world you will run a desperate hazzard that he will not owne you before his father and then what misery and unhappinesse will betide you Let your owne enlightned consciences judge Lastly Beware of unbelief the mother of all evill and misery though you should get to the very borders of the land of Promise and the providence the voyce of God call you to encounter with your enemies to remove every let and obstruction in the way to your full possession yet unbelief is able to drive you back into the wildernesse againe if you take not great heed would you not returne to your wildernesse Companions the Bryars and the Brambles would you not have that mournfull ditty heard in your mouths againe Woe is me that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar then flee all unbelief that mortall enemy of your happinesse unbelief of the truths and mysteries of the Sons Kingdome is the Characteristicall sin of the times immediately before the coming of Christ When he comes shall he find faith on earth This interrogation is a strong affirmation of the truth of the negative He shall not find faith on earth The Son had in the preceding words asserted the faithfullnesse of God in the certainty of his avenging his Elect which cry day and night unto him yet saith he Neverthelesse when the Son of man cometh shall be find faith ou earth In that time when God is about to spread abroad his faithfullnesse in making bare his arme to answer all the cryes and prayers of his people to avenge them of their enemies yea even when the Son of man is a coming to make good the word of his blessed father Shall be find faith on earth That is He shall not find faith on earth Men will not believe that it 's the time of Gods performing his Promises the face of things appear so through the counter-working of the evill one the man of sin and his instruments to the meerly rationall eye that in this very time when the Son of man is coming to avenge the Elect of God which cry day and night unto him the men of the world become mockers saying Where is the Promise of his coming all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation And others that would be esteemed the better sort they cry out The time is not come The time is not come They believe not the word of the Kingdome Beware of this unbelief least you loose the comfort of this coming of the Son when other faces shine with the joyes of the Spirit yours be bedew'd with teares the sad fruit of this defiling unbeliefe THE END
and his anointed shall have their due and their right And to CAST AWAY THEIR CORDS what though these cords be the most righteous holy and wholesome Lawes of the great Jehovah that will blesse those with the greatest happinesse that live in unfeigned obedience to them that the Lord and his anointed would impose on them for their owne good and salvation they will none of them but take counsell to cast them away scorning and deriding them as a burden too heavy for man to bear a yoke not fit for the neck of such a free Creature as man is Breake their bands and cast away their cords that they may have no power over them that they may be their subjects and not their Lords that they may not intrench upon their Dominion nor deprive them of their worldly enjoyments 6 THEN when they TAKE COVNCELL Before they proceed to act when upon consultation they are ready to goe forth in all their might crying LET VS breake their bands c. Then God will arise and shew himselfe he will not suffer them to act their counsels least they prevaile but while they are in counsell he will take them to task and let them find he can in wrath tumble them into those pits and snares they have digged for others 7 THEN when the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed The order of the words in that the Holy Ghost brings in the Kings setting themselves and the Rulers taking counsell together before he tells us against whom seems to me to be of sufficient force to perswade us that here is a hint given us by the Holy Ghost of another confederacy that there shall be some agreement between the remaining Kings of the earth or at least some of them and these Rulers against the Lord and his anointed and then will God arise bear with them no longer but speak to them in his wrath Lastly THEN when their Counsells shall be guilty of such a degree of Apostacy as moves God to laugh at them when they set at naught the counsell and reproof of God which surely is contain'd in those bands and cords they reject then will God deale with them in that dreadfull manner mentioned Prov. 1.24 ult Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regardded But ye have set at nought all my counsell and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your feare cometh When your feare cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlewind when distresse and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seeke me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the feare of the Lord they would none of my counsell they despised all my reproofe Therefore shall they eate of the fruit of their owne way and be filled with their owne devises for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fooles shall destroy them And when the abomination of their counsells come to that height that God shall have them in derision which is somewhat more then to laugh It may possibly be that a man may laugh at one and that in anger too whom he yet loves but to laugh with derision argues perfect hatred When their counsells and doings against the Lord thus provoke the eyes of his glory THEN shall be speake to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure And if we would know when God will thus laugh at them and have them in derision The answer is plaine in the Text he will doe it upon their taking counsel to break their bands asunder and to cast away their cords from them when the cry is Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Thus we see what a multitude of plaine Characters the Holy Ghost hath given of that time wherein God will come upon the world and doe such great things for his Son who he hath made Lord and set at his right hand and his anointed ones When we see these Characters written on the foreheads of the high ones of the earth then we may safely say without haesitation That God will suddenly come in wrath and fury take their Dominion away and give it to that rejected corner stone whose right it is to raigne Let us now make a stand and by a serious review see what may be observed as a beneficiall Lesson for us to learne 1 That in these latter dispensations men may fill up the measure of their iniquity and bring judgement upon their Generation by a bare taking counsell against the Lord and his anointed When the Rulers take counsell together then God will speake unto them in wrath 2 How Great matter of Comfort is it to the people of God the followers of the Lamb that their father is so far from suffering their enemies to prevaile against them in these last dayes that All that ever they can doe cannot prevaile to breake one band asunder that is so as to free themselves from it to settle themselves upon another foundation but while they are taking counsell together God comes and gives them the rout let 's them heare his mighty voyce in wrath that they run to the holes of the rock and cry to the mountaines and to the hills to hide them from the tempest of his fury He will take the crafty in their owne snares though they take counsell to draw the Lords people into their snares and to throw them into the pits they have digged yet shall they not be able to bring it to passe but they themselves shall be taken with and fall into them then the scourge shall teach them Nebuchadnezzar's lesson That the most high rules in the Kingdomes of men In former times his long-sufferance was much he lets them goe on to rage and madnesse to open and bold yea and prevalent acting setting themselves against them but now his patience will waite no longer he will deale with them before they are well warme in their counsells He will cut the worke short in righteousnesse because a short worke will the Lord make upon the earth those dayes shall be shortned for the Elect's sake 3 What a darke and distracting day is this day When such men as these Rulers have appear'd to be having followed the Lamb so far to the cutting off some of the Kings of the earth and proclaiming the Lord to be King made his cords his Lawes to become their bands binding themselves with them as hath been open'd at large when such men shall now turne head and deale subtilly with the Lord and his anointed taking counsell against them What a darke day of Apostacy is this day The Dragon is able to
snatch up the Crowne and set it on their head God overturnes some of them and these Apostate Rulers fasten the Crowne to their Temples but their comes a third overturning which is a thorough one indeed for saith God Remove the Diadem take off the Crowne this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturne overturne overturne it and it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him Where are these Rulers now there 's no hope for them for his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome 2 That while these Apostate Rulers are taking counsell together against the Lord and his anointed the designe of God is then at that time to set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse And he doth it in opposition to them though they contradict it YET I have done it saith God 3 That the first thing God doth for his Son after he hath made bare his arme and entred into judgement with the Antichristian world for surely he began that work when these Rulers cut downe some of the Kings of the earth and in opposition to these Rulers is to make him King in Sion in his Church Yet have I set my King VPON SION the hill of my holinesse He is set there in a posture fit for the carrying on the designe which he and his father are now managing in the world there is his Throne and his holy ones about him and there he will sit and together with them judge the world and poure downe his fathers wrath upon it 4 That Sion may be a fit seat for the Son to settle himselfe upon in opposition to all his enemies God makes Sion the hill of his holinesse The HILL of my holinesse a hill for strength and stability it 's unmoveable a hill for union all its parts are so united and compact together as none can divide it a hill for height The mountaine of the height of Israel it 's above the world reaches up to the Heavens And a hill of holinesse the King being seated upon this hill this metaphoricall hill becomes his Court and those in it his Courtiers they are clothed with the same clothing his Majesty is hâ—linâ—sse they are all like their Lord each one of them resembling the Children of a King holinesse to the Lord is written upon them And a hill of holines for they are consecrated separated and set apart for the work of Christ at this day sanctified for this service enabled to overcome all the assaults of the evill one and having done all to stand to keep their place and station a seat and Throne for Christ to be such Carpenters as shall fray away all the Hornes the spirit of the Hornes shall not enter into these Carpenters for God saith Sion is the hill of his holinesse 5 Although at this day many may fall away and loose their first love many prove foolish Virgins yet God hath his true Church his hill of true holinesse a fit seat for his Son his chosen number which he unites together and by the mighty working of his spirit they become the hill of his holinesse He sets his Son upon this hill and thence he issues forth the Decrees of his father about the concernments of his Kingdome notwithstanding the power and forces of his enemies against him 6 That under the Government of these Rulers the people of God have not liberty to come up to the height of Gods holinesse for when they come to be a hill of holinesse the world stands in opposition to them and they unto the world Christ is set upon the hill of Gods holinesse in opposition to the Rulers of the world If any then blame the followers of the Lamb as busie-bodies and rash spirits saying it 's otherwise with them now then it was under the Kings they may be as holy as they will and live in their fellowship with God and Christ in his owne Ordinances to the highest it 's a falsity for if they seek after the height of Gods holinesse to get to the top of this hill to enjoy the fullnesse of the Promises in Christ by following him fully according to the voyce of his spirit in his word in this day they are opposed by the Rulers and taken counsell against 7 We may here see what God expects from his Sion his Church that in this day when the Rulers and great men of the world reject Christ and take counsell against him and his that this his hill of holinesse should receive his Son and cleave so close to him espouse his righteous interest so unfeignedly and so zealously as that it may be a hill of advantage whereon Christ may sit as King in opposition to the Kings of the earth and in despite of these Rulers although the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed when the Kings and the Rulers combine together to doe their utmost the one by an open perverse setting themselves the other by taking counsell pernicious secret counsell against him and his and at last shall conjoyne Forces openly setting themselves to act their counsells things at this passe God brings his Son to Sion his Church the hill of his holinesse he is totally excluded the world by the men of the world from having any share in their Royalties in these Rulers the father hath tryed the finest and purest piece of earth the world can shew and finding it false he brings his Son to Sion sets him there as in a safe place expecting they will submit their necks to his yoke and their shoulders to his burden and follow him in his goings forth against his enemies after what manner soever they be whithersoever he will lead them This indeed is the ready way to find out an everlasting rest to get a full possession of the promised Land to be blessed in heavenly places with him Lastly Behold the Lamb with his 144000 his chosen number standing upon Mount Sion having their fathers name written in their foreheads Sion is the hill of my holinesse saith God Here are the Armies of Heaven with the great Captaine of Salvation in the head of them in a posture fit ready prepared to execute the Decree Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them to pieces like a potters vessell But before they enter upon this strange and wonderfull work being the will of their deare Captaine and leader they sing as it were a new song of praise unto God before the Throne and though it be a hard song that the world cannot learn and it sounds harshly in their eares seeming to them such a thing as never was before a new invention of the spirit of delusion yet these chosen holy ones they are acquainted with and expert in singing this song before the Throne of God Christ their Captaine begins and they follow on declaring the
144000 singing their new song now the end of all being to bring men to repentance exhorting them to turne to the true God worship him onely and submit to the Son that they may be blessed by him and this being a reall act in God intending the salvation of men it cannot be but all this must be done before the day of repentance and salvation is finishâ— and gone when the night cometh no man can worke and if so then it must of necessity be granted also that these things must be done before the fourth Viall is powered out for after that Viall is once gone forth there remaines no place for repentance the day of repentance and salvation is spent and gone for the Text expresly saith that men blasphemed the name of God and repented not to give him glory When the two Witnesses rise which we have good ground to believe will be at or before the powring out of the fourth Viall and execute some part of the wrath and judgements of God the day of repentance and salvation being not yet past over and gone it 's recorded Rev. 11.13 that the remnant of men left gave glory to the God of heaven a true and excellent fruit of true repentance but here the day of repentance and salvation being finisht and mens hearts hardened that is recorded also that men blasphemed and repented not to give him glory And in this 14th of the Revelation immediately upon the preaching of this Gospel Babilon Rome falls and suddenly upon the neck of that God by the mouth of an Angel pronounces them cursed without remedy that then worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke and the Son of man followes with his sharp sickle reaps his harvest and gathers the Vine of the earth treads the wine-presse of the wrath of God What God may doe in a more than ordinary way with any particular soule I leave it but there 's no generall Time of repentance and salvation interveening these executions of the wrath of God when once the fourth Viall is powred out Not being able to answer these Reasons I am fully perswaded to believe the truth of this Assertion And whether Daniels little stone's smiting and the rise of the two Witnesses be not contemporary with Davids hill of Sion and John's Mount Sion Christ being seated on it whether all these Prophecies will not be fulfilled at one the same time yea whether they signifie not to us one and the same thing onely one one part of the work of God at that day another another part of it I leave to the serious consideration and narrow scrutiny of the godly wise at this day And let none be discouraged from believing these things because of the unlikelinesse of them to come to passe in our dayes for the flood of Gods wrath upon the old world was as unlikely to that worlds understanding to overflow when it did as these things can be to this and the Scripture saith the coming of the Son of man shall be like unto those dayes Againe the Scripture saith He shall come at midnight a time when men asleep least expect him And againe When they that dwell upon the earth shall be in the height of their mirth and jollity FVLL OF PEACE rejoycing and sending gifts one to another then the spirit of life from God enters into the two Witnesses and fills those rejoycing earthen soules with great feare brings an Earth-quake slayes a part of the world and affrights the remnant that are left extorting from them glory to the God of heaven Yet againe though the whorish woman Babylon may come to such prosperity as to say in her heart I sit a Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no sorrow her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord who judgeth her Let our hearts ponder these things and we shall tremble as the word of God for judgement is at the doore In the second place I am to give my judgement how far we are come at this day or rather how neare the great God in his providence is come to us at what part of this Psalme thus expounded we may lay our finger and say this is our state and condition this is the work God would have us to doe in this our day To doe this is a great work but to doe it with demonstration to convince the understandings of men and stop the mouth of the gain-sayer is a far greater work which I despaire to performe yet according to the measure of light the Lord hath given me I shall make an Essay towards a clear evidencing of the Truth I conceive We are come to the dawning of that day wherein God will in wrath to the worlds Rulers set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse and the Lamb will stand on Mount Sion with his 144000 his chosen ones about him wherein the Son will declare the Decree and the 144000 will be singing their new song before the Throne of God according to the import of that Command of the father to his Son in this second Psalme ASKE OF ME And that the present Kings and Rulers of the world but especially the Rulers who are the head of this gathering together against the Lord and his anointed are those against whom the father will engage in this day of his wrath and jealousie for his Son speaking to them in wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure even with this his setting his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse The Reasons for this my Assertion are 1 Because we are already gotten under if not towards the latter end of the third Viall to prove this that it may be as valid a reason to you as it is to me I intreat thee Courteous Reader let thine eyes accompanied with thy mind take a journey through Mr. Tillinghast's Treatise upon the Vialls where you will finde so much Reason and such strong Arguments for this assertion as I presume will be so satisfactory as it will not be expected I should say any thing more to the point And if so then upon my former proofe it appears the dawning of this day of blessednesse to the Saints and of wrath to the world with its Rulers hath ceazed upon us But 2 The first fruits of the qualifications of Gods hill of holinesse Christs 144000 the sprinklings of the spirit of that day the beginnings of Christs being received as King in Sion are to be found in the midst of a despised people among us in this our day Let us view over the Qualifications of Christs 144000 consider them and put on a paire of those excellent spectacles made of pure love and our dim eyes will not behold men like Trees but like the purchased inheritance of the Son qualified according to the Decree to such and such a work at such a time I say the first fruits the
hath been already proved God will not permit them to act their Counsells but while they are in Counsell he will speak to them in his wrath Now Counsell being a close-cabinet act though day may be discerned through a little cranny yet it 's a hard work at present to prove it clearly to the understandings of others but when they come to this height have brought their Counsells as they think ready to put in execution crying out for action LET VS c. then this will appear to be a truth to those that will not believe it now and those who now are counted the fooles uncharitable rash spirits of the Times will be found guided by a spirit of wisedome and truth 2 That these Rulers not being tyed up by Satan or their owne consciences and principles to any Rules of practice all is left to their wisedome and counsell they will act suitable to the present interest of their state and condition Their bounds in that respect are larger to range in then ever any of the worlds Rulers had given them before they will turne themselves into any shape or form to please men to keep them within the bounds of their Rule and Dominion all this and much more is couched under that significant COVNSELL in the first Verse of the Psalme they are well skill'd in the turnings and windings of the wylie Serpent which practice of theirs makes things so dubious and hardly discernable by the understandings of men 3 The present actings of these Rulers against some of the most endeared servants of our Lord Jesus signifies not a little to us concerning this matter Consider seriously for it concernes us not a little â—o to doe the true ground and reason of their so unworthy dealings with and rough sinfull handling of them It weighs nothing that these Rulers put an ugly Vizzard on their face representing them to the world as cloven-footed Devils evill doers for this hath been the course of Sarans instruments ever since the world began thereby to deprâ—sse the truth that their falshood and error might take place Herein these Rulers resemble their predecessors the Heathens and Kings of the earth for which they shall together with them and their Companions be called to account ere long when things will appear as indeed and in truth they are not as these Rulers would now have them I say let our hearts ponder the true reason of present actings and we shall be sensible of the truth of the Assertion 4 Let us consider daily and make a narrow and thorow search into the actions of these Rulers with the naturall tendency of them and get a Serpents wisedome with the innoceny of the Dove and we shall not need that any man should teach us in this matter I shall close up this discourse with one word to the Saints the followers of the Lamb in these evill dayes To you the followers of your dear Lord Jesus in this evill day of Apostacy You have here something set before you of your work God the father hath commanded you to doe and your Lord the Son expects should be done by you for him in this your day also the Qualifications hinted at that will enable you to performe this work according to the will and mind of your God and father Further you have it also hinted to you that you are already entred into the confines of the work of this day the Lord hath drawne over you to the view of the world if they shut their eyes and will not see the greater will their condemnation be an Emblem of that strange and glorious work he is now about to performe and bring to passe in the world The waters of this Sanctuary are risen almost to your ankles Now give me leave to exhort you the bosome friends of our Lord Jesus Follow your Leader the spirit of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ passe through and through the waters of the Sanctuary that they may not onely wash you to your ankles and knees but to your loynes all over stay not your course till you come to the unpassable overflowings of the spirit that you cannot passe till you are taught to swim in that River of God or after the example of your Lord to walk upon those holy waters doing the will of your God and father and keep in the way of the promise and these things also shall be given you Consider your worke and get an exact and distinct knowledge of that work your Lord and Master hath cut out for you to doe in this day of his Controversie with the world and its professing Rulers and mind the Qualifications ordained to be bestowed upon you to enable you to performe that great work to the praise and glory of grace Let me who am lesse then the least of all Saints yet let me beg of you these few things 1 Flee all flashinesse and flagings of spirit let not the predominancy of such infirmities over you give the world occasion to conceit the sword of the Lord in your mouths and hands signifies but a vaine flourish is grounded on nothing but the airey fancies of men but by a holy and steady perseverance in taking up your Crosse dayly and following your Lord give the world good ground to fear that it 's the sword of the great God wherewith he will plead with all flesh and the rod of his mouth wherewith he will smite the earth and the breath of his lips wherewith he will slay the wicked Isa 11.4 Having put your hand to the Plow look not back having entred into the work make not the least retreat now you are running out of her over whom the Lords judgements and wrath are impending which he will put in execution ere long let not your hearts backslide Remember Lots wife least you also be turned into pillars of salt made a savoury example of the judgement and wrath of the great and jealous God to work in those that shall come after you a savoury spirit fit for the work you perish from 2 Get clear of this world make a seasonable and timely retreat into your Chambers Gods hiding place into the clefts of the Rock that you may be hid from the wrath of God which is coming upon the world Behold the spirit of God himselfe makes this Exhortation to you Isa 26.20 21. Come my people enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doores about thee hide thy selfe as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine The Lord having told us what great changes and destructions he will bring upon the earth gives us in these two verses a loving invitation with prevalent Motives to hide our selves while that his great wrath be over-past I say Get clear of this world our Lord tells us It 's