see what reason we have to Protest against that Babylonian sacrifice in the Masse You have now received the knowledge of this truth and if you sinne wilfully after you have received the knowledge of the truth it is principally meant of this truth there remains no more sacrifice for sinne because ye have wilfully and maliciously rejected the Onely All-sufficient Sacrifice of Jesus Christ trusting upon some other Sacrifice that of the Masse or the like and done despite to the Spirit by a most malignant contempt of the witnesse of the Spirit What argument can be more prevailing to perswade us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith the Protestant Faith lest we fall from a coldnesse and neutrality in Religion into a desperate malignity and unpardonable Apostasie Away with Babylonish Gestures Names and Titles Rites and Ceremonies away with Babylonish Garments too our professed Babylonians begin now to air the mouldy Copes they wear the Babylonish Garment that they may have the wedge of gold and in their own phrase they dissemble under a Cope and are if you will beleeve them Protestants in their Hearâ—s Our Prophet Zechariah will informe you how to deal with these men Put them into an Ephah that they may be kept within compasse within their bounds by severe discipline and clap a talent of lead a weighty censure upon the mouth of the Ephah Zech. 5. 8. Let the Ephah be lifted up on high between heaven and earth verse 9. that is let the sentence be so Publike that all may take notice of it and then let the Ephah be carried away quite out of Sion and let an house be built for it in the land of Shinar that is Babylon ver. the 11th let their Habitation be there from whence they drew their Corruption for there they may settle upon their own Base their own Lees their own corrupt Principles If such as are Notorious and Incorrigible were Excommunicated by an Assembly of Divines and some Civill-punishment inflicted upon such as are within your reach by an Ordinance of Parliament the sinne would not be Nationall men would see and fear and do no more so wickedly in England For the sharpest punishments are inflicted onely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by way of Prudence for terrour and reformation not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by way of retribution for no punishment inflicted by man can possibly countervail a sin against God 2. Make Gods Authority your Foundation build upon it it is an Impregnable Rock though the windes blow the rain beat the waves roar and dash themselves into Foame yet your House wil stand and your Orders can never be disanulled if built upon the Rock Make Gods word alone the Rule of Reformation and keep close to your Rule and then all your Orders will be acknowledged to be Responsa prudentum and such as deserve to be Rescripta Principum this is the way to make your Orders prevail not onely by your Authority but by their Own Authority 3. Pray for the Holy Spirit for the Spirit gives both Light and eyes You will meet with so many new sinnes new dangers new temptations new mercies new troubles that you had need beg hard for a spirit of Prayer that you may be able to make new Prayers every hour severall Prayers upon severall occasions Sion must prevail by Prayer Sion was the Mount of Prayer there was the house of Prayer this is as they use to call it in some Reformed-Churches a Prayer-day but every day must now be a day of prayer extraordinary prayer we must spend more time then ordinary in our private devotions Get ye up to Mount Olivet and there pray for Mount Sion joyn heads and purses and forces and prayers together Josuah's sword will not prevail without Moses his prayer Be of good comfort though your enemies can out-swear you yet they cannot out-pray you If they be a thousand thousand strong and march against you with all their might Call upon the Name of the Lord and rest upon your God Asa did so and by the prayer of faith prevailed against a thousand thousand Ethiopians and three hundred Chariots 2 Chron. 14. 9 to the 12th verse Oh send to France and Ireland and Germany for their experimentall Prayers 4. Humiliation is an excellent Preparative for Reformation and there is no duty more pertinent to the Text and proper not onely for this day but for these times In those dayes and in that time saith the Prophet Jeremy the 50. Chap. and the 4. verse what times what dayes why when the children of Israel shall come out of Babylon they and the children of Iudah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God Honourable and Beloved let us this day seek our God with tears if ye would be Princes with God and have power with him as Prince Jacob had you must weep and make supplication in Bethel the house of God there God will be found and there here he hath spoke with you to day read the twelfth of Hoseah the third and fourth verses Blessed be our great God who did put it into your hearts to draw up a Catalogue of the sins of this Nation O that you would weep over every sin in that Catalogue before you sleep O let us read our sins in those miseries which are come upon us We have nourished Malignant lusts within us which rebell against the spirit and fight against the soul we have made sport past-time with those sins which shed the blood of the Lord Jesus O let those sins draw tears from us which drew blood from Christ We have grieved the holy Spirit and therefore well may the Spirit refuse to comfort us who haue grieved him Well may the God of heaven bathe his sword in our blood and make the land â—at with our carcasses for we have forfeited our very Estates and lives we do not deserve one bit of bread or drop of water justly may God feed us with the bread of sorrows and give us tears to drink We would not serve God with joyfulnesse for the abundance of all things and therefore well might God send us to serve our enemies in the want of all things Deut. 28. 47 48 Behold the heaven is as brasse and the earth as iron because we have had a brazen brow and there is an iron sinew in our necks we have gone on impudently and stubbornly in our sinnes Gods Doctrine hath dropped as the raine and distilled as the dew but not as the dew upon the tender herbe for our hearts have not been tender our lives have not been fruitfull well might our unfruitfulnesse be the cause of the lands barrennesse We have abused Gods blessings for the maintenance of our pride luxury wantonnesse we have sought against God with his owne blessings and therefore he hath good reason to disarme us Oh let us weepe for Ireland weepe for England weepe for the King
the Devill Babylon was the Malignant Church the Sinke of Sinne the stall of Beasts the Throne of Idols the Temple of Devills and mother of confusion No place more infamous for their pride and tyranny their cruelty and Idolatry well might Sion be weary of such a loathsome prison and noisome dungeon which could not but be offensive by its stench and darknesse even as Babylon the great is the Habitation of Devills the Strong hold of foule spirits Rev. 18. 2. The 3d. Reason is taken from the Terminus ad Quem the place unto which they were called unto Ierusalem unto Sion Every motion takes its denomination from its Terminus ad Quem but here even the Travailers themselves who were to move take their Title from that Place unto which they moved The people are called Sion because they were called forth to goe to Sion Deliver thy self O Zion Sion was a place beloved of God and all his people the people were in love with Sion with respect to Gods Election institution Promise Blessing God had chosen that place for his Seat of speciall Residence and did there exhibite himselfe to his people by a visible presence Moreover God had by a speciall Institution recorded his name and set up his ordinances in Sion and therefore the Temple was to be built againe on that mountaine the Jewes were confined to a certaine place to Sion Some parts of publique worship were so appropriated to that place that they were to be performed there and no where else Deut. 12. 13 14. Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest but in the place which the Lord shall chuse in one of the Tribes there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee The particular offerings are more distinctly specified in the 11. verse of the same Chapter Your burnt offerings and your sacrifices your tithes and the heave-offering of your hand and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord Finally God had promised a blessing to all them who came up to Sion to worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holinesse At first there was a generall promise given Exo 20. 24. In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and I will blesse thee But when God had chosen Ierusalem for the Seat of Royalty the place of Justice and Sion as the Mountain of Holinesse and place of publique Worship then all the Tribes were to go to Ierusalem for Justice and to Sion to sacrifice Psal. 122. 4 5. Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord For there are set Thrones of Iudgement the Thrones of the house of David The poor people had long been deprived of the benefit of Iustice and the liberty of Religion but now God had promised by his Prophet Zechary that their Common-wealth should be setled their Church established their City and Temple both new builded Zech. 1. 16 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Ierusalem with mercies my house shall be built in it saith the Lord of Hoasts my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem The first Temple was as glorious as Art and cost could make it but God who hath gold and silver heaven and earth at his disposing had passed his word to them that he would shake heaven and earth sea and land and fill the latter house with the glory of the Lord Jesus who is the desire and glory of all Nationa Haggai 2. from the 6. verse to the 9. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hoasts the silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hoasts the glory of this latter House shall be greater then of the former c. The Prophet you see had good reason to invite them to new Jerusalem here below a kinde of heaven upon earth to Sion the habitation of Iustice and mount of Holinesse the praise of the Jews the glory of the Gentiles the House of God and Type of Heaven Fourthly God had now removed all rubs he had opened the Kings heart and the prison doors if they would be active it was in their own power to deliver themselves and therefore the Prophet calls upon them to use their power and to take that fair opportunity which was offered for their deliverance and their glory Deliver thy self O Zion Why Zion wilt thou be a Felo de Se thy shackles are knockt off the Poâ—ts are open the Commission is now sealed come be not cruell to thy self what wilt thou be thine own tormentour thine own prisoner Before the seventy years were expired thou wast detained in Babylon thou wast a prisoner there but now thy time is out and therefore if thou stayest longer yet thou are not a Prisoner but a dweller in Babylon Deliver thy self O Zion that dwellest in Babylon There 's the Emphasis and strength of the Prophets exhortation The Use of this Point is to stirre up the Christian Zion all true Protestants to deliver themselves from Antichristian Babylon from the Babylonish army the Babylonish Church The Iâ—wish Zion had a miraculous deliverance from the Assyrian Babylon though God be the Lord of Hosts and hath all armies at his command yet Zion was to be delivered not by might or by the power of an Army but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts by the Immediate hand of God Zech. 4. 6. But I doe not find that Christian Zion shall be delivered upon such easie termes from Antichristian Babylon doe not â—latter your selves with vaine hopes our deliverance will cost bloud 1. This is cleare to any man that hath studied the booke of the Revelation what upon prayer study God hath revealed by the clear Texts of the Revelation I will this day deliver unto you though I were sure to die S. Iohns death or to be banisht into S. Iohns Iland The God of heaven give us a further Revelation of this Revelation that it may be interpreted by the same Spirit by which it was written S. Iohn tels me that the Spirits of Devills shall go forth to the Kings of the earth of the whole world to gather them to Armageddon to the battel of that great day of God Almighty Rev. 16. 14. 16. Secondly I know it is a great while yet to that great battell yet the Spirits will be Scouting out long before And sure these Spirits have been at worke of late in Ireland England Scotland too the Babylonians are active must the precious sonnes of Sion be meerely
11. 15 16. Brethren if we live in the spirit let us walk in the spirit as the Apostle advises Gal. 5. 25. let us March fair and streight in rank and file as the word signifies {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} walk according to the Canon given to Evangelicall Souldiers Gal. 6. 16. and if we walk according to Rule this Rule of the new Creature Verse 15. mortifying our lusts crucifying our selves to the world and living unto Christ in righteousnesse and true holinesse Peace will be upon us and upon Sion the Israel of God verse 16. We must not conceive that we may walk every man according to a Canon of our own devising this man according to one Canon and that according to another no it behoves us all {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to walk according to the self same Rule or Canon and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to minde savour relish the self same thing to promote the great Design namely the quickning and seasoning this Kingdom with the Power of godlinesse for we have been a great while sick of a Form of godlinesse a mortall disease for it was but a dead Form The Lord quicken and awake us out of our Dead-sleep for if we content our selves with this Dead-form we are in danger to be buried in our own ruines You see we are not afraid to discover our Plots and truely I am guilty of no other then what I have this day discovered I shall employ my utmost strength consecrate my Totum nil blow my Rams-horn against Babylon and study how to build up Sion that 's all I intend Honourable and Beloved let us as it becomes men of Sion devote our selves to God and spend our strength in the Practise of Piety Let us be better acquainted with our selves and with our God let us learn what sinne and what grace meanes let us be watchfull over our own hearts with an holy jealousie nay let us set a watch before our mouthes and all our sensâ—s nay let us watch over one another that we may provoke one another unto holinesse and good works Let us beseech the God of heaven to kindle gracious desires in our hearts that we may oppose and conquer all our filthy and unplacable lusts for our lusts set us all in a Combustion From whence come wars but from the lusts of pride envy malice ambition covetousnesse The Lord speak to our consciences and convince them to our implacable lusts and mortifie them and we shall be all at peace Beleeve it we want peace meerly for want of holinesse Keep close to the rule of holinesse and I dare warrant you you shall as Josiah did die in Peace though you are killed in Warre 3. In the third place let us study Thankfulnesse We may well sit down and consider how to be thankfull to our good God for the dawnings of our deliverance The sonnes of Sion were very joyfull in the House of thanksgiving long before their work was finished Should we not be thankfull for Ireland hath not God been the helper of the friendlesse hath he not wrought miraculously even without meanes above meanes and against meanes And should we not be thankfull for England hath not God done wonders enough for our Nation to stirre up your hearts to enjoyn a solemnâ—day of Thanksgiving quite thorowout the Kingdom Some of our Deliverances have been Nationall Oh let the Thanksgiving be Nationall as well as the Deliverance You did not long since hear good news from the West but were you thankfull if you were not why then sure you may conclude that the sad news which you lately received from thence was the just punishment of your unthankfulnesse The very Heathens will condemn us for our unthankfulnesse they never received a considerable victory but they brought in their Opima spolia Jovi Feretrio O let us sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously he is our strength and song and is become our salvation He is our God our fathers God and we will exalt him Iehovah is a man of warre Iehovah is his Name He hath redeemed us in his mercy and he will guide us in his strength to his holy Habitation The Lord will establish his Sanctuary amongst us and he shall reign over us and our posterity for ever and ever Who is like unto thee O Iehovah amongst the mighty ones who is like unto thee glorious in Holinesse fearfull in Prayses and doing wonders Who is like unto thee O Ireland The Eternall God who rideth upon the Heavens is thy refuge and underneath are his everlasting armes he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee and shall say Destroy them O let Ireland be a land of Plenty let the Heavens drop down their dew and the fountain of Iacob be upon it And happy art thou O England who is like unto thee O people saved by Iehovah the shield of thy Help and the sword of thy Excellency thine Enemies shall be found Lyers unto thee keep Covenant with thy God and thou shalt not be Confounded world without end In the last place let us keep a Charitable Fast to day here 's a Bill presented for a Contribution to Maimed Souldiers I want strength to publish it distinctly and audibly I beleeve you will easily be perswaded to part with your money to them who have shed their bloud for you their bodies have bled already now let your purses bleed And here is an Order which concernes Ireland Oh let Ireland live in your bosome why doe we not fast three or foure times every weeke that we may send some provision to the poore Protestants in Ireland If our fasting may keepe the most considerable part of that kingdome from starving are we not bound to Fast And forget not the other Churches they all come under this endearing Title thy selfe Deliver thy selfe O Zion Is not Ireland our selfe Scotland our selfe and Bohemia our selfe are not all the Reformed Churches our selfe plot for them all pray for them all love them treat with them so far as the Scripture will give you leave conforme to theÌ„ in point of Disciplme that we may all speake the same thing and be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and the same Judgment And the Lord preserve this resolution in the hearts of us and all his people for ever that we may all live like Saints or die like Martyrs Amen Allelujah Amen Amen FINIS Dr. Fern his Conscience satisfyed lately printed at Oxford sect. 2. pag 6. Palingenius a Nunc belligerantur Episcopi nec aliâ—d fere quam belligerantur Eras. Annot in cap. 3. Lucâ— b Mr. Fullers Pro fane State 〈◊〉 19. See Mr. Alexander Coâ—k his Dialogue about Popeâ—oane Cognomine Anglicus natione Moguntinus vide Fâ—sciâ— temporum ataâ—â— 6. ad An. 854. a 〈…〉 〈…〉 b 〈…〉 c 〈…〉 d Dâ—… mâ—moraâ—… e
Pardon and a gracious acceptation if we were not first justified our works would not be accepted nor rewarded Because our persons are accepted in Christ therefore our works are rewarded for Christ that imperfect righteousnesse of works which we have doth wholly depend upon the righteousnesse of faith now the imperfection of our righteousnesse is pardoned the sincerity of our obedience is accepted and yet we are not justified by our own sincere obedience no not in part but are onely and wholly because perfectly justified by the compleat and perfect obedience of Iesus Christ We must then trust with our whole soul to the obedience of Iesus Christ and not trust at all to any good quality infused into us or good works wrought by us for our Iustification This is the pure Protestant Religion commended to us in the second Chapter In his third Chapter he doth largely explain the office and use of Faith because Faith is the instrument of our justification and we can never keep the unity of Faith in the bond of Peace if we do not agree about the Nature or the Offices and use of Faith I am sorry I must lay aside this Book but if you will be pleased to take it up I may conclude my Epistle onely give me leave to renew my suit to you concerning a Nationall Covenant a Nationall Thanksgiving a speedy and free Assembly If the Prelaticall men are displeased that so many Bishops are passed by let them remember what the Archbishop of Canterbury saith That there have been some corrupt crafty Bishops who by plots and tricks have disturbed all Synods and most Councels Astutos veteratoriae improbitatis Episcopos qui arâ—ibus suis ac dolis omnia Concilia perturbabant I shall conclude all with that Prayer which I used at the Fast Lord never was there any Kingdom that made an higher Appeal to thy Majesty then our poor Kingdom hath made Both sides appeal to thee not onely by a Warre but a Protestation Lord be pleased to decide the Controversie let that side prevail which doth most sincerely desire thy glory the Kings good the Kingdoms welfare by an happy Reformation and a Christian Peace I am sure you will say Amen to the prayer of Your daily Oratour at the Throne of Grace FRA CHEYNELL Courteous Reader SOme passages in my Sermon have reference to a little treatise which I lately published about Socinianisme in that booke you will meet with much Latine which is not translated yet if you turne over but the first foure or five leaves you may without the helpe of Latine if you read attentively pick out the scope of the book some quotations were scholasticall and would not beare English some are full of blasphemies others there are that will seeme superfluous to any but a scholar who delights to know every circumstance Be pleased to read the booke the Sermon and Epistle beleeve and obey the Scriptures and prepare for Martyrdome we know not how soone we may be called to seale the truth with our dearest bloud lend the Author thy patience and thy prayers F. C. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE late Fast before the Commons House of PARLIAMENT ZECHAR 2. 7. Deliver thy self O Zion that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon BEhold two Nations two manner of peodle strugling in the bowels of this Text and Kingdom Jacob and Esan Sion and Babylon Now the Kingdom lies groaning in its throws and pangs in its agony and bloody-sweat let us fall into a devout agony and penitent sweat if we cannot sweat blood let us sweat tears let every pore of our body be a weeping eye a crying a praying mouth to beg a safe delivery for our labouring Mother who travails in the anguish of her spirit Let us intreat God to comfort England as he did Rebekah Genes 25. 23. And the Lord said unto her Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels O let us pray that either Babylon may be separated expelled out of the bowels of Sion or Sion delivered out of Babylon When the poor Iews were prisoners in Babylon by the rivers of Babylon there they sat down and wept and wept amain when they remembred Zion Psal. 137. 1. Oh for Ieremies tears and Ieremies spirit that we might write another book of Lamentations to bewail the miserable security of this present age Sion sits down by the rivers of Babylon the waters of strife and rivers of Confusion and shall there be no fountain in our Head or Heart no penitent streams flowing from our eyes The God of heaven make this marble sweat that we may not keep a Mock-fast to day with dry eyes and hard hearts Come let us blow off the ashes from our zeal let us enflame our hearts with sad but servent devotion Sure if as Heraclitus dreamt our soul were but an Exhalation the heat of our devotion would melt it into one indivisible tear Our soul would be its own tear and we might well weep out our eyes and souls together on this day of tears Oh let us remember to joyn Zecharies zeal with Jeremies tears let us lie upon our faces to day but up up to morrow the Prophet cryes Ho Ho in the verse before my Text to awaken and enflame your zeal and indignation against Babylon Come â—pread abroad like the four winds of heaven saith the Lord Deliver thy self O Zion c. In the words observe Zions bondage and Zions deliverance Zions Memento and Gods Alarme Zions Memento to put her in minde of her sad condition she was yet in the house of Bondage like Galba's wit she had but a foul habitation an ill seat and worse neighbours Zion that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon But that 's not all it is not a bare gentle Memento in a still voice Heus heus divinum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Heark heark God himself sounds an Alarme Zion's fast asleep she snorts again and therefore the Prophet lifts up his voice and cryes So Ho O Zion awake awake rouze up thy self out of thy secure pleasing dream Thy soul is asleep awake quicken thy spirits put on strength O Zion put forth thy strength use all possible diligence for thy redemption and Deliverance Deliver thy self O Zion c. The Text at first glance presents these two Propositions to our serious consideration 1. It is sometimes the hard lot of Zion to dwell with the daughter of Babylon This point is so clear that I need not explain or confirm it wee 'l let that passe and hasten to the second 2. Zion must take all fair opportunities and use all lawfull meanes to deliver her self from Babylon I desire to spend my strength upon this Doctrin Give me leave to open the point a little Come let us walk the Round and survey the bounds of Zion and the bounds of Babylon By Zion the Prophet means the people of God whose * hearts were set on Zion because God
Tim. 5. 24 25. In the last place let us make it our saddest businesse to reform our own particular persons Honourable and Beloved are there no sinnes amongst you even amongst you Quis custodiet ipsos custodes Have the Reformers no need of Reformation turn your eyes inward tell me sadly what do you discover there are there no Babylonish Inmates protected there such as can never be defended are there no unruly passions no unmortified lusts no self-ends or sinister respects such as beg your priviledge and enjoy your favour These these are the Brats of Babylon O happy thrice happy shall he be who takes these Infant-lusts before they are grown up and dasheth them against the Rock as it is in Ps. 137. ver. 9. This is the proper work of a Fast What have you done to day You have sate here five or six hours and missed a dinner Is this the Fast that God hath chosen is this all that he requires of you Doth he not command you to humble your souls to break your hearts to afflict your spirits to mortifie your lusts deny your selves reform your lives take up your crosse and follow Christ Will you cut off your right hands and pull out your right eyes Will you take Christs yoak upon your necks his burthen upon your shoulder Will you lay down your honours your estates your lives at the feet of Jesus Christ Will ye live to him and if he calls you to it will you die for him If you have wrought your hearts to this temper to day then you have fasted to the Lord God takes notice of your zeal you beat down Crosses and Images but take heed you do not leave some idols standing in your own bosomes Is there no lust of covetousnesse or lust of uncleannesse no pride ambition envie malice enshrined within your hearts Down down with these You know there are Idola saeculi as well as Idolatemplâ— {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sunt {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} all your lusts must be Anathematized Cursed that they may like the fig-tree after it was cursed die and wither at their very root Tell me is not selfe-love an Idoll is it not the great Whore is not lust a Beast a Monster with many heads and horns Oh hate this Whore mortifie selfe-love and you stab the Beast to the heart for self-love is the very heart and soul of Originall sinne it is the last enemy which will be destroyed it was primum vivens and it will be ultimum moriens Come then let us beat down our bodies and cry to God to humble our souls and beat down our corruptions let not onely Reason Vote down your lusts but Faith and Zeal pray them down The precious sons of Sion are most troubled with this same Babylon within and therefore they do make most frequent and penitent complaints against themselves and put up most zealous prayers to God to give them power and victory over their head-strong and stomackfull corruptions and in their prayers their faith ever closes with such promises as assure them of grace enough to resist temptations and mortifie their corruptions this is the way to keep a faithfull penitent holy zeaelous heavenly Fast This is to fast as our Saviour did who made it his meat and drink to do the will of his Father Be pleased to consider that you must not only beat down Babylon but build up Sion Sion is built by faith and holinesse In the first place then 1. Look to your faith The walls of Babylon like the walls of Jericho are battered down by faith all the faithfull prisoners in Babylon whose hearts were sprinkled by the blood of the Covenant were prisoners of hope and therefore were sure to be delivered from the bottomlesse-pit in which there is no water for Babylon was a type of Hell As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water Zechar. 9. 11. Beasts live by sense Heathens live by reason Christians must live by faith they must mortifie their lusts renounce their merits rest onely upon Christs perfect obedience and full satisfaction for their justification for we cannot be Constituted righteous but by the obedience of Christ Rom. 5. 19. In this faith let us live in this let us die 2. Study Holinesse Holinesse is the beauty of Sion for there they were to worship God in the beauty of holinesse there can be no beauty in our souls no glory in our Congregations without holinesse Sion was the Mount of holinesse Zech. 8. 3. Holinesse is the end of Humane society Vtque alios alii de Relligione docerent Contiguas Pietas jussit habere domos Certainly this Age is even grown Barbarous or else Holinesse which is the end of Humane society and the life of Christian society would never be contemned and despised as it is now adayes in this wicked generation O what a base thing is it for a Nation to be ashamed of its glory and to glory in its shame Men think it a base thing for to be holy and yet God himself is glorious in Holinesse Exod. 15. 11. Certainly if this Nation would be glorious in Holinesse Gods right hand would be glorious in power and dash our enemies to pieces Exod. 15. 6. Without holinesse we cannot have any intimate acquaintance with God or good men We long for Peace but Peace is a Iewell which God gives to none but those that are of his acquaintance Iob 22 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace thereby good shall come unto thee A godly life is the life of God those that were strangers to a godly life are said to be alienated or estranged from the life of God Ephes. 4. 18. They then that strike at holinesse strike at the life of God and have a kinde of Atheisticall murther in their thoughts they would lay the Church a bleeding let out the very heart-blood of Religion and take away the life of God If England will not be holy it cannot be happy if we continue in our lukewarmnesse and profanenesse Wo wo be unto us though it go well with Sion it will go ill with us Sion was preserved even when Ierusalem was destroyed and England may be destroyed for its unthankfulnesse unfruitfulnesse heresie idolatry lukewarmnesse and profanenesse c. and yet the Church preserved for the Church is not confined to any place It concerns us then to be such manner of men in all holy conversation 2 Pet. 3. 11. such pilgrims on earth and citizens of heaven that it may appear that we seek a better Countrey an Heavenly and then God will not be ashamed to be called our God Heb. 11. 16. But if we go about spirituall duties with carnall hearts and worldly mindes if we lie at catch waiting for a fair opportunity to return into Egypt the God of heaven will be ashamed to own us for his people Heb.