c. God will do two things for his people in the day of his wrath against his enemies First he will make them to sing In that day shall this song be sung in the Land of Judah The world oft sing when the Saints mourn and therefore the world shall mourn when the Saints shall sing And another thing is In that day when the Lord shall open his arms as a swimmer for judgment The Saints shall have a strong City or Garison or Refuge to go to where they shall be safe We have a strong City that shall be their song Salvation will God appoint for Walls and for Bulwarks Now it shall not be an outward City or an outward Garison but the Lord will give them a spiritual Garison The salvation of the Lord shall be to them as Walls and Bulwarks So that beloved in few words this is the lesson that I would learn thorowly and would have you to learn from this Verse that In all the troubles and calamities that are in this world Observation God a sweet refuge the people of God have a sweet Refuge or a safe Garison to go into Let the judgments of God be out upon the earth upon the wicked and unbelievers never so much and let the Kingdoms be never so miserable yet the Saints have a Garison they have a sweet place of shelter of retreat and refuge and safety in the worst of times that can be in this world You shall see a blessed place to this purpose Heb. 12. 25 26 c. See that you do not turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven saith the Apostle whose voice then shock the earth but now he hath promised saying Yet once more will I shake not the earth onely but also heaven And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken or moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Beloved not to open the whole place this is that onely I would observe from it That there are times in the latter end of the world wherein the very heaven and earth shall once more be shaken That is there shall be such troubles and calamities now in the latter end of the world that men shall think that God is shaking not onely Kingdoms and Nations but Heaven and Earth the whole Vniverse and is ready to pull it down There will be such times saith the Apostle yet saith he We receive a Kingdom which cannot be shaken It is a blessed place when all the Kingdoms in the world shall be shaken all the Earth and all the Heavens as it were shall be shaken too yet we have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken The Saints are in a Garison or Kingdom that though all the world about them were shaken and totter they are safe and stand still Truly I have oft thought in my own apprehensions that the Saints differ as much from other men as if you could suppose a man to live in the middle Region where there is no wind nor storms nor tempest And you know here in all the sublunary world there is nothing but clouds and rain and storms and all weathers If one were above in the middle Region lot it rain or thunder or hail or be what it will here he is safe and quiet Just so it is with the Saints they are in the middle Region in a Kingdom that though all the Kingdoms of the world shake yet they receive a Kingdom that cannot be shaken But you will say Where is this Garison that we may go into it Where is this Kingdom Salvation saith the Prophet the Lord shall appoint us for walls and bulwarks That is this Kingdom is not outwardly to be found it is not an earthly garison but it is a figurative speech that they do finde in the Lord by the holy Spirit such security and such safety as if they were in a garison that cannot be assaulted or taken But you will say How can that be This is a meer Idea or Notion which no body can understand I shall shew presently how it can be by the help of God The troubles of a man the real troubles of a man are in his minde and soul and affections Now if you could finde a way to keep a mans minde and soul and heart it were easie to keep the whole man For our trouble is not a little imprisonment or poverty Paul or Sylas were in prison and were to be hanged the next day for ought they knew yet they could sing The man is as his minde is if we can finde a way to fortifie and garison the soul and minde and affections it will be easie to garison the whole man But now how shall we garison the minde or soul How a man may be said to be secure and impregnable or heart and affections to use no critical distinctions how shall we garison the heart of man You shall see that in Phil. 4. 7. The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes through Christ Jesus There is saith the Apostle a peace of God that shall keep you or as the word in the Greek is garison you shall set up a garison in your hearts and mindes through Jesus Christ What peace is that You shall see if you compare it with the Gospel of John When our Lord Christ was going to Heaven he told his Disciples I will send the Comforter John 14. 7. among you and My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world gives give I unto you My peace I give unto you not as the peace of the world It is a legacy that we have in the New Testament from our Lord Jesus Christ that is now in heaven by the Holy Ghost there is a kinde of peace that comes into the hearts of the Saints that passeth understanding not onely the understanding of wicked men that they know it not and apprehend it not but it passeth the understanding of a godly man that hath it As we see in Isaiah there is a peace that comes and quiets and secures his soul such a peace as he never understood or did suppose could come into his soul according to that Neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor hath entred Isai 64. 4. into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that wait for him That is God sends this peace and many other blessings Such a peace as a man never conceived in his heart and this peace comes in and keeps the heart like a Castle or sets up a garison in the heart it keeps the heart and minde through Jesus Christ Therefore from that briefly you may learn a lesson or two that so I may proceed to that which remains Vse First Learn I desire and beseech
you that profess your selves to be Saints that you would make To repair to this refuge towards this refuge or this garison here in all your troubles I am ashamed and troubled and have been truly many yeers to see Saints and godly people when troubles come on them to spend their wits and beat their brains in finding refuge in outward things O if I were here or there in such a Town in such an Iland in such a Country in such a place I should have it Beloved our song should be Salvation God will appoint us for walls and bulwarks Our way is when all the Kingdoms of the world are shaken to seek to get into that Kingdom that shakes not That is let England and all the world shake I care not so I have the Spirit of Christ the comforter to bring peace to my soul that may set up a garison there that nothing may assault and trouble me Then let all the world let heaven and earth shake I am sure I am safe this is the way It is a common saying of many particular persons Let a man not seek himself any where without in the opinion of men So let not Saints seek refuge and shelter and salvation in outward helps but if they should see the Kingdom of England which God forbid involved in more miseries and troubles and desolations c. Lay this down alway by thee there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken England and Scotland and Ireland are shaken but there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Such a garison is besieged such a Town is in danger such a place is stormed but there is a garison that the Lord hath put into the hearts of his Saints that cannot be stormed or assaulted Therefore ply the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of the New Testament by his holy comforter that he would garison thy soul and put peace there And then what shall be the issue I will tell thee that thou with a holy joy and complacency and delight of Spirit when thou seest the very pillars of heaven shaken as it were shalt sollace thy self in thy own garison and walk in the streets of it and be safe thou shalt triumph over all storms and troubles and all that is here Not because that a Saint is able to encounter those things that are here For a Saint is not able to answer if you ask what he conceives will be the end of these things he cannot answer these things but onely he retreats to the middle Region as a bird he flies above sublunary things he can say I cannot tell what shall become of England or Scotland or Ireland but I am sure I know a back door that leads into a Kingdom that cannot be shaken to go into the middle Region where no storms of the Air shall trouble me and there I can rest my spirit I alway for my part with submission to the wise apprehend it as a thing too carnal and too low for Saints to think to finde a resting place in this world any place is heaven in such an Iland in such a Plantation and such a place let it be what it will But a Saint that hath this garison in his heart and minde he is at peace This garison David had when his enemies compassed him and he had no walls when there were 10000 about him he lay and slept For thou Lord sustainedst me saith he The salvation of God was walls and bulwarks about him If this peace of God be above understanding how can it be otherwise then be above expression We can therefore give but a hint of it but such a thing there is The Saints walk in a green meadow by the rivers of waters Psal 23. in the spring all the day and all the night long in beholding the love of God and the Covenant of God made in Iesus Christ the full forgivenesse of all their sins the everlasting union between them and Christ and through Christ between them and God and beholding the Spirit in its working within them and beholding the glory that shall be revealed at the last day the Crown that Christ shall bring with him they walk safely and sweetly and securely though all the Kingdoms of the world and the pillars of heaven be shaken As the heathen said If the world break about his ears he would undergo it without trouble Not because he can answer these things but withdrawing himself to his place from them I cannot tell whether the Kingdom shall stand but I can go to the middle Region to Iesus Christ where there is no storme Learn that and lay aside your great projects like the men of the world of building Castles in the air for Garisons but labour to get into this Garison Salvation will God appoint for walls and Bulwarks Open ye the gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth may enter in This is a speech just alluding to a Garison they use there to open the gates and to shut them and when any body comes they bid them stand and ask them who they are for What are they One saith he is a friend and then they bid open the gates and let him come in if not to shut the gates against him Open ye the gates saith the Lord But none must come in but a friend but who is this friend It is The righteous Nation which keep the truth they shall enter in The word in the Originall it is Truth not Truth not one or two or three or four truths but the righteous Who have a right to Gods protection Nation that keepeth the truths let them enter in That is the word if you will passe this Court of Guard he that shall come into this Garison is he that keepeth truth with a good conscience notwithstanding all the troubles that befall him in this world he shall enter into this Garison Therefore I beseech you look to your selves Truly it is unconceiveable and unutterable what the joy the comfort the worth of that Garison is where it is set up in the soul yet there are no hypocrites no partiall obeyers of Iesus Christ and his laws that shall enter into it Therefore if I speak Hebrew or Greek as it were to you that you understand not what I mean by this Garison look to your selves it may be you have not the word and therefore you cannot get in It may be you walk not uprightly you are not of the upright Nation and people you keep not the truths It may be you pick one truth here and another there that pleaseth you that suits with your reason or your lusts and corruptions or with the stream of the world you honor and respect that and for the rest of the truth let you neighbours take it if they will you will none of it if it bring shame and persecution and reproch That is the reason when troubles come you are at your wits end you know not where to go because
many I will give you but one more that is in the book of Ruth you shall have there a good woman that had two daughters in law her sons were both dead and so she was going to return to her country she was in a strange country with them and she takes her leave of her two daughters Chap. 2. 8. Naomi said to her two daughters in law Go return each to her mothers house the Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me that is they had been kind to her sons and to her for they lived in a strange country now Farwell The Lord grant that you may finde rest each of you in the house of her husband Then she kissed them c. And they said surely we will return with thee to thy people we will go along we will not leave thee No daughters saith she do not so for I cannot bear other children for you to marry as the law was then If I should lie to night with an husband and have children you would not stay so long therefore I pray abide and go not And it is said Orpah kissed her mother in law and lift up her voice and wept and left her but Ruth clave unto her Orpah was perswaded and wept and took her leave but Ruth clave to her and said Intreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whether thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God Where thou dyest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me So I say you see here that when there was a competition a kind of parting then Ruth abiding with Naomi that is called cleaving It is a glorious thing that when the seeming servants The honour of cleaving to Christ of Iesus Christ shall depart from him when there is a division among professors then to be able to cleave to Iesus Christ That you may understand it conceive that in the wayes of Iesus Christ many times there are such times that abundance of hypocrites as well as Saints abide with him they are sometimes still like the waters of Shilo there is no persecution or trouble in them it may be there is a great deal of honour and wealth and riches with them and many times a great party of the world sticks to him but there is a little tripp and step in the ways of godlines when there is a parting when hypocrites like Orpah shall weep and repent and so shall go with Christ no longer if they do one shall loose his friends another his trade another his wife and shall lift up their voices and weep and take their leaves then is the beautie of Christianity and the blessednesse of a Christian to be able to cleave to the Lord in such a time as this is This was the exhortation of the good man Barnabas that he gave to the people as you shall read Acts 11. 22 23. When he was come and had seen the grace of God he was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord. I have oft marvailed with my self why Barnabas that is said to be a good man and full of the Holy Ghost coming as a stranger to a congregation of good people where he saw the grace of God among them why he should choose this and no more but onely pitch upon this exhortation that seeing they were godly and had received the grace of God he should say I have no more to say but this one word understand it well that is that with full purpose of heart you cleave to the Lord. Indeed the reason was as I conceive if you compare it with Chap. 14. 22. Barnabas was a man to whom God had discovered much of the doctrine of Tribulation and persecution that belonged to the Gospell For take notice of it by the bye I look on the people of God liâ—e the servants of God that did go to build the Temple some were appointed to hew stone some to digge them up and some to carry them home some to build them up some to cast accounts and to keep reckoning So the Lord Iesus in his Kingdom no man knows the reason why he cuts out distinct parcells of work to his people and thereupon supplies them with his spirit and reveales truthes to his people some to manage such a thing no man knows the reason God fastens the doctrine of justification upon some that they cannot rest night nor day and one that may be unwilling to die for another point but not for that Another about Church-government Another upon sanctification none knowes why but God fits them for their work by his Spirit according to his blessed will Therefore we should not censure or sleight godly men because our master doth not imploy them about such a work as he doth us It may be my thoughts are upon sanctification anothers upon justification So God cuts out the work as it pleaseth him Now this Barnabas it seemes did not speak much as we read of but he had a mighty apprehension of persecutions and tribulations that the Saints should suffer in this world Therefore in Acts 14. 22. he and Paul confirm the souls of the Disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God In every Sermon as we may say Barnabas had something to strengthen the souls of the people to go thorow tribulation and affliction It may be another Apostle had his Spirit upon another work It may be in reference to this he gave them this exhortation desiring them with full purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord As if he had said Now you are in prosperity for so they were and are all ready to hear the Gospell and receive it O saith he but there is a time a coming to trie you and you must not think to run to heaven between two feather-beds but as all the Saints before had their share so every one that will live in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution As there is a Statute in heaven for all men once to die so if you be Saints you must live in tribulation and persecution and that is the way as Christ was made perfect by sufferings so you must come to salvation Therefore when those things come I have not much to say to you but O then remember to cleave to the Lord for then you shall see hypocrites in droves going away from Iesus Christ and leaving him one stumbling at this another at that one is offended at the Crosse that it takes away his credit another for his profit another his liberty another his trading but brethren I beseech you with full purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. See how a company in Iohn 6. with one word
in your souls I know God many times by these broken words may do your souls good but this is a thing that I confess my soul is so full of that I am not able to express it to vent and open my self The mischief and misery that befals people by soaring above the Scriptures above the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel ye hear that they do themselves and others and the safeties and security that will be to your souls in keeping to the plain simple way of the Gospel of Iesus Christ I had another short lesson but I am loath to thrust out one duty with another It is a rule by which I would alway walk I cannot now handle it but only mention it to you and if God lead us by his blessed Spirit we may learn a little of it I thought to shew you The Oneness that is betwixt us and Iesus Christ Methinks it is a more glorious Truth then we have judged it to be that poor Saints are one with Christ The Lord Iesus Christ is anointed and so are they we have the same unction with Christ we have the same name with Christ we have the same Offices with Christ we have the same love of God with Christ we have the same Spirit with Christ and the same Kingdom with Christ in Heaven The Church is the fulness of Iesus Christ Christ is not properly a Christ without his Members This is a glorious thing to consider how the poor Saints and Iesus Christ make up one compleat Body He is no Christ as it were were it not for his members The Church is the fulness of him that filleth all in all It is said of the oyl that was poured on Aaron It ran upon the skirts of his garments So Christ being anoynted that oyl runs on us As he is a Prophet so are we as he is a King so are we as he is a Priest so are we onely with this difference That in all things he might have the preeminence He is the highest King the best Prophet the most excellent Priest But otherwise whatsoever Christ is that are we whatsoever he hath that we have nay we have his name So also is Christ 1 Cor. 12. We head and members are called Christ And the least Saint of God is a Prophet as well as the greatest and a Priest as well as the greatest and a King as well as the greatest Nay he is as real a Prophet Priest and King as the Lord Iesus was onely in all things he must have the preeminence We have a share in all his actions we are one with him in his graces in his life and death and resurrection and ascention There is nothing in Christ there is nothing that Christ is or hath but we are one with him in it Therefore this use we should make of the Scriptures not to be as babies always to read a Chapter morning and evening but you that are experienced Christians when you have a truth hinted to you be alway at the Scriptures to beat it out As for instance go home now and study that Oneness that Vnion that is between Christ and us and beat it out to the utmost and what the excellency of the Spirit of God in the New Testament is and not to tie your selves to read so many Chapters a day but be alway studying the Scripture As David saith Blessed is the man that exerciseth himself day and night in the Law of God Thus the spiritual man doth not so much read Chapters as compare Scripture with Scripture and is bolting out spiritual truths till they be fully fixed and fastened upon his soul I shall it may be if God will explain that union to you further in the mean while search for it and so I shall leave it here and hear what the Lord hath further to say to us Expositions and Observations on IERE 6. 1 2 c. O ye children of Benjamin gather your selves to flie out of the middest of Jerusalem and blow the Trumpet in Tekoa and set up a signe of fire in Beth-haccerem for evil appeareth out of the North and great destruction I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman c. I Shall desire leave at this time a little more familiarly then usually to tell you what I conceive is the will of the Lord because I do not expect to speak to you any more I remember a little before the Lord had brought us together before the desolation of that * Bristol City which indeed was greater then any man can imagine unless he had been there present the Lord by his providence guided me to expound Matth. 24. concerning the desolation of Ierusalem little thinking or imagining that the desolation of that place had been so near And now that word that was then spoken by providence was as I perceived afterwards a very great stay and refreshing to the souls of the people in their trouble By providence also not by any way of prophesie I never was addicted that way but by providence reading this Chapter in my family and seriously considering of it me-thoughts the Lord represented to me in a way a little more then usual the state of this City wherein you now live and are to live and that by the state of Ierusalem which is here laid down throughout the Chapter For though we cannot tell you now of Cities and Kingdoms as the Prophets did by revelations and visions and the like yet what is written is written for our instruction And the Lord hath given us examples of his judgments that we may learn from them what to think and how to judg of other places and Cities and Kingdoms that are parallel that are like to those that the Lord hath visited or destroyed heretofore Therefore I shall briefly lay down the condition of Ierusalem as it is here in this Chapter Here are things spoken promiscuously because here in the Prophets there are but the heads as it were of their preaching therefore for method and your memories sake I will digest the condition of Ierusalem and what is here said of it and about it into these heads briefly But first of all before I speak of Ierusalem it-self ye are to observe the condition of the Prophet that the Lord had set among them which is laid down at Vers 27. I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people that thou mayest know and try their way The Lord compares the Prophet to a tower in the City that is a watch-tower A tower for strength as it is Iere. 1. 18. I have made thee an iron pillar and brazen walls That though he preached contrary to their corruptions yet they could not touch him And a tower for watchfulness because the Prophets did watch as out of a tower all the City and all in it and the enemies that were against it So the Prophets were called Seers in those days eying the sins of the
blessed power and strength to do that it teacheth therefore saith the Apostle Sin shall not have dominion over you because ye are not under the Law but under Grace Expositions and Observations on EPHESIANS 3. 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us THe Apostle ends his Prayer for the Ephesians in a general manner with a kinde of Thanksgiving Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly according to the power that worketh in us According to the power that worketh in us There is a mighty power that worketh in the Saints and you shall see that power Ephes 1. 19. saith he I desire that you may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward that believe according to the working of his mighty power It is not weakness but power and not a small power but a mighty power a great power an exceeding great mighty power That worketh in you The Saints are strong creatures If you ask what this power is you shall see in the verse following The power which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers c. That is the power of his holy Spirit that dwells in us greater is he that dwelleth in us then he that dwelleth in the world We have a greater power in us then can be from the world or hell against us And that power is illustrated here by the raising of Iesus from the dead and setting him up in heavenly places There was no active power that ever God expressed that can be compared to that of raising Christ from the dead It was a power and a great power and Gods power too to make this world and it is a power to preserve it but that power is not comparable to this when Jesus Christ was dead under the curse of the Law and under the wrath of God and under all our sins under the malice of men and under a great stone that was rowled on him and for a dead man to be raised up through all those oppositions of heaven and earth and hell and to be set in peace at the right hand of glory and majestie on high It must be an exceeding great power The Saints do not consider what strength they have If thou didst consider what strength thou hast in thee thou wouldest not be afraid to hear a Cross thou wouldst not be discouraged to attempt any work for God thou wouldest not be dismaied at the threatnings of men no nor at the temptations of the devil there is such an exceeding great and mighty power that works in them that believe This power is the power of the Spirit of God for that is the power of the most High the holy Ghost shall overshadow thee and the power of the most High shall come upon thee The holy Ghost is the power of God which dwelleth in the Saints And therefore my aime is to fasten that word on you and to shew you how you come short of that life and strength and grace that otherwise you might have for want of magnifying and exalting the Spirit of God which is the Conduit the Intelligencer that which brings light and life and strength to our souls from God The Spirit of God is lightly esteemed therefore we have little grace a low esteem of the Spirit will keep a Saint low all his days I thought to have instanced in a few things wherein you undervalue the Spirit One is that you do not hearken enough nor regard and observe enough the teaching of the Spirit of God and that is one cause why we are left to our selves and do so often miss the will of God For I know not according to the Covenant of Grace why a Saint should at any time miss the will of God but that he doth not observe his Leader For I will give you the Spirit saith Christ that shall lead you into all truth Now if you observe not this Leader this Teacher it is very just that you should be left to wander and go out of the way If a Christian would observe his way and observe his leader a Christian might easily finde when he is in and when he is out for truly if a man would ask himself Why did I miss the will of God so often since I have such a Teacher promised me and given me by Christ he must needs say that oftentimes I did not observe him I did not hearken to him I hearkened only to men and not to the Spirit of God And so he would easily finde when he began to give over harkning where he left the teaching of the Spirit for in my apprehension a Saint follows the holy Ghost with a kinde of sagacity if I may compare it with reverence just as we see the Dog follow the Hare there is something in Nature that the Dog knows which way the Hare went when a wiser creature knows not so there is something in a poor Saint that when all the wise men in the world know not which way God went a Saint can tell Onely the Dog may hunt upon a cold sent and think the Hare went that way and it grows colder and colder and he misseth So a Saint shall finde when he misseth the will of God that the Spirit of God hath not left him unless it be very rare as the Spirit left Christ to be tempted in the wilderness so he may leave thee to pull down thy pride and to humble thee Isay that is rare but ordinarily the Spirit leaves not thee but thou lettest goe thy leader and thou goest all the while on a cold sent A Saint though he headlong follows this or that conceit yet notwithstanding he may know when he comes to look upon himself surely I went upon a cold sent in those things though I followed them headlong and giddily it was not of the Spirit it was not the same teaching that I had ordinarily Therefore observe your leader hearken to the Spirit of God If God give you him as a master he expects that his children should learn and see when you go in the way of the Spirit of God and you may easily finde that if you will avoid headlongness and giddiness and rashness I speak not this as if the Spirit were contrary to the Word as some men to advance the Spirit set the Word and Spirit by the ears but the Spirit leads by the Word That which I chiefly intended to shew you was The power of the Spirit set out in four things to give you a few instances that you may have a little light to see the exceeding greatness of the power of the Spirit working in you I shall not shew in all respects nor in many as I might but onely in a few I will instance in these three or four things As first
a good look yet this is our disposition if the Saints do not observe us if one go by and do not observe us in the street and put not off his hat and speak and give us idle visitations when he knows not what to do he loves us not It is a great deal if a Saint do but come over the threshold or look upon me in the street This is that that breeds endless quarrels for they are here put together Strife and Vain glory and the like for thou wilt be alway like the Salamander feeding upon some quarrel for every man naturally hath some one thing that he feeds on principally children feed on one cate more then another and so do men some upon Husbandry some upon Navigation some upon Policy every one upon one thing or other All men have some one thing that carries the stream of their hearts some Professors the very stream of their spirits goes in quarrelling with others they no sooner end a quarrel with one Saint but they begin another they can no more live without jangling and quarrelling and strife then the Salamander can live without fire This is the reason a proud heart therefore can never close with the Saints it cannot be content with a little measure of love from the Saints A Saint if he be as he should be can love though he be not loved and can rejoyce wonderfully if he have the least measure of love from others The Lord make this short word spiritual and powerful to thee and me If this lesson were rightly learned a world of division among the Saints would cease Expositions and Observations on HEBREWES 12. 18 19 20 c. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest And the sound of a trumpet and the voyce of words which voyce they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more For they could not endure that which was commanded and if so much as a beast touch the mountaine it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the general assembly and Church of the first born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and the spirits of just men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven THe Apostle in these words doth compare The old and new Testament compared the old Testament the old Covenant with the new or if you will the estate of the Saints under the old Covenant of Sinai with the glorious estate of the Saints under the new Covenant Therefore he tells them Ye are not come to that mountaine that burned with fire that mountain that might be touched you are not set under the old Covenant that was terrible in which there was nothing but that that was terrible that brought horror upon all that feared God in it but ye are Come to mount Sion to the glorious state in the new Testament and there is nothing but what is amiable and what is beautiful for that is it that I mean to pitch on you shall observe in the description of the Saints in the old Testament under the old Covenant I mean not the Books of the old Testament I suppose you know what I mean in that Proposition I say there was nothing in all Gods administration with them but it was full of terror it was terrible it begat horror in them and there is nothing in the state of a Saint that is rightly setled in the Gospel but what is throughly amiable and beautiful and therefore you shall see how the Apostle reckons them First for the old he saith they were come but to a Mount that might be touched that is an earthly mountain a mountain or hill as one of our hills And that burned with fire that was terrible And there was blackness and darkness and storm and tempest covering the heavens and the hill this was terrible And there was the sound of a Trumpet you know that signifies war And there was a terrible voyce of words also and so terrible that they that heard it intreated that they might hear it no more And the Lord was so strict that if but a beast touch but the hill that was black and dark he was to be stoned or thrust through with a dart he was to be killed nay Moses himself that was to be the Mediator of the people in that Testament he did exceedingly fear and quake So that there is nothing in that old Covenant of works that God saith is done away Heb. 8. there was nothing in the old Testament but what was terrible and full of horror To come a little more particular there is nothing in the state of a Professor who is yet on Mount Sinai as many Professors are who are not yet dead but alive to the Law they are not free-men they are not sons and daughters they have not the principles of the Gospel clearly wrought in them I say those people take them in the bulk and frame of their profession there is nothing in their whole life in all the course of their profession but what is ful of horror and terror If they look upon God they see him more or less as an angry Iudg ready to stand at the catch to consume them If they look on grace in them that is so little that they continually conclude that they are hypocrites If they look on sin they look every moment when God will be avenged on them because of it If they look on affliction they say Now God hath found me out I knew it would be so that the wrath of God would be on me If they look on Christ saith he He doth not belong to me and the Promises are not mine A man that is a Professor on Mount Sinai as far as he walks in the Covenant of works or as it were by the Covenant of works so far of necessity his soul within is as Mount Sinai was without that is full of blackness and darkness and storms and tempest inevitably and unavoidably it will be so Therefore clearly this is the reason of all the troubles and horrors and terrors and uncomfortableness of your spirits because you have one foot on Mount Sinai you are not come up to Pauls pitch I through the Law am dead to the Law you are not dead to the Law you are not delivered from it I mean the Law as it is a Covenant of
own mercies as Ionah saith to imbrace some lust or other either to imbrace the world or to fall to wantonness or drunkenness or any thing else and so to bargain as Esau that sold all his blessed title in the new Testament and in Jesus Christ for a mess of pottage Beware of that prophaneness for prophaneness is not onely when men commit gross evils as we say but this is a prophane man though he be a Professor and walk civilly that though but in his heart is willing to exchange the blessed estate that God hath called him to for the best happiness in the world There are many prophane men that are not whoremongers and drunkards but are ready every day if the devil come to cheapen to give up their birthright for a mess of pottage Take heed you sell it not if you did understand it rightly you would not sell it for ten thousand worlds that condition and happiness that God hath called you to All the things in the world that can be presented to you are nothing to the peace of the Kingdom of heaven be they what they will in themselves and yet you hanâ—er after ambition or lusts or somewhat and go sell your birthright for a root of bitterness for a mess of pottage for base things I say and I am sure there is no Saint here that knows what the happiness of a Christian in the new Testament is but will say so that all the glory and riches and happiness in the world is no more in comparison of the riches and happiness of a man estated in Christ in the new Testament then a mess of pottage is compared with an inheritance Therefore beware of it desire the Lord to deliver you from a prophane heart Thirdly here is another Use that the Apostle 3. To encourage weaklings makes of it therefore this should encourage poor weak Professors that are every day ready to faint Wherefore saith he lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make strait steps to your pathes least that which is lame go out of the way The meaning is poor souls that are beaten out as it were as a ship in the sea all the week with temptations and afflictions and injuries and reproaches and threatnings and persecutions that their hands almost fall that they are ready to say as David I have washed my hands in innocencie in vain This is the way to keep up thy spirit Labor as Paul prays Phil. 1. to know the riches of thy calling to understand the glorious condition that God hath called thee to here I speak not of that in heaven hereafter but the glorious estate here if thou hadst eyes to see it and a heart to judg of it then you would not be so tormented all the week long with a few temptations and afflictions and so be ready to give up as David said I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul so I shall one of these short days prove an hypocrite a prophane man I am so haunted with temptations and so followed with sins and lusts No beloved study that blessed estate what Mount Sion what the heavenly Ierusalem is that City of the living God that God hath called you to and that will support thee Then that I may conclude Lastly this is the use 4. To study peaceableness the Apostle would have us make of it to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see see God That is if you do understand aright your spiritual condition the happiness of it which is unspeakable then surely you will be peaceable people you will be at peace with all men for this is a general truth to me that our frowardness doth generally arise from some distemper of our own souls within I mean when a man sees that God is angry with him he is angry with others that is certain alway if God look strangely upon him he will look strangely upon others if God quarrel with him he will quarrel with others but if God smile upon the soul and shed his love into the heart and set his love upon him he will not be angry with any that are without I mean with a carnal anger that is the reason that when a mans ways please God the stones of the street shall be at peace with him Did you ever see the stones of the street angry with you but the meaning is when a mans ways are cross with God and he hath a guilty conscience a guilty soul hath no true peace he is ready almost to fall out with the stones in the street he quarrels with his servant with his horse with every thing because he hath an unquiet spirit within when a man pleaseth God the stones shall be at peace with him that is he shall be at peace with every thing Why so because there is an infinite unspeakable quiet in his own soul That is the reason we have so many Professors among us that are so bitter and cruel to others some they call Presbyters and some Independents and divers other Professors you may pick them out in every Congregation that are so sharp and terrible to others if they cross them or dissent from them never so little What is the reason because there are abundance of Professors that have one foot on Mount Sinai they walk by the Covenant of Works they have patched a feined rotten peace in them with God in Christ and so many times there is blackness and darkness within therefore they are ready to wrangle and quarrel with others without But God hath called us to Mount Sion where is that where the swords are turned into Pruning hooks and the speares into Ploughshares sighing and sorrow is gone away and there is no ravenous beast there meaning the glorious estate of the Saints in the purity of the light of the Gospel all our ravenous spirits shall be taken away for it is impossible that soul that hath the love of God shed into it and the peace of God rightly planted in it it is impossible but that soul should be milde and calm and meek and merciful and loving and courteous to all and be at peace with all and peaceable to all And for holiness Follow holiness saith the Apostle this would make you holy if you did understand your condition rightly O if you were perswaded that God did love you from eteruity and that his Son did die for you and that you and he are as really one as he is one with his Father and that all the treasures that are in Christ are yours c. this would inevitably work in us a holy frame of heart and disposition Therefore the Apostle usually calls on us to be holy from such motives I beseech you by the mercies of God and by the consolations of the Spirit do this and that and leave that and the other evil That is the reason we are lame in holiness because our principles are so
to them that turn the grace of God into wantonnesse I am not able to tell my thoughts how fine the temptations of Satan are grown by this salvation by every Sermon he increaseth his knowledg and will to the end more and more and those temptations that take us now our children will laugh at them because knowledge shall increase Therefore take heed of pride and arrogancie walk humbly and hearken to advice for thou hast an enemy that learns more at one Sermon then thou dost at three Use 3 Another thing is this see what a glorious Jewel the Gospel is what a glorious pearl when the angels come To make us admire the glorious Pearl and riches of the Gospel down to study it The Angels in heaven see God and for ought I know they have as much happiness as ever they shall have they are sent down to the Saints to wait on them and that they that it concerns not should be so taken with it it must needs be a glorious Iewel Therefore some conceive that the Cherubins in the law there were two Cherubins over the Ark on the mercy seat one looking towards another God ordered it so so as they were prying as it were into the mercy seat and some conceive they were a type of the Angels prying into the glorious mysteries of the New Testament looking one at another and wondring as it were It is a glorious Jewel Therefore let us praise God for it and indeavour to use all means to keep it up Many devises the devil hath to pull it down though he get nothing but make himself more miscrable so there will not be such wanting still To instance in one take heed of Idolizing discipline and government that is so to give our selves up to seek a government that we care not what hindrance we do to the Gospel the while As there are some here among us in hindring the poor Welch Ministers from preaching to the people onely because they suspected them to be Independents this is but the beginning of sorrows if men may have their will for discipline and government we shall loose this Gospel which the Angels pry into discipline and government is good but we must not loose the Gospel for it keep up that And beloved if ever the Lord set peace among you think of those poor countries that have not this Iewel and Pearl If God raise men you may finde out some way or other whereby to maintaine them And it is more then allowing them maintenance for you are to stickle with that generation of wicked men that for every trifle and nicity hinder poor people from enjoying the Gospel and pretend either it may be he is not a Vniversity man he is no master of Arts it may be he hath Greek and Latine and not Hebrew though he be full of the Holy Ghost and yet the people must be starved Let us do what we can to prize and advance the Gospell hold it up before every soul If the Angels come down from heaven to prie into our Gospel how much should we prize it and not suffer people that we shall curse seven yeers hence that we blesse now that would couzen us of the Gospell be not cheated of the Gospel it is a precious Pearl it is all that this poor ruind tottered Kingdom hath left for peace and wealth are gone and there is a foundation of a new war laid only God hath kept up the Gospell in England as much as in any kingdom in the world Beware of men of wolves in sheeps cloathing beware of all the instruments of the devil that would beguile you and your poor children of this Iewel Vse 4 Lastly be forward and ready to every good work though it do not much concern you Truly there is a loveliness in To be ready to every good work good works though they concern not me and my good yet I should have a hand in them I mean though they concern not my calling There is a disposition in men that they wil meddle with nothing but their end is their profit or credit The Angels prie into our Gospel what have they to do with it They love to see the wonderfull wisdome of God in it and to see Christ woing sinners and take them in his Arms it is nothing to them yet they rejoyce that poor sinners should be saved and they rejoyce to see the justice of God and the wisdom and mercy of God how sweetly they be reconciled and glorified in his Gospel So let us when any good work is to be done though I and my family be not concerned in it yet let us go among them and do what we can This is the Plague of this age that many are about doing of good that is certain but there are some wheeles of their own ends in it I cannot say it of every Officer but in any Office or place in the City you shall have some that have wheels of their own ends that move all and if that be away all stands still Let us love good works for good works sake for the beauty of the work Expositions and Observations on IUDE 19. Sensual not having the Spirit I Am not now in an Expounding way further then I must of necessity to shew who these are that are said not to have the Spirit but onely I shall pick out a Lesson for you you may easily see if you reade the Chapter they were a generation of Professors of whom Peter speaks much They despised Magistracy they were spots in their feasts of love clouds carried about with every winde Wells without water Trees whose fruit was withered twice dead and plucked up by the roots for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness You see what their qualities were and you may see what their misery should be compare Jude with 2 Pet. 2. Among the rest of their properties this is one they have not the Spirit This is the last of all that the Apostle names They are sensual not having the Spirit And he usually reserves the greatest things last in his eloquence and way of speaking Now then the Lesson is this That The greatest difference that I know in all the Book of God between Saints and Sinners is that the one hath the Spirit and the other hath not There are a thousand differences even in Scripture but they are none of them so substantial as this that a Saint is a man that hath the Spirit and a Sinner is one that hath not the Spirit one that is without the Spirit Therefore the Apostles when they were Preaching and met with any Disciples and Professors they asked presently Have ye received the Spirit It is not meant onely nor chiefly of the common gifts of the Spirit but certainly it is meant principally of the spirit of holiness Have you received the holy Ghost or no So our Lord Christ speaking of the world and the Church to see what a blessed thing it is to see