blaspheme their Graces or once suspect or imagine that any thing that is found upon them in that kinde that carrieth the appearance of glory and excellency in it but that it hath the reality truth weight and substance also The holinesse of the Saints hath no enemy but either he that is ignorant of their interest in God or else of that God in whom their interest is Fourthly you may see in the Doctrine delivered that faire Fountaine opened that hath sent forth and still sendeth all those sweet and pleasant streames wherewith the City of God hath been refreshed and made glad in all ages I meane all those mercies blessings those great and strange deliverāces which have been brought about for them wherein they have been blessed above other men That interest they had in God hath stood them in this stead this hath been as a Fountaine of living waters unto them springing up continually to relieve them The Lord saith David Psal 126. hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce What is the reason of that great difference between the Church of God and all other societies of men and Kingdomes and Monarchies and Nations of the world which David expresseth Psal 20.8 They are brought downe and fallen but we are risen and stand upright that so many great and mighty Nations that had Chariots and Horses and walled Cities and the thickest shields every wayes that could be made of flesh for their safety and yet these destroyed we that are but a few weake and unarmed in comparison and yet we stand The reason of this difference may well be gathered out of the former verse They trusted in Chariots and Horses these were their owne they had propriety in these and so had the help they could afford But the Church having the name of the God of Iacob for them this was more for their security and defence then all the Chariots and Horses of war then all Castles and Fortresses whatsoever The one had interest in the Lord God was theirs his Power his Might his Wisdome was theirs and he hath let them have their owne in all times of their necessity and so they have been supported whereas all the world besides having no other strength then themselves no better hope then what an arme of flesh could doe for them have not been able to stand If the Lord had not been Ps 124.1 on our side saith David that is had not God been ours may Israel now say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed us up quicke when their wrath was kindled against us then had the Waters over-whelmed us c. So may we say in this our solemne rejoycing and thanksgiving for that great deliverance now remembred and for many others formerly If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us and went downe against us too we also had been swallowed up quick and if not the waters the flames of fire had over-whelmed us but whether they be aloft or below God meets with them as David speakes Psal 139. If I climbe up into heaven thou art there if I goe downe into hell whither these wretches were in going thou art there also God hath set his seale upon this great deliverance with a faire and glorious impression because he would have it knowne for his and make of it for himselfe an everlasting name that should not be cut off Therefore woe be to him that shall deface this Monument which the Lord himselfe hath erected in the midst of this Nation and hath engraven and written praise and glory to his owne name upon it Woe be to him I say that shall let the remembrance of it perish or fall to the ground When mens owne tongues fall upon them and cause them to fall All men saith David shall see and know it is the Lords worke Psal 64.8 9. Let me say one thing further to you I would not have you only to consider how great the deliverance is what a glorious train of mercies and blessings it hath to follow it and attend upon it but if I could I would teach you an art how to fulfill your owne joy how to make a double and treble improvement of this and other mercies given you Then must I wish you not to lay out the strength of your joy too freely upon your deliverance it selfe or all that comes by it for indeed it was a Mother-mercy having a thousand more conceived in the bowels of it and brings forth fruitfully to this day but reserve your selves rather to consider who it was that wrought it for you it was the Lord it was your God The woman of Samaria Iohn 4.12 thought their Wel of Sychar had a kinde of blessing upon it above others because so great a man as their Father Iacob dranke of it but on the contrary we that are the Church and People of God may truly and with sobernesse of judgement thinke our selves blessed indeed that we draw all the waters we drinke all the mercies and preservations we enjoy from such a Fountaine as the goodnesse of the great God of heaven and earth The same mercies and good things did we receive from another from an inferiour hand were not the same the best and pleasantest taste and relish that is in them what ever they be is the taste of the hand out of which they come And therefore prophane and ignorant men lose the best part of all the temporall good things they enjoy because they doe not savour the hand that gives them forth unto them The Lord saith David Ps 126.3 hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce If David were now alive and the question put to him where the Emphasis and life of these words lay I verily beleeve his answer would be not in the great things that were done for them but rather in the great doer of them the Lord. The Lord hath done c. It is a rule and principle in common reason and experience and weak apprehensions will reach it which Xenophon well expresseth in his language thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things that are alike or of equall worth contentment in themselves comming from persons unequall in place and dignity doe not equally affect men that receive them but still a great difference there is if the inequality of persons from whom they come be great To kisse the hand of a man inferiour to us is as nothing rather indeed a disparagement and a thing ridiculous but to kisse the hand of a Prince is a matter of favour and countenance So Solomon saith of the light of the countenance or favour of the King that it is like a Cloud of the latter raine which often is more worth then a Kings ransome Prov. 16.15 whereas a good looke from a meane man is scarcely valued at two drops of water God cannot give any light or slender mercies because
would have the Children of God who beleeve in Christ to take unto themselves and put on as great a confidence of their salvation and everlasting happinesse in regard of the mighty power of God to effect it as if themselves had the same Almightinesse and al-sufficiency of power in their owne hand to use and exercise at their owne desires and were as mighty themselves as God is for the effectuall procuring of their owne happinesse implying that by meanes of this propriety in God they have no more cause to feare or doubt any thing in this kinde then they should or would have if themselves were omnipotent this is to bee strong in the Lord and with the power of his might There is somewhat the like expression Psal 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee That very strength which is in God by an effectuall faith and dependancy becomes the creatures as truly as if it selfe were the subject of it It is true in the relations we speake of betweene creature and creature as betweene wife and husband son and father c. the propriety that mutually intercedes gives right reciprocally of as much as we speake of As for instance the husband being the wives husband and so she having a propriety in him stands bound by the Law of God and Conscience by vertue of that propriety the wife hath in him to doe as much for her good by all the power he hath as the woman her selfe could doe I still meane in a way of equity and right if shee were wife and husband both or had all that power in every kinde in her owne hand which her husband now hath And so back again the wife stands bound in the same manner to her husband by vertue of that propriety he hath in her and so likewise it is betweene Son and Father and Father and Sonne But though the due debt be as round a reckoning as we speake of 〈◊〉 from creature to creature where any such propriety intercedes yet it can hardly be expected that ever it will be either paid or received in full the insufficiency and disability of the Creditor being such as it is And though men and women be godly and upright truly carefull and conscionable to pay all that is issuing from them to the proprietary yet must allowance be made for humane frailties and infirmities A Wife or Husband shall but wrong themselves to expect strictly and punctually all that is due from either by the Law of that propriety which each hath in other But with God it is otherwise he is every wayes sufficient and able we need not thinke of any Deductions or Abatements to be made by him Where he gives a propriety of and in himselfe looke whatsoever the Law of that propriety interpreted in the largest and most favourablest manner for the creatures benefit can challenge it is and so he will esteeme it accordingly an honor done to him to expect from him in full paiment to the utmost farthing Now how great or rather indeed infinite that summ is we have already used an expression unto you which sets it forth to the full And this for the first thing propounded What that right or propriety is which the Church of God hath in him what a mighty and glorious an Interest it is CAP. III. Containing proofes from Scripture of the Churches propriety or interest in God IN the next place That they have indeed such an interest as hath beene expressed let us see whether the holy Ghost doth not abundantly confirme it in the Scriptures Among many witnesses that would rejoyce to speake in this case I shall desire you to heare but two or three These are sufficient to establish the matter though it be of greatest importance The tenour of the Covenant that God long since made with Abraham expresly containes this propriety we speake of to the full I will establish my Covenant betweene mee and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Gen. 17.7 And in the latter end of the following verse repeating the summe of this Covenant he addeth and I will be their God This seed of Abraham as S. Pauls Exposition makes it cleare are those that walke in the steps of the faith of Abraham and these are that Church of God we speake of Now what is the direct and full meaning of this clause I will be their God In what or in what degree would the Lord have Abraham and his seed conceive their condition to be bettered and advanced by this bargaine as it were that God now made with them in making over himselfe unto them There can be no other meaning but to this effect I will be their God that is I will be ready at all times with my out-stretched arme my Almighty power to helpe them to relieve them to provide for them to doe them good every wayes according to my greatnesse and excellency There is a greater Emphasis and weight in it as I conceive to promise that he would be a God unto them then if he had said he would bee a Friend yea then if hee had said hee would bee a Father as appeares by such other places where both these expressions are used together of being a Father unto his people and being a God this being still put in the last place as more weighty and adding somewhat unto the former Joh. 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and to your God For although for a creature to receive such a promise from God that he would be a Father unto him may imply as much in a direct and ready consequence as if hee had said he would bee a God unto him yet hee must reason a little to come at the full apprehension hereof he must consider how great hee was that made the promise of being a Father unto him the word Father doth not carry as much in it as the other word God doth though comming from the mouth of God it drawes as much after it When he promiseth or covenanteth with the creature to be a God unto it he promiseth to doe all things to it and for it answerable to an infinite goodnesse and power such as are proper to a God else he could not properly bee said to bee their God or a God unto them but only in part or a piece of a God to bee unto them or to doe for them only according to the line and proportion of a creature as for example to be unto them as Abraham was unto Isaac to give them an earthly inheritance or as Ioshuah to the people an earthly Deliverance or as David to Solomon an earthly Kingdome any of these or all together will not make up the summe of those words to be a God unto them This would rather be to be Abraham Ioshuah or David unto them he is not their God except his infinite
offend them yet on the sudden remembring it selfe as it were it tooke fire and destroyed them So that me thinkes this fiery Element of Powder spake to and dealt betweene them these Popish miscreants and us the Church of God amongst us much after the same manner as the evill spirit mentioned Acts 19.15 both spake and dealt by those Vagabond Jewes those Exorcists in respect of Iesus and Paul When these Exorcists adjured this evill spirit by Jesus whom Paul preached the spirit answered and said to them Iesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye And the man saith the Text in whom the evill spirit was ran on them and they fled out of the house naked and wounded So when these Popish Exorcists had adjured and charged the Powder to doe execution upon this Kingdome and State professing the truth and Gospell of Jesus Christ the Powder made them answer The State and Church of England I know the servants of the living God I know those that worship the Lord Christ in Spirit and truth I know I have nothing to doe with these I can doe nothing against them but who are you you cursed enemies of truth Church of God I owe you no such service Therefore looke to your selves and keep out of the dint of my fiery Whirlewinde Otherwise your flesh will be before me but as stubble before the winde I will devoure you But this for the second motive to perswade enemies to desist it is a worke that never hath and therefore certainly never will prosper but only to destruction of the workers themselves A third motive followes Let this consideration also prevaile with the enemies of the Church to cause them to cease from the violence that is in their hand against it because this Church of God and the members of it whom they persecute living amongst them in the world are the rock as it were upon which their City is built they are the foundations of all the peace and all the pleasure and all the contentments they enjoy upon earth these are the partition wall between them and hell for the time These are the Chariots and Horsemen for defence and faseguard of their States and Lives against the fury and indignation of the Lord which otherwise would breake in upon them and consume them in a moment The great Master housholder of this great house the world would soon break up house if his owne Children were once disposed of in marriage to their great husband If these were once setled in their inheritance the wicked would soone with Iudas be packed away and sent every man to his owne place When God shall once speake come yee blessed depart ye cursed followes presently sently after it The Chaffe is not in danger of burning as long as it lies in the same heap intermixt with the Wheat but if the Wheat be once divided by it self from it then it is neare the burning with unquenchable fire It is true that which our Saviour saith Mat. 5.45 God makes his Sun to arise upon the evill and the good but with this interpretation and in this order as one glosseth the place well he makes the Sun to arise upon the evill and the good but upon the evill for the goods sake And that manner of speaking I take it is much to be noted where it is said that God maketh his Sun to rise upon evill and good q. d. If God himselfe did not mediate and interpose with a strong hand betweene that glorious creature of his the Sun and evill and wicked men they would never agree for an houre together the Sun being once set would never rise upon such men again There is a naturall unwillingnesse and gainsaying in the whole Creation in the Heavens Sun Moone and Stars to doe any service to or to gratifie wicked men that are enemies to God though otherwise it be most agreeable to their particular natures to give forth their light and influences to the world and they may seem to rejoyce as it were and triumph to doe it yet since man rebelled against God that created him through that naturall sympathy they have with God and his glory there is an utter aversnesse and unwillingnesse upon them even to doe that office and service to the world for which they were created and are able freely to afford without any offence hinderance or prejudice to themselves otherwise But that which is their glory their excellent light and lustre and those heavenly influences they give downe upon the world in this respect is not their glory but a griefe and burden upon them to pleasure the enemies of God with them and to strengthen their hand as if through a zeale they have to Gods glory they would rather lose their beeing though excellent and glorious then to remain and continue doing service to his enemies So that did not God over-rule them in the thing by a strong hand the Sun would presently clothe himselfe with a sackcloth the Moone would give over shining and the Stars would fall out of their place in heaven rather then shine here to pleasure the enemies of their God This I rather take to be the meaning of that place Rom. 8.20 Because the creature is subject to vanity not of its owne will but by reason of him that hath subdued it under hope That vanity whereunto the creature is said to be here subject is not to be understood of a vanity of corruption properly so called or dissolution for it is a great question whether it be at all subject to this vanity or no whether in the heavens which are the principall parts of the creature there shall be any such change that shall answer the death and dissolution of man It is hard to conceive how the heavens should be invested with a condition more glorious and excellent then that wherein they now stand which seemes necessary to be held and to bee beleeved if we hold any such change comming upon them answerable to death What God is able to doe in this case we do not here dispute or deny And againe secondly if it were this kinde of vanity the holy Ghost should here meane I suppose the Apostle would never have mentioned that circumstance as a matter so weighty and worthy of consideration that it should be contrary to the will of it For who knowes not that corruption and destruction is contrary to the naturall desire and inclination of any thing whatsoever therfore those words would taste too flat and dry for the wisdome of the holy Ghost if such a sense were admitted Thirdly and lastly the vanity here meant must be such a vanity from the subjection whereof the creature desireth even for the present and that with fervency to be free and to be delivered ver 19. Now from the vanity of corruption properly so called it cannot be delivered but by undergoing and suffering corruption first and so it would follow that the fervent desire of the creature should