impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of heaven for one whose heart is touched with and cleaves to the present evill world to be an inheriter of the world to come which God hath promised as a reward to the faithfull followers of the Lamb True in this day you must ask a world Heathens for an inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession but not this present world for your selves but another for the Son your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ yet for your comfort know you are not under an exclusion for you must ask a world for Christ as he is your head your King that from him you may receive according to the Decree of God what your portion is Of his fullnesse you may and shall receive grace for grace He that hath in this old world been faithfull over a few things which the Lord hath given him in charge shall in the new world to come be made Ruler over many things and enter into the joy of his Lord Mat. 25.21 And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat. 19.29 But he that doth not by the exercise of a faithfull spirit make such a retreat out of the world shall perish in the ruines of this world If our spirits be right the counterpaine of the spirit of our Lord in this day our prayer to our God and father will be for the utter dissolution of this old world and the bringing forth the new Heavens and new Earth promised for the performance of those glorious and admirable Promises which the God and father of our Lord Jesus hath made concerning this matter Now if our hearts be not wholly taken off this present evill world that voyce Come out of her my people will seem to us as the speech of righteous Lot to his Sons in Law as the speech of one that mocketh and not hearkening to it we shall perish with the world at best if any such temper'd soule be saved it will be as by fire he will suffer great losse What advantage then can the enjoyment of this present evill world be unto us 3 Take not up your rest in any attainment though you may have taken many a step in following your Lord and gotten on high above the world and it may be the rest of your brethren yet take not up your rest there but keep on your pace endeavouring daily to mend it in following the Lamb be not contented nor satisfied with any thing below the sitting downe together with your Lord and Saviour at the right hand of glory in those Mansions of the fathers house which your Lord is gone before to prepare for you and hath promised to come againe to receive you that where he is you may be also Rest not untill you see your Lord the Son of man sit in the Throne of his glory and then shall you sit upon Thrones also Mat. 19.28 I say take not up your rest in any attainment otherwise you will be of the number of those first which shall be last in vers 30. Those that are lag now will get before you to your great regret of spirit and as in the next Chapter a part of those many which be called but not chosen to the work of the day and so you will run a great hazard of missing that glorious reward the gift of your Lord To raigne together with him 4 Remember this That in this day in the carrying on the work your Lord hath put into your hands there must be no guile found in your mouth you must be without fault before the Throne of God Your Lord expects you should exercise such sincerity of spirit in your following him in this work as that you be not defiled with any of that guile that hypocrifie and doublenesse of heart and tongue the worlds mouth hath alwayes been filled with In the matters of the Kingdome of your Lord and his out-goings against the world in this day you must be without guile and without fault so clear as that God sitting on his Judgement Throne may see no fault in you without fault before the Throne of God Let it be so and when your Lord comes you will hear his blessed voyce calling unto you Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 5 Would you be such as God will teach knowledge and make knowne his mind to in such a day of wrath as this is Then it 's not my counsell but the Lords be weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Isa 28.9 Whom shall be teach knowledge and whom shall be make to understand doctrine or the stammeringe of lips as the margent hath it at this day them that are weaned from the milke and drawne from the breasts Be yee weaned from the milk of the worldly carnall professing Church be drawn from the breasts of her consolation and the Lord will teach you knowledge and make you to understand doctrine there shall not be a stammering of the lip in the things of God in this your day but the Lord will make you acquainted with it to the understanding of it Instead of her milk and her adulterous breasts he will give you the teachings of his good spirit making you intimately acquainted with his blessed everlasting Gospel Though he withdraw from the worldly professing Church that his word is but here a little and there a little among them as he formerly dealt with the carnall yet professing Church of Ephraim though his word hath been among them precept upon precept precept upon precept and line upon line line upon line but now it 's but here a little and there a little the Lord is gotten to the threshold off their house and is departing quite away from them I say notwithstanding this he will manifest himselfe to you if you be weaned from their milk and drawne from their breasts separate your selves from have nothing to doe with the worldly though professing Church he that hath made this Promise will performe it for he is faithfull let who can charge him in the least with the breach of any tittle of his word and promise 6 Be upon your watch that you let not slip the nick of time God gives you to and he expects you should doe your worke in The time when God expects you should receive his Son and exalt him among you as your King is then when he is rejected by the worlds refined Rulers and they enter into Associations Combinations against him to break his bands asunder and cast away his cords this is the time for you to stand up and declare for the Decree of God the father on the behalfe of your Lord and Saviour and the very nick of time which you are not upon your perill to let slip as you will answer before his father and your father is then when these wicked yet professing Rulers are going about to execute their abominable Counsells crying LET VS let us doe it break his bands and cast away his cords then it 's your work and duty to stand up and cleave to your King follow him whithersoever he will lead you I say slip not your time for it concernes you if you will not owne him now before the world you will run a desperate hazzard that he will not owne you before his father and then what misery and unhappinesse will betide you Let your owne enlightned consciences judge Lastly Beware of unbelief the mother of all evill and misery though you should get to the very borders of the land of Promise and the providence the voyce of God call you to encounter with your enemies to remove every let and obstruction in the way to your full possession yet unbelief is able to drive you back into the wildernesse againe if you take not great heed would you not returne to your wildernesse Companions the Bryars and the Brambles would you not have that mournfull ditty heard in your mouths againe Woe is me that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar then flee all unbelief that mortall enemy of your happinesse unbelief of the truths and mysteries of the Sons Kingdome is the Characteristicall sin of the times immediately before the coming of Christ When he comes shall he find faith on earth This interrogation is a strong affirmation of the truth of the negative He shall not find faith on earth The Son had in the preceding words asserted the faithfullnesse of God in the certainty of his avenging his Elect which cry day and night unto him yet saith he Neverthelesse when the Son of man cometh shall be find faith ou earth In that time when God is about to spread abroad his faithfullnesse in making bare his arme to answer all the cryes and prayers of his people to avenge them of their enemies yea even when the Son of man is a coming to make good the word of his blessed father Shall be find faith on earth That is He shall not find faith on earth Men will not believe that it 's the time of Gods performing his Promises the face of things appear so through the counter-working of the evill one the man of sin and his instruments to the meerly rationall eye that in this very time when the Son of man is coming to avenge the Elect of God which cry day and night unto him the men of the world become mockers saying Where is the Promise of his coming all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation And others that would be esteemed the better sort they cry out The time is not come The time is not come They believe not the word of the Kingdome Beware of this unbelief least you loose the comfort of this coming of the Son when other faces shine with the joyes of the Spirit yours be bedew'd with teares the sad fruit of this defiling unbeliefe THE END
Father and the Son concerning the great interest of his Son the sum of which is this second Psalme wherein the father expresses so great love and manifests such strong resolutions to exercise his wisedome and power in doing that for his Son which his love tells him becomes the love of such a father to performe and his deare Son doth deserve The Son seeing his Father so full of wrath and jealousie for his sake going about to make bare the arme of all his wonderfull Attributes and set them all on work to bring to passe his Decree concerning his beloved he steps in declares the Decree to the Sons of men and he doth it with such tendernesse of heart such loving exhortations and invitations that if possible he might perswade them to submit to his Scepter come under his healing wings and be blessed for ever In this Psalme we have First A TIME pointed at Secondly WORKE to be done in that time which is double The worke of God and the Worke of Christ the Son Thirdly The MANNER of Christs doing his work We have Two times pointed at by the holy Ghost in this Scripture 1 All that space of time between Christs first coming in the dayes of his humiliation and his second coming in the day of his power and glory to take the Kingdome to himselfe For the clearing up of this consider 1 That the holy Ghost devides the enemies which Christ shall have in this large Tract of time into three ranks 1 Heathens and People 2 Kings of the Earth And 3 Rulers Heathens and People that is Jewes against Christ for that space of time wherein Heathenish Rome bare rule Kings of the earth while Antichrist Lords it over the Heritage of God And lastly Apostate Rulers men of more refined Principles and professions as will be proved in its place that yet shall prove Apostates such pernicious implacable enemies to Christ in the last dayes such as God shall be no longer able to bear with but shall come forth against them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure 2 And surely The holy Ghost's distinct manner of Characterising them signifies not a little to us concerning this matter What more fit and true Character can be given of Heathenish Rome that great red Dragon than rage What rage did that Beast exercise against the poore flock of Christ How did he rend and teare it to pieces The ten first Persecutions witnesse to it And what vaine things did the people of the Jewes imagine when they thought to extinguish the light of the Gospel that shone in their Horison and to extirpate the profession of Christ out of their Coasts And secondly How directly and particularly doth the holy Ghost point out unto us the ten Hornes that gave their power to the Beast under the notion of the Kings of the earth setting themselves against the Lord and his anointed How openly and stoutly the Kings of the earth have set themselves against the Lord and his anointed in giving their power to maintaine the dominion lusts and blasphemies of the man of sin is evident by the havock they have made in the Church of Christ these many hundred yeares And lastly How exact and precise is the holy Ghost in describing unto us by many notable Characters the constitution of a third sort of Rulers that should come upon the stage of the world in the latter end of those dayes to finish the Tragedy of the old Serpent yet before the Kings of the earth should be totally extinct or put by from prosecuting their work for while the remaining Kings of the earth set themselves these take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed 3 The Apostles and Brethren in the fourth of the Acts are of our mind they begin the fulfilling of this Prophesie with the first coming of Christ when Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel were gathered together against Christ in the twenty-seventh Verse 4 As to the finishing-time of this Prophesie we have good and sure ground to receive it for a truth that this Prophesie runs downe to the day of Christs power when all the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdomes of the Lords Christ For 1 Here 's the forbearance and long-sufferance of God at an end He speaks to the world in wrath and vexeth them in his sore displeasure A course God takes not till he hath tryed all other wayes and means and that indeed the world hath fill'd the cup of her iniquity almost full and the mystery of iniquity is almost finish't then God resolves to make a full end of her as he did of the old world when the appointed time came But 2 Christ steps in and by vertue of that authority he hath with his Father he saith he will declare the Decree He procures a little suspension of the devouring wrath of God and undertakes to declare the Decree in the midst of this wrathfull dispensation now the Decree being onely concerning the matter of his Kingdome in the world it 's worthy our serious consideration whether it point at a time past or the time present or to come PAST I conceive it cannot be for we doe not find that this Decree hath been declared in former times accompanied with the weighty and materiall circumstances in the Text viz. Declared as his right and Title to the Kingdomes and possessions of the Kings and Rulers of the earth in opposition to the present Governours of the world though the best and most Saint-like of them who Take COVNSELL against the Lord and his anointed that is act against him hiddenly that it appears not to the vulgar eye and particularly addrest to the Kings and Rulers of the world as matter for their consideration denouncing no lesse than perishing death to those that yeeld not to him pronouncing them blessed who forsaking their former Lords and Rulers put their trust in him Now no time past being able to shew this Decree thus declared therefore it cannot point out to us that part of time 3 Here is but a little time given men to repent in which argues the day is far spent and the night is at hand the glasse is almost run out there 's but a few sands behind to run the voyce was all the day long beseeching and woeing to repentance by loving and patheticall perswasions We beseech you saith the Apostle in Christs stead setting before men the tendernesse of the heart of Christ to sinners and that matchlesse love of his that mov'd him to shed his blood for them pourtraying before them in a lively manner a crucified Christ with his Crowne of Thornes on his head his wounds in his hands and sides blood and water gushing out and all this with the merits of his death and sufferings to perswade men to believe the willingnesse of the heart of Christ to save sinners and that they would come and take him upon his owne tearmes that they
love the Gospel was glad Tidings but now the word is a word of wrath threatning judgement and destruction to the world for their wicked Apostacies and rebellions against the Lord and his anointed O say they this is no Gospel spirit but a spirit of delusion although it 's but the same Dialect the Holy Ghost useth throughout the Revelation against spiritual Babylon Antichrist At this they stumble and cast the word of life far from them thinking they have good ground so to doe 4 The Apostacy of false Brethren from the truth this is a great stumbling-block to the world by this the world blindly judgeth that the way of the truth is but a meer phansie and hath not that real good in it the world hath otherwise these men would not change their station they cannot think they would take worse for better thus they stumble and fall and perish This is also the judgement of God upon the world 5 The spirituality of the truth At this also the men of the world stumble being blind and not apprehending the truth aright put strange glosses upon it and draw unworthy and uncouth conclusions from it representing it Satan helping them to themselves and others in a monstrous shape at which they stumble and fall and perish As those men did John 6. when Christ had been treating of that great and spiritual Mystery of union with him it is said ver 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And vex them or trouble them as it is in the margent in his sore displeasure When God speaks in wrath surely it cannot but bring great trouble to men When God spake in wrath to Saul that he had rejected him and given the Kingdome to a neighbour of his better then he how did it vex and trouble his soule What feare ceized on him How did it torment him when he perceived the Lord being departed from him was with David Oh saith he to his Son Thou Son of a perverse woman doe I not know thou hast chosen the Son of Jesse to thine owne confusion for as long as the Son of Jesse liveth upon the ground thou shalt not be established nor thy Kingdome How was that most excellent King Solomon troubled when God spake in wrath that he had given the greatest part of his Kingdome to another And what trouble and vexation of spirit did it bring to all the Kings of Judah and Israel when at any time God spake unto them in his wrath concerning the matters of their Kingdome The whole History of the Kings make it evident And vex them in his sore displeasure That must needs be a dreadfull and terrible trouble great anxiety of spirit that comes from the sore displeasure of the great God If we can imagine any trouble and vexation to be greater and more deadly then another that must needs be it Vex them in his sore displeasure O dreadfull what horrors what gastly terrours of death will encompasse men about in that day If they turne to the left hand to their Cisternes they have hewne out to themselves behold they are broken and hold no water If to the props they thought to have upheld themselves with behold they are rotten and will not bear them up and if to the arm of flesh the strength of Aegypt they trusted to behold it 's a broken reed and pierceth their hands If to the right hand from whence they are fallen behold nothing but the frowning brow of a wrathfull God and the fiery spirit of an enraged people whose heart burneth with the zeale of God for the honour and glory of their God What killing disappointments are here What no hope Alas alas very little or none at all What is the feared fruit this brings forth Why they repent not but blaspheme the God of Heaven Quest But what is this that God speaks to them that thus troubles them Answ The Answer you will find in the Text Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion It 's the word of the Kingdome that God will take their Crownes from off their heads and set them on the head of Christ How was Herod troubled and all Jerusalem with him when he heard but a where is he that is borne King of the Jewes How greatly did the tidings of a rightfull King trouble him His conscience flyes in his face and stings him his jealousie and feare of loosing what he had surreptitiously gotten rent his heart with a thousand anxieties which vented themselves in unheard of cruelties against poore Innocents And the Stories of the Martyrs tell us that some Emperors after the example of Herod have been so troubled with the fear of and jealous of King Jesus his robbing them of their Thrones they have sought the destruction of the whole lineage of David And at this day what a dreadfull troublesome story is it to the Kings and Rulers of the earth to heare the doctrine of the Kingdome of Christ is asserted and preached to the people How jealous and full of wrath are they How doth it trouble them Quest Why should men be troubled and vexed at this word Answ Truly there 's some reason why the men of the world should be troubled 1 Because the word is spoken as that which God hath already done I HAVE set my King upon my holy hill of Sion I have done it saith God and the subsequent is easily drawne you must submit to him or you perish If the doctrine were this That Christ should have a Kingdome many hundred yeares to come the people of God might preach it while their lungs lasted and meet with no opposition from the men of the world let them alone till that day think they but when the word comes so neere them as to say now is the time God hath already done it the time of performance is come This galls them rubs on the sore too hard and troubles them 2 Because this Doctrine is preacht in opposition to them YET have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion YET though you have taken counsell against the Lord and his anointed to break their bands asunder and cast away their cords to keep them at a low and under rate as Pharoah did that they may be your subjects and servants and never be able to become your Lords Yet saith God I will speak to you in wrath and trouble you with this I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion I will doe it you shall know and find that I am above you in that wherein you are so subtilly wise in spite of you he shall be King and raigne it 's his right and he shall have it I have promised him and I will give the Kingdome to him maugre all your envy and malice I would not suffer the Heathen to keep the Kingdome from him and have brought downe to the dust those Kings of the earth you have slaine for their attempts
brings to naught all their Counsells it implies so much to me for it is as if God had said notwithstanding you have steered a contrary course and taken counsell how to make your selves strong to break my Sons bands and cords and have prevailed very far that you are even ready to put your counsells in execution crying out amaine for action LET VS notwithstanding all this Yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse I have done it and there he is and now what can you doe It 's impossible for you to dislodge him for my hill is strong It s terrible as an Army with banners Why a hill if a man be upon a hill he may see all round about him so here God sets his King upon his hill that he may from thence take a view of all the motions and contrivements plots and designes of his enemies When the Son is seated on this hill those Counsels against him and his which were secret and hidden in the dark before onely the Eagles of the Age a penetrating eye could perceive them are now made manifest and laid open to the view of all to the shame and confusion of these Rulers Againe when a man is set on a hill he may be seen and heard of all as Jotham was by the men of Shechem So here God hath set his King upon his hill that his glory may be perspicuous to the whole world and the publication of his Decrees may be heard farre and neare that though when the voyce of the Trumpet sounds shrill and waxes louder and louder the people may tremble for fear yet the Moses's and Joshuah's may have mountaine discoveries of the glory of God having fellowship with the father and the Son as with a familiar friend The hill of my HOLINESSE The Kings seat is a hill of holinesse yea the hill of Gods holinesse But why a hill of holinesse why nothing lesse then holinesse is a fit qualification for the seat of Christ It 's not the great names of men Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Seekers Non-church-men above Ordinances or Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Universities Deanes Masters and Fellowes of Colledges Tryers Parsons and Vicars of Parishes that qualifie men for the work of Christ in this day no 't is onely true holinesse the holinesse the Image of God that onely makes a man a fit seat for Christ to raigne in and of which soever of the first sort of names of men they are that have this qualification holinesse they are as so many sands or pieces of this hill of holinesse and out of all these God will draw his holy ones and they shall become the hill of his holinesse and he will set his Son there and he shall be their glorious King The holinesse of this hill is the strength of it were it not a holy hill it might be overcome by the assaults and underminings of the enemy It was the Image of God which holinesse is on Adam in the state of Innocency that made him a rightfull King over the world and struck such an awe and dread of him into all the Creatures keeping them under his obedience but when he lost that he lost all so it 's the holinesse of the Church of Christ this seat of the King that makes it an Impregnable Fort against her Kings Enemies And why MY HOLINESSE the holinesse of God All other holinesse is nothing mans righteousnesse is but drosse and dung base mettall but that which is Gods holinesse the holinesse of God imputed to us through Christ the Image of that Imprinted on us by the mighty working of the spirit of Christ is that which the gates of hell shall not nor cannot prevaile against And MY HOLINESSE the holinesse of God is a perfect holinesse and be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect It 's not to be holy in part but to be wholly holy all over sanctified to be holy so as to be set against every wickednesse to allow of or wink at none It 's necessary this hill should be cloathed with the perfect holinesse of God otherwise it would be as tender towards the wickednesses of men as most professors are at this day and so not be wholly set against all wickednesses let them be in what men soever Rulers or people though cover'd over with never so curious a covering Christ their King is and they must be so otherwise they are no seat for him I have set my King on the hill of my holinesse I have SET my King c. Set him in a posture becoming a King set him as in a seat of Judicature there shall he sit and judge his enemies out of this hill the Angels come to poure out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the world Set him as in Majesty and glory above the Kings and Rulers of the earth that have set themselves and taken counsell against him and his anointed here he shall sit and behold the wonderfull things the love of the father will doe for his glory and honour And I have set my King it 's God that sets Christ on Syon I have done it saith God you thought and took counsell to deale wisely against my Son but I have dealt more wisely for him then you could against him you seek to hide your counsells from me and my counsell is hid from yon you goe in contrary wayes to me and I steer a course beyond and contrary to your expectations and before you are aware bring my purposes to passe upon you I have set my King on Sion God doth this for his Son in some eminent way whereby it appears he doth it and none else that his Son is engaged to him for his exaltation There 's some remarkable unwonted circumstance accompanies this action making it eminently evident to be the work of the finger of God onely that it 's not man but God himselfe hath done this I have done it saith God Upon this this hill of God is so consolidated and strengthened as that Christ from hence declares the Decree hence the Trumpet sounds and all that will not hearken to the voyce thereof are in great danger of perishing We see here what God doth for his beloved in the midst of the oppositions and contradictions of men He sets him upon Sion the hill of his holinesse Let us hence Observe 1 In this day of his wrath God will give the Kingdomes to his Son Yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse the Rulers taking counsell and digging deep to hide it from the Lord casting about to find out a way to keep his King from his right in the midst of his wrath and fury against them for their wickednesse he sets his King on Sion now I have done it saith God he speaks it to them in his wrath and vexes them with the doing of it in his sore displeasure God having overturned the Heathen Emperors the Popish Kings of the earth
let them goe forth Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should deliver but their owne soules by their righteousnesse saith the Lord God And now it 's come into the same predicament againe the world hath run its round and is gotten into a like posture it was in when a flood of wrath overwhelmed it What a sad condition is this world now in It 's tottering and there 's none to underprop it it 's sinking and there 's none to uphold it The wrath of God is hovering over it ready to fall upon it and there 's none to plead to undertake for it Surely the world is beholding to the intercession of Christ for its standing and now that ceases the foundations thereof are out of course and it 's falling The day of the Lord is coming upon it as a Theef in the night wherein the Heavens shall flee away as a scrowle the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt up The second part of our work is To search into the worke to be done in this remarkable time Here is the work of the father and of the Son 1 The work of the father which is two-fold A worke of wrath to his enemies which is amplified by a double expression speaking in wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure And secondly A work of love and faithfullnesse to his Son Then shall he speake unto them in his wrath God speaks to men in divers manners by the voyce of his providences the voyce of his mercies the voyce of his rod and the voyce of his judgements and when God speaks by all in wrath his providences blinding their eyes his mercies hardening their hearts his rod driving them from him and as the fruit of the former his judgements cease upon them here 's a dreadfull day of wrath indeed now God speaks to them in wrath But his hath speciall relation to the voyce of his ward for what doth he peak to them in wrath The Text tells us Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Syon the Gospel of the Kingdome And that must needs be a day of wrath and terrors indeed when that word which was wont to be a word of salvation a word of love and good will shall now be a word of wrath in wrath O sad God speaks his word in wrath to a people 1 When it hath contrary effects upon them a savour of death unto death instead of a savour of life unto life As in Isa 6.9 10 11 12. This Evangelicall Prophet Esay must make the hearts of this people fat their eares heavy and shut their eyes and that by speaking such gracious words unto them as he doth throughout his whole Prophesie Certainly this is none other but the wrath of God upon a wanton and backsliding people 2 When God layes stumbling-blocks before a people that they receive not nor hearken to the word but stumble and fall upon it and perish according to that in Jer. 6.21 Therefore thus saith the Lord behold I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them The neighbour and his friend shall perish This also is none other but the wrath of God upon a stubborne rebellious people They had said they would not heare and saith God let it be so they shall not heare he throwes stumbling-blocks in their way least they should follow the voyce of his word and he should blesse them Yet these stumbling-blocks are not such as in the least extenuate or lessen their iniquity by giving them good and right ground to plead a necessity for their doings but such as men make to themselves True God layes stumbling-blocks before them yet it's themselves that make those so to them they are not so to a sanctified heart he by the wing of faith can fly over them but to an earthy lump of clay whose eye is fixed upon no higher than a carnall and worldly glory As 1 Gods making use of obscure mean foolish instruments in the worlds eye to publish his word and Decree to the world He hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise the weake to confound those which are mighty and the base and despised things of the world and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence This hath been his course all along since the world began none must deliver his people from a devouring famine but a despised Joseph The Message of rebuke and threatning judgement to a Prince in Israel good old Ely must be sent by Samuel a weak Child unskilfull in the word of Prophesie And as if none of the Princes and Royall blood could be moulded after Gods owne heart he must take David from the sheepfold and make him a mean shepheard Governour over and a deliverer of his chosen people And who are his Heralds to proclaime the Gospel of the Kingdome but a company of poore despicable Fishermen He leaves the wise and learned Rabbies Scribes and holy Pharisees of the times and chooseth the fooles of the world makes them prevalent to pull downe Principalities powers and strong holds and they shall one day prevaile to the trampling their enemies under their feet as the mire in the streets Thus out of the mouths of Babes and sucklings he ordaining strength perfecting his praise the spirituall man can discerne the glory of it his heart will admire and adore it But the men of this world they take offence stumble and fall to the perishing of their soules What! will God forsake our wise and holy men that excell in most excellent virtues and speak by such Idiots rash fooles vainebablers and mad men as they are No they cannot they will not believe it If Peter and his brethren be filled with the holy Ghost they are drunken If Paul speak of the true God he is a vaine-babler and reason of Temperance and Judgement to come much learning hath made him mad This is the sence and judgement of the world 2 The infirmities of his Messengers their not walking up fully to their profession of the glorious Gospel nor so exactly as they ought by the line of the word of truth in their mouth Now the men of this world drawing the line of their judgement from a wrong point they think those mens Principles nought and hypocrittically rotten the word of truth in their mouth an errour a delusion a lye not remembring the best of men must have their graines of allowance Here they take offence stumble and fall rising up with their backs towards the truth This God permits in judgement and wrath to the world that they may stumble and fall and perish 3 The manner of delivering the word of truth in this day of wrath is a great stumbling-block to the world God speaks to them in wrath he was wont to speak in
against him and shall you prosper in your Apostacies and rebellions against him I would not bear with their superstition and shall I now connive at your hypocrisies Shall I suffer and permit you to keep the Kingdome from him and to interrupt the performance of my Promises No know I speak it to you in my wrath Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion 3 Because it will destroy all their Idols deprive them of all their dear enjoyments their powers with their pomp and glory to which their heart cleaves so close this sword of Christs mouth will smite them all their Idols of gold and their Idols of silver and their Idols of honour c. all these will it consume And their Kingdomes must become the Kg domes of the Lords Christ and all their Dominion and the greatnesse the glory of it shall be given to the Saints of the most high those whom they have trampled upon and to whom they have been so barbarously ungratefull These things trouble and vex these Rulers that they gnaw their tongues for anguish and paine And surely this is a day of great wrath indeed as when two Kings and both strong are striving for a Crowne it 's likely to be a day of great wrath a bloody day So this day for behold what a feast will God make on this day For the Fowles that flye in the midst of heaven the flesh of Kings the flesh of Captaines and mighty men the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great We may conclude from these things 1 It 's not unsuitable to a Gospel spirit to denounce the wrath of God against Rulers for their Apostacies and abhominable hypocrisies yea and to deale particularly with them laying the finger on the sore pointing out the Abominations by name denouncing the vengeance of God upon them For we see here how particularly God characteriseth these Rulers laying open all their abominations speaking to them in wrath And surely this also as the rest of the Scripture is written for our instruction 2 It 's no wonder that the Rulers of the world are troubled at and moved against the Gospel of the Kingdome for here God saith He will speak it to them in wrath and vex them with it in his sore displeasure 3 It 's not so much the infirmities of the Saints accompanying the delivery of their message to the world or any other circumstance about it that troubles and vexes the Rulers let them pretend what they will as the doctrine it selfe when it 's rightly asserted and thorowly opened as that which is at hand and ought to be submitted to without delay O! how doth it trouble and vex them to heare of the coming of King Jesus to depose them of their usurpations and take the Kingdome to himselfe If it troubled Herod and all Jerusalem with him when they heard of this Kings first coming meek and lowly how then think we will it not much more trouble the Kings and Rulers of the earth to hear of his second coming in power and the glory of his Sion It cannot be otherwise for God saith he will trouble and vex them with an I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion 4 When the Rulers come to this height of ungratefull wickednesse to take counsell against the Lord and his anointed to break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from them THEN is the time of Gdos wrath come to that Generation he will speake to them in wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure 5 That before such time as God enters into judgement with the rest of the Kings of the earth and that Whore mystery Babylon the great whom they uphold God Judges these Rulers he speaks to them in wrath to them in particular to them that Take counsell against the Lord and his anointed For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act Awake awake put on strength O arme of the Lord awake as in the ancient dayes in the Generations of old 2 Here 's the work of Gods love and faithfulnesse to his Son in these words Yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse as it is in the margent of the Bible YET have I c. As if God had said Notwithstanding your taking counsell against him and his anointed and that you have so far proceeded managing your businesse so wisely to the very heighth and depth of wisedome as to make your selves formidable in your owne eyes thinking you have gotten strength and power sufficient to put your counsels in practice crying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us yet have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse Though you take counsell against him to make the way to his Kingdome as thorny difficult and perillous as you can though you be so ungratefull and unfaithfull to forsake and take counsell against him and his yet will not I be so to my beloved Son YET have I set my King upon Sion the hill of my holinesse Yet have I set MY KING Though these Rulers will not make him a King yet God will My King though they reject him would breake his bands and cast away his cords that he might not raigne over them yet God hath made him a King and given him a Kingdome He it is who must goe forth conquering and to conquer destroying all his enemies breaking them to pieces like a Potters vessel plucking up every plant that his father hath not planted throwing downe all those superstructures that are not of his owne building creating new Heavens and a new Earth A New Creation making it a suitable purchase to the unvaluable price of his blood clothing it with his glory that it may be a fit present for his father at the appointed time Yet have I set my King upon SION That is the Church of Christ by Sion is meant the Church throughout the whole Scripture that I suppose is granted by all therefore I need not enlarge upon it Yet have I set my King upon Sion the HILL of my holinesse Why a hill A hill is a place of great advantage on which if an Army be encamped it may be an impossible thing for the enemy to dislodge them So God here sets his King upon his Hill his Church a place of such advantage that God doth if I may so expresse it even vaunt it over these Rulers that he hath notwithstanding their oppositions policies stratagems and wisedome set his King upon his hill where he is a naile fastened in a sure place on which all the vessels may hang secure and safe such a place as his being fixt there frustrates all their designes undoes all their contrivements and
snatch up the Crowne and set it on their head God overturnes some of them and these Apostate Rulers fasten the Crowne to their Temples but their comes a third overturning which is a thorough one indeed for saith God Remove the Diadem take off the Crowne this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturne overturne overturne it and it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him Where are these Rulers now there 's no hope for them for his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome 2 That while these Apostate Rulers are taking counsell together against the Lord and his anointed the designe of God is then at that time to set his King upon Sion the hill of his holinesse And he doth it in opposition to them though they contradict it YET I have done it saith God 3 That the first thing God doth for his Son after he hath made bare his arme and entred into judgement with the Antichristian world for surely he began that work when these Rulers cut downe some of the Kings of the earth and in opposition to these Rulers is to make him King in Sion in his Church Yet have I set my King VPON SION the hill of my holinesse He is set there in a posture fit for the carrying on the designe which he and his father are now managing in the world there is his Throne and his holy ones about him and there he will sit and together with them judge the world and poure downe his fathers wrath upon it 4 That Sion may be a fit seat for the Son to settle himselfe upon in opposition to all his enemies God makes Sion the hill of his holinesse The HILL of my holinesse a hill for strength and stability it 's unmoveable a hill for union all its parts are so united and compact together as none can divide it a hill for height The mountaine of the height of Israel it 's above the world reaches up to the Heavens And a hill of holinesse the King being seated upon this hill this metaphoricall hill becomes his Court and those in it his Courtiers they are clothed with the same clothing his Majesty is hâ—linâ—sse they are all like their Lord each one of them resembling the Children of a King holinesse to the Lord is written upon them And a hill of holines for they are consecrated separated and set apart for the work of Christ at this day sanctified for this service enabled to overcome all the assaults of the evill one and having done all to stand to keep their place and station a seat and Throne for Christ to be such Carpenters as shall fray away all the Hornes the spirit of the Hornes shall not enter into these Carpenters for God saith Sion is the hill of his holinesse 5 Although at this day many may fall away and loose their first love many prove foolish Virgins yet God hath his true Church his hill of true holinesse a fit seat for his Son his chosen number which he unites together and by the mighty working of his spirit they become the hill of his holinesse He sets his Son upon this hill and thence he issues forth the Decrees of his father about the concernments of his Kingdome notwithstanding the power and forces of his enemies against him 6 That under the Government of these Rulers the people of God have not liberty to come up to the height of Gods holinesse for when they come to be a hill of holinesse the world stands in opposition to them and they unto the world Christ is set upon the hill of Gods holinesse in opposition to the Rulers of the world If any then blame the followers of the Lamb as busie-bodies and rash spirits saying it 's otherwise with them now then it was under the Kings they may be as holy as they will and live in their fellowship with God and Christ in his owne Ordinances to the highest it 's a falsity for if they seek after the height of Gods holinesse to get to the top of this hill to enjoy the fullnesse of the Promises in Christ by following him fully according to the voyce of his spirit in his word in this day they are opposed by the Rulers and taken counsell against 7 We may here see what God expects from his Sion his Church that in this day when the Rulers and great men of the world reject Christ and take counsell against him and his that this his hill of holinesse should receive his Son and cleave so close to him espouse his righteous interest so unfeignedly and so zealously as that it may be a hill of advantage whereon Christ may sit as King in opposition to the Kings of the earth and in despite of these Rulers although the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and his anointed when the Kings and the Rulers combine together to doe their utmost the one by an open perverse setting themselves the other by taking counsell pernicious secret counsell against him and his and at last shall conjoyne Forces openly setting themselves to act their counsells things at this passe God brings his Son to Sion his Church the hill of his holinesse he is totally excluded the world by the men of the world from having any share in their Royalties in these Rulers the father hath tryed the finest and purest piece of earth the world can shew and finding it false he brings his Son to Sion sets him there as in a safe place expecting they will submit their necks to his yoke and their shoulders to his burden and follow him in his goings forth against his enemies after what manner soever they be whithersoever he will lead them This indeed is the ready way to find out an everlasting rest to get a full possession of the promised Land to be blessed in heavenly places with him Lastly Behold the Lamb with his 144000 his chosen number standing upon Mount Sion having their fathers name written in their foreheads Sion is the hill of my holinesse saith God Here are the Armies of Heaven with the great Captaine of Salvation in the head of them in a posture fit ready prepared to execute the Decree Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them to pieces like a potters vessell But before they enter upon this strange and wonderfull work being the will of their deare Captaine and leader they sing as it were a new song of praise unto God before the Throne and though it be a hard song that the world cannot learn and it sounds harshly in their eares seeming to them such a thing as never was before a new invention of the spirit of delusion yet these chosen holy ones they are acquainted with and expert in singing this song before the Throne of God Christ their Captaine begins and they follow on declaring the
that day 10 Such prayers are no way contrary to the will and mind of God nor unsuitable to a Gospel spirit in Gospel times for we see at this day wherein Christ is taking his Kingdome to set forth the Gospel in all its glory the Command is ASKE of me God will be askt for such things the giving of which ruines this old world and makes way for the new Heavens and new Earth ASKE of me the Heathens for an inheritance the Powers Crownes Scepters of the great men of the world and I will give them to thee ASKE of me the utmost parts of the earth for a possession the whole habitable earth for a place to display thy glory in and I will give it Pray unto me against the Rulers their Apostacy and wickednesses taking secret wylie Counsell combining in leagues and agreements together asosiating themselves with the Kings of the earth against the Lord and his anointed and that to break their bands and cast away their cords Cry aloud unto me against them and these their abominable practices and I will put the iron sword of my wrath and vengeance into thy hand and thou shalt break them with it and my spirit shall so assist thee by an Almighty operation as that there shall be as great ease and facillity without let or hinderance in doing this work of my just wrath and vengeance as there is in dashing a potters vessel against the ground 11 Here is great encouragement to the Saints and people of God to persist and grow valiant in the way of the truth of this truth Lift up your hearts cryes and groanes higher and higher to your God and father against the enemies of your Lord and for the glory and Kingdome of Christ for while you are so doing you are in your fathers way doing his Command ASKE of me saith he Againe you are in the way of the Promise if you aske God hath Promised he will give ASKE of me and I will give thee yea God stands here in a giving posture he waites but for a Petition and when it comes he answers it gratiously he bids you aske that he may give there 's a necessity you must aske saith God I have a gift in my hand worthy a God to bestow but you must aske it ere I can give it that is the order I have set downe to my selfe to walk by and I cannot it becomes not my wisedome to recede from it therefore ASKE of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thy Inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession 12 That there will be in this day a reluctancy and backwardnesse in the people of God to the performance of this great duty this dispensation of the father layes upon them which may come to passe partly through the darknesse of this day the uncertainty and unclearnesse of things that they know not what to judge of them as hath been opened already and partly through that little betternesse in their condition now to what it was under the Government of the Kings through carnality of spirit being ready to sit downe there and partly through unbelief of heart every little hardship and difficulty they phansie to be in the way they look upon as impossibilities and the multiplying-glasse of unbeliefe makes them to seem such tall and mighty Sons of Anake as God cannot pull downe and overcome so that they are ready to cry out Let us make us a Captaine and returne to our Onyons and Garlicke and flesh-pots in Aegypt for it was better then with us than it is now If this were not so this Command ASKE of me were needlesse for otherwise they would be willing enough and forward enough of themselves their owne eternall happinesse and glory is so much concerned in it that it would be a motive strong enough and sufficient to draw them but here God is faine to call upon and command his people ASKE of me 13 The time of Gods giving an answer and returne to all the prayers of the Saints is now come God having filled his hand full of blessings he stands ready to open it and scatter them downe upon his people therefore saith he ASKE and I will give ASKE of me that I may give fill up the measure of your prayers that I may fill up the measure of my gifts I have seene saith God the hard measure you have met with from the world for my Sons sake how ungratefully and unworthily they have dealt with you trampling upon you as dung deriding you as the off-scouring and drosse of mankind but now come ASKE of me and I will give you the reward of all your labour of love a Crowne of glory for your Crowne of Thornes a Royall Exchange indeed O! how tender hath Christ by presenting to his open view the wounds he received the blood he shed and the sufferings he underwent made the heart of his father He can bear no longer he cannot stay till his people come and aske but calls upon them Come my Lambs ASKE of me and I will give ASKE that I may give you the Heathen for an inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for a possession He that commands to aske promises to give this is the time of giving here 's the time of receiving 14 The necessity and mighty force and power of the spirit of prayer saith God ASKE of me that I may give you must aske before I give and ASKE of me and I cannot deny you but I must give you Heathens for an inheritance and utmost parts of the earth for a possession ASKE of me and I must help you and you hall breake your enemies with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potters vessell 15 What a usefull instrument hath God made Syon to be to his Son as Sion must become the hill of Gods holinesse before she can be a fit seat for Christ so before Christ can be exalted and honoured as King he must be seated on Sion he must be seated as a King there before he is in a fit posture to declare the Decree of his father his right and title to the world and as soone as he is settled there he is accomplisht at all points to encounter with the enemies of his Kingdome sends them a defiance a declaration of his right and title to their usurped possessions Sion is his Magazine out of which he fetches all his instruments of war and which he hath made of sufficient force to blow up and bring to ruine all the foundations of rebellion and opposition his enemies have laid against him 16 It 's worthy our taking notice of and of confiderable consequence for us to observe The way of our Lords proceedings in this day wherein he is harnessing himselfe for the battel it 's not the way and course of the politick inventions Machiavillian stratagems under-hand-workings and by the Maximes of State of this world but in a noble plaine heroick way
not be numbred among the Kings of the earth but present your selves to the world as Rulers your Authority and Government to be of my fathers appointment and according to his will yet be instructed in this know this that you and your inventions are of the earth earthy though you will not be Kings of the earth yet you are Judges of the earth though the most refined yet still but earth you your wayes and inventions are not of nor from heaven but of and from the earth Be instructed ye Judges of the earth in the wisedome of God in the service worship and out-goings of God in this your day you have been cunning and wise Counsellors for your selves and in your own wayes and concernments be ye now instructed become as wise and knowing in the ways and concernments of God and his Son in this your day Be wise ye Kings and be instructed ye Judges of the earth hearken unto me or you perish from the way of life and blessednesse and goe into eternall death and misery 2. To worship the true God and him onely Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Here 's both service done to God and rejoycing in God and they are exhorted to mix the one with fear and to mingle trembling with the other and then they will be in the way of the Promise Isa 66.2 To this man will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word And Psal 112.1 145.191 Mal. 4.2 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandements He will full fill the desire of them that feare him he also will heare their cry and will save them But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousnesse arise with healing in his wings and ye shall goe forth and grow up as the Calves of the stall 3 To a hearty submission to the Son in this way the father hath set him giving him that honour and those dues the father hath decreed he shall have KISSE THE SON this kisse gives us to understand the most absolute subjection that is possible not that which is onely of the outward man through fear and inability to resist but that which is from the heart and the fruit of the strongest love grounded upon the best and surest Basis of the highest reason 2 The Lord gives the world severall Motives to provoke them to hearken to his advice and Counsell And they are 1 The Consideration of the Sons anger Kisse the Son least he be angry All the day long hitherto we were exhorted to repentance and submission to the Son from the consideration of his love and tender-heartednesse to sinners but now we are call'd upon with a Least he be angry The day of Gods judging this Generation and putting the Decree in execution the time for the full performance of his Promises to his chosen ones is come and now Christs heart is so full of love to his suffering ones that have been so long trampled upon by the world that he is so intense upon giving out the gifts of his father their Crowne to them that he will not tarry nor waite long but his anger will be kindled and then there followes nothing but woe perishing death And least he be angry it strongly implies that he will be angry and angry to the purpose with all those that will not readily and quickly hearken to him inflicting no lesse punishment upon them than perishing eternall death 2 The Consideration of the sad condition we shall be in if his wrath be kindled but a little and ye perish from the way When his wrath is kindled but a little Here 's a perishing woe now his wrath is kindled and kindled but a little there 's no way but death how dangerous is it to provoke the Son in this day when a little kindling of his wrath will perish our soules How strongly ought this to work upon us to move us to make hast and meet him in the way least his wrath be kindled but a little and he accuse us to the Judge not owning us before his father and our portion be to perish with the hypocrite and unbeliever And perish from the way another piece of the Motive and an aggravation of our sin if we hearken not to it While this Exhortation sounds in our eares we are in the way to happinesse the day of Salvation is not quite spent and gone the night hath not yet totally ceazed upon us but if our dull and stubborne hearts by not closing with his gratious motions kindle his wrath but a little we perish the day of salvation is cut off from us the night of judgement and wrath ceazes upon us and we are undone for eternity 3 A Promise of Blessednesse Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Here 's love indeed Come submit to me put your trust in me and I will blesse you if the consideration of my aptnesse to be angry in this day and how dangerous it is to have my wrath kindled but a little if this will not move you but you rather though unworthily and irrationally count me a hard Master yet let this prevaile with you that you shall get no lesse than blessednesse by trusting in me yea none shall goe without it but all they that trust in me shall be blessed yea and be blessed with the highest blessings with all spirituall blessings in heavenly places yea with blessednesse in the abstract BLESSED are all they that put their trust in me blessednesse it selfe the Fountaine of blessednesse shall be their Portion And now come come and be blessed made really happy if you will not hearken to this I have nothing more to say Blessed are all they that put their trust in him With these words the blessed Lamb of God closes up his mouth and goeth about his fathers work From hence we may Observe 1 That although this Decree be concerning the total Amotion of all the Kingdomes of this world and their being given to the Lord Christ yet it must be declared with abundance of love to the soules of men exhorting all to repentance and submission to the Son that they may be blessed 2 That None are exempted no not the greatest of sinners from the benefit of this Exhortation For our Lord directs his speech chiefly and in the first place to his greatest enemies the Kings and Judges of the earth that set themselves and take counsell together against him and his Be wise O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth What encouragement is here to all and the greatest of sinners to hearken unto this voyce and come under his healings and they shall be blessed 3 We may here behold The abundant riches of free grace and the immense greatnesse of the love of Christ to sinners That notwithstanding the great and unheard of aggravations of the sins of the Rulers of the world at this
day yet he will have them exhorted and woed to come in unto him that they may be blessed by him yea further notwithstanding this day is a day of great wrath and the world have so provokt him as he cannot find in his heart to intercede for them although his father in wrath enquire into their actions yet with what love and grace and strong perswasions doth he exhort men to come and submit to him that he may blesse them He cannot be contented to see the worlds ruines and the destruction of soules before he hath made one Essay more pleading with the world to consider their present and future condition and accept of him upon his owne Tearmes that he may give Blessednesse to them yea though the wickednesse of this world in this day be such that it's flint hard and made so by love and mercy that our Lord is forc't to make a change alter his voyce from expressions and considerations of love to a threatning of and pointing to his direfull anger to try how that may work yet knowing it 's not the naturall tendency of such a voyce to work thorowly upon the hearts of men his love closes with a blessed Promise of blessednesse as he began his work here on earth in the dayes of his flesh with wonderfull unparallel'd expressions of love so will he finish his work here with the same glory he concludes with a large Promise of rich blessednesse How tender is the heart of Christ He speaks but two or three words that have symptomes of wrath and displeasure in them he hides his gracious and loving countenance but a moment and he can containe no longer but he must unvaile himselfe and appear in the glory of his Mediatorship It is as if he had said I have exhorted you to come and kisse me to submit to me least I be angry and you perish from the way but that hath but little operation upon you therefore now I display my glory before you doe but come to me believe on me trust in me depend and relye upon me onely and alone for happinesse forsake all your Idolls and every thing that is grievous and contrary to me and I will blesse you doe but trust me and I will doe it the father hath given me power to doe it and by that power I am able to doe it and my blood shall speake the willingnesse of my heart to doe it Who ever shed his blood for his enemies such enemies but I and if I had not lov'd them with such a love as would give them the greatest blessings I would never have done it And not one that doth thus trust and believe in me shall goe without the blessing all they that trust in me shall be blessed 4 That though these Kings and Rulers be guilty of most abominable wickednesse beyond all that ever were before them such as moves God to speak in wrath to them yet There 's hope of life and salvation for them if they will hearken to the Gospel of the Kingdome while it 's Preached to them in this Exhortation and kisse the Son before his wrath be kindled but a little 5 That in this day of the fathers wrath Nothing lesse than a hearty and thorow submission to the Son will please him and prevent his wrath breaking forth to our destruction KISSE the Son least he be angry 6 It 's No Treason against the Royall Law of King Jesus whatever it may be against the Lawes of men to seeke to draw men from their obedience to these wicked Kings and perverse Rulers to kisse the Son that they may be blessed with his everlasting blessings 7 That Men must be instructed in the wisedome of God and be filled with the graces and strength of the spirit before they can be inabled to come under the happy influence of this blessed Promise for we see that in order to this submission to the Son men are exhorted to be filled with wisedome and instruction to serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling and then Kisse the Son put your trust in him and you shall be blessed 8 That in this day notwithstanding the cunning deceits and curious coverings of the Rulers yet the Kings and Rulers of the earth and King Jesus are so diametrically contrary to each other in all their wayes and stations as that it is impossible for a man to serve them and be a friend to Christ The Exhortation is Kisse the Son that is kisse none but him give no obedience but to him yield subjection to none but to him alone Come out of her my people come from under obedience to the worlds and Antichrists Kings Rulers and Lawes and become the subjects of Christ submit to the Scepter of the Son Kisse the Son and then you shall be blessed 9 That this Exhortation with the Decree is indeed and in truth no other but the Gospel of the Kingdome the fore-runner of it which is Preached to the world immediately before it 's brought into the world to move them to submit to it when it comes and to call the chosen of God out of the world to prepare themselves to meet their Bridegroome 10 That this Gospel of the Kingdome must chiefly and in the first place be Preached to the Kings Rulers and Magistrates of the world Our Lord directs his speech first to them Be wise yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the earth It must be preached to them in particular it 's Preached to the rest of the world as it were by the by they are put into the little word all at the very close of the Exhortation therefore how little cause will the Kings and Rulers of the world have to be wroth and angry with the Saints and people of God for preaching this doctrine to them although it sound so dreadfully in their eares You see their Authority they doe but their duty in it to follow their Lord and the dictates of his spirit who hath undertaken this work and they should perish together with you if they should hold their peace and break the Command of their Lord And their end is onely that you may be blessed if you hearken to it what a mighty aggravation of your sin will this be if you persecute oppose and take counsell against this doctrine and the publishers of it The wrath of the Son will be kindled against you and when it 's kindled but a little you perish from the way presently and that inevitably without remedy 11 The time of the Preaching this Gospel Is the evening of the Gospels repenting day The Son of righteousnesse is now setting apace as to sinners and he will arise againe with healings in his wings onely to those that put their trust in him If this voyce be not hearkened to his wrath will be kindled and all his enemies shall perish from the way of Blessednesse there 's no longer day for repentance they have lost the blessing and though with Esau they