Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	faith_n	gospel_n	obedience_n	8,398	5	7.6030	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89411	Several works of Mr. Iohn Murcot, that eminent and godly preacher of the Word, lately of a Church of Christ at Dublin in Ireland. Containing, I. Circumspect walking, on Eph. 5.15,16. II. The parable of the ten virgins, on Mat. 25. from ver. 1. to ver. 14. III. The sun of righteousness hath healing in his wings for sinners, on Mal. 4.2. IV. Christs willingness to receive humble sinners, on John 6.37. Together with his life and death. Published by Mr. Winter, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Eaton, Mr. Carryl, and Mr. Manton. With alphabetical tables, and a table of the Scriptures explained throughout the whole.	Murcot, John, 1625-1654.; Winter, Samuel, 1596?-1665.; Chambers, Robert, minister in Dublin.; Eaton, Samuel, 1506?-1665.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; J. G.	1657 (1657)	Wing M3083; Thomason E911_1; ESTC R202939	754,107	852

of so great weight 7. But negligent in preparation to holy duties publike and private 8. How empty and vain in discourses and unprofitable 9. How distempered in hearing publikely and in conferences with the Church 10. Vile thoughts even in the time of reading and meditation which are deep hypocrisie 11. Yet back-slidden even since the last Lords Supper 12. Yet little pure love to the Saints as Saints 13. Yet not a sensible heart of the dishonour of Christ in these times 14. Yet not a tender nor believing heart in holding out the word of reconciliation 20. In preparation for the Supper-Ordinance he would bring himsels unto the Test and to say the truth was very clear in the discovering and making out of his own condition being well acquainted with the way of Gods dealing with the soul and with the way of the souls closing with Christ Instance April 3. 1653. upon search I find 1. My self an undone creature 2. That the Lord Jesus sufficiently satisfied as Mediator the Law for sin 3. That he is freely offered in the Gospel 4. So far as I know my own heart I do through mercy heartily consent that he only shall be my Saviour not my works or duties which I do only in obedience to him 5. If I know my heart I would be ruled by his word Spirit Behold in a few words the summe and substance of the Gospel 21. The Lord blessed his enquiries with gracious returns when he set himself seriously to clear up his interest in him Instance October 30. 1652. As I was questioning and searching whether I were a child of God or no me thought this was suddenly spoken in me or to me If I be not thy Father what am I then to thee Am I an enemy to thee which did much affect and melt my heart through much mercy In preparation for the Lords Supper Jan. 1. 1652. as I was upon the same Question within my self whether I was a child of God yea or no me thought this was suggested within me If I be not thy ●ather why dost thou follow me so hard and breath after me which also did much affect my heart at that time 22. He got ground on his corruptions and his grave-cloaths fell off apace while he was yet alive Several daies I find good recorded and no evil Instance Good Evil. In morning read a long Hebrew Chapter in closet-duty not altogether without his presence studied for my Sermons and the afternoon spent much what in preparation of my self for the Lords Supper and not altogether without his presence for blessed be his name he humbled me and melted me in the ●ight of my own vileness   About 7. weeks before his translation returning from London he found his Family in a languishing condition by reason of a feavourish distemper which had crept in among them It being the Lords wont to send some forerunning waves to dash against and wet us before he send that mountainous one with which he will overwhelm us His youngest child save one departs this life on Friday night being the 11. of Nov. 1654. How often are the little Lambs taken from the sides of their dams from whom they received life and carried to the place where they met with their deaths An hopeful branch must be lopt off before the Root it self dry up and wither Saturday morning that Chapter came to be read in course which contains Davids Fasting and mourning for his child whilst it lived c. Comparing his own condition with that of David he said Davids mourning went before but mine must follow after The duties of the Family being over he retires again into his study keeps the day as a Fast and being awakened by this affliction is put upon serious self-reflexions and searching endeavours to find out the cause of this smart-stroke of Gods hand an account whereof taken out of his Diary you have as follows God taking away my little babe Job November 11. 1654. Searching my waies c. 1. Not returning according to his multiplyed mercies to us not thankful enough the heart not endeared to him 2. More lax in watching over my thoughts 3. A foolish stupidity and security before this blow from the the Lord far from waiting for changes Jonah-like fast asleep 4. An unnatural heart to him and the rest insensible of his pains 5. Grown very slight in the Lords service though wofully distracted and dead in every duty almost yet not sensible of it nor humbled under it had lost of that spiritualness and heavenly-mindedness once I had through grace 6. Partial affection to the sons more then to the daughters therefore God took this away and smote the other His wife would have had the Funerals deferr'd till Munday but he would not give way saying I have other work to do tomorrow At even the people being come together he accompanied the Corps unto the grave into which he was observed to look very wishly as if he had been curiosly looking for a resting place for himself shortly to lye down in and had thus bespoken his dead child I shall shortly come to thee but thou shalt not return to me Coming home he was very raised and chearful and comforted his wife with this saying among many others Come love he has but got the start of us It being my work to track him and tread upon the print of his heels I must follow him even through the valley of the shadow of death which was not so frightful to him in its approach as to me uncomfortable in its description The time of his departure is at hand and no wonder He was ripe betimes and therefore gathered and taken into Gods Granary He had done his work and must therefore go to receive his wages and this I may be bold to say that he did God more service in a little time then many others whose line of life was twice as long as his He cannot be far off from his center because of the swiftness of his motion He was alwaies much upon the wing but towards his latter end he was wont to soar very high and took many a turn in Paradise every day and would be often hovering about the Casements of the Star-chamber which having delightfully peept and pryed into he came down again though not without much regret and grief yet solacing himself with this consideration that he should shortly meet the Lord in the air and then be ever with the Lord. During the time of his pilgrimage and abode in the Lords Vineyard he served his God and his Generation with all his might He ran faster then others and was therefore sooner out of breath He screwed up the peggs so high that the strings of his several faculties crack and can hold out no longer He did with so much vehemency and contention of spirit continually stir up himself to take hold on God and followed so hard after him that he sunk under the burden of his own

Silver tryed and purified seven times that is to say his Promise therefore he concludeth That the Lord will keep them he will preserve them for ever and so pretious so confirmed by miracles that all other truth scarce deserveth the name of truth in comparison of it either it is not so pure but hath some dross or else not so pretious O they are pretious Promises indeed as the soul knoweth right-well when he cometh to stand in need of a Promise and the sweetness of it he sucks out and it letteth down the sweetness of it upon the soul but take a parallel Scripture to shew that Gospel is called the truth The Apostle speaks plainly For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel and again to the Ephesians In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise So that this is the truth then the knowledge whereof shall make us free where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty that is clear as you heard before Now how is the Spirit given but by the Gospel Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which is that hearing of Faith by the Word of Truth the foregoing Verse even that which held forth a crucified Christ to them hearing of Faith not the rumour of Faith but hearing is such an hearing as whereby a man believeth and Faith by a Metonymie is put for the Word of Faith as the Gospel is called sometimes because Faith thereby is begotten now by this the Spirit is received and therefore liberty cometh and therefore the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit in that place of the Apostle because therewith the Spirit is given and ministred to poor creatures whereas the Law works Bondage and Wrath Therefore Jerusalem is free which is above that is to say the Church builded upon the Covenant of Grace is free is the Mother of us all but enough of this The Gospel is the outward instrumental cause Fifthly the inward instrumental cause or Con. as some will have it which I shall not now dispute that is faith whereby we close with this Covenant it is the Word of Faith and hearing of Faith that is to say of the Gospel so as to work Faith whereby the Spirit is given which brings liberty to the soul Alas many hear the Gospel of liberty which we preach and few do receive it few believe it for it appeareth by woful experience we are yet in bondage we have never gone forth to this day many of us though we have had as much preaching of the Gospel as any other Jerusalem that now is as the Apostle cals it was in bondage then though they had the Gospel preached among them a great while they believed not except the Spirit therein be conveyed the Gospel is but a dead letter as well as the Law and a deadly letter also and so much for the causes of this liberty or freedom which cometh by Jesus Christ The third thing under this head is the parts of this liberty or freedom which we shall consider two ways First Extensively in their latitude● And secondly Intensively in the degrees of each of these parts in its latitude But that we may the better understand it we must know that liberty is a relative and respecteth some bondage some imprisoning or shutting up from which this liberty is a deliverance ye shall go forth and therefore to set off the lustre of this glorious liberty it may not be amiss to run a parallel between them That there is such a bondage under which every poor creature without Christ is held we shall at present presuppose though afterward haply I shall come to prove it I would not here too far digress before we come to speak of the parts of the bondage to which the parts of liberty will be opposite and correspondent I shall say in a few words something to the Author of this Bondage and Tenure of it and but a word or two For the Author of this bondage under which poor creatures are without Christ altogether and in part also many times when they are under Christ and under Grace First Some part of it is to be ascribed to the Lord so far forth as it is meerly vindictive or an inflicting of a just penalty upon Sinners for sin so far we may ascribe it to God as will more plainly appear in the following Considerations The Law which genders to Bondage it is his Law and holy and just and good though it gender to Bondage nor will it follow because we are delivered form it therefore it was an evil in it self but only per accidens by reason of our corruption and so the Spirit of Bondage which in some is vindictive when he binds and hampers a Sinner with the cords of his sin haply never intending that he shall see through those terrors to his comfort this is from him and justly or else if it be in order to a settlement to a peace to an Adoption a Sonship through Christ as preparative to the receiving of Christ this is from him and so several other parts of it are from him under this Consideration Secondly But so far forth as any part of it is sinful there it is from Satan and from our own evil hearts for darkness cannot come from the light nor can any thing unclean come from that which is altogether pure no more then a clean thing can proceed from an unclean as the bondage under sin which more at large afterward we shall discuss Secondly For the tenure for being in bondage we are in bondage to some person properly to some thing improperly and by a kind of Prosopopeia we are said to be in such a bondage now there is some Tenure as I may say wherein they do hold us in bondage there are three or four tenures if I may so call them whereby we are thus held under Bondage until Jesus Christ come to set us free First A Sale Secondly By Birth Thirdly By Captivity or Conquest Fourthly By Tyranny and resignation of themselves up to such a vassallage but a word or two to each of them First then There is a Bondage by Captivity when People are taken Captives this is so common there is none can be ignorant of it What are the Turks Gally-slaves but the prey of their piracies all is fish that cometh to the net so it is in this case This is one Part of the Tenure we are taken captive by Satan even at his pleasure Of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage this is the military Law the Prisoners were ever the Conquerours slaves we have seen it but too evidently with our own eyes we have

people Fifthly There is another part of bondage under a slavish obedience that is to say such an obedience to the Law of God as nothing but a slavish fear is the principle of it and truly this puts on men to do many things they know it is written Cursed is he that continueth not in every thing that is written in the book of the Law to do it Now this sticks with the poor soul God requireth me to love him with all my heart with all my soul with all my strength and if I do not I am cursed therefore now he buckles a little to it as far as such terrors will carry him but alas he is not able to do it like a slave that doth his task while his Master stands over him with a rod or because he is sure to be beaten if he do it not not out of any love to the Master nor to his service at all what a grievous bondage is this Let but any Apprentice that hath a hard Master whom he serveth meerly out of fear as the Egyptians did their task because if they did them not they must be beaten and this maketh the yoke very heavy and uneasie also it pincheth exceedingly Now when the Lord Jesus cometh to a soul he breaks this yoke the Law genders to bondage the curse of it hath the very seeds of bondage in it Now I say when the Lord Jesus cometh ariseth upon a soul letteth him see that he hath undertaken for him not only the curse of the Law being made a curse but hath set his love upon him hath paid all the debt will take him to be his son no more as a servant O now when the soul beginneth to be sensible his condition is changed that he is a Son and now hath not a cruel hard Master to serve but a Father that will pity and spare where he falleth short of his duty let him do his best this doth much facilitate the work maketh the yoke easie and the burden light his Commandments are no more so grievous to the soul as they were before Now the Law of Christ is a perfect Law of Liberty to him before it was a Law gendring bondage for alas before it was only preached to the ear and that under the penalty of such a curse now it is written in the heart now there is an eccho in the soul resounding Thy will Lord will I do when he speaks any thing as the Law of love was upon the heart of Christ in the work of our Redemption now his Law is in our hearts and therefore we delight to do his will in some measure I delight in the Law of God after the inward man as the Apostle saith as a Servant it may be for a while under his Master hardly used yet afterward he changeth his manner of dealing with him offers him great immunities it may be to be of a Servant Son in Law to the King O now the Servant will be bored he will now become a willing servant and not be dragged to obedience by terrors and fears any more but willingly yieldeth up his members weapons of righteousness to holiness now the service is hearty and free his people shall be a willing people in the day of his power O saith the Apostle Ye were the servants of sin but now thanks be to God ye have from the heart obeyed the form of doctrine delivered to you from the heart that is to say out of love it cannot else well be from the heart for whom we dread with a slavish fear we hate and while the soul looks upon God as such a Judge as a cruel Master and his Law a cruel bloody Law nothing but blood and ruine to them that come not up unto it there is a hatred of God it is impossible to love him or his service and then the service such a man doth it is not from the heart a man may serve sin and yet do some service to God out of a slavish fear as most unbelievers do therefore they pray and therefore they read and therefore they do many things and yet serve sin but they never obey from the heart until this work be done the Law of love be written in their souls now you shall go forth you shall obey no more out of fear but out of love this is a Fifth Sixthly From the terrors and fears before a mans conversion which usually seize upon the creature in order to it for truly before the Lord hath to do with our hearts we are so dead asleep with the opium of sin that there must be somewhat to rouse us to awaken us usually there is a spirit of bondage which works fear and dread and terror in the soul that is to say when the Spirit of Christ breathing in the Commandment maketh sin appear to be sin exceeding sinfull and opens some of the terrors which sin doth breed in it witnesseth to the poor creature that he is in a state of condemnation that there is no way but one with him O now the soul beginneth to be amazed and startled and knoweth not what to do this runs him to the heart he had many afflictions and troubles in the flesh before never any came so near as this and no marvel because the Spirit of Jesus Christ hath wounded him at the very heart Brethren the Law of God is as I may say an Habeas Corpus or rather Animam apprehends or claps up a soul as I may say puts him in prison and therefore the Apostle useth that expression mind you the Scripture hath concluded all under sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath shut us up together all concluded under one prison in one dungeon that the promise which is of Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe but before Faith came we were kept under the Law I pray you minde it we were kept as in a Garrison as the Learned interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being shut up together unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed it is just as it is with a Prince he proclaimeth Pardon to all his Rebellious Subjects but withall he sendeth out his Messengers his Pursuivants to apprehend throw in prison keep under Bolts and Shakles as many of them as he can apprehend this is not contrary to his mercy nor proclamation of Pardon but in order to it subordinate to it that so his Pardon offered might be accepted they might sue for it So it is here the Law doth thus shut up a soul as I may say as when there is an High-way open for a man to walk in but he will go another way there it is hedged up at last he is so hedged in he cannot tell which way in the world to get out again O then if he could but finde the open way he would go in it So it is in this case the Lord maketh

ever is required I will give if I must take flesh an infinite condescention I will do it as if a Prince should say if I must be cloathed with rags yea with clods yea with worms I will rather then I will go without such a poor worm to be my spouse If I must part with my dearest blood and extend it to the last drop I will Ask me any Dowry yea if I must give my self for them who am God and equal with thee as well as afterward man I will do it my kingdom for them my glory for them my blood for them O brethren the Lord Jesus is worth a hundred thousand worlds well he will buy us he hath done it at a dear rate Indeed David bought Michal at a dear rate by the death of the Philistims and afterward two hundred foreskins of the Philistins it pleased him well what is this brethren If David must have parted with his life for her have been so much debased as to have lived a poor despised contemptible life for her a h●wer of wood or drawer of water or ground at a Mill or to have been as Job continually a man of sorrows and upon the dunghil this had been somewhat but nothing to this of Jesus Christ Satan was there spouse bought at so low a rate as the Church of Christ was I have read of some that must not marry a woman until they had killed an enemy and other until they had killed or overcome their Corrivals and happily this might be hard But the Lord Jesus he must grapple with his Corrival the Law the former Husband as the Apostle cals it as it is the strength of sin and slay that and take away the Curse break the commanding power the streaming power of the Law before he could take us to be his And so he must grapple with principalities and powers and spoyl them and lead captivity captive scatter him in his temptations break him in his policies undermine him in his depths and methods over-power him in his malice he must destroy all these enemies Yea more then all this the wrath of his father that was against us and against which there was no standing he must interpose and screen us from it and O! How it scorched him though he quenched it As the Passeover was roasted in the fire so the Lord Jesus our Passeover was even roasted alive in the displeasure of his Father 3. Then he cometh a wooing for when all this is done brethren we are unwilling it may be to have him are well contented to continue with our former Husband to be yet under the Law and the commanding power of sin and see no such beauty in him as to desire him nor any such freedom and comfort in being one with him as to desire that Yea if we be convinced a little of this yet happily our wills or hearts are not towards him and therefore he is fain to w●o us when all is done himself came in the days of his flesh and what was his work before his suffering but to wooe poor creatures to accept of him How did he wooe the woman of Samaria If thou hadst known saith he the Gift of God thou wouldst have asked him insinuating there was more in him then she yet saw as appeared when he told her her sins what they had been How often would I have gathered thee Jerusalem Jerusalem saith he O I have been ready to spread my Skirts over you but you would not Sometimes intreating sometimes lamenting their condition sometimes displeased at the hardness of their hearts It is much for a King to come a wooing himself a great King They use to send as David to Abigail Abraham to Rebecca but here he cometh himself a long journey from Heaven to Earth and contented to take on him the form of a servant that we might not be dazled with his glory and no pains doth he refuse How did he go up and down on foot until he was weary Blessed Saviour he was weary at the well there by Samaria and all was that he might everywhere wooe and intreat poor creatures to accept of him And 2 not onely by himself but by his Messengers now he is in his glory now he sends by his Messengers to this end You see Abraham his servant went to take a wife for Isaac and David his servants went to Abigail So brethren do the Messengers of Jesus Christ his paranymphs or pronubi They speak now a good word for Jesus Christ so the Apostle I have espoused you saith he to one Husband Such are friends of the Bridegoom as John was that did what he could to bring the people to Jesus Christ even the people of the Jews and would fain have had all the people to close with him But 4. In this espousal to Jesus Christ we are to consider several things what is done 1. By the spirit he is indeed the great wooer He is sent forth to convince of righteousness and of sin the burthen of the work lyes upon the Spirit and happy it is for us that it doth so for how fruitless would our endeavours be to you else brethren we might spend our selves and be spent and when all is done complain We have spent our strength in vain for Israel is not gathered How sad for you How uncomfortable for us No no the great perswader is the Spirit he cometh and he openeth the eyes and then the poor soul seeth O he is aere alieno obrutu● so deep indebted to the Justice of God that whatever he can do or suffer to pay it eternity is little enough to pay it in O now for a Husband now how happy a creature should I be if some that were able to bear the debt would discharge it would take it up for her He then insinuates somewhat further and convinceth of Righteousness that there is enough in Christ if we owed a thousand Talents more O then that I had it saith the poor soul O he is willing he is willing saith the Spirit therefore he is Preached to every creature Thus if this Arm of the Lord were not revealed our report of Christ would never be believed But what then do the Ministers do Yea their word the word of Faith which they preach it is the vehiculum Spiritus It is that wherein the Spirit breatheth It is the spirit brethren ordinarily in the Law which convinceth of sin or the Gospel preached legally as the great aggravation of mens sins and it is the spirit in the Gospel preached Evangelically as that which holds forth a ransom a propitiation for sinners whereby the Spirit convinceth of righteousness Where as in a glass the Spirit of Christ doth hold out The beauty excellency love and loveliness of the Lord Jesus which is most transcendent and ravishing to the soul that seeth it but a little more particularly then 1. The Spirit by their word ordinarily not excluding other

means though the Spirit alway is the great wooer and worker in this kind I say the Spirit by their word doth work to the revealing of a poor creature breaking that enmity that was in the heart to Jesus Christ So the Apostle I have espoused you to one Husband so we read it which Beza disalloweth not but he readeth optavi Erasmus adjunxi the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have joyned them to the Lord saith he Eras vel●t ea quae glutine aut ferrumine comittuntur but yet me thinks saith Beza the the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I might present you as a pure virgin to one Husband c. confutes is speaking afterward of a nearer joyning to Christ then now therefore he readeth it I have fitted you for the Lord wherein 1. Is a reconciling of the persons to Jesus Christ We beseech you saith the Apostle be ye reconciled to God In Christs stead we do it as if he did beseech you himself we pray you be reconciled and O that we could do this brethren but with such bowels as the Lord Jesus or as this Apostle did We are soon answered and take a denyal of you for you practice a denyal and we are too easie to take it O I beseech you saith the Apostle be you reconciled Alas poor sinners you are enemies to Christ and how will an enemy be marryed to an enemy while such you think you are not enemies and you are not so indeed in word and profession but in your deeds you are enemies You do nothing but wound and tear his name and are you not then enemies you hate the strictness of his ways and his people that walk in them and are you not enemies you are in love with your sins which were the very speare at his heart the knife that butchered him and are not enemies Ah! how many such here this day Now our work is to intreat you first to be reconciled as for his part he is ready to forgive and forget all and to look upon you as if you had never had offended him if you had but hearts given you towards him as his is towards you 2. Not onely but then there is the espousing brethren and that is when there is a mutual promise past between the Lord Jesus and the soul he will be a Husband to thee and marry thee to himself and thou wilt be faithful to him wilt never follow other lovers any more Thou wilt be his and his alone if he be pleased to be thine Now the Gospel which we preach is the word of this faith It is indeed the spirit brethren which is received by the hearing of faith by the word of faith as the Apostle spake that doth perswade a soul to this to close with him to take him upon his own terms He will be his virgin now for ever 3. There is yet further an adorning her when so espoused and so fitting her for him to be presented him a pure virgin That I might present you not only chaste but all manner of purity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this is nothing else brethren but the integrity and uprightness of the soul the abounding of the soul with all the graces of the spirit wherein there is a growth by degrees And this is the work of the servants of Jesus Christ a part of their fitting of them for him To labour to carry on his work so in his peoples hearts that they may be adorned and meet for such a Bride-groom There are but two things more to be hinted before I come to the Application of this And the next is The manner of this espousing or betrothing but before that we must note That as there was a betrothing of virgins some time before the compleating of the marriage which custom is commendable you know Joseph had Mary espoused to him before he took her to his family as compleatly and fully So among the Heathens also placuit despondi nuptiis hic dictus est dies saith the Comic Terent. only to the faith of the marriage Now they were counted by the people of God and by the Law man and wife Husband and wife * It was death for them to violate that betrothing as well as if they had been never so compleatly and solemnly marryed whereby it appears God would have them look upon it as a perfect marriage though the consummation of it were not until afterward the taking of her home and solemnly engaging de presenti as they say So here the consummation of this marriage is deferred a while as you have it in the very Text at last at midnight the cry was Behold the Bridegroom cometh and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage that is to say into heaven Then when Isaac took Rebecca and brought her into his Mothers Tent and became one with her more neerly she became his wife indeed so hereafter when he takes us into his fathers house brethren when he takes us into Heaven there is the marriage consummated indeed But for the manner of his espousals First remember this in all He doth it freely For alas Brethren what can the Lord Jesus now if he come into the Congregation this day see in any of us that he would take for his spouse what can he see in us there is nothing desireable nor lovely in us we are like poor Infants cast out in our blood not washed nor salted but stinking loathsom the navel not cut nor bound up cast out to the loathing of our person Ah Brethren while poor sinners are in their sins they smell not the loathsomness of their souls they have stinking nostrils to which the savour of sin is suitable and therefore they smell it not we are as persons that have been long in a filthy Jakes or Dungeon and by continuance of it we feel it not it is so habitual or indeed connatural to us but now bring a man out of this place a little while and put him into it again O then how loathsom it is to him yea bring him to the door of it O it is ready to sink him so it is in this case you see it not poor creatures O that such of us as the Lord hath made sin loathsom to could tell how to pitty you but sure you will finde it so if ever the Lord Jesus do espouse you he will first let you know what you are to whom he doth this Alas what can he see in us brethren or hath he seen in any of us that he stands in this relation to for birth you have nothing but baseness The Devil is our Father and his works we will do I mean as to corruption that is within us whence is it but from Satan For Beauty there is none but all deformed wounds and bruises and putrified sores full of corruption that stink and are loathsom and what beauty can there be in such a

them to one Husband now to watch over them to take such care of them and pains with them that having escaped the pollutions of the world they may not return any more to them but be kept pure and holy to the Lord and therefore saith the Apostle I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie jealousie is a kinde of fear sorrow and anger It is the rage of a man saith Salem indeed it doth as it were raise a man above himself carry him out of himself therefore saith the Apostle bear with me if by reason of my earnestness I seem to be out of my self it is for your sakes I am jealous for you saith the Apostle And what was the matter they were in danger to be seduced by false Apostles to be corrupted from the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and this was that the Apostle was jealous over them for and surely brethren it is commendable and imitable I plead not for passion and wild-fire but a holy zeal for the glory of Christ the well-fare of souls we ought not to be cold but zealous jealous for you brethren if in danger of seducing at any time this is a large duty indeed we are apt to sleep especially if sang asleep by the delusions of weakness and mildness and love falsly so called and then the mischief is done but enough of this I hope you see there is cause enough to pray for us 5. Another Vse then shall be tending to the wooing of some poor souls this day to accept of the Son of God the Lord Jesus and of his love and to make up the match with him this is our work indeed And O that it might prosper in the hand of a poor unworthy servant and friend of the Bridegroom this day you have heard Who he is and What he is you have heard already the glorious priviledges which arise from a closure with him yea how often have you heard these things and yet you are coy and hang back I am come this day brethren to tell you the sum of the message is that the Lord Jesus is willing to have you if you be willing to have him How long shall the Lord Jesus follow you with these mercies the price of his most precious blood and yet you slight him What can you desire that is not to be had in Jesus Christ If you would have beauty he is the chief of ten thousand If you would have riches you shall have all things with Christ how shall he not with him give us all things Would you be honourable those are truely honourable that God honours now he will honour them that will honour him and honour his Son And wherein is he and his Son honoured but in this if we believe in his name give him the glory of his mercy and faithfulness 〈…〉 at I were able to speak of him so as that you might some of you fall in love with him this day Shall I a little stir you up to this First If you have him not you are like to live and dye under that cruel husband the Law and Sin the Law as it is the strength of sin which is the cruellest bondage in the world the Law 1. It commands a most absolute obedience and conformity to it self there must not be the least turning aside to the right hand or to the left not a lota be missed all things obeyed and continued in and that upon pain of an eternal curse cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing which is written to do it it is a most rigorous exacter of obedience to its cominands there is no pitying no sparing as there is now in Jesus Christ he pityeth and spa●eth as a father his son as a husband his spouse If a man could from his youth up keep all and but miss it in a word in a vain thought all his life time there is no pity no sparing it condemneth to the lowermost ●ell O what a condition are you in sinners upon whom all your breaches of this Law doth lye 2. It is a cruel bondage because it giveth no strength if it did impose never so much if it did give any strength it were something It is true we had strength which God gave us at the first until we wantonly fell and broke our bones so brought weakness upon our selves but now in this condition yet we are under the Law as a husband which will command peremptorily but giveth us no power like the the Egyptians task-masters they would have them make bricks and yet give them no straw and yet the Law is holy just and good Now the Lord Jesus what he commandeth he giveth strength to perform 3. It admitteth of nosurety we must do it our selves obey to the utmost our selves or else be ruined to the utmost perish to the utmost cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing one man cannot be accepted for another the soul that sinneth it shall dye And 4. Yea more then all this It provokes us as we are corrupt to break it as a bank against a strong stream it maketh it swell and rage the motions of sin which were by the Law this is by the Law but not from the Law but from our corrupt hearts but sin takes occasion by the commandment nitimur in vetitum cupimusque negata like wild Asses Colts when the law cometh to yoak us and hamper us we break the y●ak and the bands as the Prophet speaks will not endure to be held Now is not this a sad condition to be under such a hus 〈…〉 d as this and yet how many of us are in this case and contented so to be Well remember brethren the end of these things will be bitterness and death that is the wages 2. Another Motive may be this he is ready to close with you if ye be ready to close with him be you what you will never so vile in your own eyes for it may be this is the discouragement of many they would rather then their lives have the Lord Jesus for a husband but alas there is no beauty in them he is the chief of ten thousand and they are the vilest of ten thousand the chief of sinners he altogether lovely they altogether loathsom He is white and ruddy they are black and bloody lying in their blood and filthiness cast out to the loathing of their persons and what hope can they have that he will accept of them very great hopes brethren for this is the tenour of the Gospel to be preached to every Creature without exception or Limitation and every one that believeth in him cometh to him he will in no wise cast out if he would what had become of Paul or Manasseh say not then Alas I am poor and miserable and naked yea Leprous and filthy and therefore it is not for for such a one as I to think on Christ indeed thou canst

this terror and this bondage a means to their inlargement Ah blessed Prison that is only to make poor creatures willing to be at liberty well now this the Lord Jesus when he cometh and revealeth himself to a soul he brings him out of these labyrinths of fears and terrors letteth the poor creature see that himself is the way and the only way he hath undertaken the work for his people only if they will believe though they have no strength in them to do any thing nor to extricate themselves from the difficulties they find themselves in by reason they cannot fulfil the Law yet he is the mighty one upon whom help is laid and withal letteth them understand how his bowels do yern over them and how his heart is open ready to inlarge them and so perswadeth them to close with him and then they go forth when faith cometh so Christ is the end of the Law and the ●aw a School-Master to bring us to Christ But that is but the Sixth Seventhly Another part of this bondage is those after-claps of fears and terrours that after Christ hath been revealed to and in a soul may befall the creature alas you find it so they may be clapt up afterward in the pit of noise the horrible pit and be in the deeps and in darkness and like Jeremiahs dungeon sink in the mire where there is no standing they feel no bottom of their misery their fears are overwhelming or like Jonahs Whales belly they are in the belly of hell and all the waves and billows of God go over them O this is sore bondage however it be true that the Spirit of God is never any more a spirit of bondage to them to witness to them they are children of wrath afterward yet he doth not say but they may have bondage again and all fear hath torment and is bondage to the Spirit it doth fetter it and shut up and contract the spirits exceedingly Now I say the darkness of a mans own heart which doth naturally gender fear and Satan to help and the frowns of Gods displeasure for the present though he do not witness any more that a man is a child of eternal wrath and displeasure these may bring the poor creature into sad perplexities Well yet the Spirit of the Lord Jesus when he cometh brings also liberty with him from this bondage David will tel you so and Heman will tell you so do but consider what conditions they were in how came they to be delivered O lift up the light of thy countena nce upon me Son of God arise upon me shine upon my soul and then I shall be healed O restore to me the joy of thy salvation make me to hear joy and gladness c. Well the Promise doth extend even to this bondage also and to this may we refer the next I will speak of it distinctly Eightly There is another Bondage and that is the fears of death and judgement whereby many a poor creature is kept in Bondage all the days of their lives as the Apostle saith in that to the Hebrews to which I will speak a few words He came saith the Text and took part of flesh and blood that through death be might destroy him that hath the power of death that is to say the Devil and deliver them that through fear of death were all their life-time subject to Bondage Brethren death it self is a terrible thing the Simplex could say but hardly could he tell the reason of it for them that have no fear of God before their eyes but have put out the eye of reason and live like Beasts giving up themselves to commit wickedness with greediness though while they can keep off the apprehensions of death they may go on merrily but when that seizeth upon them it marrs their mirth it maketh a change in their faces and they are not now truly death is not so terrible in it self considered but that the stoutness of a mans spirit specially where there is no other consideration of it he may overcome it and live above the fears of it as the Heathens some of them did but now a man that knoweth indeed what death is not only a dissolution of the union between the soul and body taking down this mouldring Tabernacle but a Serpent with a sting it is where sin and guilt lies upon the soul it is the beginning of sorrows the arrest of the soul to judgement to come to receive its doom for all its bloody evils he hath been guilty of The wordling is not willing to give up his soul O he knoweth he can never answer for his wasting of his spirits and spending his time to lay up treasure here and in the mean time neglecting his soul and Jesus Christ and tenders of Grace he knoweth this well enough and therefore he will not yield up his Spirit they shall take it from him as it is in the Parable This night shall thy soul be taken from thee and so for any other sin and now I say this maketh death terrible and by reason of these fears of death men that have any sight or sense of their condition they are in Bondage all their lives long yea even the people of God themselves are in some measure under this bondage and according to the measure of the discovery of Christ to them and the power of faith in them is this fear and this bondage broken and the Lord Jesus came for this end to deliver them alas before his coming the Saints may be specially meant here who had indeed the knowledge of Christ to be crucified for Sinners and beheld him crucified though darkly in the sacrifices c. and in the promise from the foundation of the world but yet notwithstanding they had not that confidence usually but there was more room for doubtings and fears because they died still without the accomplishing of that promise now though such as had an extraordinary measure of faith and a prophetical spirit might see this clearly and so it might raise them much what above this bondage yet ordinarily I believe it was not so that they had such clear conviction of the freeness of grace and the abundance and riches of it in Jesus Christ and therefore it did not so f●lly quiet their Spirits in respect of fears of death and judgement they did not so clearly see the sting pluckt out therefore the Apostle saith those Sacrifices though they did hold out Christ could not make the comers thereunto perfect and therefore they were often repeated But now the Lord Jesus he hath by once offering for ever perfected compleated their salvation and therefore you shall find that the Apostle and others do so triumph over death and the grave and sin as we hardly find any before the coming of Christ and it must needs be so because now the Spirit which is the liberty of the Saints was poured out in a

with us at all but then when we do actually thus pollute our selves he takes occasion to depart to leave us to those evils and to fill us with our own back-slidings Thirdly Take heed of sinning against conviction against light this is dangerous indeed you may come to be shut up in darkness for this to be bound in affliction and iron to endure sad things upon your spirits for if the Spirit of Christ who convinceth you this or that is a sin be so far slighted as you heed it not what if he then forbear and is it not righteous he should forbear to shine upon your graces that you should see any thing that is ought in you So that you shall walk in darkness and see no light will not this be a paying of you home in your own coyn David could not be ignorant what his sin was before he committed it and yet you see he ventured upon it and what it cost him Fourthly Take heed of deliberate sinning when a man hath time of consideration of his sin to argue the case pro and con as we use to say and doth revolve with himself O this is sinful if I do it I rebell against God I do what in me lies to undo my self O but saith lust man it shall be satisfied God is merciful there is time enough to repent or it will easily be healed afterward Now upon such deliberations as this if a man will sin there is much of the will in it and so much the more wicked and therefore now the spirit must needs be grieved what can such a poor creature expect but to be brought under bondage as you see it in David his plotting and contriving the death of Vriah these sins in cold blood when a man is not under the sudden violent heat of a temptation and yet will sin O this grieves him much if a pot be on the fire and the scum rise we throw it out we expect it would rise but if no fire be under and yet a scum arise O this is so loathsom it is not to be endured Fifthly Take heed of Ranker and Malice of grudgings of heart one against another as the Apostle saith grudge not one against another prejudices heart-burnings grudgings upon injuries real or conceived and imagined O this grieveth the Spirit who is a Spirit of pure love and will have them that look to enjoy him to be a people of love to cover much bear and forbear and forgive in love for love will cover a multitude of offences Sixthly Take heed then of pride of being lifted up for the Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of humility O he loveth to dwell in the lowly spirit if we be lifted up we rob him of his honour to arrogate that to our selves which he hath been working for us to think we are something of our own of our selves he will let us know to our sorrow that we have nothing in our hearts but darkness and bondage and sin and that all was from him Seventhly Take heed of unthankfulness for what he hath done for us when the Spirit of the Lord Jesus shall be at all this pains with us contest with the quarrellings and disputings of our own hearts against our own peace and comfort and answer all our objections and still our complaints and seal up love upon our hearts remove our trembling and fears dispell our darkness cleanse our loathsom hearts in a great measure of those lusts that did so much prevail against us and we shall forget this now and not return to him the praise but either to grow into carnal security and when we have rest from that which galled us with the nine leapers go our waies never mind whence we received it or else so much pore upon the remainder of our sins as not to exalt that grace whereby we are in so great a part delivered O this grieveth him and therefore he may justly let us step back again or let loose upon us again those lusts that we were delivered from their strength and never prized the mercy that we learn to admire that grace much more might be added but this shall suffice The next use of the point shall be for satisfaction to some doubts since we are delivered and set free from the Law as you have heard from that It may be thought First that the Law was an evil that it is such a priviledge of the Saints to be delivered from it Secondly It may be doubted how far we are set free from it and therefore I will speak a little to each of them for the first First the Apostle meeteth with it or rather prevents it for seeing that carnal reason would be so ingenuous as to find out that cavil among others against the Doctrine of faith and of freedom from the bondage under the Law as the strength of sin specially What shall I say then saith the Apostle is the Law sin that we are said to be delivered from it and that sin hath its strength from it and so deliverance from sin is a deliverance from the Law as the strength of it Or is the Law death since sin by this means doth work death No saith the Apostle the Law is holy just and good the Law giveth no occasion to sin but sin takes occasion sin will not endure to be contradicted it sucks poyson out of that holy and good Law of God meeting with opposition it swells and rageth so that indeed it is sin that is the evil the Law is holy and good O but the Law it works wrath and works death and can this then be good and how can it be such a mercy to be delivered from it is it a favour to be put into golden fetters supposing the Law to be good and holy yet since it is as we may say ginns and fetters and bolts though of gold to hold the poor soul in to keep him in and up as in a prison is this so good then To this I answer It is true by the Law is the knowlege of sin I had not known lust except the Law had said thou shalt not covet whether in the last command or in each command now I will not dispute but the first motions thoughts risings and bubblings of corruption I had not known them to be sin but that the Law hath said thou shalt not covet Why but was that then that was good made death to me saith the Apostle You must know the Apostle speaks here of a death which is the receiving as I may say the sentence of condemnation in his own spirit by conviction for this is all his knowledge of sin that sin by the commandment might appear to be exceeding sinful this is the dying there mentioned sin revived and I dyed which is in order to liberty to make the poor creature see his necessity of Jesus Christ that so he might make out after him to make a pardon welcome therefore he casts poor sinners

into fet ters under this Law So that if you look upon it in this subserviency to the Gospel though the creature may be put to much grief by it yet it is good when pardon is proclaimed that a Prince should cast those rebells into prison to make them willing of a pardon the Gospel is a savour of death to death you know and yet it is a sweet savour in them that perish and them that are saved the Gospel is never the worse for that and if the Law prove fetters to a poor sinner to keep him under bondage for ever and bind him over to everlasting Judgement this is through his own wickedness that he will not accept of deliverance in the Gospel where it is preached the Law is never the less good and holy But the second is the main thing how far we are said to be freed from the Law of God and how we are not freed from it First we are delivered from it as a Covenant of righteousness do this and live that is to say be thou exactly conformable to this Law for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 want of suitableness to this Law is a sin and every sin the wages of it is death if thou break it but in one thou art guilty of all Alas Brethren the Law was weak through our flesh and could not justifie it could discover sin as a glass but not purge it it could work wrath work it out but it could not pacifie therefore the Lord Jesus came and took upon him that name the Lord our righteousness and he is now saith the Apostle the end of the Law for righteousness It was a School-master to whip us to fright us out of our selves to Jesus Christ therefore every soul in Christ now is delivered from the Law as a Covenant of life that is clear but this was mentioned before Secondly Now from the rigorous exacting of obedience for according to the Law nothing is obedience except perfect if a man miscarry in one thing he is guilty of all there must be a doing of every thing written yea in the fullest most spiritual sense of it yea a continuance in every thing to the end or else it is not obedience but now the Lord accepteth of the desires of the upright heart he heareth the prayer of such as desire to fear his name the will now goeth for the deed where the poor soul striveth to do and is not able Dear friends how sad a condition were we in many times if the Lord did so rigorously exact our obedience how often do we come to pray and can say nothing in his presence can scarce sigh or groan and in hearing and speaking his Word though we do stir up our selves to watch O how often do vain thoughts run away with our hearts now if we were under this exacting of the Law what would become of us what had become of Paul when he did the things he hated the things he would not c. if he had been under the rigour of the Law If there be first a willing mind that imprimis Brethren doth legitimate all the following Items though never so weak now the Law is in the hand of Christ as a Father who pittieth and spareth us alas what had become of the best of us else long since thus we are delivered Thirdly From the curse of it Gal. 3. 18. our Saviour being made a curse for us so that the curse of it doth not lie upon us to sink us that is to say the weight of the wrath or displeasure of God Nor yet as a compulsion to obedience to this Law as slaves and very wretched sinners may do much for the fear and dread of this curse of God but this the Lord delivered his people from he maketh them a willing people he now sheweth them greater reason against sin then ever they saw now opens to them the grave they see the rottenness of it which they saw not before now he opens his treasures of rich grace in Christ and so by mediation of the understanding works upon the will sweetly inclining it to God though there be a moral swasion by apposition of object as a Lamb is led by a green bush up and down yet this is not all there goeth more to the taking away the stone in the heart and giving a heart of flesh which doth most what lie in the making the will flexible and plyable not so much in sorrow and tears and meltings which doth many times accompany it and sometimes not at all or very little Pharaohs heart was hardened for he obeyed not he was stiff and stubborn and therefore said to be a stone Now I say a moral swasion will not reach to this a man may use much oratory to a stone and yet it remaineth a stone still a Preacher may hold forth sin to be sin and exceeding sinful and hold forth Christ crucified by them and for them before their eyes and yet alas all will not do they remain stones still No no an enclining of the heart he turns the hearts of men whithersoever he will as he did the heart of Esau to Jacob upon his prayer there was more then a swasion and as he did the thief upon the Cross in the midst of his torments and agonies of death then to think upon a Christ then to have his heart towards him that never regarded him in his life-time and in the midst of a people reviling him as you know and upon the Cross suffering and dying and yet then to be wrought upon argues a wonderful divine power put forth upon the will Well then when the will is overcome we are made free to the service of Jesus Christ now we can delight in the Law of God after the inward man it was a weariness to a sinner to hear the Word specially if it came near to him he could not endure to be grated upon and a weariness to pray now he delights in these things So far we are delivered from the curse as the great inforcement of Obedience Fourthly From the provoking power of the Law as you have often heard now that Law that was the occasion of the rebelling of lust is hid in the heart that we might not sin against him this is a great change indeed in a child of God from the former condition when before God would put his yoak upon our souls we writhed and pluckt away our neck would not endure it now it pleaseth us to be under it it is sweet and easie to us now it is a provocation to obedience that before was a provocation unto sin But now on the other hand we are not set free from the Law as a Law a rule of holy walking of new obedience our Saviour did not by fulfilling the Law destroy it but accomplish it because we were not able of our selves to do it he under went the rigour of it and took away all the condemnation of

See Coming Deliverance whence doth it come 156 Discouragements of the world are to be armed against 251 252 Dividing upon every occasion take heed of it 98 To Do what a man knows he is slow 23 Door of heaven will be shut against all such as are not ready to enter in with Christ 363 Door is twofold ibid. Door that it is not shut against us what have we to bless the Lord for 371 Dulness we are to be humbled for it 26 E Entrance abundant into glory as a preparation unto it what is required 328 Espousals the manner of it between Christ and his people 46 Espousals of Christ The difference between this and those espousals between men and women 86 F Faithful the soul must be unto Christ 8 Fall away from grace is to be reproved 254 Favourites of heaven that we are made so let us admire it 351 Feast what is it taken for 339 Feast may be looked upon two waies 340 Feast in it the Communion of the Saints shall be heightened in heaven p. 343. and it must needs be so 345 Feast how Christ brings the Saints in unto it 347 Feast into it none else can bring but Christ 348 Feast to it sinners are invited 353 With two cautions ib d. Feast the sinners that say they have it already answered 355 Feast to come to it laies a necessity upon you 357 Feast as many as are admitted to the beginning of it labour to prepare for it in heaven 358 Feast to those that enter in with Christ to it comfort 360 Fellowships See Admissions Folly of formal professors wherein it appears 111 Folly as many as are guilty of it reproved 290 Folly wherein it doth consist 299 See Wisdom Formality if no more doth fail a man 263 Formalists to all them a terrible word 402 G God for his own glory comes in a time unknown 210 God the Father giveth his people to his Son and giveth his Son to them 41 God and the world are of two minds 114 Gods goodness to his people is to be taken notice of in awakening them 204 Gospel its preaching to all the world understood to be a cry 199 Gospel if men refuse and reject it no wonder if they be shut out of heaven 369 Grace distinguished 99 Grace its largeness to sinners 97 Grace its act Saints may loose but not its habit 172 Grace its throne what need there is to ply it 194 Grace is not to be abused 255 Grace if once in the heart it is never lost ibid. Grace for it what shall be rendered to the Lord 256 Grace its getting being put off till the last day is very great folly 286 Grace the going to the creature for it is a note of great folly 298 Grace they that go to the Saints for it are like to be denyed 302 Grace there are none that have any surplusage of it or more then will serve their turn 309 Grace to as many as think they have enough of it a reproving word 311 Grace to such as think they have but little a word of Comfort 313 Grace its day such as do trifle away the time will come when pity shall arise from none 315 Graces must be had gotten and kept in a lively frame 218 Graces how they must be acted 219 Grow how to do it 249 H Heart of man is unconstant 23 Heart must not be trusted in the highest frame 194 Heaven men may come very neer it and yet be shut out 379 Heaven what will become of them who never set foot towards it 380 Heaven in it the Saints Communion will be heightned 343 Holiness real what is it 366 Honoured wherein Father and Son are 69 Hypocrisie deep may lie in the hearts of men 95 Hypocrites Christ coming to judge at midnight is like an evil snare 212 Hypocrites when Christ comes upon them unawares it will be a Terror 215 Hypocrites may go very far towards heaven and Salvation from 122 to 231 Hypoctites how many men know whether they be such or no 234 Hypocrites never have respect to all Gods Commandments 236 Hypocrites profession will not carry them through all conditions 262 Hypocrites lean upon two Pillars that will fail them 266 Hypocrites may long lie hid from themselves 268 Hypocrites ordinarily are not diligent or laborious in searching within 272 I James King what once he said 173 Jealousie what is it 68 Jeroms resolution 297 Jerusalem had her day of grace 279 Jesus is to be magnified we to be humbled and convinced of folly from 389 to 391 Infants of Believers are external Saints 94 Justice satisfied See Christ Justice and Mercy upon what account they are to be magnified 322 K Kingdom of heaven what is it taken for 87 Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Feast 339 Know such as Christ doth not shall never enter into his Marriage-feast 396 Know them not Christ will declare this at the day of Judgment unto Hypocrites 399 Knowledge of God in Christ what is to be said of those that have none 231 Knowing of a soul by Christ what is 〈◊〉 understood 393 Known of Jesus Christ many never are that profess him and profess to know him 392 L Lamps what is meant by it 11 103 Lamps of the wise Virgins though they burn low yet are they not put out 244 Lamps must be trimmed every day 254 Lamps what is it to trim them 257 Lamps their Motives to stir us up to trim them 258 Lamps our own what we should do to trim them 260 Law requires absolute obedience 69 Long-sufferance of God what they treasure up that despise it 134 Look unto two things 383 Love transcendent of Jesus Christ 54 Love of Christ to us should ever keep us low 59 Love of Christ the souls objections against it answered 78 M Magistrates who are the keepers of the Lords vineyard have slept 155 Man in him Christ sees nothing desirable 47 Man in him a double principle 146 Man or Men though they will not come to Christ for Grace yet will they come to him for Glory 385 Marriage what is meant by it 338 Marriages used to be made with feasting 53 Measures that are false take heed of being deceived by them 251 Members of Christs visible Church to be one of them is a great priviledge 98 Members unregenerated in a visible Church is a sad condition 99 Memory in man is a leaking vessel 21 Metaphor what is it 2 Midnight what is meant by it 208 See coming of Christ Ministers plea for putting the People in remembrance 24 Ministers wisdom in pressing truths 25 Ministers what they do 44 Ministers duty 67 Ministers have slept 156 N Novelties take heed of affecting them 28 Number our days labour so to do 117 Ordinances of Christ must neither be neglected nor slighted 253 Ordinances many that think they can get grace from them reproved 300 Ornaments look unto them and get them ready 81 Oyl what is meant by it 14 104 Oyl there is need