Oh how it damps lust brings down strong holds of sin overcomes all their reasonings and unsettles a mans former sinful peace that the bed is too short and the covering too narrow the man cannot lie down as formerly under a refuge of lies his sweet morsels now are not sweet to him but his mouth is filled with gravel As to have seen the River Iordan to run backward in its own channel and to see the Sun to go back in its own orb it was a mighty word that must do this to see that the fire could not burn in the furnace of Babylon and yet their natures with their natural properties still to be continued even so mighty a work there is upon the souls of unregenerate men but for a Law to come forth from the Lord and that very word to be written upon the heart and to be put in there as an indelible character never to be blotted out though indeed sin may soyl it and blur it yet it can never be blotted out nor obliterate 2 Cor. 3.2,3 that the conscience shall stand in awe of it that a man shall not dare do any thing that is contrary to it as Psal 119. My heart stands in awe of thy word that though he had never so great an inclination within and never so violent temptations without that he cannot get the authority of it off from his spirit and not only to do this by force but willingly and cheerfully thy Commandments are my delight that he loves the Law of God and delights in it according unto the inward man if a man should come and speak to a Marble and with his voice thereby words should be written so that they could never be blotted out again we would say this were a mighty voice there is the same power put forth when the Lord Jesus is in the middle of his people giving Laws unto their consciences as the King upon his Throne when the Law comes from Christ upon his throne it puts a kind of moral impossbility upon the man that he saies How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth we cannot but speak the things that we have heard and seen there is an inward impulse of spirit that a man cannot do otherwise as it is in the Law of sin it doth so command the man that the man cannot do otherwise because there is a Law within him and that hath the commanding power over the man that though sometimes they would strive or give any thing it were otherwise yet they cannot resist it there is amoral impotency he is not able to resist the doing of evil Thirdly it is a Throne of grace and therefore it is commonly so called Heb. 10.22 Let us come with boldness unto the throne of grace a King upon his throne doth pronounce pardon and give gifts and therefore when the Lord Jesus did enter into his glory and take possession of his Kingdom thed he did shed abroad his Spirit abundantly but it did come from the King upon his throne then he doth delight to give gifts as a King and to shew mercy as a King First sitting on his throne he doth dispence the greatest gifts from it it is from his presence in his Ordinances that he doth dispence the spirit Rev. 4.5.14 the seven spirits are before the throne it is not spoken of the person of the Spirit for that is but one but of the gifts of the spirit which because they are many therefore for their variety their multiplicity and their perfection are said to be seven spirits therefore there they are to be dispenced by Christ at his pleasure but it is as he sits upon the throne that he doth it Rev. 2.21 The River of the water of life clear as Chrystal proceeded out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb By this all light is meant for Doctrine is compared unto water as corrupt doctrine to a flood Rev. 12. and also all grace is compared unto water Rev. 4.6 there was before the throne a Sea of glass clear as Chrystal so now it is cleared again those Doctrines that had been mudded and darkned under Popery and by all the smoak that arises out of the bottomless pit now they begin to clear again and there is no mudd in them c. the spirit is given by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 that is by the preaching of the doctrine of faith for faith is there put for the doctrine of faith as also that place contend earnestly for the faith that was once given to the Saints it is therefore in vain for men to expect spiritual gifts and graces anywhere else for it is only from the King upon his throne and the seven spirits are only to be found before the throne if a man had gone into any other Pool then Bethesda and expected the moving of the water it had been no wonder if he had returned ashamed and if the Israelites will go out to gather manna upon the Sabboth day when the Lord told them it should not fall it is no wonder if they found none and so it is with all that will go out of Gods way and Christs way and yet will expect the influences of the spirit and that the Angel should move the waters and that they shall find manna though the Lord hath told them the contrary c. they shall but sow the wind and reap the whirlwind Secondly it is upon a throne that he doth grant pardon Zech. 6.13 he shall be a Priest upon his throne both the offices of a King and Priest shall meet in one person and they shall both concur unto the same eminent and glorious ends which shall be peace both the making of peace and the speaking of peace as the Priest under the Law was to offer the sacrifice to procure peace and as King he doth speak peace he sends a Messenger one of a thousand to declare to a man his righteousness if a man had a pardon from a thousand subjects it would do him no good but when the King sitting upon his throne shall give him a pardon then he saith that his soul is delivered from going down into the pit when a man comes into the presence of Christ and sees his glory and hath a discovery made to him and he sees his name written in the heart of Christ though Christ come as a Judge sitting upon his throne and his soul is set before him either to be accused or condemned and Christ saith be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven eat thy meat and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God accepts thy works let his soul be delivered from death for I have found a ransom hereupon the man revives and his flesh comes again as the flesh of a young child and he doth return unto the dayes of his youth and walks no more drooping under his own darkness that made his strength
deliverance and that was as an answer unto prayer Thirdly the fruit of it and to be unfruitful under mercies is the greatest barrenness for they drop fatness and not only the fruit of the lips words in labris nata but it must be from inward and hearty affections e sulco pectoris God expects special fruit under mercies or under crosses and if he comes to find fruit upon a figg-tree dunged he will be much displeased if he find none Now the fruit of the mercy is threefold First the love of God is enlarged and inflamed the more mercy a gracious heart receives the more abundant he is in love to God for our love to God is but by reflexion we love God because he loved us first and the more the soul tasts of Gods love in a mercy the more it doth draw forth in him love to God again much was forgiven her therefore she loved much so much is given to a Saint by God therefore he loves God much Secondly his confidence in God is enlarged the Lord is my rock and my fortress my deliverer and when I call upon him I shall be saved from mine enemies the Lord is the God of salvations and to him belong the issues from death and this God I have an interest in he is mine by Covenant and he is by my experience all this to me Thirdly he is by this quickned and encouraged unto prayer therefore I will call upon the Lord and I will pray to him in all dangers and my cry shall come before him it shall enter into his ears c. The proper fruit of mercy indeed is the inflaming of a mans love to God and the strengthening of a mans faith and his encouragement and the inlarging of a mans heart in prayer Fourthly he sets down the grounds of all these mercies First Gods free-grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was Gods good pleasure and from this fountain do issue all Gods mercies to the Saints as Christ resolves it Mat. 11.25 Even so Father for so was thy good pleasure nay the greatest blessings that ever were bestowed upon a creature and the highest advancement that the creature was capable of the union of the humane nature with the God-head to be ex nullo merito sed gratis Secondly in the person to whom the mercy is bestowed for as God stands in a peculiar Covenant-relation to his people so he hath a peculiar providence over them Job 29.4 The secret of the Lord is upon their Tabernacle and according to their integrity the Lord will appear for them and own them in trouble God is with his people at all times but he is nearest to them in the worst times And here there was first Justitia causae the Lord hath undertaken the cause of the oppressed and the relief of the innocent Now they charged me with treacherie with a design to kill the King and to take the Kingdom as a man that raised sedition and civil wars in the Nation the Lord knows in this my integrity according to the uprightness of my heart and the cleanness of my hands hath he recompenced me Secondly Justitia personae a legal righteousness there cannot be so there is none righteous no not one but there is that which in Gods account goes for righteousness evangelical and that is sincerity and truth in the inward parts God delights in the works of his own spirit and in rewarding the graces that he himself hath wrought in a man Qui tribuit ut benefacerem secundum puritatem factorum retribuit mihi August Aust in loc Now he shews wherein this sincerity doth appear in these three things First I have not departed from God wickedly that is with a purpose and resolution of heart to continue in a way of sinning and that is the property of sincerity a man indeed may be over-taken and surprized by a temptation but it is not with a resolution to forsake God and to cleave unto the sin or rest in it he will not sleep in it spare it or favour it that is to do wickedly against God to have a double heart and a double eye to look upon two objects partly at God and partly at sin so to keep God as to keep some sin also as it is with all false hearted men in the world they look not upon god alone let them pretend to Religion never so much yet they look not unto God alone but upon something else together with God as Herod he regarded John but regarded his Herodias more and the young man in the Gospel comes to Christ yet he looks after his estate and Iudas followed Christ yet looks after the bag this is to depart wickedly from the Lord. Secondly all his Iudgements were before me a sincere and an upright heart hath a respect to all the Commandments as it s said of David Acts 13.22 A man after Gods own heart he must fulfil all his wills not only easie duty but difficult duty not only those that are in fashion but those that are out of fashion and are discountenanced amongst men in the least as well as in the greatest for the whole Law is written in the heart and his obedience thereunto is universal Rom. 6.17 And the more of Gods authority there is in the Law the deeper impression it hath upon the spirit Thirdly I was also upright before him and I kept me from mine iniquity A sincere heart hath the most serious resolutions the most unfeigned detestations and therefore the greatest and the most diligent watchings against his own iniquity that sin to which his nature is most prone and wherein he is most apt and hath commonly been to be ensnared In the words are two things First Davids profession of his sincerity Secondly his testification of it First I was upright 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect there is a two-fold perfection First a legal perfection which is a perfect conformity in nature and in life to the Law of God such as was in Adam in the state of his innocency and this the Papists contend to be attainable even in this life but here Who can say my heart is clean or I am purged from my sin therefore surely this was not the perfection David here speaks of for his failings were known and confessed by himself and remain upon record known and read of all men Secondly there is an evangelical perfection a perfection according to the tenour of the second Covenant and this is two-fold First in a mans Justification and so a man is perfefectly justified that is in Christ for we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.22 So we are said to be compleat in Christ and by his blood to have no more conscience of sin So the Church is said to be all fair and to have no spot in her and so by one offering the Lord hath for ever perfected them that be sanctified Heb. 10.14 Secondly a perfection of Sanctification and this
present or things to come 1 Cor. 3.22 mercies or crosses Eph. 1.22 Christ is made the head over all things to the Church for the Churches sake he doth order all things for their good and doth as Physitians do temper poyson into a wholsom medicine Gods people are gainers by their worst estates and by their afflictions they are made partakers of his holiness and when their outward man doth decay the inward man is renewed and whatsoever God laies upon them so it works in them the quiet fruit of righteousness it matters not what befall them in this world though the rain make the way foul it is no matter so it make the land fruitful for these clouds drop fatness and therefore the soul of a godly man blesseth the hand and kisseth the rod that smites and saies it was good for me that I was afflicted maledictionem benedixit paupertatem ditavit Luther Grace is like the Philosophers stone it turns all into gold Prov. 3.18 it is said wisdom is a tree of life unto them that lay hold of her it puts a man into the same condition that he was before the fall it brings a man again into the paradise of God and the Angel with his flaming sword is removed Fifthly it fills the soul with all spiritual excellencies those that will endure everlastingly and the soul of man is the darling of a man if he loose that what good wil a world do him the excellencie of the man lies in his spirit and the great and eternal difference between man and man lies in their spirit there are two differences here below one man is a King and another man is a subject one a master and another a servant but these differences are but for the time of this life and then all these relations shall cease Iob 3.19 then the servant shall be free from his master and the Princes robes and the beggers raggs lie down together And here be excellencies also that some mens spirits have beyond others some have knowledge common gifts and common graces but these shall be alike for after this life if there be knowledge that shall cease and tongues they shall vanish away 1 Cor. 13. for all this is meat that perisheth Ioh 6.27 the soul may feed upon it a while but it will perish and a mans oyl in his lamp will go out 1 Pet. 3. ult all flesh is grass and the glory of it is as the flower only the word of the Lord turned into grace the Law written in the heart that is immortal seed c. God looks chiefly to the excellency of a mans spirit Numb 14.24 but my servant Caleb had another spirit c. for God is a spirit and the Father of spirits and his eyes are wholly upon the spirits of men and he hates sin in the soul most and so the excellency of the soul he is most delighted with is the adorning that is within Psal 45.1 the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.4 which is in the sight of God of great price and all outward excellencies are but shaddows of this gold and silver pearls and perfumes c. to have an enlightned sanctified sublime spirit walking above the creatures and the Heart in Heaven where the Treasure is to be brought up to an holy independency towards all things below and a holy magnanimity and self-sufficiency this is a spirit with whom God delights to dwell 2 Cor. 6.16 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they were panes propositionis set before the face of God for ever Sixthly grace will preserve a man from all evil Prov. 2.11,12 discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of the evil man and to deliver thee from the strange woman there is in every age a Course of the world for Dan. 7.2 the world is a Sea and every man is as a drop emptyed thereinto and swims with the tide and the happiness of Gods people is to be redeemed from it Gal. 1.4 In the first three hundred years the world proved persecutors afterward they turned Hereticks then Popery rose and then all the world wondred after the Beast yet in this time there were some that did watch and keep their garments that did not drink of the wine of her fornication who though they came out of great tribulation yet had washed their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb we see Noah in the worst times and Lot in a Sodom of filthyness to keep their garments Seneca speaks of a certain place called Ephestion which he saith Ignis innocuus circuit that hurts not those that are within and yet keeps out all evil from them truly such a fire is grace wheresoever it is Use Let me exhort you to get wisdom get understanding for let me tell you there be dayes coming wherein a little grace will be more worth then all the gold in the world Mat. 25 a little of the wise Virgins oyl what would the foolish have given for it men think they can live without God and without grace here but when they come to dye when the channels of all the creatures shall be stopt and all things take their leave and God be all in all to them and then thou hast no interest in him then thou wilt wish as Cardinal Wolsey once said If I had served my God as faithfully as I have done the King he would not have left me c. then a man will say with Galeasius their money perish with them that do prefer all the gold in the world before one hours communion with Christ Oh that I could but bring you in love with grace this day the first step to grace is a high prizing of it Luke 17.5 Christ raiseth their esteem of it and thereby encreaseth it I will give a few rules of trial c. First try the heart in respect of thy darling lust thy right hand Psal 18.23 there is no man but hath some lust that is most beloved and indulged to Now is thy heart most set against that lust above all other sins Secondly grace enables a man to discern the spiritual presence or absence of God in Ordinances Ezek. 10. he saw the glory of the Lord to depart when the rest did not and the soul is drawn out to God in the use of Ordinances and he follows hard after God and he hath the spiritual skil to discern when God draws neer and when the Lord departs for his communion is not with the duty only but with God in it he engageth his heart to draw neer to God 2 King 10.13 whereas another man like Jehu is heedless in the service he performs doth not labour with all his heart to enjoy communion with God nor observes whether God be present or absent a constant heedlesness and regardlesness in the service of God is a certain sign of an hypocrite Thirdly if sin be cast in grace doth never
the poor they are all the work of his hands they shall be all judged alike and shall all stand up alike before the Judgement Seat of Christ distances amongst men may perswade the vain mind of man that there is something that makes them differ but with the Lord it is not so and it is a small thing as well as a vain to profess we know God when in works we deny him And the fruit of all this is that thou maist make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success the words have many efficacies prosperous that is to have all things go well with him and his undertaking to answer his design whereas many times it doth not but the contrary and the counsels of wise men are turned backwards and though they conceive one thing yet another is brought forth it is as the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man that goes well on in his way and it is the same word used Psal 1. Whatsoever he does shall prosper and the other word for good success it doth signifie to do wisely the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viam tuam diriges intelliges eam Jerom. Jerom. Res tanta est ex qua omnis ratio Magistratus bene gerendi pendebat inculcanda est Massius Massius in loc Doctrine The only way for a godly Magistrate to rule wisely and prosperously is in all his government to have respect unto the word and to keep close thereunto First this is the way to walk by an un-erring rule let me tell you the policies of men will deceive you for they do many times deceive themselves the wise are taken in their own craft and burnt as Bees in their own hives and the Devil doth commonly make use of the wisdom of the wise also cupit diabolus c. Satan hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any man can act the Devils lusts but all men cannot understand and reach his depths therefore the Devil will make use of wise men in the world this way but this is a rule in which a man shall never err never miscarry Prov. 19.16 he that keeps the Commandments keeps his soul and as many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them it is the way to peace only Secondly this is the only vvay to rule with God Hos 11.12 they rule for God ye Iudge not for men but for the Lord and it is a great happiness to have God rule with them there are tvvo great Judgements that in a special manner vve should fear the one is to have God to depart from our Magistrates and the other from our Ordinances 2 King 18.6,7 Hezekiah clave to the Lord and departed not from him but kept his Commandments so the Lord was with him and he prospered in all things he took in hand every Government doth stand upon a double Covenant First between God and the Magistrate Secondly between the Magistrate and the people 2 King 11.17 between the Lord and the King and the people that they should be the Lords people likewise between the King and the people So that a people coming under the authority of men and obeying them for conscience sake it is still with respect unto the authority of God that they will so be under government as they wil be the Lords people still therefore the care of Magistrates should be not only that they rule in a way of providence Dan. 4.17 but in a way of grace Magnus Caesar sed Deo minor and whilest the Magistrate rules according to the word of God and hath respect to it in his Government so long God rules in and with the Magistrate and therefore all that he doth undertake shall prosper Thirdly this is the only way to have the spirit to be their guide in Government he hath undertaken to his people to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Leader not only as Saints as he is to all the Saints in general but also in their particular places and callings and imployments Ioh. 16.13 he shall lead you into all truth it is not to be understood in omnem veritatem absolute but necessariam all that is necessary to your calling imployments and condition in which he hath set you and where shall a man hear the voice of the spirit speaking but in the word it is in the Sanctuary of the Lord there David found the rule he was shewed the way the way of the spirit is in the word it is the light that shines in a dark place unto which you do well to give heed Fourthly this is the way to come under the favourable aspect of many gracious promises of success and prosperitie in your undertakings and administrations 1 King 2.3 Keep the charge of the Lord thy God his Statutes his Commandments his Judgements his Testimonies that thou mayst prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thy self 2 Chron. 22.13 Only the Lord give thee wisdom that thou mayst keep the Law of the Lord thy God then shalt thou prosper c. 2 Chron. 24.20 Zachary was cloathed with the spirit and he had need be so that speaks to an apostatizing Magistracie and to a revolted and backsliding people and he said that they did transgress the Commandment of the Lord and therefore they could not prosper and Zach. 11.16 there is an Idol Shepherd or a foolish Shepherd it points unto the folly of the Government that was afterward to arise that is when they did forsake the Law of the Lord and what wisdom was there in them then Their Arm their power and authority with the people and their Eye their counsel shall be nothing but they shall err and cause the people to err in every work of their hands the Lord will mingle a perverse spirit upon them c. Use Then surely this is the way for you to prosper and this will be your wisdom in the sight of the Nations to keep close to the word and here I shall exhort you to keep close to the word First in the Doctrine of it Secondly in the worship it holds forth Thirdly in practice First for Doctrine Let the word be alwaies before you that you may receive it and give a testimony to it there is a form of Doctrine a pattern of wholsome words there is a personal foundation and there is a doctrinal foundation Heb. 6.1 Rev. 21.14 which the Saints ought to build upon all the superstructures let them be for clearing the truth and establishing not for subverting of the faith Sit profectus fidei non permutatio under persecution Satan acted another part Cogit homines negare Christum nunc docet Austin Austin Here are three things that I shall speak to First that the great interest Christ hath in the world is Truth First it is that by which Christ rules and conquers Psal 110.2 Rev. 6.2 Secondly it is that upon which the Church stands
do not enjoy the same light they do not see the days of the son of man Kings and righteous men have desired to see the days that you see and have not seen them and to hear the things that you hear yet have not heard them Plus uno die vident pueri quam per totius vitae tempora philosophi Gerhard in his Chronology speaks of Infoelix seculum exhaustum hominibus ingenio doctrina claris Gerhard there are dark times and there are times also when the light of the Moon is as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun sevenfold Esay 30.26 One age hath much and another age hath little Secondly They have not the same deliverances for three hundred years she travelled under cruel persecution under the power of the Red Dragon but at last the Church brought forth a man-childe who was exalted upon the throne of God as the fruit of all their travels all their prayers and as the price of all their blood principem à quo libertatem exemplum fidei mundus accepit Sulpic. There is a time when the Lord doth lift up the rod of the oppressour and there is a time when he doth break their yoke from off the neck there is a time when the enemies do plough upon the backs of the people and make long their furrows and there is a time also when God doth cut their harness and they are able to plough no longer there is a time when God gives his people to be troden down as 〈…〉 in the streets and there is a time when no stranger shall any more pass over it there shall be no more a grieving thorn or a pricking bryer there shall be none to hurt or destroy in my holy Mountain c. there is a time when God doth bend Judab for him and when he doth raise the worm Jacob to thresh the Mountains c and the Lord delivers the land out of the mouths of the Enemies c. Doctrine 3. Whether men have received little or much it is all in reference to an account there is a time when the King will take an account of his servants for he will come to reckon with them Mat. 18.23 There is not a talent that the Lord bestows but it is in reference to this account all mercies received must surely be counted for every one of us must give an account of himself unto God and there are not only personal but there are national accounts he that is Judge of all the world he is the Judge of all Nations Isa 5.3 Iudge I pray you between me and my vineyard he that refers unto men to judge he will be the Judge himself also and he will surely judge them with righteous judgement For First All their mercies are recorded by him they may forget them but he records them what is a great part of the Scriptures but the records of God Chronicles of his several mercies and deliverances that he hath bestowed upon his people in succeeding ages Micah 6.5 Remember from Shittim to Gilgal it was the place of their Transgression when they committed abominations with the daughters of Moab and sacrificed unto Baal Peor did eat the offering of the dead and Gilgal was the first place that they set their foot upon in the Land of Canaan when the Lord rolled away from them the reproach of Egypt from whence it had its name and in the very places the Lord wrote in their names the memorials of his mercies that the very names of the places might be a witness of his mercies to them in memoriam and in testimonium Jehovah jireth Gilgal Berachah c. as you record your victories by the names of Dunbar and the name of Worcester c. the 78. Psalm is nothing else but the Lords records in which he hath written the memorial of that continued Tract of mercies which he gave unto them and the Lord wrote the memory of their mercies in the months Exod. 12.2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months the Lord changed the beginning of their years in the remembrance of his mercy Ver. 14. This day shall be unto you for a memorial How should the third of September be for a memorial unto you c. though the Canon of the Scripture be consigned and the Lord will write this story by an infallible spirit no more to remain upon records amongst men yet they are all of them recorded before him as the Law is written in the hearts of the people of God not with paper and Ink but by the spirit of the living God so doth the Lord record his mercies which he doth multiply upon his people not with pen and Ink but by the spirit of the living God in the heart of God for ever as it s said of the sins of men Deut. 31.34 Is it not laid up in store with me and sealed up amongst my Treasures they are laid up amongst the treasures of God so God hath treasures of mercy also as well as of sins by him c. Secondly they are numbered by him as the Miracles of Christ in the daies of his flesh were numbered as it s said this was the first Miracle that he did and this was the second Miracle that Jesus did after he came out of Judea into Galilee So also the Miracles that Christ did work in glory are all numbered as the Lord numbers the several degrees of his enemies downfal in seven Seales seven Trumpets and seven Vials so he doth number also the several degrees of his peoples deliverances and 2 Numb 14.22 he doth number their sins answerable unto the number of his mercies they have seen my Miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and they have provoked and tempted me now these ten times it is true that the mercies God bestows on us are a multitude of mercies and it is as easie for us to number the stars as it is to count them all but though we cannot do it yet God can do it and he doth it who can tell the number of the stars and call them all by their names Psal 71.15 David saith that he would shew forth the salvations of God all the day long for I know not the number of them c. and we must consider God hath his set number of mercies for a people if they abuse them and walk unworthy of them he will not shew mercy for ever he will not draw forth his loving kindness from generation to generation Cessat descensus si in perpetuum ascensus cessat as Belishazers Kingdom was numbered the Lord wrote a memorial for him so he will write a memorial upon some mercies as the number of sins is finished as Antichrist hath his Numbers the number of the beast is the number of a man c. and mercies may have their number also even your mercies the Lord may say Now your prosperity is numbered your deliverances victories are numbered I will