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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42547	God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...	Gearing, William.; Gearing, William. No abiding city in a perishing world.	1667 (1667)	Wing G435A; ESTC R18630	101,655	265

GOD'S SOVERAIGNTY DISPLAYED From Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him c. OR A discourse shewing that God doth and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth as to the matter what the place where the time when the means and manner how and the reasons thereof With an Application of the whole to the distressed Citizens of London whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the FIRE An excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal the ends that God aims at in it with directions how to behave themselves under their losses By William Gearing Minister of the Word LONDON printed by R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst at the Golden Bible on London Bridge 1667. TO THE Right VVorshipfull Sr. John Pelham of Laughton Sr. John Fagge of Wiston in the County of Sussex Baronets TO Herbert Morley of Glyne in the same County to John Gell of Hopton in the County of Darby and to Gervaise Pigot of Thrumpton in the County of Nottingham Esquires FRom that dreadful fire that consumed a great part of the City of London about the beginning of September last I may take occasion to shew that the greatest chances alterations and most notable changes have commonly hapned in the month of September Bodinus hath collected many remarkable instances to this purpose Great earth-quakes wherewith oftentimes great Cities and whole Countries have been destroyed have happened in the month of September Such was that Earth-quake at Constantinople wherein thirteen thousand men were lost in the year 1509 in the month of September In the same month of September wherein the battel was fought at Actium ten thousand men perished in the Land of Palestine with an Earthquake The Victory of Augustus also against Antonius in the battel of Actium was by him obtained on the second of September by which victory the Empire both of the East and West fell into the power of Augustus himself alone The third day of the same month the Macedonian Empire which had so long flourished was by Paulus Aemilius changed from a great Kingdom into divers popular Estates the King Persius being by him overcome and taken prisoner Sultan Soliman on the like day took Buda the chief City of Hungaria with the greatest part of that Kingdome The same day and month Rhoderick King of Spain was by the Moors overcome and driven out of his Kingdom which wrought a strange alteration in the state of that Monarchy On the same day of the month revolving Lewis the twelfth the French King took the City of Milan with Lewis Sphortia Duke thereof whom he deprived of his Estate On the like day the Emperour Charles the fifth passed over into Affrica and invaded the Kingdome of Algiers On the same third day of September in the year 1658. dyed O. Cromwel on that very day of the month wherein hee had gotten two notable Victories the one at Dunbar in Scotland 1650. the other at Worcester Anno 1651. On the fourth day of September dyed Sultan Solyman before Sigeth which being one of the strongest holds of Christendome was by the Turks taken the seventh day after the City of Jerusalem was taken about this time of the month of September by the Romans as Xiphilinus declareth On the ninth day of September Alexander the Great at Arbela overthrew Darius King of Persia with his Army of four hundred thousand men and so joyned the Kingdome of Persia unto his own On the same day in the year 1544. James King of Scots was by the Englishmen slain and his Army overthrown On the tenth of September John Duke of Burgundy was slain by the commandment of Charles the seventh whence arose great Wars throughout all France On the like day and month was Peter Louys the Tyrant of Placenzza slain by the Conspiratours On the eleventh of September the Paleology the Greek Emperors tooke the Imperial City of Constantinople and drave out thence the Earls of Flanders who had there possessed the Empire 560 years On the fourteenth day of September the Switzers were with a great slaughter overthrown by the French in the Expedition of Merignan which self-same day also the Turk's great Army besieged Vienna the Metropolitical City of Austria On the seventeenth day the French Army was overthrown at Poictiers and King John himself taken Prisoner by the English On the same day of the month A. D. 1575 the Christian Fleet with a great slaughter overthrew the Turk's great Fleet in the battel of Lepanto On the same day of the same month Charles the ninth King of France was by his Subjects assailed near unto Meaux where by speedy flight and the help of the Switzers hee hardly with life escaped the hands of the Conspiratours A. D. 1567. On the which self-same day month and year Henry King of Sweden was by his rebellious Subjects dispoiled of his Estate and cast into Prison On the eighteenth day of September Bulloign was surrendred to the English Vpon the like day of the month Bajazet at Nicopolis overthrew a great Army of the Christians of three hundred thousand men And on the same day Saladine took the City of Jerusalem on which Pompey had before taken it On the twentieth day of September was that sharpe sight at Newbury in that late unhappy War in England A. D. 1643. On the four and twentieth day of September Constantine the great in a bloody battel overcame Maxentius the Emperour A. D. 333. and so became a great Monarch which wrought a notable change almost throughout the whole World from thenceforth he commanded the year to bee begun in September and to the Greek Feasts unto that day is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this month Pope Boniface 8th A. D. 1303. was taken Prisoner and deprived of his Papal dignity On the third day of the same month A. D. 1556. such a Tempest of rain and Thunder hapned at Lucern as that a greater as was reported was never seen On which self-same month day the Town-Hall of Maidenburg in Germany with the Citizens dancing therein were altogether with lightning consumed About the beginning of this month A. D. 465. such an horrible fire brake forth in Constantinople by the water-side which raged with that fury for four daies together that it consumed the greatest part of the City and such was the force thereof that as Evagrius saith the strongest Houses were but like so much dried stubble before it And how hath the Lord sent a dreadful Fire upon London and it hath consumed the lofty buildings and Palaces thereof in September last We read also that many of the greatest Princes and Monarchs of the world to have dyed in this very month of September Viz. Augustus Tiberius Vespasian Titus Domitian Aurelianus Theodosius the great Valentinian Gratian Basilius Constantine the fifth Leo the 4th Rodolph Frederick the 4th Charles the 5th all Roman or Greek Emperors And of the French Kings Pepin Lewis the younger Philip the 3d.

creatures that like Narcissus dote upon their faces did think how soon and how many wayes God could blast and take away their beauty they would not spend so many precious hours at the glass in trimming this outward sheath which might have been much better spent about the adorning of the precious soul SECT V. He takes away wealth and riches from men It is the Lord that giveth wealth and it is in his power also to take it away Seneca said That Fortune is a glass which oftentimes is the sooner broken the more that it shineth And the Psalmist saith I have seen the wicked spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed-away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Psa 37.35 36. As Job acknowledgeth that God had given so likewise that God had taken One might have said to him O Job thou seemest to be mistaken for this large Patrimony thou hast now lost thou hadst from thy Parents thou gottest it together by thy own proper industry these flocks and droves of cattle thou hast obtained by thy own wit But Job saith I am not mistaken for neither my Parents nor my own labour nor yet my own ingenuity but the Lord gave me all these things all which therefore by right and equity he hath taken away because he gave them But it may be objected did God take them away Is it not injurious to God to say so For the Chaldeans and Sabeans drove away all his cattle or if you will behold the original of all this mischief Satan bereaved him of all for he procured the fire he raised the winds he instigated those Robbers and Free-booters he threw down the house and in very deed he did all these things and therefore Satan took all away but Job holdeth his former sentence and repeateth it the Lord hath taken away even the same Lord who gave me these blessings he hath taken away not the Sabeans not the Chaldeans not Satan but the Lord hath taken away and that rightly too for he gave them all unto me for except the Lord had given this license to Satan neither he nor any other of his Instruments could so much as have stoln a Fleece nor a lock of wooll from me The Son of Syrach saith that good and evil life and death poverty and riches are from the Lord and saith he further In the day of good remember the day of evil when thou hast enough remember the time of hunger and when thou art rich think upon poverty and need From morning until the evening the time is changed and all such things are soon done before the Lord Art thou a Lord and of great power thou mayst be brought to serve Art thou rich and wealthy thou mayst be brought to beggery and penury Dost thou now swim in wealth and is thy substance encreased One hour yea a few moments may deprive thee of all thy goods and when thy wealth shall take its uncontrolled wings and fly away from thee then thou shalt be driven to say I knew what was but for my use was not my own the Lord gave it and he also took it away SECT VI. The Lord taketh away honours from men He powreth contempt upon Princes saith the Psalmist Psa 107.40 Man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish Sim lis pecoribus morticinis like beasts that die of the Murrain saith Tremelluns and so become useless and fit for nothing This seemeth not unaptly to be figured in Dan. 2. where King Nebuchadnezzar saw an Image whose head was of gold whose arms and breasts were of silver the belly of brass the feet of iron and clay And there was a stone cut out of the Mountains without hands which struck the Image on the feet and brake it in pieces and brought it into dust Figuratively by this high Image you may understand the High and Mighty Man of the World whose golden Head doth signifie the Nobility of his blood the height of his birth and his high honour and advancement in the world his breast and arms of silver signifieth the quantity of his money in the getting whereof the rich man useth his heart hand and arms the belly of Brass denoteth his fame or report sounding abroad for brass doth lend a great noise or sound by the legs of Iron his strength and power is figured and by the feet of Clay or Earth is noted his mortality The stone which is cut out of the Mountain without hands may denote the death of man which the hand of the Lord hath not made saith the Author to the Book of Wisdome neither doth he delight in the destruction of any but our first Parents came thereunto by their own demerits wherefore this stone strikeing the feet of the Image doth suddenly and unexpectedly bring the High and Mighty into dust as well as others neither is there any one that can resist his fury and such so great and so uncertain is his violence in the manner in the place and in the time that mans honour force or policy cannot any way suffice to provide defence against him Of Gods taking away honour from men we have a notable instance in proud Haman who grew insolent by the Kings favour cruel stately and lofty in his gate as if he would have reached the very stars All the Kings servants bowed their knees to Haman and worshipped him for so the King had commanded Now Haman was as a Cock upon his own dunghill and would also be worshipped of Mordecai as well as others this Mordecai could not brook some think he could not do it because Haman had the form of some Idol-gods wrought on his garments in Needle-work others think this worship did contain something of Divine Worship in it a worship not to be given to man therefore Mordecai refused to perform it lest he should have given Gods honour to a man Now behold on a sudden a wonderful alteration while Haman was next to the King and bragged of his Honours and Riches his Noble Family his Children his benevolent fortune the Kings favour and the like while he had the Command of an hundred twenty and seven Provinces he is adjudged by the King to the Gallows while Mordecai that was condemned to the Halter was all of a sudden cloathed with the Kings Robes set upon the Kings Horse adorned with the Kings Crown upon his head led through all the chief places of the City Haman being as it were his Lacquey to attend him crying So shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour See what a change is here Mordecai but even now appointed to the Gallows is now next to the Throne and Haman who was so highly advanced is now hanged upon the Gibbet he had provided for Mordecai SECT VII He takes away liberty At Rome M. Cato the pattern of a wise and prudent man a lively Embleme of Virtue was haled

ad paenam trahitur for every one that is worse than others is not therefore drawn first to punishment Sed cum paucos ex multis puniendos Deus eligit in eorum personâ relinquis denunciat se fore ultorem ut omnes turreantur But when God singleth a few out of many to be punished he threateneth that he will be an avenger to the rest that all may be terrified For your part O thou distressed City of London say thou therefore with the Prophet Rejoyce not over me O Enemy for thought I have fallen I shall rise again though I now sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me I will patiently bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Mich. 7.8 9. and if any insult too much or censure too hard of your calamity and glory in their own prosperity let Christ give them their answer unless they repent they shall all likewise perish SECT V. God in taking away outward comforts from us doth thereby teach us to know how to want as well as to abound I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Phil. 4.12 Although some of these outward things are in some degree necessary for this present life yet our heavenly Father knoweth how far forth they are necessary and how much is necessary for us or else gives us content in himself immediately without them yet these things are not so needful as they are commonly supposed to be it is wonderful to consider what sweet joy and content many a Childe of God hath had when they have been stript of these things and the reason is because when the people of God do want these things they do more fully apply themselves to God when a Christian is stript of these and hath none of these things to rest upon then the affections of the soul are like water running one way in one Channel whatsoever S. Pauls outward condition was he could find enough in Christ to be content in particular he knew how to be abased sweetly satisfying himself in this that he was an adopted Son of God and he knew how to be hungry because he had bread and meat to feed on that the world knew not of and could feast himself with marrow and fatness at that time when carnal eyes thought him ready to perish for hunger he knew also how to suffer want contenting himself with that abundance that is found in Christ Many evil men have been forced to suffer need but were never instructed to it as Paul was they never learnt to relieve themselves in their wants out of the fulness of Christ as the Saints do who be their wants never so great do find enough in Christ to satisfie them all Again the Lord doth immediately fill and satisfie the soul with himself when it lies under many outward wants and replenisheth them with abundance of joy when they are under many occasions of sadness and sorrow So saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 6. 10. As sorrowful yet alwayes rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things He was filled with the joy of the Holy Ghost at the same time when he had many outward occasions of sorrow as poor in respect of worldly enjoyments yet being able to enrich others in God as having nothing nothing of the world yet possessing all things in God Thus doth the Lord glorifie the All-sufficiency of his grace in giving in himself plentifully to his poor people when they are under many outward straits and wants Moreover there are many things which we fondly perswade our selves we can in no wise want while we possess them but when they are taken from us God teacheth us how to live without them One that was formerly rich and fared delicately having by the providence of God lost all being brought to a hard pinch is glad of a mess of pottage to his dinner and to go to bed supperless he is then taught to be content with his mean estate and to say I had not thought I could have lived so sparingly Drexelius tells us of a prodigal Knight who having buried all his substance in Banquets and Belly-cheer and for want of an Horse being forced to go on foot in this ebbe praised God and said I thank God who hath set me on my own legs again I had not thought before this that I was so good a footman So God dealeth with many men he reduceth them to a mediocrity and temperance by a wholsome penurious indigence Many while they abound in all outward comforts are apt to say one thus I must have so many dishes at my table I cannot not keep house without such an annual income I cannot endure hunger or scarcity Another saith I cannot want sleep nor endure watching I must have such conveniencies and accommodations but now when God takes away these outward comforts from us takes away our dainty dishes our associates our sleep and turneth our Wine into water and turneth us out of house and home then God instructeth us how to want how to suffer need how to fast and watch and live under decks or lie upon the ground or in a prison or to live in banishment and then we need not care where or in what condition we be if the Lord be with us CHAP. V. NOw let us prove the point de jure as well as de facto that the Lord may take from us what he pleaseth I. He may do it without crossing his Justice The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Psa 145.17 Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne Psa 97.2 Or as it may be translated are the foundation of his Throne his Seat of Judgement is composed of and founded in righteousness whatsoever he takes away from us he acteth by Rule his Throne is upon Judgement and Righteousness God is infinitely righteous it is impossible for God to do iniquity how unjust soever his wayes seem to us to be yet they are most just he is the Supreme Lord of all his creatures and may do with them what he pleaseth as the Potter with the clay all acts that God doth are acts of his will and whatsoever he willeth is exceeding just This is a received Axiome among Divines Voluntas Dei est summa perfectissima infallibilis Regula divinae justitiae Deus sibi ipsi lex est The Will of God is the chiefest the most perfect and infallible Rule of Divine Justice and God is a Law to himself no losses no crosses that befall us but do proceed from him who is most just and righteous therefore we must not murmure at God when he takes our goods or houses from us as if he dealt unrighteously with us but if we ponder with

no dangers nor enemies for I am thy shield fear no wants nor losses for I my self am thy reward Are any dangers so great any enemies so strong that I cannot shield thee against them who am ready to cover thee with my wings and defend thee against all the wicked of the world and against all the legions of hell canst thou be undone by any losses or be sunk by any wants when I my self am thy exceeding great reward Hast thou the possessor of heaven and earth in thy possession and hast thou cause to fear any wants if the earth cannot supply thee heaven shall if neither heaven nor earth can yet I will who am the Lord of heaven and earth I my self am thy exceeding great reward So Gen. 17 7 8. I wil establish my covenant between me thee thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God to thee and unto thy seed after thee He doth not say only to be a helper to thee or a friend to thee but to be a God to thee I will give myself to thee as I am essentially God so I will be a God to thee thou shalt have me for thy own those that are in Covenant with God they are in possession of an infinite good and they have him in everlasting possession CHAP. VI. Vse 1 THis may serve to discover to us the extreme folly of those whose chiefest care and greatest labour is about the getting worldly goods that may soon be taken from them their shops their trading their wares their plate their jewels their money their corn and wine and oyl their houses lands and possessions their wealth and substance are in their thoughts and God is seldome or not at all in all their thoughts heaven is not in their desires and grace which is the riches of heaven is nothing lookt after these things are the least of their thoughts and endeavours when they are to leave the world then is their time to think of God and to take care for grace and for their immortal souls when they are dying then is their time to study how they may become godly while they are strong and healthy and fit for labour their main care and labour is for the meat that perisheth and to try who can outstrip one another in worldly riches although God can soon clap a pair of wings to them and make them to flee away from them These things are the summum bonum the chiefest good the very God of the world the Paradise the All in All of this world the great Diana that all the world magnifies they think it better to be out of the world than to have no riches esteeming them the only miserable men that are poor and needy Jeroboams golden Calves are still the worldlings God the world is of Jeroboams Religion to this day no lusts are more unsatiable than worldly lusts they are green and vigorous even in old age the love of the world is a sin that never waxeth old when men should think most on the world to come yet then are old earth-worms too mindful of this present evil world O what unspeakable folly is this so eagerly to thirst after and pursue such perishing vanities which may soon be taken from us and which only serve us while we are in this world for if once our soul be taken from us then whose shall all these things be while the rich Glutton lived in the world he fared deliciously every day and wore Purple and fine linnen every day but when he died he left all these things behind him Death turned him out of the comforts and possession of these things He that drank Wine in Bowls is now drinking of the Cup of Gods wrath in hell he that had all things to the full doth now want a drop of water to cool his flaming tongue he that was cloathed with Purple and fine linnen every day is now bound with chains of darkness and cloathed with woe curses and unspeakable wrath he that maintained Hawks and Hounds for his delight and pleasure is now howling and roaring with cursed Fiends and damned Hell-hounds Thus he that had the worlds goods only while he was in the world he hath nothing in hell to enjoy but Gods wrath that is his everlasting portion So again rich Abraham and Job that had this worlds goods have now no need of them in heaven there is no need of the Sun by day nor of the Moon by night for the Lord God is the light thereof What a folly is it in men therefore to labour so eagerly after this worlds goods and to set their minds upon them and to neglect the good of their immortal souls to love riches more than grace and love dross and dung more than Christ when as Christ and Grace will bee their comfort in this world at death and in the world to come when this worlds goods shall be taken from them though your houses and goods be burnt and consumed to ashes yet Grace is a good that fire will not burn nor water drown Justly did our Saviour call the rich man in the Gospel fool and in him all such fools that had more care for this world than for heaven Who ever seeks the world for their bed shall at best find it but short and ill made and a stone and thorns under their sides to keep them waking rather than a soft Pillow to sleep upon O that it were written upon the bags upon the doors upon the chests tables counting-houses of worldlings which holy Job said Naked came I forth of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return I must appear before God not in the worlds goods but in the sins which I have done in this world It pitieth me many times to see the industrious Bees to take such great pains all the Summer to get a little honey for the winter they go abroad daily from flower to flower to suck honey and carry it to their Hives and are burnt in their Hives perhaps before winter cometh and others take the honey Thus worldlings toil and spend their lives and strength for the goods of this world and think in their old age to take their ease and give up themselves to a devout solitude but before that it may be God takes away their goods by fire or water or suffereth thieves and robbers to break in upon them and take away all their wealth and riches from them or it may be death cometh and exerciseth dominion over them and turneth them into hell and there they burn and others enjoy their goods upon earth Will ye then spend most of your care thoughts strength and time for the things of this world and have no care and thoughts for grace and heaven Will ye like Martha cumber your selves about many things that may quickly be taken from you and neglect the one thing necessary that shall never be taken away from you if once you have

did deny my Lord and Master Such a mourner was Mary Magdalen who washed the feet of Christ with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head so David made his bed to swim and watered his couch with tears Psal 6.6 Again such as mourn for sin not only because it doth terrifie the conscience but because it doth pollute and defile the soul who mourn for sin not only because it is a soul-damning evil but because it is a God-dishonouring evil these are true mourners Thus David mourned Against thee against thee have I offended Psal 51.4 This was that which troubled his spirit that he should off●nd a gracious God a loving Father and dishonour his holy Majesty and violate the holy Law of God Moreover such as mourn for sin and repent for sin that bewail and forsake sin these men are sorry after a godly manner 2 Cor. 7.10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of These holy tears are very acceptable unto God when our sins are put into the morter of our hearts and there pounded with the pestel of compunction and so brought into dust and moistened with the waters of our tears then is there made thereof a sweet smelling Oyntment and sacrifice unto God as one well noteth The Angels in heaven do rejoyce over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15. They much rejoyce to follow such a sinner carrying the tears of godly compunction in his eyes and of godly sorrow in his heart Which is not unaptly figured Luk. 22. where the Disciples of Christ went after the man which carried the vessel of water and in that house prepared the Passeover of the Lord so in a spiritual sense the man carrying this vessel of water is the penitent sinner whose heart and eyes are full of tears of godly sorrow whom the Angels following do enter the house of his soul and there do prepare an holy banquet for the Lord for which cause St. Bernard saith The tears of holy penitents are the sweet wine of Angels because in them is the savour of life the taste of Christ the smack of pardon the health of the returned the joy of reconciliation and the sweetness of conscience Bonaventure saith this is one reason why God made Paradise that our first Parents might hate and detest sin the more hainously and eagerly which had cast them out of so pleasant an habitation God would therefore that Adam should feel what hee had lost by his sin that he might seek to regain another Paradise by repentance that he who had lost paradise on earth should more earnestly seek after that heavenly Jerusalem so my Brethren you that have been lately driven out of your houses by that lamentable Conflagration God thereby sheweth you that he would have you to hate and detest sin the more vehemently which hath cast you out of your pleasant habitations God would have you to feel what you have lost by your sins that ye may seek to regain better Mansions by repentance that you who have lost your houses on earth may more earnestly seek after a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens CHAP. IX SECT I. LOok to the ends that God aims at in taking away this or that from you his ends in it are diverse 1. One end is to teach you that there is nothing in any man nor of any man that you can safely trust unto Man hath nothing in him that he may rely upon his best abilities will fail him in time of his greatest need 1. For bodily strength take the example of Sampson Judg. 16.20 21. when he had dealt treacherously with God in discovering to an Harlot the strength he had received as a Nazarite he awaked out of sleep and said I will go out as at other times but the text saith he wist not that God was departed from him then the Philistines took him and bound him and put out his eyes and made him to grinde in a Mill his strength now failed him when he had need to make use of it now he found he had no strength of his own to trust to and was left wholly to the will of his enemies if the Lord leave a man to himself his strength will soon fail him whatsoever his strength and abilities bee So it is in multitudes of men and combinations of men who more vigorous than David and his men of war yet when he would have the people numbred to see the number and multitudes of his people the Lord in three daies space cut off seventy thousand men by the Pestilence to shew him the vanity of trusting in numbers of men There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength an horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength Psal 33 16 17. 2. The abilities of the soul whether natural or moral abilities are not to be trusted to Eccles 9.11 thus saith Solomon I returned and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong nor bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance hapeneth to them all 1. Time Notwithstanding all their skill and cunning unless God go along with them they cannot bring their enterprizes to pass be they never so wise and skilful unless God go along with rhem they cannot take the fittest time to accomplish their ends and desires And on the other side Time happeneth to them that is such a time happeneth to them that casteth them into such straits and exigences that all their wit and skill and understanding cannot help them Some think they have so much wit and so much forecast so much understanding skill and foresight as that they can shift and provide for themselves in the worst of times as it is said of Cato hee was suae fortunae Faber let him live in any time or Common-wealth he would make shift for one but Solomon here tells us that favour shall not be to men of skill notwithstanding all their wit and understanding they shal not be able to get the favour of those they do desire and notwithstanding all their understanding though they think they shall lay up wealth and riches to sustain them in a time of trouble yet riches shall not be to men of understanding neither shall they have bread to eat in a time of Famine thus Time happeneth to them all 2. Chance also hapneth to them no chance hapeneth to God for he ordereth all things by his providence no contingency hapneth to him but many chances and occurrences happen to men beside their expectation many things happen to them above and below their expectation contrary to their own wills to their own waies and means to their own ends to their own thoughts projects and designs Achitophel relied much

a Position and an Opposition or a Position and a Conclusion 1. The Position is Here we have no continuing City 2. The Opposition or Conclusion is But or therefore we seek one to come for the present we have no abiding City but there is an abiding City to come which we seek This earthly Jerusalem is no abiding City for you Hebrews this world is no abiding City for you Christians But Jerusalem that is above the heavenly City the City of the King of Kings that is an abiding City that let us diligently seek after This world is to believers as the Wilderness was to the Israelites they were Pilgrims in it So are believers in the world strangers and Pilgrims they abode not long in the Wilderness but passed through it to Canaan there they made their abode so this world is not a place for believers to abide in but must pass thorow it to an heavenly Canaan that is an abiding Country an abiding City and there all believers shall abide to eternity The general point of instruction to be drawn from hence is That the consideration that there is no abiding place in this world should forcibly move us to seek out for heaven This was that which moved Abraham Isaac and Jacob those renowned Candidates of Eternity to be as Pilgrims in the world wandring from place to place now sojourning here then sojourning there but abode no where and wheresoever they went they dwelt not in Palaces or Fortresses strongly built but in Tabernacles which they could pitch down and take up and carry them whether they pleased and so they used to do to mind them that there was no abiding for them here but they must look after a City wherein they should abide for ever Heb. 11.9 10 14 16. By faith Abraham sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise for he looked for a City which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God They confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country But now they desire a better Country than that from whence they came out that is an heavenly Here ye have a full proof of the point the Holy Ghost calling believers sojourners pilgrims strangers what is it but to convince them that there is no abiding for them in this world this world is not their Country their City their home their habitation here they are not to place their hopes to set their affections to seek a lasting happiness but heaven is their City their Country their home their habitation there all our hopes should be placed thither should all our desires aspire there we are to seek everlasting happiness there we shall be sure to find it and to abide in the possession of it to eternity CHAP. III. FOr the better prosecution of this point I shall draw from it two Propositions and make use of them Prop. 1. That here is no abiding City I need not seek proof for this for there is none of us but his experience evidenceth it 1. Take City here for our houses we dwell in they are no abiding places for us death turneth every man out of his own doors and carrieth him from his house to the grave it turneth Princes out of their stately Palaces and great men out of their strong-built houses and Castles and poor men out of their Cottages The poor mans Cottage the rich mans House and the Princes Palace are of no continuance how many stately Houses Edifices and Castles have we seen in our daies to be made ruinous heaps and consumed to ashes your continual repairing them sheweth them to be of no long continuance 2. Take City for the Towns and Cities wherein we inhabit with others they are no continuing places for us to abide in for ever See we not how one Generation passeth and another cometh and the Generation that is coming is going and though the Stages stand a while when the Actors are gone off yet at length the Stages are taken down What is now become of Jerusalem of Athens of Corinth and of those famous Cities of Asia How many famous Towns and Cities are become ruinous heaps Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit Behold there now is good Corn-land Where once the City Troy did stand The like may be said of many Towns and Cities in the world Cato the Censor boasted that he had taken more Towns and Cities in Spain than he had been daies in it Plutarch saith he took four hundred Sempronius Gracchus destroyed in Spain three hundred more as Polybius relateth Pliny saith that Coneys destroyed a great City in Spain and that Moles destroyed another in Macedonia Many have been destroyed by fire many by inundations of water and others have been swallowed up by earthquakes here we have no abiding City We read Gen. 19.24 That the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those Cities and all the Plain and all the inhabitants of those Cities and that which grew upon the ground Josephus saith that five Cities perished and we read of five Cities of that Region named Gen. 14.2 viz. Sodom Gomorrha Admah Sebojim and Bela which is Zoar. Moses besides the two principal Cities mentioneth the place of their scituation but Admah and Sebojim were destroyed by fire as well as Sodom and Gomorrah Deut. 29.23 these the Lord overthrew in his anger and fury As for Zoar Theodoret Lyra and others think it was preserved upon the request of Lot but that after Lot went out of it it was utterly over hrown But this cannot be made evident from Scripture that this fifth City was either overthrown together with the rest or a little afterward but the contrary rather appeareth from the speech of the Lord to Lot Gen. 19.21 He said unto him see I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken And mention is made of it Isa 15.5 where it is said that the Moabites being overcome by the Assyrian should flye unto Zoar Babylon and Nineveh those great Cities are long since utterly laid waste 3. Take City for the Countries wherein we live they shall not abide neither shall any man continue in them for ever Fruitful Canaan is now become a barren wilderness how hath the Country cast out all her Inhabitants Kingdomes Countries Nations Common-wealths have their deaths and burials as well as the Inhabitants of them 4. Take City for the world it self and this is no continuing place Though it hath continued a most six thousand years yet 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the works

earth because our heart and thoughts are here and how unwilling are we to go out of it albeit we are in danger of being suffocated with the smoak of it It is a great folly so eagerly to love fading and unstable things Gregory speaks well to this purpose We never forego any thing willingly but what we possess inaffectionately and speaking of Job he saith He parted with all with a willing mind which he possessed without inordinate delight You now see the best of this world to be but a Moth-eaten thred-bare Coat resolve now to lay it aside being old and full of holes and look after that house above not made with hands eternal in the heavens Set not your heart upon the world since God hath not made it your portion and your inheritance What misery of miseries is it for the immortal soul of man to be enslaved to the world which is but an heap of fuel kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men especially now in this age of the world when it is ready for the fire but in that day when the perdition of the ungodly shall be then shall the world be destroyed the world and all its fond lovers shall perish together in one day How shall this make for the glory of Gods Justice who shall bring destruction upon them that love the world above himself on that day wherein the world it self shall be destroyed Let us therefore endeavour daily to curb and restrain this exorbitancy of affection as King Tarquinius walking in his garden whipped off the tops and heads of the tallest flowers with his staff so must we cut off these rising affections as soon as they begin to peep forth and put up head in our hearts this world which God will not have to be yours O Christians is but the dross and scum of Gods Creation the portion of the Lords poor hired servants the moveables not the heritage of the Sons of Zion It is but an Offal or hard bone cast to the dogs that are thrust out from the new Jerusalem upon which they rather break their teeth than satisfie their appetite Keep your love and your hope in heaven it is not good your Love and your Lord should be in two sundry Countryes as one excellently speaketh he is semper idem alwayes the same yesterday to day and for ever Keep at a distance from the walls of this Pest-house even the pollutions of this defiling and fading world SECT IV. Do not muse too much upon these transitory things do not let your thoughts dwell too much upon them do not mind the things that are beneath do not think often nor think seriously of them so as to say It is good for us to be here let us here build Tabernacles as they are transitory in their own nature so they must be lookt upon in transitu As a Traveller in a Journey may see many fine Towns and stately Edifices with his eye but he mindeth his way he will not stay his horse to take a view of them So he that hath heaven in his thoughts and will seek after a City that is to come must not suffer these fading things to stay him in his course heaven-ward It is the vanity of our spirits that enclineth us to muse upon these transitory things and on the other side the more we dwell upon them in our thoughts the more light and vain our spirits are the more you muse upon them the more you will be ensnared by them What is a soul the poorer to want the lusts and perishing vanities of this present evil world Certainly we have no cause to weep at the want of such toyes as these we have nothing to do in this prison except to take meat drink and house-room in it for a time only this world is not yours let not your heaven be made of such poor mettal as mire and clay Oh where are those heavenly-minded souls that have nothing but their bodies of earth walking up down upon the Superficies of it whose souls and the powers of them are up in heaven Oh mens souls have no wings and therefore they keep their Nest and fly not to that upper Region Could we be deaf and dead to this worlds charms we might deride at the folly of those who are wooing this world for their match and scorn to Court such a withered Princess or buy this worlds kindness with a bow of our knees Alas it is little the world can take from us and it is not much that it can give us but the worst of Christ is better than the worlds best things his Chaff is better than the worlds Corn. Oh let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessedness that abideth you in the other world and upon that continuing City that is to come SECT V. Labour not much for these transitory things Labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 Our Saviour therein teacheth us to look upon all things here below whatsoever but as meat that goes into the belly and is cast out of the draught to the dunghill and exhorts us to labour after that meat that shall endure to eternal life Do not then toil and moil for such uncertainties all earthly things are very mutable they are like a Land-flood which faileth in a time of drought when we have most need of water S. Peter tells us The end of all things is at hand It is true in a two-fold sense 1. In a relative sense in relation to every particular person and his interest in them in relation to thee and me and every one of us when our end cometh then the end of all things is come unto us when thy life endeth then the world and all the things of the world do end to thee it is as much to thee as if all the world were at an end 2. It is true in an absolute sense 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up So that all these visible things are temporal and shall have an end Now these visible things are of two sorts either first The substances or subjects Or secondly The accidents though in a proper sense the accidents are visible and the substances cannot be discerned but by their accidents You see not the substance of the world but the colour the form and figure of it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even this also is temporal and the fashion of it passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 All visible things though never so pleasing to us as health wealth honours pleasures riches beauty strength all the outward and natural perfections that are in any creatures are not abiding they are temporal only though never so pleasant to us On the other side all