and fills there mouths not only with windy words but weighty arguments Hast thou nothing then to complain off before thy Maker No Sin no Devil no Diabolical Temptations no stronge unmortified corruptions no Spiritual Plunderers no Egyptian Task-masters no Cruel Bondage that maketh thy life bitter to thee no Enemy coming in as a flood to oppress and do the wrong No Iron-yoke that galls thy shoulders no violence and spoil to cry out and complain of Sure thou hast not studied thine own case thou hast not ordered thy cause aright if this fountain fail thee Object But all Complaints are troublesome men cannot endure them I Answer God will Out of the abundance of my complaint and greif have I spoken hitherto says Hanna 1 Sam. 1.16 and you know how she sped 4ly A Mans House is the place of his Recreation Delectation or delight Where do men recreate and delight themselves so much I speak as to ordinary and daily recreations and delights as in their own Habitations and Dwellings Where are those intercourses of delights between Man Wife but in their Domestick habitation where are those reciprocal actions of Conjugal affections demonstrated so much as at home in their own houses they eat and drink together they commune and converse together they sleep and solace themselves together they joy and rejoyce together yea where true conjugal love is they would not onely live but they would dye together Even so it is with the Soul that makes God his habitation O the intercourse of delights that is betwixt God Christ his Spirit and the gracious beleiving soul What else doth the Book of the Canticles or Song of Solomon hold forth What does it contain as the cheif matter thereof but a most excellent Marriage Song by way of Dialogue between Christ and his Church Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as his Spouse or Bride under the Type or Figure of Solomon and his Spouse or Bride In which Song in flourishing Allegorical and Rhetorical words the true hearty love and the most excellent benefits and favours of the Lord Jesus Christ the Bridegrome unto the Christian Church his Spouse or Bride And on the other side the earnest and hearty longings of the Spouse his Church after her beloved Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ is singularly demonstrated and held forth In it the Bridegroom and his Bride do highly extol and praise each other The Bride to set forth his excellent dignity his riches and glory with all those sweet things that flow unto her from him she doth bring in all the stateliest the richest the goodliest and the sweetest things under heaven The like doth He in praising her beauty and her delectable sweetness From hence doth spring the great delight and pleasure which the one taketh in the other where they do as it were unfold the vehement passions of their Love with that fervent desire which she hath to be most nearly joyned unto him and to dwell with him for ever Also there do many goodly tokens pass between them For he bestoweth upon her very rich jewels and heavenly ornaments to deck and to beautifie her withal and she again rendreth unto him the sweet fruits of her love Let him kiss me saith the Spouse with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is bteter then wine Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the virgins love thee Draw me we will run after thee the King hatb brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more then wine the upright love thee Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest Then in the 8th vers Christ highly commends her beauty terming her the fairest among women and under several comparisons he doth highly praise and extol her Chap. 1. So Chap. 4. even the whole thereof save a verse or two is the speech of the Bridegroom consisting in praises and commendations of the Bride in declaration of his love towards her Behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair thou hast Doves eyes within thy locks vers 1. Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee vers 7. Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck vers 9. How fair is thy love my sister my spouse how much better is thy love then wine and the smell of thine ointments then all spices Thy lips O my spouse drop as the hony-comb hony and milk are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon vers 10 11. So Chap. 6 7. How does the Lord Jesus give forth very great and singular commendations of his spouse testifying his great love and hearty affection towards her Thou art beautiful O my Love as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem c. My Dove my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her Mother she is the choise one off her that bare her c. How beautiful are thy feet with shoes O Princes daughter the joynts of thy thighs are like jewels and so goes on in a description of the Churches graces And in Chap. 7.6 How fair and how pleasant art thou O Love for delights And having praised the beauty and comeliness of his Spouse by several parts he breaks forth into an admiration and great wonderment of her beauty in the whole or in all laid together They be rare things that Princes upon earth do wonder at most rare which the Kings of Kings hath in admiration I instance this to let you see the mutual solace and delight that is betwixt Christ and the gratious soul And surely if thou hast tasted that the Lord is gratious thou canst not but take sweet delight contentation and delectation in him Cant. 2.3 I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste The shadow of a tree as all men know is very comfortable and doth refresh those that are parched with the scorching heat of the Sun When the Church is under hot persecutions and fiery temptations of Satan and the burning heat of Gods wrath for sins guilt in the conscience what but Christ can be as a shadow to refresh Mat. 11.20 There shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat Isa 4.6 Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall Isa 25 4. And this was not all but saith the Souse His fruit was sweet to my taste or to my pallate She doth not only receive comfortable refreshing shadow from this fruitful tree but she eateth of the Apples also which it beareth and the same are sweet and pleasant to her taste Which is another benefit the
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners yea the greatest and cheifest of sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And that God hath set him forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood for the remission of sins Rom. 3.25 And though thou art naturally unclean and hast contracted much defilement by reason of sin yet that Christ hath loved thee and washed thee from thy sins in his own blood Rev. 1.5 That in him thou hast redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1.14 Satan will tell thee thou hast broken the Law and incurred Gods anger wrath hell and eternal damnation Faith will tell him that Christ hath perfectly fulfilled the Law satisfied divine justice taken away the curse and freed thee from condemnation Rom. 8.1 and that Jesus Christ by his blood hath pacified Gods anger towards thee Rom. 3.25 Faith will tell him thou art not under the Law now and so not under the Curse and that though the Law does pronounce thee accursed for the breach of it yet Christ hath redeemed thee from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.10 13. Satan will tell tell thee still thou art unrighteous and the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but faith will tell him that thou art washed that thou art sanctified that thou art justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 And that Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 And as he was made sin so of God also is he made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Does Satan tempt thee â—o evil Faith will tell him that he so tempted Christ but Christ vanquished him in all his tempttaions Mat. 4. And we are more then Conquerors through Christ that hath loved us Rom. 8.37 Does he yet tempt thee to be proud tell him that God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5 5. Does he tempt thee to passion tell him that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Jam. 1.20 Does he tempt thee to uncleaness tell him thy body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and thou art not thine one but art bought with a price and therefore thou must glorifie God in thy body and in thy spirit which is Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Does he tempt thee to be a servant of men tell him thou art bought with a price and so freed from that servitude 1 Cor. 7.23 would he have thee to please men tell him if yet thou shouldst please men thou shouldst not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1.10 Does he tempt thee to the love of the world tell him that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 Does he tempt thee to an indifferent luke-warm spirit in the things of God tell him that the Lord testifies against such a spirit that is neither hot nor cold that he will spue it out of his mouth Rev 3.16 Does he tempt thee to fall away draw back and renounce thy profession tell him that such as so fall away shall not be renewed again unto repentance Seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame Heb. 6.6 And that if any man draws back the Lord will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 You see what a most excellent weapon this sheild of Faith is to repel the temptations and assaults of Satan upon all accounts Secondly And it is of like force and efficacy to expel the venome and malignity of sin Art thou stung with it at any time look up by faith unto the brazen Serpent there 's healing Numb 21.9 Are thy sins of a scarlet dye Faith in his blood can make them as white as snow are they red like crimson it will make them as wool Isa 1.18 Are they many and multiplied transgressions Faith will tell thee that where sin hath abounded there grace hath much more abounded that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.20 21. Hast thou abundantly sinned this faith will tell thee that God will abundantly pardon he will multiply pardons Isa 55.7 Dost thou fear the reigning domineering power of sin This faith will assure thee That sin shall not have dominion over thee for that thou art not under the law but under grace Rom. 6.14 Dost thou yet fear that thy sins shall stand on the file and that God will remember thine iniquity this faith in Christs blood will assure thee that he will blot out thy transgressions for his own name sake and will not remember thy sins Isa 43.25 But perhaps thou art afraid of Death and of the power of the Grave this Faith will assure thee that death is swallowed up in victory his sting taken out that Christ hath ransomed thee from the power of the grave and hath redeemed thee from death that he is deaths plague and the graves destruction Isa 25.8 Hos 13.14 1 Cor. 15.54 So that we may triumphantly say Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay the gracious beleiving souls may be perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord Rom. 8. and some of the last verses thereof Wilt thou not then fear this severe stroke of Gods visitation O get more of the blood of sprinkling on thy soul this speaketh better things then the blood of Abet The blood of the Paschal Lamb was to be strook on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses of the children of Israel when God did intend to smite the first-born in the land of Egypt and execute his judgement against all the Egyptian gods and saith the Lord When I see the the blood I will pass over you meaning the children of Israel and the Plague sholl not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the Land of Egypt What did this typifie and hold forth but Christ the true Passover or Paschal Lamb whose blood besprinkling the conscience cleanseth us from all sin and delivereth us from the stroke of the destroying Angel even from wrath to come 1 John 1.7 1 Thess 1.10 See then that thou exercise thy self continually in that onely heaven upon earth and sweetest sanctuary to a
hefore us which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast c. Heb. 6.17 18 19. And this was it without all question that made the Apostle break out with that holy boldness and exultation of spirit Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 to the end Now this stability and firmness of Gods love grounded upon the faithfulness of God may be a great support to the poor doubting soul that is apt to question the Love of God and the certainty of its eternal estate in Christ 2ly This Faith in Gods faithfulness is to be acted upon the account of our Vocation or Calling to and confirmation or establishment in the Grace of God God is faithful saith Paul by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord And therefore will he confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.8 9. That God who hath called you unto the communion or fellowship of his Son not externally only in point of Ordinances Church-fellowship and Publique-worship whereby we profess to have communion with Christ and his benefits but internally in a special manner whereby we are really united to him by faith and by the spirit of Christ and so are made partakers indeed of all the glorious benefits priviledges and advantages of his death resurrection ascension intercession Rom. 8.32 Eph. 3.17 1 Joh. 1.3 This God who hath so called you is the faithful God faithful in the performance of all his promises he hath made to confirm you unto the end not to leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 as many freinds do in time of adversity not to cast you off Rom. 11.1 2. as many Parents do their Children not to forget you as many cruel and unnatural Women do their sucking children Isa 49.15 No surely he will not do it his faithfulness is engaged to stand by you fear not he will be with thee be not dismayed he is thy God he will strengthen thee yea he will help thee yea He will uphold thee with the right hand of his righteousness Isa 41.10 And make an everlasting Covenant with thee that he will not turn away from thee to do thee good but will put his fear into thy heart that thou shalt not depart from him Jer. 32.40 So the Apostle Paul praying for the Thessalonians that the very God of peace migh sanctifie them wholly and that their whole spirit and soul and body might be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ He makes this the ground of his confidence Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.23 24. So 2 Thess 3.3 But the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil Why shouldst thou then fear of falling away or of thy persevering in the grace of God when Gods faithfulness is engaged forthy establishment 3ly This faith in Gods faithfulness is to be acted upon the accompt of a Christians temptations and conflictings with sin and Satan 1 Cor. 10 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful observe that I pray you who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Thou poor tempted soul thou thinkest perhaps that no temptations are like unto thine but thou art mistaken thy temptations are not singular but in common with others other men have been exercised with the like And thou art apt to think thou shalt sink under thy temptations thou findest so little strength to undergo them but what saith the Apostle God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above your strength but will proportion suitable strength according to your trials Gods Faithfulness is engaged to help you and to support you under all your temptations and trials Would Satan then make thee beleive that thy sins are of that nature and magnitude that they shall not be forgiven think upon Gods faithfulness then who is engaged to pardon thee So saith John 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confest our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It would be an act of unfaithfulness and injustice in God if he should not pardon and forgive poor penitent sinners who confess and forsake their sins But God is faithful and just and cannot falsifie his word If we beleive not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 4. This acting of faith in Gods faithfulness is of excellent use in order to our standing fast in the faith and continuing in our publique faithful testimony for the Lord Heb. 10.23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering and why for he is faithful that hath promised faithful in performing what he hath promised Josh 23.14 And what hath he promised Surely as hath been declared before to establish and keep us from evil and confirm us unto the end 1 Cor. 1.8 According to that also in 2 Thess 3.3 But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil Stablish you in the faith lest you fall from it and keep you from evil to wit the Devil lest he subvert your faith by evil men as the instruments of his art or it may be taken more generally for any evil as the Apostle declares in the 2 Tim. 4.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly Kingdom And therefore we may upon this consideration be much encouraged to hold fast our profession and not to be staggaring or wavering in our honourable and faithful testimony for the Lord. 5. This acting of faith in Gods faithfulness is of excellent use to encourage us as to a suffering state for Christ and to Christian contentation under the Cross It is a faithful saying saith the Apostle that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Rule or reign as Kings so the word it seems imports if we endure all manner of tribulations with patience and stedfastness in the faith And it is a faithful saying saith he a certain sure firm credible irrevocable word not to be questioned or doubted Or we shall be glorified together with him as the Apostle expresseth it Rom. 8.17 and
therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus a right and freedom to enter in with our persons hereafter and now by our Prayers let us draw neer with a true heart with full assurance of faith He hath given us two great friends of his for our Advocates the one at his own right hand in heaven moving and negotiating and always appearing for us the other seated in our breasts his holy spirit making intercession for us Yea the Fathers own heart is full of love brim full and running over and he loves to hear his children reason it out with him and he doth of set purpose delay to grant their requests sometimes because he loves to hear often from them to hear their voices and see their faces Cant. 2.14 to hear what they can say for themselves and so he dealt with the woman of Canaan in those several repulses he gave her Mat. 15.22 23. Acquaint thy self then with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Job 22.21 O the secret intimate and heavenly familiarity that is betwixt God and the gratious beleiving soul It is said of Moses that the Lord spake unto him face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend Exod. 33.11 That is plainly familiarly The like phrase is used of speaking mouth to mouth My servant Moses saith the Lord is not so who is faithful in all mine house With him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches Numb 12.7 8. Well then if thou makest God thy habitation thou wilt not thou canst not be a stranger to God thou wilt have some intimacy with him some secret talk and communion with him thou wilt ever and anon be opening thy heart unto him and be pleading and expostulating the case with him Daniel could not be restrained from this though he knew the decree or writing was signed that whosoever should ask any petition of any God or Man for thirty days save of the King Darius he should be cast into the Den of Lyons But he goes into his House and kneels upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime Dan. 6.10 he would rather dye then omit his wonted Worship and that close intimate communion he had with the Lord in prayer And it must needs be so for howsoever natural men and worldlings out of their obnoxiousness and secret terror do slavishly retire and do not willingly neither dare they draw near to that God which to them is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 Yet all these who have truly tasted how gracious the Lord is shall find their hearts out of a secret sence of Gods love unto them first kindly inflamed with infinite desire to live under the comfortable influence of his pleased countenance to enjoy his holy Majesty with constant peace and an humble spiritual access and acquaintance continually His spirit of Prayer infinite love yea all his loving kindness protections preservations bounty patience divine illuminations spiritual blessings exercise of repentance temptations and troubles from Satan pressures and oppressions from the world loss of inward peace faintness of faith want of spiritual strength assault of some special sin sweetness of meditation daily favours showred down without number and above measure the forethought of the great and last account motions of the blessed spirit spiritual desertion c. but above all the unutterable and inexpressible blessedness goodness and excellency of that highest Majesty it self are and should be quickening and powerful motives to drive us frequently and incessantly unto God Object But perhaps thou wilt say It is true the righteous may be thus familiar with him plead with him and not be cast in their suit But where are those righteous ones And who are they for it is not so with me God be merciful to me a greivous sinner I dare not be so bold with him Mine iniquity stops my mouth Answ I answer Every one that hath a share in yea a sincere desire after the righteousness of Christ is righteous before him and may in that righteousness plead and prevail and as a Prince have power with God For this is his own righteousness of his own contrivance and appointment The righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3.8 9. A righteousness spun and woven out of his own bowels and the obedience of his dear Son a better then ever came upon the back of Angels for which the personal and legal righteousness of a Paul of an Angel is to be abandoned Evangelical being far better then Angelical righteousness Thou canst not miss a blessing in his garments who is not ashamed to be called thine Elder Brother who came to change cloaths and places with thee and to take all upon himself that thou mightest escape The Father cannot but be well pleased with the smell of his Sons raiment and he sits too upon a Seat of Judgement and must do thee right and Justice it self which will not be twice paid is as much for thee as much thy freind as Mercy Rom. 3.26 He is just and yet nay therefore a justifier of him that beleiveth in Jesus So that if thou art not utterly shut up in unbeleif if there be but the least spark of true faith alive in thy heart thou mayst go boldly and plead and prosper Object 2. But I have nothing to say for my self my heart is dryed up like a Potsheard and withered like grass I have sin'd away all arguments and must never open my mouth any more before him Answ True not to boast but to plead thou mayst And hast thou nothing to offer not a sigh nor the groanings of thy soul Let the sighings of the Prisoner come before thee saith David Psal 79.11 And for the oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord himself Psal 12.5 I will set him at safety from him that puffeth at him We own help from the spirit when we are enlarged He helps us even when we are straightned Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought no not Paul and the Apostle but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 with unutterable straightnings Our enlargements may be but the flowings of the Gifts of the Spirit but our inward pinchings and coarctations may be the Intercession of the Spirit it self the more immediate operations of the Spirit And we forget that there is such a Prompter behind the Hangings such an Interpreter as his Title signifies as well as a Comforter Ille suggerit vobis omnia He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance Joh. 14.26 such an Interpreter I say to make known the mind of God to us and ours to him and as he betrayes the secrets of God to the Saints so he rips up their hearts before God
it already performed Or thus thou shalt supply all humane helps unto him that is used to be bestowed upon sick diseased and distempered persons Now what a comfortable promise is here for our faith to take hold of in such a languishing and dying time O how should it encourage and stir up the rich especially in this world To be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate 1 Tim. 6.17 18. Yea all of us that can make out our Election of God as holy and beloved To be putting on bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even at Christ hath forgiven us so also should we do And above all these things saith the Apostle put on charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.12 13 14. He wishes them as they would be sure of their Election and have a sound note or mark of their holiness and that God loved them to be putting on bowels of mercies as if he had said let these be your robes and coverings wear them as you wear your garments let them be as tender and inward unto you as your own principal and most vital parts Such a measure of pity and compassion as maketh the inward bowels to yearn and this is proper to such as are in affliction and misery But Kindness extendeth further and reacheth to all whither in prosperity or adversity which is a sweet and loving disposition of the heart and a courteous affection to all shewing it self in pleasing and good speech and behaviour towards all But because Love is the root of all he doth therefore compare Charity to the most precious garment which is or can be put upon all others Calling it The bond of perfectness or the most perfect bond which is among men to unite them together Vinculum perfectionis is Vinculum perfectissimum quo plures inter se colligantur I shall conclude this point with that faithful saying and affirmation of Jud. 8. and 14. That they which have beleived in God might be careful to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful they should learn to be eminent in good works above others The Vulgar hath it Curent bonis operibus prae esse They should go before others in good works And gives this as his reason therefore These things are good and profitable unto men Thus much for the Sixth Soveraign Remedy The Seventh Spiritual Receipt 7ly The seventh and last Soveraign Receipt for the prevention or curing of this Pestilential disease Is an Evangelical universal obedience to the Gospel of Christ Called by the Apostle in Rom. 16.26 The obedience of Faith consisting in a readiness to do the Will of God in things commanded or forbidden be they never so troublesome or contrary to our reason or liking I call it Evangelical to distinguish it from that which is Legal which required an absolute universal conformity not of our actions only but of our affections also to the will of God exactly in every point and title thereof upon pain of Eternal Damnation Gal. 3.10 13. And therefore by the Apostle called The ministration of death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3.7 9. This Evangelical Obedience consists in beleiving the Gospel and subjecting our selves thereunto whence it is that it is put for faith or the receiving of the Gospel Rom. 1.8 Comp. with Chap. 16.19 and to obey Christ for beleiving in Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 and to obey the truth for beleiving the Doctrine of the Gospel Rom. 6.17 1 Pet. 1.22 Which evangelical or Gospel obedience is to be performed unto God in and through our Lord Jesus Christ who as he is held forth to be the pattern of our obedience 1 Cor. 11.1 So is he the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And through his obedience onely it is that we are made righteous Rom. 5.19 This I say does consist in a readiness and chearfulness to do the will of God Lo I come saith Christ to do thy Will O God Heb. 10.7 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work Joh. 4.34 And it must be performed from the heart out of love unto Christ Rom. 6.17 Upon this hing all Gospel obedience hangs Rom. 13.10 This is the spring from whence it originally flows 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us The force and efficacy of which will make difficult things easie The Saints loved not their lives unto the death for the love they bore unto Christ Rev. 12.11 Jacob served seven years for Rachel and saith the Text they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had unto her Gen. 29.20 Charity suffereth long and is kind it beareth all things beleiveth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13.4 7. Much water cannot quench it neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8.7 When the soul is mounted upon the wings of faith and charity it makes it like the Chariots of Aminadib Cant. 6.12 It will make the soul cleave unto Christ as Ruth unto Naomi her Mother-in-law not to leave him nor return from following after him It will say then unto Christ Whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God where thou diest will I dye and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Ruth 1.16 17. Lord if thou goest into a Prison saith the gratious loving beleiving obeying soul I will go with thee if thou lodgest there in a Dungeon I will lodge with thee I am resolved in thy strength not to leave thee go where thou wilt It will say as Paul None of these things shall move me nor shall I count my life dear unto my self so that I may but finish my course with joy and the ministery which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the grace of God Act. 20.24 Mount-Sion Saints will follow the Lamb whither-soever he goeth Rev. 14.4 They have an inseperable communion an individual society with the Lamb which referred to the state of their warfare notes the sincerity and constancy of their faith and obedience under Anti-christs persecution they follow not the Beast but the Lamb wheresoever he goeth that is they exactly walk in the precepts and steps of the lamb wheresoever he leadeth them he leadeth them to the Fountains of living waters Chap. 7.17 These suffers not the decres and Idols of the Beast to be obtruded upon them but wholly cleave to Christ their guide and like Caleb Joshua they will follow him fully Numb 14.24 This indeed is very difficult in it self and in our strength so to do Our own experience tells us that Gospel obedience is an up-hill way and its hard to get a great waight up