Souls will be at a strait and thirst after the living God But as yet the Door is open to you what is the reason you are no more upon it They are exceeding great and precious Promises in themselves why are they not precious to us Sure they would had we but a Heart Therefore consider of it it is offered to you and if you shall follow on to know the Lord you shall surely know Him Consider the Door is open the precious Promises are given to you of Life and Glory c. Why then are you passing away your days on such low trivial and dying things Josephs blessing was large reached out to the utmost bounds of the Everlasting Hills and why are we so scant-hearted and low in our desires Why are we not upon these great and precious Things promised and to partake of this Divine Nature and thence be fruitful in the Truth and bring forth somewhat that may stand and live for ever after us THE SOULS TRUE Wound and Cure SERM. II. March 30.1651 HOSEA 6.1 2. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and He will heal us He hath smitten and He will binde us up After two days will He revive us in the third day will He raise us up and we shall live in his Sight c. The Analysis IN the words were intimated the three days Works of the Father Son and Spirit in their order 1. The Work of the Father to pull down and wound and thither the Return must be to Him that smiteth 2. The Work of the Son to revive After two days He will revive us c. 3. The Work of the Spirit to raise In the third day He will raise us up c. I. In this Returning three Things are considerable 1. They that return must truly know they are out of the way a true sense of that must be And that was here in two things 1. In breaking prison and running from the strait The Princes of Judah like them that removed the bound c. 2. They were out in seeking to cure themselves before the day came Hos 5.13 but a secret moth blasts all The Vses were 1. To look home whether not our own Case have we not removed the Bound run from the strait and not endured c. 2. To take us off of looking on anothers sin and keep close to our own strait lie under our own misery till delivered 2. 'T is considerable in this Return there must be counsel and calling to it Come and let us return else not stir a foot 3. This Return is to the Lord He that had wounded He will heal Many heal themselves but there is a wound too hard And these several ways God takes for healing 1. He removes the ill humor that feeds the sore Sense and Reason 2. He asswages the anguish and smart and pain of the Soul else all in vain 3. He applies a plaister of loving-kindness and mercy 4. He points the Soul to wait for the set time till that come II. The second Work is the Sons He will revive After two days He will revive us c. And that by these means 1. He takes off all bonds and chains fears and perplexities which keep down the Soul from stiring 2. He unswadles and opens Himself I am Joseph your Brother 3. He preaches Peace and Love He the Prince of Peace 4. He revives by preaching the everlasting Gospel the eternal Love and good-will of God to the Soul this enliveneth All was brought home by Vse to see how much of the work had passed on us there all the four Pa ticulars HOSEA 6.1 2 c. Come and let us return unto the Lord for He hath torn and He will heal us c. IN the former Chapter great complaint is made against Israel and Ephraim that they were Revolters that they committed whoredom and will not frame their doings to seek unto their God Vers 3 4. And this is that misery that befalls such as transgress against the Lord that received not the Truth in the love of it that obeyed not counsel the Hand of the Lord will surely meet with such He will teer and wound them There shall be no peace to the wicked When Israel was a child then I loved Him saith God then He was tender and soft and pliable to be ordered but as They called them so They went from them Hosea 11.2 As the Prophets called them indeed to come up and come nigh God then there is a going backward from Him He is bent to a back-sliding heart But Israel and Ephraim shall be sure to be dealt with and made desolate A Time comes wherein God will meet with Him The Pride of Israel testifies to his face therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity v. 5. And this is our case The Pride hath been such we thought we had been Some-body and could live alone of our selves and like the Prodigal have asked to have our portion and we would be gone and shift for our selves But alass all is soon spent with riotous living and desolation and famine have come upon us rendings and teerings perplexities disquiets and troubles in all our ways I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion I will teer and go away I will take away and none shall rescue Hos 5.14 And when thus it shall be in the midst of the Land when this is the Souls condition to be rent and torn by God and then left and forsaken that He cannot be found but He hides Himself though Job go forward and backward to the right hand and to the left yet He is gone and cannot be found He feeds among the lillies â—aith the Church until the day dawn and the shadows fly away As if she should say Alass I am unclean but He feeds among the clean ones among the Lillies that are spotless the Lillies that grow without toyling and caring there are his walks but I am no company for him He is withdrawn from Me until the day dawn c. This is a hard day indeed when the Soul is left in this desolate case there is now need to think of returning The Prophet He feels the need and therefore calls to the People Come and let us return to the Lord. And so all along the Scriptures the Prophets are brought in as sensible and crying under the misery though their People were senceless and careless and stupid How do Isaiah Jeremiah Samuel Hosea and so all the Prophets stand in the gap for their people and call upon them in their desolation to come in and return to the Lord But whom do they call to return not all men not such as never was nigh to the Lord No Onely Ephraim and Israel and Judah his own people that have been once nigh and are backslidden and turned Prodigals from their fathers house Onely to such is the Call and in the worst time of all when torn and wounded and left of God
not you that sold me c. ' I sent you into the wilderness to learn you experience that when you are converted you might strengthen your Brethren Thus you may see of what use Rings are and this is wonderful that God should so adorn the hand with his Rings To be 1. Skill'd in the works of Truth 2. To be diligent in the work of Truth And 3. To be garnish'd with this to be busied about things of worth to be exercised in things that abide for ever Let all your things saith Paul be done to edification Let nothing be out of strife or vain glory but all for the building of something that shall stand for ever But yet this son is wanting still as if the Father should say What if we clothe him with the best robe and put Rings on his hands yet if his feet be not shod too how can he go Therefore 3. This is the third thing And put shooes on his feet c. Let him be shod with the Preparation of the Everlasting Gospel of Peace The feet are the Affections which are to be wrought upon 1. To go but how why Let all your things saith Paul be done in Love There 's need your feet be prepared to serve the Lord in Love And that our loves might be prepared there 's need of shooes to put on that the feet might be enabled to go upon the bryars and thorns to endure the frost and the snow need to have the Love made strong to endure hardness Love saith Paul suffereth long and is kinde envyeth not seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth c. 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6. It had need be shod indeed When God said to Moses Thou shalt carry this people in thy bosom as a Mother doth her child c. Alass pleads he how can I carry all this people If thou dealest thus with me I pray thee take me away that I may not see my wretchedness He had not Love enough to carry him through There 's need of great preparations if such a service be in hand And now the Prodigal shall be made to endure to bless when he is cursed because he knows now the heart of a stranger We our selves saith Paul were sometimes strangers and aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel hateful and hating one another He having a knowledg into this was made to endure Though the more abundantly I love saith he the less I be loved That there may not be a shrinking here this is one main thing he has need of of the shooes of that which may be a fence a safeguard to his feet that no fiery darts no discontents c. may stop or overturn him But then 2. The shooes are that the Love might run the swifter without fear Withhold thy Feet from being VNSHOD saith God and thy throat from thirst Jerem. 2.25 Thou makest my Feet like HINDES FEET saith David But when the Love is cold then the heart by and by waxeth feeble and faint Ezra was astonish'd and sat seven days so because he had said The Lord was able to save them therefore said he I was ashamed to go to the King for a band of men His Love began to be feeble at last And Job sat astonish'd seven days his Love was cold he could not have offended had that been alive Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing can offend them How do we stand and pick and choose But when we shall be made able to say as Paul I am not onely ready to be bound for the Name of Christ but to suffer death also When so shod then shall we go boldly without fear when the Love is shod with quickness then I shall run the way of thy Commands When thou hast set my feet at liberty saith David then will the Soul readily love the Lord with all the heart and all the soul and all its strength But when it 's not quick and lively there come in the miscarriages For 1. It 's not shod to endure And 2ly then it has not quickness to speed on the work but through reasoning and disputing the case the Love waxes cold And the Prodigal shall be made to see to his cost when he returns home what his Leaden-heel'd Love was But 3. The third thing that prepares the Love is singleness solidness and faithfulness these are the shooes that garnish his feet these are the Affections to be shod with The double minded man saith James is unstable in all his ways When the Prodigal comes home and sees how double he had been before in all his ways now he is made to say It was good for me that I was afflicted for thereby I learn'd thy Law Now he can say One thing have I desired which now I will seek after That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever to enquire dayly in his Temple c. Now the Prodigal has learn'd this He knows what it is to put his hand to the plow looking backwards Now his Love is singly fixt upon its object but when it was not single how did he soon wander from it He was bare-foot then but when he comes home then the Father puts on his shooes they were not of his putting on but the Fathers done by his command But all along while I am speaking to you and am seeing what divided hearts you come with and the great loss that is come upon you there 's great need to pray to the Father that he would bring the shooes his Love to set the Affections right to love with rightness readiness and singleness for if He bring them not this evil and hypocritical will will be our undoing But saith God You shall finde me when you shall seek me with all your heart and all your soul He will be sought to of the house of Israel And he has not said to the house of Jacob Seek my face in vain But he that offers to the Lord for a sacrifice that which is torn or lame and has a male in his flock He abhors that mans offering He will receive none but that which is without blemish and that will make our works accepted as Paul saith Faith that works by Love and doth all in singleness of Soul That will make every thing acceptable in his sight 4. A fourth thing the Soul is to be shod with is Soberness for there may be a real singleness of spirit and yet a great headiness Therefore saith Paul let your Moderation be seen in all things For if we cannot say as Job The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord there is not a sober love Therefore Put off thy shooes said God to Moses He was yet over-heady and not fit to walk as you may see in his strait concerning Miriam because God had stricken her with Leprosie he prays Lord heal her now But as if God
But then For some of you whom indeed I know and who yet lie dead in your graves fast bound in chains and fetters under darkness and fears and sorrows and are no ways able ever to get out to you this promise of Life is made That God will make the dry bones live and raise you out of your graves It concerns you to look after it For he hath promised and will perform He will surely keep his Word unto Jacob and his Covenant to Israel God will say to all that keep us down in chains and bondage Let my People go that they may serve me Let my Captives go free The time will come when he will turn our mourning into joy and fill our tongues with laughter and our mouths with praises when he shall bring back the Captivity of Israel when the Time of Life is come And now it followeth to go on That you might be made Partakers of the Divine Nature All this I have spoken of is to pass upon the Soul before there can be this partaking of the Divine Nature to be joyned in and married to it There may be somewhat of Life and Godliness and Glory and Vertue springing in the Soul but yet it may be but one alone as a chaste Virgin indeed single and loose from all and fit for a Husband but not yet married the House must be thus swept and provided and made fit but yet the King is to come to lodg in it It is yet a farther thing to become fruitful and have children in the Truth therefore the next thing to enquire into is Secondly What is it to partake of the Divine Nature The Holy Ghost is this Divine Nature spoke of Now Christ saith He will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it only to such as ask it such as are at a strait to cry for it and only living men can cry and ask and to them he will give this Holy Spirit God communicates and gives in to the Soul a Holy Seed of his own Nature and Being as really as in the outward generation of a man A seed must first be given and received before ever a child can be brought forth So is it with the Soul a seed of God must be really planted in and sown there somewhat of his own Being and Substance left behind in the Soul to stay abide and grow and spread or else there can never be fruitfulness expected If God only come and go as a wayfaring man and take not up his abode so long we shall never be setled down to any thing truly unmovable but up and down as His coming or going away is As the Spirit came on Saul and came on Balaam so long they prophesied and spake of God and were as it were new men but the Spirit departs again and then they are as other men the same they were before But now to have God dwell in man to take up his abode This is my Rest here will I dwell for ever this is a mighty thing indeed 2. To be made Partakers of the Divine Nature as it implies an abiding and setled planting in of a seed of God so it is secondly a known and felt-thing in the Soul there is a certain close and meet of the man He receives the seed in the man is brought to hear and feel and know that God is nigh 3. This Divine Nature where it is thus given in by God and received by the man it brings forth of its own kind and Image He gives to every seed it s own body Adam begets a son in his own likeness natural and carnal and earthly and selfish having his centre wholly downwards And so the Lord He begets Children like Himself in Patience Love Singleness Justice Meekness c. Where this Divine Nature is sown it will surely grow up into the likeness of its Father it will own its Father in its countenance it will turn the man into the same mind and will and desires and if not so yet do the man what he can whether he will or not this Truth wil act stir and bring forth like it self and in this it will deal plainly and truly and shew the man where he is it will not be bribed to dawb with untempered morter and yet is merciful too tender-hearted easie to be entreated full of all good fruits c. Now then 1. This may be of Vse to enquire what it is we would come to would we receive this Divine Nature and joyn in and be marryed to it It is certain you can never have children nor be fruitful in the Truth unless you are marryed in here Though you should be Virgins and be brought to stand clear and loose from all intanglements yet you can never have children to keep your name alive in Israel you will live and dye alone without you are brought to joyn into this Spirit of Christ Though we may have Fathers and Instructers to care and provide for us yet that Promise cannot take place In stead of fathers thou shalt have childrē whom thou mayst make Princes in all Lands We can never leave a seed after us that may grow up to be Princes in the Truth to make it spread in the world and run and be glorious but at present we are far from this there is a very ill spirit in us not willing to see another thrive and prosper in the Truth We would neither enter in our selves nor suffer them that would How few of us are yet reached out to this Thing to long for and desire to be Partakers of the Divine Nature We would rather starve and live on any Husks any shifts and sharkings then come near God for a Feast our hearts choose rather a Dogs life hunger and ease Hungry indeed we are many times at a want for somewhat but if we can get but a little ease in our want we can bear it and so the strait gets off and this may discover that great ill will that is in us to the thriving and prospering of the Truth c. 2. This may inform you what the End of all is all the Promises of Life and Godliness and Glory and Vertue they all tend to this end That you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature The Door is yet open the Promise and Call is yet after you It belongs to you as it did to Ruths kinsman to marry Ruth and purchase the Inheritance but if you shall slight it and say as he did I cannot redeem it for it will spoil my own Inheritance if we shall answer so No we cannot come so near to partake of the Divine Nature to dwell with God He will be a consuming fire He will cross and spoyl all our wills and delights and designs If we shall thus judg our selves unworthy of eternal Life then Lo He turns to the Gentiles He will turn to another people for sure He will find out some that will be glad to receive Him whose
this time were not those eternal thoughts of God and that setled Will concerning you discovered to me But now I come to open What this Will of God is And I told you there were two branches of it 1. That a People were given to Christ by this Will of God All that the Father hath given me saith Christ Now there is a threefold giving of a people to Christ 1. He gives Him a people as his children to be nursed and tendred by him and so He speaks to his Disciples several times calling them children Children have you understood these things c. They were but in the condition and state of children though they were men And here God puts Christ in the place of it Mother and Nurse to bring up those that are thus given Him 1. A Mother receives a seed from her Husband which is to be molded and formed and grow up in the womb till it be a perfect child such a seed is given to Christ to warm and cherish till it grow up to the minde of God and have the true proportions of a child and be like its Father And therefore it is said The Promise is sure to all the seed And again A seed shall serve Him it shall be to the Lord for a generation 2. A Mother nurses up her Children when they are born she feeds and tends and oversees them till they are grown up to live of themselves And thus are a People given to Truth that it may nourish and care for and deal tenderly and lead them on till they grow up to be strong men in the Truth How doth a Mother bear and go through all with her child all its frowardness and crossness she takes it up willingly So this Love of Truth to its children it is not easily provoked it is not soon moved but endures all things and waies and hopes all things It spares from it self to give to its children such a Nurse is Truth so tender and careful I have been as a nurse amongst you saith Paul If you perceive not this dealing of Truth towards you it is all but as a Riddle If you are not seeing how tenderly and patiently you have been dealt with all along from your Cradles nothing hard and unbearable hath ever been put upon you but some issue hath been made for deliverance You have been given into the care and nursery of Truth to look after and provide for you nothing more is put upon you but open thy mouth wide and I will fill it c. There hath been one with you to care for you when you have slept and slighted and not considered the day of your visitation You have little considered what it hath cost to enjoy the brests that you may suck at dayly what a living Ministry you are entrusted with and yet waits upon you It reaches all that come neer it none that have come amongst us have gone hence without the power of this Truth convincing and making them acknowledg that of a truth God is amongst us 2. God gives Christ a people as his Brethren when they are grown up to that state as He calls the Church My Sister my Spouse And in being thus given to Christ He manifests these three Things to the Soul 1. He opens that it is of the same stock and kindred with Himself as it is said At the second time Joseph was made known to his Brethren Now that the Soul of man and the Word of Life should be so nigh related as a Brother and Sister this is wonderful It is too high to be exprest by me in words or for you to conceive of But yet there is a generation a people that shall justifie this wisdom that shall know this portion is befallen them That they are of the same stock with the Lord Jesus the Word of Life That they are born from above I am not of this world and these are not of this world saith Christ They are of one World and one Kingdom and one Country Therefore he says My sheep hear my voyce and the voyce of a stranger they will not hear they know not the voyce of strangers They are not of that Country nor language and so can understand no other language but the Word of Life This is opened to the Soul when it is thus given over to Christ as a Sister one of the same stock born from the same Love as it is in Jeremy I have loved thee of old with an everlasting love c. 2. Christ opens to the Soul when it is thus given to him the Priviledges it is to have with Him That it is born to the same inheritance and portion that He himself hath and without this what is all preaching to you if this portion be not made known as belonging to you And none can read this seven-sealed Book but the Word of Life unless He read thy portion to thee thou canst never know it unless He witness to thy Soul as He did to his Disciples The Father Himself loveth you And if he ever open this to you it must be when you are grown up to this stature to be given him as a Sister as Brethren For whilest Children and Babes you have not understanding you are not capable to know it though it be never so often told you O Lord That you were at a strait to have this opened For your lives will ever hang in doubt till this portion shall stablish and settle and put you out of all fears 3. Hence this follows and is opened to the Soul That it is now liable to be marryed to Christ and become his Wife It was a true Type among the people of Israel they were not to marry out of their own stock and kindred All strange wives were forbidden So Christ marries not out of his own line out of his own stock He cannot joyn to the stock of the Devil But such as are his Sister born of one Father sprang from one Love they may become a Wife for Him Those two links are joyned together in the Canticles My Sister my Spouse but if no Sister first it is impossible to be his Spouse I have told you often gold and sand cannot be run together into one lump and it will surely grow up more manifest that all relations what ever will dye and come to nothing where Truth lives in one party if nothing of the same kinde appears to maintain the tye in the other A Husband a Wife a Child all these relations will dye c. if there be not a surer bond to hold fast for ever 3. God gives a people to Christ as a spouse a wife given into his bosom And here two things come in 1. Serviceableness and subjection to the Husband That was the Law given at the Creation Thy Desire shall be subject to thy Husband and He shall rule over thee Christ will now rule and expects to be obeyed He puts the Soul upon service now it must no
one Spirit as the Apostle says The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered Christ and His Spirit and His People cannot be divided He is with his Body and that Body is but one and the spirit that cries and groans in them is one Spirit and if we have no share nor portion in the care and counsels and prayers of his people none to gather us into this Body This is to be miserable 7. To be left to a mans cursing and rage and devilishness of spirit to be swallowed up and drowned by the floods of ungodliness and wholy transformed into the image of the Devil and to be left here This is to be lost And to this height will the least seed of Sin grow at last if Mercy be not shew'd to prevent from it But this is Christs charge and this is the happiness and security of his People That the Will of God stands in it for the Salvation of his people It is the Will of Him that sent me that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing c. But now if you come sometimes you may finde some of the saved ones that are most dear to God Precious to the Lord is the Death of his Saints yet these dear ones are sometimes left to taste of all these conditions You may finde them blinded and given up to beleeve lyes They are secure and sensless and in all appearance they are sunk in the mire as deep as any Jonah he cries out of the bottom of Hell I went down to the bottom of the Mountains the Earth with her bars was about me for ever c. And David cries out I had almost said as they my foot had welnigh slipped And so in the Proverbs He that followed the whorish woman came to that pass at last to cry out I was almost in all evil c. Prov. 5.14 They come to the pits brink nay David was in the pit and therefore cries out O let not the Pit shut her mouth upon me How comes it about then that they are not quite lost It stands upon these three grounds 1. They cannot be quite lost because the Will of God is set to save them Their Safety and Security stands in that free and unchangeable Will It is the Will of Him that sent me that of all He hath given me I should lose nothing And nothing can alter nor turn his thoughts 2. They are nighly related to Christ and therefore cannot be lost they are his children Behold I and the children God hath given me And again I said of them They are my people Children that will not lye And sure He will not see his Children killed and not rise up to save them Farther They are his Brethren He is not asham'd to call them Brethren Heb. 2.11 They are his Sister his Spouse that lies in his bosom and He cannot bear to see them lost He is not able to see any of them in the Lions mouth but he must rescue them out and slay the Lion His bowels are turned to see them in misery and therefore He waits to be gracious He stands pleading and entreating at their doors O why will ye dye Do you indeed hear and do you consider that this is the cause why you are not lost and undone before this time This is a wonderful mystery That such a tye and neer relation should be to the Word of Life to the Lord Himself that He should take such a care and charge over thee and so wait and attend at all times to do thee good It is from this neer relation to Him He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one And this is the onely cause you are not lost And therefore what have any of you to boast on Why are you not as base and vile as any Why not lost as well as others It is not any thing that springs from thee which makes the difference We must all become guilty before God we are the worst of sinners But because He hath put his Son in you and made you so nigh to Christ therefore will He save you 3. They are not lost because Christ Jesus cannot be perfect nor subsist without his Members nothing will content the Son of God the Truth till all that belong to it are gathered into an Union with the Head Many vainly imagine and flatter their thoughts They shall be saved and gathered to Christ when they dye but it is to be done here if it be ever done The Soul must be brought into Union with the Truth joyned to that one Head and receive sap and nourishment and life from Christ sooner or later This must be done in all that are to be saved And this Christ prays for his Disciples That the same Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Such an Vnion and Oneness to stand on the same foundation with Christ and suck the same brests and be supplied with the same sap this is a condition where Salvation stands and none that are brought to this must be lost The Vses hence may be 1st To consider and hear for your selves That you may come to be setled on sure principles Do you understand on what bottom Salvation stands Do you know what the ground and foundation is of all your happiness or misery of all your enjoyments or sufferings that it lies up in this will of God Are you set down in this Principle and submitted under this Will 2ly Enquire farther Do you know your lot and portion in this good-will of God Is that opened to you If not How can you sleep upon the top of a Mast and be secure when your case lies so dangerous Do you know you were ever given to any into their hearts to travel for you in the bowels of Christ It is certain there are a lost number that are not given to Christ Now what security have you for your selves Will that save you that you have knowledg and parts and hear the Truth preached Alass many followed Christ but at last came to a hard saying and there they fell off and left him Therefore it concerns you to enquire whether you have that which will carry you out and give you a certainty you shall not perish for ever If you hear and hear ten thousand years and hear not that you have a portion in this good-will all is as nothing 3ly This may be of Use for encouragement to comfort all the drooping hearts that are ready to cast off all as if they were now quite lost Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me c. No no there is no such thing where his Will is once pitched Having loved his own he loved them to the end Joh. 13.1 It is his Will that none that He hath given to his Son should be lost And therefore however hard and dangerous the case seems at present yet you that are given to
should have said No thy love is too heady Let her go out of the Camp seven days and bear her shame and then let her be received again But Paul could say I have learn'd in all things to be contented both how to abound and how to want And this is that which God delights in Sober love ordered love He that rules over men must be just saith David ruling in the Fear of God in Soberness in Humility c. to be wise slow to do evil swift to do good more ready to hear then to offer the sacrifice of fools What need of this When we are but a little brought from our hypocrisie and can truly say our love is single then we think sure this is enough No but yet be you sober that 's the counsel But who will be wise none but the Prodigal that has learn'd experience Peter meant singly when he said to Christ I will lay down my life for thy sake But how heady was it He was unsober in it He knew not that was to be fulfilled that was ordained before of God that he should deny him All you shall this night saith Christ to him be offended because of me and shall leave me for it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered abroad He little thought of this Alas is there no other way to find this Soberness but through sorrows through banishments sending into Captivity This is hard dealing indeed But now the Prodigal can tell this Mystery now he has learn'd Sobriety he is made to admire at the way his father took to make him a sober man Now he can say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted A friend loves at all times And now he seeth That Love is as strong as Death It has Hinds feet it hath quickness singleness and soberness and when you shall be thus shod then love as much as you can nay then you cannot but love And thus the son is welcom'd Bring hither the best robe and put a ring on his hand and shooes on his feet And if ever we shall see this Return then shall we be made to say as Paul Thanks be to God that we are the servants of sin But who would fetch pearls from the bottom of the Sea It 's ten thousand to one not to be spoiled in this venture For there shall be but a remnant saved here and there one as the shaking of an Olive tree here and there one in an uppermost branch What to be found dead and stinking in the grave as Lazarus to be incompast about with Harlots c. and yet get home again Sure the Prodigal did not discover himself to the Citizen he joyned to that he was a Jew for then he would not have received him he was fain to use all the shifts he could for entertainment And so do we and yet we can find none that pities us we cannot so much as feed with the swine But what has God wrought that no inchantment nor divination should be against him Oh the wonder that ever he should welcom his Prodigal with such entertainment as I have shewed you But 4. The next thing considerable in his Entertainment is And kill the fatted Calf c. The Robe I shewed you what it was I also shewed you why he must have that put on before he has meat and why the rings and shooes go first seeing he came out of the Land of famine and the main cause that moved him to return was because his father he knew had bread enough and he perished for hunger I shewed you the Reasons c. But why must he have such abundance And this is not all neither Bring the musick there must be dancing and mirth too Well may this be likened to Jacobs ladder for it reached to Heaven The fatted Calf what 's that The Everlasting Righteousness to be establisht with the free Spirit Seventy weeks saith Daniel are determined to finish transgression and make an end of sin to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in the EVERLASTING RIGHTEOVSNESS c. Dan. 10.24 This David cries out for when his blood-guiltiness lies upon him O deliver me from my blood-guiltiness saith he establish me with thy free Spirit Psal 51.14 12. With that Spirit Christ could say It 's my meat and drink to do the Will of my Father This made David say Thy Word is dearer to me then my necessary food But what benefit is it to the man or woman that eats this fatted Calf There are three Benefits considerable that comes to him by this meat 1. There 's refreshment to the weary Soul When the Inwards are dying and sinking and tyred quite out when hunger has smit the Inwards for want of the enjoyment of God how good then is the Spirit of Truth to refresh to the heart After a great abstinence after a long time of distance then Christ saith But I will send the Comforter the Holy Ghost who shall abide with you for ever After many a weary step and hard pang for want of meat a mans inwards close together and as it were devour themselves Is it not enough that I take my flesh in my teeth saith Job I lookt on my left hand and none stood by me and on my right hand and found none to comfort me And O that I could find him saith Job Alas Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire is come it is a tree of life After a weary journey long want every morsel is good nay bitter things become sweet But 2. The second use of meat is to strengthen mans heart so is the Communion of the Holy Ghost a Strengthener to the Soul As Paul prayeth concerning the Ephesians That you might be strengthened saith he in your spirit with might in the inward man that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love c. Rooted and grounded As if he should say That now you may be able to stand strongly and unshakeably through temptations and provings and all storms as the Prodigal here now never more having a mind to wander from his fathers house and this will be your happiness indeed if ever you attain to it We have had many deliverances and experiences and helps in the wotk but are not yet made able to stand but as David says we mount up to Heaven and down again to the deeps not yet come home But when God shall have given victory then will there be a sure standing we shall then move no more when once establisht upon mount Sion that steady Foundation which shall never change nor wax old as a garment then shall we stick to our Principles and not after a vow enquire as now we do But 3. Meat if a blessing be with it makes a man look well have a good countenance but how through want does a man look lean and ill favored Wo is me saith
thy seed be blessed Ishmael though he may live in the House yet He must not be Heir with Isaac There are many flourishing Plants in the world that grow and thrive apace I but every Plant that my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up The King will overlook all his guests and then Friend how camest thou hither will light on all that have not the wedding garment on However we may strive to pull in Husbands and children and other relations according to our selfish wills yet alass That will not stand That will not make any who are not to be this chosen Generation It is not whom man approves but whom the Lord approves It was once so That all lay in the confused Chaos together in one lump like the Potters clay and then there was no difference at all none could say This is accepted or this rejected this is Jacob or this Esau this a vessel of honor That of dishonor till the Potter hath separated and distinguished his clay to several purposes and then was the Portion of the Nations divided and then the Lords People became his portion Then this chosen Generation had their first Being and were both from the womb of the morning Now in choosing these several things are considerable 1. Before a man chooseth any thing he weighs well and considers and overlooks it in his minde He weighs all the flaws and all the perfections in it that he may know what he chooseth and not do it hoodwinked So the Lord was pleased to weigh all his creatures When he divided to the Nations their Inheritance and separated the sons of Adam then he said Jacob is my portion He knew what he did how he would prove as God says I knew thou wouldst have iron sinews and a brazen brow He throughly considered what he did took in all faults and provocations that should ever spring from them and yet he pitches on this chosen generation and yet Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance Hence it is there are no repentings in God because the thing was throughly weighed We often repent because of our heady rushing upon this and the other but God is not as man He made his choyce with full advice and counsel Hence it is The gifts and calling of God are without repentance And In him is no variableness nor shadow of change because all his works were done in counsel therefore they stand fast for ever and ever And therefore saith David Walk about Zion Mark well her Towers c. Consider her strength the sure unmovable Rock she stands upon For this God is our God for ever and ever He will be our Guide unto Death This God is Zions God that hath done things at a certainty not at hazard that will be a Guide unto Death that will never leave nor forsake The bottom and ground is certain and 't is expressed thus in the Proverbs That I may make thee understand the words of Certainty This choyce of God is a certain unfailable unchangeable choyce This will seem wonderful when you shall come to consider it and the thing sink to your hearts Wert thou once in the same lump with the reprobate silver Was Esau Jacobs Brother and Jacob loved and Esau hated How comes this thing about What means this favor What manner of Love is this O Lord if it did but sink into your Souls what a thing is it to be chosen of God! Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches This is not the thing which puts the difference And so Christ to his Disciples Rejoyce not that Devils are subject to you That is not your Happiness No but that your names are written in Heaven that you are of this chosen generation that God pitched upon you what ever you are rejoyce in that Samuel he looks upon Eliah because of his stature and goodly personage as if sure he was the Lords anointed No but saith God not He but it is the stripling the little youth in the field the youngest and unthought of David he is the man He saves not the whole the honorable and learned the Scribes and Pharisees but Ought not this Daughter of Abraham to be loosed whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years She must be loosed because a Daughter of Abraham of that stock how ever mean and base in the eyes of man for God sees not as man seeth He picks where he pleaseth one of a City and two of a Tribe Though Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet but a remnant shall be saved Though there be threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines yet My Beloved is but one c. That he should let thousands and ten thousands go and yet pitch on me this will be wonderful to us when we shall see into it 2. A man affects the thing he chooseth his heart goes after it more then that which he lets alone And therefore Moses said to Israel The Lord chose you not because you were better or more in number then other people but because He favored you and set his Love upon you And in Jeremy he says I have loved thee of old with an everlasting Love and when thou wast in thy blood one would think that a strange time to love in yet then was thy time the time of Love Though there was no cause yet he loves Even so O Father saith Christ for so it pleased thee Two in a womb two in a mill two in the same condition and the one taken and the other left To be left is enough there is need of no more reprobation then that If a man be but left and not dayly maintained kept up and preserved he will corrupt of himself and run naturally to destruction There is no need of a cursing or destroying any Creature but he is pleased to leave some and that is enough They naturally tend and fall into the curse and bring it on their own heads if a preventer step not in and therefore that is not first concluded in God concerning any This is a damned wretch whom I hate and detest No his damnation is of himself he procures his own curse and if he be but left if not held up and hedged in and kept alive he cannot but dye No man can keep alive his own Soul The Branch if it be left without Sap from the root must needs dye If the Lord hath not chosen nor set his love upon any that is destruction enough that creature will sure enough run thither therefore see how Esau first sells his birth-right then loses his Blessing and one misery follows another till he be quite ruined and therefore the choosing the setting his heart upon any that is the thing which saves If God say as Sampson did concerning Delilah Give me her for she pleaseth me be she what she will yet she pleaseth me so Christ saith of the Spouse Thou hast
ravished my heart with one of thine eyes that is the thing to be beloved to find favour in his eyes Love will bear all things Love is as strong as death Love will save to the utmost and this Lot fal's on some Though Esther be an unlikely maiden one of another Country of mean degree yet she pleased the King and obtained kindnesse of him Chap. 2.9 and vers 17. and the King loved Esther above all the women and she obtained grace and favour in his sight and this is the thing that brings the Crown to her be she what she will Thou art fair my Love my undefiled Though she complains I am black yet he loveth her and Love sees no faults she is comely in his eye this is the portion of the chosen Generation 3. What a man chooseth to himself He taketh it out from other things he gathers it near to himself Thus is it with God He pulls the Brand out of the burning He takes the Poor out of the Dunghill leaves them not there and this is a sure token of choosing indeed where he leaves not a man or woman in their darkness in their bonds in their snares but pulls them out separates the Wheat from the chaff who hath translated us out of darkness into the Kingdome of his dear Son and in the Revelation it is said they were redeemed to God from amongst men and Christ saith because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you He takes his chosen ones out of their chains out of their filth out of a perishing condition cuts them off from the old stock That which he intends for a vessell of honour he takes it out of the Lump he leaves not his own in the same Lump with the rude world Now this is the great thing to be considered whether you are yet thus pulled out hath he made thee indeed to differ from the rude world art thou pulled out of the old Kingdome of Sathan where the whole world dwell in wickednesse though in severall ranks forms and degrees yet in the same Kingdome still not a new Creation made but this will make it appear he chooseth thee if thou canst say with David He plucked my feet out of the Snare he brought me up from the nethermost Hell and saith Jonah yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God that is his Salvation there it appears God is God We would vainly promise our selves as the whole world do to be saved by his love onely and so quietly passe our Lives in our own wills here and go to Heaven when we die but alas if ever saved we must be taken out of the condition we stick in Come out from amongst them my people that ye partake not of her Plagues Many have great words and great knowledge and light I but they are not yet translated out of the old Kingdom they remain still on the same stock but things that are chosen are taken out of the midst of other things and therefore Moses speaks to Israel Was ever such a thing known as that God should go to take to himself a people out of the midst of another people by great signes and wonders c. to take out of Snares and Bonds and Intanglements for God to say Come out of all and be you clean and be my people and I will be your God I shall inquire of you are you thus chosen are you pulled out of darkness and out of death and joyned to all the living Though in never so mean a place ne-never so despised an outcast though but a living dog yet if living if taken out of death and planted into a new Life that is the thing If there be that seed of Life it will ever be stirring and moving and bending like the Needle touched with the Loadstone set it where you will it can never rest untill it come into its right place till the Soul be brought to God Now there is a restless spirit in the Cains and lost ones but that is onely out of Torment the worm that never dyes and this restless spirit never moves towards God but runs from him but to this Centre the spirit of life ever tends to come from and out of all things unto God c. 4. Things that are chosen have no hand in their own choice All that befalls this Chosen Generation is of mercy and free goodness who made thee to differ nothing they could do could ever make a difference but the Case stands thus Two things lie together and a man passing by takes one and lets the other lie the things have no hand in it so is it in this choice of God all is done according to the pleasure of his own will see and read as you go that you may have nothing to glory and boast in nor challenge the least to thy self as if he saw some readiness or activity or towardliness in thee more then in others no he saw nothing but his own pleasure if there be any thing good in thee he put it there you have not chosen me saith Christ but I have chosen you This will make it appear free indeed when you shall be made to see there is no hand of yours in it but of his own good will begat he us No man ever begun first to seek after God but I was found of them that sought me not else no Soul would ever be saved Can a stone move upward no nothing can move to God but what came from God none can go to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven It is contrary to man who is born from beneath from the Earth to move upward his Centre is below unless he be pulled and drawn and born up and carried upon Eagles wings he falls to the Earth like a stone the natural man cannot please God he neither will nor can be subject to the Law of God and this is that God may have the glory alone in the work of Salvation as he says in Isa It shall be to me for a name and for a praise That he should save such unlikely ones and out of stones raise up children to Abraham this will seem wonderfull I did not think to have seen the Lord here saith Hagar when she had given up all for lost this will make the Soul say indeed as David doth God alone doth all 5. Things that are chosen are set apart for some speciall use a man hath some end in choosing them so was it with God in this choice he had a peculiar end and design to bring about and he chooseth some for that purpose but why are not all the world for this use True they might have been had he put in them the same spirit had he fitted the vessel to that purpose but he spends a great deal of cost and pains upon some he prepares the Vessell for that very purpose to put in new wine Old Bottles
a wonderful unnatural thing in us But well as Peter saith the long sufferance of God is salvation Shall nothing hinder No gainsayings nor longings but the long-sufferance will stand and knock and wait out all till it be our salvation This will one day be prized There is a chosen Generation amongst you that is certain Now do you hear it Do you believe it When will you open the Door and lay down all weapons and say Well I will never speak against the Lord more But say with Job what I know not teach thou me It is sure you have been the bush in which the Lord hath appeared the fire hath been trying and purging and burning in you and you are not yet consumed but when will you turn aside to see this great wonder When lay it to your heart I must leave and desire the Lord would give you understanding into what hath been said and above all that you may not war nor fight against it in your minds but soberly inquire Is this my lot Is this my Portion to be one of this chosen Generation It will at last cause your souls to admire The Poor WISE MAN And LITTLE CITY Against The GREAT KING And His BULWARKS SERM. X. May 18. 1651. ECCLES 9.14 15. There was a little city and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdome delivered the city yet no man remembred the same poor man The Analysis FRom the words was observed I. The Lord ever had a Little City under the Sun A People built together in Unity and Love In three respects compared to a City 1 A City is for habitation so God to dwell in his People 2 It is a place of Free-Trading so God will be free to trade in sorrows sufferings inlargements What he pleaseth with his people 3 It 's a place of safety So God looks to be safe in his People in his Name to be kept from reproach and sufferings II. This is but a Little city and that in three respects 1 It makes but little noise in the world Little notice of it 2 Little in compare of many thousands left But a small remnant 3 Little not easily seen nor found without a diligent search III. There are but few men in it Little or no help in it but a few men left and they tremblers unable to defend it Hence three things considered 1 Few men in it that no flesh might have to glory in saving it 2 All is emptied out of the room that God may dwell in it and be seen that the poor mans wisdome may appear 3 Few in it as no strength to withstand or keep off the lean enemy Every Temptation and snare too hard IV. A great King comes against this little City and builds Bulwarks Great opposition from the devil His Bulwarks are made of Earth any thing that springs thence knowledge parts zeal Hope 's these Bulwarks he can imploy to keep off the Truth V. In it is found a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivers the City Whence two things considered 1 Where he is to be found In the City not out the kingdom of God within you Christ in you else reprobates 2 How shall this poor man be known How shall you know whether Christ be in you These seven signs were laid down of it 1 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin the man wholly convinc'd that sin is too hard for him He cannot help himself 2 Where Christ is the soul cannot utterly despair it cannot be drowned In the bottom of hell Jonah lookt toward the Temple 3 There is ever a love to that which is of it 's own kinde if God be your Father you would love me saith Christ Truth ever loves Truth 4 Where Christ is ever a light goes along to search and discover all the secret carriages and wiles of the enemy He is a true searcher 5 Where Christ is He will never yield up this City though it cost his life yet with the three children we will not worship the golden image 6 There is a secret looking after God and expecting from him in the lowest day never a whole giving up all for lost 7 Where Truth is It can look through all heaps and swarms of enemies to God that he is still able to deliver and who can tell but he may be gracious ECCLES 9.14 15. There was a little City and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found it a poor wise man c. IN the verses before Solomon speaks of a strange Case which is very contrary to Reason to believe or see into vers 11. I returned and saw that the race is not to the swift nor the battel 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 hapneth to them all None of these will carry through by strength shall no man prevail and the wisdom of this world is foolishness and as for Riches they make themselves wings and fly away But well saith Solomon though all this takes not this Wisdom and strength and riches and skill cannot deliver men but they are taken in an evil net like the fishes and snared like the bird Yet for all this there is a wisdom that will stand there is a condition of deliverance to be attained I saw this wisdom under the sun and it seemed wonderful unto me There was a little city and few men in it and a great King came against it and besieged it and built Bulwarks against it and yet a poor wise man was found in it and he by his wisdom delivered the City This wisdom is indeed wonderful and too high for a fool The words in themselves are a metaphor taken up by the Holy Ghost by which he would express himself in things obvious to mans sense and reason and humane capacity and thereby lead the soul into the invisible minde meaning and intent of Scriptures For there is a hidden invisible meaning runs in all the Scriptures which none can read but those that buy eye-salve of Christ to anoint their eyes those who are taught of God and led into the meaning of them by the same Spirit which once breathed them forth The Scriptures are a deep Well and none but men of understanding can draw it out for all others the Well is too deep and they have nothing to draw with they can by no means reach the invisible minde of Christ From the words these things are observable I. That always the Lord had a little City under the Sun In all times he had his people a City built together where his Name lived and this was the strait of all our Fathers in their
thine own kind wherever thou findest it as Paul says we cannot do any thing against the truth but for it though the heart would be spurning and shrinking away saying he is a hard Master yet where this Spirit of Christ is it will joyn to his own the heart will be taken with him and cannot get off quite to leave him 4. Where Christ is He is a searcher he discovers al the inward and secret workings all the plots and stratagems of the Devil that all are but to destroy the soul is made to take notice of the secret carriages of things within it sees all the Train of his wyles and tricks and inventions how they are laid and how they work and whither they tend the world is blinded in all they see no danger they know not whither they go but Christ he is a divider in the souls of his People he will not believe every good word and fair promise that the enemy may make Master save thy self and cause these stones to be bread no but he will weigh and try what runs in all he will not take all for gold that glisters though you speak never so good words and fair promises and all seems right yet the Spirit of Christ where it is will try and examine whence it comes from what root all spings whether from heaven or hell c. 5. Where Christ is he will never yield up his City though it cost him his life he wil stand to his charge what ever comes on it as the three children answer though our God should not deliver us yet this their souls are resolved in we will not fall down and worship the golden Image what ever it cost yet they cannot turn to a Lie to worship an Idol Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death yet cannot we lift up our hands to a strange God c. though the Soul may be taken and carryed Captive by force yet where Christ is it still breaths with Paul but with my mind I serve the Law of God I chuse not this Service though halled to it it is the burthen it cryes under that is certain it cannot go backward though it cannot get forward neither though made to yield and say well this is your hour and the power of darkness yet the soul consents not it will not fall down and worship an Idol God Jacob will not go back again to Labans service what ever comes on it though Laban pursues behind and Esau meets him be-before and God seems to leave and discouraged him yet he will wrastle it out with God and never give over without the blessing 6. Where ever Christ is though the Soul be never so low in the bottom of hell yet there is a strange looking towards God out of the belly of hell saith Jonah I looked toward thy holy Temple where truth is sown in the Soul it cannot but look thither ward towards God bind it and fetter it and keep it down and shâ—ke it as you will yet it will never leave turning and turning and looking thither ward as the Needle ever bends towards the Northpole I remember in my lowest day and it was low indeed when all appeared as if I were quite lost and should sit down in Hell for ever among the damned yet I said in my Soul sure I shall love God th re I shâ—ll â—p ak something well of him amongst all that cursed and hatefull crew such a strange turning God ward is there in the worst of times 7. Where Christ is though all enemies beset it though all the Legions oâ— H ll and darkness of fears and doubttings come about it as a swarm yet the Soul is able to look beyond and through all to a Deliverance that it is yet possiâ—le it says still well yâ—t if he will deliver he is able thâ—re is a strange long Prospective Glass by which the Soul looks beyond all Seas and Mountains and impossibilities and fears and sees the Land that is very far off the good Land of rest and Peace and says well if the Lord delight in us he will bring us thither he is able still who can tell but he may be gracious Sure if the Lord Christ that Poor Wise Man be in you you cannot but savour and understand these words you will know the Language and though not able to express them plainly yet you cannot but know and feel these Leadings in your Souls It would now follow to speak of the Deliverance what way he takes how he delivers this City from the great King and that is not by force nor might nor multitudes but by his wisdom by a sleight that great Goliahs head is presently taken off by a wyle an unexpected way If thine Enemy hunger give him meat who would think this was the way to destroy him Yet this is the way he takes he gives the Enemy his Will lets him take his own course and run out his run thus he feeds him till he be insnared in his own net and so taken This can the Poor man do by his Wisdom but I would wish none of you to take it in hand 't is too hard for you to put your hand in the fire and not be burnt Mans Backwardness TO THE Lords House OR The Little Good-will to Truth SERM. XI May 25. 1651. HAGG. 1.2 3 4 c. Thus speaketh the Lord saying This people say The Time is not come the Time that the Lords House should be built Is it time for you O ye to dwell in your sieled houses and this house lie waste c. The Analysis THese general things were observed from the words I. What this house of God was and what it typed out It was a house built and separated to the Worship of God typing out the uniting of a people into one heart and soul where God may dwell II. Why will God have this House built For three Reasons 1. To be a Pattern of the Life to come where all live in Love and Peace 2. To be a standing place of Worship whither the Tribes go up 3. For a Witness to condemn the World in all their false ways III. What are the Materials of this House 1. Not of all but onely living stones such as will abide in whom the spirit of life is sown A living Dog is better then a dead Lion 2. In this House are to be vessels of all sorts and all for their proper use none in vain none unfruitful IV. Why do they plead It is not time to build this House For these three Reasons 1. From their ignorance They knew not that all their blastings and mildews and curses came for want of this This is our case 2. From love to their ease easier to sit still at home then go up to the mountain for wood to build The heart loves to be at ease 3. Fear hinders because yet they were under Tribute to the King of
Babylon and the work once hindered and so now sit down and will not venture V. Consider the Miseries that follow them for not building They sow much and bring in little clothe them and were not warmed earn much but all put into a bag of holes a curse in all their ways vers 6 9. This applyed to the present desolation upon us it being impossible for us to prosper without joyning in to be a one People VI. The Priviledges considered which accrue to them that set hand to this work They are these four 1. God promiseth Vers 8. to take pleasure in it This is a great Priviledg 2. Vers 13. he says I am with you saith the Lord His presence goes along 3. He promiseth Chap. 2.19 From this day will I bless you A sure blessing follows 4. He promiseth Zerubbabel Vers last I will make thee as a signet c. In which three great Priviledges considered 1. A Signet hath a neer relation to the hand so He to the Lord. 2. A Signet carries a mans own Arms or some memorable thing in it 3. It is to ratifie and confirm things to make sure such an honor and great priviledges are promised to such as shall set upon this work HAGG. 1.2 3 4 c. Thus speaketh the Lord saying This People say The Time is not come the Time that the Lords House should be built c. SEveral things I would mention to you out of this Scripture 1. I would open what this house is that God complaineth lieth waste 2. What this house is to be built up of of what materials 3. Why do they plead It is not time to build the Lords House yet What Reasons have they for it 4. What misery comes upon them for neglecting this work a blast and curse follows in all their ways They prosper in nothing they set a hand to because of this 5. I would open the great benefits and priviledges that follow upon the beginning to set to this work of building God a house how wonderfully they are prospered and blest and preserved what strange ways God findes out and turns all things that were contrary to help forward his work The Heaven shall hear the Earth and the Earth hear the Corn and Wine and the Corn and Wine shall hear Israel God will turn and order all things for a Blessing I. WHAT IS THIS HOUSE THAT LIETH WASTE AND WHAT TYPES IT OUT Time was when God had his Vine in Egypt his people were in slavery and bondage in a strange Land till their tasks grew too heavy and they cry out under their cruel bondage till at last the cry comes up to Heaven and the Lord can bear no longer but breaks out I have seen I have seen the afflictions of my People Israel and so he sends to deliver them with a high hand and stretched out arm by strange signs and wonders against all the opposition and rage of their Enemies Now when he had brought them through the red Sea and by a visible miracle drowned all their Enemies and saved them with a great Salvation then their hearts were taken and they sing his praise and in their song they make this promise And we will build him an HABITATION and this was never accomplished till Solomons time Though it was in Davids heart and God took it well that it was in his heart yet Solomon was pitched on by God for this work He shall build me an House and here God placed his Name and his Worship and his Presence here he dwelt here he would be sought and enquired of Hither the Tribes came up here their prayers were made and answered c. But after they came once to make an evil use of this House to serve their lusts and own ends contrary to what God had intended it when they come to cry The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and vainly rest on that outside and make an Idol of it as they did of the brazen Serpent in the wilderness then God departs from this House and gives it into the hand of the King of Babylon who makes havock of all and lays it waste and carries away the vessels of the Lords House into Babylon and breaks all their way and worship in pieces But yet still the Lords minde goes on and is the same he is upon it still to have a House built for his Name and Worship to live in and to this purpose he turns the heart of the King to make proclamation of Liberty to the people to return and gives them encouragement and supplies to farther this work but they no sooner set to it indeed to begin and lay the foundation but there are Enemies appear and great opposition is made so that the work ceased and was layd aside till a new stirring arises and God sends Haggai and other of the Prophets to put them upon it to build this House after it had lien waste many years for the people were now brought out of Babylon and dwelt in their own Land but they let the time slip and pass over and had no heart to the work though they might have built it and this is parallel to our condition that linger and trifle away time and put it off though an opportunity be given us again and again and we are often called and invited and entreated to set on this work of building the Lords House to become a one-hearted people no more to serve our selves but one another II. But WHY WILL THE LORD HAVE A HOUSE BUILT a set place of Worship Why will he not leave his Worship to be performed in any place where men please themselves For these three Reasons 1. That this house might be a pattern of the Life to come a type of the Heavenly Jerusalem where they are all to live in love and peace and unity to be all of one heart and one soul moving from one principle to one end without jars and scatterings and wranglings for in the life to come it will not be as 't is now with us every one living for and to our selves and at a distance and loose end from all others But there the morning stars all sing together without jars and envyings and an evil eye there is a peaceable life a Kingdom of love and peace and this God would have a pattern a rude draught of in this World a people brought into some order and conformity of spirit answerable to the Kingdom to come He would have somewhat here of that union and agreement of Soul of that love to care for one another and bear one anothers burthens to honor and serve and prize one anotehr and all in love Paul had a taste of this life He became a servant to all that he might save some and Christ pleased not himself and David cries out O how I love thy Law and the place where thy honor dwells This life to come was pointed out by this outward Temple and all its beauty
but saith Paul I would to God you did reign viz. that it were such a reigne as would last and hold Now who spake he to not to the rude world nor to the ignorant but such as he had in his heart to live and dye with such as he had espoused to Christ the match was made but not the thing done they were not wrought off from all things nor wrought up to that one husband into the minde of Christ though out of a light instruction and choice the thing was owned and approved And here the man gets peace and ease and liberty is free from guilt and torments and perplexities the man can goe on either hand if a mind to God and Truth thither he can turn if a mind to the Creatures he can turn thither the door is open and he can suck sweet from every thing his wayes are all washt in butter smooth soft and easie And here saith David my mountain was so strong I said I shall never be moved here the man sits as a King this is his day of reigning But II. There is another dispensation follows a time of the Devils reign this is a sad and wofull change Another king arises which knows not Joseph the man when he was King he knew God and owned truth and joyned it with him in his Kingdom though yet in the throne Pharaoh will sit above the man was uppermost in all But now another king rises that will not know Joseph and he deals cruelly with Israel then the hard Task-masters and cruel burdens come he will know nothing but his own will and lust and cruelty And Wo to the inhabitants of the world when the devil comes down to reign amongst them when Jeroboam reigns that makes Israel sin And how often have our fathers been at sore pinches and cried out in bitterness of soul when this time of the devils reign was upon them It is a woful kingdom indeed a cruel reign And these seven Woes lie up in it 1. One Wo is that he is a strong man How have our fathers owned his might and cried out under it Thou hast delivered me saith David from my STRONG enemy for he was too strong for me And again My enemies live and they are MIGHTY And Hezekiah cries out Lord I am opprest undertake for me And again We have no might against this GREAT HOST Alas when the man compares but himself to him what a Nothing is he to this great Goliah but as a fly a worm a gnat a stripling and he a man of war from his youth And here the heart sinks and dies at the very thoughts of dealing with him Was he but an ordinary enemy that might be matched any ways and the thing but feasible to fight with him then Man would have some hope but alas he carries all before him Shall not one be cast down at the very sight of him as 't is said of the Leviathan who was a type of the devil Iron is counted as rotten wood to him he laughs at the shaking of a spear Who is able to deal with this monstrous Leviathan If ever you but begin to reason and tamper the matter with him you are certainly foiled and worsted he will surely get beyond you 't is in vain to contend with him But let him vaunt and boast and rail on the Kings commandment is not to answer a word that 's the way Truth points us to to be still and lie under and say with Christ This is your hour and the power of darkness Until we can go out against him as David did in the Name of the Lord let us never stir though he come and vaunt himself and reproach Israel fourty days yet there is no other way but with Hezekiah to spread the Letter before the Lord and cry under the misery 2. He is not onely strong but a thorowout malignant enemy maliciously set and bent to destroy all truth exalts himself above all that is called God root and branch he strikes at all he deals as Herod who killed all the children from two yeers old and upward that he might be sure to meet with the childe Jesus and not let him escape So this malicious enemy kills every budding and springing of God in the soul he kills all the light kills the single love kills all the good desires that not so much as a right word or desire or groan may live and in all this his aim is utterly to destroy the Truth the principle of God sown in the soul Alas he cares not else if he can but kill the little spark of the Spirit of life he cares not what else passes by and lives Let us hear and meet together and eat and trade and take ease and content this is not the thing he is set against so but to smite the king of Israel onely that is his plot that was the wicked counsel of Ahithophel to kill David onely and bring all the people back to Absalom Neither small nor great doth he strike at but the King onely he cares not what lives so the Lord Christ the Truth the Seed of life the Heart and Minde of God may die in us Such a height of wickedness is in him that nothing else will content him but the death of all that would be a Lord over him a controuler a King this Herod cannot bear That which sits in the kings gate and will not bow to him that resolved Truth that will not fall down and worship the Idol nothing will content Haman but the death of this though he get Decrees against all the Jews though invited to the Queens banquet and sit next the King yet nothing will content him whilst this Mordecai lives that Seed of God that root of the matter that which will not stoop and buckle to him that he aims at and his fingers itch to cut off this name of Israel for ever And Oh what a Wo is this to be under such a cruel malicious enemy that would not give a moments respite not so much as a little breathing-time for the Truth not a little hope not a little desire not the least stirring of an inclination but he 's upon it presently if it were possible to stop every chink that the smoaking flax might not have the least vent but be utterly extinct and quenched 3. A third great Wo lies in this that he hath a time and power given him of God to afflict and try God allows it and gives him leave to strike Job This is YOVR HOVR saith Christ an hour was given them And God saith I will cause them to pass under the rod. And 't is said in the Psalms He TVRNED the hearts of their enemies to hate them He gives him his time and commission to rend and tear waste spoil and imprison and none can call him to account for it his Commission will bear him out Alas what a day is this In the time when the Man reigned he promised himself
and ransacked I but Christ when he comes he takes away his armour all that in which he trusted and hoped and said Now I am safe I shall sit as a Queen for ever I shall never see sorrow I but all his armour and fence is taken from him and this is a downfal indeed when he is thus found out and nothing can hide nor cover him any longer his coat of Male is taken from him and then Truth can easily enter then nothing appears but the mans nakedness and guilt and shame then the man cries out with Paul I am the chief of sinners then the Word takes place and enters and every arrow sticks Thine arrows stick fast in me saith David Then the man falls under as a poor naked helpless hopeless thing then he is counselled by Christ to buy eye-salve of him and gold tried in the fire and fine linen for he is found wholly naked and blinde and miserable We had thought Christ had ruled in us and we had been for God and the Truth we had thought our zeal and forwardness and speaking for God should have passed currant but take away this armour of the devil and then we are found out to be a wretched deceitful people a lye and deceit appears to be running in all and that there is nothing single for God and Truth without base selfish ends of our own And this is the first work Christ is to do in your souls to spoil this strong man of his armour else no Word of truth can ever come nigh and seize 2. After Christ hath taken away his armour he then seizes on his goods and DIVIDES THE SPOYL the spoyl Why what use can Christ make of his spoyl what can he do with all the devils goods You may see the thing illustrated Jer. 15. where God speaks thus Let that which is for death go to death that which is for the sword to the sword that which is for the famine to the famine and that which is for captivity to captivity 1. That which is for death to death some of these goods are presently to go to death to be utterly destroyed The enemies which you have seen to day saith Moses you shall never see them more The malignant disposition that was so wickedly bent against all prospering of Truth that evil eye that which lay in the way that one step Godward could not be taken that must be utterly destroyed and cut off for ever that abomination must live no more that ill favour that gave a taint and poison to all our ways and thoughts and words that man to Death Christ will say to that unclean spirit Come out of the man and enter into him again no more That enmity of spirit and hatred and ill will to all good the end of that is to be destroyed for ever That Cain-like love that hates its brother and would not suffer the least breathing nor prospering nor looking up of the Truth for according to that evil disposition in you if you minde it the heart rises against all good where-ever it appear though in a childe in a brother in a husband or wife yet the enmity works and hates to see your offering accepted and mine laid by as nothing But before Christ can ever come to reign this must certainly die and a whole turn of soul be wrought and we made naturally to love and chuse the prosperity of the Truth 2. Something must go to the sword That which is for the sword to the sword The Word of God that sword of the Spirit that shall still go on after that great enmity is slain to search and judge and quicken and stir up the man and cut off what hinders that the soul may grow up into the minde of God and as it hath born the image of the earthly so to bear the image of the heavenly as we have given our members servants to sin so to give them up to be servants of righteousness to be as free and voluntary and earnest in the service of the Lord as ever we have been to serve our selves to spend and be spent for the truth this the sword must do cut out a way thorow all rubbish for this minde to arise It must cut away all that sloth and carelesness that sluggish and carnal minde that sits still at home and would not come out to help the Lord against the mighty When Christ shall come to deal with us indeed and use his sword this must all be cut away and the soul pruned 3. Something must go to the famine That ill taint and setled indisposition that has been gathered and contracted by long custom in evil that hankering and lingering after the wickeds dainties all this must to the famine and be worn out by degrees and pined by little and little till it come to die Where-ever the heart is taken and hangs on the creatures on eating or wearing or trading or whatever enjoyments by degrees and degrees a secret moth shall eat and consume all a wasting and consuming famine must cure this evil disease 4. Something must go to Captivity and that is the last enemy to be destroyed the Devil he will yet keep some hold and footing and not be utterly routed so long as there is any dust to be the serpents food so long as the man hath any life beside the life of God I but now Christ shall designe him to captivity he shall be under a hewer of wood and drawer of water a servant to Christ he shall lord it no more He shall be bound for a thousand yeers and that will be the souls greatest happiness to keep him but in his prison that he may not break forth do his mischievous pranks but lie in his dungeon and be an underling to Truth though he still live for some Canaanites will ever live in the land to be the souls trial c. And thus I have opened to you this Day the great block that lieth in our way the bonds and shackles that hold us so fast It is Satans day 't is his hour and the power of darkness the mans Day of reigning is declining and laid aside in most if not all of you the man is not suffered so to bear sway and go at liberty and soar aloft in his minde but there are secret checkings and mindings of a shortness and the black feet appearing make the feathers fall And in some of you it is an empty and desolate Day you are left without much stirring either from God or from the enemy The land is void of both her kings But the greatest and sorest Day which lies sore upon some of us is The reign of the enemy and then wo to the inhabitants of the world Wo to that Land indeed where the Wicked are in Authority I opened to you the several Woes in it And now to make some Use 1. Examine How is it with you Every soul look home do you feel this strong enemy Do you