degrees of it are four Labour to dye well two things requisite thereunto 1. Preparation before death 2. A right behaviour in death What is preparation before death Preparation twofold 1. General 2 Particular and that 1. In reference to God 2. Our selves 3. Our Neighbour 2. A right behaviour in death and that in three particulars 2. Of Judgment What it is and that in six particulars When it shall be Four Reasons why the time is concealed Judgment is twofold 1. Particular presently after death 2. General at the last day Difference between the resurrection of the Elect and Reprobates in four things What is meant by the books shall be opened and what by the book of life The act of judgment performed two ways 1. By Examination 2. By pronouncing sentence Two differences between the examination of the Elect and the Reprobates and other things about the administration of it Four Reasons why this last judgment must be Who the Judg is 3. Of Hell Seven Epithites of the place of the damned in Scripture Five acceptations of hell Adireful representation of hell Three Reasons for it Of the punishment of loss and the punishment of sence An exhortation to labour to avoid it 4. Of Heaven What that eternal blessed life is The variety of heavenly joys in four things The three Scriptural Heavens described What is meant by Abraham's bosome The sum of the last Article of our faith in three things Whether we shall know each other in Heaven Proved affirmatively by six Arguments An exhortation to live the life of Grace here that we may live the life of Glory hereafter Books very lately Printed for Edw. Brewster at the sign of the Crane in Paul's Church-yard 1676. 1. THe Apostolical History containing the Acts Labours Travels Sermons Discourses Miracles Successes and Sufferings of the Holy Apostles from Christ's Ascension to the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus c. By Samuel Cradock B. D. fol. 2. Mr. Henry Smith's Sermons 4to 3. Cases of Conscience Practically Resolved By the Reverend and Learned J. Norman late Minister of Bridgwater in Sommerset 8vo 4. Christian Advice both to Young and Old Rich and Poor which may serve as a Directory at hand ready to direct all persons almost in every estate and condition under 17 general useful Heads By Thomas Mocket M. A. 5. Moses Revivâ—d A Treatise proving that it is not lawful and therefore sinful for any man or woman to eat blood viz. the life-blood of any Creature 8vo 6. Basilius Valentinus his last Will and Testament which was found hid under a Table of Marble behind the high Altar in the Cathedral Church of the Imperial City of Erford leaving it there to be found by him whom God's Providence should make worthy of it 8vo 7. The Royal Pay and Pay-Master A Sermon preached before the Military Company By William Sâ—later D. D. Minister of St. James Clarkenwell 4to 8. Exodus Or the decease of Holy men and Ministers considered in the Nature Certainty Causes and Improvement thereof A Sermon preached the 12th Sept. 1675. at the Funeral of the much lamented Death of the Learned and Reverend Minister of Christ Dr. Lazarus Sâ—aman late Pastor of Alhallows Breadstreâ—t London By William Jenkyn late Minister of Christ-Church London 4to 9. Lydea's Heart opened or Divine Mercy magnified in the Conversion of a Sinner by the Gospel By William Strong M. A. c. 8vo EXERCITATION THE FIRST Ezek. 16. 8. I entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine GOd in this Chapter by Ezekiel a Priest and a Prophet declares His great mercies to the people of Israel and their horrid and vile ingratitude Among all His mercies this was none of the least that God entred into a Covenant with them There are three things among men that do induce a publick obligation and yet do differ in themselves As 1. a Law 2. A Covenant 3. A Testament A Law and a Testament are absolute and do not imply any consent of the party under them For a Law requires subjection not expecting the consent of inferiours So a Testament or a Will of a Man is to bequeath such Goods and Legacies not expecting the consent of others But a Covenant requires consent and agreement between two parties The Covenant of God with man is twofold 1. That of Works which was made before the fall with Adam in his innocency 2. The Covenant of Grace which was made since the fall The Covenant of Works with Adam before the fall is laid down more obscurely than the Covenant of Grace was Gen. 2. 16 17. after the fall And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of Knowledg of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Do this and thou shalt live â— if thou do it not thou shalt dye And so God enabled Adam to do that which was good for the which he was the more obliged unto God Or thus The Covenant of Works God made with Adam promising him therein an everlasting continuance of felicity and happiness under condition of his obedience unto God but threatning death to him if he were disobedient This Covenant of Works was confirmed by a double Sacrament 1. The tree of life 2. The tree of knowledg of good and evil both seated in the midst of Paradise The use of these was double 1. That by the use of the one and by abstaining from the other man's obedience might be tryed 2. That the tree of life might Seal to man being obedient his perpetuity of happiness and that the tree of knowledg of good and evil might signifie unto man if he were disobedient the loss of the greatest good and the purchasing and procuring of the greatest evil The tree of life was not so called from any inward implanted faculty of quickning in it but a Sacramental signification So also the tree of knowledg of good and evil had this name from the signification of the greatest evil or good with the event and consequences thereof Here in this Covenant needed no Mediator for it was before sin was in the world and Adam then was in perfect familiarity and communion with God It was Sin that brought in enmity fear and shame as well as punishment and death For presently after the fall Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord and feared c. because of the guilt of Sin and breach of Gods Commandment So he confessed I was afraid Gen. 3. 10. because I was naked and hid my self These are the grounds and reasons to prove that God dealt with Adam in these Commandments by way of Covenant 1. From the evil threatned and good promised 2. Because his posterity became guilty of his Sin and obnoxious and liable to his punishment 3. Because the Apostle Paul in Rom. 5. 12 15 18. makes all
men in Adam as believers are in Christ which is by a foenant or Covenant agreement Q. How can God be said to Covenant or enter into promise with man A. It is of Gods great condescension so to do in regard of His Soveraignty over man And yet to give and to promise to give are acts of His dominion and liberality and so no ways repugnant to the great and glorious Majesty of God But it is to confirm us in our hope and confidence in Him and in our obedience unto Him Q. Why doth God deal with man in a Covenant way rather than in a meer supreme and absolute way A. 1. To sweeten and endear Himself unto us So that Adam could not but have thankful and loving thoughts of God that would thus far condescend unto him 2. To incite and encourage Adam the more to obedience and that to a willing and free obedience When our first Parents had broken this Covenant and were fallen God out of His infinite pity mercy and compassion to mankind made with them another Covenant a Covenant of Grace And because man was an ill-keeper when he had his salvation in his own hands he soon by Sin lost it and himself thereby Therefore our gracious God would not have our Salvation any longer in our own keeping but made this His Covenant with man in the hands of a Mediatour even the Lord Jesus Christ who Mal. 3. 1. is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant who will be sure to preserve and keep us by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. And herein Gods unspeakable mercy to manking appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but â—itus 3. 4 5 6 7. according to His mercy He hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He hath shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by His Grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Yea before God pronounced the Curse or Sentence of Judgment after Adam's fall He graciously shewed a way and a surer way of salvation in and through Christ the Mediator when He said the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head As this Covenant was first Preached by God to Adam the Lord shewed him his Sin and the curse due for Sin and then sets an enmity between him and the serpent they must fight it out whereof the issue will be thus A certain seed of the woman shall utterly overthrow Sathan even breaking the head of that Serpent but the Serpent shall only bruise His heel which signified light and temporary afflictions both in the Head and also in the members of Christ the head By virtue of which promise the Church continued until Abraham's time and then the Covenant is renewed In Gen. 22. 18. thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed The condition required of Abraham was to believe so Abraham believed in Gen. 15. 6. God and He counted it to him for righteousness Not that this was Abraham's righteousness before God but that habit that grace of faith chiefly looking to the Messiah promised that believing disposition whereby he was able to believe that promise this was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness Rom. 4. 2 3. which brings us to speak of the Covenant of Grace The Covenant of Grace is a mutual agreement between God and men whereby God confirms unto men that He will be favourable unto them forgiving them their Sins and giving unto them new righteousness His Holy Spirit and everlasting life by and through His Son our Mediator And men oblige themselves unto God to receive so great benefits by lively faith and to yield to God all true obedience This mutual agreement between God and man is confirmed by outward signs and seals which we call Sacraments Sacraments are holy signs testifying God's good-will toward us and our gratitude and duty towards God This Covenant could not be made without a Mediator for we could never make satisfaction nor return into favour with God by and of our selves Neither could God admit us for His justice sake without sufficient satisfaction which we could never make For we were enemies to God and so there was no way open for us to come unto God but by that new and living way namely the blood of Christ So then this Reconciliation Heb. 10. 20. could never be made but by the satisfaction and death of the Mediator That on which all the promises now initially hang is nothing but believing Who so now believeth in God shall be put within the Covenant And there are these four reasons why all depends upon faith First Because true faith is never alone but draws with it all other Graces he that believes in God hath a good opinion of God and loves God and he that loveth God must needs be full of good works Jam. 2. 17 18. Secondly Only faith makes the promises sure unto us otherwise Christ and the Covenant of Grace had been spared Thirdly The Covenant consists of promises nothing but faith can answer this Covenant which is not a Commandment but a Promise Commandments are answered by obedience but Promises are answered by faith Fourthly It is by faith because God would have it go by free Grace and not of debt God dealeth with us as with Sons and not as with Servants He pays Rom. 3. 27. Rom. 11. us not wages but gives us an inheritance So all boasting is excluded The sum of the Covenant of Grace is this That God will be our God and give us everlasting life in Christ Jesus if we receive Him by faith being freely Joh. 1. 12. Jer. 31. 33. Acts 16. 30 31 by His Father offered unto us where hence will follow new obedience whereby the faithful walk worthy of the Grace received and this is also by the Grace of God This God's eternal love and free Grace towards us is the highest link of our salvation both in order of time nature and causality Whom He predestinated Rom. 8. 29 30. those also He called and whom He called those He justified and whom He justified those also He glorified God loved us when we were Sinners enemies to Him and that by wicked works If our wicked works could not Col. 1. 21. prevent the love of God to us why should we think they can nullify or destroy it if the mass guilt and greatness of Adam's Sin in which all men were equally sharers could not interrupt or frustrate God's counsel of loving us when we were His enemies why should any other Sins over-turn the stability of the same love and counsel when we are become His Sons and have a Spirit given us to bewail and lament our Sins It was God's promise flowing from this everlasting love that caused Him to make an everlasting Covenant with us that He would not turn away from us
back and that they had cast away the Law There is no fear Isai 5. 24. Psal 36. 1. of God before their eyes Like the unjust Judge who neither feared God nor regarded man We may have cause to Luk. 18. 2. fear such as Abraham said of the Philistins at Gerar Because I thought that Gen. 20 11. 1 Sam. 21. 10 23. 26. the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wifes sake So David fled for fear of Saul There are many acceptations of fear in Scripture 1. It is taken for natural fear which is a certain natural affection whereby men are stricken by reason of some natural or hurtful evil either true or imagined So Jacob said of his brother Gen. 32. 11. Esau I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the mothers with the children So the City of Jericho feared because of Israel So Peter being on the Josh 2. 9 11. Mat. 14. 30. 28. 4. Sea when he saw the wind boysterous was afraid and cryed out c. This natural fear is in it self neither good nor evil It was in Christ Himself as He was man It becomes evil and sinful Heb. 5. 7. Mark 14. 33. when distrust is mixed with it 2. There is a free voluntary fear and reverence which inferiours shew to their superiours making them careful to obey and loth to offend and that for the Lord's sake Let the wise see Eph. 5. 33. that she reverence her husband but the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that she fear her husband So render to all their due fear to whom fear Rom. 13. ◠belongeth 3. Fear sometimes in Scripture is taken for the thing or danger feared the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me said Job and that which I was Job 3. 25. Prov. 1. 27. afraid of is come unto me When their fear cometh as desolation c. that is when that which they feared cometh c. 4. For the person which is feared In this sence God is called the fear of Isaac So Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac that is by God whom Isaac Gen. 31. 42 53. feared a Metonymie 5. Fear in Scripture sometime is taken for an holy affection of the heart awing us and making us loth to displease God by sin in respect of His great goodness and mercies and for a love we bear to righteousness There is mercy Psal 130. 4. with Thee that Thou mayest be feared This is a filial or child-like fear spoken of before The Godly are commanded Job 1. 2. Acts 10. 2. thus to fear and are commended for it so is Job and so Cornelius that they feared God 6. For a terrour in the heart of wicked men fearing God as a Judge being loth to offend Him by sin in regard of His punishments and not from any hatred of wickedness Thus Felix trembled Acts 24. 25. and feared This is servile and slavish fear spoken of also before 7. Fear is taken for the whole worship of God Thou shalt fear the Lord. In every nation he that feareth God and Deut. 6. 13. Acts 10. 35. Prov. 1. 7. Psal 112. 1. 128. 1. worketh righteousness is accepted of Him Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord where is a Synechdoche of the part for the whole For where the fear of God is truly planted there will follow the whole worship of God 8. To think upon dangerous things which breed fear So thine heart shall Isai 33. 18. meditate fear 9. For a great terrour and fear from God which was sent on the hearts of the men of those Cities of the Canaanites that they pursued not after the sons of Gen. 35. 5. Jacob to slay them And the fear of 2 Chr. 17. 10. God was upon those cities round about them c. Thus we see the several significations and acceptations of fear in Scripture and also what the true fear of God is which is whereby we so fear and reverence His holy Majesty and His Word that we take heed by all means of offending so gracious a Father not so much for fear of punishment as out of true love to God Several encouragements out of Scripture to fear God 1. God wisheth it Oh that they would fear Me that it may be Deut. 5. 29. well with them and with their children and for their good alwayes 6. 24. 2. The secret of the Lord is with them Psal 25. 14. that fear Him and He will shew them His Covenant He will teach them 119. 102. 3. There is no want to them that fear Him The young lyons shall lack and Psal 34. 9 10. suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall lack no good thing 33. 18 19. Prov. 22. 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches honour and life There is Psal 11 1. 5. 112. 1 2. Prov. 15. 16. Psal 61. 5. a special heritage belongs to those that fear God therefore David said Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name That is as these present so also eternal good things which properly belong to God's Children wherein they of the world have no part at all 4. The Lord is nigh them that fear Psal 85. 9. Him And blessed are they to whom the Lord is nigh to hear and help Moses described the happiness of Israel herein and said What nation is there so great Deut. 4. 7. who hath the Lord so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is to us in all things that we call upon Him for Surely His salvation is nigh them that Psal 85. 9. fear Him c. In the fear of the Lord is strong considence Prov. 14. 26. and his children shall have a place of resuge The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting Psal 103. 11 to everlasting on them that fear Him c. He will fulsil the desire of them that 145. 19. fear Him He also will hear their cry and save them For the Lord taketh pleasure in them 147. 11. that fear Him in those that hope in His mercy The fear of the Lord prolongeth days Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of 14. 27. life to depart from the snares of death The fear of the Lord tendeth to life 19. 23. and he that hath it shall be satisfied To you that fear My name shall the Mal. 4. 2. Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings c. His mercy is on them that fear him Luk. 1. 50. from generation to generation Who is among you that feareth the Isai 50. 10. Lord that obeyeth the voice of His servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon His God
while they daily say Psal 42. 3. Ezek. 9. 4. unto me where is thy God That the Lord may remember us for good and mark us out for mercy when we mourn and sigh and cry out for all the abominations which are done in the Land It is not enough for us to refrain from those abominations but we must also be truly humbled for them and that because of the great dishonour redounding to God thereby 3. Speak not of God but with fear and reverence and as in His sight and hearing for there is not a word in our Psal 139. 4. mouths but he knows it altogether Seeing we are unworthy to take God's holy name in our mouths much less ought we to abuse it vainly and lightly in our speeches But to abuse it in vain rash or false oaths is an undoubted sign of one that hath no fear of God before his eyes They shall make their own tongue Psal 64. 8. Hos 7. 16. to fall upon themselves they shall fall for the rage of their tongue So the Prophet complains Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and Isai 3. 8. their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory 4. Let our speeches be always gracious seasoned with the salt of wisdom and discretion such as may edifie or Colâ— 4. 6. Minister Grace to the hearers Let no corrupt communication proceed out of our Eph. 4. 29. mouths but that which is good c. for 1 Cor. 15. 33. evil communications corrupt good manners 5. Pray to God in the words of David Set thou a watch O Lord before Psal 141. 3. my mouth and keep the door of my lips c. and let us take heed to our ways Psal 39. 1. that we sin not with our tongue and keep our mouth as with a bridle For whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble For he that loveth Prov 21. 23. 1 Pet. 3. 10. life and would see good days must refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile 6. Consider wherefore God gave thee a tongue and the organs of speech thou art not so bruitish as to think it was to curse and swear and blaspheme his name No no know assuredly that the tongue is the glory of a man and so David calls it and faith awake my glory Psal 57. 8. I my self will awake early to praise the Lord. And so in another place Thou hast shewed such mercies to me to the end 30. 1â— that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent c. They that use their tongues to God's dishonour and refuse to praise him with their tongues here shall never sing Hallelujahs hereafter but shall gnaw their Rev. 16. 10. tongues for pain because of their pains and that for ever where the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out I might farther speak here of the government of the tongue which containeth two parts 1. Holy speech 2. Holy silence In Holy speech must be considered 1. The matter of our speech 2. The manner of it But I shall be too prolix and expatiate too far to insist particularly on these and the several branches thereof I shall close up this discourse with these Sentences The lips of the righteous know what is Prov. 10. 32. acceptable but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his 13. 3 life but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue 21. 23. keepeth his soul from evil The breach of this third Commandment is very hainous and so much the more as the glory of God is most dear and precious to Him And good reason for if sinful men regard their reputation ought not God much more respect His honour and glory The punishment God threatneth iâ— not to hold the party offending guiltless that is faultless And though noâ— particular punishment should follow yet impunity is punishment enough God is greatly angry when He correcteth not And an hardned heart is punishment enough So a man may be grievously punished and yet not feel it Besides in this threatning no time is affixed that offenders may fear always for suddenly oft-times God cometh anâ— shews His vengeance on such wicked persons as we have many examples No kind of punishment is named that they may look for all There is no exception of persons every one so offending shall be punished and plagued EXERCITATION THE NINTH Exod. 8. 32. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also IT is a fearful thing for any man to harden his heart against God Who ever hardened himself against God and Job 9. 4. hath prospered Pharaoh first presumptuously and wickedly hardened his own heart then the Lord judicially hardened his heart and gave him over to hardness of heart Though he had those ten direful Plagues upon his Land though the Egyptians his own people cryed out to him to let Israel go urging to him Doest thou not know that all the Exod. 10. 7. land of Egypt is destroyed yet still he hardened his heart Like other wicked men who after their hardness and impenitency of heart treasure up unto Rom. 2. 5. themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgments of God The plague of hardning of his heart was a greater plague than all the ten plagues of Egypt For so obdurate and desperately hardened was his heart that although he had let the people of Israel go and had had all those ten plagues on him and on his Land yet he pursued after them with all his Hoast Chariots Horses and Horsemen even into the middest of the red sea and there they were all drowned there remained not so much as one of them Like as they made their hearts Exod. 14. 28. harder than the nether milstone as it is spoken of Leviathan so they all sank Job 41. 24. Exod. 15. 10. as a stone or lead in those mighty waters Thus God brake the heads of Leviathan in pieces viz. Pharaoh and all his host and gave them to be meat Psal 74. 14. to His people inhabiting the wilderness The meaning whereof is not as some though pious and learned and the Septuagint also do too too grosly interpret it to the wild beasts which devoured the Egyptians carcasses that were cast upon the shore but the meaning is that God overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red sea and gave them to meat to His people of Israel in their wilderness-condition for their souls to feed on by faith to consider God's signal miraculous preservation of them and deliverance of them out of Egypt and from those mighty Leviathans who would have swallowed them up and destroyed them and so to strengthen their faith in an experimental way that God would still go along with them
God hath sifted us fully if we will meekly and patiently depend upon Him and holily and humbly wait till He send deliverance There is a work of patience it must not be an idle patience but a patience working in the use of all lawful means And there is also a perfect work to bear a very heavy burden and a long time and that with patience this doth shew that patience hath had its perfect work Be we patient stablish our hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth Jam. 5. 8. nigh that is not in the general judgment at the last day but in this or that particular mercy or deliverance out of such a streight tryal or affliction Shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him though He bear long with them I tell you saith our Saviour He will avenge Luk. 18. 7 8. them and that speedily that is when God's good time is come Nevertheless when the Son of man shall come shall He find faith on the Earth the meaning is that God oftentimes deferreth such or such a mercy or deliverance until we are even weary of waiting our hope lost our faith even spent and so our extremity God takes for His opportunity then is Gods time to work then mercies will be most sweet then most refreshing Every thing is beautiful in Eccles 3. 11. its time 3. Wait diligently Stir up thy self to take hold on God waiting is no idle posture or sitting still Engage thy Isai 64. 7. Jer. 30. 21. heart to approach unto God Consider that the blessing doth not consist in the removal of an affliction but in the sanctified use of it And therefore blessed is the man whom thou chastenest Psal 94. 12. O Lord and teachest him in thy Law When instruction and correction go together that is a blessed and happy correction Labour therefore for a sanctified use of every affliction to be purged and purified thereby Give aâ— â— Pet. 1. 10. diligence to make thy calling and election sure Keep thy heart with all diligence Prov. 4. 23. Heb. 6. 12. And shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Looking Heb. 12. 15. diligently lest we fail of the Grace of God So let us be diligent in our waiting that we may be found of God in peace 2 Pet. 3. 14. without spot and blameless I wait for the Lord my Soul doth Psal 130. 5. wait and in His word do I hope God will have us to wait until He come and rain righteousness upon us Oh how Hos 10. 12. doth our blessed Saviour wait upon us standing at the door of our hearts and knocking saying Open to Me My Sister Rev. 3. 20. My love My dove My undefiled Cant. 5. 2. and so woes us for to let Him come into our hearts and we wickedly shut the door of our hearts against Him and refuse His offers of Grace and Mercy and put Him off with delays yet He stands still and knocks and waits till His head is filled with dew and His locks with the drops of the night And He hath sent forth His Ministers also to wooe for Him and to pray us in 2 Cor. 5. 20. Christs stead that we would be reconciled unto God We know not how long God may wait for us Now is the acceptable 2 Cor. 6. 2. Heb. 3. 7. time now is the day of salvation Hear while it is called to day Lay hold on Grace while it is offered And strike while the iron is hot Remember Jerusalems case how our Saviour wept over it spake and wept wept and spake O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would Luke 19. 41. to 44. I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings I would but thou wouldst not therefore desolation misery and confusion followed God waited 120 years for the repentance and conversion of the old world 40 days for Nineveh God waiteth for Gen. 6. 3. Jonah 3. 4. Ezek. 18. 21. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Rom. 2. 4. poor sinners not willing that any should perish but that all should repent and live Yet they despise the riches of His goodness forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the forbearance of God should move them to repentance If we hear not while it is called to day but Heb. 3. 8. Prov. 14. 9. Prov. 23. 32. harden our hearts through unbelief and like fools make a mock of sin at length it will sting like a serpent and bite like an adder God hath His appointed time when he will wait no longer As Solomon spake of temporal things so do I of spirituals and things of everlasting concernment Man most men know not Eccles 9. 12. 8. 6 7. their appointed time therefore the misery of man is great upon earth Laesa patientia fit furor Patience abused turns into fury Now mercy is offered mercy sits at the helm Justice will have its course and that upon all those who come not in nor accept of this golden Scepter of Grace and Mercy now Rev. 6. held forth They shall have a cup of the pure wrath of the Almighty a cup of pure wrath without mixture no drop of mercy or pity more ever to be expected or hoped for Oh who knows the Psal 90. 11. Rev. 14. 10. power of God's wrath They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone c. and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night c. But I have expatiated too far upon God's waiting for poor Sinners For God will have His glory magnified if His Mercy and Grace be not so in the Conversion and Salvation of poor Sinners His justice will be for ever magnified and glorified in their everlasting confusion and condemnation So God will be no loser at all But now according to the words at first read come we to man's waiting upon God My soul wait thou upon God The Lord waits that He may be gracious Isaâ— 30. 18. to us as we have seen and He will be exalted that He may have mercy upon us for the Lord is a God of judgment Blessed are all they that wait for him Jacob in the middest of blessing his Children as in an holy rapture breaks out in this pathetical expression I have waited for Thy Salvation O Lord. Gen. 49. 8. Likewise the Church O Lord be gracious unto us we have waited upon Thee Be Thou our arm every morning our Salvation Isai 33. 2. also in the time of trouble Let these examples of Saints formerly stir up and encourage us still to wait upon God yea though He seem to hide His face from us as the Church complains Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thy self Isai 45.