keepe us alive The Revelation of great love made us a little warme for a time and lifted up our hearts a while high and now they fall deadly fast 't is deadly presaging If nothing will keepe up the heart all wil downe all must necessarily downe If Ely cannot keepe up his spirit hee will not keepe up his person if the heart be broke and downe the necke will be broke too ere long and all downe a sinking spirit presages a sinking state Every mans heart ere while was at his mouth leaping now 't is at their heeles running love unto miracle will not keepe us alive nor keepe up our hearts and hands to magnifie God what desolating ingratitude is this Every one lookes heavy speakes heavy sighes heavy scarce one magnifying God What shall I doe sayes one What shall I doe sayes another Why what does God doe eye him doe your duty follow after him with praise or you will murther your selves and many more A second thing that speakes broadly and sadly Englands ingratitude is Concuring and assisting providence checkt A willing God to doe great things for his people sleighted Love workes richly wee worke poorely wee let love die in travell at our doore we are likely then to make a goodly returne of love are we not we are lazily making our selves ready when love calles and puts in her finger at Key holes and crannies gloriously to us which is grosse ingratitude and for which the Church was heavily judged with a departure We take not Christ by the hand when he stretcheth it out to us we doe not welcome Christ as hee comes smiling and with a countenance like Lebanon towards us wee doe not blesse kisse and embrace him when hee shewes his Face as an Angel greater unkindnesse and ingratitude can there be Wee let mercies great mercies melt away in their owne grease and make nothing of them for Gods glory or our owne good as if great favours cost GOD nothing Gods people nothing or were worth nothing Heaven opens and our Eyes are shut Heaven opens againe and our Eyes are still shut God makes his glory passe by us and we let it passe Greene mercies raw mercies halfe mercies bastard blessings will content us when full favours mature favours admirably proffer'd We check a bountifull God a willing Father Is not this base ingratitude we sleight full love when fully proffer'd a plant of renowne when proffer'd in a way of renowne Is this to returne full love fully to kill it in travaile to strangle it in the wombe Because the man-Childe makes Panges and Throwes therefore weary of travaile and any peace so but an end of this War Any reformation so this corporall desolation were but ended O base England A third thing that broadly speakes Englands ingratitude is this gentle corrections unobserved Who observes how tenderly the bloudy swords is manag'd in England How in the middest of Justice God remembers mercy who is taken with this how many hearts doth this raise to follow God with praises What an Earth-quake Justice makes in the joints of the wicked What a brest worke in Bataile mercy makes to save the innocent Few to resist many few to kill many how sparing of good bloud is our good God! how carelesse of bad How hee doth droppe in reliefe like Aquavitae when wee are ready to swoune things goe so ill How many hearts are taken rais'd up kept up blessing God for this Mercy Exalts her selfe against Justice shee leads and guides our bloudy Armies Justice is but as a common man wounds and killes here and there where mercy bids it At most justice brings up but the reare in our Warre shee comes behinde and Treades a little upon our heele and bruises that whiles shee breakes the heads and neckes of the wicked O what Heavenly pillage every battaile in England hath hitherto afforded how much of God how much Divine power how much Divine wisdome Divine love to be gathered up but who hath inricht himselfe with this Noble treasure thy greatest mercies O England are but short liv'd thy tenderest mercies quickly dye I like it not shalt thou live O England God admirably saves us we wickedly kill his kindnesse 't will kill us all if not well look't to God is full of bowells wee are brawny 't will not last so alwayes God killes malice wee kill love what dealings are gentle we groane under as tedious too long and too broad too spoiling too killing who blesses God that Englands miseries are mild that England is dealt with far better then shee doth deserve I have spoken more generally to the Land I will speake more particularly to you Christians You have a great stock of love in your hand what returne doe you make I am commanded by this point in hand to looke after my masters income his great revenue of this lower world rent day is come and I am come to demand it You were Lepers are yee cleansed How many returne and give thankes you were cast out to loathing are yee taken into embracing what acknowledgment doe you make Infinite love is out upon you Christians how does it returne into the bosome from whence it came out Ingratitude makes great guilt and great breach that heart will grow too heavy for the man that cannot be taught to praise God to sing new songes as God renewes his favour Three incomparable things are spoiled by ingratitude Gods glory mans peace and increase of grace hee growes backward as you have such a phrase that is ungratefull it turnes all mans welfare into a consumption t is the thiefe that robs God and man t is base basenesse Gods love and mans knit up in a Sack and the mouth cannot be opened all divine stirrings chok't cripl'd kill'd and deaded which makes merrily and sweetly heaven-ward 'T were endlesse to tell you the evils of ingratitude I will give you a word of remedy and so conclude this point The heart is in thankefulnesse as t is in truth Thankfullnesse is the vitall breathing of integrity A sound heart arrogates nothing but ascribes all to God hypocrisy is the worst giver of all to another that can be truth is best at giving every one their owne 't is her greatest paine that shee can doe it least to him that is best to her Integrity hath no other felicity but to paint out love and carry it to Heaven to see if God will owne any art of hers to make him glorious All the complaint of integrity is that favours are lost upon her that love dies in her bosome and many made-prisoners by her so chain'd and fettered with an evill heart that they cannot returne to God that gave them Integrity is still sighing and panting to get up hill with all Gods blessings on her back Oh that I could carry all sweetely home againe that God lends me Secondly as the soule is in life so t is in thankefulnesse heat is best at making up ward Truth is sometimes much
bought heaven and earth too of exact Justice not for yeares or for lives but the fee simple for all eternity We receive as God gives God gives as Christ merits and mediates heaven comes out of Christs wounds to Us Heaven comes out of hell to fallen man Christs descension to hell makes our ascension to heaven we are partakers of glory by his shame and misery By his stripes we are healed c. By his hell we are heaven'd We inherit not hereditarily but made heires and so partake Our participation of glory is a made participation made out of merit merit is vast therefore is our participation so vast as heaven partakers of the inheritance Vse Is' t a time of losse 't is a time of reception equivalent God is more giving then taking away is not heaven more then you have lost upon earth heaven is communicable and yet you complaine what shall you do for house what shall you do for land for enough for you and yours all is gone What is heaven gon then all is gone indeed God shuts one hand that we may looke to the other which is open with greater and better things Mens eyes are not opened by the dealings of God men learne not instruction though God whips to teach that 's your undoing not what you have lost though never so much for heaven would make up that well enough God takes away in earthly things that we may consider and see wherein he is a greater giver do yee make this use of your losse a man loses much when he loseth a state on Earth and loseth with it a heart to looke after a state in Heaven when losses and crosses kil affection Heavenward all is gone indeed gone without hope of recovery Do not the stroaks of God make you looke to him Why then you will be smitten againe Jobs messengers shall come one after another and tell you of the losse of all to see if that will save all Divine rods are order'd to second one another till the soule be as high as it should be or as low as it must be as high as Heaven or as low as hell I would sinners did consider the scope of Gods dealings now and what is before them Heaven and hell is before you now you may be partakers of which you will Heaven is communicable hell is communicable one in one hand of God 'tother is in ' tother Which way any great mans veine lies you observe him Gods veine lies in giving of great things great mercy or great misery he gives no lesse then heaven or hell to every man he makes every man partake of one or ' tother Sinners as you love your soules consider this Wrath workes as love is abused Communicatio plena justice riseth high when high favors are sleighted All is communicable 't will breake the neck of all which make not use of this mans spirit must worke as Gods does when one is open to give 'tother must be to receive Bounty presupposes a ready receiver who is back-ward to take great things and yet who is not back-ward to goe to Heaven Heaven is wholly communicable and yet sinners are wholly carelesse of it Not a peny in Heaven but 't may be yours and yet what heapes of treasure are there Ah Lord what wealthy persons might sinners be and will not Onely their will keepes them poore Paul yours Apollo yours all yours all is communicable Heaven and Earth the Earth and the fulnesse of it so Heaven and the fulnesse of it not a roome not a walke in Heaven but 't is in common for all the inhabitants Not a dish but every ones hand is in it together many hands in a dish is all the feeding above Not a delightfull tune above but every ones heart is set to it not a beame in the Sun above but every ones eye is fixed upon 't not a floure in Christs bosome but all smell to it not a secret but revealed to all All that hath laine hid for this many thousand yeares almost from all here below there 't is knowne to all they above know as they are knowne such great mercy such full mercy rejected what great misery what full misery will it make Justice swells as sinners kick mercy such a heaven sleighted makes such a hell Hell 't is but Justice working suitable to the abuse of so much mercy as may be had in heaven and the soule would not Communicatio libera Heaven is freely communicable and yet sinners have no heart to it Heaven may be had for nothing neither for money nor money worth onely for making fit for it and this too wholly at anothers paines and cost and yet sinners have no heart to it Christ gives much but takes nothing mercy is all mercy mercy is all free as 't is layd out all in an inheritance and lies all round together above 't is all free Love in its utmost dimensions in its heights and depths as it passes knowledge as it makes a heaven yet it keepes its owne essentiall property 't is love and but love heaven is nothing else but a bed of love all delights free There is nothing in heaven bought nor payd for by us of all the costly things that are there There are Jewells about the inhabitants necks such as the World never saw and yet not one bought by the wearer and owner all given freely You have not seene such an inheritance for nothing as Heaven is There be things which cost infinite deare and yet done away for nothing A man may see that which eye never saw and heare that which Eare never heard for nothing God lays out much but looks for no returne his greatest favours goe for acceptation Participation of purchase is pay for purchase an mâ—n will but go to Heaven the place shall cost them nothing though fit for a Prince All Gods motion is free his blessed motion for a time free his blessed motion for eternity free As God makes Heaven he workes for nothing as he makes fit for Heaven he workes for nothing for his greatest layings out hee sets downe nothing at Heaven doore hee sets no bill what rent and fine though there be not such a house of state again in the World God keepes open house below and above too the best dainties and yet no reckoning brought in nothing to be paid no nothing expected There is no thought of heart what this dish might have yielded and what that precious odour might have been sold for Heaven goes freely free gratissimè gratum Heaven given and not a thought against it all the riches of a God layd downe at mans foot and all the heart of God too with it and all the panting above is O that all may not be trod upon Ah sinners what a damnation will this make to set one foote upon heaven and 'tother foot upon Gods heart To trample all his yea and all him too in the dirt heaven and his heart too to
hold your sin Communicatio universalis Heaven is universally communicable from East West North South many come and sit downe in the Kingdome of Heaven Strangers may dwell in the holy Land Gentiles aswell as Jewes Of all Nations kindreds tongues may live together above and be spoken unto in their owne language yea understand one another plainly Variety of language excludes not heaven confounds not heaven All above are intuitively understanding men are as the Angels of God in the Resurrection Oh every one that thrists come in that 's the bill that is set upon Heaven doore did yee never stand still and reade it sinners Heaven gate is open to all that knock but fooles foolish Virgins foolish soules which have nothing in them nor will have nothing in them to render them fit for heaven There is Rahab the Harlot There is Manasseh that murtherer there is the Thiefe there is Mary that had so many Devills A man that hath many Devills may come where there is not one The most devillish hellish creature may be made partaker of Heaven Lame and Blind and Halt may come in there and yet still there is roome 'T is don as thou hast commanded said the servant that was sent out to invite all sorts and yet there is roome Luke 14.22 There is great variety of guests above and yet one Table large enough for all no crowding and yet thousands thousands of thousands sitting together Heaven is a vast continent much of the holy Land not yet planted many mansions above without any Inhabitant Heaven is universally communicable and universally fit and compleate so to be All may sit round and looke the Sun full in the face and he them That which is so proposed to all and so fit for all how will it doubly damne all that come short of it You will be jugded as lovers of hell more then lovers of Heaven which come short of it As lovers of darknesse more then light As lovers of sinne more then the eternall felicity of your soules upon this very ground that grace and Heaven are so generally communicable Light is come into the World saith Christ And the world regardeth it not This is the condemnotion of the World A World of men might be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and will not this will make hell hell indeed condemnation the condemnation because men will not go thither though no exception 'T is desperate to make exceptions where God makes none to exclude a mans selfe when God doth not Finally communicantio durabils Heaven is durably communicable I cannot say it is perpetually communicable The everlasting doores stand not open everlastingly But yet a great while The Thiefe found them open at the last houre of his life A sinner may come in at the ninth and last houre and have his pay A sinner of a hundred yeares old may get into Heaven I doubt there be but few gray-headed sinners turne in there yet it is not long of the place Heaven doores are open till old Age onely old folkes are wilfull which is excluding God is long suffering all that while Heaven doores are open The long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah saith the Apostle Peter A hundred and twenty yeares Heaven stood open to that people God makes the greatest mercies waite upon the greatest sinners a greate while which is one of the greatest wonders in the World If you have a mind give great things you have no mind to wait to doe it yet so doth God He waites to be gracious The Sun is made to stand still many houres many dayes many yeares Salvation brought to mens houses Parishes yea to mens eares and there sounding and knocking seven yeares ten yeares twenty yeares And all the intreaty is Will yee goe to Heaven sinners Will yee goe to Heaven Will you be made partakers of the inheritance of Saints God is not a bare giver of Heaven but a woer for Heaven he does reconcile and beseech to reconciliation he doth knock and stand at the doore and knock till his lockes be wet with the dew of the night He stretches out his hand with Heaven in it and doth so all the day long To Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched out mine hand to a disobedient and gainesaying People Rom. 10.21 Heaven made to waite upon earth base earth wicked earth what will this come to if not looked to If heaven not participated of at last What a hell will he have which hath had heaven at his doore many yeares together and had no heart to enter into it But you will say no body is so carelesse Every one surely is willing to goe to Heaven One would thinke so But yet 't is not so 'T is easy to demonstrate that multitudes have no heart to goe to Heaven They will part with nothing for it Sinne is worse then nothing and yet Sinners will not part with this for Heaven Have they any heart to Heaven then Christ makes an underprizing of a thing a demonstration of no love nor heart to that thing so prized If you thinke good give me my price if not forbeare So they weighed for my price thirty pieces Cast it to the Potter saith God A goodly price Underprizing and undervaluing a thing speakes out properly and plainly no will to that thing Will swayes that way which 't is willing Love bids according to worth Shee comes to Christs price for Christ and glad shee can have him so too If you thinke good give mee my price c. A mans owne price is no price base bidding for Heaven argues no heart to it such a wretch is cast to the Potter cast to hell to be torne to pieces as a vessell in which there is no pleasure If underprice argues no heart what does no price 'T is many a sinners damnable case hee 'le part with no sin for Christ nor Heaven could Christ and heaven be much more worth then they are Part with no sin doe no duty waite no time 'T will be a hell to this man to goe to Heaven A man that will not part with his sinnes to be partaker of Heaven is more willing to goe to hell then to Heaven sinne hath got his heart he should lose his Heaven to goe to Heaven A sinners owne heaven is dearer to him then Christ he will venture the losse of one rather then lose the other They will performe no duty for Heaven Action speakes out affection To what a man hath a heart he hath a hand a head a foote heart commands all The will is Major Generall orders all to move as she will Where there is no foote towards Heaven no hand towards Heaven nor bending that way Is the heart towards Heaven From your lives you will be condemned yee speake out your hearts and yet you plead for them you have set your way you will goe and yet upon pretend you are bound in
at such a place for echo Some things are done so and so to suite and joynt to others The holy Land was divided by Lot immediate providence caryed it there Friendship made no revenue in Canaan Gods own hand cast every man his fortune so big and so good in such a place in the Mountaines or in the vallies with springs or without Divine dispensations are harmonious Heaven comes in no new way to us God gives as he did give Hee did give Canaan with his owne hand so hee gives Heaven Power wrought very immediate to plant our fathers in the holy Land Ioshuah did cast lots and so divided the Land power did worke very immediate to plant persons there so it doth to plant Persons above I goe before to provide a place Iosh 18.10 c. Our Ioshuah assignes our mansion situation building conveyance all done with Christs own hand I goe c. Though power worke without hand yet not without rule not a word spoke nor a worke done by Christ but with scope and look to some rule though sometimes that rule be a great way off as far as Heaven Truth fulfils Types dispensations under each covenant one eccho to another Canaan went by Lot so does Heaven the lot of Saints Dispensations of grace and glory suite Gory is suited to grace in dispensation as grace is suited to glory in fruition as really the same Heaven and Christ come both one way to a Christian by immedate providence grace and glory are wrought both with Gods own hand 'T is the finger of God that turnes the heart towards Heaven and that turnes the heart into Heaven Grace is an inspiration glory is so too there is no remoter agent of either then Gods own spirit A soule and such a soule so happy and so glorious was breathed altogether into Adams nostrils The breath of Gods own mouth makes alive stil and the breath of his owne mouth cast varnish and glory upon that being to maturation 'T is Christ al in al here 't is no otherwise above Christ al in al no lesse makes grace and no more is glory Grace is such an immediation according to such a location glory is such an immediatioÌ„ according to such a translocation Christ is next to and onely with the soule in both Vse If this point were rightly applied to the heart hope would not fall respecting great favours depending providence hath more wayes then one to bring great things to us it can worke with hands and without hands divine power can bring a Heaven to you on its owne shoulders cast a Heaven upon you as a Lot into your lap in a very immediate way beyond all provision or expectation God does most and best for man alone when hee has no toole or no toole considerable in his hand Wee have a Heaven depending but yet a hell betweene us and it and no man can see but one way to it if that way do not hit which we propose we are all undone this is almost every ones vote This point should relieve us in this desperate case respecting our great feares our great hops which are so opposed There are great mountaines before Zerubbabell great hindrances in the way of our great mercies so that we see no likelyhood in an ordinary way how or when our great Heaven desired should arriue with us Let the point in hand support the greatest favours come in the most immediate way of providence heavenly favors come to us as if they did drop out of Heaven The more heavenly and divine the mercies are which wee expect in the more divine and immediate way they 'l descend The stone shall be cut out without hands that shall smite the image of various mixtures and breake it to pieces new Ierusalem comes downe out of Heaven Power will worke in a very immediate way to bring in that new Heaven into the Christian World which now the Christian World is labouring for Yet once more I shake not the earth only Heb. 12.26 but also Heaven God himselfe will after a speciall manner set his own shoulders to shake that rotten heaven of mens inventions and those which set their shoulders to keepe it up and make battery with such Cannon as we are not aware of Not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord respecting the building of that house which typifyed this Not by might nor power i not by humane strength so much as by his owne power shall the old Heaven be destroyed and the new erected We expect our Heaven too low from men but 't will come from God when it comes As 't is a great favour so ' â—will come in state in the way of sublime favors very sublimely Magicians great heads and divellish wits shall be non-plust by God owne finger and art not by mens wisdome and art Egiptians shall be drownned on a sudden by a stratageme made in Heaven and managed from heaven Iericho shall fall by Faith by making no more or the power of men of Swords and Guns then of Rammes-hornes but magnifying the power of Christ and trusting in that Surely wee are yet too many and too strong to be delivered Christians I would yee were skilled in the way of GOD. GOD keeps his Old way in bestowing great things and yet yee wonder and murmur your folly is your owne affliction and many's more Things of great worth Christ will trust no Messenger with them but bring them himselfe Christ will trust none to bring your Heaven to you neither your Heaven here nor hereafter Men are false they would marre your heaven and bring you an old one in stead of a new one or an old one new patcht up Blessed be he that will bring a new heaven to us all new divine favours in their maturity though every man be trampled under foote and none seene in the worke but God though he trample all men in the dirt and he onely be left alive with the cause in his hand If men would allow God his way they would never be at a losse of Faith so fearefully as they are Yee open one doore and there comes in nothing but your shame yee set open another doore of your owne for Christ to come in at and there also comes in nothing but your folly and shame Ah Lord When will yee looke up and expect Christ from Heaven Do not great things come in a very immediate way to man Hath God tyed himselfe to do every great worke with such and such great meanes as your eye is fixed upon to cast out a Legion of bad spirits with a Legion of good Is not one enough to do it Christ brings an eternall weight of glory upon his owne Shoulders to your doores can he not bring a temporall weight of of glory which is far easier alone Thou art great and dost great things thou art God alone sayth the Psalmist We thinke God is not God nor able to do like a
as they come from God and are carried to God Some apprehensions arise from Satan and his temptations these often worke strongly but run the soule still against some truth and off some duty That truth which is jassel'd against must discover such apprehension to bee temptation and set the soule in againe A man must fight against apprehension as it fights against Gods Will and takes us off from our duty A man must not make apprehension from fiction as some tempted soules are taken up this way but from reall words or works of God these are onely of sanctifying power upon the spirit And yet these which rise well must be kept up well or else these will be powerlesse too A man much in apprehension must bee much in Prayer things will die else in the braine as they ly and derive no influence downe upon the heart God must heare much of what we see or else our vision will not be glorious taking fiilling and leading the heart Divine apprehensions are Gods joggings of man and man must jogge God againe often to understand them well and to use them well to know fully what God would to us in them and what we should be to him by them Apprehensions come in confused and are shap'd and made plaine by Prayer as they come from God they are ofttimes above us as carried back againe to God by Prayer they are made plaine and easie to us and very effectuall upon us I judge these things very sweete to some of you but I doubt they are very uselesse to many they doe so little lay their Eye or Eare to Gods Word or Worke so little busie apprehension about any thing that is Divine Apprehension workes much I believe this yeare but I doubt not very Divinely if it did surely we should see better hearts and lives then we doe FINIS USEFULL INSTRVCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.11 Glorious power c or power of his Glory IT may be I may prosecute this expressiō both ways as you have it rendered and as 't is in the Originall As you read it 't is rather interpretation then translation Word for word as 't is in the Originall is according to the strength or force of his glory which is a propriety of speaking in the primitive language where they would expresse a glorious thing to expresse that by a substantive which wee doe by an adjective the power of his glory for glorious power Like to this is that expression 2 Thess 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power that is from his glorious power as we speak In my Text power is put first according to the power of his glory but in that Text fore-cited glory is put first from the glory of his power both note one thing to wit a glorious power Power is called glorious when it doth glorious things within or without therfore are these expressions here made Relata strengthened with all might according to his glorious power When a Christian is made almighty then is power made all glorious glorious power knowen so and called so Thus doth Moses and other servants of the Lord call power glorious when it was extended to doe glorious things The right Hand of the Lord is become glorious in power saith he in his Song when God had drowned the Aegiptians Ex. 15.6 Thy right hand hath dashed in pieces the Enemy Doct. Having spoken this to explaine I would speake this to stand on That wee are to admire and call Divine power as it workes When it does great things almighty things glorious workes in the World in our hearts then are we to call it answerably as the Holy Ghost doth here glorious power Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power All out-goings of God should bee call'd and nam'd as wee finde God in them Christ the great chanell of all in which God goes forth into the World power wisdome mercy of God and the like is named according to what of God was in him and to be declared by him And his name shall be called wonderfull the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace As Divine power mercy or the like workes in any person or by any person so should it be called mighty wonderfull glorious everlasting c. Thus doth the Psalmist his worke is honorable and glorious The works of the Lord are great say's he in the vers foregoing and then in this verse he calles it honourable and glorious Psal 111.2.3 As power workes so 't is to be called as wisdome workes so is it to be called his understanding is infinite saith the Psalmist speaking of the wisdom of God Ps 147.5 As Christ goes in this World so we are to talke of his going as he rides in this World so wee are also to talke of that If Christ ride in triumph we are triumphantly to speake of him wee are to call him Hosanna in the highest when hee shewes himselfe highest * When he rides upon Asses and rules asses when he shewes an over-ruling power over the unruliest things we are answerably to cal him and his power which so Worke. If he take and shew the state and power of a King a glorious King we are to give him royall and glorious titles we are to name him still in word as he names himselfe indeed we are to Christen Christ as we finde him to name power as we finde it love as we finde it c. We are to extoll him that rideth upon the Clouds that is we are to lift up him that lifteth up himselfe wee are to set him in the Clouds which hath set himselfe there we are to set up God in words as he sets up himselfe in deeds to set up him above all which sets himselfe above all to call him almighty which does almightily to cal power glorious which doth gloriously according to his glorious power c. 1 Love leades to this Justice 2. bindes to this to give to God that which is due to his Name to give to power that which is due to power to put titles suitable to state Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name saith the Psalmist that is to admire and call power as it is and as it does in Christians and for Christians to call power glorious is but due when it does glorious things the Apostle so apprehended that when he spake of power as working at such an height at an almighty height for the carrying the soule thorough the worst that might come that he was bound to call it glorious power Vaine man would be wise though he be as the wild Asse Colt said he to Job that is he would be accounted wise and called wise though a foole though of no more wisdome then an Asse then an Asse Colt the silliest of Asses vaine man would be accounted that which hee is not and have more then his due to
how they grieved him by their murmuring you would think much if he should be so long a telling England of her present murmuring So afterwards he took eight yeares and then eighteen yeares and then twenty yeares to tell Israel what they did under their Judges and then seventy yeares to tell Israel what they did under their Kings not any publique body that I know of in the Scripture but when God hath come to administer Justice to it he hath taken some yeares to doe it Great houses that have many roomes in them and these very foule cannot be swept presently Secondly as God takes time to administer Justice to publick bodies so he takes time to administer mercy to publick bodies The Tabernacle was long a raising the first Temple which was to exceed that longer the second Temple which was to exceed that much longer and the third which is to exceed all longest of all The tent or Tabernacle which was but small I judge was a yeare a making the first Temple seaven yeares the second Temple forty and six yeares if this had any typicall signification as I believe it had it might well point at this that a publick house for Christ under the Gospell would be long a raising I meane a worship suiteable to Gods Will borne up by publick authority According to what way God will dispence himselfe 't is Justice and duty to waite for him I finde not one hint in Scripture of suddaine raising this last house You shew your selves ignorant men you erre not knowing the Scriptures which are impatient because travailing England is not delivered in an houre in a yeare We have scarce travailed so long yet as the Tabernacle was a building sure I am not so long as the first Temple was a building there is no ground therefore of impatience who have more noble things in hand The son rises more and more and so must up to the perfect day this is the order that Christ will proceed in to bring full mercy into the World will you be impatient that the sun rises no faster that he is not at the meridian as soon as the day dawnes A second principle is this God doth fit for favours and then gives them he doth hew stones for this last Temple We are a generation low in spirit and yet impatient that we have not high things Doe you give children and fools what they desire doe you not instruct and discipline and then give yea and then too what in your wisdom you know good We are utterly below high things affraid of full mercies is it not the feare of some that the Puritan faction as they call them will be too strong the discipline of the Gospell too strict our spirits are base to God and yet we wonder that noble things are not given unto us Doe not men play with their light prefer policy to truth Judge that Christ may weare a party coloured coat mans wisdom mixt with Gods our own inventions and truth weaved together Tell me the best of you all which are so impatient for reformation which amongst you all doth deale so fairely with your light and so simply with your conscience as to render your selves capable of so great a good as you seeme to wrangle for Let things goe how they will you can still shuffle along is not a shuffling condition fit for a shuffling spirit God walkes to you as you walke to him and yet you are impatient he cuts you out a condition with his Sword suitable to your hearts he sees what consciences you have that you stick at nothing why should he remove what you can swallow why should you thinke much to live upon Huskes if you can eate Huskes when I looke upon that cold neutrall indifferent spirit that is in English Christians generally I wonder to heare any complaine that their best mercies are so long a comming You impatiently talke of the Parliament of the Army of this and that one is this and another is that and therefore your misery lives your mercies linger and you die I tell you 't is Englands neutrality that hath brought her to this state that keeps her in this state that will spend her and end her with bleeding if any thing doe A third principle is this inferiour agents are all over-ruled Judas and his bloudy crew move by a supreame councell they could not else have done to Christ what they did and so Christ told them Providence orders all agent and actions to her own end not to such an end proposed by such a man if love be in the breast of the first agent 't is no matter how all other agents act you are to conclude they act well still though you cannot see it no heart could be impatient or wrangle if this principle were but well swallowed Actions and agents may move very strangely in our view and yet very orderly to the greatest good as their supernaturall end I would aske any impatient soule but this what is in the breast of God respecting our cause love or not love if you Judge love to be in God to our cause believe that all agents and actions are ordered by it and will bring forth in Gods time a blessed end A fourth principle is this The imployment of War is a new thing to England a councell of War and a councell of State are two things experience makes Expertnesse 't is weakenesse to fall out which young beginners because not expert every one doth not know how to stick a Hog to the heart at one thrust such must have the liberty to thrust againe and 't is well if they kill him at last Would you have men old Souldiers which never saw the field before let any Chronicle produce braver courage and carriage by young beginners then ours have hitherto shewen both at Kenton and Branford Passion makes uâ— looke over what God doth by us and for us A fift principle is this Gods providence makes up mans improvidence God we see is by so much the more watchfull that we are unskilfull have we cause then to be impatient did not Gods providence make up our improvidence at Branford could so many else have been kept from comming to the gates of your City by so few and so unarmed our men wanted powder and shot and our God shot off for them and for us or else certainly we had had their Cannon thundering about our Ears for a Sabbath peale Many advantages we have given them but they are curst to the adversary they doe not thrive with them they labour in the very fire and blast themselves upon the top of their best advantages When God is al-sufficient in such a redundant sence as this to supply over sight by his watchfull Eye what soule dares to murmure A sixt principle is this Impatience against called instruments to any worke is impatience against GOD and hee will take it so who is Moses and who is Aron that you murmure against them who
in the eyes of many great and small as ever was Moses in the eye of Corah and his company for discharging his conscience This spirit became very spreading then and so strong that God was faine to make Israels misery long till he had cut off all that were unworthy of that which Moses and Aaron laboured to bring them to so may this spirit make our sufferings long so long till God hath cut off al these proud jostling spirits which are altogether unworthy of those great mercies which our honest-hearted Parliament painefully labours to bring us to A third thing that makes our troubles have a long visage in my eye is this That the one thing necessary to publique welfare is not preferred and prosecuted as such a thing that is according to its dignity and our duty The maine thing I conceive to our publique wel-fare is to perfect our reformation of Religion to raise up and finish that building the foundation whereof our Fathers bravely laid in their owne bloud Israel suffer'd much and suffer'd long a consumption followed them till it had brought them almost to nothing because they grew slack about the maine and preferr'd their owne houses the seiling and finishing of them before Gods House At first when they came togegether to Jerusalem they were hot upon Gods House but being diverted by troubles they grew cold and involved their spirits in their owne affaires which cost them deare and brought them into a deepe consumption I am affraid this is our case Our Parliament at first comming together seem'd very hot about Church affaires though not so hot then as I could have wish't God had his Committee amongst many other of our owne I meane a Committee about scandalous Ministers and matters wherein God is most immediately concerned this Committee was of life and heat a time and the dread and Majesty of that great Court hereby great many troubles came in and this Committee laid downe and other things relateing to this stay'd off by meanes of which the Majesty of that honourable House is much weakened because God much neglected I am affraide this will bring us into a deepe consumption and make Englands sufferings long because wee make God suffer so long all the Kingdome over by blinde worship and blind Ministers who are now the activest Engines against us A fourth thing which makes our troubles looke with a long visage in my eye is this God hath suffered our troubles to grow beyond our Tiller as the Archers terme is our bow is made too strong for us to bend this makes long worke to bee ready If an unruly child creep up under the lenity of Parents to become an unruly boy one in bodily strength suiteable to his spirit before taken downe this speakes long suffering to such parents this is Englands case Our wicked children are growne up under the wing and lenity of the Parliament to virility to mans estate to externall strength suiteable to their internall temper this I am affraid speakes long suffering to thee O poore England Justice doth not looke as if shee would lay down her rod presently when shee is gathering more and more twigs A few malignants are become many many without Armes many in Armes our locusts goe forth by troopes Justice doth not use to make a rod of so many and so great twigs for a little worke strong twigs and rods are gather'd to last for long work A fift thing that makes Englands troubles looke with a long visage in my eye is this A heavy spirit seemes to be fallen upon us Make their eares heavy saith God their Eares that is their hearts I am affraid that plague is heavily fallen upon us Heavy jades are shap'd to much beating a little will not make them goe Men come up to their light like a beare to the stake how heavy hath our motion beene to blast the Common Prayer Booke by publique vote how heavily brought on to judge it an agreement how heavily brought on to clip the power of Bishops how heavily brought on to vote them quite downe although such as had voted and almost acted downe God and all good in the Land how much farther hath many Parliament men gone in matters of Gods worship then droven I keepe honour in my breast towards them who have done throughout truely honorably For the execution of thorough Justice are they not now by the sword droven and will they goe now My heart bleeds to consider this what a heavy spirit is upon us in the prosecution of that worke which God hath thrust us upon Our eyes are halfe open as heavy-headed mens eyes are to see our advantages and our handes in our bosom like heavy sluggards when wee should take and prosecute advantages which God wonderfully gives us A heavy spirit speakes heavy misery suffering much and suffering long a heavy spirit makes heavy misery necessary such a temper otherwise will never go so far in good as it should The last thing which makes our sufferings looke with a long visage in my eye is this suffering doth not soften our fire doth not melt but harden and make brawny the heart of the most The weekly newes of our bleeding is become as the weekly bill of the plague read over and throwne a side Many bodies kill'd how many soules more alive then were What heart goes in secret and bleeds in his brethrens wounds Many kill'd many more worse then kil'd maim'd spoil'd turn'd out of all and likely to starue to death goe weeping wailing and wringing their hands up and down the Country yea up and downe here and doe fully looke some of you in the face and yet I see no signe of all this in your faces Their tone is dolefull doe wee eccho to them The spoiled mourne to the saved doe we weepe with them that weep doe we beare their burden as our own Let every mans conscience speake and acquit him if it can Doth not this saddly speak more suffering because no man will suffer till Justice bring suffering to his own doore No man will be afflicted till it come to his owne turne no man will afflict himselfe all is put upon God he must doe it man by man many will not be afflicted in few this will be long worke I can sadly tell you of hearts more brawny then these hearts that would not have spoiling cease because it inricheth them no not killing cease because 't is their gainfull trade that see bloud and desolation dayly and yet have no bowells but feare this wil end too soon that cut out their worke to last this is not the spirit of a Souldier but the spirit of a Butcher that lives by killing as his Trades and pockets up the prize of bloud and misery with joy This a Souldier a Judas a Wolfe that growes fat upon the carkasses of the slaine Men that strive after places to kill bodies for gaine Ah Lord who hath kill'd such soules This is the spirit of a Souldier
limitation it speaks restraint to such a species to such kind of things and no other Creatio est illimitatio fertur ad omnia Creation speakes illimitation boundlesse processe you may have what you wil that stand under the blessing of this power You stand in a capacity of al what would you be that creating power cannot raise you to I am made all things to all men sayes the Apostle making power makes a generall Christian make me to heare joy and gladnesse sayes the Psalmist No blessing too big for making power t wil make joy and gladnesse in the most bleeding soule Heaven in Hell FINIS USEFULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 Giving thankes to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Doct. OF power creating and making we have already spoken the persons to whom this is refer'd is our next thing to consider who are noted in this terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us Who hath made us meete c. Love singles out her objects shee chooses her breast and bosome to lie downe in shee does not wantonly and promiscously kisse as shee meets but picks and chooses and so embraces who hath made us meet c. Love workes freely Christ makes many nothing makes him The holy Ghost cannot be bought with money he is in the gall of bitternesse that thinkes so Nobility no more then peasantry wisdome no more then folly to take Christ hee embraces as many of one as t'other more more poore then rich more foolish then wise His will is his pleasure therefore is will cal'd often in Scripture the pleasure of God Whom hee will pleases if 't be a theife an harlot a Publican Christ is a good fortune but never catch't full of beauty but eyes none full of wealth but lookes at none of great inheritance but lookes not at dowry hee marries where hee will whom he will whom he does he makes who hath made us meete Love workes righteously mercy leaves roome for Justice shee can hold al in her Armes but she chooses but few and leaves the rest to bee embrac'd with more rough hands The sunne shines as it can get roome in a little place it cannot bring in all its rayes onely one or two some few but in the open World all Christ hath his course now in an open World All are under sinne hee may put forth all his beames and glories and be righteous here a beame of Justice and there a beame of mercy he may shine upon one part as upon Sodom bloudily upon another part as upon Goshen blessedly Christ is not necessitated to goe about and kisse all in this lower roome as he doth above he may kisse or he may kick kick many and kisse a few and come off righteously he may goe killing and saveing making and marring through this congregation so as to leave the Apostles liberty for mee in speaking of you who hath made us meete c. Love workes very purely purity is choise a Virgin is not for many Pure love lookes upon many but chastely cleaves onely to one Christ singles out a Spouse and cleaves onely to her The Church singles out Christ she is onely for him Christ singles out a Church he is onely for these My beloved is one this is the Language of the Church and this is the Language of Christ both electing in their love and a few serves turne on both sides The Churches love gathers into one breast so doth Christs Him and no other sayes the Church these and no other saith Christ The property of love is to be entire to use many but to choose but few who hath made us meete c. Love workes strongly she contracts her beames that 's her strength The more contracted the sun beams are the stronger in heat Love is love indeed that loves but few one of a Tribe two of a City us of all Colosse three or foure poore persons of such a great famous City and all the rest left and lying under wrath Running in many channels breakes the strength and greatnesse of a streame That love which runnes common is no thing Love and upon the matter no love 't is consistent with all misery both here and hereafter Speciall love workes strongly she travailes to bring forth a Heaven a Heaven fit for man and men fit for it those wombes which bring forth great ones bring forth but few Multitude is made up in magnitude a few kinges are considerable to many thousands of inferiour men one Kindome is considerable to many mannors a few Saints considerable to many wicked Love travailes and works stongly shee brings forth Kinges Kingdomes great things and therefore but few Who hath made us meete c. Love worketh nobly the channels are al earthly and base in which shee runnes here below and therefore shee runnes but in few Nobles will be intimate and frequent with Nobles but with few others with few that are low and base onely with here and there one that they have a minde to preferre 'T is so with Christ he moves nobly hee is intimate with all the nobility above frequent with all those royall spirits but he lookes but upon few here below here and there one which hee hath a minde to advance Christ doth not throw downe himselfe when he sets up man hee ennobles himselfe in every thing that goes forth from himselfe hee so makes great as to make himselfe great he advanceth men and advanceth himself in such advancement Christ doth so speake love and worke love as to make all echo to his owne honour Much amonst few will hold its muchnesse and they will confesse the donor noble and their inheritance great thus doe these here in the Text they admire love Giving thankes to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light Love workes hintingly Christ doth so kisse and embrace in this lower roome where he comes that it may be plainly discerned that he is not a like pleased with all The very going forth of mercie speakes Justice to the wicked she kisses one over anothers shoulder is not that deadly hinting and damnably nodding to him that stands betweene Love comes very neere a man and yet steps over him and kisses the next Two grinding at a Mill one taken and another left two lying in one bed one taken and the other left doth not this manner of loves working speake wrath to standers by hath not mercy in its dispensation a tongue a voice doth shee not give a deadly cast and glote with her eye that shee is not pleased with all that some shall die under a sleight that she never meanes Heaven to this man nor that man what ever they promise to themselves love smiles and goes close by one soule and kisses another why this very transcient smile is a deadly frowne 't is a smile and yet 't is a deadly frowne too the soule
out more love more joy then Corne and Wine then any thing can doe 't is so fully soule answering Electing love is a transcendent love stronger then that which is borne to all the Creation besides so it makes a transcendent love a love stronger to Christ then to any thing My love is white and ruddy faire yea fairest of ten thousand A man whom Christ loves cannot see such another as Christ is as the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my beloved among the Sonnes Electing love is separating I have chosen you out of the World The body in the World but the soule out of it off of it i in esteeme all earthly things dung stinking Earth that which is taking to a carnall man is stinking to a Christian Earth is base to a heavenly soule thick clay a loade yea the very flesh upon the back a load to a divine spirit life this life but a death The best house here but a groaning house in this house wee groane panting after another better built A house from Heaven Christ finds men lost in the Creature but leaves them lost in himselfe I esteeme all losse but Christ A choyce person hath a choyce affection he can put no prize upon any thing but Christ A Christian is the worst bidder for the World in the World A Judas bidds basely for Christ A Paul bids basely for all besides Christ he bids nothing hee esteemes all dung he prizes it at no rate onely worthy of strong contempt The glory of this World takes not a glorious soule I am crucified to the World and the World to me Paul had nothing of the World nor cared for nothing there was as little of the World in his heart as in his hand as little in his spirit as in his purse Divine love is very estranging from worldly things knowes nothing no no person after the flesh A brother is nothing a sister a mother nothing divine things All 't was so with Christ 't is so with a Christian All Christs children take after him Whether chosen of God whether singl'd out by love now speake Whom love hath not singled out wrath now will Justice hath no other Butt to shoot at but a rejected soule Mercy sets her children under her wing Justice killes her children with death yee rejected soules what will yee doe The great Shepheard is separating between sheepe and swine tares shall no longer stand amongst the Wheat plucking up by the rootes is come Bleed under your condition sinners the quarrell at this day in the Land is betweene Christ and rejected persons there should not a stroke be struck more in the Land were it not to cut off that which is cast off Every Souldier is Gods bloud-hound you will see wrath single out the stoutest Goat in the heard and pull him by the throate Justice drinke the bloud of every Judas and make Filii perditionis filii perditi the greatest men in misery as deepe as their merit persons cast off by GOD cut off by Man Justice is going once againe to give every Cain his marke Not a rejected person through the Land but shall feele the power of Gods Wrath. Yee forlorne Soules what will yee doe Shall your sinne finde you out Will you goe on in your sinne till God make your rejection visible and write your doome in your bloud for posterity to reade and tremble Is it a small thing that you have lost your name and honour with men Will you desperately lose your honour eternally with God Yee Malignants yee seede of the Serpent you say you have but a life to lose I say you have Soules to lose You say you will honour the King so doe but honor God too or else the King of Kings will crush you all I conclude this point Duty with a word to Gods chosen ones your Duty your safety lies in this point Love singles out her beloved Who hath made us meete c. You are of this little Number admire love this is the use made in the Text. Give thankes to the Father who hath made us meete c. What knotty pieces hath God hewed and made fit for himselfe That Gods Love should center any where but in himselfe aâ—l the Creation should admire that God will foule his hands to mould and make up Earth for Heaven for ever admire mans love is all from motive Gods love from none God layes out cost on a dunghill and makes it a stately Throne Things which so move that wee can see no spring their very forme set's us into admiration Divine Love moves thus altogether singles out kisses embraces and no spring nor principle but it selfe loves because it loves can you reach this reason No why then admire and adore that love that has your Soules in her Armes to carry them to Heaven Safety Your safety is in this point Whom Love hath singled out wrath shall never wrong The favour of God is a sufficient defence against the frownes of the greatest man Love is as tender to keepe as choyce to take into protection shee commandes men shee commands Angels shee commands the whole Creation to serve her Beloved A man ha's the Munition of Rockes that is in the Armes of Christ A Christian cannot object his sinne to turne of this consolation from him Divine love beganne freely it goes on so it chose out the man freely it chooses out mercies for the man freely A man is Universally made that is chosen out by God to bee happy hereafter happy here happy in every condition here happy Christ leaves none to the hazard of sinnes or times hee secures his choyce as his owne eternall felicity Hee bindes them up as His Jewels sets the Righteous apart As for Himselfe All. Your safety your All is in this point 'T is your Spring of supplies 't is a Fountaine open Free-Love is a Canaan of blessings Milke and Honey Flowing Free-Love 't is infinite mercy set to make you her Heire to bestow all shee hath upon you and yours Would yee have your selves blessed the Kingdome blessed Free-Love hath in it to doe all Free-Love hath a long Arme and a full Hand mercie for thousands and from Generation to Generation FINIS USEFULL INSTRVCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Doct. LOve workes freely Christ chuses what persons he pleases to advance Who hath made us c. Love works fully What persons Christ chuses to worke upon hee makes thorough worke in he renders them meete fit sufficient the Originall word will beare all these to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Sinne hath it's fitting and finishing and then it brings forth its end Sinne finished brings forth death c. The Divell is a thorough worke-man where hee layes a foundation he raises up the building till all be fit for himselfe and
pitched upon such a Noble height Christ hath taken it into his Hand to make it so high Strong desires are glimmerings of Sunne-rising I would have no Soule sad that pants after much grace Certainly the Sunne is risen very high in this Soule already 't will be at the Meridian apace Heaven is not farre off that soule which longs to be fit for it When Christ once began to pray Father glorify mee with thine one Selfe with the glory which I had with thee before the World was glory though so great was not farre off When the poore man would believe the spirit of Faith was neare and the next words are Faith and no more words of unbeliefe If thou canst do this if thou canst doe that heard There is no designe to become fit for Heaven like bringing a mans soule into a passion this way Divine passion makes strong compassion Christ does not quench smoaking Flax does hee quench flaming flax Panting to be fit to live in Heaven where so much holinesse is to live in the presence of God who is all holinesse this is flaming Flax. The fire goes as high as Heaven Heaven will open wide to such a Heavenly heart The Soule would have a sute to weare in the Country which will serve at Court a sute on Earth which will become it in Heaven this is flaming Fax Grace is never checked in its groweth by God but embraced most when it ascends highest God meetes a Prodigall and kisses him doth he not meete a deare child which is almost come quite home to his Fathers House and kisse and feast him A Soule that pants to be fit for Heaven is crope up to Heaven doore certainely CHRIST will welcome this Soule and let him into his desire Thou pantest to be made fit for Heaven why thou art fit Who hath made us fit c. These are said to be fit for Heaven by the Apostle and yet pray'd for by him as yet wanting much grace There 's a Fundamentall fitnesse and a complementall fitnesse for Heaven The lowest dram of true grace gives a fundamentall fitnesse for Heaven A weake hand of Faith on Christ will save a man from drowning a sparke of fire will ascend to Heaven as truely as a flame though not so strongly That there is any sparke in the soule to byasse it Heaven-ward wee should blesse God and blow the sparke by Prayer this is the way to have more A complementall fitnesse is when there is a double Testimony that all is ours from Gods spirit and our own when the soule is sealed with this double seale to the day of Redemption When Faith is strong love strong experience much joy much unspeakeable and full of glory then is the soule complementally fit i fully fit for glory This should be striven unto because it makes large entrance but the soule should not torture it selfe that it cannot with any paines yet attaine so high Some have Heaven here such are fit for Heaven in deede as carry Heaven still about with them 't is but out of one Heaven into another with these Others are made fit for Heaven in hell and come as out of hell to heaven and yet this is great mercy too and every poore low grac'd soule should say so Let these things settle weake soules banish bad objections and make your fitnesse for Heaven in that measure which it is your consolation in these miserable times Swords Guns Weapons of Warre may Wound Lame and unfit you for Earth but let this comfort you you are still fit for Heaven Lame Legs cut Armes bleeding bodies and holy soules will goe to Heaven well enough poore blind lame halt are most the guests that come there Christ had bloudy usage from base Wretches as wee have now speares thrust in his sides deepe wounds so deepe as to let out all his bloud and yet not any of his fitnesse for Heaven Should be enough to us all in these bad times that a mansion is prepared for us and we for it where all losse will be turned into gaine where lost Legs and lost Armes and lost estates will meete their right owners againe and glory in over and above FINIS USEFULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 Giving thankes to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light TO be partakers of the inheritance c. Thus read 't is interpretation not strict translation yet possibly I may make issue both wayes for your sakes both as you reade it and as 't is to be read in the originall The Text verbatim runs thus fit to a part or portion of a lot of Saints in light 'T is phrased in allusion to Canaan where the people of GOD had their part and portion and this by lot by an immediate providence and by no humane art by the speciall blessing and disposing hand of God and by no merit or means of their own The phrase notes top favors gallant mercies dispensations full of love all love all love to all eternity Doct. The highest mercies are communicable Heaven all that is in Heaven distributive distributive to men like our selves Partakers of the inheritance Love is bountifull shee gives all Participatio sacra est communicatio totius mercy empties her selfe upon her children she empties her pockets she empties closets Cabinets Jewells of price Jewells of glory of eternall glory are given away to her favorites Having given us Christ will hee not with him give us all things Love gives all Christ and all that Christ hath The Apostle argues a maiori ad minus Christ is a greater gift then Heaven and yet he is made communicable and communicable to man to us therefore no marvell that Heaven is Having given us Christ c. Love will make her heart bloud communicable which is more then making heart Jewells communicable Christs giving of himselfe is more then giving any thing without himselfe more then the giving of Heaven and Earth to man Heaven is not noted in Scripture as the height of Christs love but himselfe what himselfe is and what he puts himselfe unto His owne selfe bare our sinnes on his body c. 1 Peter 2.24 And to be with Christ is best of all 'T is not sayd to be in heaven is best of all Abrahams bosome is but alluding to the felicity that is where Christ unbosomes himselfe to Saints The accent of love is fastened upon Christ himselfe and not upon any thing else Christ himselfe is still noted as a greater communication of love then Heaven or Earth or any thing besides him Love opens her purse to her beloved yea she opens her bosome and sets her beloved there Heaven is in Christs bosome Communicatio sacra est ad demōstrandum-Communicantem and Christ opens this to his he makes this communicable Partakers of the inheritance c. Sacred Communication is to make suitable demonstration of infinite love Great love is not
suitabley expressed by small things * Magna parvis minima exprimuntur Springs make Chanells Streames Rivers suitable to their strength they make their rent without suitable to their bubling within under ground Heaven is but a suitable expression of the love of a God 't is but a streame suitable to such a fountaine but beames suitable to such a Sun Heaven is but legible writing out of infinite love Were not heaven made communicable infinite love would be but halfe expressed 't would have no sutable demonstration 't would be far more in it selfe then knowne to us 'T is with Christ here in this World as 't is with a Christian a Christians fortune here doth not suite his titles called a King and has nothing Now are we the Suns of God but does not appeare what wee shall be Why we shall be but the Sons of God his meaning is that now title and revenew do not agree nothing in possession that speaks out the Son of a God the Son of a King state and title do not fitly and fully expresse one another so 't is with Christ now his love and his expression of it are short one of another many expressions of love are made here but they all expresse it but brokenly heaven will speake out an infinite love 't will demonstrate it to the life to all the senses at once which is such a demonstration of a thing as here man cannot make of any thing There a man shall have the advantage of all senses together to fathome infinite love he shall heare it see it taste it c. He shall see the fountaine where and how it riseth the Ocean how vast it spreads and how broad it beares Christ demonstrates infinite love fully fitly therfore is heaven made communicable to poore Earthen creatures partakers of the inheritance c. Sacred participation is to make soule satisfaction Communicatio est ad implendum subjectum cui communicatur Every thing lesse then heaven is too title to satisfy the soule All is vanity c. Put all things on this side heaven together and all is empty i in reference to the vast partaking spirit of man it swallows and swallows the whole Creation and makes nothing of all participation of Earth of all the Earth will not satisfy heaven must come in too or else the soule like the Dove remaines utterly restles and crys like the grave gâ—ve gâ—ve There is excesse in the Creature but not proper filling Bee not drunken with Wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the spirit 't is one spirit that filleth another Abundance of Earthly things may make excesse and turne the soule into sinne but participation of fulnesse in God is that which gives the soule its felicity in it selfe and this is in Heaven Absolute fulnesse is in heaven and this maketh absolute content therefore is our participation here still reaching after more then can be had here All that is dispensed in way of inferior ordinance makes but tasting and longing does but put on appetite to a full meale Heaven is Gods supreme ordinance to give the soule satisfaction * Participando Other ordinances bring in the soule but drops and therefore it still thirsts this supreame ordinance brings in the Ocean the soule in this ordinance is swallowed up * T is Gods letting forth of al to things without him it can breath nothing but blessing as seeing feeling hearing tasting nothing else Sacred participation is made according to Christ s will Communicatio est ad placitum communicantis The pleasure of the King is that we should sit at his Table that we should dip our morsels in the same dish with him eat as he does drinke as he does weare and fare to all eternity as he doth Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where J am that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me Iohn 17.24 Christ would not be in heaven alone to eate his morsels alone his pleasure is in choice company though not in any J will that those which thou hast given be with mee The pleasure of Christ is the spring of favors as high as this rises a Christian rises necessarily The naturall Son may have what he will for the adopted Sons the Will of Christ is the rule of Communication all is his to make gifts to his favorites as great as he will These have continued with me in my temptation these shall sit on Thrones the pleasure of Christ Thrones us heaven's us Heaven riseth out of Christs breast It comes out of the belly of divine will Participation is to suite will will is infinite vast therefore is Heaven communicable Great persons do great things to satisfy their will Participation is proportion'd to promise no lesse then the Land flowing with milke and honey is promised Communication is according to obligation Heaven is but little enough to fulfill truth to pay debts Christ hath beene so free of his promise that all he has will but make it good and render him just He hath engaged his own honor his own inheritance all below yea all that he has above upon poore terms but upon our service which is more disservice more sinne then service at best If any man serve me let him follow mee and where I am there shall my servant be Iohn 12.26 We are by promise to have as much wages as Christ to receive as great pay though not in so great command and though but common Souldiers and he a Captaine yet all that serve under him are to have as he has a house full of silver and gold yea a house not made with hands a very vast house a house full a heaven full of Jewells Communication is according unto obligation debts must be payd although never so great Mercy never dies in debt to justice every man shall partake of as much as fit for and promised to him although Christ himself hath no more Communication is according to instigation sometimes Participation is proportioned sometimes according to merit Gods giving is according to Christs deserving not according to ours the best of us should partake of hell and not of heaven if we had our deserts Heaven is great and yet lesse then Christs merit and therefore God himselfe is proposed as a Saints portion and Christs purchase The Lord is my portion he doth not say heaven The Lord which made heaven and can make more heavens yea is more then all heavens upon a glote of whose eye upon a cast of whose countenance stands heaven and hell he is my portion He is so in whom why in Christ by his merit Participation is proportioned to merit merit is vast it challenges heaven more God himselfe Christs merit makes God ours the holy Ghost ours what God is in himselfe ours which is the heaven of heavens that which makes heaven heaven Christs bloud is of more worth then heaven it
thoughts I can leave my children no earth but I can leave my children Heaven I cannot leave my children this hilly Country nor that neither the blessing of hils nor vallies here but I can leave them the blessing of the everlasting Hills as the expression is of Josephs blessing Heaven was eyed in that expression I conclude all thus we are under age here hardship is fit for us and ours Such heires must comfort themselves with what they shal have You which are partakers of the divine nature shall be partakers of more felicity then the tongue of men and Angels can expresse and yours for your sakes will be blessed below when you are so blessed above FINIS USEFULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giving thankes unto the Father which hath made us fit to the part of the Lot of Saints in light THE greatest favours come most immediate to us Eternall mercies fall as a Lot in our lap no art no medium no merit Gods own finger points them to persons to such and not to such Who hath made us fit to the Lot of Saints Doct. Providence hath a mediate and an immediate course to give out favours to man This that expression of the wise man gives us House and riches are the inheritance of fathers but a prudent wife saith he is of a higher descent is from the Lord. The mercy is higher and therefore disposed by a more immediate and speciall providence As things rise in the Nobility of their owne nature so they rise in the manner of their birth and bringing forth to us Grace and glory are simply and absolutly the noblest natur'd things and these in the noblest way descend upon us by a very immediate disposing hand of God like a Lot Things are of a double descent There is mans off-spring and Gods off-spring wee are his off-spring saith the Apostle The noblest things are onely Gods off-spring the great things of eternity come onely out of the wombe of a God Heaven comes forth from betweene his 〈◊〉 Some things come down along in such a line to us through so many wombes through so many hands into our hands Heaven comes out but of one wombe but that wombe as blessed as God from Gods immediate hand by providence not to be explained just as a Lot the Lot of Saints c. Some things have succession others have none Melchisedeck neither father nor mother The great'st favours come all so into the World neither father nor mother but God Out of nothing came al from nothing comes al stil to the Saints heaven which is a Saints al from nothing but from Heaven From what house doth that great house descend upon us to be ours From what progenitors but Christ Is it not disposed to such and such secretly wonderfully by a hand and power unknowne to all the World Upon Christs vesture they did cast Lots and as that fell so the vesture went by a supreme hand onely Heaven is Christs vesture the Sons best garment his robe of state and glory and this goes by Lot too t is put upon the back of none by any art of their owne but by a power supreme by that hand which disposeth Lots which none sees so all the Saints get their greatnesse The lot of the Saints c. As power did create so providence doth dispose A very unknowne creation had the Heaven of Heavens * Above speculation therefore not subjected to it wisdome would nor dazell weake eyes The Angels and all the state and glory of that brave World to come Doe you finde any piece of that stately building above so much as once expressely mentioned in the dayes of Creation T is disposed as 't was created in a very close way as a Lot by such a power and providence as no Ceature can explaine or peep into This World was made by an immediate hand but that above after a more close more entire and more supreme way i utterly without all hint to be guessed at So this World is disposed of by a providence of God but by a providence working very externally and very humanely i al-along in such and such humane and secular wayes as usually knowne unto us But that glorious World above is disposed by such a providence as workes very internally very hiddenly in utter unlikely meanes and in these moves utterly out of our sight and reach just as that hand and those fingers doe which dispose into your bosome such a Lot of great treasure Some motion is peculiar for state Kings give low things by Offices and take no notice of them themselves what they are nor to whom they goe But other things of a more noble nature they give with their own mouth and with their own hand such and such noble things to such and such noble persons Heaven is nobility confer'd with Gods own hand 'T is the best robe put upon the Prodidall by the hand of his Father and none else 'T is lame Mephibosheth advanced by word of mouth from David himselfe as a piece of the state of his greatnesse to which God had raised him and as a high point of love The more immeditate things come out of one friends hand into another the more they speake out love and render parties honorable I did it for him with my own hand you have such a common expression when you would worke your respect with such and such to a great height The King gives a Jewell and he gives it with his owne hand his love and honor doublely sparkle in such a Jewel every time 't is look 't upon Heaven is a Jewell hanged about our neck by Gods owne hand God makes a rich portion and as it were rolles it up in a Lot and with his owne hand without any art of man casts it into our lap the lot of Saints Some motion is peculiar for complement 'T is a filling up of Love to give and to give with a mans owne hand to give an onely son and the father to do it with his hand onely this is Love to admiration love filled up to the brim God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Sonne Some persons give as if they would give themselves too if they knew how that makes the gift mighty big yee shall have gift and hand and al words and armes and all A gift fully circumstanced with love is a double gift Heaven given and cast into our lap with Gods owne hand is a double Heaven A Lot in a good ground and to fall there Heaven and to fal as out of Heaven that 's two Heavens Gods love motions are fully circumstanced with love the Sun wants not a beame to give forth its glory Heaven comes from God to the soule as the soule it selfe came from God the soule and the felicity of the soule both breathed from Gods own mouth Some motion is pecular for Echo * A trumpet is soūded so and
God Psal 86.10 unlesse such and such men stand by him What Is not God God alone Cannot he nay doth not he use to do great things alone Nemine adjuvante multis obstantibus Is not Heaven brought to us against all the strength of Hell by Christ alone I will make a more strict soule-application of this point Great things come in a very immediate way my inference is our eyes in matters of the soule which are the greatest things should be much fixed upon God Sinners undoe their soules in that little which they doe to save them 'T is enough to some that they put themselves upon Ordinances as if that were all to bring the soule to Heaven Grace and salvation come in a more immediate way 'T is not what men say to the eare but what God himselfe speaks to the heart which makes Heaven there and a capacity of Heaven for ever 'T is the voice behind you that turnes you and saves you Grace drops from Christs on we lips I create the fruit of the lips peace These waters are nothing to him that makes them enough 'T is the Angels stirring does the worke for Heaven Sinners when you come to Ordinances use them as Ordinances * Media ut media secùs slagella and not as Gods charge your soules to hearken what God will say and what God will doe I am going to divine Ordinances it may be a man may say many good wordes to me and God never a one man may lift and lift and be very lively and God give never a lift and then is my soule lost Ah Lord How ominous is that when God will not speake a word to the soule I am fallen upon a point of life death sinners attend or you will utterly lose your soules You have mediate favours cast upon you but what immediate You have men-preaching but what God-preaching do you find you keepe on in a rode-way what foot-way hath Christ within from heaven to your hearts The Law was written with Gods own hand and so dispensed in a very immediate way which was Israells greatest favor Is the Law written on your hearts by the finger of God What friends have you from Heaven visiting you which no eye sees What immediate dispensations from Christ to your soules What workings of the spirit of God upon your spirits doe you finde in Ordinances many a man hath no bigger favours from God then a Horse or a Cow naked corporall things for the support of such a corporall being bread and flesh as a bruite hath hay and grasse This was Caines curse banished from Heaven to earth cursed from the presence of the Lord to bruites mercies onely to what felicity the earth could afford no fellowship betweene God and his soule The World is full of banished soules from the presence of the Lord. Justice for this makes no difference O England betweene thy men and horse no more of one then of t'other because so like in qualification one looking no higher then t'other The noblest blessings the greatest favours Heaven and Heavenly things which God gives with his owne hands to the soule these thy wantons and worldlings O sensuall England have not esteemed A base sunke spirit hath sunk thee England If thou couldest have but the mercies of a bruite fat pasture and peace to grase in it 't would much as thy heart wishes As for those greatest favours which God in state dispences with his owne hand to the heart thou hast many children which will dispence with these and many which will scoffe at them Multitudes amongst you care not for the smile of a God so you may have but the smiling countenance of some great man so you may but sleepe in a whole skinne and enjoy fleshly delights whether God or your soule ever change a good word you heed not Yee base spirited wretches which care not for Heaven so that yee may have but earth know that yee are the plague of poore England The bloud of the Land will be laid at your doore Had not you growne so earthly and base in a fat Land as to sleight Heaven and sleight the greatest favours we had not bled at this day T is the badge of an Esau to prize earth and sleight Heaven to serve sence and to care for no nobler nor nearer fellowship with God then providence bring to the belly God may bring a Heaven to your bodies if this will serve turne and a hell to your soules Let every man know the plague of his heart and repent carnality will kill you all Spirituality onely covets the noblest things A spirituall man cannot feed so low nor so course as others doe hee must have a Dish from GODS owne Table or all dainties at his owne table rellish not The Creature is sweete but there is a Heaven beyond this saith hee Hee cannot sit downe without God nor rise up without him All is wanting when God cannot be found no body at Table when Christ is not there what dropping from Heaven upon my soule from every thing that 's still the Quaere with a spirituall man Immediate favours noblest God alone all to this man Whom have I in Heaven but thee whom have I in Earth in comparison of thee Words of men weighed words of Gods within laid up more choyce then Jewells The opportunity is still lost when Christ and the soule hath had no talke Vanites ensnare I am too fleshly for Christ to take mee by the hand sayes a spirituall man One spirit is still panting after another two spirits would be one in the bosome of another no lesse then the jewels which hang about Christs owne neck will content a noble spirit The Quaere is not how much the body hath of the Creature but how much the soule doth enjoy of God What immediate mercies doe I enjoy What hath God laid in for spending in these hard times with his owne hands What faith What experiments What divine resolutions Spirituality carries the soule sublime every thing is in price as it comes from Heaven and brings Heaven along with it That 's preaching that brings Heaven and the heart together that 's a christian whose breath smels like a garden which the Lord hath blest In whose mouth Heaven opens As things are wrapped up in Christ so they have their price still to a spiritualll man Carnality makes you mind no high things earth is heavy earthy soules cannot flee high no higher then the top of a golden dunghill Let these things hint a bad state and better it The noblest things make the noblest condition both here and here after Live low now and live low for ever as low as hell FINIS USEFULL INSTRVCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light T Is considerable how Christ makes his will how hee disposes of all where hee gives most where he casts