qualifications see the evil of it in these particulars I wil but name them First you abuse a Gospel-priviledge a power of Election that is put into your hands Secondly in the end you will find the misery of it by putting your selves into the power of men who shall not use their power for your edification but for their own honour and advantage making Church-power to serve their pride and lusts which hath been the common abuse of it in all ages of the Church Communion with GOD Good in Bad Times Preached at Pauls Octob. 14. 1647. before the Lord Maior Aldermen PSAL. 73. ver the last the former part But it is good for me to draw neer to God WHen dangers are eminent all men begin to look out for a refuge that they may be able to make a certain and an honourable retreate that they may in an universal deluge provide an Ark in a common conflagration a Zoar and in a common Shipwrack that they may have tabulam post naufragium that they may have something that when danger hath done its worst they may be able to lift up their heads and say Terram video I yet see an Haven to anchor in I yet see an Haven to make to a safe harbour All natural and unregenerate men they have their refuges to which they retreate the rich mans wealth is his strong Tower and his high wall is his own conceit But the Holy-Ghost hath told us that when God shall lay judgement to the line and righteousness to the Plumet the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lyes and the storm shall over-flow their hiding place Isa 28.17 But a godly man he hath his refuge also grace makes a man partaker of the divine nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athen. Nazianzen expresseth it it doth wholly resolve the creature into God God is to him allin all God is his provision for he is a Sun His protection is from him for he is a Shield His perfection lies in him for he himself is his exceeding great reward Thus the name of the Lord is a strong Tower and the righteous flye thither and are safe when the Branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low specially if we consider the time into which God hath cast us As I know there is no duty so I know not of any Doctrine more necessary then for the people of God those that have an interest in him to be stir'd up at this time in a special manner to keep close to him that they may put on Davids resolution in the Text It is good for me to draw neer to God In this Psalm you shall find David lie under a great affliction and a great temptation an affliction for he saith that he was plagued every day and chastened every morning and the temptation rose from his observation of the contrary prosperity of the wicked Here was a dispensation of Providence that David could notunderstand here was a Temptation of Satan that David could not overcome thereupon he goes into the Sanctuary of God Truly whatsoever men may think the holyest men and the ablest men will sometimes stand in need of the Ministry of the word David went into the Sanctuary of God and then the passage of Providence was clear to him his mind was quiet there is a pacifying vertue in the word and the temptation vanished and this the Lord did by discovering unto David the ground of this differencing dispensations in outward things in regard of the different Covenants under which men stand and that both towards unregenerate men and towards his own people Towards unregenerate men the Lord in his Sanctuary did discover to David these Three things First of all their outward prosperity was but like a dream but an Image an appearance an outside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth please men no longer then while they are asleep it was but as a dream when a man waketh that all their outward prosperity would certainly die Secondly the Lord discovered to him all this glory should end in their utter destruction in time and that this Jordan of content did but carry them down to the dead Sea the Lord will say they had their portion in this life Son remember that in thy life time thou hadst thy good things In the third place the Lord discovered to him that this common love should end in an eternal hatred so in these outward mercies there was a judgement their Table was made a snare and to ripen their sins and by this means highten their judgement and so all the prosperity of the wicked to be an act of wrath and not of mercy and the Lord did advance them that they stand upon slippery places In all Gods dispensations towards unregenerate men there is a judgement even in those things that are mercies outward blessings in themselves but curses to the men because this is a rule Sine summo bono nil bonum there is nothing good to a man that hath not an interest in God that is the chiefest good These things being discovered unto David he understood the end of these men but in the Sanctuary also God taught David something of his own people and they were these three things First that notwithstanding their sufferings yet they had Gods presence in them though the Lord be present with his people at all times yet especially in the worst times when the Bush is in the fire then in an especial manner is the good pleasure of him that dwels in the Bush there Thou art with me saith David thou holdest me with thy right hand And as he had Gods presence So he learned in the Sanctuary that they had Gods guidance as he did not bear the affliction alone by his own power so he did not go through it with his own wisdom thou shalt guide me with thy counsel And Lastly he had Gods glory for these light afflictions work for us a more exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory and this sowing in tears shall make way for a joyful harvest Now David having understood these things in the Sanctuary hence he begins again to lay claim to God and that he had made the best choice Whom have I in Heaven but thee and who do I desire upon earth in comparison of thee surely it is good for me to draw neer to God Thus Gods people are gainers by all their afflictions and they grow the stronger by all their temptations This being the Connection The Observation then that I shall desire to handle without any division of the words is plainly in the Text. Doctrine In evil times it is good for the people of God to draw neer to God The best course a godly man can take in calamitious times is to keep close to God In the handling of this truth there are two things that I shall desire to clear for Explication and then we shall
commission from him in another manner than any other sinners doe being as Officers employed under him As it is in persecution it is the Devil that doth act persecutors immediately Revel 2.10 The devil shall cast some of you into prison So also it is in Heresie for it is a floud out of the mouth of the Serpent Rev. 12.15 And it appears to bee a highway of wickedness and that which brings all others with it because Satan did put more confidence in it then by any other way to carry on his design and when he was not able to uphold his power any longer in a way of persecution as he did in the first three hundred yeares now he thinkes to repaire all by a way of Heresie for let Christ cast the world into what shape he will Satan applyes himself unto that shape that so he may be the ruler of the darkness of it c. Now there being a great influence from Hell upon this and Satan putting a greater confidence in it it doth plainly shew that there are more depths of wickednesse in this than in any other way of sinning whatsoever and it must needs be if wee consider with our selves these three things First the Understanding is the leading faculty and therein are layd down the rules for the whole life In the practical understanding that is the common treasury of all the rules of practice and according unto these a mans whole life is formed corrupt but the principals of a man and his whole life will quickly be corrupt for no man is better than his principles neither can he be There 's many a man would be better if he had higher principles and therefore the Lord when he shews mercy to a man and doth increase his Grace he doth usually raise his principles and then as a mans light doth rise his Graces will increase for it is claritas in intellectu parit and every man will strive to live up to his principles a godly man doth and he blaming himselfe that he doth fall short and a wicked man shall daily be put upon it and therefore many of them they cannot be so wicked as their principles would lead them to they see there is so much flesh in them that they cannot yet bring themselves to be perswaded that there is no Resurrection of the dead nor no life after this life no punishments nor rewards but if the eye be darknesse how great is that darkness By the Eye is meant the Understanding or the practical Judgement which is the guide of a mans way as the Eye in the body is and if that be darkned in the principles of it the whole body the whole life must needs be full of darknesse the blindnesse in the Eye causeth a darknesse all the body over Secondly it must needs be so because this takes away whatever should restraine the lusts of men for there is a sea of corruption in the heart Isa 57.20 As the raging Sea onely there are bounds set to it and what is that but the light that God doth put into their consciences and men are overawed by it they cannot be so wicked as they would now if lust can once by a corrupt Doctrine cast off this bridle what kind of evill can they be withheld from What is it they dare not doe Rev. 92. The Suâ—ne and he aire were darkned by the smoak luce vintatis prersus extinera Neither in the Sunne nor in the Aire is there any light now all light being taken away that should discover the way of death to a man and there is an impulse of lust within that puts the man upon acting And whither will not that man run that hath no principle within to restrain him He will commit all iniquity with greediness Thirdly There is a just judgment of God upon them in it that they do dishonour God in his Truths God should give them up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.26 to that lust which should bring that dishonour upon them that should make them vile and abominable and hateful before men Satan comes with the deceivableness of Unrighteousness because they had pleasure in Unrighteousness 2 Thess 2.10 they were such Doctrines as did in judgement draw out their lusts for God doth many times in judgement send men Teachers according to their lusts Micha If any man will prophesie of Wine and strong Drink he shall be a Prophet to this people So the Lord doth fit them with Doctrines according to their lusts that shall be a means to draw them forth Ezek. 20. I gave them Statutes that were not good It 's spoken of the statutes of Omri and all their Idolatrous commands which God gave them in judgement and their lusts were drawn forth by them and they perished in them For there is a reciprocation between the head and the heart and a constant communion An evil heart commonly makes an evil head and then an evil head doth very much add unto the roâ—…enness of the heart And by this means Deceivers in Judgement grow worse and worse 1 Tim. 1.9 Faith and a good Conscience must be kept together and there is no hope of keeping the one without the other for a good Conscience is the vessel wherein Faith is preserved and if that be once split Faith that is the lading will suffer wrack There must be a mutual preservation of both for they must be kept together or they will surely be lost together Doct. 2. Men take special care that the Word of God should be brought in to patronize their lusts They will be wanton but they would also wrest and pervert the word of God the Father and have that countenance it First Carnal Reason is lusts Councellor and the strong Holds of sin lies therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a great Pleader for sin Men sought out Inventions Eccles 7.29 2 Cor. 10.5 there is a great contribution that corrupt reason gives to lust Secondly But never so much as when it is from the Word of God that being the rule of a mans actions let lust have somthing from it to satisfie it and then the man sins securely it 's true that of Rom. 10.18 the Lord hath stretched forth the Expansum of his Word and many men it may be will not dare to sin with freedom against the aspects of it c. but if the Word do seem to countenance it and they can catch at any thing it shall suffice They wrost the Scriptures to their own damnation 2 Pet. 3.16 The Divel himself will come with It 's written and the false Prophets with Thus saith the Lord and then men can sin securely and without fear because the Word doth justifie them and bear them out and therefore the first the most continued heresies that can never be stubb'd up but there are fibrae of them do appear in all ages as we see it in Arminianisme Pelagisme it is because they have much Scripture that they
and that doth delight him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to retaliate that men may abundantly eat the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices and the Lord makes in this retaliation a greater speed with some men then he doth with others answerable to the Mercies bestowed and abused some mens sins are as a basket of Summer-fruit quia maturitatem suam sunt assecuti Am. 8.12 Drusius they that have stood long under mercies and under Ordinances they do ripen the sooner and the Lord will surely hasten his work upon such a people habet sapientia justitiae sua compendia the Lord knows how to finish the work to cut it short in righteousness for a short work doth the Lord intend to make in the land Rom. 9.28 How long soever the work be that God makes with any other people yet with an unthankful people that lives in high abuses of goodness he will surely make a short work with them Fifthly At the same time when we begin to forsake God he doth begin to forsake us for so much must be taken from the beginning of the verse the Lord is with you whiles you are with him so we and some others render it dum fuistis Therefore the same date that our departing bears unto God the same also doth the Lords departing bear unto us at the same time when the Prodigal did but set the first step to return to his father the father did set forth to meet him and at the same time that any man departs and turns away from God at the same time doth the Lord turn away from him also and though it be not presently visible for our Apostacy from God is first in the inward man our souls draw back from him Jer. 6.8 at the same time also his soul departs or is dis-joynted from such a people and in such cases the Lord is very exact in observing of the time he keeps an account of it unto a day as we see it in Saul 1 Sam. 13 13,14 Now would the Lord have established the kingdom upon Israel for ever but now thy kingdom shall not continue now Saul departed from the Lord and from this time forth the Lord did forsake him and therefore 1 Sam. 13.2 it 's said that he reigned but two yeers over Israel that is Legitimè non rejectus á Deo so Junâ—post biennium a Shemuèle fuit so that though the kingdom did continue so many yeers â—fter or he continued in the kingdom yet he reigned as King but two yeers now he rejected God and now the Lord reâ—ected him from being King over Israel and though men discern it not yet there are symbolical precepts by which the Lord doth try men even at this day the Lord puts them upon such a business puts such power and such authority into their hands which they abusing and their heart departing from God in it they are under an evil aspect from God from that time forward that though their lives may continue and though they may for a time continue in their authority yet from that time he Lord departs from them and they do by degrees wither and decay insensibly degenerate in their zeal for God and his people Sad are the Records and the aspects of God upon great men in this kind such a day I tryed a mans integrity and his faiâ—hfulness I put power into his hand to honor me with it and yet his spirit departed from me his heart was false and unstable with me therefore from that day my soul is disjoynted from such a man will honor him no more Saul reigned long after before the people but from that time no longer in Gods account Sixthly In the same degree that a people do forsake the Lord will the Lord also forsake them and so much the Hebrew word also doth seem to import in existendo vos cum eo in your being with him he will also be with you and in your forsaking of him he will also forsake you The Lord departs from a people gradatim by several removes to see if there be any that will stir up themselves to take hold of God As the glory of the Lord departed from the Temple Ezek. 10.11 first he goes up from the Cherubins unto the threshold and from thence to the middle of the City and from the City unto the Mountain and these removes of God from us are answerable unto the degrees of our departing from him for in these things the Lord doth exactly observe a proportion As it is in the matter of outward afflictions so it shall be also in spiritual desertions Ezek. 7.16 as pride doth bud so the rod doth blossom violence doth rise up unto a rod of wickedness their rod is taken out of their own sins their own wickedness doth correct them and answerable to the growth of sin in them so doth the rod grow for them that it may be corrected And so it is in desertion also with the upright the Lord will shew himself upright if mens hearts be wholly with him he will be perfect and intire with them but if men be for God onely in shew he will be for them and with them onely in shew if they give unto him onely outward obedience he will give unto them onely a temporal reward if they do offer unto God but external service and that which is seemingly service but really a sin he will bestow upon them outward blessings that is that which shall be seemingly a blessing but really a curse a blessing in the thing but a curse to the man For the Lord will hold a proportion as we forsake him so he will in the same measure and degree forsake us also All the children of destruction are not born at once Hos 1. the first is Iezreel and the last Loammi yea and Gods own people answerable unto their departing from God so they shall find the Lords withdrawment from them David had his first ways 2 Chr. 17 and the people of God have their first Rev. 2.4 and they that do decline from God in holy obedience they shall finde the Lord will depart from them in reference to a gracious presence it shall not be with them as it hath been in times past they shall remember with bitterness after their departure from their former husband that it was better with them then it is now 2. Let us now look upon the grounds of this Doctrine that upon our forsaking of God he will forsake us and they are different according unto a double state of men in this life some are in a state of Nature and some are in a state of grace First they that are in a state of nature forsaking God shall be utterly forsaken by him and that for ever for the Lord doth deal with men according to the tenor of the Covenant under which he stands in all his administrations he is always mindful of his Covenant Now all men in
against thee thou hast none to make answer for thee for thy Covenant admits no advocate Lastly if any services be required thou hast none to help thee but thy own might no Christ to strengthen thee no Spirit to help thy infirmities Rom. 8.26 as it is with the people of God in the Covenant of grace Secondly none to bear thy sins or sufferings and so wrath must needs come upon thee immediately it comes upon the godly under the second Covenant and Christ the Mediator stepped between he bare the curse being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 but when the Lord shall come to pour out his wrath upon thee thou maiest rather hope to prevail with the Rocks and the Mountains then with Christ he will not appear for thee but thou must wrastle it out with the wrath of the great God for ever and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.30,31 there must needs be Iudgement without mercy and fury without compassion when the Lord will stir up all his wrath and none step in to bear one drop of this storm for thee for thy Covenant admits no Mediator Thirdly it is a Covenant under which unto man fallen there is no hope of reparation First it promiseth no repentance after sinning it belonâ—s to the second Covenant that Christ shall give repentance unto Israel Acts 5.31 Secondly it promiseth no space to repent but Gen. 2.17 the day thou eatest thou shalt dye and so they had had not Christ stept in Rev. 2.21 space to repent is not from the first Covenant Thirdly if a man did repent this Covenant promiseth no acceptation upon repentance it saith indeed Gen. 4.7 if thou dost well thou shalt be accepted but it faith not if thou dost evil thou shalt upon after repentance be accepted therefore this is a mans miserable condition and this it must be by this Covenant for ever therefore the Devils are in a hopeless Condition because the Covenant under which they stand offers them no mercy after sinning and God hath not revealed unto them any other Covenant and the same is the condition of every man by this first Covenant only men have this priviledge that they have a second Covenant offered unto them upon which they may lay hold with hope of mercy therefore neglect not these glorious offers seek the Lord while he may be found close with the grace in the new Covenant know the day of thy visitation for if thou be found at the last day under Adams Covenant and untranslated thou must expect no other but to bear thy own sin and shame for ever Let this awaken you to seek first for a change of thy Covenant and then afterward for a change of thine Image many men labour to change their waies and to abstain from many sins but whilest thou art under this first Covenant thy Covenant promiseth no grace to perform duties thy Covenant promiseth no acceptance therefore the first thing that a soul should set upon is to seek to God to be translated out of that Covenant that bondage under which by nature he stands FLESH SILENCED BY Gods arising A Sermon Preached before the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons of London on a Thanksgiving day at Christ-Church London July 26. 1651. ZACH. 2. ver ult Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation IT is the great honour of the Saints that they are made the Temples of the Holy-Ghost and the Priests of the most high God that they may offer to him spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Iesus Christ The sacrifices of the Jews were of two sorts Some were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propitiatory Sacrifices for the obtaining of pardon and peace and reconciliation after sins committed there were other sacrifices that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peace-offerings a returning unto God of thanks and praises for blessings received When God did put into the hands of his people a cup of consolation for that is the Prophets expression in Ier. 16. then did they take the cup of salvation the cup of benediction and returned unto God again Psal 116.13 You have both these sacrifices in the spiritual sense of them under the Gospel and the Lord delights in each of them in their seasons Sometimes the Lord calls his people to mourning and it is dangerous to deceive the expectation of God Sometimes he calls them to rejoice Consider in Heb. 12.23 you are by the Gospel taken into Communion with Angels and your Communion with the Angels in a great measure doth consist in bearing a part with them in your praises it is the action of heaven and requires hearts in heaven to joyn with it therefore the hearts of the Saints are so described Rev. 19.1 I heard a voice of much people in Heaven saying Amen Hallelujah it is spoken of the Saints upon earth it is usually in that book styled the Church of God in heaven but how when they praise God they are a great multitude in Heaven The Countries that have most staple commodities in them for exchange you know they have the freest and the fullest traffique The most glorious intercourses between heaven and earth is in mercy and the most glorious return between earth and heaven is in grace praises and the returning of mercies into themselves ad locum unde exeunt gratiae revertantur Bernard saith Bernard it is a returning of mercy into the same fountain the same bosom of love from whence it flows it is indeed the habitation of God that next to heaven he delighteth to dwell in he inhabiteth the praises of Israel These considerations I desire to premse that you may a little observe of what weight and importance the services that you now go about are For the words that I have read to you that you may find out the meaning and scope of the Holy-Ghost in them it is necessary that we look into the story the context and the connexion of the verse which I shall briefly give you and I intreate you diligently to mark The Babylonian Monarchie having trodden down the City of God the holy City and laid wast the Temple and worship of God for seventy years that time being expired the Lord according to his promise delivers his prisoners out of the pit in which there was no water Deliverance was proclaimed by Cyrus the first King of Persia this liberty some of the Jews undervlaued and they still chose rather to abide in the Land of their captivity to them is the speech directed in the 6. ver of this Chapter Ho saith God come forth and stie from the Land of the North they might have had liberty but they embraced their former bondage those that did accept of deliverance and returned into their own Countrie they were no sooner returned but there rose a Samaritan faction their neighbours those that were neither Gentiles by profession nor Jews by religion
when this Treasure is brought in so that the time in which men fill up the measures of sin and the treasure of wrath this is that which I call an appointed time of sinning Now as some men and some Nations measures and treasures are greater then others so God gives them an appointed time to fill it up and being considered in it self the greatest Iudgement that can befall a man is for the Lord to give unto a man or a Nation a long time of sinning as the time that man hath to sin is but small only during the time of the body for he shall only give an account of the things done in the body not those that are done in statu separato 2 Cor. 5.10 and to a man in the body there is an appointed time under heaven Iob. 7.1 a short time appointed for his being and therefore a short time for his sinning But the Devil hath a large time from the beginning of the world unto the end of it to the day of Iudgement which argues that there is much wrath reserved and prepared for him that must have so long time to enlarge the vessel and fit it to receive it for as gray hairs are a Crown if they be found in the way of righteousness Pro. 16.31 that is it is a special mercy to live long to add to a mans Crown so it is a special curse for a man to go on in evil and yet his daies to be prolonged Eccl. 8.12 Secondly a time of patience when the Lord holds his peace and reproves not Psal 50.21 indeed God is angry with the wicked every morning Psal 7.11 there is not a day that he riseth but a cloud of Gods displeasure riseth over him but yet he deferrs his Iudgement holds his hand there is a time when he is prest under their abominations as a Cart is prest under sheavs Amos 2.13 for to have men go on to sin against him and because Iudgement is not executed speedily therefore to have their hearts fully set in them to do evil and the patience of God to be made the ground and the encouragement of sinning cannot be but a great and a heavy burthen to the patience of God and yet there is a time when the Lord bears and doth not by and by ease himself of his adversaries as he saith in Iudgement he doth Isa 1.24 and it is an ease to him Ier. 32.31 the City of Ierusalem the Lord saith had been a provocation to him from the day that it was built which was many hundred years and yet the Lord had born it and had not removed it out of his sight according as he threatned for to do for there is a season for God to glorifie all his attributes he will make them all exceeding glorious in their time now after this life there shall be time to glorifie Iustice Mercy and Truth but the patience of God can have no place in heaven nothing that shall burthen Gods patience and in hell he will shew forth no patience nothing but wrath to the vessels of wrath it is the breath the fury of the Lord that is a River of Brimstone burning in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 30. ult therefore there must be a time for the Lord to glorifie his patience and a time for Christ to rule in the midst of his enemies and a time for him to rule over them when they shall be made his foot-stool there must be a time for the decree to conceive and to bear before it bring forth Zeph. 2.1 The truth is we consider not what a precious time even the time of patience is to have a poor soul that expects to be executed at last but to have two or three years added to his life by way of a reprival how great a favour doth he esteem it So for a man or a people to have deserved death for the Lord to cut ten or twenty years out of eternity but to respit the Iudgement and give a man but so much time of ease it is a special and extraordinary favour It is not time of slackness but time of patience 2 Pet. 3.9 Thirdly there is a time of repentance when God doth defer and respit the Iudgement after sinning of purpose that man may return and come in Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent and she repented not the words are Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave it and the principal and proper intent that God had in it was this that they might have time to repent come in and make their peace in a time wherein the Lord calls men to repentance by the ministery of the word stretching out his hands all the day long Ier. 32.33 when the Lord calls to weeping mourning baldness and sack-cloath Isa 22.7 a time when the Lord strives inwardly with the spirit of a man to bring him to a sight of sins and sorrow for them a time when if men seek him he will be found Isa 55.6 and when though the Lord do threaten never so severely it is but with condition of repentance and if then they will come forth and take hold of his strength and make peace with him they shall make peace according to his promise Isa 27 5. when though there be a cloud of blood hang over a people and grievously threaten danger but yet it is but conditional and if they return and repent they shall make their peace and God will be again reconciled and the judgement shall not come as we see in Nineveh for that only I call time of repentance when there is hope of mercy else repentance will not profit for it comes too late Fourthly the time of patience and repentance have their periods indeed these times are not of the same length to all to some God shew◠but a little patience and to others a great deal riches of patience and forbearance that though they do evil a hundred times yet their daies are prolonged so for repentance some have but a winters and others a summers day but when these are longest yet there is a time when they will expire and time shall be no more they have their fixed and set bounds that they cannot pass First time of repentance for though the spirit may strive and strive long yet he saith he shall not alwaies strive Gen. 6.3 and though if in the day of repentance men do come in he will turn from his fierce wrath Isa 55.6 Yet if this time be past there is a time when the Lord will not be found Ierusalem had the day of her visitation wherein she might have known the things belonging to her peace but a great while before the Iudgement came they were hid from her eyes Luke 19.42 Secondly it is true the time of patience may last longer then the time of repentance for God may with-hold his hand even when Judgement is determined against a people but yet the time of patience will not alwaies last the longest day
But what is there in their destruction that is such matter of joy to hear of the shedding of blood and the destruction of many thousands and those many of them poor souls very unfit to dye to see them in garments rouled in blood is this matter of joy a man would rather think you should rather sit down and sigh to the breaking of your loins There are many things in it matter of joy and triumph unto the Saints as first they rejoyce in the Judgements of God Rev. 19 2. True and righteous are thy judgements for thou hast judged the great whore they do taste a sweetness even in the judgements of God as Ezek. 3.1 it was in my belly as honey even that roll which contained nothing but bitter lamentations yet it was very sweet to him the Saints love to see Christ with his sword girt upon his thigh and cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood and treading the wine-press alone travelling in the greatness of his strength Isa 63.1,2 Secondly because God hath appeared for the Churches cause and hath owned their quarrel and hath avenged the blood of his servants at their hands Rev. 19.2 when God doth appear for them and doth not leave them unto the will of their enemies but doth awake as a Giant in the behalf of his people this hath alwaies occasioned songs and rejoycing in his people the Lord hath triumphed gloriously over the horse his rider Exo. 15. not that they do triumph meerly upon the account of their own safety but they triumph because God hath triumphed over his enemies else to see so many drowned in the mercyless grave who would not have pittyed them Thirdly of all the Churches enemies that ever were this is the cruelest enemy the fourth beast is worse then any of the former and in the fourth beast the little horn was more fierce then his fellows they have been alwaies drunk with blood and their endeavour was to weare out the Saints of the most High Fourthly it shall be the last enemy for as soon as they shall be destroyed the seventh Trumpet sounds and then shall the mystery of God be finished it hath been an enemy to the Church of longest continuance of any their oppressions have lain longest upon the Church of God and the longer a burthen doth lie and hath been complained of the greater mercy you would count it to have it taken off if to be 430. years in Egypt and 70. years in Babylon be a long time for the people of God to indure yet this is a bondage that lasts 1260. daies in the greatest tyranny and rage that can be they Tread down the Temple Rev. 11.1,2 Fifthly when this enemy shall be destroyed the cup of her fornication shall be removed by which the men of the earth but specially the Kings of the earth have been made drunken Rev. 18.11 Now there is no man shall be their merchants more they had Chap-men abundantly before but now there shall be a dealing in that trade no more the same God that did cast out Satan in the Pagan way of Idolatry will also cast out Satan in the Antichristian way of Idolatry but they shall not deceive the earth by such sorceries any more for there is by this means a cloud that hath filled the house and no man could enter into the Temple Rev. 15.8 there was no considerable number of menconverted there was such a darkness and a smoake upon the ordinances of God and all his dispensations but all shall be removed Sixthly Lastly from the glorious fruit and consequences that shall follow upon the destruction of Antichrist the people of God will have great cause to rejoyce and praise God I le name only these four First then the Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 there shall be multitudes converted unto the Lord. Secondly it shall be the inlet of all the promises now Christ shall be called the word of God he was so before but now he is called so for the accomplishment of it as Exod. 3.6 by the name Jehovah God was not known unto them Thirdly then all persecutions shall cease Rev. 20. Satan shall be bound so that he shall not stir up the world to the persecution of the Saints as he had done in times past Fourthly New Jerusalm shall come down from God out of Heaven there shall be that glory of the Church that the Kingdom and dominion under the whole Heavens shall be given up to it and they shall possess it for ever and ever Dan. 7. the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains there is a triumphant state of the Church that is yet to come in this life when all the glory of the world shall be brought unto the Church and people of God Vse Seeing God hath in a degree accomplished this in this late mercy do you rejoyce with Triumph and say great Babylon is fallen for they are some of the most blind and Jesuited Papists in the world and those that profess oâ—herwise yet they do enter upon the Popish interest and engage in the same quarrel with them and take heed you be not deceived with vain words we see how not only this but the neighbor Nations do declare against them that seek to promote that cause of tyrannie and oppression which you have hitherto fought against let not your discontents carry you to the quite contrary point of the compass and your zeal against sects and heresies make you to succor their prophaness and to enter upon their interest and thereby to destroy that which you have endeavoured to build and to pluck down with your own hands that which you have so much with your purses and prayers laboured to set up I le only speak briefly to these five particulars to quicken you in this duty of praising God First it is a command that God doth give to all his Saints to rejoyce at Babylons downfal Rev. 18.20 rejoyce over her thou heaven universa sanctorum multitudo all the Saints but specially the Prophets and the Apostles the saithful Preachers of the word of God let not them be last in their joy and praises that had the great hand and were first in praying for it it is your duty and it lies as a command upon you and if you make conscience of other commands do not for fancies dispence with this Secondly they be Romes merchants only that be sad at it let them say Rev. 18.10 Alas alas that great City Babylon that mighty City this doth not befit the Sons of Zion but the merchants of Babylon and truly let me tell you a man may receive the mark of the beast in his right hand and may strongly promote the Popish interest that doth never wearâ—t by profession in his forehead Thirdly if Babylon shall fall then come out of her my people saith your God when Rome doth fall now is the time
in an afflicted condition He went mourning all the day long for the oppression of his enemies and the Lord hid his Face And his soul was dejected within him but yet he had hope in God For I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God The Saints do comfort themselves in their saddest condition with their Interest in things to come that the Lord will wait on them and be gratious and will not keep his anger for ever Consider these Eight thiâ—gs Secondly But how shall things to come become the Saints In respect of good and evil things to come 1. They are delivered from temptations to come A man shall be delivered from them and not left unto them and there is a great deal of mercy in the preventing grace of God this way in being freed from temptations The Lord will not lead his People through the Land of the Philistines Exod. though it was the neerest way to the Land of Canaan lest the people see it and their hearts turn back again into Egypt c. And indeed the Lord doth strangely order things in his Providence that temptations may be hid from his Peoples Eyes Satan desires continually to winnow the Saints but the Lord rebukes him and all his temptations 2. If Temptations sometimes assault them yet he doth make provision for them against Temptation Satan hath desired to winnow thee saith our Lord to Peter Luk. 23.31 but I have prayed for thee The Lord lays in consolation for the future tryals of the Saints and as the Temptation was fore-appointed so also is the Consolation Jer. 10.11 When the children of Israel were in Babylon and should have temptations to worship other Gods they were bid to make this Answer The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens And 't is very observable that one Answer God puts into their mouths is wrote in the Chaldee Tongue c. So the Saints shall be able to withstand them by vertue of the Intercession of Christ c. 3. Afflictions to come either they shall be delivered from them as Hezekiah thou shalt saith God be gathered into thy grave in peace God had an Ark for Noah and a Grave for Methusalah The Floud was appointed to come upon all the Earth well at the time appointed it comes But first Methusalah must be delivered for he lived until that very Year the Flood came and God provides him a Grave takes him away from the evil to come him does God deliver from it But Noah he must abide the tryal for him God provides an Ark and safely carries him through it Isa 4.5 Upon all the glory there shall be a defence The great water Floods shall not come nigh unto thee or else if they be afflicted they shall be gratiously supported under them The grace of God shall be sufficient for he hath promised When thou goest through the fire I will be with thee Isai 43.2 There is gratia perveniens assisteus in suffering as well as in sins and duties Psal 43.46 We will not fear though the earth be removed for there is a River the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God 4. Mercies to come to the Saints shall prove Mercies indeed Saul hath a Kingdom as wel as David but it was a mercy to David and therefore the Lord did qualifie him for it and gave him Kingly graces and weaned hii soul from the Mercy before he had Bernard Bern. Ecce paratum est cor meum vis me constituere pastorem ovium aut regem populorum My heart is as a weaned child Psal 131.2,3 And therefore it 's sayd Isa 30.18 that the Lord waits to be gracious he doth not defer because he is unwilling to bestow mercies upon us but because we are not prepared to receive Mercie for Mercies to unprepared soules are like unto Cordials unto foul stomacks the which do but increase the peccant humours and therefore the Lord never gives them till the season of them and till he hath prepared the soul to receive them There is a double right that the people of God have to Mercy First there is jus haereditarium a right of Inheritance and that they have as soon as they are converted but yet they are but then as a child in its nonage Secondly there is a jus aptitudinarium a right of fitness that is wanting and the Lord doth not give any Mercy in Mercy till both be found in the soul till there is a right of fitness as well as an hereditary right Fifthly Sins to come If God leaves under any temptation that we are foyled by it as that the best of Gods people may for I know no sin but may overtake such but final impenitency and the sin against the Holy Ghost yet all things shall work together for good to them that fear God Et si omnia qui ni etiam peccata Aug. Aug. If all things then sin it self is not excluded God makes a strange use of sin to his peoples good and benefit either to discover unto a man what is in his heart and so to abate his carnal confidence as the Lord did let Hezekiah fall to that end that the work of Mortification may be perfected and the Sword of Godly sorrow may go the wider and the Plough of Repentance the deeper and that shall be the fruit of it that the man may be more vile in his own sight or else to make him the more instrumental in that kind to do good unto others being able to comfort them with the same consolation with which he himself was comforted of God And being himself converted he may be the better able to convert and strengthen the brethren Luk. 22.32 And the Saints of God do see great Mercy even in their sins to come as well as in their suffering that as some of the Antients have blessed God for the Falls of the Saints those Horrenda naufragia by reason of the comfort and support and admonitions that they had from them So they do see cause many times to bless God for that Grace that brings so much good out of their sins also and so much they may promise themselves from a principle of Faith in regard of sinning as well as suffering Sixtly in respect of the happy and glorious condition of the Church that is promised in the latter daies there is a time coming when all the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.16,17 and unto the holy people of the most high Dan 17.27 And when the smoak out of the Temple shall vantsh and the Temple shall be opened in heaven and a man may see into the Court of the Testament which is within the vayl The darkness of the preâ—ent dispensation of God shall be done away and new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of heaven