you that profess your selves to be Saints that you would make To repair to this refuge towards this refuge or this garison here in all your troubles I am ashamed and troubled and have been truly many yeers to see Saints and godly people when troubles come on them to spend their wits and beat their brains in finding refuge in outward things O if I were here or there in such a Town in such an Iland in such a Country in such a place I should have it Beloved our song should be Salvation God will appoint us for walls and bulwarks Our way is when all the Kingdoms of the world are shaken to seek to get into that Kingdom that shakes not That is let England and all the world shake I care not so I have the Spirit of Christ the comforter to bring peace to my soul that may set up a garison there that nothing may assault and trouble me Then let all the world let heaven and earth shake I am sure I am safe this is the way It is a common saying of many particular persons Let a man not seek himself any where without in the opinion of men So let not Saints seek refuge and shelter and salvation in outward helps but if they should see the Kingdom of England which God forbid involved in more miseries and troubles and desolations c. Lay this down alway by thee there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken England and Scotland and Ireland are shaken but there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Such a garison is besieged such a Town is in danger such a place is stormed but there is a garison that the Lord hath put into the hearts of his Saints that cannot be stormed or assaulted Therefore ply the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of the New Testament by his holy comforter that he would garison thy soul and put peace there And then what shall be the issue I will tell thee that thou with a holy joy and complacency and delight of Spirit when thou seest the very pillars of heaven shaken as it were shalt sollace thy self in thy own garison and walk in the streets of it and be safe thou shalt triumph over all storms and troubles and all that is here Not because that a Saint is able to encounter those things that are here For a Saint is not able to answer if you ask what he conceives will be the end of these things he cannot answer these things but onely he retreats to the middle Region as a bird he flies above sublunary things he can say I cannot tell what shall become of England or Scotland or Ireland but I am sure I know a back door that leads into a Kingdom that cannot be shaken to go into the middle Region where no storms of the Air shall trouble me and there I can rest my spirit I alway for my part with submission to the wise apprehend it as a thing too carnal and too low for Saints to think to finde a resting place in this world any place is heaven in such an Iland in such a Plantation and such a place let it be what it will But a Saint that hath this garison in his heart and minde he is at peace This garison David had when his enemies compassed him and he had no walls when there were 10000 about him he lay and slept For thou Lord sustainedst me saith he The salvation of God was walls and bulwarks about him If this peace of God be above understanding how can it be otherwise then be above expression We can therefore give but a hint of it but such a thing there is The Saints walk in a green meadow by the rivers of waters Psal 23. in the spring all the day and all the night long in beholding the love of God and the Covenant of God made in Iesus Christ the full forgivenesse of all their sins the everlasting union between them and Christ and through Christ between them and God and beholding the Spirit in its working within them and beholding the glory that shall be revealed at the last day the Crown that Christ shall bring with him they walk safely and sweetly and securely though all the Kingdoms of the world and the pillars of heaven be shaken As the heathen said If the world break about his ears he would undergo it without trouble Not because he can answer these things but withdrawing himself to his place from them I cannot tell whether the Kingdom shall stand but I can go to the middle Region to Iesus Christ where there is no storme Learn that and lay aside your great projects like the men of the world of building Castles in the air for Garisons but labour to get into this Garison Salvation will God appoint for walls and Bulwarks Open ye the gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth may enter in This is a speech just alluding to a Garison they use there to open the gates and to shut them and when any body comes they bid them stand and ask them who they are for What are they One saith he is a friend and then they bid open the gates and let him come in if not to shut the gates against him Open ye the gates saith the Lord But none must come in but a friend but who is this friend It is The righteous Nation which keep the truth they shall enter in The word in the Originall it is Truth not Truth not one or two or three or four truths but the righteous Who have a right to Gods protection Nation that keepeth the truths let them enter in That is the word if you will passe this Court of Guard he that shall come into this Garison is he that keepeth truth with a good conscience notwithstanding all the troubles that befall him in this world he shall enter into this Garison Therefore I beseech you look to your selves Truly it is unconceiveable and unutterable what the joy the comfort the worth of that Garison is where it is set up in the soul yet there are no hypocrites no partiall obeyers of Iesus Christ and his laws that shall enter into it Therefore if I speak Hebrew or Greek as it were to you that you understand not what I mean by this Garison look to your selves it may be you have not the word and therefore you cannot get in It may be you walk not uprightly you are not of the upright Nation and people you keep not the truths It may be you pick one truth here and another there that pleaseth you that suits with your reason or your lusts and corruptions or with the stream of the world you honor and respect that and for the rest of the truth let you neighbours take it if they will you will none of it if it bring shame and persecution and reproch That is the reason when troubles come you are at your wits end you know not where to go because
of God considering how hot and violent it was Then I look upon it further as to consider what 4. In that this succeeded a series of mercies mercies there had gone in a streight line before and how this comes after mercy upon mercy God adding alway greater to the lesse This hath not been Gods way with us hitherto but if God heard us in one mercy he gave us a correction presently if we did get one garrison we lost another if we have one victory we lose another Now that God that is a Zealous God should go on and not see iniquity in his people and passe by their infirmities and should go from on Fort to another and from one garrison to another and bring in this great City to the rest I speak of it because the chief thing in this City is to desire to see the glory of God as Moses did to desire above all things to see God perfect God We know God is perfect and useth not to work by halves but God hath hidden that attribute in a great measure among us He gave us many overtures of mercie but he called for them back again and so presently turned our joy into sorrow It hath been familiar in all his dispensations to us for these two or three yeers Now that the Lord should go on from one thing to another without interruption and cast nothing in by the way to imbitter our mercies and to go from lesse to greater in this manner me thinks the Lord hath shewed himself a perfect God as he did to our fathers before and that is a glorious attribute Besides it is not a little mercie that the Lord hath 5. In respect of a confiding Governour inclined the Parliament to bestow a governour upon that City that they may confide in that is a greater mercy then we can now speak of And truly if you will give me leave to tell you what I think for we may haply judge of Gods mercie in this because of our concernment further then some of you it is a great mercie in our apprehension that the Lord hath cleared his people that came thence For when they came up I remember well of all people that came from any part of the Kingdom as I apprehend pardon me if I misapprehend the Bristoll people and those parts though they received much kindnesse from this City which they are bound with thankfulnesse ever to acknowledg yet they lay under a blurr because they were looked on as faulty and defective and negligent that they lost the City and endangered the Kingdom That truly besides their losses and sufferings that you cannot imagine unlesse you had suffered with them this was not a small affliction to see so many frown on them and to add affliction to affliction as though if they had been more valiant and couragious they might have kept the City and have saved it c. I meddle not with the commanders and governours but I speak of you that are here and the good people of Bristoll that use to be here I say the Lord hath restored the poor people to their home at least though that be naked enough for them and hath taken away their reproach for though we said before that we did what we could to save the City and stood out yet it was generally thought that we might have done more but now it appears to the world that now there were many more then we had at least three for one and there were two yeers works forts and lines built more then there was then and we kept them out three dayes in storming and I hear not that they did one As soon as we lost the City we capitulated so did they as soon as they lost it I say not but that we had weaknesses and it may be from the greatest to the least wanted skill in mannaging it but I know and I should know as much as oneâ— that the people of Bristoll were valiant from the least to the greatest The Lord hath taken away the reproach for whereas all others in the Kingdome were pitied many frowned upon Bristoll men after all their sufferings There are many other things that are not now expedient to insist upon I leave it to your serious consideration And what the goodnesse of God is to us in the victory in Scotland no man though we know it but in generall can be ignorant how that Kingdom being subdued the enemy would have been over us and all the three Kingdoms would have been gone in the eye of reason but God hath sent them seasonable reliefe beyond all expectation A great mercie Now from all this I will tell you my thoughts what you and I should learn First for ever hereafter we should learn patiently to wait upon the Lord when we have made our prayers to him and he hath made his promises to us We had many promises in our eye and we made our prayers but when the Lord gave the City into their hands we thought the promises and our prayers were lost neither did we see or could understand how any thing should become of them but onely shame and reproach For we boasted of God in the Pulpits and in the streets and at our work that the Lord was our God and would help us and yet the Lord turned it against us and there were few of us that had so much grace as to wait patiently on him and to know that though nothing appeared the vision would speak and would not lie But now we are convinced of our folly and we see that God hath fully answered those prayers of Bristoll For those prayers I believe did speak loudest of all the prayers in England in getting that City And I value one of those prayers more then an hundred now for they are old prayers in store stale prayers are good And they were prayers from broken afflicted spirits and believing hearts And now you see how the Lord hath graciously provided food and raiment for his people and done the souls of many of them much good and in due season restored their dwellings and habitations to them Therefore there is a word in Rom. 10. that I did think to open The Apostle there comparing the righteousnesse together he saith ver 5. that the righteousnesse of the law is thus described by Moses The man that doth these things shall live in them That is the language of the law he that doth these things he that keeps the law shall be saved But the righteousnesse of faith the way of faith as the Apostle calls it Gal. 3. or the way of the Gospell speaketh on this wise it hath another kinde of language say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the deep But what saith it The word is nigh thee the word of faith which we Preach That is this is the language of faith that Jesus Christ hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for us And how do we
towards it the heart lyes gaping and is dead Let any lust or sin come any temptation though it be never so poor and feeble there is no resistance there is an inrode into the soul without any opposition let pride or frowardness or filthiness or covetousness and worldliness come there is nothing to resist it because the life of the soul is away which is the spirit of God And is not this an excellent thing then for a man to have the spirit of God dwelling in him that when good is proposed to him the spirit may as it were switch him It is a homely expression but I have found it by experience As a jade with a good switch is set on to the journey or to his businesse so when the soul of a man hath somewhat within to switch him to cause him to close with good things to lay hold on them to attempt them at least Whereas when the spirit is away there is no stirring the soul is as flat and as dead as water in a stinking ditch This is the excellency of the spirit Therefore you that have it prize it There are some that if they had it again as once they had they would prize it and praise God for it and would now give a world for it Therefore you that have these stirrings of the spirit in you to make you close with good and to resist evil in some measure bless God and praise his name for it That is the thing I drive at that you may see the use and worth and excellency of the Spirit of God in your souls When the Spirit of God is away from the soul all the seals of Gods Love and the signs of his Favor they are cut off at one dash as it were I mean thus when the Spirit of God dwels in the soul you could read the love of God in every Ordinance you could see it in every Grace and in every Promise in the Word of God in every thing and you could see one while your election with joy and another while Gods everlasting love with joy and another while the death of Christ and another while your union with him another while your Redemption and Reconciliation and Gods Love sealed in all these Nay in every creature you could taste the Love of God in your cloathes and your meat and every thing But let the Spirit of God be gone and all these are gone Take all Promises and Mercies and Sacraments they seal not one spark of the Love of God but they are all dead speechless things that signifie and speak no comfort at the best and it may be horror that a man may read I had almost said his Reprobation in that which a few hours before he could have read his election in and those Scriptures all along that he could sweetly have seen the Will of God in and could say that which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor hath entred into the hart of man that I have seen he can shut his Bible and say and almost swear that he understands not one tittle in it That soul that when he had the Spirit could spring with joy unspeakable and full of glory when he came before the Lord to call upon him either in publick or in private and could pour his soul into his fathers bosom that could have prayed a whole year if he had had time and strength to continue he is not able now to speak one word to the Lord. And more then so he is not now deprived only of all light of all Knowledg of all assurance of all comfort of all strength either to do good or to resist evil but there is positive horror in the heart positive fear and terror and darkness a bondage to unbelief seizing upon him That as our Lord saith The Spirit is like winde that no man knows whence it comes or whither it goes So he feels a misery in his soul that he knows not whence it comes or where it will end As it was said of the Powder plot the Powder Treason that there should be a blow given that none should know whence it was so he sees a blow given to his soul and the life of it and all that is good and excellent in it and he knows not whence it is he can say that his soul is no other then a plain hell for there is no positive evil in hell but it is there and there is no privative evil no evil of deprivation of any thing that is good but he feels it there so that in all our Religion our Graces and Duties and Assurances and Evidences the Spirit of Iesus Christ is the life of all Therefore no wonder that David who was a Type of a Gospel Christian should say Create in me O Lord a new heart andrenew and restore thy holy Spirit as if he had said since thy holy Spirit went away there is an annihilation all that is in me is annihilated He doth not say mend and repair but create I see not so much as a stump of Grace a root or a habit or any thing but all is pulled up and thou must create in me a right spirit Therefore learn that the life of all your Comfort and Assurance and Profession and Graces and Duties and all is the Spirit of God It is but the turning of Gods hand to say Come back my holy Spirit from such a soul leave him but one three hours and then he will be according as I have told you therefore saith the Apostle we are not debtors to the flesh but to the Spirit If ever you finde comfort in an Ordinance you owe thanks to the Spirit if ever you have a little assurance of Gods love whom will ye thank for it Ye are no debtors to the flesh he doth not mean you are not debtors to sin there is no man but he knows that he owes nothing to sin but saith he not to the flesh that is principally to any thing that is not the Spirit to fleshly wisdom to natural parts to our best abilities and endeavours If ever you have gotten any thing by Sabbaths or Sermons or the company of the Saints it was not from your own wisdom or pains but you are debtors to the Spirit of God it is the Spirit that wrought it therefore prize the Spirit of God you that have it O if you could but borrow the eyes of poor souls that had it once and have it not O how happy creatures would you think you are notwithstanding all outward miseries because Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit dwels in your hearts but we know not the worth of it till we want it and then we can prize it and would give a world for it And then labor to please the blessed Spirit take heed of provoking and grieving of him the Spirit is a more dainty Spirit then you are aware of you may easily vex and grieve and fret it do not dally with sin Christians
from our littleness and weakness any thing he will draw arguments of his goodness from Yet many times we are of such a temper that we will not draw one argument to move us to do that which is pleasing in his eyes Well he is a glorious God and we are like our selves Let him lay hold on my strength Let the poor bramble go and lay hold upon the wall I have strength enough to destroy and devour them but I wish that they would lay hold of my strength There is a way that all the strength that is in God thou mayest make it for thee on thy side All the power and strength that is in God is against wicked men that receive not Christ but there is a way that thou mayest make that party on thy side thou mayest make God on thy side Take hold on him that is receive Christ and then thou art in the Covenant and all belongs to thee upon that and all the power whereby he made heaven and earth and rules the sea and every thing is thy power it is for thee And make peace with me and they shall make peace It is like the expression of some people that are wondrously given to love and peace and though other people desire to quarrell yet they will not quarrell but they will be freinds there is no neighbour so mischievous but they will be friends with them in spight of their heart so sayth God Let them make peace with me and they shall make peace It is like that expression of God I will put my spirit in their hearts and they shall keep my statutes That thy soul could creep along upon this blessed wall and make peace with him and lay hold of his promise and he saith thou shalt make peace He shall cause them that come of Iacob to take root c. You see how sweet God is in afflicting his Saints how he preserves them and hears them in whipping them Here he shewes three great differences between Three differences in the afflictions of the godly and wicked the afflictions of the godly and of the wicked The first is this saith he have I smitten him as I smote those that smote him Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him That is the Lord doth not lay such a weight of affliction upon his children as he doth upon wicked people that is one thing therefore he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind No east wind blowes on the Saints for in Scripture language that is the wrath of God All the other winds are growing but the East wind is cutting and chilling Secondly it is said God will debate with them that is besotted carnall men as Pharaoh and others he layes afflictions upon afflictions upon them and they never know why it makes him a sot and he brayes him as a fool in a Morter but I will debate with him saith God I will reason the case As a father when he whips his childe will you do so again saith he And is this handsome The Lord never whips his childe but he debates with him Thirdly the issue and fruit of it All the fruit is he doth it to take away sin he will make all the stones of the Altar as Chalk-stones he will beat them to pieces that is they shall pull down their Groves and their Altars as you do Chalk-stones when you burne them and beat them in pieces This should make us sweeten our thoughts of God he is sweet in his providence in his Ordinances in his corrections we see what a good God he is how he draws water out of the Flint he draws arguments of grace and mercy and goodnesse to save wretched creatures any way in such a way that if we were Judges we would condemn our selves The Lord sweeten your hearts and raise up your souls to apprehend his mercy Expositions and Observations on ISAIAH 28 15. Because ye have said we have made a Covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement c. We have made agreement with hell NOt that they said so but God brings in their thoughts as in Iob Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy laws That is the difference between Gods book and mens books men write books according to the words of men but the word of God is according to their thoughts Here are four or five things noted of wicked men Four things observed of wicked men 1. Their v. in conceits First we have made say they a covenant with death and with hell we are at an agreement The meaning is not that they did draw writings between them and hell for hell will make no agreement but the meaning is they were assured in their conceits that they should be delivered from hell and death and misery As a man that hath made a Covenant for his land c. and hath got witnesses to it he hath made sure he hath it in black and white so there was a foolish confidence in them they assured themselves that they should escape as if death and hell had given them an acquittance and had sealed it and there had been Covenants drawn between them and the Devill That is one thing But saith God Your Covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand That is you shall see that all those conceits are but vaine Just as if a man should go and make a Covenant with his neighbour and buy his land and he should never tell his neighbour that he would sell it this agreement would be broken and the Covenant would not stand So you build Castles in the aire you make a Covenant and agreement in your conceits that you are safe and you hope the best and God is mercifull but the day will come when all this will be done away As Iob saith it is just as a Spiders web that is a fine thing that she hath been working all the week and then the Maide comes to make clean the house and all is taken away with one stroak of a brush Another thing is the Lord compares them here to Illustrated in two comparisons Compa ∣ rison 1 people that would hide themselves by the sea side where the tide comes up As you see sometimes when the tide is low there are green medows and bushes before it be high spring and there they hide themselves and the water comes and overflowes their hiding place If they stay there a while and it may be are asleep the tide comes and drowns them all Do ye not think a man were mad that should go and hide himself in a hole of a bridge and sleep when the tide was low and then the tide come in and overwhelm him So it will be with thee if thou receive not Iesus Christ We have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Mr. Calvin saith they may be compared to little
Saint that is fond of God bring him meat he sees the love of God in Christ in it bring him cloathes or any thing his eye is fastened more upon the love of God in Christ then upon the thing As the spouse in the Canticles for the Canticles is a book of fondnesse between Christ and his people she hears one talk I warrant you saith she this is the voice of my beloved she is so fond of him that she could not hear one talk but she saith It is my beloved when she looks on the gallery and the lattice I warrant you saith she my beloved looks thorow that grate and when she sleeps her heart waketh It is a blessed thing when we do not eye things in themselves but so as we are able to see God in them And you shall know it by the various tempers of your souls for sometimes you are more spirituall and sometimes more carnall when you are carnall you use more of the creature and never see God at all but when you are spirituall you see God and his love in Christ in every thing I shall now shew you how God brings his children This fondness wrought four wayes to this holy fondnesse and I would leave you longing for it and I trust in God to leave some souls sick till God work and bring up their souls to that I will name but onely four The first thing is that God utterly convinceth a Saint 1. By disabling all the Creation to this end of the vanity of every creature and of every condition he will never be fond till then God lets him suck one creature after another and then he sees the vanity of them God puts him into one condition after another O saith a Saint when he is sick if I were well I should rejoyce and glorifie God God gives him health and then he is in a worse temper When he is poor saith he If I had to pay my debts and to set up handsomly then I should serve God God sets him up and lets his heart go after covetousnesse and saith to him Dost thou not see that thou art worse then thou wert before So God chaseth him from one creature to another and from one condition to another If he would be in the Country God convinceth him that he will be worse then in the Town At last he saith Lord I have tried and hunted all and I see they are a company of vanities And sometime when he is sick in body and shaken in soul God appears gloriously and makes the worst condition better then the best so God follows and traseth and chaseth him from one to another till he bring him to see every creature vanity and every condition and saith a Saint I do not much care what condition whether he put me in prison or at liberty whether I be rich or poor well or sick so he reveal himself to my soul You will never be fond till you come to that till God convince you of all conditions and of the use of all creatures and tire thee that thy soul may say God is all in all I am indifferent what creatures I have or want or what condition I am in for I have seen God to be all in all I have seen nothing in riches and in liberty but as God comes into a condition or is absent so it is sweet or bitter good or bad People that are professors in these sad times they would not be so reaching and griping and undermining for offices and places and preferments and I know not what if they did see this Another way it this that the Lord sheds his love into their hearts Rom 5. he poures it out as you would 2 By Gods pouring forth his love in their heart pour out a Paile or a Bucket of water God so over-powers the heart with his love that there is no guilt no hardness no fear no spirit of bondage at all left in the soul Beloved why are not we more fond of God why is not he more deare to us The reason is because we have many hard thoughts of him that he may be an enemy as well as a friend and I know not what he means I look upon him at a catch as with a staffe in his hand to strike me There are abundance of those thoughts in the soul especially in affliction some professors are ready to say God hath found me out as an hypocrite and plagueth me In afflictions ordinary professors loose more though they talk of getting But the Lord comes to some of his children and so over-powers their hearts with his love that there is not one thought nor imagination in their hearts but onely of love to him and then they will be fond for when they see pure love in God and nothing but a principle of pure love in them to God what should hinder but they should be fond one of another There is a homely comparison a woman that hath butter in a dish she melts some of the butter but if she take it too soon from the fire there will be a core a knob in the dish left and being taken from the fire it grows bigger till all be hard So a weak Saint by studying the promises of God and the love of God it dissolves much of the knobbinesse yet there are some hard thoughts and Iealousies and suspitions but God comes at last and melts all the butter together all the knobbiness that is in the heart every thought and imagination of terrour and guilt and fear that there is a clear and pure principle of love to God and then the soul is fond of him The Lord takes a great deal of delight to train and bring up his childe to be more in love with him God will so traine and bring him up that if he throw him into the worst condition that can be for body or soul and shall say what thinkest thou of me now hast thou any hard thoughts of me saith God No saith the soul all is Love As for instance I will tell you a thing the worst on this side hell I speake not of imprisonment or shame but God may take him and leave him to sin and then the soul awakes and thinks good Lord where am I O what a hell have I in me for there is a hell in the heart if God take off the vail of grace if he draw the Curtain there is nothing but hell in the soul There are many sins that thou hast committed that there is not a soul in the world that hath committed worse This is true saith a Saint and dost thou not think saith God that thou art an hypocrite and that I shall damn thee for this No saith the soul I know I have nothing in me but of thy Grace and if thou draw the Curtain all is hell but there is nothing but love even then after sin there is not one hard thought it makes the soul more fond
be equivalent in all respects to a Christian to the Law for ye are not under the Law but under Grace they are opposites Now what that is that is meant by it I conceive and can give divers Scriptures also if I had time that by Grace here is meant the whole Doctrine of the Gospel Indeed the substance of the Law is contained in it for the substance of the Law is one and the same for ever I say the whole Doctrine of the Gospel that is called Grace because it is a gracious Doctrine it is a Doctrine full of Grace The stream and the maine thing of our Preaching is or should be the Grace of God the love of God and the goodness of God If it be taken for the whole Doctrine as that in Tit. 2. The grace of God hath appeared to all men teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live holily and soberly c. Grace that is the Doctrine of Grace or the Doctrine of the Gospel 2 Cor. 6. I beseech you receive not the grace of God in vain that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which hath in it grace and mercy and life and salvation and the like Grace and the Law are opposites as we see Iohn 1. The Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ So grace in this place is to be understood in a large sense You are under grace That is not onely you are freed from the Law and you are now in a condition wherein God will have mercy on you and save you but far more then that For beloved as the Law hath Precepts and Commands and Teaching so Grace hath its Precepts also and commands as well as Promises therefore he saith The grace of God teacheth us He saith not the grace of God tells us and promiseth us or the like but it teacheth us Grace hath a School as the Law had the Law had a School and those that lived under it according to its method it did train and teach them so a Christian now in the School of Grace under grace he hath all that was good or necessary in the Law and much more that it is sufficient in all respects For a Christian if he be under grace there he shall have Precepts and Promises and Directions and Comforts any thing that is necessary for him So that it were well if you would indeavor to conceive that the onely master you have is Grace the onely rule by which you walk is Grace it is the Gospel which implies in it all the substantiall Precepts of the Law so in that respect we are bound to the Law and the Law is of use and will be to the end of the world Now then I would conclude with this to shew you a little concerning this Argument Sin shall not have dominion over you because ye are not under the Law but under Grace There are three main Reasons Sin hath less power over those under grace upon three reasons why a man that is under Grace that is clearly freed from the Law why sin should have less power over him then when he was under the Law for those that live under Grace though they be not perfect yet they are eminently holy in comparison of what they were and of what others are that are under the Law One reason is because that Grace hath clearer and more spiritual instructions and directions to holiness then the Law hath It hath what the Law hath but it teacheth a great deal of exactness that cannot be exprest for what the Law teacheth we may express it by natural understanding and you by natural understanding may comprehend it and if you miss it we may by natural understanding convince you of the breach of the Law but the precepts of the Gospel are spiritual and cannot be conceived by natural understanding I say the course of a Christian the main walk of a Christian under grace is such that a natural man cannot see or understand which way he goeth because a natural man conceives not the things of God By the Law a man may convince and shew it clearly but the precepts of Grace are so sublime and spiritual that they must be understood spiritually And thereupon being that the Precepts and Instructions and Directions of Grace being clearer and brighter and higher that is the reason why a man under Grace is brought into fuller obedience to a freer service then a man under the Law Besides Secondly when a man is under grace there is a kinde of ingenuity a Spiritual ingenuity of the heart yet though it may be there are not so many Covenants and Resolutions and Vows and the like yet there is a kinde of ingenuity that understanding the grace of God he cannot sin as another doth that is under the Law and that is the meaning of those Phrases of the Apostle how abhorrent such a thing would be As for instance Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound God forbid As if he should say our hearts are against it we cannot endure to render an answer of all Gods grace and goodness in such a manner as that and so in 2 Cor. 5. whether we be mad or sober The love of God constraineth us for we thus judg that if one died then all were dead that we should not henceforth live to our selves but to him that died for us That is this is our reason we have a kinde of ingenuity in us that makes us thus reason that if one man did come and die and purchase everlasting life we cannot but live to him that died for us That is the reason why a man under the Law that it may be is a Swearer a Drunkard a Spendthrift and this consumes his soul and body and family and all and he knows this yet notwithstanding he goes on he cannot help it why because he is under the Law because when he hath had his pleasure all day the Law whips him at night and thereupon he hardens his heart and it grows more and more against God and his Commandments Now if God would let it into his soul to see what Christ hath done for him and how righteously the Law is fulfilled through Christ and thereupon he is freed from Satan and sin and death If God would shew him the hope of his calling and the glorious condition that he stands in there would be such an ingenuity that he could not do it he need not make Vows and Promises that he would be drunk no more but he would abhor to do so basely and unworthily to so gracious a God that had done so wondrously and incomprehensibly for his soul Lastly There is a power in grace The Law was a voyce of words it did teach just as the Commandments upon a wall a poor man may come in and read them but his heart is not the warmer there is no disposition to observe the Law but Grace comes and in some measure gives a
well as hearers There is one thing more which is here laid down in this Scripture that we must indeavor to do though when I speak of doing when we teach you any spiritual Gospel duty you must understand it in a Gospel way not as though I say we can do this or that but we through the grace of Christ may do any thing that is commanded in the Gospel Therefore go not home and say we are dead and can do nothing c. To what end are all these precepts laid on us but that we by the power of the holy Ghost may do them Therefore I say there is one thing more for us to do before we can come rightly to love the brethren truly there are many things but that that I am now upon is the foundation what is for the building of us up I meddle not with now for till we come to do this we cannot love at all we cannot go one step in this blessed work and that is it I shall indeavor to tell you now saith the Apostle Fulfil my joy and be like minded If there be any consolation in Christ or any comfort of love if there be any fellowship of the Spirit if there be any bowels and mercies The meaning is the Apostle exhorts them to these duties upon these motives to the following duties upon the foregoing motives As if he should say for the consolation sake that you feel in Christ Jesus that is sweet and dear for the comforts sake that you feel when you love how ful your souls are of comfort for the sake of that sweetness and pleasure that you have in the fellowship of the Spirit If there be any bowels of mercy in you any sweetness of the mercy of God in your souls or any workings of mercy or pity or affections in you grant me one desire at which I shall exceedingly rejoyce that is be like minded and have the same love c. The Apostle doth here as it is usually his manner when he exhorts to any thing he tells them not Do this or you shall be damned do this or else you are hypocrites or else the curse of God will fall on you for he carries that clearly in all his Epistles that there is no damnation to them that are in Christ and you are are not appointed unto wrath saith he but he presseth them unto it out of the sweetness and dearness of spiritual things that they apprehended Indeed to press them from arguments of hell or the curse that would have fastned a spirit of bondage on them To press them from worldly things those vanities would never have moved them therefore he takes the choisest things always as Iob saith I spake to my servants and to my wife and she answered not though I besought her for the children of my body that is the dearest thing between man and wife so the Apostle desires them by such things as these by the coming of the Lord Jesus that is the sweetest thing to a Saint saith he by these sweet and dear things I talk not of hell and it is in vain to talk of worldly motives but for the sweetness that is in spiritual things and for that price sake and the dearness that is of them and in them I beseech you grant me this request that is that ye Be like minded and have the same love That is mutual love each to other and be of one accord and of one minde This is the Motive that I Mutual love enjoyned shall open But how shall we come to love one another or to love mutually O saith he Let nothing be done through The means to attain it strife or vain glory but in lowliness of minde let each esteem other better then themselves I told you a man is to lay this as the foundation of his love to love because God loves him not because he is beloved of men Now that he may do so he must lay this also as a general rule in his soul by the grace of Christ that he account himself and lookt on himself as less then any other of the Saints every man must account another better then himself A man must look upon himself nay I say more he must be content that others look upon him as the least Saint or else he will never love his brethren aright Beloved this above all things I finde it may be you finde more to be the greatest enemy to love high-mindedness that you look upon your selves either as the greatest of Saints you think you are some body or else you look upon your selves as of the second form near to the greatest Therefore you shall observe by experience that when you come to love any Saint if you finde that though he love you yet if he love another better and account more of the Image of God in â—â—other then in you you alway account that love no better then hatred you say such a man hates you why so because he loves three or four better then you This is pride of heart in a man he had as lieve a man should hate him as love one Saint in the world better or before him it is a sign of a devillish heart If there be a Saint or two in the Family or a woman or a servant in the Congregation that is more respected then he he thinks such a one doth not love him he concludes I am not beloved There is such a desperate pride as pride is a desperate thing alway in spiritual and in earthly things in the heart of man that makes him so desperate that if he be not loved to the height above all others that he accounts all love hatred You will not be right till you come to this that Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. I am the least of all Saints saith he and 1 Tim. 1. 7. I am the greatest of all sinners you will never be in a right frame in a Gospel frame to love your brethren till when you look on sinners you account your selves the greatest and when you look on Saints you reckon your selves the least Therefore this is a plain short Lesson I mean not to speak much of it but truly it needs a large comment on your hearts it needs a great deal of setting home upon your spirits Therefore let us every one look to our selves in this let us consider our condition my condition that I stand in and yours where you are Is not this the frame of my soul and the disposition of your souls that you never love another nor never esteem anothers love for both go together in a proud heart unless he look principally upon you â—â—â—ve all others Beloved it is much for thee and me if we understand our selves what we are and rightly judge of our selves and our course and how things are really in us and before the eyes of him that searcheth the hearts it is much for me if the poorest Saint give me but a smile or
confounded and the Gospel of Christ is not spiritually and rightly and orderly and distinctly planted in us or else we would be more holy and look on sin in another manner then ever and hate the appearance of it and cleave to that which is good These were the Lessons that I thought of from this Scripture Desire God to inlarge them when you come home for Truths use to breed in the soul Therefore the Spirit of God is compared to a Bird the Spirit sate on the waters as the Bird doth on the nest to hatch her yong The Spirit of God with reverence will hatch such truths as this in the hearts of his children that though it be confused and rude in the beginning yet the Lord by his holy Spirit may break it out to a glorious and powerful light to our souls Expositions and Observations on 1 PETER 1. 9 10 11 12. Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently c. Which things the Angels desire to look into THe Apostle speaks of the salvation that Godhath given unto us and Christ hath purchased for us in the New Testament and he saith it is such a glorious salvation that all the prophets in old time they have been groping after it they have spoken much of it but understood little of what they said but spake for our sakes that is principally for us and the very Angels desire to look into that salvation The Apostle sets out the glory of that salvation thus the prophets inquired after it and the angels desire to look into it So the word then briefly is this that The very angels of God they doe earnestly desire to know and understand the mysteries of the Gospell the salvation that God hath given to sinners by the Gospell The Angels are wondrously taken with the knowledg The desire of the Angels after the mysteries of the Gospel of the glorious mysteries of the Gospell True it is for themselves they are not more saved after the manner as men are but yet the glory of it is so great and the glory of God by it that the very angels desire to look into it the Angels study it Now how do they study it Compare this with that Ephes 3. 8 9 10. Vnto me saith the Apostle God hath given this grace that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God c. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God The Angels no doubt know that that we cannot comprehend and they have a great deal of that intuitive knowledg as we say but this I would teach you that the Angels are willing by the Church that is by Gospell preaching by the ordinances of God set up in the Church they are willing to learn and by the help of them to prie into the glorious mysteries of the Gospell Not only the good Angels they are present here Both good and bad Angels that is certain waiting upon the Saints but also the evill angels that is the devills they desire to look into the Gospell they do learn the mysteries of the Gospell by Gospell ordinances by preaching For good and bad Angels are of the same nature by creation though some fell and others did not This mystery of the Gospell was hid from Angels from good and evil Angels And though they know diverse things of God and their own happinesse yet the glorious things of God in the Gospell and New Testament they are content to come down among us and hear and learn of the Church and of the ordinances We are not able to comprehend what senses Angels have or that we shall have when we are gone hence to the Lord. Therefore there are two or three things that we should learn from it Vse 1 Me thinks it should be a generall motive to every one of us to be a little more diligent and carefull to To be diligent hearers of the mysteries of the Gospel hear the mysteries of the Gospel when they are opened to us If angels come down as it were and learn this wisdom by the Gospell who is so great but he should stoop to prie into these glorious mysteries And if the devil though he learn it that he may the more dishonour God by it hearken to every tittle and use of it and improve it how carefull should we be If the good Angels learn though their salvation be not by it but only the glory and the mystery and beauty of it how much more should I hearken whose salvation or damnation it is for ever If the Devil hearken to every doctrine and use that he may dishonour God and hinder my soul how much more should I hearken that I may honour God and resist the devil and save my soul Vse 2 Secondly learn hence another thing that is wisdom and watchfulnesse against Satan Truly the devil To learn Caution against Satan was a gross fool in the times of Popery I mean there was but little preaching therefore he had but little knowledge of the things of the Gospell but as the light of the Gospell grew clear so the devill grew wiser And he hath laid aside all the temptations that he had a hundred yeers ago for he can never catch men that way for the generality and now he hath gotten spirituall temptations for as the Gospell breaks out for the enlightening of the Saints to bring glory to God and save their souls so the Divel gets more light and knowledge whereby he may more dishonour God and damnifie the souls of men The devil is the same now as he was then to dishonour God and damn souls and the way generally is the same to bring men to sin but for the speciall manner of it the devil drives a new trade nothing like as before before it was to invocate angels and dead Saints that was grosse Now you think you are safe because these things are gone but the devil hath got the Spirituall knowledge of every lesson you hear and he knows how to beat you with your own weapons the divel hath temptations on the right hand and on the left now he brings men to be puffed up with spirituall knowledge he hears pretious things in the Gospel and an intelligble man is much taken with notions and the devil takes him that way He sees the doctrine of justification breaking out and it is glorious and men are taken with it therefore in way of thankfulness men shall swagger as the world doth and whereas before they were something like professors even to the world now they shall walk in all loosness and wantonness I say not that all do so but there are some and wo
directed 2 Cor. 1. not to the learned nor to the wise but to the base and foolish to base things of the world and despised things and things that are not And so we finde by experience that the Lord sends the Gospel to poor silly people the simplest people most commonly understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ best Every body seeks to dress the Gospel and to make it more curious but few labor to reduce the Gospel to its native simplicity One Generation dresseth the Gospel most bravely with humane learning Though I will not simply speak against humane learning it is good as fire when it is put on the hearth so humane learning when it is put in its own place it is a good thing but the use that men make of it to dress the simplicity of the Gospel with it makes it abominable Others dress the Gospel and multitudes now adays I speak not to censure them or out of spight against them but rather out of a zeal I have that you and I may be found at the last day in the simplicity of the Gospel they make a jingle of the Gospel they sublimate it as though it were as the Philosophers conceits were Notions above the Moon or things that they cannot conceive what they be existent and consistent and visibility and contrarietie and forms and I know not what Thus the Gospel is perverted I have been troubled more then modestly I may speak to a Congregation to see how the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ preached by Fishermen to simple people of Christ crucified That people should sublimate it almost into air to nothing that all things is God and that God is all things and that God is essentially in us and we in him And we must do all things to God passively and not actively Such a metaphysical kinde of Gospel and such terms as confound your souls and bring them in the end to nothing Therefore I exhort you to stick to the simplicity of the Gospel And do not think it is a small thing it is a great business that I exhort you to Why so Because I finde that there are many souls that make shipwrack of their own salvation by flying too high above the Gospel of Jesus Christ They lose themselves they run through all Religions as some say and at last come to be nothing at all And I am sure of it they destroy the faith of others I am sure of that almost by experience as Paul saith of Hymeneus and Alexander They destroy the faith of many That when a poor tender-hearted Christian hears them talk so high and is not able to understand litterally a word that is said saith he I have nothing in the world I never knew God aright because I see that I cannot understand a word of this and a world of evils more And I have observed and do observe it That usually those kinde of people that are so led when they have such Chymera's and Notions in their heads they nullifie all Religion besides and all but that is nothing and one Chymera carries the bell one quarter of a yeer and then that is laid aside and then they have another notion and that is all the Religion and then away goes that and then there comes a third These destroy the faith of poor souls in Christ crucified and justification by him and holiness to him and all holy duties in the Gospel by the Spirit this is destroyed Therefore my Exhortation to you is and it is a blessed word that I have thought much of in Rom. 12 Be of the same minde one towards another Minde not high things Mark that word We have a kinde of expression in our times of higher and lower light and which is more immodest people attribute the higher light to themselves We are of the higher light say they Saith the Apostle Minde not high things How It is not meant in carnal things that is Minde not to get high Offices or places or preferment or the like But he speaks of spiritual things as it is clear if you compare the third verse For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath delt to every man the measure of faith As if he had said I finde many among you that sublimate the Gospel almost into air in high conceits and Idea's and notions and leave poor Christ crucified and the simple Gospel preached by fishermen I would not have you wise above that which is meet not to minde high things but condescend to them of the lower sort The excellency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the plainness of it and that is the reason that you mar it with any kinde of dressing because it is excellent in it self If a man have a suite of Skarlet that is extraordinary good all-to-be-laid with copper lace it mars it because the cloth is good of it self So all dressing of the Gospel marrs it because it is excellent of it self When you meet with people that tell you that all your Religion is nothing and tell you Chymera's and high things that may shine bravely for a while Think of this I must not minde high things but condescend to them that are low Therefore the Apostle in those times when the Gospel was preached and perverted by Philosophy and oppositions of Science falsly so called many fine tricks they had to adorn the Gospel he calls them alway to Christ crucified and tells them that was the height and depth and bredth and length of all knowledg as the height and bredth and length and depth of a board or of a thing it is the whole dimensions of a board it is the whole board So the knowledg of Christ crucified is the height and depth and bredth and length of all knowledg that is It is all knowledg to know Christ crucified in the simplicity of the Gospel He opposeth not Philosophy to Philosophy or Science to Science but he saith Ye are compleat in Christ and calls them to his death and resurrection So keep close to that I speak it the rather because where there are such notions started up among us daily now of late they clearly draw us from Christ crucified A Platonical kinde of Religion a kinde of Heathenism a kinde of consideration of God in his own nature and essence without Christ Beware of this ambition It is enough for you and me to know Iesus Christ and him crucified and the power of his death and resurrection according to the simplicity of the plain Gospel once preached by fishermen to foolish and base people and things of no worth Therefore I beseech you stick to Christ crucified and to the simplicity and plainness of the Gospel I would not have you to stick in the Letter and to go no further but labor for the Spirit of God through the Letter to be
but now London must there my wrath shall be poured out The Lord grant that it may not be so but I greatly fear it Secondly The Lord brings them to imprisonment the Lord took them prisoners Verse 11. The husband with the wife shall be taken the aged with him that is full of days And then comes their plunder Their houses shall be turned to others with their fields and wives together For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of this Land saith the Lord. O if the Lord should say This is the City to be visited and make war against it and then take you prisoners take the aged men the Aldermen Common Councellers and all prisoners and then plunder all and say their fields and their wives shall be turned to others That were sore that you should not onely lose your goods but your fields that your houses and trades and shops should be taken away and your very wives Thus the Lord did with others I will not say that he will do so with you Now there were stumbling blocks in Ierusalem before it was destroyed so there are in this City it is filled with stumbling blocks every little difference in opinion is a stumbling block that some men become Atheists because every Saint doth not agree one with another And then there is the fear and horror that did fore-run this misery Verse 24. But in a word the course that the Lord would have them take and that therefore I shall speak of that you may beseech the Lord that this poor City may prevent those evils One thing is the Lord would have them seriously and sincerely humble themselves before him to acknowledg their sins and bewail them Verse 26. Saith the Lord O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy self in ashes make thee mourning as for an onely son Not a formal day of fasting and humiliation for that is almost become all form but really humble thy soul and call upon the Lord that the Lord would be pleased to turn away his wrath Then the second thing laid down is That we should hearken to instruction Be thou instructed O Jerusalem least my soul depart from thee be ready to hear the Word of the Lord be ready to hearken what Gods will is how he may be glorified and we preserved Then thirdly here is a word that I exceedingly desired to open but I must but name it Verse 16. Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall finde rest for your souls saith the Lord. This is the way to save you Stand in the wayes ask for the old way What is the meaning of the old way That is Iesus Christ That was the old way of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Iesus Christ and the way of righteousness and holiness and truth He alludes as I take it to the Patriarchs for that is called the old world and the old way Saith he Ye are not like your fathers heretofore Abraham he was not covetous and full of oppression they were willing to hear that which was for their good and they were not the worse for their afflictions Look to the old way and labor to get such a Spirit as the Saints had heretofore that were in Iesus Christ What of all this notwithstanding this counsel that the Lord had given them what if they will not turn to him what if they will not amend Then there is a terrible word that we read of in Verse 8. Lest my soul depart from thee It is not sin onely that makes Gods soul depart from a people nor their hardness nor wickedness but when they refuse all means and helps then his soul departs from them Therefore Be instructed saith he lest my soul depart or lest my soul be disjoynted as it is in the Margin What is the meaning of that It is a terrible word we have that word expounded in Ierem. 15. 1 2. See what it is for to have Gods soul to go from a people I beleeve that Gods soul is not gone from us if we will hearken to him and do not give our selves up to wrath and rage against Gods people Then said the Lord to me Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my minde or my soul could not be towards this people There is before the ferventest blessed prayer for this people that I know in the Book of God Ieremy prayes And now their destruction was coming saith the Lord Though Moses and Samuel should come before me my heart could not be on them I have put them out of my heart my minde and soul is gone from them I will never be troubled more with them What follows Cast them out of my sight let them go forth And if they say Whether shall we forth Then thou shalt tell them such as are for death to death such as are for the sword to the sword such as are for the famine to famine and such as are for captivity to captivity Let them go whether they will some of them will be hanged some killed some to the sword some starved they can come to no good because they are gone out of my sight My heart and soul is from them that is the last gasp that is hell above ground Therefore the sum of all is That we hearken to God for these things were not written for Ierusalem onely but for our instruction God hath laid down their sin and wickedness and their oppression and the blessed remedy that they should have taken and if we take it not but go on in our wickedness we see what we may expect That when that shall come on us which God if it be his will forbid you may remember that you were told before I have one thing in my sad and serious thoughts to comfort me that this shall not befal this City and that is this That the Lord delt with them according to the administration of the Old Testament and so went by Cities and Nations but now every man and every person that calls upon God is respected in every Nation and City whatsoever But this comes in and cools it wonderfully and puts me to a non-plus If we in this City did go according to the administration of the New Testament I am perswaded that the Lord would not send desolation upon the City but because we would go according to that old administration we have chosen it and said so and do so Now as they chose that administration to deal with God he chose that to deal with them for the Lord will deal frowardly with the froward the Lord will deal with men according to their own law Those that sin against the Law of Nature shall be punished so those that sin against the Law of Moses shall be punished so those that go according to the administration of grace shall be delt with accordingly Now we are going according to the old administration
more and more for we are setling like the Jews in an outward formal Reformation without heart Now it would be terrible if the Lord should chuse our own administration and give us according to our own heart I hope he will not But this lay heavy upon my spirit to tell you of therefore the Lord direct you to make the best use you can that if it be his blessed will this place that is the honor and glory of the Kingdom and the refuge of the Saints that the Lord would not come against it FINIS THE TABLE  Page A  Abiding  ABiding with God in evil times 72 Actions  Saints not under the Law in their actions 157 Afflictions  Afflictions of godly and wicked how different 31 Afflictions turn to the good of Saints 119 The life of Faith in afflictions 130 Saints not under the Law in regard of afflictions 150 Afflictions not to be fainted in 194 Amend  All should amend when the wicked are punished 104 Angels  Angels pry into Gospel mysterie 201 Angels good and bad do it ibid. Apostacy  Apostacy a provoking sin 11 Assurance  Life of Faith in Assurance 130 Awake  Christians duty to awake God 86 B.  Betray  Not to betray Gods cause 88 Blasphemy  Blasphemy a provoking sin 9 Blessing see latter  Bristol  Gods mercy in recovering Bristol 107 C  Christ See cleaving  Christ makes all things amiable 192 Cleaving  Blessedness of cleaving to the Lord 70 Honor of cleaving to Christ in ill times 73 Special times of cleaving to God 77 Comfort  What should help Christians comfort 175 Conceits  Vain conceits of wicked men 33 Confidence  Ground of a Christians confidence 27 Consolation  Consolation a duty 40 Four things that hinder consolation ibid. Covenant  Spiritual understanding of the New Covenant effects of it 66 Covetousness  Covetousness a provoking sin 237 Creature  The vanity of the Creature why discovered 61 Conjunction  Conjunction of those that cleave to God 70 D.  Difference  Difference of Gods dealing with Saints 36 Difference between Saints and sinners 208 Discouraged  Weak Saints not to be discouraged 143 Distrust  Distrust in times of danger to be avoided 87 Division  Division among Saints a provoking sin 9 Duty See Consolation  Four grounds of Duty 149 E.  Enemies  Assurance of victory over enemies the effects of it 64 How God destroyes his enemies 85 Equality  Equality that should be between Saints 144 Evil see good  Example  Example of Saints a ground of prayer 150 F.  Faith  Faith the want of it what it doth 40 Faith the life of it 44 Faith how God tries it 83 Faith how the just live by it 128 See Affliction Assurance Sanctification  False  False dealing 237 Fondness  Holy fondness between God and the Saints 54 Holy fondness in five things 55 Fondness wrought four ways 61 Formality  Formality in duties a provoking sin 4 See Reformation  G.  Garison see Minde  God see Hypocrisie Persecutors  Good  To call evil good a provoking sin 11 See Afflictions Work  Gospel  Gospel precepts highest 162 Gospel Mysteries to be attended 202 Gospel riches to be admired 204 Gospels simplicity 225 Government  Government how to be affected 204 Greater  How to argue from less mercies to greater 120 Grace  Grace weak how to comfort it 45 Grace what meant by it 160 Of those that are under Grace 162 Power in Grace more then the Law 164 H.  Heart  Heart hardened 8 Hidden  Saints Gods hidden ones 90 Holiness  Holiness desired on wrong grounds 41 Right laboring for holiness 198 See Comfort  Hypocrisie  Hypocrisie hateful to God 48 Hipocrites honor creatures above God 50 Hypocrisie dishonors God ibid. I.  Judg.  Saints not to judg one another 143 Judgments  Maner of Gods proceeding to judgment 2 Cause of judgments what 3 Judgments why sent 103 Ingenuity  Ingenuity of right Saints 163 Justification  How to live by Faith in Justification 128 133 K.  Kiss  Holy Kiss what 145 L.  Latter Last  Blessing of the latter times 122 First shall be last how 138 Law  Saints under the Law how 156 See Persons Actions Afflictions Gospel  Learning  Learning humane wherein useful 211 Life see Faith Sanctification  Lord see cleaving  Love  Love of God what it works 62 To love though we be not loved 181 Mutual love how attained 184 M.  Minde  Garison of the minde what 16 Mingled  The life of a Christian mingled 133 Ministers  Ministers sins provoke God 149 N.  Nature  Duties grounded in nature 6 O.  Officers  Officers sins provoke God 8 Oppression  Sin of oppression 236 Ordinance  Prayer an Ordinance of God 149 Ordinances not to be neglected 152 Ordinances needful 153 P.  Patience see waiting  Peace  Peace to be studied by Saints 196 Perpetual see Prayer Persecutors Persecution  To cleave to God in persecution 78 Persecutors design 91 God persecuted in the Saints 93 Children of the godly may prove fierce persecutors 99 Persons  Persons of Saints how under the Law 156 Power  Power that Saints have 166 The Spirit called power how 173 See Grace  Prayer  Prayer a perpetual duty 151 Prayer whence it proceeds 169 Wants of prayer how supplied 170 See Ordinance Nature Precept Example Promise  Precept  Precepts ground of prayer 150 See Gospel  Promises  Promises ground of prayer 151 Protection  Protection of God who have right to it 21 Pride  Pride how discovered 185 R.  Reflect  Reflect acts hard to man 177 Saints to reflect on their estate 178 Reformation  Formal Reformation a provoking sin 5 Refuge  God a refuge 14 To repair to God as a refuge 17 Religion  Religion wherein it consists 211 Riches see Gospel  Revolting  Revolting a provoking sin 239 S.  Saints see Weak Sanctification  Life of Faith in Sanctification 129 131 Saintship to be prized 194 Satan  Grounds of Caution against Satan 202 Security  Security why to avoyd it 140 Self-love  Self-love a provoking sin 10 Shame  Iudgments sent to shame men 103 Simplicity  Simplicity of Religion 212 Simplicity of the Gospel 223 Sin  What sins provoke judgments 3 Carriage of Saints faln into sin 43 Saints carriage in a deluge of sin 77 Aggravations of sin 240 Silent  God silent in danger why 83 Soul  The soul of God departs from incorrigible sinners 244 Spirit  Spirit powerful in Saints 166 Spirit undervalued how 167 Spirit wherein powerful 169 Spirit differs Saints and Sinners 208 Spirit how known 210 Spirit to be labored for 213 Spirits excellency 215 Spirits grieving dangerous 220 Spirit to be prized 221 See Word Teaching Work Power  T.  Teaching  Teaching of the Spirit 170 Testament  Testaments compared 188 Trouble  Trouble in Saints whence 190 V.  Vengeance  Vengeance of God against the wicked 27 Union  Union between Christ and Christians 229 Upright  Uprightness ground of it 22 Uprightness how tried 84 W.  Waiting  Ground of waiting on God 112 Weak  Weak Saints not to be contemned 141 Weak Saints their carriage to stronger 142 Weak Saints to be encouraged 196 Word  Spirit to be advanced as speaking in the Word 168 Work  Who works in and for us 172 To be ready to every good work 206 FINIS
Divine Drops Distilled from the FOUNTAIN OF Holy Scriptures Delivered in several Exercises before SERMONS upon Twenty and three Texts of Scripture By that worthy Gospel Preacher Gualâ—er Cradock Late Preacher at All-Hallows Great in London Deut. 32. 2. My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain my Speech shall distil as the Dew Job 29. 22. After my words they spake not again and my speech dropped upon them London Printed by R. W. for Rapha Harford at the Bible in Queens Head Alley neer Pater-noster Row 1650. The several Texts handled in the ensuing Work ISaiah 9. 12 13 c. Isai 26. 1 2 3. Isai 27. 1 2 3 4 c. Isai 28. 15 c. Isai 40. 1. Isai 65. 5 c. Isai 66. 12 c. Deut. 4. Psal 83. Psal 116. Micah 4. 1 2 3 c. Habak 2. 4. Matth. 19. ult Luke 18. 1. Rom. 6. 14. Ephes 3. 20. Ephes 5. 1 2. Phil. 2. 1 2 3 c. Heb. 12. 18 19 20 c. 2 Pet. 1. 9 10 11 12. Jude 19. 2 Cor. 11. 3. Jerem. 6. TO THE READER Christian Reader THou art here presented with a little Work intituled Divine Drops Drops indeed they may be called being but small in quantity but Divine and Spiritual for their quality as thou shalt easily perceive if thou peruse them with a spiritual eye They were several short Exercises of the worthy Author delivered in publike before his Sermons wherein thou shalt finde many Gospel Truths which may not onely tend to thy spiritual profit but delight the work being interwoven with variety of subjects It is like a pleasant Garden wherein thou mayest gather choice of spiritual flowers In one Bed thou shalt finde the just anger of God provoked by sin in another the confidence of the Saints in God their refuge in another the Hypocrite discovered in another the comfort of Gods people proclaimed in another if I may so speak without offence the spiritual fondness between God and his Saints described and in all that which may by the help of Gods Spirit tend to thy comfort and edification I had spared my pains in prefacing but being informed that some though very unworthily have incensed the Author against the publishing of these things For the Vindication of it and my self I have adventured these few lines The work was not gotten out of my hands without the importunity of divers godly men who having formerly enjoyed the ministery of this Reverend Preacher and now being deprived of it by his absence since they could not enjoy him as they would desired to have him present as they might namely in the perusal of some of his works and I hope that shall not offend him that may do so many good Good is of a diffusive nature and the better the good the more it is communicated Some petty good things may be impropriated in the hands of a few but the best even natural good things without which Creatures cannot subsist are common to all as the Sun and the Air c. Good actions of good men especially that are intended for the publike are like the motion of the water wherein a stone is cast there appears first a little circle which grows greater and greater till it have overspred the whole And though these precious Truths were at first delivered in publike yet the Walls of one Church could not contain many hundreds whereas now by this means the benefit may reach many thousands And as Iob speaks of corporal food the loyns of the poor blessed him for it so I doubt Job 31. 20. not but the souls of many poor Christians may have cause to bless the Author for these spiritual Viands who never saw his face and being written for the Generation to come the people which Psal 102 18. shall be created shall praise the Lord. It is true the Word of God in the hearing of it is like milk immediately drawn from the brest that hath more strength and spirits in it then after it hath stood in the vessel yet hearing is transient and the memory trecherous and frail and apt to let good things slip Therefore though the Priests and Levites had the Book of the Law yet God commands the King to write him out a copy of it that he might Deut. 17. 18. have recourse to it all the days of his life Many excellent Proverbs of Solomon it is likely had been lost as some other of his Works are had not the men of Hezekiah King of Judah Prov. 25. 1. copied them out And I am sure of late days the Works of many worthy Men * Dr. Preston Dr. Sibbs Mr. Shute Mr. Ramsden c. had been drowned in oblivion had they not floated in such an Ark as this and for ought I know the Truths here presented had been useful to none but those that heard them had they not been preserved this way And if for our unfruitfulness our Halcion days should be turned into such as were the Marian times who knows what sweetness may secretly be sucked from such brests of consolation Isal 66. 11. I confess had the Author published the things himself it is likely they might have been more exactly adorned for circumstance but it is his own expression That Gospel spiritual Truths have that self excellency that they have no more need of the Embroidery of humane learning then a suite of Skarlet to be laid with Copper Lace The things are substantial solid and serious set forth in the Authors own Language and Phrase without alteration only repetitions omitted and not them neither where they are emphatical And I am confident whoever heard them delivered shall finde his very vestigia in the reading of them as many have acknowledged that in reading his former Book published they called to minde what they had heard though there were the distance of some yeers between I have not not ever did in any mans works taken the boldness to adde one piece of a sentence or to diminish ought The Lessons are wholsom and cordial thou shalt herein finde no lethal Gourd that any should cry out There is 2 King 4 40. death in the Pot. If there be any material error I desire to bear the blame if there be any literal faults let the Printer own them if neither let them blame themselves who without cause have endevored to prejudice the Work For my own particular had I aymed at private gain I could have imployed my time and pains with advantage that way in other things but he who knoweth the heart knoweth I intended the publike good in it and if a Christian must forgive his brother to seventy Mat. 18. 22. times seven times when perhaps sometimes he may wilfully offend I hope I shall easily obtain pardon who if I have offended it is in that wherein I expected encouragement and if I be evil spoken of for this it is for that for which 2 Cor. 10. 3. I give thanks I
and wealth that thou gettest when they poor brethren and sisters are ready to perish in this time of need Take heed it provokes God and draws out the hand of God anew and God knowes how far it will be drawn out Then also there is another thing that I fear for I 6. Breaches and divisions among the Saints speak of great things not of ordinary frailties that is the tuchiness and divisions among the Saints that daily multiply and increase and are no way closed and some talk but there are few that take a serious course to close them in any measure Now these divisions and wranglings among the Saints whereas the Saints should be at peace and by being so honour Christ by their union by these open divisions many turn seekers and many down right atheists The Lord will not bear this he will whip them together Wo to thee that art a professor that delightest in having any thing to dissent from thy brethren some people are never well but when they have crotchets wherein they dissent from their brethren with delight wo to thee thou hast a foul cursed heart and though it be a truth and thou must needs dissent from them yet it would be a sorrow to dissent if thou hadst a godly heart Seventhly such a deal of blasphemy such heresies for 7. Heresy blasphemy I may call them so if any thing such errours and grosse ones increase daily and hugely increase among those that seemed to be godly once and professors as denying the scriptures denying Christ Iesus denying the resurrection calling God every thing and every thing God confounding God and the creature together and abundance of such hideous blasphemous things and they grow on wofully especially in our City these things highly provoke God the Lord give us hearts to mourne for them Then there is another thing all along I fear that provoâ—s God that is the oppression of the poor Saints 8 Oppression both in soul and body that throughout this Kingdom as far as ever I could see or hear in all these wars in any Town or City if there be half a dozen poor Saints they pay as much as the Malignants to our men and the other side come and ruine them I never heard that they paid less but more beside loanes and contributions These things go high and though we take no notice of it there is one that takes notice of the cry of the oppressed and the widdow And then our self-love and hardnesse of heart against the poor Saints in their distress that every one thinks 9. Self-love and hard heartednesse they have help too little for themselves and their families Indeed we did help one another a little in the beginning of these troubles but now the miseries are so many and so many are in distress that we do not look after them but let them do as they can And this is too rife in this city that we have not a constant care of those poor people among us that are either strangers or inhabitants that are ready to perish with want in these times And it is the generall disposition of people in this City that if they can get the enemy three or fourscore miles off if they can keep the enemy at Newark or in Wales or in the West in Cornwall they care not they lay it not to heart but if he come to Hertford-shire or Cambridge shire then they will do any thing they will lend or give There is a great deal of self-love and of hardnesse to poore people Why should we not pity the poor Saints in the North as those in Hertfordshire There are many and many poor children We have not bowels of compassion and in my apprehension that little there is is shutting up more and more There is another thing and so let me draw to an 10. Prevarication in calling evill good and è contrario end and that is a thing that grows among us wofully it amazeth me and in my conscience it would amaze me if I were a carnall man if I were as once I was in the state of nature What is that you have learned a way to pervert to call evill good and good evil both for things and persons against light and conscience This is grown ordinary as it is said in Isaiah saith he therefore Gods hand is stretched out why so They call evill good and good evil We are as he said Rome was let a man stay in Rome that knowes how to turn black to white and white to black so many times people raile at things that in their conscience are the wayes and the will and the things of God And such a person because he is not favored in the world when they come in company and see every body raile at him they will do so too There are few people that in all places and companies speak as they think The truth and right is this grows wofully therefore the hand of the Lord must be stretchedout still There is one thing more that I will not nor 11. Apostasy cannot say positively it is so but if it should be so I am sure it provokes God highly that is a kind of a generall apostasy I fear in the City of London examine your selves The City of London a few yeers ago was famous over the world for their zeale and readiness What a deal a do there was to get Arms and to lend Plate and if there were a Malignant you had him to justice then the zeal of the City of London quickened up the Parliament but now the zeal of the Parliament may rather quicken the City of London that is my thoughts and my fear Therefore I wish that you would not make a mocking work of this when you talk of humiliation and fasting and keep people from their trading let us deal really with our selves and if it be thus let us desire the Lord to help us to our first works and our first love and zeale for God and his people Expositions and Observations on Isaiah 26. 1 2 3. In that day shall this song be sung in the Land of Judah We have a strong City Salvation will God appoint for Walls and Bulwarks c. IN the Chapter before you shall read The coherence of the words That the Prophet did pronounce sore judgments against the enemies of God and his people to wit against Moab And the judgment should be so sore that the Lord saith He will come forth against them just as a man spreds his arms abroad to swim So God would open his arms as it were to smite them and he would tread them down like straw for the Dung-hill And in this Chapter the Prophet comforts the Saints the believers he gives them some comfort to support their Spirits when the Lord should come in judgment against the wicked In that day shall this song be sung in the Land of Judah we have a strong City
c. God will do two things for his people in the day of his wrath against his enemies First he will make them to sing In that day shall this song be sung in the Land of Judah The world oft sing when the Saints mourn and therefore the world shall mourn when the Saints shall sing And another thing is In that day when the Lord shall open his arms as a swimmer for judgment The Saints shall have a strong City or Garison or Refuge to go to where they shall be safe We have a strong City that shall be their song Salvation will God appoint for Walls and for Bulwarks Now it shall not be an outward City or an outward Garison but the Lord will give them a spiritual Garison The salvation of the Lord shall be to them as Walls and Bulwarks So that beloved in few words this is the lesson that I would learn thorowly and would have you to learn from this Verse that In all the troubles and calamities that are in this world Observation God a sweet refuge the people of God have a sweet Refuge or a safe Garison to go into Let the judgments of God be out upon the earth upon the wicked and unbelievers never so much and let the Kingdoms be never so miserable yet the Saints have a Garison they have a sweet place of shelter of retreat and refuge and safety in the worst of times that can be in this world You shall see a blessed place to this purpose Heb. 12. 25 26 c. See that you do not turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven saith the Apostle whose voice then shock the earth but now he hath promised saying Yet once more will I shake not the earth onely but also heaven And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken or moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Beloved not to open the whole place this is that onely I would observe from it That there are times in the latter end of the world wherein the very heaven and earth shall once more be shaken That is there shall be such troubles and calamities now in the latter end of the world that men shall think that God is shaking not onely Kingdoms and Nations but Heaven and Earth the whole Vniverse and is ready to pull it down There will be such times saith the Apostle yet saith he We receive a Kingdom which cannot be shaken It is a blessed place when all the Kingdoms in the world shall be shaken all the Earth and all the Heavens as it were shall be shaken too yet we have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken The Saints are in a Garison or Kingdom that though all the world about them were shaken and totter they are safe and stand still Truly I have oft thought in my own apprehensions that the Saints differ as much from other men as if you could suppose a man to live in the middle Region where there is no wind nor storms nor tempest And you know here in all the sublunary world there is nothing but clouds and rain and storms and all weathers If one were above in the middle Region lot it rain or thunder or hail or be what it will here he is safe and quiet Just so it is with the Saints they are in the middle Region in a Kingdom that though all the Kingdoms of the world shake yet they receive a Kingdom that cannot be shaken But you will say Where is this Garison that we may go into it Where is this Kingdom Salvation saith the Prophet the Lord shall appoint us for walls and bulwarks That is this Kingdom is not outwardly to be found it is not an earthly garison but it is a figurative speech that they do finde in the Lord by the holy Spirit such security and such safety as if they were in a garison that cannot be assaulted or taken But you will say How can that be This is a meer Idea or Notion which no body can understand I shall shew presently how it can be by the help of God The troubles of a man the real troubles of a man are in his minde and soul and affections Now if you could finde a way to keep a mans minde and soul and heart it were easie to keep the whole man For our trouble is not a little imprisonment or poverty Paul or Sylas were in prison and were to be hanged the next day for ought they knew yet they could sing The man is as his minde is if we can finde a way to fortifie and garison the soul and minde and affections it will be easie to garison the whole man But now how shall we garison the minde or soul How a man may be said to be secure and impregnable or heart and affections to use no critical distinctions how shall we garison the heart of man You shall see that in Phil. 4. 7. The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes through Christ Jesus There is saith the Apostle a peace of God that shall keep you or as the word in the Greek is garison you shall set up a garison in your hearts and mindes through Jesus Christ What peace is that You shall see if you compare it with the Gospel of John When our Lord Christ was going to Heaven he told his Disciples I will send the Comforter John 14. 7. among you and My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world gives give I unto you My peace I give unto you not as the peace of the world It is a legacy that we have in the New Testament from our Lord Jesus Christ that is now in heaven by the Holy Ghost there is a kinde of peace that comes into the hearts of the Saints that passeth understanding not onely the understanding of wicked men that they know it not and apprehend it not but it passeth the understanding of a godly man that hath it As we see in Isaiah there is a peace that comes and quiets and secures his soul such a peace as he never understood or did suppose could come into his soul according to that Neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor hath entred Isai 64. 4. into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that wait for him That is God sends this peace and many other blessings Such a peace as a man never conceived in his heart and this peace comes in and keeps the heart like a Castle or sets up a garison in the heart it keeps the heart and minde through Jesus Christ Therefore from that briefly you may learn a lesson or two that so I may proceed to that which remains Vse First Learn I desire and beseech
they are never out of his sight Lord make me such Another thing is that a Saint that is grown fond of God he will never be still or satisfied with any creature A childe that is not fond you may give him twenty baubles whiles his mother goes to market or doth other things but if he be grown fond a thousand of those will not satisfie him So a true Saint hath much of God and little of the creature a man may be a true Saint and be much upon the creature but when the soul grows fond of God no creatures or rattles will serve if God put the creature into his hand he is glad but if God be away nothing wil serve him As a childe that is fond of his mother give him a Rattle or a Cake while he is in her hand he is glad but nothing will still him without her A third thing is this there is an exceeding boldness in a fond childe to ask any thing of his father truly such a boldness as were rude in a stranger a childe will sit in the lap of his mother and snatch a thing out of her hand So people may talk of forms how people should pray and stand half an hour confessing of sins and so come on by degrees but one that is fond of God with an holy fondness he knows he may leap into his fathers lap at any time and fall into his arms and ask any thing without courting and complement There are some Saints that cannot at any time get to God and ask any thing but they have much ado to set their hearts and to get off the guilt that is between them and God as a cloud they have much ado to get a little adoption to call God Father and to lay hold on the promises but there is such a temper of holy fondness that there needs not all or any of this God and the soul are so well acquainted and always together that as soon as ever he comes he can ask any thing and in a holy boldness snatch it for the Kingdom of heaven is taken by violence therefore saith God concerning my sons and daughters Command ye me A childe can command his father and say I must have a new coat I must have a new book or I must have a ball to play with so a Saint can say Father there is a covenant thou art my Father and I am thy childe it cannot stand with thy Truth thou wert not just if thou shouldest deny me any thing that is good O this is a holy boldness As a childe can creep into his mothers breast and pull it out with his hand yet because there is an inward love she bears with it and smiles in his face It argues a great deal of neerness to God when one is always in a readiness to ask any thing I have observed that souls that are far from God they must always go upon their knees but a soul that is neer can pray standing or walking or talking as that good man that you read of in the Book of Ezra he can pray with his hat on he can pray in his bed or where you will when he is is communion with God It is a most glorious thing and a grace that I have seen in some Saints and it hath made my soul sick to have it to have a soul alway in such a temper they can speak a spiritual word at any time as it is said of Bradford to have a heart so familiar with God that it can speak in a moment A weak Professor prays and he is put to it to the utmost for his duty in the morning and he gos behind Gods back all the day till night and unless he set aside all his work and go upon his knees he cannot pray as he buys and sells and trades Fourthly there is in a fond childe a holie carelesness of casting himself bodie and soul and familie and busines and affairs and all upon God Be carefull for nothing It is not to make careless Christians but it is true in one sense when in a holie carelesnes a man casts himself upon God It is your weakness much of your dispute concerning grace and salvation and justification a fond Childe of God smiles at it he can come near his father and catch him and hold him and say I know whom I have trusted on whom I have layd my soul As a man that puts his estate in another hands can say I know whom I have trusted A weak saint thinks little of and cares little for the service of God but he cares much for his owne safetie and security and salvation a strong fond saint takes less care for his owne salvation but he cares much for the service of Iesus Christ For thinks he let the Lord Iesus look to that he hath taken on him to die for my soul and he hath promised to receive it and he hath sayd he will not cast away them that come to him I have cast my soul on him sink or swim I will not trouble my head with that but all my thought and care shall be how I may please Iesus Christ and love and glorifie him It is a blessed pitch of grace when a saint can come to that carelessnes that a man is not thoughtfull for his soul when he hath brought it to Christ leave it there and think not of it but think of the work and will of Christ and how to honour him As suppose you meet in the way as you travell an enemy a man that it may be stands there to destroy you though you meet him you know not his purpose if you did you would go another way now when you meet the man there is one of these two things to be done either concerning your safetie or your carriage to Christ Now a saint is apt to take Christs work and lay aside his own another man doth not care in that case how he is pleasing to Christ and carries himself to him but his care is how he may get off from his enemy that he may not kill him and take away his life that is our errour we should leave that to Christ he hath put an enemy before me and he cannot kill me without Christ give him power but my care should be how to be pleasing to God and so to speak and think and do As for outward things and for the body so for the soul my care should not be so much whether I shall be damned or saved I know into whose hands I have put it but my care should be how to walk more holily and pleasing to Christ and for the edification of his Church and kingdome this a childe that is fond of God will do Fiftly a Saint that is fond of God in Iesus Christ he seeth something of God in every thing As they say of love one that is in love sees nothing with her eyes nor hears nothing with her ears but love so a
he saith it is true I am so and there is no devil that hath worse thoughts but the more need I have to go to my Father for I am thy son I am sure of that and seeing that I am weaker then I was I have the more need to betake me to thy lap and into thy arms and so he grows more fond of God by sin it self Nay I will tell you a greater then that What can that be There is one greater and yet all this cannot quench the love and fondness that is between the soul and God that is when God corrects his childe with one sin for another It may be for his fault he lets him run to covet Places and Offices c. and the next day after the Lord suffers another lust to carry him as in a Chariot to hell that this may make him take heed how he looks after such things This is the worst between this and hell saith God Should I not now come and break thee in pieces as a villain No saith the soul this is a wise design of thy love and there is nothing but love in thee to me and there shall be nothing but pure love in me to thee Learn these things beloved There are many that come to hear and all that I can see from them is that if there be controversal they dispute of that when they come home but lay these things to heart as it is said of Mary and beg of the Lord to screw up your souls to that heavenly blessed Life that you may attain in this world 3. Assurance of conquest over all kinde of enemies The third thing before which a Saint will never be fond is God will convince him of an absolute perfect conquest over all his enemies A childe of God will never be fond till he be secure and he will never be so till God shew him by his Spirit that he is more then conqueror over most of his enemies and that he is a certaine conquerour over all And this is by faith for by sense sin prevails over us and if we say we have sin we do not say true But by faith when Satan is most severe he is conquered and sin when it is most violent he looks on it as a vassall at his foot intreating pardon It is said in Daniel that Christ came to bring in everlasting righteousness and make an end of sin A Saint by faith sees sin ended as hell and damnation and wrath and the curse is so sin shall be out of doors There is no damnation to them that are in Christ He hath redeemed us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear as Zechary saith from all our enemies and he shall as Malachy saith tread his enemies as ashes under his feet This is that that keeps a Saint under he cannot come to the height of love to God because there is some enemy that over-tops him This day when he hears that our souls are over sin he is cheary but when he comes home there comes a sin or a temptation and breaks all and he is at a loss Now when faith is scrued so high as to tread on all enemies on sin which is the strongest say it be a strong temptation of covetousnesse thou studiest to purchase and to enlarge thine inheritance suppose there be such a thing in thy soul and it is violent and thou hast offered to resist it and thou canst not thou mayst say Sin though thou be strong and I cannot put thee cut thou hast bolted the door but thou art my slave and in the blood of Christ I am thy conquerour thou thinkest to conquer me but thou art my vassall and my slave And much more may he say so of Satan Thou molestest me but thou art condemned I am made Lord over thee in the blood of Christ Grace and sin will mount as the bird and the Hawk and the one seek to out-mount the other the bird for safety the Hawk for prey so grace and sin get one above another O saith grace I would be holy saith sin thou shalt be covetous I will pray saith grace but I will make thee my possession saith sin When the soul out-mounts sin to the place where dwelleth righteousnesse that Kingdom that cannot be shaken that I see all my enemies beneath and when they are most strong and imperious over me I look on them with a peaceable quiet spirit Last of all and so I have done with this notwithstanding all this the soul could not be fond of God but 4. By a spirituall ad hesion to the new Covenant as God gives him a spirituall understanding of the new Covenant the enemies will over-mount the soul else As for instance to give you but one illustration there are such pangs and such a temper in the soul of a Saint as that sometimes nothing in the world can give him satisfaction there is sin and temptation and it may be paine in body and where is God and the spirit and any thing to help God can help but who knows whether he will or no now I am in the hands of mine enemies In comes the Covenant O saith the soul it is true I am in the hands of mine enemies and God may chuse whether he will rescue me He might have done but now he is bound in an everlasting Covenant that with reverence God must help time was when God might have cast me to hell and he was not bound to save me but the case is altered God is bound to save me Therefore saith David Though my house be not so with God yet there is a Covenant this is my desire and joy Many times the soul is so that nothing can relieve it but the Covenant that God is bound that God cannot though he would desert him If you examine what this Covenant is and whereto it is The Lord knows we are apt to measure him by our selves and so we do in every thing we think our thoughts as Gods thoughts and his thoughts as ours therefore God is willing to condescend unto us in our own way for that God that contrived a way of salvation before the world was we may not fear but that that love will carry us thorow but God would come in our way and take that way that one man doth with another because we are apt to measure God by our selves therefore he comes and saith and if that serve not he swears and if that will not serve he brings a seal and a Covenant and then with men a man is safe enough So Gods word had been enough but because we should have strong consolation that must be conveyed according to our apprehensions and thoughts there God saith and swears and makes a Covenant and binds himself that we may see him bound Therefore saith the Apostle in the Galatians If it be but a mans Covenant none can dissanull it As if he should say I made this
for your sakes or else I have one and none can alter it but foryour sakes I came down and made a Covenant like men and There are three that bear witness and that is enough among men therefore think my love will be constant to the end So when a Christian is at a dead lift this relieves him not that God can save him if he will but that God must he is bound to save him It is a pitifull thing when a man is in the hands of a thousand enemies and then can only say peradventure God will save me and rescue me but when the soul sees that God must rescue it and there is a Covenant made and sealed with the blood of Christ and it is not possible to be broken Gods Covenant is to save me and preserve me to his everlasting Kingdom Thus I have briefly shewed you that fondnesse that is between a Saint and God and the book of Canticles is as I told you nothing but a book of fondnesse as I may say between Christ and the Saints Therefore you should aime at the good of your souls and seeing there is such a condition that there are Saints that are so desire the Lord to make you such Expositions and Observations on DEUTER 4. Now therefore hearken O Israel unto the statutes and judgements which I teach you for to do them that ye may live and go in and possesse the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor for all the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day c. I Shall not go about to expound this whole Chapter unto you you see it is very long and therefore I will not abridge my self or you of time for that which is to follow but onely briefly take notice of a few things in this Chapter which I shall touch upon for they are sweet and very serious words that Moses speaks to the people of Israel One thing is in the fourth verse saith Moses Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor for all the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you to this day You shall read in Num. 25. 4. and in Num. 30. 15. that by the counsell of Balaam the people of Israel were brought to commit Idolatry at Baal-peor Israel joyned himself to Baal-peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel They were brought first to whordom and then to Idolatry as we may see in that Chapter for which God cut off men and women about some twenty four thousand And yet in this great temptation some of them did cleave to the Lord and those the Lord kept alive and destroyed them not ye that did cleave to the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day So that It is a blessed and happy thing when people shall Observation cleave to the Lord. The word is taken sometimes to stick my belly cleaves or sticks to the dust And so truly the word should stick a little upon our thoughts Cleaving it implies or signifies two things It signifies first to glew to unite two things together into one and so you shall have it Gen. 2. 24. They Cleaving to implies two things 1. A neer conjunction two shall be joyned and made one flesh they shall be glewed as it were together So you have it in Ephes 5. And there is in that word as that reverend Doctor Preston I remember observes it signifies a greater union thâ—â— any other in the world Indeed there is a great union between two boards glewed together for I have heard Joyners say it is sometimes stronger then the board it self as a broken bone is stronger when it is knit then before ever it was broken It is an union more then marriage more then between man and wife yet that is the greatest in the whole creation Beloved such a union should be between our souls and Iesus Christ we should not hang loose upon Iesus Christ we should be united to him as a man to his wife yea something more then that And therefore saith David when he found a loosnes in his heart O knit my heart to thee that I may fear thy name Knit my heart as Ionathans heart was knit to David Will you learn this now For our work is as Moses said in another kind I have laid before you this day life and death and saith he at another time I have laid before you judgements and statutes so our work is to lay before you the will of the Lord now this is one part of it that there should be such a union between our souls and Iesus Christ And therefore learn this when thou goest home if thou finde a loosnesse between thee and Christ remember this word thou shouldest learn to cleave to the Lord and pray the Lord to knit thy heart to him When there is a loosnesse that is when many times other things run between thy heart and God sometimes thy husband sometimes thy wife sometimes thy money thy wealth thy cash hath thy heart O pray the Lord to knit thy heart more and more to him But cleaving also is taken more usually for sitting 2. A relative permanency with or abiding in the Lord when others do leave him It is a relative kinde of word it is not simply â—â—iting to God or knitting to him but when other things are in competition with God when it may be others follow other things and when both are laid before mine eyes that I may follow the one or the other then when I abide with God this is called cleaving to the Lord. As I could give you diverse instances Gen. 2. 24. A woman is to forsake her father and mother and to cleave to her husband that is a woman when she is married she hath two sweet objects before her eyes her fathers house her father and mother and sisters and brothers on the one side and her husband on the other side and his friends and relations now when a woman leaves the one and sticks to the other this is properly called cleaving You shall read also in 2 Sam. 20. 2. the people of Israel every man of Israel went up from after David The people of Israel there in a peevish humor left David their King and followed Sheba the son of Bichri but the men of Iudah did cleave to their King from Iordan to Ierusalem There the people were divided Israel followed Sheba but Iudah clave to David In stead of
Christ whereas he usually means Iesus Christ as I could fully cleare it if I had time Let me give you one instance In the last verse of the former Psalm Arise O God judge the earth for thou shalt inherit all nations That is clearly meant of Christ for we know that God inherits all Nations he made the world and he had the command and possession of it but to God in Iesus Christ there is a time when God hath promised that he shall inherit the nations from the uttermost ends of the earth And therefore here by God is meant Iesus Christ For indeed ordinarily and naturally you shall not finde a people conspiring against God properly you shall see no wicked man but in some sort or other he will speak honourably of God but God in Christ God in the mediator God in the Gospell God in his Saints God in Gospell ordinances and the like hence are all the tumults in the world and all the conspiracies against God and his Saints Therefore if you compare this place Thine enemies make a tumult against thee with Psal 2. Why do the heathen rage Or why do they make a tumult as some read it and why do the people imagine a vaine thing the Kings of the earth take counsell against the Lord and against his anointed That is meerly meant of Iesus Christ So take notice of that that carnall men ordinarily do not speak or think evil of God absolutely considered but the worst of men speak well of him when he gives them wealth they thank him when he gives them faire weather they blesse him when he gives them peace and preserves them in their journeys and wayes every one speaks well of God but God in Iesus Christ God manifest in the flesh God in the mediator God in his Saints God in his ordinances God in his commands and the like then the men of the world use to make tumults then they take crafty counsell together and conspire against the Lord and against his apointed Keep not thou silence O God hold not thy peace be not still You see the prophet looks upon God as one that in the midst of these conspiracies did keep silence and hold his peace and sit still Not that God doth use to speak or to stir properly as we men do but the meaning is this that many times when his son Iesus Christ and his laws and his ordinances are most conspired against God as it were doth keep silence I meane Iesus Christ God in Christ when his people and ordinances are conspired against he keeps silence and sits still as though he would let his enemies do what they would and what they list as though God did not see or heed which end did go forward The Lord oft doth this Keep not silent O God I remember that place in Isaiah 40. 27. Why sayest thou O Iacob and speakest O Israel My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God The meaning of it is this that when the enemies of God as we see Chap. 39. did oppresse this people they did pray to him and looked for assistance from him but he was silent as it were or asleep therefore they begin to say in their heart My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God that is Surely it is impossible that God should eye and see my wayes and how men deal with me while I am believing and waiting and praying and humbling my soul no my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God that is my God hath forgotten to give ear to me Beloved there is a time when the Lord as it were gives cause to his people so to think that he is as it were asleep and lets their enemies go on and none contradict them I was thinking out of scripture that there are three Reasons 3. Reasons of Gods silence in the danger of the Saints 1. To try their faith why the Lord keeps silence when his people are in danger and sits still when there is most need to give help and assistance One is the Lord doth it to trie their faith as we see clearly Matthew 8. 23. where it is said that our Lord Christ was asleep There arose a great tempest insomuch as the ship was covered with waves but he was asleep and his disciples came and awaked him saying Lord save us we perish We read more fully in Mark 4. Luk. 8. he left them when the ship was covered with waves and they were rowing for their lives their Lord was asleep the while and he said to them Why are ye fearfull O ye of little faith Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm Truly the Lord will not suffer his people to be overwhelmed that is certain but he will suffer them to come very near that the waves cover them and fear and horrour shall cover their souls and all to try their faith For faith is the evidence of things not seen take it in all senses take faith for the soul or faith for the body and we live not here by sense but by faith and as the Apostle saith of hope so we may say of faith If we see why do we yet hope If we did see God present striking of wicked men when they consult against his children this were sense men would see that it were better to stick to God then otherwise and there would be a world of hypocrites as Doct. Preston saith for every man would be a professor But God seems to sleep sometimes and keeps silence and leaves his people as he did this poor fishing boat here to see if when they see nothing they will keep faith to him I do find another reason in Isaiah 59 and that is the 2. To try their uprightness Lord doth keep silence in the midst of the troubles of his people as to trie mens faith so to trie mens uprightnesse who will stick to God as to see who will stick to God by faith so who will stick to his cause or his people out of uprightnesse of heart For if God should alwayes appear for his cause God and his cause should have many favourites and friends but sometimes God leaves his cause and leaves his people and leaves his Gospell and his ordinances to the wide world to see who will plead for it and stick to it As you see in that place of Isaiah Transgressions are multiplied saith the prophet in transgressing and lying against the Lord departing from our God and uttering words of falshood judgement is turned back and justice standeth afar off truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter Yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey And the Lord saw it God was as it were asleep but he looked through the lattice the Lord beheld it and he saw that there was no man
at home here and eat the fat the while yet notwithstanding they do not as diverse have done lay down their Armes and say I see my conscience will be in slavery when all is done and I have ventured my life therefore I will go beyond Sea as many godly men have done but they resolve I will die for the Parliament let them take away my liberty and make me a slave yet we will do it all the reproaches cannot discourage them it is the joy of their souls when they hear of a skirmish or a fight they leap What a glorious spirit is on English men Therefore I beseech you take heed of calling light darknesse there is nothing that provokes God more take heed of raising and nourishing a cursed reproach against the Saints I say not against Independents or Presbyterians or Anabaptists but I say against godly men I will stand to it there is the hatred against Christ and godlinesse in them and then they put it upon Antinomians and Presbyterians and Anabaptists and Independents but they are blind wretches that hate godly men and seek to ruine the Kingdom and to cut the throats of them Therefore take heed honour those that God honours If God have honoured them and they honour God and love God let us in and for God give them honour also Shall I teach you another word and so I have done Learn hence by experience though it be not the best mistress to set forward godly men as much as you can to the work It is not a dallying time the Kingdom is almost sunk and we have made experiments of men and things to try conclusions till we have almost ruined the Kingdom though we see it not here It is not a time to dally when the Kingdom gasps you know there is a party of wicked men at Oxford here was a great company of treacherous men chosen for the Parliament that went to the King Then we have had experience of all Committees what things are done by men that are not right that are not godly I meane not that are not of this or that faction but that are not godly O Learn and O that God would teach England and London and all to be wise at last that now in all places and Offices and occasions of war and at home and in Committees and any thing Look not how I may please my Landlord or how I may please such a Gentleman but if he be a faithfull godly man O set him forward That is the way to save this poor Kingdom you will never save it as long as you say I have such a kinsman and he shall be a Colonel and I have such a Cosen-German and he shall be a Committee man you will never do good so Therefore if God would and O that he would put it into the hearts of the Parliament to imploy godly men in this Army that lay idle before and did nothing you see how the Lord hath wonderfully blessed them you see things done that have not been done in our age before such successions of victory and worthy actions Therefore imploy godly men faithfull men Presbyterians or Independents look not at that but see if they be godly men Let us pray to the Lord that God may do it that God may put it into the hearts of all so to do I shall say two or three words more and so I have done One is from this of Bristol learn to believe that the strongest afflictions will work for our good We know this was a strong affliction a sore affliction that had confounded There was not a man of us when we came out of Bristol that could render a reason what God did mean in shaming our prayers and our preaching and in scattering the poor Saints it amazed us we knew not what it meant yet now we see plainly that God did mean to do our souls good God hath done the souls of many of his people good and God will do their bodies good and every thing shall be for the best and we hope also that they now knowing what the cruelty and oppression of the Enemy is it will make them more carefull to save the City whereas before all the world could not make the generality confident to the Parliament but now we see God was wiser then we therefore if God bring strong afflictions on our selves or our wives or children that we know not what to make of them let us learn to be quiet and patient and to see that God means us well and that it shall turn to our good Another thing is this that you may learn a little for your souls from it to reason from the greater to the least and from the least to the greater it is the ordinary way of Scripture If God hath given us his Son shall he not with him give us all things So I say thus me thinks you and I may reason that the Lord that hath battered those Forts those Castles or done as good as broken them that all their preparations these two years could not keep them but God hath thrown them down why should I not hope that God will batter down the bulwark in my heart I prayed and you prayed that God would deliver that Castle and Forts and those things to our Forces and they were strong and mighty and God did it and shall not the Forts and Bulwarks that Sin and Satan hath in my heart be thrown down Truly that should help our faith a little to follow God to throw down the one as he hath the other Those strong hodls those strong lusts that are there unbelief and worldliness and pride and wantonness and such like things that are in the souls of people variously Methinks this might increase our confidence and stir up our more earnest prayers to God that he would be pleased to throw down these as he did the Works of Bristol and to make way for the King of glory to come into them And I could wish lastly that you would help poor Bristol people a little as much as you can to settle them comfortably in their habitations according as the Parliament gave order for they will finde naked walls there and if there be any thing the Plague having been there it may be they dare not go in Therefore incourage them pray for them and if it be in your power any way help them a little for they are but a few that are here and weak Pray for them that they may have good Officers and good Common-Counsel-men and good Ministers and the like you have more friends that live here and it may be more understanding then they have and now is the time if you can do any thing help them a little in that otherwise for them to go home among a company of carnal Aldermen and carnal Common Counselmen and carnal Ministers what help shall they have Therefore pray for them and help them as God shall give you opportunity Expositions and
1. In dictating a world of prayers to us that you may see the greatness of his power what a world of prayers doth the Spirit of God put into thy heart that thou art never able to utter with thy mouth All the wisdom in the world cannot make one spiritual petition we may make forms of Prayer but now the Spirit of God that knoweth the minde of God as the Apostle saith that maketh prayers according to the will of God and he prayes with sighs and groans unutterable I speak to them that know the working of the Spirit how many thousand prayers doth God put into thy heart that it is impossible for thee to utter with thy mouth Thou canst not speak to God one petition of fourty that the Spirit puts into thy heart That some conceive to be the meaning of that in Rom. 8. The Spirit prays with sighes unutterable not because of our weakness but because of their strength and they are so numerous they are so many that when a poor Saint goes to pray one petition stops another and throngs it out that he cannot utter it If the Lord should hear only those prayers that thou makest with thy mouth thou wouldest be but a poor man but the Lord respects the prayers of the heart Therefore I say to have power to make one prayer and to have such innumerable sighes and groans in the soul too it must be an exceeding great power Secondly consider this how much the Spirit of 2. In supplying us when we pray not God doth for thee and in thee that thou never prayedst for nor never couldest pray for no not so much as in heart If the Lord did answer all the prayers of heart and tongue that we make throughout all the year a man would think that were a great matter but surely they are so few considering our wants and they are so confused and blinde that I am confident if God should deal with thy soul and mine according to our prayers all the year we should be miserable creatures all our lives God exerciseth us to pray and many of them he answers in their kinde and he is pleased with our obedience in every thing but surely God hath a higher rule of doing us good and the Spirit of God works in a more methodicall and wise and merciful and blessed way then we can pray I have sometimes wondred that God hath made promises to answer many prayers that we make but I wonder more that God should grant things that we pray not for This is the exceeding greatness of his power Thirdly consider the exceeding greatness of his 3. By teaching us inwardly power in this respect in his teaching how the Spirit of God teacheth his people and servants he teacheth them above what they are taught outwardly by men As thus Cast with thy self suppose thou hadst every Sermon that thou hast heard in thy life and every Lecture that thou hast heard on the week days and on the Lords day that thou hadst them in order and method suppose they were written in thy heart and fresh in thy memory that thou didst understanding and remember every Sermon that thou hast heard which no man doth a man would think such a one to be a very knowing man Truly if thou hadst it so thou mightest be a miserable confused blinde man for all that for all that ever thou hast heard preached thou mightest be a blinde creature for alas our teaching comes with so much weakness and dross with it and one saith and another unsaith and if we consider it in a natural way we shall never be made knowing men by all outward teaching in the world But now the Spirit of God comes in and he is pleased indeed to make use of it that we shall teach outwardly but alas the Spirit of God reads such a Lecture in the heart of a Saint and clears things and orders things and assures things and settles things that are right and discovers things that are not and inlargeth and sweetens and quickens them that it may be a man in hearing one Sermon of an hour long may be taught more then another man in hearing Sermons seven years together This is the exceeding greatness of the power of the Spirit of God that truly beloved I have often thought with my self I speak not to disparage our teaching and your hearing but our coming to teach and you to hear it is as your sending your little children to School to keep their cloaths clean and to keep them from play they learn nothing in a manner for your money onely they are obedient to their Parents and are quiet and are in the School where teaching is So you come to hear and we to teach but all our teaching in a manner is by the Spirit of God Therefore it is a wonderful thing to see how quickly the Spirit of God will make a Schollar ripe how in a quarter of a year nay in a moneth almost the Spirit of God will fill him with all spirituall learning whereas the best preacher in the world let him Preach concisely and exactly in a natural way he shall not teach him the tenth part Nay we reach you we preach it may be four or five Sermons and we open it as well we can poor earthen creatures and when we come to look on it a quarter of a year after we finde that those notions that it may be were so confused and poor while we were teaching you that there is a glorious piece made in your souls by the Spirit of God though our Notes when they were done were scarce worth the burning we are so poor and frail in teaching and you in your outward hearing therefore there is an exceeding great power that works in you that believe Fourthly and lastly for I speak this to inhaunce and 4 By working our works in and for us advance the Spirit of God as Paul saith we are not debters to the flesh but to the Spirit you ow more to the Spirit then you are aware of consider in all the good that you do in all the good works that you do how wonderful passive you are in the doing of them We have a saying It holds true I gainsay it not in a sort that a man in conversion is passive and afterwards he is active that is God in a mans conversion works on a man as a dead creature only he is rational but he suffers and works not with God but when he is converted then a man hath a principle of life God works and man works man works with God and it is a true comparison we were then passive now we are active But in respect of the principle by which we move and walk truely a Christian may say I am altogether passive in a manner in all that I do God carries a mans tongue to speak and his hands to work and his feet to walk God carries a man in good many times and
in your souls I know God many times by these broken words may do your souls good but this is a thing that I confess my soul is so full of that I am not able to express it to vent and open my self The mischief and misery that befals people by soaring above the Scriptures above the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel ye hear that they do themselves and others and the safeties and security that will be to your souls in keeping to the plain simple way of the Gospel of Iesus Christ I had another short lesson but I am loath to thrust out one duty with another It is a rule by which I would alway walk I cannot now handle it but only mention it to you and if God lead us by his blessed Spirit we may learn a little of it I thought to shew you The Oneness that is betwixt us and Iesus Christ Methinks it is a more glorious Truth then we have judged it to be that poor Saints are one with Christ The Lord Iesus Christ is anointed and so are they we have the same unction with Christ we have the same name with Christ we have the same Offices with Christ we have the same love of God with Christ we have the same Spirit with Christ and the same Kingdom with Christ in Heaven The Church is the fulness of Iesus Christ Christ is not properly a Christ without his Members This is a glorious thing to consider how the poor Saints and Iesus Christ make up one compleat Body He is no Christ as it were were it not for his members The Church is the fulness of him that filleth all in all It is said of the oyl that was poured on Aaron It ran upon the skirts of his garments So Christ being anoynted that oyl runs on us As he is a Prophet so are we as he is a King so are we as he is a Priest so are we onely with this difference That in all things he might have the preeminence He is the highest King the best Prophet the most excellent Priest But otherwise whatsoever Christ is that are we whatsoever he hath that we have nay we have his name So also is Christ 1 Cor. 12. We head and members are called Christ And the least Saint of God is a Prophet as well as the greatest and a Priest as well as the greatest and a King as well as the greatest Nay he is as real a Prophet Priest and King as the Lord Iesus was onely in all things he must have the preeminence We have a share in all his actions we are one with him in his graces in his life and death and resurrection and ascention There is nothing in Christ there is nothing that Christ is or hath but we are one with him in it Therefore this use we should make of the Scriptures not to be as babies always to read a Chapter morning and evening but you that are experienced Christians when you have a truth hinted to you be alway at the Scriptures to beat it out As for instance go home now and study that Oneness that Vnion that is between Christ and us and beat it out to the utmost and what the excellency of the Spirit of God in the New Testament is and not to tie your selves to read so many Chapters a day but be alway studying the Scripture As David saith Blessed is the man that exerciseth himself day and night in the Law of God Thus the spiritual man doth not so much read Chapters as compare Scripture with Scripture and is bolting out spiritual truths till they be fully fixed and fastened upon his soul I shall it may be if God will explain that union to you further in the mean while search for it and so I shall leave it here and hear what the Lord hath further to say to us Expositions and Observations on IERE 6. 1 2 c. O ye children of Benjamin gather your selves to flie out of the middest of Jerusalem and blow the Trumpet in Tekoa and set up a signe of fire in Beth-haccerem for evil appeareth out of the North and great destruction I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman c. I Shall desire leave at this time a little more familiarly then usually to tell you what I conceive is the will of the Lord because I do not expect to speak to you any more I remember a little before the Lord had brought us together before the desolation of that * Bristol City which indeed was greater then any man can imagine unless he had been there present the Lord by his providence guided me to expound Matth. 24. concerning the desolation of Ierusalem little thinking or imagining that the desolation of that place had been so near And now that word that was then spoken by providence was as I perceived afterwards a very great stay and refreshing to the souls of the people in their trouble By providence also not by any way of prophesie I never was addicted that way but by providence reading this Chapter in my family and seriously considering of it me-thoughts the Lord represented to me in a way a little more then usual the state of this City wherein you now live and are to live and that by the state of Ierusalem which is here laid down throughout the Chapter For though we cannot tell you now of Cities and Kingdoms as the Prophets did by revelations and visions and the like yet what is written is written for our instruction And the Lord hath given us examples of his judgments that we may learn from them what to think and how to judg of other places and Cities and Kingdoms that are parallel that are like to those that the Lord hath visited or destroyed heretofore Therefore I shall briefly lay down the condition of Ierusalem as it is here in this Chapter Here are things spoken promiscuously because here in the Prophets there are but the heads as it were of their preaching therefore for method and your memories sake I will digest the condition of Ierusalem and what is here said of it and about it into these heads briefly But first of all before I speak of Ierusalem it-self ye are to observe the condition of the Prophet that the Lord had set among them which is laid down at Vers 27. I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people that thou mayest know and try their way The Lord compares the Prophet to a tower in the City that is a watch-tower A tower for strength as it is Iere. 1. 18. I have made thee an iron pillar and brazen walls That though he preached contrary to their corruptions yet they could not touch him And a tower for watchfulness because the Prophets did watch as out of a tower all the City and all in it and the enemies that were against it So the Prophets were called Seers in those days eying the sins of the