laid them before him to make his own Choice and to take them all to himself Is this price in his hand to be happy for ever and hath the Fool no heart to it Is the Everlasting Charter fairly Copied out and sent him down from above to peruse and read over wherein he finds all the Priviledges of Heaven and Earth made over and secured to him and all this not worthy reflecting on And the Book lying as fast clasped up as his own Heart See how grievously God takes this Affront to his Goodness I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing A matter not concerning them at all The Feast is prepared and all things ready themselves Invited but they make light of it they have other Pleasures to follow O Judicial Blindness O cursed Insensibleness Israel would none of me so I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts to walk in their own Councels He that hath no Heart for God may jealously fear that God hath no Heart for him Pray not for this People for my mind cannot be towards them Why Their Heart is turned away from me Yet is this but the first Seething of the deadly Poyson see it boiling up into the heighth of a mutual Abhorrency and Loathing Their Soul abhorred me and my Soul loathed them Tremble to think on the fatal Effects of thy Hearts aversion from God 'T is a perfect Predamnation the very Devils arrive at no greater height of Impiety And thou that wilt not meditate Love mayst shortly meditate Terror and become a Magor Missabib a very Fiend to thine own Self Go miserable Creature sit in the Dust lye on the Ground cloath thee with Ashes put on Sackcloath let bitter Tears be thy drink Abhorr thy Self Thy Soul is departed from God and God as from Saul is departed from thee and what wilt thou do in the end thereof On what will thy miserable Thoughts feed on to Eternity 'T were a Judgment to pass one day without Meditation on God! but how wilt thou spend an endless Life without him which yet thou canst not do while all thy Faculties will be enlarg'd to take in nought but Plagues and Torments which here fed on nothing but Vanity and Leasing There thou wilt do nothing else but think on His Wrath on thy Self and Others who here hadst no leisure or Heart to think on his Love and Goodness to thy Self and Others Bethink thy self a little while thou art in the World summon up thy Considerative Faculties set them all at work to ruminate on the unchangeable Estate wherein thou wilt either Praise or Blaspheme the Name of God for ever Hast thou a Soul given thee for no other Work but to compleat thine own Misery And doth God wait upon thee but until thou fittest thy Self for destruction whiles thou art little thinking how soon it will come upon thee And then all the vain Thoughts that lodge within thee will take their flight from thee and perish for ever with thee Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider thy wayes And remember 't is the proper work of the Rational Soul and of no other Creature but Angels to reflect on it self and wisely to project for its future Happiness When God hath laid before thee all the Contrivances of his everlasting Councels and Love towards thee in Jesus Christ and set Him forth to be a Propitiation thrô Faith in his Blood that thine Eyes and Heart may be astonished with Admiration of such Mercy That this White Flag should hang up so long and none consider the Black One of Judgment may appear in its stead when all hopes of Life are gone and departed for ever This is an Evidence of a fatal Obduration and a mighty Contempt of Divine Grace See Sinner Mercy is yet offer'd Proposals of Peace are laid before thee Consider thy Life and Soul are in hazard if thou art drawing lines with Archimedes in the Dust while the City is stormed and the Enemy entred the next News will be the Sword in thy Bowels and an everlasting Adieu to thy presumptuous Hopes But while Isaac's holy Heart was better exercised and he was sweetly walking with his God in the Fields his Eyes discover the Camels Coming In the doing thy Commandments there is great Reward Mercy overtakes him in the midst of Duty In the very Moment that he is enjoying God God gives him the Enjoyment of his Rebekah to whom for the Honour that she doth him in lighting off her Camēl and Veyling her self at the first Meeting he pays so entire Affection and constant Love that in all his Life he never leaves her to depart into another Bed And having now gotten so good a Wife he endeavours to forget the loss of a Mother and to remember his Sorrow no more I question not but the Readers Observation hath already prevented me in the Noting of the clearest Allegory of the Proceedings of God in the raising a Seed to his Son illustrated by the Care of Abraham in this Transactions of Isaac's Nuptials 'T is the Project and the Councel of his Will to propose him as the Spiritual Husband to his Church He makes the first Motion by his Servants that are sent forth to Woe and Beseech They are sworn to Fidelity under the dreadful penalties of destruction to themselves if they be found Careless or Unfaithful in so great a Trust Their Blood will I require at thy Hand The Arguments they use are the Promises of an Everlasting Inheritance durable Riches and Honour in the heavenly Canaan There is nothing required but bare Consent and an hearty willingness to the Match What doth the Lord require of thee c. My Son give me thine Heart onely The Holy Spirit cooperates with the Messengers and helps to convince and perswade Our Gospel came not in Word only but in Power and in the Holy Ghost He enlightneth the mind to see what are the Hopes of his Calliing and how great the Riches of the Inheritance He works the Heart to a free Consent Thy People shall be willing c. When Faith is wrought and Consent gotten the Jewels are produced Gifts and Graces After ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit Dispatch is urged Be ye ready the Faithful Soul called to depart Hearken O Daughter and consider incline thine Ear forget thine own People and thy Fathers House While she is traveling on the Road of Life the Bridegroom meets her I will manifest my self unto her she receives him covered with a Veyl and blushing at the Thoughts of her unworthiness But he likes her the better and greatly delights in her Beauty while the Worships him as her Lord and passes in with him into the everlasting Pavilion where she alone enjoys his Love and entire Person for ever We shall be ever with the Lord Wherefore comfort one another with these words The Nuptials of Isaac thus happily Celebrated and Rebekah in Possession of
the natural Seed of his Body whose names should be written in the Earth and whose very Souls would cleave to the Dust But by these he decyphered to him the Spiritual (*) (*) (*) Prius promiserat semen tanquam pulverein terrae hic sicut stellas coeli illud potuit fillos Naturales hoc Spirituales significare Ainsworth Children of his Faith all the World over whose names are written in Heaven and who should shine as Stars for ever and ever Great indeed is the difference of these from the other And Holy Records wiâ—ness that Abraham of the innumerable Children of his Flesh had but too few of his Spirit Isaiah is so bold to tell us That by that time God had measur'd off with the long Ell of his Justice almost the whole Piece to Destruction for their unhappy Apostasie from the Holy Practices of their Great Father but a short Remnant was left that following his steps arrived at last in the Heavenly Canaan with him From the lovely face of that Heaven enamell'd with so many shining Stars which Abraham's Eyes beheld in the clearest night Turn now thine own Reader and gaze on another enriched with Lights surmounting far all those and of a more eternal duration than they illustrating the Great Abraham's name 'T is his splendent Faith attended on by all her Train of Graces expatiating all the Rooms of his Soul by a ravishing Dilatation to receive in all the Joys of this so vast a Blessing and giving it the most welcome Entertainment that her little Powers are able in this narrow condition she is in 'T was mighty Faith that brought him out of his Country but what is this that passeth him out of himself leaving all his Reason and Senses behind him combating against all the Impossibilities of Nature when there was not the least ground to fix the Foot of Belief on but what was ready to sink under him All hopes as tottering as his reeling Body and as dead as his Sarah's Womb yet now to hope against all Hope and out of Death it self to believe out Life and that with a Courage as resolute and immovable as admits not the least Allay of Fear or Doubt but to give Glory to God by resigning himself up by a perfect dependance on the Infallibility of the Promise and full assurance of the Faithfulness and Power of him that made it without the least staggering thought This is such a Faith in the Perfection and Flower of it that doth render him so exceeding acceptable in the Eyes of God that he shall be henceforth confirmed in a perfect Immunity from all the dangers of Sin and Death which shall never prevail eternally against him and shall qualifie him so compleatly for all â—he Honours of Divine Friendship that he shall â—e taken into the Bosom and for ever acknowâ—edged as the Faithful Friend of God. As he â—ath justified his Faith by so noble Fruit as this â—o will God Justifie it too by setting his Seal to the Truth and Excellency of it and Justifying Him the Subject of it and stamping on him the Mark and Honourable Character of a truly Religious and most sincere Believer Abraham believed in the Lord and it was counted to him for Righteousness Come hither thou that art called a Christian see the Criterion of thy future Estate Thou say'st thou believest thou doest well do not the Devils also Believe and Tremble But hast thou Abraham's Justifying Faith Take a Survey of the Weakness of thine and the Vanity of thy Hopes for Heaven Abraham travelled out of all and chearfully gave up himself to be led by the Absolute Will of his God when thou lodgest still in the dark Entry of Nature and laughest at all the Invitations of his Grace Thou mockest the Messengers of God that are sent to call thee and sticking still in the Creature and Self disputest his Authority to rule thee Abraham feasted himself in the Joys of an Invisible Saviour and made many a Sweet Banquet upon the Promise while thou art guzling on the draughts of Lust and greedily sucking in the deadly Potions of Sin little remembring there is Death in the Pot that Poysons thy Soul and Hopes together He rejoyced in the Children of his Faith which should make up a Church unto God while they are all the Objects of thy Malicious Hate who bear the least shadow of his Image upon them He bore up a Spirit against all the Temptations of Life and under all the Enticements of a Great and Rich Estate ever devoting the Cream and Elixir of his Thoughts and Heart unto God when thou lockest up thy Soul in a narrow Ware-house and drownest all thy Hopes in a shallow Stream He dreaded not the formidable Powers of the World that had captiv'd a Member of the Church whilst thou with Saul art breathing out Menaces and Slaughter and shooting all thy Darts into the Heart of Christ He had strength to wrestle with God himself and would not be beaten back without a Blessing when thy Spirit sinketh with the very thoughts of that Power whom thy wicked Life hath made thine Enemy He comes back laden with the Riches of a Promise which should make himself and all his true Children Happy when thy poor Heart is courting other Delights and is a perfect Stranger to the Pleasures of a Saviour Go Christian get a better Faith that may Justifie thy Person before God since be sure such works as these can never Justifie thy Faith before Men. Abraham thus assured of an infinite Posterity grows now sollicitous and thoughtful for them he discovers the nature of those cares that Afflict the Bosoms of every Godly Parent He is fearful that his Children may deviate from the steps of his own Uniform Obedience and Righteousness nor wear the same Livery of Grace that adorned his Loyal Spirit and Hallowed all his Actions His first Care is to enjoy a Progeny and his next that they might enjoy God and be Good. How rarely doth this Holy Anxiety oppress the Minds of Men How would Abraham have swooned then to have seen some of his Impious Children sacrificing their Sons and Daughters unto Devils The Angels themselves were created subject to a possible Folly and Multitudes of them fell by a dreadful Apostacy He had reason to fear that his Children who were but Dust might be foolish too and forgetful of the Rock of their Salvation who might therefore sell them into the hands of their Enemies who would surely deprive them of their Fruitful Canaan Nor was this fear the least Flaw in the Jewel of his Faith but rather an Holy Ray that darted from it It abates not at all of the Perfections of God that he is Jealous The Church is his Spouse he is Married to her and would have her Holy as Himself If Abraham to the Promise of a Seed and an Inheritance for them might have another to secure them in it by a Faith and Spirit like his
in the Infallible Decision that instead of submitting to the Holy Decree it flies to Arms and Smites through the Loins of Truth it self whose Innocency God is oblig'd to clear up and defend The Fountains are broken up and the Waters appear already which in time shall swell into a mighty Deluge to overwhelm the whole Posterity of the Murderer The miserable Parents are drowned in a Flood of Tears which are hardly dried up on the discovery of that happy Spot of Earth which God substitutes to fill up the Vacancy of the Holy Martyr So easily can he baffle the Plots of Hell in polishing up a new Pillar of Righteousness to support his tottering Church 'T was the brave Seth that started into Life with the very Lineaments of his Brothers Piety and Goodness upon him and which afterwards Survive and Illustriously Shine in the incomparable Enoch the very Glory and Flower of the Old World whose Records though drawn with a sparing Hand and very hasty Pencil yet shall the Memory of this Saints mighty Namâ— and Excellencies be surely Immortaliz'd foâ— though others did Vertuously yet he exceeded them all And the Blessed Pen-man could noâ— justly pass from Him whose History would haâ— furnished a Volume when yet he Posts froâ— others with the short Dash of a long Life and a late Death only as if Eight or Nine hundred years were too little time to ripen them up to any Memorable Perfection but here he stops to transmit the Memoirs of the Great Enoch's unparallell'd Life and miraculous Translation to all Posterities for evermore For if the Treasure of a Pious Education into the Knowledge and Faith of the Messias If the mighty Effluxes of the Blessed Spirit Hallowing that Knowledge into an unreserved Dedication of his Heart and Life unto God If an irradiated Mind a resigned Will and right ordered Affections If Hatred and Abhorrency of Sin a valiant Opposition of others Impiety aâ—d a blessed Walking and Communion with the Holy Trinity be Furniture enough to Adorn and Dress up a Saint surely all these unitedly met and concentred in Him. No wonder then that some whose Eyes are dazled in the Brightness of his Holiness mistake him for an Angel Incarnate but others more modestly the Friend and Familiar of God. View him enriched with a Prophetical Spirit and the Eye of his Soul divinely illuminated to foresee at the many Thousand years distance the Glorious Procession of the blessed Jesus with the Myriads of his Holy Ones passing down from Heaven to keep the Great Assizes of the General Judgment and to execute Vengeance upon all the Vngodly of both Worlds whose Blasphemous and Vngodly Speeches whose Profanenesses and Vngodly Practices his Chast Soul so heartily abominated and so passionately lamented and against which the flaming Zeal of his Heart issued forth in so constant Menaces of the Wrath and Judgment that That Fearful Day would bring upon them That his Prophetick Soul foresaw the Deluge is not to be questioned since his very Son was a Pillar on whose Name that Judgment was very legibly Inscribed And in Truth an easier Augury might Prophesie the Overflowing of Wrath as but the Natural Effect of the Inundation of Sin which in His days by the unhappy Commixture of the Two Families had spread its contagious Streams over all the World. History tells us that it was his Custom to Congregate the People in order to the deprecating so direful an Execution And to assure them that the World was of no longer Duration than the Life of his Son and that whensoever he died the Bloody Blow will come upon them which answerably happened for though some say that the Flood came not till six years after Methuselah's Death yet others averr more truly in the very same year and others again but seven days God it seems giving in that Week also to the hundred years allowed for Repentance but not a day longer when now after the Decease of this Good Patriarch they might according to his Fathers Prediction expect the Judgment to fall upon them every hour Doubtless the Holiness of Enoch as the very shining of the Sun is a Torment to Sore Eyes had contracted upon him the General Odium of the Wicked but while he laboured under this Burden and the Danger of their Persecutions the Almighty God mounts him up into the Securities of his own Bosom 'T was not fit indeed that the Phoenix of the whole Creation should be liable to the Gun-shot of its Malice To prevent which and lest they should offer Indignity to his Sacred Dust after Death the very Qualities of his Body by a sudden and admirable Change are rendred connatural with those of his Soul He is all Spiritual and made a fit Inhabitant for the Celestial Kingdom whose Translation hath caused a World of different Opinions many voting him to be still Alive but cannot agree where to find or where to fix him whether on Earth or Air in Adam's Paradise or Gods. They tell us he feeds on Angels Food and his very Cloaths are preserv'd from wearing as theirs in the Wilderness leading a Life of perpetual Contemplation and Joy in God and is reserv'd with Elias to the Service of the Confusion of Antichrist in the last times But enough of this While the Eye of the Soul is Watchful to keep it self fixt and Intent on the Beauty of Holiness that is Ten thousand times enough to compleat up a perfect Happiness to Angels and Men Inferior Suitors may despair to Lure away the Affections that are infinitely delighted in that Ravishing Object yet no sooner is it averted from the Fountain of Complacencies but an Army of Temptations break in upon it and offer their several Contributions to patch up a Satisfaction that is only to be found in God. Thus the Unconstant Family of Seth Blessed and secure in their Virgin Love while they persevered in Fidelity to their first Amours Now alas grown weary and tir'd with a Spiritual Husband employ their Traiterous Senses to cater a-new after fresh Provisions which must fill up the Vacuities of their Squeamish Appetites when lean Kids are dress'd up into Venison and serve well enough to delude the undiscerning Stomach Thus their First Father exchang'd a God for a Wife of Dust and mistook an Apple for a Deity And these degenerous Sons of God unworthy of that high Relation while they gaze on the Beauty of the Daughters of Men are bewitch'd to write the Bill of their own Divorce from their Chaster Nuptials to Marry themselves to everlasting Ruine The Ties of Friendship that long Acquaintance and Familiarity have contracted between Men have been often so Sacred and Strong that the Violation of them have occasioned great Commotion of Heart and can we think that these Gentlemen could so chearfully pass from the purer Flames of Divine Love into the Embraces of Vanity without some Check and Allay to the Fury of their hot Desires There is something within that is ever
or an Arm for his Wife when his own whole Body is in danger he presses forward and shifts for himself leaving her to Trudge after as she could 't were well if so many were not over-courtly together handing one another into Death The hour is coming when the Dearest Relations shall be all swallowed up in that nearest Interest of Self-preservation Lot's Wife was a Native of Sodom her Body was out of but her Affections were in it still So little doth God value the Carcass service of Hypocrites that he will make them the more lasting Monuments of his Wrath While she disobeys the Command and her Eyes turn back to look after her Heart her whole Body is Petrified and the Eyes of the whole World commanded to look upon her now become a standing Pillar that yet hath a Voice and loudly preaches the Dangers of Disobedience Ingratidude and Backsliding and least Time should wear ouâ— the Memorial of so strange a Prodigy the Son of God comes from Heaven to proclaim it afresh and sets up a Buoy to prevent our Splitting upon the Rock against which that unhappy Creature broke her self And whenever thy deceitful Heart starts back from God Terrifie it with three words as three Darts shot by Joab into Absalom's Heart to end that Rebellion against so great a King and Father Remember Lots Wife God had sent his Angel to deliver her out of the Flame that Angel had given her fair warning by no means to Look back Zoar was but a little way whither she had Orders to escape She had the company of her Husband and Children with her yet she alone insensible of these Mercies despises them all and will Sin and she alone that Sins doth Suffer No Means nor Mercies can prevail with the Obstinate and Wilful while others believe to the saving of the Soul They draw back to Perdition and turn from the Holy Commandement delivered unto them Whose end therefore is Destruction Naked and Bare passes Lot out of Sodom leaving all his Riches and Goods behind him as Fuel to the Flames His Life only is given to him for a Prey to let Him see how little he had advantaged himself by an Intermixture with the Wicked and to teach us how low and mean our Gains will be in this Evil World when at the last we shall carry nothing out of it but a Shroud to lap the Poor Carkass in And very happy shall we be if in the loss of every thing else we make our escape with a Soul to God washed from the Pollutions that are in the World through Lust by the precious Blood of Jesus Art thou gotten up Reader and with Abraham early viewing the dismal Obsequies upon the Hill of Contemplation Look out yonder and see how Wrath and Justice are burying the filthy Cities into their fiery Graves in a miserable new and unheard of Manner Here is no Earth to Earth Dust to Dust Alas they had acted as Devils and overturned all the Laws of Humane Nature Therefore as Infernal Spirits shall receive their Interrment Fire to Fire Flame to Flame Burning to Burning in sure and certain Desperation of any other Resurrection than to everlasting Damnation from Jesus Christ who shall raise their vile bodies to make them yet more vile according to his mighty Power whereby he subdues all things to himself Come lend thine Ears a while to the sad Screeks and Yellings of the miserable Wretches thorough every Street in Sodom and the same answered by those of Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboim Ecchoing to both Lord into what Confusion hath Pride and her Idle Gluttonous Drunken Beastly Filthy Vnnatural Counsels betrayed them When there was but one dead in the several Families of Egypt what an Outcry and Noise what a fearful Distraction was there at Midnight what a Tossing and Tumbling to hasten away Israel when there was no other Fright but of one quietly Dead in his Bed in each House But here the Lord thundered in the Heavens the most high gave his voice Hail-stones and Coals of Fire he sent out his Arrows and scattered them he shot out his Thunderbolts and discomfited him Their cursed Eyes behold the Shower of Fire and Brimstone falling down on them all whole Flakes and Rolls of Fire first burning down their Houses to make the more haste to seize on their more combustible Carkasses which had been so long baking in the Oven of their flaming Lusts into a perfect Crust of Obduration and Sencelesness they were become now fit for nothing but the Fire The Plague is proportionably suited to the Sin they flame in Lust God flames in Wrath and because their Heats were Vnnatural so shall these also and the aspiring Element shall act Retrogade and descend to consume them They Universally Suffer as they Universally Sin Old and Young environ the House Old and Young are environed in their own The young Vrchins of Villany are put into the Fry to prevent the cursed Succession of their Breed Their Fruit is rooted out of the Earth and their Seed from among the Children of Men. O tremendous Spectacle to see them altogether Houses and Bodies of Men Women and Children Cattel and whatsoever was found within their Bounds all roaring together in one Raging Furnace heated seven times and blown up by the furious Breath of an incensed God whose Smoak passed up in thick and black Clouds and Pillars darkening the very Air and benighting Heaven it self Upon what Hill wert thou gotten thou most accursed Sorceress Piping and Dancing with Nero to the Flames of thine own kindling while it is Sport and Recreation to thee to see them all burning in a Flame together Where will be the end of thy bloody Tragedies Sixteen times in Holy Record hath God lighted up the Fire of Sodom to affright if possible the whole World from the Execrable Provocations that enkindled them His Holy Spirit hath held up the Tapers in whose Light we see them in Hell as if our very Eyes beheld them there They are Suffering the Vengeance of eternal fire and their Damnation set forth for a fearful Example to those that hereafter should live ungodly But Alas Man's Wickedness hath made Gods Examples as void and uneffectual as his Counsels To find Sodoms Vices surviving among the poor Heathen is horrible but to see them translated into the Church of God is Insufferable whose Eyes runs not down with Tears to hear of the Daughters of Sion exceeding the Daughters of Sodom in Pride and Wantonness But to find the Brothel-houses erected for the very Trade of Sodomy so impudently out-facing the Temple of God This might call for Tears of Blood. And I could wish History had fail'd of Truth when it tells us of a Dispensation granted to the Family of a Cardinal for the same Villany with a Fiat ut petitur 'T is a strange Power that can rake up Vices out of Hell to bring them up and make them in Fashion again upon Earth It were well too
Temper and perfect Serenity of Soul. Fear not Abraham I am thy Shield and thine exceeding great Reward See I have already given thee an Experience of my Power and Protection that shall ever be continued for thy future Preservation and Safety I have covered thine Head already in the day of Battle and hid thee in the Hollow of mine Hand from the rage of thine Enemies So will I ever be a Wall of Fire round about thee they shall but scorch themselves that approach to hurt thee No weapon formed against thee shall prosper yea tho' the whole Earth should gather themselves together to injure thee Do not dread the united strength of the Arm of Flesh thou hast a God that will ever arise up for thy Defence He that toucheth thee shall as prosperoâ—sly hope to pâ—il out the Apple of mine Eye and to defeat all the Hosts of Heaven that shall ever be Armed as thy Life-guard so soon shall thine Enemies prevail to baffle Omnipotent power and Strength as to pull one Hair from thine Head much less to sheath a Sword in thy Heart Wrap up therefore thy self securely within the Folds of my Invincible Power by an unquestionable Confidence in my Watchfulness and Care that shall ever attend thee thrô all the most dangerous Accidents of thy Life Fear not Abraham for I am thy Sâ—ield And whereas in this Affair of the King of Sodom thou hast accquited thy self with so Noble Respect to mine Honour and so full a Dependence on my Power and Alsufficiency to enrich thee so as thou hast despised the means of a Ditation by an Addition of those contemptible Spoils to thine Estate Know this for thine Encouragement and Joy Thou shalt be so far from being a loser by so generous a preferring my Glory beyond thine own Interests that instead of them I will give thee my Self a God who have all the Treasures of Earth and Sea at mine own Power to Dispose of and if need were could command them all to meet in thine Exchequer to enrich thee And who am in my self so inexhaustible a Fountain of more Durable Riches and Honour than what are drawn from the poor Mines of the Earth and with these will I Ennoble thee for ever Be not Jealous that I intend thee no further Honours than what thou hast Atchieved from the Glory of thy Conquest when mine Own hand shall weave thee an Immarcessible Crown that shall sit fast on thy Head and never Wither or Die. And tho' the ungrateful Canaanïtes pay thee not the Homage and honourable Acknowledgment of their own deliverance by thine Hand or maliciously Envy thee the Glory of it yet shalt thou have little cause to complain When I make over my self to thee who am infinitely more than all Things and who could as easily make thee Lord of the Vniverse as to bestow these Kingdoms of Canaan upon thee but that I reserve to thee a Portion in mine own most glorious Essence and thou shalt not run to the Creatures for a Recompence for I my self will be thy Reward and thou shalt every day find how Great how exceeding great a Reward thy God will be unto thee But mighty Jehovah hast thou sitted the Shield of thy Protection to the Body of thine Abraham only Is the Promise made to him alone And wilt thou leave all the Heirs of his Faith and Spirit naked and bare to the Cruelties of their Enemies Hast thou but one Shield of Defence shield us even us also O our Father Yea we know well that thou art a Sun and a Shield to all them that walk uprightly as Abraham God hath expanded the Buckler of his Protection as the Heavens over all the Body of his dearest Church Haypy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O People saved by the Lord the shield of thine Help and the sword of thine Excellency thine Enemies shall be found Lyars to thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places Come ye Angels one of you is enough and smite the blasphemous Host into dead Corpses Come ye Starrs and sight in your Counses against the Tyrannous Sisera Come ye mighty Waters and prepare Graves for the Obdurated Pharaoh and all his Army within the vast gulph of your own Bowels Come forth ye poor Worms and take your Repast on the Carkass of the Mortal that would fancy himself to be a God. Come thou little Stone cut out of the Mountain that shall break in pieces all the Kingdoms of the Earth that oppose thee Come near ye Nations hear and bearken ye People for the indignation of the Lord is upon you and his fury upon all your Armies he hath utterly destroyed them he hath delivered them to the slaughter For his sword is bathed in Heaven behold it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the People of his Curse unto Judgement And come thou blessed Son of Abraham the Invincible King of the Church With the Spiritual Sword of thy might enter into the Confines of Hell Invade the Territories of the Infernal Powers dash in pieces all the Gates of thine Dominion break their Iron Barrs asunder Iade away the Spoils of those cursed Principalities the Trophies of their Eternal Honour Sin and Death Make a shew of them openly to all the World expose them to the derision of Angels and Men as the baffled Captives of thy Power Fasten them to the Wheels of thy Chariot drag them after thee when in the day of thy Triumph thou shalt enter into thy Kingdom thence let them receive the dreadful Sentence of everlasting Ignominy and Contempt Come hither Christian and view thy self Secure as Infinite Power and the Strength of a God can make thee If thou wilt negligently hang up thy Shield to the Walls and walk naked thrô all the Quarters of thine Enemies and promise thy self safety in the midst of Devils and Men almost as Bad as they without this Coat-Mail of the Divine Promise girt about thee or but loosely put on what can be expected but thy certain fall even by these baffled Straglers of the routed Army who lye lurking to make their Prey upon thee and to lead thee with themselves into the Eternal Prisons To dye by a Noble and Victorious hand would yet be somewhat honourable but for these disarmed Troops of Hell to triumph in thy ruine and fix thee in perpetual Chains of darkness and this only from thy carelesness and neglect of carrying thine Arms about thee and wearing the Shield of thy Defence this will be matter of indelible Shame and Confusion This is that special piece of Spiritual Armour that shouldst thou be so vain to leave the rest behind yet of this art thou cautioned by no means to be forgetful but Above all to rake with thee the Shield of Faith And what is this but the close-buckling this Excellent Promise about thine Heart Come my Son let not Mercy and Truth forsake thee bind them about thy Neck write them apon
all his Spirits are broken the loss of his Friends and Country cost him not a Sigh he hardened himself against the Fate of Isaac but his dear Sarah's Death melts him into Water The joyful sence of divine Grace doth not so perfectly banish away natural grief but that the best of Saints even Abraham and Jesus himself under the Tyrannies of Fate shall find themselves subject to those Passions as loudly speak them to be but Men. Behold the great Sarah lying Dead and the mighty Prince her Husband acknowledged to be such by all the Chieftains of the Country where he dwells not Proprietor of so much Earth as shall suffice to Ground her Monument nor is this so great a Wonder when afterwards we find his Heir the Lord of all the Creation in the same condition and obliged to a Friend to lend him a Grave Who can date an Happiness to himself from his Interest in the Turf and Clod when Jesus and Abraham have not so much Glebe in the World of their own as to set a Foot on How unlike to their Father were those degenerous Children of Abraham who joyned House to House and lay Field to Field till there was no place for others that they alone might be plac'd in the Earth Isa 5.8 Doth it teach us nothing that Abraham so exceedingly Rich as he was should never mind to purchase Land of Inheritance but only for a Burying-place here in the Earth He Sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise Why did he this but because he looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God If we had Abraham's Faith we should have Abraham's Spirit as free and disengaged from the World as He When God knows our Affections are so deeply Riveted into the Creature and pleasures of Life that we have as little Will to mind the purchase of a Sepulchre as he to buy an Inheritance amongst Men. Indeed the whole Kingdom was his own in Reversion and surely secur'd to his Children while his own Faith was Estate enough with the Promise of God for Himself to live on While we was Travelling on keeping Heaven in his Eye he had no leisure to think of a poor settlement in the Earth 'T was not for Pilgrims to wait on Building whose affections were no deeper stak'd to the World than the slender Pillars of their movable Tabernacles which they lightly pluck up with ease and hast to follow the conduct of that gracious Providence that ever so faithfully led them they little minded Palaces who were themselves nothing else but the goodly Habitations of God upon Earth to whom he therefore retired so often with the sweetest Assurances of their Interest in a City of his own Raising where he attended their Company with him and came down so frequently but to see whether they were ready for it Indeed it was not the design of God that Abraham should fix any where long whom he intended to make a publick Blessing every where and therefore being always ordered to remove upon every Call of God it was requisite that his Estate should have Wings too and be ready to Fly with Himself into every Countrey where God had Business for him to do Nor was this the least Diminution to him but rather an Increase of his Grandeur since all Motions of Princes bear the greater Majesty from the splendid Appearance that attends them you might have seen his Royal Pavilion grac'd with the Flagg of Honour waving in the Air sorrounded by Those of his Sons and Servants at an awful distance The Waggons of his Ammunition guarding those of his Treasure while the numerous Flocks of his Cattel and Herds feed round about him securely and the Trained Bands of his Houshould standing by turns as Sentinels over all Not to mention the invisible Troops who as Tutelars gave their constant Attendance upon him and ever adjoyn'd him as his Guard. The Kings of the Earth knew well enough that God was with him as a sure Refuge In this Glorious Estate was Abraham when his Lady left it All to be translated into better She passes from one Heaven below to another Above from the Courts of Princes to the Palace of a God Her Earthly Part was the care of Abraham to provide for He will not meanly dispose of the Cabinet wherein so precious a Jewel for so many years hath had its Lodging An Honourable Interment is equally Abraham's Duty and Sarah's due There was a Cave in the Field of Machpelah now in the possession of Ephron the Hittite which pleased him well he had cast his Eye upon it not as Ahab covetously Sick for Naboth's Vineyard but as a convenient Purchase if the Good-will of the Right Owner shall please to favour his Innocent desires of Appropriating it to himself by his Money And now that he had present need of it he is forced to make use of those honest means that with greatest Probability may succeed to his Wishes and want He Convocates the Neighbouring Heads of the Countrey Ephron being one whom with a Gravity mixt with Majesty he Addresses to this Effect I freely acknowledge it the Natural Right of the Lords of the Covntrey to Grant Liberty to Strangers to make Purchases in their Land. I am a Stranger among you and must declare my thankful Resentments of that Kindness which hath permitted me so free and peaceable Cohabitation with you It hath pleased God to Call away my Wife from the World for whose Sepulture I must make some Provision and it will not be long e're I my self shall follow Her. This is only my Request to you that I may have Liberty to purchase a Burying-place with you where we may rest in Death with the same Quiet and Peace as we have continued amongst you in Life To the Reproach and Confusion of our more Ill-Natur'd and Paganish Christians let us take notice with what Civility and Condescention these Heathens fram'd their courteous Replication to him Hear us my Lord Thou art a mighty Prince among us and we know that God is with thee We have no Power or Will to deny thy desires Make thine own Election in the choicest of our Sepulchres bury thy Dead None of us shall withhold his Sepulcher from thee but that thou mayst bury thy Dead While Real Piety in all its Services aims only to bring Glory to God He in a gracious Compensation of so good Intention makes that Honour to beat back on it self God is honoured by Abraham and Abraham is honoured by God There is no Man that gives his Heart unto him but who shall find it again in the Hearts of others The surest way to secure the Affections of Men is first to devote our own unto God. Prince Abraham will not receive this Complement without giving Demonstration to them That he is not more High in Estate than Humble in Spirit He