of his holy Government transacted in the Court of Conscience where Himself sitteth Judge or the blessed Spirit his Vicar over every Thought of the Heart and Action of the Life Not a vain Imagination but is brought down and humbled not an idle thought but what is captivated to the obedience of Christ 'T is he that strikes the stony Rock and the Waters gush out such a Rock was Peter whom he smote but with a glance of his Eye the Sun dissolving the Ice melted him all into Water He went out and wept bitterly He sheddeth his Love into the Soul and cold Mary is all in a Flame He pours in his Spirit of Joy and Paul and Silas sing in the Stocks He opens the Prison doors and the Shackles of Sin and Death flie off from the whole World lying in spiritual Captivity He Prophesies over the dry Bones and they come together take Life rise up and follow him as well thro' all Tribulations Sorrows Sufferings from Men Temptations Buffetings Persecutions raised by the Devil Fears Disquietments Dejections of their own Hearts Infirmities Weaknesses and Imperfections of their Duties As Comforts Encouragements Spiritual strength present Sence of his Love and secret Testimonies of his Spirit which is ever present with them to Illuminate Strengthen Comfort Establish and Direct them and therefore whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of His. This holy King rules not immediately only by his blessed Vicar above but mediately also by his Subordinate Officers here below Whether 1. Civil whom His Subjects Obey for his Sake and for Conscience Sake from a right Principle and not Brutishly in all their Lawful Impositions agreeable to his Glory they are ever Praying and Praising God for them yea tho' they be Persecuted by some of them Or 2. Ecclesiastick whom they Receive Honour Love and Obey as his Ambassadours and such as are sent by Him to break to them the Bread of Life whom they therefore follow and yield themselves up to their Lord by a gracious Conformity to the holy Doctrine brought them by his Ministers and Adorning that Doctrine by a suitable conversation in all things Abounding in every good word and work and approving themselves the faithful Servants of God in all the duties of both Tables having an equal Respect to all the Commandments of their Lord and approving themselves to Men by every Act of moral Righteousness and Daty They shall be at the last day approved by him to be no Hypocrites vain Pretenders proud and empty Professors self-seeking Designers or troublesome dividers of his Church and People but the True Hearty Sincere Rooted Living and Fruitful Members of his Mystical Body passing here the time of their Sojourning in filial fear and love and persevering in all Fidelity and Constancy of Obedience to all the revealed Laws of their great King as their Fore-father Abraham did they at last receive the end of their Faith and everlasting Salvation in Heaven where with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Heirs of their Covenant they are blessed and happy in and with God and the Lord Jesus for evermore Come Reader hast thou no Heart to accompany the blessed Communion of Saints to this glorious Home Why dost thou then bear about thee the Seal of the same Covenant and art Crossed for the Holy Land and hast received the sacred Name of Christ upon thee and thou pretendest to be a Candidate for Heaven and wilt rage against any that will dare to sweep away the Cobweb of thine Hopes when alas it hangs by a slender Thread and the lightest hand breaks every Cord of it away and down it falls and thy self with it into utter despair and Ruine See whether thine Anchor have better hold than theirs whose Dooms the great Heir himself pronounced The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out Matt. 8.12 So little will it avail thee to walk for a while alas for a Moment on the Borders of the blessed Land if thine own Infidelity and thy treacherous Heart shut thee out at last Either Rend off the Title and wipe away the drops of that holy Water issuing from the Wounds of the Crucified Saviour wherewith thou wert once Baptized into that sacred Name and renounce the hopes of that glorious Profession Or else be Faithful to thine Articles and give thy self wholly to him who hath given himself to thee Nothing less than the Hearty devotion of thy whole Soul and Life unto God can baer any reasonable Proportion with his Royal Bounty or give any convincing Demonstration of thy Real Gratitude less than this God will not Take less than this thou canst not Offer Every Imperfection and falling short of this must be lamented with bitter Tears wherein the poor Heart swims back again to better Duty and stricter Watchfulness and the broken Bones are jointed in to greater strength and Establishment made fit to walk with a more direct and even Progress in the holy Path rejoycing in their own Integrity But if instead of this thou be found wandring in the Wilderness of Error and Vanity walking after the imagination of thine evil Heart according to the course of the ungodly World and not after God know that thy Covenant is Sealed with melting Wax and thou thy self art holding it to the Flame in the light whereof thou mayst read thy despairs and find thy self in no better condition than those Sons of Abraham whose Unbelief and Obduration hath cancel'd the whole Effects of it and walking up and down in the Earth as the Deplorable Monuments of divine Indignation with Antipathies as great as ever against the blessed Person and Doctrine of the mighty Redeemer Thou maist indeed as some of them have a goodly Portion and Heritage here below Consolations suitable to thine own poor carnal Heart and God will not break the first Articles of a plentiful Canaan in the World thy Belly shall be filled with hidden Treasures But remember then that thy Tenure is but for Life and an uncertain Lease which may expire e're to Morrow comes and the Morning Sun may find thee a Carkase the Fearful case of him in the Gospel who went to Bed well but awaked in Hell. God hath reserved no second Portion in the next World but that of Fire and Brimstone The Heavens shall reveal thine Iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against thee the Increase of thine House shall depart and thy Goods shall flow away in the day of his Wrath There is the portion of a wicked Man from God and the Heritage appointed him by God. Away vain Man to thy Closet with David and consider the deplorable condition of These Make hast to the Sanctuary and there understand their latter end It may be when thou seest the Slipperiness of their Steps and how soon they are brought to a fearful end thou wilt pour out at least a sigh for a better Portion and to enjoy a more lasting Inheritance in God. Remember me O Lord with
think is troubled with the Vapours while he Builds himself into perfect Poverty Let him go on say they Experience at last may make him Wise when we shall have time enough to Ridicule his unparallel'd Folly. The Merchants and Traffacking Companies distracting themselves in the Croud of their Forreign Concerns are in earnest Expectation of those happy Returns that they think cannot fail to Enrich them The Poor Mechanicks Sweating as hotly in the hasty Pursuit of their meaner Accrewments and promising themselves a Brisker Trade in the ensuing Years The Laborious Villagers Manuring their Acres in the confident Hopes of Perpetual Harvests which alas they will never Reap and all without the least Eye or dependance on the Blessing of Heaven to Ripen them Imaginations forg'd in every Brain of an endless Prosperity which they take care to make sure to those Heirs which are never likely to Inherit it Courtships are made with as Flagrant Pretences of Love to Young Ladies as now in hopes of Establishing the Families into future Successions of Honour and Estate when alas they are rouzed from the Bed of Fondness and Delight when nothing remains but the Poor Complacency of Dying in each others Arms. Projects are contriv'd to Assign Children to this and that Employ that in greatest Probability may make them Happy The Toiling Hirelings are flattering themselves with the hopes of deliverance into better Services from the wearisome Tasks they at present Groan under The very Beasts are fattening up to the Yoke and Shambles when alas they shall never approach to either For the Women the Sources of this Plague their Provocations were so many and Great that my Pen in despair to number them up takes the wisest course to let them alone while their Minds are wholly Immers'd in Vanity they make up too great a Part of the Tragedy and I leave them to Skreak together at the approach of their Ruines O learn hence what the destructive end of Sin is that hath brought so Tremendous a Perdition on all the World And if such were the Havock by the Inundation of Water what will the Streams of Brimstone in Hell do and what the Flames of the last Conflagration How terrible is God in his Executions upon Sinners how Scorching his Justice and Vengeance Upon the Wicked He shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest This shall be the portion of their Cup Put them in fear O Lord that the Nations may know themselves to be but Men They are gone Reader and as of all things else that are past there is nothing remains of so Tragical a Story but the bare remembrance of it that hath so weak an Influence upon the Spirits of Men at so remote a distance of time that it hath lost its operating Virtue and Power and retains not the least Efficacy to deterr us from the Sin for which they perished If when the Earth opening her mouth to swallow up Corah and all his Confederating Rebels the surviving Thousands of Israel gave a Screek only and returned the very next day to the same Murmurs for which They died Nay if the very Children of Noah had so little sense of it that while himself lived his own Eyes were so unhappy to see them so early revolting into the very Provocations and Idolatries that brought the Flood first upon the World How should we hope that our Selves upon whom the Ends of the present One are come and which is grown Old in Wickedness and Ripe for a second Destruction should be affrighted out of our long riveted Lusts from any Reflection of our Minds on so Antiquated a Tragedy Yet hath God Enrolled the Execution in the perpetual Records and sent down his Son to take out a Copy of it and commanded him to Post it into his own Journal to give it a new and a fresher Life not without hope that it might Rouze us a little from our fatal Slumbers while the Noise and Horrour of the mighty Waters should sound in our Ears Yet doubted it still while he Prophesies that Himself should find us at his Second Coming plung'd into as deep Perpetrations as They and lock'd up under as perfect Insensibility of our Approaching Ruine from which nothing could awaken us but the surprizing Trumpet of an Arch-angel alarming us to Judgment and the Everlasting Doom For as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man They did eaâ— they drank they married Wives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all But what is become of Prides Kingdom now When with the Great Darius she is slown and hath left all the Rich Plunder of her stately and Golden Tents to the Spoil of the Conquerour Alas she has no pity for so many slaughtered Carkasses thrown over into the Ocean of Ruine Nor is it so much her Care to Protect as to Betray her unhappy Subjects She delights not so much in their Safety as Destruction she Dresses them up only for Sacrifice and they have the Pleasure to dye in their Holiday Cloaths She Combs their Heads and Shaves their Beards and Smooths up their rivelled Cheeks to expire with Octavius and lays them asleep on gentle Pillows She Courts them with Jael to come in to her and hides them from the Danger of others but then the Nail and the Hammer is in her own Hand which Pins them fast to the Earth With Alexander she hunts out more Worlds for them to Conquer and with the desperate Pharaoh leads them into the very Bowels of the Sea See how she drives them into Corners first out of Heaven then out of Paradise and now out of the World She is the Devils Spirit employ'd to furnish Inhabitants for the lower Region to an eternal Slavery Behold where she Perks on the Prow of Noah's Ship where she Splits her very sides with Laughter at the Glorious Present she has made to Lucifer What a World of Furniture hath she boarded away at once for his Spacious Palace How will his stately Rooms be hung with the Tapistries of Prides Tragedies What Horrid Stories will they represent of her Cruel Tyrannies And here she waits to drop her Cockatrices Eggs which she knows will Hatch themselves within the very Ark into another Brood for her She thinks not her Case so desperate yet as not to hope she has a Friend in the very Council of Eight One that has Courage enough to own her Principles and doubts not in a little time to grow up into Power and Strength enough advantageously to declare for her Interest Men of Renown Dash'd out of Breath Gigantick Huffs yet Pump'd to Death O Baffling Heaven Mighty Mountains Tumbled into swelling Fountains Lye sprawling there Trophies of strength Divine whose Massy Weight and Length Makes Justice smile A Righteous God Reducing all to Dust and Clod Chaos and Carcasses O Sin How Dismal have thy
Sighs to have that Promise more particularly express'd Generals in Religion leave the Affections Dull and Cold and are but as the Embers upon the Hearth which more explicite Revelation blows up into Flames of Spiritual Heat and Joy. All the rich Legacies of the New Testament do but meanly Affect us till they are translated into the Heart by the Finger of God. Then O how I love thy Law 'T will never be well with us till we Pray and Sigh too with Abraham for a more express Illumination and accomplishment of the Promise I will write my Law in their inward parts General Promises satissie well enough a dead and General Faith all whose Hopes are on the Paper but a Lively Faith is ever Restless till they be transcribed thence and engraven in legible Characters within The Law of his God is in his heart That is the Fleshly Table upon which it is fairly written Salvation is secure to all whose Names are written in the Book of Life but 't is a Lamp from the Sanctuary the Spirit of Revelation that must clear up the Evidence to the Soul of its own Name being there inserted Abraham's true Faith Sighs after more explicite Demonstration 'T is a dreadful thing to leave the Concerns of Eternity under Fear and Doubts Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Abraham's Soul was at stake and longed till he were better secured of the promised Seed which should make himself and all the Nations of the earth happy He Pants (*) (*) (*) Quodnam donum oblectationi aut consolationi mihi erit quâ—â—diu non video prâ—missionem tuam completam de semine meo ex quo Messias est procreandus till he see that natural Root from whence the Blessed Branch of Righteousness should in Gods good time be most happily derived What could he beg less than this In vain would all other Blessings be heap'd on his Head. But to pass down into the Chambers of death Childless and all the Memoirs of his Faith and Obedience to be buried with him in the same Sepulchre This is matter of Grief to him under all the Royal Largesses of Divine Bounty towards him Progeny is the natural desire of Man whose Ambition is to see himself survive in others springing from him and Children are but the living Images of their deceased Parents who so long as They live are not altogether dead Besides Abraham foresees his great Name might be interred in Oblivion if God should not inscribe it on a more lively Monument than his Steward Eliezer of Damascus was like to make who although he were a good Man and by being adopted his Heir might be raised to bear some Figure and Resemblance of his State in the World yet he sears he would prove but a dark Representative of the Great Abraham's Spirit and no Express Image of his Masters Person Too dark a Region for his Illustrious Vertues to shine in The Sence of this Infelicity lay so heavy upon his troubled Spirits that now he sights for Life and reduplicates his stroaks The Roâ—k had not yet yielded him one comfortable Drop which in an instant shall gush out in Floods of living Water he renews the complaint and piteously laments his condition To me hast thou given no Seed None yet appears though thou tellest me of a numberless One. I find no Accomplishment of thy Promise God sometimes makes as if he did not hear and seems to shut his Ears while yet his Heart is open He loves to put a Value on his own Mercies which we so much the more esteem as they cost us dear in purchasing and waiting for Blessings too cheaply gotten are too meanly priz'd Abraham's Soul is in Travel for an Heir he must not hope to be delivered by one poor single Pang In vain do we knock at Heavens Gates without watching there till Answer comes and if that be delayed our Requests are to be enforced by new Arguments and more pathetick workings of Heart And though our Prayers be answered before we cry yet must we call again and again for that Answer And Jesus taught us a Parable to this end that we ought always to pray and not to faint Let Abraham hold out but one throw more and the Child shall come to the Birth Christian thou hast been in long Labour for a Saviour the next Groan may bring him from the Womb of Gods Decree and thine own Prayers into thy joyful Arms wilt thou dye before thou see thy Saviour Born in thy Heart Christ in thee the hope of Glory Behold God this very Moment appearing to cancel all the Evidences of the Strangers Pretensions and breaking for ever the Heart of Eliezer's Hopes See the Seals of those despairing Conveyances making over thine Estate and Soul to the Forreigner all lying on the Ground torn off and himself sneaking away in utter Desperation at the first breaking out of the true Isaac Go Father Abraham and teach all the World the profit of patient waiting at the Throne of Grace for by thine Importunity and Perseverance hast thou prevailed with God. Since the pains of thine Heart have turned even Gods within him and caused his very Bowels to roll in the Sounding whereof thou hearest the joyful Tidings of a Son which shall issue from those very Bowels that have stirred in so violent Motions against which his pity hath no strength any longer to withstand thee and hath all this while made but a feigned Resistance while thou hast been shewing a Tryal of thy Skill how well thou canst manage thy Shield and how prosperously God himself may be attack'd when it shall please him to yield up himself to be conquered by his Creature Abraham hath been in Travel and Behold a Troop cometh What a prolifick Grace is Prayer which brings forth Thousands and ten Thousands in our Streets and makes Parents of an Incomprehensible Seed The Off-spring of that Grace are all the Innumerable Productions of Eternity which all the Arts of Arithmetick must for ever despair to sum up Can the Great God give any thing little Hath Abraham wrought all this while but for one Son Come all ye glittering Lamps of Heaven your mighty Creator sends you a Summons to make your Appearance here in your clearest Shine not the One thousand three hundred twenty five chief Commanders that seem to exceed the rest in Glory but give your Orders to the Minor Lights to make up all the Force and with all your united Numbers make some Figure to the Great Abraham of the infinite Issue that I will bless him in who from one Son shall multiply into Myriads to bespangle the lower Firmament of my Church For so shall his Seed be God had employed him before â—o the endless work of accounting the numbers of the little Dust of the Earth Now will he have him to enumerate the Stars of Heaven with the like impossible Imposition Some critically observe that by the former God pointed out
own Experience on Subjects they had never heard or known If Forreign Affairs and Customs of Nations delight them he can lead them into Egypt and acquaint them with the Intreigues of Pharaoh's Court where himself so long had conversed among them If Military Affairs better please them he can give them the Faithfulest account of the Late War with the four Kings wherein himself had been General If they will listen to more Melancholly Matters they may hear from him the Tragedy of Sodom of whose Flames his own Eyes had been sad Witnesses If they will pass from all and attend to the Wonders of his own Family He can recommend to them the Advantage of Civility to Strangers forasmuch as himself thereby had entertained Angels and held long Conferences with God Himself 'T is a noble Design to Consecrate the Fruits of our Lips and Tables together to the Glory of God and the Profit of Men. Speech is the peculiar Faculty of Man by which the Sentiments of the Mind are communicated and made publick for the Good or Hurt of others What Care then is Incumbent on the Children of Abraham to speak as well as to Act like him My mouth shall be filled with thy praise and with thy Salvation all the day long The Tongue is the Glory of Man which should not be imployed in dishonour to God he deserves not to speak at all that speaks not the Praises of his Maker The Feast being ended and the Guests dismissed Abraham returns to make Digestion of all by taking a Walk with God in Meditation and Prayer and begs that what had passed that day in his Family might redound to the Honour of God and the everlasting Good of his Friends Not long after this there breaks out a little War in his Family His two Sons are of different Mothers and consequently have different Interests to carry on Ishmael questionless set on by Hagar is found not to bear so fraternal Affections to little Isaac as he ought He is told that he is come into the World to undermine him who stood so fair in the hopes of his Fathers Estate before his Birth Some are of the Opinion that he minded privily to kill him Others only that he loaded him with Jears and Flouts as he played with his Companions rendring him Ridiculous and Contemptible by holding out of the Finger and puting out of his Lip boasting himself to be the true Heir whatsoever it were the Fault is expounded by the Holy Ghost Himself into the Guilt of Persecution which is as well perform'd by the Sword of the Mouth as the Hand Little Isaac is an Early Martyr and the Type of Him that was sought for to be slain in his Swadling-Cloaths Herod would fain Worship and Kill him at once which afterwards was effectually done by those who first wounded him by their Lips Behold the King of the Jews and then dispatched him with their Hands The King dies on the Cross Sarah knew well enough whence all this Spight and Malice was derived the Sons Spirit was but Exasperated by the envious Mother and she finds no possibility of Peace or Security while they continued together in one Family she prudently foresaw some danger in case of Abraham's Death What knew she but Hagar by her subtil Insinuations and Carriage might form such a Party against her that she and her Isaac might be cast out Therefore to secure her Self and the Right Heir she plots betimes to prevent the danger and brings her Writ of Ejectment against her Adversary with such Passion and Resolution as she seems to command the Issue of the Suit before the Judge had considered the ground of the Quarrel Abraham is the only Arbiter in the Case and is hardly solicited to give Sentence against his own Bowels He is divided in his Affections and hath no heart to pass the Order for his own Childs Expulsion The thing was very grievous unto him because of his Son. While the matter hangs in suspence and Abraham is strugling between the Duties of an Husband and a Father and cannot so easily be brought over to forget his Nature and Natural Affections God Himself comes in to give the Casting Voice and Votes clearly for Sarah The good Man that never stuck at any thing that his God commanded be it never so grievous or opposite to his Interests now is willing to forget himself and every thing in Obedience to his Will and gives present Order for the departure of the Bond-woman and her Son. He rises early to begin the day with so difficult a Peice of Obedience having wrestled all the Night against Nature Affection and Self Neither Hagar's intreaties nor Ishmael's cryes can work any Repentance in him Though they sought it carefully with Tears He is Obstinate and Peremptory in his Obsequiousness to God whose holy Commands must be chearfully followed with a Deaf Ear and Heart hardened against every thing that oppose them We never arrive to the degree of Abraham's universal Conformity to the Divine Will till we shut out all Inclinations to the ruinous Solicitations of the Creatures But if nothing will avail and the young Gentleman must determinately be gone we hope the Son of so great a Prince shall pass off in State with a suitable Provision of Maintenance and Servants to attend him What should be the meaning that he who is Prophesied to be the Father of a Nation and of Twelve Princes should be sent away with a loaf of Bread and a Bottle of Water from so Great and Rich a Parent as Abraham The Ladies of this Age are not so cheaply untwisted from their Amorous Gallants without Honourable Settlements for Themselves and Children Abraham was Affectionate and tender-hearted What not so much as a Slave or an Ass to carry the Wallet but it must be hung on the Shoulders of Hagar whose heavy Heart was ready to Break with the Load of Sorrow and Care that already oppress'd it Is Abraham grown thus Pitiless now 'T were Blasphemy against his Piety to assert that He whose Generous Nature Appear'd in the profuse Communications of his Charity to very Strangers should be thus Penurious and Miser-like in his Fatherly Contributions to his own Child The Learned strive to clear up his Reputation by many Arguments Some I fear over-do it when they conclude That Servants and Cattel and all Accommodations for Life are included here in the Scripture Phrase of Bread and Water Others perhaps under-do it when they tell us that he gave them no more to teach them Faith and Dependance upon God whom he left to provide for them when that little was spent With the same Argument He might have given them nothing committing them altogether to the Providence of God with the cold Charity of a naked Wish Depart in Peace be ye warmed and filled These make the Father of the Faithful almost an Infidel and at best but a Solifidian Some falsely enough impute it to Sarah's Revenge and they that aimed