stayed He bringeth the counsel of the Heathen to nought and maketh the devices of the people of none effect Psal 33.10 11. It s not unusual that they fall into their own net whilst we escape Psal 141.10 Use 2. If it be but some that are Tortured and they stand distinguished by the absolute sovereignty and gracious disposal of the Lord who appoints their call anointing and season as it pleaseth him on whose will also the with-drawment of influences hereunto doth depend Then it may caution you and me to take care how we judge of men that are assisted or not assisted in point of enduring tortures It s not the smallest infirmity of this day there is a present over-valuing and under-valuing men and parties according as there appears or dis-appears an ability to endure the tortures that attend the tryal of their profession The persons of some are had in admiration because of advantage above what is written and the persons of others so dispised as if God were not able to make them stand that is a needful counsel in a case not very different Rom. 11.18 Boast not against the branches for if thou boastest thou bearest not the root but the root thee and the teaching therein hath been oftentimes enforced on me by that determination of our Lord which is admitted frequently to take place at this day Many that were last shall be first and the first last And it falls frequently under observation That men as well as things do very speedily and often countermarch and shift places Many tall Cedars who did run well suffer many things gave great ground of perswasion that they would have gone thorough have notwithstanding at one point or other faultred deserted their station and as Sampson grown weak as another man when perhaps on the same ground a poor weak believer over-looked and dispised by most hath obtained grace and strength from on high to make good that post and to walk from strength to strength in the Name of the Lord his God So that all glorying or being puffed up for one against another is excluded here Let not him boast that putteth on his Armour Use 3. Must some be tortured must all be tryed is not the day of the expectation of greater things than these yet over Then let us learn to prepare our Faith and Patience get on our Armour and gird it on take heed how you be drawn into a sleep of security from the present interval of Calm and Rest which the Lord is pleased hitherto to continue to you in a very wonderful manner Some are if not tortured yet sorely tryed and tempted while you have your mercies and opportunities so peaceable about you you should be reckoning this is a space allowed you to gather courage not to contract rust by rest but laying up a store against the evil day that question should be still with us in a way of endeavouring its resolution Seeing we look for these things what manner of People should we be standing on our guard expecting to be drawn forth and ready to comply with that Call Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity Psal 49.16 in a faithful humble Lamb-like readiness to follow Jesus Christ and witness for him though it be in tortures temptations or wherever he goeth But to proceed to some farther Observations in the words Others were tortured c. It is implyed to make up the sense at every sentence by Faith they were so although it be not so expresly named By Faith they were tortured by Faith they accepted not deliverance by Faith they looked for a better Resurrection all the famous doings and fearful undoings recorded in this Chapter are to the honour of Faith This expression therefore that comes first to hand By Faith some were tortured may be considered two wayes 1. It hath a great truth in it if we thus understand it by Faith that is by means of their Faith upon this occasion and for this reason they were tortured even their Faith This was the quarrel the Devil and World had with them viz. They were men of Faith Or else 2. The expression may be thus understood By Faith they were tortured that is they were supported in and carried through their Tortures living or dying by their Faith This was the victory that overcame the world in all these tortures even their Faith I take this latter to be most immediately aimed at in this place and sutably is my eye to prosecute it Though I take the former not to be excluded or at least we may draw some useful considerations from that sense By Faith that is upon occasion of their Faith they were quarrelled with singled out and tortured by Satan and his instruments Great Faith exposed them to great sufferings And so it is now and may afford us this Observation Doct. 3. That a lively Faith possessed and professed is that which will enrage and engage the worlds highest violence and cruelty on him that hath it I intend a very brief dispatch of this not being so immediately perhaps intended in the words and that by considering Faith as contracting and incurring this rage in a two-fold sense or respect 1. Consider we this Faith unfeigned as it is possessed or respecting its inward root and principle as it dwelleth in the hidden-man of the heart in that which is incorruptible against this and as such doth the Prince of Darkness mainly bend his batteries It s true he brings his torments to bear upon the limbs and members of the Body the sensitive part but nothing is more evident than that his design lies farther as appears by this That if by the frights or feeling of these tortures he can but get in pollution and defilement upon the soul of a poor Saint if he can but corrupt that from the simplicity or debauch that of the virginity it hath with Christ then is the offence of the Cross ceased the torments are all called off the work is done He is mad to see any soul delivered from his dominion and translated into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God and there lives by this Faith on comforts that he cannot intermedle withal derives strength and influence which he cannot obstruct is acted in a life and on principles and reasonings which have a fixed and unalterable antipathy to his former courses nay have vertue and success to make resistance to Satan oftentimes to put him to flight 1 Pet. 5.9 Jam. 4.7 And this is the Victory that so frequently overcomes not only the World 1 Joh. 5.4 but the Prince of the World 1 Joh. 4.4 Now there is little reason that we should wonder to see Satan rage and in a rage to bring his instruments of greatest cruelty to bear upon a soul that lives by Faith above him and in such an advantagious way of conquest over him as the Gates of Hell cannot prevail to do him real
harm to bring him down from his excellency But he still stands on ground and fights with instruments that are invisible and invincible such Births the Red Dragon watcheth to devour casts his floods after raiseth war against upon this foot of account They keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Upon this foundation also he exasperates all his crew acted by the spirit of this world who are enforced to gnaw their tongues for pain that in all their on-sets from generation to generation they could never come at nor quell that spring and root of action and suffering whereby they have been so perpetually baffled and all their costly and promising attempts been brought to nought Hence all their consultations and endeavours resolve themselves into this issue To rid the world of them who by a constant steady testimony of their drawing vertue as Olive-trees from the God of the whole earth being here in torments to them that dwell upon the earth 2. We may consider Faith in its Profession or the Profession of our Faith that is to say not only as it inwardly unites a soul to Christ whereby he draws forth consolations and aids to do so wonderfully on Gods behalf But also as it engages a believer to stand forth in the face of the World to testifie against it that its deeds are evil bearing witness to the Holiness and Faithfulness of God in opposition to the stream of the lusts of men Thus it contracts rage to the utmost Joh. 7.7 Me it hateth because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil When the whole demeanour of a Christian both in point of Worship and Conversation is kept on so as not to be tempted to fall down before the Idolatry on one hand or fall in with the debauchery on the other which is proposed under Countenance or imposed by Law The world cannot bear the words of such a people Amos 7.10 c. Can the abomination of a people be offered up before their eyes and will not that Nation stone them Exod. 8.26 In this matter the Disciple is not priviledged above his Lord Joh. 15.18 19. The world will hate such a people as it hated him for witnessing against their ignorance and superstition Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship Joh. 4.22 Ye are too superstitious whom ye ignorantly worship him we declare to you Acts 17.22 23. This is enough to get the world in an uproar This is said above Rev. 11.10 to torment them that dwell on the earth these two Prophets that have no other weapons but the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their Testimony the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy and in this Message and under this Anointing witnessing though in sack-cloth against the evils that are in the world through lust lighting them as Gods Candlesticks the way to heaven this torments men of earth No wonder then that they torment you why your conversations testimony profession of your Faith torments them Christ came not to send peace in the earth but a sword Mat. 10.34 but a fire and what if it be already kindled Luke 12.49 Is Christ delighted with such contention nothing less But these are the consequences of the lusts of men irritated occasionally by the faithful rebukes of the Gospel of Christ and a practical profession of the Faith thereof in such as embrace and obey it A word or two of Practical Improvement and I shall leave this Point Use 1. If Faith both in the Possession and Profession of it be apt to draw the rage of the world in the extremity of it upon you this speaks the reasonableness of this Exhortation that you give diligence to it that the Faith any of you profess be Faith unfeigned 2 Tim. 1.5 Since I say Oh ye professed Believers your Faith in God and faithfulness to God is that which you must expect will enrage the world against you I beseech you satisfie not your selves with any Faith short of such as will carry all the world in a way of victory before it I have thought that at this day there is no man so miserable as a professor of Faith which is not right and real he will contract the worlds rage anger and displeasure because he professeth some Faith and he incurrs the Lords anger and displeasure because he but professeth because he hath not true Faith Faith unfeigned Interest in former dayes led some to profess at an high rate and their credit engageth them now not to fetch their turns too short upon it but the worlds rage chargeth them so hot in the rear that they cannot hold it but are forced in by open Apostacy to dash themselves against the thick Bosses of his Buckler Use 2. As it concerns you that your Faith be unfeigned so the like reason and necessity ariseth from the Promises that your Faith be unmixed in your present contest with the world that is that they may have nothing to charge you with but your single Faith and such things as are the proper off-spring of it and of faithfulness to God upon it It was the admirable advantage Daniel had against the greatest Council that day in the world Dan. 6.4 5. They could find no occasion against him forasmuch as he was faithful unless they could find it against him in the Law of his God The like had David against the envious and evil eye of Saul that God was with him and helped him in all his affairs wisely and faithfully 1 Sam. 18.12 14 15 28 29 30. There was no occasion administred to them that sought occasion The contrary whereunto is very detrimental to you when they that pursue you have ground for that charge Jer. 50.7 We offend not because they have sinned against the Lord the habitation of Justice even God the hope of their Fathers See the Spirits strict caution against this 1 Pet. 2.20 What Glory is it if when ye are buffeted for your faults you take it patiently see ch 4.15 Oh it will be your blessedness that they who pursue you though they will not do it perhaps without a colour yet they may do it without a cause may have nought to charge you with than that which when their vizor of Rhetorical eloquence and invective malice is stript from it resolves its self in a sober gracious eye into this it is for their being true to Jesus Christ their Faith in him their subjection to him their adhering to his Cause Name Works Institutions Such a bottom will render you at length more than a Conqueror Use 3. Take heed how you admit a Parley with those Reasonings which tend to prejudice you against believing to make you think hardly at least to think slightly of Faith in that it involveth you in so many dangers and perplexities Satan lies at a Bay to possess you with offence especially in such dayes as this Christ tells you These things have I spoken that you
look after strength of faith 2. Be exhorted such of you as find that good work of Faith with any power in your souls that you do not let it lye by you as a Talent in a Napkin or as the Sword behind the Ephod since there is none to it to make you valiant to do exploits Oh! be much in this work of drawing it forth upon constant quick and lively exercise as namely 1. Improve your Faith against your Fears It hath a soveraign and excellent vertue that way in the experiences of all the Saints As perfect Love casteth out Fear so doth perfect Faith indeed it is Faith working by Love only doth it What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In the Lord I have put my trust I will not fear what man can do unto me Have Faith upon its principallity of exercise when the sloods of ungodly men are apt to make afraid 2. Improve your Faith against all your offences and murmurings that you meet withal in your souls occasioned and multiplied by the stumbling-blocks of the day Proper Doctrines cannot be preached proper Duties cannot be practised proper Truths cannot be professed but Satan raiserh up multitudes of Objections against them of which this usually beareth the mastery Spare thy self they resolve themselves into this usually as their bearing reason The fear of man In such a time how needful is that Character to be found Great peace have they that love thy Law and Nothing shall offend them Psa 119.165 When tribulation and persecution for the Word cometh how by and by men are offended Mat. 13.21 It was one great part of Christ's care at parting with his Disciples that they should not be offended at mens putting them out of the Synagogues and thinking they do God good service in killing them John 16.1 2. When John was in prison it is not easie to answer the questions nor to remove the offences that arise upon it Whether Christ be the Christ or no But blessed is he saith Christ that is not offended in me Mat. 11.6 Oh! improve your Faith against these stumbling offences 3. Improve your Faith unto a full conquest of the World and the things that are therein respecting all the afrightments and allurements of it as it presents and presseth you with its objects of love and fear Oh! in such staggering times the dirt that clogs the feet of a Believer the thick clay that either in act or desire he is busied to load himself withal is extreamly detrimental to taking streight steps to your feet How easily did the present evil World draw Demas Judas and divers others to a betraying denying deserting their high profession The victory that overcomes this you have heard is your Faith 4. Improve your Faith against all the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit let such as name the Name of the Lord Jesus depart from iniquity a little sin will destroy a great deal of valour whereas holiness carried on towards its perfection in the fear of God will yield encreases of strength and security against the worst that man can do unto you for who is he can harm you if you be followers of that which is good Holiness will secure you from harm They who torture you if they cannot defile you cannot destroy you they may kill you but cannot hurt you you shall not be hurt of the second death And in as much as you are frequently shewed what power Faith improved hath to promote holiness the Lord make you faithful herein Thus far hath been spoken to set forth the excellent and admirable nature of believing considered in its encounters with and conquest over torments It remains that we now take into view its vertue and excellency as it conflicts with and gets success against another adversary no less difficult to be attempted than tortures be no less apt to over-come and that is the tempting tenders of Deliverance And herein is the greatness of the atchievment that the Faith which enabled them to bear tortures without grudging enabled them to refuse the tenders of deliverance without complying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemptionem notat addita praeposito insinuare videtur perfectam redemptionem Leigh Cr. Sac◠They accepted not Deliverance The word we read Deliverance denoteth in the proper signification of it full Deliverance Deliverance very compleat and is here applyed to signifie such a deliverance as did not only consist in a meer relaxation of the torment as supposing them to be upon the Rack in such a case when the sinews begin to snap and the joynts to sever one from another if nothing more were offered in the deliverance but meerly to let down the rack and take off the creature from the extremity of torment though that may for a time seem to gain upon a meer man yet such may the case be that such deliverance may be worse than death its self You reade in Rev. 9.5 6. of a torment in which men shall seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and it shall flee from them Implying that such may be the torment on a poor creature as that to be killed out-right is better than to be spared Knock me in the head rather than let me live thus in Torture But the deliverance here is full deliverance a being reduced to a state of ease rest and quiet together with any other accommodations that can be desired to compleat it All this will I give thee Credit Trade Preferment Applause and what not They accepted it not They did not give it friendly entertainment such as one would shew to a stranger when he hath been long absent They were at such a pitch of raisedness that they would give such deliverance deliverance on such terms not any friendly welcome or entertainment that other men perhaps would gladly do they could not salute it bid it God speed could be in no fellowship with it That they might obtain The word doth not signifie any expectation that they had or could have of dealing with the hope of the Resurrection upon the terms of strict merit As if there were any equality or proportion betwixt their enduring tortures and their receiving the Resurrection nay when they have done all left all suffered all they are unprofitable servants but only thus in thus standing under torments thus withstanding deliverance upon unworthy terms they were in the Lord's path of expecting the comfortable foretastes now and assurances of a further glory A better Resurrection Paul pressed hard to obtain the Resurrection from the dead Phil. 3.11 which is not only a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust but that which is called the first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 for the dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thes 4.16 They which are Christs at his coming 1 Cor. 15.23 For them that sleep in Christ shall God bring with him This is called the Better Resurrection not only better than their torments but
the World and the glory of them and that in a moment of time with this offer All this Power will I give thee and the Glory of them Luke 4.5 6. To Asaph with a condition of men that have no bands in death their strength firm are not in trouble as other men nor plagued as other men eyes standing out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Therefore God's People often turn in hither Psal 73. beginning The first temptation was by a Tree good for food pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make one wise Gen. 3.6 He never wants high and fair profers to make up a temptation effectual to allure You shall buy and sell be free of the great City that made rich all her Merchants Rev. 18.10 to 19. so you will receive the mark in the forehead or right hand you may admit it secretly if you will not openly chap. 13.16 17. 2 The Tempter also insists much and gains much advantage by representing and imposing the Presentness of Deliverance you shall have this presently The Resurrection you speak of is a great way off a long time to come and will you tarry till the Heavens be no more for such a thing and in mean time overlook that Deliverance which is in hand A Bird in Hand is worth two in the Wood. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandring of the desire Eccles 6.9 This offer of things that are seen hath great prevalency with a soul who lives more by Sence than by Faith this was the snare of Demas he forsook that way of the Lord having loved the present world 2 Tim. 4.10 To be delivered from the present world Gal. 1.4 is an extraordinary salvation it being so apt to take with us when we begin to grow weary and can wait on the Lord no longer and reckon as was noted of Esau I am at the point of Death and what good can this Birth-right this hope of a Resurrection and another World to come do to me Give me Deliverance will such a one say or I die Thus the Captive Exile hasteth lest he die in the Pit and his bread should fail Secondly But consider we the Resurrection and here if we will improve the thoughts of it to advantage we should admit to our thoughts about it those Objections that may make it seem less taking there are Three of them that we may easily conjecture might rationally arise in the spirits of these poor tempted tortured ones against their adhering to the Resurrection in the neglect of present Deliverance 1. About the very truth of this Notion of the Resurrection there is the appearance of a very great impossibility Flesh and Blood Sence and Reason object How can these things be If a man die can he live again Of all living there is hope a living Dog is better than a dead Lyon the living know that they shall die but the dead know nothing at all Eccles 9.4 5. These are the Reasonings of a rational mind that admits only of humane demonstration When Paul was making his Defence before Agrippa one who was expert in all Customs and Questions among the Jews yet reasons on this Supposition That it was thought a thing incredible with them that God should raise the dead Acts 26.8 with vers 3. If the question be put Can these dry bones live Sense Reason Learning hath no better than this astonished answer Lord thou knowest Ezek. 37.3 This now is a great disadvantage unto a rational choice as our case is But here steps in Faith which acts upon dead things a dead Womb in Sarah dead Loins in Abraham a Sacrificed Isaac a Crucified Christ the slaughtered Witnesses a betrayed Cause are subjects proper to a living Faith to exercise its self upon when it hath a word of Promise Faith thinks it not incredible that God should raise the dead it lives upon that great Power that raised Jesus from the dead So that though the bones be scattered about the Graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth Wood Psal 141.7 though the bodies of the Saints are given to be meat to the Fowls of the Heaven and their flesh to the Beasts of the Earth their Blood shed like water and there be none to bury them Psal 79.2 3. though Limb be torn from Limb and Quarter set at the greatest distance from Quarter though the fire devours the Bowels and the Dogs lick the Blood yet Faith is not hereby lost in a certainty of Conclusion This is Dust in Covenant with the God of Abraham of Isaac Jacob and though it be dead to us yet all live to him Luke 20.37 38. 2. If there should be a yielding to the possibility of it yet it might be objected The demonstration of the Point and its determination in Scripture-evidence was not apparent and manifest in that day Life and Immortality being reserved to be brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 and the way into the Holiest of all being not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing Heb. 9.8 Not but that there was a sufficient Testimony in the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets to this Truth to guide Believers in the Hope of Glory but so far was there a Vail on this as well as other Truths that the Sadduces a Sect of no mean Repute and Authority in the Jewish Church not only questioned but utterly denyed any such thing to be founded in the Old Testament at all Mat. 22.23 Acts 23.8 Nay under the clear manifectations of this Truth in the Testimony of Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament you see a generation who affirmed That the Resurrection is past already and overthrew the Faith of some against whom the Apostle disputes at large 1 Cor. 15. Nay notwithstanding all this we see in all Ages there have been some who by weakning the Authority of the Scriptures in geneeal or by a lawless wanton allegorizing the Scriptures that refer to this and other precious Truths in particular do satisfie their reason in rejecting the truth of the Lord's Testimony herein If it may be supposed that these souls of whom the Text makes report should be assaulted with any part of this temptation about the obscurity of the revelation of this Doctrine in the Scriptures it must needs magnifie the excellency of their Faith that conquered this disadvantage and through this cloud also conclude the preferency of the Resurrection to their tendered Deliverance 3. But supposing the possibility and probability of this Doctrine be acknowledged to have been undoubted to them yet this might remain a very considerable remora in their way it was a thing a great while to come many thousand years have passed since the assertion of it and yet no appearance of it and many thousand years may yet be ere it take place as was their reasoning Ezek. 12.27 and as the Scoffers of the last dayes object 2 Pet. 3.4 Now as was
Words in Season From that late Worthy Sufferer and Servant of the Lord Jesus an able Minister of the New-Testament according to that Character 2 Cor. 6.4 5 c. Mr. Abraham Cheare VIZ. I. Faith's Conquest over the Tortures and Tenders of an Hour of Temptation on Heb. 11.35 II. The Embalming of a Dead Cause on Mark 14.8 III. Remarkable Discourses on his Dying-Bed with Copies and Extracts of Letters on several occasions Useful for those whose Hearts are engaged to serve the Will of God in this Generation London Printed for Nathan Brookes in Bartholomew-Close 1668. The Publisher to the READER I Doubt not but the following Discourses carry so much evidence of Truth and Holiness as will sufficiently commend them to the Hearts and Consciences of the upright as proceeding from one who believed and therefore spake delivered what he received as a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven the Fear of the Lord being evidently his treasure wherein he walked all the day long and by which he was enabled to bear those hard things which a constant Spirit in keeping the Commandments of God and Faith of Jesus holding fast the Word and Works of God drew upon him bringing him into fellowship with tryals and sufferings upon the Wayes Truths Interest and People of the Lord in this Generation It may highly concern the living to lay to heart the removal of Prophets and holy Ones true mourners that sought to stand in the Gap to turn away wrath that it might not come to the utmost I am sure it hath a sad aspect when even a Professing but too much complying People stand as on the other side or at a distance from those who earnestly contend for the Faith holding fast what they have received and are far from right laying to heart That through the hatred of the world righteous men perish and merciful men are taken away I doubt not but there remains a remnant whose minds by such providences are deeply impressed well-nigh to over-whelming further than help is given and the hand stretched forth to lead to the Rock that is higher than we when in all parts and corners the beauty and glory is cutting off as a fading-flower and how hard is it to speak and do as becometh under such astonishing stroaks and with him Ezek. 24.18 to hold on doing as the Lord Commands I am perswaded that sigh often goes up Ezek. 11.13 with Amos 7.5 O Lord cease I beseech thee by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small The reviving and desired issues of that work falling under great distrusts even with those that are the Friends thereof when if I may allude to it Luke 24.19 c those who are as Prophets mighty in deed and word before God and all the People Instruments polished to carry it on to an expected end are cut off and laying aside daily so hard is it for us to understand that thus it ought to be that so the excellency of the power may be acknowledged to be of God and not of men that all may see his Work is perfect his Word is tryed with whom is no restraint for he sendeth by whom he will the residue of the Spirit being with him who will in due time raise up and furnish Instruments for every service and if at this time men think that by cutting off and wearing out Saints and faithful Ones their nest is set on high they shall be delivered from the power of evil none remaining to cry out of their violence and spoyl to detect the unrighteousness of their wayes and doings the very stone shall cry out of the Wall and the beam out of the Timber shall witness against them I humbly pray and wish that the cast-out scattered peeled people in whose heart is the Fear of the Lord under all amusing dispensations may yet increase in the Faith that stands in the Power of God and is of the operation of his Spirit in the exercise thereof which judgeth not after appearances they may understand all these deaths passing over persons and things but needful and preparatory for the Glory that is to follow when their filth and defilements by the Spirit of Judgment and by the Spirit of Burning shall be put away the slow progress of which work with the discovery made of so great a defection from professed Light and Principles ought greatly to be laid to heart how many by reason thereof turn from the Truth and are confirmed in Athiesm even by the deceitful working of those who in the failure of outward advantages and exposal to necessities bonds and death set themselves at such a distance from the works of God our eyes have seen the begining of fulfilling Prophesies Threatnings and Promises to the last dayes as if either there was no Holiness or Righteousness in them or that they were unacquainted with the inward Life and Spirit of them so deeply hath corruption the spirit of the world mingled it self with those who not long since in greatest seeming Light and Zeal professed to seek after a better state of things Even looking for and hastning to the new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness but the Works of God being forgotten no wonder his Word is so little believed or his counsel waited for It was a worthy Expostulation but a few years since before some then in the exercise of Authority of one who I fear hath out-lived the force of it which though large hoping it may be of use I take leave here to transcribe If you will be able to steer your Course a-right if you would take one streight step have in a readiness an acquaintance with the work of God what it is that he aims at by which you may be guided in all your undertakings Suppose now a man or men should come and ask of you What God hath done in these Nations What he hath wrought and effected What is brought forth Have you an answer in readiness Certainly God hath done so much as that he expects you should be able to give an account of it take heed that every one of you be not ready to speak the disquietments of your own Spirits and so cast contempt on the Work of God something else is required of you I have sometimes in darkness and under temptations my self begun to think that what hath been is the thing that is and there is no new thing under the Sun as it hath been among the Heathen of old so it hath been amongst us or as it was with Israel 1 King 16.21 22. Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath to make him King and half followed Omri but the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath so Tibni died and Omri reigned That a common thing and frequent in the World had befaln us wherein God had no hand but that of common Providence in dashing
might not be offended Blessed is he that is not offended in me But Oh! how strong are temptations to reason thus why this way of Professing of Meeting of Exercising is the high way to make me poor a beggar to undo me at last and what shall I do then Such Reasonings have need be rejected with utmost abhorrency Use 4. These Considerations should sweeten Heaven and Glory to us If while we live by Faith we draw the World and such a world of miseries on us it should quicken the edge of our longings not in a way of impatience neither to be dissolved and be with Christ who is far better Where sorrow and sighing shall flee away where shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for former things are past away Rev. 21.4 But to go forward to another Point By Faith some were c. Understanding it thus that by Faith as the principle that bare them up and carried them through as conquerors they were tortured This sense of it is most agreeable with the drift and design of the whole Chapter The nobility of their Spirits commends the excellency of their Faith To be tortured and bear it patiently is well but so may many do from other Principles and Causes they cannot tell possibly how to escape but now to chuse affliction with the people of God to become companions of them that are so used to improve what God doth in it and think this is best of all a Spirit thus managed and demeaning its self through the sharps of it commends the Fatih by which he doth it By Faith they were tortured the tortures on one hand and temptings on the other made no impression no alteration on them they were the same as formerly or rather much better By Faith they were so The Note is this Doct. That the Faith of Gods Elect is of invincible power to make them Conquerors in all their tortures What I have to say to the clearing up this Point I shall offer by endeavouring to shew these two wayes wherein Faith contributes to the performing this high service 1. Faith doth contribute to bear up under tortures themselves and much more under less tryals as imprisonment banishment c. by way of evidencing things to the Soul which otherwise are not so clear and substantial as its the office of Faith to make them Heb. 11.1 2. Faith contributes hereunto by way of ministring influence and assistance to the soul strengthening and heartning it to indure that which otherwise would seem insufferable break and sink the Spirit As for the former of these Faith 's proper tendency to give light and evidence to the soul and by evidence to beget a conquering magnanimity commends it self to us as its conversant about a three-fold object or imployment 1. Faiths main evidencing work is concerned about the grand Interest and Propriety that the Soul hath in God and God in him to get this case once cleared up beyond controversie and to maintain the soul in a satisfactory veiw of an interest in Christ Where this is uncertain or clouded up the soul sets upon such hazards with much trembling and good reason it should do so all things considered But where this Mystery of Union and Relation to Christ is cleared to and by believing the soul becomes impregnable as might be abundantly made out by that triumph of Faith recorded exactly and accurately Rom. 8.33 to the end Can any of the instruments of torture or cruelty there ennumerated separate such a one from the love of God who stands resolved and undoubted upon Gospel-grounds nay He is more than a Conqueror Tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril sword though all the day long we be killed and counted as sheep for the slaughter yet can none of these managed either by men or Angels do any thing of importance to the shaking of such a one When he arrives to that pitch of triumph Psal 27.1 The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid You may guess how far he is hereby removed out of the way of danger inroads may be made upon him but he cannot be easily moved 2. Faith hath another matter to clear up in a way of evidence and by doing it effectually it contributes exceeding encouragement to a Believer to endure torments namely it evidenceth the Truth and Goodness and the special Relation that God hath to the Cause that it suffers in from all the clouds aspersions and calumnies that men would cast upon it I do not say that Faith can make a bad cause good but it can make an obscure cause clear It is not enough that a Christian have the clearness of a personal interest in the Lord when he comes to endure torment but it is needful that he have the clearness of a good Cause and a good Call that he suffers on or else he may suffer as an evil-doer and what thank will that be the truth and goodness of his Cause needs then to be cleared and Faith is of singular essicacy this way when perhaps the wisdom and devilish policy of men have been at work with opprobrious reproaches to vilisie it or some time-serving Apostates with their sophistical arguings and scholastical distinctions as Jannes and Jambres to invalidate and resist the Truth to which service Scriptures and Arguments are not wanting to be wrested for the perverting the plain wayes of God when the case is so and a poor Christian is frequently so assailed and baited with them that he knows not how to give a distinct satisfactory convincing answer to all these sophisms nay perhaps cannot demonstrably extricate himself from all the subtle entanglements that of this kind may be drawn about him Now is it the office of Faith to clear up the innate goodness and truth of the principles it suffers on that at least to its own satisfaction the soul is abundantly cleared and convinced therein and united thereunto And this hath helped the Martyrs of Christ to bear so bold a testimony to divers Truths of which they were not able to make a scholastical defence by way of disputation yet could set to their seal by dying or sustaining any tortures When this point is once satisfactorily evidenced that the Cause is Gods that Jesus Christ is interested and imbarked in it it gives strong consolation What an encouragement was that 2 Chron. 20.15 Be not dismayed at this great multitude for the battel is not yours but Gods So was it to David with the Philistine 1 Sam. 17.47 The battel is the Lords When a soul can see God not only interested with it but really more deeply interested and concerned than its self is it yields full assurance of good success at last I know the Lord will maintain the Cause of the Afflicted and the Right of the Poor Psal 140.12 because it can in title God
hearts for the inscriptions of the Spirit of the Living God and that the beauty of this Ornament be set in Majesty but doth frequently commend to me that observation which your last ere this some time since was hinting to me of the need we have who design such services to wait for power by the Spirit from on high to be his Witnesses and to expect according to his Promise That showers of the latter rain shall come down to furnish a people to bear his glory in the administrations of his House answering the Institutions of the New Testament although I am no way taken with that dilatory inference wherein some seem to stick as if upon the observation that Bryars and Thorns are come upon God's Houses in the joyous City and are likely to abide there till the Spirit be poured out from on high therefore it were best and our Interest till the manifest taking place of that promised dispensation not to put our hands to such Acts and Ordinances the beautious Majesty of which must needs be acknowledged to be very much wrapt up and concerned in the hoped issues of such a Glory stepping in There being blessed ends to be by us promoted in our present state by our dutiful obedience to every Institution of our King and through infinite Grace and Mercy are there such Gifts and Graces of the Spirit to be found on some as may yield help to sober humble enquirers to get over such stumbling-blocks and contribute toward their preparing in Body and Spirit as an adorned Bride to meet the Bridegroom who loves to find his keeping all his Commandements unrebukable and without spot to his appearing In which attire I earnestly desire your whole man Body and Soul and Spirit may be found ministring a practical convincing Argument by your standing compleatly perfect in the whole Will of God that there is as there indeed is a hidden excellency in fellowship with Jesus Christ in those wayes and appointments of his upon their souls who in Faith and Faithfulness are yielded up to him therein which hath admirable Vertue in it though at present not attended with those mighty Signs and Wonders by Gifts of the Holy Spirit the which were rather for the sakes of them who believed not than for such as through Faith are directed to judge of and close with such things answerable to their tendency by good pleasure to lead into the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ The Reason and Efficacy whereof lies not in any just proportion betwixt the thing commanded and the Mystery proposed to enjoyment no more than there did between washing in Jordan and Naamans clensing the cause of the scornful storming of his proud spirit but in the meer soveraignty of divine good pleasure who gives us a word of Faith to guide and prove our obedience and engage our humble expectation of his own presence who is Lord of Influences to conduct the Heirs of Promise into those secrets of his Pavilion by doors at the threshold of which the Children of this Worlds wisdom stumble either by sensual Formality sticking in the letter of things or by aiery Speculations rejecting the weakness and foolishness of Christ in his Institutions but Wisdom is justified of her Children All here are well love honour and salute you Yours in Soul-service To a Friend who after some Retirement was returning to pursue his Calling in Affairs of this World The Lord be your shade on your Right-Hand My very dear Brother I Perceive you are applying your self to something men call Business in the World and I have comfortable hopes that you have studied ere this hour that lesson Finally Brethren the time is short it remaineth c. For the fashion of this World passeth away Oh my dear Brother my soul is afflicted to observe the over-greedy Engagement of many whom I love and honour for their former eminency plunging themselves into business and there even drowning themselves in ruine and perdition losing the savour of their spirits the intimacy of their Communion with Christ in the Spirit and so grow dry careless prudent fearful omissive what not till there is hardly left so much as the uniform appearance of a soul that hath been the seat of such glorious discoveries and enjoyments as men have readily spoke of formerly It may well be asked of many now as the Apostle Where is the Blessedness ye spoke of Men discourse of their primitive applications of Truth and to it speak much and frequently of blessedness in the things of the Gospel it was blessed Praying and blessed Hearing and blessed Meeting and blessed Meditating because in all these they sought after and partook of blessedness But where is that now There is somewhat of Praying and Preaching c. but where is the blessedness of all these Is it not very much departed and what may be the cause is it not much from hence Men are gone deep into the spirit of the World and are grown carnal of the Earth earthy and savouring of the Earth and thereby losing their Love Zeal Faithfulness Insensibly but very dangerously I hope better things of you and that you both do and will watch your own Spirit and stir up others to take great heed to their spirits that they deal not treacherously Yours 7th 3d month 64. To an ancient Friend giving his Apprehensions concerning the multitude of Professors with some of his Experiences both in Bonds and Sickness Kind and very much respected THe posture of the Lord 's own People even of such who in dayes past with greatest intimacy and endearment went to the House of God in company hath of late years under these stupendous dispensations presented it self to me much after the similitude of a great Fleet of Ships outward-bound who set out of their Port beautifully equipped laden trimmed in consortship and under a very prosperous promising gale all spreading their very Top-gallant sayls to shew their celerity and make the best of their way A very beautiful and pleasant prospect to an eye delighted in such expeditions But having stood but a little way in this course out of sight of the Countrey from whence they set forth a dark night and dismal storm overtaking them they are dispersed all Sea-over a great number being mindful of the Port whence they came think they have a fair opportunity and plausible excuse to return again and draw up with design to adventure such storms no more Others and they not a few being confident and conceited of their own understanding do shape their course to and fro as the wind shifteth are cast upon Rocks and Shoals to the making shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience Many others fearing that course think yet by casting their Wheat and Tackling into the Sea they shall somewhat lighten their Ship and be the better able to weather it out and so dropping Anchors at the wrong end wish for day Few very few prefering the Interest of the