^dly. Swf id follies. Toil and labour in vain is, of all follies, the greatest folly; — like the Jews under Julian, building of their temple in the day, God casting it to tlic ground in the night. When a man labours, toils, wearies and spends himself for the accomplishing of that which shall never come to pass, and that which, if he would bul inquire, he might know shall never come to pass, he cannot well want the livery of a brutish man. How many poor creatures that think themselves Aviser than those of Teman, and Dedan, and all the chil- dren of the east, do spend and consume their days and time in such ways as this, labouring night and day to set u]) what God will pull down, and what he hath said shall foil! " Come on, let us deal wisely," saith Pharaoh to his Egyptians, Exod. i. 10, to root out and destroy these Israelites. Poor fool! is there any wisdom or counsel against the Most Higli? I could give instances plenty in these days
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of men labouring in tlie dark, not knomng what they are doing, en- deavouring "with all tlieir strength to accomplish that whereof the Lord hath said, " It shall not prosper;" and all because they discern not the season.
4:thly. Sinful negligence. You are no way able to do the work of God in your generation. It is the commendation of many saints of God, that they were " upright, and served the will of God in their generation." Besides the general duties of the covenant, incumbent on all the saints at all seasons, there are special works of providence which, in sundry generations, the Lord effecteth, concerning which he expects his people should know his mind, and serve him in them. Now, can a servant do his master's woi'k if he know not his will? The Lord requireth that, in the great things which he hath to accom- plish in this generation, all his should close with him. What is the reason that some stand in the market-place idle all the day? Some work for a season, and then give over ; they know not how to go a step farther, but after a day, a week, a month, or year, are at a stand ; — worse than all this, some counterwork the Lord with all their strength, ■ — the most neglect the duty which of them is required. What is the reason of all this? They know in no measure what the Lord is do- ing, and what he would have them apply themselves unto. The best almost live from hand to mouth, following present appearances to the great neglect of the work which the Lord would have hastened amongst us. All this comes from the same root.
But now, if all these sad and sinful consequences attend this nes- cience of the mind of God as to the things which he is doing in the days wherein we live, so far as he hath revealed himself and requires us to observe his walkings; by what ways and means may we come to the knowledge thereof, that we be not sinfully bemldered in our own cares, fears, and follies, but that we may follow hard after God, and be upright in our generation?
There be four things whereby we may come to have an insight into the work which the Lord will do and accomplish in our days. {1st.) The light which he gives, {-dly) The previous works which he doth, {odly) The expectation of his saints. (Uhly) The fear of his adversaries.
(Isi.) The light luliich he gives. God doth not use to set his people to work in the dark. They are the " children of light," and they are no " deeds of darkness " vdiich they have to do. However others are blinded, they shall see; yea, he always suits their light to their labour, and gives them a clear discerning of what he is about. The Lord God doth nothing, but he reveals his secrets to his servants. The light of every age is the forerunner of the work of every age.
When Christ was to come in the flesh, John Baptist comes a little
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274 THE SnAKIXG AND TRANSLATIXQ
before — a new light, a new preacher. And what doth he discover and reveal? Why, he calls them ofFfi-om resting on legal ceremonies, to the doctrine of faith, repentance, and gospel ordinances; — tells them " the kingdom of God is at hand ;" — instmcts them in the knowledge of Him who was coming. To what end was all this? Only that the minds of men being enlightened l)y his preaching, who was a " bvmi- mg and a shining lamp," they might see what the Lord was doing.
Every age hath its peculiar work, hath its peculiar light. Now what is the light which God manifestly gives in our days ? Surely not nev/ doctrines, as some pretend — (indeed old eiTors, and long since exploded fancies). Plainly, the peculiar light of this generation is that discovery which the Lord hath made to his people of the mystery of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. The opening, unravelling, and re- vealing the Antichristian interest, interwoven and coupled together, in civil and spiritual things, into a state opposite to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, is the great discovery of these days. Who almost is there amongst us now who doth not evidently see, that for many generations the western nations have been juggled into sphitual and civil slavery by the legerdemain of the whore, and the potentates of the earth made drunk with the cup of her abominations ? — how the whole earth hath been rolled in confusion, and the saints hurried out of the world, to give way to their combined interest ? Hath not God unveiled that harlot, made her naked, and discovered her abominable filthiness ? Is it not evident to him that hath but half an eye, that the whole present constitution of the government of the nations is so cemented with antichristian mortar, from the very top to the bottom, that without a thorough shaking they cannot be cleansed ? This, then, plainly discovers that the work which the Lord is doing relates to the untwining of this close combination against himself and the kingdom of his dear Son ; and he will not leave until he have done it. To what degree in the several nations this shaking shall proceed, I have nothing to determine in particular, the Scripture having not expressed it. This only is certain, it shall not stoj^, nor receive its period, before the interest of Antichristianity be wholly sej^arated from the power of those nations.