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them apply themselves unto. The best almost live from hand to mouth, following present appearances, to the great neglect of tiie 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 nescience 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 bewildered 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 accom- plish in our days.
(1st.) The light which he gives. (2dly.) The previous works which he doth. (3dly.) The expectation of his saints. (4thly.) The fear of his adversaries. (1st.) The light which he gives. God doth not use to set his people to work in the dark. They are the * chil- dren of light,' and they are no 'deeds of darkness' which 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 ser- vants. 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 before, a new light, a new preacher. And what doth he discover and reveal ? Why he calls them off from resting on legal Qeremonies to the doctrine of faith, repentance, and gospel ordinances; tells them 'the kingdom of God is at hand;' instructs them in the knowledge of him who was coming. To what end was all this? Only that the minds of men being enlightened by his preaching, who was a 'burning 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, in our days? Surely not new doctrines (as some pretend), indeed
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old errors, and long since exploded fancies. Plainly the pe- culiar light of this generation is that discovery, which the Lord hath made to his people of the mystery of civil and ec- clesiastical tyranny. The opening, unravelling, and reveal- ing the antichristian interest, interwoven and coupled to- gether 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 na- tions have been juggled into spiritual 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 in- terest? Hath not God unvailed 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 pi'esent con- stitution 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 Scinpture having not ex- pressed it. This only is certain, it shall not stop, nor receive its period, before the interest of antichristianity be wholly separated from the power of those nations.
(2dly.) The previous works he doth. How many of these doth our Saviour give, as signs of the destruction of Jerusa- lem, and so consequently of propagating the gospel more and more to the nations? Matt. xxiv. Luke xxi. How fear- ful and dreadful they were in their accomplishment, Jose- phus the Jewish historian relateth ; and how by them the Christians were fore-warned, and did by them understand what the Lord was doing, Eusebius and others declare. 'When,' saith he, 'you shall see the abomination of desola- tion* (the Roman eagles and ensigns) standing in the holy place,' Matt. xxiv. 15. or, 'Jerusalem compassed with ar-
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mies/ as Luke xxi. 20. then know by that, that ' the end thereof is come, and your deliverance at hand.'
The works of God are to be sought out of them that have pleasure in them. They are vocal speaking works, the mind of God is in them. They may be heard, read, and under- stood : the 'rod may be heard, and who hath appointed it.' Now generally he begins with lesser works, to point out to the sons of men what he is about to accomplish. By these may his will be known, that he may be met in righte- ousness.