* Obad. xii. 13. Isa. vi.
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and the church: say others, you have nothing to do to rule men, but upon the account of being saints. If you will have the gospel, say some, down with the ministers of it, chemarims, locusts, &c. and if you will have light, take care that you may have ignorance and darkness ; things being carried on as if it were the care of men, that there might be no trouble in the world, but what the name of religion might lie in the bottom of. Now those that ponder these things, their spirits are grieved in the midst of their bodies ; the visions of their heads trouble them, they looked for other things from them that professed Christ ; but the summer is ended, and the harvest is past, and we are not refreshed. Again, God had so stated your affairs, that you were the mark of the antichristian world to shoot at in the beginning ; and their terror in the close : and when you thought only to have pursued Sheba the son of Bichri, the man of your first warfare, behold one Abel after another undertakes the quar- rel against you : yea such Abels as Scotland and Holland ; of whom we said in old times, we will inquire of them, and so ended the matter : and there is not a wise man or woman amongst them, that can dissuade them. Strange ! that Ephraim should join with Syria to vex Judah their brother, that the Netherlands, whose being is founded merely upon the interest you have undertaken, should join with the great antichristian interest, which cannot possibly be set up again, without their inevitable ruin. Hence also are deep thoughts of heart, men are perplexed, disquieted, and know not what to do.
I could mention other lusts, and tumultuatings of the spirits of men, that have an influence into the disturbance of the hea.ts of the most precious in this nation, but I forbear.
4. Men's own hists disquiet their spirits in such a season as this. I could instance in many, I shall name only four. (1.) Unstableness of mind ; (2.) Carnal fears; (3.) Love of the world; (4.) Desire of pre-eminence.
(1.) Unstableness of mind, which makes men like the waves of the sea that cannot rest : the Scripture calls it aKaracTTaaiav, ' tumultuatingness' of spirit : there is some- thing of that which Jude speaks of, in better persons than those he describes, ' raging like waves of the sea, and foam-
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ing out their own shame ;' ver. 13. If God give men up to a restless spirit, no condition imaginable can quiet them, still they think they see something beyond it that is desirable. Hannibal said of Marcellus, that he could never be quiet conqueror nor conquered. Some men's desires are so en- larged, that nothing can satiate them. Wise men that look upon sundry godly persons in this nation, and beholding how every yoke of the oppressor is broken from off their necks, that no man makes them afraid, that they are looked on as the head, not as the tail, enjoying the ordinances of God according to the light of their minds, and desires of their hearts, no man forbidding them, are ready to wonder (I speak of private persons), what they can find to do in their several places and callings, but to serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness, being without fear all the days of their lives. But alas ! when poor creatures are given up to the power of an unquiet and unstable mind, they think scarce any thing vile, but being wise unto sobriety : nothing desirable, but what is without their proper bounds, and what leads to that confusion, which themselves in the issue are least able of many to undergo. It is impossible but that men's hearts should be pierced with disquietness and trouble, that are given up to this frame.
(2.) Carnal fears. These even devour and eat up the hearts of men : what shall we do, what shall become of us ; Ephraim is confederate with Syria, and theheartsof men are shaken, as the trees of the wood, that are moved with the wind? What! new troubles still, new unsettlements ! This storm will not be avoided, this will be worse than all, that hath befallen us from the youth of our undertakings. God hath not yet won upon men's spirits to trust him in shakings, perplexities, alterations : they remember not the manifesta- tions of his wisdom, power, and goodness in former days ; and how tender hitherto he hath been of the interest of Christ, that their hearts might be established. Could we but do our duty, and trust the Lord with the performances of his promises, what quietness, what sweetness might we have?
I shall not instance in the other two particulars : it is too manifest, that many of our piercing and perplexing thoughts are from the tumultuating and disorder of our own
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lusts. So that what remains of the time allotted to me, I shall spend only in the use of this point, and proceed no farther.
Use. Of instruction, to direct you into ways and means of quietness, in reference unto all these causes and occasions of piercing, dividing thoughts, in such a season as this. The good Lord seal up instruction to your souls, that you may know the things that belong to your peace, and what Israel ought to do at this, even at this time : for my brethren's and companions' sake I wish you prosperity : though my own portion should be in the dust, for the true spiritual, not imaginary, carnal interest of the church of God in this nation, and the nations about, I wish you prosperity.