QUAINT SERMONS

WITH A PREFACE

BY THE REV.

HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27 PATERNOSTER ROW

MDCCCLXXXV

Preface.

AMUEL RUTHERFORD'S "Letters" are known in the churches everywhere; and here are notes of his preaching. These sermons, as quaint as his " Letters" in some respects, have never till now appeared in print. They form part of a manuscript volume in which are included other sermons of the same author that have already been published. They are carefully and neatly written in the old style of handwriting. Who it was who took down the notes of these sermons at the time, and who it was that gathered all together into the volume, we do not know. One thing is certain, viz., he was a most attentive hearer and a faithful attender on the minister's preaching; for at p. 232 he notes that he had the mis fortune to miss one sermon in the course by absence. It is something of a guarantee for the authenticity of the whole to find, as we do on a close examination, that the first half of the MS. collection contains the discourses that have already been published, but in a much more archaic spelling, and with Scotch words that must have been modernised in the printed copies. Besides, the character of the somewhat peculiar pen manship suggests that it is quite possible the writer was

iv PREFACE.

a cotemporary of Kutherford, and not a mere transcriber of original notes.

This MS. volume of which we speak has been a sort of heirloom in the family of one who knew its value, viz., the Eev. David Russell, for fifty- seven years an earnest minister of Christ, first in Hawick and then at Errol, in Perthshire, in connection with the " Belief " and "United Presbyterian" Church. About six years ago his son, James Eccles Russell, Esq., London, was led to tell me of the manuscript volume, and to let me examine it. Other friends also became interested in it, and the result was that Mr. Eussell kindly agreed, at the suggestion of these friends, that the portion of it which as yet had not appeared in print should be published. A greatly esteemed brother in the ministry, Mr. J. H. Thomson, of the Free Church, Hightae, skilled above many in deciphering such documents, and in fullest sympathy with the spirit of the author, was not loath to spend time and labour in preparing the work for the press.

The Discourses are throughout characteristic of the man. Try, for example, the lecture on John xx. 1-9. Christian reader, you may glean many a sheaf of the finest of the wheat in these fields. Samuel Rutherford never fails to set Christ on high, for truly he had — " A thirst no earthly stream could satisfy— A hunger that must feed on Christ, or die."

GLASGOW, April, 1885.

Note.

N transcribing the "sermons from the manu script volume, a faithful reproduction has been the great aim. The proof sheets have also been carefully compared with the manuscript volume. In transcribing, it has not been thought necessary to reproduce the original spelling, which is plainly that of the first half of the seventeenth century, such as "behooved" for " behoved," "bot" for "but," "considder" for "consider," "heir" for "here," "lyke" for "like," "noblie" for "nobly," "sail" for "shall," "sould" for "should," "sweit" for "sweet," " whilk " for "which," "wold" for " would," &c. ; but the Scotch, or Northern English words, amounting to about 400, have been carefully retained. Notes explanatory of their meaning are printed at the foot of each page.1

Perhaps the most remarkable feature about the follow ing sermons is the apparent correctness with which they have been taken down from the lips of Kutherford. The

1 A few notes relating to the proper names in the text, and to the allusions occasionally made by Rutherford to contemporary events, have also been added.

vi NOTE.

proper names, and the one or two Latin phrases that occur, are always correctly given, so that their writer must have been an educated man, and, from the skill with which he has caught the line of thought, in full sympathy with the preacher. There is no sign of abridgment throughout their pages. The student of Rutherford's letters and his other works will recognize in them a full transcript of what he must have said.

Dr. Bonar has kindly read my transcription, sheet by sheet, as it was made, and he has again read the proofs with me. Our common aim has been to repro duce the sermons in a form that will not in any way do discredit to their author, Samuel Rutherford.

" Fear not, tliou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thce a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: iliou shalt thresh the mountains^ and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them,, and the luind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Is me?."— ISAIAH xli. 14-16. '

HE Lord, beloved in Him, in this chapter is looking upon the case of a captive people, looking upon the case of a people that were both weak, few, poor, and were also amongst the midst of their enemies. And the Lord knows well what are the thoughts of His children when they are in such a case. He knows well enough wiiat is in the heart of these who are strangers unto Him. And He knows also the heart and thoughts of His people

1 In MS., " For preparation to a fast, August 22, 1G-10." The Scotch army of from 20,000 to 30,000 men had crossed the English border two days before, August 20, 1640. The sermon is full of allusions to the army. This and following sermon on the same text, and the sermons on Hosea viii. 1-3, and John xx. 8, were all preached at this period. The fast day had been appointed by the General Assembly which commenced its proceedings at Aberdeen on the 28th of the preceding month of July. Eutherford was present at this meeting of the Assembly, and took part in the discussions that arose in regard to disorders said to have taken place at night meetings for prayer and reading the Scriptures, &c. Kutherford defended these meetings. See Stevenson's "History of the Church and State of Scotland," Book III., chap. 5, p. 893.

when they are in captivity. And for that reason, to hold up their head above the water, which now might have swallowed them up, and put them in peril of losing for ever the promise that the Lord had made, in the words that now are read there is an encouragement given unto the captive Kirk, unto a base, miserable, weak, and destitute people, amongst the midst of their enemies. And in the words there be thir T particulars remarkable.

First of all there is an encouragement, "Fear not."

(2) A description of the party to whom the Lord speaks this : " Worm Jacob " and the " Men of Israel." And

(3) There is a warrant why the Lord speaks this, and why He comforts " Worm Jacob." " Fear not, says the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." (4) There is a reason of this taken from a promise of God, and the promise it is set down two ways in the words: first, in general terms on God's part, " I will help thee;" second, more particularly on the people's part, what they shall be, "I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth : thou shalt thresh the moun tains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as caff."2 All the powers in the world that are against thee, albeit they be grown, and high above the rest, as indeed the enemies of the Kirk of Christ, they are swelled pieces of clay, and yet the Lord says that the Kirk shall get strength from Him to thrash these moun tains, and to beat the hills, &c. And, lastly, by whose strength is this done, and who shall get the thanks of it? " Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy

1 These, Chaff.

One of Israel." That is, thou shalt thank Me for doing of this, and not thyself and thy power.

Now, if ye will consider to whom it is that the Lord speaks this, and gives this encouragement — to a worm and to Jacob, a worm! He says to them, " Fear not." It would teach us this meikle,1 that a distressed Kirk and people they have cause to rejoice upon luck's head,2 long before the deliverance come. And the reasons wherefore a distressed Kirk and people may rejoice on luck's head,2 even before the deliverance come, they are very good.

First, if ye will look to God, who bids them rejoice, He knows very well what will be the end of all the trou bles of the Kirk, and He knows very well what will be the end of these who are tremblers of them; for His Kirk and people He knows that they shall laugh, and in the end shall rejoice in His salvation. He knows there the rod of the wicked shall not always rest upon the lot of the righteous. The Lord's Kirk maun3 laugh and rejoice when He calls them to it. And there is none who has right to be merry and to rejoice but the Kirk and people of God, and so He knows that their time is coming. And He knows also what shall be the end of the wicked who are tremblers of them (Psa. xxxvii. 13) ; it is said of them that the Lord laughs at them, for He sees their day afar off. He sees them when they are in all their mirth and joviality, and knows there is a black hour coming upon them, albeit they see it not themselves; and therefore He laughs at them.

And then a second reason wherefore the Kirk may

1 Much. a In the chance of winning. 3 Must.

A third reason whereupon they may rejoice beforehand is this — if we will look unto God's dispensation, His people under trouble may rejoice upon luck's head l before their deliverance come; I say, if we look unto His dispensation of justice and mercy, albeit the people of God be worms and despised ones in the eyes of the world, they need not to cast away their confidence for all that, because there is mercy in God, and it maun 4 out to His people. Let them mourn and weep before noon; yet in God's wise dispensation they maun4 laugh after noon. Let them be sorry and afflicted, and borne down

1 In the chance of winning. 3 "With the eyes closed.

2 What will occur a year after this, a this night-year." 4 Must.

this year, yet there is light sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart. And if ye will look upon the other side, to the wicked, and to those who trouble the Kirk, there is justice in God, and so they may not win away with it. They maun1 in the dispensation of God's justice be taen2 order with. They may not aye3 be in prosperity and laugh. They maun J of necessity mourn at last, and the righteous shall rejoice. Their shell of the balance shall go down, and the godless shall go up. When the short heaven of the wicked is ex pired, they maun l sorrow then, for there are righteous ness and justice in God, and it is a righteous thing with God, that He recompense to them who trouble the Kirk vexation and sorrow, and to them who are troubled joy and peace.

Whom to is it that the Lord speaks thus? To " Worm Jacob," and to the men of Israel, or to " the few men of Israel." This is sweeter nor 4 if the Lord had said " My people," and it is liker God nor if He had called them " My sons," or " His spouse and married people with whom I am in covenant, by all the people of the earth." It says this meikle 5 to us that the Kirk of God is never so miserable, nor so desolate and forsaken, but they have a Lord that pities them, One who sees their misery, and takes notice of it with a pitiful eye. That is an eye, indeed, that is spoken of, Exod. iii. 7 : " I have seen, I have seen the affliction of My people, and their groaning which are in Egypt." There is a Father's eye in heaven that is lifted up towards the Kirk when they are in trouble, and He pities their case. See what a style 6 the Kirk

gets from God, Isa. liv. 11 : " 0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours," &c. Even such another style as that which is given to the Kirk, Ezek. xxxvii. 4 : " Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, 0 ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord," &c.

Why would not the Lord say to them, " My beloved people," "My people with whom I am in covenant," &c., but " Worm Jacob " ? This is a word of pity, and it sets J our Lord very well to show pity. The use of this is, let us learn to make use of all these styles that the Lord gives unto His Kirk and His children in this world. Isa. lii. : Zion, wallowing in the dust, is com forted with many sweet promises and encouragements. And fra 2 our Lord casts comforts into our hand that way, let us put out our hand and to take a grip of them. Era 2 the Lord is pleased to make many fair promises to His Kirk, when it is black in the West, let us take them unto us when we are under trouble, let us learn to take all our crosses from our [Lord] as it becomes us to do, and spill 3 not our crosses by taking them from any other cause than the hand of God. If we could learn to put all our crosses over into our Lord's hand to be disposed of by Him, and take them all from Him, we would get a better gate 4 of them nor 5 for the most part we do. But it is well wared 6 that thy cross and trouble be thy death, when thou wilt not put it over upon thy Lord, that puts not a crazed estate or the cross of an ill husband, or an ill wife, or wicked children, or fears

* Way. s Than. 6 Well expended.

for the cause of God, that it go not well, that puts not all over upon the Lord. If all these things could he put over upon the Lord Himself hy us, there is no doubt but He who is a giving and a pitying Lord, who sees our sufferings and our crosses, He would no douht send a sure deliverance to such who, in faith and patience, commit themselves and all things that come upon them unto Him.

Again, " Worm Jacob, and men of Israel." This is as base x a style as can be given to any — a worm. Where met they His married people and the people in the world whom He thought most of, and why should He not [have] given them a more honourable name? The Lord is now speaking of them as they are in the eyes of the world, and not as He thinks of them; for His people are never the most in multitude, nor are they the strongest to look to, nor the wisest, nor the richest, &c. No; for the most part they are the basest bodies. Jerusalem is a forsaken woman; and (Lam. ii.) when all go by Jerusalem and see it so sore sacked they say, " Thou city which men call the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth, all the enemies opened their mouth against her to devour her." And yet ye will get the Lord's Kirk no better (Mic. iv. 6), ye will get the Lord's Kirk there, a halting cripple woman, that has but one leg to gang2 upon. Aye (1 Cor. i. 27), His Kirk there is called the nothings of the world, those that are not worth the uptaking, the kinless things of the world, the ignoble, base, contemptible ones, the refuse of men! and (chap, iv.) " the off-scourings of the world." Are

the Lord's people so, indeed? No. They are not so, indeed; for (Mai. hi. 17) they are called the Lord's jewels, His beloved people. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? (Jer. xxxi. 20.) How comes it to pass, then, that God speaks so of His Kirk? Answer: The Lord speaks so of His Kirk and people as men speak of them and according to their outward estate in the world, for the world sees not the Kirk's best side. The world knows not our Father, nor they know not our joy nor our inheritance; they see not our day of rejoicing. That which makes the Kirk glorious is hid from the eyes of the world (Prov. xiv.). A stranger meddles not with the joys of the Kirk. They know not our joy, for it is hid up with God in Christ. All our best things are hid from the eyes of the world; they only see our worst. The thing that we have to learn from this is, if the Kirk of Christ seem to be thus in the eyes of men, and then if the Lord, upon the other hand, count so highly of them, then let us not despise them, bourd J not with them, albeit they be baselike in the eyes of the world; 2 for rise against the Kirk who will, because they think her strength not to be great, for, as weak as she is, they shall be broken in pieces whoever they be who draw a sword against the Kirk of Christ, or rashes3 hard heads with it. Look there! they had not an arm to put up their sword again. See there! they be not all broken in pieces. What a cursed word is spoken of these who are enemies to the Kirk and haters of Zion! Psa. cxxix. 6 : " They shall be as grass upon the housetop,

1 Jest not, mock not at them. French, loiirder, to humbug, from the old French behoitrde, to joist with lances.

8 Regarded as obscure. 3 Dashes against it.

which withereth before it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they who go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord." None that sees them at their work shall bless them, but the wrath of God shall be upon them; the mowers, nor shearers, shall get no good of them, but wrath and calamity shall seize upon them.

There is another thing in this style. He calls them Jacob, and Jacob is the Lord's covenanted people. And so it is as meikle1 as if He had said, "Fear not, despised and weak people, and yet the Lord's covenanted ones." There is not a cross, misery, or affliction that comes upon the people of God but it is the Lord's, and is sib 2 to Him, for the first word is as meikle I as they were despised and silly 3 — a worm; but the next word, " Jacob," is a word of honour. We have to learn here that the very misery of the Kirk of God it is glorious, the very crosses of the Kirk have another sort of lustre nor 4 all the glory that is in the world; for thir 5 two words are as meikle x as if it had been said, "Base bodies, and yet highly honoured of God, the refuse of the world, and yet for all that those whom the Lord has taen 6 by the hand to be His people, and He has taken upon Him to be their God." There are three blessed things that befall the children of God in all their crosses that the world has not in its troubles and crosses.

First. There is a moderation while they arc under them. We may see the proof of this in this text.

1 Much. Belated. 3 Weak.

11 Worm Jacob " He calls them, and yet He says to them, " I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, to thresh the mountains and to heat the hills to caff." I The Kirk under affliction dreeing,2 and yet they live, hungered and yet well fed, persecuted but not forsaken. The enemies are doing what they can to put us in the grave ; and yet even then, when we are in the grave, we shall live. No ; there is such a moderation of the troubles of the Kirk of God and of His children that there is not one ounce of sorrow or trouble that comes upon them but it is all weighed in heaven before it come upon you, and thou shalt get no more of it nor 3 the Lord pleases. The Lord will have you to drink no more of that cup nor 3 thy stomach will bear. He will not have you to drink till thy heart stand. Such a sweet attemperation have the children of God in all their troubles. This meikle 4 baseness shall come upon them, and no more ; and it shall be mixed with honour.

Another thing that is in the afflictions of the children of God, even a trim5 lustre upon them. "Worm Jacob," and despised of the world, yet thee whom I have chosen from among all the people in the world to be Mine. 0 ! there is such a trim 5 lustre on all the crosses of the children of God, that whatever befall them it is well watered over with the love and favour of God, Eev. xiv. 13 : " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours and their works follow them." What is sourer and more fearful-like than death, and yet death being in the Lord it is sweet, and well watered to the children of God, for then they rest

from their labours, and Job (chap. v. 17) says: " Blessed is the man whom Thou correctest." Of itself correction is sour, and yet coming from the Lord, and being watered with His love, it is sweet, and so sweet, that it is a thing wherein blessedness stands (Acts v. 41). The apostles when they were scourged before the council for preaching the gospel, it is said of them, " They went out rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus." There are two trim coverings there put upon their sufferings. First, the Lord's blessed estimation of them. He " counted them worthy." Second, they themselves rejoicing " that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus." Well is it that we get a blae hide z and bloody shoulders for preaching our Lord's gospel. There is glory in such baseness as that is. Our shame it is a glorious shame. Our hunger is His fulness. With it our Christ is a refreshing Christ. Our death it is a life unto us.

Third. "Worm Jacob." This is as meikle 2 as the Lord He esteemed Himself sib 3 to their crosses. There is no cross or misery that befalls the Kirk of God or any of His children, but it is sib 3 to God. There is an ex cellent word which is spoken by the apostle (Col. i. 24), "I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh; " and (Heb. xi. 26) speaking of Moses, he says of him: " He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." The sufferings of the Kirk and the children of God, they are Christ's sufferings. Thy wae 4 heart, thy losses, thy sufferings,

1 Livid, discoloured skin. 2 Much.

3 Related to or connected with. 4 Sorrowful.

they are Christ's. The world's afflictions, they are bastard afflictions, they belong not to Christ. There are enew1 under crosses that Christ has nothing ado. Well's them who are under crosses, and Christ says to them, "Half mine." And you should learn to make use of this and see when you are under crosses how sib 2 they are to Christ. Is it your grief and your sorrow for fear that the Lord's cause and His people in the camp be not well? That is a sorrow that is sib 2 to Christ, and He will comfort those who are under sorrow that way. But if your grief and your sorrow be that ye will be poorer nor 3 ye were before, because there is something sought of you to the cause of God that ye will be in greater danger nor ye were before by entering in a covenant with God ye will get none of Christ's comfort then for your cross and trouble: He has nothing ado with it. Well's them who know7 their crosses are not their own, but they are Christ's crosses, and then their crosses are well winded 4 up in a web of His love, for then it shall neither hurt you nor kill you, but thou shalt bear it patiently and handsomely. That is a happy affliction that is Christ's affliction, and He has waled 5 it to thee.

" Fear not, worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel," and to speak the word with a warrant, he adds to it: "7 will help thec, saith tlie Lord, and thy Redeemer, tJic Holy One of Israel." What ground of comfort were this if it were said by one that could not help? — but the Lord says it.

There are three sorts that take upon them to comfort under trouble.

First. There are some who can do more, but only

1 Enough. 2 Eclated. 3 Than. 4 Wound. s Chosen.

speak a good word to them. And that is but a cold comfort, to speak a word, and no more, to a troubled conscience.

Second. There are some who take upon them to com fort under trouble, and they can do something; but it is but man's help when all is done, and we are forbidden to trust in any help of man — Psa. cxlvi. 3: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help."

There is a third, again, that helps in trouble, who only should take upon Him to help, for He can infal libly help in trouble. But He is a king of His word. He helps indeed where He promises. When God says "Fear not," albeit th.ou wert compassed about with enemies on all sides, and there were as many devils round about you as there are piles of grass upon the earth, or as there have fallen of drops of rain since the world began, thou needst not to fear; thou may go through the sea then, and the sea shall not drown you, the fire shall not burn you; thou may'st dance on the grave, for the grave shall not rot you. And so this is a well-fard1 word: " I will keep thee, saith the Lord, and thy Eedeemer, the Holy One of Israel." What if Jeremiah or Isaiah had said this to them! No, certainly that had not been enough, but the Lord says it, and that maun2 stand sure. Then hang by this word, and this word is putten 3 to to tell us that a trembling and doubting soul in trouble, it can get no fastening word, but only that which the Lord speaks. Albeit an angel or a king should say, "Fear not," or twenty or thirty thousand

1 Well- favoured. 2 Must. 3 Added or set down.

armed men should say it, it is nothing; and God grant that we trust not more in men nor J we do in the Lord at this time. But if the Lord say to a soul in trouble, 'Tear not," we may trust in that word. A doubting soul it gets no sure word to fasten on until it get God's word to uphold it. Bind a ship to a rash 2 bush to hold her by! That is but a slim anchor; it cannot hold her when she begins to be moved. Even so to bid a dis tressed soul believe in the Kirk, or in the Pope's word, or lippen3 in a Service-book,4 it is worth nothing to it, especially to a soul under perplexity and trouble, when many enemies are besetting it. And, you know, a worm is a beast that has as many enemies as any beast has, for when it is creeping on the ground it has as many enemies as there are feet going upon the ground ready to tramp upon it, and to put out the guts 5 of it. So is the Kirk and the children of God, environed with enemies on all hands. But there is a binding 6 word here for " worm Jacob: " "I will help tlicc, saith the Lord," and so they may ride it out against all storms and temptations that can overtake them. You may know how many doubtings are ready to overtake the children of God, especially if there be armies about them, and if the power of those who are against us be great, as, if there be kings upon their side. But even when it is so, the Lord's "Fear not " is a powerful word to them who can grip to the

4 The Service-book was a transcript of the English Liturgy, but with some alterations bringing it into nearer conformity with the Romish Bre viary. It was accompanied by a book of canons in which the Presbyterian polity was set aside. Both the Service-book and the canons were introduced by royal prerogative. The Church or the nation was not consulted in the matter. s Bowels. 6 Supporting.

promises of God, who can say in faith, " If I die God's promise shall die with me, for I shall hold by it." When God, who is a king of His word, says, " Fear not," what need you to care for hundreds, or thousands, or fear them when they are about you? The Third Psalm says, " I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people that have beset themselves against me round about." That is a stout soul, and he is the best sojour x and the stoutest that draws a sword that lippens 2 more to the promise of God nor 3 to all other outward helps in the world beside.

Again, some may object and say, " I know that there is enough every way in God, but what is that to me, when I am so unworthy? What the better can I be of His promises, I am so sinful and unworthy?" Answer: Whom to is His promises made if not to you? If Christ be thy Redeemer, and thou be in covenant with Him, then all His promises, they are made to thee whoever thou be, though never so unworthy in thy own eyes. But that is our great neck-break 4 in the point of believing, and in the point of faith, that because we may justly find fault with ourselves, therefore we are ready also to find fault with God and with Christ. 0, say we, " There is meikle5 guiltiness in me, and so I cannot believe your word of promise that I have anything to do with it." That is as meikle5 as to say, that because thou art ill, therefore Christ is ill also. A doubting soul is ready to find many faults with God and with Christ. Thou wilt say He is long in coming, and complains that He lets them not soon enough into Him. The truth is,

1 Soldier. = Trusts. 3 Than. 4 Ruin. s Much.

oecause thy eye is ill therefore thou believest His to be ill also. It were good for us in looking to the promises of God, to look out of ourselves and to look to them in Christ only; for if ye look for any cause or ground of believing in yourselves, or in the creature, ye shall never believe. That is the surest way of believing to say, " Thou, thyself, art tooin,1 but Christ is full. I am a lost soul, but He seeks that which is lost, and He is found of them who seek Him not." When once we come to this, and rest upon the Lord this way, then we take a right grip of the promises. Now for all that we have heard of, or seen, to be against us, and for as weak as we are, yet we may bless God for what is done in this land: four and twenty or thirty thousand men going into a neighbour kingdom. But they may raise five score thousands to come against them: yet if we could grip to this word of promise, "Fear not, worm Jacob, and men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Kedeemer, the Holy One of Israel; " and if they resolve (if they be put to it) to fight because they believe; and if we who stay at home can be instant in praying to God for them, that the Lord would make many to favour them and make the hearts of their enemies to faint, what would not our Lord do for them who believe in Him?

The style2 that God (jets here. It is a new style, for God has two sorts of styles in His word. There is Jehovah and God; and the Lord, He would hold these styles albeit the world had not been or any created thing. But if there had not been a world, and lost sinners, and a Kirk, He had not been a Creator, nor a

Redeemer, nor a Husband to His Kirk. And so the Lord He has these styles of Creator, Redeemer, the Lord of the whole earth, the Husband of His Kirk, the Holy One of Israel, from us, and our house. And we may say two things of these styles that the Lord has from us. First: That they are very humble styles, and very comfortable to us; for by that we may see, that He has married with us, and with our house, because He has taen r styles from us: from His lost people He takes the style of a Redeemer; from the covenant that He has made with His people He takes the name of the Holy One of Israel; from marrying with His people He takes the name of Husband. This is even like unto a house that is like to go out of the name for want of male heirs, and there comes in one and marries the heritage of the house, and takes styles from the house, and calls himself after the name of it and so keeps it in the name. Second: We may say again that the Lord He has no toom 2 empty styles. Many in the world indeed they have toom2 names and toom 2 styles. The Lord has made many kings, and many of them fill not the chair of a king; albeit they be princes, yet they have not the minds of princes. And magistrates in the Psalm (Psa. Ixxxii. G) they are called " gods; " and yet they will die the next day, and so they fill not the chair of a god, ' for God cannot die. And many that are called friends, yet they fill not the rowme 3 of a friend; for either they will change their mind, or they will die the next day, and

1 Taken.

2 Unsubstantial, shadowy. Toom, as distinguished from empty, is some thing that has been vacated ; emptied out. An empty barrel may never have been full, but a toom barrel has. 3 Place.

then their friendship is gone. But for the Lord our God He has no toom T names at all; Isa. xliii. 3 : " I am the Lord thy God, tJte Holy One of Israel, tlnj Saviour;" and Mai. hi. 6, He says, " I am the Lord that changeth not." This should teach us to put our trust and confi dence in this Lord who thus takes styles to Himself from us, and to trust more in Him nor 2 in all the men in the world who are not able to fill their seat — to trust in Generals and Commanders, and such others as these W7ho are not able to fill their seat. No, it is better to trust in the Lord who never yet tint 3 a field and who takes no toom x styles to Himself. Whatever God is called in His word that He is indeed. It is a damnable 4 doctrine that the Arminians teach to say that Christ is a King, and yet it may be that He have no subjects; for they make His kingly office only to stand in this, that He has right to be a King, albeit all His subjects they should be apostates. And they say He is a Husband because He has right to marry a spouse, albeit she will not marry Him. 0, but that be a most damnable 4 doctrine to say, that Christ is a King and yet it may be that He have no subj'ects! That He shall be a Lord and not have a willing people! He taketh no toom z names to Himself. Whatever name the Lord takes unto Himself is salva tion. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are saved. Is that the letters of the name Jehovah that is a strong tower? No; it is the Lord Himself. The righteous trust in the name of the Lord, and to trust in the name of the Lord is to trust in Himself. So that if wre can learn to acknow-

1 Unsubstantial, empty. 2 Than. 3 Lost. 4 Condemnable, odious.

ledge the Lord in His styles, and in His lordship and dominion, and put Him in His chair of state, then no doubt but He will be all unto us that He is called, He will be a friend to you who want thy friend, a father to the fatherless, a king to those who trust in Him, and want no earthly king, or has a king who does not his duty to them. He will be a husband when the husband of those who trust in Him dies, or have a husband who does not his duty to them. Ho fulfils all the wants that those can have who trust in Him.

"Behold, I u'ill make thce a new sharp threshing instru ment having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as caff.1 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away." Lest the Kirk should take ill with this style, " Worm Jacob" and "Men of Israel," as base styles — as base styles they ofttimes cast our hearts down — the Lord says to them: " Giving, but not granting, that it be so, yet I will help you, saith the Lord, thy Bedeemer, the Holy One of Israel." And the help it is set down in the 15th verse, "I will make thee a new sharp threshing instru ment having teeth." There is a doubt met with here in this 15th verse. They might have said, " Why have not we just cause to fear, we being but a worm and few men (as the word in the first language reads) ; and so why have we not cause to fear?" The Lord says to them, "Ye have no cause to fear for all that; " and I shall meet with that objection as there is no ground of doubting in a weak believer, but the Lord He has a wedge to meet it with to ding 2 it out again: " I will make you a new

1 Chaff. 2 Drive by force.

sharp threshing instrument having teeth." How meets this with their objection? Very well; for first they are called a worm, and now they are called a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. A base and a despised Kirk, and base and lightly esteemed in the eyes of the world; and yet for all that a flail to beat the mountains of the earth to nothing, and to beat them so small that they shall be blown away, so that they are not able to bide I their straikes.2 Then ye see the Kirk, it is a small party in the eyes of the world, and despised of them; and yet for all that the hardest party that ever the powers of the world yoked 3 with. Eise up against the Kirk of Christ who will, they shall find that they never yoked 3 with the like of them. Let kings and antichrist, the Pope and his power, and prelates and Papists, rise up against the Kirk of Christ, they shall find that they had never such a tough party as the Kirk is, for the Lord He has ways anew 4 to make His people strong, that they may prevail.

How is it that they become a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth? The Lord makes them so, and were it not so that they are something of the Lord's making they were nothing indeed. But fra5 they are something of the Lord's making they are strong enough against all opposers; an' 6 the kirk were slain He can win a battle with them; and 6 they were dry bones He can put sinews and flesh and skin upon them and put life in them to make them prevail; and 7 ye were a worm, ye shall be a new

5 From the time. & " And," if. 7 If.

sharp threshing instrument having teeth, to beat the mountains of the world and make them small, and to make the hills as chaff. Then the strength of the Kirk it is from God's making of them strong. We are daft I that looks to our own strength, and to the number of our men. God grant that our eyes be not fixed upon men for our security! And, indeed, I fear that more nor2 anything that our eyes be fixed upon men over meikle.3 Let us look to the Lord's making of us strong. And, indeed, we look all wrong if we look not to our Lord's strength and to anything else. This says that we look all wrong when we look to anything that is in ourselves, and look not only to that which is in Christ. Alas! says some one, "lam a great unbeliever, and will Christ lay His fair face to my black cheeks? Will He kiss me who has so foul a mouth? No." And4 God make you something, then ye shall be something indeed. It is not our wit or strength or worthiness that will do our turn. It is our Lord and His strength who must do it. Paul he is nothing in himself and in his own account, and yet through Christ that strengthens him he is able to do all things (Philip, iv. 13). And, Heb. xi. 34, it is said, of weak He makes strong — "they waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the enemies," through His strength; Piev. i. G: " The Lord makes us to be kings and priests unto Himself; " and Bom. viii. 37, who are made "more than conquerors through Him that loveth us."

How will the Lord do this to His weak Kirk, to worm Jacob, and to the few men of Israel? There are four

ways how the Lord does this. The first way is this. Sometimes the Lord He gives unto them worldly strength to overcome their enemies outwardly; as sometimes the Lord He will make some few thousands to rise against many thousands and to put them to flight. The Lord will make good that word which is spoken, Numb. xxiv. 5, 7, 8 (albeit he was a false prophet who spake it, yet it is the Word of God for all that) : " How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel! He shall pour out the waters of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of unicorns: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, he shall break their bones, and pierce them through with arrows." This was spoken of the seed of Jacob when they came out of Egypt, and had not a foot of ground of heritage; nor had they a cothouse T above their heads, nor a sheaf of corn growing, to show that our Lord He can give security to those who are mean and weak in the eyes of men, and as it is, Isa. x. 33 : " He will lop the boughs with terror; and the high ones in stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled." He can make them to bow down under the prisoner. Ay, albeit we of this nation were blocked up by sea and land, yet they wanting the Lord's strength and we having it, they shall fall under us.

A second reason of this is, Because they who come against Zion, 'whoever they be, they have seen their fairest day. Era2 once they come against Zion they

1 Cottage or outhouse. 2 From the first moment.

have never a day to do well again. You know what end Babylon made fra x once they carried away the Lord's people to captivity, and Babylon is called the Lord's hammer for beating the earth; and yet fra x once they carried away the people of God, their well2 days are done. And Jeremiah he brings in all the nations about against Babylon; fra l once they come against God's people, and His land. And among many other plagues pronounced against them, Jeremiah he pro nounces this, li. 26 : " And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord." Fra x once Pharaoh came against Israel and against Moses, there came one plague after another upon him till at last he was made meat for the fishes, and the wrath of God lighted upon him and upon his princes and his people. The Kirk of God is a mite, but crack that mite who will they will break their chaft-teeth 3 upon it, that they shall never eat well again. Be an enemy who will to this covenant that God has made with this land and they with Him (and 4 it were but to be an heart enemy to it), it is a hundred to one if ever they have a day to do well. Can the husband endure that any should come against his married wife to wrong her? No; we believe certainly that the Lord He will take vengeance upon the enemies of our Covenant in Scotland, and of this cause that we are now called to go unto the fields for.

The third way, How the Kirk is victorious over her enemies is because her head, Christ, has strength enough for Him and her both. You know what is said of Christ,

1 From the time. - Good. 3 Jaw-teeth. 4 If.

Psa. ii. 9 : The Lord has put a rod of iron in His hand to dash all His enemies in pieces therewith as a potter's vessel. All that rise against the Lord and against His Kirk they shall be broken in pieces. In Isa. xlix. 25, there is a terrible word spoken there to the enemies of God's people: " I will contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children; and I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." So this is all done through Christ's strength. For as He is Mediator there is a promise made unto Him (Psa. ex. 5) that whoever they be who are His enemies they shall never thrive nor do well; and fra I the Lord has given Him all power in heaven and earth He may take order with all His enemies, for He may head 2 and hang within His own bounds. He shall fill the pits with the dead bodies of His enemies; and in the pursuing of His enemies He shall be so hot, and in such a haste, that he shall not go into the tavern to take a drink of wine there and to take good cheer, but He shall drink of the water out of the brook until the time that He has brought utter judgment and desolation upon His enemies.

Fourth. The Kirk of Christ it maun3 be a sharp threshing instrument because of this gospel, for the ill and sorrowful days of the enemies of the Kirk they are contained in this gospel and in this Covenant that Scotland has sworn with God. And whoever they be who will not obey this gospel there is vengeance prepared for

them; to let all the world see this, that it is better to make any party in the world your enemy nor J to make Christ and His Kirk your enemy, and to comfort those who are upon our Lord's side of it. Let the world say the contrary, whoever they be who are upon our Lord's side of it when He triumphs, they shall also triumph. And is it not enough that we get a part of our Lord's triumphant victory, and that He will rain vengeance upon His enemies and ours? And it is a part of the Kirk's joy that there is a day coming when no devil in hell, nor no Pope, nor no prelate, nor any whoever they be, who have given wicked counsel against His people, if they have not repented unto Him thereof He shall tread them all under His feet, and He shall say to them, " Bring hither those My enemies who would not that I should reign over them: bind them hand and foot and cast them in utter darkness." That is a sore sentence, and yet our Lord has left it in His Testament to His enemies, and to the enemies of Zion. And they shall have a share of Christ's joy who love His cause and covenant, and rejoice when Zion rejoiceth, and sorrow when it is in distress. Look, what is your greatest fear and sorrow?— that which wakens you first in the morning and is last in your thought at night? If it be concerning the estate of the Lord's Kirk and Zion there cannot be a more blessed mark of a child of God than to be rightly mindful of Zion's case; Psa. cxxxvii. 5, the penman of that Psalm says there: " If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, then let my right hand forget her cunning." If thy joy or thy sorrow be according as the Kirk of Christ is joyful

1 Than.

or sorrowful, thou shalt then get a share of her victory thou shalt help to divide the spoil with her. When Christ has overcome all His enemies, Eome, and Spain, and Pope, and prelates, and thou shalt sit down beside Christ all sweating, then He shall take the napkin of His consolations to dry thee withal. And He shall then lay thee into His heart and bosom, and shall say: " Come sing a song of victory with Me! All ye who were partners of My woe, come now and take a share of My joy. Come and sit down in a cushion beside Me, and rejoice in Me and in My salvation." Now, to this Lord who has purchased this unto us, and fights for the keep ing of it, to His Father and our Father and to the Holy Spirit be all praise, dominion, and glory for ever. — Amen.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob.

" Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thce, saith tlie Lord, and tliij Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make tliee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel." — ISAIAH xli. 14-1G.1

OUN TAINS and the greatest powers in the world (beloved in our Lord), they will not be able to bide 2 God when He is angry, when the Lord kindles a fire in His anger, as it is spoken by Himself, Deut. xxxii. 22, He burns up the foundations of the mountains, the mountains they become valleys before the Lord when He is angry; the sea it becomes as dry land. Then all the powers in the world, how great soever they be, they maun 3 bow to Him. Who was there ever that drew a sword against Him and prospered? Who was there that ever exalted himself against Him, and was not laid

low in the dust? We have here as weak a party mentioned as you could speak of: "Worm Jacob.''' And here, on the other hand, there is as strong a party as any can be — the mountains of the world; and yet, for l as strong as they are, and for x as weak as the Kirk is, here they are brought to confusion before the Kirk of God. And the Lord He does this; for it is borrowed strength from God that does the Kirk's turn, and no strength of her own. "Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; and thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat the hills as caff." 2 And who shall get the Psalm and song of victory for doing this '? " Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel." It is not thy own arm, and thy own strength, and the multitude of thy own men whom thou shalt thank for this; but thou shalt thank the Lord for it, and rejoice and glory in Him.

Will there be any poor and needy ones within the Kirk at this time? Let it be so, yet, "when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will help them. I shall make fountains and rivers for them in the wilderness," when they are thirsty. And they shall want nothing that may do them good.

Is this like the Lord's Kirk and the estate there of to be in such a case as is here spoken of, who are cumbered this day with the Papists about the fall ing away of the true Kirk, and what are the marks whereby to discern the true Kirk from the false Kirk? They put this in a question. If Christ shall have

1 Notwithstanding they be so. 2 Chaff.

a true Kirk to the end of the world? And that is but a foolish question for any to propose, " If Christ shall have a Kirk?" for the Kirk of Christ shall never fall away totally, for albeit there be few of the Kirk, and they be silly like I to look unto, yet they shall never fail. Many shall be hungry before they die for hunger, for Christ has His Kirk written upon His loof,2 and upon the palms of His hands. And let hell and devils and all contrary powers rise against them to destroy them; yet they are builded upon the rock, and who can put them off that rock? Well's 3 them who take part with them who are upon Christ's side of it, for all the mountains in the world shall not be able to overcome them and to bear them down.

A second question that may be proposed is this: looks this like the meek saints of God to thresh the mountains and ding * the hills to caff,5 and to winnow them? Are Christ and His Kirk fighting folks. Where fra 6 comes this that Christ, He will make His Kirk a new sharp threshing instrument against their enemies to beat them all to dust? Indeed, the cause of this is not in Christ nor in His Kirk, for they love peace best of anything else. Christ says, " I came to make peace in the world and not for war." And how comes it, then, that Christ and His Kirk, they have aye 7 commonly the fighters' part of it; and His Kirk niaun 8 be made a flail to thresh the world, and a wind to winnow them away as caff? 3 Christ and His Kirk, they would live in peace, but the wicked in the world would not let them live in

1 Feeble. 2 Palm of His hand. 3 It is good for.

4 Drive down, break down. s Chaff. 6 Whence from.

7 Always. Must.

peace and ease, since that day that war was pronounced in Paradise between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; they have never been at peace yet to this day. Neither will they ever be at peace so long as the world lasts. The Kirk of Christ maun J still be pursued till they be up in heaven with their Father and Lord; except the devil be dead, and so his instruments cease. Christ maun x evermore fight so long as He is here and has a Kirk. The mountains and powers of the world they dow3 not endure Christ. Is this for any wrong that Christ does to them that they dow 2 not endure Him? What is the controversy that is this day between Christ's Kirk and the powers of the world? Nothing else is the controversy but because He is seeking His own from the powers of the world, because we are seeking to have the gospel established, and to have it established in purity and with peace. We are seeking no more, and that makes the pley,3 and this pley 3 it will last as long as the world stands, and as long as Christ has any followers to follow Him. It is a pley 3 that has evermore been, and a pley 3 that will evermore be; so that it is no new thing to see Christ in the camp. Christ is as oft to be found in the camp as He is to be found in His royal palace. And who are these who are against Christ? The mountains and the great powers in the world. Those have evermore been cold friends to Christ and of His Kirk, and yet for all that they are left by the Lord in this world to be tutors and defenders of Christ, and of His Kirk, for they ought to be mountains to hold the stormy winds off the kirk, that they do her

1 Must. 2 Can. 3 Action at law.

no harm, and to keep the rains of afflictions off her, and, Isa. xlix. 23, it is said, kings they should be nursing fathers, and queens they ought to be nursing mothers to the Kirk of Christ; and yet, albeit they should be so for the most part, they dow1 not endure Christ. When Herod hears that Christ is born, he says, "He is come to take my kingdom from me, and therefore I will have Him slain now when He is young, that so I may keep my kingdom." Fool! Christ came not to take crowns off the heads of kings in the world. No; by the contrary, there are no such friends for kings, and none so nieikle 2 for keeping their crowns upon their heads as Christ is; for, Prov. viii. 16, the wisdom of God even Christ says: "By Me kings reign and princes decree justice." If kings would become Christ's tenants, they might be more blessed under Him than under any other master.

Who are these who are called mountains? Even the great powers of the world who rise against Christ and against His Kirk. And the mountains and these great ones who rise against Christ's Kirk, they agree very well in thir 3 particulars.

First. You know there is no difference between the mountains and the rest of the earth. There are valleys, but only that they are some higher than the rest of the earth is, and by that means the sun when it rises, it shines upon them first, and it shines last upon them at night. Even so the great powers of the world they are flesh and blood as other men are, only they have a glance of glory beyond others when they come into the world, and it may be when they go out of it again; as one when

he is born he may be born a king, and he gets a glance of glory then and another glance of glory at his burial— that is all the difference. They are called gods indeed, but they are only clay gods, for they maun z die as well as others. Death and judgment miskens * them. No; but it searches upon them as well as it does upon the poorest in the world.

Second. Another difference between the mountains and the valleys is: their uses to come spates 3 of rain off the mountains to the valleys, that do the valleys meikle 4 harm. Even so there has come meikle 4 harm to the Kirk of Christ from the mountains of the world since the beginning. There is a destroying mountain spoken of, Jer. li. 25 ; the Lord says He will stretch out His hand upon it, and will roll it down from the rocks, and make it a burnt mountain.

Third. Mountains, they are impediments to a servant when they are going a hasty errand of their masters, being in their way. Even so the mountains of the world, they are ofttimes a stone in Christ's gate,5 when He has ought ado, and yet (Isa. xl. 4) it is said every mountain shall be made low which stands in Christ's gate, 5 when He has ought ado. When will these mountains go out of Christ's gate?5 As soon as He begins to reprove them, Zech. iv. 7 : " Who art thou, 0 mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." When Christ is angry at them He can shool 6 the mountains into the sea. What have these moun tains for them to boast themselves against Christ our

1 Must. 2 Make no account of them, overlook them.

3 Great falls of rain. 4 Much. 5 Way. 6 Shovel, remove.

Lord and against His Kirk, for those of them who are torn away out of the gate,1 even kings themselves, they are now lying in as little bounds as the poorest bodies that lived with them, and yet those who are behind they will boast also. But the Lord He takes some of them away that all the mountains of the world may know against whom they come, when they come against Christ and against His Kirk, He will make them low valleys.

Here is a lesson to Scotland and a lesson to us this day. Our dear Lord has been letting us see that the mountains in the world they are not able to bide* Christ when He is angry. Poor Scotland! that is the out cast of all the nations of the world, the Lord has done this for it when the mountains of the world could not abide it. And there were fourteen great mountains 3 in this land, and there were enew 4 who builded their nests under these mountains, doctors and deans and archdeans, and all these who looked to be prelates; but the Lord He has casten down all these mountains and all the nests also that were bigged 5 under these mountains. And we trust that we may say of them that that shall be upon them which David says of the mountains of Gilboa, "Let never rain nor dew fall upon them, nor any grass grow upon them." So we trust in God shall it be with them. They shall never rise that rain may fall upon them or that anything may grow upon them. The Lord will make them as it is spoken of the Mount of Olives (Zech. xiv. 4), to cleave in the midst toward the East

1 Way. 2 To endure.

3 The fourteen bishops deposed " after the serious discussing of the several processes on many seesions" in the Assembly of Glasgow, Sees. 20, Dccem8 ber 13, 1638. < Enough. s Built.

and toward the West, and they who bigged T their nests under them shall flee to the valleys for safety. The Lord will make these mountains to cleave in the midst who rise up against Him and against His Kirk. Alas! they have ever far the worst part of it who come against the Lord and His covenanted people; but happy are they who are upon the Lord's side of it, for they shall prevail.

What sort of instrument makes the Lord His Kirk to be? "A new sharp threshing instrument having teeth." Is not [this] against the meekness of the Kirk? for if any want teeth, should not the Kirk and children of God want teeth, for who was more toothless-like nor2 our Lord Jesus was? When they were putting Him away out of the world, were scourging Him, mocking Him, and doing all the ill that they could to Him, He says, " Father, forgive them: they know not what they do; " " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Should the Kirk of Christ then have teeth, seeing Christ Himself had none? Yes; the Lord's Word tells us of three teeth that the Kirk has, and come into their chafts 3 who will, the Lord has given them teeth to bite them so that they shall never do well again (Psa. Iviii. 9-11).

The tooth of revenge is given unto them. "The right eous shall rejoice, when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." Why, but we may be glad if so be that we insult not over men's persons, but only for their wicked courses, to see our righteous Lord kything 4 Himself to be righteous in re venging Himself upon His and our wicked enemies; and if we sacrifice not the praise of the doing thereof to our

own net, we may justly say, " Blessed be God for it," when we see Borne and Spain and Antichrist, and the mountains of the world that are against Christ and His Kirk and people, fall to the ground.

Second. There is a tooth of justice also which is given unto the Kirk of God. What sort of a direction is that which is given to Saul against Amalek? (1 Sam. xv. 3) — to slay Amalek and all that was within his land, both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, and to spare none. There is a sword some times put in the Kirk's hand to destroy her enemies, and this proves our Lord Jesus to be a victorious Lord over His enemies. These are not the special weapons of our Lord's warfare, for they are not carnal but spiri tual for dinging down J of strongholds, even prayer, fast ing, &c. And (Psa. cxxxvii. 9) there is a direction given there to take Babylon's young ones off their knees and to dash their heads against the stones, and they are pronounced to be blessed who do so.

Third. There is a tooth of the power of the Mediator Christ put into the Kirk's head. Christ and His people are brought in, coming so sonsy-like,2 Isa. Ixiii. 1, and all His garments dyed with blood: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I, says the Lord, that speaks righteousness, mighty to save." The Lord and His Kirk have a tooth to eat up all the mountains that come against them, prophesied by that false prophet Balaam, whether he would or not — Num. xxiv. 8: "He shall eat up the

1 Casting down. 2 Thriving, prosperous-like.

nations His enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with His arrows." Who will, who will no,1 the Lord will have the Kirk to have teeth to bite her enemies, so that the enemies they shall stoop and fall under the sword of the Lord and of His Kirk. And the Lord is likely to make it to be so at this time. Who knows but this great work which is begun in Scot land now when it is going into England, and it has tane 2 some footing there, but the Lord He will make it to go over sea? Wlio knows but the Lord will make Scot land, who is a worm indeed in comparison of other nations, to be a sharp threshing instrument, to thresh the mountains and to beat the hills to pieces? Who knows but He will make them a sharp threshing in strument to beat Rome and the Pope and Antichrist to pieces, and make all her merchants to cry, " Baby lon, Babylon, that great city, is fallen " ? 0 ! for to see that great stumbling-block that stands into the way of Christian religion tane2 out of the way, and then to see the people of the Jews brought in again to Christ, their old Husband, and married upon Him, and the fulness of the Gentiles! 0 ! to see our Redeemer Christ have one fair day of it in the world; to see Jew and Gentile married on Christ, and to see His dominions going from the East to the West and from sea to sea, and to see the whole earth in one sheepfold, obeying the voice of one Shepherd! That is the blessedest day that ever we saw if it were come, and we should pray to the Lord to hasten it that so that may be fulfilled which the Lord promises.

" Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; " the enemies they shall be as chaff before the wind. That is a mark of the false Kirk that when Christ and His Kirk rise against them they have no more standing, but they are blown away. Cast the wicked in a furnace of affliction and trial, they will not win out of it again. But cast the godly in a furnace when ye will, they will win out of it unburnt. Cast dross in a hot fire, it will never be seen again. But cast pure gold in a fire, it will come out as good as it was put in. Cast the wicked under the stroke of an angry God, they clow I not bide Him, but they are consumed, Isa. 1. 9 : " They shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up; " Isa. li. 8 : " The moth shall eat them like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool." When God is angry at a wicked man, and He begins to strike him, there is no more strength in him to stand against Him than in an old moth-eaten clout that falls out all in holes when any hand touches it; the hearts of the enemies of God's people fail them like water when the Lord grows angry at them. That is a nation that is void of grace that are not able to stand before the Lord when He begins to blow at them. That great and strong city of Jericho, the people heard but news of the great and valiant acts that Joshua and the people of God had done, and incon tinent * there remained no more spirit in them. There is news of death and of the wrath of God told unto that wicked man Nabal, and incontinent 2 he tynes 3 all his courage. Wherefra 4 is it that all this comes? Will

1 Cannot endure Him. 2 Forthwith. 3 Loses. 4 Wherefrom.

temporal afflictions take away faith, or will it deprive a man of the common gifts of God — as of reason, of sense, of joy? No. No more will any outward trouble take away faith, or take any of these common gifts of God where they are, nor I a fire will burn the devil, and that is impossible. But whenever God sets Himself against wicked men, there is another thing backing crosses and troubles nor J we see, even the wrath of an angry God backing the judgment, whether it be sword, or famine, or death; and that is the thing that blows away their faith and all their natural parts, and makes them to tyne 2 their strength and courage. Who is the man that will be able to bide a battle, and to stand out when the ill day comes? Only the man who is in Christ and has true faith. Hell shall not fear3 such a man, nor anything he can be threatened with. Once get saving grace and be in Christ, then thou may be sure thou shalt not be caff4 before the wind in the day of God's anger. I know if the Lord would kythe 5 in His might and in His power against the strongest in the world, He would make their blaw 6 to fall. But the Lord never tries the strength of His omnipotence upon His own Kirk. But there is vengeance poured out upon His enemies, and upon the enemies of His Kirk, that which the Lord says to Eli by the mouth of Samuel, " When I begin to punish I will make a full end." That is true concerning the wicked. But, by the contrary, the Kirk of God and His children, notwithstanding of all the enemies that be against them, be they never so strong or never so many,

1 Than. 2 Lose. 3 Shall not put such a man in fear.

* Chaff. s Appear. 6 Ostentation.

they shall be made as caff l before the whirlwind. But for the children of God, who are His own Kirk, He says of them (Isa. xliii. 2), " When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." And these are the two most merci less enemies that can be — fire and water; and yet He will preserve His own from both. But here is a terrible destruction threatened to come upon wicked men. Have they no more courage nor caff2 before the wind when God is angry with them? No; no more. There is a terrible destruction told to come upon the wicked — Job xviii. 6 : " The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him." Woe to that man whose candle God puts out! " The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. The girn 3 shall take him by the heels," &c. It is cursed ground that he gangs4 upon. What more terrible thing can be spoken of the wicked man nor 5 is spoken of here? Look again, Job xx. 6 : " Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek to please the poor, and his

1 Chaff, 2 Than chaff. 3 Gin. 4 Goes. s Than.

hands shall restore their goods," &c. He shall be like a ghost in the night that folks think they see, and, in continent l it passeth out of their sight. They are like a dream that a man cares not for. The Lord shall pull the wicked man out of his sheets, and He shall make him to perish as his own dung from the earth. He shall not swallow down the riches that he gets, or if he swallow them down, they shall be like gravel between his teeth. And (Jobxxi. 17-19) among all other judgments prepared for the wicked, the wrath of God is prepared for his chil dren and posterity. The fools of the world, they will not take a lesson of this, for as meikle * as God has spoken against them and against their seed. Woe would the hearts of wicked men be, I am sure, if they kent 3 this! I am sure a wicked man would never laugh if he kent3 this. The fear of hell is a very rare thing. There are few who think upon that what the mystery of hell is. Would ye think upon thir 4 two, ye would think it a very ill thing to go on with the wicked. 1. To think that there is an eternity, and an eternity of wrath, abiding them. 2. To think upon the anger of God, and that it is an anger which will never be quenched. What a terrible oath is that which the Lord swears (Amos viii. 7) against them who sell the poor for a pair of shoes; who wished the Sabbath to be gone that they may sell the refuse of the wheat; who would have the ephah small and the shekel great. By God Himself, " I shall never forget their illdoing as long as I am God." Woe's ye that have such an oath sworn against you for thy wickedness. Eemember what a terrible word is spoken against the house of Eli —

1 Sam. iii. 14: "I have sworn unto Eli's house, that the iniquity of the house of Eli shall never be put away by sacrifice nor burnt-offering for ever." And there is no greater oath the Lord can swear by nor ' by Himself, as the apostle says. That is a sore word that there are some whose sins the Lord God has them written with the point of a diamond that they shall never be forgotten. That is a fearful imprecation that is put up against Babylon (Isa. xiii.-xiv.), and against Saul and those who were the enemies of David and of the Kirk at that time (Psa. cix.). Woe unto the wicked, and to them who have tane 2 up a banner against God ! Meikle 3 misery and woe abide them. Pre-suppose that a man had a sea of poison to drink, and aye 4 as he drank it filled again, it would be thought a very hard matter. And that sea of wrath that the Lord is brewing for His enemies they shall drink thereof and be mad, and shall fall and never rise again ; and yet they fear it not, albeit that be the lot there is appointed for them.

Now whom shall the Kirk thank for all this? " And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel." God will not have the glory of the victory to go by Himself, and we have more reason to fear this nor l any other thing. And God grant that Scotland put not her trust in so many thousands of men and so many gallant spirits. Lord, save us from tho sin of idolatry in taking away the thing from God which is His own due. There is an excellent word spoken in Psa. cxv. — when the Kirk had gotten many victories at that time they say, " Not unto us, not unto us, 0 Lord, but to Thy name be

1 Than. * Taken. s Much. 4 Always.

the praise." Not unto Scotland be the praise of victory, albeit we had thousand thousands of men moe nor I we have, but unto the name of the Lord be the glory of all. Lord, save us in anyways from meddling with the Lord's glory. It becomes us rather to humble ourselves in the presence of God, and to acknowledge Him in what He is doing. Now the praise of all our works, both in us and for us, be ascribed to Christ's Father and our Father, and to His Son Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. — Amen.

1 More than.

A Charge to the Lord ' s Prophet.

<l Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law. Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we ~know Thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.'* — HOSEA viii. 1-3. *

HE Lord's prophet, beloved in the Lord, he had to do with very rough and hard timber at this time; he had to do with a stiffnecked people. And not only had the pro phet of God to do with the ten tribes to prophesy to them; but sometimes also he prophesies against the Kirk and the kingdom of Judah. The most part of this chapter it is prophesied against the kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes, and the last verse thereof it is prophesied against Judah. And because the Lord's prophet he had to do with such a stiff-necked and rebellious people, therefore he uses more threatenings nor 2 he does pro mises; and he has more threatenings nor 2 any of the rest of the prophets has. For this prophet lived in a time when the people where he lived had no sense, nor know-

1 In MS., " Preached 011 the Sabbath befornoon," the Sabbath after the fast, August 22, 1640. 2 Than.

ledge of God. And the kings and princes of these lands, they had set their heads and their shoulders together for bearing down the true worship of God. And, ye know, an ill and a great knot of timber it requires a hard wedge to make it to rive.1 Even so because they had all revolted from God, and had taken them to a false worship, he maun 2 speak to them as one who kent 3 very well what was in their hearts; and therefore, for the most part, he speaks to them of the wrath and anger of God. And in this chapter, the prophet, inspired by the Spirit of God, he begins with a charge and a proclamation: "Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord." That is, declare unto them that there is war corning against them from the Lord. And then he gives a reason for it why he makes this proclamation. Some expone this to be king of Assyria, Salmanasar, that was come to against this people, " who should come as an eagle against the house of the Lord;" and some expone it otherways. But this is sure that this was some swift judgment that was to come against them. Some of them thought this judg ment is long a corning; but when it comes, it comes with eagle's wings. It is a better judgment, if any judg ment can be better nor 4 another, that comes upon feet nor 4 that which conies upon horseback. Against whom shall this judgment come? Not against the wicked folks in the world, but against the house of the Lord, against His own sworn and covenanted people, His main quarrel and controversy that He has is against them. What ailes the Lord to come against His own house?

1 Split up. 2 Must. s Knew. * Thau.

He maun x be very angry when He does so. A father that comes against his own child to strike him if he be wise, he must have a just cause for it and be very angry at him. And the prophet says that the Lord He has just cause to do this. In the first verse He gives one reason of it: " Because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law." That is a warrantable judgment that comes for such a cause. When there is sin against God's law and transgressing of His covenant among a people He has just cause to punish them.

What, will Israel make no apology for themselves when the wrath of God comes thus upon them? Yet, says the prophet, they will have their own excuses at that time. " Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know Thee." That is the first skonce 2 that ever the pursued people of God gets to hide themselves under, and a hypocritical people when they are plagued make this objection against the Lord first. Will the Lord, say they, send a destroying enemy against us fra 3 Thou art our God and Thou art in covenant with us, and so why should we be put to the worse? Why should Assyria come as an eagle against us, seeing we say, " We know Thee," and we profess Thee to be our God? In the third verse that objection is answered, as there is nothing that a plastered hypocrite can say to God as an excuse of his ill but the Lord has an answer to it. ''Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him." It is not said that they have forsaken

1 Must. 2 A shed under which stones are hewed, defence, protection .

3 Since.

good, but they have forsaken the thing that is good. They have forsaken the Lord and tane I them to Balaam; they have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and digged to themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. And therefore judgment shall come upon them; the enemy shall pursue them.

Now for the first part that there is a charge given to the Lord's prophet, " Set the trumpet to thy mouth." What is the duty of those who are the Lord's ministers when wrath is coming upon a people? They maun 2 either tell them of it, or their blood shall be upon the pastor's head. Isa. Iviii. 1 : " Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins." All ministers and prophets of God who would be free of the blood of lost souls are bound and obleist3 before God to tell them freely of their sins. The Lord says to the prophet (Ezek. ii.), " Tell them from Me what it is that they have deserved." Then all ministers they are heralds sent out in God's name to denounce woe against all God's foes, and to speak peace unto God's friends, and they are messengers sent out from the Lord to tell what is the will of God to His people, to declare whether He be at peace, or if He be at war with a nation.

The use of this is, any prophet or minister that changes God's message by the way, and tells it not as God bids him tell it, he is not a faithful messenger, nor a right blower of the Lord's trumpet. He cries not the alarm at the command of the general, as he should that

cries not unto the righteous, " Mercy, mercy unto you for all thy doubting and fainting; salvation to you for all the contrary thoughts thou hast, for there is blood enough in Christ's wounds to cleanse and to save you." And that tells not to the wicked man, "Laugh and rejoice as thou wilt, the anger of God is biding1 you, albeit thou seest it not." That is a false minister that changes God's wine, and puts in his own water instead of it, that changes God's copy in any point and fills it up with his own devices, that has not his warrant to show you for what he does. As he is a false messenger that will not show his message to you when he summons you. It is a token he is not right. Even so, all these who cannot let you see the copy of God's Word for any thing they speak to you, it is a token that they are bastard trumpeters, and are not sent of God to speak to His people. Such [ministers run and God sends them not; they speak the lies of their own head without the warrant of God's Word; and whenever there is a service pressed upon the kirk that is not warranted out of the Word of God, that contains such things therein as bow ing before altars and sets apart days of man's devising for worshipping of saints, that is a false copy of God's will, and whoever follows it they speak and God sends them not.

Wherefore is a trumpet mentioned here? Because a trumpet is a shrill instrument of war, and a trumpet it is ordinarily blown to waken all and to stir them up who are not thinking of war, nor has any mind of it. So this is as meikle2 as if it were said, " Set thy trumpet

thy mouth; let them hear on the deaf side of their head." The thing that we are to learn here is that a sleeping world and a sleeping Kirk they maun J have a trumpet blown to waken them, for they will not be wakened with rounding 3 into their ear to tell them that God is angry at them. But we maun T blow a trumpet, and tell you of the wrath of God and of His anger against you. And there are four reasons wherefore we maun I blow with a trumpet to waken secure sinners.

First. Because they dawt 3 their own conscience that it may not accuse them for that which their mind lets them see to be wrong. Even as a father does to a dawted 3 bairn lets him not wit 4 by correcting him when he does wrong. Even like unto that spoken by the prophet (Isa. xxx. 10) they " say to the seers, See not; prophesy not," so that sinners have need to be shouted unto as with a trumpet that they may be wakened. Woe's them that can never be wakened with nothing till hell waken them, and if anything in the world be our wreck that same is it, even a spiritual security and sleeping in sin.

A second reason wherefore there maun I be blowing with a trumpet to waken sinners is because there is meikle 5 din, and that hinders hearing when God speaks unto us. Gain is crying so loud in some men's ears, and court, and the honour and pleasing of kings, and ease, &c. These things, and the like, cry so loud in the ear of the natural man that all that God's ministers and His prophets can cry unto him of the Lord's righteousness, of His justice, of His truth, they will not hear, neither can they hear. They who know what a disease in the

1 Must. 2 "Whispering. i Caress, fondle, * Know. * Much*

ears means say this of it, that when there is a wound within, it makes a crackling there, and it hinders hear ing of any sound without; and that is it which makes deafness. Even so, when the day of the Lord's anger and wrath, of His taking vengeance on transgressors is spoken of to some, there is something within that cries louder to them, that makes them not to hear the other, and therefore the Lord He bids sound a trumpet unto such.

A third reason wherefore the Lord bids sound a trum pet is, it is an ordinary thing for the devil to hold men off their compts l till they be over the score, to keep them from seeing them till they can do no better, until they come to that that he makes them to think that they are over 2 long a counting with God. Woe's them that let their compts I run long, or without taking order with them, for it is a very dangerous thing. Our Lord, again, will have His messengers to set a trumpet to their mouth to tell His people what sin is, for nature will never tell a man what sin is. There are two sorts of convictions for sin that the Lord's Word tells us of. First: There is a natural conviction, and that never lets a man see what sin is. The natural man he is only a patient in that conviction; he never comes to be an agent. The con science of the natural man may convict him of sin, but for his will and his affections they are mere patients, and join not at all in the work. They know that there is death and hell. But they would have death and hell to bide 3 away from them, and this is the cause of that which is spoken, Isa. xxvi. 11 : "Lord, when Thy hand

is lifted up, they will not see; " Amos vi. 3 : " They put the ill day far from them," and fra1 they think the ill day to he far fra z them, and fra x they see not the hand of God lifted up, albeit all the world should cry to them, they will not hear nor make them to know what they are doing. Second: The Word of God tells us of a spiritual conviction where God is an agent, and man himself He convicts also — 1 Cor. xi. 31: "If we would judge ourselves, we should not he judged of the Lord; " Mic. vii. 9: "I will hear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him." There is an evi dent mark of one who hears the voice of God convicting of sin when they come to that.

A fourth reason wherefore a trumpet maun * be blown is because to believe news of the wrath of God and of the Lamb is a supernatural thing, and so the spirit of nature will never make a man to believe them. Nature will never tell a man the thousandth part of the ill and sinfulness of sin, and therefore the Lord maun 2 cry it into the soul as with a trumpet.

Use. Well's that soul whom the Lord works upon in time, and He makes to hear Him when He cries. Well were Scotland if they wakened in time out of their security! I durst say, if Scotland were wakened in the name of that Lord, who sent me here to speak to you, that mercy should be the end of all thir 3 tumults and troubles that have been among us. There is nothing that hitherto has been the wreck of Scotland but only security, and that the sinners of Scotland have never been wakened. There be two things that serve for

1 From the time. 2 Must. 3 These.

wakening sinners out of their security, and we have both these to waken us.

First: The sins of the land wherein we live call upon us to be humbled. And I there were no more but the drunkenness, the atheism, the hypocrisy, the ignorance of God, the sins of the families of the land in not setting up the worship of God, we have just cause to be humbled for these and for the like.

Another thing which calls for humiliation is when judgment is already begun, and that is among us. And God knows if it be not time for us now to take our pleasure and ease, and to lay down our heads upon a cod 2 of the devil's stopping 3 when the Lord's ark is in the fields, and when the Lord's people of this land are entering into a strange land; and God knows who are their friends or who are their foes into it; and yet we trust that God will make the people of that land to be for their good, and will cause them sell them meat and drink, and what they stand in need of, and that He who has said, " Touch not mine anointed, and do my pro phets no harm," will do for them, albeit they should not show themselves friends to them. But when the Lord's glory is in such hazard, woe to them who are not praying to God for preserving, and for them who are in hazard for it, and are not humbled now for them, for they shall get none of our Lord's comforts in that day when He shall laugh and rejoice, and shall be set up high above all His enemies. They will not do something now when our Lord maun 4 either die, or die when we are like to be an undone people, if He die not for us. Woe to them! but

we trust that our Lord's salvation is not far off, but He will help us in time for His covenant's sake, seeing we are a people that are in covenant with Him; albeit the people of this land were all devils and remediless sinners. He will help us now, and take another time for punish ing any wrongs of that kind.

There is a reason given for this in the next place why the Lord's prophet should set the trumpet to his mouth: " He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord." What king this was that at this time was threatened to come against thir I people is differed upon by some of the interpreters. That it was Salmanasar, as some say, it is not likely, and yet it is sure that Assyria was to come against thir x people, and to over come them, and he was to come against them in a fierce and terrible manner, but we leave that. There are two sorts of judgments that come against the Kirk of God. There are some judgments that come upon four feet to them, that come, as it were, upon eagle's wings. And some judgments that come at leisure again, such as the wrath of God that came upon the old world. It was an hundred and twenty years coming upon them or it lighted, and yet for all that it came [at] last. Let the wicked in the world say as they will, yet the wrath of the Lord is long in coming, yet He is aye 2 coming, and His judgment and wrath against the wicked sleep not. Isa. xxx. 18 : " The Lord waits that He may be gracious, therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you, for the Lord is a God of judgment." The judgments of God sometimes they go at leisure, but they

1 This. s Always.

will come. 2 Pet. iii. 4, there is a reason asked for this, wherefore the Lord's judgments that He has threatened are so longsome in corning? And it is answered, " The Lord delays it, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." This is referred to the words that are spoken before; He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. So that the enemies of the grace of God they can get no ground for their false doctrine.

But the Lord has other judgments that come not slowly but swiftly, and upon four feet as it were. And the Lord's Word, it uses three comparisons to show this swiftness of the Lord's judgments. This text that we have read says that they come with eagle's wings, and this is the king of all flying fowls, and comes with a clap upon the prey thereof. So do the judgments of God upon His enemies sometimes. The second word that is said for that is written, 1 Thess. v. 3, destruction shall come upon the wicked as pains upon a woman in travail. So is it with those who are wicked men. When they think least of destruction to come upon them, and when are preaching peace to themselves, and are bigging1 their castles upon high that they think no evil shall come near them, then the wrath and anger of God it breaks out upon them and destroys them. The third com parison for showing the swiftness of the coming of the judgment of the wicked, it is in the Prov. i. 27, it is said thereof that their destruction cometh as a whirl wind, and ye know a whirlwind is a thing that comes

1 Building.

very suddenly. For presently before it there is a calm, and incontinent z after the calm there comes a blast of a whirlwind that blows away all light things where it comes. Even so does the wrath of God when it comes upon the wicked. They see nothing but a calm before, and then after their greatest calm incontinently z the whirlwind of the wrath of God comes, and blows them away root and branches.

Let our vsc of this be to learn to make use of the time which God gives unto us, for if the Lord's wrath come after such a manner upon His enemies, it is best for all to be looking their counts2 in time. Well's them that has all their counts2 laid and fitted 3 before the Lord come upon them to call them to account. He is a blessed soul who can learn wisdom from the foolishness of the five sleeping virgins, and so escapes the wrath of God that comes upon the wicked in the world. 0, but that be a sorrowful saying which that man in the gospel says, " Soul, take thy rest, for thou hast enough laid up for many years. Fool!" — is that well said? — "this night thy soul shall be taken from thee, and then whose shall all these things be?" The very time when he is proclaiming peace and ease to himself, aye, when thou art proclaiming rest every way to thyself, it may be that even then the Lord shall send a messenger to take thy soul from you as was done to Him. And what will all thy full barns and thy renewed confidence in the world that thou lippened4 so meikle5 unto, do to you then? Well's them who are prepared again the Lord come to

4 Trusted. s Much.

call upon them. They fear not His call when it comes. What if the Lord shall be pleased to send a trial upon this land, and upon us of this congregation who think they shall be most able to stand out against any trial? None shall be able to stand out against the trial as these who can say in effect that there is no new event come upon them but that which formerly they looked might be, and were preparing themselves for the same; who can say there they resolved to be content, and they are content to quit husband, wife, children, life, lands, and rents, and all for their Lord and for His cause? And so let every one take pains to read over the count of their old sins — the night-drinker for his drunkenness, the blasphemer of God's name for his blasphemy, and such as were anyways art and part bringing in a new worship in the Kirk of God in this land, who consented unto the five articles of Perth, &C.,1 and be humbled before God for them. If ye would have a lap of Christ's garment to cover you in the ill-day, if ye would be safe when the Lord comes against the sinners of Zion as an eagle, count for your old sins and be humbled for them and ye shall be safe.

Another thing that we have to mark in this compa rison is, What is it that leads the eagle to come against the prey? Nothing else but the smell of the prey.

1 In 1618, an Assembly at Perth formed of members chosen according to directions from court, passed the Five Articles, viz., kneeling at the sacra ment of the supper, private administration of baptism, private commu nicating, observance of holidays, and confirmation. These articles were afterwards, amidst much opposition, ratified by the Parliament held at Edinburgh, August 4, 1621. They were enforced with rigour. Ministers were threatened with deposition if they would not submit to them. See Bow's "History of the Kirk of Scotland," p. 318, &c.

What was it, think ye, that led Assyria to come against the people of God when they came? Was it the glory of God? No; it was nothing else but the love of the world and the things thereof, without any respect to God's glory. Our Saviour Christ says, Matt. xxiv. 28 : " Where the carcases are, thither will the eagles resort." Wherever there is a breakfast for the eagles, they will be there. Even so, wherever the enemies of the Kirk of God may get their vantage against the same, they will be there. It is a plain instinct of nature that leads the eagles to the prey, and hunger is enough to them to make them seek where the prey is. And the thing that leads the enemies of the Kirk of God to come against the Kirk is nothing else but the malice they have against the Kirk and the love of blood. They have such a greedy desire after it. And the Lord's Spirit tells of Nebuchad nezzar that was drunk with the blood of His people, and that he coveted after the same. We may thank the Lord for this that we know what it is that leads on the enemies of the Kirk to come against His Kirk, that it is not the Lord nor His glory. Is the end that they have before them, think ye, the Lord or His glory? No, no! say what they will. They will say the Divine Servicebook which our enemies stand for this day, as one of them imprudently has said of it, that it is a Divine book, and that there is more sound divinity therein nor1 in all the extemporal prayers of all the ministers, both in our neighbour land and in this land also. But let them say what they will, it is nothing but themselves and the filling of their fat bellies and the pleasures of the world

1 Thnn.

which they have been and are still seeking. It is a foolish thing for the enemies of the grace of God to say that man's free will it is a thing indifferent to choose or to refuse anything as it pleases, whether it be good or ill. Is the eagle's hunger a thing indifferent for the eagle to seek to have it stayed or not? No; it is natural for it to seek to have it stayed by the prey. They say there be three things that show this that the will of man is a thing indifferent. First, they say there is in man a thing which they call indifference to do good or to do ill at his pleasure. Second, they say that there is a conscience within those who are enemies to God as well as these have a conscience who are in favour with Him; but that conscience will not keep them in if so be they want grace. Third, they say they have the awe of the Lord in His Word to keep them from sin, and that will be a restraint to them. But there are other three which we may set against these, which are also in every man by nature, that sets them a work to do as ill from their con ception. First, there is the habit of natural corruption, that leads them to commit sin; for natural corruption, as they say, is not like a pirate, that comes out of the harbour, and it is a thing indifferent for it to go east or to go west, and so they go where they think they may best find their prey. Nay, natural corruption is not a thing indifferent, but it leads every man captive to the law of sin. Second, there is in every man the habit of acquired corruption, beside the natural corruption which is in all by nature. He has more sin added to that sin wherein he was born, and that leads him on to commit sin. Third, is an individual induration that is come upon wicked

men, whereby God has tied them in His righteous judg ment to sin and given them over to their own wicked heart, that whether they will or not by reason of that individual induration that is come upon them they maun I sin. Well's them that has their will guided by the grace of God, and not by another thing. See what it is that makes ye to stand for the cause of God, whether it be because there are thousands and multitudes upon Christ's side of it, and it would be hard with thee if thou dost otherways? That is a wrong motive, and it will not miss to fail thee if there come any trial. But that is a gracious freewill that resolves to stand in defence of the cause of God, and to stand by the same albeit there were no more upon Christ's side of it, that albeit all others should turn their backs upon Him, yet they will stand with Christ where He is.

What is the quarrel that this eagle has against the house of the Lord, and against His covenanted people, for it would be thought, Who should be free of straik 2 if so be that the Lord's people be not free of it? No; by the contrar,3 you know it is said, "Judgment must begin at the house of God;" and, Ezek. ix. 1, where those six men are sent out with slaughter weapons in their hands to slay all in the city save only those that were marked by the man with pennar 4 inkhorn, even Christ, they are commanded to begin at the Lord's sanctuary. Whenever wrath is a dealing,5 professors that have gone on in a wrong course they shall be sure to get the first dint 6 of it. And so think not with your-

1 Must. = Stroke. 3 On the contrary.

4 Pen-cas:?. s Being distributed. 6 Opportunity.

selves that a profession will save you when the ill days [come] . Now there be three ills in a bare profession that will rather hasten wrath upon men nor1 keep it off.

First. Where there is a profession of religion there is more light, nor z where there is not a profession; at least, there should be more light, and that makes the wrath to come sooner, and to light fiercer and hotter upon those who have it, nor T upon those who have no profession at all. The more profession and the greater light thou hast, if so be that thou go against the same, thou shalt get the more straikes,2 and the greater wrath shall light upon you. Of all the enemies [he] that is an house enemy, ye know he is the worst enemy. A minister that goes with a gown upon him, and bears a Bible about with him, if so be that he be false, he is the worst enemy that the Kirk of Christ has. You know who it was that sold Christ our Lord. Even Judas who was one of His disciples, and when he was betraying Him he seemed to be very kind to Him, for even then he would kiss Him, and our Lord says to him, " Friend, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" and it is very ordinary to be so. The worst enemies that the Kirk of Christ has in our neighbour kingdom are those that are called the heads of the Kirk, and the reverend fathers in God, Canterbury^ and those of that kind. Those are the greatest enemies that Christ and our Father and His have, and it is they who betray Him and His cause.

Another ill that comes of a profession is ; ye know the

1 Than. Strokes.

3 Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1641.