THe Divine Providence is not more signally discovered in governing the Motions of the Clouds , than it is in disposing and ordering the Spirits and Motions of the Ministers of the Gospel , who in a mystical sense are fruitful Clouds to dispence the showers of Gospel-Blessings to the World . The Motion of the Clouds is not spontaneous , but they move as they are moved by the winds ; neither can Gospel-Ministers chuse their own Stations , and govern their own Motions , but must go when and where the Spirit and Providence of God directs and guides them ; as will evidently appear in that dangerous Voyage to Jerusalem in which the Apostle was at this time ingaged ; Acts 20.22 . And now behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem : [ bound in the Spirit ] alluding to the watery vapours which are bound up in Clouds , and conveyed according to the motion of the Winds : This Journey was full of danger ; Paul foresaw his business was not only to plant the Gospel at Jerusalem with his Doctrine , but to water it also with his blood ; but so effectually was his Will determined by the Will of God , that he chearfully complies with his duty therein , whatsoever difficulties and dangers did attend it .

And indeed it was his great advantage , that the Will of God was so plainly and convincingly revealed to him touching this matter ; for no sooner did he imploy himself to obey this Call of God , but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it .

The first Rub he met in his way , was from the Disciples of Tyre , who pretending to speak by the Spirit , said unto Paul , that he should not go up to Jerusalem , Acts 21.4 . the Lord by this trying the Spirit of his Apostle much , as he did the young Prophet coming from Judea to Bethel , 1 Kings 13.18 . but not with like success .

His next discouragement was at Caesarea , where Agabus ( whom Dorotheus affirms to be of the seventy two Disciples , and had before prophesied of the Famine in the Reign of Claudius , which accordingly came to pass ) takes Paul's Girdle , and binding his own hands and feet with it , said , Thus saith the Holy Ghost , so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle , and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles , ver. 11. And surely he was not ignorant what he must expect when ever he should fall into their hands ; yet neither could this affright him from his duty .

But then , last of all , he meeteth with the sorest tryal from his dearest friends , who fell upon him with passionate entreaties , and many tears , beseeching him to decline that Journey : O they could not give up such a Minister as Paul was ! This even melted him down , and almost brake his heart ; which yet was easier to do , than to turn him out of the path of Obedience : Where by the way we may note two things ;

First , That Divine Precept , not Providence , is to rule out our way of duty .

Secondly , That no hinderances or discouragements whatsoever will justifie our neglect of a known duty .

All these Rubs he passes over , all these discouragements he overcame with this Heroick and truly Christian resolution in the Text ; What mean ye to weep , and to break my heart ? for I am ready not to be bound only , but also to die at Jerusalem , for the Name of the Lord Jesus .

In which words we have : 1. A loving and gentle rebuke . 2. A quieting and calming Argument .

First , He lovingly and gently rebukes their fond and inordinate sorrow for his departure , in these words , What mean ye to weep , and break my heart ? as if he should say , What mean these passionate Entreaties , and tempting Tears ? to what purpose is all this a-do ? they are but so many Snares of Satan to turn my heart out of the way of Obedience : You do as much as in you lies to break my heart ; let there be no more of this , I beseech you .

Secondly , He labours to Charm their unruly passions with a very quieting and calming Argument ; For I am ready , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parate habee . I am prepared and fitted for the greatest sufferings which shall befall me in the pursuit of my duty , be it a Prison , or be it Death , I am provided for either ; Liberty is dear , and Life much dearer , but Christ is dearer than either .

But what was there in all this to satisfie them whose trouble it was to see him so forward ? let the words be considered , and we shall find divers things in them to satisfie and quiet their hearts , and make them willing to give him up .

First , I am ready , that is , God hath fitted and prepared my heart for the greatest Sufferings ; this is the work of God ; flesh and blood would never be brought to this , were not all its interests and inclinations subdued and over-ruled by the Spirit of God : What do ye therefore in all this but work against the Design of God , who hath fitted and prepared my heart for this service ?

Secondly , I am ready , that is , my will and resolution stands in a full bent , my heart is fixed , you cannot therefore study to do me a greater injury , than to discompose and disorder my heart again , by casting such temptations as these in my way , to cause the flesh to rebel , and the Enemy that is within to renew his opposition .

Thirdly , I am ready , that is , my heart is so fixed to follow the Call of God whatever shall befall me , that all your tears and entreaties to the contrary are but cast away , they cannot alter my fixed purpose , you had as good be quiet , and chearfully resign me to the Will of God .

Thus you see the Equipage and preparation of Paul's Spirit to receive both Bonds and Death for Christ at Jerusalem ; this made him victorious over the temptations of Friends , and the malice and cruelty of his Enemies ; by this readiness and preparation of his mind he was carried through all , and inabled to finish his course with joy . From hence the Observation is ;

That it is a blessed and excellent thing for the people of God to be prepared , Doct. and ready for the hardest services , and worst Sufferings to which the Lord may call them .

This is that which every gracious heart is reaching after , praying and striving to obtain , but ah how few attain it ? Certainly there are not many among the multitude of Professors of this Generation , that can say as Paul here did , I am ready to be bound , or to die for Christ .

THe Mercies and Compassions of God over his people are exceeding great and tender , Psal. 103.14 . Like as a Father pitieth his Children , so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; he delights not in afflicting and grieving them , Lam. 3.33 . He doth not afflict willingly , nor grieve the Children of men . The Scripture intimates to us a seeming Conflict betwixt the Justice and Mercy of God , when he is about to deliver up his people into their Enemies hands , Hosea 11.8 , 9. How shall I give thee up Ephraim ? How shall I deliver thee Israel ? How shall I make thee as Adma ? How shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me , my repentings are kindled together : Which shews us with what reluctance and great unwillingness the Lord goes about such work as this : the work of Judgment is his strange work ; it pleases him better to exercise the milder Attribute of Mercy towards his Children . Hence we find when he is preparing to execute his Judgments , that he delays the execution as long as the honour of his Name and safety of his people will permit , Jer. 44.22 . He bears till he can bear no longer ; he often turns away his wrath from them , Psal. 78.38 , 39. He tryes them by lesser Judgments , and gentler Corrections , to prevent greater , Amos 4.6 . When his people are humbled under the threatnings of his wrath , his heart is melted into compassion to them , Jer. 31.17 , 20. And when ever his Mercy prevails against Judgment , it is with joy and triumph , Jam. 2.13 . Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment .

For he feels his own tender compassions yerning over them ; he foreseeth , and is no way willing to gratifie the insulting pride of his and their Enemies , Deut. 32.26 , 27. I said I would scatter them into corners , I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men , were it not that I feared the wrath of the Enemy , lest their Adversaries should behave themselves strangely , &c.

Yet all this notwithstanding , it often falls out by the provocations of his Sons and Daughters , that the Lord gives them up into the hands of their Enemies , for the correction of their evils , and the manifestation of his own glory . Seneca ( though a Heathen ) could say , that God loves his people with a Masculine love , not with a Womanish Indulgence and Tenderness : If need require , they shall be in heaviness through manifold temptations , 1 Pet. 1.6 . He had rather their hearts should be heavy under adversity , than vain and careless under prosperity ; the choicest Spirits have been exercised with the sharpest sufferings , and those that now shine as Stars in Heaven , have been trod under foot as Dung on the Earth , 1 Cor. 4.11 . Vnto this present hour we both hunger and thirst , and are naked and buffeted , and have no certain dwelling places , and labour , working with our hands ; being reviled we bless , being persecuted we suffer it , being defamed we entreat ; we are made as the filth of the world , and the off-scouring of all things unto this day . The eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews is a Compendium of the various and grievous sufferings of the Primitive Saints : They were tortured , they were sawn asunder , were tempted , were slain with the Sword , they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins , being afflicted , destitute , tormented , of whom the world was not worthy ; they wandred in Desarts , and in Mountains , in Dens and Caves of the Earth . And since the Earth had dried up those Rivers of precious blood , whereof the Sacred Records make mention , what Seas of Christian blood have since those days been shed by bloody Persecutors ? Histories inform us , that in the ten Primitive Persecutions , so many of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus have been slain , as that you may allow five thousand a day to every day in the whole Year . Those bloody Emperours sported themselves with the deaths of Gods dearest Saints ; many precious Christians were burnt by night at Rome , to serve as Torches to light their Enemies in their passage through the Streets ; eight hundred thousand Martyrs are mentioned within the space of thirty Years , since the Jesuits arose out of the Bottomless Pit .

To what grievous Sufferings did the Lord give up those precious Servants of Christ , the Waldenses and Albigenses , who received the Light of Reformation about the Year 1260. when the Fogs of Antichristian Darkness had overspread the Earth ; a People sound in Judgment , as appears by their Letters , Catechismes , and Confessions which are extant ; a People of a simple , plain , and inoffensive behaviour ; yet with what fury and rage did that impious Pope Pius prosecute them to destruction ? driving them into the Woods and Mountains , except the Aged and Children that could not flee , who were murdered in the way : Some famished in the Caves and Clefts of the Rocks , others endured the Rack for eight hours together ; some beaten with Iron Rods , others thrown from the tops of high Towers , and broken to pieces .

What bloody Shambles and Slaughter-houses have France , Ireland , and England been made by Popish cruelty ? More might be related out of each Story , than a tender-hearted Reader is able to bear the rehearsal of : But what God hath done , he may do again ; we are not better than our Fathers , dismal Clouds of indignation are gathering over our heads , charged with double destruction , should the Lord please to make them break upon us ; we cannot imagine the rage of Satan to be abated , now that his Kingdom hastens to its period , Rev. 12.12 . nor are his Instruments grown less cruel and skilful to destroy . The Land indeed hath enjoyed a long rest , and this Generation is acquainted with little more of Martyrdom , than what the Histories of former times inform us of : but yet let no man befool himself with a groundless expectation of a continuing tranquillity . Augustin thinks that the Bloody Sweat which over-ran the Body of Christ in the Garden , signified the sharp and grievous Sufferings which in his Mystical Body he should afterwards endure ; and indeed it is a truth , that these are also called the Remains of Christs Sufferings , Col. 1.24 . His Personal Sufferings were indeed compleated at his Resurrection , that Cup was full to the brim , to which no drop of Suffering can be added ; but his Sufferings in his Mystical Body are not yet full ; by his Personal Sufferings he fully satisfied the wrath of God , but the Sufferings of his People have not yet satisfied the wrath of men ; though Millions of precious Saints have shed their blood for Christ , whose Souls are now crying under the Altar , How long Lord ! how long ! Yet there are many more coming on behind in the same Path of Persecution , and much Christian Blood must yet be shed before the Mystery of God be finished ; and notwithstanding this Lucid Interval , the Clouds seem to be returning again after the Rain . Thus you see to what grievous Sufferings the merciful God hath sometimes called his dearest People .

Now God may be said to call forth his People to suffer , when he so hedgeth them in by Providence , that there is no way to escape suffering , but by sinning ; whatsoever Providence labours with such a Dilemma as this , is a plain signification of Gods Will to us in that case . We may not now expect Extraordinary Calls to Suffering-work , as some of the Saints had of old , Gen. 22.2 . Acts 9.16 . but when our way is so shut up by Providence , that we cannot avoid Suffering , but by stepping over the Hedge of the Command , God will have us look upon that Exigence as his Call to suffer : And if the Reasons be demanded , why the Lord who is so inclined to Mercy , doth so often hedge in his own People by his Providence in a suffering Path ; let us know , that in so doing he doth both 1. Illustrate his own Glory . And 2. Promote his Peoples happiness .

First , Hereby the most Wise God doth illustrate the glory of his own Name , clearing up the righteousness of his ways by the sufferings of his own people : By this the world shall see that how well soever he loves them , he will not indulge or patronize their sins ; if they will be so disingenuous to abuse his favours , he will be so just to make them suffer for their sins , and by those very Sufferings will provide for his own glory , which was by them Clouded in the eyes of the world . He hates not sin a jot the less because it is found in his own people , Amos 3.2 . and though for the magnifying of his Mercy he will pardon their sins , yet for the clearing of his Righteousness he will take vengeance upon their inventions , Psal. 99.8 .

Moreover , by exposing his people to such grievous sufferings , he gives a fit opportunity to manifest the glory of his Power in their support , and of his wisdom in the marvellous ways of their escape and deliverance . It is one of the greatest wonders in the world how the Church subsists under such fierce and frequent assaults as are made upon it by its Enemies : I will turn aside ( said Moses ) and see this great sight , why the Bush is not consumed , Exod. 3.3 . That Flaming Bush was the lively Emblem of the oppressed Church in Egypt , the crackling Flames noted the heat of their Persecution , the remaining of the Bush unconsumed in the Flames , signified the wonderful Power of God in their preservation ; no People are so priviledged , so protected , so delivered , as the people of God ; much less opposition than hath been made against the Church , hath overturned and utterly destroyed the mighty Monarchies of the world .

And no less admirable is the Wisdom of God in frustrating and defeating the most deep and desperate Designs of Hell against his poor people . Now you may see the most wise God going beyond a malicious and subtil Devil , overturning in a moment the deep-laid Designs and Contrivances of many years , and that at the very birth and point of Execution , Hest. 6.1 . snaring the wicked in the works of their own hands , making their own tongues to fall upon them , working out such marvellous Salvations with his own hand , as fills them with astonishment and wonder : Psal. 126.7 . When the Lord turned back the Captivity of Sion , we were like them that dreamed .

Secondly , As God provides for his own glory by the sufferings and troubles of his people : so he advanceth their happiness , and greatly promotes their Interest thereby .

For first , These troubles are ordered as so many occasions and means to mortifie the Corruptions that are in their hearts ; there are rank Weeds springing up in the best Soil , which need such Winter weather to rot them ; and certainly if we reckon Humility , Heavenly-mindedness , contempt of the World , and longing desires after Heaven , to be the real interest and advantage of the Church ; then 't is evident nothing so much promotes their Interest as a suffering condition doth ; adversity kills those corruptions which prosperity bred .

Secondly , By these tryals their sincerity is cleared , to the joy and satisfaction of their own hearts ; many a doubt and fear which had long intangled and perplexed them is removed and answered : when adversity hath given them proof and tryal of their own hearts , one sharp tryal wherein God helps us to be faithful , will do more to satisfie our fears , and resolve our doubts , than all the Sermons that ever we heard in our lives could do .

Thirdly , These sufferings and tryals of the Church are ordained to free it of abundance of Hypocrites , which were its reproaches as well as burthen , Amos 9.9 , 10. Affliction is a Furnace to separate the Dross from the more pure and noble Gold . Multitudes of Hypocrites , like Flies in a hot Summer , are generated by the Churches prosperity ; but this Winter weather kills them ; many Gaudy Professors grow within the inclosure of the Church , like beautiful Flowers in the Field , where they stand , during its peace and prosperity , in the pride and bravery of their gifts and professions ; but the wind passeth over them , and they are gone , and their places shall know them no more ; to allude to that in Psal. 103.16 . Thunder and Lightning is very terrible weather , but exceeding useful to purifie and cleanse the Air.

Fourthly , The Churches sufferings are ordered and sanctified , to endear them each to other . Times of common suffering are times of Reconciliation , and greater endearments among the people of God , never more endeared , than when most persecuted ; never more united , than when most scattered : Mal. 3.17 . Then they that feared the Lord , spake often one to another . Certainly there is something in our Fellowship in the same sufferings that is endearing and engaging ; but there is much more in the discoveries that Persecution makes of the sincerity of our hearts , which , it may be , was before entertained with jealousie , and there is yet more than all this in the reproofs of the Rod , whereby they are humbled for their pride , wantonness ; and bitterness of their spirits each to other , and made to cry in the sense of these transgressions , as Psal. 70.8 . Remember not against us former iniquities .

AS Paul had many clear Premonitions and fore-notices of the sufferings that should befall him at Jerusalem , that he might not be surprized by them when they came ; so it is usual with God ( though not in such an immediate and extraordinary manner ) to admonish the world , and especially his own people , of great tryals and sufferings before hand , Amos 3.7 . Surely the Lord will do nothing , but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the Prophets .

Thus when he was about to bring the Flood upon the World , he gave one hundred and twenty years warning of it before it came , Gen. 6.3 . And when he was to destroy Sodom , he saith , Gen. 18.17 . Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do ? And the like discovery he made about the same Judgment to Lot , Gen. 19.12 , 13 , 14. So when the Captivity of the Jews was nigh at hand , the people had many forewarnings of it ; God forewarned them both Ministerially and Providentially ; he warned them by the Prophets , Ezek. 3.17 . Hear the word of my mouth , and give them warning from me . And when the time drew nigh to execute the Judgment determined upon Jerusalem , and the Temple , how plainly did Christ foretell them of it ? Luke 19.43 , 44. Thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee , and compass thee round , and keep thee in on every side , and shall lay thee even with the ground , and thy Children within thee .

And when the Storm was just ready to fall , Josephus de bello Jud. lib. 7. cap. 2. Audita major humanae vox , excedere Deos , simul ingens motus excedentium . Tacitus lib. 21. their own Historian tells us a Voice was heard in the Temple , saying , Migremus hinc , Let us go hence : Which Voice Tacitus also mentions in his Annals , affirming it to be more than a Humane Voice , telling them God was departing , and that it was accompanied with a rushing noise , as of persons going out ; these were extraordinary warnings . The like Signs have been given to divers other Nations , by dreadful Eclipses of the Heavenly Bodies , Portentous Comets , Earthquakes , and other Signs of Judgment .

Now though we have no ground to expect such extraordinary warnings ; yet we have the most apparent and certain signs of approaching calamities , after which if they surprize us , the fault must lie in our own inexcusable negligence ; for we have a standing Rule to govern our selves in this matter , and that is this : When the same sins are found in one Nation , which have brought down the wrath of God upon another Nation , it is an evident sign of Judgment at the door ; for God is unchangeable , just and holy , and will not favour that in one people which he hath punished in another , nor bless that in one Age which he hath cursed in another . Upon this very ground it was that the Apostle warned the Corinthians by the example of the Israelites , whose sins had ruined them in the Wilderness , 1 Cor. 10.6 . Now these things were our examples , to the intent we should not lust after evil things , as they also lusted : as if he should say , look upon those dead bodies which are as it were cast up upon the Scripture shore for a warning to you ; follow not the same course , lest you meet in the same curse ; if you tread the same paths , expect the same punishment ; God is as righteous now as he was then , he hates , and will punish sin in you , as much as he did in them .

Let us therefore consider what these provocations were , that hastened the wrath of God upon his own Israel , a people that were nigh and dear unto him , a people upon whom he spent as much of the riches of his patience , as upon any people in the world ; that so we may reckon whereabout we are at this day , and what is like to be the lot of this sinful and provoking Generation , and we shall find by the consent of all the Prophets , that these sins were the immediate forerunners and proper causes of their overthrow .

First , The great corruption of Gods worship among them kindled his wrath , and hastened their ruine , Psal. 106.39 , 40 , 41 , 42. They were defiled with their own works , and went a whoring with their own inventions ; therefore was the wrath of God kindled against his people , insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance , and he gave them into the hand of the Heathen , and they that hated them ruled over them , their Enemies also oppressed them , and they were brought into subjection under their hand . They that will not bear the Golden Yoke of Christ , shall be galled with the Iron Yoke of men : nothing more provokes the anger of God , than the adulterating of his worship ; a man will bear with a thousand infirmities in the Wife of his Bosom , but unfaithfulness in the Marriage Covenant breaks his heart : after the manner of men so abused and grieved the Lord expresseth himself , Ezek. 6.9 . I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me , and with their eyes that go a whoring after their Idols . Men cannot invent a surer and speedier way to their own ruine , than to bring their own inventions into Gods worship .

Secondly , Incorrigible obstinacy and impenitency under gentler stroaks and lesser Judgments , makes way for utter ruine and desolation , Amos 4 from the 6. to the 12th ver. Scarcity , Mildews , Pestilence and Sword had been tryed upon them , but without effect ; for the remnant that escaped those Judgments ( although pluckt as so many Brands out of the Fire , in which their fellow-sinners perished ) were not reformed by those gentler & moderated Judgments .

Thirdly , Stupidity , and senslesness of Gods hand , and the tokens of his anger , was a provoking cause , and forerunning of their National desolation ; they neither saw the hand of God when it was lifted up , nor humbled themselves under it when it was laid on ; the hand of God is then said to be lifted up , when the Providences of God prepare and posture themselves for our affliction ; when the Clouds of Judgment gather over our heads , and grow blacker and blacker , as theirs did upon them , and do upon us at this day , but they took no notice of it , Isa. 26.11 . Lord , when thy hand is lifted up , they will not see ; and ( which is the height of stupidity ) they all remain sensless and regardless when the Hand of God was laid upon them , Isa. 24.25 . Who gave Jacob for a spoil , and Israel to the robbers ? did not the Lord ? he against whom we have sinned , for they would not walk in his ways , neither were they obedient to his Law ; therefore he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger , and the strength of Battel , and it hath set him on fire round about , and he knew not ; and it burned him , yet he laid it not to heart . O prodigious sottishness ! it was not some small drops of Gods anger , but the fury of his anger , not some lighter skirmish of his Judgments with them , but the strength of Battel ; it was not some particular stroaks upon single persons , or families , but it set him on fire round about , a general Conflagration ; yet all this would not awaken them .

Fourthly , The persecution of Gods faithful Ministers and People was another sin that procured , and a sign that foretold the destruction of their Nation , 2 Chron. 36.15 , 16. And the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers , rising up betimes and sending , because he had compassion on his people , and on his dwelling place ; but they mocked the Messengers of God , and despised his Words , and misused his Prophets , until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people , till there was no remedy . There were also a number of upright Souls among them , who desired to to worship God according to his own prescription ; but a Snare was laid for them in Mispah , and a Net spread for them upon Tabor , Hos. 5.1 . and this hastened Judgment towards them : Mispah and Tabor , were places lying in the way betwixt Samaria and Jerusalem , where the true worship of God was ; and in those places Spies were set by the Priests to observe and inform against them , so that it became very hazardous to attend the pure and incorrupt worship of God , which quickly hastened on their ruine .

Fifthly , The removal of godly and useful men by death in more than ordinary hast , was to them a sign of desolation at hand , Isa. 57.1 . The righteous perisheth , and no man layeth it to heart , and merciful men are taken away , none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come . In this case God acts towards his people , as the Husbandman in a catching Harvest doth by his Corn , he hurries it with a shuffling hast into the Barn , when he sees a Storm coming ; or as a careful Father with his Sons that are abroad at School , who sends his horses to fetch them home speedily when he hears the Plague is begun in the place : upon this ground the Prophet Amos bewails himself , Amos 7.1 . Woe is me , for I am as when they have gathered the Summer fruits , as the Grape gleanings of the Vintage , there is no Cluster to eat : my Soul desired the first ripe fruit ; q. d. Alas , alas , what miserable days are at hand ! what miseries must I expect to see ! the pleasant Clusters ( i. e. ) the Societies of the Saints are gathered away by the hand of death ; there are but few that remain , here and there a single Saint , like Grapes after the Vintage is done , two or three upon the outmost branches .