dignation? Is there any created Mountain, but fome Floods of the Time will cover? therefore it is Folly and Madnefs to forfake this Rock that is ftill above the Floods; be is mightier than the Noife of many Waters. It may reprove our Unbelief, we change our Faith according to the Difpenfation, our Faith ebbs and flows as the Tide of his Providence, and thus we are as Stick: fleeting in the Water, toffed up an down; but would ye be established as Mount Sion? Would ye be unmoveable in the midft of great Waters, that they shall not come near unto you? Ther, by all Means get upon this Rock, that a bides unmoved in the midst of the Waves, tho' they should beat on it, and the Wind blow, yet it is Proof of all Tempeft; all Things might be driven up and down about you with the Lord's Difpenfation, but ye fhould abide the fame, and might look round about you on the troubled Sea of Mens Minds, of Lands and Estates. If you come here, ye may make Ship-wreck, but ye fhall not drown, tho' ye loose the Creature's Comfort and Defence, yet ye are on your Rock, which is established before the Rocks and Mountains; you may be fure of Salvation, he that made the Rocks and Winds and Seas, is your Rock.

His Work is perfect] As he doth not trouble himself when all is troubled about him, fo be keeps bim alfo in perfect Peace, whofe Mind is ftayed on bim; fo alfo what he doth among Men, tho' it cannot pafs without Man's Cenfure, yet it is in itself perfect, complete, without Spot or Defect. What is the Subject of all Mens Questions, Doubts, Complaints, Cenfures, Expoftulations and fuch like, of which the World is full?

"Tis fome one Work of God or other; there is no Work of his Providence, but fome Man finds a Fault in it, and would be at the mending of it. Neque Deus. cumpluit, omnibus placet, if he give Rain he displeases many, if he withhold it again, we are as little pleafed The Reason of all this Mifconftruction is, we look on his Work by Parcels, and ke it not whole and intire, fo it is perect, and cannot be made better. His Vorks are perfect, in Relation to the Beginning and Original of them, his own everlofting Purpofe; Men often bring torth Works by guess, by their Purpose, fo no Wonder it answer not their Desire; but known to him are all his Works from the Beginning, and fo he doth nothing in Time, but what was his everlasting Pleafure; often we purpose well, and refolve perfectly, but our Practice is a Criple, Execution of it is maimed and imperfect; but all his Works are carved out, and done juft as he designed them, without the leaft Alteration; and, if it had not been well, would he have thought on it fo, and refolved it before Hand? His Works are perfect, in Relation to the End to which he appointed them. it may be it is not perfect in itself, a blind Eye is not fo perfect as a feeing Eye; nay, but in Relation to the Glory of his Name, who hath a Purpose to declare his Power by reftoring that Sight, it is as perfect. And in this Senfe, ali the Imperfection of the Creatures and Creation, all of them are perfect Works, for they accomplish the End wherefore they were fent; and fo the Night declares his Namie, and utters a Speech as well as the Day, the Winter as the Summer, the Wilderness as the fruitful Field; for what is the Perfection of the Creature, but in as far as it accomplishes bis

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HERE are none can behold their | own Vileness as it is, but in the Sight of God's glorious Holiness: Sin is Darkness, and neither fees itfelf, nor any Thing else, therefore muft his Light fhine to discover this Darkness. If we abide within ourselves, and Men like ourfelves, we cannot wifely judge ourfelves; our dim Sparkle will not make all the Imperfections and Spots appear; but, if Men would come forth in the Prefence of his Majefty, who turns Darkness into Light, and before whom Hell is naked, O how bafe and vile would they appear in their own Eyes? Is it any Wonder that the Multitude of you fee not yourselves, when holy Ifaiah and Job had this Leffon to learn? Ifaiah gets a Difcovery of his own Unclean nefs in the Sight of God's glorious Holihefs, Chap, vi. 5. which I think made all his former Light Darknefs; he cryes out unclean, as if he had never known it before; and fo Job, Since I saw thee I abbored myself in Duft and Afbes. Ye hear much of him, and it doth not abase you; but if ye faw him, ye would

not abide yourselves, you would prefer the Duft you trade on to yourselves. Ye who know moft, there is a Myftery of Iniquity in your Hearts, that is not yet difcerned, ye are but yet in the Coaft of that Bottomlefs Sea of Abomination and Vilenefs. Among all the Aggra vations of Sin, nothing doth so demonftrate the Folly, yea the Madness of it, as the Perfection, Goodness, and abfolute Unfpotedness of God. 'Tis this that takes away all Pretence of Excufe, and leaves the famen nothing, no Place to hide its Confufion and Nakedness and Shame into; and therefore is it that Mofes, when he would convince this People of their Ways, and make them inexcufable, he draws the Paralel of God's Ways and their Ways, declares what God is, how abfolutely perfect in himself, and in his Works, and had given no Cause of Provocation to them to depart from him: And then, how odious muft their departing be? When both are painted on a Board before their Eyes; it makes Sin become exceeding finful. When the Lord would pierce the Hearts of his People, and inRrr

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grave a Challenge with the Point of an Diamond, he ufeth this as his Pen, Have I been a Wilderness to Ifrael, a Land of Darkness? Why Say my People, we are Lords, we will come no more to thee? Jer. H. 31. What Iniquity bave your Fathers found in me, that they are gone from me, and walked after Vanity? Jer. ii. 5.

There are two Things in Sin that exceedingly abuse the Creature, the Iniquity of it, and Folly and Madness of it. "Tis contrary to all Equity and Reafon to depart from him that hath made us, and given us a Law, to whom we are by fo many Obligations tied: But what is the Folly and Madness of it, to depart from the Fountain of living Waters, and dig broken Cisterns that can bold none? Verie 13. This is a Thing that the Heavens may be aftonished at; and, if the Earth had Senfe to understand fuch a Thing, the whole Fabrick of it would tremble for Horror at fuch Madness and Folly of reasonable Souls; and this Evil hath two Evils in it, we forfake Life, and love Death, go from him, and choose Vanity. "Tis great Iniquity to depart without an Offence on his Part; he may appeal to all our Confciences, and let them fit down and examine his Way moft narrowly, What Iniquity bave ye found in me? what Caufe have ye to 'leave me? But when withal he is a living Fountain, he is our Glory, he is a fruitful Land, a Land of Light, our Ornament and Attire, in a Word, our Life and our Confolation, our Happiness and our Beauty; what Word fhall be found, to express the extreme Madness of Men to depart from fuch an One, and change their Glory into that which doth not profit? If either he were not a Fountain of living Waters, or if there were

any Fountain befide, that could yield Water to fatisfy the unfatiable Defires of Men, it were more excufable; but what Shadow fhall be found to cover fuch an Iniquity, that is both infinite Sin, and incomparable Lofs? 'Tis the Scripture's Stile given to natural Men, Fools and Simple; all Sin hath Folly in it, but the People of God's departing from him hath Extremity of Folly in it, befide Iniquity, because they do embrace a Dung-hill inftead of a Throne, they make the made ft Exchange that can be imagined, Glory for Shame, Life for Death, at leaft, Confolation and Peace, for Vanity and Vexation and Anguish of Spirit.

If ye would be duly affected with the Sight of your own Evils, look upon them in this Confideration, and, in the View of God your large Portion, ye will be forced to confefs yourselves Beasts in bis Sight, Pfal. lxxiii. 22. Oh that Men would confider how good and blessed the Lord is, how he is alone, and nothing befide him in Heaven and Earth, all broken Cisterns, all Dung and unprofitable, all Vanity and Vexation, he only felf-fufficient, all others infufficient, and therefore a proportioned Good for our Neceffity and Defires; and I am fure ye would be constrained to cry out with David, Whom bave I in Heaven with thee, or in Earth befide thee? It is good for me to draw near to God. Ye would look on drawing near, and walking with him, and before him, not only as the moft reasonable Thing, but the beft Thing, most beautiful for you, most profitable for you, and all other Ways would be looked on as the Ways of Death.

His Work is perfect] The Lord looked, and behold all was good that was made: So it was at first, the Fa