CHAP.I. upon the Epistle of JAM Ji s. Vlitts.r. apeople whom.God for along till?e h~d kept tog~ther, ~nder the wings of provtdence. That whtc-h 18 notable m then fcattet- • • I mg, IS, ~ r. !hefeverit] ofG~~s J u/i.ice : '(he t~el.ve tribes are fcattered, hts own people : ~c1s til refhng on any pnvtledges, when Gods Jfrael may be made fl:rangers. Jfrael was all for LibertY, there– fore God faith, I willfeed them ·M aLamb in a large place, Hof. 4· 16. God would give tflem liberty and room enough; As a lamb out of the fold goeth up and down bleating in the forrefi, or wil– dernes,without comfort and companion,in the midfi of wolves and rhe beafis of the defart; liberty enough, but danger enough ! So .God wouldfi cafl: them ont of the fold, and they iliould live a Jew here, and a Jew there, thinly fcattered anddifperfed throughout rl the Countries among a people who{e language they underfiood not, .and as alamb in the midfi ef the beafis of ptey. Oh conftder the feverity of Gods jullice ; certainly 'tis a great fin that maketh alovmg Father call a Childe out of doors: Sin is always driving a– way and calling out ; it dr.Qve the Angels QUt ·of Heaven, Ad.Jlm out ofParadife, and Cain out ofthe Ch~rch, Gen• 4· v~rf. 12,16. and che childr~n ofGod out of their dwellings; letein. 9· 19. Our dwellings have caft PtS out. Your ho~ufes will be weary of you when you dilhonour God in them, and you will be driven from . thofe comforts which you abu.fe to excefs : riot cloth but make way for rapme: You !hall fee in the Gxthof Amos, when ·they Wt"re at eafe in Sion,they would proihcute Da'vids mufick to their fpertive– nefs-and common banquets. Amos 6.). They invent to themfe/vn i'ilftruments of muflclz lik.! David: But fot this God threareneth to fcatter them, and to remove them from their houfes of luxury and pleaft1re ; and when they were driven to the land of a fl:ranger, .they wete ferved in their own kinde, the Babylonians wouldhaveTemple-mufick_, 'Pf(f/,.137· 3• Nowletmhavermeof jour· Hebrewfongs: Nothing ~u't an holy fong would fetve their profane jport. And fo in all fuch like cafes, wh~n we are weary of God in our houfes·and families,our houfes are weary of us; Davids houfe was out of order, and theh he was forced to fly from it, 2 Sam.t;. Oh then,when you walk in the mieUl ofyour comforts, your frately dwellings and houfes ofpomp and pleafure, be not of N ehu.chadne:G:Gars fpirit,when ~e walked in the palace of Bflbylon, andfald, Dan. 4· 3~· Is n~t this great .Ba~~~ ~i~~ I have bHi~td? -' Pn e 7
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