100 CHRIST'S ,AItiYlt,i God had fent all, then hee would fend no more. You will fay , how can this be a fgne ? when God bath fent all that he meanes to fend : who can tell that ? IAnfwer, Beloved, God may thew it plainly, thatGod bath tent even all that he meanes to fend ; when he blocks up the way, that more cannot be fuffered to come to us, than thofe that are come, when fuch courfes are laid , that ne're a faithful' one more is permitted to enter. When Gods faith- full ones are forbidden to preach, as Paul (ayes, They forbid us to preach. When people will have Paf//ixr's and not ,3ere- miah's. When there be Laws made, Leókyeefpeake no more in his name. When they fay tot- he-Seers, fee not, and to the Prophets prophefie not. When the good Levites are made to goe away, and to leave their owne places,as it was in 3e- reboams time,z Chron. z z .14. Again,when the thadows wax long, it is a fgne that the Sun is going down. The reafon why God will take away all his Starres when matters are come to this pale, is, Fitft, becaufe it is but loft labour, and Coft caft away, to ttiminilter Phyfick to fuch patients whole difeafes are defpe -' rate. My Brethren, God isa wife Phifician, and he knows whom he bath to deale with : when hee fees men rend in pieces his Prefcripts, and pull of his platters, and vomit up his wholfome potions,that he gives them for their good; bee gives them up for gone, hee will be their Phyfician no lon- ger. This was the reafon why God did leave. Iudah , Thy .di feafe is incurable, J er.30. t.2. Secondly,becaute it is not onely loft labour, but it is worfe than lott,to let fuch people have the Minifterie of the word: it makes them much worfe. Why fhould yee bee fmitten- -may more ? yee will revolt more and more, Efa. a .5'. why fhould yee be preacbt to any more s` yee will,&c. Thirdly, becaufe if men will needs goe on in their finnes, God would rather they fhould do fo without bis Word;than with it : as a husbandman, if the ground be ftarke barren, he would rather never ploughit, and fow it -with feed, than to haveit barren after the feed Town; when - people will needs" be
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