9thly, Against all the proud and haughty ones of the earth, who carry themselves infolently towards others, as if they were not their fellow creatures, or worthy to be fet with the dogs of their flo k: All who pride themfelves in their riches, ornaments, wifdom, honours, or preferments, and are lifted up in their hearts with thefe or the like things; the Breaker will be upon you with his rod of iron: If. ii. 11. 12. "The lofty looks of man fhall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men fhall be bowed down, and the Lord alone fhall be exalted in that day: For the day of the Lord of hoits fhall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he fhall be brought low."

1othly, The Breaker will come up gainft magiftrates and elders that do injury to the Lord's vineyard, and fpoil his poor people of any rights or liberties that he allows them, whether as men or Chriftians. See to this purpose, If. iii. 14. 15. "The Lord will enter into judgement with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof;" that is, the great men that bear rule, and have authority in their hand; "for ye have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye, that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, faith the Lord of hofts?" Some that are guilty this way, may perhaps fcreen themselves with fome colour of law; but if any fuch be hearing me at prefent, I warn them, in the name of God, that their cob web pretences will ftand them in no ftead, when the Breaker takes the field against them.

11thly, The Breaker will come up against all fuch as declare their fin as Sodom, and who, inftead of taking with the reproofs of the word, the reproofs of confcience, the reproofs of providence, do harden their hearts as if they would bid heaven a defiance, and, like fwine, turn about and rent those who caft the jewel of a reproof before them; "He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, fhall fuddenly be deftroyed, and that without remedy. O! confider this, ye that forget God, left he tear you in pieces, when there is none to deliver you out of his hand."

And because all this and many more evils are prevalent and rampant in the day and generation wherein we live, we have reafon to fear, that fome breaking calamity or other is at the door; and let none fuch promise themselves impunity, for there is no efcaping the ftroke of this awful Breaker; no, no, whither will ye flee from his prefence? See an awful lecture to this purpofe, Amos ix. 2-6, &c.

That I may, if poffible, ftrike terror into the hearts of a wicked and ungodly world, that they may awake, and flee from

the

the wrath that is to come, I fall take notice of a few breaking engines that this mighty Breaker has at hand, wherewith he can reach a blow unto them.

1. He has a breaking arm. Who has an arm like God? "His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory" over all his enemies, and will do fo to the end of the world.

2. He has a breaking countenance. When he frowns upon a perfon, or when he lifts up his reconciled countenance upon a foul, he puts more gladnefs into it, than when corn and wine and oil did abound. But, Oh! when he cafts down his countenance, and frowns, who is able to bear it? Pfal. lxxx. 16. They perish (fays the church) at the rebuke of thy countenance;" and no wonder, for "the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke."

3. He has a breaking word; "Is not my word a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" Indeed his promifing word yields comfort, and is the favour of life: But, Oh! his threatening and condemning word, "it is a breaking hammer and a piercing two-edged fword," and by this fword of his mouth he will flay the wicked. "I have hewed them by the prophets, I have flain them by the words of my mouth."

4. He has a breaking voice. O!" Who can thunder with a voice like him? The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon." Oh, when this mighty Breaker fhall, at the last day, "defcend from heaven with a fhout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God," how will the wicked appear? they will fall "a-wailing becaufe of him, and begin to cry to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and cover them from the face of him that fitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."

5. He has a breaking wind; "With the breath of his lips fhall he flay the wicked," If. ix. 4. Pfal. xviii. 8. "There went up a fmoke out of his noftrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it:" And by this breath of the Almighty, hell-fire is kindled, which can never be quenched, If. xxx. 33. "Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a ftream of brimstone doth kindle it."

6. He has at hand breaking bolts of thunder, whereby he can ftrike the finner dead in a very moment; and if he let fly one of these bolts, who is able to withstand it, Pfal. lxxviii. 42. He fent hot thunder-bolts amongst the rebellious Egyptians.

7. He has many breaking armies of angels, ftars, and plagues

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at his command, whereby he can punish a rebellious church or nation If he but hifs for the fly, the locuft, the caterpillar, or fuch like inconfiderable infects, how fpeedily will they run to avenge his quarrel? as you fee in the cafe of Egypt. Thus, I fay, this mighty Breaker does not want abundance of engines; and, therefore, let not the rebellions exalt themfelves against him, but let the wicked forfake his way.

Ufe fourth of this doctrine may be by way of Confolation and Encouragement to believers, under all their difcouragements and difficulties, in their way through the wafte howling wildernefs. There is no dark or difficult ftep in the way that Chrift has not beaten and travelled before you; and therefore has fanctified it to you. I fhall inftance in a few particulars. .

ft, In general, here is comfort under a multiplicity of troubles and forrows, like fo many billows breaking upon you. The Breaker is come up before you in this road. Chrift" was a man of forrows and acquainted with grief: He was oppreffed and afflicted;" and therefore, in bearing the crofs, look unto him, and confider him,-left ye be wearied and faint in your minds: And know, for thy encouragement," that thy light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Chrift suffered, and then entered into his glory:" And fo thofe must the kingdom through many tribulations."

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2dly, And more particularly, here is comfort in cafe of temptation. Perhaps the roaring lion feems to be let loofe upon thee, his fiery darts of temptation fly thick about thy ears, and thou art ready to fay, One day or other I shall fall by the hand of Saul; here is comfort, the Breaker is come up before thee in this road, he was in all points tempted like as thou art. You fee, Matth. iv. what furious onfets he met with from the tempter; and had he the boldness to make an attempt upon the Leader and Commander, and fhould the foldiers, the followers, think it ftrange that he attacks them with the fame or the like temptations? And know, for thy comfort, that the enemy had his head bruifed, his kingdom and ftrength ruined, in the attempt he made upon Chrift; and he has alfo promised, Rom. xvi. 20. to tread Satan under thy feet: and therefore be of good comfort, and hold on thy way.

3dly, Haft thou a load of fin and guilt lying on thee, perhaps crying, "Mine iniquities have gone over mine head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me to bear?" Why, here is comfort, the Breaker has gone up before thee, he has the experience of this weight, for "the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all," and he has fuch a tender fympathy

with the poor foul that is groaning under a load of fin and guilt, that he bids you " caft thy burden upon the Lord, and he will fuftain thee. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft."

4thly. Here is comfort in cafe of defertion.

O, may fome poor foul fay, I am trysted with a hiding God, the Comforter that fhould relieve my foul is far from

me.

Here is relief, the Breaker is come up before thee in this way. What black and dark clouds were about him, when he cries, "My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me?" And such is his fympathy with his poor pople in that cafe, that he has left a promife for their encouragement, that though he may hide for a small moment, and in a little wrath, yet he will return with everlasting kindness. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

5thly, Here is comfort in cafe of reproach. Perhaps thy name is pierced through with the fharp arrows of reproach and calumny. Why, the Breaker has travelled this road, he was called "a blafphemer, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and finners," and charged with a correfpondence with Beelzebub: What worfe can be faid of thee? But, befides, let the world blacken thee as they will, the day comes when he will openly acknowledge and acquit thee, and thy name fhall be had in everlasting remembrance with him: he will one day bring forth "thy righteoufnefs as the light, and thy judgement as the noon-day."

6thly, Art thou deferted and betrayed, forfaken by friends. and familiar acquaintance, in whom thou trusted? Why, the Breaker has gone up before thee in this road alfo: he was be trayed by Judas, and forfaken by all his difciples, they "that did eat bread with him, lifted up their heel against him :" But he has told thee for thy encouragement, that, defert or betray thee who will, he will never do it, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;" flames of fire and floods of water fhall ne ver feparate thee and him.

7thly, Perhaps thou meeteft with hard juftice, yea, with the greatest injuftice from men. Well, the Breaker is come up before thee in this road alfo; for though he did no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet he was numbered amongst the vileft malefactors, and condemned as fuch: Although he fhowed all loyalty to the powers of the earth, and gave the moft fhining pattern and example of it; yet he was condemn. ed as an enemy to Cæfar, and fo he has fanctified that lot to his followers also.

8thly, Perhaps thou art afraid to look death, the king of ter

rors,

rors, in the face, thy heart and flefh fhrinks when thou thinkeft of going through the dark valley into an unknown world, a bottomlefs and awful eternity: Well, take courage, the Breaker is come up before thee, and, in his up-coming, he has plagued death, and deftroyed the grave, Hof. xiii. 14. fo that the very nature of it is, as it were, altered; that " cup of trembling given him of the Father," is turned into a cup of confolation, by his tafting of death for every man; and therefore, believer, thou mayeft lift up thy head, when thou feeft death making his approaches, and invading that tabernacle of clay, for the day of thy redemption draweth nigh.

Thus you fee there is no road thou canst travel in thy jour ney through this weary wildernefs, but the way is already paved and broken up by thy glorious Head and King: And the experience that Chrift had of these things unavoidably brings along these two things with it.

1. A tender fympathy with his people in the like cafes. He knows the heart of a ftranger, for that he himself was a ftranger in the earth; in all their afflictions he is afflicted; he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, being in all points temped like as we are. And, O! how relieving is it to a poor creature in affliction, to have a tender fympathifing friend, to take a lift of its burden?

2. His experience of this evil brings forth fpeedy fuccour; for in" that he himself hath fuffered, being tempted, he is able to fuccour them that are tempted."

But O, fay you, the fuccour is long a-coming.

Anf. It fhall not tarry a moment longer than he fees it for his glory and thy good; and therefore take a good heart, it shall come in the best time, and thou fhalt be convinced of it, when it comes, that it is fo: "The vifion is yet for an appointed time, though it tarry, wait for it; for at the end it shall speak, and not lie, becaufe it will furely come, it will not tarry." Do not fay, that the Lord has forgotten to be gracious, because he delays the promifed relief; no," a woman may forget her fucking child (fays he), yet will I not forget thee: Thou art engraven upon the palms of his hands," &c.

Ufe fifth of this text and doctrine fhall be of Exhortation. 1ft, To finners, to the captives of hell, who are yet under the chains of their fpiritual captivity.

Has Chrift broken in upon the powers of hell? broken up Satan's prifon? and broken up the way to heaven and glory? removed all legal bars and impediments out of the way of falvation? Oh! then, let me exhort and call you who are yet in covenant with death, and in an agreement with hell," to fhake off the fetters of fin; for this mighty Breaker calls you

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