A32724:213
A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects
A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects by Stephen Charnock.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1683
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
(1.) Take heed of Apostatizing from Zion; from the Doctrine and Worship of Zion.
(1.) Take heed of Apostatizing from Sion; from the Doctrine and Worship of Sion.
If God shall establish her, stability is not to be found out of her. To depart from her, is to leave a firm Rock to find security in a quick-sand. To leap out of a stout Ship in a storm, to expect a preservation in the waves. To turn our backs upon Heaven, to seek ease in the bowels of Hell. The Altar at Damascus is cast down, and Jeroboam's Altar is demolished when that at Jerusalem stood. To stay in Zion, is to be exposed to the gun-shot of men and Devils; to run from her, is to seek to the Devil for protection, and run into the mouth of all the Artillery of God, that is set for the establishment of Zion. If we are Christians, no force, nor violence should separate us from her.
If God shall establish her, stability is not to be found out of her. To depart from her, is to leave a firm Rock to find security in a quick-sand. To leap out of a stout Ship in a storm, to expect a preservation in the waves. To turn our backs upon Heaven, to seek ease in the bowels of Hell. The Altar at Damascus is cast down, and Jeroboam's Altar is demolisht when that at Jerusalem stood. To stay in Sion, is to be exposed to the gun-shot of men and Devils; to run from her, is to seek to the Devil for protection, and run into the mouth of all the Artillery of God, that is set for the establishment of Sion. If we are Christians, no force, nor violence should separate us from her.
2. Let us love Zion. There is nothing the Scripture uses more as an argument to separate our affections from the world than the uncertainty and fading nature of it. The perpetuity then of the Church should be a motive to place our affections there, where they shall never want an object, and which we cannot love without loving her head and her establisher. The Jews in Babylon would rather forget themselves than their City and Temple,