Subjection to Christ in all his ordinances and appointments the best means to preserve…

Obser.¹ That when any people of God forsake the Lord, and cast off his government •ver them, they provoke the Lord to put them under the bondage of another government. They that abuse Gods liberty must be under bondage; the Lord hath a Kingdom in this world most glorious; hence when men will not be under it, if they will not be ruled by him, they must be ruled by the whip; and if Christs laws cannot bind, Christs chains must. Jer. 5. 19. And it shall come to pass when ye shall say, Wherefore doth the Lord all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Psal, 107. 10, 11. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being •ound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most high. Ezek. 20. 24, 25. Because they had not executed my Judgements, but had despised my Statutes, and polluted my Sabbaths, &c. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgements, whereby they should not live, &c. Zach. 11. 15, 16. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish Shepherd. Vers. 16. For lo I will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit those that be cut off, nor seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still, &c.

Obser.¹ That when any people of God forsake the Lord, and cast off his government •ver them, they provoke the Lord to put them under the bondage of another government. They that abuse Gods liberty must be under bondage; the Lord hath a Kingdome in this world most glorious; hence when men will not be under it, if they will not be ruled by him, they must be ruled by the whip; and if Christs laws cannot bind, Christs chains must.