THE BLESSING OF MOSES ON THE Tribe of Asher, Opened and Applied: In the Mystical and Spiritual Sense, to every Saint and Servant of Christ.  
IN A SERMON ON  Deut. 33. 25. Thy Shoes shall be Iron and Brass, and as thy Days, so shall thy strength be. 
By T. BEVERLEY.  
LONDON, Printed by J. A. for John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultry. 1693.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
1. THE Revelation Unveiled: Or an Essay towards the Discovering, 1. When many Scripture Prophecies had their Accomplishment, and turned into History. 2. What are now Fulfilling. 3. What rest still to be Fulfilled, with a guess at the Time of them. With an Appendix, proving that Pagan Rome, was not Babylon, Rev. 17. And that the Jews ssall be Converted. By Samuel Petto of Sudbury in Suffolk. Price one shilling six pence.  
2. A Faithful Narrative of the Wonderful and Extraordinary Fits which Mr. Tho. Spatchet (late of Dunwich and Cookly) was under by Witchcraft: Or, a Mysterious Providence in his even Unparallelled Fits: With an Account of his first Falling into, Behaviour under, and (in Part) deliverance out of them. Wherein are several Remarkable Instances of the Gracious Effects of Fervent Prayer. The whole drawn up and written by Samuel Petto, Minister at Sudbury in Suffolk, who was an Eye-witness of a great Part. Price six Pence.  
3. A Collction of modern Relations of Matter of fact, concerning Witches and Witchcraft upon the Persons of People. To which is prefixed a Meditation concerning the Mercy of God, in preserving us from the Malice and Power of evil Angels. Written by the late Lord Chief Justice Hale, upon occasion of a Trial of several Witches before him. Part I. Price one Shilling.  
4. Necessary Questions concerning Witches and Witchcraft briefly Answered. By the same Author. Price One Penny.  
5. Mathematical Divinity: Or a plain Demonstration from the Holy Scriptures, that the Times of this World were foreappointed by the Covenant made with Abraham; and determined to be according to the Measure of the Age and Fullness of Christ. Kept Secret since the World began, but is now made plain upon Twelve Tables, in a Solar Calendar as familiar to the Understanding as a common Almanac. With a full Proof that this is the last Generation, which shall not pass away till all things be Fulfilled, and the Gates of Righteousness be opened. Being the Result of many years Study. By Elias Palmer. Price One Shilling.  
All Printed for John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultry.   

THE PREFACE.  
THIS plain and short Discourse holds out the spiritual strength and support of a Christian, flowing from the Grace of God in Jesus Christ, and the mighty Efficacies of the Holy Spirit, amidst the Stony Places, the roughnesses and sharpnesses of inward and outward Trials and Temptations; as also the most Compassionate proportioning of that strength to the Exigencies and Necessities of each Day of Trial, and to the utmost length of Time, and throughout Eternity. In the Expression and Representation of which, the admirable Elegancy and Significancy of the words used by the Blessed Spirit in this Benediction, offer the most lively Images and Notions: But the inward Efficacy and Power are alone from that Blessed Spirit that breathed them.  
Let us bow our Knees therefore to the Father of Glory, that he would grant us, according to the Riches of his Glory, to be thus strengthened, to have Feet thus shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. And that as our Times are in his Hand, so that into his hand we may commend our Spirits; that he, as the Lord God of Truth would redeem us, and that we may Redeem and Buy off Time from all the Disadvantages and Encumbrances of it, by strength given from him according to the Day; till all Time is perfected and Consummate in the Fullness of Times, or of All Times in the Kingdom of Christ, and of Eternity.  
T. B.   

The Reader is desired to Accept this Discourse, as spoken (and so desired now) in the greatest Plainness, Freedom, and Familiarity of Expression, for every Apprehension, to every one's Affections, and to correct the Errors of the first Sheet, especially occasioned through Distance from the Press.  

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A SERMON Preached Septemb. 3. 1693.  
On  DEUT. XXXIII. 25. 
Thy Shoes shall be Iron and Brass; and as thy Days, so shall thy Strength be.  
I Have undertaken by the Assistance of God, to speak to you on this Text; which was the Blessing of Moses the Man of God, the Servant of God, particularly upon Asher, the Tribe of Asher.  
Now the sense of it is Prophetical: And so it Requires the Diligent Attendance, and Enquiry of our Thoughts; that we may be led into the Spiritual and Divine senses and meaning of it. If you look into the Chapter, you will find, that it is the Blessing, wherewith Moses the Man of God, Blessed the Children of Israel before his Death.  
And if you shall say, How may this Concern us?  
It is to be considered in Answer: That whatsoever hath been spoken of Old, by the servants of God, in Relation to Israel in General; Israel, I say, considered Naturally, in the Natural Stock and Race, that proceeded from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the very same, every thing shall have its Course, shall have its Compliment, shall have its fulfilling in the Spiritual Israel; in all those that are the Israel of God. For, as the Apostle saith to the Galatians, Chap. 4. 26. The Jerusalem which is above, is the Mother of us all: so that we are all within what was spoken of Jerusalem, and of the Tribes of Israel; if we are indeed the Israel of God: As he uses the very same Expression: Peace be upon you, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. This very Consideration ought to Engage us into the Enquiry after Divine Truths, with relation to the natural Israel. Gal. 6. 6. As many as walk according to this Rule, Peace be on them, and Mercy, and upon the Israel of God.  
And so, what was spoken Particularly to the Tribes, concerned in some regard or other, and shall Run down upon all the servants of God, who are all those that make up the Twelve Tribes of Israel. As we find in the Revelation, Chap. 7. which Vision, I am very well Assured (notwithstanding some indeed would so Literally Interpret it) is to be understood of spiritual Israel. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, of every one of the Tribes, or of all the Tribes of Israel. Ver. 4. I say, it concerns the spiritual Israel, that shall keep close to God, in the Great Antichristian Apostasy. And therefore in Relation to them, shall all the Songs, and Blessings that were upon Israel, and the Tribes of it, come again (as I may so speak with Reverence) into Force; they shall have their full Effect upon all the Servants of God. It is said Rev. 15. Ver. 3. They sung the Song of Moses the servant of God. The Song of Moses the Servant of God, is to have its course again in these Witnesses of the Lamb. And so the Blessing of every one of the Tribes, and the Blessing of Asher, shall have its Course, shall have its full Compliment and Issue, and fullness, in all the People and Servants of God; even this very Text that I have now read to you, Thy shoes sha●l be Iron and Brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. We find therefore Rev. 21. that as there was the Names of the Apostles of the Lamb, upon the twelve foundations; so there was also twelve Gates, and they had upon them the Names of the twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel, Verse 12.  
This therefore I have spoken by way of Preface, that you may not think this great Text of Scripture is nothing to you, that it is nothing to us: But that we may know, that we have our share and our Interest in it, and it shall be fulfilled in and upon us, if we are the Servants of God.  

I come therefore to a more Particular Consideration at this time, of Moses' Blessing on Asher.  
Here are Two great Branches of this Text. Thy Shoes shall be Iron and Brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. Asher indeed was one of the Sons of Jacob by the Handmaid of Leah: His Name imports Blessing; it was given to him by the Special Ordination of God, that he as the Father of one of the Tribes of Israel, might bear the Memorial of that Blessing, and Blessedness enstated on the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by God through him in whom all the Families of the Earth are Blessed; and in Relation to whom his Mother accounted herself Blessed, in bearing a Son who should be the Father of one of the Tribes of Israel, and bear the Type of Blessedness for all the Israel of God enstated upon it by the God of Jacob, therefore she called his Name Asher; that is to say, Blessed. And saith Moses, Thy shoes shall be Iron and Brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.  
Interpreters give the very literal Sense to be this: That Asher had the Portion, the Lot in the Land of Canaan, that was a Land of Mines, of Mines of Iron and Brass; and that relating to this, Moses said, Thy shoes shall be Iron and Brass: Thou shalt be (as it were) shod with Iron and Brass; and throughout, thy Day shall be the strength of Iron and Brass.  
Job said, Is my strength the strength of brass? Now herein Asher is the Promise to the Servants of God, that their Shoes shall be Iron and Brass, and their Day shall have a Proportion of strength, every way fitted and suited to it.  
And therefore I would give you the Spiritual sense of these Words; and I would give it you out of Scripture, that you may find, that all Scripture has a Relation and a strong Connection, one part of it with another. Eph. 6. 15. saith the Apostle, Having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Having an Assurance of the great Glory of the Gospel of Peace, that shall break out upon you: And having a Preparation upon yourselves, a readiness to enter into the Glory, and into the Blessedness of that State; Having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, You shall find your Feet in a Spiritual sense shod with Iron and Brass.  
When any of us have our Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, then are our Shoes Iron and Brass, then shall we be ready and able to tread upon Temptation and to overcome: To rise up above the Power of Sin and Death, and to trample them under our Feet. Then shall we be enabled to tread upon the Lion and the Scorpion, and upon the very power of the Enemy. As the Apostle speaks, Rom. 16. 20. The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly: This is because their feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.  
So this is the Promise in the Spiritual part of it, and it shall never cease: This Promise shall have its Operation upon all the Servants of God; every one of them comes under the Blessing of every one of these Tribes; so this Blessing shall be accomplished and fulfilled in them. Their shoes shall be Iron and Brass; and according to their day, so shall their strength be; that is, consider strength how you will, as I shall presently particularise to you. As their days, so shall their strength be.  
And thus having Opened to you the General Scope and Sense of the Text, I shall lay down this Proposition: That it is an Assured Blessing, a Blessing that is so conferred, so settled, so Enstated upon every Servant of God, as he is of the Tribes of the Children of Israel; as he is one of the twelve Tribes, as he is one in every one of the Twelve Tribes, and so in Asher: He shall have a Strength for the Day, overcoming all the power of the Enemy: For this is the Extension and Largeness of Spirituality; Every one in these Twelve Tribes in a Spiritual sense, have a share in every Blessing in a Spiritual sense: And therefore upon every Servant of God this Blessing is enstated and settled, that their Shoes shall be of Iron and Brass; their Feet shall be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: and into whatsoever Encounter and Combat they come, as their Day is, so shall their strength be; even to the uttermost State of Eternity itself.  
I shall therefore Propose to you, in the first Place, To open and to enlarge upon the Particulars of this Part, that their Shoes shall be Iron and Brass: And then in the second Place to open and enlarge upon that, That as their day is, so shall their strength be: And then in the third place, I shall give you the Arguments and Reasons for Asserting it, the Demonstrations from Scripture of it: And in the fourth place, I shall lead you into the Prospect (as Moses got up to take a view of all the Possession of the Children of Israel) of all the great Glory of the Kingdom of Christ, that is aimed at in all these Blessings, and principally designed, and conclude with the Application of it.   

I begin with the First: Thy Shoes shall be Iron and Brass; that is, Thou shalt tread upon any thing that stands in thy way, and thou shalt trample it down; thou shalt subdue it through the Power of Grace.  
And this I shall open to you in these three or four Particulars, wherein the strength of the Servants of God, that are every one as every one of the Tribes of Israel, and as this Tribe of Asher; wherein,  
First, It shall be showed, in trampling upon the Power of Sin, in the Gild of it; the treading down of the Power of Sin in the Gild of it; that great Matter that Satan has against the Servants of God in regard of the guilt that is upon them; the Accusations wherewith he would even give them not only the Foil, but the Fall, the Ruin and Destruction. He thinks to set upon them, and to undermine them, to overthrow their going, as the Expression of David is: He thinks to overthrow their going in this great point, that they are Sinners, and liable to Wrath, and Eternal Condemnation. Now to be able to tread upon the Basilisk, and the Serpent in this matter; to be able to tread upon his Head, requires indeed Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; that is indeed with the Satisfaction, with the Blood, and with the Death and Resurrection and Intercession of our Lord Jesus: And who is able to do that, to lay fast hold upon the Righteousness of Christ? though there be nothing so deadly as to tread among the Scorpions of our own Sins, the Cry of which is against us like the Blood of Abel: And therefore I say, to walk amongst these, it is to walk indeed amongst the Gates of Death; to be treading upon Death itself, that is ready to rise up against us. Our footsteps are hunted, as the expression of the Psalmist is: Hunted by this great Accuser of the Brethren; he follows us into our most private Retirements, into our Thoughts as far as he can divine at them; our Closets, our whole Conversation, our Company; our being at home, our being abroad; our being in Business, our being in Divertisement; our being in our Trade, our being in the Duties of Holiness, and drawing nigh to God; are all watched by him; he hunts our steps through all these, and there are Snares laid for us. As it was the stratagem of those Times in War, that they drove sharp stakes of Iron in the way of those that were coming out against them; they had need then be shod with Iron and Brass, that they might tread upon those Spikes of Iron. Now so are the Accusations of Satan arising from our Gild, and when they are armed with the Justice of God, and the Holiness and Purity of his Law, O! what shall we do if we are not shod with Iron and Brass? If we have not the Assurance of the Love of God in Jesus Christ? As the Apostle speaks, Rom. 8. saith he, We are more than Conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come; nor height, nor depth, nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  
Here are the things that we are to walk amongst, and to tread amongst: Now if we have not Shoes of Iron and Brass, how shall we be able to walk amongst these? But through the Love of God in Jesus Christ, we shall be in all these things more than Conquerors. O! therefore, let us look to this, to have the Feet of our Consciences (if I may so express it) to have them shod with Iron and Brass, with that certain defence of the Blood of Jesus: And then as Jesus Christ speaks of himself in that Prophecy of Isaiah, wherein he represents himself coming out against his Adversaries; saith he, in Isaiah 63. 3. I have trodeen the Wine press alone, and of the people there was none with me: I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my Garment, and I will slain all my Raiment. Something like this every Saint may say.  
Christ will have a Glorious Victory upon all his Enemies, whoever, and of what kind soever they are. Who is he that will condemn me, saith he in another place. He is near that justifieth me: And therefore I have set my face like a flint; and I know I shall not be ashamed, I shall not be confounded. When we have this Armour of Proof, this Armour of the Righteousness of Christ on the right Hand, and on the left, we shall not be discouraged, till we have obtained the Victory over all: For he is Mighty that is in us, and that hath undertaken for us, and that hath provided us this great defence against the Gild of Sin, against the Wrath of God, against all, that the Accuser of our Souls can raise up against us.  
In the Second Place: Our Feet shall be shod with Iron and Brass, in regard of all the Temptations to Sin, and from the World. However, they may be very great, and very sharp; what by way of Enticement to Pleasure, or what by way of Terror in suffering; whatsoever is the Method, and the Device, and the Stratagem of this great Enemy of our Souls, we shall be able (having our Feet shod with Iron and Brass) to overcome him, having a holy Resolution, a holy Purpose of Soul; yea, though we may fall, yet we shall rise again. He will keep us in all our Ways. And this Defence, these Shoes, these War like Boots (as the Scripture sometimes speaks of) these shall defend us against all the Power of Temptations: We should therefore go out in that strength of the Lord our God; we should go out in that Armour of Jesus Christ, that Armour of God, as the Apostle calls it, in the Ephesians, and persuades every one that they would take care to be Armed (as we say) Cap-a-pe, from Head to Foot throughout; that we should be Armed with the whole Armour of God, Ephes. 6. 11. That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the Rulers of the darkness of this World, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.  
O! if we did but find that we are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, this Iron and Brass, we should be able to tread down all the Temptations that come to draw us off from God, and to Sin; we should tread them as the Mire of the street, we should never leave threshing, and pursuing of them; Threshing of them, as the Scripture expression is: Arise, and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horns Iron, and thy hoofs Brass: Arise therefore, and thresh: So we should arise, and thresh all the Power of Temptation that comes against us. O! how mighty should we be in the strength of God If we consider that great Love of God in Jesus Christ, who can sin against him? That great Love of Christ that constrains us: If we had the Power of dying to Sin, and of living in Newness of Life, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the Apostle admirably expresses it, in the first Epistle of John, 5 Chapter, 4 Ver. saith he, Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the World; and this is the Victory that overcometh the World, even our Faith. Who is he that overcometh the World, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Let us therefore lay hold upon the Arguments of the Gospel, upon the Strength and Power of Jesus Christ, in the Faith of his great undertaking: In that Faith let us go out and Conquer, let us go out and prevail. O! how would it raise us above this World, above the fears of it, above the delights of it, above the pleasures of it! if we had but the Power of this Faith, if we had but this Victory of Faith in us, and upon us.  
In the Third Place, it would enable us to tread even upon Death itself; upon all the Afflictions that are in our way to Heaven, and upon that King of Terrors, Death itself: For, though indeed we apprehend Death to be nothing but a Privation of Life in the General; yet we know as we are Christians, it is an Inlet into Eternity: Even Nature starts at it, as it is a Cessation, and putting an end to the life and motion, and action wherein we are conversant now; it looks much more dreadful to us, as it opens into Eternity. But if we were but shod with Iron and Brass, we should find these Shoes of Iron and Brass would carry us through, and we should be able to tread even upon the sharpness of Death, and the Grave; we should find the great Power of Jesus Christ enabling of us, because he has overcome Death: Even as he has overcome the World, so he has overcome Death. We should never leave trying and proving this Armour of God upon the Feet of our Souls, till we find that we can walk even upon Graves, and upon our own Graves; among the Tombs, and not be affrighted when we find we are carried through and through, and that we master and tread down as we go. We should, I say, not only come and die when we must die, but beforehand we should be armed at these very points; we should find our Shoes herein to be of Iron and Brass. Observe how triumphant David speaks in the 23d. Psalms, Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death: Where I don't know what may lie in my way, what may rise up against me; I do not know what are the Secrets, what Ambuscades there are in the Valley of Death; I don't know what Powers are appointed and prepared to Destroy. Yea, (in the 4th. Verse) though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, etc. This would bear us through, and carry us with great Resolution, and with undauntedness of Courage: For, the great expression of our Action (you know, in Scripture) is very much in our feet, in our walking. Now therefore, to have our Feet thus shod, it would enable us to get up above these things; to be aloft over the things that are so dreadful and terrible to Flesh and Blood. Hab. 3. 9 The Lord is my strength, and he will make my feet like Hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places: And therefore I can sing, I can set a Song to the Chief Singer on my stringed Instruments. Because I have such an Assurance, such an Elevation and Exultation of Soul in the Lord, I will rejoice in the Lord, (Ver. 18.) and glory in the God of my Salvation, although the Figtree shall not blossom, etc. Although there be no outward appearance of Good. O how timorous, how Cowardly are we, how ready to be affrighted at any appearance of Death! that in all our Discourse we cannot endure the thing Dying: But were our Shoes but of Iron and Brass, it would be easy, the way would be plain before us, we should be able to strike through every thing, and to the overcoming of it. And then  
In the Last place, Our Shoes being of Iron and Brass, we shall be born up even when we have passed out of the Body: For, though indeed we do not know the things that are beyond Death, none have come back to give us an Account, how it is with Spirits when they have left the Body: I say, none have come to give us Account; only the Word of God, that assures us, and tells us, that we shall be upon Precipices, when we go out of the World, if we are not apprehended by Christ. Though undoubtedly Satan hath waylaid the way of Spirits going out of the Body, with all the Incumberances he can possibly. As I told you before, it was the method of former times in War, they took care to lay whatever could incommode their Enemy's Feet, with Stakes of Iron and Brass, that might make the passage very difficult. So undoubtedly, that lost and undone Spirit, that Envious Spirit, that great Adversary of Souls, does whatever he can do to waylay Spirits going out of the Body, and entering into the State of Eternity, and going up to the Throne of God, and the Throne of Christ, he does whatever he can do; but these Shoes of Iron and Brass shall carry us through. Jesus Christ himself hath taken care to remove him out of the way, so far as is necessary: and the great Action of the Spirit of a Saint going upon to Christ, and going up to God, it shall be sustained and maintained by him, and he will arm us wherein soever we lie open to Disadvantage, and to Danger: There will Christ more peculiarly provide; for I make no doubt, there is no one single motion of the Spirits of Saints, but Christ hath so guarded, and so taken care of, as that very motion that we read of, Eccles. 12. 7. The Dust returning to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit to God that gave it. Now, what are (as I said before) the Ambuscades? What are the secret Linings of the way (as we speak in Terms of War) lining all the Avenues of the way we know not? Satan hath lined them all with what may utterly spoil and deter our motion up to God.  
But Jesus Christ having first armed us with Shoes of Iron and Brass, he himself will be found in the way, and he'll sustain our passage, and cover our passage, and bear up all our motions unto God.  
And so I have opened the first of the great Expressions of the Blessedness that Moses expresses of Asher; Thy Shoes shall be Iron and Brass: Of which, all the Mines that were in the Lot of Asher, in that part of his possession, they were but Types to set out this Almighty Power, this Almighty strength of God unto Salvation.  
And therefore I shall close this Head of Discourse with that in the 4th. Chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, 7th. Verse, saith he, The Peace of God which passeth all understanding. As he calls him the God of peace, Rom. 16. so here, The Peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts.  
It is an Expression either taken from a Guard of a City, or about the Person of any one. He shall keep (as under Guard and Defence) your Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus; a Peace that passes all understanding. O therefore, that we were but more acquainted, that we had but more of the Experiment of this Glorious Christianity, of this real Virtue and Power of it! We are too much Strangers to it, and averse. We converse more in the Formalities, than in these mighty Powers and Principles of it! O how should we try ourselves, and put our selves by the Thoughts and Consideration of Danger beforehand, to find out these Shoes of Iron and Brass, the Necessity of them.   

I come to the Second, which is a very great Expression: As thy Days, so shall thy strength be. I know some translate the word, signifying strength, to this sense; As thy Days, so shall thy Fame be: But this is rejected by the most Judicious Jewish, as other Interpreters; so I would open it to you in these following Particulars, that you may know what is the Importance of it: As thy Day, or, as thy Days, so shall thy Strength be.  
In the first place it signifies, That at any time when God sees fit to bring us within the encounter of Danger, than he will take care by a peculiar Presence, by a peculiar undertaking for us, by a peculiar Furniture, and present Suggestion, that we shall be carried through. In that Hour shall be given a Mouth, and so a Strength, the Adversary shall not be able to resist; for he knows what the Day is, and he will accordingly provide, he will give a proportion of strength according unto that: He knows what kind of Day it is, what Ingredients it has, what kind of Temperature, how every thing shall fall out: Now saith God, and saith our Lord Jesus Christ, I must consider what a Day such a Servant of mine is to come under, and what he is to undergo; I must therefore take care that he has a strength proportionable, that he have a strength suitable to it. Psal. 27. 1. saith David, The Lord is my Light, and my Salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an Host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though War should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Here is the great Assurance of the Servants of God, that let the Day be as dark, let the Day be as Critical a Day as can be, let it be a Day of the greatest decision, yet he that hath an Infinity of strength, and that knows the Day to every particular Action of it, he will take care that there shall be a Furniture and Provision of strength suitable to it.  
And though you may say, (for so you may Object) Ay, but do not oftentimes the Servants of God stumble and fall? Have they not great Falls and great Defeats, as it were?  
It is true, it may be so; even as the Children of Israel in that of Ai, when the Accursed thing was taken by Achan: But there shall be no rest of things, till God hath reclaimed, and brought them back: He'll never leave, till he hath brought them back again: he'll bring a fresh strength, he'll rally their force again, and as their Day is, so shall their strength be: For he hath set down and counted what is necessary to come against the strength, against the Power of such a Day, and he will be sure to take care in it. Deut. 33. 26. There is none like unto the God of Jesurun, who rideth upon the Heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the Sky; the Eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting Arms, and he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel shall dwell alone in safety, and none to trouble him. Verse 28, 29. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thy Excellency! and thine Enemies shall be found Liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. O! how great is the Assurance that God here gives! therefore, As thy Day, so shall thy strength be. They prevented me in the day of my Calamity, (saith David) but the Lord was my stay.  
In the Second Place, it signifies this, That to the length of days, I say, that to the longest of days, that God has allotted to any of his Servants, so shall their strength be. To the length of Days; if God hath determined to any of his Servants a short Life, that a great deal of Life may be gathered up into a little Time: As is their day, so shall their strength be; that is, they shall find a proportion of strength, to the shortness of that State and Condition wherein they shall be in the World. Thus you find in the 5th. Chapter of Genesis, concerning Enoch, he was the shortest Liver of all those Patriarches before the Flood. And (in the 22d. Verse) Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat Sons and Daughters: and all his days were but three hundred sixty and five years. A very short time of Life, in comparison of the rest: but he Husbanded that time, as was his Day, so was his Strength; he walked at a high rate with God, he walked a great way in a little time, he ascended high in his Walk with God; And he was not, for God took him. So according to the Day, according to the length of his Day, so was his strength: I say, he lived but a short time in the World, but he did a great deal of Work in that short time; his Heart was mightily lifted up in the ways of God.  
Again, On the other side, if God hath determined a long Time for his Servants: As their Days, so shall their Strength be, even unto Old Age, and the hoary head, He is He that will bear them up. Therefore we should not be afraid we shall forsake God at Last; God will not leave us, even in the Oldest Time of Life: For, God is exceeding careful of his own Honour in this Regard: I say he is Exceeding in his Care herein: Psalm 92. 12, 13. The Righteous shall flourish like the Palmtree; he shall grow like the Cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the Courts of our God. They shall still bring forth Fruit in Old Age; they shall be fat and flourishing: To show that the Lord is upright: he is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.  
God is careful in this; It shall not be said, That there is any Unrighteousness in Him; It shall not be said, He left any of his Servants in their Old Age, He was weary of them in their Old Age: But they shall flourish like the Palmtree; and they shall be fat and flourishing. For, the Grace of God is able to run a Line Parallel with the longest of any of our Lives; and his Grace shall be sufficient for us, even to the very last, and in the very end of Days: As I have already spoken to you.  
But then there is a Third, and Higher sense: As thy Days, so shall thy strength be. Now, as his Shoes are of Iron and Brass; so his Days are to be numbered, even in that Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and that Kingdom of Eternity. There is therefore a strength suitable to that State of Glory, of Eternal Glory and Salvation, in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
Consider, Indeed it is a length of Duration beyond Expression, beyond Comprehension. The thousand years that the Scripture speaks of, that the Kingdom of Christ shall be in visible Glory; that is, fully taken care for, and the state of Eternity after that, or the state of Eternity rather comprehending that, and one with it: Of that Kingdom there shall be no end, for as the Day, or Days of Eternity, so their strength shall be the strength of Eternity. So in that vastness of Eternity, a Created Being that could not uphold and bear up itself, it shall be born up by that Fountain of Life that is in God, and by that Great Mediator of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ: He will take care, that even throughout Everlastings of Everlastings, there shall not be the least Retraction, a retracting, a drawing back of the Powers and Spirits of Life. As the Days of Eternity, so shall be the strength of the Servants of God.  
O! how unspeakable, how incomprehensibly Glorious is this, that God hath ordained for everlasting every one of our Spirits! It is not a Life of fifty, sixty, eighty, or a hundred Years, or any such Time to live the Life of Sense and Body.  
It is all nothing, how long soever it be. We say, 'twas a wonderful Providence that kept Methuselah so long, to so great an Age, to reach almost to a thousand Years. Alas! this is nothing, though it be very great; yet we should think, if we lived hundreds of Years in this Life, how should we do for the Supports of it, and for the Vigorous of it.  
But now our Days are for the Days of Eternity; but as our Days, so shall our strength be. And God hath assured this to us, in the 16th. Psalms, last Verse, Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore: So that every way, take the Days of the Servants of God how we will, as are our Days, so shall be our strength.   

I come to the third Thing I Proposed, and that was, to Argue the Certainty of this; I say, to argue the certainty of it, and it stands upon these two Considerations, which I shall very briefly present to you.  
First, It arises from that Infinite strength of the Love of God in Jesus Christ made over to his Servants. If he rides in his Excellency on the Sky; if he will undertake for us, if he will be our Refuge whose are the Everlasting Arms; if they lie under, it is impossible notwithstanding all Enemies, we should fall, he will thrust them utterly out: There shall be no power of Satan, there shall be no power of Sin, no power of Death, but whatsoever it be, it shall be shut out for ever in the Lake; He'll say, thrust them out, and destroy them. If he, I say, undertake, how can it be otherwise; if he will ride in the Heaven for our sake? We should therefore often say to ourselves, Let us consider, in all the Jealousies of our Natures, and of our weak Being's; in the midst of all these, have we not an Eternal God? Have we not an Infinite and Omnipotent Being? If he take such a Drop of Being as I am, this trembling Drop, and if he'll say, I'll enclose this little Drop in my own Omnipotency, and set it in the Ocean of my own Immense Being, and I'll take care and secure it every moment. How safe are we! As we find in that Song God commanded to be sung, Isa. 27. 2, 3. In that day sing ye unto her, A Vineyard of red Wine, I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment: I will keep it, and sustain it from the first to the last; from the very beginning of the Creation to Eternity; and from Electing Love in Eternity, throughout Eternity of Ages. I the Lord will keep it, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day: And so it arises from the Infiniteness of God, and from that Unchangeableness, that he will never fail, that he will never take off his Help.  
And therefore God's strength is our strength, and God's Eternity is our Security, and the certainty of our state of life. O! how excellent therefore is that in the 40th. of Isaiah, 27th. Verse, Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my Judgement is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding: He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength; even the Youths shall faint and he weary, and the Young men shall utterly fail: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as Eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, they shall walk, and not faint.  
O! If we could read, and meditate, and unite, and Consolidate such a Scripture as this with our own Hearts, with what certainty might we say, As our Days, so shall our strength be? Take them any way, as I have now described and Represented them to you: Because the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his Understanding. He giveth power to the faint, etc.  
And then in the second place, it arises from that great Interposer betwixt God and us, the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose hands he hath entrusted strength, and laid help upon him, because he is mighty.  
I am persuaded, we are not able to speak of the great Security that Jesus Christ is, between the Eternal God, and such Creatures as we are. We do not know it, we shall know it, but we do not yet know it; no one is able to express it to us, as the thing itself is. We are not able to Declare or Express the thing plentifully, as the expression is in Job. Plentifully as it is, it is rather a matter of Profession to us, or a matter of Confession of Faith, and we cannot tell how to say it otherwise: But Oh the Infinite value of it, the Infinite Security of it, that it holds God and all his Saints together, that they can never be Divorced, they never shall be separated.  
This I say, the Interposal of Christ, it is so fast, so stable, so firm a thing, that all that can be spoken of it, is not any way equal to it. All the Discourses, though they are never so wise and good, betwixt the Creator and the Creature; betwixt Infinite Mind, and the Intellectual and Rational Creature; though they are expressed never so well in the main, and never so true; though men are never so Great and Wise in these Discourses; they cannot come near the high sense of the Expressions of our Lord in this Great Point, who hath Loved us, and Reconciled us, and in whom the Creature lost in itself is united Spiritually to God in him.  
Men do not enough consider that Indissoluble Centre of Union our Lord Jesus Christ, who can never be removed out of the Centre, and that all the Lines run and meet in him.  
To consider this, and to understand this, I say, I do not know who is able to express the thing as it is, to declare the thing plentifully as it it is. The Secret of this point of Wisdom, I am fully assured is double; nay, a thousand-fold to all we know, and to all we can speak. It is summed up admirably in that 17th. of John, that I have heretofore mentioned in such Discourses as these, and always I am ready to mention, it is so great: And I have declared unto them thy Name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the World may believe that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Ver. 24. Father I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the World: That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, etc. Ver. 21. 23, 24, 26.  
Now in these things, the Union by Virtue of the Interposal of our Lord Jesus Christ, is so great, that I say, we do but quibble in comparison; Men do but quibble, when they talk of Union between the Creator and the Creature, except they consider this great Intervention, the coming between of the Lord Jesus. I doubt not, take the Holiest Saint in Heaven, if there were no Interposer between God and them, but they might be lost, though they are in the present Happiness and Blessedness of the Enjoyment of God. Here is the Lord Jesus coming between, Father I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me, etc.  
This is our great Security, and this is that that makes our Shoes indeed to be Iron and Brass, and that as our Day is, so our Strength shall be.  
I come therefore to the Last Particular, and that is, to show that there must be a Time, when this shall be Triumphant: I say, there must be a Time of Glorious Appearance.  
For, the World dares Contradict this now, the World dares laugh at it; they dare to take upon them to say, This is nothing but Fancy, this is nothing but Talk, this is nothing but a high flight of Expression; or (as they call it) a Cant, a High Cant of Talk, a high Enthusiasm, a heated Fancy; therefore, I say, there must be a Time, that shall outface all these Taunts, that shall out-look them; for Scoffers can look against Saints now, and they can say, as they in Nehemiah said, What will these pitiful people do? what will these silly feeble folk do, to speak of things at this rate? Do we not see how their Faith, and their Confidence staggers at every turn? Are they not in fear? And does not their Faith sink low? and are they not afraid to Die? and are they not oftentimes under horror and trouble of Conscience? How can these things be?  
Now I say, notwithstanding this, there is a hold of things, even now, that can never be turned off: There is a Consibulation, as I may so call it; a Clasp of things, held by God and Jesus Christ now, that can never be separated; But it must come into a more Triumphant State; and it must come to that, that it must be visible. And therefore, as I have often said, there is a Thousand years to make it so, wherein there shall be a mutual Aspect of God on the Saints, and of the Saints on God, that shall be made visible to all: And the Wicked shall grieve, and look on and wonder to see, and gnash their Teeth to see what a Union here is struck and Consolidated betwixt God and the Souls of his Saints through Jesus Christ.  
It will be their Horror and Astonishment for ever: And therefore Christ speaks in that 17th. of John, I named to you before; that the World may believe: Believe as the Devils believe, and Tremble; they shall be forced to believe: saith our Lord, that the World may believe that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, (latter part of the 21st. Verse:) That the World may know it, and that the World may believe it: This is that which God will take care to show, he'll magnify himself by at that Day. Then shall all the Servants of God come out in their Shoes of Brass and Iron, (as I may so express it) and they shall tread down every thing that hath been an Enemy to them, they shall tread it down as the Mire of the street; they shall come out Armed, and trample the Nations in Anger, and Fury, for it is given to them, even as to Christ; they shall trample and Rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron. This Honour have all his Saints.  
This I speak, (God knows) not for Language sake, or for Expression sake, but what I am fully assured of, and what I have such Evidence of Scripture for, that these things shall come into the greatest, most open, and manifest Appearance that can be: And then shall be fulfilled, what is written in the 7th. of Micah, 16th. Verse, The Nations shall see, and be confounded at their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf: They shall lick the dust like a Serpent, they shall move out of their holes like Worms of the earth; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.  
O! how great shall this State of Things be! I say, how great shall it be! And then saith he in the 10th. Verse, Then she that is mine Enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? You shall see (say the Enemies of Saints) all this that you talk of, what a dark Cloud it will set in.  
When the Servants of God come to be in Affliction, and come to Die, Why then says the Enemy, where is the Lord thy God? Where are these Shoes of Iron and Brass? where is this Strength according to the Day? where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her. I'll look upon them, I'll laugh at them, I'll scorn them, because I see no such thing. But saith the Spirit of God, Now shall they be trodden down as the mire of the streets. All the Enemies of God shall be trodden down as the mire of the streets: And as David in the 18th. Psalms, expresses with what Courage and Power, and mighty Success he went out against his Enemies; saith he, Then did I beat them small as the dust: and thou hast given me the shield of thy Salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, (Ver. 35.) Thy gentleness hath make me great: Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. My Feet were shod with Iron and Brass, that they did not slip.  
As you know Shoes of Iron and Brass they keep steady and firm, not slippery. I have pursued mine Enemies, and overtaken them; neither did I turn again, till they were consumed: I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise, they are fallen under my feet. And so he goes on, expressing it, that he beat them small, as the very Dust before the wind, and there was none to save them. Ver. 22. And I cast them out as the Dirt in the street.  
And if you say, But O! how shall this be to such Sinners as we are? How can we look for such a thing as this is? Do we not find that we are Men of the same Infirmities, of the same Passions, of the same Corruptions? Therefore Micah goes on, Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the Sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our Fathers from the days of old.  
Therefore let us all Encourage ourselves that wait upon God: for we shall renew our strength, let our case be never so dark and gloomy; let things be never so hard, yet the knor of Union that is fastened betwixt Christ and us, and so with God, it shall secure us to hold out throughout Eternity's of Eternity's.  
Let us therefore encourage ourselves (in regard of every thing) in the Lord our God, and wait for that great state of things that certainly is very near; That that Day, as it is often called in the Prophets: In that Day, and that Day. Now that Day, (as I may so express it to you) it is very near.  
Let us therefore now Encourage ourselves in the Lord our God, etc.   
FINIS.