be unto dissolution corruption though not as the end yet as the meanes whereas wee know corruption in that sense whether considered as end or meanes is contrary to the desire much more the fervent desire of every creature Therefore the vanity whereunto the creature is here said to be subject and to be subdued unto viz. by the over-ruling hand and power of God seems rather to be meant of a vanity in their service and labour implying that they doe otherwise then they have a minde to doe or then stands with their owne inclination and so it is to be taken rather for a vanity of sorrow then of mutability which is called a bondage of corruption ver 21. either because to be thus subdued and held to it by God to serve his enemies it is to the creature as unpleasant and bitter as a bondage unto corruption or because such a subjection doth staine and corrupt the glory of the creature Notwithstanding it is the pleasure of God so to have it for a season and in respect of that hope God hath given it that it shall shortly be delivered the creature is well content with it it is no vanity to it in either of these respects Now if question be made Wherefore doth God subdue the creature to vanity in this sense and compells it to serve and comfort wicked and sinfull men One maine reason is this It is because God hath yet many of his Children upon the way of their Pilgrimage in the world amongst them and he hath more to succeed them for a while But if these were once all through the Wildernesse of this world and entered into their glorious rest God would deliver the creature from the bondage mentioned it shall no more minister to the children of disobedience but shall be restored into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God it shall be as free from serving sinfull men as these in the state of the Resurrection shall be free from obeying any sinfull corruption Therefore those that seek to take away the lives of the Saints of God they make the foundations of the round world to reele totter and stagger and attempt to shake the pillars of heaven and earth They doe as if a man should undermine and dig down the foundations of the house he dwells in to cause it to fall on his head and those that were with him We see whilest Lot was in Sodome Gen. 9.22 Sodome was in Lot i. e. the safety and peace of Sodome was in Lot I can doe nothing saith the Angell to him meaning towards the destruction of the City till thou beest gone out of it and hast taken Sanctuary Now suppose the men of the City had persecuted Lot and thrust him out of their City before this as words brake out that way they were talking of such a matter ver 9. had not the storme and tempest of the fiery indignation of the Lord come swifter upon them then it did Except those daies were shortned saith our Saviour of the troubles of Jerusalem no flesh could be saved but for the Elects sake these daies shall be shortened Mat. 24.22 On the contrary concerning the mercies and good things wicked men enjoy in this world except these dayes were lengthened and prolonged there could none of these mercies be enjoyed but for the elect and righteous mens sakes these dayes are lengthened unto them And therefore the Prophet Esay makes a solemne and sad observation upon it that righteous men should perish and so few consider it and lay it to heart Esay 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart c. as if it were a thing of neare concernment and to be taken much to heart when a righteous member is cut off from the body of any State or Society of men and yet of the two it is a thing much more to be laid to heart that such a righteous man should be thrust our by men themselves from amongst them or lose his life by their hand then if God should take him away by death It is true in both cases it is likely he is taken away from the evill to come but in the former when men destroy the righteous from amongst them the evil to come is like to come both more suddenly more heavily upon those that are left Therefore they that persecute the Saints of God they call for fire as it were downe from heaven upon their owne heads they put a sword into the Lords hand wherewith to slay them If that Scarlet Whore of Rome had been or ever should be able to performe the devise she imagined and yet imagines daily to roote out all the holy Seed the whole family that is descended of Jesus Christ in all the world so that she had left none but her owne adulterous generation to possesse the earth she might then thinke indeed that she sate like a Queen but the truth is she should have prevented her judgment and torments so much the sooner Shee had but brought the feare and dread of the devill which was To be tormented before his time so much the more speedily upon his owne head Suppose the Lord had given us up into their bloody hands which yet we and our posterity shall have cause to blesse him so long as the Sunne and Moone indures that it was far from all his thoughts to doe but put case I say that she had been let alone with State People Gospell Religion that she might have done with all these as it is said the Jewes did by Iohn the Baptist Mat. 17.12 even what she list that she had triumphed in that fatall blow for ought that she knew or was aware of she might have shaken the foundations of her owne Mountaines and have caused her Sun to have set over her head even at noone dayes she might have thundered even the Lord Jesus Christ out of heaven to have taken speedy vengeance upon those that would bring up hell from beneath upon the face of the earth and that had destroyed out of the world the beauty and glory of it Fourthly and lastly this consideration also may prevaile with the enemies of the Church and People of God to cause them to desist from persecuting the Saints from attempting and plotting evill against them because they cannot lift up a hand against these but in a way of unrighteousnesse wrong They are called in Scripture The generation of the righteous and their waies are just and holy and good therefore whoever shall touch any of these to doe them any harme to afflict or bring evill upon them cannot be innocent but injustice and violence will be found in his hands Many of those that are the sourest enemies of the Church and that beare a tyrannicall and inveterate hatred against the Saints are men that for Morall honesty and Justice stand upon termes of honour and reputation and thinke it their great glory that they wash their hands in
them are not incorporated with your soules and spirits you doe not finde that such notions and apprehensions as are fire in your bones and make your consciences spring and worke lively when they doe but touch and come neare them the interpretation of this signe is that you have more of that which is lesse and lesse of that which is more that you have memories that would doe worthily indeed with better hearts and soules that would escape better with worse memories But I hope the best things of you The great and mighty God of Heaven and Earth who must teach you and all the world besides to profit whether by the eye or by the eare as well by writing as speaking by reading as hearing in the knowledge of himselfe and of the great things of your peace make these meditations as a Cloud of the latter raine unto you to drop fatnesse upon your soules and command them to give out their strength fully and freely unto you that they may be felt by your selves in the renewing and strengthening your inner man be seen upon you by others in an unstained excellencie of life and conversation amongst men and found also in your accounts and reckonings at the great day as having cōtributed their share toward that joy and lifting up of your heads for ever which is the promised reward of all those that know God to be the only true God and him whom he hath sent Jesus Christ Which Crowne of blessednesse there is not a man of you but shall most assuredly obtaine if you be as true to your selves and the things of your owne glorie and will runne for your selves with as much faithfulnesse as he is readie to runne for you night and day who here in the presence of Heaven and Earth subscribeth and giveth it under his hand that he is Your loving truly affectionate Pastor Iohn Goodwin From my Study in Coleman streete London this August 7. 1640. To the Reader Good Reader WHether hee hath done wel or ill whoever he was be it my selfe or some other who was the principall of making more Presse-worke of these Sermons I conceive it is not worth the lightest exercise of thy thoughts to consider judge or determine If he hath done ill doubtlesse it cannot bee much things that are weake though otherwise unusefull yet will they serve for foile to set off that which is strong with more grace and acceptation as the Thistle in Lebanon commends the stature and beauty of the Cedar in Lebanon And the truth is that many Bookes of worth and value indeed had need of some further recommendation in one kinde or other unto men then their owne worth they suffer obscurity and neglect at the hands of men this notwithstanding Impertinencies would be of great consequence if they could bring things of consequence into request If he hath done well thou thy selfe wilt easily be perswaded to say that this cannot be much howsoever in this point thou and I shall not much differ Now then in matters where the difference is very small and almost imperceptible a man may soone be out more in deliberation then it is possible for him ever to recover or get in againe by any resolution As in suing at Law for a trifle the victory or conquest with all the advantages will not defray the one halfe of the cost and charge of the Warre I would gladly therefore save thee thy time and thoughts touching the premisses Yet two things there are which have their plea in their mouthes such as they are for loosing their prisoners and setting them at liberty in the world The one is the occasion of their Preaching the other their argument or Subject For the first it was the Anniversary remembrance of that great battle fought between Hell and Heaven about the peace and safety of our Nation on Novemb. 5. 1605. wherein Hell was overthrowne and Heaven and We rejoyced together I have not to my present remembrance met with any thing published of late of any speciall influence or tendency to maintain the life and spirit of the solemnity joy of that day and deliverance And pity it is that such a Plant of Paradise should wither or languish for want of watering Such a deliverance may through the Mercy and Goodnesse of God prove a breeder and become a joyfull Mother of many Children like unto her selfe if the hearts of our Nation did converse with her more frequently and more affectionately The Argument or Subject discoursed in these Sermons is the true Church her Interest in God with all her members A Subject I confesse that hath passed through many hands and gained much of many But the depth and weightinesse of it is such that it still calleth upon the greatest abilities of men to be further sought and inquired into I assume nothing unto my selfe beyond the discoveries of other men if thou meetest with any thing that may excuse or qualifie the Printing of the whole remember him that said concerning a sinfull City Gen. 18.32 I will not destroy it for ten righteous mens sake If thou either desirest or fearest the sight of any thing more of mine thou maist make thine owne bargaine herein by handling this piece accordingly For as for me I am not conscious to my selfe either of forwardnesse or backwardnesse of being made publique the tongues and judgements of men if they could agree may easily over-rule me either way It argues some distemper of spirit to be importune upon the world with a mans private conceptions neither is it the best posture to put the world upon importunity with us to purchase them if they have a minde to them Pardon me thus far and that which remaineth I shall pray for thee that thou maist with the Church have Interest in God and that this Interest may be established and confirmed unto thee by the reading this piece untill through fulnesse thou breakest out with David saying The Lord is my Light and my Salvation Whom shall I feare Psa 27.1 And by this time when thou knowest not whom or what to feare I hope thou wilt be at good leisure and in case to pray for him who resteth Thine in the Lord alwaies I. G. Colemonstreet Lond. Aug. 7. 1640. The Contents of the CHAPTERS CAP. I. WHerein the Coherence together with the sense and meaning of the words are cleared and Doctrines raised Fol. 1 CAP. II. Wherein the nature and importance of that propriety or interest which the Church hath in God is declared Fol. 23 CAP. III. Containing proofes from Scripture of the Churches propriety or interest in God Fol. 44 CAP. IV. Wherein foure severall Grounds or Reasons of the Churches propriety in God are laid downe and opened Fol. 54 CAP. V. Containing the first Vse of Instruction in six particulars Fol. 102 CAP. VI. Wherein the Doctrine is further drawne out in an use of Encouragement or Consolation Fol. 155 CAP. VII Wherein the two first branches of the third Use
we now speake of in that Scripture Heb. 6.13 When God saith the Apostle made the promise to Abraham because he had no greater to sweare by he sware by himselfe Because he had no greater c. if that be the spirit of the words which I conceive neither can I apprehend what other it should be with any tolerable congruity of Reason they are a straine of speech to be heard out of the mouth of an infinite God fearefully high and glorious Because he had no greater to sweare by therefore he sware by himselfe clearely implying that if he had a greater then himselfe he would have sworne by him For this is the reason delivered in plaine and expresse tearmes why he sware by himselfe because he had no greater As if the infinite Al-sufficiency of God himselfe did not give him that satisfaction which he desired for the confirmation of his oath made to the heires of promise in respect of the weaknesse and marvellous backwardnesse of their hearts to beleeve unto perfect establishment and assurance but he would have had a greater if it might have beene and have passed by himself if there had been infinitum infinito infinitius this had been an only choice for him in this case To say that the words imply only this Gods greatnesse above all others makes the sense but cold and waterish For it is not the scope of the Holy Ghost here to declare the greatnesse of God but rather the greatnesse of his desire to satisfie the heires of promise as they are called that is his Church and People with the strongest and mightiest consolations touching the truth and stablenesse of that promise of life by Christ And for this purpose the words in the sense given are as is evident of mighty importance So desirous he was that his children should be filled with faith and the strong consolations of it that if hee had had any greater or more effectuall meanes for the bringing it to passe they had been used and the words thus understood are but an expression and breaking out of the mighty power of that love of his towards his Children which all this while we speake of which moves him to give his owne selfe unto them if he had any greater then himselfe they should have had it but for himselfe they shall be sure of As we heard before of Christs love mentioned by S. Paul Who loved me and gave himselfe for me Like love like bounty like affection like expression Thus you see the love and affection in God towards his Church to be one cause or reason why he gives them this interest and propriety in himselfe which the Doctrine speaketh of A second Ground of the point is The gift or bestowing of Iesus Christ upon the world So God loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Son c. as you heard before Iohn 3. Though the love of God to his Church was the Basis or prime cause of that propriety it now hath in him yet was it not either the only or immediate cause thereof This affection of his notwithstanding they were yet afarre off as S. Paul speakes and lay at as great a distance as is between heaven and earth from being a Church or holy People unto him from having any such peculiar interest or propriety in him Sin had separated and that with a high hand betweene him and them and had fixed a great gulfe betwixt the one and the other moveable only by him that hath power to remove the earth out of his place which kept them asunder from comming one at the other God could not reach or come at his creature with any other expression of his love till this gulfe was removed till sin that hindered was taken out of the way much lesse was it possible for the creature to have made any approach neare unto him to have gained any thing upon him or in him till then Now to fill up this vaste dreadfull and devouring gulfe and so to make the way passable from God to the creature and from the creature back again unto God there was nothing else to be found in heaven or earth of any proportion or any wayes commensurable thereunto but only one that might lawfully count it no robbery to be equall with God being God himselfe blessed for ever The infinitely wise just and righteous God could have found no other consideration of value and weight sufficient to have built a dispensation of that most righteous and just Law of his upon In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death but only the death of his owne only begotten Had all other creatures in heaven and earth consented together in one to have given out their strength and beeings to the uttermost to have raised a consideration or reason amongst them why God should have passed over those words of his as if they had never beene spoken should have let fall that solemne intermination or threatning of his to the ground never to have executed what he had threatned the wisdome of God doubtlesse and zeale to his glory would have despised it and laughed it to scorne whatsoever possibly it might have amounted unto and would have beene more ready to have fallen upon Mediators and Offenders together with fiery indignation then any wayes relented or stood so much as to consider what he had to doe upon the tender of any such propositions unto him It was no worke no undertaking for creatures to salve the glory of an infinite Wisdome and Majesty in case he should let such words of his goe for nought and vanish into the winde which were uttered with such solemnity upon such just and righteous grounds in the sight of heaven and earth It might justly have been thought that God had prized such words as those at a low and under rate and consequently undervalued himselfe in the bargaine if he had sold them at any such rate or price as the creature could have given But the death and sufferings of his owne Son this was a price that weighed somewhat like in his hand upon consideration hereof it was no waies grievous unto him to dispense with his Law and suspend the execution thereof for ever as far as it concernes those that shall unfainedly acknowledge this inestimable grace of his who hath thus bought them from under so heavy a curse and condemnation It is not the least prejudice or disparagement to the infinite Wisdome or Majesty of God or the least diminishing of the authority of any of his Lawes or threatnings whatsoever to let Lawes and threatnings sleep upon such a Pillow as this is and not to be put into execution upon the intercession of such a consideration as this And thus we see how the gift of Iesus Christ likewise was of absolute necessity to bring about this great and wonderfull thing in the world that sinfull men and women the generation of which the Church of God is made should have this deare
have any thing else any creature that flatters them and sayes unto them as the Bramble said to the Trees of the Forrest in Iothams Parable Judg. 9.15 Come and put your trust under my shadow place your confidence in me Men will hardly be intreated to cast away such a confidence upon any termes If a great estate or some great friend that is eminent in place and power should but allure us and speake as kindly and gratiously unto us as the great God of heaven and earth doth from place to place in his Word cast all your care and your burden upon us we will take care for you Men would take hold of such words as soone as they should be spoken and would doe that which was desired of them with all their hearts and would hardly aske any question about it either for conscience sake or for feares sake But now God inviting us to doe him that honour and our selves that ease as to cast all our care on him i. e. to doe it in a carelesse secure and resolute manner as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth assuring us that hee doth care for us which no creature doth in comparison of him men will thinke of it ten times before they will doe it once 1 Pet. 5.7 Even they which doe any thing in this kinde they will not cast their care upon him all they will be brought to doe is to lay it on him faire and softly as we use to lay burdens of any weight upon Tables or Stooles when we suspect the joynts to be crazy and shaken we lay them downe as gently and easily as may be for feare we should breake all in pieces and our burdens fall to the ground and as men use to walke upon Ice over deep Waters they doe not at first leap and jump upon it but first set one foote and then another to see whether the Ice crack or no whether it will beare them that so they may retire back againe to the ground without danger before they be on too far but to goe thus to worke with God is not to cast our care upon him but rather to tempt him and see whether he wil beare it or no. Wheras he gives us in that an assurance before hand yea gives it as the reason or ground upon which he requires us to cast all our care upon him in such a manner Cast all your care on him for he careth for you I would never wish you to doe it to cast it upon God but that I know he doth take care for you and will discharge that trust alone as much for your comfort and satisfaction as if you should be over-busie your selves and would needs joyne your selves in Commission with him Therefore now if thou hast interest in God and hast any burthens one or more to beare or carry if thou wilt carry this burden thy selfe and toile and turmoile thy selfe till thou beest ready to faint and sinke and die under it and not cast it upon God now walkest thou laden to the prejudice and scandall of heaven thy burthen would be honourable upon the shoulder of the Almighty both to him and thee We account it a meane calling among men and servile to carry burdens but it is exceeding glorious in God to beare all the burdens of his Saints that they may walke upright and not have their backs bowed downe to the earth This point of the Reproofe likewise as the former did concerneth us not only as we are private men but as we are together a Church and People of God If our interest in him be such as hath been declared as doubtlesse it is if we be the People of God why do we cause this great blessednesse of ours to be blasphemed and evill spoken of in the world by seeking to lay other foundations of our peace and comfort besides the favour and power of God alone why doe we not stand sure upon him though we have nothing else to establish us why are we not built upon him what addition can be made unto him if we had all the flesh in the world made up into an arme of salvation unto us could it adde any thing to our security Dan. 6.20 Is not thy God saith Darius to Daniel in the Lions Den whom thou servest alway able to deliver thee from the Lion Either he is able to deliver us and save us out of the mouthes of all Lions able to rebuke all our destroyers or he is not able if he be not able then I aske who made heaven and earth doubtlesse it will not aske a greater power to save us then it did to create us and the whole frame of heaven and earth besides Ps 124.8 And therefore David in the name of the Church of God fats and flesheth as it were his trust and confidence with that consideration Our help standeth in the name of the Lord that made heaven and earth as if he meant never to trouble himselfe further as long as he saw heaven and earth standing before him to enquire out more names of helpers and defenders to joyne with him that made heaven and earth Our help stands in the name of the Lord c. Here it is permanent and fixed it did not remove up and downe and shift from one name to another as if now they were confident in God another while confident in some creature or outward support they did not remove from bottome to bottome as men that are double minded doe they have no standing help or comfort any where but still are shifting and flitting from under the shadow of one tree to another from under the wing of one creature to another If he be able to deliver us and we be his People and have interest in all the glory of his power why do we suffer any thought to enter into us of standing upon any other ground why are we troubled and distracted in our selves about seeking and providing a hiding place from storms and tempests when we remaine under the shadow of his wing If any enemy have power to pluck any of his feathers then had we some cause to feare a lying open to the weather And what shall we say in this point to our Romane Catholiques for the name of Catholiques they must have to themselves and all the world must give out their right to them but for the truth and substance of it that they leave to divide who will amongst them But let it be here againe considered what interest it is like that they have in God or whether their wayes in the point we speake of be like the wayes of men Whose God is the Lord. Doe they make their dependance intire upon God doe they trust in him alone for the bearing up of the Pillars of their Church doe they commit their cause unto him attempting nothing but that which is lawfull and right for the advancing thēselves their Church and Religion are they content to fall
own Countrey their heavenly Canaan If the motion doe not yet relish and savour kindly with you let me season it with a few considerations and motives it may be then it will be found savoury meate unto you such as your soules will love First consider and ponder seriously with your selves the tenor and contents of the Doctrine delivered and fully established and this alone will be a pledge sufficient to warrant the counsell and advise given you to be good and wholesome These men against whom your eye is evill whose flesh you eate like bread and whose blood you drinke like sweet and pleasant Wine against whom you have suffered your selves to be provoked and inraged by the cursed and common enemy both yours theirs the devill These men I say have interest in heaven and are the Children the Sons Daughters of the Almighty they are a people confederate with the great and terrible Lord of Hosts they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are called a peculiar People unto him or as the word signifieth they are a People more then a People as Iohn Baptist is said by our Saviour to be a Prophet yea and more then a Prophet Shall any man but such as love death and seek their owne destruction and confusion as a treasure rise up against these or offer to lay their hand upon these annointed ones Is it because there is no other way that leadeth to destruction As the People in their murmurings against Moses reasoned with him Hast thou brought us to die in the Wildernesse because there were no Graves in Aegypt meaning there was Grave-room enough in the Wildernesse but nothing else Ex. 14.11 So let me reason the case with those men that will needs magnifie thēselves as the Scriptures speake against this heritage of the Lord. Is it because they thinke no other sin no other way of wickednesse against God that will bring vengeance and damnation swift enough upon their heads unlesse they provoke him in his holy ones Know they not how to provoke the Lord to anger to purpose by striking at him in other places except they smite him in the face Nay except they levell and aime at the very apple of his eye which is the tenderest part in the face There is no Childe of God but may speake it as truly as the Wisdome or Truth of God it self doth Prov. 8.35 He that sinneth against me hurteth his owne soule and all that hate me love death they love death i. e. if death were a thing to be loved and desired men could take no way more ready and certaine to obtaine it then by hating the Wisdome and let me put in also then by hating the Children and People of God What Is that man of sin and all his confederates with him all that have been baptized in the spirit of that fornication are they afraid and of doubtfull and deliberative thoughts whether all their other sins abominations wherein notwithstanding they are mighty men like the sons of Anak of old and other sinners in the world of ordinary stature are but Grashoppers to them doe they indeed question whether all their other sins be able to bring downe that great Mountaine of their power is it made so strong that unlesse they drinke also freely of the blood of the Saints they are afraid that God otherwise should passe them over and forget them when he comes to take vengeance of the world Are they afraid they shall perish and be destroyed but after the common manner of other men and that their destruction shall not come upon them with a sufficient glory of terrour and astonishment or as Esaies expression is like a destruction from the Almighty Esay 13.6 except they make havock in the Lords heritage Doe they know that this is a sin by it selfe for the purpose that will swell and be seen in their destruction above all their other sins Doe they thinke they shall never have their cup full of the fury and indignation of the Almighty except they provoke him in his Saints Surely my Brethren the tenour and proceedings of their malice and hatred against the servants of the living God and glorious Gospell of Jesus Christ Their Faggots their Fires their Swords their Poysons their Whips their Ships their Vaults their Powder their Billets their Barres these and such like strange things and doings of theirs being interpreted in the plaine language which the Scripture speaketh are as much as to say we would not fall or be destroyed after the dull manner of other Kingdomes of the earth we would have the day of our vengeance celebrated with more solemnity of horrour we shall not be satisfied with our destruction except the powers of heaven and earth be shaken together at the terrour of it If such a desire were indeed and in truth to be found in these men and in their religion if it were a reall designe and project amongst them to procure another hell to be created for them by themselves beneath the nethermost hell that is now extant wherein they might have more cruell tormentors then devills a more horrid Lake then that which burneth with Fire and Brimstone a darknesse blacker then utter darknesse a Worme that shall gnaw with greater extremity then that which never dyeth a Fire that shall burne with more paine and torture then that which is unquenchable where weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth should be but pleasure and recreation They could not furnish themselves with any other meanes under heaven more sutable and better proportioned to bring such a thing to passe then to set themselves in that desperate and implacable manner as they doe to fall upon the rereward of the Hosts of heaven for so may the Saints on earth be well termed they are called Angels in the Revelation for that communion and fellowship they have with the Angels in fighting Christs battailes here beneath then by seeking to roote out the generation of the righteous from under heaven then by grieving and afflicting the soules that have that precious interest in God This is one consideration or motive to presse the Exhortation upon the enemy A second motive to perswade the enemies of the Church of God to stay their hands and to give over that service of the devill persecuting Saints may be this because it is a worke that never prospered in the hands of any from the beginning of the world till this day but still hath been a work like the Land of Canaan as the spies described it to the people Num. 13.32 that eates up the Inhabitants of it So this work of persecuting the Church and Children of God hath ever been a worke and imployment that hath been the ruine and destruction of the doers of it Yea the sharpest and sorest contentions that ever fell betweene heaven and earth between God and the men of this world have still risen about injuries and violence offered to his Church This apple of Gods
portion of those wretches to drink whose workes and wages together occasioned the solemnity of this day Is not the Lord knowne by executing judgement were not these wicked ones snared in the workes of their own hands as David speaketh Psal 9.16 Are they not perished as dung from the face of the earth Was not that stone they heaved and listed at to have removed out of its place too heavy for them did it not recoile upon them and crush them to pieces There wanted nothing that can be imagined that might cause the devise to prosper in their hands It was a designe and project in all the parts and members of it so framed and fashioned with that exquisitenesse of cunning and circumspection that for a designe it was in the eyes of those that beheld it as beautifull as Absolon is said to have been 2 Sam. 14.25 From the sole of his foote to the top of his head saith the Text there was no blemish in him There was nothing to be found about it that feare or jealousie it selfe could take hold of but that it would bring forth it would doe the deed Surely the Authors of it were as much taken with the beauty and comelinesse of it as Nebuchadnezzar was with that golden Image he set up in the plain of Dura they fell downe before it and even worshipped it What is the matter then how came it to passe or what strange thing was there in it that it proved like Corne upon the house top that it did not fill the bosome of the Actors and Authors of it Why did it not make the Popes triple Crowne to flourish Why did it not raise the glory and name of the Popish Religion up to the heavens Mee thinkes I may speake to it after such a manner as David spake to and expostulates the matter with the red Sea and the River Iordan and the Mountaines and the Hils What ailest thee thou Sea Psal 114.5 6. that thou fleddest Thou Iordan that thou wastdriven back Yee Mountaines that ye leaped like Raws and ye little Hills as young Sheep q.d. Surely there was some strange thing in all this that creatures should so far forget their natures as that the Waters in the Sea should forsake their Channell the Waters in Rivers should run backwards the Mountaines and the Hills that are so fast rooted in the earth that these should skip and leap like Sheep So must I expostulate the matter with this deep project I cannot be satisfied without it we must know the mystery of the thing What ayledst thou thou profound desperate powder-project that thou broughtest nothing to passe What so many Barrels of Gunpowder so many Barres of Iron so many Loades of Billets so many roodes of Faggots such a Vault so many politique Heads in thee so many hands about thee night and day so many prayers made over thee and nothing of moment no great or terrible thing done no Kingdomen brought to ruine no Nation troubled the peace of no people disturbed What the Gospell of Jesus Christ still alive in the world and professors of it rejoycing What ayledst thee thou Vault thou Gunpowder you Barres of Iron you Billets of wood you Heads you Hands that you shooke not the world round about you that you turned not three Kingdomes at least upside down Have you forgottē to be mischievous to teare to kill to ruine to destroy to work desolation upon the earth Certainly it was as contrary to the nature and spirit that wrought in this project not to have brought all this to passe as it was either for the Sea to flee or for Jordan to run back or for the mountaines to leape or for the Hills to skip But David by putting this question upon these poor creatures to make them assoile their owne riddles did but only by a sweete Metaphoricall straine prepare the way to set off his owne answer with the more grace and advantage He did not expect they should answer him to his question but he answers himselfe and tells us what the Sea and what the Rivers what the Mountaines and what the Hils ayled ver 7. The earth trembled at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Iacob that was all the ailment they had The Sea would have done as other Seas doe and Jordan would have kept on his course as other Rivers doe and the Mountaines would have stood as fast and the Hills been as quiet as other Mountaines and Hills use to be but that the dreadfull presence of God was amongst them they would not have denied themselves in such a manner nor gone out of their way for all the world besides So if you would know what this project of hell ayled what was the disease and infirmity of it that according to the nature of it it did not shake the foundations of our Land that it did not astonish all hearts and make all hands hang downe and knees feeble that it did not bring a day of darknesse upon the Church and people of God and the Gospell amongst us in a word it was only this it was a devise against the Lord and against his Church and People And we know the Scripture saith that there is no wisdome nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord nor any inchantment against Iacob nor soothsaying against Israel Prov. 21.31 Nam 23.23 i. e. Both wisdome and counsell and inchantments projects from the earth and projects from hell they are not themselves they lose their proper vertue and operation when they are bent against the Lord and against his people They will deale in this case with the Authors of them as Balaam served Balak Balak sent for him and hired him to curse the people of God but he blessed them altogether So the policy and wisdome that were in this plot the Vault the Powder the Barres the Billets the Faggots these were all hired to curse the Church and People of God amongst us and behold they have blessed us altogether They have filled our mouthes with laughter this day and are a song of praise and thanksgiving in our mouthes to the Name of our God If such a project had been managed against Babylon or the enemies of God there it is like every creature every instrument about it would have done its part Wisdome would have beene wisdome and Policy have been policy the Powder would have been ready to have fired alone and Barres of Iron would have torne all in pieces There is no presence of God for these creatures to feare and tremble at and for the presence of any other they would not regard it As we see by that one creature the Powder that when there was none in presence but of those bloody wretches though it was not managed against them by any hand or understanding of man nay on the contrary it was as it were charged to doe them no harme there was their owne eye and care upon it that it should not
quisque deos that is every man hath a right of comming to those gods for succour whom hee worships and serves So that David expressing himselfe thus He is our God that is the God of salvation it is as if he had said Other Nations and People have their severall gods as Paul saith There are that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth Gods many and Lords many The Moabites have their god the Amorites their god the Sidonians their god but saith hee He that is the God of Israel He that is our God he hath a preheminence above them all He is the God of salvation or as the originall hath it in the plurall number Salvations that is he only stands possessed with a Prerogative Royall of a true God of a God indeed namely Power to save those that worship him and that every way it being one of the great royalties annexed to the Crowne of heaven as we have it Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Salvation that is both the power and the act of faving and delivering are so proper to the true God that they are not communicable with any creature as is well expressed in Esay 43.11 I even I am the Lord hee speaks it once and again for the greater Emphasis and weight and that they which heare not the first voice may heare the second And besides mee there is no Saviour not only none so great so mighty c. but none at all Therefore it seemes but a needlesse limitation of Nebuchadnezzar in that speech of his Dan. 3.29 There is no God that can deliver or save after this manner the truth is none after that manner or any other It followeth And to God the Lord belong the issues of death the originall sounds issues against death This clause may stand under a double interpretation it may either be taken concerning the destruction of the wicked or concerning the deliverance of the godly According to the former interpretation the sense falls thus To the Lord God are or doe belong Exitus mortis the issues of death that is Judgement or death never goeth out against any man but the hand of God is in it it is of his fending he hath death at that command that hee can send him forth against any man But I finde Interpreters rather inclining to the other Exposition which riseth thus And to the Lord are the issues of death that is E morte From or out of death so that there is no creature one or many that can be brought so low so neare unto death or never so much under the power of death but God hath not only one or some few but many secret wayes of escape for it he hath choice of wayes and meanes for deliverance when it selfe is ready to say there is none at all With him there is plenteous Redemption Ps 130.7 In this sense this latter clause further expounds those words in the former is the God of Salvation and addes weight to them and imports that God is not simply and barely a God of Salvation that can save if he sets himselfe about it in time or if the danger and strait bee not over-pressing above measure No but though a man be in the greatest and deepest exigents and extremity that can be imagined though in the very jawes of death yet God can make out an outstretched arm of help and reach him at any distance whatsoever This Interpretatiō being more agreeable to the frequent Method of the Psalmes wherein the latter member of the verse is exegeticall or expository of the former I rather chuse to follow In the words there are three things considerable 1. The interest the Church and Children of God have in God in the first words He that is our God 2. The benefit that redounds to the Church or which the Church may assuredly expect by meanes of this interest in God Salvation or Salvations Many in number and divers in kinde 3. And lastly the extent of this benefit This salvation is not from common ordinary lighter dangers but from the greatest and deepest and dreadfullest of all From death or out of death it selfe in those words To the Lord belong the issues of death The first of these the interest the Church hath in God the God of Salvations poureth us out the blessing of this observation First That the Church and Children of God have a peculiar and speciall interest in God so that he truly is and may be called Theirs The second which is the great and singular benefit redounding unto the Church from this her interest in God comes not much behinde it leading us directly to the Contemplation of this sweet conclusion That the Church of God may with all confidence and assurance of hope expect from him Salvation yea Salvation upon salvation Salvations of all kindes The third and last thing considerable in the words the extent of this great benefit crowneth the soule with the fatness of this observation or doctrine That the Church of God by vertue of her interest in God may expect and shall certainly finde safety and deliverance by one meanes or other not from common or lesser dangers only but from the greatest and deepest of all or more briefly thus if you please The Church of God can never be brought so low so neare death and ruine but that God hath still choice of wayes and meanes for her deliverance CAP. II. Wherein the nature and importance of that propriety or interest which the Church hath in God is declared LEt us take the first thing which is the groundworke of all into consideration It is like we shall have occasion in the handling hereof to draw in some of the best of the strength in the other two The great and important truth which we are now to enquire after and search into is this The Church and people of God have a peculiar right and interest in God by meanes whereof he may truly and properly bee called theirs or their God For the opening and managing this point to the best advantage for Christian service these foure things I conceive are requisite to bee done 1. To shew you what this interest is what manner of interest it is and what is the nature and importance of it 2. To establish you in the truth of the point by the mouth and testimony of more witnesses from the Scripture 3. To lay downe consider some grounds and reasons of the point 4. And lastly to bring all home into your bosomes in the use and application For the first That interest which the Holy Ghost here certifies the Church and People of God to have in him may be shadowed out unto you by some such description or overture as this It is a gracious propriety of himselfe which God by speciall Covenant and deed of gift as it were hath made over to the creature willing to enter into such Covenant with him for every such benefit and advantage to the creature
that though all the wayes and pathes of God are Mercy and Truth unto his Church and such as keep his Covenant as David speakes yet are there many things in these wayes of his Ps 25.14 very liable and obnoxious for a time to another interpretation To give the true sense and meaning of all passages in Gods providence and administration towards his Church requires an Interpreter one of a thousand God may be comming towards his Church in a way of Mercy and Truth when the thoughts of our hearts are ready to say he is comming in a way of judgement and destruction There was given to me saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 12.7 A messenger from or of Satan It was well spied of S. Paul to finde out a gift of God in a message and messenger from the devill It sometimes requires much wisdome and pondering and consideration of things to understand the loving kindnesse of the Lord in them as David speakes Psal 107.43 There are some things hard to be understood saith Peter in Pauls Epistles which some pervert to their owne destruction So are there in Gods government of the Church many things hard to be understood for a season which some pervert to their owne discomfiture till God himselfe by the light of a joyfull issue cleeres his owne intent and meaning therein A 3. thing to be coÌ„sidered is that as it was said of Christ the head of the Church that he was appointed or set up for the falling as well as for the rising of many in Israel So is it true likewise of the whole body of the Church God hath so appointed it and so carries and orders the affaires state and condition of it that it shall be and must be the great stumbling stone of the world upon which the principle haters of God and his truth shall dash themselves in pieces God could have confounded the world and the wise things therof otherwise and have brought to nought the mighty things of it by a more immediate way but said the holy Ghost God hath chosen the weake 1 Cor. 1.27 28. things of the world and the foolish things and things that are not to doe it by God divides the glory with his Church he will honour himselfe and his Church together in the destruction of the world God could have tempered another cup that should have been as present death to the Nations to have drunke of it Zach. 12.2 but Ierusalem must be made the cup of poyson to all the people round about when they shall be in the siege against Judah and Jerusalem He could have framed and throwne Millstones downe from heaven upon all people as he did upon those five Kings and their Armies in the dayes of Ioshua Iosh 10.11 but Ierusalem againe must be made the heavy stone for all people that whosoever shall offer to heave at it and lift it up to carry it away shall be torne in pieces by it though all the earth should be gathered together against it Zach. 12.3 The Church of Rome indeed gapes after this priviledge and makes account that all Nations and Churches in the world that will not bow downe and serve her and fall downe and worship her shall be destroyed and imputes the fearefull desolation of the Grecian Churches to that enmity against her which they professe to this day Fourthly it is to bee knowne likewise and considered that the Church is not appointed only and simply to be the destruction of the wicked and enemies of God but to be their destruction in a speciall and more remarkable way and manner viz. in the nature of a Snare that they may not feare nor thinke of destruction from it till it be upon them or that kinde of destruction which the Scripture usually calls a being confounded Behold all they that provoke thee saith Esay 41.11 shall be ashamed and confounded To be confounded properly is this when a man hath been lifted up in great hopes and confidence of successe victory and prevailing in any thing and then on a sudden quite besides his expectation is brought downe and falls upon inevitable destruction knowes not how to help himselfe And so the other word that is joyned with it of being ashamed is a word of like importance we know it is not simply poverty and want and a meane condition that makes a man ashamed in the world but only when it succeeds riches and plenty and fulnesse A poore man in the Country that is borne only to inherite the dust that had never a good Coate on his back since he was borne he is not ashamed of a 〈…〉 walkes and holds up his head and shewes his face before any man for all that but take a Courtier or a Merchant or a Citizen of best ranke and quality that have been clothed with fine linnen and fared deliciously every day that have not been seen but in soft raiment in Silke in Silver and Gold if such a man shall be brought downe to rags and have no better to put on but some course Mantle or the like this makes him hold downe his head and ashamed to shew his face to any that knowes him So when the Lord saith that the enemies of his Church shall be ashamed it implies that they shall have a time granted them wherein they shall flourish like a green Bay tree which tastes not of Winter as most trees besides do losing the beauty and verdure and comelinesse of their leaves which the Bay tree doth not that they shall have a time wherein they shall doe even what they list in the world as David speakes Psal 73.7 c. or as the originall hath it shall even passe the desires of the heart that is shall have more power and authority and glory in the world then they could well tell what to doe with wherein they shall have the Saints of God and the Church of the most High under their feet and shall throw downe the foundations and shall see no man able to doe any thing against them able or likely to make resistance In this great prosperity of theirs and poore and contemptible condition of the Church before them God layes the foundation and corner stone of their shame and confusion which otherwise to speake properly could not be brought to passe And â—o those two similitudes we opened out of Zach. 12.23 whereby the Lord represented unto us how termes stand between his Church and the wicked the enemies of it in this point viz. that the Church should certainly be the ruine and confusion of the wicked they both cary an intimatioÌ„ of what I now speak of viz. that the Church shall be their destruction in the nature of a Snare or in such a way and at such a time when they shall little feare it or expect it Jerusalem shall be a cup of poyson to all the people i. e. when the people shall thinke the Church fit to be devoured and swallowed up and shall thinke to
offend them yet on the sudden remembring it selfe as it were it tooke fire and destroyed them So that me thinkes this fiery Element of Powder spake to and dealt betweene them these Popish miscreants and us the Church of God amongst us much after the same manner as the evill spirit mentioned Acts 19.15 both spake and dealt by those Vagabond Jewes those Exorcists in respect of Iesus and Paul When these Exorcists adjured this evill spirit by Jesus whom Paul preached the spirit answered and said to them Iesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye And the man saith the Text in whom the evill spirit was ran on them and they fled out of the house naked and wounded So when these Popish Exorcists had adjured and charged the Powder to doe execution upon this Kingdome and State professing the truth and Gospell of Jesus Christ the Powder made them answer The State and Church of England I know the servants of the living God I know those that worship the Lord Christ in Spirit and truth I know I have nothing to doe with these I can doe nothing against them but who are you you cursed enemies of truth Church of God I owe you no such service Therefore looke to your selves and keep out of the dint of my fiery Whirlewinde Otherwise your flesh will be before me but as stubble before the winde I will devoure you But this for the second motive to perswade enemies to desist it is a worke that never hath and therefore certainly never will prosper but only to destruction of the workers themselves A third motive followes Let this consideration also prevaile with the enemies of the Church to cause them to cease from the violence that is in their hand against it because this Church of God and the members of it whom they persecute living amongst them in the world are the rock as it were upon which their City is built they are the foundations of all the peace and all the pleasure and all the contentments they enjoy upon earth these are the partition wall between them and hell for the time These are the Chariots and Horsemen for defence and faseguard of their States and Lives against the fury and indignation of the Lord which otherwise would breake in upon them and consume them in a moment The great Master housholder of this great house the world would soon break up house if his owne Children were once disposed of in marriage to their great husband If these were once setled in their inheritance the wicked would soone with Iudas be packed away and sent every man to his owne place When God shall once speake come yee blessed depart ye cursed followes presently sently after it The Chaffe is not in danger of burning as long as it lies in the same heap intermixt with the Wheat but if the Wheat be once divided by it self from it then it is neare the burning with unquenchable fire It is true that which our Saviour saith Mat. 5.45 God makes his Sun to arise upon the evill and the good but with this interpretation and in this order as one glosseth the place well he makes the Sun to arise upon the evill and the good but upon the evill for the goods sake And that manner of speaking I take it is much to be noted where it is said that God maketh his Sun to rise upon evill and good q. d. If God himselfe did not mediate and interpose with a strong hand betweene that glorious creature of his the Sun and evill and wicked men they would never agree for an houre together the Sun being once set would never rise upon such men again There is a naturall unwillingnesse and gainsaying in the whole Creation in the Heavens Sun Moone and Stars to doe any service to or to gratifie wicked men that are enemies to God though otherwise it be most agreeable to their particular natures to give forth their light and influences to the world and they may seem to rejoyce as it were and triumph to doe it yet since man rebelled against God that created him through that naturall sympathy they have with God and his glory there is an utter aversnesse and unwillingnesse upon them even to doe that office and service to the world for which they were created and are able freely to afford without any offence hinderance or prejudice to themselves otherwise But that which is their glory their excellent light and lustre and those heavenly influences they give downe upon the world in this respect is not their glory but a griefe and burden upon them to pleasure the enemies of God with them and to strengthen their hand as if through a zeale they have to Gods glory they would rather lose their beeing though excellent and glorious then to remain and continue doing service to his enemies So that did not God over-rule them in the thing by a strong hand the Sun would presently clothe himselfe with a sackcloth the Moone would give over shining and the Stars would fall out of their place in heaven rather then shine here to pleasure the enemies of their God This I rather take to be the meaning of that place Rom. 8.20 Because the creature is subject to vanity not of its owne will but by reason of him that hath subdued it under hope That vanity whereunto the creature is said to be here subject is not to be understood of a vanity of corruption properly so called or dissolution for it is a great question whether it be at all subject to this vanity or no whether in the heavens which are the principall parts of the creature there shall be any such change that shall answer the death and dissolution of man It is hard to conceive how the heavens should be invested with a condition more glorious and excellent then that wherein they now stand which seemes necessary to be held and to bee beleeved if we hold any such change comming upon them answerable to death What God is able to doe in this case we do not here dispute or deny And againe secondly if it were this kinde of vanity the holy Ghost should here meane I suppose the Apostle would never have mentioned that circumstance as a matter so weighty and worthy of consideration that it should be contrary to the will of it For who knowes not that corruption and destruction is contrary to the naturall desire and inclination of any thing whatsoever therfore those words would taste too flat and dry for the wisdome of the holy Ghost if such a sense were admitted Thirdly and lastly the vanity here meant must be such a vanity from the subjection whereof the creature desireth even for the present and that with fervency to be free and to be delivered ver 19. Now from the vanity of corruption properly so called it cannot be delivered but by undergoing and suffering corruption first and so it would follow that the fervent desire of the creature should