and Threaten to devour them So when Mens Spirits and Speeches are so full of venom against the Saints and their Passions so heightned that they are ready to fall down right on them then God arises and rebukes their Passions And Behold there is a great Calm Now as the Mariners cryed out What manner of Man is this that even the Winds and the Seas obey Him Oh! that all the Churches of Christ in England would be Adoring and Admiring and breaking forth in this Extasie What manner of God is this that even the enraged Passions of men are subjected to Him Thus the Lord who is a present help in time of Trouble hath done great things for us Fifthly The Lord the God that is affected with and concerned at his Peoples troubles we read his Soul was grieved for the misery of Israel He is pleased to call his People the Apple of his Eye and who cannot but be deeply sensible when that part is touched So near so greatly near is the Relation between God and his People as all that is done to them is in his account as done to Himself Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me was his word to him that then as a malicious Informer went up and down like his Master the Devil seeking where and whom of the Saints he might devour And upon his enquiry Who art thou Lord he was sharply answered I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou Persecutest and at the last Judgement he will tell the hard-hearted World I was Hungry and ye gave me no Meat I was Thirsty and yee gave me no Drink The Saints wants are His wants the Saints troubles are His troubles Isa 63.9 In all their Afflictions He was Afflicted and the Angel of his Presence saved them in his Love and in his Pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carryed them all the days of old The former verse tells us He said Surely they are my People and being his People he could not but be concerned at their troubles yea so greatly that he did as it were take part with them in their Afflictions And in their Afflictions he was Afflicted The expression is very strange and hardly to be parallell'd What the Poet said of Augustus we may more truely say of God Est placidus facilisquae parens veniaeque paratus Et qui fulminio sepe sine igne tonat Qui cum triste aliquid statuit sit tristis et ipse Cuique ferre poenam sumere poena sua est And herein he glorifies and magnifies the riches of his Love in being so concerned at and affected with the troubles of his People Oh! He is moved He is touched with the sence of our Infirmities And hence he cannot hold from coming to his Peoples Assistance when their pressures and Calamities are great and their Sorrows many when the floods of Persecutions are over whelming them the inraged passions of wicked men engages the Compassion of a gracious God to appear for their help and that right early hear himself speaking fully as to this Psalm 12.5 For the oppression of the Poor for the sighing of the Needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safety from him that pusseth at him When the World are doing great things against the People of God he will arise and do great things for them as God said of Sodom Because the Cry of Sodom and Gomorra is great and because their Sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the Cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know So he saith of Zion Because the cry of Zion is great and their Calamity is very grievous I will go down now and see whether it be altogether according to the cry of it from their Sighs and Groans which is come unto me and if not I will know Thus the Sympathizing Lord hath done for us great things Sixthly The Lord the only God He has done and indeed none but he could have done Great Things For there is none besides Him all the Gods of the Heathens are Idols Mouths have they but they speak not Feet have they but they walk not Hands have they but they act not But the Lord our God is the Living God the only True God whose Glory is above the Heavens and whose Power is extended to the utmost confines of the Earth Isa 45.22 Look unto me and be Saved all the ends of the Earth for I am God and there is none else There may be many false Gods many pretended Gods but there is no God the Saviour but me none whose Arm hath wrought out Salvation but mine Judas Machabaeus had these words written on his Ensign as his Motto Mi Camoca Belohim Iehovah Who is like unto thee among the Gods O Lord VVho can act as he acts For he doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number And as he so only he doth great things There is none can do like him expectation from any other Agent will be miserably frustrated Jer. 3.23 Truly in vain is Salvation hoped for from the Hills and from he multitude of Mountains truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel By the Hills and multitude of Mountains here we are Tropologically to understand great powers great capacities great abilities and how great soever they may be in the Creature vain is the help expected from them God will have no Partner no Rival in this great work of saving his poor distressed People he will have the sole Honour and Glory of it himself that Praises may be resounded and re-echoed in all the Churches millitant O sing to the Lord a new Song for he hath done marvellous things His Right Hand and His holy Arm hath gotten him the Victory The Lord hath made known his Salvation his Righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen He hath remembred his Mercy and his Truth toward the House of Israel and the ends of the Earth have seen the Salvation of our God Thus the great Lord the Gracious Lord the Faithful Lord the present helping Lord the Compassionate Lord the only Lord has done great things And so I pass from the Agent to the Object For Vs First For Vs poor low mean insignificant Greatures whose Original was Dust and Clay and whose dissolution will be in the same matter for dust we are and to dust we shall return The highest Honour we can pretend to is with Job to claim Kindred with the inhabitants below saying to Corruption Thou art our Father and to the Worm Thou art our Mother and our Sister Our Bodies are called Houses of Clay Behold he put no trust in his Servant and his Angels he chargeth with Folly How much less on them that dwell in Houses of Clay whose foundation is in the Dust which are crushed before the Moth. We are fit Creatures indeed for the Almighty to do such great things for
poor lost Man of that Gospel that proclaims Liberty to the Captive and the opening the Prison-doors to them that are in Bondage and lets the Prisoners go free of that Gospel that shews poor Creatures the way to Life and how to be made happy for ever which hath so unreasonably and spitefully been hindred by all the hellish Craft and Subtilty that could be used Oh! how have men Stretcht their Witts and Tenterhookt their Power to stop the shining light of the Glorious Gospell Though God hath commanded it to be Preached and spread to the utmost confines of the Earth though he hath Promised it shall be so spread in the last days when the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord as the Waters cover the Seas and though he hath demonstrated it shall be so in the Vision which John saw Rev. 2.14.6 And I saw another Angel in the midst of Heaven having the everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that dwell in the Earth and to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Had this Angel stood upon Earth as he was to fly in Heaven in our Climate we lately had a sort of People would have been ready to have clapt a Warrant on his Back and apprehended him as a disturber of the Peace though he was to Preach no other than the Gospel of Peace So eager were they to cross the Almighty Oh! Impudent Presumption in his purposes and decrees But now Blessed be God there is a large door set open that all that are gifted and spirited for the work may apply themselves thereunto without any fear of Opposition Ill-men may threaten and repine at it but they cannot hinder it Happy Blessed Glorious day This Door hath a long time been shut to the great Grief and Trouble of many poor Souls How many poor Creatures have been hungry for the Bread of Life but there was none to break it to them How many were thirsty for the Water of the Sanctuary but there was none to draw it for them There hath been a great Famine of Bread of Heavenly Bread I mean in our Land. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath visited his People and given them this Bread and that in abundance VVho hath brought forth his Ministers from their Prisons from their hiding places and hath given them liberty and oppertunity to open their Mouths in the great Congregations and to act according to the Tenour of the Prophets Commission Esaiah 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet show my People their Transgressions and the Sons of Jacob their Sin. Don't speak in a low flattering way don't read in a dull sleepy cold manner as though you were rehearsing a story out of a Book but cry and cry aloud speak and speak out with a lifted up voice Plenis faucibus voce sonora quasi Tubali and what a mercy 't is that we have such Golden Trumpets sounding in the Gates of our Zion such glorious Lights shining in our Horizon Oh! this is a great thing Our Meetings which of late were confined to the most private and retired rooms and that not withot a great deal of danger are now brought forth in open view in the sight of all Israel and before the Sun VVho can think of this and not break forth into Admiration Sixthly He hath given opportunity to the worst to sit under the best means to their Souls good The Ignorant and Prophane Persons who had most need to hear were for cogent reasons in most places shut out from the word People were afraid to admit them into their Private Meetings lest they should be betrayed by them and every one that knows the worth of a Soul will own this a great Mercy indeed that such may now come freely into the Publick Assemblyes and none have any suspition of them The Net is now largely and extensively spread over all and blessed be God there is a Spirit in such to come in the Nets way I have always observed that the worst men have a hankering after the best means This our Saviour hinted at in his answer to John Mat. 11.4 5. Jesus answared and said unto them Go and shew John again those things which you do hear and see The Blind receive their Sight and the Lame Walk the Leapers are Cleansed and the Deaf Hear the Dead are raised up and the Poor have the Gospel Preached to them The word in the Original is Emphatical and the Poor are Gospelliz'd not only poor in respect to the World but poor in respect of Grace That are in a Natural unregenerated Estate what a vast injury to the Souls of thousands of such has this late Persecution been Oh! that all concerned in it may seriously lay it to heart and I am confident it will be small ease to them to reflect upon it that so many by the heat of their Spirits have been kept from that word that might have been the Savour of Life to them but now they may come and be pertakers of it Take notice you Drunkards you Swearers you Worldlings you Atheists henceforth you can have no excuse for you may now come and hear from the Messengers of the Lord of Hosts the misery of your Condition of the dreadfullness of Living and Dying in the state you are of the manner of True Conversion of the freeness of Grace of the Fulness of Love and of the infinite Vertue and Value of the Blood of Christ the closing with which by faith must be your happiness if ever you are made happy These glorious Divine Truths are not now spoken of in a private Chamber but publickly Proclaimed as on the House top Prov. 20.21 22. Wisdome cryeth without She uttereth her Voice in the Streets She cryeth in the chief place of concourse in the opening of the Gates in the City She uttereth her words saying How long ye simple Ones will ye love Simplicity and the Scorners delight in their Scorning and Fools hate Knowledge Oh! what a great thing is this Seventhly And which is none of the least of these great things He hath turned the Heart of our Royal and Dread Soveraign to us as the Heart of a Father to his Children We are told Pouv 21.11 The Kings Heart is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Water he turneth it wheresoever he will. Oh! Blessed be God for this Turn how welcome how refreshing is it even as the breaking forth of the Sun after a tedious Night We may now go home to our Tents Rejoyce and Triumphing that we even we have a Portion in our David and that we even we have an Inheritance in the Son of Jesse Through the Interposition of some shaddowing Clouds we have not had for some years the Smiles of Caesars Face being continually portrayed before him as some Monstrous Creatures unworthy his Protection There have not been wanting Hamans in the Court suggesting to the Prince that his Crown
hath done great things for us that in the Ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his Power in his kindness towards us in rescuing us from the jaws of Death and keeping us from going down into the Pit and by his glorious Omnipotence turning our Captivity as the streams of the South And this Almighty Power of his has been of old exerted for the deliverance of his poor distressed People as we may see in the Churches appeal to it upon her Invocation in time of trouble Isa 51.9 10 11. Awake Awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord as in the Antient days in the Generations of Old Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon art thou not it which hath dried the Sea the Waters of the great deep that hath made the depths of the Sea a way for the Ransomed to pass over therefore the Redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with Singing unto Zion and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain Gladness and Joy and Sorrow and Mourning shall flee away As if she had said Thou hast formerly shined forth in the Glory of thy Power in cutting Rahab that is in plaguing Egypt in wounding the Dragon that is in destroying Pharoah and in drying up the Waters of the Red-Sea Oh put forth that power now in Freeing and redeeming us from our present troubles that we with them may sing those Hosannahs of Joy on Earth which will be perfected in Hallelujahs when we come to Heaven Tantum gaudebimus quam tum amabimus tantum amabimus quantum cognoscemus says the devout Austin We shall Rejoyce as much as we shall Love and we shall Love as much as we shall know Our knowledge of the glorious Attribute of Gods Power will then be perfect and our rejoycing at it will be in perfection also we find the Prophet in a dark and gloomy day when things lookt black upon the People of God had recourse to this great Power of God for his support and bearing up under the pressures of those sad and heavy things he saw a coming upon Jerusalem as you may see in that solemn and serious Prayer of his Jerimiah 32. verse 17 c. Ah! Lord God behold thou hast made the Heaven and the Earth by thy great Power and stretched-out Arm and there is nothing too hard for thee Thou shewest Loving kindness unto Thousands and recompensest the Iniquity of the Fathers into the bosome of their Children after them the Great the Mighty God the Lord of Hosts is his Name great in Councel and mighty in Work for thine Eyes are open upon all the ways of the Sons of Men to give every one according to his wayes and every one according to the fruit of his doings which hast set Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt even unto this day and in Israel and amongst other men and hast made thee a name as at this day and hast brought forth thy People Israel out of the Land of Egypt with Signs and with Wonders and with a strong hand and with a stretched-out Arm and with great terror This prayer is very argumentative and conclusive concerning the Power of God that it is able to effect all things since by it the vast globe of the World was made out of nothing the Lords Might anb his Mercy are the good Soul's Jachin Boaz the names of the two main Pillars in Solomons Temple the one signifying Stabllity the other Strength to note the Saints are safe and established in the the Power and Mercy of God. Thus the great Lord hath done great things for us Secondly The Lord the good and gracious God the Tender and Merciful God who hath proclaimed himself before Heaven and Earth before Angels and Men. The Lord The Lord God Mercifull and Gracious Long-suffering abundant in goodness and Truth the Lord who is good yea exceeding good whose Mercy endures for ever The Lord whose thoughts concercing Mercy are not as our thoughts nor his ways with respect to doing good as our wayes but as the Heavens are higher then the Earth so are his Thoughts higher than our Thoughts his Ways than our Ways The Lord that is as ready to Grant as his People can be to Ask who is nigh to all that call upon him in sincerity when Troubles and Calamities do Surround them as you may see in his most tender affectionate answer to bemoaning Ephraim as soon as he came upon his knees before him Jeremiah 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are Troubled for him and I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. God may seem a great while as one unconcerned at the troubles of his People but when they are so high as to overwhelm their Spirits and their Hearts are bowing and bending yea breaking under them he then hath Pity and Compassion upon them in their Distresses As Croesus's dumb Son who never spoke in his Life before when he saw one attempting to Assassinate his Father violently cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Man Do not kill Croesus So the blessed God cannot hold coming in with supplyes of Mercy when his People are ready to be swallowed up in the gulf of Misery Mercy is his Name and Mercy is his Nature there is nothing he delights in so much for Mercy pleases him as much as it pleasures us and as he is great in Mercy so he is rich in it and free in it without any previous condition or qualification in the Creature He is a most free Agent in the distribution of Mercy Romans 9.15 for he saith to Moses I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on on whom I will have Compassion No other reason can be assigned no other motive by the Wisdom of Men and Angels could be produced why God should shew any Mercy to any of the Sons of Adam but his own free-will to it and his gracious Complacency in it When he is angry with his People and visiting them with some Judgments as Tokens of his Displeasure he is said to come out of his place importing that when he is doing good and shewing mercy he is then in his own proper place the place he would for ever be in did not our Sins too often occasion his removal We likewise read of his delighting in mercy Mic. 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee That pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgressions of the Remnant of his Heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy O Admiration Admiration That a dishonoured provoked and highly-incensed God should keep in the Vials of his wrath and shew so much Love and so much Mercy to his distressed ones yea in his Love and in his Mercy to do such great things for them Indeed when God strikes he strikes to