may lawfully pray against their designes though not against their persons as David prayed against the plots and policie of Achitophel O Lord I pray thee turne the counsell of Achitophel into foolishnesse or we may pray against their persons indefinitely though not particularly as thus let them be confounded what ere they be and turned backe that hate Sion let them bee as the grasse upon the house tops which withereth before it groweth up wherewith the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosome or lastly we may pray against their persons in particular conditionally though not absolutely first we are to pray for their conversion and then if maliciously and wilfully they persist in their obstinacy in the second place for their confusion This was Davids method fill their faces with shame that they they may seeke thy name O Lord that is that they may be converted unto thee but in case they will not be converted but stand out in their rebellion and go on still with an hard heart ahigh hand a stiffe necke and a brazen forehead then it followes Let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them boe put to shame and perish if by shame they will not bee wrought to conversion from shame let them be brought to confusion but then we must here remember that we doe not so much rejoyce because they perish as because by their perishing the Church of God is delivered and the glory of God advanced in the manifestation of his justice and for that reason the same Prophet presently addes That men may know that thou whose name is only Iehovah art the most high over all the earth that thou art the supreame Iudge of the world and sittest in the throne that judgeth right to which very purpose is that in another Psalme The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance hee shall wash or bathe his feete in the bloud of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth therefore shall the righteous rejoyce in the vengeance and bloud of the wicked not because their bloud is shed but because by the shedding of their bloud men are brought to know and acknowledge that he is the God that judgeth the earth with righteous judgement for shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right finally hereunto likewise accordeth that song of triumph Rev. 19. after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying Alleluja salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgements for hee hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the bloud of his servants at her hand and againe they said Alleluja This rubbe being thus remooved I now come to the second part of this first branch which is what these enemies of God are The enemies of God either acknowledge no God as professed Atheists or acknowledge a God but not the true God as Idolaters or the true God but goe not to him the true way that is by IESVS CHRIST as Mahometans and Iewes or goe to him by IESVS CHRIST but not by him alone as Romanists or goe by him alone but withall fancie to themselves and obstinately maintaine some erroneous opinion in fundamentall points as Hereticks or are sound enough in fundamentall points but out of an affectation of singularity separate themselves from the congregation as schismaticks or lastly joyne themselves to the congregation but either with false hearts as hypocrites or foule hands as prophane persons having both of them a forme of godlinesse but denying the power thereof these may all of them in some sense though in a diverse manner in a different degree be termed the enemies of God And againe to speake generally they are all Gods enemies who blaspheme Gods name who with hold Gods right who prophane Gods day who dishonour Gods house who abuse Gods word whou nreverently or unworthi ly receive Gods Sacraments who despise Gods ordinances who neglect Gods commandements who disgrace or disesteeme Gods ambassadors But by the enemies of God here in this place undoubtedly are to bee understood the enemies of his Church that is such as persecute it or for professions sake oppose themselves against it such an indissoluble linke and reciprocall connexion there is betwixt God and his Church that it cannot be but that the enemies of the one should be the enemies of the other The reproches of them that reproched thee are falne upon me saith the Psalmist as a member of the Church and againe Doe I not hate them O Lord that hate thee and am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I count them mine enemies And as Gods enemies are the Churches enemies so the enemies of the Church are Gods enemies and therfore they are Gods enemies because they are the Churches enemies Loe thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head and why were they thine enemies the reason is there immediately added They have taken crafty counsell against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones because they tooke counsell against his people and consulted against his Church therfore were they his enemies Remember Lord saith the same Prophet the reproch of thy servants wherewith thine enemies have reproched them therefore they were His enemies because they reproched his servants that is his Church and in this very Chapter Curse ye Meroz saith the Angell of the Lord curse bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not up to the helpe of the Lord against the mightie wherby he intitles the Churches quarrells to the Lord. But above all we have to this purpose in the ninth of the Acts a singular testimony from the mouth of the Lord himselfe as it were an oracle speaking to us from heaven where wee read that when Saul who afterward was called Paul was breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord that is the Church and to that end was upon his journey to Damascus being amazed with an exceeding bright light which shone round about him he heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he said Who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Iesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kicke against the pricks Iesus whom thou persecutest why Iesus was then in heaven and Saul on earth Saul clothed with misery and mortality here below and Iesus above sitting at the right hand of God in glory and majesty farre enough out of Sauls reach how then could Saul persecute Iesus surely none otherwise but because he persecuted the members of his Church which Iesus takes to heart as if himselfe had beene persecuted in his owne person The reason
souldier who strengthneth his arme and teacheth his fingers to fight and covereth his head in the day of battell Through God we shall doe valiantly for he it is that shall tread downe our enemies no King can be saved by a multitude of men and a horse is but a vaine thing to deliver a man vaine is the helpe of man without the helpe of the Lord therefore King David who wanted neither valour nor experience nor provision for the wars professeth of himselfe I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me he doth not say I will break my bow or I will cast away my sword but I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me but it is thou Lord that savest and puttest them to confusion that hate us it is thou and thou alone that refrainest the spirit of Princes and art terrible among the Kings of the earth that knappest the speare in sunder and burnest the chariots in the fire that bluntest the head of the arrow that it cannot pierce and takest off the edge of the sword that it cannot wound that takest away the wisdome of the Captaine and the courage of the souldier that pullest downe the thickest walls batterest the strongest forts and levellest the highest towers with the ground It is thou and only thou who raisest and turnest the windes at thy pleasure and by them makest use of raine and snow and haile and dust and smoke and of the windes themselves to the annoiance of thine enemies and reliefe of thy friends Thus as S. Ambrose in his booke against Symmachus reports it he assisted the good Emperour Theodosius being now in great danger by raising on the suddaine a mighty wind which carried backe the darts of his enemies upon their owne heads and withall caused the darts of his souldiers to pierce the deeper into their bodies which no doubt gave occasion to those verses of Claudian O nimium dilecte Deo cui fundit ab antris Aeolus armatas acies cui militat aether Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti O Gods great favourite to whom is sent From Aeole's vaults a warlike regiment Vnder whose ensigne heaven above bears armes And the winds sworn his souldiers wait alarms To whom then shall we goe with a song of triumph for victory received Not unto Mars as did the old Romans but for us our helpe standeth in the name of the Lord who hath made both heaven and earth some put their trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God his name we will remember by flying to him for succour and his name wee will remember by returning to him with praise and thanksgiving Not unto us Lord not unto us but untothy name give the praise and herein we are sure we cannot erre except Moses erred who after his victorie obtained upon the Amalekites built an altar and called the name of it Iehovah Nisi the Lord my banner except the Prophet David erred who professed of himselfe I will sing a new song unto thee O God upon a Psalterie and an instrument often strings will I sing praises unto thee It is he it is he that giveth victory unto Kings and delivereth David his servant from the perill of the sword or from the hurtfull sword lastly except Deborah the Prophetesse erred I am sure we cannot erre in this point who in the very entrance of her song dedicates it to the Lord Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel heare O Yee Kings and give eare O Yee Princes I even I will sing unto the Lord I will sing praise to the LORD GOD of Israel The fourth and last observation in this first branch is the manner of perishing of Gods enemies out of the word So So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. So as did Sisera with his army suddenly and when they least expect it as did Sisera shamefully and with dishonour as did Sisera utterly and without recovery as did Sisera So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. First then let them perish suddenly and when they least expect as did Sisera Sisera was now in the height of his pride and confidence in the very top of his jollity and bravery his master had now by the space of twenty yeeres mightily oppressed and harrowed the children of Israel whereby they became both unarm'd and dishartened hee had now drawne out into the field as witnesseth Iosephus 300000 foote 10000 horse and 3000 chariots whereof 900 of them were of iron whereupon himselfe and his adherents were so assured of the victorie that as we reade in the three verses here immediately before going in my text His mother looking out at a window and earnestly expecting every moment as it should seeme the returne of her sonne in his triumphant chariot she wondred what should stay him there he was so long a comming whereunto her wise ladies answered her or rather she prevented them and answered her selfe that the reason no doubt of his long stay could be none other than the dividing of the prey taken from the vanquished enemy and the lading of themselves with abundance of rich and pleasant spoiles but behold while she thus expected and reasoned the matter in her selfe wofull tydings was suddenly brought her not only of the death of her dearest son but of the miserable defeat and slaughter of the whole armie by him conducted and then presently follow the words of my text So even so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Nay so they shal perish when the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity did flourish then it is that they shall be destroied for ever then even then shall God shoot at them with a swift arrow Suddenly shall they be wounded when they shall say peace and safety then Sudden destruction shall come upon them unawares as travell upon a woman with childe and they shall not escape that which the Psalmist speakes of the wicked in generall may truly be verifyed in particular of those enemies of the Lord who lately perished I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Laurell yet for all his great power and pompe he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but hee could not be found hee was suddenly gone in the turn of an hand as it was fore told of Iulian Nubecula est cito transibit he is but a thin cloud and will quickly vanish and so indeed it fell out Such a flash was that Spanish bravado in the yeere 1588 predictions had every where run and were verily beleeved that some great conversions of kingdomes would fall out in that yeare and the Spaniards for the invasion of this kingdome covered the seas with such a navie as for ships men munition and provision in all kindes it was as our Annalist
speakes omnium quas Oceanus unquam vidit instructissima the best furnished and most accomplished of any that the Ocean ever saw it was more like a moving forrest than a fleet three whole yeares in preparing and cost the King of Spaine by their owne report thirtie thousand ducats every day inso much as themselvesin the pride of their heart and assurance of victory called it the invincible Armado and Bernardinus Mendoza then ambassador in France caused bookes to bee published of their conquest of England but notwithstanding all their vaine braggs and confidence they passed away and were not we sought them but they could not be found Quam benè te ambitio mersit vanissima ventus Et tumidos tumidae vos superastis aquae Iustly the wind windy ambition drownd And swelling waves did swelling harts confound In memory of which sudden discomfiture money was coyned with this inscription stamped on the one side Venit Vidit Fugit and on the other Dux femina facti So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Let them also perish So that is shamefully and with dishonour as Sisera did Hee was for his person and qualities a Captaine of great fame and long experience trained up in the wars and militarie affaires from his very childhood whereas Barak on the other side was but a raw commander of little experience and lesse courage as it should seem by his answere to Deborah that he would not march into the field nor incounter Sisera without her and besides that his souldiers were taken up in haste undisciplind unexercised and unfurnished their spirits had beene broken by long servitude under the Canaanites and their number very small but tenne thousand men in the whole scarce matchable with Sisera s horsemen yet by this handfull of men was Sisera s huge hoste cut in peeces and himselfe flying shamefully out of the battell as shamefully by the hand of a woman as did Holophernes by the hand of Iudith and Abimelech should have done having his scull broken by a peece of a milstone throwne downe from a tower from the hand of a woman had not he to prevent the shame commanded his armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword as we may read in the ninth Chap. of this very booke Thus Sisera as Guicciardin speakes of Charles the eight his expedition to Naples and returne from thence came into the field like thunder and lightning but went out like a snuffe more than a man at first and lesse than a woman at last Thus perished Herod a grievous persecutour of the Church too who sitting in Majestie upon his throne of estate and glistering in his royall apparell as an Angell making an eloquent oration unto the people so that they gave a shout crying out and saying It is the voice of God and not of man but immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him and he was eaten up of wormes and gave up the ghost and so perished both suddenly and shamefully And thus Goliah who was of a mighty stature wherunto his strength was every way answerable and his armour his helmet his coate of male his greaves his target his speare proportionable to his strength and stature upon which he was so confident that he disdained David making account and threatning him out of hand to give his flesh to the fowles of the aire and to the beasts of the field but it fell out otherwise this great Gyant thus swelling with pride quickly falls by the cast of a stone throwne out of the sling of a poore silly boy in comparison of him and this God doth that the plumes of mans presumption may thereby be taken downe and the greatnesse of his owne power may appeare in the weakenesse of the meanes And so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Lastly let them perish So that is utterly without all hope of recovery as Sisera did not so much as a man left to carry tydings of the successe to Iabin King of Canaan whose forces they were nay more than so Iosephus assures us that Barak having now gotten to himselfe more spirit by this victory he made use of it and staied not here but marched forward leading his armie even to the gates of Azor the Imperiall Citie of all Canaan slew Iabin that came out against him and having slaine the King levelled the Citty with the ground with which relation of Iosephus the last verse of the Chapter immediately going before seemes to accord where we reade that the hand of the Children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Iabin the King of Canaan untill they had destroyed him and so much doth the Psalmist intimate where he makes this victorie as a president or patterne to all succeeding ages Doe unto them saith he praying against the professed enemies of God and his Church as unto the Midianites as to Sisera as to Iabin at the brooke of Kison which perished at Endor they became as the dung of the earth And so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Yea so sha◠al thine enemies perish O Lord this imprecation being likewise a prediction thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in peeces like a potters vessell thou shalt so dash them as they shall be broken to shivers thou shalt so breake them to shivers as there shall not bee left so much as a sheard to take fire withall from the hearth or water out of the pit from hence it is that their perishing is compared to the vanishing of smoake which mounts and dilates it selfe for a time but instantly is so cleane gone as no man knowes what is become of it and to the burning of stubble which in a moment is turned into ashes The hoùse of Iacob shall be a fire and the house of Ioseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devoure them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it Such a promise we have of the utter perishing of the whore of Babylon The tenne hornes which thou sawest upon the beasts these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and hsall eate her flesh and burne her with fire and in the very next Chapter of the totall and finall destruction of the City Babylon by which Rome is meant and that even by the testimonies of the Iesuits themselves Vega and Ribera And a mighty Angell took up a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be throwen downe and shall bee found no more at all shall be found no more there is her finall no more at all there is her totall destruction And s oeven so let all thine enemies perish O Lord suddenly shamefully irrecoverably And so I passe from the malediction to the benedi ction from mount Ebal the mountain of cursing to mount