but renews the promise of the Messiah to him as a reward Deliverance then comes when God hath separated the Corn from the stubble 4. A standing encouragement for future faith When the straits are greatest from whence God delivers us there is a stronger foundation for a future trust When the distress is inconsiderable faith afterwards will be more feeble large experience heartens strengthens faith in the promise When gloomy clouds are blown over the brighter and thinner will not be much feared When we see the Sun melt the thickest over our heads we shall not doubt its force to disolve the lesser vapours which may afterwards assemble when the Ship hath escaped a raging storm we shall not doubt it in a less God often puts them in mind of their deliverance in the red Sea to strengthen their faith and dependance on him It must needs be an establishment to faith for deliverances from great straits are some kind of obligation on the honour of God When the Israelites had provoked God by murmuring and wished they had dyed in Aegypt and not in the wilderness Moses intercedes with this argument The Aegyptians shall hear of it from whom God brought up Israel with a strong hand and it would disparage Gods power and tax him with an inability to bring his people into the Land he intended then God grants their pardon Numb 14.13 14 20. 5. Engagement to future Obedience 'T is upon this account God prefaceth the Law with his mercy in delivering them out of Aegypt The strongest Vows are made in the greatest straits Many obligations there are when the extremity forces us to cry When we are in the Jaws of Death God may have his terms of us when we are at some distance we will have our own The lower a person is the more readily will he bend to any condition hope of deliverance will make him stoop And when God snatches his People as fire-brands out of the fire they are more obliged to him from common ingenuity and must be more ashamed of breaking their Vows than if their mercies were of a great alloy If common patience leads to repentance a rescue from an amazing danger is a stronger cord to draw us to repentance and obedience And it is certain that when the Church in sincerity makes Vows to God it will not be long before God puts her into a condition to pay them and furnish her with Incentives of a holy ingenuity 6. The greater thankfulness The more straitned the greater thankfulness for enlargement As we hear not of the Israelites prayers after they came out of Aegypt till they were in the pound so we read of none of their songs though they had matter enough for them in their first departure till God had dasht in pieces the Enemy and thrown the Horse and the Rider into the Sea Then and not till then had they a deep sense how glorious God was in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Exod. 15.11 Great mercies unvail God's face more to the view of his People When Israel inherits great salvation then the Lord shall inherit the praise of Israel When we have less mercies we take little notice of the Author God hears the language of but one of our bones but when he delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him and spoils him then all my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee 7. To prevent future mischief to the Church The destruction of the greatest Enemies is a disarming the less God by this destruction struck a terrour into those Nations upon whose confines Israel was to march into Canaan who without so remarkable a rebuke of providence would have been desirous to finger some of their prey Then trembling took hold of the mighty men of Moab All the Inhabitants of Canaan did melt away fear and dread fell upon them by the greatness of the Arm of God that they should be as still as a stone till they passed over the River Exod. 15.15 16. Their present deliverance was a Pass-port for their future security in their Journey and no Enemies troubled them in the way but those upon whom God had a mind to shew his Power 2. How doth God deliver when the season is thus 1. Suddenly They sank like Lead in the mighty waters which quickly reaches the bottom Judgment comes like lightning Death and Hell are said to ride upon Horses Rev. 6.8 They are too swift for God's Enemies and will easily win the Race of them Destruction comes as travel upon a woman with child 1 Thes 5.3 How suddenly did God turn the Assyrian Camp into an Aceldema overthrow a powerful Army and make their Tents their Tombs in the space of a night He will dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Psa 2.9 all in bits at a stroke He comes suddenly he rides upon a Cherub Psal 18.10 But because the motion of an Angel is not so intelligible he adds another Metaphor from the nimblest of sensible things he flies upon the wings of the wind to assist his People in extremity The Enemy comes like a whirlwind * They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me Hab. 3.14 and God goes forth as a whirlwind of fury Jer. 30.23 The whirlwind of his Judgments shall be as quick as the whirlwind of their malice a continual whirlwind when the other is vanishing it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked when the other shall be as fruitless as a Snow-ball against a wall of Brass The Enemy beholds him not till he be upon him for the clouds are as dust under his feet Nahum 1.3 and obscure his appearance as the raising the Dust doth the march of a Troop he comes unawares upon them in a Cloud The Execution is sudden They shall be cut down as grass Psal 37.2 which this moment faceth the Sun triumphing in its natural bravery and the next moment is cut off from its Root with one shave of a Sythe He quencheth them as Tow is quencht in Water Isa 43.17 as the snuff of a Candle is quench'd by being bruis'd by the fingers He cuts them off as foam the excrement of the water Hos 10.7 which bursts in pieces like a bubble on the sudden Vengeance comes upon Tyre and Sidon swiftly and speedily Joel 3.4 Tyre comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to afflict to straiten Sidon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies to pursue All Persecutors are threatned in Tyre and Sidon with a swift destruction God delays the time to try the faith and patience of his People to make the expected deliverance more sweet and welcom and mercy more singular He may have some of the seed of Christ in the loins of some of his Enemies But when he doth draw his Sword he gives a sudden blow before the Enemy fears it or his People expect it The Jews in Babylon when the Chains of their Captivity were unloosed were like those that
Africa have been added to her Empire her Progeny shall be hereafter as numerous as it hath been when the devices of Antichrist shall be more seen and perceived they will be more nauseated and many with Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols Second thing That God has hitherto establisht Sion 1. 'T is testified by its present standing when other Empires have sunk by Age or violence God hath promised the stability and eminency of the Mountain of the Lord's house above all the Mountains the strongest Power and most compacted Empires of the world sometimes signified to us by that title Isa 2.2 And in the midst of his destroying Plagues and his milder Anger with the Church she hath a Charter of security Jer. 30.11 Though I make a full end of all Nations yet will I not make an end of thee Further the reasons why Kingdoms and Nations are pull'd up by the roots and utterly wasted is not only because they are inveterate enemies but refuse her easie chains and decline her service Isa 60.12 The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted The warrant for the execution of such is as firmly sealed by Heaven as the Patent for the Churches preservation 't is repeated with an Emphasis The persecuted Church hath still been lifted up when the Assyrian Persian and Greek Monarchies have fallen in pieces and left no footsteps of their Grandeur The prosperity of worldly Kingdoms is no better than a fire of straw that blazeth and vanisheth it hath but the brittle foundation of humane Policy and an establishment by a temporary Providence the everlasting Covenant and the Basis of Divine Truth and Love cannot be claimed by any but the Church not a Kingdom can be pitched upon in all the Records of History that hath maintain'd its standing triumphed over its enemies and subsisted at such a rate and by unusual and unheard of Methods as the Church hath done Those that have been best guarded by Laws hedg'd in with the best Methods of Government and arm'd with a strong power to protect them have found something or other rising from their own bowels or their enemies Power to procure their dissolution But the Church though dasht against so many Rocks has yet floated above the deluge of those Commotions that have sunk other Societies The Kings of the world could never yet boast of a full Conquest of her or brag that she hath been subjected to the same condition with themselves she hath born up her head in the midst of earthly Revolutions and met with her preservation or resurrection where carnal Interests have found their Funeral Those that have set their feet upon the Churches breasts or spilt her blood have found their poison where they imagin'd they should find their safety The Babylonish Empire which was God's Rod for the correcting his People saw her self in the chains of her Enemies that night she had been sacrilegiously carouzing healths in the sacred Vessels of the Temple Dan. 5.3 30. And the Jews enjoy'd a Deliverer where the Babylonians felt the force of a Conquerour Many such fatal Periods may be reckoned up both in sacred and humane story either for not protecting or persecuting that which is so dear to the Highest who hath establisht her 2. No Society but the Church ever subsisted in the midst of a multitude of Enemies Has she not been like a little Flock in the midst of many Wolves which though they suckt the blood of some yet could never reach the head or heart of the whole The Devil hath aâ—tackt her without vanquishing her shaken her without ruining her The biting of the Serpent according to the ancient promise may bruise the heel but not the head and make an incurable wound in the Mystical Body She hath been preserved in a hating world in spight of the enmity of it by a Divine Wisdom that hath not regulated it self by the Methods of flesh and blood His feeding the Israelites in the wilderness was a figure of what he would do to his Church and he hath accomplisht it to the Gospel-Church as really as he did to the ancient Israel While she hath been in a wilderness these 1200 years and I hope somewhat upwards she hath not wanted her Manna nor her Rock she hath been fed in her straits and preserved in her combates and as Christ reigns so the Church lives and hath her Table spread in the midst of her Enemies What is 1100 years continuance of the Venetian Government to so many thousand years preservation of the Church in the midst of Atheism Paganism Antichristianism ever since it was first born and nurst in Adam's Family and this hath been when her friends have forsaken her when her enemies have been confident of her ruine when her self hath expected little else than destruction when she hath thought sometimes in her straits her God ignorant of her when Hell hath poured out a flood the carnal Earth hath sometimes found it their Interest to help her though their enmity were irreconcileable against her Rev. 12.16 The subtilty and power of her Enemies that have found success in their other projects have met with an unforeseen baffle when they have armed against her Men of the greatest abilities have proved fools when they have exercised their wit against her Achitophel's wisdom was great when on David's side and changed to folly when he shifted sides against him A secret blast hath been upon the Projects of men when they have turned against her upon secular Interests In the greatest Judgments which have come and shall come upon the world when wonders shall be shewn in the Heavens and in the Earth blood fire and pillars of smoke when the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood Joel 2.30 31. yet God will have a Mount Sion and Jerusalem Some that call upon his Name v. 32. Not the malice of her enemies shall impair her because of God's Power nor the common Judgments of the world under which others sink shall extinguish her because of God's Truth v. 32. As the Lord hath said Whence comes all this but from God's having been her dwelling-place in all generations Psal 90.1 He was so to her from the time of Abraham to the introduction of his posterity into Canaan he hath sheltred her as an house doth an Inhabitant or the Ark did Noah in the midst of many waters In all generations Sion hath been impregnable for he that is her dwelling-place hath formed the Mountains and from everlasting to everlasting is only God v. 2. And though one generation pass and another comes he is the same dwelling-place and never out of repair never will want repair and therefore it is an astonishment that the Devil after so long an experience should be such a fool as to engage in new attempts when he hath found so little success in his former and hath had so many
Sion fall out of his hands into the power of her old Oppressor Men are more desirous to preserve the Estate they have gotten by sweat than that which is left them by Inheritance and are most careful in settling that which hath cost them more Treasure and more Labour Jacob sets a value upon the Portion he got with his Sword and Bow Gen. 48.22 No less will God upon that Sion he hath wrested out of the world by the Might of his Arm. 5. In regard of Faithfulness His Veracity is ingaged 1. In regard of Faithfulness to Christ the Head The Spirit was promised to Christ Act. 2.33 Having received the promise of the Holy Ghost i. e. the Holy Ghost promised to him by the Father He received that which was promised his receiving it from God implyed the Spirit 's being promised to him by God To what end was this Spirit given him and sent by him To convince the world of righteousness John 16.10 an effect necessary to the building Sion For this end he received it for this end therefore it was promised to him The promise would be vain the performance of the promise in the mission of the Holy Ghost would be to no purpos◠if the end for which he was promised and for which he was sent were not perform'd if there should not be a perpetual number convinced of and imbracing that righteousness of Christ which hath been manifested by his going to the Father God also promised him a great posterity after his making his soul an offering for sin Isa 53.10.11 A seed that he should see therefore stable and perpetual ‖ A posterity was to follow his Sacrifice his Cross was to give them being and his Blood was to give them life because always visible to him God pawn'd his word upon the condition of his death the condition was performed to the full satisfaction of God his Truth therefore hath no evasion no plea to deny the performance of the promise in raising up a multitude of believers in the world and such a multitude as shall always be seen with pleasure by him as good and sound children and the travel of the mothers womb are by the parents The truth of God is oblig'd by Christ's exact performance of the condition as well as by the particular respect he hath to the glory of it it was for the Church Christ gave himself Eph. 5.25 'T is necessary therefore that God should preserve and establish a Church for him to the end of the world that Christ might not by any default of his Father lose the end and design of his death there shall be a generation of believers a little seed lying in the midst of all the chaff so God promised * Psal 72.17 His name shall be continued as long as the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His name shall be propagated in a perpetual birth of Children it shall be sound while the Sun in the Heaven keeps its station 2. In regard of faithfulness to the Church it self How doth the word sparkle with promises to Sion in all her concerns He hath promised an indissolvable marriage the fixing a knot that shall never be untied * Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever and that in judgment righteousness loving kindness mercy faithfulness A marriage that shall never end in widdow-hood so that Judgment righteousness loving kindness mercy faithfulness must first fail before the Church meet with an entire dissolution i. e. God and the glorious perfections of his nature shall fail before the Church be forsaken and left to her enemies She is no less assur'd of continual supplies and nourishment and that by no meaner a hand than that of God himself Isa 27.3 I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment I will keep it night and day Nor a meaner dew than himself Hos 14.5 Also without the failing her a minute he would water her with doctrine to preserve her verdure and increase her growth He would be her Guardian night and day in the darkness of adversity in the sunshine of prosperity so that Satan should not outwit nor the craft and subtilty of hereticks waste her for it refers to v. 1. wherein God promiseth her to punish the piercing Serpent the crooked Serpent that by various windings and turnings insinuates himself to the destruction of men And he adds v. 4. Fury is not in me he lays by his anger against her as considered in apostate nature the fury of Hell shall not prevail where the anger of God is pacified but her enemies shall be as bryars and thorns before him He hath a consuming fury for her enemies though he hath none for his vineyard Protection is in no less measure promised and that not a temporary one nor a bare defence but with the ruin of her enemies and treading them down as straw is trodden down for the Dunghil Isa 25.10 In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest By hand is meant his power and by rest is meant the perpetual motion of it for her and that against the most furious malicious powerful of her Enemies Mat. 16.18 against the gates of hell against the wisdom of Hell gates being the seat of councel against the censures and sentences of Hell gates being the place of judicature against the arms of Hell gates being the place of strength guards When Christ secures against Hell he secures against all that receive their commission from Hell neither Hell it self nor the instruments edg'd and envenomed by Hell shall prevail against her she is secur'd for her assemblies in one part or other when they gather together to hear the Law and to sacrifice And I that am the Lord thy God from the Land of Aegypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of Solemn feasts Hos 12.9 't is a promise to the Church it was never yet nor appears like to be performed to the ten tribes as a Nation but to their Posterity as swallowed up in embodied with the Gentiles The conquest of her enemies is secur'd to her Ps 110.1 The promise is made to Christ of making his enemies his footstool But made to him as Davids Lord and consequently as the Lord of his people as King in Sion and therefore made to the whole body of his loyal subjects And all those things are of little comfort without duration and stability which is also secur'd to her Hos 6.3 His going forth i. e. the going forth of God in the Church is prepared as the morning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stable His appearance for her and in her is as certain as the dawning of the morning light at the appointed hour All the clouds which threaten a perpetual night cannot hinder it all the workers of darkness cannot prevent it the morning will dawn whether they will or no. Her duration is compared to the most durable things to that of the Cedar the
of Christ Psa 6.22 The Lord said I will bring again from Bashan I will bring my people from the depths of the Sea This is after he had ascended v. 18. when he came to wound the head of his Enemies v. 21. So Isa 11.15 The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dry shod Nilus with its seven streams was the glory of Aegypt and Rome with its seven hills is the glory of the Papacy Rev. 17.9 So Zac. 10.10 I will bring them again out of the Land of Aegypt and they shall pass through the sea with Affliction and the deeps of the river shall dry up Pharaoh and his army cannot revive and stand up in their former ranks but there shall be deliverances with resemblances to that when the Enemies shall be as arrogant and furious as Pharaoh and the Church as dejected and straitned as Israel The Text is a part of Moses his Song A carmen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Song after victory A Panegyrick the praise of God attended with dancing at the sight of the Aegyptian wracks v. 20. 1. It was then real The Israelites then sang it 2. 'T is typical the conquerours of Antichrist shall again Triumph in the same manner Rev. 15.3 3. It was an earnest of future deliverance to the Israelites When God appeared for them in their first Exit he would not fail in that work which should conduce so much to his glory it was a Pledg that his purchased people should pass over and be planted in the mountain of his Inheritance v. 16 17. There is in the words 1. A Description of the Enemy 2. His defeat The Enemy is introduced laying his council and vaunting his resolution By an elegant Climax and orderly proceeding I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoyl my lust shall be satisfied c. They laid the foundation deep in council built their resolves high in power and then applaud themselves in their Insolence I will pursue Had he no reflections upon his former successess attempts to keep the Israelites in slavery or could he with any reason hope to reduce them with his bafled strength to that yoke which had been broken by a powerful Arm Had he not reason freshly to remember his own inability to remove one of the plagues sent upon them to promote Israels rescue Was that high arm which brought them out of Aegypt broken Gods weapons blunted his magazine of plaguing Ammunition wasted his strength too feeble to preserve those he had by a strong hand redeemed These things be obvious to Pharaoh's thoughts Yet I will still pursue How heady and rash are the Churches Enemies Infatuation is the usher to Destruction When you find the Churches Enemies lose their wits you may quickly expect they will lose their strength and lives I will divide the spoil He promiseth them this victory before the conflict encourages his Souldiers with hopes of the prey which was the recovery of their Jewels which the Israelites had borrowed by Gods order and the Aegyptians had lent them by a Secret Impression and the flocks and herds of the poor Israelites to boot How great is the pride of the Churches enemies They strut without thinking of a superior power to curb them and promise themselves the accomplishment of their designs without fearing the check of Providence Thus did Sisera's Mother triumph in a presumptuous hope before a victory Jud. 5.30 and sing Te Deum before a conquest Ventosa et insolens natio is the title Pliny gives the Aegyptian Nation My lust shall be satisfied upon them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soul shall be satisfied How revengefully do they express themselves They apprehend themselves cheated of their Jewels by the Israelites such an apprehension would increase rage and animosity I will draw my Sword my hand shall destroy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my hand shall Disinherit them I will reduce them like a company of fearful fugitives by brandishing a drawn Sword that they shall quickly return to their former bondage and become the perpetual Inheritance of the Aegyptians How secure are the Churches Enemies The sight of a glittering sword and an edict for a return they thought would quell their Spirits 'T is true they had to deal with an unarmed people unprovided for defence whose late slavery had rendered them unfit for military exercises an unequal match for a numerous and disciplin'd Army But what if they were had they not the same power to protect them in their march which had brought them out of their bondage This the enemies never reflected on Pride and security are always twins In v. 10. You have their defeat The Sea quenched the Fire of their rage and laid flat the towers of their proud confidence God blows with his wind the strong east wind Exod. 14.21 a strength added to its Natural fierceness which made the meeting of the Floods more swift and fierce some think thunders and lightnings burst out of the pillar of fire in the Cloud when God looked upon them Exod. 14.24 They sank like Lead suddenly easily irrecoverably they were lasht before now executed Other Plagues had a mixture of patience this is a pure cup of the Indignation of God The defeat is described 1. By the Author Thou didst blow 2. Instrument Thy wind the Sea wind and the Sea conspire together against the Enemies when God orders them 3. Victory or success of this order The Sea covered them they sank like Lead in the mighty waters General Observations 1. The greatest Idolaters are the fiercest Enemies against the Church of God Aegyptii Diis faecundi Hâ—eron 'T is the Aegyptian is the Enemy No Nation had more and more sordid Idols The Persians adored the Sun the greatest Benefactor to the world in the rank of inanimate creatures other Nations several Stars but none did so much abuse the reason of man as that accursed Nation Onions Garlick Cats Oxen Flies and Crocodiles those dung-hill creatures were their adored Deities And how much better is the Adoration of the swadling-clouts of our Saviour or the straw which was in the Manger or the Tail of the Ass he rode upon and so many splinters of the Cross which if put together would make a Colossus For this among the rest may the Church professing such Worship be called spiritual Aegypt 2. The Churches Enemies are not for her correction but her destruction I will pursue my hand shall destroy them They breath out nothing but slaughters My hand shall destroy them down with it down with it even to the ground and men are famous as they can lift up Axes upon the thick Trees Psa 74.5 3. How desperate are somtimes the straits of Gods Israel in the eye of man How low their Spirits before deliverance They here behold a deep Sea
before them and a raging Enemy behind them Hear a confused noise of women and Children in the midst of them feel the pantings of their own hearts perhaps see a consternation in the faces of their governours they see themselves disarmed of weapons lying almost at the mercy of an oppressor with a well furnisht Army they repent of what God had done for them and are more ambitious of slavery than liberty Quarrel with Moses And as one of their Historians saith were about to stone him Exod. 14.10 11 12. Without doubt they then thought him a lyar and it is likely had no more honourable thoughts at that time of God for when they saw the happy success in the miraculous overthrow of the Aegyptians then they believed God and his servant Moses Exod. 14.31 as if they gave credit to neither of them before They had a pillar of Fire and a Cloud the chariot of God A greater argument to establish them than the preparation of their enemies to terrifie them But what a faithless creature is man under the visible guard of Heaven and so far naturally from living by faith that he will hardly draw establishments from sense 4. God orders the lusts of men for his own praise He had forced Pharaoh to let the People go he had stopt the streams of his fury when he removes his hand and pulls up the dam Pharaoh returns to his former temper with more violence thereby giving occasion for God's glory in his own destruction he serves himself of the desperate malice of his enemies to make his Wisdom and other Attributes more triumphant 5. The nearer the deliverance of the Church is the fiercer are Gods Judgments on the enemies of it and the higher the enemies rage The former plagues were but small gashes in the Aegyptian state But when the time approach'd of the Israelites perfect Deliverance then the first-born in every house the delight and strength of the parents is cut off And at the compleating of it the glory flower and strength of Aegypt buryed in the Sea the fuller beams of mercy on the one are attended with more scorcing darts of judgments on the other 6. All creatures are absolutely under the Soveraignty of God and are acted by his Power in all their services Thy wind All are subject to his conduct and are the Guardians of his People and the Conquerours of his Enemies How easie is it for the Arm of Omnipotency to demolish the strongest preparations against his Israel and with a blast reduce their Power to nothing The Sea suffers violence to preserve his People and the liquid Element seems transform'd into a wall of Brass God can make the meanest creatures Ministers of his Judgments raise Troops of Flies to rout the Roman Army as it was in Trajans Siege of the Agarens 7. By the same means God saves his People whereby he destroys his Enemies the one sank the other past thorow That which makes one balance sink makes the other rise the higher the red sea was the Guardian of Israel and the Executioner of Aegypt the Israelites gallery to Canaan and the Aegyptians grave The cloud that led the Israelites through the red Sea blinded the Aegyptians the waters that were 15 Cubits high above the mountains kept the Ark from dashing against them whereby Noah might be indangered and drowned the enemies though never so high according to humane stature 8. The strength and glory of a people is more wasted by opposing the Interest of the Church than in conflicts with any other enemy Had the Aegyptian arms been turned against any other Enemy they might have prospered or at least retired with a more partial defeat or saved their lives though under chains But when they would prepare them against Gods Israel they meet with a total defeat where they expected victory and find their graves where Israel found their Bulwarks the choicest of their Youth the flower of their Nobility the strongest of their chariots and horses at one blow overthrown by God 9. We may take notice of the folly of the Churches Enemies Former plagues might have warned them of the power of God they had but burned their own fingers by pinching her yet they would set their force against Almighty power that so often had worsted them 't is as if men would pull down a steeple with a string But the Observations I shall treat of are 1. When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury and resolution and the Church in the greatest extremity and dejection then is the fittest time for God to work her deliverance fully and perfectly When the Enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the Spoil c. then God blowed with his wind then they sank 2. God is the Author of all the deliverances of the Church whosoever are the Instruments Thou didst blow with thy wind who is like unto the Lord among the Gods 1. For the first When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury c. Great resolutions against God meet with great Disappointments The Churches straits are the enemies hopes but Gods opportunity When their fury is highest Gods love is nearest 1. There are four seasons on the part of the Enemy God takes hold of 1. Flourishing Prosperity Here is Pharaoh in the head of a gallant Army the Israelites in a Pound at his mercy The Aegyptians prosperity is a forerunner of their destruction the adversity of the other of their salvation Haman is in the top of his favour when the Jews are marked out for slaughter and then himself is marked out for ruine Prosperity like Rain makes the weeds of Pride and Atheism to grow up and then they are fit matter for God's Sickle to cut down When the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth are ripe full of an outward glory and sweetness then the Angel thrusts in his sharp Sickle Rev. 14.18 There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set them When the great City is clothed in fine Linnen Purple and Scarlet deckt with gold and pretious stones Rev. 18.16 and come to the highest point of its glory and prosperity then shall God thicken the clouds of his vengeance and bring their riches to naught in one hour 2. Swelling Pride I will pursue c. Pride is provoking because it is a self-deifying and sets up the creature as God's Mate God stands upon his honour and loves to attaque those that would equal themselves with him Pride sunk the glory of the fallen Angels into misery and so it will that of the Serpents seed this is the immediate forerunner of destruction Prov. 16.18 Men have their hairy scalp the prime of their strength and pride of their hearts when God wounds them Psal 68.21 Aegypt was become Rahab pride it self as the word signifies and so God called it by that name Isa 51.9 When Aegypt mounted to Rahab to the top of pride then God cut it When the Dragon bristled and
witnesses that they shall stand again upon their feet the same persons if politically dead others witnessing the same doctrine if they were corporeally dead and damp all their mirth and triumph and turn their security into fears then shall glory be given to the God of heaven and the Ark of his Testament be seen in his Temple and the power of the Lord be magnified Rev. 11.10 11. When they shall all be gathered together to the battle of the great day of the Lord the place is called Armageddon Rev. 16.14 16 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cursed troop an army under Gods Anathema when they have the greatest confidence When Jerusalem shall be penn'd up by a seige it shall be a cup of trembling in the hands of her Enemies Zac. 12.2 Fear shall seize upon them in the midst of their confidence The Sun was risen upon Sodom just before the devouring shower of Fire and brimstone With what derision would they have entertained any messenger that should have assured them of such a shower in so clear a day No doubt but the Aegyptian horses went prancing into the Sea and their riders confident of catching their prey when they saw the waters congealed they had not the least suspicion but that the division of the Sea was made in their favour till the Chariot wheels were taken off and the waters ready to roul upon them Exod. 14.23 25. 2. As something on the part of the Churches Enemies forwards the deliverance so there is some regard God hath to the Churches straits Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses 'T is Gods usual method to let the Church be in great distress before he commands deliverance The distress of the Church was great in the concern of this day though it was not sensible the deliverance being known near as soon as the danger The Church is to be in the depths of the Sea before she be fully delivered Psa 68.22 The Jews were to pass through the Sea with affliction before the pride of Assyria should be brought down and the Scepter of Aegypt depart away after that he would strengthen them in the Lord and they should walk up and down in his name Zach. 10.11 12. The sharpest pangs precede deliverance it was so when Christ came in the flesh it will be so at every new rising of Christ in his spirit when things were at a low ebb when the Sun sat in the greatest darkness of Errour Idolatry and prophaness when the Jews the only spot of ground God had was as a wilderness almost barren of any grace when the great predictions of the Prophets were unminded and less understood when Vrim and Thummim had ceased and the Spirit of Prophesy was shut up then Christ comes in the fulness of time to work an universal relief for mankind When the day of vengeance is in the heart of the Redeemer he shall look and find none to help he shall wonder to find none to uphold therefore his own arm shall bring Salvation Isa 53.5 This has alwaies been God's Method With his Son the powers of darkness had their hour and triumph'd when they had laid him in the grave before he was raised by the glory of his Father The Witnesses must be killed by the hand of their Enemies before they stand upon their feet and ascend up into Heaven in the sight of their Adversaries Rev. 11.7 when the Church shall walk in darkness grope for the wall like the blind mourn like Doves look for salvation and it shall seem far off then will the Lord put on a helmet of salvation on his head and the garments of vengeance for clothing and be clad with zeal as a cloak Isa 59.9 10 11 17. The break of day is ushered in by a thicker darkness than that which clouded the night before The sharpest persecution that ever the Church had was in the time of Dioclesian a little before Christianity was to rule his Empire in the exaltation of Constantine Abraham was in hardship out of his Country when he received the promises of the Messiah and Israel in the wilderness when the Oracles of God were delivered to them Confusion of the Church precedes alwaies the Communication of Light 1. The Reasons of the Doctrine are these 1. This makes for God's glory The creature cannot in this condition challenge any share in the honour of the deliverance or pare off so much as a splinter of his glory Had the Israelites been armed and drawn into a strong Battalion and so defeated the Aegyptian Army the Victory would rather have been challeng'd by them than ascrib'd to God but neither the strength of their multitude nor the wisdom of their Guides were able to protect them counsel failed and heads were feeble then did God get himself a name when they were upon the point of a remediless ruine It was manifest the name of the Lord got David the Victory since he encountred unarmed with Goliah who could have crusht him like a Fly had he been in his fingers The time of the Churches depression is the time of God's Exaltation he waits for the extremity to lift up himself When paleness is upon the face of his People when the Cedars of Lebanon hang their heads when the Churches beauty seems a lamentable deformity and Sharon is like a wilderness then will God arise Isa 33.9 10. God never builds up Sion but he ordains all things in a method for his appearance in the greatest glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in his glory that is when the Church is destitute v. 17. 1. God exalts his power his right hand then becomes glorious in power Exod. 15.6 He loves to appear in his dress as a Creator when there is no fitness in the subject to answer his end but what he bestows upon it When Jerusalem becomes a rejoycing and her People a joy 't is an act of creating power Isa 65.18 For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing When the creature can give them not the least assistance then will they be sensible of God's unbounded sufficiency and their own necessary dependance God never had too little help from his creature in a deliverance he hath sometimes complain'd of too much and disbanded some of the Churches Forces as in the case of Gideon Judg. 7. As Christ rules in the midst of his Enemies so doth God's Power most visibly in the midst of distresses A Physician 's skill is most conspicuous when the disease is most dangerous and most complicated and Nature at the lowest ebb 'T is more glory to God to quench the fire in its fullest rage than to extinguish it in its first smoke and sparkles God loves the fairest mark to shoot at and will rather down with Goliah than with the ordinary Philistines grapple with the great rather than with a light danger that the Lord may appear to be a man of war Exod. 15.3
because they are enemies to his holiness but he hath a common affection to their persons as they are the effects of his goodness and creative Power Our exclamations against common sins ought not to exceed lamentations for them There ought to be more grief in our hearts than fire in our tongues They break the whole Law that lament not the crime out of love to the Law-maker and grieve not for the Sinner out of love to their neighbour 3. Those who are imitators of common sins instead of being mourners for them As though others did not pilfer God's right fast enough and were too slow in pulling him from his Throne as if they grieved that others had got the start of them in wickedness 'T is a pious sadness and a blessed grief to be affected with common sins without being fetter'd by them to mourn for them without cleaving to them to be transported with sorrow for them without being drawn by a love to them 4. Those that fret against God instead of fretting against their own foolishness Prov. 19.3 The sins of good men are many times provocations to God to draw up the sluce from the hearts of wicked men and give liberty to their lusts for the chastening of others and therefore in grieving for the sins of others they implicitly grieve for their own 5. Those who are more transported against others sins as they are or may be occasions of hurt to them than as they are injuries to God How warm are we often in our own Cause and how cold in God's We partly satisfie our own discontent by such a carriage but not our duty 6. Those who are so far from mourning for common Sins that they never truly mournd for their own Who have yet the Treasures of wickedness after the rod of God hath been upon them Mich. 6.9 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked reflecting upon the Rod they had felt Common sins are but a Glass wherein we may see our common Nature The best men have the worst Sins in their Nature though by Grace they have them not in their Practice He that grieves not for other Mens Sins more or less never grieved truly for his own He that is not concerned for the dishonours of God by others is little concerned for the dishonour of God by himself Let us use our Eyes for those ends for which God hath given them they are instruments of sight and instruments of sorrow It is necessary for us to mourn for our own sins We can never mourn for others Sins unless we mourn for our own If we sorrow not for our own the sorrow we may pretend to have for others proceeds not from a right cause We have that one Sin of Adam in our Nature which subjected the whole world to an Anathema Let us not stay in generals every Man will lay the fault upon Sin in the bulk without reflecting on the sin in his own Bowels We can complain particularly of those sins that are common and why should we rest in generals when we come to our own Dolus versatur in universalibus 't is a deceitful sorrow that is for Sin in a heap Is there not perfidiousness to God coldness in his ways too much slighting the Gospel want of bowels and compassion incorrigibleness under judgments houses fir'd and pride not consumed falseness in resolutions like Oxen moving with the touch of the Goad and presently standing still deceitful bows letting the string slip after they have stood fully bent Hos 10.4 There may be Sins among us that may cause a storm that we little think of The Mariners little suspected Jonah to be the cause of the tempest till he discovered it himself He that never mourned for his own Sins cannot perform this duty so necessary for his preservation and therefore cannot expect the mark of God in a time of publick judgment He that would rightly mourn for the Corruptions of others must enquire whether he hath not the same in his own Bowels and fling the hardest stone at them Judah calls for Tamar to the flames for that crime which himself had been a partner and actor in so apt are we to be severe against others Sins and indulgent to our own The best have need to mourn for their own sins in relation to the publick The only good man in the Ship was Jonah and for his sin was the Storm sent and the rest like to be wrackt 2 Use Of Comfort to such as mourn for Common Sins All the carnal world hath not such a writ of protection to shew in the whole strength of Nature as the meanest mourner in Sion hath in his sighs and tears Christs mark is above all the Shields of the earth and those that are stampt with it have his wisdom to guard them against folly his power against weakness the everlasting Father against man whose breat his in his Nostrils We see that God doth not strike at random but reserves a sweetness for his Servants in the midst of his fury against his Enemies he hath his Messengers to mark as well as his Executioners to strike the issuing the resolute orders of his Fury hinders not those of his Grace and Compassion to his own He will have a care of his Balsom-trees that distil this precious Liquor no less than he commanded the Israelites in their sharpest wars to have a care of the fruitful trees of a Land Deut 20.19 God in the 6. v. following the Text gives the like charge to the executioners of his judgments as David did to the Army concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently with the young man Ezek. 9.6 Come not near any Man upon whom is the mark He makes provision first for the security of those before he unsheaths his Sword against his Enemies The Deluge flows not from heaven till Noah be cased in the Ark nor is Sodom on Fire till Lot be lodged in the Mountain God will always have a Church in the world and suffer a generation of his own to inhabit the Earth Gods attributes shall not interfere one with another his truth remains firm notwithstanding the provocations of Men. When those people were ripe for judgments God had his mourners among the Idolaters which he marks for preservation when he had threatened great judgments Joel 2.30 31. the turning the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood he promises a remnant in Jerusalem and Sion v. 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call Neither the fury of Men shall nor the judgments of God will extinguish the Church not the malice of Men because of Gods power nor God himself because of his truth The Lord hath said God will either preserve under judgments or take away in them to a