even killed by this Lyon yet is it not quite torn to pieces that the fury and policy and mischievousnesse of Satan hath hurryed it to the very precipice of confusion as Christ to the pinacle of the Temple and yet it is not throwne downe into it Certainly it is no strength nor power of our owne that doth preserve it for who is able to resist the violence of this enemy but it is the great power of our deare Saviour which I leave to your owne thoughts for I doe but touch here neither Vse 5 But lastly and where I desire to stay a little If Christ bee thus able to over-power the devill and to master him at pleasure then how is all this befallen us that is befallen us through the fury of the devil how doth it thus continue on us As it is worthy our considerations that we are so happily preserved by the power of Christ that wee are gone no further in our misery so is it seriously to be thought upon how it comes to passe that his power hath suffered us to go so farre as we have done and to continue so long in it as wee doe Surely his hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his eare heavy that it cannot heare but it is some thing that hath separated betwixt us and our Saviour and that makes him to stand as a stranger that looketh on and workes not for us whilst the power fury of the devill doth thus tread upon us It is easie to answer that our sinnes have done it and mee thinks God hath dealt with England much like as hee did with Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the book of Exodus when admonition upon admonition was given to them and exhortation upon exhortation was prest upon them to hearken to God and to let Israel go and they would not do it then God lets the devill loose among them in visible shapes as they sate in the three dayes darknesse to terrifie and perplex them as it is apparent by Exod. 10. Ps. 78. 49. compared together In the very like manner is it now with us the Lord hath long bin treating with this nation for her conversion by precept upon precept line upon line precept upon precept line upon line by exhortation admonition mercies judgements all things what could have been done more then hath been done to England but when still we are as unreformed unconverted as ever and when nothing that the Lord hath done to us will amend us the Lord hath now at last turned Satan loose among us with all his power and all his fury our sinnes have as it were broken the chains and now hee rageth without restraint as never did he more in any nation But this is not all I have to say It is most undoubted indeed that our former sinnes have brought us and our pâ—esent sinnes continue us under this rage and insultations of Satan that wee now feele in all these miseries that lie upon us but if I may freely speake mine owne thoughts I do verily beleeve that a maine reason why the devill is no more bound among us is because hee is not bound my meaning is this that God hath put into our owne hands exceeding much towards the binding of the Devils that do undoe us and we do not do it It is in our owne power to curbe and quell the Devill that forrageth and ruineth us and wee curbe him not and then it is no wonder nay it is but justice if hee worry us if he destroy us I will not speake of that Devill that spoyles all before him the fury of our enemies nor will I examine whether it may be restrayned any more then it is your wisedomes best know what you have to doe in that particular But it is not the Enemy onely that hath done us this displeasure that wee feele for then wee could better have borne it or hid our selves from him but it is some of our owne party some of our friends of our familiars with whom wee have taken counsell together and have gone with them to the House of God as friends which doe prove Devils to us or at least raise up Devils among us that ruine and undoe us that help on our sorrows augment our miseries bind on those plagues that the desert of our sinnes hath brought upon us Our owne Quarters are become as the Land of the Gadarens where two possessed Parties as I may so say or rather two possessing Devils are so exceeding fierce that none may passe by them none can bee quiet neere them And these two are Injustice in oppressiom and erroneousnesse in Opinion These are they that lose you friends procure you enemies and keep off Neuters that undoe at home and exasperate abroad that lose you more hearts then all your Armies can subdue Persons and doe more mischiefe to your Holy and Honourable Cause then all the other Devils of hell can doe then all your enemies on earth have done Our sad case at this time is like the case of the foure Lepers under the walls of Samaria in the Booke of Kings if they went into the City they went upon famine if they went from the City they went upon the enemy If wee goe to the Enemies Quarters there the Devill of their crueltie devoures us if wee abide among our owne one or other of these Devils is ready to destroy us so that as it was with them of old it is with us at this day Abroad the sword devoureth and at home is death First wee looked for Justice but behold a cry for give mee leave to use the words of the Prophet and to speake of bitter things in the bitternesse of my spirit the people of your owne party expected Judgement Equity and Comfort from your Sitting and from your Counsells and they concluded with themselves much like as Micah did in another case Now will it bee well with us now wee have such a Parliament to take-care for us to defend us and to advice in our behalfe but behold instead of their expectation injuries oppressions wrongs injustice violence and such complaynings and cryings out in all Quarters and Parts even of your owne party that let it not be told in Gath nor published in the streets of Aâ—kalon lest the circumcised triumph and exalt over us in it Mistake mee not it is farre from me to charge your honorable Court with any such thing for I may say in this as hee and shee did in another case my Lord David knowes it not but it is too many that act under you that cause this complaining and that doe this mischiefe yet I cannot but say withall that the injustice will become yours if it be not remedied Now oh that Englands griefe in this particular were thorougly weighed and her calamity and complaints were laid in the ballances together Oh that the cries of all the oppressed in this kind might meet here this day together in your eares
A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE HONORABLE House of COMMONS At Margarets Westminster upon the 26. day of August 1645. being the day of their solemne Monethly Fast By JOHN LIGHTFOOT A Member of the Assembly of Divines London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crook and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Greene Dragon in Pauls Churchyard 1645. A Catalogue of such Bookes as have beene published by Mr. Lightfoot OBservations on Genesis On Exodus Harmony of the foure Evangelists Elias Redivivus A Sermon on Luke 1. 17. at a Fast before the Commons House of Parliament March 19. 1643. A Commentary on the Acts with an Ecclesiastick History TO THE HONORABLE House of COMMONS Assembled IN PARLIAMENT IF ever Sermon met with disadvantages whereby it might be made unacceptable to an Auditory this was it For besides mine uttter disabilities to prepare any thing fit for so learned and discerning eares and Judgements the two things that might spoile delivery when the child such as it was was come to the birth were come upon mee and those were straitnesse of time and perplexity of spirit for the fear of stopping your other occasions did so still lie before me and the feare of mine owne poore Family in the inundation of the Enemy in the Association at that very instant did so follow me that in this strait between these two I stood your Orator at that time Yet I see it is not in vaine but a comfort and happinesse to labour to serve and obey you seeing your acceptance cherisheth and encourageth such poore endeavours The subject I fixed upon I purposely chose that the Millenary Opinion which I cannot but judge erroneous might not goe on altogether uncontrolled and one man take it at another for a truth without gainsaying but that it might receive some check by the way and it might bee shewed that Posse vinci Hannibalem that there is a faire possibility that that Opinion is but a falshood Errors sometimes and uncertainties often doe get the repute of undoubted truths by going too long uncontradicted As I cannot but challenge that opinion which is so current and common and hath so long run from hand to hand for an unquestioned certainty that now it is become unquestionable and that is that the supper mentioned in the 13 of Johns Gospel was the Passeover supper and that Judas his going out after the sop was his departure away before the Sacrament wher as if it be not certaine which to me it is and I conceive may bee very well proved to others that that supper was not the Passeover but a common supper and that it was not at Jerusalem but at Bethany fifteen furlongs off and that it was not on the Passeover night but two nights before If this I say be not absolutely certaine at the first sight as to convince of its certainty yet is it very well worth the weighing and the contrary opinion not to bee suffered to goe unexamined which among the most men it doth Your Honourable House weighteth all things the Lord hold out and reveale his will to you more and more and crown all your Vndertakings and Consultations with all prosperity and successe Septemb. 12. 1645. Your servant in the Lord Iohn Lightfoot A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable House of Commons at their Monethly Fast August 27. 1645. Rev. Chap. 20. Vers 1 2. And I saw an Angel come downe from heaven having the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand And bee laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devill and Satan and bound him for a thousand years NOw I would this Angell would bow the heavens and come downe and bring his chaine with him and bind the Devill now for never was there more need never was it more time for if ever hee were loose hee is loose in these times and if ever hee raged hee rageth in this nation Alas for the inhabitants of England for the Devill is come downe among them having great wrath and yet wee know not how long his time is how lamentable and dolefull is it that that prophecy should ever bee so true of us which is uttered against Babel as it is proved to bee at this day that Zijim and Ijim and Obim satyres and fiends and devils should daunce and domineere and rage and ravin as they doe in this nation and when and how they shall bee restrained wee cannot tell Onely there is some comfort in the text and this indeed is all the comfort wee have that the Angell in the Text can master the devill if hee will but doe it and hee hath a chaine in his hand that will bind him if hee will but tie him in it The Text is held to bee the hardest peece in all the Bible by many degrees For as Prophetick writings are the difficultest peeces of all the Scripture and the Revelation of all Prophetick writings so is this Chapter of all the Revelation and these Verses of all this Chapter and so doth a learned countrey man of our owne censure upon this place that it is Res omnium totius Scripturae Propheticae abstrusissima maximeque admiranda A matter the most abstruse of any part of the Prophets writings and the most to be admired I might spend the time that is allotted mee to produce the opinions and the arguments to prove those opinions that are given upon this place But I shall but tell you that some Popish writers apply this prophecy and victory of the Angel in the Text to the Pope some to Pope Calixtus the second who bound the Dragon say they when by an Anathema hee caused Henry the fourth to renounce the custome of installing Bishops and Abbots Others to Pope Innocent the third who bound the devill by approving the orders of the Dominicans and the Franciscans I need say no more such expositions as these it is more then enough to have but named them I shall but tell you neither that some expositors of a better schoole apply this victory of the Angel over the Dragon to Constantines conquering of Maxentius Herculeus and Lieinius those persecuting Emperours and that hee bound the devill when hee ended tyranny and persecution which had continued against the Church so long and so they will have the thousand yeares to begin from him But I must doe more then barely tell you that the glosse and exposition upon this prophecy which hath got the deepest root and the highest seate in the hearts and estimations of very many in these times and carrieth the greatest cry with it is the opinion of the Chiliasts of old refined by the Millenaries alate which take this matter about the thousand years strictly and exactly according to the very letter An opinion so strange to mee that I must confesse I could not but make it a sad omen and presage a good while agoe what opinions we should fall into in time when
never turne again from God to delight in sinne then certainly on the contrary to behold the devil in his colours and complexion would so fill the will with the abhorring and detestation of him that it would not readily turne againe to the devill to forsake God And therefore if I were to make a threefold wish as Austen once did I cannot tell what to wish for to more profit and advantage then to know God as hee is the devill as hee is and our selves what wee are But to pursue what wee are about As you have seene the evilnesse of the Devils nature especially in these two particulars in the incorrigible frowardnesse of his will and the irrecoverable cursednesse of his condition So now looke how the power of Christ meets with him and over powers him for all this his crooked and cursed disposition And this is considerable also in two particulars First in that though the will of the devill bee thus desperately and precipitately bent upon evill yet Christ doth so overpower him as that hee produceth good out of the devils actions to his owne people Can any good thing come out of Nazareth much more can any good thing from the devill can any bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane not one but one Hee that brought light out of darknesse at the beginning fire out of water at the sacrifice of Elias sight out of blind eyes stopt up with clay the same can bring good out of evill good to his people even out of the wickednesse of the devill by that mighty working whereby hee is able to subdue all things even the devill to himselfe I might bee copious in shewing what good the Lord produceth out of the devils temptations practised by himselfe what good out of the devils persecutions practised by his instruments even honey for Samson out of the very carcasse of the devouring Lion and meat for Elias out of the mouth of the carion Raven I might shew you how Adam had a better condition Job a better estate Joshua the high Priest better cloaths gotten out even of the assaults of the devill I might shew you what carefulnesse is wrought in the people of God what clearing of themselves yea what indignation yea what feare yea what vehement desire yea what zeale yea what holy revenge as the Apostle speakes in another case and all this even from the very devils temptations I might shew you how the Church hath beene increased the Gospel propagated God glorified Atheists converted and the enemies confounded even by the devils persecution But I need not to goe farre for examples and experiences in this kind looke at home in these times and distractions where the devill is so busie and as we may sadly see him raging and let loose in these dolefull warres so may wee as visibly see Christ doing good to this poore kingdome out of this his evill For First how many rotten hearts and how many rotten members hath the devill or God rather out of the devils activitie discovered in this nation in these troubles which like a moth and corruption were devouring a poore kingdome and shee knew not who hurt her What Junctoes of hell have beene found out what plots discovered what Cabinets of letters detected what actions described what hearts anatomized Popery Prerogative Protestations Plotters Prelates all come to light and found desperate and devilish and all this done by the great businesse of the devill God overpowering him and making him to prove a tel-tale of his own counsels and as it were a false brother to his owne hell and fraternity Secondly how have these troubles beaten men and the kingdome out of their fooleries and superstitions their trumperies and ceremonies customes and traditions which how hard it would have been to have got off from them if they had not beene thus brayed in this morter the great tenaciousnesse of them with divers even in this morter is evidence sufficient This drosse would never have beene got away if it had not passed such a furnace and our Israel would never have shaken hands with Egyptian Idolatry if it had not beene beaten out of it by Egyptian affliction So that let me take up the manner of speech of our Saviour with some inversion Oh England England Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheate and hee hath winnowed away a world of his owne chaffe Thirdly how many prophane and ungodly wretches hath this warre cut off Papists Atheists Epicures Devills incarnate that would not onely have layen in the way as so much rubbish to hinder the worke of the Temple but that would have proved Sanballats Tobiahs Geshems and such Samaritans utterly to oppose it with all their might It is a sad thing to see so many of Israel perish in the matter of Baal Peor yet there is this comfort in it that the entring into the land of promise will bee the speedier when these untowardly and ungratious ones are taken a way Fourthly how many prayers and petitions at the throne of grace hath hee pressed out in these extremities the foole making a whip for his owne back for so prayer is stiled flagellum Diabolo and helping forward his owne destruction And thus all things even the very evilnesse of the Devill himselfe worke for the good of Gods people and hee that would have run Phereus thorough cures his impostume and kils him not and all through the overpowering power of Christ who is able to subdue all things unto himselfe and doth dispose all things for the good of his Secondly Christs mighty power meets with this evilnesse of the Devils nature and overpowers it when hee delivers men out of the very same evilnesse of nature and works it out of them by the work of grace and renewing and brings them to become new creatures Wee have heard a sad story of the dolefull nature and constitution of the Devill wee may say each one to himselfe as Nathan once to David by thy naturall condition thou art the same As one Blackmore may see his complexion in another Blackmores face so may wee our owne nature in the devils he is our father by nature we as like him as we may looke and the two Sosiaes in the Comedie were not liker one to another then we to him in our originall temper God at the first made us like himself but our degeneration hath made us so like to Satan that all the evilnesse perversnesse cursednesse that wee heare or read of of the Devill is all our own and who shall deliver us from this body of death I thanke God through Jesus Christ our Lord Hee hath a power that can pull and redeeme us out of this estate and surely this power is not small And therefore the Apostle speaking of this worke wrought upon a poore soule hee cals it the exceeding greatnesse of his power to them that beleeve Ephes. 1. 19. 1. This is the next worke of wonder and power to the worke of
two offices to bee thus the ministery to cast the devill out where it may bee done and the Magistrate to bind the devill where hee cannot be cast out and ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus where the power of the one ceaseth the other taketh at it and finisheth the worke The Ministery by the preaching of the word and by prayer striveth to cast the devill out and if it doe it well but if it cannot doe it it can goe no further and then the Magistracy commeth in and bindeth him that hee trouble not others though the Ministery cannot cast him out from vexing the party himselfe It is needlesse to shew how Christ overpowereth the devil by both these the matter is so apparent and conspicuous I shall not need to goe about to shew it It is enough to say that the ministery of the Gospel overthrew the Idolatry of the Heathen and that the Magistracy can hang a Witch And so have wee done with a second particular the Text hinteth unto us the Devils power and Christs overpowering it I should now take up the other considerations concerning the Devill that the text holdeth out and first I might shew his subtiltie from that title that it giveth him an old Serpent A Serpent the craftiest of all beasts Gen. 3. 1. and an old Serpent of 5573. yeares continuance and experience within one moneth or there-abouts I might have shewed how in all this time 1. Hee hath observed the course of nature 2. The course of Gods providence and 3. the temper of men and hath reaped policy and experience from all these How 1. Hee playeth Gods Ape in having his miracles and oracles as God hath his and how hee imitates his workes 2. Can transforme himselfe into an Angel of light as hee did to Eve who tooke him for a good Angel 3. Baiteth his hookes with the good things of God as with shew of Religion with Gods mercy and patience to intice to presumption c. 4. Changeth his temptations as occasions change as hee did by Christ one while tempting him to a great worke of power to turne stones into bread and another while to a worke of the greatest weaknesse to worship the devill 5. Deceiveth men with Kids flesh in stead of Venison and fixeth them on the creature in stead of the Creator 6. Kils men with love of themselves as the Ape doth her young ones with imbraces I might also have shewed the subtiltie and policie that hee exerciseth by men as well as hee doth to men and here might I take up the master peeces of hellish policies practised by our enemies in these times And I might shew how Christ overpowereth the Devill in regard of this his subtiltie in 1. Giving strength to his people to overcome his temptations 2. In discovering his plots 3. In defeating of them 4. In bringing them on his and his instruments own heads Secondly I might likewise have shewed some glimpse of the malice of the Devill as hee is named in the Text Satan or an enemie As 1. That hee fell through malice to man and this the most proper cause of his fall though pride were mingled 2. That hee continueth in the same malice by which hee fell and cannot doe otherwise 3. That it hath no bounds either in regard of himselfe or of the object but he is ever malicious and malicious to all extremitie and that both against God and against all men and against all men alike though in regard of externall persecution he sheweth some difference I might shew withall how Christ overpowereth him in regard of this maliciousnesse 1. By bounding the execution of his malice though his malice it selfe be not bounded 2. By loading him with the greatest condemnation even hatched and generated by his owne malice And lastly wee might have considered the crueltie of the devill as hee is a devill as 1. That hee is cruell even to himselfe that hee may mischief others and brings the more condemnation upon his owne head by bringing men into condemnation 2. That his crueltie is his onely comfort and that he hath no solace at all for his owne destruction but meerly this cursed one to bring men into the same case with him But Christ overpowereth his cruelty 1. By the Saints patience 2. By his owne providence All these things would require a large discourse to illustrate and comment upon them but in regard of the time they must bee passed over I shall now onely crave leave to have a word or two of application of what hath been spoken and so have done Vse 1 This shewes us where to get strength against the devils temptations or his instruments Vse 2 And answerably it may comfort every poore soule that lieth under the violence of the one or the other Vse 3 And thirdly it may set us aworke to labour for a great faith since there is so great a power to fix it upon I am God al-sufficient saith God to Abraham walke before mee and bee thou perfect Gen. 17. 1. Bee perfect that is in this doctrin of my al-sufficiency or al-powerfulnesse for so the word meanes and not that perfection that some dreame of as if Abraham kept the whole law and then faith will gather strength and extent because the power upon which it anchoreth is Omnipotent But these things I doe but touch Vse 4 Blesse God for the experience of this truth in our owne particular preservation and in the generall preservation of the Kingdome And truly this is gloriously and graciously verified before our eyes at all times in regard of the former and in these times in regard of the latter For first if wee consider the power of the Devill and the weaknesse of our selves and yet our preservation in both these circumstances wee have great cause to admire and adore that power that doth preserve us The safety of the three Princes of Judah in the furnace and of Daniel in the Lyons denne and Jonah in the Whales belly is hardly a greater wonder then is our constant and continued preservation so many Devils to bee hovering about us as is their number so much power to bee in them as there is in them both in regard of their number and their nature so much malice to bee in their Spirit and so much cruelty in their acting as there is and yet wee preserved in the midst of all this I want words to expresse the mercy let us never want hearts to observe that power that doth preserve us The Devill can remove mountaines overthrow towers rents rocks teare up trees doe almost any thing and yet our poore lumpe of dust is preserved acknowledge the power bee thankfull for the mercy And secondly in regard of the Kingdome Let us but turne aside and see this great wonder how it comes to passe that this bush that hath burnt so long is not yet consumed that this poore carkasse of a Nation like that of the Prophet though it bee