unto the Sea Peace peace be still The Sea is not capable of rebukes such as are given to reasonable creatures but there is a rebuking of omnipotency that is not verball but real {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is with words hardly to rebuke in conjugation kal cum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is to destroy Mal. 2. 3. Behold I will destroy your seed Esay 54. 9. I have sworne I will not bee angry with thee neither rebuke thee 2. It is to hinder the enemies in their ill courses Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke thee O Satan Mal. 3. 11. I will rebuke the devourer for your sake Psal. 68. 30. Lord rebuke the company of the Spearemen and when it is applyed to creatures voyd of reason it is by omnipotency to hinder them to hurt us and to stay their actions Psal. 106. 9. Hee rebuked the red Sea also Luke 4. 39. Jesus rebuked the seaver it holdeth forth the acts of omnipotency in Christ such as is his act of creating of an immediate faire sweet calme out of a contrary out of a boysterous and stormy Sea God hath some peeces in which is stamped so much of a legible and evident omnipotency as the worke fathereth it selfe upon God onely without a teacher so Job 26. 7. hee stretcheth out the North over the emptie place and hangeth the earth upon nothing the earth is the weightiest of any visible creature God hath made it needeth some solid resting place but the omnipotencie of the Creator doth hang it upon nothing except onely the aire round about it now the aire being so weake so yeelding an Element it were unpossible that the heavy and ponderous earth should have beene seated on the emptie and fluid aire to rest in it these five thousand yeares except omnipotency had done it for the aire of it selfe is very nothing to hold up the globe of the earth Job 38. 5. Who hath layd the measures of the earth if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who layd the corner stone thereof there bee three great questions here that few can answer but God First to take the compasse of the circumference of the globe of the earth exactly and to lay a measuring line over the Diameter and the whole body of it is a great work Secondly to know how to fasten the corner stone of the world Thirdly and how the whole weight is sustained is more then wee can tell and it is no lesse wonder Psal. 104. 2. who stretcheth out the heaven as a curtaine What a power must it bee to spread over all nations of the earth the elements and creatures in Sea and land such a large white molten webbe of Crystall glasse that hath beene spread over our head from the east end of the world to the west and north and south and there is not an hole in the webbe these five thousand yeares 2 The Sea is a fluid huge great body where can there bee a bottle to containe it 2. When it swelleth and rageth with mightie winds how is it kept from drowning the world God doth remedy these two 1. Job 38. 8. Who shut up the Sea with doores when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the wombe Vers 11. The Lord said Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed God hath put an Iron doore upon the Sea and put it under an Act and Law of omnipotency that it shall not devoure and overwhelme the earth Jer. 5. 22. he hath placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree For the second when Psal. 107. 27. the Sea is all in fire and the passengers in a mightie storme reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 29. hee maketh the storme a calme so that the waves thereof are still Esay 50. 2. Behold at my rebuke I dry up the Sea Psal. 65. 7. hee stilleth the noyse of the Seas 3. The Seas as all the rest of the creatures are by the first sinne of man broken out of the covenant of peace betweene us and them in the state of innocency and warre is denounced betweene us and them the fire should burne us the water hath Law to drowne us the aire to suffocate us the earth a Commission to swallow us up quick if Christ had not made a cessation of armes and if the Gospell were not a concluded treatie of peace and if the Lord should not rebuke the fury of the creature for some sparkes of Gods wrath yet resideth in the creature they have yet an inclination to revenge the quarrell of the treason that wee committed against their King and wee doe receive the creatures as fugitive souldiers from Gods Campe of justice and doe imploy them in warre against God as the Glutton and Drunkard imployeth meat and drinke against God the vaine persons their vaine apparell their patched faces bare breasts and shoulders as an exchange to sell the body to lust if the Lord should not rebuke our servants the creatures water fire sword and the like they would destroy us If wee looke spiritually now upon Gods dealing to these kingdomes the sword hath a charge from God to come against these lands Ezek. 21. 14. Therefore Sonne of man prophecy and smite thine hands together and let the Sword bee doubled the third time the sword of the slaine it is the sword of the great men that are slaine which entreth into their privie Chambers when God giveth the sword a commission to destroy it cannot rest Jeremiah Chap. 47. Vers 6. O thou sword of the Lord how long will it bee ere thou bee quiet put up thy selfe into thy scabbard rest and be still 7. How can it bee quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon and the Sea shore there hath bee appointed it it is then a commanded and a sent sword that now rageth in these kingdomes 2. Not onely is the Sword and the pestilence sent of God by speciall commission Jer. 24. 10. but it is his sword it is not the sword of Papists and malignants but the sword of the Lord Jer. 47. 6. The Lord saith Ezek. 14. 21. that the Sword famine noysome beasts and pestilence are his foure sore judgements wee may goe thorough these souldiers wee have the Lords passe-port Esay 43. 2. for the sword is our Fathers sword The Seas wee are in are our Fathers Seas and so cannot drowne us 3. Omnipotency taketh this as peculiar to himselfe hee onely can create peace Psal. 46. 9. Hee maketh warres to cease from the ends of the earth Esay 45. 6. I am the Lord and there is none else 7. I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill then by what title hee is God and Creator by the same hee maketh peace Psal.
it selfe the earth is a Sea of glasse before the Throne Revel. 4. 6. and that mingled with fire Revel. 15. 2. Of which a word 1. of the ship 2. of the Element it sayleth in 3. of the Pilot 4. of the Anchor and appurtenances 5. of the wares 6. of the passengers carried in the ship 7. of the winds and stormes 8. of the Port and Haven The ship is of its nature a tumbling and a moving creature and by its constitution and nature ordained for motion The Church triumphing is landed and above motion but the militant Church is a rolling and a tumbling thing and that first in a naturall secondly in a civill thirdly in a spirituall relation As the Church consisteth of men in a naturall consideration all are but changes and meere motions for mans condition in the wood of creatures he is borne amongst is moveable hee himselfe is a proud inch of short-living clay God hath given wheeles to time so that it playeth upon generations Eccles. 1. 4. One generation passeth away and another commeth vers. 5. The sunne also riseth and the sunne goeth downe the Moone looketh not on us two dayes with one face elements winds floods seas time as yeares dayes houres living creatures trees hearbs flowers summer harvest spring heavens starres are all tottering and reeling and if the earth and the workes that are therein must bee burnt with fire 2 Pet. 3. 12. all must bee on their journey toward change and corruption the best of them for elegancy of matter not excepted The heavens shall wax old as a garment Psal. 102. 26. 2 The Church in a civill relation is a rolling thing and that first as it is in Common-wealths and States Kingdomes and Monarchies are up and downe greene flowrishing and withering in their cadency like May flowers God doth roll Kings and Kingdomes like Bowles in an Alley pride tyranny unjustice putteth a Byas on the Bowle that it tumbleth over the mount and God with a put of his foot turneth the Bowle out of its place the glory and absolutenesse of men is a weight that cannot beare it selfe Secondly man the best of the creatures is a vaine thing Psal. 39. Every man at his best state is altogether vanitie if the Hebrew expresse it better as I humbly conceive it doth it runs thus ver. 6. surely all men are all vanitie even standing on their feet or every man is every vanitie though he stand on his tiptoes or stand straight up as a Champion or an army of Souldiers that stand fast and keepe their ground for so the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth as the learned observe vanitie is a light a moving and rolling thing like a Cart wheele or a feather in the ayr Thirdly the Church for one good day of ease hath ten twentie troublesome dayes of warre persecution divisions heresies plots Reade the History of the Judges and of the persecuting yea and Christian Emperours and you shall see the ups and downes of the Church they had ease yea and court and favour with godly Emperours but a very short time Thirdly in their spirituall relation the Church is a moving thing in that 1. change is a part of sufferings and suffering and the Crosse is the patrimony of the Church whereas David saith of the wicked Psal. 55. 19. Because they have not changes therefore they feare not God Meab is not moved from vessell to vessell and hath not gone to captivitie therefore his tast remained in him and his sent is not changed Jer. 48. 11. Secondly the Song of Salomon sheweth the inward and spirituall ups and downes and changes of the Church as sometime Chap. 2. it is full noone-day with the Church shee being taken into the banqueting house and Vers 4. his banner over her was love and shee is in great Court Vers 16. My well beloved is mine and I am his hee feedeth among the Lillies 17. till the day breake and the shaddowes flee away but there is a change of Court and a great revolution Chap. 3. 1. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soule loveth I sought him but I found him not Againe Chap. 4. there is a revolution Christ breaketh out in a high commendation and praise of his Church Chap. 4 Vers 16. there is a prayer of hers in sense of love and heate of faith for an union Let my beloved come into his garden and eate his pleasant fruits here the ship hath faire weather and sailes faire before the wind for Christ answereth Ch. 5. 1. I am come unto my garden my sister my spouse I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice I have eaten my honey-combe with my honey I have drunken my wine with my milke eate O friends yea drinke abundantly O beloved this is a joyfull feast betweene Christ and his Church But this world lasteth not alway shee falleth asleepe and holdeth Christ at the doore and there is mightie storme that tosseth the ship and a sad discourting of her for it is farre otherwayes Vers 6. I sought him but I could not finde him I called him but hee gave mee no answer Grace as it is in God is God gracious and is most stable and unchangeable but it is various as it is received in us who are made of changes and a difference there must bee betweene a communion of grace and a communion of glory and 2. betweene this life and that life as for the former glory is grace in everlasting action and therefore there is no desertions in heaven no hiding of Gods face no cloud no night no change nothing but a sunne in its full strength alwayes day without night a full Sunshine without a cloud or a shadow Grace in us is a habit and not alwayes in action and our stabilitie here as touching the other is Heb. 13. Vers 14. that wee have no continuing Citie here but wee seeke one to come this is a tottering life Secondly the ship sayleth in an element called a Sea of glasse all things here are fraile slippery brickle like glasse it cannot beare the ship above no more then a board of glasse can sustaine the weight of an huge ship but it should breake in a thousand peeces certainly the Church subsisteth by no worldly strength Christ sayleth with his owne wind then it it is a Sea of glasse mingled with fire Rev. 15. 2. There bee cumbustions warres tumults motions and mightie winds in this Sea that that may bee fulfilled which Christ saith to the passengers John 16. 33. in the world you shall have tribulation Thirdly all the safetie of the ship is in a good pilot now Christ who can sayle with every wind and bringeth many broken ships to land he sitteth at the helme and setteth the halfdrowned ship-broken passengers on dry land to sing on the shoare Revel. 7. 14. These are they the ship broken men who swimmed to land on Plankes and broken boards that have come
walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt nor is Christ in trouble like our Summer-friends who in a great drough dry up But may not God be with his own though they be both burnt drowned then this is no consequent at all feare not that the fire shall burn thee or the waters shall drowne thee for I am with thee yea it is most strong this presence of God with his owne in trouble maketh God and them so one by Gods union of love for Gods love to us is infinitely more active to save us then either our faith and love to him that the fire that burneth Jacob must also seise upon God according to that Zach. 2. 8. Hee that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye Thirdly when Christ waketh and sleepeth not in heavy afflictions his love is so in action even while hee striketh that the rod falleth out of his hand that hee 1. giveth them not so hot a fire as silver and 2. hee acteth love and mercy on them in their saddest time of suffering and marieth them at their lowest condition both which are excellently expressed Esay 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not as silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Fourthly wee may adde another benefit of the presence of God in afflictions that the very breath of Christ is sweet though hee should not deliver for the present yet the smoake of hell and the paine of the furnace is so perfumed and over-gilded with the breathings of the love of Christ that the paine of the furnace is allayed this is witnessed by the Martyrs singing at the stake If in these bloody sufferings wee want Gods presence how miserable are wee and therefore this is one of the proper markes of the children of God if wee can misse Gods comfortable presence in this fiery tryall that is now in the three kingdomes So Lament 1. 16. for these things I weepe mine eye mine eye runneth downe with water yea but these sufferings are but the materiall object of weeping there is a higher cause of weeping then that and set downe in the Hebrew as a cause with an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} because the comforter that should bring backe my soule is farre away Christ esteemed this the salt of his sufferings My God my God why hast thou forsaken me there is a great Emphesis in {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and therefore the word is doubled as if hee would say any forsaking of friends is nothing but Gods forsaking is sad and Heman Psal. 88. 6. Thou hast laid mee in the lowest pit in darknesse in the depths 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon mee thou afflictest mee with all thy waves but this is the heaviest of all 14. Lord why castest thou off my soule why hidest thou thy face from mee positive wrath is not so heavy as the meere negative absence of God Mary her want of the man Christ is sad but shee wants him under an higher reduplication John 20. 13. The Angels say unto Mary Magdalen Woman why weepest thou shee answereth with a because {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Because they have taken away my Lord Sword and pestilence yea the civill sword are heavie plagues on a land but this is heavier God hath left us O terrible the Lord is not with us Luke 8. 24. And they came to him and awoke him saying Master master we perish The third part of the text containeth the course they take in their trouble It is good that in their trouble they agree in these foure First that there is a great danger even present drowning Secondly they looke spiritually on it in this that the face of death is so much the more awefull that Christ their deliverer sleepeth Thirdly they agree in judgement that Christ onely can helpe them Fourthly they agree in practise all joyne in prayer to awake Christ and by faith to awake him and set him on worke to helpe and save them It is excellent when one heart and one mind is amongst all the passengers of Christs ship especially in a troublesome Sea storme Gen. 13. Abraham and Lots herdmen strive But it is so much the worse that it is said Vers 7. and the Canaanite and the Perizite dwelt then in the land they had common enemies and therefore striving was unseasonable holy Joseph when his brethren was in great distresse falling out was unseasonable therefore saith to them Gen. 45. 24. See that yee fall not out by the way Alas wee are in great trouble and yet wee fall out by the way it was a sad time with the Disciples neare to the time when the shepheard was smitten and they scattered sheepe when Christ said John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that yee are my Disciples if yee love one another Doe but heare how Paul is most copious in arguments for this in one Verse Philip 2. 1. If there bee therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies 2. Fulfill my joy that yee may bee like minded having the same love being of one accord and of one mind Psal. 133. 1. to bee of one mind in love is the fulfilling of the joy of the Saints biting and devouring is a hole a gap a great blanke to the joy of the holy Ghost love neighboureth with the sweet consolations of Christ it is the birth a fruit an Apple growing on the spirit of Jesus Gal. 5. 22. in the wombe and bowels of love lodgeth bowels of tender mercies pardoned sinners cannot so hate pardoned sinners as to jeere them out of the hearts of the Saints end them to the lake of Brimstone Ps. 133. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unitie Many things are good as workes of divine justice and destroying the enemies of God yet they are not pleasant and many things are pleasant that are not good as the pleasures of sinne for a season must bee pleasant but because unlawfull they are not good but unitie amongst brethren is both good and pleasant now because striving and bitter divisions in this land and Church are so sad and a lovely and peaceable union so necessary give me leave to presse this a little the motion of a loving union were desirable First because our Father the Lord appeared to Elias not in the thunder but in the calme voyce Love is not onely from God but 1 John 4. 8. God is love and that in all the foure causes of love See how much of God is in any as much of love and meeknesse is in them love is the breathings of heaven love is the aire and element wee live in in the highest new Jerusalem 1 Cor. 13. 8. 13. The redeemeds breath smells of love and love hath the smell of another world it is a flower of Christs planting the
feare of this people neither bee afraid 13. Sanctifie the Lord of hosts let him bee your feare Matth. 8. 26. Then hee saith unto them why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith Luke 8. 25. where is your fatth That which Christ first seeketh and first misseth in any is their faith Where is your faith by comparing the Evangelists together a little faith is faith and it is no faith that is not so great a faith as is required in a great storme Hence these conclusions concerning a little faith 1. Conclus A little faith in regard of the nature of faith is faith as Christ Matth. 8. saith not they have no faith but hee chideth them for their little faith as the least of fire is fire as well as a fire of all the timber and fewell of the earth is fire and the fourth part of a drop of dew is water no lesse then the whole element of water is water the least measure of saving faith is saving faith and there bee other three acts of free grace that are of the same nature As first Gods free love of election to glory can neither bee halfe nor divided the meanest of the elect is no lesse a chosen Senator inrolled in the booke of life then Abraham or great Moses Secondly all the Saints are equally ransomed and equally married on Christ there was no greater ransome of Christs blood given for Job David the Apostles then for thee O thou the least of Saints Thirdly all are equally saved and crowned Kings of the degrees of grace and glory I doe not now speake 2. Conclus Faith and fainting may consist together at one and the same time as night and day are one in the twylight so the poore man said Marke 9. 24. I beleeve that is faith Lord helpe my unbeleefe that is fainting and David Psal. 31. 22. I I said in my hast I am cut off from before mine eyes here is much fainting Neverthelesse thou heardest the voyce of my supplication here must bee much faith when his prayers hath beene heard So Jonah Chap. 4. Then I said I am cast out of thy sight this was base fainting yet I will looke toward thy holy Temple this is faith and Jeremiah ch. 20. 7. O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived thou art stronger then I and hast prevailed I am in derision daily and every one mocketh mee Hee fainted not a little when hee spake so of God to God but Vers 11. hee getteth up the mount againe But the Lord is with mee as a mightie terrible one therefore my persecutors shall stumble they shall not prevaile A wrestling faith opposing doubtings and faintings is an argument of a vigorous life of Christ and weaknesse here is an argument of strength and deadnesse doth argue life and fainting beleeving wee have a bad opinion of our owne state when there is no cause and the reason is that it is a reflect act to know our owne acts of faith and first reflect acts are more rare and difficill because more spirituall then direct acts Secondly the light of saving grace must concurre in all our reflect acts but it seemeth to mee to bee easier because more naturall to reflect upon our doubting and unbeleefe then upon our beleeving especially where there is any tendernesse of conscience as a sleeping man knoweth not that hee is in health nor can hee have any sense of his health while hee sleepeth and yet a sleeping man may know and feele the paine of sicknesse and of an aking bone and thereby bee wakened to feele it more sensibly though I know there bee a necessitie of the influence of saving grace either to know our fainting or our faith in a spirituall manner yet there bee degrees of grace here 3 Conclus Those who have a great faith in habit many have a little faith in act and the Disciples who had forsaken all and followed Christ must have a great measure of faith of fiduciall adherence it is a great faith to renounce all our bosome-lovers for Christ Though 2. their faith of light or in regard of knowledge was weak they not knowing Christs death and resurrection which are principal Articles of faith Matth. 16. 21 22 23. Joh. 20 9. Yet in this present act their faith was weake The grounds of a weake faith in regard of the act and some speciall exigents of a prevailing temptation are first because faith is one thing and the use of faith another thing The habit of faith is not the compleate and onely cause of beleeving 1. Because then the regenerate from the first moment of their regeneration to their dying day should alwayes beleeve which is repugnant to Scripture and all experience for the habit of faith and the seed of God alwayes remaineth in them even when they sin they lose not that Joh. 3. 9. 1 Ioh. 2. 27 28 29. Ioh. 4. 14. Ier. 32. 40 41. Esay 59. 21. 2. We are not Lords having by free-will a dominion over the habit of faith to stirre it up into acts when wee please for then these that have the habit need not to pray for the actuall influence of the grace of God to worke in them to will and to doe against many Scriptures as Cant. 1. 4. Psal. 25. 5. Psal. 86. 11. Psal. 119. 18 36 37. 66. 68. 80. 3. Our free-will at its best is but Graces armour-bearer and servant Grace whether habituall or actuall is Gods Prerogative Royall and one of the supreme and absolute flowers of his Crowne And therefore wee are Masters of our owne sins wee can bee willingly wicked and fall when wee will we are not masters of our owne rising againe wee can faint when wee will but wee beleeve when Christ will and when his saving grace breathes on us and neither sooner nor later neither more strongly nor more remissely then the free-grace of God inableth us for if wee could beleeve ere grace blow on us First wee could prevene grace and then should wee carry it all before us and it should bee after this not prevening grace but prevening nature prevening free will Secondly if the intention of the degrees of actuall beleeving were in our power Paul did not well to ascribe his labouring more abundantly to the grace of God and not to himselfe 1 Cor. 15. 10. But I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly our faith is often led by the sense of appearance and second causes and that is a very bad rule Faith and sense may thus bee compared Faith is like the just horologe or watch which sheweth to us justly the houres at midnight when there bee neither Sun Moone nor Stars to give notice what time of night it is so rotten boylie Job chap. 19. 25 26. when hee had not so much as Star-light of appearance to lead him but death and rotten boyles could in faith point the
might by all means save same This is Pauls charge Gal. 6. 1 2. who will have love to put in joynt an overtaken sinner in the spirit of meeknesse and so it is love doth not onely beare it selfe but also the burdens of our brethren and so fulfilleth the Law of Christ love planted by Christ is the Law of Christ and why doe wee by ruptures and divisions labour to frustrate the end of Christs prayer which is John 17. 2. I pray saith Christ that they may all bee one as thou Father art in mee and I in thee if wee bee one in uno tertio in the heart of Christ and of Christs Father why but wee should bee one amongst our selves yea love is burnt in tender feeling and compassion with the very smoake of a brothers house that is on fire 1 Cor. 13. 15. Love is not easily provoked it is a pardoning grace and hath strong shoulders to beare the madnesse and infirmities of a fellow heire of heaven Love thinketh not evill love must abound in love and charitable thoughts towards others as every element aboundeth in its owne spheare it thinketh not that the Saints doe hunt for a dominion over Saints 6. Love rejoyceth not in iniquitie Cursed bee that love that exulteth when malignants prevaile and rejoyceth not when the cause of the Lord and his people are victorious Love rejoyceth in the truth then love is wounded and sicke when heresies and sects prevaile and sigheth to see Altars multiplied and that many false Christs and false teachers arise Wee cannot deny but God hath put his seale to the ministery of the servants of Christ that went from this to New England and in the wisdome of God they saw and doe see that libertie of conscience is no remedie but physick worse then the disease against false religions It is now off my way to dispute But I know certainly a negative argument from the practise of Christ and the Apostles because they stirred not up heathen Magistrates and Wolves not fathers to punish false teachers is not good divinitie to infer libertie of conscience for in their practise they stirred not up the sword of the Magistrate against extortions and rapines in publicans nor against the persecuting and killing of the Lord of Glory nor against sedition incests tyranny over the Apostles and Christians bribing and unjustice used against Paul by Felix and others who were subject to higher Magistrates and many other scandalous sinnes against the second table any might inferre libertie of conversation in matters of the second table no lesse then libertie of conscience in matters of the first table if this argument hold good But the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles giveth to the Magistrate the Sword against evill doers Rom. 13. 4. but teachers of false doctrine though in the matter of ceremonies are evill doers Phil. 3. 2. and they pervert soules Act. 15. and kill soules and subvert whole houses and make their followers twofold more the Children of hell then they themselves Matth. 23. 15. nor did wee ever dreame that the bloody sword was a mean of conversion of soules the Gospel is so the onely power of God to salvation but that hindereth not but the Magistrate is to restraine by a coercive power the man that teacheth that Jesus Christ is not true God consubstantiall with the Father because the Sword ought to curbe the spreading of false doctrine it followeth not that it is a meane of propagating true doctrine But of this more possibly in another place Nor doe I intend the bloody sword should bee drawne against every different opinion holden by the truely godly though in the government of the Church all see not with the same light Luke 8. 24. Master master wee perish Marke 3. 38. Master carest thou not that wee perish It is too ordinary for us because of the greatnesse of the stroake and no present deliverance to put unkindnesse upon Christ as here they complaine that Christ is carelesse of them because hee sleepeth and they perish few of the Saints have ever beene in extremitie of heavie afflictions but they have uttered hard thoughts of Christ Psal. 77. as the Prophet in name of the Church when hee was troubled and his sore ran in the night Vers 7. saith will the Lord cast off for ever will hee bee favourable no more 8. Is his mercy cleane gone is his word or oracle rotten 9. Hath hee forgotten to be gratious hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies It is a strange word Vers 7. will hee bee favorable no more will hee never put forth in action one act of good will againe for the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it were a prodigious thing as the Prophet calleth it his infirmitie Vers 10. that all acts of reconciliation toward the elect should dry up Jeremiah when hee cryed out in his great trouble Chap. 15. Vers 10. Woe is me my mother that thou hast borne mee a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth complayneth Vers 18. Wilt thou bee altogether to me as a lier as waters that are unfaithfull that is I hoped thou shouldest have helped mee as the thirsty traveller trusteth in a dry pit seeing it afarre off and beleeving it to bee a refreshing fountaine but thou hast beguiled mee and my hope to this you may adde the cursing of the day that hee was borne in Chap. 20. David Psal. 31. when Vers 12. hee was forgotten as a dead man and laid aside by all the world as an uselesse and a broken vessell complaineth Vers 22. For I said in mine hast I am cut off from before thine eyes and wee know the sufferings of Job who beside his other agues uttereth these words Chap. 13. Vers 14. Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest mee for thine enemy The Reasons are First extreame afflictions as Physicke stirre up both the good and the bad humours they make legible both the good and the ill in the man and which of them is the predominant when the fire boileth extremely if there bee a scum in the liquor it is that which is first seene yea and it is not onely the vertue and strength of the fire but also of the gold that the drosse goeth to its owne place if it were all gold there should bee no separation at all the Disciples here put a false Character upon Christ that hee hath neither love to them nor care of them they double the word Master master and that is a check being added to the other carest thou not for us it saith 1. that hee is worse then other masters better serve any master then Christ a master will care for his servants so hee can helpe them no earthly master will sleepe when hee knoweth his servants are drowning 2. They object his sluggishnesse carest thou not for us hee bath neither
Secondly if affliction put us to a humiliation for sinne as sinne and the depth of griefe for sinne putteth us to condemne our selves without flattery and lying the contrary of which is when in trouble wee give God good words and have within us lying hearts and thinke not so as the people Psal. 78. 34. who sought God when hee slew them Vers 36. Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed to him with their tongues 37. for their heart was not right within them men doe then flatter themselves when they flatter God Thirdly when we are more anxious in our fasting for Zion and the taking of the Arke of God then for our selves our Lawes goods houses lives and liberties when David made the 25. Psalme the troubles of his heart were inlarged but this was one of his great suits when hee had cause to mind himselfe 22. Redeeme Israel O God out of all his troubles Fourthly when the circumcised heart is humbled and the people shall not faint and expire through want of faith by which the just liveth 2. When they shall not so murmure and wrestle against the rod as a wilde Bull taken and lying in a net which having lost strength and feet and being overcome yet kicketh against the hunter 3. When they shall not bee surfeited with affliction so as to loathe and despise the rod as the tender stomack loatheth physicke because they are full and surfeited with the fury of the Lord These three are excellently expressed Esay 51. 20. Thy sonnes have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets for in the meetings of wayes the wild bull is catched in the net as a wild bull in a net they are full of the fury of the Lord and the rebuke of thy God it is a bad token to faint 2. to wrestle 3. to bee so drunke with Gods judgements and rebukes as against reason to cry out against God and his Prophets in trouble as these who are drunken and afflicted but not with wine Vers 21. but with the rod and rebukes and cry it was better with us in Aegypt undâ—r the Prelates and their brick and clay and toyling under ceremonies Officiall Courts tyranny of conscience and now wee are wastâ—d and destroyed and killed and 4. when the people shall as it were with pleasure and good will for so the word Levit. 26. 41. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth accept of the punishment of their iniquitie a kindly and willing satisfaction of heart in the rod of God in so farre as it calmeth and pacifieth in a manner Evangelick justice so that the Lord is eased and comforted toward his people when he hath punished them and they are eased and comforted in the declaration of the glory of his justice and with good will doe justifie God in his afflicting them as Lament 3. 41 42. Micah 7. 9. Esa. 39. 8. this willing accepting of the rod I say is a speaking signe that the rod of God is sanctified Marke 4. 39. Then hee arose and as Matth. 8. 26. hee saith to them Why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith Matthew keepeth the most naturall order for Christ first rebuked the Disciples unbeleefe before hee rebuked the Sea and the winds we have reason so to conceive of Christs method for hee requireth faith before hee worke miracles at least often hee doth so though hee confirme and strengthen that faith by miracles It is fit that Christ rebuke us ere hee deliver us from drowning Hee first rebuketh the noble man and all his nation for unbeleefe and then healeth his sonne John 4. 48 49 50. Hee first chideth Martha out of her unbeleefe and then raiseth her brother Lazarus from death John 11. 40. 43 44. and Matth. 17. 17. Hee rebuketh the father of the lunaticke child and the faithlesnesse of the perverse generation before hee cast out the devill it is fit wee bee both convinced and humbled before hee turne away his angry hand First the crosse is a mystery to us and a dumbe teacher wee understand not the language and the grammar of the rod the man of wisedome knowes it Mic. 6. 9. Vengeance is written on the wall before Belshazzer but it is in unknowne language hee doth not understand it Secondly greene and raw deliverances are plagues of God not mercies the plague is nine times removed but Pharaohs heart is neither softned nor humbled the scum abideth in the bloody Citie as the Lord complayneth Ezek. 24. 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Woe to the bloody Citie to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not gone out the Prophet in Chaldea heard that Jerusalem had beene boyled with the sword of the Lord but the scumme of their Idolatry and blood remained in them whilst the wicked of these kingdomes malignants bloody Irish rotten hearted men such backsliders and perjured Apostates as are in Scotland delivered to Satan and excommunicated while these taste of the Gall and wormwood of the wrath of God in this warre the hand of God cannot bee removed and therefore that must bee taken notice of Jer. 6. 29. The bellowes are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vaine for the wicked are not plucked away O that our Lord would boyle out on the fire the scumme of both kingdomes The whoredomes of Popish Aegypt and the ceremonies the inventions of men are not mourned for by the pastors of the Lord sure I am not by most of the Ministers in Scotland What can wee say for our confidence in our Armies our multitude Parliaments Navies our extortion oppression unjustice hollow-heartednesse in the cause of God our lying cousening budding and bribing our breach of our Covenant denying of justice to the oppressed to the widow strangers and Orphans to the poore and needy the abominable and daring opinions of God his Sonne Christ his Church his Sacraments and free grace and sanctification and holinesse in this land Thirdly judgements on a land or a person are the cup of the Lords fury now often it is the grounds and thick of the cup which is the substance and vertue of the cup and must worke the cure And possibly to sip at the brim will not doe it it is a judgement that some get not leave to heate in the furnace but are dipped in in the flood and are never at leasure to commune with their owne heart nor hath the Lord time to allure them in the wildernesse Hos. 2. 14. as Ephraim was in the Oven as a Cake unturned poore Germany hath not beene slenderly dipped in and presently out againe they have now beene in the floods and under the water these 26. yeares these kingdomes are yet greene not ripened for the mercy of deliverance ourscumme remaineth in us divisions amongst us say it is not yet time for our triumph The fields are not while already to harvest when all godlinesse is to dispute out new wayes
to heaven and not seeke after the power of godlinesse it is good wee see the farre end of the judgement and that wee bee heart-humbled and tamed and made weaned children that wee put our mouth in the dust and sit alone on the ground and keepe silence and bee filled with reproach and beare the yoake Lament 3. 28 29 30. and resolve to beare the indignation of the Lord because we have sinned Mic. 7. 9. and it is good we be threshed while we be so broken as we may remember and bee confounded and never open our mouth any more because of our shame when the Lord is pacified toward us for all that we have done Ezek. 16. 63. Marke 4. 40. Why are you so fearefull Luke 8. 25. Where is your faith The ground of their doubting and unbeleefe is excessive and immoderate feare not simply feare therefore Marke saith {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} why are you so fearefull hee saith not why feare you hence the Text will leade us to inquire in the bad properties of this feare which that wee may doe a little of the affections in generall 2. of this bad feare condemned by our Lord in these following propositions 1 Proposition Grace removeth not affections Christ condemneth not their feare but onely their fearfulnesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so high bended Grace maketh not men Stoicks nor does it root out Nature Nature of it self as it commeth out of the work-house of the Creator is an innocent thing Whatever decrees the high former and Potter have concerning all things in the exercise of his absolute but most pure and holy Soveraignty over lame Vessels yet all that hee made is good hee is the author of no sinfulnesse in the Creature But hee doth not extirpate the nature and harmlesse being of naturall affections A Chirurgion taketh not away life and sense but onely rottennesse and corrupt humors that are enemies to life and sense Grace embroidereth sinlesse nature but does not turne it out at doores Give your lust to Christ who maketh all things new and hee shall restore it againe to you in renewed love Put your fainting in his hand and hee 'll make it holy feare Christs furnace melteth but out the refuse and drosse of our affections What fire was in Peter a Fisher is but made holy zeale in Peter the Apostle no man is the worse that hee come through the new Physitians hands hee maketh brasse Gold I should wish no better but that Christ would barter an old heart with a new for Christ has skill to over-gold nature with Grace Grace turned not Job in a lumpe of iron that hee could not weepe or sorrow for it was not destructive of Grace which hee saith Job 16. 16. My face is foule with weeping The Man Christ that chosen flower and the rarest pearle of sinlesse nature both wept Job 11. 35. Luke 19. 42. and was feared Luke 22. 44. Heb. 5. 7. 2 Propos. Grace but removeth the scumme and exorbitances of our affections As first Grace is a regular thing and moves as the Starres doe in a motion contrary to the motion of the whole World it moveth not as nature doth to seeke its own being and life but with subordination to God Bee angry but sinne not holdeth in all Feare but sinne not Love the Creature but sinne not Trust holy men but sinne not Sorrow at calamities but sinne not Grace is a straight line that measureth both it selfe and all crooked lines And therefore the Grace of God the Gospel is a teaching guide Tit. 2. 11. The grace of God 12. teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse Secondly grace is an excellent skreene between the soule and the burning heat of affections it is a strong banke to keepe off over-swelling tides of lusts in the soule when affections start up without leave of the grace of God then a man according to Gods heart David will but utterly destroy Nabal and all hee hath the Disciples because they cannot have a nights lodiging will doe no lesse then burne Cities and Townes have Samaria destroyed as Sodome as if Christ were come in the world to raise fire and sword against men women and sucking infants but when affections looke toward the creatures the grace of God sets them on to move on leasurely and upon slow wheeles and loppeth off from our affections all the wanton and luxuriant branches that is a sweet fruite of the grace of God 1 Cor. 7. 29. But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives bee as though they had none 30. And they that weepe as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and mortification laugheth at mirth and laughter as Solomon in his repenting dayes doth Eccles. 2. 2. I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it 3. Proposition There bee diverse diseases in the feare of the Disciples as first their feare is more then enough they speake as if the Sea could drowne Christ and them both ere the man Christ awake Hence their precipitations Master master and their complaint carest thou not for us our affections in great dangers runne with the head formost not onely before the light of faith but before that reason command them to rise according to the measure of unmortified lusts so is the swelling of our affections grace keeping them within banks else they are as some great Seas that have great tides Secondly there is much unbeleefe in this feare and therefore as Matthew relates the story Christ said to them why are yee fearfull O yee of little faith and as Marke saith 4. 40. How is it that you have no faith and Luke saith where is your faith that is they had little or no great strength of faith with this fear it being mixed with much doubting hence as Christ denyeth not simply that they had no faith so hee condemneth their unbeleefe unbeleefe doth not a little dull our apprehension so that death and afflictions looke on us with a more ugly and awsome countenance the more of the sunne bee covered in an eclipse the greater is the darknesse unbeleefe is a darke black webbecast over our eyes that wee see not what omnipotency can doe and how it secondeth the faithfulnesse of God to make good his owne promises our corrupt affections arising in their strength are great enemies to righteous judging Hence thirdly this feare doth make them to misfather their affliction they lay the blame of their danger on Christs sleeping and his forgetfulnesse and carelesnesse of them as their complaint sheweth Carest thou nor for us wee perish and thou sleepest in this if in any thing it is true happy is hee who knoweth the causes of things wee are often smitten of God in the darke To apply these to our selves It is much to know the causes of this present warre