able to deliver us from the burning fierie fornace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King When the deepe gulfe of the red sea is before our faces when Pharao and his most dreadful and cruell armie followeth us hotly at the heeles when high and steep mountaines runne along by our sides and bereave us of all hope of flight then to say k Exod. 14 13. Feare ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew you to day In a present evill to looke for present deliverie in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death to see to imbrace life l Heb. 11 24 25 26. to refuse great riches and honours for the denying of Christ to chuse povertie by confessing him to preferre suffering of affliction with the people of God to the enjoying of the pleasures of sinne for a season to esteeme the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt as Moses did and as many Christians have done and doe still is a most wonderfull and speciall exercise of true faith What Vertues are more commanded unto us by precept 2. Meeknes charity and recommended unto us by most excellent examples of the Patriarkes of the Prophets of David of Iesus Christ of his holy Apostles than humilitie meekenesse charitie where find ye better occasion to practise them than in your greatest adversitie m 1. Cor. 4 11 12. Ye are reviled and ye blesse ye are defamed and ye intreat as Paul did ye are stoned to death as Steven was and ye kneele down and cry with a loud voice n Acts 7.6 Lord lay not this sinne to their charge This is true meekenesse this is true charitie We are tossed to and fro with most grievous and tedious tribulations 3. Patience then as the Apostle saith o Heb. 10.36 wee have neede of patience that after we have done the will of God wee may receive the promise then it is time to be that which we professe We say that Patience is the fairest flower of of the Christian mans garden Other flowers delight in faire weather and grow not but in ground well weeded and gnibbed up This groweth among the brairs thistles of stinging tribulations and spreadeth most faire when the weather is most foule Frost and Snow Haile and Lightning Stormes and Tempests make it to blossome with a most pleasant shew and to breathe a most sweet sent Then the righteous man not looking to the stone that hurteth him but lifting up his eyes to the almightie hand of the heavenly Father which threw it saith as David said of Shimei who cursed him p 2. Sam. 16.10 So let him curse for the Lord hath said unto him Curse Dauid Who shall then say Wherefore hast thou done so Men have their mischeivous ends when they afflict the righteous man and it may be that they molest him wrongfully Tribulations also may come upon him by his owne faults and many other wayes yet God hath an hand in all his most wise providence guideth them Shall he then repine shall he kicke against the prickes God forbid But rather knowing that his sufferings are Gods owne worke and that q Deu. 32.4 all his wayes are iudgement he taketh David for his President and saith with him I was r Psal 39.9 dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Here here then is the wonderfull patience of the Saints who bridle their mouthes from grudging against God and open them not in their temptations but to poure out their humble requests and prayers before him Prayers 4. Prayers which faint and as it were droope in the faire summer-dayes of our peace and wealth but recover their vigor yea redouble their force in the fleeting and freezing winter of our calamitie God saith to the righteous man Å¿ Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble so he doth Ionas t Ioh. 2.1 snorted in the ship but hee was awake praied in the Whales belly The Disciples so long as the sea was calme and quiet prayed not but when the tempest arose and the winds spake lowd and the surges threatned the ship with sinking then they prayed then they cried v Matt. 8.25 Lord save us wee perish So Peter walked a little while upon the sea without praying but when hee saw the wind boistrous and began to sink he cried x Matt. 14 30. Lord save me Prayer is the meane whereby God bestoweth his blessings upon us It is the bucket which we dive and thrust farre into the undraynable fountaine of his graces that we may receive of his fulnesse and grace for grace Then tribulations are behoovefull unto us that by them knowing our need we may be moved to pray Are wee not saved y Rom. 8.24 by hope 5. Hope what hope what desire can wee have of heavenly things when all things laugh upon us in the world the present enjoying of the one expells out of our hearts the desire and hope of the other Therefore by the counterpoize of the evils of this life God stirreth up in us a most vehement desire of the life to come and holds our hope perpetually busied in praying and crying z Rev. 22.20 Even so Come Lord Iesus XVII All these graces without perseverance are nothing for a Matt. 24.13 he that shall endure unto the end 6. Perseverance Constancy shall bee saved And there is no perseverance without constancie The maine object of Constancie is tribulation neither is it seene but in things very difficult to undertake or to overcome b 2. Mac. 7. Consider the courage of seven brethren suffering all kinds of most cruell torments because they would not at the Kings commandement transgresse Gods commandement and eate swines flesh Wonder at the constancie of their marveilous mother who with a manly heart in a womans breast exhorted them to take their death cheerfully for Gods cause and after their execution went joyfully to the burning caldron and sealed also the truth with her blood How many faire promises were made unto them But c Heb. 11.35 they refused to be delivered that they might obtaine a better resurrection In the Ecclesiasticall stories of Christians such examples are infinite At d Euseb hister Eccles lib. 5. c. 1. Sanctus Vienne in France a Deacon of the Church called Sanctus being torne in pieces with hot pincers being at divers times so cruelly racked that hee was nothing but wounds but bruises but putrefying fores but a peece of swollen flesh without almost any figure or shape of a man could never be compelled to tell his name his familie his dwelling place His onely answer to all their rackings scorchings burnings was I am a Christian Neither could the Executioners by the Tympan by the hot and burning pans by the teeth of wild beasts wring out of Blandina a maide and servant to a Dame
mens weaknesse and mortality God forbiddeth us to feare men x Esa 40.10 11 13. Feare thou not saith he for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I vvill strengthen thee yea I will helpe thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse Bebold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded they shall be as nothing and they that strive with thee shall perish c. for I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee Feare not I will helpe thee Such exhortations and promises are frequent in the Scripture and upon them wee ground our selves when wee feare not men yea wee seeke comfort and strength against feare in Gods precedent deliveries Of time past we say with David y Psal 118.5 6. I called upon the LORD in my distresse The LORD answered mee and set me in a large place Therefore wee conclude as hee did for the time which is to come The LORD is on my side I will not feare what can man doe unto mee XII What then shall we be without feare Not so a s a. 8.12 13. Say ye not A confederacie to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacie neither feare ye their feare nor be afraid Sanctifie the LORD of hostes himselfe and let him be your feare and him be your dread Feare not men for b Psal 39.4 6. verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew◠surely they are disquieted in vaine Feare God of whom and to whom Ieremiah saith c Ier. 10.6 7. For as much as there is none like unto thee O LORD thou art great and thy Name is great in might Who would not feare thee O King of Nations for to thee doeth it appertaine for as much as among all these wise men of the nations and in all their kingdomes there is none like unto thee Therefore as Christ said to his Disciples so say wee to you d Matt. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell XIII As we should not feare men for the causes aforesaid so should wee not for the same causes put our trust in them as it is written e Psal 146.2 4. Put not your trust in Princes nor in any son of man in whom there is no help His breath goeth foorth hee returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish First it is said Put not your trust in Princes wherefore Are they not strong mightie wealthie Hath not God said of them and to them f Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and all of you are children of the most High All that is true g Rom. 4.17 God calleth those things which be not as though they were They are gods but earthly gods but weake and mortall gods to whom God saith also in that same place h Psal 82.7 But ye shall die like men and ye that are Princes shall fall like another And therefore when in the vanity of their hearts they dare call themselves gods God answereth them as he did the K. of Tyre saying i Ezech. 28.2 Thou art a man and not God That is the meaning of the words following Nor in any sonne of man The sonnes of men are men the Princes are sonnes of men they are men And yee know that k Ier 17.5 thus saith the Lord Cursed bee the man that trusteth in men and maketh slesh his arme Be faithfull to your Princes Obey and keepe their commandements render to them their dues tribute custome feare honour l Matt. 22.21 give to Cesar that which is Cesars Pray to God for them but give not unto them Gods tribute Render not to any creature the homage of trust which is proper to God alone Hee can deliver But as for the sonnes of men in them there is no helpe Though they bee called gods none of them m Matt. 6.27 can by their godhead adde one cubit unto their stature n Psa 49.7 nor by any meanes redeeme their brother nor give to God a ransome for him Yea after that o Plutarch in Alexand. Alexander the Great hath published abroad that hee is sonne to Iupiter Hammon when hee shall see the humor running downe from his wounds he shall be constrained to say This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blood of a man and not of God and when he shall smell the stink of his owne filth hee shall aske of his flatterers The gods yeeld they such a sent What gained p Marcellin lib. 17. Sapor King of Persia by taking to himselfe the proud titles of King of kings Brother to the Sunne and Moone Partaker of the Starres c. where is he now hath his pretended brotherhood with the Sunne and Moone his consanguinitie with the starres delivered him from the grave where now death feedeth on him Let Herod delight for a moment in the shouting and crying of his flatterers q Act 12.22 23. The voice of a God and not of a man by by the wormes shall eate him quick and constrain him to say to his claw-backes r Ioseph Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. Euseb Hist Eceles lib. 1. cap. 9. He whom ye called God endeth his life like men and this immortall dieth Let the Canonists fawne on the Pope and say that he is neither God nor man he knoweth that he is the sonne of man and wee know that he ſ 2. Thess 2.3 is the man of sinne that there is no help that there is nothing but perdition in him What is man but vanity t Psal 60. Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie To be laid in the ballence they are altogether lighter than vanitie And therefore v Psal 60.11 the helpe of man is vanity For this cause God cursed the lewes when they trusted to Aegypt saying x Esa 31.1 3. Woe to them that goe downe to Aegypt for help and stay on horses and trust in charets because they are many Now the Aegyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not Spirit When the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and hee that is holpen shall fall downe and they all shall faile together What if man had power and wil to help for all that trust not in him His breath goeth foorth hee returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish all his designes all the trust thou hadst in him dieth with him for then he cannot helpe himselfe and how should he help thee y Iob 14.1 2. Man that is borne of woman is of few dayess and full of trouble he commeth foorth like a flower and is
are as a shadow and there is none abiding Earth is onely the place of their peregrination d Ioh. 17.11 16. They are saith Christ in the world but they are not of the world Heaven is their home e Heb. 13.14 For here have we no continuing citie but we seeke one to come Every day wee heare God saying vnto vs f Micha 2.10 Arise yee and depart for this is not your rest Therefore as g 1 Kings 19.8 Eliah walked forty dayes and fortie nights till he came unto Horeb the mount of God So we walke apace and goe still forward till we come to the heavenly Mannor whereof the Apostle saith that h Heb. 4.9 there remaineth a rest to the people of God i Matt. 6.21 There is our treasure there is our heart also As a way-faring mans heart is at home because at home are his wife his children and whatsoever he loveth There is k Phil. 3.20 our conversation though our bodies be here The wicked may see that which we beleeve and daily experience teacheth them to say with the women of Tekoah l 2 Sam. 14.14 We must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up againe Yet notwithstanding they m Phil. 3.19 minde earthly things n Psal 49.11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations They call their lands after their owne Names Therefore seeing they have nothing before their eyes no end of their thoughts and actions but the earth it is no wonder that they should be called the inhabitants of the earth Out of the earth were they taken In earth they dwell in earth they have their portion to earth shall their bodies returne and if hell be in the center of the earth as many say there shall they have their last and eternall habitation VI. For what cause will the Lord visite them so rigorously For their iniquitie that is to say for the excessivenesse of their most immoderate sinnes as the word must be taken here what sinnes were those Questionlesse too too many amongst a people enemies to God and to his Church but above all the persecution of the Church They thought undoubtedly that all the harme which they did to the Church was righteousnesse and good service done to their gods As Christ hath forewarned us that they who shall kill us will deeme o Ioh. 2.16 that they doe God service But God calleth this their pretended service iniquity a most hainous and enormous sinne and if ye desire a specification of the kind of this sin God in the text calleth it blood or according to the Hebrew word bloods for by that word God signifieth the extreame and unquenchable thirst of bloud wherewith these murtherers were so dry that when they had shed it all they would have gladly shed more and wished that each of those whom they had slaine had possessed a hundred lives to furnish to them more blood to spill They kill because they take pleasure in killing like unto the Tyrant Caligula who wished that the people of Rome had all one necke that at one blow he might cut it off VII O Tyrants O bloud-thirstie butchers ye slay the Saints of God under coolur of justice and ye think that not onely God will not avenge it but that he will rather allow and reward it Whereas God saith that the earth shall disclose her bloods and shall no more discover her slaine The earth it selfe shall open her wombe and unfold her bowells and cry to God Loe here is the innocent blood which thy enemies have shed Loe here are the bodies of thy beloved servants whom these Massacrers have slaine p Iob 26.6 Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering O then shall the earth conceale your murthers from him Have ye not read that q Psal 5.6 the Lord will abhorre the bloudy and deceitfull man Doubt not but that which is written is true r Psal 116 1â— Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints and therefore hee will with an hand of yron thrust hard together the bellies of those horse-leeches which have drunke their bloud and straine them till they spue it out of their bloudy throats He hath said that Å¿ Gen. 9.5 6. he will require the life of man at the hand of every beast and at the hand of every mans brother How much more will he require the life of his deare servants at the hands of their murtherers Hee hath ordeined before the law of a most just and inexorable law that who so sheddeth mans blood by man his blood shall bee sbed whereof he rendreth two reasons The first that mens lives are in their bloud The second that in the image of God made he man Vnder the Law he confirmed this Law by another law and said t Num 35.33 that bloud unjustly shed defileth the land though it bee the blood of an ill man And the land cannot be cleansed of the bloud that is shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it This law is irrevocable for Christ hath also said in the Gospell that v Mat. 26.52 all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword If men put it not in execution God will and till he doe it the land where the blood of his Saints who are restored to his image is shed shall remaine polluted x Gen. 4.10 The voice of Abels blood cryod unto him from the ground and hee listened unto it The soules of a great many Abels which are under the Altar cry unto him with a loud voyce y Rev. 6.9 10. How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth And will hee not heare them He will he will z Rev. 13.10 for he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints They expect with patience it shall be so because they know by faith it must be so IIX God who hath spoken it is truth it selfe he is strength it selfe a 1. Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent Therefore it must be so He is justice it selfe therefore it shall be so For howsoever we be sinners the cause for which we are molested and vexed is his His who is Almighty and just his who loveth it his who will not suffer it to bee overthrowne by the malice and wickednesse of men his who will defend them who maintaine it and destroy them who seeke to overthrow it This is the comfort which the Apostle giveth to the Thessallonians who bare a crosse as heavy then as your brethren beyond seas doe now saying unto them b 2. Thes 1.6 7. It is a righteous