inthralled there the space of threescore and ten yeeres the Prophet sheweth them what they must doe then For as they that traffique by sea when they see the storme comming saile to some haven and anchor there untill the storme be past or as the people of Israel when the Angell of the Lord destroyed the first borne of Egypt and Rahab at the sacke of Ierico kept themselves quiet in their houses the doores being shut So saith the Prophet must ye doe in the great and heavy storme of affliction which is to come upon you Enter into your chambers shut the doores about you hide your selves there let none goe foorth haste to the haven of salvation lest ye perish What chambers what havens are these Can there be any so sure and safe as God himselfe of whom and to whom David saith v Psal 31.19 20. O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keepe them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues And therefore applying this to himselfe he said x Psal 91.1 2. Hee that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortresse my God in whom I will trust For y Pro. 8.10 the Name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe After the same manner and in the same sense Habacuc said a Hab. 2.1 I will stand upon my watch and set mee upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say to me These things were then spoken but they belong to all ages and are to us this day examples and instructions to relye upon God in our tribulations with patience and quietnesse of mind XI Many are the reasons which should moove us to a most humble and quiet subiection of our spirits without fretting of our selves without murmuring when we are afflicted and they which afflict us prosper but especially there be foure The first is taken from the will of God the second from his wisedome the third from his truth the fourth from his iustice The first thing we must looke unto in our afflictions is the will of God For as Ieremiah after the destruction of Ierusalem by the Babylonians and burning of the Temple to ashes with-drew his eyes from the earth lifting them up above all the visible heavens settled them upon God and asked b Lam. 3.37 38. Who is he that saith This is come to passe and the Lord hath not commanded it evill and good proceedeth it not out of the mouth of the Lord so must wee all thinke so must we all speake The wicked prosper because it is Gods will we are oppressed because it is Gods will Our master and Doctor hath taught us both by precept and by example to thinke and to speake so Hath he not commanded us to pray Thy will be done It is his will that we be so unworthily vexed and tormented c Math. 10.29 30. Are not saith he two sparrowes sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father but the very haires of your head are all numbred As if hee had said Farre lesse shall any evill befall you without the will of your Father Therefore he submitted himselfe unto his Fathers will when he was to dye for us sinners saying d Mat. 26.39 Not as I will but as thou wilt and commanded Peter which drew the sword to defend him to put up his sword into the sheath with this reason e Ioh. 18.11 The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drinke it So he said to the Disciples going to Emmaus f Luk. 24 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory why ought he because forsooth it was the will of God In this meditation we must not onely say of God as Nebuchadnezzar did that g Dan 4.35 he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou but acknowledge also with the Apostle that h Rom 12.2 his will is good acceptable and perfect and therefore most worthy that our wills be offered up in a burnt sacrifice unto it This was the shield wherwith that i Tert. de patientia ca. 14. operarius illâ— victoriaâ—um Dei most worthy atchiever of the victories of God that rare and wonderfull patterne of patience extinguished all the fierie darts which eyther by the losse of his goods or by the death of his children or by the stinking and filthy sores of his body or by the chiding of his wife or by the contempt of his servants or by the uncourteous and churlish comforts of his friends or by affrighting dreames the divell threw at him He repelled them all with this one word k Iob 1.21 Blessed be the name of the Lord. So the brethren knowing that the will of God was that Paul should goe up to Ierusalem and be there bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles ceased to disswade him saying l Act. 21.14 The will of the Lord be done For God is a Father neyther would it be his will that we should be afflicted except it were for our good We sing first m Psal 135 3 5 6. Prayse the LORD for the LORD is good Then we adde For I know that the LORD is great that our LORD is above all gods whatsoever the LORD pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deepe places This then is the first reason to moove us to patience It is the will of the Almighty God who to us is a loving Father that we be toyled and hurryed with many afflictions and we owe all submission all obedience to his will XII Is he onely Almighty and all good Is he not also All-wise Doubtlesse he is Hath he not made light to shine out of darkenesse benediction to spring out of malediction life to rise out of death He bridleth the unbridled affections of men he setteth in order all their disordered actions when they fight against his will he doth his will not in them but by them The Scribes and Pharisees with the Priests conspire against Christ Iudas selleth him Pilat condemneth him the souldiers crucifie him how many divers intentions how many disagreeing ends of these wicked men in the tormenting of one man God the great and experimented Physician maketh of all these sinnes a most excellent antidote against sinne of all these poisons a soveraigne and singular medicine for the health of the soule When the wicked persecute the Church their
promise it is both wonderfull and profitable to consider for when hee will shew his strength that which he doth seemeth contrarie to that which he intendeth to doe When he came to lighten and gladden Abrahams soule by the confirmation of his promises he sent m Gen. 15.12 an horror of great darkenesse upon him n Gen. 32.25 When hee came to blesse Iacob hee wrestled with him and put his thigh out of joynt o 2. Kin. 2.21 Elisha sweetned the unholsome waters with salt p Ioh 9.6 Iesus Christ putting clay on the eyes of a blinde man restored him to his sight q Marc. 7.33 he put his fingers into the eares of a man that was deafe and they were opened Even so he debased and abated Ioseph to the lowest pit of the prison that his power might be marvelled at in advancing of him to the highest dignitie of Pharaos Court. Hee winked at Pharao and his armie when they persecuted and pursued his people into the midst of the red sea that when with the blast of his nostrils the sea came and covered them and they sunke as lead in the mightie waters his people might sing unto him r Exod 15.11 Who is like unto thee O LORD amongst the gods who is like thee glorious in holinesse fearefull in praises doing wonders and his enemies might say of him that Å¿ Iosh 2.11 hee is God of Heaven above and in earth beneath Hee permitted Senacherib King of Assyria to take all the defensed cities of Iuda and to bring Hezakiah to such extremitie that hee had not two thousand men to withstand him then hee sent his Angel from Heaven to deliver him then t Esa 37.20 all the kingdomes of the earth knew that he is the Lord even hee only Consider Nebucadnezzar in his rage fury comanding to heat the burning fierie furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heat and to cast the three Confessors into it saying to them v Dan. 3.15 Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands His mind was to destroy the bodies of these Saints But O miracle of the almightie power and vertue of God! the fire was a rampier and wall to guard them the flame was a garment to clothe them the furnace was a fountaine to refresh them Mortall bodies were cast into the fire they were not hurt thereby as if they had bin immortall the flames received them tyed and untying them were tied themselves They spared the hands and the feet whereof they burned the bands They slew the men that cast these Salamanders into the furnace for the furnace was exceeding hot to teach you that the strength of the fire was neither extinguished nor abated yet they touched not the bodies of the Saints not changing their nature but bearing respect to their godlinesse yea and such respect that there was not an haire of their head singed neither were their coats changed neither had the smell of fire passed on them which goeth beyond all admiration The fire dared not touch but their bands The Tyrant fettered them the fire unfettered them that ye may see the crueltie of the Tyrant and the obedience of the element The Princes and Governours of the kingdome were come thither to see the great solemnitie of the dedication of the golden image but they saw that which they could never have thought of They came to worship the idoll they went home admiring and worshiping the power of God The king himselfe who ere-while had cast in the fire these three Confessors because they would not serve his gods nor worship the golden image which he had set up was constrained to worship their God and to confesse that x Vers â—9 there is none other God that can deliver after this sort So Satan was confounded in his malice seeing his power abated by his owne craft whereby he laboured to overthrow the servants of the living God and Gods Power Wisdome Goodnesse Providence was glorified in their deliverie God y 1. Kin. 17 4. spake to the ravenous Ravens and they fed Elijah He a Ion. 2.10 spake to the Whale and it vomited out Ionas upon the dry land When his people was scattered hither thither among the Chaldeans Assyrians Medes Persians and other Nations b Esa 43.6 bee said to the North Give up and to the South Keep not backe bring my sons from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes c Ps 76.11 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee XV. Such examples of the glorious power of God in the afflictions of righteous men are most frequent in the New Testament As in the creation he commanded light to shine out of darkenesse So in the redemption of mankind he made our Saviour a curse for us that hee might blesse us and put to death the Prince of life that through his death he might give life to those which were dead His enemies sealed and guarded the Sepulchre where hee was buried and said d Psal 3.2 There is no help for him in God But e Rom. 1.4 hee was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead and was more glorious in his death than he was in his life So his Church is never so wonderfull as in the persecution Then f Exod. 3.2 3 4. ye see the great sight which made Moses amazed The bush burning with fire and yet not consumed What more vile than a bush what more contemp tible in the eyes of men than the Church what more susceptible of burning than a bush what so easie to bee overthrowne as the Church as the little flocke of weak sheepe inclosed with an armie of strong and cruell wolves yet the bush was not burnt because God was in the midst of the bush So the Church cannot be destroied because Christ hath said g Matth. 28 Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Consider h Act. 16.22 Paul and Silas torn with stripes thrust into the inner prison and their feete made fast in the stocks The infidels might have said that the God who suffreth his servants to be thus abused is either weake and impotent or unrighteous and malicious But see behold in this permission a most wonderfull work of his power goodnesse and mercy His Saints had their feete in the stockes their hands in the gyves Their heart was franke their tongue was free The Divell was then a prentise and had not learned to gag Their heart was inditing a good matter Their tongue was the pen of a readie writer At mid-night they were waking What did they while they waked did they howle for griefe and paine complained they of their contumelies accused they the crueltie of the blood-thirstie Governors blamed they the rigor of the pitilesse
servants by old and young The Papists saw it and wondred that the fire of persecution had not consumed but kindled and inflamed our zeale and some of them were converted So wee were corrected our devotion was increased Papists were amazed God was glorified XVIII Wherefore a Heb. 12.12 lift up the hands which hang downe and the feeble knees Though wee live here in peace yet we have no lease of peace yea in this publike peace everie one should looke for a great fight of afflictions flagging hands are not fit for the battel trembling knees cannot stand fast and upright at a meeting incounter of our enemies Let us then imitate wise prudent souldiers which in time of peace enure themselves by the exercises of war to sustaine the brunt coping of armed enemies in the day of battel When b Ps 91.7 a thousand shall fall at our side and tenne thousand at our right hand when c Rev. 12.4 the Dragon shall with his taile sweep the heavens and cast to the earth the third part of the starres when everie where yee shall see nothing but apostasies and defections of great men of wise men of Church men which are starres in the heaven of the Church stand not stil gazing upon them as d 2. Sam. 2.23 Ioabs souldiers did upon Hasael whom Abner had slaine and lost the fruit of the victorie But as e 2. Sam. 20.11 12 13. Ioabs servant removed Amaza whom Ioab had slaine out of the high way into the field cast a cloth upon him when he saw that everie one that came by him stood still and as he cryed Hee that favoureth Ioab and hee that is for David let him goe after Ioab whereupon all the people went on after Ioab to pursue after the traitor Sheba So let us remove all scandals from before our eyes and casting upon them the cloake of forgetfulnesse let us follow our Generall our Lord Iesus Christ the Prince and Captaine of the Lords Host who goeth before us fighting for the Lord our God against the Divell sinne and the world Whosoever favoureth Christ whosoever is for God let him follow Christ Let f 1. Tim. 1.18 19. us all warre a good warfare holding for shield faith and forsword the word of God not pausing on these Hymenees and Alexanders which loosing the rudder of a good conscience what wonder if they have made shipwrack of their faith yea let us tread upon their stinking carkases and trampling on the gastly examples of their lamentable revolts let us g Psal 3.14 presse toward the marke for the prince of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus That being through Gods powerfull and mercifull assistance each of us enabled to say truely with Paul h 2. Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good sight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith wee may thereupon inferre this sweete and blessed conclusion with Paul Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but unto them also that love his appearing XIX O almightie and most gracious Father bestow this saving grace upon this thy people which is here present before thee through the all-sufficient merits of thy only and deare Sonne and our only and most powerfull Saviour Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all power all honour and all glorie for ever and ever Amen SERMON VI. Of the Lords Deliverances PSALM XXXIV XIX But the Lord delivereth him out of them all 1. THe Church compared to the Moone by reason of the vicissitude of her evils the Lords deliverances 2. Whereof there be many examples in the old Tastament 3. And in the new 4. Six principall points to be considered in the Lords deliverances 5. The deliverer of the Church is the LORD called IEHOVAH in the Heb. tongue 6. The word IEHOVAH leadeth us to the knowledge of the eternitie of Gods being and of that eternall vertue whereby he giveth being to all things and namely to his promises 7. All the qualities required in a deliverer are in the LORD 8. Thence the righteous man receiveth a most sensible and unspeakable comfort 9. God alone is the deliverer of the Church and needeth not the helpe of any 10. What is the nature of his deliverances 11. Exhortatiō not to feare men 12. Exhortation to feare God alone 13. Exhortation not to trust in men neither living 14. Nor dead though they be in heaven 15. Exhortation to trust in the Lord alone 16. Those whō the Lord delivereth are the Righteous only 17. Their righteousnesse is no cause meritorious of their deliverances 18. Notwithstanding it is a righteous thing with God to deliver them and that for three causes 19. The Lord giveth many blessings and deliverances to wicked men for righteous mens sake 20. Exhortation to righteousnesse 1. EXcellent and many are the titles wherewith the Church is adorned in holy Scripture Amongst all that wherewith shee is graced when the wise K. Salomon intitles her a Cant 6.10 faire as the Moon is the fittest to expresle her condition in this world She is faire indeed verie pleasant to behold as the Moone is Shee shineth among the people that walke in the darkenesse of ignorance as the Moone shineth in the night Her shining light is intermixed with darke staines of sinne as the bright shining light of the Moone is intermingled with blacke spots She hath her spots of her selfe as the Moone hath but b Ambr. Hexam lib 4 cap. 8. shee borroweth the light of immortalitie and of grace from the ay-during light of her brother the Lord Iesus Christ as the light of the Moone commeth from the Sunne O c Hos 139 Israel thou hast destroyed by thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe saith GOD to his Church Sinne is of ourselves destruction and death is from our sinne But d Psal 121.2 our helpe is from the Lord which made heaven and earth even from the Lord Iesus who is e Mal. 1.2 the Sun of righteousnesse f Luk. 1.78 the day spring from on high in whose wings is health g Psal 36.9 in whose light wee see light and through whose light h l. 2.15 we shine as lights in the world so that we say i Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee The Moone hath her rising and setting and in each of them her increasing her fulnesse her decreasing her disappearing for a few daies when she is in her conjunction with the Sun So the Church of Christ rising in one place goeth downe in another and wheresoever shee riseth is subject to manie variations to growing bigger and bigger to waning to disappearing Then through the violence of persecutions she is constrained to obey Gods commandement k Esa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy
our enemies our evils b Psal 138.6 Though the LORD be high yet hath he respect unto the Lowly but the proud he knoweth afarre off Almighty without a peere in heaven among the Angels in earth among the most dreadfull creatures as the Church singeth c Psal 89. 6 8 9 11 13 For who in heaven can bee compared unto the LORD Who among the sonnes of the mighty can bee likened unto the LORD OLORD God of Hosts who is a strong LORD like unto thee or to thy faithfulnesse round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them The heavens are thine the earth also is thine As for the world and the fulnesse thereof thou hast founded them Thou hast a mighty arme strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand When wee complaine and make our moane to God d Psal 93.3 4. The flouds have lifted up O LORD the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves we are taught to comfort our selves and to say The LORD who is on high is mightier than many waters yea than the mighty waves of the sea All-righteous for e Psal 103.16 the LORD executeth righteousnesse and iudgement for all that are oppressed All-good and most willing to deliver us for he is the LORD our God f Psal 50.1.7 The mighty God even the LORD hath spoken saying I am God even thy God hee is appeased to wards us he is reconciled with us through the blood of the crosse of his deare Sonne Our cause is his cause We are persecuted for righteousnesse sake Righteousnesse is the daughter of God We are persecuted for the Gospel The Gospel is his word We are persecuted for Christs sake Christ is his Sonne his deare Soone his onely Sonne I say then that he is All-wise and can All-mighty and may All-good and will deliver us Whatsoever he is hee is it to us and for us because hee is the LORD our God Hee hath delivered all our fathers predecessors g Psal 22.4 Our fathers saith David trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them He will also deliver us And therefore every righteous man prayeth h Psal 106.4 Remember mee OLORD with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may reioice in the gladnesse of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance IIX Here is the comfort here is the consolation of the Church and of every righteous man in her that God heareth their prayers and delivereth them even then and namely then when they are forsaken of all men Iacob was alone when he fled from his fathers house because his brother Esau had vowed to kill him Then the Lord appeared unto him in a dreame and said unto him i Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and will keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee againe into the land for I will not leave thee untill I have done that which I have spoken to thee of David complaineth that k Psal 25.16 hee was desolate and afflicted yet hee seeketh comfort in the assurance of Gods assistance and saith l Psal 27.10 When my father and my mother forsake me then the LORD will take me up What extremitie was the Church brought into under the persecution of the cruell Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes m Dan. 11 32 45. who corrupted by flatteries such as did wickedly against the covenant and afflicted those which were upright so cruelly and so puissantly that there was none to help them Then the Church prayed n Psal 74.1 O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoake against the sheepe of thy pasture Then Sion said againe o Esa 49. 14 15. The LORD bath forsaken me and my LORD hath forgotten me Then the Lord answered againe Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee For then was fulfilled that Prophecy of Daniel p Dan. 12.1 At that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke Who is this Michael who like unto God who but our Lord Iesus Christ the great Prince which standeth and fighteth for his people when they can neither stand nor fight for themselves Was it not hee which cryed from heaven to Saul q Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me When an hoste came from the King of Syria and compassed the Citie of Dothan where Elisha was to take him his servant was affrighted and said r 2. Kin. 6.15 16. Alas my master how shall we doe But hee answered Feare not for they that be with us are moe than they that be with them After the same manner when the king Hezekiah was brought by Senacheribs army to such a pinch that he was constrained to inclose himselfe within the walls of Ierusalem for the safetie of his life all his kingdome being taken from him and having no power to resist fortified himselfe in the Lord his God and heartned his people saying f 2. Chron. 32.7 8. Be strong and courageous bee not afraid nor dismaid for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be moe with us then with him With him is the arme of flesh but with us is the LORD our God to helpe us and to fight our battells Yee see a good and godly king see also a good and godly people And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Iuda i.e. notwithstanding their weakenesse and fewnesse they leaned upon God and were delivered S. Raul with good reason did complaine of all his followers that at his first answer before Nero t 2. Tim. 4.16 No man stood with him but all men forsooke him Was he for that destitute and left alone Notwithstanding saith he the Lord stood with me and strengthened me And therefore when he saw all the powers of hell and all the malice of the earth uncoupled after poore Christians hee defied them saying v Rom. 8.30 If God be for us who can be against us Even as David said x Psal 27.1 3. The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I feare The LORD is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid though an hoste should encampe against me my heart shall not feare though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident and as Iesus Christ said to his Disciples y Ioh. 16.32 Ye shall leave
cut downe he flyeth also as a shadow and continueth not Wherefore a Esa 2.22 cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of that ye should put your trust in him XIIII Must we not trust in men which are living and which are with us to helpe us Much lesse should we trust in them which are dead b cles 9.6 Their love their hatred their envy to mee to thee severally is now perished neither have they any more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sunne c Iob 14.21 Their sonnes come to honour and they know it not they are brought low but they perceive it not of them I except not those even those blessed soules which enjoy a perfect felicitie in the vision of God for d Rev. 14.13 they rest from their labours and e Esa 57.1 are taken away from that which is evill their felicitie consisting in this that their minds are filled with the perfect knowledge of God their hearts with his love and all the powers of their soule are ravished with a perpetuall meditation and contemplation of his infinite goodnesse which is never distracted with the disquieting cares of things which goe to and fro in this valley of miseries and world of vanitie XV. In whom then shall we trust In whom but in the Lord f Psal 128.8 9. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in Princes David speaking of the forefathers of Gods people saith of them g Psal 22.4 Our fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them Of himselfe hee saith h Psal 4.9 I will both lay mee downe in peace and sleepe for thou LORD onely makest mee dwell in safety Thou onely not Abraham Isaac Iacob not any Angell any Archangell not any living among men i Psal 18.27 28. Thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring downe high looks Thou wilt light my candle the LORD my God will lighten my darknes And therefore k Psal 25.15 mine eyes are ever towards the LORD not towards the Saints nor the Angels for he shall plucke my feet out of the net l Psal 42.11 he is the health of my countenance the helpe whereunto l Psal 42.11 looke and my God m Psal 73.25 whom have I in heaven and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And therefore hee saith againe n Psal 121.1 2. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hilles from whence cometh my helpe Say not that these hills are the Angells or Saints for headdeth My helpe cometh from the LORD which made heaven and earth from the LORD alone o Psal 62.11 12. God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God also unto thee O LORD belongeth mercy Power and mercy two qualities required in our Redeemer Deliverer and Saviour and belonging to God alone who may deliver us because power is his will deliver us because mercy also is his p Psal 46.1 God is our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble Therefore let worldlings q Psal 20.7 trust in their chariots and in their horses let Papists trust in Saints in Angels in Monks cowles in merits we will remember the Name of the LORD our God that we may be blessed For r Ierem. 17.7 blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD and whose hope the LORD is XVI Let us onely take heede that wee bee of those whom the Lord delivereth Å¿ Pro. 13.10 The Name of the LORD is a strong tower The righteous runneth unto it and is safe The righteous man hath many evills but the LORD delivereth HIM I taught you in my first Sermon the characters and true markes of a righteous man If when thou art afflicted thou saiest with David that t Psal 9.9 10. the LORD will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble consider and marke well how hee describeth these oppressed to whom the Lord is a refuge Read these words following And they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou LORD hast not forsaken them that seeke thee I have seen many in their affliction bragging of Gods predestination and saying that Gods Elect cannot perish That which they say is true for Gods Angell forewarning Daniel of the great troubles wherewith the Church was to be vexed by the Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes said unto him v Dan. 12.1 At that time thy people shall bee delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke And ye reade in the Revelation that x Rev. 20.15 whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire as also on the other side that those onely enter into the holy City y Rev. 21.27 which are written in the Lambes booke of life But this predestination is hid in the unsearchable secrecy of Gods breast and many bragge of it which have no part in it Therefore David will have us to enter into our owne breasts and to search there the markes of our predestination which God hath shut up in the unmeasurable and infinite depth of his own breast a Rom. 8.30 for whom he did predestinate them he also called giving them an effectuall and sanctifying knowledge of his most blessed and holy Name so that when he saith to them b Zech. 13.9 Thou art my people they answer presently The LORD is my God This is to know God and to seeke God and David saith that the Lord is a refuge to the oppressed which know his Name and seek him This is the knowledge of faith which taketh the blood of the Lambe of God and c Heb. 12.24 1. Pet 1.2 besprinkleth our soules with it that k Exod. 12.13 as when God saw the blood of the Paschall Lambe upon the houses where the IsrAelites were he passed over them and the plague was not upon them when he smote all the first borne in the land of Egypt so hee delivers us from the hands of our enemies and the evils of this life and of the life to come by the vertue of that blood according to the promise l Zec. 9.11 As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water This faith m Act. 15.9 puristeth the hearts it is the mother of uprightnesse and sinceritie before God in the performance of all duties of the first and second Table and therefore if thou lookest for Gods deliverance cleanse thy heart in such sort that thou may bee able to say with David n Psal 7.10 11. My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart for God iudgeth the righteous and God is angry every day against the wicked o 1. Tim. 1 5. From this knowledge and faith
for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me XVI The comfort to them all is this that their affliction which to them is too too long is but a moment not onely in respect of God y 2. Pet. 3.8 with whom one day is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeeres as one day but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakeable glory wherewith it shall be swallowed up a Rom 8.18 For I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us Glory which these sufferings worke in us b 2. Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory even so farre as it subdueth our pride mortifieth our lusts and is the Lords high way unto our eternall blisse Whereunto if yee adde the promise of deliverance even in this life nothing shall be wanting to our full comfort XVII What then shall we doe till the Lord come and deliver us what but waite upon the Lords pleasure The lewes knew by revelation from God the time of their bondage in Egypt and captivitie in Babylon which being come to an end they said confidently to God c Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come We have no such revelation and therefore we must bee content to relye upon Gods generall promise and say with David d Psal 130.5 I waite for the LORD my soule doth waite and in his word doe I hope assured that howsoever it seeme that heaven and earth conspire against us and that wee are brought to the pinch he shall put a new song in our mouthes and give us a most plentifull subject to sing as David did e Psal 40.1 In waiting I waited for the LORD and he inclined unto me and heard my cry f Heb. 10.23 For hee is faithfull that promised And g Luk. 1.37 with him no word is impossible The Lord in his great mercies give us this patient hope and assurance for Christ Iesus his deare sons sake who with him and the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth God blessed for evermore Amen SERM. IX Of Gods Iudgements upon Persecuters and of the last deliverance of the Church ESAIAH XXVI 21. For behold the LORD commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine 1. THe last motive to patience is taken from the Iudgements of God 2. The Lord is said to come when he iudgeth 3. He is said to come out of his place when his iudgements and mercies are made conspicuous 4. He visiteth the inhabitants of the earth eyther in iudgement or in mercy 5. Wicked men are called the inhabitants of the earth for godly men are strangers here 6. God will visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity which they thinke to bee good service to God 7. God will be avenged of those which shed the blood of his deare ones 8. Because he is righteous and faithfull 9. Great iudgements on persecuters 10. Namely on great men under the law 11. And principally on those who have persecuted the Christian Church 12. Prosperity in this world is a token of Gods indignation rather than of his love 13. The torments of hell prepared for wicked men 14. Their conscience tells them there is a hell 15. Hell is a place penall in its owne selfe 16. There is there paine of dammage most unsufferable 17. As likewise unconceiveable paine of sense 18. Which is universall 19. And everlasting 20. Persecuters above all others shall be tortured there with most exquisite torments 21. Great shall be in that day the glory of Gods Saints and terrible to their Persecuters 22. Great difference betweene the life and the end of wicked and of godly men 23. The Church cannot be destroyed 24. Exhortation and consolation 1. AS the words of this text are from God the last so should they bee in your hearts a most powerfull motive to a patient tarrying for the blessed time which the wisedome of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and finall reliefe of his Church from all misery Ye may call the text DAN i e. Iudgement for it threatneth with no small mischiefe all bloody and cruell persecuters and by their overthrow promiseth deliverance to them which are persecuted The time of the one and of the other is not a time of many yeares moneths weekes dayes The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment as ye have heard In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her who in their greatest prosperity are a Minut. Felix ut victima ad supplicium saginantur ut hostia ad poenam corâ—nantur like beasts fatted b Zeph. 1.8 and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice wherein saith the Lord I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparell II. For behold the Lord commeth O open the eyes of your minde ô bid your faith rise from her sleepe to behold in the immutable truth of the Lords threats in the inevitable power of his iustice in the innumerable iudgements which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors in his more than motherly love to his deare ones his promptnesse and readinesse to deliver his Church by the overthrow of all her enemies Hee he himselfe he who is the Lord will destroy them Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord He will not tarry he will not delay his comming Behold be commeth he is already on his iourney III. From whence commeth he Out of his place O Lord Art thou so in one place that thou art not at the same time in all places O infinite Maiestie c August ad Volusian Epist 3. Novit ubique totus esse nullo contmeri loco Novit venire non recedendo ubi erat Novit abire non desereÌ„do quo venerat Miratur hoc mens humaena quia non capit fortasse non credit thou canst be every where at one time and yet thou art do where Thou fillest with thy presence every place and loe thou art not contained in any place Thou canst come and not goe from the place where thou wast Thou canst depart and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come Our soules wonder at this but because of their narrownesse they cannot comprehend it O Lord grant that we may beleeve it And tell us how thou who hast the heaven for d Esa 66.1 thy throne and the earth for thy footstoole thou who sayest of thy selfe Doe I not fill the heaven and the earth O most wonderfull God teach us how thou commest and goest Dost thou not speake so not of
THE RIGHTEOVS MANS EVILS AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Minister of the French Church of London PSAL. 129.2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevayled against mee LONDON Printed by H. L. for Nathanael Newberry and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre in Popes-head Alley Anno 1625. TO THE RIGHT NOBLE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND RIGHT RELIgious Lord IAMES MARQVESS of HAMMILTON Earle of Arran and Cambridge Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter Counsellor of the Kings most honourable privie Councell in both Realmes of England and Scotland Lord Great Steward of his Majesties houshold c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE WHat reading of holy Scripture and of Ecclesiasticall stories what experience hath taught mee of the Righteous mans Evils and the Lords deliverances that I preached to my Church at London in nine Sermons which in this booke I have dedicated to your Honour as an acknowledgement of the heroicall and Christian vertues which shine in your most Noble and Honourable person and as an homage due to them not as having any worthinesse and excellencie from their author whereby he should presume to offer them to such a Lord in whom all things excell in worth and shine in a most eminent degree of excellencie In Empires Kingdomes States Cities Families wee read and see the truth of the Oracle which said to ATTALVS King of Bithinia THOU AND THY SON NOT THE SONS OF THY SON His Maiestie who now holdeth the raines of this peaceable and flourishing kingdome is the onely King knowne in the world by stories who can reckon neere two thousand yeeres since his roiall Ancestors of whom he is lincally descended wore Crownes and Scepters In France they thinke it much if a man can prove his Nobilitie by foure Descents Since three hundred and odde yeeres that SIR GILBERT HAMMILTON came from England to Scotland was there advanced to all titles and degrees of honours of dignities of greatnesse among the most noble and honourable of the Realme by the HEROS of those dayes and King without peere ROBERT BRVCE who had knowne in England the antiquitie of his noble house and of all men then living could best iudge of his courage martiall actes and deserts and being preferred there to the mariage of the onely Daughter to my Lord Earle of Murray the Kings Nephew by his Princely Sister became the Stocke of the illustrious Race of the HAMMILTONS in Scotland whereof your Honour is the golden head how many Descents how many generations may be reckoned The fables tell of BELLEROPHON how after he had done many feates of armes not so much by his owne wisdome and strength as by the helpe of his winged Horse called PEGASVS he waxed proud and attempting with the same wings to mount up to heaven was flung to the earth and brake his leg whereby they teach us in a mysticall sense that many after they have beene borne upon the wings of their Princes favour and thereby have done good services conceive too ambitious and proud hopes and as if favour were desert aspiring to ascend into heaven to exalt their Throne above the rest of the starres and to be like unto their Maker are cut downe to the ground in an instant where all their pompe is laid in a grave of shame and dishonour as the Scripture speaketh of the King of Babylon under the name of LVCIFER In all the ancient stories hardly shall we finde any great man whose predecessors or himselfe have not beene stained with the blot of rebellion against their Soveraignes or of some negligence of their dutie towards them But your Honours forefathers had ever their affections so addicted to our Kings that King IAMES the third with the consent of the States and applause of the whole Realme thought them worthy to be rewarded with the mariage of his onely and deare Sister whom he gave in wedlocke to IAMES Lord Hammilton of whom your Lordship is come by many lineall successions This proximitie of blood to our Kings hath ever beene to your Ancesters and to your owne selfe a most attractive Adamant drawing and tying inseparably your hearts desires wills affections duties and services to their will and desires in all innocencie and uprightnesse according to Gods commandement the practice whereof is the stay of the State and the maintainer of peace in the Church and Common-weale FEARE GOD AND THE KING AND MEDDLE NOT WITH FACTIOVS MEN. So that this may be the Poesie of the Cognizance of your Honours most ancient and honourable Family FIDEET OBSEQVIO Of this fidelitie of these long profitable and acceptable services to our Kings continued in your Lordships familie from generation to generation and most effectually confirmed by your owne generous wise and good cariage in the Court and in the State the Kings Maiestie is a most glorious witnesse and a most magnificent rewarder For that affection which his Maiestie sheweth to your Honour those Dignities wherewith hee hath honoured you namely this last of LORD STEWARD of his royall House what are they but publike testimonies of the continuation of your good faithfull and well liked services to his Maiesties Royall person to our most excellent and hopefull Prince his Royall and onely Sonne and to the states of both kingdomes In the Court you are to his Maiestie that which IOSEPH was to PHARAO King of Egypt OBADIAH to ACHAB King of Israel MORDECAI to AHASVERVS King of Persia and ELIAKIM to whom God gave the key of the house of DAVID to the good King EZECHIAH and most like unto THEODORVS in the Court of VALENS Emperour of the Orient who being come of a most ancient and noble stocke and well brought up from the Cradle was not inferiour to any of the Imperiall Court in modestie wisedome erudition and good carriage ever seemed better than the charges and places whereunto he was advanced and was the onely man whose tongue was never licentiously unbridled never spake without consideration and foresight yea was never shut through feare of danger or hope of preferment and therefore was equally loved of great and small as your Lp. for the same vertues is much respected and loved of all states and degrees in both nations For by Gods speciall and rare blessing you carry your selfe in all your demeanour at Court and abroad so wisely that I may boldly affirme that to none if not to you doth belong that rare and wonderfull praise which Cicero giveth to BRVTVS and Marcellin to PRETEXTATVS saying that they did no thing to please yet whatsoever they did pleased and that other which all men gave to ANTHEMIVS Governour to the religious Emperour ARCADIVS HE SEEMED TO BE WISE AND SO HE WAS. The Royall Prophet David saith most truly in the twelfth Psalme that wicked men walke on every side when rascals are exalted among the sonnes of men Then DAVID fleeth and DOEG triumpheth But innocencie is protected oppression is repressed the states flourish
fruit thereof let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be no more remembred IV. Amongst the righteous men Satan is most incensed against those whom God pickes out from amongst the rest separates for some speciall and excellent worke in the Church or in the State For as Pirates saile by Barkes and small ships and boord Carrackes and other huge ships laden with the riches of the Orient so Satan lyeth in wait for those principally on whom God hath bestowed greatest plenty of gifts and preferred to the most eminent places in his Church As long as Iacob meddled with nothing at home Esau lived peaceably with him Sought he and obtained he his fathers blessing then Esau vowed to kill him Whilest Iesus Christ led a private life and made no shew of those treasures of heavenly graces which were hid in him the divell considered him not but when the Spirit lighted upon him in the bodily shape of adove when his Fathers voice was heard from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased when by the Baptisme of water and of the Spirit he was installed in the dignitie and imployment of Mediatour betwixt God and man then the divell heeded him tempred him set on foote against him as many enemies as there were men which knew him When Saul was a Pharisee exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers and a persecuter of the Church hee was much regarded and honoured of the Iewes but when of a Captaine he became an Apostle of a violent Persecuter a most zealous Preacher of a Iew a Christian of Saul Paul he became therwith a marke wherat the divell and his Angells did shoote all the venemous and fierie arrowes of their indignation What wonder then if the divell who hath ever his bow bent and ready aimeth chiefly at the Rammes and Leaders of Christs flocke hee knoweth by long experience and too too many tryalls that it is not written in vain l Zac. 13.7 Mat. 26.31 I will smite the shepheard and the sheepe of the flocke shall be scattered abroad V. Ye see then againe upon what condition ye are and name your selves Christians m Ioh. 15.19 If saith Christ ye were of the world the world would love his owne but because yee are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you Tribulation trouble sorrow griefe teares all the evills that the divells malice can find out are the Christian mans portion in this world His hopes are not of this life for no reward is promised unto him but in the world to come As the bird-catcher casteth a little corne before the birds and hideth the net wherewith he involves them and as the fisher covereth the fish-hooke with the mortall bait whereunto hee knoweth the fish will speedily swimme so these which mind to deceive promise alwayes pleasant things and like unto the Syrenes of the Poets they sing most sweete songs to charme the simple ones whom they go about to intrap but the venome is in the taile and hee who listeneth unto them is amazed to see how by too much credulitie he hath bin drawn upon the dangers is sunke among the shelves of stinging cares and killing evills n Gen. 3.4 5. The divell spake of nothing to Eve but of knowledge of good and evill but of immortalitie but of eternity of life but of being like unto God himselfe what-she found ye know all Ignorance death resemblance to the imposter who had deceived her was the reward of the lightnesse of her beleefe o Mat 4.8 9. The Tempter shewed to Christ all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them and promised them all unto him so that he would fall downe and worship him p Mat. 7.15 The false Prophets come in sheepes cloathing that when oportunity shall serve they may dismember the whole flock The Papists and other Heretikes of this age couer their deadly poyson of false doctrine with the sugar of entising words and shew to those which have not their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill a golden cuppe of most delightfull and pleasant promises which when they put to their head they drinke nothing but gall and wormewood Fathers doe not so to their children they send them to the schoole give them Pedagogues and Tutors to instruct them and hold them in awe keepe them under a most seuere and rigorous discipline untill they come to mans age and be able to doe good service Then and no sooner they looke upon them with a cleere face they use them familiarly they open to them their purses they advance them to honours and dignities they make them their heires After this manner our heavenly Father at the beginning speakes to us most roughly of sorrowes and vexations hee schooles us in Christs Colledge where afflictions are our Tutors and rods our lessons q Mat 7.14 He forewarneth us that the way wherein we are to walke till we come to the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore is narrow and spred over with thornes that the gate whereby we must enter if wee desire to enter into the kingdome of his glory is very straite and low to the end that when we finde such a way wherein there is nothing but narrownesse grinnes and bryars and such a gate wherein we cannot enter without pressing thrusting and stooping we may say one to another as it is written in the Prophet r Isa 30.21 This is the way walke yee in it whether ye turne to the right hand and whether yee turne to the left and concluding with reioycing as Iacob did in his great affliction Å¿ Gen. 8.17 This is the gate of heaven pray and say with David t Psal 118.18 19. Open to me the gates of righteousnesse I will goe into them I will praise the Lord this is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter VI. Flesh and blood cannot abstaine from controlling of this wise and fatherly course which Almightie God takes with his beloved children It is a strange and most uncouth thing to mans conceit that God not onely permits that his Saints which feare his Majestie which doe his will which lead among men an Angelicall life and are heaven upon earth should be thus exposed to so many calumnies vexations torments losses in commodities of this life and most dangerous tentations but also will be called the Author and cause of them all for it is he hee himselfe which asketh v Amos 3 6. Shall there be any evill in the citie and shall not the Lord doe it x Lam. 3.38 Evill and good proceede they not out of the mouth of the most High May he not represse the raging furie of our adversaries may hee not convert them all as hee did Paul If he will not convert them may he not destroy them at unawares as
which they would doe if they left the narrow and straite way of humilitie and modesty Heare againe what the Apostle saith of himselfe t 2 Cor. 1.8 9. Wee were saith he pressed out of measure above our strength insomuch that we despaired even of life yea wee had the sentence of death in our selves Why did God suffer a man so holy a servant so profitable an Apostle so excellent to be so hardly intreated God permitted it saith he that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead If God did curbe after this manner his holy Apostle what wonder if he tye others which are not so holy to an yron chaine and tame them with many oppressions For as standing water breedeth frogges toads and stinking mud as the ground which is not tilled yeeldeth nothing but brambles thornes and thistles and as the Vine which is not cut waxeth naught and in stead of good and sweet Raisins bringeth forth wilde Grapes even so righteous men when they are not like racked wine drawne with crosses out of the lees of their naturall corruption they degenerate from their former righteousnesse and become filthy stinking loathsome to God and to man But when by manifold afflictions v 1. Cor. 4.16 our outward man is subdued and brought under the inward man is renued day by day x 1. Pet. 4.2 that we no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God and so y Heb. 12.10 be made partakers of his holinesse Therefore let us reforme our judgments refraine our tongues and conclude with Ieremiah a Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he beare the yoake in his youth X. Sometimes God shakes his whips and scourges about the eares of the righteous man not onely to correct him of sinnes past to weane him from sinnes to come but also to try him and to know what is in his heart b Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember saith Moses to the people of Israel all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these fortie yeares in the wildernesse to humble thee and to proove thee and to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldst keepe his commandements or no. See in one affliction three ends whereunto God aimed The first was c Num. 14.29 33 34 35. to correct them of their murmuring against him The seoond to humble them and keepe them in obedience for the time to come The third to prove them to know what was in their hearts Not that he is ignorant of the most secret thoughts of mens hearts d Psal 7.9 for the righteous God tryeth the hearts and reines but because he is said to know when hee maketh that which is in them knowne both to themselves and to others As when he said to Abraham e Gen. 22.12 Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy sonne thine onely sonne from me his meaning was Now I have made thy faith in me thy feare of me thy love towards me so manifest that all the world hereafter shall acknowledge it speake of it and wonder at it XI Now it is certaine that often God casteth his children into a sea of afflictions not to clense them of any sinne wherewith they were soyled not to keepe them cleane from any sinne wherewith they might bee defiled but onely to make tryall of them by divers temptations which he doth for two respects First as a Chirurgion by plaisters draweth out into the skinne the inward impostume which is hid in the flesh that by suppuration it may be healed so God by temptations bringeth men to the acknowledgement of their hid sinnes and naturall weaknesse that finding how prone they are to evill and how weake to resist it they trust not any more in themselves but in God f 2 Cor. 12.9 whose strength is made perfect in weaknesse So it is written of Hezekiah that when the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon were sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land g 2. Chron. 32 31. God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart Then he was puffed up with vaine glory whereof being advised by the Prophet and threatned with a most heavy punishment he humbled himselfe and answered h Isa 38.8 Good is the word of the Lord which he hath spoken So Peter perceiving how soone and upon how light a cause he had denyed his good master whom he loved most tenderly and that after such bragging that i Mat. 26.33 35 75. though all men should be offended because of him yet would he never be offended yea though he should dye with him yet would he not deny him was confounded within himselfe and astonished at his childish weaknesse went out and wept bitterly What the worhy Martyrs of Christ Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Anne de Bourg Counsellour of the Parliament at Paris thought of themselves when for feare of death they recanted how they were abashed and ashamed of their lightnesse the stories of their Martyrdomes beare witnesse Twice and thrice happy had beene the young man in the Gospell to whom the Lord said k Mat. 19.21 If thou wilt be perfect goe and sell that thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me if he had come by this commandement to the knowledge of the covetousnesse which lay lurking in his narrow heart for then he had not gone away sorrowfull but had acknowledged his hidden corruption and cryed to the Lord Helpe my weaknesse For that commandement was not a precept requiring actuall obedience but a precept of Tryall to disclose his insatiate avarice and make it knowne to himselfe and others Secondly as the Arabian incense and most excellent spices perfume not the air with their sweet smelling savour till they be rubbed brayed or cast into the fire and as the most precious jewells have a more shining glosse and gracefull bright colour in the darknesse of the night than in the most radiant sunne-shine of a faire summer-day so the jewells of Gods graces wherewith the righteous man is adorned have not such a glistering and grace in the radiant and beame-shining day of his prosperitie as in the gloomie and clowdy night of his adversitie Therefore Saint Iames saith l Iam. 1.2 3. My brebrethren count it all ioy when ye fall into divers tentations whereof he rendereth this reason knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience for if there were no adversitie where should patience be and if the righteous man were not broken and brayed with crosses and tribulations how should the good smell of his patience of his faith of his humilitie bemuske the Church of God Gold is gold wheresoever it be and keepeth its owne beautie and gracefulnesse but put it in the Creuset
for Christ in Christ holily with Christ wisely for Christ gloriously O how glorious before God is the death of Martyrs c Psal 116 15. Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints but namely of his Martyrs which dye in him with him for him Weenest thou that it is but a slender glory that Christ hath chosen thee one among a thousand to be his Martyr that he will have thee to suffer not onely with him as doe all those which suffer for righteousnesse sake but also for him that as he d Ioh. 21.19 forewarned Peter by what death he should glorifie him so hee taketh thee by the hand and saith to thee Come I have picked thee out from many millions to beare witnes to the truth of my word before the great men of the earth to seale the faith thou hast in me with thy blood to honour me with thy death When c Gen. 32.6 7 8. Iacob was advertised that his brother Esau was comming to meete him and foure hundred men with him hee was greatly afraid and divided the people that were with him and the Flockes and the Heards and the Camels into two bands them he set foremost in the front of the battell f Gen. 33.2 3. the second place he gave to the hand-maides and their children the third to Lea and her children but he put Rachel and Ioseph hindermost because hee loved them best he adventureth all that he hath to save these two God doth farre otherwayes with his people he setteth foremost a little number of chosen men to whom hee hath distributed his graces in a greater scantling than to the rest them he setteth in the front to be his Martyrs and to fight against the powers of the world sparing the multitude to bee the seed-plot and nurserie of his Church IIX Who can conceive sufficiently the greatnesse of this honour g Luk. 6.23 When yeare hated excommunicated reproached put to death for the Sonne of mans sake Christ biddeth you reioyce and leape for ioy because the Prophets were used in like manner h Heb. 11.32 c. The Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrewes maketh a catalogue of many Worthies which under the Law suffered for the word of God of whom the world was not worthie that we may esteeme our selves most happy when God conformeth us to them i Iam. 5.10 11. S. Iames willeth us to take them for an example of suffering affliction of patience that as we count them happy so we may make it a part of our happinesse to bee like unto them k 1. Pet. 5.9 S. Peter will have us to know that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren that are in the world And S. Paul will have us to remember that by tribulations for the Gospell l 1. Thess 2.14 wee become followers of the Churches of God which is no small honour It is said in the Song of Salomon that m Cant. 4.13 the plants of the Church are an Orchard of Pomegranates A Pomegranate hath within it sundry partitions and as it were little mansions with many graines in each of them of a sweete taste and red colour orderly set one by another and all together infolded and shut up under one outward skinne which hath at the top a little round circle like a crowne A most excellent Embleme of the faithfull who are as so many graines set orderly together by the unity of one faith and by the bond of perfectnesse which is charitie having a sweet taste in the holinesse of their life and a red colour in the conformitie of bloudy persecution in the severall Churches where God hath planted them under the Catholike Church whereof the head is our Lord Iesus Christ who as he was first crowned with thornes upon earth so is he now crowned with glory in heaven IX To him must we looke principally as the grains of the Pomegranate looke upward to the head of the skinne wherein they are wrapped and according to Peters exhortation n 1. Pet. 4.12 13. reioyce when we are in the furnace for our tryall in at much as wee are partakers of Christs sufferings for o Rom. 8.28 whom God did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne first in crosses for him next in crownes through him p Rom. 8.17 2. Tim. 2.11 the one and the other with him In this Realme men of good birth hold it no little honor to beare the liverie of the Kings Favourite and how much more the Kings owne liverie Shall wee not then account it a most speciall honour and glory to beare Christs liverie in whom God is well pleased and who is the King of kings to be for him made like unto him to be a curse among men for him who was a curse before God for us to dye that we may glorifie him who is dead to save us Should not the members bee ashamed to take their sports and delights under a head crowned with thornes I confesse that there is a great difference betwixt Christs sufferings and ours First hee is God and man we are but men Secondly hee was in his manhood without sinne there was never man so holy but he was a sinner Thirdly q Gal. 3.1 3. he in his torments was made a curse and drunke the full cup of Gods wrath which was so bitter to his soule that he cryed r Mat. 26.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All the Saints and Martyrs have alwaies in all their heaviest crosses beene comforted and supported of God Fourthly he suffered for the expiation of sinne and his death is the life of the world All the Martyrs ſ Rev. 7.14 15. have washed their robes and made them white in his blood therefore are they before the throne of God They have all suffered to beare witnesse that he suffered for the sinnes of the world none of them have suffered for the sins of the world t Leo. 1. epist 83 ad Palestinos Episcopos For though the death of many Saints hath beene precious in Gods eyes yet hath not the killing of any Saint beene the propitiation of the world The righteous have received but they have not given crownes and the fortitude of the faithfull hath brought forth examples of patience not gifts of righteousnesse The death of each one of them was severall neither did any by his owne end pay the debt of another considering that among thē sonnes of men Iesus Christ our Lord alone is he in whom all are crutified all are dead all buried all raised up of whom he said v Ioh. 12.32 If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me Yet in this is the conformitie of our sufferings with Christs sufferings that as when Christ suffered for our sake and in our roome we suffered in him so when we suffer for Christs sake he
the promise which God made to David saying a Psal 89.30 31 32 33 34. If his children forsake my Law and walke not in my iudgements If they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements Then will I visite their transgression with the rod and their iniquitie with stripes Neverthelessâ— my louing kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnes to fail my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Thence it was that Davids children were often chastened ever delivered that good Kings succeeded bad that many afflâ—â—tions were followed with notable deliveries that seventy yeares of captivitie ended in a most glorious and wonderfull libertie that the foure hundred yeares following had sadnesse seasoned with joy teares mingled with laughter speares changed into sithes swords beaten into mattockes prayers in the time of persecution ending in thankesgiving for peace untill the land being destitute and void of righteous men vomited out for ever and ever all her inhabitants for wheresoever are righteous men there Many are the evills of the Righteous But the Lord delivereth him out of them all III. The Christian Church hath succeeded both to the evills and deliveries of the Church of Israel and of Iuda as the Lord himselfe hath experimented in his own person and hath forewarned us b 1. Pet. 3.18 He was put to death in the flesh Many are the evills of the Righteous He was quickned by the Spirit The Lord delivereth him out of them all He saith to us c Ioh. 16.10 Verely verely I say unto you that yee shall weep and lament but the world shall reioice And yee shall bee sorrowfull but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy Ye shall bee sorrowfull because many are the evills of the Righteous your sorrow shall be turned into joy because the Lord delivereth him out of them all I have declared to you how many evils the Christian Church suffred at divers times by ten bloody persecutions by false brethren by the wicked heresie of Arrius But by divers means the Lord delivered her out of them all At last the Antichrist is come according to the Scriptures and the prophecie of the revelation concerning d Rev. 11.7 c. the two witnesses of God hath been fulfilled where it is said that the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make warre against them and shall overcome them and kill them that their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great Citie three daies and a half that the people and nations shall see them and shall not suffer them to be put in graves that they that dwell upon the earth shall reioice over them and make merry and shal send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth That after three dayes and an halfe the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great feare fell upon them which saw them and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them Alas what evils hath not the beast practised against these two witnesses against the little handfull of those which professed the Gospel of Christ How often hath she fought vanquished killed them How often also hath God raised them from the dead in their successors what was this last peace of France but a most wonderfull resurrection The world for the first draught filleth a cup of good wine but after that it giveth nothing to drinke but poison of dragons and the cruell venome of aspes Contrariwise the e Ioh 2.10 Lord Iesus giveth the best wine last Hee f Iob 5.18 maketh sore to bind up he woundeth to make whole g 1. Sam. 2.6 He killeth to make alive Hee bringeth men downe to the grave that hee may bring them up againe Weeping h Psal 30.5 may endure for a night but singing cometh in the morning i Psal 126.6 They that sow in teares shall reap in ioy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtlesse come againe with reioycing bringing his sheaves with him As in Musicke contrary voices give a pleasant sound by a discordant concord make a most delectable harmonie So these alterations and interchanges of evill good in our lives make the pleasures more acceptable when God sendeth them when after that the righteous man hath beene shaken and tossed with afflictions The Lord delivereth him out of them all IIII. He which doeth this worke is the LORD his worke is deliverance he whom hee delivereth is the righteous man The Evils out of which he delivereth him are all the evils which befall him Adde to these the maner how and the time when he delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils ye shall have six principall heads of doctrine to be handled in the exposition of the second part of this text V. The deliverer of the Church is the LORD The Hebrew word is IEHOVAH which is Gods Name The use of names is to put distinction betweene things that are of one kind and therefore when Iacob asked of God what was his Name he rebuked him saying Wherefore l Gen. 32.29 is it that thou doest aske after my Name The Iews say that he would not tell him his Name because the tongue of a mortall man neither should nor can expresse it For that same cause say they when Manoah Samsons father desired to know his Name he repressed his curiositie with this answer m Iudg. 13.17 18. Why askest thou after my Name seeing it is wonderfull But to speak properly he hath no Name because hee is alone and there are no other gods with him His Name is his owne selfe and therefore wonderfull above all wondering And so he would have Iacob and Manoah who tooke him for one of the Angels to think of him But when Moses asked by what name hee should call him when he should speak of him unto the children of Israel he commanded him to say unto them EHEIE n Exo d. 3 14. hath sent me unto you which word in our Bibles is translated IAM In the greeke of the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is which Plato learned in Syria called him o Iustin Cohortat ad Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is It is the first person of the future tense and may be translated He that shall be God spake further unto Moses p Exod. 3.15 Thus shalt thou say un-the Children of Israel IEHOVAH the God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob hath sent me unto you This is my Name for ever and this is my Memoriall unto all ages So God called himselfe and so q Exod. 4.30 Moses named him to the people and to r Exod. 5.1 2. Pharao who hearing the Name which he never heard before answered Who is IEHOVAH I
know 〈◊〉 IEHOVAH and so despised God whom by this new name he judged to be a new God though the Name was not new but was from the beginning known to the Church and God served by it Therefore the Iewes are too superstitious when they maintaine it to be so secret that no man can and if any could none should be so bold as to pronounce it How it was pronounced it is hard to tell but that it was pronounced we know by the relation of Pagans for how could ſ Biblioth li. 1. part 2. cap. 5. Apud Iudaeos Moses à Deo qui vocetur IAO acceptas leges daere praese ferebat Diodorus Siculus know that the God of the Iewes was called IAO if hee never heard that Name And who doubteth but the Latin Name IOVIS whereby the Romans worshipped the God of gods was taken from this Name IEHOVAH which they pronounced as we would do if it were written IOWIS it may be that the Hebrewes pronounced IHOWA and not IEHOVAH Surely t Clemen Strom. lib. 5. Clement Alexandrin though a Christian miscarried as well as Diodorus Siculus a Pagan both in the writing in the pronūciation when transposing the letters he saith that the name of foure letters which the Priests did beare on their foreheads was IAOV VI. But he hitteth the marke when he writeth that that Name signifies as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. he that is and that shall be God calling himselfe so not to describe his essence which is infinite and incomprehensible but as v Iust cohortat ad Graecos Iustin observeth to make an opposition between himselfe and all other gods which have no being at all In our Bibles out of the Greek it is turned LORD In the French Bibles it is most properly translated ETERNALL because though no name can expresse the essence of the least and most contemptible of all the creatures farre lesse of the glorious Majestie of the Creator yet it telleth us that God hath an eternall being of himselfe and so leadeth us to the consideration of the eternitie o◠his being Esaiah saith that x Esay 57 15 he enhabiteth eternity and hee saith of himselfe exclusively to all those which are called gods l Esa 44.6 Esa 48.13 I am the first I am the last besides me there is no God For this cause Iohn calls him m Rev. 1.4 He which is which was which is to come He which was without beginning n Psal 90.2 Before the mountains were brought foorth ere ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God He which is without alteration for o Iam. 1.17 with him is no variablenesse neither shadow of turning And which is to come without end p Psal 102 25 26 27. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the workes of thy hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall waxe old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yeares shall have no end And therefore he calleth himselfe in a most proper sense q Exod. 3.14 I am for neither loseth hee any thing by the time which is past neither gaineth he any thing by that which is to come but is ever like unto himselfe is ever present with himselfe having an eternall being of himselfe from himselfe in himselfe to himselfe It is also the name of his almighty power whereby he giveth being to all things r Esa 40.12 21 22 23. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with a spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance Have ye not knowne have ye not heard hath it not bin told you from the beginning have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as a grassehopper he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in that bringeth the Princes to nothing that maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity Moreover it is the Name of his fidelity constancie and truth in all his promises threatnings commandements exhortations words deeds ſ Esa 14.27 For the LORD of hoastes hath purposed and who shall disannull it And his hand is stretched out and who shall turne it backe And therefore when he was to deliver his people out of the bondage of Aegypt according to his promises made to Abraham Isaac and Iacob he said unto Moses t Exod. 6 2.3 I am the LORD and I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Iacob by the name of God almightie but by my name IEHOVAH was I not knowne to them Not but they knew him and worshipped him with that Name as you may reade in their lives but he speaketh of an experimentall knowledge and saith that they knew him not because in their time he had not given a reall being to the promises which he made them which when he did by Moses and had led his people thorow the red sea they sang v Exod. 15.3 The LORD is a man of warre the LORD is his Name where his Name IEHOVAH is turned LORD For that cause when he threatned to smite all the first born in the land of Aegypt and promised to spare his owne people hee said x Exod. 12.12 I am the LORD For the same cause the Prophets ordinarily begin and end their prophecies of promises of threatnings saying The LORD hath spoken the mouth of the LORD hath spoken Whereunto I doubt not but David had regard when he saith that the LORD delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils He hath promised to deliver him saying y Psal 91.14 15 16. Because he hath set his love upon mee therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath knowne my Name He shall call upon mee and I will answere him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation He is the LORD and will performe his promise z Num. 23 19 God is not a man that he should lie neither the sonne of man that he should repent hath he said and shall be not doe it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good VII In this Name then are comprehended all the qualities required in him who challenges the title of a Deliverer He is All-wife All-mighty All-righteous All good All-wise a Psal 147 4 5. Hee telleth the number of the starres he calleth them all by their Names Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite How much more knoweth he the plots of
me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me He is not alone who hath God with him IX Senacherib was mad when hee sent Rabshakeh to blaspheme the Lord and to say to the inhabitants of Ierusalem a Esa 36.18 19 20. Beware lest Hezekiah perswade you saying The LORD will deliver us c. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad where are the gods of Sepharuaim and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand Who are they amongst all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand that the LORD should deliver Ierusalem out of my hand But the Lord answered him b Esa 37.23 29. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the holy One of Israel c. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine cares therefore will I put my hooke in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest Then Hezekiah might have served him in his owne dish and asked him Where is Nisroch the god of Assyria hath he delivered thee out of the hands of the Lord our God Nebuchadnezzar was so furious and besides himselfe that in his rage he asked of Shadrach Meschah and Abednego c Dan. 5.15 17 29. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands They answered Our God whom wee serve is able to deliver us and hee learned ere long to spell that lesson and to say There is none other God that can deliver after this sort In France the Papists seeing our scarcitie and neediness lack of men lack of treasures which are the sinews of the warre did cast in our teeth that we had but God for all kind of pottages i. for all purposes for men God for treasures God for holds and fortresses God for all helpe for all reliefe God O Lord d Psal 74.18 remember this that the enemy hath reproached the LORD and that the foolish people hath blasphemed thy name O the good pottage O the excellent restorative wherein the principall ingredient is God wherein God is the onely ingredient e Psal 18.31 for who is God save the LORD or who is a rocke save our God The souldiers relye upon the warinesse and watchfulnesse of their Captaine The flock sleepeth in peace under the staffe of their Shepheard Passengers which faile in great waters are without feare under the protection and care of a well-experienced Pilot. Little children dread no ill when they are fast by their fathers We sight under the Standard of him who is f 1. Sam. 15 45. the LORD of hosts Antigonus king of Syria being ready to give battell by sea hard by the Isle called Andros answered to one of his men who advertifed him that his enemies had moe ships than he g Plutarch in Pelopida For how many ships reckonest thou me for the dignitie of the Generall is much to be esteemed when it is sorted with prowesse and experience Where is there prowesse where experience if it be not in God h 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardued himselfe against him and hath prospered Therefore when our enemies threaten us with their armor armies we send them the defiance of the ancient Church i Esa 8 9 10 Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall bee broken in peeces give care all ye of farre countries gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves ye shall be broken in pieces take counsell together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us We are his sheepe and he is the shepheard k Psal 121.4 the keeper of Israel which shall neither slumber nor sleepe of whom and to whose eternall glory we sing l Psal 23. 1 2 3 4. The LORD is my shepheard I shall not want he maketh me to lie downe in greene pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters hee restoreth my soule he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnesse for his names sake Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me The skiffe wherein we sayle Psal 46. 2 3 5. is his Therefore will we not feare though the earth be remooved and though the mountaines be carryed into the middest of the sea though the waters thereof roare and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof God is in the midst of her shee shall not be mooved God shall helpe her right early the LORD of hosts is with us the God of Iacob is our refuge Selah n Mat. 8.24 25 26. When the winds blow hard when the tempest ariseth and the waves cover her if we cry to him he will arise and rebuke the winds the sea and there shall be a great calm We are his children he is our father lying hard o Luk. 11.7 by the doore of his owne house waking when wee sleepe hearing us when we cry rising speedily to helpe us when we call upon him And therefore in our distresse wee cry unto him p Esa 63.15 16. Looke downe from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of thy bowells and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O LORD art our Father our Redeemer is thy name from everlasting X. Our Redeemer is his name and his onely q Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD all his deliverances are either temporall salvations from the evill of affliction or eternall salvations from the evill of sinne In the one and other sense is that true which he saith r Esa 43.11 13. I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour for as none can deliver out of his hand so Å¿ Dan. 3.29 none can deliver as he can t Psal 5.12 He compasseth the righteous with favour as with a shield he v Psal 22.19 is strength to him that is weake x Psal 9.9 a refuge for the oppressed y Psal 91.2.9 a fortresse for those which are persecuted a shadow to those which are sun burnt with afflictions a most pleasant strong and well furnished habitation to those which are exiled for righteousnesse sake To him onely belongeth that which David saith a Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rocke and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horne of my
his and his righteousnesse cannot but moove him to undertake the defense thereof Vpon this foundation the Church made this prayer to God q Psal 44.22 23. For thy sake are wee killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever 3. Because he hath promised to deliver the righteous and it is a part of his righteousnesse to keepe his promise Hence is this prayer of David r Psal 71.2 Deliver mee in thy righteousnesse ſ Psal 143 1. answer me in thy righteousnesse Hence is this excellent saying of the blessed Apostle t 2. Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give at that day and not to me onely but unto them also that love his appearing Sweet v Bern. de gratia libero arbitrio in fine Bernard How calleth he the crowne which hee presumeth to be laid up for him the crowne of righteousnesse Is it not because that which is promised gratis of meere good will is asked righteously and as a thing due Finally he saith x 2. Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have beleeved and I am perswaded that hee is able to keepe depositum meum that which I have committed unto him He calleth Gods promise his depost and because he beleeved him who had made the promise hee redemands considently the thing promised promised through mercy but now to bee payed through righteousnesse The crowne then which Paul looketh for is the crowne of righteousnesse but of the righteousnesse of God not of his owne righteousnesse for it is a righteous thing that he render that which he oweth and hee oweth that which he hath promised this then is the righteousnesse whereof the Apostle thinketh so well even the promise of God For this cause David called Gods promises the word of his righteousnesse saying y Psal 119 123. Mine eyes faile for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousnesse XIX Now God not onely delivereth the righteous man but also delivereth wicked men and fills them with many blessings for the righteous sake z Gen. 7.7 He saved Ham in the Arke for Noah his fathers sake a Gen. 6.9 who was a iust man and perfect in his generations walking with God b Gen. 18.32 If there had been tenne righteous men in Sodom God would not have destroyed it for tennes sake c Gen. 19.22 neither could he destroy it as long as righteous Lot was in it d Gen. 17.20 Ismael was blessed for Abrahā his fathers sake e Gen. 30.27 Laban confessed that the Lord had blessed him for Iacobs sake f Gen. 29.5 He blessed Potiphars house for Iosephs sake How often was the people of Israel saved from the fierie Wrath of God through the praiers of g Exod. 32.14 Num. 14.13 Psal 106.13 Moses Were not h 2. King 2.12 2. King 13 14. Elijah Elisha the Charet of Israel and the horse-men thereof more steedable to their people than an armie of horsemen i Act. 27.24 37. God gave he not to Paul all them that sailed with him which were two hundred threescore and sixteene soules When it was said to the soules that were under the Altar that k Rev. 6.11 they should rost yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should bee fulfilled This is to teach us that Gods Elect and the righteous men which are in the world are the upholders thereof and that it must finish when they shal be taken away from it as if ye pull from a ruinous house the props wherewith it is supported it goeth swiftly to the ground XX. Therefore let us above all things set our minds and hearts upon righteousnesse and endeavour to attaine to true holinesse of life that as it was said to Abraham l Gen. 12.2 Thou shalt be a blessing so may we be a blessing both to our selves and others namely that in the darke day of Gods indignation we may be m Psal 1.5 able to stand in judgement and with the congregation of the righteous n Psal 118.19 20. enter into the gates of righteousnesse and dwell forever o 2. Pet. 3.13 in these new heavens promised unto us wherein dwelleth righteousnesse and that through the most precious and powerfull merits of our onely Lord and Saviour p 1. Ioh. 2.2 Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all praise glory and honour both now and evermore Amen SERM. VII Of the infinite number and of the divers meanes of the Lords deliveries PSALM XXXIV XIX But the Lord delivereth him out of them all 1 THe righteous mans evills and the Lords deliverances are the exposition of Sampsons riddle 2. As many evills as many deliverances yea of each evill many deliverances 3. Exhortation to hope and trust in the Lord. 4. The Lord delivereth by meanes against means without meanes 5. He delivereth by weake meanes as by flight whereof shall be spoken in the next Sermon 6. Hee opposeth men to men and delivereth his Church by the sword 7. He maketh his creatures of all kinds to fight for his Church 8. He is wonderfull in the delivering of his Church against the nature of the meanes 9. He delivereth also without meanes 10. When his Church is destitute of all helpe and of all hope hee alone delivereth her without any visible helpe 11. When the righteous man is overcome he overcommeth his enemies and so is delivered 12. As it is most evident by the examples of Shadrach Meschah and Abednego 13. Of Eleazer 14. Of the seven brethren and of their mother mentioned in the second book of the Maccabees 15. As also of Christians in great number as of Steven 16. Of many Martyrs in the Primitive Church 17. And since the reformation 18. Such victories come of faith love and zeale 19. Prayer 1 THis text is a cleere exposition of Sampsons riddle a Iudg. 14.14 Out of the eater came forth meate and out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse afflictions are the eaters and as it seemes to men the destroyers of the righteous man and what is stronger than death what meat so good so seasonable of so excellent a rellish as comfort in affliction as joy in the middest of sorrow as glory and honor in shame what so sweet as to find heaven in hell content in discontent life in death Many are the evills of the righteous man There is the roaring Lyon rising up against him not one lyon but many there is the eater or rather there be the eaters b 1. Pet. 5.8 which walke about seeking to devoure him But the LORD delivereth him out of them all there is
meate there is sweetnesse In darknesse hee findeth light in weaknesse strength in despaire hope in trouble peace of conscience in raging and roaring furie patience in evill good in the divels most grimme and dreadfull mannonr the joyes and pleasures of paradise in all his afflictions most powerfull most wonderfull most joyfull deliveries his afflictions are many But the Lord delivereth him out of them all II. His afflictions are many they are almost infinite they are enchained and follow one another so hard so nigh that he complaineth with Iob in his griefe c Iob 9.18 Hee will not suffer mee to take my breath but filleth mee with bitternesse But who can relate the Lords deliveries and salvations whereof David which had passed thorow so many evills confessed that d Psal 71.15 he knew not the number Thinke not that any affliction severally that all the afflictions which are incident to men though they were camped and set in battell against thee can surmount his force and good will towards thee Fearest thou to starve for hunger e 1. Kin. 17 4 6 14. Commanded he not the Ravens to feed Elijah at the brook of Cherith increased hee not the handfull of meale in the widows barrell and the little oyle which was in her Cruse f Psal 147.9 Hee giveth to the beast his food and to the yong Ravens which cry and shall he forsake thee for whom his deare Sonne Iesus Christ is dead g Psal 33.18 19. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soule from death and to keepe them alive in famine Art thou dried up with thirst Remember that he opened l Gen. 21.19 Agars eyes and shee saw a well of water m Exod. 17.6 Psal 105.41 That he smote the rock in Horeb and the waters gushed out they ranne in the drie places like a river and quenched the thirst of his people that n Iudg. 15.19 he clave one of the grinders that was in the jaw-bone of the asse and made water to come thereout for Samson Fearest thou the plague which round about thee maketh havock of man beast and wouldst but canst not practise the cōmon precept Citò longè tardè Quickly far late The heat of the Sun the moistnes of the Moon do they annoy thee o Psal 91.5 6 7. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that fleeth by day nor for the pestilence that walkes in darknes nor for the destruction that wasteth at Noone day A thousand shall fall at thy side and tenne thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee p Psal 121.5 6. The LORD is thy keeper the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand The Sunne shall not smite thee by day nor the Moon by night Art thou exiled for Christs sake Art thou constrained to live amongst a people whose tongue thou understandest not God who q Psal 56.8 numbered Davids wandrings r Psal 147.2 will gather together the outcasts of Israel ſ Esa 43.6 Hee will say to the North Give up and to the South Keepe not backe bring my Sonnes from farre and my daughters from the end of the earth In the meane while he will follow thee in thine exile and blesse thee as t Gen. 46.4 he went downe with Iacob into Aegypt and blessed him there Art thou cast in a low pit where thou sittest in darknesse and in the shadow of death being bound in stockes and fetters among swearers blasphemers robbers and other malefactors hee which put in v Gen. 41.9 a Courtiers heart to speak for Ioseph which sent x Act. 12.7 his Angel to deliver Peter whom Herod had imprisoned y Act. 16.26 Hee which shooke all the foundations of the prison where Paul and Silas were laid in the stockes opened the doores and loosed the prisoners bonds hath a thousand meanes to breake the gates of brasse to cut the barres of iron in sunder to loose thy bands and bring thee out of darknesse out of the dungeon of the shadow of death Art thou a seafaring man one of those of whom a Pittacus one of the seven wise men said that they are neither among the living nor amongst the dead ever living within foure inches of death and therefore ever dying When b Psal 107.25 26 27 c. God commandeth and raiseth the stormie wind which lifteth up the waves thereof They mount up to the heaven they goe downe againe to the depths then soule is melted because of trouble They reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses He maketh the storme a calme so that the vvaves thereof are still Then are they glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them unto their desired haven Do thou the like cry to the Lord as the Disciples did c Matth. 8.25 26. Lord save us we perish and hee will arise and rebuke the Windes and the Sea and there shall bee a great calme Art thou faln into the Turks pitiless hands Art thou taken in warre and condemned to the miserable slaverie of rowing night and day in the gallies hearing and feeling nothing but whips whistling and reeling upon thy naked shoulders Be of a good courage and waite upon the Lord who in his owne time will say of thee as he said of Ioseph d Psal 81.6 7. I removed his shoulder from the burden his hands were delivered from the pots Thou callest in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder Thy heart is it torne in peeces with calumnies and revilings The day shall come I speake by mine owne experience and therefore I say the day shall come when thou shalt sing to God e Psal 31.19 20. O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keepe them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues The wicked trayleth hee hayleth he thee before the Iudges without cause wonder not at that f Psal 37.32 33 34. The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him The LORD will not leave him in his hand nor condemne him when hee is iudged wait on the LORD and keepe his way and hee shall exalt thee to inherit the Land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it Art thou sick of a mortall disease as g 2 Kin. 20 1 2. Hezekiah was turne thy face to the wall as he did pray unto the Lord as he did Cry to God as David did h Psal 41.4 LORD be mercifull unto mee heal
be ascribed but to the most wonderfull power of God I put in this ranke the confusion and disorder which God sendeth amongst his enemies when he will deliver his people The Midianites come to fight against Israel but h Ver. 22. the LORD set every mans sword against his fellow even throughout all the host When i 2. Chron. 20.2 22 23 25. the Moabites Ammonites and Idumeans with one consent sought to destroy Iehoshaphat and his people the Lord troubled them with the spirit of division after such a manner that the Moabites and Ammonites slew and destroyed the Idumeans and after that every one helped to destroy another so that Iehoshaphat and his people had no more to doe but to goe and take away the spoyle and give thankes unto the Lord. How often by such divisions God hath saved the reformed Churches in forrein nations and namely in France we all know IX When God delivereth against the nature of meanes he will teach us that he standeth not in any need of meanes when his pleasure is to deliver And therefore now and then he delivereth without meanes k Pro. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him He delivered l Gen. 33.4 Iacob from Esau changing his heart and appeasing his wrath which was suddenly turned into imbracements kissing and weeping He delivered David from Saul by many meanes but when the messengers which were sent by Saul to take him prophecyed and thought no more on him what helpe of man what visible meanes were there When he preferred Ioseph in the Court of Pharao Daniel and his fellowes in the Court of Nebuchadnezzar and of Darius Nehemiah and Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes by what means did he it The Psalmist saith that m Psal 106 46. he made them to bee pittyed of all those that carryed them captives Hee converted Saul and of a persecuter made him a Christian of a Captaine an Apostle of a Ring-leader of most cruell and bloody Wolves a most vigilant and faithfull shepheard of Christs flocke David speaking through his owne experience saith to the man which is persecuted wrongfully n Psal 37.5 6. Commit thy way unto the LORD trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe and he shall bring foorth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy iudgements as the noone day Wee may wonder that he doth it but how he doth it who can tell How Saul knew Davids innocency we can tell o 1. Sam. 24.18 1. Sam. 26.21 because when he might he killed him not but it is wonderfull to consider by what unknowne wayes of Gods secret providence Saul fell twice into his hands Henry the third King of France spake of us at Tours as Saul spake of David and said that we were more righteous than hee because we had rewarded him good whereas he had rewarded us evill It was the wonderfull and immediate worke of GOD that hee could not bee saved but by them whose fathers hee had killed and was resolved to bee the protector of those whom he had persecuted if the Monks impoisoned knife had not cut too too soone for us the brittle thread of his mortall life God be praysed that amongst us there are no Clements no Barrauts no Chatels no Ravaillacs for p 2. Sam. 26.9 who can stretch forth his hand against the LORDS anointed and bee guiltlesse X. How often hath the Church beene afflicted stormed forsaken of all creatures destitute of all helpe of all counsell of all comfort and he he alone hath come on a sudden and both comforted and delivered her He prophecied by Daniel that under the persecution of Antiochus his people should be brought to such extremity that q Dan. 11.45 none should helpe them What then shall they perish for want of helpe It followeth in the next chapter r Dan. 12.1 And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall bee delivered every one that shall be written in the book Who is this Michael who but our Lord Iesus Christ called elsewhere Å¿ Iosh 5.14 15. the Prince of the host of the LORD If all the Angels of heaven if all the men of the world should stand still with their armes crossed if all the creatures should with hold their helpe from us our Michael saith unto us t Mat. 28.18 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Though he be v Phil. 2.9 10. highly exalted though he have a Name which is above every name though he x Psal 47.7 be king of all the earth and that at his Name every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth yet he is our high Priest and beareth us into the most high and inmost heavens yea weareth us as an ornament upon his shoulders and upon his breast and as the Apostle saith y Heb. 2.11 is not ashamed to call us his brethren When all things seeme to be desperate and past hope of recoverie when the faithfull are nothing but a skeliton but a carcasse a Ezech. 37.2 c. of dry bones as the people of Iuda was in the captivitie of Babylon if it please him to speak the word onely they shall come together againe bone to bone they shall live rise again and be a great Army Hee hath by his word done things greater and more wonderfull By his word he hath made heaven earth by his word he heaped plagues upon plagues while they had destroyed Pharao and his people they that are sicke cry unto him b Psal 107 7. he sendeth his word healeth them c Mat. 9.6 20 22. By his word onely he cured one sicke of the palsie and the woman diseased with an issue of blood By his word onely he quieted the winds calmed the roaring seas rendred sight and light to the blind raised the dead By his word onely he restored his people to the land of Canaan By his word he saveth the Church By his word by his onely power and good will without any visible and knowne meanes he hath given peace to the Churches of France for when we were betrayed and sold by sundry of our brethren forsaken of many pursued by a great armie he was for us and delivered us Then wee sung with thanksgiving the hundreth twenty and fourth Psalme XI There is yet another kind of deliverie which commeth immediately of God and is most wonderfull of all How he delivereth us by the ruine of our enemies how by death he giveeh us life wee shall heare in the next Sermon but that hee delivereth us when
commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart IV. But when we have no certain knowledge of Gods wil are so disposed that we may say with S. Paul q Phil. 1.21 Christ to me to live to dy is gain when I say we are resolved to suffer all extreamities and a thousand deaths rather than to deny him then the practice of this commandement is not onely lawfull but also necessarie then not onely we may but also should trye if hiding of our selves and fleeing be the meanes which God hath appointed to deliver us from the present evill of persecution God gave an expresse commandement to the people of Israel r Exod. 12.32 that none of them should goe out at the doore of his house untill the morning of that night wherein hee smote the first-borne of Egypt The like commandement was given to Rachab Å¿ Iosh 2.19 that none of her family should goe out of the doores of her house into the street lest they should perish in the destruction of the towne of Iericho I confesse that wee have not any such personall commandement directed unto us but I say that this generall commandement Come my people enter thou into thy chamber c. is sufficient and a good warrant for all Gods people till he chuse such as pleaseth him and make them to know manifestly that he will have them to bee publike Confessors and Martyrs whereof they cannot make question if once they bee taken and laid in bonds for Christs sake for then they must drinke the cup which the Lord setteth to their heads more gladly and courageously then Socrates did the Hemlocke Till then they may convey themselves out of their enemies hands by lurking in some hid and unknowne place by fleeing or any other way which is not unlawfull V. t Gen. 27.43 Rebeckah advertised that Esau had vowed to slay Iacob counselled him to flee to Laban her brother and he did so v Exod. 2.15 Moses knowing that Pharaoh sought to slay him fled from the face of Pharao and dwelt in the land of Midian not forsaking his calling but waiting till God gave him a more cleere declaration of his will thereupon which after he had received he returned into Egypt nothing dreading the feare of Pharao and of all his Court How often did x 1. Sam. 19.22.27 2. Sam. 15.14 David flee from place to place to shun the wrath of his King and the conspiracy of his owne sonne not for lacke of courage but though godly prudence and fore-seeing advisednesse David which had the promise of the kingdome of Israel fled David which knew that his kingdome could not be taken from him fled Oh how many excellent Psalmes did he make at those times wherby ye may know that he mistrusted not the truth of Gods promise yet would not tempt him by trying of his power a 1. King 17.1 Iudg. 5.17 Elijah which by his prayers shut the heavens and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three yeares and sixe moneths b 1. King 17.22 Elijah which raised from death the widdowes sonne of Sarepta c 1. King 1.10.12 Elijah which brought fire from heaven upon the Kings Captaines and their fifties That wise godly and wonderfull Prophet when he was threatned by Iezebel d 1. King 19.2 3. fled he not for his life to Beersheba in Iuda and from thence to the wildernesse At that time e 1. King 18.13 Obadiah hid he not an hundred men of the Lords Prophets by fifty in a cave when Iezebel sought them to kill them what can bee said against those holy Fathers which in the time of the cruel persecuter Antiochus Epiphanes f Heb. 11.38 wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and of whom the Apostle saith that the world was not worthy VI. If any say That such precepts and examples are of the old Testament and should not bee fitted to Christians which live under the Gospell I answer That in the new Testament the commandements are more formall and the examples more frequent and inforcing Christ gave hee not this expresse commandement to his Apostles g Mat. 10.17 23. Beware of men and when they persecute you in this City flee ye into another h Tert. de fugain persecutione cap. 6. Some say that this coÌ„mandement was temporall given to the Apostles onely for that time only wheÌ„ they were sent to preach the Gospell to the lost sheep of the house of Israel even as that other coÌ„mandement in the beginning of the Chapter i Mat. 10.5 Goe not into the way of the Gentils and into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not which is now abolished True the commandement forbidding to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and Samaritans is abrogated but by another commandement b Mark 16.15 Goe ye into all the world and preach the Gospell to every creature Tell us now where how and when the commandement of fleeing in persecution hath been recalled And if it be not annulled by another commandement why it should not stand for ever as the rest doe which are in that chapter that one of not preaching the Gospel to the nations excepted What have they to answer to this other commandement c Mat. 24.15 When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place whoso readeth let him understand then let them which bee in Iudea flee into the mountaines c. Had the Apostles any thing to doe with it Were they in Ierusalem when the towne was besieged There were many Christians to them it pertained to it they obeyed for d Athaâ—as Apolog. de fug acontra Arianos Hic est hominum terminus ad perfectionemducens ut quod Deus iubet hoc faciant this is the way to perfection to doe that which God commandeth But to come back to the 10. chapter of Mat. Said he to the Apostles only or rather hath he not said to the Apostles first next to all Preachers of the Gospell and consequently to all Christians e Matt. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as sheepe in the middest of Wolves Be ye therefore wise as Serpents and simple as Doves What is that to be simple as Doues It is to be harmelesse what to be wise as Serpents To keepe our selves from harme and as it followeth to beware of men when they persecute us in one City to flee into another What are their eares stopt with incredulity when this other commandement is read unto them f Matt. 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast yee your pearles before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turne againe and rent you Is this a commandement of fleeing and of hiding of our selves why not why shall I remaine but to walke abroad Why walke abroad but to confesse I must not confesse before
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
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power We must apply this comfort to us for we shall never be without enemies But we have our warranter and protector in heaven who fore warnes us not only of their enterprises but also of their overthrow c Esa 54.15 16 17. Behold saith he they shall surely gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake Behold I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an instrument for his worke And I have created the destroyer to destroy No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in iudgement shou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse of me saith the Lord. IX The Church is an Anvile which hath broken in peeces many hammers Or as Zechariah saith d Zach. 12.3 it is a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Where are now the foure Monarchies which persecuted the Church Hath not e Dan. 2.34 35 44 45. the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands hath not the Church of Christ the Church which is come downe from Gods holy mountaine even from heaven the Church which is not the work of any man but of God the Church which is but like a little stone in the eyes of the world hath not this little stone broken them all to peeces and consumed them like chaffe which the wind carryeth away But it is become a great mountaine which filleth the whole earth It is a spirituall kingdome which the Lord of heaven hath set up and therefore shall never bee destroyed God said to mount Seir to the people of Edom the children of Esau Because thou hast had a perpetuall hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity in the time that their iniquity had an end Therefore as I live saith the Lord God Ezech. 35.5 I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee sith thou hast not hated blood blood shall pursue thee Have any of the Massacrers of our fathers prospered How many wonderfull judgements of God upon them and their children might I relate unto you if time could permit The gaggers have beene gagged and strangled with wormes bursting out of their stinking throates those which imbrued their hands with innocent blood have swumme in their owne blood the children of persecuters were seene begging at the doores of your fathers whom their fathers had spoiled Many pursued by the divell did runne up and downe like mad men crying that they were damned because they had persecuted the Church and shed innocent blood Then the Church sang to God g Psal 92.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. O LORD how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deepe A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a foole understand this when the wicked springs as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever but thou O LORD art most high for evermore for loe thine enemies O LORD for loe thine enemies shall perish All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered but my horne shalt thou exalt like the horne of the Vnicorne c. X. The author of the booke of Wisedome saith that h Sap. 6.5 sharpe iudgement shall be to them that be in high places And experience teacheth that the iudgements of God on them have beene most sharpe conspicuous and wonderfull i 1. King 21.19 22.38 In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth which Achab shed there they licked Achabs blood Proud k 2. King 9.35 36. Iezabel after she had slain the Prophets of the Lord was eaten by dogs Neither was there left in the family of Achab so much as a dogge that pissed against the wall In the beginning of the twenty seaventh chapter following our text the Prophet saith that l Esa 29.1 in that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent even Leviathan that crooked serpent and hee shall slay the dragon that is in the sea He calleth so the Kings of Assyria and of Babylon which were the most cruell subtile and venemous persecuters of his Church Consider and see how he punished them m 2. King 19. Senacharib was slaine by his owne sonnes in the house of Nisroch his God And n Herodot Euterp◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after his death the Egyptians whom he had oppressed erected unto him an image of stone with this inscription Whosoever looketh upon me let him feare God His third son Esar Haddon was slaine by Merodach Baladan who transported the Empire from Nimveh in Assyria to Babylon in Chaldea o Dan 5.1 Belshazzar the first and last of Merodaches race was killed among the goblets and dishes and in the midst of his Courtiers and Concubines whilest he was blaspheming the name of God the Monarchie was by Cyrus and Darius translated to the Medes and Persians p 2. Macc. 9.9 Antiochus Epiphanes famous for his most unnaturall and barbarous cruelty against the Church of the Iewes was smitten with the incurable and remedilesse sicknesse of wormes and lice which rising up out of his bowells and all the parts of his body consumed his flesh with many and strange torments and such a stinking smell that he himselfe could not abide it Thus dying a most miserable death hee left his Realme to his children amongst whom God sent the Spirit of division and discord which left them never in peace till they were consumed one by another XI Herodées q Ioseph Antiquit. Iudaic. lib. 17. cap. 8. Idem de bello Iudaico lib. 1. ca. 21. murtherer of the children of Bethelem through the righteous judgement of God became parricide of his owne children and at last after he had been long tortured with a cholike passion and unspeakeable torments in his entrails and all disfigured with the dropsie and scurfe wherwith his whole body was spread over was gnawen by swarmes of lice and worms which bursting forth out of those parts of his body which naturall shame commanded him to hide and dolefull necessitie constrained him to discover made him a most filthy and stinking spectacle to his Courtiers and a most loathsome guest to himselfe r Ioseph Autiq. lib. 18. cap. 9. Herodés Antypas who beheaded Iohn Baptist was relegated to Lion with his incestuous wife Herodias and ended there his wicked life by a wretched and miserable death Å¿ Euseb hâ—st
g Iuvenal Sat. 2. Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna Nec pueri credunt that whatsoever was spoken of old amongst the Gentiles is written in the Scriptures is beleeved in the Church of divels of hell of everlasting torments is but a bug-beare or scare-crow to feare superstitious folkes and hold them in awe But they strive unprofitably against the streame of their owne consciences which with a roaring voice doth summon them day and night to appeare before the judgement seat of the inexorable and Almighty Iudge Of all men those feare hell most who say there is no hell The sound of a shaking leafe maketh their hearts to shake for feare when there is none to pursue them And even then when they preach to men that hell is a fable they finde a most direfull hell within themselves burning up the most secret bowells of their wretched soules Why did Iudas hang himselfe when there was none upon earth to doe him any harme if there be no hell Death was more tolerable unto him than the feare of the unestimable torments which now hee suffereth there What were r Suet in Nerone c. 46 the monstrous dreames of Nero What Å¿ Xiphilinus Epitome Dionis the hideous and most ugly ghosts of those whom he had slaine which he saw a little before his death bounding out of the earth and leaping to his throat but a warning to appeare the next day in judgement to give an account of so much Christian and innocent blood which he had most wickedly shed If there bee no judgement after this life from whence came it that t Pro copius de bello Gothico lib. 1. Theodoricke king of the Gothes Protector of the wicked heresie of the Arrians after hee had put to death the 2. worthy Senators of Rome Symmachus Boetius because they maintained the true faith could not looke upon the head of a great fish that was set upon his table crying that it was the head of Symmachus which with most horrible yawning and fierie eyes sought to devoure him That was a citing indeed for suddenly he was taken to his bed and from thence to the grave v Thuanus lib. 57. Aubig 2. tom lib. 1. The Authors of the Massacres of France could not be at quiet many dayes after that bloody Tragedy for the horrible sight of great multitudes of ugly Ravens hovering about the Louure and voyces which cryed incessantly in their eares Murther murther murther suing them to come personally before him who sitteth on the throne and before the Lambe whom they had slaine in his members 'T is a truth not onely x Audreas Liba de cruentatione Cadaverum Levinus Lemnius de occultis natura miraculis lib. 2. cap. 7. ascertained by bookes but also averred by dayly experience in all nations That if a murtherer come in sight of the person whom hee hath slain the Coarse though almost rotten and stinking will bleed and disclose him What is that bleeding but a testimony that if men will not y Psal 58.11 There is a God that iudgeth in the earth and in his owne time will be avenged of all murtherers namely of them who lay violent hands upon his deare ones Therefore when the soules under the Altar cryed for vengeance against the persecuters who had stained their hands with their innocent blood a Rev. 6.11 it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled For as God spared the b Gen. 15.16 Amorites till their iniquity was full and as the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees c Mat. 23.32 Fillye up the measure of your fathers because then all the righteous blood which their fathers had shed was to come upon them So the Lord hath a time appointed for the full deliverance of his Church and everlasting destruction of his enemies even the last and great day of this decaying world d 2. Thes 1.7 8 9 10 When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall bee punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to bee admired in all that beleeve in that day XV. Day which is a day of wrath e Zephan 1.15 a day of trouble and distresse a day of vastnesse and desolation a day of darknes and gloominesse a day of clouds and thicke darkenesse A night rather than a day yea both a day and a night A day wherein Gods judgements against all ungodly men shall shine cleerer than the noone day A night because of the place of the extreamity of the universalitie of the eternity of the effects of the paine whereunto they shall bee condemned by this thundering voice and unrecallable sentence of their righteous ludge f Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his Angels To hell must they goe even to the darke and ugly g 1. Pet. 3.19 prison which shall be the last habitation of all ungodly sinners How pleasant how faire soever a prison be we say that there were never faire prisons And therefore what will not a man suffer rather than to goe to prison he will flee he will give all that he hath hee will runne to his friends and cry for succour h Aug. de verbis Aposto li. serm 18 Contremiscis c onturbaris pallescis c. S. Augustine saith that in his time they would flee to the Church runne to the Bishop fall downe lye wallowing at his feete cry with a pale countenance with a trembling voice My Lord I am troubled my Lord I am to be cast in prison take pitty of me relieve me So hard so unsufferable a paine doth it seeme to all men to bee in prison though it there were no other paine to be suffered but to be closed up Yea our owne houses would be hatefull unto us if our liberty of going abroad were restrained O then how huge how intolerable shall bee the torments of those bloody butchers who have shed the blood of Gods Saints like water when they shall bee cast headlong into the hellish prison which may bee most properly called i Iob 10.21 22. the land of darknesse and of the shadow of death Where there is no order and where light it selfe is darknesse O how shall they tremble how shall they cry and teare their soules when they shall bee violently throwne downe into the k Luk. 18.31 deepe and bottomlesse pit which m Aug. in 50. Homilius hom 16 â—uÌ„ sine poenitentiae remedio infoelices peccatores exceperit c. when it hath received impenitent sinners
shall be saith S. Augustine shut upward and open downeward where the deeper they shall sinke l Rev. 9.2 the more shall it inlargeit selfe that they may never find an end of sinking The divells themselves are afraid to go there how much more men whose bones shall cracke whose teeth shall clatter whose hearts shall quake at the onely naming of it XVI Wo wo be unto them for no heart can imagin no tongue can iutter the tortures and torments which are impossible to be endured which needs they must endure there Alas what ease shall they find where when they shall be banished from the quickening sight of the living God never to see his face againe but inflamed with fury and indignation against them when it shall bee said unto them Depart from me ye cursed when they shall shall cry n Mat. 25.11 12. Lord Lord open to us and he shall answer Verily I say unto you I know you not o Aug. ibid. Vltra nescientur à Deo qui Deum scire noluerunt Yee knew not mee in your life and I know you not in your death If God shall not know them to aide them shall any of his creatures know them If the Sunne of righteousnesse who hath healing in his wings shall refuse to embright them with the least glance of the beames of his glorious face shall he suffer the light of this visible sun moone and starres to shine upon them If he who is called p Rom. 15 5. the God of consolation shall forsake them shall the blessed Angels shall the holy men of God be more mercifull than their maker who is mercy it selfe Shall any of the creatures which are in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth come and comfort them As when the woman in the fearefull famine of Samaria cryed to the King q 2. King 6.26 27. Helpe my Lord O King he answered If the Lord doe not helpe thee whence shall I help thee out of the barne-floore or out of the wine-presse So when these damned wights shall cry to the creatures for helpe grim and froward faces frowning browes an universall refusall shall be their first and last answer Our Creator shall they say is your enemy shall we be your friends As hee hath commanded you to depart from him so get you hence and depart from us Yea the Lord himselfe teacheth us in the parable of r Luk. 16.24 the rich glutton that if they should aske but one drop of water to coole their tongue it shall not be given unto them Å¿ Aug. de Tempore 252. Consider I pray you saith S. Augustine if a man were cast out of the congregation of this Church for some crime with how great forrow with how many agonies would his soule be vexed though out of the Church he may eate drinke converse with men and have some hope to be received into it again Surely this pain seem'd so heavy to Cain the first murtherer of Gods Saints that he cryed through despaire and great griefe of heart t Gen. 4.13 My punishment is greater than I can beare Oh then how many terrours how great anguish of mind shall wring and wrest the spirits of those who for their crimes shall bee excommunicated for ever from the glorious Church which is in heaven from the innumerable company of Angels from the congregation of all the Saints and from all the unspeakeable joyes of the heavenly Ierusalem Divines call this punishment Poena damni The paine of losse or dammage and say that it is but the first part of the unconceiveable torments which are prepared for the divells and for the viperous brood of wicked men XVII It goeth not alone It is ioyned with that which the same Divines call Poena sensus the paine of sense or of feeling Can they lose the favour of God with the comfortable use of all his creatures and not feele the redoubled blowes of the heavy sword of his indignation When v Est er 7.7 8. the king Ahasuerus in his wrath turned his backe to Haman the Kings servants covered Hamans face and heaved him away to the gallowes So when God shall withdraw the light of his face from these thrice unhappy bodies the divells who are the executioners of his high justice shall x Mat. 22.13 bind them hands and feete and take them away and cast them into utter darkenesse that as they delighted in the inward darkenesse of their minds and y Ioh. 3.19 20. hated the light and would not come unto it because their deeds were evill and lest they should bee reprooved so they may be tormented with utter darkenesse more palpable than the fogges of Egypt and so thicke that no sunne-shine of any worldly or heavenly comfort shall be able to sparkle thorow them If ye desire to know how great is the paine of sence or of feeling which is there the Scripture calleth it a Rev. 14.19 the great wine-presse of the wrath of God which shall bee troden till blood come out of it even unto the horse bridles It calleth it also b Esa 66.15 16. a fire and flame of fire whereby the Lord will plead against his enemies fire which c ver 24. shall never be quenched because it shall never lacke either matter to kindle it or a mighty breather to blow it 'T is a d Rev. 21.8 lake which burneth with fire and brimstone 'T is e Esa 30.33 Tophet ordemed of old made deepe and large the pile whereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it 'T is a f Mat. 5.22 Gehenna of fire What paine so sensible as to be burnt alive and what paine so terrible and pittifull as when the Iewes g Buxtorf ex libro Ialcutam Ieâ—emiam ca. 7. tooke their young children and offering them in sacrifice to Molec gave them to one of the Priests who laid them upon the armes of the brazen Idoll after it was set on fire and glowing red the rest of the Priests in the meane while sounding with Drums Trumpets Timbrels and other loud instruments lest the parents should heare the pittifull cryes of their children and bee touched with compassion by reason of which sounding the place was called Tophet and because it was in a valley belonging to Hinnom it was called Gehinnom or Gehenna i. the valley of Hinnom a name most usuall amongst the Iewes in Christs dayes and long before to signifie the place and the paines of the damned As they were wont to call the divell Principem Gehennae The Prince of Gehenna or of hell where h Rev. 14.9 10 11. If any man worship the beast and his Image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his
thy nature but of the workes of thy iudgements and mercies Brethren Iearne and wonder Men speake so of God And therefore God borroweth mens phrases and as they speake of him so speaketh he of his owne selfe e Ier. 23.24 Wicked men when they spoile kill and abuse most licentiously the righteous man doe say f Psal 94.7 The LORD shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it As if he were in his Closet fast asleepe or busied with other matters when they reele to and fro to doe mischiefe or as if he dwelt so farre off from them that he cannot see them What say they g Iob 22.12 13 14. Is not God in the height of heaven and behold the height of the starres how high they are how doth God know Can he iudge through the darke cloud Thicke cloudes are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven For this cause God saith that seeing they thinke and speake so he will come out of his place to visit i.e. to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie Even as it is said when the Giants were building the Towre of Babel that h Gen. 11.5 7. the LORD came downe to see the City and the Towre which the children of men builded and said Goe to let us goe downe and there confound their language And as when he was to destroy Sodome and Gomorrha he said to Abraham i Gen. 18.21 I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know As likewise when his time was come to take vengeance of Pharao and deliver his people he said to Moses k Exod 3.7 8. I have surely seene the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taske-masters for I know their sorrowes and I am come downe to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians When he withdraweth his care from his children and suffereth his enemies to afflict them he saith in Hosea l Hos 5.15 I will goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence And then they acknowledging their owne folly cry unto him m Psal 60.1 O turne thy selfe to us againe n Psal 80.14 Returne we beseech thee ô God of hostes looke downe from heaven and behold and visit this Vine After the same manner when he destroyeth their persecuters he delivereth them and saith that he commeth out of his place to visit them them who are his children in his favour them who are his enemies and the oppressors of his children in the extremitie of his anger IV. He calleth the one and the other his visitation For o 1 Tim. 6.16 he dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto and cannot be seene of us but by his workes which when he displayeth not we thinke and we say that he is absent But when we see and feele them then we say he is present and hath visited us As we speake of him so speaketh he of himselfe though p Act. 17.27 28. hee be not farre from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being Or rather he teacheth us that he doth all things by rule by number and by ballance that first he takes a perfect notice of our estate and afterwards setteth his workes forward The workes whereby he visiteth us are either of mercie or of iudgement And therefore his visitations are taken in the Scriptures sometimes for his mercies sometimes for his iudgements And it is said that he visiteth us either when he giveth us conspicuous testimonies of his favour or when he punisheth us for our sinnes In the first sense it is said that q Gen. 21.1 the LORD visited Sarah as he had said which in the words following is thus explained And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken Because he fulfilled his promise and gave a Sonne to Sarah the Scripture saith that he visited Sarah In the same sense Ioseph said to his brethren r Gen. 50.25 God will surely visite you i.e. deliver you And so is the word expounded by Zacharias in his song where he saith that ſ Luk. 1.68 God hath visited and redeemed his people Ye reade the like in the Acts where it is written that t Act 15.14 God did visite the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his Name For their calling to the light of the Gospell was their visitation When Ierusalem made light of that light Christ said that v Luk. 19.44 she knew not the time of her visitation In the second sense visitation of punishment is double The one is of love and of grace whereby God visiteth his owne deare children as he said to David x Psal 89.31 32 33. If they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements then will I visite their transgression with the rod and their imquitie with stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile We have heard heretofore that this kinde of visitation is most usefull It is not so much y Minut. Felix Non est poena militia est Fortitudo enim infirmitatibus roboratur Et calamitas saepius disciplina virtutis est a punishment to the Church as her warfare For fortitude is corroborated by infirmities And often affliction and calamitie is the schoole and mistresse of vertue It is ever so to the Church The other commeth from Gods heavie wrath and indignation and hath for end not the correction but the destruction of the sinner As when God said that hee a Hos 1.4 would visite the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu he threatned the Kings house with a totall and finall overthrow as he saith in the words following that he would cause to cease the kingdome of the house of Israel In this sense David made this prayer to God b Psal 59.5 O LORD God of hostes the God of Israel awake to visite all the heathen for he addeth by way of exposition Be not mercifull to any wicked transgressors This word is so taken in this text when the Prophet saith that the Lord commeth out of his place to visite i. e. to punish in his anger and hot displeasure Whom will he visite V. The inhabitants of the earth What Are not all men are not Gods servants inhabitants of the earth aswell as other men No men to speake properly are inhabitants of the earth For we are all tenants at the will of the great Lands Lord not owners and our life is a soiourning rather than a dwelling on earth All true beleevers acknowledge this truth and say in their prayers to God c 1 Chro. 29.15 We are strangers before thee and soiourners as were all our fathers Our dayes on the earth