consolation God never suffers his children to meet with a huge unremoveable difficulty like the stone before the doore of the Sepulcher but he sends some Angell or other to remove it away 5. You have an incouraging Captaine even the Lord Jesus who is the great Peace-maker Who is our peace when the Assyrian is in the Land Micah 7. 9. He hath taken downe the partition wall he hath made our peace with God Let the deepes of our civill warre call upon the deepes of peace that are in Christ Let us beseech the great Peace-maker to take downe the great partition wall betweene King and Parliament to make Father and Sonne of one mind If Christ makes the peace it must needs be good Jesus Christ came into the world when the Jewes were in the saddest condition in the depth of slavery for the Scepter was departed from Iudah and in the depth of divisions for they had so many severall Sects as they could hardly tell what Religion they were off In this sad condition Shiloh came Let us beseech Jesus Christ to come into England in this low estate and to bring peace with him even that Christ who descended into the lowest parts of the Earth for our sakes and whose love is a depth that cannot be fathomed Ephes. 3. 17 18. The deepes of our misery call upon the depth of his love and mercy that God for Christ sake would pardon our abysse of sinnes both personall and nationall and bring us out of our abysse of miseries both personall and nationall 6. You have incouraging company you have the Lord of Hosts to accompany you and I may say without the least degree of uncharitablenes you have the major part of Gods people on your side 7. You have incouraging weapons prayers and teares fasting and humiliation As Ambrose spake to Austins mother by way of incouragement That a Sonne of so many teares could not miscarry So may I say and I hope proove a true Prophet That a Nation of so many prayers and teares shall not be destroyed God never yet destroyed a Nation wherein there were so many of his children praying fasting humbling themselves and especially at such a time when they are entring into a solemne Covenant of reforming their lives as now we are if they indeavour to doe these things with all their heart and soule 8. You have incouraging threatnings against the enemies of Gods Church God hath threatned Zach. 12. 2 3 6. to make Jerusalem a cup of poyson and all that offer to swallow Ierusalem shall be poysoned with it to make Jerusalem a burdensome stone and all that thinke to crush Ierusalem shall be crushed by Jerusalem to make him like a fire and all his enemies like wood to be devoured by him God hath threatned concerning the plots of your enemies Psalm 64. 5 6 7 8 9 10. This Scripture is this day fulfilled in your eares The Lord give us grace to declare his works and wisely to consider of his doings God hath likewise accomplished those two rare Scriptures Psal. 7. 14 15 16 17. Psal. 9. 15 16. Let us adde our part Let us praise the Lord according to his righteousnesse let us sing praise to the name of the Lord most high Higgaion Selah 9. You have the incouraging providence of God The great and wise God who is our Father hath from all eternity decreed what shall be the issue of these warrs There is nothing done in the lower House of Parliament upon earth but what is decreed in the higher House of Parliament in Heaven All the lesser wheeles are ordered and over-ruled by the upper wheeles An excellent Story of a Young-man that was at Sea in a mighty tempest and when all the passengers were at their wits end for feare he onely was merry and when he was ask'd the reason of his mirth he answered That the Pilot of the Ship was his Father and he knew his Father would have a care of him Our heavenly Father is our Pilot he sits at the sterne and though the Ship of the Kingdome be ready to finke yet be of good comfort Our Pilot will have a care of us Are not five sparrowes saith Christ sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God One sparrow is not worth halfe a farthing You shall not have halfe a farthings worth of harme more then God hath from all eternity decreed God hath all ourenemies in a chaine And if a child saw a Lion or a Beare in his deare Fathers hand chained so as he might be secure his Father could keepe the chaine from being burst he would not be afraid And this we are sure God can doe A 1000000. Cyphars stand for nothing unlesse a figure be joyned to them All men and devils are but cyphars without God An hoast of men is nothing without the Lord of hoast The devill cannot goe beyond his tedder Ob. But God permits the enemy to exercise great cruelty upon his own people and to take away the lives of his choisest servants witnes the Noble Lord Brooke and now lately that worthy Gentleman M. Hampden Answ. 1. Let us not be troubled that God permits our enemies to doe us so much hurt but rather be comforted that they can doe nothing but what our wise and most loving God permits and fore-decrees for the good of his children 2. I answer with our blessed Saviour Feare not them that can but kill the body and after that can do no more It is no great matter in Christs opinion to have the body killed The body is but the Cabinet the Iewell is the soule And if the Iewell be safe in Heaven no great matter to have the Cabinet broken It is said of King Iosiah that he should goe to his grave in peace and yet he died in a battell He that dyeth with the peace of a good conscience dieth in peace though he be killed in a battell Blessed is the man that breaths out his last breath in doing God service He that dies fighting the Lords battels dies a Martyr An excellent thing for a Minister to die preaching and a souldier die fighting It is but winking with our eyes as the Martyr said and we are presently in Heaven Blessed and twice blessed are those that die in the Lord and for the Lord 3. God many times takes away his choisest servants because we idolize them too much as he did the King of Sweden And also because he would teach us to trust only to his helpe who will deliver us by weake instruments when he takes away strong and able Instruments that he may have all the glory Lastly You have incouraging experiments And surely if any Nation under Heaven may reason from experience and rely upon experiences this Nation may God hath delivered us from the Beare and the Lion from the Spanish navy in Eighty eight and since from the Gun-pouder Treason from Civill warres betweene Scotland and England And when there
of Iron He toucheth the Mountaines and they smoake If thou beest as a Mountaine in greatnesse and thy sinnes as Mountaines in greatnesse God will make thee smoake c. Great men must labour to be like the great God who is as great in goodnesse as in greatnesse Deus optimus maximus like unto Iob who was the greatest man in the East and the best man in the East O that I could engage great men this day in sense of Gods goodnesse expressed in this wonderfull Deliverance for which weare come to blesse God to serve God with all the Ingredients for the time to come better then ever they have done for the time past Oh that you would enter into a solemne Covenant to sweare no more to commit adultery no more to be irreverent negligent cold hypocriticall in Gods service no more to mock and scoffe at Gods servants no more Greatnes without goodnesse is like the greatnesse of a dropsie man it is thy disease not thy ornament Riches without righteousnesse is like a golden ring in a Swines snout like a Sword in a mad mans hand like an Vnicorns horne which while it is upon the head of the Unicorne is hurtfull and deadly but when it is taken off it is very usefull and medicinall Honours and riches when in a wicked mans custody they do much hurt but when bestowed upon good men they doe much good It is a most blessed conjunction when Religion and Righteousnesse meet together It is like a precious Diamond in a gold-ring Indeed Religion is good wheresoever it is As a pearle is good though it be in the dirt it is a pearle but it is obscured by the dirt in which it is When goodnesse is seated in a poore man it is like a jewell in a leaden ring like a candle under a bushell But when goodnesse meets with greatnesse it is like a Candle upon a hill that gives light heat and influence to all the Country round about Let no great man thinke it a disparagement to serve God to weare his livery and to appeare on his side For it is Gods service onely that can make you truly honourable Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast bin honourable saith the Prophet Isaiah 43. 4. The men of Beraea were more noble then the men of Thessalonica because they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched into the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Act. 17. 11. This is the greatest Nobility to be a true servant of the great God A King may give great Titles to a great man but he cannot make a great man A King may cause a man to be called noble but he cannot make a man truly noble A King may command us to call a Lion a Lambe but a King cannot make a Lion a Lambe It is the noble mind that makes a man truly noble This God onely can give To contemne the world and all worldly things to mind the things of eternity to conquer our lusts to have communion with the great God to stand for God when all the world opposeth him this is true nobility This will make thee noble in this world and in the world that is to come I say againe Let no great man account it a disparagement to be Gods servant Let him not only consider the example of Ioshua a Prince and Ruler and of David and Paul before named but also of Constantine the great who was so attentive to the word when it was preached and so reverent as that he would sometimes stand up as Eusebius saith all the while And when his Courtiers rebuked him saying It would tend to his disparagement He answered That it was in the service of the great God who is no respecter of persons Take the example of Theodosius who is reported to have written out the New-Testament with his owne hand accounting it as a speciall Jewell and out of it he read every day praying with his Empresse and with his sister singing of Psalmes c. Suffer me to adde the third time Let not great men thinke it a disparagement to become Gods servants and to serve him strictly and precisely If these examples will not move you consider the Angels of Heaven who are our Fellow-servants and are said by a kind of excellency To doe his Commandements hearkning to the voice of his word The Angels serve God with a great deale of alacrity and chearefullnesse and therefore they are said to have harpes as a signe of their chearefull mind The Angels serve God with a great deale of diligence and sedulity And therefore they are said to have wings and to fly They serve God with a great deale of zeale and ardency and therefore they are said to be a flaming fire And therefore also the title of a Seraphim is given unto them The Angels serve God universally They follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth They serve him constantly sincerely The Angels alwaies behold his face Mat. 18. 10. They serve him day and night Revel. 7. 15. Oh that the Lord would make you more and more Angelicall in his service to doe his will upon earth as it is done in Heaven Let me adde an example beyond all examples even the example of Iesus Christ himselfe who is called Gods servant Esa. 42. 1. And he was a worshipper of God Joh. 4. 22. A diligent keeper of Gods Sabbath Luk. 4. 16. He used Praier in his familie Luk. 9. 18. He was wont to pray secretly by himselfe Luk. 5. 16. And he used this custome of Prayer morning and evening In the morning Mark 1. 35. rising up a great while before daie And for evening Mat. 14. 23. And this was his custome to doe Luk. 22. 39. He went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives And sometimes he would pray all night long Luk. 6. 12. And this worship Christ did with as much submission and devotion as ever any servant did Luk. 22. 41. Mat. 26. 39. If Christ did all this surely it is no dishonour for the greatest Emperour to doe that which Christ hath done As you are called Christians so you must imitate that Lord and Master by whose name you are called Let no man wonder that I spend so much time to perswade great men to be exemplary in Gods service and to be diligent and zealous For if I could convert but one great man this day I should doe a great deale of service by way of eminency For as he said In uno Caesare multi insunt Marij in one great man there are many inferiours contained As it is in Printing the great difficulty is in printing the first Sheetes and when one is printed it is easie to print hundreds by that So the great worke of our Ministery is to convert great-men if they were once converted hundreds would follow their example When the great wheele of a Clocke is set a moving all the inferiour wheeles will move of
THE NOBLE-MANS PATTERNE Of true and reall Thankfulnesse PRESENTED In a SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable House of LORDS At their late solemne day of thanksgiving Iune 15. 1643. For the discovery of a dangerous desperate and bloody designe tending to the utter subversion of the PARLIAMENT and of the famous City of LONDON By EDMUND CALAMY B.D. Pastor of Aldermanbury in LONDON Published by Order of that House LUK. 1. 74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life LONDON Printed by G. M. for Christopher Meredith at the Signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard M.DC.XLIII TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE House of LORDS Assembled in PARLIAMENT IF all Noble-men were as good and religious as they are presented to the World in the Epistles prefixed to the Books that are dedicated to them we should not have so much cause to complaine of great mens Iniquities or of poore mens flatteries S. Augustine in his Booke of Retractations Retracts it as a great fault that when he dedicated a Booke to Mallius Theodorus he praised him more then he deserved though he confesseth that he was doctus vir Christianus a Learned and Christian man It is none of the least miseries of great men that they want faithfull friends to tell them their vices as well as their vertues King Ahab had 400. flattering Prophets who were the cause of his ruine Hence is that old Proverbe that there are onely two things that never flatter great men Death and Horses For Death seizeth upon great as well as small And a Horse will cast downe a great man as well as any other if he rides not well This Sermon speakes plaine language and this is the only Reason for ought I know that it received such kind acceptance for otherwise it wants that neatnesse of phrase and eloquence of speech which such Noble Auditors are accustomed unto I have often heard of Great men that complained upon their Death beds that none would tell them of their faults but never of any that complained hee was told too much Theodosius the great Emperour confesseth of S. Ambrose notwithstanding his severe carriage towards him Solum novi Ambrosium dignum Episcopi nomine That he knew none worthy of a Bishoprick but Ambrose It is a custome to send Sermons out unto publike view under the Patronage of some Noble-man or other This Sermon hath this preheminence That it comes forth under the Patronage and by the commands not only of one Lord but of a House of Lords The Lord make it to obtaine that end for which it was preached That you my Lords may make Joshua's choise your choise The subject matter of the Sermon is very common and ordinary But herein I follow the example of Chrysostome who when he was made Patriarch of Constantinople the first Sermon that he preached before the Emperour Arcadius and the great Courtiers was a Sermon of Repentance This is the message that I have received saith Chrysostome from my Master Christ to deliver unto you Repent for the Kingdome of God is at hand Haec autem non dubitabo vobis assiduè revocare in memoriam Haec neminem reverentes neque potentes aut divites timentes ad vos loquemur The Lord bestow this great grace of Repentance upon you and inable you to serve God with all the ingredients mentioned in the following Sermon Two things I would desire your Lordships alwayes to remember 1. That the best way of thankfulnesse for mercies received is to serve the God of those mercies and to serve him with the mercies we receive from him 2. That the best way for the House of Lords to prosper is to indeavour earnestly and faithfully to reforme the Lords House your own houses and first your selves Some things I have added which were not preached which relate to all men in generall as well as great men which I then omitted for brevity sake but have here interserted I hope without offence that so this Sermon which is printed for a generall good might have somethings in it tending to the good of all men as well as great men The Great God make the House of Lords as the House of the Lord wherein service may be done to God and for Gods cause So prayeth Your Honours much obliged Spirituall servant Edmund Calamy A THANKS-GIVING SERMON PREACHED Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords Iosh. 24. 15. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord WE are here met this day to keepe a day of Thanks-giving to keepe a Heaven upon Earth to doe that for a day which is the worke of Angels and arch-Angels to all eternity We have had many dayes of Hosannah's and now we are to keepe one day of Hallelujah's It hath pleased God of his great goodnesse to discover a dangerous and desperate Plot tending to the utter subversion of the Parliament of the famous City of London of the Army of the whole Kingdome and which is above all to the utter ruine of the true reformed Protestant Religion We are here assembled to give God the praise of this Deliverance Now that this duty may be performed after a pious and Christian manner to the praise of that God whom we come to praise I have chosen this Text For I am clearely of this opinion that as there is no duty more excellent then this of Thanks-giving For it is the duty of Heaven and not only so but the preferment of Heaven It is a duty that honoureth God and it is the highest honour that God can put upon us to give us leave to performe this duty It is a duty that Adam should have performed though he had never fallen It is a duty that shall last for ever and ever It is a comely duty It is a pleasant duty It is the highest expression of our love to God It is the surest evidence of our election For that man that loves the worke of Heaven upon earth shall certainely goe to Heaven when he leaves the earth Now the worke of Heaven is to praise God It is the only rent penny which God requires for all the blessings hee bestowes upon us And yet notwithstanding all this I conceive there is no one duty wherein God is more dishonoured or his name more prophaned then in this duty The world is full of Thanking of God blessed be God praised be God But I beseech yetell me Are we not formall in this duty Doe we not content our selves with the bare Carkasse and outside of praises Doe we not take Gods name in vaine while we are blessing his name Doe we not content our selves with a drop of praises for a sea of mercies Do we not praise him with our lips while we dispraise him with our lives Are we not like unto Actors upon a stage that now play one part and by and
befoole themselves saith Lactantius that follow the judgement of their leaders without judgement which is the propertie of Sheepe rather then of reasonable men It is a good saying of Sir THOMAS MORE I will not pin my salvation upon any mans sleeve because I know not whither he will carry it But God must be obeyed without an If with absolute in conditionall unexamined subjection this is to serve God as God 10. Ioshua chose to serve God transcendently and Angelically To doe his will on earth as it is done in Heaven For he is Iehovah that gives being to all the great God of the whol earth and therefore is to be served with super superlative super transcendent service {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} These are the 10. Ingredients of Ioshuas choice these are as a ten stringed Instrument to make our services melodious harmony in Gods eares Let us strive to remember them because they are the foundation to the building that followes We live in an age wherein every man will professe that he serves God But I beseech you remember that unlesse you adde these 10. Ingredients ye doe not serve him but grieve him Ye dee not serve him but doe him disservice unlesse ye serve him undividedly everlastingly sincerely zealously c. Before I leave this point I must adde one thing That there are 2. properties of a servant that must not be in Gods servant First a servant serves his Master with a slavish feare but we must serve God with a godly feare Heb. 12. 28. Secondly a servant loves his Master with a mercenary love he serves his Master as a hireling for his wages But Gods servant must serve God with a filiall love He that serves God only for Heaven fells his service to God as Parisiensis saith Et est inter illum Deum negotiatio quaedam Not but that a true servant of God may have an eye to the recompence of reward as Moses had but he must have but one eye upon the reward not both and the left eye too For our chiefe and last aime must be at Gods glory And the reason is because Gods servants are also his sonnes and heires and therefore as we must serve him with the subjection of servants so we must serve him with the affection of sonnes Let us remember that we are his servants that we may serve him with reverence diligence and exact subjection but remember also that we are his sonnes to serve him with filial feare love hope and faith And this is the right serving of God to serve him with a servant-like subjection and with a sonne-like affection The second thing propounded in the Explication is to shew the necessity that lies upon all men as well as great men to serve God and to serve him with all these Ingredients For though Ioshua did freely choose to serve the Lord yet it was not free for Ioshua to choose whether he would serve God or no For we are all bound to doe God homage and service This is primum and totum officium hominis This is the chiefe and the whole of man Eccles. 12. last We are all bound to this service by a 6. fold bond First by the bond of Creation It is a fundamentall errour to think that we are borne chiefely and ultimately to seeke our own happinesse God made man to serve him and to seeke his owne happinesse in Gods happinesse and his owne glory in Gods glory It is God that hath made us and not we our selves we are his workemanship and therefore it is our duty to improve all our parts and gifts to the service of that God from whom we have received all As all Rivers returne to the Ocean from which they first came And as Aulius Fulvius said to his sonne when he found him in the conspiracie of Catiline Now ego te Catilinae genui sed patria So doth God say to every man I did not give thee a soule and body to serve sinne withall but to serve me withall Quot membra tot ora so many members of our bodies so many faculties of our soules so many mouthes to call upon us to serve God withall Secondly It is our duty to serve God not only for our own creation but for the creation of the whole world For God made all the world to serve man and man to serve him with all the world and for all the world He made the Sunne the Moone the Fire and the Water c. to be serviceable to man and therefore man must serve God because he hath given all these to his use and he must serve God with all these improving them all to his service Quot creaturae tot ora so many creatures as there are in the world so many mouthes to call upon us to serve God and to serve him with all the Ingredients before named Thirdly We are bound by the bond of Redemption For we are therefore delivered out of the hands of our enemies by Iesus Christ that we should serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Quot inimici tot ora So many enemies as we are freed from by the death of Christ so many mouthes to call upon us to serve Jesus Christ And in this sence the very Devill himselfe and Hell it selfe as we are redeemed from them doe call upon us to serve God and to serve him faithfully c. Fourthly We are bound by the bond of Sanctification For this is the end of our sanctification That we might have grace to serve him so as to please him Heb. 12. 28. Quot gratiae tot ora so many graces as God hath planted in thee so many mouthes to call upon thee to serve God For who goes to warfare at his owne charge saith the Apostle Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof Who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock If God hath planted the graces of his Spirit in thy soule he lookes to reape the fruit of his own plantation and husbandry by thy holy serving of God Fifthly We are bound by the bond of Gratitude Quot beneficia tot ora so many mercies as we have received from God so many mouthes to call upon us to serve God For every mercy is as a needle saith S. Austin to sow God and Man together Man and God are seperated by disobedience but mercy is as a needle to sow God and Man together againe by obedience And therefore God makes the deliverance out of Egypt to be a forcible motive to the keeping of the ten Commandements I am the God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Therefore thou shalt have none other gods but me Therefore thou shalt keepe holy the Sabbath day c. So must the deliverance wee celebrate this day It must be as a golden Cord to tye us to serve God more devoutly more resolvedly then ever Every Deliverance binds
the Lord would give you a heart to study to doe some singular thing for him Sixthly You must doe all this not onely in your own persons but you and your houses you and your Tenants you and all that depend upon you For every Master of a family stands accountable to God for his family as well as for himselfe For these publike relations and subordinations of Master and servant Father and child c. are from Gods appointment and are parts of our Stewardship for which we must give a severe account And it is a certaine rule That man is not a good man that is not good in all his relations For there are duties required of us by God in every relation as Masters as Fathers as Magistrates as Parliament-men c. The same God that requires us to serve him as private persons requires us to serve him in our relations and though thou beest never so carefull of thy duty as a private person yet thou mayest goe to Hell for neglecting thy duty as a Master as a Magistrate as a Parliament-man And although thou shouldest be good in one relation yet if thou doest not indeavour to be good in every relation thou shalt never goe to Heaven For the same God that commands thee to serve him as a Master commands thee to serve him as a Parliament-man c. And he that keepes the whole Law and offends in one point is guilty of all Here is a Sea of matter offers it selfe and matter of great concernement for the regulating of Noble-mens families which are in many places rather Beth-avens then Bethels houses of iniquity rather then houses of God But I must not launch into this Ocean Onely remember that in the New Testament when the Master of the Family was converted all the family was baptized and what God saith of Abraham Gen. 18. 19. and what David saith Psal. 181. 2 3 6 7. and what is said Exod. 20. 11. Thou and thy servant Thus much for the Exhortations Now for Incouragement And there is great need to incourage Noble-men that set their faces to looke after Christ and to serve him after a strict and holy manner and that venture all in this Cause to goe on maugre all opposition For we live in times wherein we may take up that complaint of Salvian Si quis ex nobilitate converti ceperit ad Deum statim honorem Nobilitatis amittit Oh quantus est in populo Christiano honor Christi ubi Religio ignobilem facit mali coguntur esse nobiles ne viles habeantur If any of the Nobility begin to be converted to God presently they begin to loose in the eye of the wicked all the honour of their Nobility How little is the Name of Christ esteemed amongst those Christians where Religion makes a man ignoble and men are compelled to be wicked that they may be accounted Noble A true picture of our wicked times Suffer me therefore to offer unto you these following incouragements as helpes against all the discouragements you meet withall in the zealous and resolute prosecution of this great cause now in hand 1. The cause you manage is an incouraging cause It is the cause of God And let me say to you as Luther to Melancthon If the cause be not Gods why doe ye not wholly desert it but if it be Gods cause why doe you not goe through with it This is a Dilemma that cannot be evaded The glory of God is imbarked in the same Ship in which this cause is in And you may lawfully plead with God as Ioshua doth Iosh. 7. 9. and as Moses doth Numb. 14. 15 16. 2. You have an incouraging God me thinkes I heare God say to you as he doth to Ioshuah 1. 6. Be strong and of a good courage c. and verse 7. Onely be thou strong and very couragious c. And verse 9. Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismaied for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest And as Ioshuah said to the people of Israel Numb. 14. 7. So doth God to you Feare not the people of the Land for they are bread for us their defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us feare them not And as Moses said Exo. 14. 13 14. So saith God though your enemies be as tall as the Anakims though the red Sea be before you and the Egyptians behind you feare them not for the Lord fights for you The God whose cause you manage is infinite in power wisdom and goodnesse he hath brought us into deeps not to drowne us but to wash away our spirituall filthinesse not to destroy us but to manifest his power in our deliverance he will deliver us by weake meanes and by contrary meanes and he will make use of the treachery of your enemies to be a meanes to deliver you as he hath done this day He will kill Goliah with his owne Sword and hang Haman upon his owne gallows He will strike strait stroakes with crooked sticks as he made the treachery of Iosephs brethren to be a meanes to advance Ioseph and the falsenesse of Judas to be a way to save all his elect children 3. You have incouraging Promises Exod. 23. 22 23. Levit. 26. 6 7 8. Deut. 28. 7. 1 Sam. 25. 28. Isa. 41. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Isa. 54. 17. A Text common to all Gods people because it is said to be the heritage of the servants of the Lord Here are six Texts like six pillars to undershore our spirits from falling into discouragements Cast your selves into the bosome of these Promises 4. You have incouraging examples For we cannot be in a lower condition then Ionah was when he was in the Whales belly tanquam vivus in sepulchro and yet God commanded the Whale to deliver him safe upon the shoare We cannot be in a worser estate then Ieremy was when he was in the dungeon and sanke in the mire so deepe as that 30. men could hardly lift him up or then Peter was when he was ready to sinke or then Moses when put in an Arke of bull-rushes c. Or then the children of Israel were in Babylon who were like dry bones in the grave insomuch as Ezekiell himselfe could not tell whether they could live or as Peter when put in prison by Herod And yet notwithstanding God sent a blackmore to deliver Ieremy Iesus Christ reached out his hand to keepe Peter from sinking God sent Pharaohs daughter to preserve Moses And Cyrus to deliver Israel out of Babylon And he sent his Angell to deliver Peter out of prison Indeed Peter himselfe did not believe it no more did the Church that was praying for him God sent them a returne of prayers while they were praying but they beleeved it not And thus God hath often done for us Comfort one another with these examples and carry this home for your everlasting