of free grace deepe wisedome in God must bee more then halfe play-maker here and in this redeeme the lost world The Chaldeans spoyle Job and plunder him Satan maketh him an empty house and a childelesse father mercy commeth up in the Theater and free Grace maketh Job an illustrious and faire copy of patience and faith to all ages Achitophel did as many now with our King doth hee gave wicked counsell against the Lords servant and a just cause divine justice cometh in in the game and Achitophel hangeth himselfe The use of this shall answer two questions 1. Why doth God suffer sinne to be and so much sinne in England and Ireland 2. Why doth hee suffer his people in Covenant with him to bee a land of bloud The former question is a generall a wicked Marcion asketh why the Lord who foresaw the event did suffer Evah and the Devill to conferre and if he was able why did hee not hinder sinne to bee except he had been either envious and would not or weake and could not hinder the enters of sinne in the world Tertullian answereth Because the Lord is free in his gifts Augustine answereth Epist. 59. ad Paulinum Quia voluit because it was his will Prosper and Hilarius both with Augustine say The cause may be unknown it cannot be unjust Though it were in the Potters hand to turne clay into brasse yet his power should not destroy his liberty to cause him to make a lame vessell such as if it had reason and will to fall it should not bee broken Why should Daniels enemies prevaile so as to cast him to Lions that these knees that bowed often to God and these hands which was lifted up to him should be eaten with Lions O lame vessell beleeve beleeve but dispute not And the answer is cleare sinne is the worst thing that is but the existence of sinne is not ill otherwayes saith Augustine God should never permit it to be Yea sinnes being in the world is silva justiciae divinae officina gratiae Christi A field for the glory of revenging justice and sinne is the work house of the pardoning grace of God And therefore there bee good reasons why the Lord should permit sinne and such sinnes 1. That there may be roome in the play for pardoning grace the colour and beauty of free grace had never beene made obvious in such a way to the eye of Angels and Men if sinne had not beene 2. There had beene no employment for the mercy of a soule-redeeming Jesus 3. Wee should not have had occasion in the eares of Angels to hold up for ever and ever the new Psalme of the Praises of a Redeemer 4. By this nature clay and fraile nature and selfe-dependence is cried downe and God exalted 5. By this the humble love of the contrite and broken in heart is necessitated to kisse the bowels of him who bindeth up the broken hearted mourners in Sion and furrowes of blood put to reall acknowledgement of everlasting compassion 6. Hence also are minors and poore pupils put to improve their faith and dependence upon so Kingly a Tutor as never enough loved and admired Jesus Christ 7. Hence to the praise of grace Satan hath faire justice and that in foro contradictorio in open patent Court when clay triumpheth over Angels and Hell through the strength of Jesus Christ The other question is also soone answered Why should the cause of God be so oppressed and his Churches garments rolled in blood But 1. God must bee knowne to bee God in his owne chaire of estate and hee must be The Saviour of Israel in the time of trouble 2. Satan Prelates Papists Malignants shall be vnder-workmen and kitchin-servants to him who hath his fire in Sion and his furnace in Jerusalem to purifie and refine the vessels of mercy in the Lords house 3. Christs Bride must know that this is their Inne not their home their Pilgrimage not their Countrey otherwise our Lord knoweth how to lead his passengers to Heaven not by Sea but by dry land 4. All must see that the losse of men is not the Lords losse but the Gospels gaine 5. His glorious grace must be commended who suiteth in marriage a spouse to himselfe in no place rather then in the Furnace Esay 48. 10. 6. Prayers and praises must bee the rent paid to him to whom belongeth the issues from death The Lord hath a great worke now on the wheeles in Britain Be very charitable of our Lords dispensation though the slaine of the Lord bee many in England and Ireland looke not on the darke side of Gods providence or on the blacke and weeping side of his dispensation widdowes are multiplied almost as the sand of the Sea children weepe and cry Alas my father mothers in Ireland die twice when they see their children slaine before their eyes and then are killed themselves Oh! say men why doth the Lord this Behold the faire and smiling side of Gods providence contrary windes from Rome from hell by the art of omnipotency promove the sailing and course of Christs ship 1. God is now drawing an excellent portract of a refined Church but with the inke of the innocent blood of his people say not What is the Lord doing or Is there knowledge in the Almightie who hath given the Lord counsell better wee be his courtiers then his counsellors 2. If we love the dust and the stones of Sion Psalme 102. 14. Christ is ravished with one of his Churches eyes and with a chaine of her neck Cant. 4. 9. God loveth his owne glory more ardently then I can love it 3. The Church is dearer bought to Jesus then to me or you hee hath given too great a price for her to lose her 4. Rather when wee cannot see to the bottome of providence beleeve upon plain trust and say as Esay 8. 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him Part. 2. In every dominion of my kingdome This is the second part wherein the parties to whom this Law is given are expressed in their universalitie as they are v. 25. To all people nations and languages that dwell on all the earth peace Whence observe That Nations without the visible Church never wanted means either ordinary or extraordinary to know God though we cannot in reason say that the Decree or Law of a heathen King is the Arminian universall grace yet some means all have And God hath laid open foure bookes to all nations 1. That booke of creation of the Heavens and his workes Psalme 19. 1. The Heavens Mesappe-rajim cevodel doe booke and register the glory of God Romanes 1. 20. 2. The booke of ordinary providence is a Chronicle or Diurnall of a God-head and a Testimony that there is a God Acts 14. 17. Acts 17. 27. 3. There is a booke of the extraordinary workes of God and some report of the true God upon occasion
A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable HOVSE OF COMMONS At their late Solemne Fast Wednesday Jan. 31. 1644. BY SAMUEL RUTHERFURD Professor of Divinitie in the University of S. Andrews EXOD. 3. 2. And hee looked and behold the Bush burned with fire and the Bush was not consumed Published by Order of the House of Commons EDINBURGH Printed by Evan Tyler Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie 1644. Die Mercurii 31. Ianuar. 1644. IT is this day ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Mr. Rous do from this House give thanks unto Mr. Rutherfurd for the great paines he took in the Sermon he preached this day at the intreaty of the said Commons at S. Margarets Westminster it being the day of publike Humiliation and to desire him to print his Sermon And it is ordered that none presume to print his Sermon without authority under the hand-writing of the said Mr. Rutherfurd H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Richard Whittaker and Andrew Crooke to print my Sermon Samuel Rutherfurd To the Christian Reader WHether time or the fashion hath obtained of me worthy Reader that this Sermon should come under the providence of your favourable judgement and Candor I can hardly determine But you have it as it is onely I shall heartily desire in reviewing of it your serious thoughts in these insuing considerations 1. What I speak here of God and his excellency is but a shadow to the expressions of others and what others can say men or Angels is but a short and rude shadow of that infinite All the High Jehovah Creator of Heaven and Earth so my thoughts come forth as shadows of shadows for there behoved to be much honey in the Inke much of Heaven in the breast much of God in the Pen of any who speaketh of such a transcendent subject yet if these do affect you it is possible I say more if not I shall desire not to spill the Lords highest praises with my low-creeping under-expressions 2. Concerning Gods dispensation now in Brittaine and his Churches condition I shall be your debter in all humble modesty to beg these thoughts to go along with God As 1. Let the Lord have a charitable sense and good construction of his most wise dispensation and beleeve that he who hath his fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem seeth good that Christs Crosse should be the Church of Christs birth-right and that a life-rent of afflictions is a surer way for Zion then Summer-dayes 2. You are not to stumble that God will not fit his times to mens apprehensions when to raine and when to shine fair neither is clay to usurp the chair and dispute the matter to make the All-wise providence a School-Probleme nor asks Why is our Zion builded with carcasses of men in two kingdomes fallen as dung in the open field and as the handfull after the harvest man Why is the wall of the daughter of Zion sprinkled with blood One thing I know It is better to beleeve then to dispute and to adore then to plead with him who giveth not account of his matters 3. Innocencie in these times is better then court with princes and the condition of the heirs of Heaven yea their tears better then the joy of the hypocrite 4. Christs Church can neither shift nor adjourne such a share of affliction as is written in Gods book It is a standing and a current court which hath decreed what graines of Gall and Wormewood England must drink what a cup is prepared for Scotland and the Ballance of wisedome hath weighed by ounce weights how much wrath shall be mixed in the cup of wasted Ireland 5. You know it is generally the condition of the Church if she have any Summer that it is but a good day betwixt two Feavers Heaven heaven is the home and the desired day of the Bride the Lambs wife 6. It is much better to be afflicted then to be guilty and that the Church may have pardon and want peace 7. That the faith which is more precious then gold can bid the devil do his worst and that the patience of the Saints can out-weary the malice of Babylon or Babel on whose skirts is found the blood of the Saints 8 That it is now and ever true as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint so shall the multitude of all nations be that fight against mount Zion 9. Vengeance is gone out from the Lord against those who feast upon Zions teares and they must die the death of the uncircumcised who clapped their hands and stamped with the feet and rejoyced in heart with all their despight against the land of Israel 10. They are in no better condition who refuse to help the Lord against the mighty and whose heart is as a stone and a piece of dead flesh at all the revolutions and tossings of Christs Kingdome who daunce eat and laugh within their own orbe and if their desires bee concentrick to the world and themselves care not whether Joseph die in the stocks or not or whether Zion sink or swim because whatever they had of Religion it was never their minde both to summer and winter Jesus Christ 11. The rise of the Gospel-sun is like the prodigious appearance of a new Comet to the woman that sitteth on many waters to that mother Rome-planted as a Vine in blood the Lionesse whose Whelps Papists and Prelates in Ireland and England have learned to catch the prey and this Comet prophesieth Wo to the Pope King of the bottemlesse pit and his bloody Lady Babel if Christ shall arise and shine in the power of his Gospel 12. God hath now as great a work on the wheels as concerneth the race of the Chariots of Jesus Christ through the habitable world pray O let his Kingdome come and farewell Yours in the Lord Jesus S. R. A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of COMMONS At their last solemne Fast Wednesday January 31. 1644. DANIEL 6. 26. I make a Decree that in every Dominion of my Kingdome men tremble and feare before the face of the God of Daniel for he is the living God and indureth for ever and his Kingdome that which shall not bee destroyed and his dominion shall bee to the end MEthod requireth that first the words bee expounded secondly that they bee taken up in a right order thirdly that such observations bee hence deduced as serve most for the present condition of the times The words are plaine here first is a Statute of a great King Sim that the seventie interpreters render {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a decretall letter for sometimes though seldome the Lords cause findeth the grace of faire justice with men The matter of the Decree is that men tremble and feare Lehevon zognin vedachalin The Seventie render
bowe abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob Psal. 3. 2. Many say of my soul There is no help for him in God See so sweet a But vers. 3. But thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of my head So is the childe of Gods condition made up of two haltes Psal. 18. 18. Hence the fall They prevented me in the day of my calamity Then the rise But the Lord was my stay Psal. 22. 7. All that see me laugh me to scorn c. Hence faiths rise vers. 9. But thou art he that took me out of the wombe c. Psal. 30. 5. Weeping may endure for a night then the returne But joy cometh in the morning Psal. 34. 19. Many are the troubles of the righteous this is their down but they lie not But the Lord delivereth them out of all Psal. 71. 7. I am a wonder to many that is dark night but the day dawneth againe But thou art my strong hold So doth the servant of God fall Psal. 109. 4. For my love they were mine adversaries but faith riseth again But I give my self to prayer Psal. 118. 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall see the escape But the Lord helped me vers. 18. The Lord hath chastised me sore shall he lie in that condition No But he hath not delivered me to death Esay 54. 7. For a smal moment I have forsaken thee behold the returne But with great mercies wil I gather thee Esay 63. 6. For we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnes as filthy rags we all do fade as a leafe our iniquities like the winde have taken us away this is death and look to life again vers. 8. But thou O Lord art our Father c. Jer. 1. 19. They shall fight against thee there were but a whole Parliament all the estates of the Land Kings Princes Priests and People against Jeremiah but he must not lie on the dust But they shall not prevaile against thee for I am with thee to deliver thee Joh. 16. 22. Ye now therefore have sorrow that is a sad case yet it hath a turne But I will see you againe and ye shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you so are these two at once in the Lords witnesses his Apostles 2. Cor. 4. 9. persecuted But not forsaken cast down But not destroyed 2. Tim. 4 16. At my first appearing no man stood with me but all men forsook me yet is he lifted up vers. 17. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me Secondly There is a contexture of contraries as black and white sweet and sowre woven through other as day-light and night in a morning twy-light as contraries in one subject 2. Cor. 6. 9. As dying and behold we live as chastened yet not killed verse 10. Or as sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things How can these two be in one They kill us but we die not they bury us but we live againe in the grave we have nothing and we have all things we have we want not Rom. 8 36. Killed all the day long and counted as sleep for the slaughter 37. Neverthelesse in all these more than Conquerours c. Hence they are killed all the day long and they live all the day long I know not how it is but the Churches death is a living and a breathing death their poverty a rich poverty their shame glorious shame their sadnesse joyfull sadnesse their foyles victorious foyles their paine an health and an easie paine their weaknesse strong and mighty weaknesse I desire to make some use of this And 1. There be no worldly States and Monarchies of whom this can be said Their Kingdome such as cannot be destroyed Where is there a worldly Kingdome that cannot be shaken Moab was a Kingdome and yet Moab shall die in his own vomit Jer. 48. 26. Aegypt is a great Kingdome and yet it is broken like an old Clay-pot or a lame Vessell The foure great Monarchies are become like foure May-flowres withered and their rosie blossoms are fallen off them in their moneth Did they mean no truth who said of earthly Kingdomes Omnis faelicitas ad culmen perducta retrogreditur and Magna suo pondere ruunt VVorldly felicity when it is at the height of the Stairs sitteth downe and slippeth back againe And great things of this Earth are a burden to themselves summisque negatum stare diu It is denied to great things to stand long Alas how long did one of the Kings of Gods People raigne even Zachariah poore six moneths Shallum came not to this he raigned in Samaria one moneth And Zimri who came to the Crowne by blood had a shorter raigne He did walk with a Crowne seven dayes If Pope Victor the fifth had a longer time of a golden chaire it was but five years and Clemens the third ruled but three yeers and Alexander the eleventh only two yeers And though it be but a fiction that Kingdomes have their fatall yeers and Monarnarchies are under Planetary houres yet some truth must be in this Kingdomes have their infancy and come to a greater strength till they come to their flowre and then they begin to turn and it is congruous to their experienced truth That Kingdomes finde old age And gray hairs are here and there upon Ephraim and he knoweth not 7. 9. It is much better to bee a subject or one of the States of the Kingdome of grace for grace knoweth no old age nor hath grace an internall principle of corruption for it is the seed of eternall glory and though the Powers of the Earth may subvert the foundation and Fundamentall Laws of earthly Kingdoms yet cannot Christs Kingdome or the constitution of it be broken But that which doth loose the Pillars of a Kingdome is sinne Amos. 1. For three transgressions of Edom and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof So Ammon Moab Judah are under the same punishment There is no way to secure England from wrath but turning to the Lord And especially two sinnes in the State are to be seriously taken to heart 1. You suffered many worthy servants of God who pleaded the Lords cause for a Reformation against the Prelates to be silenced deprived imprisoned banished Both in the reigne of Queene Elizabeth and of King James Prelates oppressed the servants of Christ and did tyrannize over the conscience of the Lords people in this Land former Parliaments did not give Christ and his servants faire Justice and now hath the Lord stirred up these oppressors to oppresse your Parliament and to raise bloody wars against the Land 2. It is said Hos. 5. 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgement because he willingly followed the Commandement It hath been the sinne of this Land that when