A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE RIGHT HONORABLE House of LORDS In the Abbey Church at Westminster Wednesday the 25. day of Iune 1645. Being the day appointed for solemne and publique Humiliation By SAMUEL RUTHERFURD Professor of Divinitie at St. Andrews Esay 8. 17. And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crook and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Greene Dragon in Pauls Churchyard 1645. Die Iovis 26. Iunii 1645. IT is this day ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That Mr. Rutherfurd who preached yesterday before the Lords in Parliament in the Abbey Church Westminster is hereby thanked for the great paines he tooke in his said Sermon And is desired to print and publish the same which is to bee printed onely by authority under his owne hand To the Gentleman Usher or his Deputie to be delivered to the said Mr. Rutherfurd Iohn Brown Cler. Parliamentorum I appoint Andrew Crooke to print this Sermon Samuel Rutherfurd Errata PAge 17. line 27. for stope read slops p. 18. li. 4. for it read at p. 23. l. ult for feeleth r. fleeth p. 28. l. 19. for Emphesis r. Emphasis p. 29. l. 30. for end r. send p. 48. l. 15. for Chap. 4. r. Chap 24. p. 50. l. 20. for same r. sonne p. 54. l. 9. for 22 r. 42. p. 55. l. 1. for it r. unbeleefe To the godly and ingenuous READER AS the Text of the booke of divine providence worthy Reader is the Church and Spouse of Jesus Christ for every line word and letter thereof hath a necessary relation to that body whereof Christ Jesus is head so the draughts and passages of providence towards all creatures yea to devils and the haters of Zion seeme to bee but Annotations in the Margin of this great volume There bee many wonders and depths in the book and the Lord doth even before our eyes in this old age of the world create new things and miracles in Britaine 1. It is most congruous to divine wisedome to time fitly the laughing and the weeping of the children of men the triumphing of the wicked and their prosperitie The Sackcloth and teares of the prisoners of hope seeme darke and mysterious Chapters of the booke especially because wee trade by the senses and colour of things for wee see not how God hath set his enemies in slippery places and that the throne that mysticall Babylon sitteth on is made of Crystall glasse and the pillars thereof nothing but Saffes of ever-guilded earth the Sonnes of God would not exchange their teares with the joy of the wicked O that wee had grace to read to a full period and with the sense of a godhead every section of the treatisc of providence wee doe halfe both the word and the workes of God wrong reading of God in his wayes doth spoyle the true sense and scope of God in his acting The light of faith maketh legible to us that The vision at the end shall speak and not lie and that light is sowen to the righteous then the harvest must be hoped for and wee erre not a little if wee comment any otherwise on the short triumphing of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite for a moment even when his excellency mounteth up to heaven and his head reacheth unto the clouds then that his golden heaven is not onely lined with silken troubles and woes but also that hee goeth downe to the grave and the Chambers of hell in a moment 2. This seemeth darke to us that all the heires of one inheritance do not mind and speak the same thing yet in the Apostolick Church there hath been some discord 1 Cor. 1. 10. Phil. 1. 2. Rom. 15. 5. Gal. 5. 10. more love lesse pride of opinion and judgement must either bee in these kingdomes or then wee are to feare that God must worke us to an union by the sword of the common enemy wee might have union at an easier rate 3. It is a mystery but it is also from the Lord who is wonderfull in counsell that truth must bee trailed through floods of blood 4. That a Church is greene and flowring and smelling out beautie glory and life in the flaming fire that the crueltie policie wisedome counsels of nations round about Britaine and so many bloody men within our bowels in the three kingdomes doe kill us and behold wee live troubleand us wee are not distressed perplex us and wee despaire not persecute us and we are not forsaken cast us downe and wee are not destroyed What a living death what a breathing and triumphing grave is this what a shining darkenesse what a rejoycing sorrow is here 5. Wee wonder that our warres are not at an end But Gods thoughts are not like our thoughts when God hath by the sword taken away his Jewels and his pretious ones out of these Kingdomes it is rather like the continued burning of the house then any apparent end of our miseries 6. Yet after the Lord hath made the glory of Jacob thinne and the fatnesse of his flesh to wax leane are wee not in silence and hope to beleeve that a remnant must bee saved and that yet gleaning Grapes shall bee left in the kingdomes as the shaking of an Olive tree two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough foure or five in the outmost fruitfull branches thereof saith the Lord God of Israel Lord hasten his worke and ripen us by humiliation and turning to him who hath smitten us for the day that the Lord is bringing forth out of the wombe of his decree of peace when the light of the Moone shall bee as the light of the Snnne and the light of the Sunne shall bee seven fold as the light of seven dayes Farewell A SERMON PREACHED before the Right Honorable the House of LORDS at their Monethly Fast June 25. 1645. in the Abbey Church at Westminster Luke 8. 22. Now it came to passe on a certaine day that he went into a ship with his Disciples and he said unto them let us goe over into the other side of the Lake and they lanced forth 23. But as they sailed he fel asleep there came down a storme of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and were in jeopardie 24. And they came to him and awoke him saying Master master we perish then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calme 25. And he said unto them where is your faith and they being afraid wondered saying one to another What manner of man is this for he commandeth even the windes and the water and they obey him Marke 4. 38. And hee was in the hinder part of the ship asleepe on a pillow and they awake him and say unto him Master carest thou not that wee perish
mount Sense of Christs sweetnesse in Preachers is not so good as faith but it is more excellent then hearesay there is a sense of faith in such as have beene in the Mount with Christ I beleeved therefore I spake 2 Cor. 4. 13. Sense of Christ is an excellent Preacher of Christ Now beleeve wee say the Samaritans Ioh. 4. 42. not because of thy saying for wee have heard him our selves every faithfull pastor is not onely a messenger to speake tydings but a witnesse who saw and heard the visions of God Secondly Crosse-bearing is not easily learned Christ had the perfect art of it Heb. 5. 8. the Disciples must see how straight Christs shoulders are in walking under the Crosse to learne to doe is no difficill thing in comparison of learning to suffer Thirdly wee know our owne weaknesse best in conversing with Christ Christs beautie and fairenesse casteth a shade and a light on our blacknesse wee are all faire enough while wee see Christs fairenesse Esay 6. 5. Fourthly the more you converse with Christ the more you partake of heaven to bee with your selfe is to bee in ill company to be with the world rubbeth rust on you to be with Christ leaveth a smell of heaven and a die and colour of another world on you that you shall never rub off to touch perfume and sweet oyntments leaveth a witnesse behind it none can preach nor suffer but such as have beene with Christ to see and heare you may bee called to a bloody death for Christ I pray you aske when was you last with Christ and how oft was you with him or was you ever with him Thirdly the time of his sayling Marke saith in that same day when the evening was come chap. 4. 35. that is in the day that hee preached the parables you have Matth. 13. it is like hee went to Sea in the evening when hee had preached all the day Luke saith indefinitely on a certaine day how ever there is no waste of words here two Evangelists as their manner is doe write a Diurnall of Christs life and actions they chronicle Christs time carefully Whence see wee how well Christ husbanded his time upon earth Act. 10. 38. he went about doing good So in his message to Herod Luke 13. 32 33. Goe tell Herod Behold I cast out devils and doe cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall bee perfected First he spent whole nights in prayer to God Luke 6. 12. wrought miracles in the night at the fourth watch Matth. 14. 25. yea now while hee is sleeping hee is making way for a miracle Secondly Early in the morning hee taught in the Temple Iohn 8. 2. and while hee was eating hee losed not time but preached in time of dinner Luke 7. 38 39. Luke 10. 39 40. and made it his meate and drinke when hee should have eaten to gaine soules Ioh. 4. 34. Thirdly hee began early being twelve yeares of age to dispute with the Doctors in the Temple and died preaching and praying on the Crosse Luke 23. 43. 44. 46. Then first such are rebuked as know not well their time Ier. 8. 7. Yea the Storke of the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of her comming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord Who is wise to know when God is watering the Land with blood to know that the yeare 1645. is that yeare of vengeance that hath beene in the Lords heart against England and Scotland This must bee a part of prophecy which the people knowes not while God reveale it Ezek. 7. 12. The time is come the day draweth neare vers. 2. Also thou sonne of man thus saith the Lord God unto the Lord of Israel an end the end is come upon the foure corners of the Land Secondly it were a right timing of actions if the honorable Parliament would begin not at the establishing of their owne Liberties Lawes houses but at the building of the house of God the Lord hath given opportunitie for many yeares of a sitting Parliament and there is not yet a face of a Church in the Land and scarcely is there one stone layd in the house of the Lord men say it is not yet time to build the house of the Lord Thirdly wee have not knowne in this our day of the Gospel these things that belong to our peace had Tyrus and Sidon Sodom and Gomorrah seen the dayes of the Son of man which England and Scotland have seene they should have repented long agoe and had wee improved the gratious opportunities of mercy our peace had beene as a River and our righteousnesse as the waves of the Sea but now wee are like broken men unable so much as to cast up our accounts far lesse to pay the rent of the Vineyard when our Vine is as the Vine of Sodom and our Grapes are Grapes of Gall there is much underhand dealing against the cause and covenant of God wee did sweare the extirpation of Prelacie Popery and Schisme now wee preach professe and print that libertie is to bee given for consciences of men and how can this bee denied to Papists and Prelates not onely every City but every family almost hath a new Religion the former unreprented wil-worship in the breasts of men against the power of godlinesse vanitie in apparell whoring extortion unjustice to widowes and Orphans whose husbands and parents were killed in the warres drunkennesse excesse lying and cousening unjust and false slanders and calumnies trusting in the arme of men and multitudes halting betweene God and Baal postponing of Christs matters to the end of the day as if Religion and the house of God were of lesse concernment to us then liberties and civill Lawes and as if both kingdomes miraculously defended by the right arme of God against mercilesse and blood-thirsty Babylon were not more obliged to the Lord of Hosts who hath saved us then that wee should now bee debtors to our owne carnall ends divisions rentings emulations sides and factions Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim though the children of one father all these and many other sinnes tesifie to our faces that the time of the Gospel hath not beene fruitfully improved by the two kingdomes Fourthly all of us generally faile in the bad husbanding of time wee are a dying ere wee know for what end wee live imagine a master send his servant to a great Citie with a written paper containing businesses of great concernment having allotted to him the space of ten sandglasses to dispatch them all should hee for the space of the first nine houres fall a drinking with his drunken companions and goe up and downe to behold all the novelties of the Citie hee should break trust Alas is not this world like a great Exchange our Paper containeth the businesse of a great kingdome up above the honour and glory of our
Lord our redemption through Christ a treaty for everlasting peace the time of infancy and childhood slippeth over and wee know not the end of our creation youth-head and mans age like a proud meadow greene faire delightfull to day and to morrow hay casteth blossomes and flowers and with one little stride skippeth over our span-length of time and wee goe through the Exchange to buy frothy honour rotten pleasure and when the last houre is come wee scarce read our masters paper we barter one nothing-creature with another alas it is but a poore reckoning that a naturall man can make who can say no more at his death but I have eaten drunken sleeped waked dreamed and sinned for the space of sixtie or seventie yeares and that is all Time like a long swift sliding River runneth through the Citie from the creation when God first set the horologe a going to the day of Christs second comming this River slideth through our fingers wee eate drinke sleepe sport laugh buy sell speake breathe die in a moment every gaspe of ayre is a fluxe of our minuts time sliding into eternitie within a few generations there shall bee a Parliament of other faces a new generation of other men in the Cities Houses Assemblies wee are now in and wee a company of night-visions shall flie away and our places shall know us no more and though this should not bee the world is not eternall being a great body made up of corruptible peeces of little dying creatures standing upon nothing if God take the legges from them at length God shall remove the passes of the watch and time shall bee no more the wheeles of time shall bee at a stand What poore thoughts shall wee have of this poore fading ball of clay the earth when the wormes shall creepe in through face cheeks and eate our tongue and seise upon Liver and heart or imagine that our spirits once entred within the line of eternitie could but stay up beside the Moone and looke downe and behold us children sweating and running for our beloved shadowes of Lands Fields Flocks Castles Towers Crownes Scepters Gold Money hee should wonder that reason is so bleare-eyed as to hunt dreames and toyes Judge righteously give faire justice to Christ doe good while it is to day consider the afternoone of a declining Sunne within few houres wee are plunged in the bosome and wombe of eternitie and cannot returne backe againe Lord teach us to number our dayes 23. But as they sayled bee fell a sleepe and there came downe a storme of wind Matth. 8. 24. a great tempest I keepe the order laid downe before this is not an ordinary storme But is not the most skilled Seaman in heaven and earth here dare the wind blow so proudly on his face who is white and ruddy and the chiefe amongst ten thousand worlds do not the Seas know their Creator and dare they wet his face who made the Sea and the dry Land Yet from the greatnesse of this storme as was cleared before from the Text wee observe that Christ his Ship his Church and passengers have in their sayling more then ordinary stormes Lamen 1. 12. Is it nothing to all you that passe by alas Christ in his sufferings hath too many passers by Behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted mee in the day of his fierce anger Chap. 2. 13. the Prophet cannot find a comparison to equall the Churches sorrow Thy breach is great like the Sea who can beale thee The Sea is a vast body and a great Sea of troubles was like to drowne the Church Chap. 1. 9. Jerusalem came downe wonderfully {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is admirably the word is from a root which signifieth to bee separated and hidden as things above sense or reason as Gen. 18. 14. Is there any thing hid or too hard or admirable to the Lord which hee cannot doe there is some great and admirable thing in the Sword of the Lord upon the three kingdomes above all that Irish Rebells or bloodly malignants can doe the curse and vengeance in afflictions from men comes from a higher hand then men men kill with the Sword but they cannot stampe upon killing with the Sword judgement and vengeance this onely God doth Lam. 2. 2. The Lord hath swallowed up all the inhabitants of Jacob and hath not pitied 4. He hath bent his bow like an enemie O terrible any enemy but God is tolerable the Lord stood with his right hand as an adversarie and slew all that was pleasant to the eye the sucking children are pleasant to the eye in the Tabernacle of the daughter of Zion bee poured out his fury like fire v. 20. Behold O Lord and consider to whom thou hast done this shall the women eate their fruite and children of a span long shall the Priests and the Prophets bee slaine in the Sanctuary Psal. 44. 19. Thou hast sore broken us or bruised us as in the place of Dragons and covered us as with a vaile or covering or garment Psal. 32. 1. with the shadow of death Death is a cold sad and fearefull garment cast over the Church and that when shee is bruised to dust and pouder how sore and heavy a storme was upon poore Job Chap. 16. 13. His archers compasse mee round about Gods terrors shot not at the rovers that God should misse the marke hee cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare hee poureth out my Gall upon the ground 14. Hee breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth on mee as a Giant What is safe in the living man when the reines that are as inward as the mans heart are cloven asunder and when Gall and Liver are taken out of the living man and powred upon the earth See how the Lord dealeth with his owne people Hos. 13. 8. I will meet them as a Beare bereaved of her Whelpes and will rent the cawle of their heart It cannot bee an ordinary paine when the webbe of fate that compasseth about the heart is torne asunder There is a sad and a blacke booke presented unto Ezekiel Chap. 3. 10. a roll of a booke written within and without page and margin lamentation and mourning and woe how doth the afflicted Church complaine Psal. 102. 3 My dayes are consumed as smoake when yesterdayes sad life is burnt to ashes what is it and my bones are burnt as an bearth 4. My heart is smitten and withered like grasse so that I forget to eate my bread 5. By reason of the voyce of my groaning my bones cleave to my skinne These and the like borrowed expressions hold forth that the storme of afflictions was terrible and loud as if it would cleave Mountaines and Rocks and there must bee such a pressure of paine here as if you would take a living mans bones and make fewell for fire and use them as we do Faggots and not that
people with a stretched out arme Moses his word of deliverance and Gods decree of bringing out the people is upon the extreame banke and margin of perishing Israel hath an hoast of cruell enemies behind them and the raging Sea before them and mountaines on every side here bee many deaths in a circle round about the Church this is like to God sleeping and the wheeles of providence at a stand there is no place for helpe from a creature except immediate omnipotency break a gap in the circle and divide the red Sea the Church of God is a field of dry and dead bones so as it is said Ezek. 37. 2. Behold the bones were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} very or exceeding dry and they say Vers 11. our hope is losed and wee are cut off yet wee know God made his owne word good Vers 12. Behold O my people I will open your graves and bring you to the land of Israel Deut. 32. 36. The Lord shall judge his people and repent himselfe for his servants But when shall that be Omnipotency is good at a dead lift when hee seeth their strength is gone Heb. that their hand is gone and there is none shut up and left when the Saints have neither hands nor feet the Lord ariseth for Christ can saile with halfe wind and play about and fetch a compasse yea hee can sayle against tide and wind and with no wind hee never sincks his bark nor breaks his helme nor loses a passenger nor misseth his harbour so how hopelesse was the condition of the Church when loving Jesus Christ is couched under a cold stone in the grave the onely hope of Davids throane he who was to restore the kingdome to Israel is gone and what shall the people of God now do utter desolation is so neare that God is put to it and the poore Churches coale so cold that they are at Lord either now or never either within three dayes restore the head of the Church or never Then the Lord Act. 5. 31. exalted buried Christ with his right hand to bee a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes 1. Reason Omnipotencie can walke in the extreame and out most margin and most pendulous banke hanging over hell and not fall Christ can drive his Chariot over mountaines and rocks and not breake one pin or wedge of it poore nothing to omnipotency is as good as Speare and Shield 2. Reas. This declares the depth of the wisedome of Gods unsearchable dispensation he suffereth malignants to ride over his people that hee may perfume the worke of hell in the enemies who are as it were skullions to purge the vessells of mercy and to humble them and may instampe their Acts with supernaturall events of faith and patience malignants plow the Church and sow blood in the three kingdomes the father of Christ the good husband man comes in to breake the clods and the fallow ground and reape the crop of the quiet fruits of righteousnesse and it is depth of wisdome to consider how God maketh use of mens sinfull ingagements having chainzed men to his cause and carries his owne holy and cleane worke of reformation through many foule hands and durtie intentions so when men thwart and crosse Gods will of precept they serve Gods will of providence a passenger walkes on the hatches of the ship toward the west Sea and tide and winde doe carry both him his motion and ship to the east the wisedome of God the Pilot of his Church overpowereth mens intentions which are set on gaine honour factions their owne by-ends ease and pleasure It is not unlike that when this worke now under the Lords wheeles in Britaine is come to a height of extreame desolation that wee are at this Lord either now or never and the Sea is come in at the broad side of the ship that the Lord will deliver by some immediate way and wee see feavours come to a height and then decrease and coole and when doth the Sea turne to an ebbing not while it flow to the utmost score of the coast and then be fullest seldome doth ever the Lord deliver his Church while their hope be gone and what if it bee so here that Parliaments Assemblies armies of and in both kingdomes navies shippings treaties victories can doe no more and then the Lord arise and by some immediate omnipotency wee never dreamed of calme our Sea and bring his owne ship to land First you never saw creatures doe any great worke but something was left to omnipotency and to God onely to bee done Moses led the people out of Aegypt but hee could not divide the red Sea and that was their way Secondly in Gods greatest workes immediate providence hath had hand The victory over Midian had more of Gods immediate worke then of Gideons Sword in it this truely to me is one continued miracle that these 1600. yeares God hath carried his ship and kept the passengers alive when persecuting Emperours when bloody Babylon when Hereticks Kings the hornes of the beast that rose out of the Sea fire faggots sword torments have torne the sailes of Christs Ship broken the Mast drowned the passengers yet wee live Joseph is blessed but when hee is separated from his brethren then blessings come upon the head of Joseph He was fast asleepe This is the saddest circumstance in their suffering What is death and the drowning of them all so they have Christ with them But Oh! Christ to their sense is as good as absent for hee is fast alseepe and as they complaine hee careth not for them Christ walking and working for a soule in the saddest affliction of the world is a blessed visitation To bee in heaven if Christ sleepe and bee not with you is a hell and to bee in hell and want his presence is two hells to bee sicke and the onely Physitian Christ will not come at mee is two hells Gods watching presence first bringeth the courage of faith To bee in the midst of devils the beleever having God with him walketh without feare even cold death that king of terrours walking with him at his right side hee hath a passe-port that will take him safe through the grave as these places prove Psal. 16. 8 9 10. Psal. 23. 4. Psal. 46. 2. 3. Mic. 7. 8. Secondly God is not present with his owne in trouble as the picture of a friend who hath much love in his heart while hee stands at your bed side seeing you goe to a great hell through a little hell of sicknesse and paine and cannot take off you one graine weight of sorrow and paine But God is in a farre other manner present Psal. 91. 15. I will bee with him in trouble but this is not all I will deliver him Esay 43. 2. when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou
Secondly if affliction put us to a humiliation for sinne as sinne and the depth of griefe for sinne putteth us to condemne our selves without flattery and lying the contrary of which is when in trouble wee give God good words and have within us lying hearts and thinke not so as the people Psal. 78. 34. who sought God when hee slew them Vers 36. Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed to him with their tongues 37. for their heart was not right within them men doe then flatter themselves when they flatter God Thirdly when we are more anxious in our fasting for Zion and the taking of the Arke of God then for our selves our Lawes goods houses lives and liberties when David made the 25. Psalme the troubles of his heart were inlarged but this was one of his great suits when hee had cause to mind himselfe 22. Redeeme Israel O God out of all his troubles Fourthly when the circumcised heart is humbled and the people shall not faint and expire through want of faith by which the just liveth 2. When they shall not so murmure and wrestle against the rod as a wilde Bull taken and lying in a net which having lost strength and feet and being overcome yet kicketh against the hunter 3. When they shall not bee surfeited with affliction so as to loathe and despise the rod as the tender stomack loatheth physicke because they are full and surfeited with the fury of the Lord These three are excellently expressed Esay 51. 20. Thy sonnes have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets for in the meetings of wayes the wild bull is catched in the net as a wild bull in a net they are full of the fury of the Lord and the rebuke of thy God it is a bad token to faint 2. to wrestle 3. to bee so drunke with Gods judgements and rebukes as against reason to cry out against God and his Prophets in trouble as these who are drunken and afflicted but not with wine Vers 21. but with the rod and rebukes and cry it was better with us in Aegypt undâ—r the Prelates and their brick and clay and toyling under ceremonies Officiall Courts tyranny of conscience and now wee are wastâ—d and destroyed and killed and 4. when the people shall as it were with pleasure and good will for so the word Levit. 26. 41. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth accept of the punishment of their iniquitie a kindly and willing satisfaction of heart in the rod of God in so farre as it calmeth and pacifieth in a manner Evangelick justice so that the Lord is eased and comforted toward his people when he hath punished them and they are eased and comforted in the declaration of the glory of his justice and with good will doe justifie God in his afflicting them as Lament 3. 41 42. Micah 7. 9. Esa. 39. 8. this willing accepting of the rod I say is a speaking signe that the rod of God is sanctified Marke 4. 39. Then hee arose and as Matth. 8. 26. hee saith to them Why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith Matthew keepeth the most naturall order for Christ first rebuked the Disciples unbeleefe before hee rebuked the Sea and the winds we have reason so to conceive of Christs method for hee requireth faith before hee worke miracles at least often hee doth so though hee confirme and strengthen that faith by miracles It is fit that Christ rebuke us ere hee deliver us from drowning Hee first rebuketh the noble man and all his nation for unbeleefe and then healeth his sonne John 4. 48 49 50. Hee first chideth Martha out of her unbeleefe and then raiseth her brother Lazarus from death John 11. 40. 43 44. and Matth. 17. 17. Hee rebuketh the father of the lunaticke child and the faithlesnesse of the perverse generation before hee cast out the devill it is fit wee bee both convinced and humbled before hee turne away his angry hand First the crosse is a mystery to us and a dumbe teacher wee understand not the language and the grammar of the rod the man of wisedome knowes it Mic. 6. 9. Vengeance is written on the wall before Belshazzer but it is in unknowne language hee doth not understand it Secondly greene and raw deliverances are plagues of God not mercies the plague is nine times removed but Pharaohs heart is neither softned nor humbled the scum abideth in the bloody Citie as the Lord complayneth Ezek. 24. 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Woe to the bloody Citie to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not gone out the Prophet in Chaldea heard that Jerusalem had beene boyled with the sword of the Lord but the scumme of their Idolatry and blood remained in them whilst the wicked of these kingdomes malignants bloody Irish rotten hearted men such backsliders and perjured Apostates as are in Scotland delivered to Satan and excommunicated while these taste of the Gall and wormwood of the wrath of God in this warre the hand of God cannot bee removed and therefore that must bee taken notice of Jer. 6. 29. The bellowes are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vaine for the wicked are not plucked away O that our Lord would boyle out on the fire the scumme of both kingdomes The whoredomes of Popish Aegypt and the ceremonies the inventions of men are not mourned for by the pastors of the Lord sure I am not by most of the Ministers in Scotland What can wee say for our confidence in our Armies our multitude Parliaments Navies our extortion oppression unjustice hollow-heartednesse in the cause of God our lying cousening budding and bribing our breach of our Covenant denying of justice to the oppressed to the widow strangers and Orphans to the poore and needy the abominable and daring opinions of God his Sonne Christ his Church his Sacraments and free grace and sanctification and holinesse in this land Thirdly judgements on a land or a person are the cup of the Lords fury now often it is the grounds and thick of the cup which is the substance and vertue of the cup and must worke the cure And possibly to sip at the brim will not doe it it is a judgement that some get not leave to heate in the furnace but are dipped in in the flood and are never at leasure to commune with their owne heart nor hath the Lord time to allure them in the wildernesse Hos. 2. 14. as Ephraim was in the Oven as a Cake unturned poore Germany hath not beene slenderly dipped in and presently out againe they have now beene in the floods and under the water these 26. yeares these kingdomes are yet greene not ripened for the mercy of deliverance ourscumme remaineth in us divisions amongst us say it is not yet time for our triumph The fields are not while already to harvest when all godlinesse is to dispute out new wayes
unto the Sea Peace peace be still The Sea is not capable of rebukes such as are given to reasonable creatures but there is a rebuking of omnipotency that is not verball but real {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is with words hardly to rebuke in conjugation kal cum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is to destroy Mal. 2. 3. Behold I will destroy your seed Esay 54. 9. I have sworne I will not bee angry with thee neither rebuke thee 2. It is to hinder the enemies in their ill courses Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke thee O Satan Mal. 3. 11. I will rebuke the devourer for your sake Psal. 68. 30. Lord rebuke the company of the Spearemen and when it is applyed to creatures voyd of reason it is by omnipotency to hinder them to hurt us and to stay their actions Psal. 106. 9. Hee rebuked the red Sea also Luke 4. 39. Jesus rebuked the seaver it holdeth forth the acts of omnipotency in Christ such as is his act of creating of an immediate faire sweet calme out of a contrary out of a boysterous and stormy Sea God hath some peeces in which is stamped so much of a legible and evident omnipotency as the worke fathereth it selfe upon God onely without a teacher so Job 26. 7. hee stretcheth out the North over the emptie place and hangeth the earth upon nothing the earth is the weightiest of any visible creature God hath made it needeth some solid resting place but the omnipotencie of the Creator doth hang it upon nothing except onely the aire round about it now the aire being so weake so yeelding an Element it were unpossible that the heavy and ponderous earth should have beene seated on the emptie and fluid aire to rest in it these five thousand yeares except omnipotency had done it for the aire of it selfe is very nothing to hold up the globe of the earth Job 38. 5. Who hath layd the measures of the earth if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who layd the corner stone thereof there bee three great questions here that few can answer but God First to take the compasse of the circumference of the globe of the earth exactly and to lay a measuring line over the Diameter and the whole body of it is a great work Secondly to know how to fasten the corner stone of the world Thirdly and how the whole weight is sustained is more then wee can tell and it is no lesse wonder Psal. 104. 2. who stretcheth out the heaven as a curtaine What a power must it bee to spread over all nations of the earth the elements and creatures in Sea and land such a large white molten webbe of Crystall glasse that hath beene spread over our head from the east end of the world to the west and north and south and there is not an hole in the webbe these five thousand yeares 2 The Sea is a fluid huge great body where can there bee a bottle to containe it 2. When it swelleth and rageth with mightie winds how is it kept from drowning the world God doth remedy these two 1. Job 38. 8. Who shut up the Sea with doores when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the wombe Vers 11. The Lord said Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed God hath put an Iron doore upon the Sea and put it under an Act and Law of omnipotency that it shall not devoure and overwhelme the earth Jer. 5. 22. he hath placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree For the second when Psal. 107. 27. the Sea is all in fire and the passengers in a mightie storme reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 29. hee maketh the storme a calme so that the waves thereof are still Esay 50. 2. Behold at my rebuke I dry up the Sea Psal. 65. 7. hee stilleth the noyse of the Seas 3. The Seas as all the rest of the creatures are by the first sinne of man broken out of the covenant of peace betweene us and them in the state of innocency and warre is denounced betweene us and them the fire should burne us the water hath Law to drowne us the aire to suffocate us the earth a Commission to swallow us up quick if Christ had not made a cessation of armes and if the Gospell were not a concluded treatie of peace and if the Lord should not rebuke the fury of the creature for some sparkes of Gods wrath yet resideth in the creature they have yet an inclination to revenge the quarrell of the treason that wee committed against their King and wee doe receive the creatures as fugitive souldiers from Gods Campe of justice and doe imploy them in warre against God as the Glutton and Drunkard imployeth meat and drinke against God the vaine persons their vaine apparell their patched faces bare breasts and shoulders as an exchange to sell the body to lust if the Lord should not rebuke our servants the creatures water fire sword and the like they would destroy us If wee looke spiritually now upon Gods dealing to these kingdomes the sword hath a charge from God to come against these lands Ezek. 21. 14. Therefore Sonne of man prophecy and smite thine hands together and let the Sword bee doubled the third time the sword of the slaine it is the sword of the great men that are slaine which entreth into their privie Chambers when God giveth the sword a commission to destroy it cannot rest Jeremiah Chap. 47. Vers 6. O thou sword of the Lord how long will it bee ere thou bee quiet put up thy selfe into thy scabbard rest and be still 7. How can it bee quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon and the Sea shore there hath bee appointed it it is then a commanded and a sent sword that now rageth in these kingdomes 2. Not onely is the Sword and the pestilence sent of God by speciall commission Jer. 24. 10. but it is his sword it is not the sword of Papists and malignants but the sword of the Lord Jer. 47. 6. The Lord saith Ezek. 14. 21. that the Sword famine noysome beasts and pestilence are his foure sore judgements wee may goe thorough these souldiers wee have the Lords passe-port Esay 43. 2. for the sword is our Fathers sword The Seas wee are in are our Fathers Seas and so cannot drowne us 3. Omnipotency taketh this as peculiar to himselfe hee onely can create peace Psal. 46. 9. Hee maketh warres to cease from the ends of the earth Esay 45. 6. I am the Lord and there is none else 7. I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill then by what title hee is God and Creator by the same hee maketh peace Psal.
65. 7. He stilleth the noise of the Seas the noyse of their waves and the tumult of people these bee two troublesome creatures the raging Sea and the people up in warres The will of furious men is an unruly and wild thing there is a strong tide and mightie and loftie winds stirring in mens hearts when they are in a feaver and heat of warre it is Omnipotencies proper worke to calme the winds and put the wheeles to a stand that peace may bee in our borders 4. Hee hath promised as hee is Creator deliverance Esay 65. 18. But bee you glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy it is the word used Gen. 1. 1. when it is said God created the heaven and the earth 5. Hee hath said hee will rebuke Kings for his Churches sake Psal. 105. 14. and Esay 50. 9. of Christs enemies They all shall wax old as a garment the moth shall eate them up Esay 49. 26. And I will feede them that oppresse thee with their owne flesh and they shall hee drunken with their owne blood as with sweet wine Are wee then to doubt but the Lord will arise and rebuke these windes Christ is in the ship called the Church of God therefore the tacklings shall not bee loosed but the mast shall bee strengthned and the sailes spread out though there breake up a leake in the ship and there was a loud noyse of loftie stormes in this poore ship such as fining confining imprisoning banishing silencing of the Pastors of Jesus Christ cutting off eares ripping of noses yet Christ arose and rebuked these winds and though there were cries of reconciliation with Rome strong tides and winds of false doctrine of altar-worship imagery vaine Idols to represent the Father and the Sonne Christ massing a new reall sacrifice the body of Popery taught in Universities preached in Pulpits printed in books Christ arose and rebuked these winds and when the three kingdomes have been swimming in blood to hold up arbitrary power in the State and the Tyranny of Antichristian prelates in the Church the Lord of Hoasts hath also rebuked these winds and will calme the Sea There bee also great stormes of sad and lamentable divisions and rents alter against alter so as the one halfe of the passengers are like to cast the other over board in the Sea these are more dangerous and judgement-like winds Oh that wee could awake the Lord that hee may arise and rebuke the Sea and the winds There hath been and still is a cry of many provocations in both kingdomes so that the Lord cannot have rest in heaven for the sinnes of the land that are come up before him The breach of the Covenant of God all sort of sinnes against both Tables no knowledge of God in the land no mercy no truth but by swearing lying killing and stealing and committing adultery wee break out and blood toucheth blood yet the Lord Jesus is a Saviour not onely of persons but also a nationall redeemer hee sprinkleth many nations Esay 52. 15. with his blood he sprinkles cleane water upon nations the house of Israel and cleanseth them from all their filthinesse and idols for his names sake Ezek. 36. 22. 25. it is the omnipotency of free grace that Christ arise and rebuke these winds and Seas also Mark 4. 39. And there was a great calme There beâ— two Characters of God in this miracle One in the manner of the doing anger goes not away from either a man or the Sea in an instant when the aire is calmed and the wind removed yet in the bowels of the Sea there remaines a wind and so a raging and working in the Sea But here without delay there is a calme Secondly in the miracle there is a Character of God there was a great calme In the former wee see God worketh irresistibly and with efficacy For when hee saveth wee must bee saved When God saith that which Isaac said I have blessed him the other must follow And hee shall bee blessed Some Creatures worke necessarily without any dominion over their actions the Sun must cast out heat the fire cannot but burne the Sea cannot but flow but because God has truly an absolute Prerogative Royall hee has a Negative voice in all the actions of the world and what is to the creature necessary and a must bee to the Lord it is free though not contingent and it hath a may bee to God and not a must bee except he will To the creature the sea must ebbe and flow the Sun must give light the fire must consume the Lyon must devoure the prey but in all these to God there is a must not bee except hee adde his affirmative voice and therefore God commandeth the Sea neither to ebbe nor flow but to stand up as two stiffe walls of glasse hee covereth the Sunne with a webbe of darknesse at the crucifying of the Lord of glory hee dischargeth the fire to burn the three children and the Lyon to eat Daniel and all these must bee because God has said they shall bee Againe as God putteth his may not bee upon things necessary to the creature so hee putteth a law of necessity upon all the contingent actions of the creature an arrow shot at a venture may kill Achab and not kill Achab but some other man neare by yet there is here to the Lord no contingency no such thing as maybee and may not bee But the arrow of the Lords vengeance must bee so timed so placed as it has no motion against any but Achab onely and against no part of him but betweene the joints of his harnesse that hee may fall and die according to the word of the Lord The way and manner that Christ hath a calme Sea wee have a calme Sea and the way that Christ commeth to land and at that very time the Disciples come to land our stomacks rise much wee say What is God doing is there not a necessitie in regard of divine justice that vengeance fall upon Malignants Papists Prelates in these Kingdomes and bloody Irish cut-throats and murtherers But wee would consider these two First these sixteene hundreth yeares Christ hath beene under wrongs and vengeance to the full hath not reached his enemies as yet for 1. the enemies of Christ are not fully subdued 2. and many of them rotten in the dust are not in their bodies tormented as yet Christ suffereth injuries and you cannot you will not have patience to indure the crueltie of bloody men Secondly Christ as wee see here devideth faire weather and foule weather with his Disciples it is enough to us that if wee bee laid low wee are low with Christ it is time enough that wee have faire weather and come safe to shoare to dry our garments at that Sunne that shineth to the glorified in heaven when Christ commeth to shoare let us weepe when
Christ weepeth and bee buried when Christ is buried when Christ rejoyceth and riseth againe wee cannot lie rotting in the grave A great Calme Matthew 8. 26. so calleth it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This is the other Character of God in this miracle that it is a great calme There is nothing in God not any judgement or worke of God but greatnesse is printed on it for the effect smelleth of the cause Job 36. 26. God is great Christ is great as the Churches danger in this Sea-voyage is great so is the calme great great buildings have great foundations great ships great sailes great Sea-ebbings have great flowings 2 Cor. 1. 10. God delivered us from so great a death some death is but an infant death and weake there is another death called by Bildad Job 18. 13. The first borne of death The Lord sheweth his people Psal. 71. 20. great and sore troubles and gives them teares to drinke in great measure Psal. 80. 5. and the people is in great distresse Nehem. 9. 37. and for that the Lord doth great things for them Psal. 126. 2. and worketh a great salvation for his people 1 Sam. 14. 45. and giveth great deliverances to David Psal. 18. 80. and to Davids seed the Israel of God Secondly there is greatnesse written upon all the workes of God Psal. 92. 5. O Lord how great are thy workes Psal. 111. Vers 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein Thirdly there is greatnesse written on his judgements against his enemies for Zach. 7. 12. there is a great wrath from the Lord of hosts on those that pull away the shoulders and makes their heart as an Adamant stone hee fighteth against the rebellious Ier. 21. 5. in anger and in fury and in great wrath and the great day of his wrath shall come upon his enemies so that they shall not bee able to stand Fourthly and there is a great reward for the righteous Psal. 19. 11. a great reward in heaven for them Matth. 5. Vers 12. A farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Then great vengeance is appointed for the enemies of God Ezek. 25. 17. and great desolation on Pharoah the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his Rivers Ezek. 29. 3. and when these kingdomes have committed great whoredomes what wonder that great judgements bee on us and many more hundreth thousands bee slaine in the three kingdomes then histories can in our ages parallel but if Babylon bee a great whore great must bee her fall all the Kings of the earth and her Merchants shall wonder and weepe and waile at her desolation Our King saith hee will repeale Lawes made against Papists in England But it is a worke above his strength to hold up the cursed throane of the beast which God hath said hee will crush if all the Kings of the earth should make their bones pillars to hold up that throne there is such a weight of vengeance lying on that throne that their bones shall bee bruised in powder Reformation is a worke of God also Zach. 13. 23. and then it is a great worke and though there bee great mountaines in the way God doth rebuke and remove such mountaines Zach. 4. 7. faint not then bee strong in the Lord No marvell wee are to sell all and buy Christ that pearle of great price Matth. 13. 46. for none hath so neare a relation to God as hee wee seeke great things seeke great Christ Luke 8. 25. And they being afraid wondered saying one to another What manner of man is this for hee commandeth even the winds and waters and they obey him This is all the fruit wee read this miracle produced in the Seamen they fall a wondring being astonished to see a man command Sea and winds First the miracles of Christ and all the workes of God are so farre inferiour to his word that they can teach us nothing of the Trinitie nor of two natures in the one person and of our mediator Iesus Christ Secondly O how little of God doe wee see especially being voyd of his owne light even Iob saith though God bee at our elbow wee know not it is hee Chap. 23. 8. Behold I goe forward and hee is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him But is this because God was neither behind Iob nor before him no God goeth round about us every man may as it were put forth his hand and grope the Almightie Act. 17. 27. therefore Iob addeth Vers 9. he is on the left hand where hee doth worke but I cannot behold him hee hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him wee cannot trace the footsteps of his unsearchable wayes alas wee but sport our selves to behold the superfice the outside and as it were the brim of divine providence men or Angels cannot dive to the bottome of the wayes of our Lord Esay 55. hee saith himselfe Vers 9. for as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts Thirdly wee come but that neare Christ that wee goe at the farthest three or foure steppes to him some are convinced and wonder they say this must bee God as Luke 4. 22. when Christ preaches as Christ and like himselfe they all beare him witnesse and wonder at the gratious words that proceed out of his mouth yet they are not a step nearer to him they despise him and say Is not this Josephs sonne Some know a Prophet hath beene amongst them Ezek. 3. 5. but they are Scorpions and briars and thornes and will not heare Secondly some ate inlightned and beleeve for an houre Matth. 13. 21. a faith that liveth for an houre is a sickly dying faith Thirdly some are a step nearer they have joy in Christ Matth. 13. 20. and the word of the Prophet is Ezek. 33. 32. to them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce and can play well on an Instrument the Gospel is sweet to many but they come not nearer they will not heare nor obey Fourthly some tast of the good Word of God and of the powers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the manifold powers of the life to come Heb. 6. 5. yet come never nearer to Christ but fall off as if they were afraid to bee converted they goe not a fift step farther on to give themselves up wholly to Jesus Christ It is not the Seamens way onely but 1. Malignants and Prelats and Papists see God in this worke they wonder and yet they resist Esay 26. 11. Lord thy hand is exalted they see not they shall see and bee ashamed for their envy at the people in this worke that the Lord is working in the three kingdomes there bee sundry notes of divinitie and footsteps of God and Malignants doe but wonder as 1. when Prelats