thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power We must apply this comfort to us for we shall never be without enemies But we have our warranter and protector in heaven who fore warnes us not only of their enterprises but also of their overthrow c Esa 54.15 16 17. Behold saith he they shall surely gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake Behold I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an instrument for his worke And I have created the destroyer to destroy No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in iudgement shou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse of me saith the Lord. IX The Church is an Anvile which hath broken in peeces many hammers Or as Zechariah saith d Zach. 12.3 it is a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Where are now the foure Monarchies which persecuted the Church Hath not e Dan. 2.34 35 44 45. the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands hath not the Church of Christ the Church which is come downe from Gods holy mountaine even from heaven the Church which is not the work of any man but of God the Church which is but like a little stone in the eyes of the world hath not this little stone broken them all to peeces and consumed them like chaffe which the wind carryeth away But it is become a great mountaine which filleth the whole earth It is a spirituall kingdome which the Lord of heaven hath set up and therefore shall never bee destroyed God said to mount Seir to the people of Edom the children of Esau Because thou hast had a perpetuall hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity in the time that their iniquity had an end Therefore as I live saith the Lord God Ezech. 35.5 I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee sith thou hast not hated blood blood shall pursue thee Have any of the Massacrers of our fathers prospered How many wonderfull judgements of God upon them and their children might I relate unto you if time could permit The gaggers have beene gagged and strangled with wormes bursting out of their stinking throates those which imbrued their hands with innocent blood have swumme in their owne blood the children of persecuters were seene begging at the doores of your fathers whom their fathers had spoiled Many pursued by the divell did runne up and downe like mad men crying that they were damned because they had persecuted the Church and shed innocent blood Then the Church sang to God g Psal 92.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. O LORD how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deepe A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a foole understand this when the wicked springs as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever but thou O LORD art most high for evermore for loe thine enemies O LORD for loe thine enemies shall perish All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered but my horne shalt thou exalt like the horne of the Vnicorne c. X. The author of the booke of Wisedome saith that h Sap. 6.5 sharpe iudgement shall be to them that be in high places And experience teacheth that the iudgements of God on them have beene most sharpe conspicuous and wonderfull i 1. King 21.19 22.38 In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth which Achab shed there they licked Achabs blood Proud k 2. King 9.35 36. Iezabel after she had slain the Prophets of the Lord was eaten by dogs Neither was there left in the family of Achab so much as a dogge that pissed against the wall In the beginning of the twenty seaventh chapter following our text the Prophet saith that l Esa 29.1 in that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent even Leviathan that crooked serpent and hee shall slay the dragon that is in the sea He calleth so the Kings of Assyria and of Babylon which were the most cruell subtile and venemous persecuters of his Church Consider and see how he punished them m 2. King 19. Senacharib was slaine by his owne sonnes in the house of Nisroch his God And n Herodot Euterp◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after his death the Egyptians whom he had oppressed erected unto him an image of stone with this inscription Whosoever looketh upon me let him feare God His third son Esar Haddon was slaine by Merodach Baladan who transported the Empire from Nimveh in Assyria to Babylon in Chaldea o Dan 5.1 Belshazzar the first and last of Merodaches race was killed among the goblets and dishes and in the midst of his Courtiers and Concubines whilest he was blaspheming the name of God the Monarchie was by Cyrus and Darius translated to the Medes and Persians p 2. Macc. 9.9 Antiochus Epiphanes famous for his most unnaturall and barbarous cruelty against the Church of the Iewes was smitten with the incurable and remedilesse sicknesse of wormes and lice which rising up out of his bowells and all the parts of his body consumed his flesh with many and strange torments and such a stinking smell that he himselfe could not abide it Thus dying a most miserable death hee left his Realme to his children amongst whom God sent the Spirit of division and discord which left them never in peace till they were consumed one by another XI Herodées q Ioseph Antiquit. Iudaic. lib. 17. cap. 8. Idem de bello Iudaico lib. 1. ca. 21. murtherer of the children of Bethelem through the righteous judgement of God became parricide of his owne children and at last after he had been long tortured with a cholike passion and unspeakeable torments in his entrails and all disfigured with the dropsie and scurfe wherwith his whole body was spread over was gnawen by swarmes of lice and worms which bursting forth out of those parts of his body which naturall shame commanded him to hide and dolefull necessitie constrained him to discover made him a most filthy and stinking spectacle to his Courtiers and a most loathsome guest to himselfe r Ioseph Autiq. lib. 18. cap. 9. Herodés Antypas who beheaded Iohn Baptist was relegated to Lion with his incestuous wife Herodias and ended there his wicked life by a wretched and miserable death Å¿ Euseb hâ—st
SERMON IV. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. A All the Evills of the Righteous man and of the Church are foretold in the Scriptures 2. The cause of the righteous mans evills is the Antipathie which is betweene him and the wicked 3. As soone as a man begins to serve God he is persecuted 4. Satan is most incensed against those which have some speciall charge in the State or in the Church 5. Christ forewarneth us of persecutions that we may waite for them knowing that they are the way to heaven 6. It is strange that God not onely suffereth the righteous man to have so many evills but also will bee called the author of them all 7. God doth it for the righteous mans sake for other mens sakes for his owne sake 8. He correcteth the righteous man of his former sinnes 9. Hee withdraweth him from sinne in time to come 10. And therewith tryeth him 11. Often without any regard to sinne his onely end is to try him 12. As it is prooved by the examples of Iob 13. Of the spouse in the Canticles 14. And of Saint Paul 15. Great tryall of the Churches of the Palatinat and of France 16. Moreover afflictions are the exercise of the righteous mans Faith Meeknesse Charitie Patience Prayers Hope 17. And wonderfull constancie 18. Difference betweens the Righteous man and the Hypocrite 19. Prayer I. THE manifold Evills which are incident to Gods dear ones howsoever they be so extream that they are sometimes driven by them upō the brim of the sleep downfal of despairing yet this consideration me thinks is forcible and most able to blunt the sharpest edge of most vehement sorrows to sweeten their gall to asswage their violence and make their seeming intolerable heavinesse easie to be borne that they come not at unawares and unlooked for but if we have eares to heare and eyes to see may be both foreknowne and foreseene Surely our Lord Iesus Christ was no sooner presented to the Lord in the Temple but Simeon prophecyed of him that a Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising againe of many in Israel and for a signe which shall be spoken against And Christ himselfe foretold his Disciples that b Mat. 10.16 17 18. he sent them forth as sheepe in the midst of Wolves that they should bee delivered up to the Councells scourged in the Synagogues brought before Governors and Kings for his sake yea c Ioh 16.2 that whosoever killed them should thinke that he did God service Neither speaketh he of his Apostles onely which were then present to heare his words but in the parable of the marriage of the Kings sonne he forewarneth all his servants which he is to send forth to call men to the wedding that d Mat. 22.6 they shall be intreated spitefully and slaine And compareth his Church which is the Congregation of righteous men e Mat. 7.25 to an house builded upon the rocke which is storme-beaten with the floods of crosses and winds of persecutions Therefore the holy Apostles exhorted the Disciples to continue in the faith shewing them that f Act. 14.22 we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God Which we All righteous men all true Christians for gall that will live godly in Iesus Christ shall suffer persecution g 2. Tim. 3.12 The Lord himselfe sheweth for what end such things are foretold us saying h Ioh. 16.4 These things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them for lest we should be overtaken with afflictions he advertiseth us that they shall come and therefore adviseth us to looke for them that fore-casting and expecting them we may be upon our guard according to the exhortation of the Apostle i Eph. 6.13 take unto us the whole armour of God that we may bee able to withstand in the evill day and having overcome all stand still like the rocke in the sea which all the foaming waves of the Ocean all the thundering tempests of the ayre all the spite and might of all the elements cannot shake When povertie orbitie shamefull and smarting diseases when all kind of mischiefes rushed upon Iob with such sudddainesse that he had no leasure to heare and consider the particulars of any one of them how could he have worshipped God how could hee have faid k Iob 1.21 The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the name of the Lord if when he was at ease he had not exercised himselfe with the conceit of all evills which are incident to man if hee had not harped often upon this meditation God may deprive thee of all thy children bring thee to leannesse of teeth pull away thy soule from thy body he hath done so to many other why not to thee Nothing in my opinion made Paul more forward to suffer afflictions more bold to resist them more strong to overcome them than the forewarnings l Act. 20.23 which the Holy Ghost gave him that in every citie bonds and afflictions waited for him All they waited for him hee waited for them and when they they thought to steale upon him they found him ready to buckle with them and lend them his necke Brethren Iesus Christ hath not deceived us he hath not made to his Disciples stately and loftie promises of riches of honours of worldly preferments as Cyrus the younger did to his followers ye heare him speaking aloud m Luk. 14.16 27. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his owne life also he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not beare his crosse and come after me cannot be my Disciple What the Lord hath foretold experience hath made good n Rev. 6. At the opening of every seale of the sealed booke which is the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ Iohn saw some new plague follow thereupon and we see nothing round about us in forraine countreys where that booke is unsealed but wars but dearth but death but all kind of miseries Consider then I pray you weigh wel upon what conditions ye have mustered among the cōpanies of Christs souldiers where your pay is losse of all your goods your gaine is death your victory is not of things seene your triumph is disgrace infamie and shame For if o Luk. 14.33 ye forsake not all that ye have goods life honours dignities ye cannot be Christs Disciples II. Looke what antipathie what contrarietie of humours is in nature betwixt plants and plants as betwixt the Vine and the Colewort betwixt the Colewort and the Hearbe grace betwixt the plants and beasts as betwixt the Serpent and the Ash-tree the serpent and the Rue betwixt beasts and beasts as betwixt the Catte and the Mouse betwixt the Wolfe and the sheepe
fruit thereof let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be no more remembred IV. Amongst the righteous men Satan is most incensed against those whom God pickes out from amongst the rest separates for some speciall and excellent worke in the Church or in the State For as Pirates saile by Barkes and small ships and boord Carrackes and other huge ships laden with the riches of the Orient so Satan lyeth in wait for those principally on whom God hath bestowed greatest plenty of gifts and preferred to the most eminent places in his Church As long as Iacob meddled with nothing at home Esau lived peaceably with him Sought he and obtained he his fathers blessing then Esau vowed to kill him Whilest Iesus Christ led a private life and made no shew of those treasures of heavenly graces which were hid in him the divell considered him not but when the Spirit lighted upon him in the bodily shape of adove when his Fathers voice was heard from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased when by the Baptisme of water and of the Spirit he was installed in the dignitie and imployment of Mediatour betwixt God and man then the divell heeded him tempred him set on foote against him as many enemies as there were men which knew him When Saul was a Pharisee exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers and a persecuter of the Church hee was much regarded and honoured of the Iewes but when of a Captaine he became an Apostle of a violent Persecuter a most zealous Preacher of a Iew a Christian of Saul Paul he became therwith a marke wherat the divell and his Angells did shoote all the venemous and fierie arrowes of their indignation What wonder then if the divell who hath ever his bow bent and ready aimeth chiefly at the Rammes and Leaders of Christs flocke hee knoweth by long experience and too too many tryalls that it is not written in vain l Zac. 13.7 Mat. 26.31 I will smite the shepheard and the sheepe of the flocke shall be scattered abroad V. Ye see then againe upon what condition ye are and name your selves Christians m Ioh. 15.19 If saith Christ ye were of the world the world would love his owne but because yee are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you Tribulation trouble sorrow griefe teares all the evills that the divells malice can find out are the Christian mans portion in this world His hopes are not of this life for no reward is promised unto him but in the world to come As the bird-catcher casteth a little corne before the birds and hideth the net wherewith he involves them and as the fisher covereth the fish-hooke with the mortall bait whereunto hee knoweth the fish will speedily swimme so these which mind to deceive promise alwayes pleasant things and like unto the Syrenes of the Poets they sing most sweete songs to charme the simple ones whom they go about to intrap but the venome is in the taile and hee who listeneth unto them is amazed to see how by too much credulitie he hath bin drawn upon the dangers is sunke among the shelves of stinging cares and killing evills n Gen. 3.4 5. The divell spake of nothing to Eve but of knowledge of good and evill but of immortalitie but of eternity of life but of being like unto God himselfe what-she found ye know all Ignorance death resemblance to the imposter who had deceived her was the reward of the lightnesse of her beleefe o Mat 4.8 9. The Tempter shewed to Christ all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them and promised them all unto him so that he would fall downe and worship him p Mat. 7.15 The false Prophets come in sheepes cloathing that when oportunity shall serve they may dismember the whole flock The Papists and other Heretikes of this age couer their deadly poyson of false doctrine with the sugar of entising words and shew to those which have not their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill a golden cuppe of most delightfull and pleasant promises which when they put to their head they drinke nothing but gall and wormewood Fathers doe not so to their children they send them to the schoole give them Pedagogues and Tutors to instruct them and hold them in awe keepe them under a most seuere and rigorous discipline untill they come to mans age and be able to doe good service Then and no sooner they looke upon them with a cleere face they use them familiarly they open to them their purses they advance them to honours and dignities they make them their heires After this manner our heavenly Father at the beginning speakes to us most roughly of sorrowes and vexations hee schooles us in Christs Colledge where afflictions are our Tutors and rods our lessons q Mat 7.14 He forewarneth us that the way wherein we are to walke till we come to the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore is narrow and spred over with thornes that the gate whereby we must enter if wee desire to enter into the kingdome of his glory is very straite and low to the end that when we finde such a way wherein there is nothing but narrownesse grinnes and bryars and such a gate wherein we cannot enter without pressing thrusting and stooping we may say one to another as it is written in the Prophet r Isa 30.21 This is the way walke yee in it whether ye turne to the right hand and whether yee turne to the left and concluding with reioycing as Iacob did in his great affliction Å¿ Gen. 8.17 This is the gate of heaven pray and say with David t Psal 118.18 19. Open to me the gates of righteousnesse I will goe into them I will praise the Lord this is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter VI. Flesh and blood cannot abstaine from controlling of this wise and fatherly course which Almightie God takes with his beloved children It is a strange and most uncouth thing to mans conceit that God not onely permits that his Saints which feare his Majestie which doe his will which lead among men an Angelicall life and are heaven upon earth should be thus exposed to so many calumnies vexations torments losses in commodities of this life and most dangerous tentations but also will be called the Author and cause of them all for it is he hee himselfe which asketh v Amos 3 6. Shall there be any evill in the citie and shall not the Lord doe it x Lam. 3.38 Evill and good proceede they not out of the mouth of the most High May he not represse the raging furie of our adversaries may hee not convert them all as hee did Paul If he will not convert them may he not destroy them at unawares as
promise it is both wonderfull and profitable to consider for when hee will shew his strength that which he doth seemeth contrarie to that which he intendeth to doe When he came to lighten and gladden Abrahams soule by the confirmation of his promises he sent m Gen. 15.12 an horror of great darkenesse upon him n Gen. 32.25 When hee came to blesse Iacob hee wrestled with him and put his thigh out of joynt o 2. Kin. 2.21 Elisha sweetned the unholsome waters with salt p Ioh 9.6 Iesus Christ putting clay on the eyes of a blinde man restored him to his sight q Marc. 7.33 he put his fingers into the eares of a man that was deafe and they were opened Even so he debased and abated Ioseph to the lowest pit of the prison that his power might be marvelled at in advancing of him to the highest dignitie of Pharaos Court. Hee winked at Pharao and his armie when they persecuted and pursued his people into the midst of the red sea that when with the blast of his nostrils the sea came and covered them and they sunke as lead in the mightie waters his people might sing unto him r Exod 15.11 Who is like unto thee O LORD amongst the gods who is like thee glorious in holinesse fearefull in praises doing wonders and his enemies might say of him that Å¿ Iosh 2.11 hee is God of Heaven above and in earth beneath Hee permitted Senacherib King of Assyria to take all the defensed cities of Iuda and to bring Hezakiah to such extremitie that hee had not two thousand men to withstand him then hee sent his Angel from Heaven to deliver him then t Esa 37.20 all the kingdomes of the earth knew that he is the Lord even hee only Consider Nebucadnezzar in his rage fury comanding to heat the burning fierie furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heat and to cast the three Confessors into it saying to them v Dan. 3.15 Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands His mind was to destroy the bodies of these Saints But O miracle of the almightie power and vertue of God! the fire was a rampier and wall to guard them the flame was a garment to clothe them the furnace was a fountaine to refresh them Mortall bodies were cast into the fire they were not hurt thereby as if they had bin immortall the flames received them tyed and untying them were tied themselves They spared the hands and the feet whereof they burned the bands They slew the men that cast these Salamanders into the furnace for the furnace was exceeding hot to teach you that the strength of the fire was neither extinguished nor abated yet they touched not the bodies of the Saints not changing their nature but bearing respect to their godlinesse yea and such respect that there was not an haire of their head singed neither were their coats changed neither had the smell of fire passed on them which goeth beyond all admiration The fire dared not touch but their bands The Tyrant fettered them the fire unfettered them that ye may see the crueltie of the Tyrant and the obedience of the element The Princes and Governours of the kingdome were come thither to see the great solemnitie of the dedication of the golden image but they saw that which they could never have thought of They came to worship the idoll they went home admiring and worshiping the power of God The king himselfe who ere-while had cast in the fire these three Confessors because they would not serve his gods nor worship the golden image which he had set up was constrained to worship their God and to confesse that x Vers â—9 there is none other God that can deliver after this sort So Satan was confounded in his malice seeing his power abated by his owne craft whereby he laboured to overthrow the servants of the living God and Gods Power Wisdome Goodnesse Providence was glorified in their deliverie God y 1. Kin. 17 4. spake to the ravenous Ravens and they fed Elijah He a Ion. 2.10 spake to the Whale and it vomited out Ionas upon the dry land When his people was scattered hither thither among the Chaldeans Assyrians Medes Persians and other Nations b Esa 43.6 bee said to the North Give up and to the South Keep not backe bring my sons from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes c Ps 76.11 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee XV. Such examples of the glorious power of God in the afflictions of righteous men are most frequent in the New Testament As in the creation he commanded light to shine out of darkenesse So in the redemption of mankind he made our Saviour a curse for us that hee might blesse us and put to death the Prince of life that through his death he might give life to those which were dead His enemies sealed and guarded the Sepulchre where hee was buried and said d Psal 3.2 There is no help for him in God But e Rom. 1.4 hee was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead and was more glorious in his death than he was in his life So his Church is never so wonderfull as in the persecution Then f Exod. 3.2 3 4. ye see the great sight which made Moses amazed The bush burning with fire and yet not consumed What more vile than a bush what more contemp tible in the eyes of men than the Church what more susceptible of burning than a bush what so easie to bee overthrowne as the Church as the little flocke of weak sheepe inclosed with an armie of strong and cruell wolves yet the bush was not burnt because God was in the midst of the bush So the Church cannot be destroied because Christ hath said g Matth. 28 Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Consider h Act. 16.22 Paul and Silas torn with stripes thrust into the inner prison and their feete made fast in the stocks The infidels might have said that the God who suffreth his servants to be thus abused is either weake and impotent or unrighteous and malicious But see behold in this permission a most wonderfull work of his power goodnesse and mercy His Saints had their feete in the stockes their hands in the gyves Their heart was franke their tongue was free The Divell was then a prentise and had not learned to gag Their heart was inditing a good matter Their tongue was the pen of a readie writer At mid-night they were waking What did they while they waked did they howle for griefe and paine complained they of their contumelies accused they the crueltie of the blood-thirstie Governors blamed they the rigor of the pitilesse
our enemies our evils b Psal 138.6 Though the LORD be high yet hath he respect unto the Lowly but the proud he knoweth afarre off Almighty without a peere in heaven among the Angels in earth among the most dreadfull creatures as the Church singeth c Psal 89. 6 8 9 11 13 For who in heaven can bee compared unto the LORD Who among the sonnes of the mighty can bee likened unto the LORD OLORD God of Hosts who is a strong LORD like unto thee or to thy faithfulnesse round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them The heavens are thine the earth also is thine As for the world and the fulnesse thereof thou hast founded them Thou hast a mighty arme strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand When wee complaine and make our moane to God d Psal 93.3 4. The flouds have lifted up O LORD the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves we are taught to comfort our selves and to say The LORD who is on high is mightier than many waters yea than the mighty waves of the sea All-righteous for e Psal 103.16 the LORD executeth righteousnesse and iudgement for all that are oppressed All-good and most willing to deliver us for he is the LORD our God f Psal 50.1.7 The mighty God even the LORD hath spoken saying I am God even thy God hee is appeased to wards us he is reconciled with us through the blood of the crosse of his deare Sonne Our cause is his cause We are persecuted for righteousnesse sake Righteousnesse is the daughter of God We are persecuted for the Gospel The Gospel is his word We are persecuted for Christs sake Christ is his Sonne his deare Soone his onely Sonne I say then that he is All-wise and can All-mighty and may All-good and will deliver us Whatsoever he is hee is it to us and for us because hee is the LORD our God Hee hath delivered all our fathers predecessors g Psal 22.4 Our fathers saith David trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them He will also deliver us And therefore every righteous man prayeth h Psal 106.4 Remember mee OLORD with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may reioice in the gladnesse of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance IIX Here is the comfort here is the consolation of the Church and of every righteous man in her that God heareth their prayers and delivereth them even then and namely then when they are forsaken of all men Iacob was alone when he fled from his fathers house because his brother Esau had vowed to kill him Then the Lord appeared unto him in a dreame and said unto him i Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and will keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee againe into the land for I will not leave thee untill I have done that which I have spoken to thee of David complaineth that k Psal 25.16 hee was desolate and afflicted yet hee seeketh comfort in the assurance of Gods assistance and saith l Psal 27.10 When my father and my mother forsake me then the LORD will take me up What extremitie was the Church brought into under the persecution of the cruell Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes m Dan. 11 32 45. who corrupted by flatteries such as did wickedly against the covenant and afflicted those which were upright so cruelly and so puissantly that there was none to help them Then the Church prayed n Psal 74.1 O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoake against the sheepe of thy pasture Then Sion said againe o Esa 49. 14 15. The LORD bath forsaken me and my LORD hath forgotten me Then the Lord answered againe Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee For then was fulfilled that Prophecy of Daniel p Dan. 12.1 At that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke Who is this Michael who like unto God who but our Lord Iesus Christ the great Prince which standeth and fighteth for his people when they can neither stand nor fight for themselves Was it not hee which cryed from heaven to Saul q Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me When an hoste came from the King of Syria and compassed the Citie of Dothan where Elisha was to take him his servant was affrighted and said r 2. Kin. 6.15 16. Alas my master how shall we doe But hee answered Feare not for they that be with us are moe than they that be with them After the same manner when the king Hezekiah was brought by Senacheribs army to such a pinch that he was constrained to inclose himselfe within the walls of Ierusalem for the safetie of his life all his kingdome being taken from him and having no power to resist fortified himselfe in the Lord his God and heartned his people saying f 2. Chron. 32.7 8. Be strong and courageous bee not afraid nor dismaid for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be moe with us then with him With him is the arme of flesh but with us is the LORD our God to helpe us and to fight our battells Yee see a good and godly king see also a good and godly people And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Iuda i.e. notwithstanding their weakenesse and fewnesse they leaned upon God and were delivered S. Raul with good reason did complaine of all his followers that at his first answer before Nero t 2. Tim. 4.16 No man stood with him but all men forsooke him Was he for that destitute and left alone Notwithstanding saith he the Lord stood with me and strengthened me And therefore when he saw all the powers of hell and all the malice of the earth uncoupled after poore Christians hee defied them saying v Rom. 8.30 If God be for us who can be against us Even as David said x Psal 27.1 3. The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I feare The LORD is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid though an hoste should encampe against me my heart shall not feare though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident and as Iesus Christ said to his Disciples y Ioh. 16.32 Ye shall leave
thy nature but of the workes of thy iudgements and mercies Brethren Iearne and wonder Men speake so of God And therefore God borroweth mens phrases and as they speake of him so speaketh he of his owne selfe e Ier. 23.24 Wicked men when they spoile kill and abuse most licentiously the righteous man doe say f Psal 94.7 The LORD shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it As if he were in his Closet fast asleepe or busied with other matters when they reele to and fro to doe mischiefe or as if he dwelt so farre off from them that he cannot see them What say they g Iob 22.12 13 14. Is not God in the height of heaven and behold the height of the starres how high they are how doth God know Can he iudge through the darke cloud Thicke cloudes are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven For this cause God saith that seeing they thinke and speake so he will come out of his place to visit i.e. to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie Even as it is said when the Giants were building the Towre of Babel that h Gen. 11.5 7. the LORD came downe to see the City and the Towre which the children of men builded and said Goe to let us goe downe and there confound their language And as when he was to destroy Sodome and Gomorrha he said to Abraham i Gen. 18.21 I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know As likewise when his time was come to take vengeance of Pharao and deliver his people he said to Moses k Exod 3.7 8. I have surely seene the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taske-masters for I know their sorrowes and I am come downe to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians When he withdraweth his care from his children and suffereth his enemies to afflict them he saith in Hosea l Hos 5.15 I will goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence And then they acknowledging their owne folly cry unto him m Psal 60.1 O turne thy selfe to us againe n Psal 80.14 Returne we beseech thee ô God of hostes looke downe from heaven and behold and visit this Vine After the same manner when he destroyeth their persecuters he delivereth them and saith that he commeth out of his place to visit them them who are his children in his favour them who are his enemies and the oppressors of his children in the extremitie of his anger IV. He calleth the one and the other his visitation For o 1 Tim. 6.16 he dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto and cannot be seene of us but by his workes which when he displayeth not we thinke and we say that he is absent But when we see and feele them then we say he is present and hath visited us As we speake of him so speaketh he of himselfe though p Act. 17.27 28. hee be not farre from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being Or rather he teacheth us that he doth all things by rule by number and by ballance that first he takes a perfect notice of our estate and afterwards setteth his workes forward The workes whereby he visiteth us are either of mercie or of iudgement And therefore his visitations are taken in the Scriptures sometimes for his mercies sometimes for his iudgements And it is said that he visiteth us either when he giveth us conspicuous testimonies of his favour or when he punisheth us for our sinnes In the first sense it is said that q Gen. 21.1 the LORD visited Sarah as he had said which in the words following is thus explained And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken Because he fulfilled his promise and gave a Sonne to Sarah the Scripture saith that he visited Sarah In the same sense Ioseph said to his brethren r Gen. 50.25 God will surely visite you i.e. deliver you And so is the word expounded by Zacharias in his song where he saith that ſ Luk. 1.68 God hath visited and redeemed his people Ye reade the like in the Acts where it is written that t Act 15.14 God did visite the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his Name For their calling to the light of the Gospell was their visitation When Ierusalem made light of that light Christ said that v Luk. 19.44 she knew not the time of her visitation In the second sense visitation of punishment is double The one is of love and of grace whereby God visiteth his owne deare children as he said to David x Psal 89.31 32 33. If they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements then will I visite their transgression with the rod and their imquitie with stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile We have heard heretofore that this kinde of visitation is most usefull It is not so much y Minut. Felix Non est poena militia est Fortitudo enim infirmitatibus roboratur Et calamitas saepius disciplina virtutis est a punishment to the Church as her warfare For fortitude is corroborated by infirmities And often affliction and calamitie is the schoole and mistresse of vertue It is ever so to the Church The other commeth from Gods heavie wrath and indignation and hath for end not the correction but the destruction of the sinner As when God said that hee a Hos 1.4 would visite the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu he threatned the Kings house with a totall and finall overthrow as he saith in the words following that he would cause to cease the kingdome of the house of Israel In this sense David made this prayer to God b Psal 59.5 O LORD God of hostes the God of Israel awake to visite all the heathen for he addeth by way of exposition Be not mercifull to any wicked transgressors This word is so taken in this text when the Prophet saith that the Lord commeth out of his place to visite i. e. to punish in his anger and hot displeasure Whom will he visite V. The inhabitants of the earth What Are not all men are not Gods servants inhabitants of the earth aswell as other men No men to speake properly are inhabitants of the earth For we are all tenants at the will of the great Lands Lord not owners and our life is a soiourning rather than a dwelling on earth All true beleevers acknowledge this truth and say in their prayers to God c 1 Chro. 29.15 We are strangers before thee and soiourners as were all our fathers Our dayes on the earth