unfained commeth charitie a vehement love of God and of man for Gods sake and therefore God describeth the righteous man whom he delivereth by those two markes of knowledge and of love saying p Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because hee hath knowne my Name This love is conjoyned with a great reverence and respectuous feare of God and the keeping of his most holy commandements in the simplicitie of an upright life Wilt thou then bee assured of Gods salvation q Psal 85.9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that feare him r Psal 103.17 18. The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him and his righteousnesse unto childrens children to such as keepe his Covenant and to those that remember his commandements to doe them Å¿ Psal 116.6 The LORD preserveth the simple Such righteous cannot with dry eyes behold the sinnes of the world whereby God is exceedingly offended but they mourne and weepe before God and in their weeping have a most sure marke of Gods love and care towards them When God turned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes t 2. Pet. 2.7 8. He delivered the righteous Lot who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds When he was to destroy Ierusalem he gave commandement to his Angell saying v Ezech. 9.4 Goe thorow the midst of the Citie thorow the midst of Ierusalem and marke a marke upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the middest thereof If the righteous man sigheth for the abominations that be done in the world hee is no way a complice in them therefore God said to Elijah x 1. King 19 â—8 I have left me seven thousand in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him If these markes of a righteous man be in thee they are sufficient to make thee partaker of Gods deliveries he looketh not to thy qualities which make thee to bee redoubted or contemned among men y Psal 147 10 11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man the LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy a Luk. 16.19 The purple and fine linne sumptuous and dainty fare musicke and dancing could not deliver the rich man from the torments of hell because he was wicked Povertie beggerie nakednesse pining sicknesse could not barre Lazarus from the everlasting pleasures of Paradise because he was righteous b Pro. 11.3 4 6. The integritie of the upright shall guide them but the perversenesse of transgressors shall destroy them Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse delivereth from death The righteousnesse of the upright shall deliver them but transgressors shall be taken in their owne naughtinesse XVII The righteousnesse of the upright delivereth him not as a cause meritorious of deliverie as the Papists would perswade you for it is stained with many spots and blemishes of sinne as yee have learned in the first sermon but as a quality requisite in him whom the Lord will deliver for if we seeke the true causes of our deliveries God saith first negatively that c Deut. 9.4 it is not for our righteousnesse Next he saith affirmatively that it is d Ezech. 20.9 14 44 Ezec. 36.22 for his owne Names sake If temporall deliverie from the evill of affliction come not from our merits can eternall deliverie from sinne and hell bee the merite of any mans righteousnesse The bread for which we sweat before we can have it to eate is the gift of God and wee aske it of God in that qualitie and shall the bread of life be the reward of an hireling No no e Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord If Papists say that David praieth f Psal 7.8 Iudge me O LORD according to my righteousnesse and according to mine integritie that is in me and saith plainly g Psal 18.19 20. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousnesse according to the cleannesse of my hands hath he recompensed me c. Answer that in these and such like places which are infinite he declareth that he was inriched with the qualities wherewith hee that waites on the Lords deliverance must bee graced but speaketh nothing of the causes of his deliverance which in the end of the 18. Psalme he acknowledgeth to bee Gods free mercy saying h Ver 50. Great deliverance giveth hee to his King and sheweth mercy to his anoynted to David and to his seed for evermore And else-where confesseth that it is Gods righteousnesse and not his when he prayeth thus i Psal 143.1 2. Answer me in thy righteousnesse and enter not into iudgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be iustified So he forsaketh all merits and asketh grace when in another part he prayeth k Psal 25.18 O bring thou me out of my distresses looke upon mine affliction and my paine and forgive all my sinnes Such prayers are they not most frequent in the Psalmes When the Papist singeth in the Church a de Profundis if hee understand what hee saith will he not be mooved to deny all merits when he considereth this prayer of righteous David l Psal 130.2 3 4 7. Lord heare my voice let thine eares be attentive to the voyce of my supplications If thou LORD shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shal stand but there is forgivenesse with thee that thou mayest bee feared Let Israel hope in the LORD And why because forsooth there is a great deale of righteousnesse in Israel Not so why then because with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plentious redemption Let us also acknowledge and confesse with heart and mouth that m Iam. 3.22 it is of the LORDS mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not XIIX Though this doctrine of the nullitie of the righteous mans merits and of the efficacie of the saving mercies of our righteous God be most true yet n 2. Thes 1.6 it is a righteous thing with God to deliver the righteous man 1. because being iust by nature o Psal 45.7 he loveth righteousnesse and hateth wickednesse and is as sensible of the one to protect it as of the other to punish it p Psal 34.15 16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open unto their cry the face of the Lord is against them that doe evill to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth 2. Because the cause for which righteous men suffer is
thereof and profane men who make no scruple of ill-doing live in prosperitie and l Psal 10.3 boast of their hearts desire But Many are the Evils of the Righteous XII What is the Church of God but the Congregation of righteous men Wicked men are in the Church but they are not of the Church as Lice Fleas Wormes are in the body and are ingendred of the corruption thereof but are no part of the body therefore the Church is called m Deu. 33.5 IESURUN that is the Righteous or the Vpright when it is said of Moses that he was a king in Iesurun i. amongst the upright n Ier. 8.22 Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physician there If there be none there where shall ye seek them If there be no righteous men in the Church where shall ye finde them It is true that it may be often excepted against the Church considered by great and in the multitude that o Deut. 32.15 IESURUN the upright waxed fat and kicked that when he was growne big fat and thicke he forsooke God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rocke of his salvation p Matt. 20.15 for many be called but few be chosen And these which are chosen have their owne moles and blemishes they are q Isa 48.8 all transgressours from the wombe But if they be compared with other men they are terrestriall Angels and celestiall men as Chrysostome called Paul And we may say in that respect with the Prophet Habakkuk that r Habak 1.13 the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than hee Notwithstanding that the congregation of righteous men the Church of God the deare spouse of our Lord Iesus Christ is so vexed and turmoiled with evils that her God husband nameth her by them as if they were her christned name calling upon her and saying Å¿ Esa 54.11 Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted So that not only this or that righteous man but the whole companie of the righteous if they were to make choice of a Liverie might take for their device the Gules or red colour or as wee use here in England the red Crosse which is the right badge whereby Christ will have his followers to be known saying unto them and of them t Matt. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow me And if they were to seeke a word to their device amongst thousands which may be found they shall finde none fitter or at least truer than this Many are the afflictions of the Righteous XIII What then were it not better to send a bill of divorce to righteousnesse and bid it farewell that wee may be eased of these many evils for to the righteous the Lord hath said v Ioh. 16.20 Ye shall weepe and lament but of the wicked he saith The world shall reioyce Is not rejoycing better than weeping Is it not better to feast with Herod and to dance with Herodias daughter than to fast to lye in prison and to lose the head for righteousnesse sake with Iohn Baptist The world doth so because the world judgeth so But yee welbeloved know both by your fathers and your owne experience that x Psal 58.11 verily there is fruit for the righteous he hath his reward within himselfe a ful pleasure and delight in the peace of an upright conscience y Pro. 15.15 which is a continuall feast hee liveth in this present World a Tit. 2.12 godly towards God who is the most excellent object that his minde can chuse and most worthie to be loved praised and served in heart words and deeds Righteously towards his neighbour who is his owne flesh and to the purchasing of whose good he is bound by the bands of nature and inward suggestion of his owne conscience Soberly in his owne person to whom he oweth a decent and respectuous care that he never do anie thing misbecoming a man unbeseeming a Christian and unworthy of the ranke wherein God hath placed him For whom shall he not neglect if hee neglect his owne honestie and whom shall he respect if he respect not his owne honour Living so he hath b 1. Tim. 6.6 godlinesse with contentment which is great gaine for c Esa 32.17 the worke of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever But d Esa 57.21 there is no peace to the wicked saith my God And in the end of the world when the Lord Iesus shall come e Mat. 3.12 with his Fanne in his hand and throughly purge his floore then he will gather his Wheat into the Garner but will burne up the chaffe with unquenchable fire f Matt. 25.32 c. Then in his most righteous judgement he will sunder the good from the lewd the upright from the froward the righteous from the wicked Then he shall set the righteous on his right hand and the wicked on the left Then then by the power of the unchangeable sentence of his most righteous mouth all the wicked shall depart from him into everlasting fire and all the righteous shall goe into eternall life The wicked to burne eternally with the Divell the righteous to reigne for ever and ever with their Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Therefore g Hos 10.12 sow to your selves in righteousnesse and ye shall reape in mercy contentment peace joy eternall life through the merites of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all power honour and glory world without end Amen SERMON II Of the many evils of the Righteous man PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. THe Righteous man hath the evils of sinne and of punishment 2 The evill of sin is worse than the evill of punishment 3 The righteous man hath fewer sinnes and lesse sinfull than the wicked man yet hee hath mo Evils of punishment 4 He is slandered of heresie and blasphemy against God whereof there are many examples in the ancient Church 5 And in ours 6 Hee is also slandered of rebellion against the high powers and of all the evills that are in the world So it was 7 So it is 8 Hence all kind of Evills come upon him 9 Whereof Iob is a very cleere example 10 Vnder the Old Testament the faithful were tried by losse of goods 11 By many afflictions in their bodies 12 And by shamefull reproaches 13 The Christians also have beene tryed after the same maner with losse of goods 14 And of their lives 15 Namely under ten heavie persecutions 16 Great cruelties practised against the Reformed Churches of Germany and of France 17 Exhortation to pray for the peace of the Church 1. THe Righteous mans Evills are of two kinds The evills which he doth the evils which he suffereth In the Schools we call them l Malum culpae malum
of all crimes laide to our charge except our Iudges will confesse that in our persons when we deny our Religion they punish not high treason adulteries incests murther and a great many more crimes whereof we are dayly accused If that were iniquitie against the common wealth and the State they must needs grant that wee are guiltie of our Religion onely or rather of the onely name thereof For it is condemned when it is not knowne when it is known it is imbraced And therefore our Persecuters will not know it because they will condemne it perceiving that all those which have condemned it when they knew it not have ceased to condemne it yea professed and protected it when they knew it 5. The Emperour Traian well informed of the innocencie of Christians sent to f Plin. Secundus epist lib. 10. Epist 103. 104. Conquirendi non sunt Si deferantur arguaentur puniendi sunt Plinius Secundus Governor of Bythinia after this manner They must not be searched if they be appeached and accused they must be punished g Tert. Apol. cap. 2. O sententiam necessuate confusam c. O sentence confused with contradiction hee forbiddeth to search them as innocent he commandeth to punish them as guiltie he spareth and rageth he dissembleth and punisheth If they be guiltie why are they not searched If they be innocent why are they punished How many such decrees have beene given out against us how many Edicts of pacification have beene made with us as with honest men and forthwith how many fires kindled swords sharpened gallowses prepared against us as against malefactors Yesterday we were the stay and props of the State and must be cherished This day we are the plague and undoing of the State and must be killed Though we are this day as we were yesterday except that we strive ever to be better and shunne to decay in goodnesse or to grow worse But so it was from the beginning so it is so it shall be untill the end of the world that Many are the Evills of the Righteous XV. Not so may some say wee that live here in a peaceable and blessed nation and who as we hope are righteous men have no evills being guarded and hedged round about with Gods bountifull and mercifull protection through the daily care of our peaceable and most Religious King It is true well-beloved that h Psal 125.3 the rodde of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity Your fathers had the evills and ye possesse the good things of the land But will ye say against your selves that ye are of the number of these belly-gods which eating drinking dancing and spending merrily the short dayes of their brittle life i Amos 6.6 are not grieved with the affliction of Iosepht God forbid that ye should speake so unnaturally and so falsly against your owne soules Is it not written i Rom. 12.15 Weepe with them that weepe k Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversitie as being your selves also in the body Have ye not read of l Nehem. 1.3 4. Nehe. 2.2 Nehemiah that understanding the great affliction and reproach wherein the Iewes lived after their returne to Ierusalem he wept mourned fasted and prayed with such sorrow of heart that his countenance was very sad in the Kings presence with whom he had great credit and favour Ye know that the Apostle writeth to the Hebrewes and of them that m Heb. 10.32 33. they endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilest they were made a gazing stocke both by reproaches and afflictions and partly whilest they became companions of them that were so used Know you not also that Saint Paul said Who is weake and I am not weake who is offended and I burne not This is a great evidence and demonstration of the Communion of the Saints And who have given more evident demonstrations of a true sympathie and fellow-feeling of the miseries of your brethren beyond Seas than you Have yee not wept have ye not mourned have ye not fasted have ye not prayed to God for them have ye not opened your bowels and purses unto them have yee not beene much moved for their adversitie have ye not not onely according to your power but also above your power relieved their necessitie Every oppression which they suffer when it commeth to your eares is it not a racke unto you As many oppressions are they not as many tortures to your vexed soules What doth this whole Island desire with sighs and sobs but to bee at warre with Christs enemies which oppresse them that is to say to spend lives and goods for their reliefe Because as Constantius father of Constantine the Great first deliverer of the Christian Religion from the bloody persecutions of Tyrants came from great Britanne so it seemeth by the holy vehement and constant affection which God hath put in all the peoples hearts of this most flourishing Island towards their afflicted brethren beyond Seas that hee hath ordained that delivetie shall come to them from us In the meane time in what griefe in what anguish in what perplexities and vexation of mind are ye not what rivers of teares doe ye not still powre out before God what ejaculations what prayers and how fervent doye not dart towards the heavens for them Then in you also is fulfilled this most true saying Many are the Evills of the Righteous XVI Thanke God with heart and mouth for this long and blessed peace wherein ye live blesse him for his bountifull mercy whereby ye heare and see not ye feele the affliction of Ioseph and suffer not any in your owne persons and are enabled to succour Christs distressed members which have no hope after God but in the Churches of this Island Pray to God for the King by whose care ye enioy this blessednesse Pray for the increasing of our godly courageous and hopefull Prince in all Christian Princely and Majesticall gifts Pray for the flourishing peace of this State that in the neâ—ce thereof ye may have peace so If I forget thee O Ierusalem let my right hand forget it selfe n Psal 137.5 6. If I doe not remember thee let my torgue cleâ—ve to the 〈◊〉 of my mouthe If I preferre not Ierusalem above my chiefe ioy O weepe and pray unto God for his Church and be not unthankfull for his gifts be subiect to the King and to the Prince be faithfull to the Sâ—â—â—â— be obedient and loving to your teachers be innocent in your callings be modest in your behaviour be more and more bountifull to the poore so the King of Kings so the God of peace so the Spouse of the Church so the Protector of Monarchies so the father of the poore shall blesse you shield you and remaine with you for ever So be it even so be it
me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me He is not alone who hath God with him IX Senacherib was mad when hee sent Rabshakeh to blaspheme the Lord and to say to the inhabitants of Ierusalem a Esa 36.18 19 20. Beware lest Hezekiah perswade you saying The LORD will deliver us c. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad where are the gods of Sepharuaim and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand Who are they amongst all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand that the LORD should deliver Ierusalem out of my hand But the Lord answered him b Esa 37.23 29. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the holy One of Israel c. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine cares therefore will I put my hooke in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest Then Hezekiah might have served him in his owne dish and asked him Where is Nisroch the god of Assyria hath he delivered thee out of the hands of the Lord our God Nebuchadnezzar was so furious and besides himselfe that in his rage he asked of Shadrach Meschah and Abednego c Dan. 5.15 17 29. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands They answered Our God whom wee serve is able to deliver us and hee learned ere long to spell that lesson and to say There is none other God that can deliver after this sort In France the Papists seeing our scarcitie and neediness lack of men lack of treasures which are the sinews of the warre did cast in our teeth that we had but God for all kind of pottages i. for all purposes for men God for treasures God for holds and fortresses God for all helpe for all reliefe God O Lord d Psal 74.18 remember this that the enemy hath reproached the LORD and that the foolish people hath blasphemed thy name O the good pottage O the excellent restorative wherein the principall ingredient is God wherein God is the onely ingredient e Psal 18.31 for who is God save the LORD or who is a rocke save our God The souldiers relye upon the warinesse and watchfulnesse of their Captaine The flock sleepeth in peace under the staffe of their Shepheard Passengers which faile in great waters are without feare under the protection and care of a well-experienced Pilot. Little children dread no ill when they are fast by their fathers We sight under the Standard of him who is f 1. Sam. 15 45. the LORD of hosts Antigonus king of Syria being ready to give battell by sea hard by the Isle called Andros answered to one of his men who advertifed him that his enemies had moe ships than he g Plutarch in Pelopida For how many ships reckonest thou me for the dignitie of the Generall is much to be esteemed when it is sorted with prowesse and experience Where is there prowesse where experience if it be not in God h 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardued himselfe against him and hath prospered Therefore when our enemies threaten us with their armor armies we send them the defiance of the ancient Church i Esa 8 9 10 Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall bee broken in peeces give care all ye of farre countries gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves ye shall be broken in pieces take counsell together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us We are his sheepe and he is the shepheard k Psal 121.4 the keeper of Israel which shall neither slumber nor sleepe of whom and to whose eternall glory we sing l Psal 23. 1 2 3 4. The LORD is my shepheard I shall not want he maketh me to lie downe in greene pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters hee restoreth my soule he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnesse for his names sake Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me The skiffe wherein we sayle Psal 46. 2 3 5. is his Therefore will we not feare though the earth be remooved and though the mountaines be carryed into the middest of the sea though the waters thereof roare and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof God is in the midst of her shee shall not be mooved God shall helpe her right early the LORD of hosts is with us the God of Iacob is our refuge Selah n Mat. 8.24 25 26. When the winds blow hard when the tempest ariseth and the waves cover her if we cry to him he will arise and rebuke the winds the sea and there shall be a great calm We are his children he is our father lying hard o Luk. 11.7 by the doore of his owne house waking when wee sleepe hearing us when we cry rising speedily to helpe us when we call upon him And therefore in our distresse wee cry unto him p Esa 63.15 16. Looke downe from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of thy bowells and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O LORD art our Father our Redeemer is thy name from everlasting X. Our Redeemer is his name and his onely q Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD all his deliverances are either temporall salvations from the evill of affliction or eternall salvations from the evill of sinne In the one and other sense is that true which he saith r Esa 43.11 13. I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour for as none can deliver out of his hand so Å¿ Dan. 3.29 none can deliver as he can t Psal 5.12 He compasseth the righteous with favour as with a shield he v Psal 22.19 is strength to him that is weake x Psal 9.9 a refuge for the oppressed y Psal 91.2.9 a fortresse for those which are persecuted a shadow to those which are sun burnt with afflictions a most pleasant strong and well furnished habitation to those which are exiled for righteousnesse sake To him onely belongeth that which David saith a Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rocke and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horne of my
for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me XVI The comfort to them all is this that their affliction which to them is too too long is but a moment not onely in respect of God y 2. Pet. 3.8 with whom one day is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeeres as one day but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakeable glory wherewith it shall be swallowed up a Rom 8.18 For I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us Glory which these sufferings worke in us b 2. Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory even so farre as it subdueth our pride mortifieth our lusts and is the Lords high way unto our eternall blisse Whereunto if yee adde the promise of deliverance even in this life nothing shall be wanting to our full comfort XVII What then shall we doe till the Lord come and deliver us what but waite upon the Lords pleasure The lewes knew by revelation from God the time of their bondage in Egypt and captivitie in Babylon which being come to an end they said confidently to God c Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come We have no such revelation and therefore we must bee content to relye upon Gods generall promise and say with David d Psal 130.5 I waite for the LORD my soule doth waite and in his word doe I hope assured that howsoever it seeme that heaven and earth conspire against us and that wee are brought to the pinch he shall put a new song in our mouthes and give us a most plentifull subject to sing as David did e Psal 40.1 In waiting I waited for the LORD and he inclined unto me and heard my cry f Heb. 10.23 For hee is faithfull that promised And g Luk. 1.37 with him no word is impossible The Lord in his great mercies give us this patient hope and assurance for Christ Iesus his deare sons sake who with him and the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth God blessed for evermore Amen SERM. IX Of Gods Iudgements upon Persecuters and of the last deliverance of the Church ESAIAH XXVI 21. For behold the LORD commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine 1. THe last motive to patience is taken from the Iudgements of God 2. The Lord is said to come when he iudgeth 3. He is said to come out of his place when his iudgements and mercies are made conspicuous 4. He visiteth the inhabitants of the earth eyther in iudgement or in mercy 5. Wicked men are called the inhabitants of the earth for godly men are strangers here 6. God will visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity which they thinke to bee good service to God 7. God will be avenged of those which shed the blood of his deare ones 8. Because he is righteous and faithfull 9. Great iudgements on persecuters 10. Namely on great men under the law 11. And principally on those who have persecuted the Christian Church 12. Prosperity in this world is a token of Gods indignation rather than of his love 13. The torments of hell prepared for wicked men 14. Their conscience tells them there is a hell 15. Hell is a place penall in its owne selfe 16. There is there paine of dammage most unsufferable 17. As likewise unconceiveable paine of sense 18. Which is universall 19. And everlasting 20. Persecuters above all others shall be tortured there with most exquisite torments 21. Great shall be in that day the glory of Gods Saints and terrible to their Persecuters 22. Great difference betweene the life and the end of wicked and of godly men 23. The Church cannot be destroyed 24. Exhortation and consolation 1. AS the words of this text are from God the last so should they bee in your hearts a most powerfull motive to a patient tarrying for the blessed time which the wisedome of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and finall reliefe of his Church from all misery Ye may call the text DAN i e. Iudgement for it threatneth with no small mischiefe all bloody and cruell persecuters and by their overthrow promiseth deliverance to them which are persecuted The time of the one and of the other is not a time of many yeares moneths weekes dayes The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment as ye have heard In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her who in their greatest prosperity are a Minut. Felix ut victima ad supplicium saginantur ut hostia ad poenam corâ—nantur like beasts fatted b Zeph. 1.8 and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice wherein saith the Lord I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparell II. For behold the Lord commeth O open the eyes of your minde ô bid your faith rise from her sleepe to behold in the immutable truth of the Lords threats in the inevitable power of his iustice in the innumerable iudgements which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors in his more than motherly love to his deare ones his promptnesse and readinesse to deliver his Church by the overthrow of all her enemies Hee he himselfe he who is the Lord will destroy them Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord He will not tarry he will not delay his comming Behold be commeth he is already on his iourney III. From whence commeth he Out of his place O Lord Art thou so in one place that thou art not at the same time in all places O infinite Maiestie c August ad Volusian Epist 3. Novit ubique totus esse nullo contmeri loco Novit venire non recedendo ubi erat Novit abire non desereÌ„do quo venerat Miratur hoc mens humaena quia non capit fortasse non credit thou canst be every where at one time and yet thou art do where Thou fillest with thy presence every place and loe thou art not contained in any place Thou canst come and not goe from the place where thou wast Thou canst depart and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come Our soules wonder at this but because of their narrownesse they cannot comprehend it O Lord grant that we may beleeve it And tell us how thou who hast the heaven for d Esa 66.1 thy throne and the earth for thy footstoole thou who sayest of thy selfe Doe I not fill the heaven and the earth O most wonderfull God teach us how thou commest and goest Dost thou not speake so not of
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