this Lord Angels and glorified soules are not able to look off his Face for all eternity Mat. 18. 10. Revel. 22. 3. Esai 24. 23. The Moone shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reigne in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem before his ancients gloriously He must be a fair Lord when the fair Sun blusheth and is ashamed to appeare and shine before him Nothing David desired in this side of time but to dwell all the dayes of his life in the house of the Lord and behold the beauty the heavenly increated beauty of the Lord Psal. 27. 3. Put all the imaginable colours of the Firmament Of the morning skie Of all the Lillies and Roses of the Earth which surpasse Salomons royalty in one Imagine a Rose to bee of the quantity of the Earth all these should be but created shadowes to him Zach. 9. 17. How great is his goodnesse how great is his beauty he is both good and fair 6. Who can speak of omnipotence and boundlesse power in God Esai 40. 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with a span and comprehended the dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in Scales and the hils in Ballance there is but one in all the World and from eternity to eternity never was there any save one who can do all this What fingers be those which at one time are in the furthest borders of the Eastern Heaven and of the Western Heaven ver. 15. Behold the Nations are as a drop of a bucket and are compted as the small dust of the ballance behold he takes up the Iles as a very little thing And he can take up the whole I le of Brittain in his hand can hang the weight of the massie body of Heaven and Earth on the top of his finger who is he who hangeth the Earth yea the whole world upon nothing what hindreth seeing there be such Broyles Tumults Motions in Heaven Earth and Hell but this great huge vessel of the great All this whole world should fall to the one side and break but omnipotence holdeth it up who hath Arms to spread a web of black darknesse from the East to the West Esai 50. 3. I cloath the Heavens with blacknesse and I make sackcloth their covering and alas all that I say here is nothing it must be true here praestat tacere quam pauca discere better be silent in so great a matter as speak little Vse is To teach us not to be in love with the creature or with men What is man but a weeping groning dying nothing Esai 40. 17. All Nations are before God as nothing and lesse then nothing and vanity VVhat is nothing it is the least thing that can be but I pray you what is lesse then nothing nothing can be lesse then nothing but all Nations being compared with God evanish infinite miles out of the world of some things and if one man be nothing nations of men and nations of nations are nothing multiply Cyphers to millions of millions they cannot make a number because every Cypher is nothing and therefore the product must be nothing so multiply infinitely Nations let Spaine France Italy Ireland Denmark and what the power of men can make the product shall be nothing Millions and Hosts of men are millions and Hosts of vanities God is all and in infinite all and what can we do to make him lovely and desirable We may preach this admirable Lord but we shall never out-preach him and praise him but shall never outpraise him his favour is more to be sought then favour of Kings he is more to be feared then Kings Esai 5 12. I even I am the Lord the Lord that comforteth you Who art thou that shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man that shall be made as grasse Hence are you to see to the prerogative royall of the King but more to the prerogative royal of the Prince of the Kings of the Earth And therefore O Judges be wise O all you who carry on your heads Diadems and royall Crowns of yellow dust and glistering clay I meane of gold and precious stones stoope stoope before this Monarch cast down your Crownes and Scepters at the feet of the King of Kings Know your Superiour the highest Land-lord of dying Monarchies Zach. 2. 12. It is said The Lord shall inherit Judah and shall chuse Jerusalem O but Kings and Dominions who keep Judah captive cry out with a shout Judah shall serve us and our King and Jesus Christ shall not raigne over us but there is a royal Proclamation given with an ô yes from his palace of glory who inhabiteth Eternity v. 13. Be silent O all flesh before the Lord So Psal. 2. 2. Jew and Gentile are upon foot raging and consulting with all Let us break his bands and cast his cords from us nay v. 6. one who is not on foot but sitteth in Heaven laughing not troubling himselfe with the Tumults of clay-nothings sent out a princely mandate I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion I have put the Crown on Christs head what men of dust and ashes shall pull it off his head Psal. 46. 9. He breaketh the Bow and cutteth the Spear he burneth the Chariots in the fire The heathen cannot endure this they flie on armies and cry with a shout He shal not break our Bowes He shal not burne our Chariots with fire therefore a royal Commandment and Decree cometh out v. 10. Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted above the heathen I will be exalted on Earth He is crying O Rome O Spaine O Ireland O Kings and powers of the world O Babylon Lady of Nations O Pope and Cardinals hold your peace speak no more Esai 46. 13. I bring near my Righteousnesse it shall not be far off and my salvation shall not tarry and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel for Brittain my glory 2. Vse is To bring hearts in a fervour and sicknes of love with God and make us mould higher and more Majestick thoughts and conceptions of this most high Lord then ordinarily we do and therefore consider how inconsiderable incomprehensible he is 2. Summon all created glory before him by way of comparison 3. Look at him as the last end First then consider two words that Paul hath Eph. 3. 18 19. That you may be able it is his prayer with all the Saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and height 19. And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Now from the love of Christ you may take the measure in some proportion of this great Lord himself Then conceive a love higher then the Heaven of Heavens deeper then the Earth broader then the Sea yea broader and longer then the circumference of the outmost shel or orbe of the
A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable HOVSE OF COMMONS At their late Solemne Fast Wednesday Jan. 31. 1644. BY SAMUEL RUTHERFURD Professor of Divinitie in the University of S. Andrews EXOD. 3. 2. And hee looked and behold the Bush burned with fire and the Bush was not consumed Published by Order of the House of Commons EDINBURGH Printed by Evan Tyler Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie 1644. Die Mercurii 31. Ianuar. 1644. IT is this day ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Mr. Rous do from this House give thanks unto Mr. Rutherfurd for the great paines he took in the Sermon he preached this day at the intreaty of the said Commons at S. Margarets Westminster it being the day of publike Humiliation and to desire him to print his Sermon And it is ordered that none presume to print his Sermon without authority under the hand-writing of the said Mr. Rutherfurd H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Richard Whittaker and Andrew Crooke to print my Sermon Samuel Rutherfurd To the Christian Reader WHether time or the fashion hath obtained of me worthy Reader that this Sermon should come under the providence of your favourable judgement and Candor I can hardly determine But you have it as it is onely I shall heartily desire in reviewing of it your serious thoughts in these insuing considerations 1. What I speak here of God and his excellency is but a shadow to the expressions of others and what others can say men or Angels is but a short and rude shadow of that infinite All the High Jehovah Creator of Heaven and Earth so my thoughts come forth as shadows of shadows for there behoved to be much honey in the Inke much of Heaven in the breast much of God in the Pen of any who speaketh of such a transcendent subject yet if these do affect you it is possible I say more if not I shall desire not to spill the Lords highest praises with my low-creeping under-expressions 2. Concerning Gods dispensation now in Brittaine and his Churches condition I shall be your debter in all humble modesty to beg these thoughts to go along with God As 1. Let the Lord have a charitable sense and good construction of his most wise dispensation and beleeve that he who hath his fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem seeth good that Christs Crosse should be the Church of Christs birth-right and that a life-rent of afflictions is a surer way for Zion then Summer-dayes 2. You are not to stumble that God will not fit his times to mens apprehensions when to raine and when to shine fair neither is clay to usurp the chair and dispute the matter to make the All-wise providence a School-Probleme nor asks Why is our Zion builded with carcasses of men in two kingdomes fallen as dung in the open field and as the handfull after the harvest man Why is the wall of the daughter of Zion sprinkled with blood One thing I know It is better to beleeve then to dispute and to adore then to plead with him who giveth not account of his matters 3. Innocencie in these times is better then court with princes and the condition of the heirs of Heaven yea their tears better then the joy of the hypocrite 4. Christs Church can neither shift nor adjourne such a share of affliction as is written in Gods book It is a standing and a current court which hath decreed what graines of Gall and Wormewood England must drink what a cup is prepared for Scotland and the Ballance of wisedome hath weighed by ounce weights how much wrath shall be mixed in the cup of wasted Ireland 5. You know it is generally the condition of the Church if she have any Summer that it is but a good day betwixt two Feavers Heaven heaven is the home and the desired day of the Bride the Lambs wife 6. It is much better to be afflicted then to be guilty and that the Church may have pardon and want peace 7. That the faith which is more precious then gold can bid the devil do his worst and that the patience of the Saints can out-weary the malice of Babylon or Babel on whose skirts is found the blood of the Saints 8 That it is now and ever true as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint so shall the multitude of all nations be that fight against mount Zion 9. Vengeance is gone out from the Lord against those who feast upon Zions teares and they must die the death of the uncircumcised who clapped their hands and stamped with the feet and rejoyced in heart with all their despight against the land of Israel 10. They are in no better condition who refuse to help the Lord against the mighty and whose heart is as a stone and a piece of dead flesh at all the revolutions and tossings of Christs Kingdome who daunce eat and laugh within their own orbe and if their desires bee concentrick to the world and themselves care not whether Joseph die in the stocks or not or whether Zion sink or swim because whatever they had of Religion it was never their minde both to summer and winter Jesus Christ 11. The rise of the Gospel-sun is like the prodigious appearance of a new Comet to the woman that sitteth on many waters to that mother Rome-planted as a Vine in blood the Lionesse whose Whelps Papists and Prelates in Ireland and England have learned to catch the prey and this Comet prophesieth Wo to the Pope King of the bottemlesse pit and his bloody Lady Babel if Christ shall arise and shine in the power of his Gospel 12. God hath now as great a work on the wheels as concerneth the race of the Chariots of Jesus Christ through the habitable world pray O let his Kingdome come and farewell Yours in the Lord Jesus S. R. A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of COMMONS At their last solemne Fast Wednesday January 31. 1644. DANIEL 6. 26. I make a Decree that in every Dominion of my Kingdome men tremble and feare before the face of the God of Daniel for he is the living God and indureth for ever and his Kingdome that which shall not bee destroyed and his dominion shall bee to the end MEthod requireth that first the words bee expounded secondly that they bee taken up in a right order thirdly that such observations bee hence deduced as serve most for the present condition of the times The words are plaine here first is a Statute of a great King Sim that the seventie interpreters render {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a decretall letter for sometimes though seldome the Lords cause findeth the grace of faire justice with men The matter of the Decree is that men tremble and feare Lehevon zognin vedachalin The Seventie render
Gods duration best whereas our being taketh three verbs to expresse it this man was and continueth yet and to morrow shall be but may not bee 2 Pet. 3. 8. One day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeeres as one day And therefore he is the King of ages 1 Tim. 1. 17. as if generations and centuries of yeares were his subjects and servants His Sonne Christ is Esay 9. 6. The Father of Eternitie And Esay 57. 15. He inhabiteth Eternitie Men do not inhabite Eternitie For in this we do but take by the curtains of time and looke into the borders of Eternitie and in the life to come we shall bee beside Eternity and not inhabite Eternity so as if non-existence and our glorified natures should involve a contradiction whereas existence is as essentiall to the glorious Majesty of God as his blessed essence and his blessed essence involveth a contradiction not to bee And all time-gods are no gods for if you say God you say an eternall necessity of an eternall and ever living God And this maketh God free from change and from ups and downes from falling and rising that are incident to all created natures even to men and Angels Vse 1. If God be eternall and Lord of time we must be carefull that wee say not as the people doth Jer. 8. 20. The harvest is past and the summer is ended and we are not saved Wee are inclined to weepe upon time as being too long especially when wee our selves and the Lords Church have sad and bloody dayes But the children of God have three advantages which are as many motives to cause us to submit to Gods dispensation of time 1. Wait on for Psal. 9. 18. The hope of the poore shall not perish for ever Psal. 40. 1. I waited patiently on the Lord and what was the issue and he inclined his eare and heard my cry 2. He brought me also out of the horrible pit out of the mirie clayes and set my feet on a rock and established my goings Hence as while the bellows blow the fire casteth heat and light so doth the heat and fervour of our long lodging under the crosse make broad aimes of praising and walking thankefully and when the breathing of the Bellowes ceaseth the fire goeth out again so when we are delivered and are cooled wee turn cold in performing reall thankfulnesse to God but let faith in long troubles wait on and sow seed in Heaven and on Christ and that is excellent soyle and wee shall reape in due time if we faint not 2. Gods delayes are the seeds of greater mercies we are to borrow that expression to pardon the long delayed salvation of God and to forgive times leaden wheeles which move slowly because God recompenseth want of present deliverance with a superplus of grace Was it not best that Jacob was not blessed at the first his faith was lengthned to continue with this I will not let thee goe while thou blesse me The woman of Canaans daughters body is not freed of the divell at the first or second cry but her owne soule is inriched with faith great faith and fervour of spirit to continue in praying and humble submission to bee willing to be a dogge to Christ and here the Lord often recompenseth the want of Brasse with the presence of Gold For faith here intrusteth a stocke in Gods hand and doth forbeare and suspend both principall and annuall till Gods time come Therefore wee are to take heed that while we fret and challenge our Lord that hee loseth time that we be not in the mean time losing time our selves if he hold his Church long in the furnace if his Church doe not joyn with God actively to melt her selfe and to humble her selfe under Gods mighty hand then the Church loseth her time but God doth not lose a moment The Gold-smith should hold his vessell in the fire till it be melted and refined Here also wee are to consider that to deliver out of some crosse as it is Gods mercy so it is my duetie I lose a father a childe a deare friend in warre I can never in this life be delivered from this crosse according to the reality of it for my father my childe my deare friend once being dead cannot returne to mee againe but though I cannot bee delivered from the reall losse yet may I by Gods grace deliver my selfe from the impatient fretting and distrustfull apprehension of that losse by doing that for conscience to the God of patience who commandeth mee to submit which for length of time I shall doe but here wee obey time rather then God 3. Gods time is better then ours for hee knoweth when wee are ripe for deliverance and when the drosse cometh away from the mettâ—ll and when we cast our scumme Here before we glorifie him we would binde him to deliver us and we desire here to be served before God that he should deliver before we be mortified and dead to our lusts But it is better that our paine continue praising and beleeving as both paine and faith be removed How excellent is that of the Church crying out of the deep Psal. 130. 5. I wait for the Lord But many lie stil under the load rather then wait because they cannot help the businesse therefore he addeth My soule doth wait 2. Many wait and they know not whereon it is a fooles nest they seeke therefore he addeth And in his Word doe I trust A soule is not bottomed on a dreame in his on-waiting when he hath the Word of God for his warrant 3. Many doe wait but it is deliverance that they wait for and not for God himselfe therefore saith he ver. 6. My soul waiteth for the Lord It is as much for God and a communion with him that faith waiteth for as for deliverance 4. But many wait but very lazily and with great deadnesse the Prophet expresseth more of himselfe My soule waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning I say more then they that watch for the morning Such a waiter with these foure qualifications can never be delivered out of time Here then are newes Awake O Sion sit no longer in ashes put on thy beautifull garments O people really in Covenant with God England Brittain be not weary the King is comming Christ is in his journey posting deliverance is at hand O beleever make no haste O prisoner of hope die not in the prison Oh! we want faith It is the art and cunning of faith to beleeve and not see and to have memory for eyes and sense but we would both sow and reap in one day and would have physicke and health both in one houre we would alwayes be at miracles Vse 2. If God be eternall his love and decrees must be necessary and irresistable nothing is so necessary as that which is eternall Then I could easily yeeld considering who are this day against us we should be