Deliverance-Obstruction OR The Set-backs of Reformation Discovered in a SERMON Before the Right Honourable The House of Peers IN PARLIAMENT Now assembled Upon the Monthly Fast March 25. 1646. By THO. CASE Preacher in Milk street London and one of the Assembly of Divines Isa 49.1 Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that he cannot save c. Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Vers 13. He is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of bringing forth children London Printed by Ruth Raworth for Luke Fawne at the signe of the Parrot in Paul's Church-yard 1646. Die Veneris 27 Marcii 1646. IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That this House gives Thanks to Master Case one of the Assembly of Divines for his great pains taken in the Sermon he preached on the last Fast-day before their Lordships in the Abbey-Church Westminster And he is hereby desired to print and publish the same which is to be printed by Authority under his own hand onely Jo. Browne Cler. Parliamentorum I appoint Luke Fawne to print my Sermon THO. CASE To the Right Honourable the House of PEERS In Parliament now assembled MY LORDS WHat Complaint that blessed Reformer HEZEKIAH sent once to the Prophet ISAIAH that the ISAIAHS of our time do now make in your ears who are our REFORMERS The children are come to the birth 2 King 19.3 and there is not strength to bring forth To make some discovery where the OBSTRUCTION lieth is the humble and faithful endeavour of this Sermon which as it waits the second time upon your Commands so if your Lordships please at your sparer times to let your eye second the travel of your ear it may through his power Rom. 4.17 who quickens the dead and calls things that ARE NOT as though they WERE become some way serviceable to the Work you have in hand the end of its first and second attendance upon your Honours There was a time when Temple-work * Ezra 6.14 PROSPERED in the hands of the LORDS AND COMMONS OF JUDAH by the prophesyings of HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH O that such might be the blessed fruit of that abundance of GOSPEL-PROPHESIE which hath been preacht in the ears of Englands Parliament since the time you were first engaged in this great Work not onely of STATE but of CHURCH-Reformation Truely my Lords we desire to look upon your Call of us the poor Ministers of Christ to this Service not a STATE-COMPLEMENT but as your truely * Acts. 17.11 NOBLE desires of consulting with the Oracles of God And for a real evidence thereof give me leave I beseech you to become an humble Petitioner to your Honors for two things First that now you are in the work of Temple-Reformation you would provide an Antidote against Gospel-contempt in some remarkable punishment to be inflicted upon Sermon scorners especially when they shall dare such a wickednesse in the face of Heaven and earth of God and the Church since it cannot but be taken notice of by your Lordships that there be some who to this day hear Sermons in the very same posture they were wont to see Stage-plays to the infinite scandal of Religion and provocation of Almighty God Secondly that in your own persons you will give a president to all the Kingdom of your willing and ready submission to the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST With what eyes you are pleased to look upon the Ministers thereof I know not sure I am whatever faithful advice in their humble Addresses to you hath the Imprimature of SCRIPTURE upon it comes arm'd with the AUTHORITY OF HEAVEN He that heareth YOU heareth ME and he that despiseth YOU despiseth ME Luke 10.16 and he that despiseth ME despiseth HIM that SENT ME. Vpon such an account it was an heavie word which the Prophet spake once to a King I know God hath determined to destroy thee BECAUSE thou hast not hearkned to MY COUNSEL The contemptible Prophet had no contemptible GOD to back him The application of it be to the enemies of CHRIST and of the WORK you have in hand However it is a thing not to be thought of without trembling at All power in heaven and earth is in HIS HANDS Matth. 8.18 2 Cor. 10.6 to avenge all Gospel-Disobedience to WHOM great and small must give an account and who knows how soon what they have done with all the Sermons that ever they heard Which that it may be seriously and savingly laid to heart by Parliament and Kingdom shall be the instant Supplication of Your Honours to serve you while you serve Christ Tho. Case A SERMON Preached before the Right Honorable House of PEERS EXOD. 5.22 23. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said Lord wherefore hast thou so evil intreated this people why is it that thou hast sent me For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name he hath done evil to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all YOu have in these words 1. A Grievous distresse 2. A Gracious addresse The Addresse indeed is first in the order of words but the Distresse is first in the order of time and sence And this it was briefly Moses and Aaron according to their Commission had been now with Pharaoh to deliver their Embassie and Command from God concerning Israel's dismission Let my people go c. Vers. 1. The Israelites wait to hear what news from Court full of glad expectations of a speedie and present Deliverance from the Egyptian servitude Chap. 12.40 under which they had groaned now these Four hundred and thirty yeers But the tidings doth not answer their expectations Vers 2. Pharaoh will not let Israel go he knows no God but himself neither shall Israel stir Yea their hopes of enlargement are turn'd into the doubling of their bondage in stead of keeping Holy-day in the wildernesse they must to work again in the Brickils of Egypt yea make Bricks they must Vers 7 8 9. and finde themselves straw too more work and lesse wherewithal to do it This was sad news indeed Yet they had some hopes that this might be but the cruelty and encroachment of the Commissioners set over them therefore they 'll to the Court themselves with their Petitions happily the King may give them a better answer it is possible His Majestia gave no such command concerning Israel But when they come they finde it was no mistake Pharaoh speaks the same language the Task masters did Ye are idle ye are idle get you to your work Vers 17 18. there shall be no straw given you yet shall ye deliver the tale of Bricks c. This kills their very hearts now they see themselves worse then ever Vers 19. and thus coming out from the Presence-chamber full of anguish and impatience they meet with Moses and Aaron Vers 20. fall foul upon them charge them with being the cause of bringing
them into this sad and hopelesse condition and in plain terms call for vengeance from God upon them Vers 21. The Lord look upon you and judge And this now is the Distresse the matter of Moses complaint Vers 23. Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name he hath done evil to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all Yet in this distresse he doth not behave himself like the Israelites They murmure He mourns They run to Moses He runs to God They proudly quarrel out the matter with him He sweetly humbly expostulates the matter with God They in a manner fall a cursing He in a holy manner fails a praying Moses returned unto the Lord and said Lord wherefore hast thou so evil intreated this people Why is it that thou hast sent me This was Moses gracious Addresse The words thus briefly divided and opened will afford us Two most remarkable Observations or Doctrines The first from the Distresse the second from the Addresse From the Distresse thus A Deliverance of Gods own promising and setting on foot may meet with such desperate opposition and set-backs 1 Doct. as to the very eye of a Moses may render it a lost designe no deliverance at all Thou hast not delivered thy people at all From the Addresse you may take a Second Doctrine and that is this A gracious heart in the deepest distresse 2 Doct. in the most hopelesse condition will yet go to God and reason out the matter with God in Prayer it will empty it self into the bosome of God by prayer and holy plaints Whether I shall be able to reach this second Doctrine or no I know not If time will not serve to handle it as a Doctrine yet in its place it may come to do us good service as an Vse I begin therefore with the First Doctrine A Deliverance of Gods own promising and beginning may meet with such desperate opposition and set-backs that to the eye of a Moses it may appear a lost designe no deliverance at all For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name he hath done evil to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all You see there be Two branches in this Doctrine 1. That a Deliverance of Gods own purposing and forming may meet with sharp encounters and desperate set-backs 2. That a Moses himself may at the first blush look upon it at such a non-plus as a lost designe a no-deliverance at all These are of such a various nature that they well deserve to be handled distinctly But fulnesse of matter and straits of time will necessitate me to handle them both together which yet may be easilier done in the instances then in the Reasons of the Doctrine they being of a most differing account and therefore when I come to the Reasons I must take leave of the Second Branch to pursue the account of the first onely Instances indeed there be that will reach both This in hand doth For here you see is a Deliverance of Gods own promising Four hundred yeers before it was promised to Abraham as you may see Gen. 15.13 14. At the end whereof God himself set it on foot by singling out Moses and Aaron for this service Chap. 3 4. and promising his presence with them and his blessing so upon them that they should undoubtedly do the work which yet meets with such fierce opposition and desperate discouragements that not the Israelites onely but Moses himself gives it up for a LOST DESIGNE Thou hast not delivered thy people at all But alas it was early days when Moses made this complaint this was but the beginning of the sorrows of their travel Israel must endure sharper pains and harder throws before she be delivered that shall make her even despair of Life Oh how doth the Deliverance after this hover up and down between Hopes and Fears Good news to day the plague of the Frogs hath made Pharaoh another man Exod. 8.8 he sends for Moses and Aaron calls for prayers promiseth to let Israel go Moses thinks he is in good earnest tells his Majestie he may command his prayers Have this honour over me bids him appoint his time and it shall be done Vers 9. Surely now said they one to another Our bondage is at an end we hope before a week go over our heads to be well onward in our journey towards Canaan I but before that week came about What news from Court Oh as bad as ever Pharaoh is of another minde he speaks big Exod. 10. 10 11. threatens curseth it is well if we be not put to the sword Well but there is tidings since that very good what the Frogs could not do the Locusts have Pharaoh melts Vers 17. confesseth his sin against God and Moses begs pardon which be desires but this once more and then certainly Israel shall be gone I but this fair weather lasts not the clouds return after rain Pharaoh hardens again Moses and Aaron are banisht the Court upon pain of death and there seems to be no possibility now of their departure since all means of negotiating thereof is obstructed In a word look how many plagues past upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians so many desperate encounters and non plus's Israels enlargement meets withal so many hard pulls it cost before they could get loose And when they had got their shooes on their feet and their staves in their hand and their kneading-troughs upon their shoulders and they well onward on their way encouraging themselves now that the worst was past behold the hardest pull of all was behinde they finde themselves or ever they were aware environed with death and destruction If they look before them there is a Red-sea if behinde them lo there is Pharach with I know not how many thousands of Horse and Foas like another Red-sea roaring and threatning to swallow them up if on either hand there is an unpassable wildernesse and now say the people to Moses Because there were no graves in Egypt host thou brought us out to die in the wildernesse Exod. 14 11 12. This was nothing else but a very Plot of Moses and Aaron an ambushment laid on purpose to deliver Israel up at once to the Egyptians that they might utterly destroy us we can neither fight nor flee die we must every mothers childe See at how many dead lifts and desperate losses they were and all this but in reference to the terminus a quo of their deliverance their coming out of Egypt When you have leasure you may follow Israel Fourty yeers journey in the wildernesse How do they tread the Maze as it were backward and forward up and down advance to day and to morrow a turn again march ten miles perhaps and then fetch a compasse and retreat twenty it may be and all the way encountred with such difficulties and desperate hazards that they would have been an hundred and an
of tongues Mark 3 25. neither can the house divided stand long 6. By Carnal confidence Jer. 17.5 Sixthly as much have they disadvantaged themselves by Carnal confidence a sin not onely cross'd but curs'd Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm Why The reason follows whose heart departeth from the Lord. Look how much men DEIFIE men by so much they UNGOD Jehovah by how much a people IDOLIZE Parliaments or Armies or the best of Creature-helps by so much they withdraw their confidence and dependance from the Rock of Ages and therefore for this doth God oftentimes infatuate Counsels and blast all the beauty and strength of a people wherein ther trusted The wisdom of their wisemen shall perish Isa 29 14. and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid Chap. 20.5 They shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and of Egypt their glory Alas can a people prosper that have forsaken their strength for weaknesse that have exchanged God for the Creature Can a designe thrive that is under a Curse Therefore cries the Prophet in the ears of all the world Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils Isa 2.22 for wherein is he to be accounted of And therefore on the contrary when Israel after her Captivity is put into a thriving posture she is brought in repenting of and disclaiming all her Creature-confidences with the Spouse in the Canticles coming up from the wildernesse of Captivity LEANING UPON HER BELOVED Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses Hos 14.2.3 neither will we say any more to the work of our hands You are our gods she had said so before but she will say so no more for with thee the fatherlesse findeth mercy We break our stays by leaning too hard upon them Seventhly by undervaluing thoughts of a Deliverance or Reformation An ignorant inadvertency of the worth of such a mercy is very distastful unto God Oh Jerusalem Luke 19.42 hadst thou known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace HADST THOU KNOWN the worth HADST THOU KNOWN the necessity God will have a people know what he doth for them God will have a deliverance valued before he perfect it When Garlick and Onions are as good as milk and honey when trading and lands and riches and honours c. be as good as a Reformation and men can take up with these and let Reformation go its own pace and come at leasure if at all Let them wander saith God in the wildernesse till they know what CANAAN IS WORTH Hos 5. ult I will go and return to my place till they seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early This I suppose is that account given why the Reformation in good Jehoshaphat's time was not a thorow-Reformation Though much was done Chro. 20.33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers I come now to the Third Spring-head of Reasons or Causes arising from The Deliverers obstructions in Deliverers â—art For certainly the work of Deliverance and Reformation may stick long upon the hands of them that are to be the Deliverers and Reformers of a people Yea you may observe it sometimes God hath more trouble to speak after the manner of men to deliver a people from their Deliverers then he hath to deliver them from the enemies of their deliverance yea though the work be intrusted in the hands of a Moses and an Aaron God hath enough to do to keep them from spoiling of it a great part of the Deliverance is to deliver a people from their Deliverers before he deliver them by them So little is God beholding to second Causes You shall see it in the Instances or Causes Take in the first place Luthers account There be three things saith Luther that are the bane of Christian Religion Melch. Ad. in vita Luth. p. 151 〈◊〉 Oblivio beneâ—â—ctorum ab Eâ—â—angelio acceâ—â—torum 〈◊〉 Deinde secuâ—itas quae passim ubique regnat and therefore much more of a REFORMATION First Forgetfulnesse of former mercies Secondly for I will put them together Security They were both the sins of as famous a Reformer as ever the Church of God knew Hezekiah's for which the work of Reformation and the whole Kingdom suffer'd deeply I 'll but read you the Text But Hezekiah RENDRED NOT AGAIN ACCORDING TO THE BENEFIT DONE UNTO HIM Chro. 37.25 for his heart was lifted up therefore THERE WAS WRATH upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem Unthankfulnesse and Pride had like to have undone all that he had done Oh when Reformers forget old Mercies and old Deliverances and them it may be that God hath used as Instruments of them and new mercies and successes serve but to make them secure and swell them with pride to overlook their Brethren and overvalue themselves to think themselves no longer Stewards but Lords not onely petty kings but little gods to do what they PLEASE in the work and with the people of God this shakes the very foundation of Church and State God is highly displeased You have a sad instance in Vzziah of whom the holy Ghost records 2 Chro. 26.15 16. He was marvellously helped till he was strong But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went in to the Temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the Altar of Incense Alas how was the man and all the worthy things he had done for Church and State of which you may read from the beginning of the Chapter forward even lost in Pride Vnthankfulnesse and Security Sapientia mundi qua vult omnia redigere in ordinem publicae utilitati impiis consiliis mederi Exod. 32.22 23 24. 1 King 12. from vers 26 to the end of the Chap. Joh. 11.48 Thirdly Carnal policie worldly wisedom which applies fleshly medicines to Spiritual distempers when men will cast the affairs of Christs Kingdom in the moulds and models of humane policie and principles Aaron he will make a GOLDEN CALF to still the people and secure his own life and Jeroboam will make two ordain Offices Feasts Worship which never come into Gods heart to secure the Kingdom to himself though by this very means he lost it The Builders in Christs time would not own Christ for their King and Deliverer for fear of forfeiting their kingdom to the Romanes and thereby ran upon that very mischief they would avoid yea they lost Two Kingdoms while they would secure one So dangerous a thing it is when men will be wiser then God or at least then God would have them HUMANE POLICY before Scripture-precept or Scripture-patern is nothing else but DISLOYALTY it gives God counsel when God looks for obedience Fourth sin Vnprayerfulnes
Fourthly Vnprayerfulnesse in Reformers and Deliverers is a great Obstruction and Set-back to their work when relying upon the goodnesse of their Cause they withdraw prayer and leave all to God It is Master Calvins observation upon Psal 17. vers 1. Hear the right O Lord attend unto my cry Psal 71.1 give EAR UNTO MY prayer Though David was sure he was in the Right yet he goes to God by prayer to own both it and him Hear attend give ear Saepe contingit prophanos quoque homines jure gloriari de bona cousa quia tamen non agroscunt mundum divinitus gubernari subsidunt in conscientiae suae theatro aâ— fraenum rodentes contumaciter magis quam constanter ferunt injurias quia ex fide invocatione Dei nullam perunt consolationem At fideles non tantum nitumur causae suae bonitate c. Calv. in Psal 17.1 Judg. 20. he prays and multiplies prayer He prays and Jacob like wrestles with God in prayer so the repetition of the words implies Calvin I say observes that the children of God do not trust meerly to the goodnesse of their Cause but make their continual addresses to God by prayer for his counsel and patronage in the managing of it The neglect hereof was the miscarriage of Two famous Battels wherein God himself sent the children of Israel to do execution upon their Brethren the children of Benjamin who refused to give up their Delinquents to the hand of Justice in the first whereof they lost Two and twenty thousand in the second Eighteen thousand men and all because they went out to the work full of carnal confidence trusting to the goodnesse of their Cause their Commission in their hand with the broad Seal of heaven to it but did not go forth with that fear and trembling with that humiliation and seeking of God by prayer as became a Service of that nature and importance You may know what the cause of their miscarriage was by their Recovery for when in the 26 verse you finde them going up to the House of the Lord with FASTING and WEEPING and SUPPLICATIONS c. then they go forth and prosper Oh God takes it very ill when men think they can do their work alone without God and leaves them to encounter with desperate difficulties and opposition to convince them of their follie while he may justly say unto them Nay if you have done praying I have done helping A Fifth Cause of miscarriage or obstruction 5. Self-ends on the Deliverers part is When they are acted by personal interests self-ends when they seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ as the Apostle complains Phil. 2.21 Oh when the enemies of the Churches Peace and Reformation can spie such tempers and dispositions among the Heads of the Tribes they will be sure to be tampering with and operating upon them ply them with sutable and powerful temtations Dan. 11.32 Just the Kings plot KING ANTIOCHUS Such as deal treacherously against the Covenant he shall corrupt by flatteries Observe mens tempers and boyl up your temptation to the height spice it well with rich and sparkling ingredients an hundred to one but it will take promise Offices Honours Estates Pleasures you may easily make your party strong they shall warp cool grow flat be no more like the men they were then if they were not the same Others that will not serve the designe let them be discountenanc'd cross'd obscur'd unlesse they be men of high principles and ponderous spirits in time they will be discouraged and if they do not come up to act with you they will have no great stomack to act against you they will sit still and let things work as they may I do not know I Cease ye indeed from man c. Aaron himself hath a spice of this disease He and his sister the Prophetesse speak against Moses Num. 12. Num. 12.1 Why what is the matter the Ethiopian woman is laid in his dish I but that was but the pretence there lay somewhat else at the bottom Self was at the bottom Moses his GLORY obscured theirs he had more respect then came to his share they are no-body now Hath the Lord indeed onely spoken by Moses Vers 2. and hath he not also spoken by us This breeds ill blood they care not for stirring any further in the work if Moses must have all the honour let him do all the work What an Obstruction was this like to prove I Ah Lord what influence self-ends and interests may have upon the very godly to publike prejudice if they do not narrowly watch their own hearts I Oh it is extremely sad and ominous when men come once to drive private Designes in stead of a Reformation 6. Over-credulity Sixthly not lesse mischief may come to Publike designes by Over-credulity in them that manage them to the fair and specious Overtures of Accommodations and Peace made by the Enemies It cost his Excellencie dear Gedaliah the General of the Jews Forces and I know not how many hundreds or thousands of Jews and men of War lost their lives by his too easie belief of PRINCE ISHMAEL'S FLATTERIES Jer. 41.14 15 16. with Chap. 42.1 2 3 though he were sufficiently caution'd of his bloody intentions And so it had fared with them at their return from Babylon the Adversaries of Judah pretend to build but intend to slay an Accommodation at the top Ezra 4.1 2 but a Massacre at the bottom Nehem. 4.11 and it had taken as sure as can be had not God given Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah a singular spirit of providence and discerning Oh the mischiefs that have redounded to the Church and her Reformation by unwary Treaties all the Massacres and bloody treacheries which you read of in Ecclesiastical histories almost Dan. 11.25 have been ushered in by Treaties witnesse king Antiochus KING CHARLES the ninth of France that bloody Massacre of above Sixty thousand Protestants was nothing but a covered dish served in under the pretence of Peace and Marriage confirm'd by Oaths and Sacraments The Church never got by Treaties how should she since not love of Peace but want of Power brings the enemy to Articles which he will keep no longer then he wants opportunity and advantage to break them 7. Preposterous methods Seventhly Preposterous methods have been mighty Set-backs to Reformation when Reformers begin at the wrong end As long as they cried Hagg. 1.2 4. The time is not come the time that the Lords House should be built is not yet come and began with their own houses the work stuck they made no earnings of it they put their wages into a broken bag Vers 6. you cry saith the Prophet It is not time it is not time the truth is saith he if you had not wanted hearts more then time the work had been done before now half so much time and cost on Gods house as on your own on the
Isa 63 12. Thus shall be known to be God oppositions lift up God Israel sees the Creature NOTHING God ALL in a deliverance so fetcht out of the fire He led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious Arm dividing the water before them TO MAKE HIMSELF AN EVERLASTING NAME And again At a beast goes down into the valley Verse 14. the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest so didst thou lead thy people TO MAKE THY SELF A GLORIOUS NAME Here is nothing to be seen in such deliverances but God God God will out his people by this means of themselves their own wisedom their own counsels their own strength c. and God will be All in All. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Isa 2.11 10. By this means God endears deliverance Tenthly and Lastly By this way and these methods God endears Deliverances unto his people If they were easily got they would be light set-by but O how sweet is a land of Rest after fourty yeers travel how sweet Peace after War how beautiful a Creation when it comes out of a Chaos as heaven is worth two heavens to a poor soul that comes out of hell so Deliverance is Deliverance indeed and Reformation is Reformation twice told that is fetcht out of the jaws of Difficulty out of the bowels of devouring apposition it will be meat indeed when it comes out of the eater and sweetnesse indeed when out of strong conflicts and long expectation then may the Church tune her Psalms of Thanksgiving with the sweet singer of Israel Psal 40.1 I waited patiently for the Lord and he enclined unto me and heard my cry and so forward O the depth of the riches both of the wisedom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements Rom. 11.33 and his ways past finding out And thus Right Honourable and Beloved I have dispatcht the Fourfold account of this sad Truth c. That a Deliverance of Gods own promising and setting afoot may meet with such desperate non-plusses and setbacks as may make it seem a lost designe As for the other part of it sc Why the people of God even a Moses himself may so judge of it how it comes to passe that they should so mistake the ways and meanings of God were indeed an account worth the enquiring into were there time and room for such a work which since there is not I must hasten to make some improvement of what hath been already spoken for Vse and Application Wherein notwithstanding it is possible we may meet with some opportunity and occasion to give you some little kint and touch of this also First therefore 1 Use for Caution not to judge of Undertakings by Successe Eccles 2.9 it may serve to Caution us not to measure the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse goodnesse or badnesse of a Cause or Vndertaking by the encouragements or discouragements the present successe or opposition it meets with No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them Wicked hellish designes may go on smoothly and prosperously hardly meet with a rub in the way as it is said of the wicked themselves There is no bands in their death Psal 73.4 or as the Hebrew signifies no * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knots in their death they live like Lions and Wolves tearing and devouring and yet die many times like Lambs not any knot to untie no doubt of their salvation no trouble of conscience a Lamblike death the great Idol of carnal ignorant people So it is with their designes there is no bands or knots in their designes they meet with no rub in their way they go off as smoothly as heart can wish many times the devil driving them on and God in a secret and a just judgement permitting for the hardning of wicked men to their own destruction Whereas Designes of Gods own forming and animating may you see meet with such dismaying Crossings and Turnbacks that many times might make one think there is no life in the businesse And therefore call not in question the goodnesse and warrantablenesse of the work of Reformation in hand or any other Gospel-designe because of the obstructions and oppositions it hath or may meet with we are very prone to it The Israelites after their first and second discomfiture before their Brethren of Benjamin Judg. 20.23 are at their Shall I go up again to battel against the children of Benjamin my Brother and so again Shall I go up Verse 23. or shall I cease thereby secretly making a doubt of the warrantablenesse of their War although God expresly bid them go And so you may finde the Israelites even Joshua himself Josh 7.7 repenting of their adventure as it were Would to God we had been contented and dwelt on the other side Jordan they distrust their Cause though it had the Imprimatur of heaven upon it a promise of above Four hundred yeers old And have not we done so upon the desperate exigences and straits and non-plusses into which this designe hath been driven up many times Have we not been at our Ifs and our Would-to-Gods c. Remember I beseech you what reasonings and discourses you have had in your own hearts And get a better and a more infallible Rule to judge the goodnesse of Publike or personal designes by not successes or opposition but the Word Psal 73.34 if it be according to that Rule Wait on the Lord and keep his way the issue shall be good whatever the present posture of things be Secondly if so then take heed when you meet with such Turn-agains and non-ultra's in your work take heed I say of charging God foolishly 2. Not to charge God foolishly take heed of entertaining any hard thoughts of God This is our sin and our folly That when any Church-deliverance is on foot we think it must be carried on without any interruption it must be done all at once and so when the work meets with unexpected hardship and contradiction of sinners we are ready to call Providence as well as the Cause into question I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes You know whose complaint it was Psal 31.22 And Sion said The Lord hath forgotten me Isa 49.14 and my Lord hath forgotten me HARD THOUGHTS And so we are ready to think the work is at an end we have seen the best on 't Moses you see is at this passe here I would be loth to do the good man any wrong but methinks he dasheth a little upon God in his complaint though there be a great deal of grace in it too Wherefore hast THOU evil intreated this people Why hast THOU sent me THOU hast not delivered c. Ah good man he think this was hard dealing of God and fears he is at his furthest it will all end in a cloud And the reason of all this is to give you