He taketh the wise in their owne craftinesse They meet with darknesse in the day-time and grope in the noone-day as in the night Prov. 21.30 There is no wisedome nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord. And whatsoever is without God is against him No Associations can do good without him See Isaiah 8.9 10. Walls and Fortifications are to no purpose Isaiah 22.8 9 10 c. The sounds of Rams hornes shall be as good as the Batteries of the greatest Rams or the shot of the greatest Cannon against Hiericho if the Lords strength be not the cement of the stones thereof Iosh 6.20 There is no nourishing vertue in the creatures without him Matth. 4.4 Man shall not live by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God There is no Security no Prosperity no successe in any Action any Operation or Enterprize without the blessing of the Lord. Except the Lord build the House they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord keepe the City the Watch-man waketh but in vain c. Psalme 127. What seemes to be attributed unto Chance Eccles 9.11 being spoken as is thought in the person of a carnall man perhaps to convince such an one from his owne principles is without doubt the prerogative of God who is equally the great Master both of contingent and regular events for there is nothing contingent in regard of the first cause The race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong nor yet bread to the wise c. Eccl. 9.11 There is no peace nor indeed any good to bee had but from him Isaiah 45.7 I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord doe all these things The Scripture flowes with this kind of instruction And the voyce of Reason and Scripture is subscribed by Experience The experiments are innumerable that History affords to this purpose We need goe no farther than to those evidences which have been given us in our late miscarriages Wee see our Wisedome hath forsaken us and the contrivances of our great Counsellors have proved plots of destruction our policies have served but to improve our miseries to cheate us farther and farther into the power of Mischiefe and Desolation On the one side our gracious King the glory of our strength under God is imprisoned and he that should helpe us is not able to helpe himselfe God hath suffered so good a King to fall into such a condition perhaps to teach us this lesson that I am now pressing upon you I pray God we may learne it quickly for his sake Our Armies though they were strong and powerfull and had the great comfort and encouragement of a righteous Cause yet through miscarriage in the mannaging thereof and for want of engaging God with them in the work yea through their dis-ingaging of him by their wickednesse and horrid impieties they have beene defeated and brought to nothing I pray God this may be remembred hereafter On the other side the Armies in which so many have trusted and which they have beene at such cost to set up and maintaine instead of helping them have become their Oppressours the edge of their Swords hath been turned toward themselves and their own force threatneth them with ruine The Money and Wealth of the City and Kingdome hath purchased chased us no deliverance at all but hath rather served for the hire of our calamities All the Pillars on which we have leaned are broken as it were on all sides and we have no Foundation left us to rest our selves upon on earth Oh then now let us learne from all this that there is no helpe but in God If wee have our recovery we must have it from heaven and from his hand No Drug will helpe us but Manus Christi If wee ever have Peace we must have it from him Hee is the Prince of peace and the God of peace Though the whole World should conspire to doe us good and to relieve us yet if the Lord come not in to the worke it will be in vaine Let us therefore learne wisdome by our former follies and doe not now relapse into your old errours againe There is much gaping after helpe from this and from that from the Scots and from the Welch and from I know not whom and indeed these may be instrumentall helpes and it will be wonderfull in God to make them so But all these will deceive us unlesse God be brought in for us unlesse he be with us as good they were all against us They will neither prove faithfull unlesse God hold them nor helpfull unlesse God strengthen and prosper them Let us look upon them therefore as the returning glimpses of Gods mercy unto us as his proffers and invitations to make us seek unto him But let us take heed that we place not our hope in them nor in any creature It is the common Dilemma of humane folly and perversenesse that where no outward help appeareth it is apt to despaire of help from God and we will trust him no farther than we can see him in the meanes but they that are of this mind if they truely search into their condition will finde perhaps that they trust not in God but in the meanes And againe when outward help doth begin to shew it selfe we are presently too apt to forget our dependance upon God and to withdraw our expectations from him and to set up that meanes for an Idoll in his Throne by placing our hope and confidence therein I pray God deliver us from both these extreames and teach us in all the varieties and changes of humane things to keepe our selves unmoveably fixed upon this Rocke That our help commeth from the Lord which made heaven and earth Psal 21.2 But it is a great question that comes in the fourth place and would require more space than I have allowed mee to resolve it fully What course may be taken to engage God on our side and to obtaine help and relief from him First let mee entreat you all to bee firmly fixed upon this and to let it seize upon your affections as well as your judgements that if ever we be relieved it must be God that must relieve us And then take in this conclusion for your direction That there is no way to obtain help and deliverance from God but by Humiliation Repentance and faithfull Prayer unto him This onely will doe it and this will doe it I must divide and be briefe I shall premise only this premonition I deny not but God may grant outward deliverances outward blessings where they are not sought of him in this way for divers ends that are knowne unto his heavenly wisdome He doth sometimes take off judgements from the wicked that he may render them so much the more unexcusable and sometimes to give them the reward of some outward Services and sometimes for the sake of the righteous that live amongst them
all our sins have kindled these flames let your penitent teares and earnest and faithfull Prayers endeavour to quench them The anger of the Lord incensed by our iniquities is the root of all these miseries let us seeke to appease his anger by the incense of our fervent devotions God is a powerfull God and is able to helpe us He is a mercifull God and willing to relieve and succour all those that turne unto him with penitent hearts The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him yea unto all such as call upon him faithfully Methinkes we may heare him clucking us unto him as A Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings that he may hide us there oh let us runne unto him Me thinks we may see him spreading out his armes and stretching out his hands unto us as he did once unto Israel that he may reach us unto himselfe and embrace us in our returne oh let us not stand out against his mercy to our owne ruine When the Prodigall child in the Parable returned how ready was the good father to go forth and meete him how did he fall upon his necke and kissed him Oh let us then feed no longer upon the Huskes with the Swine upon the empty shells of created helpes by relying upon them but let us go to our Father our heavenly Father our mercifull Father and say unto him in the bitternesse of our soules and the compunction of our spirits Father we have sinned against heaven and against thee and are no more worthy to be called thy Children Let us now at length lay aside our strifes our divisions our wicked and foolish and frantick and worldly contentions about shadows and trifles and impertinences And let us all joyne together to quench the fires that are kindled in our houses about our eares Consider how long God hath waited for this He hath been seven yeares now upon the matter preaching this Lecture unto us It hath lost many thousands of lives to teach it us Oh let us now learn it then and practice it lest we answer for all that bloud that hath been shed Take heed you weary not out the patience of the Almighty but let his long suffering leade you to repentance lest his despised mercy be turned into the greater fury and you be made to pay a heavy interest for all his for bearance in eternall destruction Oh delay not the time lest the Decree of utter subversion come forth against us and there be no remedy We must seek to him if ever we be relieved let us do it quickly that we may be speedily relieved let us do it quickly lest it be too late away with procrastinations Illud modò modò non habet modum There is no end of our anons too morrowes if we yeeld unto our Tempter and our corrupt hearts Seeke the Lord whilst he may be found call upon him whilst he is neere Plough up your fallow ground for it is time to seeke the Lord. Oh make haste for the day declineth the shadows of the Evening are stretched out the Morning commeth and also the Night if you will returne returne come But especially let me bespeake you my beloved Brethren and fellow sufferers unto whom I desire to empty out my soule in this Exhortation You that are the Loyall people of the Land whom God hath so long disciplined under the yoke of the oppression of your enemies Let not all that pruning and digging about you prove in vaine lest he breake out at length against you in a farre greater judgement Oh despise not the correction of the Lord nor cast his reproofes behind your back deceive not your selves with vaine hopes Trust not to the righteousnesse of your cause Alas have we forgotten so soone how our wickednesse hath betrayed it once already And Sin is as great a Traitour still as ever Ioshua and Israel had a good cause and a good Commission even from God himselfe and had received great pledges of the Almighties favour The Sea divides asunder to give them passage and what was a Wall unto them was a Sepulchre unto their enemies The Mountaines skipped like Ramms and the little Hills like young Sheepe as it were before them The Walls of Iericho fall down at the noise of them and instead of being a fence for their Adversaries become a pavement unto them These and a thousand more favours God had done for them and yet though their cause was never so good and their Commission never so authenticall and though all these priviledges were bestowed upon them yet we know what one Achan did amongst them See the Story Ioshuah 7. Alas my Brethren how many Achans are there amongst us we may even tremble to thinke on it I love you too well to flatter you in this Israel was Gods people and Midian was his Enemy and yet when the Children of Israel did evill in the sight of the Lord the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven yeares Let your owne sad experience make you wise you see whither your Sins have brought you and your Cause and your gracious King Take heed you runne not againe into the same errour for which you have already suffered so much and do actually suffer God hath put you to the Triall once againe whether you will receive mercy or no by making new offers of deliverance unto you let not your sins now stand in the way to divert his mercies from you Do not run away from God by your iniquities when he is comming toward you in his goodnesse Oh I beseech you be humbled be reformed let us have no more of your Oaths and Blasphemies and horrid Execrations Your Dammees and your Sinke-mees I feare there are some of your number now cursing banning in Hell for it for all their Loyalty and their righteous Cause and how shall they escape thinke we that love damnation so well as to pray for it It is the monster and prodigy of Corruption that the Devill should so besot any soule Let us have no more of your swinish Drunkennes nor your riotous revellings nor your brutish Lusts No more of your contemning of God and his Truth and his Worship of his Ministers and his Ordinances You see God will not be contemned I pray you consider it hereafter lest if you miscarry againe you miscarry without recovery and your King and the Church and these whole Nations fall with you Oh endeavour I beseech you to make amends for former miscarriages Do not thinke you can do any thing without God leave him out of he businesse no more Trust not to the Scots Trust not to the Welch though I hope they will prove faithfull Trust not to your strength your forces your friends Trust not to the people All these will come to nought without God Trust in God take him along with you in all your waies Consult with him in his Word let him be President of your Councels of Warre and
thee thy gracious Promises in Christ and the Merits of thy Sonne whereby thou hast engaged thy selfe that what we aske in his Name we shall receive Thou hast opened unto us a gate of mercy in him he hath purchased a Pardon for us with his owne Bloud He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and thou hast opened in him a fountaine of Grace to sanctifie our natures and reforme our sins That the clouds may be removed and thy light and grace may shine upon us We desire therefore to relinquish our selves to disclaime our selves and to come unto thee in and by Christ Jesus beseeching thee for his sake to save our poore sinfull Nations O deale not with us after our iniquities but according to the greatnesse of thy mercy thinke thou upon us O Lord for thy goodnes O Lord forgive our great and horrid offences that have provoked thy wrath against us O cleanse our filthy and polluted soules rinse us in those Rivers that flowed from thy Son in the Garden and upon the Crosse Perfume us with thy holinesse Adorne us and sanctifie us with the graces of thy spirit Give us cleane hearts and pure affections and holy and Christian lives and Conversations O Lord forgive us that thou mayest reforme us and reforme us that thou mayest heale us O grant us broken and contrite hearts humbled spirits and melting souls that we may mourne for our sins past Grant us those Spirituall groanes and sighs that may pierce even into thy Bowels by the Merits and Mediation of Christ Jesus that they may be moved in compassion toward us Grant us cleane soules and renewed consciences that we may speedily and heartily forsake all our wicked sinfull and abominable courses whereby we have enflamed thee our gracious God against our selves our King and People Rouze us up from our carnall security that we may seek speedily and earnestly unto thee our God who for our sins art justly displeased O be gracious be gracious unto us be favourable O Lord be favourable unto thy people and let us not be brought to confusion give us not up to destruction and desolation for the Lords sake Call back thy Judgements and Plagues that thou hast sent forth against us The Pestilence and the Dearth and the devouring Sword that hath so long drunke up the bloud of the people Call backe that spirit of corruption and confusion of division and distraction that hath beone sent forth into these Lands and make up a happy union and peace amongst us for the Lord Jesus his sake Call backe that spirit of rebellion and oppression of cruelty and rapin that hath seized upon the hearts of so many of this Nation and reduce them into the waies of obedience and righteousnesse Send forth the spirit of truth of peace of righteousnesse of mercy of loyalty and obedience into all our hearts that we may be restored to a happy and prosperous condition Lord restore the King and deliver him Lord preserve his Queene Children and Family Lord have pitty upon His distressed People upon the Prisoners and the outcasts and the poore persecuted Subjects of this Land and deliver them from the fury and the cruelty of their Adversaries Lord direct guide sanctifie and prosper all the Loyall Armies and those faithfull people that are engaged in the cause of thine Annointed and his people let not their sins nor our sins stand between thy mercy and them or us Lord be mercifull to our Enemies make their hearts to relent forgive them and convert them and preserve them if it be thy blessed will reconcile us all to thee that we may be reconciled to one another Or if they shall still continue in their wickednesse Lord suffer them not to prosper therein suffer them to prevaile no more against thy Substitute and thine Ordinance to oppresse no more to kill and murder thy poore People no more but bring them downe O Lord we beseech thee for thine infinite mercies sake O Lord heare us O Lord help us O Lord relieve and succour us O deliver us and be mercifull to our sinnes for thy Son Christ Jesus his sake to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen A short Prayer to be used upon the undertaking of any just designe or enterprize for peace O Lord I blesse thy holy name for that good motion which thou hast put into our hearts for the procurement of peace unto these Nations I confesse O Lord I am not worthy to be an instrument of so great a blessing neither is there any strength or wisdome in me thy poore Creature that I should be able to mannage so excellent a worke but thou art the God that pardonest sins And art pleased to make use of weake and worthlesse meanes that the glory may be so much the more thine I beseech thee be thou glorified in us thy Servants pardon our sins heale our infirmities supply us with wisdome and thy strength and assist us by thy spirit make us to set up thy glory before us and sincerely to seeke the good of thy Church and people Shew us the waies that are conducible thereunto and conduct us and speed us therein and give a happy issue thereunto to the glory of thy Name to the comfort of thine Annointed and all his People to the furtherance of thy Gospell and to the good of me and mine c. and of these whole Nations through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer for the restoring of an happy and setled Government in this Nation O Lord God who rulest and governest all things by thy Son Christ Jesus and hast ordained Magistracy and the power of Government amongst men as a ray or branch of that supreme authority in Christ Jesus to be the guardian under thee of peace and righteousnesse among thy people The foundation of humane society The Pillar of the world The shield of thy people and of all the blessings that they enjoy And of all other Governments hast most approved in thy holy Word of that excellent forme of royall Monarchy as that which is the most lively Image of thy rule and the most fruitfull Channell of safety and peace and felicity unto a people Weblesse and magnifie thy holy Name for this thy great and holy Ordinance whereby thou hast so provided for the fecurity and preservation of thy poore Creatures And more particularly we blesse thy holy Name for that comfortable portion which thou hast given unto this Nation heretofore in this thy blessing and in the benefits thereof in setting over us Kings and Princes to take the charge of the Government of this Land whereby thou hast been pleased for so long a time to preserve this Nation of ours in peace and plenty and prosperity and happinesse We confesse O Lord that there never was any the least merit in us that could challenge the least part unto us of so great a blessing whilst we