God or man except our hearts rely upon God alone and our Consciences are pure from the blood of all men I Communicate my thoughts to the World to comfort them under God with such Comforts as I have received from God if they will imbrace them if they find fault let them produce better if they can if they do I shall not find fault but thank them Si non his utere mecum I have embosomed my own Soul my heart is enlarged I am filled as the Moon at the full O si esset fenestratum pectus It is my love and goodness not to be despised from the menarest Swain These good thoughts come into my mind in these distracted times and surely the worst of trouble occasion and stir up the best of thoughts and such ages by the good hand of God have produced most excellent of men I take it for a great mercy that there are such rare Saints and Servants of God that keep themselves unspotted from the World in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation hating the Garments spotted by the Flesh abounding so much more in Grace and Goodness as the World abounds in Sin and Wickedness of whom the World is not worthy nor am I worthy to pour water on their hands or carry their Books after them but desire to sit at their feet to learn and imitate their great Learning and Piety whom God preserve These things comfort me till deliverance come and will comfort me if it were come because I believe that the Grace of God is sufficient for us all though the Thorn be in the Flesh and the Messengers of Satan be sent to buffet us Let the Reader pardon me for this largeness in so sad a season and upon so solemn an occasion of Fasting and Praying in our greatest extremity I shall ask his pardon but this once I will trouble him no more in this kind I hope I shall never have the like occasion the Storm will blow over I have told him my mind in this matter if he pleases to hear it if not I am where I was and he is where he is let him use his discretion But whether he will pardon me or no for 't is hard to please I may pray for him though he be my deadly Enemy and that will not hurt him tho he would hurt me except he refuses to pray for himself SECT XIV I conclude with the word of God and Prayer Famous are the Examples of Noah Abraham Jacob Joseph Moses c. Who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained Promises stopped the Mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in Fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment They were stoned they were sawn a sunder were tempted were slain with the Sword They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in Deserts and in Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth And these all having obtained a good report received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things A PRAYER O Thou that hearest Prayers unto thee shall all Flesh come We bow the Knees of our Hearts to thee the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that thou wouldest be pleased to grant unto us according to the Riches of thy Grace to be strengthned with might by thy Spirit in the Inner Man that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith that we being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the Love of God which passeth all knowledge that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the Power that worketh in us even unto him be Glory in the Church of Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without End Amen For whose sake we pray for the whole World especially for those that have remembred thee their God and are entred into Covenant with thee against the World the Flesh and the Devil that they may continue thy faithful Servants unto their Lives end and that the Gates of Hell may never be able to prevail against them And more especially we pray for that part of thy Church which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and peculiarly for thy Servant our most Dear and Dread Soveraign Lord CHARLES by thy Grace and amazing Providence of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil in these his Majesties Realms and Dominions next and immediately under Thee and thy Son Christ Jesus Supreme Head and Governor Give him the precious things of Heaven for the Dew and for the Deep that coucheth beneath and the precious Fruits brought forth by the Sun and the precious things put forth by the Moon and the chief things of the Ancient Mountains and the precious things of the lasting Hills and the precious things of the Earth and fulness thereof and the good Will of him that dwelt in the Bush come upon the Head of Joseph and upon the top of the Head of him that is separated from his Brethren that he may be unto them a nursing Father the Light of Israel and the Breath of their Nostrils Endue his Soul with Princely Virtues and everlastingly reward him Grant him a long life a happy Reign a glorious Victory over all his Enemies and a happy Succession after him Let his Enemies be clothed with shame and let confusion of Faces for ever fall upon them Smite through the Loyns of those that hate him and Plague all those that offer to rise up against him Let an Excellent Spirit from the Most High God always rest upon him Make him Wise and exceeding Valiant and Couragious even as an Angel of God able to go in and out before this Mighty Stubborn Divided and Discontented People committed to his Charge Guard him with Holy Angels and Loyal Subjects that the Sons of Violence may not come near to hurt him but upon his own Head and the Heads of his Posterity let the Crown flourish so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure Bless His Royal Consort Queen Catherine the Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Bless the Lords and Others of
A SERMON Preached on the Fast-Day December 22. 1680. IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ROCHESTER By ROBERT DIXON D. D Vice-Dean of the said Church LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavel at the Sign of the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard 1681. A SERMON Preached on the Fast-Day c. II CHRON. XX. 12. Neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee SECTION I. THE Children of Ammon and Moah Coherence and Mount Seir whom God would not let the Children of Israel invade when they came out of the Land of Egypt but they turned from them and destroyed them not rewarded them so ill for their forbearance when it was in their power to have destroyed them that they came up with a mighty Force against them to cast them out of their Possession which the Lord had given them to inherit Then Jehoshaphat feared and took the right course and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a Fast throughout all Judah And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord even out of all the Cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Then as Kings and Prophets and some few Others in those daies had the Spirit of Prayer In the Gospel times the Spirit is poured out more plentifully upon all Flesh Jehoshaphat stood in the Congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the House of the Lord before the New Court and uttered an ingenious Prayer in which he briefly declared the Justice of their Cause and their Confidence in God Then after him upon the Spirit of Jahaziel the Son of Zechariah a Levite of the Sons of Asaph came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the Congregation and encouraged them not to be afraid or dismayed of those Ammonites Moabites and Idumaeans which were so great a Multitude because the Battel was not theirs but Gods bidding them stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord and that the Lord would be with them Because they believed in the Lord their God and his Prophets therefore they should prosper and accordingly it came to pass for their Enemies destroyed one another and their dead bodies fell to the Earth and none escaped and they took the spoil in great abundance and they returned to Jerusalem to give thanks to the Lord for their great deliverance This course our Gracious King and his whole Kingdom have taken against Their implacable Enemies both at home and abroad and we pray as they did this day with one mouth Behold how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit O our God wilt thou not judge them for we have no might against this great Company that cometh against us Neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee SECT II. The Subject is Last Resolution The Points are 1. Extremity We know not what to do 2. Remedy But our eyes are upon thee Extremity a helpless Condition Extremity when all outward hopes fail when Sins are upon us and Enemies upon our back the World the Flesh and the Devil all for mischief and utter ruine There are several kinds of Extremities as of Sins and of Miseries 1. Personal Extremities of Sins and Miseries that is such as we bring upon our selves by wilful disobedience Personal 2. National Extremities of Sins and Miseries that is which a whole People bring upon their Nation by their wilful Rebellion National 3. Church Extremities of Sins and Miseries that is which they bring upon the whole Church by their wilful disobedience Ecclesiastical In all these Distractions and Confusions we know not what to do we are at the last cast finding no help from our selves or any other Creature Angels or Men our Eyes are only upon God So we are the Causes of our own Extremities upon our selves and upon the whole Nation and upon the whole Church So Others are the Causes of our Personal Extremities And Others are the Causes of our National Extremities And Others are the Causes of our Ecclesiastical Extremities So we are the Causes of Personal Extremities upon Others And we are the Causes of National Extremities upon Others And We are the Causes of Church Extremities upon Others So we do our selves Harm and we do others Harm and others do us Harm And then we fly to God to do us Good and others fly to God to do us Good and we fly to God to do others Good II. Remedy Remedy Faith in God Bodily Extremities we must fall into Soul Extremities we may avoid Deus Providebit God will secure us from both Want of Care brings all these upon us Care remedies all these In God's Ark we may be safe in our Persons Nation and Church when in the Devil's Ark all the World is drowned There is therefore a Time to unite all Personal Forces Wit There is a Time to unite all National Forces Arms. There is a Time to unite all Church Forces Prayer 1. Wicked men run headlong into straits as the Horse rusheth into the Battel or an Ox goeth to the slaughter as a Bird hastneth into the Snare as a Fool runneth to the Correction of the Stocks not knowing it is for their lives As the Fish swimmeth playing through the Waters of Jordan into the Dead Sea Preying greedily on the pleasant Bait swallows therewith the deadly Hook There is poyson of Death in the Pot before they know it They go down into Hell in a moment before they know where they are No fore-cast no fore-sight at all embrace present things not regarding futurity Eat and Drink and die to morrow Dance delicately into the Grave Sail fairly into Gulphs Rocks and Quicksands O Navis quò te referent in mare novi fluctus c. A short life and a pleasant Crown themselves with Rose-buds before they be withered fill themselves with costly Wine and Ointments and let no flower of the Spring pass by them The Prodigal spent his Estate upon Harlots and came to Swines and Husks From Liberty me run into Licentiousness and fall together by the ears and of Freemen become Slaves Run in Debt into a Gaol to die Rob and Kill and come to the Gallows Drink drunk and stagger into their Graves Stab Pistol Poyson one another suddenly they perish and come to a fearful end 2. Righteous men are never forlorn Troubled on every side yet not distressed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed I never saw the Righteous forsaken nor their Seed begging their bread the Lord careth for the Righteous he is their helper and delivereth them out of all their Troubles The Wicked in their fury lay on sore strokes upon them if God be angry but a little they will be sure to help forward the affliction all they can taking more leave than is given them to shew their Malice till God burn that Rod in the fire that would lie longer upon the Back of the Righteous
because we are ripe for Judgment coming upon us like an Armed man that cannot be resisted 2 For our Miseries fears of Want of War Pain and Confusion for Distraction in our understandings Perplexity in our Wills Madness in our Passions boyling over in Dispair Which makes the Wicked Raging Forlorn Desperate Cursing and Blaspheming Foaming and Tearing like a Wild Bull in a Net 3. For our Deliverances from Sin and Miseries a Harbour out of a Raging Ocean a Calm in a Storm an Anchor a Rest a Rock in a dry and weary Land In a Tempest every man cries to his several God In Distress every man takes care for his Body and for his Soul pities himself should pity others helps himself and should help others prays for himself and should for others labours for himself and should for others Shifts for himself at last We know not what to think speak or do but look one upon another and all upon God SECT IX All Experiments Cordials 1. If ever there was a time of trial surely it is now Behold and see O all ye that pass by was there ever any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger For these things I weep my eye my eye poureth out tears because the Comforter that should relieve my Sorrow is far from me Can we believe and will we believe now Do we dare to be honest still If ever Faith be found faithful it will be now If we cannot be happy now we shall be sure to be happy hereafter Veniet aliquando dies Time will end in Eternity All tears shall one day be wiped away from our eyes We have cause to be taken off from things below and to fix upon things above If there be deliverance it will come if none God's Will be done Sit down under the Judgment If we perish we perish Ly prostrate at the Footstool of God's Grace we cannot everlastingly perish Faith and a good Conscience will bring us peace at the last We know the worst 't is but a Temporal Life We can loose Great heart akings fear not them that can kill the Body and go no further but fear him that is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell fire The Lord can find away to deliver us which we cannot think of if he have any heart towards us or if we have any heart towards him He will seek to do us good if we will seek to do our selves good We have studied to do our selves good and our labour is in vain without God but our labour shall never be in vain in the Lord. Wo be unto them by whom the offences come it had been better for them if they had never been born or that they had been like the untimely fruit of a Woman which never saw the Sun 2. Is this a time to contend about Trifles Parties We had more need unite them and not Scratch and Devour one another as we do We must live and die together then let us live and die in love together Seek to reconcile all Parties at least bear with them and love them then look up to God and try if we shall be heard otherwise if we make many prayers he will not hear know this for certain the Party that is bloody and false shall be destroyed A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand There will be Parties as long as the World lasts and those Parties will be of several Judgments as long as the World lasts These may instruct one another whither they will hear or whither they will forbear they must not devour one another therefore if they do both parties are guilty the innocent party may complain and defend themselves Is this a time to hunt after Honours Riches Pleasures till the Flood come and sweep us all away Throne of Grace 3. The last Refuge is the Throne of God's Grace never to depart from that is to be sure of Glory We know well what to do for our Eyes are upon God Signs of good 4. There are signs of fair Weather God remembers that we are but Dust and that the Breath is in our Nostrils and therefore he will not be always chiding lest the Spirits of men should fail before him and the Souls should die and perish which he hath Created God propounds the way of Peace 1. By opening unto us the Danger and discovering the Contrâ—vers of it 2. By raising up the Spirits of men to that pitch of detestation and utter abhorrence of those damnable Doctrines and Practices as are so universally destructive to the Church and Commonwealth 3. By offering ways and means to recover if we will take them God hath done his part but our business will not be done except we do our part What could God do more for his Vineyard which he hath not done but still we bring forth Wild Grapes God can and will save us if we will be saved 4. By giving us a Seed of Rare Champions Giants for Piety and Learning 5. If God had no delight in us Why hath he done so much for us already And why is he so ready to do for us still If we will yet repent we shall not perish Preparation for the worst 6. Prepare for the worst Hope for the best If we must die let us die together In Love in one anothers Arms. 2. In Faith in the Arms of God 3. In Justice doing no harm to one another in Righteousness having a good Cause and a good Conscience free from presumptuous sins and from blood guiltiness The will of the Lord must be done whither we will or no 't is best for us to be willing even against our Will we sin but God suffers and we suffer and God suffers we suffer altogether take heed we do not sin altogether We are not alone in sufferings let us not be altogether in sinnings God is with us in sufferings God is not with us in sinnings God is with us if we live not nor die not in sin this is comfort but God is far from us if we live and die in unrighteousness this is sorrow Look to Thoughts Words and Deeds that they be good now They that are profane and wicked as they were in times of safety are worse now in times of danger 'T is a bad sign to be bad still Will nothing do Then if your Sons and Daughters commit whoredoms and other Abominations let them alone for why should they be punished any more they will revolt more and more they that are wicked shall be wicked still But they that have fear'd the Lord and do fear the Lord and speak often one to another a Book of Remembrance is written of those men and God shall make up these Jewels carefully these have done what they can and can do no more they have satisfied themselves and shall satisfie God through Jesus Christ their Lord who hath satisfied for them because they have
will not believe upon such grounds and foundations as are laid in Reason and Religion from the Scriptures and Experiences of Faithful Men will never believe As for us that do believe if we be deceived as we are not God hath deceived us as he hath not nor cannot Therefore we hope we have taken the surest and safest side for God in the ways of Righteousness Because if we be delivered it is his Mercy if we be not delivered it is his Justice yet we dye in a good Cause and it is better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing We dye in a good Cause we dare venture our Faith is such For us to live is Christ and to dye is gain but whether we live or dye we are the Lords The Jews have a great Faith in their Messiah to come and they dye in it The Turks have a great Faith for their Mahomets coming and they dye in it The Millenaries have a great Faith for Christs Temporal Kingdom will the Saints alone for a Thousand years and they dye in it If these men have such hope upon such slender Grounds shall not we much more upon a surer word of Prophecy that hath hitherto come to pass and hath been fulfilled in every tittle This is our Comfort we will not let go our hold though Satan hath sifted us as the Wheat is sifted yet Christ hath prayed for us that our Faith shall not fail nor the Gates of Hell prevail against it and we will live and dye in this Faith by the Grace of God Obj. The Prophet is a Fool and the Spiritual man is Mad much Confidence as well as Learning hath made him Mad. What will this Babler say He seemeth to be a setter-forth of strange things and he speaketh of a Resurrection Sol. We preach Christ Crucified to the Jews a stumbling Block and to the Greeks Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God Because the Foolishness of God is wiser than Men and the weakness of God is stronger than Men God hath chosen the Foolish things of the World to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the World and things which are despised God hath chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things which are that no flesh should glory in his Presence I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek Ob. Every Tub shall stand upon its own bottom Sol. Provided it have a good Foundation not else Ob. I must answer for my self take you no care Sol. Keep there but reject not a charitable care and see that your Cause be good SECT XIII I thank God I have such thoughts as these David had them in his low condition Apology when he was as the man that had been long dead lying in the Grave and out of the mind of others but full of hope in his own mind God's Rod and his Staff comforted him and so it does me and being thus filled with God's promises I find no room for the vain and empty things of this World And as David's hopes came to pass at last so shall mine and the hopes of all that fear God I have studied all I can to find Comfort in Sorrows but I can find none but in God and a good Conscience all the rest is vanity of vanities and vexation of Spirit The Sum of all is fear God and keep his Commandments for that is the whole Duty of Man and that will bring a man peace at the last What did all our Wit and Wealth and Power do us good in Twenty years War We ruined our selves at the last They that fought so long could never obtain their ends all ended in destruction but God bringeth all things to pass at the last When shall we be setled and how Never till we embrace and hold fast the true Religion Christians were persecuted but they conquered still by suffering Jews trusted to Egypt for Chariots and for Horses but all was a broken Reed Leave thy Fatherless Children to me I will preserve them alive and let thy Widdows trust in me We shall have the better of it at the last When you see it you will believe it but we believe it before we see it Ye have not so much Faith it seems as we have according to our Faith so shall it be unto us Lord we believe help thou our unbelief Lord increase our Faith What is contended for among us A Temporal Kingdom The Good Old Cause who shall be greatest who shall be uppermost This will not do but whosoever will be least among us he shall be greatest he shall be uppermost this will do I like the Praying People as they call themselves for their Prayer I should like them better if they would leave their fighting I dare not trust them in their long Prayers to devour Kings Houses and Priests Houses and Widdows Houses and Fatherless Houses and Strangers Houses Let them lay down the Arms of Flesh and take up the Arms of the Spirit and we will pray with them and if occasion be fight with them and for them in a good cause when lawfully called not against Lawful Powers but against unlawful Rebels and Invaders And for the other Party were it not for the palpable intollerable Errors of Papal Supremacy Infallibility Transubstantiation Truce breaking Assassination c. In other Truths we would gladly give them the right hand of fellowship But what essential Doctrine do we Protestants differ in if we can tell Let there be no strife between us for God's sake for we are Brethren What my Brother the Son of my Mother that sucked the same Paps together my Mothers Children were angry with me and wounded me in my Mothers House Quò non penetras livor improbe quidne scabrae malignitatum clausum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O this is hard Who can bear it What not all the Enoticows Interims Confessions Comprehensions Condescentions Will nothing do A wide Door is opened for all Christians to unite against the Common Enemy the Turks that are as Hanibal at our Gates but we do not stir a foot to agree among our selves because of Pride and Profit to put by the Plague and Shame of Christendom There wants not a great price in our hand if we had a heart to take it Now is the time now is the day of Salvation or never Thus I poor wretch strive to settle and comfort my self and you all I can but all is nothing without God When the Woman in the time of Famine cryed out to the King passing by upon the Wall saying Help my Lord O King He said if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee Out of the Barn-store Or out of the Wine-press So we may cry our hearts out for help from