oppressed them and Exod. 3.8 He came down and delivered them out of the Hand of the Egyptians and resolved to bring them up out of that Land unto a good Land and a large unto a Land flowing with Milk and Honey unto the place of the Canaanites c. That is the third Character 4. They defended themselves against their Oppressors The Israelites War was plainly defensive against Pharaoh King of Egypt though he pleaded that they had been his Subjects with the prescription of above four hundred years As soon as Gods time for Deliverance came Moses and the Elders of Israel went to the King of Egypt Exod. 3.18 and demanded leave to sacrifice to the God of Israel They would have Freedom of Religion and Liberty to serve God and live no longer under the oppression of Pharaoh This provoked Pharaoh to wrath and made him Blaspheme the God of Israel Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 And instead of easing their Grievances he imposed more heavy Burthens requiring Brick and not allowing Straw and punished them for not performing what was impossible to be done They make their complaint as of a thing unreasonable and against the Law of Nature but they could have no redress for Pharaoh was resolved to oppress and suppress them if he could He calls all their pretences but idleness and to Sacrifice to the Lord was but the effect of their laziness Thus are wicked Oppressors whom God hath determined to destroy deaf to all complaints though never so just and reasonable That is the fourth Character 5. They had Gods promise for deliverance and believed in him Gods Promise they had Exod. 6.3 c. where you may see a full and plain Promise of God to deliver Israel to bless them and to settle them in Canaan the Promised Land It is true many of the Children of Israel had not Faith to believe this they hearkened not to Moses for anguish of Spirit and for cruel Bondage v. 9. But no doubt most of the Israelites adhered to Moses in this cause and had Faith to believe that God would perform his Promise and the most unbelieving when they saw Gods mighty Works were forced to confess that the God of Israel was most powerful That is the fifth and last Character 2. I shall consider who our Adversaries are The Adversaries of Joshua and the Israelites were divers people of Canann all Heathens and Idolaters a corrupt Generation whose iniquities were full wicked and prophane and God had decreed to destroy them 1. They were Idolaters 2. They were guilty of heinous Sins 3. They were appointed by God to utter Ruin and Destruction for their Sins 1. The Adversaries were Idolaters they forsook the true God Creator and Possessor of Heaven and Earth and Worshipped Idols the Work of their own Hands They changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and changed the Truth of God into a Lie and Worshipped and Served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen as St. Paul speaks Rom 1.23 25. Hence God forbids his people Israel making Images Levit. 26.1 and nothing provoked the Lord to anger more than when his people Israel revolted to Idolatry either that of the Egyptians or that of the Moabites As for that of the Egyptians we read Exod. 32. that God was incensed by the Worshippers of the Golden Calf the Egyptian Idol and threatned to consume them had not Moses interceeded and prayed earnestly As for that of the Moabites we read Numb 25. that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel because they Sacrificed and Bowed down to their Gods God sent a Plague among them in which died four and twenty thousand because they joined themselves to Baal Peor which some say was the Beastly Heathenish God Priapus a most lewd and abominable Idol abhorred by the very Heathens who had any sense of Goodness or sparks of Vertue and Morality left 2. They were guilty of heinous Sins Besides their Idolatry Prophaneness Superstition false Worship blasphemy and the like Sins directly against God and the Duties of the first Table of the Decalogue they abounded with notorious Vices forbidden in the second Table and directly against their Neighbour They stand accused of all Unrighteousness Malice Drunkenness Murder and especially of Whoredom and all manner of Uncleanness even Sodomy it self not excepted They were sinful yea a people laden with iniquity and a Seed of evil doers who sinned against Natural Light and Knowledge But I shall not descant on particulars at this time 3. The Adversaries were appointed by God to utter Ruin and Destruction for their sins Their iniquities were full and God had fully resolved to root them out Thus we read Levit. 18.25 The Land is defiled i.e. by lewdness and wickedness therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the Land it self vomits out her Inhabitants Heinous sins defile a Land and as it is at the 28 th verse make a Land spew out the Inhabitants so Levit. 20.22 the same phrase is used and ver 23. God says that he abhors them for their most grievous wickedness Great Sins bring great Plagues and Temporal as well as Eternal Judgments on a Nation It is true God promised Abraham to make a Nation of him that Kings should come out of him Gen. 17.6 and to establish his Covenant with him and his Seed after him in their Generations and to give them all the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting Possession but they were to be Pilgrims and go down into Egypt for four hundred and thirty years till the iniquities of the Amorites were full For Gods Promises and his Judgments are all conditional God destroys not innocent Creatures If the Canaanites had not done evil in his sight and lived in all manner of prophaneness and wickedness they should not have been destroyed If England reforms their evil ways they shall be saved For God decrees misery only to the Impenitent I shall give you the Reasons why all good Men should be for us which is the third particular in the Method propounded The Reasons may be taken 1. From our selves 2. From the Cause it self 3. From God himself 4. From the Examples of the most wise and devout Protestants whom we follow 1. From our selves We desire to live in all good Conscience towards God and Men We desire nothing but what Laws and Liberties our Forefathers left us We invaded no Mans right but studied to live quietly and do our own business Our Actions were good and lawful but our Enemies triumphed and without Law or Reason sought our ruin Our present Sufferings were great and we were threatened with greater and all this without our desert or offence We were enslaved by Jesuits evil councellors and Unreasonable Men. Our Liberties or Religion our Estates were almost gone we scarce
Images c. I have already discoursed of these Therefore 2. We abhor their breach of Promise It is too common with them to say that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks And hence no considerate and wise Man will trust them And we have had experience of their acting according to this principle The famous learned and devout Protestant John Huss was ruined by them when he had a Protection and safe conduct granted by the Emperour and upon it went to the Council of Constance But saith the famous Historian Sleidan in three weeks time he was made a Prisoner and with Jerom of Prague Burnt at a Stake And the Council gave the Emperour this reason No Promise was to be kept with Hereticks Q. Mary promised that none of her Subjects should be forced in Conscience that she would in particular preserve to the Suffolk and Norfolk Gospellers as they were called in those days who had been so great Instruments in her advancement to the Throne that Reformation begun in her Brother King Edwards days for which they were zealous And she promised never to make any Innovation or Change of the then established Reformed Religion but would content her self with the private exercise of her own Religion as an ingenious man speaks But she broke her Faith with those Suffolk Hereticks And we found it thus in our days with our English Papists As they imagined their Power increased tho' God be thanked it was only imagination for their Party was weak all their Promises were as soon broken as made and the weakest judgment plainly discerned their dissimulation 3. We abhor their Persecution and Cruelty They are of a most Persecuting Spirit and cruel Principles They think they do God good service like the Jews who killed the Apostles of Christ when they burn Protestants at a Stake I will not say that the Pope is the Antichrist mentioned in Scripture nor the Whore of Babylon spoken of particularly in the 17 chap. of the Revelations tho' some learned Protestants of our own Church are of this opinion because I am of opinion that the Antichrist is already come and past and that Heathen Rome full of Idols and Abominations is literally meant by the Holy Ghost But Apostatized Christian Rome acts the same part or worse over again and may well be called the Scarlet Whore or Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth ver 5. because she hath been Drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Bloud of the martyrs of Jesus v. 6. And the Pope and his adherents his Cardinals and Priests and Jesuits make War with the Lamb i.e. Christ and his true and living Members and the Lamb i.e. true and sound Protestants shall be Instruments under Christ and shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful v. 14. The Papists have subtilty enough to promise fair till they have power But when they know or think themselves strong enough no Professors of any Religion can be more Cruel and Barbarous than they are Luther as I have read warmed Melancthons Spirit by a Letter about the Common Cause then molested by Pontifical Rage and Caesars Fury I have a quiet mind says he about the publick cause being assured that it is just true and unappaled I fear not the fierce and cruel Papists If we be overthrown Christ shall be overthrown with us and come what can I had rather fall with Christ than stand with Caesar We have Fasted we have Prayed we have consulted with the God of Heaven I wish I could say the whole Nation had Reformed their lives and I doubt not but he will answer us in due time with good and comfortable words as the phrase is Zech. 1.13 So then I hope that all Protestants are for us And if ye are for us I will briefly mention the manner how ye shall be for us that God may prosper and bless us all 1. With your hearts For if we have not your Hearts you will deceive us and upon the least Temptation turn to our Adversaries or stand Neuter 2. With your Tongues You ought to speak well of the Kings and Nations present cause and stop the Mouths of adversaries 3. With your Hands You ought to be active according to your strength and in your several Spheres to promote the common good 4. With your Purses as need may be And indeed Blessed be God the whole Nation hath willingly contributed to this great work And I believe so great Taxes were never payed with more chearfulness And surely God will accept this labour of love Lastly with your Prayers This all may do and all that fear God I hope will do Moses hand lift up in Prayer and Joshua's stretched forth in Battel make a Victorious Army Preces nostrae Bombardae nostrae says Luther our Prayers are our Guns Wherefore let us be encouraged to pray Let us strive with God in Prayer while our Brethren are striving with the Enemy in Battel They venture their precious Lives for us and endure great hardship Shall not we pray He is an unworthy Member of the Church or Common-wealth who hath not a Heart to pray now The Poor indeed may say with Saint Peter Silver and Gold have I none But yet they may give such as they have even Prayers and Hearty Wishes that God would be gracious and favourable to Sion that he would preserve our true Religion that he would resettle our distressed Protestant Irish Brethren and that he would prosper his Anointed Servant in this great Undertaking for the Honour of his Name the Propagation of his Gospel and the lasting Happiness of this Church and Kingdom Amen FINIS
knew what was our own We had a standing Army in time of peace without consent and against the Petition of Parliament to over-awe us Our Bishops were some Suspended and some Imprisoned and our most Learned Doctors and most Zealous Preachers against Popish Innovations and Arbitrary Power were censured and discountenanced We had an Illegal Declaration to be read in Churches imposed on the whole Clergy Our Nobility and Gentry were closeted and threatened and almost all our Corporations new modelled and changed in order to gain a Parliament that should promote the ruin of us and our Religion Every Man that departed from evil made himself a prey Superstition Oppression Cruelty prevailed throughout the Land The whole Kingdom was filled with Complaints and Sighs and Groans by reason of their cruel Bondage the Vilest Men were exalted and Men of Fidelity to God and their Countrey and Loyalty to the King and Kingdom and Religion by Law Established Spirits of Honesty Spirits of Courage were cast out as filth yea Dissenters and the poor deluded Sectaries were bribed with a pretended Liberty of Conscience to help to ruin us first and themselves afterwards Now when we knew no means of help but lay down under our Burden and were as a Kingdom devoted to misery then did the Lord appear in a glorious manner and beyond all our expectations sent the Prince of Orange now our Gracious Soveraign our Deliverer from Popish Tyranny wherefore I say that we are most ungrateful if we do not stand by him with our Lives and Fortunes There was a great and long plotted design whereby Popery should have been re-advanced Gods saving Truth been suppressed his Worship substantially corrupted and utterly destroyed and it was a work of a large Extent as that which concerns all other Reformed Churches whose happiness or misery will be involved in ours Yea Ages to come will have Reason either to bless or curse this Generation as we shall follow or neglect this present opportunity so then if we be asked a Reason of our joining with K. William in this Resolution here are Reasons clear Reasons easie to the weakest understandings yea open to every Mans sense Who among us hath not felt these Reasons To use the words of a grave Divine in the like case And as these Reasons are so plain that the most illiterate and vulgar understanding may conceive them so they are so weighty and cogent that the most subtile and sublime understanding cannot but be subdued to them unless because they are such Masters of Reason they have resolved to obey none And yet where Conscience is yet indeed unsatisfied we should rather pity than impose and labour to perswade rather than violently to obtrude But as for others as St. Paul says O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Gal. 3.1 so I may say O foolish Englishmen who hath bewitched you that when you may have your Religion your Laws and your Liberties secured you Plot and Conspire or at least wish well to the French Enemy 2. From the Cause it self We stand up for our Religion the true Worship and Service of God which is Established by Law and is our Birthright and greatest Happiness We stand up for our Laws Liberties and Properties which have all been dispensed with by Covetous and Ambitious Spirits and Men not fearing God nor loving the welfare of their Native Country And we were in danger to be ruined and our Posterity after us by corrupt Judges who loved Bribes more than Judgment and the wages of Unrighteousness more than Truth 3. From God himself We trust that it is Gods Cause and that God is on our side And if God be for us who can be against us It was a notable Speech as I have read that Josephus reports Herod made to his Souldiers it came from the Mouth of a Herod but it well beseems the Mouth of a most godly Christian Captain Some may say saith he our Cause is just but we are few and weak but where Truth and Justice is there is God and where God is there wants neither multitude nor fortitude I hope all good Men will have their Eyes opened and heartily join with us God was with Joshua and his Hosts and I trust that he will continue to be with our Protestant King and his Armies The Angel or Christ himself as some Expositors think it was tells Joshua As Captain or Prince of the Host of the Lord am I now come ver 14. Moses says Deut. 20.3 that the Priests ought to encourage the people and ver 4. he saith The Lord your God is he that goes with you to Fight for you against your Enemies to save you And in God more especially let us consider these three things 1. His Wisdom 2. His Power 3. His Promise 1. His Wisdom whereby God foresees what is best He hath many ways to help his Servants in their fears of which they are ignorant The Lord is Great in Counsel and Mighty in Working saith the Prophet Jer. 32.19 He can turn the Enemies Counsel into Foolishness and defeat them as he did Achitophel's He can Counter plot their Plots and make their Devices of none effect When Pharaoh dealt subtilly God was above him 2. His Power whereby he is able to effect what is best All things are possible to him His Eyes are ever towards the Righteous and he shews himself strong in the behalf of them that fear him He can weaken their Power abate their Pride defeat their Policies and turn their Prosperity into Misery He had power to drown the old wicked World when the Earth was corrupt and full of violence He Rained down Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah to refine those impure places and rescued Righteous Lot from that overthrow He drowned Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea 3. His Promise If we obey his voice he will be an Enemy to our Enemies and an Adversary to our Adversaries Exod. 23.22 and Levit. 26.3 c. If you walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments and do them among other Blessings this is promised I will give peace in the Land and ye shall lye down and none shall make you afraid and ye shall Chase your Enemies and they shall fall before you by the Sword and I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People God promised Abraham and consequently all that do the works of Abraham I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee Gen. 12.3 Gods Eye is on his Israel the false Prophet Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness and would have cursed Israel to gain the promotions of the King of Moab was forced to acknowledge this Truth God had blessed them and he could not reverse it Numb 23.20 and ver 23. Surely there is no Inchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel Here is enough to change all Mens Hearts to join