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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81239	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 Milkstreet London, and one of the Assembly of Divines.	Case, Thomas, 1598-1682.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Lords.	1646 (1646)	Wing C827; Thomason E329_9; ESTC R200694	36,291	48

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 ●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 bene●●ctorum ab E●●angelio acce●●torum 〈◊〉 Deinde secu●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

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

the hint intimated before Because the people of God take their eye off God and the promise and fix it upon Second causes Why the people of God reason thus unbelievingly in their straits Isa 33.10 Isa 15.17 because they do not wisely consider Gods times how that the Churches despairing times are Gods helping times Now will I rise c. They do not wisely ponder Gods methods Moses might have remembred how that God when he made Abraham a promise of bringing his seed out of Egypt he shewed him also as in a glasse the Methods he would use in doing of it in that Embleme of the smoking furnace Gen. 15.7 and the burning Lamp the smoking furnace passeth before Abraham first an Embleme of black opposition of sad and affrighting discouragement and trouble and then comes the burning Lamp an Embleme of JOYFUL AND GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart Alas Moses might have thought with himself and have said to God Lord this opposition of Pharaoh this doubling of thy peoples bondage is nothing else but the vision thou shewedst to thy servant ABRAHAM whereby we know assuredly the WORK IS BEGUN it is the arrow of the Lords deliverance we are now Lord in the SMOKING FURNACE the BURNING LAMP WILL APPEAR SHORTLY O hasten it Lord and help thine Israel well thorow this Smoking furnace that they may not be weary nor faint in their mindes nor sin against thee by IMPATIENCE and UNBELIEF till thou pleasest to cause the BURNING LAMP TO ARISE upon us c. And with these words he might have quieted and still'd the people also But the people of God have their failings and faintings their short spiritednesse and short sightednesse they look not to the time and methods of God they eye not the ends and aims which God hath in these kinde of dispensations of his providence and hence it is that they give way to Vnbelief and misgiving thoughts And therefore since by this short hint you see what the bottom of the disease is labour to make a Cure of this Discovery Take heed of hard thoughts of God Second Use Examination And yet in the Second place though in such Exigencies and Emergencies as these be we should labour to keep up good thoughts of the Cause 1 King 8.47 and good thoughts of God yet there is great reason that we should at such times turn in upon our selves and bring back to heart our own ways and our own doings to see what the CAUSE may be on our parts why Gospel-designes Church-deliverances stick so long in the birth meet with such desperate retardings and retrograde motions for this is certain Deliverance seldom sticks in the birth but there is some sin and folly at the bottom Ephraim is an unwise son Hos 13 13. for he should not stay long in the place of bringing forth children A metaphorical expression importing thus much that he should not have stayed so long for his deliverance out of Babylon had there not been some great folly bound up in his heart Prov. 22.15 which was to be fetcht out with this rod of Correction Truely Honourable and Beloved Christians we had need then to lay our hand upon our heart and bring our selves to the Bar this day This is certain God is angry wrath is gone forth against us we have great cause to fear Object You will surely say What cause the War goes on prosperously never had Joshua better swifter successe in the conquering of Canaan then our Armies in all places of the Kingdom almost have had in reducing this almost-lost nation Eighty admirable successes in eight months We have had as much successe as we could desire more by oddes then we could expect The War is as good as finisht Answ It is true Brethren if you will look upon these progresses as Mercies we have great cause to be thankful but if we would look upon them as evidences I see not any strong argument of rejoycing in them I see not any bottom in them upon which a man if he will look with both his eyes can build any clear conjecture what God will yet do with us My Reason is this The War goes on I but does the Work go on Oh there is as sad a face of things in the Kingdom as ever was either since the War or since the Parliament began and sadder in as much as now the obstructions do arise from our selves whereas formerly they have risen from our enemies And O happie Israel it was when the obstruction of their deliverance lay on Pharaoh's hand onely it stuck but a few days there God quickly conquered those briars and thorns he went thorow them and burnt them together But when the obstruction lay upon Israel's part in those days God began to cut Israel short the Deliverance stuck there many yeers Quest. But how may we know whether the work rest on our part or on Gods and the enemies Answ Truely very easily Take this Rule When there be but difficulties in the way though huge and many Enemies may be in it and God over-ruling those enemies and their designes to his own ends For this cause I have raised thee up Exod. 9.16 to shew my power c. But when we see sin in the way then know the work sticks upon a peoples hands and this may make us tremble Truely as I say when we consider how God carries on his work it looks as if it would be a Deliverance God works as if he were in good earnest and we have cause to turn our days of mourning into days of rejoycing But when we consider how we work truely it looks as if we were in jest or as if we we afraid of Deliverance afraid of Reformation and we have cause to turn days of Thanksgiving into days of Humiliation and mourning For thus it is while God is working wildernesse-wonders we are working wildernesse-sins wildernesse-prevocations I appeal else to the List and Catalogue of those sins which on the Delivereds part you have seen to be the great obstructions and set-backs to their Deliverance Sins of England First Pride doth not the Pride of England testifie to our very faces Alas neither Judgements nor days of humiliation have taken down the pride of our hearts Oh the pride of Apparel the pride of Houses the pride of our Tables but above all the pride of Judgement and the pride of Heart that is found in the midst of us to this day England is very proud Again Vnbelief Heb. 3.12 Is there not yet an unbelieving heart in the midst of us causing us to depart from the living God to depart from his Truths and to depart from his Commands and to depart from his Promises Surely we have not faith enough left to carry us from one miracle to another Though God hath caused us to walk upon the waters yet if there do but arise one

this work of Reformation do you desire to manage it so as no obstruction may be on your part I know you do Give then a poor Minister of Jesus Christ that desires as much to serve you leave to present you with a few Cautions or Directions or Rules call them which you will to help you in your work Rules for Deverers Directions or Cautions or Rules for Deliverers 1. Eye duty more then danger 1. Eye duty more then danger It was a brave answer that Luther returned to Melancton when surpris'd with fear he wrote to Luther to be more moderate Oh says he If the Cause be not Gods let us lay aside but if it be let us go on and trust God Providence of means is ours Providence of successe and safety is God's Do you your work and God will do his Sibi nim fore cetera curae Ovid. IN THE MOUNT THE LORD WILL BE SEEN 2. Take heed of Short spiritednesse 2. Take heed of short Spiritednesse Moses had a dash of it Hear ye Rebels must we fetch water out of this Rock It cost him dear he must onely see he must not enter the Land of promise It was a brave Resolution of Nehemiah Should such a man as I flee Short spirited men will give away their souls Florus says of the French They are primo ●●petu ignis exitu vero sumus James 1 4.3 Observ Gods goings forth 2 Sam 5.24 much more a kingdom for nothing There is Saul because God will not answer him the Devil shall Let patience have her perfect work 3. Observe Gods goings forth and then bestir your selves Saith God to David When thou hearest the sound of a going in the top of the Mulberry-trees then bestir thy self for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines My Lords God hath smitten the Host of the Philistines is not this his walking on the top of the Mulberry-trees Are not these the signals of Gods presence O bestir your selves now to do something worthy of God and worthy of these wonders in the work of Reformation When God doth great things for a people He looks for great things from a people and if they answer not his expectation Matth. 5.47 they are und one What singular thing do you do 4. Take heed of Tolerations 4. Take heed of Tolerations do you know what they are Truely in the latitude as they are cried up and contended for they are nothing else but a Gunpowder-Treason to blowe up Religion a Balaam's plot to bring God in an enemy upon us and I am confident the hand of the Romish Balaam is in it as sure as you are there That Witch of Rome that bewitcheth the Nations Cant. 2.19 my Lords Priests and Jesuites are working these fire-works under-ground and put them into the hands of active Engineers to throw them abroad Oh that you could take us those foxes that spoil the Vines now that the tender grapes are sprouting forth Methinks it were not a matter of impossibility to earth them to follow them by the print of their feet to their burrows where they skulk up and down in every place both in Citie and Countrey What engines did Julian the Apostate and Valens the Emperour use Aug. Ep. 166. Theod. Eccles hist l. 4. c. 22. when they would undermine and ruine Christian Religion but a Toleration of all Religions Liberty of Conscience as we call it but Libertatem perditionis as Austin more rightly phraseth it a Libeyty of perdition For what is it in English but If men will go to the devil you must not hinder them Ob. Why but shall the godly be persecuted or banisht the Kingdom after they have done so much for it Answ No God forbid I hope through Gods mercy and the Parliaments piety and wisedom there will be a medium found out between Banishment and a Toleration or else for my part I had rather be banisht even life it self then live to see the misery and confusion that will come upon this Church and State Surely you know how you may do it sc by making a pure Rule setling a thorow Reformation indeed For Gods sake my Lords let us not have a Reformation that shall need a Toleration much lesse that shall enforce it to have found such a one would have been grievous but to make such a one would be intolerable what could Episcopacie it self have done more It is as if you put a scandalous Minister upon a people and give them leave to go from him make a smokie house and give the children leave to run out of doors The Lord keep you that such a thought may not come into your hearts I hope he will My Fathers my Fathers the charets of England and the Horsemen thereof Toleranda sunt quae emendari non possunt PURITY IS THE BEST WAY TO UNITY and as many as walk according to this Rule peace shall be upon them peace shall be among them mercy and upon the Israel of God Therefore Fifthly take heed I beseech you also of that which is the next door to a Toleration and that is Connivence 5. Take heed of Connivence It is but a Toleration in figures though not in words at length The plot of the Bishops for the advance of Popery whereby indeed it was thriven to a formidable height among us A Toleration will sound too broad we shall hear ill among the people but said they to the Papists and Jesuites do what you will we will secure you if ye be fined we will take it off if ye be imprison'd we will quickly fetch you out O LET NOT YOUR SOULS COME INTO THEIR SECRETS AND TO THEIR COUNSELS LET NOT YOUR HONOURS BE UNITED 6. Provide for Religion before Dispensations And therefore in the Sixth place let it be your wisedom and piety to provide well and thorowly for Religion before you provide for the Religious Settle a Rule according to the Word and if I may say so according to the example of the best Reformed Churches before you debate a Dispensation from the Role Let us know who be Saints before the Saints know their Thirty For let me say this freely If either Saints may make Opinions or Opinions may make Saints we shall quickly have more Opinions then Saints in the Land 7. Minde Covenant Well Seventhly Be pleased for Christs sake to minde your Covenant all over Let me speak one word not onely to you the Nobles and Princes of this Land but to both Kingdoms I would I could speak so that all might hear God hath brought us into the Boad of the Covenant to Himself to One another THAT NATION THAT BREAKS FIRST WILL BE A SCORN and that which is worse A CURSE TO ALL THE WORLD It is not all the Militia nor Provisions in the world that can secure their Peace and Safety Shall he prosper Ezek. 17.15 shall he escape