in the rwo kingdomes some say it is because libertie is not given to every man to live in what Religion hee pleaseth but this is a sin that every man doe What seemeth good in his owne eyes because there is not a judge to put any to shame Judg. 18. Chap. 19. 1 2. the contrary then cannot bee the cause of the so great judgement Others say rebellion against the King is the cause but rather the not timous rising to helpe the Lord and his oppressed people against the mightie is the cause The defection of both kingdomes to altar worship imagerie idolatry Popish and Arminian Doctrine the articles of Perth Assembly followed and practised in our owne kingdome without repentance the ignorance of God people perishing for want of knowledge both under prelacy and now the not building of the house of God in this land the backsliding of many after the Covenant of God is sworne are the true causes and it is to bee feared that if Presbyteriall government bee erected in this land as wee hope it shall if this bee not taken heed to it shall continue a judgement on the Land and it is this many both preachers and professors shall conforme to the Government as they would doe to either the prelaticall or congregationall way as many time-servers doe and shall hate and persecute the power of godlinesse under the pretence of Sectaries Brownists Separatists independents and the like and retaining an Antichristian and rotten heart shall doe what in them lies under that colour to vex oppresse and banish many godly men out of the land But this is to bee considered if it were not needfull there were a Fast through both kingdomes to deale with God to find out the true causes of our fastings and these heavy judgements in which in the three kingdomes many hundreth thousands are killed I doubt if under any Prince or Emperour there bee a history can parallel the blood shed within these few yeares Job when God visited him desired to know wherefore God contended with him it is a sad thing to lye drowned under unknown and fatherlesse plagues wee being ignorant of the causes of Gods judgement so wee suffer blind crosses like the Oxe that beares the yoake and knoweth nothing of the art of husbandry or the horse killed in the battell and yet is ignorant of State-affaires and of the causes of warre and of disorders in Lawes Liberties Religion in State and Church wee are like one smitten in the dark night by a spirit or a ghost but hee seeth not who striketh Oh it were good wee would inquire as the Prophet doth Esa. 42. 24. who gave Jacob for a spoyle and Israel to robbery and wherefore is all this come on us why doth the Lord contend with us O make us know our iniquities Often the rod maketh a lying report of God and accuseth Christ in our desertions O! Christ is unkind hee is changed hee hath forsaken me wee can sooner spy a fault in Christ under desertion then in our selves and wee often reason from that which is no cause for the cause Christ seemeth changed to us and unmercifull and sleepey and carelesse First when the judgement is extreame and wee apprehend it as a fruite of the anger and vengeance of God Apprehension gives life to afflictions and casteth in many ounce weights of wrath in our cup which was never there because our conscience giveth in against us lying libells and unjust complaints such as this thou art not in Christ nor a convert nor a pardoned and justified sinner and wee first retort the lying libell upon Christ O! Christ hath forgotten to bee mercifull wee see Christ in the false glasse in our extreame suffering our sinne and apprehension joyning together Secondly Christ may sleepe and hide himselfe in a great tryall and when hee is gone and grace hath no actuall influence on our soules then wee languish and die the passes of the Clock being laid by there is no motion at all and the wheeles gather rust Should wee suppose that the Creator of nature did suspend his influence all naturall operations should cease there should bee no motion in the Sunne it should neither rise nor goe downe the raine should not fall the wind should not blow living things could not move Beasts could not walke Fowels could not fly Fishes could not swimme Roses Flowers and Hearbs could not grow c. because hee causeth all these to bee and his immediate influence addeth oyle to all wheeles and rowleth and moveth them else they could not stirre so Christ in the spheare of grace being the first mover if his influence stand still all our wheeles as wanting oyle and motion gather rust and stand still Paul cannot call Jesus Lord the Spouse runneth not for the bridegroome will not draw Can. 1. David dieth and withereth a hundreth deaths for God hides his face Hezekiah fainteth for God glowmeth Haman is downe amongst the dead in the grave Christ his life worketh not so here in trouble Christ standeth behind the mount and the poore Disciples faint and die and dreame and are all afraid in a storme because God seemeth to sleepe as if God were dead Oxthodoxe and sound apprhensions of Christ in us are not habits but acts and are in us as lightnings are in the ayre when nature actually cooperateth or as fire is in the flint not but when it is beaten out with force Thirdly distempers and feavers on faith take away the taste and the honey out of Christ the father is not a father to the child in a fit of an ague Thirdly when extreame danger is neare and the Army foyled and the enemy entering in at the ports our courage is as farre to seeke as ever was the courage of the Apostles Oh then wee are gone this is our death the cause is now losed Christ is buried hee cannot rise againe Esay 7. 2. It was told the house of David saying Syria is confederat with Ephraim and his heart was moved as the trees of the field the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is to bee moved from place to place and is ascribed to Cain the vagabond Gen. 4. 12. wee feare the creature too much because hee can kill the body and wee feare the Lord of heaven and earth to little though hee have dominion over both soule and body remember what a forgetting of God it is to feare the creature in Gods cause Esay 51. 12. I even I am hee that comforteth you who art thou that shalt bee afraid of a man that shall die and of the Sonne of man that shall bee made as grasse is it so great a sinne to feare man ay the next words beare no lesse 13. and forgettest the Lord thy maker that stretched out the heaven and laid the foundation of the earth an unbeleeving people hath a feare of their owne which the people of God are not to follow Esay 8. 12. Feare yee not the
might by all means save same This is Pauls charge Gal. 6. 1 2. who will have love to put in joynt an overtaken sinner in the spirit of meeknesse and so it is love doth not onely beare it selfe but also the burdens of our brethren and so fulfilleth the Law of Christ love planted by Christ is the Law of Christ and why doe wee by ruptures and divisions labour to frustrate the end of Christs prayer which is John 17. 2. I pray saith Christ that they may all bee one as thou Father art in mee and I in thee if wee bee one in uno tertio in the heart of Christ and of Christs Father why but wee should bee one amongst our selves yea love is burnt in tender feeling and compassion with the very smoake of a brothers house that is on fire 1 Cor. 13. 15. Love is not easily provoked it is a pardoning grace and hath strong shoulders to beare the madnesse and infirmities of a fellow heire of heaven Love thinketh not evill love must abound in love and charitable thoughts towards others as every element aboundeth in its owne spheare it thinketh not that the Saints doe hunt for a dominion over Saints 6. Love rejoyceth not in iniquitie Cursed bee that love that exulteth when malignants prevaile and rejoyceth not when the cause of the Lord and his people are victorious Love rejoyceth in the truth then love is wounded and sicke when heresies and sects prevaile and sigheth to see Altars multiplied and that many false Christs and false teachers arise Wee cannot deny but God hath put his seale to the ministery of the servants of Christ that went from this to New England and in the wisdome of God they saw and doe see that libertie of conscience is no remedie but physick worse then the disease against false religions It is now off my way to dispute But I know certainly a negative argument from the practise of Christ and the Apostles because they stirred not up heathen Magistrates and Wolves not fathers to punish false teachers is not good divinitie to infer libertie of conscience for in their practise they stirred not up the sword of the Magistrate against extortions and rapines in publicans nor against the persecuting and killing of the Lord of Glory nor against sedition incests tyranny over the Apostles and Christians bribing and unjustice used against Paul by Felix and others who were subject to higher Magistrates and many other scandalous sinnes against the second table any might inferre libertie of conversation in matters of the second table no lesse then libertie of conscience in matters of the first table if this argument hold good But the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles giveth to the Magistrate the Sword against evill doers Rom. 13. 4. but teachers of false doctrine though in the matter of ceremonies are evill doers Phil. 3. 2. and they pervert soules Act. 15. and kill soules and subvert whole houses and make their followers twofold more the Children of hell then they themselves Matth. 23. 15. nor did wee ever dreame that the bloody sword was a mean of conversion of soules the Gospel is so the onely power of God to salvation but that hindereth not but the Magistrate is to restraine by a coercive power the man that teacheth that Jesus Christ is not true God consubstantiall with the Father because the Sword ought to curbe the spreading of false doctrine it followeth not that it is a meane of propagating true doctrine But of this more possibly in another place Nor doe I intend the bloody sword should bee drawne against every different opinion holden by the truely godly though in the government of the Church all see not with the same light Luke 8. 24. Master master wee perish Marke 3. 38. Master carest thou not that wee perish It is too ordinary for us because of the greatnesse of the stroake and no present deliverance to put unkindnesse upon Christ as here they complaine that Christ is carelesse of them because hee sleepeth and they perish few of the Saints have ever beene in extremitie of heavie afflictions but they have uttered hard thoughts of Christ Psal. 77. as the Prophet in name of the Church when hee was troubled and his sore ran in the night Vers 7. saith will the Lord cast off for ever will hee bee favourable no more 8. Is his mercy cleane gone is his word or oracle rotten 9. Hath hee forgotten to be gratious hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies It is a strange word Vers 7. will hee bee favorable no more will hee never put forth in action one act of good will againe for the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it were a prodigious thing as the Prophet calleth it his infirmitie Vers 10. that all acts of reconciliation toward the elect should dry up Jeremiah when hee cryed out in his great trouble Chap. 15. Vers 10. Woe is me my mother that thou hast borne mee a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth complayneth Vers 18. Wilt thou bee altogether to me as a lier as waters that are unfaithfull that is I hoped thou shouldest have helped mee as the thirsty traveller trusteth in a dry pit seeing it afarre off and beleeving it to bee a refreshing fountaine but thou hast beguiled mee and my hope to this you may adde the cursing of the day that hee was borne in Chap. 20. David Psal. 31. when Vers 12. hee was forgotten as a dead man and laid aside by all the world as an uselesse and a broken vessell complaineth Vers 22. For I said in mine hast I am cut off from before thine eyes and wee know the sufferings of Job who beside his other agues uttereth these words Chap. 13. Vers 14. Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest mee for thine enemy The Reasons are First extreame afflictions as Physicke stirre up both the good and the bad humours they make legible both the good and the ill in the man and which of them is the predominant when the fire boileth extremely if there bee a scum in the liquor it is that which is first seene yea and it is not onely the vertue and strength of the fire but also of the gold that the drosse goeth to its owne place if it were all gold there should bee no separation at all the Disciples here put a false Character upon Christ that hee hath neither love to them nor care of them they double the word Master master and that is a check being added to the other carest thou not for us it saith 1. that hee is worse then other masters better serve any master then Christ a master will care for his servants so hee can helpe them no earthly master will sleepe when hee knoweth his servants are drowning 2. They object his sluggishnesse carest thou not for us hee bath neither
Secondly if affliction put us to a humiliation for sinne as sinne and the depth of griefe for sinne putteth us to condemne our selves without flattery and lying the contrary of which is when in trouble wee give God good words and have within us lying hearts and thinke not so as the people Psal. 78. 34. who sought God when hee slew them Vers 36. Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed to him with their tongues 37. for their heart was not right within them men doe then flatter themselves when they flatter God Thirdly when we are more anxious in our fasting for Zion and the taking of the Arke of God then for our selves our Lawes goods houses lives and liberties when David made the 25. Psalme the troubles of his heart were inlarged but this was one of his great suits when hee had cause to mind himselfe 22. Redeeme Israel O God out of all his troubles Fourthly when the circumcised heart is humbled and the people shall not faint and expire through want of faith by which the just liveth 2. When they shall not so murmure and wrestle against the rod as a wilde Bull taken and lying in a net which having lost strength and feet and being overcome yet kicketh against the hunter 3. When they shall not bee surfeited with affliction so as to loathe and despise the rod as the tender stomack loatheth physicke because they are full and surfeited with the fury of the Lord These three are excellently expressed Esay 51. 20. Thy sonnes have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets for in the meetings of wayes the wild bull is catched in the net as a wild bull in a net they are full of the fury of the Lord and the rebuke of thy God it is a bad token to faint 2. to wrestle 3. to bee so drunke with Gods judgements and rebukes as against reason to cry out against God and his Prophets in trouble as these who are drunken and afflicted but not with wine Vers 21. but with the rod and rebukes and cry it was better with us in Aegypt undâ—r the Prelates and their brick and clay and toyling under ceremonies Officiall Courts tyranny of conscience and now wee are wastâ—d and destroyed and killed and 4. when the people shall as it were with pleasure and good will for so the word Levit. 26. 41. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth accept of the punishment of their iniquitie a kindly and willing satisfaction of heart in the rod of God in so farre as it calmeth and pacifieth in a manner Evangelick justice so that the Lord is eased and comforted toward his people when he hath punished them and they are eased and comforted in the declaration of the glory of his justice and with good will doe justifie God in his afflicting them as Lament 3. 41 42. Micah 7. 9. Esa. 39. 8. this willing accepting of the rod I say is a speaking signe that the rod of God is sanctified Marke 4. 39. Then hee arose and as Matth. 8. 26. hee saith to them Why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith Matthew keepeth the most naturall order for Christ first rebuked the Disciples unbeleefe before hee rebuked the Sea and the winds we have reason so to conceive of Christs method for hee requireth faith before hee worke miracles at least often hee doth so though hee confirme and strengthen that faith by miracles It is fit that Christ rebuke us ere hee deliver us from drowning Hee first rebuketh the noble man and all his nation for unbeleefe and then healeth his sonne John 4. 48 49 50. Hee first chideth Martha out of her unbeleefe and then raiseth her brother Lazarus from death John 11. 40. 43 44. and Matth. 17. 17. Hee rebuketh the father of the lunaticke child and the faithlesnesse of the perverse generation before hee cast out the devill it is fit wee bee both convinced and humbled before hee turne away his angry hand First the crosse is a mystery to us and a dumbe teacher wee understand not the language and the grammar of the rod the man of wisedome knowes it Mic. 6. 9. Vengeance is written on the wall before Belshazzer but it is in unknowne language hee doth not understand it Secondly greene and raw deliverances are plagues of God not mercies the plague is nine times removed but Pharaohs heart is neither softned nor humbled the scum abideth in the bloody Citie as the Lord complayneth Ezek. 24. 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Woe to the bloody Citie to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not gone out the Prophet in Chaldea heard that Jerusalem had beene boyled with the sword of the Lord but the scumme of their Idolatry and blood remained in them whilst the wicked of these kingdomes malignants bloody Irish rotten hearted men such backsliders and perjured Apostates as are in Scotland delivered to Satan and excommunicated while these taste of the Gall and wormwood of the wrath of God in this warre the hand of God cannot bee removed and therefore that must bee taken notice of Jer. 6. 29. The bellowes are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vaine for the wicked are not plucked away O that our Lord would boyle out on the fire the scumme of both kingdomes The whoredomes of Popish Aegypt and the ceremonies the inventions of men are not mourned for by the pastors of the Lord sure I am not by most of the Ministers in Scotland What can wee say for our confidence in our Armies our multitude Parliaments Navies our extortion oppression unjustice hollow-heartednesse in the cause of God our lying cousening budding and bribing our breach of our Covenant denying of justice to the oppressed to the widow strangers and Orphans to the poore and needy the abominable and daring opinions of God his Sonne Christ his Church his Sacraments and free grace and sanctification and holinesse in this land Thirdly judgements on a land or a person are the cup of the Lords fury now often it is the grounds and thick of the cup which is the substance and vertue of the cup and must worke the cure And possibly to sip at the brim will not doe it it is a judgement that some get not leave to heate in the furnace but are dipped in in the flood and are never at leasure to commune with their owne heart nor hath the Lord time to allure them in the wildernesse Hos. 2. 14. as Ephraim was in the Oven as a Cake unturned poore Germany hath not beene slenderly dipped in and presently out againe they have now beene in the floods and under the water these 26. yeares these kingdomes are yet greene not ripened for the mercy of deliverance ourscumme remaineth in us divisions amongst us say it is not yet time for our triumph The fields are not while already to harvest when all godlinesse is to dispute out new wayes
onely but they indured as much heat of fire as the hearth-stone that is daily under the extremitie of the fire so the Apostle speaketh of himselfe 1 Cor. 4. 8. For I thinke God hath set forth us {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the last Apostlâ—s as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle to the world and to men and Angels The Apostles in regard of their great sufferings were so exposed to violent death as in the Roman Playes Bulls Dogs Lions were set forth to fight one another to death they were made worlds wonders and gazing-stacks to heaven and earth to men and Angels for their great sufferings Behold how strong the tempest was that invaded that barke that carried the witnesses of Jesus to heaven Heb. 11. 35. they were tortured stoned sawen asunder tempted slaine with the Sword The reason of the Lords so dealing is 1. God declareth himselfe more impatient of sinne in his owne children then in the wicked I meane of Gods impatience Evangelick in regard that it is a sinne of higher ingratitude to sinne against the Gospel 2. Illumination 3. And the mercy of regeneration then to sinne against the Law and common favours and gifts though Gods legall impatience in regard of revenging justice bee farre more against the sinnes of the wicked then against the sinnes of beleevers it being an act of vengeance which God cannot exercise towards beleevers and if Antinomians would acknowledge an Evangelick displeasure and anger of God against the sinnes of beleevers as the Scripture doth 1 Cor. 10. 21 22. 1 Cor. 11. 30 31. 2 Sam. 11. 27. they should not so stumble at the Gospel as they doe I say God is more displeased with the sinnes of his owne children then with the sinnes of the wicked even as the husbandman is more offended that Thristles and Thorns grow in his Garden then in his out-field Esay 1. 2. Heare O heaven hearken O earth why it is more then an ordinary defection that moveth the Lord to this I have nourished and brought up children and they rebell against me God taketh it also harder that violence and unjustice should bee in Parliaments and Assemblies then in Prelates Courts and High Commissions The Lord expecteth nothing else but sowre grapes from his enemies 2. The hell of the godly and the heart of their hell should ordinarily bee heavier then the borders and margin of the hell of the wicked the sufferings of the Saints in this life is their whole hell wicked men have here a heaven and but fore-tastings of hell which I grant in regard they want the presence and comforts of God in this life and also that their curses are in themselves heavier then the afflictions of the godly but not so in their apprehension 3. Gods deepe counsells worke under-board providence is a great mystery why these three kingdomes having a good cause and contending for Christ yet should bee put to a more bloody condition and have more of floods of blood for a while then bloody men who defend a cursed cause is wondred at by us as ignorance is the cause of admiration hee that never saw husbandry thinketh sowing losing and casting away of good Corne the end cujus gratia which seasoneth Gods workes with wisedome and grace is unseene hony is sweet but tasting onely discerneth it neither eye can see it nor eare can heare it our senses cannot reach the reason of his Counsell who will have the godly plagued every morning If it bee so that the godly the greene tree suffer such a fire it must bee more then fire that is abiding the enemies O enemies of the Gospel O Malignants and haters of the Lord and his Saints have you Castles and strong holds to runne to in the day of wrath or are your Castles judgement-proofe Cannot death and hell scale your walls and though you shut your doores climbe in at your windowes are your bulworkes and walls salvation have you strength to bide the proofe and shot of the vengeance of the Lord and the vengeance of his Temple hath not the second death long and sharpe tuskes will you indure the siege and batteries of everlasting wrath vengeance will have nothing under your pretious soules take your pleasure kill and destroy the mountaine of the Lord the feast is good ever till the reckoning come Job 28. 8. Can you drinke a Sea of vengeance and floods of gall and wormewood there is a Sword before the throne forbished that will lap and swallow up blood and never bee quenched wrath wrath creepeth on the sinners in Zion by theft without a cry or noyse of feet you heare not the ratling of your sunnes wheeles when it is setting and the night falleth on you the day of wrath is secret and uncertaine you sleep you see not hell at your heels what will you do when you shall make your prayers to the hills to cover you quick This serveth to condemne our softnesse who love a wanton and a smooth providence and Golden and silken sayling to bee carried away quickly to land without wind or storme wee desire to goe to Paradise through no other way but Paradise and a way strowed with Roses nay but wee must indure hardnesse and resolve the way cannot bee changed to flatter our softnesse it is as God hath carved it out there bee not two wayes to heaven one way strowed with blood and brimstone and deaths to Christ and another to us white faire easie heaven was not so feazable to Christ but it was to him sweating if Christ had taken the faire way and a street to heaven like Paradise and left the rough way to us wee had the more reason to complaine But it should silence us that Christ saith you have no harder usage then the Captaine of your salvation had Joh. 15. 18. when wee see wee must suffer wee would bee at a chosen Crosse and afflictions carved by our owne wit or flowred and perfumed with Diamonds and Rubies so our heart saith any judgement but warre and any warre but civill warre the hatred of the world is not much but hatred from our brethren the sonnes of our Mother O that is hard yet it is not to bee expected but the flesh will warre in the Saints against both the Spirit and the flesh in other Saints no lesse then the flesh warreth against the Spirit in one and the same Saint wee are to kisse and adore providence wee can no more change the foule and dirtie way to faire heaven then wee can remove heaven it selfe out of its place God hath drawn and moulded the topographie to heaven and set all our Guests before hee is a bad Souldier who followeth such a Captaine of salvation as Christ weeping and murmuring But what doth this ship lead us to certaine it is that it holdeth forth to us the condition of the Church of God tossed with wind and wave and the world
Christ weepeth and bee buried when Christ is buried when Christ rejoyceth and riseth againe wee cannot lie rotting in the grave A great Calme Matthew 8. 26. so calleth it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This is the other Character of God in this miracle that it is a great calme There is nothing in God not any judgement or worke of God but greatnesse is printed on it for the effect smelleth of the cause Job 36. 26. God is great Christ is great as the Churches danger in this Sea-voyage is great so is the calme great great buildings have great foundations great ships great sailes great Sea-ebbings have great flowings 2 Cor. 1. 10. God delivered us from so great a death some death is but an infant death and weake there is another death called by Bildad Job 18. 13. The first borne of death The Lord sheweth his people Psal. 71. 20. great and sore troubles and gives them teares to drinke in great measure Psal. 80. 5. and the people is in great distresse Nehem. 9. 37. and for that the Lord doth great things for them Psal. 126. 2. and worketh a great salvation for his people 1 Sam. 14. 45. and giveth great deliverances to David Psal. 18. 80. and to Davids seed the Israel of God Secondly there is greatnesse written upon all the workes of God Psal. 92. 5. O Lord how great are thy workes Psal. 111. Vers 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein Thirdly there is greatnesse written on his judgements against his enemies for Zach. 7. 12. there is a great wrath from the Lord of hosts on those that pull away the shoulders and makes their heart as an Adamant stone hee fighteth against the rebellious Ier. 21. 5. in anger and in fury and in great wrath and the great day of his wrath shall come upon his enemies so that they shall not bee able to stand Fourthly and there is a great reward for the righteous Psal. 19. 11. a great reward in heaven for them Matth. 5. Vers 12. A farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Then great vengeance is appointed for the enemies of God Ezek. 25. 17. and great desolation on Pharoah the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his Rivers Ezek. 29. 3. and when these kingdomes have committed great whoredomes what wonder that great judgements bee on us and many more hundreth thousands bee slaine in the three kingdomes then histories can in our ages parallel but if Babylon bee a great whore great must bee her fall all the Kings of the earth and her Merchants shall wonder and weepe and waile at her desolation Our King saith hee will repeale Lawes made against Papists in England But it is a worke above his strength to hold up the cursed throane of the beast which God hath said hee will crush if all the Kings of the earth should make their bones pillars to hold up that throne there is such a weight of vengeance lying on that throne that their bones shall bee bruised in powder Reformation is a worke of God also Zach. 13. 23. and then it is a great worke and though there bee great mountaines in the way God doth rebuke and remove such mountaines Zach. 4. 7. faint not then bee strong in the Lord No marvell wee are to sell all and buy Christ that pearle of great price Matth. 13. 46. for none hath so neare a relation to God as hee wee seeke great things seeke great Christ Luke 8. 25. And they being afraid wondered saying one to another What manner of man is this for hee commandeth even the winds and waters and they obey him This is all the fruit wee read this miracle produced in the Seamen they fall a wondring being astonished to see a man command Sea and winds First the miracles of Christ and all the workes of God are so farre inferiour to his word that they can teach us nothing of the Trinitie nor of two natures in the one person and of our mediator Iesus Christ Secondly O how little of God doe wee see especially being voyd of his owne light even Iob saith though God bee at our elbow wee know not it is hee Chap. 23. 8. Behold I goe forward and hee is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him But is this because God was neither behind Iob nor before him no God goeth round about us every man may as it were put forth his hand and grope the Almightie Act. 17. 27. therefore Iob addeth Vers 9. he is on the left hand where hee doth worke but I cannot behold him hee hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him wee cannot trace the footsteps of his unsearchable wayes alas wee but sport our selves to behold the superfice the outside and as it were the brim of divine providence men or Angels cannot dive to the bottome of the wayes of our Lord Esay 55. hee saith himselfe Vers 9. for as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts Thirdly wee come but that neare Christ that wee goe at the farthest three or foure steppes to him some are convinced and wonder they say this must bee God as Luke 4. 22. when Christ preaches as Christ and like himselfe they all beare him witnesse and wonder at the gratious words that proceed out of his mouth yet they are not a step nearer to him they despise him and say Is not this Josephs sonne Some know a Prophet hath beene amongst them Ezek. 3. 5. but they are Scorpions and briars and thornes and will not heare Secondly some ate inlightned and beleeve for an houre Matth. 13. 21. a faith that liveth for an houre is a sickly dying faith Thirdly some are a step nearer they have joy in Christ Matth. 13. 20. and the word of the Prophet is Ezek. 33. 32. to them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce and can play well on an Instrument the Gospel is sweet to many but they come not nearer they will not heare nor obey Fourthly some tast of the good Word of God and of the powers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the manifold powers of the life to come Heb. 6. 5. yet come never nearer to Christ but fall off as if they were afraid to bee converted they goe not a fift step farther on to give themselves up wholly to Jesus Christ It is not the Seamens way onely but 1. Malignants and Prelats and Papists see God in this worke they wonder and yet they resist Esay 26. 11. Lord thy hand is exalted they see not they shall see and bee ashamed for their envy at the people in this worke that the Lord is working in the three kingdomes there bee sundry notes of divinitie and footsteps of God and Malignants doe but wonder as 1. when Prelats
and Malignants were on the top of their wheeles God from despised and contemned beginnings raised the worke to a great height 2. our adversaries were agents and would not rest but did cooperate to their owne destruction They would move the King to change Religion in Scotland against all Lawes 2. They would stirre him up to raise Armies by Sea and Land against Scotland 3. They moved the King to break the articles of peace and the word of a Prince to his Subjects after an accommodation and set him on bloody warres againe 4. After his Army was defeated and a Parliament granted in England they moved him first to come and yeeld to all that is just and right in a Parliament of Scotland but against their mind with no purpose to keepe their faith and then to raise Tragicall and bloody warres in England and in all these they were coagents and workers with a judiciall and secret providence to their owne destruction 3. They have beene searching to find out that our intentions were not to establish Religion in power and puritie and to bee freed of the bondage of arbitrary and tyrannicall domination over Church and State but to change monarchy and set up another government this they could never yet find 4. They see God against them prophanitie and wickednesse on their side and with them Papists Idolaters Irish murtherers the cruellest of men the scumme and refuse of the Churchmen yet they will not see God in this 5. They find and see their treachery popery tyranny discovered by many plots come to light by letters under the Kings hand their intentions to bring in a forraigne nation ere popery and arbitrary government bee not established and that all Treaties have beene intended not for a just peace but for this end that a peace being once patched and sowed up all things shall returne to their ancient Channels as the King speakes in his instructions to his Commissioners at Vxbridge yet they will not see God in all these passages of his deepe providence If naturall men wonder at the power and excellency of Christ in that hee with a word commands Sea and winds and they obey him should not Christ bee to us a worlds wonder should hee not bee to us altogether lovely were it possible to lay in the counter-scale of the ballance to Christ a world of Angels put in yet millions of worlds of Angels adde to them a world of Solomons with tripled wisedome put in all the delights of the sonnes of men put in yet the flowre and Rose of ten thousand possible worlds perfections they should bee under-weight to him the ballance should never downe Oh! wee glory in good armies wee rejoyce in victories and successe in a good Parliliament in godly Commanders in a good reformation all is excellent to us that hath any lustre or glimpse of created goodnesse but why doe wee not rather wonder admire and extoll excellent Jesus Christ who setteth him on high above the skies who lifts up his throne and his glory Consider but what is said of him Col. 1. 15. Who is the image of the invisible God the first borne of every creature Vers 16. For by him were all things created c. 17. And hee is before all things and in him all things consist 18. And hee is the head of the body the Church who is the beginning the first borne from the dead that in all things hee might have the preheminence see what wonders are there in Christ as first hee is Gods equall every way as high as God being the substantiall Image of God begotten of the Father and without all beginning Secondly as man the eldest of the creation of God and as God the Creator of the new world Thirdly no lesse the Creator of all then the Father wee have a head who can make and unmake all the glorious Angels in heaven the royallest of the house of heaven these principalities and powers these little Gods the eldest and supreme Courtiers the higher house of the Peeres of heaven are but peeces of dependent shadowes that fell from the fingers of our highest King when hee framed this great all and the rich Palace-Royall of this greatest body of heaven and earth and all the furniture within the bosome of the great world Fourthly the Lord Jesus hath all the created world so in the hollow of his hand as a man that holdeth a bowle of glasse in his hand in the aire should hee take his arme from under it it should fall to the earth and breake in a hundred peeces and doe no more good if Christ in whom all things consist some say as the notes of an excellent musick in a song draw in his armes of conserving providence the world should go all out of tune and the Globe of Crystall glasse should fall to a thousand meere nothings and as a man betweene his fingers may crush an Egge so hath Christ the huge created Lump of the whole creation in his hand if hee but thrust his two fingers together with a little crush all the world is dissolved like a broken Egge Fiftly hee is the head of the Church and such a head as is deaths eldest sonne and heire hee lay in deaths wombe and as the doubly blessed first-borne had the key of death with him in the inner side and opened the wombe and tooke away the ports and gates of death on his backe that now all the younger brethren might come out at the same passage also yea hee came a bridegroome from heaven to suite in marriage a bride his Church was sicke and died of love for a Princes daughter his lovely Church rose the third day from death and married her Sixtly he hath so the absolute preheminence in all things that the highest of the Angels are but his vassals and servants is now in such incomparable eminency of Glory above all creatures that when the beloved-disciple John who came that neare to him in the dayes of his flesh that hee leaned on his bosome saw him in his glory hee fell downe at his feet dead Revel. 1. 17. yea there was more of heaven in Christ then his eyes of flesh could behold FINIS Iob. 20. 5 6. 2 Cor. 6. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. Esay 17. 6. Esay 30. 26. Six parts of the Text The words opened Part I. Preachers are to converse much with Christ why {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Luc. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} How carefully Christ husbanded time How both kingdomes faile in improving of opportunities of mercy A generall faile of all in the care lesse improvement of time Part II. Christ and his Ship have more then ordinary stormes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Reason why the afflictions of the people of God are so extreame Evangelick legall anger in God Vse 1. Wrath untolerable to the ungodly Vse 2. We love a soft and a chosen providence of our owne carving Eight particulars considerable in the ship in which Christ and his Church is carried The Church a moveable thing as a ship {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Great change of the spirituall condition of the Church of particular Saints The Ship sayleth in a Sea of glasse mingled with fire Hope the Anchor of the Church The wares of the ship Seven sorts of passengers in the ship Why Christ took on our nature and infirmities Christ God and man and why The influence of the Godhead in Christs sufferings was active not passive Vse 1. Vse 2. It were sacriledge in the Roman Empire and Senate to give out decrees to the Churches as the Apostles and Elders did Acts 15. Innocency can sleepe sound amidst the greatest calamities How God is said to sleepe God will have his Church cause within a haires breadth of losing except he arise and helpe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Why God saveth not while the Church be betweene the sinking and the swimming The presence of God in trouble how comfortable {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Part III. The unitie and harmony of Christs Disciples in their trouble Reasons for Christian unitie Doct. Wee put unkindnesse on Christ because wee are not presently delivered and the reasons thereof {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Et non addet bene velle ultra â— Iudgements of themselves are the occasion rather then the cause of praying Some signes that sinne not afflictions put us to fasting and praying How the rod of God must work us to humiliation ere we be delivered Grace doth not extirpate but regulate feare and other affections The faults of the Disciples feare It were good to inquire the causes of the judgement Vse 2. The causes of misapprehending of Christ What is a small or weake faith Faith and fainting may consist together in one Reasons why wee know our grace so hardly The grounds of a faith weak in action Faith and sense compared together Simile Faith from instinct of grace sometime rather then from light of discourse The speciall cause of all sinnes of infirmitie From {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} cuspis mucio and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} captivus or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} cuspis hastae {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. How God really rebuketh the creature Gods omnipotency in creating and ruling the earth and Sea Vse This sword in Brittaine not the sword of men but of the Lord It is proper onely to omnipotency to make peace Part V. Two Characters of God in this miracle 1 That it is done in an instant and irresistibly 2 That it is great Things necessary to the Creature to the Creator have a may not be Things contingent to the Creature may have a must bee to the Creator Vse It is enough that our sea be calme when Christs is calme Greatnesse is printed on all the works of God Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Part VI Wee see little of God in his wayes Vse 1. God most visible in that hee now doth in Brittaine but Malignants will not see him Vse 2. The Lord Jesus a wonder to all