David as Davids was now at Jerusalem A built A furnished A strong an honourable House I know you would You are a Noble a most Loyall People Why then I will not take upon me to teach but onely to remember you of the way The way is Am I out No sure The way is to set David once upon his owne feet to make him see the strength of the house which God hath given him to fill him with joy and contentment in his peoples love to adde of your oyle to make him a cheerefull countenance now that God hath anointed him with the oyle of gladnesse over you that in a free Estate he may have leisure from Home-Cares every way to intend the good and welfare of his people and to blesse God for them and them in God And for David God hath blessed him with many royall Vertues And above the rest with the knowledge that his House is a foundation A foundation of his people and of all the justice that must preserve them in unity and in happinesse But t is Domus ejus His House still even while t is your foundation And never feare him for God is with him He will not depart from Gods service nor from the honourable care of his people nor from wise managing of his treasure He will never undermine his owne house nor give his people just cause to be jealous of a shaking foundation And here in the presence of God and his blessed Angels as well as of you which are but dust and ashes I discharge the true thoughts of my heart and flatter not And now my Dread Soveraigne upon you it lyes to make good the thoughts of your most devoted Servant Thus you have seene as short a Mapp as I could draw of Ierusalem She was famous for her unity and blessed too when it was within her selfe Shee was famous for her Religion and devout too when all the Tribes went up to the Arke of the Testimony to give thanks to the name of the Lord. She was famous for Justice and successfull too both at home and against forreigne enemies when the Seates of Judgement Ecclesiasticall and Civill were all as their severall natures beare founded upon the House of David This Ierusalem of ours is now at unitie in it selfe And I see here Capita Tribuum the Heads and Leaders of the Tribes and People of the Lord come up and present in his Temple I would to God they were all here that with one heart and one mouth we might all pray unto God for all his blessings to come down and dwell in the House of David and to rest upon this great and honourable Councell ready to sit You are come up to begin at the Temple of the Lord. The Arke was wholly Ceremoniall that 's not here But the Testimonie of Israel the Law yea and a better Law than that the Law of Grace and of Christ that 's here Here it is and open ready to teach the feare of the Lord which is the beginning of all wisdome Psal 111. In this Law you can read nothing but service to God and obedience to the House of David And so you find them joyned 1 S. Pet. 2. Feare God and honour the King And 't is a strange Fallacie in Religion for any man to dishonour the King and to make that a proofe that he feares God To the Temple and the Testimony you are come up When God would give Moses more speciall direction he declared himselfe from the Mercy-seat which was on the Arke Exod. 25. The Mercy-seat was wholly Ceremoniall as the Arke was on which it stood that is the Seate Ceremonie but the Mercy Substance And though the Seat be gone with Moses yet I hope God hath not left will never leave to appeare in Mercy to the House of David and this wise Councell If he appeare in mercy I fear nothing If he appeare otherwise there will be cause to feare all things And the way to have God appeare in mercy is for both King and People not onely to come to the Temple that 's but the outside of Religion but also to obey the Law the Testimonie Judgement went out from God lately and it was fierce How many thousands strong men which might have been a wall about Jerusalem hath the Pestilence swept away But his mercy soone overtook his Judgement For when did the eye of man behold so strange and sodaine abatement of so great Mortality A great argument that he will now appeare in Mercie And I cannot tell which hath got the better in the vie Your Honour or Your Religion that you have made suchhast to bring the Tribes to the Temple to give thanks to the name of the Lord for this The first Lesson of this dayes Evening prayer is Exod. 18. There 's the Story of Iethro's counsell to Moses for assistance of inferiour Officers This was not the beginning of that great and parliamentary Councell which after continued successefull in the State of the Iewes For that was set after by GOD himselfe Numb 11. yet I make no great doubt but that the ease which Moses found by that Councell made him apt to see what more he needed and so farre at least occasioned the settling of the Sanhedrim I take the omen of the day and the Service of the Church to blesse it That our David may be as happy in this and all other Sessions of Parliament as their Moses was in his Councell of the Elders That the King and his people may now and at all like times meete in love consult in wisedome manage their Counsell with temper entertaine no private businesse to make the publike suffer And when their consultation is ended part in the same love that should ever bring King and People together And let us pray That our Ierusalem both Church and State which did never but flourish when it was at unitie it selfe may now and ever continue in that Vnity and so bee ever successefull both at home and abroad That in this unity the Tribes of the Lord even all the Families and Kindreds of his people may come up to the Church to pray and prayse and give thankes unto him That no Tribe or Person for any pretences for they are no better may absent themselves from the Church and Testimony of the Lord. That the Seates of Iudgement Ecclesiasticall and Civill af all sorts may not only be set but set firmely to administer the justice of God and the King unto his people That all men may reverence and obey the House of David who it selfe upon God is the foundation of all these blessings That God would mutually blesse David and this People That so the People may have cause to give thankes to God for David And that David may have cause to take joy in the love and loyalty of his people and blesse God for both Till from this Jerusalem and this Temple and these Thrones Hee and wee all
my Text A or Cum or Juxta or Apud vultum For the King needs all and God gives all For when he is once come to Tu laetificasti this joy begins at à vultu from his Countenance It goes on cum vultu in company with his Countenance It enlarges it selfe Iuxta vultum when it comes neere his Countenance And at the last it shall be made perfect apud vultum when it comes to his Countenance to vision And as Davids cares were great so God would answer them with degrees of joy For had God any more Faces than one as Ar. Mont. renders the Original Cum faciebus ejus he would hide none of them from David If any were more comfortable than other he shall see that And indeed though the Countenance of God be but one and the same yet it doth not looke joy upon all men But his Aspects to the creature are Planetary as it were and various And David is happy that in the midst of all these various turnes of Gods Countenance A and Cum and Iuxta and Apud we find not nor I hope never shall that disasterous Aspect of opposition which is contra against for then all joy were gone For if it should be Rex contra vultum Dei then it were all sinne and if it should be Vultus Dei contra Regem both which God forbid then it were all punishment In neither Joy in neither Blessing It is far better in my Text if we take care to hold it there Cum vultu with or in the favour of his Countenance Thirdly this joy begins at the King Laetificasti eum thou hast made him glad He must have the greatest care and therefore the joy must be first or chiefest in him and if you will take a view of my Text you will find Him excellently seated for the purpose for I find Eum that is David that is the King standing betweene Laetificasti and Gaudium as if God would have the Kings place knowne by joy on the right hand and joy on the left here God places the King this is his ordinance to season his cares therefore if any attempt to displace him to plunge him into griefe to make him struggle with difficulties it is a kind of Deposing him The care of Government should be eased not discomfited else doubtlesse God would never have placed David betweene Laetificasti and gaudium Joy and Joy And it is fit for the people especially the greater in their families to look to this that David may keep Inter laetificasti gaudium the place where God hath set him for when all is done and the braine weary of thinking this will be found true They cannot hold their places in gaudio in joy if David sit not sure in his and it is an excellent observation made by Cassiodore a Senator he was and Secretary of State to Theodoricus and after a most strict and devoted Christian He makes all sad that endeavours not the Kings joy Et omnes affligit qui Regi aliquid necessarium subtrahit And he afflicts all men that withholds necessaries from the King And certainly it is the glory of a State to keep David upright where God sets him and that you see is Inter laetificasti gaudiū between Joy and Joy where God ever keep Him and His. And now I am come to the second generall of the Text the Reason both of the Thing and the Meanes of the Honour and the Manner of Gods laying it upon Kings And the Reason is Quia sperat because the King puts his trust in the Lord. In which may it please you to observe three circumstances The first of these is the Vertue it selfe which God first gave the Prophet and for which he after gave him a blessing to the People and joy in himselfe The Vertue is Hope that Hope in the Lord. Now Hope followes the nature of Faith and such as the Faith is such is the Hope Both must be in Domino in the Lord or neither can be true And it is in a sort with the denyall of Hope in any Creature That the Hope which is founded upon God alone I say alone as the prime Author may be firme and not divided Nulli hominum fidens trusting upon no man is Theodoret. Not in Armies nor in riches nor in any strength of man is Euthymius Not in sword nor speare nor shield but in the name of the Lord of Hosts is David himselfe 1 Reg. 17. And David could not lay better hold any where For since before all lies upon God Tu dedisti and Tu laetificasti Thou hast given and Thou hast made glad where could any man fasten better And indeed the words are a reciprocall proofe either to other For because God gives David hopes and because David hopes God gives more abundantly Honour Blessing and Joy It is in the Text Quia sperat even because he trusts Secondly Is Trust then and relying upon God a matter of such consequence that it alone stands as a cause of these Yes Hope Trust rightly laid upon God have ever been in his children loco meriti in stead of merit And what ever may be thought of this Hope it is a Kings vertue in this place And Thomas proves it That Hope is necessary for all men but especially for Princes And the more trust in God Honoratior Princeps the more honour hath the King as Apollinarius observes it And therefore Hope is not here a naked expectation of somewhat to come but it is Hope and the ground of Hope Faith as some later Divines thinke not amisse And Faith embraces the Veritie of God as well as the Promises made upon it And this was right For so God promised and so David beleev'd he would perform 2 Reg. 7. 29. And since we have found Faith and Hope in this action of Trusting God as our English well expresses it let us never seeke to shut out Charitie And if Faith Hope and Charity bee together as they love to goe then you may understand the Text Quia Sperat because he Hopes de toto cultu of the entire worship of God For as S. Isidor observes in all inward worship which is the heart of Religion are these three Faith Hope and Charity And in the most usuall phrase of Scripture though not ever scarce one of these is named but all are understood to be present and if so then because he trusts is as much as Quia colit because he worships So at last we are come to the cause indeed why God set David for such a Blessing to his people why he filled him with such joy of his countenance and all was Quia cultor because he was such a religious worshiper It is in the Text then that a Kings Religion is a great cause of his happinesse The greatest Politicians that are have confessed thus farre that some Religion is necessary to make a King a
Blessing to his People and a Common-wealth happy But the matter is not great with them whether it be a true or a false Religion so it be one But they are here in a miserable errour for since they suppose a Religion necessary as they must my Text will turne all the rest upon them that true Religion is most apt and most able to Blesse and Honour both King and People For first Truth is stronger than falsehood and will so prove it selfe wheresoever it is not prevented or abused and therfore it is more able Next true Religion breeds ever true Faith and true Hope in God which no false Religion can therefore it is more apt Then true Hope and Faith have here the promise of God for the Kings joy and the Peoples Blessings even Quia sperat because he trusts whereas the rest have only his permission Therefore it is both both more apt and more able to blesse King and Commonwealth than any false Religion or superstition is or can be It was but a scoffe of Lucian to describe Christians simple and easie to be abused or if any in his time were such the weakenesse of the men must not be charged upon their Religion for Christ himselfe the founder of Religion though he did un-sting the Serpent in all his charge to his Apostles yet he left his vertue uncheck'd nay he commanded that Be innocent but yet as wise as Serpents Mat. 10. 16. And this Wisedome and Prudence is the most absolute vertue for a Common-wealth So that till Christians forsake Christs rule Lucians scoffe takes no hold of them Thirdly Since Quia sperat the Faith and Religion of a King is that which brings God to give him as a Blessing It must not be forgotten that Trust in God is inter fundamenta Regum amidst the very foundations of Kings And spes is quasi pes Hope saith Isidore is the foote and the resting place Now no building can stand if the foundation be digg'd from under it The Buildings are the Blessings of a State A prime foundation of them is the Kings trust in God Take away the truth of this Hope Faith and Religion and I cannot promise the Blessings to stand for then there is never another Quia or cause in the Text to move God to give But if the cause stand as Theodor. and Euthym. here make it all is well And here it were sacrilege for me and no lesse to passe by his Majesty without thankes both to God and Him To Him for Quia sperat because he trusteth for no Prince hath ever kept more firme to Religion And it is sperans in the present in my Text hee continueth it and will continue it And to God for Quia dedit because in mercy hee hath given Him this Blessing so to Trust and by this trust in him to be this and many other Blessings to us And so I come to the last part of my Text which is the happy Successe which David shall have for trusting in the Lord. It is a Reward and Rewards come last And it is That in this trust he shall not slide he shall not miscary And here to make all parts even are three circumstances too The first of these is the Successe or Reward it selfe and it is a great one Non commovebitur He shall not be moved or at least not removed not miscarry And this is a great Successe To have to doe with the greatest moveables in the world the people and not miscarry So that trust in the Lord makes a King in the midst of a mighty people Petram in mari turbido A Rocke in a working Sea Ebbe and slow and swell yet insolent waves dash themselves in pieces of all sides the Rock and the King is at Non commovebitur He shall not be moved Secondly This great Successe doth not attend on Kings for either their wisdome or their power or any thing else that is simply theirs No we must fall back to spes in Domino their trust in the Lord yea and this trust too is not simply upon the Lord but upon his Mercy And indeed to speak properly Man hath no ground of his Hope but Mercy no stay upon the slippery but Mercy For if he looke upon God and consider him in justice If he looke upon himselfe and weigh his soule by merit it is impossible for a man to Hope or in Hope not to miscarry And therefore the Prophet here though he promise non cōmovebitur that the King shall not miscarry yet he dares promise it no where else than In misericordia in Mercy Thirdly I will not omit the Expression whose Mercy it is that gives successe to Princes and that is Altissimi the mercie of the most high which is one of Gods usuall Names in Scripture Now Sperat non commovebitur The Kings Hope and his Successe doe both meete in the Highest mercy It is true Hope stands below and out of sight For Hope that is seene is no hope Rom. 8. yet as low as it stands it contemplates God qua Altissimus as he is at highest And this shewes the strength of this vertue of Hope For as Hope considered in nature is in men that are warme and spirited so is it also considered as a vertue And therefore give it but due footing which is upon Mercy and in the strength of that it will clime to God were it possible he should be Higher than he is The footing of Hope is low therefore it seekes Mercie and the Kings Hope keepes the foote of the hill Rex humili corde sperat So S. August And the best hope begins lowest not at merit but at mercy But then marke how it soars For the same hope that bears the soule of man company upon earth mounts till it comes ad Altissimum to the most High in heaven Now in this Mercy-seate it is observable three Grandies are met together Blessing Joy and Hope and yet there is no strife for precedencie For Blessing goes first Joy comes after for no man so joyfull as hee that is Blessed and then Hope to supply the defects of both because nor Blessings nor Joy can be perfect in this life And they have chosen to themselves an excellent and safe place in the Mercy of the most High An excellent place and all receive vertue from it For that David is able to be a Blessing to the people that he can joy in the Blessing that his Hope can support him through the cares in ordering the blessing ere he can come to the joy all is frō Mercy And a safe place it is For there are in all times and in all States Conatus impiorum endeavours of wicked men and the labour of these is to turne Blessing it selfe into a curse To overcloud joy with sorrow at least if not Desolation To crush Hope or rather Decollare to behead it No place safe from these attempts but that which is high
Prevention as it is now with us which God and the King will use to keep the State and the Church from melting This Remedy and the Prevention is just the same is expressed first in the execution of Justice And this God promises for the King and the King promises under God I will judge according unto right saith God and I saith the King Now Iustice and Iudgement is the greatest binder up of a State The great bounder of Peace and Warre And it is not possible to find dissolving sinews in a Kingdome that is governed by Iustice For if the King flourish the Kingdome cannot melt And the Kings Throne that is established by Iustice Nay farther Nothing but Iustice can establish the Throne and make it firme indeed But when God blesses the King with a heart full of Iustice when God strengthens the King in the Execution of Iustice when the King followes God as close as he can with Ego judicabo I my selfe will looke to the administration of Iustice with which God hath trusted me there can be no melting about the Throne of the King none in the State none in the Church But then this Iustice which preserves the King and blesses the people must be habituall To doe Iustice casually though the thing done be just yet the doing of it is not Iustice The State may melt for all that because the Remedy is but casuall Again since the whole State hath interest in the Justice of the King his Iustice must be spreading over all persons and in all causes And so 't is plurall in the Text I will judge Iustitias for every mans cause so far as it is just Why but then must the King doe all this himselfe No God forbid that burthen should lye all upon him Moses was not able alone for that It was and it is heavie What then why then Jethro's counsell must be followed There must be inferiour Iudges and Magistrates deputed by the King for this Men of courage fearing God and hating Covetousnesse These must quit Moses from the inferiour trouble that he may be active and able for the great affaires of State For if they be suffered to melt and drop downeward there can be no standing dry or safe under them And hence it followes that Ego judicabo I will judge according unto right is not onely the Kings engagement betweene God and the People but it is the engagement of every Iudge Magistrate and Officer betweene God the King and the State The Kings power that 's from God The Iudges and the subordinate Magistrates power that 's from the King Both are for the good of the people That they may lead a peaceable life in all godlynesse and honesty All Judges and Courts of Iustice even this great Congregation this great Councell now ready to sit receive influence and power from the King and are dispensers of his justice as well as their owne both in the Lawes they make and in the Lawes they execute in the Causes which they heare and in the Sentences which they give The King Gods High Steward and they Stewards under him And so long as Iustice and Iudgement sits upon all the Benches of a Kingdome either it s not possible for Fluxes and Meltings to begin in the State or if they doe begin their Drip will be cured presenly Now while the King keepes close to Ego judicabo I will judge that which comes to me according unto right if inferiour Iudges which God forbid judge other than right they sinne against three at once and against God in all For first they sinne against the people by doing them wrong in stead of Iustice Secondly they sinne against their owne conscience not onely by calling but by sentencing Good Evill and Evill Good Thirdly they sinne against the King the fountaine of Iustice under God in slandering of his Iustice to the people with the administration whereof they are trusted under him And once againe for inferiour Governours of all sorts The King is the Sunne Hee drawes up some vapours some support some supply from us T' is true he must doe so For if the Sunne draw up no vapours it can powre downe no raine and the Earth may be too hard as well as too soft and too melting Now this Raine which descends and is first caused by the Sunne is prepared in the Clouds before it falleth on the Earth And all Great men that are raised higher than the rest especially Iudges Magistrates of all sorts they are the Clouds They receive the more immediate influence from the King and if they be Gods Clouds and retaine what he gave them they drop fatnesse upon the people But if they be clouds without water they transmit no influence If they be light clouds in the wind then no certaine influence If they be clouds driven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a whirlewind then it is passionate and violent influence And the Clouds I hope are not I am sure should not be thus betweene the King and his People There is then Ego judicabo I will judge according unto right both for the King and all subordinate Magistrates under him But here 's Ego judicabo and I will judge according to right for God too For many of the Fathers will have this to be Gods speech or Davids in the person of God And then whatsoever men do with Iustice and Iudgement God comes two wayes in upon the judgements of men to review them For first God comes in when the Earth is melting by violence and injustice And then Gods Ego judicabo I will judge is either in Mercy to repaire the breaches to stay the melting of the State or else in Iudgement to punish the debasers of Iustice And this God sometimes doth in this life But if he doe it not here yet he never sailes to doe it at the last and finall Iudgement to which divers of the Fathers referre this passage of my Text. Secondly God comes in when the Seats of Iustice supreme and inferiour all are entire And then Gods Ego judicabo I will judge is alwayes to confirme and countenance the proceedings of Iustice and to blesse the instruments And my Text hath it full For it is not here said I will judge the cause onely or the men only whose cause it is or the Iudges onely that sentence the cause but Ego justitias I will judge the very Iudgements themselves how right or otherwise thy passe And then this must needs be to confirme honour them if they be just or to condemne and dissolve them if they be unjust rather than they shal melt or dissolve the State or somtimes to send a melting into that State in which Iustice is perverted Now howsoever men somtimes breake from their duty in judging according to right yet there can be no question of Gods proceedings He will be sure to judge all things and all men according
carries their Wisdome round into Folly And their Folly turnes their malice round into higher degrees of Blasphemy Thus is this Enemy no sooner a Blasphemer but a Foole And no sooner a Foole but a greater Blasphemer So Blasphemy is punished with Folly and Folly with Blasphemy There 's the wheele both in the sin and the punishment And I pray observe These Enemies that beset Gods Cause at Jerusalem were a Nation And so some reade here Not the Foolish man but the Foolish People And a powerfull Nation they were were they Babilonians Syrians or Romanes And one of them they were And yet you see the Prophet gives them no other no better name then Fool when they violently persecute Gods Cause Indeed they deserve it And this Sinne is as able to Foole a whole Nation as a particular Man Nay the holy Ghost here speakes of them as of one Man As if Blasphemie could change a whole Nation into one Foole. And surely 't is no hard thing with God to make the wisdome of the whole world foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1. And 't is as easie with him to confound the wisdome of a whole Nation as of one Achitophell And see I beseech you how their sinnes continue Once a Foole in this kinde and an Enemie to Gods Cause and a Blasphemer of his Person ever after without a great deale of mercy And this is noted in the circumstance Tota Die and Quotidie Daily and all the day long at this Blasphemy And 't is usuall this with Enemies All the day For their studdy is upon it And every day For these Enemies were the same in Blasphemy The day of their preparation The day of their Fight and the day of their Victory And Ruffinus observes that this Blasphemy grew in the continuance And either it derided God in his Servants or it menaced men for serving God How it flatter'd it selfe there while against both Man and God is thus farre apparent in the Text That they never durst have beene daily Blaspemers against God if they had not beene Opinators at least that God could never have maintained and made good his cause against them It is too much to see the cause of God opposed To heare the name of GOD Blasphemed were it but once But all the day long and every day is a Tentation almost unsupportable to Christian and religious hearts Yet this we must be Inur'd to heare against King and Church and God himselfe if we take not better course than hitherto we have done to keepe out the Enemy and his Blaspehmy Against this 't was time for the Prophet and 't is time for us to pray The Blasphemy of an Enemie is a very urgent Motive to make Men pray And the Prayer of the Prophet here that God would remember the Blasphemer was very fervent For he begins this Prayer at Remember the Rebuke of the Enemy ver 20. And he ends his Prayer with Remember the Blasphemy of this Fool ver 23. Remember and forget it not ver 24. This was the Prophet's Zeale for Gods Cause and you may learne by it that cold Prayers are not they which remove the Blasphemy of Enemies The Prayers indeed of but one righteous Man doth much but 't is when they are fervent Saint Jaco 5. But you will say What needes all this calling upon God to Remember Is it possible he should forget not possible certainely But then as before Though God cannot sleepe Yet to awaken not him but our poore understanding concerning him the Prayer was Arise O God So here though God cannot forget yet because in his providence he sometimes carries himselfe to our sense and apprehension Ad modum obliviscentis as if he did forget and threatens that he will forget Oblivione obliviscar eorum Ose 1. Forgeting I will forget them Therefore here againe the Prayer runnes after the manner of men Arise O Lord yes and Remember too Why but since here 's Enmity against the Cause of God and Blasphemy against himself why doth the Prophet aske no more of God but that he would Remember this Why why certainly 't is because there 's abundantly enough of that He knew if God did Remember he would punish And as S. Jerome observes hee therefore Remembers that he may confound in Judgement And indeede in Gods Language to Marke and Remember is many times to punish and not to Remember is to forgive sinne If thou Lord shouldest be extreme to marke and observe that is to punish What is done amisse Psal 130. And the Church hath learn'd not onely to speake but to pray of the Prophet For so the Church prayes in the Letany Not punish not but Remember not Lord our offences And therefore the Prophets Prayer was home enough Remember Lord Yes doe but that and we either have or shall have enough and our enemies too We I hope of deliverance and preservation and they of punishment Thus you have heard the Prophets prayer and I hope made your owne that God would Arise and bestir himselfe And what he desired God would doe both for State and Church when he was Risen that is That he would plead and maintaine his owne Cause And Remember that is punish in his owne time the Blasphemy of all them that reproach or detract from it or him One thing yet remaines and 't is fit to be thought upon this day every day all the day long And that is what it it is that makes God a Protector of any King any State any Nationall Church against either in-bred or forraine Enemies Against the Fox at home and the Lion abroad And that certainly is for the State to goe on with Honour and Iustice And for the Church to labour Devotion as much at least if not more then knowledge For else Gods Cause and ours may be two And then God may Arise and maintaine his owne but leave us to the Famine to the Pestilence to the Sword to any other Judgement The onely way to make God Arise as soone as ever we call Nay to prevent our call and come in to helpe before we pray is for both King and People State and Church to weave their Cause and Gods together To incorporate them so that no cunning of the Devil may be able to separate them For then the benefit is apparent God cannot Arise and maintaine his owne cause but he must maintaine ours too because 't is one with his And his owne doubt you not he will maintaine against the proudest Enemy that can come against it And certainly the greatest hope and confidence of Gods Assistance to any Nation to any Man that can precede deliverance it selfe is to make their Cause all one with Gods And that is done by upholding his and conforming theirs Our safety then is when our cause is one with Gods Our danger when they differ But what is it that puts the difference between them What why that which put the
first Enmity betweene God and Man Sinne. And therefore if we wil quit the Enmity and be made friends the onely way to reconcile us with God and our Cause with his is by Faith and Repentance to banish Sinne. The sooner this is done the sooner we are safe which cannot be till our Cause be one with Gods One and yet when 't is one the preheminence is still with Gods Cause we must not suffer ours to step on before him For our Cause as 't is spirituall and concernes our soules if it be never so good never so close joyned with God's yet God's is to have the precedence For be ours never so good I must beg of your humility to Remember that Gods Grace did both prevent and follow to make it so And therefore we are to put his cause first and to pray chiefly for the maintenance of that which gave worth to ours And for our cause as 't is temporall and concernes this life onely Our safety life and lively-hood Gods cause is to have the precedence of that much more Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters Life and all must be accounted as nothing to Gods Cause S. Luke 14. And it hath ever beene a signe that the soule of a man goes right That a whole People keepe upon Gods path when they seeke first the Kingdome of GOD and the righteousnesse thereof and leave God to minister and maintaine the rest S. Mat. 6. When they are more tenderly affected to the Cause of God and more sensible of the Reproach or Blasphemy of his Name than of any calamities that might or malice can bring upon their persons And yet our giving Gods Cause the precedence in our Love to it and our Prayers for it is no exclusion of our owne Cause Nay the preferring of Gods before our owne And the making of our owne conformable to Gods is the way to make God as jealous of our safety from all extremity as he is to vindicate his owne honour from Reproach and Blasphemy And therefore though the Prophet here as Theodoret observes doth not say Arise O God and maintaine Causam meam my cause but thine owne Yet the same God that will have us prefer his cause will have us pray for our owne likewise And so the Prophet did For though he be here all for Gods cause yet we have him very earnest for his owne too Plead thou my cause O Lord with them that strive with me and fight thou against them that fight against me Psal 35. And defend my cause O God against the ungodly People Psal 43. 1. Well then Thy cause O God and my Cause O God But the Rule of Practise goes here Gods cause must leade that ours may follow it under the protection of God As we have therefore now begun so let us pray on as the Prophet did That God even our Gracious Father will be no longer like unto one that sleepes That he will Arise and blow over these feares from us 'T is but his Breath and he can dry the Cloudes that they drop not Rottennesse upon our Harvest 'T is but his Breath and he can cleare the Ayre of Infection as well all over the Kingdome as he hath beyond admiration done it in our chiefe City And 't is but the same Breath and he can shake our Enemies to peeces in the Sea That God being Arisen and come neare in providence will pleade first and after maintaine his owne Cause His owne in the hand of the King His own in the heart of the Church And his owne in the Holinesse of his Name That he will give this State and Church and every Member of both such grace that our cause may be his and his Maintenance ours That he will remember and that 's enough that if his Cause be ours our Enemies are his That we may so order our lives by his Grace that if these or any Enemies will Blaspheme it may not be Him for our sinnes but Vs for his service That our Enemies and his how-wise soever in other things yet in their plots and practises against us may be written in the Text-Letters FOOLES That we being preserved from them and all other Adversity may take warning in time to mend our lives and so hereafter live to honour and serve him that the world may see he hath beene mercyfull and we labour to be Thankefull That after the maintenance of his and our Cause here we may in our severall times be received up to him in Glory Through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. SERM. VI. Preached on Monday the 17. of March 1628. at Westminster at the opening of the Parliament EPHES. 4. 3. Endeavouring to keepe the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace THIS Chapter is a great Scripture for Unity For here we finde there is but One Lord whom we serve v. 5. But One God and Father whom we worship and obey ver 6. But One Spirit whom we receive while he sanctifies us ver 4. One Lord One God and Father One Spirit Three in One all Three but one God blessed for ever But one Baptisme by which we are cleansed But one Faith by which we beleeve ver 5. But one hope upon which we relye ver 4. But one knowledge by which we are illightned ver 13. But One Body of which we are members ver 4. Different Graces but all tending to One Edification Divers offices but all joynt-Overseers of the same worke Till the Building be One and we One in it ver 11. This Chapter is as pressing a Scripture for Exhortation And the first Exhortation is That men would walk worthy of their calling ver 1. Their calling to be Christians their calling in Christianity And that to shew themselves worthy they would endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ver 3. All for Unity And let me tell you We often reade of One in the Scripture but the word Vnity in the abstract is no where read either in Old or New Testament but onely in this Chapter and here 't is twice For we are exhorted to keep it ver 3. But how long why even till we be made perfect ver 13. that is to the end of this life Why but what need was there of this Exhortation at Ephesus what why sure very great need For Saint Anselm tells us Schisma suit there was a Schisme and a rupture there And Charismata the eminent Graces which God had given many of them was made the cause of the Schisme For Corruption at the heart of man breeds pride even out of Gods graces And they which had these gifts despised them which had them not and separated from them This gave occasion to false teachers to enter in and lye in wayt to deceive ver 14. This was the state of the Church of Ephesus
faithfull He must trust And now to end at home David is gone long since to his Hope the Mercy of the Highest But a King a gracious King is living over us in Peace and Happinesse as our eyes see this day I know He remembers why God set Him over this great and numerous people that is in benedictione even to blesse them And that he hath been a Blessing unto them Malice it selfe cannot deny And I make no question but he will go on with the Text and be Blessings to them for ever For ever through his whole time and for ever in his generous Posterity Tu dedisti Gods gift is through all this and I will ever pray that it may never faile He hath given this people all His time the Blessing of Peace And the sweet Peace of the people is Praeconium Regnantium the Glory of Kings And Gods gift is in this too For though it be the King that Blesses yet it is God that gives Blessing to Blessing it selfe And suppose Peace end in Warre Tu dedisti Gods gift reaches thither too For the Battell is the Lords 1 Reg. 17. The Battell yes and the Victory For sayth S. Basil Dextera victrix Whosoever be the Enemy the right hand that conquers him is the Lords Now for his Blessing it is fit he should receive Joy But if he will have that true and permanent and no other is worth the having he must looke it in vultu Dei in Gods countenance If he looke it any where else especially where the joy of his countenance shines not there will be but false representations of joy that is not This day the Anniversary of his Crowne is to all his loving Subjects Dies Gaudii and Dies Spei A day of Joy and a day of Hope A day of joy For what can be greater than to see a Just and a gracious King multiplying his yeares And a day of Hope And what can be fitter than to put him in minde even this day that a Kings strength is at sperat in Domino His trust in the Lord the preserver of men Job 7. That as God upon this day did settle His Hope and His Right to this Kingdome upon Him So upon this day which in this yeers revolution proves His day too Dies Domini the Lords day as well as His hee would continue the setling of his Hope on him by whom all the Kings of the Earth beare rule Prov. 8. I say Settle upon Him and his Mercy that is the last The very feet of Kings stand High and in high places slips are dangerous Nothing so fit so able to stand by them as Misericordia Altissimi the Mercy of the Highest In the goodnesse and the power of this Mercy he hath stood a King now almost five and fifty yeares nay a King He was before he could stand Through many dangers the Mercy of the Highest hath brought Him safe Let Him not goe from under it and it followes my Text verse 8. His right hand shall finde out all that hate Him And for himselfe Non commovebitur He shall not be moved not miscarry And so we offer up our Evening sacrifice unto God for Him and for our selves that God will ever give and he may ever be a Blessing to is People That His yeeres may multiply and yet not outlive His joy That this day may come about often and yet never returne but In Gaudio vultus Dei in the joy of Gods countenance upon the King and In Gaudio vultus Regis in the Ioy of the Kings countenance upon the People That the mercy of the most High may give Him hope in the Lord and strengthen it That His Hope may rest upon the Mercy that gave it That in all His businesses as great as His place His Successe may be Non commâ—veri not to miscarry That He may goe on a straight course from Blessing others in this life to be Blessed Himselfe in Heaven And that all of us may enjoy Temporall Blessings under Him and Eternall with Him for evermore And this CHRIST JESUS for his infinite merit and mercy sake grant unto us To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit three persons and one God be ascribed all might Majesty and Dominion this day and for ever AMEN SERM. III. Preached on Monday the 6. of Feb. 1625. at Westminster at the opening of the PARLIAMENT PSAL. 122. ver 3 4 5. Jerusalem is builded as a Citie that is at unity in it selfe or compacted together For thither the Tribes goe up even the Tribes of the Lord to the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. For there are the Seats or the Thrones of Judgement even the Thrones of the house of David SOme are of opinion this Psalme was made by David and delivered to the Church to be sung when the Ark of God was carryed up to Jerusalem when Jerusalem was setled by David to be the speciall seate both of Religion and the Kingdome The people were bound thrice a yeere at Easter Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles to come up and worship at Jerusalem Deu. 16. And some think this Psalme was prophetically made to sing by the way to sing wheÌ„ they went up by the steps to the Temple And 't was fit for they came up with joy And joy is apt to set men a singing And at joy the Psalme begins I was glad when they said unto me We will goe into the house of the Lord. But whatsoever the use of this Psalme was in any speciall Service certaine it is that Jerusalem stands here in the letter for the City and in type and figure for the State and the Church of Christ My Text looks upon both and upon the duty which the Jewes did then and which we now doe owe to both The Temple the Type of the Church that 's for God's service No Temple but for that The City the Type of the State that 's for the peoples peace No happy State but in that Both the Temple and the State God's house and the Kings both are built upon Pillars And it is not long since I told you out of Psal 75. that there are many times of exigence in which if God doe not beare up the Pillars no strength which the Pillars have in and of themselves can support the weight that lies upon them Be they Pillars of the Temple or Pillars of the State Therefore here to ease the Pillars God hath built up Buttresses if men doe not pull them downe to stay the maine walls of both buildings The Buttresse and support of the Temple is Religion God will not blesse the house if men doe not honour and serve him in it The Buttresse and stay of the Kingdome is Justice God will not blesse the State if Kings and Magistrates doe not execute judgement If the widdow and the fatherlesse have cause to cry out against the Thrones of Justice So
Heresie or Schisme into the Church at unity in it selfe He that fell among Theeves and was almost killed by the way was not going up to Ierusalem but downe to Iericho S. Luk. 10. from the Temple I warrant you And as S. Augustine speakes si non descendisset in latrones non incidisset if he had not been sinking and going downewards from God and from his Church he had not fallen into the hands of Theeves But 't is most fit in regard of the Church triumphant in Heaven For thither is no going but by Ascending Ascending still out of the dreggs of this sinfull life And he is miserably out of this way that sinks farther and farther into sinne and dreames he is in the way to Heaven Nor can any man say faine I would to Heaven but I want staires to ascend and get up For this Psalme is Psalmus Graduum a whole Ladder of steps from the Church here to the Church in Heaven And ' its not unfit neither to expresse what paines they then were content to take to serve God For from their remotest habitations and many were very farre off every Male came up thrice a yeere to the Temple to worship And they might not appeare before the Lord empty Exod. 23. No paines then too much no charge too great to serve GOD And notwithstanding both paines and charge properabant ascendere they made haste to come up Now the Church is at our doores and we care not for going into it And we come up empty handed else it were not possible so many Churches should lye so ruinous as they doe Will you give me leave to tell you the reason of this 'T is in my Text When this devotion was on foote Jerusalem was at unity in it selfe For so goes the Text. Jerusalem at unitie and then ascenderunt then they ascend by multitudes and their devotion with them And this falls in upon the Persons that went up to serve the Lord. And they were the Tribes Not all the Tribes Families and Kindreds of the earth No For the many by Idolatry had made themselves strangers to the true God of Israel But Tribus Domini the Tribes of the Lord they went up all of them The 12. Tribes from the Patriarks the seed of Jacob were then Gods peculiar servants They were made so in the Covenant The Testimony of it was the Law So this honour to be the Tribes of the Lord God's people was reserved in the band of Religion If they had not beleeved and served God they had not beene his They might have beene Tribes if you will without serving in the Temple but not Domini not of the Lord but by that service And they might have beene in some kinde of unity but not in Domino not in the Lord but by that union And they might have beene builded as a City but not ad Dominum to the Lord's honour and their owne salvation but by that faith And which was the honour of Jerusalem then in all David's time and Solomon's too All the Tribes went up All not a Recusant Tribe or Person among them Now I may not omit the place whither they were to ascend It was Jerusalem There the Temple In that the Arke In that the Law And the Law sayes not simply that they shal assemble and meet to serve the Lord but precisely that they shall doe it in the same place which the Lord shall chuse Deut. 16. And the Lord chose Sion the Temple at Ierusalem to be his place 2 Chron. 7. Would you have a reason why God tied them so strictly to one place 'T is not hard to give it That people were wonderfully prone to Idolatry therefore saith S. Basil God tyed them to one place of worship lest wandring here and there in strange places they might fall into the service of strange Gods And marke it God would then have but one Temple erected one Altar in one City that the people might not fall assunder into different superstitions and leave true Religion least followed And the Jewes seeing the command never halted in this duety so long as Jerusalem was at unity in it selfe But when that brake all misery began For no sooner had Jeroboam made a Rent in this unity and torne away ten Tribes from the house of David but by and by Samaria is as good as Jerusalem and the Calves in Dan and Bethel as good as that God that brought them out of the Land of Egypt 3 Reg. 12. So dangerous a thing it is when unity and God's command are broke together The Jesuit Lorinus tells us There are better causes to perswade us now to go on pilgrimage ad Limina Petri and the Jubilees at Rome than the Tribes had here to goe to Jerusalem What better causes The Jewes had Gods expresse commandement to goe to Jerusalem and the forme of worship that was there And what better warrant can any man or any people have than Gods command Let him or any other shew me such a command That all the whole Church of Christ all the Tribes which now serve the Lord must come in person or consent and doe it at Rome wee will never stay for Lorinus his better reasons Wee will take Gods command for a good one and obey it But they must not thinke to choak us with the wool that growes upon Pasce oves S. Iohn 21. which as the Fathers have diversly spunne out so no one of them comes home to the cloathing of Rome with such a large Robe of State as she challengeth And this in the meane time will be found true That while they seeke to tye all Christians to Rome by a divine precept their Ambition of Soveraignty is one and a maine cause that Ierusalem even the whole Church of Christ is not at unity in it selfe this day Now beside the honour and service done to God the people had many other benefits by comming up and meeting at Ierusalem Many but one more especially And that comes into the third commendation of Ierusalem the Government both Spirituall and Temporall For there also are the seates of Iudgement even the seates of the house of David So they might serve themselves at the seates of Justice while they went to the Temple to serve God In the Ascending 't was illuc thither And here at the sitting 't is illic there One and the same City honoured with God his Church and the King And it must needs be so For these three God the King and the Church that is God his Spouse and his Lieutenant upon earth are so neere allyed God and the Church in love God and the King in power The King and the Church in mutual dependance upon God and subordination to him That no man can serve any one of them truly but he serves all three And surely 't was in a blessed figure that Gods house and the Kings stood together at Ierusalem The Temple if I
Kingdome And 't is not Juda onely but all Kingdomes of the Earth are subject to melting The many changes of the world have Preach'd this over and over That whatsoever hath Earth to the foundation is subject to dissolution And the Sermon is still made upon this Text Terra liquefacta est The Earth is dissolved Now usually before melting there goes a Heate And so it was Hos 8. A fire first and then the melting of Israel There neither is nor can be any Kingdome but it hath many Heates These are most felt by them that are at the working of the State But these are all quite above me save to pray for their temper and I will not further meddle with them Heates then there are but all Heates are not by and by a Furnace nor are all Furnaces able to melt and dissolve States No God forbid Not all but yet some there are that can melt any Kingdome especially two The one of these Heates is Sinne great and multiplied sinne For saith S. Augustine delinquere est de liquido fluere To sinne is to melt and drop away from all steddinesse in vertue from all foundation of Justice And here a State melts inward there 's little seen yet The other is Gods punishment for these sinnes For that makes empty cities and a desolate Land And there a State melts outwardly and in view And by this we have found what and who it is that melts great and glorious Kingdomes In the Text there 's no more than liquefacta est the earth is disolved not a word by whom or for what But it is expressed ver 7. that it is by God And it is too well knowne that it is for sinne and for great sinne too For as there goes sin before God heates so there goe great and multiplied sins before God makes his fire so hot as to melt or dissolve a Kingdome The sinnes of the Amorite not yet full therefore not yet cast into the melting pot But so soone as their sinnes were full their State melted The fruit of it from above and the root of it from beneath all destroyed And this was not the Amorites case onely for all Stories are full of it That when States have melted into wanton and lustfull sinnes they have not long after dissolved into desolation For as S. Hierom observes that course God holds with impious and impenitent Kingdomes as well as men absque discretione personaruus without any difference of persons or places Well when 't is Terra liquefacta when a Kingdome dissolves and melts what then What why then no man is in safety till it settle againe not a man For the Text goes on The earth is dissolved and all that dwell therein All men then to seeke what to doe the wisest to seeke and the strongest to seeke All. And it must needs be so For so long as a State is Terra like solide ground men know where to set their footing and it is not every Earth quake that swallowes the place But when it is once Terra liquefacta molten and dissolved there is no footing no foundation then I sticke fast in the myre where no ground is Psal 69. and myre is but terra liquefacta molten and dissolved earth All foule then and no foundation And when a Kingdome melts indeed that is both wayes In sinne and under punishment there 's great reason the inhabitants should melt with it into feare into danger into ruine For God never puts his fire to the melting of a State but for sin and sinne that is never committed by the dead State but by the living For when a fruitfull land is made barren it is for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein And therefore there is great reason when the earth dissolves that the inhabitants should all sweat and melt too When David came to the Crown 't was thus How is it now Why if you take the earth at large for the Kingdomes about you out of question there hath been liquefactio a melting in the earth and many Kingdomes have sweat blood But if you take the earth for the State at home then 't is high time to magnifie God First for the Renowned Religious and peaceable Reigne of our late dread Soveraigne of blessed Memory who for so many yeeers together kept this Kingdome in peace and from melting And secondly that now in the change of Princes which is not the least occasion for a State to melt we live to see a miracle Change without Alteration Another King but the same life-expression of all the Royall and Religious Vertues of his Father and no sinewes shrinking or dissolving in the State If you aske me the cause of this happinesse I can direct you to no other but God and God in mercy For as for the Kingdome that is made of the same Earth with others and is consequently subject to the same dissolution And as for us that dwell therein I doubt our sins have beene as clamorous upon God to heate his fire and make it fall on melting as the sinnes of them that inhabit other Countreys And though I doubt not but God hath the sure mercies of David in store for the King and will never faile him yet if Habitatores in eâ they that dwell in this good and happy soile will burden it and themselves with sinne great sinne multiplied sinne unrepented sinne it will not be in the power or wisdome or courage or piety of a King to keepe the State from melting For David was all these and yet liquefacta est terra the Earth was as good as dissolved for all that And therefore that this Kingdome is not a melting too I can give no firme reason but God and his Mercy For he is content to give longer day for repentance and repentance is able to doe all things with God And the time calls apace for repentance The Heavens they melt into unseasonable weather and the Earth melts and dissolves her Inhabitants into infectious humours and there 's no way to stay these meltings but by melting our selves in and by true repentance Would you then have a setled and a flourishing State Would you have no melting no dissolution in the Church I know you would it is the honourable and religious designe of you all Why but if you would indeed The King must trust and indeere his people The people must honour obey and support their King Both King and Peeres and People must religiously serve and honour God Shut out all Superstition on Gods Name the farther the better but let in no prophanenesse therewhile If this be not done take what care you can God is above all humane wisdome and in some degree or other there will be Liquefactio terrae a melting or a waste both in Church and State And this falls in upon the second generall part of the Text which is The Remedy as it was then with the Jewes the
be known that due may be performed unto it Now the Cause of God meant here though it be proposed as Causa una one cause yet 't is very large and comprehends many particulars under it Some directly concerne God and some onely by reflex But God is so tender of his Iustice and his Honour that nothing can so much as touch upon him but 't is Gods cause presently In as much as ye have done it or not done it to one of these little ones you have done it or not done it to mee S. Matt. 25. And so goes the Text Gods Cause all and but one whether it be directed against him or reflected upon him Whether it be the Reproach which the Sonne of God suffered for us Or the troubles and afflictions which we suffer for him 't is Gods Cause still and accounted as one As one And yet I finde three things agreed upon to be principally contain'd in this Cause of God First the Magistrate and his Power and Justice And resist either of these and ye resist the power and the ordinance of God Rom. 13. There 's Gods cause plaine And the Eye of nature could see Aliquid Divinum somewhat that was divine in the Governours and Orderers of Common-wealths In their very Office In as much as theyare singled out to be the Ministers of divine Providence upon Earth And are expresly called the Officers of Gods Kingdome Sap. 6. And therefore the Schoole concludes that any the least irreverence of a King as to dispute of his Iudgements And whether we ought to follow and obey him Sacrilegium dicitur is justly extended to be called Sacrilege And since all Sacrilege is a violation of some thing that is holy it is evident that the Office and Person of the King is sacred Sacred and therefore cannot be violated by the Hand Tongue or Heart of any Man that is by deed word or thought But 't is Gods cause and he is violated in him And here Kings may learne if they will I am sure 't is fit they should that those Men which are sacrilegious against God and his Church are for the very Neigbourhood of the sin the likeliest men to offer violence to the Honour of Princes first and their Persons after Secondly the cause of the Church in what kind soever it be Be it in the cause of truth or in the cause of unity or in in the cause of Right and meanes 't is Gods cause too And it must needes be so For Christ and his Church are Head and Body Ephes 1. And therefore they must needs have one common cause One cause And you cannot corrupt the Church in her Truth or persecute her for it nor distract her from her Vnity nor impoverish and abuse her in her Meanes but God suffers in the oppression Nay more no man can wilfully corrupt the Church in her doctrine but he would have a falfe God Nor persecute the profession of the Church but he would have no God Nor rent the Church into Sects but he would have many Gods Nor make the Church base but he would pluck GOD as lowe were God as much in his power as the Church is And therefore the Churches Cause is Gods Cause And as Eusebius tells us when by Stephen Bishop of Laodicea the state of that Church was much hazarded it and the meanes of it were mightily upheld by God himselfe And Elias Cretensis goes full upon it in the generall 'T is Gods cause any controversie that he debates against his Enemies Now this ever holds true in whatsoever the Church suffers for the name of God and Christ And therefore if either State or Church will have their cause Gods the State must looke their proceedings be just and the Church must looke their Devotions and Actions be pious Else if the State be all in worme-wood and Injustice if the Church savour of impurity and irreligion If either of these threaten either Body neither can can call upon God then For sinne is their owne and the Devills cause no cause of Gods who punishes sinne ever but never causes it Thirdly 'T is Gods cause which is directly against himselfe when Injustice that he will not or weaknesse that he cannot Arise and Helpe are most unworthily nay blasphemously cast upon him The very Text you see calls it no lesse than blasphemy And as S. Basil tells us 't was audacter effusa most audaciously cast into the face of God But how I pray How why they persecuted the Church of Christ with great extremities and then because God did not alwayes and in all particulars deliver it Deum ut infirmum traducebant they accused God of Impotencie Rabsaches case before Christ in the flesh Which of the Gods have delivered the Nations that serve them that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem 4 Reg. 18. Pilates case to Christ Have not I power to crucifie thee and power to loose thee S. Joh. 19. Julians case after Christ For while he raged against the Christians hee turn'd the contumely upon God And charg'd omnipotence with weakenesse So you see the Cause of God what it is and withall that it is many and but one Many in the circumference of his creatures which fill up the State and the Church and yet but one in the point of that indivisible Center which is himselfe Well we have found Gods cause as 't is tumbled upon the earth But what is it the Prophet would have God doe to it What Why that followes Iudica Pleade it Judge it Maintaine it Lord. For the King and the State For thy Church and Service For thy selfe and thine honours sake Thou hast made their cause thine owne therefore maintaine it as thou doest thine owne Now this God is never wanting to doe nor never will be So farre as Justice and Religion make the cause his he will Plead it first and Maintaine it after But yet he doth not this alwayes with a Judgement that is visible to us Nor with such a one as will make enemies confesse that Gods maintenance is on our part And therefore as Ruffinus thinkes these words are not onely a Prayer that God would Arise and maintaine his cause but that he would so plead it that he would make the Justice and Right of it appeare to Enemies and Opposers and the maintenance evident to friends and defenders of it So maintaine thy Cause is as much in effect as make the world know 't is thine and thou wilt maintaine it That from Gods maintenance the cause may have lafety And from our hope of maintenance we may receive Comfort Why but why should God plead judge and maintaine his owne Cause Is the Prayer of the Prophet just Yes no question For the Cause of God is ever just and therefore ought ever to be maintained Nor is it any partiality in God to his owne Cause that he comes to judge it But he is forced
as it were to the maintenance of it himselfe partly because some men will not and some men cannot defend his Cause And partly because it must be judged at some Tribunall Now there lye many appeales in the cause of God And all appeale is to a superiour Court The highest is Gods Therefore when Malice and Tyranny hath done what it can to Gods cause if his Servants do but Appeale as they ever doe The Cause must in the end revolve to God himselfe who alone hath no superiour Yet his very Enemies need not feare For he will so pleade and judge his owne Cause that their owne Consciences shall tell them his Judgement 's right Now one thing which layes a kinde of necessity upon God to maintaine his owne cause is as I told you that some Men will not and some men cannot maintain it I finde both these touched in the Text. First they that will not For these words Arise O God and maintaine thine own Cause are a grievous taxe upon all them to whom God hath given meanes and ability yet will not stir to succour his cause For 't is as if he had said Men will not maintaine thy cause If thou wilt have it defended thou must do it thy selfe The Jewes it seemes were now very guilty of this else the Prophet would never have runne with that earnestnesse to God He would have prayed to God had Men been never so willing yes God forbid else but had they done their duty the extremity had not beene fear'd And marke and tremble at the curse of God which was called for upon some of that People for this sinne Judge 5. Curse ye Meroz saith the Angel of the Lord curse the Inhabitants thereof Why because they came not up to helpe the Lord to helpe the Lord against the mighty To helpe the Lord. Why What cause of God was this What Why 't was his cause of Warre against Sisera as appeares Judg. 4. Against Sisera yet to helpe the Lord. And certainly 't is a great and grievous errour in any People as well as in Israel and in any age of the world as well as in that to fast and pray and call upon God to Arise and Maintaine his cause and their owne joyn'd with it if in the meane time they will put nor hand nor purse to maintaine either their owne or Gods Their owne in the State Or Gods in the Church These Men perhaps are of Tiberius his minde Deorum injuriae Diis curae And what that Oracle meant when he writ so to the Senate whether It belongs to God to vindicate his owne cause Or God will be sure to doe it Or let his cause sinke if he will not defend it I am not certaine This I am sure of God can defend himselfe sine Patrocinio nostro without any aide of ours But yet if we come not in to helpe when the Cause of God is deposited with us the feare is and 't is Just that God will Maintaine his cause and leave us to maintaine our owne Secondly They that cannot For these words Arise O God Maintaine thine owne cause imply disability in Man as well as malice For 't is as if he had said Men cannot at all times maintaine thy cause If thou wilt have it defended thou must doe it thy selfe And this is true of the strongest of the Sonnes of Men if they be left to themselves But this though it puts us in more feare yet it makes us not halfe so guilty For Guilt followes malice more then Impotency And our weakenesse and disability is such that we are not able to hold up against so many and great Enemies as the cause of God hath This was the case of Hezekiah He durst not trust to himselfe and his owne strength against the Host of Assiria Therefore to his Prayers he went 4 Reg. 19. O Lord God do thou save us out of his hand which is all one with the Text Arise and maintain thine owne cause But I pray take this with you When Hezekiah pray'd thus the People were in Armes No deserting the cause though no selfe-ability could hold it up But what Enemies had the cause of God then or hath it at this day that such earnest prayers were then and are now made that God would Arise and maintaine it Doe you aske what Enemies I 'le tell you Perhaps I shall not be able to tell you all But what my Text tells me I 'le shew you First the Text tells me the Enemies that came up against Gods cause were fierce and got some hope of Advantage Implyed in this that the Israelites were faine to call for maintenance had supply against them Next the Text tels me these Enemies were thought too cunning and too strong for Israil to whom the defence of Gods Cause was then committed Implyed in this that they were faine to flie to God and call him in to his owne defence A signe that all seconds were too weak Thirdly the Enemies were many and not like to be beaten or mastered at once And that 's expressed ver 20. A multitude of Enemies And last of all they were as cruel as strong and numerous For so we read ver 5. Where they are called Roaring Enemies A name which ever had some affinitie with the Devil 1 S. Peter 5. So in all likelyhood nothing remain'd but to get God to be absent and then they might easily swallow his People and his Cause together To prevent this was the Prophets prayer and so it is ours this day For so the Psalme begins O God considering how thy cause is streitned Wherefore art thou absent from us so long And it ends at Arise and maintaine thy Cause against them And the forme of the Prophets Prayer is very confiderable too and a great example to the Church of Christ The Prayer is that God would arise and maintaine his Cause The first thing the Prophet aimes at is the Cause the equity and right that belongs to it not the respect it had to Persons And this out of question is the way of Justice to honour the person for the Cause not to esteeme the cause of the person Now men for the most part goe a crosse way to this and therefore when they will come into the way of Justice I cannot tell For usually all businesse is sided into parties 'T is no matter for the Cause let who will maintaine that simply for it selfe If it make for us and our party so farre we will maintaine it else be it Gods cause or whose it will whether it sink or swim it shall not trouble us And I doubt as the practice of too many men is so is their Prayer For the Faction and the Party all not the Cause either as 't is Gods the Churches or the States And parties are ever private ends The Cause as 't is Gods the Churches or the Kingdoms is ever common ever fit to be
made the Object of our Prayers Yet this advantage may here be had If ever you may safely prefer the person before the cause and yet be just you may doe it here God before his owne cause And the reason is because God as he can never tender an unjust cause to his People so is he Justice it selfe And ever juster than any cause of his that is without him Therefore whatsoever others doe Arise O God and maintaine thy selfe and thine owne cause Maintaine it even from Heaven there 's no great trust to the Earth for that is full of darknesse and cruel habitations ver 21. Now all this while we have almost forgotten who 't is that makes this Prayer Saint Hierom tels me and he is not alone in the opinion the Psalme was Davids and therefore the Prayer too As a Prophet he foresaw the danger and as a King he went on directly to the highest remedy And though Kings now are not Prophets yet 't is a great blessing upon any Kingdome to have the King a Seer so farre as is possible To have him with both eyes open His right eye open and up to heaven for God to maintaine him And his other eye downwards but open upon his People to take care of them and maintaine them with the same support that he hath received from God And herein above other Nations we are blesed this day I say againe Above other Nations if we can see our blessing and be thankefull For the King keepes his eye as steddy upon God as if he had no helpe below him And yet at the same time as gracious an eye upon his People to relieve their just grievances as if he were more ready to helpe them than to receive helpe from them Let not your hearts be troubled neither feare S. Joh. 14. Here are two Kings at once at Prayer for you David and your owne King They are up and calling upon God to Arise For shame Lagge not behinde God and your King You have been and I hope are a valiant Nation let nothing dead your spirits in Gods and your Countries Service And if any man drop malignant poyson into your Eares powre it back into his owne bosom And Sir as you were first up and summon'd the Church to awake and have sounded an Alarum in the Eares of your People Not that they should Fast and Pray and serve God alone but goe with you into the House of the Lord so goe on to serve your Preserver Your Merit and the Noblenesse of your heart will glew the hearts of your People to you And your Religious care of Gods cause and service will make him I doubt not Arise and haste to the maintenance of your Cause as of his owne Onely in these and all times of difficulty be strong and of a good courage keepe close to the Law of the Lord. Be full of Counsell and then resolute to Act it Else if you shall not be firme to deliberated Counsells they which are bound to serve you may seeke and finde opportunities to serve themselves upon you This doe and God Arise and be with you as he was with Moses Jos 1. This doe and as S. Chrysost speakes Aut non habebis Inimicum aut irridebis eum Either you shall have no Enemy or you shall be able to scorne him the world over The second thing which the Prophet would have God doe when he is risen is that he would Remember how the foolish man blasphemeth him daily The Enemies of Gods Truth and of the peace of his People it seemes doe not onely seek to overthrow his Cause but base and uncivilly irreligious as they are they fly upon his Person too For so you see the Text changes from the Thing to the Person Maintain thy cause but remember the Reproach runs against thy selfe They blaspheme thee And by this you may see how dangerous a thing it is for any Men or any States to become Enemies to the Cause of God For sinne will not stay till it have wrought them farther even into enmity against God himselfe And therefore this sin here a high and a presumptuous sin is not called the presumption of them that hate Gods Cause but of them which hate God himselfe ver 24. Presumption easily falls to Reproach goodnesse it selfe But what Reproach is it these Enemies cast upon God What Why 't was in the highest degree 'T was Blasphemy For so Saint Basil renders my Text. And so 't is called againe Ver. 11. 19 You may be sure the Prophet mistook it not It went not single there were more than one and Theodoret calls them Execrations Cursings and Revilings of God And men of all sorts as well as usurping Enemies had need be watchfull over this sinne For a man may quickly be within the borders â—o it before he be aware especially â—â—he be bold and busie with the Cause of God as it is reserved and secret in himselfe For since all Blasphemy is a Derogation of some Excellencie chiefly in God the Schoole collects and truly That whosoever denies to God any attribute that is due unto him or affirmes any of God that is not agreeable to his Nature is within the Confines of Blasphemy Entred though perhaps not so farre gone But these Enemies it seems stuck at no degree of Blasphemy Spared God himselfe no more than his Cause And what reason can this State of Church have to thinke these Enemies or their like that spared not God nor his Cause will if they have power enough spare them or theirs But I pray who or what manner of Enemy was it that made thus bold with God Who why my Text answers that too Stultus fuit it was the foolish Man And you may know so much by his boldnesse We find Psal 14. There was a Foole that blasphemed God But 't was in his heart Out of his mouth he durst not let it goe not once And this Foole was in the same feare at first For his Blasphemy kept in his heart ver 9. But now he was grown impudent it brake out at his Lipps For as S. Basil and others observe he did Palam maledicere Blaspheme at large The Prophet no question knew these Enemies what they were that they had other names beside Fools But he fits them with their Name of Merit That they deserved that he gives them I told you these Enemies were cunning subtill Enemies And 't is true But Malignity against Gods cause and Blasphemy against his Person will make the greatest Wisdome in the world turne Foole. And Follie dares adventure any thing against Man Nay against God too which is alike true of the Foole at home and the Foole abroad The Prophet pray'd against their Enemies as we doe now against ours O my God make them as a wheele Psal 83. And see in what a wheele they are The worst that ever moved For their Blasphemy