against him 3. All the time thou livest unpardoned thy debts mount the higher Every new sin is an adding a figure to the former suns and every figure after the three first adds a thousand Every act of sin adds not only the guilt proper to that single act upon it but draws a new universal guilt from all the rest committed before because the persisting in any one sin is a renewed approbation of all the former acts of rebellion committed against God 4. 'T is that God who would have pardon'd thee if thou wouldst have accepted of it who will condemn if thou dost utterly refuse it 'T is that God thou hast provoked offended and dishonoured That power which would have been manifested in forgiving thee will be glorified in condemning thee That Justice which would have signed thy absolution if thou hadst accepted of its terms will sign the writ of execution upon thy refusal of them Nay the mercy that would have sav'd thee will have no compassion on thee The Law condemns thee because thou hast transgressed it and mercy will reject thee because thou hast despised it The Gospel wherein pardon was proclaimed will acquit others but condemn thee God would be false to his own word if after thy slighting so many promises of grace and threatnings of wrath thou shouldest be spar'd 2. Use Of comfort Pardon of sin may make thee hope for all other blessings Hath God done the hardest and will he stick at the easiest Hath he overthrown mountains and shall mole-hills stop him 'T is an easier thing to waft thee to Heaven than it was at first to remit thy guilt Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life To this the death and resurrection of the Son of God was necessary and there was to be composition and agreement made between mercy and justice But since this is compleated the Redeemer saves thee by his life since he hath dyed for thy remission there is no need of his dying for thy further Salvation Seeing he hath made manifestation of his pardoning grace unto thee he will not cease till he hath brought thee into a perfect state For to what purpose should the Creditor forgive the smaller part of the debt and cast the debtor into prison for an unpayable sum 1. If once pardoned thou will be always pardoned For the first pardon Christ paid his blood for the continuance he doth but plead his blood and we cannot be without a pardon till Christ be without a plea He merited the continuance as well as the first remission Will our Saviour be more backward to intercede for pardon than he was to bleed and pray for it on earth Would not our dearest Saviour let sin go unremitted when he was to contest with the Fathers wrath and will he let it go unpardoned when he is only to solicite his Fathers mercy Thou shalt not want the daily renewals of it since he is only to present his blood in the most holy place seeing an ignominious and painful death did not scare him from the purchase of it upon the Cross As Gods heart is more ready to give than we are to ask forgiveness so is Christs heart more ready to plead for the continuance of it than we are daily to begg it for he Loves his people more than they can Love him or Love themselves Our praying is according to self Love but Christs intercession is according to his own infinite Love with a more intense fervency 2 Thou art above the reach of all accusations Shall the law condemn thee No. Thou art not under the law but under grace And if grace hath forgiven thee the law cannot sentence thee Shall conscience No. Conscience is but the Eccho of the law within us That must speak what God speaks Gods Spirit and a believers Spirit are joint witnesses Rom. 8.16 For the Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Conscience is sprinkled by the blood of Christ which quite changeth the tenour of its Commission Will God condemn thee No. That were to lose the glory of all his pardoning mercy hitherto conferred upon thee that were to fling away the vast revenue grace hath all this while been gathering for him yea it were to deny his own covenant and promise Shall Christ condemn thee No. That were to discard all his offices to undo his death and bely his merits did he sweat and bleed pray and dye for thee and will he now condemn thee Hath he been pleading for thee in Heaven all this time and will he now at the upshot cast thee off Shall we imagine the severity of a Judg more pleasing to him than the charity of an Advocate since his primary intention in coming was to save the world not to condemn it No. It would not be for his honour to pay the price and to lose the purchase 3. There will be a solemn justification of thee at the last day Thou art here pardoned in Law and then thou shalt be justified by a final Sentence there is a secret grant here but a publick manifestation of it hereafter Thy Pardon was past by the Spirit of God in thy own Conscience it will then be past by the Son of God in thy own hearing That Saviour that did merit it upon his Cross will pronounce it upon his Throne The Book shall be laid out of sight there shall be no more writing in the Book of God's Omniscience to charge thee or of thy Conscience to affright thee His fatherly anger shall for ever cease and as all disposition to sin so all paternal correction for it shall be for ever abolisht and forgiveness be fully compleat in all the glorious effects of it 4. Faith doth interest us in all this though it be weak The grant of a Pardon doth not depend upon the strength of Faith though the sense of a Pardon doth A weak Faith as a Palsy person may not so well read a Pardon though it may receive it As a strong Faith gives more glory to God so it receives more comfort from him Christ made no difference in his Prayer John 17. between the feeblest and stoutest Believer His Lambs as well as Sheep were to be fed by his Apostle with Gospel-comforts and even those Lambs Isa 40.11 he himself carrys in his bosom Strong Faith doth not intitle us to it because it is strong or a feeble Faith debar us from it because it is weak but it is for the sake of a mighty Saviour that we are pardoned 'T is the same Christ that justifies thee as well as Abraham the Father of the faithful 'T is the same Righteousness whereby thou art justified as well as Paul and the most beloved Disciple 3 Use Of Examination Consider whether your sins are pardoned Will you examine whether your Estates are sure and will you not examine
rank what are the weeds Satan's devices and our thoughts are of the same nature 1 Cor. 2.11 2 Cor. 10.5 and sometimes in Scripture exprest by the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he hath his devices so have we against the authority of God's Law the power of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ The Devils are call'd spiritual wickednesses because they are not capable of carnal sins Eph. 6.12 Prophaneness is an Uniformity with the world and intellectual sins are an Uniformity with the God of it Ephes 2.2 3. There is a double walking answerable to a double pattern in v. 2. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh is a walking according to the course of this world or making the world our copy and fulfilling the desires of the mind is a walking according to the Prince of the power of the air or a making the Devil our pattern In carnal sins Satan is a tempter in mental an actor Therefore in the one we are conformed to his will in the other we are transformed into his likeness In outward we evidence more of obedience to his laws in inward more of affection to his person as all imitations of others do Therefore there is more of enmity to God because more of similitude and love to the Devil a nearer approach to the Diabolical nature implying a greater distance from the Divine Christ never gave so black a character as that of the Devil's children to the prophane world but to the Pharisees who had left the sins of men to take up those of Devils and were most guilty of those high imaginations which ought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 5. In respect of contrariety and odiousness to God Imaginations were only evil Rom. 8.7 and so most directly contrary to God who is only good Our natural enmity against God is seated in the mind The sensitive part aims at its own gratification and in mens serving their lusts they serve their pleasures but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince in man Titus 3.3 serving divers lusts and pleasures is possest with principles of a more direct contrariety whence it must follow that all the thoughts and counsels of it are tinctured with this hatred They are indeed a defilement of the higher part of the Soul and that which belongs more peculiarly to God And the nearer any part doth approach to God the more abominable is a spot upon it as to cast dirt upon a Prince's house is not so heinous as to deface his Image The understanding the seat of thoughts is more excellent than the will both because we know and judge before we will or ought to will only so much as the understanding thinks fit to be willed and because God hath bestowed the highest gifts upon it adorning it with more lively lineaments of his own Image Col. 3.10 Renewed in knowledge after the Image of Him that created him implying that there was more of the Image of God at the first Creation bestowed upon the understanding the seat of knowledge than on any other part yea than on all the bodies of men distill'd together Father of Spirits is one of God's titles To bespatter His Children then so near a relation Heb. 12.9 the Jewel that he is choice of must needs be more heinous He being the Father of Spirits this spiritual wickedness of nourishing evil thoughts is a cashiering all child-like likeness to him The traiterous acts of the mind are most offensive to God as 't is a greater despite for a Son to whom the Father hath given the greater portion to shut him out of his house only to revel in it with a company of Rioters and Strumpets than in a Child who never was so much the subject of his Father's favour And 't is more heinous and odious if these thoughts which possess our Souls be at any time conversant about some Idea of our own framing It were not altogether so bad if we loved something of God's creating which had a physical goodness and a real usefulness in it to allure us but to run wildly to embrace an Ens rationis to prefer a thing of no existence but what is colour'd by our own imagination of no vertue no usefulness a thing that God never created nor pronounced good is a greater enmity and a higher slight of God 6. In respect of Connaturalness and Voluntariness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch Moral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thales Diog. Laert. They are the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart and they are continually evil They are as natural as the aestuations of the Sea the bubblings of a Fountain or the twinklings of the Stars The more natural any motion is ordinarily the quicker it is Time is requisite to action but thoughts have an instantaneous motion The body is a heavy piece of clay but the mind can start out on every occasion Actions have their stated times and places but these solicit us and are entertain'd by us at all seasons Neither day nor night street nor closet exchange nor temple can priviledge us from them We meet them at every turn and they strike upon our Souls as often as light upon our Eyes There is no restraint for them the Laws of men the constitution of the body the interest of profit or credit are mighty bars in the way of outward profaneness but nothing lays the reins upon thoughts but the Law of God and this man is not subject to neither can be Rom. 8.7 Besides the natural Atheism in man is a special friend and nurse of these few firmly believing either the omniscience of God or his Government of the world which the Scripture speaks of frequently as the cause of most sins among the sons of men †Isa 29.15 Ezek. 9.9 Job 22.13 14 Actions are done with some reluctance and nips of natural conscience Conscience will start at a gross temptation but it is not frighted at thoughts Men may commit speculative folly and their conscience look on without so much as a nod against it Men may tear out their neighbours bowels in secret wishes and their conscience never interpose to part the fray Conscience indeed cannot take notice of all of them they are too subtil in their nature and too quick for the observation of a finite principle They are many †Prov. 19.21 There are many devices in a man's heart Florus l. 2. c. 3. Major aliquanto labor erat invenire quam vincere and they are nimble too like the bubblings of a boyling pot or the rising of a wave that presently slides into its level and as Florus saith of the Ligurians the difficulty is more to find than conquer them They are secret sins and are no more discerned than motes in the air without a spiritual sun-beam whence David cryes out Psal 19.12 Cleanse me from secret sins which some explain of sins of thoughts that were like sudden and
despicable in the eyes of the world which God hath designed in all Ages to honour Since he hath delivered his Son to death to preserve the honour of his Law it seems not to consist with his wisdom to let those who enjoy the fruits of his death walk in a customary contempt of his Law Neither can we think that God would permit that in a Believer which is against the very essence of grace though he may permit that which is against the beauty and accidental perfection of it 3. 'T is against the nature of the Covenant In the Covenant we are to take God for our God i. e. for our chief good and last end But a course of sin is an adoration of the sinful Object as the chief good and last end because a man prefers the creature before God and loves it supremely contrary to the will of God 'T is essential for one in Covenant with God to have an high valuation of God and his will But a custom of known sins evidenceth that there is not a worthy and practical esteem of God How can any condition of the covenant consist with a constant practice of sin How can there be faith where the precept is not believed How can there be love if the pleasure of God be not regarded How can there be fear if his authority be wilfully contemned How can there be a new heart when there is nothing but an old frame and a diabolical nature 'T is a renouncing those conditions upon which a right to heaven is founded For a worker of iniquity walks in those ways which are prohibited upon pain of not entring into that place of glory and so doth wilfully refuse the acceptance of the conditions on Gods part and the performance of the conditions on his own part which are necessary to Gods glory and his own interest 'T is an invasion of Gods right whereby he refuseth God for his God and Lord and sets up himself as his own governour an affecting vertually an equality with God and independency on him which in the common nature of sin is vertually the same with that of the Devil who sinned from the beginning and therefore a course in sin one that is born of God doth not continue in Perhaps the Apostle in the Text might have some such respect upon his opposing the Believers not committing sin to the sin of the Devil from the beginning viz. such a course of sin whereby a Man declares as the Devil did that he will be his own governour as indeed in every course of sin a Man doth practically declare 4. 'T is against the nature of our first repentance and conversion to God True repentance is a breaking off iniquity by righteousness Dan. 4.27 a turning from sin to holiness from our selves to God from our own Wills to the Will of God from every thing else as the chief good and last end to God as both these Now though a particular act of sin be against the watchfulness which attends repentance yet a course of sin is against the nature of it * Taylor of repentance pag. 188. the one is against the liveliness of Repentance the other against the life of it A delightful walking in any known sin though never so little is a defyance to God and therefore contrary to the nature of conversion and is a vertual embracing of all sin whatsoever because he that in his ordinary walk in sin hath no respect to the Will and pleasure of God though he knows it and will not be restrain'd from his delight by any such regard of God would be restrain'd from no other sin whatsoever if he did conceive them as pleasant advantageous and suitable to him as he doth that which is his darling As he that breaks one point of the Law is guilty of all James 2.10 because he shews thereby a Will and Disposition to break all if the same occasions were offer'd So he that commits one known sin wilfully much more he that walks in a course of sin is guilty of all sins vertually For he would boggle at no temptations upon a respect to God because if a regard to God doth not prevail upon him against a course in one kind it will not detain him from a course in all other kinds of sin if he come under the same circumstances for it Let me add this too If he that offends in one point of the Law be guilty of all i. e. as much delight and eagerness as he hath in the breach of that one it is to be supposed that he would have in the breach of all the rest upon the former reason can then such a disposition which is in every course of known sin be consistent with the nature of repentance and conversion 5. 'T is against the nature of habitual grace which is the principle and form of our Regeneration If he doth not commit sin because the seed of God remains in him then such a course of sin is against the nature of this seed inconsistent with the birth of God a crooked and perverse Spirit in sin is a sign of a putrified Soul a spot of a different nature from that of Gods Children Deut. 32.5 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked Generation 't is a stain peculiar to the Children of the Devil not the Sons of God A Trade in sin is an evidence of a Diabolical Nature 1 John 3.8 He that commits sin is of the Devil 'T is not therefore consistent with grace which is a Divine Nature The reign of sin is inconsistent with the reign of grace though the rebellion of sin be not 'T is against the nature of Regeneration for sin to guide our Wills though it be not against the nature of it for sin to reside in our flesh To walk after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is an inseparable Character of a natural Man The Apostle Rom. 7. ult had been complaining of the Law of his Members the serving sin with his Flesh he comforts himself with this that he obeyed it not and that they were in Christ whose ordinary walk was as the Spirit led not as the Flesh allured * Amyrant in Joh. 8.9 And indeed every Tree brings forth fruit suitable to its nature A Vine brings not forth Thorns and he that hath the seed of God is under an impossibility of bringing forth the fruits of sin with delight since he hath a Root of righteousness planted in him 1. 'T is against the nature of a renewed understanding A Regenerate Man hath a new light in his mind whereby he hath a fairer prospect of God and a fouler of sin He was an enemy to God in his mind before Col. 1.21 He had dishonourable opinions and conceits of God and goodness and honourable thoughts of sin above its merit he thought ill of the one and well of the other But now he is renewed in the Spirit of his
miserable but better page 24 5 6 Better than the wickeds prosperity page 25 Stoutness under them a reflection on providence page 36 Thoughts of providence a cordial under them page 41. Angels not qualified to govern the world page 3 4 Good and bad the object of Gods providence page 7 8 Good how employ'd for the Churches good page 54 5 6 Subjected to Christ for this end page 56 Pray for the Church page 72 B Bad persons and things order'd for the Churches good à page 57 ad 59. Blessing not to seek it of God reflects on providence page 33 Boasting reflects on providence page 39 C Casual things ordered by providence page 15 Censuring God in dark providences to be avoided page 86 87 Changes sudden ones caused by God on mens Spirits page 15 Children of God the meanest taken notice of by him page 60 One of them more valued than all the world by him page 69 Should be esteemed by the World page 75 Thoughts of Gods providence a comfort to them in their meaness page 77 Christ the great object of God's providence page 7 All providences for the glorifying his grace in him page 62 Intercedes for his Church page 72 Church God hath given her his choicest things page 61 62 He will always have one page 72 Shall be protected in greatest exigencies page 73 Shall be victorious over all page 74 A folly to contend against her page 76 God's affection to her to be imitated page 93 Conceptions of God false the ground of a denial of providence page 31 Concourse of God to Sin what page 18 19 Blemishes not his holiness page 19 20 Conscience its gripes set men on the denial of providence page 31 Counsels of men infatuated by God page 16 Made subservient to ends contrary to Mens designs page 17 Creatures the meanest objects of providence page 7 8 9. Curses turn'd by God into blessings to his Church page 57 D Devils under providence page 8 Over-rul'd to promote the good of the church page 57. Direction not seeking it of God reflects on providence page 33 Distrust of God when there are no visible means reflects on it too page 36 Divisions turn'd to the churches good page 58 E Ends of God higher than Mens page 12 Several in the same action and remote Ib Attaind by contrary means page 17 God hath some in all his Actions page 50 His great one what Ib. Envy a denial of providence page 37 Events many can be ascribed only to Providence page 15 16 17 Experience gain'd by Afflictions page 25 Extremities providence a comfort under them page 78 The time God takes for deliverance and why à page 79 ad 84 F Faith supported by Studying former providences page 88 To be acted on providence page 90 91 Fancies by them God can ruine men page 17 Fear of the Churches enemies disswasions from it page 84 5 6 G Gifts of all men for the churches good page 53 4 Glory of every Providence to be given to God page 49 v. Instruments Of God discovered in the church page 66 Gospel furthered by the wicked page 58 Good things and persons all for the churches good à page 51 ad 57 Government of the World God's right to it page 3 Onely God qualified for it page 3 4 No reason why he should not manage it page 4 5 Actually managed by him and wherein page 5 6 His wisdom and goodness in it page 42 Put into Christs hands and managed by him for the Churches good page 63 4 5 Grace common in bad men for the Churches good page 53 54 H Histories advice in reading them page 53 I Impatience under Afflictions reflects on providence page 38 39 Inequality necessary to the good Government of the World page 23 Not so great as men Imagine page 23 Instruments to praise them more than God reflects on Providence page 34 5 This should not be page 49 v. Glory Praise Interest of God in the World is all in his people page 68 Interpretations wrong ones of providence affront it page 39 40. In his people God overlooks page 69 The rule of them page 47 87 Judging Gods proceedings presumption page 22 Judgments destroying ones ordered for the Churchs good page 57 The ground of most of them page 75 Gods providence a comfort in them page 77 Justice of God glorified by mens Sins page 21 K Knowledg of God extends to all things page 6 L Light natural discovers a providence page 30 Limiting providence reflects on it page 40 M Means God oft uses small contrary casual ones page 13 14 15. Vse of unlawful ones reflects on providence page 35 36 So doth distrust when none are visible page 36 To be used with trusting in God page 44 Onely lawful ones must be used page 44 God never wants page 73 Men good and bad objects of Providence page 7 8 40 Eying them in their actions rather than God reflects on providence page 39 Good the special objects of providence page 40 Mercies stoutness under them reflects on providence page 36 37 To the church preferred by God before justice on the Wicked page 59 60 Murmuring at providence should not be page 46 N Nations their interest order'd as may make most for the churches good page 52 Their interest is to countenance Gods people and worship page 74 Natural things their course and the alteration of it for the churches good page 52 Necessities of good men shall be supplied page 25 v. Wants O Oppression reflects on Providence page 39 P Patience of God no argument against Providence page 27 Persecution turned to the Churches good page 58 59 v. Sufferings Praise for the Churches mercies to be given to God page 93 v. Glory Instruments Prayer Omission of it reflects on Providence page 32 Should be made in all wants page 42 Of and for the Church pleasing to and prevalent with God page 70 71 72 Enlivened by studying former Providences page 89 To be made for the Church page 93 Presence of God in the Church her safety page 70 Preservation of all things by God page 6 7 Pride a ground of denial of Providence page 30 Prosperity of the wicked doth not impeach Providence page 21 ad 27 At the highest not very great page 23 24 Providence universal not a disparagement but an honour to God page 4 5 8 9 Vniversal à page 7 ad 11 Mysterious page 11 12 13 Proofs that there is one à page 13 ad 17 An Objection against it answered à page 17 ad 21 A second answered à page 21 ad 27 A third answered page 27 28 To deny it absurd and sinful page 28 29 30 The grounds of its denial page 30 31 32 How practically denied contemned abused à page 32 ad 40 Matter of comfort page 40 41 42 Every one designed for the Churches good à page 49 ad 62 Must needs be for that à page 62 ad 72 This a comfort to the Church page 76 Former ones to be
of Christ Psa 6.22 The Lord said I will bring again from Bashan I will bring my people from the depths of the Sea This is after he had ascended v. 18. when he came to wound the head of his Enemies v. 21. So Isa 11.15 The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dry shod Nilus with its seven streams was the glory of Aegypt and Rome with its seven hills is the glory of the Papacy Rev. 17.9 So Zac. 10.10 I will bring them again out of the Land of Aegypt and they shall pass through the sea with Affliction and the deeps of the river shall dry up Pharaoh and his army cannot revive and stand up in their former ranks but there shall be deliverances with resemblances to that when the Enemies shall be as arrogant and furious as Pharaoh and the Church as dejected and straitned as Israel The Text is a part of Moses his Song A carmen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Song after victory A Panegyrick the praise of God attended with dancing at the sight of the Aegyptian wracks v. 20. 1. It was then real The Israelites then sang it 2. 'T is typical the conquerours of Antichrist shall again Triumph in the same manner Rev. 15.3 3. It was an earnest of future deliverance to the Israelites When God appeared for them in their first Exit he would not fail in that work which should conduce so much to his glory it was a Pledg that his purchased people should pass over and be planted in the mountain of his Inheritance v. 16 17. There is in the words 1. A Description of the Enemy 2. His defeat The Enemy is introduced laying his council and vaunting his resolution By an elegant Climax and orderly proceeding I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoyl my lust shall be satisfied c. They laid the foundation deep in council built their resolves high in power and then applaud themselves in their Insolence I will pursue Had he no reflections upon his former successess attempts to keep the Israelites in slavery or could he with any reason hope to reduce them with his bafled strength to that yoke which had been broken by a powerful Arm Had he not reason freshly to remember his own inability to remove one of the plagues sent upon them to promote Israels rescue Was that high arm which brought them out of Aegypt broken Gods weapons blunted his magazine of plaguing Ammunition wasted his strength too feeble to preserve those he had by a strong hand redeemed These things be obvious to Pharaoh's thoughts Yet I will still pursue How heady and rash are the Churches Enemies Infatuation is the usher to Destruction When you find the Churches Enemies lose their wits you may quickly expect they will lose their strength and lives I will divide the spoil He promiseth them this victory before the conflict encourages his Souldiers with hopes of the prey which was the recovery of their Jewels which the Israelites had borrowed by Gods order and the Aegyptians had lent them by a Secret Impression and the flocks and herds of the poor Israelites to boot How great is the pride of the Churches enemies They strut without thinking of a superior power to curb them and promise themselves the accomplishment of their designs without fearing the check of Providence Thus did Sisera's Mother triumph in a presumptuous hope before a victory Jud. 5.30 and sing Te Deum before a conquest Ventosa et insolens natio is the title Pliny gives the Aegyptian Nation My lust shall be satisfied upon them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soul shall be satisfied How revengefully do they express themselves They apprehend themselves cheated of their Jewels by the Israelites such an apprehension would increase rage and animosity I will draw my Sword my hand shall destroy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my hand shall Disinherit them I will reduce them like a company of fearful fugitives by brandishing a drawn Sword that they shall quickly return to their former bondage and become the perpetual Inheritance of the Aegyptians How secure are the Churches Enemies The sight of a glittering sword and an edict for a return they thought would quell their Spirits 'T is true they had to deal with an unarmed people unprovided for defence whose late slavery had rendered them unfit for military exercises an unequal match for a numerous and disciplin'd Army But what if they were had they not the same power to protect them in their march which had brought them out of their bondage This the enemies never reflected on Pride and security are always twins In v. 10. You have their defeat The Sea quenched the Fire of their rage and laid flat the towers of their proud confidence God blows with his wind the strong east wind Exod. 14.21 a strength added to its Natural fierceness which made the meeting of the Floods more swift and fierce some think thunders and lightnings burst out of the pillar of fire in the Cloud when God looked upon them Exod. 14.24 They sank like Lead suddenly easily irrecoverably they were lasht before now executed Other Plagues had a mixture of patience this is a pure cup of the Indignation of God The defeat is described 1. By the Author Thou didst blow 2. Instrument Thy wind the Sea wind and the Sea conspire together against the Enemies when God orders them 3. Victory or success of this order The Sea covered them they sank like Lead in the mighty waters General Observations 1. The greatest Idolaters are the fiercest Enemies against the Church of God Aegyptii Diis faecundi Hâ—eron 'T is the Aegyptian is the Enemy No Nation had more and more sordid Idols The Persians adored the Sun the greatest Benefactor to the world in the rank of inanimate creatures other Nations several Stars but none did so much abuse the reason of man as that accursed Nation Onions Garlick Cats Oxen Flies and Crocodiles those dung-hill creatures were their adored Deities And how much better is the Adoration of the swadling-clouts of our Saviour or the straw which was in the Manger or the Tail of the Ass he rode upon and so many splinters of the Cross which if put together would make a Colossus For this among the rest may the Church professing such Worship be called spiritual Aegypt 2. The Churches Enemies are not for her correction but her destruction I will pursue my hand shall destroy them They breath out nothing but slaughters My hand shall destroy them down with it down with it even to the ground and men are famous as they can lift up Axes upon the thick Trees Psa 74.5 3. How desperate are somtimes the straits of Gods Israel in the eye of man How low their Spirits before deliverance They here behold a deep Sea
before them and a raging Enemy behind them Hear a confused noise of women and Children in the midst of them feel the pantings of their own hearts perhaps see a consternation in the faces of their governours they see themselves disarmed of weapons lying almost at the mercy of an oppressor with a well furnisht Army they repent of what God had done for them and are more ambitious of slavery than liberty Quarrel with Moses And as one of their Historians saith were about to stone him Exod. 14.10 11 12. Without doubt they then thought him a lyar and it is likely had no more honourable thoughts at that time of God for when they saw the happy success in the miraculous overthrow of the Aegyptians then they believed God and his servant Moses Exod. 14.31 as if they gave credit to neither of them before They had a pillar of Fire and a Cloud the chariot of God A greater argument to establish them than the preparation of their enemies to terrifie them But what a faithless creature is man under the visible guard of Heaven and so far naturally from living by faith that he will hardly draw establishments from sense 4. God orders the lusts of men for his own praise He had forced Pharaoh to let the People go he had stopt the streams of his fury when he removes his hand and pulls up the dam Pharaoh returns to his former temper with more violence thereby giving occasion for God's glory in his own destruction he serves himself of the desperate malice of his enemies to make his Wisdom and other Attributes more triumphant 5. The nearer the deliverance of the Church is the fiercer are Gods Judgments on the enemies of it and the higher the enemies rage The former plagues were but small gashes in the Aegyptian state But when the time approach'd of the Israelites perfect Deliverance then the first-born in every house the delight and strength of the parents is cut off And at the compleating of it the glory flower and strength of Aegypt buryed in the Sea the fuller beams of mercy on the one are attended with more scorcing darts of judgments on the other 6. All creatures are absolutely under the Soveraignty of God and are acted by his Power in all their services Thy wind All are subject to his conduct and are the Guardians of his People and the Conquerours of his Enemies How easie is it for the Arm of Omnipotency to demolish the strongest preparations against his Israel and with a blast reduce their Power to nothing The Sea suffers violence to preserve his People and the liquid Element seems transform'd into a wall of Brass God can make the meanest creatures Ministers of his Judgments raise Troops of Flies to rout the Roman Army as it was in Trajans Siege of the Agarens 7. By the same means God saves his People whereby he destroys his Enemies the one sank the other past thorow That which makes one balance sink makes the other rise the higher the red sea was the Guardian of Israel and the Executioner of Aegypt the Israelites gallery to Canaan and the Aegyptians grave The cloud that led the Israelites through the red Sea blinded the Aegyptians the waters that were 15 Cubits high above the mountains kept the Ark from dashing against them whereby Noah might be indangered and drowned the enemies though never so high according to humane stature 8. The strength and glory of a people is more wasted by opposing the Interest of the Church than in conflicts with any other enemy Had the Aegyptian arms been turned against any other Enemy they might have prospered or at least retired with a more partial defeat or saved their lives though under chains But when they would prepare them against Gods Israel they meet with a total defeat where they expected victory and find their graves where Israel found their Bulwarks the choicest of their Youth the flower of their Nobility the strongest of their chariots and horses at one blow overthrown by God 9. We may take notice of the folly of the Churches Enemies Former plagues might have warned them of the power of God they had but burned their own fingers by pinching her yet they would set their force against Almighty power that so often had worsted them 't is as if men would pull down a steeple with a string But the Observations I shall treat of are 1. When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury and resolution and the Church in the greatest extremity and dejection then is the fittest time for God to work her deliverance fully and perfectly When the Enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the Spoil c. then God blowed with his wind then they sank 2. God is the Author of all the deliverances of the Church whosoever are the Instruments Thou didst blow with thy wind who is like unto the Lord among the Gods 1. For the first When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury c. Great resolutions against God meet with great Disappointments The Churches straits are the enemies hopes but Gods opportunity When their fury is highest Gods love is nearest 1. There are four seasons on the part of the Enemy God takes hold of 1. Flourishing Prosperity Here is Pharaoh in the head of a gallant Army the Israelites in a Pound at his mercy The Aegyptians prosperity is a forerunner of their destruction the adversity of the other of their salvation Haman is in the top of his favour when the Jews are marked out for slaughter and then himself is marked out for ruine Prosperity like Rain makes the weeds of Pride and Atheism to grow up and then they are fit matter for God's Sickle to cut down When the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth are ripe full of an outward glory and sweetness then the Angel thrusts in his sharp Sickle Rev. 14.18 There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set them When the great City is clothed in fine Linnen Purple and Scarlet deckt with gold and pretious stones Rev. 18.16 and come to the highest point of its glory and prosperity then shall God thicken the clouds of his vengeance and bring their riches to naught in one hour 2. Swelling Pride I will pursue c. Pride is provoking because it is a self-deifying and sets up the creature as God's Mate God stands upon his honour and loves to attaque those that would equal themselves with him Pride sunk the glory of the fallen Angels into misery and so it will that of the Serpents seed this is the immediate forerunner of destruction Prov. 16.18 Men have their hairy scalp the prime of their strength and pride of their hearts when God wounds them Psal 68.21 Aegypt was become Rahab pride it self as the word signifies and so God called it by that name Isa 51.9 When Aegypt mounted to Rahab to the top of pride then God cut it When the Dragon bristled and