have beene tracing downe to hell yet at their death they are posted from the pulpit in a charet into heaven but it is a windy one that breaketh in pieces and lets them fall downe againe before they come halfe way thither Neverthelesse I see the holy Fathers have used to give record of the graces of the Saints deceased and to spread their names as a sweet ointment among their brethren and it is very commendable if faithfully performed and not abused to paint divells with this care I shall proceed by Gods helpe to performe this last duty for this honoured brother and it must bee with care for there are two eyes upon me very extreamely opposite Envies and Affections that would have nothing said this perhaps too much I shall not feare to displease either so I may please my God by whose blessing I now begin You will pardon mee if I keepe not the common method to begin from his descent and parentage though that of worthy and honest ranke not to be neglected if I should keepe that order but me thinkes it is â—â—proper praise from anothers worth Sedgenus proavâ— quae non fâ—ciâ—sus ipsi vix ea nostra vocâ— I desire to let him have his owne and to 〈◊〉 him where he commeth within my 〈◊〉 as a righteous soule and nothing â—â—ere certaine than that he was borne a 〈◊〉 His transplantation therefore into this City is my beginning Mr. Richard Stocks and his fruitfull growth under the labours of a Reverend Minister now with God 〈…〉 gave full testimony that he was a 〈◊〉 of righteousnes indeed thence 〈◊〉 up to shew forth the power of righteousnesse in the places private and publicke whereunto God called him He was a righteous husband I 〈◊〉 no more of this lest I provoke bitter lamentation He was a righteous masterâ— his servants feele it from whose heads God hath taken off their master this day He was a righteous father not to his 〈◊〉 alone they are too little to have experience of it but to orphans and fatherlesse was he father a guide and counsellor my owne losse is with theirs beare withâ—â—â— if in the sense of it I bewray my infirmities as David for his sonne O my father my father would to God I had 〈…〉 thee O my father my father Hee was a righteous friend to many I give but 〈◊〉 instance of it his reconciling difference almost every day his hands were 〈◊〉 ever out of an arbitration which 〈…〉 without partiall respects to any that 〈◊〉 him a iudge over them I know I 〈◊〉 many witnesses to this who now want him In his more publike offices hee was first a righteous souldier squared by Saint Iohns rule hee would doe violence to no man nor put any man in feare Luk. 3.14 in this condition he tooke a good degree he was a Captaine and a righteous Commander the vertues of a Commanders maiesty wisedome meeknes and love surely made him one disorder as there must bee among souldier sometimes could never make him passionate hee was a man of such admired moderation He crossed the rule of that rash commander Jt is folly to intreat where a man hath power to compell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod p. 41. He found it better governing by love this made the flower of the Cities yea of the kingdomes Artillery so unanimously subiect to his command Let me minde you ye worthy souldiers know ye not that God hath taken away your Captaine from off your heads this day and can yee doe lesse than cry after him O our charet and our horsemen I know sorrow hath filled your hearts yet by the way let mee advise you be not overcharged that you forget your calling but when yee 〈◊〉 weepe over this your honoured head and lamented before his hearse Ah our father ah his glory wipe your faces 〈◊〉 and to worke againe for God pray forâ— double portion of his spirit upon some of your brethren and choose him who may goe before you in wisedome and courage and the feare of the Lord. I am now at a stand An arma Aâ—â—â—gâ— cedat whether he were better souldier or better Citizen His wisedome his courage and his impartiall carriage in the City affairs which might concerne him beare record that he was not onely a good man but a good Citizen his worth provoked the City Quid in illa virtutum quid ingenii quid sanctitatis quid puritatis invenerim vereâ—â— dicers ne fidem credulitatis ex cedaâ— tihi maiâ—rem delorem intutiam recordanti quanto bonâ— caru eris Hier. Mar. ep tem 1. not only to call him to her common counsell but to designe him to a more honorable place in the High Court of Parliament where he manifested himselfe to be a righteous servant to his King to his Country and to his City I must stay least as S. Hierome writes to Principâ—â— of Marcella a widow if I should tell all I should either seeme to hyperbolize or oppresse your hearts the more when ye see what a great good ye have lost In this honour for his last time he lived and died Ye may expect now in my hand a catalogue of good deeds but I have none the reasons these 1. It was his his care to give to God in his poore and in his ministers the portion of his estate while he lived yet dying he hath given as well as living 2. It was his mind not to have a trumpet sounded at his death and I fulfill it I must leave him he will be gone it was my portion to commend his soule in the last breath into the hands of his faithfull redeemer and his body I must commend to the earth in the assuted hope of his ioyfull resurrection Onely two things I would commend to you and then your selves to God 1. The honour of his name let it be as a sweete ointment among you in everlasting remembrance he was your strength your charet and horsemen 2. The imitation his righteousnes his wisedome his godly courage ye see his reward he is now with God at rest his worke is done our houre
35.24 25. yea such a 〈…〉 it is that unto it the Prophet makes 〈◊〉 al oâ— the Convents mourning It 〈…〉 us the mourning of 〈…〉 in the â—â—â—ley of Megiddo Zeâ—h 12.11 where that good King Iâ—â—ah was slaine When Hananiah 〈◊〉 Amaziah false Prophets die all is stil 〈◊〉 is no wailing for them nor mention 〈◊〉 them unlesse to curse them for the 〈◊〉 is eased of a tedious burthen with them but when Samuel Eltiah or Elisha 〈◊〉 taken away 1 Sam. 25.1 2 King 1.12 2 Kin. 13.14 heaven heareth the sighes and sobs and groanes of mourners all 〈◊〉 bemoane the losse of these oh our father our father Once more when a cursâ—â— Shimei or a wicked Shebua or a churliâ—â— Nabal are cut off there is no misse of them nor weeping for them But when an innocent Abuer or good Barzillas or a faithfull Imathan depart their funeralls hatâ— troupes of mourners and many sad cryes after them Ah woe is me 2 Lam 3.33.38 Deiâ— Abner 〈…〉 dyeth Alas there is a great man 〈◊〉 this day in Israel Or els 2 Sam. â—â—5 26. O Ionathan 〈…〉 the high places I am distresâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 my brother Jonathan All this depends upon the succeeding matter the 〈◊〉 of the lamentation about which 〈◊〉 all these cryes are not about nothing but there is a father or a charet or horsemen fallen for which these pitifull exclamations are doubled In the text the whole matter of the lamentation fell under a twofold consideration Good Elisha â—ither as a father to Ioash or els as the charet and horsemen of all Israel the losse of these may deserve a woefull lamentation and because they lie in this subordination to the precedent mourning Flebat loas de lens se ac regula suum tanto patrono privendâ— tanâ—â—â—â—â—â—iliariâ— auxiliarie destituendum tam sanctissimo fidilissimo mox cariturum tutore prophetae ac patre Carthus in texâ— I shall lay them downe in their order the sufficient grounds thereof and then close up al with a usefull application O my father my father Blame not the mourner if you heare him passionate it is his father whom he bewaileth the neerer the relation the more sensible the losse and more heavy needs must the lamentation be 〈…〉 Whilest I 〈…〉 father 〈…〉 or brother or friend 〈…〉 it may touch my 〈◊〉 and perhaps my heart too so farre as to bid my 〈…〉 I am sorry for it and 〈…〉 over but when my friend my brother my father it taken off my head I the◠〈◊〉 the stroake and 〈◊〉 mourne 〈…〉 was Shiah to Elisha and Elisha to 〈…〉 blow which cuts off the father cannot but make the childs heart doe no 〈◊〉 then Doctrine 3 if it cry O my father my father 〈◊〉 are the righteous even fathers 〈◊〉 Cities and places of their abode needs must the City then 〈◊〉 that fatall stroak which cuts them a sunder and when they smart it is likely we shall heare them cry and weepe bitterly Isa 57.1 unlesse that heavy 〈◊〉 have befallen them that no man 〈◊〉 to heart when the righteous perisheth But upon what ground hath Ioash this relation to Elisha was it not from his calling that he was a Prophet rather then from his righteousnesse that hee was so good whence then is this relation given to the righteous or he might be a father to Ioash onely how then ariseth it that the righteous are such to then Cities To answer these quaeries and to cleare the truth First that Prophets had the appellation of fathers it is not doubted false as well as true might be so called by their bastard brats as the Romish ghostly fathers are at this day by those whom they have begotten to be limbes of Antichrist and children of perdition and yet be such fathers whom the children may bee bound to curse for the inheritance which they have left them but have little or no cause to weepe and bemoane the losse of them Gray heads also are fathers and a crown of glory much to bee honoured if it be found in the way of righteousnes Prev 16.31 Righteousnes onely addeth this to the Prophet that it maketh him a desired father Kings Prophets and Magistrates that speak and rule in righteousnes are more properly indeed the nursing fathers of Kingdomes and Churches yet can it not be denyed but a poore wise man also may proove the foster father of the City and so all the generation of the righteous if not so properly called fathers yet are they in very 〈◊〉 relation brothers and faithfull 〈◊〉 friends and brothers may be in 〈◊〉 of fathers and a friend 〈…〉 â—â—ther Prov. 18.24 whose losse cannot 〈◊〉 heavily afflict the City and make them mourne Againe though Elisha 〈…〉 called father of Ioash yet of Ioash as a king who should be the father of his subject nay of Iaosh as a wicked king and therefore Elisha father of his kingdome also and such are the righteous to their habitations yea to the very wicked also But how doth Elisha proove himselfe to been father Surely in these three particulars though not in all to Ioash himselfe yet to some soules in Israel 1. In Generation 2. In Counsell 3. In Providence as the righteous also doe unto their neighbours First he was a father in generation I meane not naturall but spirituall by which he begat though not Ioash yet others doubtles to be the sonnes of God and these sticke so close that when God strikes their father off their head they weepe bitterly indeed and are hardly comforted This honour God doth to his Saints on earth that though the Spirit onely beget again to God yet the instrument is called the father It is Saint Paul that claimeth this of his Corinthians Though ye have 10000 instructers in Christ yet have ye not many fathers 1 Cor â— 15 for in Christ Iesus have I begotten you through the Gospel Primarily God thus honoureth his Prophets and ministers of the Gospel yet not exempting any Christian from this instrumentall begetting againe to God viz. by their private Christian admonitions and instructions their godly life which doubtlesse maketh a most neere tye betweene the soule begetting and the soule begotten that will not bee loosed without bitter mourning Secondly he was a father in counsell and that to Ioash though it tooke but little effect with such an ungracious sonne yet he leaveth not to do it upon his dying bed He adviseth Ioash to shoote the arrow of the Lords deliverance and hee shootes to smite the Syrians and hee smites but very foolishly onely 〈…〉 and the man of God was 〈◊〉 with him Gen 45.8 Such a father did God 〈◊〉 Ioseph to Pharaoh and such maketh heâ—â—â— righteous to their neighbours they 〈◊〉 counsellers for the peace and good of them among whom they live and this maketh a knot not easily broken without groanes Thirdly he was a father in his carefull providence for his sonnes safety
THE SAINTS LOSSE AND Lamentation A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FVNERAL of the VVorshipfull Captaine HENRY WALLER the Worthy Commander of the Renowned Martial Band of the Honourable City of London To the Right VVorshipfull the President Captaines and Gentlemen exercising Armes in the Artillerie Garden of LONDON Righteousnes Strength and Peace Renowned Worthies THe honour which I beare you next my God my King my Church by the intreaty of some of you hath now forced this rude peece into publike view I 'le censure it to save others the labour farre unworthy of so many eares and eyes that it had and is like to have and by my owne â—udgement once having the censure of the eare it should never have come to the second of the eye but others have passed it and thus much I dare say for it it is truth The end of its comming to you is twofold 1. To minde you of your weaknes death hath made a shrewd breach among you and set upon you in the very front nor in the reare and stroâ—ke as the very body not at the flanks your chart is unwheeled and your horsemen throwne 〈◊〉 your Captaine is taken off your â—eads O◠〈◊〉 soule is heavy while I speake it 2. To repaâ—â—â— your strength and there is but need of it Mee thinkes I see Micaiahs vision the host of Israel scattered as sheep that have no shepheard Should the host of the Lord 〈◊〉 thus Come and let me counsell you Profanenes Pride and Discension are enoughâ—â— scatter an army that lie as thicke at grashoppers as dust into the wind when Holines Humility and Love set 〈◊〉 as walls about them that they feare 〈◊〉 force I 〈…〉 accuse you but as my beloâ—ed brâ—thâ—â—â— I 〈◊〉 you Take heed that the unholy thing 〈◊〉 not found among you walke humbly towards God and man be not all Captaines and love as brethren keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Then aske ioyntly of God a Captaine and aske in faith hee will appoint a man to goe before you in righteousnes courage and the feare of the Lord. having thus to you I would also were I worthy send a word about this matter t our Honoured Senators Be sure ye iudge for God in this great busines and account it not your smallest Honour if yee something deny your selves for the glory of God your Cities flower and your countries good al which lie ingaged in this designe These might I see effected your Captaine and your strength revived my God in both glorified I should have content enough though many censures For this I come forth though I die yet if the name of that Honoured head may live whose praise with God is farre more glorious though I suffer yet if ye may be the better and the stronger for it it is my great reward The care of this your strength I shall ever commend to the Lord of Hosts he strengthen you in righteousnes guard you with salvation make you victorious by faith and triumphant conquerors in his glory In him I râ—st Your hearty Orator and fellow-Souldier in Christs Artillery GEORGE HVGHES THE SAINTS LOSSE AND LAMENTATION 2. King cap. 13. ver 14. O my Father my father the charet of Israel and the horsemen thereof THis dolefull cry I heare but twice repeated in these sacred histories and both times at funeralls First this dying Elisha himselfe singeth this burden of lamentation at the funerall of his father Elijah for it was his funerall an heavy parting from his son and from the earth though with a more glorious transportation in a fiery charet by fiery horses and through a whiâ—â—e-wind into heaven his sonne can doe no lesse at this sudden and admired change than lament him O my father my father the charet of Israel and the horsemen thereof 2 Kin. 2.12 Secondly this honour had the same Elisha at his change when he was now sicke unto death from the mouth of Ioash an idolater indeed but yet a King who acknowledgeth himselfe a sonne also to the dying Prophet and now comming to visit his father in his sicknesse and perceiving that death was sent for him and he must loose him hee weepeth over his face and cryeth bitterly O my father my father the charet of Jsrael and the horsemen thereof Heare it once more and it is the burden of this dayes lamentation neither untimely I hope nor unseemely not untimely for it 's at a funerall nor unseemly it being the funeral of so honored an head by whose death I dare speake it I would we might not feele it there is a charet unwheeled and an horseman throwne this day in Israel It is true here is neither King nor Prophet to be lamented yet a father of many sonnes in as great a right as Eliah of Elisha or Elisha of Ioash such as a fatherly respect hath made children and want of this father hath made lamenting orphans yet a man of God a righteous soule zealous for the Lord of Hosts in whom God had placed not a small part of the Strength of Israel blame us not then if we take up this lamentation and cry O my father my father c. The words are the naturall notes of a burdened soule and the bitter expressions of a mind oppressed laid out by griefes peculiar a Aposiopesis Rhetoricke outcries and broken distracted speeches O my father my father and there he stops O the charet of Israel and the horse men thereof and then he stayes the mind doubtlesse had something else to vent but griefe smothers it and the weeping passion will not let it out My defence is from my text if Iâ—be broken and confused griefe cannot speake otherwise and mournes like such sermons best whose companion and preacher I am at this time Yet if yâ— desire a fuller sense of these distracted outcryes and a more perfect resolution of these broken speeches thinke my soule now to be in their soules stead and let me personate a while Elâ—shah to Eâ—â—ah or Iâ—ash to Elisha not in his wickednesse but his lamentation and me thinkes if geiese would suffer me I could tell you what they would have spoken O my father woo is me my soule is sorely troubled for thee Alas what shall I doe oh my heart my heart aketh and my soules even ready to be powred out I can have no rest for my staffe is broken and my father is quite taken away from me O my father What doe I stay behind for a poore forsaken orphan O how happy should I be if death would doe me that favour as to bring mee now after thee O my father my father or I would I onely had lost a father and were a mourner alone that I might yet finde others to comfort me but on which side soever I looke I see none but mourners oh my heart is almost broken All Israel laments and cryeth bitterly after thee for their charets and horsemen are fallen because thou art departed
Oh how doth the fire of the Lord burne within me and the zeale of the Almighty kindle against these wicked wretches Woe unto you ye viperous generation of hypocrites what make ye at the righteous mans sepulchrâ—â— what aileth you to rent your cloathâ— to walke in sackecloath to weepe and lament before his biere Doe ye loath dislike and hate his life and yet 〈◊〉 him at his death Doe ye honour hove and desire his end yet his life and graces discommend Doe ye build and paint and guild his tombe and yet your hands imbrued in his righteous bloud ye are witnesses against yourselves Mat. 23.17.33 Ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell For ye well deserve it that hate the God of righteousnesse and his righteous servants notwithstanding ye are convinced that ye should glorifie him and honour them ye are your owne iudges that your condemnation is iust Secondly verse 2. I have an errand to Elishas also the dying Saint and the righteous soule Isa 3.10 Psal 37.37 Phil. 1.21 and it is a message of peace Say unto the righteous it shal be well with him his end is peace and as his life was Christ so now his death is his gaine Comfore your selues then ye people of righteousnesse ye holy nation what though for a while Balaam conspire against you Shimei curse you Num. 31.16 2 Sam. 16.5 1 Sam. 22.9 Act. 26.24 Ioh. 15.19 Doeg accuse you slander you Festus think you mad meÌ„ because ye are Christians and the world iudge you to death as the worst of men not worthy to live yet wait but a little Balaam shall wish your happinesse Shimei shall blesse you Doeg shall iustifie you Festus shall bee convinced of your wisedome Heb. 11.38 and the world shall desire you againe of whom it shall not be worthy Onely expose not your selves to Balaams conspiracie by sinning and forsaking the God of righteousnesse stand not still neither goe backe for Shimeis cursing Feare not to walk with thy God for all Doegs slanders Thinke not worse of your selves for Festus his rash iudgement and fall not down before the wicked though the world condemne you Patience and Resolution now become the Saints Armed with these ye shall stand stedfast glorifie your God and honour your selves in the face of all Israel The eye which seeeth you shall blesse you and the eare which heareth you shall give witnesse unto you nay yet farther that very mouth that curseth you shall blesse you that heart which hated you surviving dying shall lament you and that soule which abhorred you shal desire you again 〈◊〉 my brother or as Ioash here cryeth after 〈◊〉 lisha O my father my father This is the honour of Gods Saints whose losso 〈◊〉 lamentation now follow O my father my father I have done with Ioash this lamentation is none of his by right his heart did never beget it though his tongue had learned to speake it the is indeed Elisha's owne which he 〈◊〉 heavily at the parting with his father Eâ—â—â—iah and is here taken up by Ioash 〈◊〉 himselfe but sounds more harshly from such a iarring instrument Heâ—â—e wee â— then from the Authours mouth and 〈◊〉 how he acts it we shall see the lively embleme of a perplexed soule though we heare the voyce onely it is enough to make us conceive the dolefull gesture of the Actour though we see no body such distracted outcries oh my father my father and then to stop O the charet and the horsemen and to say no more can present no other shape unto us than torne cloathes wringing hands swollen eyes besmeared face and sobbing heart a man full of sorrow and overburdened with griefe unspeakeable It is a woefull spectacle to looke upon and enough to moove a flint that would but view it seriously to weepe for company and I confesse it is not easie to forbeare while I relate it That we misse nothing which may concerne us to make us fellow-mourners with this distressed soule the lamentation implyeth 2. things remarkable 1 The manner of it It is doubled distracted and broken the naturall symptomes of a soule overcharged with griefe 2 The matter of it about which it was a double losse 1 The losse of a father O my c. 2 The losse of strength charet and horsemen The manner is the doubling Repetitivest deloris oftensie desâ—paratione Carthus in 2 Reg. 2. distraction and abruptnesse of these cryes all undoubted notes of an unexpressible griefe and in relation to the matter 〈◊〉 ground expressed it readeth us this â—â—â—son Doctrine 2 The losse of the righteous is very grievous and their lamentations very bitter The ioy of the City is not so great when it goeth well with the righteous and they prosper but their griefe surpasseth when they are cut off and taken away Prov. 11.10 It is true that when the wicked perish there is shouting but when the righteous man falleth there is bitter weeping doubled cryes and pitifull exclamations Alas our father or our brother we are sorely distressed for thee It may be 〈◊〉 cast in Eliiah and Elisha were famous Prophets in Israel and this bewailing seemeth rather to be for such than for righteous men To cast this out againe as easily It is confessed indeed that the Prophets were accounted fathers in Israel yet denyed that they were thus lamented because Prophets Righteousnesse onely addeth this honour that the losse of them should be so bewailed whilest many other Prophets die both undesired and â—â—lamented Dignities may command â— forced service and a formall honour from inferiours yet all this while they are a burden under which they groane and die they may yet be never missed and not a mourner for them unles in a gowne or cloake It is neither king nor Prophet but righteousnesse that maketh the losse so heavy and the mourning so bitter onely these bring their additions to the lamentation the losse of a righteous man the City doth bewaile as a mother the deceased child who yet is comforted by her husband that is better then ten children unto her but at the losse of a righteous King or a righteous Prophet she sits as a widow or as an orphan rents her cloathes teareth her haire and cryeth over them as a wife over her husband or a poore child after its dearest father that cannot be comforted It is true 1 Kin. 14.19 1 Kin. 1.22.37 Ierem. 22 18. when Ieroboam Ahab or Iehoiakim wicked Kings were cut off we see no great losse and therefore we have no great lamentation the City is quiet and no whit mooved none cryeth so much as alas my brother 1 Kin. 14 13.1â— But Abâ—ah Ieroboams son though a child is lamented of all Israel because 〈…〉 found some good thing towards the Lord 〈◊〉 when good Josiah falleth Ierusalem â—â—â—teth wringing her hands like a 〈◊〉 widow and Ieremiah and al 〈…〉 bitterly after him 2 Chr â—
giveth us this not as a common observation but as a thing notable and very remarkeable above most things in his experience the benefit and yet the neglect in the world of this godly wisedome which is our righteousnesse or the feare of the Lord It is great unto we And it deserves no lesse than a serious note marke we but the opposition I here was a little City and a great King came against it c. this no small disproportion againe there were but a few men within it and yet he built great bulwarks against it this was greater and little hope could the City have to subsist long upon such unequall tearmes yet now in this great improbability of safety there was found in the City 〈◊〉 poore righteous godly wise man and hee defeateth this great king and his great bulwarkes he delivered the City not by weapons of warre but by his wisedome or righteousnes therefore however the world esteem of it the wise Preacher concludes wisedome is better then strength or it is the strongest defence of all this hath its undeniable truth whether we reade it as a parable or an acted history In the map which the Prophet draweth of Iudah Gods holy place hee thus deciphers the strength of it Isa 26 112 3 4 We have a strong City salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarkes and what surer defence than Safety it selfe its Canon-proofe and a wall impregnable but who the inhabitants Surely the righteous nation which keepeth truths entreth in and dwelleth there and their Iehovah is their rocks of ages or everlasting strength This is very strange and who almost beleeveth it may a man aske where lyeth this strength of Sampson in the righteous their faces promise as little or lesse than other men Reason It will not betray them to discover it it standeth mainly in their union with God through Christ which 〈◊〉 it were possible for the world to 〈◊〉 they would become weake 〈…〉 other men but whilest this lasteth 〈…〉 theirs heaven is theirs they have 〈…〉 of angells for their assistance and to 〈◊〉 more punctually their strength is 〈…〉 in these particulars First in the power and wisedome of their Captaine their reconciled God his counsell shall stand though all the â—â—â—phels in the eaâ—â—h conspire against him and his power is irresistible though all the kings of the earth bandy themselves to fight with him and how safe must the holy ones be Prov. 18.10 when hee is their Sanctuary The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe or set aloft free from gun shot where they may sit and laugh and the enemy cannot hurt them This tower goeth with them whithersoever they move where they abide the very name of that place is Iehovah ShaÌ„mab Ezek 48.33 The Lord is there and in whomsoever the strength of Israel is they must needs be a strong defence and guard to their City their Church and state Secondly in the spirituality of all their forces and munition whereby they offend and grieve the enemy yet are not discerned that they should bee avoided or repelled Their Captaine is a Spirit and therefore mocketh his enemies in his intermination of the perfidious Iewes Wee unto them that goe downe to Egypt for help Isa 31.1.2 3. and stay on horses and trust in charets because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong but they looke not to the holy one of Israel neither seeke the Lord yet hee also is wise and will bring evill and will not call backe his word but will arise against the house of evill doers and against the help of them that worke iniquity Now the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit when the Lord shall stretch forth his hand he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall downe and they all shall faile together For there can be no resistance a spirit fighteth against them and alas they cannot see either to offend him or defend themselves Againe their souldiers and ministers are spirits Heb. 1.7.14 the Angels which serve them 2 Kin. 19 â—5 and are for guard about 〈◊〉 one of them went out in a night and 〈◊〉 in the camp of the Assyrians an hundrâ—â— foure score and five thousand men 〈◊〉 was never perceived It is a pittifull 〈◊〉 to be smitten and never know whence the blow commeth help or defence cannot bee had against such an adversary Once more their weapons are spirituall and therefore cannot bee warded off faith and prayer powerfull instruments wherby the weakest women have beene the greatest conquerours Heb. 11.34 Through faith the Apostle witnesseth the righteous haue put to flight the armies of the aliens or forreiâ—â— enemies this is a sure weapon which they were never able to strike out of the beleevers hand and this was his victory or conquering peece Ezod 17.11 12â— 13 14 15. By prayer also Moses kept off the blowes of Amalek from Israel and gave them a fatall overthrow so that God commands him to write it for a memoriall in a booke not onely the conquest but the meanes and weapon which Moses doth and erecteth also an altar whose name he called Iehovah 〈◊〉 â—he Lord my banner as a pillar for the eternall memory of faithfull prayer In this the Paraphrast put the strength of Elisha Thou art better by thy prayer to Israel than charet or horsemen Melior erat Isratioratione sua c. Cald. Paraph Spirituall forces are thus irresistible therefore they are very strong and such is the strength of the righteous Lastly 3. in their unexhausted provision which continually maintaineth their strength that they need not feare a decay thereof The righteous alwayes pitch by that little river whose streames make glad the City of God of which Psal 46.4 though they bee faint and weary if they doe but drinke their strength returnes as Sampsons Iudg. 15.19 and they grow mighty and strong againe This river is no other but the water of life the word and Gospel of Iesus Christ it is meate and drinke to the beleeving soule and if he chance to faint hee getteth strength from thence to his faith and if his hands grow feeble he drinketh and stretcheth them forth againe mightily in prayer and so long as he is able to winde his weapons his strength will bee unresistable Happy that City that nation that Church that hath such mighty men 〈◊〉 champions their strength is admirable and they shal not be ashamed to 〈◊〉 the enemy in the gate Such souldiers such champions such walls such bulwarks are the righteous to their places our conclusion then is necessary their losse must be very grievous and their lamentation deservedly very bitter I have now but three words to speak to Ioash to Israel and to Elisha to the wicked to the Church and to the righteous and I close with the text