And therefore we may feare the righteous hand of God in disturbing the Countrey whereto wee owe so much love and faithfulnesse if there be a suspending of the holy and righteous Law of God that these rivers and fountaines should drinke of bloud for they are worthy Thirdly this may serve to teach all Magistrates and Governours Vse 3 in every Common-wealth to looke that all your Lawes be righteous lawes If you will act any thing justly the Lord takes it as his act he is the actor of it And therefore though this Law was made by Queene Elizabeth with the consent of the whole body of the Parliament and though her Secretary by her direction and consent published the justice of the Law the Text saith it is the Lord Thou art just and righteous just and true are thy wayes because thou hast judged thus They have shed the bloud of Saints and Prothets they have given them bloud and thou hast given them bloud to drinke for they are worthy Even so saith another Angel Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements If there be any wholsome and just Law in a Kingdome the Lord ownes it as his owne and it is to be obeyed as a righteous Law of God if it be unjust it is not Gods for his law is just an adequate rule of righteousnesse So that what ever is lesse then the Law of God if it suit not with the Law of God and keep correspondencie therewith you cannot say it is a Law of God Therefore Law givers and Law makers should ever have respect what doth the Lord our God say If it be Gods Law and Gods will let it be established if not let it be antiquiated But if you can finde a hint from the Law of God for it then let it stand Vse 4 And fourthly this must teach confederate States or such States whether neere for co-habitation or farther off if they heare of others proceedings it is good to confirme what they have justly done Queene Elizabeth makes a Law in the yeere 84. against Priests and Jesuites the Decree is righteous when others heare of this righteous section they make it also a capitall crime for any such persons to be found amongst them if it be capitall in England it is so in Holland they will require it of the necks of them that shall be found delinquent What then This is Even so one State must say Even so upon the just act of another and they must record it in their Statutes unlesse there be some apparent dissimilitude which is not in case of this nature for there is the same equity in all Ages and all Nations and therefore it is for them to say Amen or Even so to it And what is that It is no more but this If you enact a Law which is in another Countrey you say Amen to Gods justice in your own Countrey as others doe in theirs Vse 5 The fift Use that you may make of this Point is to teach you a tender respect in all lawes to the judicials of Moses to all the judiciall laws of Moses that are built upon moral equity that is where the reason of a Law holds in one Nation as well as in another in the New Testament as in the Old There are sundry Laws particular to that Polity which had peculiar reasons for them as to marry in their kindred to keep their inheritance to their Tribe we have not that reason But where the Laws are of like morall reason as will hold in all Ages and in all Countreys as it is in all the capitall Laws of Moses there is no reason why a Jew should be put to death for point of Adultery or Incest or for stealling a man and selling him to a Pagan more then a Christian I say therefore look what was the Law of God by Moses if it were of perpetuall reason and equity it lyes on every Common-wealth to establish the same and to take your selves as much bound to it as the Jews why for the Text tels us the very righteousnesse of God is in it And looke as he was then a hater ofall wickednes with a perfect hatred and as he was just so he is still heresie is no more pleasing to him nor blasphemy nor seducing nor to change the way of his worship and to draw men to wayes wherein they cannot enjoy the Lord in peace murder of soules is no more welcome to him now then of old And therefore if there were a Law to punish such with capitall punishment it is a like justice of God to enjoyne such Laws in every Christian Common-wealth And therefore if we look at Gods justice as unchangeable we may not prevaricate judiciall laws setting aside some typicall considerations or some peculiar consideration in regard of their Polity But such as were to punish men by death or were received on morall equity and ground looke what was for them to doe there is the same proportion for us put the same case and you will finde the like reason for the same punishment It is true some ceremonies were there punished with death and so the like kind of profaning the Sabbath is as justly punishable with us if profaned with an high hand to gather sticks with an high hand in contempt of the Sabbath of the Lord is as justly punishable with death now as then And so you may say of any other law justly punishable by death and that are built on perpetuall moral equity Our God is the same God that he was and so you shall have him count that righteous whiles the world stands For a sixt This may serve to take off a corrupt interpretation Vse 6 which some have made of this place or a collection that they have gathered from hence that the Angels of God are deputed to severall offices here is one Angel of the waters and some are deputed to governe the earth some fire some the waters and sea as I might tell you if it were meet to trouble you with humane inventions and collections of mens braines the collection is chiefly grounded on this place but it is wholly mistaken for the Angel of the waters here is not any particular Angel of God any of those heavenly spirits but the Angels and Ministers of Gods justice upon metaphoricall seas and waters It is true those here were Governours of the narrow seas and the that gave commission to execute the righteous judgement of God upon those rivers she was Admirall of the narrow seas but that is not the meaning But the Angel that poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters it is he or she that did execute the righteous judgment of God upon the Popish Priests and Jesuites and that did both Queene Elizabeth and he that had a great hand in executing that judgement and the Angel from under the Altar they ratified that Law and justified it when they had done Now it is true the Angels of
art and wast and shalt be alway The same from the ancient Law of retaliation in the 24. of Leviticus 19 20 21. it is there ordained that look what a man doth to others it shall be so done to him Breach for breach eye for eye tooth for tooth c. They gave thy Prophets and Saints bloud to drinke and now thou hast given them bloud to drinke This is the reason why he acknowledgeth this not onely righteous but according to his old and ancient proceeding his righteousnesse ever since Moses his time and since the world began that is Gods manner Gen. 9.4 5. He that sheds mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed God alway hath been of that mind They that put others to death that shed innocent bloud Their bloud shall goe for their bloud Gen. 9.6 to that purpose justly speaks that book it is that which they have found for they are worthy And when he adds further I heard another Angel out of the Altar say Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy iudgements That is another Angel a Minister and Messenger of Gods justice This phrase out of the Altar in this Book doth usually hold forth some under-persecution either going or new come out of persecution for so it is expressed in the 6. Rev. 9. I saw under the Altar the soules of them that were slaine for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held The Altar is Christ and Christ suffering and those under the Altar are they that suffered with Christ for the Word of God speaking of the Primitive Christians in their first persecution But here he doth not say they were under Martyrdome but they were come out from under the Altar And that holds forth those Christians in the Low-countreyes who of a long time had been under persecution by Duke Dalva and other Spanish Princes Duke Dalva boasts of it there were 36000. that he had put to death Hugonites and Protestants Judge you what the rest might also do and all for the testimony of Iesus for holding forth true Protestant Religion but they were all rescued by the faithfulnesse of God giving and blessing the courage of Q. Elizabeth and now they are got out from under the Altar and now they are freed from wrestling with such great difficulties as had been like to sinke them if God had not by his stretched out arme rescued them And looke as in 1584. Cicill set forth that book so this Angel from under the Altar set forth a Law in 1586. wherein by the consent of all the States generally of the confederate Provinces they enact and enjoyne that none of the bloudy sect of the Jesuites nor any of their Scholars whether he be stranger or borne in the Land shall have liberty to come into the Countrey but be put to capitall punishment as an enemy to the State and they have been in some measure carefull of that Law though more in Grave Maurice his time then since and so they justly say Amen to the Queens Law that as she put those Popish Emissaries to the paine of High Treason hanging drawing and quartering and thus gave them bloud to drink so this Angel from out of the Altar saith Even so he saith Amen to it let it even be so with them Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements they acknowledge Gods Almighty power that had given them power to make that Law against them who had so lately suffered under them and acknowledge Gods righteous judgements for that State that makes a Law to the same purpose which they have found enacted in another State they doe say Amen to what hath been done and both the one State and other acknowledge it to be a righteous judgement of God and the administration a just law and a just execution This as others have done before me I take to be the naturall and true meaning of this Vial in the severall parts thereof without wresting of the words nor neede it be offensive to any that such particular persons are named as the accomplishers of this Vial considering the matters were not of small importance but of great consequence and admiration all states rang of these laws and it raised all Christendome in combustion the wars of eighty eight the Spanish invasion had speciall respect to this and had not the Lord borne witnesse to his people and their Law in defeating the intendments of their enemies against both the Nations it might have been the ruine of them both So you see the meaning of the words of the Text. The words are many and though containing much matter in 4. verses I shall shortly contract and recollect the substance contained in them into one note and handle that one at this time as conceiving all the doctrine of these words may be grasped together in one Observation For though there be liberty of entring into common places of Gods righteousnesse and immutability and of his justice in retaliation and of his omnipotencie out of this Text yet all these particulars have been spoken to in the former Chapter in the third verse and in the fourth Lord God Almighty iust and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints That for God being ever the same which was and is to come we have spoken to it divers times before in this book and therefore though they be Catechisme points which my place calleth me to attend upon yet I shall not here speak to them having so lately handled the most of them but therefore I will onely speak to this Doctrine which containes all the verses This is the note then Doct. That upon the discovery of the deadly corruption of the Religion of the Sea of Rome it was a righteous judgement of God and such as argued him unchangeable ever like himselfe That the Priests and Jesuites who carryed that Religion up and down the Nations should be adjudged or condemned to a bloudy death This is the summe For so you see it is upon the discovery of their sea of bloud of the Religion of the Sea of Rome to be a Sea of bloud We opened and shewed before that The second Angel poured out his vial on the sea that is on the Religion of the Sea of Rome and discovered it to be as the bloud of a dead man made it manifestly appeare that both their doctrine and worship and government was deadly and such as was utterly unwholsome both for private families and States Church and Common-wealth and so corrupt as was deadly who ever lived and dyed in that Religion lived an hypocrite and dyed a reprobate Now the next Angel that comes upon this discovery he poures his vial on the rivers and fountaines of waters and they became bloud That is they make Lawes to adjudge all that carry that Religion up and downe the Nation to be guilty of bloud and therefore to be put to death as Traitors and Rebels against the State And this is acknowledged
by the Angels of God I meane those that are Ministers of Gods Justice and approve this testimony as authenticall they acknowledge this a righteous judgement of God as he that is was and shall be alway one and the same Thus he was wont to carry it and thus he doth still In old time if a man played the false Prophet and suggested such devices as these the Lord judged him to death this was his manner And so in the New Testament as in the Old he condemnes all such to death and he is most righteous in so doing This is the summe It was a great while before this though not full two thousand yeares when Zachary prophesyed that God would cut off the false Prophet in the 13. Zach. 2 3. and if there were any false Prophet should arise his father and mother should thrust him through because he spake lyes in the name of the God of truth he should not live And they speak not of his Typicall death that is of his death by Church censure or banishment which have a kind of death in them but they speak of such a death as that he was not worthy to live To cast a lye upon the God of Truth the Oracle of Truth But long before Zachary this was an ancient law of Moses in the 13. Deut. this was a law that false Prophets they that turned Religion to the blood of a dead man that did fundamentally pervert Religion they should not live And minde the reason that God gives here partly in this text and partly in other Scriptures It is taken from the hainousnesse of blasphemy in the 24. Lev. Reas 1 16. He that blasphemeth the name of God shall surely be put to death Every blasphemer shall be put to death Now we cannot excuse Popish Priests and Jesuites from grosse blasphemy they that are acquainted with the Ladies Psalter and Orysons made to her cannot but acknowledg sundry blasphemous speeches in it they make their Prayers to the Virgin Mary that shee would request her father and command her Sonne and that by the power of a mothers right to forgive their sinne which if this be not blasphemy I confesse I know not what is and in a high degree unlesse they should say he were no God at all and that falls not far short of it to set a creature above God and yet this is allowed as good devotion in the Church of Rome It is true if a man blaspheme out of ignorance as Paul did in the 1 Tim. 1.13 or if a man blaspheme unwillingly as he did unwittingly not knowing what he did and he did compell some to blaspheme Act. 26.11 why if he compell them to Blaspheme those that are compelled they doe it unwillingly but if men wittingly blaspheme knowing what they do knowing Jesus is God as well as man and hath power to forgive sins as he is God and know the Virgin Mary hath neede of a Saviour as all the daughters of men have that they shall put upon her the power to command her Sonne to forgive sinnes this is such blasphemy that hee that will stand to it let him die the death his blood shall bee upon him If high treason against Princes on earth may justly be punished by death verily this is as dishonourable to the Lord of Heaven and Prince of all the Princes of the earth Reas 2 A second reason is taken from the point of seducement As all blasphemous heretiques so seducing heretiques are to be put to death In that respect that whole 13. of Deut. is spent about the seducing of false prophets and he puts a threefold gradation If he be a Prophet therefore though never so seemingly holy by his place and gifts yet if he turn you away from the Lord your God and draw you from the wayes of God what then thine eye shall not spare him he shall surely be put to death from the 1. ver to 5. from the 6. ver to 11. he will have no neerenesse of blood to hinder from due execution of Iustice but if it be thy brother the sonne of thy mother or thy daughter or the wife of th bosome or thy friend which is as thy own soule that shall goe about to seduce thee secretly saying let us goe and serve other Gods which thou hast not known thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou conceale him but thou shalt surely kill him thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death c. from the 12. ver to the end If there be never so many that shall joyn if a whole City shall joyn together in such a course thou shalt rise against and destroy the City and burne it with fire and leave not a stone upon a stone which shall not be thrown down in utter detestation of that wickednesse And he gives a notable reason for it why a seducer should be thus dealt withall because saith he he seekes to turne thee away from thy way and to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God to turne thee off either by deceit or to thrust thee off by eanest perswasions and therefore lest you should think these false prophets faile onely in the object of worship and not in manner of worshipping therefore consider in the 22. Iosh when the two tribes and a halfe set up an Altar by Iordan although they thought not they would bring in another object of worship but another manner of worship here is but another way of worship whether mediation or satisfaction of Gods wrath devised the whole ten Tribes rise up and send a sufficient Company or Troop of Militarie men to goe and expostulate with them and know whether it were true and either they would reclaime them from it by argument or make warre against them and they had cut off two Tribes and an halfe if they had found another Altar for worship Now he that sets up another Mediator or Mediation Saint or Angel he sets up as great a matter as another Altar or he that brings in other mens merits he brings in another Altar Therefore by the ancient Lawes of that unchangeable God that thought it unsufferable in those dayes he thinks it unsufferable now that Priests and Jesuites should bring in other Altars other Mediations and Mediators as Prayers of Saints and Angels the Lord looks at it as deeply meritorious of a bloudy death as in former times He is the same God and his zeale and jealousie is deeply provoked against the like kind of viciousnesse now as ever it was then That is a second Argument And yet in point of seducement this I will say that if a man upon conviction shall see the wickednesse of his way and humble his soule before God and give satisfaction to the Church and State where he shall be convinced on such conviction and repentance we find liberty to pardon but yet stigmatize him as in the 13. of Zach.
it was never Gods counsell nor meaning in the New Testament But now the contrary being the doctrine of the Church of Rome and on that ground justified When Princes are excommunicated they doe depose them and being deposed discharge subjects from their allegeance and then judge you what treason redownds to Christian Princes and what conspiracie and rebellion groweth in the state of a Kingdome when some take part with the King deposed and others with him that is substituted by the Pope and so there is Treason both against Prince and State and Kingdome And therefore it is an ancient justice of God that hath so ordered it that those that shall draw Gods people from the Allegeance of their Prince shall be judged Traitors and suffer paine of death Reas 5 And for a fift reason mentioned in the Text it is taken from the law of retaliation that look how men have dealt with others they should be so dealt withall themselves Now these Priests and Jesuites and their Abettors in the time of Queene Mary and Henry the eighth and all the Kings since the Statute against Lollards in England as also against the Hugonites in France if a man were suspected of hereticall pravity and pronounced guilty thereof by the Church he was to be delivered to the secular power onely he might have leave to consider of it But if he fell againe there was no hope of mercie but he must looke for bloud as if he were no better then a child of death And yet they were men that never troubled the State but quietly suffered for their Religion and Conscience So that these Jesuites and Priests delivering up so many innocent Lambs of Christ Ministers of the Gospel and holy Saints to the Secular power to be burnt at the stake in Smithfield and elsewhere and the Abettors of these Priests and Jesuites being very zealous to cut off such Lollards from the land of the living it is just and right with God They have given thy Saints and Prophets bloud to drinke and therefore looke as they have measured to others it is measured to them by the ancient Law of God that is the same and will be for ever Rev. 13.10 He that killeth with the sword must be killed by the sword So you see this point is plaine That upon the discovery of the deadly corruption of the Religion in the Romish Sea it was the righteous judgement of God and such as argued him to be unchangeable and ever the same that the Priests ands Jesuites which carryed the waters of that Sea that Religion up and downe the Nation should be condemned to a bloody death you see the truth of the point and the reasons of it For the use of the point it may first serve to justifie the holy Vse 1 and righteous equity of all those laws above mentioned whether in England or Holland for putting Popish Priests and Jesuites to death and there was a like law also made in France upon the murther of Henry the fourth that all Jesuites should be put away out of the Countrey and their studies demolished c. but they made it in policie But the Text speakes of England and Holland it was a just and righteous law that these rivers and fountains of waters should become blood you see there is blasphemy in their worship against the Lord Jesus Christ they doe seduce the people of God and turne them from the Lord and thrust them from him by their justification by workes by their callings on Saints and Angels and trusting in other Mediators besides the Lord Jesus in the intercession of Saints and Angels It hath beene a just hand of God that they that worry like ravenous wolves the soules of Gods people should themselves be worried that they that have made firebrands of Christians should drinke blood themselves they that over-whelmed Christians in confusion and tumult it is just with God that they should be over-whelmed they that have beene so busie in putting to death innocents that they should also be put to death you see this is just with God it is well becomming to the unchangeable righteousnesse of God thus it was in the old Testament and why should it be changed in the new You will say it was but a typicall matter then and you Ob. must looke for a spirituall death in the New Testament Why I pray you Brethren consider 1. Answ The Papists are not of that mind but they execute it in the letter they have put to death the Prophets and servants of God in the letter hunted them up and downe the Inquisition is incomparably more bloudy then any other other Butchery They doe not nor may not plead any such thing they beleeve it is true in the letter And let me say further the holy Ghost makes it as true in the letter this Text is in the New Testament not in the Old Thou hast given them bloud to drinke for they are worthy and he speaks of the very bloud of the hearts of men And it is parallel with Gods justice of old it was just then and it is just now Zachary intends the dayes of the New Testament though written in the Old that when a fountaine is opened to the house of David and inhabitants of Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleannesse then the father and mother of a false Prophet shall accuse him to the Magistrate and shall say unto him He shall not live Was it an abomination then to speak lyes in the Name of the Lord and no lesse then blasphemie and shall it be more favourably interpreted now A man may now speak a lye and bring in a false Christ a false Mediator and false meanes of satisfaction and false merits now he may without perill of his life in the Old Testament he might not Why but was it not sufficient to have a spirituall judgement Even they had spirituall judgements then but God saw it meet to inflict some temporall judgement as well as spirituall and is now his judgement changed Besides are not Moses Morall Lawes of perpetuall equity and therefore to be observed in all Ages Is blasphemy more tolerable in the New Testament or thrusting men away from God is it not as odious now as then Is not murther of soules as damnable now as then Is not conspiracie and sedition as damnable and capital now as then Is not the law of retaliation as just in the New Testament as in the old and therefore a man would wonder that such frivolous interpretations should come into the hearts of men to hinder the free passage of the justice of God on such notorious offenders Ob. But you will say Conscience should not be forced and men should not be put to death for their conscience Answ Why doe you thinke Heretiques were not as conscionable in the Old Testament as now If any man had a conscience to turn men from God he would have men of as much conscience to cut them off if they make
no conscience of the blaspheming the name of God the Lord would have men make no conscience of cutting them off from breathing in the aire of God If men make no conscience of murthering soules or raising sedition and tumult and murthering men better then themselves the Lord would have men make no conscience of paying every man in his owne kind But let me answer again But mark what I say the Lord will easily provide for this and so he doth and in England I am sure he hath what in Holland I know not but he hath provided there That if a Jesuite or Priest or their abettors shall come in and take the oath of fidelity to the State and so carry matters before some Justice of Peace the Law dischargeth them from capitall punishment And the Law of God in the New Testament is that such should be once or twice admonished but if he still continue the Apostle would have him cast out of the Church the Church hath no farther power if they be proceeded with farther it must be by the Magistrate Him that is an heretique ofter once or twice admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted c. So that it must be for Fundamentall Articles of Religion in doctrine or worship which are so clearly delivered in the Word that no man that understands Scripture and the wayes of salvation but may be satisfied in conscience what is the holy and acceptable will of God in such points and therefore he takes it for granted if a man be once or twice admonished he is convinced of himselfe he is subverted he is turned off from the foundation that now no man is put to death for his conscience but for sinning against the light of his conscience his owne conscience hath convinced him and the light of the Word is so cleare as cannot but convince him that the way of God runnes just quite contrary to his interpretation and seducement And therefore now if you sinne you sinne against conscience and therefore you justly suffer for being subverted and turned off from the foundation from Chrift Jesus and holding another foundation and persisting therein obstinately So there are two things in an heretique he is both subverted himselfe as an house from the foundation it is against the foundation of Religion and he holdeth out obstinately against light of conscience with stubbornnesse and now in such a case thine eye shall not spare him A soule that sins of ignorance may be pardoned but if he still continue obstinate thine eye shall not spare him the wrath of God now goes out against a person against a City if it were against a Tribe they goe about by force of Armes to redresse it they shall not suffer such in a Country This is then the Answer to the second Objection and still justifies the equity of that Law Obj. 3 There is a third Objection Ay but is it not written that you shall suffer tares to grow with the wheat lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them Mat. 13.30 Now our Saviour tending to clemencie and moderation he saith Let both grow together untill the harvest c. Answ Ay but tares and wheat they may grow together but he doth not say ye may suffer bryars and thorns to grow with them for then you choak all the wheat And therefore it hath been a false interpretation of the Popish sort and taken up by the Anabaptists that tares signifie indifferently all sorts of wicked men but I know none that expound them better then Ierome and none so well the tares are very like the wheat in Jury what they are in other Countries I know not but they are like to the wheat there and you will not know the difference in the greene blade nor in the spindling untill it grows towards the harvest then you will finde it but an empty eare and thin and yet it grows so close with the other wheat and like it that if you pluck it up you may pluck up the wheat with it let therefore both grow together till the harvest What is then meant by Tares Not such as sinne through obstinacie but hyhocrites that are like the servants of God that you would think they are such after you discover them they are empty eares and hollow have no fatnesse of graine and that is indeed none of the wheat Now let Hypocrites grow together with the Elect doe not cast them out meerly for hypocrisie though you finde them halting unlesse they break forth to scandalous behaviour either in doctrine or worship or conversation as they appeare to be bryars and thornes if they be manifest fruits of the curse away with them Why cumber you the ground for else you shall neither have Church censure nor cavill to stand Such notorious wicked persons adulterers Idolaters railers refractory and scandalous persons drunkards and the like are not tares we must not abuse Scripture that because tares and hypocrites are suffered therefore refractory scandalous notorious wicked men and heretiques may be suffered no that is not the meaning they are not ears you may see them afar off you shall not need to feare rooting up the wheat by cutting off them the wheat is nothing like them So you see the first Use to justifie the equity and soveraignty of such capitall punishments on Priests and Jesuites and consequently on such as bring in other Gods or another way of worshipping the true God then that wherein we may enjoy fellowship with the true God the justice and suitablenesse of it to the holy will of God since there were any Lawes made amongst Gods people For a second Use it may serve to reprove the carnall and sinfull Vse 2 foolish pity that is found in any State that shall be sparing of spilling such bloud of the Priests and Jesuites It is you see contrary to the unchangeable justice of God the Lord loathes this kinde of lenity and gentlenesse and indulgence and toleration of such kind of persons and ordinary receivings of them if men will suffer such in the State truly they shall doe it to the subversion of their owne safeties and dignities and disturb their whole State It is a very sad speech which the Lord utters in the 48. Ier. 10. Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently and cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from bloud when the Lord calls us to sheath the sword of Authority in such kind of delinquents as these be if we shall now spare them and neglect this work of God cursed be such A State shall be separate from God and a Kingdome more and more corrupt and leavened by such toleration the wrath of God will break forth tumults and seditions and all kind of scandalous and unrighteous and ungodly proceedings will set a whole Kingdome in combustion Church and Common-wealth at variance There can be no peace to such a State where such persons are tolerated
is to say he hath given him effectuall liberty and opportunity to do the thing as if he had given him a command to do it If a false Prophet arise saith the Lord in Deuteronomie Chapter 13. Verse 12. and give thee a sign and a wonder saying Let us goe after other gods Thou shalt not harken unto the words of the Prophet or unto the dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your hearts and with all your soules The Lord will suffer such to come and this he doth to try his people so that mind you it is the Lords doings it is he that commands a theefe when he comes like a theefe it is the Lord that sends forth such that are clothed with sheeps skins but inwardly are ravening wolves though they have no direct commission from God yet they have such secret permission from God and commission by giving them oportunity to do that which they come for that indeed the Lord comes Beloved think it not strange saith the Ap Peter 1 Pet. 4.12 concerning the fiery triall which is come to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you He means the ten Persecutions the Persecutions in Nero's time and those that were to follow Let no man think it strange why for judgement must begin at the house of God to that mind yee all the fiery trials what were they but the judgements of God God sends them forth in his fatherly wisdome and by his Soveraigne Authority to try the patience and wisdome and watchfulnesse of his people And therefore it becomes the people of God when they see such creatures budge and when they see the Kings of the earth stirre then Behold saith the Lord I come as a theef suddenly secretly slily and violently Vse 1 And the use of this point serves to teach us neither to justifie men nor to condemne the Lord Jesus for that were a sinful violating of the Scripture Let it be therefore a caution to teach us to avoid both these and neither to justifie theft nor to condemne the Lord it is not the Lords meaning but make account of this though the Lord come as a theefe that doth not justifie theft but aggravate the sin of theft If a theef shall make use of the opportunities which the providence of God puts into his hand of the nimblenesse of his wits and the authority he hath in his speech and the powre he hath with Princes I say that man that shall abuse such things as are given him of the Lord this doth not excuse their sin much lesse justifie it but it aggravates it and they shall find it so one day It is a very divine speech of our Saviour Iohn 19.10 11 Pilate saith to him Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power to loose thee Iesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above therefore hee that delivered mee unto thee hath the greater sinne And it implyes also and it had been a wholesome lesson for Pilate to have suckt out of it that it was the greater sinne in Pilate to abuse his authority to condemne the Lord Jesus For Iudas to betray Christ to the Jewes Ecclesiastical Authority and for the Jewes to deliver Christ into the hands of Pontius Pilate it was a great sin and so much the greater because Pilates authority was of God and they would arme the sword of God against the Lord Jesus And if Pilate had the power given him of God either to crucifie Christ or loose him if he shall abuse his authority in putting Christ to death as he did Then he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sinnes But thou then that dost abuse thy power to crucifie me shalt bee found very sinfull in the end So that that will not excuse any Instrument for abusing the power for such an end If God raise up Pharaoh Exod. 10 16. to make his power knowne and to declare his name thorow-out all the world If he shall abuse this Authority the more heavy will the wrath of God be upon him and it will not be for him and such like to complaine against God and say he hath ordained me to it Oh man who art thou that disputest against God for God never doth it but being over-justly provoked by the creature Therfore so much the greater is the sin of any that will abuse their wits and parts in a way of sin against God And therefore it must teach men to beware of excusing theft And neither is their unrighteousnesse in Christ For the Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in al his works Psal 145.17 He doth not these vnclean spirits Cardinals Bishops and Jesuits any wrong but even as the Seraphims cryed one to another so let us learn Holy holy holy is the Lord of hoasts the whole earth is full of his glory When is this When he sends Isaiah to harden the hearts of the people and make their ears deaf Isa 6.3 10. So that let the Lord and his Throne be guiltlesse and let guilt lye upon these theeves theeves and robbers let them bear the burthen of their own sins If we ask how this can be imagined Ans All this acting with theeeves is an accidentall concurring in all these things the Lord doth no act but holy and good neither his efficacy in co-working with them all this efficacy is only an accidentall concurring God gives them the gift and the opportunity which they will abuse And so these Kings of the earth are justly deluded because they received not the truth in the love of it 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. Thus is the Lord and his Throne guiltlesse but all the theft and robbery lyes on the instruments which the Lord doth use in their own abuse he that rides a horse which halts every step he takes the halting is not the owners that rides him but the horses And so when the Sunne hardens clay it softens wax and when it drawes stinking savours out of the dunghill it drawes sweet savours out of the garden hardening to the clay and stinking savours to the dunghill is not properly from the Sunne but in themselves occasionally from the Sunne Even so it is in this case This evill lyes not in the proper act of the Lord Jesus but accidentally only from him Thus therefore the first Use for a second Use Vse 2 It may serve to teach the people of God thus much when ever you see evill spirits the spirits of errour let loose and when you see great men come on you with violence and rage how then why then to behold the Lord comming upon you himself He comes upon you and he comes then upon you as a thiefe you must therefore behold the Lord in all the changes that befall you looke at the Lord in them The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken
things most difficult to open are sweetest to chew upon as in all bones and the like let us therefore from hence observe this note That the Event and successe of the great and last battell Doct. which Christian Princes shall fight against Antichrist and his Adherents shall be like in successe to the battel 's fought at Armageddon that is to say desperate destruction to the Enemies of Gods people joyfull victories and Triumphs to the Churches of Christ godly sorrowes and penitentiall mourning to the Iewes All these severall Events are inclusively spoke unto in this word Armageddon and each branch of them are expressely mentioned in this booke and other Prophesies of Scripture First that there shall bee great and desperate destruction to the Enemies of Gods people you read in chapter 19 that it will be so great that the Angell standing in the middest of the Sunne cryed with a loud voyce saying to all the foules that flye in the middest of Heaven come and gather your selves together to the Supper of the great God that yee may eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great therefore this battell must not bee sought onely with the Ministery of the Gospell though that will mightily concurre but with the sword and Weapons of warre else the foules of Heaven would have little flesh to eat upon battells fought by the Ministery of the word but Word and Sword fighting together Thus will there be wrought a great destruction to Gods Enemies to satiate all the foules of Heaven And there will bee great rejoycing and Triumph to the Churches of Christ as you read of their songs of praise for the victory gotten by Deborah and Barak over Iabin and Sisera Iudges 5. So here there will be many Hallelujahs chap. 19.1 to the end of 7. which they sing againe and againe to the Lord. And thirdly it will be matter of penitentiall mourning to the Israel of God Zach. 12.10 11. when they shall see Christ comming in his glorious power it will break their hearts with holy mourning over them and this shall be fulfilled when the new Ierusalem shall come from God out of Heaven as is prophesied in this booke chapter 21.2.10 Then shall the Tribes of the Earth mourne bitterly after Iesus Christ Why will the Events of these battels be the same Reas 1 First because Gods Enemies will bee like in their sinnes unto those that fought against Israel of old Therefore they must partake in the like Judgements wherein are they like in their sinnes In their oppressions of the people of God so Jabin mightily oppressed the children of Israel Iudges 4.3 And Saul was a malicious persecuter of David So hath the man of sinne and his Adherents beene malicious persecuters of the Saints of God And Saul tooke Counsell of the Witch at Endor So have these beene famous for their witch-crafts neither did they repent of their sorceries chap. 9. ult Now as their sinnes are like so shall their punishments bee because of the unchangeable wisedome and Iustice of God who punisheth now as he did of old Psal 83.9 10. The likenesse of their sinnes the likenesse of Gods Iustice bring forth the like kinde of Iudgements now as of old If you shall aske the Reason why there shall be the like occasion of rejoycing It is because the Lord shall in like manner avenge his people Reas 2 now as he did of old Iudg. 5.2 where she calleth upon Gods people to praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel so shall he now judge the Whore and avenge the bloud of his servants at her hand Rev. 19.2 And looke as of old they went on destroying to destroy the Enemies of the people of God untill they had consumed them so shall the people of God now doe untill they have extinguished utterly the name of Popery and made it like dung upon the face of the Earth and as there was way made of old for the glorious Kingdome of David so shall there be way made by these Warres for David to be the Prince of Gods people for ever as the Prophet Ezechiel foretelleth chap. 34.23 34. and 37.24.25 not in visible presence I dare not take up such carnall Imaginations as that Christ shall come bodily and reigne here upon the Earth but by his Spirit and in his Servants hee shall reigne on the Earth And all these things shall give the people of God great and wonderfull causes of rejoycing If you shall aske in the third place why Gods ancient people the Iewes shall be called to such penitentiall mourning Reas 3 1 The Reason first is taken from the sence which they shall have of their owne sinne a sprinkling whereof we find Act. 2.37 when they were pricked in heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we doe such will the sence of their sinne bee hereafter as will affect and afflict them with affliction like that of the Iewes for the death of Josiah yea it is set forth in Zach. 12.10 11. by the deepest mourning that can befall a family they shall mourne as one mourneth for his onely sonne and bee in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne It is true the losse of some wife may be greater then the losse of some sonne but he speaketh there of the mourning of Husband and Wife together and they can loose no greater outward blessing then their first borne And such was mourning for the death of Iosiah wherein they saw the ruine of Family Church and Common-wealth Therefore Ieremy complaineth that the breath of their Nostrills was taken away Lament 4.20 They mistake that thinke it was spoken of Zedechiah for the Lamentations were written upon the death of Iosiah 2 Chro. 37.25 which was a bitter mourning to them all and such shall bee their mourning in their return to the Lord when they shall see that the death of Christ hath beene the ruine desperate destruction and damnation of all their Families for these many Generations that all the Calamities that have come upon them for these 1600. yeares have sprung from this that their Fathers have put Christ to death by which meanes they have bin ruâ—â—agates upon the face of the earth the sence of that horrible sin misery which they have brought upon themselves and theirs by the death of their Iosiah Messiah shall thus deeply afflict them 2. The second ground of their mourning will spring not onely from the sight and sence of their sin but of the wonderfull unspeakable grace mercy of God unto them to give them that Son of his who hath given himself to death for them they shal be so ashamed confounded with the sence of Gods tender mercy loving kindnes towards them that
have bin such bloudy Butchers of him as that they shall be swallowed up in the sence of such unspeakable grace Conviction for sin doth greatly help forward legall humiliation but for a kindly and spirituall mourning men must looke upon Christ not only as killed by them but as killed for them Thus shall it be with them according to what is foretold Mat. 24.30 When the signe of the son of man shall appeare in heaven then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourne speaking of the twelve Tribes of Israel who shall mourne because of him that commeth to shew such mercy to them who have dealt so unworthily with him This is the mourning which will befall this people like that of Megiddon when this great battell shall be fought Vse 1 For use in the first place were I to speake to such people as were likely to be insnared with these Froggs and spirits of Divells This might teach them diligently to beware of such and in case any of them should come over into this Country Iesuits or Cardinalls or Bishops doe not hearken to their whisperings whatsoever they shall present unto you for this will bee the issue of it whosoever they be that hearken unto them they w ll never leave them till at length they have brought them to this field of destruction they will goe forth to gather the Princes of the Earth and whither will they gathâ—r them even thither where will be the Fatall ruâ—ne of them all And therefore let all Christian Princes understand it that they cannot listen unto these Froggs Popish Bishops or Cardinalls or Iesuites or who ever they be that come unto them on this errand but they will by this meanes bring their Kingdomes to utter destruction Be wise now therefore O yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the Earth you see what wofull worke will be made at length by these Froggs they will bring you into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon King James who made a Paraphrase upon it doth interpret it to signifie destruction by deceit as if it were compounded of two Hebrew words which may so hold it forth But oh that it had beene as well beleeved as told how many sad changes and Agitations throughout all Christendome might have bin prevented that have risen upon hearkning to these Froggs destruction and Calamity are in their wayes keepe your selves therefore farre from all fellowship with them that will be your wisedome In the second place this may teach us to rejoyce at home Vse 2 though wee doe not live to see these victories obtained I know not what you that are young may live unto for the neerer these things come unto their accomplishment the swifter their motion will be as it is with all naturall motions but however let us rejoyce together in beholding them by Faith although they bee yet to come when David rejoyced in Christ Psal 16.9 10. and faith therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my dead body in the Grave neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see Corruption this David in spirit â—eeth long before and looketh at his owne Resurrection as seaâ—ed up unto him in the Incorruption of the body of Iesus Christ If David can rejoyce so long before in beholding this then ought wee to rejoyce in beholding before-hand the destruction of Gods Enemies and his gracious deliverances of his people for wee may see it before-hand by Faith and behold it with confidence in the truth of him that hath promised it for so also did Abraham Iohn 8 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad and why should not the Fa th of Christians bee now more cleare eyed then at that time it was to behold the truth of his promises and rejoyce in the accomplishment of them Thirdly we may from hence gather some ground of Faith to Vse 3 beleive that there will come a time when the Iewes will generally mourne for the sight and death of Christ as much as ever they mourned of old for the death of Iosiah and least you should say that Parabolicall Scriptures are not Foundations of Faith and yet any Scripture truely expounded is ground sufficient for the truth it holdeth forth yet you may find sundry other Scriptures that speake expressely to their Conversion Rom. 11.12.15.25 26. I would not Brethren that yee should be ignorant of this mystery that blindnesse in part is happened unto Israel untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in that is untill men turne backe from Antichrist unto Christ untill they see Christian Princes more sincere in the worke of God and then all Israel shall be saved for though they were cast off for their own sakes yet are they beloved for their Fathers sake v. 28. For if thou wert cut out of the Olive Tree which is wilde by Nature and wert grafted contrary to Nature into a good Olive Tree how much more shall these which are the naturall branches bee graffed into their owne Olive Tree for saith he God is able to graffe them in againe and he will doe iâ— or else the Apostles Argument will not hold Also that of the Apostle to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 3.14.15.16 Even unto this day when Moses is read the Vayle is upon their heart but when it that is Israel shall turne unto the Lord the Vayle shall be taken away this is not spoken of two or three sprinklings of Israel that doth not make up an Israel much lesse all Israel as Paul speaketh in the place forenamed and what mystery were it if it were meant onely of those that were brought home by Peters Ministery But that blindnesse is come upon them till the fulnes of the Gentiles be come in and that then all Israel shall be saved this is indeed a Mystery to the Gentiles as the calling of the Gentiles was a Mystery to the Iewes Thus wee see there are cleare Scriptures for it which when we doe see we may more freely take up parabolicall Scriptures perceiving what they worke upon and build our Faith on them thereby to be strengthned in Prayer for such a blessing that they may come and sing Hallelujahs with us and wee may sing prayses with them Fourthly wee may learne from hence the true nature of Vse 4 Godly sorrow both in the cause of it and in the measure of it For the cause of it wee must see him from whom all saving repentance doth flow even Christ whom we have pierced and then indeed we mourne aright when we mourne over him It is not saving Repentance that which the Law worketh though it doth indeed make way for it but they see him and mourne over him the sight of him worketh godly sorrow in the heart And what is the measure of it it is even such as for the losse of a mans onely Sonne and his first borne the staffe and