out of the especial respect he had to his People created him and raised him up for us and we remember the time too furnished him with such rare Endowments for that high Employment that he who would take a compleat General must limb after his Copy We can say That the Horse and his Rider have been broken by him the Captains and Rulers broken in pieces We can say that the * Sola Ducis fama interdum Bella profligavit Str Bel. Belg. Name of Cromwel hath been a terror to the Enemy but this onely as he hath been a Battel-ax and weapons of War in the hand of the Lord for the Exaltation of the Name of the Lord not that we should exalt him above the Line of an Instrument in the Lords hand Did we not make our boast of God in our Army we should sin Did we not acknowledge that he hath taught their hands to War and their fingers to fight Did we not bless the Lord for them that offered themselves so willingly to the help of the Lord against the mighty that in the absence of dear relations continued so chearfully in the midst of so many difficulties It would be an evil in us not to boast in God of their unparallel'd Valor matchless Unanimity and unwearied Labors yea as Strada of the Prince of Orange and Duke of Alba y Orangius palam oderat Ducem Albanum clam admirabatur Strad Bel Belg the hearts of their Enemies admired them in secret for these things though openly their mouths overflow'd with their reproaches yet the Lord hath done all this that himself alone might be exalted The Enemy is not so z Nihil tam firmum cui non sit periculum ab invalido Idem inconsiderable Consider 2. as to be despised upon any carnal ground whatsoever It is true upon a spiritual Accompt The Virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised them and laughed them to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at them 2 Kings 19.21 in the strength of the Lord as they are his Enemies because he that sits in heaven laughs but they are not to be despised upon a carnal Accompt for First less Armies with less Advantages have done a far greater work The late King of Sweden cross'd the Baltick Sea with not above Eighth thousand men and harrased almost all Germany spoiled their Cities laid their Towns waste and sowed their Field with desolation Again greater Armies then ours have miscarried upon the contempt of weaker Enemies When the French under the the Duke of Alenson had entred Antwerp and possessed themselves of the gates thereof they contemning the weak remaining part of the Enemy fell to plundering the City but they purchased the experience at a dear rate for they were most of them slain the rest shamefully beaten out of the City again by a few that remained unconquered at their entrance a Iste contemptus hostium Gallos perdidit Strad Bel Belg. That a weak Enemy is not to be contemned the Spirit of God and the Experience of all Ages assert this Though you had smitten the whole Army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this City with fire Jerem. 37.10 Nihil in hostibus vel semivictis tuto despicitur and the Commanders of Armies have in all Ages found a certain truth in that military Maxim b Majorem experti hostem qui contempserint ut minorem Strada Bel Belgic He findes his Enemy strong at a dear rate who contemns him as weak Thirdly The desperate condition of the Enemy may render him not despicable c Gravissimi funt morsus irritatae necessitatis Mont. Necessity hath sharp teeth The Commander in chief of the Enemies Army is credibly reported to have brought in a Crown and Coffin with him A Crown is a fair prize a man will put out the utmost of his strength to attain it the shinings of it take a carnal eye so far A morte propiqua vim capiunt Strad prolus. Statii Stylo that he will wade to the chin in blood rather then set down any where short of it and he that must die will sell his life at as dear a rate as he can d Morientium morsus animantium laetales sunt Idem Bel Belg. Dying creatures bite deadly so that if the Lord come not upon their spirits in his terror the Victory is like to cost us dear What the effect of trusting in man Consider 3. in your own strength will be Because thou didst trust in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people and all thy Fortresses shall be spoiled as Shalmon spoiled Betharbel in the day of battel the Mother was dashed in pieces upon her children Hos 10.13 14. God may say if you lean upon the arm of flesh They hoped in their Parliament let it save them They trusted in their Army let them deliver them There is a Curse denounced against it and it will cleave to the man that leaneth upon flesh Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord Jerem. 17 5. If you consider these things aright you will say with David Psalm 44.6 I will not trust in my bowe neither shall my sword save me The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weak then am I strong 'T is a Paradox to carnal Reason but to a sanctified understanding a fair Truth built upon a solid rock We need not fear our weakness at any time but we may well be afraid of our strength we are never stronger then when we are weak in our own eyes never weaker then when we esteem our selves strong in ourselves Cease therefore from man and be intreated once more not to give occasion to have it spoken of our Army what was said of Caesar c Sane Julium Caesarem non Pompeiani sed amici peremerunt Sen de Ira l. 3. c. 20. That he received not his wounds from the swords of Enemies but from the hands of friends If they shall return wounded from the hattel let them not have ground to say because of your Confidence in them These are the wounds with which we were wounded in the house of our friends Zech. 13.6 To conclude That we may indeed cease from man and cast our selves and the concernments of our wholly upon God Isaiah 2.5 be exhorted secondly to walk in the light of the Lord in the light of his Providence eye God in the way that he led us hitherro Remember Newbery and Marston Naseby remember Dunbar and Fife Videnti Deum omnis creatum est augustâ— and Sterling Nothing takes a mans heart off from the creature so much as eying God doth He that walks in the light of Gods providence findes his heart lifted up to God the hands of his Confidence strengthned in God The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistim 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord hath vouchsafed us a precious first-fruit of his Love and Power The Earl of Derby defeated in Lancashire he hath given us one token more that he hath not withdrawn himself from us an earnest of his presence in the Defeat given to a part of that Army and since the Lord hath evidenced his presence with us we may much better say of it then Augustus could of Tiberius f Nihil se non sperare Tiberio comite nihil non timere illo deficiente Suet in vita Tiber. That he expected success in every undertaking that Tiberius was engaged in and feared the miscarriage of every Design in which Tiberius had not an hand The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge Remember through what streights he hath brought us and be confident in the light of his Providence We may say of many acts of Providence as he upon the extraction of Moses out of the Waters g Quis vel animum desponderet in ultimo rerum discrimme cum talia tam mirifice effecta esse perspexerit Prid ad extractionem Mosis Who that hath seen God leading his people in such a path opening such or such a door to them levelling such Mountains before them and making their way plain would ever suffer his Soul to be cast down or his Spirit disquieted in him Psal 34. ult None of them that trust in the Lord shall be desolate Be not afraid of the Enemies power all the strength that is not of God shall be destroyed Take away her Battlements for they are not the Lords Jerem. 5.10 Know the power of the Lord If he look upon the earth it trembles if he touch the mountains they smoke by the blast of God his Enemies perish by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed The Lord cannot want help to perform his Councel to accomplish his Design since the Chariots of God are Twenty thousand even Thousands of Angels Psal 68.17 Study then the name of God and you will effectually cease from Man They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee Psalm 9.10 The End
Menoch established in the top of the mountains 3. By the Confluence to it and d Omnes scil exomni natione aliqui Eman Sa all Nations shall flow unto it In the second we have her Peace as a River and her Prosperity as a mighty Stream illustrated by the wonderful effects of it at the fourth verse They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn War any more and more fully where this Prophecy is again repeated Micah cap. 4. ver 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree and none shall make them afraid A man would expect now that this halcion Prophecy should be brought forth in a sweet calm that there should not be a frown upon the face of that great Ocean the world when it is brooded and hatch'd by the Spirit of God But behold the shaking of the Earth terribly the removing of Mountains levelling them with the dust ushers in the establishment of the Lords Mountain sharp pangs and bitter throes precede this Birth desolation and destruction the alarm of War the voyce of the Trumpet neighings of Horses clashings of Armor rollings of Garments in blood go before this blessed Peace ver 11 and 12. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day for the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low and again ver 19. They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth Isaiah 55.9 and in the end of the 21 verse Thus Gods ways are higher then our ways he brings light out of the womb of darkness establishment out of confusion the desire of all Nations by the shaking of all Nations Hag. 2.7 Now the Lord walking in such an insolent way the Prophet bespeaks the Church ver 5. to have her eyes upon God O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord they that walk not in this light grope after God in many of his dispensations as a blinde man they that walk not in this light stumble and fall under every cloud which God in the wisdom of his providence brings upon the house of Jacob their soul is cast down and their spirit disquieted in them whenever the Enemy is exalted though he be lifted up but to be thrown down with the greater violence On the other hand they that walk in this light know that when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever Psal 92.7 They that walk in this light know that when the day of the Lord is upon the proud and lofty upon the Cedars of Lebanon and upon the Oaks of Bashan upon the Ships of Tarshish and upon the high Towers it is that the Lord alone should be exalted in that day Now when the Lord ariseth to do this he will do it by his own arm his arm shall rule for him therefore he bespeaks the Church Cease from man he will do it against all opposition whatsoever therefore he adviseth Enemies Cease from man The Romish expositors do generally interpret it of Christ the man Christ Jesus is the man say they here spoken of and to cease from him is in their sense e Serio vos moneo ut quiescatis a vexando atque occidendo Christo qui homo quidem est sed etiam Deus scelerum vindex Menoc in loc Significatur magnanima ira indignatio vindicta quam in suos hostes Christus exercet Idem To take heed and beware of offending or killing Christ who although he be man yet he is God also and by the breath of his nostrils the fierceness of his anger will avenge himself upon his enemies But the Prophets scope in the whole Chapter stands in opposition to such an Interpretation the meaning therefore is f Nolite Fiduciam in ullo homine ponere Grot. Annotat. Place not your confidence in any of the sons of men as Grot. or as the learned Divines in their Annotations Seeing all humane helps and external stays will fail and no might or height will be able to secure any when God comes to execute judgement be admonished and advised to cast off your vain Confidence in frail and mortal man The words then are a Dehortation answering ex adverso that Exhortation vers 5. and they hold forth g Deo adhaerescite ab ipso toti pendete non ab hominibus Jun in loc Dependence upon God in ceasing from man We may observe in them First A Tacit Supposition viz. Man is exceeding prone to place his Confidence in man Secondly An express Dehortation Cease from man Thirdly The Enforcement of this upon a double accompt or two Arguments to strengthen the Dehortation The first general in the end of the verse There is nothing in man to be accounted of therefore cease from him The second more particular His breath is in his nostrils therefore cease from him One word of the Supposiiton Man is prone to confide in man By Man in the Text we understand any thing that is not God the opposition is very frequent in the scripture and the Dehortation here answers the Exhortation in the fifth verse To walk in the light of the Lord. All means instruments second causes are Man Strength is man and Policy is man Riches are man c. and upon these the sons of men are prone to lean prone to cleave to them exceeding forward to sit down under them to confide in them The eyes of carnal men are set fully in a direct line upon man Godly men have too frequently a cast with their eyes they look obliquely too much upon means Rabshakeh coming up against Jerusalem with a great host makes flesh his arm placeth his Confidence in man 2 Kings cap. 18. from the 19th to the end of the 35th Goliah had his eye fixed upon man when he disdained David because a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance 1 Sam. 17.42 and forward Babylon also leaned upon man when she said I shall be a Lady for ever when she said in her heart I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widow neither shall I know the loss of children Isaiah 47.7 8. And as wicked men look wholly upon man so the Saints on earth have not their eyes wholly taken off from man David looked sinfully upon man when he commanded Joab to go through all the Tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba and to number the people 2 Sam. 24.2
and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen and I will overthrow their chariots and those that ride in them and the Horses and their Riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother Hag. 2.22 Thus you have a second Account upon which it appears to be the Churches Duty to cease from man Man is not to be confided in Reason 3. because his breath is in his nostrils They that by Man in the Text understand the Man Christ must by the breath in his nostrils understand also something to render him not despicable but terrible n Magnanima ira indignatio vindicta quam in suos hostes Christus exercet Menochius in loc So Origen Hieronym Alvarez and most of the Popish Writers By the breath in his nostrils is meant saith one the magnanimous anger the fierce indignation of Christ with which he shall blow upon his Enemies in the day of vengance but as we do not entertain their sense of man so we shut the door against such an interpretation of the breath of his nostrils and following our late learned Divines who render it Whose life is so frail that if his nostrils be but stopt that he cannot breath freely he dyes whose life as a puff of winde passing through his nostrils may be very soon and suddenly gone So also the learned Grotius whose o Cujus spiritus c Vita ejus ab aere pendet quo intercluso peribâ—t Grot. in loc Sec Job 27.3 life depends of air which failing he returns to his dust We use it as an Argument to dehort from Confidence in Man whose breath is in his nostrils Were the wisdom or strength of man in themselves a foundation of Confidence which yet they have appeared not to be this were enough to destroy that foundation His breath is in his nostrils he is subject to diseases and infirmities When you expect the man to go forth with your Forces a fit of the Gout or Stone hath rendred him unserviceable There are a thousand Infirmities incident to mans body Physitians reckon two hundred diseases belonging to the eye his best state is not a state of certainty but of danger p Ipsam quoque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 periculo vacare medici negant Grot Epist 81. B. Maurerio Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 Yet take him with all his infirmities could he live ever there were some ground upon which the foot of a mans Confidence might stand but his breath is in his nostrils and thus he stands in slippery places that confides in an hourlydying creature Tumor momento enascens momento evanescens we laugh at the folly of our little ones when we see them rejoyce in or grieve for signs they set their hearts upon them the bubbles that are born and die in a moment The Spirit of God is very copious in describing the brevity of mans life Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not his days also like the days of an hireling Job 7.1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble 14.1 Man dieth and wasteth away yea man gives up the ghost and where is he 10. As for man his days are as grass Ps 103.15 He is called Corruptible man Rom. 1.23 And as his breath is in his nostrils so there are many ways of stopping it various means of depriving him of it heat cold drought moisture a prick of a pin a stone of a grape an hair any thing nothing Some have died sneezing yawning weeping laughing q Mille viae lethi Strad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cur Steruuentessalut Unus introitus innumeri exitus Zeuxes died laughing at the picture of an old woman which he drew with his own hand Sophocles was choked with the stone in a grape Diodorus the Logician died for shame that he could not answer a joculary question propounded at the Table by Stilpo Joannes Mathesius preaching upon the raising of the woman of Naim's son from the dead within three hours after died himself 'T is folly then to put our confidence in him of whom if he be but a days journey from us we cannot be confident that he is alive Thus you have the first Branch of the Doctrine made good It is the Churches duty And it will be the wisdom of the Churches Enemies to cease from man The Spirit of God tells you there is no king saved by the multitude of an host A mighty man is not delivered by much strength an Horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength Psal 33.16 17. and the same Spirit dehorts you from confiding in the sons of the Mighty Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help Psal 146.3 You have doted upon the name of a King you have idolized Kings The Book of Sports you have prefer'd them to God himself when God hath commanded one thing and your King another r Si aliud Deus aliud Imperator ju beat contempto hoc obtemperandum est Dâ—â— August contemning the Commandment of God you have yielded obedience to man and therefore the Lord hath poured contempt upon them brought them down from the Throne into the dust The name of King is swallowed up in victory by the Parliament of this Commonwealth It is become a name that will devour the man and his fathers house that openly makes mention of it in this Land Cease therefore from man Had the Churches Enemies a Spring of Wisdom in themselves or were they wiser then God then you might rationally say a Confederacy to them that say a Confederacy had the Enemy an Independent unlimited infinite strength were his arm stronger then the Arm of the Lord then you might securely cleave to him own him confide in him but since their Counsels have been infatuated their Power is limited and the Lord hath them as he hath the Devil in a Chain Cease from man Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs least ye be consumed in all their sins Numb 16.26 The Lord hath begun to break the arm of their Power The Earl of Derby routed and he hath set it upon the hearts of his People to believe that he is at hand to accomplish his work in righteousness Having thus endeavored to make good the Doctrine the Improvement of it will be directed to the Church in a double Exhortation First to the practice of the Duty to Cease indeed from Man Truly the Lord is worthy to be wonderful in our eyes in two things restraining the growing Power of the Enemy and causing the Horn of his Servants to flourish For the first the Enemy did and might very rationally expect that if he could set the sole of his foot his wearied foot upon English ground his strength would take root downward
and bring forth fruit upward it could not but be expected on all hands that the further he roll'd the greater strength he would gather that before he had passed through one Countrey he would become a mighty Mountain yet behold and admire God though at his entrance he leave our Army Fourscore Miles in his Rear their flesh wearied and their spirit almost languishing through the continued difficulties they met with in a strange Land though he appear in a County very fond of him that invited him in where the Design was laid he coming in according to the cue that he had from hence though he strike many f Facile ignem concipiunt quae paulo ante extinctae sunt faces Strad de Bello Belgic sparks among Brands lately quenched that are but too prone to take fire and though he march with an Idol in the head of his Army The name of a King to which the generality of this Nation are very superstitious too ready to bow down to it and submit their necks to a Tyrants feet four Circumstances that were each of them big with the ruine of all that is dear to us yet behold I say the Cords of his Tent through the goodness of God are not stretched out his Horn is not exalted there are no considerable Cubits added to his Stature his Strength is at a stand much about the same scantling it was when he fled out of Scotland And for our Armies though they were scattered here and there not onely in the corners of our own but the most considerable part of them in a Forraign Land the Lord hath gathered them together with his Arm united them in a Body made them to increase with the increase of God and given them to overtake the Enemy I beseech you therefore since the Lord hath done this for us made us strong and not suffered the strength of the Enemy to increase do not you spoil the Friends of their strength or clothe the Arm of your Enemy with might by placing your confidence in man O think you hear the Army of your Friends that have been wont to Conquer who scarce know how to flye before an Enemy speaking in your ears to this effect We are going up this day in the Name of the Lord against a Potent Numerous Skilful Revengeful Bloody Enemy were thier Power Number Skill doubled were their Rage and Fury seven times hotter yet would we not be dismaid we would not stop our ears against the Lords call nor withhold our hands from his work t Ego nihil mihi tribuo sed nee valde mihi metuo a tali Antagonista Lips adver Dialogist we are not in the least afraid of Enemies but we are afraid of you our Friends fear hath taken hold upon our hearts lest you should fight against us by putting your confidence in us lest by looking upon us as your present help in trouble you should provoke the Lord to withdraw his presence from us we are confident notwithstanding all our unworthiness and your vain confidence this precious Cause of the Lord shall prosper but our Lives may be Sacrificed upon the account of your folly and the Lord may chastise your fleshly confidence by breaking the arm of flesh in pieces if you do not cease from us for what are we to be accounted of and is not our breath in our nostrils the Lord may refuse to go up with us and then we shall be weak even as a company of other men we shall turn our backs in the day of Battel yea we shall flie when no man pursueth we beseech you therefore by all our Watchings and Fastings by all the hunger and cold that we have undergone for you by all our Blood that hath been spilt as water by the Scars of all those wounds which we have received for you Cease from man By all your Enjoyments by all your Relations Wives Parents little Ones by your Liberties Temporal Spiritual Cease from man As you love Zion as you value the Gospel as you prize your Priviledges as the glory of the Lord is dear to you Cease from man we are not worthy to say for our sakes but for Sions sake and for the Gospels sake yea for your Souls sake and for the Lords sake we beseech you Cease from man And I beseech you hear them in that which they ask at your hands since all that is dear to you is concerned in it And that I may fasten this duty upon your hearts I shall make use of three Considerations as Nails Consider first Consider 1. That the end for which the Lord shakes the Earth why he humbles the lofty ones and bows down the haughtiness of man is That the Lord alone may be exalted The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Isaiah 2.11 and again ver 17. Now when we place our confidence in any thing but God we exalt it into the Throne of God the Lord may and doth delight to use Instruments not out of necessity but in a way of good will he may and doth put much honor upon those he makes use of as the Hinges upon which a State turns but he will never endure that the honor which is due unto his Name should be given to any Instruments whatsoever The Brazen Serpent when the People burn Incense to it must though set up by the especial appointment of God be broken in pieces Golden Instruments in the Lords hand are rendred Nehushtan a piece of brass by putting our confidence in them We might have enjoyed to this day those dear Names White and Pym and Hamden and Brooks and Rainsborough and Thornaugh and Ewres and Graves c. had not our confidence in them been a Dart through their Liveâ— u Magister est hodiernus hesternus Error Bel. Belg. Homines post damna prudentiores sunt ac docent plerumque quae nocent Idem be wiser for the future and that you may enjoy your Worthies Cease from them We should Proclaim our selves unworthy of such Instruments did we not thankfully acknowledge to the Lord his singular goodness in raising up seven Shepherds and eight Principal Men for us in the Parliament and Councel of State in filling their hearts with Courage and Zeal to take the Lyon by the Beard to execute Justice upon the head of the great Offender we have great cause to acknowledge to the Lord their faithfulness when we have w Mont. Essays beheld many survive their own Reputation seeing with their own eyes the honor and glory buryed which they had formerly purchased yet the Lord hath not raised them up that they should exalt themselves or be lifted up into the room of God by us but that they should be an higher Scaffold for the building up of his glory Your hearts cannot but rejoyce before and to the Lord in behalf of the General that the Lord