day submits to you But that you have prevailed your arme been made strong and now are advanc'd to be the corner stone of the Kingdom that liberties are enlarg'd and greatned by endeavours to straiten and destroy them that Religion is advanc'd to greater purity by wayes made use of wholly to corrupt it and that a Parliament is become the main support of both a Parliament I say a thing the master builders sleighted refused and without which they tould us they could sufficiently consult the welfare both of Religion and Liberty that a Parliament is now become the head of the corner this certainly is the Lords doing and ought only to be ascribed to the mighty hand of God And now the main of my taske is over which was to draw a parallel 'twixt you and Ioseph and to shew Gods dealing alike to both Let me for a close of all beseech you in a few things to parallel Ioseph in his dealing with God and I have done You have seen the carriage of God alike to both oh that the carriage of both might be alike to God 1. Ioseph was very carefull of giving all honour unto God and therefore when Pharaoh tells him he had heard he could interpret dreams and do strange matters Ioseph would not own it no sayes he it is Gen. 4â— 16. not in me God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace In like manner do you and now you have heard this day of all the great things done for you dare not you to assume to your selves any whit of the glory mention not the least syllable of your own goodnes wisedom prowesse speak not of your sword and your bowe but let this only voice be heard among you God hath given England an answer of peace Gen. 39 9. 2. Ioseph was very fearfull of sining against God and therefore though tempted by his mistris and every thing conspiring to heighten the temptation yet voids all with this How shall I do this great wickednesse and sin against God So you whether singly considered or as a Parliament oh be you wary how you sin against God and when temptation of any kinde presents it self to you use Iosephs guard and say Now shall we do this thing and sin against God yea expose your selves to any hazards rather then adventure to sin against God and as Ioseph if need be prefer the cruellest imprisonment and bonds of iron to the most pleasing captivity and bonds of sin 3. Joseph was very sollicitous of the agreement of his Gen. 45. 24. brethren and therefore upon their return out of Egypt to their father see sayes he that you fall not out by the way Oh do you in like manner Oh lay your charge upon brethren to agree suffer them not so farre as in you lies to fall out one with another And whether we have peace abroad or no if it be possible lets have peace as home and whether we can agree with our adversaries yea or no if it be possible lets agree among our selves le ts not fall out by the way Would God you could light upon any expedient to satisfie all For my part I know none I perceive if no indulgence be afforded 't will please some but withall 't will come very harsh and unpleasing unto others Again If you do indulge here 's a very great difficulty For who can ponere terminum where will you be able to affix a boundarie and on the other hand to leave it boundlesse not to say to an indulgence hither shalt thou go and no farther but to leave every man to do that which is good in his own eyes it was indeed the case of Israel while they had no King Judg. 17. 6. I hope it shall never be the condition of England while they have a Parliament However endeavour an agreement and that if it be possible before you make peace with enemies for if they come and finde us not one I dread to thinke what manner use will be made of it Endeavour it therefore and then that God who in so many other things hath made you so like Ioseph make you like him in his blessing also even doubling and trebling Iosephs double blessing upon the head of every one of you And may it alwaies be true of the present Parliament Although the archers have sorely grieved you shot at you hated you howbeit your bowe abides in strength and the armes of your hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Iacob by whom you still continue the shepherds and stone of England FINIS
IOSEPH Paralled by the present PARLIAMENT in his sufferings and advancement A SERMON Preached before the Honourable HOVSE of COMMONS on their solemn day of Thanksgiving Feb. 19. 1645. For the great mercy of God in the reducement of the City of Chester by the Forces under the command of Sr William Brereton By FRA. WOODCOCK Minister of Olaves Southwarke one of the Assembly of Divines Published by Order of the said House LONDON Printed by G. M. for Christopher Meredith at the Signe of Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1646. Die Lunae 23 Februarij 1645. ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Master Rous do give thanks to Master VVoodcock and Master Case for the great pains they took in the Sermons they preached at the intreatie of this House on Thursday last being a day set apart for a day of publike Thankesgiving for the taking of Chester and to desire them to Print their Sermons And it is Ordered that none shall Print their Sermons without license under thier hands writing H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Christopher Meredith to print my Sermon FRA. WOODCOCK TO THE HONOVRABLE HOVSE OF COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT THE many successes of late vouchsafed you has made you as frequent in your solemn rejoicing as in your solemn mourning and for these severall moneths together you have not oftner kept daies of fasting and prayer then daies of feasting and praises Formerly in so much hazard have mattes been that not daring to tarry the coming of the monethly fasts you were glad to take up extraordinary ones between whereas now not so much of necessity as of course you celebrate a day of fast once a moneth Not long ago the cry of every man was what shall I do now it either is or ought to be what shall I render so mercifully has God changed your water into wine and taking away your sackcloth girded you with gladnesse And now what is your wisedom but to endeavour to walke worthy these great deliverances and the God of them which if you do you may be confident that he that hath and daily doth deliver will go on also to finish deliverance but if by doing any wicked thing you shall evilly requite him how soon can he turn you to your fasting again or to something else that 's worse and instantly blast all that smiling hopefullnesse of things already vouchsafed But I hope better things and shall not fail to pray for better you having a right to challenge this and much more from Your avowed servant for Christ Fra. Woodcock To my dear and much Honoured Countrey-men the well affected of the County and City of CHESTER MY affection to my native place now surrendred together with my interests in many of you thereto appertaining will easily bear me out in that I take the boldnesse in a few words to congratulate with you the surrender of it That a mother City in England is this day preserv'd cannot but be matter of rejoicing to every good English heart how much more must it be unto me who being so neerly related to it am more especially concerned in its preservation Give me leave therefore who sometimes have mourned with you and for you now to rejoice also with and for you and to endeavour to helpe forward your present rejoicing as in time past I have endeavoured your mourning Surely God hath wrought a great deliverance for you a very great deliverance and I plainly perceive you shall need all the helpe and furtherance that may be to enable you to render to him according to the benefit 'T is true I confesse the matter lookt upon with a carnal eye will not perhaps appear so great and considerable and some of you beholding the ruins of the place and perceiving also your particular estates gone and your houses burnt to the ground may say that as to you Chester is lost still Yet notwithstanding considering what advantage the gaining of the place is to the publike and to the most of you in particular withall duly weighing the circumstances of time means manner of gaining it who is there will not be enforced to say 't is a very great mercy Me thinks in that 't is Chester which is reduced to me imports exceeding much of mercy that that place is gained which was the only dore of hope remaining unshut against the bloudy Irish sure the Kingdom looks upon it as a very great mercy and who is not glad that Chester will no more let in those barbarous Irish either into it self or into the Kingdom The time of its surrender hath much also in it of mercie for was it when the enemy was very high and prospering was it at such a time as they could well spare us such a place as Chester or rather were they not very low exceedingly declined even gasping for life and with giving up the City did they not in those parts at least wise give up the ghost also and having let go Chester will they be able to hold any thing after it I may not omit the means whereby you won the City for there 's much of mercie in that also and was not your spirituall militia the chief in gaining of it may I not be confident that 't was your close beseeging Heaven did contribute more to the surrender of it then your close beseeging the place it self and did not your fasting starve the enemy out of Chester that kinde having seldom been cast out of any place but by prayer and fasting and speaks not this a great deal of mercie And though the Lord hath long delaid you and your hopes have suffered a frequent defeazure yet hath he not hereby taught you to overcome your hasty impatience the overcoming whereof in Solomons judgement is more then if any of you singly and alone had conquered the City Besides there 's hope you will come now weaned Prov. 19. 32. to your comforts you having been so long and so much weaned from them and the throwing you out of your place and habitation has taught you not to look for in the present life an abiding City and is not all this rich mercie And what though you come many of you to emptie houses yea to no houses yet finding all peaceable and quiet within what a mercie is it If you have not saved your estates yet if you can say as he I have saved the Sir Ralph Piercie at his death vide Speed bird in my breast what a mercie is it If conscience be not wasted though every thing else is and though your state is broken yet that your peace is not broken what a mercy is it If you have been kept free from those conscience wasting oaths and those peace breaking practises which others have been miserably intangled with oh what a mercie And for your estates how speedily can the Lord repair you how quickly have some I know among you got up their estates and trade again which for owning a good cause
assixum textu Hebreo quod utrobâ—que est singulare Riv. armes of his hands were made strong The Patriarch continues the allegory and his meaning herein seems in short this That neither could any endeavour turne Ioseph aside from God nor yet any practices of his enemies bring upon him that destruction which they desired His bowe abode in strength c. And this in the next place is ascribed to God in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— manibus â—otentis Iacob Vul. Per manus Sunt qui ex epitheto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mysterium Trinitatis â—iâ—antur uti â—â— verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1. 1. Sed â—ura sunt hujusmodi caballistica these words By the hands of the mighty God of Iacob So that whereas Ioseph was preserved from sinning as also from sinking from sinning being assaulted by most powerfull temptation from sinking being persecuted with bitterest malice the Patriarch ascribes it all to the graciously over ruling providence and hand of God From whence also as 't is in the last clause Is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iud. Pastor lapiâ— Israel Shepherd the stone of Israel That is from which dispose of providence it 's also come to passe that Joseph for I conceive it 's meant of him I say that Joseph is become the shepherd of Israel that is the sustainer and Hinc Iosephum appellat Syra cides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feeder of his father Israel and his family which otherwise by reason of the sore famine then abroad in those countries might have all perished As also the stone of Israel too which although such sometimes as the builders had refused and his brethren had thrown aside herein as in other things he being a type of Christ yet now in regard he sustained them all was become the foundation and corner stone of the whole family From whence is the Shepherd the stone of Israel The summe of all is this much Whereas Joseph was malign'd and sold away into slavery by his brethren neverthelesse God was with him and preserv'd him and in conclusion for a recompence advances him to be both preserver and head of them that sold him Thus you have an account of the words as they are calculated to the condition of Ioseph which yet with little alteration will serve to represent the condition of others also They shew forth the life and story of our blessed Saviour and so I may call them a little gospel They cleerly holding forth the chief occurrents of Iosephs life in all whereof Ioseph was to be a type and forerunner of our Saviour They will in great measure serve to represent from first to last the various state and changes of the Church and so are an Epitome of Ecclesiasticall history And to come somewhat neerer they lively delineate the present state of matters in our own Kingdom especially as they carry an aspect towards the good people of it and so I may call them a brief Chronicle of the affairs of England Yea and which comes most full and home to the purpose in hand they serve most aptly to declare the severall passages of the affairs wherein your selves have been concern'd Honourable and beloved your selves I say who stand for the good people of the Kingdom and are their representees and so I may call them a compleat although a short Iournall of the present Parliament They shew you Ioseph low and in the wane and hath not this sometimes been your condition They shew you Ioseph supported and have you even at the lowest wanted your supports They shew you Ioseph in the end prevailing and advanced far above the pitch of those that hated him and are you lesse at this day And the same wise and gracious hand that wrought for Ioseph doing all this for you also So that mutatis mutandis how appositely may I say to you the present Parliament and in you to all the godly people of the Kingdom The archers have sorely grieved you shot at you and hated you howbeit your bowe hath abode in strength and the armes of your hands have been made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Iacob from whence also you are become the shepherds and stone of England Having thus cleered my way by opening the words your selves perceiving by this time they will not come altogether unsutable either to time or persons it remains I observe something from them from the first particular whereof viz. Ioseph encountered set upon in these words The archers sorely grieved him shot at him hated him you may please to take this Observ 1 It is incident to the best of men to be infested with crafty malicious enemies Observ 2 Secondly from Iosephs unconquerednesse notwithstanding any assault or encounter of his enemies in these words But his howe abode in strength and the armes of his hands were made strong Although the godly are assaulted by enemies yet are they not wholly overcome by them Observ 3 Thirdly from Iosephs advancement in these words He is the shepherd and stone of Israel The Saints being assaulted are not only not overcome but in conclusion prevail and become the head of their enemies Observ 4 And then lastly from the means whereby Ioseph is preserved and advanced in these words By the hands of the mighty one of Iacob That the Saints are not overcome yea that prevailing they become the head of their enemies they owe it to the gracious hand and wise dispose of God The archers sorely grieved him shot at him hated him but his bowe c. I begin with the first of these It is incident to the best of men to be insested with crafty malicious enemies And who is there of the Saints that hath not had the experience hereof and which of them either now upon earth or already in Heaven that sometime or other hath not been endangered by malicious enemies What Lambe of Jesus Christ whom never Wolfe grind at what Tuitle of his which never any ravenous bird attempted upon You see it Iosephs case the archers shot at and galled him exceedingly nor is he alone I am sure 't was Davids case also whom ever and anon thorowout his book of Psalms you finde either complaining of multitudes of cruell enemies or else supplicating the Lord to be delivered from them I need not tell you 't was the case of our Saviour herein the Antitype of Ioseph whom Psal 22. 12. you finde complaining of bulls many bulls yea fat bulls encompassing of him which bulls indeed never left pushing and goring at him till such time as they had gored him to the heart till they had pusht him into his grave And as it fared with the Captain of our salvation so fares it with his followers as with him the head so fares it with the Church his body and all the members of it The Church in Egypt found a Pharaoh that Exod. 1. 8. knew not Ioseph nor would know them neither In after-times what
Ioseph was forgotten in his sufferings Gen. â—0 ult and Pharaohs butler who had received kindnesse from him when in like condition yet being himself at liberty remembers not the affliction of Ioseph And hath it not so fared with us also and have not some of our beyond-sea neighbours your Low Countries I mean have they not I say forgotten our affliction and instead of helping us forth of it which had been but paying the debt they owed us have they not rather by continuall supplying the enemy holpen forward our affliction So that if because Ioseph was reproached hated sold c. 't is said the archers sorely grieved him shot at him hated him how truly may it be spoken of our selves also we having seen our own and Iosephs condition in all the severals forementioned a cleer an exact parallel which yet we ought not to have been discouraged at neither meerly from hence to have grown jealous of our own or the goodnesse of the cause we have engaged in it being abundantly cleered both from Iosephs case as also from severall others That 't is incident to the best of men to be infested with dangerous and malicious enemies Observ 2 Although the godly are infested and assaulted by enemies yet are they not wholly overcome by them This was Iosephs case The archers saies the text shot at him c. but 't is added His bowe abode in strength and the armes of his hands were made strong All his brethrens malice could go no farther then to sell him and being sold and sold into the hands of a wicked mistris he was neither overcome by her sollicitations to destroy his soul nor for refusall of her could she so far prevail as to take away his life 'T was Davids hard lot as was before shown to be infested with cruellest enemies Saul and his Courtiers shot many a poisoned arrow at him yea so oft was he shot at and the arrows fell so thick about him as that he gives himself for lost concludes he shall be hit at last makes account he should one day perish by the hand of Saul But that it was his weaknesse and mistake the event abundantly cleers for if you consult the title of Psal 18. you finde it expresly this A Psalme of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul Observe it David that fears that one day he shall perish by the hand of Saul one day gives thanks for an absolute deliverance as from all other enemies so also from the hand of his enemy Saul The Churches condition hath been alike also as her self expresses Psal 129. 1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth what follows but they have not prevailed against me And no marvell for although it well consists with Gods ends that sometimes his people be humbled and brought very low yet doth it not at all that the enemy should be lifted up over high which yet they would be if at any time they could obtain an absolute conquest upon his people To this purpose speaks the Lord Deut. 32. 26 27. I thought saies the Lord to have scattered my people into corners and caused their remembrance to have ceased from men did I not fear the rage of their enemies lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say Our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this As if he had said It very well sorts with my purpose to bring my people very low if so be the sinking of that balance over-low would not over-much lift up the balance of their enemies Again although it very well agrees with the Lords intent and meaning that his people be persecuted and suffer from their enemies that their enemies thereby might be ripened for destruction yet is it not at all his minde that together with their own the enemy should bring destruction upon his people also which yet 't is apparent they do when they wholly over-overcome them And further although it be the minde of God that his people should suffer by evil men to the intent that by those sufferings of theirs they might be both prov'd and purg'd yet is it not his pleasure that either the furnace should be made so hot or they continue so long in it till he lose his metall which would certainly come to passe did the enemy wholly prevail For if the rod of the wicked should Psal 125. 3. rest upon the lot of the righteous would they not at last put forth their hand and touch iniquity From all which it is a cleer case That although the Saints may be assaulted infested by enemies yet are they not wholly overcome by them Vse And hath not this been the case of the godly of this Kingdom hath not this been the case of the present Parliament Honourable beloved it cannot be denied but that the archers have sorely grieved you shot at you hated you neverthelesse hath not your bowe abode in strength and the armes of your hands have been made strong and to this day they have not obtained a full conquest over you Indeed crafty malicious men have tried their utmost have vomited upon you their most deadly poison and all to blast you to make you infamous for ever but have they prevailed have they by all their canker and venom belcht forth upon you been able to deprive you of your name and honour or rather shall not you be had in honour when their memoriall shall rot and perish and be blotted out from under Heaven I say not but you have sometime been reduced to exigents and lownesse you have been brought sometimes to the pits brink if not thrown with Ioseph into the pit but yet hath ever the pit shut its mouth upon you and rendred you hopeles of recovering out of it If as the Apostle speaks you have been troubled on 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. every side yet have you been distressed if perplexed at any time yet have you been in despair if persecuted have you been altogether forsaken if cast down yet have you been destroyed When were your affairs so lost so broken as now the enemies are and when hath your bowe so much slugg'd or your armes grown so feeble I mean when was ever your condition so desperate that when the enemy in any of their expresses or Declarations hath shot Traitour and Rebell at you you might not notwithstanding any lownesse of your condition have shot back something else in answer then your humble subjects The archers I must needs say have shot some neer shoots that of Brainford was a neer one and so was that of Bristow our losse of Bristow went exceeding neer us but blessed be the Lord never did any hit the heart to this day London
Westminster whitherto the heads of the Tribes are gathered and which are indeed the very heart of the Kingdom these have been safe as if the Lord had said of them as sometime of Ierusalem The enemy shall not shoot an arrow into them Isa 37. 33. Their aim hath been indeed at us from the beginning but they have either shot short or wide or over at least waies something or other hath been the matter and they have not hit the marke they aimed at to this day How many dayes have they set themselves for their coming to London boasting such a time they would certainly come and divide the spoil of London and satisfie their rage and lust both together but how may I say to them as our Saviour to Peter saies he when thou wast young thou girdest thy self and went whither thou wouldest but when thou art old thou shalt stretch out thy hands and another shall gird thee So I to them when they were joviall and prospered how oft have they pointed themselves a day of coming hither though in the winding up we see them glad to come in by a day of your pointing they themselves have often heretofore set themselves a day for their coming to London now let them look to it if they come not in by the day of your setting So that in this also you perceive your condition alike to Josephs which should exceedingly animate you in your worke your bowe hath abode in strength and the armes of your hands have been made strong you neither being hitherto so far prevailed upon as to forego a good conscience nor yet to be ruined and destroyed for keeping of it God having made good to you this truth also that however the people of God may be assaulted infested by enemies yet are they not wholly overcome by them Observ 3 The godly being assaulted are not only not overcome but in conclusion prevail and become the head of their enemies Thus it was with Joseph who although sometime the most abject maligned one of all Israels family yet at last becomes both the shepherd and stone of Israel Thus it happened to our Saviour who although a stone despised and rejected of the builders yet in conclusion becomes the head of the corner Psal 118. 12. And this comes to passe sometimes that the godly may be made amends unto for their sufferings Sometimes the Lord recompenses the services of wicked men thus had Nebuchadnezzar the conquest and spoil of Egypt for his service done against Tyre and if Ezek. 29. 18 19 20. he reward wicked mens services will he not much more recompense his peoples sufferings Sometimes to vex and torment their enemies to whom what greater vexation then to see the men that they so much detested advanced above them What greater torment to Haman then that Mordecai should be the man whom the King would honour Sometimes for the good of the enemies themselves and this is plainly the case in hand For had not Joseph been sold into Egypt and there advanced both they that sold him yea and that whole family might have been lost and destroyed through want and famine And had not our Saviour suffered that after-terward he might be exalted how had neither any of those from whom he suffered or any other been saved by him Vse And is not this truth made good to you this day and are not you so far from being overcome that indeed you have prevailed and are raised far above the lownesse of your enemies Surely you have prospered wonderfully of late dayes you have prevail'd to admiration your bowe hath not only been strong as Josephs but like the bowe of Jonathan that turned not back that returned not empty it has prospered so 2 Sam. 1. 2â— of late as if like that bowe in the clouds it did assure us we should no more have a deluge a deluge of bloud in England How every whit as like are you become to Joseph in your prosperous condition as you saw your selves like him erewhile in your affliction and sufferings and if in regard of the likenesse of your sufferings I said erewhile the archers have sorely grieved you shot at you hated you how truly for your alike prospering may I now say Your bowe hath abode in strength and the armes of your hands have been strengthned and you are this day become the shepherds and stone of England Give me but leave a little to make out this parallel also First therefore we finde that Joseph after depression Gen 41. 41. and sufferings for a while is in conclusion made Ruler over all the land of Egypt And is not your condition parallel who whatever your former difficulties and troubles have been and howsoever straitned and confined yet are now become Rulers even over all the Kingdom But further it happened that upon Josephs advancement and prevailing his brethren those archers that shot at him and hated him do now come crouching Gen. 42. 6. yea prostrating themselves before him And who sees not since your prevailings those archers that have shot at you and sorely grieved you now that their bowes are broken and their arrows spent I mean their estates consumed and their credits crackt submitting themselves and daily comming in to compound and make their peace with you and as the Psalmist fully expresses the like case the beasts of the reeds by which the companies of archers are Psal 68. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feras arundinis vide Aiâ—sw meant submitting themselves every one of them with pieces of silver Only herein I could wish the parallel came more home Joseph when his brethren presented themselves before him spake roughly unto them told them they were spies and till he perceived from them Gen. 41. 7 8 â— some sense of their faultinesse and sin he did not saies the story uncase and discover himself to be their brother Joseph And ought not you to do so too and is it sufficient that you accept from your malignant brethren a moiety of their estates and they pay down their price of bloud without expecting from them any acknowledgement at all of their bloud-guiltinesse and should not some of them at least wise be taken and challenged as spies which if done how thinke you would it not prove truer of them then of Josephs brethren Again Joseph sometime dreamed that the Sunne and Gen. 37. 9. Moon and Starres did obeysance before him and it came to passe accordingly The Starres which were his brethren did so in like manner did the Sunne and Moon also And have so many of your brethren come in and submitted to you and some of them starres of the first magnitude and may it not be expected the Sunne and Moon which are next unto them will do so too If they do not for my part I think they may do worse however I am confident it will be never the worse for you if they do not Yet further Was Joseph advanced
to be the shepherd and feeder of Israel and are not you at this day become the shepherds of England the whole family of England as far as under your command depending upon you yea and that little life that yet remains in bleeding and famisht Ireland being by your care and means sustained and preserved also Again Did Joseph become the stone of Israel and are not you become the stone of England Indeed a stone of offence and stumbling to Popery Prelacy Tyranny and against which both they and their abettors impinging are stumbled and fallen and I hope shall never rise again but yet a precious foundation stone for Religion and publike liberty and by means whereof both of them are sustained and upheld at this day in England Again For the manner and way of Josephs advancement and getting up Had Ioseph ever become Lord over Egypt had he not first been sold a slave into Egypt was not his selling into Egypt intended indeed to his ruin that which was the very occasion and vantage ground to all the great honour and favour there bestowed upon him And I appeal to your selves Honourable and beloved had publike liberties which are the cause you own and stand for gained so much ground as at this day they have upon arbitrary power if arbitrary power had not enterpriz'd the subversion of all just liberties and had not some Romish brokers endeavoured to barter away our Religion to Rome and Popery had it in any likelihood arived to that height of reformation and purity 't is come to at this day We had been as Issachar content to have borne our burdens if so be our task-masters had not so long added to their weight till at last they became utterly insupportable And had your selves Noble Patriots been so high as now you are if it had not been endeavoured to lay you in the lowest dust and tell me are you not grown great even by the successe of those battels which were on purpose by the enemy stricken with you to bring you to nothing So that though I say not of you perijstis nisi perijstis ye had been undone if ye had not been undone yet may I say confidently Ye had not been made as now you are if first of all it had not been attempted to undo you Once more Ioseph was not only lifted up to his own advancement and honour but thereby even those that hated him fared the better also And is not your case alike For though at present your Malignants acknowledge no beholdingnesse to you yet if hereafter they shall begin to look toward Religion or shall have need to seek for succour from the Laws and rights of the people of England must they not be beholding sor preservation of them under God to the present Parliament So that to summe up all If therefore because of Iosephs advancement his brethrens submission and his sustaining both them and that whole family 't is said of him His bowe abode in strength and the armes of his hands were made strong and he is therefore called the shepherd and stone of Israel how truly may the like be spoken of your selves your case in all the particulars above mentioned as is apparent comming up fully unto Iosephs God having made good to you this truth also The godly being assaulted are not only not overcome but in conclusion prevail and become the preservers and head of those that hate them Observ 4 That the godly are not overcome but in conclusion prevail they ow it to the over-ruling power and hand of God So much is here acknowledged by the Patriarch in the behalfe of his Ioseph sayes he his bowe abode in strength and the armes of his hands were made strong but how comes it to passe he adds by the hands of the mighty one of Iacob If Iosephs hands are made strong it is by the strong hands of the God of Iacob So much likewise is acknowledged by the Psalmist Psa 118 22 23. in the behalf of himself as a shadow and type of Christ sayes he The stone which the builders refused is now become the head of the corner This is the Lords doing If Christ become a stone of rejection this is mans doing but if he become a corner stone this sayes the Psalmist is the Lords doing And to say the truth That Iosephs brethren should pack him away into Egypt as they thought for his destruction but indeed for his advancement and that Iosephs advancement should become the means of their preservation In like manner that Christs abasement from his brethren should make way for his exaltation and his exaltation a means of both their and our salvation I mean Jews and Gentiles salvation whose doing can this be but the Lords doing and when men bring any thing to passe by endeavouring to prevent it and accomplish it by making what opposition they can against it which apparently was done in the case in hand what else can this be but the will and work of God Vse And must not the like be acknowledged concerning your prevailing and successes also and is not all to be ascribed unto a powerfull and gracious dispose and hand of God If you have counselled well is it not because God was in the assembly of the Iudges and directed Psal â—8 â—4 you If your Armies have fought well is it not because God hath taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight yea himself fought for them If by storm and scalado they have taken in the strongest pieces of the enemy is it not by their God they have Psal 18. 19. leaped over the wall And in this last mercy which this day is set apart to blesse God for the taking in of that strong and important City of Chester although they that had the conduct of worke have no waies been wanting either in diligence or faithfullnesse yet must not both they and we say in the Psalmists language Who Psal 60. 9 10. hath led us into the strong City hast not thou O God I thinke but how it hath been with us when God at any time hath withdrawn his helping hand from us When God hath not presided in our counsels what weaknesses what distractions have accompanied them how slow hath been their motion and perhaps in conclusion altogether to no purpose And for action too who knows not that no sooner God has turned his back upon us but we have turned our backs upon the enemy and when our mighty ones have not found with them the Lords hand neither have any of our mighty ones been able to finde their own Psal 7â— 5. hands And had the Lord now of late withdrawn his hand what had been the consequence what else but your bowes broken your arrows consumed your Towns given up your Armies defeated your Cause I mean Religion and Liberties triumphed upon and your selves though in a much lower posture crouching and submitting to the enemy as the enemy at this