A SERMON PREACHED AT BARSTAPLE Vpon occasion of the late happy success of Gods Church in forraine parts By G. H. D. D. LONDON Printed for R. Allot and are to be sold at the signe of the Beare in Pauls Church-yard 1632. A SERMON PREACHED AT BARSTAPLE VPON OCCASION OF THE LATE HAPPY SVCCESSE OF GODS CHVRCH IN FORRAINE PARTS Iudges Cap. 5. Ver. 31. So let all thine enemies perish O Lord But let them that love him be as the Sunne when he goeth forth in his might THere are few I presume that heare me this day but some what they haue heard of the great victories which it hath pleased Almighty God lately to give to those of the reformed Churches in forraigne parts professing our religion in which regard that we might in some sort expresse our mindfulnesse of them our well-wishing to them our thankfulnesse for them and our rejoycing with them I haue made choice of these words at this time by Gods gracious assistance to bee opened vnto you In the Chapter going before we read of a wonderfull great defeate by Barak the sonne of Abinoam and Deborah the Prophetesse who at that time judged Israel though a woman given to the forces of Iabin King of Canaan which were utterly routed pursued put to the sword by the Israelites not so much as a man left alive all the way from the river Kishon even to Harosheth of the Gentiles being sprinkled with bloud and bestrewed with dead carkases and for Sisera the Generall of the Armie under Iabin the day being thus lost he forsakes his chariot and flies for his life and in his flight at the motion of Iael the wife of Heber the Kenite turnes aside into her tent where being curteously entertained and tyred with wearinesse giving himselfe to his rest he fell so soundly asleepe that Iael taking the opportunity stole upon him and with a hammer in her hand fastened a naile in his temples so fully home that hee never rose againe from the place Hereupon Deborah and Barak and by their example all the people take up a song of triumph a sacred and solemne hymne to the Lord of Hosts the Author of the victorie which takes up this whole Chapter in imitation of Moses and the men of Israel on the one side and Miriam the sister of Moses with the women on the other who after their deliverance from the cruell oppression of the Aegyptians and the overwhelming of Pharaoh and his horsmen in the red Sea thus sing unto the Lord which it should seeme was the burden of their song For he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider hath he throwne into the Sea And such a song was that which the daughters of Israel tooke up perchance in imitation of this after the vanquishing of the Philistines they goe forth to meete Saul and David in their returne from that slaughter with tabrets and instruments of musicke singing and dancing and as they played they answered one another and said Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands Nay the very Gentiles after victorie obtained they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too or songs of triumph which they called a Poean Poeana canamus and againe dicite Io Poean Io bis dicite Poean and if they did thus to their heathenish gods which indeede were no gods but Idoles how much more should wee doe the like to the true and everliving God This Song as it is thought was composed by Deborah which I am the rather induced to beleeve not only because shee was a woman of singular gifts and graces and above all indued with a propheticall Spirit because shee stirred up and spurred forward Barak assisting and encouraging him with her presence and counsel in the whole action but chiefely because in the 12 ver shee thus rouzeth up her selfe Awake awake Deborah awake awake utter a song but by whom-soever it is composed it is certainly a most excellent divine hymne and of a marvellous loftie high straine as will easily appeare to any man that reads it with attention and judgement The words of my Text they are the very upshot and close of the song and in that respect no doubt the more considerable They containe in them a prayer a double prayer spreading it selfe into two branches whereof the one is an Imprecation against Gods enemies so let all thine enemies perish O Lord the other a Petition but let them that love him be as the sunne when he goeth forth in his might the Imprecation is for the perishing of Gods enemies the Petition for the flourishing of his friends because first his enemies must perish before his friends can flourish as darknesse must first be dispelled before light come in place and sicknesse expelled before health be recovered these two being like the two buckets of a well or the two scales of a ballance the falling of the one is the rising of the other as the house of David grew stronger by the weakning of Sauls house and Rome erected her trophies in the ruines of Alba. Now the Imprecation being thus delivered by a Prophetesse containes a Prediction as the Petition doth likewise a position and in some translations is so rendred In the Imprecation we are first to consider whether or no it be lawfull and how farre to pray against others Secondly what these enemies of God are Thirdly by whose hand they are to fall and to perish and lastly the manner of their perishing out of this word So so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. That which gives occasion to this doubt in the first place is the words of our Saviour Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Wee are to know then that we must pray for our enemies but against Gods enemies this was the practice of the Prophet David when he speakes of his owne enemies when they were sicke saith he my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soule with fasting I behaued my selfe as though he had beene my friend or brother I bowed downe heavily as one that mourneth for his mother but when he speakes of Gods enemies who had taken to themselves the houses of God in possession then he changes his note O my God make them like a wheele as the stubble before the wind as the fire burneth a wood and as the flame setteth the mountaines on fire so persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraide with thy storme It was the usual forme of the Priests at the removing of the Arke specially in time of warre and wee have it taken up by the Psalmist Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him let his not our enemies be scattered or if they bee both ours and his wee are to pray for them as they are ours but against them as they are his We
here of is apparent the Church is the spouse and he the husband of this spouse the Church the body and he the head of this body the Church the family and he the father of this family the Church the armie and he the Generall of this armie the Church the kingdome and he the Soveraigne of this kingdome and if the spouse suffer can the husband be insensible of it if the body suffer can the head be insensible of it if the family suffer can the father of the family be insensible of it if the armie suffer can the generall be insensible of it if the kingdome suffer can the soveraigne be insensible of it nay a far neereunion there is betwixt Christ and his Church than betwixt the husband and the spouse for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh one flesh they are but the wife liues not by the soule of the husband as the Church doth by the spirit of Christ the wife feeds not upon the flesh of the husband as the Church doth upon the flesh of Christ the wife is not bought with the bloud of the husband as the Church is redeemed by the bloud of Christ and by this meanes becomes neerer unto him than his owne right hand dearer than the apple of his eye Here is our comfort then there being so many obligatory relations and mutuall ingagements betweene God and his Church the enemies of the Church are therby made his enemies and if God be on our side who shall be against us To fight against God is as if a man should spit against the winde which carries it backe in his owne face the furie of Gods enemies against his Church is but as the ratling of a violent haile-storm upon the tiles which makes a great noise for the time as if it would beate down the house but is cast off as soone as it comes on and then lies on the ground and within a while melts away or as the proud surges of the sea which come swelling and roaring towards the rocke as if they would rend it in peeces and carrie all before them but the issue is that they dash themselves against the rock and so turne into froth but the rock being onely washed remaines where it was so is it with the Church which is built upon the rock the windes may blow and the flouds arise and the raine beate upon it but it falls not because t is built upon a rocke and the gates of hell shall never be able to prevaile against it The third considerable point in this Imprecation is the hand by whose power the enemies of God shall perish that is by the hand and power of him whose enemies they are and therefore doth Deborah as we see by an apostrophe turne her to the Lord and directs her speech to him So let or so shall all thine enemies perish O Lord that is they shall thus perish by thy hand and hence it is that in so many passages shee ascribes the victorie wholy to the Lord Deborah said unto Barak Vp for this day wherein the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand is not the Lord gone out before thee and in the next verse immediately following The Lord discomfited Sisera and all his charriots and all his host with the edge of the sword before Barak it is not said that Barak discomfited them before the Lord but the Lord before Barak and againe in the 23. of the same Chapter So God subdued on that day Iabin the King of Canaan before the children of Israel Though Barak signifie lightning yet was hee but as a thunder-bolt in the hand of God against Sisera and though Deborah signifie a Be yet no doubt but her diligence and providence in assisting Barak was overruled and guided by the providence of God and so much her selfe upon the matter confesseth in this very song they fought from heaven the starres in their courses or paths fought against Sisera they fought from heaven who was that but he Lord of heaven and earth which Iosephus thut expresseth There suddenly fell a storme saith hee of raine mixed with haile which the wind drove against the faces of the Canaonites and tooke away their sight making those that carried darts and such as served with the sling unprofitable in their service the Targetiers likewise having their hands benummed with cold could scarcely weild their swords but the tempest beating on the backes of the Israelites not onely wrought them lesse offence but made them also more forward being whetted thereunto by the manifest signe of Gods favour and presence whereupon disarraying and breaking through their enemies battel they made a great slaughter of them so as a part of them fell by the weapons of the Israelites the rest were overrunne by their owne horsemen and chariots Hitherto Iosephus much like wherunto is that storie which Eusebius out of Apollinarius and Tertullian reports that the armie of Marcus Aurelius warring upon the Marcomannians being in sore distresse for want of water and having at that time in his pay a legion of Christians which served under him they all with one consent the signe being given fell upon their knees and earnestly praied God for reliefe who instantly thereupon sent such a storme of thunder and lightning and raine and haile as it amazed their enemies driving full in their faces but refreshed them to the utter discomfiture of the one and victorious triumph of the other and thus the Emperour himselfe though by religion a Pagan by his letters signified to the Senate and thereupon gave not onely that legion the name of fulminatrix but strait charge that none should be put to death or punished for being Christians All which considered great reason had Gideon in the crie of his souldiers to preferre the sword of the Lord before his owne as t is in the seventh Chapter of this booke The sword of the Lord and of Gideon not the sword of Gideon without the sword of the Lord nor the sword of Gideon in the first place and then the sword of the Lord but first the sword of the Lord and then the sword of Gideon the sword of the Lord to direct and the sword of Gideon to execute the sword of the Lord as the primarie esficient and the sword of Gideon as the subordinate instrument the sword of the Lord without the sword of Gideon in the ordinary course will doe nothing and the sword of Gideon without the sword of the LORD at all can doe nothing Navies of ships troopes of horse regiments of foote fortresses ramparts artillerie munition and all military provision without him availes nothing hee it is who directs the bullet and the arrow to the marke who sharpens the sword that it may enter in to glut it selfe with flesh and make it selfe drunke with bloud who gives wisdome to the captaine and courage to the
souldier who strengthneth his arme and teacheth his fingers to fight and covereth his head in the day of battell Through God we shall doe valiantly for he it is that shall tread downe our enemies no King can be saved by a multitude of men and a horse is but a vaine thing to deliver a man vaine is the helpe of man without the helpe of the Lord therefore King David who wanted neither valour nor experience nor provision for the wars professeth of himselfe I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me he doth not say I will break my bow or I will cast away my sword but I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me but it is thou Lord that savest and puttest them to confusion that hate us it is thou and thou alone that refrainest the spirit of Princes and art terrible among the Kings of the earth that knappest the speare in sunder and burnest the chariots in the fire that bluntest the head of the arrow that it cannot pierce and takest off the edge of the sword that it cannot wound that takest away the wisdome of the Captaine and the courage of the souldier that pullest downe the thickest walls batterest the strongest forts and levellest the highest towers with the ground It is thou and only thou who raisest and turnest the windes at thy pleasure and by them makest use of raine and snow and haile and dust and smoke and of the windes themselves to the annoiance of thine enemies and reliefe of thy friends Thus as S. Ambrose in his booke against Symmachus reports it he assisted the good Emperour Theodosius being now in great danger by raising on the suddaine a mighty wind which carried backe the darts of his enemies upon their owne heads and withall caused the darts of his souldiers to pierce the deeper into their bodies which no doubt gave occasion to those verses of Claudian O nimium dilecte Deo cui fundit ab antris Aeolus armatas acies cui militat aether Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti O Gods great favourite to whom is sent From Aeole's vaults a warlike regiment Vnder whose ensigne heaven above bears armes And the winds sworn his souldiers wait alarms To whom then shall we goe with a song of triumph for victory received Not unto Mars as did the old Romans but for us our helpe standeth in the name of the Lord who hath made both heaven and earth some put their trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God his name we will remember by flying to him for succour and his name wee will remember by returning to him with praise and thanksgiving Not unto us Lord not unto us but untothy name give the praise and herein we are sure we cannot erre except Moses erred who after his victorie obtained upon the Amalekites built an altar and called the name of it Iehovah Nisi the Lord my banner except the Prophet David erred who professed of himselfe I will sing a new song unto thee O God upon a Psalterie and an instrument often strings will I sing praises unto thee It is he it is he that giveth victory unto Kings and delivereth David his servant from the perill of the sword or from the hurtfull sword lastly except Deborah the Prophetesse erred I am sure we cannot erre in this point who in the very entrance of her song dedicates it to the Lord Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel heare O Yee Kings and give eare O Yee Princes I even I will sing unto the Lord I will sing praise to the LORD GOD of Israel The fourth and last observation in this first branch is the manner of perishing of Gods enemies out of the word So So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. So as did Sisera with his army suddenly and when they least expect it as did Sisera shamefully and with dishonour as did Sisera utterly and without recovery as did Sisera So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. First then let them perish suddenly and when they least expect as did Sisera Sisera was now in the height of his pride and confidence in the very top of his jollity and bravery his master had now by the space of twenty yeeres mightily oppressed and harrowed the children of Israel whereby they became both unarm'd and dishartened hee had now drawne out into the field as witnesseth Iosephus 300000 foote 10000 horse and 3000 chariots whereof 900 of them were of iron whereupon himselfe and his adherents were so assured of the victorie that as we reade in the three verses here immediately before going in my text His mother looking out at a window and earnestly expecting every moment as it should seeme the returne of her sonne in his triumphant chariot she wondred what should stay him there he was so long a comming whereunto her wise ladies answered her or rather she prevented them and answered her selfe that the reason no doubt of his long stay could be none other than the dividing of the prey taken from the vanquished enemy and the lading of themselves with abundance of rich and pleasant spoiles but behold while she thus expected and reasoned the matter in her selfe wofull tydings was suddenly brought her not only of the death of her dearest son but of the miserable defeat and slaughter of the whole armie by him conducted and then presently follow the words of my text So even so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Nay so they shal perish when the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity did flourish then it is that they shall be destroied for ever then even then shall God shoot at them with a swift arrow Suddenly shall they be wounded when they shall say peace and safety then Sudden destruction shall come upon them unawares as travell upon a woman with childe and they shall not escape that which the Psalmist speakes of the wicked in generall may truly be verifyed in particular of those enemies of the Lord who lately perished I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Laurell yet for all his great power and pompe he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but hee could not be found hee was suddenly gone in the turn of an hand as it was fore told of Iulian Nubecula est cito transibit he is but a thin cloud and will quickly vanish and so indeed it fell out Such a flash was that Spanish bravado in the yeere 1588 predictions had every where run and were verily beleeved that some great conversions of kingdomes would fall out in that yeare and the Spaniards for the invasion of this kingdome covered the seas with such a navie as for ships men munition and provision in all kindes it was as our Annalist
speakes omnium quas Oceanus unquam vidit instructissima the best furnished and most accomplished of any that the Ocean ever saw it was more like a moving forrest than a fleet three whole yeares in preparing and cost the King of Spaine by their owne report thirtie thousand ducats every day inso much as themselvesin the pride of their heart and assurance of victory called it the invincible Armado and Bernardinus Mendoza then ambassador in France caused bookes to bee published of their conquest of England but notwithstanding all their vaine braggs and confidence they passed away and were not we sought them but they could not be found Quam benè te ambitio mersit vanissima ventus Et tumidos tumidae vos superastis aquae Iustly the wind windy ambition drownd And swelling waves did swelling harts confound In memory of which sudden discomfiture money was coyned with this inscription stamped on the one side Venit Vidit Fugit and on the other Dux femina facti So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Let them also perish So that is shamefully and with dishonour as Sisera did Hee was for his person and qualities a Captaine of great fame and long experience trained up in the wars and militarie affaires from his very childhood whereas Barak on the other side was but a raw commander of little experience and lesse courage as it should seem by his answere to Deborah that he would not march into the field nor incounter Sisera without her and besides that his souldiers were taken up in haste undisciplind unexercised and unfurnished their spirits had beene broken by long servitude under the Canaanites and their number very small but tenne thousand men in the whole scarce matchable with Sisera s horsemen yet by this handfull of men was Sisera s huge hoste cut in peeces and himselfe flying shamefully out of the battell as shamefully by the hand of a woman as did Holophernes by the hand of Iudith and Abimelech should have done having his scull broken by a peece of a milstone throwne downe from a tower from the hand of a woman had not he to prevent the shame commanded his armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword as we may read in the ninth Chap. of this very booke Thus Sisera as Guicciardin speakes of Charles the eight his expedition to Naples and returne from thence came into the field like thunder and lightning but went out like a snuffe more than a man at first and lesse than a woman at last Thus perished Herod a grievous persecutour of the Church too who sitting in Majestie upon his throne of estate and glistering in his royall apparell as an Angell making an eloquent oration unto the people so that they gave a shout crying out and saying It is the voice of God and not of man but immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him and he was eaten up of wormes and gave up the ghost and so perished both suddenly and shamefully And thus Goliah who was of a mighty stature wherunto his strength was every way answerable and his armour his helmet his coate of male his greaves his target his speare proportionable to his strength and stature upon which he was so confident that he disdained David making account and threatning him out of hand to give his flesh to the fowles of the aire and to the beasts of the field but it fell out otherwise this great Gyant thus swelling with pride quickly falls by the cast of a stone throwne out of the sling of a poore silly boy in comparison of him and this God doth that the plumes of mans presumption may thereby be taken downe and the greatnesse of his owne power may appeare in the weakenesse of the meanes And so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Lastly let them perish So that is utterly without all hope of recovery as Sisera did not so much as a man left to carry tydings of the successe to Iabin King of Canaan whose forces they were nay more than so Iosephus assures us that Barak having now gotten to himselfe more spirit by this victory he made use of it and staied not here but marched forward leading his armie even to the gates of Azor the Imperiall Citie of all Canaan slew Iabin that came out against him and having slaine the King levelled the Citty with the ground with which relation of Iosephus the last verse of the Chapter immediately going before seemes to accord where we reade that the hand of the Children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Iabin the King of Canaan untill they had destroyed him and so much doth the Psalmist intimate where he makes this victorie as a president or patterne to all succeeding ages Doe unto them saith he praying against the professed enemies of God and his Church as unto the Midianites as to Sisera as to Iabin at the brooke of Kison which perished at Endor they became as the dung of the earth And so let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Yea so sha◠al thine enemies perish O Lord this imprecation being likewise a prediction thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in peeces like a potters vessell thou shalt so dash them as they shall be broken to shivers thou shalt so breake them to shivers as there shall not bee left so much as a sheard to take fire withall from the hearth or water out of the pit from hence it is that their perishing is compared to the vanishing of smoake which mounts and dilates it selfe for a time but instantly is so cleane gone as no man knowes what is become of it and to the burning of stubble which in a moment is turned into ashes The hoùse of Iacob shall be a fire and the house of Ioseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devoure them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it Such a promise we have of the utter perishing of the whore of Babylon The tenne hornes which thou sawest upon the beasts these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and hsall eate her flesh and burne her with fire and in the very next Chapter of the totall and finall destruction of the City Babylon by which Rome is meant and that even by the testimonies of the Iesuits themselves Vega and Ribera And a mighty Angell took up a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be throwen downe and shall bee found no more at all shall be found no more there is her finall no more at all there is her totall destruction And s oeven so let all thine enemies perish O Lord suddenly shamefully irrecoverably And so I passe from the malediction to the benedi ction from mount Ebal the mountain of cursing to mount
Gerazin the mountaine of blessing from the imprecation against Gods enemies to the deprecation for his friends But let them that love him be as the Sun when hee goeth forth in his might upon which I shall insist the lesse because I have already dwelt so long upon the former In the handling therof I will first treat of that kinde of divine love which is here to be understood and of the severall degreestherof secondly of the semblance of such as are therwith inflamed to the sun thirdly of their resemblance to the sun when he goeth forth in his might Love is a passion of the mind or that point of the soule by which it longeth to bee united to the thing it loves Amor meus pondus meum eo feror quocunque feror saith Saint Augustine my love is to me my weight by it am I carried whithersoever I am carried so that looke what wings are to a bird sayles to a ship legs to a man wheeles to a cart and weight to heavy bodies to the drawing of them downe to the center from whence they came the same is love to the soule for the uniting of it to the object it affects Anima est non tam ubi animat quam ubi amat the soule being not so much where it lives as where it loves Againe love is as it were prima mensura the principall and primarie measure of al the other passions of the soule as our love is so is our hatred our hope our joy our feare our griefe proportionable to the measure of our love to the thing we affect is our hatred to that which opposeth against it our hope of attaining it if we have it not our joy in possessing it if we have it our feare of losing it even when wee possesse it and lastly our griefe for the losse when we are deprived of it Now for the generall kindes of love it is either unlawfull as immoderate selfe love irregular carnall love inordinate worldly love or lawfull and that either naturall betweene those of the same bloud or morall between those of the same vertuous qualities or civill betweene those of the same Citty and Corporation or Spirituall between those of the same mysticall body of IESVS CHRIST and yet a more transcendent than all these is Divine love which first reflects upon God and then from God and for Gods sake upon other things and persons Qui aliquid amat praeter Deum non propter Deum non amat Deum hee that loves any thing or person beside GOD and not in reference to God loves not God God then we are all to love because he is God most beautifull and glorious most wise most powerfull most holy most just most true in himselfe we are likewise to love him because he is Good to all his creatures in generall and to us in particular and for Gods sake we are to love those things which belong unto him but specially his Church than which nothing in this world is to him more pretious or more properly his and this love doe I take to be understood here in this place let those that love him be as the sun for as by Gods enemies in the former part of the verse are to bee understood the enemies of his Church so by his friends in this latter part are undoubtedly to be understood the friends of his Church and of that Gospell and truth which by that Church is professed Of this love there are different degrees whereof the first is to wish well unto it and to pray for it that GOD would be pleased to raise up Kings and Queens to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers unto it that he would stirre up the Princes of the earth to be a protection to it and to shrowd it under the wings of their authority that the vinyard which his owne right hand hath planted be not devoured either by cunning of wily Foxes or by the rage of the wilde Bore out of the forrest A second degree of this love is to preferre the peace the libertie the prosperitie of the Church before our owne private concernements as the arme offers it selfe to the blow for the preservation of the head wherein consists the safety of the body and the elements forsake their proper motions for the good of the Vniverse thus did Vriah that worth souldier and faithfull servant of the Lord and oâ— David being advised by the King to goe home and refresh himselfe with the comforts of his own house what was his answer The arke saith he and Israel and Iudah dwel in tents and my Lord Ioab anâ— the servants of my Lord abide in the open fields shall then goe into mine owne house to eate and to drinke and lie with my wife by thy life and the life of thy soule I will not doe this thing a memorable speech an admirable resolution to be in a manner carelesse of himselfe till he saw the state of the Church the prosperitie whereof then depended upon the preservation of the Arke to be in safety To like purpose was that noble answer of Terentius a renowned captaine under Valens the Emperour an Arrian by profession who returning with victorie from Armenia and being thereupon willed by the Emperour to demand some recompence for his good service presented this petition that the Orthodox Christians might have the libertie of a Church by themselves wherein to worship God apart from the Arrians whose heresie had then spred it selfe exceedingly he asked not saith Theodoret gold or silver lands or houses but sued only in the Churches behalfe yet the Emperour upon the reading of his supplication being much displeased tare it in peeces threw it away and bid him aske somewhat else but Terentius modestly gathering up the peeces againe professed to him that if he could not bee heard in Gods cause he would make no suit for himselfe Sanctus arduus hic amor est dignusque notari this I confesse was a very high straine and great measure of love to God his truth and the distressed Church But the third and last and highest pitch of love to Gods Church is when a man but specially a Prince a King adventures and indangers his crown his kingdom his life and all to deliver the Church from oppression and persecution and surely greater love than this hath no man than to hazard all he hath for the good of the Church whereof he professeth himselfe a member and great reason it is that the members of the same Church though farre distant in place yet linked together by the same faith should assist such an one with their persons or purses or both if they be able or if with neither yet at leastwise with their prayers that God would give him the heart of David the head of Salomon the hand of Gideon in a word that he may be as the Sunne Let them that love him that draw their swords and display their banners in his cause be as
the sunne The sun saith Syracides is vas admirable a marvailous instrument and well might he so call it it being next to man himselfe the greatest wonder among all the workes of God and in a manner visibilis mundi Deus the visible God of the world in so much that Socrates judged by the Oracle the wisest man then living would spend whole dayes in gazing upon it as a man transported and ravished in admiration of it and truly were it not our inbred disposition magis nova quam magna mir ari rather to wonder at things new and strange than great in themselves it is certaine there is no one thing we should so much admire as the sunne in regard of the greatnesse the glory the regularity the swiftnesse but above all the wonderfull vertue and efficacy thereof in working upon these inferiour bodies Let them then that love him and so love him as to fight his battels for the Churches sake bee as the Sunne Regular and constant in their religious purposes as the sunne is uniforme and invariable in his course from the East to the West and from the West to the East againe from the North to the South and from the South to the North againe not missing the least jot in all his points and periods turnes and returnes but performing his office so duly so exactly so precisely as if he were indeed a reasonable creature and perfectly understood what he did according to that of the Psalmist he appointed the Moone for seasons and the Sunne knoweth his going downe Safe and secure in their persons as from conspiracy and rebelion at home so from forraigne machinations and Iesuiticall Assassinates as the sunne is placed out of gunne-shot farre enough above the reach of all malicious and forcible attempts free not onely from danger but from all feare and possibilitie of danger Vnwearied and indeficient in their pious enterprizes as the sunne which though it hath now lasted by the space of so many thousand yeeres yet since the first creation thereof hath it lost nothing of that primitive vigour and originall perfection which by Almighty God was bestowed upon it Swift and speedy in their prosperous successe as the sunne which as Astronomers assure us runnes above a thousand miles within the compasse of every minute and this incredible swiftnesse was it which gave occasion to Copernicus and others to conceive that the globe of the earth did rather â—â—ove and the sunne stand still Lastly Let them be as the sunne when he goeth forth in his might which the Prophet David hath excellently described In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun which as a bridegrome comming out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to runne a race his going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Let them that love him be as the sunne when he thus goeth forth in his might Let them be acceptable and glorious powerfull and vigorous as the sunne when he riseth in the morning and so by degrees mounts up to the verticall point at high noone chasing away the darknesse dissolving the frost dispelling the mist and cheering up the spirits both of men and beasts partly with its warmth and part ly with its light Let their wayes bee as the path of the just which Salomon compares to the shining light increasing more and more unto the perfect day So let them goe on and still march forward from strength to strength from courage to courage from victory to victory till they have brought their noble and worthy designes to a blessed end So let all thine enemies perish O Lord but let them that love him bee as the sunne when he goeth forth in 〈◊〉 might Grant this good Lord we beseech thee 〈◊〉 thy mercies sake for thy promise sake for thy sons sake to whom with thee and the holy spirit three persons and one God invisible eternall only wise wee ascribe and desire to bee ascribed all power Majesty and dominion now and for ever PSAL. 45 Ver. 3 4 5. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O most mighty with thy glory and thy Majesty And in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekenesse and righteousnesse and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Thine arrowes are sharpe in the heart of the Kings enemies whereby the people fall under thee Deo soli gloria FINIS Exo. 15 1. 1 Sam. 18. 7. Math. 5. 44. Psal. 35. 13. Psal 83. ver 12. â—â— Nm. 10. ver 35. Psal. 68. ver 1. 2 Sam. 15. 31. Psa. 129. ver 5. Psal 83 ver 16. Verse 17. Verse 18. Psal. 58. 10. 11. Gen. 18. 25. Psal. 69 9. Ps. 139. 21. 22. Psal. 83. 2. Psal. 89. 49. Iudges 4. 14. Ver. 15. Ver. 20. Antiq. l. 5. c. 6. Ps. 13. Psal. 44. 6. Exodus 17. 15. Psa. 1â— 9 10. 〈◊〉 Cap. 4. 3. Ver. 3. 13. Psal. 7. Psal 7. 17 â— 3. Psa 35. Ver. 53. 12. â— Cap. 4. 16. Antiq. 5. 8. Psal 83. 9. Psal. 2. 9. Revel 2 27. Esay 30. 14. Psal. 68 2. Obadiah 18. Rev. 17. 16. Rev 18. 21. â— Sam. 11. 11. Lib 4. 28. Pro. 4. 18. Pro. 4. 18.
may lawfully pray against their designes though not against their persons as David prayed against the plots and policie of Achitophel O Lord I pray thee turne the counsell of Achitophel into foolishnesse or we may pray against their persons indefinitely though not particularly as thus let them be confounded what ere they be and turned backe that hate Sion let them bee as the grasse upon the house tops which withereth before it groweth up wherewith the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosome or lastly we may pray against their persons in particular conditionally though not absolutely first we are to pray for their conversion and then if maliciously and wilfully they persist in their obstinacy in the second place for their confusion This was Davids method fill their faces with shame that they they may seeke thy name O Lord that is that they may be converted unto thee but in case they will not be converted but stand out in their rebellion and go on still with an hard heart ahigh hand a stiffe necke and a brazen forehead then it followes Let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them boe put to shame and perish if by shame they will not bee wrought to conversion from shame let them be brought to confusion but then we must here remember that we doe not so much rejoyce because they perish as because by their perishing the Church of God is delivered and the glory of God advanced in the manifestation of his justice and for that reason the same Prophet presently addes That men may know that thou whose name is only Iehovah art the most high over all the earth that thou art the supreame Iudge of the world and sittest in the throne that judgeth right to which very purpose is that in another Psalme The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance hee shall wash or bathe his feete in the bloud of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth therefore shall the righteous rejoyce in the vengeance and bloud of the wicked not because their bloud is shed but because by the shedding of their bloud men are brought to know and acknowledge that he is the God that judgeth the earth with righteous judgement for shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right finally hereunto likewise accordeth that song of triumph Rev. 19. after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying Alleluja salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgements for hee hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the bloud of his servants at her hand and againe they said Alleluja This rubbe being thus remooved I now come to the second part of this first branch which is what these enemies of God are The enemies of God either acknowledge no God as professed Atheists or acknowledge a God but not the true God as Idolaters or the true God but goe not to him the true way that is by IESVS CHRIST as Mahometans and Iewes or goe to him by IESVS CHRIST but not by him alone as Romanists or goe by him alone but withall fancie to themselves and obstinately maintaine some erroneous opinion in fundamentall points as Hereticks or are sound enough in fundamentall points but out of an affectation of singularity separate themselves from the congregation as schismaticks or lastly joyne themselves to the congregation but either with false hearts as hypocrites or foule hands as prophane persons having both of them a forme of godlinesse but denying the power thereof these may all of them in some sense though in a diverse manner in a different degree be termed the enemies of God And againe to speake generally they are all Gods enemies who blaspheme Gods name who with hold Gods right who prophane Gods day who dishonour Gods house who abuse Gods word whou nreverently or unworthi ly receive Gods Sacraments who despise Gods ordinances who neglect Gods commandements who disgrace or disesteeme Gods ambassadors But by the enemies of God here in this place undoubtedly are to bee understood the enemies of his Church that is such as persecute it or for professions sake oppose themselves against it such an indissoluble linke and reciprocall connexion there is betwixt God and his Church that it cannot be but that the enemies of the one should be the enemies of the other The reproches of them that reproched thee are falne upon me saith the Psalmist as a member of the Church and againe Doe I not hate them O Lord that hate thee and am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I count them mine enemies And as Gods enemies are the Churches enemies so the enemies of the Church are Gods enemies and therfore they are Gods enemies because they are the Churches enemies Loe thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head and why were they thine enemies the reason is there immediately added They have taken crafty counsell against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones because they tooke counsell against his people and consulted against his Church therfore were they his enemies Remember Lord saith the same Prophet the reproch of thy servants wherewith thine enemies have reproched them therefore they were His enemies because they reproched his servants that is his Church and in this very Chapter Curse ye Meroz saith the Angell of the Lord curse bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not up to the helpe of the Lord against the mightie wherby he intitles the Churches quarrells to the Lord. But above all we have to this purpose in the ninth of the Acts a singular testimony from the mouth of the Lord himselfe as it were an oracle speaking to us from heaven where wee read that when Saul who afterward was called Paul was breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord that is the Church and to that end was upon his journey to Damascus being amazed with an exceeding bright light which shone round about him he heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he said Who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Iesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kicke against the pricks Iesus whom thou persecutest why Iesus was then in heaven and Saul on earth Saul clothed with misery and mortality here below and Iesus above sitting at the right hand of God in glory and majesty farre enough out of Sauls reach how then could Saul persecute Iesus surely none otherwise but because he persecuted the members of his Church which Iesus takes to heart as if himselfe had beene persecuted in his owne person The reason