our security in him and are willing to live both under God's Government and Protection we are properly of the World and walk according to its course Isa 33.22 The Lord is our King he will save us is as it were the Natural and Primitive Language of all Returning Sinners when they are effectually called to be Saints God's offering of himself to us in the Unlimited Ministry of the Word does not make him Ours for he is offered to multitudes now whom he will not know at last but our hearty Complyance with it 't is a mutual agreement on both hands which must confirm the Interest and complete the Title God is not to be lookt upon as our Rock before the Spirit perswades and prevails with us to chuse him and if we are not perswaded so to do we are not really his people though we may be called by his Name The Second thing is to shew how it does appear that our Rock or the Rock which the Church is entitled to is better than that of our Enemies If we compare them a little together we shall quickly and easily see a vast Disproportion I only premise that as a long continued Ridge of Hills is sometimes reckoned by Geographers and others as One Mountain so their Rock who are and have been the Churches greatest Enemies though it go under that single denomination is indeed a Conjunction of many things which they make their Refuge and esteem their safety I shall instance in six particulars which may be comprehended under this General term First An Humane Head is their Rock The degenerate Roman Church does expresly and openly avow this they declare themselves to be Originally headed by Peter as the chief of the Apostles and their Bishop and Founder and now by the Pope as his Successor Let us look a little into both First As to Peter though we should grant him to be Bishop of Rome which is more than we need to do because no satisfying proof can be brought that ever he was there yet that he had the primacy among the rest of his Brethren the Apostles and that the Christian Church was founded upon him is by no means to be allowed The Text which they have urg'd to countenance this Opinion hath been so frequently and fully cleared that I think they can scarcely abuse it to do them any further service Matth. 16.18 Thou art Peter and on this Rock will I build my Church The case in short was this v. 16. Peter a little before had made a good confession Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Christ requites him by saying also to him Thou art Peter q. d. Thou art fitly called so Peter signifying a Rock or Stone John 1.42 And hast made good this Character by the stedfastness of thy Faith in me then he adds not upon thee Peter but upon this Rock will I build my Church i. e. upon this Truth which thou hast confess 't or upon my self who am the matter and substance of it Certainly if Peter were to have had so great a preheminence beyond his Fellows our Lord would not have plac't them all equally upon twelve Thrones Matth. 19.28 which utterly shuts out the pretence of exalting Peters Chair above the rest Besides this it deserves to be remark't that none of the Apostles excepting the Son of Perdition whose Charge was taken by another fell so foulely as Peter did none deny'd and abjur'd their Master but only he as if God had resolv'd to discourage the design of advancing him to any such Headship over the Church as the Papists would put upon him He that seem'd to be a Pillar Galat. 2.9 was but left a while to himself and he seem'd like a reed shaken with the wind Secondly As to the Pope the present visible Head of the Roman Church his Succession to Peter in that Seat can never be clearly made out and if it could their case would not be much the better We know very well what abominable Monsters have possest both the place and the power as even their own Historians have reported as Rome is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Revel 11.8 so that Chair hath been literally filled with unclean Sodomites and Egyptian Sorcerers as their Antichristian Church is often described by the Beast so the Heads of it have been more properly Brutes than Men and while they have lifted up themselves above all that is called God they have carried the notorious mark and Image of the Devil The greatest Deceivers that ever appeared in the World have been their Men of Infullibility and such as have departed furthest from the Truth have been their Vnerring Guides If this Rock of theirs be as our Rock let all that have the least part of an Eye to see determine 1 Cor. 10.4 our Rock is Christ as the Rock of the Jewish Believers was a Rock which no Darts of Temptation could pierce and a Rock which stands fast for ever the Holy one of God and the King Eternal Secondly Vnwritten Traditions are their Rock and the Word of God is ours What comparison is there between these two How many things have our Enemies deliver'd to the World as Oracles which have been grosly false and fabulous And how doubtful and uncertain must the best be if we consider how lyable they were to be alter'd and deprav'd either through the remisness or treachery of those into whose hands they came How hardly can we credit a report in our own times after it hath been propagated from one to another unless we trace it to the Spring How many times are we deluded and mistaken in things which are but of Yesterday How much more when Traditions are pretended of so great Antiquity But indeed 't is a great temptation to Men to leave the Word of God and seek out other supports when they find that the Word is against them if the Bible could be suborn'd as a positive Witness in their Cause they would not fly to these Vnscriptural Sanctuaries they are forc't as it were to say something of this kind that they may not be speechless How much safer and happier are we therefore who are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets We are able to say with David Ephes 2.20 that we hope in the Word and we believe as the Sacred Canon directs us to believe but no otherwise Our Faith does not lean upon the Words of Men but the Inspired Writings of those that came from God which the Apostle Peter commends as more sure than a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.18 19. Thirdly Images Reliques and the Consecrated Elements are their Rock I joyn all these together as having some affinity one to another and being of equal signification i.e. of none at all What confidence do the Romanists place in Images as if those lifeless representations like the shadow of Peter passing by could perform extraordinary matters Acts 5.15 A piece of
supposition of their Obedience and consequently when they sold themselves by their Iniquities which is laid to their charge chap. 50.1 it might well be expected that their Rock should sell them in a way of Judgment and when they withheld or imprison'd Rom. 1.18 like the Heathen the Truth in Vnrighteousness they might rationally think that the Lord would shut them up in a state of Misery and Thraldom Now lest they or their Adversaries should overlook the Divine Hand in so marvellous a change and more especially lest their Adversaries should who were apt to say as we read in this very Chapter Our hand is high Ver. 27. and the Lord hath not done all this Moses adds in these words For their Rock is not c. q. d. Tho Multitudes of the Heathens should be defeated by a few of the Israelites it would be no strange thing because their Idol-Gods can do nothing at all for their protection and on the other side if many of the Israelites be vanquisht by a small number of the Heathen which carryes a more astonishing appearance it cannot be because those Idols act for their assistance but because our God does withdraw that help from us which he is able to afford to us We have here in the Text it self two particulars considerable 1. The Preference of the true God unto all others Their Rock is not as our Rock The Rock is a Title given to God not only in this and the preceding Verse but thrice before in this Chapter and very often in the Book of Psalms Ver. 4.15 18. Rocks anciently being places of shelter which Men used to fly unto in times of danger and distress 1 Sam. 13.6 and therefore Holy David calls God the Rock of his Refuge Psal 94.22 2. The Acknowledgment of this by Israels Adversaries Even our Enemies themselves being Judges They that were so ready to reproach and blaspheme the Name of God as well as to boast and magnifie themselves yet could not deny this It was owned not only by their Friends and Favourers Exod. 18.11 Josh 2.11 Exod. 14.18 1 Sam. 4.8 such as Jethro was and Rahab but also by their worst and greatest Opposers such as the Egyptians and Philistins too So that Moses his Appeal to the Heathens here is much like that which God made to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Isa 5.3 and the Men of Judah in their own case Acts 4.19 or like that which the Apostles made to the Jewish Rulers whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye v. 37 Two things are evidently presupposed 1. That There are no Persons in the World but what have some ROCK or other to be the object of their Confidence When Israel cast off the God of Abraham the Fear of Isaac and the Portion of Jacob they chose new Gods they did not turn perfect Atheists but they had their Gods still though poor counterfeit ones as the Rock in whom they trusted So the other Barbarous Nations had their several Deities whom they depended on for all necessary succours as well as paid a respect and veneration to This is included in what the Prophet says Micah 4.5 All People will walk every one in the Name of his God. Every Man is naturally sensible that he is not a self-sufficient being and therefore seeks after something without himself to believe in Men chuse rather to exercise Faith upon that which indeed is not God as Moses speaks in this same Song because it hath the Name v. 21. than to live absolutely without any God at all 2. The Church and the World do not repose their trust in the same God. Their Rock and our Rock are different The People of God and the rest of Mankind agree no better in their confidences than they do in their delights and many other things as they do not love the same Objects so they do not lean upon the same Some trust says the Psalmist in Chariots Psal 20.7 and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God. Many that pretend to believe and rest upon our Rock will be sure first to hew him after their own fancies they shape and fashion a God according as may please themselves but then it must be consider'd that if Men do not take him as the Scripture represents him he is not the same but another God. Many pretend a Relyance upon him but they make other things their supports in conjunction with him which is really the having of more Gods than one Psal 52.2 6. whereas we should say with David He only is my Rock and my Salvation The principal thing to be Observed from the Words is Doct. That the true Church of God is intitled to the best Rock in the Judgment of her very Enemies In the prosecuting of this I shall endeavour to shew I. In what respects God may be styled the Churches Rock II. How it appears that this Rock is better than that of her Enemies III. Whence it comes to pass that 't is better even in their Judgment who yet reject and oppose it IV. Conclude with some Inferences by way of Application especially to this day First of all I am to shew upon what accounts God may be styled the Churches Rock This shoul'd be open'd distinctly under these two Heads why is he called a Rock in general and why our Rock in particular First I shall enquire why God hath this general Name and Character of a Rock given to him here Not to run into the imprudent extream of alledging those resemblances which are forc't or foreign to this matter I shall only insist upon three which the Spirit of God himself does expresly propound to us The Infinite God may be very fitly set forth by a Rock upon the account of Height Fixedness and Strength First God is justly term'd a Rock in respect of Height Rocks are usually of an Elevated Situation above the other adjacent parts As this is commonly known and need not be laboriously prov'd so the Holy Ghost does particularly refer to it in this case The promise to him Isa 33.16 that walketh Righteously and speaketh uprightly as distinguisht from the Sinners in Zion is that he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks Psal 61.2 Accordingly David in the midst of his Troubles when his Heart was overwhelmed cryes out to God Lead me to the Rock which is higher than I. And elsewhere speaking of the Jews in the time of their Affliction Psal 78.35 he says that they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer God is often describ'd as the Lofty one and one that 's higher than the highest And the Most High God is the Name whereby he is called no less than four times within the compass of five Verses Gen. 14.18 19 20 22. This may
THE EXCELLENCY OF THE Protestant Faith AS TO IT'S Objects and Supports IN A SERMON Preached November 5th 1689. By T. CRVSO PSALM 18.31 For who is God save the Lord Or who is a Rock save our God LONDON Printed by J. R. for Iohn Salusbury at the Rising Sun near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1689. THE PREFACE THough the Judaical Observation of Times such as their Anniversary Feasts of the Passeover Pentecost Galat. 4.10 and Tabernacles were be forbidden to the Gospel-Church and no Day excepting the first of the Week hath now any stated Holiness in it more than another yet an occasional Commemoration of Judgments and Mercies upon those Dayes which God himself hath signalized may be an useful means to fasten a durable Impression of both upon us as well as to transmit the most Effectual Notice of God's wonderful Works to following Ages As it is not fit that we should cease to humble our selves under the Hand of God so soon as any Calamity is removed so on the other side we should not leave off to rejoyce in his Goodness immediately after it hath pass't before us That which is done in one Generation Psal 102.18 must be written for the Generation to come and the People which shall be created shall praise the Lord. It is too evident by the Infidelity which hath reign'd among us that we in this Nation had forgotten the God of our Fathers and worn out the sense of former Deliverances God's rescuing of them heretofore out of a danger which they saw not was little thought of for our own Encouragement in the midst of Dangers which we did see the Mercy was almost buried in the Graves of those who primarily receiv'd it and though we still shar'd in its happy Consequences yet it scarcely infus'd any more Life into our Faith than if the remembrance of it had heen quite extinct We look'd forward so much upon the Miseries which we had in prospect that there were few Psal 77.5 who look't back upon the days of old or that consider'd the years of Ancient times Notwithstanding this and other sad Tokens which were upon us of our great Unmindfulness of God who had been a Known and a Tryed Refuge he was pleased very seasonably now again to make bare his Arm in our own time and to put a new Song into our Mouths which contains in it more matter of thankful Admiration than the former did so that we seem to have the Portion of Jacob Gen. 49.26 for our Blessings have prevailed above the Blessings of our Progenitors and though our shameful degeneracy forbids us to think that we are better than our Fathers when indeed we are so notoriously worse yet we must say that God hath appear'd more eminently for us than he did for them That which we have seen exceeds what we have heard and even in this case the Younger Deliverance will claim a preheminence above the Elder I speak not this as if one must therefore supplant or blot out the memory of the other for they both agree and consist very well together and the same day having two such remarkable Seals fixt upon it by Providence it will surely be very Famous to all our Posterities as long as the Protestant Name endures in England which I hope will be as long as the World it self remains I doubt not but that they who sincerely value either of these will triumph in them both and therefore if there be any who secretly repine at this last 't is no uncharitable imagination to suppose that they are really displeas'd with the first also for the distance of Fourscore and Three Years between them is not so considerable as the Affinity of their Nature I must add to obviate the Exceptions of Strangers or Enemies that this Discourse had never been made more publick than it was first made by Preaching if the Authors intentions could have stood against the desires of the Hearers and therefore the exposing of it thus to common view which was never framed with any such design must be laid at their door and not at mine If it might but fall into the hands of as favourable Readers and be attended with a Blessing from Heaven in the perusal I should however chearfully expect that its numerous Imperfections would in Charity be overlookt and the main Truths entertain'd with some good success they that neglect the Treasure which is in Earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 and only look with a censorious Eye to the drossy part are really most injurious to themselves and will lose the benefit of far better and more valuable Performances than this or any of mine can be I conclude with a special Request to those who so earnestly intreated this from me that they would follow it with their Prayers to God that it may go forth in his Name and cloathed with a Divine Power so as not to return void or empty to him that sends it and that my whole Service in the Ministry committed to me may be prosperous to those that place themselves under it which will he the Glory and Joy of The least of God's Saints and Unworthiest of his Messengers T. C. Novemb. 9. 1689 THE EXCELLENCY OF THE PROTESTANT FAITH AS TO IT'S Objects and Supports DEUTERON xxxii 31. For their Rock is not as our Rock even our Enemies themselves being Judges THIS Dying Song of Moses whereof the Words now mentioned are a part is not only Historical but Prophetical containing some hints both of God's past and future Dispensations towards the Israelites His main scope and design in all is to shew that God was not to be blamed for his dealing with them but they were to be condemned for revolting from him And therefore whatsoever Blessings they lost or Severities they felt they must look upon their own Sin as the Cause and Reason of it To this purpose Moses starts the Question in the words going before the Text Ver. 30. How should One chase a Thousand and Two put Ten Thousand to flight except their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up This seems to be a strange and surprising Contradiction to what God had promised by the same Moses before Levit. 26.8 Five of you shall chase an Hundred and an Hundred of you shall put Ten Thousand to flight which was repeated as to the substance of it Josh 23.10 by his Successor Joshua when he called the People together towards the close of his Government They might therefore now wonder to hear that One of their Adversaries should chase a Thousand of Them though indeed the threatning grew more familiar to them afterwards for the Prophet tells them One Thousand shall flee at the rebuke of One Isa 30.17 at the rebuke of Five shall you stee till you are left as a Beacon upon the top of a Mountain c. But this Riddle is easily resolved the Promise before spoken of was upon the
from thence before the time of her final destruction but as to the Generality and main body of that Church and more especially the Learned Men in it they seem to be deliver'd over to a reprobate mind and the hardness of their hearts is become both their sin and their punishment too So hopeless an Attempt is that of Healing those whom God hath determined to cut off In the last place I am to Apply all this with some relation to the Day Several things may be Inferr'd from the foregoing Discourse which are very proper to be consider'd by us now First If our Enemies themselves cannot but judge that their Rock is not as our Rock then we have a Witness for us in their own bosoms that our Separation from them was just and necessary They cannot blame or censure the Reformed Churches that have forsaken their Communion without some inward check upon their Spirits When they call us Hereticks and give us all the other opprobrious Names they can invent 't is scarcely possible that they should forbear to think as Saul said to David that we are more righteous than they and therefore their contradicting and blaspheming like those malicious Jews is the greater sin Acts 13.45 As Pilate even when he condemned Christ did declare him innocent and faultless so while our Adversaries revile us and thunder out their Excommunications against us there is still something within them which gives sentence for us How little then is the evil which they speak to be regarded when their own Hearts tell them that they lye in speaking it Secondly This teaches us that we may very well pray in Faith for their Confusion The Scripture encouraging us to expect this much more than their Conversion Their Rock is but a Quick-sand which will swallow them up or as a Milstone to drown them Instead of a foundation to bear them What therefore should make us afraid of using the Psalmist's words Psal 97.7 with the same hope that was in him of their accomplishment Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols What should make us doubt but that the doom denounc't by the Prophet will be executed on their Gods Jerem. 51.18 They are vanity the work of Errours in the time of their visitation they shall perish During the time of God's forbearance and of the patience of Jesus Christ we should be praying that this time of visitation may be hasten'd as Men who are assur'd that their fall shall be great and that after it they shall never rise more Rom. 11.2 Let all that make Intercession against Babylon as Elias did against Israel believe this firmly that the Golden Cup which is now in her hand full of abominable filthiness shall run over at last with Divine fury Thirdly This shews how foolishly and unjustly the successes of God's Enemyes are at any time attributed to their own Rock This hath been their practice often as the Philistins offered a great Sacrifice to Dagon their God Judg. 16.23 24. when they had gotten Sampson in their hands So the Adherents of Antichrist have praised their Gods of Gold and Silver of Wood and Stone and made their acknowledgment to their several Imaginary Saints when they have prosper'd in any of their Designs But how much are they mistaken and deluded in all this How do they offend like the Caldaeans of old in imputing this power to their God which they receive from ours Habac. 1.11 We read of the Holy City being given to the Popish Revel 11.2 Gentiles to tread under foot for a limited time now who can give it to them besides the Lord of all who does it when he pleases in order to wise and holy ends An Idol which is nothing in the World 1 Corinth 8.4 i.e. hath no efficacy or vertue is worthy only to inhabit the praises of such as the horse and mule which have no understanding Fourthly If out Rock be so much better than theirs how carefully should we walk before him that he may continue to be Ours That we may not be dispossest of our Interest in him nor broken off from our Relation to him The same God who hath turned our Captivity from us is able to bring it back again and he that hath set our feet in a large place can yet shut us up into the hands of our Enemies 'T is easie with God to undo all that he hath done if we abuse his Mercy by groundless presumption and wilful impenitency The greatest Judgments do sometimes times come after the greatest deliverances Jude 5. The Lord having saved the People out of the Land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not 'T is very possible Josh 23.15 that God may bring all evil things upon the same Persons upon whom all good things have come Our Mountain does not stand so strong but that our sins may breed an Earthquake to unsettle and remove it No humane Policy or Power can protect us if our God should depart from us We read that the Army of the Syrians came with a small Company of Men against the Israelites 2 Chro. 24.24 and the Lord deliver'd a very great Host into their band because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers And if these Nations should so lose their God after such amazing Instances of his Presence with them how dismal would their condition be If God should be provok't to turn away his wrath from our Adversaries Prov. 24.18 and pour it out afresh upon us to whom should we flee for help If our Rock should sell us who of our Confederate Neighbours is able to Redeem us Fifthly Let our Rock have the Glory due unto his Name for the TWO Great Salvations which This Day brings to our remembrance I mean That which was wrought for our Fore-fathers so many years ago and That which was wrought for us but One year since God hath honoured this Day with a Double Mercy let us honour God by yielding to him a Double Sacrifice of Praise binding it as with a twisted Cord to the Horns of the Altar Psal 118.27 Let us raise a Pillar of thankfulness with such a lasting Inscription as neither Time nor any other Hands may ever be able to deface Both our Fore fathers and we were deliver'd from the same Enemies tho' not strictly from the very same methods of Conspiracy formerly they aim'd at the destruction of the Lawgivers by one blow but lately at the subversion of the Laws themselves by more gradual measures in the Powder Treason they had contriv'd to blow up the Persons of our Governours and for some years past they have been laying the Train to blow up our Constitution Blessed be that God who so seasonably prevented both the one and the other This Day might have been a Day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy 2 Kings 19.3 as Hezekiah once complain'd and so it would have been indeed if when the Children were come to the birth there had not been strength to bring forth I mean if God had frown'd upon the Glorious Undertaking of our Present Soveraign which this day begun to take effect Let not Darkness therefore nor the Shadow of Oblivion ever stain this day let no cloud dwell upon it let no mournful voice be heard therein Who is there that bears Good will to our Sion that will not reckon it the best in our English Calendar and most worthy above all others to be joyned to the Days of the Year In short Let Our Mouths be filled with God's Praise and with his Honour all this Day long and let our Conversations practically express it all our Life long That our Holy Gratitude for the Mercies which we have may fit us for those which we want that our Sun may neither go backward nor stand still but make hast in God's due time to finish its remaining course THE END BOOKS Sold by John Salusbury at the Rising Sun near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil THE Mighty Wonders of a Merciful Providence in a Sermon Preached on the Thanksgiving-day Jan. 31. 1689. The Duty and Support of Believers in Life and Death The Period of Humane Life determined by the Divine Will. The Usefulness of Spiritual Wisdom with a Temporal Inheritance The Churches Plea for the Divine Presence to prosper Humane Force in a Sermon preacht on the Fast-day Jan. 5. 1689. All 5 by the same Author A Rational Defence of Nonconformity Wherein the Practice of Nonconformists is vindicated from promoting Popery and Ruining the Church imputed to them by Dr. Stilling fleet in his Unreasonableness of Separation Also his Arguments from the Principles and Way of the Reformers and first Dissenters are Answered And the Case of the present Separation truly stated and the blame of it laid where it ought to be And the way to Union among Protestants is pointed at by Gilbert Rule Minister of the Gospel The Conformists Charity to Dissenters and Concurrence with the Favour granted them in the Act for Toleration proved from the Works of the most Eminent Divines of the Church of England Certain Sermons or Homilies appointed to be read in Churches in the time of Queen Elizabeth in Two Parts in Twelves price 3 s. Chirurgorum Comes or the whole Practice of Chirurgery begun by the Learned Dr. Read Continued and Compleated by a Member of the College of Physitians in London