watch for our halting as that wee may farther interest God in our Protection and lastly if wee suffer may have the comfort that wee suffer for well-doing 1 Pet. 3.17 Againe it unites the godly more in love and communion and fellowship one with another as the Shepheards Dog drives the scattered sheep together When the bands of the wicked had robbed David in the next verse save one he joyns to the company of those that feared God Psal 119.61.63 It awakens faith quickens to Prayer Psal 116.3 4. exerciseth patience and raiseth up our hearts to look after those things that are spirituall and eternall 2 Cor. 14.16 17. A fourth benefit which the troubles accompanying the Churches reformation bring unto the godly is the testimony of their conscience that they cleave to Christ in sincerity and truth and submit to him for no outward respects As it proved Jobs sincerity when he professed his resolution to depend on God though he should kill him Job 13.15 and comforts himself with the hope of a glorious resurrection wherein he should see the face of God with joy whatsoever became of him and his outward condition at present Chap. 19.26 27. The very light of nature taught Heathen men that the services which they performed to their gods with perill and hazard to themselves were best accepted of them The Family of the Fabii had a solemn universary sacrifice to be offered by one of that Family on the hill called Quirinalis Now when the Gauls sacked and burnt Rome and besieged the Capitol so that there was no coming to that hill but by marching through the enemies campe one Caius Fabius Dorso attired as a Priest with his sacrifice and other necessaries in his hand marcheth through the midst of the enemies astonished at his resolution offers the sacrifice and returns in safety satis sperans saith the Historian propitios esse deos quorum cultum ne mortis quidem metuprohibitus intermisisset That which he hoped upon uncertain and false grounds we have reason to believe upon undoubted evidence of the word of truth whence the Church urgeth this before God as an undoubted evidence of the sincerity of their hearts towards him that they had not forsaken him though he had broken them in the place of dragons and covered them with the shadow of death Ps 44.18 19. A fifth benefit which the Church receives by these troubles in the Churches reformation is the strengthening of their faith which though it be grounded on Gods Word which assures them that he will be their hiding place and their shield Psal 119.114 yet is wonderfully supported by experiments which beget hope Rom. 5.4 whereof the godly make speciall use upon all occasions as Psal 44.1 and 77.11 12. Now there can be no greater experiment of Gods Almighty power and readinesse to support his Church then the erecting of Christs Kingdome in the middest of his enemies Psal 110.2 yea in the midst of their tumultuous and violent oppositions Psal 21.2 Questionlesse if all Satans power cannot hinder the erecting of Christs Kingdom much lesse shall it overthrow it when it is established as our Saviour hath promised that the gates of hell that is all the power of the Prince of darknesse shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 A sixth benefit that accrues to the Church by these troubles in the reformation thereof is the doubling of their comfort after the victory which is much sweetned by the difficulty in obtaining it When the Saints under the conduct of Michael which is Christ and by his power had driven the Dragon out of heaven see what joy there is after that glorious conquest Rev. 12.10 Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdome of our God c. Lastly the more brunts we endure for Christ and the service of his Church the greater is our reward hereafter these light afflictions work for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Wherefore all those glorious promises made to the Churches Rev. 2.7.11.17.26 and 3.5.12.21 are made under the condition of overcoming These reasons only weighed are sufficient to settle the heart of any godly man when it appears that though the Churches troubles are raised by Satans malice and his instruments yet they are so ordered by the wisdome and goodnesse of God that he hath much honour and the Church so many large benefits thereby The consideration of these wayes of Gods providence in ordering the affaires of his Church is of singular use sundry wayes Vse 1 First it is a means to silence all our complaints and murmurings against the afflicted condition of the Church when it appears that those troubles are not so much the effects of the malice of Satan and his instruments as the acts and decrees of the Lord himself to whom who dare say What doest thon Dan. 4.35 So DAVID was dumb and opened not his mouth because he did it Psal 39.9 And withall it is the decree of that God who as he made the heavens by wisdome so he orders his wayes towards men in wisdome as the Heathen Poet acknowledgeth Et projucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt Dii who in his wisdome gives not so much pleasant as fit things that may rather do us good then delight us yea of that good God who is good and doeth good Psal 119.68 who loves us better then we love our selves as the same Poet acknowledgeth Charior est ipsis homo quam sibi How apt are men to quarrell at their estates when they suit not with their carnall humours The Prophet David gives himself for instance acknowledging that when he saw himself plagued every morning Psal 73.14 his heart was full of envie at wicked mens prosperity by which he gained nothing but the grieving of his heart and pricking of his reines vers 21. and the shaming of himself for his folly and ignorance vers 22. Indeed by these murmurings of ours we both disquiet our hearts in vain and wrong God himself as if there wanted wisdome or compassion or faithfulnesse in his dispensations towards his people Vse 2 Secondly such meditations help us from condemning of the cause in which we stand When David looked upon his chastisements he was ready to condemn his own way Ps 73.13 and when the Barbarians saw the Viper upon Pauls hand they judged him a murtherer Acts 28.4 but when they found he had no harm by it they took him for a god v. 6. Three things should move us to think well of the Churches cause notwithstanding the troubles incident thereunto First that those troubles are ordered by God not out of hatred but out of love and faithfulnesse for the Churches good faithfull are the wounds of a Lover Prov. 27.6 And David findes Gods faithfulnesse in his afflictions Psal 119.75 Secondly it hath been the Churches portion in all ages the lot of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles yea of Christ himself whom we should condemn in condemning the cause in which they
which shall devoure the adversaries Heb. 10.27 4. Lastly in the meane time this want of Faith in the promises leaves the heart of a man full of distractions and unquietnesse thereby so that one becomes uneven in all his wayes unsettled in all his thoughts raised up and cast down with contrary hopes and feares as the outward things of this life subject to continuall changes ebbe and flow from day to day whereof we have too many evidences in these times of trouble wherein men fall on and off as their vaine hopes and feares carry them on to one party or drive to the other to the shipwrack of their owne consciences and as much as in them lyes the betraying of the cause of Christ and of his Church and to their shame discovering to the world that they were never yet setled upon any firme foundation whereas one that hath built his Faith upon Gods promise is like a Ship moared by her anchors in a safe harbour from whence the ebbs and flouds of the sea cannot remove her 2. Vse Let me therefore earnestly beseech you right honourable and beloved by the mercies of God to labour above all things to strengthen Faith having such a firme foundation to build it on not cunningly devised fables as the Apostle cals them 2 Pet. 12.16 not the word of men who may deceive and be deceived but a faithfull word Tit. 1.29 A sure word 2. Pet. 1.29 The word of the God of truth who cannot lye a word more firme then the foundation of the earth setled for ever in heaven Psal 119.89 We have great reason to be earnest and serious in labouring with all our power to attain to this firmnesse of Faith not only because otherwise we despise this great mercy and compassion of God towards us in condescending to our weaknesse and abasing himselfe to be ingaged to us by his word his oath and his seales but more especially upon these sore weighty and important considerations 1. Of all other graces Faith is most necessary and usefull unto us every way 1. We thereby bring unto God the greatest glory by it setting to our seale that God is true Ioh. 3.33 As Abraham is said to give glory to God when he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith Rom. 4.20 Indeed there is no more mentioned in that place but that he beleeved and thereby Sealed to the power of God being fully perswaded that he which had promised was able to doe it ver 21. But without beleeving his faithfulnesse and truth with all neither had hee any sound comfort nor God his due honour by beleeving wherefore it expresly testified of Sarah that she beleeved that he was faithfull that had promised Heb. 11.11 2. ly To us is Faith of such necessity that without it wee were dead spiritually it is that which unites us unto Christ the fountaine of life in whom we live as the Apostle testifieth of himself I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by Faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 So that without Faith we are without Christ who is our life Col. 3.4 Again it is Faith that quickens all our endeavours and sweetens all our labours in Gods service knowing that in due season we shall reape if we faint not Gal 6.9 Thirdly it is Faith by which both our persons and services are accepted By Faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witnesse that he was righteous Heb. 12.4 Fourthly it is Faith that holds up our spirits in afflictions I had fainted saith David unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of God in the land of the living Psal 27.13 Whence he professeth that Gods word the ground of our Faith was all the comfort which he had in his afflictions Psal 119.50 Fifthly Faith only enables us to withstand all terrours By Faith Moses his parents feared not the Kings commandement Heb. 11.23 And by the same power of Faith the three Children feared neither King Nebuchadnezzars angry countenance nor his threatning words nor his preparations of the flames of fire to torment them no not so farre as to take time to consider what to answer in so dangerous a case Dan. 3.17 Lastly it is Faith that supplies us with strong consolations Heb. 6.18 So that the Apostle tels us that being justified by Faith as we have peace with God so we not only bear tribulations patiently but in the midst of them rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.3 Secondly as Faith of all Graces is most necessary and usefull so is it of all others the hardest to be obtained and that in divers respects For first there is nothing in Nature that can help us to the attaining of Faith Sense cannot help us for the objects of Faith are things that are not seene Heb. 11.1 That is things that are above Sense things that are in the nature of them spirituall 2. Cor. 4.18 Whereas Sense apprehends only things that are grosse and earthly and things whereof many have no present being but are in hope and expectation only Much lesse can Reason help Faith seeing that takes all her grounds from Sense Wherefore Abraham that he might waxe strong in Faith silenced Reason which would have furnished him with arguments against the promise of having a sonne by Sarah for the Apostle tels us that he considered not that is did not so much admit into debate reasons drawn from the deadnesse of his own body and of Sarah's wombe Rom. 4.19 No Sense and Reason are so farre from helping Faith that they are the most dangerous of all other meares to hinder it or overthrow it where it is When David judged by Sense of Gods wayes and dispensations which represented unto him the prosperous condition of the wicked and his owne afflictions every morning it so shooke his Faith that he had almost slipt and was upon the point of condemning his owne wayes and the state of the Godly too as himself acknowledgeth Psal 73.2.13.15 And when Sarah began by Reason to examine the promise of having a Child at 90. yeers old she was so farre from beleeving it that she laughed at it Gen. 18.11 And as long as Moses makes use of his reason to weigh Gods promise of feeding six hundred thousand men besides women and children with flesh in the Wildernesse for a moneth together we see how hardly he is brought to beleeve it Num. 11.21 22 23. It must therefore be concluded that seeing neither Sense nor Reason nor consequently any thing in Nature can bring any help to Faith nay rather are the strongest meanes to oppose and hinder it it must needs be a difficult worke as being both above and contrary to Nature to obtain it A second difficulty in obtaining Faith is the consideration of those great and wonderfull things which it apprehends and beleeves
have failed hitherto as it appeares wee have too much let our own hearts smite us in secret having in bitternes of spirit bewailed before God our former neglects engage our selves by renewed promises strengthened with firme resolutions after Davids example Psalm 132.3 4. to make this great work which God hath called us unto our first and chiefest care which wee would certainly doe if the zeal of Gods house had eaten us up with David Psal 69.9 That the fencing and ordering of the Church is a work that God will bring to passe I have shewed already And that it is our dutie to joyn with him therein no man will deny lest the curse of Meroz fall upon us Judg. 5.23 Thirdly that the greatest weight of this work lies upon the hands of the Princes and Rulers appears by Gods message sent unto Zerubbabel Hag. 1.2 By Davids charge to his son Solomon and all the Princes of Israel 1 Chron. 22.6 17 18 19. and by the examples of Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.8 9 Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.3 4.5.11 and Josiah 2 Chron. 34. commended and set before us as patterns for their zeale in establishing and reforming the Church of God And lastly that this is the time wherein you are called upon to bring forth the head stone of this work as your selves cannot deny so God himself makes it evident by the course of his dispensations towards us for the farther we proceed in this work the neerer God drawes unto us in wayes of mercy scattering our enemies and crowning us with such successes as exceed our own hopes and expectations Let me therefore speak unto you in Davids words to his son Solomon 1 Chro. 22.16 Arise Right Honourable and be doing and the Lord be with you or a little more fully in the Nobles words to Ezra chap. 10.4 Arise for this matter appertaineth to you we also will be with you be of good courage and do it Not only the Ministers and people of the Land but of all the reformed Churches abroad assist you with their prayers as Moses Aaron and Hur did Joshua fighting with the Amalekites Exod. 17.10 12. till this work be carried on to perfection Besides the honourable name which you shall leave behind you to all posterity to be called The Repairers of the breaches and Restorers of paths to dwell in Isai 58.12 your labour will not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 and will be found upon your account at the last day To descend to the particulars of the duty required of you in this great work of the Churches reformation Let us I beseech you have the help of that power that God hath entrusted you with to protect us that the Boar out of the wood waste us not nor the wild beast of the field devoure us Psal 80.13 that enjoying abundance of peace under you our souls may be redeemed from deceit and violence Psal 72.7.14 which must be done either by cutting off wicked doers from the city of the Lord Psal 101.8 or by breaking their jaws and plucking the prey out of their mouth Job 29.17 or so discountenancing their wayes that they may be the scorn of the world and men may cry after them as after a thiefe Job 30.5 In the next place let me humbly desire that the building of the inner wall of the Church may be hastened with all possible speed I mean that Ecclesiasticall Discipline may be established First that Dogs and Swine prophane persons may no longer pollute the holy things of God that such as want wedding garments may be kept out from the Lords feasts Mat. 22.11.13 For the removing of that block of offence from such as upon that pretence separate themselves from our Assemblies as polluted by the leaven as the Apostle terms it 1 Cor. 5.6 of such unclean persons who being mixt with us and admitted by us to partake of our holy things leaven the whole lump Something you have assaid to do that way already my prayer is that you may do and I hope the Lord will stir up your spirits to do yet much more Perhaps ye fear to commit too much power to Ministers lest the undiseneet abusing it liberty may thereby suffer prejudice Let me answer with the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.2 If the world shall be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters If Christ have committed to the Minister alone the highest power of the keys to bind over some to wrath and judgment and to loose others and acquit them from that dreadfull sentence in the dispensation of the Word as you must needs acknowledge promising to ratifie in heaven what they do on earth Mat. 16.19 Do you think it much to commit unto them assisted with the whole Presbyterie matters of far lesse moment the suspending of men for a while from the use of some outward ordinances But my hope is you purpose to try them in a little first which if they manage well you intend to trust them with more hereafter as the Master dealt with his servants Mat. 25.21.23 Secondly for the preventing or repressing of such as make divisions amongst us Rom. 16.17 speaking and teaching perverse things to draw disciples after them Acts 20.30 That divisions and drawing into parties are the most destructive wayes to Christian societie besides the grounds of reason the constant practice of Satan who both knowes and pursues his own advantages in making use of this dangerous Engine to undermine the Church makes it evident to the world Thus he laboured to trouble the Church in the Apostles own times as both the histories of the Acts and their own Epistles testifie The like practice he used in all succeeding times as is witnessed by all Ecclesiasticall Records And in this last age when Luther began the work of Reformation he raised up first the Anabaptists in great multitudes in Germany to disturb the peace and to hinder the growth of the Church and afterwards by dividing the Lutherans from the Calvinists hath made that wide breach between the Reformists that will hardly be closed up and in the mean time gives daily infinite advantages to that man of Sin to work the Churches utter ruine No marvell then that the Apostle adjures the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.10 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and the same judgement And afterwards useth that vehement obtestation Phil. 2.12 If we have any consolation in Christ any comfort of love any fellowship of the Spirit any bowels and mercy to be of one accord and of one minde That in all things men should be of one minde we must suppose them to be one man while we are divers men we shall have divers mindes in many things which yet need not hinder us from walking by the same rule and minding the same thing in our aim and scope Gods honour and our salvation by Christ whereunto if we be guided by the same rule the Law and Word
shall be no more said the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of Egypt but the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of the North. This was indeed a work so farre above all possibility in mans eye that the Iewes themselves concluded Our bones are dryed vp our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts Ezech. 37.1 A work in it self wonderfull to Admiration but made more wonderfull by the Time wherin it was wrought a Troublous time sufficient to hinder the most easie and likely work much more to make a work in it self so Difficult and improbable altogether Impossible in mans judgement To come therefore to the neerer Examination of these words we shall find in them three Particulars worthy our serious consideration First the manner of Expression implying an infallibility Know saith the Lord to the Prophet and Vnderstand that is be sure of it and make accompt of it as of a thing certaine that shall not faile and afterwards The street shall be built againe and the wall in the time expressed after 7 weeks that is accompting every day for a yeare after 49 yeares from the going out of the Decree Secondly we have represented unto us the Condition of the Time when it shall be built a Troublous time for the exact Period of the time that it shall be accomplished after 49 yeares it makes not much to our present occasion unlesse it be to give farther assurance to the certainty of the Prophecy that God limits it to a precise number of yeares which none can doe but hee which hath the times and seasons in his owne hand It is enough to our purpose to looke upon it as a Troublous time Thirdly we have the work promised to be performed the building of the Street and Wall of Ierusalem The accomplishment of this Prophecy we have related especially to the Booke of Nehemiah Of these three Particulars as I have layd them out before you in their order The manner of the expression considered in relation to the Work the most difficult of all works and the Time the unfittest of all times iâ— worthy our carefull observation Notwithstanding the impossibility of the work in mans judgement and the impediments by the Troubles of the time the Street and Wall shall be built yea they shall be built by such a time Doubt not of it saith God but know this be assured it shall be so Thus God may speak and thus he thinks it fit to expresse himself So that upon this particular Instance we may observe in generall that Gods Promises even concerning things most Difficult and Impossible things in Mans eye are notwithstanding certain and Infallible They are saith the Apostle all of them Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 Yea and not Nay as hee explaines it vers 18. that is True in the event and reall performance and Amen that is Stable and firme as that Hebrew word signifies This will evidently appeare by instances The greatest of all Gods promises was that of sending CHRIST into the world to be borne of a Virgin and to be made Immanuel truly Man and so GOD with us this when God promiseth Isa 7.14 hee prefixeth a Behold before it Behold a Vigin shall conceive and beare a Sonne which is a note not only of Admiration but Confirmation too as if God would represent it as a thing Present to be seene with our eyes so Peremptorily doth he promise that wonder of wonders which was as really performed in the fulnesse of time Gal. 4.4 It was a strange and unlikely thing that Israel after so long and heavie a bondage under the Egyptians should be wrested out of the hand of such a mighty Nation that kept them under as their slaves yet God not onely promiseth it but bids Abraham to make accompt of it as of a certaine thing know saith he of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and they shall afflict them 400 yeeres and afterward they shall come out with great substance Gen. 15.13 14. It was not more serioussy promised then really performed and that in the point of time limited by the Lord The selfe same day it came to passe that all the Hosts of the Lord went up out of the land of Egypt saith Moses Exod. 12.41 It seemed so impossible at hing that Abraham should have a Sonne by his wife Sarah who had bin all her life barraine and was now 90 yeeres old and her husband an hundred and both their bodies dead as to the having of children that Sarah laughs at the Promise Gen. 18.12 and yet see how peremptorily God promiseth it I will certainly returne unto thee according to the time of life and loe Sarah thy wife shall have a Sonne ver 10. And we know the Lord made it good God promiseth to provide flesh for his people in the Wildernesse that they should eate their fill of it for a moneth long Numb 11.19 20. The people thought it was more then God could do as they spake Psal 78.19 20. and Moses was almost of their mind as it appeares by his objection of the impossibility of feeding six hundred thousand men besides women and children in a barraine Wildernesse that yeelded no provision for the sustaining of mans life yet we see it made good in the event by the sending of innumerable multitudes of Quails the most dainty of all flesh Numb 11.31 Many more instances might be brought to evidence this truth but these are sufficient Let us see what grounds we have for it in Reason First that God hath sufficient ground to speak peremp torily of things to come will be evident unto us if we consider what hinders men that they cannot speak in that manner or with like certainty concerning their owne purposes There be three things in men that may hinder the accomplishment of that which they intend 1. The man may die and then all his thoughts and consequently his resolutions and purposes perish with him Psal 146.4 Now God we know lives for ever from everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal 90.2 The earth may faile and the heavens may be roled up as a garment but God remaines the same and his yeeres faile not Heb. 1.11 Whence the Apostle drawes a strong ground of consolation to us in Christs mediation that it shall be effectuall to us because he lives for ever to make intercession for uâ— Hev 7.25 2. Though the man continue and live yet his mind and purpose may alter Never had a man more full purpose to doe any thing then Esau had to kill his Brother Iacob Gen. 27.41 and this resolution continued with him 20 yeeres while Iacob sojourned with Laban as is evident by his gathering of foure hundred men to come against him when he heard of Iacobs returne homewards Gen. 32.6 Questionlesse to doe that which Iacob feared with the sword to cut off him and his retinew And yet