suggestions and publick persecutions the Devill will strive to split thee against the rock of desperation But take this for thy comfort that although thou art dangerously tossed yet thou shalt not be cast away for even he that upholdeth the heaven is thine upholder Which leadeth me from the second part of the Text the Churches passage thorow fire and water to the third which is the concomitant or the convoy Almighty God Tibi adsum I am or I will be with thee I that am the great Creator of Heaven and Earth I that fill all places and am contained in none I that am about thy path and about thy bed and spie out all thy wayes tibi adsum I am I will be with thee But what need then is there of this promise For we may say it without blasphemy that God must still be with us it being as impossible for him to deny his omnipresence as to deny himself he can sooner separate heat from fire he did that in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace he can sooner separate light from the Sun he did this at our Saviours expiration the Creator can better doe any thing then divorce or divide his presence from his Creatures for herein not only our bene esse but our very esse doth consist should he subtract his presence from us we must return into our first nothing He is not far therefore from every one of us as St. Paul told the Athenians nay he is nearer to us then we are unto our selves tibi adsum I am I will be with thee But ye know there is a two-fold presence of Almighty God First his generall presence which is his universall power and providence whereby he governeth and disposeth all things both in heaven and earth and under the earth according to that of the Psalmist Psal 139. If I climb up into heaven thou art there if I goe down to hell thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and remaine in the uttermost parts of the sea even there also shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Secondly there is Gods speciall presence whereby he is present with his elect only either to prevent their troubles or else to comfort and support them and chiefly is he with his servants in his Temple at his publick worship which may easily be explained by an example The King is or ought to be and I trust shortly will be by his power in all parts of his Dominion yet he is said to be there especially where his Courtiers where his retinue is In like manner is the King of Kings by his unbounded power and providence at all times in all places yet we may know him to be with us after an especiall manner in the Temple from his retinue of heavenly Courtiers that are there attending on him For it was not for ornament only that the walls of Solomons Temple were carved round about with Cherubims but also to signifie that the holy Angels are ever about us at our publick services And if Angels be there much more is the King of Saints tibi adsum I am I will be with thee There are three things especially that will continually be with us the Aire our Conscience and Almighty God We may as well be without our being as without our breath take but away this from us and take away us too The Aire leaveth us not till death our Conscience this goeth further with us it remaineth with us after death to all eternity Doe not therefore the least sin though none be with thee but thine owne Conscience for this will accompany thee to thy death-bed nay this worme will live to eternity And thy conscience is not more inseparable from thee then Creator whisper never so softly he will heare thee hide thy selfe never so closely he will see thee runne away never so swiftly he will still be at thine elbow tibi adsum I am I will be with thee But I should not speak so much of Gods general presence his speciall presence is that which I must here insist upon that presence which he promised the Patriarchs and Prophets that presence which our Saviour promised his Apostles Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Mat. 28. ult Alway there is no intermission To the end of the world that is world without end here is no termination We may have men for our companions that will forsake us in distresse or if they stick to us all our life they must leave us at our death But if God be our companion if God be present with us it is not distresse it is not death shall ever part us nay death shall unite us more neerly then ever we were before we shall alway be with God he will alway be with us tibi adsum I am I will be with thee But if God be alway thus present with his Church we may then expostulate here as Gideon once did with the Angel Judg. 6.13 Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us Why is the blood of his deare servants shed like water on every side Why suffereth he the Turk and Pope to drinke themselves drunk with the blood of Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus I Answer though seemingly God absent himself from his Church for a season yet never will he finally forsake her seemingly I say for indeed he absenteth not himself at all it is but in our apprehension that he is ever from us if we can but beleeve it he is present with us alway tibi adsum I am I will be with thee And the application of this now may be two-fold First here is comfort for all that mourn in Sion and with good Hezekiah turne their face to the wall Let them be cast into prison with Joseph and my Soveraign Lord the King let them be cast into a dungeon as Jeremy was let them be cast into a den as Daniel was let them be cast into the water as Moses was let them be cast into the fire as the three Children were let them goe thorow fire and water famine and sword never so many dangers never so great disasters yet so long as they have God with them this will sweeten all their pills in the multitude of the sorrowes which they have in their hearts his comfortable presence will refresh their soules Secondly seeing God is still with us this should teach us likewise to be still with him seeing he vouchsafeth to keep company with us on earth therefore our conversation should be with him in Heaven When we are lying down to sleep to him we should commit our Spirits when we wake up like David we should be present with him It was Jacobs vow Gen. 28 that if God would be with him then the Lord should be his God We need not speak so doubtfully for God is certainly with those that fear him not only by his generall but also
by his speciall presence to direct and protect them to deliver and to defend them Which leadeth me from the third part of the Text the concomitant Almighty God to the fourth and last which is the Churches safety Flumina non operient flamma non incendet the Rivers shall not over-flow thee the flame shall not kindle on thee when thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow thee fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Flumina non operient the rivers shall not overflow thee I propounded four acceptions of these waters ye shall see that the Church passeth safely thorow them all First thorow waters taken in the literall sense Sin had once so soiled the earth that God was faine to lay it asoak it was so foul that nothing would cleanse it but a flood There were Gyants in sinne as well as in stature the wickednesse of man was great in the earth And abyssus abyssum this depth of sinne called for as deep a deluge the flood-gates therefore were pluckt up the windowes from on high were opened And what distresse of nations was there then with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring mens hearts failing them for fear Me thinks I see how abruptly their marriage-feasts are dissolved what haste they make out adoores that they may get up into trees how some climb the tops of mountains tamen ultra pergere tendunt But the waters continually following them at heeles when all hope that they should escape drowning was taken away me thinks I hear them curse the day that ever they were borne and wish if it were possible that they might be metamorphosed into fishes But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord when the flood was brought in upon the world of the ungodly for though it rained as if heaven and earth would have come together though the waters were so grown as to over-top the highest mountaine yet heavens great Palinurus preserved Noah in this ocean flumina non operient the rivers shall not over-flow thee The Children of Israel may be a second example whose preservation was indeed farre stranger then Noahs for Noah had a Ship the Israelites had none which made them think that there was no way in the world with them but drowning Mars in the reare and Neptune facing of them they thought that one of these must needs devoure Israel with open mouth But he that brought light out of darknesse brought safety out of their greatest danger what they feared would be their destruction this God made their preservation for rather then Israel shall miscarry Jordan shall forget his fluid nature the flouds shall stand upright as an heap and the depth shall be congealed in the heart of the Sea Gods People need not fear the waters the waters saw them and were afraid and therefore run away with might and maine to make way for them The waters fared as if they had known the Israelites from the Egyptians drowning the hoste of Pharaoh but immuring the hoste of Israel flumina non operient the rivers shall not overflow thee Moses may be a third example to this purpose There were never two greater Tyrants then Pharaoh and Herod one drowneth the male Children the other cutteth their throats But as Christ escaped from Herod so from Pharaoh Moses His Parents durst not long entertaine him in their house when he was but a quarter old they shipt him in an Ark of rushes But how properly may that of the Psalmist be applied to him Ps 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord taketh me up Or rather indeed the Lady did this even the King of Egypts daughter who named him therefore Moses Extractus one drawn out flumina non operient the rivers shall not overflow thee And to these examples I may adde Elijahs and Elishaes passage over Jordan the Disciples with our Saviour in the Ship and Saint Pauls most dangerous voyage toward Rome all corroborating and confirming this assertion in our Text flumina non operient the rivers shall not overflow thee The Lord sitteth above the water-flood Psal 29.9 ye have heard the story of him that wondred why any man would goe to Sea seeing so many die at Sea and that one replyed he might wonder as well why any man will goe to Bed seeing so many die in their Beds Dii maris terrae may be put into Gods Royall title his way is in the sea and his paths in the great waters he that was able without a ship to walk safely on the Sea must needs be able to save those that goe down to the Sea in Ships while they are following their vocation they may be assured of his protection he will give his Angels charge over them to keep them in all their wayes the Angel of the water mentioned Revel 16.5 this Angell shall be their Pilot and conduct them to their wished haven flumina non operient the rivers shall not overflow them Secondly by waters we understood the enemies of the Church neither shall these waters overflow her The Serpents seed will still be warring with the womans the Dragon and his against Michael and his Angels the Church of Christ will ever be maligned by the Synagogue of Satan but though these waters swell yet they shall not prevaile against her Davids enemies were daily in hand to swallow him up but these waters of the proud had bounds which they could never passe Hezekiah was both invaded and besieged by the Assyrians but how strangely was he preserved from him that had drunke strange waters and who with the sole of his feet had dried up all the rivers of besieged places I have not time to shew you all the particular preservations of Gods people how he hath saved them still from the reproof of those that would have eaten them up And from this experience of Gods former together with the promises of his future favour we may draw this application we may here put on the resolution of holy David not to fear though the earth be moved and though the hils be carried into the midst of the sea though the waters thereof rage and swell and though the mountaines shake at the tempest of the same Let the heathen never so furiously rage together and let the people imagine a vaine thing let them thinke to overthrow the government both of Church and State let the rulers stand up and take counsell together against the Lord and against his Anointed and against his Church let Gebal and Amon and Amaleck the Philistines with them that dwell at Tyre let Gog and Magog Antichrist and Mahomet Pope and Turke nay let all the Devils in hell be confederate against the Church yet still she shall be safe the sons of wickednesse shall not hurt her the gates of hell shall not prevaile against her flumina non
The Life-Guard OF A Loyall Christian described in A SERMON PREACHED At St Peters Corn-hill upon Sunday in the afternoone May 7. 1648. BY PAUL KNELL Master in Arts of Clare-Hall in Cambridge Sometimes Chaplaine to a Regiment of Curiasiers in his Majesties Army ROM 8.31 If God be for us who can be against us LONDON Printed in the Yeare 1648. A Prayer for the King O Lord preserve the Kings most excellent Majesty our Soveraign Lord Charles King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Supream Governour in these his Realms and in all other his Dominions and Countreys over all persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Temporall Behold O God our Defender and look upon the face of thine Anoynted Lord remember King Charles and all his troubles remember him according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit him with thy salvation plead thou his Cause O Lord with them that strive with him and fight thou against them that have so long fought against thee and him thou that bringest man out of prison be pleased to bring him thence deliver him not alwayes over unto the will of his Enemies but set his feet once more in a large roome send down thine hand from above deliver him and take him out of the great waters from the hand of strange children keep him as the apple of thine eye hide him under the shaddow of thy wings from the men of thy hand O Lord from the men and from the evill world let his honour yet be great in thy salvation glory and great worship doe thou lay upon him set his Dominion also in the Sea and his right hand in the Floods as for those his Trayterous Enemies which would not that he should reign over them though they have imagined such a device let them never be able to perform it but let them all be subdued unto him even in the midst among the Kings Enemies Let us no longer see servants upon horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth but they that now trample upon him let them kneel before him let his Enemies lick the dust comfort him again now after the time that thou hast afflicted him and for the years wherein he hath seen so much evill restore him to his Crown on earth and when thou takest away this give him a Crown in heaven And let every Loyall Christian say Amen The Life-Guard OF A Loyall Christian ISAIAH 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee QVem miserum video hominem scio trouble is the very badge and cognizance of humanity we are born to it holy Job saith as the sparks flie upward to this end were we borne and for this cause came we into the world Or if this be not finit intentionis yet it is finit executionis I am sure if we came not hither a purpose to be troubled yet without great trouble we cannot get from hence from the Cradle to the Coffin being like Ezekiels roule full of Lamentatition and mourning and woe There are some indeed I meane the Trayterous Reformers of our Age that live wholly at ease in their usurped Possessions they come in no mis-fortune like other Folke neither are they plagued like other men But these look like the Devils Darlings or rather like the Worlds Bastards though we may be men therefore without trouble yet without it we cannot be Loyall Subjects we cannot be good Christians in the world yee shall have tribulation were the words of our departing Saviour to his Church But he told them just before that in him they should have peace and he telleth them in effect the selfe-same in our Text That he will deliver them in six troubles yea that in seven there shall no evill touch them that in Famine hee will redeem them from death and in Warre from the power of the Sword Let their troubles bee externall corporall corrections let their troubles bee internall spirituall desertions yet their Joshua and their Iehovah will deliver them out of all When thou passest thorough the waters I will bee with thee and thorow the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not bee burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee In which words ye may please to observe with me four parts the Passenger the Passage the Concomitant and the Consequent The Passenger is the Church cum transieris when thou passest The Passage is twofold per aquas per ignes thorough waters and thorough fire The Concomitant or the Convoy is Almighty God tibi ad sum I am or I will be with thee The Consequent is the Churches safety flumina non operient flamma non incendet the rivers shall not overflow thee the flame shall not kindle on thee And of these parts in order I begin with the Passenger which is the Church cum transieris when thou passest Had we retained our first integrity we might easily have stept to heaven with as great facility as from one room to another from the parlour of an earthly to the presence-chamber of an heavenly Paradise But sinne hath placed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulf between us and heaven we that were sometimes near are now afarre off whosoever will hereafter enter into Canaan he must undergo a tedious passage thorough the wildernesse There are foure titles that pertain to the best of Adams sons Advenae Inquilini Hospites Peregrini we are strangers we are sojourners we are guests we are pilgrims but of all foure the last me thinks fitteth our condition best Peregrini we are pilgrims Viatores we are travellers Transeuntes we are passengers here we have no continuing city but we seek for one to come Look upon the Patriarch Abraham the great grandfather of the Church and ye shall finde him like St. Paul in journeying often from Caldea to Charran from Charran to Canaan where he journeyed the Apostle telleth us as in a strange countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Iacob he had there none inheritance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Stephen no not so much as to set his foot on to teach him and us all that we must not set up our staffe here plus ultra we must go further we being but Pilgrims on the earth This we know likewise to have been the condition of the Israelites who wandered in the wildernesse in a solitary way and found no city to dwell in their own houses were tents Gods house was but a Tabernacle all portable to be carried up and down from one place to another they had neither tenement nor Temple till they were setled in the land of Canaan nor have we any certain dwelling place till we come thither where the Lamb 's the Temple For while we
are at home in the body we are not properly at home we are but in viâ in the way that leadeth us to it we are born from above and therefore there is our native countrey all the while we are on earth we are as it were going a pilgrimage to heaven And the application of this now may be twofold First seeing we are but passengers here and pilgrims this may serve to set spurs to us and hasten us toward our countrey For no passenger would willingly tarry long upon the way but maketh all the haste he can to get him home So let us think it our greatest punishment next to this Rebellious Reformation that we are constrained to dwell with Mesech to have our habitation among the tents of Kedar and therefore wish with holy David To have the wings of a Dove that so wee might flie home to heaven and be at rest Secondly though here we are but passengers yet seeing heaven is our home this may comfort us amidst all our plunderings and persecutions all our necessities and distresses For let a passenger meet with never so bad entertainment by the way yet hee will not greatly murmure at it I have better at home hee will say and it will not be long I hope ere I get thither So brethren as long as there are quarters taken up for us in heaven if we have any Christian courage let us not faint by the way be our usage never so course be our passage never so perillous Which leadeth me from the first part of the Text the Passenger the Church to the second which is her Passage and this I finde to be two-fold per aquas per ignes thorow waters and thorow fire Her first passage is per aquas when thou passest thorow the waters Which waters have sundry acceptions in holy Scripture the literall is first in nature and must be so in order And Hugo Cardinalis will have an Alleotheta here one tense put for another transieris for transibas when thou passest or shalt passe instead of when thou passedst or didst passe alluding to the passage of Noah in the deluge or rather to that of Israel thorow the Red Sea But whether this or no be the meaning these examples suite well with the Text and of the same nature we have some other in holy writ the example of Moses of Elijah and Elisha of the Disciples of Saint Paul I shall anon touch upon these in their proper place I shall here only shew you the severall acceptions of these waters the literall I have briefly pointed at already Secondly by waters we may understand the enemies of the Church So they are expressed by holy David Psal 88.17 They came round about me daily like water and compassed me together on every side And Psal 144.7 he prayeth after this manner Send down thine hand from above deliver me and take me out of the great waters from the hand of strange Children And Revel 17.15 the Angel expounding the vision of the great whore which sate upon many waters telleth Saint John in expresse words The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth they are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues Thirdly by waters we may understand heresies and doctrine of devills which are too common since we had neither King nor Bishop So Aretius and others expound that Revel 12.15 where we read that the Serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood Fourthly and lastly by waters we may understand the abysse of desperation So we may construe that of the Psalmist Psal 69. The waters are come in even unto my soul verse 1. I am come into deep waters verse 2. Let not the water-flood drowne me ver 16. The Churches second passage is per ignes when thou walkest thorow the fire Which is first literally to be taken and we have examples of some in Scripture that found a safe passage thorow this fire as Lot and Isaac and the Israelites and the three Children Secondly by fire we are to understand persecution and affliction according to that of the Psalmist Psalme 66. Thou laydest trouble upon our loynes ingressi sumus per ignem we went thorow the sire And St. Peter useth the same Metaphor Think it not strange concerning the fiery triall which is to trie you 1 Pet. 4.12 The result then of all is briefly this That it is the portion of the Church to passe thorow fire and water it is her destiny to suffer persecution and affliction Noahs Ark was a notable representation of the Church that was tossed upon the waves in the generall inundation so is this in the worlds troubled sea which cannot rest The disciples ship in the Gospell was another figure of the Church that was covered with waves almost overwhelmed with a raging tempest so this is filled with the scornful reproof of the wealthy the deep waters of the proud are ready to runne even over her soul The Church is a Ship the World is the Sea a sea of glasse mingled with fire Revel 15.2 Of glasse there is the brittle and inconstant condition of the world mingled with fire here are the troubles of the Church St. Peters fiery triall Troubled alas she is and so hath ever been Look upon Jacob look upon Joseph upon David upon the Son of David The time would fail me to tell you of Prophets and Apostles of the Martyrs Confessours and other holy men of God how they passed thorow the waters how they walked thorow the fire how they had triall of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover also of bonds and imprisonment how they were stoned as S. Stephen how they were sawne asunder as the Prophet Isaiah how they were slaine with the sword as the Apostle St. Paul how they were beheaded as St. John Baptist Strafford and Canterbury how they were hanged as Tomkins Chaloner Yeomans Bourchiar Burleigh and others how they wandred about in desarts and mountaines and in dens and caves of the earth in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented Thus we see that all which will be Loyall to God and the King all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution Till our Saviour came into the Ship the Sea was calme and quiet but when he was once aboard there straightway arose a mighty tempest So long then as thou art without Christ or without God in this world the devill will make fair weather round about thee but when once Christ Jesus is as it were come aboard thy soul then will Satan raise a storme to try if he can make ship-wrack of thy faith when thou hast listed thy selfe a Souldier to fight under thy Saviours and thy Soveraigns Banner then look for a whole shower of fiery arrowes from the wicked one for the messenger of Satan to buffet thee with St. Paul both by inward temptations and outward tribulations by private
on them But to come nearer to the Text. We propounded some examples out of Scripture of men that passed safely through fire literally taken The first may be Lot God usually proportioneth the punishment to the sin Sodome burned in lust and was therefore burnt with fire but though brimstone and fire were rained upon the Sodomites yet God delivered Lot out of the midst of the overthrow non combureris thou shalt not be burnt The second example may be Isaac who came very neare the fire Behold the fire and wood nay behold he is laid on the Altar upon the wood yet for all this God suffered not Abraham to doe him any hurt he made an offer to offer up Isaac and the will went for the deed non combureris thou shalt no be burnt The third example may be the Israelites in whose company the fire was kindled there went out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense Num. 16.35 But though the flame burnt up the ungodly mutiniers yet every obedient Israelite escaped non combureris thou shalt not be burnt The fourth example may be the three Salamanders in the furnace Dan. 3. who though they walked through the fire yet their coats were not changed nor so much as the smell of fire had passed on them And this last example is without example I never heard of any fire-proof before for fire is of a most devouring and consuming nature turning all into its own substance that commeth neer it yet the children of the fire the sparks hurt not these three children with the shields of their faith they quenched the violence of fire when they walked through the fire they were not burnt neither did the flame kindle upon them And to these I might adde though somewhat out of order the example of Abram whom God brought out of Vr of the Caldees Gen. 15.7 Now Vr as Hugo observeth signifieth fire the Greek word from which our English word seemeth to come hath but one letter more and therefore the Hebrews had a tradition that because Abram would not worship the fire as the Caldeans did he should have been cast into the fire had not God given him notice of it But though Vr signifie fire yet the ordinary glosse taketh it not for a common but for a proper name for the name of the Towne or Village where Abram dwelt This example therefore cannot claime kindred of the Text. I might more properly bring in our preservation from the Powder-treason but this is so beaten a path that I will not tread it at this time I will rather here answer a question that may rise from our Text for is this promise alway performed Thou shalt not be burnt the flame shall not kindle on thee what shall we say then to that fiery persecution in Queen Marys daies when there were so many Bethels in this Kingdome so many Cities wherein mens bones were burnt I answer it is true that the Church of Christ this Church in particular hath endured the fiery triall but as Rex non moritur so * Regina Psal 45. Ecclesia non comburitur as the King is never buried so the Church is never burnt James may die and so may Charles yet God maintain his life but the King let Levellers do what they can never dieth So Latimer may be burnt and Cranmer may be burnt but the Church â—s never burnt If Pagans should prevaile so far which God forbid as to burn up all the Christians or if Puritans should prevaile so far which heavens hinder as to burne up all the Protestants yet I verily believe that out of their very ashes God would raise up a new Phoenix cinis martyruÌ„ should be femen Ecclesiae the ashes of an old should be the seed of a new Church she shall not be so burnt as to be quite extinct neither shall the flame so kindle upon her And the application here of now may be briefly this Seeing God wil not suffer his Church to be finally burnt up by others this may teach us as it were to set on fire our selves not with the fire of lust it is better to marry then so to burn nor with the fire of wrath rather heap coales of fire upon the head of enemies but let it be with the vestall fire of devotion and affection let our hearts burne within us with love to God and men So shall neither the Sun burn us by day nor the Moon by night the Lord will preserve us from all evill it is even he that will keep both our bodies and our souls when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat when the Earth and the works therein shall be burnt up he will preserve and keep us from everlasting fire and exalt us to his coelum empyreum his fiery heaven there forever to behold him whose eyes are as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brasse as if they burned in a furnace And so ye have the safety of the Church in her passage through fire literally taken A word or two of her safety as she passeth through the fire of affliction and persecution when thou walkest through this fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee The nature of fire is congregare homogenea and segregare heterogenea a Refiner therefore is wont to bring his mine to the fire and by this means he severeth the silver from the drsse which is likewise the very practice of Almighty God it is the Prophet Malachy's similitude word for word Malac. 3.3 He shall sit as a Refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver And the sweet Singer of Israel harpeth upon the same string Psal 66.10 Thou O God hast proved us thou also hast tried us like as silver is tried Non sicut foenum sed sicut argentum non in cineres convertisti sed sordes abluisti saith Saint Austin God trieth us not with a consuming but with a clensing fire turneth us not into ashes only taketh away our sullage and our ashes from us purely purgeth away our drosse and taketh away all our tin God purgeth men by affliction as the Israelites were to purge the spoile of the Midianites Num. 31.23 Every thing that may abide the fire ye shall make it go through the fire and it shall be clean God trieth men by affliction what mettle they are made of they that endure this fiery triall they are good gold they are Gods children they that endure it not they are but drosse they are but cast-awaies Good men are like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego though they walk through the fiery furnace of affliction yet they are not burnt up no not so much as singed but wicked men are like the Souldiers that bound and cast them in when they are yet but at the mouth of the fiery furnace when the fire of affliction but beginneth to seize upon them it prevaileth against them and consumeth them in a moment Good men are in this like clay the fire of affliction strengtheneth and confirmeth them but wicked men are like wax as wax melteth at the fire so doe the ungodly perish in the fiery triall affliction to them is like the fire that burneth up the wood and like the flame that consumeth the mountaines God maketh them like a fiery oven in time of his wrath the Lord destroyeth them in his displeasure and the fire consumeth them Affliction maketh wicked men a great deale worse as water becommeth much colder after heating then ever it would have been if it had never been heated As for the righteous it is not so with them God burneth them indeed throughly as the bricks of Babel were but this is onely as a Potter frameth his vessels in the fire that so they may be vessels unto honour and for the masters use though they walk through the fire yet they are not burnt neither doth the flame kindle upon them When Job's Wife heard of all the evill that God had brought upon her Husband she grew so mad so outragious and impatient that she would faine have perswaded him to make away with himselfe What saith she all that ever thou hadst taken away from thee is this the reward thou hast for thine integrity well serve God who will I would serve him no longer make good the Devils words if thou wilt be ruled by me doe as he said thou wouldest in such a case Curse God and die Job 2.9 But ye have heard of the patience of Job saith Saint James let his Wife therefore say what what she will he will have none of her counsell thou talkest like an asse saith he thou speakest like one of the foolish women And indeed as he goeth on and as our Soveraigne by his most exemplary patience seemeth to say shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evill also shall we receive health and not sicknesse wealth and not poverty peace and not war honour and not dishonour liberty and not restraint yes my brethren if we be Christians we must endure all And if we do this then we may assure our selves that although we sow in tears yet we shall reap in joy though God have suffered Rebels to ride over our heads though we have gone through fire and water yet ere it be long he will bring us and our Soveraigne out into a wealthy place our light affliction which is but for a moment shall work for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to grant us for the merits of his Christ our Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost Three Persons one Immortall Invisible Indivisible onely wise God be rendred and ascribed as most due is All Honour Glory Power Praise Might Majesty Wisdome and Dominion the residue of this blessed day present and for evermore world without end Amen FINIS