A SERMON PREACHED On the 30th of January 1683 4. Being an ANNIVERSARY FOR THE Martyrdom OF King CHARLES the First By JOHN BVTTLER B. D. LONDON Printed for Randall Tayler near Stationers-Hall 1684. A SERMON Preached on the 30th of January 1683. LUKE 21. Verse 25 26. And there shall be Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars And upon the Earth Distress of Nations with Perplexitie the Sea and the Waves Roaring Mens Hearts failing them for Fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth For the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken THere is Prophetick mention of two Fatal Times as they are fore shewn by the Prophet Daniel and by our Saviour Jesus Christ There shall be Dan. 12. 1. saith Daniel a time of Trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time and at that time thy People shall be deliverd And this seems to be the very time my Saviour Fore-Bodes by the Signs in my Text mentioned For if we observe He adds saying then as much as to say when you see those Luke 21. 27 28 29 30 31. Signs shall they see the Son of Man coming in a Cloud with Power and great Glory And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your Hands for your Redemption draweth nigh And as sure as the Sprouting Fig-tree is a Prodromer that Summer is at Hand even so when ye see these things that is the Signs in my Text c. Then know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand By the Son of Man spoken off by Christ seems to be understood the same Person who by Daniel is Stiled Michael the cheif Prince Of whom as 't is said here that He shall come so it is spoken there saying he shall stand up And both these seem to speak of the coming of Christ to Reign but that not Personally as some imagine but by his Vicegerent as saith the Prophet Isaiah Kings shall be thy Nursing Fathers Isa 49. 22 23. Dan. 10. 21. when I set up my Standard to the People and they shall bring thy Sons in their Arms c. And thus Michael the Son of Man or the Cheif Prince shall stand up and come to deliver the Ancient Jews and Israelites his People out of Captivity by the Hands of Christian Kings his Earthly Angels and Ministers or Vicegerents The Total Sum of all which things Amounts thus far That the Jews and Israelites shall be converted to the Christian Faith and then shall be delivered out of Captivity by the mighty Power of God and be restored unto their own Ancient Country and Land called Palestina but immediately before those Days shall be great Tribulation such as was not Mal. 24. 21. since the beginning of the World to this time no nor ever shall be But now withal we are to understand that this time of Trouble or Tribulation is to be twice repeated whereof once as has been afore shewed and another time before that when the Abomination of Desolation shall be set up in the holy Place And when Michael Dan. 9. 26 27. Luke 21. 32 is also called Messiah all come in Person and shall be cut off but not for himself in the midst of the Week there shall be and follow the first Tribulation which was to be fulfilled before that Generation wherein our Saviour lived was quite passed over And this has already been fulfilled once or acted repeated over the first time And is to be expected to be acted over a second time and that second time is justly supputed to be near at hand Now to Calculate these things Regularly and Exactly according to what is expressed by that Holy Prophet and confirmed by our Saviour The ground Plot of all these things is the coming and standing up of Michael who is the Messiah our Chirst our Saviour who came first personally in order to Suffer that we may be Redeemed At this time He came unto his own and his own received him not but took and Crucified slew him and Joh. 11. 11 Acts 2. 23 Mat. 27. 25. called down the Vengeance of his Bloud upon their own Heads and upon the Heads of their Children And hence followed the first Direful Tribulation the like whereof was never known before It was in the Thirty Third Year of our Saviours Incarnation upon Friday the Third of April at a little after Three a Clock in the Afternoon at Joh. 19. 30 what time hanging upon the the Cross He bowed down his Head and Died. And on the Thirty Seventh Year after on the Fourteenth of April Titus with the Romans at a Pascal time shut in the Jews into the City of Jerusalem by a close Siege at what time it was infinitely Joseph of the Warâ— throng'd with People who from all parts had come thither to the Passover On the Third of May he took one Wall by Assault and on the Eighth of May another Wall On the Fourteenth of July the dayly Sacrifice ceased for want of Victims On the Twenty-Fourth of July the Castle called Antonia was taken by the Romans and the same day the Northern Porch of the Semple was burnt and on the Twenty-Seventh Day the Western Porch was burnt by the Jews themselves On the Eighth Day of August the Romans entred the Temple and on the Tenth Day it began to burn with Violent Flame Then did the Romans kill the Preists and prophaned the Alter and the Bloud ran down the Steps like VVater in a time of Rain On the Eighth of September being Saturday or the Dio. â—ewish Sabbath the Romans entred the higher City and took it At this Siege were slain what by Sword Plague and Famine 1100000 Mortals besides what were slain at other times and places and sold for Slaves Here ceased the dayly Sacrifice and the Abomination of Desolation was set up and continued standing so until the times of Trasanus and Hadrianus Emperors of Rome In time of Euseb Dio. Trajanus the Jews Rebelled in Egypt and Kyrene and Kypuus and Mesopotamia and endured vast Slaughters In time of Hadrianus they Rebelled in Judaea and were soon tamed But in the Year 128 Hadrianus converted Jerusalem into a Roman Colony and called it Aelia-Capitolina Euseb Dio. and erected the Temple of Jupiter by the side of the Jewish Temple whence occasioned the last and Fatal Rebellion of the Jews under Barchochebas their Leader who slew many Romans and Christians but in the Year 135 or one Hundred and Three Years after Christs Euseb Dio. Death with much difficulty they were utterly Broken and Ruined and by Wars at this time Perished 580000 Souls besides Infinite Numbers more who died of Fire Plague and Famine Then was a Swines Head Engraven over the Gates of the City with other Pagan Images and the Jews were utterly forbidden ever to come there more unless once by the
First That the Daily Sacrifice ceased on the 24th of July in the Year of Christs Incarnation 70 for want of Victims next the Abomination began to stand up on the same Year and on the next Month when Idol Sacrifice was layd upon Gods Alter and when the most holy place by Fire was Converted into Rubbish and was Troden with profane Feet and continuing in its Ashes it was made desolate But especially the Abomination and Desolation was then perfected at what time Idol Temples were erected in the Place of Gods House the whole Nation of the Jews utterly driven away Root and Branch out of the whole Kingdom by Aelius Hadrianus And this Abomination of Desolation and Cessation of dayly Sacrifice lasted until the Reign of Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour who in the 7th Year of his Reign of Christ 313. set fourth Edicts in Favour of the Euseb Eccl. Hist Christian Religion Licinius Maximinus the other Emperours assented unto the same But in the End of the same Year Maximinus perswaded by his Magitians renewed the Persecutions but was Routed in Battel by Licinius and soon after in 314 Died of the hand of God And then every where Idolatry was Destroyed and Gods Gospel Worship was set up at Jerusalem all Idol Temples being there abolished and cast out Here therefore ending the Abomination the daily Sacrifice being restored Hence are we to begin the first Term of Daniels Times and to reckon onwards The times mentioned are two whereof Ezek. 4. 4 5 6. Dan. 9. 25 26 27. the first is of 1290 and the second 1335 days which according to the usage of Holy Writ are to be understood of so many Years as they are called Days And now count we from the Year of Christ 313 an Addition of 1290 Years and they will set us in the Year of Salvation 1603. Which is the very Year whereon King James came into England and began to possess the Crown of great Britain and on the same Year was the Saventh great Conjunction in the Fiery Triplicity and at the end of the Year was a new Star in Seventeen degrees of Sagitary And the second Term mentioned by Daniel which bounded his 1290 Years was the Time Times and an half So as 't was not the deliverance of his People which at end of those Years was forshewn for the Years are long since come up and gone by and no such thing is done and the fore it follows that at end of this Date or Term of Time the other mentioned by the same Author is to take place And thus after 1290 Years from the Abomination of Desolation set up is to follow a Time Times and an half and then is to be expected the Deliverance And so from the coming into England of King James there was to be expected a Time and Times and an half and then shall follow the Restoration of the Jews And whether we will have it the time of Reign of One King and Two Kings and an Interregnum or any other way and whether we will esteem these times to be reckoned by our Kings Reigns in England or Germany or at Rome it cannot be long to the end thereof The second Computation of Time mentioned by Daniel is 1335 days which also turned into so many Years and added unto 313 do set us in the Year of Christ 1648 at end whereof the most sacred Prince our late Sovereign of blessed memory King Charles the first of great Brytain Suffered Martyrdome and then the Sheepheard being smitten the Sheep were scattered and many of them cut off and the residue were tryed and refined as Silver or Zech. 13. 7 8 9. Gold tryed in the Fire And on the same Year was the Grand Signiour or great Emperour of the Turks at that time Lord of the Holy Land cut off Summoned Tryed and Condemned by the pretended high Priest or Mufti and the rest of the Divan somewhat after the rate Mr. Ricauts Turkâ—sh Hist of our Saviour And on the same Year were great troubles in the Empyress of Russia and Abassia and in France and at Naples in Italy and diverse other places But especially here in England both Magistracy and Ministry the two Holy Offices appointed by God Almighty and sometimes executed by Christ were utterly cut off and abolished and the whole Body of the holy People who had in any wise stood up in defence of holy Authority Power and Discipline in Church and State were dissipated Slain and driven into Exile And he that did these things was especially the late Protector Oliver Cromwel a Man of obscure Birth who advanced his Fortune by perjury and Lyes Hypocrisy Murder Rapines and Rebellions and therefore appears to have been beyond Pope or Turk or Mahomet the greatest Impostour that ever was born and most Eminently the Man of Sin beyond all Men besides that ever were known or Read of And thus have we attained unto the utmost Term of the last Number in the Year of Christ 1648 â— 1335 Years precisely since the Abomination of Desolation set up and taken down And now therefore Blessed is he who waiteth for that we have arrived at the Year 1335. And the time of the Gentiles seemeth to be fulfilled They having done unto a most holy Prince Defendor of the Faith true Ancient Catholick and Apostolick in a great measure as the Jews did unto Christ And now therefore to the Jews says our Saviour Look up for the Day of Redemption draweth nigh But unto the Heathens the Pagans Hereticks and Schismatical Christians Unto you waite a time of Trouble and Tribulation such as never was since there vvas a Nation even unto that same time saving that trouble of the Jews long since acted vvhereof this of yours is but a second part of the same once more repeated over again according to the Nature of your Crime in Comparison of theirs these hastening to be as those vvith them once vvere Dayes of Vengeance that all things Luke 21. 22. which are written may be fulfilled And novv as there have been are and are further Expected Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the Sea and Waves Roaring Mens Hearts failing them for Fear and for looking after those things which are comming on the Earth for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken These vvords are foreboding marks of those Days of Tribulation I have mentioned before and a discription of the State of that Tribulation and the ground Plot of both 1. The Marks foreboding are called Signs and are Described by their Scituation either in the Sun or Moon or Stars or on the Earth Signs in the Sun and Moon are all extraordinary and unusual Eclipses as when Total and the Stars appear by Day or is accompanyed with strange Meteors or Constellations Unusual and Stange Colour such as black or bloudy or pale and dark for any long
Evils do rather increase and heighten the Sorrow while they have no tydings to tell but of grievous Mischief and Miseries continually threatning and yet can they not chuse but look up still though they can behold no Comfort After this rate was the Church of Judah found when the Lord beheld the State thereof as of People that hear nothing but Voices Jer. 30. 5 6 7. of trembling where is nothing but fear without hopes of Peace Wherefore saith the Lord do I see every Man with his hands on his Loyns as a Woman in Travail as if Man also should Travail with Child and all Faces are turned into paleness Alas for that day is great so that none is like it It is the time of Jacobs trouble This was when the Caldeans oppressed and over-ran the whole Kingdom of Judea but at that time they were delivered Even such are the Calamities that are now approaching upon the World and some Nations perhaps may escape with small harms and others may be safe enough But some where and on some certain Nations these great Tribulations the like whereof were never before knovvn are novv like to happen in a short space For now the Powers of Heaven are shaken as our Saviour saith in my Text For the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken And this is the third thing the Cause and Ground vvork both of the Signs and the Miserie 's forevvarned The Povvers of Heaven are either Efficiently or Instrumentally so Efficiently and Principally are God himself and after him his Holy Angels the Povvers of Heaven Instrumentally the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Hosts of Heaven are the Povvers and Strength of Heaven by vvhich according to Nature God Acts upon Earth Novv God and his Angels are too high to be shaken but their Instruments may be shaken and that either vvhen God shall shake them as a Man shakes his Weapon when he brandisheth his Sword to strike therewith And thus God shakes the Powers of Heaven when the Sun Moon and Stars seeming to dash one against another either by Body or Aspect do make even the Earth and all its Inhabitants to shake and tremble at their Motions And here also the Potentates on Earth in a sense called the Powers of Heaven because the God of Heavens Agents are also shaken by the greater Powers of Heaven above And thus the late gaeat Comet and the great Eclipses and the great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter now in being are the shaking of Heaven our Saviour speaks of And after these it s to be feared many Prodigies and Signs will still appear more and more both in Heaven and Earth until the forewarned Distress of Nations doth come upon them Now what these Comets Eclipses and Conjunctions do signifie belongs not to this place or time to be Treated on nor yet do I think my self concerned to say how near or how far off those threatened Calamities are unto the Nations Only supposing the worst give me leave by help of the context to describe them so far as Gods Word gives us warning and so I shall come to Application Now to this purpose we are to note that at this time of my Text our Saviour is upon Answer to three Questions As 1. When shall these things be meaning the Destruction of Jerusalem vvhich a little afore Christ had been Treating upon 2. What shall be the Sign of Christs Mal. 24. 3. coming that is by his Vicegerent to deliver the Jews out of Captivity And 3. What shall be the Signs of the end of the World Unto all vvhich our Saviour ansvvers comprehensively as if vvhat is the Sign of the one shall be the same of all three And look hovv it is like to be in that day vvhen the vvhole World of Heaven and Earth are to Perish by Fire and be Destroyed even so after the same rate shall it happen vvhen Jerusalem is to be Destroyed and when the Gentile Nations are many or most of them to be distressed For at each of all these three times shall be great Tribulation such as the like was never known before besides or since excepting the very Paralels Of these the Destruction of Jerusalem is past the Calamity of the Gentile Nations even now waits them And the end of the World shall come in its time But will some say in what particular manner shall these things be to which I answer in a three Fold respect 1. In respect of the Cause moving to bring on such Calamities upon the Nations with Gods Vengeance for Great and Crying Sins For Says our Saviour These Luke 21. 22 be the Days of Vengeance that all things that are written may be fulfilled Before Jerusalems and the Jews fall Jesus the Christ was most wickedly murdered by his own People at whose hands he had most singularly and incomparably well deserved And for Vengeance because of that Death came up the Fatal Tribulation of those Days And now is expected that the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled That is till They or some of them shall prevail and accomplish to scatter the Power of the holy People then shall their v. 24. Vengeance come The Turks are at this time and for many Years have been Lords of the Holy Land and do Tread Jerusalem under Foot and do keep it away that the Jews the Right Owners cannot possess it at this Day they are a Barbarous sort of People that have neither Law nor Gospel nor any thing of good Education to help their Government and therefore it Pleases God to bear with their Rude Manners so much the more But yet having a Law written in their Hearts their Conscience bearing witness and their Thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another When they break out in Extravagancies against all Laws of Nature and Conscience then will God judg them and the Jews shall be restored And for these Extravagancies the Jews have a long time tarried But now so it was that on the Year spoken of by Daniel the Prophet namely in the Month of August in the Year 1648 Loe the grand Council of that Kingdom namely the Mufti who is esteemed their high Priest and as it were the wisest Man in all their Kingdom together with the Grand Viziar and all the great Bassa's who made up the great Divan or Grand Council Conspired together to Murder their Lord and Emperour Sultan â—iâ—arâ—s â—ife of Iâ—râ— Ibrahim the Grand Seigniour unto whom they were but Slaves or Common Subjects And accordingly they Summoned him with a Writ of Justice called a Stelfa before them to Answer his Misdemeanours which Writ he not Obeying though Twice or Thrice repeated They Condemned him to Death and exposed him to be first imprisoned and afterwards Murdered And accordingly it was done unto him And now therefore say we the Turks in their kind have done unto their King as once the Jews did unto Christ and by thus doing have scattered the Power of the
Honours and to scorn Bribery and Flattery and could choose to be Poor rather then Dishonest how much more then shall Christians become Valiant in contempt of the World when Secret Influences of Grace shall inspire our Minds and Spirits with inward Courage and Resolutions Our Duty is therefore to consider the Vertue and Glory as well as the Necessity of the Work in setting our Affections on things above and so put our selves upon the means with all possible Diligence in the Practice and we shall soon find Experience enough of Divine helps giving Encouragement so as no Difficulty shall be able to dishearten 3. But then 3dly We must remember to have a care lest at any time our hearts be over charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness Cares of this Life and so the day of Danger come upon us unawares Lu. 21. 34 35. For as a Snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the Face of the whole Earth Drunkenness and Whordom and Covetuonsness destroys more Countrys Citys Armies and Men then Plague and Famine and the most Cruel and Bloudy Wars For in all such cases Men have their Eyes in their Heads and as they see their Danger imminent so they exercise their Reason and Wits to prevent it and whether they Live or Die they make the best of their condition But in these cases wise Men do become and that by their own Act Sots and Fools and expose and lay open themselves to be baffled betrayed abased and killed and to become odious to God and Man a Prey to the Enemy and God shall nor pity them nor revenge their wrongs Now the Righteous do also become a Prey unto the Enemy many times by Gods Permission for Tryal of Faith and Patience and other Reasons but then here is their comfort 1st That it is not through their own default nor for want of Eyes or looking about them but meerly for that they were abused and they Suffer for Conscience and Truth and Righteousness 2dly That God will before or after Death be sure 1 Pet. 4. 18. to avenge their Cause But now if the Righteous scarcely be saved but have also their Hell even in this Life where shall the ungodly and the wicked appear Good Men have their Tryals of Affliction for a time and their Hell upon Earth for a while and Evil Men have their time to Glory in their Prosperity As our Saviour says the true Church Men shall Lament and Weep and the Joh. 16. 20. World shall rejoyce in their Surfeiting and Wantonness they have Loved the Creature above the Creator and the Pleasures on Earth beyond the hopes of Heaven and yet these brute Beasts are allowed to be Merry and to have the World at Will and truly careful and good Men must Suffer Tribulation But there is a time when Tribulation shall come upon a Land with an Universal 1 Thes 5. 2 3. Scourge like as a Theif comes in the Night And then when they cry Peace and Safety Lo then sudden Destruction will come on like a Woman in Travel But in that Day says Christ to all who are his their Sorrow shall be turned into joy For says he I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce so as Joh. 16. 22. Rom. 14. 17. no Man shall be able to take away Joy from you That is holy Men shall be comforted with secret cheerfulness from within in a quite different manner from all pleasures of the Flesh But Worldly Men whose God is their Belly and whose Glory is in their Shame shall be surprized like the five Foolish Virgins who for want Mat. 25. 1 c. of Oyl in their Lamps were shut out when the day came of the Marriage Feast and shall be taken as it were in a Net like â—he Men of Sâ—dom or of the old World at which times Lot and Noab were preserved alone Fleshly Lusts War against the Soul by besotting and bewitching it into a Fond security which tendeth to 1 Pet. 2. 1â— its Ruine To prevent therefore the emminent Danger of Publick Calamities we must shun Surfeiting Wantonness for they expose us into the very gulf of Miseries and prevent us of all means of escape But 4ly We must Watch and Pray always that we may be counted Lu. 21. 36. worthy to escape No Man can escape but by help of God Man cannot help in such a case 't is God only can do it And God helps none unless he have a worth in him and that worth must come by Christ there is nothing in our selves no not in the best of us Here lies the thing therefore we must be found in Christ that is as Men who have put off the ways of the World in Rioting and Drunkenness and Covetuosness and are experienced in the ways of Christ knowing the value of spiritual Joys hid Treasures whose worth the World knows nothing of And in order to compass these we must 1st Watch that is Exercise all possible Care and Diligence in taking heed to abstain from Sin and to increase in Vertue and Godliness take heed of Thoughts that are vain or Evil how they get ground of us of Evil Company lest it seduce us and above all of Evil Works lest they Gain an Habit upon us and to these purposes are we to Watch. And 2dly We must pray always that is use all possibly Godly means of Hearing Meditation Reading Godly Conference above all especially Prayer always in a continual course of Prayer and in frequent Act of Prayer and all to this end that we may be found in Christ and so when the Tribulations come and the Signs come and the Perplexity of all Nations shall come yet that we may be Safe Amen FINIS