command them to ascend So the Septuagint is Fetch thou them forth We must acknowledge the power of God to be infinite Yet observe The workes that are his owne he attributes to men Aaron is said to bring them The bringing of Israel out of Egypt it was the worke of God with a mighty Arme none but God could doe it He assumes it oft-times I am the Lord that brought thee out of the land of Egypt So those holy people acknowledged Nehemiah and Daniel O God that broughtest us out of Egypt Yet this act is attributed to Moses and Aaron So God saith to Gedeon Iud. 6. Goe and deliver Israel yet it was God that must doe it So it is said of Samson and Shamger and Othoneele and Samuel that they delivered Israel And God saith to Moses Sanctifie to me the people against the third day yet God must sanctifie them So we see in the New Testament that conversion is attributed to Ministers and remission of sinnes Whose sinnes ye remit are remitted Nay and the saving of men 1 Tim. 4.11 This is the honour of Gods Saints God not only useth them but attributes to them what is done To arm them against discouragements though many things obstaculous to them lye in the way and confront them and be impediments to them yet let them be comforted in this the issue and effect that is wrought God will please to honour them with it he will part with some of his owne to give them he will put a splendour on Moses and make him glorious in the eyes of all the people God is content to give Iehu honour The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon Though indeed we must take heed if we be sensible of the honour that God puts upon men when he imployes them that we doe nothing to diminish the glory of God The Devill is so subtle and the corruption of mans heart is so great that he desires praise to himselfe So that oft-times the chiefe Lord suffers by the unfaithfulnesse of his Steward Let us take heed if God honour us for doing good things by him assume not so much to our selves whereby Gods glory may be diminished Let me apply it to those of the Church God hath honoured them exceedingly that he hath made them fellow workers with himselfe to dispense the great mysteries of the Kingdome And it is the observation of Chrysostome when the Prodigall returned the father doth not bid him goe to the wardrobe and take the best robe but he said to the servants Goe and fetch it He would have the servants imployed for the benefit of the sonne that the meanes might be brought in credit That shewes how much the world is beholding to the Ministers of the Word We are co-workers with God which as it may comfort us for the present so it shall adde to our crowne afterward But let us take heed that we give the glory to God and not take to our selves any thing that may diminish Gods honour Let us be of the spirit of Paul I laboured more then all yet not I but the grace of God in me Saith Austen Nos mandamus c. we do not give the increase we doe but helpe and this that we can helpe is not of our selves but the grace of God Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God that must give the increase Not unto us not unto us but to thy Name be the praise given So should be the speech of every one We are Stars but we are Stars in the right hand of our Blessed Lord and he is the Sun of righteousnesse So we have it by derivation from him we shine in a borrowed light Secondly for people since God hath advanced Ministers know the necessity of their calling though God made you without them he will not save you without them Know that you must reverence them for their workes sake Shew your respect by doing that which is commanded for therein lyes the especiall respect to a Minister when that is practised that he teacheth In the last place since God reckons things done by his servants as theirs when he doth it Let all people that doe any thing for God take heed of stroaking their owne heads It is the errour of Rome in doctrine and in practise they make mens good works meritorious and make themselves saviours When we have done all we can we are unprofitable and God workes all good things in us and all our works for us That as Austen saith It is certaine O God he that reckons up his owne merits what doth he reckon but thy gifts We may have comfort and contentment in our consciences and may glory in those things that God hath given us in the temptations of Satan but let us not ascribe that to our selves that belongs to God for God begins the worke and perfects it to his owne praise So much for that Now we come to the execution Aaron did so and upon the doing of it there came an innumerable company of frogs that covered Egypt here observe The wonderfull power of God how speedily and easily and at what a distance he can worke Aaron no sooner stretcheth forth his rod but this was done he doth it speedily And hee doth but stretch out the rod and all these creatures come abundantly And he doth but put forth the rod toward the river Saith Tostatus he was now in the Court of Pharaoh yet all this was done therefore he workes at a great distance Thus is the power of God remarkable in working quickly and easily and at a great distance I will not stand long on these things because in many passages we meet with it God at the first made the world and with a word He spake the word and all was made Therefore those Epicures and Atheists that aske what ladder and engine he had to raise this goodly frame they may be answered by that in the Psalme He made them by his word For as he speakes in his workes The heavens declare the glory of God so he works in his speeches Nay the very will of God not only his word but his will I will be thou cleane not only speake the word and my servant shall be whole but I will How soone and how easily and at what a distance did the Lord destroy the Army of Pharaoh in the red Sea Exod. 14. So I might tell you of Sodome Saith Tully the heathen God can doe all things without labour and defatigation Saith the old Poet All things are easie to God he knowes how to worke when he sits still Therefore for the Use of it in a word Let us stand in awe of God if the Lord can so easily and quickly and speedily and at such a distance worke it is in vaine to contend and strive against his power God doth not need to fetch an Army of men to overthrow poore sinners he can doe it by frogs by the least creatures by his word he can drowne the
with their inchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said Intreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me c. WEE come now to the event of this judgement The event is threefold First here is the like done by the Magicians verse 7. Secondly the removall of this judgement to the end of verse 14. Thirdly the further obduration of Pharaohs heart verse 15. that determines this judgement In the first of these the practice of the Magicians we may observe here The work men the Magicians And their instrument as I may so call it their incantations and inchantments And then the effect of their worke and operation They did so they brought frogs But concerning these Magicians and their inchantments I spake somewhat formerly therefore I shall say the lesse now I shewed then how the Devill hath made use of Magicians and inchanters in all times of the world and that for his owne mischievous respects For first hereby he hath perverted many noble and worthy Sciences such as Naturall Philosophy Astronomy Astrology Arithmaticke and Musique and turned the edge of them against God that founded and ordered them for his glory Secondly the Devill hath wronged hereby that that is the Queene of Sciences Theology while he hath diverted mens mindes from necesary truths and lead them captive to foule errours Thirdly the Devill by meanes of magicke and inchantments hath fomented heresies in the world Therefore it is no vaine observation that the great heretiques of the primitive times they were most of them Magicians upon search it will prove so Simon of Samaria called Niger he was held to bee the great power of God he made the people believe he could flye in the aire and that no army of men could apprehend him and hee could make trees grow on the sudden After him came one Menander that Iustin Martyr speakes of he profest great matters When he came to Antioch he gave out that he and his disciples should never dye he had power to preserve himselfe from mortality Ireneus speakes of a foule hereticke that was a Magician that would shew tricks that would turne the wine in the Eucharist when it was white he would make it red and fill a greater vessell with a lesser divers of those pranks he played So the History saith concerning Basilidas and Martion he was a Magician Eusebius speakes the like of Montanus in whose heresie Tertullian though else a good man was tardie The people when they saw such great works as these they thought the doctrine must needs be of God Fourthly the Devill hath gained much by this practise in the world for he not only got admiration but adoration When such kinde of workes as these have been admired in a wondrous and unlimited manner adoration hath followed to the person The Devill would give all the world to Christ to fall down and worship him Mat. 4. And he prevailed so farre with people as to sacrifice their children to Devils Psal 106.37 And it is well knowne by stories of the Indian parts that most of those people sacrifice to the Devill and worship him Lastly the Devill by magicke and sorcery and witchcraft hath not only begotten but nourished and perfected many foule sinnes in the world in practise As lust hath beene perfected through magicke spells inchantments have beene used for the abusing of poore people Revenge hath been perfected through magick I thinke you will say by your owne experience that most of the witches that ever have beene discovered have beene so by malice So sometime it hath served as a bawd to covetousnesse to bring wealth All that I will say because I will not draw my Saw the same way againe is to advise you in all things to keepe moderation for it is easie for a man to goe too farre Even in naturall Philosophie some people have so pored on the creature that they have turned Atheists And in Astrologie men have so oversotted themselves that judiciously and conclusively they have turned the courses of men calculated their nativity and they will tell what death a man shall dye as if they were of Gods privie Councell Nay Beloved in Divinity it is possible for a man to transgresse his bounds if he be not wise to sobriety Therefore it is good advice let there be humility and sobriety A man may easily in the great deepe of Divinity passe beyond his depth his feet being carried away by the streame It is easie for the flye that flutters about the candle to burne her wings Saith Nazianzen in his sixteenth Oration It were better for a man to bee sluggish a little then too curious to seeke into those retired secrets that God hath kept secret So much for that I will say no more of the persons and of their inchantments but only one thing It seemes that Pharaoh soon sent for these people when the judgement was on him These were the men that he trusted in and he thinks to have ease by them he will see what can be done A man would have thought he should goe to God and make his peace with him to take off the edge of the judgement that way But will you have it Carnall mindes in distresse when the judgements of God are upon them their first course is to seek carnall meanes and comforts That is the first thing God is sought in the last place When Cain received his judgement from God to be a runnagate over the face of the earth to finde consistence in no corner he will see if he can disappoint the judgement by building of Cities as if he could lenifie his inward torment by his outward imployment So we see it was with Saul when he was troubled with an evill spirit those that were about him suggested that it was fit for him to seeke a man that was excellent in musique that he by his skill that way might helpe to condole his disturbed thoughts There was no looking up to God to make his peace with him that sent that judgement on him So in 1 Sam. 28. when he was in distresse he runs to the witch at Endor and she must tell him the successe of the battell Thus it was with Ahaziah he sends to Baalzebub the god of Ekron to consult if he should recover of his sicknesse Thus it was with those people in Ieremiah when they were told that the Caldeans should invade them they cast themselves upon the hope of Ethiopia and Egypt and made account that they should sustaine them in their adversity and raise the siege of the other Army So we see in the New Testament when Iudas was stricken with horrour of soule he comes back to the high Priests thinking to finde some comfort there Like to Belteshazer when he saw the hand-writing upon the wall he sends for his Astrologians and other people that he put confidence in and thinkes that they could helpe him out of the brakes
haile But these are to terrifie only not to perswade as we may know by the experience of them for they are against sense and reason Now all those that suffer them may well be said to sustaine them and not to doe them they are meerly passive whatsoever is done is rather done upon them then by them that must be their comfort though they be exagitated in this kinde and troubled God gives the Devill leave to play his prises in his owne ground it is for their greater comfort and for the Devills confusion For I have ever observed those people that have felt them in the greatest measure have had tender consciences and have beene more sanctified in their lives and conversations ever after So then beloved we must not thinke strange if God suffer sometimes this wicked one to play his prises hee doth it for the further confusion of him as for Iob as Austen saith Iob was proved and the Devill confounded The second question will be this Why Pharaoh was so earnest to have frogs brought had he not enough of that judgement yet by that that Aaron and Moses had done All the land crawled and they came up upon the body of Pharaoh and into his bed-chamber and molested him to the full what would he have more frogs Know It is the property of way ward froward mindes not to be so sensible of the smart of the judgement as they are willing to illude it If a wicked man could hee would not see God in a judgement and take knowledge of him Surely this was the humour of them in the dayes of Noah when it rained abundantly in that manner they were rather ready to impute it to naturall causes then to see God in it or else they would have waded to the Arke even to the middle and have intreated entertainment there rather then have stood out So you shall finde it was with those Philistines when Dagon was fallen and broken in pieces that they saw apparently he was not able to helpe himselfe he was fallen in the presence of the same Arke the victory over which they ascribed to their god yet they impute it to mischance and to want of attendance they would not see God in it And in the same Chapter when they were smote with Emerods for keeping the Arke they continued seven months before they would see God in it till there was an outcrie among the people none will acknowledge that God was the cause of that fearfull judgement So we see the Assyrians had a great defeat by the people of Israel 1 King 12. yet rather then they would acknowledge God to bee the cause of it they thinke it was the advantage of the place if they fought with them in the valley they should overcome them for they thought God was only the God of the mountaines So it was with the very Pharisees rather then they would acknowledge Gods worke in our Blessed Saviours great Workes of casting out of Devills because they can doe somewhat that way they blaspheme and say He cast out Devills by the Devill So oft in the world if a man have sicknesse and disease he thinks of the meat he hath eaten and imputes it to the house and to the aire but never looks to God So in distresse of conscience when a man comes to trouble and horrour of soule he is loath to thinke other a great while then that it is melancholy and thus he nourisheth himselfe in that vaine and idle conceit Againe you may observe how A wayward froward minde by his owne courses hasteneth his owne woe Pharaoh would have conclusions tried by the Magicians and behold they bring more frogs then there were before So a perverse minde will ever doe mischiefe enough to it selfe Sarah will be trying conclusions because the Lord did not grant her a childe in her owne time but she prayed for it for she was wonderfully troubled by the pettulancie and insolencie of her maid and by the flearing and jearing of Ishmael Nay and all her posterity fared the worse for the Hagarens were great enemies to Israel So it was with those Israelites they were passionate they must have a King nothing will serve them but the satisfying of their owne desire they were confident of their owne purpose though they were forewarned of the difficulty and inconvenience yet they must have it though they repented at large So Davids heart was set upon numbering of the people Ioab modestly and faithfully disswades him it will not be he reaped to himselfe a great measure of repentance so I might shew in other particulars Let a violent minde alone to it selfe and it will be torment enough to it selfe Saith Austen an inordinate minde is alway a sufficient tormenter Let us ever take heed of perversenesse and frowardnesse these are ill guides we follow that that will lead us to fearfull precipices A man that is distempered is ever apt to goe out at the wrong doore Pharaoh had more need to have desired the Magicians to remove the judgement then to bring more frogs But he desired to have his humour satisfied this way though it tend to his further woe So much for that question A third question is What kinde of frogs these were Some say that they were true frogs and that the Devill brought them from other places secretly and invisibly and so laid them there before Pharaoh Beloved there is no impossibility in this for it is well knowne the Devill is of great power he can transport the body of a man from place to place then he can bring creatures quickly from one place to another Many strange things are told Albertus Magnus tells us of the rayning of many great creatures that might be by the Devill The story tells us of Gigas that was invisible to people It might not be so much by vertue of the ring as by the Devill So he made Images to move and to speak Arius Maximus tells us of the Image of Ionia that when it was asked whether it would goe to Rome or no answered I. That Image of Fortune that when they spake to it shee answered You consecrate merightly Certainly the Devills power is great and he is able to doe more then wee are able to expresse Therefore by the way I would not have people sleight his power too much There are a great many people in the world that make a tush of the Devills power We have heard in former times of Fairies and Hobgoblins and walking Spirits and they have learned so to contemne those that the Devill is no way terrible to them But let them know what the Scripture saith concerning him He is the Prince of the aire and is able there to make stormes and fearfull noise he is able to make the sea swell and roare he is able to demolish the greatest building to pull downe trees and plants that are fetled he is able to afflict the bodies of men in a fearfull manner you know how he
day of slaughter because of successe Poore deluded soule that art conscious to thy self that thy wayes are naught and yet justifieth it because of successe God is a patient and long-suffering God and suffers people to goe on as he did Pharaoh into the middle of the sea and there cut off his chariots He suffers them to goe a while not that they shall alway prosper but to make the cup more bitter after long prosperity See it in all the examples before see if they did not repent themselves of that peace that they enjoyed Iosephs brethren carried it away smoothly but God comes to a sharpe reckoning in the conclusion they were in a great agony they knew not how to extricate themselves So David he went smoothly for a time but after it cost him many a teare he made his bed to swim So Ahab he wished a thousand times he had not meddled with the vineyard the sawce was so sharpe with the meat So Daniels accusers they reaped the judgement they intended against him the Lions had power over them they repented that ever they stirred that stone So many covetous men in the world that have gathered goods by oppression his line holds for a time it may be for his owne life but who hath not seen the judgement of God on his posterity that a man may read the fathers sin in the childes punishment So the revengefull the lustfull the ambitious man God comes home to them and so he will to others Men may laugh and rejoyce because of successe take heed when the reckoning is paid God will rise in judgement and then woe to those that thrive in wicked wayes It is the observation of a Father all things are said of the rich man Luke 16. in the time past There was a rich man and he fared deliciously every day and he was cloathed in purple and thou hast received all thy good So these people the time will come when they shall be forced to say they had their profit and their pleasure here according to their desire and so they have had all that good that ever they shall have they must be content with it there is no more now but an expectation of wrath and mischiefe the cup of the Lord is full it is mingled the wicked of the earth shall sucke the dregs of it In the second place censure not Gods providence nor justifie the wicked because they thrive and prosper in their wayes and courses and designes Fret not thy selfe for the wicked Psal 37. David was much taken with it Psal 73. he saith That his foot had nigh slipped when he saw the prosperity of the wicked Ieremiah desired to dispute with God upon this theame The broad spreading bay-tree of the wicked moves emulation in the children of God they thinke they have cleansed their hands in vaine But goe into the Sanctuary and there you shall see that God hath set them in slippery places Though their line hold here yet those lines tye them to judgement they shall be tyed as the vulture to the heart of Titius Pity them their woe is to come Where is the children of God having had hardship in this world shall have a blessed compensation in the world to come I should come to the second event the removall of this judgement I will only touch one thing in the front and so commit you to God It is like enough that Pharaoh sent to the Magicians to know if they could remove the judgement he found them unable or else he would not intreat Moses and Aaron to do it Here is that that will make Pharaoh unexcusable for it hath beene questioned whether Pharaoh were not excusable in holding out against the command of God and the commission of Moses because he was thus deluded by his Inchanters For say they how could he be perswaded that Moses came from God with a speciall command when his owne Inchanters did the like so they extenuate his sinne But suppose they did it by as great power and divine vertue as Moses and Aaron and he had no reason to think that Moses and Aaron were any better yet this is unexcusable that they could not remove the judgement So let men have never so many pretences there is somewhat that will hold conscience still that it will never give out of the hands of it The conscience will be hampered with something let the wicked man have ten thousand Apologies there is somewhat that will hold conscience whereby it will be snared to judgement Iosephs brethren can say much for themselves for the slaughter of the Sychemites that they did it in a way to vindicate the honour of their family Should he use our sister as a where but there is one thing that makes it hold sinne the abuse of the ordinance of God to make it a midwife to deliver them of their sinne So Saul may make a fair glosse that he had spared the goods of the Amalekites for sacrifice but there is one thing that holds him what is that that he had gone expressely against the command of God for he bad him spare none So Ahab had much to say for himselfe he came upon faire tearmes to Naboth for his vineyard he offered him money besides he knew what Ahab was But there is one thing that will have power over him what is that that his wife should have power over his seale to frame a letter to undoe the man So the Scribes and Pharisees they put it off Did we persecute this man Wilt thou bring this mans blood upon us we did it in zeale hee seemed to oppose the law of Moses but one thing will hold them to judgement because it was malice in them against Christ because he reproved them so plainly that they could never claw it off For the Use of it Never thinke when you come to Judgement of Apologies and fig-leaves that will be too narrow for your nakednesse away with these subterfuges and starting holes God never brings a man to judgement but he hath enough to judge him for by the testimony of his owne conscience as Pharaoh here that when he knew it must be of God yet he was hardened The conscience as it is a register in man at the day of Judgement it will be an accuser of man and justifie Gods most severe proceedings against him So much for this time THE SEVENTH SERMON Vpon EXOD. CHAP. 8. VERS 8. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said Intreat the Lord that he may take a way the frogs from me and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord. NOw we come to the second event that is the removall of the judgement Wee must consider First how it is motioned and intreated for in verse 8. Then how Moses engageth himselfe to performe it verse 9 10 11. Thirdly how he acts and performes it in deed and puts it in execution in verse 12 13 14. The first
was content with his condition God exalted him and how did hee make that proud spirited Haman to stoope so low as to advance him Thirdly God thinks fit to make his Children a compensation in the sight of men They are brought to that straite sometimes that they are faine to sue to the wicked Jacob was so perplexed for want of bread that hee was faine to send to Aegypt for corn and was faine to pacifie his brother and to send present before him to humble himself and to fall to the ground so many times before hee came at him And in Lam. 5.6 they gave their hands to Assyria and Egypt for bread those that were their mortall enemies they were fain to comply with them for bread As I said of Hester before shee sued for her life Now then the good God that they serve to make them cōpensation brings the wicked to sue to them As they are forced to sue to the wicked sometimes for reliefe in their necessities so the wicked shall sue to them It may be shewed in all the examples before alledged And likewise in Jobs kinsmen though they insulted over the miserable poore man and censured him at their pleasure yet after they were faine to sue to Job and God would not bee reconciled to them till hee had sued for them For the use of this First me thinks it might take off the edge of wicked men in regard of the persecution of those that feare God For a man hath so much understanding that hee will not irritate and provoke such as hee thinks hee shall bee beholden to after for feare the suite of his need bee repelled with the errour of his prosperity yet such is the madnesse of the wicked to bee discourteous and injurious most to those that they are like most to bee beholden to I know their proud spirits scorne the thought of ever being beholden to the children of God Yet so God brings it about though it may bee they will not sue to them yet though their blindnesse will not let them see or their unthankfulnesse to acknowledge it yet they bee beholden to them For Lot bayled Sodome while hee was with them If Moses stand not in the gap fierce judgements come among the proud people If these pillars beare not up the house it will fall about their eares If these stakes doe not hold the hedg they are laid open to all misery Augustin in lib. de Civ Dei Hee wonders that a company of people that escaped in the sacking of a City by professing themselves to bee Christians that they should persecute Christians afterward when they had been beholden to the name of Christ for their escape And who would not wonder at the madnesse of the world that persecute those that they may bee and are beholden to daily and those bee the people of God by whose intercession they escape judgements Secondly it should teach the people of God First Direction and Then Comfort First Direction let them make much of goodnesse and love it with the inside of their hearts for this is that that will not only commend them to God but make them awfull to the wicked This is that that will make one of the Children of God weigh down a thousand of the sons of Beliall This is that that will make them gold when the wicked shall bee accounted drosse It will make them good Come when the wicked of the earth shall bee chaffe it will make them herbes and flowers when the wicked shall be weeds fit for nothing but to be burned Secondly for their comfort though they be contemned by a great number of prophane ones the time will come that God will exalt them hee will make the wicked to blesse their condition and it may bee seeke to them For if ever God bring a wicked man to terrours of soule he magnifies the estate of a good man and thinks he is the happiest man in the world he wisheth a thousand times that he were in his estate and when the Angel of God meets him as he did Balaam betweene two walls that hee can goe no way from him I meane when death comes hee desires to die the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his And then he sues to the righteous man to pray for him and intercede at the throne of grace If this be not enough for comfort know that you shall judge these wicked ones 1 Cor. 6.2 Doe yee not know that the Saints shall judge the world If that bee not enough the wicked shall see the Children of God exalted and shall gnash their teeth and consume away and shall speak as they in Wisdome We tho ught his life madnesse and his end horrour and loe he is preferred before us Lastly to spread it further let it be a comfort to all ministers that are to the people as Moses and Aaron here were messengers to Pharaoh It is likely they may receive disgrace and disparagement as if the worke were but an unjust worke Who is so forward to persecute the sonnes of God as the sonnes of Belial Let this comfort them for if they continue in their course and preach sound doctrine and live an unblameable life God will make these stoope one day The people for all their contempt of Samuel they were faine to intreate him to pray for them 1 Sam. 12. And those that flouted them in Act. 2. they were faine to come for direction Men and Brethren what shall wee doe And the Gaoler that clapt the Apostles in Irons when there was an earthquake and the doores of the prison flew open and every mans bonds did flie from him he comes trembling and will doe any thing And as Theodoret reports of Ambrose his passage to Theodotius though the Courtiers bad him slight that hee did hee could not put it off hee was faine to send he was faine to submit to the penance So the world let them slight the Ministers of God as they will the houre will come they will be caught in their moneth and then it may be they will desire direction and their prayers At the last Pharaoh must call for Moses and Aaron So much for that Now I come to his Petition Intreat the Lord that he may take away the Frogs from me and from my people It seemeth then that Pharaoh was enlightned to know these three things First that God must remove the judgement Secondly that he must be intreated for the removing of it Thirdly that he must be intreated by his servants these are but ordinary points therefore I will passe them over the more briefly First he understood that God must remove this plague the Lord Jehovah must doe it indeed it is his worke For as no judgement can seize on men without a commission from him Thou couldest have no power saith Christ to Pilate unlesse it were given thee from above So it is not in the power of flesh to move the least Flie from a
submit to the government of the Shepherd That as Justinian the Emperour saith there may be a sweet harmonie between Prince and people that no string may be too high or too low that is the best musique in the eares of God If Pharaoh desire for his people how should they beg of God in the behalfe of their Soverain Paul when he wisheth that Prayers should be made for all men in the first place he puts Kings And it was the practise of holy people of God in former time Cyprian when they were charged with some rebellion We are far from that we wish well to the King saith he And his Master before him for so he calls Tertullian he professeth concerning the Christians that they begged of God in the behalfe of the Emperour they desired long life a secure regiment and reigne a safe house worthy Counsellors strong and valiant Souldiers c. Let not this be forgotten by us we are too defective in this many of us pray in private for our selves but when doe we remember our Governours O the light of our eyes and the breath of ournostrills is deprived of our prayers If it be a sin to forget a naturall father certainly it is no lesse to forget our politicall father The next thing to be observed which is the second generall is the promise that he makes I will let the people goe I will but touch one thing and so conclude you see here that now he cannot get from under the judgement what evapourates from him he will let the people goe that they may sacrifice If god reserve us God willing we shall observe that he did flie off from this But in the meane time somewhat he saith and promiseth and It is no strange thing that the worst of men have good motions sometimes This Pharaoh saith another time I have sinned And the sorcerers say after It is the finger of God And Balaam saith Let me die the death of the righteous Num. 23. And Saul may say he hath sinned and Ahab may humble himselfe and Felix may sometimes tremble and Agrippa will cry out he is almost made a Christian by Paul And it was never known of the most desperate adulterers the most bloudy men or oppressors or excessive persons but some time or other they did thinke ill of their own courses and did think that another way was better and it may be have had motions and resolutions tending to reformation The ground is the light that God puts into the consciences and the power that he hath indued it with that will sometimes put a man in minde of his abberations from the right way that this is not the course hee should take Again there is a generall illumination in the world that enlightens every man by this they come to have some notions But as Bernard saith in another case they come in frequently and passe away as speedily They are like the morning dew or the morning cloud soon dissipated not so good as Ephraims cake that was halfe baked they are soon gone as Tertullian saith of the flower it is a thing to look on and breath on and smell to and it is gone So it is with these motions of the wicked they passe away as smoke Therefore for the use of it Let us not be confident of the motions and flashes of the wicked unlesse they persist and continue in them there is little hope Nay let us not please our selves for motions that are like flashings of lightning in the soule they are not worth the talking of When motions come that are good cherish them keep them on foot that they may be actuated and perfected Thus God would have us to doe it is a sparke of the divine fire therefore the Lord would have it blown till it come to a flame If at any time we finde it dying as like enough the dear Saints of God may doe we must stir it up and excite the grace of God by the use of the Ordinances of God as the Apostle speaks And likewife by reflecting upon our many omissions and neglects and it may be suppression of motions by the consâ—â—â—â—â—tion of the fearfull account we must give one day for these neglects stir it up and keep it fresh and by the blessing of God there may come great matters That that is now a sparke may be a flame that that is like a cloud no bigger then a hand it may after mask the whole heavens That that is now as a grain of mustard seed it may be a great tree wherein the fowles of the air may make their nests Of all take heed of quenching and suppressing this Spirit of puting it out and that is done by wilfull grosse sins When God gives good motions if men would cherish them and keep them alive there might be much good in them but when they run into foul sins that waste conscience the graces of God die and all good motions are as far to seek as if they never had been This will add to a mans judgment when God shall put these things in his heart and he by untimely frosts nipps them in the bud whereas if he would cherish them they would come to great perfection and improvement THE EIGHTH SERMON Vpon EXOD. CHAP. 8. VERS 8.9 And I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said unto Pharaoh Glory over me when shall I intreat for thee and for thy servants and for thy people c. THere is one thing that remaines of the eighth Verse remaining that I will speedily dispatch and so go on Pharaoh saith here I will let them goe that they may sacrifice to the Lord. Ubi potentiae Ubi superbiae saith one upon my Text. How now Pharaoh what is become of thy power what is become of thy pride not long since thou wast in thy ruffe and said Who is the Lord that I should seare him or let Israel goe Thou wert so farre from dismissing them that thou eldst more intensively hate them and multiply their sorrowes Thou didst contemne Moses and Aaron that came with a Commission from God and now behold thou art under a judgement and knowest not how to extricate thy selfe from this perplexitie now thou wilt let the people goe now thou acknowledgest God now thou suest to Moses and Aaron now thou art glad to dismisse the people Even thus it was and in that it was thus my observation must bee concerning The necessitie of afflictions All faire meanes would do no good with this man God was faine to take the rod in his hand and then wee see the issue so great is the necessitie of afflictions And it drives at divers things First afflictions make a man see his sinnes as wee see in the brethren of Joseph Gen. 41.21 In their trouble in Egypt they reflect upon their unnaturalnesse to their brother they confesse that the cause of this trouble and distresse was because they did not hearken to
about it so the people cry out The Lord he is God not Baal but Jehovah for he exceeds all But this is not a thing that we need stand on we must come nearer For surely Moses intended that Pharaoh must know God to be the onely Lord. How could this be Moses no doubt understood that by this judgement on him and by the removing of it his eyes would be so in lightned that he should see there is none like God God is known in afflicting of judgments And that especially first when it is a strange judgement when it is a fearefull judgment As that judgment of Sodome when there came fire from heaven Saith Salvianus when God sent hell out of heaven fire and brimstone So when the earth swallowed Corah and his company it was a strange and fearefull judgement Secondly sometime a judgment is remarkable when it is unseasonable in regard of the time as the eclipse and darknesse at Christs suffering for it was not a naturall Eclipse God shewed his power he made the Sun withdraw his light and left the earth wrapped in obscuritie Thirdly Gods power is more remarkable when it is sudden such as that that Samuel brought upon the people that in the middest of harvest at his word there came thunder and lightning and abundance of raine that spoyled their indeavours For as Tostatus saith upon the place he looked not Astronomically he stayed not till there was a meete time of bringing things about but presently and that made it more fearfull to the people And as in the inflicting of judgments Gods hand may easily be seen and is remarkable so in the removing of it and that I thinke Moses intends For when a judgment hath been long upon a people and they have smarted soundly and have used all meanes they can devise and yet it is not removed in the end turning themselves to God and he removing it this makes them know the Lord to be God This was Pharaohs case to which Moses had respect when he said this That thou mayst know that there is none like the Lord. For you know the hand of God was heavy upon him by the Frogs they were such annoyance to him and his servants that they could have no meat dressed or be quiet in their beds it was a terrible incumbrance no question he consulted with the Magicians to remove them They could not do it God gave them leave to bring them but they had neither leave nor power to take them away God useth the devill sometimes in the execution of justice but never to doe a worke of mercy The bringing of the Frogs was a judgment the taking of them away was a mercy It was not for the devill to do that It is like enough that Pharaoh supplicated God all will not doe till Pharaoh desire Moses So that now when all is gone by the prayer of Moses he must needs know the Lord to be the God that there is none like him When Eliah told Ahab that there should be no raine in Israel but according to his word and that the drought should continue three years and six moneths you may thinke this that Ahab sought meanes for the preservation of the Cattell and consulted with his great God that he worshipped to remove this judgement it would not doe it must be the God of Elias that must doe it and that Elias that was the bridle of heaven as Basill calls him he must unlock heaven and poure out raine abundantly So the obduracie of the Philistims was so great that having took the Arke of God among them they indured seven moneths vexation of hemeroids and many people died yet they held out till at last they saw no time could cure it They consulted with their Priest and hee said go and make such an offering and saith he give glory to the God of Israel as if he had said it is not your Dagon nor all the means you can use that can free you from this judgement but acknowledg that it is Gods judgment that there is none like him Ionas râ—ns away from his commission and a whirlwind followes him and seizeth upon the whole ship they were all in danger through him They were not wanting to use all meanes to secure themselves every man called upon his God they unladed the ship and cast away whatsoever might be an incumbrance and hurt to them they left nothing unattempted they rowed with all sedulitie to bring it to land All would not doe it must be the God of Jonas that must doe it all their Gods could not do it There is none like the God of Israel So it was with Paul Act. 27. hee was in a great storme for three dayes they never saw Sun nor Star at the last Paul having revealed from God that they should all be safe he bids them take a good heart to themselves for none of them should perish but it was the God that Paul served that must do it and must help them in this extremitie and so he did Eusebius in the fifth book of his history Chap. 5. tells that under Marcus Aurelius the Emperour there was a Legion of Christian Souldiers The army was in great distresse for the enemy came close to them and they were exceedingly pinched for water The company of Christians betooke themselves to prayer thereupon the Lord sent such a thunder and lightning as discomfited the enemy and such abundance of raine that satisfied their thirst so that Army was after called the thundering Legion All that the Pagan Gods cannot doe the God of the Christians must do it there is none like him Therefore for the use of it Let this teach us when it pleaseth the Lord to send us deliverance to acknowledge his power to see Gods hand in it Though there may bee some subordinate meanes used give God the praise let him have all the glory I will but turne any of you back to some extremitie you have beene in by sicknesse of body some desperate case you have been drawn to was it thy wealth that would abate thy paine was it thy friends that could keep off thy fit was it thy former pleasures could give thee comfort Nay did it not increase thy vexation thy guiltinesse in the misusing of them and in the distempered abuse of them did it not increase thy dollour could the Physitians helpe thee did not they give thee for lost thy case was to be deplored till it pleased this God to whom none is like to rescue thee from the jawes of death Hast thou been left to tempests of mind to terrours of soule then tell mee and speake true from thy heart did all those carnall receipts of gaming drinking and businesse and whatsoever did all help were they not miserable comforters Physitians of no value till God spake to thy conscience peace and said to thy soule I am thy salvation thou hadst no comfort nor joy It is impossible it should be otherwise There is no
for him to leap out of his calling he may well mourne for it and as occasion serves and his calling will afford he may advise and pray to God to incline the hearts of those that have power to redresse these things let him not thinke he shall suffer for other mens defects for every man stands or falls to his owne master So much for that The next thing I note Say unto Aaron take thy rod c. Some may say What needs this when God with a word could have done this what need he stretch out his rod It is true there is none that doubts of the power of God what God could have done But the point is this Where God hath appointed meanes he will have them used and not have miracles expected He stretched out the rod. It was that that God had sanctified for this purpose God will have the meanes used All the world knowes God could have preserved Noah without an Arke He meant to drowne the world beside and he had fixed this way Noah must work in this meanes Every man will conceive that easily God could have preserved Lot in the middest of Sodome though all the City were burned about him but since he had appointed Zear for a refuge there he must flye and take the course that he had appointed There is no doubt but God could have recovered Hezechiah to health by a word but since God said a bunch of figs should be used that must be applied or else he could not amend Doe you thinke that God was impotent and unable to cure Naaman of his leprosie with a word he could have done it but having appointed Iordan the place to wash him and to wash seven times except he had gone and performed it whatsoever hee did thinke of Pharphar and the rivers of Damascus unlesse he had washed there he had not beene cleane God could have hid the Virgin Mary in Iudea maugre the malice of Herod but having appointed Egypt to be the place thither they must flye Musculus upon Iohn saith that Christ caused the stone to be taken away he that could raise his body why would he not raise the stone God will not worke miracles for ordinary things where the labour of man will serve For the Use of this I desire you to remember it for your spirituall and corporall condition For the bodily condition it is well knowne that God hath appointed labour to be the means of sustentation of these tabernacles of ours yet this meanes is not used There are a great number of men that looke to be fed as Eliah was by the ravens by miracle they thinke to lye and have the meat fall into their mouths no paines will they take These kinde of people that will be idle and like the doore on the hinges that will not use the meanes they will not put their soules a foot out as it is in the fable they sinne against the generall order of things The heavens stand not still but by miracle And they sinne against pure nature when man was in his innecency God provided him labour Thou shalt dresse the garden Surely that God that appointed a Sabbath intended not man to be idle They sinne against corrupted nature since the fall Man is borne to labour as the sparkes flye upward And man must eat his bread with sweat And the Heathen had this light to call them flow bellies Lastly they sinne against the store of nature It lyes on Christians mainly they are so farre from the using the meanes of labour to effect that that God hath appointed that they must withdraw themselves from men that live inordinatly He that will not labour must not eat Therefore let no man love his ease so well that hee refuse labour that his sides should ake as that man in Seneca because he sees another man take paines this is odious And let not men be carried away with a private spirit as a great number are that except their imployment bee generous they will rather doe nothing If the imployment be never so poore if it be honest it is better then to be idle ten thousand times The idle man dishonours God he transgresseth his commandements he wrongs many besides himselfe his Country the Church his family and the poore all challenge a part in him When a man shall aske his conscience what profit hath the Church or thy family or the poore or the State by thee If he say nothing it is a pitifull thing Againe when a man doth nothing he is exposed to all temptations The Devill entred when he found none at home The Iron rusts with lying The Field unplowed overgrowes with weeds Standing puddles stinke therefore it was Ieromes counsell to Rusticut Alway to be imployed Againe it is a reproach to the world there is never a generous man if he see another that labours not but he accounts him an unprofitable burthen to the earth Lastly it drawes upon a man the misery of another world Shall such a man live If he doe he hath but his soule to keep him out of hell and St. Paul saith such people are dead while they live How shall they live when they be dead that are dead while they live What saith God Binde him hand and foot and cast him into utter darknesse to the unprofitable servant Therefore hearken to God take paines in that course that God hath appointed in his word let us rather eat our owne bread then to live at another mans finding If this seeme a digression I desire you to pardon it for it may be of purpose I turned out of my way to turne some idle ones into it In the second place for our spirituall estate God will have meanes used there The Kingdome of Heaven comes not with observation as it is said in the Gospell Many prophane men say What! cannot God save us without all this preaching What! nothing without that rod that Scepter of God his Word the rod of Aaron It is dangerous to dispute what God can doe farre be it from us But when God hath appointed meanes ordinary he shewes that he will not save without them The Evnuch might have said to Philip and Paul to Ananias and Lidia to Paul God can doe this without you but God must be served that way that he hath appointed Therefore if a man thinke to be saved by a miracle he shall fall short of salvation The rich man in hell had a strange desire to save his brethren by one that rose from the dead but saith Abraham If they will not heare Moses and the Prophets they will not heare them So much for that Saith he Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod and cause the frogs to ascend What! must Aaron bring frogs out of the river What man hath power to make one haire of his head white or blacke Who can adde one cubite to his stature Must Aaron bring these frogs So in the originall it is an imparative Make or