as her predecessor Vasthi how easie had it been for her to have over-looked the calamity of her people she that before neglected her Husband her Soveraign how would she have here under-valued her servants her subjects her wise Ladies would have perswaded her yea she would have said her self it had been an unnecessary anxiety to have interrupted her mirth with the thought of their misery a businesse beneath the State of a Queen to undertake the rescue of a few despised Country-men especially with the hazzard of the forfeiture of her honour the high displeasure of the King the danger of the Law the hazzard of her life the small hope of successe This certainly would have been her voyce if they perish they perish but Religious Esther she more esteemeth of her peoples safety then her own her life is bound up in theirs if they perish she could not live she would have been more miserable had she surviv'd their Misery who could desire to live when the Country is dead all owe more to their Country then to themselves this Esther knew which thus strengthned her resolution together with the preservation of her Religion a second consideration 2. Religion is the very Nerves and sinews of the Common-wealth the very heart and prime fountain of life and livelihood the Crown the glory of a Nation the beauty the strength the perfection the Spirit the soul of a Kingdome In Religion is Embarqued the publike safety when that is aimed at the danger is dreadfull the losse beyond recovery Eli's heart trembled whilst the Arke was in the field in doubtfull disputation but when he heard the Arke was taken he fell from his seat whose heart was sooner broken then his neck yet with that he dyed Happy death that made him not out-live the losse of the Arke none but Atheists that know no life but the present but they make Religion the first thing The Heathen is recorded to all ages for the laying aside his Father Wife and Children and taking the care of his Country gods few make Religion their businesse especially they that sit at the top of the wheel cloath'd in soft rayment dandled on the knee and lul'd in the bosome of soveraignty there are that will sell Paradise for Paris and will launce no farther forth then they may return safe again but Esther is of a more divine temper she stands up for the defence of her Religion In her Religion she saw the glory of God had founded it and it could not be ruin'd without a manifest hurt to the glory of that God which was dearer to her then her own life the third and last encouragement Nothing is more dear yea so dear to a Religious soul as the glory of God the glory of its own soul is valued at a cheap rate in respect of this Gods glory is the supream the highest glory the sun of glory if that be darkned though all the stars shine it is still night whereas if that shines in its glory though no stars shine yet it is day Chrysostome professed he loved nor honoured Rome so much for her Antiquity her multitude of inhabitants her sumptuous fair buildings the great priviledges and immunities of the Citizens the beauty and glory of the City as for that the Lord of Glory was held forth there in the preaching of Peter and Paul Heaven it self is not so glorious as a poor Country Village where the King of glory is preached Queen Esther rather then the glory of God should be obscured by a black cloud of his servants blood rather then the miscarriage and downfall of Religion should open the mouth of blasphemy to spit reproach in the face of Gods people she will stake her owne soul lay her life at pawn to redeem the glory of God from such an injury Finis dat amabilitatem the end beautifies the enterprize if any end can adde glory to any surely this doth multiply on the head of Ester she is resolved actum est it is done already in her unbended resolution she cloaths her self with Virtue and puts on courage with her Jewels Thus accompanied with Divine beauty and heavenly Valour she sets forward to her already bleeding Nation her Weapons are faith and prayer her Armour courage and resolution her Attendants beauty and virtue her word Si pereo pereo nor can danger difficulty or impossibility Haman Death nor Devill turn her back again Go I will Thus you have heard with what cautions with what courage and wisdome Queen Esther and by her Example every good Christian ought to enter into a Resolution here was an absolute integrity of all concurrencies which made this resolution good acceptable to God comfortable to her self profitable to her people The person that made it fitly qualified the end moving sufficiently warrantable the circumstances honest and seasonable the means direct and lawfull Here was no defect iniquity and exorbitancy of any particular but a generall combination of all requisites The Resolution was necessary and religious which will the better appear if we compare what Queen Esther did in Persia with what the Scriptures testifie the Saints and servants of God have done at other times and ought to do at all times which is my second thing the Doctrine and the confirmation of it In the Cause of God Religion and our Countries we are not to passe for perishing Gratious and Religious spirits neither are nor ought to be out-dared in the cause of God Religion and their Countries safety by the fear and danger of perishing They that are on Gods side as Moses proclaimed in the gate they are to know neither father nor mother but every one to stay his brother companion and neighbour Christ teacheth us to hate father and mother and wife and children and Brethren and Sisters yea and our own lives also when they stand in competition with God Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha he speaks not of the Jews and Heathens but of Christians the Apostle blesseth those and prayes for them that love Jesus Christ in sincerity Ephes 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity as the blessing is so is the curse Anathema Maranatha to them that love not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity None can love Jesus Christ in sincerity that love their lives before and above Christ Saint Jerome protested he would trample upon Father and Mother if they hindred his way to Christ Cursed be he said that noble Marquesse that counts the whole world to one houres enjoyment of Jesus Christ Saint Paul could not by the prayers and teares of his friends be kept back from going to Hierusalem though the Spirit witnessed Bonds and afflictions did attend him there why do ye break my heart for I am ready not to be bound onely but also to dye at Hierusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus
not all to God is not this equall In point of Honour They that honour me them will I honour God honours them that are of publike Spirits that will lay out themselves and what they have for God the greatest title of honour among the Romans was to be intituled patres patriae they had divine honours and were enrol'd among the Gods the name of Quintus Curtius of Attilius Regulus of Papilius Decius the father and son others are famous and renouned to this day Constantine had the name great and Theodosius had the name good not from the greatnesse of their Empire but from the goodnesse of their Religion You have studyed to set marks of honour upon them that have jeoparded their lives in the high places of the Earth King Darius upon a time opening a great Pomegranate and being asked of what he would wish to have as many as there were grains in that Pomegranate he answered presently So many Zopirusses Zopirus was a Valiant and Noble Commander who seeing the King his Master could hardly surprize Babylon where the trayterous Assyrians were intrenched put in execution this wonderfull and strange Stratagem he caused his servants to rent his whole body all over with scourging to slit his nose to cut his lips and eares then flying covertly to Babylon he made the Assyrians beleeve Darius had used him so because he had spoken in their behalf councelling him to break up his siege and to remove his Army from assaulting them they beleeving the story seeing his Massacred and dis-figured body they gave him the first command by which means he delivered them and the City into Darius power When the Lord Jesus heard of the faith of the Centurion the Text sayes He wondred 't is read he honoured it this raiseth a man above himself and sheweth that he hath more then man somewhat of God in him as there cannot be a greater reproach ignominy and obloquy upon the name of any then of them that have betrayed their Country their names shall rot for ever and their memorials shall perish it is their curse and let their heires inherit it The Jews to this day when they read this History of Esther as often as mention is made of Haman they stamp with their feet frown knock with their hands shout and make an hydeous noyse the name of the gunpowder Traytors is abhord and is in execration to this day and after ages will abominate their basenesse and villanies that have lifted up their hand against the Parliament but the Esthers the Mordicai's the Religious Patriots that have acted in the sphere the brave souldiers whose lives were not dear unto them the faithfull Ministers the Horsemen the Chariots of Israel they shall be had in everlasting remembrance their names shall be perpetuated to all generations and their memory shall live for ever Jael shall be blessed above women and David for killing Goliah shal marry the Kings daughter and his house shall be free in Israel He is worthy He loved our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue Where ever saith Christ this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done for a memoriall of her Pilate is gibbited up in the Creed for condemning Christ whilst Christ for dying for his people Is exalted above all principalities and powers In point of Policy were there nothing but self self security and safety yet this would prompt us to it Christ layeth it down as an irrefragable Axiom Luke 17.33 He that loseth his life shall preserve it No man can give a cup of cold water but shall have his reward Who saith God hath shut my door for nought God is not nor cannot be a barren wildernesse He that hath pitty on the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again read what Mordecai told Esther when her fear at first prevailed with her chap. 4. v. 13 14. Think not with thy self that thou shalt escape in the Kings house more then all the Jews for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there inlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou be come to the Kingdome for such a time as this A gratious spirit cannot enjoy it self while the publike is in danger that History is worthy your observing though Apocryphall A spark is safer in the fire then separate alone how easie may it be quenched joyn'd to the rest it preserves it self and may burn them that seek to extinguish it a drop taken from the rest instantly dryes away in the sea it lives whiles the sea lives one souldier from the Army in continuall danger in the Army safe certainly that policy is folly that councel foolishnesse that leaves men to themselves to divide from the whole He that bottles all the Tears that numbreth all the hayres that pondreth all the steps that keepeth all the Bones so that not a tear shall be lost not a hair fall not a foot dash against a stone not a bone break if God takes care of the tears the hairs the out-goings the bones of his people how much more for their Liberty for their livelihood for their blood for their lives for their bodies for their souls peruse the sacred book of God search all the Annals the Histories the Records of the Bible and finde me one one example one man one woman that ever were of publike spirits that did but lay to heart the miseries of the Country that did but weep and mourn for the Abominations and Desolations and see if God did not ever preserve them if he was not a Sanctuary a City of Refuge a hiding place a Royall Pavilion to them I could give twenty instances how God hath preserved them Enoch Noah Lot Jeremy Barach Ebedmelech God gives in expresse charge Ezek. 9.4 Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that sigh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof Certainly they that will not perish for their Country shall perish without it or with it whereas they that care nor to perish so that their Country perish not they may be saviours to themselves and to the Country neither they nor the Country shall perish witnesse the successe and issue of this Resolution of Esthers perishing and thus much for the Observation and Confirmation I come in the third and last place to the Use and Application Learn God sometimes brings his people into a perishing condition he leaves them hopelesse and helplesse as Orphans and Widdows the Jews they were at this time in a low and sad condition the Decree was gone forth the day was assigned the Executioners ready the Israel of God they have been as a valley of dead dry bones
All their tears and intreaties could no more prevail with him then Dido's did with Aeneas when Jupiter commanded his departure For my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ Moses full of zeal and compassion when wrath was going forth against Israel when the destroying Angel was waving his sword over them his sword furbished and garnished to make a sore slaughter He bows his knee to the father of Jesus Christ he cryeth out O this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book which thou hast written He speaks after the manner of men in whom compassion and passion stops passage to further speech an abrupt kind of speaking an imperfect sentence wherein much more is implyed then was expressed Luther would to Wormes though there were as many devils as tiles and Antonius Marinarius said standing up in the Councell of Trent Though heaven fall and the whole world run headlong yet I will look up to the goodnesse of God and though an Angel from heaven should perswade me the contrary yet I would say Anathema to him A French Cavalier protested for the recovery of Callis he would be content to lye two years in hell A reverend Bishop lying at the point of death spake zealously and soberly Me moriente let me dye so the Church may flourish Sejan with the hazzard of his own life did bear off the burthen that would have crusht Tiberius to death and our Santleger received the Arrow into his own brest that would have pierced the King to the heart Those Worthies did worthily that presented the first Petition at York and this Parliament shall live for ever for the first Remonstrance and Protestation This is a duty that we all owe to God to our Religion and Country which all that are eminently godly truely religious and zealous Patriots have ever preferred before their particular estates honours and Lives I shall but commend one Precept to you with an example to illustrate and back it you have them both in one verse of the same chapter 1 Iohn 3. v. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he hath laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren the example is the highest that can be given and the Precept in every word emphaticall we ought in point of duty it is not arbitrary nor voluntary a necessity lies upon us and woe unto us if we lay not down our lives for the brethren to lay down freely and of our own accord not by constraint and of necessity but of choyse and desire Our lives the highest thing in our power higher then our honours our estates our liberties our priviledges our present comforts for the brethren the Saints the servants of God The Reasons that strengthen this Doctrine are mighty convincing and strong to invite if not to inforce the obedience to it This we ought to do in point of Equity Honour and Policy 1. In point of equity what can we stake in Gods cause and our Countries that we have not received from God and for Gods purposes The Lord hath made all things for himselfe the Lord found nothing made to his hand what is there in heaven and earth that can stand out against God and say I made my selfe it was a blaspheming sin no sin of ignorance which King Pharoah belched forth Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go The great Turke blasphemed God in heaven when he cryed out O God hast thou not enough to do with thine own businesse in heaven but thou interesteth and interposeth thy self with mine on earth it was sordid base flattery Jupiter in coelis God ruleth in heaven Caesar on earth the Tyrant set his mouth against heaven when he said Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty And as God made all himself so he made all for himself whē he made them he made no overture of his interest propriety All that man hath all that man is is from God and therfore all that he hath and all that he is must be for God Of him and to him there is S. Pauls Alpha and Omega when God endowed man with the greatest trust power and prerogative when he made him his Vice-Roy his Vicegerent his Lieutenant Generall when he gave the foul of the Ayre the beast of the field the fish in the sea the trees in the Garden to his command yet then the Lord laid this restraint but of the tree in the midst of the Garden thou shalt not eate That tree could then baffle Adam when all the creatures besides would bow unto him and give homage and obedience then that would stand upright and say Adam touch me not passe by lay no hand on me lest thou dyest what can we lay out for God which we have not received from God for Gods purposes if we lay out much of our silver and gold for God God therfore hath given us much because we should use much Of thine own saith David we have given unto thee when the Kings and Princes offered liberally towards the building of the Temple If we have large parts hearts and heads inlarged as the sand on the sea shore so that we had as many choise notions as sands on the sea shore God intended to make large use of them Wisedome and Understanding calls God Father life it self was bestowed on man by God that it might be bestowed on God by man The Lord Jesus Christ himself received a body not that he needed a body but that with that body he might serve the great design of Gods Predestination and so he understood and acknowledged it A body hast thou prepared for me I come to do thy will O God The whole Church resolves according to this My beloved is mine and I am his He is mine in all he hath he is mine in all he did in all he suffer'd he for my sake encountred with the malice of men with the rage of devils with the wrath of God and therefore good reason I should be His His in all I have His in all I am His in all I can do and suffer O saith Spira Were it with me as in times post I would scorn the threats of the most cruell Tyrant with invincible Resolution and glory in the outward profession of Christ till I were choaked in the flame and my body consumed to Ashes Certainly they are to be beg'd as fools and to be esteem'd as mad that rise against the Parliament that hath stood for them we have received all from God Judge ye owe we
without skin without flesh without life the Church of God as Isaac bound hand and foot the knife at the throat the fire burning as Jonah in the belly of the Whale in hell as Christ in the Grave How desperate was the condition of the Jewish Estate in the Reign of King Ahaz they were so low that they knew not by what possibly they could rise again God said to him Aske a sign of the Lord thy God aske it either in the depth or in the height above But Ahaz said I will not aske and why would not he He thought nothing in heaven nor in earth could do him good Israel was in Egypt as a burning Lamp in a smoaking furnace as Abraham in a deep sleep full of horror and of great darknesse in Babylon as a Lyon dead in Rome as men kild whose bodies lie unburied the Church sometimes passeth through the waters through the Rivers through the fire through the flame Christ the head of the Church therefore much more the Church was as a Plant or Root in a dry ground without forme without comelinesse without beauty despised rejected of men a man of sorrows one acquainted with griefes Yea the Heroes the worthies they of the first Three they are sometimes necessitated to passe through the Pikes to break through an Host an Army to gain a little water You your selves the Worthies of the Kingdome have you not severall times received the sentence of death within your selves have you not been at your stands at your losse God will raise up Mountains of opposition that you may be nothing in your selves that you may be all in him Let them perish that bring the people of God into the hazard of perishing Haman the common enemy that plotted and contrived the utter ruin of the people of God was himself hanged upon the same gallows that he prepared for Mordecai nec lex est justior Nor did Haman dye alone as the head of the Malignant partee but Hamans ten sons drank of the same cup yea they that would have acted in so hellish a design the Jews put to the sword 76000 men it is worthy of your observation the Jews that stood up for their Liberties for their Religion yet the Text twice expresly Records That they layd not their hands on the Prey See what the Gibeonites asked of David 2 Sam. 21.3 4 5 6. What shall I do for you and wherewith shall I make the Atonement that ye may blesse the inheritance of the Lord And the Gibeonites said unto him We will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel And he said What ye shall say that will I do for you And they answered the King The man that consumed us and that devised against us that we should be destroyed for remaining in any of the coasts of Israel Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord did chuse And the King said I will give them I do not deny but the Law of God doth it self allow composition for mens lives men may in some cases redeem their lives with their Estates Ismael did not slay them that said They had treasure in the field But if there be any whom God hath marked out for destruction they that give their lives to them their lives may go for their lives Cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lord negligently All are not involved in the same guilt that are in the same Action 200 joyned themselves to Absolon in his treasonable practise yet they went in the simplicity of their hearts Yet there are a partee that are leaders to the blind that Justice may not shut her eye against them in Babylon there are some that have not the mark of the Beast upon them they are to be invited to be called out to be received in but they that have the name the number the marke of the beast they must dye without mercy and like milstones be thrown into the midst of the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone the commands of God are not onely peremptory Reward her even as she hath rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup that she hath filled fill to her double but a blessednesse is promised to them that execute this command O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones peruse that of the Lamentations and you shall see who they are that are to be destroyed and how to be destroyed Render unto them a recompence O Lord according unto the work of their hands give them sorrow of heart thy curse unto them persecute and destroy them in anger from under the Heavens of the Lord Give them sorrow of heart there is their character there is their marke by which they are set out for destruction there is that black beane that fatall robe which designs them for death the margent of your Bible reads it give them obstinacy of heart an hard heart is a great evill but an heart hardned an obstinate heart obstinacy of heart such a heart that will not that cannot be softned one reads it give them a veil upon their heart they upon whose heart there is a vail that when Gods hand is lifted up they will not see give them a shield upon their heart a shield not to defend them from the fiery darts of Sathan but as the Interlineary glosse reads it ne penetrentur jaculo praedicationis The sin against the holy Ghost is unpardonable and could we distinctly know that sin men should not pardon it more then God blasphemy was to be punished by death this sin the highest blasphemy I beleeve there are many at this day that are guilty of this sin to sin against mighty convincement so Christ argueth against the Pharisees is to sin this sin they that fight against God as the Jews did that opposed Stephen who were not able to resist the spirit by which he spake yet they were cut to their heart they gnashed on him with their teeth they stopped their eares they stoned him to death if some are not guilty of this sin against the holy Ghost yet there are many that are guilty of that sin which is unto death of that sin which leads unto death which shall never return again that have stood out against the Word of God the Providences of God the mercies of God that have grieved the Holy Spirit resisted the Holy Ghost quenched the Spirit and done despight unto the Spirit of grace Christ would not spare the figtree above three years they that stand out this year after the master of the Vineyard hath been at so great cost and hath taken so great
County but now she sits like a Widdow desolate the hand of God hath lately gone out against them the onely Town untouch'd by the Enemy and the onely town in all the County stroke of God The Priests the Ministers of the Lord that did bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders there were sixteen of them in that Parish and now I know but one one alone as Eliah left to do the service of the Lord and he is upon tiptoe ready to take his flight scarce having bread through the wickednesse of the times the great revenues of the Church being unjustly withheld from him to put into his childrens mouth the Wals of the Garrison they moulder away and what the Enemy could never do time hath made wide breaches in their Works and there is not at this time that I know of five souldiers to keep the Garrison these things in a Petition they have lately laid at your feet Give me leave in theirs and others behalf to say Let not so great labour of Love be forgotten Let the blessing of them that are ready to perish be upon you Comfort them yea comfort them according to the time wherein they have been afflicted yea give them double for what they have done There are many Uses that I could make of this Doctrine but time and strength would both fail me I will conclude all with a short meditation peruse 1 Kings 22.19 20. And he said hear thou therefore the Word of the Lord I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left And the Lord said Who shall perswade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead and one said on this manner and another said on that Be pleased to conceive a Parliament at this time conveen'd in Heaven and God on his Throne asking this Question Shall I destroy England And so some Answers after this manner and some after that One stands up and sayes England must be destroyed Elijah a bold and daring man he makes intercession to God against Israel Lord they have killed thy Prophets and digged down thine Altars thou hast consumed with the Spirit of thy mouth and hast consumed with the brightnesse of thy comming the great Antichrist the Grand Imposter the man of sin the son of Perdition the wicked one and behold there are many Antichrists many wicked ones that are risen up in the room of him there are little Foxes that spoyl the Vines those Vines that have tender Grapes and they are not taken away A Second seconds the former and saith England must be destroyed there is a great cry of injustice of oppression of wrong of injury blood toucheth blood Courts of Justice Committees are Courts of Robbery and spoyl the poor sheep flyes to the bush for shelter and loseth his fleece Papists Malignants compound and they oppresse their poor Tenants that have engaged themselves in the publike for the Lord against their lords A third assents to what the two former hath said England must be destroyed wrath is begun amongst them they begin to imbrue their hands in each others blood and because others cannot murther them they will kill one another Lord what fears what suspicions what jealousies what sad divisions amongst thine own people they that Affliction made friends prosperity makes enemies they whom one heaven will contain one Church cannot A fourth confirmes and concludes with the three former England must be destroyed they have broke the Covenant they have falsified the Oath of God Oaths and Covenants are like Sampsons coards every one makes use of them to their own Interests To these agreed many more there was a great cry heard in the house Down with it down with it even to the ground God looked from his throne and wondred there was not one found not one to stand in the Gap to make an Atonement to speak in the behalf of England After a short silence one arose from his seat and said Lord wilt thou destroy England England for whom thou hast done so great things amongst whom thou hast magnified thy Name hast done Wonders What Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord their God is in all things they have called upon him for and what Nation is there so great that have Statutes and judgements so righteous Aske now of the dayes that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon Earth and aske from the one side of heaven unto the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Did ever people hear the Voyce of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard and live or hath God assayed to go take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation by temptation by signes and by wonders and by War and by a mighty hand and by a stretched out Arme and by great terrors according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes God never did more by Josuah by Macchabeus by Alexander by the King of Sweden then by the Parliaments Army this year wilt thou destroy what thine hand hath done what will the Atheists the Papists the Malignants say Surely God was not able to save them save them for thy great Names sake A second ariseth and saith England must not be destroyed Lord wilt thou destroy a righteous Nation if there be fifty forty thirty twenty ten righteous there shall not the Judge of all the Earth do that that is right there are seven thousand at least that have not bowed their knees to Baal there are sixty thousand and more yea then sixty hundred thousand that cannot discern betwixt the right hand and the left thou never didst destroy a praying a reforming people wilt thou now do what was never in thy thoughts before A third ariseth after the second and pleads the same cause England must not be destroyed there is a Parliament in the midst of them Physitians of great value God hath been amongst them and in the midst of them and they are still acting for God and the Kingdomes safety did ever Parliament perish before After all these the fourth ariseth that there might not appear fewer to speak for then there was to speak against England England must not be destroyed they cannot dye alone the three Kingdomes must dye with them yea the Protestant Churches throughout the world hast thou not said That hell gates shall not prevail against thy people To these many more joyn'd in heart and Vote there was a considerable partee of both sides nor could it be determin'd whether had more voyces they that spake for the destruction or they that spake for the salvation of England and having said they were silent And behold as we read in the Revelation there was in heaven great silence for half an houre both
sides waiting for Gods determination at last God in his glorious Majesty raysed himself from his Throne and effectually cryed out How shall I give thee up England how shall I give thee up and so without Conclusion and finall determination dissolved the Session to the admiration and astonishment of both parties Beloved the truth is we are yet in an uncertain and doubtfull condition none knows what the sentence shall be at last what God will do with us God hath already done as much above our hopes as our deserts God hath lengthned out our tranquillity he hath given us a breathing time great Salvation he hath wrought for us he hath given us Liberty and opportunity to work our salvation with fear and trembling beleeve it the Lord waits for something from us O yee that are the Lords remembrancers ye Senators ye Ministers ye people speak often in his ears give the Lord no rest ye Israel of God ye mighty Princes of the Lord ye men and women of Prayer O all ye that are before the Lord this day this Fasting day open your mouthes wide unto the Lord ask great things of God ye Noahs ye Daniels ye Iobs ye Moses ye Aarons ye Jeremiahs ye Baâ—uâ—hs plead Englands cause with God and let not God go till he hath left the blessing behind him O pray pray pray with strong cryes and groans pray away what ever it is whether person or things that keeps God from us Esther Mordecai they of Shusan they prayed Haman and all the Conspirators dead together Haman and his wise Counsellors they for twelve Moneths together used Divination and Inchantment Esther in three dayes praying overthrew what they were contriving twelve Moneths nothing can stand against Prayer Prayer is omnipotent it is a Commander of the Heavens a Controuler of the Elements it commands God himselfe one prayerfull Christian may do more then ten thousand beside let not then God go lay hands upon him pray the sentence on your side You that are the Parliament of England act strongly for God act like your selves according to the trust reposed in you Did Publius Scipio a private man kill Tyberius Gracohus that did but lightly weaken the Common-wealth and shall we that are Consuls saith the Consul of Rome let Cataline alone to work a common-destruction let not Malignants rest quiet amongst you there can be no safety to our Country to our Religion whiles such misereants lurk in our dwelling little know we what Gun-powder Plots are now in hatching and how neer they are to the Birth whilst the Pope remains at Rome and the Devill in Hell and their Agents in England the sons of darknesse will be still working in the vault of Darknesse to ruine the children of light shew not the least countenance to the detestable Neutrality that is practised by many God writes in his books write you in yours all Neuters Enemies all that are not for you against you The Hedgehog the Hierogliphick of the Newter hath two holes the one towards the South the other toward the North when the South wind blows she stops that hole that is toward the North when the North wind blows she stops that towards the South such urchins are all Temporizers that halt betwixt two opinions And as for Apostates that are fals to their Covenant and to your State let not your eye pitty them let not your hand spare them execute justice to the enemies of the Common-wealth shew mercy with favour to your friends You my Beloved in the Ministery be zealous for God if God bids us prophecy nullus consultandi locus no choise is then best that Roman Magnanimity must then take place necesse ut eas non ut vivas Silvanus and Timotheus peremptorily told the Emperor Power thou hast O Emperor to punish us but never to drive us from the Tenets of our forefathers Eusebius refused to deliver Constantius the Emperor the Decree made by the Councell against the Arians though he threatned to cut off his hand yet he refused it Theodosius reports that the King of Scythia slew Anacharsis the Philosopher for worshiping the mother of the gods after the Athenian manner and the Evangelist records that twice our Saviour purged the Temple he that was the mirrour of Patience see how he looseth the Reines in an holy Indignation in Sacrilegious abuses in Religious quarrels The Multitude of the Offenders the might and malice of the Observers the danger of the Action nor the perill of the consequence stayes his hands but he scourgeth out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple Truly Phineas Zeal Iehu's March Iosiahs Resolution Luthers Heroicall Spirit are necessary for these times It is all one to deny the faith and not to maintain it silence strengthneth Error and they that through fear or negligence hold their peace like sleepy watchmen they betray the City when a truth in Religion is questioned when error is preferred he that to his power doth not resist de suo damnabitur silentio shall be condemned for his silence Courage the Lord is with you And ye people of the land come forth and helpe the Lord against the mighty Curse ye Meroz saith the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty These are not the words of an angry passionate Prophet but of the Angell of the Lord not rashly thundered out from the Pulpit but zealously from Heaven not with meeknesse and calmnesse of Spirit but in bitternesse and fervency of Spirit Here is not a single Curse but a double a multiplyed Curse not against the professed open Enemies but against the lukewarm the feigned friends not against the Cities of the Cananites but against Meroz a City now in the Confines of Israel All Israel was against Achan and all Israel must be for the publike safety If any man draw back Gods Soul shall have no pleasure in that man they are no Israelites indeed that will sit still on this side Iordan whilst their brethren are in the field Be all active in your way for encouragement I will onely say this you shall see your desire of your Enemy your soul shall be filled with the goodnesse of the Lord for the first see Isaiah 60.14 The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending Unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow down themselves at the soales of thy feet and they shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel God will make the sons of Princes bow down unto you the greatest that have afflicted you and despised you shall lie at your feet For the second see the successe of this Resolution Esther 9.29 30 31 32. Your Fasts shall be turned into Feasts your dayes of mourning into dayes of rejoycing your good ones shall be made great the Esthers the Mordicais shall be advanced the Hamans the common Enemies shall be destroyed Religion shall be established the Peace and safety of the Country shall be secured Gods glory shal be exalted and you your selves highly Honoured God shall have the glory you the happinesse posterity the blessednesse of this desired Work FINIS Pro. 24.6 Doct. Exod. 32.26 Luke 14.26 1 Cor. 16.22 Eph. 6.24 Acts 21.13 Rom. 9.3 Exod. 32.31 32. 1 Joh. 3.16 Reason 1 Exod. 5.2 Dan. 4.30 1 Chro. 29 14. Heb. 10.5 Cant. 2.16 1 Sam. 2.30 Mat. 26.13 Luke 17.33 Mat. 10.1 Mal. 1.10 Prov. 19.17 Esth. 4.13.14 2 Esdr. 9. 40. to c. 16 27. Ezec. 9.4 Vse 1. Ezec. 37. Isa. 7.11 12. Isai. 53. Esth. 9. c. 10. v. 16. 2 Sam. 21.3 4 5 6. Exod. 21.30 Jer. 41.8 Revel. 18.6 Psa. 137.8.9 Lam. 3.64.65 66. Isa. 26.11 Mat. 23.35 Esth. 1.16 17 18. Ezra 7.26 2 Sam. 9.3 Esth. 6.1.3 1 King 22 19 20. Deu. 4.32 33 34. Judg. 5.23 Isa. 60.14