in his Trench his Spear was stuck in the ground at his Boulster 1 Sam. 26. v. 7. For his defence in case of an alarm Defensive is as good and as needful a propertie in a Weapon as Offensive Hence promises of defence are equivolent to those of positive mercies As when God says I will defend this City to save it for my own sake and for my servant Davids sake Is all one as if he had said I will bestow eminent and special favours upon this City Again In that day shall the Lord defend the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God and the Angel of the Lord before them Mark it The great and glorious promise to the feeble ones that they shall be as David that is have a large portion of the sure Mercies of David and that the Angel of the Lord should be before them ministring from the Lord abundantly to them is all comprehended is this that God will Defend them And so he tells Abraham that he should not fear for he would be his Shield to defend him from all ill and in being so he would be also his exceeding great reward When David was going against Goliah Saul took great care of his preservation and therefore 't is said 1 Sam. 17. v. 38. And Saul armed David with his Armour and he put an Helmet of brass upon his head also he armed him with a coat of Mail. That he might not be wounded by the Philistines weapon though at that time and upon that occasion David had no need of it for God design'd to give him the Victory before he came within reach of the Enemy and 't is more then probable David was not ignorant of it and that God had reveal'd it to him which made him so willing to put off the Armor and refuse any other Weapons but the Sling and a bag of Stones But in ordinary cases defensive weapons are necessary Skill to defend is as profitable and every way advantagious as dexterity in offending For he that looks not well to himself will be very little or at least but a very little capable to hurt his Enemy Knowing how to guard turns to as good an account as apprehending when to strike And hence that Souldier does his King and Country as much service in the day of battel in preserving his own Life as in taking away the Life of his Adversary As therefore there is a double use of the Spear one of Offence and the other of Defence so there should be a double skill in the management of it He is an expert and valiant Warrior that can say under God his Spear sav'd his Life Thus you see what the Spear is I must now show you how God cuts this Spear in making Wars to cease First We told you the Spear signifies a formidable weapon of War Now God cuts this Spear by making such a change as the Spear is no longer fear'd Hence to cut or shut up are us'd as terms Synonimous Job 11. v. 10. The Spear is now shut up and there is no body afraid of it Swords are now ornamental by Gentlemens Sides and not terrible in Warriors hands The Spear is now no more affrightning then the glittring of any other mettal And what a mercy 't is to be freed from tear both as to our selves our Friends and Relations What a joyful frame was David in when he could say I sough the Lord and he heard me and deliver'd vie from all my fears 'T is a great mercy to be deliver'd not only from evil but from the fear of evil This mercy is the effect of Peace and God has promi'd it to his people And I will give peace unto the Land and ye shall lye down and none shall make you afraid You shall meet those that were once your Enemies and though they have Spears in their hands you shall not be afraid of them Fear shall be quite banished fron your minds and lodge no more in your brests And this is solemnly born wittness to by the Lord as what he will do for his People in the latter days But they shall sit every one under his Vine and under his Fig tree and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it Oh what a Mercy 't is to live free from the fear of the Sword When there was a cessation of Aams between the house of David and the house of Saul Abner was not afraid of Joab but came back at the call of the messengers to him and went aside to speak with him without any suspition of harm though Joab most basely and treacherously kill'd him 2 Sam. 3 v. 27. Fear disquiets the mind disturbs the Spirit and keeps us continually in a state of bondage Oh what a comfort to be prized and thankfully received that the Spear of fear is now cut and all people may be at ease in their Habitations Now the Merchants may send their Ships abroad without racking and tormenting thoughts of the Pirates now people may go voyages without fear of being made Prisoners in another Land and now all men may be out of pain about the dubious success of War In a word that which crowns this great Mercy and makes it valuable indeed now our endeared Sovereign may stay at home among his loving Subjects without exposing as he has too often done his Royal Person to the danger of the Enemies efforts Oh what English Mans heart could forbear bleeding What English mans Soul could forbear trembling to think what Dangers our King has been in what Hazards he has gone through among the thundring Cannon But now blessed be God the danger is over the Spear is cut and our Soveraign is safely return'd to his own house Secondly We told you the Spear signifies a restrain'd weapon fit only for some Now God cuts this Spear by turning the minds of those who took so much pleasure in it and making them weary of it We read of some that are cut off from the Gospel Zach. 11. v. 16. That is they have no love or affection to the good things of it or as the Apostle phrases it they are alienated from the life of God If some Men especially great ones did always retain the pleasure they take in the Field we should never have any peace in our Dwellings But God when his time is so changes their hearts and alters their dispositions that they are as much against War as ever they were for it and as willing to have Peace and be at quiet as the rest of Mankind How enrag'd was Esau once against Jacob and how dreadfully did he threaten him and yet when it was in his power to do him harm being at the head of a great Company God chang'd his heart and quite turn'd his Mind so that he met his Brother very peaceably If God had not here cut
the more prize the present dispensation of Peace Fourthly Oh then we should be looking for and expecting of another War wherein the work will be perfectly done and the great controversy fully determin'd between Zion and Babylon Our Saviour tells us towards the latter days there will be Wars and rumours of Wars And indeed all the Wars among Men are but rumours of Wars in comparison of that great War that shall be waged against Antechrist which the Saints onely shall have the sole Management of And Oh what a War will that be Alas the Men of the World are but Bunglers and Boglers at the Art of War like Mastiff Dogs fight till they are weary and then leave off but when the Saints come to take up the Sword they 'l make a clear riddance and carry all before them This Nation have had a Tast what Work the Saints can make when they are called forth by the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel and Spirited by the Lord of Hosts for Fighting-Work And it will most certainly come to that Exod. 17. v. 15 16. And Moses built an Altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi For he said because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have War with Amaleck from generation to generation He will publickly declare War and set his Saints in Battel Array against all that take part with Babylon when the time comes Hear what the Prophet says Jer. 51. v. 10 11. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God Make bright the Arrows gather the shields the Lord hath raised up the Spirit of the Kings of the Medes for his device is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengance of the Lord the vengance of his Temple And as Litteral Babylon was destroy'd by the Sword so must Mystical Babylon and verily the day of her destruction is drawing near Though God does now break the Bow cut the Spear and burn the Chariots of Men yet I must tell you there is a Bow bending that cannot be broken there is a Spear drawing that will not be cut asunder and there is a Chariot preparing that shall not be burnt with fire Oh mark I beseech you First A Bow 1. God's will and purpose shall be accomplish'd and what he hath determin'd concerning Babylon shall surely be brought to pass He hath set his Bow in the Clouds Gen. 9. v. 13. Importing his purpose that Seed-time and Harvest-time Summer and Winter should not cease while the World endures As he Covenanted with Noah and as a Token of the unalterableness of this purpose He hath set his Bow in the Clouds So unalteterable is his decree against Babylon Jer. 51. v. 29. And the Land shall tremble and sorrow for every purpose of the Lord shall be perform'd against Babylon to make the Land of Babylon a desolation without an Inhabitant And therefore there is no preserving Babylon or warding off the Blow from her let all the Sons of Men do what they can Tho 〈…〉 of Hosts concerning her that the Day of her Calamity shall hasten and she shall come down from the heighth of her glory and be sunk as a Milstone in the Sea and all that have taken part with her or have partaken of her sins shall receive of her Plagues and be hurl'd into the same pit of Misery II. God's Word that he hath spoken must and shall be perform'd and this is the Bow that cannot be broken Hab. 3. v. 9. Thy Bow was made quite naked according to the Oaths of the Tribes even thy word Selah Thou didst cleave the Earth with Rivers That is the word which thou speakest concerning thy People was made very plain and every word about his People and relating to the Kingdom of his Son Isa 45. v. 23. I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear When he has performed his purpose against Babylon he will make the Nations Bowe unto his Son He shall have dominion also from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth They that dwell in the Wilderness shall bowe before him and his enemies shall lick the dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents The Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts Yea all Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him For this is the word of the great God that changeth not I will overturn overturn overturn till he comes whose right it is and I will give it him And because of this word which is gone out of God's Mouth we find the Holy Ghost expostulating with the Great Ones of the World as a Pack of Fools in thinking to hinder the performance of it Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Then shall he speak unto them ln his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion Oh there is no breaking of this Bow there is no hindring the accomplishing this word III. God's People which he hath Spirited to do his Work they shall prevail and be successful in it They are call'd a Bow Zech. 9. v. 13. When I have bent Judah for me filled the Bow with Ephraim and raised up thy Sons O Zion against thy Sons O Greece and made thee as the sword of a Mighty Man He will bend Judah as a Bow and joyn Ephraim with him that is he will unite his Saints together and Spirit them to fly in the Faces of their Enemies with this Triumph flowing from their Mouths Faith and Revenge And this Motto Engraven on their Breasts Holiness to the Lord. Oh then will they be made as the Sword of a Mighty Man and none shall be able to stand before them And then will that Promise in toto as it has many times already in tanto be fulfill'd Lev. 26. v. 7 8. And ye shall chase your Enemies and shall fall before you by the Sword And five of you shall 〈…〉 your enemies shall fall before you by the Sword Oh Sirs the day is coming and 't is approaching apace when the Enemies of God and of his Christ shall be driven by the Saints as the Dust before the Wind. And then the Saints Mouths as so many Silver Trumpets shall make the Earth Ring with this Glorious Eccho The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge Selah Secondly There is a Spear drawing out which will not be cut in sunder That is the great and dreadful Appearance of God for his
People in the day when he shall make bare his Arm for their defence when he shall ride upon the Heavens by his Name JAH and in his Excellency on the Clouds when he comes to render his Anger with Fury and his Rebukes with Flames of Fire when he shall thresh the Mountains so that they Smoke and make the everlasting Hills to bow Oh this is likened to a Spear Hab. 3. v. 11 12 13. The Sun and Moon stood still in their habitation at the light of thine Arrows they went and at the shining of thy glittering Spear Thou didst march through the Land in indignation thou didst thresh the Heathen in anger Thou wentest forth for the Salvation of thy People even for Salvation with thine Anointed thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the Neek Selah Now with Balaam we may take up our Parable and say Alas who among the Nations shall live when God doth this When this Spear is drawn forth Oh what a terrible time will it be to all that are unacquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ How will they be surpriz'd with fear and how will Astonishment take hold on them How will they go into the holes of the Rocks and into the corners of the Earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth Isa 2. v. 19. This Elegant Macrology sets forth the miserable state of Wicked Men. And the Epiphonema shows the dreadfulness of God's appearing when he arises to shake terribly the Earth that is the Men of the Earth who are called Earth because their hearts are swallow'd up in the Earth Thirdly There is a Chariot preparing which shall not be burnt with fire and that is Zion or the visible Church in her full and compleat Glory when she is upon the ascendant in her Meridian Splendor shining forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of her Father This Chariot we read of Cant. 3. v. 9. 10. 11. King Solomon made himself a Chariot of the Wood of Lebanon He made the Pillars thereof of Silver the bottom thereof of Gold the covering of it of Purple the midst thereof being paved with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem Go forth O ye Daughters of Zion and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother crowned him in the day of his espousal and in the day of the gladness of his heart By Solomon is meant Christ and by the Chariot is meant the Church And Oh how beautiful and glorious will the Church be when She gets above the reach of persecution and is devested of the robes of corruption Oh what a Sight will it be to see her thus array'd in Glory going forth to meet the 〈…〉 Maiesty so that the greatest Potentate will be afraid of her Cant 6. v. 4. Thou art beautiful O my loue as Tirrah comely as Jerusalem terrible as an Army with banners God has promised to make Jerusalem a burdensom Stone Ah Sirs this chariot cannot be burnt Fifthly Then how foolish is it to rejoyce for this peace on any carnall account Ah how many look no farther then the present advantage of Trade or easing of Taxes but there eyes are not on God or the hand he has in it or what he designs by it or that he has a wheel within the wheel and a work going on in peace as well as in war And Oh how sad it is not to mind the work of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands And as it is a foolish thing thus to ground your Joy on some carnall respect So it is a wicked thing to reioice after a Vain and wanton manner as by drinking and Guzling by feasting and rioting by Carding and Gaming Is this the Joy that becoms Christians I am Sure Heathens would blush at it if you will feast let the Widows and Fatherless feast with you Oh that is the best feasting when we deal our bread to the hungry if you will rejoice rejoice in the Lord give thanks praise to him the Author and Donor of this peace But alas men are become intoxicated they have so long And so much followed the cursed fashions of Rome that they are wholly uncapable of doing any thing right As the Lord complain'd of old Jerm 51. v 7. The nations have drunken of her wine therefore the nations are mad Verily the generality of People are so mad that they make dayes of rejoicing more then ordinary dayes of Sinning Oh remember I beseech you 't is Grace and no other abstracted consideration whatsoever that is a ground of Joy As our Lord said to his Disciples Luke 10. v. 20. Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the Spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are Written in Heaven Oh this is the cause and the only cause that will bear Joy Sixthly Oh then how should Saints he looking and longing for this time of Gods bending his Bow drawing his Spear and preparing his Chariot and beleiving every Dispensation to be making way thereto This advice our Lord gives Luke 21 v. 28. And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your beads for your redemption draweth nigh Resupinato collo qui gestus est eorunt Qui avide Sursum c. Is a note of Beza's on the place Oh we should eagerly and greedily look up we have Seen many things in our dayes that are comfortable presages of Christs near approach The womb of time is very bigg and the end of all things is at hand Oh therefore let us wait for the day of Zions Salvation and the coming of her King Oh let us look up with an eye of faith and with an eye of Joy Could an Heathen say Aspice venturo letentur ut omnia Saclo O mihi tam longe mancat pars ultima vitoe And shall not we more clearly See this day and rejoyce in the Sight of it Oh yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Let our earnest fervent Prayer be that of the Church Cant. 2. v. 17 Vntill the day break and the shadows flee away turn my beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen 〈…〉
them to War Hi neque pro patria neque pro paenatibus neque pro Sepulchris majorum neque pro libertate aut filliis pugnant Sed tantum ne vincantur neuter caedit alteri these poor Creatures neither strive for their Country nor for their Gods nor for their Fathers Sepulchres nor for their Liberty or their Children but they strive only for Victory All Fowls are not Cocks of the Game nor all Men spirited to march under displayed Colours 't is great Spirits only that affect this kind of work We find in the Parable of Solomon's Worthies that their Spirits were dreined from worldly Affections and so quickned to the greatest and most generous employment Cant. 3. v. 7.8 Behold his Bed which is Solomons Threescore Valiant Men are about it of the Valiant of Israel They all hold Swords being expert in War every man hath his Sword upon his Thigh because of fear in the night This Combate was Spiritual not Carnal and these combatants were sacred not military By valiant Men therefore here are meant Ministers zealous for God and couragious in their Ministerial Work and by their Sword uyon their Thigh is meant their eminent Skill in word and Doctrin and their being always upon the watch to countermine the designes of evil ones who lie in wait to deceive Now as all men are not Spirited to be Ministers no the most like Gallio care for none of these things they trouble not their selves about Soul concerns So all men are not fit to be Souldiers the most Busie not their minds with publick affairs they are not ambitious of honour nor curiously diving into the intreagues of States and Kingdoms It is but some certain men skrewed above the strain of vulgar inclination who care to draw a Sword in the quarrel of uneasie Princes The Spear therefore notes The peculiar Man for War Thirdly The Spear signifies a Weapon kept for and destin'd to some eminent use God has extraordinary work to be done in the World and he has extraordinary Instruments for it such as Swords and Spears And therefore we find them kept very charily yea sometimes laid up in the holy Temple As when Athaliah usurp'd the Crown after Ahaziah's death and young Joash kept from his Right by her impious Tyranny when the time came that he was to be restor'd then there was use of Spears but where were they to be had why we find a supply from a sacred repository 2 Kings 11. v. 10. And to the Captains over hundreds did the Priest give King Davids Spears and Sheilds that were in the Temple of the Lord. They were there kept against such a time As the Earth shall help the Woman so those instruments which the worst of men use for their Lusts shall help the cause of God and he will be glorified in the use of them and therefore the Temple it self though a consecrated place was not too good to hold them Every thing in Nature is of some use and the God of Nature knows how to get himself glory in the use of what is most commonly employ'd to the greatest hurt and Destruction Hence we find the Sword is call'd the Sword of the Lord as well as of Gide n Judg. 7. v. 20. When God has a work for the Sword he will provide a Sword for that work When he is angry with a People that departs from him he threatens to bring a Sword upon them that shall avenge the quarrel of his Covenant And when he has no more work to do he will then cause the Sword to be sheath'd again There is a consecrated as well as a common Spear And though it is generally in the hands of the worst of Men yet God will accomplish his end by it Hence as we are not to be too much frightned by the Spear so we are not to set too light by it but when ever it is drawn to remember God's hand is in it and that he designs some notable work by it Hear the language of God in his word If I whet my glittering Sword and my hand take hold on Judgment I will render vengance to my enemies and will reward them that hate me Thus he keeps the Spear till he has occasion for it Fourthly The Spear signifies a very sharp weapon of War fit for piercing and goring and every War answering the end of the Warrior Hence David speaks metaphorically of his implacable Enemies Psal 57. v. 4. My Soul is among Lyons and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the Sons of men whose teeth are Spears and Arrows and their Tongue a sharp Sword By Teeth and Tongue here he means the Slanders and pestilent Accusations of malitious Backbiters which he likens to sharp Spears and Swords for as they Stab and kill the Body so do these the Name and Reputation of honest Men. We read of sharp Arrows Thine Arrows are sharp in the Heart of the Kings Enemies whereby the People fall under thee And of a sharp Rasor Thy Tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp Rasor working deceitfully And of a sharp threshing Instrument thus God speaks to Ifrael Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing Instrument having teeth thou shalt thresh the Mountains and beat them small and shalt make the Hills as Chaff And so here of the sharp Spear which does so much mischief in War Oh how dismall are the effects of furious Battel not only multitudes of men destroy'd but Towns and Citties ras'd even to the Ground We find the Church sadly complaining of the lamentable havock War had made Isa 64. v. 11 Our holy and our beautiful house where our Fathers praised thee is burnt up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid wast The Spear cuts deep and War consumes at a strange rate Hear the Prophet how mournfully and pathetically he expresses the sad case of poor Jerusalem after she had felt the sharpness of the Babylonian Spears How doth the City sit solitary that was full of People How is she become as a Widdow She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her Cheeks among all her Lovers she hath none to comfort her all her friends have dealt treachously with her they are become her enemies Judah is gone into Captivity because of affliction and because of great Servitude She dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her Persecutors overtook her between the Straits And have not both Nations enough to complain of the desolating effects of the sharp Spear How many Merchants are drooping for lost goods how many Women are mourning for dead Husbands how many Mothers are crying for Slaughter'd Children and how many People are bewailing desolate places Fifthly The Spear signifies a Weapon for Guard and Defence or such a Weapon with which a man may not only wound his Enemy but defend himself When Saul lay sleeping
great and powerful which if they had still put confidence in we had been farther plung d into the miseries of War Thus God burns the Chariot Thirdly We told you Chariot signifies the Renown and Glory of Warriors Now God burns this Chariot by making Men see a contemptibleness in what was once their Glory and causing them to look down upon what they once so admir'd and were so much taken with Thus we find the Prophet breaking into Lamentation for the sad condition he foresaw Palestina would be in Jer. 9. v. 10. For the Mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing and for the Inhabitants of the Wilderness a Lamentation because they are burnt up so that none can pass through them neither can men hear the voice of the Cattel both the Fowl of the Heavens and the Beast are fled they are all gone That is the Land should be strip'd bare and naked of Cattel and Pasture which was once its Glory and then it should be contemptible in the eyes of all So when men come once to see their greatest glory to be in Peace not in War as it is said of Melchezideck he was King of Salem that is King of Peace Heb. 7. v. 2. And so an eminent Type of the Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace I say when Men come to see this they will then have very low thoughts of what was once their Pride and Glory The Nieghing of the Horses the clashing of the Armour the rattling peals of the Drum and the delightful sound of the Trumpets will then be disrelished and disregarded by them in comparison of the much better and more charming sound of Peace Peace in every corner of the Land and of the true lasting Honour every one shall be crowned with who had a hand in procuring it Thus you see how God burns the Chariot in the Fire But 't is time to make some Application of these things First Then stand off Sinners You have nothing to do with this Work nor no part or portion in the comfort of it The breaking the Bow the cutting the Spear in sunder and the burning the Chariot in the fire will rebound nothing to your advantage None of the Enemies of God as such as live in Sin are shall fare the better for any of these things And therefore I may say to you as Jehu said to the Messenger that Joram sent to enquire about Peace What hast thou to do with Peace 2 Kings 9. v. 18. Thou Swearer Drunkard Sabboth-breaker Ah what hast thou to do with Peace 'T will be small comfort for thee that there is Peace on Earth as long as the God of Heaven is denouncing War against thee God is angry with the Wicked every day Oh hear that and tremble And upon the Wicked he will rain Snares Fire Brimstone and an horrible Tempest this shall be the portion and that for ever of their Cup. Hear how plainly how positively the Prophet declares as from the Lord of Hosts Isa 57. v. 21. There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked Mark that Chapter it begins with Peace and ends with no Peace Of the good Man it is said He shall enter into Peace they fall rest in their Beds each one walking in his uprightness But here in the close he avers there is no Peace to the Wicked The great God notwithstanding outward Peace will have ways enough to deal with and bring Judgments upon them and therefore they have small cause to rejoyce at this Peace Secondly Oh then 't is Saints only that have cause to rejoyce at this dispensation of peace 't is they and only they shall have the good of it 'T is for their sakes that God makes Wars to cease that he breaks the Bow cuts the Spear in sunder and burns the Chariot in the Fire Indeed Saints have cause to Rejoyce at any thing at every thing for all things shall work together for good to them that Love God 'T is said Psal 97. v. 8. Zion heard and was glad and the Daughters of judah rejoyced because of thy Judgments O Lord. Any news any tidings is matter of Joy to the Children of Zion for they are sure to reap Benefit and Comfort from all God's Dispensations whether of Mercy or Judgment Hence they are meditating day and night on the Works of God and continually enquiring about them So we are told Psal 111. v. 2 3 4. The Works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honourable and glorious and his Righteousness endureth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred the Lord is gracious and full of Compassion When he makes War that is a glorious work to the Saints for they are expecting the Issue of it and when he makes Peace that 's a gracious work to the Saints for they are sure to reap Comfort by it and in War and Peace he will make his Works to be remembred by the Saints for in both he is full of Compassion to them Oh therefore they have ground to rejoyce because their Father is in all things at work for them and they may conclude that from his love to them he hath turn'd about the face of affairs putting an end to a long bloody and terrible War and made the Sun of Peace to shine forth with refreshing rays in the Horizon of Europe Thirdly Then we should cast back our eyes upon the effects of this War and see what lamentable havock has been made in the one and the other Nation How many goodly Towns have been laid in Ashes How many stately Ships of War have been destroy'd How many Thousand Lives have been lost And how many poor Families have been ruin'd and undone For the more we consider this the more we shall be affected with the Mercy of Peace And this we are call'd to do in the words before the Text Psal 46. v. 8. Come behold the works of the Lord that desolations he hath made in the earth And when we dwell awhile on the Melancholly thought of the sad Desolations that have been every where made by the raging War Oh how comfortable and refreshing will this News be to us That he hath now made Wars to cease to the end of our Land that he hath broken the Bow that he hath cut the Spear in sunder and that he hath burned the Chariot in the Fire How Mournfull was the Churches Complaint of the effect of the Babylonian War Lam. 2. v. 2. The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob and hath not pitied he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the Daughter of Judah he hath brought them down to the ground he hath polluted the Kingdom and the Princes thereof Such Oh such have been the cryes in several places of late years Oh therefore let us look back and 〈…〉 in And how doleful were the resounding Eccho's of want and misery and then we shall