and bring forth fruit upward it could not but be expected on all hands that the further he roll'd the greater strength he would gather that before he had passed through one Countrey he would become a mighty Mountain yet behold and admire God though at his entrance he leave our Army Fourscore Miles in his Rear their flesh wearied and their spirit almost languishing through the continued difficulties they met with in a strange Land though he appear in a County very fond of him that invited him in where the Design was laid he coming in according to the cue that he had from hence though he strike many f Facile ignem concipiunt quae paulo ante extinctae sunt faces Strad de Bello Belgic sparks among Brands lately quenched that are but too prone to take fire and though he march with an Idol in the head of his Army The name of a King to which the generality of this Nation are very superstitious too ready to bow down to it and submit their necks to a Tyrants feet four Circumstances that were each of them big with the ruine of all that is dear to us yet behold I say the Cords of his Tent through the goodness of God are not stretched out his Horn is not exalted there are no considerable Cubits added to his Stature his Strength is at a stand much about the same scantling it was when he fled out of Scotland And for our Armies though they were scattered here and there not onely in the corners of our own but the most considerable part of them in a Forraign Land the Lord hath gathered them together with his Arm united them in a Body made them to increase with the increase of God and given them to overtake the Enemy I beseech you therefore since the Lord hath done this for us made us strong and not suffered the strength of the Enemy to increase do not you spoil the Friends of their strength or clothe the Arm of your Enemy with might by placing your confidence in man O think you hear the Army of your Friends that have been wont to Conquer who scarce know how to flye before an Enemy speaking in your ears to this effect We are going up this day in the Name of the Lord against a Potent Numerous Skilful Revengeful Bloody Enemy were thier Power Number Skill doubled were their Rage and Fury seven times hotter yet would we not be dismaid we would not stop our ears against the Lords call nor withhold our hands from his work t Ego nihil mihi tribuo sed nee valde mihi metuo a tali Antagonista Lips adver Dialogist we are not in the least afraid of Enemies but we are afraid of you our Friends fear hath taken hold upon our hearts lest you should fight against us by putting your confidence in us lest by looking upon us as your present help in trouble you should provoke the Lord to withdraw his presence from us we are confident notwithstanding all our unworthiness and your vain confidence this precious Cause of the Lord shall prosper but our Lives may be Sacrificed upon the account of your folly and the Lord may chastise your fleshly confidence by breaking the arm of flesh in pieces if you do not cease from us for what are we to be accounted of and is not our breath in our nostrils the Lord may refuse to go up with us and then we shall be weak even as a company of other men we shall turn our backs in the day of Battel yea we shall flie when no man pursueth we beseech you therefore by all our Watchings and Fastings by all the hunger and cold that we have undergone for you by all our Blood that hath been spilt as water by the Scars of all those wounds which we have received for you Cease from man By all your Enjoyments by all your Relations Wives Parents little Ones by your Liberties Temporal Spiritual Cease from man As you love Zion as you value the Gospel as you prize your Priviledges as the glory of the Lord is dear to you Cease from man we are not worthy to say for our sakes but for Sions sake and for the Gospels sake yea for your Souls sake and for the Lords sake we beseech you Cease from man And I beseech you hear them in that which they ask at your hands since all that is dear to you is concerned in it And that I may fasten this duty upon your hearts I shall make use of three Considerations as Nails Consider first Consider 1. That the end for which the Lord shakes the Earth why he humbles the lofty ones and bows down the haughtiness of man is That the Lord alone may be exalted The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Isaiah 2.11 and again ver 17. Now when we place our confidence in any thing but God we exalt it into the Throne of God the Lord may and doth delight to use Instruments not out of necessity but in a way of good will he may and doth put much honor upon those he makes use of as the Hinges upon which a State turns but he will never endure that the honor which is due unto his Name should be given to any Instruments whatsoever The Brazen Serpent when the People burn Incense to it must though set up by the especial appointment of God be broken in pieces Golden Instruments in the Lords hand are rendred Nehushtan a piece of brass by putting our confidence in them We might have enjoyed to this day those dear Names White and Pym and Hamden and Brooks and Rainsborough and Thornaugh and Ewres and Graves c. had not our confidence in them been a Dart through their Liveâ— u Magister est hodiernus hesternus Error Bel. Belg. Homines post damna prudentiores sunt ac docent plerumque quae nocent Idem be wiser for the future and that you may enjoy your Worthies Cease from them We should Proclaim our selves unworthy of such Instruments did we not thankfully acknowledge to the Lord his singular goodness in raising up seven Shepherds and eight Principal Men for us in the Parliament and Councel of State in filling their hearts with Courage and Zeal to take the Lyon by the Beard to execute Justice upon the head of the great Offender we have great cause to acknowledge to the Lord their faithfulness when we have w Mont. Essays beheld many survive their own Reputation seeing with their own eyes the honor and glory buryed which they had formerly purchased yet the Lord hath not raised them up that they should exalt themselves or be lifted up into the room of God by us but that they should be an higher Scaffold for the building up of his glory Your hearts cannot but rejoyce before and to the Lord in behalf of the General that the Lord
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A GOOD GROUND To cease from Confidence in Man Discovered in a SERMON upon Isaiah 2. verse 22. Preached at Clement Danes the last day of the Sixth Moneth 1651. By George Masterson Nobis Albada non nisi Albada est Lips advers Dialogistam Ut nihil habet eximium ita veniâ certè indigna non est Hu Grot Ben Aub Maurerio Epist 43. Man is like to vanity his days are as a shadow that passeth away Psal 144.4 Now behold thou trustest upon the Staff of this bruised Reed even upon Egypt on which if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it So is Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust on him 2 Kings 18.21 London Printed for Edward Husband 1651. To the truly Honorable JOHN BRADSHAVV Lord President of the Councel of State MY LORD THis Discourse was preached in faith and it is in humility cast at your Lordships feet It was judg'd by some in the day that it first saw the light like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver The complexion of your Affairs is through the admirable goodness of God far different from what it was in the day that my Soul travailed with these Meditations A golden Vial of Contempt from the hand of the Lord is poured out upon the heads of your Enemies and the glorious Success that the Lord hath crowned your Army with may seem to render the ensuing Exhortation Cease from man unseasonable Tet my Lord if it be judged useless to every other purpose it may serve as a Testimony of my Fidelity and Affection to the Commonwealths Cause Grotius B Aub◠Maurerio Epist 25. Dulce est amicorum fidem ex auxiliis cognoscere etiam cum jam eorum usum spe celerior victoria intercepit But I am bold to hope the Blessing of the Lord accompanying of it the publication will not be in vain even at this day For I have heard by the hearing of the ear and experience it but too much in mine own breast that the desire of glory is scarcely laid aside even by good men till they put off their mortality Cupido gloriae etiam sapientibus novissima exuitur Strada lib. 2. proloc Acad. 2. It is easier to conquer Armies abroad then subdue Lust at home Adeo excellentibus ingeniis Livius de Fabio citius defuerit ars ut seipsos regant quam ut hostem superent Though the publique Enemy have been made as stubble before your Sword yet there are darts in the hand of Satan which if they be not quenched by an operative Faith will strike through the Liver of the State The dart of Pride glorying in your own councel or strength is a deadly dart If you attribute any thing to man Haeret lateri laethalis arundo Virg. you will destroy in one moment the glorious Fabrick which the Lord hath been so long in building and cemented with so much precious Blood It is observed of Timotheus the Athenian who having done many great Services for the State in his Government and giving an Accompt thereof to the People according to their custom concluding every particular with this Clause And in this Fortune had no part that he never prospered in any thing he took in hand afterward My Lord The face of the ensuing Discourse is set against the Wisdom and Strength of man as they are falsly judged a foundation of Confidence and if your Lordship cast an eye upon it you will there finde the Lords end in the terrible Work that he hath wrought for you in Righteousness viz. That the Lord alone might be exalted in that day The Man of the Lords right hand the Chosen man will prove but a lye if he be leaned on I desire to render the honor that is due to the precious Instruments that the Lord hath made use of for the carrying on of this great Work from the beginning and mine eye runs down in secret because of the wormwood and gall the bitterness of some mens spirits against them Yet I dare not say of any Instrument no nor of all as Florus of Marius Actum esset de Repub nisi illi seculo Marius contingisset The Commonwealth had been destroyed had not he or they been raised up The Speaker the General your Lordship with the rest that are faithful for the Lord in Parliament and Army are polished Shafts but the hand that made you such can do as much for and by a Stake out of the hedge When the Lord had prepared a Gourd to be a shadow over Jonah's head the Text saith So Jonah was exceeding glad of the Gourd and immediately it follows But God prepared a Worm when the morning arose and it smote the Gourd that it withered Jonah 4.6 7. Your Army is a Choice Gourd it hath been hitherto under God a Shadow from the heat Confidence in them will breed the Worm and cause them to wither when the Sun ariseth But I forget my self too much in trespassing upon your Lordships precious time In publica commoda peccem Si longo Sermone morer tua tempora Horat. 2. Epist 1. That the Lord who hath called you to an high Place would keep your heart in a frame of exalting him that he who hath made you eminently faithful to the Commonwealth in the great Concernments thereof would instruct you to be faithful to your own Soul in the Concernments of Eternity is and shall be the continued prayer of MY LORD The meanest of those that honor your Lordship for vertues sake Geo Masterson ISAIAH 2.22 Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of WE meet the Prophet in the beginning of the Chapter having his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace his lips dropping with an Evangelical Prophecy which divides it self into two streams flowing with Milk and Honey In the first we have the glorious future Estate of the Church And it shall come to pass in the a In Novissimis diebus tempore scil Messie Menoch Complectitur ultimam aetatem mundi scil tempus ab adventu Messiae in carnem usque ad diem judicil Estius Hunc locum sublimiore sensu de Messiae temporibus etiam Hebraei intelligunt Grotius last days that the b Mons domus Domini i e. ipsa domus Domini Estius Mons dom Dom i.e. Ecclesia Menoch mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord c. ver 2 3. This glorious estate of the Church is illustrated here by three things 1. It s Exaltation The mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted above the hills 2. It s Confirmation It shall be c Fundatus munitus stabilitus hoc enim significat Hebraeum nachon
Menoch established in the top of the mountains 3. By the Confluence to it and d Omnes scil exomni natione aliqui Eman Sa all Nations shall flow unto it In the second we have her Peace as a River and her Prosperity as a mighty Stream illustrated by the wonderful effects of it at the fourth verse They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn War any more and more fully where this Prophecy is again repeated Micah cap. 4. ver 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree and none shall make them afraid A man would expect now that this halcion Prophecy should be brought forth in a sweet calm that there should not be a frown upon the face of that great Ocean the world when it is brooded and hatch'd by the Spirit of God But behold the shaking of the Earth terribly the removing of Mountains levelling them with the dust ushers in the establishment of the Lords Mountain sharp pangs and bitter throes precede this Birth desolation and destruction the alarm of War the voyce of the Trumpet neighings of Horses clashings of Armor rollings of Garments in blood go before this blessed Peace ver 11 and 12. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day for the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low and again ver 19. They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth Isaiah 55.9 and in the end of the 21 verse Thus Gods ways are higher then our ways he brings light out of the womb of darkness establishment out of confusion the desire of all Nations by the shaking of all Nations Hag. 2.7 Now the Lord walking in such an insolent way the Prophet bespeaks the Church ver 5. to have her eyes upon God O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord they that walk not in this light grope after God in many of his dispensations as a blinde man they that walk not in this light stumble and fall under every cloud which God in the wisdom of his providence brings upon the house of Jacob their soul is cast down and their spirit disquieted in them whenever the Enemy is exalted though he be lifted up but to be thrown down with the greater violence On the other hand they that walk in this light know that when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever Psal 92.7 They that walk in this light know that when the day of the Lord is upon the proud and lofty upon the Cedars of Lebanon and upon the Oaks of Bashan upon the Ships of Tarshish and upon the high Towers it is that the Lord alone should be exalted in that day Now when the Lord ariseth to do this he will do it by his own arm his arm shall rule for him therefore he bespeaks the Church Cease from man he will do it against all opposition whatsoever therefore he adviseth Enemies Cease from man The Romish expositors do generally interpret it of Christ the man Christ Jesus is the man say they here spoken of and to cease from him is in their sense e Serio vos moneo ut quiescatis a vexando atque occidendo Christo qui homo quidem est sed etiam Deus scelerum vindex Menoc in loc Significatur magnanima ira indignatio vindicta quam in suos hostes Christus exercet Idem To take heed and beware of offending or killing Christ who although he be man yet he is God also and by the breath of his nostrils the fierceness of his anger will avenge himself upon his enemies But the Prophets scope in the whole Chapter stands in opposition to such an Interpretation the meaning therefore is f Nolite Fiduciam in ullo homine ponere Grot. Annotat. Place not your confidence in any of the sons of men as Grot. or as the learned Divines in their Annotations Seeing all humane helps and external stays will fail and no might or height will be able to secure any when God comes to execute judgement be admonished and advised to cast off your vain Confidence in frail and mortal man The words then are a Dehortation answering ex adverso that Exhortation vers 5. and they hold forth g Deo adhaerescite ab ipso toti pendete non ab hominibus Jun in loc Dependence upon God in ceasing from man We may observe in them First A Tacit Supposition viz. Man is exceeding prone to place his Confidence in man Secondly An express Dehortation Cease from man Thirdly The Enforcement of this upon a double accompt or two Arguments to strengthen the Dehortation The first general in the end of the verse There is nothing in man to be accounted of therefore cease from him The second more particular His breath is in his nostrils therefore cease from him One word of the Supposiiton Man is prone to confide in man By Man in the Text we understand any thing that is not God the opposition is very frequent in the scripture and the Dehortation here answers the Exhortation in the fifth verse To walk in the light of the Lord. All means instruments second causes are Man Strength is man and Policy is man Riches are man c. and upon these the sons of men are prone to lean prone to cleave to them exceeding forward to sit down under them to confide in them The eyes of carnal men are set fully in a direct line upon man Godly men have too frequently a cast with their eyes they look obliquely too much upon means Rabshakeh coming up against Jerusalem with a great host makes flesh his arm placeth his Confidence in man 2 Kings cap. 18. from the 19th to the end of the 35th Goliah had his eye fixed upon man when he disdained David because a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance 1 Sam. 17.42 and forward Babylon also leaned upon man when she said I shall be a Lady for ever when she said in her heart I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widow neither shall I know the loss of children Isaiah 47.7 8. And as wicked men look wholly upon man so the Saints on earth have not their eyes wholly taken off from man David looked sinfully upon man when he commanded Joab to go through all the Tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba and to number the people 2 Sam. 24.2
and he may be apprehended to glance at man in the sixth verse of the thirtieth Psalm In my prosperity I said I shall never be removed The ground of this is because Saints are sometimes led by sense carnal men are wholly sensual therefore is their hope answerable to their present visible help if there be more with them then against them they become confident of success if they march with Twenty thousand against him that comes forth but with Ten thousand they are ready to make their boast of Victory Eccles 9.11 But because the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong therefore saith the Spirit Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of It is the Churches Duty and it will be the wisdom of her Enemies in the day that the Lord ariseth to shake the earth Doctrine to cease from man O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield O house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psa 115.9 10 11. It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help Psal 146.3 It will appear to be the Churches Duty to cease from man upon a three-fold Account The first Reason is founded upon the Relation in which the Church stands to God Reason 1. All her relations oblige her to cease from man and to put her confidence in God To instance but in two as he is her Lord as her Husband First as her Lord If I be a Master where is my fear Mal. 1.6 Confidence in God is an especial part of that fear the service which he requires at the hands of those that make profession of him as their Lord and Master Now unless we cease from man we can never give God that fear which he challengeth The Lord Christ tells us Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other He that holds to God despiseth man He that cleaves to man despiseth God Secondly As her Husband God hath married the Church unto himself every Believer is espoused to God by the Ministration of the Gospel I have espoused you to one husband 2 Cor. 11.2 'T is the first and great part of the wives conjugal duty to cease from all other men The Law of Marriage runs thus A man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh Genes 2.24 As therefore a wife deals treacherously when she departs from her husband and cleaves to another man so are the Lords people said to deal very treacherously with him when they put their confidence in any thing but him Jerem. 3.20 compared with verse 23. At the twentieth As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband so have you dealt treacherously with me O house of Israel saith the Lord. Wherein her departure from God consisted is made manifest by her return at the 22th verse Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God And how come they In an humble Acknowledgement of their folly in cleaving to the Hills confiding in the multitude of Mountains Truly in vain is Salvation hoped for from the Hills and from the multitude of Mountains truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel That 's the first Account upon which it appears to be the Churches Duty to cease from man viz. because of the relation she stands in to God A second Accompt is Reason 2. that which is generally laid down by the Prophet because there is nothing in man to be accounted of nothing in man that you may rationally account a Ground of Confidence There are two things in man that pass for a sure foundation upon which others may build their Confidence in man his Wisdom his Strength his Wisdom to prevent dangers and inconveniences his Strength to repel them Thus Rabshakeh to Hezekiah Thou sayest I have Councel and Strength for the War 2 Kings 18.20 But I shall endeavor to render both these sandy foundations upon which the house that is built will not stand The wisdom of man first is not a sufficient foundation for us to build our Confidence on him The Spirit of God tells us That vain man would be wise Job 11.12 Caryl in loc It is not his vanity that he would be wise but that he would be thought wise that he affects the reputation of wisdom more then the reality of it There is a natural itch in man to be thought wise even fools would be judged wise and the wisest reputed wise beyond the line of what they have attained to And as it is natural with man earnestly to desire this so he cannot want those who will be exceeding prone to impute it to him very ready to set this Crown upon his head If a man be able to see any thing at a greater distance or in a clearer light then vulgar and common eyes do he apprehends himself and is judged by others to see beyond the Moon Irrefragable irrefutable invincible Doctor are but modest Epithetes Angelical and Seraphical are affected by and vainly attributed to some men One says of Thomas Aquinas h Cujus nomen non tam hominis quam sapientiae nomen est Strada prolus. Acad. l prol 4. That the Name which expresseth him might but serve to set forth wisdom And the same Author of Jerom That i Eo praeconio exornatus est ut diceretur Ab nullo hominum sciri quod Hieronymus ignoraret Idem l. prolus 1. the industry of a man could not attain the knowledge of that which he was ignorant of And the Lord Montaigne hath exalted Turnebus above the rate of Mortality when he leaves him under this character A man who knew all things But the spirit of God speaks of mans wisdom in a lower key Job 11. vers 12. Vain man would be wise Caryl in loc though man be born like a wilde asses colt The best have somewhat of the beast in them Every man is brutish by his knowledge Jeremy 51.17 and we experience it daily that it is with the greatest wits as with k Statium inter Poetas magnas virtutes magnis vitiis adaequasse Strada l. 2. prolus Acad. 2. Statius among the Poets or Alexander among the Heroes they miss as oft as his and the number of their follies are at least answerable to their rational productions and this comes to pass because strength of parts is accompanied with strong temptations lusts are not weakned or subdued wholly by the power of Nature hence
l Bacons Advancement of Learning 2. B. p. 303. quart though the logical part of some mens mindes be very good yet the mathematical part is very erroneous they judge well of consequences but not of proportion and comparison preferring things of shew and sense before things of substance and effect But notwithstanding this which were there no more is enough to enforce the Argument and withdraw Confidence from man upon the account of his wisdom let it be supposed that a man or company of men is as wise as he or they pretend to or which is much more are judged by others to be Suppose him to have as clear a light and as sharp an eye as a son of Adam is capable of his lusts subdued so far that all his conclusions do follow the dictates of his Reason without turning aside to his lusts in any of them yet is not such wisdom in man to be leaned upon First because he hath not a spring of wisdom in himself but it is conveyed to him by a secret Conduit-pipe from God The man upon whose Counsel I can confidently build ought to have a spring of wisdom in himself lest though his counsel be as the Oracle of God to day I consulting with him in my streights to morrow finde him dry not able to give a right answer because the Pipe is cut off It is with man in all his sufficiency as with Bezaliel and Aholiab whose wisdom and understanding by which they wrought for the service of the Sanctuary was put into their hearts by the Lord Exod. 36.1 Since then the Spring of mans wisdom is in Heaven and it is in the hand of the Lord to cause the streams to flow or binde them up at his pleasure or to turn it into folly as in Ahitophel or to mix a perverse spirit with it as in Pharaoh's Counsellors Isaiah 19.13 14. The Princes of Zoan are become fools the Princes of Noph are deceived they have also seduced Egypt even they that are the stay of the Tribes thereof The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof Surely man is not to be confided in or the lips of any of the sons of men to be cleaved to in respect of his wisdom Again secondly The wisdom of man is no ground of Confidence suppose him as richly furnished as he is capable because God is wiser then he though a man be wise to lay his Design in the womb of darkness wise to project the critical minute of bringing it forth yet is he not to be confided in because God is wiser to frustrate his Design to make it as the untimely fruit of a woman When the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed then he that sits in the Heavens laughs the Lord hath them in derision Psal 2.2 4. Thus the wisdom of man appears a sandy foundation of Confidence Secondly The strength of man is no more a rock then his wisdom was The natural property of man is weakness strength is but accidental to him thus Sampson tells Delilah enquiring wherein his great strength lay Judges 16.7 if they binde me with seven green wit hs that were never dried then shall I be weak and be as another man A man is naturally for strength not as a Lion or Horse but as a worm Job 25.6 How much less man that is a worm and the son of man who is a worm It were singular vanity to account a worm as a pillar of Marble no less folly to look upon the strength of man as a brazen wall But let us give man strength let his neck be clothed with thunder let his strength be the strength of stones his bones as brass and his sinews iron Let his Confederates be many and potent the Troops of his valiant ones exceeding numerous his Reserves as great mountains at the heels of one another let the Towers of his defenced Cities reach unto Heaven yet is he not a foundation of Confidence in respect of his strength First because his strength is but permissive dependent Man is not strong according to the pleasure of his own will but after the good will and pleasure of God So that when man saith I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil My lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them it many times comes to pass that in the greatnes of his excellency the Lord overthrows them The Sea covers them they sink as lead in the mighty waters Exod. 15.9 10. The strength of man may be as Jeroboams arm withered when he stretcheth it out furthest Therefore his strength is no ground of Confidence Again because his strength is limited God hath set bounds to it and those bounds are unknown to us therefore we are not to confide in the strength of man A man in his strength may swell as a mighty stream he may rage and roar like the Sea but as to it so to his strength God hath set bounds and said Hitherto shalt thou go and no further If the Lord lift up a standard against any man though he come rolling in as an overflowing flood he shall become weak as water Now we being ignorant of the bounds that God hath set to the strength of any are not therefore to confide in any strength of man The Lord may have appointed a m Hic murus alieneus esto Hor. Epist l. 1. Ep. 1. brazen wall to their strength a pillar beyond which they cannot pass in that occasion or at that time in which we expect their arm to be stretched out as of old Thirdly We are not to hang upon the arm of man because the strength of God is infinitely greater then mans strength If I speak of strength lo he is strong Job 9.19 We treading in the steps of this expression when we would extol a man in the perfections of any quality use to speak at the same rate What do ye speak of knowledge Caryl in loc why there 's a learned man What do ye talk of riches why there 's a rich man indeed So emphatical is the Expression here If I speak of strength lo he is strong Infinitely strong above the line beyond the proportion of all others God is so strong that though Babylon should mount up to Heaven and though she should fortifie the height of her strength yet from me shall spoilers come unto her saith the Lord Jer. 51.53 The Lord is so strong that he can weaken the strength of any He poureth contempt upon Princes and weakneth the strength of the mighty Job 12.21 Or secondly cause weak instruments to tread down strength O my soul they are the words of Deborah Judges 5.21 thou hast troden down strength Or lastly turn their Canon upon themselves cause them to fall upon their own sword destroy them by their own strength I will overthrow the Throne of Kingdoms
out of the especial respect he had to his People created him and raised him up for us and we remember the time too furnished him with such rare Endowments for that high Employment that he who would take a compleat General must limb after his Copy We can say That the Horse and his Rider have been broken by him the Captains and Rulers broken in pieces We can say that the * Sola Ducis fama interdum Bella profligavit Str Bel. Belg. Name of Cromwel hath been a terror to the Enemy but this onely as he hath been a Battel-ax and weapons of War in the hand of the Lord for the Exaltation of the Name of the Lord not that we should exalt him above the Line of an Instrument in the Lords hand Did we not make our boast of God in our Army we should sin Did we not acknowledge that he hath taught their hands to War and their fingers to fight Did we not bless the Lord for them that offered themselves so willingly to the help of the Lord against the mighty that in the absence of dear relations continued so chearfully in the midst of so many difficulties It would be an evil in us not to boast in God of their unparallel'd Valor matchless Unanimity and unwearied Labors yea as Strada of the Prince of Orange and Duke of Alba y Orangius palam oderat Ducem Albanum clam admirabatur Strad Bel Belg the hearts of their Enemies admired them in secret for these things though openly their mouths overflow'd with their reproaches yet the Lord hath done all this that himself alone might be exalted The Enemy is not so z Nihil tam firmum cui non sit periculum ab invalido Idem inconsiderable Consider 2. as to be despised upon any carnal ground whatsoever It is true upon a spiritual Accompt The Virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised them and laughed them to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at them 2 Kings 19.21 in the strength of the Lord as they are his Enemies because he that sits in heaven laughs but they are not to be despised upon a carnal Accompt for First less Armies with less Advantages have done a far greater work The late King of Sweden cross'd the Baltick Sea with not above Eighth thousand men and harrased almost all Germany spoiled their Cities laid their Towns waste and sowed their Field with desolation Again greater Armies then ours have miscarried upon the contempt of weaker Enemies When the French under the the Duke of Alenson had entred Antwerp and possessed themselves of the gates thereof they contemning the weak remaining part of the Enemy fell to plundering the City but they purchased the experience at a dear rate for they were most of them slain the rest shamefully beaten out of the City again by a few that remained unconquered at their entrance a Iste contemptus hostium Gallos perdidit Strad Bel Belg. That a weak Enemy is not to be contemned the Spirit of God and the Experience of all Ages assert this Though you had smitten the whole Army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this City with fire Jerem. 37.10 Nihil in hostibus vel semivictis tuto despicitur and the Commanders of Armies have in all Ages found a certain truth in that military Maxim b Majorem experti hostem qui contempserint ut minorem Strada Bel Belgic He findes his Enemy strong at a dear rate who contemns him as weak Thirdly The desperate condition of the Enemy may render him not despicable c Gravissimi funt morsus irritatae necessitatis Mont. Necessity hath sharp teeth The Commander in chief of the Enemies Army is credibly reported to have brought in a Crown and Coffin with him A Crown is a fair prize a man will put out the utmost of his strength to attain it the shinings of it take a carnal eye so far A morte propiqua vim capiunt Strad prolus. Statii Stylo that he will wade to the chin in blood rather then set down any where short of it and he that must die will sell his life at as dear a rate as he can d Morientium morsus animantium laetales sunt Idem Bel Belg. Dying creatures bite deadly so that if the Lord come not upon their spirits in his terror the Victory is like to cost us dear What the effect of trusting in man Consider 3. in your own strength will be Because thou didst trust in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people and all thy Fortresses shall be spoiled as Shalmon spoiled Betharbel in the day of battel the Mother was dashed in pieces upon her children Hos 10.13 14. God may say if you lean upon the arm of flesh They hoped in their Parliament let it save them They trusted in their Army let them deliver them There is a Curse denounced against it and it will cleave to the man that leaneth upon flesh Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord Jerem. 17 5. If you consider these things aright you will say with David Psalm 44.6 I will not trust in my bowe neither shall my sword save me The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weak then am I strong 'T is a Paradox to carnal Reason but to a sanctified understanding a fair Truth built upon a solid rock We need not fear our weakness at any time but we may well be afraid of our strength we are never stronger then when we are weak in our own eyes never weaker then when we esteem our selves strong in ourselves Cease therefore from man and be intreated once more not to give occasion to have it spoken of our Army what was said of Caesar c Sane Julium Caesarem non Pompeiani sed amici peremerunt Sen de Ira l. 3. c. 20. That he received not his wounds from the swords of Enemies but from the hands of friends If they shall return wounded from the hattel let them not have ground to say because of your Confidence in them These are the wounds with which we were wounded in the house of our friends Zech. 13.6 To conclude That we may indeed cease from man and cast our selves and the concernments of our wholly upon God Isaiah 2.5 be exhorted secondly to walk in the light of the Lord in the light of his Providence eye God in the way that he led us hitherro Remember Newbery and Marston Naseby remember Dunbar and Fife Videnti Deum omnis creatum est augustâ— and Sterling Nothing takes a mans heart off from the creature so much as eying God doth He that walks in the light of Gods providence findes his heart lifted up to God the hands of his Confidence strengthned in God The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistim 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord hath vouchsafed us a precious first-fruit of his Love and Power The Earl of Derby defeated in Lancashire he hath given us one token more that he hath not withdrawn himself from us an earnest of his presence in the Defeat given to a part of that Army and since the Lord hath evidenced his presence with us we may much better say of it then Augustus could of Tiberius f Nihil se non sperare Tiberio comite nihil non timere illo deficiente Suet in vita Tiber. That he expected success in every undertaking that Tiberius was engaged in and feared the miscarriage of every Design in which Tiberius had not an hand The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge Remember through what streights he hath brought us and be confident in the light of his Providence We may say of many acts of Providence as he upon the extraction of Moses out of the Waters g Quis vel animum desponderet in ultimo rerum discrimme cum talia tam mirifice effecta esse perspexerit Prid ad extractionem Mosis Who that hath seen God leading his people in such a path opening such or such a door to them levelling such Mountains before them and making their way plain would ever suffer his Soul to be cast down or his Spirit disquieted in him Psal 34. ult None of them that trust in the Lord shall be desolate Be not afraid of the Enemies power all the strength that is not of God shall be destroyed Take away her Battlements for they are not the Lords Jerem. 5.10 Know the power of the Lord If he look upon the earth it trembles if he touch the mountains they smoke by the blast of God his Enemies perish by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed The Lord cannot want help to perform his Councel to accomplish his Design since the Chariots of God are Twenty thousand even Thousands of Angels Psal 68.17 Study then the name of God and you will effectually cease from Man They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee Psalm 9.10 The End