his bondage and therefore makes hast out of it but Gods people shall not need to make such hast their seasonable deliverance is sure enough many other Scriptures speak this truth as plainely But that which I chiefly aime at for cleering this doctrine is the discussing of two questions the one is 1. When the Lord uses to doe this 2. How hee doth it For the first that hee will deliver his people from all their oppressors is not to be doubted but when the Lord will doe it that is the time that every sad soule cries after How long Lord holy and true doest thou not avenge us or when Lord shall it bee I answer Though it bee not for us to search curiously into the times and seasons that the Father keeps in his owne bosome as you have it in Acts 1. 7. yet the Lord hath left very comfortable prognosticks in his Word whereby wee may guesse when the time of the deliverance of Gods people from their bondage is even at hand certainly it will come in the best time in the fittest time but when that time doth appropinquate drawes nigh you shall find it cleer in the Word by these three things the one is The Lord ordinarily makes that the time of his breaking the power of the enemies of his Church when they are fill'd most with rage and fury against the Church when they breath out nothing but slaughter and threatnings against them blaspheme not onely them but their God and their profession and their way when they are risen up to that height that their sinnes are full against God and their rage against Gods people that is the time when the Lord suddenly uses to break out and crush his enemies I might give you many examples of this in the book of God take that expression in Ieremiah 30. 17. for one the Lord would speedily come to deliver his people but why even because they said This is Zion whom no man cries for Zion was then a scorned company I will therefore saith hee restore healing to them therefore would hee come because the enemy said this is Zion that no body cares for every one can tread it under foot So likewise Ezek. 25. 3. because the Ammonites said Aha against his Sanctuary against the Land of Israel and against the house of Iudah when they went into captivitie Behold I will therefore deliver them c. and Ezek. 28. 67. because the King of Tyrus had set his heart as the heart of God therefore God would bring enemies upon him What need I multiply examples you shall find it was thus to all the people that ever had Gods people under them goe from Egypt to those of Syria Palestina to the Assyrians the Babylonians the Grecians the Romans you shall find in them all that when their rage was most furious against Gods people then was the time neer that God used to breake them and deliver his people from them Secondly another time is When the Lord by the threshings of their enemies hath purged the chaffe out of his people when the Lord hath by delivering his people up into the hands of wicked men wrought in their hearts a spirit of repentance a spirit of humiliation a spirit of Prayer a spirit of looking unto God the Lord never stayes long before he doth deliver them I beseech you search the Scriptures and you will find that the morning starre is not a more infallible argument of the day of the Sunnes approach or rising then a spirit of humiliation and prayer powered upon Gods people is an argument of their deliverance at hand The burden of Hadrach and Damasous Tyre and Sidon ruine to them is prophesied of in the 9. of Zachariah but when should it bee When the eyes of the Tribes are towards the Lord when God puts it into the hearts of his people to looke to God to humble themselves and seek his favour the Lord is then at hand to ruine their enemies and deliver them So also in the 102. Psalme Vers 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion marke the phrase Thou shalt arise it is somewhat akin to that place of Isaiah where the Lord saith Aske me of things to come and concerning my sonnes and daughters command yee mee so the people of God come in Thou shalt arise and have mercy why what makes them so confident the set time is come the time of deliverance of Zion is come even the set time is come how can they tell that thy servants mourne over the dust of it thy servants are compassionate they pitie they poure out their soules and mourne to God and out of this the Church could set downe the conclusion the set time is come for it when the Lord hath prepared his people and humbled them And then thirdly When hee hath broke all other meanes of deliverance so that they see no hope or meanes of helpe in any other the heart of man cannot thinke how prone even Gods servants are to relie upon other Crutches besides God and to catch as sinking men at every twig and every Bulrush but when the Lord hath broke all their probabilities and expectations elsewhere that there is none shut up nor none left then doth the Lord use to come himself rescue his people and break those that thought to swallow them up of this you may please to take two notable instances the one is a Prophesie in Deuteronomy 32. 36. the Lord had said how hee would scatter his people but saith hee when hee saw that their strength was all gone that there was none shut up nor none left that is none to bee a helpe there were enow of Gods people left but not any one that could worke any deliverance for them what then then did the Lord repent concerning his servants and his owne Arme delivered them you have it yet rather more cleerly in Isaiah 59. 16. the words are these The Lord looked and there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor the Lord could finde none that could speake for them none that could act for them when God saw that then his owne arme will doe it hee then put on his mercy and goodnesse and arrayed himselfe with his zeale like a robe and his owne Arme did it that they might feare the name of God from the rising of the Sunne to the setting of it and that is the reason why the Lord uses to come in at such a time because hee hath the more glory This for the time when God uses to break the yokes of his people that lie upon them when the enemies are at highest when he hath humbled and prepared his people and when all other helpes doe faile them then the Lord doth it But then in the next place How doth he doe it after what manner doth he use to deliver them I answer first in generall Which way soever the
A THANKS GIVING SERMON PREACHED To the Right Honorable the Lord Maior Aldermen and Common Councell of the Citie of London Upon occasion of the many late and signall Victories and Deliverances vouchsafed to the Parliaments Forces In Pauls Church London July 27. 1648. By STEPHEN MARSHALL B. D. Minister of Gods Word at Finchingfield in Essex Psalme 66. 11 12 13. Thou broughtest us into the net thou laydest affliction upon our loynes Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and water but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place I will goe into thy house with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vowes LONDON Printed by R. Cotes for Stephen Bowtell at the Signe of the Bible in Popes-head Alley 1648. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE John Warner Lord Major of the Citie of LONDON My Lord THis plaine Sermon was preached in obedience to the call I received from you it is published according to your request and that it may be though in never so weak a measure a strengthning of your hands in your great work it is humbly presented unto you as a pledge of the unfeigned respect and service of Your Lordships much obliged STEPHEN MARSHALL A THANKSGIVING SERMON PREACHED To the Right Honorable the Lord Maior Aldermen and Common-Councell of the Citie of London ISAIAH 9. 4 5. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staffe of his shoulder the rod of his oppressour as in the day of Midian For every battell of the Warriour is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood but this shall bee with burning and fuell of fire THE first word of my Text For For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden doth tell us this hath dependence upon what is laid down before If you please to looke into it you 'l find it to be thus The Lord in the former Chapter had threatned the terriblest calamitie that ever came upon the Jewish nation a wofull darke night of affliction of severall hundreds of yeers was now beginning and such calamities were threatned as the Lord professed that many men amongst them when they look'd up to heaven and saw nothing but darknesse there nothing but confusion upon earth they should rave and be mad they should curse their God that would not helpe them curse their King that could not helpe them should bee driven into utter darknesse but yet notwithstanding in the beginning of this Chapter the Lord saith that unto those that feared him to his own people the darknesse and uncomfortablenesse of it should not bee so great as they had formerly met with in some lesser afflictions for God did as iâ— were create a new Star that should shine unto his people all that long and darke night that is a most glorious promise of Jesus Christ and salvation by him which is laid downe in the seven first verses of this Chapter and there are severall degrees or breakings out of the light of this comfort I 'le but name them so farre as may leade me to the Text First The Lord tells them whence this comfort should come there should a glorious light shine to them in the second verse the people that walked in darknesse should see a great light they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined which is the promise of Jesus Christ setting up his Gospel amongst them as it is expresly interpreted in the fourth of Matthem This Text seemes to bee a propheticall description of Capernaum where Christ first set up his Ministery some hundreds of yeers before it was built which stood in the land of Galile by the Sea side in the way leading to the Gentiles Secondly The next degree is what the comfort is that they should have from this light in the third verse they should have great joy by it the Lord had formerly more multiplied their nation but never gave them more joy then now they should have though they should bee in a very afflicted condition yet they should have as much joy in the Gospel of Christ as ever that nation injoyed in the dayes of David or Solomon though now they should live after a precarious manner and should be tributaries to all the foure great Monarchies of the world in their succession first to the Assyrian then to the Persian then to the Grecian and then to the Roman and all this time a space of some 700. yeers they should bee a despised contemned people yet from the Lord Christ and the promise of the Gospel should they have as much joy as ever they had when their Nation was most enlarged yea such joy that it should bee like the joy of harvest or the joy that Souldiers have when they divide the spoile that is the second degree now my text is the third degree or breaking out of this glorious comfort and that tels you What the mercy shall bee that shall bee the cause of so much joy what it is that should fill them with so much joy why hee would breake every yoke of their burden every staffe that lay upon their shoulders every rod of their oppressors that whipped them hee would break all as hee did once doe it in the day of Midian he will burn up their enemies with fewell of fire hee would free them from them all and tread them under their feet then the last branch of all and the height of their comfort is That Christ will not only break other yokes but would put the yoke of his own sweet and easie government upon them himselfe will bee their King To us a Son is given to us a child is borne upon whose shoulder the government shall bee his name is Wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace and in these things should the hearts of Gods people rejoyce in their most afflicted times Thus stands the dependence of my Text so that these two verses that I have read containe the cause of all the joy that the people of God should finde in Christ in their afflicted times and there are two branches of the Text to bee handled First Here is the blessing that should bee conferred upon them in these words thou hast broken the yoke of his burden the staffe of his shoulder the rod of his oppressors that is the mercy they should receive Secondly Here is the manner how this should bee done and that is laid downe First It should bee as in the day of Midian that is as in the day when in Gideons time with 300. men with lamps and pitchers the Lord destroyed an innumerable multitude of Midianites so would the Lord Christ now worke this great deliverance that he promises to his people Then Secondly The manner of it is yet more clearely and fully laid downe in the 5. verse by shewing that the way of Gods working of this shall bee diverse from the manner
of other deliverances Every battell of the Warriour is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood but this shall bee with burning and fewell of fire the meaning whereof in a few words is this This victory that God would give his people should not bee in the way of humane helpe to doe it as Nations get victories one over another by bringing one a greater Army then the other or better disciplined or trained men then the other or with pollicy and valour with shouting and making the others lie wallowing in their blood and so mans Arme to bee the instrument of it no this should bee with fewell or burning of fire that is it should be done by Gods own hand for what the Lord doth immediatly himselfe that is ordinarily said to bee done by fire or fewell of fire it hath been the ordinary way of Gods manifesting himself by devouring fire when he threatens to shew himselfe hee will come in devouring fire seldome hath hee appeared but it hath been either in smoak or fire so then this expression signifies it should not bee done by mans helpe but the Lord alone would come and doe it by his owne immediate hand Let us now first inquire into the matter what it is that they should injoy the Lord would break the yoke of their burden the staffe of their shoulder the rod of their oppressor And here we must consider First What this signifies what doth God intend in this For the Grammaticall meaning the yoke of his burden this is an Hebrewisme and signifies his burdensome yoke hee will breake his burdensome yoke that is the heavy yoke that was put upon his shoulders by those that had enslaved him the staffe of his shoulder that is the staffe wherewith his shoulders used to be beaten the rod of his oppressor that is either the Scepter of those Tyrants that kept them under often expressed by a rod or otherwise the rod of correction wherewith the enemies that kept them under did use to discipline them and by all this congeries of words these severall expressions of yokes and burdensome yokes and rods and staves the Lord doth signifie the greatnesse of that misery and bondage that his people should lie under at that time when Jesus Christ should come to deliver them What are those yokes and staves and rods that are here meant I answer that it will appeare cleer unto every one that markes the Text that here are two things intended Breaking of the temporall yokes the yokes that they should lie under from the Assyrians the Babylonians and so the successive Kingdomes and Empires that should keepe them under subjection and bondage but principally here is meant The spirituall yokes of sinne and death and wrath and curse and that both these are meant is cleare in the Text that the outward yokes are literally meant is obvious to every ones eye that doth but compare this with the two former chapters and all the chapters that follow for five or six of them together in the eighth chapter the Lord threatned hee would bring the Empire of Assyria upon them and the Assyrians should carry them into captivitie and fill their land with waters up to the necke and for a great many chapters together from the seventh chapter I thinke there is not one but there is somewhat of the Assyrian Empire that should lie heavie upon the backe of Gods people that is the literall but another thing intended is the mysticall the spirituall Babylonish yoke the devill and sinne and death and hell Jesus Christ will breake all these yokes from off the neck of his people And that the spirituall is intended as well and more then the temporall is cleer both by what goes before the preaching of the Gospel should doe it and by all that followes for unto a us Child is borne to us a Sonne is given both these sorts of yokes would Christ beake by his owne hand if you would have it yet a little more cleer I conceive the deliverance most immediatly intended in the letter was the destruction of that great Army of Senacherib that came in Hezekiahs time which came to swallow them up and was destroyed with Gods hand immediatly from heaven which as all the rest of the Jewes deliverances was intended as a Type to shew how God will breake all other the yokes of those that lie heavie upon his inheritance This then for the meaning of it That whatsoever enemies should rise up against the Church or people of God however they may keepe them under for a while Christ hath a purpose and will in his owne due time break them and their yokes in peeces and he will doe it in a strange way by his own hand in a way that shall bee very easie to him to worke but very hard for them either to resist or to beare This is the plaine scope of the Text Now I proceed to some matter of instructions and first if you looke upon these words as they stand in their connexion or dependence with the former verse they joy before thee as the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoile for thou hast broken every yoke the yoke of his burden the rod of his oppressor because God destroyed his enemies that would have destroyed him therefore they shall joy like the joy in harvest learn one lesson from it very sutable to the occasion of our meeting namely That the Lord doth expect that his people should greatly rejoyce when he doth break the yoke of their enemies and the staffe and rod wherewith they whip Gods people when God uses to defeat the plots and enterprises of wicked men against his servants hee expects that the hearts of his people should bee fill'd with joy and their tongues overrun with his praises There is abundance of evidence for this in the Scripture in the 126. Psalme you shall finde the Church exulting her mouth was fill'd with laughter and her tongue with joy every one that look'd in the face of Gods people saw them have a merry countenance why because God had broken the captivitie of Babylon hee had brought back the captivity of his people and broken in peeces the enemies that kept them under so likewise did Moses and all the Israelites when they saw the Egyptians sinke like a stone into the depth of the Sea in the 15. of Exodus and Pharoah and all his Chariots drown'd in the red Sea they all lift up their voyce and sung to God praise and thanksgiving in the highest I will sing unto the Lord for hee hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath hee throwne into the Sea So did Deborah and Barak in the fifth of Iudges when Sisera and his host was broken before the servants of God they rejoyced and prayed God it might ever bee so that all Gods enemies might so perish and all his people might so rejoyce thus you
shall finde it prophesied in the New Testament in the 19. of Revelations you shall reade in the latter end of the 18. chapter of the destruction of the Babylonian party mystically Babylon the Popish party the Antichristian partie the Malignant Church that is risen up against the Church of Christ there I say you shall reade the ruine of it and the meanes of it the Saints helpe to doe it and you shall there see all the Kings of the earth weeping and howling and all that were friends to the harlot were condoling one with another for that great losse but in the 19. chap. in heaven that is in the Church of Christ there was nothing but Hallelujah praise yee the Lord for the Lord hath avenged himselfe and when her smoke arose up for evermore againe they say Hallelujah to see Rome burning and the instruments that would have oppressed Gods people destroyed and troden under foot it was Hallelujah to the hearts of all that feare God This I doe but touch but It may bee a notable tryall of your spirits for certainly it is a signe of a gracious spirit to refuse to bee comforted in Zions ruines and to refuse to be sadded in Babylons ruines to finde a soule or a people that will hang their harpes upon the willowes and will mourn and lament and rather wish that their right hand forget their cunning then to sing one cheerfull song while Gods people are in Babylon and yet to find them full of joy and rejoycing when God is breaking the yokes of oppressors and treading them under feet that rise up against them this I say is an argument of a heart that joynes with Jesus Christ when they fulfill that of the 66. of Isaiah Rejoyce with Ierusalem all yee that mourne for her And that of Psal. 58. 10. The righteous shall rejoyce when hee seeth the vengeance and on the other side it is an argument of a base spirit of a spirit malignant against Christ and his cause that is either rejoycing when Gods people are troden under foot or malignes those that are the meanes or instruments of delivering of Gods people that with Sanballat and Tobiah are vexed and grieved at the heart when they see God raised up any that may be for salvation to his people but it is a token withal that as their hearts are not with Jesus Christ but against him so they shall perish in the ruine of his enemies This I doe but point at from the connexion they shall joy like the joy in harvest for Christ hath broken the yoke of their oppressors broken the yoke of the enemy and the enemies themselves and the enemies themselves together but I come to the words which I shall handle onely as they respect their temporall and outward deliverances and under that consideration there are these two lessons that I intend by the Lords assistance to handle The first is That the Lord doth sometimes leave his owne people to lie under heavy yokes to have the staves and rods of oppressors lie upon their backs and shoulders Secondly and principally That Jesus Christ will in his due time breake in sunder all the yokes that lie upon his peoples neck all the staves that beate their shoulders all the rods that whip their backes Christ hath a time wherein he will break them all both yokes and oppressors together and set his people free from them this second I most intend a word or two of the first That the Lord doth sometimes leave his owne people to bee under the tyranny of them that hate them I say his own people for this was Emanuels land you 'l read it called by the very name of Emmanuel in the eighth chapter the Assyrian shall come and fill the breadth of thy land O Emmanuel they were Emmanuels people that should have these terrible yokes put upon them to understand this lesson bee pleased to premise thus much That it is of all judgements one of the most terrible and uncomfortable that ever a people can be exposed to to have those that hate them to tyrannize over them that was Davids prayer I have done justice and judgement give me not up to mine oppressors O Lord deliver mee from that judgement that I bee not left to wicked men to put yokes upon my neck to beate my shoulders and God used to threaten it as one of the severest plagues that ever should come upon his people when hee was angry with them that hee would give them up that they that hated them should beare rule over them and truely it will easily appeare to bee one of the terriblest judgements of all because it is a misery that is opposite and contrary to the greatest mercy that can bee enjoyed upon earth which is to have rulers and governors such as are over a people to bee as a Sun or a Shield as a Shepheard as a Protector as a Father for these are names whereby the Spirit of God deseribes good Magistrates rulers to give such to a people as may defend every one in his own right protect the fatherlesse and widow and see that every one have justice and judgement that there may be no complaining in the streets of a people but that they may live and serve God in godlinesse and honesty in peace to bee preserved in security and tranquillity O happy are the people that are in such a case faith the Spirit of God in the 144. Psalme now if this bee the greatest earthly mercy then for God to give up a people or to let them be given up to the judgement that is contrary to it that their shepheards should bee like them in the 34. of Ezekiel who should kill the fat and tread under feet the leane that should pluck off the wooll and teare off the skinne that should bee as they are described in the 7. of Micah as briars and thornes that should rend and teare the people that are under them when the Lord shall give men up to such a condition that those that should defend them should enter into the field of the fatherlesse and undoe a man and his neighbour without mercy and compassion this of all judgements in the world is one of the cruellest and the heaviest that a people can bee given up to now I tell you that God sometimes leaves his owne people to this condition there are abundance of examples and I should spend the time needlesly to receite them to you because you cannot bee ignorant of them so they were in Egypt when their lives were made burdensome to themselves by reason of the heavy yoke of bondage that lay upon them so they were in the times of the Iudges oftentimes an enemy comes in carries away the harvest that they are ready to reape sometimes carries away the corne they had gather'd into their barnes mightily oppressed them put heavy yokes upon them so was it in Babylon if you reade
but the fifth of Lamentations it will make you weep to consider the sad complaint that the Church makes there Our inheritance is turned to strangers our houses to aliants wee have drunke our water for money our wood is sold unto us our necks are under persecution we labour and have no rest servants rule over us wee eate our bread with the perill of our lives Princes are hanged up by the hand young men are taken to grinde and the children fell under the wood c. such abundance of examples there are that I shall not need to prove it onely let me a little discover to you out of the Word for what causes the Lord uses to leave his owne people to this terrible judgement I finde three cleer causes why God oftentimes hath left his own people to be given up to oppressors to Tyrants to put such heavy yokes upon their necks their states their consciences their liberties and the first greatest most frequent is when God himself offer'd to be the King and ruler of his people to put the yoke of his government upon their necks a yoke that should be sweet and easie honorable profitable and his people cast off Gods yoke would not be under that then hath the Lord frequently let them fall under the yoke of some others that they might know the difference betwixt being Gods servants and the servants of other men take but two instances of this one in the 2 Chronicles 12. it was in Rehoboams time when Shishak the King of Egypt came against them though Egypt and Iudah had been in a league articles of peace betwixt them Shishak comes against them and brings a mighty Army and Rehoboams subjects knew not what to doe they cryed to God they prayed the Lord to deliver them no saith God I will not give you wholly up to a spoile but you shall bee the servants of the Kings of Egypt why because they shall know the difference of my service and the service of the other Nations they shall see whether they had not been better to have let mee bee their King then to bring those to rule over them who I am now resolved shall bee over them for a while There is another terrible instance in the 11. of Zachariah you shall see the purpose of that Chapter is to signifie these two things First that Jesus Christ would come to bee a Prince and a Ruler over his people as a faithfull and good shepheard they would none of him they sold him for 30. peeces of Silver which as it is noted was but the price that a slave used to bee sold at Christ the Lord himselfe came from heaven offer'd himselfe to them to bee their shepheard and they sold him for 30. peeces of Silver A gooly price that I was sold at saith the Lord Well but what becomes of this the rest of that chapter tells you that hee will give them other shepheards that shall teare them to purpose in the 6. verse I will give them up every man into the hand of his neighbour I will give them up into the hand of their King who was that it is plaine that the Roman was their King at that time because Christ came at that time when the Roman was over them now when Jesus Christ would have been their King and they say nay we have no King but Caesar God therefore gives them up into the Romans hands and then they shall have Shepheards that shall teare them to purpose because they would have none of the Lord Christ the Lord would give them up into such hands as should discipline them after another manner that is one cause when God offers himselfe to bee their ruler and they will not have him to bee their ruler then God puts other yokes upon them Againe secondly another cause I finde is this When the Lord hath raised up to a people good Rulers and Magistrates that under them though possibly with many humane frailties they might bee ruled in godlinesse and honesty according to Gods wayes and the people have been ungratefull for them the Lord then gives them up to the hands of others that they shall not bee able to shake off when they will so you find it in the example of Gideon when Gideon had delivered the Israelites they came to him and say be our King not I saith hee God must bee your King which by the way let me interpret it to you he meant he would not change that forme of government that God had set up in that Commonwealth which was this that every Tribe had their owne Aristocraticall government that is the chief men of their Tribe did rule all as it might be the Maior Aldermen Common-Councell men in every Tribe and when a time of speciall danger came that an enemy invaded them God from heaven used extraordinarily to raise up some Judge that danger being over the government of the Commonwealth went in the old channell they would have had Gideon to be their King No saith hee not I nor my sonnes but you shall have God to bee over you well but when Gideon died they forgot Gideon and they would have a King and tooke Abimelech who proved a cruell tyrant to them whereupon Iotham in the 9. of Iudges when all the people were together tells them a tale The trees saith he would have a King and they went to the Olive and the Vine and the fruitful trees to rule over them No say they we must keep every one our own ranke I cannot leave my fatnesse nor my sweetnesse c. But a King the trees will have and their King proves a Bramble so as his speech intimates will it prove unto you for your ingratitude to God for Gideon and unto Gideons family it will come to passe that this bramble your King shall first rend and teare you and afterwards you and your King consume one another and this curse or prophesie came upon them and for that very cause Another like instance wee have 1 Sam. 8. God had raised up Samuel in a time of much trouble to be a Judge and Saviour to the Jewes they took occasion upon some miscariages of Samuels sonnes to cast him off and they would have a King after the manner of the Nations round about them and therefore God in his wrath gave them Saul who proved a Tyrant Ingratitude for good governours is one cause why God gives people up to such oppressors And then thirdly I finde When people use to teare and devoure one another in their petty precincts when as any one gets a little power in his hand hee loves to put a yoke upon the neck of his brother for this doth the Lord send them those that shall put yokes upon them all so you find it in this very chapter in the latter end of it Manasses bites Ephraim and Ephraim Manasses and these two confederate
together to bite Iudah and for this the Lord gives them up to Senacherib and he bites devours them all Thus was it also Ieremy 6. 6. when the people were given wholly to oppresse one another the City was wholly oppression in the midst of it violence and spoile griefe and wounds were every where found then was Ierusalem a Citie to bee visited by them who should gleane them as a vine who should be cruell to them and shew no mercy Thus you see the Lord sometimes leaves his people under heavy yokes yokes put upon their lives estates consciences liberties when they will not bee under Gods government when they are not thankfull for good governours when they according to their own power will be tyrannicall and oppressive one to another I shall not stay upon the Application of this I onely say of it as Christ of the Cup he was to drink Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me Lord let this Cup passe from us let not our God give us up to spoyle to confusion to oppression for I am too well assured that in all these things I have spoken wee have deserved to drinke this cup and our sinnes cry loud in the eares of God for it and whatsoever you may say of the two latter I am confident you 'l all beare mee witnesse wee have highly deserved it in the first of these the Lord hath offer'd to England the government of his own Scepter the government of his Gospel he is shewing us the way how he will rule us in Ecclesiasticall things but alas there is not a thing under heaven more abominable to the people of this Land then to think that they should have such a yoke put upon them though the aime and end of it bee onely to make them holy but we will have none of it the thing we will have is to live as we list wee will not have this man rule over us the Lord grant wee bee not broken with other yokes And as for ingratitude for our other Magistrates and Rulers and for our biting and devouring one another the Lord knowes it is to bee found in every corner of the Land I onely mention these things that in this day of rejoycing for mercies received you may all joyne in prayer that the Lord bring not this evill upon us Thus briefly for the first the second lesson which I mainely aime at is That howsoever the Lord sometimes lets his people lie under heavy and terrible yokes yokes upon their lives names estates liberties consciences call them by what names you will yet Jesus Christ hath a time when hee will break them all Thou hast broken it was not broken yet but God uses to speak of his mercies intended for the Church in the preterperfect tense as things already done because they were so sure the Lord Christ will breake the yoke of their burden the staffe of their shoulder the rod of their oppressor when the Lord doth at any time leave his people in this sad condition which I have spoken of hee never puts them out of his own hand though hee may deliver them into the hands of others hee alwayes keeps the line in his owne hand that the adversary cannot doe what they list they are bounded by him and it is not for want of love or of power that the Lord lets any such yoke ever come upon the neck of his people but onely from his owne will and from his own wisedome the Lord orders it so that the heaviest thing that betides them shall never hurt a haire of their heads as Christ hath it in Luke though some of them be put to death not a haire of their heads shall perish hee never gives them so into the hand of wicked men as to put them out of his owne hand or to cease his owne care but this doctrine holds out a further mercy that though the Lord sometimes puts them into the hands of wicked men and lets them be his rod to scourge them beate them pinch them thresh them yet in his due time hee will breake all those yokes and the yokers together all such as put them upon his peoples necks they their yokes shall all perish for both of them are equally intended as it is in the next words as in the day of Midian not onely the people of Israel were saved from Midian but the Midianites destroyed also and so in Senacheribs time not onely the people delivered but the enemies destroyed now that the Lord will doe it blessed be his name there are 1000. promises that it shall bee so and as great a cloud of instances to prove it hath been so Egypts yoke was broken the Philistims broken Ashur and Babylon broken yea the ruine of all the kingdomes of the earth who have successively laine heavy upon his Church and people doe all beare witnesse to this truth that the rod of the wicked shall not alwayes rest upon the back of his people I shall not inlarge my discourse upon this because I thinke it is a knowne theame every one that hath read the Scriptures can give proofes of it I shall onely present to your consideration two or three Texts one is that of Isa. 49. 24. The Lord promised in the former Verses a great inlargement increase prosperitie so that their Land should be too narrow for them Kings and Queens should bow unto them now he knowing how hard it would bee for his people to beleeve this because of the great bondage they lay under and the utter improbability of getting out of that state brings them in in this 24. verse objecting thus Alas our miseries plead prescription over us our hope is gone shall the prey be taken out of the hand of the mighty or the lawfull captive delivered now our adversaries say we are a lawfull prey we are prisoners of warre and they can plead right as well as might to bring us under and now shall wee ever bee delivered yes saith the answer of God even the captive of the mighty shall bee delivered and the prey of the terrible shall bee taken out of his hand for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I will save thy children and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and in the 51. of Esay after hee had promised to consume their enemies as a moth eates a garment and that his people should returne with the voyce of singing unto Sion hee then chides their feare and unbeleefe Why fearest thou a worme that shall die why fearest thou because of the fury of the oppressor as if hee were ready to destroy and where is the fury of the oppressour alas it 's gone as a puffe of wind then followes the captive exile hastneth that hee may bee loosened that hee may not die in the pit nor that his bread should faile hee feares lest he should starve or die in
saith hee there are sinnes amongst you great is the wrath of God that is kindled against you let them goe home againe meddle not with them and truely though the people were naught they tooke the Prophets counsell they saw it would be in vaine for them to kick against the prick so I say it may bee there may bee some such here for I can heare of strange insultings and threatnings in the mouths and tongues of many against those whom they thinke shortly to have under their feet but doe not flatter your selves the people of God are too heavy a stone for you to carry farre I will make saith the Lord in the 12. of Zachariah Ierusalem a burdensome stone for all people that burthen themselves with it shall bee broken in peeces though all the nations of the earth should bee gathered together against it the people of God will bee too heavy a weight for them in the same place hee speakes to them that thought to drinke their blood I will make Ierusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about you cannot hurt them you may bee Gods flaile to thresh out their Chaffe bee a meanes to purge and winnow them which they will have cause to thank God for but for you to thinke to oppresse them long that the rod of the wicked shall remaine or rest upon the neck of them that feare God it cannot bee you 'l ruine your selves in the designe bee wise therefore and leave it off but I forbeare for such ordinarily are more fill'd with fury and rage against that that is spoken in this kind then willing to profit by it and therefore my next Vse is To them that will profit by it and whom I hope the Lord will teach to profit by it to all those that have sincerely owned Christ and his cause amongst us I would speake somewhat to them the Lord grant I may speake effectually I am sure it is a word in season you who are the Lords people that are in Covenant with him who desire to know feare him and to see the welfare and prosperity of Zion the thing I would leave with you is this lay not to heart overmuch the dangers you seeme to be in for the present from the hands of those who would destroy you lay it not I say so far to heart as to be dismayed I confesse it is as Arrowes in the hearts and Swords in the bowels of many to heare the extream threatnings and scornes wch in many places are cast upon those that desire to feare God they are often told You are not farre from hanging you must shortly looke for it England will bee too hot for you your doores are mark'd you are known well enough the day is comming you 'l be caught ere long what of all that which if these things bee belched out I confesse if our lives were in the hands of men if the Lord would deliver us up to them to doe what they would and put us out of his hand I beleeve there would not bee a godly man left before to morrow night so much rage and fury is throughout the Land against them if Satan might have the ruling of the rost and the determination of businesses but truely the servants of God are never nearer to deliverance then when such threats lie upon them and the Lord Jesus Christ being the same yesterday to day and for ever knowes his own best time and his own best way and we should fix our eyes upon him when all other things goe crosse and studie onely to walke so as wee may bee under the power of this doctrine that wee may bee under the reach and cover and wings of it and when wee have done that wee have done all wee should doe and therefore to this end give me leave in this close of the Sermon to give a threefold advice to Gods people what they should now do in regard of the present straights and dangers that wee are cast in that so wee may the more comfortably expect deliverance from Christ the one is Let us all in the first place take the counsell of the Prophet in Ieremiah 8. 14. when the Lord was giving up his people to most wofull spoiles the Prophet speakes to them after this manner Why doe you sit still assemble your selves and let us enter into the defenced Cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God hath put us to silence and given you the water of gall and wormeword to drinke for wee have sinned against God so I would say to all O that the voyce of God in this could reach his servants in the Parliament in the Court of Aldermen in the Common-Councell in the Citie and throughout England that it might prevaile with all that have been unfainedly devoted to this work to get into their closets to lay their hand upon their mouth and weep before God and say This cup of gall and bitternesse is given us to drinke because wee have sinn'd against God my meaning plainly is this I thinke the servants of God in England since the Gospel came into England have never miscarried nor dishonoured the Gospel so as we have done since God hath wrought these enlargements for us surely wee walked 100. times better in the dayes of persecution then wee have in the middest of our inlargement O to what abundance of loosenesse even good people are come what pride in many of their hearts what scandalous walking in the eyes of those that are enemies to Religion what bitter divisions one against another undermining one another opposing one another when one side gets power striving to beate downe the other if the other get the ball they kick as unmercifully against the other even to the scorne of Religion truely wee have even lost our selves our foolish walking hath took off the awe that the profession of Religion laid upon the hearts of wicked men who heretofore though they did not love goodnesse yet they saw such a conversation in those that were good that it laid a bridle upon them but now they see that many godly or who at least pretend to bee godly appeare so selfish so bitter so worldly not onely to bee of differing minds but of differing affections falling into horrible rents and abominable opinions this I say hath tooke off the awe that lay upon mens consciences and therefore is there so much rage let out against us I desire therefore that we all that professe our selves to bee Christs servants may get our selves into our Closets and bee silent lay our hands upon our mouths and say It is most just with God wee should bee given up wee had a little power and wee have abused it wee have dishonor'd the Gospel and now the Lord hath given us the water of Gall and Wormewood to drinke because our finnes have called for it Beloved our adversaries can speak of these things and it is good