That av when he went to his prayers he found himselfe dull and heavy but after he had strugled a little with his dullnesse all on a suddaine he was visited with the visitation of the Almighty Beatum me praedicarem c. I should account my selfe happy saith he if these visitations would alwayes last Sed rara hora brevis mora oh si duraret But ô but it continueth but for a while And St. Austin relates this Story of himselfe That upon a time when he and his Mother Monica were discoursing together about the joyes of Heaven and the comforts of Gods Spirit they were so filled with joy that Austin useth these words Lord thou knowest in that day Quam mundus eviluit cum omnibus suis delectationibus c. How vildly we did esteeme of the world with all his delights The comforts of the world are not worthy to be named that day that we speake of these comforts Oh let the comfortablenesse of this service oblige you from hence-forth to serve God better then ever yet you have done Adde fourthly and lastly The easinesse of this service Matth. 11. 29 30. My yoake is easie and my burden is light How can the service of God be said to be easie To a fleshly carnall heart it is a burden intolerable But it may be said to be easie 1. In regard of the service God required under the Covenant of works For there God required perfect obedience in our owne persons not admitting of Repentance But in the service required under the covenant of grace we have a Mediatour to fly unto and admittance unto favour upon Repentance 2. It may be said to be easie in regard of the service of sinne and of the Devill There are many that take more paines to serve sinne and money then those that goe to Heaven doe to serve God Many take more pains to goe to hell then others doe to goe to Heaven 3. It may be said to be easie in regard of the many services it frees us from as you heard even now As Diogenes told Alexander when he boasted that he was Lord of the whole world Tu servus servorum meorum es Illis enim cupiditatibus quibus ego impero tu mancipiumes Thou art a servant to my servants a slave to those lusts over which I am Lord 4. Easie to the new nature Rom. 7. 22. As the light of the Sunne is delightsome to those that have good eyes so the service of God to those that are new creatures It is as naturall to the new creature to pray as it is to the old-creature to be drunke 5. Easie to those that have the aid of Gods Spirit As it is easie for a child to goe up stairs when his father leads him up So when led by the Spirit 6. Easie to those that are in Christ And therefore Christ saith Take up my yoake Christ cals it his yoake Because he drawes it with us and he drawes all As it is easie for a little child to life up a great weight when a Giant holds his hand and lifts with him and for him 7. Easie to those that love God 1 John 5. 3. Iacob for the love of Rachell accounted lightly of his service Love adds wings to make our service easie 8. Easie to those that have the right art of serving of God As in all trades almost there is an Art which when we have once got the trade is easie So there is an art of praying and preaching and hearing and receiving the Sacrament c. An art taught us by the God of Heaven which whosoever hath accounts it not a burden but a heaven to be serving of God 9. Easie to those that have the consolations of Gods Spirit in the service of God As Merchants doe ordinarily give a tast of their wines to those to whom they sell them that so they may be invited to buy them So God doth give a taste of Heaven to his servants in his service a praelibamen of Heaven to invite them to serve him more cheerfully A Hound is never weary as long as he hath the sent of the Hare No more is a servant of God as long as he enjoyeth God in his service 10. Easie in regard of what it might have been Thou mightest have bin in hell at this instant past worshipping God suffering everlasting torments 11. Easie to doe what God for Christ sake in the Covenant of grace well accept though not to doe what God requires 12. Easie in regard of the great reward the exceeding great reward that God will give to his servant Finis dat amabilitatem facilitatem medijs The end proposed to a worke makes the worke amiable and easie Where the reward is fullnesse and perpetuity of happinesse no service can be said to be hard to purchase such a reward All this is spoken that none might be deterred from the service of God upon a false supposall of the difficulty and impossibility of it And it is my earnest prayer that these motives might perswade us not only to serve God but to serve him with all the Ingredients Tertullian observes God was never called Lord till man was made He is the peculiar Lord of man O let man be his chiefe servant All creatures in their course serve God None but man and Devils deny it And how just is it for God to joyne him with the Devils in punishment that joynes with the Devill in dishonouring of God Remember when we come to judgement this will be the great Question Christ will put to us not to aske us what money we have got what honours we have purchased But what service have you done to me and for me This is the end for which thou wert created Christ will aske whether this be done And if not done thou art undone When Christ came to die he said Iohn 17. 3 4. Father glorifie me for I have glorified thee Happy is that man that when he comes to die can make this Argument Father I have fought a good fight I have made it my worke to doe thee service c. There are many that can plead Father I have dishonoured thy Name and therefore glorifie me But this is a false argument Let us labour to make Christs prayer in sincerity and faithfulnes But now I come to apply my self to great men and noble men in particular Let me speak unto you in Davids words Psal. 29. 1 2. Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due to his Name And let me use Davids reason Psa. 29. 5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars yea the Lord breaketh the Codars of Lebanon As the higher the Tree is the more it is exposed to the thunder of Heaven So the greater any man is the sooner God will punish him if he be a Giant in iniquity For he bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in linkes
to the greatmen to see if the way of the Lord as expecting more goodnesse from them then others Of which when he failed he threatens greater judgements against them then others Secondly As great men have greater reason then others So they have greater abilities and opportunities to serve God then others Now every ability and opportunity is a talent with which we are betrusted and for which we must be accountable The Wise-man tells us Ecclesiast 7. 11. That wisdome is good with an Inheritance Wisdome is good without an inheritance But it cannot doe so much good when it is seated in a poore man as when it is joyned with an inheritance When divine wisdome and honours meet together they are like apples of Gold in pictures of silver Riches and greatnesse have made many good men bad but never any bad man good and yet they put a price in a good mans hand to doe much good As a good musicall Instrument doth not make a skillfull Musitian but a skilfull Musitian can play better upon a good instrument then upon a bad one If the man be gracious and religious that is great and rich he will make sweeter harmony and melody in Gods eares then if he were poore and in a low estate It is not to be expressed what attractive power there is in the good examples of great men to make others good Great men are like unto looking-glasses according to which all the Country dresse themselves and if they be good looking-glasses they doe a world of good When Crispus the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved many of the Corinthians hearing of it beleeved also Act. 18. 8. When Shechem and Hamor were circumcised they quickly perswaded their people to be circumcised also Ioshuah's example in my Text made all Israel enter into Covenant to serve God And if the great-men and the rich-men of the Kingdome would appeare in more number and more couragiously and resolutely in the great cause of the warre now undertaken by the Parliament how quickly would the whole Land arise as one man to take part with them What mighty loadstones were Nehemiah Ezra and Zerubbabell to draw thousands of people to goe with them from Babylon to Ierusalem to rebuild the Temple So much for the Explicatory part Now for the Use and the Application And here I will apply my selfe First To all men in generall not excluding great-men And secondly To great-men in particular and yet not excluding other men First To all in generall This Text speakes a word of Reproofe to all those that make a quite contrary choise to Ioshuah's choice that choose to serve other Masters and not the Lord And of these there are 4 sorts 1. Such as choose to serve men and not the Lord The Apostle faith 1 Cor. 7. 23. Ye are bought with a price bee not ye the servants of men which words doe not forbid the civill relation and subjection of a servant to his Master but they reproove two sorts of men 1. Such as subject their Consciences to the superstitious inventions of men in Gods worship that build their Religion upon mans bare authority Such servants are all the Papists that build their Religion upon the Popes infallibility these are servants of men 2. Such as are servants to the lusts of wicked men that serve men when they runne in a crosse line to Gods will Such were the Subjects of Nebuchadnezzar that at the command of the King worshipped the golden Image and served the King and not the Lord Such was Pilate that for feare of displeasing Caesar delivered up Christ to be crucified though he knew him to be innocent And would to God we had not many amongst us that sell their Consciences their Religion and their Salvation to be panders to the lustfull covetous and ambitious desires of great men Such were the Nobles of Cambyses Cambyses had a lust to marry his owne sister he sends for all his councell and asketh If they had any Law in Persia to allow him to marry his sister They answered That there was no such Law But yet there was another Law That the Kings of Persia might doe what they list These Nobles were slaves to the lust of Cambyses And if we had not such Nobles and Gentlemen amongst us these unhappy warrs would quickly be at an end Alexander had two friends * Hephaestion and Craterus One loved him as a man the other as a King He that loved him as a man laboured to satisfie the Kings lusts and to please him as a man in all his desires whether lawfull or unlawfull He that loved him as a King desired to please him in such things which were just and which tended to the Kings honour and the peoples safety Now I demand which of these two were Alexanders best friend Our Soveraigne King hath two such kind of friends Two such kind of friends had Rehoboam and by hearkning to his Young-men and refusing the councell of his old and grave Councellours he ruinated himself and his posterity which God forbid our King should do Secondly I am to reprove such as chose to serve the times and not the Lord that change their Religion with the times That will be superstitious if the times be superstitious and devout or Atheisticall according to the times whose Religion is like a peece of waxe to be moulded into any frame according as the timesalter and change Such were the Samaritans that when the Jewes were in prosperity would professe themselves to be of the Jewish Religion but when the Jewes were in adversity they would disclaime them and their Religion Many such Samaritans amongst us that in King Edward the sixt's dayes turned Protestants in Queene Maries turned Papists and in Queen Elizabeths dayes turned Protestants againe There are thousands in this age that are Time-servers and not God-servers Many such Ministers and many such Magistrates many such people I have much thought of two wicked speeches too too much practised in these our dayes The one is of a deepe Polititian That it was good to follow the truth but not too neare at the heeles least it dash out our braines There are many such that would be glad to seeme to be religious and to owne the cause of Religion which is now asserted by the Parliament but they are afraid to owne it too publikely or too zealously for feare it should hinder their preferment and dash out the braines of their promotions Another speech is that of the King of Navarre to Beza That he would launch no farther into the Sea of Religion then he might be sure to returne safe into the Haven This is the true picture of a Time-server to dive no farther into the deepes of Religion to appeare no farther in this great cause of Religion then he can be sure to save his estate and to save his carcasse I read of the men of Issacar That they were wise to understand the
times to know what Israel ought to doe It is wisedome to observe times so as to know our duty But it is damnable wickednesse to serve the times and not the Lord to ring changes as the times change 3. To reprove such that choose to serve themselves and not the Lord That set up themselves as God and doe whatsoever is good in their own eyes and make their wills their Scripture This is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This is selfe worship and selfe Idolatry which is the greatest Idolatry of all It is the greatest curse under Heaven for God to give a man over to himselfe to live as he list Psalm 81. 11 12. Rom. 1. 26. I have read of one given over to the Devill for his good but never of any given over to himselfe but for his damnation And therefore Austin prayeth Lord deliver me from my selfe Let it be our prayer Lord give me not over to my selfe Fourthly I am to reprove such that choose to serve sinne and not the Lord It is one thing to be a sinner another thing to be a servant of sinne A servant of sinne is one that gives himselfe over to the service of sinne that is bound apprentise to sinne Observe the difference betweene Paul and Ahab Paul was sold under sinne but it was against his will But Ahab sold himselfe willingly to worke wickednesse Many such Ahabs that serve sinne as the Centurion servants served him If sinne bid goe they goe Such a slave was Herod to his Herodias Felix to his Drusilla Such servants are swearers and drunkards that are at the service of their Oathes and Cups There are many men that are slaves to the Mammon of iniquity That doe not only possesse money but are possessed of money that are had of money that with Iudas will sell Jesus Christ himselfe for 30. peeces of silver There are many that are slaves to their preferments that say with Agrippina concerning Nero Peream ego modo ille imperet That sell their part in Heaven to get a little honour here upon earth And to speake my mind plainely there are two sinnes which are as two mighty Loadstones to draw hundreds from the Parliaments side Covetousnesse and Ambition Could the Parliament feed these sinnes as well as they are fed at Oxford our miserable distractions would quickly be at an end What made Baalam goe to Balak At first he said If Balak would give me his house full of gold and silver I cannot goe beyond the word of the Lord but yet afterwards being mad after the wages of iniquity he went and did much hurt to Gods people but it was to his own ruine at last and this will be the end of all those that are the servants of sinne The Apostle speakes excellently For when ye were servants of sinne ye were free from righteousnesse What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death In which words the Apostle teacheth us that the service of sinne is both shamefull and damnable First it is shamefull For to serve sinne is to serve the Devill Ioh. 8. 44. Oh that the world would beleeve this that when they serve pride and covetousnesse and ambition c. they serve the Devill And therefore Cyprian brings in the Devill upbraiding Christ Ostende mihi tot servos qui tibi c. Shew me if thou canst so many servants that have served them so diligently and so willingly as I can shew that have served me If the Devill should appeare in humane shape you would think it horrible Idolatry to adore him and yet when you obey sinne you doe this and worser then this for sinne is worser then the Devill The Devill is Gods creature but sinne hath nothing of God in it Sinne is the Devils excrement as Barnard saith And it must needs be a loathsome service to be servant to so vile a thing Secondly It is a cursed and damnable service for the wages of sinne is death How comes it then to passe that sinne hath so many servants Because sinne deales with sinners as the Philistims did with Sampson First it puts out our eyes that we should not see the vilenesse and cursednesse of sinne and then it puts us in the mill to grind as sinnes slave And therefore Christ sent Paul to the Gentiles to open their eyes c. Acts 26. 18. This was his first worke The Lord open our eyes to see the shamefulnesse and damnablenesse of sinnes service 2. To reproove those that make Ioshuas choise but not with Ioshuas ingredients That choose to serve God but doe not serve him undividedly everlastingly sincerely zealously reverently c. We live in an age wherin God had never more servants and yet never lesse service as one saith There are many Divines but few that live like Divines So God hath many servants but few that doe him service There are some that divide betweene the service of God and the service of sinne like the false Mother that would have the child divided As Cambden reports of Redwald King of the East-saxons the first Prince of this Nation that was baptized yet in the same Church he had one Altar for Christian Religion another Altar for Heathenish religion So there are many such false-worshippers of God that divide the rooms of their soules betweene God and the Devill that sweare by God and by Malcham Zeph. 1. 5. that sometimes pray and sometimes curse that sometimes goe to Gods house sometimes to a Play-house that are of a Mungrill-religion halting betweene God and Baal Heteroclites in Religion but God cannot endure this division This is to set thy threshold by Gods threshold Ezek. 43. 8. This is to set the Arke and Dagon together which God will never endure God cares not for one halfe of thy heart if sinne and the Devill hath the other halfe There are others that serve God but their service is but as a morning cloud and as an early dew it quickly vanisheth of whom I may say justly that which Nabal did unjustly of David There are many servants now a dayes that breake away every man from his Master Many now a dayes and more in our dayes then in former dayes We live in an Apostatizing age wherein there are many falling Starres but few fixed Starres Many that were once whiter then milke as Rubies and polished Saphires in regard of their glorious profession but now they are blacker then acoale they are withered and become like a stick That were yesterday Gods people but to day are turned enemies To these I say as S. Peter doth Better they had never known the way of righteousnesse c. 2 Pet. 2. 20. This relapse makes thy condition the worse as relapses in all kinds are most dangerous And it is also a signe thou esteemest the service of sinne
It was the saying of a Schoole-master to a King that sent to see how he did when he was dying The Schoole-master returned this answer Tell the King I am going to a place where few Kings come meaning to Heaven Consider lastly those two places of Scripture Re. 6. 15 16 17. The Kings and the great men and rich men wish for the Mountains to hide them c. And Isa. 30. 33. Tophet is prepared of old even for the King it is prepared By King is meant in all probability the great King of Assyria as may appeare by the context The Lord give you hearts to consider these things Now I proceed to an Use of Exhortation And here I will apply my selfe first to all men as well as great men Secondly to great men especially and yet not excluding others First To all men in generall To perswade all men to make Ioshuah's choise their choise to choose to serve the Lord and not only so but also to serve him with all the Ingredients before mentioned to serve him transcendently inconditionally universally undividedly reverently everlastingly c. For it is the manner of serving of God that is the distinguishing Character of a true servant Cain offered Sacrifice as well as Abell The wicked worship God pray and receive Sacraments as well as the godly But Abell offered in faith so did not Cain The godly serve God in sincerity with reverence diligence and chearfullnes indeavouring in all things to keep a good conscience so do not the wicked That Text which I have so often named He. 12. 28. makes the acceptation of our service to depend not upon our serving of God but upon our serving of God with reverence and godly fear It is the right manner of serving of God that makes thy service a sweet perfume And it is the right manner of worshipping also that makes thee a true worshipper and that causeth God to delight in thy worship and to desire to be worshipped by them according to that excellent place Joh. 4. 23. But the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him And therefore let me ingage you all this day for God and his services Let us give up our names to God and enter into a holy Covenant to serve him with all the Ingredients For marke what Moses saith Exod. 19. 5. If ye will obey me indeed then yee shall be a peculiar treasure c. He doth not say simply If you will obey me but if ye will obey me indeed And so also Deut. 28. 1. If you will hearken diligently to doe all his Commandements then the Lord will blesse thee c. He doth not say simply if you will hearken but if you will hearken diligently and observe to doe all my Commandements Let us serve God as God and for God As a God transcendently inconditionally For Gods sake sincerely faithfully To perswade you to the practise of these things Consider what hath bin already said concerning the necessity of this duty I adde further the consideration of the excellency profitablenesse comfortablenesse and easinesse of this duty The excellency and honourablenesse of Joshuah's choice For indeed it is not only a duty but a high Prerogative to be the servant of the high God Deo servire regnare est And therefore whereas Mat. 13. 17. it is said Many Prophets and Iust men c. In Luk. 10. 24. It is said Many Prophets and Kings to note unto us That Iust men are Kings Rev. 1. 6. This was Moses his honour and it is often repeated Moses my Servant c. This was Ioshuah's honour often repeated My servant Joshuah c. This was Davids honour I am thy servant O Lord I am thy servant And it is prefixed as a Title to the 36. Psalme A Psalme of David the servant of the Lord It is a great honour that God will thinke us worthy to be his servants And therfore Paul stiles himself Paul a servant of Iesus Christ It is the certainest signe of a reprobate to have much wages here and to want a heart to do service with it It is a great happines to be in place to do service It is the honour of our honours to be inabled by them to do God service Non est laboriosa sed amabilis optanda haec servitus saith Austin It is no painfull and laborious service but a service to be loved and longed for As it is honourable to be a servant of God so also the services themselves are honourable Pretiosa haec servitus virtutum constat expensis This precious and honourable service stands in the practise of all vertues in praying unto God and praising of God c. O let this perswade us to begin this day to serve God more strictly then ever Adde secondly The profitablenesse of this service There is no service any man doth for God but God takes exact notice of it Thus God tooke notice of Abrahams willingnesse to offer Isaac Gen. 22. 16. God takes notice of every circumstance of that that we doe for him Thus Christ took notice of Mary Magdalen and of every circumstance of her washing his feet c. Luk. 7. 44 45 46. And Mark 4. 2 3. Christ observes how farre some came to heare him and how long they tarried c. And as God takes notice of these things in his servants so he commends them upon all occasions and highly esteemes of them and their services Thus God boasted to Satan concerning his servant Iob Job 1. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him c. And as none observes commends and prizeth his servants so much as God so none rewards his servants as God doth None more able and none more willing The service of God is perfect freedome and it will free us from all other services As a man that buyeth free-hold Land though he pay deare for it yet it is accounted cheaper then coppy-hold because it freeth him from many services vices which the coppy-hold is obliged unto If thou beest a servant of Gods indeed and in truth this will free thee from the service of sinne and Satan Whereas on the contrary If we be not true servants to Christ we shall be slaves to every thing beside him O quam multos habet Dominos qui unum non habet O how many Lords hath that man that hath not Christ for his Lord Either thy belly will be thy god or thy mony c. The service of sinne as it is shamefull so it is unfruitfull And it is called The unfruitfull worke of darknesse But the service of God as it is honourable so it ends in everlasting life No man ever kindled a fire upon Gods Altar for nought Mal. 1. 9. In keeping of Gods Commandements there is great reward Psal. 10. And indeed God himselfe is the exceeding great reward
their own accord This was the reason why St. Paul was so zealous about the conversion of Sergius Paulus who was Deputy of the Country and a prudent man that when Elymas the Sorcerer offered to withstand him he burst out into such speeches with such eagernesse as he never did at any time before for ought we can reade Oh thou child of the Devill thou enemy of all righteousnesse c. And some are of opinion that Paul had his name changed from Saul to Paul because he converted Sergius Paulus For indeed it is a matter of great consequence to convert one Sergius Paulus one Eunuch To take one such great fish is more then to take many little ones though the least of all is not to be despised There is one argument yet behind the last but not the least and that is from the holy and solemn Covenant you lately have taken to amend your lives The excellency of a Christian is not so much in taking a Covenant as in keeping of it when taken And therefore we reade of Iosiah 2 Chro. 34. 31 32. that he did not onely make a Covenant to walke after the Lord and to keepe his Commandements with all his heart c. but he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it For if that man shall never goe to Heaven that will not keepe his promises though made to his hurt how much more shall they be barr'd from Heaven that break those promises that they have made tending to their eternall good To breake Covenant is not only a brand of a Reprobate as you have heard but it is also a sinne that God hath a quarrell against and a sinne for which he will be avenged according to that Text Levit. 26. 25. And I will bring a Sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrell of my Covenant And this is one great reason why the Sword is now drawne in England and hath sucked so much bloud even to avenge the great breach of Oaths and Covenants which this Nation is deepely guilty of Let me make bold further to remind you that in this Covenant you have also vowed in order to the preservation of them to assist the forces raised by the Parliament according to your power and vocation and not to assist the forces raised by the King neither directly nor indirectly And I doubt not but you will make conscience to satisfie these two clauses and herein you shall expresse the reality of your thanks for this great deliverance this day celebrated Now because the speedy faithfull and couragious appearance in this great Cause of defensive Armes is one of the highest expressions that you can yeeld to the world of your love to God and his Gospell and to his service Give me leave to speake something about it not only by way of Exhortation but first by way of Commendation then Exhortation then by way of Incouragement and then I shall conclude First By way of Commendation Suffer me to speake that which is due to you and not in mine own words but to speake the sense of all the well-affected in the Kingdome We blesse God that though there are many fallen Starres many Lords that have deserted the Parliament that yet you Right Honourable stand firme like fixed Starres in your Orbes and have taken unwearied paines for the good of the Church and State and have ventured all for your Religion and Liberties and many of you lost a great part of your revenewes for the present and have passed many Ordinances very advantageous to the Kingdome The Lord be blessed for all the good you have done The Lord recompence it to you and yours The Lord grant you may find mercy from the Lord at that great day It is not the designe of the well-affected party to take away Temporall Lordships or the distinction between Lords and Commons and to bring all to a popular equality This is an Anabaptisticall fury I protest against it in the Name of all the Well-affected Ministers Indeed we would be glad to be rid of Spirituall Lords over our consciences But as for Temporall Lords we pray with David The Lord give you good successe Ride on and prosper Thus much for commendation Now for Exhortation Let me exhort you not only to choose to serve God and to serve his Church and his Cause in this most just defensive Warre but to doe it with those rare and remarkeable circumstances formerly mentioned in Ioshuas choise First Let me perswade you to appeare more and more publikely in this Cause There are many that thinke it fit onely for poore men that have nothing to loose to appeare openly in a good Cause but as for those that have great Estates it becomes them to be wary and circumspect and to seeke rather to save their Estates then to hazard all Such a one was Nicodemus that came to Christ by night though afterwards he repented and amended as you may reade Iohn 7. 50 Such were those chiefe Rulers Ioh. 12. 42 That beleeved in Christ but durst not confesse him so feare of the Pharisees least they should be put out of the Synagogue And many such there are in our dayes But a true Christian is so far from being hindred by his riches and greatnesse from appearing for God that he is glad that he hath riches and Honours to loose for God he receives joyfully the spoiling of his goods He willingly parts with all for Christs Cause And if you aske him why he doth so he will answer with Paulinus Nolanus Vt levius ascenderet scalam Iacobi That he might goe the lighter to Heaven He saith as that famous Noble-man Hormisdas did who when he was deposed from all his Honours because he would not forsake his Religion and afterwards restored to his Honours again and then commanded by the King of Persia to renounce his profession Answered Si propter ista me denegaturum Christum put as i st a denuo acoipe If you thinke I will deny Christ for to keepe my Honours take them all back againe S. Austin in his Confessions relates an excellent Story of one Victorinus a great man at Rome that had many great friends that were Heathen but it pleased God to convert him to the Christian Religion and he comes to one Simplicianus and tells him secretly that he was a Christian Simplicianus answers Non credam nec deputabo te inter Christianos nisi in Ecclesiâ Christi te videro I will not beleeve thee to be a Christian till I see you openly professe it in the Church At first Victorinus derided his answer and said Ergone parietes faciunt Christianum Doe the walls make a Christian But afterwards remembring and often pondering that Text of our Saviour He that is ashamed of me before men I will be ashamed of him before my Father c. he returnes to Simplicianus and professeth himselfe openly in the Church to
consolation God never suffers his children to meet with a huge unremoveable difficulty like the stone before the doore of the Sepulcher but he sends some Angell or other to remove it away 5. You have an incouraging Captaine even the Lord Jesus who is the great Peace-maker Who is our peace when the Assyrian is in the Land Micah 7. 9. He hath taken downe the partition wall he hath made our peace with God Let the deepes of our civill warre call upon the deepes of peace that are in Christ Let us beseech the great Peace-maker to take downe the great partition wall betweene King and Parliament to make Father and Sonne of one mind If Christ makes the peace it must needs be good Jesus Christ came into the world when the Jewes were in the saddest condition in the depth of slavery for the Scepter was departed from Iudah and in the depth of divisions for they had so many severall Sects as they could hardly tell what Religion they were off In this sad condition Shiloh came Let us beseech Jesus Christ to come into England in this low estate and to bring peace with him even that Christ who descended into the lowest parts of the Earth for our sakes and whose love is a depth that cannot be fathomed Ephes. 3. 17 18. The deepes of our misery call upon the depth of his love and mercy that God for Christ sake would pardon our abysse of sinnes both personall and nationall and bring us out of our abysse of miseries both personall and nationall 6. You have incouraging company you have the Lord of Hosts to accompany you and I may say without the least degree of uncharitablenes you have the major part of Gods people on your side 7. You have incouraging weapons prayers and teares fasting and humiliation As Ambrose spake to Austins mother by way of incouragement That a Sonne of so many teares could not miscarry So may I say and I hope proove a true Prophet That a Nation of so many prayers and teares shall not be destroyed God never yet destroyed a Nation wherein there were so many of his children praying fasting humbling themselves and especially at such a time when they are entring into a solemne Covenant of reforming their lives as now we are if they indeavour to doe these things with all their heart and soule 8. You have incouraging threatnings against the enemies of Gods Church God hath threatned Zach. 12. 2 3 6. to make Jerusalem a cup of poyson and all that offer to swallow Ierusalem shall be poysoned with it to make Jerusalem a burdensome stone and all that thinke to crush Ierusalem shall be crushed by Jerusalem to make him like a fire and all his enemies like wood to be devoured by him God hath threatned concerning the plots of your enemies Psalm 64. 5 6 7 8 9 10. This Scripture is this day fulfilled in your eares The Lord give us grace to declare his works and wisely to consider of his doings God hath likewise accomplished those two rare Scriptures Psal. 7. 14 15 16 17. Psal. 9. 15 16. Let us adde our part Let us praise the Lord according to his righteousnesse let us sing praise to the name of the Lord most high Higgaion Selah 9. You have the incouraging providence of God The great and wise God who is our Father hath from all eternity decreed what shall be the issue of these warrs There is nothing done in the lower House of Parliament upon earth but what is decreed in the higher House of Parliament in Heaven All the lesser wheeles are ordered and over-ruled by the upper wheeles An excellent Story of a Young-man that was at Sea in a mighty tempest and when all the passengers were at their wits end for feare he onely was merry and when he was ask'd the reason of his mirth he answered That the Pilot of the Ship was his Father and he knew his Father would have a care of him Our heavenly Father is our Pilot he sits at the sterne and though the Ship of the Kingdome be ready to finke yet be of good comfort Our Pilot will have a care of us Are not five sparrowes saith Christ sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God One sparrow is not worth halfe a farthing You shall not have halfe a farthings worth of harme more then God hath from all eternity decreed God hath all ourenemies in a chaine And if a child saw a Lion or a Beare in his deare Fathers hand chained so as he might be secure his Father could keepe the chaine from being burst he would not be afraid And this we are sure God can doe A 1000000. Cyphars stand for nothing unlesse a figure be joyned to them All men and devils are but cyphars without God An hoast of men is nothing without the Lord of hoast The devill cannot goe beyond his tedder Ob. But God permits the enemy to exercise great cruelty upon his own people and to take away the lives of his choisest servants witnes the Noble Lord Brooke and now lately that worthy Gentleman M. Hampden Answ. 1. Let us not be troubled that God permits our enemies to doe us so much hurt but rather be comforted that they can doe nothing but what our wise and most loving God permits and fore-decrees for the good of his children 2. I answer with our blessed Saviour Feare not them that can but kill the body and after that can do no more It is no great matter in Christs opinion to have the body killed The body is but the Cabinet the Iewell is the soule And if the Iewell be safe in Heaven no great matter to have the Cabinet broken It is said of King Iosiah that he should goe to his grave in peace and yet he died in a battell He that dyeth with the peace of a good conscience dieth in peace though he be killed in a battell Blessed is the man that breaths out his last breath in doing God service He that dies fighting the Lords battels dies a Martyr An excellent thing for a Minister to die preaching and a souldier die fighting It is but winking with our eyes as the Martyr said and we are presently in Heaven Blessed and twice blessed are those that die in the Lord and for the Lord 3. God many times takes away his choisest servants because we idolize them too much as he did the King of Sweden And also because he would teach us to trust only to his helpe who will deliver us by weake instruments when he takes away strong and able Instruments that he may have all the glory Lastly You have incouraging experiments And surely if any Nation under Heaven may reason from experience and rely upon experiences this Nation may God hath delivered us from the Beare and the Lion from the Spanish navy in Eighty eight and since from the Gun-pouder Treason from Civill warres betweene Scotland and England And when there