REV. 16. 8. 9. But whom now doe the Ammonites hire but a sort of flagitious Pagans that neither looked into the price of other mens blood their own soules or the justnesse of the cause A thousand talents have soone bought them to fight the battels of the Devill against the Lord of Hosts Observation There is no cause so wicked or deplored but money will hire some mercinarily minded to abet who wil damne their soules for a little silver And how many such there have been even in the Christian world the Prelates better know then wee What forlorne creatures Papists Atheists Neuters and mongrell Protestants had they procured to fight against the Scottish Nation When wicked men are conscious to the insufficiency of their cause they muster up the greater forces and place their affiance in the arme of flesh that what innocence here could not doe three and thirty thousand Pagans joyned to the forces of Ammon shall But thus much shall suffice to be spoken of Ammons Preparations both their ground and helps Secondly in Davids providing to encounter them we have First his sending of Ioab with all the Host of the mighty men David you see is sencible of the horrible abuses done to his Embassadors Observation Indignities offered to Embassadors redound to their King who cannot be insensible thereof especially they being Embassadours of Peace And thus it is with God as it is written The Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place but they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord arose and there was no remedy Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Caldees who slew the young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or may den old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all unto his hand 2 Chro. 36. 15 16 17. And now under the Gospell when the Lord of the Vineyard sends his servants to the Husbandmen and the Husbandmen beat one and kill another and stone a third and when hee sends yet more servants and they doe unto them likewise surely he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his Vineyard to other Husbandmen which shall render him the fruits in their season Matth. 21. 33. Beloâ—ed CHRIST is this day sensible of all the abuses that have been offered by the Prelats to his Messengers How often hath he cryed from heaven if that poore soule had not been utterly deafe Laud Laud Why persecutest thou me It is hard for thee to kicke against the pricks Oh! CHRIST in his Messengers hath given his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them that have plucked off the haire his beard hath beene cut and his garments curtold by these Prelatique Ammonites The Messengers of Iesus have bin made a spectacle to the world Angels and men they have beene made partakers of Christs sufferings and have filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in their flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church And is Christ sensible and shall not these Ammonites heare of it Yes for he is now awaking as out of sleep and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of Wine Ah! saith hee I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge meâ— of mine enemies and put them to perpetuall shame But so much be said of this Ioab now approaching with his Forces when loe the Adversaries have cunningly devided themselves some standing at the entrance of the gates of the Citie the residue in the open field Ioab a wise Generall and prepared for difficulties forecasteth the best way of encounter and fitting himselfe to assault the Syrians leaves the Ammonities to his brother Abishai but with this covenant of mutuall assistance for I must now put sundry things together If the Syrians be too strong for me then thou shalt help me but if the Children of Ammon be too strong for thee then will I come and help thee Observation When Gods Israel hath to doe with many potent subtill most wicked and desperate enemies they had need to enter into a covenant of mutuall helpe and assistance Abraham was confederate with Mamre Eschol and Aner when hee was to encounter with the foure Kings that had carryed away his cousen Lot prisoner Gen. 14. 13. 24. Yea it is lawfull for us herein to learne wit of an enemy For thus the enemies of Israel confederate themselves Come say they let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may bee no more in remembrance Yea they have consulted together with one consent and are confederate against Israel the Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moah and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalech the Philistims with the inhabitants of Tyre Assur also is joyned with them they have holpen the children of Lot Psal 83. 4 5 6 7 8 9. And in the daies of Ahaz it was told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim Isa 7. 2. And this covenanting in case of opposing many powerfull cunning wicked desperate Enemies is very requisite Seeing a Kingdome divided cannot stand which firmely united by confederacie is not easily vanquished when every mans interesses are anothers and the same ingagements common unto all And this Antichrist knowes well enough for hee being set forth most lively under the Type of Antiochus Epiphanes in the 11.th of Daniel his heart is said to be against the holy Covenant vers 28. by and by hee is said to have intelligence with them that forsake the holy Covenant yea and to have indignation against the holy Covenant vers 30. And such as doe wickedly against the Covenant He is said to corrupt by flatteries vers 32. Marke these expressions His heart is against the holy Covenant His very heart riseth at the name of Covenant and Covenanting and Covenanters and those are the most odious people with him in all the world Yea he hath indignation against the holy Covenant Hee could teare it in his teeth the very gall of bitternesse riseth in him at it And with whom hath he intelligence but with them that forsake it They are his Counsellours that either fall off from the Covenant or are learned to declaime and raile against it And such as doe wickedly against the Covenant he corrupteth by flatteries If there be any who are more malicious then others against the Covenant and the Covenanters who will goe about to breake the League to raise Armes to hatch Treasons to confound Kingdomes Common-wealths and Parliaments and to bring all things into combustion that he may fish in troubled waters O these are his white boyes these he smooths and stroakes and flatters these shall have Prebendaries Bishopticks Cardinals Caps and great preferments c. And no marvaile for these Covenanters
is the ruine of Antichrist for he could never have beene if the Covenant had beene kept his Babel can never be built where men keep close to God and one another Vse First this sheweth us the wonderfull goodnesse of God in foure particulars which should melt our hearts this day First in uniting the Honourable Nation of the Scots by Covenant against the Prelates in their late defence against their Tyranny Which how powerfull and successefull it was we may easily see not onely by the carriage and issue of things on their parts but also by the continuall attempts of the Prelates to have devided them Secondly In the firme brotherly Union of England and Scotland as it were of Joab and Abishai and that too by such an occasion as the Prelates hoped should have engaged them in blood the one against the other like Manasseh against Ephraim or as if Ioab and Abishai should cut one anothers throats Thirdly In uniting both houses of Parliament they having to do with such Ammonites and Syrians It is such a knot that the very Sword of Alexander we hope shall not easily cut asunder A Kingdome united into one body will endure a mighty shock Men standing single are soone jusled downe most difficult when they are all imbodied into one Fourthly In uniting the hearts of all the Churches in this Land to one another and all of them this day to our deare Countrey in opposing the common Adversâ—ry Fâ—r what hath England said to us of late If the Papiâ—…s Prelats and Atheisâ—s be too strong for us thâ—n you shall help us and if at any time the enemy be too strong for you wee will help you O let us all enter into Covenant with England to live and dye against these Ammonites and Syrians Secondly If so necessary bee a Covenant of mutuall assistance against a common Enemy such a one as we heare of how much more had the Israel of God need to enter into Covenant with the Lord of Hosts in opposing such an Adversary What is a Politicke to a Religious Covenant When the Israelites fled and fell before the men of Ai the Lord gives the reason of it unto Ioshua Iosh 7.11 Israel hath finned and they have transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them for they have taken of the accursed thing c. Where by the way you may see how neerely this Covenant uniteth that what one doth which the rest might with circumspection have prevented is imputed to them all The Lord will never have need to say to England or to us If the Malignant party with their Cavaliers be too strong for mee then shall you help me but we shall have need so to say to him and therefore wee had need see that we be in covenant with him And where a people are in Covenant with God and cleave onely to him having cast away whatsoever is displeasing to him hee enters himselfe presently the Generall of all their forces leades their Armies and fights their Battails And then who can bee against us For one shall chase a thousand and ten ten thousand because their Rock will not fell them nor the Lord shut them up And so much for the Covenant of mutuall assistance We are now come to Ioabs words of Encouragement wherein we have First an Exhortation Secondly a Resignation An exhortation to be Valiant in fighting the Lords Battels and a Resignation of their wills into the Lords hands First of the Exhortation Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people for the Cities of our God And here we may observe the grounds of their encouragement viz. They were to fight for all that they had or were God and their Countrey Church and State soules and bodies their owne and others Observations When Religion and Policie Church and Common-wealth lye at stake Gods people had need to encourage themselves and one another Therefore we shall finde that when the people of God were to go to battell against his enemies both the Lords the Priests and the Officers did All give them encouragement Deut. 20.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. The place is pregnant to this purpose and worthy our reading Excellent are the words of Nehemiah to this point Neh. 4.14 He said to the Nobles and Rulers and the rest of the people Bee not afraid of your Enemies remember the Lord which is great and terrible and fight for your Brethren your Sonnes and your Daughters your Wives and your Houses They were to fight for the Lord whose cause was then in hand and for the Common-wealth and each mans private interesses therefore saith he Be not afraid of your Enemies Vse First this sheweth us how direct a way it hath pleased the Lord herein to guide both Houses of Parliament to walke in viz. A way of undaunted courage and resolution as if they should say to one another as once those Trojans The onely way to safety to the Conquered is to turne desperate Some may thinke they transgresse their limits No for how can they take lesse courage to themselves who being beset behind and before with Syrians and Ammonites are to bestirre themselves for their people and the Cities of their God God and England and every Shire and Citie in England doe this day cry out unto them saying Bee strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you whithersoever you goe Therefore let us not onely have high thoughts of them and such as are alwayes Honourable but magnifie the Lord who hath put such resolutions into them Secondly let these words of Joab sound in our eares this day Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the Cities of our God Beloved I cannot but look upon the Churches in this Land this day as upon so many severall Regiments or bands of Souldiers lying in ambush here under the fearn and brushet of the Wildernes like the lyers in wait beside Gibeah against the wretched rebellious Benjamites I know wee are little dreamt of at this time in any part of Christendome our weapons being as invisible to the eye of flesh as our persons are to all the world So much the better we shall fight this day with the greater safety to our selves and danger to our enemies among whom I am confident in the Lord thousands shall fall and never know who hurt them We arrogate nothing to our selves for if the weapons of our warfare are mighty it is not through us but through God But if the Israel of God would have thought of a way of quickest discomfiture to the adversary what course could they have taken better then to have divided their Forces and to have sent some to lye in wait in the wildernesse to come upon the backs of Gods Enemies with deadly Fastings and Prayer murtherers that will kill point blanke from one end of the world to the other Here then is our
station therefore be we of good courage and let us play the men at this time and first For our God For he is ours Beloved and we trust he is Englands and shall we see our selves bereft of him Can the Israel of God endure to see Idols and Idolothites to stand in his place and Dagon to bee exalted above the Arke If Israel be robbed of their God what have they more What are the people or Cities if they bee not the people and Cities of our God They are even like the world without the Sun God therefore and Religion lie at stake and therefore let us play the men First Gods worship lyeth engaged all the pure and unmixt Ordinances of CHRIST JESUS call for helpe this day The Word of God lifteth up its voice this day unto us like a banished Virgine O how have I been abused by the corrupt Glosses of these moderne Pharisees How have the Scriptures beene wrested The Word prophaned in Pulpits Christ fought against with the word of his owne mouth Doctrines of Devils maintained with pretence of Scripture The Messengers of Christ persecuted and hunted like Partriges upon the Mountaines for holding sorth the Word in his native lustre O deliver the Word of God out of this Captivity The Seales of righteousnesse cry alowd to us this day They crave reduction to the rules of the Gospell Every Ordinance pleads for vindication travelling in paine under the captivity of beggarly Rudiments O say they we have been dealt forth these many scores of yeares under Gospell-light in such fulsome formes that men abhorre the offerings of the Lord. Oh! The Whoore hath quaffed and made herselfe drunke with her Pandors and Paramours and with her cunning and uncleane Merchants in the vessell of the Lords Sanctuary Beloved Let us hold and heare no more of these sad complaints for who can have pitic and patience too Have we the blood of Protestants in us Doth the spirit of JESUS runne in our veines It is enough We cannot want courage nor but play the men for God and pure Religion And if any people under the Sunne who more then we whom the gracious hand of heaven hath asserted from that spirituall bondage under which we once did groane It is a truth we saw but litle in comparison of what now we doe when we left our Native homes as much it is not that yet we see tho blessed be the Lord for what we doe But is there any people in the world who have tasted more of the sweet of God and Christ and Ordinances then we in this Land have done Doe any know the price of God and Christ more then wee here I beseech you in the Lord Consider and let the spirit of Christ rise in you at this instant and wrestle and strive this day in Prayer let us loose a joynt with Iacob but we will be Israelites this day Let us play the men according to the knowledge fence and experience that we have of God and Christ Let us halt to our dying day but we will returne laden with the spoile of Rebels Secondly as Gods worship lieth ingaged so by consequence his Name And what saith Ioshua to God upon the day of afflicting his soule What shall be done to thy great Name When the Ministers of the Lord were to weep between the Porch and the Altar upon the day of their fasting they were to say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Then will the Lord be jealous for his Land and pitty his people as it followeth And shall not this argument then move us which ever prevailed with the Lord Moses Joshua the Priests no sooner urge Gods glory but the Lord answereth them Oh! how then hath Gods honour been layd in the dust by those Prelates who now with their honours begin to lye there themselves What insultings have they used What triumphes have they often led And as if they had bound our Christ like Sampson and put him to grind in the Prison house as in some sence they have Oh! how have these Lords of the Philistims gathered themselves together to offer sacrifice to their Dagon to burne Incense to their Drag to their power their Policies Prelacies Confederacies Conjurations Superstitions and so rejoyce Saying Our God hath delivered Christ our enemy into our hand the destroyer of our Prelacies who slew many of us And thus could they but get the day again they would say and Dagon should up as high and CHRIST be throwne downe as low as ever And can we endure so much as the thought of it The Lord forbid O let us play the men for our God and our Christ whose glory is more worth then ten thousand worlds of soules O let us set to it this day with all our courage let every veine and joynt and limbe and affection in us pray this day O Lord God remember thine honour wee pray thee and strengthen us we pray thee that we may once be avenged on these Philistims against their Lords for our two eyes Yea as Sampson said Let me dye with the Philistims So let us dye with these Philistims if need were Let us kill our selves with fasting and prayer to destroy them and to pull downe the Temple of their Dagon all the fabrick of the Hyrarchie upon the heads of these superstious Prelates Thirdly Let us consider how inglorious a Nation is without God when the Arke was captivated the glory was departed from Israel The Ark was the testimony of Gods presence so that when God doth not testifie his presence with a People they are without glory If the World bee beautified by the presence of the Sun so great glory attend the Court where the King is resident How doth the special presence of the Prince of the Kings of the earth beautifie that Land where it is Yea there is not onely a spirituall glory visible onely to a spirituall eye resulting from the speciall presence of the Lord among a people but also an externall and visible glory When Iehoshaphat walked in the first waies of his Father David and lift up his heart in the waies of the Lord and that a great Reformation was wrought in the Land and that he had spread the Word all over his kingdome it is said That hee had riches and honour in aboundance and The feare of the Lord fell upon all Kingdoms of the Lands that were round about Iudah so that they made no warre against Iehoshaphat Yea the Philistims and Arabians brought him great presents insomuch that Iehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly and hee built in Iudah Castles and Cities of store and hee had much businesse in the Cities of Iudah and the men of Warre mighty men of valour were in Ierusalem So that Iudah had aboundance of externall glory even the glory of riches and honour and power and greatnesse and
peace and homage from forreigne States and of great emploiments and of mighty men of valour Wherefore seeing God is come neerer to England then formerly and hath of late made such gracious tenders of himselfe and hath found better acceptance then formerly O let us conclude in dayly prayer and this day especially for his presence to be continued and more cleerely manifested then ever For if he should now withdraw againe wee are to expect no glory to rest among them You know how little honour hath been visible in that Land of late yeares It hath for a long time beene a Land of sorrow of mourning and not of joy and rejoyceing It hath not been called Naomi but Marah it hath not been a Crowne of Glory nor a Royall Diadem in the hand of the Lord but been termed for saken and desolate But now the day hath begunne to dawne yea the Sunne seemes to be risâ—n on it if it strike nor in againe and a Tempest ensue upon it which the Lord forbid O why should we give the Lord any rest till it be called Hephzibah and Beulah My delight is in her because she is marryed to the Lord. For when once a Land is joyned to the Lord hee is married to it and then his delight is in it and hee will cloath it with honour and glory And thus much for the first ground of the Exhortation Secondly the other is the State and Common-wealth which lye ingaged our people and our Cities Even Politick Priviledges are of weighty consequence and moment But in what a way both people and Cities in that Land have beene dealt with for many yeares past we need say nothing when it is clearely represented to the view of the whole world in the late Remonstrance of the state of that Kingdome When men judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked and rid not the poore and needy out of the hand of the wicked nor do justice to the afflicted when they will not know nor understand but walke on in darkenesse what followeth All the Foundations of the Land are out of course Psal 82.5 The Heavens Sea and dry Land have been shaken and there hath been both a Church-quake and a State-quake in that Land which hath removed Foundations and swallowed up both people and Cities For when Foundations are not onely shaken but out of course and removed what have people and Cities to stand upon There is no man in such a case who can say I stand upon sure ground I feare no colours I am able to beare out my just actions For if they should say we will have recourse to our Foundations alas they are out of Course they are removed and none knowes where to find them Beloved It is a fearefull thing to have but the foundation of an house undermined the corner stones removed and the pillars pulled downe but when whole Cities and Townes and Shires of people shall be undermined and neere blown up oh how dreadfull is it When a People who can say We are Romans neither did we buy our freedom but are the lawfull and legitimate heires of Liberty shall be scourged uncondemned and when Cities that were formerly Cities of Refuge where the afflicted might find succour under municipall Laws shall be invaded by destroyers what cause have men to doe as David and his followers when they had recourse to Ziklag thinking to have found shelter there but loe the Citie was burnt and their wives and sons and daughters taken Captives Even lift up their voices and weepe untill they have no more power to weepe When a man may say as David In the way wherein I walked they privily laid a snare for me I looked on my right hand and behold there was no man would know mee refuge failed me this is miserable For a man thinkes himselfe safe in his way and if he be in the Kings high way he thinks much to have a snare laid for him and none but Cutters will way lay a man there For Edom to assault Israel when they promised to walke on only in the Kings high way O barbarous and inhumane Numb 20 17 20. But when a man shall be assaulted in such a case and he looks on his right hand and on his left for help and can see none then his purse if not his throat is indangered Surely it is uncomfortable travelling in such Countries Brethren Liberty is more precious then life inasmuch as death is the coÌ„mon lot of all men but servitude the portion only of men destined to misery And if a people be sold for bondmen and bond-women what can countervaile the Kings damage And seldome is it that cruelty rests satisfied with bondage but makes his progressions to further degrees of blood When people Cities cannot say Municipia but Manâ—ipia what remaines but death as when the Ephramites could not pronounce Shibboleth but onely Sibboleth presently they dyed for it If goods and liberty be in the power of mens wills why not also life There is much comprized in people and Cities even all that is Politick Oeconomick or Private but I instance onely in the greatest mischiefe Let us therefore use the words of Queene Hester vnto Ahasuerus and direct them unto God If we have found favour in thy sight O Lord and if it please the King let our lives be given us at our petition and our people at our request for our people are sold to bee destroyed and slaine and perish If any say How are we concerned in the miseries of other men so long as we are free I say It toucheth us as Lots captivity touched Abraham who mustred up his men and took his confederats along with him Mamre Eshcol and Aner and delivered him out of bondage And if we forbeare to deliver them that are drawne unto death and those that are ready to be slaine if wee say we knew it not or what did it concerne us He that pondereth the heart confidereth it and hee will render unto us according to our workes Prov. 24.11.12 Wherfore Let us play the men for our people and Cities What though it be well with us Let us yet remember the afflictions of Joseph yea and the words of Ioseph to Pharaoh's Butler Thinke upon me when it shall be well with thee and shew kindnesse I pray thee unto me and make mention of mee unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house For thus in effect speaks England and Ireland to us this day and all the Cities in them now that it is well with you think upon us and shew kindnesse unto us and make mention of us unto the God of heaven that we may fully once be delivered out of the house of bondage Oh saith such and such a Citie there are so many thousand soules in me who cannot discerne between the right hand and the left But if it be not well with them how can it bee well with us If the Arke and Israel and Iudah abide in
tents and the people of God are encamped in the open fields what comfort can we have in our houses food or wives What though we are so farre from them in place The needle in the Compasse is never quiet till it pointeth to the North at a thousand times greater distance Affections touched with grace stand firme from one end of the World to the other Nehemiah's heart stood right towards Jerusalem when he was in Persia and though hee was not in an humbling Wildernesse but an alluring Pallace even in Shushan yet Jerusalem came into his minde For when Hanani and certaine men of Iudah came thither to him he asked them concerning his brethren that were left of the Captivity and concerning Ierusalem And when they told him of the great affliction and reproach he sate downe and wept and mourned many daies and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven Neh. 1.1 2 3 c. Wherefore let that Word of the Lord sound often in our eares Ye that have escaped the Sword go away stand not still remember the Lord a farre off and let Ierusalem come into your minds Ier. 50.51 And though we have but a day or two wherein to joyne all our Forces in the Land together and to give the Adversaries a broad side Yet let us now and then make excursions by our selves in private now that the Lord cals for help against the Mighty Are we not all the Voluntarie of IESUS whose People shall be willing in the day of his power neither is there any restraint unto the Lord to save by many or by few by whole Churches or by single persons Let us therefore be often adventuring by our selves like Ionathan and his Armour-bearer against the Philistims If ever we afflicted our soules let it be in these daies for we may partly understand by Bookes the number of the yeares which God will accomplish in the desolations of Ierusalem So that we set our faces unto the Lord God to seek by Prayer and Supplications with Fasting Sack cloth and Ashes There is at this time a great battell between Michael and the Dragon and the Angels The Beast and the Kings of the earth and their Armies have gathered themselves together to make warre with the Lambe All the Principalities and Powers and Rulers of the Darknesse of the World and Spirituall wickednesses in High places are up in Armes this day and there is scarce a Devill left behind in Hell If ever therefore now Let us quit our selves like men the weapons of our Warre-fare are not Carnall but mighty through God Let us pray against them as Moses against Amalek and Preach against them as the Priests under the Law when the Host went out against the Enemy and sing against them as Iehosophat and the men of Iudah did against Moah Ammon and Edom and live against them as it is written When the Host goeth forth against the Enemy then keepe thee from every wicked thing Deut. 23.9 Every Ordinance of God is a deadly murtherer O let us walke and sleep in our Armour and never be unfurnished of promises touching the confusion of Babel and her builders Let the cause of God affect us deeply and the people and Cities of our God be alwaies in our eyes And let the desolations of Christendome awaken us to frequent Prayers and constant sympathy and the bloud of Gods people particularly in Ireland be to us as the bloud of Grapes and Mulberies are to Elephants to provoke them to fight Oh those incarnate Irish Devils let them be often in our sight Their blasphemies their burnings their robberies their rapes their rostings their strippings rippings hangings drownings dis-membrings butcheries the very shambles of the Devil erected in Ireland would be alwaies in our eyes and eares And yet when we have done all let us referre the issue to the Almighty saying Let the Lord do what seemeth him good The last thing is their resigning up their wills into the hands of GOD whereof a few words and I end Ioab is not wanting in the use of all meanes to obtaine victory yet lookes above them and refers the issue to the Lord of Hosts teaching us Doctrine To neglect no meanes of Victorie yet to depend upon the Lord onely for a gracious issue For there is no trusting in our bows or swords it is the Lord that saveth us from our enemies It is not the race to the swift for then Ioab knew that his brother Asael had not dyed by the hand of Abner Neither is it the battel to the strong for then he knew that Goliah should never have fallen by the hand of David The Horse is prepared against the day of Battell but victory is of the Lord. Vsc First Let this teach us to seeke the Lord that none of this may ever rest upon the arme of flesh nor number the people as once David did Hee had a Catalogue of all the mighty men 2 Sam. 23. and now too he will have a list of all the Souldiers in his Kingdome 2 Sam. 24. He Idolized the carnall strength of Israel and remembred not the Word of the Lord which said When thou takest the summe of the children of Israel after their number then they shall give every man a ransome for his soule unto the Lord that there bee no plague among them when thou numbrest them Exod. 30.12 Let us remember England in this particular It lyeth under great temptations to this kind of Idolatry The Union of the two Nations two Houses all or most of the Shires by Petitioning for Reformation the setling of the Warrefare of the Kingdome at Sea and Land the mervellous wisdome and undaunted resolution of Parliament their successe in many matters the eyes of many on them and the applause that is given them besides whatsoever other temptations and armes of flesh may soone solicite the hearts even of the godly much more of others to carnall confidence that they may never lift up their eyes unto the hilles from whence commeth their helpe Sisera Midian Goliah Senacherib Zerah fall by their carnall props when Barak Gedeon David Jonathan and Asa resting upon the Lord in the use of small meanes returne victorious Two dayes weeping fasting was little enough for the eleven Tribes to gaine the day of Benjamin O let not Gods people rest in Councell Number Courage Ammunition but in the Lord of Hosts Secondly Let not us then place any affiance in our Fasting daies but refer al to God when we have ended them If the Devill cannot make us convert our Prayers unto Idols he will see whether hee cannot convert them into Idols Lastly Let us lay our hearts this day in the Lords hand as once Eli Hezekiah being threatned as here Ioab ready for the onset did The People of God both in old England and new have waited on his providence both by earthly and heavenly meanes Now let the Lord doe what seemeth him good If it shall seem good to him that England Ireland or Scotland shall suffer yet further the will of the Lord be done What remaineth but for us to magnifie Gods justice and to put our mouthes into the dust Especially as for England considering how long the Prelacie hath fought against Christ and kept him out of his Kingdome What bloody brazen-faced Idolatries have bin committed there What Atheismes Blasphemies Adulterie Prodigies of pride grinding of faces selling of the Poore countenanced Sabbath breakers derision of holinesse shedding the blood of the Saints have been common in that Land and in a speciall manner considering the sinnes of Gods deare people there particularly of his Messengers in their lonâ— continued subjection unto the power of Antichrist in the Prelacy the warpings and shrinkings of some the fearefulnes and cowardize of many for which for mine own particular I desire to be humbled while I live the reading of that abominable Booke of cursed liberty contributing to the Superstitious Pompousnesse of Paules and to the raising of Forces against the Scots a dreadfull bloody sin reading or permitting to be read Proclamations and Prayers in the Churches against them I say considering all this to mention no more though we have used what meanes we can and though they should doe the like yet let our expectations of successe be low let us humbly submit our selves to the will of the Lord saying Let him doe what seemeth him good If it seem good to him to pardon the Land O blessed be such gentlenesse If otherwise it seem good to him to correct it blessed bee his justice What soever he doth is good therefore let him doe it And any mercy at any time is enough for great transgressors FINIS