Christ weepeth and bee buried when Christ is buried when Christ rejoyceth and riseth againe wee cannot lie rotting in the grave A great Calme Matthew 8. 26. so calleth it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This is the other Character of God in this miracle that it is a great calme There is nothing in God not any judgement or worke of God but greatnesse is printed on it for the effect smelleth of the cause Job 36. 26. God is great Christ is great as the Churches danger in this Sea-voyage is great so is the calme great great buildings have great foundations great ships great sailes great Sea-ebbings have great flowings 2 Cor. 1. 10. God delivered us from so great a death some death is but an infant death and weake there is another death called by Bildad Job 18. 13. The first borne of death The Lord sheweth his people Psal. 71. 20. great and sore troubles and gives them teares to drinke in great measure Psal. 80. 5. and the people is in great distresse Nehem. 9. 37. and for that the Lord doth great things for them Psal. 126. 2. and worketh a great salvation for his people 1 Sam. 14. 45. and giveth great deliverances to David Psal. 18. 80. and to Davids seed the Israel of God Secondly there is greatnesse written upon all the workes of God Psal. 92. 5. O Lord how great are thy workes Psal. 111. Vers 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein Thirdly there is greatnesse written on his judgements against his enemies for Zach. 7. 12. there is a great wrath from the Lord of hosts on those that pull away the shoulders and makes their heart as an Adamant stone hee fighteth against the rebellious Ier. 21. 5. in anger and in fury and in great wrath and the great day of his wrath shall come upon his enemies so that they shall not bee able to stand Fourthly and there is a great reward for the righteous Psal. 19. 11. a great reward in heaven for them Matth. 5. Vers 12. A farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Then great vengeance is appointed for the enemies of God Ezek. 25. 17. and great desolation on Pharoah the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his Rivers Ezek. 29. 3. and when these kingdomes have committed great whoredomes what wonder that great judgements bee on us and many more hundreth thousands bee slaine in the three kingdomes then histories can in our ages parallel but if Babylon bee a great whore great must bee her fall all the Kings of the earth and her Merchants shall wonder and weepe and waile at her desolation Our King saith hee will repeale Lawes made against Papists in England But it is a worke above his strength to hold up the cursed throane of the beast which God hath said hee will crush if all the Kings of the earth should make their bones pillars to hold up that throne there is such a weight of vengeance lying on that throne that their bones shall bee bruised in powder Reformation is a worke of God also Zach. 13. 23. and then it is a great worke and though there bee great mountaines in the way God doth rebuke and remove such mountaines Zach. 4. 7. faint not then bee strong in the Lord No marvell wee are to sell all and buy Christ that pearle of great price Matth. 13. 46. for none hath so neare a relation to God as hee wee seeke great things seeke great Christ Luke 8. 25. And they being afraid wondered saying one to another What manner of man is this for hee commandeth even the winds and waters and they obey him This is all the fruit wee read this miracle produced in the Seamen they fall a wondring being astonished to see a man command Sea and winds First the miracles of Christ and all the workes of God are so farre inferiour to his word that they can teach us nothing of the Trinitie nor of two natures in the one person and of our mediator Iesus Christ Secondly O how little of God doe wee see especially being voyd of his owne light even Iob saith though God bee at our elbow wee know not it is hee Chap. 23. 8. Behold I goe forward and hee is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him But is this because God was neither behind Iob nor before him no God goeth round about us every man may as it were put forth his hand and grope the Almightie Act. 17. 27. therefore Iob addeth Vers 9. he is on the left hand where hee doth worke but I cannot behold him hee hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him wee cannot trace the footsteps of his unsearchable wayes alas wee but sport our selves to behold the superfice the outside and as it were the brim of divine providence men or Angels cannot dive to the bottome of the wayes of our Lord Esay 55. hee saith himselfe Vers 9. for as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts Thirdly wee come but that neare Christ that wee goe at the farthest three or foure steppes to him some are convinced and wonder they say this must bee God as Luke 4. 22. when Christ preaches as Christ and like himselfe they all beare him witnesse and wonder at the gratious words that proceed out of his mouth yet they are not a step nearer to him they despise him and say Is not this Josephs sonne Some know a Prophet hath beene amongst them Ezek. 3. 5. but they are Scorpions and briars and thornes and will not heare Secondly some ate inlightned and beleeve for an houre Matth. 13. 21. a faith that liveth for an houre is a sickly dying faith Thirdly some are a step nearer they have joy in Christ Matth. 13. 20. and the word of the Prophet is Ezek. 33. 32. to them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce and can play well on an Instrument the Gospel is sweet to many but they come not nearer they will not heare nor obey Fourthly some tast of the good Word of God and of the powers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the manifold powers of the life to come Heb. 6. 5. yet come never nearer to Christ but fall off as if they were afraid to bee converted they goe not a fift step farther on to give themselves up wholly to Jesus Christ It is not the Seamens way onely but 1. Malignants and Prelats and Papists see God in this worke they wonder and yet they resist Esay 26. 11. Lord thy hand is exalted they see not they shall see and bee ashamed for their envy at the people in this worke that the Lord is working in the three kingdomes there bee sundry notes of divinitie and footsteps of God and Malignants doe but wonder as 1. when Prelats
A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE RIGHT HONORABLE House of LORDS In the Abbey Church at Westminster Wednesday the 25. day of Iune 1645. Being the day appointed for solemne and publique Humiliation By SAMUEL RUTHERFURD Professor of Divinitie at St. Andrews Esay 8. 17. And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crook and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Greene Dragon in Pauls Churchyard 1645. Die Iovis 26. Iunii 1645. IT is this day ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That Mr. Rutherfurd who preached yesterday before the Lords in Parliament in the Abbey Church Westminster is hereby thanked for the great paines he tooke in his said Sermon And is desired to print and publish the same which is to bee printed onely by authority under his owne hand To the Gentleman Usher or his Deputie to be delivered to the said Mr. Rutherfurd Iohn Brown Cler. Parliamentorum I appoint Andrew Crooke to print this Sermon Samuel Rutherfurd Errata PAge 17. line 27. for stope read slops p. 18. li. 4. for it read at p. 23. l. ult for feeleth r. fleeth p. 28. l. 19. for Emphesis r. Emphasis p. 29. l. 30. for end r. send p. 48. l. 15. for Chap. 4. r. Chap 24. p. 50. l. 20. for same r. sonne p. 54. l. 9. for 22 r. 42. p. 55. l. 1. for it r. unbeleefe To the godly and ingenuous READER AS the Text of the booke of divine providence worthy Reader is the Church and Spouse of Jesus Christ for every line word and letter thereof hath a necessary relation to that body whereof Christ Jesus is head so the draughts and passages of providence towards all creatures yea to devils and the haters of Zion seeme to bee but Annotations in the Margin of this great volume There bee many wonders and depths in the book and the Lord doth even before our eyes in this old age of the world create new things and miracles in Britaine 1. It is most congruous to divine wisedome to time fitly the laughing and the weeping of the children of men the triumphing of the wicked and their prosperitie The Sackcloth and teares of the prisoners of hope seeme darke and mysterious Chapters of the booke especially because wee trade by the senses and colour of things for wee see not how God hath set his enemies in slippery places and that the throne that mysticall Babylon sitteth on is made of Crystall glasse and the pillars thereof nothing but Saffes of ever-guilded earth the Sonnes of God would not exchange their teares with the joy of the wicked O that wee had grace to read to a full period and with the sense of a godhead every section of the treatisc of providence wee doe halfe both the word and the workes of God wrong reading of God in his wayes doth spoyle the true sense and scope of God in his acting The light of faith maketh legible to us that The vision at the end shall speak and not lie and that light is sowen to the righteous then the harvest must be hoped for and wee erre not a little if wee comment any otherwise on the short triumphing of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite for a moment even when his excellency mounteth up to heaven and his head reacheth unto the clouds then that his golden heaven is not onely lined with silken troubles and woes but also that hee goeth downe to the grave and the Chambers of hell in a moment 2. This seemeth darke to us that all the heires of one inheritance do not mind and speak the same thing yet in the Apostolick Church there hath been some discord 1 Cor. 1. 10. Phil. 1. 2. Rom. 15. 5. Gal. 5. 10. more love lesse pride of opinion and judgement must either bee in these kingdomes or then wee are to feare that God must worke us to an union by the sword of the common enemy wee might have union at an easier rate 3. It is a mystery but it is also from the Lord who is wonderfull in counsell that truth must bee trailed through floods of blood 4. That a Church is greene and flowring and smelling out beautie glory and life in the flaming fire that the crueltie policie wisedome counsels of nations round about Britaine and so many bloody men within our bowels in the three kingdomes doe kill us and behold wee live troubleand us wee are not distressed perplex us and wee despaire not persecute us and we are not forsaken cast us downe and wee are not destroyed What a living death what a breathing and triumphing grave is this what a shining darkenesse what a rejoycing sorrow is here 5. Wee wonder that our warres are not at an end But Gods thoughts are not like our thoughts when God hath by the sword taken away his Jewels and his pretious ones out of these Kingdomes it is rather like the continued burning of the house then any apparent end of our miseries 6. Yet after the Lord hath made the glory of Jacob thinne and the fatnesse of his flesh to wax leane are wee not in silence and hope to beleeve that a remnant must bee saved and that yet gleaning Grapes shall bee left in the kingdomes as the shaking of an Olive tree two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough foure or five in the outmost fruitfull branches thereof saith the Lord God of Israel Lord hasten his worke and ripen us by humiliation and turning to him who hath smitten us for the day that the Lord is bringing forth out of the wombe of his decree of peace when the light of the Moone shall bee as the light of the Snnne and the light of the Sunne shall bee seven fold as the light of seven dayes Farewell A SERMON PREACHED before the Right Honorable the House of LORDS at their Monethly Fast June 25. 1645. in the Abbey Church at Westminster Luke 8. 22. Now it came to passe on a certaine day that he went into a ship with his Disciples and he said unto them let us goe over into the other side of the Lake and they lanced forth 23. But as they sailed he fel asleep there came down a storme of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and were in jeopardie 24. And they came to him and awoke him saying Master master we perish then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calme 25. And he said unto them where is your faith and they being afraid wondered saying one to another What manner of man is this for he commandeth even the windes and the water and they obey him Marke 4. 38. And hee was in the hinder part of the ship asleepe on a pillow and they awake him and say unto him Master carest thou not that wee perish
onely but they indured as much heat of fire as the hearth-stone that is daily under the extremitie of the fire so the Apostle speaketh of himselfe 1 Cor. 4. 8. For I thinke God hath set forth us {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the last Apostlâ—s as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle to the world and to men and Angels The Apostles in regard of their great sufferings were so exposed to violent death as in the Roman Playes Bulls Dogs Lions were set forth to fight one another to death they were made worlds wonders and gazing-stacks to heaven and earth to men and Angels for their great sufferings Behold how strong the tempest was that invaded that barke that carried the witnesses of Jesus to heaven Heb. 11. 35. they were tortured stoned sawen asunder tempted slaine with the Sword The reason of the Lords so dealing is 1. God declareth himselfe more impatient of sinne in his owne children then in the wicked I meane of Gods impatience Evangelick in regard that it is a sinne of higher ingratitude to sinne against the Gospel 2. Illumination 3. And the mercy of regeneration then to sinne against the Law and common favours and gifts though Gods legall impatience in regard of revenging justice bee farre more against the sinnes of the wicked then against the sinnes of beleevers it being an act of vengeance which God cannot exercise towards beleevers and if Antinomians would acknowledge an Evangelick displeasure and anger of God against the sinnes of beleevers as the Scripture doth 1 Cor. 10. 21 22. 1 Cor. 11. 30 31. 2 Sam. 11. 27. they should not so stumble at the Gospel as they doe I say God is more displeased with the sinnes of his owne children then with the sinnes of the wicked even as the husbandman is more offended that Thristles and Thorns grow in his Garden then in his out-field Esay 1. 2. Heare O heaven hearken O earth why it is more then an ordinary defection that moveth the Lord to this I have nourished and brought up children and they rebell against me God taketh it also harder that violence and unjustice should bee in Parliaments and Assemblies then in Prelates Courts and High Commissions The Lord expecteth nothing else but sowre grapes from his enemies 2. The hell of the godly and the heart of their hell should ordinarily bee heavier then the borders and margin of the hell of the wicked the sufferings of the Saints in this life is their whole hell wicked men have here a heaven and but fore-tastings of hell which I grant in regard they want the presence and comforts of God in this life and also that their curses are in themselves heavier then the afflictions of the godly but not so in their apprehension 3. Gods deepe counsells worke under-board providence is a great mystery why these three kingdomes having a good cause and contending for Christ yet should bee put to a more bloody condition and have more of floods of blood for a while then bloody men who defend a cursed cause is wondred at by us as ignorance is the cause of admiration hee that never saw husbandry thinketh sowing losing and casting away of good Corne the end cujus gratia which seasoneth Gods workes with wisedome and grace is unseene hony is sweet but tasting onely discerneth it neither eye can see it nor eare can heare it our senses cannot reach the reason of his Counsell who will have the godly plagued every morning If it bee so that the godly the greene tree suffer such a fire it must bee more then fire that is abiding the enemies O enemies of the Gospel O Malignants and haters of the Lord and his Saints have you Castles and strong holds to runne to in the day of wrath or are your Castles judgement-proofe Cannot death and hell scale your walls and though you shut your doores climbe in at your windowes are your bulworkes and walls salvation have you strength to bide the proofe and shot of the vengeance of the Lord and the vengeance of his Temple hath not the second death long and sharpe tuskes will you indure the siege and batteries of everlasting wrath vengeance will have nothing under your pretious soules take your pleasure kill and destroy the mountaine of the Lord the feast is good ever till the reckoning come Job 28. 8. Can you drinke a Sea of vengeance and floods of gall and wormewood there is a Sword before the throne forbished that will lap and swallow up blood and never bee quenched wrath wrath creepeth on the sinners in Zion by theft without a cry or noyse of feet you heare not the ratling of your sunnes wheeles when it is setting and the night falleth on you the day of wrath is secret and uncertaine you sleep you see not hell at your heels what will you do when you shall make your prayers to the hills to cover you quick This serveth to condemne our softnesse who love a wanton and a smooth providence and Golden and silken sayling to bee carried away quickly to land without wind or storme wee desire to goe to Paradise through no other way but Paradise and a way strowed with Roses nay but wee must indure hardnesse and resolve the way cannot bee changed to flatter our softnesse it is as God hath carved it out there bee not two wayes to heaven one way strowed with blood and brimstone and deaths to Christ and another to us white faire easie heaven was not so feazable to Christ but it was to him sweating if Christ had taken the faire way and a street to heaven like Paradise and left the rough way to us wee had the more reason to complaine But it should silence us that Christ saith you have no harder usage then the Captaine of your salvation had Joh. 15. 18. when wee see wee must suffer wee would bee at a chosen Crosse and afflictions carved by our owne wit or flowred and perfumed with Diamonds and Rubies so our heart saith any judgement but warre and any warre but civill warre the hatred of the world is not much but hatred from our brethren the sonnes of our Mother O that is hard yet it is not to bee expected but the flesh will warre in the Saints against both the Spirit and the flesh in other Saints no lesse then the flesh warreth against the Spirit in one and the same Saint wee are to kisse and adore providence wee can no more change the foule and dirtie way to faire heaven then wee can remove heaven it selfe out of its place God hath drawn and moulded the topographie to heaven and set all our Guests before hee is a bad Souldier who followeth such a Captaine of salvation as Christ weeping and murmuring But what doth this ship lead us to certaine it is that it holdeth forth to us the condition of the Church of God tossed with wind and wave and the world
people with a stretched out arme Moses his word of deliverance and Gods decree of bringing out the people is upon the extreame banke and margin of perishing Israel hath an hoast of cruell enemies behind them and the raging Sea before them and mountaines on every side here bee many deaths in a circle round about the Church this is like to God sleeping and the wheeles of providence at a stand there is no place for helpe from a creature except immediate omnipotency break a gap in the circle and divide the red Sea the Church of God is a field of dry and dead bones so as it is said Ezek. 37. 2. Behold the bones were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} very or exceeding dry and they say Vers 11. our hope is losed and wee are cut off yet wee know God made his owne word good Vers 12. Behold O my people I will open your graves and bring you to the land of Israel Deut. 32. 36. The Lord shall judge his people and repent himselfe for his servants But when shall that be Omnipotency is good at a dead lift when hee seeth their strength is gone Heb. that their hand is gone and there is none shut up and left when the Saints have neither hands nor feet the Lord ariseth for Christ can saile with halfe wind and play about and fetch a compasse yea hee can sayle against tide and wind and with no wind hee never sincks his bark nor breaks his helme nor loses a passenger nor misseth his harbour so how hopelesse was the condition of the Church when loving Jesus Christ is couched under a cold stone in the grave the onely hope of Davids throane he who was to restore the kingdome to Israel is gone and what shall the people of God now do utter desolation is so neare that God is put to it and the poore Churches coale so cold that they are at Lord either now or never either within three dayes restore the head of the Church or never Then the Lord Act. 5. 31. exalted buried Christ with his right hand to bee a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes 1. Reason Omnipotencie can walke in the extreame and out most margin and most pendulous banke hanging over hell and not fall Christ can drive his Chariot over mountaines and rocks and not breake one pin or wedge of it poore nothing to omnipotency is as good as Speare and Shield 2. Reas. This declares the depth of the wisedome of Gods unsearchable dispensation he suffereth malignants to ride over his people that hee may perfume the worke of hell in the enemies who are as it were skullions to purge the vessells of mercy and to humble them and may instampe their Acts with supernaturall events of faith and patience malignants plow the Church and sow blood in the three kingdomes the father of Christ the good husband man comes in to breake the clods and the fallow ground and reape the crop of the quiet fruits of righteousnesse and it is depth of wisdome to consider how God maketh use of mens sinfull ingagements having chainzed men to his cause and carries his owne holy and cleane worke of reformation through many foule hands and durtie intentions so when men thwart and crosse Gods will of precept they serve Gods will of providence a passenger walkes on the hatches of the ship toward the west Sea and tide and winde doe carry both him his motion and ship to the east the wisedome of God the Pilot of his Church overpowereth mens intentions which are set on gaine honour factions their owne by-ends ease and pleasure It is not unlike that when this worke now under the Lords wheeles in Britaine is come to a height of extreame desolation that wee are at this Lord either now or never and the Sea is come in at the broad side of the ship that the Lord will deliver by some immediate way and wee see feavours come to a height and then decrease and coole and when doth the Sea turne to an ebbing not while it flow to the utmost score of the coast and then be fullest seldome doth ever the Lord deliver his Church while their hope be gone and what if it bee so here that Parliaments Assemblies armies of and in both kingdomes navies shippings treaties victories can doe no more and then the Lord arise and by some immediate omnipotency wee never dreamed of calme our Sea and bring his owne ship to land First you never saw creatures doe any great worke but something was left to omnipotency and to God onely to bee done Moses led the people out of Aegypt but hee could not divide the red Sea and that was their way Secondly in Gods greatest workes immediate providence hath had hand The victory over Midian had more of Gods immediate worke then of Gideons Sword in it this truely to me is one continued miracle that these 1600. yeares God hath carried his ship and kept the passengers alive when persecuting Emperours when bloody Babylon when Hereticks Kings the hornes of the beast that rose out of the Sea fire faggots sword torments have torne the sailes of Christs Ship broken the Mast drowned the passengers yet wee live Joseph is blessed but when hee is separated from his brethren then blessings come upon the head of Joseph He was fast asleepe This is the saddest circumstance in their suffering What is death and the drowning of them all so they have Christ with them But Oh! Christ to their sense is as good as absent for hee is fast alseepe and as they complaine hee careth not for them Christ walking and working for a soule in the saddest affliction of the world is a blessed visitation To bee in heaven if Christ sleepe and bee not with you is a hell and to bee in hell and want his presence is two hells to bee sicke and the onely Physitian Christ will not come at mee is two hells Gods watching presence first bringeth the courage of faith To bee in the midst of devils the beleever having God with him walketh without feare even cold death that king of terrours walking with him at his right side hee hath a passe-port that will take him safe through the grave as these places prove Psal. 16. 8 9 10. Psal. 23. 4. Psal. 46. 2. 3. Mic. 7. 8. Secondly God is not present with his owne in trouble as the picture of a friend who hath much love in his heart while hee stands at your bed side seeing you goe to a great hell through a little hell of sicknesse and paine and cannot take off you one graine weight of sorrow and paine But God is in a farre other manner present Psal. 91. 15. I will bee with him in trouble but this is not all I will deliver him Esay 43. 2. when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou
walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt nor is Christ in trouble like our Summer-friends who in a great drough dry up But may not God be with his own though they be both burnt drowned then this is no consequent at all feare not that the fire shall burn thee or the waters shall drowne thee for I am with thee yea it is most strong this presence of God with his owne in trouble maketh God and them so one by Gods union of love for Gods love to us is infinitely more active to save us then either our faith and love to him that the fire that burneth Jacob must also seise upon God according to that Zach. 2. 8. Hee that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye Thirdly when Christ waketh and sleepeth not in heavy afflictions his love is so in action even while hee striketh that the rod falleth out of his hand that hee 1. giveth them not so hot a fire as silver and 2. hee acteth love and mercy on them in their saddest time of suffering and marieth them at their lowest condition both which are excellently expressed Esay 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not as silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Fourthly wee may adde another benefit of the presence of God in afflictions that the very breath of Christ is sweet though hee should not deliver for the present yet the smoake of hell and the paine of the furnace is so perfumed and over-gilded with the breathings of the love of Christ that the paine of the furnace is allayed this is witnessed by the Martyrs singing at the stake If in these bloody sufferings wee want Gods presence how miserable are wee and therefore this is one of the proper markes of the children of God if wee can misse Gods comfortable presence in this fiery tryall that is now in the three kingdomes So Lament 1. 16. for these things I weepe mine eye mine eye runneth downe with water yea but these sufferings are but the materiall object of weeping there is a higher cause of weeping then that and set downe in the Hebrew as a cause with an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} because the comforter that should bring backe my soule is farre away Christ esteemed this the salt of his sufferings My God my God why hast thou forsaken me there is a great Emphesis in {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and therefore the word is doubled as if hee would say any forsaking of friends is nothing but Gods forsaking is sad and Heman Psal. 88. 6. Thou hast laid mee in the lowest pit in darknesse in the depths 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon mee thou afflictest mee with all thy waves but this is the heaviest of all 14. Lord why castest thou off my soule why hidest thou thy face from mee positive wrath is not so heavy as the meere negative absence of God Mary her want of the man Christ is sad but shee wants him under an higher reduplication John 20. 13. The Angels say unto Mary Magdalen Woman why weepest thou shee answereth with a because {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Because they have taken away my Lord Sword and pestilence yea the civill sword are heavie plagues on a land but this is heavier God hath left us O terrible the Lord is not with us Luke 8. 24. And they came to him and awoke him saying Master master we perish The third part of the text containeth the course they take in their trouble It is good that in their trouble they agree in these foure First that there is a great danger even present drowning Secondly they looke spiritually on it in this that the face of death is so much the more awefull that Christ their deliverer sleepeth Thirdly they agree in judgement that Christ onely can helpe them Fourthly they agree in practise all joyne in prayer to awake Christ and by faith to awake him and set him on worke to helpe and save them It is excellent when one heart and one mind is amongst all the passengers of Christs ship especially in a troublesome Sea storme Gen. 13. Abraham and Lots herdmen strive But it is so much the worse that it is said Vers 7. and the Canaanite and the Perizite dwelt then in the land they had common enemies and therefore striving was unseasonable holy Joseph when his brethren was in great distresse falling out was unseasonable therefore saith to them Gen. 45. 24. See that yee fall not out by the way Alas wee are in great trouble and yet wee fall out by the way it was a sad time with the Disciples neare to the time when the shepheard was smitten and they scattered sheepe when Christ said John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that yee are my Disciples if yee love one another Doe but heare how Paul is most copious in arguments for this in one Verse Philip 2. 1. If there bee therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies 2. Fulfill my joy that yee may bee like minded having the same love being of one accord and of one mind Psal. 133. 1. to bee of one mind in love is the fulfilling of the joy of the Saints biting and devouring is a hole a gap a great blanke to the joy of the holy Ghost love neighboureth with the sweet consolations of Christ it is the birth a fruit an Apple growing on the spirit of Jesus Gal. 5. 22. in the wombe and bowels of love lodgeth bowels of tender mercies pardoned sinners cannot so hate pardoned sinners as to jeere them out of the hearts of the Saints end them to the lake of Brimstone Ps. 133. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unitie Many things are good as workes of divine justice and destroying the enemies of God yet they are not pleasant and many things are pleasant that are not good as the pleasures of sinne for a season must bee pleasant but because unlawfull they are not good but unitie amongst brethren is both good and pleasant now because striving and bitter divisions in this land and Church are so sad and a lovely and peaceable union so necessary give me leave to presse this a little the motion of a loving union were desirable First because our Father the Lord appeared to Elias not in the thunder but in the calme voyce Love is not onely from God but 1 John 4. 8. God is love and that in all the foure causes of love See how much of God is in any as much of love and meeknesse is in them love is the breathings of heaven love is the aire and element wee live in in the highest new Jerusalem 1 Cor. 13. 8. 13. The redeemeds breath smells of love and love hath the smell of another world it is a flower of Christs planting the
blessings and prayers of the good husbandman Christs Father came on the flower Psal. 133. 3. The dew of God lieth all the night upon the leaves of the flower it is alwayes greene The Church is a house that is builded up in love that raiseth the wall up to heaven Ephes. 4. 16. Secondly Christ our redeemer whose wee are being bought with a price is a masse of love hee hath a heart very hospitall to lodge all our infirmities when hee saw his people as touching the condition of their soule like sheepe without a shepheard {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hee was bowelled with compassion toward them Esay 40. when the Prophet speaketh of his power and his ruling arme hee also prophecyeth of his meeknesse and bowels of compassion to weake ones there bee three sorts of persons in the Church that hee shall handle tenderly 1. The simple but gratious and for these Vers 11. hee shall feede his flâ—cke like a shepheard hee hath the heart of a shepheard who tendereth and careth for the flocke 2. There bee young ones babes in Christ and of these it is said hee shall gather the Lambes with his arme and carry them in his bosome two excellent sweet expressions hee shall not throw his club at the Lambs nor bee froward and cruell to them but in lieu of a club hee shall gather them with his arme 3. And as for the young and weake that have not legges he shall carry these in his bosome the bosome of Christ is a seat of love and tendernesse of bowels 4. There bee some in the Church that want not their infirmities and sinnes and have legges and a little strength yet the tendernesse of the bowels of compassion must yeeld them some Christian condescension and accommodation and they must not bee forced and driven roughly Christs Spirit is a spirit of accommodation Sir I le make you in despight of your teeth is not for these and therefore it is said hee shall gently lead those that are with young so Esay 42. 2. Jesus Christ shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voyce to bee heard in the streets Christ hath not the art of rayling shouting and thundering against the meeke of the flock Yea Christ rideth and triumpheth in meeknesse Zach. 9. 9. his horse hee rideth on is meeknesse Psal. 45. 4. it is spoken to him Ride prosperously upon truth and meeknesse and Psal. 147. 6. This Lord lifeth up the meeke and Psal. 76. 9. bee will save all the meeke of the earth Christs heart is King Solomons Chariot the pillars of it is Cant. 3. 10. Silver the bottome thereof Gold the covering of it of purple the midst thereof beeing paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem And Christ chooseth to dwell in a heart paved with love and meeknesse Thirdly the Spirit of the Lord is a Dove the spirit of grace is a gaul-lesse and gentle spirit Grace grace is the innocentest thing of the world there is no wild fire of sinfull wrath in grace Bitternesse rayling jeering persecution with the tongue outcries against Assemblies Presbyteries are not the tooles of the spirit of grace yea calumnies salt writings on either side are not from that spirit of Christ which hath a hand to wipe teares off the faces of the mourners in Zion To all raylings all bitter mockings against Presbyteries and Assemblies wee say wee are desirous not to bee driven off the roade way to heaven but to goe on Through honour and dishonour by evill report and good report as deceivers and yet true One inch of a good conscience is rather to bee chosen then a thousand yards of windie credit Meeke Jesus Christ and his Apostles used not such a stile of language nor is such Grammar from heaven nor smelleth it of the holy Ghosts pen Fourthly if wee bee the children of one father it might breed strange thoughts in our minds when the sonnes of one father Independents and Presbyterians spare mee necessitie not love of factions forceth mee to these tearmes shall sing one song up before the throne to him that liveth and reigneth for ever that wee cannot gather heate and warmnesse of love in one arke and in one Church here in the earth pens and tongues salted and steeped in the gall of bitternesse are not the fruits of the Spirit Shall wee kill and devoure one another all the day and lodge together in one heaven at night and can wee say one to another in heaven hast thou sound me O mine enemy shall there bee any factions any sides either religious of Presbyterian and independent in heaven or nationall of England and Scotland which yet differ not essentially I am sure but onely in the poore accidents of North and South and yet on earth wee must bee at daggers at rentings divisions are there two Christs because two nations Fiftly truth is never victorious by persecution now the Scripture speaketh of a persecution with the tongue Jer. 18. 18. Come say they let us smite Jeremiah with the tongue Job thus complayneth of his friends who never put violent hands in him Chap. 19. 22. Why doe you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh then tongue persecution is an eating of the flesh Sixtly the Gospel which wee professe is a Gospel of peace wee preach warre betweene the flesh and the spirit and warre betweene the womans Seed and the Serpent But oh should wee preach warre betweene the Saints wee have choyser golden chaines to tie us together Ephes. 4. 4. There is one body and one spirit even as yee are called in one hope of your calling 5. One Lord one faith one Baptisme 6. One God and Father of all Have wee need of Prelats and a high Commission Court and pursevants sent out to hunt us for praying together that they may reconcile us and unite us together as wee were all one within these few yeares Seventhly the more grace and mercy wee have from God our Father and from our Lord Iesus the more peace amongst our selves and the more grace the more compassion toward the weaknesse of Brethren Christ is an uniting and a congregating Saviour his blood and his spirit soweth and needleth together the hearts of the lambe and the Leopard of the Calfe and of the young Lion Esay 11. 6. Eighthly the Saints of the most High are stiled the meeke of the earth Esay 11. 4. there bee no meeke creatures on earth but the regenerate Buls and Lions fight together Lions and Woolves pursue Lambes But wee have not heard of warre betweene Lambes and Lambes Why should wee strive for wee are brethren how unseemly that one redeemed one should hate persecute and chase another redeemed one even into the gates of heaven Ninthly are wee not debtors one to another and the sum wee owe is love O what a spirit of accommodation was in that chosen vessel Paul who said 1 Cor. 9. 22. I am made all things to all men that I
Secondly if affliction put us to a humiliation for sinne as sinne and the depth of griefe for sinne putteth us to condemne our selves without flattery and lying the contrary of which is when in trouble wee give God good words and have within us lying hearts and thinke not so as the people Psal. 78. 34. who sought God when hee slew them Vers 36. Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed to him with their tongues 37. for their heart was not right within them men doe then flatter themselves when they flatter God Thirdly when we are more anxious in our fasting for Zion and the taking of the Arke of God then for our selves our Lawes goods houses lives and liberties when David made the 25. Psalme the troubles of his heart were inlarged but this was one of his great suits when hee had cause to mind himselfe 22. Redeeme Israel O God out of all his troubles Fourthly when the circumcised heart is humbled and the people shall not faint and expire through want of faith by which the just liveth 2. When they shall not so murmure and wrestle against the rod as a wilde Bull taken and lying in a net which having lost strength and feet and being overcome yet kicketh against the hunter 3. When they shall not bee surfeited with affliction so as to loathe and despise the rod as the tender stomack loatheth physicke because they are full and surfeited with the fury of the Lord These three are excellently expressed Esay 51. 20. Thy sonnes have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets for in the meetings of wayes the wild bull is catched in the net as a wild bull in a net they are full of the fury of the Lord and the rebuke of thy God it is a bad token to faint 2. to wrestle 3. to bee so drunke with Gods judgements and rebukes as against reason to cry out against God and his Prophets in trouble as these who are drunken and afflicted but not with wine Vers 21. but with the rod and rebukes and cry it was better with us in Aegypt undâ—r the Prelates and their brick and clay and toyling under ceremonies Officiall Courts tyranny of conscience and now wee are wastâ—d and destroyed and killed and 4. when the people shall as it were with pleasure and good will for so the word Levit. 26. 41. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth accept of the punishment of their iniquitie a kindly and willing satisfaction of heart in the rod of God in so farre as it calmeth and pacifieth in a manner Evangelick justice so that the Lord is eased and comforted toward his people when he hath punished them and they are eased and comforted in the declaration of the glory of his justice and with good will doe justifie God in his afflicting them as Lament 3. 41 42. Micah 7. 9. Esa. 39. 8. this willing accepting of the rod I say is a speaking signe that the rod of God is sanctified Marke 4. 39. Then hee arose and as Matth. 8. 26. hee saith to them Why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith Matthew keepeth the most naturall order for Christ first rebuked the Disciples unbeleefe before hee rebuked the Sea and the winds we have reason so to conceive of Christs method for hee requireth faith before hee worke miracles at least often hee doth so though hee confirme and strengthen that faith by miracles It is fit that Christ rebuke us ere hee deliver us from drowning Hee first rebuketh the noble man and all his nation for unbeleefe and then healeth his sonne John 4. 48 49 50. Hee first chideth Martha out of her unbeleefe and then raiseth her brother Lazarus from death John 11. 40. 43 44. and Matth. 17. 17. Hee rebuketh the father of the lunaticke child and the faithlesnesse of the perverse generation before hee cast out the devill it is fit wee bee both convinced and humbled before hee turne away his angry hand First the crosse is a mystery to us and a dumbe teacher wee understand not the language and the grammar of the rod the man of wisedome knowes it Mic. 6. 9. Vengeance is written on the wall before Belshazzer but it is in unknowne language hee doth not understand it Secondly greene and raw deliverances are plagues of God not mercies the plague is nine times removed but Pharaohs heart is neither softned nor humbled the scum abideth in the bloody Citie as the Lord complayneth Ezek. 24. 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Woe to the bloody Citie to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not gone out the Prophet in Chaldea heard that Jerusalem had beene boyled with the sword of the Lord but the scumme of their Idolatry and blood remained in them whilst the wicked of these kingdomes malignants bloody Irish rotten hearted men such backsliders and perjured Apostates as are in Scotland delivered to Satan and excommunicated while these taste of the Gall and wormwood of the wrath of God in this warre the hand of God cannot bee removed and therefore that must bee taken notice of Jer. 6. 29. The bellowes are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vaine for the wicked are not plucked away O that our Lord would boyle out on the fire the scumme of both kingdomes The whoredomes of Popish Aegypt and the ceremonies the inventions of men are not mourned for by the pastors of the Lord sure I am not by most of the Ministers in Scotland What can wee say for our confidence in our Armies our multitude Parliaments Navies our extortion oppression unjustice hollow-heartednesse in the cause of God our lying cousening budding and bribing our breach of our Covenant denying of justice to the oppressed to the widow strangers and Orphans to the poore and needy the abominable and daring opinions of God his Sonne Christ his Church his Sacraments and free grace and sanctification and holinesse in this land Thirdly judgements on a land or a person are the cup of the Lords fury now often it is the grounds and thick of the cup which is the substance and vertue of the cup and must worke the cure And possibly to sip at the brim will not doe it it is a judgement that some get not leave to heate in the furnace but are dipped in in the flood and are never at leasure to commune with their owne heart nor hath the Lord time to allure them in the wildernesse Hos. 2. 14. as Ephraim was in the Oven as a Cake unturned poore Germany hath not beene slenderly dipped in and presently out againe they have now beene in the floods and under the water these 26. yeares these kingdomes are yet greene not ripened for the mercy of deliverance ourscumme remaineth in us divisions amongst us say it is not yet time for our triumph The fields are not while already to harvest when all godlinesse is to dispute out new wayes
unto the Sea Peace peace be still The Sea is not capable of rebukes such as are given to reasonable creatures but there is a rebuking of omnipotency that is not verball but real {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is with words hardly to rebuke in conjugation kal cum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is to destroy Mal. 2. 3. Behold I will destroy your seed Esay 54. 9. I have sworne I will not bee angry with thee neither rebuke thee 2. It is to hinder the enemies in their ill courses Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke thee O Satan Mal. 3. 11. I will rebuke the devourer for your sake Psal. 68. 30. Lord rebuke the company of the Spearemen and when it is applyed to creatures voyd of reason it is by omnipotency to hinder them to hurt us and to stay their actions Psal. 106. 9. Hee rebuked the red Sea also Luke 4. 39. Jesus rebuked the seaver it holdeth forth the acts of omnipotency in Christ such as is his act of creating of an immediate faire sweet calme out of a contrary out of a boysterous and stormy Sea God hath some peeces in which is stamped so much of a legible and evident omnipotency as the worke fathereth it selfe upon God onely without a teacher so Job 26. 7. hee stretcheth out the North over the emptie place and hangeth the earth upon nothing the earth is the weightiest of any visible creature God hath made it needeth some solid resting place but the omnipotencie of the Creator doth hang it upon nothing except onely the aire round about it now the aire being so weake so yeelding an Element it were unpossible that the heavy and ponderous earth should have beene seated on the emptie and fluid aire to rest in it these five thousand yeares except omnipotency had done it for the aire of it selfe is very nothing to hold up the globe of the earth Job 38. 5. Who hath layd the measures of the earth if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who layd the corner stone thereof there bee three great questions here that few can answer but God First to take the compasse of the circumference of the globe of the earth exactly and to lay a measuring line over the Diameter and the whole body of it is a great work Secondly to know how to fasten the corner stone of the world Thirdly and how the whole weight is sustained is more then wee can tell and it is no lesse wonder Psal. 104. 2. who stretcheth out the heaven as a curtaine What a power must it bee to spread over all nations of the earth the elements and creatures in Sea and land such a large white molten webbe of Crystall glasse that hath beene spread over our head from the east end of the world to the west and north and south and there is not an hole in the webbe these five thousand yeares 2 The Sea is a fluid huge great body where can there bee a bottle to containe it 2. When it swelleth and rageth with mightie winds how is it kept from drowning the world God doth remedy these two 1. Job 38. 8. Who shut up the Sea with doores when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the wombe Vers 11. The Lord said Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed God hath put an Iron doore upon the Sea and put it under an Act and Law of omnipotency that it shall not devoure and overwhelme the earth Jer. 5. 22. he hath placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree For the second when Psal. 107. 27. the Sea is all in fire and the passengers in a mightie storme reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 29. hee maketh the storme a calme so that the waves thereof are still Esay 50. 2. Behold at my rebuke I dry up the Sea Psal. 65. 7. hee stilleth the noyse of the Seas 3. The Seas as all the rest of the creatures are by the first sinne of man broken out of the covenant of peace betweene us and them in the state of innocency and warre is denounced betweene us and them the fire should burne us the water hath Law to drowne us the aire to suffocate us the earth a Commission to swallow us up quick if Christ had not made a cessation of armes and if the Gospell were not a concluded treatie of peace and if the Lord should not rebuke the fury of the creature for some sparkes of Gods wrath yet resideth in the creature they have yet an inclination to revenge the quarrell of the treason that wee committed against their King and wee doe receive the creatures as fugitive souldiers from Gods Campe of justice and doe imploy them in warre against God as the Glutton and Drunkard imployeth meat and drinke against God the vaine persons their vaine apparell their patched faces bare breasts and shoulders as an exchange to sell the body to lust if the Lord should not rebuke our servants the creatures water fire sword and the like they would destroy us If wee looke spiritually now upon Gods dealing to these kingdomes the sword hath a charge from God to come against these lands Ezek. 21. 14. Therefore Sonne of man prophecy and smite thine hands together and let the Sword bee doubled the third time the sword of the slaine it is the sword of the great men that are slaine which entreth into their privie Chambers when God giveth the sword a commission to destroy it cannot rest Jeremiah Chap. 47. Vers 6. O thou sword of the Lord how long will it bee ere thou bee quiet put up thy selfe into thy scabbard rest and be still 7. How can it bee quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon and the Sea shore there hath bee appointed it it is then a commanded and a sent sword that now rageth in these kingdomes 2. Not onely is the Sword and the pestilence sent of God by speciall commission Jer. 24. 10. but it is his sword it is not the sword of Papists and malignants but the sword of the Lord Jer. 47. 6. The Lord saith Ezek. 14. 21. that the Sword famine noysome beasts and pestilence are his foure sore judgements wee may goe thorough these souldiers wee have the Lords passe-port Esay 43. 2. for the sword is our Fathers sword The Seas wee are in are our Fathers Seas and so cannot drowne us 3. Omnipotency taketh this as peculiar to himselfe hee onely can create peace Psal. 46. 9. Hee maketh warres to cease from the ends of the earth Esay 45. 6. I am the Lord and there is none else 7. I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill then by what title hee is God and Creator by the same hee maketh peace Psal.
and Malignants were on the top of their wheeles God from despised and contemned beginnings raised the worke to a great height 2. our adversaries were agents and would not rest but did cooperate to their owne destruction They would move the King to change Religion in Scotland against all Lawes 2. They would stirre him up to raise Armies by Sea and Land against Scotland 3. They moved the King to break the articles of peace and the word of a Prince to his Subjects after an accommodation and set him on bloody warres againe 4. After his Army was defeated and a Parliament granted in England they moved him first to come and yeeld to all that is just and right in a Parliament of Scotland but against their mind with no purpose to keepe their faith and then to raise Tragicall and bloody warres in England and in all these they were coagents and workers with a judiciall and secret providence to their owne destruction 3. They have beene searching to find out that our intentions were not to establish Religion in power and puritie and to bee freed of the bondage of arbitrary and tyrannicall domination over Church and State but to change monarchy and set up another government this they could never yet find 4. They see God against them prophanitie and wickednesse on their side and with them Papists Idolaters Irish murtherers the cruellest of men the scumme and refuse of the Churchmen yet they will not see God in this 5. They find and see their treachery popery tyranny discovered by many plots come to light by letters under the Kings hand their intentions to bring in a forraigne nation ere popery and arbitrary government bee not established and that all Treaties have beene intended not for a just peace but for this end that a peace being once patched and sowed up all things shall returne to their ancient Channels as the King speakes in his instructions to his Commissioners at Vxbridge yet they will not see God in all these passages of his deepe providence If naturall men wonder at the power and excellency of Christ in that hee with a word commands Sea and winds and they obey him should not Christ bee to us a worlds wonder should hee not bee to us altogether lovely were it possible to lay in the counter-scale of the ballance to Christ a world of Angels put in yet millions of worlds of Angels adde to them a world of Solomons with tripled wisedome put in all the delights of the sonnes of men put in yet the flowre and Rose of ten thousand possible worlds perfections they should bee under-weight to him the ballance should never downe Oh! wee glory in good armies wee rejoyce in victories and successe in a good Parliliament in godly Commanders in a good reformation all is excellent to us that hath any lustre or glimpse of created goodnesse but why doe wee not rather wonder admire and extoll excellent Jesus Christ who setteth him on high above the skies who lifts up his throne and his glory Consider but what is said of him Col. 1. 15. Who is the image of the invisible God the first borne of every creature Vers 16. For by him were all things created c. 17. And hee is before all things and in him all things consist 18. And hee is the head of the body the Church who is the beginning the first borne from the dead that in all things hee might have the preheminence see what wonders are there in Christ as first hee is Gods equall every way as high as God being the substantiall Image of God begotten of the Father and without all beginning Secondly as man the eldest of the creation of God and as God the Creator of the new world Thirdly no lesse the Creator of all then the Father wee have a head who can make and unmake all the glorious Angels in heaven the royallest of the house of heaven these principalities and powers these little Gods the eldest and supreme Courtiers the higher house of the Peeres of heaven are but peeces of dependent shadowes that fell from the fingers of our highest King when hee framed this great all and the rich Palace-Royall of this greatest body of heaven and earth and all the furniture within the bosome of the great world Fourthly the Lord Jesus hath all the created world so in the hollow of his hand as a man that holdeth a bowle of glasse in his hand in the aire should hee take his arme from under it it should fall to the earth and breake in a hundred peeces and doe no more good if Christ in whom all things consist some say as the notes of an excellent musick in a song draw in his armes of conserving providence the world should go all out of tune and the Globe of Crystall glasse should fall to a thousand meere nothings and as a man betweene his fingers may crush an Egge so hath Christ the huge created Lump of the whole creation in his hand if hee but thrust his two fingers together with a little crush all the world is dissolved like a broken Egge Fiftly hee is the head of the Church and such a head as is deaths eldest sonne and heire hee lay in deaths wombe and as the doubly blessed first-borne had the key of death with him in the inner side and opened the wombe and tooke away the ports and gates of death on his backe that now all the younger brethren might come out at the same passage also yea hee came a bridegroome from heaven to suite in marriage a bride his Church was sicke and died of love for a Princes daughter his lovely Church rose the third day from death and married her Sixtly he hath so the absolute preheminence in all things that the highest of the Angels are but his vassals and servants is now in such incomparable eminency of Glory above all creatures that when the beloved-disciple John who came that neare to him in the dayes of his flesh that hee leaned on his bosome saw him in his glory hee fell downe at his feet dead Revel. 1. 17. yea there was more of heaven in Christ then his eyes of flesh could behold FINIS Iob. 20. 5 6. 2 Cor. 6. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. Esay 17. 6. Esay 30. 26. Six parts of the Text The words opened Part I. Preachers are to converse much with Christ why {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Luc. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} How carefully Christ husbanded time How both kingdomes faile in improving of opportunities of mercy A generall faile of all in the care lesse improvement of time Part II. Christ and his Ship have more then ordinary stormes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Reason why the afflictions of the people of God are so extreame Evangelick legall anger in God Vse 1. Wrath untolerable to the ungodly Vse 2. We love a soft and a chosen providence of our owne carving Eight particulars considerable in the ship in which Christ and his Church is carried The Church a moveable thing as a ship {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Great change of the spirituall condition of the Church of particular Saints The Ship sayleth in a Sea of glasse mingled with fire Hope the Anchor of the Church The wares of the ship Seven sorts of passengers in the ship Why Christ took on our nature and infirmities Christ God and man and why The influence of the Godhead in Christs sufferings was active not passive Vse 1. Vse 2. It were sacriledge in the Roman Empire and Senate to give out decrees to the Churches as the Apostles and Elders did Acts 15. Innocency can sleepe sound amidst the greatest calamities How God is said to sleepe God will have his Church cause within a haires breadth of losing except he arise and helpe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Why God saveth not while the Church be betweene the sinking and the swimming The presence of God in trouble how comfortable {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Part III. The unitie and harmony of Christs Disciples in their trouble Reasons for Christian unitie Doct. Wee put unkindnesse on Christ because wee are not presently delivered and the reasons thereof {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Et non addet bene velle ultra â— Iudgements of themselves are the occasion rather then the cause of praying Some signes that sinne not afflictions put us to fasting and praying How the rod of God must work us to humiliation ere we be delivered Grace doth not extirpate but regulate feare and other affections The faults of the Disciples feare It were good to inquire the causes of the judgement Vse 2. The causes of misapprehending of Christ What is a small or weake faith Faith and fainting may consist together in one Reasons why wee know our grace so hardly The grounds of a faith weak in action Faith and sense compared together Simile Faith from instinct of grace sometime rather then from light of discourse The speciall cause of all sinnes of infirmitie From {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} cuspis mucio and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} captivus or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} cuspis hastae {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. How God really rebuketh the creature Gods omnipotency in creating and ruling the earth and Sea Vse This sword in Brittaine not the sword of men but of the Lord It is proper onely to omnipotency to make peace Part V. Two Characters of God in this miracle 1 That it is done in an instant and irresistibly 2 That it is great Things necessary to the Creature to the Creator have a may not be Things contingent to the Creature may have a must bee to the Creator Vse It is enough that our sea be calme when Christs is calme Greatnesse is printed on all the works of God Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Part VI Wee see little of God in his wayes Vse 1. God most visible in that hee now doth in Brittaine but Malignants will not see him Vse 2. The Lord Jesus a wonder to all