1. 4. They doe his worke when they goe against his word as Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jewes Acts 4. 27 28. with their wicked wills they effect his good will as those that crucified the Lord Iesus Christ Acts 2. 28. Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slaine To clear this truth and prevent objections we must know First that the God of the spirits of all flesh can flow in upon the spirits of men both imperceivably without observation as the soul acts in the body or as the light entreth the aire or the shadow passeth on the dyall without any noise and irresistibly in a way congruous to their nature without any violence to the liberty of the will in any particular action or election as a wise man can make the winde which bloweth where it listeth to convey his ship or grinde his corne or use the sagacity of the dog to seek what he hath lost or fetch what he hath cast aside And this is the excellency of his wisdom Secondly we must consider that God and man may concurre in the same actions and neither his holinesse have fellowship with their wickednesse nor their injustice be excused by his righteousnesse God and man work upon different principles in divers wayes to severall ends each his own and in such a case every mans reason will tell him the same action receives not the same censure or judgement The holy God doth not at any time infuse any lust into any mans heart but brings to light and brings to judgement what is in man ordering well what they do ill as in the hardning of Pharaohs heart he offereth occasions which may as well be takâ—n by the right ear as the left withholdeth the grace which he is not bound to give excites and confirms that animosity which is naturall gives them up to a minde void of judgement to do things which are not convenient who have pleasure in unrighteousnes that they may be filled with the fruit of their own doings which is just all this while as Christ saith by the devils when they speak a lie so it must be said of the children of wickednes when they do wickedly They do it of their own His working is not confounded with theirs and therefore his purity not blended with their ungodlinesse nor their unrighteousnesse blanched by his justice more then the beams of the sunne and the steame and stinch of the dunghill in the exhalation His work is perfect for all his wayes are Iudgement A God of truth and without iniquity iust and right is he They have currupted themselves And this is the glory of his holinesse And in this case the manner and course of government in the kingdomes of the Earth may not unfitly be compared to the musick of an Organ where the men like the pipes yeeld the sound the inspiration of the almighty like the winde in the sound-board gives the life or the activity and the harmony or the beauty of the order is by his disposing and if there be a false or an harsh note the fault is in the pipe and not in him who sets and playes And even these disorders in goverment like some discords in musick are by him ordered well and for good For though we sometimes imagine that things would be better if God were in the judgement yet the contrary would be confessed if either we did not of ignorance or unskilfulnesse mistake evil for good and good for evil we daily weight at the common beam of opinion and see with eyes of flesh as man seeth whereas if we went into the sanctuary and measured all things by their conformity to the will of God and judged of them by their referrence to his ends in stead of quarrelling and complaining we would acknowledge that every thing in providence were good and nothing could be better but whatsoever God doth is best Or secondly if we had the patience to waite the end of the Lord or tarry till the fift Act and a Scene or two passe in that when things begin to concenter towards their issues would not ye condemn him of folly that upon the first motion of a businesse or catching at some passage in a debate should go away and censure your proceedings before the matter were ripe for the question why so is he that judgeth before the time Surely if we understood the purpose of the onely wise God or could behold things in their tendency thitherward whereas now in our hast we are apt to charge God with folly and say to him What doest thou we would condemn our selves or brutish foolishnesse and adore the depths of that wisdom and those wayes that we are not able to comprehend Or thirdly if we had the largenesse of heart to behold in one view the whole systeme of government or if like Lucian his Icaromenippus we could get on high and have a prospect of the whole series of order all together possibly now while we look upon some one particular man or some one cause and some few providences about those abstracted or divided from the rest we may think it were better for them if it were otherwise with them but if we knew all or could consider that which is done in the reference to the whole we would discern and agree that the present state were the best it might be better for every common souldier as to his individuall if he were a Commander but it cannot be so for the Army for as in the naturall body so in the body politique if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing c. there must be disproportion inequality difference of dispensations diversity of gifts administratioÌ„s that there may be order We must therefore otherwise judge of him that commandeth in chief and him that hath but a particular charge He that composeth a song of many parts must not carry on the musick so full in every part as he that sets but for one voyce if a gardener had but the care of some one plant to husband it to perfection he were bound to tend it for the fullest advantage of its growth but when he hath the keeping of a garden or an orchard he must slip and prune and cut some plants and foster and manure and suffer others to luxuriate and run out as much as they can that there may be order in the whole Or lastly if we would distinguish of times Before the sin and fall of man while there was no breach between God and our first parents there was a quiet uniformity in all the world like the glory of Heaven shadowed in the serenity of the upper region of the Air and if men had continued in their innocency there would have been in all the World as there was in Paradise a very heaven
on the other the pendulousnesse the fears the jealousies the very hell that is in mens consciences as they lesse or more conscienciously or as I may so speak with the minde that is in God serve their generations or do for or against him or the dictates of his deputy with them The righteous is bold as the Lion but the wicked flies when no man pursues But I shall not need to alleadge Scripture or give an instance for this when every mans conscience beares witnesse to it their thoughts accusing or excusing one another Seventhly It may be perceived by the slumbering or awakening of an expectation in men generally and chiefly by the inclination or disposition of the hearts of the Lords remembrancers towards God in prayer according as any great change is to be made in the kingdomes of the World When things are to continue in one stay there is not perceivable any unusuall stirring in mens spirits but when the Lord is about to take up a controversie and enter into judgement with a Nation then mens hearts begin to fail them for feare and their spirits shrink up and start back with misgivings and presagings of evil to come and if the time of deliverance be not yet there is an indisposition to and heartlesnesse in prayer and even such as wait for the vision withhold prayer not of hypocrisie or self-guiltinesse as Eliphaz charged Job but as by a restraint upon their spirits by something from without as if the Lord were forbidding them to pray But if the salvation be drawing nigh though there be no appearance of it nor can one disern any probability of such a thing in the signes of the times yet there is a spirit of grace and supplication poured out upon them and their soules are drawne forth as to meet the Lord and salute and embrace their mercies and they reach forth their hearts in an earnest expectation of some good and speake one to another And if God be carrying on a worke in favour of his Church though many crosse providences intervene yet they send up fervent effectuall prayers they multiply prayers as the Cocks crow thick towards the morning and they follow on to seek the Lord and give him no rest till he heare them as we read in the stories of Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah I doubt not but many of us can remember some yeares since when men bare rule over us at their pleasures and the measure of their iniquity was not yet full and the judgement was still in brewing with what an Asinine patience we bore all oppressions and couched downe like Issachar betweene the burdens and thought that rest was good and had no heart to lift up a prayer but a little before the wheele began to turn and since the Lord remembred mercy in wrath and revived his worke and made us see our tokens again who hath not found himself as going bound in the spirit to take hold upon the Name of the Lord to wrestle with him by prayer and supplication and who may not have observed the alterations in affairs to have answered very apparently this disposition of heart towards God Now what ever other men think of these things it plainly seems to me that as the flying of the fowle and the going of the cattell into their shelters before a storme and their coming forth again about the breaking of it away doth shew concerning the vapour so this different frame and temper of spirit in men about such seasons and in such junctures of times doth declare concerning that Divine influence whereof we are now speaking Eightly though we cannot make observation of the time and way of Gods illapse upon men and their actions yet there is something observable in the manner of the bringing in and carrying on of things that shew an higher hand then mans in the work I mean the many various accidentall dispensations of providences very chances as men term them that create seasons and advantages for severall purposes and start occasions and minister opportunities for Counsells together with the admirable ballancing of affaires casting of the scales now on this side then on that sometimes interrupting confounding preventing disappointing and tumbling of Counsells headlong at other times reviving advancing incouraging and prospering of parties and causes that any man may see it is done on purpose that there may be time and place for such judgements as none but God can do that he may get him a Name Now though we doe not much mark these things in the instant of time whē they happen yet if we cast our thoughts backe and bring times past into observation we must needs make this judgement that the things which God first causeth to come to passe do offer the thoughts and usher in the devices and lead on the contrivances of men all along in all their windings from the beginning to the ending and consequently be convinced concerning this as Saul was for himselfe when the signes happened to him whereof the Seer had foretold him That God was with him and the Spirit of God was come upon him and directed him to doe as the occasion served Ninthly This invisible working power and Godhead of God is made very visible and may be clearly seen in the issues and events of mens counsells and actions compare them with their next causes the instruments and meanes appearing in the worke and they will be found many times so disproportionable to them so utterly unlike so farre short or beyond so much beside or contrary to the intentions of the actors and the expectation of all men many of them such marvellous works so fearefully and wonderfully done as it is very hard to discerne whence they arose or how they came to passe We cannot think seriously of some of them without admiration as the people when the captivity of 〈◊〉 was turned and the very enemies are sometimes forced to confesse as the Magicians when the dust of the land became lice This was the finger of God and the Egyptians when their hoste was troubled at the Red sea The Lord fighteth for them Might I but have the libertie to preach as the Prophets did of old or to make a rehearsall of the great workes of God done of late amongst our selves as sometimes Moses and Joshua did before the people Nothing were more easie then to line this as all the rest of the observations before mentioned with examples out of our owne Storie When the Service booke was first imposed upon our neighbour Church of Scotland and the first reading thereof was so violently opposed by the rude multitude did either partie so much as foresee or forethinke what hath followed upon it ever since Who put it into the minds of those Souldiers who were first raised for the North at the same time in every corner of the Land to make an attempt and give the first overture of a Reformation How came the wheele
for so it is paraphrased by the Translators it primarily signifies in the middest and intimates as much as in and by them all and every of them joyntly and severally superiour inferiour good or bad whether doing good or ill Some observing that it is many times applied to the heart and entrailes because in the middest of the body and metaphorically transferred to the thoughts of the minde Psal. 64. 6. because nothing is more inward then the agitation of a matter in the thoughts of the heart doe therefore conceive that the Psalmist intended hereby an influence of God upon their very thoughts and the preparations of the heart Others expound it openly and read it thus He will iudge the Gods openly as parallel with that of Elihu Job 34. 26. He striketh the mighty as wicked men in the open sight of others or place of beholders Now though I know not whether we may reject the other two the rather because we may often observe the Holy Ghost choosing words not of ambiguous but of manifold signification to make the sense not more doubtfull but more comprehensive Yet I choose to embrace the first because it seemes to be the most naturall and Grammaticall as the most obvious and familiar sense Having thus made out the exposition of the words and thereby the interpretation of the Text we may the better take our aime and make our observations The three parts of the Text for so it naturally divideth it selfe Who What and Among whom afford us three points of doctrine 1. The first is this That God is the first the chiefe the onely universall Iudge and absolute Monarch He is a The God of Gods the King of Kings the Lord of Lords Higher then the Highest the onely Lord the onely Potentate onely the most Highest 2. The second is this That the judgement is the Lords and he is with men in the judgement or as it is in Psal. 22. 28. The kingdome is the Lords and he governeth among the nations 3. The third is this That those persons who have the honour to have the power to exercise Authoritie amongst men are greater in dignitie and neerer to God in eminencie then other men The second of the three that is drawn from that golden tache which couples the two extreames of the proposition hath in it the marrow of all the Text and is the life of the Law in the whole Psalme for so our Saviour cals it when he cites a part of it Joh. 10. 34. and therefore I shall pitch onely upon that at this time I propounded it in the words of the Scripture and may therefore spare the labour of citing those places for proofe In other termes take it thus In the delegating of power and substituting of men to beare rule amongst men He neither devests himselfe of any piece of his Soveraigne Authoritie nor after the manner of Kings in their Kingdomes appoints the office assignes the honour limits the jurisdiction prescribes the rule gives the countenance concurs sometimes to helpe and sometimes cals to account and otherwise withdraw himselfe from the worke and take his pleasure but is an immediate Agent in the judgement all along from the first ordaining the power through the ordering of every matter to the over ruling and disposing of the last issues and events thereof There is the same influence of God into Government and all that beare rule or serve in it and that which is done by them though they goe by their owne principles to their owne ends that there is in the generall administration of providence through the world the various occurrences therein and the motions of those inanimate and irrationall creatures who are acted and over-ruled to their ends by a Power without themselves so as it may be truly said of the ordering of the concernments of men by the Lord and in the same sense as our Saviour spake by the upholding of other things by the word of his Power My Father worketh hitherto and I worke He worketh in the conservation of the matter and being of things for by the continuall flowing in of the same Power upon them which gave them their first existence they continually receive their subsistance as by a continuation of creation He maketh all things He stretcheth forth the heavens He spreadeth abroad the earth by himselfe He worketh in the holding up of the frame of heaven and earth and all things in them for they abide not together as a building compact by joynts and bands but as a chaine of rings by the vertue of the Loadstone as many pieces in the hollow of a mans hand which if drawne away they fall in sunder All things consist in him He worketh in the movings of all the creatures according to their natures and the order for them in the beginning He bringeth out their host by number he calleth them all by names by the greatnesse of his might for that He is strong in power not one faileth Every wheele in the great Engine of Creation turne that the voyce and by the Spirit of him that sits above upon the Throne In like manner God is operative in the bringing in of Government the upholding of Authoritie the placing or displacing of Persons the inclining of their spirits the ordering or confounding of their counsels the exerting of their power and the bringing about of the severall effects of all these things a He ordaines the powers that be He looseth and bindeth the collars of Princes c He putteth down one and setteth up another d He turneth even the heart of the King whither soever he will e He is understanding and by him Princes decree iustice f If there be a perversenesse of spirit mingled amongst them He causeth them to erre in the worke g And though men seeke the favour of the Ruler yet every mans iudgement cometh from the Lord And the good or the evill that is in the Land He doth it h He makes peace He creates evill the Lord doth all these things So that we may boldly say there is no power in the world no person is in place or hath abilitie to exercise authoritie or hath it not there is not a devise in any mans heart not a designe in any Councel not a Law made or executed not an Action undertaken not an alteration in any State but the Hand of the Lord worketh all these things for the judgement is his and men accomplish his pleasure though they doe not know him as Cyrus Esa. 44. 45. Chap. 45. they fulfill his charge when they drive on their owne designes as the Assyrian Esa. 10. 6 7 8. they bring about his purposes when they please their owne humours as Rehoboam and his Counsellors 1 King 12. They execute his judgements when they serve their owne lusts as Baasha and Jehu 1 King 16. 7. Hos.
a farre off hearing and seeing imperfectly at a distance nor receiveth information by his Spie and Intelligencer within you though such an one there is but himselfe without any breach of your Priviledges is in your house in your thoughts in your hearts As sure as God is in heaven He is among you yea within you There is no an Act that ye doe not a word that ye speak not a thought that ye think not an aime that ye have not a designe that ye drive but he knows it better then you your selves when he makes inquisition he shall not need search the Parliament rolls look your journall bookes breake open your studies send to search your pockets He himselfe is more in the midst of you and within you every of you then you your own selves If any man among you should have taken the covenant with his lips his heart not consenting should pretend for God and intend for himselfe looke to Westminster and rowe to Oxford give counsell here and intelligence there should cast in any thing to trouble your proceedings retard the reformation or spinne out the Warre c. doth not God know it I beseech you in the feare of God consider this and regard it as the most fixed and resolved truth that ye may not trespasse against God in the judgement either within doors or without God standeth in the assembly of the mighty Secondly There are two or three more folded together in the Text two offer themselves in the translation He iudgeth among the gods First All your Counsells and all your workes move by his influence The whole disposing thereof is of him the guidance and successe of all your actions depend upon the Lord and they are cursed or blessed according to his pleasure looke as they crosse or comply with him so they prosper and so will the issue be There are many dâ—â—â—â—…s in a mans heart neverthelesse the counsell of the Lord that shall stand If any man or men consult or goe against God his Church his Cause his Way his Word his Ends they imagin a vain thing disquiet themselves in vain There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord no weapon that is formed against him or his shall prosper They consult shame to themselves and sinne against their owne souls The Lord is knowne by the iudgements which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his owne hands Let them multiply their party and joyne heads and hands they are never the nearer Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces take counsell together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us The Machiavillian is the most errant fool in the world and so are they that take counsell but not of God and cover with a covering but not of his Spirit or trust on meanes because they are many on helps because they are strong and looke not to the Holy One of Israel neither seek the Lord yet he also is wise and will bring evil and will not call back his words Let them try the conclusion when they please they shall know whose word shall stand saith God mine or theirs Againe if ye concurre with God in his Way and in his Ends who shall harm you If God be with you who shall be against you Piety is the best policy they are on the sâ—â—â—â—… side and have more then winde and tide the winde and the Sunne that have God on their side Receive it I beseech you as an incouragement to follow on to seeke and serve the Lord in the work of Reformation and what tends to it the Work is not so much yours as Gods and is carried on not by your might nor power but by his spirit Mountains shall become plaines before Zerubbabel the agent whom God sets on worke and he shall bring forth the Head stone thereof with shouting Grace Grace unto 〈◊〉 Possibly your hands that have laid the 〈…〉 also finish it Deal couragiously and the Lord shall be with the good Thirdly God is concerned in the Government and the manner of the carriage thereof by men What is done by them among whom be iudgeth is to the glory or dishonour of his name who iudgeth among them If good motions should be smothered or diverted the weighty and necessary concernments of the Church or the Common-wealth be neglected or retarded matters in debate carried by party and affection not by judgement and reason if the just complaint and cry of the poore should not be heard if justice should not be done or there be unrighteousnesse in the non-discharging of debts or unfaithfulnesse in the deceiving of trust or any such like which God forbid the damage indeed will be to the Publike or to this or that man but the sinne is against God and his Name is polluted thereby the reproaches that fall on them that doe such things fall also upon him in whose stead and place they are which doe them through them he is evil spoken of Take heed therefore what ye doe for ye iudge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the iudgement Fourthly There is another argument may be found in the various reading of the Text He will iudge the Gods openly There is One in Authority over them that are in authority over others and they which judge others must bee judged themselves and yee know what hee saith Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Many times God performs it in this World our eyes have seen it Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth how much more the wicked and the sinner But there is no escaping the judgement to come for the time cometh the day is appointed wherein he will judge the World in righteousnes the small and the great must stand before God and be iudged according to their works Foresee therefore and fore-consider the terrour of that day thinke the thoughts of Job When God riseth up what shall I do and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear reioyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him We may yet espy one Motive more in the last verse of the Psalm Arise O God iudge the earth There are prayers for or complaints of you daily sent up to heaven and these like the vapour that ascends will be dissolved either in a shower or a storm will blesse or blast their persons and their wayes for or against whom they are directed How lightly so ever men regard prayers or
relation to that representative body Have yee been carefull to be as quick and fervent in the building up as in the pulling downe of the Order and Government of the Church the suppressing of Sects and Heresies which are the bane of the Church as in the rooting out of Episcopacie as zealous in the keeping as ye were in the making of the Covenant How faithfully and in the feare of God with a perfect heart have yee every man walked between Law and Commandment Statute and Iudgement and the Controversies and Difficulties which have come before you Could I tell how to speak so as to point every man into his owne conscience and one mans eye might not be on another or particularize in this great and mixt Assembly without uncovering the nakednesse of any before the Congregation I might cut out much of your worke for you this day whereas now I can onely humbly offer a few enquiries to lead on your thoughts to some other particulars but though I am bounded yee are at large though the Minister must deale in generalls this day and tenderly in publique yet I beseech you doe not you with your selves in private for yee ought to sanctifie the day and keepe the Fast in private as in publique in your families apart as in the Church alone by your selves as with company When therefore yee are in your Closets thinke on these things and if there be any other thing which ye can finde out or God shall bring to remembrance fit to be repented of and amended doe not lightly regard it but spread it before the Lord together with the miserie and the perplexitie the Land is in by reason thereof in your owne behalfe and in the name of all the people of the Land Be afflicted mourne and weep Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and hee shall lift you up Let him not alone till he suffer himselfe to be intreated Hold not your peace give him no rest Let not your fervencie and perseverance in prayer abate or waxe cold till he establish his Church and make it a praise in the earth And he give us yet * Once againe Once againe the Gospel with peace So much as in you is both in your own families in all the quarters of the kingdom procure a more solemne sanctification of the Fast dayes It is a great griefe of heart to all godly men to see how negligently the worke of the Lord is done on that day every where how formally and slightly if it be not wholly omitted while your Ordinances goe forth to compell the unwilling to come in under no other penaltie but a threat of the returne of their names I beseech you therefore revive and double your care for the generall and more orderly keeping of that day and promove and expedite the so long expected and so much longed for Reformation And because ye see many seek out interpretations of evasions inlargements from their covenants and begin to play fast and loose with that most solemne Oath and Obligation I beseech you in the name and feare of God rather renew the Covenant with asmuch severitie as Asa did that in his time then let it fall or die away remembring to go before others in the example of all due reverence and observation of that great ingagement the Oath of God and let there be care taken that the Name of the Lord our God be not taken in vaine for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine But not to instance any further in particulars the summe of all is this It s fully manifest by the light of that principle which this Text holds forth the influence of God into government that as well the disorderly as the orderly managing of affaires amongst men is ordered by the foreknowledge and determinate hand of God so as there is no evill in a Kingdome but by his expresse judgement And if we understand the sense or scope of the Prophets Sermons in like cases or their doctrine be our instruction The Lords voice cryeth to the Citie and the man of wisedome shall see the name Heare ye the rod and who hath appointed it Or as Iunius reades it thy name shall see that which is and where the reading or interpretation is various to comprehend them is the safest The Lord cryeth as well by his judgements as by his Ministers His glorious Majestie seeth all things and brings them into judgement and who so is wise will see and consider it and walke humbly with his God and he shall understand that these occurrences are not casuall chances but proceed from divine providence and justice to warne men when they feele the rod to looke up to the hand of God who put it into the hands of men and enquire for what cause and for what end they are thus judged of the Lord and be zealous and repent What ever be the follies of men God must be acknowledged and justified True and righteous are thy Iudgements O Lord It is Gods controversie he is pleading with his people and it is our dutie especially of those who are betweene him and the people as well in the Magistracie as in the Ministerie to step in to heale up the breach and make the atonement There need no other words to be sought out by the Preacher as goads and nailes for the fastning of all this but those of the Prophet Amos Can a bird fall upon the earth where no gin is for him Shal one take up a snare from the earth and have taken nothing at all Shall a trumpet be blowne in the Citie and the people not be afraid Shall there be evill in a Citie and the Lord hath not done it The lion hath roared who will not feare The Lord God hath spoken who can but Prophesie Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things Having thus dispatcht that use of this doctrine which more properly and directly concernes the work of the day Beare with me yet a little longer and indeed ye do beare while I pursue the farther application of it in such other things as it fairely pointeth us unto and cannot well be baulked without a wrong both to you and the Text I will but briefly offer them in a word or two of exhortation and leave them upon your hands or your hearts rather for meditation and practise First generally to consider the work of God which wee may behold in the governing of the Nations the goings of God among the Kings and Princes Princes and Nobles and all the Iudges of the earth The judgements of God in judging among the Gods Shall I say Let us examine our selves whether we have duely heretofore understood and regarded this thing heard his voice commanding taken notice of his Spirit moving as well the living creatures as the wheeles Have we known have we acknowledged in the administration and the manifold
events and issues of government that the hand of the Lord doth all these things possibly we may finde matter of humiliation upon a diligent enquirie Certainely there is a very generall ignorance and unmindfulnesse of this matter seeing many things but observing not opening the eares but not hearing willing ignorance grosse negligence They will not see they know not neither will they understand but walke on in darkenesse slightnesse of spirit in overly and superficiall inquirie Athenian curiositie hearing and telling of news great contempt of God and his providence The wicked in the pride of his countenance will not seeke after God God is not in all his thoughts thy iudgements are farre above out of his sight Nay unbeliefe even to Atheisme and blasphemie they belie the Lord and say it is not hee It is a manifold sinne and hath its gradations and aggravations a mightie provocation They regard not the worke of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands therefore they are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge c. It s very brutish foolishnesse not to know nor understand this and who knows but for this very cause God may be so grieved with this geneneration who erre in their hearts and have not known his wayes as to sweare in his wrath that they shall not enter into his rest It is a sore and heavy judgement to have seen the great signes and wonders of God and to want an heart to perceive eyes to see and eares to heare to this day Deut. 29. 4. Let us awake at length and be ashamed and turn aside and see what God doth Come and see come and behold the works of the Lord The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein and truly there is a myne of pleasure and profit too in the contemplation of the works of creation and common providence there is much Divinity to be read in those books of nature the Holy Ghost reades us many Lectures out of them and holy men have not thought even those unworthy their most serious meditation but there is more in the speciall providence of God about men the moderating or ordering of humane affairs by and amongst men Every handy-work of God is glorious but farre more of his glory is shed abroad in these especially if we consider them in their reference to the Church they shew all his glory and the invisible things of God are by them made very visible and very legible in the fairest Character they are his Name in great letters They are an excellent explication of the Law of God copying out the righteousnesse and justice of it in particular instances and examples a cleare Commentarie upon all the Word of God Oh let them not be counted a strange thing a sealed booke especially our own story the wayes of God amongst us some few yeeres last past and unto this day where almost every work of God in judging amongst us is not like a great lettser in a booke with a gaye about it that takes up a great deale of roome but hath nothing more then another in pronounciation but as Hieroglyphicks and emblems and some kindes of Characters full of morall and sense a Booke a volume of marvellous workes wonders repeated and multiplyed The Bible new translated and printed in a letter that best fits the Worlds dull and decayed sight the old stories wrought over againe the Promises fulfilled the Prophecies receiving their accomplishment a revelation of the Revelation which God gave unto Jesus Christ to shew unto his servants things which should come to passe an interpretation of of the visions which were seen of old a Key to open the dark and heard things in former praedictions the unclasping of the sealed Booke that even they that cannot read may yet see and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done all this A praelude or praesage rather of the great day of the Lord and the judgement to come He that stands with the wise man in the windowe of his observation may see God preparing his throne for the judging of the great Whore bringing Babylon into remembrance calling his people out from thence delivering the cup of trembling into the hands of the Nations c. Or as Moses when he was put in the cleff of the Rock may behold the glory of all Gods goodnesse made to passe before him in moderation of judgements patient forbearance unlooked for deliverance suddaine and unexpected rescuing from off the praecipice and Brink of ruine May perceive the rowling and yearnings of his bowels and compassions toward his poor afflicted people that pray May see him triumphing gloriously in the greatnesse of his excellency lifting up himself above his adversaries in the things wherein they deale proudly raising the Trophies of his Glory out of oppositions contradictions and impossibilities May observe the bright shining forth of his manifold wisdome in out-witting cunning men turning crafty counsells into foolishnesse frustrating the tokens of lyars and making diviners mad May take notice of many evident demonstrations of his faithfulnesse in remembring his promises hearing prayers and shewing himself nigh unto his people in all that they call upon him for One may see his eyes running to and fro through the earth to shew himself to the hearts of them whose hearts are towards him with very remarkable testimonies of his justice in judgements and executions done upon his enemies and may receive abundance of instruction and learne much righteousnesse But I forget my self and tyre out your patience Therefore Secondly and more particularly to you Honourable and beloved yet another word of exhortation to iudge for God and as God iudgeth 1. For God There are matters of God as well as matters of the King or Kingdome the care whereof must be upon you as well as upon us His Church his Kingdome his Citty his House his People his Spouse his Children his Body ye as nursing fathers must tender the good and welfare of them that they may find harbour and protection injoy their just Priviledges and Liberties wherewith Christ hath made them free not such licentiousnesse as is abused for a cloake of naughtinesse Ye must see to Order and unity amongst them that there be no rents and Schismes surely our Saviour that ascended into Heaven and gave gifts to men some Apostles c. that we might all meet in the unity of Faith and hath divers times and after sundry manners given that very thing in charge to his ministers would not have the magistrate left at large from providing and endeavouring that speaking or following the truth in love we may grow up making increase by edifying our selves and one another in Love Ye must do that which we are to pray that ye may do viz. Take a course that Christians may live a peaceable and quiet life