Christians are figs and grapes and olives that are not to be gathered from the bryars and thorns of the present world in which whoever will live godly must expect and patiently suffer but not deserve persecution A good Cause must not think it strange to finde bad entertainment on earth where it is a pilgrim and stranger Times are seldom so good as really to favour Gods Cause however the policies and lusts of men their pride licentiousness covetousness and ambition may seem to flatter it so far as suits with their present interests which are most what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-seeking partial and inordinate ut in vitis sic in causis homines spes improbas alunt as in other things so in religion men have their impipious ambitions and perverse hopes § Whereas the Cause of God is a self denying cause as to all ungodliness and worldly lusts teaching us to live contentedly righteously soberly and godly in all things § So that these large flags and streamers which some men of the Roman or other factions of later editions hang out to the vulgar as to the potency and prosperity of their Cause argue no more Gods cause to be with them or they with it then the fine feathers in fools caps argue them to have wit or wisdom in their heads coppar may be thus stamped and guilded which will not endure the fiery trial as true gold will and such is the Cause of God ever pure and precious just and holy though it be oppressed and persecuted as a jewel it loseth not its native lustre and worth though it be ill set or cast into the dirt To conclude this general description of Gods Cause this may be its Emblem It is as the tree of life in the Pardise of God the root of it is the Truth of God in his word the sap is holiness or true sanctity the leaf is charity without dissimulation the rinde or bark is order and good discipline in the Church also Equity and civil Justice in the State the lesser and lower fruit is every grace and good work growing in us or from us the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prime and topmost cluster is Gods glory and the salvation of sinful souls through his free grace in Jesus Christ Having shewed the general tokens or marks of Gods Cause I now proceed by way of Induction and instance to set forth the particulars in which it consists 1. The grand Cause of God is his own glory this is the first mover great conservator and last consummator of all things which the divine Wisdom contrives or his Patience permits or his Power performs or his Justice Goodness and Mercy moderates or his Word commands For this cause he hath made and manageth all things in heaven and earth that the glory of his being may appear to men and Angels who are with all humility gratitude adoration service and admiration to return the just recognition and praises due to the divine Majesty for all his essential excellencies and his gracious emanations every Attribute and Perfection of God is by them to be owned with due respect of Faith Fear Love Duty Adoration and Admiration thus his Power Wisdom Justice Mercy Immensity Eternity Veracity Immutability c. are to be considered by men and Angels with suitable affections reflecting from them to God And among Christians the unity of the Divine Nature together with the Trinity of the sacred Persons or relations distinguished by the names of Father Son and Holy Spirit must be ever owned celebrated and adored according to the wonted Doxology or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the Orthodox Churches This Cause God hath in all ages pleaded as his own royal concern against Atheists Polytheists Idolaters Antitrinitarians Anthropomorphites against prophane and proud livers who live as if there were no God above them also against vain and false swearers who blaspheme the name of God and bring a curse on their souls families and countries against presumptuous wicked doers who are their own gods and worshippers both self-Idols and self-Idolaters This is the first most immediate cause or concern of the Divine Nature and Glory that God be owned and none beside him or comparable to him This will be made good against wicked men and Devils by the pleas and principles of right Reason by the sensible beauty order harmony proportion usefulness and constancy of Gods Works in the world by his signal providences in judgement or mercy by his preservation of the Scriptures and the Church with true Religion by the predictions fulfilled and lastly by the terrors convictions and presages of mens consciences which are that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the little God in our own brests as Mar. Aurelius calls it 2. The next great concern or Cause of God is that of the Lord Jesus Christ the eternal Word and coessential Son of God the blessed Messiah the brightness of the divine glory and express image of the Father It is not enough now to beleive in God as Creator and Preserver of men but we must also beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ as Redeemer of beleiving penitent and obedient sinners by the mercy love and free grace of God This is the beloved Son of God whom we must hear the onely name under heaven by which we may be saved he that doth not obediently beleive the testimony of Prophets and Apostles of Miracles and Angels of Martyrs and Confessors of the Church Catholick and an enlightned conscience in this great Cause of the Messias even the crucified Jesus is under peremptory condemnation while such § Of this great and mysterious Cause God gave the world an account of old under types figures sacrifices and many ceremonies as shadows and resemblances under the Law but now the Substance and Son of Righteousness is come and hath fully taught his Church the will of God and the work such sinners have to do which is to repent and beleive in him whom the Father hath sent who so beleiveth not makes God a lyar and is already condemned to which must be added to compleat the cause of the sacred Trinity the belief and adoration of the Holy Ghost as God one with the Father and the Son in the Divine essence and glory though a distinct person as to the emanation from and relation to both ◠The Cause of God extends to the true Church of God as an holy corporation or society of such as do truely believe inwardly or outwardly and profess with Order and Charity the word worship and service of the true God with our Lord Jesus and the blessed Spirit according to the rule of the Scripture ◠God owns himself in Jesus Christ as the Father friend head and Husband of the Church such as fight against that fight against God and afflict the apple of his eye God is concerned that the foundation of his Church which is
it for as it will rise again in due time so it will raise those with it to eternal glory who stood sted fastly by it Which that we may ever do God of his mercy grant us wisdom courage through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be everlasting glory Amen FINIS The scope of the psalm The sad eclipse of true Religion in any Nation 1 Sam 4. 1. Observ The Author of this Psalm Iames 5. 13. His Sympathy with the Church Verse 1. Verse 2. Verse 3. Verse 9. Gods fear of mant reproaches Versa 1â— Psal 64. 2. 〈◊〉 13 14 15 Verse 16. Verse 19. The division or parts of the Text. Of the word Cause Exod. 17 2 Sam. 15. 4â— It s sense or import here The Etymology of Cause The many pretonded causes which men plead as Gods 1 Sam. 17. 29. Trial of Causes 1 Iohn 4. Address to the Auditors â—n behalf of Gods Cause Iudges 9. 7. God alone caâ— plead our cause 1 Iohn 2. Heb. 12. 24. Heb. 4. 16. 1. Obs God hath his cause in this world Psal 33 11. Exod. 7. 12. 1. Obs God ever did and will plead his own cause in his due time â—dges â— â—â— 1 King 8. 59. 3 Oâ—s Gods cause may be in a very deplored state 1 Kings 19. 10. Luk. 24. 31. Iohn 20. 13. Psal 11. 3. and 50. 21. and 60. 11. and 119. 126. â—v 21. 4. â— Obs The cause of the Church is signally Gods cause Gen. â—â— 30. Iosh 7. 9. Mark 8. 25. 5 Obs The most flourishing Church may be under great depressions Iob 2. 3. Ioh. 9. 3. Psal 107. 34. Psal 80. 3. ` Obs Times may be such that none but God can plead his Cause Psal 78. 60. 70 and 80. Ezra 1. 1. Zach. 4. 7. Isa 49. 23. Isa. 40. 11. 7 Obs Gods cause is â—â—t never desperate 2 Sam. 30. 6 Hab. 3. 1â— Psal 78. 65. Dan. 3. 8 Obs When all means fail prayer must be applied to Gods Cause Acts 27. 24. Iames 5. 16. Isa 5 11. Psal 123. 6. 6 Obs It is a sure sign of a gracious heart to lay to heart Gods cause Match 26. 33. Isa 63 9. Isa 6â— 7 Esther 4. 16. Exod. 32. 32. Rom. 9. 3. The four main subjects of the Discourse 1 General What this cause of God is Acts 14. 17. Gods silence and patience in his own cause 2 Pet 3. 3. Prov. 19. 2. Eccles 7. â—9 Prov. 18. 17. The marks and prâ—periâ—es oâ— Gods cause â— The best cause 2 most true according to Scriptural verity Psal 5. 4. 3 It is a most holâ— pure and just cause 4 It is an intire and catholick cause Ephes 1. 6. 5 Constant to it self 6 The most aâ—â—le and august cause Yâ—t the cause of Goâ— consists not in minute matters Rom. 14. 1. But in grand and clear caseâ— of faith and manners Rom. 1â— 1â—â— Of ornamentals and essentials in Religion 1 Cor. 14. 40. 1 Cor. 14. 40. The cobwebs of small controversies catch fliâ—â— Of varieties â— among good Christians Ephes 4. 3. 7 The cause of God is orderly and comely iâ— all things 1 Cor. 1â— 33. Iames 1â— 16. Iames â— 20. â— Kings 19. 12. 2 Tim. 2. 25. Iames 3. 13. Of populer and false marks put on the Cause of God â—t 5. 45. Of mens rare gifts great endowments and severe Professions â—atan a pretender to Gods Cause Gods Cause most what a crucisied Cause Reve. 12. Phil. 1. 29. 2 Tim 3. 12. Tit â— 12. An Embleme of Gods Cause 2. Particular wherein the cause of God cheifely consists 1. That his Glory as God be owned in the world Gods plea against Atheists 2. The cause of Iesus Christ is Gods Cause Iohn 14. 1. Luk. 6. 35. Acts. 4. 12. 1 Iohn 3. Iohn 17. 3 Iohn 14. 1. 1 Iohn 5. 10. 1 Iohn 5. 7. 3 The Cause of the Church is Gods Cause Zack 2. 8. The Scripture is the tate of Gods Cause The Ministry Gods Cause 2 Cor. 5. 2. Mat. 10. 40. The Sacraments Gods Cause The Churches government Gods cause The Churches liberties is Gods Cause 1 Cor. 14. 40. The Churches unity Gods cause â—om 16. 17. Primitive Churches care to keep unity and charity among Christians Of abolishing things once abused 4. The good of mankind is Gods Cause In civil justice Isa 59. 1. Micah 6. 8. 1 Cor. 6. 8. Col. 3. 25. In settled Laws In Polity and Magistracy Rom. 13. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 8. Every private just cause is Gods The cause of Magistrates is eminently Gods Exod. 22. 28. Psal 105. 15. 1 Sam. 24. 6. and 26. 11. Mat. 22. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 13. Rom. 13. 1. 2. No friends to Gods cause who are enemies to lawful Magistracy Of common principles of reason and liberty urged as Gods cause against Magistracy and secled Laws Luke 21. 19. 6 Gods cause is in every mans conscience The cause of the poor and fatherless and widows is Gods Pro. 3â— 9. â—ob 29. 12. The just cause of a wicked and unholy man is Gods Ezek. 17. 19. Psal 115. 16. Heb. 11. 40. 7. The cause of every good creature is Gods Hos 2. 5. Gen. 32. 10. Luke 12. 20. Luke 16. 25. 2 General How and why the cause of God oft needs his pleading â—u the great degeneracy or corruption of mankind as to common principles of reason and Religion 2 Pet. 2. 12. Rom. 1. 24. Gen. â— 7. Acts 17. 23. Gen. 11. Gen. 19. Gen. 15. â—â— Dan. 4. 1â— Dan. 7. â—9 Matth â— 23 2 In the Churches great depressions 1 By heathenish persecution Against the Church of the Iews Exod 5 Ier 12. 9 Cant 2. 28 Psalm 83. 11 Psalm â—0 â—3 Psalm 2. 1 1. Gor 1 Persecut on of Heathen against the Church Christian Iohn 4. 24 Matth 2 Rom 8. 36. Acts 7. 54 â— The Churches depression by Hereticks and Schismaticks Gal. 2. 4 2 Cor 2. 17 Acts 20. 29 30 2 Tim 4. 5 4 The Churches decline by corruption of manndrs among true beleivers Aeatth 13. 25 The darkness and decay of the western Churches unper Popery 5 The deccay of the reformed Churches 1 Pet 4. 19 1 Peâ— 3 1â— 2 Partiâ—â—â—ar Why God suffers his cause to lapse 1 To shew the malice that is in mens hearts Psalm 50. 21 2 To try and exercise the graces of the godly 1 Pet 2. 21 Iames 1. 2 4 3 To punish the malitious by penal hardning Hosea 4. 17 2 Thess 2. 1 2 Tim 4 4 Rom â— 18 Iohn 3. 19 4 To purge away the dross of his gold 5 To give the world presages of an after judgment and pleading Psalm â—3 19 and 11. 16 Isai 3. 11 and 6â— 24 3 General How God pleads his own cause 1 More immediately in the Court of conscience against us Isai 57. 21 and 48. 22 2 God pleads his cause in our conscience for us Isa â—0 10 Isa 41. 21 Exod 33. 12 Rom 8. 1 3 God pleads his cause before all the world by
crowns of eternal victory for though we die for it yet we shall live by it the greatest trophies of Gods cause are in another world there our Lord Iesus Christ with the Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and all the true Professors set up their victorious banners and rest in eternal Triumphs O let us all cast anchor in Gods Cause and we shall have no cause to fear the tossings of this world which was and ever wil be a restless Sea Let us keep Faith and a good conscience from shipwrack by preservation of our Laws and reformed Religion so shall we and our posteritie Kings and Subjects be most safe on earth however we shall be sure to gain our main cause and process at last in heaven tho in other things we be less advantaged as to this world for all our care pains in pleading Gods the Kings and the Churches Cause In which I hope I have not been wholly wanting to my duty in the worst of times nor shall I be now discouraged in these more Halcyon days however my sun may seem to be in its Western decline wher I find my self preferred as to much more love civility and honor from the Gentry sober Clergie ingenuous people of that Diocess then I can well deserve so I am exposed to much more business and fatigue of life sweetâ—ed with far less worldly comfort tâ—anquillity then formerly I enjoyed when I had the happiness of a more convâ—nient as well as a more private and retired condition but Iow my self more to the publick cause of God and his Church of my King and Country then to my own ease or private interest for those we must be willing to do suffer and deny our selves in any thing short of heaven sin and hell faithful seruice of them is our greatest freedom highest honor and will be at last our greatest reward if we can but have patience to wait a few years till we pass to another world where the crown of eternall glory shall be set on the head of that vertue which envie here may depress That you with my self may persevere in sincerely pleading and promoting Gods blessed Cause which is our own is the earnest prayer of Your very humble Servant John Gauden Bp. of Exeter Eâ—ueter Feb. 20. 1660. ERRATA Pag. 66. line 26. r. which l. 27. r. of l. 28 dele them p. 61 l. 16. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 18. r. Hinges or â—xes l. 19. r. polar p. 89. l. 15. r. pleaded p. 150. l. 19. r. l p. 153 â— 8. r. pursue Causa Dei Gods pleading his own Cause Set forth in two SERMONS Preached at the Temple in Novemb. 1659. Upon PSAL. 74. 22 Arise O God Plead thine own Cause Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily THis Psalm is a most Pathetick Lamentation for the deplorable state of the Church of God among the Jews in the Babylonish captivity after the Justice and Wrath of God had let in the power aud malice of enemies as a mighty flood which swept away not onely the civil peace liberty plenty safety and honour with the Majesty and Government of the State but also the very face and form of the Church The publick profession order decency and solemnity of Religion the Worship and Service of God moral and ceremonial as to sacrifices and oblations Prayers and praises in the Temple § A matter of the greatest consideration to every pious and devout soul who cannot but be grieved to see Religion as the light of the sun put under a bushel confined to closets and corners driven to private and precarious Conventicles to be forced to thin and scattered Congregations or which is worse to affect separate Conventicles where the ta 〈…〉 d raâ—â— of verity will never be able to â—â—ep charity warm or cover the 〈…〉 of Schism and Faction 〈…〉 iâ— theâ— time to cry out with old Eli Ichabod The glory is departed from Israel the beauty of holiness is turned into sackeloth ashes and publick joys sink into mourning and solemn Halelujahs into sad lamentations full of sighs and tears There is no cause to triumph or joy upon any civil and secular accounts in any Nation never so prospeâ—â—â—s when true Religion is eclipsed or the true Church and its Ministry discountenanced debased persecuted plundered destroyed reproached Then if ever as the Mariners cryed to Jonah in the storm Every man should cry mightily to his God apply his hands to the ore that is to such means as being pious and prudent are only proper to be used in Gods Cause This Psalm beare the name of Asaph that famous Master in Davids time of Church-musick both Vocal and Organical in which there is so much of humane yea divine sweetness composure and rapture that nothing but savage Barbarity and rude hypocrisie can envy or deny the Church of Christ both Christian and Judaick the blessing of holy harmony in singing to God and setting forth his high praises in the greatest perfections of melody that man can attain unto and the Churches gravity enjoy Not that it is like to have bin then penn'd by Asaph as if by the spirit of prophesie he had foreseen foretold and forewarned the captivity four hundred years before it came to pass but either some other of that name wrote it in the time of the captivity or some man of another name might then write this doleful Psalm or Threnody to the composure method or tune of Asaphs excellent melody who was one of the chief Singers leaving to after ages further monuments not only of devout compassion of the Churches affliction but also of those heavenly comforts which may in all cases be used and enjoyned in such holy forms as do set forth the exemplary passions of devout men either as to joy or sorrow complacenc 〈…〉 compassion prayer or praise in publick or private concernments so that not onely as St. James speaks If any man rejoyce he may sing Psalms of praise and thanksgiving But if he be afflicted he may read pray and weep over such divine Ditties as are most suitable to the sence and sorrow of his soul or the state of the Church yea and of any private friend This holy Pen-man whoever he were having an heart full of zeal for Gods glory no less then eyes full of tears and lips full of complaints for the Churches calamities suffers himself to boil over to all the Topicks of pathetick Oratory and devout importunity sometime deploring in general the sad state of things other while complaining to God in particular instances yea in one place he seems to complain of God himself as if he were regardless and negligent of his own interests Tanquam coecum surdum numen as if he needed a Monitor and Remembrancer to mind his own cause one while he deplores Gods fierce anger against his Church Then he tells him of the near relation he had to that suffering Cause
strip her of all her pleasant things as it is and hath been for some years in England the wild Bore and the Fox shall then do their pleasure by force and fraud against her this is the variable state of the Church Militant mutable as the Moon though it be cloathed with the light of the Sun yet it may be so eclipsed and turned into bloâ—d that there is no help for her but in her God Perfect and perpetual felicity is a state onely expectable in heaven till there is no sin or spot in the Church and soul there can be no security against sorrow shame and sufferings which are our physick in our valetudinary constitution to which this life is subject yea Christ himself the Son of God and Saviour of the Church though without â—in yet was not without suffering while he was found in the form of sinful flesh and bare by way of susception imputation and satisfaction all our sins 6. Obser Times may be so bad and on such a desperate pin that none can either safely or effectually plead Gods cause or his Churches but himself who onely can create deliverances and mercies who alone commands the winds and seas to obey him who can restrain the fury of man and turn the remainder of wrath to his praise who can change the heart of Esaâ— and stir up the spirit of Princes as he did Cyrus and Darius to build his Temple and restore his captives who can either conquer Pharaoh by main force and dint of judgements or change the decree of Ahasuerosh by gentler operations who can level great mountains before Joshua and Josedeck and exalt the lower valleys the day of small things and of a despised Cause to bring forth his salvation who gives nursing Fathers and Mothers to his flock and family and such shepherds as shall seek the strayed carry in their bosom the weary feed the hungry and cure the diseased not with rigor and austerity but with love and tenderness Thus after the sharpest persecution of Dioclesian when Christian Religion as Monarchy and Episcopacy hath been by some in our days was triumphed over as extirpated God raised up Constantine the Great and other Christian Emperors after him who restored life liberty honor and support to the Church after the Church was seemingly dead as St. Paul when he was stoned yet it rose up again when Israels burthens were heaviest in Egypt then was their redemption nearest because their devotion was warmest and Gods compassions tenderest to them After the Marian bonefires and but cheries of so many carbonaded Christians in England filling all things with earthquake fire tempest and horror in what a still voyce for many years did God plead by a wonderful and unexpected providence the Cause of his Church and the Reformation of Religion here in England for an hundred years as I pray he will do again for us in mercy because he hath not forgotten to be gracious nor do his compassions fail but his mercy endureth for ever 7. Obser Gods cause must never be given for lost or desperate while God remains who is both able and willing to plead it or while any good man as Moses or Samuel or Eliah or Daniel remain who by fervent prayers can and will put God in mind of it and excite him to it As David and Jehosaphaâ— encouraged themselves in the Lord then God so must good men in bad times when the best cause goes by the worst A man would even willingly die such a death as our late Martyr King did on condition that he could with faith and truth dye with that divine sentence in his mouth as he did I thank God I have a good Cause and a gracious God This supported the Martyrs and Confessors so of old that when they were sâ—ain for Gods cause all the day long yet as Sulpitius Severus says of them they then hastned more ambitiously to Martyrdoms then afterward in times of peace others did to the greatest preferments in Church or State Though figtree and olive and flock and field and all fail yet the Prophet tells us he will rejoyce in the Lord even in the God of his salvation The Lord will arise as a Giant refreshed with wine to plead the cause of Sion and to vindicate the honor of his great name which is graven on his true Church as on the signet of his right hand in the highest storms we may cast this anchor God can and will appear for his cause in the midst of the fiery furnace never so hot no less then in the cool of the day 8. Obser When all means fail yet the prayer of the faithful must not be wanting to Gods cause This is in naufragio Tabula the rafter left the Church in the greatest shipwrack when neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars appear yet if this Angel the spirit of prayer appear in our agony we may be of good chear as St. Paul was A good Christian as Moses and the Syrophenician woman must not give over its pious importunity though God seems angry and Christ averse God cannot deny the fervent prayers of the righteous they will be effectual in time even to open prison doors as they did in St. Peters case when the Church prayed incessantly for him Acts 12. 5. As the vapors that ascend from earth to heaven are after returned in sweet showers that have in them vital and celestial influences being impregnated with etherial or heavenly spirits so are prayers of the faithful Devout souls that lay to heart the cause of God cannot be more bold then welcome to him in such cases God is as well pleased with their excitation or solicitation of him even to a kind of imperious commanding of him which the Prophet expresseth as a man is with that ruder importunity by which he is awaked out of sleep to quench his house on fire or to save his son from drowning There is more efficacy in praying for the Peace of Jerusalem then in fighting The fiery chariots and horses that are in the brest of zealous and devout Orators will do more good then armed legions of Soldiers 9. Obser There is not a greater sign of a good and gracious heart then to lay to heart the Cause of God even then most passionately and earnestly when it is most deserted most deploring most despairing a good Christian must make good what St. Peter said well to Christ but performed ill Though all men forsake thee yet will not I Is God touched with our concerns and afflicted in our afflictions and zealous to plead our righteous cause to contend with those that contend with his servants Isa 49. 25. when we are molested or oppressed in any kind by sin temptation weakness darkness dejection diffidence persecution or desertion and shall we be as Gallio in Gods cause or as Nabal to Davids not caring or concerned The Cause of
in Gods name and stead to enact and execute them Hence as the just cause of every man is Gods who may say with David and others Psal 35. 1. Plead my cause O Lord c. Though never so poor mean and helpless yet their cause must not be despised or wronged and oppressed God will avenge the meanest Subjects injuries against the greatest Princes or Potentates so the cause of even subordinate Magistrates is Gods cause But above all their cause is Gods whom God hath placed as Supreme above all in Empires and Kingdomes for the good of all Certainly that of I have said ye are Gods and Thou shall not curse the Gods or Rulers of thy people and that of Touch not mine annointed and do my Prophets no harm That of Davids tenderness to King Saul of all good mens subjection in all ages Jewish and Christian to their princes though evil persecutive and oppressive those orders of Christ to give to Cesar the things that are Cesars and so the Canons of the two great Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul to obey to be subject by all means in all things actively or passively to Kings and all in authority by whose safety the whole state is safe if they be resisted or injured and destroyed Iliades of miseries like torrents of blood usually break in on all sorts of people Those divine Oracles besides the Catholick constant and eminent practice of the primitive Christians the best commentary on Scripture when they wanted not numbers and armes as Tertullian and others tell us yet they never used other weapons then patience prayers and tears petitions and Apologies to the persecuting Princes all those put together do shrewdly evince that those men are no friends to or assertors of the true cause of God who are not so of settled laws and Government of Magistratick power and civil justice of which not the will and power of man but the Law of God in general and the particular Laws customs and constitution of every Nation and Polity are Arbitrators and Judges What ever ◠done or taught by Prince or People contrary to these under any splendid form and novel names of Arbitrary prerogative or popular liberty or high Justice is the highest Injustice and done with an high hand in Dei contumeliam in affront to Gods Ordinances and of Law Order Peace and Government for the good of mankind § Nor may any Subjects here fly by way of appeale to the common Dictates of reason and loose principles of natural liberty or I know not what necessity after once by publique consent they are limited and confined to the inclosures of laws and rules of obedience either active or passive To which God and mans Laws oblige all men otherwise there will be no quiet or setling in any State for there will never want some whose discontentments or ambition think the Laws themselves too strict and injurious as to the liberties which are necessary to attain their designs and fullfil their lusts § All true Christians will rest either content or patient being never so concerned in any worldly momentary business as to sin upon the account of either getting or preserving it They have enough while they can in Righteousness and peaceful ways possess their own soul in good consciences which enjoy God and Christ and the holy Spirit Christians must be very insatiable not to be content with such society and liberty which will not suffer them to want what is necessary for life and godliness After the cause of publique Justice and peace which are a branch of Gods cause every private mans cause as to sin and grace vice and virtue good or evil trouble or comfort is Gods so far as they are on Gods side and take his part against the evil of World Flesh and Devil his word and spirit will plead for them against Satan accusing and conscience condemning against their fear and jealousies of God or themselves against doubts dejections and despaires The cause also of the poor the fatherless and the Widows is peculiarly Gods cause which he is patrone to and promiseth to protect them if they trust in him as he threatens their oppressors and despisers that he will plead their cause against them Pro. 22. 23. Yea the cause not only of good men but of wicked men is so far Gods as they have reason and justice or right on their side they may not be wronged or robbed because they are wicked or Idolaters God pleads the cause of Nebuchadnezzer though an heathen a persecutor and oppressor against King Zedekiah because of the Oath and Covenant which was in Gods name passed between them So he did that of Amurath that great Turk against Ladislaus a Christian King of Hungary when he violated the accord sworn between them having from the Pope a dispensation for his perjury which God never gives in lawful Oaths as he never obligeth to or by unlawful ones § True Religion binds us to such as are irreligious to Hereticks to Mahometans hometans and to all it is a damnable divillish and Antichristian Doctrine that to them much more to Christians no faith is to be kept that they have no civil right to any thing That they are Egyptians and may be robbed or killed by such as fancy or call themselves Israelites Moses's or Saints God hath given the earth to the children of men as such in natural and civil successions not as to his Children and Saints by grace and Regeneration God hath better things in store for them in Heaven which who so believes will never by fraud or force and so by way of sin and in justice seek to shark and scramble for these earthly things which God gives as a portion and reward sometimes to wicked men and is indeed their all that they desire or expect from God Lastly every creature is so far included to the cause of God as it hath his Stamp and Character upon it The abusing of them to sin riot luxury cruelty is the Gods dishonour as if he made them for no better use and ends Veneranda est non erubescenda natura as Tertullian speaks God is to be reverenced in all his works and not reproached The not owning God in them not blessing him for them and not serving him by them makes the users of them impleadable at Gods Bar and Tribunal Redde ratioonem Redde deprosium Give an account of the Corn and Wine and Oyle the Silk and Flax and the Wool the beauty strength estate and honour time wit learning and all other enjoyments Non hos quaesitum munus in usus as they are not ours by merit or by making the least of them so Gods action lies against us for every one of them if abused or not used as lent us by him who is Lord Paramount in chief above all of whom we have and hold all things in Frank Almoinage as so many Almes
they give all for gone save only a little hold and hope they have in their prayers and in the precious promises of God to whom nothing is impossible or hard that is worthy of him and who is a present help both inward and outward in time of trouble when his time of help is come The Reasons of Gods permitting his Cause thus to lapse for a time as silent and unconcerned or as not seeing nor regarding the low estate of his Church may in brief be these 1. To let wicked men see what is in fundo cordium in the bottom and lees of their hearts if they be let alone unpunished and unrestrained to the very dregs of their malice what a perfect enmity and hatred they have to God and his Cause which is his Truth Word and VVorship yea every grace and vertue or good work yea all rules of justice good laws and decent order in Church and State that as the thoughts of their hearts are onely evil and that continually so will the actings of their lives if left to themselves 2. For the trial of his grace in those that are upright in heart and on Gods side that their prayers faith zeal patience perseverance and Christian courage together with their love to God and charity even to enemies with their compassion for the Church may be manifested Hence as St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. God permits Heresies and Apostasies and Schisms to rise and prevail in the Church yea and many sinful at least superstitious corruptions in doctrine and manners that by such trials the sounder sort may be approved who in the hour of temptation persevere without shipwrack of faith or good conscience either in their judgement or conversation which is still such as becomes the Gospel of Christ 3. God permits these lapses and oppressions of Religion to punish by penal induration and blindness the obstinate and presumptuous sinners who gratifie their immoralities and lusts by their errors and Apostacies letting them alone to add sin to sin and to fill up the measure of their iniquity Hence they are given up to strong delusions to believe fables and speak lyes in hypocrisie because they with-held the truth in unrighteousness and loved the darkness of sottish superstition and confusion more then the truth and power purity and order of Religion 4. The Cause of God is many times under great depressions that by such fiery trials God may purge away the dross of such as are for the main sincerely good but yet gradually lukewarm too secure too sensual too carnal and worldly too self-conceited and self-seeking they are cast into the furnace of affliction to wean their affections from the fleshly and sensual world to prepare them for death and a better life by a nearer conformity to Christ in his cross that they may not think the greatest reward of Christian piety to be had in this world that they may embrace nudum Christum crucifixum Christ with the cross as well as with the crown 5. Lastly It is magnum praejudicium futuri judicii an evident token of after judgement and future recompences which shall reward the patience and perseverance of the godly with a crown of glory and the wicked after all their prosperous oppressions with the fruit of their own ways by the impressions of divine Justice in the ballancing of eternity 3. The third General Head is How God pleads his own Cause 1. Immediately by his own special appearing for it against his and his Churches enemies 2. Mediately by such instruments as he stirs up to be on his side 1. God hath his pleadings in several Courts 1. In foro conscienciae in that Court of conscience which is within men sometimes God pleads against them there filling them with terrors and stupors with horror and inquietude as in Cain those surda fulmina secreta fulgura those silent thunders and unseen lightnings which make them self-arraigned accused convinced judged and condemned in interiori tribunali at the bar or tribunal of their own brests as were Josephs brethren when they came into trouble and were more afraid then hurt yet guilty consciences are afraid of a leafs shaking and their own shadow There is no peace saith my God that is no true well-grounded and constant to the wicked as such they are as a restless sea not only foaming out their rage and fury against God but filling and fowling themselves with mire and dirt Prima est haec ultio quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur thus the heathens found and owned that the accuser witness judge condemner and tormentor which every wicked man had in his own soul was of all most inexorable and intolerable Poena autem vehemens c. Nocte dieque a suum gestere in pectore testem yea pestem that they seem sometime quiet jolly merry and secure it is but as a puddle of fowl water which stinks the more it stands still or as a warm gleam before a smart showre these are the sharp Indictments in mens own souls not verbal pleas onely but forked arrows and poysoned darts which drink up their very spirits as so many furies or animarum hirudines leeches of their souls 2. Other times God pleads his own Cause in the Court of conscience for us and in our behalf in troubles doubts darkness and desertions when by the evil of times as Eliah Jeremiah Baruch we are dejected or by the evil of temptations buffetted and tossed as St. Paul in a long and dismal storm that we see no light there the promises and Spirit of God pleads for us crying and making intercession with us commanding us to lay hold on his strength God furnisheth us with strong reason bidding us plead with him and urge his own name and glory and goodness as Moses did to disarm an angry God He then puts us in mind of Christs merits who is our righteousness of Gods free gift of pardoning sin for his own sake of the Law fulfilled of the no condemnation to them that are in Christ of his not quenching the smoaking flax or breaking the bruised reed These and the like are Gods gracious pleadings in us and for us when we can say nothing for our selves as a Judge that turns Advocate for a modest and penitent prisoner God stops the mouth of the great accuser the Devil Christ answers for us all doubts and objections all debts and indictments they are paid and cancelled by his rich and gratuitous grace 3. God pleads his Cause many times in foro seculi by the visible instances of his special power and providence which makes all men to see there is a God that judgeth the world who is neither deaf nor dumb neither negligent nor impotent only patient and long-suffering toward his adversaries that they might see they had space of repentance Here the pleadings of God when he
such a people as we are whose iniquities have forfeited former blessings the sins of peace made way for war and war for domestick confusion and these for foraign invasions and this for Romish superstitions and Papal usurpations for there want not factors at home and abroad who are earnest sticklers for a Cause which they call the Catholick Cause what it means as to our civil and religious concern as to the honor of this Nation and the prosperity or peace or liberty of the Reformed Religion you cannot be such strangers in the Christian world as not to consider How long as Eliah said to the Israelites will you halt between two opinions between two Causes nay now they are multiplied to twenty if the Reformed Church and Religion which God so blessed with temporal and spiritual blessings with excellent gifts and graces to your forefathers in the last century of Englands honor and happiness if it be Gods Cause grounded on his word sealed by his Spirit and conform to the best of primitive Churches let us plead and assert this against all other for it will be our wisdom and our strength our honor our peace and our safety as it was to our forefathers for the greatest part of an hundred years while they joyned Loyalty to Religion and thought nothing further from Reformation then Rebellion against lawful Magistrates and their lawful power The Second Question you may make to me is What is this Cause of God which we are now to plead in England or what is there left for us to do I Answer as Joseph to his brethren this do and live First retain righteous principles as to civil Justice and true Religion in your own judgements and in the Court of your consciences that you be not warped in them so as by any events or successes to call evil good and good evil darkness light and light darkness Though you have not opportunity or power or courage at present to plead according to your principles yet turn not from them comply not with such as are false unjust irreligious though it be so evil a time that prudence adviseth and piety indulgeth you silence yet time may come when you may plead for Gods Cause according to your principles Mean time as by your speaking you do not strengthen the hands of an evill cause and evill doers so by your silence and reserve you do cast a just reproach and discountenance upon them there is yet hope of a good Cause if the Court and Judge be not corrupted Notwithstanding that some evil pleaders cry it down Secondly As you have power and opportunity given you dare to own and plead for Gods Cause 1. In your own brests and consciences every grace and vertue every good thought and motion is Gods plead them against thy own lusts and the Devils temptations 2. In thy Family and relations plead Gods Cause against lying swearing idleness prophaness c. Thirdly In civil affairs plead the cause of Justice against any injury and oppression the poorest mans cause if just is Gods yea and the cause of a wicked mans so far as it is just is Gods Specially in causes of publick Justice there thou must not be wanting to speak out by pleading when called to it by petitioning and praying for Justice yea and acting for it according to what is just and lawful but a just Cause must not be set as the Ark on the cart of injustice we must not so plead Gods cause as to injure Cesars nor Cesars as to injure Gods Fourthly Plead the cause of true Religion of our reformed Religion of the Church of England and its excellent constitutions against the Pseudo Catholick Church of Rome the cause of Christs merits and intercession against all mixtures humane or Angelick the cause of the Scriptures against all Apocryphal traditions and fanatick illuminations which are false illusions and not divine inspirations The cause of the Lords Supper in its compleatness against the subductions and seductions of the Mass which loseth the bread to all and steals away the wine from the Laity the cause of the worship of God in a known tongue to edification against Latin service which few understand so as to say Amen to what is prayed So the cause of chast and honorable mariage against scorched and affected coelebacy Further Plead as for the verity so for the unity of the Reformed Religion and this Church against those lice and locusts those noxious and noysom vermine of factions which have so gnawed and defaceâ— this Church the reformed religion and which seek to deprive your children of one and your selves of both the holy Sacraments Plead for the Churches patrimony for the support and honor of an able learned authoritative and worthy Ministry in due order and government of it against those sacrilegious spirits who with Judas grudge all as wast that is by a grateful charity and devout superfluity poured on Christ for the honor of his name and the encouragement of his Ministers according to the general tenor of Gods word not only permiting but commanding us by personal or national donations to honor God with our substance Plead for our due ordination subordination as Ministers that we may not by novel projects of levelling confusion plebeian Anarchy in the Church be driven from conformity with the ancient Fathers and the order and universal government of all Christian Churches as wel as our own from our first being Christian If you think us able or worthy to take care of your souls eternal welfare and to administer to you spiritual things Do not think us worthy to be condemned to live to dye and to be buried even yet alive with the meanest of the people since by what I have now discoursed to you it may appear that we are neither ignorant of nor enemies to the true cause of God Jesus Christ as our blind and bitter enemies do maliciously pretend Of which cause I have in all my discourse not spoken my own private sense only but the sense of my Fathers Brethren of all true Bishops and Presbyters and of the whole Church of England Lastly Since I hope you are as willing as able to plead Gods cause and since I know you pray that God would plead your and your posterities cause in Church and State that he would make yours his own cause Keep I beseech you always in your souls this holy resolution not to be wanting in your place to your power to assert Gods cause corde et ore consilio exemplo prece praxi atramento sanguine In which behalf you cannot form your thoughts to a better tune and words then Luther did when he undertook that great Cause of religious reformation Aut propugnemus causam Dei aut succumbamus cum causa Dei Either let us stand by the cause of God or let us fall with
ariseth terribly to judge the world and to ease him of his adversaries and to plead the cause of his oppressed Church are most worthy of the divine majesty For 1. They are most just in themselves 2. They are most pregnant and convictive in mens consciences as the pleas of God 3. They are unavoidable and irrisistible and potent 4. They carry the cause at last against all opposition the highest cedars are feld by it the greatest mountains levelled Gods Cause like Moses his serpent devours all those Enchanters and Magicians 5. They are impartial without respect of persons great or strong rich or noble wise or foolish few or many God sometimes so pleads it as to pour contempt even upon Princes to pull down the mighty from their seats to confound their counsels to break the arm of their strength to lop off all their branches yea to stub up their roots as to their posterity and renown which was done against Nebuchadnezzar Haman Balshazzar and Judas Sometimes God pleads his cause even by miraculous appearings in signs and wonders full of terror and destruction so against Pharoah and the Egyptians so against Senacherib and his hoast sending a destroying Angel to confute in one night his blâ—sphemous insolency by slaying the greatest part and flower of his Army sending him away with shame which was followed with the parricide of his two sons who slew him So in privater cases God pleads against Miriams murmuring by leprosie so against Nadab and Abihu by fire So against Korah and his mutinous complices God wrought a new way of burying them alive Numb 16. 33. So against the pride of Herod whose popular diety was confuted by worms Act. 12. 23. Sometimes God fills his enemies with Pannick terrors and makes them sheath their swords in their own bowels to become executioners of his vengeance yea and we read Achitophels or acular wisdom ended in a halter even so let all perfidious and impenitent Polititians perish O Lord that are enemies to thy Cause in true Religion and just Government Sometimes God stirs up unexpected and despicable enemies against them who kindle such fires of intestine or foraign wars as consume his proudest adversaries as in the Kings of Israel and Judah when they forsook and rebelled against God When God ariseth to plead his own Cause he fears the face of none he spares none not Families or Cities or Nations or a whole world as in Noahs days or the whole race and nature of mankind as in Adam and Eve who fell under the curse with their posterity when they beleived and obeyed the serpent more then God Against some he pleads vvith fire famine pestilence evil beasts War Deluges Nay he spared not the rebellious Angels but cast them out of heaven into hell fire from the light of his blessed presence to chains of eternal darkness Nay God spares not his ovvn servants People and Church he pleaded sorely against Davids sin vvhich argued his despising of God vvhen he preferred his lust and caused the enemies of God to blaspheme all religion and grace by the scandal of his extravagancy God shevvs us that as Saints may sin so he sees sin in them and vvill not let it go unpunished § So he pleads against Eli and his sons even to their untimely death and the extirpation of that family from the honor of Priesthood So against King Uzziah for his sacrilegious intruding on the Preists office So against King Saul for his rebellion which was us witchcraft So against King Solomon vvhen his wisdom left him or he left it and fell to so gross a folly and effeminacy as to countenance and tolerate Idolatry in an uxorious vanity and inconstancy So against King Hezekiah vvhen his pride made him forgetful of so great a mercy as his miraculous recovery and delivery Nay God pleaded oft against the vvhole Church of the Jews in their Apostasies the Cause of his Lavv Worship Service and Servants the Prophets whom they slew by cutting them short by pulling dovvn and abasing the crown of their glory by giving their adversaries dominion over them to destroy them to burn their Cities and Temple to desolate their Land to lead them into captivity and so to give the Land its rest and Sabboth which they had prophaned Thus did he oft plead the controversies he had with that Church and people that City and Sanctuary which was called by his own name with whom at last he reckoned for all the blood of the Prophets and that of the Messias too which filled up the cup of Gods wrath against them to an utter desolation which hath held now for near sixteen hundred years In like sort did the Spirit of God plead his Cause against the famous seven Churches in Asia and their Angels or Bishops of which we read in the second and third chapters of the Revelations reproving and threatning them sorely both Fathers and children Bishops and Presbyters Pastors and people except they did repent So against all the Greek and Eastern Christian Churches whose heresies luxuries schisms ambitions and hypocrisies have at this day put them under the Mahometan bondage and tyranny that they have scarce now a name to live as Christians or Churches § Nor was God wanting to plead his Cause by many terrible judgements against the depraved state of these Western Churches when overgrown with Image-Saints and Angels-worship with Tyranny and superstition with covetousness and ambition with sottery and debauchery even from the Popes or cheif Bishops chair to the Princes and Peers and Clergie and Gentry and people of all sorts how were they tossed too and fro in the sactions of Gnelphs and Gibelins wasted in the holy Wars as they called them terrified with excommunication and bans that there was no peace to him that came in or to him that went out Lastly God sometimes pleads his Cause and gives evident token it is his by an unexpected way even by suffering it to fall into fiery trials and many temptations not as offended with his Church but as giving the world experience of the mighty power of his grace and the eminent faith courage patience and constancy of his servants who love not their lives to the death but can set all the loss and dung of this world at stake for Christs sake So the primitive Martyrs and Confessors Apostles and others glorified God So many Bishops Presbyters Virgins young and old filled the world with admiration of that cause for which they were so resolved and undaunted that their pious perseverance as Justin Martyr and others tell us with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertinacy as Mar. Aurelius calls it was a most powerful way to commend the glorious Gospel of Christ to the world Thus the blessed company and holy Hoste after Christs example did assert the cause of God and his Christ not by armed forces
fighting but by sober preaching and patient suffering This Spirit of glory was a riddle indeed and a new way to advance the Evangelical cause against the powerful oppositions found on all hands yet it was Gods way and prevailed by the power of his Word and the testimony of his Spirit of patience and glory which rested on them § As the first foundation stone of the Gospel or Church of Christ was laid in John Baptists and Christs blood so it was after builded up by St. Stephens St. James and their followers Then Christians like Parthians fought flying and prevailed by not resisting and were more then conquerors when they were most conquered the blood of Martyrs being the seed of the Church and their ashes as the compost ormendment of the world Fourthly It remains that I shew how God pleads his and his Churches Cause not always by miraculous and immediate instances but by the mediate instruments of his ordinary providence whom he stirs up to protect to favour to speak comfortably to his Sion that his warfare is finished that the days of refreshing are come such were some good or tollerable Kings among the Jews Asa Uzziah Hezekiah and Iosiah such was Constantine the Great and some other following Emperors that were Christian and orthodox too So since the Reformation God hath given specally in these British Churches Kings and Queens to be Nursing Fathers and mothers to true Religion Defenders of the true Faith and the Professors of it who had long ere this been martyred and burned butchered or massacred blown up and extirpated as Hereticks if the Romish Sea had not had bounds of national Laws and soveraign power set to it which said Hitherto and no further thou shalt go here thy proud and threatning waves shall be stopped I pray God we have not sinned away our defence and glory making breaches upon the banks of our Laws Government and Religion so wide as will let in at last that over-flowing scourge again upon us under the names of Liberty Toleration and Super-reformation Again God pleads his own cause as to true Religion by furnishing his Church First of the Jews with extraordinary Prophets such as was Moses Samuel Eliah Micah Isaiah Ieremiah Ezekiel Daniel and others till the Messiah came After the Apostles who were Master-builders God gave to his Christian Church such Heroes of learning zeal and courage as in all ages undertook all those Goliahs and sons of Anak who deâ—ied the host of God such of old were Irenaeus Origen Tertullian Cyprian Clemens the Cyrils the Basils Chrysostom Epiphanius the Gregories the great Athanasius St. Augustine St. Jerom St. Hilary Optatus Prosper and others during the heat of heathenish and heretical or schismatical persecution And this not singly onely but socially junctis viribus in Councils or Synods which were Ecclesiastical Parliaments either greater or lesser in several Diocesses or Provinces or National or Oecumenical of all the Christian world by their Pastors and Representatives these did mightily plead the cause of Christ against heretical novelties and schismatical partialities these kept the faith and peace of the true Church intire these guided gathered and healed the erring scattered and worried of the flock these by many hands made walls against the seas and mighty floods which the devil cast out of his mouth against the Woman cloathed with the sun the Church professing Christ Thus the famous Council of Nice so pleaded the cause of Christs Divinity that they crushed the Arrian Serpent in the egg and gave that cockatrice its deadly wound which it never recovered though it made a foul strugling a long time So the Council of Constantinople pleaded the cause of the Holy Ghost against the cavils of Macedonius So the Council of Ephesus pleaded the unity of Christs Person God and Man against Nestorius And the Council of Chalcedon the distinction of his Natures against Eutyches his confoundiug of them so in other cases as the cause of God and his Church required Councils were soveraign Physitians and applied excellent cordials till they came to be servile to the private causes lusts power and interests of men and less intent to the Word and Spirit of Christ as the first Council of Jerusalem was which ought to be the pattern of all after Synods And afterwards in the eclipse decline superstition and darkness of times in the Western Churches yet there were not wanting some that did still plead the cause of God as his witnesses against the Apostacies extravagancies and luxuries of the Romish tyranny and pride So was St. Bernard Nicolaus Clemangis Alvarus-Pelaegius Wickliff John Hus and Jerom of Prague our Lincolniensis Baleus and others Yea when God arose mightily to shake this Western world and to rack us off from our Monastick and Roman lees who can sufficiently muster up the armies of Worthies both abroad and at home of reverend Bishops and other learned Divines who have either stood in the gap with their arms or at the bar with their strong arguments pleading Gods cause by Scripture and antiquity by learned writings and holy lives against all oppositions I will name none because I will not seem partially silent to the merit of any This only I may without envy say none have exceeded the worthy Bishops and others of the Reformed Church of England who were and ever will be in impartial judgements esteemed among the first therein and the headmost ranks of Martyrs Confessors Reformers Preachers Disputers Writers and Livers while we were happy to enjoy such Fathers and such Sons of this Church as were worthy to enjoy those favours and Honors which this Nation heretofore grudged not to confer upon them and abhorred to take from them and their Episcopal Order which was excellently martialled and imployed by worthy Bishops as Jewel Usher Andrews Davenant Morton Prideaux Hall White Bilson Babington and others Also by Hooker Willet Sutliff Rogers and others of the Presbyterian subordination § T is true they were all men and so might have their infirmities more or less but they were such men of might and weight and of valour and renown that with all the grains of allowance they far out-weighed all that popular stuff or pomp of either learning or vertue gifts or graces Scholarship or Saintship which hath swelled their adversaries rather then filled them with any real truth or ingenuom worth comparable to them And however now indeed the Reformed Church and Religion of England doth look like an Army that hath been so harrased and routed as it hath lost most of its gallant commanders which gave life and courage and skill to the whole Protestant party and the cause of the Reformed Religion yet we must not despair but that God will return in mercy to us if once our lives and manners be but as reformed as our doctrine was this needeth not though the other do reforming § And because there will be failers and infirmities on the best