complaints are made by the Church in the book of the Psalms and elsewhere abundantly Quousque Domine How long Lord And will the Lord absent himself for ever up Lord why sleepest thou Gods ends are excellent and wise and deep and unfathomable 1 And some of them belong to his secret purpose 2 Others to his revealed will and these are 1. That which is nearest to him his own Glory 2. That which is dearest to him his peoples good 1. It was for the chief Rent of his own Glory that he hath farmed out the world to man for Term of life And when he strains upon all again for our unthankfulnesse hath not he the great good of his own honour out of the evil of our dishonour and shame by shaming us out of our ingratitude 2. And what 's their losse but gaine are they not winnowed sifted tried turned upside down inside out and what a number prove chaffe and rottennesse upon tryall and will pay no Rent because they think the incomes of their prayers be so little Of all Gideons host you shall finde but 300. men that upon tryall would bend the knee to lap up the water of such cold discouragements Gods people bend most when he seems most stiffe and inexorable 2. For their advantage too in respect of the Enemie They lift up the head saith the Church here but it is a fatall lifting of it up Tolluntur in altum Vt lapsu graviore ruant Like Hamans advancement and they grow confident like Sisera's wise Ladies Have they not gotten have they not divided the spoil presuming upon Sisera's great Host and iron Chariots and are there not many such wise Ladies in England but it made way for their more dolefull ruine and the Churches triumphant song see how heartily she rejoyceth at the conceit and jeers them bitterly that the valiant and renowned Sisera should be so cowed by a woman At her feet he bowed he fell he lay down at her feet he bowed he fell where he bowed there he fell down dead Iudg. 5.27 And for use hereof an Antidote and a Cordiall is the best we can put it to 1â— an Antidote to expell discontents and mutinous thoughts arising in the best Constitution of Churches And secondly a cordiall to quicken their drooping spirits it should skrew up their thoughts and resolutions to this note Heb. 10.37 Adhuc tantillum tantillum inquam et qui venturus est veniet neque tardabit Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Oh how many mutinies would a due and seasonable Consideration of this truth quiet in the mindes of Gods dearest Israel Let me talk with thee saith Jeremy wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper and why are they blessed that deal treacherously Thou hast planted them they have taken root they grow up and bring forth fruit See how Habakuk fretts and chafes how long shall I cry unto thee and thou hearest not even cry out of violence and thou savest not why dost thou shew me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention the wicked doth encompasse the Righteous c. Another sticks not to pronounce them happy that can work most wickednesse and can tempt God most because they are exalted delivered c. Others in the third of Malachi are ready to take up Arms against the Generall for this very thing It is in vain say they to serve God and what profit is it that we have been under his command Malignants thrive best and they that have shed our blood are in highest favour and they that have robbed us before by violence doe now spoil and murder us by craft and what they could not do in the field by armes they effect at home by subtilty It is confest these be strong and violent distempers and wounding considerations but yet a hearty draught of this preparative potion would abundantly settle their spirits and quiet them of much pelting and vexation at this kinde at carriage in God The next leading Consideration is this Consid. 2. That it is a thing unworthy the Heroick spirits of Gods people to startle at this manner of Gods dealing with them but rather it should kindle in them much animosity of spirit putting all the powers of the mind into Battalia of Indignation against the blood-thirsty Enemy and settle them in a better posture of faith and affiance in God As here The Enemies roar as if they meant to eat them up at a morsell and they are as loud as the Enemy They threaten these flinch not They vow to root out the name and nation of Israel these doe as it were bid them doe their worst and remember their brother Midian they scorn to give them an inch of the field but like Gallant experienced souldiers take the winde and upper ground of them They go up to mount Zion by prayer and from thence take faster hold on God while these remain in the valley of base and lewd affections and self confidence and as their brother Midian did in the valley at the foot of Carmel by the river Kishon which swept them away in dead carcases so do these presuming upon their numerous confederates and forraine Alliances untill it be done unto them As unto the Midianites Vse 1. Go out for shame then ye Enemies of Religion and hang down your heads ye haters of godlinesse Is it Religion that makes men cowards and is it the spirit of godlinesse that puls down the spirit of Magnanimity Is it possible that the spirit of God should be against it self blush at this your blasphemy that spirit which is the spirit of holinesse is the spirit of zeal and Christian courage also No no Gods holy souldiers learn better things of their Generall the Lord of hosts and their Martiall Law in the Army of Saints as it hath singular rewards for those that are valiant for the truth so it doth little lesse then hang them up in Gibbits that do betray the goodnes of their cause by Apostacie or do bring but a staine thereupon by their Cowardise You shall read 1 Kings 20.4 What a most indelible reproach it was to faint-hearted Ahab and how carefull the scripture is to record and file up such a notorious peice of Cowardise for the good of posterity to avoid the like There you finde that when Benhadad king of Aram sent messengers to him at the siege of Samaria with this message Thy silver and thy gold is mine also thy women and thy faire children are mine very poorely and basely he yeelds at the first summons My Lord the King according to thy saying I am thine and all that I have But here doe but see the Heroick minds of Gods Souldiers he seemes in the one side to neglect them sends them in no supply no provision at all the Enemy in the mean time muster up their Forces suspend their
own differences and upon uniting their severall Regiments or Brigades they draw in Assur also to their assistance being the tenth in number that are upon their march against Israel The Church by her scouts or prospective discovers first the Enemies Generall Duke Edom and under him the Edomites the Posterity of Esau that sold their birth-right a most glorious liberty for a messe of Pottage to the eternall Ignomy of him and his degenerate Posterity here called the Tabernacles of Edom or the Edomites Tents The next upon the march is Lieutenant Generall Ismael and under him the Ismaelites a persecuting race that came by the By that descended from Abraham by Hagar the bond-woman the proper mother of all that are weary of their Liberties and desire to be in bondage still she was banished out of Abrahams Family for persecuting Sarah the Free-woman And so was her Son the Lieutenant Generall here who therefore in revenge and desperate Enmity against all the children of the Free-woman is in Commission of Array against them to bring them to Bondage and now upon the march The next in order is Major Generall Moab he it is that leads on the Brigade of the Moabites and these were the Incestuous brood of Lot begotten on his own daughter in their Father Moab Father of the Moabites But I will spend no more time in emblazoning their Armes nor yet to tell you what the other Colonels Commanders were nor yet of the affinity and neernesse of Israels relation to these Nations it is enough to know that they were Israels enemies and to enquire out their design And what was it They will cut off the Name and Nation of Israel and commit their memory to oblivion they 'l doe I know not what But what say they doe they fly back or doe they yeeld and give up all with Ahab No no it shall not goe there well may their words and Names and Nations affright children but it shall not daunt them the Enemy may set them up for scarre Crowes to fright away the birds but it shall never drive them out of the field And it works these two notable effects upon all those in whom there is any thing of God to direct them against such preparations and such a people First Greater dependance on him They entitle God in all they have and in their quarrell too Loe thine enemies and they that hate thee As if shee had said Lord we are ready every moment to be dashed in pieces and while thou sleepest we are in a storme and every moment in danger of the losse of ship and goods and our lives too But art not thou our Pilote and Master and Captaine And hast not thou a Great venture in the Churches Bottom If thou carest not that we perish yet have respect to thine own name honour and reputation these must suffer shipwrack as well as thy people unlesse thou awake and shew thy power and skill to stear this vessell this ark to some safe harbor and landing place and so work out our salvation and then leaves all to his guidance and ordering And secondly it doth much advance their magnitude of minde in a holy indignation against such a base degenerate Enemy This is observable 1 From the manner of their imprecation 2 From the matter of their imprecation 1. From the manner of it they call upon God with much importunity that hee would presently fall aboard the Enemy or sink them before they make his people sink calls upon him in a preposterous order to doe execution upon them before any induction of the crimes and causes but these she takes as granted and proceeds to a zealous imprecation Keep not silence hold not thy peace be not still 2. For the matter the Church objects 1 Their pride they lift up the head 2 Their hatred they hate thee 3 Their cruelty let us cut them off c. 4. Their cunning They have taken crafty counsell 5. Their multitude The Edomites Ismaelites c. And in testimony of the highth of her zeal against their treachery and basenesse she spreads these complaints before the Lords beseeching him to bring downe their pride to recoile their hatred to smother their cruelty to Countermine their cunning and to scatter their multitudes that they may be ventorum ludibrium at Sea and Ecclesia triumphus a shoar and the Churches merry song as the Cananites were to Deborah and Barack at her feet hee bowed hee fell and lay downe c. Vse 2. The second and best Use we can put this truth unto is That we be exhorted to the practice of the duty our selves Was it laudable for Gods people then and is it not as commendable for us in such an age as this to be of such magnitude of spirit were these valiant and shall wee bee cowards did they trust God with events and shall wee suspect him doubt him could they frame such a charge against their enemies and have we nothing to say of ours or are ours lesse hurtfull and dangerous then theirs were Come come take heart ye beloved of the Lord of this divided Nation never had a people more matter of complaint to frame a bill against a bloody combination then England hath at this joincture of time against theirs and yet never had a people more cause to trust God for the future then England hath at present You may draw up a charge against them according to the experience you have had of their pride insolency and bloodinesse Lord how oft hast thou broken in pieces and rent all to shivers the united Forces of the Malignant Enemy of this Nation and yet behold they unite againe how oft hast thou befoold their cunning yet they will still have a Iuncto how many of them hast thou satiated with their own rage and glutted with their own goare and yet still they thirst for more blood How shamefully hath their own despite hatred murther plunderings and yet it is but the scatterings of them recoiled upon their own estates names families confederates and yet still they prepare their arrow to shoot at those that are perfect in the land How like a fierce man of Warre hast thou broken in upon their pride presumption nobility and hast thrown them upon the very dunghill of shame and dishonour as things of no value and uselesse and yet their spirits be not broken Lord make our Edomites like their Edomites our Princes like their Princes Oreb and Zeb These forces that will warre against England like those Armies that did war against Israel and either fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name or else Doe unto them as unto the Midianites And thus the extreame barbarism odium and filthy nastines of those Nations that doe or shall at any time appear against England will serve to prop and mainly to hold up the Churches confidence in the Lord of Hoasts unto whom all the recited abominations against his Israel are most hatefull Which
the fire and with flashes it shall consume them to the Ayre and with pestilent vapours it shall choak them to the water and with deluges it shall overwhelme them to the earth and with yawning chops it shall devour them God will have his enemies destroyed but it shall be by meanes His people shall sweat for it The Philistines shall be destroyed but Sampson must work hip and thigh Goliah shall sink but little David must use his Sling Sisera must fall at Iaels feet but the woman must drive a nayle through the Temples of his head first It is determined that Midian shall receive an irrecoverable overthrow but yet Gideon must advance and encounter him though he Muster but three hundred men in this sence that is very true he that made thee without thee will not save thee without thee he that made England without England will not save England without England our utmost endeavours must seasonably accompany outward deliverances Awake awake sleepy though stirring England and be thou at last recovered of thy sleepy Lethargy for shame and thine own safety too unite hearts strike hands be friends and joyn together and let not other Nations have cause to clap their hands for joy while we do wring our hands for griefe All Nations are in armes for themselves but England France for France Spain for Spain Barbary for Barbary Ireland for Ireland Hell for Hell And now that you have none to keep you in action you have found out names and words and titles and circumstances to fall asunder into parties And now one is of Paul another of Apollo a third likes Cephas best but few follow Christ in the main thing of that charge of his left his Disciples To love one another See that it be not a trick of Rome and the devil it did do the feat upon Germany see that it work not the same effect upon your own selves your friends this great City as it did upon them Ah Countrymen there is a naughty liberty taken by many of this present age who make a vast difference between the words working in English and operation a Latine Elegancy and these hold a stiffe argument that the same thing may be hot in operation which yet is cold they say in working O but you will say they understand themselves better then so I willingly grant it and do much honour and reverence the excellency of Gods Grace that is in multitudes of the Contenders about these things but if they agree in words that these are the same why do they not agree in deeds and in the maine In the duty of Love A duty so set on by strength of argument and earnestnesse of entreaty in all the writings of holy men who spake as they were inspired And by the last Will and Testament of Christ for whose kingdom you so contend Why then do you diversify the unity of the Spirit and the bond of Peace into such a variety of hatefull factions and bitter disputings O but the least truth is precious I and so is the best of truths to be honoured and embraced the God of peace and love There is no Gall in his Doves and there ought to be no snarling among his Sheepe Let Lyons teare Dogs and Beares fight and Wolves destroy but let Gods people study to be quiet Beleeve it be sure of it your enemies will make no bones of your scruples no distinction of your varieties and if they could but get the power into their hands which you contend for amongst your selves They would Levell all your new names into one plaine and dig you all into one wast or Common and one compleate destruction upon Church and State would serve their turne for all your fiery disputes and mutuall contendings Now the vertue of this last Doctrinall truth is to exhort you all to be Zealous for God and for His Truth and to unite all the powers of your Minds for the subduing of the Common-Enemy And for the better Composing of this Nation for this noble enterprise we must first fall to Distribution and distribute the Exhortation 1. And first to the supream Authority thereof and under them all orders and sorts of men 2. And next to you those Martial and derivative powers that mannage matters in the field and to these in their rank and file 1. And first to you the Honourable and renowned Champions of this Nation let me be bold to beseech you to accept of a part of this distribution and so farre to condiscend to the unworthinesse of the Speaker as to ascend so high to the magnificence of the duty Beleeve it Worthy Senators it is the top of your dignity and the most Honourable Flower in the Armes of England it hath so pleased the Lord of Hosts that you are above your enemies and they that hate you are not your masters though they court you and abuse your Servants yet they are under you and there kept God expects at your hands now looks for it earnestly that you would disable his enemies too those that hate him and his friends Who hath his sword but you he hath made you Magistrates and Magistrates of the first-rate in Europe and can you beaâ—e the sword in vain I will not be so presumptuous as to go about to direct you what you ought to do and farre be it from me either to prescribe or anticipate you in your wiser Councels I hope you are minded to do things that be just and you will be taught of God what to do whose names and titles he hath lent you to that end I have said you are Gods Gods will not be unjust Gods will not be forgetfull Forsake me not saith David when I am old when I am gray-headed when my strength faileth me David well knew that God would not deal so with his servants as men usually do with theirs he knew he should not be put out of doors now that he was aged and weak and worne out in his service No no he will be kind to the kind and just to the just have they lost a limbe he will look out a Chirurgion for them and provide a good pension in the interim is their estate wasted it shall be made up an hundred fold have they lost friends he will give them an hundred for one if he make them not out in number he will supply them in their qualities and if he fit them not with great Ones he will furnish them with good Ones and that is all one nay it is much better God puts men upon hard Duties but gives them good Pay See their Commission and Debeuturs both Mat. 10. By their Commission they must fight with Wolves v. 16. Be tryed by Councels v. 17. Betrayed by friends v. 21. Be hated of all v. 22. Endure the utmost v. 28. And yet neither fly nor revolt but be faithfull v. 28. Ther 's their Commission Obj. But what shall be their Pay Ans. They shall be maintained