A SERMON Preached in the cathedral Church of YORK: Before hi●Excellence the Earl of NEWCASTLE, AND Many of the Prime Nobility and Gentry of the Northern counties.  
At the public Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the late great Victory upon Friday, June 30. 1643,  
And the Reducement of the West Parts of Yorkshire to Obedience.  
Printed at York by Stephen Bulkley, 1643. By special Command.   

To His Excellence, WILLIAM Earl of NEWCASTLE, Viscount Mansfield, Lord Ogle, Baron of Bolsover, Bothall, and Hepple, governor of the town and County of Newcastle, general of all His majesty's Forces in the North Parts of this kingdom, and in the Counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, Rutland, Derby, Stafford, Leicester, Warwick, Northampton, Huntington, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Hertford, One of His majesty's most Honourable privy council.  
Sir,  
THis Sermon is Yours in right of the Author, being first Preached, then Published by Your special Command. Therefore it flies thither most justly for Protection, from whence it had a being. But You have yet a nearer Interest in it from the Subject, (a great Victory gotten with as great hazard of Your own Person.) We are not so Sacrilegious to rob God of His Glory, Neither are we so stupid or fanatical, as to separate the Sword of the Lord and Gideon. So long as an English Chronicle shall be extant, this Northern Good Friday will be remembered, to the perpetual Honour of Your Noble Family. In managing Your great trust (conformably to Your Soverai ne) You have rather expressed His temper, who would suffer no Man to depart away from him discontented, than the disposition of Vitellius, who thought no Smell in the World so Sweet. 〈◊〉 ●●at of a slain Enemy. God grant that 〈◊〉 to the bad may not prove accidentally cruelty to the good, Nor Christian pity to spare effusion of blood, give the ulcer space to turn to a Gangrene, so to make the Cure both more costly, and more dangerous to the body Politiq●e. He is blind that doth not see how God hath blessed His majesty's Armies beyond probability, and how all His Forces have almost ever proved Victorious in the Field; witness for this County. Seecroft, Tankersley, Yarum, Atherton, &c. Those losses which we have sustained have been upon surprises, and especially by the negligence of Scouts. The cold of the Feet strikes quickly up to the Head, And the carelessness of the meanest Officer may endanger the Life of the Greatest. But it is as superfluous as uncomely for me, like another Phormio, to discourse to Your Excellence of these things, which are out of mine Element. Accept, I beseech you, this Mite, as a poor expression of my obedience and gratitude (two forgotten virtues in this Age) for Your singular favours to myself, And to the Churches of this Province, which owe to your Protection their present Liberty to serve God according to their Duty, and the Laws and rites establ●shed, and to these Northern Counties, which by Your endeavours are totall● in a manner freed from the fury of Sedition, which lies now gasping within the Walls of Hull. God Almighty prosper Your excellency's Arms, for the happy reducement of the rest of your great charge to Obedience and Peace, To the glory of God, the Service of His Majesty, Your own lasting Honour, the tranquillity of this distracted Kingdom, and the unmas king of all political and ecclesiastical jugglers; which is the constant expectation, and shall be the daily Prayer of  
Yarl, July, 18. 1643. Your Excellencies Most Assured And Obliged Servant, JOH: DERENSIS.   
Psal. 44. Ver. 7. and 8. 7. For I will not Trust in my Bow, it is not my Sword that shall Help me. 8. But it is Thou that Savest us from our Enemies, and puttest them to confusion that hate us. 
WE are not met together here to scan curious Questions, but to Sacrifice unto God with the Voice of Thanksgiving. Therefore I pass by those doubts in silence, which concern either the Author of this psalm, or the occasion whereupon it was indicted. Saint Paul applying the 22 verse (For Thy sake are we killed all the Day long, 
Rom. 8. 35.  and accounted ss Sheep for the slaughter,) to the sufferings of the Primitive Christians, is an authentic witness that it may be aptly used by us in the like cases.  
We have heard with our ears, 
Ver. 1.  O God, our Fathers have told us, Fathers are domestical Preachers to their Families. How thou hast driven out the Heathen with thy head, how Thou hast destroyed the Nations and cast them out, 
Ver. 2.  God will have nothing stable in this World but himself. The highest Floods have the lowest ebbs: All Nations have their Suns and their Nights: Kingdoms and Cities have their diseases and deaths, as well as Men: When God is angry, Momento sit cinis diu silva, A Wood that hath been many ages in growing, is turned to Ashes in an instant. 
Ver. 3. 4.  For they got not the Land in possession through their own Sword, neither was it their own arm that helped them, but Thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance: Thy Power, and thy wisdom, and thy goodness. Hath not the Potter power over his Clay? Or the mintmaster over his Bullion? They that have great Orchards do cut up some Trees, and plant and transplant o●●ers, and all for order and profit: Shall no● God have the same power in the spacious field of this World? Then if Go● be the sovereign Monarch and disposer of Kingdoms, to whom shall we repair but to Him in all our extremities? Thou art my King, 
Ver. 5.  O God, send help unto I●cob. Thou art my King, That Jehov●h is the great King both of Heaven and Earth, doth no more prejudice the rights of Earthly Princes, than it derogates from the Power of a natural Parent, that his Child should pr●v, Our Father which art in Heaven, Mitte salutes, or Manda salutes, Send help, or command help; dictum factum, saying and doing with God is all one, help and health and victory are His Embassages.  
Then follows. 
Ver. 6.  Through Thee will we overthrow our Enemies, and in Thy name will we tread them down that rise up agai●st us. Through Thee, I can do all things (saith Saint Paul) through Christ that strengtheneth me. But without Him we can do nothing, especially nothing that is good. No man can say, That Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost. In him we live, we move, and have our being. Will we overthrow, we will push them down, or we will toss them to and fro, it is a Metaphor taken from horned Beasts. Every defeat is not an overthrow, but we will turn them upside down: yea, and trample them under our feet, so as they shall not be able to rise again: And tread them down, It implies an utter overthrow; as Elisha said to King Joash, Thou shouldest have s●itte● them five or six times till thou hadst consumed Syr●a. And tread them down that rise up against us, as dregs are elevated out of the bo●●●one of a vessel, (a proper Phrase for schismatics and seditious Persons.) Of yourselves shall men arise speaking perverse things: And, 
Act 20. 30.  in these days rose up Theudas. 
Act. 5.  But all this must b● in the name of the Lord, And in thy name we will tread them down, That is not in an hypocritical pretence of thy name, a frequent way of deceit, which give occasion to that common saving, In nomia● Domini incipit omne malum, All evil begins with the name of the Lord. But thy name, that is, thy power, and thy blessing, and thy protection, as Saint Peter said, we have la●oured all night and catched nothing, yet in thy name I will let down the Net. Nor in the name of our followers or confederates, for vain is the help of man. Not in the name of our Friends, Friends are like Frogs, which seldom appear but in a warm Season. No● in our own name● like those builder of Babel, which re●ped con usion for their labour: but In thy name, we will tread them down that rise an against us.  
Therefore he adds, For I will not trust in my Bow, it is not my Sword that shall help me. He doth not say. I will break my B●w and throw away my Sword, but I will not trust in my Bow. It is not the having of Arm; nor the using of Arms, but the relying upon our Arms, and placing our confidence in our Arms, which is forbidden. As our Saviour saith of Riches, How hardly shall a rich Man enter into the kingdom of Heaven? that is one that trusts in his Riches, We may not Deify our Bow, nor make an idol of our Sword. The Sword and the Bow were anciently the Princes of offensive Weapons, the Sword at hand, the Bow a far off, as Jacob said to Joseph, 
Gen. 48. 22.  I will give the one portion above thy Brethren; which I took out of the hand of the Amorite, with my Sword and with my Bow. Among the Egyptians a bended Bow was the hieroglyphic of W●rre, and a Bow broken or unbent did signify a Cessation of Arms: So we read that the very night that King Attila died, Martianus the Emperor did see Attila's Bow broken, which did betoken that the wars were now at an end. God himself is contented sometimes to borrow a Metaphor from the Bow, to express his own power, He hath bent his Bow and made ready his arrows. Who hath not heard of Aster's Bow and his Arrow, which he sent to King Philip, with this inscription, After Philippo? a shrewd Message which cost Philip his Eye. The Parthian bows were more feared of the Roman Legions, than all Archimedes mathematical Instruments. And ou● English grey Goose Wing, hath been as terrible in former times to our Neighbour Nations.  
Next for the Sword. Among the Scythians their greatest Oath was by their Sword, 
Am. Mar.  as the Turkish Sultans used to swear by their Cimiters. The Alani had not a Church, nor a chapel, nor so much as a Cottage but it had a Sword fastered in the ground, with barbarous and superstitious ceremonies, as their Tutelary God. When God had expelled Adam out of Paradise, it is said that he placed a slaming Sword at the entrance thereof, to keep the way of the Tree of Life. And our Saviour saith of himself, that he came not to send Peace but a Sword. So than the Bow and the Sword do signify all kind of Arms and Ammunition, and Military preparations, which serve either at hand ora far off, as Powder, shot, guns, (which are the successors of Bows,) Pikes, yea, even ships and forts. For I will not trust in my Bow, it is not my Sword that shall help me. How, not help me? No, not of themselves: as the King of Israel answered the Woman when she cried out help my Lord O King, 
2 King. 6. 26.  so may our Boves and our Swords say unto us, If the Lord do not help thee, how shall I help thee? All secunda●y, subordinate adjuments how eminent soever, lose their virtue and efficacy, if God suspend the influence of hi● Favour. When the first and great Ring is fast, the lesser links do draw in vain: as if a foolish mariner should think by the strength of his arm, and of his small cord to draw the main rock or Staith to his little boat. It is even as ridiculous, to think to subject the Power and Providence of God to human Preparations. No, no, not so.  
But it is thou savest us from Our Enemies. Thou, not our own right hands, we dare not sacrifice to our own nets. Thou, no Heathenish Tutelary God, nor Romish Tutelary Saint, all which are cast down flat to the ground with this one word, But it is thou. Belus could not save Nineveh, not Juno Carthage, nor Minerva Athens. Let others choose to themselves what protectors they please, from among the Societies of mortal Men, or companies of celestial Spirits, as St. James, St. Dennis, St. Mark. But be Thou evermore the Patton and Protector of our City, of Our kingdom, Be Thou evermore the general of our Army, If Thou be with us who can be against us?  
Deo javante nil obest livor malus,  
Et non juvante nil prodest labour gravis.  
If thou give a blessing, envy cannot hurt us, if thou deny a blessing Labour cannot profit us. But it is thou that savest us, Thou only savest us, thou always savest us, thou savest us from all dangers both of Body and soul, Thou art the fountain, Salvation is the stream, thou art the Sun, Salvation is the beam, thou art the Tree, Salvation is the Fruit. It is thou that savest us from our Enemies, It was Nero's vain Complaint, that he had neither Friend nor Enemy, whereas in truth he had none but Enemies, Woe is me my Mother (saith Jeremy,) 
Jer. 15. 10.  that thou hast borne me a Man of co●tention, I have neither lent nor taken upon usury, yet every one doth curse me. If innocence itself should assume the sh●pe of a Man, and dwell upo● Earth, it would 〈◊〉 Enemies, rather than a Man want Enemies, his bosom Friend shall become his Enemy, Inimici hominis Domestici ej●●, they of a man's household prove often hi● enemy, ●e●, a M●● own self often proves his own greatest Enemy. To rise yet one degree higher, as it 〈◊〉 the greatest cross to want all Crosses, so to 〈◊〉 E●emies is the greatest Enmity. Enemies are the ●am n●rs that nail us closer to our God, enemies are the bru●h●s that wear away themselves to smite off the dust from us, enemies are the snuffers that soil themselves to make us burn more brightly. This is a triple Salvation, when God doth not only preserve us from our enemies, but also converts their Enmity to our good; and lastly, makes their opposition to us, to be a means of their own confusion. That's the last step in my Text, And puttest them to confusion that hate us, First to shame and confusion of Face, this is that in part which the Scripture calls heaping coals of Fire upon an enemy's Head, to make his Cheeks glow with shame, and to scorch him inwardly with the testimony of ●●s own Conscience. But if the Enmity be grown higher to hearted, that is, to habituated malicious Enmity, so as there is no more hope of his Conversion or recovery, periisse puto cui pudor periit, past shame past grace, than follows likewise an higher degree of Confu●●on, that is utter ruin and Destruction, And puts them to confusion that hate us.  
Now you have the sense of my Text, I will not shred it any more into little parcels, Take five Observations which are as pertinent to the time and occasion, as they flow naturally from the Text.  
1. That the People of God shall never want Enemies, and such as hate them in this World.  
2. That therefore it is wisdom to have in readiness Bows and Swords, that is, all manner of Military preparations.  
3. That when we have store of warlike Provision, yet we must not place our confidence in our Arms, not make them as Idols: For I will not trust in my Bow.  
4. That our only defence from danger is the name of the Lord, our only dependence ought to be upon our God. But it is Thou.  
5. That in lieu of his Protection and our preservation, God expects Vitulos labiorum, the Calves of our lips, (as the Prophet Hosea calls them) that is, a thankful acknowledgement of his favours. This brings my Text home to the present occasion, For I will not trust in my Bow, it is not my Sword that shall help me. But it is Thou that savest us from our Enemies, and puttest them to confusion that hate us. Of these in Order.  
First of the first, That the People of God shall never want Enemies in this World. 
Cant. ●. ●.  As a Ltlly among the Thor●es, so is my Love among the Daughters, not only sure to be pricked, but in danger to be choked with Enem●es. Taulerus Writes of a devout Matron that had long affected to see her Saviour, At 'las he was presented to her Eyes like a little child wrapped in a bundle of thorns, so as she could not touch him without b●oody hands, We must pass through many Enemies to the fruition of Christ. Moses saw a Bush burning, but was not consumed with the fire, Exod. 3. A right Emb●em of the Church, which flourishes in a fiery travall, in the midst of Enemies. Behold (saith our S●iour) I send you as Sheep into the midst of wolves. 
〈◊〉. 10. 16.  Novum & inauditum ●ellandi genus, A new and strange kind of Warrefaire, (saith Saint Chrysostom) between a few nnarmed sheep●, and a great number of ravenous Wolves. Into the midst of Wolves, as if one should cast an handful of dry reeds or flax into the midst of an ●ot fire to extinguish it. But this is the wisdom of God, rather to magnify hi● power in the protection of his Servants from their Enemies, then in the preservation of them without Enemies. Sanguine fundata est 〈◊〉. sia, sanguine crevit, The Church was planted in blood, it was watered with blood. What need I reckon up the Persecutions of David, the blows of Micheas, the Sa● of isaiah, the bonds of John Baptist, the stones of Steven, the cross of Peter, the Sword of Paul, the fire of Laurence, the Exile of Athanasius? Purpurata est terra, &c. the Earth was purpled with the Blood of the Martyrs, Heaven flourisheth with the Cro●ns of the Martyrs, Churches are adorned to the memory of the Martyrs, the Times are distinguished by the birthdays of the Martyrs, saith Saint Austin. And Saint Jerome in an Epistle to Chromatius witnesseth, that in his time there did not occur that day in the year, wherein five thousand Martyrs had not sealed the truth of their Religion with their blood, except the Calends of Ja●●ary, when their malitiou▪ Enemies were so intent upon their Heathenish So●emnities, that they neglected the slaughter of the poor Christians, and their hate gave place to their marth. The Jews were their Enemies, the Heathens were their Enemies, heretics and schismatics were, and still are their Enemies. The Persecution of the Jews lasted but forty years, that of the Heathens but three hundred years, this last of heretics above a thousand years. The Jews sought but one field, the Heathens ten set Battles, the heretics have renewed their Forces above two hundred times. This was the way whereby Christians of old did disperse the Armies of their enemies, even by the effusion of their own blood, This was the way which God ever blessed, The Blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church: But now our Enemies the Incendiaries of the World have found out a cheaper way to plant their own dreams, which they guild over with the n●me of truth, a way which Christ never taught, a way which the Church never knew, even in the blood of junocents, by Dagges and Daggers, by poison and Powder, by Murders and Massacres, by Tumults and Treasons, by sheathing the Magistrates sword in his own bowels. When the Disc●ples did ask our Saviour if they should call for fire from Heaven to destroy those Cities that would not receive them, He answered, 
Luke. 9 55.  ye know not what Spirit ye are of. But our Brethren in iniquiry whose zeal is as hot, and yet as dark as Hell itself, can be contented to deface so many living Images of God, until they make every Village in their Native Country a shambles of Christians, to introduce their fanatical conceirs. And our very Anabaprists whose beginning was like Nero's, made up of Charity and meekness, in so much as Trajant said, the best Princes came far short of the first five years of Nero's Government, who when he was but to sign the condemnation of a Malefactor, cried our, O utinam etc, I would to God I had never known a Letter; yet afterward he proved a very Monster of Cruelty: So they at first were all mercy and goodness, could not endure a Magistrate from the King to the Constable, nor a Sword; held all wars, all captal Punishments, all effusion of blood to be unlawful, yet are now grown more bloody than Nero himself, and have died their Garments as deep a Scarlet as Antichrist. What shall a Man think of such a Religion, but as a school of Rebellion, a Nursery of traitors, 
Gen. 49. 6.  a Mother of all abominations. O my soul come not thou into their secrets.  
The second Consideration is, That since we are sure of Enemies, it is wisdom to make pr●paration against them, bows and Swords, that is, ●ll Military Provision: as a skilful Pilo●e when the Weather is calmest, doth prepare for a Tempest. 
2 〈…〉 12.  Be of good Courage (said Joab to his soldier) let ●●pay the Menfor our People, and for the Cities of our God, and then let the Lord do that which seemeth good in his Eyes. His meaning was not that they should go to it with their Fists, that was to play the boys, not the Men. The small and peaceable Company of Christ's Disciples, armed with Innocence and Poverty, 
Luke 22. 38.  yet had two Swords for their defence. What King (saith our Saviour) going to make war against another King, 
Luke 14. 31.  sitteth not downe and cousulteth, whether he he ab●e with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twen●y thousand? Observe first that he saith, what King? and against another King: Without the consent, or at least the impl●cir approbation of the sooner igne Magistrate, no Man can justly take up public Arms. Our Saviour charged Peter to put ●o his sword, 
Mat. 26. 52.  for all they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword. Why put up his sword? because he was a private Man, and They that take the sword, that is, without the Au●ority of the supreme Magistrate, shall perish by the sword, 
Rom. 13. 4.  for He beareth not the sword in vain. But if p●ivate Persons have power to raise Arms, he beareth the Sword altogether invain. Those places in holy Scrip●ure which prohibit Christians to resist evil, or to render evil for evil, are by all Interpreters restrei●ed to private Persons. Why did David inquire so often what reward should be given to him that killed the Philistine, yet after his Victory never made Demand of it? But only by this means to gain a Commission from Saul. This was the cause why Caesar before his march to Rome did rejoice so much, when Anthony and some of the Tribunes of the People came into his Army; that being no Monarchy but a Popular State. By all which we may easily judge what is the condition of our present rebels. Secondly, we may observe from these words of our Saviour, that even they who have the Power of Arms invested in them, ought carefully to proportion their prep●rations to their necessary occasions. Saint Paul did thanke●ully accept of 200 soldiers, 200 spearmen and 70 Horse to convoy him to Caesarea, 
Act. 23. 23.  safe from the insurrection of the Jews. When a Trojan Priest offered to Alexander to show him Paris his harp, he desired him rather to show him Achilles his spear, the more honourable justrument. The Ph●nicians pictured their Gods like Merchants with great bags and purses, to represent the power of money: But the Grecians like soldiers completely armed, to show that all things are obedient to Arms. The Romans had the Temple of Ianu● for their public armoury: and all provident States ever had their Arcenalls or storehouses of Ammunition. A travellers Sword though he be a Coward, yet it is a discouragement to a these. He that is best provided for defence, shall be sure to be least assaulted by his Enemies. It was an impertinent question of Socrates, when he see the strong Gates and bulwarks of Corinth, whether they were all Women that inhabited there. So soon as the Israelites were come into the Land of Canaan Manna ceased, they were then to till the ground for their lively hood: It is no better than a plain tempting of God, to depend upon Divine assistance, and neglect ordinary means. It was the error of those frantic Anabaptists, who instead of sighting, were gaping up towards Heaven for a Miracle to fall into their mouths, and thought themselves able to catch all the bullets into their Coatelaps. Indeed the King is forbidden to multiply Horses to himself, 
● King. 11. 10.  Deut. 17. 16: yet we know that King David provided spears and shields, and Solomon his son provided not only Arms, but Ships, and Chariots, and Horsemen, without reproof. The Text saith, that he had a thousand and four hundred Chariots, and twelve thousand Horsemen, which he disposed among the Cities of ●ud●ah, 1 King. 10. 26. The religious King Asa in a time of Peace builded fenc●d Cities with walls, & Towers, & Gates & bars, and God prospered him in it. He provided shields and bows and Targets and spears for 580000. men, and accordingly God blessed him against the Aethiopian his huge Host of a thousand thousand, 2 Chron. 14. 8. It i● not then s●●ply a sin in a King to multiply his Warlike preparations, but accidentally to place his chief confidence in them, or by reason of them to lift up his heart above his Brethren. He that provideth not for his own, and especially for those of his own House, he hath deayed the Faith, and is worse than an infidel, I T●●●. 5. 8. The Commonwealth is the King's Family, He is the Father of it: Christian Religion is so far from disobliging him, that it binds him under the pain of grtevous sin and the high displeasure of his maker, to provide not only for the sustentation, but also for the protection of his Subjects. Indeed the Scrip●ure saith she weapons of our warfare are spiritual, that is, our Christian warfare with sin and Satan, but we have another capacity as we are men, and a political Warfare, also which requires corporeal Weapons. And Saint Paul saith, We wrestle not with Elesh and Blood, That is not only, not principally with Flesh and Blood, we have greater Adversaries to cope withal, even sin and Satan. Courage then, a Bible and a Bow are ●ot opposite: a man may be a good Swordman, and yet a good Christian. How often doth the Scripture call them the wars of the Lord, the battles of the Lord? How often doth it prescribe Military Rules and Precepts? God styles himself the captain of the Lord's host, having his drawn sword in his hand. Iosh. 5. 14. Thou teachest my hands to war and my fingers to fight, said David; I hope the Lord takes no Apprentis●s to teach them a wicked Trade. There is a time for war, and a time for Peace, Saith Solomon, but there is no time for that which is in itself unlawful. John Baptist bids the soldiers do violence to no man, accuse no man falsely, be content with their wages, he doth not bid them give over their Profession. Christ commends the Centurion, that He had not found so great Faith in Israel. Saint Peter saith of Cornelius a Ciptein, that his Prayers and alms were had in remembrance in the sight of God. And by Faith the Saints subdued Kingdoms, waxed valiant in Fight, and turned to flight the Armies of the Alients. Heb. 11. 33. Religion doth not make a Coward, war is the Exercise, Victory the Reward of Faith. To conclude this point, a Man may with a good Conscience meet his God with his Arms in his hand, ●nd safely lay down his Life in a just war. To die for a man's Religion, for his King, for his Country, is a degree of marryrdom. Dulce & decorum est pr● Patria 〈◊〉. Only there are some Rocks to be avoided, whereof this is one of the most principal, That a Christian soldier do not place his confidence in his Arms, which brings me to my third Observation.  
For I will not trust in my Bow, it is not my Sword that shall help me. The Creatures are God's soldiers, and cannot move till he give them the Word. Let him but suspend his influence, and the most powerful Creatures in the World become weak. The lions are not able to open their mouths against Daniel, nor the fire to singe one hair of the three Children. Ye have sown much and bring in little, ye eat but ye have not enough, ye drink but ye are not filled with drink, ye clothe you but there is no warmth, and he that earneth wages puts it into a bag with holes, a bottomless purse, Haggai 1. 6. Thus Seed, Meat, Drink, clothes, Money, arms, all Creatures have so much power, and no more, than God infuseth into them. What's the reason of all this ● read the ninth Verse, I did blow upon it. It it more easy for God to empty and exinanite all the Creatures in the World of power, then for a Man to blow away a Feather. Besides Bread there is the nurritive faculty of Bread, which the Scripture calls the staff of Bread, without which our Bread is like a lame cripple without his staff, who cannot move himself. Psal. 33. 15 A King is not saved by the Multitude of a Host, neither is a mighty Man (a Giant) delive●ed by much strength, a Horse is but a vain thing to save a Man. He doth not say a King cannot protect others, but less, He is not saved himself. There is no Creature more conducible to safety then an Horse, either for Victory or Flight, in utrumque paratus, yet without God's concurrence an Horse is but a vain thing, or mendacium est equus, An Horse is but a Lie, as Saint Paul saith, an idol is nothing; an idol is something, either Gold, or Silver, or brass, or Wood, or Stone, So an Horse also hath a true subsistence of flesh and blood and bone: But an idol is nothing in efficacy, it is nothing in respect of that which the Idolater doth imagine, So an Horse if God withdraw his power is a Lie, without efficacy, not answerable to the confidence and expectation of his Rider. What marvel? when One can chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, that want this influence. Deut. 32. 30. So without God's blessing, an horse is a Lie, an Army is a Lie, a walled City is a Lie. The Walls of Ecbatane were thirty Foot thick, and seventy Foot high, The Walls of Babylon were 50 foot thick and an 100 high, Jerusalem had a triple Wall about it: yet all these were ovethrowne, and if the Devotion of Pilgrims had not kept a little Life in Jerusalem they had all become long since deserts for owls to, scriech in, and Satyrs to dance in. The like Fortune did Tyre run that was deemed invincible, The Walls of Jerischo fell down with the sound of Trumpets. And Capernaum which touched the Clouds with its lofty Turrets, was cast down to Hell. When Nicephourus Phocas was building a strong Wall about his palace, he heard a voice in the night, O King though thou build thy Wall as high as Heaven, yet the sin that is within will easily destroy it. The confusion of Babel, may teach us what is the united strengths and attempts of a World of Men without the Lord. Obad. 4. Though thou exalt thyself as the Eagle, and set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. Then let not the bowman trust in his Bow, nor the Swordman in his Sword. Where Presumption leads the Van, Destruction commonly follows in the rear. Where Pride is on horseback, Shame always sits upon the crupper. Qui de se presumit ante prosternitur quam pugnat, said Saint Austin, He that trusts in himself is fallen already before he fight. Goliath threatened David to give his flesh to the fowls of the air, and the Beasts of the Field, but a little stone taught him what it was to reckon without his Host. Neb ●chadnezzar vaunted of his Power, Is not this great Babylon which I have builded, by my might, for the Honour of my Majesty? But a voice from Heaven whispered in his ear, Thy kingdom is departed from thee, thou must dwell among the Beasts. Julian the Apostate threatened after his return from the Persian War, to root out the Sect of the Galileans, but a d●rt, (God knows from what hand, whether from Heaven or from Man,) learned him another lesson, Vicisti Galilaee, vicisti, Thou hast overcome thou Jesus of Galilee, thou hast overcome. Feed this man with bread of affliction and water of affliction, said Achab of Micheah, until I return again in Peace; Good, what was the end of this presumption? Notwithstanding all his disguising himself in the day of battle, the Arrow found him out, and the joints of his harness. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord, Prov. 21. 30. It is better therefore to trust in the Lord, then to put any confidence in Man. That leads me to my fowerth Observation.  
But it is thou that savest us from our Enemies, Prov. 18. 10. The name of the Lord is a strong Tower, t●e Righteous runneth unto it and is safe. And Prov. 21. 31. The Horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety (or Victory) is of the Lord. Paul may Plant, and Apollo may Water, ●ut it is thou that givest the increase. Except the Lord keep the City, the Watchman waketh but in vain. It was a brave answer of David to Goliath, Thou comest to me with a Sword, and with a spear, and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, 1 Sam. 17. 45. When an Army of Syrians had begirt Elysha's City round, his servant cried out, Alas my Master what shall we do? Fear not (said Elisha) there are more with us, then with them: And praying God to open the young man's eyes, he see all the Mountains full of Horses and Charrets of fire round about Elisha, 2. King. 6. 17. So the angels pitch their Tents about God's Children. The godly never want heavenly succour●, though they cannot be discerned with bodily eyes. The Lord himself is a wall of fire about them, 2 Zechar. 5. What virtue was there in Moses his Rod to break the hard Rocks, to divide the red Sea, to change whole Rivers into blood? Or in Shamgars Good, (an Instrument not made for War,) to slay 600? Or in Samson's J●w bo●e of an ass, to m●ke such heaps upon heaps of caikasses? Or in Elisha's Salt to sweeten the bitter waters? Or i● Cl●y and spital to open the eyes of the blind? Or in Peter's shadow to drive away diseases? But it was Thou; It was God that used these contemp●ible means for the manifestation of his own power, It was God that added weight to David's little stone, to make it pierce into the Forehead of Goliath, It was God that added strength to a weak woman's arm to destroy Ahimelech, It was God that cast Siserah into such a profound sleep, to give Jahell opportunity for her Hammer and her nail. But it is Thou; It was God that made Jeremiah a defenced City, an Iron Pillar, a wall of brass agai●st the whole Land, Jer. 1. 18. It is all one with him to save by many or by few. Though ye had smitten the Army of the Chaldeans (saith God) so that there remained none but wounded men, yet they shall arise up every man in his Tent, and burn this City with fire, Jer. 37. 10. God can infuse such strength and vigour into men half dead, that all the power of their Enemies is not able to resist. What shall we say then? When we have both Bows and Swords let us nor presume; When we want B●wes and Swords, let us neither disp●●re, nor yet rashly hazard ourselves: The one argues want of Faith, the other is a tempting of God. Whether we have them, or want them, yet let us say, Some put their trust in Charrets, and some in Horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, Psal. 20. 7. When it was told Leonides that the Persian arrows did obscure the Sun, It is well, said he, than we shall fight in the shadow. But well and well again is he, that fights under the shadow of the Almighty, and under the covering of his Wings: Life or Death or whatsoever happens, shall work together for his good. But we are apt to impute all occurrences to secondary causes; If a sickness seize upon us, we ascribe it to some cold or distemper, we scarce think of God: We trust him more easily with our souls, then with our bodies, or our Estates. And if we do confide in God, it is as an Usurer trusts a bankrupt upon a pawn; So long as we have Men and money and arms and Ammunition we trust in God, but we cannot with the Woman of Canaan pick comfort out of the name of a Dog, nor say with holy Job, Though the Lord should kill me yet will I trust in him. What is the result of all this? If we affect prosp●rou● success, we must place our confidence in God, not in our Bow, or in our Sword, 2 Chron. 13. 18. Judah prevailed against Israel, Because they relied upon the Lord God of their Fathers. The Israelites had greater numbers, a better cause, all manner of advantages against the Benjamites, yet they lost two great battles, and prevailed not till they sought for Victory with tears, and humiliation at the hands of God, Judges 20. Whilst Moses lifted up his hands in Prayer Israel prevailed against Amalech. Bellum tibi imminet O Balach, saith a Father, O Balach thou son of Zi●por, war is in thy gates, six hundred thousand armed Israelites are entered into thy confines, And dost t●ou prepare curses in stead of dart●, and Words for We●pons? Doubtless Balach had heard that Israel moved not a hand against Pharaoh, but the Lord fought for them, as an H●brew Rabbine did expound this Text unto Origen, Numb. 22. 4, Now shall this Company lick up all that is round about it, as the ox licketh up the grass of the Field; The ox licketh up the grass with his Mouth, and cuts it with his Tongue, as with a sickle, So this People fight with their Lips, and overcome with their Prayers, When thou buildest a Fort, lay the foundation in Prayer, When thou purrest on thine armour, buckle it to thee with Prayer. But God heareth not sinners, as one said to a company of Pirates in their devotions, pray lower, lest God hear that ye are passing this way. He th●t will pray aright for Victory over his Enemies, must first endeavour to conquer his own corruptions, He must do his Duty, and refer the success to God, as. Joah said, Let us be valiant, and pl●y the Men, and let God do what seemeth good in his Eyes, He must not swerve from the straight line of Justice for any advantage, He must not limit God to any means. There is a story of an Hermit, That prayed to God sometimes for rain, sometimes for fair Weather and God still granted his request, yet his Garden did not prosper: So going to another hermit's Cell, he found all his herbs fair and flourishing; And when he admired at it, the other Hermit soon resolved the doubt, O fool, didst thou think thyself to be wiser than God? Such another fellow was Naaman, 2 King. 5. 11. I thought he will come out to me, and call on the name of the Lord, and strike his hand over the place. If God do not help us just when we please ourselves, and by such means as we approve, we think God hath forgotten us. Let us therefore pray with due submission, and when God hath granted our request, let us give all the glory to Him. But it is Thou, &c.  
This is my fift and last Observation that in lieu of God's Protection he exp●cts a thankful acknowledgement from us, It is thou that savest us from our Enemies, and pu● test them to confusion that hate us. Why was Goliaths sword laid up in the Temple? Though it was l●pped up in an Ephod, yet I do not do●bt but that at solemn times it was to be she●ed to the People, to excite them to ● more cheerful thanksgiving, for God's gracious deliverance of them from the Army of the Philistines. Therefore God caused a potfull of Mann● to be preserved, that Posterity might see with what food he had fed their Predecessors. And the Rod of Aaron was so carefully kept to be a memorial of God's great deliverances. How devoutly did the Idolaters give thanks to their Gods of Gold and of Silver, being but supposed Benefactors? much more we to the God of Heaven and Earth. What thanks did Christ the son of the living God give unto his Father, for a dinner of barley Bread and of broiled Fish? If any of us be invited forth to a meal, we hold it uncivility not to return thanks, much more to God who daily spreadeth our Table, and filleth our cups, yea, who hath preserved to us the Tables and the Cups themselves, and not these only but our Lands, our Houses, our Goods, our Wives, our Children, our Lives, our Liberties, our Religion, O sing praises sing praises unto our God, sing praises sing praises unto our King, who saveth us from our Enemies, and putteth them to confusion that hate us.  
The skirts of Aaron's Garments were compassed with Bells and pomegranates. Pomegranates are an excellent Fruit and signify God's blessings; the sound of the Bells is our thanksgiving. When his pomegranates do abound, it is meet our Bells should sound. After the Lord had taken his rod off from Zachary, and restored him to the use of his tongue, the first thing that he did was to sing thanks to his Deliverer, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath visited and redeemed his People. If God did require the first fruits of the Earth, much more the first Fruits of the Heart, and of the soul. This is the end of this Assembly to return our thanks to the Lord of Hosts for a late victory obtained in the West parts of this County, by His majesty's Army under the Conduct of his Excellence the Earl of Newcastle, against the Lord Fairfax, and the Northern rebels. A great victory indeed, whether we look upon so many loyal Subjects that were redeemed by it, and restored to their Friends, as Isaac was to Abraham, even from Death to Life: Or whether we look upon the great number of the Rebels that were slain, (the more the pity) either in the Act, or in the intention of murder, (I cannot give, I conceive that no man that understands himself can give a better term to these Arms which are raised without the approbation of sovereign Authority,) and so without God's extraordinary mercy perished both bodies and souls: Or whether we look upon the great number of Prisoners, the vast proportion of Ordinance, Arms, and Ammunition which were taken. A great Victory if we respect the place where it was, in the midst of all their strength, or the time when it was, in the very height of all their Power, or the Fruits and consequents thereof, the reducing of a great part of this County of York to Obedience, and the settling and securing in a manner of all the North Parts of England. A great Victory if we consider the manner of it, upon all the disadvantages in the World, of ground, and wind, and preparation, as if God should say from Heaven, I alo●e will have the glory of this day to myself. Lastly, a great Victory, if we look upon the speediness of it: as Caesar sometimes writ to the Senate, veni, vidi, vici, I came, I saw, I overcame, So here what a number of strengths were deserted and recovered in one day? If the Lord had not been on our side when Men rose up against us, Or if that Day had succeeded ill, God knows what had become of all us here present, for our Estates we had been reduced to beggary, for our bodies and posterities to slavery, for our souls to He●e●y, Brownism, Anabaptism, or familism, or some ot●er more newly upstart vanity. Therefore once more Sing praises sing praises unto our God, sing praises sing praises unto our King. Who hath saved us from our Enemies and put them to confusion that hate us.  
When we enjoyed Peace and Plenty and Prosperity, we were not sensible of it, but apt to murmur, We see nothing but this Manna, ready to say militia est potior, war is better: and it is probable that our fore-p●ssed unthankfulness, is the true cause of our present Sufferings. Now then when the cross hath opened our eyes, when we find the excellency and the sweetness of those blessing, by wanting them, which we could not find by enjoying them, though we were ungrateful for our former health, yet let us bless God who hath put us into so fair a way of recovery from a desperate sickness. And now let us talk no more of supposed delays, when we see how God hath disposed of all things to the greater manifestation of hi● o●n po●er, and the more speedy expediting of that very Work which we desire. And what knowest thou O Man, whether God did order all things thus for this very end? Yet give me leave to say there is less danger in sound deliber●te delay, then rash precipitation. The Grecians ordained no punishment for him that lost his Sword, but for him that lost his Buckler. Aut hoc, aut super hoc, said the Spartan Mother to her son. The Romans had two gallant Capteins at one time, Marcellus full of Courage, Life, and Activity, and Fabius Maximus, slow, but sure, who did all things with leisure and deliberation, undoing Hannibal by inches, The former they called the Sword, the latter the Buckler of Rome. And that politic Nation upon just grounds did prefer their Buckler before their Sword.  
Vnus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem,  
Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem.  
But to return. Thanksgiving is the work of this Day, let us do it. Ingratitude dries up the Fountain of God's Love, the Rivers of his Grace, the Dew of his Mercy. As we look to have more Victories, and the light of God's countenance to shine still upon us, let us do it. It becometh well the just to be thankful. In Heaven there is no Preaching, no Praying, no Sacraments. but thanksgivings and Alleluiahs. Let us do it with intention and devotion, not like Children which give thanks looking another way with their Faces; nor like mariners which pray hard in a storm, but so soon as they are gotten into the Harbour, drown the remembrance 〈◊〉 all their former vows in full cups. O take heed of forgetfulness, there is nothing that grows old sooner than a good turn. As the Sea is the Fountain of all Rivers, so they run into the Sea again by which means the flux and reflux is made perpetual: All good and perfect gifts proceed from God the Father of Lights, and must be returned again to him by thanksgiving, that the intercourse of his Blessings and our thanks may be reciprocal and perpetual. We have not wanted Enemies and such as hate us, Enemies to our Church, Enemies to our State: But we wanted Arms, we wanted our Bow and our Sword, The Enemies had seized upon His majesty's Magazine, his Ships and his Arms, and left us naked both for Defence and Offence. Yet the goodness of Almighty God, and the Providence of our gracious Queen, which ought ever to be thankfully acknowledged by this Nation, hath supplied this defect, and furnished us again with a Bow and a Sword, Arms and Ammunition, and with these we have obtained the Victory; with these, not by these, It was not our Bow, it was not our Sword that did help us, but it was thou O God who didst save us from our enemies and put them to confusion that hate us. O Lord we render unto thee all possible thanks. Do thou settle our wandering imaginations, do thou elevate our drowsy spirits, do thou helps our dulness, That we may be yet more and more thankful, with our hearts, with our tongues, with our lives, That so we may daily hear of more and more victories, which thou givest unto thine Anointed, until the hopes of his traitorous Enemies be like Winter Ice melted away to nothing, and his Crown be restored to its ancient lustre, That under his Protection we may freely meet in this thy hol● Temple, to laud and magnify thy glorious Name, O eternal God, Father, son, and Holy G●ost, who art above all, and through all, and in all, To thee be Glory, and Dominion, and thanksgiving, for ever and ever. Amen.  
FINIS