〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A GOOD GROUND To cease from Confidence in Man: Discovered in a SERMON upon Isaiah 2. verse 22. Preached at Clement Danes, the last day of the Sixth Month, 1651. By George Masterson. Nobis Albada non nisi Albada est. Lips. advers. Dialogistam. Ut nihil habet eximium, ita veniâ certè indigna non est. Hu: Grot: Ben: Aub: Maurerio Epist. 43. Man is like to vanity, his days are as a shadow that passeth away. Psal. 144.4. Now behold thou trustest upon the Staff of this bruised Reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust on him. 2 Kings 18.21. London, Printed for Edward Husband. 1651. To the truly Honourable JOHN BRADSHAW Lord Precedent of the Council of State. MY LORD, THis Discourse was preached in faith, and it is in humility cast at your Lordship's feet. It was judged by some (in the day that it first saw the light) like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver. The complexion of your Affairs is (through the admirable goodness of God) far different from what it was in the day that my Soul travailed with these Meditations. A golden Vial of Contempt (from the hand of the Lord) is poured out upon the heads of your Enemies: and the glorious Success that the Lord hath crowned your Army with, may seem to render the ensuing Exhortation (Cease from man) unseasonable, Tet (my Lord) if it be judged useless to every other purpose, it may serve as a Testimony of my Fidelity and Affection to the Commonwealths Cause. Grotius B: Aub● Maurerio Epist, 25. Dulce est amicorum fidem ex auxiliis cognoscere, etiam cum jam eorum usum spe celerior victoria intercepit. But I am bold to hope (the Blessing of the Lord accompanying of it) the publication will not be in vain even at this day; For I have heard by the hearing of the ear (and experience it but too much in mine own breast) that the desire of glory is scarcely laid aside (even by good men) till they put off their mortality: Cupido gloriae etiam sapientibus novissima exuitur, Strada lib. 2. proloc. Acad. 2. It is easier to conquer Armies abroad, then subdue Lust at home. Adeo excellentibus ingeniis, Livius de Fabio. citius defuerit ars ut seipsos regant, quam ut hostem superent. Though the public Enemy have been made as stubble before your Sword, yet there are darts in the hand of Satan, which if they be not quenched by an operative Faith, will strike through the Liver of the State. The dart of Pride glorying in your own council or strength, is a deadly dart: If you attribute any thing to man, Haeret lateri laethalis arundo. Virg. you will destroy in one moment the glorious Fabric which the Lord hath been so long in building, and cemented with so much precious Blood. It is observed of Timotheus the Athenian, who having done many great Services for the State in his Government, and giving an Account thereof to the People (according to their custom) concluding every particular with this Clause, And in this Fortune had no part: that he never prospered in any thing he took in hand afterward. My Lord, The face of the ensuing Discourse is set against the Wisdom and Strength of man, as they are (falsely) judged a foundation of Confidence, and if your Lordship cast an eye upon it, you will there find the Lords end in the terrible Work that he hath wrought for you in Righteousness, viz. That the Lord alone might be exalted in that day. The Man of the Lords right hand, the Chosen man will prove but a lie if he be leaned on. I desire to render the honour that is due to the precious Instruments that the Lord hath made use of for the carrying on of this great Work from the beginning: and mine eye runs down in secret because of the wormwood and gall, the bitterness of some men's spirits against them; Yet I dare not say of any Instrument (no, nor of all) as Florus of Marius, Actum esset de Repub: nisi illi seculo Marius contingisset, The Commonwealth had been destroyed, had not he or they been raised up. The Speaker, the General, your Lordship, with the rest that are faithful for the Lord in Parliament and Army, are polished Shafts: but the hand that made you such, can do as much for, and by a Stake out of the hedge. When the Lord had prepared a Gourd to be a shadow over Jonah's head, the Text saith, So Jonah was exceeding glad of the Gourd: and immediately it follows, But God prepared a Worm when the morning arose, and it smote the Gourd that it withered, Jonah 4.6, 7. Your Army is a Choice Gourd, it hath been hitherto (under God) a Shadow from the heat: Confidence in them will breed the Worm, and cause them to whither when the Sun ariseth. But I forget myself too much in trespassing upon your Lordship's precious time, In publica commoda peccem Si longo Sermone morer tua tempora. Horat. 2. Epist 1. That the Lord who hath called you to an high Place, would keep your heart in a frame of exalting him, that he who hath made you eminently faithful to the Commonwealth, in the great Concernments thereof, would instruct you to be faithful to your own Soul in the Concernments of Eternity, is, and shall be the continued prayer of, MY LORD, The meanest of those that honour your Lordship for virtue's sake, Geo: Masterson. ISAIAH 2.22. Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of? WE meet the Prophet (in the beginning of the Chapter) having his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, his lips dropping with an Evangelical Prophecy, which divides itself into two streams (flowing with Milk and Honey) In the first, we have the glorious future Estate of the Church: And it shall come to pass in the a In Novissimis diebus, tempore scil. Messie Menoch. Complectitur ultimam aetatem mundi, scil: tempus ab adventu Messiae in carnem, usque ad diem judicil. Estius. Hunc locum sublimiore sensu de Messiae temporibus, etiam Hebraei intelligunt, Grotius. last days, that the b Mons domus Domini, i e. ipsa domus Domini, Estius. Mons dom: Dom: i.e. Ecclesia, Menoch mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all Nations shall flow unto it, and many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, etc. ver. 2, 3. This glorious estate of the Church is illustrated here by three things. 1. It's Exaltation; The mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted above the hills: 2. It's Confirmation; It shall be c Fundatus, munitus, stabilitus, hoc enim significat Hebraeum nachon Menoch. established in the top of the mountains. 3. By the Confluence to it; and d Omnes, scil: exomni natione aliqui. Eman: Sa: all Nations shall flow unto it. In the second, we have her Peace as a River, and her Prosperity as a mighty Stream, illustrated by the wonderful effects of it at the fourth verse, They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn War any more; and more fully (where this Prophecy is again repeated) Micah, cap. 4. ver. 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his figtree, and none shall make them afraid. A man would expect now, that this halcion Prophecy should be brought forth in a sweet calm, that there should not be a frown upon the face of (that great Ocean) the world, when it is brooded and hatched by the Spirit of God: But behold, the shaking of the Earth terribly, the removing of Mountains, levelling them with the dust, ushers in the establishment of the Lords Mountain; sharp pangs and bitter throes precede this Birth; desolation and destruction, the alarm of War, the voice of the Trumpet, neighings of Horses, clashings of Armour, rollings of Garments in blood go before this blessed Peace, ver. 11 and 12. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day: for the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low: and again ver. 19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth; Isaiah 55.9. and in the end of the 21 verse: Thus God's ways are higher than our ways, he brings light out of the womb of darkness, establishment out of confusion; the desire of all Nations, by the shaking of all Nations: Hag. 2.7. Now the Lord walking in such an insolent way, the Prophet bespeaks the Church ver. 5. to have her eyes upon God: O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord: they that walk not in this light, grope after God (in many of his dispensations) as a blind man; they that walk not in this light, stumble and fall under every cloud, which God, in the wisdom of his providence, brings upon the house of Jacob; their soul is cast down, and their spirit disquieted in them whenever the Enemy is exalted, though he be lifted up but to be thrown down with the greater violence: On the other hand, they that walk in this light, know, that when the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is, that they shall be destroyed for ever, Psal. 92.7. They that walk in this light, know that when the day of the Lord is upon the proud and lofty, upon the Cedars of Lebanon, and upon the Oaks of Bashan, upon the Ships of Tarshish, and upon the high Towers; it is that the Lord alone should be exalted in that day: Now when the Lord ariseth to do this, he will do it by his own arm, his arm shall rule for him; therefore he bespeaks the Church, Cease from man, & he will do it against all opposition; whatsoever, therefore he adviseth Enemies, Cease from man. The Romish expositors do generally interpret it of Christ, the man Christ Jesus is the man (say they) here spoken of; and to cease from him, is in their sense, e Serio vos moneo ut quiescatis a vexando, atque occidendo Christo, qui homo quidem est, sed etiam Deus scelerum vindex, Menoc: in loc. Significatur magnanima ira indignatio & vindicta, quam in suos hostes Christus exercet, Idem. To take heed and beware of offending or killing Christ, who although he be man, yet he is God also, and by the breath of his nostrils, the fierceness of his anger will avenge himself upon his enemies. But the Prophet's scope in the whole Chapter, stands in opposition to such an Interpretation; the meaning therefore is, f Nolite Fiduciam in ullo homine ponere, Grot. Annotat. Place not your confidence in any of the sons of men, as Grot. or (as the learned Divines in their Annotations) Seeing all humane helps and external stays will fail, and no might or height will be able to secure any when God comes to execute judgement: be admonished and advised to cast off your vain Confidence in frail and mortal man. The words than are a Dehortation answering (ex adverso) that Exhortation vers. 5. and they hold forth g Deo adhaerescite, & ab ipso toti pendete, non ab hominibus. Jun, in loc. Dependence upon God, in ceasing from man. We may observe in them: First, A Tacit Supposition, viz. Man is exceeding prone to place his Confidence in man. Secondly, An express Dehortation, Cease from man. Thirdly, The Enforcement of this upon a double account, or two Arguments to strengthen the Dehortation. The first general, in the end of the verse: There is nothing in man to be accounted of, therefore cease from him. The second more particular, His breath is in his nostrils, therefore cease from him. One word of the Supposiiton, Man is prone to confide in man: By Man in the Text we understand any thing that is not God, the opposition is very frequent in the scripture, and the Dehortation here answers the Exhortation in the fifth verse, To walk in the light of the Lord. All means, instruments, second causes, are Man: Strength is man, and Policy is man, & Riches are man, etc. and upon these the sons of men are prone to lean, prone to cleave to them, exceeding forward to sit down under them, to confide in them. The eyes of carnal men are set fully (in a direct line) upon man. Godly men have too frequently a cast with their eyes, they look (obliquely) too much upon means. Rabshakeh coming up against Jerusalem with a great host, makes flesh his arm, placeth his Confidence in man, 2 Kings cap. 18. from the 19th to the end of the 35th. Goliath had his eye fixed upon man, when he disdained David, because a youth and ruddy, and of a fair countenance, 1 Sam. 17.42. and forward. Babylon also leaned upon man when she said, I shall be a Lady for ever; when she said in her heart, I am, and none else besides me, I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children, Isaiah 47.7, 8. And as wicked men look wholly upon man, so the Saints on earth have not their eyes wholly taken off from man. David looked sinfully upon man, when he commanded Joab to go through all the Tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and to number the people, 2 Sam. 24.2. and he may be apprehended to glance at man in the sixth verse of the thirtieth Psalm, In my prosperity I said, I shall never be removed. The ground of this is, because Saints are sometimes led by sense, carnal men are wholly sensual, therefore is their hope answerable to their present visible help: if there be more with them then against them, they become confident of success: if they march with Twenty thousand against him that comes forth but with Ten thousand, they are ready to make their boast of Victory; Eccles. 9.11. But because the Race is not to the Swift, nor the Battle to the Strong, therefore (saith the Spirit) Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? It is the Church's Duty (and it will be the wisdom of her Enemies) in the day that the Lord ariseth to shake the earth, Doctrine. to cease from man. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield, Psa. 115.9, 10, 11. It is better to trust in the Lord, then to put confidence in man: It is better to trust in the Lord, then to put confidence in Princes, Psal. 118.8, 9 Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help, Psal. 146.3. It will appear to be the Church's Duty to cease from man upon a threefold Account. The first Reason is founded upon the Relation in which the Church stands to God. Reason. 1. All her relations oblige her to cease from man, and to put her confidence in God: To instance but in two; as he is her Lord, as her Husband. First, as her Lord: If I be a Master, where is my fear? Mal. 1.6. Confidence in God is an especial part of that fear (the service) which he requires at the hands of those that make profession of him as their Lord and Master: Now unless we cease from man, we can never give God that fear which he challengeth. The Lord Christ tells us, (Mat. 6.24.) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. He that holds to God despiseth man: He that cleaves to man despiseth God. Secondly, As her Husband: God hath married the Church unto himself; every Believer is espoused to God by the Ministration of the Gospel, I have espoused you to one husband, 2 Cor. 11.2. 'Tis the first and great part of the wives conjugal duty, to cease from all other men. The Law of Marriage runs thus, A man shall leave his Father and Mother, and cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh, Genes. 2.24. As therefore a wife deals treacherously when she departs from her husband, and cleaves to another man, so are the Lords people said to deal very treacherously with him, when they put their confidence in any thing but him, Jerem. 3.20. compared with verse 23. At the twentieth, As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. Wherein her departure from God consisted, is made manifest by her return at the 22th verse, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God: And how come they? In an humble Acknowledgement of their folly in cleaving to the Hills, confiding in the multitude of Mountains. Truly in vain is Salvation hoped for from the Hills and from the multitude of Mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel. That's the first Account upon which it appears to be the Church's Duty to cease from man, viz. because of the relation she stands in to God. A second Account is, Reason. 2. (that which is generally laid down by the Prophet) because there is nothing in man to be accounted of; nothing in man that you may rationally account a Ground of Confidence. There are two things in man that pass for a sure foundation upon which others may build their Confidence in man, his Wisdom, his Strength: his Wisdom to prevent dangers and inconveniences: his Strength to repel them. Thus Rabshakeh to Hezekiah, Thou sayest I have Council and Strength for the War, 2 Kings 18.20. But I shall endeavour to render both these, sandy foundations, upon which the house that is built will not stand. The wisdom of man (first) is not a sufficient foundation for us to build our Confidence on him. The Spirit of God tells us, That vain man would be wise, Job 11.12. Caryl. in loc. It is not his vanity that he would be wise, but that he would be thought wise, that he affects the reputation of wisdom more than the reality of it. There is a natural itch in man to be thought wise, even fools would be judged wise, and the wisest reputed wise beyond the line of what they have attained to: And as it is natural with man earnestly to desire this; so he cannot want those who will be exceeding prone to impute it to him, very ready to set this Crown upon his head. If a man be able to see any thing at a greater distance, or in a clearer light then vulgar and common eyes do, he apprehends himself, and is judged by others to see beyond the Moon. Irrefragable, irrefutable, invincible Doctor, are but modest Epithets, Angelical and Seraphical are affected by, and vainly attributed to some men. One says of Thomas Aquinas, h Cujus nomen non tam hominis, quam sapientiae nomen est. Strada prolus. Acad. l prol. 4. That the Name which expresseth him, might but serve to set forth wisdom: And the same Author of Jerom, That i Eo praeconio exornatus est, ut diceretur, Ab nullo hominum sciri, quod Hieronymus ignoraret. Idem l. prolus. 1. the industry of a man could not attain the knowledge of that which he was ignorant of. And the Lord Montaigne hath exalted Turnebus above the rate of Mortality, when he leaves him under this character, A man who knew all things. But the spirit of God speaks of man's wisdom in a lower key, Job 11. vers. 12. Vain man would be wise, Caryl. in loc. though man be born like a wild ass' colt. The best have somewhat of the beast in them. Every man is brutish by his knowledge, Jeremy 51.17. and we experience it daily, that it is with the greatest wits as with k Statium inter Poetas magnas virtutes magnis vitiis adaequasse. Strada l. 2. prolus. Acad. 2. Statius among the Poets, or Alexander among the Heroes, they miss as oft as his, and the number of their follies are at least answerable to their rational productions, and this comes to pass because strength of parts is accompanied with strong temptations, & lusts are not weakened or subdued wholly by the power of Nature: hence l Bacon's Advancement of Learning 2. B. p. 303. quart. though the logical part of some men's minds be very good, yet the mathematical part is very erroneous: they judge well of consequences, but not of proportion and comparison, preferring things of show and sense, before things of substance and effect. But notwithstanding this (which were there no more, is enough to enforce the Argument, and withdraw Confidence from man upon the account of his wisdom) let it be supposed that a man (or company of men) is as wise as he (or they) pretend to, or (which is much more) are judged by others to be: Suppose him to have as clear a light and as sharp an eye as a son of Adam is capable of: his lusts subdued so far, that all his conclusions do follow the dictates of his Reason, without turning aside to his lusts in any of them; yet is not such wisdom in man to be leaned upon, First, because he hath not a spring of wisdom in himself, but it is conveyed to him by a secret Conduit-pipe from God. The man upon whose Counsel I can confidently build, aught to have a spring of wisdom in himself, lest (though his counsel be as the Oracle of God to day) I consulting with him in my straits (to morrow) find him dry, not able to give a right answer, because the Pipe is cut off. It is with man in all his sufficiency as with Bezaliel and Aholiab, whose wisdom and understanding by which they wrought for the service of the Sanctuary, was put into their hearts by the Lord, Exod. 36.1. Since then the Spring of man's wisdom is in Heaven, and it is in the hand of the Lord to cause the streams to flow, or bind them up at his pleasure, or to turn it into folly, (as in Ahitophel) or to mix a perverse spirit with it, (as in Pharaoh's Counsellors, Isaiah 19.13, 14.) The Princes of Zoan are become fools, the Princes of Noph are deceived, they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the Tribes thereof: The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof.) Surely man is not to be confided in, or the lips of any of the sons of men to be cleaved to in respect of his wisdom. Again secondly, The wisdom of man is no ground of Confidence, (suppose him as richly furnished as he is capable) because God is wiser than he: though a man be wise to lay his Design in the womb of darkness, wise to project the critical minute of bringing it forth, yet is he not to be confided in, because God is wiser to frustrate his Design, to make it as the untimely fruit of a woman. When the Kings of the earth set themselves (and the Rulers take counsel together) against the Lord, and against his Anointed, than he that sits in the Heavens laughs, the Lord hath them in derision, Psal. 2.2. & 4. Thus the wisdom of man appears a sandy foundation of Confidence. Secondly, The strength of man is no more a rock then his wisdom was. The natural property of man is weakness, strength is but accidental to him: thus Samson tells Delilah (enquiring wherein his great strength lay, Judges 16.7.) if they bind me with seven greenwiths that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. A man is naturally for strength (not as a Lion or Horse, but) as a worm, Job 25.6. How much less man, that is a worm, and the son of man who is a worm? It were singular vanity to account a worm as a pillar of Marble, no less folly to look upon the strength of man as a brazen wall. But let us give man strength, let his neck be clothed with thunder, let his strength be the strength of stones, his bones as brass, and his sinews iron; Let his Confederates be many and potent, the Troops of his valiant ones exceeding numerous, his Reserves as great mountains at the heels of one another, let the Towers of his defenced Cities reach unto Heaven, yet is he not a foundation of Confidence in respect of his strength. First, because his strength is but permissive, dependent. Man is not strong according to the pleasure of his own will, but after the good will and pleasure of God: So that when man saith, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil: My lust shall be satisfied upon them: I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them, it many times comes to pass that in the greatness of his excellency the Lord overthrows them: The Sea covers them, they sink as lead in the mighty waters, Exod. 15.9, 10. The strength of man may be (as Jeroboams arm) withered when he stretcheth it out furthest. Therefore his strength is no ground of Confidence. Again, because his strength is limited. God hath set bounds to it, and those bounds are unknown to us, therefore we are not to confide in the strength of man. A man in his strength may swell as a mighty stream, he may rage's and roar like the Sea, but (as to it, so) to his strength God hath set bounds, and said, Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further. If the Lord lift up a standard against any man (though he come rolling in as an overflowing flood) he shall become weak as water. Now we being ignorant of the bounds that God hath set to the strength of any, are not therefore to confide in any strength of man: The Lord may have appointed a m Hic murus alieneus esto. Hor. Epist. l. 1. Ep. 1. brazen wall to their strength, a pillar beyond which they cannot pass in that occasion, or at that time, in which we expect their arm to be stretched out as of old. Thirdly, We are not to hang upon the arm of man, because the strength of God is infinitely greater than man's strength. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong, Job 9.19. We (treading in the steps of this expression) when we would extol a man in the perfections of any quality, use to speak at the same rate, What do ye speak of knowledge, Caryl. in loc. why there's a learned man! What do ye talk of riches, why there's a rich man indeed! So emphatical is the Expression here, If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: Infinitely strong, above the line, beyond the proportion of all others. God is so strong, that though Babylon should mount up to Heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord, Jer. 51.53. The Lord is so strong, that he can weaken the strength of any: He poureth contempt upon Princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty, Job 12.21. Or secondly, cause weak instruments to tread down strength, O my soul, (they are the words of Deborah, Judges 5.21.) thou hast trodden down strength: Or lastly, turn their Canon upon themselves, cause them to fall upon their own sword, destroy them by their own strength. I will overthrow the Throne of Kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen, and I will overthrow their chariots and those that ride in them, and the Horses and their Riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother, Hag. 2.22. Thus you have a second Account, upon which it appears to be the Church's Duty to cease from man. Man is not to be confided in, Reason. 3. because his breath is in his nostrils. They that by Man (in the Text) understand the Man Christ, must by the breath in his nostrils, understand also something to render him (not despicable, but) terrible. n Magnanima ira, indignatio & vindicta, quam in suos hostes Christus exercet. Menochius in loc. So Origen. Hieronym. Alvarez. and most of the Popish Writers. By the breath in his nostrils is meant (saith one) the magnanimous anger, the fierce indignation of Christ, with which he shall blow upon his Enemies in the day of vengeance; but as we do not entertain their sense of man, so we shut the door against such an interpretation of the breath of his nostrils; and following our late learned Divines who render it, Whose life is so frail, that if his nostrils be but stopped that he cannot breathe freely, he dies, whose life as a puff of wind passing through his nostrils, may be very soon and suddenly gone. So also the learned Grotius, whose o Cujus spiritus &c Vita ejus ab aere pendet, quo intercluso perib●t. Grot. in loc. Sec Job. 27.3. life depends of air, which failing he returns to his dust. We use it as an Argument to dehort from Confidence in Man, whose breath is in his nostrils: Were the wisdom or strength of man (in themselves) a foundation of Confidence (which yet they have appeared not to be) this were enough to destroy that foundation, His breath is in his nostrils, he is subject to diseases and infirmities: When you expect the man to go forth with your Forces, a fit of the Gout or Stone hath rendered him unserviceable: There are a thousand Infirmities incident to man's body; Physicians reckon two hundred diseases belonging to the eye, his best state is (not a state of certainty, but) of danger, p Ipsam quoque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 periculo vacare medici negant. Grot, Epist. 81. B. Maurerio. Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity, Psal. 39.5. Yet (take him with all his infirmities) could he live ever, there were some ground upon which the foot of a man's Confidence might stand; but his breath is in his nostrils, and thus he stands in slippery places that confides in an hourlydying creature. Tumour momento enascens, momento evanescens; we laugh at the folly of our little ones when we see them rejoice in, or grieve for (signs they set their hearts upon them) the bubbles that are born and die in a moment. The Spirit of God is very copious in describing the brevity of man's life, Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling? Job 7.1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble, 14.1. Man dieth and wasteth away: yea man gives up the ghost, and where is he? 10. As for man, his days are as grass, Ps. 103.15. He is called Corruptible man, Rom. 1.23. And as his breath is in his nostrils, so there are many ways of stopping it, various means of depriving him of it: heat, cold, drought, moisture, a prick of a pin, a stone of a grape, an hair, any thing, nothing: Some have died sneezing, yawning, weeping, laughing: q Mille viae lethi, Strad. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Cur Sterwentessalut. Unus introitus, innumeri exitus. Zeuxes died laughing at the picture of an old woman, which he drew with his own hand. Sophocles was choked with the stone in a grape: Diodorus the Logician died for shame that he could not answer a joculary question propounded at the Table by Stilpo. Joannes Mathesius preaching upon the raising of the woman of Naim's son from the dead, within three hours after died himself; 'Tis folly then to put our confidence in him, of whom (if he be but a days journey from us) we cannot be confident that he is alive. Thus you have the first Branch of the Doctrine made good, It is the Church's duty. And it will be the wisdom of the Church's Enemies to cease from man: The Spirit of God tells you, there is no king saved by the multitude of an host: A mighty man is not delivered by much strength; an Horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength, Psal. 33.16, 17. and the same Spirit dehorts you from confiding in the sons of the Mighty: Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help, Psal. 146.3. You have doted upon the name of a King, you have idolised Kings, The Book of Sports. you have preferred them to God himself: when God hath commanded one thing, and your King another, r Si aliud Deus, aliud Imperator ju beat, contempto hoc, obtemperandum est D●●. August; contemning the Commandment of God, you have yielded obedience to man; and therefore the Lord hath poured contempt upon them, brought them down from the Throne into the dust. The name of King is swallowed up in victory by the Parliament of this Commonwealth: It is become a name that will devour the man and his father's house, that (openly) makes mention of it in this Land; Cease therefore from man: Had the Church's Enemies a Spring of Wisdom in themselves, or were they wiser than God, than you might rationally say a Confederacy to them that say a Confederacy; had the Enemy an Independent, unlimited, infinite strength; were his arm stronger than the Arm of the Lord, than you might securely cleave to him, own him, confide in him; but since their Counsels have been infatuated, their Power is limited, and the Lord hath them (as he hath the Devil) in a Chain; Cease from man: Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins, Numb. 16.26. The Lord hath begun to break the arm of their Power, The Earl of Derby routed. and he hath set it upon the hearts of his People to believe that he is at hand, to accomplish his work in righteousness. Having thus endeavoured to make good the Doctrine, the Improvement of it will be directed to the Church in a double Exhortation. First, to the practice of the Duty, to Cease indeed from Man: Truly the Lord is worthy to be wonderful in our eyes in two things; restraining the growing Power of the Enemy, and causing the Horn of his Servants to flourish. For the first, the Enemy did (and might very rationally) expect that if he could set the sole of his foot (his wearied foot) upon English ground, his strength would take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward; it could not but be expected on all hands, that the further he rolled the greater strength he would gather; that before he had passed through one Country, he would become a mighty Mountain; yet behold (and admire God) though at his entrance he leave our Army Fourscore Miles in his Rear, their flesh wearied, and their spirit almost languishing through the continued difficulties they met with in a strange Land; though he appear in a County very fond of him, that invited him in, where the Design was laid, he coming in according to the cue that he had from hence, though he strike many f Facile ignem concipiunt quae paulo ante extinctae sunt faces, Strad: de Bello Belgic. sparks among Brands lately quenched, that are but too prone to take fire; and though he march with an Idol in the head of his Army, The name of a King, to which the generality of this Nation are very superstitious, too ready to bow down to it, and submit their necks to a Tyrant's feet (four Circumstances, that were each of them big with the ruin of all that is dear to us) yet behold (I say) the Cords of his Tent (through the goodness of God) are not stretched out, his Horn is not exalted, there are not (considerable) Cubits added to his Stature, his Strength is at a stand, much about the same scantling it was when he fled out of Scotland. And for our Armies, though they were scattered here and there, not only in the corners of our own, but the most considerable part of them in a Foreign Land; the Lord hath gathered them together with his Arm, united them in a Body, made them to increase with the increase of God, and given them to overtake the Enemy: I beseech you therefore, since the Lord hath done this for us, made us strong, and not suffered the strength of the Enemy to increase, do not you spoil the Friends of their strength, or cloth the Arm of your Enemy with might, by placing your confidence in man. O think you hear the Army of your Friends (that have been wont to Conquer, who scarce know how to fly before an Enemy) speaking in your ears to this effect: We are going up this day, in the Name of the Lord, against a Potent, Numerous, Skilful, Revengeful, Bloody Enemy; were their Power, Number, Skill doubled, were their Rage and Fury seven times hotter, yet would we not be dismayed, we would not stop our ears against the Lords call, nor withhold our hands from his work; t Ego nihil mihi tribuo, sed nee valde mihi metuo a tali Antagonista, Lips: adver: Dialogist. we are not in the least afraid of Enemies, but we are afraid of you our Friends; fear hath taken hold upon our hearts, lest you should fight against us by putting your confidence in us; lest by looking upon us as your present help in trouble, you should provoke the Lord to withdraw his presence from us: we are confident, notwithstanding all our unworthiness, and your vain confidence, this precious Cause of the Lord shall prosper: but our Lives may be Sacrificed upon the account of your folly, and the Lord may chastise your fleshly confidence, by breaking the arm of flesh in pieces, if you do not cease from us (for what are we to be accounted of, and is not our breath in our nostrils?) the Lord may refuse to go up with us, and then we shall be weak, even as a company of other men; we shall turn our backs in the day of Battle, yea, we shall fly when no man pursueth: we beseech you therefore, by all our Watch and Fast, by all the hunger and cold that we have undergone for you, by all our Blood that hath been spilt as water, by the Scars of all those wounds which we have received for you; Cease from man: By all your Enjoyments, by all your Relations, Wives, Parents, little Ones; by your Liberties Temporal, Spiritual, Cease from man: As you love Zion, as you value the Gospel, as you prise your Privileges, as the glory of the Lord is dear to you; Cease from man: we are not worthy to say, for our sakes, but for Zions sake, and for the Gospel's sake, yea for your Soul's sake, and for the Lords sake we beseech you, Cease from man: And I beseech you hear them in that which they ask at your hands, since all that is dear to you is concerned in it. And that I may fasten this duty upon your hearts, I shall make use of three Considerations as Nails. Consider first, Consider. 1. That the end for which the Lord shakes the Earth, why he humbles the lofty ones, and bows down the haughtiness of man, is, That the Lord alone may be exalted: The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, Isaiah 2.11. and again, ver. 17. Now when we place our confidence in any thing but God, we exalt it into the Throne of God; the Lord may and doth delight to use Instruments (not out of necessity, but in a way of good will) he may and doth put much honour upon those he makes use of, as the Hinges upon which a State turns; but he will never endure that the honour which is due unto his Name should be given to any Instruments whatsoever. The Brazen Serpent, when the People burn Incense to it, must (though set up by the especial appointment of God) be broken in pieces: Golden Instruments in the Lord's hand, are rendered Nehushtan (a piece of brass) by putting our confidence in them. We might have enjoyed to this day (those dear Names) White, and Pym, and Hamden, and Brooks, and Rainsborough, and Thornaugh, and Ewres, and Graves, etc. had not our confidence in them been a Dart through their Live●; u Magister est hodiernus, hesternus Error: Bel. Belg. Homines post damna prudentiores sunt, ac docent plerumque quae nocent. Idem. be wiser for the future, and that you may enjoy your Worthies, Cease from them. We should Proclaim ourselves unworthy of such Instruments, did we not thankfully acknowledge to the Lord, his singular goodness, in raising up seven Shepherds, and eight Principal Men for us in the Parliament and Council of State, in filling their hearts with Courage and Zeal, to take the Lion by the Beard, to execute Justice upon the head of the great Offender: we have great cause to acknowledge to the Lord their faithfulness, when we have w Mont. Essays. beheld many survive their own Reputation, seeing (with their own eyes) the honour and glory buried which they had formerly purchased: yet the Lord hath not raised them up that they should exalt themselves, or be lifted up into the room of God by us, but that they should be an higher Scaffold for the building up of his glory. Your hearts cannot but rejoice before, and to the Lord, in behalf of the General; that the Lord (out of the especial respect he had to his People) created him, and raised him up for us (and we remember the time too) furnished him with such rare Endowments for that high Employment, that he who would take a complete General, must limb after his Copy: We can say, That the Horse and his Rider have been broken by him, the Captains and Rulers broken in pieces: We can say, that the * Sola Ducis fama interdum Bella profligavit, Str: Bel. Belg. Name of Cromwell hath been a terror to the Enemy; but this only, as he hath been a Battle-ax, and weapons of War in the hand of the Lord, for the Exaltation of the Name of the Lord, not that we should exalt him above the Line of an Instrument in the Lord's hand. Did we not make our boast of God in our Army, we should sin: Did we not acknowledge that he hath taught their hands to War, and their fingers to fight, Did we not bless the Lord for them, that offered themselves so willingly to the help of the Lord against the mighty, that in the absence of dear relations continued so cheerfully in the midst of so many difficulties, It would be an evil in us not to boast (in God) of their unparallelled Valour, matchless Unanimity, and unwearied Labours; yea (as Strada of the Prince of Orange and Duke of Alba) y Orangius palam oderat Ducem Albanum, & clam admirabatur, Strad: Bel: Belg: the hearts of their Enemies admired them in secret for these things, though openly their mouths overflowed with their reproaches; yet the Lord hath done all this, that himself alone might be exalted. The Enemy is not so z Nihil tam firmum cui non sit periculum ab invalido. Idem. inconsiderable, Consider. 2. as to be despised upon any carnal ground whatsoever. It is true, (upon a spiritual Account) The Virgin, the daughter of Zion hath despised them, and laughed them to scorn, the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at them, (2 Kings 19.21.) in the strength of the Lord, as they are his Enemies, because he that sits in heaven laughs: but they are not to be despised upon a carnal Account: for First, less Armies with less Advantages, have done a far greater work. The late King of Sweden crossed the Baltic Sea with (not above) Eighth thousand men, and harrassed (almost) all Germany, spoiled their Cities, laid their Towns waste, and sowed their Field: with desolation. Again, greater Armies (than ours) have miscarried upon the contempt of weaker Enemies. When the French (under the the Duke of Alenson) had entered Antwerp, and possessed themselves of the gates thereof, they (contemning the weak remaining part of the Enemy) fell to plundering the City, but they purchased the experience at a dear rate, (for they were most of them slain, the rest shamefully beaten out of the City again by a few that remained unconquered at their entrance. a Iste contemptus hostium Gallos perdidit. Strad. Bel: Belg. That a weak Enemy is not to be contemned, the Spirit of God, and the Experience of all Ages assert this, Though you had smitten the whole Army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this City with fire, Jerem. 37.10. Nihil in hostibus vel semivictis tuto despicitur, and the Commanders of Armies have in all Ages found a certain truth in that military Maxim, b Majorem experti hostem. qui contempserint ut minorem. Strada Bel: Belgic. He finds his Enemy strong at a dear rate, who contemns him as weak. Thirdly, The desperate condition of the Enemy may render him not despicable. c Gravissimi funt morsus irritatae necessitatis. Mont. Necessity hath sharp teeth. The Commander in chief of the Enemy's Army, is (credibly) reported to have brought in a Crown and Coffin with him. A Crown is a fair prize, a man will put out the utmost of his strength to attain it, the shinings of it take a carnal eye so far, A morte propiqua vim capiunt Strad. prolus. Statii Stylo. that he will wade to the chin in blood, rather than set down any where short of it, and he that must die, will sell his life at as dear a rate as he can: d Morientium morsus animantium laetales sunt Idem Bel: Belg. Dying creatures by't deadly, so that if the Lord come not upon their spirits in his terror, the Victory is like to cost us dear. What the effect of trusting in man, Consider. 3. in your own strength, will be. Because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men, therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy Fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalmon spoilt Betharbel in the day of battle: the Mother was dashed in pieces upon her children, Hos. 10.13, 14. God may say (if you lean upon the arm of flesh) They hoped in their Parliament, let it save them; They trusted in their Army, let them deliver them; There is a Curse denounced against it, and it will cleave to the man that leaneth upon flesh. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord, Jerem. 17, 5. If you consider these things aright, you will say (with David Psalm 44.6.) I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. The Apostle saith, 2 Cor. 12.10. When I am weak, then am I strong: 'Tis a Paradox to carnal Reason, but to a sanctified understanding a fair Truth built upon a solid rock: We need not fear our weakness at any time, but we may well be afraid of our strength; we are never stronger than when we are weak in our own eyes, never weaker than when we esteem ourselves strong in ourselves: Cease therefore from man, and be entreated once more not to give occasion to have it spoken of our Army what was said of Caesar, c Sane Julium Caesarem non Pompeiani, sed amici peremerunt. Sen: de Ira l. 3. c. 20. That he received not his wounds from the swords of Enemies, but from the hands of friends; If they shall return wounded from the hattel, let them not have ground to say, (because of your Confidence in them) These are the wounds with which we were wounded in the house of our friends, Zech. 13.6. To conclude, That we may indeed cease from man, and cast ourselves and the concernments of our wholly upon God, Isaiah 2.5. be exhorted secondly to walk in the light of the Lord, in the light of his Providence; eye God in the way that he led us hitherro. Remember Newberry, and Marston, & Naseby; remember Dunbar and Fife, Videnti Deum omnis creatum est august●. and Sterling: Nothing takes a man's heart off from the creature so much as eyeing God doth. He that walks in the light of God's providence, finds his heart lifted up to God, the hands of his Confidence strengthened in God. The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lion, and out of the paw of the Bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistim, 1 Sam. 17.37. The Lord hath vouchsafed us a precious first-fruit of his Love and Power, The Earl of Derby defeated in Lancashire. he hath given us one token more that he hath not withdrawn himself from us, an earnest of his presence in the Defeat given to a part of that Army, and since the Lord hath evidenced his presence with us, we may much better say of it then Augustus could of Tiberius, f Nihil se non sperare Tiberio comite, nihil non timere illo deficiente. Suet: in vita Tiber. That he expected success in every undertaking that Tiberius was engaged in, and feared the miscarriage of every Design in which Tiberius had not an hand. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge. Remember through what straits he hath brought us, and be confident in the light of his Providence. We may say of many acts of Providence (as he upon the extraction of Moses out of the Waters) g Quis vel animum desponderet in ultimo rerum discrimme, cum talia tam mirifice effecta esse perspexerit? Pride: ad extractionem Mosis. Who that hath seen God leading his people in such a path, opening such or such a door to them, levelling such Mountains before them, and making their way plain, would ever suffer his Soul to be cast down, or his Spirit disquieted in him? Psal. 34. ult. None of them that trust in the Lord shall be desolate. Be not afraid of the Enemy's power: all the strength that is not of God, shall be destroyed. Take away her Battlements, for they are not the Lords, Jerem. 5.10. Know the power of the Lord: If he look upon the earth it trembles, if he touch the mountains they smoke, by the blast of God his Enemies perish, by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed. The Lord cannot want help to perform his Council, to accomplish his Design, since the Chariots of God are Twenty thousand, even Thousands of Angels, Psal. 68.17. Study then the name of God, and you will effectually cease from Man. They that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee, Psalm 9.10. The End.