God's DOINGS, AND man's DUTY, Opened in a SERMON Preached before both Houses of PARLIAMENT, the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City of LONDON, and the Assembly of DIVINES; at the last Thanksgiving Day, April 2. For the recovering of the West, and disbanding 5000 of the King's Horse, &c. 1645. Quadragesimus hic quintus mirabilis Annus Ang. Hyb. Sco. requiem det Deus ut pariat. This fourty-fifth great year, of wondrous worth, Lord grant it may Great Brittain's peace bring forth. By HUGH Peter's Preacher of the Gospel. Judg. 3. 31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love him, be as the Sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the Land had rest forty years. The second Edition, corrected by the Author. LONDON, Printed by M. S. for G. Calvert, at the sign of the black spread-eagle, at the West end of Paul. 1646. TO THE RIGHT honourable THE Lords and Commons Assembled in PARLIAMENT. I profess that I never thought myself master of my own Trade, and therefore never forward either to cast such a mite as this into your public Treasury, or to be in Print with the rest of my brethren: But since it was your pleasure to make choice of me to bring in a Narrative of God's bounty, as being an eyewitness to many of his glorious works; I have obeyed, in this, and that. I knew not what better to pitch upon then God's doing, and your duty. He that will not confess God hath done much, (I fear) means to wave the duty; and who so shall slight this duty, must look for that sad Curse of Anathema Maranatha: And therefore I again commend it to you. They that have much given, and much forgiven, will love much. The woman spent all that she had upon physicians, for the cure of her bloody Issue, and nothing would heal, till she touched the hem of his garment, who was the way contrived in Heaven, to bring over Salvation to man: I do believe it hath been thus far your Cure to this bloody Disease; and to enjoy a thorough Cure, I beseech you stoop again, and touch the hem again: you cannot honour the Lord more than in loving his son and believing in him. Bear with my rudeness; if I say you must be very hard put to it in your Counsels, should you not live comfortably upon your experiences, and cheerfully look all changes in the face for time to come? You have a greater stock by you, than the greatest and richest Nation in the world could get and lay up for themselves. The same God give you skill to improve it to his advantage, and the good of this poor kingdom, that begins to breathe again (through his blessing upon your unexampled care and travel.) Methinks I see the Ages to come marking your doors and dwellings as the habitations of their Deliverers. I wish that never a soul of you may die at Nebo, but come to their enjoyments of Canaan's milk and honey. You seem to have before you two or three great mountains to go over: and though I can contribute little to your encouragement, yet I will beg your wonted patience for a few words. First, since you are still buzzed in the ear with a desperate increase of error, give me leave to offer this Expedient by way of Quaere. The wound seems to be in the Understanding, and the Cure must lie there: (Under favour) what if some convenient place or places in the City were set apart two or three times weekly, where godly learned men appointed by yourselves, and the Leaders or Heads of those errors (as they are termed) might have leave to come, and there in a brotherly way take and give satisfction? for as Conclaves have always been dangerous, so these poor erring men cannot have the benefit to appear with boldness; and reasonable souls may sooner certainly be taught with Reason and Scripture, then with cudgels and blows. Tyrannus had a School; and Christ disputed with the Doctors in their Synagogue. Religio docenda est, non coercenda. Wollchius. Religion is to be taught, not forced. This I am sure, Conviction should go before Punishment. The Lord will not burn Sodom, till be see whether the report be true. I pray consider Gen. 18. ●1. it. Secondly, for the present Government, in order to any man or men, if you keep to the premises, the Lord himself will make a blessed conclusion. Thirdly, for further Hostility; the Lord hath owned you and your Army, and made you formidable beyond what we conceive at home; my only fear hath been diseases in our bowels; which gave me that boldness to urge a near union betwixt yourselves and the city, which hath since a double knot upon it by your late full and satisfying Declaration, and your ordering the dissenters about Church-matters to bring in their several thoughts backed by the Word, that so you may keep to that Clause in the Covenant which concerns England. Only be courageous, and your work will be issued so, as yourselves and we shall cry, Grace, Josh. 1. grace, &c. For any other request unto you, I have but one: I most humbly beseech you, spread that gospel you own; and to that end do profess my grief not only for the miserable, dark, and ignorant parts of the Kingdom; but that divers Orthodox, learned, faithful Ministers of the Gospel, with their precious Flocks, cannot enjoy public places in the City, but their ●●ry gifts and almost their persons, are stifled by being thrust into corners, which keep them under the name of schismatics, whose souls have panted under your service in these calamitous times; and their purses constantly opened, themselves hazarded beyond many: a word from you, may enlarge them. And for myself, I acknowledge here before God, Angels and men, the Characters of your favour; protesting that your work hath been so good and so sweet, that I have found my wages wrapped up in my work, and a great addition by your acceptance. I could even say as he did: Si in vita prodesse possim, quid vis imperate; si in morte, vel occidite; quicquid de me statuetis; hoc semper confitebor & profitebor semper, hanc vestra humanitas mihi fecit, injuriam, quod vivam & moriar ingratus. If my life may be profitable, command what you please: if my death, even kill me; whatever you shall determine of me, this will I always confess and profess, this injury your humanity hath done me, that I shall live and die ungrateful. I bless God heartily for a Parliament, yea, for this Parliament: and the blessing of him that was in the bush, and kept it in the fire, be upon you and yours for ever: And let all that love the God of Heaven, who is the God of England, say AMEN. My Lords and Gentlemen, I am Yours most humbly devoted, Hugh peter's. To the Honourable, the Lord Major, the Aldermen, and the common-council of this famous City of LONDON. YOu were invited to what ensues by the Honourable Houses, and you invited them to a portion suitable to that day; and I take leave to return you thanks for their and your patience towards myself, in hearing what I now present, for which I humbly crave favour of them and you for some enlargements, being then penned into much narrowness in regard of the time, and the rather, because I strove to suit your expressions of respect and love to them, who deserve so much from yourselves, and the Christian World. How I have been represented unto you, and others, by printings or otherwise, shall not fill up this paper; I must reserve to some other way, which shortly I shall do (God willing;) but in the mean time and ever do profess my constant respect to and esteem of this city, from your first compliance to the great Counsel of this kingdom, that I have left remembrances of you in foreign parts, and (without flattery) do think this City one of the best pieces of ground in the World. I am sorry I caused any unexpected smiles in my zeal for your further conjunction with the Head and Heart of this Nation; If I commended you as a good portion, he did not An Epist. to a Sermon. well that thought, it ridiculous; nor do I think you too good a portion for those I wooed you unto. You know me, and your wisdoms know how to make allowance to my zeal: They have a strong appetite to quarrel, that are offended at expedients presented against future quarrelling, My sighs to God for you are these, That you may still move with faithfulness in your own orb, That you remember you and yours live in a Parliament, That you are made wealthy for others, not yourselves alone, That you would not make Opinions your Interest which are changeable, but godliness and faithfulness, That you would rather punish known sins, show mercy to the poor, a known duty, maintain Civil peace, look to your city-privileges rather than lose yourselves in doubtful questions, I must remember you that I have heard many of you wish for such a Parliament and such an Army: Own your own desires, and be assured your constant concurrence with our great Counsel, will not only be your present safety, but strength to posterity. Believe it, a now suspected party in the Kingdom, have no further design than your and the Liberty of the Nation from Bondage; who deserve your love, not your displeasure. The God of all grace be with your spirits, and help you to love him, who hath kept you in the midst of your relations and comforts, whilst so many thousands have fallen on the one hand and the other of you: May your souls prosper under the abundance of rich means you enjoy: May your examples for wisdom, piety, faithfulness, love to the Lord Jesus and his Saints, provoke the next Generation to glorious things. These are the desires and hearty breathings of, My Lord and Gentlemen, Yours in any service for Christ, Hu. PETER. To my truly honourable and Faithful General Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX. SIR; ONe of the greatest comforts I have bad in this world next to the grace of God in Christ to my poor soul, hath been to be a Member of your Army, and a Spectator of his presence with you and it. What others do, I know not; but it is my duty to return to my work, and to meet you again; which I am bold to do with this simple present. I know your mind, who must not, will not be flattered; nor am I skilful in that mystery: I have seen you upon Earth, and doubt not but to meet you triumphing in Heaven. I only must crave leave to speak your own words, That your great experiences of God's power and mercy, have made strong obligation upon you to love him and the Saints, which I have seen you do impartially: you have made it your interest, and now find you are not deceived. The God of all your unparalleled mercy dwell in that thriving soul of yours, strengthen you throughout to the completing of this great Work, yea Serus in coelum redeas, diuque Laetus intersis populo Britanno. After t 〈…〉 England hath long, long enjoyed you; At length return to him, who here employed you. For myself (if it be worth your acceptance) I am resolved to live and die in your and the kingdom's service; and as you have obliged three kingdoms to you and many thousands of Saints, so none of them more to honour you then SIR, Your ever faithful servant in Christ, HUGH peter's. A Sermon preached before the Honourable Houses of PARLIAMENT, the LORD MAIOR and ALDERMEN of the City of London, and the Assembly, for the glorious success it pleased God to give our Army, in dissolving 5000 of the King's Horse, and reducing Cornwall, and near all the West. PSAL. 31. 23. Love the Lord all ye his Saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer. THe little time left for this Work, must be improved to the best advantage; and therefore though we must be beholden to the Neighbourhood of the words before and after the Text, yet we shall forbear to speak any thing at all of the whole Book of Psalms, and no more than neds of this. It is easily agreed that this Psalm is 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, 2. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 1. His Prayer you have to the twentieth Verse; and therein, 1. His desires for his own safety, to the 18. 2. His request tending to the ruin of his enemies, in the two following Verses. 2. His Praises, in the 21 and 22 Verses, which are 1. Either {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, for all. 2. Or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, for himself in special. 3. A hortatory Conclusion, in the two last Versea. O love the Lord all ye his Saints, &c. In the Text briefly th●se two things fall under consideration. 1. The Duty, Love the Lord; and that set out divers ways: By intensiveness in the Exclamation, By the Object, and by the universality of those engaged, &c. But time checks me: these, with others, I can hardly name. 2. The Arguments carrying on the Duty. 1. Because be preserveth the faithful. 2. Because be plenteously rewardeth the proud doer. Thus much only of the logic of the Text; something of the Grammar of it, and then shortly to the Divinity, and those profitable and seasonable Truths it will afford. Some few words are to be attended in the clearing the sense. Saints here in the text is or may be read, Ye that feel mercies. Faithful, the word is sometimes taken for persons, sometimes things; and so the Lord is said to preserve True men, and Truths; faithful men, and Faithfulnesses. He plenteously rewardeth the proud doer; or the Lord rewardeth plenteously: The Lord, who doth wonderful things. Plenteously is either in cumulum, abundè, or in nepotes, as some would have it; But I would rather commend, then go about to amend Translations; though I could wish some of my learned brethren's quarrelling hours were rather spent upon clearing the Originals, and so conveying 〈◊〉 pure Scripture to posterity, then in scratching others with their sharpened Pens, and making Cockpits of Pulpits. I make all haste to the work of the day; and the Verse before the Text will be like a going down into a deep Well, where we may discover Stars at noon. Mercies are best observed from depths of Misery: and set them off like foils the Diamonds. I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: or I said in my hastening, 1 Sam. 23. David was in a running posture. The Greek translates it in a trance, or ecstasy; and truly this is worth our thoughts this very day: we have had our hasty times and trances, when we thought we had been all cut off, who are now left living monuments of rich mercy. Many of us here, were even upon the wing, imbanking our Money, and hastening after it. And if you shall inquire after the rise of this temper or distemper of Spirit, how David and other Saints prove so succumbent and s●attered: I answer, It hath three springs. 1. From the Lord afflicting, who puts more weight into the Scale than we mind, and often makes a small affliction heavy: yea, they that could go over a mountain, at other times stick at a molehill: as Jacob will not be comforted about a son; as if he had neither Gen. 37. 35. a child left, nor a God. 2. From the party afflicted, and that in three cases. First, from a natural sense of pain, more than of comfort: Haman Esth. 3. is more pinched with one cross in Mordecay, then pleased with all the contents in Court, though (you know) few favourites fared better for a time: and it is but a short time the best of that generation have; poor sun-dials that are never minded in foggy and cloudy days. Secondly, from the overweening some contents, which causeth faintings to us in the losing them. My son Absalon, O my son, my son, cries David, as if heaven and earth head been wrapped up in his weighty 2 Sam. 19 4. locks. Thirdly, through inconsiderateness, and not searching the end Lam. 3. 9 of things: for the Church came down wonderfully. 3. From the pressures and afflictions themselves, and that, First, from the multitude of them: what one will not, cannot do, Psal. 38. many may. This Prophet at one time was the scorn of drunkards, suspected by the godly, abused by his own son, betrayed by his friend. Secondly, from the greatness of them, and that especially when they either fall upon an unsound part, when Job was remembered of the sin of his youth not quite healed; or upon a noble part, the soul and conscience: we know the brain, heart, and liver being touched, will soon complain. Thirdly, from the continuance of them. The Church complains, I was afflicted from my youth up. To lie so long at Bethesda, and to be bowed down eighteen years, as the poor woman in the Gospel was, will put the soul upon hastening, as David's: but all these gusts are overblown, and the Lord shines in upon him, as you see in the close of the Verse before the Text; upon which smiles of God's face, he cries out as you here see, O love the Lord all ye his Saints, &c. In which words there are many divine Conclusions: but in these narrow limits of time, I shall confine myself to One main Truth, which I conceive will be the principal Work of this day: and that will take up both Arguments used here by the Prophet to enforce the duty: and in the end I shall make bold to take up the duty to enforce my design. And therefore to lay much in a little room, this is that the Spirit of God commends unto you. The faithful have God for their preserver, whilst the proud doer by the same hand receives wages proportionable to his work. Doct. A witness or two will cast the cause. Salvation belongeth to the Psal. 3. 8. Lord, and thy blessing is upon thy people, Selab. O thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble. Jer. 14. 8. Psal. 98. 1. O sing unto the Lora a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. To which Isaiah adds, Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou Isa 26. 12. also hast wrought all our works in us. From Genesis to the Apocalypse, the Scripture gives in a general testimony to this Truth: to which we may let in some more light, by opening these three Casements. 1. Quere, When the Lord doth thus appear preserving the faithful. 2. How he doth it. 3. Why he doth it. To the first I answer, His preservation looks cut and discovers itself specially in five cases. 1. When he intends to advance his own wisdom, he than befools all the counsels of the sons of men; and his Saints shall only be engaged to him for counsel: and thus the poor man shall save the City, and thus Paphnutius shall save the council at Ephesus by the counsel of God, whose singer writ folly upon that learned Age. 2. When he intends to exalt his own power, he comes in more immediately for the Saints preserving, and proclaims to the world its own feebleness and weakness: and then J●el shall do more against Sisera then an Army of men. 3. When he glorifies his mercy; he leaves the Saints to extremities, to reach an opportunity, to lift up that attribute: and thus he leads them from Bacha to Zion, throw a Country of giants and harrennesse, where their souls even melt through thirst, and brought them to a mountain of sweet. 4. When the Lord doth purpose to awaken those gifts and graces in their cryings, in their bel●evings, in their patient wakings upon Jesus Christ, he will com● delivering: he will be sought unto by the house of Israel, and loves to hear the lispings of his little ones. Psal. 107. 6. 19 You have known some Fathers in the Country that leave their Children the other side the style, and help them over when they cry; and seeming to leave them sometimes in a throng, and then reach them the hand again upon their complaints. The Lord loves to see Faith in its adhering and assuring acts. 5. The Lord appears when deliverance may be sweetest and dearest, and that in an exigent when one glance of his eye may be worth a whole world. Who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy Psal. 136. 23. endureth for ever: And thus sickness commends health, poverty wealth, the storm a haven, and a sinful wretched world commends heaven: Oh how sweet will it be when all tears shall be wilped away, all Temptations out-wrestled, Devils, and Sin, and World, and self, all conquered, and we shall be with the Lord for ever! To the Second, which is, How the Lord preserves: I answer, Many ways; but shall only fix upon two. 1. In Order to means, 2. To Men. For the former, his greatest and most eminent preservations are by his own spirit, and therefore the two Olive Trees shall supply the Pipes and the Lamps growing on each side the Golden bowl Naturally, Zach. 4. 6. without any Artifice of man's: and that appears thus; 1. Means can do nothing without him; the streams are dry, unless the spring be full: Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and Isa. 40. 30, 31. the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings at Eagles: they shall run, and not beweary; and they shall walk and not be faint. 1. Though means gain strength, yet they can act no further than he quickens them: It was he that withered Jerobo 〈…〉 hand, and knocked off Pharaoh's wheels, and laid six hundred Iron Chariots Psal. 136. 15. under the Cataracts of his displeasure: He overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, son his mercy endureth for ever. 2. Means though quickened, yet they succeed not, nor reach their purposed ends without him: The Madianits shall sheathe their Isa. 95. 6. swords in their own bowels; their webs shall not become Garments; neither shall they cover themselves with their works. 3. The Spirit of the Lord can do what it will without means; he creates a shadow; for thou hast been a strength to the poor, a Isa. 25. 4. strength to the needy in his distress, a r●fuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall; and that appears thus; 1. Sometimes against all means; the waters shall be a wall to Israel, and they shall pass through the great deep with dry feet, and Jonah 1. 17. Jonab shall be kept from drowning in the sea by being thrown into the Sea. 2. Sometimes beyond all means: else how should one chase a thousand, and a fancy put many thousands to flight? else how should the shaking of a few leaves and the blowing of Rams-horns do such terrible executions? 3. It is the Lord that doth all that is done by means: walk about Psal. 48. 12, 13, 14. Zion, and go round about Her: tell the Towers thereof: mark ye well her Bulwarks: consider her Palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following: for this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. If you say that money answers all things, yet you must hear the Lord say, the gold is mine, your silver is mine: It is not the drug, nor the bread that doth the work, but the spirit of them both. And for the second, which is his manner of preserving in order to men, yea, destroying men, his working shows itself usually in these four particulars: 1. God oftentimes over-awes and overbears them, that Laban shall have little to say to Jacob when he overtakes him: Balaam had an opportunity and spleen enough against Israel, but durst not vent Numb. 25. 23. it, entreats Balacks' Messengers to stay all night, would fain be taking money; but there was no Incantation against Jacob, nor divination against Israel: for the Lord was with them, and the shout of a King was amongst them. Esau shall rather kiss then kill: for Jacob was a Prince, and had prevailed with God and with man; sc. had wrestled through all his fears that his brother must be his Servant, the Lord putting a bit into his mouth. 2. The Lord often takes away the occasion, that the Sons of Belial cannot attempt what they intend: If they in the Acts, which swore Paul's death, had kept their oaths, they had never kept their Acts 25. 12. lives: but he never came within their reach. Ahab sends to all places under Heaven to take Elias; but the Lord sends him away King's 1. 19 before they came. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psal. 91. 1. 3. Oftentimes the Lord stops them in their practices. Jeroboam will needs be striking the Prophet, The Lord strikes him, who is very sensible of the least touch of his anointed ones, or any harm that befalls his Prophets. 4. Lastly, The Lord works by diversion. When Saul thought he 1 Sam. 23. 27. had made sure of David, the Philistines broke in upon his country, and probably had spoiled him in the rear. And that I take to be the meaning of the cloud, Isaiah 25. 5. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. The shadow of a cloud intervening betwixt the scorching Sun and the weary Traveller in a hot country, how doth it refresh! God finds his enemy's work abroad, that his Saints may not be destroyed at home: and since the whole world and all the Princes of it are but the servants of a few Saints, he can put all into several postures for his preserving ends. To the third Quere, Why God thus preserves the Saints, I answer in these three particulars: 1. Because of his righteousness and holiness in the very dispensations of his judgements, which occasioned this large offer to the Gen. 18. 32. men of Sodom, and caused him to descend so low as ten righteous persons, yea, though they were but as righteous as Lot, who was not without strong corruptions: Who can say his hands are clean? Yet such are called righteous and faithful: They are called in my Text, even such as have candour upon their spirits; such as take up and own right principles; such as are contented in the main and in the Cause they have in hand, to have glasse-windows made to their hearts; even such as Heathens named Homines simplices & apertos: To such he sends his Angels to show his tender affection, which is better than his protection. To be faithful doth entitle us to preservation in the deluge of the greatest judgements, that our work will be only to look to duty which is ours, and leave events to God which are his. 2. God doth it for the glory of his mercy, and therefore sends Gen. 19 6. his Angels to draw forth Lingerers; and such is his tenderness, that the righteousness of one Lot binds his hands that he can do nothing till the faithful be preserved. Come my people enter, thou Isa. 26. 20. into thy chambers, and shut thy door about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, ●ntill the i●dignation be o●●rpast. When the birds of prey are abroad, the Hen calls her Chickens under her wings. When tumults are in the streets, the tender Mother gets her Children into the upper chambers. 3. Through his wise faithfulness, or faithful wisdom, the Lord doth thus by his Saints, and therefore he saves every crumb. Nothing John 6▪ 1●. must be lost; the Lord knows what to do with crumbs and fragments, and the saving of what was left, must make the miracle: If there be but a cluster, the branch must not be cut down. The Prophet is elegant; Thus ●aith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the chester, and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for my Isai. 65. servant's sake, that I may not destroy them all. I believe a few clusters in the world have preserved such new wine in them, that this day we taste the blessing. Do not destroy the poor cluster therefore, much less destroy it because there's new wine in it, ●ill you see whether a blessing be with it. Not a child of Abraham's burr shall be blessed: It is an old Charter of Gen. 12. 2, 3. a promise. And hence it came to pass, that he preserved the very off-scourings of the world, to carry forth his Name to the world, and maintain that which men call foolishness, to bring wisdom to them that knew it not. And thus far I have made progress in the clearing up the former part of that Truth I am to prosecute, and hope by this time we are all agreed, when, and how, and why the Lord preserved the faithful; and that he plenteously rewardeth the proud doers, remains to be made good: Therefore, not to make forfeiture of your patience, I shall only apply myself to these two passages: 1. W 〈…〉 the Lord rewardeth them. 2. How he doth it. The former of these two Questions hath taken up the heads, hearts, and pens of the Christian world for divers years: many crying with those in the Revelation, How long, O Lord holy and true, dost Rev, 6, 10. thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Some enquiring after the downfall of Antichrist: some looking to the prophecies that concern Gog and Magog, some casting their eve upon the drying up of Euphrates, and the way to be made for the Kings of the East: some looking after the taking away him that lette●●, and most men disputing the ●●ying of the two Witnesses; as much conduing to God's design in bringing about what is piomised in the second and seventh of Daniel, where the kingdom is promised to the Saints of the most High; supposing that to be the fifth Monarchy: In all which I shall be silent for the present, and only put you in mind of their usual seasons, wherein we may expect to see proud doers receiving their wages. 1. When the Lord goes his progress through the world, and rides his circuit amongst the sons of men, and puts a crown upon his glory, great offenders are then brought forth; and that was Pharaoh's case, who withstood all the miracles, that God might be more glorious in his downfall. And thus he contracts many times the eyes of neighbouring Nations to see his vengeance upon some: And Isai 26. 21 he is said to come out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. 2. When ever you see his Sanctuary trodden upon, and holiness slighted, than he rends the Heavens and comes down to make his Name known to his adversaries; that the Nations may tremble at Isa. 63. 18. & 64. 2. Zach. 1●. 8. his presence: and that it was that brought the Lord forth to the ruin of the Jewish Church: Your soul abhorred me, and my soul loathed you. Hence he destroyed three shepherds in one day, the Sadducees, Scribes, and Pharisees: upon this he breaks his two staves of beauty and bonds: Oh this undervaluing godliness in the power of it! They were wont to say of Caius Seius, he was an honest man, but he was a Christian. Poor Jews, when Christ ask● his price, they valued him at thirty pieces of silver, which in our account amounts to eighteen shillings and four pence: and this was that which bought a field of blood: To slight that mercy that must save, and shut the door of that only city of Refuge that must protect Acts 4. 12. from the pursuers of blood: to put indignities upon that Christ, and injuries upon that Jesus by whose Name only salvation is brought into the world. The Lord hath set his Son upon his holy Hill, Psal. 2. and will crush those that have scorned him. 3. When sinful men shall have filled up their iniquities, the Lord empties his full vials upon their heads, that even the Saints must Gen. 15. 16. wait upon the sins of the Amo●●tes for the fullness of them, till they can be delivered: Let us observe the Scripture, setting forth this fullness; and it will give us a 〈…〉 ling of God● 〈…〉 ing with the proud doers in order to time; and that in these particulars: 1. There is a fullness of magnitude when provocations grow very Joel 3. 13. great. Clamitat ad Coelum vox sanguinis, & Sodomorum. 2. There is a fullness of number and multitude: blood toucheth Ezek. 7. 23 blood, and sins are fruitful in their generations. 3. A fullness of measure: that Children may fill up the measures Mat. 23. 23 of their father's iniquity. 4. There is a fullness of strength: when the sinner grows strong, Ier. 3. Ezek. 22. 6. and hath Cart-rop●● to draw on vanity: Behold the Princes of Israel, every one was in you to their power to shed blood; when head, and heart, and hand are engaged in mischief; when all interests are improved to that end. 5. There is a fullness of growth: and now they sin more and more: Hosea 13. 2, 3. 2 Tim. 3. 13. therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away: as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. 6. A fullness of age, when men grow old in sin: Behold every one that useth proverbs, shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the Mother, so is her Daughter: and thus sinners grow grey in Ezek. 16. 43. their transgressions: yea, sin must leave them before they leave it. 7. There is a fullness of Dexterity: there be some that be their Ier. 42. crafts-masters in sinning, who can spin threads of all sorts: you have your Court sins; city, country, University sins: men take their degrees in this sin-craft; they have their several dimensions, depths, and bredths. 8. A fullness also there is of impudence, when men cannot blush; Ier. 3. 3. commit folly, and yet wipe their mouths with Solomon's harlot: thus, often sin meets you with a brazen forehead: it takes the wall of Christ, and Religion, and thrusts holiness into the kennel: This is that boldfaced harlot, that doth kiss and kill at once: and Zeph. 3. 5. these are the men that call great sins little, and little ones none at all. 9 When sin comes to a full period; and than the proud doer hath Psal. 7. 9 done his work, and receives his wages: O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but stablish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and rain. The second Qu●re is, How God rewardeth the proud doer: in which though the Lord's proceedings be divers, and many times his paths in the clouds, and his judgements in the deep, and the uttermost farthing shall be paid the proud doer at the great day; yet so much of his mind he hath left unto us, that even in this life he gives out something to the proud, which he calls, The day of recompense, which he commonly manifests in these particulars. 1. By way of Retaliation; for Adoni-bezek that would be cutting Iudg. 〈◊〉, 7. off thumbs, had his thumbs cut off, Satia te sanguine quem sitisti. So the poor Jews that cried so loud, crucify him, crucify him, were so many of them crucified, that if you believe Josephus, there was not wood enough to make crosses, nor in the usual place room enough to set up the crosses when they were made. Snares are made, and pits are digged by the proud for themselves commonly; to which the Scripture throughout gives abundant testimony. Psal. 57 6 2. By shameful disappointments, seldom rea 〈…〉 〈…〉 hat they sow, 〈◊〉 eating what they catch in hunting: which is ●ost clear in the Jewish State when Christ was amongst them: Jud●s betrays him to get money, and hardly lived long enough to spend it. Pilot to please Caesar, withstands all counfels against it, and gives way to that murder; by which he ruined both himself and Caesar. The Jewish Priests, to maintain their domination and honour (which they thought the son of Joseph and Mary stole from them) cried loud for his death; which proved a Sepulchre to them and their glory: And the poor people that crucified him (through fear of the Roman● taking their City) by his death had their gates opened to the Roman●: yea, Caesar himself fearing a great change in his Gov●rnment, by Christ living near him (which to this day set● all the kingcraft in the world to work) met such a change, that shortly he had neither Crown nor sceptre to boast of, if you read the story of Titus and V●spasian. All which dealings of God with the proud, is most elegantly set forth unto us by the Psalmist: Behold, Psal. 7. 14. 15. he traveleth with i●●quity, and hath 〈…〉 ived mischief, and brought ●orth fals●●●●. He hath made a pit and digged it, and it fallen into the ditch which ●e made. Where the Prophet by the dark and hidden work● of Nature, sets forth the Con●●●vements and Machinations of the proud doers most exquisitely, and that in these three passages: First, in the Co●ception. Secondly, in the travel. Thirdly, in the Birth and Issue. And the first will appear in these four particulars: 1. Invention receives and entertains the plot, as the earth doth the seed. Pharaoh says, Let us deal wisely. They cannot sleep till they have devised mischief. The head is the seat and womb of their destructive conceptions. 2. It is approved of and affected: he is chronicled for a Worthy, and canonised for a Saint, that proves the Engineer. Rare designs, pick and choose, not knowing which to attempt first. 3. Consultations ripen their inventions, and lick the whelp into shape, and fashion it into its several parts: and thus did Haman and Jezabel; and all your under-ground-workers have thus managed their designs. 4. It 〈◊〉 〈…〉 me to strength which is wrought by resolution: so they in th' 〈…〉 〈◊〉 took an oath to kill Paul. So that by invention evil purposes are received; by approbation, cherished; by consultation, fashioned; Acts 25. and by resolution go to their full time and are ripened for travel. This travel may be discovered in these four particulars: 1. When their months are up, travel cannot be prevented by tears nor prayers, petitions nor requests; nay, nor by the power of an Army can be prevented: if all the Lords of England and Commons, should again ride down to York, or elsewhere, and remain upon their bended bare knees a whole day, they should not be able to put by some design●●. Pilat's wife did her duty, but could not prevent the mischiefs Gamaliel's counsel was good, and yet the Apostles were brought to the Whipping-post. Needs must they go, whom the devil drives. 2. Extreme throws and pangs must be undergone. Amnon is sick of Incest, Ahab of covetousness; he must have a poor man's vineyard. Little doth a poor shrub in a hedge know what shakings these proud Cedars are subject to: the silent rivulet feels not what the high-swollen Ocean meets with from many churlish blasts. Oh the sad nights and hours these Nero's draw forth! 3. The best succour and supply must be got: send to As●ur and Egypt, Amalek and Ammon, with all that dwell at Tyre, to midwife the matter: yea, if all fail, Acheronta movebunt. Yea, even to an Irish rebel rather than miscarry. Herod and Pilate shall shake hands, and help on the foulest murder that ever the Sun shone upon, or the earth bore. If no delivery, nothing but death must be expected; which is a true character of the violence and virulence of cruel men, who break themselves, yea, the very axletree of a whole Kingdom, yea, three Kingdoms, that so others may perish in the fall. Achitophel dies in childbed, when he could not be delivered of that David and State-ruining design. How many crowns and kingdoms have been thus hazarded, to foment the will of a distempered Prince? And truly there be no sharper stones in the world for men to fall upon, than the Saints, from whom all the States under heaven have had their death's wounds (as you lately heard well in the Interest of England.) And thus far the Conception and Travel; and now briefly to the third thing, which is the Birth and Issue: all is falsehood and a lie. Parturiunt montes, nascetur &c. The whole work is but a Tympany or a swollen Bladder, which being pinched, and the wind vented, is a very mean contemptible thing, and only fit for a dunghill. And such are these Cobweb Lawncounsels and Tiffany-designes, that every child may see through; yet called Arcana Imperii; the utmost of which is but killing a few Saints, and tyrannising and perishing. Nay, let us say, All they can do, it is but wittingly sending the faithful to their graves, and unwittingly to their glory. What pitiful misshapen brats have the proudest of men's brains brought forth in Scripture? What fearful horrid lies? Haman says, Not a Jew shall live: the issue is, Not a Jew must die. Pharaoh says, Not an Israelite shall depart: the issue is, Not an Israelite must stay: Daniel in the Den, and the three Nobles in the Fire, gave the lie to cruelty itself: and she that sat in glory, and should never be a widow, was made the scorn of Nations: Babylon is fallen, is fallen. And now (men, brethren, and fathers) it will be time to apply our ●●●ves to this day's work. (Anglia) de te narrantur haec. You Saints, you faithful ones, you that have and do feel mercies, that wear mercies clothes, lie in mercy's bed, eat mercy's bread, live in mercy's air, enjoy mercies Ordinances: of whom and to whom I may say as they did of Dorcas when they thought her dead, Acts 9 These are the Garments Dorc●● made. Th●se are the fruits of mercy; these be the paths mercy hath strewed with flowers and sweets; mercies, deliverances, protections, preservations: it is all mercy, mercy, free-mercy. More particularly let us now look back upon what hath been spoken as our own, God having made it so; and call these days by their due and just names: these certainly are the best times we ever saw, we commonly miscall them: Those former days we doa●ed on were none of the best; they were a sad seedtime of our misery: for most true it is, that the seeds of the ruins of estates and commonwealths are sown in the days of their greatest prosperity; and of these Halcy●n-times, we might say, — Longae pacis patimur mala, saevior army Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem. We could never have suffered so much by a foreign enemy, as by our homebred luxury and wantonness: Oh call these ill times, when a base messenger from a proud Prelate could shut up these doors, stop the mouths of the most godly Ministers, that the best nobleman here could not enjoy the worship of God freely; and hardly his Bible without reproach: I am bold to say you have heard more of Christ within these last four years, than you have for forty before; call such days good: And more especially to improve what I have spoken in the doctrinal part; truly the Lord hath rightly timed his favours, even when he might most advance his own wisdom, power and mercy; when he might stir up his gifts and graces in you: if the enemy ask after our Prayers, Fasts, Tears, yea, our God (as they were wont to do) we have all these this day from Edge-hill, and before, even to this very hoar; yea, all these preservations have been so seasonable, that what time we ourselves would have chosen, hath been God's time; that we may say as David in this Psalm, Our times have been in thy hands, O Lord. And I humbly beseech you, give the Spirit of the Lord its praise, who hath done the work. The Lord is willing you should have the mercy, so he may have the praise. Potiphar lets Joseph h●●e the use of all he hath, only keep● his wife to himself: Pharaoh lets him have the Kingdom, but he will keep the Throne. God's Spirit hath so appeared, as we conclude means can do nothing without him, but he can do all without means; and what means doth, is all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be it is that hath quickened and succeeded your counsels and executions; he hath even gone against 〈◊〉, and beyond means for you; he it is who hath spirited all your endeavours, in Counsels and Armies, raised help for you out of the very dust, external motive he hath none from us, who are not the loveliest people in the world; he hath from himself over a w●d men, poured contempt upon Princes, taking away the occasions of many evils; met the proud in their full career, and withered their arm; often kept them from us by strange diversions, filled the world with tumults, that you might not be a prey to strangers. On the riches of his grace. His own righteousness and holiness have thus persuaded him to do; the glory of his mercy hath been his argument; his wisdom and faithfulness have been glorious in preserving crumbs and clusters. The very Truths now professed, have been raked up in contemptible ashes, and now revealed to the world; Psal. 107. ult. and they that are wise, shall see the loving kindness of the Lord in all. For the proud doer (so called, because a contemner of the faithful) you see how the Lord hath resisted him, and hath taken him (in his month) as the wild ass in Job; you may remember how the Egyptian King outlived many miracles, but must perish in the Red-sea; whether Red from the sand thereof, or the blood of many he spilt, I will not dispute. You know how the Lord hath been provoked by the low price set upon his holiness, and his image in his Saints, the peculiar sin of this Nation; for travel where you will, even from hence to the Garamants you shall never find but the Z●lots in other parts of the world are honoured, only in England, Ludibrium vulgo; It hath long been a crime to be godly, and he hath been a lost man that trades that way, whilst a company of obsolete and beggarly rudiments and ceremonies have been billeted upon God's ordinances, and eat out the very heart of them; double Service, and no Preaching. Nay you have lived to see iniquity in the fullness of it, Oaths and blasphemies unparalleled; yea, when one of our Troopers reproved one of theirs in Cornwall for swearing, he was answered by that profane mouth, He would swear as long as he was on horseback, he should have time enough to repent on foot; nay, they would serve the Devil now, that he might use them kindly when they came to hell: the very sun might even blush, looking upon such mise●●ants. Of this fullness you have seen the magnitude, multitude, measure, strength, age, growth, d 〈…〉 ity, imp●dence; and the good God grant we may see the period. How the Lord hath paid them in their own coin, you have many witnesses: They would have war, they have it the sword must decide the controve●sie; let God, Angels and men give the verdict, and let it be carried down to after-ages, that God plenteously rewardeth the proud doer, or that a Parliament and faithful council to a State may live in the midst of the fury of an implacable Prince and his ●a●e wigs. Add this, that you have been ear and eye witnesses of the pr●ud men's disappointments after all their labour and travels; their inventions have been many for mischief, which have been cherified by affection, formed by consultations and Juncto●, and made ready for birth by many resolutions which have held as high as Brainford; what inland and foreign conceptions of this kind have we met with? Plot upon Plot, design upon design. Speak London, hath it not been so? Let us now remember, the time of travelling could not be prevented; Petition sent after Petition, Declaration after Declaration; nothing must prevail, but the acceptance of such a remedy as would prove worse than the disease: And then before the birth, what throws and pai 〈…〉? Send to Denmark, run to Holland, fly to France, Curse Digby, imprison Hamilton, &c. and then all help is called in for midwifry, entreat friends here and there, pawn jewels, break and close with Irish even in a breath; any thing for help; hazard posterity, ingagein marriage, and as she did, roar out, Give me a child or I●dle and that miscarriage we are this day to praise God for, and wonder at. The sum total of all these endeavours of the proud comes to nothing but vanity and emptiness, all these conclusions vanish into a li●: the Parliament is not destroyed, the City stands, the Gospel is preached; we do not yet hear the scretches of deflowered damosels, nor the cries of abused matrons, we hear not the rattling of their arms, nor the neighing of their horses in our streets. Oh, my Lords, you are not at Oxford, led up and down as Samps●n, to be looked at by children, nor are you crying as poor Belifalius, Date obolum Belisario, date obolum! Nor you Gentlemen of the other House, crying at a prison grate to some merciful man for a penny; Nor you, my Lord Major and your Brethren, under a great ransom for your freedom; Nor You, that your Teachers are forced from you, but you can yet look upon them: And you (my reverend Brethren) who have been part of the divided spoil, you feel that mercy that gives them a loud lie. But to raise the groundwork of our praises, (Right honourable and beloved,) let us a little go back, and suppose that some Messenger were come from Bristol when we lost it, or suppose you had Jobs messengers one after another, and every one crying— Luxuriat Britano sanguine pinguis humus. Suppose you were again hearing the story of that sad March out of that City, with the breach of all Articles (which they are not used unto from us) and think yourselves sitting (as old Eli) in expectation of tidings from the Army, and what befell us in Cornwall in 1644 were now brought unto you: Or if not so far back, say that now you were reading the Letters from poor Leicester, taken, plundered, abused beyond precedent: what do you now think of this day's mercy? Do you believe what you enjoy to be real, or are you in a dream? Remember, I beseech you, it is not above a year since, when we had thought to have hung our harps upon willow trees in some strange countries under some strange prints, and there might have been called unto for our-English song●; Alas, how would they have been mingled with tears, sighs, and groans. They say, he that in a dark night came over a high bridge only upon a slight board lying cross, coming the next day to look upon his deliverance, could not bear the weight of the mercy, but Rochester. Bridge. died away in the contemplation. The good God give us skill to manage what we do enjoy, left our preservation be but a reservation of us to greater calamity. But because Generals may either deceive, or at least not reach Individuals: I shall take leave to present unto you a List of some special prints of providence, which like floodgates opened, may turn every wheel about to the duty of the day: I shall but name some, your own collection may swell these to a mountain of praises. A List of special Providences since the breaking out of these Distempers: which may provoke others to make up the Catalogue. 1 THat this Nation proved so faithful to our Brethren of Scotland, in the time of their first trouble from the Prelates; 〈◊〉, th●● the profanest 〈◊〉 souldi 〈…〉 had no heart to that service; And to th' 〈…〉 I might ●dd● their dis 〈…〉 t and honourable coming in and going out: the same good Spirit of God direct them still. 2 That a Parliament was procured: which makes me remember the faithfulness● of● and the haz●rds run by our noble Lords, Comment, Citizens, and Ministers. 3 That, even to wonder, Justice was done upon that great man, and carried through so many difficulties. 4 That the Bishops thrust themselves out by their own Protestation or Remonstrance. 5 That the six Members of Parliament were preserved. 6 That this City stood in that firmness, with so much freeness, that the Apprentices and their gallantry will be renowned to after ages. 7 That the Sea 〈…〉, who have long been tertible to foreign natio 〈…〉 should close a● they did; And that the ships royal were 〈◊〉 in that nick of time, for which the State owes much to that Noble man which did it: to which I add, the sea-mens' cordial appearing above the Bridge. 8 A That 〈◊〉 Nobles 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ook the leading of your Armies, and Earl of Essex, &c. to look the first danger● in the face; The good Lord requite it to them fully. 9 money and Plat●, the sin●wa of your work, offered to admiration, as if every one had been persuaded of the time when to part with 〈◊〉. 10 The standing out of Hull, which compared with some other passages, might make some think we are delivered against ou● wills. 11 The discovery of men, and their spirits, together with the departure of some from us. 12 That in all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this 〈◊〉 all sorts amongst u● have and must confess, they never saw more of God and less of man, as if he resolved to own your cause. 13 The maintaining and relieving. Gloucester, and when there was little show of an army, yet marched in six days' time, when the other party could hardly expect them in six months; and than it was when our hearts even melted away. 14 C 〈…〉 cannot, may not be forgotten, it was a most seasonable mercy, if you remember all circumstances about it. 15 The enemy bewildered and divided in their counsels, falling short of their hopes, especially when they might have come to London, they went to Gloucester, when they might have gone into the associated Counties, they will fight at Marston, Naseby, and others the like. 16 The business of that great Northern battle, full of providences, and rich ones. 17 Their disappointments by Intelligence, or rather the want of it, many. 18 The new Modelling of the Army, and the filling up vacant places in the house of Commons, two desperate designs, drawing eyes round about us upon this Nation even to amazement; by which work I would wish no chief Commander should think himself slighted or aspersed, but eye that change as the Product of unhappy mixtures of some inferior Officers; they that know the Low-Country war, may know how tender they are in mixing Nations, and how Brigades are distinguished: civil war is never soon ended by soldiers of Fortune, and I must here profess without flattery, I know none of your Commanders in chief, but have had their proper Excellencies. 19 Lime and Plymouth deserve a story by themselves, who so looks upon their works, and remembers the power besieging them, must say, Digitus Dei & hic, & hic, it were pity the instruments preserving them should be forgotten. 20 The many things that rendered your last Army so contemptible: the evil spirits about this town scorned them, as poor, skilless, helpless, beardless youths, their friends trembled and feared to think what God would do by them, hardly three strangers in place in the whole army, homebred, new-bred soldiers; like the choice of David from his sheep, in comparison of Eliah, A●inedab and Shammah. 21 Poor, burnt, afflicted Taunion, twice or thrice relieved, and that the first work of the year. 22 The King's Letters from Goring taken by the great care of our honest and vigilant Scout Watson, the night before Naseby battle, whereby the King was wholly dissuaded from sighting with us then. 23 Lieu. Gen. Cromwell, and Col. Roffiter coming in so seasonably to that battle: I say seasonably. 24 Providence gave us the King's Cabinet, and thereby opened many eyes that before were covered. 25 Since which this Army was never foiled, hardly a Guard beat up all this year: no enchantment against Jacob, &c. 26 The counsel of God leading the Army to Bristol, when it was expected by most we should have gone to the West, and the western line so well kept in that juncture, it was glorious mercy. 27 That all the last summer, when Bristol had near 200 a week died when we entered, all the country about infected with the plague, our principal Officers, even the Lieu. Gen. himself and other● lying within the hearing of their gronts, yet upon best inquisition, we can hear but of two of the whole Army infected all the year. 28 And mercy it is, that in the Army there hath been no breath, that (through Grace) Religion grows there, and grows apacet yea, this is your safety, that what is desired in the Parliament by the most faithful, is there consulted and acted, as God gives opportunity. 29 The Lord hath made this Army often more than conquerors: the Roman conquerors rode boasting in their triumphant chariots; here no boasters. 30 God hath often extorted confessions from the Enemy, that some have been forced with Juliun to cry out, Vicisti Galil●●. 31 Providence carried out Army the other side Exeter even by the sickness in it, and barrenness of our quarters, and the Enemies advance toward us: where how the Lord helped at Dartmouth, stormed without loss, and in other places, is fresh in memory. 32 Their debau 〈…〉 ery in all places made way for our welcome, that if the cause should be judged by their instruments, a very stranger must pass a sad verdict upon it. 33 Such horror possessed them everywhere in pursuit of them at great distances, that the Lord seemed to send a hornet before us, and, Magor●issabi●, they were a terror to themselves; and this is remarkable, that after they had fel● our Horse or Foot, they had no list to close with u● again, though they took much time to recruit their spirits. 34 The work of a Summer hath been done this Winter: where I learned this lesson, That faithful honest English Christians, assisted from Heaven, can do, and suffer more than the most gallant heathen Roman: What mountains of Snow and Ice have been Marched over this winter; what Rains and Winds have been gone through, even to silence the Posting Hannibals, or Cunctating Fabii? 35 All the enemy's actions and counsels have turned to our advantage, and we have been gainers by our losses generally: As in the loss of Bristol, we found the way to it by the loss, at first view we saw it was not tenable with so little force, which easily acquits that wise and valiant Gentleman that surrendered it. Yea, their idol Princes God hath made useful to us many ways, by sleeping when they should fight, and fighting when it had been better they had slept. 36 That in all the harrased and plundered Countries God hath fed your Army, and at Dartmouth fish brought in to us from the sea to miracle, the Country acknowledging that generally we have been welcome where we came, many with tears have parted with us at their doors. 37 The influence the Justice of the Army hath had upon all forts, most observable: For instance, when the Lieut. General had taken Langford house, and promised safe convoy to the Enemy to Oxford, six of our troopers broke the articles, and in the convoy took four or five pound from some of them, for which one was presently to be shot, and the lot fell upon the first attempter, who was put to death, and I hope is in heaven, being godly, as far as could be discerned; the other five were sent to the governor of Oxford, to put to what death he pleased, who entertained them nobly, sent them back, and desired their lives, and professed in his letter (which I read) it was the highest piece of gallantry he had met with, &c. This very act with the many civilities of the Army, hath been very conquering. Justice exalteth a Nation, Et Caesar in hoste probat. Call to any County, and ask what wrong your Army hath done them? have you any scrolls of complaints come up against them? 38 And (which is much to be remembered this day) all Cornwall, upon the matter, is yours without blood, and 5000 horse with their riders disbanded: and as if this were not enough, Ashley rai 〈…〉ng a new force is crushed in the egg. 39 And this is worth noting; that the inhumanity our former Army met with in Cornwall, was requited by the Turk fetching away many from Foy, near two hundred, and divers taken away by sickness at Lestithiel, that had abused our poor soldiers. 40 Nor is it a little, that all the Nations round about us should be engaged in war; and whilst they hoped this Civil combustion might so weaken us, that it would not have been hard for them to fall upon the stronger party, the Lord hath made us warlike, awaked us throughly out of our effeminacy, and we are become formidable to our neighbours: Especially remember Denmark. 41 Hereunto I add, what was not thought on in the appointment of this Day, being the second of April: The second of April last year, this Army advanced, and was the first day of entertainment. They say, it is April, ●b aperiendo, from opening the Earth: the Lord then opened a way to your deliverance: the same hand open your hearts now to praises and thankfulness. 42 Hereunto I might add the Cities sweet compliance with the Parliament; yea, what oil the footsteps of God have dropped within the walls of the Parliament houses; what providences and blessed hints in your Militia, and common-council, what in your Assembly, is better known to yourselves then me: and what in the North and other parts, I might even tire you with the repetitions of what you have felt and tasted from the hands of mercy. You have done like yourselves, to constitute Chronologers; and you need have good testimonies, for Ages to come will look upon many passages a● incredible, and I believe the year 45 will stand parallel with 88 In a word, You have the Army you wished for, and the Successes you desired: Oh the blessed change we see, that can travel now from Edinburgh, to the lands end in Cornwall, who not long since were blocked up at our doors! To see the highways occupied again; to hear the Carter whistling to his toiling team; to see the weekly Carrier attend his constant mart; to see the hills rejoicing, the valleys laughing! Nay, methinks I see Germany lifting up her lumpish shoulder, and the thin-backed Palatinate looking out a prisoner of hope; Ireland breathing again, that not only lay bedrid, but the pulse beating deathward: the overawed French Peasant studying his long lost liberty, the Netherlanders looking back upon their neighbouring England, who cemented their walls with their blood, and bought their freedom with many, many thousands of good old Elizabeth shillings: Indeed, methinks, all Protestant Europe seems to get new colour in her cheeks. Dumb rhetoric is best; I could even stand silent, and give you time to wonder. And this God is your God, and I trust will be your guide for ever. I could name men, but cannot read one word that way in my Commission from the Army, who like the covered stalls in your chief street of this city, are willing to bear the rich Plate, but themselves must be vailed: else I could tell you of Men, yea such, as if you had a Blank sent from Heaven, and leave given to have written what names you would have had of men for your work, you could not have amended your choice, (rebus sic stantibus) Heraldry did not miscarry, that hath this word for your Chief, in his Coat of Honour: Fare, Fac. Sir Tho. Fairfax his Motto. Say, do. I might add your Cromwell, with many others, and know not how to forget our dear Pickering, who had as much worth in him, as such a parcel of clay could well contain, and never left his work till he was called to his account: But I forbear Men; The LORD hath preserved the faithful, and plenteously rewarded the proud doer. And now it will be seasonable to improve what we have said: These things are your Honour, let not your Duty seem a burden: O love the Lord, ye his Saints, and ye that feel mercy. And so I pass in the last place to the first words of my text, which will be the reverse, or the other side of our present business: As if the Lord should say, Thus and thus I have done for you, You have seen the glance of my eye, you have seen the smiles of my face, what could you desire more that I have not done for you? You did but knock and it was opened; you sought, and found, asked, and had: Go every stage of your latter pilgrimage, and tell me if you may not set up a pillar and write upon it, Thus far God hath helped us? Are not the faithful preserved, and the proud doer rewarded? have any of you lost your labour, in trusting me and my providence? have you not the fulfilling of many prophecies, and might you not draw forth more, had you more faith? Is there any Nobleman here, but hath been honourable by me, or can he repent of his owning my truth 〈…〉 ath his faithfulness proved a burden to him? Speak Parliament, City, ministry, have I not done well by You? And methinks I hear you echoing again; Lord, what wouldst thou have from thy servants? And I hope you stand as Samuel, Lord speak, thy servant bears! or as Saul, after Paul, Lord, what wouldest thou I should do? Yea, as he said, Da quod jubes, & jube quid vis. David lets you know God's mind,— O love the Lord ye his Saints! And truly it is one of the hardest skills in the world, to use mercy well: I remember the old spirit of the Jews, I wish we had never felt it; In sad hours they would ever be making great promises, and in prosperity they would soon make new gods. Beloved, I beseech you consider this short duty, Love the Lord. I will but use a few arguments, and then open your duty in the duty, and end all. 1. I pray consider (good Christians) how the Lord hath loved you; you could never hate him so much, as he hath loved you; Ioh. 3. 16. He loved you enemies, traitors, He loved you unkind to him, and cruel to your own souls; nay so, as he is willing to take the devil's leaving●, when sin and satan had taken the use of your best strength and time, yet he loves, woes and waits: yea when you have been proud and scornful, when he had besieged and beleaguered you with love, and were loath to hang out the white flag, he offers propositions still: O love the Lord. 2. See if any God be like unto him of all the gods, and can do such wonders at he hath done: You remember what Saul said to Psal. 48. ult. David's men in his case; If the son of Jesse can give you orchards and vineyards, as I can do, then follow him. If all the Gods of the world can do for you what he hath done, can pardon sin by giving his Son, can heal your souls, and save them after all, Follow them. Joshua struck home in that last speech of his, I have delivered the Ammonites, Hit●ites, &c. into your hand; I have sent a horns before Josh. 25. 12, 13, 14, 15. you, which drove them out before you, even the two Kings of the Ammoni 〈…〉 s, &c. I have given you a hand for which you did not lab〈…〉, 〈◊〉. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away the Gods your fathers served on the other side the flood, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil to serve the Lord, then choose whether you will serve the gods on the other side the flood, or the Gods of the Ammonites: but as for me and my house I will serve the Lord. Apply it to yourselves and give me leave again to say, therefore O love the Lord, ye that feel mercy. 3. You may be assured, without love, neither what you are, nor what you do shall please him, nay this whole day's work will prove but a mockage, Love will carry all home to heaven and gain acceptance. Hear what Christ says: Thou hast ravished me (my Cant. 4. 9 sister, my spouse) with one of thy eyes, and that was the eye of love. I have many times thought of that of the Apostle, giving so much to love, even putting all upon love: Yea, though I gave my body to be 1 Cor. 13. burnt, and had not love, &c. yea preferring it (in some cases) to faith; truly it is worth your noting: the sum of all, is, Nothing will pass without Love, it is your ticket to pass into Heaven by. They cry, Wepreacht in thy name: But where's your pass, did you do it in love to me? We cast out devils: but was it in love, &c. Ah, (my beloved and honoured in the Lord) we have prayed, wept, fasted, feasted, fought, counselled, &c. but were all these in love to the Lord Jesus? I am bold to say to my learned brethren, that they shall find it the distinguishing character in their soul-trade. I have seen this year some of the Enemy before a council of war, and some of our own Officers, upon some offence: I have known both pardoned, but here lies the difference; the enemy pardoned is gone, his pardon was all he looked for; but the other mourning, what will this pardon do me good, if I should leave this Army, from which I know not how to live cheerfully? It matters not for my lands (Says poor Mephibosheth) but I shall live in David's presence and see his face. Love makes way to the bosom of Christ incontinently, and lays the soul in a bed of roses. It is in all the world like Benjamin to Joseph, if you bring Benjamin, come and welcome, I else look upon you but as Spies. If this day all your graces were met to make a glorious flame that might reach heaven; you shall find Love must do two things, it must put beauty upon all, and perfume all. Therefore, O love the Lord, ye his Saints. 4. Let this prevail; that mountains of gold and silver are not desired, nor fat bullocks and rams, but only an affection, Love the Lord. If he had desired some greater thing of you, (as Naaman's servants said) would you not have done it? Indeed you cannot bestow it better, nor is there any object you call good can so justly claim it, bestow this where you will else, you shall find the object mortal, short-breathed, and short-lived; alas, what waking dreams are honour, beauty, friends, & c? Nay, you shall find it non-satisfactory, all the excellencies under the sun leave the soul to complaints of vanity and vexing; and lastly, you shall find it but partially, not universally good. Why will you lay out your money Isa. 55. 2. for that which is not bread? all these things will but prove gravel under your teeth. When David had reckoned mercies not Psal. 18. 1. a few, he says upon the total, I will love thee dearly, O Lord my strength. I beseech you, bethink yourselves this day, what less can you do, then kiss the hand that hath preserved you? Love climbs after more union with the object: would you not be nearer to him, who hath made such approaches and addresses to you, that who so beholds not with wonder and joy, is either stupid, or envious? Therefore, O love the Lord, ye his Saints. 5. Love is an obliging affection, and draws forth much of God continually to the creature: when the Lord by his servant Moses charged that people to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and all their might, he will fill up all the rest with heaps of promises of what he would do for them, enemies of all sorts should be subdued, mercies of all kinds should be brought in, deliverances, preservations, protections, illuminations, and what not? Hosea seems to delight to particularize the jointure God's people shall have in this case. And it shall come to pass that I will hear, saith the Hos. 2. 21, 22, 23. Lord; I will hear the heavens, and they shall bear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall bear Jezreel, and I will sow her unto me on the earth, and I will have mercy on them that had not obtained mercy, and I will say unto them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. And if that be too little, I will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his root as Lebanon, his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon, they that dwell under his shadow, shall return, &c. Nothing can greaten a Nation as this, nothing can maintain what you have gotten but this, and you will find, Non minor est virtus quam querere, parta tueri. Therefore, O love the Lord, ye that feel mercy. 6. You shall find that this is a strong and powerful (I was about to say omnipotent) affection. Much water cannot quench love, it is strong as the grave. If Paul would give an account of some undertakings, he will tell you love carries constraint with it, it lessens difficulties, answers hard questions, removes impediments, overpowers fears, cares, doubts, dangers, makes wash-way of all. Upon this the Apostle throws the gauntlet of famine, want, persecution, principalities, powers above, beneath; nay, it will wait and serve in heats and colds, as Jacob for Rachel. I must profess (Excellent Senators) I know not how you will continue your wearying, toiling, incessant travels, but by this cordial; it is this only can oil your wheels, and cheer your hearts, pay you your wages after all expenses of time, estates, spirits. If a stranger should look upon your travels, the bread of carefulness you eat, your early risings, long sittings, late goings to bed; can you give account of any thing, but, That you love? Truly, I know nothing so heavy but love can lift, nothing so high but it can reach, nothing so deep but it can fathom. Love to this Cause, I would rather say to this God, hath quieted your Army often, drawn out the deepest blood of many, emptied the purses of the rich, drawn forth the tears of the poor, and their sighs to heaven, when they could do no more. Union with God, the end of this love, is the issue of all our labours. Therefore, O love the Lord, ye that feel mercy. But you may ask wherein it consists, or how would I desire this affection should be manifested? I answer, 1. There is a love in imitation; and indeed, those we love most, we make our copies to write after. Then he pleased to mind the Text again, He preserveth the faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer: there is your pattern, imitation calls upon you to preserve the faithful, & to reward the proud doer. And these two look like the main interests of this State: the former, a reverend brother, under that name, Mr. Tho. Goodwin, in a Sermon so called. hath commended unto you worthily, I am bold to add the latter to it. For if you hear politicians abroad what they say, even Roan to Richlien, they tell us of this double interest, (which some think expired with Queen 〈◊〉) viz. that we should have continued the patrons of the Protestant cause, as the King of Spain of the Catholic, and so have preserved the faithful, which Germany and Rochel would have thanked us for. And secondly, We should have rewarded the proud, i. e. kept our war at a distance even where she left us engaged, and by this time (it may be) we might have dried up E●●phra●es, I mean, possessed the whole West-Indies, which with little time and help from these parts, may b● accomplished: The words that follow in that Treatise, are, That England is a great Animal, and cannot be destroyed but by itself; which injury we are still as likely to put upon ourselves as any people in the world. One Chapter in Amos hath bred me some sad thoughts of heart, where he 〈◊〉 you of Amos 1. 2, 3. two Visions, the one of G 〈…〉 ppers, that devoured every green thing, which made the Prophet cry out; By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small? and those caterpillars were swept away. The other Vision was a contention by fire, for which he useth the same prayer, By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small? It seems contentions, yea, fiery contentions may lay a State as low as caterpillars; the Lord sprinkle the blood of his Son upon this fire, and quench it 〈◊〉. Doubtless much love of imitation will be showed to God, in recovering these two Interests abroad, and (if I might not be thought a designer) I wish it at home: Why should not the faithful be preserved? For the love of God do it. I speak not for myself, for with Simeon, I could even desire to depart in peace, now mine eyes have seen so much of the Salvation of God. Nor do I bring any Petition from your Army, they never have, nor ever will be burden some to you by Petitions but since you have trusted them with your own lives and estates, they are contented willingly to trust you again with their liberti●●. It brings to mind that issue of a combat, whereof Livy is the reporter, when the three H 〈…〉 i, and the three 〈◊〉 had by the sword decided the quarrel betwixt the 〈◊〉 and their enemies, and only one H●●arius survived, 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ning, met his sister, the wise of one of the ●●ra●ii, and she forgetting herself to her brother in language, fell also by his hand: The Sena●e would con●●emn to death this Hora 〈…〉, whose father by the Author speaks to this purpose. victoria 〈◊〉 vidistis (Quiri 〈…〉 s) nunc sub furea inter verbera & cruciatus videre potestis, I lictor, obnu●e caput liberatoris hujus urbis, colliga manus quae paul● 〈◊〉 ●rinatae imperium populo Romano peporerunt, &c. Can any man bind those hands, which lately armed, procured the liberty and safety of the Kingdom? This I must take boldness to say, that if this or the next Age shall bury those faithful ones, it must be either here among the trophies, taken from their enemies, or abroad in the Country among the sepulchres of Cavaliers, and so they will live when ever they die. But I have held you here too long, and I refer this head to that interest of England: That which concerns the rewarding proud doers, as the Lord hath gone before you, follow after in his name, for truly I fear not all the contentions among us, but pride I fear, the Mother, midwife, Nurse of all contention. I hear much of difference, opinions, sects, heresies, and truly I think they would be less, if we did not think them so many: One error, and but one, our Saviour gives caution about, and lately I have thought much upon: He says, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and if we knew what that leaven were, it would help us in these fear●. This I suggest therefore, Leaven hath three properties. 1. It sours. 2. It tuffen●, or hardens. 3. It swells the lump. Therefore that opinion which sours 〈◊〉 sp●●its against their brethren, and it may be against Authority, that swells them, and prides them, that hardens them, and makes tough, and not easily entreated, beware of that opinion, as of the leaven of the Pharisees. Errors in us, are like corn, in the sowing of it; if it lie above ground, it may be gathered up again, but if ploughed in and harrowed, lie under the clod, there is little hope. Whilst Errors lie in the understanding, Scripture, reason, argument, time, sweetness and tenderness may do much to the curet the danger is, when they lie under the will, when we shall say, we will have what we will, or all shall crack; with Samson, pull down the two great posts, that others may perish, though we perish with them. Beware of this leaven of the Pharisees: You shall ever find pride the fomenter of differences, I beseech you therefore reward the proud do●●, and spar● not. But those opinions that find a soul in a lowly frame, and after 〈…〉 ved, keep the soul so, and carry it to Christ, they need not trouble State nor Church. I long since learn●d, if we could 〈◊〉 imagination, we might soon cu●e tribulation. But I proceed. 2. It will be love to the Lord, if we love him in his dispensations when they have their vicissitudes; to love him smiling, and love him frowning too; to love him, sitting upon his knee, and love him under his lash too: to maintain that, Compositi jus, fasque animi sanctosque recessus Men●is— To be mediis tranquillus in undis; to say, the Lord doth well what ever he doth: I will love thee, though thou kill me, and trust in the (cries Joh.) This look like love, otherwise your mistakes will be many, about the creature, and the Creator. You are now come upon a new trial, the Lord outwrastles the temptation for you: You may think now the danger little, I pray remember Sisera, he took a nap after his lordly dish, and a woman's hand nailed his head to the ground. David thought it no danger to take a nap in an afternoon, but there he split his soul, and hardly made up again. You may think it looks now like the afternoon of the day to you, and as if your work were towards an end: mistake not, I believe you have seen most of the miracles, but are not yet over the red sea; or if you were over, yet love the Lord in this dispensation, lest you be brought to tack about two and forty times in the wilderness. It argues much feebleness of spirit, to change our affections upon changes of Providence, he never loved well, nay hardly at all, that can love no better: yea, this you shall find most true, that all backslidings from God, spring from the change of our opinions concerning God, and these we do often from the varieties of his dealings with us, as if he were a better God one year than the other, and this is often our folly, who can easilier look upon the barks and outsides of things, than their insides: Because he was a Carpenters son, therefore a stumbling block to the Jews, they could see no further. The glitter and glory of a painted world hath made blind the eyes of many: Nor is it a small mistake among men, when they keep their thoughts upon present things, with neglect of future, hence the Psalmist concludes the 107. Psalm, Who so is wise, and will observe Psal. 107. ult. these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord: Now the infide of all was loving kindness, and the issue of all will be loving kindness to the Saints. It concerns you therefore to look to your love in storm, and calm, in war, in peace; to love the Lord then, is to love him in all changes. 3. It appears you love him, when you are promoting his ends, and aims: thus wives love, thus faithful servants love, who stand not in shops to sell Apprentices, but their Master's wares, not advance themselves, but him they serve. That humble loving John Baptist, I must decrease, but he must increase, and willing he was Christ should have all; and that love discovers itself much when you are ready to live in his will, not your own, that he may have not only meat dressed, but as he pleaseth; such Worship as he likes, such Governments as he takes pleasure in; yea, when you will be reaching your duty through the fire, even to become fools, that you may be wise in his account: If the Lord be gainer, what if all the world be losers? These are my daily sighs to heaven for you all, that he may be lifted up, who hath held up your heads above the water; that you may hear that Euge at your great account, Come you blessed and faithful servants, enter into your Master's joy. And if you ask me what I conceive the Lord's great design is in these days, that you may attend it? I answer. Doubtless it is to pull down all the glory of the world, that his Son may be advanced. He is now preaching. All flesh is grass; you are certainly upon the edge of the fulfilling very great and glorious Prophecies: You see the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing: The Kings of the Earth are in council, Be wise therefore O ye Judges, kiss the Son lest be be angry, and you perish in the midway. The Lords desi 〈…〉 is the downfall of Antichrist, love him in promoting this end; and especially let me call for help hereunto from my Reverend and learned Brethren here present, Ah Brethren, show your love in this work: Be not offended if I leave this caution with you, and let this charity begin at home amongst us, for ever beware of a spirit of domination, truly it is a spirit of Antichrist, and it was the first great quarrel the first 300. years after Christ. When Constantine had been bountiful to the Church at Rome, and after was as noble to that of Byzantium (now Constantinople) a quarrel grew among the two Pastors of these Churches, who should be called Papa, which introduced the Proverb, Religion begot wealth, and the mother devoured the daughter. Remember our old complaints against Prelates, and how we have filled Parliament ears with our out-cries. Let this be often with you (my dear Brethren) that in all the cracks, flaws, and ruins of States, some priestly thing or other hath had the principal hand; mind it in a passage or two, good Jeremy past through all guards, till he came to Pushur Jer. 20. 1. the Priest: the Nobility, Gentry, and others were easily entreated: Christ breaks upon the 〈…〉 bes and Pharisees mainly: It is considerable that H●sed saith, Hear Oye Priests, harken Oye People, give ear O Hos. 5. 1. house of the King, for ye have been a snare, &c. the poor people are betwixt the Priest, and the house of the King, but it is to be noted that the Priests are in the first place: It lies much upon you to show your love to the Lord in promoting his great ends. 4. This love would 〈◊〉 let out to his Saints, of which you have lately heard so much, that I shall say but little, less than this I cannot say, No man can love the Father, and destroy his children, truly I cannot say ●oo much for them, because they have done so much for you. I pray grieve them not, it may be you may grieve the Spirit of God in them, do not make them sad, whom the Lord would not have made sad, be not angry with your deliverance because of the good hand the Lord hath made use of: Why should Ezra be angry with Zer●●babel for beginning the work? O●Zer●●babel with Nehemiah for ending it? You know how well it will be taken in heaven, that you use the heirs of that country well upon earth, yea, you shall do well to love them impartially; It is the trial many of the world are put to (which they mind not) how they will demean themselves towards poor Saints; And let it not be forgotten, that it will be the word of 〈◊〉 the great day, In that you did it not (Says Christ) to one of these little ones, you did it not to me. The Saints may do you much good, they can do you no harm: I am confident, their interest in heaven which they have made use of for this nation, hath been a strong ingredient to your preservation● and this is your glory, and may be your establishment, That this Land is sown with such feed, which I believe Popery, Prelacy, and what else is not of God, doth come too late to root up. You remember that great Emperor, who professed he would rather be a Member of a Church of Saints, than the Head of the Empire. It is taken notice of, that you have laid this to heart, and the Saints bless you, and carry you, and your counsels to heaven with them daily. In all the loud cries now about differences, this toucheth my heart, that some men can trample a poor Saint to the dust, and into the grave (if they might) for a Peccadillo, a little distance in an opinion; and an open, prop 〈…〉, beastly, 〈◊〉 drunkard, a black-mouthed swearer, an enemy to any thing that is good, can live quietly and unmolested. 5. And above all, this love is clothed with all its glory, when we shall love him in his Son, and greater honour you cannot do him, then to love him in Christ, in whom he hath laid up all fullness, Col. 1. 19 the character and image of all his grace and glory. But what he is, and how lovely, what want you have of him, what worth is in him, and which is the way to please him, is constantly suggested unto you almost from every Pulpit, the mystery of Christ now discovering itself. He is the chiefest of ten thousand, his mouth is most sweet, yea, he is all loveliness. He is your peace, the Prince of Peace, the Psal. 2. great peacemaker, if you desire peace, war must continue, he hath an Iron Mace: and the Nations will be delivered up unto him, a Dan. 2. stone cut out of the Mountains shall fall upon the greatest governors in the world, O love the Lord in his Son, 6. It concerns us this day that our love appear in our praises, and though we have had so many Victories and Mercies, that we have even wanted time for our solemn acknowledgements, & kindnesses have come tumbling in like war, one following the other, that Finis unius boni gradus est futuri; Yet we have wanted ●kill to manifest our love to God in his praises, of which you hear much by David, who sometimes seems to forget himself in this point, he will like a bird, having got a note, record it over and over. Psal. ●36. For his mercy endureth for ever, His mercy endureth for ever. I shall take leave to commend to you that he hath in another place. Pr●●ise waiteth for thee silently in Sien, Psal. 65. 1. though your Translation want the Adverb that gives the Emphasis: There is a threefold silence in this waiting upon God's praises: As, 1. There is a silence of expectation, when the soul waits when to express his praises, and therefore keeps a private Catalogue of his faithfulness, and truth. 2. A silence of admiration, when the heart is even ravished to wonder, and sits down silently, wondering over every mercy, and all his lo●e●. 3. A silence of approbation, when others shall set forth his praises, we approve, and allow, and can say A 〈…〉, and this is the work at Zion, about his praises: in the last Psalm there are but six Verses, yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. O love him in his prai●●●, 〈◊〉 him for 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 him for all your lashes, for you could not want a ●●ig of the rod, praise him for his power, goodness, love, tenderness, pity, praise him that you are on this side the grave and hell, yea above all, for his own bosom, for his dearest Son, who hath hung about our necks often, and wept many a compassionate tear upon our cheeks, not yet wiped off. Let us all take up that of the Prophet, My heart is inditing some good matter, the word there is the same with the bubbling of the oil in the frying Pan at the Sacrifice: Every heart should now be bubbling up something, every one should be thinking of setting up some monument, Jacob promiseth the building of a Bethel, a house of God, if he might speed well in his journey: What if you Noble Lords should write upon your door, The Lord will honour them that honour him. If you Worthies of the other house, upon your door, Salus populi suprema lex. And you, the governors of this city, Jerusalem is a city compact, &c. Your union amongst yourselves will turn much to God's praise. And I wish this were written upon the doors of the Assembly, If any man list to be contentions, we have no such custom among us, nor the Churches of Christ. I leave these but as intimations, or suggestions to your wisdoms, lest the day and work we are about do evaporate, and come to nothing. I wish your children, and so ages to come may be taught his praises, since you so abound in matter, I pray convey it to after ages, that they may love the God of their Fathers: Tell your little ones this night the story of 45. the towns taken, the fields fought, tell them of near 30000 prisoners taken this last year, 500 pieces of Ordnance, tell them of the little loss on our side, be sure to let them know it was for the liberty of the English subjects you fought, charge them to preserve the liberties that cost you so dear, but especially the liberties purchased by the blood of Christ, and above all, let them know that the God of heaven is the God of England, and hath done all, but his name, and his son's name, who can tell us? I wish Job 30. we knew God better, that we might love him more. Oh love the Lord in his praises, and praise him for his love. In amore divino hic solus inest modu●, ut si● si●e modo. I dare not add more, time is so exceedingly exceeded. You are (I understand) by the City invited to a feast, which I confess is one piece of this solemnity: But what feast shall we call it? Shall it be a feast of Tabernacles? truly we might have lived in Tents and Booths, or by some hedges sides all our days, had Tyranny and Popery gained the travel of their souls, and desire of their hearts, you might have been sitting by some rocks sides in the wilderness, looking sadly back upon poor England, or by the river Ahava, in the Captivity with Ezra. If you like not to call it a feast of Tabernacles, will you let it go under the name of a Marriage-feast? it seems to look like that: I remember the Espousals of the Parliament and this city, when ye wore your Protestations upon your Pikes, resolving to live and die with the Parliament: I hope you will be as good as your words; you are upon the close of your work, and now you have many causes of further union, who have mourned together, and now are rejoicing together upon unparalleled grounds: Call it then a feast of love, my Text calls for nothing but love, and I wish that may be the issue, and product of the work, and truly for that end, I would willingly come from the place where I stand to beg it upon the bare knee; and when I speak of love betwixt Parliament and City, I do not exclude my Reverend Brethren, only I am afraid of a third State, because we have paid already very dear for Clergicall interests. And now I think of this further union betwixt you, I remember when the Lord closeth with his people in Hosea, He will take away the names of Loammi, and Lorumah; There are two names in this Hos. 2. Kingdom, I wish they were taken away also, or whatever might hinder your nearness. You worthies of the City, look well upon the Parliament, and tell me if they be not lovely; how could you have been preserved from Anarchy without them, where would you have centred had this Basis of the kingdom been destroyed? If the foundations be plucked up, what shall the righteous do? The best now in England could not have lived without a Parliament, and the worst but a little time: I must profess an Anti-Parliamentary spirit (especially in this conjuncture) to be the designer of his own ruin and posterity, to be the introducer of certain misery to the present age. I look upon it as the fruits of much malice, or much ignorance, and the brat of those men's brains that never lived beyond the view of the smoke of their own chimneys, that measure States and kingdoms with their interests, by their private shop-wands; and if they be pressed, or priested into it by any of my coat (which is Satan's old method) it will argue the more feebleness, and prove more dangerous. Remember (friends) to beat Religion with Religion, is a subtlety as old as Jesuitism, and older. Remember the dead and the living; You have had their Hambdens, Pims, Stroudes, who if now living, would have called this day the Suburbs of their happiness, and you had the blood of some Nobles too, that Zealous brook and others; and these are here this day to joy with you, that have mourned with you, who have been your watch day and night: You know how vain it will be to war abroad; nisi sit consilium domi, you are now reaping the most glorious fruits of their labours and pains; if you have any thing justly to object against them, all you can say is, they are men, yet such men as may not be called to a slight account for their actions, but in many cases the ways of State may run so deep, that we can help only with this, Levius fit patientia, Quicquid corrigere est nefas. To be weary of a Parliament now, were to conquer ourselves into a new slavery, it were to proclaim to the world we are mercy-sick, victory-sick, and liberty-sick, the Lord prevent that portentous mischief. Yet Goa is good to Israel, Let me hope he will not be worse than he hath been. Nobles and Gentlemen, look upon the city, these are they that strengthened you with the finews of your war, you have not come unto them for any thing, and returned empty, You may remember the 100000. li. the 50000. li. the greater, the lesser fu 〈…〉nes for England, Scotland, and Ireland; and I may not forget that 80000. li. that oiled the wheels of this last Army in their first going out. The Lord of Hosts requite it to them that offered so willingly. I add, you have not only had these helps, but their servants, yea their children out of their bosoms, who now are found the Officers generally in this Army But I might call in much of this again, and say the Parliament have had their labour for th●mselves, and the city for themselves, and one for the other, and all for the Lord, and this, and other Nations. Only I call for love this day, I would desire strength in your union. The Spirit says, two are better than one, and gives reasons from cold, or falls: but adds, a threefold cord is not easily broken, of which I conceive thus: If two be well agreed, Jesus Christ will make a third, and then tell me who shall break that cord? it will be stronger than all the Covenants the sons of men can make, either national, or otherwise. I am herein the bolder, because the cursed world nearer hand, and further off are projecting a breach here, and some men within this City walls are ridden up and down by Jesuits to perfect this work, and feel not their burden. Would you go again to Egypt? shall we give away our Bibles to Papists, and our libertles to Locusts and Caterpillars? Shall we deliver up the towns we have taken to them that are subtle to destroy? Have we not heard of murders and rapines enough? Mind what Abner said to Joab, Hath not the sword devoured enough? will not the end be bitterness? Let us have but love at Westminster and London, and we shall crown the day, and derive something from this day to the child unborn, to give it matter of rejoicing. If you shall object, the work is not done, we are now upon a Crisis. I answer, Your temptation is new, this was the time of the year when Princes were wont to go forth to war, but now it proves a time wherein they sue for peace: Blessed change! and the truth is, the Sun may sooner get off your cloak now, than the Storm could before; the fawning world may do that, the frowning never could. I shall commend unto you two or three Scriptures: The first, the words after my Text, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. The second shall be, Eccles. 10. 4. If the spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee, keep thy place. Learn for ever to make good your experiences, and let it blow high or low, keep your places. I humbly beseech you (noble Speakers of both Houses) keep your places, as hitherto you have done: Be not ashamed of that seasonable and wise Answer once made at that exigent, You have neither eyes to see, nor tongues to speak, but by order from the house in such cases. I desire my Lord Major and his brethren to keep their places, and not to be dubed out of them, nor courted from your comforts and safety, remember what we all fought for, prayed for, adventured all for, let not all be lost in the kiss of a royal hand, nor suffer your eyes to be put out with Court-glitter and glory: And I humbly beseech your Lordships, not to lead us the way to that mischief, for us Ministers, truly we may be apt to catch at the old bait, the Lord help us to keep our places also: It would grieve your souls to be Court-scoffed after all. Let me leave with you what Tacitus says of Caesar. Quotis scunque e curia egrederetur, in haec verba prorupisse fer●ur, O homines ad servitutem paratos! Etiam illum qui publicam libertatem nollet tam foede servientium patientiam taedebat. Therefore every man keep his place, and in so doing another objection is answered: But our old laws and privileges may again be struck at; read the 8. v. of Eccles. 10. Who so breaketh a hedge, a Serpent shall bite him, an old hedge, are old good laws, and those that will break them, shall find a Serpent, you can apply, He that removeth stones, shall be hurt therewith. And though it should be that Shimei might escape for a time with his confinement, yet in the next generation he will break his Covenant, his neck, and all, and thus I think of many that have railed against heaven and earth, who will be found out by divine Justice, when your hand cannot reach them. To close up my thoughts in this, you have hitherto lived upon daily providence, as you do upon your daily bread, & by providence I believe you are brought beyond your own first imaginations, and I know the wisest man here cannot tell what will be next, though in order of causes he may say this or that should be, for who can tell what is in the womb of a day, or what it will bring forth unto us? This is certain, when there's darkness in Counsels, in promises, the Lord is pleased to dissipate clouds, and disperse mists by providence; you shall not need to fear relying upon that Provident hand which hath left you with so many glorious experiences. Only these cautions I must commend to your wisdoms. 1. That providence be not slighted and bestow that upon Fortune and Chance, which is handed to you by Providence. — Sed nos Te facimus (Fortuna) Deam coeloque locamus. 2. That you withstand not providence, but accept and improve the offers of mercy. 3. That you outrun not providence, but be contented to want what the Lord is not willing to give, not to over-hasten your deliverance, for it can never come seasonably, being wrought by friend or foe, unless the God of your mercies have a hand in it, and truly he that cannot freely trust God in his way upon what you have received already, is not fit to receive more: How good it is to live in his bosom, and upon his hand, who knows how to take measure of your wants, and supply your needs, and that out of an inexhaust fullness? Lastly, since feasts are seldom without beggars, give me leave to be the first: and if we had not been overbold in detaining you already, I should have been large, even from my soul to beg help from this most Honourable Assembly in four particulars. 1. I beg for souls. 2. For Bodies. 3. Estates. 4. Names. 1. And for the first, I present you here the tears and cries of many thousands, in the countries we have conquered, who poor souls cry like prisoners at the Grate, Bread, bread, for the Lord's sake bread; all you that pass by take pity, pity of us, we have lived upon husks time out of mind. Men, brethren, and fathers, whilst we are disputing here, they are perishing there, and going to hell by droves. If I know any thing, what you have gotten by the sword, must be maintained by the Word, I say the Word by which English Christians are made; In other country's discipline makes them so, drive them into a Church together, and then dub them Christians; you will find too much of this abroad, and hence it comes to pass, that most of their Religion lies in polemics, which is the trade we are likely to drive, if God prevent not. I need not tell this Assembly, that everywhere the greater party is the orthodoxal, and the lesser the heretics; so once the A●rians afflicted the sound Christians, and they increasing, requited it again to the Arrians. It was once my lot to be a Member of that famous, ancient, glorious work of buying in Impropriations, by which work 40 or 50 preachers were maintained in the dark parts of this Kingdom: Divers Knights and Gentlemen in the Country contributed to this work, and I hope they have not lost that spirit: I wish exceeding well to preaching above many things in this world, and wish my brethren were not under these Tithing-temptations, but that the State had it●neran● preachers in all parts of the Kingdom, by which you may reach most of the good ends for this State designed by you: Let poor People first know there is a God, and then teach them the way of Worship. The Prophet says, When the husbandman hath ploughed, harrowed, and broken the clods, then sow your timely seed, when the face of the earth is made plain. Indeed I think Isa. 2●. our work lies much among clods, I wish the face of the earth were cavened. I fear, whilst we are striving for an Eldership clothed with authority, we shall want five thousand Ministers to preach; that if you get an Eldership in London, and think you have done much, you have neither Minister nor Elder to be had in half the Kingdom, and so you do nothing, a true Eldership is easier wished for than gotten. I know not why the Parliament may not try and examine men, and send them out to preach, and take cognizance of the success; I wish that Committee for plundered Ministers to cast in their help. I once read a story of a Chairman, setting forth a Century of base Priests. I wonder what is become of the second, third, and fourth Century: I wish (under the abuse of the Covenant) they be not crept into their old dens for mischief. If you shall preserve the Gospel, the Gospel will preserve you. It would not be amiss even in this City and other places, to turn two or three Meetings to one, and so there might be room in public for those that are forced into corners, and so suffer under the name of schismatics. If this great work were attended abroad, we should not need to be quarrelling at home. I am not so fully acquainted with the use this great council hath for my brethren's advice: but surely I know, the people are desperately ignorant and profane abroad: and from profane Priests and ignorant people, you know the other party have fomented this war, and may begin it again, if the Word prevent not the Sword. Secondly, I have something to beg for the bodies of men: you have had strong cries from widows and fatherless children, whose husbands and fathers have spent their heartblood in this service; you have many mai●ed men, which puts me in mind of an expedient for them, if improved: I mean that famous royal Foundation of the Charter-House, or Sutton's Hospital, they say worth 5 ☞ or 6000 l. per annum. I humbly beseech your Lordships not to be offended, if I put you in mind of the intentions of the Donor. It is pity that so gallant a work should prove a nest of unclean Birds; methinks it was built for this time, and God may be much honoured, by turning the giver's intentions into the right channel, many faithful souls will bless your care and tenderness. The streets also are swarming with poor, which I refer to the Senators of this city, that is glorious many ways, why should it be so beggarly in the matter of beggars? I leave to your wisdom de m●do. Yet let not my request die. I have lived in a country, where in seven years I never saw beggar, nor heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunkard: why should there be beggars in your Israel where there is so much work to do? and if this design were well minded and managed in the City, there would be little place left for such eccentric motions. The third boon I beg is for men's estates, Justice exalteth a Nation, but sin is a shame to any people. I would beseech all sorts whom it concerns to speed justice; it were better for a man to die once then often: You reverend Fathers of the Law put in some help here; can there not yet be found a shorter way to further justice? must that badge of conquest still lie upon us, the laws I mean, in French? Can there not an expedient be found out in plain English, whereby every one may soon come to his own? Must such members of the most heroic spirits be spending their brave heats and heights in Westminster-Hall? was it not a project to in-gown our gentile English, for fear they might be looking abroad to see how their interests lie? may there not be two or three friend-makers set up in every Parish, without whose labour and leave none should implead another? I crave pardon. There is one evil I have seen under the Sun, a poor man kept in prison for debt, whereby his spirit is debauched, and he utterly disabled to pay: It is not so abroad. Let those that lent you freely in this war, and suffer now, be first thought on. I know many have adventured more than all for you, your promise made good for the sale of Delinquents lands will do it. Fourthly and lastly, I beg something for men's names; and though I know no public person but aught to carry a spare Handkerchief to wipe off dirt, yet certainly blasting men's names in print, is not the way to clear a cause in dispute. Yet I have learned this of my noble general. Let us look to our duty, and the Lord will care for our reproaches; but I leave it to your wisdoms. I need not to tell you, you have Heralds of arms to keep up men's names that have done worthily, though that spirit breathe not in this Army. But I shall shut up all with these Scriptures. Phil. 2. 1, 2, 3. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any compassion and mercy, Fulfil my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, and one judgement. That nothing be done by contention or vainglory, &c. Phil. 4. 8. Furthermore (brethren) whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are worthy love, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, or if there be any praise, think of these things. These things do, and the God of peace shall be with you, Amen. FINIS.