Die Mercurij Januar. 29. 1644.  
ORdered, that Sir Thomas Dacres, and Master Whitacre, do from this House give thanks to Doctor Wincopp, and Master Walker, for the great pains they took in the Sermons they preached this day, at the entreaty of this House, at St. Margaret's Westminster, (it being the day of public Humiliation) and to desire them to Print their Sermons: and they are to have the like privilege in printing of them, as others in the like kind usually have had.  
H. Elsing Cler. Parl. D. Com.  
I appoint Nathaniel Webb to Print my Sermon. GEORGE WALKER.   

A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons, at their late solemn monthly Fast, January 29. 1644 Wherein these four necessary Considerations are plainly proved and demonstrated out of the holy Scriptures, viz.  
1. The Bands of the brethren in iniquity, the pernicious Brambles, the Plague and curse of a Land and kingdom.  
2. All the brethren in these Bands, sharp pricks of the cursed bramble, sharers in the sin, and subject to the destruction thereof.  
3 The righteous kept by God from the full sense and feeling of the mischief which they are sharply set, and cruelly bent to bring upon them.  
4. The terrible, sudden, and total destruction of the Bramble, and every hurtful prick thereof, by God's dreadful storm.  
By GEORGE WALKER, bachelor of Divinity, Pastor of John Evangelists, London, and one of the Assembly of Divines.  
Published by Order of the House of Commons.  
LONDON, Printed by T. B. for Nathaniel Webb, and are to be sold in Paul's churchyard. 1645.   

TO The Honourable House of COMMONS, Now Assembled in PARLIAMENT.  
Renowned Worthies,  
WHEN I received your Message, sent to me by one of Your Worthy Members, that you had appointed me to Preach before You, at the monthly Fast than next to come, mine Insufficiency, 
a 63 years▪  Age, and weakness of Body, began immediately to put a just excuse ●● my mouth: But the strong obligation in which the whole Land is obliged unto You, (being the only powerful 
b Nehem 9.27. and Obad. 21.  Saviours under God, of Church and State, from ruin and destruction, when they were already overrun, and at the point to be swallowed up by the Bands of Antichrist) did silence all Excuses. Besides, I was afraid to incur the blame or suspicion of ingratitude to them who had delivered me from the paw of the lion, which thirsted after my blood; and had set me at liberty after two years' imprisonment, and Voted a just recompense of the wrongs done to me, and a Satisfaction from mine Oppressors, for all my losses and damages, by their malice sustained. Which recompense, through your favour and forwardness to relieve me I had certainly received, if the multitude of Malignant spirits, than too prevalent among you, but now expelled out of your assembly, had not opposed and hindered the transmission of my Cause in due time, to the Honourable House of LORDS. I saw also a special hand of GOD in calling me to Preach to so Honourable an assembly, and his power and providence, in frustrating and bringing to nought the counsels and purposes of the proud persecuting Prelate of Canterbury, 
Ianuar. 29. 1638.  who on the same day of the week of the same month of the year, six years before, brought me to answer o'er tenus in the Star-Chamber, with full intent to lay a heavy Censure on me: And when the truth of GOD for which I suffered, did bear me out against all his Slanders, and false Accusations, he most proudly affirmed, and bid me assure myself of it, That I should never come in a Pulpit to preach any more.  
Upon these Considerations, I did cheerfully submit my shoulders to bear this burden, though it seemed far heavier than my strength was able to sustain and undergo. And now, ye Worthies of God's Israel, I humbly beg this favour at Your hands, that You will accept of the willingness of the Workman to serve You, not the worth of the Service itself: look upon the pure, precious matter here handled, chosen out of a golden psalm of DAVID, the sweet Singer of Israel, not on the weak handling of it. I conceived it very seasonable for the Time and Occasion: For the present Calamities by which the LORD calls us to public and general Fasting and Humiliation, proceed from the Bands of the Brethren in iniquity, which are so many cursed Brambles of several sorts, pestering the whole Land, and stinging us with their hurtful pricks, which abound in every Band, Sect, and Faction. The thing for which we seek unto GOD by Fasting and Prayer, is Deliverance of our Church and State from the mischief which they are sharply set to bring and inflict upon all that are Righteous and Religious in the Land. This Deliverance cannot be fully and perfectly obtained, till the Lord our God be pleased to cut down these cursed Brambles, and to rid these three kingdoms of them. And this the LORD will do very speedily, so soon as he sees us made ripe for Deliverance by true unfeigned repentance, and amendment of our lives: For than he will take away, as with a storm and whirlwind, not only the great Faction of the Antichristian Papists, Atheists, and Malignants, banded together, and waging open war against us, but also all the Sects of Anabaptists, Antinomians, Libertines, and schismatical Separatists, who by opposing the Reformation, and union of our Church, with the rest of the best Reformed Churches, both in Doctrine and Discipline, according to the written word of God, do act strongly for Antichrist, and by raising up Divisions and Distractions, in the City, country, and all our Armies, do as much as in them is, to weaken us, make breaches in our walls, and to lay us open and naked to the violence and fury of our open enemies: All these things my Text, as I have faithfully opened and expounded it, doth offer to your grave and wise consideration; and in this Sermon I have proved every particular by clear testimonies out of holy Scriptures, and in obedience to your command, I have committed it to the press, and here humbly present it to your Honourable Assembly, with my hearty desire and prayer to God for you, that by it, and many other most godly and more learned Sermons, which sound continually in Your cares, You may take occasion to observe and note the danger in which our Land is, by reason of those many Sects and heretics, and schismatics, which like so many cursed Brambles grow up and increase daily, even to the overspreading of the whole kingdom▪ which when you come to do once seriously; I doubt not but your zeal will stir you up, to curb so many of them as are curable, and to cut off those that are incorrigible: even such Thorns and Brambles as David describes in his last words, saying, The sons of Belial are all of them as Thornes thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them, must be fully fenced with Iron, and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the same place. 2 Sam. 23.6, 7. The great God, who hath so often, and wonderfully preserved You heretofore from the secret treachery and open fury of these wicked men, be still your shield, and your defence, and make his great work to prosper in your hands. So prayeth,  
Your humble and hearty (though weak and unworthy) Servant in the Lord's Work, GEORGE WALKER.   

A Sermon Preached before the Honourable House of Commons, at their late solemn monthly Fast, January 29. 1644.  psalm 58.9. 
Before your Pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.  
Or thus, according to the Hebrew Text▪  
Before they shall feel your sharp pricks, O Bramble, he will take away every one of them as with a Tempest▪ or whirlwind, as well the green as the dry.  
IT is one of the proverbial sayings of the wise King Solomon, that if a Ruler harken to lies, all his servants, that is, Officers and Ministers (Meshart●●) are wicked▪ His Father David, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  in the days of the reign of the wicked Tyrant Sam, had still experience of this to his grief. For after that God had rejected Saul for his disobedience, from being King over Israel, and had declared his purpose to him by Samuel, an evil spirit of fury, jealousy, and tyranny came upon him, and made him look upon his faithful servant David with an evil eye of envy and suspicion, so that he hated him to the death, and all good men who did love and favour him for his upright dealing: and his ears were open to harken to all lies▪ slanders, and false reports, which wicked flattering Courtiers▪ or other 〈◊〉 informers would bring against him. Hereby it came to pass▪ that D●●g the Edomite, and Cush the Benjamite, and many others, even a whole band of wicked men like unto them, came to be chief Counsellors of State, Officers, and judges about Saul, chief executioners of his unjust and cruel commands, and held the chief places of judicature under him. David, and all the good people, who had relation to him, and favoured him, were sore afflicted, oppressed, and persecuted by this wicked Band. But the Lord his God, unto whom he had continual recourse by prayer, did comfort him inwardly, and revealed to him by his Spirit, that though he suffered him to be persecuted; yet he would not destroy him by these wicked instruments, but would preserve him from feeling the evil which they intended, which was to cut him off. And hereupon he doth compose this golden prophetical psalm, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  the Title whereof is, (Thou wilt not destroy) and a golden psalm of David▪ for the chief Musician, In which:  
First, he doth as it were face to face, direct his speech to this wicked band, and doth chide and rebuke them in the two first Verses, saying Doe ye● 〈…〉 speak●●●ghteousnesse▪ o band, or Congregation? (The word in the original signifies, first, and properly, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  a sheaf of corn, or herbs and flowers bound together in a bundle▪ and metaphorically, a Band of soldiers, or of thieves and robbers combined together in a bond, or league.) do ye judge uprightly, o ye sons of men? yea, in heart ye work wickedness, you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. That is, under pretence of holding the scales of justice in your hands▪ you weigh out ●o God's people wrongs, injuries, and violent oppression.  
Secondly, he proclaims to the world their inward and habituated malice, and iniquity in the third, fourth, and fift verses. The wicked (saith he) are estranged (that is, alienated from God and all goodness) even from the womb, they go astray as soon as they are borne speaking lies. (That is by custom and continual practice of their naturally inbred malice, they get a habit of lying, and falsehood, and increase their wickedness) their poison (that is of spite and malice) is like the poison of a Serpent, they are like the deaf Adder that stoppeth her ears, which refuseth to harken to the voice of the charmers, charming never so wisely. That is, they harden their hearts, and stop their ears against all just reproofs, wise Counsels, wholesome admonitions, charming and alluring persuasions.  
Thirdly, he breaks out into a prophetical imprecation, in which he doth by way of wishing, foretell God's just proceeding against them in judgement several ways; as first, that though they be armed with power, and weapons of cruelty, as lions are with sharp and strong teeth; yet God will break their power, and their strongest weapons in their hands, as if one should break the teeth of lions in their mouths, and dash out their great jaw teeth, verse 6. Secondly, as waters which run continually melt and pass away, so shall they vanish: and when they attempt to wound or slay the innocent, their purposes and endeavours shall be frustrate like arrows cut in pieces, as they are flying out of the bow, verse 7. Thirdly, They shall be consumed as a snail that melteth away, and as the untimely birth of a woman, which never seeth the light of the Sun; so shall they never come to see the light of God's savour, nor any true blessing, ver. 8. Thus far he proceeds by way of Imprication. But in the fourth place here in my Text, he turns his Speech again to that cursed crew and band of wicked Counsellors, and comparing them to that great Bramble, or briar which is in the Hebrew called Atad, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  and in Greek cynosbatoes: That is the Dog-bryar, and of all Brambles is most full of sharp hooked pricks, some hardened and dried with heat of sun, so that they rend and tear where they catch hold; and others, though very sharp, yet are more green weak and tender: He tells them that before God's people shall feel the utmost extremity of their malice and fury, or before they can fasten on them the mischief they intend; the Lord will destroy, scatter, and take them away all and every one as with a storm, or whirlwind, as well the young and green as the old, dried and hardened in their malice and cruelty.  
Fiftly, in the tenth verse, he comforteth the Church of God with a prophecy of victory, and triumph which the righteous shall obtain over these persecuting enemies. The righteous (saith he) even every righteous man) shall rejoice, when he seeth the vengeance, he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.  
Lastly, he showeth what shall be the end and issue of all, both of the destruction of the wicked in the very height of their persecutions, and in the heat of their rage and fury against the Church, and also of the deliverance of the righteous, and of their victory, joy, and triumph over them: namely this, That the world shall see, and earthly men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. That is, all shall turn to the glory of God at last; and the men of the world shall acknowledge that nothing comes to pass on earth by chance, but in the most troublesome times of greatest confusion, God overrules all by his wisdom and providence, and hath in store a good reward, which he will give to the righteous, as a fruit of their faith and patience; and a just recompense of revenge and judgement for the wicked▪ which he will render to them even here on earth. This is the sum of this golden psalm: And so I pass from the Coherents to the Text itself, which in our new English Translation runs thus; Before your Pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.  
In all the Book of God I do not remember any sentence so variously and differently Translated, as this verse which I have chosen for my present Text.  
The Greek Septuagints, and the vulgar Latin, which follows them verbatim, do thus render the words, Before your Thorns can feel the Bramble he will devour them, as it were alive, and as it were in wrath.  
The Chaldee Paraphrase runs thus, When as yet the wicked are not made tender, they grow hard as the great Bramble, as long as they are green, like an unripe sour Grape, he will destroy them with a whirlwind.  
But the Translation which Jerome made out of the Hebrew Text, hath the words thus: Before your Pricks grow up into the great Bramble, a Tempest like wrath shall snatch them, as it were alive.  
Austin upon this place reads this verse thus, Before the Bramble bring forth your pricks, as it were alive, as it were in wrath he swalloweth them up.  
Pagnin thus Translates the words, Before your Pricks understand the Bramble, so living, so wrath will with a Tempest snatch him away.  
The old English Translation runs thus, Or ever your pots are made hot with thorns, so shall indignation vex him as a thing that is raw.  
The English made at Geneva is thus, As raw flesh before your Pots feel the fire of thorns: so let him carry them away as with a whirlwind in his wrath.  
Tremelius and Junius come nearest of all to the original Hebrew Text, and thus they render the words, When as yet your pricks, which are pricks of the Dog-bryar, are not felt, he will destroy as with a whirlwind every one, as well the living, as the parched.  
Ainsworth thus, Ere ever they shall perceive your thorns of the Bramble, even alive, even in wrath he will tempestuously whirl it away. That is, every thorn or prick of the Bramble.  
This variety of Translations ariseth chiefly from the original Hebrew word, Sireth, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies, First, Pots, or Caldrons, wherein flesh is sod, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  as Ex. 16.3. and 38.3. Ezech. 11.11. Secondly, thorns, and pricks of thorns and briars, as Isa. 34.13. Hos. 2.8. Thirdly, because the pricks of the great Bramble are very sharp and hooked: this word is used to signify fishhooks, Amos 4.2. In all our English Bibles of the old, new, and Geneva Translation, and some Latin Bibles, this word is taken to signify Pots or Caldrons. But the Septuagints, Jerome, vulgar Latin Austin, Pagnine, Tremelius, and all others that I have seen take this word in the second sense, for the sharp pricks of thorns and Brambles. Here certainly this word signifies the sharp pricks of the great Dog-bramble, which here in the Hebrew Text is Arad, and is used, Iudg. 9.14, 15. in Jotham's parable, to signify the Bramble, which being made King of the Trees, kindled a fire, which devoured the Cedars of Lebanon. Now this Bramble in the body, and every branch of it is beset with sharp hooked pricks, some of which are green, and have life, and moisture in them, and though they be sharp, yet they are not so stiff and strong as to make any deep wound in a man's flesh. Others are greater, more hooked, and hardened by drying and parching with vehement heat of the sun, and they strike to the quick, and hold fast, or tear where they catch hold of man's skin, or flesh. The first are here in my Text called 
a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  living or green: The other are called 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  dried, parched, and hardened; and the prophetical Psalmist affirmeth, That God who judgeth in the earth, will take away and destroy as with a tempestuous whirlwind, every one of them, as well the green, as the dry, as Tremellius out of the original doth most truly Translate the word. These things well considered, lead us to the full sense and true meaning of the whole Text. First, here is a manifest Apostrophe, that is the Psalmists turning of his speech to the Band or Congregation of wicked Counsellors, unjust judges, and violent persecutors, and oppressors to whom he spoke before in the two first verses. For he speaks not of them only, but to them being a multitude in the second person plural, saying, Before they feel your pricks. Secondly he calls them, as they are a Band, Atad, which name signifies the great Dog-bramble, and the word here is of the Vocative case, and may fitly be Translated, o ye Bramble, whom I do by a Metaphor call a Bramble, for the resemblance and similitude between it and you. Thirdly, he doth not limmit and restrain this prophecy to himself, and his godly friends persecuted by Saul and his wicked Band: but he extends it to all God's people, persecuted by such Bands in all future times. For he doth not say, Before we, but before they feel: that is, God's people in general, of all ages do feel the fury of you, and such as ye are. The Hebrew word in the Text contains so much in the full signification of it. 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  Fourthly he doth resemble the several sorts of Persecutors in such wicked Bands, to the several sorts of pricks in the great Bramble: for some of them are green-headed, like the green thorns, not so cruel, crafty, and able to hurt. Others by long custom are hardened in their malice, and habituated in cruelty, being masters in the art of persecuting. And fifthly, he foretells their destruction, that God will scatter and destroy them all, even every one of every sort, green, and dry, young, and old, weaker and stronger, in these words, he will take away every one as with a whirlwind, as well the green, as the dry. And so the whole Text runs thus, Before they feel your thorns or pricks, o ye Bramble, he will take away every one as with a whirlwind, as well the green as the dry. Before they, That is, the righteous whom ye hate and persecute, do feel, that is, have a full sense and understanding of your Thorns or Pricks: That is, of the sharpness, fury, and mischief which is in the heart & hand of all and every one among you: for every one in your Band and Congregation, is a grievous thorn, and sharp prick of the cursed Bramble, sharply set and bent to do mischief in malice and fury to the people and Church of God. He that is God who judgeth in the earth, (as it is expressed in the eleventh verse in the last words) will take away as with a whirlwind (that is, scatter and destroy tempestuously) every one, as well the living and green, as the dry and hardened. That is, all of every sort banded together, as well the green-headed, and young persecutors sharp set, but not so strong to hurt; as the old and dry who are hardened in malice by long custom, and in power and policy are strong to do mischief. And so I have done with opening and expounding of the Text. I proceed to the Doctrines which the words and phrases thereof rightly understood do offer to us.  
And first, in that here the Band of wicked counsellors, unjust judges, corrupt Officers, and violent oppressors, and persecutors of God's Church and people, is resembled to a Bramble, and is by the Spirit of God, which spoke by David, called by the name of the Dog-bramble, which is the worst, 
2 Sam. 23.2.  and most hurtful of all Briars and thorns, which God laid as a curse upon the earth for man's sin, Gen. 3.18. Hence this Doctrine naturally ariseth, That every Band, Company, and faction of wicked men, whether evil Counsellors, unjust judges, and corrupt Officers doctrine 1 in a Church or State, or wicked instruments, and men of violence conspiring and working with them to do hurt and mischief to God's people, and to persecute his Church, is certainly most hurtful and dangerous, even a curse and plague in the Land.  
Secondly in that all of all sorts more or less able to do mischief, doctrine 2 combined, and banded together in such factions, are called the thorns or pricks of the cursed bramble. Hence flows the second Doctrine, viz. That all persons in every such Band or faction, working together against God's Church and people, whether they be more or less pernicious, and able to do mischief whether hypocrites, working under hand, or open professed persecutors, they are all sharers in the same wickedness with the worst and most malignant of that cursed crew, and shall perish in the same destruction.  
Thirdly, in that it is here said of the righteous, that before doctrine 3 they feel the pricks of the Bramble, God will take away every one, both green and dry, more or less grievous and pricking, and hurtful to them. Hence we garher a third Doctrine, viz. That God is so tender and watchful over his Church and people, that he frustrates the wicked counsels and practices of their enemies, and scatters and destroys their persecutors, before they proceed and prevail so far, as to make them feel and undergo the evil and mischief which they are sharply set, and cruelly bent to inflict and bring upon them.  
Fourthly, from the words which here threaten destruction to the sharp pricks, that is, the enemies and persecutors of the doctrine 4 righteous, that God will take away every one as with a whirlwind, a fourth Doctrine ariseth, which is this; That when God's Church is most dangerously beset, and assaulted by the bands of enemies, and persecutors of several sorts, the Lord will terribly, suddenly, and totally scatter and destroy them all, and none shall escape.  
Of these four Doctrines I purpose to speak in order, and to prove and apply them severally, as God shall assist, and time permit.  
The first Doctrine which teacheth us, That every Band and Faction of the wicked, who consult, conspire, and work together against the Church and people of God, is most hurtful, dangerous, and pernicious, even the plague and curse of Lands and kingdoms in which they are, is abundantly confirmed by Testimonies and examples, which the holy Scriptures do plentifully afford and minister to us. For clear testimonies we have all those places wherein all and every one of these wicked men banded together, are called by the name as of briars, and thorns, which are the curse of the earth; so also▪ of Serpents, Scorpions, Wolves, lions, bears, and other hurtful and noisome Creatures, as Mich. 7.3. the Prophet inveighing against the practices of such Counsellors, judges, Officers, and other wicked persons banded together under an ungodly Prince, saith, They hunt every man his brother with a net, that they may do evil with both hands earnestly, or cunningly: the Prince requireth, and the judge also asketh for a reward, and the great man uttereth the mischief of his soul; so they wrap it up and twist it together: The best of them is a briar, the most upright is more sharp and pricking than an hedge of thorns, or briars. Also the Lord by the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapt. 2.6. saith of such men, that they are briers, Thorns, and Scorpions: And thou son of man be not afraid of them, or of their great words, though Briars and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among Scorpions, be not afraid of their words, nor dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellius house: That is a Band and faction of rebellious men. And in the prophetical Song of Moses, Deut. 32.32.33. It is said of such men cleaving together, as Grapes in a cluster, That their Vine is the Vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorah: their Grapes are Grapes of Gall, and their clusters are bitter: their Wine is the poison of Dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. And Ezech. 28.24. The Lord promising to remove the plague and curse from his Land and People, saith: There shall be no more a pricking briar, nor any grievous thorn unto them. When he riddeth his Land of such grievous oppressors, persecutors, and such pernicious persons. Likewise Isaiah●9. 4, 5. It is said of the men of this rank, who speak vanity, trust in lies, conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, that they hatch Cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dyeth and that which is crushed breaketh out into a Viper. And Isa. 27 4. the Lord saith, that while he keeps the Church, his Vineyard of red Wine, these enemies of it, are briars and thorns set against him in battle. This holy Psalmist doth not only here in this psalm, verse 4. call them deaf Adders, and saith, their poison is like the poison of a Serpent: but in other psalms also he calls them Dogs, and lions, as Psal. 22.16.20, 21. Many Dogs are come about me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, and verse 21. Save me from the lion's mouth, and psalm 57.4. though they be sons of men, yet they are said to be soul-hunting and devouring lions, like their Father the devil, and set on fire of hell. My soul is among lions, and I lie among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their Tongues a sharp sword. And Psalm. 140.2.3. He complains against them, and calls them men of violence gathered together to do mischief, who have sharpened their tongues like a Serpent, and adder's poison is under their lips. And Ezech. 22.27. and Zeph. 3.3. they are called roaring lions, and evening Wolves, ravening for the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, and to get dishonest gain. Besides these, with many like testimonies, we have also most pregnant examples. In the Book of Judges, chap. 9 we read that Abimelech the son of Gideon, by a Concubine, being assisted by a band of wicked Counsellors, who were prevalent, and leading men in Shechem; and by the help of vain and light persons, which he hired to be his followers with money which they gave him; did usurp the kingdom after the death of his father, and slew his seventy brethren, who had more right to reign than he; and what a curse and plague by so doing they proved to him & themselves, and to their City and country, the event showed; for he was the Bramble in his Brother Jotham's Parable, and they the trees which anointed him to be King over them, and by an evil spirit which God sent between him and them, they became traitors to him, and he destroyed their chief City, slew the inhabitants, beat down the walls, and sowed salt in it, to make it a cursed place: and pursuing the rest of the people who betook themselves for refuge to a strong Tower, he had his skull broken by a stone which a woman cast upon his head: and lest it should be said that a woman slew him, he caused his Armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword, and so he died desperately; and Jotham's parable was verified in him, and his Band of wicked Counsellors, and abettors; they proved to be a most pernicious and destroying plague to him, and a curse to their City, State, and country: and a fire came out from him, to devour them as in that Chapter is showed at large. In the same book Chapter 20. we read that the banding together of wicked counsellors, and men of Belial in Gibeah, the chief City of Benjamin, proved destructive to the whole Tribe, and no small plague to all Israel, who lost above forty thousand men in a bloody civil war, which by God's Law they were bound to make and pursue against them for putting away abominations, and destroying cursed Malefactors, out of Israel. Those unjust judges, and wicked Counsellors, patrons of filthy abomination, refused to deliver up to justice the sons of Belial, who had most villainously abus●d the Levites wife unto death; and by their authority stirred up all the Children of Benjamin to take up arms against all their brethren of the other Tribes, who were commanded to execute justice in such cases under pain of a curse, and to cut off such abominable sinners, though with great damage and bloodshed on their own side. But in the end this proved an heavy curse to the whole Tribe, which in that unjust cause which they maintained by the sword, was cut off, and utterly destroyed, except only five hundred men, who escaped by flight unto the Rock of Rimmon, and the wilderness. Saul also, the first anointed King over all Israel, when God had rejected him for his disobedience, gathered to himself a Band of wicked Counsellors, corrupt Officers, and judges, and other instruments of his violence, and of his cruelty, to persecute David, and such as favoured his righteous Cause, as Doeg, and others, of whom the beginning of this psalm speaks. And mention is also made of them, 1 Sam. 22. By them he was stirred up to pursue David his chief Champion against the uncircumcised Philistines, the common enemies of Israel, to drive him out of his Land: So that for want of his help, he was in his great straits and fears drawn to consult with the devil, by the witch of Endor, to the destruction of himself, and of those his wicked followers, by whose counsels he was led: For with them, all his valiant sons were slain in battle, the army of Israel routed and smitten; and he himself so hotly pursued, that he had no hope to escape: and in bitterness of anguish he fell desperately upon his own Sword, and died a self-murderer, 1 Sam. 31. and so this wicked Band proved a curse to him and themselves, and a plague to all Israel.  
It was a Band of wicked Counsellors, among whom Achitophel was president, which animated Absalon to become a traitor to King David his own Father, and to raise up in Rebellion all Israel against him: 
1 Sam. 25.  which as it was an heavy plague to David, and a curse to his family and kingdom: so especially to themselves; for Achitophel the precedent hanged himself, and the rest with Absalon were destroyed in battle, and miserably perished. The like misery did Rehoboam's Band of heady counsellors, and ill-affected followers, proud young men, bring upon him and his kingdom, for being led and ruled by their counsel, his kingdom was woefully rent, ten Tribes forsook him, and great calamity fell upon him, and upon Jerusalem, the royal City, which was by this rent left naked of defence, and Sheshak King of Egypt robbed it, and took away all the Treasures which Solomon left in the house of the Lord, and in the King's house, & all the Shield of Gold which he had made, 1 Kings 12. and 2 Chron. 12. Likewise the Princes and flattering counsellors of Joash King of Judah, who conspired together, and were authors to draw the King to Idolatry, and to persecute to death the Prophet, who was the son of that renowned Priest Jehoiadah, by whom he himself had been saved alive, nourished, and set up in the Throne of the kingdom; they were most pernicious, they brought a curse on the King, his family, and kingdom, and on themselves: for they were destroyed by the small Bands of the Syrians, which God for their sins raised up to cut them off, and their great Host, and the spoil of them was sent to Damascus: and the King himself being left by the enemies in sore diseases, was slain by his own servants: and this was the plague and curse which his wicked Counsellors, by whom he was led, brought on him and themselves. 2 Chron. 24. we read also in the prophecy of Jeremiah, that King Zedekiah was altogether led and rul●d by a Band of wicked Counsellors, Princes, Priests, and false Prophets, which at length overawed him, when they had brought him into great straits, Jer. 38.24, 25. These were the men who persecuted Jeremiah for prophesying to them from God, laid wait to catch him in his words, smote him, put him in the stocks, and caused the King to cast him into the Dungeon. What cursed men these were, and what dreadful vengeance and wrath of God followed them and their families, the Prophet showeth, Ierem. 18.21. and 20.11, 12. viz. That their children shall be delivered up to the sword, their wives shall be widows, and a cry shall be heard from their houses: God's vengeance shall be seen on them, and their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. What a plague and curse they were to the King, to his sons, and to his City, and kingdom, the same Prophet testifieth: They made him and his people reassume their dismissed Bond-servants, and break the Covenant of God, Ier. 34 11. Yea, and the Oath of God which he made to the King of Babylon, when he set him up to be King; and they hardened him by their evil counsel to stand out against the word of the Lord, until God gave him and his sons, City, and kingdom, into the hands of the King of Babylon, who slew his sons before his face, than put out his eyes, bound him in chains till he died, took the City, laid it waste, burned the Temple, led the people captive, and left the Land desolate, as we read Ier. 39 But yet there was another Band and conspiracy of wicked Counsellors, unjust judges, persecutiong Rulers, and ungodly Officers, and other instruments of violence, more pestilent and pernicious than all these who were such a plague and curse to their whole Nation, that they brought the wrath of God on it to the utmost, and on all their posterity until this day; that was the great counsel of the Jews in our saviour's days, by which the publishing of the gospel was desperately opposed, the blessed Messiah persecuted and murdered, his Apostles and Martyrs scourged, imprisoned, slain, and scattered, as the History of the gospel, and of the Acts of the Apostles testify. For they by their pernicious counsels and practices, brought a total destruction upon their whole nation, people, City and Temple; so that a general curse cleaves to their children, and they have for 1600 years been a byword, a reproach and a hissing in all Nations where they are scattered. These dreadful examples are so many loud voices proclaiming from God to our ears, and witnessing to our hearts the truth propounded in this Doctrine, viz. That every Band, Company, and Faction of wicked men, consulting to do mischief, and practising against God's Church and people, are most pernicious and dangerous Brambles, the plague and curse of Lands and kingdoms.  
I have been large in producing a multitude of examples, because I would have you take notice, that wicked Rulers and Kings mentioned in Scripture, never wanted pernicious Counsellors, nor Bands of cursed instruments to spur and drive them on to destruction, and to bring a curse on their kingdoms. This is no new, nor strange thing to be wondered at, and to dismay and astonish us. But that, in times when Kings and Princes were Tyrants, oppressors, and back sliders from true Religion to Idolatry, and had bands of wicked instruments, and of men of violence at command, God was so merciful to his Nation, and people of old, as to reserve to himself a prevayling party, and to put wisdom and courage into the great counsel of the kingdom, to resist their violence, to preserve Religion from ruin, the people from oppression, the Land from spoiling, to oppose the bands of the wicked, to scatter them, and execute justice on them: this we find not in the Book of God, in all the Histories from the first to the second Adam: this is a mercy proper to the times of the gospel, and to those Nations and kingdoms in which Christ ruleth by his holy Spirit, and his Church is surely established, by the word of God faithfully preached, & true religion is planted in the hearts of the people.  
But now for the cursed Band of pernicious Counsellors, and other agents of violence and iniquity, which here I am to deal with. That we may see most clearly what just cause all Nations and persons have to hate, abhor, and spew them out, as enemies of all righteousness and peace; and the plague and curse of the Lands, states, and kingdom in which they rise up, and bear sway: I will launch forth a little further, to discover the depth of their malice, how pestilent and mischievous they must needs be, wheresoever they prevail, and are countenanced; and this I will do by three reasons, draw. First from their original and chief author. Secondly, from their actions and practices. Thirdly, the unhappy events of their doing.  
reason 1 First, it is most certain, that all sons of Belial, children of the devil, and seed of the old Serpent, especially when a faction of them is banded together, are most hurtful and dangerous to the Church and people of God, and a plague and curse to the State in which they rule and have power: For God hath put enmity between them and the elect seed of the woman, Christ, and his true members: there can be no peace, but perpetual war with them, till their head be bruised, and their power scattered: which victory for the most part doth c●st Christians, as it did their head Christ, the bruising of their heel, Gen. 3.15. What a curse the sons of Eli, who are called sons of Belial, 1 Sam. 2.12. did bring upon the Land of Israel, and on their father's house, we may read at large, chap. 2.11. and chap. 4. The ark of God could not secure them from God's wrathful stroke, and visiting hand. And I doubt not but the covetousness, theft, and treachery of Judas, who was a devil incarnate, do discover sufficiently what mischief abounds in the children of the devil. Now wicked Counsellors, unjust judges, and all other ungodly men banded together, to lie, to seduce, and to work mischief in their hearts, are in the Scriptures proclaimed sons of Belial, children of the devil, and the seed of the old Serpent: So God by Moses calls them, Deut. 13.13. So David in his last words, and saith, That they are all of them as Thornes thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands, 2 Sam. 23.6. And our Saviour tells the Jews banded together to oppress, hurt, lie, slander, and persecute, that they are of their Father the devil: they have their original from Hell, the devil is the chief author of their malice, and precedent of their conspiracy and counsel, John 8.44. And St. Paul calls Elimas the Sorcerer, who laboured to turn Sergius Paulus from the faith, the enemy of all righteousness, the child of the devil, full of all malice and subtlety, Acts 13.10. For indeed the old Serpent the devil, inspires subtlety into men, suggests wicked counsels, and draws them into conspiracy in evil; and the more they are banded together, the more he prevails in them, and works more mischief by them: and therefore their original, and the author of their counsels demonstrates them to be such as this Doctrine teacheth.  
The second reason is drawn from their actions, and practices. First of all their thoughts are against the righteous for evil, reason 2 psalm 56.5. They work mischief in their hearts, verse 2. of this psalm, devise it on their beds, Psal. 30.4. they glory and boast in it, psalm 52.1. they consult together to cast down the righteous from his excellency, they delight in lies, bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart, Psal. 62.3, 4. In the balance of justice which they hold as judges in their hands, and under colour and pretence of judgement, they weigh out the violence of their hands, (that is, wrongs and injuries) in the earth. Psalm 58.2. They plot against the righteous, psalm 37.12. They lie in wait for blood, 
Psal. 64.5.  Mich 7.2. they talk together of laying snares for the innocent, they consult with one consent, and take crafty counsel together against God's people, even his hidden ones, who are his jewels and his treasure: they are confederate against God himself, Psal 83 3.5. they judge unjustly, accept the persons of the wicked, Psal 82.2. And in a word, there is no evil action, or unjust practice, which men of wicked counsels, banded together, will not do earnestly with both hands, Mich. 7.3. Let Abimelech's example by evil counsel, and aid of wicked instruments, slaying his 70. innocent brethren, Iudg. 9 Doeg's accusing first, and after murdering the Lord's Priests, 1 Sam. 24. and such like, be an evidence of this. Now what state is not miserable where a Band of such wicked Counsellors rule and judge? What man can securely enjoy his lands, goods, liberty, or life? what peace or safety can be to any righteous man, if God doth not stop these lion's mouths, and extraordinarily protect him? Every good man may say with David, My soul is among lions, and I lie among them who are set on fire, even the sons of men, &c. Psalm. 77.4. O that I had wings like a Dove, &c. Psal. 55.6. and Ier. 9.2. Therefore this Doctrine is a certain truth.  
reason 3 The third Reason is drawn from the bitter fruits, and unhappy event and issue of their evil counsels, and actions. The Prophet David upon certain knowledge of the evil and mischief which follows them, proclaims the man blessed that hath not walked in their counsel, Psal. 1.1. First, they bring woe and misery on themselves; as it is reported of the Dog-bramble, that in hot Countries, being vehemently shaken with the wind, and one branch dashed against another, it tears and grates itself, till it sets itself on fire, and the woods round about it: so these men by consulting wickedly together, and by their restless rage, they mutually inflame one another, and the Lord against whom they set themselves, conspiring against his anointed holy ones, will speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his hot displeasure, Psal. 2.2.5. He will destroy them, and make them fall in their own imaginations, Psal. 5.10. And when they associate themselves, and take counsel together, their counsel shall come to nought, and they shall be broken in pieces, Isa. 8.10. and the fruit of their counsels which they seek deep to hide, and of their works which are in the dark, is woe, Isa. 29.15. Secondly, they involve in the same misery and destruction with themselves, the City and State wherein they act with power, and all those who walk in their counsels; they bring the sword on their City with Captivity and slavery, Hos. 10.6. The Counsellors of the King of Assyriah, and of proud Babel, brought them down to hell and destruction, Isa. 10.15. and 47.13. And in all the examples before mentioned, as of Abimelech, of the men of Belial in Gibeah, of Saul, Absolom, Rehoboam, Joash, and of the wicked Princes, Priests, Rulers, and people in the days of Zedekiah, before the captivity to Babel; and in the days of Christ and the Apostles, before the destruction of City, Temple, and Nation of the Jews by the Romans: we may see as in a clear glass the cursed fruits, and woeful events of the evil counsels, and actions of the wicked banded together in an evil cause: And upon these premises the Doctrine follows as a necessary conclusion: That the bands and factions of the wicked associated to consult and act against justice, religion, and the Church and people of God, are pernicious and dangerous, a plague and curse to Lands, States and kingdoms▪  
use 1 And now I come to the Application: first of all to you the Honourable members of the House of Commons in Parliament, not by way of exprobration, but of exhortation: for you are the chosen worthies of this Land and kingdom, the representative body of the commonwealth: And it hath been the ancient privilege of the great counsel of this kingdom, the high Court of Parliament, whereof you are Members; by the supreme power of judicature given you in your Election, to call to account all unjust judges, corrupt Officers, and the wicked Counsellors of your Kings, to depose them from their Offices, to strip them of their power and authority, to dissolve their Courts, and for treacherous counsels and attempts against the laws, Liberties, and Religion, sometimes to cut them off by the sword of justice. I hope that you who are so vigilant over others, will be as watchful to keep all such out of your assembly; or if any such be discovered, to note and observe them, and upon the first occasion and opportunity, to remove them, lest they band themselves together, make divisions, and prove pricking briars, and grievous thorns among you. And it is my hearty desire, and prayers to God for you, that no Prophet, Preacher of the Word, or faithful Messenger of God, may have any cause or colour to speak to you, as here the prophetical Psalmist doth to King Saul's great counsel, in the two first Verses of this psalm, do ye indeed speak righteousness, o Congregation? do ye judge uprightly, o ye sons of men. Yea, in your heart ye work wickedness, and weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. I dare be bold on the contrary to speak to you, and that in the common voice of all that are godly, and well-affected to Religion and justice. O ye Honourable Assembly, the great counsel of this kingdom, and noble Worthies of this Land, that ye have not only spoken righteousness and upright judgement, but also by your zealous Votes, as by the voice of Thunder, you have scattered the Bands of wicked Counsellors, and corrupt Offices, dissolved some tyrannical Courts, hurled down unjust judges from the seats of justice, who had set up wickedness for a Law. You have driven away as with a whirlwind all those malignant and factious spirits from among you, who have opposed your godly and religious endeavours to relieve the oppressed, to reform both Church and State, and to purge out all corruptions, and intolerable geievances out of both. And you have for the terror of the present, and future Ages, cut off many malignant and desperate instruments of violence, rebellion, and treason by the sword of justice and war. The Lord is with you, the mighty men of valour go on in this your might, and Gideon-like ye shall save from destruction this perishing State, and shall set up the kingdom of Christ over us. Though you meet with many difficulties, and great opposition of crafty, subtle, fierce, and cruel enemies, yet be not discouraged; but persuade yourselves, that these are the days of the devil's rage, who hath great wrath, because he knoweth that he hat but a short time. While he fights against you in the form of a great red Dragon, with all the power of the beast, and assails you openly on all sides, with all the forces of the Romish Antichrist, raised up at home, and from abroad; he sends in among us grievous Wolves in sheep's clothing, who by fair shows of more refined Religion, piety, and godly life, seek to insinuate themselves into your favour, and under pretence of new light, and tender consciences, to purchase at your hands liberty to live as they list, under no rule or government, but every company and particular Conventicle to do what seems good in their own eyes, without control of any superiors: others rise up daily, and speak perverse things, that they may draw Desciples after them. The several Bands of Anabaptists, Antinomiaur, Familists, Libertines, and Separatists, are so multiplied, that they begin to threaten, and speak big words. And besides these we have blasphemous heretics, or rather Atheists, who begin to gather Assemblies, and to teach people, that one Spirit rules in all living Creatures, men and beasts; and the Spirit which dwells in the Saints is no other but the same which worketh in the children of disobedience. And that the Doctrine concerning the person of Christ, God and man, as it is preached in all Orthodox Churches, is but a fiction; for every man, by the Spirit of new light coming into him, becomes a Christ, God and man in himself. That men's souls die as beasts do with their bodies, and live not till the day of resurrection: As for hell, damnation, and differences of Elect men blessed, and reprobate cursed, they hold them to be Dreams, fictions, scarecrows, and idle fancies. There is also a new Sect of Seekers, who renounce the Scriptures as blind guides, and wait for new lights to lead them to the true Religion▪ which (as they conceive) is not yet to be found, while the Temple is full of smoke: and in the mean time they will seek, and suspend, and fasten on no Religion, till the new lights appear. But such is the efficacy of Satan in all these Sects, of so contrary opinions, that in the main they are not divided: but all agree in this, that with lies, slanders, revilings, and reproaches they strive to over-lade, tear and rend the true Orthodox reformed Churches, and spare not Christ's pure redeemed flock: but by flatteries, forgeries, and new fangle opinions, draw away many well-meaning people, and steal away and destroy the sheep of his fold. Now these many factions and Sects, with all their favourers and abettors, (if any such should rise up among you) they are the Bands of the wicked, and the Brambles of which my Text speaks: which I have in the Doctrine now in hand proved to be most pestilent and dangerous, even the very curse of the land in which they get footing, and increase. And ye renowned Worthies, as ye tender the good and welfare of your country, and of those who have entrusted you with defence and safety of their Religion, laws, Liberty, and Lives, and as God hath called you to the highest place and Court of judicature: so let it be your first care and work of Reformation, to remove all such Brambles out of the way: and because some are but green thorns, or pricks, seduced and drawn into the faction by the sleights and subtlety of deceivers, have compassion on them, and put a difference, pulling them out of the fire, by the hand of justice tempered with mercy: and by the rod of correction; but others who are men of Belial, hardened in their malignity, such as David in his last words resembles to thorns, thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands, but the man that will touch them, must be fenced with Iron, and the staff of a spear, and they shall be burnt with fire in the same place: cut them down with the sword of justice, root them out and consume them as with fire, that no root may spring again; let their mischief fall upon their own heads, that the Land may be eased, which hath a long time, and doth still groan under them, as under an heavy curse. I do not use this exhortation, as a Spur, but as an encouragement to you, who are wise, and of yourselves willing and forward; that when you are put in mind, and have it set before your eyes, what a plague and curse such bands of wicked men are in a laud, and to what misery and mischief all their counsels and doings tend; and what woeful events follow their cursed designs; you may proceed with courage to quell, scatter, and destroy them, never doubting, but that in so doing you do the work of God, and judge, and execute justice for him, and he is with you in the judgement, and by cutting off such achan's, you turn away his wrath from the Land.  
Secondly, this Doctrine serves for wholesome admonition to us all this day; For by discovering to us the evil, and mischief of wicked counsels; and what a plague and curse the Bands of the ungodly are in a Land, when they are combined together to work wickedness in their hearts, to oppress and persecute God's people by injustice and violence, and to oppose necessary Reformation: It puts us in mind of the plague & curse which still presseth sore, and lieth hard and heavy upon the kingdom at this time; and of our sins which have procured all this evil unto us, which great sins we have not yet subdued, neither have so washed our hearts from wickedness by true and sound repentance, as to make ourselves ripe for deliverance. Although the Lord by our Parliament hath wrought wonderfully in scattering the bands of wicked Counsellors, unjest judges, and corrupt Officers, in removing them from their Assembly, and from the seats of justice, and Courts of judicature: yet they are still combined together to do mischief in several parts of the Land; they have raised up, and do still maintain a most unnatural bloody civil war, and have brought upon us the great and sore judgement of the sword: they have also subservient Bands of malignants, who do work for them secretly underhand, and are ready upon every occasion to help forward their cursed design: we have but few garrison towns, or fortified places, wherein they have not had some Band of combined traitors, plotting to betray them, as we have seen in many former and late discoveries. And as the whole Kingdom groaned under the pressure of those tyrannical Courts lately dissolved; so many parts of the Land are still miserably oppressed by their scattered Bands, and we all sigh and groan with our oppressed brethren, and have a fellow-feeling of their calamities▪ Surely our great sins have pulled this plague and curse upon the Land; and it is still continued, because we continue in our sins. The unclean spirits which vex us are not to be cast out, but by faithful fervent prayers, and such holy Fasts as God hath chosen, and we have not kept. For we have not loosed the bands of wickedness, we have not undone the heavy burdens, nor relieved the oppressed, nor broken every yoke. Many people in the country are intolerably eaten up with free Quarter of our soldiers, and yet have as heavy taxes laid on them as any others. The laborious Ministers are robbed of their livelihood by bands of Anabaptists, Separatists, and other profane covetous persons; and have no relief, nor remedy, but that which is worse than the disease: And yet when any tax is laid on their parishes, they are assessed more deeply, than some of double and trible ability. This I speak, not that I have any cause to complain, but I am grieved to see the palpable wrongs, and to hear the complaints of my suffering brethren. The Church of Christ is woefully rent and torn by the bands of of schismatics, and blasphemous heretics, who when they have robbed the folds of the Pastors, and stolen away their sheep, do raise up Hue and Cry against them, for demanding their own: and while they persecute with the sword of their slanderous tongues all godly Orthodox Ministers, who desire to walk in the beaten way of all Reformed Churches, and to be guided therein by the clear light of God's word and spirit: they cry out, persecution, persecution, worse than prelatical; we are persecuted, imprisoned, banished, for our Consciences, and not suffered to enjoy Christian liberty. Indeed if heresy, blasphemy, mutiny, raised up in the Church and State, and open affronts offered to this religious Parliament be Christian Liberty and Conscience: some of them have been lightly imprisoned for such doings a few days; but of any other persecution for Conscience, we have not yet heard. These great and scandalous sins, with horrid blasphemies belched out against Christ, the gospel, the Law of God, and the holy Scriptures, while they are not punished by the Magistrate, nor by the offenders repented of, nor generally mourned for by us all, nor with godly grief and sorrow bewailed, they provoke God to continue our plagues, and to strengthen the hand of the wicked against us, and his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Besides, it is to be feared, that we have not throughly repented, nor so grieved, and bitterly mourned for our iniquities, which provoked God to give us in his wrath tyrannical Lords and Lordly Prelates to rule over us with rigour: neither have we humbled our souls as we ought, even to shame ourselves by public confession, and open detestation of those offences and crimes whereof we are generally guilty in one measure or other, in that out of cowardly fear we yielded our necks to the Antichristian yoke of prelatical Tyrants, receiving without contradiction, or resistance, their Popish Ceremonies, superstitious Rites, and Idolatrous Innovations, and too many soothed them in their usurped power, and Lordly dominion over God's inheritance, fathering it on them by Divine Right. Some have out of wilful ignorance, and some out of flattery, some out of ambition, and a covetous desire of preferment by their means been instruments to confirm them in their pride, and power unlimited: As the Lord by the Prophet Jeremiah complained against the Jews, in a time when their Church and State were desperately corrupt, and incurable, ready to be wholly ruined, 
Jer. 5.30.  saying: A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land, the Prophets prophesy falsely, the priest's rule, and take power into their hands by their means, and my people love to have it so, and what will ye do in the end thereof. So it might have been truly said of us, our Prophets prophesied falsely, they preached for the pomp and Lordly power of Bishops, and Metropolitans, proclaimed them to be Lords over men's consciences, and the only Pastors of all the Churches in their dioceses and Provinces, and all other Ministers to be no Pastors, but only their curates and slavish vassals, bound by oath to obey their dictates and Canons. By this means they took into their hands the whole power of Church and State: they tyrannised, and Lorded it in their high Commission Courts, not only over Ministers and their flocks, but also over the Nobility and Gentry, who were compelled to crouch to them: they haled men to prison, & by hard and close imprisonment murdered the innonocent, they robbed men of their estates by arbitrary fines, they overawed judges, Counsellors, and Officers of state, so that by them they made their own will and lust law, just judgements were restrained, and wrong judgement proceeded at their command, the wicked were favoured and promoted, and all godly people, especially faithful Orthodox Ministers were hated and hunted after with nets; and the people loved to have it so: for they were ready to seek their favour by accusing and slandering their Preachers, exposing them to their fury, and betraying them into their merciless hands: And what remained then for us to do, but in anguish of soul to cry out and complain in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, chap. 59.11, &c. We roar like Bears, and mourn sore like Doves: we looked for light, and behold obscurity, justice is turned backward, equity cannot enter, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a small remnant of faithful praying people, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been as Gomorah. But when he saw our affliction, he looked on us with compassion, and seeing that there was none to help, his own arm brought salvation to us, & his righteousness it sustained us; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as with a Cloak; and according to their deeds, accordingly he hath repaid fury to our oppressors, and recompense to his and our enemies: he hath broken their nets, and we are delivered.  
Here if any object and say, If the Lord be with us to deliver us, why are we thus troubled and vexed still with fears of open enemies; and with dangers of Malignants among us? I must say again, I fear we have not rendered to God thanks and praise, with the slaughter of our sins and lusts, and the sacrifice of new obedience, and the honour due to his name for these beginnings of his mercy: neither have we sorrowed and mourned to amendment of life: our former sins and iniquities are too many and great to be with so few tears and sighs washed and blown away: If we could weep tears of blood for them, and rend our hearts with godly remorse, and be ashamed, and confounded in ourselves for our unthankfulness to so gracious a God, so bountiful a Father, and so merciful a Lord and judge, all is too little. Let us therefore in these our public Fasts, both Ministers and peope, pour out our souls in humble confession of our vileness, and by aggravating our unworthiness, let us labour to make ourselves and others more sensible of the greatness of his mercy to us, and the praise of his goodness and bounty to such vile sinners more admirable and glorious: Let us lose the bands of wickedness, and the more cowardly, and fearful we have been, like Peter in the days of trial, the more bitterly let us weep with Peter: the more share and hand we have had in soothing Prelates, and promoting their pride, the more zealous let us be in trampling their pride under foot, and in abhorring all appearance of it, and in showing open detestation of all their Iniquity, Superstiton, and Idolatry. David was a man after God's heart, and when through fleshly frailty, he had fallen into great and scandalous sins, adding to his adultery, murder; though upon his confession of his sin, the Lord forgave the iniquity of it; and the Prophet told him, that the Lord had taken away his sin, he should not die, nor undergo any destroying punishment of wrath and vengeance: yet he rested not in confessing, fasting, mourning, and praying for a day; but out of loathing, and abhorring his sinful corruption, he afflicted his soul seven days, lying upon the ground, fasting, weeping, and making supplication with strong cries, and saying, Have mercy upon me o God according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out all my transgressions: wash me throughly from my wickedness; deliver me from blood-guiltiness, create in me a clean heart, restore to me the joy of thy salvation, Psal. 51▪ And again, O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, I am troubled, I am bowed greatly, I go mourning all the day long: As we may more at large see in his penitential psalms, in which his sorrows are engraven and recorded to all posterities. And all this repentance proceeded not from horror of conscience or fear of death and hell, as that of Ahab, and Judas did: but out of true remorse and godly sorrow, for that he had sinned against a God, so gracious and full of tender compassion: His own words show the true ground of his grief, where he saith, Against thee, thee only have I sinned. It was his love of God, and sense of God's love and mercy to him, which made him so hate his sins, and loathe himself. And indeed this is true Evangelical repentance, which works effectually to the mortifying of the old man, killing the body of death, and subduing the rebellious lusts of the flesh: this makes our former sins hateful and grievous to us; and terrifies us from falling in to the like again. O how happy should we be, if we could thus repent, if we could thus humble our souls in these our Fasts, God's bowels of compassion would yearn towards us, as the bowels of tender parents do over a dear child when they see him grieving at the heart, and mourning for his offence of them, and disobedience to them, When the Lord our God sees us thus penitent, he will answer us graciously, meet us, and embrace us with love, make us behold his face with joy in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, accept his ransom for us, and will say to your souls, I am your salvation. His scourging rod, the cursed Bramble, with all the thorns and Pricks thereof, all the bands of the wicked which trouble us, shall be thrown away into the fire, burnt and consumed.  
I proceed to the second point, which is the resemblance of the several sorts of ungodly, malicious, and ill-affected persons banded together to consult, devise, and practise evil against the Church of Christ, & to oppress, persecute, and do mischief to God's people, unto the several sorts of pricks on the great Bramble, of which some are green and more tender, others dried and hardened, but all sharp pricking and hurtful, and are all to be taken away as with a whirlwind. This ministers to us the second Doctrine.  
That all persons combined in any Band or faction, consulting and working together against God's Church and people, whether they be doctrine 2 more or less pernicious, and able to do mischief, whether Hypocrites, working under hand, or open professed persecutors, they are all sharers in the same wickedness, and being all of the same cursed Band and crew, they shall perish in the same destruction.  
This is further confirmed by God's own words, Psal. 50.16, &c. But unto the wicked said God, what hast thou to do to declare my Statutes, and to take my Covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my word behind thee? when thou sawest a thief thou consentedst to him, and hast been partaker with the adulterers, thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit: thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, and slanderest thine own mother's son. In which words I observe, that some wicked men make a profession of Religion, declare God's Statutes, and take his Covenant in their mouth. Secondly, that they hate instruction, oppose Reformation, and break their Covenant with God. Thirdly, that by sitting in counsel with persecutors, speaking evil with their mouths, and framing deceit with their tongues, and consenting to the deeds of evil-doers, they are partakers of their sins. Fourthly, that God's wrath is kindled against them, and if they do not repent he will tear them in pieces, and none shall deliver them. And psalm 26.4.5. The holy Psalmist pleading immunity from sliding, and that God will not take him away, nor gather his soul with sinners, nor his life with men of blood, in whose hand is mischief, because he hath not sat with vain persons, nor gone in with dissemblers, but hath hated the Congregation of evil doers, and will not sit in counsel with the wicked; doth necessarily intimate, that all they who do join in counsel with the wicked, & help forward their designs, are partakers of their sins, and shall perish with them. And to the same purpose the Prophet Jeremy speaks, 
Ier. 15.17.  saying, I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced: why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? which words import, that they who are of the Band of Scorners, and rejoice in their evil doings, are partakers of their wickedness, and their wages shall be perpetual pain and wounds incurable. All in Corah's conspiracy, 
Numb. 16.  even women and children, were found guilty before God of that rebellion and perished in it. And in a City falling away to Idolatry, 
Deut. 13.  all in it, young & old are guilty, and to be cut off.  
And indeed there is good Reason grounded on the word of reason 1 God, to prove this: For if childred are punished for the sins of their fathers unto the third and fourth Generation; because so long they may by sight or hearing know them, and see the prints and monuments of their fraud, violence, oppression, pride, and the like, and wittingly hold and possess their ill-gotten goods, of which they having knowledge, become partakers of their sins, and make themselves guilty by approving, or imitating them, or neglecting to grieve and mourn for them, and to make restitution, and not removing their cursed things out of their families. Then much more they who are Counsellors, abettors, actors, and promoters of ungodly actions, and have an hand in the doing of them are partakers, and guilty of them as being their own sins for which they are justly punished. Now the first is manifest, Exodus 20.5. by the express words of the Law, where the Lord saith, He will visit the sins of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation: which sins they had no finger in when they were first committed; but only approved them by imitation, or did not sorrow and mourn for them; nor show open detestation, nor make restitution. Therefore much more they who join in counsel with the enemies of God's Church, and further and help forward their malicious designs, let them seem never so moderate and zealous for Religion, and the welfare of Church and State: they are all hurtful and dangerous pricks of the cursed Bramble, brethren and companions with the malignant in their mischief, guilty of the same sins, and shall perish in the same destruction, if they do not repent, and separate themselves from their Congregation.  
The common Law of Nations also confirms this, which makes accessaries, though not desperately cruel, nor so hardened reason 2 in malice, as the chief principals guilty of murder, robbery, treason, and the like crimes.  
This Doctrine is of good use. For it serves to admonish us use 1 all to be vigilant and watchful against all hurtful persons, dangerous sons of Belial, who are so many thorns and pricks of the cursed Bramble, yea far more dangerous; for their teeth are spears, and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. psalm 57.4. They do not only catch and wound, and tear all that come within their reach, and touch them, as the Pricks of Brambles do: but they have bent their tongues like a Bow for lies, and shoot forth their poisoned arrows, bitter words of slander, to hurt and wound at a distance, Psal. 64.3. The Prophet Jeremiah living in a dangerous time, in which there were many assemblies of such treacherous men, cried out in great fear and anguish, O that I had in the wilderness the lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them. Jeremiah 9.2.3. David also, beset with such briars, as a man possessed with horror, and trembling, wished that he had wings to fly away. O that I had wings like a Dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest: Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Thus God's dear servants were more afraid of these pricking Brambles than of the briars and thorns in the wilderness: wherefore let me exhort you in the words of the Apostle, to see that ye walk warily and circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, because the days are evil, Ephes. 5.15. Let us not be deceived with the fair shows of those instruments of Satan, who are outwardly Saints and angels of light, professing abundance of new light, every sort and Sect of them, but inwardly are ravening and grievous wolves, not sparing the flock of Christ, his true Church planted in this Land, and like stinging and tearing pricks of the bramble wounding and tearing the high Court of Parliament, and the Assembly of Divines, with the spears and arrows of bitter words. Although the great Band of wicked Counsellors, judges, and Officers, which did tyrannize over our souls, as much as our bodies, and was like a great Bramble overspreading the whole Land, darkening our light with the shadow of it, is by God's mighty hand working with this happy Parliament, hurled out of all high Courts of justice, and removed further from us, and some noisome and dangerous pricks thereof broken off and destroyed: yet let us not dream of peace, nor suffer security to creep upon us: for it doth get root and strength again in other places round about us, and doth prevail to do mischief, not a little in the North, the South, the West, and middle Countries: And the Lord calls us to fasting and prayer, and to great humiliation, that we seeking to him may find deliverance from the cruelty of that devouring Bramble; the sharp hooked pricks whereof do sting, wound, catch, and hold whatsoever comes within their reach, as appears by their robbing and plundering, and haling men to prison, slaying and murdering many harmless people where they come: yea, this Bramble shrouding itself under the shadow of the great Cedar of Lebanons regal power and presence, rules over many great trees and Oaks of Bashan: and therefore still troubles us, and puts us in fear, and Satan, and Antichrist foreseeing the fall of their kingdom in the full, and destruction of it, combine all their forces to support it: And hence it is, that besides foreign forces, Satan hath raised up from among ourselves bands of Malignants, Anabaptists, Antinomians, Libertines, schismatical Separatists, all which are so many treacherous enemies at home, and do all work together to strengthen the popish Faction, and to lay us open and naked to their fury and violence, by opposing and retarding the blessed work of Reformation, deviding us among ourselves, and rending the Coat of Christ without seam. And every one in these several factions, is like a sharp venomous thorn or Prick of the cursed Bramble, stinging and wounding the Church and commonwealth, and all that are faithful in both. And therefore to me it is not grievous, but to you it is safe to admonish you again in the words of the Apostle, to beware of these Dogs, to beware of these evil workers, to beware of the concision: never had we more need to be firmly united in hearts, souls, and affections, that with joint strength, and one shoulder we may labour and strive to dissolve these wicked Bands, and to scatter them: for they are a heavy curse to all our Land.  
Secondly, this Doctrine serves as to stir us all up as to beware use lest these men of Belial, who are combined together in hurtful counsels, and practices catch hold of us to hurt us; so also it gives a Caveat to all men to take heed, that they be not so deceived with the seeming moderation and fair shows of any sort of them, as to seek or hope for any help from them, either for resisting the Popish faction, or for furthering the true reformation of the Church, and settling of the Land in peace. For certainly, whether they be of the Band and Sect of Anabaptists, or Antinomians, or Libertines, or separating schismatics, or Seekers of new light, they are all of them hurtful pricks of the cursed Bramble, and all their counsels and designs tend to cross and hinder all sound Reformation, and to further the grand Antichristian faction, in their desperate attempts to ruin Religion, Church, and commonwealth. Can any be so blind and void of understanding, as to expect any blessing or good at all from them who are the curse of the land? will the pernicious enemies of Reformation, and peace, contemners of laws, and lawful authority, cordially join to defend our laws and Religion, and help forward the reformation of the Church from corruptions, errors, and abuses, which abound chiefly in themselves, and they are the authors and abettors of them? Is there any hope that they who exclude and cast out from their Communion, as unclean Dogs, all reformed Churches, will fight for any Reformation which comes near to them, though it be never so well warranted and held forth in the Word of God? We read of Manasseh, the King of Judah, that when the Captains of the host of the King of Assyria, came against him, they took him in the thorns, bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, where he was in great affliction, 2 Chron. 33.11. When the City could not defend him, he fled for shelter into the Briar bushes, and there he was caught, and held fast by the hooked pricks, for the enemies to take him: and even so it will be with us, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  if we trust in these pricking thorns, and betake ourselves to them for help, they will betray us into the enemy's hands. Wherefore let us set our hearts to rest wholly on our God, and to seek to him with fasting, prayer, and humiliation for deliverance from these briars, and thorns, and from their hooks and snares. And because while we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us; let us confess our sins with mournful hearts, and forsake them, and the Lord will forgive the iniquity of them, and will be our refuge and strength, and a present help in all our troubles. For if we could but prepare our hearts, and fit ourselves for deliverance by obtaining mercy to have our sins and transgressions blotted out, and could wash our hearts from wickedness, and put away by repentance our sins which do strengthen the hands of our enemies against us, God would quickly scatter all them that rise up to vex us, and not spare nor endure them for one moment, they are all even the best of them, the hateful pricks of the cursed briar, fully ripe for destruction. Sin is that which brought them for a curse upon the ground; and repentance and putting away of our sins is the only way to rid the land of them; the Lord is ready and waiteth for our amendment, that instantly and without delay he may scatter them as with a whirlwind both the green and the dry.  
The third point in my Text is; That God will not suffer the righteous to feel the evil and mischief intended and plotted against them, by the bands of their enemies and persecutors, but will most timely and seasonably take away and destroy all and every prick of that cursed bramble and spare none, neither green nor dry. There are two kinds of feeling; one is by outward and bodily sense of things which touch us, and we touch and handle them; this is expressed in the original Scriptures by an Hebrew word which implies bodily touching; The other is the inward sense of feeling by knowledge and understanding. 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  This feeling reacheth beyond bodily sense of the flesh, even to the soul and spirit, and it is expressed in the original by the hebrew words Jadagh and Jabin, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  which signify to know and understand the thing bodily felt. Of this feeling we read Prov. 23.35. where it is said of a drunken man; That he is stricken, and yet is not sick of his blow; he is beaten, but he feels it not. It is certain his flesh feels it, and the stripes leave a print behind; but he hath not for the present the use of his reason to know and understand, because his spirits are drowned in drink, and oppressed with moist vapours. Also Eccles. 8.5. it is said; that he that keepeth the commandment shall not feel evil, that is, not evil as a plague or curse reaching to the soul, nor as an evil of wrath and revenge, for so the righteous do not feel any evil, though they feel in the flesh many afflictions of trial and chastisement, which are not evil but good to them. We read that Isaac did bodily feel Jacob by touching his hands and neck, but he did not know nor understand that it was Jacob whom he felt, and so he had a feeling of him in part only by bodily sense, but not a full and perfect feeling of him in soul and spirit by knowledge and understanding. Here my Text speaks of a full sense and feeling, as well inwardly in soul and spirit, as outwardly in the flesh; 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  For the word Jabi●u, which signifies such a feeling is here used: the words thus opened minister the third Doctrine, viz.  
That God out of his tender love and watchful providence over his Church and people, doth frustrate the wicked counsels and purposes doctrine 3 of their Enemies, and scatters their persecutors before they proceed, and prevail so far as to make them feel the evil and mischief which they are sharply set and cruelly bent to inflict and bring upon them.  
The full Scope and intent of this Doctrine is to show, and to hold out unto us these 3 things,  
First, that God is ready to prevent the evils intended against his Church and People by their enemies, and delivers them from them oftentimes before they have any sense or feeling of them at all. Secondly, that though the Lord suffers the wicked to afflict his Church, and to be his rod to scourge his People, either for their sins by way of sharp correction, or for trial of their faith and patience; yet he never leaves them in their hand to feel their worst, nor gives them to their lust, rage and fury to be devoured and swallowed up of them, or to be put to sense and feeling of pain intolerable. Thirdly, though the cruel enemies of God's Church, and persecutors of his people, may proceed so far as to kill their bodies with sense of outward torment and violence done to the flesh; yet they shall never reach to their souls and spirits, nor prevail so far as to make them feel the evil and mischief intended against their inward man, the soul and spirit. For the confirming of this Doctrine in all these particulars, we have clear testimonies, and pregnant examples in the sacred Scriptures. First, that God prevents the evil intended by the enemies against his people, so that they do not feel it, neither doth it touch them at all, it is plainly affirmed, psalm 91.2, 3. where it is said of them that trust in the Lord, and make him their refuge, that he will deliver them from the snare of the Fowler, and from all other evils which are most terrible, so that no evil shall befall them, nor plague come near their dwelling: only with their eyes shall they behold, and see the reward of the wicked their enemies. Also psalm 27.2. When the wicked, even mine enemies, saith David, came against me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled, and fell. And psalm 37. The wicked plotteth against the righteous, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth, he hath drawn out his sword, and bent his Bow to cast down, and to slay such as be upright: but the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. His sword shall enter into his own heart, and his Bow shall be broken. Thus when they have traveled with iniquity, and conceived mischief, they bring forth falsehood, and when they have made a pit and aiggedit, they fall into the ditch themselves, and their mischief returns upon their own head, psalm 7.14. and in the net which they hid is their own foot taken, and they are snared in the work of their hands, Psal▪ 9.15, 16. Besides these, and many such testimonies, we have pregnant examples, as that of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. 20. when three nations were banded against him and his people, and they had no might to resist, neither knew what to do, they betook themselves to seek the Lord with fasting and prayer: and the Lord set ambushments against the enemies, and made them slay one another till they were all destroyed: so that Jehosophat and his people had no need to fight, but did only stand and see the salvation of the Lord. Another example is that of Hezekiah, when the Assyrian King Senacharib came against him to besiege Jerusalem, and by Rabshekeh, threatened to drive his people to that extremity, as to eat their own dung, and to drink their own piss, 2 King. 18.27. The Lord suffered him not to come to the City, nor to shoot an arrow into it, but sent a blast upon him, and by his Angel slew in one night, 185. thousand in his host, and drove him back with shame.  
Secondly, though the Church and children of God, may be sore afflicted by the Bands of the wicked, yet before they feel that destruction and misery which is intended and plotted against them, and Lord will send deliverance by scatrering, and destroying their cruel persecutors. We see this verified in the Israelites, who saw and felt much affliction in Egypt: but when it came to the upshot, that Pharaoh and his Host pursued them to cut them off, and destroy them with the sword, God overthrew them all in the sea, and suffered not his people to feel their cruel hand, Exod. 14. Also in the days of the judges, the Israelites were often oppressed and afflicted by divers enemies, which sought to cast them out and destroy them: but before they felt this evil which their enemies attempted with all their power, the Lord delivered them, and scattered and destroyed their oppressors. In the 83. psalm mention is made of many Nations which were confederate against God's Church and people, and said, Come let us cut them off from being a Nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance: but when they invaded the land, and began to cast fire into their Sanctuaries, God made all those Nations as stubble before the wind, and persecuted them with his storm, and scattered them, before his people felt the evil which they conspired to bring upon them. David and his followers were pursued for their lives, and suffered hard things at the hand of Saul, and his wicked Band, but the evil which they chiefly sought, which was to kill and cut them off, they could never bring upon them, nor make them feel, for they themselves were first destroyed. In a word, God so arms his people with patience and courage, that they go through all the sharpest afflictions, and persecutions of the enemies with joy, & that peace which they have with God, makes them rejoice in tribulations, and the inward spiritual comforts which fill their souls, do swallow all pains and sorrows, that they have no such sense and feeling of them as others have.  
The third particular in the Doctrine is, that though the Bands of the wicked do persecute the Saints for their true faith in Christ, to their own destruction: and are permitted to afflict and torture their bodies, even to the murdering and killing of them: yet they can never bring them under the sense and feeling of soul-murder, by compelling them to deny the faith, and to embrace Idolatry, or any soul-killing errors and heresies. This is consonant to the words of the Apostle, Rom. 8.35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or peril, or sword, or life, or death, (as it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long, and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay in all these we are more than Conquerors, through him that loved us. And Heb. 1●. we have a Cloud of witnesses who were tortured, and had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings, and of bonds and imprisonment, and were stoned, sawn asunder, and slain with the sword, and yet they felt no evil in their souls, which in all these temptations did remain untouched: Though the stiff-necked Jews were cut to the heart at the hearing of Stevens words, and they gnashed on him with their teeth, and ran upon him all at once, with purpose to destroy him soul and body, yet his soul was not touched with the sense and feeling of their malice and fury, and being commended into the hands of Christ, whom it saw and enjoyed in death, it ascended triumphantly into glory.  
use 1 This Doctrine thus confirmed in all particulars, is of singular use: First, to magnify in our eyes God's tender love to his Church, and his watchfulness over his people, for the preservation, defence, and upholding of them in a world so full of the Bands of wicked sons of Belial, and in a land so overspread with the curse and plague of briars and thorns. First, in that he keeps many of them from being caught or touched at all. Secondly, in that he supports them when they are caught, and arms them with strength, faith, patience, and courage, to go through the Briars and thorns, without any sense and feeling of the sting and venom of their sharp pricks: as we read of one of our blessed Martyrs, who professed that in the midst of burning flames, consuming his body, he felt no more pain, than if he had lain on a featherbed. Thirdly, in that he limits and restrains the power, rage, and fury of the sharpest, and most cruel pricks of the cursed Bramble, that they cannot strike and wound them to the quick, that is, not reach unto their soul. Of this the Church and people of God in this land have had heretofore, and have at this day most comfortable experience. First, in the year 88 when the floods of Belial made us afraid, and the armed Bands of Antichrist came against us with an invincible Armado, (as they proudly boasted) armed with sharp hooks, stabbing knives, and all weapons of cruelty, and instruments of death, 
Exod. 15.  the Lord did blow upon them with his mighty whirlwind, scattered them upon the face of the great deep, the sea covered them, and they sunk as Lead in the mighty waters, and so he saved us from the sharp hooks and pricks of the enemies, their murdering and destroying weapons and instruments of cruelty did not touch us at all. Likewise in the Powder Treason, and many other treacherous plots of late time, when we were encompassed in the net, ready to fall into the briars, and to be caught in the snares of the wicked, the Lord suddenly broke the snares, and we were delivered, before their hooked pricks could fasten upon us, or tear us. Secondly, though the Lord hath suffered us for our sins, and for the trial of our Faith, to fall of late into the briars, and we have undergone sharp and cruel prickings in this bloody civil war kindled in our Land, yet he hath so armed us with Faith in Christ, and strengthened us with courage, and with confidence, and with full assurance of his love, that we go through all cheerfully and comfortably, as if we felt no hurt: yea in all the afflictions we feel no stroke of wrath and revenge at all, but only chastisements of love, fatherly corrections and trials, which are the faithful wounds of a lover, better and more safe than the deceitful kisses and embracings of our enemies. Thirdly in the midst of thorns and briers, when the Lord suffers the swords of the enemies to cut our flesh, and to wound and kill our bodies, and to shed our blood, that they may fill up to the full the measure of their iniquities; yet he suffers not their violence to reach unto our souls, we stand firm and steadfast in faith; and so far are we from wavering in Religion, inclining to Popery, forsaking the cause of Christ, and suffering our souls to be betrayed, wounded, and slain, that we have renewed our Covenant with God, & have bound ourselves to stand for a more full Reformation of Church and State, and to maintain the true Reformed Religion with our bodies, lives, and goods, and to oppose popery, and all other Sects, and Opinions, contrary to true godliness, O how are we bound to admire the love, mercy, bounty and goodness of the Lord our God in all these notable passages of his providence, watchfulness, and provident care over his Church and people in this land: how ought we to love▪ honour, serve, and obey him to seek continually to him for help, and to call upon his name, and to humble ourselves even to the dust, for our many sins and provocations, by which we have most unthankfully borne ourselves towards him, and ill-requited all his kindnesses to us. Let these our monthly Fasts heave us up every one a step and degree higher in our devotion, zeal. and reformation of life: and the oftener we are put in remembrance of God's mercies to us, and our sins against his holy Majesty, the more let us be humbled, the more let us cry mightily to God in confession, prayer, and supplication, which if he gives us grace to do, we shall have no need to fear or doubt, but may be confident, that he will scatter the bands of our enemies, and all the cursed pricks of the cursed Bramble, he will take away every one as with a whirlwind; as my Text here speaks.  
Secondly, this Doctrine is of use to strengthen the faith of use 2 weak Christians, and to put courage into them that are fearful and cowardly in our Land, now in these perilous times, wherein so many pricking briars, and grieving thorns are suddenly grown up among us, and several bands of desperate sons of Belial are multiplied within us, and round about us on every side. God's love to his Church, and his care for his people, and watchfulness over them, doth not always consist and appear in suffering no hurtful briars to be at all▪ (or if such happen to grow up and increase) in ridding the land of them speedily: for this is the way to make us grow secure, and cold in prayer and seeking to him: sin not corrected will increase, and faith not tried nor exercised, will grow rusty, and there will be no manifestation of them that are approved. But herein especially is God's love and care for his people manifested, when he suffers briars and thorns to grow up and multiply in the land till they grow terrible, and dangerous, and yet preserves his Church as a lily among thorns, safe and untouched, and his people from all sense and feeling of any hurt from them; or if the sharp hooked pricks catch hold of them, they cannot enter so far, nor strike so deep as to wound them mortally, and to make them feel the smart of a wrathful and revenging stroke, because they are girded with the whole Armour of God: or if they wound them mortally in their bodies, and in their frail flesh; yet in their soul and spirit they feel no hurt at all: they are so firmly built on Christ the Rock, and sustained by his righteousness, and by his spirit, that they cannot waver, nor be moved from their steadfastness. Hereby God doth manifest himself to be our refuge and strength, and a present help against all troubles, never failing, no● neglecting us in time of need, and firm friend in all adversities. Wherefore let no man's heart fail because of the Bands of the wicked, Papists, or profane Atheists, gathered together to make open war against us, or malignant's working under hand, or heretics and schismatics, making rents and divisions which tend to weaken us, and to expose us to the rage and fury of Antichrist, and his Bands. But let us all put on courage and strength in these perilous times, and the more that evils and dangers increase, the more stout & resolute let every man be to resist them in his place and rank, and according to his ability. fear not them that can kill the body, and can do no more, but fear him rather, who can destroy both soul and body in hell, Matth. 10.28. Cowards and fearful persons have no place in the new Jerusalem, but are shut out with unbelievers, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore-mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and liars, which have their portion in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone for evermore. Rev. 21.8.  
The fourth and last point in my Text, is the destruction of the enemies and persecutors of God's Church and people, in these words, He will take them away with a whirlwind, as well the green as the dry. The Doctrine which hence ariseth is:  
That when God Church is most dangerously beset, and most fiercely doctrine 4 assailed by the bands of enemies and persecutors of all sorts, the Lord will terribly, suddenly, and totally scatter and destroy them all, and none shall escape.  
First, he will terribly scatter and destroy them, as with a tempestuous whirlwind, which cometh with great violence and terror, as we all know by experience.  
Secondly, he will destroy them suddenly: for nothing riseth up, nor rusheth in more suddenly than a whirlwind.  
Thirdly, he will destroy them totally, all, and every one, as well the green as the dry. As all have a share in the persecution of the Saints, and in opposing true godliness, so all shall perish in the same destruction.  
First, that the destruction of the wicked, who band themselves together against God's Church and people, shall be dreadful and terrible, the Scriptures abundantly testify: For the day of God's vengeance on them is said to be a woeful day, Ier. 17, 16. A day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of thick darkness, clouds, and gloominess, Nah. 1.15. All which are dreadful and terrible. The Prophet Isaiah ca●ls it devouring by that fire wherewith God devowreth his enemies: the fire of thine enemies, o Lord, 
Isa. 26. 1●.  shall devour them. The Lord is said to whet his sword, and bend his bow, and prepare the instruments of death, and ordain his arrows against the persecutors, Psal. 7.12. he will make his arrows drunk with their blood, and his sword shall devour their flesh, and he will render vengeance to them, and give them the reward of his enemies, Deut. 32.41. And in a word, the soul of the Lord so hateth these wicked men which love violence, that he will rain upon them snares, fire, brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup, Psal. 11.6.  
Secondly, that their destruction shall come suddenly, the Lord himself testifieth, Deut. 32.35. saying, To me belongeth vengeance and recompense, their foot shall slide in due time (that is, there fall shall be sudden, as the fall of a man when his foot slideth, and down he comes at once) the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things which come upon them make haste. And Psal. 64.7. It is said of them that bend their bow to shoot at the perfect, that the Lord shall shoot at them with his swift arrow suddenly, suddenly shall their stroke be: And the wise preacher resembles the fall of the wicked in the evil day, 
Eccles. 9.12  to fishes taken in an evil net, and to birds that are taken in a snare before they know and be a ware, and their snare and destruction falleth suddenly upon them. The Prophet Isaiah sayeth, that the multitude of the terrible ones, shall be as chaff which passeth away; and it (that is their scattering) shall be at an instant suddenly. And because they hate preaching of the truth, and desire that God may cease from them, and that they may no more hear of him, and trust in oppression and perverseness, Therefore their fall and breach shall be suddenly as the swelling in an high wall, the breaking whereof cometh suddenly at an instant Isa. 30.13. And for an instance he brings in Babylon the type of Rome. And of the Kingdom and Faction of Antichrist, and the pattern of the whole body of the enemies of God's people, and persecutors of his Church Isa. 47.1. Whose destruction cometh on her suddenly, and she shall not know from whence it riseth, and desolation shall come on her suddenly when she shall not know, nor be aware. And in this respect, the Lord coming to take vengeance on the Romish Beast, and on all his agents, saith, Behold, I come as a thief, that is, suddenly and unexpected, Rev. 16.15. And when the wicked say, Peace, and safety, then shall destruction come upon them suddenly as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape, 1 Thes. 5.3.  
Thirdly, that their scattering and destruction shall be total of all, and every one of all sorts the Psalmist testifieth, Ps. 62.3. How long (saith he) will ye imagine, or devise mischief? ye shall be slain all of you, as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. And Ier. 11.12. and 18.21. and divers other places. An utter destruction is denounced against all of all sorts, who are banded together against God and his people, men and women, young and old. Priests and Prophets. And it is the Lord's commandment, Deut. 13.15. That the whole City following the counsel of the wicked, and taking part with them to set up Idolatry shall be destroyed, and all the inhabitants slain by the sword. The whole family of Achan, the troubler of Israel was destroyed, Ios 7 24. Corah, and all that conspired with him, of all ages and Sexes were at once swallowed up, Num 16. And of all Ahab's fam●ly, and persecuting house, there was not a man left to make water against the wall. Nor one man of all Baal's Priests escaped, but were cut off. And of all the wicked Faction which conspired against Jeremiah, the Lord saith, Cast them out of my sight, let them go forth, such as are for death, to death, and such as are for the sword to the sword, and such as are for the Famine to the famine. And though Moses and Samuel stood before me, saith God, my mind could not be towards them, Ier. 15.1, 2. Besides these testimonies, we have also good reasons to confirm this truth, all grounded on the word of God.  
First, it is the way & course of God's proceeding, so to deal with men as they deal with others, to pay them home in their kind, and punish like with like: Adoni bezek felt this, and had full experience of it: for as he had cut off the Thumbs, and great Toes of seventy Kings; so his Thumbs and great Toes were cut off, and then he, though an heathen King, confessed and said, 
Iudg. 1.7.  As I have done, so God hath requited me. The Law which God gave to Noah and his sons, that whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, is also a proof of this assertion; besides many examples in Scripture. Now the enemies and persecutors of God's people, they are called the terrible ones, Job 27.13. & Isa. 29.20, because they exercise cruelty, that they may be a greater terrrour to the meek Saints: they count it their glory to be terrible, and band themselves together for that purpose: And therefore just it is for God, and his justice requires it, that he shall land them off with terror, and consume them all together, branch, rush, and root most terribly.  
Secondly, when the wicked set themselves against God, and are at open defiance with his Majesty, his honour is enraged, and his great name will be blasphemed, if he doth not speedily take terrible revenge: yea, his jealousy will break out like a fire, and his anger will smoke against them, and move him to destroy them, as we see by his own words concerning Pharaoh, Exod 14.17. and Senacharib, Isa. 37.29. Now when the bands of the wicked set themselves against God's people, they set themselves against God, and touch the apple of his eye, where he is most tender, and cannot abide to be touched, Zac. 2.8. And if he should suffer them any longer, and not scatter them when they are swollen with malice, pride, power, and like raging waves, and proud waters, are ready to overflow and drown his people, what would become of his servants? how would the enemy rage more against his holy Majesty? and what would they do to his great name; but blaspheme it, and say, Where is their God? or what is he that we should stand in awe of him, Therefore the Lord for his name's sake, as well as for his tender compassion to his people, will suddenly and totally scatter them, and destroy them with terrible destruction.  
Thirdly, terrible wrath and vengeance are laid up in store with God for the wicked, who provoke God every day, and multiply their provocations without repentance: and they, after their hardness, and heart that cannot repent, heap to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and visitation, Rom. 2. And such are all the enemies & persecutors banded against God's Church and people: they are all impenitent persons, they do not persecute ignorantly, as Paul did, out of blind zeal for God and his Law. But of purpose, and with counsel, being banded with desperate enemies, and men of Belial, and of the same faction, and there is no hope of mercy to them, that they may repent as Paul did. Therefore all of them being pricks and thorns of the cursed Bramble, they shall perish and be terribly destroyed, even the best as well as the worst, as well the green as the dry.  
Fourthly, it is God's wisdom, will, and delight, so to do his great works, that he may show his justice and power in them, and may have the glory to himself. This he testifieth abundantly, Iud. 7. and in divers other places. Now when he scattereth the enemies, and persecutors suddenly, terribly, and totally, in the height of their pride and power, it appears to all to be his work, and the honour and glory redounds wholly to his Majesty. Therefore it is the Lord's wisdom and delight so to scatter and destroy them.  
First, this Doctrine is a singular antidote and preservative against the poison of envy, impatience, fretting, and grudging use 1 at the power, prosperity, and prevailing of the wicked against God's people, even to persecute, vex, and afflict them. The Prophet Jeremy's spirit was so stirred up in him at the sight hereof, that he expostulated with God, but yet in an humble and submissive way, Ier. 12.1, 2. Righteous (saith he) art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements: Wherefore doth the wicked prosper? and why are they blessed that deal treacherously: Thou hast planted them, they have taken root, they grow and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins. 
Hab. 1.2, 3  The Prophet Habakkuk useth greater boldness, saying, O Lord how long shall I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear? even cry out of violence, and thou dost not save? Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore is the Law slacked, and judgement doth never go forth, for the wicked doth encompass about the righteous. But the hypocrites, and carnal professors used more stout words against the Lord, Mal. 3.14. and said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance, and walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts. And now we call the proud happy; yea they that work wickedness are exalted: and even they that tempt God are delivered. And this holy Psalmist David was overtaken in this kind, as himself acknowledgeth, Psal 73.2 3, &c. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped: for I was envious at the foolish, when I beheld the prosperity of the wicked: for their strength is firm, they are not in trouble, pride compasseth them as a chain, violence covers them as with a garment; they speak wickedly concerning oppression, they set their mouth against heaven. And it is an infirmity unto which we are all subject. But this Doctrine is a remedy to cure this disease: It teacheth the same lesson which David did meet with in the house of God, viz. that God will terribly▪ suddenly, 
Vers. 18, 19  and totally destroy them: He setteth them in slippery places, and casteth them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment, they are utterly consumed with terrors. 
Psal. 2.7.  And when the wicked spring as the grass, and the workers of iniquity flourish, is then that they shall be destroyed for ever. Wherefore let us bear this lesson in mind, that we may not be over-taken with envy and fretting at the pride and power of ungodly persecutors for a little while, but tremble rather to think of their woeful end. And if we have slipped in this kind, let us here see our folly, and condemn ourselves, as David did, saying, verse 22. So foolish and ignorant was I, as a beast before thee.  
Secondly, this Doctrine, which speaks nothing but terror use 2 to the enemies and persecutors of the Church, affords matter of comfort to the faithful in times most fearful and comfortless, when they are beset with fears and dangers by reason of the multitude, and power and the wrath of the enemies kindled against them, and ready to swallow them up. If their hearts be troubled, and their souls grieved to see the world pestered, and the Land overgrown with cursed briars and thorns; here is comfort, that God will in due time take them away, and rid the land of them: and the more terrible they are to the godly, the more terrible will the Lord be to them, and more terribly will he destroy them. If they be so multiplied and increased in power, and sharp set to swallow all up at once, and we have no might to withstand their fury; Let this comfort us, that God is more ready at hand to scatter them in a moment suddenly, and will do it for his own names sake: he will bring sudden destruction upon them, when we are in great extremity, than it is God's opportunity, to make bare his mighty arm, and to cut them off in a moment. If we fear, that after the old lions are destroyed, the young will grow up: and when the hardened pricks are consumed, the green will remain to continue our troubles, fears, and dangers, let us pluck up our heart, and be confident, that God will take them all away, both the green and dry: none shall escape. If there be any failing, or any delay, the fault is in us: because we have not put away our sins, we bind God's hands that he cannot strike, as he would speedily do, if we were as fit to receive, as he is to give deliverance. Wherefore for a conclusion, let us call upon the Lord, and sue unto him earnestly in these days of public fasting, prayer, and humiliation, for the assistance and grace of his Spirit, that we may fast from sin, and by true repentance wash our hearts from wickedness, that we may be saved. We cannot more earnestly desire and long for the downfall and destruction of our desperate and deadly enemies, those hurtful and dangerous Thorns and Brambles, which are the plague and curse that lieth heavy upon our land, nor more heartily wish for full deliverance from their rage and fury, than the Lord wisheth and desireth, that we by repentance, holy obedience, newness of heart, and uprightness of spirit, were ripened, and fitted for deliverance: so he himself showeth and testifieth by his own words, Deut. 5.29. O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever. And Deut. 32.29. O that they were wise, and understood this, that they would consider their latter end. How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. And Ps. 81.13, 14. O that my people would hearken unto me, and Israel would walk in my ways. I should soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. And now, seeing the Lord is so ready, so willing, and so desirous to save us: Let us take heed, lest by not putting away our sins, and amending our lives, we put away salvation from us, and judge ourselves unworthy of it: and so provoke the Lord to turn away his face, and favour from us, and leave us in the hand, and to the will of them, who are so ready to swallow us up in a moment, and whose will is to cut off the name and remembrance of us from the face of the earth. From which heavy curse and judgement the Lord deliver us, for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ.  
FINIS.