A parley WITH THE SWORD about A CESSATION, As it was delivered in a SERMON at a public Fast in the Church of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, Decemb. 28. 1642. By John Brinsley, Minister of the Word, and pastor of an adjacent Congregation. Published for common use. 2 SAM. 2. 26. Shall the Sword devour for ever? knowest thou not, that it will be bitter in the latter end? LONDON. Printed by G. M. for John Burroughes, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Golden Dragon near the Inner-Temple gate in Fleet street, 1643. TO MY WORTHY FRIENDS, The well Affected Inhabitants of the town of Great Yarmouth. Much esteemed in the Lord, WHat you lately received from the Pulpit, take here from the press, that what was then Transient in the ear, may be now Permanent to the Eye. Weak bodies which are subject to Heart-tremblings and faintings, use to have their Cordials, or Strong-waters by them. To like purpose serveth this Extract, intended for an Aqua Coelestis, for the fortifying of your Spirits (in these times of Common Danger) against what ever fears or dangers you may happily encounter with. If you shall have need, make use of it; otherwise let it remain by you; I dare assure you, it will be no ill store. However, I shall leave it with you, and rest Your servant in our Lord John Brinsley. IT is Ordered by the Committee of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing, the seventh day of January, 1642 That this book entitled A parley with the Sword about a cessation, be Printed. JOHN WHITE. A parley WITH THE SWORD about a CESSATION. JER. 47. VER, 6, 7. VER. 6. O thou Sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. VER. 7. How can it be quiet? seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the Sea shore; there hath he appointed it. THis whole Chapter, Coherence. upon perusal, we shall find it a prophecy against those old enemies of God, and his people, the Philistines: So much the first verse thereof acquaints us with. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the Prophet against the Philistines, &c. The word of the Lord. And what Word was this? A word of threatening, denouncing against them a judgement, a terrible judgement, the Sword, the sword of a foreign enemy; so you have it, verse 2. Thus saith the Lord, behold waters rise up out of the North, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the Land, &c. What Waters were these? Why, the army of the Chaldeans or Babylonians, which coming out of the North should overrun, overflow, and drown that whole Land with a sanguinary deluge, a deluge of blood: so the third verse explains it. At the noise of the stamping of the hooves of the strong Horses, at the rushing of his Chariots, &c. the Fathers shall not look back unto their Children for feebleness of hands. Such should be the fear and terror that should surprise them, that it should even take away all natural affections. So ofttimes in war it cometh to pass, where every one is put to shift for himself, the Father forgetteth the child, and the Husband the Wife. So sharp is this Sword, that it cuts in sunder even the straitest bonds, and nearest relations. This is the judgement here threatened against this Nation, this people. For the further confirmation whereof, that the Jews, (for whose sake this prophecy was penned, and to whom it was directed) might not make any doubt of it, the Prophet here in the close of the Chapter, the verses I have now singled out, breaketh forth into a most emphatical Apostrophe, turning his speech to the Sword itself, parlying with it (as it were) about a cessation. In this parley two particulars are to be taken notice of; Division. An Expostulation, and a Revocation. An Expostulation, verse 6. O thou Sword of the Lord, how long, &c.] A Revoctaion correcting and answering that Expostulation, ver. 7. How can it be quiet &c.] In each of these, take we notice again of two particulars: In the former, the Thing expostulated with, and the matter of the expostulation. The thing expostulated with: the Sword; the Sword of the Lord.] The matter touching which he expostulates with that Sword, is a Cessation. O thou Sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? In the latter, a Resolution, and a Reason. A Resolution by way of answer to his former Expostulation, How can it be quiet?] A Reason of that Resolution, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, &c. You see the Particulars; I shall touch upon them as briefly as I may, beginning with the first, which shall serve as a key to let us in to all the rest: The thing which the Prophet here parleys, and expostulates with, The Sword, the Sword of the Lord. O thou Sword of the Lord.] The Sword, Explication. what properly and literally it is, I shall not need to tell you. It were much to be wished that it were not so well known amongst us as at this day it is. Improperly the Sword still points out some Judgement: Generally, any notable judgement. In this sense understand we the word, Psalm. 7. 12. where the Psalmist speaking of the wicked man, he tells us that if he turn not, God will whet his sword.] i. e. prepare for him, and execute upon him some terrible judgement: In the same sense the Plague of Pestilence is sometime called the Sword, So you have it, 1 Chron. 21. 27. where, speaking of the cessation of the Pestilence, it is said that The Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again into the sheath.] Every notable, terrible judgement is a Sword. More rastrainedly, and peculiarly, the judgement of war. This in phrase of Scripture is most commonly known by the name of the Sword. And will you know the reason of it? Illiricus gives it fitly. The Sword it is Precipium organum belli: It is one of the chiefest instruments of use and service in the wars. In this sense understand the word in the Text. O thou Sword.] the Sword of a foreign Enemy, the army of the Chaldeans or Babylonians, that should come up against the Philistines. And this Sword the Prophet here calls the Sword of the Lord, Doct. O thou Sword of the Lord.] Such is the Sword, the judgement of war, it is God's Sword. So we find it in Scripture not unfrequently called. Ezek. 21. 3. Behold i am against thee, and I will draw forth my Sword out of his sheath, saith the Lord.] Isa. 34. 5. My Sword shall be bathed.] again v. 6. The Sword of the Lord is filled with blood.] Jer. 12. 12. The Sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the Land to the other.] The Sword of the Lord, though in the hand of Man. The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon, say they, Judg. 7. 20. mark it, though in Gideon's hand, yet God's Sword. Such was the Sword in the Text, The Sword of the Lord, though put into the hand of the Babylonians. So the Prophet Ezekiel explains it, Ezek. 30. 25. When I shall put my Sword into the hand of the King of Babel.] In whose hands soever, it is God's Sword. Even as the Sword of Magistracy, in whose hands soever it be found, yet still it is the King's Sword: In acknowledgement whereof, it useth where he cometh in Person, to be delivered into his hand. Thus this Sword, in whose hand soever, still it is God's Sword. The Sword of the Lord.] A truth which I might make good (if need were) upon these two Swords, the foreign Sword, and the civil or domestic Sword. Ecce duo gladij, lo here are two Swords, as the Disciples once said to our Saviour, Luk. 22. 38. The foreign Sword, the Sword of a foreign Enemy: The civil or Homebred Sword (of the two the sharper, being like the Sword of Goliath, which cut off his own head) the Sword of a civil war. Each of these, the Sword of the Lord. For the former, the Text is express. O thou Sword of the Lord, saith the Prophet, speaking of the Sword of a foreign Enemy. And it is no less true of the latter. It is that which the Story tells us of the Midianites, who being amazed by Gideon's frightful stratagem, they fell foul one upon another, not without a divine overruling providence. The Lord (saith the Text) set every man's Sword against his fellow, Judg. 7. 22. The Sword whether foreign or civil, still it is the Sword of the Lord. And well may it be so called, Reas. it is both of his choosing and of his using. 1. 1 Of his Choosing, his appointing. So are generally all Rods, hear the Rod and who hath appointed it, Mic. 6. v. 9 God doth not leave it unto men to choose their own Rods. True it is, once he did it, and but once that I remember. David having provoked God by numbering of the people, the Lord sends him his choice of three Rods (a hard choice) Famine, Sword, Pestilence. I offer thee three things (saith the Lord) choose thou one of them, that I may do it unto thee.] 2 Sam. 24. 12. But this is not ordinary. Ordinarily God himself makes choice of the Rod, the judgement wherewith he striketh. And choosing it, he calls for it. So he doth for mercies before they come. i will call for the corn, Ezek. 36. 29. And the like he doth for judgements; this amongst the rest, the Sword; it never cometh before he calls for it. Lo I will call for a Sword upon all the inhabitants of the Earth, saith the Lord of hosts, Jer. 25. 29. It is he that calleth for the foreign Sword. In that day the Lord shall hiss for the Fly that is at the uttermost part of the floods of Egypt, and for the Bee that is in the Land of Ashur, (saith the Prophet, speaking of the Egyptians and Assyrians, which God intended to bring against his people) Is. 7 18. And it is he which calleth for the civil or Homebred Sword. I will call for a Sword against him (saith the Lord, speaking of Gog and Magog the principal enemies of the Church) and every man's Sword shall be against his Brother, Ezek. 38. 21. The Sword, whether foreign or civil it is a Rod of God's choosing, and in that respect may well be called his Sword. 2. 2. As of his Choosing so of his using; as of his calling so of his sending, which he doth not without a Charge: so you have it in the Text. The Lord hath given it a Charge against Ashkelon, &c.] wherein the Prophet gives a Reason why he calleth this Sword, The Sword of the Lord; because the Lord had given it a Charge. So he doth wherever the Sword cometh, he giveth it a Charge, a Commission: not only a Permission, but a Commission, and that under seal. It is that which Job saith of all Afflictions and Judgements, Job 33. 16. The Lord openeth the ears of men even by their cor●ections, which he had sealed. i. e. determined; so the Geneva both reads and interprets that place. God never sends a judgement, but he sealeth it, giving it a Charge, a Commission, and that, as it were, under seal. So he doth by the Sword, which never cometh without a Commission, a Charge, and that from God, who chargeth and ordereth it: 1. Whither it shall go. 2. How far it shall advance. 3. How long it shall stay. 4. And lastly, What execution it shall do. In all which respects it may be well called, The Sword of the Lord. 1. It hath a Charge from God whither it shall go; to what place, to what kingdom, what part of that kingdom: so much we may read in the Text. The Lord (saith the Prophet) had given the Sword a charge against Palestina, the land of the Philistines; and that not only against the Country in general, but against some particular places in it. The Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the Sea coasts.] Ashkelon, one particular City of the Philistines, an inland City, paulò remotior (as Calvin notes upon it) a little more remote from the Sea Coasts, viz. Tyre and Sidon, of which the Prophet speaketh, v 4. Maritine towns bordering upon the Sea. Now the Sword had a Commission against each of these. Not only a general, but a particular Charge: so hath it where ever it cometh, a Charge not only to go to such a Country, but such a part of that Country. A charge given it by God. 2. As a Charge whither it shall go, so How far it shall advance: Whether it shall go to one part of the Land, or through it: so much we may pick out of that threatning. Ezek. 14. 17. If I bring a Sword upon that Land (saith the Lord) and say, Sword go through the Land. This Sword, how well backed soever, it can advance no further than it hath a charge, a command to do, and so far it shall go. This also we may read in the Text. The Sword of the Lord had a charge against Ashkelon, and against the Sea coasts,] it should not only touch the skirts of the Kingdom, but the inland part also. 3. How long it shall stay where it cometh; whether it shall be only Transiens gladius, a transient Sword, passing through the Land, or else Permanent, staying and abiding, making it the Seat of a war. So much again we may learn from the Text, where the Prophet treating and Parlying with the Sword about a Cessation, How long will it be ere thou cease? &c.] In the next verse he corrects and answers himself, How can it cease seeing the Lord hath given it a charge?] a Charge, viz. how long it shall continue, and abide wasting and spoiling in that Land. 4. What Execution it shall do. This also the Sword hath in charge from God: whether it shall sip and taste of blood, or else be bathed and made drunk with blood. Express and emphatical is that of the Prophet Isai, Isa. 34. 5. My Sword (saith the Lord) shall be bathed or made drunk in Heaven.] A notable expression. The Sword is never made drunk upon Earth, but it is first made drunk in Heaven. First made drunk in Heaven in the Decree and Purpose of God, before it be made drunk upon Earth in doing Execution, which is but the Execution of that Decree. When God sends a Sword against a Nation, he giveth it a particular Commission, and that not only against such or such a place, but against such and such particular persons. So much is intimated in that full expression, Isa. 65. 12. where the Lord denouncing vengeance against those rebellious ones, which had stopped their ears against his Call, he tells them he would number them to the Sword. Therefore will I number you to the Sword] mark it: where God giveth over a people to the Sword, he doth it not by the gross, but by number and tale. Such as are appointed to the Sword go to the Sword, as the Prophet Jeremy hath it, Ier. 15. 2. They, and none but they. God giving over whom he pleaseth, and exempting whom he pleaseth. The one shall not escape, the other shall not be touched. It is the Lord's promise to King Zedekiah, that notwithstanding he should fall into the hand of his Enemies, yet he should not perish by the Sword, Thou shalt not die by the Sword, Jer. 34. 4. The like protection he giveth to Ebedmelech the blackamoor, Jer. 39 v. last. Thou shalt not fall by the Sword.] The Sword when it is sent against a people, it is not left to the casualty of Chance or Fortune, nor yet to the will of him that useth it. God himself giveth it a Commission, a Charge; a charge, as whither it shall go, and how far it shall go, and how long it shall stay, so what blood it shall draw. And in all these respects well may it be called, The Sword of the Lord. To these let me add yet one thing more. The Sword where ever it goeth, it goeth upon God's errand, to avenge his quarrel. This is that which the Lord telleth his people, Lev. 26. 25. I will bring a Sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant.] mark it; The Sword is never unsheathed, it never goeth forth upon any service, but it is in God's quarrel; to take vengeance for some wrong, some affront, some indignity offered to him, or to his people. To such a purpose the Sword in the Text served. It was to go forth to avenge the quarrel of God against the Philistines, those inveterate enemies to him and his people, to take vengeance upon them for all the wrongs and injuries that they had done to the ark of God, and to the people of God. Never doth the Sword go forth but upon some such quarrel. God hath first a controversy with a Land, (as the Prophet Hosea speaks, Hos, 4. 1.) before he send the sword to decide it. The quarrel is his, and therefore the Sword may well be called, His Sword. [O thou Sword of the Lord.] A useful Point; Application. and so let it be to every of us. That is the business I mainly intend at the present, it being most suitable to the day, and occasion, which calls rather for Application, than Doctrine. That it may be so unto us. In the first place bring we home this general Truth to the particular case of this kingdom, use 1. in the bowels whereof there is a Sword, Information. a sharp Sword, wandering and foraging, wasting and spoiling; It may be at this very instant eating of Flesh, and drinking of blood. A Sword not unlike that in the Text, which beginneth at Ashkelon, reacheth to Tyre and Sidon, beginning in the inland parts of the kingdom, extendeth to the Sea Coasts, some whereof have already felt of it, and the rest being in daily expectation of it. Now this Sword know we it to be, as it is, The Sword of the Lord, and so look we upon it; which till we do, we are not capable of making a right use of it. It is so in all judgements, all corrections; till we come to see God in them, we shall never make a sanctified, a Christian use of them. It is so in this great, and soar judgement, (for so indeed it is, no judgement piercing deeper, The Sword reacheth: unto the soul, saith the Prophet Jeremy, Jer. 4. 10.) Now that we may make a right use of it, that use which God would have us to make, give way to this conviction, acknowledging this to be God's Sword. True, it is in the hands of men, managed (as we think) by them, but alas what are they? Instruments. At the most, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Living and rational, (I dare not say Reasonable; Paul tells us of Wicked and unreasonable men (so our Translation renders it, 2 Thes. 3. 2.) but rational) Instruments, as the Philosopher saith of Servants. A Living Sword as the Father saith of a Dog, Greg. Nyss. that he is Vivus hominis gladius, A living Sword to his Master. Such are men, specially wicked and ungodly men, to God. The wicked which is thy Sword,] saith the Psalmist, Psalm. 17. 13. And so look we upon this Sword which is abroad, and at work in some parts of this kingdom already, know we it to be God's Sword; A Sword which he hath both called for, and sent; having given it a Warrant, a Charge whither to go. He that here gave the Sword a charge against Palestina, against Ashkelon, and the Sea Coasts, hath now given it a charge against England, and against the several places where either it hath come, or shall come. Look we not then too much at secondary causes, at the malignancy of what ever spirits we conceive to have been Incendiaries in the State. Alas what are they? Instruments, bellows, which may blow up, but cannot kindle a fire. Nor yet attribute we too much to those imaginary observations of fatal Revolutions, or Ominous Conjunctions of those heavenly Bodies. So far the ginger goeth (upon what ground I know not.) A Christian must go further, not staying his thoughts upon earth, nor yet terminating his sight in the visible Heavens, but looking through all, let him behold this Sword, furbished and bathed in the highest Heavens, the Heaven of Heavens. So much God taught the people of the Jews by a sign from Heaven, by that prodigious Comes, that flaming Sword hanging perpendicularly, with the point downwards, over the City Jerusalem for a year together before the destruction of it; thereby showing them from whence the Sword should come against them. I am not over-credulous of a flying report which informs us of a like prodigy in this Nation, a like Sword, hanging after a like manner not many years since over the head of that place, that City, which at this present is made the seat of the war. Sure I am, from thence it is, that the Sword drops upon the head of a place, a city, a Kingdom. It is that which Eliphaz in Job saith of all affliction, all trouble, It cometh not forth of the Dust, neither doth it spring out of the ground, Job 5. 6. Apply we it to this great Affliction, this great Trouble, The Sword cometh not out of the dust, neither doth it spring out of the ground. certainly the original of it is from Heaven. However in the hand of Man, yet it is the Sword of the Lord. And is it so? use 2. Terror. And do we so apprehend and believe it to be? Oh then stand we in awe, and tremble before this Sword. The lion hath roared who will not fear? saith the Prophet Amos, Amos 3. 8. The Lord God, the Lord of hosts hath drawn his Sword, who shall not tremble at it? The Sword of the Lord. And what a Sword is his? Why a fore and great, and strong Sword, so you have it described, Isa. 27. 1. And being so, who or what shall oppose this Sword? How shall it be diverted? how shall it be stayed, quieted? This it is which the Prophet here chiefly drives at in the Text, where (as I told you) he seems to parley with the Sword which was coming against the Philistines, treating with it about a cessation. O thou Sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, etc,] (Hear give me leave to return a little to the Text, interweaving Explication with Application, that the one may be as the woof, the other as the warp.) This the Prophet speaketh not in his own person, out of any commiseration, or special affection that he bare towards this people, being enemies to God and his people, but rather (as Mr. Calvin noteth upon it) personating the Philistines themselves, who, when they saw the Sword coming towards them, or busy amongst them, they would then begin (to use his words) mulcere blanditijs, to flatter it, using all carnal politic ways, and means of Treaties and Pacifications, seeking and endeavouring either the diverting, or quieting of it. But the Prophet tells them, all their attempts and endeavours in this case should be bootless: This Sword being the Sword of the Lord, and having a charge from him, it would not be bribed, it would not be persuaded, nor yet opposed, or by any means taken off, or quieted, till it had done the Execution for which it was sent. How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, &c. There hath he appointed it.] Appointed it. In this word Calvin findeth a special emphasis, and therefore renders it not precepit ei, but Contestatus est ei. Not only, he commanded, or appointed the Sword unto that service, but he bound it to it by a kind of solemn Contestation, laying a solemn Charge upon it, binding it as it were by a military Oath, or before witness, as the word (Tegnatha) may seem properly to signify, viz. to go thither, and not to return or be quiet, till it had done the work for which it was sent; until it had overrun, and utterly overthrown that whole kingdom. And O who knows whether the Lord hath given such a Charge to this Sword of his which is now come amongst us? The Sword itself, that is unsheathed, and drawn; I, but the Charge, the Commission which it bringeth with it, that is as yet in part sealed. The lamb's book in the Revelation, it was sealed with six seals, Rev. 6. which were not to be opened all together, but one after another, some of them not yet opened. We may say the like of this Commission which the Sword hath brought with it, God hath sealed it with divers seals, some whereof are opened already, in those sad effects and consequences which it hath already produced; but who knows what is yet behind? How far the Sword hath already gone, and what it hath done, we see or hear of; but how far it may yet go, how long it shall continue amongst us, what execution it shall do, who can tell? Certainly the Charge which God hath given it, it will observe, and who shall say unto it, be quiet? how shall it be opposed? how shall it be stayed? Alas, in this case, all carnal ways and means, whether Power, or policy, will be to little, to no purpose. If God have given the Sword a charge against Ashkelon, it is not all their Land forces, their Rampires and fortifications, that shall keep it from entering. If he hath given it a charge against the seacoasts, it is not all their naval strength, their wooden-walles, their Sea Forces, shall be able to keep it off. If he hath given it a charge to go through a Land, it is not an army of Anakim's, or Zanzummims, suppose every one a Goliath, that shall be able to stop the course of it. This I speak, not to dishearten, or discourage any, in these times of common danger, from using any lawful ways and means, for the securing of themselves, or the places where they live from foreign, or homebred outrages. This we may do, this we ought to do. But withal know we, that when we have done what we can do, yet, if the Sword come backed with this charge, if the Lord have given it a charge against a place (suppose this place) as it will not be bribed, so neither will it be opposed, or hindered from doing that service, that execution, for which it is sent. In the fear of God then, let us no longer delude or flatter ourselves, suffer not vain thoughts to lodge within us, bear not ourselves upon any possible or probable hopes, or carnal confidences whatever. Think not to say, the Sword is yet a far off, in the remote parts of the kingdom; Alas, we see, or hear what progress it hath already made; how like lightning it hath run from one corner of the Land to the other; how it hath visited parts as distant from the first breaking of it forth, as those wherein we at the present are. And who knoweth whether God hath given it a Commission to go through the Land? If so, be we assured it will find a time to visit us also. If the Sword come to Ashkelon, it can soon visit the Sea coast. feed not ourselves with possibilities; Nor yet with the supposal of any special security in the place where we are. Alas were it never so populous, never so strong by nature and art, never so well fortified, yet, if the Sword have a charge against it, all will be nothing. The Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, saith the Text. Ashkelon, one of the chief Cities of the Philistines, if not the Metropolis, the head City, yet one of the chief, an imperial City, the seat of their Kings, where they were wont to keep their ordinary residence. So much we may collect from that of the Prophet Amos, Amos 1. 8. where the Lord threatening vengeance against divers Cities in that kingdom, amongst other he tells them, that he would Cut off him that held the sceptre from Ashkelon. There was the King's Court; A royal City, a populous and strong City, yet the Sword hath a Charge against it. It is not the multitude of people, nor yet the strength whether of natural or artificial Fortifications, that shall be able to keep out the Sword, if the Lord give it a charge to enter. This is the lesson which the Prophet Nahum reads to the inhabitants of Nineveh, Nah. 3 8. Ninoveh the imperial City of the Assyrian Monarch, for Circuit, People, walls, Towers, Fortifications, all incredible; yet, (what saith the Lord?) Art thou better than populous No, that was situate amongst the Rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the Sea, and her wall was from the Sea, &c.] Mark it, Noah, the City of Alexandria, (as it is generally conceived,) a famous Port town in Egypt, for situation, (by the prophet's description of it) not much unlike that wherein we now are; strongly fortified both by Sea and Land; withal at that time secured, and strengthened by the Confederacies, and Associations of potent Neighbours: so it follows, ver. 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, it was infinite, Put and Lubim, (Africa and Lybia) were thy helpers;] Yet all this could not secure her. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity, &c. v. 10. I shall not need to make the Application: It applies itself, teaching us not to repose any confidence in any local Advantages, or Neighbouring Associations. Nor yet in any personal Protections, which men in such cases are very ready to forge unto themselves, promising to themselves a personal security in the midst of Common Calamity. This the great men of the world are very ready to do. But alas upon what ground? If God once give the Sword a charge against them, it is not greatness, it is not Honour, it is not Estate shall buy, or bear off the blow. I remember what the Lord saith to Job concerning Behemoth, the Elephant (as it is thought,) Job 40. 19 He is the chief of the ways of God, (the chiefest amongst the Bruit Creatures) yet, he that made him can make his Sword approach unto him.] Though man dareth not come nigh him, yet God hath the same command over him, that he hath over the meanest of his Creatures. Let it be applied to the Behemoths of the world, the great men, the mighty men, who are ofttimes a terror to their underlings; let them know, that he which made them, can make his Sword approa●h unto them; which if it do, it will put no di●ference betwixt them, and others. It is that which David bids the Messengers say unto Joab upon the death of valiant and worthy Uriah. The Sword devoureth one as well as an other. 2 Sam. 11. 25 In this like him that sendeth it, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, No respecter of persons; not regarding Age, Sex, Condition. A tru●h which the Prophet sets forth most fully in that elegant allegory, Isa. 34. 6, 7. The Sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with the blood of the Lambs, and the goats, with the fat of the kidneys of the rams, etc] mark it, Lambs, goats, rams, denoting persons of all ages, all conditions: Young as well as Old, Rich as well as poor. ay, the unicorns shall come down with them, and the heifers, (so the Geneva re●des it, though I confess not so properly, the word being there Masculine, not Feminine, Parim, not Paroth, not heifers, but Bullocks) the Bullocks with the Bulls, as the new Translation hath it, meaning thereby the mighty, and rich men of the Times, which should fall by the Sword as well, and as soon as any other. But what then? shall Women be exempted? Not so. The Prophet Amos, Cap. 4. v. 1. insisting in the same allegory, he threatens the very same judgement against Kine, as the Prophet isaiah had done against Bullocks, and Bulls hear this word ye Kine of Bashan,] where the word (as Pagnine observes) is Feminine, not Parim, but Paroth, not Bulls or Bullocks, but Kine or heifers; meaning thereby (as he interprets it) Pingues & Potentes foeminae, the high fed, pampered Dames of Samaria', who gave themselves over unto sensual, and voluptuous courses; And them he threatens there with a share in that common judgement, they should feel of the Sword, or fly before it as well as others; So it followeth, ver. 3. Ye● shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her, i. e. The women should be put to a confuted flight, to shift for themselves, as well as any other. So impartial an Officer will the Sword show itself, when it cometh to do execution, it shall observe the Charge given it against whomsoever, proceeding according to the warrant which it hath received, not sparing any which by divine appointment are destinated to it, be they what they will. The furbished Sword in Ezek. ca. 21. 10. It despiseth the rod of my son, as every Tree (saith the Lord) the sceptre, as well as the Coulter, putting no d●fference betwixt Prince and Peasant. And no wonder. It is the Sword of the Lord▪ O then, let us fear and tremble before this Sword; knowing that it is no carnal way or means, w●●ther Power or policy, that shall divert, or hinder this Sword from doing that execution, which God hath given it in charge. But yet in the 3d. use 3. place, whilst we fear and tremble, Let not our hearts melt before it; Comfort. be we not wholly dismayed or disheartened at it; still remembering, it is the Sword of the Lord. Not the Sword of Man. True, it is put into his hand, but yet not his Sword. Remember, Man is but the Instrument, the Executioner in this service. Which yet maketh this judgement the more terrible, because Man hath so much an hand in it, as he hath. It was David's reason, why of those three great evils, he chose the Pestilence, as the least; Pestilence rather then the Sword, in the one he had to deal only with God, in the other with Man. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord (saith he) for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hands of man, 2 Sam. 24. 14. Pestilence is God's own more Immediate streak: In war (though that be his work also, yet) he maketh use of Man as his Instrument. Now with God there are mercies, I great mercies, but with man oft-times there are none, Homo homini Lupus, nay Daemon. Man is sometimes to man little better than a wolf, a devil, a merciless Enemy. We know what the Wise man saith of the wicked man, Prov. 12. 10. The mercies (the tender mercies, the bowels) of the wicked are cruel. And if their Mercies be cruel, how great is their Cruelty? As our Saviour saith of the Eye which is the light of the Body; If that be dark how great is that darkness? Mat. 6 23. So, if the very bowels (the proper seat of tenderness and compassion) be cruel, o how great is that cruelty? In this regard it must be acknowledged, war is the more dreadful judgement, more terrible than either Famine or Pestilence, both which ordinarily are attendants upon the Sword. Man hath an hand in the one, not so in the other. Yet know we, and know it to our comfort, man hath not so an hand, but that God hath an hand in it too, I, the chiefest hand. God doth not so put the Sword into the hand of man, as to leave the managing and handling of it wholly unto him. No, should it be so, God's people must look but for little mercy, no favour, nothing but the height and quintessence of Cruelty. But here is the Comfort: man is but the Instrument, God himself the principal agent, ruling, overruling, handling that Sword which he puts into the hand of another. So the Geneva Translation readeth that of the Prophet Ezekiel, Ezek. 21. 11. Where the Prophet speaking of that sharp Sword, which the Lord would put into the hand of the Babylonians, arming them against his people; He hath given it (saith he) to be furbished that he may handle it. ● mark it. God in giving the Sword into the hand of man, doth not give it out of his own hand. He giveth it to him, ad tenendum in volâ (as Montanus renders the words according to the original) to hold in his hand;] but not to use as he pleaseth. Even as a writing-Master puts a pen into the hand of his young scholar, which yet himself guideth: Thus God puts the Sword into the hand of man, which yet himself handleth. Man holdeth it, God handleth it: Man being but (as I said) God's Instrument, his Sword. As the Sword is to man, so is man to God. The wicked who is thy Sword, in the place forenamed, Psalm. 17. 13. Now the Sword, though a sharp and dangerous weapon, yet it wounds not, it hurts not, unless he which weareth it strike with it. Wicked men suppose them never so sharp set against the Church, and people of God, though Swords, nay razors (so the Prophet calls that Assyrian Monarch, Novacula mercenaria, or conductitia, a razor which God had hired to shave his people with, Isa. 7. 20. In that day shall the LORD shave with a razour that is hired, &c.] yet cannot they draw the least drop of blood, or take off the least hair from any, unless God himself make use of them to that end. He it is that handles this Sword, that shaveth with this razor. A sovereign Consolation and cordial, against the terrors of the Sword (terrors; which God's people may be subject too. terrors by reason of the Sword shall be upon my people (saith the Lord) Eze. 21. 12.) to keep the heart from fainting, melting. Let it be taken down and digested by every of us. There is a Sword, a sharp Sword abroad, and at work at this day in this and the Neighbour kingdom. Many parts in both it hath already visited, and it threatens the rest. Some blood it hath already drawn, and it seemeth yet to thirst after more; doing terrible executions where it cometh: A razor indeed, shaving to the quick. Yet let not the hearts of the Lord's people melt before it. Remember we whose Sword it is, The Sword of the Lord.] And what? Our father's Sword? and in the hand of our Father? bear we up our spirits. A Ch●…d, how ever at the first sight of a glittering Sword coming high him, he startles and runs away, yet if it be in the hand of his Father, that quiets him, and makes him the more confident, that that Sword shall not hurt him. The Sword which is drawn amongst us, it is a glittering and a terrible Sword, I cannot blame nature for startling at it. Yet consider we in whose hands it is; even in the hand of our heavenly Father. And if 〈◊〉, this Sword, though never so greedy of flesh and thirsty of blood, yet it shall neither go, nor do, 〈◊〉 hither, and what he will have it. This Sword hath received his Charge from God, and that Charge it shall observe, and that exactly. It was Balaam's speech (I remember) to the servants of Balack, Numb. 22. 18. If Bal●ck would give me his house full of silver and gold (a tempt●ng Bribe) i cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. And why could he not? Why, God had put a bridle into his mouth. The same God hath in like manner put a Bridle into the mouth of the Sword, so as it cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to do less or more than he hath given it in Charge; To do less, it will not be bribed; and to do more, it will not be hired. The Charge which it hath received from the Lord, it will, it shall, it must observe. 1. Going to no place but where he sends it. It is not without a divine Providence that it is come into this kingdom. What places in the Kingdom it hath hitherto visited, it hath had a Charge against every one. It neither hath nor shall visit any, without a divine, both Permission, and Commission. The Sword maketh a progress, rides Circuit upon Earth; I, but the Gests are set down in Heaven. To this place it shall come, not to that. He that hath said unto that masterless element, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shalt thou stay thy proud waves, Job 38. 11. He hath said as much to the Sword, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shalt thou stay thy proud rage. To this place, this Country, this City, not to that. For an instance hereof, read but that 19 Chap. 2 Kings. You shall there see the Assyrian Monarch with 〈◊〉 puissant Army in the Field, marching against Jerusalem, with a full purpose, and reasolution to sack it, to destroy it; but what saith the Lord? See it, ver. 32, 33. Thus saith the Lord▪ the King of Ashu●he shall not enter into this City, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against it: By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, &c.] The Sword though never so strongly backed or put on, yet it shall neither enter, nor come to any place, but where that God, whose Sword it is, hath given it a charge to go. 2. Where it doth come it shall abide no longer than according to the Commission, and Charge which it hath received. That God who hath set down a course and order for the rising and setting of that martial Planet in the Heavens; at such an hour it shall rise, so many hours it shall be above the Horizon, at such an hour it shall set; he hath also by a like providence ordered the rising and setting, the coming and going of the Sword, which wandereth upon Earth. And this Order and Command the Sword shall observe. If Joab blow the Trumpet and sound a Retreat, the whole Army retires, Every man to his Tent, 2 Sam. 20. 22. If God the great general shall say to the Sword, Put up thyself into thy scabbard, it shall Rest and be still. Thirdly, As it is ordered for the stay of it, so for the Execution, what it shall do; what Persons it shall 〈◊〉, what blood it shall draw, Even as a Surgeon in letting of blood, he is ordered by his physician, what vein he shall strike, in what part of the body, and how many ounces of blood he shall take: So the Sword, which God maketh use of, as his Lancet to open a vein in a Kingdom, in a town, &c. it is ordered by him what persons it shall 〈◊〉, what incision it shall make, how deep it shall go, how many, not only ounces, but drops of blood it shall draw. In all which it is not left to the will of him that strikes with it; much less to Chance and Fortune. True, the issu●s of war to us they may be casual, not so to God. Even those Bullets which in the heat of service are let fly at random, yet every one hath his Charge, his Charge (as from man, so) from God, a Charge from Heaven, what mark it shall strike, what Execution it shall do. In the battle at Ra●…oth Gilead, a certain man (a common soldier) drew a Bow at a venture (saith the Text) which smote the King of Israel, 1 King. 22. 34. That act to him it was casual, not so to God who directed the Arrow, to the white, to the fa●…rest mark in the Field, conducted that Messenger of death into the sides of Majesty itself. The Sword cannot strike, but when and where God bids it; neither can it draw a drop of blood more than it hath a charge from Heaven to do. And, if so; Let not then the hearts of the Lord's people (as I said) melt within them; as Rahab tells the Spies that the hearts of the men of Jericho did, when they heard of the Israelites coming against them; when we heard it, our hearts did melt (saith she) and there remained no more courage in us. Josh. 2. 11. Let them not be inordinately moved or shaken with the wind of distrustful, distractful fears and terrors: As it is said of Ahaz, and his people, when they heard of the strong confederacies that were made and intended against them, The heart of the King was moved (saith the Text) and the hearts of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind, Isa. 7. 2. No reason, why the hearts of Christians should be so moved, they being not wholly left to the hazard of war. True it is, nothing more hazardous than war. Belli alea (saith the proverb.) A pitched Battle is but like a game at Tables, where though something be left to the skill of the Gamester, in the playing and ordering of his Men, yet the success depends much upon the Lot: Or like a Set at Tennis, a playing at the Hazard. But yet not wholly hazardous. He who disposeth of the Lot when it is cast into the lap, Prov. 16▪ 33. and by his general providence directeth every Ball that slieth into the Hazard, he also disposeth of all the events, and issues of war, though to us never so casual, never so hazardous. Here is Comfort. To which in the fourth and last place, use 4. let me add a word of advice or counsel, counsel. and so I shall draw towards a Conclusion. Is this Sword the Sword of the Lord? Hence learn we then, whither to apply ourselves. I suppose there is none of us here present, but would be willing to do something for the quieting and stilling of that Sword, which is now abroad in the kingdom, at least for the keeping of the dint from ourselves. Love to our Country enforceth the former, and self-love the latter. Now would we know what to do? why Apply we ourselves to God for both. The Sword is his: For the quieting of it, apply we ourselves unto him, seeking to make p●ace with him. So did the men of Tyre and Siaon when they heard that King Herod was displeased with them, so displeased, as that he intended to make war upon them (so much the word signifieth, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, He bare an Hostile mind towards them) they presently Came with one accord to him, and having made a friend at Court, they desired Peace, Acts 12. 20. There is none of us, but must needs take notice of a like displeasure conceived in Heaven against us of this Nation, God himself being {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, hostily minded against us, making war upon us. (This he may do upon, and against his own people; he did it against Israel. Israel rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, and therefore was he turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them, Isa. 63. 9 The like he doth against us at this day, having drawn his Sword already, nay already Bathed it in blood.) Now in this case what shall we do? why, apply we ourselves unto him, whose Sword this is, and seek to make peace with him. Not but that we both may and aught in this case to apply ourselves unto Men also, seeking in humble wise to them, for the quieting of this Sword, that it may upon honourable and comfortable terms be put into the Sheath again, by those hands into which at the present GOD hath put it. A motion (as we understand) now on foot in diverse parts of the kingdom, and accursed be he that shall not be willing to lend his best endeavours to the furtherance of so good a design. This we may do, this we ought to do. But alas all this will be to little purpose, unless peace be made in Heaven first. This Sword, it is the Sword of the LORD, and therefore unless he command it into the Scabbard, all our Petitions and Supplications to men will be of little avail. Unless he give the word, it is not all the Power or policy in the world that can put it up, or make it quiet. However, should it be persuaded into the sheath for a time, yet, unless Peace be made in Heaven, and that a firm Peace, it will not abide there, it will be like Joab's Sword, 2 Sam. 20. 8. ready to fall out of the sheath alone. And therefore let it be the joint design of every one of us to seek, and endeavour a Pacification in Heaven, to make peace with God, and that for the whole kingdom (if it may be;) however, every of us for ourselves. 1. means. To which purpose (in the first place) Humble we ourselves before that GOD whom we have provoked. If any thing will move GOD to put up his Sword, surely it will be this. Man that hath but any drop of mercy and compassion in his bowels, if his enemy fall down at his feet, cast away his arms and beg for Quarter, so submitting himself wholly to his mercy, if he may show mercy, he will not deny it. Surely, with the LORD our GOD there is mercy. It was David's reason why he would rather fall into the hands of GOD then of Man, His mercies are great: With him there are bottomless Bowels of unexpressable, unconceivable mercy: All the Mercy that is to be found diffused through the Bowels of all the merciful Men and Women in the world, is but a drop, not a drop to that Ocean. And shall we fall down before him, humbling ourselves at his footstool, and shall he not have compassion on us? O try, and see what this course will do. If this will not save us, we are, in the outward appearance, but lost men and women; Our condition being such as we may well say with Jehoshaphat in that great strait, 2 Chron. 20. 12. we know not what to do, but our eyes are towards thee O LORD. In this case, that we may prevail with God, that his Bowels may be stirred with compassion towards us, O let us fall down at his footstool Humbling ourselves in the Confession of our own sins and the sins of the Nation, acknowledging the righteousness of God's judgements against us. This is the way which the LORD puts his own people upon, promising them that by this means they should be able to divert, and turn the edge of the Sword. See it, Levit. 26. 40. If they shall confess the iniquity of their Fathers, with the trespass which they trespassed against me; And that also they have walked contrary unto me, and that I have also walked contrary unto them, etc If than their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; What then? Then will I remember my Covenant with Jocob, &c. and I will remember the Land. we here see both the counsel, and the promise. Take we the one, and rest upon the other. Confess we our own sins, with the sins of our forefathers, (which GOD by way of temporal judgements, both in Justice may, and often doth visit upon Posterity.) Withal Accept we the punishment of our iniquity, acknowledging GOD to be Just and Righteous in what ever he hath done or shall do against us. So doing, doubt we not but GOD will yet Remember his Covenant with his people, and we may hope he will yet remember the Land, returning and Repenting, and leaving a Blessing behind him, Joel 2 14 Secondly, Thus Humbling ourselves for those sins which have been the provokers of this Wrath, the Causes of this evil, endeavour we (in the second place) to put them away, to wash our hands of them. Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Isa. 1. 16. It is not he that Confesseth, but he that Confesseth and Forsaketh that shall have Mercy, Prov. 28. 13. This do we for ourselves; this endeavour we for the kingdom. Till Jonah be cast overboard, the storm will not cease, the Sea will not be quiet. Till Sheba●s head be thrown over the walls, Joab will not sound a Retreat. Till the crying ●●●es of the Land be taken away by a national Reformation, we cannot expect that the storm of God's wrath should cease, or the grown Sea of the present distempers amongst us should be quieted. Every of us than endeavour this great work; only observing our stations. public persons in their places, and private persons in theirs. Every one beginning at home, at his own heart, own life. See what is to be found there that may be charged with the maintenance of this present war; and finding it out, discharge it: Which having done, Thirdly, Then (in the next place) Strike we a New Covenant with our GOD. certainly, they have not been much mistaken who have both thought and said, That it is a Covenant business which the Sword cometh about. I mean not so much the Formality, as the Reality of a Covenant. To avenge an Old Covenant which hath been broken, to Require a New Covenant which may be kept. And is it this that the Sword cometh about? Why let us, in the fear of GOD, give it what it would have, that it may depart from us. Every of us in our particulars bewail our frequent breaches of former Covenants, made in baptism, renewed in the Supper of the LORD: and this day strike we a New Covenant with and before the LORD: withal endeavouring (as much as in us lieth) the renewing of a national Covenant, that the whole kingdom may be bound and engaged to a Closer cleaving to the LORD, and walking with him, in an universal subjection to all his Ordinances, an universal obedience to all his commandments. Surely this will be found the best, and only way to procure mercy (if it may be) for the public. However, it will be a sure way to procure security, and safety to ourselves; either to keep off the Sword, that it shall not come nigh us, not touch us. It is Eliphaz his speech in Job, Job 5. 15. The LORD saveth the poor from the Sword.] The poor; what the Worlds poor, such as are outwardly poor? Not so, (alas, they are frequently made a forlorn hope, sacrificed to the fury of the Sword, to dull, and blunt the edge of it:) But God's poor, the poor in Spirit, such as Humble themselves before the LORD, (as the Geneva gloss explains it.) Or if it do touch us, yet it shall not hurt us. It shall be unto us but as our Heavenly father's Red Horse, (so it is called in the Revelation, Chap. 6. ver. 4.) sent by him to bring us home to himself; to convey us into his presence. Fourthly, For which (in the fourth and last place, to close up all, time and strength being spent) having done as aforesaid, then Let us make the LORD our trust. Another means, and a special one, to secure us from the Sword, To trust in GOD. Not in Man: not in Power, or policy. These we may use, but trust not in them; Which if we do, it will be the next way to betray us. It is that which the LORD threatens against the Jews, Jer. 5. 15, 17. lo I will bring a Nation upon you from far, &c. And they shall impoverish (or Plunder) thy fenced Cities wherein thou trustedst, with the Sword. The next way to have a kingdom, a City, a town sacked, and plundered, is to trust in the strength of it. But make we the LORD our strength, our trust. So doing (if good for us) he will secure us, we shall not feel of the Sword, or not fall by it. It is that which the LORD promiseth to Ebedmelech, Jerem. 39 8. I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the Sword: Why? Because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD. What he there promiseth to him in particular, David upon the same ground in God's Name promiseth to all God's people, Psalm. 37. ver. ult. The LORD shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. No such way to engage GOD to work deliverance for us in any strait, as this, To trust in him. This will David do in his greatest straits, when The foundations were destroyed, (as he speaketh, Psalm. 11. 3.) or out of course, all things out of course in the kingdom, so as seemingly there was little hope of safety left for David; his Enemies by way of insulting, or his Friends by way of advising, they said unto his soul, fly ye as a Bird to your mountain, ver. 1. willing him to betake himself, and his Family, to some place of security, and no longer to rest upon the promise; but what course doth he resolve to run? Why, In the LORD put I my trust, ver. 1. The case at present is ours: The Foundations in this kingdom are out of course, the dreadful Commotions in it threatning ruin to it. In this case carnal reason will be dictating, and suggesting unto us, as they to him, fly we as a Bird to our mountain, &c. Seek we out some places of Refuge and Safety for ourselves, and ours. But trust we not to this counsel. In the Lord put we our trust: so doing, doubt not of security. It is David's speech, which he spoke out of his own experience, and I shall conclude with it: The Lord is a Buckler to all those which trust in him, Psal. 18. 30. FINIS.