A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House OF COMMONS At WESTMINSTER, August 22. 1645. Being the day appointed for their Solemn Thanksgiving unto God for his several Mercies to the Forces of the Parliament in divers parts of the Kingdom, In the Gaining of the Towns of Bath and Bridgewater, and of Scarborough-Castle, and Sherborn-Castle, and for the dispersing of the Clubmen, and the good Success in Pembrokeshire. By Thomas Case, Preacher at Milkstreet, and one of the Assembly of Divines. LONDON, Printed by Ruth Raworth, for Luke Fawn, at the sign of the Parrot in Paul's Churchyard. 1645. To the Honourable the House of Commons assembled in Parliament. IT was Asa's sin, and it stands as a blot upon him to this day, that he imprisoned the Seer, for dealing faithfully with him in a message from the Lord: 2 Chro. 16.7,8,9,10. It hath been your exceeding honour, worthy Patriots, and there be monuments enough of it published in Print to all the World, that you have not only pardoned, but encouraged those Hanani's which God hath sent, and you invited, to this Service, to deliver unto you the whole Counsel of God. It was never heard yet (and I am confident it never shall) that any man hath become your enemy, or you his, for telling you the truth; And therefore let me tell you one truth more: It is as great a sin to imprison the Truth, as to imprison the Prophets that deliver it. Gal. 4.16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Vsurpatur de iis qui in carcere & custodia detinenur, as Gen. 39.20. As it hath been your honour before men, that you have not imprisoned the Prophets, let it be your honour before God, that you do not imprison the Truth. 2 Thes. 2.10,11,12. O receive the Truth in the love of it, and it shall preserve you from believing lies. You have by you a Treasury, or Library of Parliament Sermons; in which, you have many choice directions and encouragements in the Service, to which, God and the Kingdom have called you. As you have heard them, harken to them; as you have Printed them, so consult with them: I presume you Printed them for that end; If you do indeed obey the voice of God in them, they will witness for you, if when you have heard Gods will, you will do your own, you have set up so many monuments (like Joshua's stone) Josh. 24.26,27 to witness against you in the day of your account. As for these poor huddled Labours, they are pressed to serve you, though not with so much skill as others, yet with as much sincerity as any; as the Author himself, who, whatever he is, is Your Honours, both in Life and Death, THOMAS CASE. A Sermon of Thanksgiving, for the taking of Bridgewater and Sherborn Castle in the West. ISAI. 43.14. Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer, the holy One of Israel; For your sakes have I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their Nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. IT is the glory of God, Hab. 3.2. That in the midst of Judgement he remembreth Mercy. This glory of God beams itself forth most beautifully in the later part of this Evangelical Prophecy, from the 40 Chap. to the end. This people of Israel were as yet hardly in Captivity: nay, the Prophets of God were but foretelling of it in their Sermons to the people; when God sends this Gospel-Prophet Isaiah with an Olive-branch of good tidings in his mouth, promises of redemption and deliverance out of Captivity, as so many Cordials and Preservatives to prevent desponding and despairing thoughts, as if God meant utterly to cast off his people, and to leave them to miscarry and perish in Babylon. My Text is one of those promises, wherein, though the Captivity (as I say) were not yet begun, God speaks of it as if it were already expired, and Israel already rescued and redeemed out of it. Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer, the holy One of Israel, For your sakes I have sent to Babylon, etc. The opening of the Text. I will briefly open the words to you, and then drive up such Observations as they will naturally afford; some on whereof I will single out, for the Subject of my present Discourse. Thus saith the Lord] Jehovah, he that hath power enough to make good his promises; for he is Jehovah, The Fountain of Being's, his own, and every things else that hath a being; and therefore is able to give a being to his promises. Your Redeemer] The God and Creator of all things, and of all men; but Your Redeemer, that redeems you from Hell and Wrath to come: That redeemed you from Egypt, and from all the Nations whither you have been carried away captive; and will redeem you from Babylon also. He is willing, as well as able; for he is your Redeemer. The holy One of Israel] Holy in himself, essentially holy: Holy in his Covenant and Promises. Therefore called, The holy One of Israel; i. e. faithful in Covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Israel. There is his sidelity. For your sakes] I shall open to you the meaning of that expression anon, more seasonably and fully than I can do here. I have sent to Babylon] etc. By the hand of Cyrus' King of the Medes and Persians. A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descendit; diciturde inferiore conditione, serviture & subjectione. And have brought down] (i.e. by Cyrus) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, descendere feci; I have caused to come down: or, I have brought into subjection, etc. All their Nobles] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which I find diversely translated, as indeed the word is capable of various significations. Ar. Montanus, Calo etc. Some translate it, Fugitivos; descendere feci fugitivos universos ipsos: I have brought down, or caused to come down, all their fugitives; because the Hebrew root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies fugere, to fly. In Conjugatione Kal. Others translate it vectes, Bars, metaphorically, because a bar doth as it were flee from one side of the gate or door to another. Thus God promises Cyrus, Isai. 45.2. I will break in pieces the gates of Brass, and cut in sunder the Bars of Iron. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat vectis, quia transcurrit & quase fugit, ab uno extremo ad aliud. Thereupon I conceive it is, that * Sanches. some do render it impedimenta, remoras, etc. all those impediments and obstructions which, as so many bars or bolts, did hinder so long the Expedition of Cyrus into Babylon: One whereof was the River Euphrates; which impediment or bar was removed or taken away by diverting of that River into divers other Channels (made and prepared on purpose beforehand by the Army of Cyrus) that very night in which the Babylonians were carousing and drinking themselves drunk in their security, whereby the Medes and Persians came in upon them, and slew them, while they little dreamed of any possibility of the enemy's access that way into the City: Xenophon, lib. 7. Cyripaediae. Herod. li. 1. Theodor. Vatab. etc. Prophesied of by the Prophet Jer. 50 38. A drought is upon her waters: And so, Chap. 51.32. Muri, Turres omniaque muni menta Babylonis. Cornelius a Lap. Some, by bars, understand their Walls, and Towers, and Strong-holds, and all the mighty Fortifications of Babylon, which seemed impregnable: And so the words must run thus: I have sent to Babylon, and have caused all their Towers and Castles, and fenced Cities, and their invincible Fortifications (in their own opinion) to come down, and fall flat upon the ground before Cyrus his Army. As God threatened to do to Tyrus by the King of Babylon, so God threatens to do with the King of Babylon by Cyrus: Ezek. 26.9. He shall see engines of War against thy walls, and with his Axes he shall break down thy Towers. Zeph. 3.6. So, I have cut off the Nations, their Towers are desolate. Hierom, etc. quia fortes sunt & potentes. Others, by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, understand Reges, Principes, The King and Princes of Babylon; because they are, or should be, the bars and strength, defence and safety of a Kingdom; and so our Translators have rendered it, I have brought down their Nobles: And thus they are threatened, Jer. 50.35. Jer. 50.35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her Princes, and upon her wise men. And thus it follows in my Text: And the Chaldeans] i.e. As in that place of Jer. The inhabitants, or the common-people of Babylon; not only the Nobles and great Commanders, but upon all the people, all the military forces of Babylon; called, Jer. 50.37. The mingled people that were in the midst of her. The King of Babylon having hired Soldiers of all Nations to serve in his Army: Why now, saith God, All these have I brought down; that is, made to fall or flee before the Medes and Persians. Whose cry is in the ships] In navibus gloriantes, or ovantes; who boast and glory in their Shipping: So some. But I conceive it rather, it is meant of the cry and howling they made while either they were fleeing from the Medes and Persians in Ships, the passages by land being stopped up, as Jer. 31.31. or while they were carried away prisoners by the Medes and Persians in ships: Their cry went up to heaven. In a word, God here promises to break in pieces all the power and strength of Babylon, to dash the whole Empire in pieces, like a Potter's vessel, before Cyrus; that so the prison-doors might be opened to his poor Israel, that had lain prisoner and captive in Babylon now seventy years, their Iron bolts might be stricken off, and they set at liberty to return home to Zion, with joy and gladness upon their heads. So speaks God of Cyrus: Isai. 45.13. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build my City, and he shall let go my Captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. The words now thus opened, I come to the Observations. 1 Observe. And first, from the circumstance of time when this promise was made; namely, some hundreds of years before the Captivity was brought upon them: Observe, While God is yet bringing his people into trouble, yea, but yet threatening of them with trouble; he is meditating and contriving the ways and means (as I may so say) of bringing them out of their troubles. Hence it is, that the means of deliverance are not to seek when the time of deliverance is come. God hath his Balsams prepared, before he wounds his people; his Cordials, before he makes them sick with his corrosives. 2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord knows how to deliver the goldly out of temptations. The means are prepared beforehand. This may minister abundance of comfort to the people of God; even while they are entering into, or lying under their afflictions; while they are entering into the hour of Temptation: Why the means of their deliverance and enlargement are all prepared and fitted already, by the hand of a wise and faithful Redeemer. But again, This ruin of Babylon, and enlargement of Israel, is spoken of (here) as a thing done already: I have sent (saith God) to Babylon, and brought down their Nobles, etc. some indeed read it in the future tense, I will send to Babylon, and will bring down their Nobles: The Hebrew indeed bears both; But truly, the future tense is not so emphatical as the preterperfect tense, which God useth to express the certainty of his promises: From whence, 2. Observe. The promises of God are as certain, as if they were already accomplished: Here is more comfort for the people of God: The promises of God, are as good money as any they have in their purses. To this end, see further how this promise is guarded and backed, with what ever may strengthen Faith: For 1. Here God lays his credit and reputation to stake upon this promise. Thus saith the Lord. 2. He engageth his Power and All-sufficiency. Jehovah a fountain of Being's; and therefore able to give a Being to his promises. 3. His Love, his tender care of his people, though scorned and persecuted by the world; yet he is their Redeemer: there is his willingness. 4. His fidelity; The Holy One of Israel: If he deny his Covenant, his promise, he must deny himself, his Holiness. And from all this, 3. Observe. God in making his promises, is very solicitous and careful to secure the faith of his people, about the making of them good. It implies two things: 1. Much infidelity and unbelief even in Israel. 2. The great goodness and compassion of God, who when he might punish the unbelief of his people, studies to secure it: According to the prayer of the Father of the possessed child, Mark 9.24. I believe, Lord help my unbelief. But further, The Lord your Redeemer. 4. Observe in the fourth place, God gives himself out to his Church and people, in no ways so much, as in ways of Redemption. Indeed, One creation would serve their turn, but they stand in need of many Redemptions: Or thus, God is properly and peculiarly the God of his Church and people, by way of Redemption. He is the Creator of the Just and unjust, good men and wicked, Angels and Devils: But he is a Redeemer, only and properly, to his Church. And this implies also two things: 1. The Churches forlorn condition in herself; Isaiah 49.21. a poor lost captaive: She loseth herself, she sells herself at every turn: The world takes her captive, sin takes her captive, Hell takes her captive: Had she not a God to redeem her, she were lost for ever. 2. The care, and love, and goodness of God, in rescuing and redeeming her: She sells herself by her sins, God purchaseth her; She loseth herself, God seeks her up; She is taken captive, by men and devils, God redeems her: Here be the tender mercies of a God. The Holy One of Israel: See 5. Observe. Such is the love God bears to his Church and people, That he doth not only put his Name upon his people, but takes his people's name upon himself. It is much, that Israel should be called The Israel of God: but that God should be called The God of Israel, The Holy One of Israel; This is above all admiration. Yet further; I have sent to Babylon, sc. by the Ministry of Cyrus, to deliver Israel out of prison. The Babylonians thought Israel as sure from starting, as ever Herod thought Peter; Acts 12.6. at what time, He committed him to four quaternions of soldiers, and bound him with two chains between two soldiers, intending to have brought him forth the next day to be tried for his life. And poor Israel gave themselves for lost too; they thought it was as possible for a dead man to break out of his grave, as for them to get out of captivity: (the more was their unbelief, and God took it very unkindly, having made them such gracious promises of deliverance) Ezek. 37.11. Behold, they say (said God to his Prophet) our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts: And yet notwithstanding, you see God had a way and a means, beyond all expectation, for their enlargement: He had an Army ready for this service, that neither the Babylonians nor Israel little dreamt of. It is an observation of itself. 6. Observe. When no way of deliverance appears to humane reason, God hath ways in store by him, for the Redemption of his Church and people, out of those evils which seem to threaten inevitable ruin and destruction. Again, I have sent. Cyrus went, and yet God sent: He went voluntarily, carried on by his own lusts: His pride, his covetousness, and unsatisfiable ambition, Hab. 2.5,6. and yet God sends him upon a design which he little thought of: To let his Israel out of prison. From whence, 7. Observe. God's holy ends, and man's sinful ends, may sweetly concur in the same action. And it may teach us this point of prudence, Wisely to distinguish between, what is Gods, and what is man's, in the same action: Man doth foolishly (many times) God doth wisely; man weakly, God powerfully; man treacherously, God faithfully; man sinfully, God most righteously. This will keep us from justifying the miscarriages of men; and yet from murmuring against the wise and righteous dispensations of God. I have brought down their Bars, i.e. as you have seen, all the power and strength of Babylon. 8. Observe. From thence you may take an eighth Observation, viz. The strongest, and scuningly most inconquerable impediments and obstructions that stand in the way of the Church's deliverance, shall he all broken in pieces, and become as dirt, when God's time of deliverance is come. Take the word as it is translated, Their Nobles, that is, The King and Princes of Babylon: So translated from their Office, and that will make a ninth Observation: sc. 9 Kings and Princes, and the Nobles of a Land, they ought to be as Towers and Bars, strength and safety, to a Kingdom and Nation. The more sad and deplorable is the condition of that people, whose Governors are such as are described; Isai. 1.23. Thy Princes are rebellious, and companions of thiefs, etc. Zeph. 3.3. Zeph. 3.3. And Her Princes within her are roaring Lions, and her Judges are Evening Wolves, etc. The Lord have mercy on such a people. But from the whole, take this 10 and last Observation. In the mighty concussions and subversions of the Empires and Monarchies of the World, God carries on the designs of his Church's deliverance and enlargement. Or thus, God for his Church and people's sake, will not spare to dash Nations and Kingdoms all to pieces, in the day of his power and jealousy. For your sake have I sent to Babylon, and brought down, etc. I shall not be able in such straits of time, to travel through the Historical part of this Doctrine; and to show you by an induction of particulars, how in the breaking, and destruction of Kingdoms and Nations, God hath carried on the design of his Church's enlargement. Who raised up the righteous man from the East, called him to his foot, gave the Nations before him, and made him rule over Kings; he gave them as dust to his Sword, and as driven stubble to his Bow. So is it said of Abraham, and the story you have, Gen. 14. where you shall find five Kings with their Armies, and spoil, given as dust to Abraham's sword, for Abraham's sake, and the rescue of Lot, his Brother's son, who was then carried captive by the numerous and potent enemy. From that time forward, travel through the Scripture, and you shall find the ruins of Egypt, Bashan, the Amorites, and all the Kingdoms of Canaan; Palestina, Syria and Assyria; Babylon, both Old and New: Babylon Ethnic, and Babylon Antichristian, with other Monarchies and Empires of the World, standing as so many Monuments and Witnesses of this truth. All that I intent in the Doctrinal part of this discourse, is to open unto you the meaning of this expression, For your sakes. And I will be the shorter in it, that I may have the more time to bestow in the Use. Excludit his verbis omnem popult dignitatem, ne quid suo merito se adeptum fuisse glorietur, Calv. For your sakes, I have sent, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propter vos; for you, or for your sake: We must be sure to exclude all thought of merit in this and the like expressions: As when God promised Abraham to spare Sodom, for fifty sake, and for forty sake, Gen. 18.26,29. And to defend Jerusalem for his own sake, and his servant David's sake, 2 King. 20.6. The worth and merit of the creature must be laid in the dust. But for you, or for your sake, in this place may mean three things. For your sake, a threefold sense. 1. First, For your sake, i.e. In propitiationem vestram, In your stead, or for your propitiation and atonement as it were. Pro hostia vel victima piaculari. So you have it more clearly in the third Verse of this 43 of Isaiah, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee; i. e. For a propitiatory Sacrifice (as it were) to appease my wrath towards thee; which the Ancients were wont to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 homines facinorosi pro Patriae lustratione morti devoti, qui diris execrationibus obruti magno cum totius populi tripudio interficiebantur, Steph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacri Homines, Budaeus. such men who in the time of public and common plagues, were either devoted to death by the people, or did willingly devote themselves, to appease (as they imagined) the anger of their gods, who were called Sacri homines, or devota capita, among the Latins; men cursed and devoted to death, to be as it were a propitiatory Sacrifice for their Country and Nation. Such was M. Curtius among the Romans, who in the time of a great casm, or opening of the Earth in Rome, cast himself into the Gulf, to appease the angry deity. However, this was a blind and unwarrantable superstition among the Heathen; yet the Text may allude to it. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee; That is, when Sennacherib made his Expedition against Judah and Jerusalem, to destroy and lay it waste, Cyril. ego effeci ut pro Judaea Sennacheribo objiceretur Ethiopia, Egyptus & Saba quasi victima piacularis loco Judeae ab eo mactanda. I caused him to return from Judah and Jerusalem, and I diverted his Expedition upon Ethiopia and Egypt, and gave them as piacular Sacrifices, to be offered up to divine Justice, instead of Jerusalem: I gave Egypt for thy ransom. And thus God did once and again, as I might show you had I time, out of Isai. 37.9,37. prophesied of, Isa. 20.4. According to that of the Proverbs 11.8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. God's people are the Isaac spared and rescued, when even the knife is at their throat; and the wicked, the enemies of the Church, as the Ram caught by the horns, and sacrificed in their stead. So here, Israel delivered out of Captivity, and the Babylonians sacrificed in their room to Divine Justice, and God reconciled to Israel. Feci commutationem tuam Egyptum. Isa. 43.4. And to this purpose the Septuagint read it, I have given Egypt, etc. by way of exchange for thee: And so the Text reads on, I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. This may be the first sense: For thee, or for thy sake. 2. For thee; In commodum tuum, In liberationem tuam. I have sent Cyrus to Babylon for thee; that is, for thy good, for thy enlargement and deliverance out of Captivity, to serve thee, as Isai. 45.13. He shall let go my captives, etc. 3. But yet further, for thee may imply respect had by God, in sending Cyrus to Babylon, to his people, though not by way of merit, yet by way of motive, and that in a fourfold respect. 1. The love he bears to their persons: God hath an high esteem of his people. So he tells them in the fourth verse of this Chapter: Isa. 43.4. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. So God loves his people, that, rather than they shall miscarry, Nations and people shall go to confusion. Psal. 116.15. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints: Yea, so precious, that God accounts the world no better than the first Chaos, unless he have a people of his own to dwell in it: Isa. 45.18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that form the earth and made it; he established it, he created it not in vain, he form it to be inhabited. It is an argument whereby God comforts his people, That he will save his Israel, vers. 17. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord, etc. What security? Heaven and Earth; both were lost, if Israel be not saved: He created it not in vain. It is in vain (such is God's love) if he have not an Israel to inhabit it. 2. The love the Lord bears to their prayers. Look in what language the Church prays, Isa. 63.17 Isa. 63.17. Return for thy servants sake, the tribes of thine inheritance; in the same God answers them here: For your sake have I sent to Babylon. So runs the promise; Isa. 65.24. Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Hezekiahs' prayers are an hook in the nostrils, and a bridle in the lips of the Babylonish Plunderer, Isa. 37.25, etc. compared with vers. 29. I tell, The Saints of the Most High God can pray down Empires, and Kingdoms, and the Towers, and Castles, and Walls of the proudest enemies: It is safer standing before the mouth of a Canon, then before the prayers of the Saints. The Queen of the Scots. You know who feared the prayers of Knox more than all the Forces of England. Indeed the prayers of the Saints are the plagues of the world. It is observable, Revel. 8.3,4,5. that Censer which received the prayers of the Saints, emptied forth fire, and voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, etc. that which went up, Prayer, comes down plagues. No wonder since Christ is so taken with the prayers of his Church, that by his good will he would never have the sound of that Music out of his ears. Oh my Dove, that art art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs; let me see thy countenance, and hear thy voice: For sweet is thy voice, etc. 3. The Relation wherein the Saints stand towards God, takes much upon his heart: Servants, Sons, Daughters, Friends, the Spouse of Christ. Why what will not a man do for these Relations sake? And will not the great God much more engage himself for his people which stand in this Relation to him, since he is the Fountain of all that love and fidelity which fills these Relations among men? 4. The Image of God is stamped upon them, and therefore he doth such great things for their sake. Heb. 1.3. cum Ephes. 4.24. & Coloss. 3.10. As Christ is the Image of God, so the Saints are the Image of Christ; insomuch that you may hear God saying unto them, Zech. 2.8. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye. In these respects God may be said to do all these things for his people's sake; sc. For the love he bears to their Persons, Prayers, Relation, Image. And yet all these may be resolved into an higher fountain, out of which all these do flow; and it is fourfold also. I will but name them. 1. For free grace's sake; as in that Proclamation, Exod. 33.19. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 2. For his Covenants sake. Psal. 105.8. He hath remembered his Covenant for ever; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Psal. 106.45. Psal. 111.5. And he remembered for them his Covenant. He hath given meat to them that fear him, he will ever be mindful of his Covenant. God looks upon his Covenant, and then accounts it but his engagement to do great things for his people. 3. For his Christ's sake: So Daniel prayed, when he wrestled with God for this very mercy which here God promiseth, Dan. 9.17. Deliverance out of Captivity. O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is desolate, for the Lords sake. Isa. 49.8,9. & 42.1. Matth. 3.17. Christ is his Father's Darling, his Beloved, in whom his soul delights; and God looks upon his redeemed through Christ, and his soul is delighted in them also. Ephes. 1.6. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. After he hath bestowed a Christ upon them, he thinks nothing too good or too much for their sake. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? After he hath redeemed them from eternal death, with the Blood of his Son, he will not stick to redeem them from temporal Destruction, with the blood of his and their enemies. I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. For his Name. His Name is called upon his people. Isa. 43.6. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Isa. 43.7. 7. Every one that is called by my Name; for I have created him for my glory, etc. Their name is called upon God, and God's Name is called upon them. If they perish, his Name suffers, his Glory suffers; they bear his Name, which is his Glory; and therefore Joshua took the advantage of this argument, when he pleaded for Israel; Josh. 7.9. What wilt thou do to thy great Name? q. d. Though Israel deserves to suffer, thy Name doth not deserve to suffer; in saving Israel, thou shalt preserve thine own Name: and upon these terms God is resolved to save them. Isa. 48. 9 For my Names sake I will defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver, etc. 11. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, I will do it; for how should my Name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another. God destroys the enemy for his people's sake, because he hath loved and chosen them for his own sake, his Names sake. And thus I have showed you the sense and meaning of this expression, For your sake, and the spring and fountain of that sense. And this shall suffice for the Doctrinal part of my Text: I come now to the Use and Application. Uses. And there are but two Uses I will speak to: 1. Information, 2. Exhortation. Use. It may serve, first, to inform us, and that in divers particulars: 1. Branch of Information. First, To discover to us the difference of mercies. Some mercies you see there be, which God bestows on his people for their sake; Deliverances from, and victories over their enemies: God subdues and destroys Armies, and Countries, and Nations; before them; and all this he doth for his people's sake; he hath respect to them in such works as these be: But some works there be, which God doth only for his own sake; such as are Predestination] Ephes. 1.5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To himself; and the good pleasure of his will: The good pleasure of his will, the ground; and to himself, the end. Justification] Tit. 3.7. Justified by his grace, no other ingredient goes into Justification by way of Motive, but only Freegrace. Isai. 43.25. So Pardon of sin, which is a part of Justification: I even, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my own sake; and so their everlasting salvation. Ephes. 2.5. By grace ye are saved. In these mercies, the people of God come not in so much as by way of motive, much less by way of merit: But God doth these merely and immediately for his own sake. The reason of this difference is, because these temporal mercies and deliverances, find them the people of God; but election, justification, etc. make them the people of God; those find them qualified persons; these bestow these qualifications upon them: And therefore learn to distinguish of mercies, and to prize, and put in for your share in those mercies, which purely and unmixtly are in, and from, and for, and to himself. Isai. 55.3. The sure mercies of David. Second branch of Information. See and admire the love of God to his Church and people: They were taken out of the same pit, and hewn out of the same rock, with the rest of the world; they had all one Father and Mother, and yet see what a difference God makes between them: Surely, as much as he makes between men, and the beasts of the earth; he gives them as bread to his people to feed upon, he makes them as sacrifices for the expiation of his wrath towards his people; when his wrath goes forth armed as it were against his people, he commands it to turn aside, and satisfy itself with the blood of mighty Nations, and great ones of the world, that rise up against the Church. He makes them but as the Rams to be sacrificed to divine Justice in the room of his isaac's. And if this be such an honour; What is it then, that he gave his own only Son, not the Creature, but the Creator, Heb. 1.3. Isai. 53.6. Rom. 8.32. John 6.55. The brightness of his glory, and the express form of his person, to be a Sacrifice of Expiation, a Propitiation; to be as it were, a devotum Caput, upon which, he lays the iniquities of all his Elect; to deliver him up to death for them; and then to give his Body and Blood to be their spiritual meat and drink, to life eternal? Here is love indeed; Love above all expression, above all admiration. John 3.26. So God loved the world, etc. Oh, labour to get interest in this Love, and you are made for ever. Thirdly, Take notice how vainly and ignorantly the Philosophers and other wisemen of the world, have discoursed of the Rise and Ruin of the Nations and Kingdoms of the world: They have dreamt of the periods of Monarchies and States; Vid. Victor. Strigel. Aphoris. Polit. & Johan. a Cokier Aphorism. Polit. The 〈◊〉 whereof some make 50, some 100; some 300, the 〈◊〉 500 years; the great Astrologers have consulted the Stars, and the Influences, and Houses of the Heavens: But they have not consulted the God of the Stars, the Maker and Upholder of Heaven and Earth: They have not consulted Gods Oracles, where this great Mystery is revealed; and the Reasons and Causes of all these alterations and confusions that befall the great and mighty Empires and Dominions of the World, discovered to the sons of men; namely, the deliverance and enlargement of the Church, and therein the propagation and exaltation of the Kingdom of his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great end of ends, they have been ignorant of: The ways of God they have known. And as blind and ignorant are the Kings and Nations of the world, who while they make war one with another, pull down and destroy each other, as here the Medes and Persians come to conquer and subdue the Babylonian Empire, little know or consider who sets them on work, as God speaks to Cyrus; Isai. 45.4. Nihil minus vulgo creduum fuit quam illius Monarchae ruina cencussum suisse orbent ut in patriam redirent Judaei qui tunc abjectissimi erant in hominum oculis, Calv. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me; and I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. He did not know who set him on work; he took notice of nothing but his own ends; the enlargement of his own Empire; He thought he was his own man. As when God sent Israel into Captivity, the Babylonian Tyrant minded nothing but his own lusts, his pride, and his cruelty, his ambition, and covetousness; and yet he was but God's Rod and Staff, to beat and correct his hypocritical, and rebellious children. Isai. 10.5,6, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, etc. Verse 7. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off Nations not a few; So when he brought them out of Babylon, Cyrus thinks he goes upon his own errand, howbeit, God tells him, For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by Name. The Nations, and their Kings and Emperors, are doing God's work, and the Church's work, when they think not of it: God sends them, and they think they go about their own business. Fourth branch. Hence also, We may see upon 〈◊〉 disadvantage the enemies of the Church, be they never so 〈◊〉 and potent, come to make war with the Saints. They come to fight with a generation great in God's eyes, his favourites, before whom God contemns the Nations, and despiseth the persons of Kings and Emperors. Psal. 105. Verse 15. When they went from one Nation to another, and from one Kingdom to another people, (sc. From Egypt to Canaan.) Vers. 14. He suffered no man to do them wrong, but rebuked Kings for their sakes: Vers. 15. Saying, Touch not mine anointed; and do my Prophets no harm. A Text which Kings and Potentates shall know, that they and their Parasites have mistaken and abused; when God shall write the true and sad interpretation thereof in their blood, for his despised people's sake. Truly, When Princes and their people combine and conspire to come from afar, with their united forces to battle with the Church, it is but many times to bring their own Throats to be cut, to save the people of God the labour of longer marches, and harder sieges. Consult at your leisure these two famous places, Josh. 11.1,2,3,4,5. with verses 19, 20. and Mich. 4.11,12,13. Fifthly, This Doctrine takes away all ground of boasting, and contention, about the Instruments which God useth in bringing down the strength and pride of the enemy. There is this observation leapt up in the bowels of it; sc. That God gives not victories always for their sakes that fight the battles of the Church, but for the Church's sake, whose battles (under the Lord of Hosts) they are. Cyrus here, goes up to Babylon, hath notable and wonderful successes; it was not for his sake (he knew not upon what service he went) but for Israel's sake; For your sake I have sent to Babylon. I speak not this to obscure and eclipse the praise of any, whose fidelity and valour, in the dangerous and daring undertake of this later age, have deserved as highly from this Nation, as ever any did since the foundations of this Kingdom were laid: Judges 5.9. No, My heart is toward the worthies of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people: Praise ye the Lord. I speak it only to this end, that people may not lay more upon acts of providence, than they will bear. I speak it to the same end, that the Apostle lays in his Caution about faithful Ministers of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 4.6. That you be not puffed up for one against another: That that which is undoubtedly matter of joy and thankfulness to all, might not through the corruption of our natures, and the wiliness of the tempter, be turned into an occasion of pride and contention to any. That that may not divide us, which rightly improved, might be an happy means to reconcile and unite us. Jere. 9.24. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Second Use. Exhortation. Hath God in the great turn of States and Kingdoms upside down, in breaking Monarchies and Kingdoms, and all the Malignant powers of the earth, an eye to his Church, respect to his people? Doth God do these great things for his Church's sake? For his people's sake? See then how much we stand engaged to God this day. Hath not God (my Brethren) done as much for England, as ever he did for Israel? Hath not God for England's sake, sent to Babylon, and brought down all their Bars? You may please to observe, That ever after Israel was in Babylon, all the enemies of the Church, to the end of the world, are called Assyrians, as Mich. 5.5. This man (speaking of Christ) shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our Land, etc. Revel. 14.8. and 16.19. and 17.5. and 18.2,10. And Babylonians, especially Rome, with all the Antichristian enemies of the Church, they are called Babylon. Rome is Babylon, and all the Popish and Antichristian multitude, are Babylonians; which now in these three Kingdoms have taken up Arms against Christ, his Government and people; and what a sad thing is it my Brethren, to see our King in the head of an Army of Babylonians, refusing as it were to be called, the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and choosing rather to be called, the King of Babylon, etc. This is a Lamentation, and shall be for a Lamentation. The Lord us help to mourn for it in our secret Chambers. But now I say, hath not God in a great measure fulfilled my Text upon our Babylonish enemies, in bringing down their Bars? take them in which of the senses you will, abovementioned; take them with Sanches for Impedimenta, etc. The Impediments and Remora's, which lay in the way of Reformation, and Deliverance of God's people out of that Romish bondage, wherein they and the Ordinances were taken Captive; (for though we were not in Babylon, yet Babylon was in the midst of us: Rome was among us, though we were not in Rome) Prelacy, and the Prelatical Clergy, Priests and Jesuits, Ceremonies and Service-Book, Star-Chambers and High-Commission Court, with all the appurtenances: These were mighty impediments and obstructions in the way of Reformation and Deliverance; and God hath mightily brought them down. Take Bariach with Jerome, for principes populi: God hath pretty well brought them down too. The Malignant Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom have known to their cost, what it is to oppose God, and rise up against Christ, would they see the hand of God, now it is lifted up. Next to the Bishops and Popish Clergy of the Land, they have been the greatest scorners and opposers of Reformaon, and active Incendiaries in this combustion, the flames whereof have devoured Amos 7.4. the great deep, and eaten up a part: Ireland almost consumed, and a great part of England and Scotland laid waste. I say, God hath so broken, and brought them down, that we may in a great part translate the words in my Text, as some do, Calvin and others. Omnes illi fugitivi; They are all fugitives: Fly b●yond Sea. God hath made many of them fly, and others of them fall, before you and your Armies; so that that Prophecy seems to reckon upon our times: Isaiah 5.9. In mine ears, saith the Lord of Hosts, of a truth many Houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without Inhabitant. Or if we take Bariach for Muri, Turres, porta, omniaque munimenta; Hath not God brought them down, and laid them low, as flat, as ever the Walls of Jericho, before your Armies? I want time and memory to list, and file up the names of those strong Holds, and seemingly impregnable Fortifications which God hath brought down, even of late, and delivered up into the hands of your Armies, (to pass by in silence these great things done formerly since the beginning of these Civil Wars.) Shrewsbury, Leicester, Scarborough, Pomtefract, Stoakeley-Castle in Shropshire, Cannon Froom, taken by our Brethren of Scotland; The Garrison at Highworth Church in Wiltshire, Bridgewater, , and Sherborn-Castle, some of the mercies which we this day celebrate. And thus God hath brought down their Bars in every sense. There is another word in the Text, that we must take in, and that is, The Chaldeans, i. e. All the Military strength and forces of Babylon; the Armies that the King of Babylon had raised in all his Empire, to make resistance against the Medes and Persians, ut supra. And hath not God brought down these also before your Victorious Forces? Not to mention Edgehill, Newbury, York, etc. Surely, the marchings of your new Model, under that renowned General, Sir Thomas Fairfax, that despised, and despaired Army; despised of enemies, and despaired of by friends, have been like the marchings of Joshua, and the Army of Israel, under his conduct; of whom it is said (when once Achan the Troubler of Israel, was discovered and removed) in the tenth of Joshua: He went and took it, and smote it; he went and took it, and smote, etc. Seven or eight times over. And may we not reckon up seven or eight as glorious marches and successes within seven or eight weeks? He went to Naseby-field, and took and smote; and from Naseby-field to Leicester, and took it and smote it; and from thence, our Joshua passed to the siege of Taunton, and took, and delivered it from being smitten; and from thence, to the enemy in the field of Langport, and took them, and smote them; and from thence, to Bridgewater, and took it, and smote; and from thence, to , and took it, and smote it; and from thence to Sherborn-Castle, and took it, and smote it; save only, that did not lie so expressly in the Commission of this Joshua, to smite, as it was in the Commission of that Joshua, which you may read, Deut. 7.2. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no Covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them The sword of our Joshua hath shown more mercy; And I wish it may so convince and gain the poor deceived people in the West, and other places; that they will not stand out to their own destruction. Never History since Joshua's days, can file up so many glorious Victories, upon such long and tedious marches, accomplished by one Army in so short a time. The fruits whereof are, 1. The breaking in pieces the strongest Armies that the King had in this Kingdom, which scorned and cursed your new Model, as much as ever the great Philistine did little David; but God made it a formidable instrument in his hand; such a one, one would think that very instrument, prophesied of by the Prophet Isaiah: Isa. 41.15. Behold (saith God) I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountain, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. A new instrument indeed this was, after your old was broken; and it had teeth: The proud enemy thought it was a toothless instrument that could not bit; but they have felt, to their cost, that it hath teeth, sharp teeth: Surely these teeth have torn their flesh, and broke their bones in pieces: and it hath thresht the mountains. I think those mountains and hills, those proud presumptuous and blasphemous Armies, have been pretty well thresht by this New instrument in the hand of our Redeemer; it hath beaten them even to dust and chaff in the high places of the field. Is there any of them here that jeered and scorned that New Instrument? that have despised that New Model, as if it consisted of a company of feeble unskilful boys, rather than men of War: Sir, go home, and learn to confess, The Lord of Hosts can make better Soldiers in a few days, than the Prince of Orange can do in many years. 2. A second fruit is the relieving of our distressed friends in divers parts of the Kingdom, who cried unto our General, as sometime the Gibconites did unto Joshua, Come down quickly, and save us; for all the Kings of the Amorites are upon us. And truly it may be said of our worthy General, as then of Joshua, Josh. 10.9. He came up suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night: Yea, many days and nights did our Armies and their worthy Commanders march to the relief of their Brethren, whose destruction else would have filled the Land with the saddest lamentations that ever have been heard in England since the beginning of this unnatural War. 3. The dispersing of the Clubmen; a Plot of as dangerous and desperate an aspect as any since these Troubles began; and that the Contrivers of it (whoever they were) knew well enough; and had providence cast that success upon the enemy, which he hath mercifully and miraculously blest and honoured your Armies withal, we had known, to our sorrow, before this time. 4. The great and gracious hopes of a full and speedy regaining of the West, the poor almost-desolate West, which was as a garden of Eden before the enemy, but behind him a desolate Wilderness. My Brethren, behold a wonder; our Sun, contrary to the course of Nature, is risen in the West, where we were afraid it was going, if not gone down: But God hath wrought in as much wonder and more mercy for us, as once for Joshua: He hath commanded the Sun stand still in the West; yea, as once for Hezekiah, he hath brought it back by many degrees which it was gone down in the Western Horizon. 5. A fifth fruit is, The opening of the passages of Trade and Traffic, which a long time have been obstructed, to the great impoveaishing of this City, and divers other Cities and Towns in the Kingdom. 6. The encouragement of your friends, and discouragement of your enemies at home and abroad: Your friends shall hear of the success God hath given to your Forces, and their hands shall be strong, their hearts shall be comforted, and their spirits raised, concerning England. Enemy's shall hear of it, and their hearts shall fail them, and their knees shall smite one against another, and none of the men of might shall find their hands: yea, thousands of them that were seduced and deceived by the lies and flatteries of the enemies, shall come in, and fall down at your feet, and confess that God is with you of a truth. 7. The Enlargement of thousands of our dear and precious Brethren out of bonds and imprisonment, whose feet have been hurt in the Stocks, and the Irons have entered into their souls. 8. The hopes and beginnings of the reducing of Wales, four Counties already come in. 9 A door of Hope opened for gasping Ireland. 10. And lastly, which is all, A fair and hopeful possibility yea probability (if our murmur and unbelief do not wheel us back again into the wilderness) of putting an end, this Summer, to the bleeding distractions of this poor languishing Kingdom, and of making a Peace upon your own terms. Surely methinks God seems to tell you, You may be delilivered if you will; I am willing, if you be willing. God hath given you gracious demonstrations, that when men go faithfully and cordially about their business, what a world of work may be done in a little time. And now if you would know for whose sake God hath done all this, my Text will tell you, For your sakes have I sent to Babylon. It is for his Church and people's sake. God hath a people in England, for whose sake he hath sent to Babylon, and brought down the cry of the Nobles, etc. Who they be, or how you may know whether you be of the number of them for whose sakes God hath done these things, I shall give an hint in the close of the Work. In the mean time, suffer, I beseech you, the words of Exhortation: And it is this: If God do such great things for your sake, thou be you exhorted to do great things for the Lords sake. The Church and people of God have been of such a disposition, that they have thought they could never do or suffer enough for the Lords sake. Psal. 44.22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long. 2 Cor. 12.10. I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. And again: Acts 21.13. I am not only ready to be bound, but to die, for the Name of the Lord Jesus. O let the same mind be in you, that was in David, in Paul, and in the rest of the Saints: Be ready to do, be ready to suffer: Be willing to live, be willing to die; and think nothing too much, for his sake, who hath done such great things for your sakes. I must crave leave to branch out this Exhortation to two sorts. 1. To you Honourable and highly-honoured Senators of the Land. 2. To you the people of God that stand here this day, and the rest of your brethren throughout the Kingdom. First, to you the Worthies of England's Parliament. For your sakes God hath sent to Edge-hill, and to the North, and to the West, and hath brought down the cry of their Nobles, etc. God hath honoured you more than ever he honoured any Parliament since the foundations of this Kingdom were laid, and hath done as great things for you as ever he did for any Assembly of men, I think, since the foundations of the world were laid. And now, Honoured Senators, study your Renders, What shall I render to the Lord? etc. Study what you should do for the Lords sake, who hath done so much for yours. Will you give me leave to by your Remembrancer? I will do it with all Humility, Fidelity and Plainness, being encouraged thereto by former experience of your candid and Christian entertainment of the faithfulness and facenesse of those whom you have called to this Service. Omme bonum quod superbus sibi arrogat supp●diaculum diabolo facit. Guil. Paris. First therefore, for the Lords sake, study Humility: You cannot exalt God, if you lift up yourselves. And truly there be two things that do easily swell the heart with pride, if it be not well watched; sc. Greatness, and Good success: Both these have been your portion; God hath lifted you up, and set you upon the highest Throne in the Kingdom, The Throne of Legislative power: Every one of you resemble the person of a Prince; you are so many little kings. And God hath given you admirable Successes (ever since he called you together) to the astonishment of all that see or hear of the Lords go forth with you and for you: O now take heed, I beseech you, that these do not become temptations and snares to you, Deut. 17.20. whereby your hearts should be lifted up above your brethren, that they should become cheap and vile in your eyes. O let not that which should lift up your heart in Thankfulness, lift up your heart in pride and haughtiness. You know how it fared with Hezekiah, though a very gracious King, and what the sad consequences of it was: But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; 2 Chron. 32.25. for his heart was lifted up; namely, upon his miraculous recovery, and the honour that was done him thereupon, by the King of Babylon. Observe, I beseech you, Hezekiah rendered not, etc. why? For his heart was lifted up. A proud man doth nothing for God's sake, though he thinks God doth all for his sake. And what follows? Therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. O Sirs, if ye have found your hearts thus lifted up, with Hezekiah, upon the honour and good successes God hath cast upon you; humble yourselves in the presence of God for the pride of your heart, as it is said of Hezekiah in the next verse, Why should there be wrath upon you, and upon the whole Kingdom for your sakes? The lower you lie, the higher you lift up God, and the higher God will lift up you. Humilitas semper volat licet repere videatur instar avis volitantis, alas add habentis, rostreque pendentis Guil. Paris. Perit omne judicium, ubi res transit in affectum. 2. For the Lords sake take heed of self-interests, and by-ends: Where these prevail, there can be nothing done for the Lords sake: Either the Lords work is not done, or not done to his mind, or not for his sake, which is all one with not doing of it at all, and will bring a curse with it. Jer. 48.10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. Hence it was that Jehu's zeal in doing execution upon the house of Ahab, when God comes to reckon, is set upon the score of Murder, Hos. 1. Jehu writes service, God writes murder: Jehu sets down zeal, God sets down blood; and all because he did the Lords work in the pursuit of his own base and sinful ends and interests. O that you would shake off these Vipers from your hands and hearts. If you will not shake them off, God will shake you off: If you will not shake these out of your bosoms, God will shake you out of his. 3. If you will do any thing for the Lords sake, do this, Set up his Son upon his Throne; you cannot do any thing which the Lord will take more kindly at your hands: For the Father hath committed all Judgement (i. e. all Gov rnment) unto the Son, that men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. I am persuaded, had this been done sooner, England had not now been to have been delivered. Jer. 10.7. Revel. 15.3. He is King of Nations, and King of Saints. As King of Nations, he hath a Temporal Kingdom and Government over the world now he is in heaven, though he exercised not such a Kingdom while he was on earth; Matth. 28.18. 1 Cor. 15.25,27. the Father having now given to him all power both in heaven and earth; and the Rule and Regiment of this Kingdom he hath committed to Monarchies, Aristocracies, or Democracies, as the several combinations and associations of the people shall between themselves think good to elect and erect. God leaves people to their own liberty in this case. Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of man, for the Lords sake. for the Lords sake. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Gr. Scholar Civilis gubernationis dispositio. Beza. The Greek reads it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To every humane Creation. Civil Government, in the kinds or species of it, is as it were but the creature of man, because men may choose what kind of Government they shall find most advantageous to public peace and welfare. But Christ is also the King of Saints: As he hath an inward and Spiritual Government in the Conscience, which is only his Throne; so he hath an outward Kingdom, which he doth visibly exercise in his Church, Which doth consist of these Particulars: 1. In that he conquers and subdues a people to himself, who are visible subjects of this Kingdom. 2. In that he gives Laws and Statutes to this people, distinct from all the Laws and Statutes of all the Kingdoms and Republics in the world; as the Church acknowledgeth Isa. 33.22. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, etc. 3. In that he appoints and constitutes special Officers in this Church, not only to promulge these Laws, but to govern his people according to them ●… Matth. 28.19. Acts 20.28. Rom. 12.8. 1 Cor. 12.28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Presbyterorum ordinem declarat qui disciplinae & Politiae Ecclesiastica custodes erant. Go teach all Nations: Feed the flock whereof the holy Ghost hath made you overseers. He that ruleth, with diligence. And God hath set in his Church Governments. The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets, 1 Cor. 14.32. 4. In that he hath commanded all the people and subjects of this Kingdom to be obedient (in the Lord) unto these Officers. Heb. 13.7. Remember them that have the rule over you, etc. and, Vers. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you. Who doth he mean here? the Civil Magistrate? No: for it is added, Which have spoken to you the Word of God; and, They watch for your souls, etc. 5. In that Christ hath appointed penalties to be inflicted upon the stubborn and disobedient, proper to this Government: Matth. 18.17. Let him be to thee as an Heathen, etc. and put away from among yourselves that wicked person, etc. Now therefore since the Lord Jesus is King of Nations, and King of Saints, set him up as both, in both his Kingdoms and Governments; and do it thoroughly, and do it specdily. 1. Do it thoroughly. Would you have a thorough Deliverance, study a thorough Reformation of Church and State. Think not, renowned Nobles and Patriots, of doing the work of Reformation by degrees, and piecemeal: It will be Christ's Honour, and your Advantage, to let your Reformation come forth as full and honourable at first as may be: O it will strike the more fear and awe into the hearts of people; it will be your honour in the eyes of your own people, and strangers abroad, who will certainly say, O what Nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? (surely Reformation is the great thing which the Saints this day in England and in the three Kingdoms have prayed for) And what Nation is there so great, that hath Statutes and Judgements so righteous as all that Law of Reformation is, which England's Parliament have set up? But now, let your Reformation be poor, and mean, and low at first, such as wicked men may sit securely under; you discourage & kill the hearts of the godly that have been praying for you, and expecting a Reformation from you; encourage the common people to trample upon your Reformation, and the Ministry; and render yourselves cheap and contemptible to all the reformed Churches, who do certainly stand at a gaze upon England's Parliament and Assembly, expecting not only that you should follow them, but that you should hold forth to all the Christian world the most full, purest and glorious Reformation that hath been since the Churches have begun to shake off the yoke of Antichristian Bondage. You have done admirably in the destructive and purging part of Reformation: with Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 24.15,26. You have brought out the uncleanness that was found in the Temple of the Lord. You have pulled up every plant which by our heavenly Father hath not planted, and taken out of his Kingdom whatsoever did offend; and the Lord bless you for it. Now therefore, that your work and your blessing may be complete, study to be answerable in the positive and erective part of Reformation; that as you have left nothing that Jesus Christ would have removed, so there may want nothing that Jesus Christ would have set up in this New Model of Church-Government. Heb. 8.5. See that ye do all things according to the pattern: so shall it be your honour, as it was Moses, Heb. 3.2. To be faithful to him that appointed him in all his House. Do thoroughly, that Christ may not be an underling in his own House. 2. Do it speedily. Tell me, I beseech you, what have you got by Delays? Who hath been a gainer by them? Not Jesus Christ, not you, not the work of Reformation. I know none that have gained by these unhappy Obstructions, but Heresy, profaneness, division, and in all these the devil. You cannot but know how it is in the City, and it would make your souls bleed to look into the Country, even those that are under the Parliaments command (not to speak of those that lie under the Villainies and Violences of the enemy) I say it would make your bowels ache, and your hearts grieve, to see what a face of things there is in the Country; not so much truly as the face of a Church, a Garden of God; but the face of a Wilderness; not a faithful Minister perhaps in twenty Congregations; and where there is, they know not what to do with their Congregations, for want of a Government: So that in the mean time the greatest part turn profane; and if one or two here and there peep out of the dungeons of Ignorance and Atheism, to inquire after the ways of God, presently they are snapped up, and seduced into some way or other, of Heresy or Schism, because there is neither hand nor instrument to take these Foxes, Cant. 2.15. the little Foxes that spoil the Vines, that now begin to have tender Grapes. If you mean that England shall be turned into a wilderness, and be overrun with Atheism, and Heresy, and Profaneness, and Blasphemy, you may hold your hands; and you need not do it long: But better it were, that England should be overrun with fire and sword; better it should be devoured by plague and pestilence; (the Arrows whereof fly so thick abroad, that they darken the very Heavens over our heads) till man and beast were destroyed off the face of this good Land, rather than this should come to pass: Better judgement should turn us into a Wilderness, than sin should do it; better welter in our blood, then wallow in our lusts. Therefore, for the Lords sake, for the Lords sake, and again I say, for the Lords sake, make haste; be through, be speedy in your Reformation. Would you not stay long for a Deliverance, let not Christ stay long for a Reformation. In both respects, hear what an Heathen Emperor could advise and command: Ezra 7. 2●… Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven, let it be diligently done for the House of the God of Heaven; for why should there be wrath against the Realm of the King and his sons? I should come to the fourth particular; but that there is one thing as a branch of this third, which I desire leave cumbly to commend unto you; and that is, Concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. O, if you would express your love and zeal, and thankfulness to God in any thing: If there be any thing wherein you would express your kindness and fidelity to the Lord Jesus; do it in this: There is not a nearer concernment, wherein you can gratify God (if I may so say) than this; What hath God dearer to him, than his Son? And what hath his Son dearer to him, than his Body and Blood? Oh, look to it I beseech you, that that be not profaned and trodden under feet by any unworthy person, so far as it is in your power to prevent it. Herein you may do well to imitate the Bishops, in building a Rail, or if that word like you not, change it a letter or two, and make a Rule about the Lords Table: But be sure, make it so thick and so high, that not a Dog may creep through, or leap over, to eat the children's Bread; De occultis non judicat ecclesia. not one (I mean) that appears to be so; for secret things we must leave to the Lord to judge. Let me humbly ask you one Question. Are there any kind of sinners think you, that Jesus Christ would have excluded from that holy Mystery? If any, than all of the same Nature and Influence; for what if you should keep out seventy, yea, seven thousand, sins and sinners from the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 11.27. and let but one scandalous sinner come, would not he be found a Crucifier of the Son of God? yea, and (let me speak freely) you too, if he come under your protection. But if Jesus Christ would have all come promiscuously to his Board; it is not in the power of Elderships, nor Classes, nor Assemblies, or Parliaments, nor any body in the World, to suspend any one kind of sin or sinner from that Holy Feast. Honourable and Beloved: Your blood, and the blood of your sons and daughters hath been precious in God's eyes: O let the blood of the Son of God, be precious in your eyes. God hath not prostituted your flesh and your blood to any of your wicked enemies; O suffer not the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus to be prostituted to any of his wicked enemies. For suppose God should say, The Irish shall not spill your blood; Prince rupert's Army shall not drink your blood; Hoptons' Army shall not; goring Army shall not; greenvil's shall not; the Clubmen shall not; and so name seven, yea, seven times seven Armies, and Nations, and yet give Commission or leave but for one Army, one Nation, in all the world, to eat your flesh, and drink your blood; what would it avail you, that the rest were suspended and restrained? O give not the Lord Jesus occasion to say of you, 1 Sam. 25.21. as sometime David said of Nabal: Surely, In vain have I kept all that these men have; I have been sparing of their blood, and they have been prodigal of mine: Now therefore go blasphemers, go drunkards, go Sabbath-breakers, go ye worst of men, and eat their flesh and drink their blood, and the blood of their sons and daughters. O deal not so unkindly with the Lord Jesus; to provoke him to jealousy: Purge the Sacrament, and purge it throughly; And then hasten the setting up of that Ordinance in all Congregations (where there be a competent number fit for it.) Behold, the children cry for this bread, and there is none to give it unto them: Behold, The Spouse of Christ is sick of love and hunger; and therefore, hasten to stay her with this bread, and comfort her with these flagons, that she may eat and drink, and her soul may bless you before she die. Fourthly, For the Lords sake do execution upon all the professed and implacable enemies of the Lord Jesus; who have said and sworn, Luke 19.14. This man shall not reign over us. Behold, Christ commands you, saying, Verse 27. Bring them hither, and slay them before me. For your sake God hath sent to Babylon, and brought down your enemies, great and small, and laid them dead at your feet; What can you do more answerably by way of return, for the Lords sake, then to bring down his enemies, and slay them before his face? Behold, shall God for your sake, not suffer Parliament-Traitors, and Parliament-Revilers, to live, and shall Christ's Traitors, and Trinity-blasphemers, escape your just and severest vengeance? God forbidden. You had need to do somewhat as in vindictam so interrorem: For I tell you, Blasphemy gins to be very bold and impudent; Eccles. 8. ●…. Because sentence against evil doers, is not speedily executed; therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do and utter evil. O draw out your sword to execute judgement against such enemies of Jesus Christ, That others may hear and fear, and do no more so wickedly. Fifthly, For the Lords sake, Look to his poor Members that suffer: O hear the complaints of your poor Brethren that are oppressed by inferior Committees in any part of the Kingdom, that none that sit under your shadow, may have just cause to say, You have pulled down one Star-Chamber, and set up hundreds: Look to your wounded Soldiers; to the poor women that have been made widows, and children that have been made fatherless in the Parliaments Service; Their cry is gone up to Heaven: O let their cry enter into your ears. Look to these Families, many whereof have been of good estates, that by this unnatural War, and for owning you, and your work, have been driven from their habitations, destitute and naked, and have fled to this City of Refuge, (so God hath made London) to seek for shelter and relief: Or, O that you would give us leave to look to them, and provide for them; by making some other provisions for your wounded Soldiers, that the Collections in the City, might be employed for the relief of such as are ready to give up the ghost at our doors, or lie languishing at home, choosing rather almost to die, then to discover their wants and necessities. Know ye not that thousands are ready to perish for want of bread among us, and we have not wherewith to relieve their souls? This is a work that much concerns Jesus Christ; for he hath said it, Matth. 25.45. In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me. Sixthly, For the Lords sake, Stand by your friends, and the friends of Christ and his Cause: Herein you stand by Jesus Christ himself. The enemy have gained much (but the God would not suffer them to keep it) by their fidelity, or policy rather, to their friends. O come not short of them in point of fidelity, nor let the children of this world be always wiser in their generations, than the children of light; Let none have just cause to say, We suffer for our good will to the Parliament, if you can help it: You have the better Cause; stand by it, and it will stand by you. I come now to speak a word in the last place, to all that stand before God this day; and the whole people of this Kingdom: God hath done great things for your sakes also, as you have heard. And now what will you do for the Lords sake? There be but two or three things, that in this straight of time, I shall commend to you as proper returns for these great deliverances and victories. First, Since God hath brought down your enemies abroad, do you labour to bring down his enemies at home. God hath avenged you in the blood of base and wicked men, do you avenge God in the blood of your base and sinful lusts. God hath pulled down the strong holds of your enemies, and made them fall before you; do you down with these strong holds within every one of you, 2 Cor. 10.5,6. whereby Jesus Christ hath been kept out of your hearts. Brethren, better it is to perish by the lusts of our enemies, then by our own lusts; and better the enemy had prevailed and blasphemed God with their tongues, than we delivered to reproach and blaspheme God by our lives. Hear what an angry question God asks, Jer. 7.9,10. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn Incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom we know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which called by my Name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? O let us not be the reproach of victories; let us not sin against, much less sin upon, sin because of our deliverances: It is pity fair weather should do any harm. Deut. 32.6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwise? O let us put these lusts to flight, to death; whose cry hath been in God's ears, calling for vengeance so long, on us, and on the Nation: God hath given us the heads of our enemies; let us give God the heads of our corruptions. Secondly, God hath made our enemies a Sacrifice for us, and we are as the Scape-Goat, as Isaac. Rom. 12.1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, wichh is your reasonable service. This is indeed a reasonable service, that he that hath redemeed us, should have us: 1 Cor. 6.20. Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your bodies and souls, which are Gods. Thirdly, Let us still own the Cause, which we see God still owns; and serve it with our Estates, our Counsels, our Prayers, our persons, and if need be, our lives and blood: Christ hath not deserted us, let not us desert Christ. And to this purpose; Let us all, both Parliament and people, Remember our Covenant; Let us often read over our Covenant, and live up with our Covenant, and act up with our Covenant, and reform up with our Covenant. It is a fearful thing to let a Covenant lie by the walls, as wormeaten Paper; it is a fearful thing to take a Covenant, as it were, for no other end then to aggravate our sins; that as the Light turns sin into rebellion, so the Covenant might aggravate rebellion into perjury. How may we expect for this, That God should strengthen the hand, and sharpen the sword of the enemy, which for a while he hath in mercy weakened and blunted, and let it in upon us, with Commission, Levit. 26.25. To avenge the quarrel of the Covenant? O let us be wise to Salvation, and say with David, Psal. 116.12,14. What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies? I will pay my vows unto the Lord: And again, Psal. 56.12. Thy vows are upon me, O God, I will render praise unto thee. Now therefore, holy Brothers, Partakers of the Heavenly Calling, let us every one in our stations and callings, stir up ourselves to be active for God, who hath been mighty for us. And for your encouragement, take this precious, and I hope prevailing motive, (it is the hint and evidence I promised you even now; and with which I will conclude.) Hereby we shall know that we are of the number of those for whose sake God hath done these great things, (and will do yet greater) when we find our hearts raised and enlarged to do great things for him: By this we may know, God doth all for us, when we do all for him: He hears us when we have an heart to hear him. If we find such a frame of heart, here is comfort indeed; Deliverances, and deliverances for our sake; Victories, and victories not only by divine leave, but with divine love, love to our persons, and love to our prayers, etc. These be deliverances indeed; Victories worth the having; victories of Gods Israel, Gen. 32.28. such as of jacob's, wrestlers, have become Israel's, Princes, to prevail with God and men. O let us study this; It is the spiritual, and the best part of our mercies, a divine impression, and argument of the love of God upon our spirits: Surely, There is not a more glorious sight on this side Heaven, then to see a God doing great things for a people, and a people doing great things for their God. The Lord be such a God to us, and make us such a people to him, and we are happy for ever. Amen. FINIS.