A DISCOVERY OF PEACE: OR, The thoughts of the ALMIGHTY For the ending of his People's CALAMITIES.  
Intimated in a Sermon at Christ-Church London, before the Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor, the Right worshipful the Aldermen; together with the worshipful Companies of the said City, upon the 24th of April, 1644.  
Being the solemn day of their public Humiliation and monthly Fast.  
By JOHN STRICKLAND, B. D. Pastor of the Church at St. Edmunds, in the City of New Sarum; A Member of the Assembly of Divines.  Isaiah 27. Vers. 5. Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. 
LONDON, Printed by M. Simmons for Henry Overton and are to be sold at his Shop entering into Popes-head Alley, out of , 1644.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, john Wollaston, Lord Mayor of the famous City of LONDON, Together with the Right Worshipful the ALDERMEN his Brethren.  
Right Honourable and Worshipful,  
AS it was your request, that occasioned me to offer these my Meditations to your ears in the Pulpit: So is it nothing else that brings them forth (such as they are) from the Press to be thus presented to your view, and under your names, that so they might have a pass into the world: they have been already in your ears, they are now before your eyes, the Lord writ them in all our hearts, that we may be doers of the word, and not hearers only, lest we deceive our own selves! When I stood upon my watch to see what the Lord would say unto me, that I might speak unto you, he directed me to make this Discovery of Peace before you, when you sat in the dust before him, humbling your souls, and crying mightily unto God, to turn from his fierce anger that we perish not: and indeed God is never more ready to give out himself, and to communicate his thoughts unto men in a spiritual way, then at such a time; nor is the soul so capable of divine Discoveries from God at any time, as when it is in such a posture of humiliation: which gives me hope that God intended to send home into your hearts some light and influence from this truth, to encourage and keep up your spirits against all the opposition which you find in the cause of God and the Kingdom, and to maintain your zeal and forwardness therein, for which your ever-to-be-renowned City is now so much and so justly honoured. For though the vision be yet for an appointed time, & in the mean time the sword devoureth on the right hand & on the left, yet we may well wait for it, because it will surely come, and will not tarry, and when it cometh it will be a tree of life. Now that God hath revealed unto you his gracious thoughts for the ending of his people's calamities, (even such as you could expect) he lookethth at you should do somewhat for the furtherance thereof, that may be worthy of your place and eminency whereunto the Lord hath advanced you: To help forward an expected end is a work worthy the hand of a Prince. Numa built a Temple, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  which he dedicated to Faith and Peace, because he desired that they might dwell together under one roof: the work that I lay before you, (honoured Gentlemen) is altogether as honourable as Numa's: I need not now show you how to do it, you are partly directed in the Sermon, but you have given the world full proof that you know how to do it, in that you have done it, and do it at this day, so effectually with your Armies, with your Estates, with your prayers, every way: Go on and do still like the Citizens of London: and if God bless your endeavours, we may yet hope to see what Numa never saw, Truth and Peace dwell together under one roof in this Kingdom. Be pleased yet to entertain a word or two, to expedite your willing endeavours in bringing our Church's calamities to an expected end: you know there are a generation of Ambodexters among us, that do pretend to seek the same God, & to build in the work of the Lord with us, as the jews adversaries did in the building of the Temple, Ezra 4.2. But as Zerubbabel and the chief of the Fathers were ware of them then: so our Zerubbabels (I hope) and you the chief of our Fathers, are also ware of these now: Are they not even such as the Psalmist describes? They put forth their hands against such as be at peace with them, they break their covenant; the words of their mouth are smother than butter, but war is in their hearts; their words are softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords? Psa 55.20.21. Their words are peace, peace, & pacem poscimus omnes, but they love not truth and peace, they broke for treaties of peace, under which they would now betray us. For in truth their design is to hinder your endeavours in bringing on this expected end: it will not be unnecessary that you have an eye upon them. Next, let me prevail with you to be tender of God's honour, in what peculiarly belongs unto him, as you expect God should be tender of us in bringing the Calamities of our Church unto this desirable end. Our Worthies in Parliament have piously provided for the sanctifying of our Christian Sabbath, improve your Authorities for the executing of such wholesome laws, so much concerning the Lord our God, especially reform, I beseech you, all Exchange-meetings that day, unless you could be sure that men would come thither with a desire of no other news then what they might hear from heaven that day: if any thing, surely this is a blemish, & that in the face of your beautisul City; you have worthily cleared your streets of the notorious occasions of Idolatry, let not anyplace be left (especially such a public place) in the midst of you, an occasion of profaneness. And go on, as I hear you have piously resolved, to take inn God more solemnly, into your public consultations, then formerly, by beginning and ending such your meetings, 
A●●●●●●us N. A●●●●. l. 7. c. 10  with prayer, like Pub. Scipio a famous Roman (of whom it was said, Ejus vita erat diis dedita) who was wont to go to the Capitol before he went to the Senate, to his prayers before his public business. And I doubt not but the Lord will continue to protect and honour this your famous City, in delighting to use it as a choice and eminent instrument in his hand, to bring the present and pressing calamities of our dear country, to an expected end, and to continue you in a peaceable and quiet habitation. For which purpose I commend this whole City, together with your government, Counsels, persons and employments to the blessing and care of the most high God. And this shall be the prayer of  
Your willing servant in the Gospel of Christ, JOHN STRICKLAND.   

A Discovery of PEACE, or the thoughts of the Almighty for the ending of his people's Calamities.  JEREM. 29.11. 
For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  
THE Jewish Church was now in a sad condition, ●od was provoked against her for the sins of K. Manasseh, especially for that innocent blood which he shed, and with which he filled Jerusalem; and for which the Lord protested he would not be pacified, 
2 King 24 3.4.  2 King. 24.3, 4. therefore Jehoiachim, with the greatest part of the jews, were now carried away captive into Babylon, there to remain in slavery for threescore and ten years: And now because the people could not bear the thoughts of so long a bondage, there arose up among them false prophets (which are always ready to feed the people's humours) & put them in hope that their slavery should be of a far shorter continuance, and that they should very suddenly return into their own Land again; namely, that they should not continue in bondage above two years, as you have it, Jerem. 28.3, 4. 
Jer. 28.3, 4.  To prevent the mischief that this doctrine might bring upon the people (namely the people's impenitency and carnal security, by being misled into such deceitful expectations) the Prophet Jeremy writes a letter from Jerusalem unto the people of the captivity, in this chapter; and therein, to undeceive the people, he adviseth them that they should (for all that the false Prophets had said) make provision for a longer stay in Jerusalem then for two years, that they should marry wives, and build houses, and plant Orchards; he presseth on them that counsel from the 4. verse of this Chapter, 
Verse 4-15.  unto the 15.  
Next, forasmuch as he saw their hearts hancred after Jerusalem, that they might return to their own Land again, he acquaints them in the second place, that the remnant of the people, that were not yet carried away from Jerusalem, should be very shortly led into a like captivity, and the City of Jerusalem (on which their eye was fixed so much) turned into a she's and destroyed; so that their hopes in that particular were dashed. This argument he presseth on them from the 15, verse to 20. So you shall find it in the History, 2 Kings 25. 
Vers. 15-20. 2 Kings 25.  In the former branch of the Prophet's Letter, (wherein he doth endeavour to take up the people's thoughts about longer stay in Babylon) be pleased to mark two considerable things, that are distinctly delivered.  
First, he laboureth to confute the error of those false prophets, that told them they should stay no longer in Babylon then two years, and he lets them know that these are but dreams of their own, they had no such warrant for any thing from the word of God; 
Vers. 8.9.  this at the 8. and 9 verse, whereby he bridles their confidence, that they should not be too hasty in expectation of their return so suddenly.  
Secondly, lest they should cast off all hope and confidence of deliverance, in the next place he labours to maintain their hope, and strengthen their faith to wait on God: for though he would not bring deliverance in such a time as the false prophets had foretold, (in the compass of two years) yet he would not fail to bring them deliverance in due time; he would deliver them, but not then; he would deliver them, but he would take his own time for it: And in the mean time God would not forget their captivity, and his thoughts concerning them, were thoughts of peace, as in the words of my Text. For I know my thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end,  
Before I come to the words of the Text, give me leave a little to insist upon the design and scope of the holy Ghost in this letter of the Prophet Jeremy; wherein, as he did intent to check them in their groundless expectations of a sudden deliverance, so he labours to bring them to, and support them in a patiented waiting on God for deliverance in his own time. The point from hence is this.  
Doctrine. That God would have his people in the times of their trouble, calmly to wait on him, and to be neither too hasty, nor hopeless, concerning their return from captivity.  
You may observe that the Prophet Habakkuk (who is conceived to be contemporary with the Prophet Jeremy, and therefore to speak of the same thing) gives the very same advice or command concerning this very business of the Babylonish captivity. The vision, saith he in 2. Hab. 3, 4. is yet for an appointed time, 
Hab. ●. 3, 4.  but at the end it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it: for it shall come, and it shall not tarry. Behold his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him. Mark, he would have men to be of that frame and temper of heart, that they should patiently and calmly possess their souls in waiting on God, though the vision for their deliverance be somewhat long, and it be not yet come. It is the observation of Mr. Calvin, that the Prophet in commanding a waiting temper of spirit, 
Coarguit fervorem immodicum qui nos abripit. Calv. in locum.  checks that common hastiness, or hotness of spirit, wherein men are too much carried away with longing after deliverance, and therefore he would have men to possess themselves with more patience: For he saith, Though deliverance tarry, it shall not tarry. It may tarry in respect of our desires, Etiam celeritas in desiderio mora est. 
Paraeus.  Let deliverance be never so swift, it cannot come so soon as it is looked for, men's hearts are so up in expectations of blessings in that kind; but it shall not tarry in respect of Gods own determination, Qui in ipsa tarditate semperaccelerat, it shall never stay beyond his counsel and appointment. His soul that is lifted up in pride of heart therefore, and cannot humbly submit unto the Lord's pleasure, but in stead of waiting upon God, will seek a Tower of refuge elsewhere, and impatiently withdraw his heart, or draw back, as the Apostle renders the word, Heb. 10.38. his soul is not upright in him. 
Heb. 10.38.   
Reasons. 1 First, it is God's prerogative Royal to lay on and to take off affliction, and that in his own time, he hath the disposal of the seasons and opportunity of both, he challengeth it in 32. Deut. 39 See now, that I, even I am be, and there is no God with me; I kill, 
Deut. 32.39.  and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. It is as it were a thing hereditary to the Godhead, if as I may so say, a thing peculiar to him, to lay on, and to take off afflictions at his own appointment; He it is that commands deliverance, and therefore it is he alone that we should ascribe all our deliverance to, and upon whom we should wait for all our deliverance. It is reported of Domitian, that when he escaped from Vitellius seeking to destroy him, he resolved that in the place where he lay hid, he would build a Temple, and he would dedicate it Jovi Custodi, seque in sinu Dei s●cravit, saith the Historian. 
Tacitus.  And had a heathen so much zeal for the honour of an Idoll-god, that he would ascribe it all to him? How much more should we ascribe the honour of our deliverances to the true God, and write upon our Temples and monuments of praise, not Jovi, but Deo custodi, to our God our great deliverer.  
Secondly, a diligent and patiented waiting on God in the day of trouble, is the safest way we can take; let men try all other ways, and they shall find this is the only way: for he is both able to help, and he is also of a good disposition, (if I may say so little of him.) The Apostle on that ground exhorts men, to cast all their burden on him, 
1. Pet. 5.6, 7.  in 1 Pet. 5.6, 7. Cast all your care on him, for he careth for you; he taketh to heart your condition, he is sensible of all your misery. For a man to go any other way, it will be in vain, it will add to his misery, rather than deliver him. You have an excellent and a clear example in Ephraim, Hosea 5.13, 14. When Ephraim saw his sickness, 
Hos. 5.13, 14.  and Judah saw his wound, Ephraim took another course then this in the Doctrine, he did not wait on God, but he went to King Jareb, yet could not he help you, nor cure you of your wound. And whereas before the Lord had been but unto them as a moth, and as rottenness, in his judgements, now he was resolved to become as a Lion, he would tear them, and there should none be able to deliver them, 
Vers. 14.  vers. 14. And (which is most of all considerable to the point) Ephraim that went another way, was feign to return to God at last, and seek help from him. Come, let us return to the Lord, 
Hosea 6.1.  for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  
Use 1 First, it may serve to humble and to lay us low before the Lord this day, that since God requireth such a calm, a patiented, such a waiting frame of heart in his people upon him, in the day of their trouble, our hearts should be so fare (as we know they are) from this waiting frame, that we should be so much distempered as we are with pettishness, and with impatience under the hand of God; submission is that, my brethren, which God especially looks for at our hands, whereby he might have occasion given to deliver us. 
Levit. 26.40, 41, 42.  26. Levit. 40, 41, 42. verse, when the people of Israel were in their affliction, If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquities, then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the Land. Mark! If when we have walked contrary to God, and we find that God hath walked contrary to us, as at the 40. verse, if then we will accept of our punishment, that is to say, if we will kindly take it, humbly submit to it, patiently go under it; then with God remember his covenant, then will God remember our Land, then will God be favourable to us. It much concerneth us to be humbled, and ashamed this day, that there is such a frame of heart within us, so fare discordant and unsuitable to these times of calamity that are now on us. Alas, my brethren, we are rather desperately sick of David's disease, sometimes we are too high, sometimes we are too low; he was so set on the top of his strong mountain, as if he should never be removed, and so are we. And sometimes he was too low, so dejected that he concluded it was ion vain that ever he served God, that ever he looked for any hope from God, that ever he waited on God, as he complained in the 73. Psalm., 13, 14. So is it with us, my brethren, 
Psal. 73.13, 14.  we reel to and fro in our passions, from one extreme to another, as if so be we were drunk with impatiency and with presumption by turns. Beloved, how should this affect us, and make us ashamed, while we look up in the presence of God this day, 
Evils of imtiencie in trouble.  to think that we are of such a distempered frame of heart? The better to move us to be humble and ashamed for it, consider what inconveniences follow hereon.  
First, by this means it cometh to pass, that we lose all our sweet comfort and Soul-supporting peace, that otherwise we might have in the midst of our troubles, as the Church had found in her experience, and therefore sets it down in her song of praise, to encourage the Church to wait on God in after times, 26 Isaiah 3, 4. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, 
Isai. 26.3, 4.  because he trusteth jon thee. Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. God himself, who is the God of peace, will undertake to keep those in perfect peace, or (as the word imports by the repetition of it, peace, peace) in peace assuredly, whose minds are stayed on him, as Junius, cogitationi in●itenti; whom our last translation follows; and though Calvin renders the words a little differently, cogitatio fixa, as relating unto God's counsels, which are fixedly set from everlasting to give peace unto his Church, 
Non apponitur nota dativicas●s; expend at lectores anon magu conveniat referre ad Deum, C●lvin on Isai. 26.  (of which reading he gives an * account, and wherein he leaves the reader free to his own judgenent) yet both Junius and Calvin conclude, that God will not fail to give his Church and people peace, that patiently wait upon him, peace with God, which is of all other the most perfect and fundamental peace; peace in their own souls in the midst of their troubles and distresses; and this, according to their trusting in him, shall be a continual peace, seeing their God is of an 
* Rupes saeculorum.  everlasting power and strength to defend and keep it for them: But through this want of trust in God, it is that we are so unsettled in these times of trouble, that we are sometimes carried too high by carnal confidence, into provoking presumption; and sometimes cast down too low by carnal fears into dejection of spirit. The believing heart of the righteous, shall be brought into a more excellent frame, as is promised, Psal. 112.7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, 
Psal. 112.6.  his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord; neither good nor bad news shall move it inordinately: he shall be in the midst of all storms, like a Ship that lies safe at Anchor in a good Haven; whereas a man that is without faith in God, is even as a Ship on the waves without Rudder, and without Anchor, either to guide, or stay her; she is tossed sometimes up, and sometimes down, and carried sometimes forward, sometimes backward, sometimes as high as heaven, and sometimes almost as long as hell. So that his soul, 
Psal. 107. 27, 27.  like their souls, Psalms 107.26, 27. reels and melts in him because of the trouble. A disquieted and impatient temper of heart in trouble, brings the loss of all the comfort, peace, and enjoyment of God, that a man might otherwise have even in the midst of trouble.  
Secondly, by this means it shall come to pass, that a man shall, question at least, if not utterly deny God's power and providence; and so God himself, if he dare not wait and patiently trust upon the Lord ion the time of trouble: he questions whether there be such wisdom, and goodness, and faithfulness, and power in God, as may warrant such a trust, which is no other but to question whether God be God or no: the Prophet puts it all upon a meek and patiented waiting on God, 
Psal. 46.10.  46. Psal. 10. Be still, and know that I am God. As if he should say, If you will acknowledge me to be God, then wait on me, and that quietly and be you not transported with this or that passion: He chargeh it on them there especially, because they had seen so much of God as they had, verse 8, 9 
Vers. 8.9.  Come see the works of the Lord, what destruction and desolation he hath made in the earth, I have destroyed your enemies, and laid waste Countries for your sakes, and now therefore be quiet, wait on the Lord, and acknowledge that I am God. So if we should be spoken to, to see what God hath done, and how he hath delivered us of late, and what desolations he hath made among the enemies: And if after all this, we cannot yet wait on the Lord and be still, we acknowledge not God's power to have done it. Nay, if we cannot wait on the Lord in a holy dependence for the Church's deliverance in due time, we shall in effect say little less of God, than the Prince did at the siege of Samaria, when the Prophet foretold that a great plenty should succeed the famine, 
2 King. 7.19.  2 King. 7.19. If God should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? The thing is even impossible: And if we should speak so like an Infidel of the Lord, we might justly look to be punished like him. God sent a plenty in Samaria, but he did not eat of it: So God may send his Church deliverance, and we, with ours, be justly deprived of any comfort therein.  
A third evil that followeth on this impatiency and fretting of spirit under the hand of God, is, that it leadeth to Apostasy, whereby a man shall utterly fall from God and his cause, then to bethink all the cost and charges, and all the disquietment and bodily labour that befalleth men at such a time as this, is the way to take off the heart, and to seek out some other way, 
Hab. 2.3, 4.  as is intimated Hab. 2.3, 4. the Prophet saith, If any man's heart be lifted up in him, signifying that if any man will go to any other Tower or Sanctuary beside the Lord. The Apostle he renders it, a withdrawing his heart from the Lord, and he shall have no pleasure in him, Heb. 10.38, 39 
Heb. 1038.39.  So that such as have once lost their patience, and cannot bear those troubles that befall the Church, will fall from less to more, and will become at length an Apostates. And alas, are we without experience this day, of the sad fruits of discontent? How many hath it brought to an utter forsaking of God's cause, and his truth? Like the Smith in the time of King Edward the sixth; 
Fox in Acts and Mon.  that sometimes had been very forward in matters of Religion, and had been a happy instrument, as it should seem, for the conversion of a young man, and setting him forward in the ways and profession of Religion, so fare that at length the young man was taken hold of, and imprisoned for the Gospel's sake: this young man in prison bethinking and remembering his old friend that had been so good to him, to whom he always carried a reverend respect, he laid out to know whether or not this Smith that had been an instrument of so much good to him, was not taken hold of, and laid in prison as himself; but finding he was not, he took occasion to expostulate with him, and so to feel his disposition, and to know whether he did think it comfortable for him to continue in prison, and whether he would encourage him to burn at the stake for religion. He returneth this answer to him, saith he, your cause is good, and you do well to suffer for it. But for my part, I cannot bring my heart to burn for Religion. But it seemeth by the event, that he that could not burn for Religion, he did burn for his Apostasy: For within a little time after, he that could not burn for Religion, had his shop and his house on fire, and was burnt in the midst of it. Beloved, I produce it to this end, that we may see when men cannot bring their hearts patiently and meekly to submit to the suffering of what God shall lay upon his Church for the testimony of the Gospel, it is too too likely they will fall to flat Apostasy, and utterly turn from the Lord, and then he will surely meet with them: so that first or last they shall not escape.  
Fourthly and lastly, another evil of this impatiency and fretfulness of spirit under the sufferings of the Gospel, brings us to murmuring, a provoking condition in the eyes of the Almighty, 1 Cor. 10.10. we have an example.  
Use 2 The second use of the point is, That seeing God looks that his people should so patiently wait on him in the time of trouble, and neither be too hasty nor hopeless, it should stir us up to strive to be at least content, if not very willing, to lie still under our afflictions, though they be heavy, even as long as the wise God of heaven and earth shall please; we should be willing to let God do as he will, let him afflict us, and correct us as long as seems him good; we will not limit the holy One of Israel: we should labour for Luther's spirit, 
Luther.  Mallem ruere cum Christo, quam regnare cum Caesare, I had rather I were ruined with Christ, then that I should reign as a King without him; we should labour to be of that spirit, that though we suffer never so much, yet having the cause of Christ, and partaking of the sufferings of Christ, is better than all the jollity and security we can have without him, and therefore Moses was of that Heroic spirit, he would rather choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, 
Heb. 11.25.  11. Heb. 25. And, beloved, me thinks we should learn to make a virtue of necessity; there is a fatal necessity of suffering on the one hand, or the other, with or against Christ. I may then expostulate with you, as chrysostom sometime did excellently with some others, Seeing we must all suffer, & seeing we must bear afflictions, why do we not rather choose to suffer for the Gospel's sake, that brings with it so many Crowns and Laurels, so many comforts and consolations above all other sufferings in the world? You see then that this patience in suffering for the Gospel's sake, is a very needful grace: So the Apostle, We have need of patience, that when we have done the will of God, we may enjoy the promises, 10. Heb. 36. 
Heb. 10.36.  I might here relate unto you the grave counsel of Judith; and though the History be Apocryphal, I am sure the counsel is Canonical, the counsel, I say, which Judith gave to the men of Bethulia, in Judith 8.14, 15, 16. verses, when the men of Bethulia being besieged by the enemy, had taken up a rash resolution, that if God did not come and deliver them within 5 days, they would deliver up the City to the enemy that lay before them; Judith gravely thus bespeaks them, Nay, my brethren, let us not provoke the Lord our God to anger: for if he come not within five days, he is able to defend us when he will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies, therefore let us wait for salvation of him, and call upon him, and he will hear us if it please him. So may I say to you all this day, Fare be it from us, that we should yield up the cause, and all we have, if God should not at such a time, or such a time, deliver us; let us not speak so to provoke the Lord: Let us wait on the Lord, and call upon him, and he will help us, if it please him.  
To stir up our hearts thus meekly and cheerfully to submit to the disposal of God's hand in our sufferings. 
Motives  Three things may be proposed to you by way of motive.  
First consider, though God afflict us never so much, yet be well persuaded and assured, he will not lay on afflictions more on us then needs must. If God's people be in a sad condition, or a sorrowful estate, it is but if need be we are in heaviness, 1 Pet. 1.6. 
1. Pet. 1.6.  God doth never afflict his people merely out of sovereignty, because he will do it; that is fare from him, 3. Lament. 
Lam. 3.33.  I do not tread upon men, says God, as if I would crush them, or show my power over them; no, that is fare from God. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth. But when he afflicts his people the most severely, he doth it as a Refiner, as a Goldsmith doth put his metal into the fire, because he would separate the dross from it, and purify it; so God puts his people in the fire of affliction, with some purpose or other, for their benefit and advantage. The Physician, though after long evacuations and purge, he continue the same course, and bring the Patient yet lower, it is still with a purpose to take away the peccant humour, and to cleanse him. So God in afflicting his people, 27. Isaiah 9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, 
Isai. 27.9.  the taking away of his sin. God will not lay one affliction on his people more, nor continue it an hour longer than he knoweth it needful.  
Secondly, the suffering of affliction for the cause of Christ, is very honourable, and therefore we need not so fret, nor be so impatient under them, they are honourable wounds we suffer for Christ, which maketh the people of God beautiful in the eyes of all good men. You may observe the Lord reserves it as a singular privilege in the 1. Phil. 29. 
Phil. 1.29.  To you it is given not only to believe, but also to suffer for the name of Christ. And the Apostles took it for a dignity that they might suffer for the name of God, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for his Name, 
Acts 5.41.  5. Acts 41. And therefore the Primitive Martyrs suffered the spoiling of their goods with joy, 
Heb. 10.34.  Heb. 10.34. We do it with fretting and murmuring, and that must be taken from us which we should contribute unto the cause of God, we count it our punishment, they counted it their crown and glory. It is reported of Hooper, 
Fox his Acts and Monum.  that when he was Bishop of Worcester, his Arms were a Lamb in a flaming bush, encircled with the rays of the Sun beams, not under the notion of an Agnus Dei. But if it was, as it is observed by those that read the story, under another intimation, & thus we may undertake to emblazon them. The Lamb signifieth an innocent Christian, and the burning bush the fire of persecution; and the Sun beams the beauty and glory of the innocent Christian in those sufferings.  
Thirdly, consider well the privilege of suffering for Christ; It is no small advantage for a Christian, it being the way to perfect the graces of God that are in him: you may see as much 1. James 2, 3. 
James 1.2.3.  Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience, that ye may be perfect. Indeed it is a child's portion, a thing that God will give to all his own children; and therefore the Apostle argueth, that God deals with his people like children, when they suffer for him, 12. Heb. 7. 
Heb. 12.7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. If you suffer with patience, saith the original: But if you suffer frettingly, or with impatience, that is not the sign of a child, nor the badge of a sufferer for God. The sufferings that are laid on his people by the hand of God, they are not grievous merely because they are sufferings, 
Non sunt omnibus onerosa tolerantibus, sed tol●rare nolen● iban. Salvian.  but because of men's impatience they become grievous. This hath been spoken by way of encouragement, to lay down ourselves patiently and meekly under the hand of God in the time of tribulation, and to bear the sufferings that God shall lay on his Church.  
Let me next point at the means how we may bring our hearts into such a frame, that we may with meekness and calmness of spirit, under go the hand of God, he lays on us, how heavy soever it may seem at present. There are three directions. 
Directions.   
First, let a man consider and look into the justness of the hand of God on his people, on us. If there be any thing thou canst challenge God of injustice for, than thou hast leave to fret and to be impatient; but when all that God brings on thee, or on the Nation, or on the Church, is most just: so that God is righteous in all that he brings on us, there is no place for impatiency. Why doth the living man complain, saith the Prophet, a man for the punishment of his sins? 3. Lam. 39 As if he should say, 
Lam. 3.39.  It is right that a man should suffer for his sin. With this it is that the Church stops her own mouth in 7. Micah 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, 
Micha. 7.9.  because I have sinned: And for our parts we have nothing to say, God is so righteous in all he hath brought upon us, though our calamities be grievous, we may see as in a glass set before us, both the provocations and the calamities of our dear country, in what God most justly threatened against Israel, 
Deut. 28.47. to 52.  if we read 28. Deut. from the 47. verse to the 52. verse; Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thy enemy, which the Lord thy God shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst, and in nakedness, in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of Iron on thy neck, till he have destroyed thee: the Lord shall bring a Nation against thee from fare, from the end of the earth, as swift as the Eagle flieth, a Nation whose tongues thou shalt not understand, a Nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattles, and the fruit of thy Land until thou be destroyed. And he also shall not leave thee either corn, or wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. I may say this day is this Scripture fulfilled not in our ears only, but in our experience, and in our fears also.  
Secondly, look on eternity beyond present afflictions, the Apostle found it an excellent remedy to set together in comparison the life to come, and the glory of it, with this life and its miseries, 8. Rom. 18. 
Rom. 8.18.  I reckon that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed. And you may see more clearly in 2 Co●. 4 16 
2 Cor. 4, 16.  to the end of the chapter, how excellently this prestle, Why? Because we looked not upon things temporal, we looked on things eternal. What is it to lose a house, an estate, or case, or pleasure, or fine cloathe●? What is it to lose all these? If we look on things eternal, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven, if we look upon things fare more excellent and that eternal weight of glory.  
Thirdly, learn to live by faith upon a promise; to live upon a promise yet unfilled, there is a quintessence and an excellent substance in a promise made by God, to support the heart, though it be not yet fulfilled. And faith h●th an excellent virtue to extract and bring to present enjoyment that which is virtualy in the promise to comfort and strength than the spirit. Faith hath, (if I may so speak) a kind of creating power, and can make a man to enjoy that this day that shall not be actually accomplished, it may be, many years hence, by giving a subsistence to things future, and an evidence to things invisible, 
Heb. 11.1.  11. Heb. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This is an excellency of faith, That it brings all things to the present enjoyment of a believer, even things that are past many years ago, and all forgotten; Faith, I say, is able to bring them back again to a Christians present use and comfort. And things that are on the other side fare off to come; Faith can foresee, and as by a perspective present them to the soul as if in being. We should therefore labour to live by faith, as it is promised. 
Heb. 10.38.  The just live by faith, Heb. 10.38. And as we see the Martyrs did, 
Heb. 11.13.  Heb. 11.13. They looked on the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them before they came unto them. And as Abraham who enjoyed Christ in a promise, 
Joh. 8.56.  Joh. 8.56. He saw my day and rejoiced, he saw it by faith, and rejoiced in heart, as if he had seen it with the eyes of his body. So that there is an excellent Art in Faith (if I may so call it) to support the heart of man in time trouble, that if we would make use of it, we should be so strengthened in the day of our calamity, that we should not sink. Come we now to the words of the Text, wherein the Prophet, having bridled their too hasty expectation of deliverance in so short a time as the false Prophets pretended, he goeth about to uphold their faith, that they may wait for deliverance till the appointed time; to which purpose,  
First, he showeth them the ground whereupon they may build their patience and their hope of deliverance in due time, verse 11.  
Secondly, he showeth them the means whereby their deliverance hoped for, may be accomplished verse 12.13.  
I shall undertake only the former, 
The ground.  the groond whereupon the Prophet builds their expectation, God's thoughts, concerning which the Prophet holds out two things.  
First, the manner how these thoughts are carried: I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord.  
Secondly, the matter or the result of his thoughts, what it is that God intendeth to bring to pass in those thoughts, namely, To give them an expected end.  
Before I speak of the manner of the carriage of them, I shall show you what these thoughts are, then how these thoughts of God are carried. God's thoughts in Scripture principally signify two things. Sometimes they are taken for God's everlasting counsels and determinations, that are secret. So 33. Psal. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to generations. 
Psal. 33.11.  Eò sua consiliaretulerat: I know my thoughts, that is to say, I know that in my counsels and secret determinations, 
Non prius de illorum ●xilio, quam de illoram l●bertate cogitavit. Sanctius.  I am resolved for your deliverance in due time. And Sanctius observeth and resolveth upon these words, that God did no sooner think of, or purpose their bondage in Babylon, than he did purpose their deliverance and freedom from that captivity.  
Sometimes God's thoughts are taken for his word, his revealed will or promises, Gods thoughts concerning the Babylonish captivity, were here as much as Gods will revealed in his word, or God's promises that he had made to his people, concerning their deliverance, and you shall see, that the promise which God calleth here his thoughts, 
J●●em. 25 12.  is recorded, 25. Jer. 12. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the King of Babylon, and that Nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the Land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring you back again to your own Land. This was the promise and the word that God here calleth his thoughts, I know my thoughts. In the mean time these thoughts are carried somewhat secretly, mysteriously, and in a hidden way, and therefore though be mean his promises and will concerning this matter which are revealed, yet are they called thoughts, which you know are most out of sight: yea, they are called the thoughts of God, the more unsearchable and less to be known: they are thoughts known to God. You know something of God, it may be, but his ways, much more his thoughts, are past finding out, that is to say, in what manner or when he will perform his promise, though the promise itself may perhaps be known. So that here is the first thing intended in the secret carriage of his thoughts, 
* Opposition to your thoughts.  I know them, that is to say, they are things known to me, but they are not known to you; My thoughts concerning your deliverance, are unlike your thoughts, you think of your deliverance two years hence; but I have no such thoughts, saith God, my thoughts are otherwise, and therefore be saith, I know my thoughts, your thoughts are, that you shall suddenly be brought out of bondage, and back to Jerusalem: but, saith God, my thoughts are otherwise: whereby he intendeth to set forth a secret Antithesis, or opposition between God's thoughts, and the thoughts of the Jews in this time of their captivity and bondage. From whence the point is.  
Doctrine. God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts in the passages of his providence towards the Church.  
I shall not follow this point in the full extent and latitude of it; but only as it is before you in the Text, concerning the Church's afflictions and deliverance out of trouble.  
God hath other thoughts than man hath concerning her afflictions and deliverances. A Patient, you know, under the hand of a Physician, when he hath suffered a great deal of Physic, and is much weakened in body, crieth out, Oh I have Physic enough, it is high time I were comforted up again by cordials, but the wise Physician may be, hath other thoughts that he must yet evacuate more, and bring him lower before he can recover him.  
God is the Physician, and the Church is his patient, and she is apt to think, Oh, now we are weak enough, and brought very low; now it is time for God to deliver: yet it may be God may determine, and that not without cause, that the Church shall be brought lower yet: the Church hath such thoughts as th●se, if you observe, Psal. 74. wherein she complains, as if God had forgotten her, 
Psalm. 74.1.  and his covenant, and his enemies, as if God had over-slipped the time of her deliverance; the like we find of men's thoughts, when God is begun to proceed against sinners in his wrath, they think he will never be reconciled more, he will utterly consume and cast off, his covenant shall be broken, and there shall be an end of all. To such thoughts God answers: 55. Isaiah 7.8, 9 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
Isay 57.7.8, 9  and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to God, for he will abundantly pardon: as if God had said, a corrupt man thinks thus of God, because his corrupt heart has not bowels to pardon another man, if he shall so provoke him; so measuring God by himself, but he encourageth them notwithstanding, to come unto him for pardon, after they have so provoked him; for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways highter than your ways, and my thoughts then your thoughts. Alas, man's thoughts are led by outward probability, judging of things according to the event of things; Gods thoughts are antecedent to all things, his counsels are from everlasting; our thoughts and desires are many times after a carnal deliverance of the Church, that we might have peace and plenty again, but God's thoughts are more taken up with the spiritual deliverance of his Church and people; he cares not though he leave his people afflicted and poor, so that he leave them faithful th●t will trust in the name of the Lord, and a holy people that will do no iniquity, 3 Zeph. 12. In the 3. of Ezra 12. compared with 2. of Hag. 7, 8, 9 verses, 
Zeph. 3 12, 13. Ezra 3.12.  there is an observable passage concerning the building, when the foundation of the later Temple was laid, there was a great deal of shouting and joy, but the old Levits, that had seen the former Temple, the largeness and greatness of that Edifice fell a weeping, because they saw, that the Temple that was then in building (the second Temple) was not like to be so great and so glorious as the former Temple had been; this was man's thought, but God saith, 
Hag. 2.7, 8 9,.  2. Hagai 7, 8, 9 v. I will fill this house with glory, and the later house shall be greater than the glory of the former house; as if he should have said, you think that I am wanting to my house, because I build not so great and outwardly glorious a Temple as I did before, that's nothing saith God, my thoughts are not on the outward Temple, but I mean to make this later Temple a great deal more glorious and honourable than the former, because I will make it glorious with a spiritual glory, the former Temple, how goodly soever it was in building, never had Christ in it; but this later Temple shall have Christ in it, that shall make it more honourable and more glorious than the other Temple was; even so it is here: many times our thoughts are carnal thoughts, concerning the Church's deliverance and affliction, they are carried to outward things, we would feign be as we were, trading as it was, plenty as it was, these are the things we look on: whereas God hath other thoughts, it may be he would have us a more honourable people another way, he would have us more zealous and holy then ever we were, to honour us with more of the Kingdom of Christ then before, to make us richer in the work of Reformation and in spiritual things than we were before in temporal things.  
Reason. 1 First, because he would have the Church's deliverance to be brought in unto her in a way of faith above humane probability, which it could not be, if it should come by sense and reason, and that we could always judge of the carriage of things, if things were carried in our own way, how ready should we be to sacrifice to our own wisdom and power, and therefore the Lord will make foolish man's wisdom, and make men's strength weakness, and will carry on his work by such means as men think are inconsiderable to his own ends: 7. Judges 20. the Lord had by providence put into the hands of Gideon a considerable army against the Midianites, they were thirty two thousand, 
Judg. 7.20.  but God cometh to him and tells him, these are too many for me to deliver the Midianites into thy hands, for if I deliver the Midianites into the hands of so many, they will say, Israel saved themselves, and these men did the work, and these shall carry away all the glory of the day; and therefore, saith God, I cannot with safety of my own honour deliver into their hands the Midianites, God could with more safety deliver them into the hands of three hundred, then into the hands of thirty two thousand, for then all the world must needs be convinced, and say, This was the very finger of God, and a special work of the Almighty; And indeed, my Brethren, we are never brought throughly to give God his honour in such things as these, while we are in ways of probability, while we are in hope through humane strength. The Prophet observing such a disposition in the Jews; namely, that they would not acknowledge God's hand, unless they were reduced into straits that should make them hopeless, tells them, 37. Ezech. 12, 13. They should be as good as dead in Babylon, 
Ezech 37.12, 13.  well-nigh buried in that captivity, but God would deliver them thence, and, when I have opened your graves, said God, and brought you back out of your graves again, then shall ye know that I am the Lord; you would not know before, but then shall you know that I am the Lord.  
Reason. 2 Secondly, because it becometh God Almighty to walk in an extraordinary way, suitable to his infinite Majesty, not as men, according to rules of reason and power, and humane wisdom, when the Apostle cometh to speak of God his ways and counsels, questions and wonders, Oh, how unsearchable are his Judgements, and his ways past finding out? 11. Rom. 33. 
Rom. 11.33. Est in rebus, nec tamen est inclusus, est extra res, nec tamen est exclusus, August.   
It is like God, when we say of him, he is incomprehensible, God is in things, yet not included, and he is without things, yet not excluded; so it is done like the Almighty, when he doth not according to humane rules of policy and prudence, but when he doth things beyond all grounds of expectation, of wisdom and reason, therefore the Lord is said to have his way in the whirlwind, 
Nah. 1.3. Psal. 77.19.  1. Nah. 3. and his footsteps are not known, 77. Psal. 19  
Use 1 This at once offereth both a check and remedy unto our carnal presumptions, and our carnal fears: carnal presumption is a disease that we are often sick of in these days, when as God is pleased to smile on us a little in our trouble and misery, to give us some revivings, then are we too apt to be too much lifted up, too hold in our confidence; and to conclude, too peremptorily. Let us take the check which the Lord giveth us here: My thoughts are not as your thoughts, and therefore saucily talk no more of your thoughts in the ways of God, God's ways are above your ways, his thoughts above your thoughts. God hath clearly given our thoughts the check in four 
* Four things wherein God hath checked our presumptuous thoughts touching our present troubles.  things concerning these troubles, which we ought to receive and take notice of, as so many convictions of this truth and occasions of reflecting upon ourselves with shame and sorrow this day.  
First, we thought, that if we had to our enemies those that were Gods enemies, than we must needs quickly overcome them, and that because our enemies are Gods enemies, swearing enemies, drunken enemies, Popish enemies, Atheistical enemies, profane enemies, we conclude, God will never favour them, nor suffer them to prevail, nor deliver his people into their hands; but beside our own experience on the contrary, we find that Amaleck, the worst of all the enemies that Israel had, a people as much abhorred of God as any, yet if Israel shall transgress, Amaleck shall prevail, if Israel will not pray, not seek unto God, not humble themselves, all the wickedness of the Amaleckites shall not destroy them, 
Exod. 17.11.  17. Exod 11. The proud Assyrian, that boasting wicked enemy, God had justice and wrath enough in store for them, yet God will not meddle with, than they shall go on and oppress Israel, till Israel be reform, till the work be done upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, God will not strike a stroke against Assyria for their ruin, but will suffer them to prevail, 10. Isaiah 12. Nay, if God's people continue impenitent, and remain in their wickedness, God will then strengthen the hands of their enemies, 
Isai. 10.12.  3. Judg. 12. When Israel had sinned, saith the Text, the Lord strengthened the hands of Eglon against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. We should not run too much on that strain. Our enemies are wicked and profane enemies, (its true) and God will plague and punish them: But let us not make that a ground of our too much confidence & boldness. God may both suffer and strengthen them against us, if we remain an unreformed and a rebellious people; we have hitherto felt and found them as goads in our sides, and thorns in our eyes. Our thoughts have therein deceived us.  
Secondly, we are so taken up with the thoughts of a good cause, that we cannot admit a thought of miscarrying. 
A good cause may miscarry ●d tempus.  I grant, in the issue it shall prevail, and finally, and we may conclude as much in the general. But take heed of concluding peremptorily for particular times, as that we should conclude so of this time, and of these enemies; that we shall overcome at this day, or in this generation; who can say so? A good cause may yet have a prevailing enemy a l●ng time; and the people of God may have a good cause, and yet fly before their enemies. Observe a clear instance in the people of Israel they went against the children of Benjamin, 
Judg. 20.18.  Judg. 20.18. A good cause they had, and they were so bold thereon, that when they came to go against the Benjamites, they did not so much as ask the Lord, whether they should go or no. But the first question they make, is, Which of us shall go up first, as taking it for granted, their cause was so good, they must needs prevail, only they would be ma●tialled by the Lord: But yet for all their good cause they fly before their enemies, 
Vers. 21.25.  you may see once at the 21. verse, and again, at verse 25. Therefore build not too much upon the cause, as if the present issue of things did depend barely on that: Deliverance in time shall come, which may be a comfortable encouragement to go on in a good cause. But let us not limit the holy One of Israel, the cause in which we suffer, is as sure to conquer, as the light is to shine, being Gods, and therefore shall prevail at length. But a good cause may be ill managed, and suffer for the sins of those that undertake it, and in this also we have had experience of the vanity of our thoughts, we are not yet delivered, though our cause be good.  
Thirdly, another thing we have too high thoughts upon, and wherein God's thoughts are otherwise, is the privilege of outward ordinances: Blessed be the name of our God, that we have the liberty we have, and that God hath taken off the yoke of the oppressor, wherein our consciences were burdened with more than Egyptian bondage; yet should we be humbled that this outward privilege in God's ordinances hath too much lifted up our thoughts, and we have been too confident upon them, because we have the ministry of the word more purified, and some superstitions purged out from the worship of God among us, we have thoughts, that therefore we shall now prevail, our enemies shall be consumed before us, notwithstanding many other our yet latent sins. See what in the like case did befall the Israelites, when the Philistines came against them, 1 Sam. 4.3.5. 
1. Sam. 4.3, 5  And when the people of God were come into the Camp, the Elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us f●tch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. At the 10. and 11 verse. And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the Ark of God was taken, and the two Sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were slain.  
The Ark, though it was the outward Testimony of God's presence, it would not bear them out they were slain before the enemy with a great slaughter, and the Ark of God was taken. I speak not this, that this should any way weaken our love, or our thankfulness to God for those outward Privileges we enjoy, or that we should any way lessen our esteem and reverence of God's ordinances, but that we should not make them, nor any thing else a ground of carnal confidence, that we should build ourselves up in vain hope, and set ourselves upon a deceitful expectation, That the very outward ordinances should deliver us from outward afflictions and temporal punishments that may be on us by the hand of God. In this also we have found that God hath checked our thoughts, and brought us low before our enemies, that would captivate our religion, as the Philistines did the Ark.  

The L: Brook, M. Hambden, M. Pym, etc.  Fourthly, in our thoughts touching those worthy and precious instruments whom God had raised up to carry on his work among 01 us: we thought it had been they that should have delivered us, some by th●ir counsels, and others by their valour, being so choicely fitted instruments, that we looked upon each of them as an Atlas to our cause and Kingdom, and such pillars of the reformation, as that without them it could not have been supported or carried on: Yet all this while that we were idolising his servants, God intended to do his work by other hands than we looked on, and that Moses should not bring the Israelites into the land of Canaan (though he was a man called and excellently fitted to lead them thitherward) but when Moses was dead, he was able, and so raised up Joshua, with whom he would be, and was as effectually to all purposes, as he was wi●h Moses And I may appeal unto you all, whether God hath been wanting to his cause, through or since the taking away of such famous men as have appeared for us; or whether he hath not carried on the work more strenously since: he that had spirit to make such instruments, hath spirit enough to raise up more, as we have seen so that in this also we have seen God checking our thoughts: And as it is a check, it should be looked upon likewise as a remedy, i● should be enough to cure our presumption, to think on this Doctrine, God's thoughts are not as our thoughts.  

A check to carnal fears in times of trouble.  It may as well afford us a check and a cure to our carnal fears: for as we are too bold on the one hand, we are too weak spirited on the other in times of afflictions, and when God's hand is yet out against us, we are as full of desperate fears, as before we were full of saucy presumptions. And in our jealousies conclude, there is no recovery, no hope, or expectation left for the people of God; whereas Gods thoughts (may be) are otherwise, even to carry on his ends by weak means, and when his people are lowest to raise them, when things are desperate and all past cure, than God thinks to work: for he worketh not by power, nor by might, but by my spirit, saith God, 4. Zach. 6. He giveth not the battle to the strong, 
Z●ch. 4.6. Ezek. 9.11.  nor the race to the swift, but to whom he pleaseth, 9 Eccles. 11. God many times layeth the foundation of some great deliverance very low, out of sight, and (as it were) under ground: The foundation that God laid for the deliverance and preservation of the Church of Israel in Egypt, (you may observe) was the selling of Jos●ph by his brethren. A strange foundation. So likewise, God's providence had a hand in turning away David from the Philistines Army; wherein God beyond all imagination intended to prevent David, lest he should have his hand in the blood of Saul, who was slain by the Philistines shortly after David was gone from them, as is obserable, 1 Sam. 29, 30, & 31. chapters. Yea, we find God had another reach in bringing away David from the Philistines Army: for there was need of David's service at Ziglag, because that was taken shortly after, and therefore David was come away by the hand of Providence, to serve for the rescue of that town, and of his wives, that were taken prisoners there. We should therefore in times of danger, when there is the least likelihood of safety or deliverance, we should stay our hearts against all carnal fears, by casting ourselves upon God, who worketh in unknown ways, even as we see by those stories, beyond all imagination.  

Remedies against carnal fears.  Give me leave to propose unto you these 3 remarkable things, to carry up the souls of men from being transported with carnal fears in times of danger.  
First, consider Gods unchangeable love to his Church, even when she is in persecution, he is in love with her when we think he hath cast her off, even while she is in the furnace of afflictions, God s●ith of her, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, 48. Isa. 9, 10. That may bear us up against fear that God is always unchangeable in his love to his Church.  
Secondly, his uninterrupted presence with the Church, what ever her afflictions be, and that makes her invincible, so the holy Prophet infers, 
Psal. 46. ●.  46. Psal. 5. God is in the midst of her, therefore she shall not be moved, God shall help her, and that right early; though it should be in a time when the Sea roared, and the earth should be moved, and the mountains should be c●rried into the midst of the Sea, 
Verse 2. 3.  Vers. 2.3.  
Thirdly, consider God's promises of making every thing (even the bitterest of her afflictions) to work together for her good, 8. Rom. 28. So I pass from the former branch in the manner of the carriage of God's thoughts, 
Rom. 8.38.  that they were carried in a secret way, unlike, yea, opposite to the thoughts of the Jews, Your thoughts are to be delivered after two year's captivity, or shortly, but I know my thoughts.  
Another branch, of the manner of the carriage of these thoughts, they were carried, so as that they were unlike to his own carriage towards them, which did speak nothing but misery and desolation; he had clad himself with vengeance as with a garment, he had put on zeal as a cloak, he had taken the sword into his hand, he had given them up into the hands of his enemies, and he tells of a bondage and slavery in which they should lie threescore and ten years; here was nothing but severity and wrath, to be seen or heard from God; his ways toward his people at this time, gave so little encouragement to hope that he had any good purposes toward them at present, that the Septuagint translate these thoughts of peace in the future, not in the present Tense, C●gitabo super vos cogitationem pacis. And yet, even now (saith God) for all that, My thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace, I know my thoughts that I think toward you, though my carriage be thus, hard, punishing, and wrathful; whence the next point for observation is this:  
Doctr. God's bowels are full of love and compassion toward his people, even when he is driven to bring upon them his heaviest judgements, Deus it● punit rebellem populum, ut illius non adjiciat curam; Before we come to confirm the point, give me leave to premise some Propositions by way of Caution or Concession. 
Concessions.   
First, that God may turn away in displeasure from his people, though they be his own inheritance, 
Psal. ●● 1.  60. Psal. 1.  
Secondly, his people may apprehend possibly, that God's love is quite extinguished toward them, and that all is shut up in displeasure; you see it was so with Christ, Mat. 27.46. My God, my God, 
Mat. 27.46.  why hast thou forsaken me? and therefore much more may it be with any other man: and David cryeth out, 
Psal. 77.7.  77. Psal. 7. That God was gone, and he would never return, he had shut up his loving kindness in displeasure for ever, though he was mistaken.  
Thirdly, yet at such a time God's bowels are full of love and compassion towards his, though they be so sorely afflicted: mark what a soul-warming expression the Lord hath given concerning his Church in her afflictions, even when he had delivered his people into the hands of their cursed enemies, 
Jerem. 12.7.  12. Jerem. 7. I have delivered the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies: though God's people, and the dearly beloved of his soul, and unto him as a Jewel of great price, he suffered them to be trampled under the uncircumcised feet of the Moabites and Idumeans for a time. Anger in God is not a passion, as it is in man, that it should overwhelm all his love, and cast out all his bowels toward them; no, it doth so indeed with us, and that is our corruption, our sin, we cannot be angry but we weaken our love, but it is not so with God; for his love is as essential to him as other attributes, and therefore being of God's essence, they are continued still in act, as I may say, and must needs be consistent; nay, further, the love of God towards his Church, is the supreme attribute of God toward his Church, and all God's dispensations and carriages in the attributes shall be subordinate to his love which he bears to his Church; if he plague them, if he punish them, if he give them into the hands of their enemies, if he bring famine or the plague, 
Demonstrations of God's love to his people, even in his punishing of them.  or the sword upon them, he can, and will do all these things in subordination to his love, which shall be the sovereign attribute that shall steer all these, and bring them to a conclusion of mercy and loving kindness at last, whereof there are three demonstrations.  
First, all his Judgements that he brings on his Church are dispensed evangelically, as m●y appear in that they come from an Evangelicall gr●und or principle; they are not the fruits or effects of Justice properly, 
Heb. 12.7, 8.11.  but they proceed fromk God's love and fatherly care of his people, 12. Heb. 6.7, 8, 11. verses, in all the sufferings that he brought on them, God dealt with them as with children, saith the Apostle, Whom the Lord l●veth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every one wh●m he receiveth; if ye endure obastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. And as they come from an Evangelicall ground, so all God's judgements do aim at an Evangelicall end, even the benefit of his people; they aim not at the destruction of any, but at the humbling, sanctifying, and saving of his people, that is, at least, finis operantis, 27. Isa. 9 The Lord in afflicting the Church, is as a Physician, 
Isa. 27.9.  all that he looks for, is a purging of them from their uncleannesses, from their sins and corruptions, and if that be taken away, he looks for no more, By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin; and he clearly tells you, his end is their salvation, that they might not be condemned with the world, 
1 Cor. 11.32.  1 Cor. 11.32. Moreover, they are dispensed evangelically, as appeareth in the measure of their afflictions, and from the manner of the carriage of them, when they are at the worst, when God's hand is severest on his people, yet see at that very time, God he doth differ in the manner and in the measure of punishing them and his enemies: For thus God appeals (and it was in an affliction that was very heavy on his people) 27. Isa. 7, 8. saith God, 
Isa. 27.7, 8.  It is true, your afflictions are very grievous, so that they were to be left desolate, yet I appeal to yourselves (though you might in this case be partial) Have I corrected you, as I have corrected your enemies? Have I smitten you, as I have smitten them? Can you say, I have not made a difference between the Rods that I have laid on you, and the Rods I brought on them?  
Secondly, he calleth on the Church to believe in him, even when she is most severely corrected, and under his punishing hand, which she could not, neither would God call her to do, if all his bowels were shrunk, and all his love toward her were utterly ended in displeasure; Fear not Jacob, he encourageth her, 43. Isaiah, from the 1. to the 7th verse, 
Isa. 34.1.7.  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee: and he calls on the Church, that she should believe and depend on God, and in the time of her troubles he had a love to her therefore, which he would have the Church rely upon; and indeed the Church could not rely on him, nor believe in him, if so be there were not such an attribute in God, as love, and tender bowels of compassion toward her actually at that time; for pure wrath and displeasure in God would dutterly destroy faith, and not exercise it, for there can be no believing in God by any, where there is not some love in God toward them; but faith is exercised by the Church in the times of her sorest calamity, as is observable, Isai. 63.15, 16. 
Isai. 63.10, 10, 15, 16.  though God was now afflicting them heavily: For he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them; yet the Church, even then, strongly apprehended his love and relation towards them, as appears in their expostulation with God. Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me? Are they restrained? Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledgeth us not, thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting.  
Thirdly, the yearning of his bowels: when he is driven to afflict his Church, he doth it with a great deal of tender heartedness, as a man may say, and reluctancy, his compassions are stirred up within him, and he looks out for the first return of his people by repentance, that he may have an occasion, and take the first hop of an opportunity to be merciful to them. Nay, such is the Lords compassion toward them, as that he protesteth, He is afflicted in all their afflictions, Isai. 63.9. though he afflict, 
Isa. 63.9.  he feels (as it were) every stroke that is laid on them: And on may observe in this kind, a strange declaration of God's bowels, Jer. 31.20. 
jer. 31.20.  When Ephraim had been smitten by God, and God had seen Ephraim repenting, and smiting on his thigh, humbling and bemoaning himself, God's bowels were turned in him for Ephraim: For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. As if a mother should stand in a corner for a while, and hid herself from her child, and hear the child weeping and bemoaning himself, O my mother, my mother is gone, she cannot withhold long, but must come in, and show herself unto the child. And if natural parents that are evil, can be so tender over their children in their misery, how much more are there infinite bowels in God toward his people, even when he afflicteth them?  
Use 1 First, there cannot be a better, or more encouraging motive, to seek the Lord in the time of our troubles, than this, That he carrieth such bowels of love and mercy, and that he is so ready to melt toward his people in the times of their sorest judgements. Oh how should this melt our hearts in God's presence this day! Whose heart doth not as it were weep within him? and is not somewhat softened, when he conceiveth that the Almighty, our God before whom we lie this day, is thus big with mercy, and as I may say, in pain till he be delivered; he would fain be merciful to England, he would fain be merciful to his people. O than my brethren! give God way, humble your souls before the Lord, cast down yourselves. 
Levit. 26.40, 41, and 42.  You heard erewhile, Levit. 26.40, 41, & 42. ver. That the Lord did but look for a time that his people would accept of their punishment, and lie low before him, that he might remember his covenant with Abraham, and his covenant with Isaac, and his covenant with Jacob our Fathers. O therefore shrink not up the bowels of the Lord this day. If we shall not humble our souls before him, upon so sweet and Evangelicall a motive as this is, I testify to you this day, that we are guilty of shrinking up the Lords bowels toward us, we are guilty of shutting up his compassions when he would be merciful to us, we are guilty of our own destruction, as God said to Israel, Hosea 13.9. O Israel thy destruction is from thyself, saith God, 
Hosea 13.9.  but in me is thine help. I would have helped thee, but thou wouldst not come unto me, thou wouldst not labour to be prepared for my help, to be capable of my love, so may God say to us, if when he hath offered us so many tenders of salvation, and given us so many experiences of his goodness, love and power to us, and to his cause: if after all this, we will not humble our souls, and labour to draw out these bowels more and more to carry on this deliverance, to finish what he hath begun, we shall certainly, I say, be guilty of all our own woe & misery; there is great need now of every man's improving themselves as fare as he can, to draw out these tender bowels of the Almighty toward this poor kingdom: Ireland is already overrun and laid waist; and the poor remnant there, are designed as sheep to the slaughter. Behold the bleeding condition of England, bleeding (alas) to death if it be not prevented Do you not look on the desolations made in many parts of the Kingdom already? And which is yet a greater misery, Is not England a divided Kingdom? a divided City? how can it stand? how can it con inve? Therefore if you have any pity toward a dying kingdom, if any compassion to your dear Country; if you have any love to God, any to the Religion we profess, and to the cause of Christ, labour to draw out these divine bowels. God would readily open his bowels toward England, Oh shrink them not up, let us not harden God's heart against us, by hardening ours against him, and against his judgements now abroad in the world.  

Directions to draw forth God's bowels toward us.  The better to instruct us how to draw out these bowels toward us, and to prepare us, that God may extend and exercise his compassions toward us in our present affliction, which he carries toward his people when his hand is upon them, I shall present you three Directions, viz.  
First, see that we cast away all carnal confidences: God will harden his heart against us, if we trust in the arm of flesh, as he did against his people formerly, in the like case, as we see Isai. 31.1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in Chariots, because they are many, and in Horsemen, because they are very strong. And Isai. 30.2, 3. That walk to go down into Egypt (and have not asked at my mouth) to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. 
Isaiah 31.1.  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt, your confusion. The Lord withdrew himself from his people's help, even for their trusting in lying vanities, and turned that which they trusted in, into their shame, and protested he would deliver them no more, if they should continue to withdraw their trust from him, as he had delivered Israel when oppressed by the Zidonians, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, Judg. 10.13, 14. Ye have forsaken me, 
Judg. 10.13, 14.  and served other Gods, wherefore I will deliver you no more, go and cry unto the Gods which ye have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your trouble. We have been going down to Egypt also too much, riding on horses, and trusting in the strength of men, we have had our confidences in our Armies, and wise men, and gallant spirits, and the Lord hath hardened his heart against us hitherto. But if we place our whole affiance in the Lord, renouncing all creature-confidence, his heart will melt towards us, and his bowels yearn upon us, as they did upon Israel when they renounced Ashur, 
Hos. 14.3, 4.  Hosea 14.3, 4. Ashur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses: he answers, I will heal their back-slidings, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away.  
The second means how to draw out these bowels of God's compassion toward us, will be, that we hold on in the duty of soul humiliation, of seeking unto God by fasting and praying, repenting of our sins, and turning from our evil ways, for it is thereupon that the Lord promiseth to return and be merciful, 1. Zachariah 3. nor let any persuade you, that this duty of confession, and godly sorrow for sin is an antiquated duty, or now out of date, since Christ came in the flesh, it is a duty continued still; It is a Gospel-duty, and not only required under the Law, 
Jame● 4.10. 1 Pet. 5.6.  see 4. James, 10. and in 1 Peter 5.6. it is required of Believers, and charged upon them that are in Christ, as having still need to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may raise them up: Hold on therefore to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for be will abundantly pardon, Isaiah 55.6, 7. 
Isa. 55.6.   
Thirdly, Prayer openeth the bowels of the Lord towards his Church and People, especially when it followeth upon humiliation: If they humble themselves and pray, 
2 Chron. 7.14.  2 Chron. 7.14. Then I will hear in heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land, if they humble themselves and pray; prayer in this posture, is that that will provoke the Lord to return and be merciful, when otherwise he is resolved to sit still: 
Hos. 5.15.  As you see, Hosea 5.15. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face.  
Use 2 Seeing that God is full of bowels and compassion toward his people, even in the midst of those heavy afflictions that he brings on them, with what comfort (my beloved Brethren) may we not only hear, but also feel this truth made good unto us this day, in the midst of our miseries and calamities? God is pleased to remember mercy in the midst of judgements, and to give us a little reviving in our bondage, together with some sweet experiences of his power and faithfulness: we should be exceedingly raised up in our confidence toward God, when we consider, how the Lord hath made good unto us that promise anciently made to his Church, Zech. 8.19. 
Zech. 8.19.  Thus saith the Lord of Host, The fast of the fourth Month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, 
Days of public thanksgiving appointed for victories God had given the Parliament forces in Hampshire, Yorkshire, and Wales.  shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. The fastings of our former months have they not of late been, if not turned into, yet at least mingled with feast of joy, and days of Thanksgiving? Since we have such experience, not only that there are such bowels of love in God, but also that they yearn toward us in our misery, let us endeavour to improve them, so as that God's thoughts of peace may be carried on toward that expected end which God hath purposed concerning his people's calamities; and the rather, seeing God is now going out before us, and hath put himself into a posture of deliverance; let us go about to improve our deliverances, that God hath been pleased to bestow upon us.  
It is said of Hannibal, that he knew how to conquer, but he knew not how to improve his victories: in like manner, 
Hannibal.  God is pleased to give us victories, but we know not how to improve them as we might. We love to hear the good news of successes against the enemies of God and his Cause; we delight to hear of deliverance, but when through God's goodness we hear thereof, we sit still, and deliverance leaveth us where it findeth us, we are never the more improved, nor a whit enlarged toward God, nor more capable of a final deliverance thereby; let us learn at length, how we may carry on our deliverance, 
Directions to improve particular deliverances.  and improve every victory toward the full deliverance of the Church of God; for which purpose I shall set before you some few following directions.  
First, when a deliverance is up, drive it on by prayer; it was a spiritual policy (if I may call it so) that when God began to deliver the people of Israel out of their bondage, they did not slack, but improve their duty of prayer, the more he delivered, the more they prayed, 
Psal. 126.1.  Psal. 126.1. the Lord had begun to turn the captivity of Babylon, When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, then were we like unto them that dream, the deliverance was so great, as that they durst hardly believe their own sense and experience thereof, but were as in a dream; 
Verse 4.  yet verse 4. they make it matter of their farther prayer, Turn again our captivity as the rivers in the South, as thou hast begun to turn the stream of our captivity, turn it as the streams in the South, which do satisfy the dry and thirsty land in those parts, so turn thou our captivity, till thou hast fully accomplished the work of our deliverance: Especially when God giveth us deliverances as the fruit of our prayer, we have great cause then to prosecute and pursue our victories by our prayers; and for our late successes, God hath given them as the fruit of prayer, and in them God hath visibly returned an answer to all the cries and armies of supplications that have been sent up on our fasting days to the throne of Grace, and therefore you should follow it, as you know the holy Ghost directeth us, Ps●l. 65.2. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come; when God manifesteth himself to his people's experience, that he is a prayer-hearing God, he doth in effect encourage all men to wait upon him in prayer.  
Secondly, the more God cometh unto us by deliverances, let us the more draw near to God by dependency; there is a cursed disposition in the heart, namely, to rest in them. when God hath given us any deliverances, as either glutting our ●usts by enjoying the fleshly delights of them, or through pride and self-love, having our turns served upon God for the present, we care for no more, and affect a kind of independency, using God (as Themisteeles complained the people used him) like a Plane tree, whi●h people run unto for a shelter in a storm, but at another time neglect it, pluck off her leaves; or as some men use Physicians, only while they are sick, but when they are recovered & in health, look not after them: thus are we also apt to deal with God when he hath delivered us from some particular distress, we let go our hold on God, and abate our zeal in following him by prayers and supplications, as if we needed him not now as before, and were resolved not to seek him any more, till a new distress should drive us to him, and so to seek him, not out of any love to him, or desire of his honour, but merely out of concupiscence and self-love, whereby to serve our own turns upon him. Oh! consider of such a cursed disposition, and for time to come, the more God delivereth, let us be the more careful to depend on him still. I wonder, beloved, which of you, that having received any deliverance from a disease, by the hand of a wise Physician, will be any whit the less regardful of the Physician, because he hath cured him, will he not the rather know him against another time, and keep correspondence and acquaintance with him, because he knows not how soon he may have need of him? So when God hath delivered us, let us not a whit slack our dependence, nay, depend on him the more; now we have known and felt him by experience, therefore we should the more take notice of him and his faithfulness, and cleave unto him. It was an excellent conclusion which the Church made, 
Psal. 124.8.  Psal. 124.8. upon her miraculous deliverance from wrathfully enraged enemies, by the evident hand of God, which when she hath affectionately set forth in the body of the Psalm with praises that were due unto God for it: (Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth) she concludeth, that her help standeth only in the name of the Lord, as intimating a resolution to depend upon no other help but his for the time to come; and what the Church did then, let the Church do now. The Church now hath been parallel to the Church then in dangers, the wrath of wicked men hath been kindled against us in our days, as it was against Israel, and they have desired to swallow us up alive: And the Church now hath been parallel to the Church then in deliverances, and those wrought as evidently by the hand of God as theirs, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may England say as Israel, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men risen up against us, than they had swallowed us up; And why then should not the Church now be also parallel to the Church then in duty? upon the like experience to take up the like resolution, even to trust in the name of the Lord: and say, Our help is and shall be in the name of the Lord; Thus should we make use or former deliverances, and experiences to increase our trust and dependency upon the Lord; And as this is our duty, so would it be very pleasing to the Lord, who otherwise will be displeased with us, as he was with his people Israel, in so much that he takes up a great complaint against them, 
Numb. 14.11.  Numb. 14.11. that for all the wonders he had done among them, they did not believe; How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I list not to compare any more, but I know not whether God hath not equally showed his power and love, and faithfulness towards us in signs and wonderful works, even at this day; not to speak of those never to be forgotten wonders, the Armado in 88 and the Powder-treason, what heavenborn discoveries have we lately seen, and had experience of in this kingdom? what dangers God hath prevented, what deliverances he hath brought to you in the City, to the Parliament, and to the whole kingdom? Oh, let it not be said after all this, God cannot get us to believe in him, the more God delivereth, the more let us depend on him.  
Thirdly, let us up and be doing by our own endeavours, when God worketh for us, and labour to go on with him, when he delivereth and goeth before us; 
2 Sam. 5.24, 25.  That was God's charge to David when he was to go against the Philistims, 2 S●m. 5.24.25. When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the Mulbury trees, than thou shalt bestir thyself, for than shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the boast of the Philistims; and David did so, as the Lord commanded him, and smote the Philistims; we can never more seasonably contribute our endeavours, and bestir ourselves, then when God goeth out before us. We see how it crowned David's undertake with success; and David's spirit elsewhere was raised and enlarged to more eminent enterprises when he found God's hand going along with him, 
Psal. 60.6.10.  Psal. 60.6.10. When the Lord had given him victory over his enemies in the field, he goes about to beat them out of their garrison also: I will divide Shechem, and meet out the valley of Succoth: Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine, Ephraim also is the strength of my head, etc. not content with these, he thinks of entering their garrison, Who will bring me into the strong City, etc.  
We should likewise be encouraged to lay out ourselves freely now when the Almighty stands up, nay, when the Lord of hosts is pleased to become the God of our armies, and to fight for us against our enemies: Oh! that we could now join hearts and hands, and stand up as one man in the common cause of the Church and State; Now, I say, that God hath displayed a banner for them that fear him, and for the truth; now that God hath given out a Commission of deliverance for Jacob; now that deliverance gins to come, we might pull it home to us by our wrest with God in prayer, and by going out unto battle, to help the Lord against the mighty: when a Bell is rising, one pull will do more to set it up then three pulls will when it is fallen.  
Thus may we happily improve the tender bowels which we see God carries towards us in our miseries, to a full deliverance, that he may give us rest from all our enemies round about, and establish truth and peace together, in the midst of us, from generation to generation, which is, and leads me to open, the expected end which the Lord intends to give his Church, even the last branch of the Text, the matter and result of God's thoughts toward his people in distress, to give you an expected end.  
The matter or the result of his thoughts, are peace and an expected end of their long and tedious captivity; and though their hope deferred hath made them heartsick, 
Prov. 13.12.  yet when he desire shall come, it will be a tree of life. (You see) even the thing that they can wish or expect; so that their desire and Gods thoughts agree in the event, only they differ in the point of time; it is in God's thoughts to give them what they desire, but not when they desire it. The words which our translation renders an expected end, are disjunctively rendered by the most: finem & expectationem, so some; finem & spem, so others; finem & patienti●m, so a third sort of interpreters: I will not trouble you with the superficial descants of any that would severally apply these words, as that end should relate unto their captivity, God promiseth them an end of that, and expectation should relate unto their return into their own land, God should give them their expectation in bringing them back into their own country again: the sense and meaning of the words more solidly, is, that God's purpose was to give them such an end of their captivity, as that therein they should also receive the end of their hopes and expectations: the yoke of their bondage should be taken off, and their eyes again behold dear Judea, and Jerusalem, which lay so near their hearts, and all this in a time fore-appointed by God's counsels, though far off, even threescore and ten years. The point hence is:  Doctr. God's counsels have foreset a good end at last to the Church's calamities. 
Particular churches may be, like those seven famous churches in the Revelation, now laid waste and desolate; and the Church general (as she is visible) may be brought low, inter suspiria & lachrymas, her calamities may be so destructive and lasting, that she may seem to have lost her visibility for a time, as the Prophet Elijah complained, when he fled from Jezabels' fury, 
1 King. 19.10.  1 King. 19.10. I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away: and according as the Lord often threatens his own people, that he will destroy them, yet still there is a remnant saved, to return to be as a seed for a flourishing posterity, that after the Church have lain for a while among the pots, sullied and all becolled with persecution, she may be as beautiful as the wings of a Dove, that is covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. God intended deliverance and freedom to Abraham's seed after four hundred year's affliction, 
Act. 7.6.7.  Act. 7.6.7. and though he led Israel a crooked way through the wilderness, to humble them, yet was it still with an intent to do his people good in the latter end, Deut. 8.16. So that as by the course of nature, 
Deu. 8.16.  the trees and plants that in Winter are dry and sapless, and seem to be little better than dead, yet at the Spring recover, grow green again, and bear fruit according to their kind, as being appointed thereto by the God of nature: so the Church, though she seem to be an outcast in the Winter of affliction, and even swallowed up of misery, never to be healed, so long, saith the Prophet, as until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men fare aw●y, 
Isa. 6.11.12.13.  and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land (speaking of Judea, and his own people) Isaiah 6. vers. 11, 12, 13. 
a 〈◊〉 vigor●●● 〈…〉, Calvin.  yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teyl tree, and as an Oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof; God will not only reserve a remnant in the Church which shall outlive the Winter-like troubles which befall her, but that remnant shall be as seed, which, though it lie under the earth, and die, shall revive and bear fruit; Gods promise unto them shall be as effectual to recover and settle them in a peaceable and desired condition (which is, to gi●e them an expected end) as the Spring is, by her vigorous influence, to make seeds and plants after the dead time of the year to be flourishing and fruitful: And such thoughts there are in the Almighty his heart, and such promises to the Church in his Word.  
For he hath made a covenant with his people which he will remember, 
Re●●●n. 1.  even in their afflictions, and whereby he hath graciously tied himself, that he will not cast them away, but recover them, how severely soever he deal with them for a time in punishing their sins: Admit he should (as here in the Text he did) cast them ou● of their own into their enemy's land, 
●●v. ●●. 44, ●●.  yet then, Leu. 26.44, 45. When they he in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God; but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their Ancestors. This proviso was expressly put in, when God renewed his Covenant unto David and his seed, that as he would be careful on the one hand to punish the sins of his people, in case they did transgress; so on the other hand, he would continue his love to them, and be mindful of his covenant, Psal. 89.32, 33. I will visit their transgression with the rod, 
P●●●. ●●. ●2, 33, ●4.  and their iniquity with stripes, nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my truth to fail, my covenant will I not break: His truth should fail, and his covenant should be broken, if his Church's calamities should not be brought unto a good end at last; if her temporal afflictions should be endless, or swallowed up in eternal misery; but the people of God in former times have confessedly found his promise made good in this particular also, as we find in the confessions of Nehemiah, 
N●h 9 31  Neh. 9.31. Having set forth how the Lord was driven by their sins to punish his people, by giving them up into the hand of the people of the lands, he shows us, that he did not continue their miseries upon them. Nevertheless for thy great mercy's sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Yea, it concerns the Lord to make good this covenant visibly before the world, that he may be justified, even in the sight of men, concerning his faithfulness to the Church in her deliverance.  
Secondly, God's mercy is the great attribute which is finally to be magnified and set up in his dispensations toward the Church, as his wrath is to be in his dispensations toward his enemies, which are called the Vessels of Wrath, as his people are called Vessels of Mercy. In all which dispensations he so carrieth intervenient occurrencies, that at length they shall serve to further the glorifying of that attribute mainly intended, whatsoever they may seem to do in our apprehensions for the present: as 
* Parcendo malis ita justus es secundum t● & non secundum nos, si●ut mis●rtus es s●cundum n●● & non s●cund●m 〈◊〉. Anselm.  an Ancient speaks of God sparing the wicked though he seem to be merciful to them in our sense, he is not so to them in his own intentions therein. But that sparing them, shall further glorify his justice upon them at length. The like we may speak of his afflicting of his beloved people, it shall turn in the end to the advancing of his mercy, as it did in David, by his 01 own confession, It is good for me that I have been afflicted.  
So then we may be confident upon this ground, that the end of the Church's troubles shall be such, as mercy may rejoice in, and be magnified by, and such as we may mark for good as assuredly as the Prophet doth the end of the perfect and upright man, 
Psal. 37 37.  Psal. 37.37. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace: His life may be troublesome, but his death shall be comfortable; as the Israelites through a crooked & tedious wilderness, came to the promised land at last: Moses said of their journey, in that wilderness, it was to try them. As the Goldsmith puts his metal into the Furnace, that it may come out the purer; so the Lord dealt with his Church therein, that he might bring her forth of trouble to his mind, & set her according to her desire at last; so saith the Prophet, Psal. 60.10, 11, 12. Thou, O God, hast proved us, thou hast tried us as silver is tried: thou broughtest us into the ne●, 
Psal. 60.10, 11, 12.  thou laidest affliction upon our loins, thou causedst men to ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place: where we have the Church raising up her apprehensions of Gods present mercies to a highher pitch, by reflecting upon the dangers through which she came to enjoy th●m; however she was near shipwreck, she is now not only as a ship in safe harbour, but as on shore in a pleasant country.  

Some special benefits in which the Church's troubles shall end, etc.  We see then in the general, the Church's troubles shall end well, but what kinds of good may be expected or hoped for as the fruit of them, we have not seen; I shall therefore in the next place briefly point at some particular good ends which we may hope and expect God will bring his Church unto by her afflictions.  
First, the refining of the Church herself, which was intimated before, by trying her as silver is tried, in the Psalmist; while she is in afflictions, she is as metal in the furnace, which comes out severed from the dross at length: the frequent allegories of washing and purging in Scripture, to this purpose, I forbear, we will only take notice of the Prophet's expression, 
Mal. 3.17, 18.  Mal. 3.17. And they shall be mine in that day when I make up my Jewels, then shall ye discern between the righteous and the wicked. The Lord had been working upon them as a Refiners fire, and Full●rs soap in the former part of the chapter, by afflicting his people he had been cutting and polishing his jewels, that he might render them Oriently beautiful, and at last he strings them, and makes them up to preserve them as his peculiar Treasure, in his Cabinet, wherein he placeth nothing but things of price: Reformation then of the Church, whereby the holy seed shall be the substance thereof, 
Isai. 6.12.  Isai. 6.12. is one great good may be expected as the end of the Church's miseries and afflictions.  
Secondly, the just punishment of the wicked, whereby the righteousness and power of God shall be much exalted, as they were upon Ph●raoh; for which Moses indicted a God-exalting song, and God himself is pleased to hold out this, as an encouragement to his people, to be patiented in their afflictions; that when God hath done his work upon his people by the Assyrian, 
Isai. 10.12.  he will punish him, Isa. 10.12. Nay, he will destroy him, Verse 25. Yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction: for the encouragement of a reforming child, the father will throw the rod wherewith he was corrected into the fire; and this shall be so expected an end of the Church's calamities, that the people of God sh●ll rejoice to see the Lord so jealous for them, to avenge the innocent blood of his servants: so the Lord calls upon them, Deut. 32.43. Rejoice, 
Deut. 32.43.  O ye nations, with his people, for he will avenge he blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land and to his people: and so the Lords people shall, as is promised, 
Act. 58.10, 11.  Psal. 58.10, 11. The righteous shall rejoice when he seethe the vengeance; so that a man shall say, there is a God that judgeth the earth, they shall rejoice, not in the destruction of the creature, but in the execution of righteous judgement.  
Thirdly, the Church's calamities shall end in the kingdom of Christ, after the shaking of all nations, the desire of all nations shall come, saith the Prophet, 
Hag. 2.7.  Hag. 2.7. When Christ first came, it was as a refreshing after t e distresses of God's people: so also the oppressions of Antichrist, and the stirs that shall be in the world thereby, shall end in Christ's next coming, when he shall confu●e the man of sin with the spirit of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming shall destroy him. The tumults that are in the world, shall raise up Christ unto his throne, though it be contrary to the purpose of those that ra●se them: The Prophet observably points at t●is in Nebuchadnezars Image, 
Dan. 2.34, 35.  Dan. 2. that when the sword shall have carried the government from one Monarchy to another, the Kingdom of Christ (shadowed out by the stone out out without hands, which when it had smitten the Image, became a gre●t mountain, and filled the whole earth, Verse 34, 35.) shall put an end to the quarrels that are among the kingdoms of the earth, by taking down them, and s●tting up his own, that so all the kingdoms of the earth may become the kingdoms of the Lords Christ. This, I say, is another special expected end of the Church's calamities, which will bring with it a fullness of all kinds of blessings ; all hurtful things shall be removed out of the Church, 
Isa. 11.9.  Isa. 11.9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: there shall be also a confluence of all temporal mercies comprised in the word peace, Isa. 32.17. The work of righteousness shall be peace, 
Isa. 32.17, 18.  and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever, and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; and it is not unworthy our best observation, how gloriously the Church is set forth in this kingdom of Christ, as she shall be when it is come, 
Isa. 60.  Isa. 60.  
Use 1 First, this truth may be a foundation of strong consolation and hope unto the people of God this day, when the ark or ship of the Church is even covered with waves, and when other foundations are cast down, that God's counsels have determined, and he passed his word that there shall be a good end at last of his Church's calamities; If God's people be in bondage under affliction for the present, 
Zach. 9.12.  yet they are prisoners of hope, Zach. 9.12. For the word is gone out of the mouth of the Lord, It shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him, Eccles. 8.12. Or what if we live not to see an end of these heavy troubles? may it not much stay our hearts, that we know it shall go well with God's Church at length: If it was Eli's greater grief that the Ark of God was taken, then that his own sons were slain (so that he could hear of their death, and live, but the news of the Ark being taken kills him presently, 1 Sam. 4.17, 18.) it would have been, doubtless, so great a comfort to him if it had been well with the Ark of God, that he would have cheerfully born the loss of his children; we should likewise receive so much comfort in this good news concerning the Church, that we should rejoice in it, though we should never live to see it otherwise then by the eye of Faith, as Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced.  
Use 2 Secondly, it should encourage us to contribute what help we may to bring about this good end to the Church's calamities: Gods counsels are brought about in a way of providence, we should therefore endeavour to serve providence to bring about the promised deliverance of the Church. Thus did Daniel even in the business of our Text, when he understood that there was a time appointed for the redemption of the Jews out of their captivity, he sets himself to do what in him lies to further it, 
Dan. 9.23.  Dan. 9.23. We should also lay out ourselves freely in the Church's cause, what way soever we may be improved, whether in our counsels, or in our estates, 
What we should do to further this good end, viz.  or in our persons, we cannot be laid out in a better cause, wherein God himself will be (nay ) engaged for the event. For the furtherance of it,  
First, we should be careful to remove any thing that might hinder this expected end from being accomplished: our sins at home will hinder our Armies in the Field: Therefore Moses commanded the people of Israel to take heed of every wicked thing when the Host went forth to battle, 
Deut. 23.9.  Deut. 23.9. Let not the lust of thy pride lie in the way of our public deliverance, to make thee contend for a degree of Honour, while the kingdom lies a bleeding: Let not thy lust of covetousness carry on a private design of gathering by the ruins of the State: Let not thy lust of envy or revenge lead thee to hazard the Kingdom for thy will upon thine adversary, etc.  
Secondly, we should labour after personal and domestical reformation, upon that special duty the Lord promiseth to heal a Land, 2 Chron. 7.14. This is that which will procure us peace, 
2 Cor. 7.14.  not meritoriously, but conditionally, and by way of covenant, 
Isa. 32.17, 18  Isai. 32.17, 18. we find usually that Righteousness is the mother of all comfortable and happy Peace.  
Thirdly, we should pray for it, as Daniel did above mentioned, and as the Lord himself prescribeth in the very next verse to the text, and promiseth also it shall take effect. The Lord enable us to do our duty, and of his own free grace perform his promise of delivering the Church, and accomplish the thoughts of his heart toward her in due time. Amen.  
FINIS.   

Reader be pleased to read Babylon for Jerusalem, page 2. line 2.