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           Title: The Sermons of John Owen
      Creator(s): Owen, John (1616-1683)
     Print Basis: The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1965, 1967. 1968.
   CCEL Subjects: All; Classic; Sermons
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Preface.

   The two following volumes contain, it is believed, the most complete
   collection of Dr Owen's Sermons which has ever been published.

   The first volume (vol. viii.) includes all the Discourses which were
   published during the lifetime of the author. Among these there will be
   found his "Humble Testimony to the Goodness and Severity of God;" which
   -- though, from its length, it might rank as a separate treatise -- is
   comprehended in this volume, as it was the substance of some
   discourses, and is entitled by Owen himself a Discourse. Another
   valuable sermon, which we have discovered in the "Morning Exercises
   against Popery, at Southwark," though omitted in every previous
   collection of his Sermons, and in Russell's edition of his Works, we
   have not hesitated to include in the present collection, our conviction
   that it belongs to Owen resting on the high authority of Calamy, [1]
   who must have had the best opportunities of knowing what sermons, in a
   publication so important and celebrated as the "Morning Exercises,"
   were the productions of our author. We are strengthened in this
   conviction by the circumstance, that the Rev. T. H. Horne, also, in the
   recent admirable edition of the "Morning Exercises," expressly ascribes
   this sermon to Owen. It is entitled, "The Testimony of the Church not
   the only nor the chief Reason of our Believing the Scripture to be the
   Word of God." On the contrary, we have assigned to the subsequent
   volume, which contains the Posthumous Discourses of our author, a
   sermon entitled, "Human Power Defeated," though we find it mentioned by
   Mr Orme in his list of the works which Owen himself committed to the
   press. Our reason for accounting it posthumous, is not simply that we
   have not met with it in its original form (for in a few other instances
   we have been unable to discover copies of original editions), but in
   the folio volume of Owen's Sermons, published in 1721, and edited so
   carefully by five Independent ministers, who assure us that the
   posthumous sermons contained in it were the genuine productions of
   Owen, "a great part of them having been transcribed from his own
   copies, and the rest taken from his mouth by a gentleman [2] of honour
   and known integrity," it is ranked among the posthumous sermons, which
   had then for the first time been given to the public.

   The other volume (vol. ix.) embraces all the Posthumous Sermons of our
   author, -- viz., the "Seasonable Words for English Protestants,"
   printed separately in 1690; the posthumous sermons published in 1721;
   others which issued from the press in 1756, and were prepared from the
   manuscripts of Sir John Hartopp, which his granddaughter, Mrs Cooke of
   Stoke Newington, had supplied for the purpose; and, finally, the
   sermons derived through the same channel, and published in 1760.

   An attempt has been made in this edition, by prefatory notes and
   running annotations, to connect the different sermons (especially in
   vol. viii.) with the life of Owen, and with the circumstances in which
   they were originally delivered. Much of the interest and value of a
   discourse lies in its suitableness to the occasion which called it
   forth.

   There are discourses attributed to Owen on Ps. cxvi. 12, and on 2 Sam.
   xviii. 20; and said to have been published, the former in 1742, and the
   latter in 1746. They are not mentioned by Mr Orme. There is a reference
   to them in Cooke's "Preacher's Assistant;" but after a diligent search,
   we have failed to recover them.

   The merits of Owen as a preacher have not been sufficiently
   appreciated. In this respect he seems to have stood higher in the
   estimation of his contemporaries than he has subsequently done. No
   edition of his Sermons has been published in a form and at a price
   which placed them within the reach of all classes in the community.
   Perhaps the value of his other works diverted attention from his minor
   productions; and his style of careful and elaborate, though often
   prolix and cumbrous, discussion, was deemed incompatible with the
   condensation of statement and the vigour of appeal which constitute the
   main value and charm of a good discourse. From the accounts transmitted
   to us, however, whether by his various friends and admirers, such as
   Clarkson, his colleague and successor, or by those even who were quite
   opposed to him in principle and sentiment, such as Anthony Wood, the
   ability with which Owen could secure and sustain the attention of an
   audience must have been great. [3] The effects of his preaching in some
   instances attest his usefulness in this department of his public
   labours. John Rogers, in his singular work, "The Heavenly Nymph,"
   records the cases of two individuals, Dorothy Emett and Major
   Mainwaring, who ascribed their conversion to the preaching of Owen when
   he was in Dublin. Mr Orme remarks, that the circumstance confutes a
   saying attributed to Owen, that he never knew an instance of a sinner
   converted through his instrumentality; though the saying might so far
   be true, that he himself might be ignorant of the extent of his own
   usefulness. His congregation in London after the Restoration, though,
   from the severe measures adopted against Dissent, necessarily small,
   seems to have been made up of persons altogether superior in character
   and attainments. Another source of evidence as to the popularity and
   acceptance of our author in preaching the gospel, presents itself in
   the frequency with which he was called to officiate in this capacity
   before the House of Commons. He was generally summoned to this duty in
   connection with some event or crisis of great importance. On examining
   the journals of the House, we have found that he preached before it on
   several occasions besides those on which he delivered sermons that were
   afterwards published. He usually receives the thanks, or "the hearty
   thanks," of the House, for "his great pains" taken in the discourses
   preached before them. Nor were such "orders" of the Parliament, that he
   should be thanked for his services, mere form and indiscriminate
   courtesy. There is a curious record which we may quote, as showing that
   the Parliament exercised some measure of discrimination in voting
   thanks on these occasions:--

   "Die Veneris, 14 Martii, 1650.

   "The question being propounded, That thanks be given to the ministers
   that preached yesterday before the Parliament, and the question being
   put, That that question be now put?' it passed with the negative."

   There are no means of ascertaining what ministers actually preached on
   the occasion here referred to. The ministers who had been appointed to
   preach were Mr Owen, Mr John Simson, and Mr Leigh; but it is clear from
   the journals, that Owen sometimes was not in circumstances to fulfil
   such appointments after they had been made. Perhaps, were all the facts
   known, it would have been to his credit that he had incurred what wears
   the aspect of a vote of censure from the House; although we learn, from
   certain entries elsewhere in its journals, that he was so much of a
   favourite with Parliament, that they settled "lands of inheritance of
   the clear value of -L-100 per annum in Ireland on John Owen, Doctor of
   Divinity, and his heirs."

   His Discourses themselves, however, will best illustrate the position
   and rank to which he is entitled among the lights and ornaments of the
   British pulpit. In judging of them, we must remember how often his
   singular aptitude for the management of affairs drew him into public
   business, interrupting and disturbing the leisure requisite for
   elaborate composition. The amount of time and thought expended on more
   important works might interfere with the care due to the preparation of
   a single discourse. He himself informs us that his public discourses
   were frequently delivered under some sudden call to the duty, and at
   the spur of some great emergency, when brief space was allowed him to
   prepare them carefully; so that, to use his own similitude, they were
   often "like Jonah's gourd, the offspring of a night." Although they
   cannot, therefore, be regarded as models of finished composition and
   careful preparation, they nevertheless abound in many cardinal
   excellencies. The doctrine illustrated and urged in them is commonly
   founded on a sifting and masterly exposition of that portion of
   Scripture from which the text is selected. So much was it his habit to
   investigate Scripture, with the view of ascertaining the precise import
   of its statements, that he often sheds new and striking light on other
   passages besides the one which it may be the object of the sermon to
   explain and enforce. Singular tact is evinced in eliciting the general
   truths or principles raised for consideration by the text. While there
   are many indications of haste and negligence, it may be safely
   affirmed, that there is not a paragraph of worthless or frivolous
   matter which any reader could have wished away, and passages often
   occur conceived in no common strain of eloquence; while, even amidst
   the tamest sentences, burning thoughts are found, thrown out freely and
   at random by the author, as if unconscious of the effect they would
   produce, or careless whether they produced any effect at all. The
   depths of Christian experience are admirably unfolded, and the general
   spirit and tenor of his statements are calculated to tell with power
   upon the unconverted, and to commend themselves with acceptance to the
   enlightened conscience. No feature, indeed, in his sermons is more
   prominent and remarkable, -- especially in the sermons delivered
   towards the close of his life, and which labour under the disadvantage
   of never having been intended for the press, -- than the skill with
   which he can scrutinize character and motives, till his hearers must
   have felt as if, in gauging, their inward being, the preacher had laid
   his hand, with intuitive discernment, on the deepest secrets of their
   bosom. Nor does this result from an affected refinement of metaphysical
   discussion and analysis; but from the simple adaptation of truth, so as
   to tell on the wide variety of human character. Among uninspired
   authors, it is pre-eminently true of Owen, that, by the manifestation
   of the truth, he commends himself to every man's conscience in the
   sight of God. At the same time, the highest qualities of thought and a
   rare knowledge of human nature are often evinced; and on perusing the
   sermons on Popery, "The Chamber of Imagery," and, "On the Authority of
   Scripture," the reader will be struck with the powers of sagacious and
   philosophic analysis displayed in the former, and with the logical
   point and acumen of the latter, -- stamping on them a freshness and
   value as continued and enduring as the importance of the great
   controversy itself to which they relate. The more, in short, these
   Discourses of Owen are studied, it will be found that their chief
   blemish -- if it be a blemish -- is the tendency of the author, in the
   fertility of his resources, to compress within the limits of one sermon
   what, to minds less affluent, would have furnished precious materials
   for several sermons; and though some may desiderate in them the minor
   graces of composition, it would be unwise to forget that, apart from
   any shapes of elegance and utility into which it may be fashioned by
   art, sterling gold, in the broad market of the world, will always
   command a value of its own.

   Editor.
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   [1] See Calamy's Account of Ministers Ejected, vol. ii. p. 56.

   [2] Sir John Hartopp. See vol. ix., p. 18.

   [3] See some excellent observations on his character as a pulpit
   orator, in the "Life of Owen," vol. i. p. 106.
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   Sermon I.

   A vision of unchangeable, free mercy, in sending the means of grace to
   undeserving sinners:

   wherein God's uncontrollable eternal purpose, in sending and continuing
   the gospel unto this nation, in the midst of oppositions and
   contingencies, is discovered; his distinguishing mercy in this great
   work exalted, asserted against opposers, repiners.

   whereunto is annexed

   a short defensative about church government, (with a country essay for
   the practice of church government there) toleration, and petitions
   about these things.
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Prefatory note.

   The occasion on which this sermon was delivered is mentioned in the
   "Life of Owen," vol. i., p. 34. From the title-page of the original
   edition of the sermon, Owen appears to have been "minister of the
   gospel at Coggeshall, in Essex," when it was published. By some
   inadvertency, Mr Orme, in his valuable memoir of our author, represents
   him as called to preach this sermon to the House of Commons before he
   left the parish of Fordham; a statement which can be reconciled with
   the original title-page only by the supposition that his removal to
   Coggeshall had occurred in the interval before the publication of the
   sermon. Asty, however, distinctly informs us that he was settled at
   Coggeshall when he first preached before the House of Commons.

   The sermon was preached on Wednesday the 29th of April 1646; and the
   time is important, as it was the close of the first civil war. During
   the previous month, Hopton and Astley, the last generals who kept the
   field in the interest of Charles I., had been compelled to surrender.
   "You have now done your work," said Astley to his victors, "and may go
   to play, -- unless you will fall out among yourselves." So truly was
   the work done, that Oliver Cromwell had returned to his place
   Parliament on the 22d of April, and on the following Monday the king
   left Oxford in disguise, and, after some hesitation of purpose, found
   his way to the Scots army.

   A sufficient interval had hardly elapsed to give Owen an opportunity of
   exhibiting in his sermon any reflection of these memorable events. It
   is perhaps more to his credit, that, when summoned from the obscurity
   of his pastoral duties at Coggeshall to preach the gospel in "the chief
   place of concourse," and before the rulers of the land, he seizes the
   opportunity to portray the spiritual destitution which existed in
   Wales, and large districts of England, and to make an appeal for
   "help," in a strain of holy fervour and commanding eloquence, that will
   bear comparison with the best productions of the British pulpit. The
   reasoning at the outset is somewhat abstract, -- not unsuited, perhaps,
   to an assembly of the leading men in the country; but throughout the
   discourse there is conspicuous that happy combination of argument and
   declamation which constitutes genuine oratory. Bogue and Bennett have
   remarked, "Those who are only acquainted with the general strain of
   Owen's writings, would not suppose him capable of pouring forth that
   flood of lucid, glowing, popular eloquence, which is displayed in this
   sermon." -- History of Dissenters, vol. 2, p. 228.

   In the "Defensative," or preface to the "Country Essay," etc., Owen
   assigns reasons on account of which he had not felt himself free to
   petition Parliament in reference to the establishment of an
   ecclesiastical polity for England. In the "Country Essay," etc., he
   condemns very strongly the infliction of civil penalties for religious
   belief. In the first part of it, he describes a form of church
   government which commended itself to his judgment. Owen purposely
   refrained from describing it either as Presbytery or Independency,
   deeming himself competent to satisfy all men respecting it; "unless
   such as shall be so simple or malicious as to ask whether this way be
   that of the Presbyterians or Independents." By his own admission, the
   scheme proposed in the "Essay" would not exactly agree with either of
   the two forms of church government which were then competing for
   national favour and the sanction of the state. There can be no doubt,
   however, that he was at this time undergoing the change of view which
   led him in the end to profess Congregationalism. It is simple justice
   to add, that a comparison of the "Country Essay" with his "Inquiry into
   Evangelical Churches," published towards the close of his life,
   effectually redeems his name from any charge of vacillation in regard
   to his church principles. The peculiar modifications which appear in
   the Congregationalism of Owen, are conspicuous elements in the first
   scheme of ecclesiastical polity which he ever broached. See also his
   "Review of the Nature of Schism," chap. ii., vol. xiii. -- Ed.
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   AMPLISSIMO

   SENATUI,

   INCLYTISSIMO POPULI ANGLICANI CONVENTUI,

   OB

   PRISCA ANGLO-BRITANNORUM JURA STRENUE ET FIDELITER ASSERTA;

   LIBERTATEM PATRIAM (NEFARUS QUORUNDAM MOLITONIBUS PAENE PESSUNDATAM)
   RECUPERATAM;

   JUSTITIAM FORTITER, isos, epieikos, aprosopoleptos ADMINSITRATAM;

   Archen IN ECCLESIASTICIS anieroturanniken DISSOLUTAM,

   RITUS PONTIFICIOS, NOVITIOS, ANTICHRISTIANOS ABOLITOS; PRIVILEGIA
   PLEBIS CHRISTIANAE POSTLIMINIO RESTITUTA;

   POTISSIMUM

   PROTECTIONEM DEI O. M. HIS OMNIBUS, ALUSQUE INNUMERIS, CONSILIO, BELLO,
   DOMI, FORAS GILATIOSE POTITAM;

   TOTO ORBE JURE MERITISSIMO CELEBERRIMO, TOTI HUIC INSULAE AETERNA
   MEMORIA RECOLENDO,

   VIRIS ILLUSTRIBUS, CLARISSIMUS, SELECTISSIMIS, EX ORDINE COMMUNIUM IN
   SUPREMA CURIA PARLIAM, CONGREGATIS,

   CONCIONEM HANC SACRAM, HUMILEM ILLAM QUIDEM, IPSORUM TAMEN VOTO
   JUSSUQUE PRIUS CORAM IPSIS HABITAM, NUNC LUCE DONATAM,

   D.D.C.

   JOANNES OWEN.
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   Die Mercurij 29 Aprilis, 1646.

   Ordered, by the Commons assembled in Parliament, That Mr Jenner and Sir
   Peter Wentworth do from this House give thanks to Mr Nalton and Mr Owen
   for the great pains they took in the sermons they preached this day, at
   the entreaty of this House (it being a day of public humiliation), at
   Margaret's, Westminster; and to desire them to print their sermons. And
   it is ordered that none shall presume to print their sermons without
   license under their handwriting.

   H. Elsyinge, Cler. Parl. D. Com.
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Sermon I. A vision of unchangeable, free mercy, in sending the means of grace to
undeserving sinners.

   "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of
   Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help
   us." -- Acts xvi. 9.

   The kingdom of Jesus Christ is frequently in the Scripture compared to
   growing things, [4] -- small in the beginning and first appearance, but
   increasing by degrees unto glory and perfection. The shapeless stone
   [5] cut out without hands, having neither form nor desirable beauty
   given unto it, becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth, Dan.
   ii. 35. The small vine brought out of Egypt quickly covers the hills
   with her shadow, -- her boughs reach unto the sea, and her branches
   unto the river, Ps. lxxx. 8. The tender plant [6] becomes as the cedars
   of God; and the grain of mustard-seed to be a tree for the fowls of the
   air to make their nests in the branches thereof. Mountains are made
   plains before it, every valley is filled, and the crooked paths made
   straight, that it may have a passage to its appointed period; -- and
   all this, not only not supported by outward advantages, but in direct
   opposition to the combined power [7] of this whole creation, as fallen
   and in subjection to the "god of this world," the head thereof. As
   Christ was "a tender plant," [8] seemingly easy to be broken; and "a
   root out of a dry ground," not easily flourishing, yet liveth for ever;
   [9] so his people and kingdom, -- though as a "lily among thorns," [10]
   as "sheep among wolves," [11] as a "turtledove" among a multitude of
   devourers, [12] -- yet stands unshaken, at least unshivered.

   The main ground and foundation of all this is laid out, verses 6-9 of
   this chapter, -- containing a rich discovery how all things here below,
   especially such as concern the gospel and Church of Christ, are carried
   along through innumerable varieties and a world of contingencies,
   according to the regular motions and goings forth of a free, eternal,
   unchangeable decree: as all inferior orbs, notwithstanding the
   eccentrics and irregularities of their own inhabitants, are orderly
   carried about by the first Mover.

   In verse 6, the planters of the gospel are "forbidden to preach the
   word in Asia" [13] (that part of it peculiarly so called); and, verse
   7, assaying to go with the same message into Bithynia, they are crossed
   by the Spirit in their attempts; but in my text are called to a place
   on which their thoughts were not at all fixed:-- which calling and
   which forbidding were both subservient to His free determination "who
   worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will," Eph. i.
   11.

   And no doubt but, in the dispensation of the gospel throughout the
   world, unto this day, there is the like conformity to be found to the
   pattern of God's eternal decrees; though to the messengers not made
   known aforehand by revelation, but discovered in the effects, by the
   mighty working of Providence.

   Amongst other nations, this is the day of England's visitation, "the
   Dayspring from on high" having visited this people, and "the Sun of
   righteousness" arising upon us "with healing in his wings;" [14] -- a
   man of England hath prevailed for assistance, and the free grace of God
   hath wrought us help by the gospel.

   Now, in this day three things are to be done, to keep up our spirits
   unto this duty, of brining down our souls by humiliation.

   First, To take us off the pride of our own performances, endeavours, or
   any adherent worth of our own: "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the
   Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own
   ways, O house of Israel," -- O house of England! Ezek. xxxvi. 32.

   Secondly, To root out that atheistical corruption which depresses the
   thoughts of men, not permitting them, in the highest products of
   Providence, to look above contingencies and secondary causes; -- though
   God "hath wrought all our works for us," Isa. xxvi. 12; and "known unto
   him are all his works from the beginning of the world," Acts xv. 18.

   Thirdly, To show that the bulk of this people are as yet in the
   wilderness, far from their resting-place, like sheep upon the
   mountains, as once Israel, Jer. l. 6, -- as yet wanting help by the
   gospel.

   The two first of these will be cleared by discovering how that all
   revolutions here below -- especially every thing that concerns the
   dispensation of the gospel and kingdom of the Lord Jesus -- are carried
   along according to the eternally fixed purpose of God, free in itself,
   taking neither rise, growth, cause, nor occasion, from any thing
   amongst the sons of men.

   The third, by laying open the helpless condition of gospel-wanting
   souls, with some particular application; to all which my text directly
   leads me.

   The words in general are the relation of a message from heaven unto
   Paul, to direct him in the publishing of the gospel, -- as to the place
   and persons wherein and to whom he was to preach. And in them you have
   these four things:--

   1. The manner of it; it was by vision -- "A vision appeared."

   2. The time of it, -- "In the night."

   3. The bringer of it, -- "A man of Macedonia."

   4. The matter of it, -- help for the Macedonians, interpreted, verse
   18, to be by preaching of the gospel.

   A little clearing of the words will make way for observations.

   1. For the manner of the delivery of this message, -- it was by vision.
   Of all the ways that God used of old to reveal himself unto any in an
   extraordinary manner, -- which were sundry and various, Heb. i. 1, --
   there was no one so frequent as this of vision. Wherein this did
   properly consist, and whereby it was distinguished from other ways of
   the discovery of the secrets of the Lord, I shall not now discuss. In
   general, visions are revelations of the mind of the Lord concerning
   some hidden things, present or future, and not otherwise to be known.
   And they were of two sorts.

   (1.) Revelations merely by word [15] or some other more internal
   species, [16] without any outward sensible appearance; which, for the
   most part, was the Lord's way of proceeding with the prophets; -- which
   transient light, or discovery of things before unknown, they called a
   vision. [17]

   (2.) Revelations accompanied with some sensible apparitions, and that
   either, --

   [1.] Of things; as usually, among the prophets, rods and pots, [18]
   wheels and trees, [19] lamps, axes, vessels, rams, goats, and the like,
   were presented unto them.

   [2.] Of persons; and those, according to the variety of them, of three
   sorts.

   1st, Of the second person of the Trinity; and this either, --

   First, In respect of some glorious beams of his Deity; as to Isa. vi.
   1, with John xii. 41; -- to Dan. x. 5, 6, -- as afterward to John, Rev.
   i. 13-15; to which you may add the apparitions of the glory of God not
   immediately designing the second person, as Ezek. i. 1.

   Secondly, With reference to his humanity to be assumed; as to Abraham,
   Gen. xviii. 1, 2; -- to Josh. v. 13-15, etc.

   2dly, Of angels; as unto Peter, Acts xii. 7; -- to the women, Matt.
   xxviii. 5; -- to John, Rev. xxii. 8, etc.

   3dly, Of men; [20] as in my text.

   Now, the several advancements of all these ways in dignity and
   pre-eminence, according as they clearly make out intellectual verity,
   or according to the honour and exaltation of that whereof apparition is
   made, are too fruitless a speculation [21] for this day's exercise.

   Our vision is of the latter sort, accompanied with a sensible
   appearance, and is called horama. There be two words in the New
   Testament signifying vision, horama and optasia, coming from different
   verbs, but both signifying to see. Some distinguish them, and say that
   optasia is a vision, -- kath' hupar, an appearance to a man awake;
   horama, -- kath' onar, an appearance to a man asleep, called sometimes
   a dream, Job xxxiii. 15, -- like that which was made to Joseph, Matt.
   ii. 19. But this distinction will not hold, our Saviour calling that
   vision which his disciples had at his transfiguration, when doubtless
   they were waking, horama, Matt. xvii. 9. So that I conceive Paul had
   his vision waking; -- and the night is specified as the time thereof,
   not to intimate his being asleep, but rather his watchfulness, seeking
   counsel of God in the night which way he should apply himself in the
   preaching of the gospel. And such I suppose was that of latter days,
   whereby God revealed to Zuinglius a strong confirmation of the doctrine
   of the Lord's supper, from Exod. xii. 11, against the factors for that
   monstrous figment of transubstantiation.

   2. For the second, or time of this vision, I need say no more than what
   before I intimated.

   3. The bringer of the message, -- aner tis en Makedon hestos, he was a
   man of Macedonia in a vision. The Lord made an appearance unto him as
   of a man of Macedonia, discovering even to his bodily eyes a man; and
   to his mind, that he was to be conceived as a man of Macedonia. This
   was, say some, [22] an angel; -- the tutelar angel of the place, say
   the popish expositors, [23] or the genius of the place, according to
   the phrase of the heathens, of whom they learned their demonology; --
   perhaps him, or his antagonist, that not long before appeared to Brutus
   [24] at Philippi. But these are pleasing dreams; -- us it may suffice
   that it was the appearance of a man, the mind of Paul being enlightened
   to apprehend him as a man [25] of Macedonia; and that with infallible
   assurance, such as usually accompanieth divine revelations in them to
   whom they are made, as Jer. xxiii. 28, -- for upon it Luke affirmeth,
   verse 10, they assuredly concluded that the Lord called them into
   Macedonia.

   4. The message itself is a discovery of the want of the Macedonians,
   and the assistance they required, which the Lord was willing should be
   imparted unto them. Their want is not expressed, but included in the
   assistance desired, and the person unto whom for it they were directed.
   Had it been to help them in their estates, they should scarcely have
   been sent to Paul, who, I believe, might for the most part say, with
   Peter, "Silver and gold have I none;" [26] -- or had it been with a
   complaint that they -- who from a province of Greece, in a corner of
   Europe, had on a sudden been exalted into the empire of the eastern
   world -- were now enslaved to the Roman power and oppression, they
   might better have gone to the Parthians, then the only state in the
   world formidable to the Romans. Paul, though a military man, yet fought
   not with Nero's legions, the then visible devil of the upper world; but
   with legions of hell, of whom the earth was now to be cleared. [27] It
   must be a soul-want, if he be entrusted with the supplying of it. And
   such this was, -- help from death, hell, Satan, from the jaws of that
   devouring lion. Of this the Lord makes them here to speak, what every
   one in that condition ought to speak, -- Help, for the Lord's sake. It
   was a call to preach the gospel.

   The words being opened, we must remember what was said before of their
   connection with the verses foregoing, -- wherein the preachers of the
   gospel are expressly hindered from above from going to other places,
   and called hither. Whereof no reason is assigned, but only the will of
   Him that did employ them; and that no other can be rendered I am
   farther convinced, by considering the empty conjectures of attempters.

   God foresaw that they would oppose the gospel, says our Beda. So, say
   I, might he of all nations in the world, had not he determined to send
   his effectual grace [28] for the removal of that opposition; besides,
   he grants the means of grace to despisers, Matt. xi. 21. -- They were
   not prepared for the gospel, says OEcumenius. As well, say I, as the
   Corinthians, whose preparations you may see, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11; or any
   other nation, as we shall afterward declare: yet to this foolish
   conjecture adhere the Papists and Arminians [29] -- God would have
   those places left for to be converted by John, says Sedulius; yet the
   church at Ephesus, the chief city of those parts, was planted by Paul,
   says Ignatius and Irenaeus. [30] -- He foresaw a famine to come upon
   those places, says Origen, from which he would deliver his own; and
   therefore, it seems, left them to the power of the devil. More such
   fancies [31] might we recount, of men unwilling to submit to the will
   of God; but upon that, as the sole discriminating cause of these
   things, we rest, and draw these three observations:--

   I. The rule whereby all things are dispensed here below, -- especially
   in the making out of the means of grace, -- is the determinate will and
   counsel of God. Stay not in Asia, go not into Bithynia, but come to
   Macedonia. "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight."

   II. The sending of the gospel to any nation, place, or persons, rather
   than others, as the means of life and salvation, is of the mere free
   grace and good pleasure of God. "Stay not in Asia;" etc.

   III. No men in the world want help, like them that want the gospel.
   "Come and help us."

   I. Begin we with the first of these: The rule whereby, etc. All events
   and effects, especially concerning the propagation of the gospel and
   the Church of Christ, are, in their greatest variety, regulated by the
   eternal purpose and counsel of God. [32]

   All things below in their events are but the wax, [33] whereon the
   eternal seal of God's purpose hath left its own impression; and they
   every way answer unto it. It is not my mind to extend this to the
   generality of things in the world, nor to show how the creature can by
   no means deviate from that eternal rule of providence whereby it is
   guided; -- no more than an arrow can avoid the mark, after it hath
   received the impression of an unerring hand, -- or well-ordered wheels
   not turn according to the motion given them by the master-spring, -- or
   the wheels in Ezekiel's vision [34] move irregularly to the spirit of
   life that was in them. Nor yet, secondly, how that, on the other side,
   doth no way prejudice the liberty of second causes, [35] in their
   actions, agreeable to the natures they are endued withal. He who made
   and preserves the fire, and yet hinders not but that it should burn, or
   act necessarily agreeable to its nature; by his making, preserving, and
   guiding of men, hindereth not, yea, effectually causeth, that they work
   freely, agreeable to their nature. Nor yet, thirdly, to clear up what a
   straight line runs through all the darkness, confusion, and disorder in
   the world, [36] -- how absolutely, in respect of the first fountain and
   last tendency of things, there is neither deformity, fault, nor
   deviation, every thing that is amiss consisting in the transgression of
   a moral rule, which is the sin of the creature, [37] the first cause
   being free:-- as he that causeth a lame man to go, is the cause of his
   going, but not of his going lame; -- or the sun exhaling a smell from
   the kennel, is the cause of the smell, but not of its noisomeness; for
   from a garden his beams raise a sweet savour. Nothing is amiss but what
   goeth off from its own rule; which he cannot do who will do all his
   pleasure, [38] and knows no other rule.

   But omitting these things, I shall tie my discourse to that which I
   chiefly aimed at in my proposition; viz., to discover how the great
   variety which we see in the dispensation of the means of grace,
   proceedeth from, and is regulated by, some eternal purpose of God,
   unfolded in his word. To make out this, we must lay down three things.

   1. The wonderful variety in dispensing of the outward means of
   salvation, in respect of them unto whom they were granted, used by the
   Lord since the fall; -- I say, since the fall, for the grace of
   preserving from sin, and continuing with God, had been general,
   universally extended to every creature; but [as] for the grace of
   rising from sin, and coming again unto God, that is made exceeding
   various, by some distinguishing purpose.

   2. That this outward dispensation being presupposed, yet in effectual
   working upon, particular persons, there is no less variety; for "he
   hath mercy on whom he will have mercy."

   3. Discover the rules of this whole administration.

   1. For the first, The promise was at first made unto Adam, and by him
   doubtless conveyed to his issue, and preached to the several
   generations which his eyes beheld proceeding from his own loins; [39]
   but yet by the wickedness of the old world, all flesh corrupting their
   ways, we may easily collect that the knowledge of it quickly departed
   from the most; -- sin banishing the love of God from their hearts,
   hindered the knowledge of God from continuing in their minds. [40]
   After many revivings, by visions, revelations, and covenants, it was at
   length called in from the wide world, and wholly restrained to the
   house, family, and seed of Abraham, [41] with whom alone all the means
   of grace continued for thrice fourteen generations. They alone were in
   Goshen, and all the world besides in thick darkness; -- the dew of
   heaven was on them as the fleece, when else all the earth was dry. God
   "showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto
   Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation," Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. The
   prerogative of the Jews was chiefly in this, that to them were
   committed the oracles of God, Rom. iii. 1. To them pertained "the
   adoption, and the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
   the service of God, and the promises," Rom. ix. 4. But when the fulness
   [42] of time came, the Son of God being sent in the likeness of sinful
   flesh, drew all men unto him; and God, who had before winked at the
   time of their ignorance, then called them every where to repent,
   commanding the gospel to be preached to the universality of reasonable
   creatures, and the way of salvation to be proclaimed unto all; -- upon
   which, in few years, the sound of the gospel went out into all nations,
   [43] and the Sun of righteousness displayed his beams upon the
   habitable parts of the earth. But yet once more this light, by Satan
   and his agents, persecutors and seducers, is almost extinguished, as
   was foretold, 2 Thess. ii., -- remaining but in few places, and burning
   dim where it was, -- the kingdom of the beast being full of darkness,
   Rev. xvi. 10. Yet God again raiseth up reformers, and by them kindles a
   light, we hope, never to be put out. But, alas! what a spot of ground
   doth this shine on, in comparison of the former vast extents and bounds
   of the Christian world! Now, is all this variety, think you, to be
   ascribed unto chance, as the philosopher thought the world was made by
   a casual concurrence of atoms? or hath the idol free-will, with the new
   goddess contingency, ruled in these dispensations? Truly neither the
   one nor the other, no more than the fly raised the dust by sitting on
   the chariot wheel; -- but all these things have come to pass according
   to a certain unerring rule, given them by God's determinate purpose and
   counsel.

   2. Presupposing this variety in the outward means, how is it that
   thereupon one is taken, another left? The promise is made known to Cain
   and Abel; -- one the first murderer, the other the first martyr. Jacob
   and Esau had the same outward advantages; but the one becomes Israel,
   the other Edom, -- the one inherits the promises, the other sells his
   right for a mess of pottage. At the preaching of our Saviour, some
   believed, some blasphemed; -- some said he was a good man; others said,
   nay, but he deceived the people. Have we not the word in its power this
   day, and do we not see the like various effects, -- some continuing in
   impenitency, others in sincerity closing with Jesus Christ? Now, what
   shall we say to these things? What guides these wheels? who thus steers
   his word for the good of souls? Why, this also, as I said before, is
   from some peculiarly distinguishing purpose of the will of God.

   3. To open the third thing proposed, I shall show, -- (1.) That all
   this variety is according to God's determinate purpose, and answereth
   thereunto; (2.) The particular purposes from whence this variety
   proceedeth.

   (1.) Eph. i. 11, "He worketh all things according to the counsel of his
   own will." As a man may be said to erect a fabric [44] according to the
   counsel of his will, when he frameth it before in his mind, and maketh
   all things in event answer his preconceived platform, -- all things
   (especially ta panta, all those things of which the apostle there
   treateth, gospel things) have their futurition and manner of being from
   his eternal purpose: [45] -- whence also is the idea in the mind of God
   of all things, with their circumstances, [46] that shall be; that is,
   the first mover, continuing itself immovable, giving to every thing a
   regular motion, according to the impression which from that it doth
   receive: "For known unto him are all his works from the beginning of
   the world," Acts xv. 18.

   If any attendants of actions might free and exempt them from the
   regular dependence we insist upon, they must be either contingency or
   sin; but yet for both these we have, besides general rules, clear,
   particular [47] instances. What seems more contingent and casual than
   the unadvised slaying of a man with the fall of the head of an axe from
   the helve, as a man was cutting wood by the way side? Deut. xix. 5; yet
   God assumes this as his own work, Exod. xxi. 13. The same may be said
   of free agents and their actions. And for the other, see Acts iv. 27,
   28, -- in the crucifying of the Son of God's love, -- all things came
   to pass according as his counsel had before deter -- mined that it
   should be done. Now, how in the one of these liberty is not abridged,
   the nature of things not changed in the other, sin is not countenanced,
   [48] belongs not to this discourse. "The counsel of the Lord," then,
   "standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart unto all generations,"
   Ps. xxxiii. 11. "His counsel standeth, and he will do all his
   pleasure," Isa. xlvi. 10. For he is the Lord, and he changeth not, Mal.
   iii. 6. With him is neither variableness nor shadow of turning, James
   i. 17. All things that are, come to pass in that unchangeable method in
   which he hath laid them down from all eternity.

   (2.) Let us look peculiarly upon the purposes according to which the
   dispensations of the gospel, both in sending and withholding it, do
   proceed.

   [1.] For the not sending of the means of grace unto any people, whereby
   they hear not the joyful sound of the gospel, but have in all ages
   followed dumb idols, as many do unto this day. In this chapter of which
   we treat, the gospel is forbidden to be preached in Asia and Bithynia;
   -- which restraint, the Lord by his providence as yet continues to many
   parts of the world. Now, the purpose from whence this proceedeth, and
   whereby it is regulated, you have, Rom. ix. 22, "What if God, willing
   to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much
   long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" compared
   with Matt. xi. 25, 26, "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
   prudent. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight;" and with
   Acts xiv. 16, -- he "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways."
   [49] Now, God's not sending the truth, hath the same design and aim
   with his sending the efficacy of error; viz., "that they all may be
   damned" who have it not; "there being no other name under heaven,
   whereby they may be saved," but only that which is not revealed unto
   them; -- God, in the meantime, being no more the cause [50] of their
   sins, for which they incur damnation, than the sun is the cause of cold
   and darkness, which follow the absence thereof: or he is the cause of a
   man's imprisonment for debt, who will not pay his debt for him, though
   he be no way obliged so to do. So, then, the not sending of the gospel
   to any people, is an act regulated by that eternal purpose of God
   whereby he determineth to advance the glory of his justice, by
   permitting some men to sin, to continue in their sin, and for sin to
   send them to their own place; -- as a king's not sending a pardon to
   condemned malefactors is an issue of his purpose that they shall die
   for their faults. When you see the gospel strangely, and through
   wonderful varieties and unexpected providences, carried away from a
   people, know that the spirit which moves in those wheels is that
   purpose of God which we have recounted.

   [2.] To some people, to some nations, the gospel is sent. God calls
   them to repentance and acknowledgment of the truth, -- as in my text,
   Macedonia: and England, the day wherein we breathe. Now, there is in
   this a twofold aim. 1. Peculiar, towards some in their conversion. 2.
   General, towards all, for conviction. And therefore it is acted
   according to a twofold purpose, which carries it along, and is
   fulfilled thereby.

   First, His purpose of saving [51] some in and by Jesus Christ,
   effectually to bring them unto himself, for the praise of his glorious
   grace. Upon whomsoever the seal of the Lord is stamped, that God knows
   them, and owns them as his, to them he will cause his gospel to be
   revealed. Acts xviii. 10, Paul is commanded to abide at Corinth, and to
   preach there, because God had much people in that city. Though the
   devil had them in present possession, [52] yet they were God's in his
   eternal counsel. And such as these they were for whose sake the man of
   Macedonia is sent on his message. Have you never seen the gospel hover
   about a nation, now and then about to settle, and anon scared and upon
   wing again; yet working through difficulties, making plains of
   mountains and filling valleys, overthrowing armies, putting aliens to
   flight, and at length taking firm root like the cedars of God? Truly if
   you have not, you are strangers to the place wherein you live. Now,
   what is all this but the working of the purpose of God to attain its
   proposed end, of gathering his saints to himself? In the effectual
   working of grace also for conversion and salvation, whence do you think
   it takes its rule and determination, in respect of particular objects,
   that it should be directed to John, not Judas, -- Simon Peter, not
   Simon Magus? Why, only from this discriminating [53] counsel of God
   from eternity, to bring the one and not the other to himself by Christ.
   "The Lord added to the church such as should be saved," Acts ii. 47.
   The purpose of saving is the rule of adding to the church of believers.
   And Acts xiii. 48, "As many believed as were ordained to eternal life."
   Their fore-ordaining to life eternal gives them right to faith and
   belief. The purpose of God's election is the rule of dispensing saving
   grace.

   Secondly, His purpose of leaving some inexcusable [54] in their sins,
   for the farther manifestation of his glorious justice, is the rule of
   dispensing the word unto them. Did you never see the gospel sent or
   continued to an unthankful people, [55] bringing forth no fruits meet
   for it? Wherefore it is so sent, see Isa. vi. 9, 10; -- which prophecy
   you have fulfilled, John xii. 37-41; in men described, Jude 4, and 1
   Pet. ii. 8. But here we must strike sail, the waves swell, and it is no
   easy task to sail in this gulf. The righteousness of God is a great
   mountain, easy to be seen; but his judgments are like the great deep:
   who can search into the bottom thereof? Ps. xxxvi. 6. And so I have, I
   hope, discovered how all things here below, concerning the promulgation
   of the gospel, are, in their greatest variety, straightly regulated by
   the eternal purposes and counsel of God.

   The uses of it follow.

   Use 1. To discover whence it is that the work of reforming the worship
   of God, and settling the almost departing gospel, hath so powerfully
   been carried along in this nation; -- that a beautiful fabric is seen
   to arise in the midst of all oppositions, with the confusion of axes
   and hammers sounding about it, though the builders have been forced
   oftentimes, not only with one hand, but with both, to hold the weapons
   [56] of war; -- that although the wheels of our chariots have been
   knocked off, and they driven heavily, yet the regular motions of the
   superior wheels of providence have carried on the design towards the
   resting-place aimed at; -- that the ship hath been directed to the
   port, though the storm had quite puzzled the pilots and mariners:--
   even from hence, that all this great variety was but to work out one
   Certain fore-appointed end, proceeding in the tracts and paths which
   were traced out for it from eternity; which, though they have seemed to
   us a maze or labyrinth, such a world of contingencies and various
   chances hath the work passed through, yet, indeed, all the passages
   thereof have been regular and straight, answering the platform laid
   down for the whole in the counsel of God. Dan. ix. 1, makes his
   supplication for the restoration of Jerusalem; verse 23, an angel is
   sent to tell him, that "at the beginning of his supplication the
   commandment came forth," -- viz., that it should be accomplished. It
   was before determined, and is now set on work; but yet what mountains
   [57] of opposition, what hinderances lay in the way! Cyrus must come to
   the crown by the death or slaughter of Darius, [58] -- his heart be
   moved to send some to the work: in a short time Cyrus is cut off. Now,
   difficulties arise from the following kings:-- what their flattering
   counsellors, what the malignant nations about them conspired, the books
   of Nehemiah and Ezra sufficiently declare. Whence, verse 25, the angel
   tells Daniel, that from "the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem
   unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; the
   street shall be built again, and the wall, in troublesome times;" that
   is, it shall be seven weeks to the finishing of Jerusalem, and thence
   to Messiah the Prince sixty-two weeks; -- seven weeks, that is,
   forty-nine years; for so much it was from the decree of Cyrus [59] to
   the finishing of the wall by Nehemiah: of which time the temple, as the
   Jews affirmed, was all but three years in building, John ii. 20. During
   which space, how often did the hearts of the people of God faint in
   their troubles, as though they should never have seen an end! And
   therefore, ever and anon they were ready to give over, as Hag. i. 2.
   But yet we see the decree was fixed, and all those varieties did but
   orderly work in an exact method for the glorious accomplishment of it.

   England's troubles have not yet endured above half the odd years of
   those reformers' task; yet, good God! how short-breathed are men! What
   fainting is there! what repining, what grudging against the ways of the
   Lord! But let me tell you, that as the water in the stream will not go
   higher than the head of the fountain, no more will the work in hand be
   carried one step higher or beyond the aim of its fountain, the counsel
   of God, from whence it hath its rise. And yet, as a river will break
   through all oppositions, and swell to the height of mountains, to go to
   the sea from whence it came; so will the stream of the gospel, when it
   comes out from God, break down all mountains of opposition, and not be
   hindered from resting in its appointed place. It were an easy thing to
   recall your minds to some trembling periods of time, when there was
   trembling in our armies, and trembling in our councils, -- trembling to
   be ashamed, to be repented of, -- trembling in the city and in the
   country; and men were almost at their wits' end for the sorrows and
   fears of those days: and yet we see how the unchangeable purpose of God
   hath wrought strongly through all these straits, from one end to
   another, that nothing might fall to the ground of what he had
   determined. If a man, in those days, had gone about to persuade us that
   all our pressures were good omens, that they all wrought together for
   our good, we could have been ready to cry, with the woman who, when she
   had recounted her griefs to the physician, and he still replied they
   were good signs, oi moi agathon apollumai, "Good signs have undone me,"
   -- These good signs will be our ruin: yet, behold, we hope the
   contrary. Our day hath been like that mentioned, Zech. xiv. 6, 7, -- a
   day whose light is neither clear nor dark, -- a day known only to the
   Lord, seeming to us to be neither day nor night. But God knew all this
   while that it was a day, -- he saw how it all wrought for the appointed
   end; and in the evening, in the close, it will be light, so light as to
   be to us discernible. In the meantime we are like unskilful men, [who]
   going to the house of some curious artist, so long as he is about his
   work, despise it as confused; but when it is finished, admire it as
   excellent:-- whilst the passages of providence are on us, all is
   confusion; but when the fabric is reared, glorious.

   Use 2. Learn to look upon the wisdom of God in carrying all things
   through this wonderful variety, exactly to answer his own eternal
   purpose; -- suffering so many mountains to lie in the way of reforming
   his churches and settling the gospel, that his Spirit may have the
   glory, and his people the comfort in their removal. It is a high and
   noble contemplation, to consider the purposes of God, so far as by the
   event revealed, and to see what impressions his wisdom and power do
   leave upon things accomplished here below, -- to read in them a
   temporary history of his eternal counsels. Some men may deem it
   strange, that his determinate will, which gives rule to these things,
   and could in a word have reached its own appointment, should carry his
   people so many journeys in the wilderness, and keep us thus long in so
   low estate. I say, -- not to speak of his own glory, which hath
   sparkled forth of this flinty opposition, -- there be divers things,
   things of light, for our good, which he hath brought forth out of all
   that darkness wherewith we have been overclouded. Take a few instances.

   (1.) If there had been no difficulties, there had been no deliverances.
   And did we never find our hearts so enlarged towards God upon such
   advantages, as to say, Well, this day's temper of spirit was cheaply
   purchased by yesterday's anguish and fear; -- that was but a being sick
   at sea?

   (2.) Had there been no tempests and storms, we had not made out for
   shelter. Did you never run to a tree for shelter in a storm, and find
   fruit which you expected not? Did you never go to God for safeguard in
   these times, [60] driven by outward storms, and there find unexpected
   fruit, the "peaceable fruit of righteousness," [61] that made you say,
   Happy tempest, which cast me into such a harbour? It was a storm [62]
   that occasioned the discovery of the golden mines of India; -- hath not
   a storm driven some to the discovery of the richer mines of the love of
   God in Christ?

   (3.) Had not Esau come against him with four hundred men, Jacob had not
   been called Israel; -- he had not been put to it to try his strength
   with God, and so to prevail. Who would not purchase with the greatest
   distress that heavenly comfort which is in the return of prayers? The
   strength of God's Jacobs in this kingdom had not been known, if the
   Esaus had not come against them. Some say, this war hath made a
   discovery of England's strength, what it is able to do. I think so
   also, -- not what armies it can raise against men, but with what armies
   of prayers and tears it is able to deal with God. Had not the brethren
   strove in the womb, Rebekah had not asked, "Why am I thus?" -- nor
   received that answer, "The elder shall serve the younger." Had not two
   sorts of people struggled in the womb of this kingdom, we had not
   sought, nor received, such gracious answers. Thus do all the various
   motions of the lower wheels serve for our good, and exactly answer the
   impression they receive from the master-spring, the eternal purpose of
   God. Of this hitherto.

   II. The sending of the gospel to any one nation rather than another, as
   the means of life and salvation, is of the mere free grace and good
   pleasure of God.

   Now; before I come to make out the absolute independency and freedom of
   this distinguishing mercy, I shall premise three things.

   1. That the not sending of the gospel to any person or people is of
   God's mere good pleasure, [63] and not of any peculiar distinguishing
   demerit in that person or people. No man or nation doth "majorem ponere
   obicem," lay more or greater obstacles against the gospel than another.
   There is nothing imaginable to lay a block in the passage thereof but
   only sin. Now, these sins are, or may be, of two sorts; -- either,
   first, Against the gospel itself, which may possibly hinder the
   receiving of the gospel, but not the sending of it, which it
   presupposeth: secondly, Against the covenant they are under, and the
   light they are guided by, before the beams of the gospel shine upon
   them. Now, in these generally all are equal, [64] all having sinned and
   come short of the glory of God; and in particular sins against the law
   and light of nature, no nations have gone farther than they which were
   soonest enlightened with the word, as afterward will appear: so that
   the sole cause of this is the good pleasure of God, as our Saviour
   affirmeth, Matt. xi. 25, 26.

   2. That sins against the covenant of works, which men are under before
   the gospel [65] comes unto them, cannot have any general demerit, that
   the means of life and salvation by free grace should not be imparted to
   them. It is true, all nations have deserved to be turned into hell, and
   a people that have had the truth, and detained it in ungodliness,
   deserve to be deprived of it; -- the first, by virtue of the sanction
   of the first broken covenant; the other, by sinning against that which
   they had of the second. But that men in a fallen condition, and not
   able to rise, should hereby deserve not to be helped up, needeth some
   distinction to clear it.

   There is, then, a twofold demerit and indignity; -- one merely
   negative, or a not deserving to have good done unto us; the other
   positive, deserving that good should not be done unto us. The first of
   these is found in all the world, in respect of the dispensation of the
   gospel. If the Lord should bestow it only on those who do deserve it,
   he must for ever keep it closed up in the eternal treasure of his own
   bosom. The second is found directly in none, in respect of that
   peculiar way which is discovered in the gospel, because they had not
   sinned against it; which, rightly considered, gives no small lustre to
   the freedom of grace.

   3. That there is a right in the gospel, and a fitness in that gracious
   dispensation to be made known to all people in the world; that no
   singular portion of the earth should be any longer a holy land, or any
   mountain of the world lift up its head above its fellows. And this
   right hath a double foundation.

   (1.) The infinite value and worth of the blood of Christ, giving
   fulness [66] and fitness to the promises founded thereon to be
   propounded to all mankind; for through his blood remission of sins is
   preached to whosoever believes on him, Acts x. 43, -- "to every
   creature," Mark xvi. 15. God would have a price of that infinite value
   for sin laid down, as might justly give advantage to proclaim a pardon
   infinitely to all that will come in and accept of it, -- there being in
   it no defect at all (though intentionally only a ransom for some), but
   that by it the world might know that he had done whatsoever the Father
   commanded him, John xiv. 31.

   (2.) In that economy and dispensation of the grace of the new covenant,
   breaking forth in these latter days, whereby all external distinction
   of places and persons, [67] people and nations, being removed, Jesus
   Christ taketh all [68] nations to be his inheritance, dispensing to all
   men the grace of the gospel, bringing salvation, as seemeth best to
   him, Tit. ii. 11, 12. For being lifted up, he drew all unto him, having
   redeemed us with his blood, "out of every kindred and tongue, people
   and nation," Apoc. v. 9. And on these two grounds it is that the gospel
   hath in itself a right and fitness to be preached to all, even as many
   as the Lord our God shall call.

   These things being premised, I come to the proof of the assertion.

   Deut. vii. 7, 8. Moses is very careful in sundry places to get this to
   take an impression upon their spirits, that it was mere free grace that
   exalted them into that condition and dignity wherein they stood, by
   their approach unto God, in the enjoyment of his ordinances; -- in this
   most clearly rendering the cause of God's love in choosing them,
   mentioned, verse 7, to be only his love. Verse 8, his love towards them
   is the cause of his love, -- his free love eternally determining, his
   free love actually conferring, those distinguishing mercies upon them.
   It was not for their righteousness, for they were a stiff-necked
   people, Deut. ix. 6.

   Matt. xi. 25, 26: Our Saviour laying both these things together, the
   hiding of the mysteries of salvation from some, and revealing them to
   others, renders the same reason and supreme cause of both, of which no
   account can be rendered, only the good pleasure of God: "I thank thee,
   O Father." And if any will proceed higher, and say, Where is the
   justice of this, that men equally obnoxious should be thus unequally
   accepted? we say, with Paul, "That he will have mercy on whom he will
   have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. And who art thou, O man,
   that disputest against God?" "Si tu es homo, et ego homo, audiamus
   dicentem, O homo, Tu quis?" [69] To send a pardon to some that are
   condemned, suffering the rest to suffer, hath no injustice. If this
   will not satisfy, let us say, with the same apostle, O bathos, Rom. xi.
   33, "O the depth," etc.

   Yea, so far is it from truth, that God should dispense and grant his
   word and means of grace by any other rule, or upon any other motive,
   than his own will and good pleasure, [70] that we find in Scripture the
   direct contrary to what we would suppose, even mercy showed to the more
   unworthy, and the more worthy passed by; reckoning worthiness and
   unworthiness by less or greater sin, with less or more endeavours.
   Christ preaches to Chorazin and Bethsaida, which would not repent; and
   at the same time denies the word to Tyre and Sidon, which would have
   gotten on sackcloth and ashes, when the other continued delicate
   despisers, Matt. xi. 21. Ezekiel is sent to them that would not hear
   him, passing by them that would have hearkened, chap. iii. 5; which is
   most clear, Rom. ix. 30, 31, "The Gentiles, which followed not after
   righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
   which is of faith; but Israel, which followed after the law of
   righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness." If, in
   the dispensation of the gospel, the Lord had had any respect to the
   desert of people, Corinth, that famous place of sinning, had not so
   soon enjoyed it, -- the people whereof, for worship, were led away with
   dumb idols, 1 Cor. xii. 2; and for their lives, you have them drawn to
   the life, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11, "Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers;
   effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous,
   drunkards, revilers, extortioners," kai tauta tines ete, which is to be
   repeated, apo tou koinou, -- "Some of you were fornicators, some
   idolaters; but ye are sanctified." Seem not these to the eye of flesh
   goodly qualifications for the gospel of Jesus Christ? Had these men
   been dealt withal according as they had disposed themselves, not fitter
   fuel for hell could the justice of God require; but yet ye see to these
   the gospel comes with the first, "a light shines to them that sit in
   darkness and in the shadow of death."

   If God send or grant the gospel, which is the means of grace, upon any
   other ground but his mere good pleasure, then it must be an act of
   remunerative justice. [71] Now, there is no such justice in God towards
   the creature, but what is founded upon some preceding covenant, or
   promise of God to the creature, -- which is the only foundation of all
   relation between God and man, -- but only those that attend creation
   and sovereignty. Now, what promise do you find made to, or covenant
   with, a people as yet without the gospel; -- I mean conditional
   promises, inferring any good to be bestowed on any required performance
   on their part? Free, absolute promises there are innumerable, that
   light should shine to them that were in darkness, and those be called
   God's people which were not his people; but such as depend on any
   condition on their part to be fulfilled, we find none. God bargains
   [72] not with the creature about the gospel, knowing how unable he is
   to be merchant for such pearls. If a man had all that goodness which
   may be found in man without Jesus Christ, they would not in the least
   measure procure a discovery of him.

   I deny not but God may, and perhaps sometimes doth, reveal himself to
   some in a peculiar and extraordinary manner. Whereunto tends that story
   in Aquinas, [73] of a corpse taken up in the days of Constantine and
   Irene, with a plate of gold, and this inscription on it, "Christus
   nascetur ex virgine, ego credo in illum. O sol sub Irenae et
   Constantini temporibus iterum me videbis." But that this should be
   regular unto men living, meta logou, in Justin Martyr's phrase, [74] or
   using their naturals aright (which is impossible they should, the right
   use of naturals depending on supernaturals), is wide from the word.

   If there be any outward motive of granting the gospel unto any, it is
   some acceptable performances of theirs, holding up to the rule and will
   of God. Now, this will and rule having no saving revelation but by the
   gospel, which should thus be procured by acts agreeable unto it, makes
   up a flat contradiction, -- supposing the revelation of the gospel
   before it be revealed. Doubtless, according to all rules of justice to
   us made known, it is an easier thing to deserve heaven by obedience now
   under the covenant of works, than being under that covenant, to do any
   thing that might cause a new way of salvation, such as the gospel is,
   to be revealed.

   With some observations I descend to application.

   [1.] There is the same reason of continuing the gospel unto a people as
   of sending it; especially if oppositions rise high, apt and able in
   themselves for its removal. Never nation as yet enjoyed the word that
   deserved the continuance of the word. God hath always [75] something
   against a people, to make the continuing of his grace to be of grace,
   the not removing of his love to be merely of love, and the preaching of
   the gospel to be a mercy of the gospel, free and undeserved. Though
   there be work, and labour, and patience for Christ's sake at Ephesus;
   yet there is somewhat against Ephesus, Rev. ii. 4, 5, for which he
   might justly remove his candlestick; and if he doth it not, it is of
   the same mercy that first set it there. As God lays out goodness and
   grace in the entrance; so patience, long-suffering, and forbearance in
   the continuance. He bears with our manners, whilst we grieve his
   Spirit. Look upon the face of this kingdom, and view the body of the
   people; think of the profaneness, villany, trampling upon the blood of
   Jesus, ignorance, contempt of God and his ways, despising his
   ordinances, reviling his servants, branding and defaming the power of
   godliness, persecuting and tearing one another, -- and yet hear the
   joyful sound of the word in every corner; and you will quickly
   conclude, that you see a great fight of God's love against our sins,
   and not of our goodness for his love.

   [2.] There is the same reason of the reformation and the doctrine of
   the gospel corrupted with error, and of the worship of God collapsed
   with superstition, as of the first implantation of the gospel. God, in
   his just judgment of late ages, had sent upon the western world the
   efficacy of error, that they should believe lies, because they received
   not the love of the truth; as he foretold, 2 Thess. ii. 1. Now, whence
   is it that we see some of the nations thereof as yet suffered to walk
   in their own ways, others called to repentance, -- some wildernesses
   turned into green pastures for the flock of God, and some places made
   barren wildernesses for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? How
   comes it that this island glories in a reformation, and Spain sits
   still in darkness? Is it because we were better than they, or less
   engaged in antichristian delusions? Doubtless no. No nation in the
   world drank deeper of that cup of abomination. It was a proverbial
   speech amongst all, "England was our good ass" (a beast of burden) for
   (Antichrist whom they called) the Pope. Nothing but the good pleasure
   of God and Christ, freely coming to refine us, Mal. iii. 1-4, caused
   this distinction.

   [3.] Though men can do nothing towards the procuring of the gospel, yet
   men may do much for the expulsion of the gospel. If the husbandmen
   prove idle or self-seekers, the vineyard will be let to others; and if
   the people love darkness more than light, the candlestick will be
   removed. Let England beware! Now this men may do, either upon the first
   entrance of the gospel, or after some continuance of it. The gospel
   spreading itself over the earth, finds entertainment, like that of
   men's seeking plantations amongst barbarous nations; sometimes kept out
   with hideous outcries at the shore, -- sometimes suffered to enter with
   admiration, and a little after violently assaulted.

   1st, In the first way, how do we find the Jews putting far from them
   the word of life, and rejecting the counsel of God at its first
   entrance, -- calling for night at the rising of the sun! Hence, Acts
   xiii. 41, Paul concludes his sermon to thorn with, "Behold, ye
   despisers, and wonder, and perish;" -- and verse 46, it was necessary
   the word should be preached to them; but seeing they judged themselves
   unworthy, they were forsaken; -- and verse 51, they shake off the dust
   of their feet against them, -- a common symbol in those days of the
   highest indignation and deepest curse. The like stubbornness we find in
   them, Acts xxviii.; whereupon the apostle wholly turned himself to the
   Gentiles, verse 28. How many nations of Europe, at the beginning of the
   Reformation, rejected the gospel of God, and procured Christ, with the
   Gadarenes, to depart as soon as he was entered, will be found at the
   last day written with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus that suffered
   amongst them!

   2dly, After some continuance. So the Church of Laodicea, having for a
   while enjoyed the word, fell into such a tepid condition, -- so little
   moved with that fire that Christ came to send upon the earth, Rev. iii.
   15, 16, -- that the Lord was even sick and weary with bearing them. The
   Church of Rome, famous at the first, yet quickly, by the advantage of
   outward supportments and glorious fancies, became head of that fatal
   rebellion against Jesus Christ, [76] which spread itself over most of
   the churches in the world; -- God hereupon sending upon them the
   "efficacy of error to believe a lie, that they all might be damned that
   believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness," 2 Thess.
   ii. 1, -- suffering them to retain the empty names of Church and
   Gospel; which, because they usurp only for their advantage here, to
   appear glorious, the Lord will use for the advancing of his justice
   hereafter, to show them inexcusable. O Lord, how was England of late,
   by thy mercy, delivered from this snare! A captain being chosen for the
   return of this people into Egypt, O how hath thy grace fought against
   our backsliding! And let none seek to extenuate this mercy, by
   catalogues of errors still amongst us: there is more danger of apostasy
   against Christ, and rebellion against the truth, in one Babylonish
   error, owned by men pretending to power and jurisdiction over others,
   than in five hundred scattered amongst inconsiderable, disunited
   individuals. I would to God we could all speak and think the same
   things, -- that we were all of one mind, even in the most minute
   differences that are now amongst us. But yet the truth is, the kingdom
   of Jesus Christ never shakes amongst a people until men, pretending to
   act with a combined mixed power of heaven and earth, unto which all
   sheaves must bow or be thrashed, do, by virtue of this trust, set up
   and impose things or opinions deviating from the rule. As it was in the
   Papacy, errors owned by mixed associations, civil and ecclesiastical,
   are for the most part incurable, be they never so absurd and foolish;
   of which the Lutheran ubiquities and consubstantiation are a tremendous
   example. These things being presupposed, --

   Use 1. Let no flesh glory in themselves, but let every mouth be
   stopped; for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Who
   hath made the possessors of the gospel to differ from others? or what
   have they that they have not received? 1 Cor. iv. 7. Why are these
   things hidden from the great and wise of the world, and revealed to
   babes and children, but because, O Father, so it pleased thee? Matt.
   xi. 26. "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he
   hardeneth," Rom. ix. 18. Ah, Lord, if the glory and pomp of the world
   might prevail with thee to send thy gospel, it would supply the room of
   the cursed Alkoran, and spread itself in the palaces of that strong
   lion of the east who sets his throne upon the necks of kings; but,
   alas! Jesus Christ is not there. If wisdom, learning, pretended
   gravity, counterfeit holiness, real policy, were of any value in thine
   eyes to procure the word of life, it would be as free and glorious at
   Rome as ever; but, alas! Antichrist hath his throne there. Jesus Christ
   is not there. If will-worship and humilities, neglect of the body,
   macerations, superstitions, beads, and vainly-repeated prayers, had any
   efficacy before the Lord, the gospel, perhaps, might be in the cells of
   some recluses and monks; but, alas! Jesus Christ is not there. If moral
   virtues to an amazement, exact civil honesty and justice, that soul of
   human society, could have prevailed aught, the heathen worthies in the
   days of old had had the promises; but, alas! Jesus Christ was far away.
   Now, if all these be passed by, to whom is the report of the Lord made
   known? to "whom is his arm revealed?" Why, to a handful of poor sinners
   amongst the nations formerly counted fierce and barbarous. [77] And
   what shall we say to these things? -- O bathos, "O the depth," etc.

   Use 2. Let England consider with fear and trembling the dispensation
   that it is now under; -- I say, with fear and trembling, for this day
   is the Lord's day, wherein he will purge us or burn us, according as we
   shall be found silver or dross:-- it is our day, wherein we must mend
   or end. Let us look to the rock from whence we were hewed, and the hole
   of the pit from whence we were digged. Was not our father an Amorite,
   and our mother an Hittite? Are we not the posterity of idolatrous
   progenitors? [78] -- of those who worshipped them who by nature were no
   gods? How often, also, hath this land forfeited the gospel! God having
   taken it twice away, who is not forward to seize upon the forfeiture.
   In the very morning of the gospel, the Sun of righteousness shone upon
   this land; and they say the first potentate on the earth that owned it
   was in Britain. [79] But as it was here soon professed, so it was here
   soon abused; that part of this island which is called England being the
   first place I read of which was totally bereaved of the gospel, -- the
   sword of the then pagan Saxons fattening the land with the blood of the
   Christian inhabitants, [80] and in the close wholly subverting the
   worship of God. Long it was not ere this cloud was blown over; and
   those men who had been instruments to root out others submitted their
   own necks to the yoke of the Lord; and, under exceeding variety in
   civil affairs, enjoyed the word of Mace, until, by insensible degrees,
   like summer unto winter, or light unto darkness, it gives place to
   antichristian superstition, and left the land in little less than a
   paganish darkness, drinking deep of the cup of abominations mingled for
   it by the Roman harlot. And is there mercy yet in God to recover a
   twice over lost backsliding people? Might not the Lord have said unto
   us, What shall I do unto thee, O island? How shall I make thee as
   Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? But his heart is turned within
   him, his repentings are kindled together: the dry bones shall live, and
   the fleece shall be wet, though all the earth be dry. God will again
   water his garden, once more purge his vineyard, -- once more of his own
   accord he will take England upon liking, though he had twice deservedly
   turned it out of his service. So that, "coming as a refiner's fire, and
   as fuller's soap, to purify the sons of Levi, to purge them as gold and
   silver, to offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness," to reform
   his churches, England, as soon as any, hath the benefit and comfort
   thereof. Nay, the reformation of England shall be more glorious than of
   any nation in the world, being carried on neither by might nor power,
   but only by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. But is this the utmost
   period of England's sinning, and God's showing mercy, in continuing and
   restoring of the gospel? No, truly: we again in our days have made
   forfeiture of the purity of his worship, by an almost universal
   treacherous apostasy; from which the free grace and good pleasure of
   God hath made a great progress again towards a recovery.

   There are two sorts of men that I find exceedingly ready to extenuate
   and lessen the superstition and popish tyranny of the former days, into
   which we were falling.

   (1.) Such as were industriously instrumental in it, whose suffrages had
   been loud for the choice of a captain to return into Egypt, -- men
   tainted with the errors and loaded with the preferments of the times;
   with all those who blindly adhere to that faction of men who as yet
   covertly drive on that design:-- to such as these all was nothing, and
   to them it is no mercy to be delivered. And the truth is, it is a
   favour to the lamb, and not the wolf, to have him taken out of his
   mouth; but these men have interest by those things which have no ears,
   against which there is no contending.

   (2.) Such as are disturbed in their optics, or have gotten false
   glasses, [81] representing all things unto them in dubious colours.
   Which way soever they look, they can see nothing but errors, -- errors
   of all sizes, sorts, sects, and sexes, -- errors and heresies from the
   beginning to the end; which have deceived some men, not of the worst,
   and made them think that all before was nothing, in comparison of the
   present confusion. A great sign they felt it not, or were not troubled
   at it; as if men should come into a field, and seeing some red weeds
   and cockle among the corn, should instantly affirm there is no corn
   there, but all weeds, and that it were much better the hedges were
   down, and the whole field laid open to the boars of the forest: but the
   harvest will one day show the truth of these things. But that these
   apprehensions may not too much prevail, to the vilifying and
   extenuating of God's mercy, in restoring to us the purity and liberty
   of the gospel, give me leave, in a few words, to set out the danger of
   that apostasy from which the good pleasure of God hath given us a
   deliverance. I shall instance only in a few things. Observe then, that,
   --

   [1.] The darling errors of late years were all of them stones of the
   old Babel, closing and coupling with that tremendous fabric which the
   man of sin had erected to dethrone Jesus Christ, -- came out of the
   belly of that Trojan horse, that fatal engine, which was framed to
   betray the city of God. They were popish errors, such as whereof that
   apostasy did consist which only is to be looked upon as the great
   adverse state of the kingdom of the Lord Christ. For a man to be
   disorderly in a civil state, yea, oftentimes through turbulency to
   break the peace, is nothing to an underhand combination with some
   formidable enemy for the utter subversion of it. Heedless and headless
   errors may breed disturbance enough, in scattered individuals, unto the
   people of God; but such as tend to a peace and association "cum
   ecclesia malignantium," tending to a total subversion of the sacred
   state, are far more dangerous. Now, such were the innovations of the
   late hierarchists. In worship, their paintings, [82] crossings,
   crucifixes, bowing, cringings, altars, tapers, wafers, organs, anthems,
   litany, rails, images, copes, vestments, -- what were they but Roman
   varnish, an Italian dress for our devotion, to draw on conformity with
   that enemy of the Lord Jesus? In doctrine, the divinity of Episcopacy,
   auricular confession, free-will, predestination on faith, yea, works
   foreseen, "limbus patrum," justification by works, falling from grace,
   authority of a church, which none knew what it was, canonical
   obedience, holiness of churches, and the like innumerable, -- what were
   they but helps to Sancta Clara, to make all our articles of religion
   speak good Roman Catholic? How did their old father of Rome refresh his
   spirit, to see such chariots as those provided to bring England again
   unto him! This closing with Popery was the sting in the errors of those
   days, which cause pining, if not death, in the episcopal pot.

   [2.] They were such as raked up the ashes of the ancient worthies,
   whose spirits God stirred up to reform his church, and rendered them
   contemptible before all, especially those of England, the most whereof
   died in giving their witness against the blind figment of the real
   presence, [83] and that abominable blasphemy of the cursed mass. In
   especial, how did England, heretofore termed ass, turn ape to the pope,
   having set up a stage, and furnished it with all things necessary for
   an unbloody sacrifice, [84] ready to set up the abomination of a
   desolation, and close with the god Maozim [mzym? Mauzzim, god of
   forces, Dan. xi. 38], who hath all their peculiar devotion at Rome?

   [3.] They were in the management of men which had divers dangerous and
   pernicious qualifications: as, --

   1st, A false repute of learning; I say, a false repute for the greater
   part, especially of the greatest. And yet, taking advantage of vulgar
   esteem, they bare out as though they had engrossed a monopoly of it, --
   though I presume the world was never deceived by more empty pretenders,
   especially in respect of any solid knowledge in divinity or antiquity;
   but yet their great preferments had got them a great repute of great
   deservings, -- enough to blind the eyes of poor mortals adoring them at
   a distance, and to persuade them, that all was not only law, but gospel
   too, which they broached: and this rendered the infection dangerous.

   2dly, A great hatred of godliness in the power thereof, or any thing
   beyond a form, in whomsoever it was found; yea, how many [85] odious
   appellations were invented for bare profession, to render it
   contemptible! -- especially in the exercise of their jurisdiction,
   thundering their censures against all appearance of zeal, and closing
   with all profane impieties; for were a man a drunkard, a swearer, a
   Sabbath-breaker, an unclean person, so he were no Puritan, and had
   money, -- "patet atri janua ditis," the Episcopal heaven was open for
   them all. Now, this was a dangerous and destructive qualification,
   which, I believe, is not professedly found in any party amongst us.

   3dly, Which was worst of all, they had centred in their bosoms an
   unfathomable depth of power, civil and ecclesiastical, to stamp their
   apostatical errors with authority, -- giving them not only the
   countenance of greatness, but the strength of power, violently urging
   obedience; and to me the sword of error never cuts dangerously but when
   it is managed with such a hand. This I am sure, that errors in such are
   not recoverable, without the utmost danger of the civil state.

   Let now, I beseech you, these and the like things be considered,
   especially the strong combination that was throughout the [86] papal
   world for the seducing of this poor nation (that I say nothing how this
   vial was poured out upon the very throne [87] ), and then let us all be
   ashamed and confounded in ourselves, that we should so undervalue and
   slight the free mercy of God in breaking such a snare, and setting the
   gospel at liberty in England. My intent was, having before asserted
   this restoration of Jerusalem to the good pleasure of God, to have
   stirred you up to thankfulness unto him, and self-humiliation in
   consideration of our great undeserving of such mercy; but, alas! as far
   as I can see, it will scarce pass for a mercy; and unless every man's
   persuasion may be a Joseph's sheaf, the goodness of God shall scarce be
   acknowledged. But yet let all the world know, and let the house of
   England know this day, that we lie unthankfully under as full a
   dispensation of mercy and grace as ever nation in the world enjoyed,
   and that without a lively acknowledgment thereof, with our own
   unworthiness of it, we shall one day know what it is (being taught with
   briers and thorns) to undervalue the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus.
   Good Lord! what would helpless Macedonians give for one enjoyment? O
   that Wales! O that Ireland! O that France! -- where shall I stop? I
   would offend none, but give me leave to say, O that every, I had almost
   said, O that any, part of the world had such helps and means of grace
   as these parts of England have, which will scarce acknowledge any mercy
   in it! The Lord break the pride of our spirits before it break the
   staff of our bread and the help of our salvation. O that the bread of
   heaven and the blood of Christ might be accounted good nourishment,
   though every one hath not the sauce he desireth! I am persuaded that if
   every Absalom in the land, that would be a judge for the ending of our
   differences, were enthroned (he spoke the people's good, though he
   intended his own power), the case would not be much better than it is.
   Well, the Lord make England, make this honourable audience, make us
   all, to know these three things:--

   First, That we have received such a blessing, in setting at liberty the
   truths of the gospel, as is the crown of all other mercies, yea,
   without which they were not valuable, yea, were to be despised; for
   success without the gospel, is nothing but a prosperous conspiracy
   against Jesus Christ.

   Secondly, That this mercy is of mercy; this love, of free love; and the
   grace that appeareth, of the eternal, hidden, free grace of God. He
   hath showed his love unto us because he loved us, and for no other
   reason in the world; this people being guilty of blood and murder of
   soul and body, adultery, and idolatry, and oppression, with a long
   catalogue of sins and iniquities.

   Thirdly, That the height of rebellion against God is the despising of
   spiritual gospel mercies. Should Mordecai have trodden the robes under
   his feet that were brought him from the king, would it not have been
   severely revenged? Doth the King of heaven lay open the treasures of
   his wisdom, knowledge, and goodness for us, and we despise them? What
   shall I say? I had almost said, hell punishes no greater sin: the Lord
   lay it not to our charge! O that we might be solemnly humbled for it
   this day, before it be too late!

   Use 3. To discover unto us the freedom of that effectual grace which is
   dispensed towards the elect, under and with the preaching of the word;
   for if the sending of the outward means be of free, [88] undeserved
   love, surely the working of the Spirit under that dispensation for the
   saving of souls is no less free; for "who hath made us differ from
   others? and what have we that we have not received?" O that God should
   say unto us in our blood, Live; -- that he should breathe upon us when
   we were as dry bones, dead in trespasses and sins! Let us remember, I
   beseech you, the frame of our hearts and the temper of our spirits, in
   the days wherein we knew not God and his goodness, but went on in a
   swift [89] course of rebellion. Can none of you look back upon any
   particular days or nights, and say, Ah, Lord, that thou shouldst be so
   patient and so full of forbearance, as not to send me to hell at such
   an instant! But, O Lord, that thou shouldst go farther, and blot out
   mine iniquities, for thine own sake, "when I made thee serve with my
   sins! "-- Lord, what shall I say it is? It is the free grace of my God!
   What expression transcendeth that, I know not.

   Use 4. Of caution. England received the gospel of mere mercy; let it
   take heed lest it lose it by justice; -- the placer of the candlestick
   can remove it. The truth is, it will not be removed unless it be
   abused; and woe to them from whom mercies are taken for being abused,
   -- from whom the gospel is removed for being despised! It had been
   better for the husbandmen never to have had the vineyard, than to be
   slain for their ill using of it: there is nothing left to do them good
   who are forsaken for forsaking the gospel.

   The glory of God was of late by many degrees departing from the temple
   in our land. That was gone to the threshold, yea, to the mount. If now
   at the return thereof, it find again cause to depart, it will not go by
   steps, but all at once. This island, or at least the greatest part
   thereof, as I formerly intimated, hath twice lost the gospel; -- once,
   when the Saxons wrested it from the Britons, -- when, if we may believe
   their own doleful, moaning [90] historian, they were given over to all
   wickedness, oppression, and villainy of life; which doubtless was
   accompanied with contempt of the word; though for faith and persuasion
   we do not find that they were corrupted, and do find that they were
   tenacious enough of antique discipline, as appeared in their following
   oppositions to the Roman tyranny, as in Beda. Secondly, It was lost in
   regard of the purity and power thereof, by blind superstition and
   antichristian impiety, accompanied also with abominable lewdness,
   oppression, and all manner of sin, in the face of the sun; so that
   first profaneness working a despising of the gospel, then superstition
   ushering in profaneness, have in this land showed their power for the
   extirpation of the gospel. Oh, that we could remember the days of old,
   that we could "consider the goodness and severity of God; -- on them
   which fell severity, but towards us goodness, if we continue in that
   goodness; for otherwise even we also shall be cut off!" Yet here we may
   observe, that though both these times there was a forsaking in the
   midst of the land, yet there was in it a tenth for to return "as a
   teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast
   their leaves;" so was the holy seed the substance thereof, Isa. vi. 13.
   As in the dereliction of the Jews, so of this nation, there was a
   remnant that quickly took root, and brought forth fruit, both in the
   one devastation and the other. Though the watcher and the holy one from
   heaven had called to cut down the tree of this nation, and to scatter
   its branches from flourishing before him; yet the stump and root was to
   be left in the earth with a band of iron, that it might spring again.
   Thus twice did the Lord come seeking fruit of this vine, doing little
   more than pruning and dressing it, although it brought forth wild
   grapes; but if he come the third time and find no fruit, the sentence
   will be, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" Now, to prevent
   this, I shall not follow all those gospel-supplanting sins we find in
   holy writ, only I desire to cautionate you and us all in three things.

   (1.) Take heed of pretending or holding out the gospel for a covert or
   shadow for other things. God will not have his gospel made a
   stalking-horse for carnal designs. Put not in that glorious name, where
   the thing itself is not clearly intended. If in any thing it be, let it
   have no compeer; if not, let it not be named. If that you aim at be
   just, it needs no varnish; if it be not, it is the worse for it. Gilded
   pills lose not their bitterness, and painted faces are thought to have
   no native beauty. All things in the world should serve the gospel; and
   if that be made to serve other things, God will quickly vindicate it
   into liberty.

   From the beginning of these troubles, right honourable, you have held
   forth religion and the gospel, as whose preservation and restoration
   was principally in your aims; and I presume malice itself is not able
   to discover any insincerity in this. The fruits we behold proclaim to
   all the conformity of your words and hearts. Now, the God of heaven
   grant that the same mind be in you still, in every particular member of
   this honourable assembly, in the whole nation, especially in the
   magistracy and ministry of it; -- that we be not like the boatmen, --
   look one way, and row another; -- cry "Gospel," and mean the other
   thing, -- "Lord, Lord," and advance our own ends; -- that the Lord may
   not stir up the staff of his anger and the rod of his indignation
   against us, as a hypocritical people.

   (2.) Take heed of resting upon and trusting to the privilege, however
   excellent and glorious, of the outward enjoyment of the gospel. When
   the Jews cried, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," the
   time was at hand that they should be destroyed. Look only upon the
   grace that did bestow, and the mercy that doth continue it. God will
   have none of his blessings rob him of his glory; and if we rest at the
   cistern, he will stop at the fountain.

   (3.) Let us all take heed of barrenness under it: "For the earth that
   drinks in the rain that cometh upon it, and beareth thorns and briers,
   is rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned," Heb.
   vi. 7, 8. Now, what fruits doth it require? Even those reckoned, Gal.
   v. 22, 23, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
   long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." O
   that we had not cause to grieve for a scarcity of these fruits, and the
   abundant plenty of those works of the flesh recounted, verses 19-21! O
   that that wisdom which is an eminent fruit of the gospel might flourish
   amongst us! -- it is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be
   entreated;" -- that we might have less writing, and more praying! --
   less envy, and more charity! that all evil surmisings, which are works
   of the flesh, might have no toleration in our hearts, but be banished
   for nonconformity to the golden rule of love and peace! James iii. 17.
   But apecho. Come we now to the last proposition.

   III. No men in the world want help like them that want the gospel; or,
   of all distresses, want of the gospel cries the loudest for relief.

   Rachel wanted children, and she cries, "Give me children, [91] or I
   die;" -- but that was her impatience; she might have lived, and have
   had no children; yea, see the justice of God, -- she dies so soon as
   ever she hath children. Hagar [92] wants water for Ishmael, and she
   will go far from him, that she may not see him die; -- a heavy
   distress; and yet if he had died, it had been but an early paying of
   that debt which in a few years was to be satisfied. But they that want
   the gospel may truly cry, Give us the gospel, or we die; and that not
   temporally with Ishmael, for want of water, but eternally in flames of
   fire.

   A man may want liberty, and yet be happy, as Joseph was; a man may want
   peace, and yet be happy, as David was; a man may want children, and yet
   be blessed, as Job was; a man may want plenty, and yet be full of
   comfort, as Micaiah was; -- but he that wants the gospel, wants every
   thing that should do him good. A throne without the gospel is but the
   devil's dungeon. Wealth without the gospel is fuel for hell.
   Advancement without the gospel is but a going high to have the greater
   fall.

   Abraham [93] wanting a child, complains, "What will the Lord do for me,
   seeing I go childless, and this Eliezer of Damascus must be my heir?"
   Much more may a man without the means of grace complain, What shall be
   done unto me, seeing I go gospel-less; and all that I have is but a
   short inheritance for this lump of clay, my body?

   When Elisha [94] was minded to do something for the Shunammite who had
   so kindly entertained him, he asks her whether he should speak for her
   to the king or the captain of the host. She replies, she dwelt in the
   midst of her own people, she needeth not those things; but when he
   finds her to want a child, and tells her of that, she is almost
   transported. Ah! how many poor souls are there who need not our word to
   the king or the captain of the host; but yet being gospel-less, if you
   could tell them of that, would be even ravished with joy!

   Think of Adam [95] after his fall, before the promise, hiding himself
   from God, and you have a perfect portraiture of a poor creature without
   the gospel. Now this appeareth, --

   1. From the description we have of the people that are in this state
   [96] and condition -- without the gospel. They are a people that sit in
   darkness, yea, in the region and shadow of death, Matt. iv. 16, 17;
   they are even darkness itself, John i. 5, -- within the dominion and
   dreadful darkness of death. Darkness was one of Egypt's plagues; but
   yet that was a darkness of the body, a darkness wherein men lived; --
   but this is a darkness of the soul, a darkness of death; for these men,
   though they live, yet are they dead. They are fully described, Eph. ii.
   12, "Without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
   from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
   world." Christless men, and Godless men, and hopeless men, -- and what
   greater distress in the world? Yea, they are called dogs, and unclean
   beasts. The wrath of God is upon them; they are the people of his curse
   and indignation. In the extreme north, one day and one night divide the
   year; but with a people without the gospel it is all night, -- the Sun
   of righteousness shines not upon them; it is night whilst they are
   here, and they go to eternal night hereafter. What the men of China say
   concerning themselves and others, that they have two eyes, the men of
   Europe one, and all the world besides is blind, may be inverted too.
   The Jews had one eye, sufficient to guide them; they who enjoy the
   gospel have two eyes; but the men of China, with the rest of the
   nations that want it, are stark blind, and reserved for the chains of
   everlasting darkness.

   2. By laying forth what the men that want the gospel do want with it.

   (1.) They want Jesus Christ, for he is revealed only by the gospel.
   Austin refused to delight in Cicero's "Hortensius," because there was
   not in it the name of Jesus Christ. [97] Jesus Christ is all, and in
   all; and where he is wanting there can be no good. Hunger cannot truly
   be satisfied without manna, the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ;
   [98] -- and what shall a hungry man do that hath no bread? Thirst
   cannot be quenched without that water or living spring, which is Jesus
   Christ; -- and what shall a thirsty soul do without water? A captive,
   as we are all, cannot be delivered without redemption, [99] which is
   Jesus Christ; -- and what shall the prisoner do without his ransom?
   Fools, as we are all, cannot be instructed without wisdom, which is
   Jesus Christ; -- without him we perish in our folly. All building
   without him is on the sand, which will surely fall. All working without
   him is in the fire, where it will be consumed. All riches without him
   have wings, and will away. "Mallem ruere cum Christo, quam regnare cum
   Caesare," said Luther. A dungeon with Christ, is a throne; and a throne
   without Christ, a hell. Nothing so ill, but Christ [100] will
   compensate. The greatest evil in the world is sin, and the greatest sin
   was the first; and yet Gregory feared not to cry, "O felix culpa, quae
   talem meruit redemptorem!" -- "O happy fault, which found such a
   Redeemer!" All mercies without Christ are bitter; and every cup is
   sweet that is seasoned but with a drop of his blood; -- he truly is
   "amor et deliciae humani generis," -- the love and delight of the sons
   of men, -- without whom they must perish eternally; "for there is no
   other name given unto them, whereby they may be saved, Acts iv. 12. He
   is the Way; [101] men without him are Cains, wanderers, vagabonds:-- he
   is the Truth; men without him are liars, like the devil, who was so of
   old:-- he is the Life; [102] without him men are dead, dead in
   trespasses and sins:-- he is the Light; without him men are in
   darkness, and go they know not whither:-- he is the Vine; those that
   are not grafted in him are withered branches, prepared for the fire:--
   he is the Rock; men not built on him are carried away with a flood:--
   he is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the author and the
   ender, the founder and the finisher of our salvation. He that hath not
   him, hath neither beginning of good, nor shall have end of misery. O
   blessed Jesus! how much better were it not to be, than to be without
   thee! -- never to be born, than not to die in thee! A thousand bells
   come short of this, eternally to want Jesus Christ, as men do that want
   the gospel.

   (2.) They want all holy communion with God, wherein the only happiness
   of the soul doth consist. He is the life, light, joy, and blessedness
   of the soul; -- without him the soul in the body is but a dead soul in
   a living sepulchre. It is true, there be many that say, "Who will show
   us any good?" [103] but unless the Lord lift up the light of his
   countenance upon us, we perish for evermore. "Thou hast made us for
   thyself, O Lord; and our heart is unquiet until it come to thee." You
   who have tasted how gracious the Lord is, who have had any converse and
   communion with him in the issues and goings forth of his grace, those
   delights of his soul with the children of men, would you live -- would
   not life itself, with a confluence of all earthly endearments, be a
   very hell -- without him? Is it not the daily language of your hearts,
   "Whom have we in heaven but thee? and on earth there is nothing in
   comparison of thee?" The soul of man is of a vast, boundless
   comprehension; so that if all created good were centred into one
   enjoyment, and that bestowed upon one soul, because it must needs be
   finite and limited, as created, it would give no solid contentment to
   his affections, nor satisfaction to his desires. In the presence and
   fruition of God alone there is joy for evermore; at his right hand are
   rivers of pleasure, the well-springs of life and blessedness. Now, if
   to be without communion with God in this life, wherein the soul hath so
   many avocations from the contemplation of its own misery (for earthly
   things are nothing else), is so unsupportable a calamity; ah! what
   shall that poor soul do that must want him for eternity? -- as all they
   must do who want the gospel.

   (3.) They want all the ordinances of God, -- the joy of our hearts
   [104] and comfort of our souls. Oh! the sweetness of a Sabbath! the
   heavenly raptures of prayer! -- oh! the glorious communion of saints,
   which such men are deprived of! If they knew the value of the hidden
   pearl, and these things were to be purchased, what would such poor
   souls not part with for them?

   (4.) They will at last want heaven and salvation. They shall never come
   to the presence of God in glory, never inhabit a glorious mansion; --
   they shall never behold Jesus Christ, but when they shall call for
   [105] rocks and mountains to tall upon them, to hide them from his
   presence; -- they shall want [106] light in utter darkness, want life
   under the second death, want refreshment in the midst of flames, want
   healing under gnawing of conscience, want grace continuing to
   blaspheme, want glory in full misery; -- and, which is the sum of all
   this, they shall want an end of all this; for "their worm dieth not,
   neither is their fire quenched."

   3. Because being in all this want, they know not that they want any
   thing, and so never make out for any supply. Laodicea knew much; but
   yet because she knew not her wants, [107] she had almost as good have
   known nothing. Gospel-less men know not that they are blind, and seek
   not for eye-salve; they know not that they are dead, and seek not for
   life. Whatever they call for, not knowing their wants, is but like a
   man's crying for more weight to press him to death; and therefore, when
   the Lord comes to any with the gospel, he is "found of them that sought
   him not, and made manifest to them that asked not after him," Rom. x.
   20. This is a seal upon their misery, without God's free mercy, like
   the stone laid upon the mouth of the cave by Joshua, to keep in the
   five kings, until they might be brought out to be hanged." [108] All
   that men do in the world is but seeking to supply their wants; --
   either their natural wants, that nature may be supplied; or their
   sinful wants, that their lusts may be satisfied; or their spiritual
   wants, that their souls may be saved. For the two first, men without
   the gospel lay out all their strength; but of the last there is amongst
   them a deep [109] silence. Now this is all one as for men to cry out
   that their finger bleeds, whilst a sword is run through their hearts,
   and they perceive it not; -- to desire a wart to be cured, whilst they
   have a plague-sore upon them. And hence perhaps it is that they are
   said to go to [110] hell "like sheep," Ps. xlix. 14, -- very quietly,
   without dread, as a bird hasting to the snare, and not knowing that it
   is for his life, Prov. vii. 23, -- and there lie down in utter
   disappointment and sorrow for evermore.

   4. Because all mercies are bitter judgments to men that want the
   gospel; -- all fuel for hell, -- aggravations of condemnation; -- all
   cold drink to a man in a fever, pleasant at the entrance, but
   increasing its torments in the close; -- like the book in the
   Revelation, sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. When God shall
   come to require his bread and wine, his flax and oil, peace and
   prosperity, liberty and victories of gospel-less men, they will curse
   the day that ever they enjoyed them. So unspiritual are many men's
   minds, and so unsavoury their judgments, that they reckon men's
   happiness by their possessions, and suppose the catalogue of their
   titles to be a roll of their felicities, calling the proud happy, and
   advancing in our conceits "them that work wickedness," Mal. iii. 15;
   but God will one day come in with another reckoning, and make them know
   that all things without Christ are but as ciphers without a figure, --
   of no value. In all their banquets, where Christ is not a guest, "their
   vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the field of Gomorrah; their
   grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter," Deut. xxxii. 32,
   33; -- their palaces, where Christ is not, are but habitations of ziim
   and ochim, dragons and unclean beasts; -- their prosperity is putting
   them into full pasture, that they may be fatted for the day of
   slaughter, the day of consumption decreed for all the bulls of Bashan.
   The gospel bringing Christ, is the salt that makes all other things
   savoury.

   Use 1. To show us the great privilege and pre-eminence which, by the
   free grace of God, many parts of this island do enjoy. To us that sat
   in darkness and in the shadow of death a great light is risen, to guide
   us into the ways of peace. Let others recount the glories, benefits,
   profits, outward blessings of this nation; let us look only upon that
   which alone is valuable in itself, and makes other things so to be, --
   the gospel of Christ. It is reported of the heralds of our neighbour
   monarchs, that when one of them had repeated the numerous titles of his
   master of Spain, the other often repeated, France, France, France!
   intimating that the dominion which came under that one denomination
   would counterpoise the long catalogue of kingdoms and dukedoms
   wherewith the other flourished. Were we to contend with the grand
   seignior of the east about our enjoyments, we might easily bear down
   his windy, pompous train of titles with this one, -- which "millies
   repetitum placebit," -- The gospel, the gospel! Upon all the other
   things you may put the inscription in Daniel, "Mene, mene, tekel," they
   are "weighed in the balances, and found wanting;" but proclaim before
   those that enjoy the gospel, as Haman before Mordecai, "Lo, thus shall
   it be done to them whom the Lord will honour!" The fox in the fable had
   a thousand wiles to save himself from the hunters; but the cat knew
   "unum magnum," "one great thing" that would surely do it. Earthly
   supports and contentments are but a thousand failing wiles, which will
   all vanish in the time of need; the gospel, and Christ in the gospel,
   is that" unum magnum," that "unum necessarium," which alone will stand
   us in any stead. In this, this island is as the mountain of the Lord,
   -- exalted above the mountains of the earth. It is true, many other
   nations partake with us in the same blessing. Not to advance our own
   enjoyments in some particulars, -- wherein perhaps we might justly do
   it, -- but take all these nations with us, and what a molehill are we
   to the whole earth, overspread with Paganism, Mohammedanism,
   Antichristianism, with innumerable foolish heresies! And what is
   England, that it should be amongst the choice branches of the vineyard,
   the top-boughs of the cedars of God?

   Use 2. Shows that such great mercies, if not esteemed, if not improved,
   if abused, will end in great judgments. Woe be to that nation, that
   city, that person, that shall be called to an account for despising the
   gospel! Amos iii. 2, "You only have I known of all the families of the
   earth." What then? surely some great blessing is coming to that people
   whom God thus knows, so owns, as to make himself known unto them. No;
   but, "therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities." However
   others may have some ease or mitigation in their punishments, do you
   expect the utmost of my wrath. Luther said, he thought hell was paved
   with the bald skulls of friars. I know nothing of that; yet of this
   sure I am, that none shall have their portion so low in the nethermost
   hell, none shall drink so deep of the cup of God's indignation, as they
   who have refused Christ in the gospel. Men will curse the day to all
   eternity wherein the blessed name of Jesus Christ was made known unto
   them, if they continue to despise it. He that abuseth the choicest of
   mercies, shall have judgment without mercy. What can help them who
   reject the counsel of God for their good? If now England has received
   more culture from God than other nations, there is more fruit expected
   from England than other nations. A barren tree in the Lord's vineyard
   must be cut down for cumbering the ground; the sheep of God must "every
   one bear twins, and none be barren amongst them," Cant. iv. 2. If,
   after all God's care and husbandry, his vineyard brings forth wild
   grapes, he will take away the hedge, break down the wall, and lay it
   waste. For the present, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house
   of England; and if it be as earth which, when the rain falls upon it,
   brings forth nothing but thorns and briers, it is nigh unto cursing,
   and the end thereof is to be burned, Heb. vi. 8. Men utterly and for
   ever neglect that ground which they have tried their skill about, and
   laid out much cost upon, if it bring not forth answerable fruits. Now
   here give me leave to say, and the Lord avert the evil deserved by it!
   that England (I mean these cities and those other places which since
   the beginning of our troubles have enjoyed the gospel in a more free
   and plentiful manner than heretofore) hath showed itself not much to
   value it.

   (1.) In the time of straits, though the sound of the gospel passed
   through all our streets, our villages enjoying them who preached peace
   and brought glad tidings of good things, so that neither we, nor our
   fathers, nor our fathers' fathers, ever saw the like before us, --
   though manna fell round about our tents every day; yet, as though all
   were lost, and we had nothing, manna was loathed as light bread, -- the
   presence of Christ made not recompense for the loss of our swine, --
   men had rather be again in Egypt, than hazard a pilgrimage in the
   wilderness. If there be any here that ever entertained thoughts to give
   up the worship of God to superstition, his churches to tyranny, and the
   doctrine of the gospel to episcopal corruptions, in the pressing of any
   troubles, let them now give God the glory, and be ashamed of their own
   hearts, lest it be bitterness in the end.

   (2.) In the time of prosperity, by our fierce contentions about mint
   and cummin, whilst the weightier things of the gospel have been
   undervalued, languishing about unprofitable questions, etc.; but I
   shall not touch this wound, lest it bleed.

   Use 3. For exhortation, that every one of us, in whose hand there is
   any thing, would set in for the help of those parts of this island that
   as yet sit in darkness, yea, in the shadow of death, and have none to
   hold out the bread of life to their fainting souls. Doth not Wales cry,
   and the north cry, yea, and the west cry, Come and help us? -- we are
   yet in a worse bondage than any by your means we have been delivered
   from; -- if you leave us thus, all your protection will but yield us a
   more free and jovial passage to the chambers of death. Ah! little do
   the inhabitants of Goshen know, whilst they are contending about the
   bounds of their pasture, what darkness there is in other places of the
   land; how their poor starved souls would be glad of the crumbs that
   fall from our tables! O that God would stir up the hearts, --

   (1.) Of ministers, to cast off all by-respects, and to flee to those
   places where, in all probability, the harvest would be great, and the
   labourers are few or none at all! I have read of a heretic that swam
   over a great river in a frost to scatter his errors; the old Jewish,
   and now popish Pharisees, compass sea and land to make proselytes; the
   merchants trade not into more countries than the factors of Rome do to
   gain souls to his holiness. East and west, far and wide, do these
   locusts spread themselves, not without hazard of their lives as well as
   the loss of their souls, to scatter their superstitions; -- only the
   preachers of the everlasting gospel seem to have lost their zeal. O
   that there were the same mind in us that was in Jesus Christ, who
   counted it his meat and drink to do his Father's will, in gaining
   souls!

   (2.) Of the magistrates, -- I mean, of this honourable assembly, -- to
   turn themselves every lawful way for the help of poor Macedonians. The
   truth is, in this I could speak more than I intend; for perhaps my zeal
   and some men's judgments would scarce make good harmony This only I
   shall say, that if Jesus Christ might be preached, though with some
   defects in some circumstances, I should rejoice therein. O that you
   would labour to let all the parts of the kingdom taste of the sweetness
   of your successes, in carrying to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus;
   that the doctrine of the gospel might make way for the discipline of
   the gospel, without which it will be a very skeleton! When manna fell
   in the wilderness from the hand of the Lord, every one had an equal
   share. I would there were not now too great an inequality in the
   scattering of manna, when secondarily in the hand of men; whereby some
   have all, and others none; -- some sheep daily picking the choice
   flowers of every pasture, others wandering upon the barren mountains,
   without guide or food. I make no doubt but the best ways for the
   furtherance of this are known full well unto you; and you therefore
   have as little need to be petitioned in this as other things. What,
   then, remains, but that for this, and all other necessary blessings, we
   all set our hearts and hands to petition the throne of grace?
     __________________________________________________________________

   [4] "Ecclesia sicut luna defectus habet, et ortus frequentes; sed
   defectibus suis crevit, etc. Haec est vera Luna, quae de fratris sui
   luce perpetua, lumen sibi immortalitatis et gratiae mutuatur." -- Amb.
   Hex., lib. iv. cap. 2. Ps. lxviii. 13.

   [5] Isa. liv. 11; Zech. iv. 7.

   [6] Isa. liii. 2-5.

   [7] 1 John iii. 13; Rev. ii. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 4.

   [8] Isa. liii. 2.

   [9] Heb. vii. 25.

   [10] Cant. ii. 2.

   [11] Matt. x. 16.

   [12] Ps. lxxiv. 19.

   [13] "Eo ipso tempore, quo ad omnes gentes praedicatio Evangelii
   mittebatur, quaedam loca apostolis adire prohibebatur ab eo qui vult
   omnes homines salvos fieri.'?" -- Prosp. Ep. ad Rufin. [cap. xv]. Dios
   eteleieto boule. -- Hom. i. 5.

   [14] Mal. iv. 2.

   [15] Isa. i. 1.

   [16] Amos i. 1.

   [17] Nahum i. 1; Obad. 1.

   [18] Jer. i. 11, 13.

   [19] Ezek. i. 5-7; Zech. i. 8, iii. 9, 10, etc.; Dan. vii. 8, 9.

   [20] Zech. ii. 1.

   [21] Vid. Aquin. 2, 2, q. 174, art. 3, 4. Scot. in dist. tert.

   [22] Mede, Apost. of Later Times.

   [23] A Lapide, Sanctius in locum, etc.

   [24] Plutarch. in Vit. Bruti.

   [25] Calvin. in locum. "Dicebat se discernere (nescio quo sapore, quem
   verbis explicare non poterat) quid interesset inter Deum revelantem,"
   etc. -- Aug. Confes.

   [26] Acts iii. 6.

   [27] Plutarch de Defect. Oracu.

   Hebraios keletai me pais makaressin anasson,

   Ton de domon prolipein kai hodon palin authis hikesthai.
   Respons. Apoll. apud Euseb. Niceph.

   [28] "A nullo duro corde resistitur, quia cor ipsum emollit." -- Aug.,
   Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Deut. xxx. 6.

   [29] Lapide. Sanctius in loc. Rom. Script. Synd. ar. 1.

   [30] Humeis men oun este toioutoi, hupo toionde paideuton
   stoicheiothentes, Paulou tou Christophorou. -- Ignat. Epist. ad Eph.;
   Iren., lib. iii. cap. 3.

   [31] "Qui causam quae sit voluntatis divinae, aliquid majus eo
   quaerit." -- Aug. "Voluntas Dei nullo modo causam habet." -- Aquin, p.
   q. 12, a. 5.

   [32] Theia panton arche, di' hes a panta kai esti, kai diamenei.
   Theophrast. apud Picum de Provid.

   [33] "Providentia est ratio ordinis rerum ad finem." -- Th. p. q. 22,
   a. 1, 6.

   [34] Ezek. i. 1.

   [35] Non tantum res, sed rerum modos.

   [36] "Videtur ergo quod non sit aliqua deordinatio, deformitas, aut
   peccatum simpliciter in toto universo, sed tantummodo respectu
   interiorum causarum, ordinationem superioris causae volentium, licet
   non valentium, perturbare." -- Brad. de Caus. Dei, lib. i. cap. 34.

   [37] Hehamartia estin he anomia.

   [38] "Adeo summa justitiae regula est Dei voluntas, ut quicquid vult,
   eo ipso quod vult, justum habendum sit." -- Aug., Isa. xlvi. 10.

   [39] Gen. iii. 15, v. 26.

   [40] Gen. vi. 5.

   [41] Gen. v. 24, vi. 18, xii. 1, xviii. 1, 2; Ps. lxxvi. 1, 2; John iv.
   22.

   [42] Gal. iv. 4; John xii. 32; Acts xvii. 30; Mark xvi. 15; Mal. iii.
   4; Prov. viii. 31.

   [43] See Tertullian, Lib. ad Jud., reckoning almost all the known
   nations of the world, and affirming that they all, -- that is, some in
   them, -- in his days, submitted to the sceptre of Christ. He lived in
   the end of the second century.

   [44] Piscat. in loc.

   [45] Panta de lego ta ouk eph' hemin, ta gar eph' hemin, ou hemin
   pronoias, alla tou hemeterou autexousiou. -- Damascen. Satis impie.

   [46] Matt. x. 29; Job xiv. 5; Prov. xvi. 33, xxi. 1, 30, xix. 21.
   "Nihil fit nisi omnipotens fieri velit, vel ipse faciendo, vel sinendo
   ut fiat." -- Aug.

   [47] Gen. iv. 5-7, 1 Kings xxii. 19-21; 2 Kings v. 18, 19; Ps. lxxvi.
   10; Eccles. vii. 26; Isa. vi. 9-11, etc.

   [48] "Deus non operatur in malis, quod ei displicet; sed operatur per
   eos quod ei placet, recipientur veto non pro eo, quod Deus bene usus
   est ipsorum operibus malis, sed pro eo, quod ipsi male abusi sunt Dei
   operibus bonis." -- Fulgent. ad Monim.

   [49] 2 Thess. ii.; Acts iv.

   [50] "Liberatur pars hominum, parte pereunte. Sed cur horum sit
   misertus Deus -- illorum non misertus, quae scientia comprehendere,
   quae potest investigare sapientia? Latet discretionis istius ratio, sed
   non latet ipsa discretio." -- Prosp. de Vocat. Gen., [lib. i. cap. 15.]

   [51] Rom. viii. 28, 29, Eph. i. 4, 2 Tim. ii. 19.

   [52] Eph. ii. 1, 11.

   [53] "Non ob aliud dicit, non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi, nisi
   quia non elegerunt eum, ut eligeret eos; sed ut eligerent eum, elegit
   eos. Non quia praescivit eos credituros, sed quia facturus ipse fuerit
   credentes. Electi sunt itaque ante mundi constitutionem, ea
   praedestiuatione, qua Deus ipse sua futura facta praevidit: electi sunt
   autem de mundo, ea vocatione, qua Deus id, quod praedestinavit,
   implevit." -- August. de Praedest. Sanctorum. cap. xvi., xvii.

   [54] Matt. xi. 21; Acts xiii. 46.

   [55] Luke ii. 34; 1 Pet. ii. 7; Ezek. ii. 5; Matt. xxiv. 14; Rom. ix.
   22, 23.

   [56] Neh. iv. 17.

   [57] Zech. iv. 7.

   [58] Scal. de Emend. Temp.

   [59] I follow in this the vulgar or common account, otherwise there is
   no part of Scripture chronology so contended about as these weeks of
   Daniel; most concluding that they are terminated in the death of
   Christ, happening about the midst of the last week. But about their
   original, or rise, there is no small debate. Of the four decrees made
   by the Persian kings about the building of Jerusalem, -- viz., 1st, by
   Cyrus, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23; 2dly, by Darius, Ezra vi. 8, 3dly, by
   Artaxerxes, Ezra vii.; of the same to Nehemiah chap. ii., -- following
   the account of their reign set down in profane stories, the last only
   holds exactly. Tertullian ad Jud. begins it from Darius, when this
   vision appeared to Daniel, whom, it seems, he conceived to be Darius
   Hystaspes, that followed the Magi, and not Medus, that was before
   Cyrus; and so with a singular kind of chronology makes up his account.
   -- Vid. Euseb. Demon. Evan., lib. viii. cap. Func. Com. in Chron.
   Beroald. Chron., lib. iii. cap. 7, 8. Montacut. Apparat.

   [60] Prov. xviii. 10.

   [61] Heb. xii. 11.

   [62] Pet. Mart. de Relig. Jud. decad, i. lib. 1.

   [63] "Qui liberatur, gratiam diligat, qui non liberatur, debitum
   agnoscat." -- Aug. de Bon. Persev., cap. viii. "Ex nequissimis in ipso
   vitae exitu gratia invenit quos adoptet, cum tamen multi, etiam qui
   minus nocentes videantur, doni hujus alieni sunt." -- Pros. de Voc.
   Gen., lib. i. cap. 17.

   [64] 1 Cor. i. 25, 26.

   [65] Acts xiv. 16, 17, xvii. 30, 31.

   [66] Rom. viii. 32; Joel ii. 28; John xvii. 22; Rom. i. 5, xvi. 26.

   [67] Rom. ix. 13.

   [68] Eph. iii. 14, 15; Matt. xxvii. 19.

   [69] August.

   [70] "Si hoc voluntatum meritis voluerimus ascribere, ut malos
   neglexisse gratia, bonos autem elegisse videatur, resistet nobis
   innumerabilium causa populorum, quibus per tot secula, nulla coelestis
   doctrinae annunciatio corruscavit. Nec meliores fuisse eorum posteros
   possumus dicere, de quibus scriptum est, Gentium populus qui sedebat in
   tenebris, lucem vidit magnam.'?" -- Prosp. de Voc. Gen., lib. i. cap.
   15.

   [71] "Si de debito quaeratur respectu creaturae, in Deum cadere non
   potest, nisi ex aliqua suppositione ipsi Deo voluntaria, quae non
   potest esse nisi promisso aut pacto aliquo, ex quibus fidelitatis aut
   justitiae debitum oriri solet." -- Suarez. de Libert. Div. Vol., disp.
   1, sect. 2, num. 5.

   [72] "Deus nulla obligatione tenetur, autequam ipse fidem suam
   astringat, ergo ante promissionem nulla justitia distributiva in Deo
   reperitur." -- Vasq. in q. 21, a. 1, disp. 86.

   [73] Aquin. 2, 2, q. 2, art. 7.

   [74] Kai ohi meta logou biosantes Christianoi eisi. -- Justin., Apol.
   ii.

   [75] Hos. xi. 8, 9.

   [76] Nun de estin apostasia, apeStesan gar hoi anthropoi tes orthes
   pisteos. Cyrillus Hieros. Katechesis.

   [77] "Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita." --
   Tertul.

   [78] "Britanniam in Christianam consentire religionem." -- Origen. Hom.
   iv. in Ezek.

   [79] Niceph., lib. ii. cap. 40. Epist. Eleuth. ad Lucium, an. 169, apud
   Bar.

   [80] Anno 469 the Saxons entered.

   [81] "Nunc igitur si nominis odium est, quis nominum reatus? quae
   accusatio vocabulorum? nisi aut, barbarum sonat aliqua vox nominis, aut
   maledicum aut impudicum." -- Tertul. Apol. ad Gen., cap. iii.

   [82] See Canterburian self-conviction. See Ld. Dee. Coll., etc.

   [83] Coal from the Altar.

   [84] Altare Christianum. Antidotum Lincoln. Case of Greg.

   [85] Sapientior sis Socrate; doctior Augustino, etc.; Calvinianus si
   modo dicare clam vel propalam, mox Tartaris, Moscis, Afris, Turcisque
   saevientibus, et jacebis execratior, etc.

   [86] Rome's Master-piece.

   [87] Royal favourite.

   [88] "Non libertate gratiam, sed gratia libertatem consequimur." --
   Aug.

   [89] Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Acts xvi. 14; Phil. i. 29, ii. 13.

   [90] Gildas de Excid. Britanniae. "Omnia quae Deo placebant, et
   displicebant, aequali lance pendebantur, non igitur admirandum est
   degeneres tales patriam illam amittere, quam praedicto modo
   maculabant." -- Hist. M.S., apud Foxum.

   [91] Gen. xxx. 1, xxxv. 18.

   [92] Gen. xxi. 16.

   [93] Gen. xv. 2.

   [94] 2 Kings iv. 13, 14.

   [95] Gen. iii. 8.

   [96] Matt. vi. 23; Luke i. 79; Acts xxvi. 18; Rom. ii. 19; Eph. v. 8;
   Col. i. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 9.

   [97] Nomen Jesu non erat ibi.

   [98] John vi. 50; Rev. ii. 17; John iv. 14; Cant. iv. 12.

   [99] John vii. 37, 38; 1 Cor. i. 30.

   [100] "Pauca igitur de Christo." -- Tertul.

   [101] John xiv. 6.

   [102] John i. 3-5; Eph. iv. 18; John xv. 5; Matt. vii. 26, 27; Matt.
   xvi. 18.

   [103] Ps. iv. 6.

   [104] Ps. xlii. 1, 2, xxxiv. 1-4, etc.

   [105] Rev. vi. 16.

   [106] Matt. xxii. 13; Luke xvi. 24; Mark ix. 43, 44; Isa. lxvi. 24.

   [107] Rev. iii. 17.

   [108] Josh. x. 18.

   [109] "Ego propero ad inferos, nec est ut aliquid pro me agas." --
   Advocatus quidam moriens, apud Bel. de arte mor., lib. ii. cap. 10.

   [110] ls'vl?.
     __________________________________________________________________

A short defensative about church government, toleration, and petitions about
these things.

   Reader,

   This, be it what it will, thou hast no cause to thank or blame [111] me
   for. Had I been mine own, it had not been thine; my submission unto
   others' judgments being the only cause of submitting this unto thy
   censure. The substance of it is concerning things now doing, in some
   whereof I heretofore thought it my wisdom modestly haesitare (or at
   least not with the most, peremptorily to dictate to others my
   apprehensions), as wiser [112] men have done in weightier things; and
   yet this not so much for want of persuasion in my own mind, as out of
   opinion that we have already had too many needless and fruitless
   discourses about these matters. Would we count agree to spare perishing
   paper! [113] and for my own part, had not the opportunity of a few
   lines in the close of this sermon, and the importunity of not a few
   friends, urged, I could have slighted all occasions and accusations
   provoking to publish those thoughts which I shall now impart. The truth
   is, in things concerning the church (I mean things purely external, of
   form, order, and the like), so many ways have I been spoken, that I
   often resolved to speak myself, desiring rather to appear (though
   conscious to myself of innumerable failings) what indeed I am, than
   what others incuriously suppose. But yet the many I ever thought
   unworthy of an apology, and some of satisfaction, -- especially those
   who would make their own judgments a rule for themselves and others,
   impatient that any should know what they do not, or conceive otherwise
   than they of what they do, in the meantime, placing almost all religion
   in that which may be perhaps a hindrance of it, -- and being so valued,
   or rather overvalued, -- is certainly the greatest, Nay, would they
   would make their judgments only so far as they are convinced, and are
   able to make out their conceptions to others, and not also their
   impotent desires, to be the rule; that so they might condemn only that
   which complies not with their minds, and not all that also which they
   find to thwart their aims and designs! But so it must be. Once more
   conformity is grown the touchstone (and that not in practice, but
   opinion) amongst the greatest part of men, however otherwise of
   different persuasions. Dissent is the only crime; [114] and where that
   is all that is culpable, it shall be made all that is so. From such as
   these, who almost hath not suffered? but towards such the best defence
   is silence. Besides, my judgment commands me to make no known quarrel
   my own; but rather if it be possible, and as much as in me lieth, live
   peaceably with all men. Hieron polemon, I proclaim to none but men
   whose bowels are full of gall. In this spring of humours, lenitives for
   our own spirits may perhaps be as necessary as purges for others'
   brains. Farther, I desire to provoke [115] none; more stings than combs
   are got at a nest of wasps; even cold stones, smitten together, sparkle
   out fire: "The wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood." Neither do I
   conceive it wisdom, in these quarrelsome days, to intrust more of a
   man's self with others than is very necessary. The heart of man is
   deceitful; some that have smooth tongues have sharp teeth: such can
   give titles on the one side and wounds on the other. Any of these
   considerations would easily have prevailed with me "stultitia hac
   caruisse," had not mine ears been filled, presently after the preaching
   of the precedent sermon, with sad complaints of some, and false reports
   of others, neither of the lowest rank of men, as though I had helped to
   open a gate for that which is now called a Trojan horse; though
   heretofore counted an engine likelier to batter the walls of Babylon
   than to betray the towers of Zion. This urged some to be urgent with me
   for a word or two about church government, according to the former
   suggestions, undermined, and a toleration of different persuasions, as
   they said, asserted. Now, truly, to put the accusers to prove the
   crimination -- for so it was, and held forth a grievous crime in their
   apprehensions (what is really so God will judge) -- had been
   sufficient. [116] But I could not so evade; and therefore, after my
   sermon was printed to the last sheet, I was forced to set apart a few
   hours, [117] to give an account of what hath passed from me in both
   these things, which have been so variously reported; hoping that the
   reading may not be unuseful to some, as the writing was very necessary
   to me. And here, at the entrance, I shall desire at the hands of men
   that shall cast an eye on this heap of good meaning, these few, as I
   suppose, equitable demands:--

   First, Not to prosecute men into odious appellations, and then
   themselves, who feigned the crime, pronounce the sentence, -- like him
   who said of one brought before him, If he be not guilty, it is fit he
   should be; -- involving themselves in a double guilt, of falsehood and
   malice; and the aspersed parties in a double misery, of being belied in
   what they are, and hated for what they are not. If a man be not what
   such men would have him, it is odds but they will make him what he is
   not; -- if what he really is do not please, and that be not enough to
   render him odious, he shall sure enough be more. Ithacius will make all
   Priscillianists who are any thing more devout than himself. [118] If
   men do but desire to see with their own eyes, presently they are
   enrolled of this or that sect; every mispersuasion being beforehand, in
   petitions, sermons, etc., rendered odious and intolerable; -- in such a
   course, innocency itself cannot go long free. Christians deal with one
   another in earnest, as children in their plays clap another's coat upon
   their fellow's shoulders, and pretending to beat that, cudgel him they
   have clothed with it. "What shall be given unto thee, thou false
   tongue?" If we cannot be more charitable, let us be more ingenuous.
   Many a man hath been brought to a more favourable opinion of such as
   are called by dreadful names than formerly, by the experience of false
   impositions on himself.

   Secondly, Not to clothe our differences with expressions fitting them
   no better than Saul's armour did David; nor make them like a little man
   in a bombast coat upon stilts, walking about like a giant. Our little
   differences may be met at every stall, and in too many pulpits, swelled
   by unbefitting expressions into such a formidable bulk as poor
   creatures are even startled at their horrid looks and appearance;
   whilst our own persuasions are set out rhemasi bussinois, [119] with
   silken words and gorgeous apparel, as if we sent them into the world
   a-wooing. Hence, whatever it is, it must be temple building, -- God's
   government, -- Christ's scepter, throne, kingdom, -- the only way, that
   for want of which, errors, heresies, sins, spring among us, plagues,
   judgments, punishments come upon us. To such things as these all
   pretend, who are very confident they have found out the only way. Such
   big words as these have made us believe that we are mortal adversaries
   (I speak of the parties at variance about government), -- that one
   kingdom, communion, heaven cannot hold us. Now, truly, if this course
   be followed, -- so to heighten our differences, by adorning the truth
   we own with such titles as it doth not merit, and branding the errors
   we oppose with such marks as in cold blood we cannot think they
   themselves, but only in their (by us supposed) tendence, do deserve, --
   I doubt not but that it will be bitterness unto us all in the end. And,
   query, whether by this means many have not been brought to conceive the
   kingdom of Jesus Christ, which himself affirms to be within us, to
   consist in forms, outward order, positive rules, and external
   government. I design none, but earnestly desire that the two great
   parties at this day litigant in this kingdom, would seriously consider
   what is like to be the issue of such proceedings; and whether the
   mystery of godliness, in the power thereof, be like to be propagated by
   it. Let not truth be weighed in the balance of our interest. Will not a
   dram of that turn the scale with some against many arguments? Power is
   powerful to persuade.

   Thirdly, Not to measure men's judgments by their subscribing or
   refusing to subscribe petitions in these days about church government.
   For subscribers, would that every one could not see, with what a
   zealous nescience and implicit judgment many are led! And for refusers,
   though perhaps they could close with the general words wherewith
   usually they are expressed, yet there are so many known circumstances
   restraining those words to particular significations, directing them to
   by and secondary tendencies, as must needs make some abstain. For mine
   own part, from subscribing late petitions about church government, I
   have been withheld by such reasons as these:--

   1. I dare not absolutely assert, maintain, and abide by it (as rational
   men ought to do every clause in any thing owned by their subscription),
   that the cause of all the evils usually enumerated in such petitions is
   the want of church government, taking it for any government that ever
   yet was established amongst men, or in notion otherwise made known unto
   me; yea, I am confident that more probable causes in this juncture of
   time might be assigned of them. Neither can any be ignorant how
   plentifully such evils abounded when church discipline was most
   severely executed. [120] And, lastly, I am confident that whoever lives
   to see them suppressed by any outward means (when spiritual weapons
   shall be judged insufficient), will find it to be, not any thing either
   included in, or necessarily annexed unto, church discipline that must
   do it; but some other thing, not unlike that which, in days of yore,
   when all the world wondered after the beast, suppressed all truth and
   error, but only what the arch enemy of Jesus Christ was pleased to hold
   out to be believed. But of this afterward.

   2. I dare not affirm that the Parliament hath not established a
   government already, for the essentials of it; themselves affirming that
   they have, [121] and their ordinances about rulers, rules, and persons
   to be ruled (the "requisita" and materials of government), being long
   since extant. Now, to require a thing to be done by them who affirm
   that they have already done it, argues either much weakness or supine
   negligence in ourselves, not to understand what is effected; or a
   strong imputation on those that have done it, either fraudulently to
   pretend that which is false, or foolishly to aver what they do not
   understand. Yet, though I have learned to obey, as far as lawfully I
   may, my judgment is exceedingly far from being enslaved; and according
   to that, by God's assistance, shall be my practice; which, if it run
   cross to the prescriptions of authority, it shall cheerfully submit to
   the censure thereof. In the meantime, all petitioning of any party
   about this business seems to thwart some declarations of the House of
   Commons, whereunto I doubt not but they intend for the main inviolably
   and unalterably to adhere. Add hereunto, that petitioning in this kind
   was not long since voted breach of privilege, in them who might justly
   expect as much favour and liberty in petitioning as any of their
   brethren in the kingdom; and I have more than one reason to suppose
   that the purpose and design of theirs and others was one and the same.

   3. There are no small grounds of supposal that some petitions have not
   their rise from amongst them by whom they are subscribed, but that the
   spring and master-wheels giving the first motion to them are distant
   and unseen; myself having been lately urged to subscription upon this
   ground, that directions were had for it from above (as we used to speak
   in the country); -- yea, in this I could say more than I intend, aiming
   at nothing but the quieting of men's spirits, needlessly exasperated;
   only I cannot but say, that honest men ought to be very cautious how
   they put themselves upon any engagement that might make any party or
   faction in the kingdom suppose that their interest, in the least
   measure, doth run cross to that of the great Council thereof; thereby
   to strengthen the hands or designs of any, by occasioning an opinion
   that, upon fresh or new divisions, (which God of his mercy prevent!) we
   would not adhere constantly to our old principles, walking according to
   which we have hitherto found protection and safety. And I cannot but be
   jealous for the honour of our noble Parliament, whose authority is
   every day undermined, and their regard in the affections of the people
   shaken, by such dangerous insinuations; as though they could in an hour
   put an end to all our disturbances, but refuse it. This season, also,
   for such petitions seems to be very unseasonable, the greatest
   appearing danger impendent to this kingdom being from the contest about
   church government; which, by such means as this, is exceedingly
   heightened, and animosity added to the parties at variance.

   4. A particular form of church discipline is usually, in such
   petitions, either directly expressed or evidently pointed at and
   directed unto, as that alone which our covenant engageth us to embrace;
   yea, as though it had long since designed that particular way, and
   distinguished it from all others, the embracing of it is pressed, under
   the pain of breach of covenant, -- a crime abhorred of God and man.
   Now, truly, to suppose that our covenant did tie us up absolutely to
   any one formerly known way of church discipline, -- the words formally
   engaging us into a disquisition out of the word of that which is
   agreeable to the mind and will of God, -- is to me such a childish,
   ridiculous, selfish conceit, as I believe no knowing men will once
   entertain, unless prejudice, begotten by their peculiar interest, hath
   disturbed their intellectuals. For my part, I know no church government
   in the world already established amongst any sort of men, of the truth
   and necessity whereof I am convinced in all particulars; especially if
   I may take their practice to be the best intepreter of their maxims.

   Fourthly, Another "postulatum" is, that men would not use an
   overzealous speed, upon every small difference, to characterize men
   (otherwise godly and peaceable) as sectaries; knowing the odiousness of
   the name, [122] among the vulgar, deservedly or otherwise imposed, and
   the evil of the thing itself, rightly apprehended, whereunto lighter
   differences do not amount. Such names as this I know are arbitrary, and
   generally serve the wills of the greater number. They are commonly
   sectaries who, "jure aut injuria," are oppressed. Nothing was ever
   persecuted under an esteemed name. Names are in the power of many;
   things and their causes are known to few. There is none in the world
   can give an ill title to others, which from some he doth not receive.
   The same right which in this kind I have towards another, he hath
   towards me; unless I affirm myself to be infallible, not so him. Those
   names which men are known by when they are oppressed, they commonly use
   against others whom they seek to oppress. I would, therefore, that all
   horrid appellations, as increasers of strife, kindlers of wrath,
   enemies of charity, food for animosity, were for ever banished from
   amongst us. Let a spade be called a spade, so we take heed Christ be
   not called Beelzebub. I know my profession to the greatest part of the
   world is sectarism, as Christianity; amongst those who profess the name
   of Christ, to the greatest number I am a sectary, because a Protestant;
   [123] amongst Protestants, at least the one half account all men of my
   persuasion Calvinistical, sacramentarian sectaries; amongst these,
   again, to some I have been a puritanical sectary, an Arian heretic,
   because anti-prelatical; yea, and amongst these last, not a few account
   me a sectary because I plead for presbyterial government in churches:
   and to all these am I thus esteemed, as I am fully convinced,
   causelessly and erroneously. What they call sectarism, I am persuaded
   is "ipsissima veritas," the "very truth itself," to which they also
   ought to submit; that others also, though upon false grounds, are
   convinced of the truth of their own persuasion, I cannot but believe:
   and therefore, as I find by experience that the horrid names of
   heretic, schismatic, sectary, and the like, have never had any
   influence or force upon my judgment, nor otherwise moved me, unless it
   were unto retaliation, so I am persuaded it is also with others; for
   "homines sumus:" forcing them abroad in such liveries doth not at all
   convince them that they are servants to the master of sects indeed, but
   only makes them wait an opportunity to cast the like mantle on their
   traducers. And this usually is the beginning of arming the more against
   the few with violence, impatient of bearing the burdens which they
   impose on others' shoulders; by means whereof Christendom hath been
   made a theatre of blood, and one amongst all, after that by cruelty and
   villany he had prevailed above the rest, took upon him to be the only
   dictator in Christian religion. But of this afterward.

   Now, by the concession of these, as I hope, not unequitable demands,
   thus much at least I conceive will be attained, viz., that a peaceable
   dissent in some smaller things, disputable questions, not absolutely
   necessary assertions, deserves not any rigid censure, distance of
   affections, or breach of Christian communion and amity. In such things
   as these, "veniam petimusque damusque vicissim:" if otherwise, I
   profess I can hardly bring my mind to comply and close in with them
   amongst whom almost any thing is lawful but to dissent.

   These things being premised, I shall now set down and make public that
   proposal which heretofore I have tendered, as a means to give some
   light into a way for the profitable and comfortable practice of church
   government; drawing out of general notions what is practically
   applicable, so circumstantiated as of necessity it must be. And herein
   I shall not alter any thing, or in the least expression go off from
   that which long since I drew up at the request of a worthy friend,
   after a discourse about it; and this, not only because it hath already
   been in the hands of many, but also because my intent is not, either to
   assert, dispute, or make out any thing farther of my judgment in these
   things than I have already done (hoping for more leisure so to do than
   the few hours assigned to the product of this short appendix will
   permit), but only, by way of a defensative, to evince that the rumours
   which have been spread by some, and entertained by others too greedily,
   about this matter, have been exceeding causeless and groundless; so
   that though my second thoughts have, if I mistake not, much improved
   some particulars in this essay, yet I cannot be induced, because of the
   reason before recounted (the only cause of the publication thereof), to
   make any alteration in it; only I shall present the reader with some
   few things which gave occasion and rise to this proposal. As, --

   (1.) A fervent desire to prevent all farther division and separation,
   -- disunion of minds amongst godly men, -- suspicions and jealousies in
   the people towards their ministers, as aiming at power and unjust
   domination over them, -- fruitless disputes, languishings about
   unprofitable questions, breaches of charity for trifles, exasperating
   the minds of men one against another; -- all which growing evils,
   tending to the subversion of Christian love and the power of godliness,
   with the disturbance of the state, are too much fomented by that sad
   breach and division which is here attempted to be made up.

   (2.) A desire to work and draw the minds of all my brethren (the most,
   I hope, need it not) to set in for a thorough reformation, and for the
   obtaining of holy communion, -- to keep off indifferently the unworthy
   from church privileges and profaning of holy things. Whereunto I
   presumed the discovery of a way whereby this might be effected, without
   their disturbance in their former station, would be a considerable
   motive.

   (3.) A consideration of the paucity of positive rules in the Scripture
   for church government, with the great difficulty of reducing them to
   practice in these present times (both sufficiently evidenced by the
   endless disputes and irreconcilable differences of godly, precious, and
   learned men about them), made me conceive that the practice of the
   apostolical churches, doubtless for a time observed in those
   immediately succeeding, would be the best external help for the right
   interpretation of those rules we have, and pattern to draw out a church
   way by. Now, truly, after my best search and inquiry into the first
   churches and their constitution, framing an idea and exemplar of them,
   this poor heap following seems to me as like one of them as any thing
   that yet I have seen; nothing at all doubting but that if a more
   skilful hand had the limning of it, [124] the proportions, features,
   and lines would be very exact, equal and parallel; yea, did not extreme
   haste now call it from me, so that I have no leisure so much as to
   transcribe the first draught, I doubt not but by God's assistance it
   might be so set forth as not to be thought altogether undesirable, if
   men would but a little lay aside beloved pre-conceptions. But the
   printer stays for every line; only I must entreat every one that shall
   cast a candid eye on this unwillingly-exposed embryo and rude abortion,
   that he would assume in his mind any particular church mentioned in the
   Scripture, as of Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus, or the like; consider the
   way and state they were then and some ages after, in respect of outward
   immunities and enjoyments, and tell me whether any rational man can
   suppose that either there were in those places sundry particular
   churches, with their distinct, peculiar officers, acting in most
   pastoral duties severally in them, as distinguished and divided into
   entire societies, but ruling them in respect of some particulars
   loyally in combination, considered as distinct bodies; or else that
   they were such single congregations as that all that power and
   authority which was in them may seem fitly and conveniently to be
   intrusted with a small handful of men, combined under one single
   pastor, with one, two, or perhaps no associated elders. More than this
   I shall only ask, whether all ordinary power may not, without danger,
   be asserted to reside in such a church as is here described, reserving
   all due right and authority to councils and magistrates? Now, for the
   fountain, seat, and rise of this power, for the just distribution of it
   between pastors and people, this is no place to dispute; these
   following lines were intended merely to sedate and bury such contests,
   and to be what they are entitled, --
     __________________________________________________________________

   [111]

   "Laudatur ab his, culpatur ab illis."
   [Hor. Sat., lib. i. 2, 11.]

   [112] See August., Ep. 7, 28, 157, De Orig. Anim.

   [113]

   "Deferar in vicum vendentem thus et odores,

   Et piper, et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis."
   [Hor. Epist., lib. ii. 1.]

   "Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros."
   [Juv.]

   "Semper ego auditor tantum?"
   [Juv. Sat. i.]

   [114]

   "Immortale odium et nunquam sanabile vulnus,

   Ardet adhuc, Ombos et Tentyra. Summus utrinque

   Inde furor vulgo, quad numina vicinorum

   Odit uterque locus."
   Juven., [xv. 35.]"Graece scire, aut polite loqui, apud illos haeresis
   est." -- Eras. de Scholiast.

   [115] "Noli irritare crabrones. Si lapides teras nonne ignis erumpit?"
   -- Ambros., lib. i. cap. 21; Prov. xxx. 33; Job xiii. 13; Prov. xxv.
   18. Vid. Remed. contra Gravam. Nationis Germanicae. Luth. praefat, ad
   Lib. de Concil. Protest. 34 ministrorum. 4. Conclus. And generally all
   writers at the beginning of the Reformation.

   [116] Si accusasse sufficiet, quis erit innocens?

   [117]

   "Nec nos obniti contr`a, nec tendere tantum

   Sufficimus."
   [Virg. AE. v. 21.]

   [118] Sulp. Sever. Epist. Hist. Eccles.

   [119] Plut. Apophth.

   [120] Vid. catal. haeret, apud Tertul. de praescript. Epiphan. Aug.
   Vincent.

   [121] "Ego ancillae tuae fidem habui: nonne tu impudens, qui nec mihi
   ipsi credis?" -- Philos. apud Plut. Apophth.

   [122] "Nunc vero si nominis odium est, quis nominum reatus? quae
   accusatio vocabulorum? nisi aut Barbarum sonat aliqua vox nominis, aut
   maledicum, aut impudicum?" -- Tertul. Apol.

   [123] Acts xxiv. 14, xxviii. 22. -- "Haeresis Christianorum." Tertul.,
   -- "Secta Christ." Id., -- "Haeresis catholica, et haeresis
   sanctissima," Constant. Epist. Chr. Syriac. Tileni Syntagma, -- quo
   probate conatur Calvinianos esse haereticos, Hun. Calv. Tur. Andrews.
   Epist. ad Molin.

   [124] Hamerai d' epiloipoi martures sophotatoi. -- Pind., Od. i. Olym.,
   54, 55.
     __________________________________________________________________

A country essay for the practice of church government there.

   Our long expectation of some accommodation [125] between the dissenting
   parties about church government being now almost totally frustrate, --
   being also persuaded, partly through the apparent fruitlessness of all
   such undertakings, partly by other reasons not at this time seasonable
   to be expressed, that all national disputes tending that way will prove
   birthless tympanies, -- we deem it no ungrateful endeavour, waiving all
   speculative ideas, to give an essay, in such expressions as all our
   country friends concerned in it may easily apprehend, of what we
   conceive amongst us may really be reduced to comfortable and useful
   practice: concealing for a while all arguments for motives and
   inducements unto this way, with all those rocks and shelves, appearing
   very hideous in former proposals, which we strive to avoid; until we
   perceive whether any of our giants in this controversy will not come
   and look, and so overcome it, that at first dash the whole frame be
   irrecoverably ruined.

   Neither would we have any expect our full sense to each particular
   imaginable in this business, -- it being only a heap of materials,
   mostwhat unhewed, that we intend, and not a well-compacted fabric; and
   if the main be not condemned, we are confident no difference will ensue
   about particulars, which must have their latitude. However, if it be
   received as candidly as it is offered, no inconvenience will ensue.
   Now, that the whole may be better apprehended, and the reasons, if not
   the necessity, of this undertaking intimated, we shall premise some
   things concerning the place and persons for whose use is this proposal.

   First, For ministers. The place having all this while, through the
   goodness of God, been preserved in peace and quietness; and by the rich
   supply of able men sent hither by Parliament, there are in many
   parishes godly, orthodox, peace-loving pastors.

   Secondly, For the people.

   1. Very many, as in most other places, extremely ignorant, worldly,
   profane, scandalously vicious.

   2. Scarcely any parish where there are not some visibly appearing, of
   all ages, sexes, and conditions, fearing God, and walking unblamably
   with a right foot, as beseemeth the gospel; though in some places they
   are but like the berries after the shaking of an olive-tree.

   3. Amongst these, very few gifted, fitted or qualified for government.

   4. Many knowing professors, and such of a long standing, inclined to
   separation, unless some expedient may be found for comfortable
   communions; and in this resolution seem to be settled, to a contempt of
   allurements and threatenings.

   5. Seducers everywhere lying in wait to catch and deceive well-meaning
   souls, any thing discontented with the present administration of church
   affairs.

   6. Upon all which it appears, that comfortable communion is not to be
   attained within the bounds of respective parishes.

   Farther to carry on our intentions, we would desire of authority, --

   1. That our divisions may not be allotted out by our committees, --
   who, without other consideration, have bounded us with the precincts of
   high constables, -- but be left to the prudence of ministers, and other
   Christians, willingly associating themselves in the work.

   2. That men placed in civil authority may not, by virtue of their
   authority, claim any privilege in things purely ecclesiastical.

   In the several parishes let things be thus ordered:--

   1. Let every minister continue in his station, taking especial care of
   all them that live within the precincts of his parish; preaching,
   exhorting, rebuking, publicly, and from house to house; warning all, --
   using all appointed means to draw them to Jesus Christ and the faith of
   the gospel; waiting with all patience on them that oppose themselves,
   until God give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and
   in so doing, rest upon the calling he hath already received.

   2. Let the respective elders of the several parishes, to be chosen
   according to the ordinance of Parliament (annually, or otherwise), join
   with the ministers in all acts of rule and admonition, with those other
   parts of their charge which the parochial administration doth require.

   3. Let all criminal things, tending to the disturbance of that church
   administration which is amongst them be by the officers orderly delated
   to such as the civil magistrate shall appoint to take cognizance and
   determine of such things.

   And thus far have we proposed nothing new, nothing not common; neither
   in that which follows is there any thing so indeed, may it be but
   rightly apprehended.

   For the several combinations of ministers and people:--

   1. Let the extremes of the division not be above eight or ten miles
   distant and so the middle or centre not more than four or five miles
   from any part of it, -- which is no more than some usually go to the
   preaching of the word, and in which space Christians are generally as
   well known to one another in the country as almost at the next door in
   cities; but yet this may be regulated according to the number of
   professors fit for the society intended, -- which would not be above
   five hundred, nor under one hundred.

   2. In this division let there be, in the name of Christ and the fear of
   God, a gathering of professors (visible saints, men and women of good
   knowledge and upright conversation, -- so holding forth their communion
   with Christ), by their own desire and voluntary consent, into one body,
   -- uniting themselves, by virtue of some promissory engagement or
   otherwise, to perform all mutual duties, to walk in love and peace,
   spiritual and church communion, as beseemeth the gospel.

   3. Let every one so assembling have liberty, at some of the first
   meetings, to except against another, whether minister or others, so it
   be done with a spirit of meekness, and submission of judgment; or to
   demand such questions for satisfaction as shall be thought fit to be
   propounded.

   4. When some convenient number are thus assembled, let the ministers,
   if men of approved integrity and abilities, be acknowledged as elders
   respectively called to teach and rule in the church by virtue of their
   former mission, and be assumed to be so to this society by virtue of
   their voluntary consent and election.

   5. Let the ministers engage themselves in a special manner to watch
   over this flock, every one according to his abilities, both in
   teaching, exhorting, and ruling, so often as occasion shall be
   administered, for things that contain ecclesiastical rule and church
   order; acting jointly and as in a classical combination, and putting
   forth all authority that such classes are entrusted with.

   6. If it be judged necessary that any officers be added to them for the
   purpose before named, let them be chosen by the consent of the
   multitude.

   7. If not, let the ministers have the whole distributed among
   themselves respectively, according to the difference of their gifts, --
   reserving to the people their due and just privileges.

   8. Let this congregation assemble at the least once in a month, for the
   celebration of the communion, and other things them concerning; the
   meeting of the ministers may be appointed by authority, for those of a
   classis.

   9. If any one after his admission be found to walk unworthily, let him,
   after solemn, repeated admonition, be by joint consent left to his
   former station.

   10. Let any person, in any of the parishes combined as before, that is
   desirous to be admitted into this society, as is thought fit, be
   received at any time.

   11. If the number in process of time appear to be too great, let it be
   divided and subdivided, according to conveniency.

   12. Any one of the ministers may administer the sacrament, either to
   some or all of these, in their several parishes or at the common
   meeting, as opportunity shall serve.

   13. Let the rules of admission into this society and fellowship be
   scriptural, and the things required in the members only such as all
   godly men affirm to be necessary for every one that will partake of the
   ordinances with profit and comfort, -- special care being taken that
   none be excluded who have the least breathings of soul in sincerity
   after Jesus Christ.

   Now, beyond these generals for the present we judge it needless to
   express ourselves, or otherwise to confirm what we have proposed, each
   assertion almost directly pointing out unto what, in that particular,
   we do adhere; which being sufficiently confirmed by others, were but a
   superfluous labour to undertake. Neither shall we trouble you with a
   catalogue of conveniences, -- whereof men are put upon an express
   annumeration, when otherwise they do not appear, -- but commit the
   consideration of the tendence of the whole to every one's judgment, and
   conclude with the removal of a few obvious objections; being resolved
   hereafter, by God's assistance, to endeavour satisfaction about this
   way unto all, -- unless to such as shall be so simple or malicious as
   to ask whether this way be that of the Presbyterians or Independents.

   Obj. 1. By this means parishes will be unchurched.

   Ans. 1. If by churches you understand such entire societies of
   Christians as have all church power, both according to right and
   exercise, in and amongst themselves, as Independents speak of
   congregations; then they were never churched by any.

   2. If only civil divisions of men that may conveniently be taught by
   one pastor, and ruled by elders, whereof some may be fit to partake of
   all the ordinances, some not, as Presbyterians esteem them; then by
   this way they receive no injury, nor are abridged of any of their
   privileges.

   Obj. 2. This is to erect churches amongst churches, and against
   churches.

   Ans. No such thing; but a mere forming of one church with one
   presbytery.

   Obj. 3. It is against the Parliament's ordinance to assume a power of
   admitting and excluding of church members not exactly according to
   their rule, nor subordinate to the supervising of such as are appointed
   by them.

   Ans. 1. For the rules set out by ordinance, we conceive that the church
   officers are to be interpreters of them, until appeal be made from
   them, unto which we shall submit; and if it be so determined against
   us, that any be put on our communion "ipsi viderint," we shall labour
   to deliver our own souls.

   2. Though the Parliament forbid any but such authoritatively to be
   excluded, yet it doth not command that any be admitted but such as
   desire it; and we shall pray for such a blessing upon the work of our
   ministry as will either prepare a man for it or persuade them "pro
   tempore" from it; unless they be stubbornly obstinate, or openly
   wicked, -- against whom we hope for assistance. To objections arising
   from trouble and inconvenience, we answer, It cost more to redeem their
   souls.

   The God of peace and unity give the increase!


   "-- Si quid novisti rectius istis,

   Candidus imperti, si non, his utere."

   [Hor. Ep., i. 6, 67, 68.]

   And this is all which, for the present, I shall assert in this
   business; and this also is my own vindication. Time and leisure may
   give me advantage hereafter (if God permit) to deal seriously in this
   cause. In the meantime, it is not unknown to many, that so much as this
   was necessary for me to do; and I will not add now any thing that is
   not necessary.

   Now for the other head of the accusation, about toleration of errors,
   "philosophare volo, sed paucis." Something I shall add of my own
   present judgment in this matter; but with willing, express submission
   unto those whom the use and experience of things, with knowledge of
   foreign parts, skill in the rules of commonwealths, acquaintedness with
   the affections and spirits of men, have enabled to look punctually into
   the issues and tendencies of such a toleration. The main prejudice
   against it arises from the disturbances which it naturally (they say)
   produceth in civil states. I conceive no sort of men more unfit to
   judge of this than those whose abilities of learning do properly put
   them upon the discussing of this, and other controversies, as far as
   they are purely ecclesiastical, -- no men more frequently betraying
   narrowness of apprehension and weakness in secular affairs. For other
   consequences, I shall not be much moved with them, until it be clearly
   determined whether be worse, heretics or hypocrites, into maintain an
   error or counterfeit the truth; and whether profession upon compulsion
   be acceptable to God or man. [126] Laying those aside, let the thing
   itself be a little considered.

   Peace ecclesiastical, quiet among the churches (which without doubt
   would be shaken by a universal toleration), is that which most men aim
   at and desire. And truly he that doth not, scarcely deserves the name
   and privilege of a Christian. Unity in the Scripture is so pressed, so
   commanded, and commended, that not to breathe after it argues a heart
   acted by another spirit than that which moved the holy penmen thereof.
   But yet every agreement and consent amongst men professing the name of
   Christ, is not the unity and peace commended in the Scripture. That
   which some think to be Christ's order, may perhaps be anti-Christian
   confusion; the specious name of unity may be a cloak for tyranny.
   Learned men have reckoned up a sevenfold unity [127] in the Papacy; all
   which, notwithstanding, are far enough from that true evangelical unity
   which we are bound to labour for. Again, that which is good must be
   sought in a right manner, Or it will not be so to us. Peace and quiet
   is desirable; but there must be good causes and very urgent, to make us
   build our habitations out of others' ruins, and roll our pillows in
   their blood. I speak of things ecclesiastical. The historian [128]
   makes it a part of the oration spoken by Galgacus, the chieftain of the
   British forces, to stir them up against the Roman insolency, that when
   they had finished their depopulations, then they said they had peace.
   The same men have set up bishoprics in the Indies, as their forefathers
   did colonies here and elsewhere, with fire and sword. I know not how it
   comes to pass, but so it is, this proceeding with violence in matters
   of religion hath pleased and displeased all sorts of men, however
   distinguished by a true or false persuasion, who have enjoyed a
   vicissitude of the supreme power in any place, in supporting or
   suppressing of them. "Ure, seca, occide," is the language of men backed
   with authority: "Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris," say the
   same men under oppression. To give particular instances, were to lay
   open that nakedness which I suppose it my duty rather to coven What,
   then, you will say; shall every one be suffered to do what he pleaseth?
   [129] You mean, think or believe what he pleaseth, or that which he is
   convinced to be a truth. Must all sorts of men and their opinions be
   tolerated? -- These questions are not in one word to be resolved: many
   proposals are to be confirmed, many notions distinguished and retained,
   before a positive answer can be given. Take them in their whole
   latitude, and they may serve all men's turns. A negative universal
   resolution may tantamount unto, -- "The many intrusted with authority,
   or having that to back them, ought not to tolerate any of different
   persuasions from them, if they suppose them erroneous." Now truly, for
   my part, were I in Spain or Italy, a native of those places, and God
   should be pleased there to reveal that truth of his gospel unto me
   which he hath done in England, I believe those states ought to tolerate
   me, though they were persuaded that I were the most odious heretic
   under heaven; and what punishment soever they should impose on me for
   my profession would be required at their hands; -- unless they can
   convince me that God allows men to slay his servants for professing the
   gospel, if they believe them to be heretics: and so also excuse the
   Jews in crucifying his dear Son, because they esteemed him as an
   impostor. Christ was once crucified amongst thieves: he may be again,
   in them that are so supposed. I shall therefore summarily set down what
   I conceive in answer to these questions, premising a few things, if I
   mistake not, universally granted.

   And yet a word or two concerning toleration itself, that some guess may
   be given at what we aim and intend, must interpose. Much discourse
   about toleration hath been of late days amongst men; some pleading for
   it, more against it, was it always must be. Toleration is the alms of
   authority; yet men that beg for it, think so much at least their due.
   Some say it is a sin to grant it; others, that it is no less to deny
   it. Generally, the pleaders of each side have their interest in the
   cause. I never knew one contend earnestly for a toleration of
   dissenters, but was so himself; nor any for their suppression, but were
   themselves of the persuasion which prevaileth: for if otherwise, this
   latter would argue a Circumcellion [130] fury, willfully to seek their
   own ruin; the former so much charity, and commiseration of the
   condition of mortality as in these days would procure of the most no
   other livery but a fool's coat. Who almost would not admire at such
   new-discovered antipodes as should offer to assert an equal regiment of
   Trojans and Tyrians, [131] -- a like regard and allowance from
   authority for other sects as for that whereof themselves are a share?
   Now, amongst these contesters, few (nay, not any) have I found, either
   on the one side or the other, clearly and distinctly to define what
   they mean by toleration, or what is the direct purpose, signification,
   and tendency of non-toleration (a word in its whole extent written only
   in the forehead of the man of sin), -- what bounds, what terriers are
   to be assigned to the one or to the other, -- unto what degrees of
   longitude [132] or latitude their pole is to be elevated. Some,
   perhaps, by a toleration understand a universal, uncontrolled license,
   "vivendi ut velis," in things concerning religion; that every one may
   be let alone, and not so much as discountenanced in doing, speaking,
   acting, how, what, where, or when he pleaseth, "in agendis et credendis
   fidei," in all such things as concern the worship of God, articles of
   belief, or generally any thing commanded in religion; and in the
   meantime the parties at variance, and litigant about differences,
   freely to revile, reject, and despise one another, according as their
   provoked genius shall dispose their minds thereunto. Now truly, though
   every one of this mind pretends to cry for mercy to be extended unto
   poor afflicted truth, yet I cannot but be persuaded that such a
   toleration would prove exceeding pernicious to all sorts of men, and at
   last end in a dispute, like that recounted by Juvenal between two
   cities in Egypt, about their differences between their garden and river
   deities; [133] or like the contest related by Vertomannus in his
   travels amongst the Mohammedans, about Haly and Homar, the pretended
   successors to their grand impostor, where every one plied his
   adversary, "Hastisque clypeisque et saxis grandibus," cleaving their
   skulls, and making entrance for their arguments by dint of sword: and I
   wish experience did not sufficiently convince us that the profession of
   Christianity, where the power of godliness is away, will not prevent
   these evils: "Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum."

   Others there are that press for a non-toleration of any thing that
   opposes or contradicts the truth in any part, themselves being in their
   own judgments fully possessed of all, -- their tenets being unto them
   the only form of wholesome words. Moreover (for these things recounted
   make not the difference, for it is so with all sects of men), the
   magistrates, or those who are intrusted with all the power over men
   which, for the preservation of human society, God hath been pleased to
   make out from himself, are also of the same persuasion with them. These
   they supplicate that an effectual course may be taken (asserting not
   only that they are intrusted with power from above so to do, but also
   that it is their great sin if they do it not) whereby all sectaries and
   erroneous persons may not only not be countenanced or kept within
   bounds, and not be forborne in any disturbing, insolent miscarriage;
   but also, that all that doctrine which is not publicly owned may be
   sure to be supplanted by the restraint and punishment of the
   dissenters, whether unto imprisonment, confiscation of goods, or death
   itself; for they must not cease, nay (if the thing is to be effected),
   they cannot rationally assign where to stay in punishing, before they
   come to the period of all, death itself, which is the point and centre
   wherein all the lines of this sentence meet; [134] wherein, to me,
   truly there is nothing but "luctus ubique, pavor, et plurima mortis
   imago." I know it is coloured with fair pretences; [135] but "quid ego
   verba audiam, facta cum video?" It is written with red letters, and the
   pens of its abettors are dipped in the blood of Christians. Doubtless
   between these extremes lies the way.

   Again, some by a toleration understand a mutual forbearance in
   communion, though there be great differences in opinion; and this the
   generality of the clergy (as heretofore they were called) did usually
   incline unto, -- viz., that any men almost might be tolerated, whilst
   they did not separate. And these lay down this for a ground, that there
   is a latitude in judgment to be allowed; so that the communion may be
   held by men of several persuasions, in all things, with an allowance of
   withdrawing in those particulars wherein there is dissent amongst them:
   and this the Belgic Remonstrants pressed hard for, before they were
   cast out by the Synod of Dort.

   Others plead for a toleration out of communion; that is, that men
   renouncing the communion of those whose religion is owned and
   established by authority, may yet peaceably be suffered to enjoy the
   ordinances in separation.

   Moreover, by communion some understand one thing, some another. Some
   think that is preserved sufficiently, if the dissenters do acknowledge
   those from whom they do dissent to be true churches, to enjoy the
   ordinances of Christ, to have the means of life and salvation in them,
   closing with them in all substantials of doctrine; but yet, because of
   some disorders in and amongst them, they dare not be as of them, -- but
   yet only separate from those disorders.

   Others, again, think that communion is utterly dissolved if any
   distinctions of persons be made, more than all acknowledge ought to be,
   -- any differences in the administration of the ordinances, -- any
   divisions in government at all.

   Now, all these things, and many more that might be added, must clearly
   be distinguished and determined by him that would handle his matter at
   large and exactly, that we may know what he means by those ambiguous
   words, and in what acceptation he owns them. Until this be done, a man
   may profess to oppose both toleration and non-toleration without any
   contradiction at all, because in their several senses they do not
   always intend the same.

   For my part, as on the one side; -- if by toleration you mean
   "potestatem vivendi ut velis" (as the Stoics defined liberty), a
   universal concession of an unbounded liberty, [136] or rather, bold,
   unbridled licentiousness, for every one to vent what he pleaseth, and
   to take what course seems good in his own eyes, in things concerning
   religion and the worship of God, I cannot give my vote for it; -- so,
   if by non-toleration you mean that which the gloss upon that place,
   "Haereticum hominem de vita," intended by adding "supple tolle," [137]
   to make up the sense, -- as if they were not to be endured in any place
   who dissent only in not-fundamentals from that which is established,
   but to be hated "ad furcas et leones," as the Christians of old, or to
   have their new derided lights extinguished in that light, "qua stantes
   ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant," in a Nero's bonfire, -- into the
   secrets of them that are thus minded let not my soul descend. "In their
   anger they will slay a man, and in their self-will they dig down a
   wall.

   Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is
   cruel." These things, then, being so ambiguous, doubtful, and
   uncertain, we dare not be too peremptorily dogmatical, nor positively
   assert but only what is certainly true; as are these following:--

   1. That heresies and errors ought not to be tolerated; -- that is, men
   ought not to connive at, or comply with, those ways and opinions which
   they are convinced to be false, erroneous, contrary to sound doctrine,
   and that form of wholesome words which is delivered unto us as (next
   unto Christ) the greatest treasure of our souls, -- especially if
   credibly supposed to shake any fundamentals of the common faith; but
   with all their strength and abilities, in all lawful ways, upon every
   just call, to oppose, suppress, and overthrow them, -- rote root them
   up and east them out, that they may not, as noxious weeds and tares,
   overgrow and choke the good corn, amongst which they are covertly
   scattered. All predictions of "false Christs, false prophets, false
   teachers to come," and "to be avoided," all cautions to "try spirits,
   avoid heretics, beware of seducers, keep close to the truth received,
   -- to hate the doctrine of Nicolaitanes, to avoid endless disputes,
   strife of words, old fables, languishing about unprofitable questions,"
   -- the epithets given to, and descriptions made of, heresies, that they
   are "pernicious, damnable, cankers, works of the flesh," and the like,
   -- are all incitations and encouragements for the applying of all
   expedient means for the taking out of the way these stumbling-blocks.
   Let, then, the Scriptures be searched, and all ways embraced which the
   gospel holdeth forth, for the discovering, convincing, silencing,
   reproving, confuting of errors and persons erring, by admonitions,
   reproofs, mighty Scripture convictions, evidencing of the truth, with
   fervent prayers to Almighty God, the God of truth, that he would give
   us one heart and one way; and if these weapons of our warfare do not
   prevail, we must let them know that one day their disobedience will be
   revenged with being cut off, and "cast out as unprofitable branches,
   fit to be cast into the fire."

   2. That any doctrine tending undeniably in its own nature (and not by
   strained consequences) to the disturbance of the civil state may be
   suppressed, by all such means as are lawfully to be used for the
   conservation of the peace and safety of the state. Jesus Christ, though
   accused of sedition, taught none, practised none. His gospel gives not
   control to magistracy, righteous laws, or any sort of lawful government
   established amongst men; and therefore they whose faith is faction, and
   whose religion is rebellion, -- I mean Jesuits and Jesuitical Papists,
   -- some of the articles of whose creeds are directly repugnant to the
   safety, yea, being, of any commonwealths, wherein themselves and men of
   their own persuasion do not domineer and rule, may be proceeded against
   by them who bear not the sword in vain. The like may be said of men
   seditious, under any pretences whatsoever, -- like the Anabaptists at
   Munster.

   3. That such heresies or mispersuasions as are attended with any
   notorious sin in practice (I mean, not in consequences, but owned by
   their abettors, and practised accordingly, beyond Epicurus, whose
   honest life was not corrupted by his foul, dishonest opinion), -- like
   the Nicolaitanes, teaching, as most suppose, promiscuous lust; and the
   Papists' express abominable idolatry, -- may be in their authors more
   severely punished than such crimes not owned and maintained do singly
   deserve. To pretend conscience in such a case will not avail; "the
   works of the flesh are manifest," easy to be discerned, known to all.
   Apologies for such, argue searedness, not tenderness: such "evil
   communication" as "corrupteth good manners," is not to be tolerated.

   4. No pretences whatsoever, nor seeming colour, should countenance men
   dissenting from what is established, to revile, traduce, deride, or
   otherwise expose to vulgar contempt, by words or actions, the way owned
   by authority (if not evidently fallen off from Jehovah to Baal), or
   fasten bitter, uncharitable appellations on those who act according to
   that way; that is, the public ministers and ministry, acknowledged,
   owned, and maintained by the supreme magistrate, where they both are.
   Here, by the way, I cannot but complain of want of ingenuity and candid
   charity in those men who, having a comfortable maintenance arising
   another way, do yet, "ad faciendum populum," continually, in pulpits
   and other public places, inveigh against that way of maintenance which
   is allowed by the magistrate, and set apart for those that labour in
   the word and doctrine; unto whom I wish no farther evil, but only
   forced patience when their neighbouring tradesmen shall have persuaded
   the people about them that preachers of the gospel ought to live by the
   work of their hands, and so the contribution for their maintenance be
   subducted.

   Such men as these do show of what spirit they are, and what they would
   do if they were lions; seeing they bark so much, being but snarling
   dogs. And therefore, truly, if some severe course were used for the
   restraint of those who in our days strive to get themselves a name, and
   to build up their repute, by slighting, undervaluing, and, by all
   uncharitable, malicious ways, rendering odious those from whom they
   dissent, I should not much intercede for them: these are evil works,
   fruits of the flesh, evident to all. Now these, and such things as
   these, are acknowledged by all even-spirited men. Some few I shall now
   add, I hope not unlike them. As, --

   5. That it is a most difficult undertaking to judge of heresies and
   heretics, -- no easy thing to show what heresy is in general; --
   whether this or that particular error be a heresy or no, -- whether it
   be a heresy in this or that man; especially if such things as
   stubbornness, and pertinacy upon conviction, with the like, be required
   to make a man a heretic, -- for such things cannot be evidenced or made
   out, but only (for the most part) by most obscure conjectures, and such
   as will scarcely satisfy a charitable judgment. Papists, indeed, who
   have laid it down for a principle, that a contradiction of the doctrine
   of the church, known to be so, and continued in after admonition, doth
   infallibly make a man a heretic, are very clear, uniform, and settled
   in that which they have made the ground, warrant, and foundation of
   slaying millions of men professing the name of Christ: but for all
   other Christians, who acknowledge an infallibility in the rule, but no
   infallibility in any for the discovery of the truth of that rule
   (though exceeding clear and perspicuous in things necessary), -- for
   them, I say, understanding and keeping close to their own principles,
   it is a most difficult thing to determine of heresy, with an assurance
   that they are so out of danger of erring in that determination as to
   make it a ground of rigorous proceedings against those of whom they
   have so concluded. Some things, indeed, are so clearly in the Scripture
   laid down and determined, that to question or deny them bespeaks a
   spirit self-condemned in that which he doth profess. That twice two
   makes four, that he that runneth moveth, are not things more evident to
   reason than many things in the Scripture are to every captivated
   understanding; -- a wilful deviation in such, merits no charity. But
   generally, errors are about things hard to be understood, not so
   clearly appearing, and concerning which it is very difficult to pass
   the sentence of heresy. No judge of heresy since the apostles' days,
   but hath been obnoxious to error in that judgment; and those who have
   been forwardest to assume a judicature and power of discerning between
   truth and error, so as to have others regulated thereby, have erred
   most foully. Of old it was generally conceived to be in councils. Now,
   I should acknowledge myself obliged to any man that would direct me to
   a council since that Acts xv. 1 -- which I may not be forced from the
   word to assert that it, in some thing or other, went astray.

   Luther feared not to affirm of the first and best of general synods,
   that he "understood not the Holy Ghost to speak in it;" and that the
   canons thereof were but plain hay and stubble; [138] -- yea, and Beza,
   that such was the "folly, ignorance, ambition, wickedness of many
   bishops in the best times, that you would suppose the devil to have
   been president in their assemblies;" [139] insomuch as Nazianzen
   complained that he never saw a [140] good end of any, and affirmed that
   he was resolved never to come at them more. And in truth, the fightings
   and brawls, diabolical arts of defamation and accusing one another,
   abominable pride, ambition, and affectation of pre-eminence, which
   appeared in most of them, did so far prevail, that in the issue they
   became (as one was entitled) dens of thieves, rather than conventions
   of humble and meek disciples of Jesus Christ, until at length, the holy
   dove being departed, an ominous owl overlooked the Lateran fathers; and
   though with much clamour they destroyed the appearing fowl, yet the
   foul spirit of darkness and error wrought as effectually in them as
   ever. But to close this discourse. Ignorance of men's invincible
   prejudices, of their convictions, strong persuasions, desires, aims,
   hopes, fears, inducements, -- sensibleness of our own infirmities,
   failings, misapprehensions, darkness, knowing but in part, should work
   in us a charitable opinion of poor erring creatures, that do it perhaps
   with as upright, sincere hearts and affections as some enjoy truth.
   Austin [141] tells the Manichees, the most paganish heretics that ever
   were, that they only raged and were high against them who knew not what
   it was to seek the truth and escape error. With what ardent prayers the
   knowledge of truth is obtained! And how tender is Salvian [142] in his
   judgment of the Arians! "They are," saith he, "heretics, but know it
   not, -- heretics to us, but not to themselves; nay, they think
   themselves so catholic that they judge us to be heretics: what they are
   to us, that are we to them. They err, but with a good mind; and for
   this cause God shows patience towards them."

   Now, if any should dissent from what I have before asserted concerning
   this particular, I would entreat him to lay down some notes whereby
   heresies may infallibly be discerned to be such; and he shall not find
   me repugning.

   6. That great consideration ought to be had of that sovereign dictate
   of nature, the sum of all moral duties. "Quod tibi fieri non vis,
   alteri ne feceris;" -- "Do not that unto others which you would not
   have done to you, were you in the mine condition with them." In the
   business in hand, we are supposed by others to be in that estate
   wherein we suppose those to be of whom we speak; those others being to
   us what we are to them. Now truly, if none of the former inconveniences
   and iniquities which we recounted (assertion 2, 3, 4, or the like), do
   accompany erring persons, it will be something difficult to make it
   appear how we may, if enjoying authority over them, impose any
   coercion, restraint, or punishment on them, which we would not
   acknowledge to be justly laid on us by others (supposing it should be
   laid) having authority over us, convinced that our persuasion differing
   from them is false and erroneous. No sort of Christians but are
   heretics and schismatics to some Christians in authority; and it may be
   their lot to live under the power and jurisdiction of men so persuaded
   of them, where they ought to expect that the same measure will be given
   unto them which, in other places, they have consented to mete out to
   others.

   But men will say, and all men pleading the cause of non-toleration in
   its full extent do say, That they are heretics and erroneous persons
   whom we do oppose: we ourselves are orthodox; and no law of nature, no
   dictate of the Scriptures, requires that we should think it just to
   render unto them that are orthodox as unto them that are heretics,
   seducers, and false teachers. Because thieves are punished, shall
   honest men fear that they shall be so too? -- But a thief is a thief in
   all the world, unto all men: in opinions it is not so. -- He is a
   heretic that is to be punished. -- But to whom? in whose judgment? in
   his own? -- no more than we are in ours. -- But he is so to them that
   judge him. -- True. Put the case, a Protestant were to be judged by a
   Papist, as a thousand saints have been: is he not the worst of heretics
   to his judge? These things turn in a circle: what we are to ourselves,
   that he is to himself: what he is to us, that we are unto others that
   may be our judges. But however, you will say, we are in the truth, and
   therefore ought to go free. Now, truly, this is the same paralogism:
   who says we are in the truth? others? no, ourselves. Who says erroneous
   persons (as so supposed) are heretics, or the like? they themselves?
   no, but we: and those that are to us as we are to them, say no less of
   us. Let us not suppose that all the world will stoop to us, because we
   have the truth, as we affirm, but they do not believe. If we make the
   rule of our proceedings against others to be our conviction that they
   are erroneous; others will, or may, make theirs of us to be their rule
   of proceeding against us. We do thus to them, because we so judge of
   them; will not others, who have the same judgment of us as we of them,
   do the like unto us? Now here I profess that I do not desire to extend
   any thing in this discourse to the patronizing of any error whatsoever,
   -- I mean, any thing commonly so esteemed in the reformed churches, --
   as myself owning any such; much less to the procuring of a licentious
   immunity for every one in his way; and least of all, to countenance men
   walking disorderly in any regard, especially in the particulars before
   recounted; -- but only to show how warily, and upon what sure
   principles, that cannot be retorted on us, we ought to proceed, when
   any severity is necessarily required, in case of great danger; and how
   in lesser things, if the unity of faith may in some comfortable measure
   be kept, then to assert the proposition in its full latitude, urging
   and pleading for Christian forbearance, even in such manner to be
   granted as we would desire it from them whom we do forbear; for truly
   in those disputable things, we must acknowledge ourselves in the same
   series with other men, unless we can produce express patents for our
   exemptions. But some, perhaps, will say, that even in such things as
   these Gamaliel's counsel is not good; better all go on with punishing
   that can; truth will not be suppressed, but error will. Good God! was
   not truth oppressed by antichristian tyranny? was not outward force the
   engine that for many generations kept truth in corners? But of this
   afterward.

   Now, I am mistaken if this principle, that the civil magistrate ought
   to condemn, suppress, and persecute every one that he is convinced to
   err, though in smaller things, do not at length, in things of greater
   importance, make Christendom a very theatre of bloody murders, killing,
   slaying, imprisoning men round in a compass; until the strongest
   becomes dictator to the rest, and he alone be supposed to have
   infallible guidance, -- all the rest to be heretics, because overcome
   and subdued. (When I speak of death and killing in this discourse, I
   understand not only forcible death itself, but that also which is
   equivalent thereunto, as banishment, or perpetual imprisonment.) I had
   almost said, that it is the interest of mortality to consent generally
   to the persecution of a man maintaining such a destructive opinion.

   7. That whatsoever restraint or other punishment may be allowed in case
   of grosser errors, yet slaying of heretics for simple heresy, as they
   call it, for my part I cannot close withal; nor shall ever give my vote
   to the burning, hanging, or killing of a man, otherwise upright,
   honest, and peaceable in the state, merely because he misbelieveth any
   point of Christian faith. Let what pretences you please be produced, or
   colours flourished, I should be very unwilling to pronounce the
   sentence of blood in the case of heresy. I do not intend here to
   dispute; but if any one will, upon Protestant principles and Scripture
   grounds, undertake to assert it, I promise (if God grant me life) he
   shall not want a convert or an antagonist. I know the usual pretences:
   Such a thing is blasphemy. -- But search the Scripture, look upon the
   definitions of divines, and by all men's consent you will find heresy,
   in what head of religion soever it be, and blasphemy properly so
   called, to be exceedingly distant. Let a blasphemer undergo the law of
   blasphemy; but yet I think we cannot be too cautious how we place men
   in that damnable series calling heaven and earth to witness the
   contrary. But again: To spread such errors will be destructive to
   souls. -- So are many things, which yet are not punishable with
   forcible death. Let him that thinks so go kill Pagans and Mohammedans.
   As such heresy is a canker, but a spiritual one, let it be prevented by
   spiritual means. Cutting off men's heads is no proper remedy for it. If
   state physicians think otherwise, I say no more, but that I am not of
   the college, and what I have already said I submit to better judgments.

   8. It may be seriously considered, upon a view of the state and
   condition of Christians, since their name was known in the world,
   whether this doctrine of punishing erring persons with death,
   imprisonment, banishment, and the like, under the name of heretics,
   hath not been as useful and advantageous for error as truth; nay,
   whether it hath not appeared the most pernicious invention that ever
   was broached. In the first, second, and third ages, we hear little of
   it, -- nothing for it, -- something against it:-- much afterward
   against it, in Austin and others. [143] Marlinus, the famous French
   bishop, rejected the communion of a company of his associate bishops,
   because they had consented, with Maximus the emperor, unto the death of
   the Priscillianists, -- as vile heretics as ever breathed. At the end
   of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century, when the Arians and
   orthodox had successively procured the supreme magistrate to join with
   them, men were killed and dismembered like beasts: banishments,
   imprisonments, plunderings, especially by the Arians, were as frequent
   as in new subdued kingdoms. But never was this tragedy so acted to the
   life, as by the worshippers of images on the one side, and their
   adversaries on the other: [144] which difference rose about the year
   130, and was carried on with that barbarous outrage on both sides,
   especially by the Iconolatrae (as the worst were ever best at such
   proceedings), as is wonderful to consider. Now, excepting only those
   idolatrous heretics in the last, who were paid home in their own coin
   for a thousand years together, this doctrine was put in practice
   against none almost but the martyrs of Jesus. The Roman stories of the
   killing of heretics, are all martyrologies; thousands slain for
   heretics now lie under the altar, crying for vengeance, and shall one
   day sit upon thrones, judging their judges. So that where one man hath
   suffered for an error, under the name of a heretic, five hundred under
   the same notion have suffered for truth; a principle would seem more
   befitting Christians to spare five hundred for the saving of one
   guiltless person. Truth hath felt more of the teeth of this scorpion
   than error; and clearly it grew up by degrees, with the whole mystery
   of iniquity. In the gospel we have nothing like it: the acts of Christ
   purging the temple, Peter pronouncing the fate of Ananias, and Paul
   smiting Elymas with blindness, seem to me heterogeneous. The first laws
   of Constantine speak liberty and freedom. [145] Pecuniary mulcts
   afterward were added, and general edicts against all sects; and so it
   is put over into the hands of the Arians, who exceedingly cherished it:
   yet for a good while pretences must be sought out, -- Eustathius of
   Antioch must be accused of adultery, Athanasius of sedition, magic, and
   I know not what, that a colour might be had for their persecution.
   [146] The Arian kings in Africa were the first that owned it, gugne
   kephale, and acted according to their persuasions. Methinks I hear the
   cries of poor dismembered, mangled creatures, for the faith of the holy
   Trinity! Next to these, through a few civil constitutions of some weak
   emperors, it wholly comes to reside in the hands of the pope; kings and
   princes are made his executioners, and he plays his game to the
   purpose. Single persons serve not this Bel and dragon, -- whole nations
   [147] must be slaughtered, that he may be drunk with blood. He sends
   whole armies to crucify Christ afresh, -- he gives every one of his
   soldiers a cross; hence followed cruel sights, bloody battles, wasting
   of kingdoms, raging against the names, ashes, sepulchres of the dead,
   with more than heathenish cruelty. Such evil fruits hath this bitter
   root sent forth, the streams of this fountain have all been blood; so
   that it cannot be denied but that a judicature of truth, and the
   contrary assumed, with a forcible backing of the sentence, was the
   bottom-stone in the foundation and highest in the corner of the tower
   of Babel: and I believe that upon search it will appear, that error
   hath not been advanced by any thing in the world so much as by usurping
   a power for its suppression. In divers contests that the pope had with
   others, the truth was on his side (as in the business of Athanasius and
   others in the east deposed by the Arians [148] ). Now, who would not
   have thought, that his standing up with all earnestness for the truth
   would not have been the ruin of the devil's kingdom of darkness, and
   almost have spoiled the plot of the mystery of iniquity? when the truth
   is, the largest steps that ever the man of sin took towards his throne
   was by usurping of power to suppress errors and heresies. It would be a
   great encouragement to use that way for the extirpation of errors (if
   any such be, besides the preaching of the gospel, and convictions from
   thence), which any one could produce and give assurance that it hath
   not been tried, or been tried and proved ineffectual for the
   supplantation of truth; and if such a way be not produced, what if both
   should grow together until harvest?

   9. Let us not be too hasty in pressing any opinion arising and divulged
   with odious consequences of sedition, turbulency, and the like, because
   tumults and troubles happen in the commonwealth where it is asserted. A
   coincidence of events is one of the principal causes of error and
   misjudgings in the world: because errors and tumults arise together,
   therefore one is the cause of the other, may be an argument "a baculo
   ad angulum." It is a hard thing to charge them with sedition who
   protest against it, and none can make it appear that it is "contraria
   factis" by any of their actions, but only because it is fit they should
   bear the blame of what happeneth evilly in their days. Upon every
   disaster in the empire, the noise of old was, "Christianos ad leones."
   [149] For our part, we ought to remember that we were strangers in
   Egypt. It is but little more than a hundred years since all mouths were
   opened and filled with reproaches against that glorious Reformation
   wherein we rejoice. Was it not the unanimous voice of all the
   adversaries thereof, that a new religion was brought in, tending to the
   immediate ruin of all states and commonwealths, -- attended with
   rebellion, the mother of sedition? Have we not frequent apologies of
   our divines for the confutation of such false, malicious, and putid
   criminations? It is true, indeed, the light of the gospel breaking out
   was accompanied with war, and not peace (according to the prediction of
   our Saviour); whereof the gospel was no more the cause, than John
   Diazius was of that horrible murder, when his brains were chopped out
   with an axe by his brother Alphonsus, [150] because he professed the
   gospel. Hence Luther, the vehemency of whose spirit gave no way to
   glosses and temporizing excuses, plainly affirms those tumults to be
   such necessary appendices of the preaching of the gospel, that he
   should not believe the word of God to be abroad in the world, if he saw
   it not accompanied with tumults; which he had rather partake in, than
   perish under the wrath of God in an eternal tumult. [151] The truth
   must go on, though thereby the world should be reduced to its primitive
   chaos and confusion. Were it not a perpetual course, for men of every
   persuasion to charge sedition, and the like, upon that which they would
   have suppressed, knowing that no name is more odious unto them who have
   power to effect their desire; and did I not find that some, who have
   had much ado, whilst they were sheep, to keep off that imputation from
   themselves, within a few years, becoming lions, have laid it home upon
   others as peaceable as they; I might perhaps be more rigid than now
   these discoveries will suffer me to be. Far be it from me to apologize
   for truth itself, if seditious; -- only I abhor those false, malicious
   criminations, whereby God's people in these days wherein we live have
   exceedingly suffered. It hath pleased God so to order things in this
   kingdom, that the work of recovering his worship to its purity, and
   restoring the civil state to its liberty, should be both carried on at
   the same time by the same persons. Are there none now in this kingdom
   to whom this reforming is an almost everting of God's worship? And are
   there none that have asserted that our new religion hath caused all
   those tumults and bloodshed? And doth not every unprejudiced man see
   that these are hellish lies and malicious accusations, having indeed
   neither ground nor colour, but only their coincidence in respect of
   time? Is any wise man moved with their clamours? Are their aspersions
   considerable? Are we the only men that have been thus injuriously
   traduced? Remember the difference between Elijah and Ahab, -- what was
   laid to the charge of Paul; see the apologies of the old Christians,
   and speak what you find.

   Much might here be added concerning the qualifications, carriages,
   humility, peaceableness, of erring persons; all which ought to be
   considered, and our proceedings towards them to be, if not regulated,
   yet much swayed by such considerations. Some I have known myself, that
   I dare say the most curious inquirer into their ways, that sees with
   eyes of flesh, would not be able to discover any thing but mere
   conviction and tenderness of conscience that causeth them to own the
   opinions which, different from others, they do embrace. Others, again,
   so exceeding supercilious, scorning, proud, selfish, -- so given to
   contemning of all others, reviling and undervaluing of their
   adversaries, -- that the blindest pity cannot but see much carnalness
   and iniquity in their ways. These things, then, deserve to be weighed,
   all passion and particular interest being set aside. And then, if the
   die be cast, and we must forward, let us take along with us these two
   cautions:--

   (1.) So to carry ourselves in all our censures, every one in his sphere
   (ecclesiastical discipline being preserved as pure and unmixed from
   secular power as possible), that it may appear to all that it is the
   error which men maintain which is so odious unto us, and not the
   consequent or their dissent from us, whether by subducting themselves
   from our power or withdrawing from communion. For if this latter be
   made the cause of our proceeding against any, there must be one law for
   them all, -- all that will not bow, to the fiery furnace! Recusancy is
   the fault; and that being the same in all, must have the same
   punishment, -- which would be such an unrighteous inequality as is fit
   for none but Antichrist to own.

   (2.) That nothing be done to any, but that the bound and farthest end
   of it be seen at the beginning, and not leave way and room for new
   persecution upon new pretences. "Cedo alteram et alteram," one stripe
   sometimes makes way for another, and how know I that men will stay at
   thirty-nine? "Principiis obsta."

   All these things being considered, I cannot so well close with them who
   make the least allowance of dissent to be the mother of abominations.
   Words and hated phrases may easily be heaped up to a great number, to
   render any thing odious which we have a mind to oppose; but the proving
   of an imposed evil or absurdity is sometimes a labour too difficult for
   every undertaker. And so I hope I have said enough to warrant my own
   hesitancy in this particular. Some might now expect that I should here
   positively set down what is my judgment concerning errors and erroneous
   persons dissenting from the truth received and acknowledged by
   authority, with respect unto their toleration: unto whom I answer, That
   to consider the power of the magistrate about things of religion, and
   over consciences; the several restraints that have been used in this
   case, or are pleaded for; -- the difference between dangerous
   fundamental errors and others; -- the several interests of men, and
   ways of disengaging; -- the extent of communion, and the absolute
   necessity of a latitude to be allowed in some things; -- with such
   other things as would be requisite for a full handling of the matter in
   hand, -- ask a longer discourse, and more exactness, than the few hours
   allotted to this appendix can afford. Only for the present I ask, if
   any will take the pains to inform me, -- 1. What they mean by a
   non-toleration? whether only a not countenancing nor holding communion
   with them; or if crushing and punishing them, then how? to what degree?
   by what means? where they will undoubtedly bound? 2. What the error is
   concerning which the inquiry is made? the clear opposition thereof to
   the word of God? the danger of it? the repugnancy that is in it to
   peace, quietness, and the power of godliness? 3. What or who are the
   erring persons? how they walk? in what manner of conversation? what is
   their behaviour towards others not of their own persuasion? what gospel
   means have been used for their conviction? what may be supposed to be
   their prejudices, motives, interests, and the like? And then, if it be
   worth asking, I shall not be backward to declare my opinion. And truly,
   without the consideration of these things, and other such
   circumstances, how a right judgment can be passed in this case, I see
   not.

   And so, hoping the courteous reader will look with a candid eye upon
   these hasty lines, rather poured out than written; and consider that a
   day's pains in these times may serve for that which is but for a day's
   use; the whole is submitted to his judgment by him who professeth his
   all in this kind to be, -- the love of truth and peace.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [125] The form being given to this essay at the first, I thought not
   good to alter any thing about it.

   [126] "Hostiae ab animo libenti accipiuntur." -- Tertul.

   [127] "1. Satanica; 2. Ethnica; 3. Belluina; 4. Iscariotica; 5.
   Tyrannica; 6. Herodiana; 7. Ventris causa." -- Illyricus, de Variis
   Sectis ap. Papistas.

   [128] "Solitudinem ubi faciunt, pacem appellant." -- Tacitus Vita Agr.
   cap. x.

   [129] "Humani juris, et naturalis potestatis est, unicuique quod
   putaverit colere." -- Tertul. "Quis imponet mihi necessitatem aut
   credendi quod nolim, aut quod velim non credendi!" -- Lactan.

   [130] The Circumcelliones, from which this epithet is derived, were
   fanatics in North Africa, who, in the course of the fourth century,
   prowled around the huts (circum cellas) of the peasantry, despising
   labour, and subsisting on alms. They were much under the influence of
   the Donatists, and often, by their rash demolition of pagan idols,
   exposed themselves to martyrdom. --Ed.

   [131] "Tros, Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur." -- [Virg. AE., i.
   578.]

   [132]

   "Late sibi summovet omne

   Vulgus ut in vacua regnet Basiliscus arena"
   [Lucan, i. 9, 725.]

   [133]

   "O Sanctas genres quibus haec nascantur in hortis

   Numina!"
   [Sat. xv. 10]

   [134]

   "Inventus, Chrysippe, mi finitor acervi."
   [Persi, vi. 80.]

   [135]

   Echthros gar moi' keinos homos aidao pulesin,

   Hos ch' heteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de bazei.
   [Hom. Il., ix. 312, 313.]

   [136] Exousia autopragias? -- [Diog. Laert. in Stoic. Dogm., rendered
   as above by Cicer. Paradox. Sto. v. 1.]

   [137] Tolle de vita.

   [138] "Hic prorsus non intelligo Sanctum Spiritum in hoc concilio: hi
   omnes articuli faenum, stramen, ligna, stipulae fuerunt." -- Luth.

   [139] "In optimis illis temporibus, ea fuit nonnullorum episcoporum,
   partim ambitio, partim futilitas et ignorantia," etc. -- Beza, praefat,
   ad Nov. Testa.

   [140] "Ego, si vera scribere oportet, ita animo affectus sum, ut omnia
   episcoporum concilia fugiam, quoniam nullius concilii finem laetum
   faustumque vidi: nec quod depulsionem malorum potius quam accessionem
   et incrementum habuerit." -- Greg. Naz. Ep. ad Procop.

   [141] "Illi in vos saeviunt, qui nesciunt cum quo labore inveniantur,
   et quam difficile caveantur errores," etc. -- Aug.

   [142] "Apud nos sunt haeretici, apud se non sunt: quod ergo illi nobis
   sunt, hoc nos illis," etc. -- Salv. de Prov. etc.

   [143] Tous misountas ton Theon, misein chre kai humas, kai epi tois
   echthrois autou ektekesthai; ou men kai tuptein autous e diokein,
   kathos ta ethne ta me eidota ton Kurion kai Theon; all' echthrous men
   hegeisthai, kai chorizesthai ap' auton. -- Ignat. Epist. ad Philad.

   [144] Theophanes. Histor. Miscel., lib. xxii. cap. 30.

   [145] Euseb. Vit. Const., lib. ii. cap. 27.

   [146] Socrat. Evag. Rufinus. Sozom.

   [147] Albigenses, Waldenses, Bohemians.

   [148] Socrat., lib. ii. cap. 11.

   [149] Arnob.

   [150] Sleid. Com.

   [151] "Ego nisi tumultus istos viderem, verbum Dei in mundo non esse
   dicerem. Praeeligimus temporali tumultu collidi, quam aeterno tumultu
   sub ira Dei conteri." -- Luth. de Ser. Arb. cap. xxxii.-xxxiv.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   Sermon II.

   Ebenezer:

   a memorial of the deliverance

   of

   Essex county, and committee.

   In two sermons
     __________________________________________________________________

Prefatory note.

   The ancient town of Colchester, which had at an early period in the
   civil wars declared in favour of the Parliament, was besieged and
   obliged to surrender to the Royal forces. Lord Fairfax, the general of
   the Parliamentary army, and a nobleman of high reputation, whom both
   Milton and Hume unite in praising, after an ineffectual attempt to
   regain the town by storm, changed his tactics into a rigorous blockade.
   The Royalists maintained the defence with signal gallantry for nearly
   eleven weeks, till all their provisions were spent, and they had
   nothing on which to subsist but horses, dogs, and other animals. At
   length they surrendered at discretion, when two of their officers, Sir
   Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, suffered military execution on the
   spot. A fine of -L-14,000 was imposed on the town.

   Owen, at this time pastor of an Independent congregation at Coggeshall,
   which is not far from Colchester, and which was the head-quarters of
   Fairfax during the siege, seems to have officiated as chaplain to the
   Parliamentary general; and on the fall of the town, a day of
   thanksgiving was observed, when he preached before Fairfax and his
   victorious army, from Hab. iii. 1-9. A committee of Parliament bad been
   sitting at Colchester when the Royalists seized it, and had been under
   imprisonment during the siege. They also engaged in the same exercise
   of thanksgiving for their deliverance at Rumford, on September 28,
   1648. Owen preached to them another discourse from the same text. Both
   discourses were published as one. They take the shape of a running
   comment upon a very sublime passage of Scripture. The verses are
   expounded in order, and the author educes from them a series of general
   principles or observations, which he illustrates with tact and power.
   Exegetic statements are made the basis of important principles, and
   relieved by eloquent expressions, and maxims of practical wisdom.
   Though necessarily brief, some of the appeals interwoven with the
   details of exposition are specimens of close and urgent dealing with
   the conscience.

   Objection has been taken by Mr Orme to the warlike tone of the preacher
   in some parts of the discourse. There is certainly but slight reference
   to the evils and horrors of war. Regret might have been expressed that
   no course was open to the nation in the pending quarrel with its king,
   but the stern arbitration of the sword. Still, the objection is hardly
   just. The audience of Owen consisted of men who, at the call of duty,
   had been hazarding their lives for the best interests of the nation,
   and except on the principle that all war is unlawful, the preacher
   could not be expected to utter sentiments which might have sounded in
   their ears as a condemnation of their conduct. Moreover, while he could
   not but allude to military operations, he abstains from all fulsome
   eulogy of the skill and valour of the conquerors, and ascribes the
   praise of the victory and deliverance to God; so much so, that he has
   been charged with committing himself in this discourse to the erroneous
   principle of inferring the goodness of a cause from the success that
   may have attended it. Mr Orme conclusively repels the insinuation, by
   quoting Owen's own explicit disclaimer of the sentiment thus imputed to
   him:-- "A cause is good or bad before it hath success, one way or
   other; and that which hath not its warrant in itself, can never obtain
   any from its success. The rule of the goodness of any cause is the
   eternal law of reason, with the legal rights and interests of men." See
   Owen's "Reflections on a Slanderous Libel," vol. xvi. -- Ed.
     __________________________________________________________________

To his Excellency, Thomas Lord Fairfax, etc.

   Sir,

   Almighty God having made you the instrument of that deliverance and
   peace which in the county of Essex we do enjoy, next to his own
   goodness, the remembrance thereof is due unto your name. "Those who
   honour him he will honour; and those who despise him shall be lightly
   esteemed," 1 Sam. ii. 30. Part of these ensuing sermons being preached
   before your excellency, and now by providence called forth to public
   view, I am emboldened to dedicate them unto your name, as a small mite
   of that abundant thankfulness, wherein all peace-loving men of this
   county stand obliged unto you.

   It was the custom of former days, in the provinces of the Roman empire:
   to erect statues and monuments of grateful remembrance [152] to those
   presidents and governors who, in the administration of their authority,
   behaved themselves with wisdom, courage, and fidelity; yea, instruments
   of great deliverances and blessings, through corrupted nature's folly,
   became the Pagans' deities.

   There is scarce a county in this kingdom wherein, and not one from
   which, your excellency hath not deserved a more lasting monument than
   ever was erected of Corinthian brass. But if the Lord be pleased that
   your worth shall dwell only in the praises of his people, it will be
   your greater glory, that being the place which himself hath chosen to
   inhabit. Now, for a testification of this is this only intended. Beyond
   this towards men, God pleading for you, you need nothing but our
   silence; the issue of the last engagements, whereunto you were called
   and enforced, answering, yea, outgoing, your former undertakings,
   giving ample testimony of the continuance of God's presence with you in
   your army, having stopped the mouths of many gainsayers, and called to
   the residue in the language of the dumb-speaking Egyptian hieroglyphic,
   O ginomenoi kai apoginomenoi, Theos misei anai.deian, [153] -- "Men of
   all sorts know that God hateth impudence."

   It was said of the Romans, in the raising of their empire, that they
   were "saepe praelio victi, bello nunquam." So naked hath the bow of God
   been made for your assistance, that you have failed neither in battle
   nor war.

   Truly, had not our eyes beheld the rise and fall of this latter storm,
   we could not have been persuaded that the former achievements of the
   army under your conduct could have been paralleled. But He who always
   enabled them to outdo not only others but themselves, hath in this
   carried them out to outdo whatever before himself had done by them,
   that they might show more kindness and faithfulness in the latter end
   than in the beginning. The weary ox treadeth hard; -- dying bites are
   often desperate; -- half-ruined Carthage did more perplex Rome than
   when it was entire; -- hydra's heads in the fable were increased by
   their loss, and every new stroke begat a new opposition. Such seemed
   the late tumultuating of the exasperated party in this nation.

   In the many undertakings of the enemy, -- all which themselves thought
   secure, and others esteemed probable, -- if they had prevailed in any
   one, too many reasons present themselves to persuade they would have
   done so in all. But to none of those worthies which went out under your
   command to several places in the kingdom, can you say, with Augustus to
   Varus, upon the slaughter of his legions by Arminius in Germany,
   "Quintile Vare, redde legiones," God having carried them all on with
   success and victory.

   One especially, in his northern expedition, I cannot pass over with
   silence, who although he will not, dare not, say of his undertakings,
   as Caesar of his Asian war, "Veni, vidi, vici," knowing who works all
   his works for him; nor shall we say of the enemy's multitude, what
   Captain Gam did of the French, being sent to spy out their numbers
   before the battle of Agincourt, that there were of them enough to kill,
   and enough to take, and enough to run away; yet of him and them both he
   and we may freely say, "It is nothing with the Lord to help, either
   with many, or with them that have no power."

   The war being divided, and it being impossible your excellency should
   be in every place of danger, according to your desire, the Lord was
   pleased to call you out personally unto two of the most hazardous,
   dangerous, and difficult undertakings; [154] where, besides the travel,
   labour, watching, heat and cold, by day and night, whereunto you were
   exposed, even the life of the meanest soldier in your army was not in
   more imminent danger than oftentimes was your own. And indeed, during
   your abode at the leaguer amongst us, in this only were our thoughts
   burdened with you, -- that self-preservation was of no more weight in
   your counsels and undertakings. And I beseech you pardon my boldness,
   in laying before you this expostulation of many thousands (if we may
   say to him who hath saved a kingdom what was sometime said unto a
   king), "Know you not that you are worth ten thousands of us? why should
   you quench such a light in Israel?"

   Sir, I account it among those blessings of Providence wherewith the
   days of my pilgrimage have been seasoned, that I had the happiness for
   a short season to attend your excellency, in the service of my master,
   Jesus Christ; as also, that I have this opportunity, in the name of
   many, to cast in my chaire into the kingdom's congratulations of your
   late successes. What thoughts concerning your person my breast is
   possessed withal, as in their storehouse they yield me delightful
   refreshment, so they shall not be drawn out, to the disturbance of your
   self-denial. The goings forth of my heart, in reference to your
   excellency, shall be chiefly to the Most High, that, being more than
   conqueror in your spiritual and temporal warfare, you may be long
   continued for a blessing to this nation, and all the people of God.

   Sir,

   Your Excellency's

   Most humble and devoted Servant,

   John Owen.

   Coggeshall, Essex,
   Oct. 5, 1648.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [152] Lubens meritoque.

   [153] Plut. de Iside et Osir.

   [154] Kent, Essex.
     __________________________________________________________________

To the worthy and honoured Sir William Masham, Sir William Rowe, with the rest
of the gentlemen of the committee lately under imprisonment by the enemy in
Colchester; as also, to the honoured Sir Henry Mildmay of Wansted, Col. Sir
Thomas Honeywood, with the rest of the gentlemen and officers, lately acting and
engaged against the same enemy.

   Sirs,

   The righteous judgments of God having brought a disturbance and noise
   of war, for our security, unthankfulness, murmuring, and devouring one
   another, upon our country, those who were intrusted with the power
   thereof turned their streams into several channels. Troublous times are
   times of trial.

   "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked
   shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the
   wise shall understand," Dan. xii. 10. Some God called out to suffer,
   some to do, -- leaving "treacherous dealers to deal treacherously."

   Of the two first sorts are you. This honour have you received from God,
   either with patience and constancy to undergo, involuntarily a
   dangerous restraint; or with resolution and courage voluntarily to
   undertake a hazardous engagement, to give an example that faith and
   truth, so shamefully despised in these evil days, have not altogether
   forsaken the sons of men.

   It is not in my thoughts to relate unto yourselves what some of you
   suffered, and what some of you did, -- what difficulties and
   perplexities you wrestled withal, within and without the walls of your
   enemies (the birds in the cage and the field having small cause of
   mutual emulation); for that which remains of these things is only a
   returnal of praise to Him by whom all your works are wrought.

   It cannot be denied but that Providence was eminently exalted in the
   work of your protection and delivery; yet truly, for my part, I cannot
   but conceive that it vails to the efficacy of grace, in preventing you
   from putting forth your hands unto iniquity, in any sinful compliance
   with the enemies of our peace. The times wherein we live have found the
   latter more rare than the former. What God wrought in you hath the
   pre-eminence of what he wrought for you; -- as much as to be given up
   to the sword is a lesser evil than to be given up to a treacherous
   spirit.

   What God hath done for you all, all men know; -- what I desire you
   should do for God, I know no reason why I should make alike public, --
   the general and particular civilities I have received from all and
   every one of you advantaging me to make it out in another way. I shall
   add nothing, then, to what you will meet withal in the following
   discourse, but only my desire, that you would seriously ponder the
   second observation, with the deductions from thence. For the rest, I no
   way fear but that that God who hath so appeared with you, and for you,
   will so indulge to y spirits the presence and guidance of his grace, in
   these shaking times, that if any speak evil of you as of evil-doers,
   they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in
   Christ, and glorify God in the day of visitation.

   For these following sermons, one of them was preached at your desire,
   and is now published upon your request. The first part of the labour I
   willingly and cheerfully underwent; -- the latter, merely in obedience
   to your commands, being acted in it more by your judgments than mine
   own. You were persuaded (mean as it was) it might be for the glory of
   God to have it made public; whereupon my answer was, and is, That for
   that, not only it, but myself also, should, by his assistance, be ready
   for the press. The failings and infirmities attending the preaching and
   publishing of it (which the Lord knows to be very many) are mine; --
   the inconveniences of publishing such a tractate from so weak a hand,
   whereof the world is full, must be yours; -- the fruit and benefit both
   of the one and other is His, for whose pardon of infirmities, and
   removal of inconveniences, shall be, as for you, and all the church of
   God, the prayer of,

   Sirs,

   Your most humble and obliged Servant

   In the work of the Lord,

   John Owen.

   Coggeshall, Oct. 5, 1648.
     __________________________________________________________________

Sermon II. A memorial of the deliverance of Essex county, and committee.

   "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard
   thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the
   years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
   God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His
   glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And
   his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand:
   and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence,
   and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the
   earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting
   mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are
   everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains
   of the land of Midian did tremble. Was the Lord displeased against the
   rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the
   sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy chariots of
   salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the
   tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers."
   -- Hab. iii. 1-9.

   Of this chapter there are four parts.

   First, The title and preface of it, verse 1.

   Secondly, The prophet's main request in it, verse 2.

   Thirdly, Arguments to sustain his faith in that request, from verse 3
   to 17.

   Fourthly, A resignation of himself, and the whole issue of his desires
   unto God, from verse 17 to the end.

   We shall treat of them in order.

   The prophet [155] having had visions from God, and pre-discoveries of
   many approaching judgments, in the first and second chapters, in this,
   by faithful prayer, sets himself to obtain a sure footing and quiet
   abode in those nation-destroying storms.

   Verse 1. "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet;" that is the title of it.

   And an excellent prayer it is, full of arguments to strengthen faith,
   -- acknowledgment of God's sovereignty, power, and righteous judgments,
   -- with resolutions to a contented, joyful, rolling him upon him under
   all dispensations.

   Observation I. Prayer is the believer's constant, sure retreat in an
   evil time, in a time of trouble.

   It is the righteous man's wings to the "name of the Lord," which is his
   "strong tower," Prov. xviii. 10, -- a Christian [156] soldier's sure
   reserve in the day of battle: if all other forces be overthrown, here
   he will abide by it, -- no power under heaven can prevail upon him to
   give one step backward. Hence that title of Ps. cii. 1, "A prayer of
   the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed." 'Tis the overwhelmed man's
   refuge and employment: when "he swooneth with anguish" (as in the
   original), this fetches him to life again. So also, Ps. lxi. 2, 3. In
   our greatest distresses let neither unbelief nor self-contrivances
   jostle us out of this way to the rock of our salvation.

   II. Observation. Prophets' discoveries of fearful judgments must be
   attended with fervent prayers.

   That messenger hath done but half his business who delivers his errand,
   but returns not an answer. He that brings God's message of threats unto
   his people, must return his people's message of entreaties unto him.
   Some think they have fairly discharged their duty when they have
   revealed the will of God to man, without labouring to reveal the
   condition and desires of men unto God. He that is more frequent in the
   pulpit to his people than he is in his closet for his people, is but a
   sorry watchman. Moses did not so, Exod. xxxii. 31; -- neither did
   Samuel so, 1 Sam. xii. 23; -- neither was it the guise of Jeremiah in
   his days, chap. xiv. 17. If the beginning of the prophecy be (as it is)
   "The burden of Habakkuk," -- the close will be (as it is) "The prayer
   of Habakkuk." Where there is a burden upon the people, there must be a
   prayer for the people. Woe to them who have denounced desolations, and
   not poured out supplications! Such men delight in the evil which the
   prophet puts far from him, Jer. xvii. 16, "I have not desired the
   woeful day, [O Lord], thou knowest."

   Now this prayer is "upon Shigionoth;" that is, -- 1. It is turned to a
   song; 2. Such a song.

   1. That it is a song, penned in meter; and how done so. (1.) To take
   the deeper impression; (2.) To be the better retained in memory; (3.)
   To work more upon the affections; (4.) To receive the ingredients of
   poetical loftiness for adorning the majesty of God with; (5.) The use
   of songs in the old church; (6.) And for the present; (7.) Their times
   and seasons, as among the people of God, so all nations of old. Of all,
   or any of these, being besides my present purpose, I shall not treat.

   2. That it is "upon Shigionoth," a little may be spoken. The word is
   once in another place (and no more) used, in the title of a song, and
   that is Ps. vii., "Shigionoth of David;" and it is variously rendered.
   It seems to be taken from the word sgh?, "erravit," to err, or wander
   variously, Prov. v. 19. The word is used for delight, to stray with
   delight: "In her love (tsgh?) thou shalt err with delight," -- we have
   translated it, "be ravished;" noting affections out of order. The word,
   then, holds out a delightful wandering and variety; -- and this
   literally, because those two songs, Ps. vii. and Hab. iii., are not
   tied to any one certain kind of metre, but have various verses, for the
   more delight; which, though it be not proper to them alone, yet in them
   the Holy Ghost would have it especially noted.

   But now surely the kernel of this shell is sweeter than so. Is not this
   written also for their instruction who have no skill in Hebrew songs?
   The true reason of their meter is lost to the most learned. Are not,
   then, God's variable dispensations towards his held out under these
   variable tunes, -- not all fitted to one string? not all alike pleasant
   and easy? Are not the several tunes of mercy and judgment in these
   songs? Is not here affliction and deliverance, desertion and recovery,
   darkness and light in this variously? Doubtless it is so.

   III. Observation. God often calls his people unto songs upon
   Shigionoth.

   [157] He keeps them under various dispensations, that so, drawing out
   all their affections, their hearts may make the sweeter melody unto
   him. They shall not have all honey, nor all gall; -- all judgment, lest
   they be broken; nor all mercy, lest they be proud. "Thou answeredst
   them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou
   tookest vengeance of their inventions," Ps. xcix. 8. Here is a song
   upon Shigionoth! They are heard in their prayers, and forgiven; --
   there is the sweetest of mercies. Vengeance is taken of their
   inventions, -- there's tune of judgment. "By terrible things in
   righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation," Ps. lxv. 5;
   [which] is a song of the same tune. To be answered in righteousness,
   what sweeter mercy in the world? Nothing more refreshes the panting
   soul than an answer of its desires; but to have this answer by terrible
   things, -- that string strikes a humbling, a mournful note. Israel hear
   of deliverance by Moses, [158] and at the same time have their bondage
   doubled by Pharaoh, -- there's a song upon Shigionoth. Is it not so in
   our days? -- precious mercies and dreadful judgments jointly poured out
   upon the land? We are clothed by our Father, like Joseph by his, in a
   party-coloured coat, Gen. xxxvii. 3; -- here a piece of unexpected
   deliverance, and there a piece of deserved correction. At the same hour
   we may rejoice at the conquest of our enemies, and mourn at the close
   of our harvest, -- victories for his own name's sake, and showers for
   our sins' sake; both from the same hand at the same time. The cry of
   every soul is like the cry of the multitude of old and young at the
   laying the foundation of the second temple: many shouted aloud for joy,
   and many wept with a loud voice; so that it was a mixed noise, and the
   several noises could not be distinguished, Ezra iii. 12, 13. A mixed
   cry is in our spirits, and we know not which is loudest in the day of
   our visitation. I could instance in sundry particulars, but that every
   one's observation will save me that easy labour. And this the Lord
   doth, --

   1. To fill [159] all our sails towards himself at once, -- to exercise
   all our affections. I have heard that a full wind behind the ship
   drives her not so fast forward as a side wind, that seems almost so
   much against her as with her; and the reason, they say, is, because a
   full wind fills but some of her sails, which keep it from the rest that
   they are empty; when a side wind fills all her sails, and sets her
   speedily forward. Which way ever we go in this world, our affections
   are our sails; and according as they are spread and filled, so we pass
   on, swifter and slower, whither we are steering. Now, if the Lord
   should give us a full wind, and continual gale of mercies, it would
   fill but some of our sails, some of our affections, -- joy, delight,
   and the like; but when he comes with a side wind, -- a dispensation
   that seems almost as much against us as for us, then he fills all our
   sails, takes up all our affections, making his works wide and broad
   enough to entertain them every one; -- then are we carried freely and
   fully towards the haven where we would be. [160] A song upon Shigionoth
   leaves not one string of our affections untuned. It is a song that
   reacheth every line of our hearts, to be framed by the grace and Spirit
   of God. Therein hope, fear, reverence, with humility and repentance,
   have a share; as well as joy, delight, and love, with thankfulness.
   Interchangeable dispensations take up all our affections, with all our
   graces; for they are gracious affections, exercised and seasoned with
   grace, of which we speak. The stirring of natural affections, as merely
   such, is but the moving of a dunghill to draw out a stinking steam, --
   a thing the Lord neither aimeth at nor delighteth in. Their joys are
   his provocation, and he laugheth in the day of their calamity, when
   their fear cometh, Prov. i. 26, 27.

   2. To keep them in continual [161] dependence upon himself. He hath
   promised his own daily bread, -- not goods laid up for many yearn Many
   children have been undone by their parents giving them too large a
   stock to trade for themselves; it has made them spendthrifts, careless,
   and wanton. Should the Lord intrust his people with a continued stock
   of mercy, perhaps they would be full, and deny him, and say, "Who is
   the Lord?" Prov. xxx. 9. Jeshurun did so, Deut. xxxii. 14, 15. Ephraim
   "was filled according to their pasture, and forgot the Lord," Hos.
   xiii. 6. Neither, on the other side, will he be always chiding. "His
   anger shall not burn for ever" -- very sore. It is our infirmity at the
   least, if we my, God hath forgotten to be gracious, and shut up his
   tender mercies in displeasure, Ps. lxxvii. 9. But laying one thing
   against another, he keeps the heart of his in an even balance, in a
   continual dependence upon himself, that they may neither be wanton
   through mercy, nor discouraged by too much oppression. Our tender
   Father is therefore neither always feeding nor always correcting. "And
   it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear,
   nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not
   day nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall
   be light," saith the prophet Zech. xiv. 6, 7, seeking out God's
   dispensations towards his, ending in joy and light in the evening.

   Use. Labour to have your hearts right tuned for songs on Shigionoth,
   sweetly to answer all God's dispensations in their choice variety. That
   instrument will make no music that hath but some strings in tune. If
   when God strikes with mercy upon the string of joy and gladness, we
   answer pleasantly; but when he touches upon that of [162] sorrow and
   humiliation, we suit it not; -- we are broken instruments, that make no
   melody unto God. We must know how to receive good and evil at his hand.
   "He hath made every thing beautiful in its time," Eccles. iii. 11, --
   every thing in that whole variety which his wisdom hath produced. A
   well-tuned heart must have all its strings, all its affections, ready
   to answer every touch of God's finger, to improve judgments and mercies
   both at the same time. Sweet harmony ariseth out of some discords. When
   a soul is in a frame to rejoice with thankful obedience for mercy
   received, and to be humbled with soul-searching, amending repentance
   for judgments inflicted at the same time, -- then it sings a song on
   Shigionoth, then it is fit for the days wherein we live. Indeed, both
   mercies and judgments aim at the same end, and should be received with
   the same equal temper of mind. A flint is broken between a hammer and a
   pillow; -- an offender is humbled between a prison and a pardon; -- a
   hard heart may be mollified and a proud spirit humbled between those
   two. In such a season the several rivulets of our affections flow
   naturally in the same stream. When hath a gracious soul the soundest
   joys, but when it hath the deepest sorrows? "Habent et gaudia vulnus."
   When hath it the humblest melting, but when it hath the most ravishing
   joys? Our afflictions, which are naturally at the widest distance, may
   all swim in the same spiritual channel Rivulets rising from several
   heads are carried in one stream to the ocean. As a mixture of several
   colours make a beautiful complexion for the body; so a mixture of
   divers affections, under God's various dispensations, gives a comely
   frame unto the soul. Labour, then, to answer every call, every speaking
   providence of God, in its right kind, according to the intention
   thereof; and the Lord reveal his mind unto us, that so we may do.

   Having passed the title, let us look a little on those parts of the
   prayer itself that follow.

   Verse 2. The beginning of it in verse 2 hath two parts.

   1. The frame of the prophet's spirit in his address to God: "O Jehovah,
   I have heard thy speech, and was afraid."

   2. His request in this his condition: "O Lord, revive thy work in the
   midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath
   remember mercy."

   1. In the first you have, --

   (1.) Particularly his frame; -- he was afraid, or trembled; which he
   wonderfully sets out, verse 16, "When I heard, my belly trembled; my
   lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I
   trembled in myself."

   (2.) The cause of this fear and trembling; -- he "heard the speech of
   God."

   If you will ask what speech or report this was that made the prophet
   himself so exceedingly quake and tremble, I answer, it is particularly
   that which you have, chap. i. 5-11, -- containing a dreadful
   denunciation of the judgments of God against the people of Israel, to
   be executed by the proud, cruel, insulting Chaldeans. This voice, this
   report of God, makes the prophet tremble.

   IV. Observation. An appearance of God in anger and threats against a
   people, should make his choicest secret ones among them to fear, to
   quake, and tremble.

   Trembling of man's heart must answer the shaking of God's hand. At the
   delivery of the law with all its attending threats, so terrible was the
   sight, that Moses himself (though a mediator then) did "exceedingly
   fear and quake," Heb. xii. 21. God will be acknowledged in all his
   goings. If men will not bow before him, he will break them. They who
   fear not his threatenings, shall feel his inflictings; if his word be
   esteemed light, his hand will be found heavy. -- For,

   1. In point of deserving who can say, [163] I have purged my heart, I
   am clean from sin? None ought to be fearless, unless they be senseless.
   God's people are so far from being always clear of procuring national
   judgments, that sometimes [164] judgments have come upon nations for
   the sins of some of God's people amongst them; -- as the plague in the
   days of David.

   2. And in point of [165] suffering, who knows but they may have a deep
   share? The prophet's book is written within as well as without, with
   "lamentation, mourning, and woe," Ezek. ii. 10. If "the lion roars, who
   can but fear?" Amos iii. 8, -- fear, to the rooting out of security,
   not the shaking of faith, -- fear, to the pulling down of carnal
   presidence, not Christian confidence, -- fear, to draw out our souls in
   prayer, not to swallow them up in despair, fear, to break the arm of
   flesh, but not to weaken the staff of the promise, fear, that we may
   draw nigh to God with reverence, not to run from him with diffidence;
   in a word, to overthrow faithless presumption, and to increase gracious
   submission.

   2. Here is the prophet's request. And in this there are these two
   things:--

   (1.) The thing he desireth: "The reviving God's work, the remembering
   mercy."

   (2.) The season he desireth it in: "In the midst of the years."

   (1.) For the first, -- that which in the beginning of the verse he
   calls God's work, in the close of it he termeth mercy; and the reviving
   his work is interpreted to be a remembering mercy. These two
   expressions, then, are parallel. The reviving of God's work towards his
   people is a reacting of mercy, a bringing forth the fruits thereof, and
   that in the midst of the execution of wrath; as a man in the midst of
   another, remembering a business of more importance, instantly turneth
   away, and applieth himself thereunto.

   V. Observation. Acts of mercy are God's proper work towards his people,
   which he will certainly awake, and keep alive in the saddest times.

   Mercy, you see, is his work, his proper work, as he calleth "judgment
   his strange act," Isa. xxviii. 21. "He retaineth not his anger for
   ever, because he delighteth in mercy," Mic. vii. 18. This is his proper
   work. Though it seem to sleep, he will awake it; though it seem to die,
   he will revive it. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she
   should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may
   forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the
   palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me," Isa. xlix. 15,
   16.

   (2.) For the season of this work, -- he prays that it may be
   accomplished "in the midst of the years;" upon which you may see what
   weight he lays, by his repetition of it in the same verse. It is
   something doubtful what may be the peculiar sense of these words; --
   whether "the midst of the years" [166] do not denote the whole time of
   the people's bondage under the Chaldeans (whence Junius renders the
   words "interea temporis," noting this manner of expression, "the midst
   of the years," for a Hebraism), during which space he intercedes for
   mercy for them; or whether "the midst of the years" do not denote some
   certain point of time, as the season of their return from captivity,
   about the midst of the years between their first king and the coming of
   the Messiah, putting a period to their church and state. Whether of
   these is more probable is not needful to insist upon: this is certain,
   that a certain time is pointed at; which will yield us, --

   VI. Observation. The church's mercies and deliverance have their
   appointed season.

   In the midst of the years it shall be accomplished. As there is a
   decree bringing forth the wicked's destruction, Zeph. ii. 1, 2; so
   there is a decree goes forth in its appointed season for the church's
   deliverance, which cannot be gainsaid, Dan. ix. 23. Every "vision is
   for its appointed" season and time, Hab. ii. 3; then "it will surely
   come, it will not tarry." There is a determination upon the weeks and
   days of the church's sufferings and expectations, Dan. ix. 24, "Seventy
   weeks are determined upon thy people." As there are three
   transgressions, and four, of rebels, for which God "will not turn away
   their punishment," Amos i. 3; so three afflictions, and four, of the
   people of God, after which he will not shut out their supplications.
   Hence that confidence of the prophet, Ps. cii. 13, 14, "Thou shalt
   arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for," saith he, "the time to favour
   her, yea, the set time, is come." There is a time, yea, a set time, for
   favour to be showed unto Zion: as a time to break down, so a time to
   build up, -- an acceptable time, a day of salvation. "It came to pass,
   at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it
   came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out of Egypt," Exod.
   xii. 41. As a woman with child goes not beyond her appointed months,
   but is pained to be delivered, -- no more can the fruitful decree cease
   from bringing forth the church's deliverance in the season thereof.

   1. Because there is an appointed period of the church's humiliation and
   bearing of her iniquities. Israel shall bear their iniquities in the
   wilderness; but this is exactly limited to the space of forty years.
   When their iniquity is pardoned, their warfare is accomplished, Isa.
   xl. 2. They say some men will give poison that shall work insensibly,
   and kill at seven years' end. The great Physician of his church knows
   how to give his sin-sick people potions that shall work by degrees, and
   at such an appointed season take away all their iniquity: then they can
   no longer be detained in trouble. God will not continue his course of
   physic unto them one day beyond health recovered. This is all the fruit
   of their afflictions, to take away their iniquities, Isa. xxvii. 9; and
   when that is done, who shall keep bound what God will loose? When sin
   is taken away from within, trouble must depart from without.

   2. Because the church's sorrows are commensurate unto, and do
   contemporize with, the joys and prosperity of God's enemies and hers.
   Now, wicked men's prosperity hath assured bounds: "The wickedness of
   the wicked shall come to an end." There is a time when the "iniquity of
   the Amorites comes to the full," Gen. xv. 16. It comes up to the brim
   in the appointed day of slaughter. When their wickedness hath filled
   the ephah, a talent of lead is laid upon the mouth thereof, and it is
   carried away on wings, Zech. v. 6-8, swiftly, certainly, irrecoverably.
   If, then, the church's troubles contemporize, rise and fall with their
   prosperity, and her deliverance with their destruction, -- if the fall
   of Babylon be the rise of Zion, -- if they be the buckets which must go
   down when the church comes up, -- if they be the rod of the church's
   chastisement, -- their ruin being set and appointed, so also must be
   the church's mercies.

   Use. In every distress learn to wait with patience for this appointed
   time. "He that believeth will not make haste." "Though it tarry, wait
   for it, it will surely come." He that is infinitely good hath appointed
   the time; and therefore it is best. He that is infinitely wise hath
   determined the season; and therefore it is most suitable. He who is
   infinitely powerful hath set it down; and therefore it shall be
   accomplished. Wait for it believing, wait for it praying, -- wait for
   it contending. Waiting is not a lazy hope, a sluggish expectation. When
   Daniel knew the time was come, he prayed the more earnestly, Dan. ix.
   2, 3. You will say, perhaps, What need he pray for it, when he knew the
   time was accomplished? I answer, The more need. Prayer helps the
   promise to bring forth. Because a woman's time is come, therefore shall
   she have no midwife? nay, therefore give her one. He that appointed
   their return, appointed that it should be a fruit of prayer. Wait,
   [167] contending also in all ways wherein you shall be called out; and
   be not discouraged that you know not the direct season of deliverance.
   "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine
   hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that,
   or whether they both shall be alike good," Eccles. xi. 6.

   But proceed we with the prophet's prayer.

   From verse 3 to 17, he layeth down several arguments, taken from the
   majesty, power, providence, and former works of God, for the supporting
   of his faith to the obtaining of those good things and works of mercy
   which he was now praying for. We shall look on them, as they lie in our
   way.

   Verse 3. "God came from Teman, the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.
   His glory covered the heavens, the earth was full of his praise."

   Teman [168] was a city of the Edomites, whose land the people of Israel
   compassed in the wilderness, when they were stung with fiery serpents,
   and healed with looking on a brazen serpent, set up to be a type of
   Christ. Teman is put up for the whole land of Edom; and the prophet
   makes mention of it for the great deliverance and mercy granted there
   to the people when they were almost consumed; -- that's God's coming
   from Teman. See Num. xxi. 5-9. When they were destroyed by fiery
   serpents, he heals them by a type of Christ, -- giving them corporeal,
   and raising them to a faith of spiritual, salvation.

   Paran, [169] the next place mentioned, was a mountain in the land of
   Ishmael, near which Noses repeated the law; and from thence God carried
   the people immediately to Canaan; -- another eminent act of mercy.

   Unto these he addeth the word Selah; as it is a song, a note of
   elevation in singing; as it respects the matter, not the form, a note
   of admiration and special observation. Selah, -- consider them well,
   for they were great works indeed. Special mercies must have special
   observation.

   Now, by reason of these actions the prophet affirms that the glory of
   God covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise; -- lofty
   expressions of the advancement of God's glory, and the fulness of his
   praise amongst his people of the earth, which attended that merciful
   deliverance and gracious assistance. Nothing is higher or greater than
   that which covers heaven, and fills earth. God's [170] glory is
   exceedingly exalted, and his praise increased everywhere, by acts of
   favour and kindness to his people.

   That which I shall choose, from amongst many others that present
   themselves, a little to insist upon, is, that --

   VII. Observation -- Former mercies, with their times and places, are to
   be had in thankful remembrance unto them who wait for future blessings.

   Faith is to this end separated by them. "Awake, awake, put on strength,
   O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of
   old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? art
   thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep;
   that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass
   over?" Isa. li. 9, 10. The breaking of Rahab, -- that is, Egypt, so
   called here, and Ps. lxxxvii. 4, lxxxix. 10, for her great strength,
   which the word signifies, -- and the wounding of the dragon, that great
   and crooked afflicter, Pharaoh, is remembered, and urged for a motive
   to a new needed deliverance. So Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14, "Thou brakest the
   heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people
   inhabiting the wilderness." Leviathan, -- the same dragon, oppressing,
   persecuting Pharaoh, -- thou brakest his heads, his counsels, armies,
   power; and gavest him for meat, that the people for forty years
   together might be fed, sustained, and nourished with that wonderful
   mercy. "Out of the eater came forth meat; out of the strong came forth
   sweetness."

   In this reciprocation God walketh with his people. Of free grace he
   bestoweth mercies and blessings on them; by grace works the returns of
   remembrance and thankfulness unto himself for them; then showers that
   down again in new mercies. The countries which send up no vapours,
   receive down no showers. Remembrance with thankfulness of former
   mercies is the matter, as it were, which by God's goodness is condensed
   into following blessings. For, --

   1. Mercies have their proper end, when thankfully remembered. What more
   powerful motive to the obtaining of new, than to hold out that the old
   were not abused? We are encouraged to cast seed again into that ground
   whose last crop witnesseth that it was not altogether barren. That sad
   spot of good Hezekiah, that he rendered not again according to the
   benefit done unto him, is set down as the opening a door of wrath
   against himself, Judah, and Jerusalem, 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. On the other
   side, suitable returns are a door of hope for farther mercies.

   2. The remembrance of them strengthens faith, and keeps our hands from
   hanging down in the time of waiting for blessings. When faith is
   supported, the promise is engaged, and a mercy at any time more than
   half obtained. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," Heb. xi.
   1. "God," saith the apostle, "hath delivered us from so great a death,
   and doth deliver." Now, what conclusion makes he of this experience? --
   "In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us," 2 Cor. i. 10. It was a
   particular mercy with its circumstances, as you may see verse 9, which
   he made the bottom of his dependence. In the favours of men we cannot
   do so; they may be weary of helping, or be drawn dry, and grow
   helpless. Ponds may be exhausted, but the ocean never. The infinite
   fountains of the Deity cannot be sunk one hair's breadth by everlasting
   flowing blessings. Now, circumstances of actions, time, place, and the
   like, ofttimes make deep impressions; mercies should be remembered with
   them. So doth the apostle again, 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, "He did deliver me
   from the mouth of the lion," -- Nero, that lion-like tyrant. And what
   then? "He shall deliver me from every evil work." David esteemed it
   very good logic, to argue from the victory God gave him over the lion
   and the bear, to a confidence of victory over Goliath, 1 Sam. xvii. 37.

   Use. The use of this we are led unto, Isa. xliii. 16-18, "Thus saith
   the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty
   waters; which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army, and the
   power; They shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are
   extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things,
   neither consider the things of old." Let former mercies be an anchor of
   hope in time of present distresses. Where is the God of Marston Moor,
   and the God of Naseby? is an acceptable expostulation in a gloomy day.
   O what a catalogue of mercies hath this nation to plead by in a time of
   trouble! God came from Naseby, and the Holy One from the west. Selah.
   "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise."
   He went forth in the north, and in the east he did not withhold his
   hand. I hope the poor town wherein [171] I live is more enriched with a
   store-mercy of a few months, than with a full trade of many years. "The
   snares of death compassed us, and the floods of ungodly men made us
   afraid," Ps. xviii. 4; but "the Lord thundered in the heavens, the
   Highest gave his voice; hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out
   his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and
   discomfited them. He sent from above, he took us, he drew us out of
   many waters. He delivered us from our strong enemy, and from them which
   hated us: for they were too strong for us," verses 13, 14, 16, 17. How
   may we say with the same Psalmist, in any other distress, "O my God, my
   soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the
   land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar!" Ps. xlii.
   6. "Where is the Lord God of Elijah," -- who divides anew the waters of
   Jordan? 2 Kings ii. 14.

   The following verses set forth the glory and power of God, in the
   accomplishment of that great work of bringing his people into the
   promised land, with those mighty things he performed in the wilderness.

   Verse 4, if I mistake not, sets out his glorious appearance on Mount
   Sinai; of which the prophet affirms two things:--

   1. That "his brightness was as the light."

   2. That "he had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding
   of his power."

   1. For the first. Is it not that brightness which appeared when the
   mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, Deut. iv. 11, -- a
   glorious fire in the midst of clouds and thick darkness? The like
   description you have of God's presence, Ps. xviii. 11, 12, "He made
   darkness his secret place," and brightness was before him: as the
   light, the sun, the fountain and cause of it, called "light," Job xxxi.
   26. Now, this glorious appearance holds out the kingly power and
   majesty of God in governing the world, which appeareth but unto few.
   "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice. Clouds and darkness are
   round about him. A fire goeth before him; his lightnings enlightened
   the world," Ps. xcvii. 1-4.

   2. "He had horns coming out of his hand." So the words most properly,
   though by some otherwise rendered. That horns in Scripture are taken
   for strength and power, [172] needs no proving. The mighty power of
   God, which he made appear to his people, in that glorious
   representation of his majesty on Mount Sinai, is by this phrase
   expressed. There his chariots were seen to be twenty thousand, even
   many thousands of angels; and the Lord among them in that holy place,
   Ps. lxviii. 17. There they perceived that "he had horns in his hand;"
   -- an almighty power to do what he pleased. Whence it is added, "And
   there was the hiding of his power." Though the appearance of it was
   very great and glorious, yet it was but small to the everlasting hidden
   depths of his omnipotency. The most glorious appearance of God comes
   infinitely short of his own eternal majesty as he is in himself; -- it
   is but a discovery that there is the hiding of infinite perfection; or,
   there his power appeared to us, which was hidden from the rest of the
   world.

   VIII. Observation. When God is doing great things, he gives glorious
   manifestations of his excellencies to his secret ones.

   The appearance on Sinai goes before his passage into Canaan: "Surely
   the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his
   servants the prophets," Amos iii. 7. When he is to send Moses for the
   deliverance of his people, he appears to him in a burning, unconsumed
   bush, Exod. iii. 2, -- a sign manifesting the presence of his power to
   preserve his church unconsumed in the midst of burning, fiery
   afflictions. Unto this very end were all the visions tint are recorded
   in the Scripture, all of them accommodated to the things which God was
   presently doing. And this he doth, --

   1. That they may thereby be prepared to follow him, and serve him in
   the great works he hath for them to do. Great works are not to be done
   without great encouragements. If God appears not in light, who can
   expect he should appear in operation? He that is called to serve
   Providence in high things, without some especial discovery of God,
   works in the dark, [173] and knows not whither he goes, nor what he
   doth. Such a one travels in the wilderness without a directing cloud.
   Clear shining from God must be at the bottom of deep labouring with
   God. What is the reason that so many in our days set their hands to the
   plough, and look back again? -- begin to serve Providence in great
   things, but cannot finish? -- give over in the heat of the day? They
   never had any such revelation of the mind of God upon their spirits,
   such a discovery of his excellencies, as might serve for a bottom of
   such undertakings. Men must know that if God hath not appeared to them
   in brightness, and showed them "the horns in his hand," hid from
   others, though they think highly of themselves, they'll deny God twice
   and thrice before the close of the work of this age. If you have no
   great discoveries, you will wax vain in great undertakings. New
   workings on old bottoms, are like new wine in old bottles, -- both are
   spoiled and lost. The day is the time of work, and that because of the
   light thereof; -- those who have not light may be spared to go to bed.

   2. That they may be the better enabled to give him glory, when they
   shall see the sweet harmony that is between his manifestations and his
   operations, -- when they can say with the Psalmist, "As we have heard,
   so have we seen," Ps. xlviii. 8. As he revealeth himself, so he
   worketh. When his power and mercy answer his appearance in the bush, it
   is a foundation to a prayer: "The good-will of him that dwelt in the
   bush bless thee." When a soul shall find God calling him forth to
   employments, perhaps great and high, yet every way suiting that light
   and gracious discovery which he hath given of himself, one thing
   answering another, it sets him in a frame of honouring God aright.

   This might be of rich consideration could we attend it. For, --

   Use 1. Hence, as I said before, is apostasy from God's work. He appears
   not unto men; -- how can they go upon his employment. Men that have no
   vision of God, are in the dark, and know not what to do. I speak not of
   visions beyond the Word; but answers of prayers, gracious applications
   of providences, with wise consideration of times and seasons. Some drop
   off every day, some hang by the eyelids, and know not what to do: the
   light of God is not sent forth to lead and guide them, Ps. xliii. 3.
   Wonder not at the strange backslidings of our days: many acted upon by
   engagements, and for want of light, know not to the last what they were
   a-doing.

   Use 2. Hence also is the suiting of great light and great work in our
   days. Let new light be derided whilst men please, he will never serve
   the will of God in this generation, who sees not beyond the line of
   foregoing ages.

   Use 3. And this, thirdly, may put all those whom God is pleased to
   employ in his service upon a diligent inquiry into his mind. Can a
   servant do his master's work without knowing his pleasure? We live for
   the most part from hand to mouth, and do what comes next; few are
   acquainted with the designs of God.

   The going forth of the Lord with his people towards their rest, with
   reference to his harbingers, is described, verse 5.

   Verse 5. "Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth
   at his feet."

   "Before him," -- at his face. "The pestilence:" This is often reckoned
   amongst the weapons wherewith God fighteth with any people to consume
   them; [174] and as speeding an instrument of destruction it is as any
   the Lord ever used towards the children of men. "At his feet went forth
   burning coals;" -- a redoubling, say some, of the same stroke, --
   burning coals for burning diseases. When one blow will not do the work
   appointed, God redoubles the stroke of his hand, Lev. xxvi. 22-25. Or,
   burning, coals, dreadful judgments, mortal weapons, as fire and flames,
   are often taken in other descriptions of God's dealing with his
   enemies, Ps. xi. 6, xviii. 8. Prevailing fire is the most dreadful
   means of destruction, Heb. xii. 29; Isa. xxxiii. 14. In Exod. xxiii.
   28, God threateneth to send the hornet upon the Canaanites, before the
   children of Israel; some stinging judgments, either on their
   consciences or bodies, or both:-- something of the same kind is
   doubtless here held out. He sent plagues and diseases among them, to
   weaken and consume them, before his people's entrance. His presence was
   with Israel; and the pestilence consuming the Canaanites before their
   entrance is said to be lphnyv?, -- "at his faces," or appearances,
   before him, before the entrance of the presence of his holiness. And
   the following judgments, that quite devoured them, were "the coals
   going out at his feet," which he sent abroad when he entered their land
   with his own inheritance, to cast out those "malae fidei possessores."
   Sicknesses, diseases, and all sorts of judgments, are wholly at God's
   disposal. "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth
   trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born to trouble, as the
   sons of the burning coal lift up in flying," Job v. 6, 7. When God
   intends the total destruction of a people, he commonly weakens them by
   some previous judgments. Let the truth of this be found upon them that
   hate us, and the interpretation thereof be to the enemies of this
   nation; but the Lord knows all our hearts may well tremble at what will
   be the issue of the visitations of the last year.

   IX. Observation. God never wants instruments to execute his anger, and
   ruin his enemies.

   His treasury of judgments can never be exhausted. If Israel be too weak
   for the Amorites, he will call in the pestilence and burning diseases
   to their assistance. What creature hath not this mighty God used
   against his enemies? An angel destroys Sennacherib's host, Isa. xxxvii.
   36, and smites Herod with worms, Acts xii. 23. Heaven above sends down
   a hell of fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah; Gen. xix. 24. The
   stars in their courses fought against Sisera, Judges v. 20. Devils do
   his will herein; he sent evil angels among the Egyptians, Ps. lxxviii.
   49. Fire consumes persecuting Ahaziah's companies, 2 Kings i. 10, 11.
   The water drowns Pharaoh and his chariots, Exod. xiv. 28. Earth
   swallows up Korah, with his fellow-rebels, Num. xvi. 32. Bears rend the
   children that mocked Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 24. Lions destroy the strange
   nations in Samaria, 2 Kings xvii. 25. Frogs, lice, boils, hail, rain,
   thunder, lightning, destroy the land of Egypt, Exod. viii. 9, 10.
   Locusts are his mighty army to punish Israel, Joel ii. 25. Hailstones
   destroy the Canaanites, Josh. x. 11. Stones of the wall slay the
   Syrians, 1 Kings xx. 30. Pestilence and burning diseases are his
   ordinary messengers. In a word, all creatures serve his providence, and
   wait his commands for the execution of his righteous judgments. Neither
   the beasts of the field nor the stones of the earth will be any longer
   quiet than he causeth them to hold a league with the sons of men.

   Use 1. To teach us all to tremble before this mighty God. Who can stand
   before him, -- "qui tot imperat legionibus?" If he will strike, he
   wants no weapons; if he will fight, he wants no armies. All things
   serve his will. He saith to one, Come, and it cometh; to another, Go,
   and it goeth; to a third, Do this, and it doth it. He can make use of
   ourselves, our friends, our enemies, heaven, earth, fire, water, any
   thing, for what end he pleaseth. There is no standing before his
   armies, for they are all things, and himself to make them effectual.
   There is no flying from his armies, for they are every where, and
   himself with them. Who would not fear this King of nations? He that
   contends with him shall find "as if a man did flee from a lion, and a
   bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall,
   and a serpent bit him," Amos v. 19. No flying, no hiding, no
   contending. Worms kill Herod; a fly choked Adrian, etc.

   Use 2. To be a bottom of confidence and dependence in an evil day. He
   that hath God on his side, hath also all things that are seen, and that
   are not seen. The mountain is full of fiery chariots for Elisha's
   defence, when outwardly there was no appearance, 2 Kings vi. 17. All
   things wait their Master's beck, to do him service, -- as for the
   destruction of enemies, so for the deliverance of his. What though we
   had no army in the time of war? God hath millions, many thousands of
   angels, Ps. lxviii. 17, -- one whereof can destroy so many thousands of
   men in a night, Isa. xxxvii. 36. He can choose (when few others will
   appear, with him against the mighty, as in our late troubles) "foolish
   things to confound the wise, and weak things to confound the strong."
   Sennacherib's angel is yet alive, and the destroyer of Sodom is not
   dead: and all those things are at our command, if their help may be for
   our good. "Judah ruleth with God," Hos. xi. 12, -- hath a rule by
   faithful supplications over all those mighty hosts. Make God our
   friend, and we are not only of the best, but also the strongest side.
   You that would be on the safest side, be sure to choose that which God
   is on. Had not this mighty, all-commanding God, been with us, where had
   we been in the late tumults? So many thousands in Kent, so many in
   Wales, so many in the north, so many in Essex, -- shall they not speed?
   shall they not divide the prey? is not the day of those factious
   Independents come? was the language of our very neighbours. The snare
   is broken, and we are delivered.

   The Lord having sent messengers before him into Canaan, stands himself
   as it were upon the borders, and takes a view of the land.

   Verse 6. "He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove
   asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the
   perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting."

   Two things are here considerable:--

   1. The Lord's exact foreview of the promised land: "He stood, and
   measured the earth, and beheld the nations."

   2. His operation at that time: "He drove asunder the nations," etc.

   1. "He stood and measured:" The prophet here representeth the Lord on
   the frontier of Canaan, as one taking view of a piece of land, and
   exactly measuring it out, as intending it for his own; weighing and
   considering the bounds and limits of it, to see if it will answer the
   end for which he purposeth it. God's exact notice and knowledge of his
   people's possession is in those words held out. He views where the
   lines of every tribe shall run. Nothing happens or is made out to any
   of God's people, without his own careful providential predisposition.
   He views the circuit of the whole, where and how divided, and separated
   from the dwellings of the unclean, and habitations of the
   uncircumcised. Fixed bounds, measured limits of habitation is a
   necessary ingredient to the making up of a national church.

   2. What he did, which is two ways expressed: (1.) In reference to the
   inhabitants; (2.) To the land itself.

   (1.) For the inhabitants: He drove them asunder, vytr? "and he made to
   leap" out of their old channels. Those nations knit and linked together
   amongst themselves, by leagues and civil society, he separated,
   disturbed, divided in counsels and arms (as in the case of the
   Gibeonites [175] ), persecuted by the sword, that they suddenly leaped
   out of their habitations, the residue wandering as no people. God's
   justly nation-disturbing purposes are the bottom of their deserved
   ruin.

   (2.) For the land: "The everlasting mountains," etc., those strong,
   firm, lasting mountains of Canaan, not like the mountains of sand in
   the desert where the people were, but to continue firm to the world's
   end, as both the words here used, d? and vlm?, "perpetuity" and
   "everlasting," do in the Scripture frequently signify. Now, these are
   said to be scattered, and to bow, because of the destruction of the
   inhabitants of those lasting hills, being many of them high and mighty
   ones, [176] like perpetual mountains; they being given in possession to
   the sons of Israel, even "the chief things of the ancient mountains,
   and the precious things of the lasting hills," Deut. xxxiii. 15.

   X. Observation. God takes an exact foreview of his people's portion and
   inheritance.

   Like a careful father, he knows beforehand what he intends to bestow
   upon them. He views it, measures it, prepares it to the utmost bounds.
   They shall not have a hair's breadth which he hath not allotted them,
   nor want the least jot of their designed portion.

   Use. Learn to be contented with your lot. He is wise also who took a
   view of it, and measured it, and found it just commensurate to your
   good:-- had he known that a foot's breadth more had been needful, you
   would have had it. Had he seen it good, you had had no thorns in your
   lands, no afflictions in your lives. O how careful, how solicitous are
   many of God's people! how full of desires! -- Oh, that it were with me
   thus or thus! Possess your souls in patience; as you cannot add to, no
   more shall any take from your proportion. He took the measure of your
   wants and his own supplies long since. That which be hath measured out
   he will cut off for you. He knows how to suit all his children.

   XI. Observation. It is dangerous encroaching, for any of the sons of
   men, upon God's people's portion, lot, privileges, or inheritance.

   God hath measured it out for them, and he will look that they enjoy it.
   Shall men remove his bounds and land-marks, [177] and be free? will it
   be safe trespassing upon the lands of the Almighty? will it be easy and
   cheap? will he not plead his action with power, -- especially seeing he
   hath given them their portion? If he hath given Seir to Edom, what doth
   he vexing and wasting Jacob? Shall they not possess what the Lord their
   God gives them to possess? Judges xi. 24. He hath cautioned all the
   world, kings and others, in this kind, "Touch not mine anointed, do my
   prophets no harm," Ps. cv. 14, 15. Touch them not, nor any thing that
   is theirs: harm them not in any thing I bestow on them. They have
   nothing but what their Father gives them, and Christ hath bought for
   them. Will a tender father, think you, contentedly look on, and see a
   slave snatch away his children's bread? If a man hath engaged himself
   to give a jewel to a dear friend, will he take it patiently to have an
   enemy come and snatch it away before his face? God is engaged to his
   people for all their enjoyments, and will he quietly suffer himself to
   be robbed, and his people spoiled? Shall others dwell quietly in the
   land which he hath measured for his own?

   Use 1. See whence the great destructions of people and nations in these
   latter ages have come. Is it not for touching these forbidden things?
   The holy vessels of the temple at Jerusalem ruined Babylon. Is not the
   wasting of the western nations at this day from hence, that they have
   served the whore to deck herself with the spoils of the spouse? helped
   to trim her with the portion of God's people, taking away their
   liberties, ordinances, privileges, lives, to lay at her feet? Doubtless
   God is pleading with all these kingdoms for their encroaching. They who
   will not let him be at peace with his, shall have little quiet of their
   own. The eagle that stole a coal from the altar fired her nest I know
   how this hath been abused to countenance the holding of Babylonish
   wedges. God will preserve to his people his own allowance, not Rome's
   supplement. This nation hath yet itching fingers, and a hankering mind
   after the inheritance of God's people. Let them take heed; he hath
   knocked off their hands a hundred times, and sent them away with bloody
   fingers. O that we were wise, that we be not quite consumed! Of you I
   hope better things, and such as accompany salvation; yet give me leave
   to cautionate you a little.

   (1.) As to privileges and liberties of this life. Their liberties and
   estates are not as other men's, but more exactly measured for their
   good, and sanctified to them in the blood of Christ. If in these things
   God hath called you to the defence and protection of his, he will
   expect a real account, You had better give away a kingdom that belongs
   to others, than the least of that which God hath made for his saints.
   Think not any thing small which God accounts worthy to bestow on his.
   If he hath meted out liberty for them, and you give them slavery, you
   will have a sad reckoning.

   (2.) In point of ordinances, and Christ-purchased privileges. Here it
   is dangerous encroaching indeed. [178] God exactly measured Canaan,
   because it was to be the seat of a national church, If you love your
   lives, if you love your souls, be tender on this point. Here if you
   meddle with that which belongs not unto you, were you kings, all your
   glory would be laid in the dust, 2 Chron. xxvi. 18. Woe to them who cut
   short the saints of God in the least jot of what he hath allotted to
   them in spirituals! Is it for any of you, O ye sons of men! to measure
   out God's children's portion, long since bequeathed them by Christ? Let
   them alone with what is given them. If God call Israel out of Egypt to
   serve him, shall Pharaoh assign who, and how they shall go, -- first
   men only, then all, without their cattle? "Nay," says Moses, "we will
   go as God calls," Exod. x. 26.

   Was not one main end of the late tumults to rob God's people of their
   privileges, -- to bring them again under the yoke of superstition What
   God brake in war, do not think he will prosper in peace. If you desire
   to thrive, do not the same, nor any thing like it. Take they any thing
   of yours that belongs to Caesar, the civil magistrate, restrain them,
   keep them within bounds; but if they take only what Christ hath given
   them, -- O touch them not, harm them not! The heap is provided for
   them, let them take for themselves. Think it not strange that every one
   should gather his own manna. The Lord forbid that I should ever see the
   magistrates of England taking away liberties, privileges, ordinances,
   or ways of worship, from them to whom the Almighty hath made a free
   grant of them!

   (3.) If in taking what God hath measured out for them, they should not
   all comply with you in the manner and measure of what they take, do
   them no harm, impoverish not their families, banish them not, slay them
   not. Alas! [179] your judgments, were you kings and emperors, is not a
   rule to them. They must be tried by their own faith. Are their souls,
   think you, more precious to you than themselves? You say they take
   amiss; -- they say, No, and appeal to the Word. [180] Should you now
   smite them? Speak, blood; is that the way of Jesus Christ? Should it be
   as you affirm, you would be puzzled for your warrant. To run when you
   are not sent, surely in this case is not safe. But what if it should
   prove, in the close, that they have followed divine directions? Do you
   not then fight against God, wound Jesus Christ, and prosecute him as an
   evil-doer? I know the usual colours, the common pleas, that are used
   for the instigation of authority to the contrary. They are the very
   same, and no other, that have slain the saints of God this twelve
   hundred years. Arguments for persecution are dyed in the blood of
   Christians for a long season; -- ever since the dragon gave his power
   to the false prophet, they have all died as heretics and schismatics.
   Suppose you saw in one view all the blood of the witnesses of Christ,
   which had been let out of their veins by vain pretences, -- that you
   heard in one noise the doleful cry of all pastorless churches, dying
   martyrs, harbourless children of parents inheriting the promise,
   wilderness-wandering saints, dungeoned believers, wrested out by
   pretended zeal to peace and truth; -- and perhaps it may make your
   spirits tender as to this point.

   Use 2. See the warrantableness of our contests for God's people's
   rights. It was Jephthah's only argument against the encroaching
   Ammonites, Judges xi. 1. By God's assistance they would possess what
   the Lord their God should give them. If a grant from heaven will not
   make a firm title, I know not what will. Being called by lawful
   authority, certainly there is not a more glorious employment than to
   serve the Lord in helping to uphold the portion he hath given his
   people. If your hearts be upright, and it is the liberties, the
   privileges of God's saints, conveyed from the Father, purchased by
   Christ, you contend for, -- go on and prosper, the Lord is with you.

   XII. Observation. The works and labours of God's people are transacted
   for them in heaven, before they once undertake them.

   The Israelites were now going to Canaan: God doth their work for them
   beforehand; they did but go up and take possession. Joshua and Caleb
   tell the people, not only that their enemies' defence was departed from
   them, but that they were but bread for them, Num. xiv. 9, -- not corn
   that might be prepared, but bread, ground, made up, baked, ready to
   eat. Their work was done in heaven. "Known unto God are all his works
   from the beginning of the world," Acts xv. 18. All that is done here
   below, is but the writing of a visible copy, for the sons of men to
   read, out of the eternal lines of his own purpose.

   Use. Up and be doing, you that are about the work of the Lord. Your
   enemies are bread ready to be eaten and yield you refreshment. Do you
   think if our armies had not walked in a trodden path, they could have
   made such journeys as they have done of late? Had not God marched
   before them, and traced out their way from Kent to Essex, from Wales to
   the north, their carcasses had long ere this been cast into the field.
   Their work was done in heaven before they began it. God was gone over
   the mulberry-trees, 2 Sam. v. 24. The work might have been done by
   children, though he was pleased to employ such worthy instruments. They
   see, I doubt not, their own nothingness in his all-sufficiency. Go on,
   then; but with this caution, search by all ways and means to find the
   footsteps of the mighty God going before you.

   The trembling condition of the oppressing nations round about, when God
   appeared so gloriously for his people, is held out, verse 7.

   Verse 7. "I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: the curtains of the
   land of Midian did tremble."

   You have here three things considerable.

   1. The mention of two nations, enemies of the church: Cushan and
   Midian.

   2. The state and condition of those nations: the tents of the one in
   affliction, and the curtains of the other in trembling.

   3. The view the prophet had of this, -- I saw it, saith he: "I saw,"
   etc.

   1. For the first; -- these two nations, Cushan and Midian, were the
   neighbouring people to the Israelites, being in the wilderness when God
   did such great things for them.

   (1.) Cushan; that is, the tent-dwelling Arabians on the south side,
   towards Ethiopia, -- being, as the Ethiopians, of the posterity of Cush
   (thence called Cushan), the eldest son of scoffing Ham, Gen. x. 6;
   enemies and opposers of the church (doubtless) all the way down from
   their profane ancestors. [181] These now beheld the Israelites going to
   root out their allies and kindred, the Amorites of Canaan, the
   posterity of Canaan, the younger brother of their progenitor Cush, Gen.
   x. 6.

   (2.) Midian was a people inhabiting the east side of Jordan, on the
   borders of Moab; so called from their forefather, Midian, the son of
   Abraham by Keturah, Gen. xxv. 2. These obtained a temporal blessing for
   a season, from the love borne to their faithful progenitor. In the days
   of Jacob they were great merchants, Gen. xxxvii. 28. At this time, in
   less than four hundred years, they were so multiplied, that they had
   five kings of their nation, Num. xxxi. 8. Some knowledge of the true
   God was retained, as it should seem, until now, amongst some of them,
   being received by tradition from their fathers. Moses' father-in-law
   was a priest of this country, Exod. ii. 15, 16, -- not altogether
   unacquainted with Jehovah, Exod. xviii. 1, -- and was himself, or his
   son, persuaded to take up his portion in Canaan, Num. x. 29, 30. But
   for the generality of the nation, being not heirs of the promise, they
   were fallen off to superstition and idolatry. Exceeding enemies they
   were to the people in the wilderness, vexing them with their wiles, and
   provoking them to abominations, that the Lord might consume them, Num.
   xxv. 18. None so vile enemies to the church as superstitious apostates.
   These two nations then set out all manner of opposers; -- gross
   idolaters, as Cushan; and superstitious, envious apostates, as Midian.

   2. Their state and condition severally.

   (1.) "The tents of Cushan" were in affliction; the tents, the Arabian
   Ethiopians of Cush, dwelling in tents, the habitation for the
   inhabitant, by a hypallage. They were "in affliction, under vanity,
   under iniquity, the place of vanity," so variously are the words
   rendered, tcht 'vn?, "under affliction, vanity, or iniquity." Sin and
   the punishment of it are frequently in the Scripture of the same name,
   so near is the relation. 'vn? is properly and most usually iniquity;
   but that it is here taken for the consequent of it, -- a consuming,
   perplexed, vexed condition, -- can be no doubt. The Cushanites, then,
   were in affliction, full of anguish, fear, dread, vexation, to see what
   would be the issue of those great and mighty things which God was doing
   in their borders for his people: [182] -- afflicted with Israel's
   happiness and their own fears; as is the condition of all wicked
   oppressors.

   (2.) "The curtains of the land of Midian," for the Midianites dwelling
   in curtained tabernacles, by the same figure as before. They trembled,
   -- yrgzvn?, "moved themselves, were moved;" that is, shaken with fear
   and trembling, as though they were ready to run from the appearance of
   the mighty God with his people. The story of it you have in the Book of
   Numbers, [183] as it was prophetically foretold by Moses concerning
   other nations, Exod. xv. 14-16, "The people shall hear, and be afraid:
   sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine. Then the dukes
   of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab," etc. God filled those
   nations with anguish, sorrow, and amazement, at the protection he
   granted his people.

   3. The prophet's view of all this: "I saw" it, or "I see" it. Though it
   were eight hundred and seventy years before, supposing him to prophesy
   about the end of Josiah or beginning of Jehoiakim, yet, taking it under
   the consideration of faith, he makes it present to his view.

   Faith looketh backwards and forwards, -- to what God hath done, and to
   what he hath promised to do. Abraham saw the day of Christ, so many
   ages after, because he found it by faith in the promise. Habakkuk saw
   the terrors of Cushan and Midian so many days before, because faith
   found it recorded among the works of God, to support itself in seeking
   the like mercies to be renewed. So that this is the sum of this verse:
   "O Lord, faith makes it evident, and presents it before my view, how in
   former days, when thou wast doing great things for thy people, thou
   filledst all thine and their enemies with fear, vexation, trembling,
   and astonishment."

   XIII. Observation. Faith gives a present subsistence to forepast works
   as recorded, and future mercies as promised, to support the soul in an
   evil day.

   I have made the doctrine, by analogy, look both ways, though the words
   of the text look but one.

   The apostle tells us, that "faith is the substance of things hoped for,
   the evidence of things not seen," Heb. xi. 1.

   1. "Of things hoped for." It looks forward to the promises, and so
   gives the substance of them in present possession, confirming our minds
   and hearts, that they may have a subsistence, as it were, within us,
   though not actually made out unto us.

   2. It is "the evidence of things not seen." It extends itself not only
   to things promised, but, taking for its object the whole word of God,
   it makes evident and present things that are past also. The faith
   commended, verse 3, is of things long since done, -- even the "making
   of the things that are seen of the things that do not appear." "Abraham
   saw my day," saith our Saviour, John viii. 56. He saw it as Habakkuk
   saw the tents of Cushan in affection; -- faith made it present to him;
   all the ages between him and his promised seed were as nothing to his
   keen-sighted faith. Hence the apostle puts the mercies of the promise
   all in one form and rank, as already wrought, though some of them were
   enjoyed, and some of them in this life cannot be, Rom. viii. 30, "Whom
   he hath justified, them he hath glorified:" he hath done it for them
   already, because he hath made them believe it, and that gives it a
   present subsistence in their spirit. And for forepast works, they are
   still mentioned by the saints as if they had been done in their days,
   before their eyes. Elisha calls up to remembrance a former miracle, to
   the effecting the like, 2 Kings ii. 14.

   There be three things in the past or future mercies which faith makes
   present to the soul, giving, in the substance of them, -- (1.) Their
   love; (2.) Their consolation; (3.) Their use and benefit.

   (1.) The love of them. The love that was in former works, and the love
   that is in promised mercies, that faith draws out, and really makes
   ours. The love of every recorded deliverance is given to us by faith.
   It looks into the good-will, the free grace, the loving-kindness of
   God, in every work that ever he did for his, and cries, Yet this is
   mine:-- this is the kernel of that blessing, and this is mine; for the
   same good-will, the same kindness he hath towards me also. Were the
   same outward actings needful, I should have them also. The free love of
   every mercy is faith's proper object. It makes all Joshua's great
   victories present to every one of us. The promise that had the love and
   grace in it, which ran through them all, is given him, Josh. i. 5, "I
   will be with thee, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Now the
   apostle tells us that the truth and love of this promise is ours, Heb.
   iv. 8. Faith may, doth assure itself, that what good-will soever was in
   all the great mercies which Joshua received upon that promise, is all
   ours. All the good-will and choice love of, "I will never leave thee
   nor forsake thee," is mine and thine, if we are believers. He that hath
   this present, hath all Joshua's victories present. The very glory of
   the saints in heaven is ours in the love of it. We enjoy that love
   which gave them glory, and will crown us also in due time.

   (2.) In their comforts and refreshments: "Thou gavest leviathan to be
   meat to the people in the wilderness," Ps. lxxiv. 14. They fed their
   souls full of the sweetness of that mercy, the destruction of their
   oppressing tyrant; we chew the cud upon the blessings of former ages.
   Who hath not, with joy, delight, and raised affections, gone over the
   old preservations of the church in former years? How does David run
   them over with admiration, closing every stop with, "His mercy endureth
   for ever!" Ps. cxxxvi. And for things, to come, as yet in the promise
   only, -- whether general to the whole church, as the calling of the
   Jews, the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, the breaking out of
   light, beauty, and glory upon the churches and saints, the confusion of
   nations not subjecting themselves to the standard of the gospel, etc.,
   -- or in particular, farther assurance of love than at present enjoyed,
   nearer communion with Father and Son, being with Christ, freed from
   misery and corruption, dwelling with God for ever; -- how does faith
   act over these and the like things in the heart, leaving a savour and
   relish of their sweetness continually upon the soul? O how sweet are
   the things of the world to come unto poor believers! Christ leads the
   soul by faith, not only into the chambers of present enjoyed loves, but
   also into the fore-prepared everlasting mansions in his Father's house.
   Thus it gives poor mortal creatures a sweet relish of eternal joys; --
   brings heaven into a dungeon, glory into a prison, a crown into a
   cottage, Christ into a slaughter-house. And this arises, --

   [1.] From the nature of faith. Though it do not make the thing believed
   to be (the act cannot create its own object), yet applying it, it makes
   it the believer's. It is the bond of union between the soul and the
   thing promised. He that believes in Christ, by that believing receives
   Christ, John i. 12; -- he becomes his. It is a grace uniting its
   subject and object, -- the person believing and the thing believed.
   There needs no ascending into heaven, or descending; the word of faith
   makes all things nigh, even within us, Rom. x. 6-8. Some glasses will
   present things at a great distance very near; faith looking through the
   glass of the gospel, makes the most remote mercies to be not only in a
   close distance, but in union. It "is the subsistence of things hoped
   for;" -- that which they have not in themselves, it gives them, -- in
   the full-assured minds of believers.

   [2.] From the intendment of all mercies. They are for every believer.
   All things are theirs, -- "world, life, death, things present, things
   to come," 1 Cor. iii. 22. All promises being made to every believer,
   and all mercies being the fruit of these promises, they must all belong
   to every believer. Now, if all these should be kept from us, at that
   distance wherein they fail in their accomplishment in respect of time,
   what would they avail us? God, therefore, hath appointed that they
   shall have a real, though not a natural presence and subsistence at all
   times, to all believers.

   Use 1. See hence what use you make of past mercies, deliverances,
   blessings, with promised incomings; -- carry them about you by faith,
   that you may use them at need. "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"
   "Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord!" etc. "I saw the tents of Cushan."
   Take store mercies along with you in every trial. Use them, or they
   will grow rusty, and not pass in heaven. Learn to eat leviathan many
   years after his death. Forget not your perils; -- scatter not away your
   treasure; -- be rich in a heap of mercies, -- faith will make you so.
   The love, the comfort, the benefit, of all former and future blessings
   are yours, if you know how to use them. Oh, how have we lost our
   mercies in every hedge and ditch! Have none of us skill to lay up the
   last eminent deliverance against a rainy day?

   Use 2. Learn how to make the poorest and most afflicted condition
   comfortable and full of joy. Store thy cottage, thy sick-bed, by faith,
   with all sorts of mercies; they are the richest furniture in the world.
   Gather up what is already cast out, and fetch the rest from heaven.
   Bring the first-fruits of glory into thy bosom. See the Jews called, --
   the residue of opposers subdued, the gospel exalted, -- Christ
   enthroned, -- all thy sins pardoned, -- corruption conquered, -- glory
   enjoyed. Roll thyself in those golden streams every day. Let faith
   fetch in new and old; -- ancient mercies for thy supportment,
   everlasting mercies for thy consolation. He that hath faith, hath all
   things.

   XIV. Observation. God's dealing with his enemies in the season of his
   church's deliverance is of especial consideration.

   "I saw the tents," etc. So did the Israelites behold the Egyptians dead
   on the shore, Exod. xiv. 30, 31. "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were
   moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is
   with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works
   of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth," Ps. xlvi.
   6-8. The enemies' undertaking, verse 6, -- God's protection to his
   people, verse 7, -- a view of the adversaries' desolation, verse 8, --
   are all orderly held out.

   The Lord tells Moses that he will harden the heart of Pharaoh, that he
   might show his power; to this very end, that it might be considered,
   and told to one another, Exod. x. 2, 3. How many psalms have we, that
   are taken up in setting forth God's breaking, yoking, befooling,
   terrifying his adversaries at such a season! The remembrance of the
   slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt was an ingredient in the chiefest
   ordinance the ancient church enjoyed, Exod. xii. The reasons of this
   are, --

   1. Much of the greatness and intenseness of God's love to his own is
   seen in his enemies' ruin, Isa. xliii. 3, 4, "I gave Egypt for thy
   ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
   sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will
   I give men for thee, and people for thy life." When God gives such
   mighty kingdoms for a small handful, it appears they are precious to
   him: "Whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall fall for thy
   sake," Isa. liv. 15. When God will maintain a quarrel with all the
   world, -- swear that he will never have peace with Amalek until he be
   consumed, -- break nations, kings, and kingdoms, -- stretch out his
   hand in judgment round about, -- and all to save, preserve, prosper,
   protect a small handful; -- surely he hath endeared affections for
   them. In the days wherein we live, can we look and see wise men
   befooled, mighty warriors vanquished, men of might become as children,
   their persons slain and trodden down in the field, -- can we but cry,
   "Lord, what are we, and what is our house, that thou shouldst do such
   things for us?" A serious view of what God hath done in this nation of
   late, -- what armies he hath destroyed, what strongholds demolished,
   what proud, haughty spirits defeated, what consultations made vain, --
   is enough to make us admire the riches of his love all our days. We may
   know what esteem a man sets upon a jewel, by the price he gives for it.
   Surely God values them for whom he hath given the honours, the parts,
   the polities, the lives of so many tall cedars, as of late he hath
   done. The loving-kindness of God to his church is seen, as in a glass,
   in the blood of their persecutors.

   2. The manifestation of God's sovereignty, power, and justice, is as
   dear to him as the manifestation of his mercy. The properties he lays
   out in destruction are equally glorious with those he lays out in
   preservation.

   In the proclamation of his glorious name he omits them not, Exod.
   xxxiv. 6, 7. In these he triumpheth gloriously when he hath overthrown
   the horse and his rider in the sea, Exod. xv. 1.

   Use. Let not our eyes in the late deliverance be always on the light
   side of the work, our own mercies; -- the dark side of terror and
   judgment is not without its glory. The folly that was in their
   counsels, the amazement that was in their armies, the trembling that
   accompanied all their undertakings, the tympanous products of all their
   endeavours, do all cry out, "Digitus Dei est h`ic." Had not God showed
   infinite wisdom, they had not been so abundantly foolish: had not he
   been infinite in power, the many thousands of enemies had not been so
   weak.

   In the late engagement in this country, when God stirred us up, with
   some others in these parts, to make some opposition to the enemy
   gathering at Chelmsford, what were, think you, the workings of God's
   providences against them? How came it to pass that we were not
   swallowed up by them? For, --

   1. They were desirous to ruin us, if we may judge their desires to
   answer their interest; or their expressions, with the language of their
   friends round about us, to answer their desires.

   2. They were able to do it. They had from the beginning, and so all
   along, near as many thousands as we had hundreds; -- of them very many
   old, experienced soldiers; with us not three men that had ever seen any
   fighting.

   3. They were resolved to do it. Witness their own confessions, and
   frequent declarations of their purposes, whilst the business was in
   agitation.

   4. They were provoked to it. For the first and only considerable
   opposition was made to them in this place; -- first, By hindering their
   assistance from Colchester; which how much they valued, witness the
   senseless letter they would have forced the committee to subscribe, to
   persuade us not to disturb their levies there; -- secondly, Suppressing
   and discouraging all those affected to them and their designs in these
   parts of the country; restraining some, disarming others, awing all; --
   thirdly, Hastening the coming of the army, lest their friends should
   suffer; -- fourthly, Encouraging their coming, by declaring that they
   had friends here: by which, and the like, they were abundantly
   provoked.

   5. That they were also invited to it, though by persons somewhat
   inconsiderable, with promises of a full party of friends to assist
   them, which they might have had, and a rich booty from their enemies to
   support them, which they might have found, is too apparent.

   Now, being thus advantaged, thus encouraged, thus provoked and
   resolved, why did they not attempt it, why did they not accomplish
   their desires? Is it not worth the while to consider how they were
   restrained? [184] Was not much of God's wisdom seen in mixing a spirit
   of giddiness and error in the midst of them, that they knew not well
   how to determine, nor at all to execute their determinations? Was not
   his power seen in causing experienced soldiers, as they were, with
   their multitudes, to be afraid of a poor handful of unskilful men,
   running together because they were afraid to abide in their houses? Was
   not his justice exalted in keeping them only for the pit which they had
   digged for others? Doubtless the hand of God was lifted up. O that we
   could all learn righteousness, peculiarly amongst ourselves of this
   place! Is there nothing of God to be discerned in the vexations,
   birthless consultations, and devices of our observers? -- nothing of
   power in their restraint? -- nothing of wisdom in the self-punishment
   of their anxious thoughts? -- nothing of goodness, that after so long
   waiting for advantage, they begin themselves to think that neither
   divination nor enchantment will prevail?

   XV. Observation. The measuring out of God's people's portion fills
   Cushan with affliction and Midian with trembling.

   Their eye is evil, because God is good. Israel's increase is Pharaoh's
   trouble, Exod. i. 10. When Nehemiah comes to build the walls of
   Jerusalem, it grieved the enemy exceedingly "that there was come a man
   to seek the welfare of the children of Israel," Neh. ii. 10. This is
   the season of that dispensation which you have mentioned, Isa. lxv.
   13-15, "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye
   shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be
   thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
   behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for
   sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall,"
   etc.

   The reasons of this are taken, -- 1. From their envy; 2. From their
   carnal fear; -- the two principles whereby they are acted in reference
   to the saints of God.

   1. Their envy. They have a devouring envy at them, [185] which at
   length shall shame them and consume them, Isa. xxvi. 11. They are of
   their father the devil, and he (through envy) was a "murderer from the
   beginning," John viii. 44. The portion God measureth out unto his
   people is in distinguishing mercies, differencing blessings, -- in such
   things as the world hath not, giveth not. Now, this is that which envy
   takes for its proper object. That others should have enjoyments above
   them, beyond them, this envious men cannot bear. God accepts Abel, not
   Cain; presently Cain is wroth, and his countenance falls, Gen. iv. 6.
   Jacob gets the blessing, and this fills the heart of Esau with
   murderous revenge, Gen. xxvii. 41. Upon all God's appearances with the
   apostles, how were the Jews cut to the heart, vexed, perplexed! God
   gives distinguishing mercies to his people, such protections, such
   deliverances; -- this Cushan and Midian cannot bear.

   2. Their carnal fear. They have all of them that conclusion in their
   breasts which Haman's wise men and wife made to him, Esth. vi. 13. If
   they begin to fall before the seed of the Jews, utter ruin will follow.
   When God begins to own his people, as them in the Acts v. 24, "they
   doubt whereunto this will grow;" -- their hearts tell them secretly
   they are usurpers of all they have, and when God owns any, they
   instantly fear lest for their sakes they should be called to account.
   When a distinction begins to be made in ordinances, privileges,
   deliverances, protections, evidently given to some peculiar ones, they
   tremble within that they are set apart for no good. This picking and
   choosing of men by the Lord, Ps. iv. 3, they cannot bear with. Such
   mighty works attend the Israelites! what, thinks Midian, will be the
   end of this? It is true, their pride calls on them to act openly more
   of their malice than their fear; but yet this lies at the bottom, like
   a boasting Atheist's nightly thoughts. [186] The chief priests and
   Pharisees having gotten the apostles before them, -- what big words
   they use to countenance the business! "Who gave you this power?" Acts
   iv. 7. But when they are by themselves, they cry, "What shall we do?"
   and, "Whereunto will this grow?" This lies at the bottom with many at
   this day; -- though they boast, and lift up their mouth to heaven,
   their hearts do tremble as an aspen leaf.

   Use. Learn not to be troubled at the great tumultuating which is
   amongst many against the ways of God at this day. God is measuring out
   his children's portion, giving them their bread in season, viewing for
   them the lot of their inheritance. Men of the world, profane
   Cushanites, superstitious, apostatical Midianites, will not, cannot be
   quiet. Vexed they are, envious, and afraid, and will act according to
   those principles. Cushanites see religion owned, Midianites theirs
   disclaimed, and both are alike provoked. The Lord convert them, or
   rebuke them; or the one will have the armies, the other their wiles.
   Only judge not their hearts by the outward appearance always. They seem
   gallant to you; -- indeed they are frighted, galled, vexed. I have seen
   a galled horse, under dressing, leap and curvet as though it had been
   out of mettle and spirit, when indeed it was pain and smart that made
   him do it. They pretend to despise us, when they envy us. They look
   like contemners, but are tremblers. Be not troubled at their outward
   appearance, they have inward anguish; -- they bite others, but are
   lashed themselves.

   XVI. Observation. The season of the church's deliverance being come,
   Cushan and Midian must wax vain, and perish.

   That there is such a season, I told you before. When four hundred and
   thirty years are expired, Egypt must be destroyed, the Amorites rooted
   out, and all the nations round made to tremble. When seventy years of
   captivity expire, Babylon must be ruined, and the Chaldean monarchy
   quite wasted, that the Jews may return. The church being to be
   delivered, Haman must be hanged. This you have fully set out, Rev. vi.
   12-17. It is the fall of heathenish tyranny, by the prevailing of the
   gospel, which you have there described. Rome and Constantinople, Pope
   and Turk, are preserved for a day and an hour wherein they shall fall,
   and be no more. If the season of enjoying ordinances and privileges be
   come to this nation, that the tabernacle of God will be here amongst
   men; woe be to Cushanites! woe be to Midianites! -- open opposers, and
   secret apostates. They shall not be able to be quiet, nor to prevail;
   God will not let them rest, nor obtain their purposes. The story of
   Haman must be acted over again; their hearts shall be stirred up to
   their own ruin, Rev. xx. 8. This is the frame of perishing Babylonians
   in the day of Zion's restoration. The reasons are:--

   1. Because at the deliverance of his people, God will plead with their
   enemies for their oppressions. "It is the day of the Lord's vengeance,
   the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion," Isa. xxxiv. 8. It
   is the vengeance of the Lord and his temple that lights upon them in
   that day, Jer. l. 28. "The violence done to me and my flesh be upon
   Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon the
   inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say," Jer. li. 35. In this day
   great Babylon must come into remembrance, Rev. xvi. 19, 20.

   2. The discerning trial that shall and doth come along with the
   church's vindication, will cut off all superfluous false professors, so
   that they also shall perish, Mal. iii. 2, 3. Christ comes with a fan,
   to send away the chaff in the wings of the wind. Have we not seen this
   end of many zealots?

   3. The Amorites live in Canaan, and must be removed. Oppressors and
   hypocrites enjoy many rites of the church, which must be taken from
   them. Rome and her adherents shall not have so much left as the name or
   title, appearance or show of a church. The outward court, which they
   have trodden down and defiled, shall be quite left out in the measuring
   of the temple, Rev. xi. 2.

   Use. Bring this observation home to the first from this verse, and it
   will give you the use of it: proceed we to the next verse.

   Verse 8. "Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger
   against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride
   upon thine horses, and thy chariots of salvation?"

   "Was the Lord displeased?" chrh? "kindled," did he burn? -- that is, in
   wrath. Heat is a great ingredient in the commotion of anger in us, here
   alluded to, or because the effects of anger are so often compared to
   fire. "Against the rivers" or floods? Again: "Was thine anger?" 'pk?
   "thy nose or face, or thine anger," 'ph? signifies both. The face [187]
   is the seat of anger's appearance: fury comes up into the face. "Was
   thine anger, thy troubling anger" (so the word) "against the sea," --
   the Red sea, through which thy people passed; "that thou didst ride
   upon thy horses, and thy chariots of salvation?" or, "thy chariots were
   salvation, -- currus salutares,' thy safety-bringing chariots."

   The words are an admiring expostulation about the mighty works of the
   Lord for his people, upon the sea, rivers, and inanimate creatures.

   1. The rivers:-- Jordan and its driving back is doubtless especially
   intended. The Lord showed his power in disturbing that ancient river in
   his course, and making his streams run backward. The story of it you
   have Josh. iii. 15, 16. The people being to enter into Canaan, the Lord
   divides the waters of that river, making them beneath to sink away, and
   those above to stand on a heap. This the prophet magnifies, Ps. cxiv.
   5, "What ailed thee, O Jordan, that thou wast driven back?" What
   marvellous, powerful, disturbing thing is happened to thee, that,
   contrary to thy ancient natural course, thy streams should be frighted,
   and run back to the springs from whence they came?

   2. The sea:-- that is, the Red sea, which, in like manner, was divided,
   Exod. xiv. 21; which the prophet also admires in the fore-cited psalm:
   "The sea saw it, and fled. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou
   fleddest?" What strong, mighty impression of power was on thee, that
   the multitudes of thy waters should be parted, and thy channel
   discovered dry to the bottom?

   3. "That thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy chariots of
   salvation" This you have again, verse 15, "Thou didst walk through the
   sea with thine horses." These were those clouds and winds which the
   Lord sent before the Israelites, to the sea and Jordan, to drive them
   back. "He maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of
   the wind," Ps. civ. 3. So Ps. xviii. 10, "He did fly upon the wings of
   the wind." After the manner of men, God is represented as a mighty
   conqueror, riding before his armies and making way for them. The power
   and majesty of God was with and upon those clouds and winds which went
   before his people, to part those mighty waters, that they might pass
   dry; and therefore they are called his saving chariots, because by them
   his people were delivered. Or by horses and chariots here you may
   understand the angels, who are the host of God. Ps. lxviii. 17, "The
   chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." They
   have appeared as horses and chariots of fire, 2 Kings vi. 17. And their
   ministry, no doubt, the Lord used in these mighty works of drying
   rivers and dividing seas. Either way, the glorious power and majesty of
   God, in his delivering instruments, is set forth.

   Thus the words severally; -- now jointly.

   This admiring interrogation includes a negation. "Was the Lord kindled
   against the rivers? was thy face against the rivers," etc. Was it that
   the deep had offended the Most High, that, by thine angels, winds, and
   clouds, thou didst so disturb the floods in their ancient course, and
   madest naked their hidden channels, until the hoary deep cried out for
   fear, and lifted up his aged hands to the Almighty, as it were, for
   pity? verse 10. No, surely, no such thing. All those keep the order by
   thee unto them appointed; it was all for the salvation and deliverance
   of thy people. God was not angry with Jordan when he drove it back, nor
   with the sea when he divided it; but all was effected for Israel's
   deliverance.

   XVII. Observation. The very senseless creatures are, as it were,
   sensible of the wrath and power of the Almighty.

   Effects of anger being in and upon the deep, "he utters his voice, and
   lifts up his hands on high," verse 10. God often in the Scripture sets
   forth his power and majesty by the trembling of heaven and the shaking
   of the earth, the vanishing of mountains and the bowing of perpetual
   hills, the professed humble subjection of the most eminent parts of the
   creation. The sea shall fly, as afraid; the rocks, as weak, rend and
   crumble; the heavens be darkened; the mountains skip like rams, and the
   little hills like young sheep, Ps. cxiv. 4.


   Tremei d' ore, kai pelorios

   Buthos thalasses, koreon hupsos mega,

   Hotan epeblepse gorgon omma despotou.

   AEsch. apud Justin., Apol. ii.

   "The earth shook, the heavens dropped at the presence of God," Ps.
   lxiii. 8. The almighty Creator holds the whole frame of the building in
   his own hand, and makes what portion he pleaseth, and when he pleaseth,
   to tremble, consume, and vanish before him. Though many things are not
   capable of sense and reason, yet he will make them do such things as
   sense and reason should prompt the whole subjected creation unto, to
   teach that part their duty who were endued therewith. A servant is
   beat, to make a child learn his duty.

   Use. See hence the stoutness of sinful hearts, -- more stubborn than
   the mountains, more flinty than the rocks, more senseless than the
   great deep. Friend, art thou stronger than Horeb? yet that trembled at
   the presence of this mighty God, whom it never had provoked. Are thy
   lusts like the streams of Jordan? yet they ran back from his chariots
   of salvation. Are thy corruption? more firmly seated on thy soul than
   the mountains on their bases? yet they leaped like frighted sheep
   before that God against whom they had not sinned. And wilt thou, a
   small handful of sinful dust, that hast ten thousand times provoked the
   eyes of his glory, not tremble before him, coming on his horses and
   chariots of salvation, -- his mighty works and powerful word? Shall a
   lion tremble, and thou not be afraid, who art ready to tremble with a
   thought of that poor creature? Shall the heavens bow, the deep beg for
   mercy, and thou be senseless? Shall all creatures quake for the sin of
   man, and sinful man be secure? Know you not that the time is coming
   wherein such men will desire the trembling rocks to be a covert to
   their more affrighted souls?

   XVIII. Observation. No creatures, seas nor floods, greater or lesser
   waters, shall be able to obstruct or hinder God's people's deliverance,
   when he hath undertaken it.

   Is the sea against them? it shall be parted. Is Jordan in the way? it
   shall be driven back. Both sea and Jordan shall tremble before him.
   Euphrates shall be dried up, to give the kings of the east a passage,
   Rev. xvi. 12. Waters in the Scriptures are sometimes afflictions,
   sometimes people and nations. Be they seas (kings and princes), or be
   they rivers (inferior persons), they shall not be able to oppose. God
   has decked his house, and made it glorious with the spoils of all
   opposers. There you have the spoils of Pharaoh, gathered up on the
   shore of the Red sea, and dedicated in the house of God, Exod. xv. 1.
   There you have all the armour of Sennacherib's mighty host, with the
   rest of their spoils, hung up to show, 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. There you
   have the glory, and throne, and dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, himself
   being turned into a beast, Dan. iv. 33. There you shall have the
   carcasses of Gog and Magog, with all their mighty hosts, for coming to
   encamp against the city of God, Ezek. xxxix. 1. There you have the
   imperial robes of [188] Diocletian and his companion, abdicating them
   -- selves from the empire for very madness that they could not prevail
   against the church. Kings of armies shall fly apace; and she that
   tarries at home shall divide the spoil, Ps. lxviii. 12. All opposers,
   though nations and kingdoms, shall perish and be utterly destroyed,
   Isa. lx. 12, Rev. xix. 18.

   God will not exalt any creature unto a pitch of opposition to himself,
   or to stand in the way of his workings. The very end of all things, in
   their several stations, is to be serviceable to his purposes towards
   his own. Obedience in senseless creatures is natural, even against the
   course of nature, in the season of deliverance. "Sun, stand thou still
   upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon," Josh. x. 12.
   "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a
   plain," Zech. iv. 7. The most mountainous opposers shall be levelled,
   when the Spirit of God sets in for that purpose. There is a strength in
   every promise and engagement of God unto his people, that is able to
   carry the whole frame of heaven and earth before it. If they can
   believe, all things are possible to them that believe. When the decree
   is to bring forth the fruit of the promise, it will overturn empires,
   destroy nations, divide seas, ruin armies, open prisons, break chains
   and fetters, and bear down all before it; as the wind shut up in the
   earth will shake the pillars, as it were, of its mighty body, but it
   will find or make a passage. The least promise of deliverance, if the
   season thereof be come, though it were shut up under strong and mighty
   powers, crafty counsels, dungeons, and prisons, like the doors and
   lasting bars of the earth, the truth and power of God shall make them
   all to tremble, and give birth to his people's deliverance.

   Use 1. Have we seen nothing of this in our days? -- no seas divided? no
   Jordans driven back? no mountains levelled? no hills made to tremble?
   Whence, then, was the late confusion of armies? casting down of mighty
   ones? reviving of dead bones? opening of prison doors? bringing out the
   captives appointed to be slain? Is it not from hence, that nothing can
   stand against the breaking out of a promise in its appointed season?
   "Was the Lord displeased with the rivers?" was his anger against the
   walls and houses, "that he rode upon his horses, and chariots of
   salvation?"

   Use 2. Let faith be strengthened in an evil time. Poor distressed soul,
   all the difficulty of thy deliverance lies in thine own bosom! If the
   streams of thy unbelief within be not stronger than all seas of
   opposition without, all will be easy. O learn to stand still with
   quietness, between a host of Egyptians and a raging sea, to see the
   salvation of God! Be quiet in prison, between your friends' bullets and
   your enemies' swords; God can, God will, make a way. If it were not
   more hard with us to believe wonders than it is to the promise to
   effect wonders for us, they would be no wonders, so daily, so
   continually, would they be wrought.

   XIX. Observation. God can make use of any of his creatures to be
   chariots of salvation.

   This is the other side of that doctrine which we gathered from verse 5,
   "Winds and clouds shall obey him." Ravens [189] shall feed Elijah, that
   will not feed their own young. The sea shall open for Israel, and
   return upon the Egyptians. And this both in an ordinary way, as Hos.
   ii. 21, 22; and in an extraordinary way, as before. So many creatures
   as God hath made, so many instruments of good hath he for his people.
   This is farther confirmed, verse 9.

   Verse 9. "Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the
   tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers."

   "With nakedness thy bow was made naked." The rest is elliptical, and
   well supplied in the translation.

   The verse hath two parts.

   1. A general proposition: "Thy bow was made naked," etc.

   2. A particular confirmation of that proposition by instance: "Thou
   didst cleave the earth with rivers."

   1. The proposition holds out two things.

   (1.) What God did: "He made his bow quite naked."

   (2.) The rule he proceeded by herein: "According to the oaths of the
   tribes, even his word."

   The assertion of this verse is not of some particular act or work, as
   the former, but a general head or fountain of those particular works
   which are enumerated in the following verses.

   (1.) A bow is a weapon of war, an instrument of death; and being
   ascribed to God, after the manner of men, holds out his strength,
   power, might, and efficacy, to do whatever he pleaseth. And this is
   said to be quite naked. When a man goes about to use his bow, he pulls
   it out of his quiver, [190] and so makes it naked. The exercising of
   God's power is the making naked of his bow. This he did in all those
   wonders wherein he stretched out his hand, in bringing his people into
   the promised land, here pointed at. And it is said that with nakedness
   it was made naked, because of those very high dispensations and
   manifestations of his almighty power. This is the making naked of his
   bow.

   (2.) For the rule of this, it is "the oaths of the tribes;" or as
   afterward, "his word," -- the oaths of the tribes, that is, the oaths
   made to them, -- the word he stood engaged to them in. The promise God
   made by oath unto Abraham, that he would give him the land of Canaan
   for an inheritance, even to him and his posterity, Gen. xiii. 14-17, is
   here intimated. This promise was often renewed to him and the following
   patriarchs. Hence it is called oaths, though but the same promise often
   renewed: and it had the nature of an oath, because it was made a
   covenant. Now, it was all for the benefit of the several tribes, in
   respect of actual possession, and was lastly renewed to them, Exod.
   iii. 17; hence called "the oaths of the tribes," not which they sware
   to the Lord, but that which the Lord sware to them. So afterward it is
   called his word, -- "Thy word." This, then, is the purport of this
   general proposition, "O Lord, according as thou promisedst, and
   engagedst thyself by covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their
   posterity, that thou wouldst give them the land of Canaan to be theirs
   for an inheritance; so by the dispensation of thy mighty power thou
   hast fully accomplished it." And this he layeth down for the
   supportment of faith in a time of trouble.

   The words would afford many observations; I shall insist only on one.

   XX. Observation. The Lord will certainly make good all his promises and
   engagements to his people, though it cost him the making of his bow
   quite naked, -- the manifestation of his power in the utmost
   dispensations thereof.

   God's workings are squared to his engagements. This is still the close
   of all gracious issues of providence, -- God hath done all according
   "as he promised," Josh. xxii. 4; 2 Sam. vii. 21. He brought out his
   people of old with a mighty hand, with temptations, signs, and wonders,
   and a stretched-out arm; and all because he would keep the oath which
   he had sworn, and the engagement which he had made to their fathers,
   Deut. vii. 8. What obstacles soever may lie in the way, he hath done
   it, he will do it. Take one instance; particular places are too many to
   be insisted on. It was the purpose of his heart to bring his elect home
   to himself, from their forlorn condition. This he engageth himself to
   do, Gen. iii. 15, -- assuring Adam of a recovery from the misery he was
   involved in by Satan's prevalency. This, surely, is no easy work. If
   the Lord will have it done, he must lay out all his attributes in the
   demonstration of them to the uttermost. His wisdom and power must bow
   their shoulders, as it were, in Christ unto it. He was "the power of
   God, and the wisdom of God;" [191] his engaged love must be carried
   along through so many secret, mysterious marvels, as the angels
   themselves "desire to look into," [192] and shall for ever adore.
   Though the effecting of it required that which man could not do, and
   God could not suffer; yet his wisdom will find out a way, that he shall
   both do it and suffer it who is both God and man. To make good his
   engagement to his elect, he spared not his only Son: and in him were
   hid, and by him laid out, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
   [193]

   Now, this is a precedent of God's proceeding in all other engagements
   whatsoever. Whatever it cost him, he will spare nothing to make them
   good to the uttermost. He is our rock, and his work is perfect. A good
   man, if he want not power, will go through with his serious promises,
   though he be engaged to his own hurt, Ps. xv. 4. The power of the
   mighty God is serviceable to his will to the uttermost. He cannot will
   what he cannot do: his will and power are essentially the same. And his
   power shall not be wanting to execute what his goodness hath moved him
   to engage unto for his own glory. The reasons of this are, --

   1. Deut. xxxii. 4, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect; all his ways
   are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity." Here are many
   attributes of God to make good this one thing, that his work is
   perfect, -- this autarkeia, self-sufficiency, perfection,
   righteousness. I will pitch on one, -- he is a God of truth. So he is
   again called, Ps. xxxi. 5, and in other places. The truth of God in his
   promises and engagements requires an accomplishment of them, whatever
   it cost, what power soever is required thereunto. This the saints make
   their bottom to seek it: "Where are thy loving-kindnesses, which thou
   swarest in thy truth," Ps. lxxxix. 49. It is impossible but that should
   come to pass which thou hast sworn in thy truth. No stronger plea than
   "Remember the word wherein thou hast caused thy servants to put their
   trust." Jacob says, he is less than all the mercy and all the truth of
   God, Gen. xxxii. 10. He sees God's truth in all his mercy, by causing
   all things to come to pass which he hath promised him. It is true, some
   particular promises have their conditions, whose truth consists not in
   the relation between the word and the thing, unless the condition
   intercede. But the great condition under the gospel being only the good
   of them to whom any engagement is made, we may positively lay down,
   that God's truth requires the accomplishment of every engagement for
   his people's good, Rom. viii. 28. It is neither mountain nor hill,
   king, kingdom, nor nation, hell nor mortality, nor all combined, that
   can stand in the way to hinder it, Matt. xvi. 18.

   2. His people stand in need of all that God hath engaged himself to
   them for. God's promises are the just measure of his people's wants.
   Whatever he hath promised, that his people do absolutely want; and
   whatsoever they want, that he hath promised:-- our wants and his
   promises are every way commensurate. If thou knowest not what thou
   standest in need of, search the promises and see: whatever God hath
   said he will do for thee, that thou hast absolute need should be done.
   Or if thou art not so well acquainted with the promises, search thine
   own wants: what thou standest absolutely in need of for thy good, that
   assuredly God hath promised. If, then, this be the case of engagements,
   they shall all be made good. Think you, will God let his people want
   that which they have absolute necessity of? By absolute necessity I
   mean such as is indispensable, as to their present estate and
   occasions. That may be of necessity in one generation which is not in
   another, according to the several employments we are called to. Does
   God call forth his saints "to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and
   punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their
   nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment
   written," as Ps. cxlix. 7-9? -- doth he bring them forth to burn the
   whore, to fight with the beast, and overcome him and his followers? --
   it is of indispensable necessity that he give them glorious assistance
   in their undertakings. They shall be assisted, protected, carried on,
   though it cost him the making of his bow quite naked. According to the
   several conditions he calls them to, the several issues of providence
   which he will have them serve in, so want they his appearance in them,
   with them, for them; and it shall be present. Let them be assured they
   are in his way, and then, though some prove false and treacherous, some
   base and cowardly, -- though many combine and associate themselves
   against them in many places, in all places, -- though whole kingdoms
   and mighty armies appear for their ruin, -- be they reviled and
   clamoured by all round about them, -- all is one; help they need, and
   help they shall have, or God will make his bow quite naked.

   Use. 1. This day is this doctrine fulfilled before us. God's bow is
   made quite naked, according to his word. We are less than all the truth
   he hath showed unto us. Though great working and mighty power hath been
   required, such as he hath not shown in our days, nor in the days of our
   fathers; yet the Lord hath not stood at it, for his word's sake,
   wherein he hath made us to put our trust. I speak of the general
   mercies we have received. The surrender of Colchester, the particular
   celebrated this day, though marching in the rear for time, is for the
   weight in the van, -- a mercy of the first magnitude. Essex hath seen
   more power in a three months' recovery than in the protection of six
   years. That the mouths of men are stopped, and their faces filled with
   shame, who made it their trade to revile and threaten the saints of
   God; -- that the adverse strength, which hath lain hid these seven
   years, should be drawn forth, united, and broken to pieces; -- that the
   people of God, divided, and naturally exasperated through their abuse
   of peace, should, by the sword of a common enemy and the help of a
   common friend, have their wrath abated, their counsels united, and
   their persons set in a hopeful way of closing or forbearance; -- that
   God by their own counsels should shut up men, collected from sundry
   parts to ruin others, in a city with gates and walls, for their own
   ruin; -- that they should deny peace tendered upon such conditions,
   because of the exigencies of the time, as might have left them power as
   well as will for a farther mischief; -- that such salvation should go
   forth in other parts as that the proceedings here should not be
   interrupted; -- that the bitter service which men here underwent should
   ever and anon be sweetened with refreshing tidings from other places,
   to keep up their spirits in wet, watching, cold, and loss of blood:--
   all these, I say, and sundry other such-like things as these, are "the
   Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes."

   Especially let us remember how in three things the Lord made his bow
   quite naked in his late deliverance.

   (1.) In leavening the counsels of the enemy with their own folly.

   (2.) In ordering all events to his own praise.

   (3.) By controlling with his mighty power the issue of all
   undertakings.

   (1.) In leavening their counsels with their own folly. God's [194]
   power and the efficacy of his providence is not more clearly manifested
   in any thing than in his effectual working in the debates, advices,
   consultations, and reasonings of his enemies, compassing his ends by
   their inventions. When God is in none of the thoughts of men by his
   fear, he is in them all by his providence. The sun is operative with
   his heat where he reacheth not with his light, and hath an influence on
   precious minerals in the depths and dark bottoms of rocks and
   mountains. The all-piercing providence of God dives into the deep
   counsels of the hearts of the sons of men, and brings out precious gold
   from thence, where the gracious light of his countenance shines not at
   all. Men freely advise, debate, use and improve their own reasons,
   wisdom, interests, not once casting an eye to the Almighty; and yet all
   this while do his work more than their own. All the counselings,
   plottings of Joseph's brethren, -- all the transactions of the Jews,
   Herod, and Pilate, about the death of Christ, with other the like
   instances, abundantly prove it. [195] Take a few instances wherein God
   "made his bow quite naked" in the counsels of his and our enemies.

   In general, they consult to take arms, wherein God had fully appeared
   against them, -- when, in all probability, their work would have been
   done without them. Had they not fought, by this time they had been
   conquerors. One half-year's peace more, -- which we desired on any
   terms, and they would on no terms bear, -- in all likelihood had set
   them where they would be. Their work went on, as if they had hired the
   kingdom to serve them in catching weather. What with some men's folly,
   others' treachery, all our division, -- had not their own counsels set
   them on fighting, -- I think we should suddenly base chosen them and
   theirs to be umpires of our quarrels. God saw when it was time to deal
   with them. In their undertaking in our own county, I could give sundry
   instances how God mixed a perverse spirit of folly and error in all
   their counsels. A part of the magistracy of the county is seized on.
   Therein their intention towards the residue is clearly discovered; yet
   not any attempt made to secure them, -- which they might easily have
   accomplished, -- although they could not but suppose that there were
   some gentlemen of public and active spirits left that would be
   industrious in opposition unto them. Was not the Lord in their counsels
   also, when they suffered a small, inconsiderable party, in a little
   village within a few miles of them, to grow into such a body as at
   length they durst not attempt, when they might have broken their whole
   endeavour with half a hundred of men? Doubtless, of innumerable such
   things as these we may say, with the prophet, "The princes of Zoan are
   become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced"
   the people, "even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. The
   Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof; and they have
   caused" the people "to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man
   staggereth in his vomit," Isa. xix. 13, 14. Doubtless the wrath of man
   shall praise the Lord, and the remainder of it will he restrain.

   (2.) In ordering all events to his own praise. The timing of the
   enemies' eruptions in several places is that which fills all hearts
   with wonder, and all mouths with discourse, in these days. From the
   first to the last they had their season. Had they come together, to the
   eyes of flesh the whole nation had been swallowed up in that deluge. In
   particular, let Essex take notice of the goodness of God. The high
   thoughts and threats of men, which made us for divers weeks fear a
   massacre, were not suffered to break out into open hostility until the
   very next day after their strength was broken, in the neighbour county
   of Kent; -- as if the Lord should have said, "I have had you in a chain
   all this while: though you have showed your teeth, you have not
   devoured; now go out of my chain, -- I have a net ready for you." For
   the armies coming to our assistance, I cannot see how we needed them
   many days sooner, or could have wanted them one day longer. Farther,
   these home-bred eruptions were timely seasoned, to rouse the
   discontented soldiery and divided nation to be ready to resist the
   Scottish invasion; -- God also being magnified in this, that in this
   sweet disposal of events unto his glory, the counsels of many of those
   in whom we thought we might confide ran totally cross to the appearance
   of God in his providence. What shall we say to these things? If the
   Lord be for us, who shall be against us? All these things came forth
   from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in
   operation, Isa. xxviii. 29. Whoso is wise will ponder them, and they
   shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

   (3.) In controlling mighty actions, -- I mean, giving success to his
   people in all their undertakings. The commander-in-chief of all the
   forces in this kingdom, since his sitting down before Colchester, was
   proffered a pass to go beyond the seas for his security. Whence is it
   that he hath now the necks of his enemies, and hath given any of them
   their lives at their entreaty? Greater armies than this have been
   buried under lesser walls. Did not the number of the besieged at first
   exceed the number of the besiegers? were not their advantages great?
   their skill in war, amongst men of their own persuasion, famous and
   renowned? so that the sitting down before it was judged an action meet
   only for them who could believe they should see the bow of God made
   quite naked. It had been possible, doubtless, to reason's eye, that
   many of those fictions wherewith a faction in the great city fed
   themselves, -- of the many routings, slaughters, and destructions of
   the army, -- might have been true. Some of them, I say; for some were
   as childish as hellish. In brief, they associated themselves, and were
   broken in pieces; -- high walls, towering imaginations, lofty threats,
   -- all brought down. "So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let
   them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might;" and
   let the land have rest for many years, Judges v. 31.

   Use 2. This will discover unto us the bottom and rise of all God's
   appearances for his people, -- even the engaging of his own free grace.
   He doth not "make his bow quite naked," according to their deservings,
   but his own word; not because they of themselves are better than
   others, but because he loves them more than others. Were God's
   assistances suited to our walkings, they would be very uneven; but his
   good-will is constant; so are our deliverances.

   Use 3. Be exhorted to thankfulness; not verbal, [196] but real; not the
   exultation of carnal affections, but the savoury obedience of a sound
   mind. There are many ingredients in thanksgiving; -- suitable and
   seasonable obedience to answer the will of God in his mercies is
   doubtless the crown of all. Look, then, under the enjoyment of
   blessings in general, to close walking with God in the duties of the
   covenant, -- and in particular, to the especial work of this your
   generation, -- and you are in the way to be thankful.

   Use 4. Be sedulously careful to prevent that which God hath mightily
   decried by our late mercies, -- viz., mutual animosities, strife,
   contention, and violence against one another; [197] I mean, of those
   that fear his name. God hath interposed in our quarrels from heaven The
   language of our late deliverance is, Be quiet, "lest a worse thing
   happen unto you." Our poor brethren of Scotland would not see the
   hatefulness of their animosities towards their friends, until God
   suffered that very thing to be the means to deliver them up to the
   power of their enemies. The weapons they had formed were used against
   themselves. Let us learn betimes to agree about our pasture, lest the
   wolves of the wilderness devour us. Persecution and idolatry have
   ruined all the states of the Christian world.

   2. Of the assertion we have spoken hitherto: come we now to the
   particular confirmation of it by instance. "Thou didst cleave the earth
   with rivers," -- cleave the earth, or make channels in the earth, for
   waters to flow in.

   Another most eminent work of almighty power is here set forth, --
   eminent in itself, and eminent in its typical signification. And the
   same thing being twice done, hath a plural expression, -- "rivers."

   (1.) Eminent of itself. The bringing of streams of waters from the
   rock, for the thirsty people in the wilderness, is that which is here
   celebrated. Now this the Lord did twice:-- First, Exod. xvii. 6, when
   the people were in Rephidim, in the first year after their coming from
   Egypt, they fainted in their journeys for want of water, and (according
   to the wonted custom of that rebellious people) complained with
   murmuring. So they extorted all their mercies; and therefore they were
   attended with such sore judgments. Whilst the meat was in their mouths,
   the plague was on their bones. Mercies extorted by murmurings,
   unseasoned with loving-kindness, though they may be quails in the
   mouth, will be plagues in the belly. Let us take heed lest we repine
   the Almighty into a full harvest and lean soul, Ps. cvi. 15. Get and
   keep mercies in God's way, or there is death in the pot.

   Forty years after this, when the first whole evil generation was
   consumed, the children, who were risen up in their fathers' stead, fall
   a murmuring for water in the wilderness of Zin, and, with a profligacy
   of rebellion, wish they had been consumed with others in the former
   plagues, Num. xx. 4. Here also the Lord gives them water, and that in
   abundance, verse 11. Now, of this observe, --

   [1.] The places from whence this water marvellously issued. They were
   rocks that, in all probability, never had spring from the creation of
   the world. Farther, they are observed to be rocks of flint, Ps. cxiv.
   8, "Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a
   fountain of waters:" so Deut. viii. 15. A rock into a pool, and a flint
   into a stream, is much beyond Samson's riddle of sweetness from the
   eater.

   [2.] The abundance of waters that gushed out, -- waters to satisfy that
   whole congregation, with all their cattle, consisting of some millions.
   Yea, and not only they, but all the beasts of that wilderness were
   refreshed thereby also, Isa. xliii. 20, "The beast of the field shall
   honour me, the dragon and the owl; because I give waters in the
   wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my
   chosen." The very worst of the sons of men, dragons and owls, fare the
   better for God's protecting providence towards his own. [198]

   And all this was in such abundance, that it was as plentiful as a sea.
   "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of
   the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused
   waters to run down like rivers," Ps. lxxviii. 15, 16. So also it is
   celebrated, Isa. xli. 18, xlviii. 21, Hos. xiii. 5, and in many other
   places. Great deliverances call f or frequent remembrances.

   Thus were rivers brought out of the rocks, and with or for these rivers
   God did cleave the earth; -- that is, either he provided channels for
   those streams to run in, that they might not be wasted on the surface
   of that sandy wilderness, but preserved for the use of his people; or
   else the streams were so great and strong, that they pierced the earth,
   and parted channels for themselves. Great rivers of water, brought out
   of flinty rocks, running into prepared channels, to refresh a sinful,
   thirsty people, in a barren wilderness, I think, is a remarkable mercy.

   (2.) As it was eminent in itself, so likewise is it exalted in its
   typical concernment. Is there nothing but flints in this rock? nothing
   but water in these streams? nothing but the rod of Moses in the blows
   given to it? Did the people receive no other refreshment, but only in
   respect of their bodily thirst? Yes, saith the apostle, "They drank of
   that spiritual rock which followed them; and that rock was Christ," 1
   Cor. x. 4. Was not this rock a sign of that Rock of Ages on which the
   church is built? Matt. xvi. 18. Did not Moses' smiting hold out his
   being smitten with the rod of God? Isa. liii. 4, 5. Was not the pouring
   out of these plentiful streams as the pouring out of his precious
   blood, in a sea of mercy, abundantly sufficient to refresh the whole
   fainting church in the wilderness? "Latet Christus in petra;" -- "Here
   is Christ in this rock." Had Rome had wisdom to build on this Rock,
   though she had not had an infallibility as she vainly now pretends, she
   might have had an infallibility (if I may so speak), yea, she had never
   quite failed. Give me leave to take a few observations from hence. As,
   --

   [1.] Sinners must be brought to great extremities, to make them desire
   the blood of Jesus; -- weary and thirsty, before rock-water come.
   Thirst is a continually galling pressure. When a soul gaspeth like a
   parched land, and is as far from self-refreshment as a man from drawing
   waters out of a flint, then shall the side of Christ be opened to him.
   You that are full of your lusts, drunk with the world, here is not a
   drop for you. If you never come into the wilderness, you shall never
   have rock-water.

   [2.] Mercy to a convinced sinner seems ofttimes as remote as rivers
   from a rock of flint. The truth is, he never came near mercy, who
   thought not himself far from it. When the Israelites cried, We are
   ready to die for thirst, then stood they on the ground where rivers
   were to run.

   [3.] Thirsty souls shall want no water, though it be fetched for them
   out of a rock. Panters after the blood of Jesus shall assuredly have
   refreshment and pardon, through the most unconquerable difficulties.
   Though grace and mercy seem to be locked up from them, like water in a
   flint, -- whence fire is more natural than water; yet God will not
   strike the rock of his justice and their flinty hearts together, to
   make hell-fire sparkle about their ears; but with a rod of mercy on
   Christ, that abundance of water may be drawn out for their refreshment.

   [4.] The most eminent temporal blessings, and suitable refreshment
   (water from a rock for them that are ready to perish), is but an
   obscure representation of that love of God, and refreshment of souls,
   which is in the blood of Jesus. Carnal things are exceeding short of
   spiritual, -- temporal things of eternal.

   [5.] The blood of Christ is abundantly sufficient for his whole church
   to refresh themselves, -- streams, rivers, a whole sea.

   These, and the like observations, flowing from the typical relation of
   the blessing intimated, shall not farther be insisted on; -- one only I
   shall take from the historical truth.

   XXI. Observation. God sometimes bringeth plentiful deliverances and
   mercies for his people from beyond the ken of sense and reason; yea,
   from above the ordinary reach of much precious faith.

   I mean not what it ought to reach, which is all the omnipotency of God;
   but what ordinarily it doth, as in this very business it was with
   Moses. I say, plentiful deliverances, mercies like the waters that
   gushed out in abundant streams, until the earth was cloven with rivers,
   -- that the people should not only have a taste and away, but drink
   abundantly, and leave for the beasts of the field, -- from beyond the
   ken of sense and reason, by events which a rationally wise man is no
   more able to look into, than an eye of flesh is able to see water in a
   flint; or a man probably suppose that divers millions of creatures
   should be refreshed with waters out of a rock where there was never any
   spring from the foundation of the world.

   Now, concerning this, observe, --

   1. That God hath done it.

   2. That he hath promised he wall yet do it.

   3. Why he will so do.

   1. He hath done it. I might here tire you with precedents. I could lead
   you from that mother deliverance, the womb of all others, the
   redemption that is in the blood of Jesus, down through many
   dispensations of old and of late, holding out this proposition to the
   full One shall suffice me; and if some of you cannot help yourselves
   with another, you are very senseless.

   Look upon Peter's deliverance, Acts xii. 1. The night before he was to
   be slain, he was kept safe in a prison, -- a prison he had neither will
   nor power to break. He was bound with two chains, beyond his skill to
   unloose or force asunder. Kept he was by sixteen soldiers, doubtless
   men of blood and vigilancy, having this to keep them waking, that if
   Peter escaped with his head, they were to lose theirs. Now, that his
   deliverance was above sense and reason himself intimates, verse 11, "He
   hath delivered me from the expectation of the Jews." The wise, subtle
   Jews, concluded the matter so secure, that, without any doubts or
   fears, they were in expectation of his execution the next day. That it
   was also beyond the ready reach of much precious faith, you have an
   example in those believers who were gathered together in the house of
   Mary, verse 12, calling her mad who first affirmed it, verse 15, and
   being astonished when their eyes beheld it, verse 16; -- the whole
   seeming so impossible to carnal Herod, after its accomplishment, that
   he slays the keepers as false in their hellish trust; -- a just
   recompense for trusty villains.

   The time would fail me to speak of Isaac, [199] and Joseph, Gideon,
   Noah, Daniel, and Job, -- all precedents worthy your consideration.
   View them at your leisure; and you will have leisure, if you intend to
   live by faith.

   2. He hath said it. It is a truth abounding in promises and
   performances. I shall hold out one or two; it will be worth your while
   to search for others yourselves. He that digs for a mine finds many a
   piece of gold by the way.

   Isa. xli. 14-16, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye few men of Israel.
   Behold, I will make thee a new sharp thrashing instrument having teeth:
   thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make
   the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them," etc. To make a worm a
   thrashing instrument with teeth, to cause that instrument to beat
   mountains and hills into chaff, that chaff to be blown away with the
   wind, that that worm may rejoice in God; -- to advance a small handful
   of despised ones to the ruin of mountainous empires and kingdoms, until
   they be broken and scattered to nothing, -- is a mercy that comes from
   beyond the ken of an ordinary eye. Ezek. xxxvii. 3, the prophet
   professeth that the deliverance promised was beyond his apprehension:
   "Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
   knowest." The Lord intimates in the following verses that he will
   provide a means for his church's recovery when it seemeth as remote
   therefrom as dry bones scattered upon the face of the earth are from a
   mighty living army. This he calls opening their graves, verses 12, 13.

   3. The reasons of this are, --

   (1.) Because he would have his people wholly wrapt up in his
   all-sufficiency, not to straiten themselves with what their faith can
   ken in a promise, much less to what their reason can perceive in
   appearance. In the application of promises to particular trials and
   extremities, faith oftentimes is exceedingly disturbed, either in
   respect of persons, or things, or seasons; but when it will wholly
   swallow up itself in all-sufficiency, the fountain of all promises,
   there is no place for fear or disputing. Have your souls in spiritual
   trials never been driven from all your out-works unto this main fort?
   Hath not all hold of promises in time of trial given place to
   temptations, until you have fallen down in all-sufficiency, and there
   found peace? God accounts a flight to the strong tower of his name to
   be the most excellent valour. This is faith's first, proper, and most
   immediate object. To particular promises it is drawn out on particular
   occasions; here is, or should be, its constant abode, Gen. xvii. 1.
   And, indeed, the soul will never be prepared to all the will of God,
   until its whole complacency be taken up in this sufficiency of the
   Almighty. Here God delights to have the soul give up itself to a
   contented losing of all its reasonings, even in the infinite
   unsearchableness of his goodness and power. Therefore will he sometimes
   send forth such streams of blessings as can flow from no other
   fountain, that his may know where to lie down in peace. Here he would
   have us secure our shallow bottoms in this quiet sea, this infinite
   ocean, whither neither wind nor storm do once approach. Those
   blustering temptations which rage at the shore, when we were half at
   land and half at sea, -- half upon the bottom of our own reason and
   half upon the ocean of providence, -- reach not at all unto this deep.
   Oh, if we could in all trials lay ourselves down in these arms of the
   Almighty, his all-sufficiency in power and goodness! Oh, how much of
   the haven should we have in our voyage, how much of home in our
   pilgrimage, -- how much of heaven in this wretched earth! Friends,
   throw away your staves, break the arm of flesh, lie down here quietly
   in every dispensation, and you shall see the salvation of God. I could
   lose myself in setting out of this, wherein I could desire you would
   lose yourselves in every time of trouble. "Hast thou not known, hast
   thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the
   ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no
   searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to
   them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall
   faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that
   wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
   wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and
   not faint," Isa. xl. 28-31.

   (2.) To convince the unbelieving world itself of his power, providence,
   and love to them that put their trust in him, that they may be found to
   cry, "Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God
   that judgeth in the earth," Ps. lviii. 11.

   When the Egyptian magicians see real miracles, beyond all their
   juggling pretences, they cry out, "This is the finger of God," Exod.
   viii. 19.

   Profane Nebuchadnezzar, beholding the deliverance of those three
   worthies from the fiery furnace, owns them for the "servants of the
   most high God," Dan. iii. 26. Daniel being preserved in the lions' den,
   Darius acknowledgeth the power and kingdom of "the living God," Dan.
   vi. 26.

   Glorious appearances of God for his people, beyond the reach of reason,
   wrest from the world amazement or acknowledgment; and in both God is
   exalted. He will appear in such distresses, as that he win be seen of
   his very enemies. They shall not be able, with the Philistines, to
   question whether it be his hand or a chance happened to them, 1 Sam.
   vi. 9; but conclude, with the Egyptians, that fly they must, for God
   fights for his people, Exod. xiv. 25. If God should never give
   blessings but in such a way as reason might discover their dependence
   on secondary causes, men would not see his goings, nor acknowledge his
   operations. But when he mightily makes bare his arm, in events beyond
   their imaginations, they must vail before him.

   Use 1. Consider whether the mercy celebrated this day ought not to be
   placed in this series of deliverances, brought from beyond the ken of
   sense and reason, from above the reach of much precious faith. For the
   latter, I leave it to your own experience; -- to the former let me for
   the present desire your consideration of these five things.

   (1.) By whom you were surprised and put under restraint. Now these were
   of two sorts: [1.] The heads and leaders; [2.] The tumultuous
   multitude.

   [1.] For the first, some of them being dead, and some under durance, I
   shall not say any thing. "Nullum cum victis certamen, et aethere
   cassis." I leave the stream from the flint to your own thoughts.

   [2.] For the multitude, -- an enraged, headless, lawless, godless
   multitude, gathered out of inns, taverns, alehouses, stables, highways,
   and the like nurseries of piety and pity. Such as these having got
   their superiors under their power, governors under their disposal,
   their restrainers under their restraint, their oppressors, as they
   thought, under their fury, -- what was it that kept in their fury and
   their revenge, which upon the like occasions and advantages hath almost
   always been executed? Search your stories, -- you will not find many
   that speak of such a deliverance. For a few governors prevailed on unto
   durance, by a godless rout, in an insurrection, and yet come off in
   peace and safety, is surely a work of more than ordinary providence.

   (2.) Consider the season of your surprisal; -- when all the kingdom was
   in an uproar, and the arm of flesh almost quite withered as to supply,
   -- the north invaded, the south full of insurrections, Wales unsubdued,
   [200] the great city at least suffering men to lift up their hands
   against us; so that, to the eye of reason, the issue of the whole was,
   if not lost, yet exceedingly hazardous, and so your captivity endless.
   Had they gone on, as was probable they would, whether you had this day
   been brought out to execution, or thrust into a dungeon, or carried up
   and down as a pageant, I know not; but much better condition, I am
   sure, rationally you could not expect.

   (3.) The end of your surprisal. Amongst others, this was apparently
   one, to be a reserve for their safety who went on in all ways of ruin.
   You were kept to preserve them in those ways wherein they perished.
   Whether could reason reach this or no, that you being in their power,
   kept on purpose for their rescue if brought to any great strait, with
   the price of your heads to redeem their own, -- that they should be
   brought to greater distress than ever any before in this kingdom, and
   you be delivered, without the least help to them in their need? It was
   beyond your friends' reason, who could not hope it; -- it was beyond
   our enemies' reason, who never feared it: if you believed it, you have
   the comfort of it.

   (4.) The refusal of granting an exchange for such persons as they
   accounted more considerable than yourselves, and whose enlargement
   might have advantaged the cause they professed to maintain exceedingly
   more than your restraint, -- what doth it but proclaim your intended
   ruin?

   This was the way of deliverance which for a long season reason chiefly
   rested on, the main pillar of all its building; -- which, when it was
   cut in two, what could be seen in it but desolation.

   (5.) The straits you were at length reduced to, between your enemies'
   swords and your friends' bullets, which, intended for your deliverance,
   without the safeguard of Providence might have been your ruin, piercing
   more than once the house wherein you were. Surely it was, then, an
   eminent work of faith, to "stand still, and see the salvation of God."

   The many passages of Providence, evidently working for your
   preservation, which I have received from some of yourselves, I
   willingly pass over. What I have already said is sufficient to declare
   that to reason's eye you were as dead bones upon the earth. For our
   parts, who were endangered spectators at the best, we were but in the
   prophet's frame; and to any question about your enlargement, could
   answer only, The Lord alone knows. And now, behold, the Lord hath
   chosen you out to be examples of his loving-kindness, in fetching mercy
   for you from beyond the ken of reason; yea, from above the reach of
   much precious faith. He hath brought water for you out of the flint.
   Reckon your deliverance under this head of operations, and I hope you
   will not be unthankful.

   Use 2. You that have received so great mercy, we that have seen it, and
   all who have heard the doctrine confirmed, let us learn to live by
   faith Live above all things that are seen; subject them to the cross of
   Christ. Measure your condition by your interest in God's
   all-sufficiency. Do not in distress calculate what such and such things
   can effect; but what God hath promised. Reckon upon that, for it shall
   come to pass. If you could get but this one thing by all your
   sufferings and dangers, to trust the Lord to the utmost extent of his
   promises, it would prove a blessed captivity. All carnal fears would
   then be conquered, all sinful compliances with wicked men removed, etc.

   Use 3. Be exhorted to great thankfulness, [201] you that have been made
   partakers of great deliverances. In great distresses very nature
   prompts the sons of men to great promises. You have heard the
   ridiculous story of him who in a storm at sea promised to dedicate a
   wax candle to the blessed Virgin as big as the mast of his ship, which
   he was resolved when he came on shore to pay with one of twelve in the
   pound! Let not the moral of that fable be found in any of you. Come not
   short of any of your engagements. No greater discovery of a
   hypocritical frame, than to flatter the Lord in trouble, and to decline
   upon deliverance, in cold blood. The Lord of heaven give you strength
   to make good all your resolutions:-- as private persons, in all
   godliness and honesty, following hard after God in every known way of
   his; -- as magistrates, in justice, equity, and faithful serving the
   kingdom of Christ. Especially, let them never beg in vain for help at
   your hands, who did not beg help in vain for you at the hands of God.

   Use 4. Consider, if there be so much [202] sweetness in a temporal
   deliverance, oh! what excellency is there in that eternal redemption
   which we have in the blood of Jesus! If we rejoice for being delivered
   from them who could have killed the body, what unspeakable rejoicing is
   there in that mercy whereby we are freed from the wrath to come! Let
   this possess your thoughts, let this fill your souls, -- let this be
   your haven from all former storms. And here strike I sail, in this to
   abide with you and all the saints of God forever.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [155] The time of this prophecy is conceived to be about the end of
   Josiah's reign, not long before the first Chaldean invasion.

   [156] "Preces et lacrymae sunt arma ecclesiae." -- Tertul.

   [157] "Graviter in eum decernitur, cui etiam ipsa conneetlo denegatur."
   -- Prosp. Sent.

   [158] Duplicantur lateres quando venit Moses.

   [159]

   "Namque bonos non blanda inflant, non aspera frangunt,

   Sed fidei invictae gaudia vera juvant."
   Prosp. Epig. in Sent. August.

   [160] Ps. cxix. 67; Hos. v. 15; Heb. xii. 10, 11; 1 Pet. i. 6.

   [161] "In caelo non in terra mercedem promisit reddendam. Quid alibi
   poscis, quod alibi dabitur!" -- Ambros. Offic., lib. i. cap. 16.

   [162] "Cum vexamur ac premimur, tum maxime gratias agimus
   iudulgentissimo patri, quod corruptelam nostram non patitur longius
   procedere: hinc intelligimus nos esse Deo curae." -- Lactan.

   [163] Job xiv. 4, xv. 15, 16; Prov. xvi. 2, xx. 9.

   [164] 2 Sam. xxiv. 15; 2 Chron. xxxii. 25.

   [165] "Omnes seculi plagae, nobis in admonitionem, vobis in
   castigationem `a Deo veniunt." -- Tertul. Apol., cap. xlii.

   [166] bqrv snym?, in the inward of years

   [167] "Bonum agonem subituri estis, in quo agonothetes Deus vivus est:
   Christarchos Spiritus Sanctus, corona aeternitatis brabium, epithetes
   Jesus Christus." -- Tertul. ad Mar.

   [168] Gen. xxxvi. 15; Jer. xlix. 7; Obad. 9.

   [169] Deut. i. 1.

   [170] "Gloria est frequens de aliquo fama cum laude." -- Cic. lib. ii.,
   De Inv. "Consentiens laus bonorum, incorrupta vox bene judicantium de
   excellente virtute." -- Idem. Tusc., lib. iii.

   [171] No place in the county so threatened; no place in the county so
   preserved: small undertakings there blessed; great opposition blasted.
   Non nobis, Domine, non nobis.

   [172] Deut. xxxiii. 17; Ps. lxxv. 10; Zech. i. 18.

   [173] John xii. 35; Rev. xvi. 10.

   [174] Exod. ix. 15; Lev. xxvi. 25; 2 Sam. xxiv. 13; Ezek. xiv. 19;
   Matt. xxiv. 7.

   [175] Josh. ix. 3.

   [176] Numb. xiii. 33.

   [177] Vid. Tertul. ad Scapulam, de persecutione.

   [178] "Nero primus in Christianos ferociit, tali dedicatore damnationis
   nostrae etiam gloriamur, qui enim scit ilium, intelligere potest, non
   nisi aliquod bonum grande `a Nerone damnatum." -- Tertul. Apol.

   [179] "Nova et inaudita est ista praedicatio, quae verberibus exigit
   fidem." -- Greg., Epist. lii.

   [180] Magistrum neminem habemus nisi solum Deum; hic ante te est, nec
   abscondi potest, sed cui nihil facere possis.

   [181] 2 Kings xix. 9; Jer. xiii. 23; Joseph. Antiq.; Isa. xxxvii. 9.

   [182] "Tantos invidus habet poena justa tortores, quantos invidiosus
   habuerit laudatores." -- Prosp. de Vita Contemplativa.

   [183] Numb. xxv., xxxi.

   [184] Gen. xx. 6; Ps. lxxvi. 10.

   [185] "Quis facile potest, quale sit hoc malum, verbis exprimere, quo
   invidus odio hominis persequitur divinum munus in homine?" -- Pros.
   Vit. Cont. "Invidia est tristitia de bono proximi, prout proprium malum
   aestimatur et est diminutivum proprii boni." -- Aq 22, ae. q. 36, A. 1,
   c.

   [186] Noctu dubitant.

   [187] "Caetera licet abscondere, et in abdito alere; ira se profert, et
   in faciem exit." -- Senec. de ira.

   [188] Euseb. Vit. Con. Const. Orat.

   [189] Echballei tous neottous ho chorax. -- Arist. Hist. Anima., vi.
   "Pellunt nidis pullos sicut et Corvi." -- Plin. Nat. Hist.

   [190] [The gorytus or bow-case; so explained by Grotius, Drusius, etc.
   Sir J. Chardin states, that the oriental bows were usually carried in a
   case of cloth or leather attached to the girdle. -- Harmer, ii. 513.
   Vid. Hom. Odys., xxi. 53, 54.]

   [191] 1 Cor. i. 24.

   [192] 1 Pet. i. 12.

   [193] Col. ii. 3.

   [194] "Quod homines peccant eorum est, quod peccando hoc vel illud
   agant ex virtute Dei est, tenebras prout visum est dividentis." --
   Aug., de Praed. "Oportet haereses esse, sed tamen non ideo bonum
   haereses, quia eas esse oportebat, quasi non et malum oportuerit esse;
   nam et Dominum tradi oportebat, sed vae traditori!" -- Tertul., Praef.
   ad Haer.

   [195] Gen. xlv. 7, l. 20; Acts iv. 27, 28.

   [196] "In beneficio reddendo plus animus, quam census operatur." --
   Ambr. Offi., lib. i. cap. 32.

   [197] He diaphonia tes nesteias, ten homonoian tes pisteos sunistesin.
   -- Iren. Epist. ad Vict. apud Euseb., lib. v. cap. 23. Philonikoi este
   adelphoi kai zelotai peri me anekonton eis soterian. -- Clem. Ep. ad
   Cor.

   [198] "Vir bonus commune bonum." -- Gen. xxxi. 3.

   [199] Gen. xxii. 14, xxxix. 1, etc.

   [200] "Idem huic urbi dominandi finis erit, qui parendi fuerit." --
   Senec. de Rom.

   [201] "Erunt homicidae, tyranni, fures, adulteri, raptores, sacrilegi,
   proditores; infra ista omnia, ingratus est." -- Senec. Benef., lib. i.
   "Gratiarum cessat decursus, ubi recursus non fuerit." -- Bern. Serm 50.

   [202] "Si tanti vitrum, quanti Margaritum?" -- Tertul.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   Sermon III.

   Righteous Zeal Encouraged

   by

   divine protection:

   with

   a discourse about toleration, and the duty of the civil magistrate
   about religion, thereunto annexed.
     __________________________________________________________________

Prefatory note.

   The following sermon was preached before the House of Commons on
   January 31, 1648, which had been appointed as a day of solemn
   humiliation in connection with the event of the preceding day, -- the
   decapitation of Charles I. Accordingly, no sermon of Owen has excited
   keener discussion. Because he consented to preach in these
   circumstances, he is held to have connived at a great crime, and
   actually invested it with the sanctions of religion. In the opinion of
   Dr M'Crie (see "Miscellaneous Writings," p. 501), his conduct in this
   instance was "the greatest blot on his public life," and both his text
   and the title of his sermon could not fail to be interpreted as
   encouragement to those who had been accessory to the destruction of the
   unhappy monarch. On the other hand, some, like Mr Orme, urge that Owen
   preached by command; that no sentiment of the sermon can be construed
   as approval of the regicide; and that the very passages (see paragraph
   at the foot of p. 134 and on p. 136) adduced in proof that Owen
   concurred in it, indicate his desire to keep free and aloof from the
   expression of any positive opinion on the subject. A bolder line of
   defence has been instituted, according to which Owen, like Milton,
   might have regarded the death of Charles as only the appropriate
   penalty for a long career of violence and duplicity, during which he
   had made the blood of the best subjects in the realm to flow like
   water; and that our author, in preaching on this occasion, might have
   acted under a sense of duty, while discharging a task solemn and
   painful certainly, but still a task to which he might feel himself
   bound by higher considerations than mere regard to the authority which
   enjoined it. The argument to this effect is stated with great point and
   ability in his "Life," etc., vol. i., p. 40. This much is clear, that
   after the Restoration he was never called to account for his public
   appearance on this occasion by a government whose measures of
   vindictive retaliation against the Puritans are notorious. Asty's
   explanation of the fact has obvious weight:-- "His discourse was so
   modest and inoffensive, that his friends could make no just exception,
   nor his enemies take an advantage of his words another day." --
   Memoirs, p. 8. The only public expression of displeasure at this sermon
   was given in 1683, about a month before the grave closed over its
   author. In the school quadrangle of the University, -- not too rich in
   honours to repudiate without serious loss the lustre shed upon it from
   the name of its great Puritan Vice-Chancellor, -- a document containing
   some positions, extracted from the sermon and denounced as pernicious
   and damnable, was publicly burned. He suffered in good company; for
   propositions from the works of Knox, Buchanan, Baxter, and others, were
   condemned in the same decree, and committed to the same flames. Some
   reparation for the insult offered in this mean revenge was made, too
   late to soothe his feelings, had he needed solace under the affront,
   but tending so far to rescue his memory from unjust reproach, when, in
   1710, by an order from the House of Lords, the Oxford decree was burned
   by the hands of the common hangman.

   It is strange, that the appendix to a sermon preached, as some think,
   in the very consummation of license and misrule, should be an earnest
   and able pleading for toleration, in a tone of calmness and moderation
   rare at any time in controversy, and especially rare in the
   controversies of that stormy age.

   The entire body of the Independents have been blamed for consenting to
   the death of Charles I., because Owen, the chief ornament of their
   denomination, was called, in such critical and delicate circumstances,
   to preach before the House of Commons. Mr Orme successfully disproves
   the justice of the charge. Whatever offence Owen may thus have
   committed, to visit it upon the religious body with which he generally
   acted, is in accordance neither with the principles of justice nor the
   facts of history. -- Ed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Die Mercurii, 31 Januarii 1648.

   Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament, That Mr Allen do give
   the thanks of this House to Mr Owen for the great pains he took in his
   sermon preached before the House this day at Margaret's, Westminster;
   and that he be desired to print his sermon at large; wherein he is to
   have the like privilege of printing it as others in the like kind
   usually have had.

   Hen. Scobell, Cler. Parl. Dom. Com.
     __________________________________________________________________

To the right honourable the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament.

   Sirs,

   It hath always suited the wisdom of God to do great things in difficult
   seasons. He sets up walls in troublous times, Dan. ix. 25. His builders
   must hold swords and spears, as well as instruments of labour, Neh. iv.
   16. Yea, while sin continueth in its course here (which began in
   heaven, and, having contemporized with the earth, shall live forever in
   hell), great works for God will cause great troubles amongst men. The
   holy, harmless Reconciler of heaven and earth bids us expect the sword
   to attend his undertakings for and way of making peace, Matt. x. 34.
   All the waves in the world arise to their height and roaring from the
   confronting of the breath of God's Spirit and the vapours of men's
   corruptions. Hence seasons receive their degrees of difficulty
   according to the greatness and weight of the works which in them God
   will accomplish. To their worth and excellency is man's opposition
   proportioned. This the instruments of his glory in this generation
   shall continually find true, to their present trouble and future
   comfort.

   As the days approach for the delivery of the decree, to the shaking of
   heaven and earth, [203] and all the powers of the world, to make way
   for the establishment of that kingdom which shall not be given to
   another people (the great expectation of the saints of the Most High
   before the consummation of all); so tumults, troubles, vexations, and
   disquietness, must certainly grow and increase among the sons of men.

   A dead woman (says the proverb) will not be carried out of her house
   under four men. Much less will living men of wisdom and power be easily
   and quietly dispossessed of that share and interest in the things of
   Christ which long-continued usurpation hath deluded them into an
   imagination of being their own inheritance. This, then, being shortly
   to be effected, and the scale being ready to turn against the man of
   sin, notwithstanding his balancing it, in opposition to the witness of
   Jesus, with the weight and poise of earthly power; no wonder if heaven,
   earth, sea, and dry land, be shaken, in their giving place to the
   things that cannot be moved. God Almighty having called you forth,
   right honourable, at his entrance to the rolling up of the nation's
   heavens like a scroll, [204] to serve him in your generation in the
   high places of Armageddon, [205] you shall be sure not to want
   experience of that opposition which is raised against the great work of
   the Lord, which generally swells most against the visible instruments
   thereof.

   And would to God you had only the devoted sons of Babel to contend
   withal, -- that the men of this shaking earth were your only
   antagonists, -- that the malignity of the dragon's tail had had no
   influence on the stars of heaven, to prevail with them to fight in
   their courses against you! [206] But "jacta est alea," -- the
   providence of God must be served, according to the discovery made of
   his own unchangeable will, and not the mutable interests and passions
   of the sons of men. For verily "the Lord of hosts hath purposed to
   pollute the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the
   honourable of the earth," Isa. xxiii. 9.

   The contradictions of sinners against all that walk in the paths of
   righteousness and peace, with the supportment which their spirits may
   receive (as being promised) who pursue those ways, notwithstanding
   those contradictions, are in part discovered in the ensuing sermon. The
   foundation of that whole transaction of things which is therein held
   out, in reference to the present dispensations of Providence, -- being
   nothing but an entrance into the unravelling of the whole web of
   iniquity, interwoven of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny, in opposition
   to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, -- I chose not to mention. Neither
   shall I at present add any thing thereabout, but only my desire that it
   may be eyed as the granted basis of the following discourse. Only, by
   your very favourable acceptation of the making out those thoughts, --
   which were the hasty conception, and, like Jonah's gourd, the child of
   a night or two (which, with prayer for a rooting in the hearts of them
   to whom they were delivered, had certainly withered in their own
   leaves, had they not received warmth and moisture from your commands in
   general, and the particular desires of many of you, to give them a life
   of a few days longer), -- I am encouraged to the annexing of a few
   lines, as a free-will offering to attend the following product of
   obedience.

   Now, this shall not be as to the opposition which you do and shall yet
   farther meet withal; but as to the causes, real or pretended, which are
   held forth as the bottom of that contradiction wherewith on every side
   you are encompassed.

   The things in reference whereunto your procedence is laden with such
   criminations as these sad days of recompense have found to be comets
   portending no less than blood, are first civil, then religious.

   For the first, as their being beyond the bounds of my calling gives
   them sanctuary from being called forth to my consideration; so neither
   have I the least thoughts with Absalom of a more orderly carrying on of
   affairs, might my desires have any influence into their disposal.
   Waiting at the throne of grace, that those whom God hath intrusted
   with, and enabled for, the transaction of these things, may be directed
   and supported in their employment, is the utmost of my undertaking
   herein.

   For the other, or religious things, the general interest I have in them
   as a Christian, being improved by the superadded title of a minister of
   the gospel (though unworthy the one name and the other), gives me not
   only such boldness as accrueth from enjoyed favour, but also such a
   right as will support me to plead concerning them before the most
   impartial judicature.

   And this I shall do (as I said before) merely in reference to those
   criminations which are laid by conjectural presumptions on your
   honourable assembly, and made a cause of much of that opposition and
   contradiction you meet withal. Now, in particular, it is the toleration
   of all religions, or invented ways of worship, -- wherein your
   constitutions are confidently antedated in many places of the nation;
   the thing itself, withal, being held out as the most enormous
   apprehension, and desperate endeavour, for the destruction of truth and
   godliness, that ever entered the thoughts of men professing the one and
   the other. The contest hereabout being "adhuc sub judice," and there
   being no doubt but that the whole matter, commonly phrased as above,
   hath (like other things) sinful and dangerous extremes, I deemed it not
   amiss to endeavour the pouring a little cold water upon the common
   flames which are kindled in the breasts of men about this thing. And
   who knows whether the words of a weak nothing may not, by the power of
   the Fountain of beings, give some light into the determination and
   establishment of a thing of so great concernment and consequence as
   this is generally conceived to be? What is in this my weak undertaking
   of the Lord, I shall beg of him that it may be received; -- what is of
   myself, I beg of you that it may be pardoned. That God Almighty would
   give you to prove all things that come unto you in his way, and to hold
   fast that which is good, granting you unconquerable assistance in
   constant perseverance, is the prayer of,

   Your devoted Servant

   In our dearest Lord,

   John Owen.

   Coggeshall, Feb. 28.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [203] Heb. xii. 26, 27; Dan. vii. 27. "Ego nisi tumultus istos viderem,
   verbum Dei in mundo non esse dicerem." -- Luth.

   [204] Isa. xxxiv. 4, 5.

   [205] Rev. xvi. 16.

   [206] Rev. xii. 4.
     __________________________________________________________________

Sermon III. Righteous zeal encouraged by divine protection.

   "Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. And I will
   make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall; and they shall fight
   against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with
   thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord." -- Jer. xv.
   19, 20.

   The words of my text having a full dependence upon, and flowing out
   from, the main subject-matter of the whole chapter, I must of necessity
   take a view thereof, and hold out unto you the mind of God contained
   therein, before I enter upon the part thereof chiefly intended. And
   this I shall do with very brief observations, that I may not anticipate
   myself from a full opening and application of the words of my text.

   And this the rather are my thoughts led unto, because the whole
   transaction of things between the Lord and a stubbornly sinful nation,
   exceedingly accommodated to the carrying on of the controversy he is
   now pleading with that wherein we live, is set out (as we say) to the
   life therein.

   Of the whole chapter there be these five parts:--

   First, The denunciation of fearful wasting, destroying judgments
   against Judah and Jerusalem, verse 3, and so on to verse 10.

   Secondly, The procuring, deserving cause of these overwhelming
   calamities, verses 4 and 6.

   Thirdly, The inevitableness of these judgments, and the inexorableness
   of the Lord as to the accomplishment of all the evils denounced, verse
   1.

   Fourthly, The state and condition of the prophet, with the frame and
   deportment of his spirit under those bitter dispensations of
   Providence, verse 10, and 15-18.

   Fifthly, The answer and appearance of God unto him upon the making out
   of his complaint, verses 11-14, and 19-21.

   My text lieth in the last part, but yet with such dependence on the
   former as enforceth to a consideration of them.

   First. There is the denunciation of fearful wasting, destroying
   judgments, to sinful Jerusalem, verse 2, and so onwards, with some
   interposed ejaculations concerning her inevitable ruin, as verses 5, 6.

   Here's death, sword, famine, captivity, verse 2; -- banishment, verse
   4; -- unpitied desolation, verse 5; -- redoubled destruction,
   bereaving, fanning, spoiling, etc., verses 6-9. That universal
   devastation of the whole people which came upon them in the Babylonish
   captivity is the thing here intended, -- the means of its
   accomplishment by particular plagues and judgments, in their several
   kinds (for the greater dread and terror), being at large annumerated,
   -- the faithfulness of God, also, being made hereby to shine more clear
   in the dispersion of that people; -- doing not only for the main what
   before he had threatened, but in particular executing the judgments
   recorded, Luke xxi. 24, etc.; Deut. xxviii. 15-57, -- fulfilling hereby
   what he had devised, accomplishing the word he had commanded in the
   days of old, Lam. ii. 17.

   That which hence I shall observe is only from the variety of these
   particulars, which are held out as the means of the intended
   desolation.

   Observation. God's treasures of wrath against a sinful people have
   sundry and various issues for the accomplishment of the appointed end.

   When God walks contrary to a people, it is not always in one path; he
   hath seven ways to do it, and will do it seven times, Lev. xxvi. 24. He
   strikes not always with one weapon, nor in one place. As there is with
   him poikile charis, "manifold and various grace," 1 Pet. iv. 10, --
   love and compassion making out itself in choice variety, suited to our
   manifold indigencies; so there is orge tethesaurismene, Rom. ii. 5, --
   stored, treasured wrath, suiting itself in its flowings out to the
   provocations of stubborn sinners.

   The first emblem of God's wrath against man was a "flaming sword
   turning itself every way," Gen. iii. 24. Not only in one or two, but in
   all their paths he meeteth them with his flaming sword. As a wild beast
   in a net, [207] so are sinners under inexorable judgments; the more
   they strive, the more they are enwrapped and entangled; they shuffle
   themselves from under one calamity, and fall into another: "As if a man
   did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and
   leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him," Amos v. 19. Oh!
   remove this one plague, saith Pharaoh. [208] If he can escape from
   under this pressure, he thinks he shall be free; -- but when he fled
   from the lion, still the bear met him; and when he went into the house,
   the serpent bit him. And as the flaming sword turns every way, so God
   can put it into every thing. To those that cry, Give me a king, God can
   give him in his anger; and from those that cry, Take him away, he can
   take him away in his wrath, Hos. xiii. 10, 11.

   Oh, that this might seal up instruction to our own souls! What variety
   of calamities have we been exercised withal, for sundry years! What
   Pharaoh-like spirits have we had under them! Oh, that we were delivered
   this once, and then all were well! How do we spend all our thoughts to
   extricate ourselves from our present pressures! If this hedge, this pit
   were passed, we should have smooth ground to walk on; -- not
   considering that God can fill our safest paths with snares and
   serpents. Give us peace, give us wealth, -- give us as we were, with
   our own, in quietness. Poor creatures! suppose all these desires were
   in sincerity, and not, as with the most they are, fair colours of foul
   and bloody designs; yet if peace were, and wealth were, and former
   things were, and God were not, what would it avail you? Cannot he
   poison your peace, and canker your wealth? and when you were escaped
   out of the field from the lion and the bear, appoint a serpent to bite
   you, leaning upon the walls of your own house? In vain do you seek to
   stop the streams, while the fountains are open; turn yourselves whither
   you will, bring yourselves into what condition you can, nothing but
   peace and reconciliation with the God of all these judgments can give
   you rest in the day of visitation. You see what variety of plagues are
   in his hand. Changing of condition will do no more to the avoiding of
   them, than a sick man's turning himself from one side of the bed to
   another; during his turning, he forgets his pain by striving to move,
   -- being laid down again, he finds his condition the same as before.

   This is the first thing, -- we are under various judgments, from which
   by ourselves there is no deliverance.

   Secondly. The second thing here expressed is, the procuring cause of
   these various judgments, set down, verse 4, "Because of Manasseh, son
   of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem."

   The sins of Manasseh filled the ephah of Judah's wickedness, and caused
   the talent of lead to be laid on the mouth thereof. [209] Oftentimes in
   the relation of his story doth the Holy Ghost emphatically express
   this, that for his sin Judah should be destroyed, 2 Kings xxi. 11. Yea,
   when they had a little reviving under Josiah, and the bowels of the
   Lord began to work in compassion towards them; yet, as it were
   remembering the provocation of this Manasseh, he recalls his thoughts
   of mercy, 2 Kings xxiii. 26, 27. The deposing of divine and human
   things is oftentimes very opposite. [210] God himself proceeds with
   them in a diverse dispensation. In the spiritual body the members
   offend, and the Head is punished: "The iniquity of us all did meet on
   him," Isa. liii. 1. In the civil politic body the head offends, and the
   members rue it: Manasseh sins, and Judah must go captive.

   Three things present themselves for the vindication of the equity of
   God's righteous judgments, in the recompensing the sins of the king
   upon the people.

   1. The concurrence and influence of the people's power into their rule
   and government: they that set him up may justly be called to answer for
   his miscarriage. The Lord himself had before made the sole bottom of
   that political administration to be their own wills: "If thou wilt have
   a king, after the manner of the nations," Deut. xvii. 14; 1 Sam. viii.
   7. Though for particulars, himself (according to his supreme
   sovereignty) placed in many [appointed many of the kings], by peculiar
   exemption; otherwise his providence was served by their plenary
   consent, or by such dispensation of things as you have related, 1 Kings
   xvi. 21, 22, "Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts:
   half of the people followed Tibni, the son of Ginath, to make him king;
   and half followed Omri. But the people that followed Omri prevailed
   against the people that followed Tibni; so Tibni died, and Omri
   reigned." Now, they who place men in authority to be God's vicegerents,
   do undertake to God for their deportment in that authority, and
   therefore may justly bear the sad effects of their sinful miscarriages.

   2. Because, for fear of Manasseh's cruelty, or to flatter him in his
   tyranny for their own advantage, the greatest part of the people had
   apostatized from the ways and worship of Hezekiah, to comply with him
   in his sin; as at another time "they willingly walked after the
   commandment," Hos. v. 11. And this is plainly expressed, 2 Kings xxi.
   9, "Manasseh seduced the people to do more evil than the nations." When
   kings turn seducers, they seldom want good store of followers, Now, if
   the blind lead the blind, both will, and both justly may, fall into the
   ditch. When kings command unrighteous things, and people suit them with
   willing compliance, none doubts but the destruction of them both is
   just and righteous. See verse 6 of this chapter.

   3. Because the people, by virtue of their retained sovereignty, did not
   restrain him in his provoking ways So Zuinglius, Artic. 42, "Qui non
   vetat, cum potest, jubet." When Saul would have put Jonathan to death,
   the people would not suffer him so to do, but delivered Jonathan, that
   be died not, 1 Sam. xiv. 45. When David proposed the reducing of the
   ark, his speech to the people was, "If it seem good unto you, let us
   send abroad to our brethren everywhere, that they may gather themselves
   to us: and all the congregation said that they would do so: because the
   thing was fight in the eyes of all the people," 1 Chron. xiii. 2, 4. So
   they bargain with Rehoboam about their subjection, upon condition of a
   moderate rule, 1 Kings xii. By virtue of which power, also, they
   delivered Jeremiah from the prophets and priests that would have put
   him to death, Jer. xxvi. 16. And on this ground might they justly feed
   on the fruit of their own neglected duty. See Bilson on Obed., part 3,
   page 271.

   Be it thus, or otherwise, by what way soever the people had their
   interest therein, certain it is, that for the sins of Manasseh, one way
   or other made their own, they were destroyed. And therefore, these
   things being written for our example, it cannot but be of great
   concernment to us to know what were those sins which wrapped up the
   people of God in irrevocable destruction Now, these the Holy Ghost
   fully manifesteth in the story of the life and reign of this Manasseh,
   and they may all be reduced unto two chief heads.

   (1.) False worship or superstition: "He built high places, made altars
   for Baal, and a grove, as did Ahab," 2 Kings xxi. 3.

   (2.) Cruelty: "He shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled
   Jerusalem with blood from one end of it to another," verse 16.

   Whether this cruelty be to be ascribed to his tyranny in civil affairs,
   and so the blood shed is called innocent because not of malefactors; or
   to his persecution in subordination to his false worship, instituted as
   before (as the pope and his adherents have devoured whole nations "in
   ordine ad spiritualia"), is not apparent; but this is from hence and
   other places most evident, that superstition and persecution,
   will-worship and tyranny, are inseparable concomitants. [211]

   Nebuchadnezzar sets up his great image, and the next news you hear, the
   saints are in the furnace, Dan. iii. 20. You seldom see a fabric of
   human-invented worship, but either the foundation or top-stone is laid
   in the blood of God's people. "The wisdom" (religion, or way of
   worship) "that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
   easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
   partiality, and without hypocrisy," James iii. 17; -- when the other is
   "earthly, sensual, devilish, bringing along envying, strife, confusion,
   and every evil work," verse 16. Persecution and blood is the genuine
   product of all invented worship. I might from hence name and pursue
   other observations, but I shall only name one, and proceed.

   Observation. When false worship, with injustice by cruelty, have
   possessed the governors of a nation, and wrapped in the consent of the
   greatest part of the people who have been acquainted with the mind of
   God; that people and nation, without unprecedented mercy, is obnoxious
   to remediless ruin.

   Those two are the Bel and dragon that, what by their actings, what by
   their deservings, have swallowed that ocean of blood which has flowed
   from the veins of millions slain upon the face of the earth. Give me
   the number of the witnesses of Jesus whose souls under the altar cry
   for revenge against their false worshipping murderers [212] and the
   tale of them whose lives have been sacrificed to the insatiable
   ambition and tyranny of blood-thirsty potentates, with the issues of
   God's just vengeance on the sons of men for compliance in these two
   things; and you will have gathered in the whole harvest of blood,
   leaving but a few straggling gleanings upon other occasions. And if
   these things have been found in England, and the present administration
   with sincere humiliation do not run across to unravel this close-woven
   web of destruction, all thoughts of recovery will quickly be too late.
   And thus far sin and providence drive on a parallel.

   Thirdly. The inevitableness of the desolation threatened, and the
   inexorableness of God in the execution of it, verse 1, is the third
   thing considerable: "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my
   mind could not be toward this people."

   Should I insist upon this, it would draw me out unto Scripture
   evidences of a nation's travelling in sin beyond the line of God's
   patience, and so not to be exempted from ruin; but, instead thereof, I
   shall make it a part of my daily supplications, that they may be to our
   enemies, if God's enemies, and the interpretation of them to those that
   hate us.

   In brief, the words contain an impossible supposition, and yet a
   negation of the thing for whose sake it is supposed. Moses and Samuel
   were men who, in the days of their flesh, offered up strong
   supplications, and averted many imminent judgments from a sinful
   people. As if the Lord should say, All that I can do, in such a case as
   this, I would grant at the intercession of Moses and Samuel, or others
   interceding in their spirit and zeal; but now the state of things is
   come to that pass, the time of treaty being expired, the black flag
   hung out, and the "decree having brought forth," Zeph. ii. 2, that,
   upon their utmost entreaty, it cannot, it shall not, be reversed.

   Observation. There is a time when sin grows ripe for ruin: "For three
   transgressions, and for four, the Lord will not turn away the iniquity
   of a people," Amos i. 9.

   When the sin of the Amorites hath filled the cup of vengeance, they
   must drink it, Gen. xv. 16. England, under several administrations of
   civil government, hath fallen twice, yea thrice, into nation-destroying
   sins. Providence hath once more given it another bottom; if you should
   stumble (which the Lord avert) at the same block of impiety and
   cruelty, there is not another sifting to be made, to reserve any grains
   from the ground. I doubt not but our three transgressions, and four,
   will end in total desolation. The Lord be your guide; -- poor England
   lieth at stake.

   Observation. The greatest difficulty that lieth in bringing of total
   destruction upon a sinful people, is in the interposition of Moses and
   Samuel.

   If Moses would but have stood out of the gap, and let the Almighty go,
   he had broken in upon the whole host of Israel, Exod. xxxii. 9, 10. And
   let it by the way be observed, of the spirit of Samuel, that when the
   people of God were most exorbitant, he crieth, "As for me, God forbid
   that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you," 1 Sam.
   xii. 23. Scarce answered by those who, if their interest be not served,
   or at least their reason satisfied, will scarce yield a prayer for,
   yea, pour out curses against, their choicest deliverers. The Lord lay
   it not to their charge! For us, seeing that praying deliverers are more
   prevalent than fighting deliverers (it is, Though Moses and Samuel, not
   Gideon and Samson, stood before me), as some decay, let us gather
   strength in the Lord, that he may have never the more rest for their
   giving over, until he establish mount Zion a praise in the earth.

   Fourthly. Come we now to the fourth thing in this chapter, the
   prophet's state and condition, with the frame and deportment of his
   heart and spirit under these dispensations. And here we find him
   expressing two things of himself:--

   1. What he found from others, verse 10.

   2. What he wrestled withal in his own spirit, verses 15-18.

   1. What he found from others. He telleth you it was cursing and
   reproach, etc.: "I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me
   on usury, yet every one of them doth curse me," verse 10.

   Now this return may be considered two ways.

   (1.) In itself: "Every one (saith he) of this people doth curse me."

   (2.) In reference to his deportment: "I have neither borrowed nor lent
   on usury, yet they curse me."

   (1.) From the first, observe:--

   Observation. Instruments of God's greatest works and glory are
   oftentimes the chiefest objects of a professing people's cursings and
   revenges.

   The return which God's labourers meet withal in this generation is in
   the number of those things whereof there is none new under the sun. Men
   that, under God, deliver a kingdom, may have the kingdom's curses for
   their pains.

   When Moses had brought the people of Israel out of bondage, by that
   wonderful and unparalleled deliverance, being forced to appear with the
   Lord for the destruction of Korah and his associates, who would have
   seduced the congregation to its utter ruin, he receives at length this
   reward of all his travail, labour, and pains, -- all the congregation
   gathered themselves against him and Aaron, laying murder and sedition
   to their charge; telling them they had "killed the people of the Lord,"
   Num. xvi. 41, 42; -- a goodly reward for all their travails. If God's
   works do not suit with the lusts, prejudices, and interests of men,
   they will labour to give his instruments the devil's wages. Let not
   upright hearts sink because they meet with thankless men. "Bona agere,
   et mala pati, Christianorum est." A man may have the blessing of God
   and the curse of a professing people at the same time. "Behold, I and
   the children whom God hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in
   Israel," Isa. viii. 18. "Cum ab hominibus damnamur, a Deo absolvimur."
   [213] Man's condemnation and God's absolution do not seldom meet upon
   the same persons, for the same things. If you labour to do the work of
   the Lord, pray think it not strange if among men curses be your reward,
   and detestation your wages.

   (2.) In reference to the prophet's deportment: "He had neither lent,
   nor had any lent to him, upon usury." He was free from blame among
   them, -- had no dealings with them in those things which are usually
   attended with reproaches; as he shows by an instance in usury, a thing
   that a long time hath heard very ill.

   Observation. Men every way blameless, and to be embraced in their own
   ways, are oftentimes abhorred and laden with curses for following the
   Lord in his ways.

   "Bonus vir Caius Sejus, sed malus quia Christianus." What precious men
   should many be, would they let go the work of God in this generation!
   No advantage against them but in the matter of their God; -- and that
   is enough to have them to the lions, Dan. vi. 5. He that might be
   honoured for compassing the ends suiting his own worldly interest, and
   will cheerfully undergo dishonour for going beyond, to suit the design
   of God, hath surely some impression upon his spirit that is from above.

   2. You have the prophet's deportment, and the frame of his spirit
   during those transactions between the Lord and that sinful people; and
   this he holds out, in many pathetical complaints, to be fainting,
   decaying, perplexed, weary of his burden, not knowing how to ease
   himself, as you may see at large, verses 15-18.

   Observation. In dark and difficult dispensations of providence, God's
   choicest servants are oftentimes ready to faint under the burden of
   them.

   How weary was David when he cried out in such a condition, "Oh that I
   had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest," Ps.
   lv. 6. Long had he waited for a desired issue of his perplexed state,
   and had perhaps oftentimes been frustrated of his hope of drawing to a
   period of his miseries; and now, finding one disappointment to follow
   on the neck of another, he is weary, and cries, What! nothing but this
   trouble and confusion still? "Oh that I had wings like a dove!" -- a
   ship to sail to a foreign nation (or the like), there to be at peace.
   In the like strait another time, see what a miserable conclusion he
   draws of all his being exercised under the hand of God; Ps. lxxii. 13,
   "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in
   innocency." And again, Ps. cxvi. 11, he saith, in the perturbation of
   his mind, "All men are liars;" that all the promises, all the
   encouragements, which in his way he had received from God, should fail
   of their accomplishment.

   It is not with them as it was with that wicked king of Israel, who,
   being disappointed of peace and deliverance in his own time, cries out,
   "This evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?"
   2 Kings vi. 33. The season of deliverance suited not his expectation;
   therefore he quite throweth off the Lord and his protection:-- not
   unlike many among ourselves, whose desires and expectations being not
   satisfied in the closing of our distractions, according to the way
   which themselves had framed for the Lord to walk in, are ready to cast
   off his cause, his protection, to comply with the enemies of his name,
   "Si Deus homini non placuerit, Deus non erit." But it may be observed,
   that deliverance came not to that people until Jehoram was weary of
   waiting, and then instantly God gives it in. When God hath tired the
   patience, of corrupted men, he will speak peace to them that wait for
   him. Thus it is not with the saints of God; only, being perplexed in
   their spirits, dark in their apprehensions, and fainting in their
   strength, they break out ofttimes into passionate complaints (as
   Jeremiah for a cottage in the wilderness), but yet for the main holding
   firm to the Lord.

   And the reasons of this quailing are, --

   (1.) The weakness of faith, when the methods of God's proceedings are
   unfathomable to our apprehensions. While men see the paths wherein the
   Lord walketh, they can follow him through some difficulties; but when
   that is hid from them, though providence so shut up all other ways that
   it is impossible God should be in them, yet if they cannot discern (so
   proud are they) how he goeth in that wherein he is, they are ready to
   faint and give over. God is pleased sometimes to make darkness his
   pavilion and his secret place. "A fire devours before him, and it is
   very tempestuous round about him," Ps. l. 3. When once God is attended
   with fire, darkness, and tempest, because we cannot so easily see him,
   we are ready to leave him. Now, this the Lord usually doth in the
   execution of his judgments, "Thy righteousness is like the great
   mountains; thy judgments are a great deep," Ps. xxxvi. 6. His
   righteousness, his kindness, is like a great mountain that is easy to
   be seen, -- a man cannot overlook it, unless he wilfully shut his eyes;
   but his judgments are like the great deep. Who can look into the bottom
   of the sea, or know what is done in the depths thereof? God's works in
   their accomplishment are oftentimes so unsuited to the reasons and
   apprehensions of men, that very many who have been strong in their
   desires, and great in expectation of them, upon their bringing forth to
   light, have quite rejected and opposed them as none of his, because
   distant from what they had framed to themselves. It is evident from the
   gospel, that the people of the Jews were full of expectation and
   longing for the great work of the coming of the Messiah just at the
   season wherein he came; yet being come, because not accommodated to
   their pre-imaginations, they rejected him, as having neither form nor
   comeliness in him to be desired, Isa. liii. 2. And the prophet Amos
   telleth many who desired the day of the Lord, that that day should be
   darkness to them, and not light, Amos v. 18, 20. So in every generation
   many desirous of the accomplishment of God's work are shaken off from
   any share therein, by finding it unsuited to their reasons and
   expectations.

   Now, when the Lord is pleased thus to walk in darkness, many not being
   able to trace him in his dispensations, are ready to lie down and sink
   under the burden. David seems to profess that he had nothing at such a
   time to uphold him but this, that God must be there, or nowhere. I had
   said (saith he) that it was in vain to walk as I do, but that I should
   have condemned the generation of thy children, Ps. lxxiii. 15. And
   truly God never leaves us without so much light, but that we may see
   clearly where he is not; and so, by recounting particulars, we may be
   rolled where he is, though his goings there be not so clear. Ask if God
   be in the counsels of men who seek themselves, and in the ways of those
   who make it their design to ruin the generation of the just. If you
   find him there, seek no farther; if not, let that give you light to
   discern where he makes his abode, that you turn not aside to the flocks
   of others.

   (2.) A reducing the works of Providence to inbred rules of their own.
   But this I cannot pursue.

   Be tender toward fainters in difficult seasons. If they leave waiting
   on the Lord because the evil is of him, -- if they cast in their lot
   with the portion of the ungodly, -- they will in the end perish in
   their gainsaying; but as for such as, what for want of light, what for
   want of faith, sit down and sigh in darkness, be not too hasty in
   laying farther burdens on them. When first the confederacy was entered
   into by the Protestant princes in Germany against Charles V., Luther
   himself for a season was bewildered, and knew not what to do, until,
   being instructed in the fundamental laws of the empire, he sat down
   fully in that undertaking, though the Lord gave it not the desired
   issue. [214] Our Saviour Christ asks, if, when he comes, he shall find
   faith on the earth, Luke xviii. 8. It is his coming with the spirit of
   judgment and burning, a day of trial and visitation, he there speaks
   of. Now, what faith shall he want which will not be found in that day?
   Not the faith of adherence to himself for spiritual life and
   justification, but of actual closing with him in the things he then
   doth; that shall be rare, -- many shall be staggered and faint in that
   day.

   And thus, by the several heads of this chapter, have I led you through
   the very state and condition of this nation at this time.

   First, Variety of judgments are threatened to us, and incumbent on us;
   as in the first part. Secondly, Of these, false worship, superstition,
   tyranny, and cruelty, lie in the bottom, as their procuring causes;
   which is the second. Thirdly, These, if renewed under your hand, will
   certainly bring inevitable ruin upon the whole nation; which is the
   third. Fourthly, All which make many precious hearts, what for want of
   light, what for want of faith, to fail, and cry out for "the wings of a
   dove;" which is the fourth.

   Fifthly, I come, in the fifth place, to God's direction to you for the
   future, in this state and condition; which being spread in divers
   verses, as the Lord gives it to the prophet, I shall meddle with no
   more of it than is contained in the words which at our entrance I read
   unto you: "Let them return," etc.

   In the words observe four things, --

   I. God's direction to the prophet, and in him to all that do his work
   in such a season as this described: "Let them return to thee; return
   not thou to them."

   II. Their assistance and supportment in pursuance of that direction: "I
   will make thee to this people a brasen fenced wall."

   III. The opposition, with its success and issue, which in that way they
   should meet withal: "They shall fight against thee, but shall not
   prevail."

   IV. Their consolation and success from the presence of the Lord: "For I
   am with thee to deliver thee," etc.

   I. There is God's direction.

   Many difficulties in this troublesome season was the prophet intricated
   withal. The people would not be prevailed with to come up to the mind
   of God; -- they continuing in their stubbornness, the Lord would not be
   prevailed with to avert the threatened desolation. What now shall he
   do? To stand out against the bulk of the people suits not his earthly
   interest; -- to couple with them answers not the discharge of his
   office; -- to wait upon them any longer is fruitless; -- to give up
   himself to their ways, comfortless. Hence his complaints, hence his
   moanings; -- better lie down and sink under the burden, than always to
   swim against the stream of an unreformable multitude. In this strait
   the Lord comes in with his direction: "Let them return unto thee," etc.
   Keep thy station, perform thy duty, comply not with the children of
   backsliding. But whatever be the issue, if there be any closing
   wrought, let it be by working them off from their ways of folly. All
   condescension on thy part, where the work of God is to be done, is in
   opposition to him. If they return, embrace them freely; if not, do thy
   duty constantly.

   That which is spoken immediately to the prophet, I shall hold out to
   all, acting in the name and authority of God, in this general
   proposition:--

   Observation. Plausible compliances of men in authority with those
   against whom they are employed, are treacherous contrivances against
   the God of heaven, by whom they are employed.

   If God be so provoked that he curseth him who doth his work
   negligently, what is he by them that do it treacherously? -- when he
   gives a sword into the hands of men, and they thrust it into his own
   bowels, his glory and honour, those things so dear to him? He that is
   intrusted with it, and dares not do justice on every one that dares do
   injustice, is afraid of the creature, but makes very bold with the
   Creator. Prov. xxv. 2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but
   the honour of kings is to search out a matter." That which God aimeth
   to be glorious in, to manifest his attributes by, is the concealing and
   covering our iniquities in Christ; but if the magistrate will have
   glory, if he will not bring upon himself dishonour by dishonouring God,
   he is to search and find out the transgressions with whose cognizance
   he is intrusted, and to give unto them condign retribution. If the Lord
   curse them who come not forth to his help against the mighty, Judges v.
   23 -- what is their due who, being called forth by him, do yet help the
   mighty against him? For a man to take part with the kingdom's enemies,
   is no small crime; but for a commission-officer to run from them by
   whom he is commissionated, to take part with the adversary, is death
   without mercy. Yet have not some in our days arrived at that stupendous
   impudence, that when, as private persons, they have declaimed against
   the enemies of the nation, and by that means got themselves into
   authority, they have made use of that authority to comply with and
   uphold those by an opposition to whom they got into their authority?
   which is no less than an atheistical attempt to personate the Almighty,
   unto such iniquities as without his appearance they dare not own. But
   "he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even
   they both are abomination to the Lord," Prov. xvii. 15; and not only to
   the Lord, but to good men also: "He that saith to the wicked, Thou art
   righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him," Prov.
   xxiv. 24.

   I speak only as to the general (for me, let all particulars find
   mercy), with a sad remembrance of the late workings of things amongst
   us, with those vile, sordid compliances, which grew upon the spirits of
   magistrates and ministers, with those whose garments were dyed with the
   blood of God's saints and precious ones, -- as formerly they were
   called, for now these names are become terms of reproach. And would
   this complying went alone; but pretences and accusations must be found
   out against such as follow with them. When they begin to call darkness
   light, they will ere long call light darkness; by which means our eyes
   have seen men of their own accord laying down the weapons wherewith at
   first they fought against opposers, and taking up them which were used
   against themselves; as hath happened more than once to penmen, both in
   our own and our neighbour nation.

   Now, this revolting from principles of religion and righteousness, to a
   compliance with any sinful way or person, is a treacherous opposition
   to the God of heaven. For, --

   It cannot be done but by preferring the creature before the Creator,
   especially in those things which are the proximate causes of deviation.

   Two principal causes I have observed of this crooked walking.

   (1.) Fear.

   (2.) That desire of perishing things which hath a mixture of
   covetousness and ambition.

   The first maketh men waxy what they do against men; the other maketh
   them weary of doing any thing for God, as whereby their sordid ends are
   not like to be accomplished.

   (1.) Fear. When once magistrates begin to listen after "quid
   sequitur's," and so to withdraw from doing good for fear of suffering
   evil, paths of wickedness are quickly returned unto, and the authority
   of God despised. "Let this man go, and take heed of Caesar," John xix.
   12, did more prevail on Pilate's treacherous heart than all the other
   clamours of the Jews. Yea, was not the whole Sanhedrim swayed to
   desperate villainy for fear the Romans should come and take away their
   kingdom? John xi. 48. When men begin once to distrust that God will
   leave them in the briers, to wrestle it out themselves (for unbelief
   lieth at the bottom of carnal fear), they quickly turn themselves to
   contrivances of their own for their own safety, their own prosperity;
   which commonly is by obliging those unto them by compliances, in an
   opposition to whom they might oblige the Almighty to their assistance.
   Surely they conclude he wants either truth or power to support them in
   his employment.

   If a prince should send an ambassador to a foreign state, to treat
   about peace, or to denounce war; who, when he comes there, distrusting
   his master's power to make good his undertaking, should comply and wind
   up his interest with them to whom he was sent, suffering his
   sovereign's errand to fall to the ground, -- would he not be esteemed
   as arrant a traitor as ever lived? And yet, though this be clipped coin
   among men, it is put upon the Lord every day as current.

   From this principle of carnal fear and unbelief, -- trembling for a man
   that shall die, and the son of man that shall be as grass, forgetting
   the Lord our maker, Isa. li. 12, -- are all those prudential follies
   which exercise the minds of most men in authority, making them,
   especially in times of difficulties, to regulate and square all their
   proceedings by what suits their own safety and particular interests, --
   counselling, advising, working for themselves, quite forgetting by whom
   they are intrusted, and whose business they should do.

   (2.) A desire of perishing things tempered with covetousness and
   ambition. Hence was the sparing of the fat cattle and of Agag by Saul,
   1 Sam. xv. 1.

   When those two qualifications close on any, they are diametrically
   opposed to that frame which of God is required in them, -- viz., "That
   they should be men fearing God, and hating covetousness." The first
   will go far, being only a contrivance for safety; but if this latter
   take hold of any, being a consultation to exalt themselves, it quickly
   carrieth them beyond all bounds whatsoever. The Lord grant that
   hereafter there may be no such complaints in this nation, or [that
   they] may be causeless, as have been heretofore, -- viz., that we have
   poured out our prayers, jeoparded our lives, wasted our estates, spent
   our blood, to serve the lusts and compass the designs of ambitious,
   ungodly men!

   The many ways whereby these things intrench upon the spirits of men, to
   bias them from the paths of the Lord, I shall not insist upon; it is
   enough that I have touched upon the obvious causes of deviation, and
   manifested them to be treacheries against the God of all authority.

   Use. Be exhorted to beware of relapses, with all their causes and
   inducements, and to be constant to the way of righteousness; and this I
   shall hold out unto you in two particulars.

   1. Labour to recover others, even all that were ever distinguished and
   called by the name of the Lord, from their late fearful returning to
   sinful compliances with the enemies of God and the nation. I speak not
   of men's persons, but of their ways. For three years this people have
   been eminently sick of the folly of backsliding, and without some
   special cordial are like to perish in it, as far as I know.

   Look upon the estate of this people as they were differenced seven
   years ago, so for some continuance, and as they are now; and you shall
   find in how many things we have returned to others, and not one
   instance to be given of their return to us. That this may be clear,
   take some particulars.

   (1.) In words and expressions; -- those are "index animi." Turn them
   over, and you may find what is in the whole heart. "Out of the
   abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Now, is not that language,
   are not those very expressions which filled the mouths of the common
   adversaries only, grown also terms of reproach upon the tongues of men
   that suffered sometimes under them, and counted it their honour so to
   do? Hence that common exprobration, A parliament of saints, an army of
   saints, and such like derisions of God's ways, -- now plentiful with
   them who sat sometimes and took sweet counsel with us. Ah! had it not
   been more for the honour of God that we had kept our station until
   others had come to us, -- so to have exalted the name and profession of
   the gospel, -- than that we should so return to them as to join with
   them in making the paths of Christ a reproach? Had it not been better
   for us, with Judah, to continue "ruling with God, and to be faithful
   with the saints," Hos. xi. 12, than to stand in the congregation of the
   mockers, and to sit in the seat of the scornful? What shall we say,
   when the saints of God "are as signs and wonders [to be spoken against]
   in Israel?" Isa. viii. 18. O that men would remember how they have left
   their first station, when themselves use those reproaches unto others
   which for the same cause themselves formerly bare with comfort! It is
   bitterness to consider how the gospel is scandalized by this woful
   return of ministers and people, by casting scriptural expressions by
   way of scorn on those with whom they were sometimes in the like kind
   companions of contempt. Surely in this we are returned to them, and not
   they to us.

   (2.) In actions, and those, --

   [1.] Of religion. Not only in opinion, but practice also, are we here
   under a vile return. We are become the lions, and the very same
   thoughts [are] entertained by us against others as were exercised
   towards ourselves. Are not others as unworthy to live upon their native
   soil in our judgments, as we ourselves in the judgments of them
   formerly over us? Are not groans for liberty, by the warmth of favour,
   in a few years hatched into attempts for tyranny? And for practice,
   what hold hath former superstition, in observing days and times, laid
   upon the many of the people again! Witness the late solemn
   superstition, and many things of the like nature.

   [2.] For civil things, the closing of so many formerly otherwise
   engaged with the adverse party in the late rebellion, with the lukewarm
   deportment of others at the same time, is a sufficient demonstration of
   it. And may not the Lord justly complain of all this? "What iniquity
   have you seen in me or my ways, that you are gone far from me, and have
   walked after vanity, and are become vain?" Jer. ii. 5. "Why have you
   changed your glory for that which doth not profit," verse 11. "Have I
   been a dry heath or a barren wilderness to you?" Oh, that men should
   find no more sweetness in following the Lamb under wonderful
   protections, but that they should thus turn aside into every
   wilderness! What indignity is this to the ways of God! I could give you
   many reasons of it; but I have done what I intended, -- a little hinted
   that we are a returning people, that so you might be exhorted to help
   for a recovery. And how shall that be?

   2. By your own keeping close to the paths of righteousness. If you
   return not, others will look about again. This breach, this evil is of
   you; within your own walls was the fountain of our backsliding. Would
   you be the repairers of breaches, the restorers of paths for men to
   walk in? -- do these two things:--

   (1.) Turn not to the ways of such as the Lord hath blasted under your
   eyes. And these may be referred to three heads.

   [1.] Oppression; [2.] Self-seeking; [3.] Contrivances for persecution.

   [1.] Oppression. How detestable a crime it is in the eyes of the
   Almighty, -- what effects it hath upon men, "making wise men mad!"
   Eccles. vii. 7, -- how frequently it closeth in the calamitous ruin of
   the oppressors themselves, -- are things known to all. Whether it hath
   not been exercised in this nation, both in general by unnecessary
   impositions, and in particular by unwarrantable pressures, let the
   mournful cries of all sorts of people testify. Should you now return to
   such ways as these, would not the anger of the Lord smoke against you?
   Make it, I beseech you, your design to relieve the whole, by all means
   possible, and to relieve particulars, yea, even of the adverse party
   where too much overborne. O let it be considered by you, that it be not
   considered upon you! I know the things you are necessitated to are not
   to be supported by the air. It is only what is unnecessary as to you,
   or insupportable as to others, that requires your speedy reforming;
   that so it may be said of you as of Neh. v. 14, 15. And for particulars
   (pray pardon my folly and boldness), I heartily desire a committee of
   your honourable House might sit once a-week, to relieve poor men that
   have been oppressed by men sometimes enjoying parliamentary authority.

   [2.] Self-seeking, when men can be content to lay a nation low, that
   they may set up themselves upon the heaps and ruins thereof. Have not
   some sought to advance themselves under that power which, with the
   lives and blood of the people, they have opposed; seeming to be
   troubled at former things, not because they were done, but because they
   were not done by them? But innocent blood will be found a tottering
   foundation for men to build their honours, greatness, and preferments
   upon. O return not in this unto any! If men serve themselves of the
   nation, they must expect that the nation will serve itself upon them.
   The best security you can possibly have that the people will perform
   their duty in obedience, is the witness of your own consciences that
   you have discharged your duty towards them, -- in seeking their good by
   your own trouble, and not your own advantages in their trouble. I doubt
   not but that in this your practice makes the admonition a commendation;
   otherwise the word spoken will certainly witness against you.

   [3.] Contrivances for persecution. How were the hearts of all men
   hardened like the nether millstone, and their thoughts did grind blood
   and revenge against their brethren! What colours, what pretences, had
   men invented to prepare a way for the rolling of their garments in the
   tears, yea, blood of Christians! The Lord so keep your spirits from a
   compliance herein, that withal the bow be not too much bent on the
   other side, -- which is not impossible.

   Be there a backsliding upon your spirit to these, or such-like things
   as these, the Lord will walk contrary to you; and were you "as the
   signet upon his hand," he would pluck you off.

   (2.) Return not to the open enemies of our peace. I could here enlarge
   myself, to support your spirits in the work mentioned, Job xxix. 14,
   15; but I must go on to the following parts of my text. And therefore,
   --

   II. I pass from the direction given to the supportment and assistance
   promised: "I will make thee to this people a brasen and a fenced wall."

   An implied objection, which the prophet might put in, upon his charge
   to keep so close to the rule of righteousness, is here removed. If I
   must thus abide by it, to execute whatsoever the Lord calls me out
   unto, not shrinking nor staggering at the greatest undertakings, what
   will become of me in the issue? will it not be destructive to stand out
   against a confirmed people? No, saith the Lord, it shall not be; "I
   will make thee," etc.

   Observation. God will certainly give prevailing strength and
   unconquerable defence unto persons constantly discharging the duties of
   righteousness, especially when undertaken in times of difficulty and
   opposition.

   The like engagement to this you have made to Ezekiel chap. iii. 8, 9.
   Neither was it so to the prophets alone, but to magistrates also. When
   Joshua undertook the regency of Israel in a difficult time, he takes
   off his fear and diffidence with this very encouragement, Josh. i. 5.
   He saith, he will make them a wall, -- the best defence against
   opposition; and that not a weak, tottering wall, that might easily be
   cast down, but a brazen wall, that must needs be impregnable. What
   engines can possibly prevail against a wall of brass? And to make it
   more secure, this brazen wall shall be fenced with all manner of
   fortifications and ammunition; so that the veriest coward in the world,
   being behind such a wall, may, without dread or terror, apply himself
   to that which he findeth to do. God will so secure the instruments of
   his glory against a backsliding people, in holding up the ways of his
   truth and righteousness, that all attempts against them shall be vain,
   and the most timorous spirit may be secure, provided he go not out of
   the Lord's way; for if they be found beyond the line, the brazen wall,
   they may easily be surprised. And, indeed, who but a fool would run
   from the shelter of a brazen wall, to hide himself in a little stubble?
   And yet so do all who run to their own wisdom, from the most hazardous
   engagement that any of the ways of God can possibly lead them unto. It
   is a sure word, and forever to be rested upon, which the Lord gives in
   to Asa, 2 Chron. xv. 2, "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him."
   An unbiased magistracy shall never want God's continued presence. Very
   Jeroboam himself receives a promise, upon condition of close walking
   with God in righteous administrations, of having a house built him like
   the house of David, 1 Kings xi. 38. What a wall was God to Moses in
   that great undertaking, of being instrumental for the delivery of
   Israel from a bondage and slavery of four hundred years' continuance?
   Pharaoh was against him, whom he had deprived of his sovereignty and
   dominion over the people. And what a provocation the depriving of
   sovereignty is unto potentates needs no demonstration: to the
   corruption of nature which inclines to heights and exaltations, in
   imitation of the fountain whence it flows, they have also the
   corruption of state and condition, which hath always inclined to
   absoluteness and tyranny. All Egypt was against him, as being by him
   visibly destroyed, wasted, spoiled, robbed, and at length smitten in
   the apple of the eye, by the loss of their first-born. And if this be
   not enough, that the king and people whom he opposed were his enemies,
   -- the very people for whose sakes he set himself to oppose the others,
   they also rise up against him, yea, seek to destroy him. One time they
   appeal to God for justice against him, Exod. v. 21, "The Lord look upon
   you, and judge." They appeal to the righteous God to witness that he
   had not fulfilled what he promised them, -- to wit, liberty, safety,
   and freedom from oppression; but that rather by his means their burdens
   were increased: and in this they were so confident (like some amongst
   us), that they appealed unto God for the equity of their complaints.
   Afterward, being reduced to a strait, such as they could not see how
   possibly they should be extricated from, without utter ruin (like our
   present condition in the apprehension of some), they cry out upon him
   for the whole design of bringing them into the wilderness, and affirm
   positively, that though they had perished in their former slavery, it
   had been better for them than to have followed him in this new and
   dangerous engagement, Exod. xiv. 11, 12; -- that generation being, as
   Calvin observes, [215] so inured to bondage, that they were altogether
   unfit to bear with the workings and pangs of their approaching liberty.
   Afterward, do they want drink? -- Moses is the cause. Do they want
   meat? -- this Moses would starve them, Exod. xv. 24, xvi. 7. He could
   not let them alone by the flesh-pots of Egypt; for this they are ready
   to stone him, Exod. xvii. 3. At this day, have we too much rain, or too
   short a harvest? -- it is laid on the shoulders of the present
   government. It was no otherwise of old. At length this people came to
   that height, as, being frightened by the opposition they heard of and
   framed to themselves in that place whither Moses would carry them, they
   presently enter into a conspiracy and revolt, consulting to cast off
   his government, and choose new commanders, and with a violent hand to
   return to their former condition, Num. xiv. 4, -- an attempt as
   frequent as fruitless among ourselves. When this would not do, at
   length, upon the occasion of taking off Korah and his company, they
   assemble themselves together, and lay, not imprisonment, but murder to
   his charge; and that of "the people of the Lord," Num. xvi. 41. Now,
   what was the issue of all those oppositions? what effect had they? how
   did the power of Pharaoh, the revenge of Egypt, the backsliding of
   Israel prevail? Why, God made this one Moses a fenced brazen wall to
   them all; he was never in the least measure prevailed against; -- so
   long as he was with God, God was with him, no matter who was against
   him.

   One thing only would I commend to your consideration, -- viz., that
   this Moses, thus preserved, thus delivered, thus protected, falling
   into one deviation, in one thing, from close following the Lord, was
   taken off from enjoying the closure and fruit of all his labour, Num.
   xx. 12. Otherwise he followed the Lord in a difficult season, and did
   not want unconquerable supportment. Take heed of the smallest turning
   aside from God. Oh! lose not the fruit of all your labour, for self,
   for a lust, or any thing that may turn you aside!

   Now, the Lord will do this, --

   1. Because of his own engagement.

   2. For our encouragement.

   1. Because of his own engagement. And that is twofold.

   (1.) Of truth and fidelity.

   (2.) Of honour and glory.

   (1.) His truth and veracity is engaged in it. "Those that honour him,
   he will honour," 1 Sam. ii. 30. If men honour him with obedience, he
   will honour them with preservation. "He will be with them, while they
   are with him," 2 Chron. xv. 2. While they are with him in constancy of
   duty, he will be with them to keep them in safety. He will never leave
   them, nor forsake them, Josh. i. 5. "No weapon that is formed against
   them shall prosper," Isa. liv. 17. Now, God is never as the waters that
   fail to any that upon his engagements wait for him; he will not shame
   the faces of them that put their trust in him. Why should our
   unbelieving spirits charge that upon the God of truth which we dare not
   impute to a man that is a worm, a liar? Will a man fail in his
   engagement unto him who, upon that engagement, undertakes a difficult
   employment for his sake? The truth is, it is either want of sincerity
   in our working, or want of faith in dependence, that makes us at any
   time come short of the utmost tittle that is in any of the Lord's
   engagements.

   [1.] We want sincerity, and do the Lord's work, but with our own aims
   and ends, like Jehu; -- no wonder if we be left to ourselves for our
   wages and defence.

   [2.] We want faith, also, in the Lord's work, -- turn to our own
   counsels for supportment: no marvel if we come short of assistance. "If
   we will not believe, we shall not be established."

   Look to sincerity in working, and faith in dependence; God's truth and
   fidelity will carry him out to give you unconquerable supportment:--
   deflexion from these will be your destruction. You that are working on
   a new bottom, work also on new principles; put not new wine into old
   bottles, new designs into old hearts.

   (2.) He is engaged in point of honour. If they miscarry in his way,
   what will he do for his great name? Yea, so tender is the Lord herein
   of his glory, that when he hath been exceedingly provoked to remove men
   out of his presence, yet because they have been called by his name, and
   have visibly held forth a following after him, he would not suffer them
   to be trodden down, lest the enemy should exalt themselves, and say,
   Where is now their God? They shall not take from him the honour of
   former deliverances and protections. In such a nation as this, if the
   Lord now, upon manifold provocations, should give up parliament,
   people, army, to calamity and ruin, would not the glory of former
   counsels, successes, deliverances, be utterly lost? would not men say
   it was not the Lord, but chance that happened to them?

   2. For our encouragement. The ways of God are oftentimes attended with
   so many difficulties, so much opposition, that they must be embraced
   merely because his; no other motive in the world can suit them to us. I
   mean, for such as keep them immixed from their own carnal and corrupt
   interests. Now, because the Lord will not take off the hardship and
   difficulty of them, lest he should not have the honour of carrying on
   his work against tumultuating opposition, he secures poor weaklings of
   comfortable assistance and answerable success, lest his work should be
   wholly neglected. It is true, the Lord, as our sovereign master, may
   justly require a close labouring in all his ways without the least
   sweetening endearments put upon them, only as they are his, whose we
   are, who hath a dominion over us. But yet, as a tender father, -- in
   which relation he delights to exercise his will towards his own in
   Christ, -- he pitieth our infirmities, knowing that we are but dust;
   and therefore, to invite us into the dark, into ways laboursome and
   toilsome to flesh and blood, he gives us in this security, -- that we
   shall be as a fenced brazen wall to the opposing sons of men.

   Use 1. To discover the vanity and folly of all opposition to men called
   forth of God to his work, and walking in his ways. Would you not think
   him mad that should strike with his fist, and run with his head against
   a fenced brazen wall, to cast it down? Is he like to have any success,
   but the battering of his flesh, and the beating out of his brains? What
   do the waves obtain by dashing themselves with noise and dread against
   a rock, but their own beating to pieces? What prevails a man by
   shooting his arrows against the sky, but a return upon his own head?
   Nor is the most powerful opposition to the ways of God like to meet
   with better success God looks no otherwise upon opposers than you would
   do upon a man attempting to thrust down a fenced brazen wall with his
   fingers. Therefore it is said, that in their proudest attempts,
   strongest assaults, deepest counsels, combinations, and associations,
   "he laughs them to scorn," derides their folly, contemns their fury,
   lets them sweat in vain, until their day be come, Ps. ii. How birthless
   in our own, as well as other generations, have been their swelling
   conceptions! What, then, is it that prevails upon men to break through
   so many disappointments against the Lord as they do? -- doubtless that
   of Isa. xxiii. 9, "Surely the Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain
   the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable
   of the earth." God gives up men unto it, that he may leave no earthly
   glory or honour without pollution or contempt. And therefore hath
   opposition in our days been turned upon so many hands, that God might
   leave no glory without contempt: yet with this difference, that if the
   Lord will own them, he will recover them from their opposition; as has
   happened of late to the ministry of one, and will happen ere long to
   the ministry of another nation. When the Lord hath a little stained the
   pride of their glory, they shall be brought home again by the spirit of
   judgment and burning; but if he own them not, they shall perish under
   the opposition. And when it hath been wheeled about on all sorts of
   men, the end will be.

   Use 2. "Be wise now therefore, O ye [rulers;] be instructed, ye judges
   of the earth; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling,"
   Ps. ii. 10, 11. See whence your assistance cometh; see where lie the
   hills of your salvation, and say, "Asshur shall not save us; we will
   not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our
   hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy," Hos.
   xiv. 3. It is God alone who is "a sun and shield: his ways do good to
   the upright in heart." Behold, here is a way to encompass England with
   a brazen wall: let the rulers of it walk in right ways with upright
   hearts. Others have been careful to preserve the people to them, and
   the city to them; oh, be you careful to preserve your God unto you! He
   alone can make you a fenced wall; if he departs, your wall departs,
   your shade departs. Give me leave to insist a little on one particular,
   which I choose out among many others. When God leads out his people to
   any great things, the angel of his presence is still among them. See at
   large, Exod. xxiii. 20-22. The angel of the covenant, in whom is the
   name of God, that hath power of pardoning or retaining transgressions,
   -- Jesus Christ, the angel that redeemeth his out of all their
   troubles, Gen. xlviii. 16, -- he is in the midst of them, and amongst
   them. And God gives this special caution, if we would have his
   assistance, that we should beware of him, and obey him, and provoke him
   not. Would you, then, have God's assistance continued? -- take heed of
   provoking the angel of his presence: provoke him not by slighting of
   his ways; provoke him not by contemning his ordinances: if you leave
   him to deal for himself, he will leave you to shift for yourselves.
   What though his followers are at some difference, [216] (the best
   knowing but in part) about the administration of some things in his
   kingdom; the envious one having also sown some bitter seeds of
   persecution, strife, envy, and contention among them? -- what though
   some poor creatures are captivated by Satan, the prince of pride, to a
   contempt of all his ordinances, -- whose souls I hope the Lord will one
   day free from the snare of the devil; -- yet I pray give me leave (it
   is no time to contest or dispute it) to bear witness in the behalf of
   my Master to this one truth, that if by your own personal practice and
   observance, your protection, countenance, authority, laws, you do not
   assert, maintain, uphold the order of the gospel, and administration of
   the ordinances of Christ, -- notwithstanding the noise and clamours of
   novel fancies, which, like Jonah's gourd, have sprung up in a night,
   and will wither in a day, -- you will be forsaken by the angel of God's
   presence, and you will become an astonishment to all the inhabitants of
   the earth. And herein I do not speak as one hesitating or dubious, but
   positively assert it, as the known mind of God, and whereof he will not
   suffer any long to doubt, Ps. ii. 12.

   Use 3. "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say
   to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your
   God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come
   and save you," Isa. xxxv. 3, 4. Let the most weak and fearful, the
   fainting heart, the trembling spirit, and the doubting mind, know, that
   full and plenary security, perfect peace, attends the upright in the
   ways of God. You that are in God's way, do God's work, and take this
   cordial for all your distempers, -- Return not to former provoking
   ways, and he will make you" a fenced brasen wall."

   And so I come to the third thing which I proposed to consider, --

   III. The opposition which men cleaving to the Lord in all his ways
   shall find, with the issue and success of it: "They shall fight against
   thee; but shall not prevail."

   The words may be considered either as a prediction depending on God's
   prescience of what will be; or a commination from his just judgment of
   what shall be.

   In the first sense the Lord tells the prophet, from the corruption,
   apostasy, stubbornness of that people, what would come to pass; -- in
   the second, what, for their sins and provocations, by his just
   judgment, should come to pass. Time will not allow me to handle the
   words in both acceptations, wherefore I shall take up the latter only,
   -- viz., that it is a commination of what shall be for the farther
   misery of that wretched people; they shall judicially be given up to a
   fighting against him.

   Observation. God oftentimes gives up a sinful people to a fruitless
   contention and fighting with their only supporters and means of
   deliverance..

   Jeremiah had laboured with God for them, and with them for God, that,
   if possible, peace being made, they might be delivered; and, to
   consummate their sins, they are given up to fight against him.

   I cannot now insist upon particular instances; consult the history of
   the church in all ages, -- you shall find it continually upon all
   occasions verified. From the Israelites opposing Moses, to the
   Ephrahnites' contest with Jephthah, the rejecting of Samuel, and so on,
   to the kings of the earth giving their power to the beast to wage war
   with the Lamb, with the inhabitants of the world combining against the
   witnesses of Christ, is this assertion held out. In following story, no
   sooner did any plague or judgment break out against the Roman empire,
   but instantly, "Christianos ad leones;" -- their fury must be spent
   upon them who were the only supporters of it from irrecoverable ruin.

   Now the Lord doth this, --

   1. To seal up a sinful people's destruction. Eli's sons hearkened not,
   "because the Lord would slay them," 1 Sam. ii. 25. When God intends
   ruin to a people, they shall walk in ways that tend thereunto. Now, is
   there a readier way for a man to have a house on his head, than by
   pulling away the pillars whereby it is supported? If by Moses standing
   in the gap the fury of the Lord be turned away, certainly if the people
   contend to remove him, their desolation sleepeth not. When, therefore,
   the Lord intends to lay cities waste without inhabitants, and houses
   without men, to make a land utterly desolate; the way of its
   accomplishment is by making the hearts of the people fat, and their
   ears heavy, and shutting their eyes, that they should not see and
   attend to the means of their recovery, Isa. vi. 10, 11, -- so gathering
   in his peace and mercies from a provoking people, Jer. xvi. 5.

   2. To manifest his own power and sovereignty in maintaining a small
   handful, ofttimes a few single persons, a Moses, a Samuel, two
   witnesses, against the opposing rage of a hardened multitude. If those
   who undertake his work and business in their several generations should
   have withal the concurrent obedience and assistance of others whose
   good is intended, neither would his name be so seen nor his ways so
   honoured as now, when he bears them up against all opposition. Had not
   the people of this land been given up (many of them) to fight against
   the deliverers of the nation, and were it not so with them even at this
   time, how dark would have been the workings of providence which now, by
   wrestling through all opposition, are so conspicuous and clear! When,
   then, a people, or any part of a people, have made themselves unworthy
   of the good things intended to be accomplished by the instruments of
   righteousness and peace, the Lord will blow upon their waves, that with
   rage and fury they shall dash themselves against them; whom he will
   strengthen with the munition of rocks, not to be prevailed against. So
   that God's glory and their own ruin lie at the bottom of this close
   working of providence, in giving up a sinful people to a fruitless
   contending with their own deliverers, if ever they be delivered.

   Obj. But is not a people's contending with the instruments by whom God
   worketh amongst them, and for them, a sin and provocation to the eyes
   of his glory? How, then, can the Lord be said to give them up unto it?

   Ans. Avoiding all scholastical discourses, as unsuited to the work of
   this day, I shall briefly give in unto you how this is a sinful thing,
   yet sinners are given up unto it without the least extenuation of their
   guilt, or colour for charge on the justice and goodness of God.

   (1.) Then, to give up men unto a thing in itself sinful is no more but
   so to dispose and order things, that sinners may exercise and draw out
   their sinful principles in such a way. Of this that the Lord doth the
   Scripture is full of examples, and hath testimonies innumerable. That
   herein the Holy One of Israel is no ways co-partner with the guilt of
   the sons of men, will appear by observing the difference of these
   several agents in these four things:--

   [1.] The principle by which they work.

   [2.] The rule by which they proceed.

   [3.] The means which they use.

   [4.] The end at which they aim.

   [1.] The principle of operation in God is his own sovereign will and
   good pleasure. He doth whatsoever he pleaseth, Ps. cxv. 3. He saith his
   purpose shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, Isa. xlvi. 10. He
   hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,
   Rom. ix. 18; giving no account of his matters, Job xxxiii. 13. This our
   Saviour rendereth the only principle and reason of his hidden
   operations, "O Father, so it seemed good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 26.
   His sovereignty in doing what he will with his own, as the potter with
   his clay, is the rise of his operations; so that whatever he doth, "who
   will say unto him, What doest thou?" Job ix. 12. "Shall the thing
   formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" Rom.
   ix. 20. And hence two things will follow:--

   1st. That what he doth is just and righteous; for so must all acts of
   supreme and absolute dominion be.

   2dly. That he can be author of nothing but what hath existence and
   being itself; for he works as the fountain of beings. This sin hath
   not. So that though every action, whether good or bad, receives its
   specification from the working of providence, -- and to that is their
   existence in their several kinds to be ascribed, -- yet an evil action,
   in the evilness of it, depends not upon divine concourse and influence;
   for good and evil make not sundry kinds of actions, but only a
   distinction of a subject in respect of its adjuncts and accidents.

   But now the principle of operation in man is nature vitiated and
   corrupted; -- I say nature, not that he worketh naturally, being a free
   agent, but that these faculties, will and understanding, which are the
   principles of operation, are in nature corrupted, and from thence can
   nothing flow but evil. "An evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit." "Men
   do not gather figs from thistles." "A bitter fountain sends not forth
   sweet waters." "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" If the
   fountain be poisoned, can the streams be wholesome? What can you expect
   of light and truth from a mind possessed with vanity and darkness? what
   from a will averted from the chiefest good, and fixed upon present
   appearances? what from a heart the figment of whose imagination is only
   evil?

   [2.] Consider the difference in the rule of operation. Every thing that
   works hath a rule to work by; -- this is called a law. In that thing
   which to man is sinful, God worketh as it is a thing only; man, as it
   is a sinful thing. And how so? Why, every one's sin is his aberration
   from his rule of operation or working. Hamartanein, is "aberrare `a
   scopo:" to sin is not to collime aright at the end proposed. He
   hamartia estin he anomia is a most exact definition of it. Irregularity
   is its form, if it may be said to have a form; a privation's form is
   deformity. Look, then, in any action wherein an agent exorbitates from
   its rule, -- that is sin. Now, what is God's rule in operation? His own
   infinite, wise will alone. He takes neither motive, rise, nor occasion
   for any internal acts from any thing without himself; he doth whatever
   he pleaseth, Ps. cxv. 3; he "worketh all things according to the
   counsel of his own will," Eph. i. 11; -- that is his own law of
   operation, and the rule of righteousness unto others:-- working them
   agreeably to his own will, which he always must do, he is free from the
   obliquity of any action. What, now, is the rule of the sons of men Why,
   the revealed will of God, "Revealed things belong to us, that we may do
   them," Deut. xxix. 29. God's revealed will is the rule of our walking,
   our working; whatever suits not, answers not this, is evil. "Sin is the
   transgression of the law," 1 John iii. 4. Here, then, comes in the
   deformity, the obliquity, the ataxy, of any thing. God works, and man
   worketh; those agents have several rules. God works according to his
   rule; hence the action is good, as an action; -- man deviates from his
   rule; hence it is sinful, in respect of its qualifications and
   adjuncts. Man writes fair letters upon a wet paper, and they run all
   into one blot; not the skill of the scribe, but the defect in the
   paper, is the cause of the deformity. He that makes a lame horse go, is
   the cause of his going; but the defect in his joints is the cause of
   his going lame. The sun exhales a steam from the dunghill; the sun is
   the cause of the exhalation, but the dunghill of the unwholesome
   savour. The first cause is the proper cause of a thing's being, but the
   second of its being evil.

   [3.] Consider the several operations and actings of God and man; for
   instance, in a rebellious people's fighting against their helpers under
   him.

   Now, the acts of God herein may be referred to six heads.

   1st. A continuance of the creature's being and life; -- "upholding him
   by the word of his power," Heb. i. 3, when he might take him off in a
   moment; -- "enduring them with much long-suffering," Rom. ix. 22, when
   he might cut them off, as he did the opposers of Elijah, with "fire
   from heaven," 2 Kings i. 12.

   2dly. A continuance of power of operation to them, when he could make
   their hands to wither, like Jeroboam's, when they go about to strike, 1
   Kings xiii. 4; or their hearts to die within them, like Nabal's, when
   they intend to be churlish, 1 Sam. xxv. 37. But he raiseth them up, or
   makes them to stand, that they may oppose, Rom. ix. 17.

   3dly. Laying before them a suitable object for the drawing forth their
   corruption unto opposition, giving them such helpers as shall in many
   things cross their lusts, and exasperate them thereunto, -- as Elijah,
   a man of a fiery zeal, for a lukewarm Ahab.

   4thly. Withholding from them that effectual grace by which alone that
   sin might be avoided, -- a not actually keeping them from that sin by
   the might of his Spirit and grace. That alone is effectual grace which
   is actual. "He suffers them to walk in their own ways."

   And this the Lord may do, --

   (1st.) In respect of them judicially, -- they deserve to be forsaken:
   Ahab is left to fill up the measure of his iniquities, -- "Add iniquity
   to iniquity," Ps. lxix. 27.

   (2dly.) In respect of himself, by way of sovereignty, -- doing what he
   will with his own, -- hardening whom he will, Rom. ix. 18.

   5thly. He positively sends upon their understandings that which the
   Scripture sets out under the terms of blindness, darkness, folly,
   delusion, slumber, a spirit of giddiness, and the like: the places are
   too many to rehearse. What secret actings in and upon the minds of men,
   -- what disturbing of their advices, -- what mingling of corrupt
   affections with false, carnal reasonings, -- what givings up to the
   power of darkness, in Satan the prince thereof, -- this judicial act
   doth contain, I cannot insist upon. Let it suffice, God will not help
   them to discern, yea, he will cause that they shall not discern, but
   hide from their eyes the things that concern their peace, and so give
   them up to contend with their only helpers.

   6thly. Suitably upon the will and affections he hath several acts, --
   obfirming the one in corruption, and giving up the other to vileness,
   Rom. i. 24, 26, until the heart become thoroughly hardened, and the
   conscience seared; not forcing the one, but leaving it to follow the
   judgment of practical reason, -- which being a blind, yea, a blinded
   guide, whither can it lead a blind follower, but into the ditch? -- not
   defiling the other with infused sensuality, but provoking them to act
   according to inbred, native corruption, and by suffering frequent vile
   actings to confirm them in ways of vileness.

   Take an instance of the whole: God gives helpers and deliverers to a
   sinful people; because of their provocations, some or all of them shall
   not taste of the deliverance by them to be procured. Wherefore, though
   he sustains their lives in being, whereby they might have opportunity
   to know his mind and their own peace; yet he gives them a power to
   contend with their helpers, causing their helpers to act such things
   as, under consideration of circumstances, shall exceedingly provoke
   these sinners. Being so exasperated and provoked, the Lord, who is free
   in all his dispensations, refuseth to make out to them that healing
   grace whereby they might be kept from a sinful opposition: yea, being
   justly provoked, and resolved that they should not taste of the plenty
   to come, he makes them foolish and giddy in their reasonings and
   counsels, -- blinds them in their understandings, that they shall not
   be able to discern plain and evident things, tending to their own good,
   but in all their ways shall err like a drunken man in his vomit;
   whence, that they may not be recovered, because he will destroy them,
   he gives in hardness and obstinacy upon their hearts and spirits,
   leaving them to suitable affections, to contend for their own ruin.

   Now, what are the ways and methods of sinful man's working in such
   opposition, would be too long for me to declare; what prejudices are
   erected, what lusts pursued, what corrupt interests acted and followed,
   -- how self is honoured, what false pretences coined, how God is
   slighted, -- if I should go about to lay open, I must look into the
   hell of these times, than which nothing can be more loathsome and
   abominable. Let it suffice, that sinful self, sinful lusts, sinful
   prejudices, sinful blindness, sinful carnal fears, sinful corrupt
   interests, sinful fleshly reasonings, sinful passions, and vile
   affections, do all concur in such a work, are all woven up together in
   such a web.

   [4.] See the distance of their aims. God's aim is only the
   manifestation of his own glory -- than which nothing but himself is so
   infinitely good, nothing so righteous that it should be [his aim] --
   and this by the way of goodness and severity, Rom. xi. 22; -- goodness,
   in faithfulness and mercy, preserving his who are opposed, whereby his
   glory is exceedingly advanced; -- severity towards the opposers, that,
   by a sinful, cursed opposition, they may fall up the measure of their
   iniquities, and receive this at the hand of the Lord, that they lie
   down in sorrow, -- wherein also he is glorious.

   God forbid that I should speak this of all that for any time, or under
   any temptation, may be carried to an opposition, in any kind or degree,
   to the instruments of God's glory amongst them. Many for a season may
   do it, and yet belong to God, who shall be recovered in due time. It is
   only of men given up, forsaken, opposing all the appearances of God
   with his saints and people in all his ways, of whom I speak.

   Now, what are the ends of this generation of fighters against this
   brazen wall? and how distant from those of the Lord's! "They consult to
   cast him down from his excellency" whom God will exalt, Ps. lxii. 4.
   They think not as the Lord, neither doth their heart mean so; but it is
   in their heart to destroy and to cut off, Isa. x. 7. To satisfy their
   own corrupt lusts, ambition, avarice, revenge, superstition, contempt
   of God's people because his, hatred of the yoke of the Lord, fleshly
   interests, -- even for these, and such like ends as these, is their
   undertaking.

   Thus, though there be a concurrence of God and man in the same thing,
   yet, considering the distance of their principles, rules, actings, and
   ends, it is apparent that man doth sinfully what the Lord doth
   judicially; which being an answer to the former objection, I return to
   give in some uses to the point.

   Use 1. Let men, constant, sincere, upright in the ways of God,
   especially in difficult times, know what they are to expect from many,
   yea, the most of the generation, whose good they intend, and among whom
   they live; -- opposition and fighting are like to be their lot; -- and
   that not only it will be so because of men's lusts, corruptions,
   prejudices, but also it shall be so from God's righteous judgments
   against a stubborn people. They harden their hearts that it may be so,
   to compass their ends; and God hardens their hearts that it shall be
   so, to bring about his aims. They will do it, to execute their revenge
   upon others; they shall do it, to execute God's vengeance upon
   themselves. This may be for consolation, that in their contending there
   is nothing but the wrath of man against them whom they oppose (which
   God will restrain, or cause it to turn to his praise); but there is the
   wrath of God against themselves, which who can bear? This, then, let
   all expect who engage their hearts to God, and follow the Lamb
   whithersoever he goeth.

   Men walking in the sincerity of their hearts are very apt to conceive
   that all sheaves should bow to theirs, that all men should cry, "Grace,
   grace," to their proceedings. Why should any oppose? "Quid meruere?"
   Alas! the more upright they are, the fitter for the Lord by them to
   break a gainsaying people. Let men keep close to those ways of God
   whereto protection is annexed, and let not their hearts fail them
   because of the people of the land. The storm of their fury will be like
   the plague of hail in Egypt; it smote only the cattle that were in the
   field; -- those who, upon the word of Moses, drove them into the
   houses, preserved them alive. If men wander in the field of their own
   ways, of self-seeking, oppression, ambition, and the like, doubtless
   the storm will carry them away; but for those who keep house, who keep
   close to the Lord, though it may have much noise, terror, and dread
   with it, it shall not come nigh them. And if the Lord, for causes best
   known, known only to his infinite wisdom, should take off any Josiahs
   in the opposition, he will certainly effect two things by it.

   (1.) To give them rest and peace.

   (2.) To further his cause and truth, by drawing out the prayers and
   appeals of the residue; and this living they valued above their lives.

   All you, then, that are the Lord's workmen, be always prepared for a
   storm. Wonder not that men see not the ways of the Lord, nor the
   judgments of our God; -- many are blinded. Admire not that they will so
   endlessly engage themselves into fruitless oppositions; -- they are
   hardened. Be not amazed that evidence of truth and righteousness will
   not affect them; -- they are corrupted. But this do; Come, and enter
   into the chambers of God, and you shall be safe until this whole
   indignation be overpast. I speak of all them, and only them, who follow
   the Lord in all his ways with upright hearts and single minds: if the
   Lord will have you to be a rock and a brazen wall for men to dash
   themselves against, and to break in pieces, though the service be
   grievous to flesh and blood, yet it is his, whose you are. Be prepared,
   the wind blows, -- a storm may come.

   Use 2. Let men set upon opposition make a diligent inquiry, whether
   there be no hand in the business but their own? whether their counsels
   be not leavened with the wrath of God, and their thoughts mixed with a
   spirit of giddiness, and themselves carried on to their own
   destruction? Let me see the opposer of the present ways of God, who,
   upon his opposition is made more humble, more self-denying, more empty
   of self-wisdom, more fervent in supplications and waiting upon God,
   than formerly; and I will certainly blot him out of the roll of men
   judicially hardened. But if therewith men become also proud, selfish,
   carnally wise, revengeful, furious upon earthly interests, full,
   impatient; doubtless God is departed, and an evil spirit from the Lord
   prevaileth on them. O that men would look about them before it be too
   late; see the Lord disturbing them, before the waves return upon them;
   know that they may pull down some antics that make a great show of
   supporting the church, and yet indeed are pargeted posts supported by
   it! The foundation is on a rock that shall not be prevailed against.

   Use 3. See the infinite wisdom and sovereignty of Almighty God, that is
   able to bring light out of darkness, and to compass his own righteous
   judgments by the sinful advisings and undertakings of men. Indeed the
   Lord's sovereignty and dominion over the creature doth not in any thing
   more exalt itself, than in working in all the reasonings, debates,
   consultations of men, to bring about his own counsels through their
   free workings. That men should use, improve their wisdom, freedom,
   choice, yea, lusts, not once thinking of God; yet all that while do his
   work more than their own, -- "this is the Lord's doing, and it is
   marvellous in our eyes."

   Of the last part of my text I shall not speak at all; neither indeed
   did I intend.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [207] Isa. li. 20.

   [208] Exod. x. 17.

   [209] Zech. v. 7, 8.

   [210] "Est quaedam aemulatio divinae rei, et humanae." -- Ter. Apol.

   [211] See the appendix at the end of this sermon.

   [212] Rev. vi. 9, 10.

   [213] Tertul. Apol.

   [214] Sleid. Com., lib. viii.

   [215] In Num. cap. iv.

   [216] See the appendix about Toleration.
     __________________________________________________________________

Of toleration; and the duty of the magistrate about religion.

   The times are busy, and we must be brief. Prefaces for the most part
   are at all times needless, -- in these, troublesome. Mine shall only
   be, that aneu prooimion kai pathon, "without either preface or
   solemnity," I will fall to the business in hand. The thing about which
   I am to deal is commonly called Toleration in Religion, or toleration
   of several religions. The way wherein I shall proceed is not by
   contest, thereby to give occasion for the reciprocation of a saw of
   debate with any; but by the laying down of such positive observations,
   as being either not apprehended or not rightly improved by the most,
   yet lie at the bottom of the whole difference between men about this
   business, and tend in themselves to give light unto a righteous and
   equitable determination of the main thing contended about.

   And lastly, herein for method I shall first consider the grounds upon
   which that non-toleration whereunto I cannot consent has been, and is
   still, endeavoured to be supported; which I shall be necessitated to
   remove --

   I. By considering the arguments brought from holy writ;

   II. From some other general observations. And then in order;

   III. I shall assert the positive truth, as to the substance of the
   business under contest.

   All in these ensuing observations.

   I. As to the first of these --

   1. Although the expressions of "toleration," and "non-toleration,"
   wherewith the thing in controversy is vested, do seem to cast the
   affirmative upon them who plead for a forbearance in things of religion
   towards dissenting persons, yet the truth is, they are purely upon the
   negation, and the affirmative lies fully on the other part; and so the
   weight of proving, which ofttimes is heavy, lies on their shoulders
   Though non-toleration sound like a negation, yet punishment (which
   terms in this matter are isodunamounta is a deep affirmation. And,
   therefore, it sufficeth not men to say that they have consulted the
   mind of God, and cannot find that he ever spake to any of his saints or
   people to establish a toleration of error; and yet this is the first
   argument to oppose it produced in the late Testimony of the reverend
   and learned Assembly of the Church of Scotland. [217] Affirmative
   precepts must be produced for a non-toleration; that is, the punishing
   of erring persona For actings of such high concernment, men do
   generally desire a better warrant than this -- "There is nothing in the
   word against them." Clear light is needful for men who walk in paths
   which lead directly to houses of blood. God hath not spoken of
   non-toleration, is a certain rule of forbearance; but God hath not
   spoken of toleration, is no rule of acting in opposition thereunto.
   What he hath spoken, one way or other, shall be afterward considered.
   Positive actings must have positive precepts and rules for them, as
   conscience is its own guide. If, then, you will have persons deviating
   in their apprehensions from the truth of the gospel civilly punished,
   you must bring better warrant than this, that God hath not spoken
   against it; or I shall not walk in your ways, but refrain my foot from
   your path.

   2. That undoubtedly there are very many things under the command of the
   Lord, so becoming our duty, and within his promise, so made our
   privilege, which yet, if not performed, or not enjoyed, are not of
   human cognizance -- as faith itself; yet because the knowledge of the
   truth is in that rank of things, this also is urged as of weight, by
   the same learned persons, to the business at hand.

   3. Errors, though never so impious, are yet distinguished from
   peace-disturbing enormities. If opinions in their own nature tend to
   the disturbance of the public peace, either that public tranquility is
   not of God, or God alloweth a penal restraint of those opinions. It is
   a mistake, to affirm that those who plead for toleration do allow of
   punishment for offences against the second table -- not against the
   first. The case is the same both in respect of the one and the other.
   What offences against the second table are punishable? Doubtless not
   all, but only such as, by a disorderly eruption, pervert the course of
   public quiet and society; yea, none but such fall under human
   cognizance. The warrant of exercising vindictive power amongst men is
   from the reference of offences to their common tranquillity. "Delicta
   puniri publice interest." Where punishment is the debt, "Bonum totius"
   the creditor to exact it. And this is allowed as to the offences
   against the first table. If any of them in their own nature (not some
   men's apprehensions) are disturbances of public peace, they also are
   punishable. Only, let not this be measured by disputable consequences,
   no more than the other are. Let the evidence be in the things
   themselves, and "Actum est," let who will plead for them. Hence --

   Popish religion, warming in its very bowels a fatal engine against all
   magistracy amongst us, cannot upon our concessions plead for
   forbearance; it being a known and received maxim, that the gospel of
   Christ clashes against no righteous ordinance of man.

   And let this be spoken to the third argument of the fore-named reverend
   persons, from the analogy of delinquencies against the first and second
   table.

   4. The plea for the punishment of erring persons from the penal
   constitution under the Old Testament against idolaters (which in the
   next place is urged), seems not very firm and convincing. The vast
   distance that is between idolatry and any errors whatsoever, as merely
   such, however propagated or maintained with obstinacy, much impaireth
   the strength of this argumentation.

   Idolatry is the yielding unto a creature the service and worship due to
   the Creator, Rainold. de Idol., lib. ii. cap. 1, sect. 1. "Idololatria
   est circa omne idolum famulatus et servitus," Tertul. de Pol. -- "The
   attendance and service of any idol." "Idololatrae dicuntur Qui
   similacris eam servitutem exhibent, quae debertur Deo," August., lib.
   i. de Trinit. cap. 6 -- "They are idolaters who give that service to
   idols which is due unto God." To render glory to the creature as to God
   is idolatry, say the Papists, Bell, de Eccles. Triumph, lib. ii. cap.
   24; Greg. de Valen. de Idol, lib. i. cap. 1; -- suitable to the
   description of it given by the apostle, Rom. i. 25: plainly, that
   whereunto the sanction under debate was added, as the bond of the law
   against it (which was the bottom of the commendable proceedings of
   divers kings of Judah against such), was a voluntary relinquishment of
   Jehovah revealed unto them, to give the honour due unto him to dunghill
   idols. Now, though error and ignorance ofttimes lie at the bottom of
   this abomination, yet error, properly so called, and which under the
   name of heresy is opposed, is sufficiently differenced therefrom. That
   common definition of heresy -- that it is an error, or errors, in or
   about the fundamentals of religion, maintained with stubbornness and
   pertinacy after conviction (for the main received by most Protestant
   divines) -- will be no way suited unto that which was before given of
   idolatry, and is as commonly received, being indeed much more clear; as
   shall be afterward declared. That this latter is proper and suitable to
   those scriptural descriptions which we have of heresy, I dare not
   assert; but being received by them who urge the punishment thereof it
   may be a sufficient ground of affirming that those things whose
   definitions are so extremely different are also very distant and
   discrepant in themselves; and therefore constitutions for the disposal
   of things concerning the one cannot "eo nomine" include the other.
   Neither is the inference any stronger, than that a man may be hanged
   for coveting, because he may be so for murdering.

   The penal constitutions of the Judaical polity (for so they were, which
   yet I urge not) concerning idolaters, must be stretched beyond their
   limits, if you intend to inwrap heretics within their verge. If
   heretics be also idolaters, as the Papists (the poor Indians who
   worship a piece of red cloth, the Egyptians who adored the deities
   which grew in their own gardens, being not more besotted with this
   abomination than they who prostrate their souls unto, and lavish their
   devotion upon, a piece of bread, a little before they prepare it for
   the draught -- so casting the stumbling-block of their iniquities
   before the faces of poor Heathens and Jews, causing Averroes to breathe
   out his soul in this expression of that scandal, "Quoniam Christiani
   manducant Deum quem adorant, sit anima mea cum Philosophis!") then, the
   case seems to me to have received so considerable an alteration, that
   the plea of forbearance is extremely weakened as to my present
   apprehension. However, for the present I remove such from this debate.

   5. The like to this also may be said concerning blasphemy, the law
   whereof is likewise commonly urged in this cause. The establishment for
   the punishment of a blasphemer is in Lev. xxiv. 16. Given it was upon
   the occasion of the blaspheming and cursing of the son of an Egyptian,
   upon his striving and contending with an Israelite. Being probably, in
   his own apprehension, wronged by his adversary, he fell to reviling his
   God. The word here used to express his sin, is nqv?, signifying also to
   pierce, and is twice so rendered -- Isa. xxxvi. 6; Heb. iii. 14.
   Desperate expressions, piercing the honour and glory of the Most High
   willingly and willfully, were doubtless his death-deserving crime. It
   is the same word that Balak used to Balaam, when he would have
   persuaded him to a deliberate cursing and pouring out of imprecations
   on the people of God, Num. xxiii. 13, 14. A resolved piercing of the
   name and glory of God, with cursed reproaches, is the crime here
   sentenced to death. The schoolmen tell us, that to complete blasphemy,
   the perverse affection of the heart, in detestation of the goodness of
   God, joined with the reproaches of his name, is required. [218] Which,
   how remote it is from error of any sort (I mean within the compass of
   them whereof we speak), being a pure misapprehension of the
   understanding, embraced (though falsely) for the honour of God, I
   suppose is easily conceived; and so, consequently, that the argument
   for the death of a person erring, because he came off no easier of old
   who blasphemed, is "`a baculo ad angulum.

   If any shall say that blasphemy is of a larger extent and more general
   acceptation in the Scripture, I shall not deny it; but yet that that
   kind of blasphemy which was punishable with violent death, was
   comprehensive of any inferior crime, I suppose cannot be proved.
   However, blasphemy in the Scripture is never taken in any place, that I
   can remember, for a man's maintaining his own error; but for his
   reviling and speaking evil of the truth which he receiveth not: and so
   Paul before his conversion was a blasphemer. [219] Now, if men to whom
   forbearance is indulged in by-paths of their own, shall make it their
   work to cast dirt on the better ways of truth, it is to me very
   questionable whether they do not offend against that prime dictate of
   nature for the preservation of human society, "Quod tibi fieri non vis,
   alteri ne feceris;" and for such I will be no advocate. Neither can,
   indeed, the law of blasphemy be impartially urged by us in any case of
   heresy whatsoever. For --

   (1.) The penal sanctions of the laws of God are not in England esteemed
   of moral equity, and perpetually indispensable; for if so, why do
   adulterers unmolested behold the violent death of stealers?

   (2.) The blasphemer by that law was not allowed his clergy; die he must
   without mercy, no room being left for the intervention of repentance,
   as to the removal of his temporal punishment; when once the witnesses'
   garments were rent, he was anathema. But in case of any heresy,
   repentance, yea, recantation, is a sure antidote (at least for once, so
   it is among the Papists) against all corporeal sufferings.

   6. Neither doth that place in Zech. xiii. 3, concerning the running
   through of the false prophet, more prove or approve of the punishment
   of death to be inflicted for misapprehensions in the matters of
   religion (and if it proves not that, it proverb nothing; for slaying is
   the thing expressed, and certainly if proofs be taken from the letter,
   the letter must be obeyed, or we force the word to serve our
   hypothesis) than that place of John x. 1, "He that entereth not by the
   door is a thief and a robber;" which Bellarmine strongly urgeth to this
   very purpose, because thieves and robbers are so dealt withal
   righteously. [220] If such deductions may be allowed, it will be easy
   to prove "quidlibet ex quolibet," at any time.

   If the letter be urged, and the sense of the letter as it lies (indeed
   [221] the figurative sense of such places is the proper, literal sense
   of them), let that sense alone be kept to. Let parents, then, pass
   sentence, condemn, and execute their children, when they turn seducers;
   and that in any kind whatsoever -- into what seduction soever they
   shall be engaged, be it most pernicious, or in things of less
   concernment. The letter allows of none of our distinctions; be they
   convinced or not convinced, obstinate or not obstinate, all is one --
   so it must be: thrust through and slain by their parents must they fall
   to the ground. Only observe, his father and his mother that begat him
   must be made magistrates -- prophets with unclean spirits be turned
   into heretics:-- only "thrusting through," that must be as it is in the
   letter; yea, though plainly the party of whom it is said, "Thou shalt
   not live," verse 3, is found alive, verse 6. Surely such an Orleans
   gloss [222] is scarce sufficient to secure a conscience in slaying
   heretics. But, when men please, this whole place shall directly point
   at the discipline of the churches, and their spiritual censures under
   the gospel -- curing deceivers, and bringing them home to confession
   and acknowledgment of their folly. See the late Annot. of the Bible.

   7. From the asserting of the authority and description of the duty of
   the magistrate, Rom. xiii., the argument is very easy that is produced
   for the suppressing by external force of erroneous persona The
   paralogism is so foul and notorious in this arguing -- "He is to
   suppress evil deeds; heresy is an evil deed: therefore that also" that
   it needs no confutation. That he is to punish all evil deeds was never
   yet affirmed. Unbelief is a work of the flesh -- so is coveting; one,
   the root-sin, against the first, the other against the second table:
   yet in themselves both exempted from the magistrate's cognizance and
   jurisdiction. The evil-doers, doubtless, for whose terror and
   punishment he is appointed, are such as by their deeds disturb that
   human society the defence and protection whereof is to him committed.
   That among the number of these are errors, the depravations of men's
   understandings, hath not yet been proved.

   8. The case of the seducer, from Deut. xiii., is urged with more show
   of reason than any of the others to the business in hand; but yet the
   extreme discrepancies between the proof and the thing intended to be
   proved make any argumentation from this place, as to the matter in
   hand, very intricate, obscure, and difficult. For --

   (1.) The person here spoken of pretends an immediate revelation from
   heaven: he pretends dreams, and gives signs and wonders, verse 1, and
   so exempts his spirit from any regular trial Heretics, for the most
   part, offer to be tried by the rule that is "in medio," acknowledged of
   all -- a few distempered enthusiasts excepted.

   (2.) His business is to entice from the worship of Jehovah -- not in
   respect of the manner, but the object, verse 5. All heretics pretend
   the fear of that great name.

   (3.) The accepting and owning idol, dunghill gods in his room, is the
   thing persuaded to, verse 2 (and those were only stocks and stones);
   and this in opposition to Jehovah, who had revealed himself by Moses.
   Heretics worship him, own him, and abhor all thoughts of turning away
   from following after him, according to their erroneous apprehensions.
   Manichees, Marcionites, Valentinians, and such like names of infidels,
   I reckon not among heretics; neither will their brain-sick, paganish
   follies be possibly comprehended under that definition of heresy which
   is now generally received. Mohammedans are far more rightly termed
   heretics than they.

   (4.) This seducer was to die without mercy. And Ainsworth observes from
   the rabbins, that this offender alone had traps laid to catch him; and
   were he but once overheard to whisper his seduction, though never so
   secretly, there was no expiation of his transgression without his own
   blood. But now this place is urged for all kind of restraint and
   punishment whatsoever. Now, where God requires blood, is it allowed to
   man to commute at an inferior rate? So, I confess, it is urged. But yet
   what lies at the bottom, in the chambers of their bellies who plead for
   the power of the magistrate to punish erring persons from those, and
   such like places as these, is too apparent. Blood is there: swiftly or
   slowly, they walk to the chambers of death.

   (5.) Obstinacy after conviction, turbulency, etc., which are now laid
   down as the main weights that turn the scale on the side of severity,
   are here not once mentioned, nor by any thing in the least intimated.
   If he have done it, yea, but once, openly or secretly, whether he have
   been convinced of the sinfulness of it or no, be he obstinate or
   otherwise, it is not once inquired -- die he must, as if he had
   committed murder, or the like indispensable death-procuring crime. If
   the punishment, then, of erring persons be urged from this place, all
   consideration of their conviction, obstinacy, pertinacy, must be laid
   aside: the text allows them no more plea in this business than our law
   doth in the case of wilful murder.

   (6.) Repentance and recantation will, in the judgment of all, reprieve
   an erring person from any sentence of any punishment corporeal
   whatsoever; and many reasons may be given why they should so do. Here
   is no such allowance. Repent or not repent, recant or not recant, he
   hath no sacrifice of expiation provided for him -- die he must.

   (7.) The law contains the sanction of the third commandment, as the
   whole was a rule of the Jewish polity in the land of Canaan. This
   amongst us is generally conceived not binding, as such.

   (8.) The formal reason of this law, by some insisted on -- because he
   sought to turn a man from Jehovah, --

   [1.] Is of force only in this case of the object whereunto seduction
   tends -- viz., strange gods -- and no other.

   [2.] Turning from Jehovah respects not any manner of backsliding in
   respect of the way of worship, but a falling away from him as the
   object of worship.

   Now, there being these and many other discrepancies hindering the cases
   proposed from running parallel, I profess, for my part, I cannot see
   how any such evident deductions can possibly be drawn from hence as to
   be made a bottom of practice and acting in things of so high
   concernment. What may be allowed from the equity of those and the like
   constitutions, and deduced by analogy and proportion to the business in
   hand, I shall afterward declare.

   II. The sum of what is usually drawn from holy writ against such
   forbearance as I suppose may be asserted, and for the punishing
   heretics with capital punishments, being briefly discussed, I proceed,
   in the next place, to such other general observations as may serve to
   the farther clearing of the business in hand; and they are these that
   follow:--

   The forbearance of or opposition unto errors, may be considered with
   respect either unto civil or spiritual judicature.

   First, For the latter, it is either personal or ecclesiastical,
   properly so called. Personal forbearance of errors, in a spiritual
   sense, is a moral toleration or approbation of them; so also is
   ecclesiastical. The warrant for procedence against them on that hand is
   plain and evident: certainly this way no error is to be forborne. All
   persons who have any interest and share in truth are obliged, in their
   several ways and stations, to an opposition unto every error -- an
   opposition to be carried on by gospel mediums and spiritual weapons.
   Let them, according as they are called or opportuned, disprove them
   from the word, "contending earnestly for the faith once delivered unto
   the saints." Erring persons are usually "bono animo," says Salvian --
   very zealous to propagate their false conceptions; and shall the
   children of truth be backward in her defence? Precepts unto this as a
   duty, commendations of it, encouragements unto it, are very frequent in
   the gospel. Alike is this duty incumbent on all churches walking to the
   rule. The spiritual sword of discipline may be lawfully sheathed in the
   blood of heresies. No spiritual remedy can be too sharp for a spiritual
   disease. When the cure is suited to the malady, there is no danger of
   the application. And this is not denied by any. He that submits himself
   to any church society, does it "ea lege," -- of being obedient to the
   authority of Christ in that church in all its censures. "Volenti non
   fit injuria." Error is offensive, and must be proceeded against.
   Examples and precepts of this abound in the Scriptures. The blood of
   many erring persons, I doubt not, will one day have a "quo warranto"
   granted them against their (as to the particulars in debate) orthodox
   slayers, who did it to promote the service of God. Let them not fear an
   after-reckoning who use the discipline of Christ according to his
   appointment.

   This being considered, the occasion of a most frequent paralogism is
   removed. If errors must be tolerated, say some, then men may do what
   they please, without control. No means, it seems, must be used to
   reclaim them. But is gospel conviction no means? Hath the sword of
   discipline no edge? Is there no means of instruction in the New
   Testament established, but a prison and a halter? Are the hammer of the
   word and the sword of the Spirit, which in days of old broke the
   stubbornest mountains, and overcame the proudest nations, now quite
   useless? God forbid! Were the churches of Christ established according
   to his appointment, and the professors of the truth so knit up "in the
   unity of the Spirit and bond of peace" as they ought to be, and were in
   the primitive times, I am persuaded those despised instruments would
   quickly make the proudest heretic to tremble. When the churches walked
   in sweet communion, giving each other continual account of their
   affairs, and warning each other of all or any such persons as, either
   in practice or doctrine, walked not with a right foot (as we have
   examples in Clem. Epist. ad Corinth. -- the churches of Vienne and
   Lyons to those of Asia, Euseb.; -- of Ignatius to several persons and
   churches -- of Irenaeus to Victor., Euseb.; -- to Stephen, ibid., and
   the like), heretics found such cold entertainment as made them ashamed,
   if not weary, of their chosen wanderings. But this is not my present
   business.

   Secondly, There is an opposition or forbearance in reference to a civil
   judicature and procedence of things which respecteth errors in a. real
   sense, as to the inflicting or not inflicting of punishment on
   religious delinquents. And this is the sole thing under debate, viz. --

   Whether persons enjoying civil authority over others -- being intrusted
   therewithal according to the constitutions of the place and nation
   where the lot of them both, by providence, is fallen -- are invested
   with power from above, and commanded in the word of God, to coerce,
   restrain, punish, confine, imprison, banish, hang, or burn, such of
   those persons under their jurisdiction as shall not embrace, profess,
   believe, and practice, that truth and way of worship which is revealed
   unto them of God? or how far, into what degrees, by what means, in any
   of these ways, may they proceed?

   The general propositions and considerations of the penal laws of God,
   which were before laid down, have, as I suppose, left this business to
   a naked debate from the word of truth, without any such prejudices on
   either part as many take from a misapprehension of the mind of God in
   them; and therefore, by the reader's patience, I shall venture upon the
   whole anew, as if no such arguments had ever been proposed for the
   affirmative of the question in hand, not declining the utmost weight
   that is in any of them, according to equity and due proportion. And
   here, first, I shall give in a few things --

   (1.) To the question itself.

   (2.) To the manner of handling it.

   (1.) To the question itself. For herein I suppose --

   [1.] That the persons enjoying authority do also enjoy the truth; which
   is to the advantage of the affirmative.

   [2.] That their power in civil things is just and unquestionable; which
   also looks favorably on that side.

   [3.] That non-toleration makes out itself in positive infliction of
   punishment; which is so, or is nothing. Casting men out of protection,
   exposing them to vulgar violence, is confessedly unworthy of men
   representing the authority of God, and contrary to the whole end of
   their trust.

   (2.) To the manner of handling this question among persons at variance.
   And here I cannot but observe --

   [1.] That if I have taken my aim aright, there is no one thing under
   debate amongst Christians that is agitated with more confidence and
   mutual animosity of the parties litigant -- each charging other with
   dreadful inferences -- streams of blood, and dishonour to God, flowing
   out from their several persuasions; so that ofttimes, instead of a fair
   dispute, you meet on this subject with a pathetical outcry, as though
   all religion were utterly contaminated and trampled under foot, if both
   these contradictory assertions be not embraced. Now, seeing that in
   itself it is a thing wherein the gospel is exceedingly sparing, if not
   altogether silent, certainly there must be a farther interest than of
   judgment alone, or else that very much prejudicated with corrupt
   affections, or men could not possibly be carried out with so much
   violence upon supposed self-created consequences, wherewith in this
   cause they urge one another.

   [2.] That generally thus much of private interest appears in the
   several contesters, that non-toleration is the opinion of the many, and
   these enjoying the countenance of authority -- toleration, of the
   oppressed, who always go under the name of the faction, or factions --
   the unavoidable livery of the smaller number professing a way of
   worship by themselves, be it right or wrong. I do not desire to lay
   forth the usual deportment of men seeking the suppressing of others
   differing from them, towards those in authority. It is but too clearly
   made out by daily experience. If they close with them, they are
   "custodes utriusque tabulae," -- the church's nursing-fathers, etc. --
   what they please; but if they draw back, for want of light or truth to
   serve them, logs and storks find not worse entertainment from frogs
   than they from some of them. Such things as these may, nay, ought to
   be, especially heeded by every one that knows what influence corrupt
   affections have upon the judgments of men, and would willingly take the
   pains to wipe his eyes for the discerning of the truth.

   These things premised, I assert that --

   Non-toleration -- in the latitude which is for persons in authority
   enjoying the truth (or supposing they do enjoy it) to punish in an
   arbitrary way, according to what they shall conceive to be condign, men
   who will not forsake their own convictions about any head or heads of
   Christian religion whatsoever, to join with what they hold out, either
   for belief or worship, after the using of such ways of persuasion as
   they shall think fit -- is no way warranted in the gospel; nor can any
   sound proof for such a course be taken from the Old Testament.

   The testimonies out of the law, which I can apprehend to have any
   colour or appearance of strength in them, with the examples approved of
   God that seem to look this way, I considered at our entrance into this
   discourse.

   I speak of punishing in an arbitrary way; for all instances produced to
   the purpose in hand, that speak of any punishment, mention nothing
   under death itself; which yet, at least in the first place, is not
   aimed at by those that use them in our days, as I suppose. Now, some
   divines of no small name maintain, that God hath not left the
   imposition of punishment in any measure to the wills of men.

   Some arguments for the proof of the former assertion as laid down I
   shall in due place make use of; for the present, I desire to commend to
   the serious pondering of all Christians in general, especially of those
   in authority, these ensuing considerations --

   1. That it is no privilege of truth to furnish its assertors with this
   persuasion, that the dissenters from it ought forcibly to be opposed,
   restrained, punished.

   No false religion ever yet in the world did enthrone itself in the
   minds of men enjoying a civil sovereignty over the persons of others,
   but it therewithal commanded them, under pain of neglect and contempt
   of itself, to crush any underling worship that would perk up in
   inferior consciences.

   The old heathens carried their gods into the war (as did the
   Philistines, 1 Chron. xiv. 12, and the Israelites the ark, with
   heathenish superstition, 1 Sam. iv. 3), to whom they ascribed the
   success they obtained; and in requital of their kindness, they forced
   the dunghill deities of the conquered nations to attend the triumph of
   their victorious idols; and unless they adopted them into the number of
   their own gods, all farther worship to them was forbidden. Hence were
   these inventions among the old Romans, by spells and enchantments, to
   entice away a deity from any city they besieged (they being as expert
   at the getting of a devil as Tobias's Raphael, or the present Romanists
   at his fumigation); by which means they shrived into the honour of
   having thirty thousand unconquered idols, [223] and deserved worthily
   that change of their city's epithet from Epitome oikoumenes to Epitome
   deisidaimonias -- which it justly inheriteth to this very day.
   Rabshakeh's provocation to the example of the gods of the nations, 2
   Kings xviii. 33, 34, and the Roman senate's consultation concerning the
   admitting of Christ to a place among their idols, that he might have
   been freely worshipped (their consent being prevented by his almighty
   providence, who will not be enrolled among the vilest works of his most
   corrupted creatures), do both declare this thing.

   Now, not to speak of Cain, who seems to me to have laid the foundation
   of that cruelty which was afterwards inserted into the church's
   orthodoxies by the name of Haereticidium; we find the four famous
   empires of the world to have drunk in this persuasion to the utmost, of
   suppressing all by force and violence that consented not to them in
   their way of worship.

   Nebuchadnezzar, the "crown of the golden head," set up a furnace with
   an image; and a negative answer to that query, "Do you not serve my
   gods, nor worship my image?" served to cast the servants of the living
   God into the midst of the fire, Dan. iii. 1.

   Daniel's casting into the lions' den, chapter vi., shows that the
   Persian silver breast and arms did not want iron hands to crush or
   break the opposers of, or dissenters from, their religious edicts.

   And though we find not much of the short-lived founder of the Grecian
   dominion, yet what was the practice of the branches of that empire,
   especially in the Syrian and Egyptian sprouts, the books of the
   Maccabees, Josephus, and others, do abundantly manifest.

   For the Romans, though their judgment and practice -- which fully and
   wholly are given over from the dragon to the beast and false prophet --
   be written in the blood of thousands of Christians, and so not to be
   questioned; yet, that it may appear that we are not the only men in
   this generation, that this wisdom of punishing dissenters was not born
   with us, I shall briefly give in what grounds they proceeded on, and
   the motives they had to proceed as they did.

   (1.) First, then, they enacted it as a law, that no religious worship
   should be admitted or practised without the consent, decree, and
   establishment of the senate. Mention is made of a formal law to this
   purpose in Tertullian, Apol., cap. v., though now we find it not. The
   foundation of it was doubtless in that of the twelve tables: "Separatim
   nemo habessit deos, neve novos, sed ne advenas, nisi publice ascitos,
   privatim colunto;" -- "Let none have gods to himself, neither let any
   privately worship new or strange deities, unless they be publicly owned
   and enrolled." And that it was their practice, and in the counsels of
   the wisest amongst them, appears in that advice given by Maecenas to
   Augustus, in Dion Cassius: To men zeion pante pantos autos te sebou,
   kata ta patria, kai tous allous timan anankaze; tous de de zenizontas
   ti peri auto, kai misei kai kolaze, me monon ton theon heneka, hon
   kataphronesas oud' allou an tinos protimeseien, all' hoti kaina tina
   daimonia hoi toioutoi anteispherontes pollous anapeithousin
   allotrionomein; kak toutou kai sunomosiai kai sustaseis, etaireiai te
   gignontai, haper hekista monarchia sumpherei -- "Worship," saith he,
   "the divine power thyself according to the constitutions of thy
   country, everywhere and at all times; and compel others so to honour
   it. But hate and punish those who introduce foreign religions; not only
   for the god's sake -- whom he who contemneth will regard nothing else
   -- but because such, introducing new deities, do persuade many to
   transgress (or to change affairs); whence are conjurations, seditions,
   private societies -- things no way conducing to monarchy," Hist. Rom.,
   lib. 52:36.

   Hence, doubtless, was that opposition which Paul met withal in divers
   of the Roman territories. Thus, at Athens (though, as I suppose, they
   enjoyed there their own laws and customs, very suitable, as it should
   seem, to those of the Romans), preaching Jesus, he was accused to be "a
   setter forth of strange gods," Acts xvii. 1. For although, as Strabo
   observeth of the Athenians, that publicly, by the authority of the
   magistrates, polla ton zenikon hieron paredexanto, "they received many
   things of foreign worships;" yet that none might attempt any such
   things of themselves is notorious from the case of Socrates, who, as
   Laertius witnesseth, was condemned as hous men nomizei zeous -- "one
   who thought not those to be gods whom the city thought so to be, but
   brought in certain new deities." Hence, I say, was Paul's opposition,
   and his haling to Mars-hill. Without doubt, also, this was the bottom
   of that stir and trouble he met withal about Philippi. It is true,
   private interest lay in the bottom with the chief opposers; but this
   legal constitution was that which was plausibly pretended. Acts xvi.
   21, "They teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither
   to observe, being Romans:" ouk exesti Rhomaiois, -- "it is not lawful
   for us Romans" to receive the religion they hold out, because statutes
   are made amongst us against all religious worship not allowed by public
   authority. Let Calvin's short annotation on that place be seen.
   Gallio's refusing to judge between Jews (as he thought) in a Jewish
   controversy, is no impeachment of this truth; had it been about any
   Roman establishment, he would quickly have interposed. Now, this law
   amongst them was doubtless "fundi Christiani calamitas."

   This, then, in the first place, was enacted, that no worship should be
   admitted, no religion exercised, but what received establishment and
   approbation from them who supposed themselves to be intrusted with
   authority over men in such things. And this power of the dragon was
   given over to the beast and false prophet. The anti-christian power
   succeeding in the room of the paganish -- the pope and councils, of the
   emperors and senate -- it was quickly confirmed that none should be
   suffered to live in peace who received not his mark and name, Rev.
   xiii. 16, 17. Whereunto, for my part, I cannot but refer very many of
   those following imperial constitutions, which were made at first
   against the opposers of the church's orthodoxism, but were turned
   against the witnesses of Jesus in the close.

   (2.) This being done, they held out the reasons of this establishment.
   I shall touch only one or two of them, which are still common to them
   who walk in the same paths with them.

   [1.] Now, the first was, That toleration of sundry ways of worship, and
   several religions, tends to the disturbance of the commonwealth and
   that civil society which men under the same government do and ought to
   enjoy. So Cicero tells us, lib. ii., De Leg., "Suosque deos, aut novos,
   aut alienigenas coli, confusionem habet," etc.; -- it brings in
   confusion of religion and civil society. The same is clearly held out
   in that counsel of Maecenas to Augustus before mentioned. "They," saith
   he, "who introduce new deities, draw many into innovations; whence are
   conspiracies, seditions, conventicles, no way profitable for the
   commonwealth."

   [2.] The other main reason was, That hereby the gods, whom they owned
   and worshipped, were dishonoured and provoked to plague them. That this
   was continually in their mouths and clamours, all the acts at the
   slaying of the martyrs, the rescripts of emperors, the apologies of the
   Christians, as Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Arnobius, Minutius Felix, do
   abundantly testify. All trouble was still ascribed to their impiety.
   Upon the first breaking out of any judgment, as though the cause of it
   had been the toleration of Christians, presently the vulgar cry was,
   "Christianos ad leones." Now, that those causes and reasons have been
   traduced to all those who have since acted the same things, especially
   to the emperors' successor at Rome, needs not to be proved. With the
   power of the dragon, the wisdom also is derived. See that great
   champion, Cardinal Bellarmine, fighting with these very weapons, Lib.
   de Laicis, cap. 21. And indeed, however illustrated, improved, adorned,
   supported, flourished, and sweetened, they are the sum of all that to
   this day hath been said in the same case.

   (3.) Having made a law, and supported it with such reasons, as these,
   in proceeding to the execution of the penalty of that law as to
   particular persons (which penalty being, as now, arbitrary, was
   inflicted unto banishment, imprisonment, mine-digging, torturing in
   sundry kinds, maiming, death, according to the pleasure of the judges),
   they always charged upon those persons, not only the denying and
   opposing their own deities, religion, and worship; but also, that that
   which they embraced was foolish, absurd, detestable, pernicious,
   sinful, wicked, ruinous to commonwealths, cities, society, families,
   honesty, order, and the like. If a man should go about to delineate the
   Christian religion by the lines and features drawn thereof in the
   invectives and accusations of their adversaries, he might justly
   suppose that indeed that was their god which was set up at Rome with
   this inscription, "Deus Chistianorum Ononychites;" being an image with
   ass's ears, in a gown, claws or talons upon one foot, with a book in
   his hand. Charged they were that they worshipped an ass's head; which
   impious folly -- first fastened on the Jews by Tacitus, Hist., lib. v.
   cap. 1, in these words, "Effigiem animalis, quo monstrante errorem
   sitimque depulerant, penetrali sacravere" (having before set out a
   feigned direction received by a company of asses), which he had
   borrowed from Apion, a railing Egyptian of Alexandria [224] -- was so
   ingrafted in their minds that no defensative could be allowed. The
   [225] sun, the cross, "sacerdotis genitalia," were either really
   supposed, or impiously imposed on them, as the objects of their
   worship. The blood and flesh of infants, at Thyestean banquets, was
   said to be their food and provision; promiscuous lust, with incest,
   their chiefest refreshment. Such as these it concerned them to have
   them thought to be, being resolved to use them as if they were so
   indeed. Hence I am not sometimes without some suspicion, that many of
   the impure abominations, follies, villainies, which are ascribed unto
   the primitive heretics, yea, the very Gnostics themselves (upon whom
   the filth that lies is beyond all possible belief), [226] might be
   feigned and imposed, as to a great part thereof. For though not the
   very same, yet things as foolish and opposite to the light of nature,
   were at the same time charged on the most orthodox.

   But you will say, They who charged these things upon the Catholics were
   Pagans, enemies of God and Christ; but these, who so charged heretics,
   were Christians themselves. And so say I also, and therefore, for
   reverence of the name (though perhaps I could), I say no more. But yet
   this I say, that story which you have in Minutius Felix (or Arnobius,
   viii. book apologetical), of the meeting of Christians, the drawing
   away of the light by a dog tied to the candlestick, so to make way for
   adulteries and incests, I have heard more than once told with no small
   confidence of Brownists and Puritans. Hath not this very same course
   been taken in latter ages? Consult the writings of Waldensis and the
   rest of his companions, about Wickliffe and his followers, -- see the
   occasion of his falling off from Rome in our own chronicles, in Fabian
   of old, yea, and Daniel of late, to gratify a popish court; -- of
   Eckius, Hosius, Staphylus, Bolsec, Bellarmine, and the rest who have
   undertaken to portray out unto us Luther and Calvin, with their
   followers; -- and you will quickly see that their great design was to
   put on (as they did upon the head of John Huss at the Council of
   Constance, when he was led to the stake) the ugly visard of some
   devilish appearance, that under that form they might fit them for fire
   and fagot. And herein also is the polity of the dragon derived to the
   false prophet, and a colour tempered for persecutors to imbrue their
   hands in the blood of martyrs.

   This was the old Roman way, and I thought it not amiss to cautionate
   those enjoying truth and authority, that, if it be possible, they may
   not walk in their steps and method. The course accounted so sovereign
   for the extirpation of error was, as you see, first invented for the
   extirpation of truth.

   2. I desire it may be observed, that the general issue and tendence of
   unlimited arbitrary persecution, or punishing for conscience' sake
   (because in all ages, hoi pleiones kakoi, and the worst of men have sat
   at the upper end of the world, for the most part more false worshippers
   having hitherto enjoyed authority over others than followers of the
   Lamb), hath been pernicious, fatal, and dreadful to the profession and
   professors of the gospel, -- little or not at all serviceable to the
   truth.

   I have heard it averred by a reverend and learned personage, that more
   blood of heretics hath been shed by wholesome severity, in the
   maintenance of the truth and opposition unto errors, than hath been
   shed of the witnesses of Jesus by the sword of persecution, in the
   hands of heretics and false worshippers; -- an assertion, I conceive,
   under favour, so exceedingly distant from the reality of the thing
   itself, that I dare take upon me, against any man breathing, that in
   sundry Chr