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<NAME>Holly (Beeman) Smith</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>The Vengeance of the Temple:</HI> DISCOVERED IN A SERMON Preached before the Right Honoura|ble the Lord Major and Court of Aldermen of the City of London, in Pauls Church, <HI>May</HI> 17. 1648.</P>
<P>Being the day of Publique Thank&s;giving for a Victory obtayned by the Forces under the Command of Colonell <HI>Horton,</HI> at St. <HI>Faggons,</HI> neere <HI>Cardiffe</HI> in <HI>Wales.</HI></P>
<P>By <HI>William Strong</HI> Pa&s;tor of <HI>Dun&s;tans</HI> in the We&s;t, and a Member of the A&s;&s;embly of Divines.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Iohn Ben&s;on,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his &s;hop in <HI>Dun&s;tans</HI> Church-yard, 1648.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Right Honourable the Lord Major and Court of Aldermen, of the famous City of <HI>London.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honourable, and Right Wor&s;hipfull:</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>_A Word &s;poken in &s;ea&s;on,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> is a word upon the wheeles <HI>Solomon</HI> tels us. <HI>Prov. 25.11.</HI> both <HI>grateful</HI> and <HI>&s;ucce&s;&s;efull,</HI> which is the ble&s;sing that I begge of God upon the&s;e poore and meane endeavours, which in obedience to your command I humbly pre|&s;ent unto you.</P>
<P>It was the fitte&s;t &s;ubject that in this juncture of time I could fix my thoughts upon, when mens hearts are too ge|nerally turned to hate Gods people, and to deale deceitfully with his &s;ervants; therby (I feare) to prepare in&s;truments in judgement for that la&s;t act of the tragedy upon the Saints in the Reformed Churches, the killing of the witne&s;&s;es, which I conceive, as the bittere&s;t affliction, and the &s;harpe&s;t per&s;ecution is yet to come.</P>
<P>God hath put great opportunity into your bands, and it may be hath rai&s;ed you to honour for &s;uch a time as this: do you countenance, and act for the Lords holy ones, and it &s;hall be accepted as a &s;ervice by him who is King of Saints: doe you become as a correcting Cherube unto this Arke of God among you: for next to the honourable title of <HI>Defen|der of the Faith,</HI> is that of <HI>Protector of the faithfull:</HI> for God and his people are engaged in the &s;ame cau&s;e and quar|rel and all oppo&s;ition &s;hall end in the de&s;truction of the oppo|&s;ers,
<PB REF="3">and they &s;hall peri&s;h by their hands whom they oppo&s;e, even by <HI>the vengeance of the Temple.</HI></P>
<P>But no man will ever be faithfull to the Saints, but hee that is him&s;elfe a Saint, in whom the &s;pirit of God dwels as a man, and acts as a Magi&s;trate; all other men though they may give good words for a time, yet they will meet with a <GAP DESC="foreign">, an opportunity of temptation, and they will fall off,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pelago &s;e non ita commi&s;&s;u|rus e&s;&s;et, quin quando libe|ret, pedem re|ferre po&s;&s;et.</NOTE> engaging them&s;elves in the cau&s;e of the Saints no further, then may &s;tand with their pre&s;ent purpo&s;es, and de&s;ignes: As the King of <HI>Navarre</HI> told. <HI>Bez.</HI> he would lanch no further into the Prote&s;tant cau&s;e, then he might &s;ee which way to put into a &s;afe harbour.</P>
<P>There is nothing that concernes <HI>Magi&s;trates</HI> more then to gaine the hearts, and keepe the prayers of the&s;e <HI>beloved ones,</HI> and they mu&s;t be faithfull to God that &s;hall expect it; for God and his Saints are in a League <HI>offen&s;ive</HI> and <HI>de|fen&s;ive,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Simulatque faedus cum Romanis per|cu&s;&s;eris; noli expectare ali|um de me ca|lumniatorem, &s;ed &s;tatim ve|luti ho&s;ti po|puli Romani cavendum pu|ta. Polyb. hi&s;t. l. 3.</NOTE> and the Saints are ready to &s;ay to men as <HI>Hanni|ball</HI> did to King <HI>Antiochus,</HI> while he continued an enemy to the Romans, &s;o long he &s;hould be &s;ure of him as a friend; but if once he made a League with them, he &s;hould immedi|ately looke upon him as his enemy; &s;o doe the Saints &s;ay, while faithfull to God; they are firme to you; but if you be fal&s;e to God, it will not be long ere you will be <HI>ca&s;t out</HI> of the <HI>hearts</HI> of his people al&s;o.</P>
<P>And that you may cleave clo&s;e to the people of God, there is a great deale of <HI>courage</HI> required in the&s;e <HI>dange|rous</HI> and <HI>doubtfull</HI> times; in which <HI>mercies</HI> are accoun|ted <HI>injuries,</HI> and to give thankes for them is &s;et upon men as a <HI>brand of cruelty and infamy,</HI> when &s;o many for&s;ake their fir&s;t <HI>Principles,</HI> and labour to <HI>build</HI> againe that which hitherto they have <HI>de&s;troyed.</HI> At this time I &s;ay, men have neede of <HI>courage,</HI> or el&s;e they will <HI>feare and faint, and fly</HI> when danger pre&s;ents it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>Truely <HI>duty</HI> is better then <HI>&s;afety,</HI> and <HI>&s;uffering</HI> is bet|ter
<PB REF="3">then <HI>&s;inning</HI> or <HI>&s;hifting;</HI> crooked wayes will never bring a man to right ends; there is too much of the Ser|pent in them; <HI>a lying tongue is but for a moment,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Perde te, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> pereas. Salv.</NOTE> and he that will &s;ave his life &s;hall lo&s;e it.</HI></P>
<P>Satan hath an e&s;peciall <HI>de&s;igne</HI> upon men of <HI>eminen|cy and authority</HI> in &s;uch times as the&s;e, that he may carry them in <HI>Tryumph,</HI> and act by them to the corrupting of many. As the Romanes having an evill eye upon <HI>Ptolo|my</HI> King of Egypt for his wealth, which they re&s;olved to &s;eize upon, but knew not how to pick an occa&s;ion, he being in League with them; therefore they appoynted <HI>Cato</HI> a man in high e&s;teeme for ju&s;tice and uprightne&s;&s;e, as <HI>Publi|cus Praedo, ut &s;umma turpitudo facti authoritate tanti viri aliquantulum tegeretur,</HI> by the name of the man to collour over the ba&s;ene&s;&s;e of the act; &s;o Satans great de|&s;igne of late hath beene upon the <HI>Stars</HI> in our Horizon, and wee may with feare remember how many are fallen.</P>
<P>Engage yee therefore with and for the Saints, and let the pre&s;ent dangers rai&s;e your re&s;olutions: a great minde doth ri&s;e by difficulties, and true courage is heightned by oppo&s;itions. Let the birelings fly, let meteours fall, and tho&s;e that have cleaved to the Church of God by flattery be detected; yet is the <HI>righteous an everla&s;ting foundation.</HI> Let the ble&s;sing of Io&s;eph be on your heads whom God hath &s;eperated from your brethren: <HI>let your bow abide in &s;trength, and the armes of your hands be made &s;trong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob,</HI> which &s;hall be the con&s;tant and dayly prayer of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Your Servant in the Go&s;pel,</HI> William Strong.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="4">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>A Sermon Preached in Pauls Church <HI>London,</HI> before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen, the 17. of May 1648.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Being the day of publique Than&s;giving for a Victory obtayned by the Forces under the Command of Col. <HI>Horton,</HI> at St. <HI>Faggons</HI> neer <HI>Cardiffe</HI> in <HI>Wales.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>IUDGES Chap. 5. ver&s;.</HI></BIBL>
<P>So let all thine enemies peri&s;h, &ocirc; Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp;c. Re&s;p. ad Orthod q. 71. &amp; in dial. cum Tryph. p. 307. Nece&s;&s;e e&s;t ut in fine &s;exti mille&s;imi anni malicia omnis aboleatur &egrave; terra, &amp; regnet per mille an|nos ju&s;titia, fit|que tranquili|tas &amp; requies &agrave; laboribus quos mundus jam|diu perpe&s;&s;us e&s;t. de divin. imperio l. 7. c. 14. Aug. de civit. Dei, l. 20. c. 7. Rev. 10.2.3.4. Pedem ponere e&s;t po&s;&s;e&s;&s;o|nem &s;ibi &amp; dominium vindicare. Par. Dan. 7. c. 27.</NOTE>_THE condition of the Church in this world, is twofold, Militant and Triumphant. The warfare of the Church, according to the Divinity of the Ancients, is to la&s;t till towards the end of the fir&s;t 6000. yeares of the World, as Ju&s;tine Martyr, and after him Lactantius, and others have ob&s;erved. And then &s;hal be another condition of the Church, which &s;hall be even in this life, &amp; compared with the former, may wel be &s;ti|led Triumphant and glorious. When Chri&s;t, that great and mighty Angell &s;hall come downe from Heaven <HI>clo|thed with a Cloud, and a Rainbow upon his head, and &s;hall &s;et his right foot upon the Sea, and his left foot upon the Earth,</HI> and thereby take to him&s;elfe the dominion of both, Revel. 10.5.6. which is called <HI>taking to him&s;elfe his great power and reigning,</HI> Revel. 11.17. when hee &s;hall give the <HI>kingdome and dominion under the whole heaven,</HI> which was before in the enemies hand <HI>unto the Saints of the mo&s;t High, and they &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e it for ever and ever.</HI> When their enemies &s;hall bow down before
<PB N="2" REF="5">them, and licke the du&s;t under their feet.</P>
<P>In this militant condition hath the Church of God beene ever &s;ince the fall, and how long it &s;hall &s;o con|tinue, no man can certainly determine. But it is the con|current judgement of our Divines, that it drawes neere an end. While this e&s;tate of the Church la&s;ts, their condition will be like that, de&s;cribed by the Prophet, <HI>A day wherein the light &s;hall neither be cleare nor darke,</HI> Zach. 14.6. full of uncertainties, and &s;ubject to conti|nuall changes and vici&s;&s;itudes, not &s;o light that they &s;hal &s;ay there is an end of our feares, nor &s;o darke that they &s;hall &s;ay there is an end of our hopes. Sometimes they may be under the power of the Enemy, as <HI>pri&s;oners in a pit wherein there is no water;</HI> and by and by God will ray&s;e up a deliverer for them that &s;hall proclaime their liberty, and be as a <HI>covering Cherub</HI> to the Ark of God, for their defence. A re&s;emblance of this condition of the Church, we have in the Jewi&s;h State, which there|fore is made the prototype of all the Gentile Churches thorowout the whole Book of the Revelation, the Pro|phe&s;ie of the la&s;t times.</P>
<P>An embleme whereof you have in the former Cha|pters. Fir&s;t, the children of I&s;rael did evill in the &s;ight of the Lord, and he gave them into the hand <HI>of Cu&s;han Ri&s;hathaim the king of Me&s;opotamia,</HI> and hee ruled over them <HI>eight yeeres.</HI> Then the Lord ray&s;ed up a delive|rer to them, <HI>Oihoniel the &s;onne of Kenaz Calebs yonger brother,</HI> and the Land had re&s;t <HI>forty yeeres.</HI> Then the chilren of I&s;rael did evill againe in the &s;ight of the Lord and he <HI>&s;trengthned again&s;t them Eglon the king of Moab:</HI> and they &s;erved him <HI>eighteene yeeres,</HI> and then the Lord ray&s;ed up a deliverer for them, <HI>Ehud the &s;onne of Gera,</HI> and the Land had re&s;t <HI>fowre&s;core yeeres.</HI> After|wards they were oppre&s;&s;ed by the <HI>Phili&s;tines,</HI> and the
<PB N="3" REF="5">Lord delivered them by <HI>Shamgar the &s;onne of Anath.</HI> And they did evill againe in the &s;ight of the Lord, and he &s;old them into the hand of <HI>Iabin king of Canaan,</HI> the mo&s;t potent of all the&s;e enemies; for he had nine hun|dred Chariots of iron, and twenty yeeres hee <HI>mightily oppre&s;&s;ed I&s;rael.</HI> And then the Lord ray&s;ed for their de|liverance <HI>Deborah the wife of</HI> Lapidoth, and <HI>Barach the &s;on of</HI> Abinoham, and gave the enemy into their hands. Thus God never leaves his people in affliction, but pro|vides Saviours a&s;well as Per&s;ecutors, not onely hornes, but Carpenters al&s;o to beat them to pieces, Zach. 1.21. A &s;ong of thank&s;giving for this la&s;t victory and deliverance, is the contents of this Chapter. In which, by way of context, wee may ob&s;erve the&s;e &s;ix particu|lars, all which will helpe us in the duty of the pre&s;ent day.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, the heart that &s;halbe thankfull for a mercy mu&s;t <HI>be gracious:</HI> the &s;ong mu&s;t be &s;ung by a Deborah and a Barak, they mu&s;t have <HI>golden vials,</HI> hearts refined and not dro&s;&s;ie, that &s;hall have the <HI>harpes of God in their hands,</HI> Revel. 5.8. And they that &s;hall &s;ing the Lords &s;ong, <HI>mu&s;t be redeemed from the Earth, being the fir&s;t fruits to God and to the Lambe, in who&s;e mouth is found no guile,</HI> Revel. 14.4.5. An earthy &s;pirit may put a man upon a prayer, his owne nece&s;&s;ity will therein carry him on, to howle upon his bed for his corne, and wine, and oyle, but it is a heart only <HI>redeemed from the earth,</HI> that will enable a man to returne pray&s;e; &s;o that if there bee ten clean&s;ed, we may &s;ay with our Saviour, Where are the nine?</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, who&s;oever &s;halbe thankful for a mercy mu&s;t prize it and rejoyce in it. <HI>Gaudentis e&s;t gratias age|re.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 3.1.</NOTE> Peace offrings are called in the Hebrew <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Retributions,</HI> and they that thinke they have received
<PB N="4" REF="6">little, will make little con&s;cience of returning. There is an evill generation among the &s;onnes of men, that un|dervalue mercies and de&s;pi&s;e them, &s;aying, Would God we had <HI>died in Egypt:</HI> Canaan is a L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">nd that eats up his inhabitants. The&s;e men are &s;o far from <HI>accepting the puni&s;hment</HI> in an affliction, that they <HI>accept not</HI> the mercy in their redemption. Mercies will di&s;tingui&s;h men a&s;well as Judgements. Some are delivered to <HI>ever|la&s;ting life,</HI> &s;ome to &s;hame and <HI>everla&s;ting contempt,</HI> Dan. 12.2. O poore murmuring &s;oules, to whom mercies are a burthen!</P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, a thankfull heart mu&s;t <HI>&s;tir up it &s;elfe</HI> un|to pray&s;e. <HI>Awake Deborah, awake, awake utter a &s;ong, ari&s;e Barak and let captivity captive,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.19.</NOTE> thou &s;onne of Abino|am.</HI> Thank&s;giving is <HI>melody</HI> in the <HI>heart of the Lord:</HI> and before you can make melody, your In&s;trument mu&s;t be in tune. <HI>Awake my glory, awake lute and harpe, I my &s;elfe will awake right early.</HI> Yee <HI>prophane and un|thankfull</HI> &s;pirits <HI>(ingratus e&s;t qui injuriam voc at finem voluptatis)</HI> that repine at ble&s;&s;ings,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sen. ad Polyb. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.20.</NOTE> and looke upon your mercies as your injuries, <HI>incredulous men,</HI> that are &s;carce willing to beleeve the things you &s;ee, that endeavour to bring up an evill report upon all the goodne&s;&s;e of God, <HI>procul hinc,</HI> heere is no place for you in the worke of this day. The <HI>garment of pray&s;e</HI> is comely, only for the upright: <HI>ye wayward &s;pirits</HI> that &s;light the gift, be|cau&s;e your &s;elves did not chu&s;e the me&s;&s;enger; and be|cau&s;e you like not the hand that brings it. And <HI>yee &s;ee|mingly compa&s;sionate,</HI> that &s;ay, &s;hall we give thanks for the killing of men, and that of our owne Nation, in a Civill Warre. In this ca&s;e the Heathen man did for|beare his Triumph, and therefore &s;uch Than&s;givings, &s;eeme not only <HI>unchri&s;tian,</HI> but <HI>inhumane.</HI> To &s;uch I an&s;wer: The War, in which at fir&s;t, ye of this Ci|ty,
<PB N="5" REF="6">were eminently ingaged, and by you the Kingdom, was eyther ju&s;t or unju&s;t: if it were unju&s;t, then hide your Tropheyes, and be a&s;hamed of your victories; for he that gives thankes to God becau&s;e he pro&s;pers in a &s;inne, makes God a patron thereof. But if it were ju&s;t, you ought to rejoyce in the &s;ucce&s;&s;e, being the publike execution of divine ju&s;tice, and to glorifie God in tho&s;e things wherein hee hath glorified him&s;elfe. Tis farre from us to rejoyce in the bloud of men, much le&s;&s;e of our brethren; but yet if Chri&s;t will &s;et up his Throne upon the carka&s;es of the &s;laine, heerein we may and will rejoyce.</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, he that will be thankfull, mu&s;t enlarge his thoughts by the remembrance of former mercies, and all the circum&s;tances of mercies pre&s;ent. So doeth Deborah, ver&s;. 4.5. <HI>Lord when thou wente&s;t out of Seir, when thou marched&s;t out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds al&s;o dropped waters, the mountaines melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of I&s;rael.</HI> You mu&s;t pray&s;e God from the fountayne of I&s;rael, and &s;ing both the <HI>&s;ong of Mo&s;es and of the Lambe.</HI></P>
<P>And you mu&s;t enlarge your thoughts in all the cir|cum&s;tances of the pre&s;ent mercies; &s;o doth Deborah, by the violence of the enemy, <HI>the kings came and &s;ought then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they tooke no gaine of money.</HI> By their confi|dent expectations and their hopes. <HI>Why is his chariot &s;o long a comming, why tarry the wheeles of his chariot? have they not &s;ped? have they not divided the prey to every man a dam&s;ell or two? to Si&s;era a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle worke of divers colours of needle worke of both &s;ides, meet for the necks of them that take the &s;poyle.</HI> By the fal&s;hood and de&s;ertion of their friends.
<PB N="6" REF="7"><HI>Why abode&s;t thou among the &s;heepfolds to heare the bleat|ings of the flocke? for the divi&s;ions of Ruben were great thoughts of heart. Gilead abode beyond Iordan, and why did Dan remaine in &s;hips? A&s;hur continued on the &s;ea &s;hore and abode in his breaches. Cur&s;e ye Meroz, cur&s;e ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, becau&s;e they came not out to the helpe of the Lord, to the helpe of the Lord again&s;t the migh|ty.</HI> By the immediate hand of God in the deliverance: his arme was made bare. <HI>They fought from heaven, the &s;tarres in their cour&s;es fought again&s;t Si&s;era, the River Ki|&s;hon &s;wept them away, that ancient River, the River Ki|&s;hon.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. Fifthly, a heart truly thankfull gives the in&s;tru|ments their due honour: tho&s;e that God hath honoured in the worke, doe you honour al&s;o, and God in them. <HI>Out of Ephraim was there a root of them again&s;t Amalek, after Benjamin among the people, Zebulon and Nephthali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, in the high places of the field Ble&s;&s;ed above women &s;hall Ia|hel the wife of Heber the Kenite be, ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall &s;he bee a|bove women in the Tent.</HI> It is the property of a bea&s;t to crop the Tree that &s;helters it, and of an unskilfull &s;oldi|er to di&s;mantle that Towne that mu&s;t defend him. I&s;ra|el was never in a wor&s;e condition, then when all their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e was to <HI>murmur under their pre&s;ent &s;ufferings, and to quarrell with the In&s;truments of their deliveran|ces.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6. Sixthly, mercies received with pray&s;es, mu&s;t be followed with prayers. As prayer &s;hould engage the heart to pray&s;e, &s;o pray&s;es &s;hould encourage the heart to prayer; and tho&s;e pray&s;es are heartle&s;&s;e and faithles, that doe not end in prayers; for when God is giving, is our fitte&s;t &s;ea&s;on to be asking. So heere pray&s;e for a de|liverance from one enemy, drawes out the hearts in
<PB N="7" REF="7">prayer again&s;t all Gods enemies; <HI>So let all thine enemies peri&s;h &ocirc; Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Thus we are come home to the Text. The particu|culars thereof are three.</P>
<P N="1">1. The per&s;ons prayed again&s;t, Gods enemies, with their note of univer&s;ality, All thine enemies.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, the end of the&s;e men, Let them peri&s;h, with that particle which, directs us to the maner, with an eminent utter and finall overthrow, So let them pe|ri&s;h.</P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, the meanes, which is by the power, the pray&s;es and the prayers of the Saints. Hence the points are al&s;o three</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, <HI>All the Churches enemies, are Gods enemies.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly. <HI>That peri&s;hing is their portion.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, <HI>That they &s;hall peri&s;h under the power, by the prayers and pray&s;es of the Saints.</HI></P>
<P><HI>All the Churches enemies Gods enemies.</HI>
<MILESTONE UNIT="Doctrine."></P>
<P>It is a que&s;tion the Schoolmen u&s;ually put, <HI>Num Deus po&s;sit odio haberi?</HI> Whether it be po&s;&s;ible for the creature to be an enemy to God, who is goodne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, &s;eeing evill onely is the object of hatred, which is not to be found in him? It is an&s;wered, That as God is <HI>bonum univer&s;ale,</HI> hee cannot bee hated by the creature; but <HI>inparticulari,</HI> being a good, that is con|trary to us, &s;o men doe hate the Lord. For Men and Angels in their fall, as &s;ome Schoolemen ob&s;erve, lo&s;t three things in re&s;pect of God; <HI>Delectationem pul|chritudinis, adorationem Maje&s;tatis, imitationem bonitatis,</HI> They neyther delight in his beauty, nor adore his glo|ry, nor imitate his goodne&s;&s;e. Thus all men by nature are <HI>Gods enemies.</HI> But the enemies heere &s;poken of, are I&s;raels enemies, enemies to God in his Church, as P&s;al. 78.1. <HI>Let God ari&s;e, and let his enemies be &s;cattered.</HI> I&s;ay
<PB N="8" REF="8">57.23. <HI>I know they going forth and comming in, and thy rage again&s;t me.</HI> Yea even all their neglects and omi&s;&s;i|ons towards the Church, referre to God, and hee will judge them accordingly at the la&s;t day. <HI>I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat, ina&s;much as ye did it not to the lea&s;t of the&s;e, ye did it not to me.</HI> Therefore Gods ene|mies heere &s;poken of are his Churches enemies.</P>
<P>In the opening of this point there are three things to be explayned.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>the Church of God in all ages and places hath met with enemies.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>that the&s;e enemies are not onely theirs, but Gods.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, <HI>&s;ome &s;hort di&s;coveries who the&s;e enemies are.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>the Church of God hath from the beginning met with enemies.</HI> For the nature of Chri&s;ts kingdome in this world, is to rule in <HI>the mid&s;t of his enemies;</HI> in the world to come, he &s;hall rule over them. The Apo&s;tle &s;ayth. There is a &s;chema, <HI>a fa&s;hion of the world that pa&s;|&s;eth away:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.31.</NOTE> it continues not alwayes in one fa&s;hion; but yet ca&s;t it into what &s;hape you will, and the Church of God hath alwayes found enemies in it, and u&s;ually they have beene <HI>the greate&s;t per&s;ons, and the mo&s;t prevayling party.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e enemies are of two &s;orts; from without, or from within. While the Church was wandring among the Heathen, as <HI>&s;heepe among wolves,</HI> what el&s;e could be expected? When I&s;rael went downe into Aegypt, they met with a <HI>Leviathan,</HI> who by cruelty and &s;ubtilty &s;ought to de&s;troy them:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 74.14.</NOTE> and when they came into the Land of Canaan, they were as a <HI>&s;peckled bird,</HI> all the bordering Nations hated them.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 12.9.</NOTE> There aro&s;e fowre great Monarchies, or principall kingdoms in the world, called <HI>Bea&s;ts,</HI> Dan. 7.1.2. chiefly for their cruelty to
<PB N="9" REF="8">the Saints. Under the Chaldean Monarchy, <HI>I&s;rael is as a &s;cattered &s;heepe;</HI> the Lions have driven him away: the former Kings of A&s;&s;yria, Tiglath Pile&s;er and Salmana|&s;er have devoured him: and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon hath <HI>broken his bones,</HI> Jer. 50.17. In the Per|&s;ian Monarchy, there was an Haman and a Cambi&s;es, who with a Samaritan faction of their neighbours, that were neyther Heathens by profe&s;&s;ion, nor Jewes by Religion, the&s;e ray&s;ed a great mountaine again&s;t them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 4.7.</NOTE> even the power of the whole Empire. In the Grecian Monarchy, there aro&s;e Antiochus, <HI>that little horne,</HI> a King of a fierce countenance, who did de&s;troy wonder|full, and pro&s;pered and practi&s;ed again&s;t the <HI>holy people,</HI> waxed great even <HI>to the ho&s;t of heaven,</HI> and ca&s;t downe <HI>&s;ome of the ho&s;t and of the &s;tarres to the ground and &s;tamp|ed on them,</HI> Dan. 8.9.10.</P>
<P>And in the fourth Monarchy as Pagan, there was a great red Dragon, that made warre again&s;t <HI>Michael and his Angels.</HI> Thus the Church of God hath alwayes met with enemies round about. But yet &s;he might ex|pect friends within, that tho&s;e borne in her bo&s;ome and brought up upon her knee, that they &s;hould be true and faythfull to her. But heere is the mi&s;ery, that &s;he hath alwayes found the wor&s;t enemies to proceed out of her owne bowels. Toads, they &s;ay are mo&s;t poy&s;onous in the wine&s;eller, and the tares mo&s;t de&s;tructive that grow among the wheat.</P>
<P>If an open enemy be&s;iege Jeru&s;alem,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.2. Judah erit in ob&s;idione con|tra Hieru&s;a|lem. Jerom. &amp; Montan.</NOTE> &s;ome of <HI>Iudah will joyne with them in the &s;iege.</HI> When Jeru&s;alem is ta|ken by the Chaldeans, that bitter and ha&s;ty Nation, yet they feared more then they doe the enemy, the Rene|gado Jewes that fell off to the Chaldeans. And in their returne out of the captivity, their greate&s;t enemies were the Samaritans,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 38.19.</NOTE> that profe&s;&s;ed <HI>to wor&s;hip the &s;ame God</HI>
<PB N="10" REF="9">with them, and would joyne with them <HI>in building a Temple</HI> to him, that by their compliance they might hinder the worke.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph. antiq. l. 11. c. 8.</NOTE> And when the Temple was built, Mana&s;&s;es the brother of Jaddaeus the high Prie&s;t, ha|ving married a &s;trange wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e. <HI>&s;c.</HI> the daughter of S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">nbal|let, and being therefore by his owne brother put out of the Prie&s;thood, he with his father in law did by a Petition to Alexander, obtayne leave to build a Tem|ple upon mount Gerazim, in hope thereby to de&s;troy the wor&s;hip of God at Hieru&s;alem, and to draw away the hearts of the people from it. <HI>And the Church of God is never in &s;o much danger, as when a S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">nballet and a Ma|na&s;&s;e meet in the con&s;piracy.</HI></P>
<P>And wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">n they were &s;etled in their owne land,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 4.11.</NOTE> Chri&s;t is <HI>rejected of the builders;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 8.14.</NOTE> he is a <HI>&s;tone of &s;tumbling, and a rock of offence to both the hou&s;es of I&s;rael.</HI> And for the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 23.34.35.</NOTE> I &s;end to you <HI>Prophets and wi&s;e men and Scribes,</HI> and not one of the&s;e can <HI>peri&s;h out of Hieru&s;alem:</HI> they that did profe&s;&s;e with them the &s;ame God, and to joyne in the &s;ame wor&s;hip, &s;ought to de&s;troy them.</P>
<P>Let us now come from the Iewi&s;h to the Chri&s;tian Church, and we &s;hall &s;ee the enmity remayne, as &s;oon as the Roman Empire embraced Chri&s;tianity, Satan immediatly ca&s;ts <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>a floud after the woman,</HI> the floud of <HI>Arian here&s;ie,</HI> and the <HI>Arian</HI> Chri&s;tian per&s;ecutes the <HI>Orthodoxe,</HI> as much or more then the Pagans had done before. But this floud was &s;oone <HI>dried up, the earth hel|ping the woman</HI> again&s;t the Arian per&s;ecution. Now co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">es in a third &s;tate of the Empire, which is Antichri|&s;tian there doth ari&s;e <HI>a bea&s;t out of the earth,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 13.11.</NOTE> that hath <HI>two hornes like a Lambe.</HI> Surely now nothing is to be e|xpected bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> meekene&s;&s;e and innocency; but this Lamb <HI>&s;peakes like the Dragon</HI> and the de&s;igne of this bea&s;t is to <HI>weare out the Saints of the mo&s;t High,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 7.25.</NOTE> and to make warre
<PB N="11" REF="9">upon them, and that with greater cruelty then the Hea|thens and Arians had done before. For Rome trades in the <HI>&s;oules of men:</HI> but many Nations have made de|fection from Antichri&s;t, have <HI>come out of Babylon.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.13.</NOTE> There are <HI>ten kingdomes</HI> that the Lambe will overcome, by their <HI>conver&s;ion,</HI> and they <HI>&s;hall hate the whore and make her de&s;olate.</HI> Surely the Saints finde no enemies there: there is in the Reformed Churches <HI>a &s;ea of gla&s;&s;e ming|led with fire</HI> both of contention,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 15.2.</NOTE> and per&s;ecution among them&s;elves. And they that &s;lay the witne&s;&s;es dwell in the &s;ame &s;treet where their dead bodies he, Rev. 11.7.8. So that ca&s;t the world into what frame and fa&s;hion you wil, while the tearm of the Churches militant condition la&s;ts, there will be alwayes found a prevayling party, who&s;e de&s;igne is to <HI>weare out the Saints of the mo&s;t High.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, They that are the Churches enemies are Gods enemies, whether they bee <HI>within</HI> or <HI>without</HI> the Church. This will appeare upon the&s;e <HI>fowre grounds.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, they are Gods enemies, becau&s;e God and his people are in Covenant; there is a league <HI>offen&s;ive and defen&s;ive</HI> betweene them. You have a full expre&s;&s;i|on of &s;uch a league, in the words of Ieho&s;ephat, <HI>I am as thou art, my &s;ervants as thy &s;ervants, my hor&s;es as thy hor&s;es;</HI> that is, they &s;halbe as truely thine to u&s;e, as if the nece&s;&s;ity were mine owne. So Gen. 12.3. the Lord Covenants with Abraham, <HI>I will ble&s;&s;e them that ble&s;&s;e thee and I will cur&s;e them that cur&s;e thee; I will be an ene|my to thine enemies, and an adver&s;ary to thy adver&s;aries,</HI> Exod. 23.2. And therefore they that oppo&s;e them are &s;ayd to <HI>fight again&s;t God.</HI> And if the people of God be wor&s;ted at any time, they can call to him as their Con|federate. <HI>Ari&s;e Lord fight again&s;t them that fight again&s;t one, take hold of the &s;hield and buckler, and &s;tand up for my
<PB N="12" REF="10">helpe; draw out the &s;peare, and &s;top the way again&s;t them that per&s;ecute me, &amp;c.</HI> 35. P&s;a. 2.3.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, becau&s;e their cau&s;e is Gods cau&s;e, ther|fore their enemies mu&s;t needs be Gods enemies. They intitle God to it, P&s;al. 74.22. <HI>Ari&s;e Lord, maintayne thine owne cau&s;e.</HI> And God by his Propht ownes it, the <HI>battell is not yours but Gods,</HI> 2. Cron. 20.12. It is for Gods &s;ake that all oppo&s;ition lights upon them; <HI>for thy &s;ake are we killed all the day long; the reproches of them that reproched thee are fallen upon me,</HI> and they chu&s;e it rather then God &s;hould be di&s;honoured: <HI>Malo in nos murmur hominum quam in Deum:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. de con|fid.</NOTE> bonume&s;t mihi &s;i Deus d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">gnetur me uti pro clypeo.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, becau&s;e all Gods enemies be their ene|mies, and all oppo&s;ition that is made again&s;t God in the wayes of his Truth or Wor&s;hip, they take as done to them&s;elves; <HI>Doe not I hate them that hate thee? yea I hate them with a perfect hatred as if they were mine ene|mies.</HI> As Gods friends be their friends, &s;o all Gods e|nemies are their enemies. And if they an&s;wer to their part of the Covenant, &s;urely God will not faile in his.</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, they are a people very deare to God, and this makes the Lord to looke upon every thing that concernes them, as being intere&s;&s;ed in it. They are dear to him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>as the apple of his owne eye.</HI> The &s;onnes of his bo&s;ome, and the Father takes him&s;elfe concerned in all the wrong offered to his children. And as grace, though it be in it &s;elfe but an accident, is dearer to God, then the &s;oules of all men without it: &s;o his people, though they be but few, and as an accident to the world, yet are they dearer unto God, then all the Kings and Kingdoms of the Earth be&s;ides; they being the <HI>fir&s;t fruits to God and to the Lambe;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 43.3.4. P&s;. 105.14.</NOTE> and therefore he gives <HI>Kingdomes</HI> for their <HI>Ran&s;ome,</HI> and <HI>reproves Kings for their &s;akes.</HI></P>
<PB N="13" REF="10">
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, Who are the&s;e enemies? We are the Church of God, even this whole Nation, therefore none of the&s;e are to be found among&s;t us.</P>
<P>The&s;e enemies are of &s;everall &s;orts.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, all prophane men that are enemies to <HI>holi|ne&s;&s;e,</HI> they are the Churches enemies, who&s;e <HI>God is their belly, who glory in their &s;hame,</HI> who are <HI>enemies to the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t.</HI> The&s;e are <HI>&s;pots</HI> in our fea&s;ts, a blemi&s;h and a di&s;honour to all our Churches. We labour at pre|&s;ent under a double evill of <HI>damnable doctrines:</HI> on the one &s;ide, and <HI>diveli&s;h practi&s;es</HI> on the other: and both the&s;e thinke to ju&s;tifie them&s;elves, by objecting one a|gain&s;t another. The Heretique declaimes much again&s;t Prophanenes, and thinkes that hee hath well acquitted him&s;elfe; and the prophane man on the other &s;ide cries out here&s;ie, here&s;ie; but the&s;e are both enemies unto Chri&s;t, and to the Church of Chri&s;t. Prophanene&s;&s;e hath gotten &s;o much ground, there being no Magi&s;trate (as it is &s;ayd of Lai&s;h) or <HI>ma&s;ter of re&s;traint to put them to &s;hame,</HI> that they declare their &s;innes as Sodom<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 18.7.</NOTE> and it is with us as Salvian in his dayes found it.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Gubern. Deid 3.</NOTE> <HI>Genus quo|dammodo &s;anctitatis e&s;t min&uacute;s e&s;&s;e vitio&s;um.</HI> He is a ho|ly man that is not extreamly wicked, and he little le&s;&s;e then a Saint who is not a very Divell.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, Heretiques in Opinion, and Idolaters in Wor&s;hip. They bee the enemies to the <HI>Witne&s;&s;es,</HI> Revel. 11.5. men that &s;peake <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>perver&s;e things,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act 20.30.</NOTE> turning all up&s;ide down,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph 4.14.</NOTE> denying <HI>principles,</HI> overthrow|ing <HI>foundations:</HI> affirming <HI>horribilia de Deo,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.3. 2 Pet. 3.16. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Ep<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t. Polycarp. ad Philip.</NOTE> terribilia de fide:</HI> men that u&s;e a <GAP DESC="foreign"> and a <GAP DESC="foreign">, a great deale of artifice and skill to deceive: there are <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>new coyned words,</HI> and <HI>canting</HI> language to corrupt the minds of the Saints, who &s;et the Scripture upon the <HI>Rack</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> and make it &s;peak that which the Holy Gho&s;t never in|tended,
<PB N="14" REF="11"><HI>wre&s;ting</HI> it to their owne de&s;truction, and the &s;ubver&s;ion of others. Such the people of God &s;hould looke upon as <HI>enemies,</HI> and <HI>avoyd</HI> their communion, 2. Iohn 10. If there come <HI>any to you and bring not this do|ctrine, receive him not into your hou&s;e, nor bid him God &s;peed, for he that biddeth him God &s;peed, is pertaker of his evill deeds.</HI> If a man be once taken with an <HI>itch of no|velty,</HI> as to defire to heare what every man &s;ayth, he is neere to be &s;educed, and it is a great judgement of God to be given over to believe a lie. Vincentius Lirinen&s;is hath this ob&s;ervation of the ancient Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Adver&s;. haere|&s;es. cap. 9.</NOTE> it may &s;erve for our direction: <HI>Quo quis foret religio&s;ior eo promptius novellis adinventionibus contrairet.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, all tho&s;e that <HI>rejoice</HI> in the low <HI>conditi|on</HI> of the Church of God, and deride them when they are downe, the&s;e the Church calls enemies. Mica. 7.8. yet &s;uch there are in the Church, <HI>&s;onnes of the bondwo|man</HI> that wilbe &s;coffing, who with Haman can &s;it down to drinke, when the people of God are in perplexity; men that rage and rayle, and onely expect a day when with <HI>a de&s;pitefull heart</HI> they may revenge them&s;elves, Ezek. 25.8. This was Moabs enmity they &s;ayd, <HI>Behold the hou&s;e of Iudah is like unto all the Heathen:</HI> for all their boa&s;ting of their God, they are layd wa&s;te as other Na|tions, there is no difference. Therefore thus &s;ayth the Lord, <HI>I will open the &s;ide of Moab,</HI> take away her &s;trong frontier Cities, an enemy &s;hall enter into her bowels, and &s;he <HI>&s;hall be no more remembred among the Nations.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, all men that re&s;erve them&s;elves, and affect a <HI>dete&s;table neutrality</HI> in the&s;e active times, that lie at a clo&s;e guard till they &s;ee which is like to bee the &s;tronger &s;ide, and come not forth <HI>to the helpe of the Lord again&s;t the mighty.</HI> Meroz is as truly an enemy, as Iabin the king of Canaan: for in this ca&s;e Chri&s;t &s;ayth, <HI>Hee
<PB N="15" REF="11">that is not with me is again&s;t me, and hee that gathers not with me &s;catters.</HI> The&s;e con&s;ult not their pre&s;ent <HI>duty,</HI> but their future <HI>&s;afety,</HI> how they may &s;o demean them|&s;elves that they may ingratiate with this or that party that doth prevayle. Therefore &s;ayle by a <HI>&s;ide winde</HI> and live upon <HI>futura contingentia</HI> all their dayes. To &s;uch a one I &s;ay, thou art an <HI>enemy</HI> to the Church of God, and God is an <HI>enemy</HI> to thee.</P>
<P N="5">5. Fifthly, they that <HI>cleave</HI> to the Church of God by <HI>flattery,</HI> and proffer to build with them that they may de&s;troy them: who&s;e hearts are truly &s;et again&s;t that worke of Reformation they profe&s;&s;e to further, for in their per&s;ons they <HI>hate to be reformed.</HI> Who court the Saints of God, and &s;alute them, but it is to betray them with a <HI>ki&s;&s;e,</HI> and with Ioab to &s;tab them in a <HI>com|plement,</HI> Ezek. 29.6.7. The Lord &s;ayth of Aegypt, <HI>Thou ha&s;t beene a &s;taffe of Reed to the hou&s;e of I&s;rael:</HI> they had incouraged the Iewes to rebell again&s;t the King of Babylon, and had promi&s;ed to a&s;&s;i&s;t them; they were <HI>in promi&s;sione baculus,</HI> but in <HI>&s;olutione arundineus,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">A Lap. in loc.</NOTE> and &s;o became an occa&s;ion of all the mi&s;ery that befell I&s;ra|el in this de&s;igne. When I&s;rael came out of Aegypt, there was a <HI>mixt multitude,</HI> who did cleave to them by <HI>flattery,</HI> and murmured and de&s;erted them when trialls came. It may be &s;ayd of many a man as Ruoeus of the Carbuncle, <HI>tran&s;lucit in modum ardentis prunae,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib de Gem|mis.</NOTE> if you heare their words and looke upon them at a di&s;tance, you would thinke them to be as hot as a <HI>fiery coale,</HI> but come neere to them and ob&s;erve their actions, and you &s;hall find them to be key cold.</P>
<P N="6">6. Sixthly, all Apo&s;tates that fall from their <HI>former principles,</HI> that now plead for that which not many yeeres, it may be not many dayes &s;ince, they were vio|lent again&s;t. The greate&s;t <HI>enemy</HI> that ever God had,
<PB N="16" REF="12">was an <HI>apo&s;tate Angel.</HI> The greate&s;t <HI>enemy</HI> that ever Chri&s;t had, an <HI>apo&s;tate Church</HI> and the greate&s;t <HI>enemies</HI> to the Saints are <HI>Renegado profe&s;&s;ors.</HI> Take heed of an Alexander, a Demas, a Julian. There was a time not long &s;ince, when you all &s;ayd, we will admit <HI>no here&s;ie in doctrine, no &s;uper &s;tition in wor&s;hip, no tyranny in govern|ment,</HI> no man &s;hall have dominion over our Lawes, or domination over our con&s;ciences; but many have met with a <GAP DESC="foreign"> an <HI>opportunity of temptation,</HI> are <HI>fal|len away,</HI> and are become <HI>actors</HI> and <HI>advocates</HI> for tho&s;e things and per&s;ons which before they were re&s;olute a|gain&s;t, and all their former deliverances are but a <HI>Re&s;ur|rection to &s;hame,</HI> Dan. 12.2. The Iewes in their fir&s;t de|liverance are to meet with &s;uch trouble as they had not &s;ince they became a Nation, which is to la&s;t five and forty yeeres: in which time, many that had a &s;hare in the <HI>fir&s;t deliverance,</HI> &s;hall be di&s;covered to be un&s;ound, and fal&s;e hearted, and their <HI>former deliverance</HI> &s;hall bee to their <HI>eternall &s;hame</HI> and di&s;honour before the Saints. Surely, there are <HI>trying times</HI> coming, when no hou&s;e will &s;tand, but that which <HI>is built upon the Rocke.</HI> Its the righteous onely that is an <HI>everla&s;ting Foundation.</HI></P>
<P>There are three ob&s;ervations which I de&s;ire to adde to the explication, before I come to the rea&s;ons and grounds of this emnity.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,
<MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Ob&s;."> <HI>when mens hearts are once in judgement turned to hate the Saints, the maine plea&s;ure of their lives comes in by their oppo&s;ition to them,</HI> and they take very much delight in it. As Sathan not having yet his full torment, the maine plea&s;ure that he takes is in oppo&s;ition again&s;t God, and to &s;ee his plots to take in a way of revenge; &s;o it is with the enemies who are acted in a high degree by the &s;pirit of Sathan in their oppo&s;ition again&s;t the Saints.</P>
<PB N="17" REF="12">
<P>A mans <HI>meat and drinke</HI> in the Scripture,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fruitionem denotat &amp; de|lectationem. Gla&s;&s;. Rhetor. &s;acr. p. 373.</NOTE> is that by which the plea&s;ure and the comfort of his life cometh in; <HI>It is my meat to doe the will of him that &s;ent me, and to fini&s;h his worke,</HI> Jo. 4.34. And to note that the mayne plea&s;ure of the enemies lies in their oppo&s;ition, it is &s;aid to be their meat and drinke. <HI>It is their meat,</HI> P&s;al. 14.4. <HI>They eat up my people as they would eat bread,</HI> they are the food that their malice feeds upon;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mos e&s;t in ur|bibus Pale&s;ti|nae, &amp; u&s;que hod ie perom|nem Judaeam vetus con&s;ue|tudo &s;ervatur, ut in vicculis oppidis &amp; ca|&s;tellis rotundi ponantur lapi|des gravi&s;&s;imi ponderis, ad quos juvenes exercere &s;e &s;o|leant, &amp; eos pro varietate virium &s;uble|vare; alii ad genua, alii ad umbilicum, a|lii ad humeros &amp; capur non|nulli &s;uper verticem ere|ctis juncti&s;que manibus, pon|dus extollunt.</NOTE> and this is <HI>their drink</HI> al&s;o, Rev. 17.6. <HI>I &s;aw the woman drunken with the bloud of the Saints, and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Ie&s;us.</HI> Though it prove <HI>a cup</HI> of poy&s;on <HI>and of trembling</HI> in the end, yet they drinke if downe as &s;weet wine, Zach. 12.2. This is <HI>their recreation</HI> al&s;o, and that wherin they &s;hew forth their &s;trength and activity; which Hierome conceives to be intended by the Holy Gho&s;t, in that e|xpre&s;&s;ion of <HI>a burden&s;ome &s;tone,</HI> Zach. 12.3. alluding therein to the cu&s;tome of the Iewes, and of all tho&s;e Ea|&s;terne Countreys, where in every towne and village were great round &s;tones, which the yong men for re|creation, and to &s;hew forth their &s;trength, did u&s;e to lift <HI>pro virium varietate,</HI> &s;ome to their knees, &s;ome to the loynes, &s;ome to the head, &amp;c. And thus as <HI>matter of re|creation,</HI> are the enemies lifting at the Church, every man according to his ability, and as any one dare doe more then other this way, hee accounts him&s;elfe the more valiant and gallant man; which made Saul in this <HI>zeale</HI> this way (which he after &s;aw to be <HI>madne&s;&s;e</HI>) to go beyond his fellowes.</P>
<P><HI>The la&s;t enemies of the Church &s;hall &s;urely be the wor&s;t.</HI>
<MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Ob&s;er."> The fourth bea&s;t was divers from all the other bea&s;ts that went before, <HI>and exceeding dreadfull, who&s;e teeth were of bra&s;&s;e,</HI> Dan. 7.19.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Sept.</NOTE> But upon the la&s;t head of the fourth bea&s;t there ari&s;e <HI>ten hornes</HI> (for the Romane Em|pire is broken into ten Kingdomes) and <HI>after them,</HI> o <HI>behinde
<PB N="18" REF="13">them,</HI> there doth ari&s;e <HI>a little horne,</HI> that &s;peakes great words again&s;t <HI>the mo&s;t High,</HI> and who&s;e de&s;ign is to <HI>we are out the Saints,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> Dicitur de calceamen|tis inveteratis, Jo&s;h. 6.13, &amp; de pannis af|fritis. Jer. 38.11.</NOTE> Dan. 7.24.25. The Originall word doth &s;ign<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>to weare out a thing with long and con|tinued u&s;e,</HI> or as a Garment is worn out by degrees, with long and con&s;tant wearing, &s;o under this little Horne, which mu&s;t be Antichri&s;t, becau&s;e hee ri&s;eth with the <HI>ten hornes</HI> upon the la&s;t head of the fourth bea&s;t; and in who&s;e judgement the <HI>bea&s;t is &s;laine, and his body de&s;troy|ed, given to the burning flame,</HI> ver. 11.) the witne&s;&s;es prophe&s;ie in <HI>&s;ackcloth and a&s;hes</HI> 1260 dayes; in a per&s;e|cuted, mournefull and afflicted condition; that by a long and continuall oppre&s;&s;ion, they may be worne out even as a garment.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly, the la&s;t acts of the&s;e enemies &s;hall be filled with the greate&s;t cruelty,</HI> and with a rage that &s;hall reach to heaven: Antichri&s;t &s;hall make it his bu&s;ine&s;&s;e during all the time of his raigne <HI>to weare out</HI> the Saints, but at la&s;t they <HI>&s;hall be killed,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.7.8.</NOTE> and that in the mo&s;t inhumane ma|ner, their <HI>dead bodies &s;hall be ca&s;t out into the &s;treet,</HI> and they &s;hall rejoyce in their death, and deny them a buri|all: in the la&s;t attempts they &s;hall expre&s;&s;e more cruelty and bitterne&s;&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16.16.</NOTE> then in many hundred yeeres before. And after the re&s;urrection of the witne&s;&s;es, and Romes downefall, they &s;hall attempt with greater violence, when <HI>the Kings of the earth and of the whole world, &s;hall be gathered together to the battell Armageddon.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.8.9.</NOTE> And la&s;t|ly, when Gog and M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">gog &s;hall gather <HI>the Nations toge|ther to battell from the fowre quarters of the earth, in num|ber as the &s;ands of the &s;ea and they &s;hall go upon the bredth of the earth and compa&s;&s;e the campe of the Saints round a|bout, and the beloved City.</HI> Satan &s;hall have great <HI>indig|nation,</HI> &s;eeing <HI>his time is &s;hort:</HI> For in the la&s;t dayes &s;hall be the mo&s;t glorious Reformation, the greate&s;t <HI>refine|ments</HI>
<PB N="19" REF="13">&s;hall pa&s;&s;e upon the world by him, who &s;its as a <HI>refiner,</HI> an&s;werable to the degrees of <HI>reformation,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.3.</NOTE> &s;uch &s;hall the degrees of <HI>oppo&s;ition</HI> be, when there &s;hall be the <HI>perfecte&s;t reformation,</HI> there &s;hall then be the <HI>highe&s;t op|po&s;ition</HI> and the bittere&s;t per&s;ecution.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.5.</NOTE> In the la&s;t dayes the oppo&s;ition to Godline&s;&s;e in <HI>the power of it,</HI> &s;halbe by them that have <HI>a forme,</HI> and the <HI>per&s;ecution</HI> of Religion &s;hall in a great mea&s;ure be under <HI>a profe&s;sion</HI> therof, men &s;inning again&s;t greater light and higher workes, who&s;e hearts the Divel <HI>hath touched,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Jo. 5.18.</NOTE> and left a &s;peciall impre&s;|&s;ion of divelli&s;hne&s;&s;e upon, and who are thereby quali|fied for a higher way of &s;inning. In the la&s;t dayes &s;hall the great and glorious deliverances of the Churches be, when all the per&s;ecu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ing Monarchies &s;hall be de&s;troy|ed,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 2.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> and the <HI>mountayne of the Lords hou&s;e be exalted on the top of the mountaynes,</HI> that all Nations may flow to it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 14, 4. Ut Jero&s;olyma non fit in um|bro&s;a valle quemadmo|dum prius: &s;ed pateat longe &amp; lat&egrave; ejus pro&s;pectus; ita ut gentes om|nes eam &s;cypi|ciant, Calv. Rev. 11, 7, 8, 9. Ezech. 37, 11.12.</NOTE> when the Mount of <HI>Olives &s;hall cleave a&s;under in the mid&s;t, towards the Ea&s;t and towards the We&s;t:</HI> That is, what&s;oever doth now over&s;hadow and hide the Chur|ches glory, and hinder her pro&s;pect &s;hall be removed. And God doth not u&s;e to afford his people great and e|minent deliverances, till they are deeply humbled and brought low: the <HI>&s;laying of the witne&s;&s;es,</HI> doth precede their <HI>re&s;urrection,</HI> and they mu&s;t be dry bones fir&s;t, and then the Lord &s;ayth, <HI>I will open your graves.</HI> Upon the&s;e grounds I doe conclude, <HI>that the la&s;t at empts of the ene|mies &s;hal be the fierce&s;t, and that the bittere&s;t afflictions and the &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">rpe&s;t per&s;ecutions of the Church of God, are re&s;erved for the&s;e l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t times.</HI></P>
<P>And that this enmity may not &s;eeme &s;trange to you, the grounds of it, and all the per&s;ecution that flows from it, are principally the&s;e two.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t,
<MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Rea&s;."> from <HI>the contrariety and antipathy</HI> that is in their natures, there being an enmity <HI>in judgement,</HI> put
<PB N="20" REF="14">betweene the &s;eed of the woman, and the feede of the Serpent. It is part of the Divels cur&s;e, Gen. 3.15. and it is the cur&s;e of all tho&s;e that are of <HI>their father the Di|vell.</HI> This enmity being founded in nature, mu&s;t needs be <HI>aniver&s;all and indefatigable. Vniver&s;all</HI> for hatred carryes a man again&s;t all the kinde;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">, Ari&s;t.</NOTE> as grace carryes a mans love &s;incerely to all the Saints, &s;o this enmity foun|ded in nature and in judgement, carryes with it a contra|riety unto all the Saints. And though &s;ome ungodly men may pretend fayre, and may with <HI>their mouths &s;hew much love,</HI> and this enmity may be hid, yet are they on|ly <HI>wolves in &s;heepes clothing;</HI> and when&s;oever occa&s;ion and opportunity is offered will appear &s;o to be; for that Rule will hold to the end of the world,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apol.</NOTE> <HI>Tot ho&s;tes quot extranei,</HI> they that be &s;trangers to godline&s;&s;e, are all of them enemies to it. And <HI>indefatig able</HI> it mu&s;t needs be. A man would &s;ometime thinke that Satan and wicked men, having their plots &s;o often defeated and brought to nought, and all the mi&s;chiefe of them <HI>turned upon their heads,</HI> &s;hould at la&s;t &s;it down di&s;couraged and give over, but they cannot doe it, becau&s;e it is founded in nature and judgement: and when the five &s;hall cea&s;e to burn, and the &s;tone to move towards its centre, then &s;hall their attempts and acts of ho&s;tility cea&s;e, and never till then.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, this enmity is exceedingly acted in them by the <HI>&s;pirit of the Divell,</HI> who&s;e name is in regard of his oppo&s;ition to the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 9.11.</NOTE> called <HI>Abaddon</HI> and <HI>A|pollyon,</HI> the De&s;troyer. All &s;innes indeed are from the Divell,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> and all &s;inners are acted by the Divell, he <HI>rules in all the children of di&s;obedience:</HI> but yet &s;ome &s;innes are from him <HI>per modum &s;ervitutis,</HI> as a man &s;erves Satan in them; but &s;ome &s;innes are from him, <HI>per modum imagi|nis,</HI> as a man re&s;embles Satan in them; and &s;uch is this
<PB N="21" REF="14">of enmity again&s;t the Saints, and in the&s;e &s;ins in which a man in an e&s;peciall maner becomes the <HI>&s;eed of the Ser|pent,</HI> Satan doth more directly and immediately act men then he doth in other &s;innes: and therefore Rev. 3.10. he is &s;ayd <HI>to ca&s;t the Saints into pri&s;on,</HI> it being done by his &s;peciall in&s;tigation and command. And therefore its noted as a &s;peciall mi&s;ery that &s;hall befall the Divell after all the per&s;ecuting Monarchies &s;hall be de&s;troyed, that <HI>Dragon the old Serpent the Divell and Satan,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.2.3.</NOTE> &s;hall be bound for a thou&s;and yeares, and &s;hut up in the bottomle&s;&s;e pit, that he may not deceive the Nations, &s;c.</HI> to draw out the rage of their &s;pirits in a way of per&s;ecution as he did in times pa&s;t, no more. And there is no &s;acrifice that the Divell is &s;o well plea&s;ed with, as he is the God of this world, as when there is offered to him the bloud of the Saints; and therefore men that are more immediat|ly ruled by him, this he doth put them upon, as that with which he is chiefly delighted. Its &s;ayd of Julian the Apo&s;tate, that he had two great de&s;ignes; one, the <HI>&s;ubduing of the Per&s;ians,</HI> and the other, the <HI>rooting out of the Chri&s;tians:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">, Nazian. Orat. 2. Cont. Julian.</NOTE> and when he went in that Per&s;ian expe|dition in which he peri&s;hed, he vowed if he had &s;ucces in that enterpri&s;e, he would at his returne &s;acrifice to his Idols, <HI>&s;c.</HI> to the <HI>Divell in them,</HI> the bloud of all the Chri&s;tians that were in the whole Empire; which had beene a &s;acrifice with which Satan would have beene well plea&s;ed.</P>
<P>And as Satan loves to &s;tir up the rage and enmity of wicked men to de&s;troy the &s;aints, &s;o he doth very much delight to make them in&s;truments in their <HI>owne de&s;tru|ction,</HI> and that temporall as well as eternall; and hee knowes there is no &s;peedier way to de&s;troy a per&s;on or people, then for men to rall upon <HI>the reere of the Lords ho&s;t.</HI> This is the ready way to take away their owne
<PB N="22" REF="15">defence, and put them&s;elves out of the protection of God;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 49, 8.</NOTE> for it is for the Saints &s;ake, and <HI>by their Covenant, that the world is continued, and the earth e&s;tabli&s;hed:</HI> it would &s;oone &s;inke under your feet el&s;e, they beare up <HI>the pillars of it;</HI> they are the rocke upon which your Ci|ty and &s;afety is built: and had the Lord once di&s;po&s;ed of his &s;onnes and daughters in their <HI>great mariage with the Lambe,</HI> he would quickly di&s;&s;olve this frame of hea|ven and earth, and breake up the hou&s;e keeping of the world; and Satan doth &s;et men in a way of per&s;ecution to this end that they may thereby take away their own defence.</P>
<P>And the Divell knowes there is no &s;peedier way to &s;et God in vengeance again&s;t a per&s;on or a Nation then this is, becau&s;e the heart of the Lord is exceeding ten|der towards his holy ones, <HI>hee that toucheth them touch|eth the apple of his eye,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach 2, 8.</NOTE> which no man &s;hall doe impune or unrevenged.</P>
<P>I now come to the &s;econd branch in the Text, which is <HI>the portion of the&s;e enemies,</HI> they &s;hall peri&s;h.</P>
<P><HI>All the Churches enemies &s;hall a&s;&s;uredly peri&s;h in their owne oppo&s;ition:</HI> peri&s;hing is their portion.</P>
<P>For explication I &s;hall lay downe the&s;e po&s;itions.
<MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Po&s;it."> Fir&s;t, <HI>The de&s;truction of the Churches enemies &s;hall be effe|cted by their oppo&s;ition again&s;t the Church,</HI> Mich. 4.11.12.13. There are many Nations gathered together again&s;t Zion, and their purpo&s;es are that &s;he may be <HI>defiled</HI> and de&s;troyed; but Gods purpo&s;es are not &s;o, <HI>they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither under&s;tand they his coun|&s;ell:</HI> for his intention is, that they &s;hould peri&s;h in their oppo&s;ition: <HI>a&s;&s;ociate</HI> them&s;elves that they may be <HI>broken in peeces,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 8, 9.</NOTE> that they may be gathered together as <HI>&s;heaves in a floore;</HI> that they may be <HI>thre&s;hed</HI> by the daughter of Zion, and where they &s;eeke the Churches de&s;truction,
<PB N="23" REF="15">they may there be &s;ure to finde their owne: and in the &s;ame <HI>floore</HI> where they did intend to <HI>thre&s;h</HI> the Church, there they them&s;elves &s;hall be <HI>thre&s;hed.</HI> Its therefore drinking <HI>a cup of poy&s;on.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12, 2, 3. Venemum mortiferum, appellatio for|te a tremendo: Nam quaedam venena frigida &s;unt.</NOTE> So Mercer doth conceive the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> to &s;ignifie, and to be no other way a cup of trembling, but from the effect of this poy&s;on, there be|ing &s;ome poy&s;ons cold in &s;o high a degree, that they will ca&s;t a man into a trembling till he die; and he that drinkes poy&s;on hath a hand in his owne de&s;truction. Its lifting at <HI>a burden&s;ome &s;tone,</HI> and men <HI>burden them&s;elves with it,</HI> and are broken to pieces by their own attempts.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 21, 44.</NOTE> Its <HI>falling upon a &s;tone,</HI> and da&s;hing at it, as a &s;hip again&s;t a rocke, and thereby &s;inking it &s;elfe.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9, 5.</NOTE> <HI>Its kicking again&s;t the pricks;</HI> the iron would hurt no man of it &s;elfe, ney|ther would the Saints, but men ru&s;h again&s;t it and are wounded thereby.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lucun.</NOTE><HI>Nec vulnus adactis debetur gladiis per|cu&s;&s;um e&s;t pectore ferrum.</HI> As the Lord &s;ayth of him&s;elf,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 25, 6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>Provoke me not to anger with the workes of your hands, and I will doe you no hurt:</HI> &s;o he &s;ayth of his Church al&s;o, if they be kindly intreated, they are to the Nations where they live <HI>as dew from the Lord,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 5, 2.</NOTE> and as &s;howres upon the gra&s;&s;e:</HI> but if men exalt them&s;elves again&s;t them, and &s;eeke to <HI>ca&s;t downe the ho&s;t of heaven, they become like a hearth of fire among the wood,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12, 6.</NOTE> and like a torch of fire in a &s;heafe, and they devour the people round about, on the right hand and on the left,</HI> &s;o that the cau&s;e of their <HI>de&s;truction</HI> by them is their <HI>oppo&s;ition</HI> again&s;t them.</P>
<P>Secondly,
<MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Po&s;it."> <HI>it will be an univer&s;all de&s;truction of all tho&s;e that per&s;icute and per&s;evere in their oppo&s;ition against the Saints,</HI> whether they be enemies without or within the Church: and the great overthrowes that have beene in the world upon the enemies, have beene brought a|bout by their oppo&s;ition again&s;t the holy ones. Wee may ob&s;erve it:</P>
<PB N="24" REF="16">
<P N="1">1. <HI>In all the enemies from without,</HI> Gen. 14. There is a famous example in one particular Saint: four kings were confederate for enlarging their dominions, and they conquered and &s;ubdued all the neighbouring Na|tions, tooke the &s;poyle and carryed it away &s;afely, that I may &s;ay as the Prophet doth of the conque&s;t of the King of Babylon,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 10.14.</NOTE> <HI>They gathered the riches of the Nations as one gathereth egges, there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped.</HI> They came at la&s;t to So|dome, a people that for their wickedne&s;&s;e, were even <HI>humani generis opprobrium,</HI> whom God had appointed unto the greate&s;t judgement that wee reade of, rayning upon them <HI>brim&s;tone and fire (gehennam &egrave; coelo) from the Lord out of heaven:</HI> this City they tooke, plundered, carried away many pri&s;oners, and departed. But among the&s;e was <HI>righteous Lot Abrahams brothers &s;onne,</HI> and in taking him they dranke poy&s;on, and they mu&s;t vomit him up againe, to their owne de&s;truction: for God &s;tir|red up the &s;pirit of Abraham to pur&s;ue them, <HI>and hee gave them as the du&s;t to his &s;word,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 41.2.</NOTE> and as driven stubble to his bow.</HI> When I&s;rael &s;ojourned in the Land of Ae|gypt,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.25. P&s;al. 74.14. Dan. 7.2. Jer. 50.28. Vindicta Dei activ&egrave; &s;umitur pro vindicta Deus qua~ exer cebit, vindicta Templi pa&s;&s;i, v&egrave; ponitur pro vindicta qua Deus ulci&s;ci|tur contumeli|am Templo &s;uo illatam, Calv.</NOTE> while they dealt well with them they pro&s;pered for their &s;akes; but when the Lord in judgement <HI>turned their heart to hate his people and deale &s;ubtilly with his &s;er|vants, he brake the head of Leviathan in the waters,</HI> in the pur&s;uit of I&s;rael, and they peri&s;h in their owne oppo&s;iti|on. Afterward there were to ari&s;e <HI>fowre bea&s;ts,</HI> or great Monarchies &s;ucce&s;&s;ively in the world, and they all per|i&s;h in their oppo&s;ition again&s;t the Church of God: the Chaldean peri&s;heth, but it is by <HI>the vengeance of the Temple: the inhabitants of Zion &s;hall &s;ay, the daughter of Babylon is like a thre&s;hing floore, its time to thre&s;h her, for Nebuchadnezzar the King of Baabylon hath devoured me, he hath cru&s;ht mee, hee hath made mee an empty ve&s;&s;ell, hee
<PB N="25" REF="16">hath &s;wallowed me up like a Dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, be hath ca&s;t me out: the violence done to me and to my fle&s;h be upon Babylon, and my bloud upon the Inhabitants of Chaldea.</HI></P>
<P>The Per&s;ian Monarchy ended al&s;o by the &s;ame meanes; for the Lord of ho&s;ts by rea&s;on of their cruel|ty again&s;t the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 1.14.15.</NOTE> <HI>is jealous for Hieru&s;alem and for Zi|on with a great jealou&s;ie, and is &s;ore d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;plea&s;ed with the&s;e heathen,</HI> becau&s;e when he was but a <HI>little di&s;plea&s;ed they helped forward the affliction.</HI> God did intend to correct them, and the enemies intention was to de&s;troy them; and for this their cruelty, wrath aro&s;e again&s;t them, e|ven hot di&s;plea&s;ure: and hence the angel from the Lord went forth to <HI>fight again&s;t the King of Per&s;ia</HI> in the Chur+ches quarrell,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 10.20.</NOTE> and he &s;tirres up the &s;pirit of <HI>the King of Grecia,</HI> and gives him a &s;ucce&s;&s;e in his enterpri&s;e, be|cau&s;e the Angell went out before him. Thus al&s;o the Grecian Empire came to an end: for in the latter times thereof <HI>when the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors were come to the full,</HI> and they had filled up the mea&s;ure of their impiety, <HI>there came forth a little horne which waxed exceeding great,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 8.9.11.23.24.25.</NOTE> e|ven to the ho&s;t of heaven, and ca&s;t downe &s;ome of the ho&s;t, and of the &s;tarres to the ground and &s;tamped upon them:</HI> That is, as it is expounded afterwards, there &s;toode up Antiochus Epiphanes, <HI>a King of a fierce countenance, under&s;tanding darke &s;entences,</HI> and hee did de&s;troy <HI>the mighty and the holy people,</HI> the mai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e of his rage did break forth again&s;t the Saints, yea hee did &s;tand <HI>up again&s;t the Prince of Princes,</HI> and peri&s;hed in his owne oppo&s;ition, <HI>for he was taken away without hand.</HI></P>
<P>The Roman Empire al&s;o as Pagan, mu&s;t come to de|&s;truction this &s;ame way by their oppo&s;ition again&s;t the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12 7.8.</NOTE> for as a great <HI>Red Dragon</HI> they made warre with the Saints, fought again&s;t <HI>Michael and his Angels,</HI> and
<PB N="26" REF="17">prevayled not, but in their very per&s;ecution they were de&s;toyed; for it proved the ruine of all their Idol|wor&s;hip, and all the Princes that did endeavour to up|hold it.</P>
<P>The Turki&s;h Empyre, now the terrour of the world,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16.12.</NOTE> mu&s;t be de&s;troyed al&s;o in this very way: <HI>Eu|phrates mu&s;t be dryed up that the way of the Kings of the Ea&s;t may be prepared,</HI> Dan. 11.40. <HI>At the time of the end</HI> &s;c. toward the end of the Romane Empire, <HI>the King of the &s;outh,</HI> the Saracen, and <HI>the King of the north,</HI> the Turk, &s;hall come again&s;t the Romane as a <HI>whirl|winde, and &s;hall overflow, and he &s;hall wax great, and &s;hall &s;ubdue all the neighbouring nations,</HI> and <HI>they &s;hall be all at his &s;teps, &s;c.</HI> at his devotion and at his com|mand: And towards the end of his Empire he &s;hall &s;et him&s;elfe again&s;t the Saints, and <HI>he &s;hall plant the Ta|bernacle of his Palace betweene the &s;eas, in the glorious holy mountaine;</HI> and then <HI>he &s;hall come to an end</HI> irrecoverably <HI>none &s;hall helpe him.</HI></P>
<P>And in the end of the world, though in re&s;pect of the former per&s;ecutions <HI>Satan &s;hall be bound up,</HI> that he &s;hall not &s;tir up men to rage and cruelty again&s;t the Saints, as he had done during all the time of the foure Monar|chies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.7,</NOTE> yet when the <HI>thou&s;and yeares</HI> of the Churches Peace and glory are expired, Satan <HI>&s;halbe lo&s;ed againe,</HI> and having but once liberty granted, he will betake him&s;elfe unto the &s;ame cour&s;e that he had u&s;ed in for|mer times, to &s;tir up the wicked of the world in a way of per&s;ecution of the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 20.9.</NOTE> and <HI>Gog</HI> and <HI>Magog</HI> &s;halbe gathered together to battle, and they encompa&s;&s;e the Campe of the Saints and the beloved City, and in this their oppo&s;ition they peri&s;h, now <HI>fire &s;hall come downe from God out of Heaven and deveure them;</HI> thus all the Churches enemies without, do peri&s;h in their
<PB N="27" REF="17">owne oppo&s;ition.</P>
<P>Its true al&s;o of all <HI>enemies within,</HI> &s;ome there are that fight again&s;t Chri&s;t under his owne banner, and per&s;ecute the Saints under the name of Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.7.</NOTE> &s;ometimes <HI>the watch men that goe about the City &s;mite the Church and wound her, and the keepers of the wall take away her Vaile;</HI> yet even the&s;e enemies, their oppo&s;i|tion will prove their de&s;truction, as we may ob&s;erve both in the Jewi&s;h and in the Gentile Churches.</P>
<P>In the Church of the Jewes <HI>Numb.</HI> 16. there were a company of men ro&s;e up again&s;t Mo&s;es and Aaron 250 <HI>Princes famous in the Congregation, men of renowne,</HI> but they did it again&s;t their owne lives (as they are cal|led <HI>&s;inners again&s;t their own &s;oules</HI>) for the Lord created a new Creation, the earth opened her mouth and &s;wal|lowed them up: and when the Lord came in judge|ment to de&s;troy that Church and Sate; this is the &s;in that hath e&s;peciall influence into their de&s;truction, <HI>Mat.</HI> 23.34.35. <HI>Behold I &s;end unto you Prophets, and wi&s;emen, and Scribes, and &s;ome of them ye &s;hall kill and crucifie, and &s;ome of them &s;hall ye &s;courge in your Synagogues, and per|&s;ecute them from City to City; that upon you may come all the righteous bloud &s;hed upon the earth;</HI> therefore they that are enemies to the Saints among them&s;elves &s;hall not e&s;cape.</P>
<P>In the Gentile Churches al&s;o all that ever had their hearts turned again&s;t the Saints, it proved the fore|runner of their de&s;truction. The Church of God had beene in hard travaile 300. yeares, and at la&s;t brought forth <HI>a man childe,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.5.</NOTE> and he was taken up to <HI>the throne of God,</HI> that is, they obtained of God a Chri&s;tian Em|perour: this wrought a great change in the Empire, and they became in &s;hew many of them Chri&s;tians; but then aro&s;e among them a generation of per&s;ecutors
<PB N="28" REF="18">the <HI>floud powred out after the Woman,</HI> which had &s;wal|lowed them up, had not the <HI>earth &s;uccored the Woman,</HI> and God given her the wings of a <HI>great Eagle</HI> to flye in|to the wilderne&s;&s;e: now the Lord will not &s;uffer the per&s;ecutor even by them that live in the Church to goe unrevenged; therefore he doth in judgment devide the Empire; <HI>the ea&s;terne parts</HI> he gives to the <HI>Saracens and Turks,</HI> and the <HI>we&s;terne part</HI> to the <HI>Goths</HI> and <HI>Van|dalls,</HI> tho&s;e barbarous Nations brake in upon them as <HI>a floud</HI> and did overflow all. The <HI>We&s;terne part</HI> of the Empire being broken by the Goths, there ari&s;e in it <HI>ten Kings,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 17.12.</NOTE> and they contribute all their power to &s;et up Antichri&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 17.13.17.</NOTE> they <HI>give their Kingdomes to the Bea&s;t</HI> to this end, <HI>and this Bea&s;t</HI> per&s;ecutes the Saints more then all the former per&s;ecutors had done, and in their per|&s;ecution they peri&s;h;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.8.21.</NOTE> for her <HI>plagues &s;hall come in one day, death and mourning and famine,</HI> and &s;he &s;hall be ca&s;t into the Sea <HI>as a Mil&s;tone,</HI> and <HI>&s;hall be found no more at all:</HI> and the cau&s;e of all this &s;halbe that God may <HI>re|compence upon them the controver&s;ies of Zion,</HI> that he may <HI>avenge the bloud of his &s;ervants at her hands</HI> becau&s;e in her <HI>was found the bloud of the Prophets,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.20, 24. and 19.2.</NOTE> and of the Saints,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.16.</NOTE> and of all that have beene &s;laine upon the earth.</HI> And in the reformed Churches, in <HI>the ten Kingdomes,</HI> whom God will re&s;erve for the ruine of Antichri&s;t, and will u&s;e them in this great worke; yet there &s;hall ari&s;e a per&s;ecution among them&s;elves al&s;o, and in them &s;hall the <HI>Witne&s;&s;es be &s;laine</HI> (for their enemies &s;hall dwell in <HI>the &s;ame &s;treet</HI> where their deads bodies &s;hall lye un|buried) this per&s;ecution &s;hall end in their de&s;truction;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.7.8.</NOTE> for when the witne&s;&s;es &s;hall ri&s;e from the dead, <HI>and a&s;cend to Heaven in a cloud their enemies beholding them,</HI> the &s;ame houre there &s;hall be a great Earthquake, and not onely <HI>the tenth part of the City &s;hall fall,</HI> but in this
<PB N="29" REF="18">Earthquake &s;hall be &s;laine <HI>&s;even thou&s;and of the&s;e men;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.12.13.</NOTE> there &s;hall a very great de&s;truction come upon the enemies to the Saints in the Reformed Churches,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Reliqui ponti|ficiae prius re|ligionis agno&s;|centes in I&s;to|rum Eccle&s;ia|&s;ticorum exci|dio &amp; calami|tate ju&s;tam Dei ultionem, tribuebant gloriam Deo caeli, id e&s;t, ad verum creato|rem conver&s;i &s;unt, Brightm. E&s;ay. 34.5.6.7.8. Ad conten|dendum pro Ziona &amp; ejus cau&s;am vindi|candam, Fo|rer. Annus quo rependet Deus talio|nem Idumaeis, qui jugiter <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ix|ati &s;unt &amp; bel|li gerarunt cum Iudaeis, a L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">p. Et quod de I|dumais dict|um e&s;t, ad uni|ver&s;os Eccle&s;i|ae ho&s;tes ex|tendi certum e&s;t, Calv. Ad excidium Sodomae &amp; Gomorthae al|ludit, in quo perpetuam <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">ae Dei imaginem habemus.</NOTE> they pertaking with Rome in the &s;in, &s;hall be made per|takers of her plagues; and the remnant &s;hall be affright|ed and converted by this de&s;truction upon others, and &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ll give glory to the God of heaven. Thus it will be an univer&s;all ruine, no enemies eyther within or with|out the Church, if they per&s;i&s;t in their oppo&s;ition, ever did or ever &s;hall e&s;cape.</P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, <HI>that the enemies &s;hall bee &s;ure to meet with in their oppo&s;ition to the people of God &s;hall be an utter destruction,</HI> and exceeding fearefull; they &s;hall not pe|ri&s;h in an ordinary way, nor by the common death of other &s;orts of &s;inners, but there is a high degree of ven|geance prepared for them. There is a fearefull wrath comming upon Idumea, <HI>The &s;word is bathed in heaven, it &s;hall come downe upon Idumea, the people of my cur&s;e to judgement, the &s;word of the Lord is filled with blood, and made fat with fatnes, for the Lord hath a &s;acrifice in Boz|rah, and a great &s;laughter in the land of Idumea; the Vni|cornes &s;hall come downe with them and the bullockes with the bulls, and their land &s;hall be drunken with bloud, and their du&s;t made fat with faines.</HI> What is the ground of all this fierce wrath? its only God doth vi&s;it upon them their cruelty to the Saints, <HI>It is the day of the Lords ven+geance, and the yeere for the recompences of the controver&s;ie of Zion: Therefore the &s;treames thereof &s;hall be turned into pitch, and the du&s;t into brim&s;tone, and the land thereof &s;hall become burning pitch, it &s;hall not be quenched night nor day, the &s;moke thereof &s;hall goe up for ever from genera+tion to generation, it &s;hall be wa&s;te, none &s;hall pa&s;&s;e through it for ever and ever,</HI> Zach. 12.3. The Church is com|pared to <HI>a burden&s;ome &s;tone,</HI> which yet would be a bur|den
<PB N="30" REF="19">to none and would hurt no man, if they did not <HI>burden them&s;elves with it;</HI> but if they will, their judge|ment is, <HI>cutting they &s;hall be cut in peeces.</HI> The expre&s;&s;i|on in the Hebrew notes two things; <HI>certainty and extrea|mity: certainty,</HI> Gen. 2.17. <HI>Dying thou &s;halt die:</HI> that is, thou &s;halt &s;urely die. <HI>Extremity</HI> and perfection, Gen. 22 17. <HI>In ble&s;sing I will ble&s;&s;e thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy &s;eed as the &s;tarres of heaven, and as the &s;and upon the &s;ea &s;hore;</HI> that is, I will eminently ble&s;&s;e thee, &amp;c. It notes excellency and certainty, &s;o heere to bee cut in pieces notes great de&s;truction: and yet to ray&s;e the judgement, the Lord doth heighten the expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>cutting they &s;hall be cut in peeces:</HI> that is, they &s;hall cer|tainly peri&s;h, and that not in an ordinary way, but by an eminent and utter de&s;truction, Jer. 51.11. <HI>Make bright the arrowes, gather the &s;hields; the Lord hath ray&s;ed up the &s;pirit of the Kings of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to de&s;troy it, becau&s;e it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his Temple.</HI> And therefore is Romes ruine utter and finall; &s;he &s;hallbe utterly con&s;u|med with fire, <HI>and the light of a candle &s;hall bee &s;eene no more in her at all, and the voyce of the bridegroome and the bride &s;hall be heard no more in her at all, becau&s;e in her will be found the bloud of all the Saints that have beene &s;laine upon the earth,</HI> and this bloud God doth vi&s;it and avenge upon her.</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, <HI>It &s;hall be &s;uch a de&s;truction as all the power of the earth</HI> &s;hall not bee able to prevent or re&s;i&s;t, Zac. 12.3. All that <HI>burden them&s;elves</HI> with the Church, &s;hall be cut in peeces, though all the people of the earth be gathered again&s;t it. The world glory in their multi|tudes and their confederacies, as if they &s;hould be able by their owne &s;trength to deliver them&s;elves; but the greate&s;t mountayne &s;hall become a plaine before the
<PB N="31" REF="19">Church, not by power nor by might, but by the &s;pirit of the Lord, they &s;hall come to an end, and none &s;hall helpe them: when A&s;&s;yriah is in her greate&s;t glory,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 11.45.</NOTE> a mountayne; then mu&s;t the worme Jacob ari&s;e and thre&s;h it, and God will ray&s;e up <HI>&s;even &s;hepheards,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich 5.5.6.</NOTE> and <HI>eight principall men,</HI> and <HI>they &s;hall di&s;tre&s;&s;e Nimrod in the en|trances thereof:</HI> a &s;mall party &s;hall prevayle again&s;t all the &s;trength of the enemy. When the Grecian Monar|chy is in its &s;trength, the Lord will then bend Judah for him, and fill the bow with Ephraim, and ray&s;e up <HI>the &s;ons of Zion again&s;t the &s;ons of Greece,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 9.13.</NOTE> and make them as the <HI>&s;word of a mighty man, and as his goodly hor&s;e for the battell,</HI> and they &s;hall be broken even <HI>without hand,</HI> Dan. 8.25. When the Turki&s;h Empire &s;hall bee at its height, then &s;hall the River Euphrates be dryed up,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16.12.</NOTE> be|fore the Saints; to make way for the Kings of the Ea&s;t. And in that la&s;t and the greate&s;t oppo&s;ition of Gog and Magog, where their number &s;hall bee as the &s;and upon the &s;ea &s;hore, yet then their multitude and their &s;trength &s;hall not pre&s;erve them, they &s;hall peri&s;h not by the &s;word of a mighty man, nor the &s;word of a meane man &s;hall devoure them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 29.8.9.</NOTE> but <HI>a fire &s;hall come downe from God out of heaven.</HI> There is &s;urely no e&s;caping for tho&s;e that per&s;evere in the oppo&s;ition and per&s;ecution of the Saints.</P>
<P>I come now to the la&s;t Doctrine, &s;o let them peri&s;h:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apo&s;trophe ad Deum inter|po&s;it<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">, nos ex|citat ut &s;ingu|lari affectu Deum tanto|rum facino|rum authorem &s;u&s;prciamus, Pet. Martyr.</NOTE> that is, as the&s;e have done in their oppo&s;ition, by the prayers, by the power, and by the pray&s;es of thy peo|ple. Some expre&s;&s;e it as a prayer, <HI>&s;o let them peri&s;h,</HI> by the &s;ame meanes, and in the &s;ame maner, that doe ri&s;e up again&s;t the Saints. As P&s;. 83.9.10. <HI>Doe unto them as unto Si&s;era, as to Iabin at the brooke of Ki&s;on who peri&s;h|ed at Endor, they became as the dung of the earth:</HI> with &s;uch a de&s;truction, <HI>let all thine enemies peri&s;h.</HI> Others
<PB N="32" REF="20">looking upon Deborah as one that &s;pake by a prophe|ticall &s;pirit,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non tam no|tandi modo, quam predi|cendi; tempore futuro haec Hebraic&egrave; e|nunciantur. Qui &s;ic optant &amp; agunt, atque Deo bellum i|ta inferre pa|rant, &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> et<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">am per<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">bun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">, Mon|tan. <HI>Doct.</HI> Dan 8.24. E&s;ay. 41.14.15.16. Zach. 4 6. E&s;ay. 59, 19. <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ig|nificat flumen angu&s;tum &amp; rapidum &s;c. magna celeri|tate &amp; magno impetu, &amp; ad Dominum re|&s;ertur non ad ho&s;tem, ab Arnoldo Bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">|tio. Animadv. &s;acr. cap. 2. Zach. 9.13.14. and 10.3.</NOTE> conceive it to bee a prophe&s;ie and predicti|on of the overthrow of all the Churches enemies: and they render it, <HI>&s;o &s;hall all thine enemies peri&s;h,</HI> in the &s;ame maner, and by the &s;ame meanes that the&s;e have done.</P>
<P><HI>The Churches enemies &s;hall peri&s;h in their oppo&s;ition, by the power, prayers and pray&s;es of the Saints.</HI> The branch|es of the point are three.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>By their power.</HI> A weake people they u&s;ually are if ye looke upon them in them&s;elves; but yet mighty through God, and terrible as an Army with banners: In the lowe&s;t condition of the Church, and when the enemy prevayles over them, they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> the <HI>mighty and the holy people.</HI> When Jacob is but <HI>a worme, then hee &s;hall ri&s;e and thre&s;h the mountaines:</HI> for God will ray<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e up their &s;pirits, fight their battels, gird their loynes, and &s;trengthen their hands, not by power nor by might, but by his &s;pirit; and when the enemy &s;hall <HI>breake in as a floud, the &s;pirit of the Lord &s;hall lift up a &s;tandard again&s;t him,</HI> by ray&s;ing the &s;pirits of his people, by a&s;&s;i&s;ting them mightily, and making them victorious again&s;t all oppo&s;ition: for the Lord him&s;elfe doth fight again&s;t all the enemies, and his people are but the weapons that he doth u&s;e in the expedition; <HI>Iudah is his bow, and Ehraim his arrow, and his goodly hor&s;e for the battell.</HI> And when the Lord will u&s;e an ungodly people as weapons in his hand, they &s;hall mightily prevayle. If hee will u&s;e Ba|bylon as his battle axe,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer 51.20.</NOTE> he will <HI>with him breake in peeces the Nations, and de&s;troy the Kingdoms:</HI> how much more when he will make Judah his battle axe, and his wea|pons of war,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joannes Foxe in Comment. &s;uis.</NOTE> whom he doth much more delight to u&s;e and honour? &s;ome do conceive that in reference to this victory heere by the waters of Megiddo, that la&s;t great battell hath its name, which &s;hall bee betweene Chri&s;t
<PB N="33" REF="20">and Antichri&s;t, called therefore the <HI>battell Armageddon,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Brightm.</NOTE> Rev. 16.16. which &s;ome render <HI>mons deliciarum,</HI> the mountayne of delights unto God and his people: and others render it <HI>mons excidii,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Par.</NOTE> the mountayne of &s;laugh|ter and de&s;truction to the Churches enemies. The Churches enemies have comonly fallen by their hand in the end, E&s;a. 31.8.9. The A&s;&s;yrian &s;hall fall by the &s;word, not of a mighty man, and the &s;word not of a meane man &s;hall devoure him. Whence then &s;hall his de&s;truction come? Not &s;o much from any in&s;trument, but from the hand of God <HI>made bare</HI> therein:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignem hanc accendi &amp; fo|veri dicit in medio populi &s;ui, ut &s;ignifi|cet impios non impune Eccle|&s;iam per&s;equi, &amp;c. Calv. in loc.</NOTE> and <HI>the Lords fire is in Zion and his furnace in Ieru&s;alem;</HI> it is out of Zion that the fire comes that con&s;umes the enemies, and it is into this fiery fornace they are ca&s;t when they are de&s;troyed, Ezech. 24.14. <HI>I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people I&s;rael, and they &s;hall doe in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury, &s;aith the Lord God.</HI> They that are with the Lamb, <HI>called and cho&s;en and faithfull,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 17, 14, &amp; 18, 6.</NOTE> they &s;hall burne Rome with fire, and <HI>reward her according as &s;he hath rewarded them, and &s;hall double to her double according to her works, in the cup that &s;hee filled to them, they &s;hall fill unto her double.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>By their prayers.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4, 13.</NOTE> The Lord Je&s;us having made the Saints together with him&s;elfe Heyres of the world, hee hath al&s;o given them a great hand in the Governe|ment of the world, as they &s;hall have in the Judgement of it at the la&s;t and great day:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6, 1, 2.</NOTE> therefore their prayers are Decrees as wel as the prayers of the Angels, and are called by the &s;ame name, Iob. 22.28. Dan. 4.17.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> And the great executions and tran&s;actions of things in the world doe pa&s;&s;e through their hands;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49, 8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>they binde Kings in chaynes, and Nobles with fetters of iron, this honour have all his Saints.</HI> Its ob&s;ervable that in all the great
<PB N="34" REF="21">turnings of the world, the prayers of the Saints have had the great hand.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14, 15, 16, 17. Exod. 17, 11, 12. P&s;al. 76, 2.</NOTE> Aegypt is de&s;troyed in the red &s;ea, but it is by the prayer of Mo&s;es. Amaleck is routed by prayer. Thereby armies di&s;comfited, victories woon, <HI>in Salem God breakes the arrowes of the bow, the &s;hield, the &s;word, and the battell.</HI> And they that &s;cape the fierce&s;t pur&s;uers among men, prayer will overtake them: <HI>hee that e&s;capes the &s;word of Hazael and Iehu &s;hall Eli&s;ha &s;lay:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King, 19, 17. Gladionon corporali &s;ed &s;pirituali, A Lap. Ad horribilem famem &s;ub Jo|ram refertur; quia Deo impe travit Eli&s;aeus cum ab idolo|latria I&s;raeli|tae nollent di&s;|cedere, Pet. Martyr. in loc. Rev. 4, 5. Rev. 6, 10.</NOTE> and yet we know he was not a man of war, one that did handle the &s;word, onely the word did goe out of his mouth and tooke effect upon them. And all the great turnings in the Chri&s;tian world &s;ince Chri&s;ts time have beene no other then the fruit of the praiers of the Saints. The Seales in the booke of the Revelation, &s;et forth the judgement of God upon Pagan Rome; and they are all in an&s;wer to prayers, for out of the throne <HI>&s;c.</HI> the pre|&s;ence of the Lord in the mid&s;t of his people, <HI>proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voyces.</HI> And in an&s;wer to the cry of the &s;oules under the Altar, who cryed with a loud voyce, <HI>How long Lord holy and true, doe&s;t thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth.</HI></P>
<P>The Trumpets &s;et foorth the judgements executed upon Rome Chri&s;tian; and the&s;e al&s;o proceede from the prayers of the Saints, for the fire ca&s;t upon the earth in tho&s;e plagues was taken off the Altar,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 8, 5.</NOTE> and there were voices and thundrings and lightnings and an earthquake &amp;c. The Trumpets &s;ounded but it was in an&s;wer to prayer, after there had beene <HI>&s;ilence in heaven for the &s;pace of halfe an howre, &s;c.</HI> during the time of the incen&s;e offering.</P>
<P>The Vialls &s;et forth the judgements of God upon Rome Antichri&s;tian; and the great voice that comman|ded the&s;e Angels to powre out their Vials upon the
<PB N="35" REF="21">earth came out of the Temple: that is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16, 1. De Templo venit quando precibus &s;an|ctorum aliquid impetratur, quibus man|dandi partes hic tribuntur ut &s;ciamus quantam vim habent fideles precationes, Brightm. Rev. 11, 5, 6.</NOTE> from the prayers of the Saints; and who&s;oever &s;hall ob&s;erve the great changes in the world that all the&s;e &s;et forth, wilbe for|ced to acknowledge what a mighty power there is in the prayers of the Saints. And that it may appeare it was not only &s;o in ancient times, he &s;ayth the witne&s;&s;es even in the&s;e latter dayes &s;hall have <HI>a power to &s;hut hea|ven that it &s;hall not raine, to turne waters into bloud, and to &s;mite the earth with plagues as often as they will.</HI> And that this is the mi&s;ery of all the Churches enemies, <HI>If any man will hurt them, fire &s;hall proceed out of their mouthes, and devour them, and who ever he be, he mu&s;t in this ma|ner be killed.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>By their prai&s;es:</HI> for out of the <HI>mouthes of babes the Lord hath ordained them,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8, 2.</NOTE> that he &s;hould &s;till the <HI>ene|my and the avenger:</HI> when <HI>Ieho&s;ophat,</HI> and all the people promi&s;ed God in the <HI>beauty of holine&s;&s;e,</HI> the Lord &s;et <HI>ambu&s;hments again&s;t the children of Ammon, Moab,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 20, 22, 23.</NOTE> and Mount Sei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ letters">, which were come again&s;t Iudah, and they &s;mote one another.</HI> When <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas &s;ung in the pri|&s;on,</HI> the earth did quake; and &s;o it commonly doth at the prai&s;es of the Saints. <HI>The enemies of the Church doe fall before their prai&s;es as well as their prayers.</HI></P>
<P>Let us now come to the <HI>Application</HI> of the&s;e three points for a conclu&s;ion.</P>
<P>They &s;erve for <HI>Admonition,</HI> for <HI>con&s;olation</HI> and di|rection.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,
<MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="&V;&s;e."> for <HI>Admonition</HI> unto all the enemies of the Church: <HI>cea&s;e your</HI> rage again&s;t them, your plots, your hopes; <HI>refraine</HI> from them, let them alone, they are but <HI>pa&s;&s;engers</HI> and <HI>Pilgrims,</HI> they are going unto <HI>Ca|naan;</HI> if the world be your countrey, let them quiet|ly and peaceably pa&s;&s;e through it, without oppo&s;ition, or per&s;ecution, or el&s;e ye will be <HI>found fighters again&s;t
<PB N="36" REF="22">God,</HI> and ye will but meet with your owne de&s;truction in the end.</P>
<P>To enforce this Admonition, let the&s;e <HI>con&s;iderations</HI> be duely weighed.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for God to give a man up to a &s;pirit of emnity, and oppo&s;ition to his people, is the greate&s;t <HI>&s;pirituall judgement</HI> that can befall a man in this life: it is the <HI>De|vils cur&s;e</HI> to be the <HI>envious man,</HI> the <HI>accu&s;er</HI> and the <HI>per&s;ecutor</HI> of the brethren: and the more a mans heart is turned again&s;t the Saints the more fully doth this cur&s;e take place upon him. It was the great <HI>&s;pirituall judgement</HI> upon Aegypt, and a mo&s;t dangerous fore|runner of their utter de&s;truction, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 105.25. It is commonly demanded by Interpreters on that place, how God is &s;aid to <HI>turne the hearts of men to hate his peo|ple?</HI> and it is commonly an&s;wered, as in the ca&s;e of hardning <HI>Pharoahs</HI> heart: men <HI>turne</HI> their owne heerts again&s;t Gods people <HI>&s;infully,</HI> and God turnes them <HI>ju|dicially, di&s;erved,</HI> by for&s;aking them, leaving them to the power of Satan, and the rage of their owne &s;pi|rits, <HI>&amp; media di&s;ponendo,</HI> &s;o ordering and di&s;po&s;ing ob|jects and occa&s;ions, as to draw out their rage, and ma|lice again&s;t his people. The greate&s;t &s;pirituall judge|ment is a <HI>hard heart,</HI> and of this <HI>hardne&s;&s;e</HI> there are &s;e|verall degrees; but of them all two are the highe&s;t, to <HI>&s;it downe in the chaire of the &s;corner, and in the throne of the per&s;ecutor.</HI> This did fill up the mea&s;ure of <HI>Pharoahs</HI> hardne&s;&s;e, Exod. 10 28. <HI>Take heed to thy &s;elfe, &s;ee my face no more; for in the day thou &s;ee&s;t my face thou &s;halt dye:</HI> how would it make a mans heart tremble, to con&s;ider how far, at this time, this judgment is powred out upon this Nation?</P>
<P>Secondly, what&s;oever any man doth in oppo&s;ition to the Saints, he is <HI>a ve&s;&s;ell of di&s;honour</HI> in all tho&s;e
<PB N="37" REF="22">workes: it is the &s;ame &s;ervice in which the Devills are imployd, and <HI>God hates them</HI> when he doth imploy them: <HI>The A&s;&s;yrian the rod of mine anger,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 10, 5, 12 24.</NOTE> and the &s;taffe of mine indignation: I &s;end him again&s;t an hypocriticall Nation, again&s;t the people of my wrath; and I give him a charge to take the &s;poyle, and to tread them downe like the mire of the &s;treets:</HI> and this charge of God he doth execute to the utmo&s;t; but was the Lord well plea&s;ed therewith? he &s;aith <HI>when he had performed his whole worke upon Zion, the indignation &s;hould cea&s;e, and his anger in his de&s;truction:</HI> and it's a hard &s;ervice to be im|ployed in that which brings forth neither acceptance nor reward, but indignation and de&s;truction in the end.</P>
<P>Thirdly, your very oppo&s;ition will prove your de&s;truction; <HI>the pit that you dig</HI> for the Saints yee &s;hall &s;urely <HI>fall into,</HI> it is a worke that ever ended in the ruine of the Actors, <HI>E&s;ay.</HI> 59.5. It's &s;aid of wicked men, <HI>that they hatch cockatrice egges, and they weave a &s;piders webbe, the webbe never becomes a gar|ment, and the egges cur&s;ed breakes into a Viper:</HI> it &s;ets forth two properties, and fruits of al the labours of the workers of iniquity; they are unprofitable, they attaine not their end in them, and they are <HI>de&s;tructive,</HI> they bring forth a Viper that &s;tings him to death that hatch|ed it, and the wrath of God will never be pacified, be|ing once provoked, till it end in their utter overthrow, <HI>Zach.</HI> 6.8. when the Angels as in&s;truments of vengeance went into the north Countrey <HI>&s;c.</HI> into <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Chal|dea;</HI> and they have quieted my &s;pirit, &s;aith the Lord; that is they pacified my wrath by <HI>executing</HI> vengeance upon the per&s;ecutors, the people of my wrath: let me rea&s;on with you a little, was there no other way of &s;in|ning that could bring vengeance enough upon you, and &s;inke you deepe enough into perdition but ye mu&s;t
<PB N="38" REF="23"><HI>touch the apple of the Lords eye.</HI> May not I &s;ay with Mo|&s;es, <HI>Was not the iniquity of Peor enough, from which ye are not clean&s;ed unto this day?</HI> Was not your drunkenne&s;&s;e, &s;wearing, uncleanne&s;&s;e, hatred of godline&s;&s;e, &s;uper&s;titi|on, enough, but that you mu&s;t breake forth into per&s;e|cution al&s;o?</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, your de&s;truction is neere&s;t when yee are highe&s;t, when your confederacy is &s;tronge&s;t, and your hopes ray&s;ed to the greate&s;t perfection: when the enemy is as &s;moake out of a chimney and doth threaten even to darken the Sunne, then &s;hall they bee &s;cattered, Ho&s;e 12.3. When they a&s;&s;ociate them&s;elves, and have the greate&s;t combination of parties and coun&s;els, then they &s;hall be broken in pieces.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 8, 9, 10.</NOTE> When they are folded together as thornes, and drunken with confidence as the drunkards, then &s;hall they be con&s;umed as &s;tubble fully dry. The Lord doth many times lay the Church low in a de&s;igne, that the enemy may put forth their power and &s;hew foorth their malice to the utmo&s;t again&s;t it; therefore he is &s;ayd to make Ieru&s;alem <HI>a cup of poy&s;on:</HI> no man attempts to drinke wine while it is in the pipe or in the ve&s;&s;ell: the Church of God is alway poy&s;on to the enemies, but not alway put into a cup and made rea|dy and fit for their mouthes: but when the Church of God is brought into a low condition, its then prepared to invite the enemy as it were to attempt &s;ome thing up|on it; partly from the plea&s;antne&s;&s;e of &s;uch a draught, and partly from the ea&s;e of it, its as ea&s;ie as to drink, and they can make no re&s;i&s;tance. The Church is &s;ometimes a great &s;tone,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12, 2, 3. <GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> even as a mountayne, and it fils the earth; and then the enemies dare not attempt to burden them|&s;elves therewith, but &s;ometimes it is a &s;tone of a le&s;&s;er &s;ize, and then they are ready to thinke they may carry it away with ca&s;e; whereas though it be not alwayes &s;o
<PB N="39" REF="23">great, yet it is as heavy, and they finde it &s;o, for it <HI>breaks them to peeces.</HI> When&s;oever the Church of God is brought low it is in de&s;igne, that their enemies may be en&s;nared and taken.</P>
<P N="5">5. Fiftly, by the&s;e means ye &s;hall bring upon your &s;elves the guilt of all the bloud of the Saints that hath beene &s;hed in former ages. To reade of the cruelty of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, the Iewes in crucifying the Lord of Life, and of the ten bloudy Per|&s;ecutors, and the rage of Antichri&s;t &s;urpa&s;&s;ing all the&s;e; and to have all this bloud lie upon one generation, who would not tremble at it? But yet all the bloud of for|mer times will come upon the per&s;ecutors of this la&s;t age of the world. Matth. 23.34.35. <HI>That upon you may come all the righteous bloud &s;hed upon the earth, from the bloud of righteous Abel, unto the bloud of Zacharias the &s;on of Barachias.</HI> It is much que&s;tioned how this is to bee under&s;tood, that the bloud &s;hed in one age &s;hould in the guilt of it come upon another, and how the bloud of all former ages &s;hould come upon this la&s;t?</P>
<P>To under&s;tand it rightly, the&s;e two things are to bee con&s;idered.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, that it is to be under&s;tood only in re&s;pect of temporall puni&s;hments and not of eternall; for as no man ever went to heaven by the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of ano|ther meere man, &s;o no man &s;hall ever goe to hell for the wickedne&s;&s;e of another. Heere the &s;onne &s;hall not bear the iniquity of the father, but the &s;oule that &s;innes &s;hall die. Yet in things temporall, as children may have ma|ny ble&s;&s;ings, as a reward of their fathers graces and o|bedience (as God brought I&s;rael into Canaan,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cron. 20.7.</NOTE> although they were a very di&s;obedient and &s;tiffenecked people, becau&s;e it was the Land which he had promi&s;ed to A|braham his friend: and hee delivered them in the dayes
<PB N="40" REF="24">of Hezekiah for his &s;ervant Davids &s;ake) &s;o they may be under many temporall judgements,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 37.35.</NOTE> as a puni&s;hment of their fathers di&s;obedience: the Lord heerein u&s;ing his &s;overaignty and prerogative to puni&s;h a man eyther in his per&s;on or his po&s;terity,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9, 25. 2 King 5, 27.</NOTE> as he did Cham in Canaan his &s;on, and Gehe&s;ie both in his per&s;on and in his &s;eede al&s;o.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, God lookes upon a generation or &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion of men as a body, and in the puni&s;hment of their &s;innes he doth &s;hew both ju&s;tice and providence. As there is a mea&s;ure of iniquity in particular men to bee filled up before eternall wrath &s;hall take hold of them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 51, 13. Dan. 8, 23. Zach. 5.6. Joel. 3, 13. Rev. 14, 15.</NOTE> &s;o is there a mea&s;ure appointed al&s;o to a State, or a ge|neration of men, which mu&s;t be filled up before Tem|porall wrath &s;hall come upon them. Wee &s;ee the Tem|porall judgement upon the Amorites is deferred, be|cau&s;e their <HI>iniquity was not yet full,</HI> and the time to fill it up was 400 yeeres, Gen. 15.16. The Lords Decree is gone forth to <HI>blot out the remembrance, of Amalecke from under heaven,</HI> Exod. 17.14. and yet this people doe not come up into remembrance before the Lord to their utter de&s;truction till the dayes of Saul, 1 Sam. 15.2. and then the Lord &s;its upon their po&s;terity their fathers &s;innes, <HI>becau&s;e they layd wayt for I&s;rael in the way when they came out of Egypt.</HI> So Chri&s;t &s;ayth to the Phari&s;es; <HI>ye are the children of them that killed the Prophets, fill yee up the mea&s;ure of your fathers,</HI> Matth. 23.31.32. So that when children walke on in their fathers wayes, and fill up their mea&s;ure, though in re&s;pect of eternall wrath inflicted upon their per&s;ons, they were in hell many yeeres agoe, and received a ju&s;t recompence of reward, yet the temporal puni&s;hment may be re&s;erved for after ages, and vi&s;ited upon the po&s;terity when tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion is come to the full. Thus all the cruelty executed upon
<PB N="41" REF="24">the Saints from the bloud of Abel was vi&s;ited upon the Jewes in the de&s;truction of Jeru&s;alem, and all the bloud &s;hed upon the earth &s;hall be vi&s;ited upon Babylon the great the mother of harlots, when &s;he &s;hall come up in|to remembrance before God, with all tho&s;e that have receyved her marke, or borne her image, or acted with her in a way of bloud.</P>
<P N="6">6. Sixthly, there are no &s;ort of &s;inners in who&s;e de&s;truction the Lord doth &s;o much delight; it is unto him a &s;acrifice of a &s;weet &s;avour, E&s;a. 34.6. Jer. 46.10. Z<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ph. 1.7.8. And as Satan the neerer his kingdome is to end, the greater is his rage, <HI>great wrath becau&s;e his time is &s;hort,</HI> &s;o the neerer Chri&s;t comes to the perfect po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of his Kingdome (for when the enemies are &s;ub|dued, all the Kingdomes of the earth &s;hall be the Lords and his Chri&s;ts) the more will he put on zeale as a gar|ment, and the more he will ha&s;ten the enemies over|throw: he will doe more in a &s;hort time at la&s;t, then hee hath in many ages in times pa&s;t. If it bee but a &s;lande|rer,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid tandem Deus Opt. Max. in te de|cernet? Sagit|tas &s;uas de&s;u|per; nec non carbones &s;eu primas Juni|perorum in Gehenna. Mi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s. in loc.</NOTE> or one that per&s;ecutes with a de&s;pitefull heart and a fal&s;e tongue, he &s;hall not lo&s;e his labour: therefore the que&s;tion is put, P&s;al. 121.3.4. What &s;hall be given un|to thee, or what &s;halbe done unto thee thou fal&s; tongue? Thy reward from the Lord &s;halbe, mighty and &s;harp ar|rowes with coales of Iuniper, which as they burne hot|te&s;t and continue the longe&s;t, &s;o they doe in the burn|ing yeeld a &s;weet &s;avour.</P>
<P>The &s;econd u&s;e is for con&s;olation to all the Saints,
<MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="&V;&s;e"> and the Lord takes great care that they &s;hould be com|forted, that their &s;pirit might not &s;inke and fayle in the evill day: Comfort yee, comfort yee my people,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 40.1.</NOTE> &s;ayth your God: and when the Lord Chri&s;t drew neere his &s;uffering, when a man would have expected all his thoughts &s;hould have beene taken up about him&s;elfe,
<PB N="42" REF="25">yet now he takes care to beare up the &s;pirits of his peo|ple that they might not bee overwhelmed with over|much &s;orrow, Io. 14.1. Let not your hearts bee trou|bled &amp;c. Truly we had need of great &s;upports, becau&s;e the enemies are many and enraged, mens &s;pirits are in judgement turned to hate the Saints, and it is to be fear|ed, if a man rightly di&s;cernes the &s;ignes of the times, that the killing of the witne&s;&s;es drawes neere, which will &s;urely bee the bittere&s;t and bloudie&s;t per&s;ecution that ever befell the Chri&s;tian Churches.</P>
<P>My purpo&s;e is not to give you tho&s;e ordinary &s;up|ports which are common to all afflictions, as that they come from a fathers hand, from a heart full of love, that they &s;halbe in mea&s;ure, and make a man partaker of the holine&s;&s;e of God in the end, for this is all the fruit to take away the &s;inne &amp;c. though the&s;e are great grounds to &s;tay a mans faith upon. But I would rather pitch up|on tho&s;e that might be more proper and peculiar to the enemies and &s;ufferings of the la&s;t times, the cup that God hath re&s;erved for you.</P>
<P N="1">1. The&s;e &s;halbe the la&s;t great &s;uffrings of the &s;aints, and they &s;halbe but &s;hort; for as all the former bea&s;ts are de&s;troyed, &s;o there now remaines onely the &s;eventh head of the fourth bea&s;t, which is as the eight and mu&s;t goe into perdition, Rev. 17.11. and then all the emi|nent per&s;ecutions of the Church &s;hall cea&s;e, and there &s;hall be no more a pricking briar, and a grieving thorne in the Lords holy Mountaine: the Lord &s;hall then wipe away all teares from your eyes, there &s;hall bee no more &s;orrow, nor crying, the witne&s;&s;es &s;hall die but once, and it &s;halbe the &s;harpe&s;t but yet the &s;horte&s;t of the Chur|ches &s;ufferings. To all you that have beene with the <HI>Lambe called and cho&s;en and faythfull,</HI> I &s;ay as the Mar|tyr did, Hold out faith and patience, your worke is al|mo&s;t
<PB N="43" REF="25">at an end. It was a great comfort to Hierome of Prague, that he could &s;ay to his per&s;ecutors at his death, <HI>Centum revolutis annis Deo re&s;pondebitis &amp; mihi:</HI> after an hundred yeeres God would call them to an account in avenging his bloud; but you may &s;ummon your per&s;ecutors before God to an&s;wer in a far le&s;&s;e time.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, the&s;e la&s;t &s;ufferings &s;hall be an inlet to the mo&s;t glorious deliverances that ever the Church of God had: for the killing of the witne&s;&s;es &s;hall make way for their re&s;urrection,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.12.15.</NOTE> when they &s;hall <HI>a&s;cend to hea|ven in a cloud, their enemies beholding them.</HI> And then &s;hall the Kingdomes of the earth become the King|domes of the Lord, and the dominion under the whole heaven &s;hall be given to the Saynts of the mo&s;t High,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 7.27.</NOTE> and they &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e it for ever and ever.</P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, all your &s;infulne&s;&s;e and unworthines, &s;hall not hinder your redemption: though the people of God fall, yet they &s;hall ri&s;e, and though they may &s;it in darkne&s;&s;e, the Lord will bee light about them. Indeed the great di&s;couragements to the Saints are their &s;innes, and their unan&s;werable walking unto meanes and mer|cies, but yet the Lord cannot alter the word gone out of his lips, nor &s;uffer his faythfulne&s;&s;e to fayle, E&s;ay 10.27. <HI>The burden &s;hall bee taken away from off thy &s;houlder, and the yoke from off thy necke, and the yoke &s;hall bee de|&s;troyed, becau&s;e of the annointing.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gla&s;&s;. Rhetor &s;acr. Calv. in loc.</NOTE> Some take the annoin|ting for Chri&s;t the annointed of the Lord, and others for the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, which by an unction the Lord had e&s;tabli&s;hed, whether Chri&s;t or the Kingdom of Chri&s;t be under&s;tood, yet there is an annointing that will breake every yoke. Their &s;innes may procure their affliction, but they &s;hall never hinder their redemption.</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, The enemies &s;hall never bee able to &s;et up Popery in this kingdome againe, and to e&s;tabli&s;h
<PB N="44" REF="26">any of tho&s;e things that relate to it; that the Lord hath removed in the&s;e late yeeres, they &s;hall never bee able to root out the Saints out of the Reformed Churches, but they &s;hall grow by their oppo&s;ition. Chri&s;t will &s;urely keepe the ground that hee hath won in a way of Reformation; and what the former vialls have de&s;troy|ed &s;hall never be made up againe, for hee will not lo&s;e the fruit of his conque&s;t in any one of them. His &s;ha|kings of heaven and earth are to this end, that hee may remove the things that are &s;haken as of things that are made, that tho&s;e things that cannot <HI>be &s;haken may remain</HI> Heb. 12.27. There is nothing that is made by man in the things concerning God, but he will have a &s;haking time for it, and his end in &s;haking it is, that hee may re|move it, and he doth not &s;o remove it, that the enemies &s;hould againe e&s;tabli&s;h it. And therefore what ever of Popery the Lord hath &s;haken and removed, I doe con|clude, that all the power of the enemy &s;hall never &s;et up againe. I doe not doubt but there will bee many and de&s;perate attempts for it, but they &s;hall never bee able to prevayle, as when the Heatheni&s;h way of wor&s;hip was de&s;troyed, there were many endeavoured to &s;et it up againe.</P>
<P>Fiftly, <HI>God will in an e&s;peciall manner owne you in all your &s;ufferings,</HI> as he calls you forth for him, &s;o will hee a&s;&s;uredly appeare for you; and therefore he &s;aith when men reject them and ca&s;t them out,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.3.</NOTE> they are <HI>my two wit|ne&s;&s;es,</HI> and they &s;hall have the &s;ame power with him that any of the <HI>ancient Saints</HI> have had in times pa&s;t, they &s;hall <HI>turne water into bloud</HI> with Mo&s;es and Aaron, they &s;hall <HI>&s;hut Heaven that it &s;hall not raine,</HI> with Elijah, they &s;hall be <HI>two Olive trees &s;tanding before the God of the earth:</HI> with Jo&s;hua and Zorobabel, if any man hurt them <HI>fire &s;hall come out of their mouthes and devour them,
<PB N="45" REF="26">and they &s;hall &s;mite the earth with plagues as often as they will;</HI> &s;o that the greater per&s;ecution they &s;hall meet with all from men the nearer <HI>acce&s;&s;e</HI> they &s;hall have to God and the greater <HI>acceptance</HI> with him, and as the <HI>affliction</HI> &s;hall abound, &s;o &s;hall al&s;o the <HI>con&s;olation,</HI> and to be owned eminently by God, and to be looked upon as tho&s;e of whom the world is not worthy, when they are di&s;owned by men and accounted not worthy to live in the world, is a great meanes to beare up mens &s;pirits in the greate&s;t &s;ufferings.</P>
<P>Sixtly, <HI>It &s;hall end in their finall and utter de&s;truction;</HI> for there &s;hall follow an <HI>earthquake,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 11.13.</NOTE> in which <HI>the tenth part of the City &s;hall fall:</HI> Chri&s;t &s;hall be clothed with <HI>a ve&s;ture dipt in bloud,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 19.13.15.</NOTE> and he &s;hall tread the wine pre&s;&s;e and fiercene&s;&s;e of the wrath of Almighty God, and all tho&s;e ancient Prophe&s;ies, as well for the enemies de|&s;truction as for the Saints redemption &s;halbe fullfilled; for time or delay &s;halbe no more,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 10.6.7.</NOTE> the my&s;tery of God &s;halbe fini&s;hed, as he hath declared to his &s;ervants the Prophets; and then &s;hall that ancient prediction of Lac|tantius be fullfilled,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De divino praemio lib. 7. c. 15.</NOTE> <HI>Romanum nomen quo nunc regitur ab orbis (horret animus dicere, &s;edd cam quia futurum est,) tolletur de terra.</HI> All that power of <HI>Rome</HI> which hath for many hundred yeares, as the fourth Bea&s;t ty|rannized over the Churches, all this &s;hall be de&s;troy|ed in the little horne,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 7.11.26.</NOTE> and the Bea&s;t given to the bur|ning flame, to be con&s;umed and de&s;troyed unto the end.</P>
<P>But e&s;pecially by <HI>Iulian,</HI> who did in di&s;pight to Chri&s;t and Chri&s;tianity u&s;e all meanes to bring in <HI>Pagan Idolatry</HI> againe, and to build the Temple at Jeru&s;alem, and to &s;et up againe the Jewi&s;h wor&s;hip; and to this end &s;et a great multitude of poore deluded Jewes about this worke; but when they had gotten materialls to|gether,
<PB N="46" REF="27">and thought to &s;et about the building: that night the Lord &s;ent a whirl-winde, and &s;catered all the materialls; but they were not thus di&s;couraged from the worke, but they &s;ought out the ancient foundation of the Temple to build upon it, and having found it, the Lord &s;ent an earthquake, which ca&s;t up all the for|mer foundation; and then that Prophe&s;ie was full filled, there was not a <HI>&s;tone left upon a &s;tone not throwne downe;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecce globus igneus e fun|damentis Templi erum|peus laboran|tibus occur tens, operari|os multos am|bu&s;&s;it, incendi|o illo per to|tum diem du|rante. Ea mi|racula quo&s;|dam Iudaeos ita permove|runt ut Chri|&s;tum Deum agno&s;cerent. Religio vero indurati cum indignatione opus caeptum dereliquerunt. O&s;iander Epi|tom. hi&s;t. Ec|cle&s;ia&s;t. Cent. 4 l. 3. c. 34.</NOTE> but &s;uch was their blindene&s;&s;e and de&s;perate madne&s;&s;e, that they would not de&s;i&s;t from the enterpri&s;e; there|fore the Lord &s;ent a fire out of the foundations of the Temple, which con&s;umed many of the workmen, their materialls and in&s;truments for the building, and then at la&s;t they began with &s;hame and indignation to give it over. The like endeavours wee may expect for Rome Antichri&s;tian, and with greater violence, but they &s;hall be alway &s;o cro&s;&s;ed that they &s;hall at la&s;t peri&s;h in their owne oppo&s;ition: what ground the Lord hath won up|on Rome he will maintayne, for he will by degrees de|&s;troy her.</P>
<P>Neyther &s;hall they ever prevayle to root out godli|ne&s;&s;e, or a godly party out of this Kingdome, but they &s;hall encrea&s;e by per&s;ecution rai&s;ed again&s;t them: for as the ten Kingdomes did at fir&s;t give their power to the Bea&s;t to &s;et him up, &s;o he will turne their hearts to hate the whore, and they &s;hall plucke her downe, for the Lambe &s;hall overcome the ten kingdomes, not in a way of de&s;truction but in a way of conver&s;ion, and hee will win ground upon them dayly, and will have a prevay|ling party in them, who &s;hall bee the more &s;tirred up a|gain&s;t her for her la&s;t cruelty, <HI>and they &s;hall hate her, eat her fle&s;h and burne her with fire.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>la&s;t u&s;e</HI> is for direction to tho&s;e that feare the Lord;
<MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="&V;&s;e"> and that in three particulars, and I will con|clude.</P>
<PB N="47" REF="27">
<P>Fir&s;t, let this pre&s;ent mercy rai&s;e your hopes, and revive your now drooping and &s;inking &s;pirits: truly had you no pledge given,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> Suff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">tum cor+ejus Montan.</NOTE> yet there is ground enough of encouragement in the Lord, P&s;. 112.7.8. <HI>Tru&s;ting in the Lord his heart is e&s;tabli&s;hed:</HI> the word &s;ignifies under|propped, which of it &s;elfe would fall and &s;incke. But much more when God gives in mercy for an earne&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.4.</NOTE> experience &s;hould bring forth hope. This &s;hewes that God hath not yet &s;old us into the hands of our enemies, that he will yet goe forth with our armies: let this bee added to the former manifold experiments that you have had, and let it be as the head of Leviathan,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 74.1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> food for your fayth to feed upon in the wilderne&s;&s;e, which as yet ye are to pa&s;&s;e through before ye enter into re&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, though your power bee &s;mall and your party few and weake, that by power you have lit|tle hope to prevable, yet by the meanes you have, pray|ers and pray&s;es, and by them God hath ordayned that ye &s;hall <HI>&s;till the enemy and the avenger:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8.2. Rev. 11.5.</NOTE> the fire with which they mu&s;t bee killed, mu&s;t proceed out of your mouths. Flie to the old refuge of fa&s;ting and prayer in a communion of Saints, formerly practi&s;ed when per&s;e|cuted, but now wholly neglected, when it may with li|berty be enjoyed: truely in the&s;e your &s;trength lyes; and prayer never comes too late. In the time of <HI>Eliah</HI> when it rained not upon the earth in three yeares and fix moneths, one would have thought now the rootes of all hearbes and trees were withered in the grownd, and prayer now could do little good; but <HI>Eliah</HI> prays, and God &s;ends raine, and the earth yeeld; her fruit as in times pa&s;t. <HI>Prayer in the mo&s;t de&s;perate &s;tate of things comes not too late, becau&s;e God can never come too late.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, that you may unite your prayers, la|bour to unite your hearts, and if you de&s;ire that God
<PB N="48" REF="28">&s;hould &s;hew him&s;elfe again&s;t your enemies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prima iratum tela &s;unt male|dicta &amp; quic|quid non po&s;|&s;umus imbc|cilli optamus irati. Salv. de gub. l. 3. Dr. Reynoldes &s;elfe-denyall.</NOTE> be not ye enemies one to another, let all jealou&s;ies, evill &s;urmi|&s;ings, all bitterne&s;&s;e, &s;landers, and reproaches be layd a&s;ide as becomes per&s;ons profe&s;&s;ing Godline&s;&s;e, &s;peake not evill one of another the judge &s;tands before the doore. It is well ob&s;erved by a learned Divine of our owne, that the former divi&s;ion of Conformi&s;ts and non-Conformi&s;ts in this Kingdome was cheri&s;hed, and fomented by an Epi&s;copall intere&s;t, that they might &s;pend them&s;elves one again&s;t another,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ez<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ch. 37.19. Rev. 22.1. Homines do|cti &amp; Eccle&s;ia|rum Mini&s;tri pace ingrati ac bu&s;i &s;unt ac multas con|tentiones &amp; rix<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s &s;implici doctrinae im|mi&s;cuerunt ac+mutuo inter|cedi gladian|tes &s;implicem populum ab u|nitate Eccle&s;i|ae in varias &s;ectas adduxe|re. Ca&s;tigavit igitur Deus Eccle&s;iam &s;u|am propter contentiones, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ixas &amp; &s;ci&s;ma|ta non tantum Ariana per&s;e|cutione &s;ed &amp; nova ethnica. &amp;c. Bulling. de per&s;ecutioni|bus Eccle&s;. Chri&s;tian.</NOTE> and the other might have objects for their favours and their frownes to worke upon in them both. Some &s;uch principle e|vidently workes in our pre&s;ent divi&s;ions, that both parties &s;pending their &s;trength, and being &s;o zealou&s;ly bu&s;ied one again&s;t another. A third party being neg|lected (if I may not &s;ay courted) by both, may &s;e|cretly, and in&s;en&s;ibly grow up, and come in to de&s;ide the controver&s;ie, which I a&s;&s;ure my &s;elfe they at this day confidently expect; there is a glorious union promi|&s;ed to be betwene the people of God in the latter daies, the long breach betweene the ten and two Tribes a|mong the Jewes &s;halbe made up, and the two <HI>&s;ticks</HI> be|came one in the Prophets hand, and the fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e that is in the Sea of gla&s;&s;e in the reformed Churches &s;hall be put out, and &s;hall againe become cleere as Chri&s;tall; but it will be &s;ome great affliction that mu&s;t make up this u|nion, being melted they will &s;oder, but not el&s;e. It is ob&s;erved that after the reformation in <HI>Con&s;tantines</HI> time there aro&s;e great divi&s;ions, and contentions among&s;t them&s;elves, e&s;pecially in the Mini&s;try, and therefore God gave them up in <HI>Iulians</HI> time, into the hand of the Heathen; &s;o <HI>Rome Pagan</HI> had for three yeeres and halfe a reviving: &s;o &s;hall <HI>Rome Antichri&s;tian</HI> have three years and halfe, and the growned of it I feare will be our own
<PB N="49" REF="28">divi&s;ions al&s;o. This Parents u&s;e to doe if children can|not agree among them&s;elves; they whip them both. And every man knowes that no man gaines by the dif|ferences between brethren, but he that is an enemy to both.</P>
<P>I thinke every one that is wi&s;e hearted, doth more feare our owne divi&s;ions then all the enemies combina|tions; for what is &s;ayd of England, may be as truely &s;ayd of tho&s;e that feare God in it. <HI>It is a mighty creature that can never dye unle&s;&s;e it kill it &s;elfe.</HI> My humble re|que&s;t is that of <HI>Nazian.</HI> to <HI>Theodo&s;ius,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> that you would u&s;e all your Authority and intere&s;t to put an end to the differences between the&s;e that are godly, and act upon con&s;cientious principles.</P>
<P>Our differences are not &s;o great,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos quantum in nobis e&s;t, propter haere|ticos cum col|legis &amp; coe|pi&s;copis no&s;tris non contendi|mus; cum qui|bus divinam concordiam &amp; dominicam pacem tene|mus: Servatur a nobis pati|enter &amp; fir|miter collegii honor, vincu|lum fidei &amp; concordia Sa|cerdotii, Cy|prian. ad Juba|ian. Epi&s;t. 73. Zach. 12.3.</NOTE> that wee &s;tand at &s;uch a di&s;tance, that to hold an opinion a man &s;hould hazard his de&s;truction. In <HI>Cyprians</HI> time they could keepe the unity of the &s;pirit in the bond of peace, with tho&s;e that did not onely thinke, but teach that which was contrary to what was received, in things of le&s;&s;er concernment: and &s;urely wee might in our differences at lea&s;t &s;o far agree as to act together, if pride and par|ty were layd a&s;ide, and wee acted by the &s;ame &s;pirit of humility and brotherly love, that the ancient Saints and Churches were.</P>
<P>And if this de&s;igne of union might take place, though the enemy threaten and the clouds gather and grow black every day more and more; yet I &s;hould a&s;|&s;ure my &s;elfe that all that burthen them&s;elves with the Saints, &s;hould <HI>be cut in pieces,</HI> though all the <HI>people of the earth &s;hould be gathered together again&s;t them.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
