[...] &c. Resp. ad Orthod q. 71. & in dial. cum Tryph. p. 307. Necesse est ut in fine sexti millesimi anni malicia omnis aboleatur è terra, & regnet per mille an­nos justitia, fit­que tranquili­tas & requies à laboribus quos mundus jam­diu perpessus est. de divin. imperio l. 7. c. 14. Aug. de civit. Dei, l. 20. c. 7. Rev. 10.2.3.4. Pedem ponere est possesso­nem sibi & dominium vindicare. Par. Dan. 7. c. 27. 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 last till towards the end of the first 6000. yeares of the World, as Justine Martyr, and after him Lactantius, and others have observed. And then shal be another condition of the Church, which shall be even in this life, & compared with the former, may wel be sti­led Triumphant and glorious. When Christ, that great and mighty Angell shall come downe from Heaven clo­thed with a Cloud, and a Rainbow upon his head, and shall set his right foot upon the Sea, and his left foot upon the Earth, and thereby take to himselfe the dominion of both, Revel. 10.5.6. which is called taking to himselfe his great power and reigning, Revel. 11.17. when hee shall give the kingdome and dominion under the whole heaven, which was before in the enemies hand unto the Saints of the most High, and they shall possesse it for ever and ever. When their enemies shall bow down before [Page 2]them, and licke the dust under their feet.

In this militant condition hath the Church of God beene ever since the fall, and how long it shall so con­tinue, no man can certainly determine. But it is the con­current judgement of our Divines, that it drawes neere an end. While this estate of the Church lasts, their condition will be like that, described by the Prophet, A day wherein the light shall neither be cleare nor darke, Zach. 14.6. full of uncertainties, and subject to conti­nuall changes and vicissitudes, not so light that they shal say there is an end of our feares, nor so darke that they shall say there is an end of our hopes. Sometimes they may be under the power of the Enemy, as prisoners in a pit wherein there is no water; and by and by God will rayse up a deliverer for them that shall proclaime their liberty, and be as a covering Cherub to the Ark of God, for their defence. A resemblance of this condition of the Church, we have in the Jewish State, which there­fore is made the prototype of all the Gentile Churches thorowout the whole Book of the Revelation, the Pro­phesie of the last times.

An embleme whereof you have in the former Cha­pters. First, the children of Israel did evill in the sight of the Lord, and he gave them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim the king of Mesopotamia, and hee ruled over them eight yeeres. Then the Lord raysed up a delive­rer to them, Oihoniel the sonne of Kenaz Calebs yonger brother, and the Land had rest forty yeeres. Then the chilren of Israel did evill againe in the sight of the Lord and he strengthned against them Eglon the king of Moab: and they served him eighteene yeeres, and then the Lord raysed up a deliverer for them, Ehud the sonne of Gera, and the Land had rest fowrescore yeeres. After­wards they were oppressed by the Philistines, and the [Page 3]Lord delivered them by Shamgar the sonne of Anath. And they did evill againe in the sight of the Lord, and he sold them into the hand of Iabin king of Canaan, the most potent of all these enemies; for he had nine hun­dred Chariots of iron, and twenty yeeres hee mightily oppressed Israel. And then the Lord raysed for their de­liverance Deborah the wife of Lapidoth, and Barach the son of Abinoham, and gave the enemy into their hands. Thus God never leaves his people in affliction, but pro­vides Saviours aswell as Persecutors, not onely hornes, but Carpenters also to beat them to pieces, Zach. 1.21. A song of thanksgiving for this last victory and deliverance, is the contents of this Chapter. In which, by way of context, wee may observe these six particu­lars, all which will helpe us in the duty of the present day.

1 First, the heart that shalbe thankfull for a mercy must be gracious: the song must be sung by a Deborah and a Barak, they must have golden vials, hearts refined and not drossie, that shall have the harpes of God in their hands, Revel. 5.8. And they that shall sing the Lords song, must be redeemed from the Earth, being the first fruits to God and to the Lambe, in whose mouth is found no guile, Revel. 14.4.5. An earthy spirit may put a man upon a prayer, his owne necessity will therein carry him on, to howle upon his bed for his corne, and wine, and oyle, but it is a heart only redeemed from the earth, that will enable a man to returne prayse; so that if there bee ten cleansed, we may say with our Saviour, Where are the nine?

2. Secondly, whosoever shalbe thankful for a mercy must prize it and rejoyce in it. Gaudentis est gratias age­re. Levit. 3.1. Peace offrings are called in the Hebrew [...] Retributions, and they that thinke they have received [Page 4]little, will make little conscience of returning. There is an evill generation among the sonnes of men, that un­dervalue mercies and despise them, saying, Would God we had died in Egypt: Canaan is a L [...]nd that eats up his inhabitants. These men are so far from accepting the punishment in an affliction, that they accept not the mercy in their redemption. Mercies will distinguish men aswell as Judgements. Some are delivered to ever­lasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt, Dan. 12.2. O poore murmuring soules, to whom mercies are a burthen!

3. Thirdly, a thankfull heart must stir up it selfe un­to prayse. Awake Deborah, awake, awake utter a song, arise Barak and let captivity captive, Eph. 5.19. thou sonne of Abino­am. Thanksgiving is melody in the heart of the Lord: and before you can make melody, your Instrument must be in tune. Awake my glory, awake lute and harpe, I my selfe will awake right early. Yee prophane and un­thankfull spirits (ingratus est qui injuriam voc at finem voluptatis) that repine at blessings, Sen. ad Polyb. [...].20. and looke upon your mercies as your injuries, incredulous men, that are scarce willing to beleeve the things you see, that endeavour to bring up an evill report upon all the goodnesse of God, procul hinc, heere is no place for you in the worke of this day. The garment of prayse is comely, only for the upright: ye wayward spirits that slight the gift, be­cause your selves did not chuse the messenger; and be­cause you like not the hand that brings it. And yee see­mingly compassionate, that say, shall we give thanks for the killing of men, and that of our owne Nation, in a Civill Warre. In this case the Heathen man did for­beare his Triumph, and therefore such Thansgivings, seeme not only unchristian, but inhumane. To such I answer: The War, in which at first, ye of this Ci­ty, [Page 5]were eminently ingaged, and by you the Kingdom, was eyther just or unjust: if it were unjust, then hide your Tropheyes, and be ashamed of your victories; for he that gives thankes to God because he prospers in a sinne, makes God a patron thereof. But if it were just, you ought to rejoyce in the successe, being the publike execution of divine justice, and to glorifie God in those things wherein hee hath glorified himselfe. Tis farre from us to rejoyce in the bloud of men, much lesse of our brethren; but yet if Christ will set up his Throne upon the carkases of the slaine, heerein we may and will rejoyce.

4. Fourthly, he that will be thankfull, must enlarge his thoughts by the remembrance of former mercies, and all the circumstances of mercies present. So doeth Deborah, vers. 4.5. Lord when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped waters, the mountaines melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. You must prayse God from the fountayne of Israel, and sing both the song of Moses and of the Lambe.

And you must enlarge your thoughts in all the cir­cumstances of the present mercies; so doth Deborah, by the violence of the enemy, the kings came and sought then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they tooke no gaine of money. By their confi­dent expectations and their hopes. Why is his chariot so long a comming, why tarry the wheeles of his chariot? have they not sped? have they not divided the prey to every man a damsell or two? to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle worke of divers colours of needle worke of both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoyle. By the falshood and desertion of their friends. [Page 6] Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds to heare the bleat­ings of the flocke? for the divisions of Ruben were great thoughts of heart. Gilead abode beyond Iordan, and why did Dan remaine in ships? Ashur continued on the sea shore and abode in his breaches. Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not out to the helpe of the Lord, to the helpe of the Lord against the migh­ty. By the immediate hand of God in the deliverance: his arme was made bare. They fought from heaven, the starres in their courses fought against Sisera, the River Ki­shon swept them away, that ancient River, the River Ki­shon.

5. Fifthly, a heart truly thankfull gives the instru­ments their due honour: those that God hath honoured in the worke, doe you honour also, and God in them. Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against 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 Blessed above women shall Ia­hel the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she bee a­bove women in the Tent. It is the property of a beast to crop the Tree that shelters it, and of an unskilfull soldi­er to dismantle that Towne that must defend him. Isra­el was never in a worse condition, then when all their businesse was to murmur under their present sufferings, and to quarrell with the Instruments of their deliveran­ces.

6. Sixthly, mercies received with prayses, must be followed with prayers. As prayer should engage the heart to prayse, so prayses should encourage the heart to prayer; and those prayses are heartlesse and faithles, that doe not end in prayers; for when God is giving, is our fittest season to be asking. So heere prayse for a de­liverance from one enemy, drawes out the hearts in [Page 7]prayer against all Gods enemies; So let all thine enemies perish ô Lord.

Thus we are come home to the Text. The particu­culars thereof are three.

1. The persons prayed against, Gods enemies, with their note of universality, All thine enemies.

2. Secondly, the end of these men, Let them perish, with that particle which, directs us to the maner, with an eminent utter and finall overthrow, So let them pe­rish.

3. Thirdly, the meanes, which is by the power, the prayses and the prayers of the Saints. Hence the points are also three

1. First, All the Churches enemies, are Gods enemies.

2. Secondly. That perishing is their portion.

3. Thirdly, That they shall perish under the power, by the prayers and prayses of the Saints.

All the Churches enemies Gods enemies. Doctrine.

It is a question the Schoolmen usually put, Num Deus possit odio haberi? Whether it be possible for the creature to be an enemy to God, who is goodnesse it selfe, seeing evill onely is the object of hatred, which is not to be found in him? It is answered, That as God is bonum universale, hee cannot bee hated by the creature; but inparticulari, being a good, that is con­trary to us, so men doe hate the Lord. For Men and Angels in their fall, as some Schoolemen observe, lost three things in respect of God; Delectationem pul­chritudinis, adorationem Majestatis, imitationem bonitatis, They neyther delight in his beauty, nor adore his glo­ry, nor imitate his goodnesse. Thus all men by nature are Gods enemies. But the enemies heere spoken of, are Israels enemies, enemies to God in his Church, as Psal. 78.1. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered. Isay [Page 8]57.23. I know they going forth and comming in, and thy rage against me. Yea even all their neglects and omissi­ons towards the Church, referre to God, and hee will judge them accordingly at the last day. I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat, inasmuch as ye did it not to the least of these, ye did it not to me. Therefore Gods ene­mies heere spoken of are his Churches enemies.

In the opening of this point there are three things to be explayned.

First, the Church of God in all ages and places hath met with enemies.

Secondly, that these enemies are not onely theirs, but Gods.

Thirdly, some short discoveries who these enemies are.

First, the Church of God hath from the beginning met with enemies. For the nature of Christs kingdome in this world, is to rule in the midst of his enemies; in the world to come, he shall rule over them. The Apostle sayth. There is a schema, a fashion of the world that pas­seth away: 1 Cor. 7.31. it continues not alwayes in one fashion; but yet cast it into what shape you will, and the Church of God hath alwayes found enemies in it, and usually they have beene the greatest persons, and the most prevayling party.

These enemies are of two sorts; from without, or from within. While the Church was wandring among the Heathen, as sheepe among wolves, what else could be expected? When Israel went downe into Aegypt, they met with a Leviathan, who by cruelty and subtilty sought to destroy them: Ps. 74.14. and when they came into the Land of Canaan, they were as a speckled bird, all the bordering Nations hated them. Jer. 12.9. There arose fowre great Monarchies, or principall kingdoms in the world, called Beasts, Dan. 7.1.2. chiefly for their cruelty to [Page 9]the Saints. Under the Chaldean Monarchy, Israel is as a scattered sheepe; the Lions have driven him away: the former Kings of Assyria, Tiglath Pileser and Salmana­ser have devoured him: and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon hath broken his bones, Jer. 50.17. In the Per­sian Monarchy, there was an Haman and a Cambises, who with a Samaritan faction of their neighbours, that were neyther Heathens by profession, nor Jewes by Religion, these raysed a great mountaine against them, Zach. 4.7. even the power of the whole Empire. In the Grecian Monarchy, there arose Antiochus, that little horne, a King of a fierce countenance, who did destroy wonder­full, and prospered and practised against the holy people, waxed great even to the host of heaven, and cast downe some of the host and of the starres to the ground and stamp­ed on them, Dan. 8.9.10.

And in the fourth Monarchy as Pagan, there was a great red Dragon, that made warre against Michael and his Angels. Thus the Church of God hath alwayes met with enemies round about. But yet she might ex­pect friends within, that those borne in her bosome and brought up upon her knee, that they should be true and faythfull to her. But heere is the misery, that she hath alwayes found the worst enemies to proceed out of her owne bowels. Toads, they say are most poysonous in the wineseller, and the tares most destructive that grow among the wheat.

If an open enemy besiege Jerusalem, Zach. 12.2. Judah erit in obsidione con­tra Hierusa­lem. Jerom. & Montan. some of Iudah will joyne with them in the siege. When Jerusalem is ta­ken by the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty Nation, yet they feared more then they doe the enemy, the Rene­gado Jewes that fell off to the Chaldeans. And in their returne out of the captivity, their greatest enemies were the Samaritans, Jer. 38.19. that professed to worship the same God [Page 10]with them, and would joyne with them in building a Temple to him, that by their compliance they might hinder the worke. Joseph. antiq. l. 11. c. 8. And when the Temple was built, Manasses the brother of Jaddaeus the high Priest, ha­ving married a strange wi [...]e. sc. the daughter of S [...]nbal­let, and being therefore by his owne brother put out of the Priesthood, he with his father in law did by a Petition to Alexander, obtayne leave to build a Tem­ple upon mount Gerazim, in hope thereby to destroy the worship of God at Hierusalem, and to draw away the hearts of the people from it. And the Church of God is never in so much danger, as when a S [...]nballet and a Ma­nasse meet in the conspiracy.

And wh [...]n they were setled in their owne land, Act. 4.11. Christ is rejected of the builders; Esay. 8.14. he is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel. And for the Saints, Math. 23.34.35. I send to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes, and not one of these can perish out of Hierusalem: they that did professe with them the same God, and to joyne in the same worship, sought to destroy them.

Let us now come from the Iewish to the Christian Church, and we shall see the enmity remayne, as soon as the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, Satan immediatly casts [...] a floud after the woman, the floud of Arian heresie, and the Arian Christian persecutes the Orthodoxe, as much or more then the Pagans had done before. But this floud was soone dried up, the earth hel­ping the woman against the Arian persecution. Now co [...]es in a third state of the Empire, which is Antichri­stian there doth arise a beast out of the earth, Rev. 13.11. that hath two hornes like a Lambe. Surely now nothing is to be e­xpected bu [...] meekenesse and innocency; but this Lamb speakes like the Dragon and the designe of this beast is to weare out the Saints of the most High, Dan. 7.25. and to make warre [Page 11]upon them, and that with greater cruelty then the Hea­thens and Arians had done before. For Rome trades in the soules of men: but many Nations have made de­fection from Antichrist, have come out of Babylon. Rev. 18.13. There are ten kingdomes that the Lambe will overcome, by their conversion, and they shall hate the whore and make her desolate. Surely the Saints finde no enemies there: there is in the Reformed Churches a sea of glasse ming­led with fire both of contention, Rev. 15.2. and persecution among themselves. And they that slay the witnesses dwell in the same street where their dead bodies he, Rev. 11.7.8. So that cast the world into what frame and fashion you wil, while the tearm of the Churches militant condition lasts, there will be alwayes found a prevayling party, whose designe is to weare out the Saints of the most High.

2. Secondly, They that are the Churches enemies are Gods enemies, whether they bee within or without the Church. This will appeare upon these fowre grounds.

1. First, they are Gods enemies, because God and his people are in Covenant; there is a league offensive and defensive betweene them. You have a full expressi­on of such a league, in the words of Iehosephat, I am as thou art, my servants as thy servants, my horses as thy horses; that is, they shalbe as truely thine to use, as if the necessity were mine owne. So Gen. 12.3. the Lord Covenants with Abraham, I will blesse them that blesse thee and I will curse them that curse thee; I will be an ene­my to thine enemies, and an adversary to thy adversaries, Exod. 23.2. And therefore they that oppose them are sayd to fight against God. And if the people of God be worsted at any time, they can call to him as their Con­federate. Arise Lord fight against them that fight against one, take hold of the shield and buckler, and stand up for my [Page 12]helpe; draw out the speare, and stop the way against them that persecute me, &c. 35. Psa. 2.3.

2. Secondly, because their cause is Gods cause, ther­fore their enemies must needs be Gods enemies. They intitle God to it, Psal. 74.22. Arise Lord, maintayne thine owne cause. And God by his Propht ownes it, the battell is not yours but Gods, 2. Cron. 20.12. It is for Gods sake that all opposition lights upon them; for thy sake are we killed all the day long; the reproches of them that reproched thee are fallen upon me, and they chuse it rather then God should be dishonoured: Malo in nos murmur hominum quam in Deum: Bern. de con­fid. bonumest mihi si Deus d [...]gnetur me uti pro clypeo.

3. Thirdly, because all Gods enemies be their ene­mies, and all opposition that is made against God in the wayes of his Truth or Worship, they take as done to themselves; Doe not I hate them that hate thee? yea I hate them with a perfect hatred as if they were mine ene­mies. As Gods friends be their friends, so all Gods e­nemies are their enemies. And if they answer to their part of the Covenant, surely God will not faile in his.

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 interessed in it. They are dear to him, Zach. 2.5. as the apple of his owne eye. The sonnes of his bosome, and the Father takes himselfe concerned in all the wrong offered to his children. And as grace, though it be in it selfe but an accident, is dearer to God, then the soules of all men without it: so 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 besides; they being the first fruits to God and to the Lambe; Esay. 43.3.4. Ps. 105.14. and therefore he gives Kingdomes for their Ransome, and reproves Kings for their sakes.

3. Thirdly, Who are these enemies? We are the Church of God, even this whole Nation, therefore none of these are to be found amongst us.

These enemies are of severall sorts.

1. First, all prophane men that are enemies to holi­nesse, they are the Churches enemies, whose God is their belly, who glory in their shame, who are enemies to the Crosse of Christ. These are spots in our feasts, a blemish and a dishonour to all our Churches. We labour at pre­sent under a double evill of damnable doctrines: on the one side, and divelish practises on the other: and both these thinke to justifie themselves, by objecting one a­gainst another. The Heretique declaimes much against Prophanenes, and thinkes that hee hath well acquitted himselfe; and the prophane man on the other side cries out heresie, heresie; but these are both enemies unto Christ, and to the Church of Christ. Prophanenesse hath gotten so much ground, there being no Magistrate (as it is sayd of Laish) or master of restraint to put them to shame, that they declare their sinnes as Sodom [...]; Judg. 18.7. and it is with us as Salvian in his dayes found it. De Gubern. Deid 3. Genus quo­dammodo sanctitatis est minús esse vitiosum. He is a ho­ly man that is not extreamly wicked, and he little lesse then a Saint who is not a very Divell.

2. Secondly, Heretiques in Opinion, and Idolaters in Worship. They bee the enemies to the Witnesses, Revel. 11.5. men that speake [...], perverse things, Act 20.30. turning all upside down, Eph 4.14. denying principles, overthrow­ing foundations: affirming horribilia de Deo, 2 Pet. 2.3. 2 Pet. 3.16. [...]. Ep [...]st. Polycarp. ad Philip. terribilia de fide: men that use a [...] and a [...], a great deale of artifice and skill to deceive: there are [...], new coyned words, and canting language to corrupt the minds of the Saints, who set the Scripture upon the Rack [...] and make it speak that which the Holy Ghost never in­tended, [Page 14] wresting it to their owne destruction, and the subversion of others. Such the people of God should looke upon as enemies, and avoyd their communion, 2. Iohn 10. If there come any to you and bring not this do­ctrine, receive him not into your house, nor bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed, is pertaker of his evill deeds. If a man be once taken with an itch of no­velty, as to defire to heare what every man sayth, he is neere to be seduced, and it is a great judgement of God to be given over to believe a lie. Vincentius Lirinensis hath this observation of the ancient Saints, Advers. haere­ses. cap. 9. it may serve for our direction: Quo quis foret religiosior eo promptius novellis adinventionibus contrairet.

3. Thirdly, all those that rejoice in the low conditi­on of the Church of God, and deride them when they are downe, these the Church calls enemies. Mica. 7.8. yet such there are in the Church, sonnes of the bondwo­man that wilbe scoffing, who with Haman can sit down to drinke, when the people of God are in perplexity; men that rage and rayle, and onely expect a day when with a despitefull heart they may revenge themselves, Ezek. 25.8. This was Moabs enmity they sayd, Behold the house of Iudah is like unto all the Heathen: for all their boasting of their God, they are layd waste as other Na­tions, there is no difference. Therefore thus sayth the Lord, I will open the side of Moab, take away her strong frontier Cities, an enemy shall enter into her bowels, and she shall be no more remembred among the Nations.

4. Fourthly, all men that reserve themselves, and affect a detestable neutrality in these active times, that lie at a close guard till they see which is like to bee the stronger side, and come not forth to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty. Meroz is as truly an enemy, as Iabin the king of Canaan: for in this case Christ sayth, Hee [Page 15]that is not with me is against me, and hee that gathers not with me scatters. These consult not their present duty, but their future safety, how they may so demean them­selves that they may ingratiate with this or that party that doth prevayle. Therefore sayle by a side winde and live upon futura contingentia all their dayes. To such a one I say, thou art an enemy to the Church of God, and God is an enemy to thee.

5. Fifthly, they that cleave to the Church of God by flattery, and proffer to build with them that they may destroy them: whose hearts are truly set against that worke of Reformation they professe to further, for in their persons they hate to be reformed. Who court the Saints of God, and salute them, but it is to betray them with a kisse, and with Ioab to stab them in a com­plement, Ezek. 29.6.7. The Lord sayth of Aegypt, Thou hast beene a staffe of Reed to the house of Israel: they had incouraged the Iewes to rebell against the King of Babylon, and had promised to assist them; they were in promissione baculus, but in solutione arundineus, A Lap. in loc. and so became an occasion of all the misery that befell Isra­el in this designe. When Israel came out of Aegypt, there was a mixt multitude, who did cleave to them by flattery, and murmured and deserted them when trialls came. It may be sayd of many a man as Ruoeus of the Carbuncle, translucit in modum ardentis prunae, Lib de Gem­mis. if you heare their words and looke upon them at a distance, you would thinke them to be as hot as a fiery coale, but come neere to them and observe their actions, and you shall find them to be key cold.

6. Sixthly, all Apostates that fall from their former principles, that now plead for that which not many yeeres, it may be not many dayes since, they were vio­lent against. The greatest enemy that ever God had, [Page 16]was an apostate Angel. The greatest enemy that ever Christ had, an apostate Church and the greatest enemies to the Saints are Renegado professors. Take heed of an Alexander, a Demas, a Julian. There was a time not long since, when you all sayd, we will admit no heresie in doctrine, no super stition in worship, no tyranny in govern­ment, no man shall have dominion over our Lawes, or domination over our consciences; but many have met with a [...] an opportunity of temptation, are fal­len away, and are become actors and advocates for those things and persons which before they were resolute a­gainst, and all their former deliverances are but a Resur­rection to shame, Dan. 12.2. The Iewes in their first de­liverance are to meet with such trouble as they had not since they became a Nation, which is to last five and forty yeeres: in which time, many that had a share in the first deliverance, shall be discovered to be unsound, and false hearted, and their former deliverance shall bee to their eternall shame and dishonour before the Saints. Surely, there are trying times coming, when no house will stand, but that which is built upon the Rocke. Its the righteous onely that is an everlasting Foundation.

There are three observations which I desire to adde to the explication, before I come to the reasons and grounds of this emnity.

First, Obs. 1 when mens hearts are once in judgement turned to hate the Saints, the maine pleasure of their lives comes in by their opposition to them, and they take very much delight in it. As Sathan not having yet his full torment, the maine pleasure that he takes is in opposition against God, and to see his plots to take in a way of revenge; so it is with the enemies who are acted in a high degree by the spirit of Sathan in their opposition against the Saints.

A mans meat and drinke in the Scripture, Fruitionem denotat & de­lectationem. Glass. Rhetor. sacr. p. 373. is that by which the pleasure and the comfort of his life cometh in; It is my meat to doe the will of him that sent me, and to finish his worke, Jo. 4.34. And to note that the mayne pleasure of the enemies lies in their opposition, it is said to be their meat and drinke. It is their meat, Psal. 14.4. They eat up my people as they would eat bread, they are the food that their malice feeds upon; Mos est in ur­bibus Palesti­nae, & usque hod ie perom­nem Judaeam vetus consue­tudo servatur, ut in vicculis oppidis & ca­stellis rotundi ponantur lapi­des gravissimi ponderis, ad quos juvenes exercere se so­leant, & eos pro varietate virium suble­vare; alii ad genua, alii ad umbilicum, a­lii ad humeros & capur non­nulli super verticem ere­ctis junctisque manibus, pon­dus extollunt. and this is their drink also, Rev. 17.6. I saw the woman drunken with the bloud of the Saints, and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus. Though it prove a cup of poyson and of trembling in the end, yet they drinke if downe as sweet wine, Zach. 12.2. This is their recreation also, and that wherin they shew forth their strength and activity; which Hierome conceives to be intended by the Holy Ghost, in that e­xpression of a burdensome stone, Zach. 12.3. alluding therein to the custome of the Iewes, and of all those Ea­sterne Countreys, where in every towne and village were great round stones, which the yong men for re­creation, and to shew forth their strength, did use to lift pro virium varietate, some to their knees, some to the loynes, some to the head, &c. And thus as matter of re­creation, 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 himselfe the more valiant and gallant man; which made Saul in this zeale this way (which he after saw to be madnesse) to go beyond his fellowes.

The last enemies of the Church shall surely be the worst. Obser. 2 The fourth beast was divers from all the other beasts that went before, and exceeding dreadfull, whose teeth were of brasse, Dan. 7.19. [...]. Sept. But upon the last head of the fourth beast there arise ten hornes (for the Romane Em­pire is broken into ten Kingdomes) and after them, o behinde [Page 18]them, there doth arise a little horne, that speakes great words against the most High, and whose design is to we are out the Saints, [...] Dicitur de calceamen­tis inveteratis, Josh. 6.13, & de pannis af­fritis. Jer. 38.11. Dan. 7.24.25. The Originall word doth sign [...]fi [...] to weare out a thing with long and con­tinued use, or as a Garment is worn out by degrees, with long and constant wearing, so under this little Horne, which must be Antichrist, because hee riseth with the ten hornes upon the last head of the fourth beast; and in whose judgement the beast is slaine, and his body destroy­ed, given to the burning flame, ver. 11.) the witnesses prophesie in sackcloth and ashes 1260 dayes; in a perse­cuted, mournefull and afflicted condition; that by a long and continuall oppression, they may be worne out even as a garment.

Thirdly, the last acts of these enemies shall be filled with the greatest cruelty, and with a rage that shall reach to heaven: Antichrist shall make it his businesse during all the time of his raigne to weare out the Saints, but at last they shall be killed, Rev. 11.7.8. and that in the most inhumane ma­ner, their dead bodies shall be cast out into the street, and they shall rejoyce in their death, and deny them a buri­all: in the last attempts they shall expresse more cruelty and bitternesse, Rev. 16.16. then in many hundred yeeres before. And after the resurrection of the witnesses, and Romes downefall, they shall attempt with greater violence, when the Kings of the earth and of the whole world, shall be gathered together to the battell Armageddon. Rev. 20.8.9. And last­ly, when Gog and M [...]gog shall gather the Nations toge­ther to battell from the fowre quarters of the earth, in num­ber as the sands of the sea and they shall go upon the bredth of the earth and compasse the campe of the Saints round a­bout, and the beloved City. Satan shall have great indig­nation, seeing his time is short: For in the last dayes shall be the most glorious Reformation, the greatest refine­ments [Page 19]shall passe upon the world by him, who sits as a refiner, answerable to the degrees of reformation, Mal. 3.3. such shall the degrees of opposition be, when there shall be the perfectest reformation, there shall then be the highest op­position and the bitterest persecution. 2 Tim. 3.5. In the last dayes the opposition to Godlinesse in the power of it, shalbe by them that have a forme, and the persecution of Religion shall in a great measure be under a profession therof, men sinning against greater light and higher workes, whose hearts the Divel hath touched, 1 Jo. 5.18. and left a speciall impres­sion of divellishnesse upon, and who are thereby quali­fied for a higher way of sinning. In the last dayes shall the great and glorious deliverances of the Churches be, when all the persecu [...]ing Monarchies shall be destroy­ed, Esay. 2.2 [...]. and the mountayne of the Lords house be exalted on the top of the mountaynes, that all Nations may flow to it, Zach. 14, 4. Ut Jerosolyma non fit in um­brosa valle quemadmo­dum prius: sed pateat longe & latè ejus prospectus; ita ut gentes om­nes eam scypi­ciant, Calv. Rev. 11, 7, 8, 9. Ezech. 37, 11.12. when the Mount of Olives shall cleave asunder in the midst, towards the East and towards the West: That is, whatsoever doth now overshadow and hide the Chur­ches glory, and hinder her prospect shall be removed. And God doth not use to afford his people great and e­minent deliverances, till they are deeply humbled and brought low: the slaying of the witnesses, doth precede their resurrection, and they must be dry bones first, and then the Lord sayth, I will open your graves. Upon these grounds I doe conclude, that the last at empts of the ene­mies shal be the fiercest, and that the bitterest afflictions and the sh [...]rpest persecutions of the Church of God, are reserved for these l [...]st times.

And that this enmity may not seeme strange to you, the grounds of it, and all the persecution that flows from it, are principally these two.

1. First, Reas. 1 from the contrariety and antipathy that is in their natures, there being an enmity in judgement, put [Page 20]betweene the seed of the woman, and the feede of the Serpent. It is part of the Divels curse, Gen. 3.15. and it is the curse of all those that are of their father the Di­vell. This enmity being founded in nature, must needs be aniversall and indefatigable. Vniversall for hatred carryes a man against all the kinde; [...], Arist. as grace carryes a mans love sincerely to all the Saints, so this enmity foun­ded in nature and in judgement, carryes with it a contra­riety unto all the Saints. And though some ungodly men may pretend fayre, and may with their mouths shew much love, and this enmity may be hid, yet are they on­ly wolves in sheepes clothing; and whensoever occasion and opportunity is offered will appear so to be; for that Rule will hold to the end of the world, Tertul. Apol. Tot hostes quot extranei, they that be strangers to godlinesse, are all of them enemies to it. And indefatig able it must needs be. A man would sometime thinke that Satan and wicked men, having their plots so often defeated and brought to nought, and all the mischiefe of them turned upon their heads, should at last sit down discouraged and give over, but they cannot doe it, because it is founded in nature and judgement: and when the five shall cease to burn, and the stone to move towards its centre, then shall their attempts and acts of hostility cease, and never till then.

2. Secondly, this enmity is exceedingly acted in them by the spirit of the Divell, whose name is in regard of his opposition to the Saints, Rev. 9.11. called Abaddon and A­pollyon, the Destroyer. All sinnes indeed are from the Divell, Ephes. 2.2. and all sinners are acted by the Divell, he rules in all the children of disobedience: but yet some sinnes are from him per modum servitutis, as a man serves Satan in them; but some sinnes are from him, per modum imagi­nis, as a man resembles Satan in them; and such is this [Page 21]of enmity against the Saints, and in these sins in which a man in an especiall maner becomes the seed of the Ser­pent, Satan doth more directly and immediately act men then he doth in other sinnes: and therefore Rev. 3.10. he is sayd to cast the Saints into prison, it being done by his speciall instigation and command. And therefore its noted as a speciall misery that shall befall the Divell after all the persecuting Monarchies shall be destroyed, that Dragon the old Serpent the Divell and Satan, Rev. 20.2.3. shall be bound for a thousand yeares, and shut up in the bottomlesse pit, that he may not deceive the Nations, sc. to draw out the rage of their spirits in a way of persecution as he did in times past, no more. And there is no sacrifice that the Divell is so well pleased 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 immediat­ly ruled by him, this he doth put them upon, as that with which he is chiefly delighted. Its sayd of Julian the Apostate, that he had two great designes; one, the subduing of the Persians, and the other, the rooting out of the Christians: [...], Nazian. Orat. 2. Cont. Julian. and when he went in that Persian expe­dition in which he perished, he vowed if he had succes in that enterprise, he would at his returne sacrifice to his Idols, sc. to the Divell in them, the bloud of all the Christians that were in the whole Empire; which had beene a sacrifice with which Satan would have beene well pleased.

And as Satan loves to stir up the rage and enmity of wicked men to destroy the saints, so he doth very much delight to make them instruments in their owne destru­ction, and that temporall as well as eternall; and hee knowes there is no speedier way to destroy a person or people, then for men to rall upon the reere of the Lords host. This is the ready way to take away their owne [Page 22]defence, and put themselves out of the protection of God; Esay. 49, 8. for it is for the Saints sake, and by their Covenant, that the world is continued, and the earth established: it would soone sinke under your feet else, they beare up the pillars of it; they are the rocke upon which your Ci­ty and safety is built: and had the Lord once disposed of his sonnes and daughters in their great mariage with the Lambe, he would quickly dissolve this frame of hea­ven and earth, and breake up the house keeping of the world; and Satan doth set men in a way of persecution to this end that they may thereby take away their own defence.

And the Divell knowes there is no speedier way to set God in vengeance against a person or a Nation then this is, because the heart of the Lord is exceeding ten­der towards his holy ones, hee that toucheth them touch­eth the apple of his eye, Zach 2, 8. which no man shall doe impune or unrevenged.

I now come to the second branch in the Text, which is the portion of these enemies, they shall perish.

All the Churches enemies shall assuredly perish in their owne opposition: perishing is their portion.

For explication I shall lay downe these positions. Posit. 1 First, The destruction of the Churches enemies shall be effe­cted by their opposition against the Church, Mich. 4.11.12.13. There are many Nations gathered together against Zion, and their purposes are that she may be defiled and destroyed; but Gods purposes are not so, they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his coun­sell: for his intention is, that they should perish in their opposition: associate themselves that they may be broken in peeces, Esay. 8, 9. that they may be gathered together as sheaves in a floore; that they may be threshed by the daughter of Zion, and where they seeke the Churches destruction, [Page 23]they may there be sure to finde their owne: and in the same floore where they did intend to thresh the Church, there they themselves shall be threshed. Its therefore drinking a cup of poyson. Zach. 12, 2, 3. Venemum mortiferum, appellatio for­te a tremendo: Nam quaedam venena frigida sunt. So Mercer doth conceive the word [...] to signifie, and to be no other way a cup of trembling, but from the effect of this poyson, there be­ing some poysons cold in so high a degree, that they will cast a man into a trembling till he die; and he that drinkes poyson hath a hand in his owne destruction. Its lifting at a burdensome stone, and men burden themselves with it, and are broken to pieces by their own attempts. Math. 21, 44. Its falling upon a stone, and dashing at it, as a ship against a rocke, and thereby sinking it selfe. Act. 9, 5. Its kicking against the pricks; the iron would hurt no man of it selfe, ney­ther would the Saints, but men rush against it and are wounded thereby. Lucun. Nec vulnus adactis debetur gladiis per­cussum est pectore ferrum. As the Lord sayth of himself, Jer. 25, 6, 7. Provoke me not to anger with the workes of your hands, and I will doe you no hurt: so he sayth of his Church also, if they be kindly intreated, they are to the Nations where they live as dew from the Lord, Mich. 5, 2. and as showres upon the grasse: but if men exalt themselves against them, and seeke to cast downe the host of heaven, they become like a hearth of fire among the wood, Zach. 12, 6. and like a torch of fire in a sheafe, and they devour the people round about, on the right hand and on the left, so that the cause of their destruction by them is their opposition against them.

Secondly, Posit. 2 it will be an universall destruction of all those that persicute and persevere in their opposition against the Saints, 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 a­bout by their opposition against the holy ones. Wee may observe it:

1. In all the enemies from without, Gen. 14. There is a famous example in one particular Saint: four kings were confederate for enlarging their dominions, and they conquered and subdued all the neighbouring Na­tions, tooke the spoyle and carryed it away safely, that I may say as the Prophet doth of the conquest of the King of Babylon, Esay. 10.14. They gathered the riches of the Nations as one gathereth egges, there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped. They came at last to So­dome, a people that for their wickednesse, were even humani generis opprobrium, whom God had appointed unto the greatest judgement that wee reade of, rayning upon them brimstone and fire (gehennam è coelo) from the Lord out of heaven: this City they tooke, plundered, carried away many prisoners, and departed. But among these was righteous Lot Abrahams brothers sonne, and in taking him they dranke poyson, and they must vomit him up againe, to their owne destruction: for God stir­red up the spirit of Abraham to pursue them, and hee gave them as the dust to his sword, Esay. 41.2. and as driven stubble to his bow. When Israel sojourned in the Land of Ae­gypt, Psal. 105.25. Psal. 74.14. Dan. 7.2. Jer. 50.28. Vindicta Dei activè sumitur pro vindicta Deus quā exer cebit, vindicta Templi passi, vè ponitur pro vindicta qua Deus ulcisci­tur contumeli­am Templo suo illatam, Calv. while they dealt well with them they prospered for their sakes; but when the Lord in judgement turned their heart to hate his people and deale subtilly with his ser­vants, he brake the head of Leviathan in the waters, in the pursuit of Israel, and they perish in their owne oppositi­on. Afterward there were to arise fowre beasts, or great Monarchies successively in the world, and they all per­ish in their opposition against the Church of God: the Chaldean perisheth, but it is by the vengeance of the Temple: the inhabitants of Zion shall say, the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floore, its time to thresh her, for Nebuchadnezzar the King of Baabylon hath devoured me, he hath crusht mee, hee hath made mee an empty vessell, hee [Page 25]hath swallowed me up like a Dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, be hath cast me out: the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, and my bloud upon the Inhabitants of Chaldea.

The Persian Monarchy ended also by the same meanes; for the Lord of hosts by reason of their cruel­ty against the Saints, Zach. 1.14.15. is jealous for Hierusalem and for Zi­on with a great jealousie, and is sore d [...]spleased with these heathen, because when he was but a little displeased they helped forward the affliction. God did intend to correct them, and the enemies intention was to destroy them; and for this their cruelty, wrath arose against them, e­ven hot displeasure: and hence the angel from the Lord went forth to fight against the King of Persia in the Churches quarrell, Dan. 10.20. and he stirres up the spirit of the King of Grecia, and gives him a successe in his enterprise, be­cause the Angell went out before him. Thus also the Grecian Empire came to an end: for in the latter times thereof when the transgressors were come to the full, and they had filled up the measure of their impiety, there came forth a little horne which waxed exceeding great, Dan. 8.9.11.23.24.25. e­ven to the host of heaven, and cast downe some of the host, and of the starres to the ground and stamped upon them: That is, as it is expounded afterwards, there stoode up Antiochus Epiphanes, a King of a fierce countenance, understanding darke sentences, and hee did destroy the mighty and the holy people, the mai [...]e of his rage did break forth against the Saints, yea hee did stand up against the Prince of Princes, and perished in his owne opposition, for he was taken away without hand.

The Roman Empire also as Pagan, must come to de­struction this same way by their opposition against the Saints, Rev. 12 7.8. for as a great Red Dragon they made warre with the Saints, fought against Michael and his Angels, and [Page 26]prevayled not, but in their very persecution they were destoyed; for it proved the ruine of all their Idol­worship, and all the Princes that did endeavour to up­hold it.

The Turkish Empyre, now the terrour of the world, Rev. 16.12. must be destroyed also in this very way: Eu­phrates must be dryed up that the way of the Kings of the East may be prepared, Dan. 11.40. At the time of the end sc. toward the end of the Romane Empire, the King of the south, the Saracen, and the King of the north, the Turk, shall come against the Romane as a whirl­winde, and shall overflow, and he shall wax great, and shall subdue all the neighbouring nations, and they shall be all at his steps, sc. at his devotion and at his com­mand: And towards the end of his Empire he shall set himselfe against the Saints, and he shall plant the Ta­bernacle of his Palace betweene the seas, in the glorious holy mountaine; and then he shall come to an end irrecoverably none shall helpe him.

And in the end of the world, though in respect of the former persecutions Satan shall be bound up, that he shall not stir up men to rage and cruelty against the Saints, as he had done during all the time of the foure Monar­chies, Rev. 20.7, yet when the thousand yeares of the Churches Peace and glory are expired, Satan shalbe losed againe, and having but once liberty granted, he will betake himselfe unto the same course that he had used in for­mer times, to stir up the wicked of the world in a way of persecution of the Saints, Rev. 20.9. and Gog and Magog shalbe gathered together to battle, and they encompasse the Campe of the Saints and the beloved City, and in this their opposition they perish, now fire shall come downe from God out of Heaven and deveure them; thus all the Churches enemies without, do perish in their [Page 27]owne opposition.

Its true also of all enemies within, some there are that fight against Christ under his owne banner, and persecute the Saints under the name of Saints, Cant. 5.7. sometimes the watch men that goe about the City smite the Church and wound her, and the keepers of the wall take away her Vaile; yet even these enemies, their opposi­tion will prove their destruction, as we may observe both in the Jewish and in the Gentile Churches.

In the Church of the Jewes Numb. 16. there were a company of men rose up against Moses and Aaron 250 Princes famous in the Congregation, men of renowne, but they did it against their owne lives (as they are cal­led sinners against their own soules) for the Lord created a new Creation, the earth opened her mouth and swal­lowed them up: and when the Lord came in judge­ment to destroy that Church and Sate; this is the sin that hath especiall influence into their destruction, Mat. 23.34.35. Behold I send unto you Prophets, and wisemen, and Scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie, and some of them shall ye scourge in your Synagogues, and per­secute them from City to City; that upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth; therefore they that are enemies to the Saints among themselves shall not escape.

In the Gentile Churches also all that ever had their hearts turned against the Saints, it proved the fore­runner of their destruction. The Church of God had beene in hard travaile 300. yeares, and at last brought forth a man childe, Rev. 12.5. and he was taken up to the throne of God, that is, they obtained of God a Christian Em­perour: this wrought a great change in the Empire, and they became in shew many of them Christians; but then arose among them a generation of persecutors [Page 28]the floud powred out after the Woman, which had swal­lowed them up, had not the earth succored the Woman, and God given her the wings of a great Eagle to flye in­to the wildernesse: now the Lord will not suffer the persecutor even by them that live in the Church to goe unrevenged; therefore he doth in judgment devide the Empire; the easterne parts he gives to the Saracens and Turks, and the westerne part to the Goths and Van­dalls, those barbarous Nations brake in upon them as a floud and did overflow all. The Westerne part of the Empire being broken by the Goths, there arise in it ten Kings, Rev. 17.12. and they contribute all their power to set up Antichrist, Rev. 17.13.17. they give their Kingdomes to the Beast to this end, and this Beast persecutes the Saints more then all the former persecutors had done, and in their per­secution they perish; Rev. 18.8.21. for her plagues shall come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be cast into the Sea as a Milstone, and shall be found no more at all: and the cause of all this shalbe that God may re­compence upon them the controversies of Zion, that he may avenge the bloud of his servants at her hands because in her was found the bloud of the Prophets, Rev. 18.20, 24. and 19.2. and of the Saints, Rev. 18.16. and of all that have beene slaine upon the earth. And in the reformed Churches, in the ten Kingdomes, whom God will reserve for the ruine of Antichrist, and will use them in this great worke; yet there shall arise a persecution among themselves also, and in them shall the Witnesses be slaine (for their enemies shall dwell in the same street where their deads bodies shall lye un­buried) this persecution shall end in their destruction; Rev. 11.7.8. for when the witnesses shall rise from the dead, and ascend to Heaven in a cloud their enemies beholding them, the same houre there shall be a great Earthquake, and not onely the tenth part of the City shall fall, but in this [Page 29]Earthquake shall be slaine seven thousand of these men; Rev. 11.12.13. there shall a very great destruction come upon the enemies to the Saints in the Reformed Churches, Reliqui ponti­ficiae prius re­ligionis agnos­centes in Isto­rum Ecclesia­sticorum exci­dio & calami­tate justam Dei ultionem, tribuebant gloriam Deo caeli, id est, ad verum creato­rem conversi sunt, Brightm. Esay. 34.5.6.7.8. Ad conten­dendum pro Ziona & ejus causam vindi­candam, Fo­rer. Annus quo rependet Deus talio­nem Idumaeis, qui jugiter [...]ix­ati sunt & bel­li gerarunt cum Iudaeis, a L [...]p. Et quod de I­dumais dict­um est, ad uni­versos Ecclesi­ae hostes ex­tendi certum est, Calv. Ad excidium Sodomae & Gomorthae al­ludit, in quo perpetuam [...]ae Dei imaginem habemus. they pertaking with Rome in the sin, shall be made per­takers of her plagues; and the remnant shall be affright­ed and converted by this destruction upon others, and sh [...]ll give glory to the God of heaven. Thus it will be an universall ruine, no enemies eyther within or with­out the Church, if they persist in their opposition, ever did or ever shall escape.

3. Thirdly, that the enemies shall bee sure to meet with in their opposition to the people of God shall be an utter destruction, and exceeding fearefull; they shall not pe­rish in an ordinary way, nor by the common death of other sorts of sinners, but there is a high degree of ven­geance prepared for them. There is a fearefull wrath comming upon Idumea, The sword is bathed in heaven, it shall come downe upon Idumea, the people of my curse to judgement, the sword of the Lord is filled with blood, and made fat with fatnes, for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Boz­rah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea; the Vni­cornes shall come downe with them and the bullockes with the bulls, and their land shall be drunken with bloud, and their dust made fat with faines. What is the ground of all this fierce wrath? its only God doth visit upon them their cruelty to the Saints, It is the day of the Lords vengeance, and the yeere for the recompences of the controversie of Zion: Therefore the streames thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch, it shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke thereof shall goe up for ever from generation to generation, it shall be waste, none shall passe through it for ever and ever, Zach. 12.3. The Church is com­pared to a burdensome stone, which yet would be a bur­den [Page 30]to none and would hurt no man, if they did not burden themselves with it; but if they will, their judge­ment is, cutting they shall be cut in peeces. The expressi­on in the Hebrew notes two things; certainty and extrea­mity: certainty, Gen. 2.17. Dying thou shalt die: that is, thou shalt surely die. Extremity and perfection, Gen. 22 17. In blessing I will blesse thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the starres of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea shore; that is, I will eminently blesse thee, &c. It notes excellency and certainty, so heere to bee cut in pieces notes great destruction: and yet to rayse the judgement, the Lord doth heighten the expression, cutting they shall be cut in peeces: that is, they shall cer­tainly perish, and that not in an ordinary way, but by an eminent and utter destruction, Jer. 51.11. Make bright the arrowes, gather the shields; the Lord hath raysed up the spirit of the Kings of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his Temple. And therefore is Romes ruine utter and finall; she shallbe utterly consu­med with fire, and the light of a candle shall bee seene no more in her at all, and the voyce of the bridegroome and the bride shall be heard no more in her at all, because in her will be found the bloud of all the Saints that have beene slaine upon the earth, and this bloud God doth visit and avenge upon her.

4. Fourthly, It shall be such a destruction as all the power of the earth shall not bee able to prevent or resist, Zac. 12.3. All that burden themselves with the Church, shall be cut in peeces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it. The world glory in their multi­tudes and their confederacies, as if they should be able by their owne strength to deliver themselves; but the greatest mountayne shall become a plaine before the [Page 31]Church, not by power nor by might, but by the spirit of the Lord, they shall come to an end, and none shall helpe them: when Assyriah is in her greatest glory, Dan. 11.45. a mountayne; then must the worme Jacob arise and thresh it, and God will rayse up seven shepheards, Mich 5.5.6. and eight principall men, and they shall distresse Nimrod in the en­trances thereof: a small party shall prevayle against all the strength of the enemy. When the Grecian Monar­chy is in its strength, the Lord will then bend Judah for him, and fill the bow with Ephraim, and rayse up the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece, Zach. 9.13. and make them as the sword of a mighty man, and as his goodly horse for the battell, and they shall be broken even without hand, Dan. 8.25. When the Turkish Empire shall bee at its height, then shall the River Euphrates be dryed up, Rev. 16.12. be­fore the Saints; to make way for the Kings of the East. And in that last and the greatest opposition of Gog and Magog, where their number shall bee as the sand upon the sea shore, yet then their multitude and their strength shall not preserve them, they shall perish not by the sword of a mighty man, nor the sword of a meane man shall devoure them, Rev. 29.8.9. but a fire shall come downe from God out of heaven. There is surely no escaping for those that persevere in the opposition and persecution of the Saints.

I come now to the last Doctrine, so let them perish: Apostrophe ad Deum inter­posit [...], nos ex­citat ut singu­lari affectu Deum tanto­rum facino­rum authorem susprciamus, Pet. Martyr. that is, as these have done in their opposition, by the prayers, by the power, and by the prayses of thy peo­ple. Some expresse it as a prayer, so let them perish, by the same meanes, and in the same maner, that doe rise up against the Saints. As Ps. 83.9.10. Doe unto them as unto Sisera, as to Iabin at the brooke of Kison who perish­ed at Endor, they became as the dung of the earth: with such a destruction, let all thine enemies perish. Others [Page 32]looking upon Deborah as one that spake by a prophe­ticall spirit, Non tam no­tandi modo, quam predi­cendi; tempore futuro haec Hebraicè e­nunciantur. Qui sic optant & agunt, atque Deo bellum i­ta inferre pa­rant, si [...] et [...]am per [...]bun [...], Mon­tan. Doct. Dan 8.24. Esay. 41.14.15.16. Zach. 4 6. Esay. 59, 19. [...] sig­nificat flumen angustum & rapidum sc. magna celeri­tate & magno impetu, & ad Dominum re­sertur non ad hostem, ab Arnoldo Bo [...] ­tio. Animadv. sacr. cap. 2. Zach. 9.13.14. and 10.3. conceive it to bee a prophesie and predicti­on of the overthrow of all the Churches enemies: and they render it, so shall all thine enemies perish, in the same maner, and by the same meanes that these have done.

The Churches enemies shall perish in their opposition, by the power, prayers and prayses of the Saints. The branch­es of the point are three.

1. By their power. A weake people they usually are if ye looke upon them in themselves; but yet mighty through God, and terrible as an Army with banners: In the lowest condition of the Church, and when the enemy prevayles over them, they [...]r [...] the mighty and the holy people. When Jacob is but a worme, then hee shall rise and thresh the mountaines: for God will ray [...]e up their spirits, fight their battels, gird their loynes, and strengthen their hands, not by power nor by might, but by his spirit; and when the enemy shall breake in as a floud, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him, by raysing the spirits of his people, by assisting them mightily, and making them victorious against all opposition: for the Lord himselfe doth fight against all the enemies, and his people are but the weapons that he doth use in the expedition; Iudah is his bow, and Ehraim his arrow, and his goodly horse for the battell. And when the Lord will use an ungodly people as weapons in his hand, they shall mightily prevayle. If hee will use Ba­bylon as his battle axe, Jer 51.20. he will with him breake in peeces the Nations, and destroy the Kingdoms: how much more when he will make Judah his battle axe, and his wea­pons of war, Joannes Foxe in Comment. suis. whom he doth much more delight to use and honour? some do conceive that in reference to this victory heere by the waters of Megiddo, that last great battell hath its name, which shall bee betweene Christ [Page 33]and Antichrist, called therefore the battell Armageddon, Brightm. Rev. 16.16. which some render mons deliciarum, the mountayne of delights unto God and his people: and others render it mons excidii, Par. the mountayne of slaugh­ter and destruction to the Churches enemies. The Churches enemies have comonly fallen by their hand in the end, Esa. 31.8.9. The Assyrian shall fall by the sword, not of a mighty man, and the sword not of a meane man shall devoure him. Whence then shall his destruction come? Not so much from any instrument, but from the hand of God made bare therein: Ignem hanc accendi & fo­veri dicit in medio populi sui, ut signifi­cet impios non impune Eccle­siam persequi, &c. Calv. in loc. and the Lords fire is in Zion and his furnace in Ierusalem; it is out of Zion that the fire comes that consumes the enemies, and it is into this fiery fornace they are cast when they are destroyed, Ezech. 24.14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall doe in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury, saith the Lord God. They that are with the Lamb, called and chosen and faithfull, Rev. 17, 14, & 18, 6. they shall burne Rome with fire, and reward her according as she hath rewarded them, and shall double to her double according to her works, in the cup that shee filled to them, they shall fill unto her double.

2. By their prayers. Rom. 4, 13. The Lord Jesus having made the Saints together with himselfe Heyres of the world, hee hath also given them a great hand in the Governe­ment of the world, as they shall have in the Judgement of it at the last and great day: 1 Cor. 6, 1, 2. therefore their prayers are Decrees as wel as the prayers of the Angels, and are called by the same name, Iob. 22.28. Dan. 4.17. [...] And the great executions and transactions of things in the world doe passe through their hands; Psal. 49, 8, 9. they binde Kings in chaynes, and Nobles with fetters of iron, this honour have all his Saints. Its observable that in all the great [Page 34]turnings of the world, the prayers of the Saints have had the great hand. Exod. 14, 15, 16, 17. Exod. 17, 11, 12. Psal. 76, 2. Aegypt is destroyed in the red sea, but it is by the prayer of Moses. Amaleck is routed by prayer. Thereby armies discomfited, victories woon, in Salem God breakes the arrowes of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battell. And they that scape the fiercest pursuers among men, prayer will overtake them: hee that escapes the sword of Hazael and Iehu shall Elisha slay: 1 King, 19, 17. Gladionon corporali sed spirituali, A Lap. Ad horribilem famem sub Jo­ram refertur; quia Deo impe travit Elisaeus cum ab idolo­latria Israeli­tae nollent dis­cedere, Pet. Martyr. in loc. Rev. 4, 5. Rev. 6, 10. and yet we know he was not a man of war, one that did handle the sword, onely the word did goe out of his mouth and tooke effect upon them. And all the great turnings in the Christian world since Christs time have beene no other then the fruit of the praiers of the Saints. The Seales in the booke of the Revelation, set forth the judgement of God upon Pagan Rome; and they are all in answer to prayers, for out of the throne sc. the pre­sence of the Lord in the midst of his people, proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voyces. And in answer to the cry of the soules under the Altar, who cryed with a loud voyce, How long Lord holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth.

The Trumpets set foorth the judgements executed upon Rome Christian; and these also proceede from the prayers of the Saints, for the fire cast upon the earth in those plagues was taken off the Altar, Rev. 8, 5. and there were voices and thundrings and lightnings and an earthquake &c. The Trumpets sounded but it was in answer to prayer, after there had beene silence in heaven for the space of halfe an howre, sc. during the time of the incense offering.

The Vialls set forth the judgements of God upon Rome Antichristian; and the great voice that comman­ded these Angels to powre out their Vials upon the [Page 35]earth came out of the Temple: that is, Rev. 16, 1. De Templo venit quando precibus san­ctorum aliquid impetratur, quibus man­dandi partes hic tribuntur ut sciamus quantam vim habent fideles precationes, Brightm. Rev. 11, 5, 6. from the prayers of the Saints; and whosoever shall observe the great changes in the world that all these set forth, wilbe for­ced to acknowledge what a mighty power there is in the prayers of the Saints. And that it may appeare it was not only so in ancient times, he sayth the witnesses even in these latter dayes shall have a power to shut hea­ven that it shall not raine, to turne waters into bloud, and to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will. And that this is the misery of all the Churches enemies, If any man will hurt them, fire shall proceed out of their mouthes, and devour them, and who ever he be, he must in this ma­ner be killed.

3. By their praises: for out of the mouthes of babes the Lord hath ordained them, Psal. 8, 2. that he should still the ene­my and the avenger: when Iehosophat, and all the people promised God in the beauty of holinesse, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, 2 Chron. 20, 22, 23. and Mount Sei [...], which were come against Iudah, and they smote one another. When Paul and Silas sung in the pri­son, the earth did quake; and so it commonly doth at the praises of the Saints. The enemies of the Church doe fall before their praises as well as their prayers.

Let us now come to the Application of these three points for a conclusion.

They serve for Admonition, for consolation and di­rection.

First, Ʋse. 1 for Admonition unto all the enemies of the Church: cease your rage against them, your plots, your hopes; refraine from them, let them alone, they are but passengers and Pilgrims, they are going unto Ca­naan; if the world be your countrey, let them quiet­ly and peaceably passe through it, without opposition, or persecution, or else ye will be found fighters against [Page 36]God, and ye will but meet with your owne destruction in the end.

To enforce this Admonition, let these considerations be duely weighed.

First, for God to give a man up to a spirit of emnity, and opposition to his people, is the greatest spirituall judgement that can befall a man in this life: it is the De­vils curse to be the envious man, the accuser and the persecutor of the brethren: and the more a mans heart is turned against the Saints the more fully doth this curse take place upon him. It was the great spirituall judgement upon Aegypt, and a most dangerous fore­runner of their utter destruction, Psal. 105.25. It is commonly demanded by Interpreters on that place, how God is said to turne the hearts of men to hate his peo­ple? and it is commonly answered, as in the case of hardning Pharoahs heart: men turne their owne heerts against Gods people sinfully, and God turnes them ju­dicially, diserved, by forsaking them, leaving them to the power of Satan, and the rage of their owne spi­rits, & media disponendo, so ordering and disposing ob­jects and occasions, as to draw out their rage, and ma­lice against his people. The greatest spirituall judge­ment is a hard heart, and of this hardnesse there are se­verall degrees; but of them all two are the highest, to sit downe in the chaire of the scorner, and in the throne of the persecutor. This did fill up the measure of Pharoahs hardnesse, Exod. 10 28. Take heed to thy selfe, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt dye: how would it make a mans heart tremble, to consider how far, at this time, this judgment is powred out upon this Nation?

Secondly, whatsoever any man doth in opposition to the Saints, he is a vessell of dishonour in all those [Page 37]workes: it is the same service in which the Devills are imployd, and God hates them when he doth imploy them: The Assyrian the rod of mine anger, Esay. 10, 5, 12 24. and the staffe of mine indignation: I send him against an hypocriticall Nation, against the people of my wrath; and I give him a charge to take the spoyle, and to tread them downe like the mire of the streets: and this charge of God he doth execute to the utmost; but was the Lord well pleased therewith? he saith when he had performed his whole worke upon Zion, the indignation should cease, and his anger in his destruction: and it's a hard service to be im­ployed in that which brings forth neither acceptance nor reward, but indignation and destruction in the end.

Thirdly, your very opposition will prove your destruction; the pit that you dig for the Saints yee shall surely fall into, it is a worke that ever ended in the ruine of the Actors, Esay. 59.5. It's said of wicked men, that they hatch cockatrice egges, and they weave a spiders webbe, the webbe never becomes a gar­ment, and the egges cursed breakes into a Viper: it sets 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 destructive, they bring forth a Viper that stings him to death that hatch­ed it, and the wrath of God will never be pacified, be­ing once provoked, till it end in their utter overthrow, Zach. 6.8. when the Angels as instruments of vengeance went into the north Countrey sc. into Persia and Chal­dea; and they have quieted my spirit, saith the Lord; that is they pacified my wrath by executing vengeance upon the persecutors, the people of my wrath: let me reason with you a little, was there no other way of sin­ning that could bring vengeance enough upon you, and sinke you deepe enough into perdition but ye must [Page 38] touch the apple of the Lords eye. May not I say with Mo­ses, Was not the iniquity of Peor enough, from which ye are not cleansed unto this day? Was not your drunkennesse, swearing, uncleannesse, hatred of godlinesse, superstiti­on, enough, but that you must breake forth into perse­cution also?

4. Fourthly, your destruction is neerest when yee are highest, when your confederacy is strongest, and your hopes raysed to the greatest perfection: when the enemy is as smoake out of a chimney and doth threaten even to darken the Sunne, then shall they bee scattered, Hose 12.3. When they associate themselves, and have the greatest combination of parties and counsels, then they shall be broken in pieces. Esay. 8, 9, 10. When they are folded together as thornes, and drunken with confidence as the drunkards, then shall they be consumed as stubble fully dry. The Lord doth many times lay the Church low in a designe, that the enemy may put forth their power and shew foorth their malice to the utmost against it; therefore he is sayd to make Ierusalem a cup of poyson: no man attempts to drinke wine while it is in the pipe or in the vessell: the Church of God is alway poyson to the enemies, but not alway put into a cup and made rea­dy 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 some thing up­on it; partly from the pleasantnesse of such a draught, and partly from the ease of it, its as easie as to drink, and they can make no resistance. The Church is sometimes a great stone, Zach. 12, 2, 3. [...] even as a mountayne, and it fils the earth; and then the enemies dare not attempt to burden them­selves therewith, but sometimes it is a stone of a lesser size, and then they are ready to thinke they may carry it away with case; whereas though it be not alwayes so [Page 39]great, yet it is as heavy, and they finde it so, for it breaks them to peeces. Whensoever the Church of God is brought low it is in designe, that their enemies may be ensnared and taken.

5. Fiftly, by these means ye shall bring upon your selves the guilt of all the bloud of the Saints that hath beene shed 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 Per­secutors, and the rage of Antichrist surpassing all these; and to have all this bloud lie upon one generation, who would not tremble at it? But yet all the bloud of for­mer times will come upon the persecutors of this last age of the world. Matth. 23.34.35. That upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth, from the bloud of righteous Abel, unto the bloud of Zacharias the son of Barachias. It is much questioned how this is to bee understood, that the bloud shed in one age should in the guilt of it come upon another, and how the bloud of all former ages should come upon this last?

To understand it rightly, these two things are to bee considered.

1. First, that it is to be understood only in respect of temporall punishments and not of eternall; for as no man ever went to heaven by the righteousnesse of ano­ther meere man, so no man shall ever goe to hell for the wickednesse of another. Heere the sonne shall not bear the iniquity of the father, but the soule that sinnes shall die. Yet in things temporall, as children may have ma­ny blessings, as a reward of their fathers graces and o­bedience (as God brought Israel into Canaan, 2. Cron. 20.7. although they were a very disobedient and stiffenecked people, because it was the Land which he had promised to A­braham his friend: and hee delivered them in the dayes [Page 40]of Hezekiah for his servant Davids sake) so they may be under many temporall judgements, Esay. 37.35. as a punishment of their fathers disobedience: the Lord heerein using his soveraignty and prerogative to punish a man eyther in his person or his posterity, Gen. 9, 25. 2 King 5, 27. as he did Cham in Canaan his son, and Gehesie both in his person and in his seede also.

2. Secondly, God lookes upon a generation or suc­cession of men as a body, and in the punishment of their sinnes he doth shew both justice and providence. As there is a measure of iniquity in particular men to bee filled up before eternall wrath shall take hold of them, Jer. 51, 13. Dan. 8, 23. Zach. 5.6. Joel. 3, 13. Rev. 14, 15. so is there a measure appointed also to a State, or a ge­neration of men, which must be filled up before Tem­porall wrath shall come upon them. Wee see the Tem­porall judgement upon the Amorites is deferred, be­cause their iniquity was not yet full, and the time to fill it up was 400 yeeres, Gen. 15.16. The Lords Decree is gone forth to blot out the remembrance, of Amalecke from under heaven, Exod. 17.14. and yet this people doe not come up into remembrance before the Lord to their utter destruction till the dayes of Saul, 1 Sam. 15.2. and then the Lord sits upon their posterity their fathers sinnes, because they layd wayt for Israel in the way when they came out of Egypt. So Christ sayth to the Pharises; ye are the children of them that killed the Prophets, fill yee up the measure of your fathers, Matth. 23.31.32. So that when children walke on in their fathers wayes, and fill up their measure, though in respect of eternall wrath inflicted upon their persons, they were in hell many yeeres agoe, and received a just recompence of reward, yet the temporal punishment may be reserved for after ages, and visited upon the posterity when transgression is come to the full. Thus all the cruelty executed upon [Page 41]the Saints from the bloud of Abel was visited upon the Jewes in the destruction of Jerusalem, and all the bloud shed upon the earth shall be visited upon Babylon the great the mother of harlots, when she shall come up in­to remembrance before God, with all those that have receyved her marke, or borne her image, or acted with her in a way of bloud.

6. Sixthly, there are no sort of sinners in whose destruction the Lord doth so much delight; it is unto him a sacrifice of a sweet savour, Esa. 34.6. Jer. 46.10. Z [...]ph. 1.7.8. And as Satan the neerer his kingdome is to end, the greater is his rage, great wrath because his time is short, so the neerer Christ comes to the perfect pos­session of his Kingdome (for when the enemies are sub­dued, all the Kingdomes of the earth shall be the Lords and his Christs) the more will he put on zeale as a gar­ment, and the more he will hasten the enemies over­throw: he will doe more in a short time at last, then hee hath in many ages in times past. If it bee but a slande­rer, Quid tandem Deus Opt. Max. in te de­cernet? Sagit­tas suas desu­per; nec non carbones seu primas Juni­perorum in Gehenna. Mi [...]s. in loc. or one that persecutes with a despitefull heart and a false tongue, he shall not lose his labour: therefore the question is put, Psal. 121.3.4. What shall be given un­to thee, or what shalbe done unto thee thou fals tongue? Thy reward from the Lord shalbe, mighty and sharp ar­rowes with coales of Iuniper, which as they burne hot­test and continue the longest, so they doe in the burn­ing yeeld a sweet savour.

The second use is for consolation to all the Saints, Ʋse 2 and the Lord takes great care that they should be com­forted, that their spirit might not sinke and fayle in the evill day: Comfort yee, comfort yee my people, Esay. 40.1. sayth your God: and when the Lord Christ drew neere his suffering, when a man would have expected all his thoughts should have beene taken up about himselfe, [Page 42]yet now he takes care to beare up the spirits of his peo­ple that they might not bee overwhelmed with over­much sorrow, Io. 14.1. Let not your hearts bee trou­bled &c. Truly we had need of great supports, because the enemies are many and enraged, mens spirits are in judgement turned to hate the Saints, and it is to be fear­ed, if a man rightly discernes the signes of the times, that the killing of the witnesses drawes neere, which will surely bee the bitterest and bloudiest persecution that ever befell the Christian Churches.

My purpose is not to give you those ordinary sup­ports which are common to all afflictions, as that they come from a fathers hand, from a heart full of love, that they shalbe in measure, and make a man partaker of the holinesse of God in the end, for this is all the fruit to take away the sinne &c. though these are great grounds to stay a mans faith upon. But I would rather pitch up­on those that might be more proper and peculiar to the enemies and sufferings of the last times, the cup that God hath reserved for you.

1. These shalbe the last great suffrings of the saints, and they shalbe but short; for as all the former beasts are destroyed, so there now remaines onely the seventh head of the fourth beast, which is as the eight and must goe into perdition, Rev. 17.11. and then all the emi­nent persecutions of the Church shall cease, and there shall be no more a pricking briar, and a grieving thorne in the Lords holy Mountaine: the Lord shall then wipe away all teares from your eyes, there shall bee no more sorrow, nor crying, the witnesses shall die but once, and it shalbe the sharpest but yet the shortest of the Chur­ches sufferings. To all you that have beene with the Lambe called and chosen and faythfull, I say as the Mar­tyr did, Hold out faith and patience, your worke is al­most [Page 43]at an end. It was a great comfort to Hierome of Prague, that he could say to his persecutors at his death, Centum revolutis annis Deo respondebitis & mihi: after an hundred yeeres God would call them to an account in avenging his bloud; but you may summon your persecutors before God to answer in a far lesse time.

2. Secondly, these last sufferings shall be an inlet to the most glorious deliverances that ever the Church of God had: for the killing of the witnesses shall make way for their resurrection, Rev. 11.12.15. when they shall ascend to hea­ven in a cloud, their enemies beholding them. And then shall the Kingdomes of the earth become the King­domes of the Lord, and the dominion under the whole heaven shall be given to the Saynts of the most High, Dan 7.27. and they shall possesse it for ever and ever.

3. Thirdly, all your sinfulnesse and unworthines, shall not hinder your redemption: though the people of God fall, yet they shall rise, and though they may sit in darknesse, the Lord will bee light about them. Indeed the great discouragements to the Saints are their sinnes, and their unanswerable walking unto meanes and mer­cies, but yet the Lord cannot alter the word gone out of his lips, nor suffer his faythfulnesse to fayle, Esay 10.27. The burden shall bee taken away from off thy shoulder, and the yoke from off thy necke, and the yoke shall bee de­stroyed, because of the annointing. Glass. Rhetor sacr. Calv. in loc. Some take the annoin­ting for Christ the annointed of the Lord, and others for the Kingdome of Christ, which by an unction the Lord had established, whether Christ or the Kingdom of Christ be understood, yet there is an annointing that will breake every yoke. Their sinnes may procure their affliction, but they shall never hinder their redemption.

4. Fourthly, The enemies shall never bee able to set up Popery in this kingdome againe, and to establish [Page 44]any of those things that relate to it; that the Lord hath removed in these late yeeres, they shall never bee able to root out the Saints out of the Reformed Churches, but they shall grow by their opposition. Christ will surely keepe the ground that hee hath won in a way of Reformation; and what the former vialls have destroy­ed shall never be made up againe, for hee will not lose the fruit of his conquest in any one of them. His sha­kings of heaven and earth are to this end, that hee may remove the things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain Heb. 12.27. There is nothing that is made by man in the things concerning God, but he will have a shaking time for it, and his end in shaking it is, that hee may re­move it, and he doth not so remove it, that the enemies should againe establish it. And therefore what ever of Popery the Lord hath shaken and removed, I doe con­clude, that all the power of the enemy shall never set up againe. I doe not doubt but there will bee many and desperate attempts for it, but they shall never bee able to prevayle, as when the Heathenish way of worship was destroyed, there were many endeavoured to set it up againe.

Fiftly, God will in an especiall manner owne you in all your sufferings, as he calls you forth for him, so will hee assuredly appeare for you; and therefore he saith when men reject them and cast them out, Rev. 11.3. they are my two wit­nesses, and they shall have the same power with him that any of the ancient Saints have had in times past, they shall turne water into bloud with Moses and Aaron, they shall shut Heaven that it shall not raine, with Elijah, they shall be two Olive trees standing before the God of the earth: with Joshua and Zorobabel, if any man hurt them fire shall come out of their mouthes and devour them, [Page 45]and they shall smite the earth with plagues as often as they will; so that the greater persecution they shall meet with all from men the nearer accesse they shall have to God and the greater acceptance with him, and as the affliction shall abound, so shall also the consolation, and to be owned eminently by God, and to be looked upon as those of whom the world is not worthy, when they are disowned by men and accounted not worthy to live in the world, is a great meanes to beare up mens spirits in the greatest sufferings.

Sixtly, It shall end in their finall and utter destruction; for there shall follow an earthquake, Rev. 11.13. in which the tenth part of the City shall fall: Christ shall be clothed with a vesture dipt in bloud, Rev. 19.13.15. and he shall tread the wine presse and fiercenesse of the wrath of Almighty God, and all those ancient Prophesies, as well for the enemies de­struction as for the Saints redemption shalbe fullfilled; for time or delay shalbe no more, Rev. 10.6.7. the mystery of God shalbe finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets; and then shall that ancient prediction of Lac­tantius be fullfilled, De divino praemio lib. 7. c. 15. Romanum nomen quo nunc regitur ab orbis (horret animus dicere, sedd cam quia futurum est,) tolletur de terra. All that power of Rome which hath for many hundred yeares, as the fourth Beast ty­rannized over the Churches, all this shall be destroy­ed in the little horne, Dan. 7.11.26. and the Beast given to the bur­ning flame, to be consumed and destroyed unto the end.

But especially by Iulian, who did in dispight to Christ and Christianity use all meanes to bring in Pagan Idolatry againe, and to build the Temple at Jerusalem, and to set up againe the Jewish worship; and to this end set a great multitude of poore deluded Jewes about this worke; but when they had gotten materialls to­gether, [Page 46]and thought to set about the building: that night the Lord sent a whirl-winde, and scatered all the materialls; but they were not thus discouraged from the worke, but they sought out the ancient foundation of the Temple to build upon it, and having found it, the Lord sent an earthquake, which cast up all the for­mer foundation; and then that Prophesie was full filled, there was not a stone left upon a stone not throwne downe; Ecce globus igneus e fun­damentis Templi erum­peus laboran­tibus occur tens, operari­os multos am­bussit, incendi­o illo per to­tum diem du­rante. Ea mi­racula quos­dam Iudaeos ita permove­runt ut Chri­stum Deum agnoscerent. Religio vero indurati cum indignatione opus caeptum dereliquerunt. Osiander Epi­tom. hist. Ec­clesiast. Cent. 4 l. 3. c. 34. but such was their blindenesse and desperate madnesse, that they would not desist from the enterprise; there­fore the Lord sent a fire out of the foundations of the Temple, which consumed many of the workmen, their materialls and instruments for the building, and then at last they began with shame and indignation to give it over. The like endeavours wee may expect for Rome Antichristian, and with greater violence, but they shall be alway so crossed that they shall at last perish in their owne opposition: what ground the Lord hath won up­on Rome he will maintayne, for he will by degrees de­stroy her.

Neyther shall they ever prevayle to root out godli­nesse, or a godly party out of this Kingdome, but they shall encrease by persecution raised against them: for as the ten Kingdomes did at first give their power to the Beast to set him up, so he will turne their hearts to hate the whore, and they shall plucke her downe, for the Lambe shall overcome the ten kingdomes, not in a way of destruction but in a way of conversion, and hee will win ground upon them dayly, and will have a prevay­ling party in them, who shall bee the more stirred up a­gainst her for her last cruelty, and they shall hate her, eat her flesh and burne her with fire.

The last use is for direction to those that feare the Lord; Ʋse 3 and that in three particulars, and I will con­clude.

First, let this present mercy raise your hopes, and revive your now drooping and sinking spirits: truly had you no pledge given, [...] Suff [...]tum corejus Montan. yet there is ground enough of encouragement in the Lord, Ps. 112.7.8. Trusting in the Lord his heart is established: the word signifies under­propped, which of it selfe would fall and sincke. But much more when God gives in mercy for an earnest, Rom. 5.4. experience should bring forth hope. This shewes that God hath not yet sold 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, Psal. 74.1 [...]. food for your fayth to feed upon in the wildernesse, which as yet ye are to passe through before ye enter into rest.

2. Secondly, though your power bee small and your party few and weake, that by power you have lit­tle hope to prevable, yet by the meanes you have, pray­ers and prayses, and by them God hath ordayned that ye shall still the enemy and the avenger: Psal. 8.2. Rev. 11.5. the fire with which they must bee killed, must proceed out of your mouths. Flie to the old refuge of fasting and prayer in a communion of Saints, formerly practised when perse­cuted, but now wholly neglected, when it may with li­berty be enjoyed: truely in these your strength lyes; and prayer never comes too late. In the time of Eliah 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 Eliah prays, and God sends raine, and the earth yeeld; her fruit as in times past. Prayer in the most desperate state of things comes not too late, because God can never come too late.

3. Thirdly, that you may unite your prayers, la­bour to unite your hearts, and if you desire that God [Page 48]should shew himselfe against your enemies, Prima iratum tela sunt male­dicta & quic­quid non pos­sumus imbc­cilli optamus irati. Salv. de gub. l. 3. Dr. Reynoldes selfe-denyall. be not ye enemies one to another, let all jealousies, evill surmi­sings, all bitternesse, slanders, and reproaches be layd aside as becomes persons professing Godlinesse, speake not evill one of another the judge stands before the doore. It is well observed by a learned Divine of our owne, that the former division of Conformists and non-Conformists in this Kingdome was cherished, and fomented by an Episcopall interest, that they might spend themselves one against another, Ez [...]ch. 37.19. Rev. 22.1. Homines do­cti & Ecclesia­rum Ministri pace ingrati ac busi sunt ac multas con­tentiones & rix [...]s simplici doctrinae im­miscuerunt acmutuo inter­cedi gladian­tes simplicem populum ab u­nitate Ecclesi­ae in varias sectas adduxe­re. Castigavit igitur Deus Ecclesiam su­am propter contentiones, [...]ixas & scisma­ta non tantum Ariana perse­cutione sed & nova ethnica. &c. Bulling. de persecutioni­bus Eccles. Christian. and the other might have objects for their favours and their frownes to worke upon in them both. Some such principle e­vidently workes in our present divisions, that both parties spending their strength, and being so zealously busied one against another. A third party being neg­lected (if I may not say courted) by both, may se­cretly, and insensibly grow up, and come in to deside the controversie, which I assure my selfe they at this day confidently expect; there is a glorious union promi­sed to be betwene the people of God in the latter daies, the long breach betweene the ten and two Tribes a­mong the Jewes shalbe made up, and the two sticks be­came one in the Prophets hand, and the fi [...]e that is in the Sea of glasse in the reformed Churches shall be put out, and shall againe become cleere as Christall; but it will be some great affliction that must make up this u­nion, being melted they will soder, but not else. It is observed that after the reformation in Constantines time there arose great divisions, and contentions amongst themselves, especially in the Ministry, and therefore God gave them up in Iulians time, into the hand of the Heathen; so Rome Pagan had for three yeeres and halfe a reviving: so shall Rome Antichristian have three years and halfe, and the growned of it I feare will be our own [Page 49]divisions also. This Parents use to doe if children can­not agree among themselves; they whip them both. And every man knowes that no man gaines by the dif­ferences between brethren, but he that is an enemy to both.

I thinke every one that is wise hearted, doth more feare our owne divisions then all the enemies combina­tions; for what is sayd of England, may be as truely sayd of those that feare God in it. It is a mighty creature that can never dye unlesse it kill it selfe. My humble re­quest is that of Nazian. to Theodosius, [...]. that you would use all your Authority and interest to put an end to the differences between these that are godly, and act upon conscientious principles.

Our differences are not so great, Nos quantum in nobis est, propter haere­ticos cum col­legis & coe­piscopis nostris non contendi­mus; cum qui­bus divinam concordiam & dominicam pacem tene­mus: Servatur a nobis pati­enter & fir­miter collegii honor, vincu­lum fidei & concordia Sa­cerdotii, Cy­prian. ad Juba­ian. Epist. 73. Zach. 12.3. that wee stand at such a distance, that to hold an opinion a man should hazard his destruction. In Cyprians time they could keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, with those that did not onely thinke, but teach that which was contrary to what was received, in things of lesser concernment: and surely wee might in our differences at least so far agree as to act together, if pride and par­ty were layd aside, and wee acted by the same spirit of humility and brotherly love, that the ancient Saints and Churches were.

And if this designe of union might take place, though the enemy threaten and the clouds gather and grow black every day more and more; yet I should as­sure my selfe that all that burthen themselves with the Saints, should be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth should be gathered together against them.