MY travaile for the choice of my text parallel to this daies worke, was as the flying of Noahs doue, or floting of his arke; the one had no footing til it came to the arke againe, the other noe restinge place but on the mountaines of Armenia; nor I where to settle my diuided thoughts, til I fel vpon this Psalme: here I met with manie vniformities.

The event the same. We maie as trulie and as happily say, as these might of whō the Psalm treateth, God is our hope, and strength, in angustijs auxilium praesētissimum, or adiutor in tribulationibus, quae invenerūt nos nimis, our readiest help in our sorest dangers. v. 1. Wee were the children of death, and were euen come to the birth, there wanted a verie little strength to bring vs forth. Tempus faciendi domino, it was then time for the Lord to put to his hand, yea the time was almost past. —digitis à morte remoti quatuor aut septem.— there remained but a few houres to accomplish their mischeife.

The extent of the danger noe lesse. Theirs was against both their Citie of God, and the sanctuarie of his Tabernacles. vers. 4. Ours against both city & sanctuarie, the two sisters, the Martha and Marie, policie & pietie, Commonwealth and Church of our Countrie: The thrones of Dauid & chaire of Moyses, golden sceptre, & golden candle stick, our 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 21. Act. 28. & our 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 also, people, law, place, temple must haue beene dissolued.

The places seeme to accord. With them, their citie of God; so with vs too. Our city of God▪ the faierest, the excellentest, the absolutest that we had (or contiguous to it) our Ierusalē, the Princesse of the thousands, the mother of al the daughters of our land, the Chā ber of our famous Kings & Queenes, ioie of our English earth, empresse of the Island, and the renouned Emporie and Mart of the whole Kingdome.

And the Sanctuarie of our Tabernacles no lesse as theirs. Our Bethel, our Siloh, our Hill of Sion; where were our goodliest Tēples and Basilikes, Chappels & oratories, where our verie oracles were wont to bee giuen, the fountaine and spring of religion, the arke of the presence of God aboue al other places of this land.

Omit not the season vers. 5. Their deliuerance was verie earlie. Manè diluculò ante auroram, ad cōspectū aurorae. So was ours. For by fowre in the morning of that daie, which had bin the evening and long night, the blacknes of darknes to our state, was the treasō discouered, the Lords of the priuie Counsaile acquainted, and the King in his bed chamber awaked and aduertised. There wanted but a mornings worke, which if it had sped, sufficient vnto the daie, the yeare and many ages of the world had the malice of that morning bin. Betwixt the midnight of that eue, whereon the Incendiarie kept his vigilles, & the middaie of their feast, their greate Iubilee expected, were but 12 houres▪ and on of those twelue, as of the 12. Apostles a devill, so must haue been hora & potestas tenebrarum the houre and power of the deuil, the houre of firie trial, hora nefasta, nefanda, the blackest that euer the eie of the sunne looked vpon, worse then the worst Sodomiticall and Gomorrhean, the most accursed and infamous, that euer was accompted in anie Kalendar of time.

Mee thinketh the whole phrase of the Psalme hath great congruitie. For surelie our ground had bin shakē vers. • . yea her ioints had bin shiuered in peices; and our mountaines if not of nature, of art, monumēts of age and honor, as stable and statelie as mountaines, huge masses and piles of magnificent buildings, roiall pallaces, religious temples, Mausolean sepulchers & shrines, which the holie Ghost calleth domos seculi▪ houses of eternitie, 12. Eccl. had beene throwne into the midst of the riuer, if not the sea; and our waters had raged & beene troubled vers. 3. yea the foundations of their chā nels had been discouered: And that Riuer of ours, the streames wherof make glad our Citie of God vers. 4. had changed hir gladnes into mourning, died her christal into rubies, and turned as the riuers of Egypt into a riuer of bloud; running as a Maister-veine with a full tide of bloude along the sides of the city: hir carriages in stead of wonted cōmodities had beene dead corpses; manie a thousand discerpted limme both of men and buildings must it haue drank downe, & buried within hir bosome.

Lastlie and in a worde the subiect of the Psalme throughout is very like. The incursiō of the enimie to both strong and furious: the danger imminēt, vast, & peremptorie; the deliuerance strange & glorious; the preventiō of the mischeife suddaine; the commemoration and thanksgiuing solemne; and most generous, heroical, invincible as in them, so in vs, (J hope) the resolutiō. The Lord is our refuge &c. Therefore wil wee not feare though the earth be mooued &c.

Notwithstanding al these resemblances, the reede & metwand of that danger and deliuerance of theirs is far to short to bee the measure of ours. Ours is casus omissus, a transcendent of transcendents a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; our danger a monster of dangers such as nature neuer brought forth; our deliuerance a mirrour, a miracle of deliuerances; such as the finger of God neuer wrought. But taking my text as it is, you shal finde in the opening of it 1 A proposition, professiō, protestatiō as it were to the whol world The Lord of hostes is with vs v. 7 2 A probation, or demonstration therof. Come & behold his workes. vers. 8. 3 Confirmatiō, explicatiō, enumeratiō, he maketh warrs to cease &c. he breaketh the bow &c. v. 9. 4 Exhortation, aduise. Be stil and know &c. v. 10. 5 Conclusion, acclamatiō. The Lord of hostes &c. vers. vlt. Which being a repetition of the seauenth verse, in the self same words and syllables, carmen amaebaeum, maie seeme to stand in the first place as a challendge and defiance to al aduersarie forces. Dominus virtutū nobiscum, we wil not feare for thousands, and tē thousands, whole armies of mē, legiōs of deuills, the gates of hel: and when they haue proued, demonstrated, cleared the truth of their assertion, they singe it once more in the last place as their Paean, their victorious and triumphāt songe, Dominus virtutum nobi scū ▪ &c.

Looke not for much explication & discourse at my hands, you shal finde me a short paraphrast or scholiast application is my end. My text seruing me to noe other vse then as a seal, or stamp, or mold, which whē J haue set to the late storie of our times, you shal find, if not so liuelie in al points of collation; yet some liklie expression and forme of my text sticking vpon it.

For the order then and connexion of the words in breife, thus it standeth.

Touching the proposition, Dominus virtutum nobiscum &c. The Proposition. They not onlie presume it, & laie it for their surest ground, as a maxime and principle which they wil neuer bee driuen from; but assume it vnto themselues in the hypothesis, and appropriate it to their people & persons, Nobiscum, noster. Which are not onlie voces charitatis, words of charitie, whē by a stile of pluralitie and community they comprehend al the members of their state but voces fidei, words of faith also, when they make Iehouam exercituum, the vniuersal Lord of the world, whose power is over al, to bee their proper & peculiar God. Like wise builders, that build vpon the rocke, al the winds and stormes in the world maie beate vpon their house either of Church or Kingdome, but cannot shake them. Wise Merchāts that sell al the substance they haue to buy one pearle more valuable and precious then al the rest. Vnus omnia. And omniam omnibus: Compendiū mirabile. One Lord of hostes is more vnto them, then al the armes of flesh and bloud, al armies of men and Angels, all the powers in heauen and earth: One God of Iacob more vnto them then al the Gods of Ammon, Aram, Moab, and whatsoeuer is named God throughout the whole world.

But that which I obserue principally in the proposition is the wisdome and perfection of their speech. For according to the two members of it, so doe they stile God with two titles, and ascribe vnto him two attributes or actions. His titles are Dominus virtutum, & Deus Iacob. Dominus virtutum: Deus Iacob. That is to saie strong & sweet. The one virium the other voluntatis, the on of ability, the other of willingnes, the on roboris, the other faederis. One of power, an other of fauor, one of maiestie, an other of mercie, on of puissāce, another of promise: in a word, one vniuersal, the other more special. J remember the counsaile of the Sonn of Syrach: Facito verbis tuis stateram. 28. Eccl. 25. Ballance thy words euē. Was there euer speech in the book of God more equallie ballanced? In the one skale you haue the Lord of Hostes, 15. Exod. virū, or rather Deum bellatorem, vvith whom it is al one to saue with manie or vvith few, the God of Gods with his out. streched arme of power, and his right hande bringing terrible things to passe; whose throne is the heauen of heauens, the earth his footstoole, the sea his washpot, Angels his ministring spirits, men his vessels of claie, Deuils the vassals of his wrath, and al the creatures in the vvorld, euen the poore insectes & flies, the scorns of nature, executioners of his vengance, and able by his appointmēt to lay one sure strokes. O this is a glorious and feareful skale, who can abide it? Who euer saw God in his strength & liued? What piller of heauen, or what foundation of the vvorld could stand, if there were not an nother skale to match and mitigate the rigor of his strength?

Behold then in the other part there is the God of Iacob: in which name is comprised vvhatsoeuer belō geth to mercie▪ fauor, compassion, whatsoeuer to election, dilection, purchase, inheritance, promise, couenant, word, sacrament. Nay, the prescription and antiquitie of his loue is exprest herein, for Deus Iacob beareth an auncient date. And these two together (Lord of hosts, & God of Iacob) make a iust aequi-libriū betweene greatnes and grace, and bring al things to a faire medlie, a sweet and acceptable harmonie, like that in the 34. of Exod. The Lord, the Lord Stronge, there is the roote of all, afterwards mercifull, gracious &c. a number of goodlie branches springing frō that roote.

The actions ascribed vnto him are likwise two. The one of presēce Nobi scum; Nobiscum, susceptor noster. the other of protection, susceptor noster, arx, exaltatio, locus editus, the latter is an auxesis, increase to the former.

Dominus nobiscum is not so much (vnlesse you vnderstand that great mysterie which was hidden from the beginning of the world, and reuealed in fulnes of time, that is Emanuel, Dominus nobiscum, God in our nature, God in our flesh) for God is present to al his creatures. Iouis omnia plena: caelum & terram impleo I fil heauen and earth. VVhether shal I flie from thy spirit? if I climbe vp into heauen &c. Hee is present with those that shunne his presence, that saie vnto him (depart from vs) and thinke they are safe from his sight: Tush, none seeth, the God of Iacob regardeth not. But when it is added, that God is not onlie with vs, but for vs, nobiscum, and pro nobis, then are we safe & secure from all possible dangers.

The assertion,2. Probation I confesse, is verie audacious, if it be not wel warranted. Many haue trusted in lying words, as the Prophet Ieremy speaketh: Templum Domini, Templum Domini: and whie not these aswel brachium, Domini, brachiū Domini, the arme of the Lord is with vs, and perhaps noe such matter. They are not the first that haue been deceaued. There were that called thē selues, the children of Abrahā, the disciples of Moyses, the sōnes of the most High, & were nothing lesse. You saie, the Lord of hostes is with you, and the God of Iaakob your defense. How proue you it? Or why yours more then the whole world's besides?

Assured it is, there were noe outward, apparant, transient worke from God to perswade vs of his presence and defense, if besides his promises (which promises are yea & amen) besides his word & othe (which word and othe are 2. immutable things) wee had nothing to stand vpon; if he made as if hee slept, and had thrust his hand of working into his bosome, & would not drawe it out, but might seeme to haue forgotten to be gracious, and to haue buried his mercies in euerlasting forgetfulnes: more thē this, if his works were quite contrarie (as wee might conceaue) to his works of mercie, not diuersa, but aduersa, which the Prophet calleth opera peregrina, 28. Es. 21. strange and vnproper workes, aliene almost from his nature, I meane of troubling and afflicting his people so farr forth, that the verie heathen should say of vs, where is now their God? Yet should we liue by our faith, and possesse our soules in patience, and waite for the time when the vision should speake, for it shal certainelie speake, and shal not lie vnto vs.

But there are that beleeue not vnlesse they may see. plus oculo quàm oraculo. Non videmus signa. An adulterous and wicked generation, carnal at least, seeketh a signe. Vnlesse wee maie see with our eies (saie they) and handle with our hands, & thrust our very fingers and nailes into the prints of Gods works, wee wil not beleeue; it must be brachium reuelatum, demonstrated to sense, or it cannot moue them. For the satisfaction therfore of them and the whole world, they ioine potentèr & patentèr togither, the works and the euidēce of thē: Venite & videte opera. Come & behold his works; wee feed you not with deceaueable fables. Sensus assensus sunt. See them, touch them, handle them, they are not spirits, fansies, speculations, they are true bodies and haue the flesh & bones of real, acted, accomplished workes. It is iustlie that answere that Philip shaped to Nathanael 1. Iohn. when he asked him, commeth there anie good thing out of Nazareth? Come and see. Let thy foote bring thine eie to behold that which thou beleeuest not. Yea our blessed Sauiour himselfe vouchsafed to perswade with this argument • o Iohn. If you beleeue not me, beleeue my works; opera testantur de me, for my works beare witnesse of mee. Now though the noblest demonstration of things bee from their causes and principles, yet the nearest to vs warde and most apprehensible is from effects and performances.

But what are the works they tel vs of? The workes of God are without number, if wee saile in the maine Ocean of them, & put not in into some special arme or creeke, we shal neuer find an end. 104. Psal. Quàm magnificata, o how manifold are thy works o Lord! In wisdome hast thou made them al. The earth is ful of thy goodnes. So is the great and wide sea, wherin are things creeping innumerable, both great and smale beasts. &c. Manifold are they and maruaillous, from the huge Leuiathan to the little worme. Omnia in sapientia. But that as St, Austin speaketh, Consuetudinis perseuerantia amisit admirationem: we maruaile not, because they are common. The like Tertullian, Semper abundantia contumelio sain semetipsam est. Of fulnes commeth lothing, at least neglect. VVee see nothinge but this Man. Assiduitate oculorum (saith Tully) assues cunt animi. It is vse that beguileth vs, and it is not magnitudo but nouitas, the greatnes but newnes of the thing that draweth vs after it. Otherwise (to goe noe farther) how admirable are the works of God, euē vpon ourselues? It is hee that hath made vs wonderfully in our mothers wombes, & tooke vs forth of our mothers bellies, and when father and mother forsook vs, tooke vs vp, that giueth vs our dailie breade to feede vs, and our dailie breath to quicken vs with many the like blessings. Al which shew, that hee is not far of frō every one of vs, Act. 15. but watcheth continuallie ouer vs with his heauenlie and fatherlie prouidence. But of the works of God there is noe end, if we thinke to take a view of the whole sūme of thē. Come therfore to some particular.

The holie Ghost teacheth mee to distribute the workes of God into 2. sorts. One of which sorts is exprest in my Text,Qua • solitudi • es. Solitudines desolations Some reade mirabilia wonders, not ordinarie workes: some prodigia prodiges, not ordinarie wōders. The most solitudines.

So then by the light of my Text J perceaue the workes of God are two fold.

1 Sōe of position, cōstitution, creatiō, [in the beginning God made heauen and earth]Genes. & quicquid me diū cum ipsis finibus exortum est, Basil. al things contained with in them; of supportation, and gouernment. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1. Heb. He carrieth althings with the word of his power: of redemption, purchase, reconciliation 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; 2. Cor 5. 10. of restitution, reparation, renouation. 3. Act. 20. there shal be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , times of the restauratiō of al things. These bee his positiue works 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , whatsoeuer, I meane, either giueth, or maintaineth, or bettereth, and amendeth the beeing of things; of which we maie read plētifully the mean time in the book of nature, more happily in the bookes of grace, but hereafter most blessedlie & contentedlie in the lardge volumes of glorie.

2 Other are his workes of corruption, dissolution, & as my text calleth them desolation. The Scripture testifieth of both, viuifico, occido▪ I quicken, I kill. Creans lucem, 32. Deut. formans tenebras, Creating the light, and forming darknes. 45. Esay. These workes of desolation are not such, the onlie end wherof (without farther good) is to marre & destroie, & depriue of beeing, as the drowning of the old worlde, the burning of Sodome with hir sisters, the sacking of Ierusalem; where the scope proposed to God was to overturne, ouerturne, overturne, without sparing they are desolations to our enimies, but consolations to vs, ruins to them, to vs resurrections, 20. Psalm. (they are falen downe, saith the Psalme, wee stande vpright) corruptions to them, generations, creations, recreations to vs. And without these corruptiue, destructiue, works of God (to let passe the other mēber) we could not bee, or at least wise not so happie. Take for example. God neuer made death. Inuidia diaboli intrauit. 2. Wis. through the enuie of the deuill it entred into the world; through sinne the inspiratiō of the deuil 5. Rom. & not onlie 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , entred, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , wēt ouer al, as a gangraine and infection; & more thē that, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Alexander the great, a triumphant conquerour Curt. [peruenimus ad solis ortum & occasum] reigned ouer al the sonns of Adam. Now vnder this accursed brat thus entring & borne by equiuocal and spurious generation, vnder this epidemical & oecumenical contagion possessing al the corners of the earth, and not a King, but a tyrant vsurping & bearing swaie ouer al flesh, what flesh could euer haue beene saued (for what man had liued and not sinned, or sinned and should haue liued, & not died the second death?) but for a worke of desolation comming betweene, to desolate and disapoint the works of death? Of this worke you maie read I. Ioh. 3. 8. To this end was the sonne of God manifested 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that he might dissolue the works of the deuil, that is to saie, sinne, and death, 2. Heb. 14. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that through his death he might euacuate, abolish him that had power of death to weet, the deuil. • . Col. 14. it is most amplie described 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a word of desolation, he hath razed out the hande writing against vs 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a phrase of desolatiō tooke it awaie, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , fastened it to his crosse: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c. And hath spoiled, vnharnessed principallities and powers, and made a shew of them openlie, and triumphed ouer them vpon his crosse. Al are tearmes of desolation; so that now the Prince of this world is cast out, and the children (that were appointed) of death & gehēna singe a songe of thāsgiuing, O death where is thy sting? O hel where is thy victorie? This is the great and wonderful worke of desolation aboue al others, & appertaineth to soules as wel as bodies, and to our deliuerances both from first and seconde death, our redemptiō from spiritual wickednesses rather then corporal, from our immortal foes, and endlesse calamities.

Dauid is content to insist in one of the workes of God, but of temporal, and corporal desolation, & that is the ending of warre.

He causeth warrs to cease vnto the ends of the earth. 5. Auferens bella. That he proueth by sufficient induction, a recitall of instruments and weapons of warre. He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the speare &c. As whē the Philistins tooke the Smithes out of Israel, 1. Sam. 13. they could not fight. No smithes, noe armour; noe armour, noe warre.

Warre of it selfe is opus de solationis, a worke of desolation, havock, wast, ruin, it turneth a land in solitudinē, into a desert, an habitatiō for foxes, & wild beasts. Let it bee sowed with the seed both of man and beast, as a field with wheate, warre wil consume it & eate it out. Bellum si naturā spectes, mininè bonum. rather, in vicinity to the name, mos bellurum, fitter for beasts then men.Liuy. As for men, iustum quibus necessarium, never iust but when they cannot avoide it; nor euer to be waged by a christian,205▪ Epist, but obseruinge St. Austins rule, Esto bellando pacificus, though thy hand be bloody, thy hart must be peaceable. Pacem habere debet volūtas, bellum necessitas. You see the instruments nā ed in my text, are not mattocks & spades, tools of husbandrie, or manuarie crafts, but instruments of murther and spoile: the bow to doe mischeife eminùs, Arcus, hasta, Currus a far of, the speare cominùs, neare at hād: the chariots especiallie ferrati, falcati, shod and prepared with iron, & whinged like birds, with their siths and hooks on both sides, to mow downe al that they mett with: they rage in the streets, their burning is like lamps, & their shooting like lightning. 2. Nahum.

Now in the heate and height of these desolations, when an enimie of a feirce lookes, and truculent hart, who neither reuerenceth the person of the aged, nor pittieth the sucking babe, dasheth the infants against the stones in the streets, and rippeth vp the woemen with child, (as the booke of God describeth him) one whose breath is slaughter and destruction, whose nū ber is as the locusts hiding the face of the earth, able to deuoure a countrie, as an oxe licketh vp grasse; all whose purposes and designes are, Downe with thē, downe with them, let vs cut them of from beeing a people, and roote out their name; al whose promises to himselfe, Thy siluer and gold is mine, thy woemen and faire children be mine, 1. Reg. 20. and if anie be denied, the Gods doe so vnto me and more too, if the dust of thy land bee enough for my people, euerie mā to take an hādful: whose threatnings rest not in men, but their insolencies & blasphemies ascend against God himselfe Let not thy God deceaue thee, in whom thou trustest (you knowe whose word it was and it is thought by the learned, that that victorie gaue occasion to the writing of this Psalme:) thinke with your selues how strange and prodigious a thing it is, by the vnexpected help of this Lord alone, often by vnprobable meanes, somtimes by the hande of the weaker sexe, al this intended desolation, to bee desolated, disapointed, defeated, al their warlike prouision dissolued, their companies, and troupes scattered, discomfited, the eater himselfe to be made meate, the spoiler to be spoiled; for not onlie bridles to be put into their lipps, and hooks into their nostrels to turne them backe to their home, but their swords and spears to be turned each mans into his fellowes bowels, till they become drunck with their owne bloud, as with new wine.

Manie such wonderful works of desolation hath the Lord wrought; vpon Pharao and his host, when they sunck like stones to the bottome of the sea, vpon Iabin and Sisera, and al the Kings and people of Canaan, vpō Zenacherib & Rab saketh (which is thought to be the storie here aimed at) where Iudah hunge downe his head, and couered his face for shame, and rent his clothes, and there was nothing left vnto thē, but Domine inclina aurē, & audi, aperioculos & vide. O Lord bow downe thine eare and heare, open thy eie and consider, saue vs out of the hands of our enimies: O how memorable, & renowned is it to al posterity, that in that exigent of theirs, by an angel of the Lord, an invisible hand, there should be slaine in one night an hundred fowrescore and fiue thousand;2, Reg. 19. 16. when the morning arose, they were al found to be dead corpses? —Octoge simus octauus mirabilis annus; for as strange a deliuerie, from as prowde an enimie, with as vnquenchable furie, and a most inuincible navie, they bare the ensignes of victorie, as others of Castor and Pollux, vpon their ships, brought with thē instruments of slaughter and torture against our bodies, and swallowed a plentiful hope of ouer-running & desolating the whole Kingdome. But they that wēt downe at that time into the sea with shipps, ipsi viderūt opera Domini, Psalm. 107. & mirabilia, [prodigia, solitudines] eius in profundo. They saw, wee al knowe. O that men would therfore praise the Lord for his goodnes, and declare his wonderful workes before the sonnes of men! That our childrens children to the last point and period of anie generation within this Island, maie be able to saie, O God wee haue hard with our eares, & our fathers and grandfathers haue declared vnto vs that noble worke of deliuerance, which thou wroughtest for them in forepassed times.

Hauing sufficiently proued, demonstrated, evicted the matter in question,Counsaile: and stopt the mouthes of all gainesaiers, vt iustificetur in sermonibus, at length hee falleth to aduising, or rather by a prosopopaeia, bringeth in God perswading in his owne person.

Bee still and knowe. Vacate & videte. Before, when they were absent and not come, then was it venite & videte, come & see:Vacate. now they are present vacate 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , stande stil, or sit downe, as Mary did, take leasure, make not hast to depart from it. Before it was videte, to those that were ignorant,Videte. see, that is, vnderstand, and learne, & knowe that which you know not: now it is videte of an higher reach, you that know alreadie, acknowledge consider, apply, make vse of that you knowe. What shall they knowe? that you your selues are but men (put thē in minde o Lord, that they may knowe they are but men) wormes, vanitie, nothing, Ego Deus: it is I that am God: Ego, Ego Deus. ego, I even I, et non est alius praeter me, and there is none besides mee. And not a popular, idle, abiect God, like the Gods of the gentiles, which are not able to wipe the dust from their eies:Exaltabor. I wil be exalted:

Not onlie amongst my people of Israel▪ but in gentibus, amongst the nations▪ if they receaue mee, volentibus, with their good contents; if they reiect me, inuitis, In gentibus maugre their wills.

And if there bee anie ground▪ the lines wherof are extended farther then people and nations inhabit, J wil be exalted there also.In terra vniuersa. Exaltabor & exaltabor, I wil be exalted, J say againe I wil in the whole earth.

It maie be spokē to two sorts of mē. 1. to freinds, and then it carrieth the same sense that the speech of Moyses to the children of Israel 14. Exod. 13. Feare yee not, stand stil, & behold the saluation of the Lord, which hee wil shew on you. The Lorde shall fight for you, therfore hold you your peace. Trouble not you your selues with your enimies, neither trust in your owne strength, nor saie to your selues Manus nostra excelsa, our owne high hande shall deliuer vs. These were Dauids conclusions 44. Psalm. &c. I wil not trust in my bow, my sword shal not saue mee. And, an horse is but a vaine thing to saue a mā: And, some trust in horses, other in chariots, but wee wil remember the name of the Lord of hostes. 3. it may bee applied to enimies after this sort: vacate, that is desistite, cessate, giue ouer your wicked purposes and plottinges, it is harde for you to kick against the pricks of Gods prouidēce; there is noe coūsaile, noe strēgth against his decrees.

Last of al followeth the conclusion, a repetition of the first verse,Conclusion. the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , like the iterū dic • , I say againe 4. Philip. Seruing in the first place for the prooeme, in this last for an epiphonēe; the Key of my whol speech, it opened me a dore of entrance at the beginning, & now at my giuing o • er, it closeth & locketh vp all againe. The Lord of hostes is our refuge.

This is the seale or stāp wherof I told you before.Application. Spare me a while to applie it, & to effigiate, & shape forth to the patterne and tipe of my text that most prodigious de solation intended by the aduersarie, but intercepted by God, which this fift of Nouember, so long as the sun and moone last, shalbe both famous and infamous for.

1 First as touching the proposition and conclusion being both the same, the carceres & metam, head and foot of my text, as it were voice and echo, a circular annular, serpentine verse, winding into it selfe againe, like that in the 8. Psalme. O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in al the world? The two tropicks & points betweene which the whole motion of this scripture goeth, and like the two Cherubins ouer the mercieseate, which turned their faces each to other, your selues giue sentence, if euer anie nation or language vnder heauen had iuster cause to saie, and saie againe, once in their harts by beeleeuing, & once more with their mouthes by confessing, to make it both their morning and euening, sacrifice, the proram & puppim, beginning and ending of their dailie meditations, to common it in priuate with their owne spirits, and to publish it forth in the greatest congregations and assemblies, Dominus virtutum nobiscum, The Lorde of hostes is with vs, with the presence of his power whē there was opus Deo, a worke euen of the deity to bee wrought, a knot worthie the finger of God: and Deus Iacobi, the God of Iacob assisted vs with his grace; Iacobi & seminis, Iacobi & populieius, euen the God of the seed & people of Iacob. Say whither hee loued not the tents and habitations of Iacob, more then al the taber nacles and conuenticles of Mesek, vngodlines, superstition, idolatrie: whether he gaue not ample testimonie to the world that hee loued Iacob, his house, his issue, and hated Esau, and the whole Esauitical, hairie, rough, barbarous, sauadge generation of mē, which said, The daies of mourning are come, venite, occidamus IACOBVM, let vs kil Iacob & subvert his Kingdome.

And whether wee maie not adde in the end of our praiers and thanksgiuing,Salah. as the strength and sting of the bee that lieth behind, as a goad to awake vs, & stir vs vp, a naile to fasten it in our harts as in a sure place, a diapsalma & rest to our song, a pawse to our meditaons, that wee passe not lightlie awaie (for qui credit nō festinet) and lastlie the amen, the fiat, the closure of al our deuotion, Selah, as much as to saie, o rempraeclarā & admirabilem, Deum habere defensorem! o magnum & inexpugnabilem defensorem! O happy, thrice happy we that are in such a case! Blessed thrice blessed people that haue the Lord of hostes, the God of Iacob for our defense!

Doth anie man doubt of this?Come. or is anie ignorant? Venite & videte opera▪ Come from the vttermost ends of the earth, as far as the fowre windes blowe one against the other, if you wil see a worke, a strāge worke, wherof you wil saie when you see it, wee neuer saw it after this sort, and when it shal bee told you, you will not beleeue it, Come.

And you that turne your backs to the temple of the Lord, and are euer departing from vs and our congregations, you whose motion is not comming. Eamus in domum Domini, but going, our feet shal stand within thy gates o thou sinagogue of Roome, you that cannot perswade your selues that God is the God of Protestants. Tush (say you) God hath forsaken them, God and man haue concurred to punish the wickednes of this time (you knowe the text) & you prophecied against vs terrible things quandocun que contingeret miseram illam faeminam e vitâ excedere, and saw in the visions of your heads our streets flowing with bloud &c. And magnū annum Platonis, a returne and reuolution of al things, your temples, altars, sacrifices, restored, reformed secundum vsum after the forme of Romish superstition, Come and bee not incredulous but beleeue, harden not your hartes as in the daies of idolatrie and blindnes,Behold. behold the mightie hand of the Lord, & the workes hee hath wrought for vs: we follow not deceauable fables, we haue seen them with our eies, & handled them with our hands; nor were they done in a corner, but in the light of the sun, that al the world may take notice of them. O that my words were now written, Iob. 19. O that they were written in a booke, and engrauē with an iron pen in lead or stone for euer! I knowe that my Redeemer liueth, said Iob. We know our Protector liued, and you your selues knowe it, and heauen and earth knowe, King and captiue knowe, yea the stones in the wals, and timber in the beames knowe that our Protector liued, and that the Lord of hostes was with vs, and the God of Iacob was our defense, whē mē were so furiously set against vs, and meant to haue destroyed flesh and arme, head and members in one daie, and at one instant.

I could lead you by a long tract of the works of God in the daies of that glorious Saint, our late soueraigne of happie memorie Queene Elizabeth▪ a woman after Gods heart, who walkt in the waies, and ouerliued the daies of hir father Dauid, and led hir people as a flock forty & fiue years through a wildernes of many distresful dangers; a Queene of Queenes, a Paragon (whilest she liued) of mortal Princes, the diamond in the ring of the monarches of the earth, the glorie of hir sexe, the pleasure of mankind, the miracle of the christian, & the mark & scope euē of the infidel world, (for they had an eie after hir) who notwithstanding al the rorings of the bulls of Basan, Centaures, and Minotaures of Rome, their thundrings, lightnings, excommunications, execrations, incantations, conspiracies, rebellions, drugges, daggers, dagges, yet liued to out-liue the malice of hir enimies, drew vp hir feet vnto hir in hir bed of peace, had hir eies closed with the fingers of hir seruants, & frends, and was buried with Regal burial in the sepulchers of the Kings and Queenes of England hir noble Progenitours.

When we had exchāged hir for our gracious Soueraigne that now is,—Luciferum roseo cum sole, how glorious were the workes of God in his most peaceable entrance, not so much as a fly mouing the whinge or hissing against him? Besides manie vnexpected escapes of manie vnsuspected dangers. Al these were his workes of desolatiō. But there is one behind aboue al the rest, which I maie call the desolation of abomination, (in the hart and purpose of the enimie) the most abominable, detestable, vnmatchable, that euer was thought vpon. It was not solitudo in terra with them, but subter terram—itum est in viscera terrae, for the perpetration of it they went downe into the bowells of the earth, but for the inuentiō to the very vmbilicke, and centre of the earth. I had almost askt —qui gurges, aut quis tartarus hoc scelus —est ausus attrectare? sith in so many thousāds of years from the fal of the reprobate and faithlesse angels it neuer came into the head of anie deuil to suggest to the hart of any mā before this time so nefarious, flagitius, portentuous a wickednesse, as this was?

Actors it had vpon the earth, with whome I must acquaint you. 1. that Lateran Iupiter, that Balaam, Caiphas, high-preist of Rome, the great Antichrist, the maine Alastor, Abaddon, destroier of the christian world, whose first prize in the Church of God was that he might be Episcopus episcoporum, cheife and vniuersal Bishop, (a proud, prophane, sacrilegious, Luciferian name) afterwards Rex regum, King of Kings; and Terror regum, terrour of Kings, and the hammer of nations; turning the keies of the Kingdome of heauen into the keyes of the kingdomes of the earth: and not medling with the crimes and sinnes of the people, but crownes of Princes, not soules but scepters; nor contenting himselfe with his first commission (though corrupted with false glosses) pasce oues, 21. Ioh. vnlesse there were added occide, 10. Act. & mandūca, that is excōmunicate, depose dispoliate, Eagle & Falkons, Emperor & inferiour Kings, not onlie of their dominions & possessions, but of their liues too. It were infinit to follow histories. They were not so readie to chandge their names at their first inuestiture into their sees, and to be called Vrbanes, Bonifaces, and the like, as afterwards the christian world to change them againe, and to call their Vrbanes, Turbanes, Bonifaces Malefaces, Eugenies Dusgenies, Hildebrandes, titiones infernales, hell brandes indeed, Pios Impios, Clementes Inclementes; instead of Caput Ecclesiae to tearme him Caudam Ecclesiae, and fū damētum detrimentū; they proued so pernicious both to Church and Christian policies.

2 Al other ministers of this man of sin, pillers & props of his Chaire of pestilence I let passe. There is a generation of men more degenerate then euer Nabuchodonoser was, not men into beasts, but verie deuills incarnate, of al the sectes in that Popish Sodome, which haue beene multiplied as the monsters of Africke, the most pestilēt. You cal them Iesuites, Bar-Iesuites, you wel may, of that damned Sorcerer Act. 13. or Iebusites, Esaüites, Suites, as some haue done, the disloiall broode of Ignatius Loiola, the notorious Incendiaries, Bustuaries, of Christian states,In eo nimium sapientes, quod se putant caelo vel ipsi quando que imperaturos. Pap. Mat. in Paul, 4. they thinke one daie to be rulers even over heauen it selfe; satanicum genus (one stiled them) the ofspring of Satan; the fallest Sinons, impostors, couzeners of the world, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Stelliones, Bispelliones, you knowe not what to make them; their liues, their tongues, their harts, their habits all are so false.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as hee said of the Spartanes, & Nulla fides nisi quantū expedit, as the rule of the Parthians was. The new Priscilianistes of our age, of whom St Austin cōplained, soli inuenti sunt dogmatizare mendacium, the onlie men that are found to dogmatize & defend lying; yea and periurie also, and that in the worship of God, Cū Dei nomen, Deus testis, Dei sacramentum interponitur. Wherof St Austin added, o vbi est is fōtes lacrymarū? quo ibimus? vbi occult abimus nos a facie veritatis? O where are you fountaines of teares! whether shall wee go, or where shal we hide our selues frō the face of truth? whose mixt, Hermaphroditical, epicaene, half-borne, and half-vnborne propositions are like J say not there seruations of the Gentiles—Iuraui lingua, but the oracles of the deuiles themselues. Jn a worde, they are the marow, and spirit of the mystery of iniquitie, the trumpets of sedition and rebellion 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , their crie is, dirumpamus vincula, proijciamus funes let vs breake their bonds, and cast away their cordes: Noe bond of nature, consanguinitie, allegiāce, alliāce, affiance, wedlock, oath, sacrament stādeth good, if they list to dissolue it. Of al the religions in the world J denounce vnto you (let me a little inuert the wordes of the Psalme) Nolite fieri sicut equus & mulus (they differ not much in kind) in quibus non est intellectus. Bee not like Iesuite & Priest (they are not far a sunder) in whō there is noe conscience, no religion: whose mouthes thou canst not hold in with bit or bridle of anie, either ciuil or sacred restraint, but they wil euade thee.

And therfore as they said in Rome, Exeat ex vrbe Catilina, Catiline must bee spewed out before the Citie could haue quiet; so maie we saie, if we wish peace to the Kingdomes and Countries of the earth, Exe at ex vrbe and ex orbe Iesuita, from whom there is noe peace, but rebus sic stantibus, and dum vires suppetunt▪ til they be able to make their partes good.

And aboue al things take heed that you admit neither Preist, nor Iesuite, nor Iesuited busy Papist within your houses.

Of these there were sundrie in this bloudy attempt: Some of them fixed as it were in their orbes, staple & Legier Iesuites, like principal bad angels set ouer provinces, Baldwin ouer Flanders, Creswel ouer Spaine, Garnet ouer England; other planetory, cursorie, moueable from place to place, as Gerard, Tesmond, Hammōd, Hal, with the like. Their offices were▪ to animate, authorize, warrāt, absolue, sacrifice, pray, yea & prophecie too. You remēber their psalmodie, The memorie of nouelties shal perish with a CRACK; and hee shall come as a flame that bursteth out beyond the fornace, and, his furie shal flie forth as a thunder, & in a moment shall hee crush their bones: that when it had come to passe according to these predictions, they might haue said, dixit dominus, os domini loquutum est, The Lorde hath said it, the mouth of the Lord foretold it.

There wanteth yet a third sort for execution. Vlysses maie perswade, but Diomedes must through with it. There must bee hands as wel as heads. Behold a number of Gentlemen, (with others their followers) some of noble and worthie descent (sed quantae tenebrae a quo fulmine?) al our countriemen and patriotes, all fed with the fat of the land (but a viperous generation, not sparing the bowels of their mother that breed them) some that are the salt of the pallace, and beheld the face of the King in place of neare attendance, al drūck with the dregges of the cup of Babylon, and ful as the spider with Iesuitical poyson; they ouerflow with the gal of bitternes, and want but meanes & matter wherin to disgordg thēselues: to the attaining wherof they lay their heads together, and according to the worde of the Psalme scrutati sunt iniquitates, & defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio, they beate & wearie their brains to devise to some purpose: At length they draw together into a knot as an impostume to an head, & close like the skales of Leuiathan that the breath cannot get betweene, they take oath of secresie and persistance, (was euer the name of God so fowlie dishonoured?) they confirme it with the blessed sacrament (o more then Iewish impietie; they vowed they would neither eate nor drinke (at their common tables) till they had the head of Paul, they would fast it out! These eate & drinke at the table of the Lord, the bodie and bloud of our blessed Sauiour vpon a bargaine of bloud, to haue the heads both of head and members, and to make a poole, a floud, a whole red sea of bloud, with the slaughter of manie thousands. (Busirides arae clementes.) Are these their sacrifices? these their sacramēts? In a word, they vndertake, they resolue, they sweare, they deuouer and execrate themselues with that tragick instigation, Excede pietas awaie yee bowells of compassion, natural affection begone, thoughts of humanitie, prickles of conscience, sparkes of reason, barrs of religiō, feare of God, reuerence of men, difference of persons, high, low, old, yong, nocent, innocent, al depart,

—Sic sic iuvat ire, our harts are fixed, our harts are fixed to vndergoe a worke, opus solitudinis, a work of desolation opus mirabilitèr singulare & singularitèr mirabile, a work, which whosoeuer heareth of, his two eares shal tingle, and his hart-strings shal tremble; one for al, a worke that containeth in it▪ —mille actus vetitos & mille piacula: to become paricides, Reginides, Regnicides at once, & with on catholike, that is vniuersal, blow to cut of all the heads of the land as it were vpon one & the same shoulders.

The kind of desolation that Dauid giueth instance in, is auferens bella, he maketh VVarrs to cease. Ours is not species but monstrum, cannot be defined within anie kind. Their first proiect was warre whilst our Debora was yet liuing: to that purpose they had a treatie with Spaine for an other inuasion. But then we would haue buckled our armour vnto vs, and haue girt our swords vpon our thighes, we would haue brought into the field. pares aquilas, alike forces, and haue opposed, bow vnto bow, speare vnto speare, chariot vnto chariot. But maior mihi metus ex leone quam ex vulpe, I euer feared their fraudes more then forces, their warrs neuer did, neuer could anoy vs—. Astus polenti or armis. Their trust is in stratagemes and trecheries. Insidiantur in abscondito, quasi leones in spelunca sua. They lie in waite in their the euish corners, as a lion lurketh in his den. They saie to the ground couer vs, and to a subterraneous vault, keep vs close. Vt sagittent in occultis immaculatum, that they may shoot at the innocent in secret; 64. Psal. and if their occultum speed, it followeth in the Psalme, subito sagittabunt eum, they wil also do it suddenly. They shal receaue a terrible blow, and not see who hurt them. They begin their worke with a mine vnder ground (Romish pioners, Antichistiā molewarps, hellish Tenebrios) and with improbitie of labour to speed the impietie of their harts, half dig through a wale of three yards in thicknes. Cursed bee their rage, for it was cruel, and their malice for it was verie painful. They might haue plowed vpō the rock as wel. Frō the mine to a cellar, as fit for a dē of theeus as the mine was iust vnder the Capitol, the higher house of Parliament, that where the lawes had beene made (said they) there the lawmakers might receaue their punishment. This cellar they store with 36. barrels (great and smal) of gunpowder (the inuention of a Monke, a deuill, the daughter of salt and sulphure, mother of the first borne of death; nothing maketh a quicker end) together with billets, and fagots, and peeces of timber, and barres of iron, and massie stones, al deadlie and murthering artillerie, and are now euen readie with match & touchwood in the hād of FAVX a firebrand indeed, against the 5. of Nouēber was two yeare; at what time these smokie Locustes out of their mercilesse pit of more then Neronian & Catilinarie dispositions, crying 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and incendium ruina extinguam, let heauē and earth burne, and let nothing quench the fire but the ruine and downfal of al, these audacious Phäetōs running a desperat & dreadful course, meant to haue made a general combustion, communē rogum, a common bonefire not onlie of mortal men, but of immortal monuments, trophees & pillers, yea charters and records of eternitie; and to haue offered holocaustum a whole burnt offering of vs, to haue caused to passe through the fire to their Moloch of Rome, our sonnes and our daughters, our King, Queene, and Prince, Nobles, Senatours, and Priests, with the flower & people of our Land, without distinction of Maiestie, dignitie, degree, sexe, age, merit, yea or religion it selfe in some part: which what had it else beene but a type of the deflagration of Sodome & Gomorre, an image of Tophet. 30. Esay. the burning wherof was much fire & wood, a verie represētatiō (the nearest on earth that cā be) of that ignitū diluuiū that shalbe at the end of the world of that Gehenna ignis, which God hath prepared for the wicked; when both root and branch, flesh & arme, father and sonne and nephew, damme and yonge in a neast together, al had beene blowne away with a blast, a whirlewind of destruction, and the whole state of Kingdome and pollicie dissolued, as a man turneth a platter vpside downe; and that in an instant of time, before wee could haue swallowed downe our spittle, or in remembrance or remorse for our sinnes haue said, Miserere Deus, O Lord haue mercie vpon vs. Like to the destruction threatned to the house of Ieroboam. 1. Kings 14. The house of Ieroboam shal be destroied in that daie. VVhat? Euen now, as you would saie in a moment, before they had leasure to thinke of it.

This was the worke of desolation meant and proiected, wherof J haue told you so often. Aske now frō one end of heauen to the other, and throughout al the generations of the earth if euer the like were. Herein J must confesse, my text faileth me, and scripture, and al nature faileth me. There neuer was example in the world of so facinorous a fact, a sin so exceedingly sinful, the primum genus of al sin, and not a crying, but a roring, thundring sin (as his excellent Maiestie tearmed) it) nor of bloud, but of fire and brimstone, a whole penuarie and store-house of sin, wherin was proditiō, perdition, deperdition, al congested and heaped vp in on.

But the goodwil of him that sat in the bush (as Moyses spake) (the bush that flamed but consumed not) & the compassion of his sonn, who waded in the midst of the firie fornace of Babylon, deliuered vs as the bush, & the three childrē frō the Stygiā lake, & the mouth of hel freed vs from their Catholike dooms-daie, and in a parable brought vs back from death to life: & as for those Salmoneā artificial fireworkes, he confounded many of them by their owne skil, and brought their intended mischeefes vpon their owne heads.

Now (according to my text) come and behold the works of the Lord, what desolatiōs he hath wrought vpon the earth: shal J saie he causeth warrs to cease? Or breaketh the bow? It was far worse. For at that very time when they said of our soules, There is noe help for them in their God, there there thus would wee haue it, their stratageme being as ripe as the mellowest sommer▪ fruit, there wanting nothing in the world but the last hand to act it, at that very time (that God maie be al in al, and that the honour may be wholy his without anie thought of copartnership) were al these machinations of theirs desolated, discomfited, and defeated: And notwithstanding their vowed and dejerated secresie, their threefold bond of keeping counsaile, religion, oath, sacrament, [You shal sweare by the blessed Trinitie, and the holie sacrament, that neither directly nor indirectlie, by word nor circumstance &c] Yet was their worke of darknes discouered, their Troian horse of the most barbarous villanie that euer eare hard opened, their Labyrint, their dungeon, their hel of secresy, yea the deep and vnsearchable hell of their harts (who cā find them out saith the Prophet?) eviscerated, rāsacked, and manifested to the light of the world.

Then were we as men that drempt, when the Lord waked ouer vs, wee sat vnder our vines and suspected nothing, peace, peace, and al is wel, the noise of milstones & light of cādles, bride & bridgroome was our song: at what time (that the word of the Psalme may euer be verified, dedisti metuētibus te significationē ut fugiant a facie arcus, that he wil euer giue warning to his seruāts to flie from a flash of powder before it cō meth) from one of this Plutoes band is a letter sēt to a Noble, thrice noble Lord (whose memory be euerblest) that letter not kept but imparted where it was fit, examined, skanned ouer againe & againe; & afterwards by One wise as the Angel of the Lord to knowe good & bad, a regius propheta, who spake not by priuate motion, but as he was inspired by the holie ghost, interpreted against the rules of art. Whervpon those penetralia mortis, in most chambers of death were narrowlie searched, the last designed actor of the bloudy tragedy deprehēded, & the whole matter detected, with such amasemēt to the actor himselfe, that he said it was not God, but the deuil that discouered it. J now aske in the language of the 9. Psalme rendred by Tremelius, Oinimice absolutae nesūt vastitates in aeternum? an ciuitates extirpasti? Haue thy desolations sped? (so maie they euer speed, & thus bee thy handie▪ workes alwaies prospered) hast thou spoiled, and gotten possession? Quies cite & videte, if there bee any sparke of grace left in you, giue ouer your deuilish practisings.

If you thinke that the Lawes of Princes be to weake against you, & their punishments too easie, yet feare the iudgments of the dreadful Lord of hostes.

And you the faithful seruants of God and subiects of your Soueraigne whersoeuer, deliuered, as the scapgoat in the law, frō the danger of death, & pulled out of the gulfe and bottomlesse pit of imminent destruction; quie scite et videte, put your trust in the Lorde, hang vp your votiuas tabulas, tables of boundē thankfulnes in the open sight of the world.

And let the scription of those tables bee, Non nobis domine, nō nobis, sed nomini tuo. O Lord al wisdome goodnes, saluation in disclosing and dispersing the hole of those aspes belongeth vnto thee, thine is the honor and thankes, wee take to our selues noe part of thy glorie.

I knowe you haue long looked for an end. Much speaking is wearines to the flesh, and long hearing is offense to patience. Wil you heare the end of al? Thus began, thus endeth my text. The Lord of hostes is with vs that Dominus virtutum, with and for whome the starres in their courses fight. —Et coniurati veniunt in praelia venti, the winds and waues fight, and pugnat orbis terrarum, al the creatures in the world fight to take vengance of his enimies; himselfe fighteth for vs: & Deus IACOBI (of whom I trust he hath sworne by his holinesse, that hee wil neuer faile him, and hath made an euerlasting couenant with him and his seed, his image our hopeful Prince, and his whole happie race (si custodierint, if they wil keep his testimonies, & walke after his laws) this God of Iacob is our defense.

To this God, the author and finisher of al our welfare, Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost, be ascribed almight and Maiestie, praise and thanksgiuing, this daie and al the daies of our life, in our Chambers at home, and abroad in our Churches, for our time and throughout al the generations of our Childrens children after vs, til Christs comming in the cloudes. Amen, Amen.