Babylons Ruin Jerusalems Rising, Title page – License 2
BABYLONS RUINE, JERUSALEMS RISING.
Set forth In a Sermon Preached before the Honourable Houſe of COMMONS, on the 25 Octob. being the day appointed for the Monthly Faſt, ſolemnly to be obſerved.
By Henry Wilkinſon, B. D. late Divinity Reader in Magdalen Hall Oxford.
Publiſhed by Order of that Houſe.
PSAL. 137. 8.
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be deſtroyed: happy ſhall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou haſt ſerved us. ver. 9. Happy ſhall he be that taketh and daſheth thy little ones againſt the ſtones.
REV. 18. 2.
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.
PSAL. 102. 13.
Thou ſhalt ariſe, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the ſet time is come. v. 14. For thy ſervants take pleaſure in her ſtones: and favour the duſt thereof. ver. 16. When the Lord ſhall build up Zion, he ſhall appear in his glory.
ISA. 65. 18.
But be you glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create: for behold, I create Ieruſalem a rejoycing and her people a joy.
LONDON, Printed for CHR. MEREDITH, and SA. GELLIBRAND, and are to be ſold at their Shops in Pauls Church-yard. 1643.
TO The Honourable Houſe OF COMMONS, Now aſſembled in PARLIAMENT.
MAy it pleaſe you to caſt your eye upon that, which once had your eare, and to own that birth which received life at firſt from you: It deſires no other Paſſe-port or protection, but your name, (however vilified) nor doth it care to be distinguiſhed or known by any other livery or cogniſance, then that which this Honourable Houſe beſtowes upon thoſe, on whom it looks as faithfull and devoted ſervants.
It is your fate now (as it never was to any Parliament) to have violences offered you, contumelies and indignities caſt upon you; your reputation wounded, and your name, (which had wont to be honoured and accounted ſacred) profaned and crucified; yet you may comfort your ſelves in this, that thoſe things are done by ſuch whoſe favour is a blot, and good word an imputation: Your perſons and proceedings had been rendred ſuſpected if they did bene audire amongſt vile men, of whom it is ſaid, Iſ. 32. 6. that they will ſpeak villany: If they ſhould undertake your vindiciae by their tongues or ſwords, or be your advocates in any kinde, we ſhould ſuſpect your perſons, and be afraid to own your cauſe.
Notwithſtanding all this, it would argue too much weakneſſe of ſpirit, to reſent ſuch injuries too deeply, which can make no ſuch impreſsion as to wound or hurt: Reproaches are Devils Tacit.that are caſt out by contempt; ſpreta exoleſcunt; ſi iraſcare, agnita videntur. It was the honour of Theodoſius, The ninth Code.Honorius and Arcadius, that they did make an act upon record to pardon and pity ſuch as for want of modeſty and exceſſe of impudence ſhould invade their reputation by inſolent ſlanders, or bitter calumnies. Alexander the Great is famous for this, that he could contemn ſlanders; And ſo is Caeſar for paſsing by the detractions of Calvus the Oratour, and Catullus the Poet: And ſo is Auguſtus for pardoning Timagenes the Hiſtorian who had defamed him publikely; as alſo for conquering the affronts of Pollio, with a fruere mi Pollio, fruere. Tiberius himſelfe had wont to diſſemble injuries in this kind, and Titus to ſcorne them. But our Lord Ieſus Chriſt is a pattern beyond all, who …ut by, and indeed conquered all the horrible inſolencies that the wit of malice could inflict, with a Father forgive them, for they know not what they doe, Luk. 23. 34. However you muſt have a care to vindicate the honour of Chriſt and Religion, for though you ſuffer for Chriſt, yet you muſt take care that Christ doth not ſuffer by you; and though Religion bee wounded through your ſides, yet you muſt have a care that Religion doth not bleed to death through your wounds.
It cannot be expected, but that the eye of envie ſhould bee upon you, and the hand of violence up againſt you, ſince you are engaged in ſuch a work, as full of envie as it is of difficulty and danger: for ſince your buſineſſe lies profeſſedly against the Apocalypticall beaſt, and all his complices; you muſt expect that the militia of Hell and the trayned bands of Satan, (i. e.) thoſe that have received the mark of the beast, ſhall be put into a poſture of warre, furniſhed with all their traines of Artillery, and the whole Magazine of Satan, to put in execution their black Commiſſion, which breathes forth nothing but blood, and ſlaughter, and ruine of our perſons and our Religion. I hope this diſcourſe will furniſh and accommodate you with Antidotes and Preſervatives, with weapons and ammunition, with cordials and comforts, by which you may be encouraged to goe on, and enabled to hold out and Conquer.
I know you are looked at as a contemptible company, but let thoſe remember (that account you ſo) that the cake of barley bread which tumbled into the hoſte of Midian, and came into a tent, ſmote it that it fell, and overturned the tent that it lay down, Iudg. 7. 13. It is the condition of Gods people to appeare, and in a ſort to be like Chriſt, of whom it was ſaid, There is no beauty that we ſhould deſire him: He is deſpiſed and rejected of men, a man of ſorrowes, and acquainted with griefe: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was deſpiſed, and we eſteemed him not, Iſ. 53. 2. 3. And yet as baſe as he was in the eyes of men, he had the moſt glorious titles that ever were given, Iſ. 9. 6. 7. So farre ſhould this be from diſheartning Gods Servants, that it ſhould be accounted their honour to be like their Maſter; however it be that men have vilified you, yet certainly God hath honoured you more then ever any Parliament in England was honoured; for he hath done that by you, which our Progenitours did but intertaine in a boſome-retired thought, and in hopes at ſo vaſt a diſtance from accompliſhment, that they ſeemed rather pleaſing fancies, then faire probabilities: There hath beene a concurrence of many ſtrange and admirable Acts of Providence, and God hath aſſembled many and ſeverall events, which have iſſued out of the multitude of affaires cluſtering together; ſo that wee may truly ſay, it was the deſign of Heaven to give you and us a contracted experience of very many mercies, and to inſtruct us by way of abridgement, and as it were to ſhew us in a few Months the image of many yeares.
The birth with which you travell, as it was the expectation of Antiquity and Ages paſt, ſo it will be the happineſſe of Poſterity, and Ages future; think not that it is in the power or compaſſe of devils or men, to make that birth prove abortive, which himſelfe has undertaken to bring forth, and to baptize it with the name of Iſrael, it being a child of Promiſe, Iſ. 66. 9. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cauſe to bring forth, ſaith the Lord? ſhall I cauſe to bring forth, and ſhut the wombe, ſaith thy God? That which makes me poſſeſſe my ſoule with an aſſurance of ſucceſſe, and a gratious iſſue in your great tranſactions, is this, becauſe I ſee a Iacob and an Eſau in the womb of the great deſigne, and I am ſure the elder ſhall ſerve the younger: I finde a competition betwixt the ſeed of the woman and the ſeed of the Serpent, and I am ſure the ſeed of the woman ſhall break the head of the Serpent; whereas the Serpent ſhall but bruiſe the heele of the Church, Gen. 3. 15. the wound in the head ſhall be incurable, that in the heele ſhall not be mortall. I perceive there is a great contention betwixt malice, and envie, and pride, and tyranny, luxury, and rebellion, with the rest of that black guard of Hell on the one ſide; and faith, and prayers, on the other: Now I am ſure that this is the victory which overcommeth the world, even faith, 1 Ioh. 5. 4. And I am ſure that prayer can ingage the whole Militia of Heaven, and the Lord of Hosts on its ſide: I perceive that Babylon and its ſupporters, and Sion and its Builders are put in the Ballances as it were: And I find a Mene (i. e.) God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finiſhed it, and a Tekel thou art weighed in the ballances, and art found wanting, Dan. 5. 24. 25. written over the one Scale: And I ſee the Apoſtles foreign over the other, we are more then Conquerours: Wherefore if Amalek, or Midian, or Canaanites, or Philiſtims, or Babylonians can Conquer the Iſrael of God; who was therefore Chriſtned Iſrael, becauſe as a Prince he did prevaile with God, and he ſhould prevaile with men, Gen. 32. 28. If now the Lords Counſell may bee frustrated, or his ſtrength maſtered, or if there be any that can ſpeak the word and it commeth to paſſe, and the Lord commandeth it not, Lam. 3. 37. then actum eſt, periiſtis, You are all dead men, and the cauſe is gone; but if that be true which the Lord ſpeaks, Ezek. 12. 25. you need not feare: He ſayes, I am the Lord: I will ſpeak, and the word that I ſhall ſpeak, ſhall come to paſſe: I will ſay the word, and will performe it, ſaith the Lord God: Now God hath ſpoken the word, a terrible word, and a word of confuſion againſt Babylon: and hee hath ſpoken the word, and that a gracious word, for the reſtauration of Zion, and building up the wals of Ieruſalem, and therefore let your Faith hang out its conquering and triumphing Flag, and let Emmanuel be the Motto; and then you may bid an open defiance to all your enemies, and with a kinde of exultation, ſay with the Apoſtle, Rom. 8. 31. Si Deus nobiſcum, &c. If God be for us, who can bee againſt us? Now that the Lord may bee with you, and for you, it is the conſtant, inſtant prayer of
Your obliged, and moſt devoted Servant HENRY WILKINSON.
Die Mercurii 25. Oct. 1643.
IT is this day Ordered by the Commons aſſembled in Parliament, That Mr. Poole and Mr. Rous doe from this Houſe give thanks unto Maſter Wilkinſon, and Maſter Salwey, for the great paines they took in the Sermons, they preached this day at the intreaty of this Houſe, at S. Margarets in the City of Weſtminſter, It being the day of publike Humiliation, and to deſire them to Print their Sermons. And it is Ordered that none doe preſume to Print their Sermons but ſuch as ſhall be authorized under their hands writing.
H. Elſynge Cler. Parl. D. Com.
I appoint Chr. Meredith and Sa. Gellibrand to Print this Sermon.
HENRY WILKINSON.