Jacob.' The original, iolagnath, signifies a little worm that springs out of a grave ^ or kernel. ' And ye men of Israel : ' methe, ' ye dead men of Israel.' AVhat follows? 'Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth : thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them : and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.'
Mountains are high, you know, and mountains are mighty, and mountains are strong ; and so are the powers of the world ; and yet little worms and dead men shall thresh these mountains, they shall overthrow and bring under even the i)ower3 that are high and strong and mighty against Jesus Chiist and his ways, as we see this day. He will save his people, and destroy his enemies, though they be mighty and i>owerful, and in very untrodden and mysterious ways, by little worms, by dead men. So likewise Dan. ii. 33, 34, compared with vers. 44, 45, ' Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, which were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them : and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.' Com- pare those verses with the 44th and 45th verses, ' And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed : and tliat kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.' All the kingdoms that are against the kingdom of Christ shall be broken in pieces by this little kingdom. And so likewise in Micah iv., the three last verses, ' Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say. Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel : for he sliall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, 0 daughter of Zion ; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass ; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people ' — or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, ' thou shalt stamp to powder multitudes of peoples or nations,' — ' and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.' Many nations are gathered together against thee, that say. Let her be defiled, let her be polhited and pro- faned, and let our eyes look upon Zion. Oh, but they know not the thoughts of the Lord, what a design God is about, and what a project he hath in hand to advance his name, and to deliver his people and ruin their enemies, and that by the most unlikely and contemptible means that can be !
Therefore, let not men wonder at such and such strange providences as sometimes fall out, but rather consider that God hath, and he will save his people, and ruin their enemies, by very dark and mysterious ways, and by contemptible and unlikely means ; and this he will do that no flesh may boast, and that his people may live a life of faith, ' Query, ' grape ' or ' grain ' ? — Ed.
Ps. XLIV. 18.] PKOGKESS OF THE UPRIGHT. 363
and that their enemies may be the more dreadfully ashamed and con- founded ; and mainly that his own name may be alone exalted and magnified.
[6.] Lastly, Eight Honourable, it is the earnest desires of the people of God generally, that your hands may further be strengthened, and that your souls may be lifted up in the ways of the Lord, that justice, and rigliteousness may run down now at the last among us as mighty streams. Now, as to this, give me only leave to premise these two cautions, and so I shall have done : —
First, Eight Honourable, do justice, hut do it with much pity and mercy. Oh ! weep over those wounds that the sword of justice makes ; mourn over those bones that the sword of justice breaks ; lament over those members that the sword of justice cuts off. Look, as justice and mercy meet in God, and kiss in God, and act harmoniously in God ; so let justice and mercy meet, and kiss, and act harmoniously in you.
Secondly, Eight Honourable, look to this, that you do justice from principles of uprightness, and from the love of justice and righteous- ness. Otherwise, remember this, that God may revenge that blood that may be shed upon you, if you do not justice out of a love of righteousness, and from principles of uprightness. It is very consider- able in Hosea i. 4, 5, ' And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel ; for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.' Eight Honourable, consider this, that which Jehu did, God himself bears witness to it : 2 Kings x. 30, ' And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou ha.st done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy children to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel,' Observe, Eight Honourable, Jehu, for the matter of justice, did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. God here approves of it ; but Jehu did not do justice from a love of justice, and a principle of uprightness. The matter was good, but his principles were bad. Therefore God tells him that he will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. The Lord make your Honours wise to consider of these things !
What I have here delivered, Eight Honourable, hath been in the discharge of my conscience, that I may give up my account at last with joy, and not with grief ; and so I shall conclude with that saying of Augustine,! ' Not every one that spareth us is a friend, nor every one that striketh us is an enemy.'
^ Non omnis qui parcit est amicus, nee omuis qui ferit est inimicus. — Aitfjustine, Serm. 59, de verbis Domi7ii.
A THANKSGIVING SERMON.
Prefixed to this Sermon is the usual form of Tiianks and license to print. It will l)e found below* : also the title page. f Historically the Sermon is valuable as shewing the intense feeling against Scotland at the time ou occasion of the ' crowning victory' at Dunbar. — G.
* Di» Mercurii, ix. Octo. 1650.
Ordered by the Parliament, that the thanks of this House be given to Mr Brooks fur his great pains taken in liis Sermon preached yesterday at Margarets, Westminster, being a day set apart for publick thanksgiving; and that he have the like privilege in printing as others in like case have usually had, and that CoUonel Juries do give Mr Brooks the thanks of this House accordingly.
Hen: Scohell: cler: Parliament.
I appoint Hanna Allen to print this sermon.
DETECTED, ANATOMIZED,
Impeached, Arraigned, and Condemned