A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament

Enoch to be discoursed upon, according to the Apostles method in the 11th of Hebrews wherein he amplifies the excellency of Faith (as in its nature, so) in its Effects, evidenced and Illustrated by many instances in the Faithful from the Creation all along down to the Maccabees. Those he divideth into four Classes or Ranks. The

1. Is of the Faithful before the Flood, Heb. 11, 4, 5, 6, 7.

The 2. Rank is, of the Faithful from the Flood to Moses time, from v. 7. to v. 23.

The 3. Rank is of the faithful from Moses to Israel's entrance into Canaan, from v. 23. to v. 32.

The 4. Rank or Classis is, of the Faithful from Israel's entrance into Canaan through the times of the Judges, Kings and Prophets of Israel to the times of the Maccabees, whose faithfulness he reduceth to two heads, declaring,

• 1. What they did do, from v. 32. to 33, 34, 35. And,
• 2. What they did suffer, v. 35, 36, 37, 38. Agreeable to this Divinely inspired method I do propose my present method of discourse, and having already given a large and practical account from Adam to Noah before the Flood, I come now to discuss the History of Noah which contained in it many famous and most remarkable passages of Divine Providence.

The particulars thereof be six.

• (1.) God's determination to drown the World, and to destroy it by Water, as at last it shall be by Fire.
• (2.) The impulsive cause and occasion provoking God hereunto, to wit, the notorious pravity and corruption of that age.
• (3.) The Singular Piety and Righteousness of Noah in that Universal Degeneracy.
• (4.) A narrative, which is double.
  • 1. Of the Ark for saving Noah.
  • 2. Of the Deluge for destroying the World.
• (5.) The Divine Deliverance of Noah by the Ark from the Deluge.
• (6.) The comfortable Covenant God made with Noah after that Divine Deliverance and Destruction. Of all these in Order, and first of the first.

(1.) God's Decree (or Purpose ) to destroy that wicked World, wherein the Negative as well as Positive part are both Remarkable; for God

1. Repented he had made man, Gen. 6.6.

2. He resolves to ruin and mar man, v. 7. Whence observe,

(1.) Such is the poisonous and pestilent nature of sin as to provoke God (who did make the World) even to mar it, and unmake it again.

The first Enquiry in the Explication of this first Observation is, How did God repent of making man?

Answ. [ It repented the Lord, &c. and it grieved him, ] v. 6. are not spoken properly of God (in whom none of those accidents (common to mankind) can be found for God repenteth not, 1 Sam. 15.29.) But parabolically and figuratively, as Maimonides saith in Jesudeh Hatorah. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 dictum, sed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 intellectum; though spoken after the manner of man, yet understood according to the nature of God, as the Fathers Phrase is. Suitable to the aforesaid saying of the Hebrew Doctors [Vajinachem,] Hebr. here, is rendered God's Abominating his making of man, Symmachus. And Human passions are here ascribed to the Divine Nature for our better Apprehensions of God's displeasure against man's sin: hereby we are to understand, that as a man, when he repenteth, changeth his Act (he that repents him of his work, is ready to destroy it.) So God, when he changeth his Act, is said to repent, yet then 'tis mutatio Rei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non conslii, 'tis not a change of God's will, but of God's work. Repentance with man, is the changing of his Will as well as Work, but repentance in God is only a changing of his Work, but not of his Will, which is unchangeable: For in him there is no Variableness nor Shadow of change, Jam. 1.17. Seeing there is no mistake in his Counsels, no disappointment of his determinations and no deceiving of his Expectations: Though God have sometimes a will to change his work, yet never to change his Will: His Decrees and Purposes stand like Mountains of Brase, ( Zech. 6.1.) Always Immutable. God is not capable of Frailty and Fickleness, as man is: Accordingly is that other Phrase, [It grieved him at the Heart] to be understood, for in the Right Idiom and Property of speech, God hath neither Heart nor Grief; as he is a most pure Spirit, and an uncompounded Being, he can have no passion; as he is above all composition, he is Impassible: therefore that anything should grieve him is Impossible: The cause (by a Metonymy) is put for the Effect.

The second Enquiry, How did God resolve to ruin man? How did he resolve to mar man, as he did repent to make man?

Answ. This is the positive part as the former was the Negative, and both must be understood after the manner of men, who usually say in cases of high displeasure, I will consult no more, I will dally and delay no longer, I will resolve to ruin them that are in the power of my hands: Thus saith God here, [My Spirit shall not always strive, &c. ] Gen. 6.3. That is, The Spirit of Christ in those few Godly Patriarchs (who lived in that corrupt and incorrigible age) did strive with the stubbornness of that old wicked World, 1 Pet. 3.18, 19. Both Preaching to them God's good ways, and protesting against their evil works, yea and this Spirit of Christ had suggested many a good motion, in the very Consciences of that sinful offspring, which they Resisted and Rejected, as Acts 7.51. Now God's Spirit is a delicate thing (as some read,) Psal. 143.10 If grieved once, he may be driven away forever. Here he is weary with striving, and urging them to Repentance for Sin, and Reformation of life. This doing despite to the Spirit, Isa. 63.10. Eph. 4.30. Heb. 10.29. moves God to come to a Final resolve for their total ruin: [ I will destroy both Man and Beast, v. 7.]. God hates sin worse than he hates the Devil, for he hates him only for sins sake, but he hates sin for its own sake. God hates Man for sins sake, and Beast for man's sake: he will be revenged of both: the Beast that was created for man, perished with man: What had those poor sheep done? as 2 Sam. 24.18. They all (alas) are undone by man's sin, and are (for his Punishment) to be mar'd with him, as they were made for him: This is a branch of that bondage, which the creatures are still subject to, and grievously groan under, yet waiting for deliverance from it, Rom. 8.21, 22.

The second particular is: The [ causa 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] or impulsive, procuring cause and occasion of all this divine displeasure in so repenting of making man, and so resolving for marring man, and the whole sublunary Creation for man's sake, was man's sin in General, and it was all kind of sins, in all Sorts and Sexes also in particular, as the Evangelist Luke doth most roundly deiver it in a most Elegant Asyndeton, saying universally, They Ate, they Drank, they married, &c. Luk. 17.27, 28. Without the copulative. [And] between these actions, as if they passed without Intermission from Eating to Drinking, from Drinking to Marrying, &c. They followed these things so close, as if it had been their sole and singular work, and they born for no other end in the World; summum bonum in Ventre, aut sub Ventre posuerunt. Those Antediluvian. Belly-God's made their Gut their God, which is but a Dunghill Deity, so rendering themselves far worse than the sorry Scavengers who live honestly by emptying Privies, but those lived wickedly as if only to fill them, Eating and Drinking on Earth what they were to digest in Hell, from their Gluttony and Drunkenness they passed on to carnal concupiscence (for sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus; and est Venus in vinis; Gluttony, &c. is the very Gallery that wantonness walks through) not so much in lawful Marriages (for that Luke nameth not, v. 28. Chap. 17. as he doth, v. 27.) But in unlawful matches. Such as their Lust Liked and Loved, not only in their unequal Yokes of Polygamy, but also of Sodomy too (that odious concubitus qui non utrinque resolvit, as Ovid Phraseth it,) and they Planted and Builded for the use of Posterity, neither taking any notice of Noah's Predictions, nor of their own Peril. Their wits they had buried in their guts, and their brains in their bellies; Whoredom and Wine, &c. had taken away their hearts, Hos. 4.11. All universally were no better.

Hence the second Observation, An Universal or General defection is amost certain fore-runner of an Universal and General Destruction: All here of all Sorts and Sexes were departed from God, all kind of sins were common amongst men: In families were found promiscuous Lusts, unlawful matches, &c. In the State abounded Tyranny, Violence, Oppression and all kind of Injustice: In the Church appeared contempt of God's Command, abuse of God's Patience unto Presumption, and a despite of his bounty unto a fatal security in sin: All these aforesaid abominations they wrought in God's sight, and God seemed for a long time silent and unconcerned. Therefore their hearts grew fat as brawn, they were set upon their Villanies, and would lose no time therein. Hence our Savior saith, They did know nothing (nor indeed would know anything) until the very day that the Flood came, Mat. 24.38.39. Into such a dead Lethargy were they cast by their notorious Impiety: All flesh had corrupted his way, Gen. 6.12. This was a ready preparation and provocation on man's part for an Universal Perdition from God's Justice, they were now grown ripe and ready for God's Sharp Sickle, Rev. 14.15, 18.

Note; The wickedness of man was great in the Earth, Gen. 6.5. The World was now grown so foul with sin, that God saw it high time to wash it clean with a Flood: A Deluge of Sinning must now bring a Deluge of Suffering: And their sin so heinous, had given the very Earth so deep a tincture, and a stain so engrained, that it must lie soaking under water for about a twelve-month, before it could be Rinsed, and fitted for man's life again. The Old World had heaped up such a multitude of horrid sins, as the top thereof (higher than Babels Tower ) reached up to Heaven, and fetched such a flood of water from thence, as reached up again to Heaven. There was a grand superfluity of naughtiness, Jam. 1.21. before there was so great a superfluity of overflowings of the Flouds: Men's sins went over their heads, (as David's did, Psal. 38.4) before God's Judgments (which their sins sent for) came down upon their heads. The World was drowned in wickedness, before it was drowned in water: their sin was writ on their punishment.

The second Note is, Sin had its Advance the same way that it first had its Original, both for Organ, Object and Subject. As a Woman was the Subject of the first sin; so Women were here Satan's Instruments to promote sin. As the beauty of the Apple was the Object that bewitched the first sinner: So the beauty of the Daughters of Men was that the Tempter presented to the Sons of God, to render them (manifold) the Sons of the Devil. 'It is said, there is scarce any notorious sin, but a Woman hath a hand in it, as is observed quite through the Word, and through the World; and the Organ Satan used both in procreating and procuring the first sin and in promoting it (when it was procreated) to its Giant-like magnitude in those over-grown Giants, was the Eye; [ The Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men, that they were fair, Gen. 6.2.] Thus 'tis said of Eve, that she saw the Apple a beautiful Object, Gen. 3.6. The Eye was the Cinqueport where sin landed, both in the birth, and in the growth of it. Thousands have died of the wound in the Eye. If sin do not find an open entrance either by the window of the Eye, or by the door of the Ear, it cannot well convey itself into our Hearts. Beauty (whether in persons, or in things) is a perilous Bait: 'It is not safe gazing upon beautiful Objects, lest the Tempter use the Eye as a Burning-glass to set the Heart on fire. Lust is sharp sighted, and no one means hath more enriched Hell, than beautiful faces, Job therefore made a Covenant with his Eyes, lest they should be loop-holes of lust, and windows of wickedness, Job 31.1. and David prayed against the abuse of them, Psal. 119.37.

The third Note is, Although those Giants ( Moses mentioneth, Gen. 6.4.) were as overgrown in their Guilt, as they were in their Bulk, neither, fearing God nor Man, but by a Cyclopick Impudence did provoke God to his face, &c. yet in the midst of wrath God remembers mercy, Hab. 3.2. saying, Mans days shall yet be an hundred and twenty years, v. 3. So long would God respite his Declared Judgments, to prove Man, if yet he would repent of his sin, and return to his God. 'It is a wonder a God of so much power ( to ease himself at his pleasure of his Adversaries, upon the first provocation, Isa. 1.24.) should yet be a God of so much patience as to bear with them, and forbear sinners for so long a time: The wickedness of man was then great in the Earth, v. 5. especially in those great Giants called Nephilims. Hebr. because they were fallen from God and Godlines • (as the word Naphal signifieth) and fallen into the bog of wickedness. Burgensis thought them to be Devils in men's shape, and called Nephilims, because they (with Lucifer ) were fallen from Heaven) but the Invalidity of this Notion appeareth in this, That the Deluge could not Drown Devils (who are Spirits) and therefore they were not Devils, but Men (indeed Incarnate Devils) that drew down the Deluge: Yet, though God was wearied out in his patience with these corrupt and incorrigible ones (who would have fallen upon him, if they could, as they had fallen from him ) insomuch that he is moved to make a final Resolution for their Utter Ruin, still Mercy (that is over all the works of God, Psal. 145.9.) triumphs over Justice, Jam. 2.13. and grants a Lease of an hundred and twenty years Respite from the Flood, in which term of time they might (by Noah 's Preaching and preparing the Ark) be brought to Repentance, or, if not, to perish forever. This long-sufferance of God the Apostle extolleth, 1 Pet. 3.19, 20. & 2 Pet. 2.5. showing the sum and end of all the Sermons Noah Preached to them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit, 1 Pet. 4.6. that is, they Repenting and Turning to God, might be dead because of sin, but the Spirit be life because of righteousness, Rom. 8. v. 10. But alas, though they had the space of Repentance, they wanted the grace of Repentance, Rev. 2.21. As Noah was warned of God, Heb. 11.7. so that wicked World was warned of Noah concerning their approaching Peril, if they did not prevent it by Repentance. Noah did this by the Spirit of Christ, who is said to go unto this old World, as an Embassador sent by his Father [he went and Preached] 1 Pet. 3.19. to wit, Righteousness and Repentance, 2 Pet. 2 5. and the Faith of the Gospel, 1 Pet. 4.6. whereby some (possibly) of those many, that perished in the waters, might be eternally saved, by Christ's sanctifying that Providence as an Ordinance to them, and his mercifully speaking to their hearts thereby, yea and [inter pontem & fontem] he might give to them the Grace of Repentance, though they had not improved the hundred and twenty year space of Repentance, as he did to the penitent Thief on the Cross, Nunquam sero, si serio; poenitentia vera nunquam est sera: If Repentance be but true, 'tis never too late. Oh how doth this magnify the matchless Mercy of God! that though they were judged according to men in the flesh (to the Drowning of their Bodies in the Flood) yet might they live according to God in the spirit, their Souls being saved by the Grace of Christ, even at the eleventh and last hour of their day. 1. Infants were not obstinate, so might be saved. 2. As all in the Ark not saved, so all out of the Ark not damned. 3. All dying without Baptism not lost, 1 Pet. 3.21. nor all Reprobate, who were out of the Ark, for some might be ignorant of Noah 's Preaching and preparing the Ark, so were not willfully disobedient.

The fourth Note is, As the Old World (notwithstanding this long Respite of an hundred and twenty years) was at last destroyed by Water; so this present World (after the long Lease of the Gospel) shall be destroyed by Fire. Those are the two most unruly and most ruining destructive Elements. Ludolfus hath an excellent Observation, As God destroyed the Old World by Water, to quench that exorbitant Heat of Lust that was then found in it; so he will destroy this present World by Fire, to warm that notorious Coldness of Love, that shall at last be sound in it. Christ hath foretold, that the love of many shall grow cold, Matth. 24.12. As Moses had told how all flesh had corrupted his way with fleshly lusts, making a carnal choice of beautiful Bed-fellows, more out of blind Affection (for lustful love is always blind) than from solid Judgment, without either Care or Fear of being corrupted by them, Exod. 34.16. 1 King. 11.2, 3. or any regard of either grief to the Godly, or of scandal to their own Profession, for they are called Sons of God at large, that had called themselves by his Name, Gen. 4.26. yet no better than loose profligate Professors, Apostates from the Power of Godliness: These Sons of Seth [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Rom. 1.27.] burned in their lust, (or were scalded, as the Greek word signifies) at the sight of the fair Daughters of cursed Cain, took them to their Beds, never considering (while they were led by the lusts of their Hearts, and by the sight of their Eyes, like Solomon's Yonker, Eccles. 11.9.) the suitableness of matching, 2 Cor. 6.14. nor the deceitfulness of Beauty, Prov. 31.30. nor the difficulty of finding a virtuous Woman, Prov. 31.10. nor observing (while they chose by their Eyes) that a fair Helena without, may he a Railing Hecuba within, or an Earthen Potsheard covered over with Silver Dross, Prov. 26.23. These men were the worse, because they should have been better, and should have made a better choice; from, this silfull mixture sprung the Rebellious Race of the Giants, who grew grosser in obstinacy all the 120 years, and waged War against Heaven (as the Poets say) heaping up one great Mountain upon another, and from thence throwing mighty Trees and prodigious Rocks up towards the Firmament, to justle Jove (or Jehovah ) out of his Throne. This Rebellious Obstinacy in this Giganto-Machia, or Giants War, &c. (called great wickedness, Gen. 6.5.) made the world so foul, that now God saw it high time to wash it clean with a Flood, Gen. 6.3, 6, 7, 8, 12. Accordingly God will shortly cleanse the World (grown foul again with sin) (since that) by streams of Fire, as he did then by floods of Water. There be but two ways of cleansing foul Vessels: The first is by Water, the second is by Fire. Wooden Vessels may not pass through the Fire, for they will be burned thereby [Every thing that way abide the Fire, ye shall make it go through the Fire, and all that abideth not the Fire, ye shall wake go through the Water] Numb. 31.23. Vessels made of Metal may abide the Fire, so will not Vessels of Wood; they therefore (according to this Law of Purification) musf, be washed with Water. This Great House (the World) hath many sorts of Vessels in it, Vessels of Gold and Silver, and Vessels of Wood and Earth, 2 Tim. 2.20, 21. Not only those Vessels of the House must be cleansed from Defilement, some by Fire, and others by Water, but the House itself (as having a worse Defilement than the Vessels, even the Plague of the Fretting Leprosy got into the Walls of it, which cannot be scraped off, Lev. 14.34, 41, 45.) must be cleansed by Fire, as well as by Water. As the cursed Canaanites had defiled their Land from one end to another, Ezra. 9.11. So this Gigantick Race of Rebels had defiled the World (which was their Land) from side to side with their uncleannesses. The defiled Land of Canaan spewed out all her Inhabitants, and the World (or rather the Maker of it) spewed out a flood to drown all its Inhabitants. Oh the defiling nature and contagion of sin! it infects the very House we live in, the Garments we wear, and even all the Creatures we use; so that, to the unclean (by sin) all things become unclean, Titus 1.13▪ Yea the very House of God, and all his Holy Ordinances, Le • . 16.16. Thus sin defileth not only persons, but places too, yea all things, as it did the World (the House those Rebels dwelt in) making it more foul than that Augean Stable (the Poets speak of) which Hercules could no way cleanse from its over-grown Filthiness, but by causing a River to run through it and overflow it. Thus the Great God dealt with the dirty Old World, he drew a Deluge upon it, to cleanse it from its prodigious Defilements: Yet as an House (washed never so clean at one time) will by much egress and regress (of Inhabitants and Strangers) contract new (and it may be worse) filth in success of time, so will need a new cleansing: Even so this great House (the World) though it was washed clean with Water in Noah's time, yet since that 'tis grown so filthy again, and in our (the last, and so the worst of) times become so full of dregs, as being almost at the very bottom of the Vessel, it must shortly pass through the Fire, as formerly it did through the Water. God hath resolved to Ruin it again by the other more merciless Element, 2 Pet. 3.7, 10, 12. Then it shall not be the Earth below, all under Water, but the very Heavens above shall be all on a light fire, and all the Elements shall melt, &c. and fall like scalding Lead, or burning Bell-metal upon the heads of the wicked, who shall give a terrible Account while the whole World is all flashing flames of fire about their Ears, 2 Thes. 1.8, 9. but the godly shall then be caught up into the Air (above all this Affrightment) to meet their Dear Redeemer, 1 Thes. 4.17. This last Destruction of the World by Fire (as before by Water ) was known in part to the very Heathens, as appeareth by the Writings of Lucretius, of Cicero de Naturâ Deorum, and especially of Ovid, singing, Esse quoque in fatis Reminiscitur affore Tempus, &c. He remembered the Fates had decreed that the World should be burned, &c. But more clearly was it known to Job (who lived before Moses ) Job 22.15, 20. where those two Destructions by drowning and burning are both mentioned, then shall the Fire of Hell begin to burn all over, and shall never end.

Mark here these few things, (1.) Because the World was destroyed by Water about the 1675 year of it from the Creation; therefore some have taken up that Opinion, that the World should be destroyed by Fire at 1675 years after Christ: But this conceit Time itself (that term being now expired) hath sufficiently confuted. Secret things belong to God, Deut. 29.29. That day and hour knoweth no man, &c. Matth. 24.36, Sundry guesses have been given at it both by Antient and Modern Authors, most of which Time (the best Expounder of dark Prophecies) hath already refuted. 'It is sufficient for us to know that 'tis known to the Lord, Zech. 14.6. though it be not given to us to know that Time, Acts 1.7. This Key of Knowledge (wherewith to unlock this Mystery) hangs only at God's Girdle. 'It is therefore our folly (if not our sin) to set our wits upon childishly playing in such serious and mysterious matters, Eorum quae scire nec datur, nec fas est Docta est Ignorantia, & talis Scientiae appetentia est Insaniae species, Austin. Ignorance of things not revealed nor lawful to be known, is a learned Nescience, and 'tis a kind of madness to inquire after the knowledge of them.

Mark (2.) The Time of God's burning the World will certainly come shortly, though the set Time thereof God hath hid from us. For Two Reasons.

• 1. For his own Glory, that we may Admire (crying, Oh the depth of his unsearchable Counsels! &c. Rom. 11.33.) what we cannot apprehend (much less comprehend ) and acknowledge; we cannot stand under that which we cannot understand. This must be confessed, that we are subdued by that which we cannot subdue to our understandings; and hereby we give God his due Glory.
• 2. 'It is not known (as for God's Glory ) so for our good, that we may watch always, and not be secure as we would be if we knew it; Ideo latet unus dies ut observentur omnes; that one day is hid from us, that every day might be improved by us, as if it were our last day either for Death or Judgment. The Harlot in Proverbs the 7th grew bold in her lewdness upon her knowledge of this, that her Husband was gone forth in his Travel for such a time, v. 18, 19, 20. And that evil Servant saying in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, &c. upon this grew secure and notoriously extravagant, Matth. 24.48, 49. Even so our Lord hath his Travelling time, and his Servants have their Trading time, Matth. 25.14, &c. And our Lord (after this) hath his Returning time, and his Servants their Reckoning time, v. 19, &c. Should we know when this time will be, we should misimprove the mean time: Therefore seeing the coming of that Dreadful Day will be sudden and unexpected (as that was upon the World) we should always watch, Matth. 24.37, 38, 39, 42. and be always ready, v. 44. Men are never less safe, than when they are most secure. Oh what manner of men ought we to be [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] quales, & quanti! Men even to admiration, looking up, and longing for Christ's coming in the Clouds; those Chariots which carried him up, shall bring him back again. We should cry with Sisera 's Mother, Why are his Chariots so long incoming? Judge. 5.28. and 2 Pet. 3.11, 12. Hastening to meet him upon his way.

Mark (3.) The very Symptoms of the last and worst of times are upon us in our Day. We may safely say, The time is short [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] contracted or rolled up, 1 Cor. 7.29. as Sails use to be by Mariners, when the Ship draws nigh to Harbor, the end of her Voyage: Or as a Web of Cloth is rolled up, only a little left at the end ungathered: So God hath now rolled up most of his Works he hath to work in the World, he hath only some few things to do, a very little at the end of the World, to wit, four things. 1. The Call of the Jews. 2. The Fulness of the Gentiles. 3. The Fall of Antichrist. 4. The Reign of Jesus Christ, and then God will say (as he said, Gen. 6.13.) The end of all flesh is come before me. The like doth Ezektel use, the end it come, is come, and so some ten or twelve times, is come, is come, Ezek. 7.2, 3, 6, &c. as if he had said, Destruction is at the Door. If the Judge of the World were at the Door in the days of James the Apostle, and the coming of the Lord did then draw nigh, Jam. 5.8, 9. sure I am, it draws nigh much more now in our days, and that great Judge, who then stood before the Door, is well nigh now got over the Threshold, it being above a 1000 years since the Apostle said so. Therefore let,

1. The Persecuted be patient, as v. 7. and hold a blow (as we say) let Patience have line enough in its perfect work, the good Lord strengthen Faith, and lengthen Patience; when the Judge cometh, he will set all to rights, in the mean time, grudge not v. 9. that is, groan not, grumble not, grow not sour and sullen either to God or to one another.

2. Let Persecutors Tremble, though they be as tall as the great Giants in Noah's day, yet God will sweep them away with a Flood of Fire, (as then he did them with a Flood of Water, ) and not one of them shall escape his just indignation: though the Jews feign that one Og (a Giant) was saved upon an High-Hill and with his own height, or as some Rabbies say, by getting and setting astride upon the Ark. Yet all this is said without book, for the word saith expressly, every man Died, &c. Gen. 7.21, 22. no doubt but some might attempt it, though in vain, as we read of a fond Friar that built himself an high house upon Harrow of the hill, to save himself when an Astrologer had persuaded him the land should be drowned. When this dreadful day comes, there will be no flying to the Mountains unless it be a crying to them to cover us, as Rev. 6.16. which yet shall be but a poor cover, for Mountains shall melt, and Rocks rend, at this Judges presence. Now the symptoms of this destruction are,

1. Was there ever more burnings of unlawful lusts (the fore-runner of the Flood) than now, when so many Pockified persons have invited so many Forreign (besides Native) Physicians for their cure in every corner?

2. The Abounding of all manner of Iniquity, as if Hell were broke loose amongst us. The lost times are the loosest times. The Dregs of time must needs be the worst, as 'tis of Liquor; the sink of all the sins of former Ages seemcentred in our times.

3. Coldness of love, by such aforesaid Quench-Coals, Dr. Latimer saw such lack of love to God and His People in his time, that he verily thought Dooms-day was then just at hand; much more may we think so now, &c.

But beside and before this general Judgment-day (wherein the whole World shall be burnt, as before it was drowned ) particular Dooms-days may come upon places and people: our own Chronicles tell us of a Dooms-day-book in the Exchequer, containing a survey of all England for proportioning the exactions of the Norman yoke by William the Conqueror. God bless this Land from such Dooms-day-books, and from such Dooms-day-times as were in the Marian days wherein so many Fires flamed out all over our Land to burn the poor Protestants. The Apostle Peter saith, Think it not strange concerning fiery Trials, which are to try you, at if some strange thing happened to you, 1 Pet. 4.12. wonder not at it, as at some new astonishing thing, for there is no new thing under the Sun; that which hath been, (not only may, but) shall be, Eccles. 1.9. now that there have been such Dooms-day-times and Fiery Trials, both Sacred and Civil Writings confirm it by a cloud of Witnesses,

1. Sacred, Frequently mentioning how God proves his people by bringing them into the Furnace or Fiery Trials. God tried Job as Gold is tried in the Furnace, Job 23.10. and so he did Israel in a furnace of Iron, Deut. 4.20. 1 Kin. 8.51, and Jer. 11.4. The Oppression of Egypt was a furnace to Israel, and so was Babylon's Bondage to the Jews afterwards. Those grievous afflictions (wherewith they were grievously afficted both in Egypt and Babylon ) did most kindly melt them, and made them more malleable under God's Hammer of his Word, Jer. 23.29. God tried them as Silver, &c. yea brought them through Fire and Water, Psal. 66.10, 12. Now neither Reprobate Silver, nor Alchymy Gold can bear the seventh Fire as Golden Job did, who, as the Finest Gold, is purged in the Fire, and shineth in the Water; but quite contrary it is with dirty Clay, which the Fire Scorcheth, and Water Dissolveth. 'It is God's method to gather together his Vessels, and to cast them into his Crucible or Furnace, as men do with Silver and Brass, to melt them in the midst thereof, Ezek. 22.19, 20, 21, 22. That is a most direful Doom there [I will leave you in the Furnace.] God deals so with his Foes (bringing them into the Briars, and there leaves them to be burned as Vessels of Wood only) but not so with his Friends who are Vessels of Gold, with those God goeth along both into Fire and Water, to see they take no hurt by either, Isa. 43.2. and though God lead them into both, yet he leaves them not in either, but brings them forth of both into a wealthy place, Psal. 66.12. This is due comfort for true Christians.

2. Civil Authors; as Martyrologists show, how in all ages of the World since Christ, the Church hath been oft cast into God's Furnace, and been under Fiery Trials yet brought (in God's hand) through all into such times of Rest and Refreshment, as wherein she might draw her breath (better than in the Furnace) yea swallow down her Spittle, and live comfortably, what may befall us (from those black clouds which gather about us) we know not, whether it may not prove a storm of Fire, &c. these two Scriptures ( Zech. 13.8, 9. and Mal. 3.3.) have a mighty sound in my Ears, two parts shall be cut off, and the third part I will bring (not only into, but) through the Fire, &c. when he comes to sit as a Refiner of his Gold and Silver Vessels, &c. 'It is good for us to forecast fiery Trials, which never come the sooner (for being foreseen) but sure I am, far the easier: 'It is a labor well lost, if they come not, and as well spent, if they do come; whereas when they come on the sudden, and surprise us (as the unexpected Thief in the Night) they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, and lastly leave them desperate: praemoniti praemuniti, forewarned forearm'd. God hath made me a Watchman to sound this Trumpet of warning from my Watch-Tower, to rub off your Rust, and to rouse up all that are slumbering Virgins, that I may deliver my own Soul, Ezek. 3.17, 18, 19. to wit, from my other men's sins, 1 Tim. 4.16. Oh would God I could say, that the house of Israel is not become Dross, as Ezck. 22.18. I am afraid we are degenerated, if not from our own former zeal, yet from that of our zealous progenitors.

We may sigh out

Oh bless God for that blessed allay, Isa. 48.10. God will refine us, yet not so exactly, as Silver, lest we should be consumed in God's Crucible, having in us more Dross than good Oare, he tries not with Rigour, this none can abide, Psal, 143.2. but with Favor, Psal. 118.18. 'tis in mercy and in measure, Jer. 30.11. Isa. 57.16. If his Child swound in the Whipping, God lets fall the Rod, and falls a kissing it, to fetch life into it again, Oh that our Faith may be found as Gold, 1 Pet. 1.7. If not in such a fiery Trial before, yet at that of the Judgment-Day.

The third Grand particular in this History of Noah is, Noah's eminent piety in the midst of that ungodly Worlds notorious Impiety: Noah was a most Resplendent and Illustrious Star (of the first Magnitude) shining forth most gloriously in the darkest Midnight of a most wicked World. Hence ariseth

The third Observation, That the power and providence of the Most Wise and Most Gracious God doth preserve and provide the best of Men for the worst of Times. Three points are here to be inquired after and answered.

The (1.) Is the [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .] How it is so.

The (2.) Is the [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] or Why it is so.

(3.) The [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] After what manner.

First to demonstrate, How it is so.

Ans. 'It is most manifest (1.) in Sacred History, That God ordered the best of Prophets to be born and to officiate in the worst of Times; oh what a degenerate Age was that, wherein Moses appeared! Duplicantur lateres, & Venit Moses. Israel was in the Bondage of Egypt, and in the worst part of that Bondage, their Tale of Brick and Mortar-work was doubl'd upon them, and that without Straw, Exod. 1.11, 14. and 5.18, 19. &c. Then God sent Moses their Deliverer. And what a degenerate age was that wherein Samuel was born, where there was no open Vision (1 Sam. 3.1. &c.) No better (but far worse) were the Times of Elijah, who (in his own computation) was left alone of all the Lord's Prophets, when the Prophets of Baal were many, 1 Kin. 18.22. in the days of wicked Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness, whom Jezebel his wicked Wife stirred up, 1 Kin. 21.25. and as bad were the times of Jehoram ( Ahab's Grand-Child) when God sent the Prophet Elisha, who said to that wicked King, What have I to do with thee, &c. and surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee, 2 Kin. 3.13, 14. The like is recorded of all the Greater and Lesser Prophets, who all (as with one mouth) do declare and declaim against the wickedness of their several Ages they lived in, as all their several Prophecies do abundantly testify, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, &c. and in Hosea, Amos, &c. To omit ail these, and come to the Master-Prophet (our Redeemer) the Son of God, who was sent out of his Fathers Bosom into the World, at a time of its greatest Degeneracy, when few more than five persons are found upon Record who owned the good ways of God, then came Christ that Almighty Healer and Sovereign Savior. As Joseph found his Brethren in Dothan (which signifies Defection ) Gen. 37.17. So our Joseph or Jesus, found the World in a state of great and sad Defection: and when he comes again 'twill be as bad; shall the Son of Man find Faith on the Earth, Luk. 18.8. Thus it appeareth (by an Induction of Instances out of Sacred Writ ) that God raiseth up the best of Men, in the worst of Times, as he did Noah here in the Old World, when all Flesh had corrupted their way, Gen. 6.12. And this

Secondly, Is also remarkable in Civil or Secular History (complying with that of the Sacred aforesaid) that the best of human Laws have been gained in the Reigns of the worst of Kings, as an happy Counter-Ballance to their exorbitant and extravagant actings, this leads me to the [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] Why it is so.

Ans. 2. Herein appeareth the Wisdom and Graciousness (as well as the Power and Providence of God) to reserve a little remnant for royal use in the worst of times, that he might not ruin the whole work of his hands at once: Saints are called the Salt of the Earth, Mat. 5.13. As Salt keepeth Flesh from putrifying, so do the Saints the World, and are therefore sprinkled up and down, as Salt. (Here a few Corns and there a few Corns, one of a Tribe, and two of a Family, Jer. 3.14.) to keep the rest from rotting, 'tis well said, that Swine and Swinish persons have their Souls for Salt only, to keep their Bodies from Stinking above Ground: Christ and his redeemed are somewhere called the Soul of the World! Oh what a Stinking Body would the World be without such a sweet Soul? However they are called the Light of the World, Mat. 5.14. (As well as the Salt. ) Oh how dark Would the World be in the night of Degeneracy, if God had not some Orient Stars sparkling and bespangling the world, though not in every part, yet in every Zone and Quarter of it: Such an one was our Noah here; some good men in bad times, an Holy remnant kept for a reserve: Good Husbands cast not all their Corn into the Oven, but reserve some for seed: God kept his [Mithe-Mispar] a small few here to replant the World.

Add the third [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] after what manner it is.

Ans. 'It is as the Chaff is kept from burning while the Corn is amongst it. As in all times God hath a few Pearls to preserve the many Pebbles, and a few Jewels to preserve the Lumber from being destroyed; so the Holy Seed, called Statumen terrae, the Substance of the Earth, Isa. 6.13. and the Righteous are an Everlasting Foundation, Prov. 10.25. They may say with David, they bear up the Pillars of the world, Psal. 75.3. Hence it became a common Proverb in the primitive times, Abs{que} Stationibus sanctis non staret mundus; But for the Piety, Presence and Prayers of the Christians, the World could not subsist any longer. Hence also Philo draws a good Conclusion, [Oremus, ùt (tanquam Columnae) vir pius permaneat in domo, ad calamitatis Remedium;] Let us pray that the righteous may remain (as Pillars in the, house) with us, and not perish from among us, as Isa. 57.1. As our blessed preservatives from imminent evils. 'It is said, Abraham stood yet before the Lord, Gen. 18.22. And without such to stand, the World could not stand, for God saith, oft over, I will not destroy it for their sake, v. 23.24, 26, 30,30. Lot was saved for Abraham's sake, as Sodom was for Lots sake, till he was departed out of it, Gen. 18.23. with 19, 22, and 29. And as God gave Zoar to Lot, Gen. 19.21. and all the Souls in the Ship to Paul, Acts 27.24. So God gives the rest of mankind to the righteous, Job 22.30. Upon this account Tabor and Hermon, are accounted for East and West, Psal. 89.12. For God accounts of the World by the Church, and upholds the World for the Churches sake. And were it not for some Jehosaphats (God hath in the World) he would say to wicked men as Elisha said to Jehoram that wicked King, I would not look towards you, nor see you, as before. If it were not for his Elects sake, God would make a short work both in and of the World, Rom. 9.28. Were it not for the Elects sake, there should no Flesh be saved, Mat. 24.22. Neither any Jew, nor any Gentile left alive, were it not for his Covenant sake, and his infinite mercy to his Elect, deus vindictae gladium oleo misericordiae semper emollit, God ever is softening the Sword of his Justice with the Oil of his mercy, and hereby a remnant is reserved (both of Jews and Gentiles ) in the World, and the World for the Elects sake. When God is most enraged and resolved, yet then will he yield something unto the Prayers of his precious Servants, as he did to Abraham in his interceding for Sodom, gathering ground of God four times, and even then broke he off from Begging, before the Lord left off from Bateing, Gen. 18.22. to 33.

Inference, Oh then what sublime fools are wicked men in thrusting out and endeavoring to destroy the righteous from among them! What is this, but to pull an old house (the World) upon their own heads? As Noah did ransom the old World from ruin, for 120 years, when God was resolved upon it, as well as repented he had made it, to see whether men would repent of their sins, and seek reconciliation by righteousness, and by returning to God, as Dan. 4.27. Thus Aaron stood betwixt the Living and the Dead, Num. 16.48. And so the Plague was stayed by his offering Incense; and many a time would God have destroyed Israel, had not Moses, &c. stood in the Gap, Psal. 106.23. and 30. Thus Elias prayed, Jam. 5.18. And Amos also, Amos. 7, 5, 6. And God removed both those Judgments: The very presence as well as Prayers of the Righteous doth ransom places and people from ruin, were it not that some Clusters, that have blessings in them (the Churches of Saints) be found upon England's Vine-tree, God would lay his Ax to the Root of it, and cut it down, never to cumber the ground anymore, Isa. 65.8. Mat. 3.10. no sooner was Lot out of Sodom, but God rained down Hell out of Heaven upon it; no sooner was Augustine departed, but God's Judgments came down upon Hippo, as after Luther's departure upon Germany, and after Pareus his Death upon Heidelburg; no sooner was Josiah dead, but Jerusalem was destroyed: 'It is not those Elijah's that trouble Israel (as wicked Ahab said) but 'twas he himself and his wicked House, 1 Kin. 18.17, 18. Those reputed troublers of the City, Acts 16.20. do really ransom the City from trouble, and such as are accounted to turn the World upside down, Acts 17.6. do indeed preserve the World from being so turned. Some places (indeed) are so sinful that God saith. If Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, it should not be ransomed from ruin, Ezek. 14.20. Yet commonly such Servants of God save places and people (both from Imminent and Incumbent Evils) by their Prayers and by their Presence. 'It is a sign of high Divine Displeasure, when a place is bereaved of the Prayers of God's people by God's Command, as when God bid Jeremy, pray not for this people, Jer. 14.11. for their good; for God seems to say, that he can do nothing against a place, while his people pray for it, let me alone (saith God to Moses ) that I may destroy them, Exod. 32.10. Ligatum habent sancti deum, ut non puniat, nisi Ipsi permiserint. The Saints (as it were) bind God's hands to the peace, so that he cannot punish, unless they permit; at the Father glosseth upon that Text, which seems to intimate, that Moses 's Intercession for Israel, was (through Divine condescension) too strong for God's Indignation against them: Yet 'tis an higher evidence of Divine Displeasure, when a place loseth both the Prayers and Presence of God's people: This was Abraham's argument, [ Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the wicked? That be far from thee, &c.] Gen. 18.23, 24, 25. And. God grants the cogency of the Argument, v. 26. Why are not the Tares now plucked up? 'It is for the Wheat? sake (though thin sown) that is present among them, therefore saith Christ, Let the Tares alone, until the Harvest, Mat. 13.28, 29, 30. Thus the World is preserved for the Elects sake: Therefore when the Righteous are taken away, 'tis a sure sign that some great evil is coming on, Isa. 57.1. Hence the loss of their presence should be laid to heart. When a loving Father removeth his best Beloved Children, it plainly Prognosticates, he will break up house there, and shortly remove himself to some other place. Methuselah, Hebr. signifieth, he dieth and the dart cometh, for immediately after the Death of that Holy Patriarch, the Deluge came upon the wicked World: Then is the day of Babylon's Vengeance, when God calleth, and causeth his own people to come out from her, Rev. 18.4. As he did Lot out of Sodom, and then out of Zoar, both which were destroyed after his departure: Oh the mad censures of a Frantick World, crying, Away with them, they are not worthy to live, whereas they are most worthy, and the World is not worthy of them, Heb. 11.38. And the World could no • (indeed) subsist without them, therefore all should learn with Lydia, to entreat such Paul's & Timothy's to stay with them, Acts 16.15. And as it is one of God's methods to call his people out of a place, before the Judgment come, so 'tis another of his methods to hide his people in the place, until the Judgment be past. As he hid Jeremy and Baruch, Jer. 36.26. with 26.24, &c. As he hid Rahab, Josh. 6.25. God gave her hiding for hiding, and this is oft found in Promises (as well as Presidents,) Psal. 57.1. and 91.4. Isa. 26.20. Zeph. 23. and many more; thus did God hide Noah here till that Calamity was overpast. The ground whereof (on God's part) was God's graciousness to Noah, and (on man's part) was Noah's Righteousness to God: (First) Of that which is well placed first. Noah found Grace in the Eyes of Jehovah, Gen. 6.8. There is a sweet harmony betwixt the Letters of Noah 's name and the Letters of Grace in Hebrew; for Nach (his name) and Chan (signifying Grace) are the same Letters, only transposed in the Hebrew Radix: Hence Note, that the grace or graciousness of God is the Fountain and Foundation of all Mans Felicity. Noah did not find favor in God's Eyes, because he was a perfect man, that is, Free from all sin, as the Romish Romances affirm, but because he was in Covenant with God through his Eternal purpose of Electing Love, Eph. 3.11. Noah of and in himself was a Child of wrath by Nature, Eph. 2.3. But he was saved (both Temporally and Eternally ) by grace only, though he was Just and Perfect in his Generation. It was of Grace, and not of Debt that God accepted him: As he did Lot, Gen. 19.19. and Moses, Exod. 33.12. And David, Acts 7.46. Yea and the blessed Virgin herself, Luk. 1.30. Though the Romanists Report of her, she was born, lived and died without sin. If so, then she needed not (as she more truly reports of herself) to rejoice in the Lord her Savior, v. 47. Such as be without sin, may well enough be without a Savior; where there is no sore, there is no need of a Salve. Noah was saved (as all the aforesaid) by Christ, who was given of God for a Covenant, Isa. 42.6. Now the Mercy-seat was no larger than the Ark (wherein the Covenant was kept) to show, that the Grace of God extends no farther than the Covenant. As all out of the Ark of Noah were drowned, so all out of the Covenant of Grace are Damned. There is no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved, but by Christ the Covenant, Acts 4.12.

2. Noah was just and perfect, Gen. 6.9. This was the ground (on Mans part) why he was not destroyed by the Deluge with the old ungodly World, as God's Grace or Graciousness was the ground (on God's part) this as the Cause, and that as the Effect, quite contrary to the Damnable Doctrine of the Romish Church, which asserteth, that because Noah was just and perfect, therefore he found Grace in God's sight. Noah (indeed) was a righteous Man, Gen. 7.1. he had ('tis true) the Two-fold Righteousness:

1. Imputed.

2. Imparted: By the former he was Justified, and by the latter Sanctified; yet this is remarkable, 'tis said expressly of him, that he first found favor in God's Eyes, before he was either Justified or Sanctified, Gen. 6.8, 9. and 7.1. he is nowhere said to be Justified by Works (nor any else, but the contrary) for then it had been but of Right, and by Debt: But the Author to the Hebrews doth expressly say, He was Just, or Justified by Faith, Heb. 11.7. Now the Grace of Christ (nor Mans own Righteousness) is the Sole Foundation both of our Faith, and of our Felicity; Christ is our all, and in all, Col. 3.11. As Manna is said to comport most contentedly to all curious Palates: So this Grace comprehends in it all kind of Blessings which the Heart of Man desireth, and his Need requireth. 'It is very true and as observable, Noah was the first Man in the World that had this Honorable Encomium put upon him, as to be styled [ just and perfect; ] Indeed Abel before him was called by Christ long after him [ Righteous Abel] as Mat. 23.35. yet must we take this Title in the right Notion, he was Just, but how? 'Twas by his Faith; for even in Old Testament Times, the Just did live by their Faith, Hab. 2.4. as well as in the New Testament, Rom. 1.17. Gal. 3.11. and Heb. 10.38. and thus the same Epistle saith, Noah did, Heb. 11.7. Noah is not said here to be Just, simply or absolutely taken, (for so, there is no Man that sinneth not, 1 Kings 8.46.) but Comparatively, compared with that wicked World, he was the best of Men in that worst of Times, which was a singular commendation, therefore is he said to be [ just and perfect in his Generation ] that is, in the midst of those wicked Ones he lived amongst; in comparison of whom he was the only Righteous One, Gen. 7.1. The worse they were, by an Holy Antiperistasis, the better would he be; hereupon some say Noah was above Enoch in this, that he walked with God (a quite counter-motion to the wicked World) in far worse times (no doubt,) than those in Enoch 's days. Neither was Noah perfect in measure and degree, but in uprightness: Aiming at Perfection, and willing in all things to please God, and keeping himself from his (and others,) iniquity, Psal. 18.21, 23. This sincerity was his safety (as well as his Perfection.) So true is that of Solomon, He that walks uprightly, walks surely, Prov. 10.9. Such are as safe as if in a Tower of Brass or Town of War, Prov. 14.26.

From this double Ground (both on God's part and on Mans ) I pass on to the fourth Grand Particular, to wit, the double Description or Narrative,

1. Of the Saving Means, or Instrument, Noah 's Ark.

2. Of the Destroying Means, or Instrument, Noah 's Deluge. From whence the fourth Grand Observation ariseth, The most Great and Gracious God is fully furnished with Effectual Means or Instruments, both for Saving the Righteous, and for Destroying the Wicked.

First, Of the first of these, the Description of the Ark; wherein most Remarkable be,

1. Its Matter.

2. Its Form, or Fashion.

3. Its Measure.

4. Its Accoutrements of a Window and Door.

5. The Order of its Cabines.

6. The Use of it, for the Preservation and Sustentation of Man, Beast and Fowl, Gen. 6. from 14, to 22.

1. The Matter of it, v. 14. is Gopher-wood by God's Direction. The Scripture mentions not this word (or Wood) in any other place, which hath occasioned so many uncertain Conjectures among Authors (both Antient and Modern) about the Materials of the Ark, some conceiving it to be the Pine, others Firr, others Cedar, &c. but the most probable is the Cypress.

(1.) From the nearness of the Name, for Gophar sounds the same with Cupar, (from whence comes Cuparissus, or the Cypress ) making but a little change of Letters, as oft happeneth.

(2.) From the firmness of the Wood, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , quia est expert putredinis, it will not breed Worms, because 'tis bitter; hence it is called an Everlasting Wood, according to Martial, Epig. 6.73.

(3.) From the Testimony of Authors, who generally agree, that in those parts of the World (which were first planted) and on those Mountains of Ararat (where the Ark rested) there is no other Wood grows fit to Build Ships withal, so much as the Cypress. Hence that great Navy of Ships (which Great Alexander Built at Babylon ) were all, and only made up of Cypress, Arian, in Alex. l. 7. p. 161. and Strabo, l. 16, p. 741. Whatever the Wood was, this is certain, it was most durable, especially, if we can believe what Epiphanius reporteth, Haer. l. 1. p. 23. that some part of this Ark was to be seen in his Day. It was undoubtedly such Wood as (they say) will not Rot, that it might be a fitter Type of God's Church (the Antitype) which is made up of Incorruptible Seed, 1 Pet. 1.23. and of the Eternal Spirit, Heb. 9.14. The Ark was made [ex lignis laevigatis] so the Vulgar Latin reads for Gopher, that is, or sound, plained Planks that would Seam Well together to keep out Water. Thus the Materials of God's Church are all smoothed (having the knots of corrupt Nature taken off) by the Spirit of Power, and of a Sound Mind, 2 Tim. 1.7. As 'tis well said (in one Sense) that Living Stones and Green Timber are the most meet Materials for a Gospel-Church; so 'tis well said also that such plained Planks, and beautiful Boards of Gopher or Cedar are fittest for God's Ark or Tabernacle, the Church in another Sense: The Boards whereof must be joined close together without gaping to spring a Leak, &c. for [Intorto Capite, sequetur Corpus] if the subtle Serpent can but see an hole to wrest in his Head, he will easily screw in his whole Body. This Ark was a Figure of Christ's Church, whereinto they that enter by Faith, are saved from the Flood of God's displeasure, of which Grace, Baptism, (the answerable Type) is a Sign and Seal, 1 Pet. 3.20, 21.

2. The Form of it. The Hebrew word [Tebah] signifies a Chest, Coffer or Coffin, all which are equally broad, both above and below, at top and bottom, and though an Ark was the most Antient Name of Ships, because of the Similitude unto this Ark of Noah, all the old Ship Carpenters Built their Ships (at the first) learning that Form from God's own Plat-form; yet was not Noah 's Ark then of the Form of our Ships now, which are framed sharp before and below, for the better Plowing of the Sea (as the Poet expresseth it) and for a ready cutting of the Waters; Ships are all made in that Form, which will make the quickest motion, and most expeditious passage (by Oars and Sails,) from one Port to another in the Art of Navigation, whereas Noah 's Ark was made only to Flote upon the Waters, and not to pass from Port to Port, therefore was it of a Square Cubicular Form, plain below, on each side, and above also, save only it had a small Ridge or Rising towards the top for the better shooting off the Rain-water, not unlike the Cover of a Coffin, which little Ridge was about the measure of a Cubit only, Gen. 6.14, 14, 15, 16. and this odd Cubit (or measure from the Elbow to the long Fingers end, containing six Hands breadths, or a Foot and a half) was supernumerary to the Thirty Cubits, which was the Altitude or Height of the Ark; we must suppose that single Cubit was over and above this round and large measure: The Ark was neither gathered in at the top, till it came to a Cubic breadth there, as Origen supposeth, and after him Hugo and Cajetan, nor at the bottom was it gathered in, so waxing wider and wider, as our Ships are Built, for then it had not been of that capacity to contain so vast a company of Creatures; nor would it have held out in every part to be Three Hundred Cubits long, Fifty broad, and Thirty high, according to the Divine Description, v. 15. so that the Opinion of Augustine ( de Civit. Dei lib. 15. cap. 27.) seems most Authentic, that it was Built upright both in length and breadth, flat-bottomed (to lie steady upon the Waters) and level on each side, without any gatherings in from the bottom to the top, where the sloping Ridge (to cast off Rain from resting there) was fixed, called the covering of the Ark, a part whereof Noah removed to obtain some fresh Air, and to take a prospect of the Earth, Gen. 8.13. Of the same Form with this Ark, was that Ark or Chest wherein the Child Moses was hid, Exod. 2.3. for there the same Hebrew word (only Jod added) Tebah is used, it being a flat-bottomed Coffer that lay firm among the Flags, yet floating upon the Waters. This is the same with that both in Name and Form, though differing in Matter, for that was made of Gopher-wood, but this of Bulrushes; yet a sufficient Sanctuary in subserviency to God's Providence (being pitched within and without, as Noah 's Ark was, Gen. 6.14, by Mans prudence ) for the saving of Moses, as that was for the saving of Noah, &c. Likewise of the same Form was the Ark of the Tabernacle and Temple, yet differing from both those two aforesaid Arks in two Respects.

1. In Name, which in Hebrew is called [Aaron] but both the other Arks are called [Tebah] the Greek Tongue doth (indeed) use one word [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] for all these three Arks, Heb. 11.7. and 9.4. Mat. 24.38. Luke 17.27. 1 Pet. 3.20. Revel. 11.19.

2. In Use, for this latter called [Aaron] Exod. 25.10. was to keep dead, lifeless things in it, as the Tables of the Testimony, &c. Deut. 10.2, 5. and Heb. 9.4. but both the former Arks (called Tebah ) were to keep Persons and things alive in them, as the Ark of Bulrushes kept the Child Moses alive, and the Ark of Gopher kept Noah, and many Creatures alive in them: To Spiritualize the Form (as before the Matter. ) Herein also the Ark is a Type of the Church, wherein likewise it holdeth a comely congruity: As the Church is like the Ark in its being made up of long, strong, hewed and smoothed Timber (yea, and covered, Hebrew Copher ) over within and without, Gen. 6.14. with the Atonement of Christ (as it was pitched) to make her Tight, that the Waters of God's wrath may not enter in upon her: So she is flat-bottomed (as the Ark) being well grounded on Christ, and having a firm constancy and steadiness in him, She is stablished in the Faith, Col. 2.7. and cannot be tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine, Eph. 4. 14. The Moralist calls a good Man [Homo quadratus] one that lies firm and four-square upon his ground, not like a round Bowl or Ball (very unsteady, quia tangit in puncto, it touches only in one point) that may be moved and removed with the least touch of the Finger, if not with a little blast of the Mouth: And this Philosophy assigneth as the reason why the motion of a Sledge (which lies flat on the ground) requires a far greater force to promote, than the motion of a Wheel, that toucheth the Earth in one single point only. Thus the Ark lay flat, yet Floating.

3. The Measure of the Ark, [ Three Hundred Cubits in length, Fifty Cubits in breadth, and Thirty Cubits in the heighth of it, Gen. 6.15.] In this Symmetry or Proportion of Measures, the length of the Ark was Ten times the heighth of it, and Six times the breadth of it, for Ten times Thirty is Three Hundred, and Six times Fifty is Three Hundred likewise: No doubt but Moses (who wrote this Book) being well learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts 7.22. giveth here an exact Geometrical Description of all the just Dimensions of the Ark. This shows the Blessed Symmetry and Proportion that ought to be in all the Dimensions of a Gospel-Church, its height, length and breadth must be answerable one to another according to the Analogy of Faith, not over-grown in any one, as the Diocesan Churches, &c. are. According to this measure, the Ark contained Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Square Cubits in the whole within the Wooden Walls of it. So far as its three Stories extended, each of which consisted of an Hundred and Fifty Thousand Cubits, to which add Three Thousand Six Hundred Cubits more (as some do) for the finishing of its Roof and Sky light; all which solid Contents solidly considered do demonstrate, that the whole Fabric of the Ark was spacious enough, and had a capacity sufficient to contain all those Creatures, and all their Provisions which were laid in there: So that Apelles (that wretched Disciple of the wicked Heretic Marcion ) had no just cause to Cavil at and Blaspheme this Sacred Story as a loud Lie, because (as he saith most profanely) This Dimension (here described) was Insufficient, and could not possibly comprehend them: To this Atheist it is Answered,

(1.) The Ark may be measured greater or lesser according to the difference of Cubits, which be of three sorts; 1. The common Cubit, from the Elbow to the end of the middle finger, as before. 2. The Cubit of the Sanctuary, which (probably) was twice so much as the common or ordinary; for as the Hebrew Weights of the Sanctuary were double to the common and usual, so the Measures of the Sanctuary were accordingly, Exod. 30.13, However it appeareth to be an hand-breadth more than the common Cubit, Ezek. 40.5. & 43.13. 3. There is also the Geometrical Cubit, which is six times greater than the common, and (according to Origen 's Opinion) the Ark should be measured by this last sort of Cubits, so that if the measure by the first or by the second sort of Cubit be too little a capacity for all the Creatures (with their provisions) lodged in it from the beginning to the ending of the Flood (which was a full year) this last measure of Cubits will be sufficient and super abundant. But Answer,

The (2.) There is no necessity constraining us to compute this one Cubit six (with Origen ) seeing the Holy Scriptures do not reckon (according to this Geometrical Cubit) other Fabrics in other places; for, should the Altar described by Cubits, Exod. 27. be measured in its height by this last Cubit, it would mount it up so high, as none could come to serve there but by the help of a Ladder. Indeed the Scripture doth mention a Great Cubit, Ezek. 41.8. which presupposeth also a lesser one. But suppose we should go to the lowest and least of those three, to wit, the common Cubit, this may be conceived to have been much bigger than 'tis now, because Mans Stature before the Flood was much greater than now: Suppose no more than our common Cubit now: The Ark being divided into three Stories, and each of them consisting of an hundred and fifty thousand Cubits, according to common estimation the Ark will be found of sufficient capacity; for three hundred common Cubits make up an hundred and fifty yards, which contain four hundred and fifty foot, almost two furlongs in length, which make the eighth part of a mile, and multiplying the length by the breadth, fifty times three hundred make fifteen thousand Cubits, which being again multiplied by the height of thirty Cubits, there will the whole capacity and measure of the Ark amount to thirty times fifteen thousand, which makes every of the three Stories to be an hundred and fifty thousand Cubits, as multiplied only by ten, and in the whole, four hundred and fifty thousand solid Cubits, as multiplied by three tens, which is thirty, besides the three thousand six hundred Cubits more allowed for the Roof or Covering; so that the Dimensions of the Ark were vastly prodigious, and capacious enough to contain all the Creatures, and all their Provisions, as Johannes Buteo De Arcâ Noae, and our Dr. Wilkinson do clearly demonstrate. This latter worthy Author well observing, that no carnivorous creature was fed with flesh in the Ark. For, (1.) There was but a certain number (of some kind but two) received into the Ark, so there could not be flesh for them. (2.) Neither is it likely that Noah should be so slavishly employed in such a daily and dirty work for a whole year so to feed them. (3.) 'It is more probable, that by the same miraculous power whereby Lions, Leopards, Tigers, &c. laid aside their fierceness, and were tamed, &c. thereby also they were made content to want fl • sh for that time, and to feed upon fruits, &c. From all which aforesaid may be learnt those following Divine Lessons.

The (1.) is, As this Ark lay all along in a prostrate posture (suitable to the Tabernacle and Altar thereof, not to the Temple and Ark therein, both which had an Erect Situation) and was a fleeting, floating, rolling, tumbling, and travelling Fabric: Even so is the Church Militant, afflicted, tossed with Tempests, and not comforted, Isa. 54 11. Hence Clemens Alexandrinus well observeth, that the Ancients built their Temples or Churches in the Form of this Ark or Ship, to denote the Tossing State of the Church on Earth.

The (2.) is, Though the Ark lay all along thus flat, and floating, so that if the Devil ( that Prince of the Air, Eph. 2.3.) could have raised but one Storm in that whole years time against Noah (as he did afterwards against Christ, Matth. 8.24. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Seaquake, like an Earth-quake, that shakes down strong Mountains and Castles) the Ark had certainly been overwhelmed (because of its fashion and posture and all (in it) been drowned. Oh the Amazing Power and Providence or God attending Noah and the Ark! his Eyes were upon it (for good) from the beginning of the year to the end thereof, Deut. 11.11. God held the Wind in his Fist, Prov. 30.4. so, as not to suffer one puff of a tempestuous Storm to blow for all that whole year, to endanger the Ark. This may well be concluded, because 'tis expressly said, That after the Flood, God made a Wind to pass upon the Earth, Gen. 8.1. which importeth, that all the time of the Deluge, there was a great Calm; and though some Natural Cause thereof may be assigned, seeing Storms do ordinarily arise from Vapours ascending out of the dry Earth (all which this Dowsing Deluge suppressed) yet this was certainly a Supernatural Calm from God's fatherly Providence for Noah's preservation. Thus it is with the tossed Church, God commands the Winds and the Sea, and both obey him, Matth. 8.27.

The (3.) is, As the Ark, after all its tossings, landed safely on Mount Ararat at the length, and there had a Quietus est, or long Rest: So the Church Militant, after all, shall land safely, and be triumphant in Heaven on those Everlasting Mountains.

The (4.) is, As the Ark was made in the fashion of Mans Body lying along upon his back, with his face upward (which is the very Model by which all Ship-Carpenters do build all their Boats, Ships, &c. with a Bottom-tree like the Back-bone of a Mans Body (lying with the face upward) and so many Ribs arising up from it) so it teacheth the frailty of Man, while in the body, variis agitatus in undis, tossed up and down like a Tennis-ball by Fortunes Racket, or like this Ark by the Waves of this over-grown Flood, living always at the Sign of the Chequer, sometimes in the White of Mercy, and sometimes in the Black of Misery. Man is exposed to many Changes here below, walking in changeable Colours, and none tan say, [I am that I am] but God, Exod. 3.14.

The (5.) is, An the Ark had the form of a Coffin, which is always made (according to the proportion of Mans Body) in its length, six times the breadth, and ten times the depth, or height: This was the proportion of the Ark, to mind Man of his Mortality, and to teach him that great Truth of Mortification, which maketh up the Church of God. as the Apostle applies this Type to Baptism, 1 Pet. 3.20, 21. whereby we are become dead and buried with Christ, Rom. 6 3, 4▪ 6. (to wit, by the Baptism of the Spirit accompanying the Baptism of Water ) and shall have as sure a Resurrection as Christ had out of his Coffin or Grave, and as Noah had out of the Ark (made Coffin-wise) wherein he seemed to lie buried for a long time. The Church and her Cause shall come out of her Coffin, and at last shall rest (after all her Tossings) safely upon Mount Ararat, Acts 9.31.

The (4th) Remark (wherein the Ark resembles the Church ) is, its Accoutrements of a Window, and of a Door, wherewith it was framed and furnished, Gen. 6.16. 1. The Window, Hebr Tsohar, a clear light about the top of the Ark, which some think was made of Crystal, that it might both take in Light, and keep out Rain: And the word is in the singular number, to show there was but one Light for this great Fabric, and this was placed in that Cell where Noah, &c. lodged, seeing Beasts, Birds, and creeping things do not dislike Darkness. As the Ark (it seems) had but one Window, so the Church hath but one Spirit (to enlighten her,) Eph. 4.4. There may be many Ignes fatui, or false Lights, but the true Illumination is but one. This one Window was but a little Light to so great a Vessel, to typify, that the Church (while Militant on Earth ) doth but see through a Glass darkly, 1 Cor. 13.12. until she become Triumphant in Heaven, and then shall (he see as she is seen, 1 John 3.2. Therefore none are to boast of their high Attainments of Knowledge here, for the best of men are but men at the best, and know nothing yet as they ought to know, 1 Cor. 8.2. 'It is well said by Origen, Ignorantiam meam non ignoro; I am not ignorant, that I am but ignorant. Alas! it is with us here, as with a Prince while in the womb, he lies pent up there in a dark Prison, but when born and brought up, he shineth forth with all the glory of his Fathers Court: So 'tis with us on Earth, we are here confined to dark Cloisters (as the Inhabitants of the Ark were) and the greatest part of our Knowledge, is but the least part of our Ignorance, and yet how prone is proud man to think that he knows all that is knowable. Hence it comes to pass in some Churches as it was in Alcibiades Army, where all would be Leaders, and none content to be Learners. Some Hebrew Doctors say, this Window (or Tsohar Hebr) was a precious Stone or Carbuncle, which hanged in the Ark, and gave light to all the Creatures therein; though this hold not true concerning the Ark (seeing Noah is said to open the Window, Gen. 8.5, 6.) yet holds it eminently true concerning the Church, which is enlightened by Christ that precious Pearl, and that Enlightening, Enlivening, Living Stone.

The (2.) Implement of the Arks Fabric was a Door, Hebr. Upethach. This is also in the singular number; there was but one Door for this great House (of three Stories high) and that fixed in the side of the lowest Story (resembling that one Wound opened in the side of our Savior, John 19.34.) yet the Door was doubtless a very vast and prodigious Door, both wide enough, and high enough to receive into it Camels and Elephants: Yea it was so great and heavy, that when all the Beasts (clean and unclean) together with those overgrown Creatures, came (as it were) out of God's hands (whose Commands, as their Creator, they all obeyed) to Noah's hand, who handed them it at this Door, and all others designed to be saved, Noah could not well shut this Door himself, and 'tis easily supposed, the Scoffers without would do no such service for him, and therefore the great God (in whose sight Noah hand found grace, Gen. 6.8.) undertakes this mean Office to be Key-turner or Door-keeper, and shuts the Door after Noah, Gen. 7.16. and therefore it could not but be well shut, for what God doth is always well done: Even the Vulgar said of Christ [ He hath done all things well, Mark 7.37.]

Now let us consider the congruity betwixt the Type and the Antitype, 'twixt the Ark and the Church.

1. As the Ark. so the Church hath but one Door, to wit, Christ, John 10.7, 9. There is no way to be saved from the Eternal Deluge of Divine Wrath, but by entering in at this Door, Acts 4.12. Isa. 43.11.

2. As by this one Door all Creatures entered (clean or unclean of all sorts;) so by this one Faith ( Eph. 4.4.) in Christ, both the Jews and the Gentiles, yea all sorts of Persons and Nations enter into the Church.

3. As the Door of the Ark took in the greater and the lesser Cattle: So Christ is the Door both for Pastor and for People to enter into the Church; therefore Christ calls himself [the Door] twice over upon this account, John 10.7, 9.

4. As the Door of the Ark was wide enough to take in the most over-grown Creatures, as above: So Christ is a Door wide enough to let in to the Church the greatest and most over-grown sinners: Such as Manasseh (who defied God, murdered Men, and worshipped Devils: ) and Mary Magdalene, (who had seven Devils cast out of her ) though they be swoln up with sin as big as Elephants, Christ will in no wise cast them out upon their coming to him by Faith and Repentance, John 6.37.

5. As the Door of the Ark did let out, as well as in from Bondage to Liberty: So Christ is such a Door of going out as well as in, John 10.7, 9. out of the Sheep-fold into the Pasture, (where they shall feed daily and daintily, as Psal. 23. quite through) yea and at last out of the Kingdom of Grace, into the Kingdom of Glory.

6. As this Door was in the lowest Story of the Ark, at the very bottom of it, that so the shortest-leg'd Creature might easily enter: So Christ is a Door that is placed very low, even in the very Foundation; hence is he called the Foundation Stone (for stooping so low to bear us up) Isa. 28.16. and so may be called the Foundation Door, where the shortest-leg'd Believer may easily step in and enter, even the poor in spirit (which is the lowest Round in the eight Beatitudes) Matth. 5.3.

7. As the Scoffers in that Day were smitten with Blindness (not unlike to those Sodomites, Gen. 19.11.) so that they groped to find the Door, but could not: So concerning this Door (Christ) by which (both) People enter into the Church, and Pastors unto the People; Alas! what groping-work do we behold in the World? Many are so smitten with Blindness, that they miss the Door, and make ways of their own besides the Door.

8. As many Beasts went in unclean, and came out unclean at this Door; yet not too many, for it was the Appointment of God to preserve them in their kind: But alas! too many unclean Hypocrites come in (pretending at this Door ) into the Church, and go out as unclean as they went in, but their last Doom is, [Depart from me, I know you not,] Matth. 7.22.

9. Suppose any of those Old-World-Scoffers, when they saw the Flood came in earnest upon them, would have (by many Entreaties and Bounces at the Door ) made their entrance, yet after God had shut the Door, there was no entering, nor climbing up (though the Jewish Fable say, The Giant [Og] saved himself by getting astride upon the Ark) which many (no doubt) at the last endeavored: So there be too many (at this Day) such foolish Virgins, that persuade themselves, they have yet long to live, and some more fair Summers to see, that there is no such haste, but hereafter may be time enough, &c. Thus they keep dallying and delaying until the Door he shut, Matth. 25.10. The wise Virgins wait for the Bridegroom who (they well knew) would not wait their leisure, and that opportunity is head-long, if once lost, 'tis irrecoverable. This the foolish Virgins found true, who came all too late, v. 11. Trifling about [Had I wist] and suturing their Repentance, till they fool away their Salvation: Though they then come Bouncing at the Door, crying presumptuously, [Lord, Open, open] yet are they shut out forever with a Dreadful Sentence, such as will not only make their Ears tingle, but their Heart-strings crack, and their very Hearts break asunder, Matth. 7.22, 29. Luke 13.25, 26.

10. As this Door was shut by God himself, and therefore was it well shut, (as before) yea so well, that though it (being in the lowest Floor of the Ark) was under Water a whole twelve-month all the time of the Flood, yet the great God had (with so much power, wisdom and goodness ) so shut up the Door (and shut Noah in, Gen. 7.16.) that it sprang not one Leak all that long time to endanger the sinking of the Ark. This may teach us, That (1.) In cases of necessity, we need not question but our God (whom we sincerely serve) will show all readiness to do to us any good Office, as he did to Noah here, in shutting the Door after him, so long as we retain our Integrity, as Job did, Job 27.6. and be found Righteous in our generation, as Noah was, Gen. 7.1. And (2.) It teacheth us, that seeing there is the Door of our Mouths, and the Door of our Hearts, Psal. 141.3. & Rev. 3.20. we should (all) entreat the Lord to be the Key-turner to us for both these Doors, as he was to Noah. Oh! thrice happy are they, who have their God to shut and open (for them) both these Doors, and which should never be shut or opened, but when God would have them so: We must pray with David, Lord, keep the door of my lips, and of my heart too, open it for thy self, and for thy Son and Spirit, but shut it, and keep it shut against Sin and Satan. If God shut the Door, the sinking water of sin cannot leak into the Soul, and upon this very account, we have need to be pitched or plastered within and without, as the Ark was, Gen. 6.14; & Exod. 2.3. to make us close and tight, the Hebr. word [Copher] signifies to cover, from whence our English word comes, intimating how every hole, seam and cranny, should be covered with Plaister, to make it impenetrable: This God could have done without such means, but God will have Man to use Means, where he doth not promise Miracles. Blessed are they that are plastered over with the Merit and Spirit of Christ. The Merit of Christ keeps out the waters of God's Wrath; and the Spirit of Christ keeps out the waters of the Devils Wrath; to wit, Temptations to sin, &c.

The (5.) Remark in the Ark is, The several Stories and Orders of its Cells for containing every Creature. The Stories were three, answering, (1.) The three Rooms both in the Tabernacle, and in the Temple; to wit, the Outward Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy. (2.) The three Diversities in the Church: (1.) Diversities of Gifts, 1 Cor. 12.4. (2.) Diversities of Administrations, v. 5. (3.) Diversities of Operations, v. 6. Or (3.) The three Stories resemble the three great Graces in a Believers Soul; to wit, Faith, Hope and Love. (4.) They represent also the three Rooms where the Spirit of Sanctification spreadeth as blessed Leaven, particularly, Understanding, Will and Memory, or more generally, the Body, Soul and Spirit, 1 Thes. 5.23. Or (lastly) The three growths of a Christian, the thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold higher and higher, Children, Young-men and Fathers.

The (6.) Remark of the Ark is, Its usefulness for preservation of Noah, &c. wherein it is a Type of the Church, according to Austin 's saying, Extra Ecclesiam nulla est salus: As all out of the Ark were drowned; so all out of the Church are damned: According to this Fathers notion, 'tis the undoubted duty of all Professors to join themselves (as the phrase is, Acts 5.13.) to some Church of Christ or other, and not live loose and at liberty without the Pale of the Church, as a straying▪ Sheep got out of the Sheep-fold, or a wandering Bird got out of the Cage; Snares and Temptations cannot but attend them. Hence the Spouse sadly complaineth, [ Tell me, oh thou whom my Soul leveth! where thou f ••• est, &c. for why should I be as a wanderer? (so the words may be read) Cant. 1.7, 8.] This is certain, that as in Moses Law, the Mercy-Seat was no larger than the Ark; so in the Messiah's Gospel, Grace is no larger than the Covenant laid up in the Ark as is aforesaid. Yea and it was strong consolation to a late Dying Martyr, who said, Seeing I may no longer live God's Servant, I am content to Die his Sacrifice, and 'tis my comfort that I die in my Bed, Isa. 57.2. as I die in Church-Fellowship. Alas! those that were saved in the Ark, were but few in comparison of those that perished out of it by the Deluge. Few there be that find the Narrow way of being confined within the narrow compass of the Ark (as the Dove desired to be) for Diet and Lodging, but the unclean Ravens (that feed upon stinking Carcasses) are many, that love to flutter abroad, and like not any confinements in Church-Fellowship, but would live as they list, and after their lust, finding the Broad way, wherein they have Elbow-room enough for Licentiousness, Mat. 7.13, 14, & Luke 13.24.

Though there be much more Congruity betwixt the Ark and the Church (whether Domestical, as Rom. 16.5. 1 Cor. 16.19, &c. or Congregational, as at Corinth, Ephesus, &c. or Catholic ) it must

1. Be made of Gopher-wood, which will not rot, of Incorruptible Seed, 1 Pet. 1.23. Gen. 6.14.

2. Of Hewed Timber, Hos. 6.5. such as have the knots of corrupt Nature hewed off by • he Ax of the Spirit of Mortification.

3. Well plained, by being renewed in the spirit of their minds, Ephes. 4.22, 23.

4. Well seamed, to lie close together, and keep tight together in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace, Psal. 133. 1. Eph. 4.3, 13.

5. Well Plaistered (as well as well Plained and well Seamed ) the Curtains of the Tabernacle were coupled close together with Golden Taches, Exod. 26.6. &c. so the Boards of the Ark were clinch'd close together, yet must be plaster'd over too, to make it more tight against the Deluge; thus the Church and Children of God must be Plaister'd over with the Righteousness of Christ, to secure them both against the scalding Inundations of God's Indignation, and against the scorching Fiery Darts of Satan's Temptation. The imputed Righteousness of Christ (in our Justification ) preserves us from the former, Phil. 3.9. and the imparted Righteousness of Christ (in our Sanctification ) saves us safe from the latter, Eph. 6.16.

6. As the Ark lay flat (though floating) and steady upon the Waters, being well Ballanc'd below, yet with a little ridge above • o shoot off Rain close joined at the Top, the two sides of the covering leaned each against other, so we should be constant in Christ (both in Calms and Storms) leaning upon our Beloved as the Spouse did Cant. 8.5. standing in the most advantageous posture both below and above, that when we have done all, we may still maintain our standing steady in all occurences, Eph. 6.13.

7. The Window was but a little light compared with that of the next life, as above at large: yet be sure it be large inward (though narrow outward) as the light of the Temple was, 1 Kin. 6.4. This is the first work of the Spirit to let light into the Soul, Acts 26.18.

8. The Door, as the wound in our Savior's side, was large enough for the greatest Elephant in Sin to enter, upon Repentance, as before.

9. As there was a great deal of Stench among all those preserved Creatures because of their Excrements cast out and couped up so long in the Ark: So in the Church there cannot choose but be found much Annoyance (because of offenses which will come, Mat. 18.7. Luk. 17.1. Rom. 16.17. and of Heresies which will arise, 1 Cor. 11.19. 2 Pet. 2.1.) that must needs offend them who have their senses exercised to discern Good and Evil, Heb. 5.14.

10. As after the long laying of Noah's Family in the Ark, the Deluge dried up, the covering was removed (after a double pause of sever) days-stay, Gen. 8.10, 12.) God let them ou • , v. 16. and made them to multiply and increase exceedingly: So the Church hath her hiding times, lies lurking sometimes in the Cleft of the Rock, Cant. 2.14. and sometimes hid in the Wilderness, Rev. 12.6, 14. but when God saith to her, as he said to Noah, Go Forth, then doth she grow up as Calves in the Stall, Mal. 4.2. and enlargeth abundantly, Acts 9.31. Thus the Congruity, consider next the Disparity. As

1. The Ark had neither Anchor to Stay her, nor Stern to Steer her, nor Mast to Poise her, nor Sail to Move her, nor Pilot to Guide and Govern her, for Noah was an Husbandman and a Preacher, so had no skill in the Art of Navigation which was not then found out; how soon therefore might the Ark have dashed against the Rocky Mountains or the lofty Castles of the prodigious Giants of those Times, had not God's eye been upon it, and the same hand (that shut up the door of it) had not been as an Helm to it from the beginning of the year to the end thereof, Deut. 11.11. The glorious Arm of the Lord led the Ark safe through the Deluge, as it did Israel through the Red Sea, so that they did not stumble, Isa. 63.12, 13, 14. But God hath provided some better things for us, Heb. 11.40. some better Tacklings for our Ship (the Church ) as the Anchor of Hope to hold us, the Ballast of Humility to Poise us, Patience and Perserverance to keep us steady in our motions, Christ (himself) the Master and Pilot of the Ship, his Cross is the Mast, and the Sails are Divine Inspirations upon our Human (made Divine ) Affections, the Top Flag is Faith with this Motto writ in it [premimur non opprimimur] 2 Cor. 4.8. the Compass (by which her course is steered) is the Word and Spirit of Truth. The Mariners (employed in her Tutorage and Tuition) are the Angels, the Rudder is Love and the fraught of this Ship is, the Souls of Just persons, &c. The

2. Disparity is, Tossing in the Waters made the Ark worse, and wore it to a shattering when it came to its rest, but the Waters of Affliction are so far from making the Church worse, that she is made better and whiter thereby, Psal. 119.71, 75. Dan. 11.35. Black, Soap maketh White Linnen, and that is the choicest Sugar which is most Refined: the Church comes always Richer out of God's Refining Pot, than she went into it. The

3. Disparity. The best resting place that this Ark attained, was the Mountains of Ararat, one of the highest sort of those high Hills over which the Flood prevailed, Gen. 7.19. and 8.4. Ararat was a place Sennacherib's two Sons (after they had slain their own Father) fled to, 2 Kin. 19.37, Isa. 37.38. in both which places the Hebrew word is Ararat which our Translation reads Armenia and the Prophet speaks of the Kingdom of Ararat, Jer. 51.27. Thus bad men (those two base Parricides Adrammelech and Sharezzer ) as well as good men (Noah and his Sons ) could find rest and refuge there: but the Church hath a better resting-place after all her Tossings, to wit, the Everlasting Mountains of Heaven, where no dirty Dogs can enter or trample upon that Golden Pavement, much less find rest or refuge there, Rev. 21.21. and 22.15.

4. The last Disparity I shall mention is, The Ark was made up of putrifying and perishing materials; though this Gopher-Wood lasted long, yet could it not last always, time (which is called [Edax Rerum] a consumer of all corruptible things, yea (at last) of the very Heavens, which must wax old and roll away as a Garment, Heb. 1.10, 11, &c.) made the very Ark to putrefy and perish at last, so that though there were (as is aforesaid) some relics of it in Epiphanius 's Time, none do affirm, that any remains thereof are found in our time. But the Church abideth forever, and neither the Teeth of Time (which gnaws in pieces both Gopher and Cedar ) nor the Gates (or Power) of Hell can prevail against her, Mat. 16.18. her Motto is, Intacta, Invicta & Immota manet, she only is Invincible by her Invincible Captain, Heb. 2.10. And though the Church be a rolling, tumbling thing, (like the Ark ) ever in motion and mutation in respect of her Natural, Civil and Spiritual Relations:

1. As she consists of particular persons in her Natural respect, so Moses dieth, and David saw Corruption, &c.

2. In her Civil respects, she floats to and fro; sometimes she is in Egypt, sometimes in the Wilderness, and sometimes in Canaan, sometimes in Shiloh, sometimes at Salem and Zion, and sometimes in Babylon, both Literal and Mystiscal, sometimes with though Jews and sometimes with the Gentiles, &c. Yea

3. In her Spiritual Relations, she is sometimes under the Frowns of an offended Father, and Husband, and sometimes under the smiles of a gracious God reconciled to her in Christ: As her Land of Promise was a Land of Hills and Valleys, Deut. 11.11. so hath she her ups and downs, sometimes she is a moving Tabernacle, and sometimes a standing Temple: Yet in Gospel-Times, she is always preserved in her Being, though she is sometimes impaired in her well-being she will always remain in a militant posture upon Earth, until she come to be translated into her Triumphant state in Heaven, and have all her Hosanna 's turned to Hallalujahs: All her Prayers in this lower World shall then be changed into high-praises in a better World.

The Church here is a mighty Queen, a Ship-royal, or the Grand Sovereign, yet sailing upon a Sea of Glass mingled with Fire, Rev. 15.2. That is, she subsists not by any worldly strength, for the World is as brittle as Glass, and cannot sustain her, but rather fills her with Fires and Combustions, Joh. 16.33. And though she tumble about among various Persons, Countries, Kingdoms, Common-wealths and under various administrations of Legal (both that of the Tabernacle and that of the Temple ) and Evangelical times, yet at last this Royal-Ship come • safe to Shore, landing safely at the Cape of good hope in mansions of Glory: In the mean time, she is built up in her most Holy Faith, Jude. v. 20. As the Temple was rebuilt by Nehemiah with a Sword in one hand and a Trowel in the other, Neh. 4.17. Which was to typify, that in the Church militant, there must neither be an idle Soldier, nor a secure laborer; every Christian hath a double work. (1.) To ward off Temptations with Spiritual weapons. And, (2.) To build up in obedience by Spiritual Instruments, and the Spouse is therefore compared to a Company of Horses in Pharaohs Chariots, Cant. 1.9. As consisting of such Souls that are Strong, Stout, Lively and Couragious for God. Hence it is observed that the Church never war'd. with the Dragon or Devil, but she either won the day by being Victorious, or gained ground by being persecuted, sanguis martyrum, &c. the blood of the Saints hath always been the seed of the Church, and after all comes her Sabbath above all motion and mutation.

In the (2d) place I come to the description of the Deluge which was God's destroying means to the wicked World. (As the Ark was God's saving means to Righteous Noah ) wherein those remarks are very observable. As,

(1.) There was a long time between the Decree and the Execution; even an 120 years, Gen. 6.3. After God had resolved to ruin this wicked World, yet such was his long sufferance celebrated by Peter, (1 Pet. 3.19, 20. Pet. 2.5.) That God's Repentance gave men this time of repentance, to see if yet in the space they would look out for the grace of repentance: If not, he would certainly destroy them. Now had he not been God, and not Man, he could never have held his hands so long: Neither indeed did he, for so notorious was the provocation, that the deluge came upon them twenty years short of this promised space. For Noah was then five hundred years old, Gen. 5.32. and but six hundred years old when the Flood came, Gen. 7.6.11. Increase of sin shortend the indulgence, Gen. 6.3. and hastens the Flood twenty years sooner, as Christ's second is shortened for the Elects sake, Mat. 24.22. This is Jerome’s and Chrysostom's opinion: That all the Earth might know to (their woe) his breach of promise upon their intolerable provocation, Numb, 14.34. Yet all this while God's Spirit was graciously Striving with them, giving them not only a long time, but also a loud teacher, and that a Righteous one, who taught with his hand, as well as with his Tongue, with his works as well as with his words, Preaching Real as well as Verbal Sermons, the Purport and Import whereof was doubtless (like that of the Gospel now) a Savour of life, or Salvation to some, but a Savour of Death or Destruction to others, 2 Cor. 2.16. Thus God did most graciously give a due warning to an evil World, though he needed not to have done so, for as men gave God no warning of their sins against him, so God might have given as little warning of his Judgments against them, but his mercy triumphed over his Justice, Jam. 2.13. and fury (or revenge) was not in God, Isa. 27.4. For such who are for revenge, are all for surprise, but God gives both respite and warning, that his Judgments might not come (as a thief in the night ) at unawares upon them: And though this race of Rebels improved it not, but Jeared where they should have Feared. Those of Lamechs black line laughed at Noah's daily labor, scoffingly asking him, whether he meant to Sail upon dry ground, and why he expected a wet Winter, and whether much holiness had not made him mad, Acts 26.24. However Noah took warning himself, [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ,] moved with fear, Heb. 11.7. And gave warning to those that would not take it, they cannot (all) flout him out of his Faith, but he Preaches, Builds and Finishes, and then Enters, taking God's threatening by the right handle, he feared the Judgments, when the World generally jeered at them.

Inferences hence are, (1.) As Noah took the warning well at God's hand, and Feared, so ought we to do, being warned of God about Judgments impending: The word, Heb. 11.7. for [warned of God] is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which signifies to have dealings with God, coming of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , res & negotium; Noah was a man that did Negotiate with God, and was of his Court and Counsel, God will not hide what he hath to do from Abraham (or Noah ) his Friend, Gen. 18.17. Psal. 25.14. Joh. 15.15. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to his Servants the Prophets, Amos. 3.7. Nothing, that is, hardly anything, such is his Philanthropy or Love to men, that he loves to fore-signify, and to warn before he wound: Even Pharaoh himself had warning of the First and Second Plagues, but not of the Third, again of the Fourth and Fifth, not so of the Sixth, yet again of the Seventh and Eighth, but not of the Ninth, and when neither warning nor no warning would work well, then came that Tenth and last sweeping Plague, that swept away all the first-born of Egypt. As Moses was God's Herald to warn Egypt, so Noah was to warn the old World, and God's Prophets are now no less to warn this present evil World, that the goodness of God might lead us to repentance, Rom. 2.4. The old World had but one Preacher, yet we have many. God might deal with us, as Absalom did with Amnon (whom he designed to destroy) in speaking neither good nor evil to him, 2 Sam. 13.22. Or he might rush suddenly upon us, and by a Thunder-stroke confound us at once, as he did the Apostate Angels in the very first Act and Moment of sin: No, he sendeth his Heralds to proclaim War, yet with articles of peace open in their hands. So slow to Anger is he, and so little desirous of the death of sinners, that he who was but six days in making the whole World, yet could be seven days in unmaking (or destroying) that one City Jericho. Oh who would not but fear this goodness? Hos. 3.5.

The (2.) Inference is, seeing God hath foretold us of Evils to come, both Particular and the General Judgment we should be moved with fear, as Noah was [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] handling God's warning well, and making a saving use of these predictions for preventing the danger: Especially considering the old World could (at first) say from a divine warrant, that there are yet an hundred and twenty years before the general Judgment by water doth come, but we can none of us say, that there be yet an hundred and twenty days, before the general Judgment by Fire come, for of that day and hour knoweth no man, Mat. 24.36. Oh God forbid that, as it was in the days of Noah, it should be so now, v. 37. Noah's fear is opposite to the Worlds security, Noah was moved with Fear, but the wicked world were moved at God's threatenings no more than a Stone: The honest and good heart, (Luk. 8.15.) is like the Pool of Bethesdah, Joh. 5.3, 4. If the Angel of the Covenant come down into it, 'tis then moved; such was the heart of Daniel, Dan. 4.19. And such was the heart of Habakkuk, Hab. 3.16. And such was Noah's also in being moved with fear, and such ought ours to be also. Especially, considering special and particular Judgments are Imminent over us, if not Incumbent on us, besides that general day of Judgment drawing nigh; all Preachers of Righteousness (as Noah was) do tell the World, that it shall shortly be destroyed by Fire, as Noah did its destruction by water, yet where is that Reverence, and that fear which doth Spring from Faith as Noah's did, Heb. 11.7. That fear which looks only at the Judgment, Hell and Damnation, is servile only, but that which hath an Eye to deliverance also, is Filial and of a right Gospel Edition. This is a fear of Faith, which hath always a Vein of Love running along with it. For Faith doth teach to fear God, as a most glorious holy God, and yet to love him, as a loving reconciled Father, and faith teacheth also from filial fear (as it did Noah here) to prepare an Ark, to wit, Christ Jesus, for our deliverance from wrath to come, 1 Thes. 1.10. By Faith is this Ark prepared.

The (3.) Inference is, Now while our days of respire remain (as Noah did in the respite of an hundred and twenty years) we should prepare an Ark wherein to he saved. if we be moved with a fear of Faith, then shall we be [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] take right measures, and [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] well busied (as the word also signifies) in taking right methods; Oh how busy should we be in preparing an Ark: as Noah was, who [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] as an Artificer or Carpenter, prepared his: Faith set him on work, fearing the danger, for Judgments in Divine Threatenings are Objects of Faith, and are to be believed, as well as mercies in Divine promises: Noah by an Eye of Faith, saw that danger approaching which was unseen by the unbelieving World, so falls upon this tedious work, to prevent the Danger; 'twas undoubtedly a very strong Faith that bore up Noah to do all according as God had Commanded him, Gen. 6. last. Unbelief could not choose but Object sundry carnal Reasonings against Noah 's Act of Obedience. As,

1. May not God save me from the Flood by Translating me out of the World as Enoch was, and not put me upon this hard Service of hewing and hammering? &c. Or,

2. If I must be reserved in the World for propagation, cannot God Build me a Castle upon the highest Mountain, and save me all this Toil and Travel, so save me from the Deluge?

3. Or why cannot God Create me an Ark as he did Create the World with his Word, and not tire me in a Work so tedious for Time, as will require an Hundred and Twenty years in Building by me which God can Create in a moment?

4. No doubt but this wicked World will scoff at my strange Work, (as before.) This might more rationally be expected, than Sanballat and Tobiah 's scoffing the Temple-Builders, for they did but rear up a new Fabric in the place where the old one stood before, so 'twas less exposed to either wonder or scoffing; but this work of Noah was altogether new, and unheard of before, and looked rather to be the work of some Phrentick Person, altogether Itrational to their willfully blind Understandings, which might the more put them into a deriding posture, 1 Pet. 3.20. and Job 22.15, 17. The disobedient Ones derided Noah, and laughed both at his work, and at his words. When he spake the words of truth and soberness to them, concerning the Divine Decree declared to Drown the World, they depart from him, deriding one with another at Noah 's Trifling, and bid God depart from them, Job 21.14. and 22.17. Which was the Language of Hell, and far worse, than [we cannot come,] Mat. 22.3, 5, &c. These things must needs be great stumbling Blocks to Noah in his way of Obedience to God's command; yet his Faith was so strong as to buoy him up above all, and bears him through all that God commanded him to do. Noah 's Faith replies to all these Objections, I must lie long in the Waters, and yet be saved from them, and that in the Eyes of a perishing World; this is for my Masters Glory, and in order to this I must prepare an Ark (though it be a long and tedious work) 'tis the Wisdom of my God thus to employ me (though grievous to the Flesh.)

1. For the Trial of my own Faith, for an Hundred and Twenty years, as God after tried the Faith of Israel, Deut. 8.2. when he led them about in the Wilderness Forty years, which they might have Travel'd over in Forty days. Thus the Faith of Abraham was tried, when he had not his Son given him, until Thirty years after he was promised; and thus also was David 's Faith tried, who got not his Kingdom till a long time after it was promised him, and he Anointed by Samuel; 'tis one of God's methods.

2. As my Faith must be tried, so this wicked World must be warned, and left without excuse, so loath is God to surprise and destroy, and so full of forbearance is he, my knocking as a Carpenter, as well as my admonishing as a Preacher, must be as standing Summons and Sermons to them, every stroke I give upon the Ark, must be a real Alarm to them, for forewarning them to flee from the wrath to come: Thus Noah Preached even without Preaching, as Basil and Nazianzen say.

3. Though it be true. God could save me without those means of Ark, Food, &c. but he will have me to serve his Providence in the use of such lawful means of his own prescribing; he will have me so to Trust him, as not to Tempt him, which I shall certainly do, if, when God prescribes Means, I should expect Miracles.

The second Remark is, No sooner was the Ark prepared, and Noah (with all his company) entered, but the Graves of those Rebels began to be fashioned in the Clouds; no sooner was the Door of the Ark shut safe upon Noah, but the Windows of Heaven were opened to pour down a dowzing and drenching Rain for Forty days together upon the World, and that in the second Month, Gen. 7.11. Our April, as 'tis thought by Luther, &c. even then, when every thing was in its Prime and Pride, Birds singing, Plants budding, &c. nothing less looked for than a Flood: Alas! We know hot what may come to pass in a moment of Time, all the Fountains of the great Deep were opened, as well as the Windows of Heaven. Those wicked men (and so indeed do all Mankind.) live continually betwixt two Deaths, the Waters above, and the Waters below. Nos quasi medios inter duo Sepulchra posuit Deus, saith one, God can drown Man when he will with the Waters above the Firmament, or with those below it, but now they both combine to meet together, for Heaven, Earth and Sea were all upon an uproar against this Race of Rebels when they least looked for it: God shot at them with an Arrow suddenly, as the Psalmist saith, Psal. 64.7. Methuselah dieth (according to the signification of his Name,) and then the Dart cometh; so shall sudden destruction come upon the wicked: However at the last day, which shall be sudden and unexpected, 1 Thes. 5.3. Mat. 24.37. The Sun shone fair upon Sodom the same day, whereon, (ere night) Fire and Brimstone from Heaven did fearfully destroy it. What can be more lovely to look upon, than a Cornfield a day before the Harvest? O • a Vineyard the day before the Vintage, when the Mighty Angels (God's Reapers) shall thrust in their sharp Sickles? or London, the Day before it began to be buried in its own Rubbish, &c. Those Antediluvian Belly-God's sinned so securely (in their excessive eating and drinking, &c. ) as if they had been out of the reach of God's Rod, but he found them out, not only with a Witness, but with a Vengeance. Security is always the certain Usher and Forerunner of Destruction, as at Laish, Judge. 18.27. and at Ziklag, 1 Sam. 30.16,17. Before an Earth-quake, there is the Deepest Calm, and the most quiet Air; and when the high Wind lays, the greatest Rain falls. Paterculus the Historian saith well, Frequentissimum calamitatis initium est securitas; men are never less safe, than when they are most secure: Woe to us if Fulness breed Forgetfulness, and Saturity Security in us, so as to take no notice either of God's Praedictions, or our own Perils.

Inferences hence; (1.) The Deluge is at hand; is our Ark at hand, ready prepared? The signs of an Approaching Deluge are upon this present evil World, as were then upon the Old World, those Antediluvian Belialists (or Men of wickedness with a witness ) had run all out of Order in Family, State, and Church: In the Family were found Luxury and unlawful Lusts in their ungodly Matches and Marriages. In the State, Rapacity, Violence, Injustice and Tyranny. In the Church, Contempt of God's Word, and Atheistical Opinions, either that there is no God, or that God doth not order all by his Providence, but that a man may do well enough without him: Oh! would to God these signs were not upon us at this Day: And, which is worse than all, that the Sons of God (to wit, Professors) were not degenerated now (as they were then) and become deep Died in Vanity (if not in Villany ) with the Sons of Men, or the Carnal World. 'It is sad, when the two Seeds (of the Serpent, and of the Woman ) do mingle together without any difference: If there be the sameness in sinning, the same shall be in suffering.

The (2.) Inference is, The Ark must be as ready as the Deluge. We should ask our own hearts two Questions: (1.) Whether we be an Ark, so made of such materials, so plastered as well as plained? &c. Try by the aforesaid. (2.) Whether we have an Ark? As there was a Material, so there is a Mystical Ark, for saving from evil. In the general, God lovingly bespeaks his Servants (as he did Noah here) and taking them by the hand (as he did him) and leading them thereby to an Ark, or Hiding-place of his own providing, saying to them [ Come my People, enter into your Chambers, and shut the Doors about thee; Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the Indignation be over-past, Isa. 26.20. Thus God shut up Noah in the Ark, secured Lot in Zoar, hid Jeremy and Baruch, when sought for to the slaughter, Jer. 36.26. and bade Daniel go away, and rest himself before those great Troubles (foretold) came to pass, Dan. 12.13. God gave him a fair and favorable Dismission from them. Those Chambers may be meant the Closets of God's Providence and Protection, such as Pella was to the Primitive Christians. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower, the Righteous (such as Noah was) run into it and are safe, Prov. 18.10. Thither we are exhorted to retire, till the Storm be over, the Enemy gone, the Destroying Angel passed over, possessing our Souls in patience. See Exod. 9.20, 21. & 12.12. To run to God in his Attributes and Promises, is our best and only Policy.

As there is Congruity 'twixt the Ark and the Church (ut suprà) so there is 'twixt the Ark and Christ, into both which the Righteous run and are safe, Prov. 18.10. The Door or Gate thereof is open, Isa. 26.2. And the same Lord that persuaded Japheth to enter into the Tents of Shem, persuadeth also all Righteous ones to fly to this City of Refuge, Gen. 9.27. Psal. 11.1 Isa. 4.5. Deut. 19.4, 6. Isa. 26.20. & 25.4. & 32.2, &c. All that run in to Christ (as in to Noah ) are safe. We must run into Christ first, and then into the Church.

As Noah was a Type of Christ, so was his Ark also.

1. Noah was a Type, and Christ the Antitype, in sundry particulars. As, (1.) Noah 's Name signifies Comforter and Restorer, which shows Lamech 's Faith to put that Name upon him, Gen. 5.29. & 8.21. Herein he typified Christ our grand Comforter and Restorer of the New World, as Noah was of the Old. (2.) Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness, 2 Pet. 2.5. So also is Christ both preaching and purchasing, yea procuring Everlasting Righteousness, Dan. 9.24 (3.) As Noah found grace in the sight of God, both for himself and for all his Family, Gen. 6.8. & 7.1. and Heb. 11.7. so did Christ for himself, Matth. 3.17. and 17.5. and for all his Household of Faith, for so many as God hath given him, Job. 17.2. they are all accepted in the Beloved one, Eph. 1.6. Yea he is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe, 1 Tim. 4.10. Luke 2.52. (4.) As Noah was the Builder of the Ark; so is Christ of the Church, which is called his Workmanship, Eph. 2.10, &c. Is not Christ the Carpenter? Mark 6.3. to hew, plain, cement, and clinch us close together? &c. (5.) As Noah was long in building the Ark, even an hundred and twenty years; so is Christ long in building his Church, even some thousands of years, which he buildeth upon a Rock, Matth. 16.18. (6.) As Noah used many Carpenters that were instrumental to save others, but not themselves; so likewise doth Christ, Matth. 7.22, 23. Some Ministers Christ employs that may save, 1. Others, not themselves. 2. Themselves, not others. 3. Neither themselves, nor others. 4. Both themselves, and others, 1 Tim. 4.16. (7.) As when Noah had finished the Ark, the Destruction of the Old World by Water followed immediately: So when Christ hath gathered in all his Elect, and completed his Church, then will the Destruction of this present World by Fire presently pass upon it. Add unto all these, (8.) As Noah 's presence in the Ark, did secure his Household, all the time of its Tossing, and landed them safely (after the Destruction of the Old World ) in another: So Christ's presence with his Church (while she is Tossed with Tempests, and not comforted, Isa. 54.11.) doth secure her from all evil, for he keeps the Ensuring Office. Christ Embarks himself in the same Bottom with his Disciples, Matth. 8.23, 24. only if our Savior seem to sleep, 'tis our duty to awake him, v. 25, 26. What Caesar said to his Barge-man [Quid times? Caesarem vehis, & ejus Fortunam:] Christ can better say, The Ship (the Church ) shall live out all Storms, for a Storm-rebuking Christ (with all his Adventures ) are in her, and therefore neither the Prince of the Air, nor the God or Gates of Hell can prevail against her, Matth. 16.18. He sails with contrary Winds, Mat. 14.24.

As there is congruity 'twixt this Type and Antitype, to wit, Christ and Noah: So there is some disparity. As, 1. Noah Preach'd to the old World, and Converted none, but Christ Converted many in this New World; so that 'tis said, Who can tell his Generation? Isa. 53.8, 10. 2. Noah saved his Household (but only) Temporally, but Christ saves the Household of Faith, Spiritually and Eternally. 3. Noah had no better to send out but a Raven and a Dove, but Christ sent out better things, such as the Law and the Gospel, the former to work Fear, and the latter Love. 4. Noah was insufficient to complete Salvation for his Family, as he was unable (of himself) to shut the great Door of the Ark after him; but Christ saveth to the utmost, by his own power, Heb. 7.25. rebuking Storms, and procuring Calms, all in his own Name.

2. As Noah 's self was a Type of Christ, so was his Ark, wherein alone Salvation was found from that Deluge of Waters, accordingly in Christ alone can be found Salvation (of all sorts, Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal ) from the Deluge of Divine Wrath, and Justice of God for the sin of Man. Beside him, there is no Savior, Isa. 43.11, And there is no Name under Heaven by which either Jew or Gentile, (either those of the Old World, or those of the New ) can be saved, but by Christ: There is no Salvation in no other, Acts 4.12. Upon this account is he called, the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World, Rev. 13.8. They are therefore gross Idolaters, that set up for their Savior's the Saints Departed: Seeing there are no Co-Savior's, besides him none. As there was but one Ark, so there must be but one Mediator; no Cock-Boats were to attend this Ark; as Acts 27.30. And indeed we need no other Mediator, or Master of Request in Heaven, save only Christ, who is the Fathers Plenipotentiary, and prays for us at his Right Hand (much more than when on Earth ) as one in Joynt Commission with God, John 17.24. 'It is nor, Father, I wish, but 'tis, Father, I will, and none but Christ can be a fit Mediator, for he is God to manage matters with God, and he is Man too, to manage matters with Man, 1 Tim. 2.5 This Mediator is so near us in the matter of his Incarnation, that he will never be strange to us in the matter of his Intercession. The Promise of Christ, Gen. 3.15. was the first, and will be the last and only Rope of Mercy for falling, sinking Man to catch hold of for Salvation from the bottomless Pit. In this sense, saith the Prophet Isaiah, [A Man shall be an Hiding-place] Isa. 32.2. that is, the Man Christ Jesus (as he is called, 1 Tim. 2.5.) shall be a comfortable Cordial to Distressed Consciences, an Absolute and an All Sufficient Savior, such as his Servants may most surely shelter themselves in, and confidently rely upon, both for safety here, and for Salvation hereafter. In this sense also saith the Prophet Micah, [ This man shall be the Peace, when the Assyrian comes into the land, &c] Mic. 5.5. that famous He forementioned, v. 4. the Man Christ Jesus. Alas, Flouds and Tempests will Arise and Toss the Church, as the Deluge did the Ark, the Assyrians and Babylonians ( Nimrods Brats) will Invade and Infest the Church, but Christ will be an hiding-place from the Storm, and a Covert from the Tempest, as Rivers of Waters in a dry-place, and as the shadow of a mighty Rock in a weary Land: This man (Christ) shall be her Peace, yea her Prince of Peace, Isa. 6.6. who giveth her [Shalom Shalom] Peace, Peace, Isa. 26.3. that is, pacem regionis, & pacem Religions, Peace of Country, and Peace of Conscience, yea pacem omnimodam, all kinds of Peace, Internal, External and Eternal, a multiplied, renewed and continued peace, as God hath promised, and Christ hath purchased; he merited it as he was the chastisement of our Peace, Isa. 53.5. and he made it by the Blood of his Cross, Col. 1.20. so became our Peace (both the Maker of it, and the Matter of it, Eph. 2.14, 16.) Therefore though the Assyrian come into the Land, he shall be a loser by it, if he tread in your Palaces, he shall retreat with Dishonor and Defeatment, as it befell Sennacherib, Isa. 37.36, 37, 38. And thus also, God (reconciled in Christ ) is known in Zion's Palaces for a refuge, Psal. 48.3. as the City of Zion (where the Temple stood) was both an Ornament and a Muniment to the whole Country, so God was both the Ornament and Muniment of both City and Country, as being the common refuge to both: Thou shalt hide those that fear thee in the secret of thy presence, that is, in the Golden Cabinet of thy gracious Providence, where they shall be as safe as if they were in a Tower of Brass, or Town of War, yea as if in Heaven itself, out of the reach of the rage of Persecutors, [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] out of the Enemies Gunshot, saith David, Psal. 31.19, 20. and thou shalt keep them secretly as in a Pavilion, which is a Princes Retiring Room, or With-drawing Chamber, always looked upon as a sacred place, and not to be assaulted, there God's Servants lie safe (not only from the stroke of wicked Hands, but) from the strife of wicked Tongues, from the calumnies and contumelies of Graceless Tongue-smiters; as no Weapon formed against them can prosper, so every Tongue that riseth against them shall be Condemn'd in Judgnient for a wicked Tongue, Isa, 54.17. Jude v. 14, 15. oh how safe was Noah when the Lord had shut him in his place of Refuge! Gen. 7.16. so no Flouds can harm those whom God hands into his Pavilion of Protection. The Scripture mentions three sorts of Refuge.

• 1. Created; Isa. 4.5. His Churches ( purified unto himself, Tit. 2.14, by the Spirit of Burning, Isa. 4.4.) are his Glories, v. 5 and 2 Cor. 8.23. Isa. 46.13. and 62.3. Jer. 4.21. Ezek. 7.20. his Jewels (as well as Crown, Throne and Ornament ) Mal. 3.17. and rather than hazard the loss of those [Kele Kamudoth] Vessels of desire, God will put forth his Creating power for the safety and security of his peculiar people, and make a cloudy Pillar to cover them (as the Ark did Noah ) like that for Israel in the Wilderness, Exod. 13.21. and 14.19. Psal. 105.39. This was done for them as they came out of Egypt, where there was no Rain, Zech. 14.18. yet there was a cloud. If it be said, how could there be a cloud where there is never any Rain? 'tis Answered, God created it, and rather than fail, he will do so still, he will Hedge their Houses about, Isa. 49.16. Job 1.10.
• 2. Commended or Allowed, Numb, 35.6. and Deut. 19.3, 4. Those Cities of refuge were Asylum's or Sanctuaries for such as killed any man casually without previous Hatred or Intention of Malice or Murder; there they were safe. Did God promise Cities of Refuge for those that killed Men? Much more will he (himself) be a City of Refuge to Saints, when wicked men design to kill them, Zech. 2.5. A Wall of Fire. 'It is supposed Israel was Circumcised when the Plague of Darkness on Egypt began, so could not be assaulted while they were sore; for at three days end they were recovered.
• 3. Commanded; this is God himself, his Name, Attributes, Promises and Providences, Prov. 18.10. Isa. 26.20. Cant. 1.4. and 2.3. and Isa. 25.4. All God's People have need of this Refuge, in as much as the World hath the Church in chase: As all Hunted Creatures hasten to their Refuge, by an instinct of Nature; how much more we by a Divine instinct should hasten home to our God, when Hunted by Bloody Hunters, Jer. 16.16. Such as Nimrod was, who Sacrificed men's Lives to his own Lusts, Gen. 10.9. God will either, (1.) Overrule the Power of those Pharaohs, or (2.) Over-wit the counsel of those Ahithophel's, or (3.) He will Restrain their Rage, Psal. 76.10, 11. as Gen. 20.5, and 35.5. Exod. 23.31. and 2.4. 1 Sam. 23.27. 1 Kin. 22.33. provided we be such as (1.) Fear him and hope in his Mercy, Psal. 34.18. (2.) Mourners marked, Ezek. 9.4. and (3.) Meek, seeking Peace and pursuing it, Zeph. 2.3. Psal. 34.14. Oh how should we flee to this Refuge, as they did to their Baal-Berith! Jud. 9.46. God is known for a Refuge in all Ages: Luther said when Threatned, I shall have Protection from Heaven while I live, and Provision in Heaven when I Die, 'Twas bravely said by the Duke of Hereford Banisht by Richard the Second, I shall have the same Sun (that he hath) to shine on me, and the Sun of Righteousness too, which my Banisher hath not to shine upon him, I am still on my Fathers ground; all the Earth is the Lord's, &c. So that the Banished may have more comfort than the Banisher and be in a far better condition than he: As the Ark was Noah 's Sanctuary, so the Lord is his Peoples, Ezek. 11.16. and such a Sanctuary he is to them as hath four Enoughs.

1. 'It is a Sanctuary High enough, Psal. 61.23. So as to raise us up above the reach of our worst Enemies: All the Saints are in the Lord's hand, Deut. 33.3. his Beloved dwell in safety by him, v. 12. God covering them all the Day in the Hollow of his hand, and the Eternal God is their Refuge, v. 27.

2. Nigh Enough. The way to the City of Refuge (God rook care) should not be too long, but it must be night, that the pursuer (while his Heart was hot ) might not overtake the man-slayer Deut. 19.4, 5, 6. So the Lord is such a Sanctuary as is not far from any of us, Act. 17.27. could we but grope after him as the word [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] signifies Israel had their God nigh them, Deut. 4.7. and they needed none to fetch him from above or from below, Rom. 10.6, 7, 8. He is as nigh as the Bark is to the Tree, or as the Skin is to the Flesh, Intimior Intimo nostro, more inward with us than we are with ourselves.

3. Wide Enough. There is room enough in this Sanctuary for all the Saints, as there was room enough for all kind of Creatures in Noah 's Ark: