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It is by faith that any good work is begun, and it is faith principally that carries us forward in the doing of it against all difficulties that we can encounter in the way in the doing of it; and it is faith also that must bring the work to a comfortable conclusion; and it is by faith that we must be possessed in things promised by God, which promises are apprehended by faith, and so hoped for. You heard before (so many as were here), that it was by faith the people of God went through the Red Sea, and the Egyptians were drowned in it. And the truth is, albeit it be not set down here, yet it was by faith they came to the wilderness, and all things were furnished to them there in a barren desert, and that miraculously only, of the great care and extraordinary providence of God, both meat, drink, and clothes. It was by faith they overcame their enemies there, even these mighty kings of Bashan, etc. And it was by faith that they passed through Jordan miraculously; and now when they are into the promised land, it is by faith that they must be possessed into it, and build Jerusalem in the midst thereof for a habitation for the Lord of glory, as he had appointed. For if they had not had faith, it would have been impossible for them to have won through the sea as they did, and then come so far on: and now, when they are into the land, it is also impossible for them to possess themselves there, and to overcome such strong cities as were there, which they were informed of a little before, by the spies that were sent to see the land. Now what should they do in this case? In Joshua 5, it is said, Joshua and the people, they see a strong city there, and strong walls about it; and there were not such engines of war then to batter down walls as are used since then; and no question albeit there were believers among them, who believed the general promise that they should be possessed into that land, yet in that particular they were troubled, how they should get that strong town overcome. At this time there appeared to Joshua a man over against him, with his sword drawn into his hand. And Joshua said to him, “Art thou for us, or against us?” for then he knew not who it was. And he said, “Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.” Then Joshua knew that it was Jesus Christ, and fell on his face and worshipped, and said, “What sayeth my Lord to his servant?” He says, “Be not feared for this Jericho, for I have given it into thy hand;” and whereas he would have asked next, “How shall that be?” he says, “You shall do no more but this, go march about the city, as I direct you; the armed men of you, let them go in the front, and next unto them seven priests with seven trumpets, and these not the silver trumpets, but trumpets of rams' horns; and after them let the ark of the Lord follow, and then all the rest in the rear: and this you shall do seven days. Six of them you shall go about but once each day; but the seventh day you shall compass it seven times, and at the seventh time the priests shall blow their trumpets. Then all the people shall give a great shout and the walls shall fall flat to the ground.” Now Joshua, he hears this spoken, and he knows that it is the Lord who speaks it, and therefore he believes it, and he tells the priests to tell it to the people, and he tells it out to them so far as his voice could extend: and God puts it in their hearts to believe the promise, and they marched on and obeyed the direction; and so through their faith and obedience the success follows answerable to the promise, and they take in the city.
That you may take up the purpose the better, consider of it in these four particulars. 1. The great strength that stood up against the people of God here, under the name of the “walls of Jericho.” 2. The special and principal strength that God’s people opposed against these strong walls, “Faith.” 3. The weak means that the people used for casting down the walls. If they had been bidden fight, they would have done it; but the Lord would not have them to fight now, albeit they were made to fight afterwards—now they must use the weak means that the Lord had appointed, and that was, to compass the walls seven days, and as it is in Joshua 6 each day of six they compassed it but once, and the seventh day seven times. 4. There is the happy and victorious success of the people of God against their enemies. He makes the walls to fall, and they fall so as if there had been no wall there at all, even flat to the ground; and the people of God went in and destroyed their enemies. Certainly, were there never so strong holds against us, could we grip to the promise of God, and believe it in faith, and go on in obedience to it till the seventh day and the seventh time of that day, we would undoubtedly get the victory because of the truth of God’s promise, who has promised that his people shall rule over their enemies.
I. “The walls of Jericho.” The people, they behooved to make forward against these walls for as strong as they were, for they were now come out of Egypt, and they had broken the yoke of their servitude there; they were come through the Red Sea, and were baptized there, as the apostle calls it; they were come through the wilderness, and had overcome the kings there; and they were come through Jordan: and now they were entered into the promised land, what shall they do?
It is hard for them on all sides, for this was a strong city they were to set upon first; for them to go back, they had no promise that Jordan should be divided as before; when they are through Jordan, they would meet with strong enemies into the wilderness, and they had no promise to overcome them. And when they are through the wilderness, where shall they go to next? They had no promise that the Red Sea should be divided; and suppose they went about the Red Sea, then they must go back again to Egypt: and going back to Egypt, they go back to their former slavery, and I may say to a worse slavery than ever they had been in before, yea in great hazard of losing themselves and all that they had, and of all that came after them. And therefore they resolve this, that there is no returning for them, but they will forward into the way, and will set against this city, for as strong as the walls of it were, yea suppose every stone in the wall were a man, yet they will to it. Beloved, when we are once entered into a good course, we must not return again; for if we return again, it will be very hard with us. In the matter of the redemption of our own souls, is it not great folly for us, when we have once shaken off the yoke and bondage of sin, and have begun to go on in the right way, that then we shall begin to return, because we see some great mountain to be in the way? If we return, then our bondage shall be seven times multiplied upon us; and it had been better for us never to have known the way of righteousness, than having once known it and entered in it, to turn back again. And viewing the case of the kirk of Scotland presently, we may say this of it, when we have begun, by the mercy and power of God, to shake off the yoke which was lying upon us, which fourteen taskmasters1 did hold fast on, when we, I say, are begun to cast off that yoke, and gave testimony before the world that we have hated them and their fashions, and the Lord has brought us that far on as to renew our covenant with him, if now we begin to sound a retreat again, then of necessity we must go back to Egypt; and if we go back, then the yoke shall be so fast wreathed upon our necks, that it shall not be gotten so well off them again, and our servitude and slavery shall be greater than it was before. Always, in our consciences, in our bodies, in our means, our liberties, and our posterity also, our bondage then shall be seven times greater than it was before. And therefore, it were best for us to resolve to go forward, as we would wish either happiness to ourselves or to our posterity after us.
Now for the strength of these walls, it was great, as it is Deuteronomy 1:28; and over and above their strength, they are of a great height also, for you know the spies that were sent to spy the land said that the walls of the cities reached to the very heavens, so that it was not able for any to win them: so they were both strong and high. And then you may not think that the city was waste; no, for there were men into it, and that of the sons of Anak, who were great tall men. And you may not think, neither, that they were, as they use the proverb, “mickledom without virtue,”2 for they were strong men also; and especially the strongest men would be here, in the frontiers of the country; and the text says that they were men of valor. And then they were experts in war; for the little kings there agreed not well together, and that made the men to be experts, each one of them to defend themselves from another. You may think they had all these, but had no wit to guide them? You may not think that neither, for they had civil policy among them, they had a king; and when they saw the enemy approaching, they sit down to a council of war, to consult what they should do to hold off the enemy; and they think it enough to hold the ports fast. And so they thought, if Joshua and these who were with him would not flee at first, they would force them to it by holding them out. This was one great strength.
But there was another strength there greater than all their walls and gates—even the gates of hell were there to hold out the people of God. The power of the devil was there; they had strong and mighty ones, principalities and powers, to defend them, for they worshipped devils. And I may lawfully say they did so, for the Scripture says it—that all worship of heathens or Papists, even whatsoever is not done according to God’s word, that it is done to the devil; for whatever is not from the good Spirit of God, it is from the evil spirit of the devil. And seeing that the devils were worshipped there, they would be as loath to be displaced out of the city as the king or the people.
The third strength that was to hold them out was greatest of all: there were divers persons in the camp of Israel whose hearts now did altogether faint. Many of them, when they heard the spies first, murmured, and would fain have been back, for they had unbelief reigning in their hearts, and would have been glad of any refuge at all, for fear the enemy had come out upon them, not believing the truth and the promise of God. And as there were unbelievers among them, so I may say there was not a heart among them, Joshua’s own not being excepted, but there was unbelief in it; and, I may say, in the most part more unbelief than faith; because all of us are more fleshly than spiritual, and faith is of a spiritual substance, but unbelief of a fleshly; and still the flesh lusts against the spirit. Even the strongest faith has doubting, and is mixed with unbelief, for we cannot with our whole hearts believe God’s truth; but still there is something wrong.
So this threefold strength was against God’s people, and is yet, and ever will be, to hold them out of the right way. 1. All natural strength and artificial, strong high walls, great able men, all policy and craft, will be used against the kirk and the children of God. 2. There is against her all principalities and powers, even all that the devil can devise. 3. There are some also among God’s people with whom infirmity prevails altogether, who, for worldly respects, will join in profession and in a confession with the people of God, but when trouble comes, withdraw again.3 And, indeed, these are the worst sort of enemies the kirk has; and every one of us carries about with us a great measure of unbelief mixed with our faith. What should we do then? Now I would not have you to think that I am telling you of all this to discourage you from going on into a good course when you are into it, but only to let you see that we have great need of the power of God, when we are begun into a good course, and to let us see, if the Lord but leave us to ourselves for a little, then we will be nothing else but a prey to our enemies both spiritual and temporal. And if there were no other enemy, yet our own heart is an enemy great enough to hinder any good work. And these enemies that I would have you now to take heed to are spiritual enemies. There is no nation or kirk but they have spiritual enemies, evermore some who is ready to hinder a good work from being done, or when it is done to undo it: when there is a reformation working into a kirk they labor all that they can to hinder it, and when it is wrought, to deface it again. Beloved, every carnal heart is a spiritual Jericho; for when the Lord comes, he besieges that heart, he displays his colors of red and white, war and peace, and he lays out also his black colors of death, to make that heart to yield. What does the carnal man do then? He says, I will not yield for all that, I will not be moved, for I have strong walls to hold out all these. Unbelief still says, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the imaginations of my own heart;” that is, Let the Lord do what he pleases, I shall find peace, and I will continue in my own ways, and yet I shall find peace. Yet, when the Lord sends his last trumpet to sound, and the dead shall rise, then all these walls, they shall fall flat to the ground, if it be not before then; and then the opposer shall be cast in everlasting burning, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And if there be such opposition into one soul, what opposition must there be in many souls; and when there is such opposition against the reformation of one heart, what must there be when there is a reformation of Religion intended? It is no wonder indeed that it comes not with speed, but is hindered very far; but the wonder is that it comes with any speed at all; and it is the greatest wonder that ever we heard tell of, that such a good work should have gone so far on here in so short a time. They are very ignorant who knows not that it is evermore the malice of enemies to oppose any good work when it is begun, and to hinder it so far as they can.
II. “Faith.” This is the strength that they must oppose against these strong high walls. There are two things to be considered here. 1. The persons who had this faith. 2. How their faith was a strength to overcome these mighty walls.
First, The persons who had this faith. It was not Joshua alone. There are many notable persons marked before in this cloud of witnesses for their singular faith which they themselves had, and there were notable things done by them through faith; but now in these last two examples, it is not the faith of one singular man that is marked, but of many. You heard that when the Red Sea was divided it was not Moses' faith alone that did it, but the whole people; and now he says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” Now, by whom was it that they were compassed? Not by Joshua alone, but by the people of God; and therefore, it was by their faith the walls fell. Beloved, as I said before, I may say there were divers among these people who had no faith at all, and there was unbelief in the hearts of the best of them; and yet, for all that, you see there is no mention made of the unbelievers, nor yet of the mixture that was in these who had faith: and so you see that faith prevails so over unbelief, that there is no mention at all made of it. What was the reason of this? Because the faith which they had was true and unfeigned, although it was not perfect; and that makes all the rest to be passed by, and not to be considered. There be some who object, wherefore serves the renewing of a confession of faith, seeing there be some who are ignorant, profane, and wicked persons in it,4 who may be ready to bring the curse of God upon others? Albeit it be so, yet we must not leave off for all that; and albeit there be many ignorant and unbelieving creatures, and wicked also, joined to it, and the best has great ills, yet that is not looked to; but if there be any sincere or upright work in any, that is looked to by God, and commended. And indeed, this is a great cause of rejoicing to the people and servants of God, that neither the infidelity that is altogether in some, nor yet the mixture of faith and infidelity that is in the best, shall prevail, but faith shall prevail above them all.
Now concerning faith, look to a threefold work that it has. 1. In believing and apprehending anything to be true. By faith we believe that the world was made; we have no more warrant that the world was created, but that it was from eternity, but only from the word of God. 2. The second work of faith is doing. There is much action, you see, ascribed to faith in this same chapter, in Enoch, Abraham, Moses, etc., and all these worthies who are put into this register. 3. The third work is suffering; for through faith they did suffer much for the truth, mocking, imprisonment, stoning, etc.: yea, all the ills that man could lay upon them, they did endure them all through faith. First, faith is shown by believing and apprehending the truth of God’s word; secondly, in action, by doing these things which it requires; thirdly, in suffering, when there is no place for them to do any thing for the truth, nor have they strength to do anything, then they suffer for it; and will rather suffer all that can be laid upon them, before they endure the very smallest matter of religion to be wronged, so far as they can. He that believes not that God is true in all that he has spoken, and he that sets not himself to do something according to that truth, and that both in prosperity and adversity, and, when he is put to suffering for the truth, will not undergo it also, they will be ready then to renounce their religion. And therefore, since that faith has a twofold working, both within and without, one seen and another unseen, do not say, “I have faith and believe,” and yet in the meantime never labor to walk according to your faith, and when you are put to suffer anything for it, will not undergo that, and so submit not your neck to the yoke of Christ.
This faith has this quality with it, that it is a secret, unseen, and invisible strength. Even such is the strength of God’s people, it is secret, unseen, and invisible to the world; and this causes the world to be insolent against them, and yet in the meantime they are confident to be victorious through their strength. When God’s people believe his promise, they have strength enough against all their enemies, albeit the enemies perceive it not.
Secondly, beloved, how is it that faith is strong enough against all these walls and powers? It seems that it is an enchantment to make them fall down; for what strength was there in their faith to make the walls of Jericho to fall down? That you may consider this purpose the better, consider of these things. 1. The people of God, they did believe his power, that he was strong enough. 2. Consider that the Lord gives them a promise that the walls of Jericho shall fall. 3. They believe this promise of God to be true. 4. And lastly, the Lord in his due time, upon the seventh day, and the seventh time of the seventh day, the Lord employs his power for performing his promise to them. So it is the power of God that made the walls of Jericho to fall, but here it is ascribed to faith, because they believed that this powerful work would be done by God’s power. And therefore, we need not to stand for no impediments that can be in our way in doing a good work, for faith is strong enough against all; if we have a promise of God to be with us, he has power enough to perform it, and so whatsoever God has promised to us is easily done by his power, if we have faith to believe it; he will fulfill his promise to us in due time, if we will wait on till the appointed time.
Now, what comfort is this to us that “by faith the walls of Jericho fell;” for they had a particular promise for this? It’s true indeed that where God has made a special and particular promise, we are bound to believe; but without that, it’s presumption; or if we had the faith of miracles, then we might remove mountains; but where none of these are, what better can we be? Beloved, there is a special promise made to the kirk of God, that she shall never perish, but shall continue to all generations; that she shall never be moved, because she is builded on the rock hewn without hands. Secondly, there is another special promise made, that the true kirk of God shall prevail over the false kirk of Antichrist; and so you know there is a threatening in the Revelation, that Babel, the mother of fornication, shall be destroyed. So then, albeit all the kings and princes in the earth should join and band themselves together against the true kirk of God, which is builded on the rock, they may well persecute her for a while, but they shall never extinguish her, nor put her clean out; yea indeed, by persecution the true kirk does rather increase nor decrease. If all the kings and princes in the earth should turn, as they wrongfully call them, Catholic kings, and join all their powers and forces together for the holding up of Babel, yet, in despite of them all, it shall fall to the ground; and he who has begun to make religion to shine, shall in his appointed time make Babel to fall to the ground, and set up his own kirk: whatever be the power that the Lord choose for the doing of it, yet we are sure he will do it. God’s people, wherever they are in every land, albeit they have not a particular for every one of them, yet they have a general promise particularly applied; and is not that also good? God has promised to his people, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” “I will be a sun and a shield to you?” and so labor once to make this sure, that you are the people of God, and that you are laboring to live as it becomes his people to do, and then you may say that all the promises made to the kirk of God, or to any within the kirk ever since the beginning, they belong to you. Therefore, as it is in 1 Samuel 12:24, “only fear the Lord, and serve him with all your hearts. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.” And, indeed. Israel had no greater assurance to have the promises fulfilled to them than we have, if so be we will fear the Lord, and serve him with our whole heart; and if he perform one promise for us, then all shall be performed.
III. Now with this secret strength there are means joined; and the means that are joined seem to be very weak for that end. Only to compass the city about once each day of six, and on the seventh day seven times, and at the seventh time, the seventh day, the priests to blow their trumpets of rams' horns, and all the people to give a shout—these seem to be very weak means, yet it was that which God had ordained; and they give obedience to it. And indeed, obedience to the commandment of God is a great help to get a thing done well, and has great virtue with it. The means that the Lord chooses in themselves seem to be very weak, and so were these also; but the Lord chooses them for good reasons. 1. To harden the hearts of the enemies. Their doings now seemed to them to be but ridiculous, for they thought now that they had only been but jesting them, to see them all marching in order about the walls, and never a word among them, nor never endeavoring to stir them; but this is done that the enemies may never take the matter to heart, till their destruction come upon them. 2. These weak means were ordained also to try the faith of God’s people, for he thought it more suitable, at their first entry in the land, to try their faith than their valor. Might not the wise grave old men that were among them think, what a foolish thing is this, for us to go about the city thus? And then we must have trumpets with us, and not the silver trumpets, but base ones of rams' horns, and go in order, and not speak, and so oft, even thirteen times! All this was done to try their faith.
Certainly, beloved, in beating down the walls of spiritual Jericho and Babel, the Lord uses very weak means. What was that made the kingdom of Satan to fall as lightning in the beginning of the Christian religion? No great strength, but only the preaching of some few weak apostles. And in the beginning of the Reformation there were but few for religion, but now it has spread itself very far, and many are for it. And at the beginning of this same great work in this land few did appear for it at first, and these were not mighty once, yet now it has spread throughout the whole land.5 And therefore consider of this when you come to hear the word, and to receive the sacraments. You may think, “what needs me to go out of my own house for these things? I may get all at home that I see there.” Yet consider that it is a compassing of the walls of spiritual Jericho, and a sounding of trumpets against it; and if you will use these things in faith, and in obedience to the commandment of God, you shall find the success thereof answerable to all that is spoken of them. What virtue was there in the water of Jordan more than in other water? Yet Naaman, he behooved to wash there, because it was the commandment of the Lord; and he was made clean by the power of God joined with it. And what virtue was there in a piece dead brass? Yet when the people were stung with serpents, they who looked to it were healed. Howsoever indeed, this is not to spoil the word and the sacraments, that they can do nothing, yet there is no power of regeneration in them but when they are done in faith, and in obedience to the commandment of God, and he accompanies them by his Spirit. If his power be not with them, they are unprofitable to salvation; but if his Spirit accompany them, then they will be effectual.6 And therefore, albeit the means of themselves seem to be weak, yet come to the using of them in obedience and in faith, and you will find the success thereof to be answerable to all that is spoken of them; providing that you go about as long as God has directed thee. These people might have thought, we have gone about once, and there is not one stone fallen yet; yea, when they had gone about six days, there was not a stone fallen nor loosed; yea, when they went about the sixth time the seventh day, all was as at the beginning: and the reason of it was, because the appointed time was not yet come. So when we are discouraged that we have been long using the means of grace, and we see not a stone of our spiritual corruptions falling to the ground more than at the first day, but they stand; and when we have opposed them, no prevailing over them, but rather they have prevailed over us; yet for all that, let us still believe in faith, and use the means: and if we will do so constantly, let us then resolve that the time is coming when all these walls shall fall, and we shall get victory over all our enemies. There be two things to comfort a Christian soul in these onsets. First, that he that believes and rests upon the promise of God, and by that he knows that he shall come quickly, and shall not tarry; so he believes that the word of God is true which he has promised; and he believes that there is a good time coming, when the promise shall be fulfilled. This upholds him in his straits. Second, which is a very strong one, even the testimony that he has within himself of his obedience, and that he is doing the will of God: that assures him of a victory over all his enemies. So long as you have these two, you need not fear. So let us evermore believe the truth of God’s word and of his promise, and then let us certify ourselves that he will come, and go on in obedience to his will against all enemies, and then we may be sure of victory over them. Objection When some witnesses of the truth have opposed the enemies thereof, the enemies have grown greater, and the truth has been borne down more. Answer The due time has not been then come, and God has done so for his further praise; but it shall not always be so. For albeit to your sense all seem to be gone, yet because God has made a pact with his people to deliver them, therefore they shall be delivered, and the enemies shall be altogether confounded, as these walls fell all at a rush; which was greater glory to God than if they had been thrown down stone and stone.
But was there no other strength nor no other means whereby these walls were overcome? Yes, there was more; for as you heard out of Joshua 5, there is one who is prince and captain of the Lord’s host, he is with them, and this is no other but Jesus Christ; and Joshua worships him, and calls him, the Lord. He appeared to him in the likeness of a man; albeit he was not yet bodily incarnate, yet he took on this similitude now, to show what he was to be. So it is that same Lord whom they tempted so long in the wilderness; it was he who spoke to Moses out of the bush, and said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” it was he who was with them at the Red Sea, and went in a cloud then between them and the Egyptians, and turned the dark side to them, and the light side to the Israelites. It was he who promised, Exodus 23:27-30, to drive out the people of the land before them, and now he is come to fulfill his promise, but he is not seen by them. But they had a testimony of his presence always with them, which was a testimony of the presence of God in Christ. In it was the tables of the law, which so often we do break; and there was above that a golden lid, and above it the two cherubs, which lid covered the law which the people did transgress. And God himself was presupposed to sit betwixt the two cherubs; and so when the Lord looked down, as the cherubs did, he did not see the law which was broken, because of the lid that covered it: even so, when God’s law is broken by us, he looks not to it, but looks to the propitiatory—that golden lid, Jesus Christ, who covers all our breaches of the law, and so he sees not the iniquities of his people. And with that angels were also represented by the two cherubs, which made them to be a strong army—the people themselves, God and his angels being with them, which indeed was strength enough.
IV. The fourth and last point in the text is the success of this. “The walls of Jericho fell down” “And it was so that they did fall flat to the ground.” Now, walls may fall divers ways. 1. By their weakness, as not being strongly built, or by wearing; and thus, albeit they were of brass or iron, with time they will fall. 2. By the skill of man, or by strength, or by the ambition of men, as the Temple of Diana, it was built by one in his ambition, to be one of the seven wonders of the world, and another in his ambition brunt it. 3. By the power of God directly; and there is none who can do it so easily as he can, either without means, or by very weak means. Babylon, it was great and stately, yet in what way confounded he the building of it? He did only change the sound of letters, which, you know, is but a very small thing—the changing of a letter; he made them not dumb, but changed the sound, that they understood not others, and so the work was confounded. And here he employs but weak means, and yet the walls fall flat to the ground: and so when the Lord applies his power to very weak means, of necessity the success must follow, according to his promise.
Let us observe here a word of three or four causes that made the walls to fall. The first, you shall learn it out of Genesis 15:16. Their sin was now come to a height, their cup was now full; for you know there it is said to Abraham, “The cup of the Amorites is not full;” and therefore Abraham and his seed behooved to be strangers four hundred and thirty years; but now their sin is at a height. From the very beginning their sins were crying for a vengeance from God, and each sin that they committed pushed out a stone, and undermined the walls, and so their own sins were their ruin. When all sort of sin grew common in all sorts and ranks of persons, and sin came to a height in all, and they did abound in atheism, idolatry, excess, filthiness, bloodshed, deceit, craft, malice, etc; when all sins were come to a perfection, then of necessity wrath behooved to come upon them. Happy are they, beloved, who catch their sins in time, and check them at the beginning, that they come not to ripeness; that gives not their sins leave to fill the cup, but are daily spilling some of them by repentance; for when the cup is once filled there is no more patience or sparing. The enemies of the kirk here were become insolent and proud, and their sin was come to a great height; and God’s people were groaning and crying to him: and their sin being at such a height, and God’s people groaning under the burden, of necessity their strong walls behooved to fall.
Secondly, They had a strong confidence in their walls—they thought it impossible for any to take them in, or to get their walls overcome. For it seems they put their whole trust in their walls, for they used no means to hold off the enemy, but only to keep their ports fast; and yet, you see, that same was the thing that beguiled them. And therefore, we should look what it is that draws our hearts off God, for God will light upon that. If we trust in our wisdom, courage, strength, friends, etc., if any of these become an idol to you, then God will ruin that to the very ground: your wisdom shall be turned into foolishness, your strength to weakness, your friends to enemies. And therefore, we had great need to take heed to ourselves, that we trust not much in anything beside God; for, indeed, the most part trusts all to the means, but looks not to God. Indeed, we may use second means; but put no confidence in the means, as if they of themselves were able to do anything; otherwise you are an enemy to God, and he will make that to disappoint your wherein you trust most.
Thirdly, God took the people’s hearts who were within the town. For when the two spies went in to the house of Rahab the harlot, she told them that all the people’s hearts were fainting, and their terrors were fallen upon them; for they had heard how the Lord had dried up the Red Sea before them; how they had overcome the two kings of the Amorites. “When they heard of these things,” she says, “their hearts did melt, and there remained no courage in them;” for they knew that God himself was fighting for them, who was God of heaven and earth. Beloved, God can strike men with other mighty terrors than these, as he did Paul; but he can strike them with divine terrors into their minds; especially this will be, when the enemies apprehend that it is God’s people they have to do with, that it is his cause they are defending, and that they have found his providence for them also.
So when the enemies are forced to acknowledge that we are the people of God, and they are also forced to grant that it is the cause of God we have to defend, and that he has already wrought great things for us, then indeed there will be a divine terror into the enemies' hearts, and their hearts will fall clean away. These people were so stricken with fear that it is said, “their hearts melted” like wax; and it seems that it was because of that they did close their ports.
Fourthly, God had taken wit from them. Albeit that, as I said before, they had some order and policy among them, yet in this they were unwise; for their rulers, who had such good natural parts, when they saw the enemy approaching, they should have joined themselves together to resist the enemy; and all the rest about should have joined with them also, seeing it would come to them next: but the rest thought, albeit the fire was begun there, yet the flame would be quenched before it came to them. It is true indeed, I grant, albeit they had so banded themselves together, it had been against God, and so they had not prospered; yet it was defect of wit in them that made them not to do it. And therefore let us learn a lesson from their foolishness; when we see that there is any appearance of danger among us, let us band ourselves strongly together in a good cause. And not only is this lawful to be done, but it cannot stand with equity nor piety if we do it not; for all the people of God they are all members of one body; and seeing they are all members of one body, why may they not all join together for the defense of their head and themselves? They are all sailing into one ship together through the stormy seas of this tempestuous world; and so when there is a leak struck up into the one end of the ship, shall the rest say, “I will not stir, because it is not come to me?” No, all should join together to mend it again, and so to hold out the water. We are all of us in one house, under one roof; and therefore when the fire is begun in the one end of the house, will you not rise to help to quench it, because it is not come to you yet7 Certainly that is great madness, for it will come to you next, if you stay in the house, and the fire be not quenched. Can there be any safe when a leak is struck up into a ship, if it be not helped? Will not all be burnt who are in a house when fire enters into it, if so be that it be not put out? Now, are not all of us members of one body, in a ship, and in a house together? Indeed that we are; and certainly we do not the duty of Christians, nor stand with piety and equity, except all of us stand for the defense of religion, and every one of us of another, in a good cause.8
And I hear there be some who challenge this point in our Confession of Faith, that people and subjects, all of them should join themselves together for the defense of religion, and every one of them of another, in a good cause.9 Beloved, certainly as that is as available a point as any that is in it, so it is as laudable a point as any that is in it. Some people may well object, and say, if authority had interposed such a thing, then it were lawful and commendable; but seeing that it is done without authority, what warrant have they to join themselves thus together? I may say that this is one of the main and principal causes why authority is opposite to this good and glorious work; for if all would join themselves together in this work, then the Lord would put it into the king’s heart to take some good course for establishing of religion; but when there be many who will not join themselves, and authority is misinformed by them, what wonder is it that they oppose it? And I may say also, what authority had Nehemiah to cause the people of Israel enter in a covenant with God? His warrant was only to build Jerusalem, but not for a covenant, and yet, you see, he caused them to renew a covenant with God. Or what authority had Hezekiah or Josiah to meddle themselves with the people of the ten tribes, to bid them come to Jerusalem, to the Passover? Yet you may see it plain in the history they did it. It were to be wished indeed that authority would join themselves to every good work, for it would make the heap greater; but for us to say that we will not join ourselves to religion, nor care what religion be in the land, except our magistrates bid us, that is a great madness. And therefore it is good for us to join to10 the commandment of God, in faith and in obedience to it, and to join together for the defense of religion: that so religion may continue among us in purity, and we may have peace and comfort in it, through Jesus Christ. To whom, etc.