who receiveth it are to be understood VIII The Application What the Name of Lord doth import What is meant by the things which Christ saith The Profession and Practice of Christianity ought to go together I. The Text considered as a Question II. The true Motives to believe in Christ or to profess him do also oblige to pay Obedience to him III. The Custom of the Country is not sufficient to wise and reasonable Men. IV. The first great Motive to profess Christ is his being sent from God Phil. 2. 9. Which requireth absolute and universal Obedience Mal. 1. 6. Joh. 13. 13. 1 Thes. 1. 8. V. A second Motive to profess Christ is Love No Love without Observance John 14. 15 21 23 24. VI. A third Motive is the Hope of Reward Joh. 6. 68 Which the Disobedient cannot expect Mat. 21. 22 23. Heb. 5. 9. Rom. 2. 6. Nor are they capable of it Heb. 12 14. VII The Text may be considered as an Expostulation or Reproof VIII The Disobedience of Christians very provoking IX It doth dishonour Iesus Christ. Gen. 34. 30. 2 Sam. 12. 14. X. It is prejudicial to the Interest of Iesus Christ. XI The Application of all Joh. 10. 27. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Jos. 24. 16. Psal. 19. The Scope of the Text. I. The Exhortation Let us draw near Lam. 2. 24. * O anima rationalis miserabilis creatura quo te dejicis terram diligis melior es coelum contemplaris altior es solo tuo creatore tu inferior Saith St. Augustine II. Of the Qualifications of those who would draw near to God 1. A true Heart Mat. 15. 8. 2. Full assurance of Faith A Belief of the Mysteries of the Gospel A Belief of our own particular acceptance with God 13. 58. 6. Mat. 21. 22. III. The Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience IV. The Body washed with pure water Application The Scope of the Text in reference to the Jews It is applicable to other People The Expressions are borrowed from Husbandry * As Varro Cato Virgil c. I. What is meant by Sowing II. What is implied by Righteousness The Reasonableness and Advantage of sowing Righteousness III. Of reaping Mercy IV. Of breaking up the fallow Ground Gen. 6. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Jer. 4. 3. Zach. 7. 11. V. Of seeking the Lord. Isa. 55. 6. Ezek. 18. 21. Isa. 55. 7. Isa. 1. 15. Jer. 11. 11. Heb. 3. 13. VI. He will come and rain Righteousness Isa. 45. 19. Heb. 11. 6. Heb. 10. 36. John 15. Mat. 5. 6. Isa. 54. 17. Scougall's Life of God pag. 75. Jer. 23. 6. VII An Application to the Publick Prov. 14. 34. Judith 5 17. An Explication of the Text. I. Sin is the Cause and Occasion of all the Evils which befall either private Persons or publick States Ps. 34. 16. Ps. 73. 27. Amos 3. 2. II. People commonly are insensible of the Cause of their Evils Psal. 38. 2. III. The common Custom of Mankind is to run to second Causes before they address to God Jer. 17. 5. Isai. 28. 14 IV. How Peace with God may be obtained V. The Application To private Persons To the publick state of the Nation The Occasion Scope and Meaning of the Text. Observations from the Text. I. To rejoice at the Afflictions and Calamities of others is both the Sign and Effect of a Prophane Ungodly Spirit Job 31. 29 30. Psal. 52. 7. Hab. 3. 16. Eccl. 7. 11. Prov. 17. 5. Seneca II. The Church and People of God are often visited with the Rod of Afflictions III. When God is provoked to punish he doth not lay aside his Kindness and good Will Isai. 30. 18. IV. The Right uses which people ought to make of Calamities and Afflictions 1. To acknowledge God the Author of them 2. To own Sin to be the Cause and Occasion of them 3. To suffer them Patiently 4. To repent of Sin and to sorsake it V. The Iudgments of God when rightly understood do declare his Righteousness See Enquiry into the Nature c. of Faith Essay 5th VI. Application I. An Enquiry into the Coherence of this Verse with the Context The Opinions of some proposed and rejected The true Reason why St. Paul gives this Advice in this place II. Inferences from the Occasion of delivering this advice The first to caution against the Abuse of Doctrines The second the true expressions of Friendship The third a Concernment for useful and eminent Persons III. The Advice of not drinking water considered 1. It only regards Timothy's Case and Practice 2. A Reproof of the Luxury of this Age. 3. Cautions to be used in Abstinence and Mortification See amongst others Tavernier's Travels IV. of Drinking Wine The use of it lawful The Excess Unlawful Prov. 31. 6. Eph. 5. 6. Isai. 5. 11. The Evil of Drunkenness 1 Pet. 5. 8. V. The Reason of S. Paul's Advice to Timothy considered 1. It sheweth the true Ends and Rules of Eating and Drinking 2. The Lawfulness of the Use of Means to remove Afflictions 3. The Gift of Healing not always used VI. An Enquiry into the Reasons why God suffereth eminent and useful Persons to labour under bodily Infirmities and Diseases First Reason Second Reason Third Reason Fourth Reason Fifth Reason Sixth Reason Seventh Reason Eighth Reason Conclusion
Death their imagination of things to come and the day of death trouble their thoughts and cause fear of heart said the Son of Sirach Eccl. xl 2. And the Apostle tells us that through fear of death they were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. ii 15. They saw it was appointed for all men to die they understood that the Sentence of Death was passed upon all Men and none knew how soon or after what manner this Sentence was to be executed upon himself so that they stood in jeopardy every Hour Neither Youth nor Health nor Strength nor Vigour nor any natural or acquired Vertue and Endowment could secure Men from Death and what was to come after it they knew not their hopes of another better Life were faint for it was not yet revealed Therefore as they were daily liable to Death and had cause continually to apprehend it so the fear of it and the uncertain consequence of it as every one's Experience witnesseth damped their Joys and filled them with Melancholy and embittered their Life The terrours of the Mind are more burdensom and grievous than outward weights and pressures upon the Body Now nothing is so terrible to Men as Death it is called the King of terrours Iob xviii 14. And again it is said Chap. xxiv 17. they are in the terrours of the shadow of Death My heart said David is sore pained within me and the terrours of death are fallen upon me Psal. lv 4. Aristotle and other Heathens have declared that it is of all things most terrible and certainlv it is and shall be and must be so to all who believe not in Jesus who are Strangers to him his Doctrine and Promises until Men come to him take his Yoke upon them and learn of him the fear and terrour of Death must make them to labour and be heavy laden Fourthly The great Evil which Men labour under and which is the Cause of all other Evils is Sin As this lyeth upon all Men for there is no Man who hath not sinned except the Man Christ Jesus so this indeed is a heavy burden and most grievous whether we consider it in it self or in its Consequences The load of Sin which is upon us is great enough to press us down to Hell and to crush us in pieces It is Sin which maketh us to travel all our days with pain the guilt of this is uneasie to the Mind and disturbeth its rest and also maketh us liable to the Wrath of Almighty God which is a weighty burden too heavy for the strongest Shoulders This burden of Sin tho' it be of all others the heaviest yet few are sensible of it many do not feel it tho' it be ready to sink them because the weight of it has benummed their Senses and stupified their Spirits But they who are sensible of it complain most heavily O wretched man that I am saith St. Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. vii 28. And David upon this account uttereth this grievous Lamentation Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Fools make a mock of sin but who have a due sence of it find it is not to be sported with or set light by for certainly it is the greatest and saddest of Evils No Misfortune which befalls us is so great as that of Sin He that is not sensible of this let him take a view of our Saviour in the Garden and repair to a dying Person and consider what inward Agony and Torment such suffer for Sin And if this do not affect him he must be very insensible The guilt of Sin is unsupportable no Man has sufficient strength to bear it Therefore saith Solomon the spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Thus you see that all Mankind is liable to a fourfold Misery Four several Burdens are lying upon every Man that cometh into the World viz. The Burden of Affliction the want of true Satisfaction in things relating to this Life the fear of Death and the guilt of Sin each of which is enough to bear down the Spirit of Man and to crush or break it O then how heavily are they laden when they have the weight of all these upon them how weary may they be how much stand they in need of Rest and Ease how desirous should they be of it And how thankful to him who offers it unto them And thus I come to consider the gracious Promise which our Lord here makes to miserable Men whom he invites to himself come to me and I will give you rest Rest is very desirable but no rest so desirable as this An ease of those Burdens which were presently set before you would exceedingly lighten the Mind and quicken and cheer up the Spirit But none can give this Ease but Jesus who here promiseth it Some Philosophers have proposed some Antidote against Afflictions but for the most part they talked impertinently when they spoke of the other Three But as the greatest and truest Comfort under Afflictions cometh from Jesus Christ so it is he only who can satisfie the large Cravings of the Soul who can take away the Fear of Death and the Guilt of Sin And as he can so he will for he hath promised it here Come and I will give you rest This rest must certainly imply a full and perfect Ease of all Misery which lieth upon Men For if all were not taken away if any part of it did remain the Soul could not be at rest Now because the very News of Rest is Matter of Comfort and it is yet more comfortable to be assured of it I will confirm this gracious and comfortable Promise by other Places of Scripture and also shew the Reasons why we may expect and look for Rest from Jesus with a Respect to that Fourfold Misery which is upon us I will invert the Order which was used in enumerating those Burdens we groan under and will take the last first because it is the greatest and that the Removal of it prepares the way for taking the rest away That the Burden of our Sins shall be taken away by Jesus is evident from his Name and the Reason why he got that Name for he was called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins therefore also he is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the world when one sick of the Palsie was brought unto him he said to him Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee And he said so that they might know the Son of Man had power to
forgive Sins This saith St. Paul is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. And if the chief be saved others have no cause to fear The blood of Iesus Christ saith St. Iohn cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. i. This is that Fountain which was opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for Sin and Uncleanness The Reason why Jesus can ease us of the Burden of Sin and take away the Guilt and free us from the Punishment of it is because he hath in his own Person born our Sins and satisfied for them he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities and by his stripes we are healed and God laid on him the Chastisement of us all Isa. liii The Iust died for the Unjust and he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him In the next place as Jesus Christ taketh away the guilt and burden of our Sins so he freeth us from the fear and terrour of Death For asmuch saith the Apostle as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. ii 14 15. Jesus Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to Light he hath discovered a Life far better than this a State in which there is fulness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure for evermore a Life which admits neither Hunger Thirst Nakedness Cold nor Heat and where all Tears are wiped away And he hath made Death the necessary Passage to this blessed State so that instead of fearing Death Men desire to Depart And whereas before it was reckoned a loss to die now it is counted gain O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. XV. 55 c. He hath purchased to himself the Keys as of Hell and Death so of Life and Immortality and has Power to admit whomsoever he pleaseth It is he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day saith Christ. And again I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho' he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die But Thirdly Jesus Christ not only giveth rest to the Soul and ease to our Minds by begetting in us a lively hope of future Bliss but also he greatly refresheth us at present by settling our Minds in Peace and giving them a secret Pleasure which cannot be uttered The Happiness of a Christian is not all in Reversion he has some in hand that the deferring of his hope may not make him faint he has a present Possession given him which yields abundant Satisfaction to stay the longing of the Soul and to prevent its languishing That Contentment which Men do in vain seek among the Creatures is only to be found in him therefore St. Paul counted all things but loss and dung to the knowledge of Iesus Christ He is a Fountain of living Waters and none but he can quench or satisfie the thirst of the Soul Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life said he in his Conference with the Woman of Samaria Joh. iv 13. My flesh saith he is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed that is true Meat and Drink which both nourish and satisfie for it is proper and well suited to our Natures Every Creature has its proper Food nothing but that can satisfie it when that is wanting it languisheth So our Souls which are of a spiritual and heavenly Nature cannot feed upon earthly things nothing can be Food to them but that bread which came down from Heaven The Contemplation of Christ and his Doctrine can only cheer them up These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full which St. Peter saith is a joy unspeakable and full of glory Lastly Jesus Christ giveth his Disciples rest under Afflictions Indeed he doth not promise them an exemption from Trouble and Affliction nay on the contrary they are forewarned to look for this more than others but he makes them very light and supportable by the Strength and Instruction which he gives He doth not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able and with every temptation sends a way by which they may escape that they may be able to bear it 1 Cor. X. he abates the Grief and Molestation which Troubles and Afflictions were wont to procure by clearing the Divine Oeconomy in disspensing them by shewing the Nature and Use of them and by giving Rules how to improve them to our Perfection and Happiness So that what was wont to fright Men is now become matter of Joy and Gladness Count it all joy saith St. Iames when ye fall into divers temptations Thus you see what a blessed and desirable Rest may be expected by coming to Christ. O fortunatos nimium O happy we if we knew our own Happiness Here is the place where we may put off all that burden which lieth heavy upon us Here is an opportunity of being eased of all the Misery which we are born to Bodily or Spiritual Temporal or Eternal Here we may refresh our wearied Minds and get that perfect rest we would be at there is nothing to let or hinder us there is nothing to obstruct this Happiness but our own carelesness and contempt We are freely invited and shall we refuse Do we sit still unconcernedly Will we delay so great Happiness Shall we be so ungrateful to him who makes the offer as to slight it Shall we be so cruel to our selves as to neglect rest when it may be had Will ye thus requite the Lord O O foolish people and unwise O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leesing How long will ye spend your Labour for that which profiteth not How long will it be e're ye have pity on your own Souls Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Why will ye weary your selves in a vain and dangerous Chace The World where you have been all this while hunting is a dry and barren Wilderness in which you may perish before
was set apart to be the Sacrifice for Sin he bears the Iniquity of Men and that is from the beginning wherefore he is called the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is appointed to be slain And therefore our sins come in among the rest and consequently we have all Reason to deplore his Death and to bewail our own Wretchedness and Sin which was in part the Cause of it O ye Children of Men ye of the sinful Race of Adam come and behold the wretched and deplorable State of your Nature look upon the Cross and let thine Eyes see Jesus bleeding and dying on it and then consider that Blood was shed to wash away thy natural Filthiness and his Life taken to redeem thee from Death O how unreasonable How insolent a thing is Pride in Man Art thou Proud who hast an evil Disease cleaving to thee and inherent to all thy race which cannot be cleansed but by the precious Blood of the Eternal Son of God Art thou vain who art born such a slave that nothing could have ransomed thee except the Death and Sufferings of the Lord of Life and Glory Pride Arrogance and Boasting are no wise suitable to Persons of our Condition but Mourning and Weeping are very proper especially considering the guilt we have contracted since our coming to the World the heinousness of which the Cross of Christ will also shew us for that heavy Cross was laid on him to take away the guilt of those Sins which we daily commit The Son of God was humbled and Crowned with Thorns to make atonement for our Pride and Ambition he was stript naked because of our Covetousness he was unmercifully treated that he might bear the Punishment of our Revenge and Cruelty towards our Brethren The inward agony of his Soul was occasioned by our wanton Mirth and Lasciviousness and that he might be a Propitiation for our Excess and Riot there was nothing left him but Vinegar and Gall to drink His Bowels his Hands and Feet were pierced upon the account of our Oaths and Blasphemies In a word he was mocked had no pity shewed him was Scourged and put to Death contrary to Law Justice and Equity because we are false and treacherous and have no respect to the Commands of God Ye Fools who make a mock of Sin and who think it but a Sport to commit Iniquity come hither be instructed and learn to be Wise. Is the Shame and the Pain Is the Agony and Grief Is the Death and are the unspeakable Sufferings of Jesus the Son of God only a Sport Are these things only matter of Laughter Has any the Impudence either to say it or to think it No sure But then if these be bitter Sport what shall we think of our Sins which produce it for the Sufferings of our Lord are only the Effects of our Sins Doth it not trouble every honest and thinking Man when he is so unfortunate as to be the occasion of any Evil and Mischief to another Casual Murther or Manslaughter by an accidental Rencounter the throwing of a Stone the shooting of a Bow or Gun or the like do not infer guilt the Actors are innocent when they have no design of that Nature in their head and yet no Man who hath not lost Humanity but will be affected when any such Misfortune falls in his hands and his Grief will be so much the greater as the Person whose Death is occasioned is worthy and deserving What cause of Grief then have we who not accidentally but wittingly and willingly by our deliberate Sins and Transgressions have drawn Death on the Innocent and Righteous Jesus and that too the worst of Deaths the most shameful the most painful and the most bitter Death of the Cross Have we not reason to weep for our selves Can we ever bewail enough either our misfortune or wretchedness by Nature or our guilt through our actual Transgressions Certainly we should lament our condition on all occasions should set apart times for it and especially at occasions of this Nature when our guilt and the sad Effects of it is represented to us we should mourn and weep This is the only way to clear our selves to lessen our guilt and to keep innocent Blood from being charged upon us Blessed are they that thus mourn for they shall be comforted They who sow in tears shall reap in joy Jesus shall bear the Iniquities of those who regret his Death and their own guilt which caused it and made it necessary his Blood shall wash away their guilt and his Death shall prevent their Eternal Death for he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him 2 Cor. v. But as the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ procureth Mercy to the humble and Penitent so his Blood calleth for vengeance upon the hardned and impenitent Which leadeth me to the last thing in the Text for upon this account he added and weep for your Children for behold the days are coming c. by this intimating that the Imprecations of the People were ready to light upon them for as they cried out and wished his blood be upon us and our Children so to revenge it sore and heavy Calamities were impending over the City and the whole Nation Jesus spoke not these words from any Spirit of desire of Revenge nor out of any complacency at those sad Evils which were to befall them for the Injuries done to himself It is a fault which too many are guilty of when they think themselves wronged and cannot at present either revenge or remedy it they delight and please themselves with the thoughts of God's revenging their quarrel But Jesus was far from this temper for we find in the 19th of this Gospel That when he beheld the City he wept over it out of Compassion of those Evils which he saw would come upon it And they who have the same Mind in them which was in him will neither desire the destruction of their Enemies nor rejoice at it but will both pray against it and fear and tremble when they see it unavoidable But our Lord uttered these words to testifie his Divinity and Godhead and his Love and good Will even to those sinful Men his Divinity in that he knew what was to come for none knoweth future things but God alone his Love and good Will in that he forewarned them of their Danger that being forewarned they might if possible either prevent it or obtain a delay and suspension of it When he bids them weep for their Children he doth not mean the Children of these Women only or particularly but the whole Generation of the Iews for he speaks to those Women in the Name of the whole Inhabitants of Ierusalem or rather of all the People of Iudaea therefore they are called Daughters of Ierusalem which is as much as to say Israelites for Ierusalem was the Chief or Mother-city and to
into the World and has manifested himself to Men by him This Manifestation is the fullest and most glorious and so particular that it is a certain Mark to distinguish the true God from false Gods and the Worshippers of the one from the Worshippers of the other Jews Turks and Pagans and all those who worship their own Imaginations will readily say Blessed be God But none will add the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ but such as know and own the true God indeed Ever since this Manifestation of the true God he hath stiled himself by it and will have all to acknowledge him under this Title And they who own it not not only dishonour God and rob him of a great deal of Glory which thereby redounds to him but also they may be said to revolt from the Knowledge and Acknowledgment of the true God He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him saith Christ Iohn viij 23. And St. Iohn himself tells us Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also 1 Epistle ii 23. Wherefore such Acts of Worship as do thus particularly discriminate the true God and are so appropriate to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that they are applicable to none other are very necessary For this Reason our Initiation into the Worship and Service of the true God is by baptizing us into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And for the same Reason we ought often to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for hereby we make an express and peculiar Acknowledgment of this one true God viz. the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By this also it appears how suitable a part of Christian Worship the usual Doxology is and how proper to annex it to the Psalms of David whereby they are adapted to the New Revelation of the Gospel and rendered so much Christian that neither Jews nor any but Christians will join in the Use of them Having thus considered the Author of our Happiness the Motive which induced him to bless us comes next to be considered The Obligation which ariseth by the conferring a Benefit is more or less according to the Motive or Cause which prompted it if it was extorted by Force and Compulsion if one be so driven to it that he cannot shun a Courtesie scarce any Obligation accrueth thereby if it be done out of respect to after Requitals it is but a mercenary Kindness and tho' it obligeth somewhat yet the Obligation is none of the greatest it only bindeth us to make some Recompence and particularly that which the Person might have an Eye to if it be reasonable as the Services of Servants bindeth to the paying their Wages which is all they have before them and when that is done the Obligation of their Services ceaseth But if a Favour be conferred freely out of pure Love and good Will the Obligation is both perpetual and of the highest Nature Such a Favour ought never to be forgotten and if it be great in it self too it bindeth to the utmost Love and Thankfulness Now such is our Obligation to God for as he hath blessed us with the highest Blessings as shall be seen afterwards so he hath done it most freely meerly out of his abundant mercy as the Text saith And the same is intimated every where throughout the Scripture Through the tender mercy of our God the day spring from on high hath visited us said Zachary Luke i. 78. Of his own will begat he us saith St. Paul Titus iii. 5. and Rom. ix 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion so then that it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Therefore in the same Chapter they who are saved and prepared unto Glory are called Vessels not of Justice or of Righteousness but of mercy to teach us that if it had not been for Mercy none would have been saved And indeed to what can our Salvation be ascribed but to the Mercy of God It cannot be said that he was constrained thereto by some external Cause for who can compel the Almighty Who can prescribe Laws to the absolute Sovereign of Heaven and Earth It was not the Hope of Profit that moved him for as Eliphaz said Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself Is it any Pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect My Goodness extendeth not to thee saith David for if thou be righteous what givest thou him Or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the Son of Man But we cannot make God either better or worse He stands in no need of us nor is it possible for any either in Heaven or Earth to add or take from his Greatness Happiness or Glory for what can be added to or impaired from an infinite Being Suppose God was obliged to give those celestial Mansions to such as could merit them yet who could claim them even on that Account His Angels he chargeth with folly What is Man then that he should be clean And he which is born of a Woman that he should be righteous If he did enter into Iudgment who could stand What Man could be justified in his sight Whatever God would have been obliged to if Man had continued innocent yet sure considering us in our lapsed State it must be acknowledged that it is Mercy only which saves us unless we say that he is obliged by Rebellion Treachery impious Affronts wicked Insolencies and continued Provocations But being these can only be thought to irritate his Anger therefore we ought to conclude with the Scripture that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed And that we are not only not consumed as we deserve but moreover called to Glory and eternal Life is not Mercy simply but abundant yea superabundant mercy as our Text speaks Would you but take a View of your Hearts and Actions for one Day and consider not only the lesser Follies and Impertinencies you are guilty of but the grosser Faults the unclean and wicked Thoughts which arise in your Hearts the rash and evil Words which proceed from your Mouth what Sins are committed and what Good is left undone in how many things you offend altogether and how light the best Actions would be if they were weighed in the Balance I say were those impartially examined the Guilt of one Day would be found exceeding great and then what would it be if the Sins of all the Days and Years we lived were added And seeing our Case is such tell me is it not Mercy only which tieth the Hands of Divine
Justice nay abundant Mercy which maketh God to pass over so many and so great Offences and not only to spare us but to be willing to make us happy Thus we see how free God's Love is to usward and that nothing but his own abundant Mercy could move him to set his Heart upon us and to do us good which partly encreaseth the Obligation of his Benefits though they be in themselves too as great as can be as will appear by taking a View of this Summ of them that St. Peter gives us here Which was The Third Point proposed The Apostle designed not to give a Catalogue of all God's wonderful Works to us the Children of Men this would have swelled his Epistle much beyond what it is He passeth by the many Thousand Mercies he hath done and daily doth for our Bodies and bodily Life and only takes notice of what he has done for our Souls because on their Welfare our Happiness mainly depends The good of the Body and present Life would yield small Content if the Soul were lost And if the Soul be saved if it have those things which are agreeable to it and which perfect it there is abundant Matter of rejoicing tho' the Comforts of the Body be much wanting Wherefore we see the Apostle here teacheth those to whom he writes who were Strangers scattered abroad and often persecuted to rejoice notwithstanding because through the abundant mercy of God they were begotten again to a lively hope c. The first Benefit reckoned up here is that we are begotten again and indeed it is the Foundation and Beginning of all our Happiness without this it were simply impossible to make us not miserable Now by this is meant the giving us a New or Second Birth a putting us into another State than what we are in by our present natural Generation If any ask what needed this Were we not well enough before It might suffice to answer That there was great need for it seeing God thought fit to do it and that his doing it is made an Instance of his great Mercy for Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra But if this satisfie not the Necessity of this and the Greatness of the Benefit will evidently appear to such as view the Wretchedness of our State by ordinary natural Generation I say ordinary natural Generation and not our first Creation for Man as he came first out of the Hands of God was in a good State he was like his Maker Wise Holy Pure and Innocent If he had kept this State there would have been no need of renewing it or of making him over again But he kept not this first State but fell into a State of Sin and Corruption he lost the Favour of God incurred his Wrath and Displeasure and became liable to his Wrath and Curse and all the Miseries of this present Life and that which is to come And as all Mankind are descended from those first Parents since they fell from their original Righteousness and Purity and have been propagated in a State of Sin and Corruption so all are generated Sinners filthy and corrupt The sinful Leprosie of Adam is inherent in all his Children and the Curse he brought on himself is entailed on all his Posterity Behold saith David I was shapen in Iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Psal. li. 5. And our Saviour tells us That which is born of the flesh is flesh for if the Fountain be corrupt what flows from it must be corrupt too who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one It is said Gen. v. that Adam was made after the Image of God but that he himself begat a Son in his own Likeness viz. in a State of Sin and Corruption And as this befalls all of us for Sin is an inseparable Consequent of ordinary natural Generation so that it renders us most ugly and loathsome Sin is the Disease of the Soul and causeth as great Deformity and Vileness to the Soul as the worst of Diseases to the Body If any be not sensible of this it is because it is so common and ordinary and is in a manner natural to them for so we see long Custom and Familiarity will lessen the Horrour of things which ought to be abhorred But whatever they think whose Senses are benumm'd with Sin yet others nauseat and abhorr Sin as the worst of Evils Sin is so abominable in God's Sight that his Eye cannot behold it Saints and such as are begotten again complain heavily of this Defilement of their Nature and look upon it with Grief and Indignation David sets it forth under the Similitude of a most filthy bodily Disease Psal. xxxviii and Ezek. xvi This our natural State is elegantly compared to an exposed Infant of wretched Parents lying wallowing in its Blood and natural Pollution and wanting those good Offices which are necessary to make it live But as there is Filthiness in this State so likewise much Pain and Misery All the Anguish and Trouble of our Spirits proceed hence from this Corruption and Depravation of our Natures come those inward Torments and Vexations of Mind which we feel were it not for this we could draw Contentment and Satisfaction from any external Condition as a Man in perfect Health can sleep soundly upon any Bed And if one be pained with the Gout Stone or other Disease how unreasonable were it to cast the blame of his Trouble and Uneasiness upon the Bed he lies or the House he dwells in So the Cause of our Grief and Trouble is more within than without us it is more to be ascribed to the Disorder of our Minds by Sin than to the outward Inconveniences of our external Condition in the World But besides the inward Pain of Sin which is the Result of its Nature it is loaded with external Misery for it is prosecuted by the Wrath of Almighty God and his Displeasure falls heavy upon it Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup Psal. ii 6. Now this Wretchedness of our first natural Generation shews both the Necessity and Advantage of being regenerated How happy a thing is it to be washen from the Guilt and cleansed from the Filth of Sin to be delivered from the Punishment and freed from the Power and Dominion thereof That is to be begotten again in the Language of the Text for all that is implied in these Words Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no guile Psal. xxxii 1. But though this be considerable ye 〈◊〉 it is not all God hath not only delivered us from the Miseries of a sinful State but he hath also designed for us greater Glory and Felicity than what we lost by Sin The actual Possession hereof is not till hereafter for
at any time prevail God will not condemn us They are innocent and clean according to the Gospel who inwardly hate and loath Sin and keep a continual War with it and who love Holiness and constantly aim and endeavour after it and he who is so clean inwardly will give an outward Manifestation and therefore it is added that we have In the last place our Bodies washed with pure water The former Clause as we have seen referred to the inner-Man and this relates to the outward Man for both must be made clean in the Sight of God We must cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit neither of them singly will do well God has united Spirit and Flesh together to make up one Person and therefore what God hath thus joined together ought not to be put asunder Our Minds and Spirits must ascend to God but the Body must not be left behind wallowing in the mire and filth of Sin and Uncleanness else the other will not speed they will not get Access unto God We ought to glorifie God both in Soul and Body for both are his therefore as under the Law Men were tied to frequent washing of their Body that they might be legally clean and fit to enter the Temple or approach the Altar from which they were debarred if they had any corporal Filthiness upon them or had touched any unclean thing so in Allusion to this the Apostle here exhorts us to purifie our Life and Actions to sanctifie our outward Conversation in the World by breaking off the Course of Sin and conforming our Words and Actions to the Word of God for that is like pure Water to cleanse us from all Spiritual Filthiness By what means saith David shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal. cxix 9. Now until we be thus cleansed both inwardly and outwardly we are not fit to draw near to God nor throughly disposed for Reconciliation with him without holiness saith our Apostle no Man can see God There must be both outward and inward Holiness to render us worthy of Peace with God we must be endued with holy Minds and the Beauty of Holiness must appear in our Lives and Conversations and if the outward Man have not a holy Face and Countenance the inward Man is much to be suspected Scabs and Ulcers in the Skin betoken corrupt and impure blood in the Veins 'T is great Hypocrisie to pretend change of Heart when there is no Change of Life for Persons to say they are regenerate within when no Reformation appears without When Saul pretended a Performance of the Command which the Lord gave against Amalek Samuel said to him what meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the Oxen which I hear For that was an Evidence against him So I would ask those who say their Heart is right they have a good Conscience towards God and yet walk in Sin what means their evil Speeches their Cursing and Swearing their Reviling and Backbiting their obscene Talk and immodest Behaviour Revellings and Drunkenness Injustice and dishonest Dealing Cruelty and doing Injury to others and the like Crimes For doth not our Saviour tell us that these proceed from the Heart He whose Heart is perfect and upright with God is always careful to do that which is good in his Sight 'T is true the beginnings of Conversion to God do not always visibly appear as the Recovery of the Body from Sickness is not at the first discernable to others But in Process of time a sincere Conversion will certainly manifest it self in the Life and Actions The path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day Men and Brethren Sin was the Cause why we were cast out of God's Favour and there is a Necessity of laying aside Sin before we can recover it Indeed Christ died to take away the Guilt of Sin but he has not taken away the intrinsick Evil of it that remains still he by his Death has made Sin pardonable but not allowable and therefore we must not continue the Servants of Sin We must quit a vain and wicked Conversation turn every one from his Iniquity die to Sin and live to God and yield our selves to be Instruments of Righteousness according to his Will and Pleasure and then we shall please him and he will greatly love us Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the Widow and then come saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though red like Crimson they shall be as Wool Isa. i. 16 c. Thus we have explained the Conditions of obtaining Reconciliation with God and if you please to make Reflections on them you will find them most just and reasonable and as easie as can be required God could not pass these without renversing the Order of Nature and laying aside his Holiness and Honour which was impossible nor could any Terms be more proper for Man nor better accommodated to the State and Condition of all If many expensive Sacrifices rich Gifts or Summs of Money had been required what would become of the poor who make the greatest part of the World But now neither the Rich are received upon the Account of their Riches nor the poor rejected for their Poverty But both the one and the other are accepted according to their Faith Repentance and Obedience Some there are who will not allow us this Privilege whatever we believe or practise because we are not of their Church But as the Italian Proverb is Better be condemned by ten Physicians than one Iudge So certainly it is better to be condemned by any Number or Quality of Men than to be condemn'd by the Word of God the Word of God you see condemns none who has the Qualifications in the Text but encourages them to draw near to God and gives them Assurance of Acceptance If then through the Grace of God we come to be so qualified in the Union and Communion of the Catholick Church we need not fear what they say who themselves are Schismaticks from the Catholick Church We have all the reasonable Assurance we can have of our Salvation we may be more sure of it than if we had the Pope's Bull for it a thousand Indulgences ten thousand Masses daily sung for us and all the Church treasure of Merits bestowed on us And if we lack this that will not cannot be compensated with Pilgrimages Processions Pennances Bowings Prostrations before Altars Crossings and Sprinklings with Holy Water nor yet the Absolution of Priests for as our Apostle saith bodily exercises profit little as to Salvation and by what hath been said you may understand that the Religion which recommends us to God must be
it is your Father's will to give you a Kingdom A Kingdom of more Glory than all the Kingdoms of the World and it is a Kingdom which shall never end This is the Reward which God will certainly bestow on his righteous Servants and Children of which Reward some make the raining Righteousness in the Text a Promise for they take Righteousness to be the Reward of it as in the following Verse Iniquity is taken for the Punishment thereof But whether that be the main intent of the Words certainly it may be comprehended in them for the Fruits and Effects of Righteousness are always given where it self is given Holiness and the glorious Reward of it cannot be disjoined so that he who has the one is sure of the other The Wicked cannot inherit Glory nor can the Righteous be excluded Instead therefore of perplexing our selves what shall come of us whether we shall go to Heaven let us chearfully do our Duty and heartily endeavour to be righteous in the sight of God for hereby we may be assured of eternal Life The one is the Earnest and Pledge of the other Hitherto I have handled and applied the Text with a respect to Mens private and personal state But as was said in the beginning the Prophet delivered this Advice with a regard to the publick state of his People both Civil and Ecclesiastick And so it proposes the true Way and Method of preventing and removing publick Calamities and Disasters from Church and State which is to put away Sin and Wickedness and to encourage and promote Piety and Godliness As the Prophet forewarns them of very sad and heavy Judgments so all along he plainly inculcates the cause thereof viz. Their Pride and Wantonness the neglect of God and of his Worship and a gross contempt of and disobedience to his Righteous Laws For this cause he told them they were to be so exemplarily punished and that nothing could save them from utter Ruin or procure the lengthning of their Tranquillity but the ceasing from Sin and the doing that which is right in the sight of God Both the Preservation and Ruin of Kingdoms and publick States is of God and he is moved to the one or the other according as they are righteous or wicked For as Solomon saith Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people which Maxim of the Wise Man is clearly exemplified in Sacred History and was wisely observed in relation to the Iews in the person of Achior the Captain of the Sons of Ammon for in the Speech which he is said to have made to Olofernes he told him That whilest they sinned not before their God they prospered because the God that hateth iniquity was with them but when they departed from the way which he appointed them they were destroyed in many sore Battels and were led Captives into a Land that was not theirs and the Temple of their God was cast to the Ground and their Cities were taken by the Enemies From which wise Observation he concluded as wisely his Advice to the same Olofernes Now therefore my Lord and Governour if there be any Errour in this People and they sin against their God let us consider that this shall be their ruin and let us go up and we shall overcome them But if there be no iniquity in their Nation let my Lord pass by lest their Lord defend them and their God be for them and we become a reproach before all the world Righteousness is the greatest Security of a People it is the strongest Bond of Union amongst themselves and will defend the Frontiers better than Garisons or Armies can do For it secureth the Protection of the Almighty who can defeat the strongest and most numerous Forces and who when a man's ways please the Lord maketh his enemies to be at peace with him If therefore we have any concernment for the Church and State whereof we are Members if we would have God to do good to our Zion and to build up the walls of our Ierusalem if we would have him to settle Peace within their Walls and Prosperity within their Palaces let every one of us return from the Evil of our ways let us seek God with all our heart retrieve true Piety and true Religion and by the works of real Righteousness study to please God If we do this then his Heart will be towards us and his Delight will be in us then we shall become his Pleasant Vineyard which he will fence and plant out of which he will gather the Stones and in which he will build a Tower for himself he will cherish our Church and State and do all that can be desired for their Beauty Order and Peace But if instead of the pleasant Grapes of Righteousness we yield the sowre Grapes of Iniquity if instead of Judgment God see Oppression if instead of Righteousness he hear a cry if instead of the sweet smelling savour of a Christian Conversation we send forth the noisom and stinking scent of Sin and Impiety Ungodliness and worldly Lusts then he will utterly abandon us I will tell you what he will then do to his Vineyard I will saith the Lord take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down And I will lay it waste It shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isa. v. 5. Our Land will always be made to mourn so long as Sin and Iniquity abound in it Publick Peace and Prosperity cannot be expected till there be a return of Righteousness of true and solid Piety Till that appear we need not look for good Let us therefore seek the Lord and by fervent and effectual Prayers beseech him to give Repentance unto all People and to Rain down true Righteousness upon all Ranks and Orders of Men that it may be well with every one of us and with the Land we live in For then our case should be happy and then both Sion and Ierusalem would have reason to rejoice for the Lord then would strengthen the bars of their gates he would bless the people within them make peace in their borders and fill them with the finest of the wheat Now unto him that is able to do this for us unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON XIII Preach'd at St. Giles Church in EDINBURGH On October 16. 1687. HOSEA V. 13 14 15. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Iudah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Iareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Iudah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall
rescue him I will go and return unto my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early EPHRAIM is put here for the whole Ten Tribes who revolted from the House of David and embodied themselves into a distinct Kingdom Under Iudah is here comprehended also the Tribe of Benjamin which two Tribes as they kept close in Allegiance and Expressions of Loyalty to their lawful King so they made Profession of Serving the One true God in that way and after that manner prescribed by his Word By the Sickness of Ephraim and the Wounds of Iudah is meant those Afflictions and Calamities which God sent upon the several States because of their Sins and Transgressions And by considering this Prophesie and the History of these several Nations we find the Judgments they were visited with and which are here especially pointed at to have been a withdrawing the Necessaries and Comforts of Life Factions and Divisions within and Oppressions from Neighbours without By Ephraim going to the Assyrian and Iudah sending to King Iareb The same thing is understood by all Interpreters for they make Iareb either the proper Name of the King of Assyria then reigning or an Appellative title given to all the Kings of that Nation as Pharaoh was the title of the Kings of Egypt and Coesar or Augustus of the Roman Emperours or it is thought to be the Name of a City in Assyria where the Kings resided and that he is called King Iareb because he lived there or finally considering the Etymology of the word some will have the King of Assyria so called because the Iews and Israelites expected he should have vindicated and defended them wherefore the Translators of the Bible have put into the Margin Or to the King that should Plead But which soever of these ways be taken all conclude that Assyria is meant and that respect is had to what we read 2 Kings xv 19. xvi 17. 2 Chron. xxviii 16. Where we see how both Iudah and Israel entered into a League with Assyria and studied by Money and Presents both to procure his own Peace and also Assistance to curb and restrain others who infested them And when it is said he could not heal you nor cure you thereby it is represented how ineffectual this Method was for their relief for they were not put in a better state by his means so far from that that even he from whom they expected Ease became an Instrument of more Mischief and Trouble unto them as the Sacred History plainly shews The reason hereof is given in the 14th Verse to wit because God was angry with them and resolved to punish them he was determined to be as a Lion to Ephraim and as a young Lion to Iudah to tear them and take them away That is as these Beasts are strong to catch their prey and when they have set upon it do devour it and it is in vain to think to get it safe out of their clutches so God being incensed he will shew himself able and strong to punish those who had done it And it was a most foolish thing to think by Men or any other Means to prevent the Mischief he certainly determined It was like the offering to take back a prey from the Jaws of a hungry and raging Lion Who can rescue out of his Hands When he declares War who can make Peace Men may fight with Men but it is in vain to strive against God or to think that any Means or Projects will prosper where he is the Enemy And as these Savage Beasts when they have catch'd their prey and eaten it up use to retire to their Dens and Coverts and lurk there so in allusion to this God saith in the last Verse he will return to his place that is as it were shut himself up in Heaven that the Earth should no more feel his gracious Presence or the comfortable Effects thereof He would so leave them and forsake them by withdrawing the favourable Expressions of his Providence as that they should be tempted to think he had confined himself to Heaven and would no more visit the Earth nor the Children of Men. But all this God did not so much out of Wrath and for Destruction as out of Love that he might at last save them and make them Partakers of his great goodness They were so perverse as to resist his gentle Methods so stubborn as not to be wrought upon by his former Acts of Kindness that he was provoked and if it were proper to speak so of the Almighty constrained to take up the Rod and to deal with them thus roughly and severely But still his intent was not to cut them off utterly from him but rather to bring them into a stricter Union with him afterwards He let his anger out now upon them that they might afterwards be made capable of his Love to wit when they became sensible of their Sin and Folly in forsaking the Commands of God and resolved to seek him seriously in all time coming This saith he I will do till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face And as God had this end before him in their Punishment so there is here a gracious intimation that the Punishments laid upon them should be effectual for this purpose In their afflictions they will seek me early which words are not so much a Prediction of what probably they would do as a Promise what he would then by his Grace make them do Afflictions have indeed some natural tendency to soften Men to render them tractable and obedient but then only this is truly effectuated when God sanctifieth Afflictions and giveth his Grace with them And when Afflictions produce this when People are so happy as to be converted by them then God layeth aside all Quarrels he putteth off his anger and putteth on Bowels of Love and Compassion he hideth his Face while Men continue in their Sins and Transgressions All the time they are going astray from God he retires within his Place as is here said But when they begin to acknowledge their Offences and in all sincerity seek his Face then he comes forth of his Place and lifts the light of his Countenance upon them and speaks comfortably unto them his going forth is prepared as the Morning and then he cometh unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the Earth which both refresheth it and maketh it fruitful Thus I have explained the words and given you the genuine Scope and Purport of them In the next place I intend to propose plainly such Instructions as they afford and as I judge them both useful and seasonable so I pray God they may be candidly heard meekly received seriously considered and carefully observed First then We may read and discern here the Cause and Occasion of all the Evils and Mischief which come either upon private Persons or on publick States viz. SIN This
is the bitter Root which shoots out all kind of Misery If Man had not known Sin he would never have felt Punishment We should never have been made to taste the bitter Fruits of Trouble if Sin had not been planted in our Natures and if it did not shoot out and mingle with our Life and Actions It 's to this we must ascribe all the Diseases which infest both particular Persons and publick States and where Sin is cherished and doth abound we may certainly conclude that Trouble and Calamity will follow for the one is the necessary consequence of the other Ephraim's Sickness and Iudah's Wounds proceeded from their Sins as appears both by the Text and Context they first suffered the Malignant Humour of Sin to creep into their Veins and to ferment there and thence it was that they drooped and languished and felt so much Pain and Sorrow Our first Parents no sooner tasted the forbidden Fruit but they were filled with Shame and Confusion which are the inseparable Effects of Sin The Body cannot but be sick and pained which is disordered disjointed and which suffers Convulsive Motions no more can they who are infected with Sin be without Grief and Anguish Therefore Eliphaz said truly That the wicked man travaileth with pain all his days this is but what is agreeable to the very Nature of his Constitution And besides the Misery and Trouble which is naturally interwoven into the very Constitution of Sin it makes one liable to the Wrath and Anger of Almighty God it necessarily draws down his Displeasure And who will not be Sick and Wounded who groans under the pressure of God's Wrath. As the light of his Countenance puts more Gladness into a Man's Heart than when Corn Wine and Oil doth abound So the Abstraction of his Favour is more grievous than the withdrawing Health and all outward Comforts and Conveniences but because Men are a little dull to perceive this therefore God teaches them how miserable it is to be without his Favour by depriving them of outward Comforts and what they apprehend to be the ground and matter of their Happiness His Favour is the foundation of all Felicity and the cause of all the Good we enjoy and his Displeasure is ever attended with outward Punishments No sooner did Adam offend God but he was cast out of Paradise and had the Earth cursed for his sake and as this is the Original of these common Calamities which our life is liable to while in this World so whoever tread the footsteps of these common Parents and imitate them in their disobedience to God shall share of their lot and not go unpunished for the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth Lo they that are far from thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee We must not indeed conclude them the greatest Sinners who meet with the greatest outward Trouble and Affliction in this World Our Saviour hath taught us the contrary And the History and Example of Iob is a clear proof that it is not so But certainly God is so just as never to inflict Punishment but where there have been previous Faults to call for it And as some of the best of Men have had the greatest share of Troubles and Affliction so the best have been guilty of Sin and the least measure of this guilt is sufficient to justifie the greatest measure of Punishment which can be inflicted upon any in this World and if some of the greatest Sinners have escaped exemplary Punishment here it is because God reserves them to a more sad and heavy Doom hereafter But however it be with particular Persons it is certain in the general that Sin offends God and never goes unpunished and however particular Persons may escape exemplary Punishment in this Life yet Nations Kingdoms and publick Societies are always visibly punished in this World when they are corrupted and defiled with Sin Crosses and Afflictions have been laid upon particular Persons sometimes more for trial than for Punishment But general Judgments and Calamities never came upon a Nation or People till they were first ushered in by Sin and Iniquity nor is it possible to give one instance of the escape of any Nation where Sin and Iniquity abounded God doth sometimes forbear till the Cup of their Iniquities be full as he said of the Amorites but when People have filled up the Cup of their Iniquities then God is ever sure to make them drink of the Cup of his Wrath. Nor did number or multitude or greatness or splendor ever prevail with God for an Act of Indemnity where the continuance and multiplication of Sin cried for Judgment as may be evidenced in the old World in Sodom and Gomorrah in Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar Nineveh and Babylon and several others which may be drawn from Sacred and Prophane History Nay near Alliance and Relation to himself never made any be spared as appears from this instance of the Iews and Israelites Indeed God hath many Favours in Readiness to bestow upon his People but they are such as are worthy of his holy Nature but to grant them an Indulgence in Sin is inconsistent with his essential Holiness and therefore the most honourable Relation of being the peculiar People of God as all truly Catholick Churches are is so far from securing of them against his Displeasure that it gives his People greater Cause to expect Judgments when they are guilty of Sin As we may learn from these Words spoken by the Prophet Amos You have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities Judgments and Calamities threatning a Nation and impending over it are certain Declarations that Sin and Iniquity abound in it And the abounding of Sin and Iniquity is a certain Prognostick that the Judgments of God are not far off These things mutually prove one another If therefore we have Reason to fear publick Calamities we have as much Reason to conclude that we are great Sinners if we see the publick Body whereof we are Members sick and wounded we may easily guess the Cause of its Distemper and if we discern a general Corruption and Depravation of Manners throughout the Kingdom and among all Ranks without great Fore-sight we may foretell a Visitation of the Divine Judgments If the general Pulse of the Nation beats Vice and Sin as it is no great wonder we feel inward Pangs and Throws so it needs no great Skill only a little Acquaintance with the Word of God and the general Course of his Providence to declare that the Body will be seized with sore and dangerous Fits that it will be sadly toss'd and shaken Sequitur superbos semper à tergo Deus Secondly we may observe hence how dull generally Men are in taking up the Cause of their Maladies and Distempers They easily perceive the Evils
which touch them but are not so soon sensible of the Cause and Occasion which make them groan longer under the Distemper Ephraim perceived his Sickness Iudah felt his Wound their Senses taught them both these but they had not Understanding enough to discover whence these things came they had no Sense of their Sins and Transgressions and were slow in considering that the Reason they were so pinched and infested was because they sinned and would not frame their Doings to turn unto their God And it is just so with the Generality of the World at this time Men have sense enough to perceive the outward Evils that are upon them but scarce any to discover the Hand which inflicts them or the Cause which procures it Touch a Man in his Body in his Fortune or in any thing dear unto him he will be quickly sensible of it and ready enough to complain But there be few so wise as to acknowledge that the Root of the Matter is in themselves People ordinarily throw all the Blame of their Trouble from off themselves upon other external things he that is sick finds fault with his Diet or his riding and travelling unseasonably and in unwholsome Weather he that is wronged and oppressed chargeth and accuseth such and such Persons as perhaps are the immediate Instruments thereof in times of publick Calamity and Disasters all the Talk is how they began and after what manner they proceeded if the Plague enter a Place the Inhabitants curiously enquire about the first Person who brought it in if Fire take hold of a City the Discourse is about the small Occasion of its beginning and the Unwariness of the Servant who kindled it Statesmen and Politicians resolve Wars civil Broils and Factions Oppressions and other things of the like Nature into Political Causes Philosophical Heads exercise their Wits in finding out natural Reasons of Famine Pestilence immoderate Drought excessive Rains and other such Judgments according to the uncertain Hypothesis of some vain System they have imbib'd And thus Mens Thoughts are carried off from the serious Consideration of the true that is the moral and meritorious Cause of all the Evils that are upon them They reflect not upon their own Sins nor the Sins of the Land they live in They say not with David Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin For mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me It 's long before People come to lay to Heart that the Evils which are upon them are because the Lord hath a controversie with the Inhabitants of the land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land that it is by reason of swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and other abominations that the land is made to mourn To take only Notice of the immediate Instruments of our Trouble without enquiring into this chief Cause thereof is just but to act like Children and to do what the common Rabble do at publick Executions who only consider how the condemned Person is led to the Scaffold and after what manner the Executioner proceeds to put him to Death never reflecting upon the Sentence of the Judge nor the Transgression of the Law which yet ought chiefly to be considered Hear ye therefore the Rod and him who hath appointed it as ye feel the Evils which are laid upon you so call to mind from whom they come and for what Cause they are sent otherways Ease and Relief is not to be expected It 's necessary in order to the removing of bodily Distempers that there be first a Knowledge of the Nature and Cause of the Disease without this there can be no Cure all Applications are ineffectual even so the first step to remove the Wrath of God and the sad Effects of it is to find out those Sins and Transgressions which have occasioned it till this be done it 's in vain to struggle and to use Endeavours for the saving our selves it is but as the common Proverb is a striving against a stream which is too strong for us And thus I am brought to a third Observation and it is this That when God is visiting with his Iudgments people are seldom so wise as to address themselves first to God but they ordinarily in the first Place have recourse to second Causes and humane Endeavours which tends but to their greater ruine and mischief Ephraim and Iudah here instead of making Application to God sent to the King of Assyria and addressed to King Iareb So when Sickness comes upon Men the Physician is sent for and he is required to use his Skill and to apply his Remedies and with the Woman in the Gospel who had the bloody Issue they seek not out for Christ till they have spent much upon the Physicians to no purpose and that their Art and Skill hath been quite baffled When Men are opprest and born down all their Thoughts are how to get an Interest in some great Personage and ingage him to espouse their Cause and thereby counter-balance the Power of the Person that oppresses them In a word every one considers the nearest and likeliest Method and Means of procuring to themselves Ease and Relief and when they have discovered the same they are wholly bent on it and the Eagerness of Men to be saved by those means which their own Prudence has suggested keeps them from exercising that Trust and Dependance on God which is necessary Men have not Faith enough ordinarily to commit their cause entirely to God and they walk so much by Sight that they can put little Trust where they see no visible Means and because ordinarily God works by rational means and has established in the World a settled Order and a Series of Causes for producing certain Effects they too much imagine that these things work necessarily and that they cannot be disappointed of the Effects while they make use of the Means and Causes which ordinarily produce them Whereas all things depend upon the Blessing of God and only work and take effect as he is pleased to give the Word unto them I do not say that prudent Means and Methods should be neglected or that Men should expect Deliverances miraculously when these other may take Place But that in seeking to save our selves from any Danger or Judgment we ought to apply our selves to God and as we ought never to use any means for our safety but what is lawful so in the Use of the most lawful and most proper means we ought to depend entirely upon God for the Success else we may expect these Means to be blasted or what is worse to turn to our Hurt and greater Damage As we see here befel the Israelites for the King of Assyria whom they sent to
as they wish their own well to search freely their ways and to labour to find out that accursed thing which they are guilty of and which provokes God's Anger against them And when they have found their guilt let me also beseech them not to hide the same by excusing and extenuating it but to make an humble and ingenuous Confession unto God and to testifie an unfeigned Repentance by a sincere care to bring forth the fruits meet for Repentance Let them rectifie what they have done amiss and make an amends for their past Negligence by an exact Diligence hereafter to keep all the Commandments of God Which if they do I may assure them that God will no longer hide his Face and Favour from them he will no more frown but smile and give them comfortable words that they may be made to rejoice for the days wherein they have seen Affliction In the next place I would make Application to the publick State of this Nation and Kingdom whereof we are Members and in whose welfare Religion and Interest oblige us to be concerned I think it needs surprize none if I say That God is angry with us and that his judgments are hanging over these Lands for who is so blind as not to see it The present bad Harvest is one instance the Evil threatned in the Tenth Verse we may say is literally like to be inflicted upon us He is pouring down his wrath upon us by water which threatens to wash away the Food both of Man and Beast What other Calamities are impending either on Church or State I leave to the Consideration of wise Persons But without danger or the imputation of indiscretion I may bid you read the Sins of the Land and by that foresee what is to be feared It would be no great stretch tho' I should offer to draw a Parallel betwixt the Sins that abound amongst us and those of Iudah and Israel complained of in this Prophecy and would one charge the several Ranks and Orders amongst us with the same Faults our Prophet lays upon the Priests the Rulers and Princes and People of his time no great Injury would be done to Truth But such an unusual freedom perhaps would not be well taken especially from a Stranger But certainly it is a Kindness to give warning of a common Danger and it 's the Duty of all to provide for our common Safety Tho' we would flatter our selves it would not go better with us Was Iudah and Israel punished because they would not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord and do we think to Escape If we imitate their Sins is there not reason to fear a being made to share in the like Judgments Is God arisen to Judgment Is he going through the World with the Rod of his Wrath in his hand visiting Nations for their Iniquities and do we think that we shall not have our turn That he will pass by us when we are as guilty as any other No so long as Sin thus continues and increases amongst us it will never be well with us our state shall still move from evil to worse If then we would either prevent the Evils which are yet a coming or heal the Wounds already received let us join our Endeavours to stop the Current of Sin and Iniquity and to cleanse the Land of the Abominations that are amongst us It avails little to apply external Plaisters while the Arrow's Head sticks in the Wound In this and the former Ages the People of these Lands have been ever crying out of Grievances but they have had little of the Spirit of Discerning to find out the great Cause and Ground of them viz. Their Sins and Transgressions against God For which if they had heartily grieved they had never had so much matter of making other Complaints In our Fathers days all the Fault was laid upon the Government and Governours in Church and State which through the instigation of Factious and Seditious Men made People restless until they had overturned the Government and thrust the chief Ruler and perhaps the best of Men not only from his Throne but out of the World in a most barbarous manner But as this increased their Guilt so it did not heal their Sores nor ease their Pain they rather felt more smart and grief which disposed them to seek again unto David their King And if together with that the People had seriously sought the Lord also all had been well But alas that is yet to do whatever Change and Revolution we have suffered there has never been cordial Endeavours to introduce that best and most desirable Change from Vice to Vertue from Sin to Holiness and Godliness Blessed be God there has been a Reformation in our Doctrine and our Worship has been rectified and purged from the Superstition and Idolatry which had crept into it through the Ignorance and unwariness of Men But to our shame it must be said that our Practice and Conversation is not Reformed but continues much the same and perhaps in some things worse than what was before that other happy Reformation of Doctrine and Worship came in There was certainly reason to descry and run down the Hypocrisie and forms of Godliness fashionable in the late times but it had been more commendable to have endeavoured with greater Vigour to set up the Life and Power thereof And would to God we were at last sensible of our Errour and Omission and convinced that hitherto we have very unskilfully set about the curing our Maladies O that all who profess the same Truth would be perswaded to lay aside all other Contests and to contend together for maintaining the Purity of the Faith and joyning therewith the Purity of Life and Practice If we would thus by true Piety and sincere Obedience return unto the Lord he would return unto us and put us in a happy and glorious state as he hath torn so he would heal us as he hath smitten so he will bind us up that we might live joyfully in his sight But if this be neglected or delayed and if instead of this we take Methods and Devices of our own for saving our selves I dare not say what is to be feared Judgments of all sorts we may expect to be visited in our worldly Concerns and those two sadder Calamities which are mentioned Amos viii 11. 2 Thess. ii 11 12. may be looked for which God avert Plead with your mother plead saith God by this Prophet for she is not my wife neither am I her husband let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day she was born and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Amen SERMON XIV Preach'd at St. Giles Church in EDINBURGH April 13.
Omnipotent in Power and Infinite in Goodness and can do for us above what we either can ask or think When all Humane help faileth there is help in God and then he useth to help and deliver when relief can be expected no where else that we may know it his doing and that he only may have the Praise and Glory Thus he delivered Ioseph when all the World had forgotten him He saved Moses when his Parents could hide him no longer He redeemed his People when Pharaoh exercised the greatest cruelty towards them and always when they were lowest and most oppressed by their Enemies he raised up Deliverers for them and he returned this Captivity when there was least appearance of it and when it was not so much as thought upon except by some few who remembred and believed the Promise by the Mouth of Ieremiah Chap. xxv 12. So likewise when the Persecutions against the Christians came to be bitterest he always brought about a mitigation and relentment And when that most severe one under Dioclesian and his Colleagues had proceeded so far that 't was thought the Name of Christianity was quite extinct and accordingly Trophies were erected for it he first turned the Heart of Constantius Chlorus to protect Christians and thereafter raised up Constantine the Great who not only gave them full liberty but made the Christian Religion the professed Religion of the Empire Fourthly We learn hence how to receive how to entertain and how to improve all those Calamities and Afflictions which befall us so that they may turn to our good and become means of reconciling us to God The Prophet teacheth us this by his own example when he saith I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Which teacheth us first to receive all our Evils and Troubles as from the hand of God And indeed there is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done Amos iii. 6. Who ever or what ever be the Instrument he is the Author He cannot indeed be the Author of the Evil of Sin but he is always that of Punishment He orders disposeth and determines all that falleth out in the World What ever disposition there be in Men Devils or any Creature to Mischief yet they cannot stir or move but when they are allowed and as they are directed As in a well-disciplined Army the Soldiers go not out on any Expedition but when they are commanded So Ioseph ascribed to God his being sold into Aegypt though it was through the Malice and Envy of his Brethren And Iob acknowledged God the Author of all his Disasters though some were committed by the Sabeans and Chaldeans The Lord saith he gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Secondly As we are here taught to acknowledge God the Author of our Afflictions and Calamities so our Sin 's the cause and occasion of them When God corrects man it is always for iniquity For he is more righteous than to punish when there is no fault He doth not grieve the Children of men willingly nor afflict them and therefore when he doth it it is because they have sinned against him and consequently they who are afflicted should acknowledge their Sins which have kindled the indignation of the Lord against them So doth Daniel Ch. ix 5 6 7 8. Thirdly To bear the Indignation of the Lord is to fuffer patiently without murmuring A thing may be imposed on a Man but he cannot be said to bear it who doth it not willingly and he doth not bear it willingly who frets murmurs and complains And why should a living Man complain a Man for the Punishment of his Sins Would it be reasonable in a Criminal to accuse or murmur against the Judge for giving out Sentence when it was yet less than his Crimes deserve Now certainly no Man suffers or can suffer in this life so much as his Sins merit Furthermore saith the Apostle we had fathers of our flesh who corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live Heb. xii 9. Fourthly To bear the Indignation of the Lord because of Sin implies a hearty grief for it and a real turning from it He that is sensible that the Evils he suffers are the Effects of God's displeasure for his Sins cannot but have a remorse for them and if he have a true remorse for them he will also abandon them and shew all care to serve God better Until we do so we never accept the Punishment of our Sins They despise the Rod who do not amend neither become more dutiful by it And such shall bring greater Punishment upon themselves But they who thus receive and use their Chastisement shall be eased and delivered He will plead their cause and execute Iudgment for them and bring them forth to the light Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. v. 6. The last Observation I shall draw from the words is That when these Divine Dispensations I mean the Afflictions and Calamities which befall his People are well considered and rightly understood there will be found much Righteousness in them There is too much proneness in Men to censure the Actions of Providence which speaks out the greatest rashness and presumption imaginable For what are we Where is either our Authority or Capacity that we should take upon us to canvass the Actions of the Almighty or to rectifie the Contrivances and Determinations of Infinite Wisdom A Child is fitter to pass Judgment on the actings of a wise understanding Man and a dull Country Clown may with less arrogance examine the Maxims of a Matchiavel and other famous Politicians Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right said Abraham Certainly he cannot but do it he can do nothing amiss But indeed to illustrate this and to make out the Righteousness of his particular Providences is for the most part above Human reach For as the Psalmist saith Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the great Waters and thy footsteps are not known O the depths saith the Apostle of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out But when they are found and discovered they will appear most Righteous He hath made every thing beautiful in his time saith Solomon also he hath set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end Eccl. iii. 11. Look the best piece of Arras on the backside and its handsomness will not appear Nor will the beauty of the finest Picture be known unless it be set in a due light So we cannot understand the Righteousness of God's Providence without knowing the reason and ends thereof And these are often