the sweet influence of his grace suffers him to take his full swinge in wickednesse and to run head-long without any restraint to his own ruin and destruction This I take to be the obduration of Pharaohs heart so frequently mentioned in the book of Exodus For it is said Exod. 8. 15. When Pharaoh saw that there was respite he hardned his heart and harkned not c. and v. 32. Pharaoh hardned his heart this time also c. and then Exod. 9. 12. it's said God hardned the heart of Pharaoh And 't is observable how he is threatned v. 14. I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people c. So that first Pharaoh hardens and then God hardens Pharaoh hardens himself and God leaves him to himself Pharaoh hardens wilfully and God hardens judicially This I take to be the doom of the accursed fig-tree in the Gospel under which is comprised every barren Christian Leâ— no fruit grow on thee henceforward Mat. 21. 19. Iude 12. for ever These are thâ— trees Saint Iude speaks of whose fruit withereth without fruit twise dead pluck'd up by the roots Where the Method of Gods Iustice is very observable upon an obstinate and Apostate sinner First His fruit withereth he deserts his station grows weary of well doing and puts off the yoke of Christianity as if it were an intolerable burden Then without fruit The sap of grace is withdrawn and the soul becoms immediately barren Then twise dead dead naturally and dead spiritually For as the soul is the life of the body so is the Grace of God the life of the soul And lastly pluck'd up by the root not presently cast into the fire They may continue in the garden of Gods Church a long time after may participate of the dew of heaven of the holy Ordinances of God and external communion with his people But as never fruit comes of a tree that is pluck'd up by the râ—ots and so left So never any thing capable of Divine acceptation comes from a man thus miserably deserted The ground and foundation of this doctrine I conceive may be safely laid upon that maxime of our Saviour Habenti dabitur To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundance But whosoever hath not that is hath not improved his talent from him shall be taken away even that which he Mat. 13. 12. seemeth to have These are the several kinds or degrees of Obduration and this last I take to be the disease in its full height and malignity Secondly We are in the next place to look upon the cause of this disease and what is particularly instrumental unto it We say in Philosophy Animâ— sequitur temperamentum corporis The soul hath its operation according to the temper organs and disposition of the Body As there is no disease in the body so there is no distemper or depravity in the mind but is the effect and product of a certain particular cause So that as Infatuation of mind is a certain preparative unto judgement so there are certain preparatives and predispositions to Infatuation of mind Two sorts of evils there are â—n the world the evil of sin and the evil of punishment this of Infatuation is both it is hard to say whether hath the greater share in the composition This twisted evil as it arises from several causes so it is compounded of several ingredients In the general God himself may be said to harden according to that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 8. Whom he will he hardneth Not by any positive operation upon the mind as was said before but by a privative withdrawing or withholding of Grace No oâ—herwise then as wax being taken from the fire from being soft and pliable returns to its natural hardnesse and inflexibility And this is the just permission of Almighty God that such as will not conform unto him and walk in his ways should be left unto themselves to take their own precipitate and destructive courses For Instrumental Causes there are many To instance in some few for all the rest The first Medium unto Obduration I shall propound is The misunderstanding and abuse of secular prosperity and successe Thus Senacharibs best argument to perswade Ierusalem to revolt from good King Hezechiah is drawn from the successe of his sword upon the men and gods of Hamah Arpad and and Sepheruaim and from thence he 2 King 18. 34. 35. inferr'd that therefore the Lord of hosts should not deliver Ierusalem out of his hand And never underâ—tood the guilt of his Blasphemy nor the falacy of his argument nor the vanity of Nisrock his Idol till he felt the power of his maker and the stroke of Divine vengeance in the swords of his own Sons sheathed in his own bowels in the very Act and posture of his Idolatrous worship When the greatnesse of Nebuchadnezzars power and conquest lifted him up so high that he forgot he was a man God brought him down and humbled him into the very nature and condition of a beast There was a time when Dan. 4. Babylon was grown fat as the heyfer at grasse by eating up the inheritance of the Lord but it lasted not long for within a short time after Every one that went by Babylon Ier. 50. 11. was astonished and hissed at the sight of all her plagues And the same Prophet takes notice of some of Gods own people that were waxen fat and shined that overpassed the deeds of the wicked that did not Iudge the cause of the Fatherlesse c. and yet they prospered until the day of Gods visitation came Ier. 5. 28. 29. upon them Thus was Egypt groâ—n as a fair heyfer and her men in the midst of her as so many fatted bullocks and all to their own destruction as appears Ier. 46. 20. Thus was Iâ—surun grown fat and kicked he was grown thick and covered with fatnesse and mark what followed hereupon he presently forsook the God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation Deut. 32. 15. And therefore the Divine Omniscience foreseeing this evil consequent arising from blessings abused enters a caveat against it Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein and when thy herds and thy flockes multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplyed and all that thou hast is multiplyed then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God c. Deut. 8. 11. 12. 13 14. The Psalmist speaks very home and close to our purpose who describing the wickeds day of Sunshine saith Their eys stand out with fatnâ—sse they have more then heart couâ—d wish they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men pray observe the coâ—sequeâ—t Therefore pride compasseth them about like a chain violence covereth them
the Egyptianâ— shall help in vain and to no purpose Egypt hath been a sufficient instance of Gods prosecuting one Iudgement with another for the manifestation of his power and wrath upon that King and people God hath his quiver full of arrows the magazine of his Iudgements is inexhaustible What a black roll of Iudgements do we read of Levit. 26. and Deut. 26. and though we might suppose the spirit of a man able to undergo all that is there threatned yet there is Deut. 28 61. mention made of unwritten plagues So that what S. Paul speaks of the preparations of Iustice Ey hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man what God hath preparâ—d as well of woe for those that hate as of blessedness for those that love him There is no avoiding the Divine wrath but by patience and submission and an humble acceptation of the punishment of their iniquity a Lev. 26. 43. So that Coelum non animum mutat non vindictam Divinam For alas what comfort can it be unto Cain to have his life allowed him and to spin it out in a sugitive condition with a burthen of horror upon him greater then he is able to bear What pleasure can a man take to live upon Earth with Hell in his bosome What satisfaction to be taken in forsaking our Country whilst the not forsaking of our sins gives us too much cause to suspect we are forsaken of God Which leads me to the last general observation of the Text and it is this Obs 11. That when a people are so wilfully wedded to their own rebellious ways that they are neither warned by Gods word nor won by his mercies nor reclaimed by his Iudgements God will certainly forsake that people which is the highest expression of his severity and justice In the book of the Revelation we have represented unto us by way of vision many dreadful executions of Gods wrath intimated unto us by the Sounding of several Trumpets the opening of several Seaâ—s the pouring out of several Vialls c. and then after all this as a sad preparative to the grand account which every man must give at the Tribunal of Iudgement we read of this fatal and final determination He that is unjust â—et him be uujust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Rev. 22. 11. that is He that will not be reclaimed by any gracious application shall be lest impenetrable to his own ruine and destruction It was a sore and a grievous servitude which thâ— Israelites sustained under the unreasonable and indeed impossible commands of Pharaoh and his Officers for 400. yeers together and it is very probable that Iacob understood what would befal his posterity in Egypt long before he went down thither God having communicated the same to his Grandfather Abraham as appears Gen. 15 13. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 yeers And yet Iacob is commanded to lay aside all fear of going down into Egypt notwithstanding this prediction and the reason is because God promised to go along with him as appears Gen 46. 34. The promise of Gods presence extinguisheth the fear of 400. yeers certain Affliction And when upon an high provocation God threatned the same people to withdraw his presence and to substitute an Angel in his room for their conduct into Canaan see with what bitterness of spirit they entertain the message T is said that when the people heard these tidings They mourned and no man did put on his ornaments Exod. 33. 4. How far we have forfeited the condâ—ct of a gracious God in our former designes and engagements I take no pleasure to remember T is well if together with our possessions and estates and many other blessings we have not lost the favour of the Donor also Sure I am The safety and preservation of a people of a City of a soul consists intirely and immediatly in the gracious presence of Almighty God And it is most certain That God never forsakes a people till they first forsake him Isa 50. 1. and as certain that when a people forsake their God God will also forsake and estrange himself from that people 2. Chron 15. 2. So that when it comes to this fatal Breach and Divorcement that God begins to withdraw from his Sanctuary the place where he had fixed the marks of his favour in his Name and Worship when he is so highly provoked as to hate where he loved in so much that he cannot look upon his people with any pleasing aspect nor speak unto them but in thunder and lightning nor call them by that ancient name of favour a Israel by which he had distinguished them from all the world But wheâ— Israel that is a people prevailing Gen. 32. 28 Hos 1. 6. 9. with God shall be turned into Loaâ—…mi Not the people of God into Lorâ—…bamah a people that hath not obtained mercy When that of the Prophet Ierâ—my shall be fulfilled I have forsaken mine house I have left mine Heritage I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her Enemies Ier. 12. 7. Then every thing shall twist and conspire to the ruine and destruction of that people The Schoolmen distinguishing of poena Sensus and poena Damni conclude the loss of heaven and the want of Gods presence a far heavier judgement theâ— the pains of Hell sustained in everlasting chains of darkness And the reason is because the memory and contemplation of a better doubleth the misery of a worse estate and condition Sure I am the Scripture evidently concludes Apostacy of far nearer relation and alliance to the bottomless pit then Atheisme and that it had been better men had never known the way of righteousness then after the knowledge Taste and Experience of that way of 2. Pet. 2. 21. life to turn away and forsake it beginning in the Spirit and concluding in the flesh For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of Iudgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10. 26. 27. The sum of all these general Considerations is but this Whensoever God forsakes a people he leaves them insatuated and betwitch'd to their own ruine and destruction and whensoever a people is so far infatuated their hearts so fat their ears so heavie their eyes so wilfully shut that they will neither discern the threatnings of an angry God not be awakened by the visible executions of his Iudgements It is an evident token that God hâ—th forsaken them So that whether we take Spiritual Infatuation for the procuring Cause of Desolation and misery or for the Effect of Gods Iustice upon the heart of a people forsaken of him or for the signe and Symptom of
in the robbing of a glorious Church in the deliberatâ— breaking of so many sacred Oaths and Engagements in the ruine of so many thousand families in the â—nsnaring so many thousand souls by irreligious engagements to maintain these men in their wickedness but must all this be disguised with pretensions of piety and reformation Can they find no other answer for themselves when they are pressed with arguments drawn from Reason Law Scripture but must they father all their wickedness upon God himself â—y deriving it from the direction of his sacred Spirit Mâ—st the Dove of peace and love be entitled to their â— erciless bloody executions Must the Spâ—rit of meekness and condescertion be made the Patron of their Tyrannie and Ambâ—tâ—on The spirit that worketh sorrow and reluctancy for sin be brought to countenance their justification and perseveranâ—e in sin Oh let it never be told in Gath nor published in the streets of Ascalon Let â—ot the unbelieving Jews nor the sons of Mahoâ—er nor the Savage Indians ever come to hear what a generation of vipers and prodigious monsters hath been hatched and fomented under the sunshine of the Gospel How will our Enemies abroad reproach and Blasphemâ— our Religion when these shall be underâ—…ood to be the fruits of it in its faâ—sly pretended puritie and Reformation Whether that Blasphemy which the scribes that came from Ierusalem were guilty of in attributing the dispossession of unclean spirits which they saw our Saviour did by the finger of God to be done by Beelzebub were specifically that irremisâ—ible Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost I will not determine But this I will say That to Attribute the works of the most high God to Beelzebub and to attribute the works of Beelzebub to the most highGod are Blasphemies of the same Parallel if any thing make the difference it s the Quo animo of the iniquity For men to say when they have nothing else to say in defence of their Enormities that what they do they do by the dictate and direction of Gods holy spirit is so bold and fearful a Blasphemy that I am ready to tremble at the naming of it But whether these pretences derive from malice or obstinacy or a dissembled Iustification of what they know to be Guilt of an high nature I cannot possibly determine I shall from hence admire only the power and prevalency of this charm of Infatuation that will neither suffer men to look upwards towards their God nor inwardly upon themselves nor backwards upon their guilty actions but hurries them on with Corah Dathan and Abiram into a Justification of their Rebellion against Moses and Aaron and God himself so long till they are swallowed up quick of Death Desperaâ—ion And therefore my advise shall be the same that Moses gave the rest of the people that were not of that Conspiracy Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs or touch not with them lest yee be Consumed in their sins And let every man that would preserve the life of his Happinesse in the comfort and cleernesse of his conscience say with good old Jacob O mâ— soul come not thou into their secret mine honor be not thou engaged or do not subscribe their engagement lest thou eate of such things as please them and thy mind and thy Conscience be defiled and ensnared to thine inevitable ruin And this I conceive may not be propounded unseasonably unto such as either have twisted with these men without repenting all this time of the error of their doings or such as are at present their secret friends and Agents or such as may hereafter be tempted into a Compliance either for fear of their present power or which is worse for filthy Lucre sake And for our brethren and friends of the Scottish Natâ—on I could wish they would seriously consider of this one thing That the best way to satify the fears and jealousies which are at present upon them and their councelâ— and the best assurance they can give his Majesty of their sincerity unto him in all respects must be taken from the sight and the Sorrow and the humble owning of those errors wherein they were unfortunatly engaged against his Royal Father I shall not hunger after any of their Confessions whether Publike or private nor will I adventure to Censure their intendments Only I hope I may have leave to entertain some fears that they will not set this King upon his Fathers Throne till themselves have set themselves in the stool of repentance on another score then what hath been lately practised in Scotland The best way I can proâ—ound for them to set a Crown of gold on this Kings head is to have their hearts thoroughly pricked with those thornes they platted in his Fathers Crown if they are really ambitious of the honour of restoring the rights of the Crown and revenging the blood of their martyred Soveraign upon his cruel enemies they need not be ashamed in some measure to begin with themselves But if a professed Recantation be too severe a pennance for men that would be thought they cannot err yet let their hearts â—e but affected with such a close and inward sorrow as that The searcher of all hearts may accept of it and let their resolutions for the time to come be such as that the God of Truth and mercy may blesse and prosper them into on ample ripe harvest of true Christian Honour and that the world may read the disavowing of their former errors if in no other character yet in the sincerity and gallantry of their future actions and atchievements Having shewed the Nature Causes and Symptomes of Spiritual Infatuation and with a faithful and impartial hand searched this wound unto the bottom shall I now with the Priest and the Levite passe by and leave a soul stript and robbed and wounded unto death and take no care no Compassion upon so sad a spectacle What Is there no Balme in Gilead for this deadly wound Is there no oyl of mercy to be applyed to the obstinate and obdurate sinner Doubtlesse so long as there is life there is Hope and so long as theâ—e is Hope the Physitian cannot fairely desert his Patient And because it is safer erring with too much Charity then with too little Because it is an inconsiderate Temerity to confine the boundlesse Ocean of Gods mercy to the narrow mouthed bottles of our own uncertain fallible Conception I shall open a door of Hope as far as the unerring Oracles of God shall authorize me and the first thing I shall pâ—opound to the Inâ—atuated spirit is That there is a possibility of being Cured I know well there is a Iudâ—cial kind of Hardnesse when God withdrawes the sweet influence of his Grace and delivers a man up unto himself without ever looking more after him That there is a sin unto Death â—hat strikes the Church with Dumbnesse that sâ—e cannot pray for it
his certain visitation we are to look upon it as a fatal Iudgement upon the soul where ere we find it Quos perdere vult Deus dementaâ— prius Application Not to dismisse these generals without some shâ—rt Application You have heard your Prophet and seen his Commission Only the Scene is changed What was threatned unto Iudea hath been the dismal Tragedy in England Desolation and Devastation at home Banishment and I fear too general a Desertion of 〈◊〉 that are abroad God hath spent a whole quiver of his arrows poured out a whole volley of his Iudgements neither unlike nor inferiour to the Egyptian plagues He hath smitten us in the increasâ— of the earth by blasting and mildews insomuch that we may take up thâ— Prophet Isaiah's complaint that Isai 5. 10. an Omer of seed hath not in many places yeilded an Ephah of fruit thaâ— is not the tenth part of what was sown and our Land which was wont to be a lender unto other Nations hath been cursed into a blasted and borrowing condition He hath smitten us in our flocks and herds by a strange kind of murrain and rottenness in all sorts of Catrel He hath smitten us in our purses by reducing us unto extreme penury and smitten us in our posterity by cutting off our yong men with the sword How hath the storm of war like an Egyptian Hail broken down our goodly Cedar trees How have the people been eaten up by Locusts and Caterpillers and all manner of Egyptian Vermine What swarms of frogs from the bottomless pit have crept into our houses croking out their own frauds and pernicious fallacies to the seduction of 2. Tim. 3. 6. men and women laden with sins led about with divers lusts What palpable and more then Egyptian darkness hath followed hereupon in all places and sure if our waters have not been turned into blood our earth hath been miserably drenched and soaked with Christian Protâ—stant English Noble Royall bloâ—d and which is beyond all this The plague of Pharaohs impenitent and obdurate Spirit hath so far seized upon our souls that though we are brought into the red sea of affliction and surrounded on every side with hovering destruction yet we have not in all this time returned unto him that Isa 9. 13. hath smitten us Me thinks I hear the God of the Spirits of all flesh complain of us as once he did of his own peoplâ— Israel Why should ye be stricken any more Ye will revolt more and more the whole head is fick and the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there 〈◊〉 no foundness but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores and therefore your Country is desolate and your City burnâ— with fire c. Isa 1. 5. 6. 7. And certainly our recovery out of this fatal Distemper belongs alone to the Redeemer of our Israel for the wisest of men cannot discern by any humane perspective how it should be effected Psal 46. 9. ' Tiâ— only the great Generalisâ—imo of heaven and earth that maketh wars to cease in all the world and maketh men in an house to be of one mind That breaketh down and buildeth up that moveth a Land and divideth it and at another time healeth the sores and fastneth the pillars thereof and delivereâ—h Israel out of all his troubles What secular arm he will use in this work whensoever his mercy shall take it in hand or who shall live to see our breaches repaired and our present rubbish chang'd into the structure of a more then pretended reformation I know not The Scripture tells us that of those many thousands to whom the good Land of Canaan was promised two only survived â—o be invested in the possession all the rest were cut off in the wilderness by the iniquity of their own sinful provocations Sure I am that God in his own time will bring the way of every wilful transgressor upon his own head and the crying raigning sins of our Land are many of them such as go aforehand to Iudgement 1. Tim. 24. that is such as shall certainly find the severe hand of God in their punishment on this side the grave but I am not sure that God will punish Hypocrites by Atheists or honour those with the glorious employment of suppressing Rebels and Regicides who themselves refuse to have him raign over them and re-crucifie their Redeemer daily by a perpetual backssiding Our Enemies have thriv'd and prospered hitherto no otherwise then Leeks and Sparagus by the dung and putrifaction of our sinfulness Let us but withdraw this abominable contribution of our superfluity of naughtiness and I dare be your Prophet you shall see your Enemies power wither like grass upon the house top and their persons grow as contemptible as dung upon the earth To effect these our greedy desires the ways of Policy and divided Applications to divers parties and factions is very intricate unsafe and hard to hit The ways of true Honour Religion and Iustice are far more easie succesful and assured But no expedient for the healing of a Land wasted with wo and misery like unto that of the Text Repentance and a sincere Conversion unto God Let this be donâ— first and in all our difficulties God will not bâ— wanting to us in the safe conduct of his Holy Spirit The truth is most wounds will heal and close of themselves if they may be but kept from filth and putrifaction and the main of our Cure lies in Naamans Prescription and is of no more difficulty but to wash and be clean Oh then let your Prayers and Tâ—…rs and improved Conversations be now more fortunate and successful in the service of your Soveraign then all your former riotousness and debauchery hath been fruitful only in mischiefs and miscâ—ryings Who would not discard a Contestation an animosity 〈◊〉 bosom and beloved sin to qualifâ— himself for so glorious an Employment as the restauration of a Glorious Church and a Flourishing Kingdom invaded and trampled upon by Rebellious Hypocrites What pity it is to see men so dariâ—g and resolved as to hazard and forsake their neerest Interests and Relations rather thâ—n deliberately to make Shipwrack of their faith and Allegeance and yet to see the same men as weak and unstable as water in bearing up against a petty paultry lust and in denying themselves in their own vicious sensualities Which gives occasion to many men to doubt whether in their particular engagements they do not seek themselves more then the common service Our task I must confess is not unlike that of the poor oppressed Israelites under the severe Egyptian task masters wâ— have much work to do but little or no straw wherewithal to do it Our perils not unlike those S. Paul met withal in his great masters service Perils of waters perils of robbers perils in the sea perils among false brethren but the perils of all perils are the perils by our own