might have seed time and harvest as seasonable their fields as fruitfull the Sea as open as their hearts could desire yet the very freedome of commerce and traffique whether with foraine Nations or with other members of the same Nation may bring in a greater inconvenience which no plenty can hold out then the enemy then unseasonable winde or weather could threaten Want of trade and want of victuals are plagues or punishments sent by God but the plague of pestilence which is oft times the companion of peace and plenty the usuall effect of free trading or traffique is more terrible then either of the former wants And thus may every part of the reasonlesse host accomplish what another had omitted Now with turbulent spirits or unruly men good lawes duely executed may take some order but against unseasonable weather against unruly or incommodious windes no law of man no act of Parliament can provide Against the plague or pestilence no councell of state or warre no host or army can secure themselves much lesse others Though they that besiege and are besieged doe keepe watch and sentinell day and night yet the arrowes of this dreadfull messenger flye more certainly to the marke whereto they are directed though at mid-night then their bullets doe at mid-day As there is no counsell against the Lord so there is no policy that can prevent the execution of Gods judgements upon mightiest kingdomes by the meanest of his creatures besides that policy which his lawes given to Israel did prescribe One speciall branch of that wisdome which Moses ascribes unto these lawes was they taught their observers not to trust in bow or shield not to put any part of their confidence in the strength or wit of man no not in their owne observation of these very lawes or reformation wrought by their rules as it was theirs but only in the Lord of hosts Hee was their wisdome and he was their strength whensoever any danger did approach whether from men or from other creatures their lawes did teach them that he was absolute Lord over all that the hearts of Kings and Governours were under his governance that he could dispose turne them as it seemed best to his heavenly wisdome And that alwaies seemes best to him which is for the good of such as repose their whole trust and confidence in him When Israels enemies displeased him more then Israel did he made them stronger then their enemies and when their waies did please him he made their enemies as Solomon speakes to be at peace with them Whilst they faithfully served this Lord of hosts they knew hee could command the whole host of the reasonlesse or livelesse creatures to doe them service From this knowledge of God and his lawes did Solomon gather these unerring rules of sacred policy whose observation at this time did and might for ever have preserved this kingdome There is no inconvenience of peace no mischeife of warre no kind of calamity which can befall any state or kingdome against which the fundamentall lawes of this Nation and the rules of policy gathered from them by Solomon did not sufficiently provide The soveraigne remedies for every particular disease or kind of calamity are set downe at large 2. Chron. 6. v. 22. to the 40. The remedy against the calamity of war v. 24. 25. against the calamity that may come by drought v. 26. 27. against famine pestilence and blasting of corne or other inconvenience from the host of reasonlesse creatures you have the remedy v. 29. 30. against captivity in a foraigne land v. 37. 38. The soveraigne remedy against all these and other like inconveniences and calamities is for substance one and the same with that which good King Hezekiah here used to feare the Lord and pray unto the Lord either in the Temple when they had opportunity to resort unto it or towards the Temple or the place wherein it stood when they soiourned 〈◊〉 were detained Captives in a foraigne land And who so would diligently peruse the sacred story from Solomons time untill this peoples returne from captivity and the building up of the second Temple shall finde a probatum of this Catholique and soveraigne medicine in respect of every branch of calamity mentioned by Solomon at the consecration of the first Temple I must hold to the instance of my Text. Another branch of that which was contained in the fundamentall lawes of this kingdome and which goes a great deale deeper than the fundamentall rules of any other policy was this that of all calamities which did or could befall them their sinnes and transgressions were the prime causes and whatsoever afflictions were laid upon them for their sinnes could not bee taken off without the humble supplication of the sinners Vnto a lower ebbe then King Ahaz did leave it at the kingdome of Iudah had not beene brought by any of his Predecessors or by any other in their dayes Now of all the miseries which at any time befell it by the famine by the enemies sword or by the pestilence the only cause which the rule of faith assignes was their forsaking of the Lord their God and the transgressing of his lawes But to prevent the perpetuity and continuance of such calamities as king Ahaz and his Adherents had by their foule transgressions involved this kingdome in no attempt or practice of Prince or people whether joyntly or severally did ever finde successe untill they put Solomons rules of sacred policy in practice as good king Hezekiah did Did hee not feare the Lord and prayed before the Lord c. The fruits of his prayer and the reformation of those corrupt times by giving life unto their fundamentall lawes were two First his prayers procured an healing of the wounds which by negligence of his Predecessors had beene given to the State Secondly he prevented the execution of those terrible Iudgments which in his owne dayes did hang over this land and people specially over their Heads and Rulers The kingdome of David had sometimes exceeded the most flourishing neighbour kingdomes as farre as the Cedars of Libanus did the ordinary trees of the forrest but was now brought low That height which was left her but as a decayed tree markt to the fall Hezekiah by zealous prayers removes the axe from the roote after it had made such deepe incision that it was scarce able to beare its stemme though dispoiled of his top or principall branches it nearely concerned every one which hoped for shelter under its shade to pray for gentle winds and comfortable weather that shee might recover root and branch againe But so Hezekiah's and his peoples Successors did not Manasses his sonne found a people not untoward as being in some tolerable sort reformed by Hezekiah but he himselfe a most untoward King able by his authority and bad example to undoe what his good father had well done to spoile and marre a greater people than he was Lord of though better reformed in Iosiah
heathens did ascribe ordinary successe if it were good unto themselves if it were ill unto their adversaries or opposites this was their Atheisme or irreligion That they ascribed extraordinary calamity unto fate or chance was their superstition Vnto both these extreames true religion is alike opposite and for this reason must ascribe all successe ordinary or extraordinary good or bad unto him who is a God as well of wisdome as of power as well of peace as of warre The Egyptian Magitians were enforced to say of some miracles wrought by Moses Hic digitus Dei est the finger of God is in this But if we looke on Gods workes or our owne with the eyes of faith the point of his hand is more conspicuous or more full in matters of ordinary passe or in the usuall course of nature then in some rare miracles If the sunne should now stand still in its sphere as in the dayes of Iosuah it did the world would be ready to say this is the hand of God yet it is more impossible that it should move without Gods power then stand still without it whilest it stood still it was partaker only of his power sustentatiue but deprived of his power motiue or cooperatiue move it cannot without the cooperation of his motiue power nor could it continue moueable though without motion for a momēt of time without continuance of his creatiue and preserving power and thus in the continuance of ordinary successe or blessings upon mans endeavours there is oftimes a greater concurrence of divine communicatiue power then is requir'd unto successe extraordinary For the mere substraction of his vsuall cooperation or efficiency from us or from such as oppose us makes the successe of the one or other to be extraordinary and yet so blind and stupid are we for the most part that we take small notice of his ordinary presence by his wisdome power and providence without some interpositions of extraordinary successe unexpected occurrences or interruption of the ordinary course of time and nature Did the body of the sunne alway move beyond her Horizon in such difference from it as to leaue no evident distinction betweene light and darknesse we should hardly know how much our eyes are beholding to it for the use of its light many happly will be perswaded that the light to their eyes were sufficient to see withall God who is the light and life of the world by whose participation the best faculties of men performe their proper functions as the eye doth its function by the bodily light of he Sunne is in his nature invisible and hence it is that few conceive what intire dependance they have on him in all their actions and consultations unlesse it please him sometimes to withdraw his guidance or assistance from him nor need wee to deny or question the proper efficacy of any visible or second causes albeit we ascribe all successe as well ordinary as extraordinary good or bad unto the same God The matter of most soueraigne bodily medicines is oftimes gathered from the patients gardens the Phisition infuseth no new quality or hidden virtue into the simples or ingredients yet inasmuch as he tempers and compounds them and appoints in what measure and season his receipt shoud be taken the recovery of health though wrought by the efficacy of the medicine is wholy ascrib'd to the Phisitians skil not shared betwixt it and the naturall qualities of the medicine Admit of a thousand fighting men no one mans strength or courage were abated before the day of battle yet if every one then might be permitted to fight as we say on his owne head to come on and off at his owne likeing the multiplication of their severall strength without a guiding or directing power might harme themselves more then their enemies so that we might truely say that albeit our army consists of common souldiers as well as of Commanders yet the strength of an Army consists not in the strength of limbes but in the skill and moderation of their Commanders and in the observance of good orders and discipline Now beside the especiall dependance which every particular creature hath on the Creators power in all his motions attempts or actions which is such as no ingredient in any medicine hath on the Physition such as no souldier hath on his Commander the whole host of creatures whether sublunary or Celestiall whether reasonable or reasonlesse whether animate or without life is more subordinate to the direction and guidance of the Divine wisdome and providence then any inferiour can be to his lawfull most powerfull and most esteem'd superiour Though God doth not alwayes worke alone but every creature workes in him and by him in its kind yet he alone apoints the time the place and oportunity of their workings he alone apoints the issue which they finally bring forth he alone doth limit the number of coworking causes or of agents conspiring for the effecting of the end designed by his providence whence though in the greatest atchievements joyntly undertaken by man every man might know his owne and every others strength his owne and every others projects which are confederats or coworkers with him though every one could know all the preparation which they severally or joyntly make what the determinate force or efficacy of every instrumentall cause whose help they use yet is it never possible for them to know what other causes or agents the wisdome of God may designe either to hinder them or to further their enemies in their counterplots So that all prosperity or calamity of any nation visibily inflicted by secondary instruments or agents is justly ascribed unto the wisdome justice and providence of God Can a bird fall in a snare saith the Prophet Amos cap. 3. v. 5. upon the earth where no ginne is for him or shall there bee evill in the city and the Lord hath not done it Men he supposeth are as unwilling to be overtaken with the evill here meant with malum poenae with calamity or disaster as birds are to be caught in a snare Calamity then is the snare whereinto men by Gods appointment fall and their owne proiects and devices are the strings which draw this net upon them when these are contrary to the Councell of the Lord and if there be no evill of calamity or disaster in any city which is not the Lords doing then certainly the good which is contrary to this evill all the safty welfaire and prosperity of any nation is from the Lord is the worke of his hande Ignorance or want of beleife of this point was one speciall cause of the miseries which befell the Christian Nations by the inundation of the Gothes and Vandalls and other barbarous people so a sweet and learned writer of those times complaines Si quando enim nobis prosperi aliquid praeter spem nostrā meritum Deus tribuit alius ascribit hoc fortunae alius eventui alius ordinationi ducum alius
manifest himselfe in his works so faire that they are without excuse And though the speech be for its forme indifferent or aequipendent yet the matter doth necessarily sway it from the former to this latter sense For if God had manifested himselfe unto them them to no other intent that they might be without excuse they had a better excuse in readinesse then any of the reprobate or damned shall finde at the day of Iudgement None of them shall be then able to deny either the receipt of a talent or the receipt of it to some better intent or end then to leave them without excuse They are therefore without excuse because they have hid their talents and doe not employ them to the use or end intended by their master But more particularly the calamities or plagues which befell the Iewish nation may seeme incurable from the words of our Saviour Mat. 23. 34. 35. Behold I send unto you Prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify and some of them ye shall scourgein the Synagogues and persecute from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth from the bloud of righteous Abell unto the bloud of Zacharias sonne of Barachias whom yee slew betweene the Temple and the Altar Did the wisdome of God then send Prophets and wisemen unto their forefathers or did he come to this generation in person himselfe to this intent or end that all the righteous bloud which had beene shed upon the earth might be required of them For thus interpreting this place the originall phrase affords a pretence somewhat fayrer then can be brought for the former Interpretation of S. Paul Vt super vos veniat yet every novice in Grammar knowes that the preposition ut or Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alwaies denote the Finall cause it ofttimes imports the Course or issue not the end or intent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith our Saviour Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternall that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Vt te cognoscant this is no more then if he had said te cognoscere to know thee to be the only God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent is life eternall Give these words of our Saviour in the 7th of S. Iohn leave to interpret his forecited words Mat. 23. and their meaning will be in plaine English thus much and no more some of them you will crucify and some of them you will scourge and persecute so long untill the bloud of all the righteous shed upon the earth will come upon you The true reason why the bloud of Gods Prophets was to be required of this generation was because God had continually sent them unto them from time to time out of his mercy and compassion that they might be healed So saith the Scripture 2. Chron. 36. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his word and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord rose against his people untill there was no remedy That which made their calamities remediles or as the originall hath it incurable was their continuall mocking or despising the messengers of their peace which God from time to time had sent to heale them So that all the calamity which ensued was not the end intended by God in sending his messengers unto them but the issue of their mocking despising both Physitions and Medicines They are the cause of their incurable wounds yet was it God that did inflict them for so it followeth v. 17. 18. Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Caldeans who slew their young men in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man maiden or old man or him that stooped for age He gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King and his Princes All these he brought to Babilon and they burnt the house of the Lord and brake downe the wals of Ierusalem and burnt all the pallaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof All this masse of misery fell upon the people of God for whose prosperity Solomon here prayes all the desolation here mentioned light on this house which he now consecrates to be the house of prayer All this and more became inevitable in the issue but so it was not from the time that Ieremy began to prophecy to foretell and forethreaten it by expresse revelation from the Lord of heaven One speciall meanes by which this misery became inevitable was that erroneous opinion or conceit wherewith most of this people were possessed to wit that their calamity or prosperity was fatall that all things were so predeterminated by God that nothing could fall out otherwise then it did that every thing was absolutely necessary in respect of Gods decree This was the symptome of their incurable disease for whose cure Ieremy was sent to the potters house there to receive that instruction from the Lord of which we read Chap. 18. The exact point of time wherein their disease whether in whole or part became incurable wee leave with all reverence unto him who hath reserv'd the knowledge of times and seasons as a speciall prerogative of his power unto himselfe Act. 1. 7. Yet thus much he hath revealed unto us that every part of this calamity did not become inevitable at one and the same time the state of prince and people became more dangerous then it had beene as it were a disease recovering strength from a relapse by their shuffling with God after they had made a covenant with him for freeing their servants according to the tenour of his law in that case provided This breach of covenant Ieremy foretels in thundring tearmes would prove the cause of greater calamity then he before had threatned And yee were now turned and had done right in my sight in proclaming liberty every one to his neighbour But yee turned and polluted my name and caused every man his servant and his handmaid whom yee had set at liberty at their pleasures to returne and brought them into subiection to be unto them for servants and handmaids Therefore saith the Lord because yee have not hearkned unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother and to neighbour behold I proclaime a liberty to you saith the Lord to the sword pestilence and famine and I will make you to be removed unto all the kingdomes of the earth Ierem. 34. v. 15. 16. 17. and v. 21. 22. And Zedechiah King of Iudah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies and
grand-child to this Manasses as good a King as could be wished for a man that needed no reformation a fit patterne for reforming others But this heavenly starre was placed in an earthly sphere hee had to deale with such a lewd court and naughty people as choaked the influence of his goodnesse And albeit his personall performances in his attempted reformation were no way inferior to Hezekiah's practice in this place yet neither his performances nor prayers found the like successe He could not plant the feare of the Lord either in his people or in his owne childrens hearts And if we sequester Iosiah his attempt of reformation from Hezekiah his time unto the destruction of the City and Temple there was sometimes on the Princes part sometimes on the peoples part usually on all parts Prince and people if not a continuall increase of sinne yet a continuance in usuall and wonted sinnes And where Gods Iudgements have once seized upon a land or people there is no removall of them without publique repentance no true repentance without prayer no prayers effectuall without feare of the Lord. Did hee not feare the Lord and befought the Lord c. His prayers were earnest and effectuall because his feare was hearty and unfained not affected But how feare should performe the office either of mother or mid-wife for the bringing forth of succesfull prayers is a Quaere not to be omitted and was the second generall proposed Pray we may but our prayers cannot bee successefull unlesse they be conceived in faith And faith as our Apostle tels us Heb. 11. 1. is the ground or substance of things hoped for And what affinity is there what agreement can there be between feare hope or confidence which is if not the nature yet the native issue of faith From these words of the Apostle faith is the ground of things hoped for haply it was that some late writers have put fiducia or confidence in the very definition of faith But wee are to consider that the former words of our Apostle containe rather a character then a iust description or definition of faith Otherwise his words following had beene superfluous faith is the evidence of things not seene And under this more generall character things feared may be as directly conteined as things hoped for But have we any Scripture to warrant us that faith in some cases may be as truely the ground of things feared as of things hoped for Yes By faith saith the Apotle Heb. 11. 7. Noah being warned of God of things not seene as yet mooved with feare prepared an Arke for the saving of his house Or if we consider faith not in it's universality as it equally respects the whole word of God but as it hath a peculiar reference unto his covenant with this people that wee know was not a covenant of life only but a covenant of life and death And all the writings of the Prophets which were to them and are to us the truest leaders and guides unto faith are as full of threatnings as of promises their sweetest hymnes are composed as well of iudgement as of mercy So that faith if it be not lame or defective hath two hands aswell a left hand to apprehend the truth of Gods iudgements threatned whilst we swarve from the waies of life as a right hand to lay hold on the truth of his promises whilst we are not conscious of such deviation Feare then which is no other then an expectation or apprehension of evill is the left hand of faith and hope which is the expectation or apprehension of good is the right And they who place the nature of faith in fiducia or cōfine it unto confidence do utterly maime it on the left side being maimed or dead on the left side it cannot be sound or lively on the right That which they terme fiducia or confidence in Gods promises if it be not supported with an implanted feare of his iudgements threatned is in true language but presumption It cannot bring forth the prayers of faith For prayers made in faith presuppose and include a sincere renouncing or relinquishing of those desires or practises which by nature or course of Gods Iustice are either incompatible with the blessings which we pray or hope for or are the causes of the evils threatned or inflicted He that will offer the sacrifice of prayer unto God for his health must abandon all excesse and riot otherwise he doth but mocke God And he that supplicates for the forgivenes of his sinnes must be prepared in heart to forgive such as have sinned or trespassed against him 'T is our Saviours owne comment upon the prayer which hee hath taught us And hence the heathen Cynick did justly deride such supplicants and sacrificers as continued in riot whilst they tendered their prayers and sacrifices to intreat Gods favour towards themselves for health Whilst we retaine malitious or revengefull purposes towards our neighbours it is to put in a caveat against our owne suits or petitions in the court of heaven Now unto this qualification or preparative unto prayer which consists in the abandoning of those practises or resolutions which stand as a barre or caveat against our petitions and supplications there is no meanes so effectuall no method so compendious as hearty and unfeined feare of Gods iudgements It is the very arme or hand of faith for remooving all such obstacles For feare as wee said before is the expectation of evill approaching And the apprehension of any remedilesse mischiefe of any greater inconvenience or inestimable evill will oversway the hope or expectation of any inferiour good be it matter of pleasure or commodity by which two matters onely we are withdrawne from goodnesse it selfe And if any man bee altogether wedded unto temporary delights or contentments it is for want of feare In the beginning of a storme the Merchant or passenger will be unwilling to cast any part especially of his most pretious commodities over board but in case stormes increase to his sight or observation if then the Pilot or Mariner can perswade him that the ship wherein he sailes unlesse it be speedily disburthened will shortly sinke the certaine feare of loosing all will moove him to part with one halfe or instant dread of loosing his owne life will make him willing if need so require to part with all The griping Vsurer will be ready to release the unconscionable interest covenanted for if the Lawyer in whom he trusts can perswade him that by rigorous exaction of the use he may come to loose the principall or to incurre a censure from which both use and principall will not free him The case of Iudah in this extremity was the very same if we compare the iudgements threatned by Micah with the nature and quality of the sinnes that had provoked them as you may finde in the Prophet Micah 3. 9. They build up Sion with blood and Ierusalem with iniquity The heads thereof judge for
reward and the Priests therereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money Now untill these greedy hopes of unlawfull gaine were abandoned they could not pray in faith The ministration of publique Iustice for private reward the Priests teaching for hire and the Prophets divination for money would respectively turne their very prayers into sinne Now what meanes could be more effectuall for abandoning these and the like sinnes then the iudgement which the Prophet there threatned from the Lord Therefore shall Sion for your sake be plowed as a field and Ierusalem shall become heapes and the mountaine of the house as the high places of the forrest Micah 3. 12. If the heads of the house of Iudah and Princes of the house of Israel to whom this message is directed did sincerely and truly beleive him that sent it they could not but feare least without their speedy repentance the Lord would quickly accomplish whatsoever the Prophet in his name had threatned Now hearty and unfained feare that Sion should be plowed as a field that Ierusalem should become a heape would move all such as had not their habitation only but the very roote of their livelyhood in them to lay a better foundation of their owne and of their posterities welfare than bloud and violence It would incline the hearts of their Rulers and Magistrates to breake off their iniquity by sincere administration of Iustice by almes-deeds and workes of mercy Feare againe least the mountaine of the house that is the Temple or whose flourishing estate the livelyhood and welfare of Priests and Prophets did so depend as the Passengers life doth on the safety of the ship wherein hee sailes would worke their hearts to an observance of the properties or qualifications to the performance of all the conditions which are required to faithfull and effectuall praiers But of the conditions of successefull praiers and of the qualification of good Suppliants fitter occasion will offer it selfe hereafter Thus much towards this purpose wee have gotten from these generals that the hearts of men which have been long accustomed or hardened in perverse courses of grosser sinnes will hardly be new moulded or refashioned according or wrought unto the temper and modell of Hezekiah's heart until they be made to melt with feare of such Iudgements as Micah here theatened against Iudah Ierusalem and Sion For producing this melting or mollifying feare the considerations are specially three First the consciousnesse or apprehensions of such sinnes as specially provoke Gods anger or sollicite his Iudgments Secondly a faithfull recounting of divine forewarnings or monitions past especially if they have been grossely neglected or usually sleighted Thirdly the Inspection of the instrumentall causes or meanes in probability appointed for the execution of Iudgments threatened or a diligent observance of the signes of the time As these be the speciall meanes for begetting unfained feare so the best method for nurturing up such feare begotten that it neither grow slavish nor wilde that it end not in desperation is to know in what sence the Lord is said to repent For the sinnes which specially provoke Gods fearefull iudgement against any land or people wee cannot have a more distinct view of them in breife than from the Prophet Micah in the forecited place Bribery and corruption in the seates of Iustice oppressions and cruelty in the mighty and wealthy mercenary temporizings in the sonnes of Levi every one of these diseases is dangerous though alone but when they all meete in any state or kingdome they grow deadly Or if Micah may be no further allowed of than of a single witnesse we may adde unto him the like testimonies of the Prophet Isaiah who lived in the same time with him Corruption in the seate of Iustice did in his time taint the service of the Temple turned the prayers of the Rulers into sinne and made their sacrifices become abominable Esay 1. 14. The very aversnesse or unwillingnesse of such Rulers and oppressors as these were to have the law laid unto them by the Prophets was a prognostick of suddaine Iudgements approaching Isaiah 30. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall bee to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking comes at an instant Now if the Priests and Prophets whose office it is to discover and repaire such breaches doe but dawbe them with untempered mortar and so hide aud cover them from their sight whom it concernes to beware of them by this doing they draw the multitude within the reach of that ruine and destruction which like a trap or snare was ready to fall upon them Or least any should suspect that these prognosticks did serve only for Ierusalem and Iudah the same Prophet instructs us Isaiah 47. that it was oppression and cruelty towards such as shee had conquered which did draw Gods Iudgements upon Babel But that which made them to fall so suddainly and unexpectedly upon them was the popular and man-pleasing humors of her Soothsayers and Diviners Ierusalem and Iudah were at this time sicke of all those three diseases and therefore had iust cause to feare the iudgements threatned Quid quod hos morbos gravius symptoma sequatur There is a symptome mentioned by the Prophet Micah which was worse then the diseases themselves yet will they leane upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us None ill can come upon us v. 11. Elsewhere we reade this people taxed by Gods Prophets for trusting sometimes in lyes sometimes in oppression or violence oft times for putting confidence in their owne strength or in the strength of their confederates But of any branch of this fault they were not at this time guilty yet taxed no lesse as being no lesse taxe-worthy shall I say for trusting the Lord or rather as the Prophet saith for leaning on the Lord That is for presuming on his favour in the consciousnesse of such sinnes as they now stood charged with That to presume on Gods wonted favours or ordinary protection in the consciousnesse of extraordinary sinnes is a most grievous sinne against God best proportioned by his sinne against Gods Deputy who being infected with some dangerous disease should presume to rest himselfe upon the royall chaire is a truth unquestionable But why this people being thus dangerously infected should at this time specially leane upon the Lord and avouch his warrant upon their protection may well be questioned not unfitting to be inquired after The reason I take it is this These peoples fore-elders or these very men themselves in Ahaz time had usually beene indited of Idolatry and found guilty specially of worshipping in high places aud serving groves and Idols But Hezekiah in the very beginning of his raigne remooved the high places brake the Images cut downe the groves brake in peeces the brasen Serpent that Moses had made 2. Kings 18. v. 14. Nor was hee more zealous in repressing all worships of false Gods or Idolatry then
reflattered by their flocks into an higher conceit of themselves then any Pope pretends unto For though the Roman consistory usurpe the Monopoly of the Holy Spirit and of his gifts yet neither doth the Pope take upon him to secure the Cardinals nor the Cardinals to secure him that whensoever either of them dye they shall infalliby be saved and bee as glorious Saints as Saint Peter to morrow if they chance to dye this day But why doth the Prophet Micah when he assignes the causes of Gods iudgements threatned mention only the sinnes of the rulers Magistrates and Clergy Was not the people at that time infected with the popular diseases of all times as with adultery murther luxury of all kinds and prophanenesse No doubt they were and doe not these sinnes deserve vengeance They doe Yet the iudgements due unto them are usually charged upon the transgressors themselves not upon the land or state wherein they live unlesse the principall transgressors escape unpunished by the connivence or corruption of rulers in this case the sinnes of private men become the sinnes of the land and solicite publique visitations So doth oppression specially when it is practised by men of authority upon the poore and helples men Of others wrongs or of wrong done unto others that which Eli said unto his Sonnes 1. Sam. 2. 25. is most ture If one man sinne against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sinne against the Lord who shall intreat for him Now when iudges and Magistrates suffer the poore and helplesse to suffer wrong they sinne against the Lord for though he be Lord of all and the avenger of all wrongs yet is he in speciall manner the protector of the fatherlesse widow and the helpelesse and what can be more iust then that they which oppresse their helplesse brethren should be opprest by foraine enemies And how ever men esteeme of us the Sonnes of Levi we are by Gods ordinance and appointment as fathers to our flocke committed to our charge and though wee haue not that coercive authority over them which Eli had over his sonnes yet we shall partake of his punishment if wee prove not more faithfull remembrancers of their negligences and transgressions then Eli was to the Sonnes of his body Finally as the other sinnes which Micah taxed were their sinnes which did commit them so their leaning upon the Lord in the consciousnesse of such sinnes were the sinnes of the Priests and Prophets which should have forewarned them of the wrath to come and have put them in mind of their strange neglect of warnings past That the neglect of Gods forewarnings or summons to repentance whether these be meere monitions or mixt with punishments is a fearefull Symptome of a dangerous disease and without repentance a presage of death is a point so common and knowne as it needs no proofe The divers kindes of such fore-warnings sometimes given by the hoste of reasonlesse creatures sometimes by the reasonable and the danger increasing by their neglect are pathetically recounted by the Prophet Amos. Chap. 4. with this item or caveat still repeated at the neglect of every message yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord And I also have given you cleannesse of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the raine from you when there were yet three moneths to the harvest c. v. 6. 7. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased the palmer-worme devoured them yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt your yong men have I slaine with the sword and have taken away your horses and I have made the stioke of your camps to come up unto your nostrils yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. v. 10. The same burden is twice repeated in the verses following for not returning unto the Lord after two calamities inflicted upon them distinct from the former as well for time as quality The space or distance of time betweene the first and last of these fore-warnings was so long that many of them which had knowne the first or could take notice of it were dead before the last approached most of them whom the last message did specially concerne were unborne when the first warning was given And yet the neglect of it is laid to their charge of all these fore-warnings or chastisements beside the desolation of some cities there is scarce one which hath not beene paralleld by the like given to this kingdome long agoe 9 To begin with that which most resembles this fore-warning given by the Prophet Micah unto this people Sion for your sakes shall be plowed as a field This was to them a meere monition for God repented of the plague denounced against them such was the powder-plot unto us It was a gentle monition of a fearefull iudgement For however such as foretold it were lying Prophets Sonnes of Belial whom no sonne or child of God was bound to believe when they threatned iudgement yet the warning which God in mercy gave us by them was truly reall The sepulchers of our Kings were neerer the point to have been more pittifully plowed then Sennacherib intended to plow Sion or the city of David when in the daies of Hezekiah he did besiege it Gods mercy towards us was that time no lesse then at any time it had beene unto Sion our deliverance though not so miraculous was yet no lesse wonderfull for valuation then Ierusalems deliverance from Sennacheribs army shortly after this fore-warning by Micah But did either warning or deliverance take the same effect with us as the like had done with Hezekiah and his people Herein we truly imitate Hezekiah not so much in the use which he made of this forewarning as in his demeanour after his recovery from his sicknesse that we doe not render according to the reward bestow'd upon us An anniversary thanksgiving was upon our delivery by publique authority presently enjoyned and hath since by all sorts of men professing true religion to the eyes of men beene duely observed Vnto this day yong and old whilst they blesse God for his mercies accurse the malice of such as did project that fearefull plague against us and his curse be upon him that shall thinke either their practise or principles whence they inferred or sought to warrant it can bee detested too much Yet for all this we may detest their practise and religion yea we may magnifie Gods mercies towards us though never too much yet much amisse If our acknowledgement of his mercies had been or were yet sincere and intire our feare of his judgements ever since that time would hve held full equipoize with our hatred or detestation of our adversaries mischievous imaginations against
forbid yea our Saviour who is both our Lord and God hath in my text forbidden us to passe the like censure either upon them or upon any in after ages on whom the like judgements have beene visibly executed That the men of Bethshemesh did grievously sinne in looking into the arke of God no Christian can no Iew doth deny But that they were more grievous sinners in this than a great part of men Christians by profession are in this our age none but an Hypocrite will affirme Leaving their persons to be judged by God this their particular sinne is more than doubled by all such as having neither lawfull calling nor abilities to discerne sacred mysteries will take upon them not only to looke into the arke of God but to determine of his covenant of life and death that is of election and reprobation the very grammaticall notion of which termes they understand not As for the sinne of Vzzah it was for nature and quality the very same as if a parish clearke in our dayes should intrude himselfe into a Deacons office as if a Deacon should usurpe the function of a Presbyter or a Presbyter the office of a Bishop Now the delinquents in both these kinds are at this day more than tenne to one in comparison of the men of Bethshemesh to all the men of Iudah or in comparison of Vzzah to all the Levites of his time which were not guilty of like sinnes in particular The judgments which God did shew upon the men of Bethshemesh and upon Vzzah though extraordinary were yet judgements tempered with mercy For God in thus punishing them did forewarne all posterity not to trespasse in the like kind as they did lest a more grievous punishment either in this life or in the life to come doe befall them For as our Apostle 1. Cor. 10. 6. in the like case saith all these were our examples But many in this last age more than in any age since our Saviour dyed and more in this kingdome than in any one Kingdome under heaven have palpably transgressed after the manner of Vzzah and the men of Bethshemesh May we hence therefore conclude that these men are more grievous sinners than any others of this age or Nation which have not transgressed in particular after these mens example No the Lord hath forbidden us to passe this censure or judgement upon them Such as are most free from these presumptuos sinnes must ever remember that they have often grievously transgressed the Law of God in some one kind or other All of us must lay that saying of our Saviour to heart unlesse wee repent wee shall all likewise perish But though this place prohibites rash censure and judgment upon particular sinners may not wee which are Gods embassadors pronounce the like universall sentence which our Saviour here doth against all the inhabitants of Galilee and Ierusalem with the same limitation against this or any other Christian Nation except yee repent yee shall all perish after the same disastrous manner that the Iewish Nation did I tell you nay this is beyond our commission beyond our instructions whom God hath appointed for his embassadors Our Saviour himselfe hath put in a caveat against all such presumptuous conjectures or pretended divinations The calamities and distresses of Galilee and Ierusalem of the whole Iewish Nation were so generall and so tragicall as no Nation since the beginning of the world had suffered the like no other shall suffer the like unto the worlds end But then all Nations unlesse they repent shall perish after a more fearefull and visibly disastrous manner than Galilee and Ierusalem did But may wee not in the meane time say that these Galileans and inhabitants of Ierusalem in whom this prophecy in my text was literally fulfilled were sinners above all other Nations or generations in the world because they suffered such things as no other Nation or generation had either suffered or shall suffer unto the worlds end I tell you nay But this present generation of the Iewes did put our Saviour the sonne of God the God of their forefathers to an ignominious death And this was the most grievous sinne quoad speciem for its specificall quality that could be committed A sinne that could not bee committed againe for he was to dye but once death hath no more dominion over him But though the sonne of God could dye but once yet many this day living may bee as guilty of his death as Iudas or Pilat as the most malitious amongst the chiefe Priestes the Scribes and Pharises were Or admit that those Iewes were more deeply guilty of our Saviours bloud than any generation since yet hee that would hence inferre his death to have beene the chiefe or only cause of all the calamities which be fell that present generation of the Iewes wherein he dyed should only proue himselfe to be more skilfull in laying the charge then in making the iust exoneration he should shew-himselfe to be but halfe an accoumptant but of this elsewhere But in what sense soeuer the putting our Saviour to death was the cause of Ierusalem's destruction yet this particular sinne in putting our Saviour to death was not the sinne or any part of the sinnes of which they are forewarned by our Saviour to repent for this sinne was not as yet committed nor so much as thought upon by those Galileans whose bloud Pilat mingled with their sacrifices or by those eighteene upon whom the tower in Siloe fell And no question but these men did perish for such sinnes as the Nation was for the most part guilty of and were forewarned of by exemplary punishments inflicted upon these Galileans The persecution of our Saviour was but a Symptome of those other sinnes of whose deadly issue without repentance they were forewarned by these and the like signes of the time The reason why they hated the light of the world after hee had done so much good unto them was because their deeds were evill Joh. 3. v. 19. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light because their deeds were evill What then were those capitall sinnes whereof they were warned in particular such in the first place was their present rebellious disposition for which sinne in particular these Galileans did thus perish But was this all No it is one thing to be rebellious another to bee unrelentingly rebellious This unrelentance presupposeth some other fouler sin then rebellion As what Hypocrisie specially when our Saviour upbraids them with this title of Hypocrisie as when he saith Luk. 12. v. 54. Mat. 16. Yee Hypocrites yee can discerne the face of the skie and of the earth how is it that yee cannot discerne the signes of the time His speech implies that their hypocrisy was the chiefe cause why they did not discerne the signes of the time Why they were so unrelentingly rebellious against God and man that they would take