words and thoughts and wayes and labour our sanctification and strive against sin we need not fear in the evil day holinesse is our dore mark and our forehead mark the destroying Angel shall passe over VERSE 9. And thy mighty men O Teman shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter 5. Their last hope is in the strength of their own mighty men this is addressed to Teman Which word as it signifieth the coast to which the Idumaeans lay from Jerusalem i.e. the east so it is the name of one of the Nephews of Esau Gen. 36.11 whose posterity inhabited a part of Arabia called also by his name He was the eldest son of Eliphaz the eldest son of Esau and under his name here the whole Nation of the Idumaeans is threatned And as the hope the Idumaeans had in the wisdome of their wise men faileth them for they have trusted to false friends and all their providence for their safety miscarrieth So shall they fail in the hope that they have in their own strong men for they shall not be able to preserve them from a finall destruction even so great that every one of the mount of Esau shall be cut off by slaughter Excellently is their judgment set forth for their confederates shall turne perfidious to them abroad and their strong men at home shall be dismayed Two things make wars advantagable to a Common-wealth Consilium fortitudo counsel and strength in the former verse God befools their wisdome in this he enfeebles their strength The reason is he hath decreed that every one of the mount of Esau shall be destroyed And when God turneth enemy neither head nor hand neither wisdome nor force can resist him David and his sling shall discomfit Goliah and his armour his sword and spear and admired strength The two little flocks of Israel the great armies of the Aramites It is worth our noting that God working by means and directing our operations so even in this work of overthrow threatned to Edom doth destroy them by disabling to them all the meanes of their safety as before he turneth the hearts of their friends against them He destroyeth the wisdome of their wise men and now he takes away all heart and courage from their strong men To teach us that all the outward means of safety are not sufficient to keep us from ruine except the Lord be on our side Therefore we pray Hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done And we acknowledge Thine is the Kingdome power and glory And this enforceth upon us the law of the first Table to have no other gods but one to give him outward worship to sanctifie his Sabbath not to abuse his name And this filleth us with faith saying Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem I beleeve in God c. For as David saith Domine quis similis tibi Lord who is like to thee There is no wisdome or strength not that which is in the god of this world the Prince that ruleth in the air but it is a beame of the heavenly light can God suffer any of his own gifts to be abused against him to turn edge and point against the author of them There is a time when God winketh at the outrage of the ungodly for the exercising of the patience of his servants but when he intendeth a cutting off by slaughter of his enemies in that day the Lord will be known to be God These things are written for our sakes for the enemies of our Church are here threatned to be cut off by slaughter even Antichrist the man of sin who sitteth in the place of God as God and is worshipped whom God shall scatter with the breath of his mouth that is by the power of his word preached and we have comfort against him that neither his wit nor his force shall prevaile against us We have two examples which I hope no time will ever forget to praise God for till the second coming of Jesus Christ The power of Antichrist was defeated in 88. when the Pope gave away the Kingdomes of England and Ireland to the King of Spaine who sent his Invincible Armado hither not as a Challenger but as a Conquerer to take possession of these Lands They had speciall revelations to assure their victory and the prayers of the Popish Church were all in armes against us But as it is in my text their mighty men were dismayed their strong Ships either sunk in the sea or well beaten or constrained to flie because God meant to cut them off by slaughter and the power of Spaine so weakned and the coffers of their treasure so emptied that nothing was more welcome to them then the newes of peace with England The wisdome of Rome had no better successe in the yeere 1605. for when some men of bloud the sons of Belial had layed a plot for the destruction of the whole Church and Common-wealth then in Parliament by powder We cannot deny but the Serpent put his best wits to the rack to stamp a devise with his own image and superscription never was there nequitia ingeniosior a more witty wickednesse then to bring so many precious lives to the mercie of one excutioner who had nothing to do but to put fire to the train Yet in the very act of preparation and the night before the intended execution God put fire to his own train layed for them and discovered things hidden in darknesse and cast them into the pit which he had digged for them and their wit and policie proved hanging and quartering to the conspirators and declared the Papist our secret enemies such whom we must carefully look to for if by strength or wit he can destroy the state of the Church and Common-wealth the mercies of his heart are so cruell that we can expect no favour That is now the cause why his Majesty intending a Parliament doth require so strict a survey of the land for the detection of all Popish Recusants as now is both by the Ecclesiasticall and Civill Magistrate urged For they have given us fair warning that if they can do any thing by wit or force they will abate nothing thereof to the prejudice of this Church But as the confounding of the wisdome of Edom and the disabling the strength of Edom did fore-run their fall so our faith is that Antichrist Gods enemy and ours hath now but a short time and every one of the mount of Esau of the City built upon the hills shall be cut off by slaughter The pride of their own hearts who think they have the keyes of heaven and of hell not only Peters keyes but Davids also who bear the world in hand that they can save or condemn shall deceive them The rock of their habitation shall prove to them like an undefenced City Their confederates and men of their peace that eat bread with them shall
upon the cheek bone Use 4 4. This teacheth us our duty before the War in the War and after the War 1. Before the War and in the War to joyn prayers with our prepatations and our attempts for God declared in the Wars of Israel with Amalck that Moses praying on the hill with Aaron and Hur and Joshua fighting belowe in the valley Exod 17. were both of them the forces of God And that prayers were the better fighting for when Moses ceased praying Amalek prevailed 2. After the War we are taught to whom to attribute the victory and good successe of the War that is to give the glory thereof to the Lord and so say with David The right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to passe So the daughter of Jephta came out with timbrels to meet her father and confest to her father Judg. 11.36 The Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies even of the chldren of Ammon Yet may we not herein smother the well deserving prowesse and valour of valiant Commanders and souldiers but give them their due honour so even the women meet Saul returning from the slaughter of the Philistines and they answered one another in their song saying Saul hath killed his thousands and David his ten thousands 1 Sam. 18 7. Doctr. 2 2. Whereas Israel saith to the Heathen Arise ye and let us arise making use of the power and strength of the Heathen against Edom we are taught that God doth use one evil man and one evil Nation to punish another The Lord did smite the Moabites by the Ammonites and took from them some part of their land Chedorlaomer maketh war against other kings and taketh away their substance The Midianiâ—â— were their own Conquerours The Lord set every ones sword against his fellow there wont all the host The children of Israel did call the Heathen here to them Jud. 7.22 they joyned in one war against Edom as if at this day Princes of the Popish Religion should joyn themselves with a Protestant Prince to maintain him in his Kingdom against the Emperour the Popes eldest son Is not this setting Egytians against Egyptians and defending the Church by the enemies of the Church Reason 1 The reason why God doth this is not for want of other strength for he is Lord of hosts but to declare him to be King and Lord over all he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth and in the sea and all deeps What doth more declare his absolute Soveraignty then his Power to whip and scourge the enemies of his Church by one another of them which is to make Sathan cast out Sathan This sheweth that Sathans kingdom is subordinate to the Kingdom of God there is but one Kingdom of which it may be truly said Et Imperijs ejus non est finis There is no end of his Kingdom Christ shall one day make this good when he shall have put down all his enemies for then he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God In the mean time the subjects of Sathans kingdom are the vassalls of God and Sathan himself shall be and is at his command to be the rod of God for execution of his wrath where he pleaseth Reason 2 2. God useth to punish the wicked to declare to the Church that there can be no true love but where there is love of the Truth onely true Religion doth unite the hearts of men and all that embrace not that want the bond of peace They may cry a confederacy and give one another the right hand of fellowship for a time but if God be not the knot of their union all other respects will come short of setling a constant concurrency We see this clearly in the vicissititudes of confederacies and wars amongst the enemies of true Religion temporall respects make their leagues temporall respects do again dissolve them The Uses of this point Use 1 This doth serve to reform our judgements and to settle our hearts in our great vexation for did not the foot of David almost slip when he saw the prosperity of the ungodly and compared it with the main and great troubles of the Church For seeing God doth make this use of them to be his sword marvell not that he keepeth his sword by his side that he keepeth it in a sheath that he keepeth it bright And David saith Deliver my soul from the wicked which in thy sword that is one cause why God rewardeth the wicked with some temporall favours Psa 17.13 because he maketh use of them to punish his enemies this is fully exprest For thus saith the Lord to the Prophet Son of man Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus Every head was made bald and every shoulder was peeled Ezech. 29 18.19 yet had he no mages nor the army for Tyrus that served against it therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold I will give the land of Egypt into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and he shall take her multitudes and take her spoils and take her prey and it shall be the wages for his army This may satisfie us that we grieve not at the prosperous estate of the wicked for God hath use of them and he will not let them serve him for nothing The elect of God have fairer hopes let them stay their stomack and let them wait the Lords leisure Use 2 2. We may see in this example in my text and in many more that God maketh use of the wicked in the behalf of his Church and therefore we must not give the glory of Gods justice to the means but to God The wicked know not what they do when they fight the battells of the Lord yet God doth put such mettall into them that they do most valiantly perform his will A full example hereof is The word of the Lord to Zedekiah king of Judah by his prophet Jeremiah Jer. 37.8 The Chaldaeans shall come again and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire Thus faith the Lord deceive not your selves saying The Chaldeans shall depart from us for they shall not depart For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men amongst them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire This must needs be the hand of the Lord and therefore the glory must be given to God onely the means are weak but the Lord is strong he alone must be exalted and all the glory of victory must be ascribed to him The Church may use the help of the Heathen and of Idolaters in the Lords battells for they are the sword of the Lord as you have heard Use 3 3. We are taught that though Israel and the Heathen do come together though the godly do use the
church with their best learned in points wherein the Jesuits at this day accuse us of Heresie Therefore one observed well that the Religion of Rome was like Nebuchadnezzars image the height of it was 60 cubits and the breadth was but 6 that is without any proportion for never could they make the parts of it symmetricall Therefore first we are comforted against all the enemies of our Religion their strength may be great and their malice greater but they cannot unite themselves with the bond of true Peace and the God of peace is not their tutelary God In the damnable conspiracy of the Powder-traytors God by one of themselves diverted the Treason I deny not but Turks have had many great prevailings against Christians Papists against Protestants and their confederates have held fast with them So had Moab and Ammon Geball the Assirians Philistines the Chaldeans against Israel But God found a time to consume these Nations by their own strength and their own confederates were the ruine of them We have heard that war is one of the sore judgements wherwith God scourgeth offendors At this time a great part of the Protestant Church is hostilly attempted with war we have many of our countrymen noble generous and valiant voluntiers engaged in that cause I hope we shall do a charitable Christian duty to God and them to pray God to cover their heads in the day of battaile to beseech him whom Job cals the preserver of men to save them from all evill Thou Lord preservest man beast do thou save them let their eye have its desire upon their enemies And for our selves we say O Lord be gratious unto us we have waited for thee be thou their arme every morning Isa 33.2 our Salvation also in the time of trouble God is called Lord of Hoasts and so he can master his enemies the stars in their courses by their influences the Elements fire as in Sodom ayre as in the Pestilence in Davids time water as in the deluge earth as in Corahs transgression to smite sinners He can punish man by Frogges by Flyes by Lice by Grasse-hoppers and such like armies of his Yet he chose to destroy the army of the Midianites by themselves rather then by any other means The Lord set every mans sword against his fellow throughout all the hoast Jud. 7.22 He could have employed other executioners to have done vengeance upon blaspheming Senacherib King of Assyria but he would shew that no bonds of society or nature can hold them together whom God hath not joyned Therefore it came to passe as he was worshipping in the house of Nisâ—ock his God Isa 37.38 that Adrameleck and Sharezer his sons smote him with a sword 2. We are therefore taught to unite our selves in the Lord by the bonds of â—ue love for all other bonds will be like the new cords wherewith Sampson was tied break in sunder and we shall cast them from us The great friendship that is made by bribes cannot be sincere for 1. The receiver of them knowes that his love is a dear penny worth to his friend it is not a gift but a perquisite and therfore he cannot call it sure 2. The giver knoweth his mony not his love made the friend and if this friendship bear him out of the hands of justice his conscience will still tell him that his money not his innocency acquitted him if this friendship prefer him his conscience within him will say that his money not his worthinesse hath advanced him Therefore the frienship thus made is not sincere But they whom Religion and the fear of God doth unite are of one heart and of one soule here is no lack of any thing Acts 4.32 if any of them may supply it the wounded man shall have both the oyle and wine of the Samaritane out of his vessels and the help of his hand and of his beast and of his word and of his purse Our Saviour Christ saith Go thou and do the like How can we say we are neighbours when we are so far from healing our brethrens wounds that we rather set them into a fresh bleeding and open them wider we rather make more in the whole and sound flesh we rather take away their oile and wine and beast and money wherewith they should help themselves and instead of putting them into an house we take their houses over their heads and expose them to stormes The God of peace sanctifie us throughout that his peace may knit us together in him Doctr. 4 Those who trust in men have no understanding Here on earth we do much value the wisdome and judgment of man by his choyce of adherence and dependance and we judge them unwise that addresse themselves to such as cannot either support them as they are or put them on farther But the word of the Lord saith there is no understanding in Edom to trust in man and the Psalmist Non relinquat hominem he adviseth Trust not in Princes nor in any son of man for there is no help in him God goeth farther in my text there is treason in him subducet auxilium super inducet exitium He will bring thee to thy uttermost borders and there he will leave thee Jun. reads Cujus vulneris non erit intelligentia as pointing out so great a plague upon Edom ut ipsam nequeat mens humana comprehendere nedum curare arte intelligentia Joannes Draconites readeth the text thus Ante proderis hostibus quà m animadvertas But the sense is easie God censureth them for fools that put their trust in man For God himself saith they commit two great evils They forsake God the Fountain of living waters Jer. 2.13 and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water The Philistims trusted in their great Champion Goliah 1 Sam. 17.10 and they desied the hoâ—st of Israel and despised David the Aramites sent Israel word that the dust of their land should not be enough to give every one of their Army an handfull 1 Reg. 20.10 The reason of this folly is the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that beleeve not 2 Cor. 4.4 for Satan worketh strongly in the children of disobedience he hath strong illusions for them to make them beleeve lies They that trust in lying vanity saith Jonah do forsake their own mercy It is a lying vanity to trust the false gods of the Heathen Deut. 32.38 God upbraideth the Apostate Jewes so Let them rise up and help you let them be a refuge It is a lying vanity to trust in any confederacie against God It is Gods woe Woe to the rebellious children that take counsell but not of me that cover with a covering but not of my spirit Isa 33.1 that they may adde sin unto sin That walk to go downe into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and
Ghost bringing but a part and affirming that they brought all For Peter saith to Ananias After it was sold Acts 5.4 was it not in thine own power Yet in that communication it was not lawfull for every man to take what he would Acts 5 35. but the Apostles distributed to every one according to their need Surely if Edom and the Chaldeans had had as good right to the City of Jerusalem and to the goods therein as Israel had God had not laid this for an evidence against Edom that he laid hand on their substance God is Lord of all and he hath given the earth to the sons of men yet not in common nor in equall distribution Here the rich and poor meet together Pro. 22. â— and the Lord is maker of them both The Apostle learnt how to abound and how to want and God giveth to the rich things necessary in possession as to owners thereof during his pleasure he giveth them things superfluous that their cup may run over to the relief of others as to his stewards put in trust to see that their brethren want not And there be two vertues commended in holy Scripture which make men Proprietaries in the things of this world that is Justitia qua suum cuique tribuis Justice whereby thou givest to every one his own Misericordia qua tuum and mercie whereby thou givest of thine own The Use of this point is Let every one know his own and not lay hand on the substance of his brother Eph 4 28. and let him that stole steale no more but let him labour not all for himself but that he may give to him that needeth that the poore may grow up with him as he did with Job and that none perish for want of meat and cloathing Godlinesse must be joyned with contentment the law doth not only bind the hand non furaberis thou shalt not steal but it bindeth the heart too non concupisces thou shalt not cover not his house not his ground not his wife not his servant not any thing of his There be many wayes of theft I am limited to that of violent taking away of our neighburs substance for that only is here named and judged and that is either directly by invasion or secretly practised by oppression Oppression like other sins putteth on the habit of vertue and passeth for good husbandry but all stopping of the Wels wherof Isacc and his cattel should drink is oppression and theft and whatsoever is saved from the poor by it is the treasure of wickednesse and the wise man telleth us Prov. 10.2 The treasures of wickednes profit nothing we shall see it clearer when we come to Gods revenge upon Edom for laying hand upon his brothers substance 3 They are charged with insidiation for life Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crosse-way to cut off those that did escape Verse 14. Edom divided himself against Israel some entring the City to rob and spoyle their goods and to destroy them that abode there others attended without the City to cut off them who to save their lives did escape out of the City The Chaldeans that came from farre to invade Jerusalem were not so well acquainted with the wayes and passages for escape neere to the City as the Edomites their brethren and neighbours were therefore that cruell office they take upon them to declare their full malice to Iacob and to make up a complete destruction The history of those times doth make this plaine And the City was broken up 2 Reg. 25. v. 4. and all the men of warre fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls which is by the Kings garden now the Chaldees were against the City round about and the King went the way toward the plain At that time the Edomite knowing the secret wayes mingled himself with the Chaldees to cut off such as escaped In this passage note Note 1 1. The miserable calamity of warre how it maketh desolations and filleth all places with blood no safety from invasion in the City and none from insidiation without the City 1. When you hear of these things thank God for the peace of the Common wealth in which you live reckon it amongst the great blessings of God that you are borne in a time of peace and live in peace every one under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree every one enjoying the comforts of life without the noyse of invasion no leading into captivity and no complaining in our streets 2. Let us also think of the wofull calamity of that part of the Church wherein we have so great a part so much of the best blood of this Land and Crown in danger of this cruelty and if either our persons or purses or our prayers to God may relieve them let us not spare to comfort their distresses as we would desire in like extremity to be comforted our selves 3. Let us learne to abhor the bloody religion of the scarlet Strumpet of Rome that maintaineth and abetteth these quarrels and kindleth those coales in Christendome which threaten conflagration 4. Let us observe all them that make contention and move the hearts of their brethren to schisme to alienate their affections from the peace of the Church lest this sire which beginneth but amongst thorns and brambles enflame the Cedars of our Libanus Note 2 2. See the afflictions of Iudah and Ierusalem and search the cause thereof Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah 2 Reg. 24.3 4. to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did And also for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon Have not we provoked the God of mercies to awake his justice against our Land Did ever pride put on more formes of costly vanity and shamelesse disguise then our eyes behold Did drunkennesse ever waste and consume more of the necessaries of life which many poor Christians want then now Were the Prophets and Ministers of the Word rebuking the vices of the times lesse hearkned to then in our dayes Was there ever a more curious search into mens estates and lands or more advantage taken or more new inventions to get wealth then we have heard of Was the Church at any time more rent with Schismes and maymed by defections and separations and the faithfull Ministers more opposed with contradictions and depraved by unjust calumniations by those that usurp the appearance of great professors then now Did knowledge ever swel and puffe men up more then now The times are foul and the crimes thereof are clamorous why then should not we expect Iudahs punishment that live in Iudahs sins O sin no more lest some worse evill fall on thee 1. Let us break off these sins by repentance and seek the Lord whilst he may be found and seeing the light
of his countenance shineth on us let us walke worthy of this light 2. Let us serve the Lord in fear and pray to God that the thoughts of our heart which are only evill continually may be forgiven us 3. Let us receive with meeknesse the word of truth and suffer it to be graffed in us that we may bring forth no longer our owne sins with the fruits of evill works but the fruits of the word 4. Let us pray that God would passe by our offences and establish us with grace and pluck up sin within us that root of bitternesse which bringeth forth corrupt fruits of disobedience that God would continue upon us the light of his countenance 5. Let us not flatter our selves and say none of these things shall come upon us because we have so long enjoyed the favours of God for Iudah where God put his Sanctuary and Sion where he made himself a dwelling was not spared The righteous Judge of the world is not such a one as we though he hold his peace a while our provocations may make him whet his sword and prepare against us instruments of death Observe the cruelty of the Edomite he not only joyneth in open hostility but in secret insidiation to cut off all root and branch all in a day he is implacable Such is the hatred of the Romish Church to ours did we not see it in the attempt in 88 for Invasion and possession did we not see the heart of Antichrist in the Powder Treason plotted to a perfect and full destruction Surely David had cause to pray to God let me not fall into the hands of man This is further declared in the next circumstance Neither shouldest thou have delivered those of his that remained in the day of distresse 4 Depopulation For if any remained whom neither the Invasion had met with in the City nor the insidiation without those the Edomite found out and delivered into the hands of their enemies Of those some fell off to the enemy others were carried away captives others of the poorer sort were left in the Land to serve the enemy there to be Vine-dressers and Husbandmen This is called sweeping with a Besome and wiping as one wipeth a dish Two things do aggravate this cruelty of Edom 1. against thy brother Iacob For a Turke to oppresse a Christian an Infidell a Believer is but a trespasse against humanity for Hebrews to strive and one Christian to afflict another woundeth Religion also The Papist calleth himself a Christian and pretendeth great love to Christ he is our unnaturall brother and he casteth us out by excommunication he hateth us in our affliction yet he saith let the Lord be glorified But for us to wound and smite one another of us Protestant against Protestant this is seven spirits worse then the former Brethren by Nation brethren by Religion should live as brethren by nature live as brethren and our father will be angry if we do not and the God of peace will fight against us 2. Another circumstance of time is much urged and it maketh weight for when was Edom so bloudy you shall see that in the time and you will say with Solomon that the mercies of the wicked are cruell Verse 11. In the day that strangers carried away captive his forces and forreiners entred into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem Ver. 12. In the day that thy brother became a stranger in the day of their destruction in the day of distresse Verse 13. Thrice named in the day of their calamity Verse 14. In the day of distresse 1. Observe in this how their cruelty is aggravated by the time the wofullest time that ever Ierusalem had called therefore the day of Ierusalem when all things conspired to make their sorrow full then in the anguish and fit of their mortall disease then did Edom arme his eye his tongue his heart his hand and joyne all those with the enemy against his brother 2. Observe that God taketh notice not only what we do one against another but when for he will set these things in order before thee for the God of mercie cannot abide cruelty To strengthen the hand of affliction and to put more weight to the burthens of them that be over-charged this is bloody cruelty as To oppresse the poor is alwayes abominable to God but to oppresse him in his tender and orphane infancie or in his feeble and decrepid age doubleth the offence To hinder the willing labourer from his labour at all times it is a crying sin and they are men of bloud that do so but in times of dearth or in times of his greatest expense to deprive him of his labour or his pay this God considereth for he knoweth wherof we are al made and he observeth our carriage towards one another of us VERSE 15 16. For the day of the Lord is neere upon all the heathen as thou hast done it shall be done to thee thy reward shall return upon thine own head 16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain so shall all the heathen drink continually yea they shall drinke and they shall swallow down and they shall be as though they had not been This is the fourth part of this Section containing Gods revenge upon Edom which is before threatned particularly against Edom. Ver. 2. Behold I have made thee small among the heathen thou art greatly despised And after further declared it despeiring all the hopes of Edom. 1. The pride of their heart 2. The strength of their confederacie 3. The strength of their situation 4. The hope of their wise men 5. They hope in their own strong men Yet further Ver. 10. He saith Shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever But now as Edom was not alone in that sin but joyned with others so are they all joyned together in the punishment The words are somewhat obscure For the day of the Lord he meaneth the day of vengeance to repay the violence done to his own people called the day of the Lord because God will shew himself who hath lyen concealed as it were all this while and been a looker on whilest his people did suffer punishment for their sins The time of Ierusalems chastisement was called the day of Ierusalem because their sins deserved that day to come upon them but the day of the heathen is here called the day of the Lord because now God doth awake as one out of sleepe and sheweth himselfe cleerly to his enemies This day the Prophet telleth them is now at hand and neere to them This is neere upon all the heathen Not only upon Edom but upon all those with whom Edom joyned himselfe against the people of God The Prophet Ieremie foretelling this day Jer. 25. nameth the heathen upon whom the wrath of the Lord was to come And the judgement is eye for eye tooth for tooth Lex talionis wherein he telleth her As thou hast done it
them contrition and sorrow for their sinne and a broken and contrite spirit God cannot refuse he will not discourage the contrite and sorrowfull but will have them to know that their groanings and sighes come up even into his eares He putteth all their teares in his bottle 2. Afflictions do turne the children of God into prayers and supplications and he will not neglect them that pray to him that they may see the power and vertue of prayer that upon all occasions they may prostrate their hearts before God in prayer God hath said of the just man He shall call upon me in trouble Psa 91.15 Hos 5.15 and I will heare him yes I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and glorifie him in their afflictions they will seek me diligently In the house of bondage he heard Israel Exo. 3.7 Then the Lord said I have surely seen the trouble of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry St Iames saith If any man among you be afflicted let him pray If that were not our comfort when all remedies faile us we were most unhappy for we can never be shut up so but we may send our prayers from us to heaven to plead our cause in the name of Iesus Christ 3 Sharp afflictions may be a strong temptation to make the children of God doubt of the love of God It was not lawfull for them in the judiciall Law to be immoderate in correction A trespasser might have forty stripes given him but not more lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes Deu. 25.3 then thy brother should seem vile unto thee God will not overdoe in his chastenings of his Church to prevent this danger lest his servant should think himselfe lost in the favour of God We see how David was put to it in this kind When his soar ran and ceased not his soule refused comfort yea once he complained My God my God why hast thou forsaken me yea he thought upon God and was troubled Therefore God doth carry a favourable hand in his afflictions to prevent the despaire of his children for he knoweth whereof we be made 4. Sharp afflictions may be an occasion to harden the heart of man and make himful away from God to sinne and that reason is given by the holy Psalmist For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous Psa 125.2 lest the righteous put forth their bands to iniquity Indeed some that have been well taught and do understand well and have lived in some measure of good life and walked conscionably when God hath tryed them with wants have fallen into snares and embraced temptations Magnum pauperies opprobrium jubes quidvis facere pati vircutisquâ— viâ—m deserit arduae Shifts fraudes secret stealths borrowings without meanes or hope of repayment c. The wise son of Iakeh prayed to God Give me not poverty lest I be poor and steale Pro. 30.9 and take the name of my God in vaine Extremity of paine in sicknesse and soarenesse is a great temptation two great lights in the Church of God were ecclipsed by it Iob the example of patience fell into bitter cursings of the do of his birth so did holy Jeremy the Lords Prophet To these respects God is tender and suffereth not his chosen to be tempâ—â—d above their strength but doth give issue to their temptations Yet sometimes he suffereth his Elect to see their owne weaknesse by some fall that when he putteth to his helping hand they may be more wary to keep a better watch upon their hearts Reason 3 3. God doth not suffer his Church to be forsaken in afflictions lest the enemies thereof should too much insult over them It is Davids suite to God Let them not say we have prevailed When Saul and Ionathan were dead David lamented them with great lamentation The beauty of Israel is slaine upon the high places how are the mighty fâ—llon 2 Sam. 1.19 20. Tâ—ll is not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncirâ—â—â—tised triumph For this addeth to the ungodlinesse of the wicked they grow proud upon it Let not their wicked imagination prosper lesâ— they grow too proud Reason 4 4. The afflictions of the Church when they do grow sharpe and smarting cause the ungodly of the earth to blaspheme the name of God It is not for nothing that David doth pray so earnestly Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake Ps 143.11 for thy righteousnesse sake bring my soule out of trouble The ungodly Iewes and Romanes standing by the Crosse of Christ did speake contemptibly of God and took his name in vaine in derision of his son It is the manner of the ungodly to blaspheme if once they prevaile against the Church then the God they serve is thought unable to protect them and the Religion that they professe is scandalized for untruth These be great reasons why God doth not forsake his Church in affliction but giveth them a heavenly issue out of them This point teacheth its own use for it serveth both to 1. Informe 2 Convince 3 Exhort 4 Rebuke 1 Information This is a sure and infallible rule That whom God once loveth he ever loveth as he saith I will never leave thee nor forsake thee for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance his love is himselfe and he cannot deny himselfe he hath given us to his son Rom. 8 35 and of them that thou hast given me saith he I have lost none and no man can take them out of my hand What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus he nameth the greatest miseries of life Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors Cant. 2.4 through him that loved us The love of God to his Church is a banner over it 2 Conviction This Doctrine convinceth the Heathen who deny that there is a any Providence because the best men drinke deepest of the cup of affliction which maketh the profane say It is in vaine to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts Mal. 3.14 True that they who make conscience of their wayes are despised their soule is filled with the scorne of the proud True Ver. 25. that they that worke wickednesse are set up and they that tempt God are delivered but the Elect say for thy sake we are killed all the day long Yet the comfort that the just have in their affliction doth assure that verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth the earth And though for a time the wicked insult over the just the day will come
for the graces of God already bestowed prayer for the continuance and encrease of them this is the worship which is immediately directed by Christ to himselfe and for himselfe onely that is for his glory And in this the Holy Ghost helpeth our infirmities for being the greatest duty of Christian worship we cannot without great help performe it and great help we have the whole Trinity joyning with us The Holy Ghost in conceiving and uttering our prayers and putting life into them The Son in carrying them up to the Father And the Father in receiving of them Pray continually in all things give thanks 2. God performeth this mercy of deliverance to his Church first and then there shall be holinesse God is ever before hand and he would have us know that our holinesse is rather a fruit and effect of his deliverance then a cause of it procuring or meriting it And so the Lords deliverance of us is a free as well as a full favour it is no wages for our work as the Church of Rome doth not only erroniously but blasphemously teach So doth Zachary confesse ut liberati a manibus inimicorum festiamus ei that being delivered from the hands of our enemies c. not us servientes liberemur not that sâ—rving we should be delivered ut liberandi serviamus but he doth all his favours for us to winne us to his service The Church of God was punished for not serving of him as it should and now it is restored to her owne possessions that it may serve him hereafter in holinesse It is an excellent use that we make of the good favours of God when they make us the more holy and the more carefull to serve him But now being made free from sin Rom. 6.22 and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life 1 Delivered and made free from sin 2 Then our fruit unto holinesse 3 And then everlasting life 1 This deliverance a motive to holinesse 2 This holinesse a fruit of our deliverance 3 This Everlasting life a reward of our holinesse It is a great signe that God is not with us when his favours do corrupt us as when our knowledge doth beget in us spirituall pride and our riches and temporall preferments bring forth carnall pride when the many affaires of the world doe make us neglect the Church service or break Gods Sabbath which ought to be religiously consecrated to Gods worship and when any temporall happinesse doth worke in us any relaxation of the service of God for the true sanctification of all these doth consist in this that we do make them motives and provocations to holinesse This doth make holinesse our chiefest study and care because God in the promise of restoring Israel to his possessions doth not say then shall be outward peace and prosperity and wealth and ease but then there shall be holinesse as the proper fruit of Gods favours for peace and health and plenty may be lost againe but holinesse cannot be lost because that is a worke of the Holy Ghost in us which cannot perish for that spirit shall abide in the Church for ever This doth also shew whereby we may settle our possessions to us namely by embracing of holinesse for the enemy hath no power against as so long as we be holy and when Israel shall see that their unholinesse was their sinne God restoring them they shall make conscience of sinning any more least some worse judgement overtake them For God doth promise to restore Religion and his holyworship which is the only safety of his people which whilest they formerly corrupted they brought upon themselues deportation ruine upon their City and fire upon the Sanctuary of God You see all the earnestnesse of holy Scripture to perswade us to holinesse doth aime at our owne safety and God for our owne good perswadeth it for what good will our holinesse do him or what do we hurt him if we be unrighteousse our well-doing extendeth not to him to adde any thing to him our il-doing is no prejudice to him the benefit of our holinesse redoundeth to our selves and thy word that teacheth it is given to profit us withall God give us all grace to make a right and profitable use therof to his glory Amen VERSE 18. And the House of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Ioseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubâ—lâ— and they shall kindle in them and devoure them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it 19. And they of the South shall possesse the Mount of Esau and they of the plaine The Philistines and they shall possesse the fuldes of Ephraim and the fulds of Samaria and Benjamin shall pâ—ssesse Gilead 20. And the Captivity of this Host of the Children of Israel shall possesse that of the Canaanites even unto Zarephah and the Captivity of Ierusalem which is in Sepharad shall possesse the Cities of the South 2. Their victories These are exprest two wayes 1 In the conquest of their enemies 2 In the dilatation of their kingdome by taking in their possessions The Kingdome of Israel in Ieroboams time was divided into two Kingdomes Iudah and Israel and the Kingdome of Iudah is here called the house of Iacob the kingdome of Israel is called the house of Ioseph and these two are promised this victory There were also two Captivities The Israelites were carried away captives by Salmanazar Iudah by Nebuchadnezar God promiseth that fire shall go out from those to consume Esau utterly till there be none of them remaining He promiseth them also victory over the Philistines their ancient enemies so that Ephraines portion shall come againe to them and Samaria wherein the King of Assyria having removed the Inhabitants thereof and led them Captives into his land and setled Assyrians in the possessions of their land that shall be recovered from them And Benjamin confining upon enemies should have quiet possession of Gilead This victory with the extent of their Kingdome here promised doth shew that the people after their returne shall have more room more glory and power then they had before their deportation From whence these comfortable Doctrines do arise 1 That the afflictions of the Church do turne to their greater good 2 That God punisheth the enemies of his Church even by those against whom they have prevailed 3 That the Church hath good warrant to settle their faith in this assurance for the Lord hath spoken it 1. The afflictions of the Church turne to their greater good And here a double benefit is exprest 1 Spirituall good he will endue them with holinesse 1 Of restitution 2 Of Dilatation 2 A Temporall 1 Of the spirituall good So David said It is good for me that I was afflicted for now I learne thy Statutes afflictions have their good uses for though afflictions for the time seeme grievous in the bearing thereof yet they
sate there before the Lord and fasted that day untill even and offered burat offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. Then they enquired of the Lord for there was the Arke and there was Phineas the sonne of Eleazer the sâ—nne of Aarâ—n standing And they said shall I yet go again to battaile against the children of Benjamin my brother or shall I cease And then God promised them victory It may be that they offended in the two first dayes in their preparation they were not enough humbled before the Lord or in the manner of their consultation with God But I must tell you plainely all these are the conjectures of some learned judgements concerning this question God hath left no accompt to us of his proceedings therein Neither hath he done the like in the example in my Text why he punisheth all the heathen for smiting Ierusalem seeing himselfe set them a worke Vse Therefore let not our prevailings against our brethren swell us up with pride making us presume that we have God our friend because we have had the upper hand of our enemies for God may punish our brethen and make us his rod to whip others and he may burne the rod when he hath done with it This is one of Gods strange workes that he doth upon earth he foretelleth one of them by his Prophet Habakuk and saith Behold ye among the beathen and wonder marvellously for I will worke a worke in your dayes Hab. 1.5 which you will not beleeve though it be told you and what is that For lo I raise up the Caldeans that bitter and hasty Nation which shall march through the breadth of the Land to possesse the dwelling places that are not theirs They are terrible and dreadfull their judgement and their diguity shall proceed of themselves Their horses also are swifter then the Leopards and are more fierce then the evening wolves c. These are sent of God and they prevaile and when they have done they thanke their owne god for the victory But the Church is comforted against them O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement thou hast established them for correction Therefore the example of Israel having overcome Benjamin in the former story is excellent for when they had conquered their brother they did not say in triumph we have prevailed nor bragged of their victory But the people having fulfilled the will of God in that warre Came to the house of God Jud. 21.2 and abode there till even before God and lift up their voyces and wept sore They were sorry that God had used their sword and arme to their brother 4 The equity of this judgement As thou hast done it shall be done to thee thy reward shall returne upon thine owne head ver 15. The law of nature written in our hearts is Do as thou wouldest be done to For Aristotles abrasa tabula is not true Divinity Seeing the heathen will not do this the justice of God putteth it upon them They shall be done to as they doe Of this point see before 5 The Contents of this judgement They shall drinke yea they shall drinke and swallow downe and they shall be as though they had not been The old heathen had a fashion of capitall punishment by death to give the offender a potion of poison to drinke The Prophet here speaketh of the punishment of Edom and the Heathen in that very phrase alluding to that of David Vpon the wicked he shall raine snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest Psa 11.6 Psa 63. that shall be the portion of their cup. And Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made us to drinke of the wine of astonishment this is the Cup that David speaketh of For in the hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the wine iâ— red it is full of mixture Psa 75.8 and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drinke them Wine immoderately drunken doth set the body on fire it infatuateth the braine it maketh the parts of the body uselesse that neither head nor hand nor foot can doe their severall offices Drunkennesse is such a disabling to man that God hath chosen to expresse the severity of his wrath in the similitude of drunkennesse and the Prophet Jeremie hath used the very phrases thereof upon like occasion Take the wine of this cup of my fury at my hand and cause all the Nations to whom I send thee to drink it Jer. 25.15 16. And they shall drinke and be moved and be mad Yet more fully 27. Drinke ye and be drunken and spue and fall and rise no more Let drunkards behold themselves in this glasse and see how loathsome and how dangerous a sin they sin Every cup they drink immoderately is a cup of Gods wrath every Health they drink drunkenly is a disease even unto death drunkennesse maketh men the emblems of Gods indignation the very Images and pictures of divine vengeance In this phrase God often in Scripture doth expresse his judgement and his fury and vengeance against evil doers Therefore Be not drunke with wine wherein is excesse I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you would do no more so if any of you have by occasion been overtaken with that Epidemicall and popular fault do no more so wickedly sin not against your own bodies Morbus est it s a disease sin not against your good name it is a foule blemish to be called a drunkard they that are so are very impatient of that name Sin not against Gods creatures they were given us for use and service not that we abusing them should become servants to them and be overcome of them Sinne not against your brethren by evil example or by tempting them to this sin Above all God forbid that you should do this great wickednesse and so sin against your God You see he can and and will set you a drinking off his cup and he will make you doffe it as you call it and do him right to drink all even to the bottom till you fall and rise no more till as my Text saith You be as though you had not been The phrase of my Text hath carryed me thus far out of my way but I must do so if I will meet with drunkards for they are so brain-crased that they cannot keep the right way I return to the contents of this judgement thus exprest in the phrase of drinking Thâ—se Nations have filled the cup of affliction full for Jerusalem and Jerusalem hath drunk deep thereof now God will change the object of his fury he will take away his cup from the Church and he will give it to her enemies as Isaiah hath sweetly and fully declared it to the great griefe of the Nations the great joy of the Church 21 Heare thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine 22. Thus saith the
Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drinke it againe 23. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee which have said to thy soule bow down that we may go over and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over This calleth to my remembrance the word of the Apostle St. Peter For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Peâ— 4.17 and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospell of God When God sent destroyers into Ierusalem their commission was Ezek. 9.6 Slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women It followeth And begin at my Sanctuary The first cruelty that was executed on earth that is upon record was upon just Abel and the first death we read of was a violent death The first that suffered in Sodom any notable affliction was righteous Lot For he lived in much tribulation vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked â— Pet. 2.7 For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds After that cruell execution done upon our Saviour Christ by the Jewes and Romanes God sent his judgements abroad into the world but he began at his own Sanctuary the first that suffered was Steven then Iames the brother of Iohn the Apostles all but one suffered martyrdome the Church lived in persecution then God punished the Jewes by the Romanes and after that the Romanes lost their Monarchy The difference of their drinking was 1. The Church drinketh first and tasteth of the cup of wrath as Christ said to the sons of Zebedee Ye shall drink of the cup whereof I drink and be baptized with the Baptisme that I am baptized withall They drink some of the uppermost of the cup. 2. God punished them for a time but he took not his mercy utterly from them The Church have an end of their afflictions but the next point declareth the severity of God against the enemy Nations 5. The duration Continually This sometimes holdeth in temporall afflictions if Gods curse be upon Canaan Israel shall have their Land and they shall have charge to root them out and to destroy them utterly God remembreth what Amalek did to Israel The Lord hath sworne that he will have war with Amalek from generation to generation The face of the Lord is against them that do evill to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth These carry their destruction about them for evill shall slay the wicked malum culpae the evill of sin that infecteth them shall be malum poenae to punish and torment them The reason hereof is for where God once hateth he ever hateth He hath once said I have hated Esau let the blessing of his father feed him with the fat of the earth let his habitation be in the rock let his neighbour Nations make leagues and confederation with him let him have all the purchase of his sword for a time the right hand of God shall finde him out and not leave smiting him till he be utterly destroyed so he is threatned before His very hidden things shall be sought out the decrees of God be like himself without variablenesse or shadow of change God hath ever given great way to the intercessions of his Saints they have so farre prevailed that Abraham praying for Sodom gave over asking before God gave over yeelding to his Petition God hath shewed much favour to evill places for some few righteouâ— persons sakes that have been there But when he cometh to execute judgment once upon a place he saith three times in one chapt Though Noah Ezech. 14. Daniel and Job were in that place they should deliver but their own soules by their righteousnesse but they should deliver neither son nor daughter Therefore the word of God is not sent in the Ministry of his servants to convert reprobates that cannot be they cannot be converted and if God had revealed to us whom he hateth we might save a labour of preaching to them in hope of their conversion But the use of preaching and prayer is for such as are already in the Church to confirme the brethren and to build them up further for those sheep which are without to bring them to the fold for Christ saith he hath other sheep which are not yet of his fold and them he must bring to it And when you read of so many added to the Church it was not out of the number of reprobates but out of the number of Gods chosen who were before uncalled This is a secret which God concealeth within the closet of his own wisdome The Lord knoweth who are his Let the elect of God rest in this if the wicked of the earth that live in all kind of ungodlinesse be in the decree of his election they cannot miscarry though they hold out as the thiefe did till they come to the crosse to die Therefore let us despaire of no mans salvation amongst us But if the decree of Gods hatred be setled upon them there is no hope for Christ the remedy of sin undertaketh for no more then the Father hath given to him These howsoever they prosper on earth in things temporall they have drank a draught of deadly wine that ever riseth up in them and upbraideth them for God hath spoken it Nulla pax impio there is no peace to the wicked But he is like the raging of the unquiet sea ever foming out mire and dirt for a reprobate man dare not trust God 2. But if we come to the after reckoning in the day of judgement there can be no end of the woe of them whom God hateth their worm of conscience never dieth their fire of torment never is quenched There have been some whom Saint Augustine doth call Misericordes illos that have beleeved and affirmed 1. Some of them that the damned Devils and all after some long time of sharp punishment shall be received into favour De civ 21.17 these make hell but a Purgatory 2. Others say True that they shall be damned to everlasting pains but Donabit eas Deus precibus intercessionibus sanctorum suorum Cap. 18. The illusion that deceiveth them is this Non credendum est tunc amissuros sanctos viscera misericordiae cum fuerint plenissimae ac perfectissimae sanctitatis at qui tunc orabant pro inimicis quando ipsi sine peccato non erant tunc non orent pro supplicibus suis quando nullum caeperint habere peccatum And supposing that the Saints will pray to God for them he inferreth An vero Deus tunc eos non exaudiet tot tales filios suos quando in