eare O earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children but they have rebelled against me the Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters cribb but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider ah sinnefull Nation a people laden with iniquity c. chap. 1. ver 2 3 4. Now since the Prophet the people and God himselfe so expresly put together the cause and the effect sinne and punishment and that the punishment expressed in the question sinne is implied in the Answer for not to know and acknowledge God as God is a sinne as sure as well as a folly we must first observe the Malignant operation of sinne in procuring punishment upon a people and it is doctrinely or historically so universally diffused throughout the whole Bible from Gen. 2.17 to Revelations 22.19 that besides the testimonies alleadged there will be no need of farther proofe from divine Authority to confirme it though some parts of it doe more fully cleare and presse this point then others doe as the 26. of Levit. the 28. of Deut. the Lament of Ieremy And for them who never read a leafe of these divine Dictates as they have by the light of nature discerned a great difference betwixt Vertue and Vice as their Bookes of Ethicks or morall Philosophy sufficiently shew so have their consciences cheared them up in well doing and checked them for evill Rom. 2.15 and by the same light they have apprehended “ Ammian Marcelli an Heathen Souldier observeth the just judgement of the Almighty-powers in punishing Maximinus and other bloody butchers Marcel hist l. 25. c. 5. See also the discourse in Plutarchs Moralls de Sera numinis vindicta a divine Judge or Justiciarie observing the minds and wayes of wicked men and imprinting his displeasure upon them in outward plagues and have thence inferred their duty to addresse themselves unto him in supplications and other meanes of pacification of his anger as the Mariners in whose Ship Ionah would have sayled to Tharshish shewed by their inquiry by Lotts for the guilty person who was the cause of the Tempest Ionah cap. 1. ver 5 7. and by the continuall practice of the Heathens in sacrifices to the gods they served acknowledging sinne to be the cause of their common calamities and offering them up for pacification of an offended Deity I need not then spend time either in clearing of this observation by examples or assuring it by Authorities and reasons nor will it be necessary to bring downe the generall guilt and hurt of sinne by shewing how troublesome a thing it is in breaking peace betwixt God and man Lament 2. ver 4 5 6 7 8. and 17.21 chap. 3. ver 3 5. and 15. chap. 4.11 Esay 57.20 a man and his owne conscience and betwixt Man and Man in Forraine and Civill Warre Hab. 1.8 Esa 19.2 this I doubt not is done to mine hand already neither is there cause I should be copious in application of it to your consciences since some of my reverend Bretheren I conceive who have had precedence before me in this place have anticipated the delivery of this doctrine and driven it home to your hearts All I conceive requisite for this point at this time will be to make a briefe Application of it to our present state and so to proceed to the other point of the folly of sinne and sinners which I suppose hath been lesse insisted on by any though it be not lesse worthy of prosecution at large nor will be lesse profitable to those that give due attendance unto it First then for the present point the guilt of sinne being expressely shewed by this answer of God to be the cause of all the evill which was so grievous to the Prophet It is our parts what tribulation soever light upon us to give God the glory of his Justice without murmuring at any thing he doth or we suffer under his correcting hand and to make a free confession of our sinnes without mincing as Dan. 9. the holy Prophet having a joint apprehension of the peoples provocation of God by their sinnes and of Gods indignation against them expressed in his punishment of them for that cause maketh his confession to God in this manner We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled the abundant hatred of sinne in his heart made him so full in the mouth with multiplication of words of the same sence for the aggravation and detestation of sinne yet he goeth on we have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements ver 5. and then he cometh to the cause whereby they came to such a guilt of sinne it was from their refusall of their guidance whom God had sent to leade them in the right way and how could they but wander when they forsooke the light neither have we harkened saith he unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy Name to our Kings our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the land ver 6. he spareth no person great or meane past or present ver 6. Because of all this hee taketh both the sinne and the shame upon himselfe and his Countreymen and giveth God the due glory of his owne Justice in their punishment O Lord Righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us shame and confusion of face as at this day because of their trespasse that they have trespassed against thee ver 7. And from this generality of sinners and sinnes to descend to a search of particulars in both both for every man that sinneth and every sinne that he committeth and then if we looke back upon our precedent carriage towards God and his present dealing towards us we may have cause to conceive not only that the burden of our sinnes in common have pressed him even as a Cart is pressed with Sheaves Amos 2. ver 13. and that he hath great cause in the generall to ease himselfe by diseasing them who overloaded him with such a wicked weight as he saith he will doe Ah I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Esa 1.24 But withall that there be some sins in particular more provocative then others which spurre on vengeance to a swifter pace and those were come to some height in our State before these calamities which many have felt and all have feared came downe upon us and chiefely these three First Idolatry Secondly Prophanation of the Sabboth Thirdly Contempt of Gods most faithfull servants and then wee shall proceed to a confutation of the misconceits of the wicked touching the cause of calamity and so conclude with an apology for the godly First For Idolatry I will not tell you of my selfe how much it hath increased in a few years before the summons of the Honourable Senate now assembled you may receive information for that See Ord p. 143 144. by better warrant then any private or particular intelligencer can
unreconcileable quarrell against us and all our fellow Professours of the same faith And what they have determined for the destruction of us all It is worthy the notice of those that have not read it in the Irish Remonstrance and of their remembrance that have read it what order they have agreed upon for our confusion which is this First They have resolved to extirpate all the English out of Ireland as hath been shewed ¶ Irish Remonstrance p. 31. That Kingdome setled and peopled only with sound Catholikes it is their title not mine for in very truth they are neither sound nor Catholike Thirty thousand men must be sent into England to joyne with the French and Spanish forces and the service they should say the Sacrifice for they meane a slaughter of the English in England performed then they will joyntly fall upon Scotland for the reducing of that Kingdome to the obedience of the Pope which being finished they have engaged themselves to the King of Spaine for assisting him against the Hollanders that was their plot discovered by examination taken upon Oath There is then more cause that England Scotland and the Netherlands should be united in a league of mutuall defence then that we of this Kingdome should first breake asunder by division and then breake in upon each other with enraged violence For if all the crafty Counsels of Spaine of the Conclave of the Pope and Cardinals of the Congregations of Iesuites and other Assemblies of pestilent Polititians our sworne Enemies should lay their heads together for an undoing device against us they could not imagne any one more dangerous and desperate then that which we are now acting upon our selves The Lord open the eyes and turne the hearts of those in whose power it is to found a Retreat to this Martiall fury That English valour may be diverted from the ruine of England to the recovery of Ireland or if the Sword of warre must be the Sword of divine Justice to avenge the quarrell of thy Covenant against a rebellious people Let it O Lord we beseech thee doe most execution upon thine obdurate enemies and sway thou the victory upon their side whose cause and persons have better title to thine Almighty protection Thus farre of the Question How long shall I see c. as importing the Prophets strong apprehension of and vehement aversion from the evill of warre Now of the Answer For my people is foolish they have not knowne me they are sottish children they have none understanding they are wise to doe evill but to doe good they have no knowledge They neither know God nor acknowledge or glorifie him as God but set their wits on worke for wickednesse therin having a kind of cunning which the unwise world calleth wisdome while they remaine ignorant inconsiderate dull and stupid towards the doing of good The words are considerable 1. In generall 2. In particular In generall they containe two parts 1. An Accusation My people are c. 2. An Exception They are wise to do evill Under the accusation are comprehended two points of Importance The one expressed The other implied that which is expressed is the cause of the calamities fore-mentioned For my people or because my people is foolish c. And that will direct us to a two-fold Observation First The one of the Malignant operations of sin in procuring heavy punishments upon a people 2. The other the disgracefull denomination of sinners or the contemptible titles given unto them as foolish sottish without knowledge or understanding The particular implied is the continuance of sin for the Question being expressely made of the continuance How long and implicitely of the cause the answer is satisfactory to both shewing not only why the people are plagued but that so long they shall be plagued untill they be reformed untill the cause of their sinfull folly be removed they shall not or not in mercy be eased of their misery as long as they be so bad in their disposition towards God they must looke for no better a condition from God First For the cause in the 18. verse the Indictment against them is framed under other titles Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this thy wickednesse because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart So likewise in the Lamentation of Ieremy Ierusalem saith the Prophet hath grievously sinned therefore shee is removed Chap. 1. ver 8. And that it is not the peculiar case of Ierusalem he sheweth in more generall tearmes Wherefore doth living man complaine and man for the punishment of his sinnes Lam. 3.39 or as the Geneva hath it Wherefore is the living man sorrowfull He suffereth for his sinnes And Ierusalem her selfe as if she made answer to some such Question as this pleadeth not any excuse of her ignorance but cleareth Gods Justice and freely and fully taketh the Accusation of her sinnes upon her selfe The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandements Chapt. 1. ver 18. We have transgressed and thou hast not pardoned Chap. 3.42 Which is not to be understood of the people only but with them of the Prophets and the Priests for the sins of her Prophets and the iniquity of her Priests did Jerusalems misery come upon her Chap. 4.12 for the Prophets prophecied falsly and the Priests bare rule by their meanes Jer. 5.31 And they ruled with bloudy and unrighteous rigour For they shed the blood of the Iust in the midst of Jerusalem Chapt. 4. ver 13. And in the 30. Chapter God emphatically avoweth his owne Justice against their wickednesse in these words I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy with the chastisement of a cruell one for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sinnes were increased Why criest thou for thine afflictions Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sins were inereased I have done these things unto thee ver 14 15. So that we must not take this Text though it impute ignorance unto these Jewes to import any extenuation of their transgressions which may serve to excuse them either a toto or a tanto as sometimes ignorance is pleaded by way of argument or inducement to compassion and pardon as it is by God himselfe in the Prophecie of Ionah Should I not spare Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discerne betweene their right and their left hand and also much Cattell and by our Saviour Father forgive them they know not what they doe Luk. 23.34 and as S. Paul giveth instance in his own case I was before a blasphemer and a persecutour and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbeleefe 1 Tim. 1.13 for such ignorance was partly inevitable partly involuntary but this was neither and therefore it is urged rather by way of aggravation to augment their guilt as in the first of Esay Heare O ye Heavens and give
the Godly that we may conclude this point with their just Apology by their interest in Christ which gives them right to the enjoyment of all good things 1 Cor. 3.22 23. are the meanes of much happinesse to any State or Kingdome and for their sakes doe the wicked enjoy the benefit of light and heate of fruits of the earth and riches of the Sea plenty and peace and all the comforts of this life and by the sincerity and importunity of their supplications are the plagues God sends among men either remitted or removed and sometimes the greatest crosses converted into blessings But when they dye it is many times like Sampsons pulling downe the pillars of the house with him Iudg. 16.29 30. their prayers and acceptation of their persons with God being as the props on which a Temporall prosperity is supported and they leave a Kingdome destitute of defence for they are as Elisha said of Elijah the Chariots of Israel and the Horse-men thereof 2 King 2.12 and therefore woe unto the wicked when God takes the godly away from them while Lot was in Sodome the City was safe though prodigiously sinfull Gen. 19. for God was so gratious to him as to say he could doe nothing against the Sodomites untill Lot had taken sanctuary in the City of Zoar ver 22. but when he was departed from them a showre of Brimstone was powred downe upon them ver 24. And at the finall consummation of all things so it shall be with all the godly and wicked of the world when the number of the elect is fully made up and all the wheat for Gods Store-house growne full ripe the Tares that were mingled with it shall be bundled up for burning after the fanning of his floore by Christ whereby the solid graine and light chaffe are severed that shall be first gathered into his garner and then this burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 3.12 and when the Sheepe and the Goates are separated the one on the right hand of the Iudge the other on the left and the Sheepe invited and admitted to his society with Come ye blessed of my Father c. Mat. 25.34 the Goates shall be presently cast off with Depart ye oursed ver 44. Therefore if they were so wise as to know their friends and Benefactours they would endeere themselves in their society as Ruth did in Naomie's when she said Intreat me not to leave thee nor to returne from following after thee for whither thou goest I will goe and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord doe so unto me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Ruth 1.16 17. But my Text saith they are foolish and sottish children they have none understanding So their folly is now in it's proper place to be considered and from the Malignant operation of sinne procuring plagues upon a people we may now come to the disgracefull denomination of sinners Where we shall principally observe the connexion of sinne and folly for their sinne is rendred as a cause of their suffering the calamities of Warre but under the name and notion of ignorance folly and sottishnesse and being bound in dutie and conscience both to know God and glorifie him as God their not knowing of him and aversenesse from him was their sinne for otherwise it would not make them worthy of Gods wrath as Ierem. 11.25 so that sinne and folly be associates for where sinne is there is folly as Abigail said of Nabal to David Let not my Lord regard this man of Beliall even Nabal for as his name is so is hee Nabal is his name and folly is with him 1 Sam. 25.25 She entitles him two wayes First by a Periphrasis Man of Beliall Secondly by his proper name Nabal The word Beliall signifieth one that is nothing worth starke naught yea the worst of wicked ones even the Devill is called Belial 1 Cor. 6.15 And for his other which is his proper name Nabal it signifieth first a saplesse and unprofitable thing as a drie leafe fallen from a Tree which hath no moisture in it and then it is taken for an unprofitable person and for a Foole and a wicked man and both in * Some fetch the affinity of folly and sinne from Cains dwelling place the Land of Nod. Gen. 4.16 calling a wicked man Nodite a Cainite that is one of Cains condition or one that as Iude speaketh goeth in the way of Caine therefore a Foole Noddy or Nodite a fit man to be an inhabitant of that Countrey where he dwelt but we need not looke so farre back for affinity betwixt folly and sin for the word rendered foolish in my Text and so used and transtated Zach 11 1â— is the same with â—uâ— wonted word for a wicked man or wicked one to wit the word evill for that word is both Hebrew and English and it signifieth not only foolish and ignorant but rash and froward from the word Nabal may come the Latine Nobulo which as the word Nabal may note a Knave and a fool the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 folly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinne differ but a letter and it is like our English word Foole was derived of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked one Hebrew Greeke Latine and English there is a cognation of Names which notes the concurrence of folly and sinne in the same subject So Abigail made the application forementioned and as if they were not onely inmates in the same person but Twinnes of the same birth they are both of one age of one stature if sinne be bigge like a Giant folly is not little like a dwarfe according to the degrees of the one is the growth of the other as we may observe by the confession of David I have sinned greatly saith he in that I have done and presently after I have done very foolishly 2 Sam. 24.10 great sin and great folly goe together and so a very wicked man is a very foole In prosecution of this point I looke for a paradoxall prejudice to oppose me for there are many that strongly believe there is more affinity betwixt folly and piety then betwixt folly and sinne I shall therefore hold my selfe obliged in discretion more cleerely and fully to set forth the folly of sinne and the more firmely to assure and prove it and that by a double light the one of Scripture the other of Nature so that if a man have either of the eyes of his soule open the eye of Faith as a Christian or the eye of Reason as a man he shall easily discerne it First for Scripture they that reade it and marke it cannot but observe in the holy dialect thereof that where folly is spoken of or any of the denominatives of it which are to be found above an hundred times there for the most part a
wicked man or wickednesse is meant To present you with some passages for instance as with a little poesie of flowers culled out of a large and fruitfull garden In the Booke of Deut Moses complaining first of the people then to them exchangeth both the person and the phrase thus they have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of my children they are a perverse and crooked generation Deut. 32.5 and the next words are Doe yee thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise ver 6. a corrupt spotted perverse and crooked people which are fit Titles for a wicked people is a foolish and unwise people So David varying his Title but keeping to the same subject Psal 73. saith I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked ver 3. he might as well have said I was envious at the wicked when I saw the prosperity of the foolish for he meanes the same men and the same vice by both appellations and in his owne case he passeth sentence on himselfe in the like disgracefull language Psal 38. Mine iniquities are gone over my head saith he as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me my wounds stinke and are corrupt because of my foolishnesse ver 5. the same cause is conteined by turnes in two termes as the same sand of the Houre-glasse in two bottles thus is finfull simplicity or foolishnesse simply condemned and it is aggravated by way of comparison where a wicked man is set to Schoole to and shewed to be more ignorant then an Oxe or an Asse Esa 1.3 then a Storke Ier. 8.7 then the Pismire Pro. 6.6 In the Proverbs of Solomon the nomenclature or phrase of the affinity betwixt sinne and folly is too samiliar to require quotations out of them and now as in the mid-way betwixt Religion and Reason and in our passage from the one to the other we may take a testimony or two out of the Booke of Ecclesiasticus which is a kind of Participle of Scripture Divinity and Morall Philosophy and so we use it not as for a proofe or assurance of Faith for no humane Dictates as that is have place on the Tribunall of infallible Truth but onely at the Barre of rationall Evidence which yet in this cometh neerer demonstrative conviction then topicall probability the wise Authour of that Booke speaking of the sinner saith hee shall be left to his foolishnesse Ecclesiasticus 23.8 and in the 16th Chapter he that is God saith he was not pacified towards the old Giants who fell away in the strength of their foolishnesse ver 7. he might have said in his sense in the strength of their wickednesse for their sinnes were like themselves Giant-like or mighty sinnes as the Prophet Amos gives the Epithite Chap. 5.12 and their foolishnesse was equall to their sinnes mighty or strong foolishnesse and speaking of a very wise Father and of a very foolish Sonne Solomon and Rehoboam his words are Solomon rested with his Fathers and he left behind him Rehoboam the foolishnesse of the people and one that had none understanding and turned away the people through his counsell Ecclus 47.23 Here was counsell but none understanding wise counsell the while he turned away the people from serving the Lord the counsell that was turned to such an evill purpose must needs be as wicked as unwise so the peoples wickednesse was his wickednesse because he seduced them to it and he not their foole but their foolishnesse in abstracto because his wickednesse was very wicked And that there is sound sence and good reason for the equivalence of these termes sinner and foole sinne and folly the most prudent Doctor of that sect which of all that are not Christian come neerest to the rules of Christianity sheweth where he saith that a * Stultus omnia vitia babet Senec de benefic lib. 4. cap. 26. Foole hath all manner of faults in him which we may invert and as truely say a wicked man hath in him every folly Now as in this Chapter the people are charged first with wickednesse and then with folly so in the Position we undertake to prove wickednesse shall have the precedence as the subject and foolishnesse shall follow it close at the heeles as the predicate thus wickednesse is folly or because it may make a better impression in concreto a wicked man is a foole by his indisposition either to be or to doe good which though I mention but once must be vertually presupposed in every proofe I shall produce and I am glad I have so many wise men to be judges of the evidence I shall bring in for his conviction and that shall consist of severall Arguments First Some taken from the causes of folly Secondly Some from the signes markes and effects of it First for the causes folly is a defect and therefore the causes of it are rather deficient then efficient and they are Either Without a man Or Within him Without him is the want of a good Instructer and good Bookes which wicked men willingly and witlessely refuse to heare and to reade or if they doe it is with so little heed as brings little fruit unto themselves For the first The best Instructer for any thing that is truely good is God by whom they that are not taught can never be truely wise or learned but they that refuse or contemne his Instruction are many times punished in their understanding and that justly with very foolish and mad mistakings and sometimes given over to strong and strange illusions And the wiser any Instructer is the more doth the wicked man reject him as we may reade in the third of the Proverbs of Solomon Wisedome cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets ver 20. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fooles hate knowledge ver 22. Wisedome her selfe offereth to be their Instructer but they would none of her counsell ver 30. and whereas there is a spirit in men as Elihu said to Iob and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32.8 the wicked are adverse to his spirit and if it offer to enlighten them and inflame them they are ready by their reluctancies to quench the light and heate presented unto them for that is it which the Apostle forbiddeth and the wicked forbeare not 1 Thes 5.19 and so in effect they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21.14 and so the Father of lights as he is called Iames 1.17 withholdeth the light of instruction from such because they love darkenesse rather then light Joh. 3.19 and sheddeth forth his beames of illumination upon such as have eyes to see it and hearts to rejoyce in it And therefore there is in this respect the like difference betwixt the Godly and the wicked as was betwixt the Israelites and Egiptians in respect of the Cloud that God