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
whatsoever is done with doubt or scruple is not of faith are oftner wrested sometimes to abette presumption in respect of God sometimes disobedience towards his vice-gerents than any other maximes in sacred writ besides For this present the limitation of them is briefly this Whensoever the doubt or controversy stands betwixt a mans belly or purse and his soule or conscience the Apostles rule whatsoever is not of faith is sinne is universally true whosoever doth any thing for his belly or purse or matters of such temporall consequence which he probably doubts may wound his soule or conscience his action or choice is not of faith is truly sinfull In other cases he that intends to doe much good must resolve to doe many things whereof hee cannot but doubt whereof hee cannot bee resolved but by the event or successe yet not sinne Thus these Ninevites were uncertaine or doubtfull whether the Lord would repent or no of the evill threatned against them and yet notwithstanding this doubt they did well exceeding well to fast and pray that hee might repent and in thus doubting and thus doing they declare not their workes only but their divinity to have beene much better than theirs who condemne the like actions of heathen men for sinfull because their persons were not sanctified by saving faith As for these Ninevites they had a true notion of that truth which the scripture teacheth to wit that as God is often said to repent so some speciall cases there be in which hee doth not in which hee wil not upon any termes repent and of which the Prophets saying is most true He is not as man or the sonne of man that hee should repent And such for instance was the case of Saul the first King of Israel in the issue though not from the beginning of his raigne or from that point of time wherein God revealed that branch of his will to Samuel 1. Sam. 15. It repenteth me that I have set Saul up to be King for he is turned backward from following me and hath not performed my commandements And he that turnes his backe from Gods commandements shall be sure to meet his judgements in the face But this heavy sentence against Saul as it there followeth grieved Samuel and hee cryed unto the Lord all night but his cryes were not heard for so it followes v. 35. that Samuel came no more to see Saul untill the day of his death neverthelesse he mourned for Saul and in the 1. v. of the 19. chap. Samuel is expressely forbidden to mourne for Saul and if hee might not mourne for him hee might not pray for him A lamentable case that so great a Prophet so good a man as Samuel was might not pray might not mourne for his soveraigne Lord whom by Gods speciall command he had anointed but the cause is intimated v. 28. 29. For when Saul by seeking to hold the Prophet from departing from him had rent his coate he returnes this heavy message unto him The Lord hath rent the kingdome of Israel from thee this day and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better then thou and also the strength of Israel will not repent for he is not as man that he should repent And Samuel had no reason to mourne for him or to pray to God for reversing this sentence after he knew the Lord would not bee intreated to recall it But here the Aliens from the common weale of Israel or men of Iultans disposition would object is the God of Israel no otherwise affected towards his people towards Kings of his own making then the Gods of the heathen whom ye despise were towards kingdomes or Monarchies which served them Doth hee give his people iust cause to complaine of him as the heathen Poet did of his Gods when he saw Rome so rent and torne with civill warres that it could not long stand Heu faciles dare summa Deos eademque tueri Difficiles Will the strength of Israel advance a man to a kingdome which never sought it but had it put upon him whilst hee was seeking his fathers Asses And will he not be intreated to keepe him in it after long possession after many adventures of his body and effusion of his blood for supporting it Will he repent of the good which he had purposed to doe for Saul and will he not repent of the evill which he had denounced against him Thus uncatechised flesh and blood or men not instructed in the waies of God would repine Now it were an easie answer to say that God did thus peremptorily deale with Saul because it was his absolute will to depose him and to chuse David in his place But this or the like answere would make a foolish heathen starke mad and move a man that hovered betwixt heathenisme and Christianity to fall quite from us whereas we are bound by the Apostles rule to give no offence not only to the Church of God but neither to the Iew nor to the Gentile whereas this answer gives just occasion of offence to them all For sure the scripture is plaine and I thinke no Christian will in the generall deny that Saul did at this time much better deserve to be deposed than either hee or David did to bee elected King his sinnes were the meritorious cause of his rejection but what sinnes in particular is not so apparent Saul as some ancient interpreters observe was once little in his owne eyes and then he was a great man in Gods sight but hee grew great exceeding great in his owne eyes and the greater he thus grew the more hee waned in Gods favour whose eternall will and pleasure is to give grace unto the meeke and humble and to resist and bring downe the proud All this is true but too generall to give satisfaction to the doubt proposed For God doth never so peremptorily reject any lawfull Prince as hee did Saul without hope of repentance or reversing the sentence denounced against him unlesse it be for some excessive multitude or full measure of sinne or for some ominous or prodigious sinnes We read only of two remarkeable sinnes committed by Saul before his rejection the one was for offering a burnt offring and for his intendment to offer a peace offring before Samuel came unto him 1 Sam. 13. 19. 20. And for this transgression Samuel saith unto him v. 30. Thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the commandement of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee For now would the Lord have established the kingdome upon Israel for ever Saul then had Gods promise before for the continuance of his kingdome But of this good truely intended to him the Lord from this time repents as it followes verse 14. But now the kingdome shall not continue Yet upon this fact it is not said that the Lord would not repent of the sentence denounced against him But what was Sauls folly in all this or was it any for as it is
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
or wonted triumphes shee takes upon her the beggers garbe and becomes an humble suppliant for bread and for that not in iust competency but in such a measure as might asswage or prevent extremity of hunger of which shee had suffered so much as shee thought would have given full satisfaction either to her ancient and inveterate foes or to the most malignant of her moderne enemies enough as shee thought to have drawne sighes from the barbarous Getes or to have wrung teares from the mercilesse Swab or to have cast Parthia her selfe into a swoon so shee might have beene a spectatour of her ruefull and tragicall plight yet all this evill came upon her not by observation it was not preventible by any forecast or policy besides that which Ezekiah here uses this would have sufficed so it had beene practised in time But it is not the representation of that which hath befallen others long since or may hereafter befall our selves which will so much affect us as the recognition of that which we our selves have formerly suffered It will not then I hope be unseasonable to put you in minde how in these later times whilst neighbour nations addresse their Embassadors to to this court either to condole the death of our Soveraignes or to congratulate our ioy for the happy continuance of royall succession there still hath come one unwelcome or unexpected Embassador either with them or before them to this people And however he seeme to plead for the grave yet his message is from heaven and for our peace though he find audience for the most part with needy sicke or dying men yet his instructions are principally directed to the living and potent amongst us and the tenure of them is in effect thus thinke you that those whom the Lord hath wounded with his poisonous arrowes were greater sinners then your selves or that they have suffered more then they have deserved I tell you nay but except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish unlesse you prepare your hearts to meet the Lord while hee is on the way a greater plague then the plague of pestilence is comming against you Yet hath that plague beene twice in our memory more fearefull then in the daies of our forefathers To omit that great mortality which was almost universall throughout this land about twenty seaven yeares agoe The calamities which followed upon the 2d arrivall or returne of this Embassadour about 5 yeares agoe did leave a live print or character of that feare by which the Prophet Amos describes the day of the Lord. Amos. 5. v. 18. 19. The day of the Lord saith he is darknesse and not light as if a man did flye from a Lion and a Beare met him and went into the house and leane his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him Many fled from the great city as a man would flye from a Lion and thought themselves safe if they could get into a ship for some other port but sped no better then if they had met with a Beare death being as ready as they were to imbarque it selfe as a passenger for every port authorized to execute his commission as well by sea as by land others comming to the shore were more harbourlesse in the wished for haven then if they had committed themselves to the mercilesse waves of the sea which way soever they tooke their case was like unto a stricken deare haeret lateri letalis arundo They could not shift aside from Gods arrow which still tooke up some vitall part for his marke Some after their arrivall in their native soyle wandred without companions to support them in their weaknesse and lastly dyed in the fresh and open aire without that comfort which the infected places from which they fled might have afforded them without consorts in their sighes and grones without such mutuall expressions of griefe as Sympathy of nature brings forth in the beastes of the field But amongst the wofull spectacles which the calamity of those times presented none me thinkes more apt to imprint the terrour of Gods iudgements deeper then to have seen men otherwise of undaunted spirits men whom no enemies lookes or braggs could afright afrayd to hold parley with their native countrey-men that came unto them with words of love and peace more agast to embrace their dearest friends or nearest kinsfolks then to graspe an adder or a snake The plague of pestilence is above all other diseases catching and such as have beene most observant of it's course tell us men of covetous mindes or unseasonably greedy of gaine are usually soonest caught by it though exposed to no greater or more apparent visible danger then others are The course which this messenger of death observes if these mens observation of it be true may leade our conjecture to one speciall cause why it was sent amongst us with such large commission surely if in the daies of health and peace it had not beene usuall for one neighbour to prey upon another and to verifie the saying homo homini lupus the neighbour-hood and presence of men of the same nation and profession would not have become more terrible unto others then if their habitations had beene amongst Wolves or Lions or other ravenous creatures But to what end soever this fearefull messenger was sent amongst us the tenor of his message either was not well understood or is not perfectly remembred And for this reason his commission hath beene renewed of late in the times of our hopes and joy for the continuance of royall succession in a straight line But Gods name be ever blessed who hath hitherto so tempered his judgements with mercy that we have more just cause of joy and thanksgiving for the birth of one then of sorrow for the death of many Yet let not this I beseech you abate our feare of future judgements or occasion us to thinke that the Lord either hath repented or will repent of the evill which hee hath so often threatned whereof he hath given this land and people so many warnings untill wee bring forth better fruites of our repentance then hitherto wee have done That thus we may doe let us pray continually to the Lord that hee would teach us to feare as Hezekias did that he would teach us to pray as Hezekias did As for him hee is the same Lord still the same loving Father to us that he was to Iudah and cannot forget to repent whensoever wee shall truly turne unto him Convert us O Lord we shall be converted IER 26. 19. And the Lord repented him of the evill which he had pronounced against them Thus might we procure great evill against our soules THIS is the resolution of a controversie debated from the beginning of this chapter vnto this place between the Priests the Prophets and the people and the Princes of the land whether the Prophet Ieremy were to be put to death for saying the Lord would make his temple like Shiloh and the
rest For though they repented of their folly and besought God with teares that hee would revoke his sentence offering their service which before they had neglected for conquering the land of promise yet the Lord would not heare them and which is more remarkeable he would not heare Moses in this particular for himselfe because he was involved as an accessary in that sentence for he spake unadvisedly on their behalfe So Moses himselfe doth testifie Deut. 3. v. 23. c. And I besought the Lord at that time saying O Lord God thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatnesse I pray thee let me goe over and see this good land which is beyond Iordan and that goodly mountaine Lebanon But the Lord was wroth with mee for your sakes and would not heare me and the Lord said unto me let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter get thee unto the top of Pisgah and behold it with thine eyes for over this Iordan thou shalt not goe So then God repented him that hee had made Saul King over Israel because he had the Kingdome only by meere promise not by promise confirmed by oath But God would not repent of his deposition nor reverse his sentence because Saul by his preposterous indulgence unto Amalek Gods sworne enemy did by this fact incurre the sentence of deposition by oath and more deepely participate with the Amalekites than Moses had done with the Israelites whom God had cut off by oath from entring into the land of Canaan I hope I shall not bee thought to flatter men whilst I blesse the name of our glorious Lord for setting a King over us as farre from Saul's or Ahab's disposition as they were from the disposition of king Hezekiah for giving him a people nothing so untoward either towards God or him as the murmuring Israelites were towards God his servant Moses But whatsoever hath been said or is written concerning the Kings of Israel or Iudah were written for our instruction whether Prince or people The most immediate use of the point last discust concernes great Princes and their followers their followers thus farre that they never sollicite or importune their soveraigne Lords or in case they doe it deeply concernes Princes not to suffer themselves to be wrought by any sollicitation or importunity to favour any cause which stands accursed by Gods eternall law not to take the persons of any men into their protection whom the supreame Iudge hath exempted from his not to patronage any whom the law of God and man have designed unto utter destruction For by doing such bodily good to prodigious malefactors they shall procure as my Prophet speakes great evill unto their owne soules Evils at least temporall unto themselves and to their people of which the Lord will not repent For where such favour is shewne unto men or rather where favour and pity is shewed unto such men as God is thus highly displeased with there can be no true feare of the Lord. In whomsoever that feare is it is praedominant and will command all other affections whether of hope or feare whether of hatred love or favour to men Vnlesse such feare of the Lord bee first planted in their hearts no Prince nor Potentates no state or Kingdome can iustly pretend to this blessing which Hezekia's prayers obtained For he first feared and then besought the Lord before the Lord repented of the evill which hee had pronounced against him and his people Now it is our hope assurance that God will repent of the evill denounced which makes our feare of him or of his iudgements to be a filiall not a slavish feare For no man can feare God with a true filiall feare but hee that apprehends him as a loving father and one as is sorry for our aflictions one that delighteth not in the punishment of his sons or servants but in their repentance that they may become capable of his fatherly mercy or loving kindnesse With thee there is mercy saith the Psalmist therefore shalt thou be feared Why doth any man feare Gods mercies more than his iustice No. This was no part of the Psalmists meaning We feare his iudgements in and for themselves and as they bring evil upon us We feare God himselfe for his mercy we are afraid to offend him if we bee his children because hee is mercifull and because the greatest evill which any man can procure unto his own soule is to deprive himselfe of his mercy who is goodnesse it selfe the sole fountaine of all the good which can be derived unto us Or it may be a further part of the Psalmists meaning that it was our apprehension or beliefe of his mercy which keepseth our feare whether of him or of his judgements within his proper sphere or limits as if he had said with thee o Lord there is mercy therefore shalt thou bee feared hated thou canst not bee by such as apprehend or believe thy mercies whereas feare of iudgements or perpetuall punishments unlesse it be tempered with hope of mercy runs out of his wits and running beyond its bounds alwayes ends in hatred It is not possible either for that man not to love God which truly beleeves that hee hath mercy in store for all or for that man not to hate him or at least not to occasion others to hate him which is perswaded that he hath reserved iudgement without mercy to some men as they are men or that hee hath destinated them to inevitable destruction before he gave them life or preservation To bee thus perswaded argues an uncharitable disposition as well towards God as towards men and from both roote and branch of this error from all such heresies hatred malice and uncharitablenesse good Lord deliver us that are thine heritage thy whole Church especially this land and people A TREATISE CONCERNING THE SIGNES OF THE TIME OR GODS FOREWARNINGS CONTAINING The summe of some few Sermons delivered partly before the Kings Majesty partly in the Towne of New-Castle upon Tine OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1637. LVK. 13. 5. I tell you nay but except yee repent ye shall all likewise perish THe words containe an emphaticall negative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the emphasis of the negative doth inferre a vehement affirmative though conditionall or exceptive but except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Besides the grammaticall emphasis or vehemence the same words are twise repeated by him who used no tautologies by him whose nay was nay and whose yea was yea and Amen The ingemination of the same sentence was from two severall occasions The one given to our Saviour the other taken by him The occasion given ye have v. the 1. There were present some that told him of the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices Who these Galilaeans were and what was their crime is no where to my observation registred in particular probable it is that they were the reliques of
beware of them or unlesse hee had instructed them that the victory which God had promised to give his people at this time over their enemies was not to bee purchased by strength of sword but by patient possessing of their owne soules in time of warres and persecutions And of these times wherein false Prophets or false Christs did so prevaile with this people was that saying of our Saviour Iohn 5. 43. remarkably fulfilled I am come in my fathers name and yee receive me not If another shall come in his owne name him you will receiue The wisest amongst the Romans and amongst the rest Tacitus that great states-man or polititian observing the Iewes to have failed so fouly in their hopes of becoming Lords over the Nations by their expected King or Messias turn'd greater fooles than the Iewes had beene for having acknowledged the truth of the former prophecy which was so famous and so constantly received throughout the East He would have it fufilled in Vespatian in that hee was called out of Iudea unto the empire of Rome that is as they interpretit to be Lord of the whole world And which is most strange Iosephus himselfe a Iew by birth and education and therefore acquainted with the prophecies or prenotions concerning their Messias was either the Author of this foolish interpretation or the first Author now extant that did publish it Tacitus addes some credit to Iosephus his report of the constant fame throughout the East that Iudea should at that time bring forth the Lord of the whole world but hee makes no addition to Iosephus his folly in misapplying that which the Prophets had said and the esterne Nation had received concerning the King that was to arise out of Iudea unto Vespatian making him and his sonnes of true and lawfull Emperours false Christs Now to a-awake the Romans out of this proud fantastique dreame the true Christ the Lord of heaven and earth and judge of quicke and dead did exhibit these signes here mentioned in my text before the Romans had fully digested their triumphant feast and joy for the victory which they had gotten over the Iewish Nation Italy and Rome it selfe became the stage whereon these fearefull spectacles were acted and the whole Roman Empire were more then spectators if no Actors yet patients in this dolefull tragedy Besides the destruction of the old world by water and of Sodome and other foure cities by fire and brimstone no history of the world doth mention any such strange calamities as issued from the burning of the mount Vesuevius in Campania which first hapened in the first or second yeare of Titus although it hath oftentimes since procured great annoyance to neighbour provinces But that it begun first to burne in the dayes of Titus is cleere from the untimely death of Plyny the elder that great Naturalist Who out of curiosity going to search the cause of it was choaked to death with the smoake I have often put you in mind heretofore that many historians which either never read the sacred prophecies or did not minde them when they wrotte their histories are usually the best interpreters as well of the prophecies in the old as new testament Nor is the fulfilling of any prophecy in the old testament more litterally or more punctually related either in the old or new testament then the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text is by Dio Cassius a most judicious and ingenious heathen writer in the raigne of Titus The suddaine earthquakes were so grievous that all that valley was sultring hot and the tops of the mountaines sunke downe under the grouud were noyses like thunder answered with like bellowings above the searoared and the heavens resounded like noyse huge and great crashings were heard as if the mountaines had fallen together great stones leaped out of their places as high as tops of hils and after them issued abundance of fire and smoake in so much that it darkned the ayre and obscured the sunne as if it had beene ecclipsed so that night was turned into day and day into night many were perswaded that the Gyants had raised some civill broyles amongst themselves because they did see their shapes in smoak and heard a noyse of trumpets others thought the world should bee resolved into old Caos or consumed with fire some ranne out of their houses into the streets others from the streets or high-wayes into their houses otherer from sea to land some againe from the land to the sea Dio Cassius inhistoria Titi. Besides the large extent of this calamity through Aegypt Syria and Greece and great part of Africa related by this Author and toucht upon in the first booke of Comments upon the Creed page 49. c. The latine reader may finde many other circumstances in other good writers as in Procopius Zonaras c. faithfully collected by Maiolus tractatu de montibus pag. 520. 521. Though Cedrenus were a Christian yet I thinke when he wrote the history of Phocas he had as little minde or thought of the fulfilling of S. Iohn's prophecy Revelation the 8. Chap. v. 8. c. As Dio Cassius had of the accomplishment of our Saviour in my text And the second Angell sounded and as it were a great mountaine burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became bloud And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed Cednenus after a breife character of Phocas his ill favoured body and conditions in which latter his consort did too well agree with him tels us that in his time there was an inundation of all manner of mischiefes upon mankind an infinite number of men and beasts died and the earth denying her increase the famine and grievous pestilences arose and the winters were so sharpe and cruell that the sea freez'd and the fishes in it perished These were strange signes of the time and did portend the greatest alteration that ever befell Christian Churches by the erection of the two grand antichristian tyrannies the one in the East the other in the west Cedrenus in compendio historiae pag. 332. All that I have for this present to adde unto my former observations concerning the burning of Vesuvius is the admirable disposition of Gods providence in that he would not have the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text to be recorded by any Evangelist or other sacred writers but by this heathen historian A bright ray or beame of divine providence you may observe in so disposing the testimonies of these times as that the Evangelist S. Iohn who usually relates our Saviour's speeches more distinctly and more at large then the other three Evangelists doth not so much as mention our Saviour's prophecies either concerning the signes preceeding the destruction of Ierusalem or these signes in my text which were signes of his comming to judge the Nations The reason I
DIVERSE SERMONS WITH A SHORT TREATISE BEFITTING THESE PRESENT TIMES Now first published BY THOMAS IACKSON Dr in Divinity Chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie and President of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford For the contents with the severall places of Scriptures expounded or illustrated in them see page following the Epistle OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1637. TO THE MOST ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES DVKE OF CORNWALL c. All the blessings of this life and of the life to come WOuld your Excellence vouchsafe if not at your best conveniences to read yet for the present to accept these Treatises following with the like favourable patience as your royall Father and my most gracious Soveraigne Lord and master did heare the most of them I should thinke my paines in publishing and offering this mite as well bestowed and as well recompenced as any other part of my labours in the ministry That you may long exhibite to this present and future ages a live expression of your most royall Fathers Princely vertues especially of his devotion in Gods service and his zeale to his house the Church that by continuance in thus doing you may continue in like favour with the King of kings and Lord of lords as Iehosephat Ezekiah and other best Princes of Iudah were is and shall be the daily prayer of Your highnesse most humbly devoted Servant THOMAS IACKSON TWO Sermons vpon 2. Chron. Cap. 6. vers 39. 40. Containing a Paraphrase on Solomons petition vnto God at the Consecration of the first Temple with the grant and successe of it ERRATA Pag. 9. line 21. her read his p. 10. l. 2. him r. them and l. 3. of r. or p. 16. l. vlt. that r. then that p. 40. l. 1. certaine r. certainty THREE Sermons vpon IER 26. vers 29. MICAH 3. v. 10. 11. 12. Errata Pag. 26. l. 11. dele their p. 30. l. 24. time r. our times p. 31. l. 30 labour r. labourer p. 30. l. 11. af r. after p. 32. l. 8. dele that p. 41. l. 8. or r and p. 70. l. 13. his r. its A Treatise concerning the signes of the times containing a Paraphrase or exposition vpon LVKE 13. vers 1. to the 11. and from vers 23. to 27. Errata Pag. 18. l. 1. tradii r. tradidi p. 37. l. 3. now r. nor p. 53. l. 8. for then r. or that A Sermon vpon the second Sunday in Advent containing a Paraphrase or Comment vpon LVKE 21. vers 1. to the 28. MATT. 24. vers 1. to 32. MARKE 13. vers 1. to 27. 2. CHRON. 6. 39. 40. 39. Then heare thou from Heavens even from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications and maintaine their cause and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee 40. Now my God let I beseech thee thine eyes be open and let thine eares be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place 1 IT was the saying of a Roman Senator who thought himselfe well seene in matters of State Parvi sunt arma foris nisi sit consilium domi Armes are of little availe abroad without a wise Councell at home to give them instructions but the wise King part of whose words these of my text are saw a great way farther and layes his foundation much deeper parvi sunt arma foris parvi consilium domi nisi sint preces in Templo Councell of State or Councell of warre armes at home or armies sent abroad by their directions with their best instructions adde little to the security and safety of State and Kingdome without prayers in the Church or house of God And for this reason although he had now erected a goodly Temple with as Princely and cheerfull a heart as his Father David had built an Altar unto the name and honour of the God of Israel yet he thought it no Sacrilege no robbery at all to intend a publique and perpetuall benifite to the State and Kingdome from this glorious worke So compatible are Royall intentions of Gods honour with desires of Gods blessings temporall upon the people committed to their charge that this wise King even whilst he dedicates this great house unto his God for a peculiar habitation wherein he would be pleased to place his name yet consecrated withall as a Sanctuary for every afflicted soule to be more then an Arsenall for warre as a Magazine of medicines and remedies for all manner of wounds or diseases incident to the body publique 2 God had given this young King a large talent of Princely wisdome and the spirit of government in an extraordinarie manner and of this extraordinarie wisdome and spirit one speciall part it was to know that it was not in the power of man not within the compasse of any wisdome though participated from aboue to direct his owne wayes much lesse the wayes of others aright least of all to give successe to their best directions As the skill of Pylots is best knowne in a storme or dangerous passage so is the wisdome of Rulers best tried in perplexity or distresse The best proofe or triall which Solomon could give of his wisdome in this case was the knowledge to frame his petitions aright to the God of wisdome and Lord of Hosts This whole Chapter is no other then an Anatomy Lecture of the diseases and wounds of Kingdomes and Common-weales publiquely read by Solomon for the instruction of Princes and Rulers that should come after him It is the glory of a King as this King elsewhere obserues to finde out a secret and to punish iniquity when it is found out though committed in secret and to render to every man according to the equity of his cause being made knowne is the duty of a Iudge but in as much as many controversies of right and wrong must be determined by oath if men will be so destitute of the feare of God as to sweare falsly or to contrive their owne gaine and others harmes by perjury what Iudge can help what Prince can remedy men by this meanes distressed Yet Solomon begins at this inward sore or secret corruption the remedy he seekes from the searcher of mens thoughts and hearts So he prayes 2. Chron. 6. 22. 23. If a man Sinne against his Neighbour and an oath be layed upon him to make him sweare and the oath come before thine Altar in this house Then heare thou from Heaven and doe and Iudge thy servants by requiting the wicked by recompensing his way upon his owne head and by iustifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousnes To recompense the wayes of this wicked man upon his owne head is one of the mercies which in conclusion he beseeches the Lord to shew unto his people for crudele est hîc misericordem esse Though mercy be alwaies good yet the better it is the worse it is placed upon such pestilent members As great a cruelty to shew pitty upon the perjur'd as to pamper or cherish any
joynt or member of the body wherein the Gangrene or other deadly spreading sore hath got possession or roote From this internall imbred corruption he proceeds unto more publique and grievous wounds or diseases usually made by causes externall as when Israel shal be overthrowne before their enemies v. 25. When the heavens shall be shut up and the earth be without raine v. 26. When there shal be Famine Pestilence mildew Grashoppers or Caterpillers When the enemy shall besiege thee in the Cities When they shal be afflicted by any Plague or sicknesse v. 28. The soveraigne remedy for all and every one of these and the like is the very same and it is this v. 20. 21. Then heare thou from heaven from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications and maintaine their cause and forgive thy people which haue sinned against thee v. 29. But what if this people should be led captive into a foraigne land not permitted to repaire unto this house where the Lord had placed his name This Solomon foresaw as a matter not impossible how ample soever his promises unto his father David and his seed might in ordinary construction seeme to be is there any possible salve for this possible fore or can this house which he had consecrated to be an house of prayer afford them in this case any remedy when they could not come to pray in it yes the remedy is prescrib'd v. 38. 39. If they returne to thee with all their heart and with all their soule in the land of their captivity whither they haue caryed them captives and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers and towards the city which thou hast chosen and towards the house which I have built for thy name Then heare thou from heaven c. Soe then both Prince and people were to pray in this house whilst they possest this land and city wherein it stood to pray towards it when they soiourned in forraigne Coasts or were detained in the land of their captivity to pray towards the place wherein it had stood in case it should be demolished So did Daniel after this house which Solomon built was burnt to the ground 3 The prerogatives which he petitions might be bestowed upon this house of prayer were you see exceeding great Was it then any part of his intention in the suite or of Gods purpose in the grant to have this house endowed with such ample priviledges for the use or benefit of Israel only or of Abrahams seede according to the flesh surely Solomon did conceive his prayers out of a perfect and speciall faith yet the specialty of his faith in Gods promises made unto Israell or to Abrahams seede did no way extinguish his charity or abate his good affectiō towards others for he expressely consecrates his house to be an house of prayer for the use benefit of all the nations under heaven though in the first place for Israel Moreover as touching the stranger which is not of thy people Israel but is come from a farre country for thy great names sake and thy mighty hand and thy streched out arme if they come and pray in this house then heare thou from heaven even from thy dwelling place and doe according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for that all people of the earth may know thy name and feare thee as doth thy people Israell and may know that this house which I haue built is called by thy name 32. 33. He knew the gracious goodnesse of his God to be in it selfe so great so truly infinite that it could not be a whit lessoned towards Israell how farre soever it were extended towards others as it is extended to all men without exception insensu divise though not in sensu composito it is thus far extended unto all to the end that they might come to the knowledge of the truth but not extended not communicated to such as love darknesse better then light and falshood then truth It was then well with Israell when their charity towards others was like their heavenly fathers love without factious partiality or respect of persons It was their seeking to ingrosse Gods promised blessings unto mankind which twice brought that greivous curse upon them under which at this day they sigh and groane Now if all the nations on earth had this interest in Solomons Temple shall we deny any one of what Nation soever the like interest in Abrahams seed concerning whom the Lord had sworne that in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed Thus much of the generall scope or view of this Chap to retire my selfe unto my text which is as the center or fittest Angle for taking the exact survey of this long and fruitfull field 4 To give you then a briefe comprehension of the principallest and most fundamentall truths either directly incident into or naturall emergent out of it First it is taken as granted by Solomon and it is to us a point of faith that as well the Calamities as the Prosperities of states and kingdomes are from the Lord It is he that giveth life as well to bodyes politique as to naturall It is he that woundeth and it is he that maketh whole Secondly no Calamity or wounds of state are in their nature incurable if this remedy be sought in time they grow incurable only by neglect of the medicines in Gods word prescribed Thirdly the only Soveraigne remedy for restoring states and kingdomes diseased and wounded by the hand of God unto their perfect health is prayer and Supplications to the King of Kings The last must be the conditions of the prayers or qualification of the Supplicants by whom such prayers as may prevaile with God must be made Vpon this point Solomon often toucheth in severall passages of this Chapter Such of the heathens as were alwayes ready to sacrifice unto their owne right armes for victory inbattle and unto their owne wit in policy for the sweet fruits of peace did often observe certaine surplusses of successe good or bad which they could not account to be the naturall issue either of their industry or contrivance and whatsoever fell without the mould of their hopes or feares was attributed to fates if it were disastrous to fortune or chance if it were good now whatsoever the heathens did ascribe to fortune to chance or fate or to any other supposed guide of nature or intermedling power in humane affaires all these the wise king ascribes wholy unto his God he is the God of peace and yet the God that maketh warre the Lord of hostes the God of plenty and yet the God that sendeth scarcity The God of our health and life and yet it is he which punisheth with plague and sicknesses Nor are we bound only to derive all extraordinary successe which the heathen gave to fortune and fate but ever even the usuall successe of ordinary endeavours be it good or bad from his providence That the