time especially that you have not called and endeavoured so earnestly as yee ought for Reformation of Religion that every thing might have beene done in the house of God according to his own wil but have pleased your selves with and have rested in the beginnings of a Reformation yee have been for the greater part more pleased with things which were not reformed then the things which were reformed in the worship of God and this sinne hath beene the cause of many other sinnes for where God is not served aright all other duties are but neglected or performed without sincerity Secondly for the present this is the sinne of the Land that the people have not according to their power stayed the King from shedding of blood but many have joyned their Counsels and endeavours to begin and encrease the common misery and others have not resisted the evill but suffered the sword to rage which may make the people justly to say We have sinned and done wickedly The third is the length of this wrath for it reaches to the Kings Sonnes and so to the Posterity The wrath of God endeth not at the persons that have sinned but is extended to others that descend of them without respect of persons and especially for sinnes about the house and worship of God For the horrid and blasphemous murmuring of Israel when they repented themselves of their comming out of Egypt and said one to another let us make a Captaine and let us returne into Egypt not onely their own carkasses fel in the Wildernes but their Children which had not murmered yea which were not yet born must wander in the Wildernesse forty yeers and beare their whoredomes g In like manner in the seventy yeeres of the captivity of Babylon the Children that were borne in Babylon or were carried from their owne Land suffered in that captivity a world of miseries for the sinnes of their Parents The examples of the Children of Dathan and Abiram of the first borne of Egypt of the young ones in Sodome that had not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam and many other judgements of God plucking up root and branch prove this to be the manner of the Lords proceeding against sinners and that without respect of persons The greater the persons be the more grievous in the justice of God is the punishment because the sinnes of great ones are not onely sinnes but examples of sinning and proclamations of liberty to inferiours and therefore I will be glorified in Pharoah and in his servants h saith the Lord For the sinne of Saul in slaying the Gibeonites there was not onely a famine in the dayes of David three yeers yeere after yeere but seven of his sonnes also were hanged up in Gibea David himselfe was not spâ—red but because he had slaine Vriah the Hittite with the sword of the Children of Ammon Nathan said the sword shall not depart from thine house because thou hast despised me i And afterward when his sinne was pardoned because he had given great occasion to the Enemies of God to blaspheme the Child also that is borne unto him shall surely dye This course the Lord doth after a speciall manner follow in sinnes about his house and worship and therefore in the second command and no other doth the Lord threaten to visit the sinnes of the Fathers upon the Children The reasons why the Lord doth so are first that all the world may know how much the Lord abhorreth sinne especially in matters of his worship To this purpose it is observable what he saith Exod. 32.34 In the day when I visit I will visit their sinne upon them So often as he punished the people and their posterity for other sinnes he remembred their sinne of Idolatry which gave occasion to the saying That in every plague of Israel there was one ounce of the golden Calfe Secondly that men may abstaine from sinnes of this sort not onely for respect to themselves but to their posterity whom they love so â—enderly and of whom they are often more carefull then of themselves And this he doth to the third and fourth generation that both the Parents themselves and others who are witnesses to the sinnes of the Parents may be sensible of Gods dealing and know that the Lord is just and the avenger of sinne I leave the theologicall discourse in vindicating the justice of God onely I say first that the Lord punisheth no man with eternall wrath for his fathers sinnes but the soule that sinneth suffereth in that kind Secondly that the ungodly and wicked posterity cannot open their mouth against the justice of God since they continue in the iniquity of their fathers Thirdly that the Godly when they are visited in their bodies goods or estates which they have from their Fathers will find these visitations to be indeed indicia peccati non judicia propter peccatum and rather medicines and preservatives for their eternall happinesse then wrath for their destruction And I come to the use that in this nicke of time and joynture of affaires the great wisdome which God hath given you in your publike places be stirred up and exercised in taking heed that all the former sinnes of this Land committed by so many Progenitors be not brought upon this Generation according to that sore and sad sentence pronounced by the Sonne of God against Jerusalem Matth. 23.35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias Sonne of Barachias whom yee slew between the Temple the Altar and verse 36. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation Yee cannot preserve all particular persons from the judgements due unto them for their own and for their fathers sinnes nor can yee preserve every Family from the wrath which the present and preceding generations have been treasuring up It appeareth that the Lord hath decreed the destruction of some persons and the eâ—tirpation of some Families But it is in your hands to prevent the desolation of the Church and Kingdome The Jewes filled up the measure of their Fathers by crucifying the Sonne of God when he came amongst them and would have wrought a Reformation and therefore their habitation was left desolate and they are no more a Nation nor a Kingdome unto this day It is true the people were executioners but the Rulers were the prime Agents Doe therefore the worke unto which the Lord hath called You and Yee shall save the Kingdome from this wrath It is in Your hands as Instruments to make the posterity blessed and to blesse You for your faithfulnesse Woe to them that leave their Station in such an exigence they doe what they can to bring all the blood and all the sinnes of former times upon this Generation and to make the Posterity miserable Let others professe or pretend what they will I am assured that such
A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable HOVSE OF COMMONS At their late solemne Fast Wednesday December 27. 1643. BY ALEXANDER HENDERSON Minister at Edenbrugh NUM 21.14 Wherefore it is said in the booke of the warres of the Lord what he did in the red Sea and in the brookes of Arnon Published by Order of the House LONDON Printed for Robert Bostock dwelling at the signe of the Kings-head in Pauls Churchyard 1644. Die Mercurij 27. Decemb. 1643. IT is this day Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament that Master Solicitor doe from this House give thankes unto Master Henderson for the great paines he tooke in the Sermon he preached this day at the intreaty of this House at Saint Margarets Westminster being the day of publike Humiliation and to desire him to Print his Sermon It is also Ordered that none shall presume to Print his Sermon without being authorised under his hand writing Hen. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Robert Bostocke to Print this Sermon Alexander Henderson To the READER THIS Sermon such as it is was preached to the honourable house of Commons at their desire and is now by their Order printed for thy use and by the blessing of God for thy benefit The desire endevor of the Preacher was according to the scope and nature of the Text to shew that after so often renued and long continued humiliation and after solemne entring into Covenant with the most high God The true reformation of Religion is the readiest meane to turne away the still pressing wrath of God from the Kingdome And to bring the desired blessings of all sorts upon Church and State which yet will prove but uneffectuall unlesse the Reformation intended by the Honourable Houses of Parliament and the reverend Assembly of Divines be attended faithfully followed with Renovation and Repentance in the people Repentance for every knowne Sin and how can Sin be unknowne in the midst of so many burning and shining lights But repentance especially for sinnes 〈◊〉 the matter of Religion the present Epidenticall disease of this Land which threatneth changes Armies of sorrowes so it pleaseth the Lord to give more then a taste of the bitter fruits of bad Church-government and a sad representation of the face of the Kingdom if every man should be left to preach professe and print what he will O that my people had harkned unto me Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of God should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever Hearken therefore unto the voyce of God in the spirituall plaine and powerfull preaching of his servants one of the greatest evidences that the Lord hath a purpose of mercy toward you and walke in his wayes Marke them which cause devisions and offences amongst you be wise unto that which is good simple concerning evill the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you A SERMON Preached at the late Fast before the Honourable House of Commons EZRA 7.23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven for why should there be wrath against the Realme of the King and his Sonnes THE Lord who is the Father of Spirits hath a great diversity of influence and operation upon the minds and hearts of the children of men he can send a dream upon Nebuchadnezar while he is at rest in his house and florishing in his palace which maketh him afraid and the thoughts upon his bed and the visions of his head to trouble him a While Belshazzar the King maketh a great feast to a thousand of his Lords he can make a hand to write over against the Candlesticke upon the plaister of the Wall which maketh the Kings countenance to be changed and his thoughts to trouble him so that the joynts of his loynes were loosed his knees smote one against another and his wise men and Lords were astonied with him b he can make Balaam when he is called to curse the people of God contrary to his owne intention the desire of Balaak to blesse them three times c He can make Cajephas to prophesie what he understandeth not that one man should die for the people and that the whole Nation perish not d And the Lord can reveale his will to Joseph Daniel and his Prophets concerning things to come for the comfort of his Church e Againe the Lord can renue the hearts of his Enemies and make such a Persecutor as Paul sometime was to be a beleever and Zealous Preacher f He can restraine the impetuous violence of the heart of man thus dealt he with Laban that he durst not speake to Jacob either good or bad g he can also and doth indeed overrule the hearts and wayes of his most Malignant and desperate Enemies whom he neither renueth nor restraineth and contrary to their Counsels and intentions bring them mervelously about to his owne ends as he dealt with Judas Herod Pilate and the people of the Jewes who devised and did mischiefe against Christ but God meant it for good to save his people from their sinnes h There is yet another way of divine providence and Soveraignty when the Lord is pleased neither to proceed to farre as to renue nor doe so little as to restraine but thinketh meet to change the affections of the heart of man whether from particular hatred and opposition as he dealt with Esau comming against Jacob i and Alexander the great marching against Jerusalem k or from that common and innate hatred that all men naturally beare against the true Religion and Church of God Of which we have the example of Ahashuerus in the booke of Ester of Artaxerxes in the booke of Nehemiah of Cyrus and Darius in this booke and of the same Artaxerxes in this Text In whose eyes Ezra did find such favour and of whom he had as ample testimonie of royall benevolence and bounty toward Jerusalem and the house of God there as his heart could have wished and as made him humbly to acknowledge that the good hand of the Lord his God was upon him and to blesse the Lord God of his fathers which had put such a thing in the Kings heart as to beautifie the house of the Lord God which was at Jerusalem In the letter of Artaxerxes expressing his munificence and containing the Commission and instructions given unto Ezra for this purpose the clause which I have read is worthy of a starre or finger in the margent wherein we may perceive that the King as he had heard and learned not from a flattering Court-Chaplaine but from faithfull Ezra beleeveth that the great wrath of God shall come not onely upon himselfe but which was more upon his Kingdome
universall Kingdom of Providence and this watching and inspection of Princes and Magistrates is objective Ecclesiastica but formaliter civiliâ— it is about matters of Religion in a civill manner and in a way sutable to the nature and qualitie of their place and power The faithfull custody and preservation of Religion is a part of their office for they are not onely keepers of the second but of the first Table of the Law To them appertaineth the vindication and defence of Religion against contempt corruption and abuses Religion also expecteth from them the Civill sanction that the worship of God and the wholsome constitutions of the Church about Religion be confirmed and setled by their Laws Coaction also is theirs for they by their power are to constrain their Subjects to the duties of Religion and to coerce and stop them that they do nothing to the contrary They also may and ought to call Assemblies of the Church when the case of Religion doth require praeside as Civill Presidents and examine Church-Constitutions not onely as they are Christians for satisfying their own souls but as Magistrates for the good of the people And when there is a necessity of reformation of Religion and the Ministery and Church-men like the sands of the Sea-shore are covered with a deluge of defection and corruptions they are by their Authority to endeavour a Reformation And yet in all this exercise of their power they are to do nothing but according to the Commandment of God so David Jehoshaphet Hezekiah Josiah and other good and religious Princes have done But when Jeroboam putteth his own commandment in place of the commandment of God when Ahaz setteth up the Altar of Damascus beside or in place of Gods Altar when the Kings of Judah and Israel did worship God or did command the people to worship God otherwise then God had commanded wrath was upon the Kingdom of the King and his Sons When we consider of this we have cause both to lament and rejoyce to lament that through the working of corrupt Church-men so many things concerning the worship and house of God should have been pressed upon the people of God without or against his commandment if Arminianisme for the soul and life and Popish Service and Ceremonies for the body of Religion had been received and admitted as they were offered and obtruded our condition had been more lamentable then it is at this time notwithstanding all our calamities and miseries We have also cause to rejoyce that in the one Kingdom a course hath been taken for doing every thing in the house of God according to his Commandment and that in this Kingdom it is ordered that a wise and holy Assembly of Divines shall search diligently into the Word of God That whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven c. The extent of this Reformation is Whatsoever God hath commanded for what God hath commanded must be done what he hath forbidden must not be done but abolished and what is in the nature thereof indifferent must be regulated according to the Commandment of God which is no lesse plain and peremptory in our practise of things indifferent then in other matters Reformation therefore of Religion must be a through and perfect reformation The particular reformations which were wrought by the Kings of Judah are noted and according to this rule do they receive a testimony from God Some onely destroyed the Temples of Baal some the golden Calves of Dan and Bethel and some also the groves and high places and we know what approbation is given to Hezekiah and Josiah There is a promise made to such a through Reformation Azariah saith to Asa Be ye strong therefore and let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded * By this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take his sin when he maketh all the stones of the Altar as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder * The Lord hath promised a more speciall blessing Isa. 1.26 I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called the City of righteousnesse the faithfull City c. The reason is 1. Because God is not honoured by a begun imperfect and half-reformation He is readie to spew out the luke-warme person family or people If we love the Lord with all our heart and strength we will do every thing that he commandeth for what is it that hindreth but that our heart is parted or divided betwixt two and that we resolve to be almost but not altogether godly 2. Because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump saith the Apostle to the Galathians reproving them that having run well they did halt and not throughly obey the truth and telling them that this perswasion did not come of him that called them When any known corruption is kept it becomes a snare and like a nest-egge that bringeth us back again I know this is censured for precisenesse by the world but we see the best servants of God have been such Precisians Remember the hoof of Moses Mordecai his bowing of his knee Daniel his abstaining from idolatrous meat and the opening of his window Paul his houre and appearance of evill with many more examples of this kind They are Precisians indeed who are liberall in the matters of God and can find in their hearts to dispence with his commands his truth and worship but will not be content to want the least complement of their own worldly honour and dignitie nor the smallest penny of their gaine and worldly commodity Although it be true that some things in Religion be fundamentall and absolutely necessary unto salvation and other things not so yet to be obstinate against revealed truth or to mis-regard or despise smallest matters of Religion which are necessarie to be received if not for themselves yet for the authoritie of Scripture as some make the distinction bringeth as certain a curse and condemnation as ignorance and errour doth in matters more substantiall No Nation under the Sun hath more need to take heed to this then England No persons have reason more to consider this then the Honourable Houses of Parliament who have in their hands the work of Reformation at this time It is better known to this Honourable Audience then to me and yet who is so great a stranger that knoweth it not that Reformation was begun in the time of two Princes But because it was not a through Reformation according to the Commandment of God Superstition and Idolatry returned again like an inundation It was again begun and continued in the time of other two Princes but because they set up their rest in the Rudiments and beginnings of Reformation Idolatry Superstition and Heresie have assayed to enter again with â—ew strength and policie Now the third time the work is begun and there is a greater stir and shaking for