gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the Robbers did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned c and the Lord still observes what he does in such a way and sets down and keeps as it were a Catalogue of his Judgments as well as of his Mercies and of peoples deportment under them how they carry it as here in this Chapter The Lord declares all he had done and all their incorrigibleness notwithstanding Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord and Jer. 8. 6 I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Every one turned to his course as the horse rushes into the battel Vse 1. Let us then in all that is done see own and acknowledg the Lords hand and humble our selves under the same thus it is said The man of wisdom shall do Mic. 6. 9 The Lords voice crieth unto the City And the man of wisdom shall see thy Name i. e. he shall see thee and own thy hand in what is done the not doing of which the Lord complains of and threatens Isa 26. 11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see c. 2. Let us turn to him that smites and seek the Lord of Hosts as he often invites Hosea 14. 1 O Israel return unto the Lord thy God Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously c. So Joel 2. 12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart c. and seek ye me and ye shall live Amos 5. 4 6. And this the Lord expects Hosea 15 In their affliction they will seek me early Lord in trouble have they visitod thee Isa 26. 16. And peoples not doing of this is the great matter and ground of his complaint and it rolls so in his thoughts that he knows not how as it were to digest it As here in this Chapter it is five times together the matter of the Lords complaint Yet have ye not return'd to me saith the Lord ver 6. So ver 8 9 10 11. So elsewhere Hosea 11. 7 Though they called them to the most High none at all would exalt him They looked after and minded other ways and means of help Isa 22. 8 Thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the Forest c. ver 9 10 11. And they thought in this they were very wise and politick but they neglected the main To look to the Lord and to seek and turn to him ver 11 12 23. And for this the Lord threatned to bring upon them final ruin For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still For the people turneth not to him that smites them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day Isa 9. 12 13 14. And therefore as ever we would prevent our own and the Nations ruin let us speedly set upon this yea and encourage one another to this as the best course we can take as the best way we can go as those Hosea 6. 1 2 3 Come say they let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up c. And why gaddest thou about saith the Lord so much to change thy way i. e. the way which I have prescribed thee and that which should be thy way but thou triest other ways and conclusions but in vain and to no purpose they shall avail thee nothing Jer. 2. 36 37 Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria Yea thou shalt go forth from him and thine hands upon thine head a sign of shame and sorrow for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences those ways and refuges thou confidest in and thou shalt not prosper in them Observ 2. Whatever the Lord does or threatens to do to a people in a way of Judgment it is not without cause there is a therefore for it Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and therefore hath he poured upon him the fury of his anger Isa 42. 25. Therefore the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you Mat. 21. 43. And so I might give you hundreds more of such therefores and wherefores but they are every where obvious and therefore I shall not stand to mention them and all declare that whatever the Lord does in à way of Judgment it is not without cause But does not the Lord tell Satan that he moved him against Job to destroy him without cause Job 2. 3 It was indeed without cause as to what Satan did alledg and pretend as to Job which was gross Hypocrisie so without cause but not absolutely for if God narrowly search the best there 's ever cause so as to justifie God as to what he does God indeed sometimes afflicts without respect to sin but still there is cause enough from sin in the best to merit it though not always the moving cause c. Vse 1. This then lets us see the vast difference between Gods acting in a way of Judgment and the sinners in a way of sin For the one is not without cause there is a therefore for it but none for the other There 's no therefore for that we do not indeed suffer without cause but we sin without cause Gods Judgments are not without cause but mans transgressions are and hence is it that the Lord does so Expostulate with his people as concerning their sinful carriages towards him as being without cause nay as having given them great cause to the contrary as Jer. 2. 5 Thus saith the Lord What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone from me and Verse 31 Have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness say my people We are lords we will come no more to thee So Mic. 6. 3 4 5 O my people What have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearred thee Testifie against me For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt c. As if the Lord had said I have done indeed much good for thee shewn a great deal of kindness towards thee But what evil or hurt did I ever do to thee So that if it be ask't here Who hath wounds who hath grief who has offence without cause It must be answered God haes O the disingenuity Ingratitude and unreasonableness of sin and sinners Gods Service is indeed most reasonable as that we should love him and live and devote our selves to him Which is yur reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. But sin is unreasonable and sinners That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men 2 Thes 3. 2. Solomon advises Prov. 3. 30 Strive not with a man without cause if he have done the no harm
what he will they care not they mind the World and their interests and concerns there on the Earth but never regard what heaven doth As the Duke of Alva once told the King of France when he had asked him whether he had observ'd the late great Eclipse in the Heavens No said he I have too much to do on Earth to mind the Heavens And how many such are there who Gallia like care for none of those things They are so far from meeting God so as to stay his hand that they will not so much as see or once take notice of his hand As the Lord complains of those Isa 26. 11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see c. And of Ephraim Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray hairs are here and there upon him yet he knoweth not Hos 7. 9. That is he hath no sense of it neither does he mind or regard it or lay it to heart And how many such sottish senseless stupid souls are there among us who regard not the works of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands but are setled on their lees and secure and put far away the evil day But wo says the Lord to them that are at ease in Sion that put far away the evil day Amos 6. 1 3. And because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Psal 28. 5. See Isa 5. 11 12. 2. To those who instead of meeting God in the way of his judgments so as to appease him do rather by going on still in their sins more and more provoke him and instead of endeavouring to quench the fire themselves have kindled do rather add more suel to it Who say in effect as those Jer. 18. 12 There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart And come ye say they I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Isa 56. 12. And let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Isa 22. 13. Thus they spake in a scoffing way The Prophet tells us we have not long to live we shall soon be slain and therefore let us be jovial while we may O! the daring-impudence of sinners Solomon says The wrath of a king is as messengers of death but a wise man will pacifie it What Fools and Bedlams are those then who still more and more provoke the wrath of the great God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who cuts off the spirit of Princes and is terrible to the kings of the earth Psal 76. 12. And yet how many such are there who having troden down the hedg and opened the gap are so far from making it up again that they more and more widen it And instead of endeavouring to put a stop to Gods judgments do rather more hasten them And how justly are such to be reprov'd as enemies not only to themselves and to their own souls but to the Nation to Church and State to King and Kingdom For these take the ready way to undo all As Samuel told Israel But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King 1 Sam. 12. 15. II. By way of Exhortation When God is in the way of his Judgments is it his peoples great duty and concern to meet him as hath abundantly been made good Then God being and still continuing and going on in that way let us all in the name aad fear of God set our selves to that which is so much our duty and concern as indeed there is nothing more I mean to meet him in the way of his Judgments and let us meet him aright and as we have had it made out unto us and set before us with preparation by prayers and supplications and those aright qualifi'd by true repentance and conversion in and with a Mediator even that One and only Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus whom God hath made for us in things pertaining to him or to be done with him With Presents such as in and through Christ the chief Present of all are pleasing to God as of a broken and contrite heart a willing and ob dient heart a sincere and upright heart a merciful and compassionate heart towards others in their miseries and necessities For we go to God for merey for our selves and the Nation and we should then shew mercy to others And lastly by extraordinary Fasting Afflicting and Humbling our selves before the Lord And thus let us answer the Lords call here in the Text And because I will do this prepare to meet thy God O Israel And surely after all the Judgments which the great God hath inflicted on us he hath as great cause to complain of Englands incorrigibleness as here of Israel's Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord and therefore may justly resolve as here concerning Israel Therefore thus will I do unto thee O England Truly what the Lord will do I know not neither am I able to say what he hath done a-late we see he hath broken out against us again by several Fires and dreadful Flames not only in the City but in several places in the Country He hath called Home several of his Ambassadors a-late taken away several of his Ministers two in one day and others of his choice Servants and that very suddenly such as should make up the hedg and stand in the gap before the Lord for the Land that he may not destroy it which though little considered and laid to heart bodes very ill and is one of those gray-hairs which are here and there upon us we may fear it is even night when the Lord gets his Children so fast to bed and that the storm is very near when he gathers and houses so fast his corn our Fathers the Chariots of our Israel and the Horse-men thereof go off a-pace and we shall see them no more here 2 Kings 2. 9. This now and a great deal more the Lord hath done a-late but what he 's yet about farther to do who can tell But we have great cause to fear he may do worse and deal severelier with us than ever yet he hath done For we turn not as least very few of us to him that hath so often smitten us neither as we ought do we seek the Lord of Hosts And therefore how justly might he bring final ruin upon us and cut off head and tayl branch and rush in one day as he threatens Isa 9. 12 13 14. And therefore that if possible we may yet prevent this let us do as we are here admonished meet God so as to appease and pacify him and make up the breach and take up the controversy between him and us that
But how do sinners strive with God without cause when he has done them no harm but much good And how sad is this for shall evil be recompensed for good Sinners it is said love those that love them and do good to those that do good to them Luke 6. 32 33. It is thus indeed as to Men but not to God Sinners as one expresses it carry themselves as Men towards Men but as Devils towards God acting below the very principles of common humanity and their own nature as Men as if they had not the hearts of Men no principle being more deeply engraven in the hearts of Men than this to do good to those who do good to them but sinners do evil to that God who does good to them and never did them hurt They load and weary him with their iniquities and make him to serve with their sins who dayly loads them with his benefits and sin against a Thousand mercies So that God may say to sinners what Christ sometime said to the Jews For which of my good works is it that you stone me John 10. 32. That you go on to sin against me is it because I made you or because I have ever since preserved you For we could as soon make our selves as preserve our selves or is it because I daily still sustain you feed you cloath you and every way take care of you and provide for you O the reflection upon this another day that there was no Cause no Therefore for sinners carrying it so towards God as they did will be a great part of that worm of Conscience in Hell which shall never dye And this made those in Judges 2 when the Angel of the Lord had convinc'd them of the unreasonableness of their actings Why says the Angel have ye done this This made them lift up their voice and weep and make the place where they were a very Bochim vers 1 2 3 4 5. Vse 2. Then let us justifie the Lord in all he does and acknowledg that he is righteous not doing what he does without cause but there being a Therefore for it Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel Has the Lord sent among us the Sword and after that the Plague Yea and after that Fire and several other judgments as Gripes strange sicknesses Seasons Storms Tempests Breaking us at Sea and causing strange Inundations at Land And is not his anger yet turned away but is his hand stretched out still As we have seen a late in that dreadful Fire in Southwark and again a late at Northampton to the great consternation of that people None of these are without cause but there 's a Therefore for them all and therefore let us say as the Church Lam. 1. 18 The Lord is righteous for we have rebelled c. And as Daniel â— 7 O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces c. Vse 3. Let this then quiet us and cause us patiently to bear what ever the Lord hath or may further inflict upon us as the Prophet Micah resolves chap. 7. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him That is very observable to this purpose which we read Ezek. 13. 22 23 where the Lord says of a Remnant there that should escape That as concerning all the evil he should bring upon Jerusalem when they should see what cause there was for what he did they should be comforted concerning it all a strange expression The Lord had done fore and heavy things against Jerusalem inflicted grievous judgments he mentions four viz. The Sword Famine noisom Beasts and Pestilence And not only gainst the Land and City but against the Temple Read the Book of Lamentations And yet when that Remnant should see the ways and doings of those against whom God had done it they should see such cause for what God had done that it is said as concerning all that God had done They should be comforted i. e. contented silenced well satisfied and not have a word tosay as concerning all that the Lord had brought upon them Pray peruse the place it is worthy your serious observation Vers 22 Yet behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth both sons and daughters Behold they shall come forth unto you and ye shall see their way and their doings Their manner and course of lise and conversation how evil it hath been and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem even concerning all that I have brought upon it And they shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it says the Lord. And truly such have been and still are at this day the daring crying sins and abominable wickednesses of this Nation yea and of this City as to the generality of us Such is our pride every manner of way in our Gait Habit Hair Apparel yea in our very Nakedness such are our garish ranting flanting immodest Attires and Dresses so contrary to the fear of the Lord and the profession of Godliness Such our Luxury Sensuality Excesses Revellings Drunkenness desperate Security such our horrid and open profanations of Gods Name and Day such our Atheism Oaths Errors Heresies Blasphemies Perjuries Superstitions Idolatries Oppressions Cruelties Thefts Murders Whoredoms Adulteries Uncleannesses Hatred of God and his Ways and the power of Godliness By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery sinners breaking out and blood touching blood Hos 4. 2. In a word such are our prodigious and execrable impieties of all sorts and kinds whatsoever That what-ever evils the Lord hath or may yet further bring upon us or what ever he do with us we have cause to be comforted i. e. silenc'd satisfied and never open our mouths more Why criest thou saith God for thinc affliction Thy sorrows are incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee Jer. 30. 15. And wherefore says the Lord will you plead with me Jer. 2. 29. They were ready to plead against God as if he had been rigorous towards them but wherefore says the Lord will you plead with me ye have all transgressed against me and let that silence you and well it may For there 's more true real evil in one sin the least sin than in all other evils whatsoever the evil of punishment being little to the evil of sin the bitterness for sin to the bitterness in sin one strikes but at the creature the other at the Creator at God one at what is finite the other at what is infinite c. Vse 4. Let us labour then to find out the Cause and get it removed Let us not stand complaining but sall upon searching and trying for there is a Therefore for what the Lord doeâ— For what ever he has done or goes
of mercies comes there will be healing and binding up and verse 2 3 reviving raising up and living in his sight and then his going forth shall be as the morning and he shall come to us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth But without this we must expect inevitable ruin as the Lord threatens again and again see Isa 9. 13 14. Jer. 15. 7 Ezek. 24. 12 13 14. You know what Christ said to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his plaee except thou repent And wo to us if he and his Gospel go from us Psal 22. 27 It is there said All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. And O that at length we might remember and do so remember our selves and how much it is our own and the Nations concern and turn unto the Lord. Shall we always forget God and our selves too How long shall our sins be a snare to us Know we not yet that England is in danger to be destroy'd And do we not see his anger is not yet turned away but his hand is stretched out still Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Job 34. 31 32. And till we do this we do not only forget our selves but we are not our selves we are not only out of our way but out of our wits Sin being so great an evil yea the greatest and chieâ—est and indeed only true evil the cause of all other and it self the worst punishment the work of the Devil yea worse than the Devil and Hell and which nothing can expiate but Christs blood c. And then to repent and turn to the Lord is every way so much our concern and that which makes so infinitely for our own and the Nations weal that were we but our selves or in our right minds we could not but resolve on it as it is said of the Prodigal Son that as soon as ever he came to himself He said I will arise and go to my Father c. So that before he was not himself no more are we till we repent and turn to God then and not till then is it that we are our selves and do indeed remember our selves and our own and the Nations great concern and O that the Lord therefore would be pleas'd so to remember us that we might at length thus remember our selves and him too so as to turn to him by conversion without which will follow inevitahle destruction IV. In and with a Mediator even that One and only Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1. 5. For so great is the distance between God and us and such is our sinfulness and great unrighteousness by reason thereof that there can be no meeting God with acceptance without a Mediator and this Mediator is Jesus Christ alone and hence we are said to come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. And in him to have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Eph. 3. 12. And but in and with him there is no coming to God with acceptance In him i. e. bâ—ing in him by faith united to him as Paul speaks oft of the Saints as being in Christ Col. 1. 2. Rom. 16. 7 11 c. and of himself he says I knew a man in Christ 2 Cor. 12. 2. And how happy is it to be indeed in him especially in such evil days and perilous times as these are for can we be better he being the hiding-place from the wind and the covert from the tempest As rivers of water in a dry plece as the shad w of a great rock in a weary land Isa 3â— 2. and The peace when the Assyrian comes into the land Mic. 5. 5. And being in him are we safe whatever dangers come happy whatever miseries come and shall be found in peace whatever troubles come And what then can we know more or better than this or what avails all else we know unless we know this That we are in Christ and when we are in him then are we fit to meet God indeed and not till then for without him or sever'd from him we can do nothing and to such as are out of him God is as a consuming fire and what then will such do in the day of visitation that have not as yet fled to Christ for refuge and gotten into him If a man abide not in me he 's cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned Joh. 15. 6. 2. As we are to meet God in him united to him by faith so with him i. e. God being incens'd by our sins we are when we go to meet God to take him along with us and present him and make use of him who is so dearly beloved and with whom the Father is so well pleased and in and through whom alone he comes to be well pleas'd with us and therefore in our addresses to God we must be sure not to pass him by God having made him to be for us in things pertaining to him as the Scripture declares For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God c. Heb. 5. 1. And that he might be a merciful and faithful high-priest in things pertaining to God or to be done with God chap. 2. 17. And we have many things to be done with God and things of very great concern and O! what a mercy is it that we have such a one made ordained and appointed for us as to whatever appertains and is to be done with God and among other this is one main thing The rendring us in our addresses to him acceptable And being incens'd by our sins to get him appeas'd and pacified and now Christ as to this is made and ordained by God for us and therefore in our addresses to him as ever we would find acceptance and have him meet us in mercy so as to find grace in his sight we must be sure as I said not to pass him by but take him along with us and present him tender him and make use of him and to beg os God to look upon us in and thorow him As David Ps 14. 9 Look upon the face of thine annointed i. e. of thy Christ of thy Messiah and let me for his sake find acceptance So Dan. 9. 17 Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake Thus if we would meet God so as to pacifie him we must carry Christ as it were in our Arms in the arms of our Faith as old Simeon got him once