whether such a preservation deserve lesse at Your hands than to give Your selves to your Great Deliverer for so Great a Deliverance whereby three Nations destinated at once to Death received no lesse than a joyfull resurrection from the Dead and were again born at once Therefore let not this Great mercy seeme small in Your eyes And remember too that you may have as much need of God another time nay you know not what need you may have of him this present Parliament You cannot be ignorant of the many murmures and more than whisperings of some desperate and devilish conception suspected to be now in the womb of the Jesuiticall faction And how neere it may be to the birth or how prodigious it may prove being born I take not upon me to divine but this we are all sure of that what ever it be which they are big withall it shall not want the least graine of the utmost extremitie of malice and mischiefe that all the wit power and industry of Hell it self can contribute unto it and that they labour as a woman in travaile to be speedily delivered of it What dangers and what cause of feare there may be at the present I leave to your Wisdome to consider But this be confident of if Deliverances already received can prevaile with you for a Covenant that Covenant will be your securitie for it will certainly engage all the power and wisdome of the Great and only wise God of heaven and earth to be on your side for ever So that if God himself have power enough wisdome enough and care enough you cannot miscarry no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper no plot no gates of hell shall prevaile against you And if he have goodnesse enough mercy enough bowels enow in him he will then also raine down aboundance of trueth righteousnesse justice peace and plentie upon all Corners of the Land from whence and on whose errand You are now come together Therefore it becomes you above all others to be first in a Covenant 2. Consider that till we do this there cannot be such a full enjoying of God as otherwise there might be Indeed the perfect fruition of God is not to be expected till we come to heaven but yet we might have much more of God even in this life than now we have could we be perswaded to such a Covenant with him Whatsoever experience we have of him now in any deliverance bestowed it would be doubled if upon the deliverance received we would thus be joyned to him Nor is this a notion or conceit only but a reall trueth For marke what He saith to his people Hos. 2. vers. 19 20. I will marry thee unto me for ever I will betroath thee unto me in righteousnesse and in Iudgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will even marry thee unto me in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord He that enters into Covenant with God is betroathed yea even married to him And how married even to the partaking of all his goods of all he hath yea of himself and of all that he is As the wife may say Vbi tu Caius ego Caia and as Laban sometimes of Iacobs wives children and cattell These daughters are my daughters and these children are my children and these cattell are my cattell and all that thou seest are mine So a man once married to the Lord by Covenant may without arrogancy say this righteousnesse is my righteousnesse this judgement is my judgement this loving kindnesse these mercies this faithfulnesse which I see in thee and all that thou hast is mine for my comfort supply support direction salvation and what not And take notice of that phrase Thou shalt know the Lord Did they not know him before Yes but never in such a manner with such a Knowledge at least in such a measure They shall now know him in such neere familiar sweet and ineffable expressions of his deerest deepest choycest conjugal love as they never tasted nor could taste of before We know how it is with a wife married to a loving husband They loved one another before marriage and many expressions of a speciall love passed betweene them but they never enjoyed one another fully till the marriage was solemnized Then there is not only a more intimate manifestation of fervent intire loyall chaste love but a further enlarging and stretching out of mutuall affections to each other than they could possibly have beleeved they should ever have reached unto till now experience assure them of it And even thus it is between us and God Is he Good in deliverances have we tasted of his love already Oh how great would his goodnesse be how full of grace mercy bountie and how would he communicate even whole rivers of all these to that Soule that would once come up to him and close with him in an everlasting Covenant All the wayes of the Lord are mercy and trueth unto such as make and keep Covenant with him Psal. 25. 10. 3. Consider that what ever worke God calls You to Yee will never buckle thoroughly to it till you have entred into Covenant with him An apprentise boy when he goes to a Master upon tryall onely his minde is now on then off againe sometimes he could like the trade by and by his minde hangs after his Mother at home or after some other course of life and he never sets close to his businesse till he be bound When once the Indentures be sealed and he enrolled he knowes there is now no more time to deliberate but he must fall to his busines or else take what happens for his idlenesse and negligence So is it with a wife if she be but onely promised or betroathed to a man she may come to his house and cast an eye up and downe but it is rather to observe than to act she may perhaps cast out a word now and then somewhat freely also but she never sets her selfe to guide the house or to doe any thing to purpose till she be married then she careth for the things of the world that is with all possible diligence looking to and managing of the businesse of the family committed to her how she may please her husband all her thoughts care diligence run this way she makes it her businesse that she must stick unto and daily manage as a part of the marriage Covenant And thus also it will be with you You have much worke under your hands and are likely to have more and I hope you desire to doe all in truth of heart for God and not for ends of your owne but let me tell you this will never be done throughly till once you be marryed to him by solemne Covenant Then will you care indeed for the things of the Lord how you may please the Lord in every cause in every Answer to any Petition and in every Vote of any Bill or sentence You would then think
doctrine in worship and in manners Whereupon he now resolves and sets upon a more thorough Reformation of all these but could never effect it till beside the proclaiming and holding of a publique Fast he and all the people lighted upon this course namely of entring into a publique and solemne Covenant with the Lord subscribed sealed and sworne unto as before you have heard and so from that time forward the worke prospered and the Church was purged of many abominations wherewith till that time she was defiled Behold here Quantae molis erat dilectam condere Gentem how great a work how long a businesse to perfect a Reformation even of Gods deerest people Their captivitie in Babylon lasted not halfe so long time as was spent after their returne thence ere their Reformation could be brought to any tolerable perfection And why so Did they omit prayer and fasting and seeking early after God surely no For in Zach. 8. 19. we read of foure severall publique Fasts * The fast of the fourth moneth the fast of the fifth moneth the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth moneth which they held not only by all the time of the 70 yeeres captivitie in Babylon but many yeeres after their return thence Zach. 7. 3. and vers. 5. But all this labour was in great part lost for want of this addition to all their humiliation and prayer namely The joyning of themselves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant not to be forgotten And when God once directed Nehemiah to this course see how all things began to thrive and come on a maine Now not only the Temple but even the walls of Hierusalem were built up and that within one twelve yeeres after this Covenant was smitten which before lay wast many scores of yeeres Let us now reflect upon our selves and the State of Religion and progresse of Reformation in our owne Church that we may make up the Parallel Some beginnings of our deliverance from Babylon we received by King Henry the eighth For he threw out the Pope His sonne King Edward the sixth came after and cast out Popery in the body and bulke of it A great work and a large step for the short time of his infant reigne And indeed he had many excellent helps that way beside the zeale of his own pious heart an Excellent Archbishop a Prudent and vigilant Protector beside others else he could never have done so much Notwithstanding the potency and secret underminings of those mightie Factions then prevailing hindred the work not a little so that it exceeded not an infant-Reformation yea through the immature death of that Iosiah it soone prov'd abortive The Princesse that came after quickly turn'd the Tide before it was half high water and she set all the Gates wide open againe both for Pope and Popery to re-enter with triumph and to drink drunk of the bloud of our Ancestors till God discharged her and released his people from her crueltie So that when Queene Elizabeth that glorious Deborah mounted the Throne although her heart was upright and loathed the Idolatry of the former Reigne yet found she worke enough to restore any thing at all and to make any beginnings of a Reformation She soone felt when she would have throughly pluckt up Popery both root and branch superfluous Ceremonies and all remaining raggs of superstition as well as grosse Idolatry that she had to do with an Hydra having such a strong partie of stout Popelings to grapple with at home and such potent and dangerous abetters of them to cope withall abroad I need not name them I might adde hereunto some difficulties arising from the interests and engagements of not a few of those though good and holy men that underwent voluntary exile in the heat of the Marian persecution who while they were abroad had a large share in the troubles at Franckford too eagerly perhaps pursuing the English Formes of Worship and Discipline and so when upon their returne they were advanced to places of Dignitie and Government in this Church they were the more apt and forward to maintaine and hold up that Cause wherein they had so farre appeared and for which some of them with more heat than Charitie had so openly declared themselves in forreine parts And so what by one impediment and what by another we see it hath been a long time ere our Reformation can be thoroughly polished and perfected as were to be wished and desired for there is nothing so perfect here but is capable of more perfection Nay so farre are we become now from going forward with the work notwithstanding the pietie and care of our Princes since the last Restitution of Religion in this Kingdome that as it was in Iosiahs time though his own heart were for God yet there was a pack of rotten men both Priests and People very great pretenders to Devotion but indeed mad upon Images and Idols we begin to fall quite back again and not only to coast anew upon the brinks of Babylon from whence we were happily delivered but even to launch out into her deepest Lakes of superstition and Idolatry under pretence of some extraordinary pietie of the times and of some good work in hand What is the reason of all this but that not so much as once since the first beginning of Reformation of Religion in this Island we never for ought I know entred into such a solemn publique universall Covenant to be the Lords as he requireth for those beginnings already given us but have sate loose from God and so have not joyned together as one man zealously to propugne his trueth and Ordinances and to stand by him and his Cause as becomes the people of God in all just and warrantable wayes against all opposers and gain-sayers So long as we please our selves in this libertie of our holding off from a Covenant with God we may feed our selves with vaine hopes of redresse of things amisse but shall speed no better than those libertines and back-sliders in Ier. 14. who lookt for great matters from God but came short of all and then seemed to wonder at the reason For thus they bespeake him ver. 8. O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the Land and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry onely for a night Why shouldst thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name See here how they are put to it They acknowledge his Power Goodnesse Presence yet they are not saved He seemes to be like Sampson with his Locks cut off as if he were not able to save or would not do it and this they wonder and stand amazed at as a thing incredible and impossible But God makes them a short and sharp answer which may also serve us vers. 10. Thus
when you come to manage debate vote any Question I am the Lords not mine owne not my friends will this I doe stand with my Covenant will it please God will it be profitable for the State is it agreeable to Justice and equitie Then on with it no man shall divert or take me off But till then one will entreate for his friend another for his one will make you one way another would draw you another way and they are both your friends and you knowe not how to deny either and thus are you even torne in peeces betweene them in so much as you sometimes resolve to be absent or to sit still and say nothing or to gratifie him that hath most power with You be the Cause what it will But when once the Covenant is sealed all this will be at an end You will quickly stop your eares against all perswasions that may hinder Justice and Reformation and when this is known men will soone forbeare also to trouble You with such solicitations Againe fourthly Wicked men stick not at a Covenant with death and hell it self so they may but satisfie their Lusts though they know the end thereof will be damnation Oh then shall not we much more make a Covenant with our God to do his will which will be beneficiall and comfortable both here and hereafter and procure a full torrent of his mercies bountie grace and eternall life to flow in upon us 5. Consider that the Devill himself will have a Covenant from all his vassals that expect any extraordinary matters from him else he will not be engaged to be at their Command There is not a Witch that hath the Devill at her beck but she must seale a Covenant to him sometimes with her bloud sometimes by other rites and devices and perhaps he must suck her too as in those hellish bargaines you know they use and then he is for her during the time agreed upon And shall we think God will be so cheap as to be with reverence be it spoken at our Command to help direct assist deliver and save us who will not do so much for him as Witches and Sorcerers will do for the Devill In the 45 of Isay vers. 11. there is a strong expression this way Thus saith the Lord the Holy one of Israel and his Maker aske of mee things to come concerning my sonnes and concerning the work of my hands Command ye mee It is not to be thought that God complementeth with his people but is free and heartie in the expression of what they shall really find him But marke it concernes his Sonnes that is those that are truely in Covenant with him This priviledge is for none else So that the way to have God at Command with humilitie be it used is to be his sonnes and daughters by Covenant For to whom it is said I will be their God and they shall be my people to them is it spoken I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almightie 2 Cor. 6. 18. And to them he saith also Command ye me 6. Consider that it is the proper and chiefe businesse of a Fast to enter into Covenant with God You see it to be the practise of the Church in Nehemiah's time And where this hath been omitted the Fast hath been lost God never accounted any of those foure annuall solemne Fasts before mentioned that were so long in use among the Jews to be fasts unto him but calles them fasts to themselves Zach. 7. 5 6. Why but because they looked no further in their Fasts but to afflict their soules for a day to bow down their heads as a bullrush and to spread sack-cloth and ashes under them and there an end But they lost all their labour getting nothing from God but a chiding and contempt And in trueth when will we thus joyne our selves to the Lord if not at a Fast Then are our hearts in more than ordinary tune for such a work when we are brought to set our sinnes before us and humbly to confesse bewaile and renounce them when we have taken some paines with our Soules to soften and melt them before the Lord especially if then they be in any measure raised up towards Him with any apprehension of his love in the pardon of so many and great sinnes even when the Soule is most cast down for them Then I say strike through the Covenant or it will never be If you let slip this opportunitie you may perhaps never obtaine the like while you live but either your selves may be cut off or your hearts shut up in desperate hardnesse like unto Pharoah whom every deliverance and new experience of Gods favour in taking off new evils hardened more and made worse 7. In the last place and let it not have the least force of perswasion remember and consider that this day even this very day the 17. of November 82. yeeres sithence began a new resurrection of this Kingdome from the dead our second happy Reformation of Religion by the auspitious entrance of our late Royal Deborah worthy of eternall remembrance and honour into her blessed and glorious Reigne and that from thenceforth Religion thrived and prospered under her Government with admirable successe against a whole world of oppositions from Popish factors at home and abroad So as the very Gates of hell were never able to extinguish that Light which God by her meanes hath set up amongst us Consider I beseech you that it is not without a speciall Providence that this your meeting was cast upon this very day for I presume little did you think of the 17 of November when you first fixed on this day for your Fast that even from thence one hammer might be borrowed to drive home this nayle of Exhortation that the very memory of so blessed a work begun on this very day might throughly inflame you with desire to enter into a Covenant and so to go forward to perfect that happy Reformation which yet in many parts lyes unpolished and unperfect Oh suffer not that doore of hope by Her set open this day to be again shut for want of a Covenant If you would indeed honour Her precious memory yea honour God and your selves and not only continue the possession of what she as a most glorious Conduit pipe hath transmitted to us but perfect the work set upon this duty of joyning your selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten And so have you the Motives 2. I shall now shut up all with some few Directions to help us in it And here passing by what hath been already spoken touching the preparatives to it the Substance of it and the properties required in it I shall only give you these sixe subsequent Directions 1. Give a Bill of divorce to all your Lusts or kill them out-right This Covenant is a