us Are not al the Promisses appendant to this Temple May we imagine that the holy and faithful God wil quit the place of his Residence and glorious rest May we not then groundedly assure our selves that our faithful Lord wil conserve and maintain his own Temple and People that worship him therein Thus they trusted in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord c. Some refer the last word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These to the works of the Jews relating to the externe worship of God and so they render the Temple in the Genitive Case These are the works of the Temple of Jehovah As if they had said What doest thou reprehend O Prophet in our works or Why doest thou cal in question the most constant promisses of God We are so greatly confirmed concerning al these things which thou allegest against us as of nothing more For are not these our works of Jehovah's Temple commanded by his Law As for the Promisses are they not appendant to this Temple And thence are they not as firme and constant towards us as the Temple is firme This Temple is Gods resting place for ever Psal 132. 14. Wherefore we are most confident that the faithful God wil for his own Temple sake conserve our Countrie and we his worshipers Which ever way we take the words it comes much to one and clearly discovers to us the fond presumtions and foolish self-flatteries of this people grounded on their commun Church-privileges And therefore this holy Prophet puts this their groundlesse presumtion as a main ingredient into his Lamentations over the Ruines of Jerusalem So Lament 2. 14. Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee and they have not discovered thine iniquitie to turne away thy captivitie but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment Jerusalem's false prophets soothed her up in groundlesse presumtions of peace and quietude which proved the cause of her captivitie That which we read causes of Banishment is in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expulsions or banishments i. e they have proposed to thee such glavering Doctrines and presumtuous persuasions of good times as have been the cause of thy ruine and banishment where the effect being put for the efficient cause or action it gives us the true rise of their Captivitie namely those fond presumtions and false persuasions of peace which their false prophets had infused into their hearts This the Prophet sadly laments And was it not thus also in our blessed Lords days Is not this one chief ingredient of his Lamentation over Jerusalem that she did not know in that her day the things which did belong unto her peace What doth that import Surely in part thus much she flattered herself into a fools paradise of being Abrahams seed and thence under the Messias's Wing and this her self-flatterie was the greatest obstacle and bar to her closing with him the true Savior and alone foundation of her peace Thus much also our Lord declares John 8. 39 44. where he endeavors to beat them out of their fond presumtion and groundlesse persuasion of being Abrahams seed whereas indeed they were as he tels them v. 44. Children of the Devil and near to ruine And certainly this is mater of sad lamentation to see persons or churches lift up to Heaven in their own presumtuous conceits and yet dropping down to Hel in realitie such violent presumtions if not cured by medicinal Grace bring inevitable ruine to the most flourishing Churches So Rev. 3. 17 18. Because thou saiest I am rich c. 3. Another Church-sin which was a great moral cause of Jerusalems ruine is spiritual Pride This indeed is a proper Church-sin arising out of Church-privileges or other spiritual excellences vouchsafed by Christ Thus it was with Jerusalem in the days of old which God promiseth to cure Zeph. 3. 11. I wil take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride and thou shalt no more be haughtie because of my holy mountain It seems there were a people who did much pride themselves and grew very haughtie by reason of the holy Mountain which was a visible Symbol or token of Gods presence ay but God promiseth in evangelic days to cure this tumor and Tympanie As it is with single persons so with whole Churches there are some sins of infirmitie which God connives at and wil passe over upon a general Repentance but this sin of spiritual pride is of such a deep tincture malignitie and antipathie against God as that if it be not timely repented of and turned from 't wil prove the Gangrene and bane of the most flourishing Churches There is no sin so opposite to our receiving Grace from Christ as spiritual pride Oh! What a burden is this to Christ that they who are nothing have nothing can do nothing of themselves should be proud of what they have received from him As they who are most abased in themselves are most exalted by God and nearest to him so they who most exalt themselves are most abased by and estranged from God Luke 18. 14. For every one that exalteth himself shal be abased and he that humbleth himself shal be exalted Pride it is the cancer of parts the moth of privileges the rust of comforts the poison of duties the sting of crosses the reproche of Professors None so much favored and enriched with grace and comfort by Christ as humble souls and Churches but he resisteth the proud Jam. 4. 6. and Psal 138. 6. God knoweth the proud afar off i. e God knows him as an enemie and loves not to come near him God has an old grudge against spiritual pride as one of his most ancient inveterate enemies borne in Heaven in the bosome of Angels and therefore resists it most Wel therefore might our Lord weep over this sin as a cause of Jerusalems ruine 4. Another Sin which morally hastened Jerusalems ruine was her carnal Securitie This seems evidently comprised in Christs following Bil of Indictment v. 42. If thou hadst known i. e considered Our gracious Lord makes loud and solemne Proclamations of peace but Jerusalem was fast asleep Again he threatens vengeance and wrath but she has no ears to hear At last flames of divine wrath break forth upon her but al this while she awakes not ' til scorched and burned to ashes So that the great sin Christ bewails is her securitie Ah! what a cursed sin is securitie This desperate securitie of Jerusalem our Lord also foretels Luke 17. 26 30. And as it was in the days of Noah so shal it be also in the days of the son of man they did eat drink c. Here Christ foretels what wretched securitie should seize on carnal professors at the coming of the Son of man whereby we may understand not only his final coming to jugement but also his coming to judge Jerusalem which was but a
For what is laid up in store with God as in a Treasure and moreover secured with a Seal is most certain Al the wits and forces of Heaven and Earth cannot break open this Divine Seal or make void Gods Treasures of wrath 3. Hereby also is intimated Gods Longanimitie or Long sufferance for what is laid up in a treasure is not of present use but for the future So the Greek Verb to treasure up signifies to lay up for to morrow So it follows v. 35. their foot shal slide in due time The Lord forbears long til sinners have filled up their mesure and then opens his treasure of wrath 4. These treasures of wrath implie Gods severitie at last against impenitent sinners which go on in ways of Apostasie and Rebellion The longer God waits for Jesurun's returne to him the more fierce wil his indignation be against her if she returne not patience abused turnes into multiplicated furie When God comes to open his sealed treasures of Indignation against contumacious rebellious Jerusalem Oh! what flouds of wrath break forth against her Thus Psal 106. 39. Thus were they desiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions Here you have Jesuruns Apostasie from God and then follows Gods severitie against Jesurun v. 40. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance When a professing People or Church begin to grow weary of God He begins to abhor them as as an unclean thing or that which is abominable Thus I have dispatcht the Church-sins which brought ruine on Jerusalem and therefore were the chief mater of our blessed Lords Lamentation and I have insisted the more largely and particularly hereon that so by having a view of those Church-sins that usually bring Church-ruines we may so far as we are guiltie lament over the same and reforme for the future lest we in lik emanner fal under Jerusalems condemnation and ruines CHAP. VI. Divine wrath and the effects theref on Jerusalem further mater of Christs Lamentation HAving finisht the Moral cause of Jerusalems Ruine we now procede to the productive cause thereof which was chiefly the wrath of a sin-revenging jelous God As sin was the fuel so Divine wrath was the fire which consumed Jerusalem And this was another great and moving object which drew this sad Lamentation from our gracious Lord. Jerusalem was now in a prosperous tranquil or quiet state Oh! how beautiful and goodly was her Temple to the eyes of Beholders Do not Christs Disciples cry out Mark 13. 1. Master see what manner of stones and what buildings are here Very good Ay but what replie doth Christ make Luk. 21. 6. As for these things which ye behold the dayes wil come in which there shal not be left one stone on another that shal not be thrown down Our omniscient Lord saw divine Wrath smoking against Jerusalem and this made him to weep over it whiles others gloried in its beautie Our poor shallow apprehensions contemplate Causes in their Effects but Christs omniscient eye saw the Effect in its Causes and therefore laments over it as being actually present to him And ah What doleful mater of Lamentation is here to see the dreadful fire of Divine wrath flame forth against Jerusalem the place of Gods gracious Redsience A spiritual heart can see al the plagues and curses of Hel wrapt up in Divine wrath A carnal heart can apprehend and feel the effects of Gods wrath especially such as are more visible and sensible as the raging Pestilence London's prodigious Flames or the like Ay but how few are there who take notice of that Divine wrath which animateth and feedeth all those National judgements Where is that soul or at least how rare is he to be found who laments the fiery indignation and wrath of God which spirits al Church-ruines But this was the posture of our tender-hearted Saviors spirit the great thing he bewails was the wrath of God which hung by a smal thread over Jerusalem This was the sword which pierced his heart and made his eyes gush forth with tears The like we find in Jeremie's Lamentations over captive Jerusalem Lam. 1. 15. The Lord hath troden the virgin the daughter of Judah as in a Wine-presse The treading of Judah as in a Wine-presse argues her extreme oppression and affliction and therefore we find the same expression of Christs passion Isa 63. 3. But who is it that treads Judah as in a Wine-presse He tels you The Lord hath troden c. Here lies the sting of al Gods Wrath visible and apparent in their captivitie was that which mostly wounded his heart Ah! saith Jeremie 't is not so much the Babylonians furie that toucheth me as the Lords indignation which appears in our sufferings 't is the hand of God that cuts mine heart 't is his wrath that makes me so sad So Lam. 2. 1. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Sion with a cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto earth the beautie of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the day of his anger The Lords obnubilating or covering with a cloud the daughter of Sion argueth his great indignation against her Some conceive that the Prophet by a tacit Antithesis alludes to the Cloud of glorie which overshadowed Jerusalem at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kin. 8. 1. But now alas a contrary dark calamitous cloud of wrath covers her which was great mater of Lamentation Thus v. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. So Lam. 4. 16. The anger or face of the Lord hath divided them or dissipated them he wil no more regard them or he wil not adde to regard them i e he wil not give them one favorable regard one gracious aspect more And oh What an heavy doom was this How many Hels lay wrapt up in these direful tokens of Divine wrath This therefore was that which our blessed Lord greatly laments in Jerusalems ruines that al was the effect of an angry displeased Deitie As for the Instrumental Causes of Jerusalems Destruction there was somewhat also in these that gave our compassionate Lord some mater of Lamentation To consider that the Roman Cesar whom the Jews now so much crie up and prefer before himself their only Messias should ere long in his successor prove the great instrument of their Desolation and that he should first pitch his Tents in this very place where our Lord now stood Oh! What abundant mater of Lamentation did this afford to our tender-hearted Lord who was so nearly allied to Jerusalem We come now to the effects of Jerusalems sins and Gods wrath inflamed thereby which yield fresh mater of lamentation to our dear Lord. The effects are proportionable to the causes Sin and wrath cannot but produce prodigious jugements on Jerusalem The temporal effects of Gods wrath against Jerusalem were very prodigious and lamentable 1.
truth beyond al question that our blessed Lord in this his sad Lamentation over unbelieving Jerusalem had no smal regard to Evangelic Unbelievers who should despise the things that belong unto their peace in these last days For it is a golden rule given us by a great Master of wisdome That the Word of God has various complements or fulfillings in successive periods and Ages of the Church And that this text in particular may not be confined to the Judaic Church but also justly be applied to Evangelic Unbelievers in al Ages and particularly in this wil appear by what follows in the parallel or proportion between one and t'other As for the Contexture or coherence of our Text with the precedent discourse it deserves a particular Remarque as it lies couched in the first particle And as also in that following expression when he was come near which evidently connecteth this historie with what precedes Our Evangelist had hitherto declared with what joyous Acclamations and Congratulations the vulgar Jews welcomed their promissed Messias How chearfully they recognised him as their soverain Lord and King What loud Hosanna's and Psalmes of praise they sang unto him He now procedes to expound with what a triste and pensive minde with what a bleeding and melted Heart with what a mournful and weeping countenance Christ received them They rejoice in their new-found Messias and King but he weeps over them They seem to Instal him and lift him on his Throne but he with tears laments their final Vnbelief Contumacie and Ruine not far off This seems to be the natural connexion of the words as it wil further appear by what follows As for the explication of the words we shal be as brief as our mater wil permit That first particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And is usually taken copulatively as it connects the following discourse with what precedes and so it describes to us a considerable Circumstance of this Historie namely the Time of Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem which was immediately after their solemne Acclamations of joy and Hosanna's to him as their Messias Hence it follows When he was come near This gives us another great circumstance of Christs Lamentation and that is the place which was the Mount of Olives from whence Christ being now in his descent had a direct and ful prospect of Jerusalem offered to his eye which amidst al the peoples joyous Salutations so far pierced and affected his heart as it brake forth into this doleful Lamentation It is natural to the spirit of a man to break forth into a passion of grief at the approche and view of any grievous and displeasing object And that which makes this place the more remarquable is that here it was that David the Type of Christ bewailed the rebellion of his son Absolon as 2 Sam. 15. 30. And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet and wept as he went up c. David at every ascent poured out a quantitie of tears in lamenting the contumacie of his natural son Absolon so Christ the celestial David at every descent sends forth many tears in bewailing the contumacie of his federal sons of Jerusalem And that which yet further aggravates this circumstance of place is that which Christ foresaw on this very mount of Olives where Christ now laments the sin and ruines of Jerusalem the Romans in their first siege against this Citie began to pitch their tents as Josephus in his 6 Book of the Jewish war Chap. 9. observes So that wel might our blessed Lord make this place the seat of his Lamentation which he foresaw would be the first seat of their National ruine But it follows He beheld The participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wants not its peculiar Emphase in that it denotes a certain person viz. Christ which gives us another notable circumstance much conducing to the explication of the whole O! What a Great Illustrious HE is here What Wonders of Wonders lie wrapt up in this HE What tongue or thought of Men or Angels can expresse or conceive the infinite Dimensions of this little Pronoun Who can declare his Generation Is not this HE he that first gave Being and Welbeing to Jerusalem as to althings else Did not this HE bring her out of Egypt that house of Bondage Was not this Noble HE her Protector and Conductor in the Wildernesse Was not this Soverain HE her King and Lawgiver in Canaan Did not this Infinite Eternal HE descend down into the womb of a virgin and espouse human Nature thereby to put himself into an apt Capacitie to be Jerusalem's Savior Who was this Celebrious HE but the Messias a borne Jew who had Judaic bloud running in his veins a Judaic heart to pitie Judaic eyes to weep over a Judaic tongue to plead with importune and beseech impenitent unbelieving Jerusalem to accept of the things that did belong unto her peace This was that Heroic Generous and Illustrious HE who here Beheld not only with the eyes of his bodie but also with the eye of his Omniscient Divinitie the present impenitent contumacious unbelieving and the future miserable ruinous and desolate state of Jerusalem for so it follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Citie with an Emphase For the Article here points out a certain Citie and that with a remarque and accent THE Citie which was his first Bride but now an Adultresse who plotted how she might embrew her hands in her husbands bloud THE Citie wherein the Oracles of God and Gracious Tokens of his presence were first loged Rom. 3. 1. THE Citie which did once oblige herself by a firme Covenant or oath of Allegeance and Supremacie to submit to him as her crowned King and Lawgiver but now turnes her back upon him and cries up no king but Cesar who ere long would be her ruine THE Citie which was sometimes the Beautie of Holinesse and Seat of Divine Worship but now is become the Sinke of al vices and Satans Throne or Synagogue Lastly THE Citie to which he had in person preached the joyful sound and glad tidings of Salvation to which he had offered the first handsel of evangelic love and Free grace which he had been so long wooing and courting to be happy in the embracement of himself and al other things that did belong unto her peace But she would not And what follows And wept What the Lord of Glorie Weep he that was God blessed for evermore drop tears how comes this to passe what a strange Accident is here whence spring these Divine Tears Surely it must be some prodigigious Cause that draws this holy water from those sacred eyes of God-Man Some of the Ancients otherwise orthodoxe were so far struck with the sense of this prodigie as that they thought it incredible that the Son of God should weep and therefore not understanding the sense force and efficace of these Divine tears they left out this word wept But
was his first Bride and yet now a commun Harlot for Idol-lovers the Citie which was the Seat of his Glorious presence but now a den of thieves and robbers The Citie which had been the Glorie of al Nations but was now next dore to ruine Hence observe That the prevision or contemplation of imminent danger occurring to a place or people nearly related to us doth much affect a serious compassionate heart Al Relations cal for Affections And there is no Affection more proper for Relates under present or impendent miserie than compassion That mother must needs have the heart of a Tiger who seeing her child boiling in a Caldron of lead hath no emotion of bowels for it Christ here whiles he beheld the Citie with the eyes of his bodie did at the same time with the eye of his omniscience behold al the sins and future miseries of Jerusalem al her contemt of his Evangelic offers Love and Grace al her covenant-breaking and Apostasies from him al her bloody and mischievous designes against his Person Crown and Dignitie with al the curses plagues and shours of Divine wrath which would ere long pour down as a Deluge on her This could not but melt his heart into tears and draw from him the doleful Lamentation which follows To see a deluge of sin exhaled or drawen up into clouds of Divine wrath ready to burst asunder and fal down in shours of vengeance on a professing Citie or people nearly allied to us cannot but dissolve an affectionate gracious heart into shours of tears and christian Lamentations That must needs be an heart desperately obdurate and hard that is not affected and moved at such a sight But more of this in what ensueth CHAP. IV. Church-sins the moral Causes of Church-Ruines and therefore the chief mater of our lamentation WE now come to the Lamentation it self expressed in those termes And wept over it Which we may forme into this Proposition or Doctrine That nothing was mater of greater Lamentation unto Christ and ought to be such unto us than to behold the Ruines of a professing Citie or Church which has been long the Seat of Gods gracious Presence and Worship This Proposition which takes in the spirit and mind of the whole verse I intend with the Lords assistance to insist somewhat more largely on And for the explication hereof three Questions occur as fit to be examined by us 1. Touching the Object or mater of this Lamentation What Christ here doth and what we ought to lament 2. As to the Act what Christs weeping here implies 3. As to the motives of this Lamentation What it was that moved Christ to lament over the Ruines of this professing Citie or Church of Jerusalem 1. Q. What Christ here doth and what we ought to lament in the ruines of a professing Citie or Church which hath been long the Seat of Gods gracious Presence and Worship For the Resolution of this Question we may consider the Ruines of a professing Citie or Church 1. In their Causes 2. In the Effects of those Causes 1. As for the Causes of these Ruines they are either Moral and Meritorious or 2. Physical and Productive 1. The moral or meritorious cause of Jerusalems as also of al other Church-ruins is Sin Sin is the fuel of Divine wrath eternal vengeance flameth out of guilt Physical or natural evil is but the consequent of Moral the evil of Passion or Suffering is but the effect of the evil of Action or Doing Yea Sin is in it self the worst evil He that departes from God executes on himself his last doom The soul that loseth God loseth its way Life and self and the further it departeth from God the more it is envelopped and entangled in eternal chains of darknesse and miserie No sin is so pleasing in the committing as it is bitter in the issue There is an inseparable connexion betwixt sin and punishment and nothing can dissolve it but the bloud of Christ Every sin carries Hel in its womb Lust is a pregnant mother with child of Death and torments Thus Gen. 4. 7. And if thou doest not wel sin lieth at the dore Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which some Hebrew Doctors understand the punishment of sin So Gen. 19. 15. as elsewhere Sin is used for punishment by reason of that individual connexion that is between them Hence the Greek Atee which they feigned to be a woman cast out of Heaven pernicious and hurtful to al. Oh! what an enemie is sin Lieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coucheth a word usually given to Brutes but applied sometimes to men Job 11. 19. and here to Sin which as a hurtful beast lieth in wait ready to devour What a slie Foxe is sin Hence it followeth At the dore i. e. 1. near at hand for to lie at the dore is to be near at hand so Deut. 29. 30. the curses are said to lie or couch on the Sinner Or 2. at the dore may implie such a a certain place in which it may be easily excited just like a chained Mastive that lies at the dore and albeit he seems to sleep yet suddenly starts up and sets upon such as are about to enter in thus Sin or the punishment of sin lieth at the dore That Sin is in it self the worst evil is evident because 1. it was the First evil and so the mesure of al evil for the first in every kind is the mesure of al in that kind Again 2. As sin was the first evil so also the first moral cause of al other evils Now a bad cause is worse than its effects as a good cause is more noble and perfect than its effects It was Sin that opened the dore and let in al other evils into the world and therefore it must needs be the worst evil 3. Sin contains in it al the malignitie venime poison stings curses and plagues of evil al the degrees of evil lie wrapt up in sin 4. The worst part of hel lies in sin a sinlesse Hel would be comparatively an easy Hel to a rectified Soul our blessed Lord suffered a sinlesse Hel and yet was at the same time infinitely happy as to his essential Beatitude By which it is most evident that sin is in it self the worst evil and Hel. Hence it naturally follows That the first great Object or Mater of our blessed Lords Lamentation was Jerusalem's sins which were her worst evil and the main cause of al her other evils Thus the Prophets and People of God of old in al their Lamentations over Church-ruines they had a particular eye on their Church-sins as the procuring cause thereof So Jeremie in his Lamentations layeth the greatest accent on their sins which were the meritorious cause of al their sufferings Thus Lament 1. 5. For the multitude of her transgressions her children are gone into captivitie before the enemie Oh! here lies the sting of al Israels sufferings that the multitude of
her transgressions drew them on her This was that which most deeply wounded and pierced the heart of this holy man So v. 8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned therefore she is removed as an unclean loathsome thing al that honored her despise her because they have seen her nakednes i. e her lewdnes and abominations yea she sigheth and turneth backward v. 9. Her filthines is in her skirts c. The like v. 14 18. and Chap. 2. 14. Thus our blessed Lord here in his Lamentation the first thing he has in his eye and that which did most deeply pierce and wound his heart was Jerusalems sin He saw her to be a cage of al unclean birds a sink of al manner of abominations which would unavoidably involve her in ruine this makes his heart to bleed and his eyes to gush forth with salt tears over her And this is the genuine Character of a true Christian heart to mourne more for the Evil of doing than for the evil of suffering and for the latter only as the fruit and effect of the former A Cain or Judas can lament and groan under the strokes of the rod but a Peter or a Christian mournes under the offense that procured those strokes without dout an hard-hearted Jew could not but lament to see Jerusalem sacked and the Temple in flames about his ears ay but 't was the Christian only that mourned kindly for the sins of Jerusalem which were the fuel of those prodigious flames of Divine wrath To lament over the Ruines of a renowned Citie or Church is facile because natural to an ingenuous affectionate spirit but to bleed over and bewail those sins which were the cause of those Ruines none can in any mesure of evangelic sinceritie performe but Christ and such as are animated and influenced by his Spirit But we procede to particulars to explicate what those Church-Sins are which exposed Jerusalem and so by a paritie of reason wil expose any other professing Citie or People to Church-ruines and therefore ought to be mater of Lamentation CHAP. V. A particular enumeration of Jerusalems Sins which were the moral causes of her Ruine and so a chief mater of our Lords Lamentation 1. THe first great Church-sin which our blessed Lord here laments as the moral cause of Jerusalem's Church-ruine is her Vnbelief or Rejection of the things that did belong unto her peace This indeed is a prodigious Church-wasting Sin that which ever cost Israel very dear even from her infant-state Israel had signal tokens of Christs conduct care and providence in the Wildernes yet what passions of discontent what disingenuous murmurs what fits of Unbelief doth she ever and anon on the least approche of danger fal into How doth her spirit sink and despond under the least difficultie This is evident from Num. 13. 30 33. and 14. 1 14 c. For which al that generation save Caleb and Josua who were of another spirit perished in the Wildernes Thus also before their Babylonian Captivitie the great Sin the Israelites were guiltie of and that which opened the dore to al their following Miserie was their Vnbelief or contemt of Gods word So Isa â—â— 8. Now go write it before them in a Table and note it in a Book that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever v. 9. That this is a Rebellious people ying Children that wil not hear the Law of the Lord. Now wherein lay this their Rebellion Why chiefly in their Unbelief or despising of Gods word as v. 12. Because ye despise this word and trust in oppression c. Here lies their main sin and what follows v. 13. Therefore this iniquitie shal be as a breach ready to fal swelling out in an high wal whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant i. e. exceding exceding suddenly for these two Synonymous Adverbs joined together are very emphatic and argue that this their ruine should be extreme sudden as also great Great Unbelief brings great and swift ruine to the most glorious Churches if Repentance follow not When Christ comes with Offers and Acts of Grace towards his Church then for her to despise his word turne her back on al his gracious offers Yea trample on them this exposeth the most flourishing Churches to sudden and inevitable Destruction This God threatens Israel withal in her first Church-constitution Lev. 26. 14 15 16 c. this also we find threatned and executed on her in her last Church-destruction Mat. 23. 37 38. This therefore is the first and as we may phrase it the original sin of Jerusalem which our blessed Lord here bewails as the womb of al her miserie Oh! what a world of miserie hath Unbelief brought on many flourishing Churches When a professing people reject the Gospel of Christ is it not just with Christ to reject them What a Hel of plagues both spiritual and temporal doth a despised Gospel bring on Professors how oft doth Christ cut off his own covenant-people from promissed and expected mercies for their unbelief what sore jugements doth unbelief expose men unto Whence sprang that deluge of confusion and Barbarisme which drowned the Easterne Churches but from their contemt of the Gospel Yea had not the floud of Antichristianisme which has so long overwhelmed these Westerne Churches its rise from this envenimed spring of Unbelief this is evident from 2 Thes 2. 10. Because they received not the love of the truth c. And 't was a prophetic persuasion of a great divine That God would shortly take away peace from the whole World for despising the peace of the Gospel This Conclusion we no way dout but to make good That al the great plagues and jugements of God upon the professing World or Churches have been for the contemt of his Word by unbelief For albeit other sins have had their share yet this of Unbelief has been the main spring of al Church-ruines But this wil be the subject of our following discourse 2. Another prodigious Church-wasting sin which Jerusalem was notoriously guilty of is groundlesse Presumtions and self-flatterie Self-flatterie wherever it is predominant brings self-ruine A mere forme of godlines without the power is a grosse delusion which carries millions of souls to destruction in a golden dream A fond presumtion of being a true Church or member of Christ is the greatest delusion This was ever the great sin of Jerusalem in her declining state and that which exposed her to great ruines calamities Thus before the Babylonian Captivitie Jer. 7. 4. Trust ye not in lying words saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these As if Jerusalem had said Alas why doest thou threaten us with Captivitie and ruine Have we not the Temple of God amongst us And are we not upon this account his federate people his darlings and chosen ones Is not the Shekinah or presence of the Divine Majestie seated amongst