take off our Hearts from Sin and make us willing to leave it How should it humble and abase us and cause us even to loath our selves that we should have such wicked and vile Natures that we should be so disingenuous and that there should be such a cursed League between us and Sin that we should have so much Kindness and intire Friendship and Affection for Sin which is most odious to God and most destructive to our own Souls Vse 2. If Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God from whom they have gone astray when all other Means are ineffectual this should reconcile us to Afflictions and make us willing to submit to that spiritual Discipline which the most wise God thinks fit to train us up under for our Good Why should you murmur and fret against the Lord when his chastning Hand is upon you Why should your Heart rise against that wholsom and necessary Severity which he makes use of for reclaiming you Is there not a Cause Doth he not see that nothing else will prevail with you What would you have him do Would you have him let you alone and suffer you to perish in your Sins Be not so in love with your present East as to be unwilling to suffer a little here to prevent your suffering eternally in another World Be not so fondly foolishly irrationally and madly in love with Sin as to be averse from undergoing any thing whereby you may be delivered from the Power and Dominion of it Have not such mean low and unworthy Thoughts of the great and inestimable Mercy of being reduced from the Error of your Ways and brought home unto God as to think much of any Severity by which it may be effected Certainly if you judg Sin to be the greatest Evil and if you be really of the mind that 't is the greatest Happiness to be freed from it and to be at Peace with God and to be reconciled to him you will not think any Course harsh grievous and intolerable whereby it may be attained I now come to a more particular Consideration of what Manasseh did in his Affliction He besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him In which Words we are informed what Manasseh did First in general Terms He besought the Lord his God and then we are more particularly informed how he sought him namely by Humiliation and Prayer He humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and he prayed unto him Concerning the Account in general of what Manasseh did in those words He besought the Lord his God I shall say nothing because there is nothing in those general Terms but what is comprehended in the following Particulars namely that he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him First He humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers In which Words there are three things considerable That he humbled himself That he humbled himself greatly and that he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers 1st He humbled himself But when was it that he humbled himself It was when God had first humbled him and not till then when God had delivered him into the Hands of his Enemies when God had caused him to be carried away captive to Babylon made him a Prisoner and put him in durance there from whence he knew not whether he should ever be released and set at liberty again Whence we may observe That proud stubborn and incorrigible Sinners will not humble themselves till God hath humbled them till by Afflictions he hath taken down their haughty Spirits and laid them low Wherefore you who turn the deaf Ear to all God's gracious Calls and Invitations to Repentance and to all his severe Denunciations of Judgments would you prevent God's humbling you by those sharp and heavy Afflictions which would be very grievous to you then humble your selves betimes before he takes you in hand to humble you This is the best Course or rather the only Course that you can take for preventing God's humbling you 1 Cor. 11.31 for if we would judg our selves we should not be judged When Manasseh lay under God's afflicting Hand then he humbled himself The Time of Affliction is the most proper Season for Humiliation For 1. Then if ever we see our Sins our Afflictions open our Eyes make us look about us and help us to discover those our Miscarriages which before we would not own nor take notice of 2. Then the Heart is softned and touched with the sense of our Sins 3. Then also the Sinner begins to have a sense of God's Displeasure against him for his Sins By the Afflictions which the Hand of God hath laid upon him he perceives that God is angry with him which he was not in the least sensible of before he was afflicted Now all these things do not a little further our Humiliation Vse Let us therefore when Afflictions come upon us improve that Season for our Humiliation else all those Advantages will be lost Now if you ask how we are to be active in humbling our selves I answer 1. By making diligent search after our Sins by labouring to find them out and acquaint our selves with them And this is no easy Work considering our natural Blindness in spiritual things our Unwillingness to know the worst of our selves our Partiality to our selves and our Aptness to overlook our Sins 2. By using our best Endeavours to affect our Hearts with our Sins which is to be done by a serious Consideration of the Nature Quality and Aggravations of our Sins as also of the extreme Danger attending them and of the dismal Consequents of Sin unrepented of and the most fearful and eternal Wrath of God which it unavoidably exposeth the Sinner unto 3. By humble and affectionate Confession of our Sins unto God with our most earnest and importunate Supplications to him for the pardon and forgiveness of them 4. By judging our selves for them and by passing Sentence against our selves as those who have by our Provocations deserved to be disowned and cast off for ever and to be made the miserable Objects of God's fierce Indignation to Eternity 5. By taking up the most firm and stedfast Resolutions to cast off all our Transgressions for the time to come and as far as God shall be pleased by his Grace to enable us never to return to Folly any more Now followeth the second Particular He humbled himself greatly as he had been a very great and most heinous Sinner And hence we may farther observe That our Humiliation must be proportionable to the Nature and Quality of our Sins A little slight Humiliation for great and grievous Sins is in God's account next to no Humiliation at all Let not therefore such as have been guilty of great and horrid Sins think it is enough for them to have hang'd down their Heads as
Gen. 29.23 Laban shall deceive him much in the like manner giving him Leah to Wife instead of Rachel If David first commit Adultery with Bathshebah 2 Sam. 12.10 11 12. and then contrive the murdering of Vriah for the concealing thereof his Son Absolom shall be permitted to lie with his Father's Concubines as he had done with the Wife of Vriah and as he had slain Vriah by the Sword of the Children of Ammon so the Sword shall never depart from his House If Ahab and Jezebel take away the Life of Naboth because he would not part with his Vineyard and the Dogs do lick his Blood the Sentence of Ahab from the Mouth of the Lord shall be In the Place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shall Dogs lick thy Blood even thine 1 Kings 21.19 And the Dogs shall eat Jezebel by the VVall of Jezreel and him that dieth of Ahab in the City Dogs shall eat and him that dieth in the Field shall the Fowls of the Air eat ver 23 24. If Nadab and Abihu Levit. 10.1 2. If the two hundred and fifty Men which were the Complices of Corah Dathan and Abyram Numb 16.35 presume to offer strange Fire before the Lord by strange Fire by a Fire coming out from before the Lord shall they be consumed If the Israelites burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven upon the Tops of their Houses Jer. 19.13 their Houses shall be set on fire and burnt down by the Enemy As the Sword of Agag the King of the Amalekites had made many Women childless so must his Mother be childless among Women 1 Sam. 15.33 5. God punisheth Men in the Matter or Object in which they have sinned If David be proud of the Multitude of his People and out of the Pride of his Heart will have them numbred God will chasten him by diminishing his People 2 Sam. 24.15 threescore and ten thousand of them shall die by the Pestilence If Jehoshaphat join himself with wicked Ahaziah King of Israel 2 Chron. 20.35 36 37. and in compliance with him builds Ships that they may go to Tarshish his Ships shall be broken and his Purposes shall be disappointed Thus we have in many Instances seen the Truth of what was spoken That God often makes choice of such Punishments as point at the Sin for which they were inflicted This God doth for several Reasons 1. To convince those who are obstinately blind and will not see their Sins nor own the Evils that light on them to be the Punishments of those Sins Men are naturally so unwilling to acknowledg their own Guilt and that they suffer for their Sins that they endeavour to make any other Construction of those Evils which befal them rather than to yield that God thereby intended to punish them for their Transgressions Sometimes they will impute all to the Malice of second Causes and the Instruments of their Sufferings never looking so high as God without whom no Creature could touch them Sometimes they will fancy that such Evils light upon them by chance and not by Divine Providence ordering them for their Punishment or Correction But now when God's Dealings bear such a Resemblance of and Correspondence with their Sins they are forced to see and acknowledg their Sins and the exact Justice of God in their Punishment A remarkable Example hereof we have in Adonibezek who when his Thumbs and great Toes were cut off was thereby enforced to give Glory to God's Justice saying Judg. 1.7 Threescore and ten Kings having their Thumbs and great Toes cut off gathered their Meat under my Table as I have done so God hath requited me 2. To help the Weakness of those who are in some measure willing to see their Sins and to discern God's End in his Corrections but cannot do it so easily unless something in the Correction it self lead them to the Sight of their Sin Thus when a Man suffers in the same kind in which he hath been injurious to others or when a Man loseth by those unlawful Artifices by which he made account to increase his Gain he cannot but take notice of his Sin in the Punishment which otherwise perhaps he would have over-look'd 3. God hereby makes the Chastisement work more kindly and effectually For these Circumstances pointing at a Man's Sin so evidently do add much to the smarting of the Rod with which God corrects and makes Men take his Chastisements the more to Heart And all this stirs up more earnest Desires and Endeavours to answer the end of his Corrections Physicians when they give gentle Physick or have to do either with obstinate or sluggish Bodies put in somewhat to animate and quicken the Operation of their Prescriptions So God by these Circumstances so directly pointing at a Man's Sin quickens the Operation of his spiritual Physick which without these Circumstances would little affect the Patient or stir those bad Humours which are to be carried off 4. God hereby sometimes intends also the Vindication of his Justice and Holiness before the World When Men have sinned grievously and â—â—enly so as the World hath taken notice of it God will have the World also 〈◊〉 notice of his Severity against such Sins and to that end he writes the Sin in fair and legible Characters upon the Punishment so as all that pass by may say Verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But now if God should not thus point at the Sin by the Punishment many who took notice of the Sin would never take notice of the Punishment thereof and consequently God's Hatred of Sin and his Severity against it would not so manifestly appear For though God should inflict as severe a Punishment on the Sinner in some other kind yet few would understand what Sin God thereby intended to punish and so his Justice and Holiness would be as little vindicated in the Judgment of the greatest part of those who had taken notice of the Sin as if he had not punished the Sin at all 5. God thus points at the Sin by the Punishment to give warning to others that they may take heed how they venture upon those Sins which they see are so odious unto God and so severely and remarkably punished by him that others may see and fear Deut. 13.11 and do no more any such Wickedness as God speaks touching the end of the Execution of Vindictive Justice by the Magistrate So then to return to that which gave occasion of all that hath been said concerning the several Ways of God's pointing at the Sin by the Punishment by what hath been said it appears that our Afflictions are a special help to lead us to the sight of our Sins and therefore in that respect as well as in others the time of Affliction is the meetest Season for searching and trying our ways By the help that our Afflictions then afford us we may then find out those Sins which at another time
But this by the way In the Words that I have read which are a part of Ezra's Address unto God by humble and affectionate Confession of their Sin he spreads and lays open the Aggravations of it together with the Danger and sad Issues of it if they should still continue in it The Aggravations thereof are these three 1. The great Severity that God had formerly shewed against them for their Sins which is set forth and express'd in the first Words After all that is come upon us for our evil Deeds and for our great Trespass 2. The merciful Tenderness and Compassion that God however even in that Severity was pleased to manifest towards them in the next Words Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve 3. The singular Favour God had shewed them in rescuing them from under those Calamities which their Sins had brought upon them in the Clause following And hast given us such a Deliverance as this These were the things by which their Sin would be greatly heightned after so much Severity Compassion and Kindness to have returned to Folly and to have broken God's Commandments again was to have done as bad as they could as the Prophet speaks and to have given their Sins all the Aggravations that they were capable of Then as for the Danger they exposed themselves to that was no less than utter Ruine and Destruction After this Mixture of severe and merciful Providences should we again break thy Commandments wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no Remnant nor Escaping They had indeed already broken God's Commandment in a grievous manner and sinned against him with an high Hand by those unlawful Marriages His meaning therefore is should we again break thy Commandment as we have done Should we still continue in our Sin and obstinately refuse to be reduced to Obedience If we should still perversly and irreclaimably go on in our Trespasses wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us Of these Particulars in order as they lie in the Text. I begin with the Aggravations of their Sin the first of which is the great Severity God had formerly shewed against them for their past Transgressions After all that is come upon us for our evil Deeds and for our great Trespass should we again break thy Commandments Here divers things are observable 1. That Ezra and all those who joined with him in this Confession of their Sins did endeavour to aggravate their Sins by calling in and laying together all those Circumstances by which the Hainousness of them might the better appear And this they did to the end their Hearts might be the more affected with them and the more soundly humbled for them as also that they might be the more willing to forsake them And this is the Property of all true Penitents they ever desire to be throughly apprehensive of the Evil of their Sins and therefore they aggravate them to the utmost in their Confessions charging themselves fully with them and laying as much Load upon themselves as they can They think they can never speak enough against themselves nor sufficiently discover and represent the Evil of their Ways insomuch that sometimes they rather exceed than come short herein charging themselves more heavily than there was cause for But Hypocrites unhumbled and impenitent Sinners are of a different temper these instead of aggravating their Sins are wont to extenuate and palliate them If they be forced to confess them 't is for the most part but by halves that they do it If they cannot but acknowledg they have offended yet they will do it with an Apology or with an Addition of something that may qualify and lessen their Sin They are indeed sometimes overtaken but 't is very rarely 't is when they are drawn aside by ill Company or overpower'd by the Strength of Temptation that they are not the only Persons that are faulty in that kind that some others that would be esteemed much better than themselves are much more blame-worthy that there is no Man but must have his Allowances and that it would go hard with us all if all our Actions should be narrowly scanned and the like These and such like are the Excuses which they plead and the Defences they make for themselves when they should take shame to themselves and own their Excesses and Exorbitances in their full Magnitude judging themselves that they might not be judged of the Lord. These partial and favourable lame and imperfect Confessions of Sin when some little Part is owned but much more is denied when Fig-leaves and specious Pretences are studiously sought out to cover as much of a Man's Shame as is possible are ever an infallible Argument that the Sinner was never duly humbled for that Sin for which he hath still so much Kindness and Affection 2. Another thing observable is that Ezra and those other holy Men that together with him made this Confession did impute all those Miseries and Calamities which they had suffered in the Captivity unto their Sins they did own their Sufferings as the Fruit of their Sins and acknowledg their Transgressions to have been the meritorious Cause and Procurers of their Afflictions After all say they that is come upon us for our evil Deeds and for our great Trespass They were convinced and did yield and assent that God's Intentions in bringing those Evils upon them were to punish them for their Sins This Conviction and Acknowledgment was necessary for them and is for us all in reference to our Afflictions and yet 't is very difficult to attain it 'T is necessary because without it we can neither be patient under our Afflictions nor profit by them nor rationally expect a good Issue out of them 1st Unless we be convinced that our Sufferings have relation to our Sins and own them as the Fruits of our Sins we shall hardly be able to undergo with Patience what is inflicted on us To be sure we shall want one of the most effectual Arguments to work Patience in us 'T is the Sense of our Sins deserving whatsoever is come upon us and an Acknowledgment of the righteous Hand of God in bringing such Afflictions on us for our Sins that humbles and subdues our Hearts to God composeth and quieteth our tumultuous Spirits and gives check to all the Risings of our rebellious Nature against God's Providence It was the Sense that Eli had of his own Guilt and of the just Desert of his own Sin and the Sins of his Family that made him so patient quiet and silent when that heavy Sentence was by Samuel pronounced against him and his as that he had not a Word to say more than only to profess his humble and meek Submission to the good Pleasure of God It is the Lord saith he 1 Sam. 3.18 let him do what seemeth him good And this is that which the Spirit
of God calls the accepting of the Punishment of our Sins Lev. 26.41 But if the Sinner be not convinced that he suffers for his Sins and that his Transgressions have been the Procurers of his Afflictions it cannot easily be but that his corrupt Nature should rebel against God and impatiently rise up against his Providence as unequal too rigorous severe 2dly Neither can a Man profit by his Afflictions unless he be convinced that his Sins have been the Cause of them and that God strikes at them in his Sufferings Who can think himself concerned to amend and reform that upon the account of his Afflictions which he never discerned to be the Cause of them nor can be convinced that they have any relation to it But let a Man once be throughly apprehensive of the Displeasure of God against him for his particular Sins and see the Hand of God in his Afflictions striking at those Sins and then he will soon think himself highly concerned to rectify or remove out of the way that which hath done him so much Mischief He will think he cannot make too much haste to quit and be rid of that for which he sorely smarts already and may yet smart more unless by his speedy Reformation he prevent it When God had sent a Plague among the Israelites for their murmuring Moses being deeply sensible of the fierce Wrath of God against them for that Sin saith to Aaron Numb 16.46 Take a Censer and put Fire therein from off the Altar and put on Incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an Atonement for them for there is Wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun Go quickly saith he for Wrath is gone out from the Lord. A lively Sense of the Anger and Displeasure of God in your Afflictions for your Sins will speed and quicken your Endeavours to make your Peace with God by answering the End of his Corrections 3dly Neither can you rationally expect to be freed from your Afflictions in a way of Mercy until they bring you to the Sight of your Sins and you look upon them as the Punishment of Sin For till that be done upon you your Afflictions are wholly fruitless as having done no part of that Work for effecting of which God sent them To understand why you are afflicted and to see the Sins which God strikes at in your Afflictions is the first Step towards God's attaining his End in afflicting you If this be not done upon you nothing is done And therefore you have no Reason to expect the Removal of them unless it be to make way for some other more smarting Rod which may effectually work that in you which God intended But though in these Respects it be most necessary to see and own our Sins as the Cause and Procurers of our Sufferings yet to do it is as difficult as 't is necessary For such is the Pride and Stubbornness of our Hearts that we are not easily brought to take Shame to our selves and to acknowledg our own particular Sins to have been the Cause of our Sufferings saying to our selves as God saith to Jerusalem Jer. 4.18 Thy VVay and thy Doings have procured these things unto thee We are very unwilling to acknowledg our own Guilt and would much rather lay the Cause of our Sufferings at any other Door than our own And this we are especially apt to do in publick and common Calamities These we ascribe 1. To Chance or common Providence in which we do not think our selves particularly touch'd or concern'd 2. To the Wickedness of some malicious and mischievous Instruments that were the Contrivers and Causers of our Sufferings 3. To the Sins of others The Provocations of such and such profligate and abominable Persons drew down the Judgments of God upon the Place and not our own Offences As for our selves we suffered only in the Croud and because we were found among those who were to be punished Or 4. If we acknowledg our Sins in the general to have been the meritorious Cause of our Sufferings yet we descend not to Particulars we charge not our selves with such and such Sins for which God hath been angry with us And so our owning our Sin only in general as the Cause of our Sufferings is but a formal thing with which we are little affected 'T is little better than if we had said We believe indeed that we have deserved all that is come upon us but we know not how nor wherein Ezra no doubt went a great deal further 't is not to be questioned but that he had in his most passionate Confessions an Eye upon the particular Sins for which they suffered in Babylon We may be sure they were not Generalities only that so deeply affected him he had upon his Heart the particular Instances of their vile Provocations together with the Circumstances of them and so must we if we desire to be affected with God's terrible Providences as we ought and to take them to Heart in a right manner Though what I am now speaking concerns us all yet there may be those amongst us who may think themselves very little concerned therein 1. Those who though they have been Sufferers together with others yet have been free from all those foul and enormous Offences and high Provocations which many others have been guilty of and possibly over and above their being free from the Guilt and Stain of fouler Sins they have been such as have made a stricter Profession of Religion than most others These Persons may be very inclinable to think that God did not particularly intend the correcting of them for their Sins in the common Judgment that lighted upon the Place but that they suffer rather upon their Neighbours Account than their own 2. Of the same Opinion perhaps may they be tempted to be who seem even as to outward things to have gained by their Afflictions and to be in a better Condition as to Trade than they were in before 'T is easy for such if any such be to entertain themselves with a pleasant Dream that God only emptied them to the end he might fill them fuller than they were before and that he had no other Design in pulling down their Houses than that he might build them up fairer But let neither the one nor the other deceive themselves They would but flatter themselves if they should think that God did not aim at their Sins in his severe Providences as well as at the Sins of their Neighbours As for the former of these though they may have been free from the fouler Abominations and crying Sins of the Place and though they may have made a strict and high Profession of Religion yet even such may have been tainted with the Pollution of many Sins which may have had no small Influence in procuring the heavy Judgments of God upon the Town And their Sins in respect of their nearer relation to God and stricter Profession
their Affliction they will seek me early Thus did God's People in the time of their Afflictions Isa 26.16 Lord saith the Prophet in Trouble they have visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastning was upon them And divers Reasons there are why all God's People should in their Afflictions betake themselves to God by Prayer As 1. All Afflictions come from God I form Light saith he Isa 45.7 and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord do all these things Shall there be Evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Which Words must be understood of the Evil of Affliction and Punishment not of the Evil of Sin that 's an Evil whereof God who is perfectly and infinitely Good can never be the Author Men may be Instruments in our Sufferings they may be Actors in subjecting us to Afflictions and in bringing such Evils upon us but it is God that imploys them and makes use of them to chasten his People for their Sins This is that which the Psalmist intends when he calls wicked Men God's Sword Psal 17.13 Deliver my Soul from the Wicked saith he which is thy Sword The Sword wherewith he thrusts at wounds and pierceth chastens and corrects his People when they have by their Provocations incurred his Displeasure To the same Purpose it is that he calls Assyria the Rod of his Anger Isa 10.5 and the Staff in their Hand his Indignation that is the Instrument of his Indignation which he makes use of to punish them for their Sins Hence also it is that he calls the Babylonians his Battel-Axe Jer. 51.20 and Weapons of War with which he breaks in pieces the Nations and destroyeth Kingdoms 2. Because God only can remove those Afflictions from his People which his Hand hath laid upon them This God assumes to himself as his own Prerogative Deut. 32.39 I kill saith he and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand To the same Effect is that Passage in the Song of Hannah where she saith 1 Sam. 2.6 The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up And that of Psal 68.20 Vnto God the Lord belong the Issues from Death Hence God himself complains of Mens neglecting to have Recourse to him by Prayer in their Afflictions who alone can relieve them by removing his afflicting Hand from them saying Jer. 9.13 The People turneth not to him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts 3. Our Neglect to have Recourse to God by Prayer in our Afflictions blasteth all other Means which we make use of for our Relief No Question can be made of it but that Ahaziah having taken a dangerous Fall from a Lattice made use of all the best Means that could be had for his Cure but because in that his Affliction he sought not unto the true God the God of Israel for healing but unto the God of Ekron the Prophet in the Name of God tells him that he should not come down from that Bed on which he had gone up 2 King 1.4 but should furely die as accordingly it fell out in the Issue Wherefore this is noted as a great Miscarriage in Asa though otherwise a good Man that in his Disease 2 Chron. 16.12 even when it was very grievous he sought unto the Physicians and not unto God 4. It concerns us in our Afflictions to seek unto God by Prayer in regard of the great need we have of his Help and Assistance many other ways in the time of our Afflictions As 1st To teach us his meaning in those Afflictions with which he exerciseth us what he designs in them and what at such a time he expects from us 2dly To sanctify Afflictions to us and to enable us to improve them to our spiritual Advantage 3dly To support us under our Afflictions 4thly To give us Patience under his afflicting Hand and to keep us from murmuring repining discontent fretting against God and all other sinful Distempers which in regard of the Corruption of our Nature and the evil Frame of our Hearts we are subject unto in our Afflictions These Particulars I have only mentioned leaving it to every Man to inlarge on them in his private Meditations as he shall see cause Vse Seeing we are upon so many Considerations obliged and highly concerned to seek unto God in our Afflictions let us all be cautioned to take heed that we neglect not the Duty of Prayer while God's afflicting Hand is upon us and when if ever this Duty is both most seasonable and most necessary As soon as ever any Affliction from the Hand of God begins to light on us let us immediately betake our selves unto God by Prayer let this be the first thing we do and let us never think of making use of any other means in order to our Relief till this be done neither let us rest here but let us continue to pray without ceasing as long as God thinks good to continue his afflicting Hand upon us and ours Thus doing with Constancy and Perseverance we need not question but that we shall see a good Issue out of our Afflictions whatever they be in God's appointed time but in all our Afflictions let us not only pray but labour to be soundly humbled for our Sins which have been the meritorious Cause of all our Sufferings let us earnestly beg the Pardon of them and Strength against them for the future This is the best Course that we can take in our Afflictions and the only Course that can give us any Security that we shall be in due time delivered out of our Afflictions and be delivered with such Advantages to our Souls as shall give us just Cause to acknowledg that it hath been good for us to have been afflicted and that God hath in Faithfulness chastned us as David after his Afflictions professed and acknowledged Psal 119.75 Now follows the fifth Particular namely the Issue of Manasseh's Prayer God was entreated of him and heard his Supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God Most sad and doleful was the Condition of Manasseh while he was a Captive in Babylon he was bound with Chains and fettered with Irons he was confined to the dark and uncomfortable Vaults and Cloysters of a Prison and though perhaps in regard that he was not of the common sort of Prisoners but a King he might have better Accommodations than many others yet which was worst of all he had small or no Hopes of being ever released or set at Liberty again and which was the Height of his Misery he had no Security for his Life but was perpetually in Danger and upon that Account under Fears of being drawn out of Prison and brought to Execution every Day and every Hour This was his dismal
him the Gospel i. e. a more full and clear discovery of the way of Salvation by Christ than before That the light in both senses is come into the World and finds no better reception This is The condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment according to the proper acception of the word but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment for Condemnation by an usual Synechdoche and so our Translators have rendered it looking rather at the sense than at the immediate propriety of the word Again This is The condemnation that is by a Metonymy the cause of condemnation that which deserves meritoriously procures and brings on condemnation Lastly This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things but in the sense that shall be afterwards mentioned when I come to speak to that particular The words of my Text not to spend time in any unnecessary Preface to what I have to say we may conveniently resolve into these four Propositions 1. That light is come into the world 2. That men love darkness rather than light 3. That the reason why men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil 4. That this is the condemnation that though light be come into the world yet men love darkness rather than light Passing by the three former the last of these Propositions is that which I intend at present to insist on as being the chief thing intended in this portion of holy Scripture Concerning the sense of which Proposition a few words will be necessary to be premised before I proceed to lay down the grounds thereof This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things as if nothing else could condemn a man but signally and emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great meritorious cause of the severest punishment I say the rejection of the light of the Gospel or not giving it due entertainment is not the only thing that condemns men For 1. Those Heathens unto whom the light of the Scriptures never came shall not therefore be exempted from punishment The Apostle hath taught us That as many as have sinned without the law Rom. 2.12 shall also perish without the law Their sins against their natural light and the Law of Nature written in their hearts shall condemn them there shall be no need of calling in the assistance of the Law externally promulged and written in Tables of Stone much less of the Gospel to give evidence against them 'T is true if the Gospel were never offered them and they shut up under a moral impossibility of being acquainted with it we cannot apprehend how their not believing should be charged upon them as their sin Aquinas hath rightly stated this matter 22dae Quaest 10. Artic. 1. Si infidelitas sumatur secundum negationem puram si cut in illis qui nihil audiverunt de fide non habet rationem peccati pure negative infidelity or a meer not believing in those who never heard any thing of the Gospel hath not the nature of sin And this was likewise St. Austin's judgment as appears by the Exposition he gives of the words of our Saviour John 15.22 If I had not come unto them they had had no sin Loquitur de peccato quo non crediderunt in Christum Our Saviour speaketh saith he of the sin of not believing in Christ Though they had been guilty of many other sins yet their not believing had not been imputed to them And the reason hereof is evident because they had never a power in Adam of believing that which was never made known unto them there being a simple incompossibility and repugnancy in the nature of the thing that a man should by faith assent to and embrace that which he was never in the least acquainted with which was never as much as propounded to him to be the object of his faith How shall we believe on him of whom we have not heard Rom. 10.14 'T is a question that cannot be answered Adam himself with all that strength which he received from God could not have done it and therefore neither can that be required of his Posterity which he himself never received 2. As for such as have the Gospel published to them and finally persevere in unbelief neither is their unbelief the only sin for which they are condemn'd What sober man can think that one sin can expunge another that mens unbelief should take off and extinguish the guilt of all their other sins so as none of them should at all come under consideration when Christ pronounceth the condemnatory Sentence They who should entertain so wild a phansy must have forgotten the form of the Proceedings at the last day as Christ himself hath described it Matth. 25. where express mention is made of other sins as the ground of the Sentence to be then pronounced Yet I deny not but that in a limited sense wicked men living under the light of the Gospel may be said to be condemned only for their unbelief because if they had believed none of their other sins should have condemned them But now they not believing the guilt of all their other sins against the Law abideth on them and besides there is an addition of further guilt by their great sin against the Gospel and this their sin against the Gospel is that which presseth them most heavily and hath the sorest influence upon the final Sentence for the inflaming and heightening of it So then these things being thus premised we have the sense of the Proposition before us This is The condemnation the matter and meritorious cause of the most sore and dreadful condemnation that light being come into the world the Gospel being published and Christ in the Gospel being tendered to the Sons of men they slight and refuse this light preferring darkness before it and chusing rather to continue in their sins though it cost them dear than to embrace Christ to their everlasting bliss and happiness Now the grounds of the Proposition together with the equity of that severity which it imports will further appear unto us if we take into consideration these ensuing particulars 1. 'T is light that is refused and refused with an affront put upon it darkness being preferred before it Now in this alone there are several things which do not a little aggravate a man's sin and by consequence heighten his punishment 1. When a man goes on against light there is more of the formality of sin than where light is wanting There is a direct and plain opposition against the Rule an intentional 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or irregularity whereas in case of ignorance the Rule indeed was violated materially but not formally and wittingly as such Our Saviour lays much stress upon this for the greatning of a man's sin Joh. 9.41 If ye were blind ye should have no sin that is none in comparison of what now you have
must not expect that patience and forbearance at his hands which he was pleased to exercise towards those who lived in darker Ages and times of Ignorance Barren Trees might long stand before Mat 3.10 but now the Ax is laid to the root of the tree and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire The main Errand and Design of the Gospel is that men be turned from darkness to light Acts 26.18 and from the power of Satan unto God To this purpose is that of the Apostle Rom. 13.12 13 14. The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof And again Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present sent world 2 Tim. 2 19. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity But this is that which the corrupt Heart of man can least of all endure Men are unwilling to see their sins but much more unwilling to forsake them Whence else are those excuses which many frame when they are invited to come unto Christ One is ingaged in this business and it must be dispatched he must be dispensed with till it be over Another is ingaged in that Affair Luke 14.18 19 20. and he is not at leisure Whence else are those downright and peremptory Refusals Joh. 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Yea you would not be gained and prevailed with to come by the largest Proffers by the most rich and excellent Promises The greatest Love and Tenderness the most Compassionate Solicitations and Importunities are not able to overcome them into a willingness what to do To be undone No to be made for ever to be gathered under the Wings of Christ's most tender Care and Love that they might be everlastingly Happy in the Fruition of him That sin is the cause of this peremptory refusal cannot be denied for nothing but sin could so bewitch and transport them that they should with so much obstinacy stand in their own light wilfully thrust away from themselves Everlasting Life and forsake their own Mercies 'T is agreed on that all men naturally desire happiness 't is Nature's Language Who will shew us any good Psal 4.6 Could men therefore reject Eternal Happiness and Glory upon any other Consideration than that the Terms on which 't is offered seem to be too hard They must part with their sins if they will be happy and O how hard a saying is this to Flesh and Blood The Friendship which is between the heart of man and sin being so strict and entire can that light of the Gospel be welcome to him whose Errand from Heaven is to make an everlasting separation between him and his sins Most clear it is that wicked men while such cannot abide the light and that however they may endeavour to cover over their Enmity against it with other pretensions yet the true reason why they hate it is the wickedness of their hearts and lives they therefore hate it because their deeds are evil as our Saviour gives us an account of the ground of their hatred thereof But it may here be objected That the Holy Scriptures elsewhere seem to give other reasons of mens not entertaining the light of the Gospel Sometimes they seem to impute it to the sublimity and to the mysterious Nature of the great Truths contained in the Gospel 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Sometimes the Scriptures impute it to the subtilty and malice of Satan darkening the minds of men 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them And lastly otherwhile the Scriptures speak of God's concealing the Mysteries of the Gospel from some men so our Saviour speaking to his Father saith Mat. 11.25 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent There being also these other reasons of mens not embracing the light of the Gospel how is it that our Saviour seems to lay the whole stress of this matter upon this that mens deeds are evil To this I answer 1. That it is not necessary that we should so understand our Saviour as if he intended to make man's sin the sole or only cause why he hates the light but one principal cause And that 't is a principal cause thereof hath already appeared from what hath been spoken and will yet more fully appear by what shall be further spoken in answer to the Objections Wherefore 2. Though there may be some other causes of mens hating the light and preferring darkness before it yet they may for the most part be some way or other resolved into this which our Saviour here mentioneth Other things may concur sometimes but there is scarce any thing that hath so general and almost so perpetual an influence upon mens hating declining running away from opposing and rejecting the light as mans sin That mostly all other causes may be resolved into this I shall endeavour to shew in answer to the forementioned Objections As to the first of them 't is most true that in Spiritual things there is a great disproportion between the Intellective Faculty as now 't is since the Fall and the Object The Mysteries of the Gospel are high and sublime our understanding is dark weak and shallow But 1. Whence came this disproportion Was it not very much from the sin of man at first who put out his own Eyes wounded his Intellectuals and weakened his natural Powers It cannot be denied but that Adam in the state of Innocency and Integrity though he could not have found out those deep Mysteries of the Gospel concerning our Redemption by Christ and the things relating thereunto they being things that have no natural cause from whence the highest created reason might deduce or collect them and many of them being things above Nature and such as depend meerly upon the good pleasure of God unknown to us until by himself revealed I say though Adam could not by the strength of his Reason and Natural Abilities have found out these deep things yet it cannot be denied but that if these things had been propounded to Adam to be assented to and believed
fool runs on singing and dancing to the correction of the stocks If God be pleased to take us off from running on heedlesly and securely upon these dangerous Precipices should we not look upon it as our happiness Hath he reason to think himself hardly dealt with or injured by me from whose lips I snatch away a cup of sweet and delicious Poyson which he is endeavouring to swallow down as greedily as if it were a Cordial 2. Yet is not this all God calls us off from these killing Pleasures that we may exchange them for better for safe sound and substantial Pleasures true Delights satisfying Contentments durable and lasting Joys Such are to be found in the ways of God and the more any man denies himself as to all sinful Delights the more strictly heedfully and circumspectly he walks the more of these spiritual Comforts and Refreshings may he hope to enjoy Obj. 2. Many of those who seem to walk circumspectly and to be of a very strict and severe conversation seem to lead but heavy and uncomfortable lives For who are more full of sad Complaints and inward Troubles Who are more subject to doubtings and dissatisfactions about their spiritual Estate Who are more held under bondage through the fears of their Eternal miscarrying than many of these Ans Though all this be true yet is this no prejudice no just prejudice to circumspect walking For 1st The cause hereof is mostly in themselves and not in the ways of God neither is it in the least to be attributed to their circumspect walking but rather to their not walking more circumspectly Their own carelesness and want of due heed and circumspection in their ways their venturing on sin or inconstancy and slothfulness in holy Duties or some other miscarriage is often the true cause of all their troubles Were they more circumspect they would be freer from troubles 2. Sometimes their troubles arise from their darkness and misapprehensions of the Covenant of Grace and the Terms on which God offers mercy unto Sinners 3. Sometimes their troubles arise from their unbelief and from their refusing to be comforted and their putting off and thrusting away from themselves those Comforts which God reacheth forth unto them 4. Sometimes their troubles are much from the temptations of Satan God for divers wise and gracious Ends permitting them to be so exercised But however it be and from what cause soever their troubles proceed while they are in God's ways they are in the ways of peace and all shall at length end in peace 5. In the mean time their condition at present with all its disadvantages is a thousand times better than the condition of those who spend their days in sinful Frolicks and even glut themselves with carnal Pleasures and sensual Delights and suddenly go down to Hell and there meet with so much the more torment and sorrow by how much they lived more voluptuously and deliciously here O thrice miserable is their condition who go from their heaven of sensual Delights and Satisfactions here to an eternity of Misery and torment in the other World And thrice happy they who having made choice of the narrow way that leadeth unto life through many inward troubles and fears and much outward tribulation also if need be enter at last into the Kingdom of God That blessed and glorious Kingdom where all tears are wiped from their eyes where sorrow and sighing shall flee away and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads And so much in answer to that Objection Obj. 3. The God whom we serve is a God of mercy Mich. 7.18 Psal 145.9 He delighteth in mercy And his tender mercies are over all his works There is no Attribute of God which the Holy Scriptures do more exalt and magnify than his Mercy His Mercies being so great why may we not hope to find mercy with him although we take some liberty and be not so strict and circumspect Can we apprehend that a God of so great mercy will be so severe as to condemn us cast us into Hell and expose us to everlasting Torments for want of this circumspection Ans Though the Mercies of God be exceeding great yet saving mercy is not extended to all but reserved for those that fear him Psal 103.17 18. for such as keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them 'T is for the truly humbled penitent and reformed Sinner He that confesseth his sin Prov. 28.13 and forsaketh it shall have mercy God shews mercy to them that love him Exod. 20.6 and keep his commandments But as for such as plead God's mercy to justify themselves in their careless and loose conversation these must expect no mercy from him God never promised saving mercy to any that are not so strict as to make conscience of the least sin and so circumspect as to keep a watch over themselves that they be not overtaken with sin Without some measure of this circumspection no man can satisfy himself touching the truth of his Repentance without which there is no forgiveness no mercy to be looked for at the hands of God For true repentance necessarily includes a sincere desire and serious endeavour to relinquish all sin Now how can this serious and earnest endeavour to leave all sin be without such an holy wariness and circumspection as that which hath been treated of Can an uncircumspect and careless person that heeds not what he doth or how he walks that takes liberty to please himself that sticks not to run upon any temptations to sin that lie in his way can this person be thought to be one that seriously and earnestly endeavours to forsake all sin Nothing less he that truly desires and seriously endeavours to forsake Sin will be circumspect and watchful if he be not 't is apparent that he hath no great edge against his Sin there is as yet no such deadly feud between him and his Sin as is required in every true Penitent Obj. 4. Christ hath freed us from the Law and Believers now under the Gospel are more at liberty than formerly they were What necessity therefore is there of so much strictness and circumspection How doth such a severe course of Life consist with the liberty that Christ hath purchased for us Ans Christ hath indeed freed us from any Obligation to the Ceremonial Law and from the Moral Law as a Covenant of Works that requires perfect and unerring obedience we are not to be justified by the works of the Law but by Faith in Christ But however the Moral Law is still in force as the Rule of Life and we are still under the commanding power thereof And that we are so is manifest several ways 1. Mat. 5.17 Christ himself expresly declares that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it And the Apostle even when he disputes against justification by the works of the Law is so far from asserting that we are freed from the obligation
many such when they lye a dying how 't is with them whether there be any thing that troubles them or lyes heavy upon their Consciences And they will readily answer There is nothing that troubles them nothing that disturbs their peace Ask them if they be willing to die and whether they be not afraid of death Their answer is they are very willing to die and as for death they fear it not Now call you this a dying peaceably and comfortably when men of very bad or careless Lives go out of the World fast asleep in carnal security When they die without any sense of their Spiritual and Everlasting Estate O be not deceived 't is certainly a very sad and fearful thing when a careless or wicked Life without any evidence of after-repentance is shut up in a quiet and undisturbed death How much better grounds of comfortable hopes concerning the Everlasting Estate of such men were there if they died under many fears and troubles from a sound conviction and thorough sence of the sins of their Life 'T is very true you will say if they have been very wicked Men great and notorious Sinners But if the worst that can be said of them is that they have been careless and uncircumspect in their Lives the matter is not much A. Considering the corruption of our Nature our strong proneness to Evil the many Temptations we meet with and the malice and restlesness of Satan ever watching to take hold of all advantages against us to hurry us into Sin 't is impossible but that a man of a careless and uncircumspect Life should have led a very sinful Life and have contracted and heaped up a great deal of guilt and therefore if such a one without discovery of any After-repentance and Humiliation and without any trouble upon account of his Sins go quietly out of the World 't is a sad and uncomfortable thing and though we may not rashly and peremptorily pass our Judgment concerning the Eternal Estate of particular Persons yet have we just cause to fear and all things considered we cannot but greatly fear how it may be with such a one in the other World Sure we are without Repentance whereof there was no evidence or appearance he must everlastingly miscarry So from the Duty of walking circumspectly I come to the Argument by which it is enforced implied in the next words Not as fools but as wise 'T is every man's wisdom to walk circumspectly but his folly to be careless uncircumspect and heedless in the course of his Life Prov. 17.24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding That is He that hath understanding the man that is truely wise his wisdom is before him to look right on to ponder the path of his feet as Solomon speaks Prov. 4.25 26. to spy out and consider his way to direct and govern his steps And so is this Proverb expounded by that other to the same purpose Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way that 's the use which he makes of his wisdom he is as to that matter wise for himself in Solomon's Language still Prov. 9.12 But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth he exerciseth that little reason which he hath about remoter things about any thing else rather than what most nearly concerns him the observing and making choice of his way As if a Man should fix his Eyes on the Hills at a great distance where the Earth and the Heavens seem to meet and in the mean time neglect to heed his way to observe where he treads and what dangers he runs upon as the Philosopher who fell into a Pit whilst his Eyes were taken up with the Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies Thus we see 't is our wisdom to walk circumspectly and 't is so in several respects 1. We hereby shun and avoid the greatest Evils 1. The displeasure of God whose wrath is so terrible that it made the Prophet cry out Hab. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger 2. The sting of an evil and guilty Conscience the Torment whereof is intolerable Prov. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear 3. The loss of a man's Soul which nothing can compensate or make up What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world Mat. 16 26 and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul He that walketh circumspectly avoideth these three great and formidable Evils greater than which none can be the displeasure of God the sting of a guilty Conscience and the loss of his Soul 2. On the contrary by walking circumspectly we secure to our selves the greatest the most desireable good things 1. The favour of God for while we are with God in a course of Obedience 2 Chron. 15.2 he is with us 'T is only sin that deprives us of God's favour Now the favour of God is better than life Psal 63.3 What is there in all the World that is comparable to it 2. It secures to us peace of Conscience Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God And this also is a thing of invaluable worth Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast The comfort of which is so great as none can tell what it is but he that hath had experience of it in himself It passeth knowledge Eph. 4.7 3. By walking Circumspectly we secure to our selves the Everlasting well-being of our Souls which even in Satans valuation of them are more worth than the whole World Mat. 4.9 Psa 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God There being these singular advantages of walking circumspectly you need not be much troubled at the Censures of the World They who are strangers to the ways of God and were never acquainted with the Comforts of them may count them little better than Fools that run not with them to the same excess of Riot But this is more than enough to satisfie and quiet you that what they count foolishness the Holy Ghost honours with the Elogy of Wisdom So I have done with the great Duty of circumspect walking together with the reason by which it is enforced I come now to speak of the particular instance in which our circumspection should be exercised Redeeming the time To redeem properly is by laying down a price to purchase again or recover that which another hath gotten possession of So a Captive or a Slave is redeemed out of the hand of an Enemy So a Man redeems his Goods which have been pawned or sold to another Now in this very sence to redeem time that is gone is impossible For time is of that nature that it can never be recovered when once 't is lost All the Gold and Silver all the
That when other Means prove ineffectual for the reclaiming of impenitent and obstinate Sinners God is pleased to make use of Afflictions 'T is true God can effectually reclaim and convert the most stubborn and obstinate the most obdurate and hard-hearted Sinners without Afflictions He needs not take the Rod in hand to do his Work upon them He that made Hearts can remake them he can change and renew them when he pleaseth and how he pleaseth He can do it by Means and he can do it without Means He can create and infuse Grace in an Instant he can in the twinkling of an Eye without the Intervention or Service of any created Instrument transform the filthiest the most loathsom and abominable Sinner into a Saint a Devil into an Angel of Light There is nothing too hard for him who being Omnipotent can do whatsoever he pleaseth But yet however ordinarily he makes use of Afflictions for humbling and reclaiming obstinate Sinners when other Means prevail not And seeing he doth make use of Afflictions we must conclude that he judgeth that the best and fittest Course for otherwise he would not make choice of it We may perhaps in favour to our selves be apt to think this great Work might be much better effected without Afflictions Our carnal Wisdom may apprehend that it would more conduce to the exalting and magnifying of God's Power and Goodness if this great Work of changing and renewing the Hearts of obstinate Sinners were effected by the immediate Hand of God and the powerful Operation of his Spirit on the Heart without the Suffering the Smart or Durance of the Sinner But alas who are we that we should presume to oppose our foolish Reasonings against his Infinite Wisdom Whatever our dark selfish and partial Reason may suggest to the contrary that must needs be the best and fittest Course that could be taken which God hath pitched on no better Course could be thought on no wiser Method could be devised for bringing Sinners to Repentance and for working a Change in them than that which he hath made choice of When we have considered the Matter this we must of necessity grant unless we will make our selves wiser than God unless we will take upon us to dictate and prescribe to him a better way than he hath contrived Now for the Proof and Confirmation of this Point that God is pleased to make use of Afflictions for the reclaiming of obstinate Sinners when other Means prevail not I need not say much our own Experience is a sufficient Confirmation thereof There is no Man that hath observed God's Dealings with the Sons of Men but must have taken notice that nothing is more ordinary in the Course of God's Providence than to bring them home to himself by Afflictions who will not otherwise be reduced from the Error of their ways And as he takes this Course with wicked Men to convert them so he takes the same Course with his Children to recal them and to bring them into the right way again when they have gone astray This was the Course which he took with David as he himself acknowledgeth Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep thy Word And again Ver. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes He means that he might so learn God's Statutes as to practise them and frame his Life and Conversation according to them Now to apply this Truth briefly Vse 1. If God be pleased to make use of Afflictions for reclaiming and reducing Sinners when other Means will not prevail then if Men be wise and if they would prevent and keep off Afflictions it concerns them to improve those other Means which God makes use of I mean Instructions Admonitions Reproofs and Warnings humbling themselves for their Sins and reforming their Lives that so God may not bring those Afflictions upon them which will be grievous to them What Folly and Madness is it when Men will put God to lay sore and grievous things upon them because they will not be wrought upon by gentler Means Solomon saith Prov. 17.10 A Reproof entreth more into a wise Man than an hundred Stripes into a Fool. So then in the Judgment of Solomon he is a wise Man into whom a Reproof enters that is on whom it makes Impressions and by whom it is entertained and improved Prov. 12.1 but he that hateth Reproof is brutish He is so far from being a wise Man that he is scarce a Man he is more like a Brute than a Man he understands not his own Interest which is to take Reproofs to Heart to be affected with them and to make a good Use of them and not by rejecting them to draw those Evils upon himself which he might avoid if he would Consider this you that are now admonished reproved and warned but will not hearken Do you know what you do As much as in you lies you put the Rod into God's Hand to correct you severely and to make you smart sorely to try if that Course may not take better Effect upon you than those milder Courses which he hath hitherto taken with you Why should you consult and procure Sorrow Sufferings and Smart to your self How much better had it been for Manasseh to have hearkned to the Message of the Lord brought to him by the Prophets and not by his Disobedience and Obstinacy to have procured the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria to be sent against him to bind him with Fetters and carry him to Babylon When we suffer for our Sins then we condemn and cry out against our selves that we should be so foolishly obstinate as not to hearken to good Counsel when time was whereby we might have prevented our Sufferings But so it is that in things of this Nature we seldom learn Wit till we have bought it and paid dearly for it Vse 2. If God be pleased to make use of Afflictions to reclaim and reduce Sinners when other Means will not prevail then let such as are afflicted be careful that they do not impatiently murmur and fret against the Lord who correcteth them For 1. They may thank themselves that they are corrected they have been the Authors and Procurers of their own Sufferings If they would have been humbled and reformed by gentler Means there would have been no need of those severer Courses which now are taken with them God is not forward to correct he takes no such Delight in correcting as to take the Rod in Hand when there is no need of it He doth not afflict willingly he never doth it but when there is great Cause for it and our obstinate Perseverance in our Sins against all other Means makes Correction necessary 2. They have so little Reason to fret and murmur against God for correcting them that they have great Cause to be thankful to God for his Care of them and that he doth not
Why doth a living Man complain a Man for the Punishment of his Sins So long as there is no Evil that in this World befals a Man but what hath Relation to Sin and must be looked upon as a just Punishment thereof what reason hath any Man living to complain as if he were hardly dealt with But then to the end we may not mistake the meaning of the Words we must consider what kind of Complaint is here condemned In our Afflictions some sorts of complaining are allowed us yea some Complaining is so far from being unlawful that 't is our Duty 1st It is lawful to express what we feel and suffer in those ways which Nature it self I speak not now of sinful and depraved Nature prompts unto us So Groanings and Sighings and louder Outcries sometimes in Extremity of tormenting Pain are but as it were the Voice of Nature thus making Discovery of its Pressures and as it were endeavouring to ease it self And no doubt but there is some little Relief in that kind of Complaint for Nature would be more oppress'd if it always stifled and suppress'd its Inclinations to give Vent to its Anguish by complaining And moreover the Strength of Nature would be sooner wasted and spent if so much of it must be always exerted and put forth to the utmost to keep in and imprison its Sorrows We see God hath furnished unreasonable living Creatures at least many of them with some kind of natural Language whereby the Creature is able to complain when it suffers And as for Man what is purely natural to him cannot be any part of his Sin for the Creator never infused Sin or any Principle of sinful Depravation and Irregularity into any of his Creatures What I have now said may be of use to some who in Extremity of Anguish and bodily Pain are troubled at those Complaints which they cannot but give way to and are apt to charge them on themselves as their Sin There may be Complaints and such as have a special Accent upon them there may be loud Cries and yet no Sin in all this David speaks of his roaring Psal 22.1 and so again Psal 32.3 But though he roared all the day long as in the Place last mentioned yet we cannot thence necessarily infer that he was impatient He was a holy and a patient Man who being often enforced to cry out through the Sharpness of his exquisite Pain said Though I roar yet I do not murmur You may cry out and it may be roar also from the Anguish of your Pain and yet it 's possible there may not be the least sinful Discomposure of your Spirit or rising of your Heart against God so laying his Hand upon you 2dly We may lawfully and freely complain to those that are about us to our Friends Relations and Acquaintance we may lay open our Griefs and represent our Sufferings to the full with all the Circumstances of them when and where there is just Occasion And this may be very necessary and beneficial both in reference to them and our selves For besides the present easing of our Hearts by this Discovery of our Troubles we hereby make them sensible of our Condition and kindle in them those Compassions towards us which our present Condition calls for we stir them up to Prayer for us and give them occasion of exercising all those Graces which the Afflictions of others call forth and imploy But here we must take heed that in our Complaints we make not our Afflictions greater than they are that we aggravate them not beyond the just Measures and true Weight of them a thing too ordinary with the Afflicted especially in some Cases 3dly We may in our Afflictions complain to God also as well as to Men. 'T is our Duty to spread our Condition before him imploring that Relief from him which his Hand alone is able to reach forth unto us Not as if he were ignorant of our Estate or Concernments but he would have us so to manifest that we are sensible of his Hand upon us and that we have no Expectation of Relief from any else but him 4thly The Servants of God have not only a Liberty of making their Complaints to God in their Afflictions but also of humbly expostulating with him about them provided that it be done in a due manner and so as the Distance between God and his Creature be observed We have frequent Examples hereof in Scripture Sometimes holy Men expostulate with God concerning the Grievousness and Severity of their Afflictions Sometimes concerning the Length and Duration of them sometimes concerning the Instruments which God makes use of to correct them sometimes concerning his seeming to cast off all Care of them in their Afflictions neither minding their Sufferings nor regarding their Prayers Is my Strength the Strength of Stones and is my Flesh of Brass saith Job chap. 6.12 Why hast thou set me as a Mark against thee so that I am a Burden to my self Job 7.20 How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy Face from me saith David Psal 13.1 O Lord God of Hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the Prayer of thy People Psal 80.4 Where is thy Zeal and thy Strength the Sounding of thy Bowels and of thy Mercies towards me Are they restrained So expostulated the Church with God Isa 63.15 Wherefore doth the way of the VVicked prosper and wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously said the Prophet Jeremiah chap. 12.1 But though the Servants of God take the Boldness thus to expostulate with God yet they do not charge him foolishly or lay any Imputation of Unjustice or inequitable Rigour on his Providences unless when they are under some present Distemper as sometimes it may seem to have been with Job and the Prophet Jeremiah They evermore when in their proper and right Frame ascribe Righteousness to their Maker and the meritorious Cause of all their Sufferings to themselves And so in those darker Providences in which they could not discern the Reasons of God's Dispensations or the Equity of his Proceedings yet they still adhered to this as a Principle not to be questioned that God was Righteous This the Prophet Jeremiah when about to expostulate with God addresseth himself thereunto with this Preface Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy Judgments And then he goes on with the Expostulation before-mentioned VVherefore doth the way of the VVicked prosper and wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously So the Prophet Habakkuk also makes the like Preface to his Expostulation Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer Eyes saith he than to behold Evil and canst not look upon Iniquity Wherefore lookest thou on them that deal treacherously and holdest thy Tongue when the VVicked devoureth the Man that is more righteous than he And the same holy Frame of Spirit should there be in us
Though we may in some Cases take the Liberty of humble and reverent Expostulation with God yet we must take heed of any unmeet Reflections upon his Justice or Goodness and still remember our Distance from him that God is in Heaven and we are upon Earth as Solomon speaks Eccles 5.2 And that he giveth not account of any of his Matters as Elihu excellently represents him to Job chap. 33.13 So then all these sorts of Complaints being allowed us the Complaint condemned in the Text is that which either proceeds from or is joined with Impatience under God's Hand and Discontent with his Providence 't is the Complaint of an unquiet and sinfully disturbed Spirit which the Scripture sometimes expresseth by murmuring so here the Word in the Original may properly enough be translated and so the same Word is rendred Numb 11.1 Now the Evil and Unreasonableness of this kind of Complaint under the Hand of God may appear several ways 1. 'T is long before God takes the Rod in Hand to correct he bears long even with the vilest of Sinners and exerciseth much Patience towards them He is slow to Anger and of great Mercy Psal 145.8 He is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness Exod. 34.6 He takes no Delight in Severity further than we provoke him thereunto He doth noâ— afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men Lam. 3.33 And should noâ— this Consideration be of Force to suppress all our discontented Complainings and Murmurings that God is so unwilling to use Severity against us that he is so hardly drawn on to chaster us and that he never doth it till we have given him much Cause so to handle us 2. When we by our many Provocations have put the Rod into his Hand he is soon prevailed with to lay it aside again He is not of that implacable Temper that he can never be reconciled to those against whom he hath once taken up any Displeasure Upon our humble Submission to his Corrections and sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to reform what hath been amiss he is graciously inclined to lay aside his Displeasure He is ready to forgive Psal 86.5 most ready to shew Mercy as soon as we are in any measure fit for Mercy He doth not always chide Psal 103.9 nor keep his Anger for ever Was this only David's particular Experience and is it not ours also Do not we find how easy he is to be entreated and how ready to pardon Have we not had manifold Experiments thereof in the Course of our Lives And should not this perswade us quietly and patiently to submit to his Corrections while he is pleased to keep us under his chastning Hand 3. While he judgeth it fit to correct us he lays no more upon us than our Sins deserve When we are most severely handled and are apt to complain we have hard measure yet even then do not his Severities in the least exceed the Demerits of our Sins God doth us no wrong nor is it possible that he should for his Will is the Rule and Measure of Righteousness The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his VVorks Psal 145.17 The just Lord will not do Iniquity Zeph. 3.5 What Cause then is there or can there be of complaining where no Wrong is done With this the Church of God silenceth her self and stops her own Mouth when under the most dreadful Effects of God's Displeasure Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous saith she for I have rebelled against his Commandments And with this God stoppeth the Mouth of his People VVhy criest thou for thine Afflictions Jer. 30.15 Because thy Sins were increased have I done these things unto thee 4. When God afflicts most grievously his Severities are far short of what our Sins deserve Under the heaviest Weight of Punishment Ezra's Acknowledgment in the Name of the Church must be ours Ezra 9.13 VVe are punished less than our Iniquities deserve Our Sins deserve not only all the temporal Plagues and Judgments which we are capable of undergoing but Hell the unutterable and endless Torments of the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Wherefore whatever our Sufferings be in this World so long as we are on this side Hell so little Cause have we to complain that we have great Cause to be thankful that it is not far worse with us than it is 5. How much soever God is pleased to afflict us yet still we enjoy many Mercies in the mean time by which the Bitterness of our Afflictions is much allayed and the Smart of them much abated For one or two Crosses we are compassed about with Variety of Blessings In Sickness we have the Pity and Compassion of Friends and Acquaintance we have all that Service and Assistance that many Hands about us can afford us we have all those Means of Relief that either Love or Art can supply us with And all this besides those inward and powerful Supports which we have more immediately from God Again if it so be that God afflicts us in one of our Relations we have Matter of Comfort in divers others of them If we have Losses in our temporal Estate yet our spiritual and better Concernments are safe and untouched If Man be at Variance with us yet we have Peace with God How sadly soever we may in our Afflictions represent things to our selves God never stirs up all his Wrath against us at once nor suffers his whole Displeasure to arise God never so mingles the Cup which he puts into our Hands but that there are some Ingredients of a benign and friendly Nature to qualify the Malignity of the rest The Malignity did I say There is indeed no real Malignity in any of the Ingredients of that spiritual Physick which God administers to his All things have a kind and beneficial Influence for promoting our Good and furthering our highest Interest And where now is there any Place left for complaining Amidst so many Mercies can we yet find in our Hearts to complain Be it so that some things are not only unacceptable but very grievous to us Shall we receive Good at the Hands of God and shall we not receive Evil Shall we bear nothing at the Hands of him who is so good and gracious so kind and bountiful to us many other ways Let us not suffer two or three Afflictions so to imbitter our Spirits and vitiate our Palats as that we should not relish the Sweetness of any of those Mercies which in our most afflicted Condition we still enjoy 6. Add to all this that God hath a Sovereignty of Power and Dominion over his Creatures by virtue whereof he may deal with them as he pleaseth According to this his absolute Power though the Creature had never sinned yet God might expose it to such Miseries as exceed not the Benefit of that Being he has given it He that made the Creature out of nothing as he might turn it into
nothing again if he pleased so continuing it in being he might lay any such Pain or Anguish upon it without relation to Sin We see what Anguish the unreasonable Creatures endure which yet are not capable of Sin And why might not God inflict the like on any rational Creature though no Sin had occasioned it or made way for it It is not easy to give a Reason why he might not for even an innocent Creature being a Creature however must of necessity be in Subjection to the Power and Dominion of the Creator from whom it received its Being 'T is true such Evils could not then have the Nature of Punishment because Punishment properly so called hath relation to Sin but yet there could be no Injustice in such a Dispensation no more than when by many tormenting and lingring Pains God takes away the Lives of brute Beasts whose Nature is not a Subject capable of Sin or moral Evil. Now in such a Case the Creature would have no just Cause to complain or murmur because no Injury could possibly be done it by God's using that just and rightful Power and Dominion which he hath over the Work of his Hands Whence we may thus argue to our present Purpose If God's absolute Power over the Work of his Hands be such as calls for humble Submission to his Providence and silent bearing of whatever he inflicts how much more should his Justice strike us dumb and effectually restrain us from all murmuring or muttering against him If we ought not to complain or murmur though we had no Sin how much less reason have we to do it when we have so much Upon this Consideration it was that the Church took up her Resolutions of patient Submission to the Hand of God Micah 7.9 I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Now I come to apply what hath been spoken Vse 1. Let us in all our Afflictions observe the Frame of our Hearts and be humbled for all the secret Grudgings and Risings of our Spirits against the Providence of God And especially if the inward Distempers of our Souls should be at any time so great as to break forth and vent themselves in any unmeet Language if our inward Discontents and Heart-burnings should discover themselves by complaining and murmuring against God and by making such Representations of him to others as if he had dealt hardly with us and as if we might have expected other measure at his Hands This is a Miscarriage which we are very apt to run into when our Afflictions are severe and lasting when they smart much and continue long But however it fare with us the Sinfulness of our murmuring against God is so great that no Circumstance of our Sufferings can render it excusable and therefore we cannot be sufficiently humbled for it To the end we may the better discover the Evil of it and see what reason there is why we should be humbled for it let us first look upon it in its Cause and the Root whence it springs then let us behold it as it is in it self and consider it in its formal Nature And lastly let us view it in its Effects and Consequents 1. Let us look upon it in its Root We loath and abhor some things the more when we know whence they are and what gave Birth to them the wicked Offspring for the cursed Mother that bare it and brought it forth Now the Root of our murmuring is our Pride we have entertained too good an Opinion of our selves we think we have deserved better things at the Hands of God and therefore we murmur and complain as if we were injured Were we throughly sensible of our Sinfulness were we convinced that we are worthy of far sorer Evils than those which we groan under instead of murmuring we would not only accept of the Punishment of our Sins as the Phrase is Levit. 26.41 take in good part meekly and patiently bear whatsoever God lays on us but from our Hearts acknowledg that we are mercifully and kindly dealt with in that no more is inflicted on us 2. If we behold it as it is in it self and consider the formal Nature of it our murmuring is in effect nothing else but a Degree of Insurrection and Rebellion against God As discontented Subjects or mutinous Souldiers sharpen their Tongues against their Prince or General and thereby heighten their own and other Mens Discontents to dispose them to make Resistance So when we murmur against God we set our Mouths against Heaven doing what in us lies to strengthen in our selves and instil into others Principles of Disaffection against the highest Majesty and to withdraw them with whom we converse from their Obedience and Loyalty 3. Let us view it in the Effects and Consequents of it We are so far from easing our selves by murmuring that it both increaseth and prolongeth our Afflictions 1st It increaseth them for our Unquietness and Stubborness under God's Hand provokes him to lay more Load upon us that is all we gain by our Untowardness as the Child that struggles swells and murmurs when he is corrected doth but thereby procure to himself the more Stripes Besides our fretting and murmuring doth of it self make those our Afflictions much more grievous which might be undergone with Ease if with humble Silence and Patience we submitted our selves to the Chastisement of our heavenly Father 2dly It also prolongs our Afflictions for our murmuring diverts us and takes us off from applying our selves to that Course which if any thing would put a speedy End to our Troubles And that is the Course which we are put upon in the Text namely a serious Reflection upon our selves and a diligent Search and Enquiry after the Sins which have procured our Afflictions and a turning from them unto God whom we have forsaken As long as we are taken up in murmuring this Work is not minded and so our Afflictions are protracted and drawn out to a greater length than they should have been if in stead of murmuring against God we had seasonably and narrowly searched into our Hearts and Ways found out our Sins judged our selves for them and forsaken them Thus we see what Reason we have to be humbled for this Sin But though in these Respects all that are guilty of it have Cause to be humbled yet have they most reason to be humbled for murmuring who have least reason to murmur such as are 1. Great and notorious Sinners whose Offences and Enormities have been such that whatsoever they suffer unless they be wilfully blind or strangely partial to themselves they must be inforced to confess that they suffer justly Should they complain of hard measure who are so bad that no Punishment is severe enough for them And yet these are oft-times as ready to complain as any else 2. Those who have drawn such Afflictions upon themselves as in which they may plainly read their Sin written in legible Characters
made his Peace with God But he who seldom or never reflects on himself or takes any account of his Ways gives his Consent to the commission of Sin freely and readily yea swallows it down greedily and having so done he also sleeps in it as soundly and securely for the most part No Remorse no inward Trouble takes hold of him to quicken him to Repentance and hasten his Return to God Thus I mean ordinarily it is with him unless where some horrid Guilt awakens his Conscience or God makes extraordinary Impressions of his Wrath upon the Soul 2. Another Mischief of neglecting to reflect on our selves is a daily Increase of Sin and a treasuring up of Wrath against the Day of Wrath. This is an unavoidable Consequent of the former Mischief When the Heart is once hardned and a Brawniness grown over the Conscience what should put a Stop to Sin What should hold in corrupt Nature or set any Bounds to the impetuous Workings to the Excesses and Extravagancies of it To an hardned Heart and a seared Conscience neither the Evil of Sin in it self considered nor the Danger and dismal Consequents of it nor the Threatnings of God nor the Examples of his terrible Judgments upon others for Sin will signify any thing The Hardness of a Man's Heart and the brawny Insensibleness of his Conscience are as Armour of Proof against all these things This woful Consequent of not reflecting on our selves and requiring an Account of our Actions we may gather from the Prophets Complaint concerning the obstinate and incorrigible Jews of his time Jer. 8.6 No Man repented him of his Wickedness saying What have I done Every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel That Men ran on so desperately upon Sin was because no Man said What have I done None reflected called himself to an Account of his Doings or took into serious Consideration the woful Issues and Consequents of his sinful Courses 3. Another Mischief hereof is that the longer any Man neglects to look into his spiritual Estate and consider his Doings the more unwilling still he will be to reckon with himself 'T is with the Sinner in this Case as 't is with a careless Merchant who hath long neglected to sum up his Books and to enquire in what Condition he is whether he goes forward or backward in his Estate whether he be a Loser or a Gainer by his Trading If he hath long gone on in this careless way and especially if he hath withal been lavish and prodigal in his Expences he will be very unwilling to acquaint himself with the true State of his Accounts He is afraid he shall find himself in a bad Condition and therefore he still goes on in his old careless way So the longer the Sinner hath neglected to reckon with himself the more unwelcome to him are the Thoughts of coming to an Account His Conscience tells him he hath run far in Arrears with God and therefore he shuns the Thoughts of looking over his Debts 4. And yet without coming to a Reckoning which is a further Mischief and the greatest of all he can never hope to have his Debts cancell'd or remitted The Pardon of his many and grievous Sins will never be obtained unless he judg himself for them unless he be truly humbled for them and forsake them There is no Promise of Forgiveness upon any other Terms But how far is be from this who cannot endure to think of taking a View of his Sins who hates the Knowledg of his Sins and carefully shuns and avoids whatever might bring him to the Sight of them Never dream of obtaining the Forgiveness of your Sins as long as 't is thus with you And if your Sins be not forgiven you everlasting Misery will be your Portion and it had been better for you if you had never been born To apply this briefly All you then who could never yet be perswaded to spend any Time or take any Pains in looking into your selves and reviewing your Actions and the various Passages of your Life what is it that makes you so unwilling to be acquainted with your selves and so carefully to decline whatsoever might bring you to a right Understanding of the Estate of your Souls Are you therefore better because you do not know how bad you are Is either your Sin or your Danger the less because you do not see it Is it any Security to you against the Judgments of God that you turn away your Eyes from your Sins and will not look upon them If you were running on upon a Precipice or a steep Place where you might break your Neck would the blindfolding of your self or the shutting of your Eyes preserve you Would not your Danger be the same whether you see it or no Is not your Danger so much the greater and your Destruction if you still go on so much the more certain and inevitable because you wilfully close your Eyes that you may not be sensible of it Remember your selves and consider in what Rank God hath placed you You are rational Creatures Why then should you act so irrationally God hath made you Men Why should you make your selves like the Beasts that perish To take you off from this Folly or rather Madness I shall recommend only two things to your serious Consideration and they are these 1. God hath given you that excellent Faculty of Self-reflection whereof I have been discoursing that looking in upon your selves and making discovery of your Sin and Danger you might prevent your Ruine Now if you wilfully refuse to make use of it and on purpose either shut your Eyes or turn them another way that you may not see your self nor discover your Sin and Danger how just will your Ruine be and to whom can you impute the cause of your Destruction but to your selves who would wilfully run upon it This may perhaps seem to have but little in it now but time will come when it shall be an Heart-piercing Consideration that you should have procured all your Misery to your self by obstinately refusing to make use of that Faculty of your Soul bestowed upon you on purpose that reviewing your Sins you might be sensible of the Misery that attends them and use Means to escape it We read of the Ostrich Job 39.14 15 17. that she leaveth her Eggs in the Earth and warmeth them in the Dust and forgetteth that the Foot may crush them or that the wild Beast may break them because God hath deprived her of Wisdom neither hath he imparted to her Vnderstanding God hath not endued her with a Faculty of foreseeing and providing against Danger But it cannot be said of you that God has not imparted to you Understanding he hath given you Reason and Understanding enough to use Means for providing against your own Destruction but however you will run headlong upon it 2. How averse soever you be now from reflecting on your self hereafter you
forget that the Rich stand in need of the Poor and could not subsist without them Though you had such a Mass of Treasure as you could wallow in Gold and Silver yet these Metals could not clothe you neither could you feed and live upon them Gold and Silver would neither quench your thirst nor satisfie your hunger You are beholding to the labour of the Poor man's hands for your Raiment and your Diet as I have shewed before 2. 'T is a great advantage that you have the Poor among you and continually before your eyes to make you the more thankful for that plenty that God hath blessed you withal as hath also been said 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another as the Apostle puts the question in another case Why had not he that last craved a Bit of Bread at your Door been the Rich man and you the Beggar Why had not he been in your room and you in his Why had not he been Arrayed in your Silk and Purple and you clad in his Rags Can you look upon him and reflect on your self without a deep sense of his most free and undeserved Bounty to you who is the Maker of Rich and Poor and of his own good pleasure alone hath put this difference between you and your Poor Neighbour The advantage of this kindly Incentive and Spur to thankfulness you owe to the Poverty of your Brother Besides as the beholding of his Poverty makes you more thankful for your abundance so it helps you to relish your good things the better and puts a sweetness into them which you would not have tasted unless your Neighbours wants had been as sauce to your full Dishes to make them savoury to you So you are beholding to him not only for your Meat but for your Sauce also 3. The Poor that live among you afford you a rich opportunity of laying out and imploying that which God hath put into your hand to the best advantage Were it not for the Poor you would want an object on which to exercise your Charity and Compassions and so you would lose much of your comfort here and a great part of your reward hereafter What comforts what inward satisfactions and contents there are in doing good to the distressed he only knows who hath with humility and sincerity much exercised himself that way He who hath been much in that Duty can upon his own experience subscribe to that of our Saviour that 't is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Act. 20.35 But besides the present comforts that are to be enjoyed in the right performance of this Duty there is moreover the reward hereafter which God hath graciously promised and will not fail to bestow As a man soweth here so shall he reap hereafter 2 Cor. 96. He that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully He shall be fully recompenced for whatsoever he hath done of this nature at the Resurrection of the just Luke 14.14 And this so exactly and punctually that not so much as a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall be unrewarded What other improvement of your Riches comparable with this can you possibly make Imploy them how you will any other way for your Temporal Advantage they will no longer stand you in stead than while your abode shall be here when Death comes all is gone you must then leave whatsoever you have laid together and heaped up and you must go as naked out of this World as you came into it excepting only your Winding-sheet and Coffin that 's all you can carry hence and that also to moulder into dust together with your self But now the Poor give you an opportunity of making that use of Riches that shall abound to your account another day and so in effect you carry them along with you into the other World 3. Seeing the Rich and Poor meet together in so many respects and seeing God is the Maker of them both and seeing 't is by his most wise and gracious Providence that there should be such different Ranks and Conditions of men that some should be full and others empty some should abound and others be in want let the Rich be hence cautioned not to oppress the Poor 1. This were a foul and wretched abuse of those Advantages in Power and Wealth which God hath graciously afforded them above their Brethren 2. This were horrid unthankfulness to God who hath been pleased out of his free Goodness and Bounty to put such a difference between them and others 3. This were directly contrary to the design of God in bestowing upon one a larger Portion of these Temporals than another which was that he that hath much might be helpful and beneficial to him that hath little and not that he might thereby be the better enabled to keep under and crush his needy and distressed Brother God hath made no man strong that he might push at those that are weaker nor hath he made any man Rich that he might by his Wealth and Riches imperiously domineer over and trample on his Poor Neighbour Neither may the Rich man be emboldened to oppress his poor Brother because he is weak and unable to make resistance The weaker he is and the more unable to defend or right himself the more unsafe it is to meddle with him For God himself hath undertaken to stand by and help those who have no power to help themselves Take heed what you do in taking Advantage of the Poor man's weakness to injure and oppress him Are you not aware that while you abuse your Wealth and Power to the oppressing of your weak Brother and think you may do as you list with him that hath no might to oppose you or defend himself against you you have to do with God and enter the Lists with him who hath said For the oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy will I arise to set him in safety from him that puffeth at him Psal 12.5 Who delivereth the poor from him that is too strong for him yea the poor and needy from him that spoileth him Psal 35.10 If you love your self and would consult your own peace and safety meddle not with God which certainly you do in oppressing your poor and impotent Brother Take Solomon's Counsel who saith Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the gate for the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them Prov. 22.22 23. Now the Poor may be oppressed many ways I shall only at present give two instances thereof 1. The Rich may oppress the Poor by denying them those helps which of right belong to them or by diverting to other uses than that which was originally by the Bounty of Benefactors intended and designed for their relief This were an horrible and crying Sin this were no better than removing the old Land-mark and
entring into the Field of the Fatherless which Solomon would have no man so hardy as to attempt because their redeemer is mighty Prov. 23.10 11. and he will plead their cause You who have the disposing of the Poors-money take heed you derive not upon you the guilt of this sin a sin of that heinous nature as that it were enough to set a whole Town on Fire and turn it into Ashes look to it therefore and see that the Charity of Benefactors run in its own proper Channel 2. The Poor may be oppressed by the Rich in dealing rigorously and unmercifully with them and using them hardly in those things in which they make use of their labour To enforce them to do their work upon such pitiful terms as that all which they can get by their utmost diligence will hardly buy them Bread to keep them alive while you raise your selves and grow Rich upon their uncessant Labours is certainly in God's account no better than Oppression a sin which may justly bring the Curse of God upon your Estates If there should be any here that are concerned I would earnestly request them to consider seriously of it If upon enquiry you should find you have been guilty of this kind of Oppression you may well look upon it as one of those things for which God hath had a Controversy with you and punished you by snatching away from you what had been so heaped together And let me further lay these things before you to be pondered 1. To take advantage of poor Peoples Necessities and make them part with their Work at any rate because they must have Bread for themselves and theirs or starve is that measure which you would not should be made you if you were in their Circumstances Suppose your self to be in their condition and they in yours would you not then think it very hard measure to be so dealt with 2. Though allowing them for their Labour so much as might make their Livelihood a little better you would gain so much the less yet you would have much more comfort in what is so gotten were it never so little 'T is but an uncomfortable thing for any man to grow Rich by pinching the Poor 3. You would be sure to have the Blessing of God and not his Curse upon what is so gotten be it more or less I beseech you let this be written upon the Table of your Heart let it be deeply ingraven there as a certain Truth an unquestionable Principle which can never fail you That in the Conclusion you shall be never the poorer for using Poor people well and you shall be never the Richer for having used them hardly Having hitherto spoken to the Rich I come now to speak a few words to the Poor who may also from what hath been said be minded of their Duty several ways Do the Rich and Poor meet together and do they both stand upon even ground and are they upon equal terms as in many other respects before mentioned So more especially as to their highest Concernments are the Poor the Lowest the Meanest and the most Contemptible amongst them as much the Objects of God's Care and of his gracious Providence as the Rich even as those among the Rich the height and splendor of whose condition in the World have made them Objects of the Envy of all their Inferiours Are the poorest even such as are clothed in Rags in as fair a way for Heaven and as capable of Grace here and Glory hereafter as the greatest Princes as the most Illustrious and Renowned Potentates in the World Then let the Poor hence learn not to be discouraged much less give way to murmuring and repining at the Providence of God that has put such a difference between them and their Superiors as to the things of this World It has seemed good to the Wisdom of God to place them below while others are seated above to make their condition mean and despicable while the conditions of others hath rendered them honourable and even adorable in the eyes of the inferior World But seeing the Poor and the Rich meet together and are in equal condition as to the best the most excellent and the most desirable things What good reason is there why they should not be well contented with their condition and be most thankful unto God for it What reason have they to justify their envying at the Rich and Honourable seeing they themselves are no way inferior to them and come no way short of them as to those things which are of greatest value and of highest importance VSE 2. Seeing the Poor are as capable of Heaven and Eternal Happiness in the World to come as the Rich Let them give all diligence to be duely qualified for it let their constant and earnest endeavours be to labour after a meetness to be made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light Seeing God has put them in as fair a way for Heaven as any else let them take heed that they fall not short of Heaven through their sloth and carelesness and through their neglect of the great Salvation which God in the Gospel reveals and as freely offers to them as he doth to the Rich and which if they be not wanting to themselves they may be made partakers of upon the same terms on which the Rich are capable thereof yea in some respects upon easier terms forasmuch as the Riches Honours Preferments and high Places of their Superiors so load incumber and clog them as they are thereby much retarded and hindered in their way to Heaven Both conditions have their difficulties both their advantages both have the like end to respect both have the like capacity of attaining it herein they both meet together but the happiness of all are That God is the maker and disposer of both The Sixth Sermon 2 CHRON. 33.10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his People but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers And prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his Supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God IN this Chapter we have a brief History of the Reign of Manasseh from the Beginning of the Chapter to the 20th Verse This Manasseh was the Son of Hezekiah a most wicked Son though descending from a most pious and religious Father I say a most wicked Son for such he was till God was pleased to humble him and work a Change in him He that shall read the Account that is here and in 2 Kings 21. given of the former Part of his Reign and compare it with