his mind hath written all things unto you which concerns you Eternal Salvation hath written there whatsoever he would have you to know and beleeve to Eternal Life this it is that you have in your hands however we prize it now heretofore it hath been prized at an high rate How many of the Martyrs would venture their lives to keep but a few Leaves of Scripture in their houses But how vile is it then for us to neglect the reading of this written Word I have read of one Theodorus a Physitian at Constantinople that he sent to Gregory the great a great sum of money for the redeeming of Captives and Gregory he commends his Liberality but though he was so liberal and bountiful to redeem Captives yet he writ back again to him in way of reprehending him for not reading Scripture and uses this expression to him The Emperor of Heaven the Lord of the Angels and Men hath sent to you that which concerns your life and will you neglect to reade them with a fervent with a zealous spirit He would not but blame him even at that time when he sent such gifts to him it did grieve him to think that such a one so bountiful to the poor should so neglect the reading of Scripture Many men and women that have excellent parts and yet for all that they find but little savor in the Scripture There 's no books that are written that should take us off from this written Word although we have cause to bless God abundantly for what is written for those excellent helps which we have written yet we must take heed that there be no written book in the world take us off from this written Word of God Luther therefore hath such a speech I even hate mine own Books and I often times even wish that they were burnt that they might perish Why because I fear lest they should be any way of hinderance to men or withdraw them from reading the Scriptures and so he fals a comending the Scriptures It is the only fountain of all wisdom and further saith he I am even terrified I tremble at the example of the former age upon this Because saith he many Divines spent so much time in reading of Aristotle and Averres and other Writers and spent so little time in reading Scripture And the truth is it was that which brought so much ignorance into the world in the time of the School-men which was a time of great learning and yet the time of the greatest ignorance in the Mysteries of godlines because they minded Scripture very little but only turn'd things into Questions and Disputes that tended not according to Scripture though we may make use of the labors and gifts of other men yet look we especially to the written Word and let not other writings take us off from them hence we say the Scripture in way of excellency we must keep our selves to the written Word and therefore take heed of being led aside by any traditions of men that 's a most detestable derrogation from the written Word but we find in the Counsel of Trent speaking of the Scriptures saith one of the Cannons of the Counsel of Trent We saith he do receive Scripture and reverence Scripture but saith he moreover we receive and reverence traditions with the same affection of piety and reverence as we do the Scripture Those are the very words that all Papists are bound to hold and for them to deny any counsel there were death unto them It argues men to be in the dark to mind Traditions so As the Jews that 's the reason that they vanish so in their thoughts and understand the Scripture so little because they mind traditions as much as Scripture and more for so they say that divide a mans life into three parts one part mnst be spent in reading Scripture and two parts more in the two several parts of their Talmond which is their traditions and some of them say that this is one tradition among them that Moses did study the Scripture in the day time and those Talmoduical traditions that they have they were studied in the night and indeed it is night-work and it is a sign that the world is so much in darkness because they look so much at Traditions the written Word of God which we must look at more than if one came from the dead or if an Angel from Heaven came and preached to us But you will say That we must not look to it more than if God should reveal any thing to us suppose it were a voice of God from Heaven We have warrant to have regard to the written Word of God more than the voice of God from Heaven 2 Peter 1. 19. there it 's spoken of the voice that came down upon the transfiguration at the Mountain but saith the Apostle there We have a more sure word of Prophesie more more even than that was that is it is more sure to us and there is not so easie a way to be deceived by resting upon the written Word as if we look for Revelations from God we have a more sure word of Prophesie therefore it is not so much after Revelations that we are to look especially in such times as these are but to the written Word of God There is a Generation of men rising now if not risen that begin to have vile thoughts of the written Word of God and think to understand the mind of God otherwise they finding the written Word of God to keep their hearts too close and lay too strong bonds upon them but because they would fain be loose they would feign and imagin to themselves other waies of Gods mind but when they are rotten and it may be when their souls are perished eternally in Hell the written Word of God shall stand and be honorable in the eyes of his Saints I have written The Prophet doth not say he hath written but he brings in God saying I have written And that first upon these two reasons First To put the greater emphasis upon it for it is more for God himself to come and say I have written as if a Father or Master say to his Child or Servant I command you to do such a thing it is more than if a Brother or fellow-Servant should say my Father hath bidden or my Master hath bidden you to do such a thing Secondly Whosoever were the Pen-men of the Word it is I that write it I take it upon my self The Word is so much his that God claims not only the truths that are in the Word but the very ordering for the words and in 2 Pet. 1. 21. it is said of holy men they spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost they were carried on with a kind of violence as the word signifies and not only moved but carried on with a kind of violence to write what they did both
God would have but one Altar 74 Answ 1. These Altars did typifie two things 1 That Christ was to be the only sacrifice 74 2 That all our services are accepted only in him ib. 2. That it might be the bond of the Church Other Objections Answered 76 Obs 1 Mans inventions in Gods Worship are rejected of God 77 Obs 2 There is no stop in superstitious worship 78 Obs 3 We are ready to imitate our forefathers in what is evil but not in what is good 79 Obs 4. Take heed distance of time make us not to fear the threatning the less 80 Obs 5 Every age ads something to Idolatry and false worship 81 Obs 6 What ever names we give to things it may be God will give other names and titles 83 Obs 7 When mens hearts are set upon fals waies of worship it is just with God to let them have their desires to the full ib. VERSE XII Obs 1 Whatsoever is urged or practised in matter of worship it must have warrant out of the written Word of God 85 Obs 2 We should look upon the Scriptures as concerning our selves 92 Obs 3 The things of Gods Worship are to be looked upon as great things 96 1 Because they are from a great God ib. 2 The lustre of the great God shines in them ib. 3 They are the mysteries of Gods will 97 4 They are of great concernment 98 5 They have great power on the heart of man ib. 6 They make all those great that receive them 99 7 They are great in Gods account ib. Obs 4 The word is matter for the greatest spirits to exercise themselves about 101 Obs 5 It is a special means to obedience to have high thoughts of Gods Law 102 Obs 6. The worship of God is a great matter 103 The Word of God accounted strange 1 As not concerning them 105 2 Strange in their apprehensions 106 3 There is no sutableness between their hearts and the Doctrine 107 4 They use the Word as a stranger viz. for their own ends 108 Obs 7 Superstitious people that are very zealous in their own way of worship are very negligent in Gods way 108 Obs 8 It is a dangerous thing for men to have their hearts estranged from Gods Law 110 The Degrees of the hearts estrangement from God 1 His delight in God abates 111 2 They are less frequent together ib. 3 He hath hard thoughts of Gods Word ib 4 He wisheth the things in the Word were otherwise ib. 5 He begins to listen to things that are against the Word 112 6 He will not search throughly into truths ib. 7 An engagement in some unlawful practice ib. 8 Weighty arguments now become weak ib. 9 He violently rejects the Word ib. Obs 8 That which mens corrupt hearts will not close withal they put it upon Christ as if Christ had delivered them from it 113 VERS XIII Obs 1 Men may continue in outward profession and yet the great things of Gods Law may be strange to them 115 Obs 2 Most men offer up nothing to God in sacrifice but flesh 116 Obs 3 To aim at Self in serving God eats out true devotion 117 Obs 4 If Self be regarded all is rejected 119 Obs 5 Men may be much in holy services and yet their sins stand upon the score nevertheless 120 Obs 6 Howsoever God may forbear wicked men a time yet he hath a time to remember all ib. Obs 7 God remembers the sins of wicked people especially in the performance of holy duties 122 1 Because we come into Gods presence ib. 2 Holy Duties are aggravations of sin ib. Obs 8 God visits mens sins when they think he neglects them most 123 Obs 9 Carnal hearts when God visits their sins plot which way to shift for themselves 124 Obs 10 It is one of the most dreadful judgments of God upon a Nation when he hath delivered them from one bondage to deliver them into the same again 125 Obs 11 It is just with God that those that inherit their fathers sins should inherit their fathers judgments ib. Obs 12 All places are places of misery when God forsakes a People ib. VERSE XIV Obs 1 God punisheth for sin when men are most secure 126 Obs 2 It is Gods favor that makes a man 127 Obs 3 The greater excellency God raiseth a man to the viler is his sin to forget God 128 Obs 4 When mens hearts are farthest off from God then are they forwardest in superstition 128 Objections answered 129 Obs 5 Men are more subject to secure themselves from outward things than from Gods wrath 132 Obs 6 When men bless themselves in their own thoughts they should consider what are Gods thoughts 133 Obs 7 Brave things are subject to Gods devouring fire 134 CHAP. IX VERS I. Obs 1 That 's a sad war where the Conqueror hath cause to be sad at the Conquest 137 Vse for England ib. Obs 2 Leagues wherein we much rejoyce may prove occasions of sorrow 138 Use Be not greedy of peace before the time ib. Obs 3 Carnal hearts bless themselves in in outward prosperity 139 Obs 4 When men be jolly and merry they should consider whether it be from God or not 140 Obs 5 We may prosper and yet have no cause of joy ib. Obs 6 Carnal hearts are immoderate in joy 141 Exhortations 1 Be not taken with the worlds jollity 142 2 Imitate them not in their waies of rejoycing ib. 3 Do not rejoyce as a People 143 4 Rejoyce not profanely ib. 5 Rejoyce not as having so much cause as others 144 Obs 7 Many that scorn mean men may not be in so good a case as they ib. Obs 8 Although we enjoy the same blessings that othess do yet we may not have the same cause to rejoyce that they have 144 Obs 9 It is a great argument of mens misery that others rejoyce when they cannot 145 Obs 10 That which we call little matter in corrupting Gods Worship God calls a going a whoring from him 147 Obs 11 A People may be free from the gross evils of another people and yet be in a worse condition than they 147 Proved 148 Obs 12 To be constant to evil principles is not so great an evil as to be false in good principles ib. Obs 13 The sins of Gods People are the greatest sins of all 149 Obs 14 Idolaters love outward prosperity because it is a reward of their service to their Idols 153 VERSE II. Obs 1 God often lets wicked men come near a mercy and then cuts them off 154 Obs 2 God strikes wicked men in those things their hearts are mâ—st set upon ib. Obs 3. The promises of the creature will lye the promises of the world will not 155 Obs 4 Men shall fail at last in what they think they to get in a way of sin ib. VERSE III. Obs 1 It is a great judgment of God to drive men out of a Land for sin 159 Obs 2 The state of the Church of God
Riches if all the men in the world were put together and all the wisdom and power of Angels joyned to it to extract all excellency in all things in all creatures and to make that which should have all created excellency in it yet this surely could not be a God to us I say if we conceive all art skill power and riches of all the world brought together into one man yea all the skill and power of Angels put into him too and if he were able to make an extract of all the excellencies of all creatures and put into one thing yet this could not be a God unto us because it was made And shall we say further God himself by his infinite power cannot make any thing to be a God to us I say God himself by his infinite power cannot make any thing to be a God to us if he himself were made he could not be God to us nay if God himself were made he could not be God therefore surely that which the workman hath made cannot be a God How vile then are our hearts and how do we debase our selves to subject our selves to every vanity as if it were a God when as that all the power in God himself cannot raise a created excellency to that height as to be a God to us how vain is the heart of men that makes pleasure their god as the voluptuous his belly that makes money his god as the covetous that makes honor and the applause of men as the ambitious to be a god unto us Bernice and Agrippa came with great Pomp they came with much Phansie as the word signifies the excellency that al their pomp had it was but that that phansie put upon them In this God shewes the excellency of an Immortal Soul that it is in that excellency that only an Infinite Eternal being that is of Himself can be a God to us Again This is an argument against the Idol of the Mass a vile Priest a filthy Whoremaster makes it a God What a Deity is that that is from his maker Is there any greater stumbling-block to Jews Turks or Heathens to keep them from Christian Religion than this That Christians should make their God and eat him when they have done That 's the first Argument It is no God because the workman made it Secondly But the Calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces No God surely He speaks here with indignation it is not God it is a Clalf as he doth in that of the Psalmist he made a Calf that eat grass It shall be broken in pieces it shal not be able to help it self much less help them it shal be as Dagon before the Ark broken all to pieces Hierom upon the place saith that he learned from an Hebrew this word broken in pieces the word is not a Verb but a Noun shall be breakings in pieces he learned from an Hebrew that this word signified a thin web like Spiders webs in the air As you see in some times of the year in the Fields thin Webs and upon the grass thin webs like Spiders webs that presently dissolves into Attoms so that their Calf shal be like unto those thin Webs like unto Spiders Webs that dissolves it self and comes to nothing All the confidence and hopes in any thing we set up in the place of God it 's such unto us What difference is there between such a thing and a strong Rock and an high Tower such as God is to his people And again The word signifies Saw-dust that comes from Timber that is sawn and so it shal be broken in pieces Look as the Calf in the wilderness was broken even to dust to pouder and Moses made the people drink of it so God will serve this Calf And then further observe Idols are to be broken in pieces so God commanded Exod. 34. 13. Deut. 7. 5. Ezek. 20. 7. with many other Scriptures and thus godly Magistrates have ever done broke Idols in pieces And blessed be God for that that hath been done of late among us that so many Idols and that great Idol that was in the eminent place of the City that God put a spirit into those that were in Athority to break it in pieces it must be done by the Magistrate I remember Austin in his sixt Sermon upon Christs Sermon speaking of that place in Deut. 1. 5. first saith he You must possess the Land and then you must overthrow their Altars And then notes That those which have the possession of the Land as now those Publick places men only in Authority have the possession of them and therfore it is for them to break the Idols in pieces In the City of Basil we reade that every Ash-wednesday as they call it is observed a Feastival instead of the Popish Fast on that day because of the burning of Popish Images and they account it a great mercy And though we have no such warrant to observe such a day as an Holy day yet certainly as a day of an outward civil rejoycing we have cause to observe those times wherein notorious and abominable Idols have been broken in pieces Again Whatsoever it is that is subject to be broken in pieces certainly we are not to make it to be our God Now all creatures in the world are subject to breaking your estates are in danger to be broken in pieces therefore they are not Gods that 's the argument of the holy Ghost here yea it may be many of your estates are broken in pieces already Oh what poor Gods were those that you made to your selves before and so any creature whatsoever therefore Oh let 's trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Isa 26. 4. The last note from hence is this That the putting too much upon a creature the bringing a creature too neer to God and Deifying of it makes way for the destruction of that creature The Calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces because it was made an Idol If you will make use of your estates as a servant to you to fit you for Gods service you might keep it but if you would set it up in Gods place it is just with God it should be broken in pieces Whatsoever you set your hearts upon and make a God unto you it 's just with God it should be broken in pieces if you set your husband your wife your child your friend in the place of God it 's the only way to undo them to undo them in respect of you at best Many great Instruments of God God hath been fain to break them to pieces because that men have set them up in the place of God and made even Gods of them It follows VER 7. For they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind SOwing is a laborious work and this Idolatrous people were very laborious took a great deal
and those that have oppressed us that they should have their full power over us again oh our bondage would be seven fold more than it is And yet what cause have we to have our hearts tremble and shake when we think of our abuse of the beginning of Deliverance that we had but of all judgments let us pray to be delivered from that judgment that we may never go back again to our prisons But just with God it is that those who inherit their progenitors sins they should inherit their progenitors judgments You continue in their sins you shall have their Judgements also But were they ever carried into Egypt was this threat ever fulfilled No They were not carried captive into Egypt but they fled into Egypt for Refuge and there they lived and died miserably Hence observe All places are places of misery when God forsakes a people As all places are comfortable when God is with a people Many men take their course to seek to refuge themselves to help themselves and perhaps they have what they would have in part but when they have had what they would have even the having of what they desire proves to be the executiō of the wrath of God upon them you have a mind to go to Egypt you shall return to Egypt saith God It follows in the last verse VER 14. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker THEY have forgotten their Maker but I 'le remember them saith God When men think least of God then is Gods time to come upon them for their sins when they are in the greatest security of all whereas if you would remember your sins God might forget them or if you would remember God your sins should not be remembred but you forgetting God your sins are remembred It is an abominable thing for us to forget God by whom we had our memory by whom we are remembred we should never have been thought of if God had not given us what we have and therefore for us not to think of God it is a vile sin Now God is forgotten when he is not honored minded as our confidence help refuge our only good when he is not obeyed if we do but remember sin we cannot but honor him How many forget what manifestations once they had of God they are passed by from them and other things take up their thoughts Oh! what an appearing was there of God to many of your souls heretofore and what conference between God and your souls what lustre of Gods Spirit upon you and you thought you should never forget those things but now other things are in your hearts Oh! such men and women have cause to fear that they are under much wrath that they should forget their Maker God challenges remembrance under this title Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth There 's no creature but the rational creature that can reflect upon the cause of their being the first cause and therefore God would not lose the honor from this creature Indeed the Ox knows his owner and the Ass his Masters crib the beasts can take notice of those that bring them good things but to reflect upon the cause of their first being I say that 's proper to the rational creature and therefore it is an honor that God expects from you and will not lose it The word here Creator their Maker it is not now meant for Gods giving them their being but Gods advancing and blessing of them so as to bring them to that happy condition that now they were in They have forgotten their Maker Oh they have forgotten that God that hath advanced them So I find the words used in 1 Sam. 12. 6. The Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron but the words in the Original are the Lord that made Moses and Aaron that is when God call'd them to the publick work God made them Indeed for a man to be call'd to publick service is a great honor that God puts upon a man God makes a man then as many times we use that Phrase our selves if a man be raised to any preferment we say such a man is made for ever Oh that man which God casts his favor upon and delights to use in publick service that man is a made-man But they have forgotten the Lord that made them That 's the Note from hence It 's Gods favor that makes a man You have an excellent Scripture for this in Isa 43. 7. I have created him saith God for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him Here 's these three words together God doth not satisfie himself in this I have given him his being or all that he hath but he makes use of of these three several words to signifie how all our good comes from God I do not know such an expression we have in Scripture I have brought him out of nothing then secondly I have formed him I have put beauty and glory upon him yea and thirdly I have made him I have raised him to the height of all God hath created us all but hath he formed us We are to look at Gods forming as well as at his creation how God forms and fashions us unto his own will They have forgotten God their Maker That should have been the other Note That the greater height of excellency God raises any man to the more vile and wicked is the sin of forgetting God when they are advanced Many men will remember God when they are low but when God hath advanced them then they forget him and that 's worse But it follows And have built Temples How is God forgotten and they build Temples to the honor of God You accuse us of forgetting God our Maker What People in the world doth rememember God so as we do when we are at such charges as we are at The word that is translated Temples it signifies Palaces The Church is indeed Gods Palace but note from hence That when God is worshiped in any way but his own then God is forgotten Papists they set up Images and they say it is to put them in mind of God but the truth is they forget God in it Again When mens hearts depart most desperatly and furthest off from God they are many times very forward in superstitious worship As we know it in the primitive times the hearts of men did close most with the power of godliness and were more sincere in their worship but afterwards when they came to have peace in and after Constantines time when they had Temples then they forgot God most and grew superstitious When the Christians worshiped God in Dens and Caves of the earth they remembred God more than when they had glorious Temples built for them Men that have departed from God and have guilty consciences they must have something to satisfie their consciences Of late our Kingdom how desperatly was it departing from
do others rejoyce scorn at the threats of God So Ephraim had mixt himself amongst the Nations and so did scorn at what was said by the Prophet Do not rejoyce prophanely do not rejoyce slightly vainely do not rejoyce presumptuously promising to your selves continuance in your prosperity But that which I think is especially aim'd at is this Rejoyce not as other people for you have not such cause to rejoyce as other people Why Israel Though you be Israel yet there is not so much cause for you to rejoyce as other Nations have Israel the ten Tribes prides themselves in their Priviledges above other people they despised all people in comparison of themselves But now God tels them that their sins had brought them into a worse condition than other people were in and they must not rejoyce so much as they And from thence this profitable Note may be raised Many who look upon others as mean and low with scorn and contempt in comparison of themselves yet even these may be in a worse estate than those are whom they look upon so much beneath them For instance It may be you may be a man of parts and of esteem and a man employed in high employments for Church and Common-wealth Another is in a mean low condition is of little use a weak-parted man and yet that guilt may be upon you that you have not such cause to rejoyce as this poor man hath which you so contemn as one laid by and not worth any thing It may be you have excellent gifts in Prayer and are an eminent professor another man or woman is no body in your eyes they are no professors at all I but if all were known you have not cause to rejoyce as they have that you contemn Secondly Rejoyce not as other people Although we enjoy the same blessings that others do yet we have not alwaies the same cause to rejoyce as others have though we enjoy the same blessings I say it may be others have more cause to rejoyce in a little than we have to rejoyce in abundance Do not say in your hearts Others are merry and chearful Why should not I be so too I have as good an estate as such a one hath as fair a dwelling as he hath as comly children as he hath why should not I be merry But it may be ther 's not that breach between God such a one as between God thee it may be there is not so much guilt upon the spirits of such men as upon thy spirit therefore thou must not rejoyce as they do though thou hast the same outward blessings that such and such have yet it doth not follow that thou shouldest rejoye as such do you have cause rather to have your thoughts work thus such and such men are chearful indeed yea they may for they have not provoked God as I have done I am conscious of those sins that I beleeve they are free from A man that hath a sore disease about him in his body when he sees others that are merry he thinks with himself yea indeed you may be merry but if you felt that that I do you would have little cause to be merry The third Note is this Rejoyce not as others When men have brought misery upon themselves this is one great argument of their misery That they shall see others rejoycing but all matter of joy shall be taken from themselves It 's not for them to rejoyce as others do that which is the cause of the rejoycing to others you have had and abused it you have abused those mercies of God and now you must not rejoyce as other people do That place is very notable for this in Luke 13. 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth When ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out This is the aggravation of our misery to see others in happiness and in a rejoycing condition and you your selves cast out you must not rejoice as others do As if a man were cast into a dungeon neer the street and there should be a day of triumph and feastivitie and jolitie there should be much rejoycing musick and bravery without in the Citie and he lying in a dark dungeon and hears the jolitie of the Citie this would be a great aggravation to his misery yes would he think such that have their liberty may rejoyce but I must not rejoyce as they do and this will be the aggravation of the misery of the damned hereafter when they shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and themselves cast out it may be the Father shall see his Child in the Kingdom of God and himself in Hell being cast out they shal rejoice eternally when I must be in everlasting torments The reason follows Rejoyce not as other people for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God The ground of joy or sorrow is the terms that are between God and us sin hath an evil in it to damp all our joy if we would have joy in any thing let us take heed of defiling it by sin of all sins the sin of forsaking God forsaking or corrupting Gods Worship that 's such an evil as is enough to take away the joy of a Nation whatsoever a Nation hath if it hath forsaken God in matter of worship it hath little cause of joy though we should have peace and outward prosperitie yet if there be not making up of our peace for our going a whoring from God let there be all the peace that can be made yet we have little cause to rejoice in it but a people retaining the true Worship of God whatsoever it be in other respects that people hath cause to rejoice Yea and as a whol Nation so any particular soul particular men or women Christians that live in a Nation if their consciences can tell them that they have not complied with the times and gone a whoring from God in waies of false worship as others have done they have cause to rejoyce whatsoever befals a Nation whereas the others that have had complying spirits though the Nation should prosper never so much yet they have little cause to rejoyce in that joy let us therefore be solicitous about nothing so much as about the true Worship of God Yea but this people might say Suppose we have some corruptions in the Worship of God yet we do retain more than other Nations do Nay saith God you have gone a whoring and so you are more guilty than other Nations From whence the Notes are First That which we may think a little matter in corrupting Gods Worship God may call it a going a whoring from Him it 's true might they say we may fail in some Circumstances we go not up to Jerusalem to worship but still we worship the true
he used to call them his three Impostumes and his three â—ankers upon his body And so children that should be the glory of their Parents and the glory of a family many times they are but the very Impostumes and Cankers of it and the shame to their Parents every time they come abroad in the world And if you expect that your children should be a glory to you must not be a shame to them sometimes children are a shame to their Parents and sometimes Parents are a shame to their Children It follows Their glory shall fly away like a bird Men glory in their outward pomp and prosperity and their children but both these shall fly away like a bird That is 1. Suddenly 2. Swiftly 3. Irrecoverably A Bird that you have in a Cage you have kept it perhaps many months and upon some advantage gets out and in a moment she is gone suddenly and then she goes away swiftly that you cannot follow her and then Irrecoverably that you can never take her All outward glory is uncertain in Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Certainly riches they make to themselves wings and fly away as an Eagle into Heaven fly away like a Bird and that Bird the Eagle that flies so swiftly that there is no getting her again How many lately in Ireland and in our own Land that have had estates in the evening and all hath been gone away swiftly like a bird before the morning They have been rich in the morning and have been even beggars in the evening Let us take our hearts off from glorying in all outward excellencies and seek that glory that is abiding that is constant that is everlasting We should look upon all outward comforts now as upon the wing if ever you had cause to look upon all the outward comforts in the world as upon the wing you are to do it now never make account of any settlement in any comforts in the world at this day they are all upon the wing we cannot reason thus We have enjoyed such prosperity thus long and therefore we shall still enjoy it longer No all outward comforts slies away like the bird that comes in one moment that before came not in many years In Jer. 9. 23. Thus saith the LORD Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this That he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. Your delights are in other vain things in estates in bravery but in these things I delight saith the Lord God and if you will glory do you glory in those things that I my self delight in your glory in the midst of your prosperity which flies from you like a bird but the Lord that is the glory of his in the midst of their adversities flies to them like a bird I say the glory of the wicked in the midst of their prosperity flies from them like a bird and the Lord God who is the glory of the Saints flies to them in their afflictions like a bird Thus you have this very phrase in Isa 31. 5. As birds flying so will the Lord of host defend Jerusalem defending also he will deliver it and passing over he will preserve it As birds flying it 's a metaphor taken from the bird when she sees the yong ones in any danger of the Kite she flies with speed to save them As birds flying so will I defend Jerusalem Your glory gets away and flies from you in your prosperity but the glory of the Saints flies to them in their adversity Secondly The Glory of their posterity shall flee away like a bird that is The Lord will cut off their numerous posteritie their yong men that there shall be few enough left among them They gloried in their number The blessing of God upon Abrahams seed came very swiftly after it began to come and now God threatens it shall go away as swiftly As you may find it if you observe the story of the encrease of the Seed of Abraham if you reckon it from the time of their going into Egypt there was you know but threescore and ten souls that went into Egypt of Abraham's seed but when they came out of Egypt which was but two hundred and fifteen years after they went in for the four hundred and thirty is to be reckoned from the Promise to Abraham until their coming out of Egypt and it is cleer that there were two hundred and fifteen years from the Promise to their going into Egypt so that there were but two hundred and fifteen years from their going in to their coming out and see how swiftly they did encrease from three score and ten souls for there was no more then but there came out from twenty years old and upwards men of war six hundred thousand three thousand five hundred and fiftie there were encreased of Abrahams seed in two hundred and fifteen years six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty as you may see in the book of Numbers besides the Levites with the number of the males from a month old and upwards was twenty and two thousand besides the women and al the other children and this was in that time when they were in bondage Thus the Glory of Abrahams seed came very swiftly And now it shall fly away like a bird they shall decrease more than they did encrease Godliness brings blessings swiftly and Wickedness it causes blessings to depart away swiftly again like a bird It follows From the birth and from the womb and from the conception Gods Curse follows the wicked close sometimes in their birth sometimes in the womb and sometimes hindering the conception You see how God hath us at advantage how he hath us in his hand at every turn he might if he had pleased smit us in our conception if he had spar'd there stifled us in the womb if spar'd there made us stick in the birth Wherefore learn we to acknowledg Gods mercie in the general that he is patient and long suffering and gracious to us let us consider at the several passages of his mercy to bless God not only for our general preservation but how he did preserve us in the very conception preserves us in our mothers womb and then in the birth and then in the cradle and in our childhood in our youth and in our middle age in our old age for we lie at his mercy at every point of time Their glorie shall flie away like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception of some I 'le hinder the conception some others in the womb shall die others when
universal Secondly Suppose he should not be saved then it were better that he should be taken away than to live to sin more against God he might have lived to have done a great deal of mischief in the world if he were one that God did not intend to save and therefore quiet thy self However God sees further than thou doest either when he denies theâ— Children or takes them away in such times as these are Further In times when publick evils are threatned they are good times to die in If better not to be born in evil time then certainly it is no great evil to die in evil times Good men are taken away from the evil to come As if a woman had her breast to be launc'd or cut off would not the tender Father take the Children out of the room in the mean time Who knows but God may have the breast of his his Church our Mother even to be cut off for a time yet may suffer heavier things than ever she hath done and if God shall take away his tender Children that will not be able to bear such a sight as that what great evil is it As we reade of God towards Moses when Gods Glory was to pass by he puts Moses into the hole of a Rock and truly the graves of the Saints are but as the holes of the Rock til the Glory of Gods Justice passes by a people And thirdly If the sins of Parents may be the cause of such things to Children as better they had not been born let those that have Children take heed that they lay not up such wrath for an Inheritance for their Children as that their Children afterwards should even wish they never had been born of such Parents especially if Parents be careless in the education of their Children not to bring them up in the fear of the Lord hereafter their Children may curse the time that ever they were born of them and say Oh! that I rather had been of the off-spring of Vipers or the generation of Dragons than that I had come of such Parents Oh! that my Mother had had a miscarrying womb or that she never had had breasts to give me suck Certainly this will be the voice of many children against their Parents one day Look to it that there be never a Father nor Mother in this place that may give cause to their Children thus to wish they had never been born of such Parents And certainly if the enduring of sorrows and misery in this world may put them into such a condition what then wil sin and being the authors of miseries to others do Those Children that are abominable and wicked in their lives and are causes of mischief to others how much cause is it that it had been said that it had been been better his Mothers womb had miscarried as it was said of Judas that it had been better that he had never been born And so it may be said of abundance at this day what abundance of evil are some at this day the cause of unto others What woful disturbances distractions and calamities do some men bring upon a nation had it not been better that their Mothers wombs to have miscarried and their breasts not to have given them such And again What horrible wickedness are some guilty of How many Mother 's this day have cause â—o say Oh! that my womb had miscarried of such a Child Oh that my breasts had never given such a Child suck Oh that ever one should come out of my womb to do so much mischief to take up Arms to fight against his COUNTRY to fight against the Saints to bring in Slavery and Tyranny that ever any out of my womb should have a hand in such a mischievous way as this is Oh! these breasts of mine every time I look upon them I wish they had never given such a one suck for it may be they wil suck my blood too Certainly if ever there were a time to wish their wombs had miscarried and their breasts never given suck these are the times many may do so And this seems to have allusion to that which Christ saith in Luke 23. 19. Blessed are the wombs that never bear and the paps that never gave suck I say concerning many particulars in the Kingdom in this time it might have been said Oh! blessed had the womb been that such men were in had they never been born and the paps that they suckt that they had never given suck This would not have been an interpretation but a good prayer if it could have been foreseen if any Prophet could have forseen this that thou shouldst have been a Child and he should have been an Actor in so much mischief as hath been done in this Kingdom of late if any Prophet could have forseen this thou wouldst have said Amen to his prayer Lord give this woman a miscarrying womb and dry breasts that she might never have born nor given suck to such an one It follows VER 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal for there I hated them WHAT this Gilgal was I opened in the 4 th Chapter at the 15. Verse it was a very famous place for many remarkable things Stones were set up in remembrance of so great a mercy in coming over Jordan and there was the first Passeover that ever they had and there they were circumcised and the Lord said unto Joshua This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you from whence it had the name they were not circumcised in all that time in the Wilderness from whence it was called Gilgal because the reproach was rolled away I shewed abundance of mercy to them in Gilgal there they eat the fruit of the Land and there the reproach was rol'd away and the monument of my great mercy in bringing them over Jordan but now they have turned this place to the most abominable place in the Country for because there were such great things done in Gilgal they thought that it was a holy place and therefore they might justifie their superstitious waies though God afterwards did chuse another place for his Worship yet they thought to sacrifice and worship in Gilgal they thought it might be justified because it was a place where such great things were done Now saith God I never intended that all their wickedness is in Gilgal Superstitious men are proud to put holiness upon places that have had remarkable things done in them in reference to Religion This phrase we have had occasion to meet with before and therefore I pass it All their wickedness That is Their chief wickedness as if God should say there is a great deal of wickedness among them there are Murders and Thefts and abundance of other evils the breaches of the second Table but yet above all their wickedness is at Gilgal they think to make use of that
might be another in thy family or place that might bring forth fruit to God but thou hinderest God might have more Rent as I may so say for all his possessions in the world the great Rent is the fruit that the Church brings forth in Cant. 8. 11. it is said that Solomon let out his Vineyard and it brought him in a thousand pieces of Silver for the fruit of it And God he lets out his Vinyard and his Rent I say it is the fruit that the Saints bring forth to him What glory hath God in the world if those that profess themselves to be his people should be empty 8. God doth not let us sit under empty Vines our Vines they have bin fruitful Vines shall we then be empty Vines our selves 9. The Lord hath justly struck this Vine here in England and our Vine bleeds it bleeds and is in danger to bleed to death and what though it doth it hath brought forth little fruit and therefore it 's just with God that he should let this Vine even bleed now to death 10. According to the greatness of the opportunities that any man hath or any society of men so is the greatness of the evil of emptiness Oh! now to be empty when God puts great opportunities of great service into our hands now to be empty when God expects great services Oh! it is the most vile thing of all Oh my brethren that we were but sensible of this But if this be an evil thing to be empty than what is it to bring forth the Grapes of Sodom and the Clusters of Gomorrah to bring forth the Wine of the Gall of Asps wild Grapes And yet a great deal of such fruit there hath been brought forth And truly the fruit that most men have brought forth now they are wild Grapes at the best If men do any thing yet they do so mingle the vanity of prid the sowreness of their own spirits the rigedness of their own nature with what they do that all is but sowr before God Well To conclude this about the emptiness of the Vine Oh! let us prize fruitfulness more and say as the Vine that is brought in in the 9 th of Judges Shall I leave my Wine which cheereth God and man and go and reign over you Oh so Shall we leave our fruitfulness upon any earthly advantage in the world Let us account it a greater advantage to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God than to glory in any earthly advantage No matter what becomes of us so we may be but fruitful though God dung us though he cast all the filth and reproaches in the world upon us yet if God will make this but cause us to be fruitful it is no great matter But further from the manner of the Phrase Israel is a Vine emptying its self That is an aggravation of emptiness when we empty our selves when God is not wanting to us in means but we are the Cause of it And what is the cause of emptiness but the emptying out our strength and spirits to our lusts and the world No mervail though we have no fruit for God and strength in his service when we let out all to other things And the old Latin here turns it A leavie vine And the Seventy they have it A Vine that brings forth goodly branches And yet it 's said here empty that is all the strength and juyce of it is let out in the goodliness of the branches and leaves Oh! so many Professors in these daies they empty out all their strength that they have and all their parts meerly into leaves and have goodly branches make goodly outward profession and goodly words they give and will speak much of Religion but nothing but leaves nothing but words all this while Pliny in his 17. Book and 22. Chapter saith of Vines that it is fit at least for two years together after their planting that they should be cut down to the very ground that they may not sprout out in leaves and so to lose their juyce and strength at the root And truly this is that that hath lost the hopeful beginnings of many yong people in these times they have presently sprouted out into leaves for never was there a more hopeful time of yong people than at the beginning of this Parliament and no greater encouragement was there than from them at that time I will not say it is wholly lost but Oh! how many of them that began to understand the waies of God hath let out all their strength in leaves and contests and disputes and wranglings and strange kind of opinions and little fruit is come of any thing Nay there is little savor at all in their spirits Oh! how happy had it been if so be that God had kept them down in a work of humiliation to the very ground for a yeer or two together Now that 's a thing that is altogether laid aside any work of humiliation but presently they sprout out into leaves My Brethren whatsoever may be said or whatsoevee heretofore hath seem'd to be preached to the contrary yet certainly if rightly understood hath been but the same things that must of necessity be acknowledged we do not press Humiliation as the Condition of the Covenant of Grace we look not at it so but Humiliation keeps the spirits of men low and empties them of themselves and keeps them down I say this is that which would have made them a great deal more fruitful and they could not have run up as meer leaves and their strength spent and so how many of them are fallen off again not only to be slight and vain but to be wicked and ungodly and quite naught because they were not kept down low for a while but God ordering things that they should live in times of liberty Oh! how luxurious have they grown that way When God lets a people grow rank and prunes them not they quickly grow barren We had never so many rank Christians as we have at this day that grow out in luxurious branches and they think they have over-topt all because they can talk more than others do when as there are some poor Christians that grow low to the ground and when they get a little comfort it is gone away from them presently and they walk humbly before God and no body takes notice of them but are despised and contemned O! these will grow and be delightful to the pallate of God when such rank professors as these shall wither and be cast out The pruned Vines bring forth the best fruit and therefore that 's observable compare Isa 5. with the 27. there 's a Note very observable In the 5. Chapter God complains of his Vinyard that he lookt for Grapes and they brought forth wild Grapes but there the Prophet speaks of the time before the Captivity but in the 27. Chapter there is a
proud swelling words they swear and curse for so the curse in swearing signifies cursing as well as swearing they swear and curse what our Images be broken down what shall we be brought under and made to serve our enemies We scorn it we defie all that shall have such a thought as this is we will do this and that we will have our minds we will die for it else we will enter into Leagues with such and such we will get such and such to conjure together with us I 'le warrant you we shall make our party thus and thus thus they speak great things that they will do yea that they will thus they speak words in making a Covenant with Oaths of Vanity so you may reade it And indeed if men could prevail with great Words and daring Expressions and bold Resolutions and desperate Oaths and wicked Curses then may some hope to prevail against the God of Heaven and his Saints but saith he These things shall do them no good And indeed these things should never move us though we hear our Adversaries speak proud swelling words and say what they will do threaten Monsterous things let us not be troubled at it for they do but hasten the Wrath of God against themselves In the mean time while they are swearing and cursing and making brags and boast what they will do the counsels of the Lord they work their ruin and work the good of his people they spake words such kind of Words They speak words swaring falsely in making a Covenant What hath this reference to What Covenant did they make And wherein did they swear falsely Some think it hath reference to the Covenant that the People did make with Jeroboam at the first and so with his Successors that is thus The People came to him and took their Oaths and entred into solemn League that they would stand by him in the breach that he made from the house of David that they would stand by him in opposing those that would not yeeld to him in the Alteration of Worship For their Princes would not probably have been so strongly set upon the Alteration of the waies of Worship had not the People joyned themselves freely to him by way of Oaths and Covenant now when he saw that the People came in floking and willing to yeeld to the Oath which he would give them upon this he was confirm'd in the way that he went in and so they took Oaths in Covenanting with Jeroboam which were but Oaths of vanity for so the same word that signifies False signifies Vain in the Hebrew tongue so I find Arias Montanus and Vatablus take the words as having reference to that But now others and that more probably understand this Covenant and Swearing to be the Covenant that they took with the Assyrians and with the Egyptians the story of which you have in the fornamed place in 2 King 17. Hoshea sent Messengers to So King of Egypt and brought no present to the King of Assyria as he had done year by year First he had Covenanted with the King of Assyria and that was broke and then they would Covenant with So King of Egypt and so they swore falsely in in making a Covenant with the Assyrians and the Egyptians Now the Observations are That Carnal hearts in their straights have no God to go to therefore they take shifting courses As a Dog that hath lost his Master will follow after any for relief And secondly It 's an evil thing in straights for men that profess Religion to combine with wicked men God professed he will not take the wicked by the hand neither should we it 's a sign the cause is evil when men can have no other help but by combining with wicked and ungodly men Just thus it is for all the world with our adversaries at this day to the Parliament all men generally that have any profession of Godliness they see they cannot have help that way therefore combine and bring into Covenant Irish Rebels Papists any People in the world If it were Turks or Jews or any in the world to help themselves withal this is the wickedness of mens hearts And then thirdly There is no trust to be had to wicked men in their Oaths and Covenants let their Protestations be never so solemn their Oaths their Covenants it is but only to gain time to work about some advantage that they cannot work about for the present while they have any opposition If they have not things under their power as they desire they will promise you any thing in the world but when once they come to get power in their hands then who shall require the fulfilling of their Promises their Oaths their Covenants And therefore certainly when we have to deal with those that we have had experience to be false we must ever retain this conclusion except we see an apparent change in their hearts for that 's not enough that they are willing to take Covenants that 's no new thing but till we see that God hath wrought some mighty work upon their hearts we must carry this conclusion Certainly if they can they will ruin us therefore our condition cannot be safe but to be so as they can do us no hurt That 's the third Note And then the fourth is this That Breaking Covenant though with wicked men is a very great wickedness God will be revenged for it I have heretofore spoken of falseness and falseness in Covenant and Promises and shewen you the example of Saul and Zedekiah therefore I shall not look back to those things God loves humane societies which cannot be preserved but by faithfulness Faithfulness it 's the speech of a Heathen it 's the common safety of all men I remember I have read of the Romans that they did so esteem of Faithfulness by the light of Nature in Covenants that they accounted Faithfulness to be a Godess and they built and dedicated a Temple unto fidelity as to a Godess in which Temple all their Leagues Truces Covenants and Bargains were sworn which were so Religiously observed that whosoever broke them was to be held as a cursed and damned creature unworthy to live in humane societies And the Egyptians would punish Perjury with death Among the Indians the fingers and toes of Perjured persons were cut off And I have likewise reade when Tissaphernes the Persian warred against the Grecians he broke Covenant with the Grecians Now Agesilaus when he saw that they had broke their Covenant he rejoyced at it greatly saying thus For saith he by this means he hath made the gods to be his enemy and our friend wherefore let us boldly give him battel We know how our enemies have broken their Covenants from time to time and their Conditions that they have made themselves yea even lately in that Town that we hear such good of now
the daies they slew fourty thousand now having the first day this did hearten them yea they had the day the second time and that made them stout in their way Success will make men stand it out in their wickedness God manie times gives success on purpose to harden the hearts of men that they may stand it out unto their ruin for so it proved to the Benjamites Be not troubled at the success of Adversaries God gives them success to harden their hearts to stand it out that they may be ruined at last Or if you take it for the men of Israel There they stood I find abundance of strange apprehensions of Interpreters and variety about this and it would cost one a great deal of time the opening of this Verse to compose but the several Interpretations that men have upon this Text but I 'le only give you what I think may be the scope of the holy Ghost or at least what may be fairly hinted from the words The men of Israel stood That is according to some when they saw in their battel at Gibeah they did not prevail at first they saw their brethren stood out stoutly and they lost so many thousand men upon this they were at a stand There they stood they knew not what in the world to do to think that so good a Cause and a work that they had warrant from God to do yet they should have such ill success there they stood Men had need be very well grounded in a good Cause when they meet with much difficulty I beleeve since this Cause that we have been about in England hath bin begun many through unbeleef and cowardize have bin at a stand they stood and knew not which way to go Lord is this the Cause of God is this the Truth of God what to have such ill success Many are lost in their spirits only by success Or thus There they stood that is Though they were at a stand and somewhat troubled yet they persisted in their work notwithstanding any difficulties they met withall they would not fly off but there they stood to it they were resolved whatever ill success they had to go on in the work that God had call'd them to The battel in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them When they did fight against the children of iniquity yet this battel did not overtake them to wit the Benjamites not the first day nor the second day but they were foil'd twice Though I know others do give other Interpretations of this word yet this seems to be more genuine But why doth the Prophet bring it in here The men of Israel to whom Hosea did prophesie might say You tell us that our sin is as in the daies of Gibeah yea but may we have the first day and the second day we hope we shall do well enough Nay saith the Prophet your sin is worse you may not think that your case is so good as the Benjamites the Battel did not overtake them but it shall overtake you and upon this ground the Prophet brings in this that the Battel did not overtake them granting that which they would object yet so as it should not make for them but to take away their hopes to escape And thus you have the meaning The Observations are First That the children of iniquity may escape once and again Though men be children of iniquity yet the Battel may not overtake them It 's as famous a story to take away the seeming success in an ill cause and disappointment in a good Cause as any I know in all the Book of God it did not overtake them at first Gods wrath follows many men in this world and yet for a long time overtakes them not but God calls it back Psal 78. 38. He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath But at length Gods wrath overtakes men In Zach. 1. 6. Did not my words take hold upon your fathers I sent out my threatning words and you escaped a long time but at length my word catcht hold of them As the Dog that follows the Hare barking a great while but at length he overtakes it and ceases upon it and tears it So did not my Word take hold upon your forefathers Calvin he gives another Interpretation of these words and some other Notes upon it but I think that this is the main and Genuine scope of them VER 10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them IT is in my desire God speaks here as one that hath forborn a long time and now longs to satisfie himself Tremelius upon the place notes that the form of the word for chastising here it is unusual because saith he perhaps God would express some more than ordinary way of punishing them And Luther renders it Exceeding desirously will I chastise them It is in my will to chastise them Oh! blessed God do not we find in thy Word that the Works of thy Justice are said to be thy strange Works and that thou art not willing to grieve the children of men that mercy pleases thee but where do we ever find that Justice was so pleasing to thee It 's true though at first God seems to forbear the execution of Justice as a thing he hath no mind to yet if sin be continued in in a stubborn way now God desires it as a thing that there 's nothing more pleasing to him He is burdened with mens sins and desires to bring punishments upon them as a man under a great burden desires to be eased In Isa 1. Oh! I will ease me of mine Adversaries And in Ezek. 5. 13. you shall find there that God in threatning of wrath saith that he would do thus and thus and he would be comforted and in Prov. 1. he laughs at the destruction of wicked men it 's a thing that rejoyces him at the very heart And in the Revelations the wrath of God is call'd the wine of his wrath because he takes so much pleasure in the execution of it 1. Gods Justice is God himself as well as any other Attribute 2. God he doth delight to vindicate his honor therefore the word that is for Chastisement it signifies somtimes the vindication of a mans honor the honor of God is dear to him Your peace and comforts may be dear to you I but my honor is more dear to me 3. In Chastisements God fulfils his Word the Word of God would be slighted contemn'd else Now this pleases me therfore to chastise them to fulfil my Word upon them Oh! the fearful evil of sin that brings the creature into such a condition as Gods heart is delighted in every evil that sinful creatures suffer this must needs be a sad condition indeed
upon uncertainties and that he shall have it no longer than he doth labor and labor to purpose but when men shall have their estates coming in in a certain way though they labor by themselves or other or though negligently or industriously here 's a great temptation in this And then further For it is a sign of a carnal heart only to mind things presently to labor for an accommodation to themselves for the present A generous spirit will labor for the posterity that is to come If none should plow how would there be Corn to tread out We must be willing to plow though we have not present food though we should have nothing till night yea though we should have nothing till the night of death yea in all our lives we should be willing to plow in hope Ephraim loved not that work That 's a generous spirit that is willing to endure difficulty here though he finds no present comings in though it be for afterwards And it may be applied it to soul-work in our seeking to God Many men and women they are content to pray and follow God and his Ordinances so long as they may have present comfort but if that fails they have no heart to the duty Now we should be willing to plow that is to endure difficulty though we have nothing coming in This is that which caused so many to perish in the world they must have that which is present content whereas the Saints of God are willing to trust God though they have nothing in this world to trust him to have their wages in the world to come It 's a Scripture of very excellet use unto us It follows But I passed over upon her fair neck I will make Ephraim to ride But I passed over upon her fair neck By her easie work in treading out the Corn and not having the yoke upon her neck to plow she became to be very delicate her skin was white and tender Her fair neck The Goodness of her Neck so it is in the Hebrew or her goodly white Skin delicate and tender she was The meaning of it is by her fair Neck is the beauty of her prosperity and so the delicacy of her Neck through her prosperity nothing must trouble her let works that are troublesom and hard let others come to them if they will But for her part she was tender and delicate and must endure no burdens at all nor no difficulty at all First Her fair Neck Many are proud of their fair Necks and Skins so proud as they grow extream wanton by reason of it they must lay open therefore their fair necks that others may see them see how white they are what fair Skins they have and put black Patches likewise to set out their beauty and the whiteness of their fair Skins and if that will not serve even laying over a paint to make it fair if it be not otherwise so nothing but Ease and Delicacy and pleasure is for them as if they came into the world for no other end but to live bravely and be look'd upon as if man-kind and all creatures must work and suffer to provide for these nice and delicate wantons who yet are of no use at all in the world certainly God never gave any great estates in the world for no other use but only to be brave withal and keep their Skin white Whatsoever estates men and women have yet except they endeavor to be useful in the world in a proportionable way unto those estates that they have they can have little true comfort of what they do enjoy the comfort of the lives of rational creatures certainly it 's not in a fair Skin in a white Skin their comfort is in being useful in the places where God hath set them their good consists in that Man is born to labor and there must be labor one way or other every one is bound to labor these fair white Skins and fair Necks Oh! what foul souls many of them have their beauty is but Skin-deep Oh! filthy and abominable in the eyes of God and in the eyes of those that know the corruptions of their hearts How would these fair necks be able to bear Iron chains for Christ to be naild to the stake to have such a Neck-kercher put upon them as Alice Driver had You have it in the story of the Book of Martyrs when they put the chain about her neck to nail her to the stake she gloried in it and blest God for it I but this Alice Driver was wont to plow for so she saith a little before in the story her father did bring her up to plow she was not brought up so delicately as others were and she could endure an iron chain upon her neck for Christ It follows But I passed over upon her fair Neck Some carry the words as expressing Gods indulgence as if he was content to let Ephraim to prosper and thrive in their way and not to bring any hard bondage upon them but it 's more like the other way that I find others to go i.e. I came upon her fair neck and made the yoke to pass over So Hierom upon the place saith when it 's spoken of God this Phrase to pass over It 's not only meant here in a way of threatning but it 's alwaies so meant in Scripture in a way of threatning of Gods passing over and it may very well be here a threatning expression following the similitude for God is in a way of Allegory expressing himself after the manner of Husbandry as when he threatens that they shall be yok'd And then Ephraim is compared to a Heifer that is taught as if he should say he would not willingly work From whence the Note is That God looks upon dainty tender delicate people that mind nothing but their ease and delicacie with INDIGNATION What! Ephraim must be so tender and delicate that nothing must come upon her neck I 'le make the yoke to come upon it saith God When people through their delicacy they must live in the world and altogether be tended and all things must be serviceable to them and they of no use at all God cannot bear it And as for the eminency of any of you either in estates or honors in the world above others it ought not to be the cause of envy for it is God that puts the difference between one and the other we do not envy that some should go finer than others but this is that which neither God nor man can endure That men and women should have so much in the world and yet be so little useful to the world should be through their delicacy as if they were born for nothing else but like Babies to play withal Saith God I 'le make the yoke to pass over them But now there are other manner
then it were another matter but now considering they have enough in them to make them subjects of Gods wrath God may take advantage the rather because of thy sin and therefore take heed ane especially take heed to Gods Worship for we do not find in Scripture where any children are so threatned as the children of Idolaters are And then a further Note is this That the Judgments of God neer to us should awaken us we should think Why may it not be upon our selves This was a heavy Judgment of God upon some City neer and God would awaken them Oh! what have we heard hath been upon our Brethren in other parts and we have been sottish and not sensible of it because iâ— hath not just come upon our Gates the Lord expects when we hear of any dreadful evil upon others that we should tremble and fear before him And then one thing further note from hence As Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel The word that is here Shalman it signifies the name of one that is peaceable one that is peaceable and yet he shall exercise his cruelty so as to dash the Mother upon her Children this is not one that bears cruelty in his name not a Tyger but a Shalman a peaceable man as his name carries it and yet thus cruel when he comes to have power Oh! men who have peace in their names and peace in their mouths and peace in 〈◊〉 yet when they come to have power often times are very cruel We were like to have found it so if our adversaries should have prevailed especially this Citie might have been made a Beth-arbel Mothers dashed upon their Children It 's true when the adversaries did prevail in any place they did not do so but it was not through any ingenuity or pity but out of fear but had they gotten the day then we might have expected even dashing of the Mother against the children VER 15. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness SO shall Bethel What shall Bethel rise up against the rest of the ten Tribes and come and destroy Mother and Children together That 's not the meaning But Bethel shall do it that is Bethel is the Cause of this that dreadful slaughter that is like to be among you it shall come from Bethel Who would ever have thought that Oh my Brethren Miserable Judgments do many times arise from causes we 〈◊〉 think of that 's the Note from thence I say miserable Judgments do many times arise from causes we little think of From Bethel there should come this slaughter and dreadful blood-shed And as that Note more generally so more particularly this That from places of Idolatry comes the greatest evils to Kingdoms As 't is very observable on the contrary from the places of Gods Worship comes the greatest good so from places of Idolatry the greatest evil In Psal 76. 2 3. In Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place iâ— Zion There brake he the Arrows of the Bâ—◠〈◊〉 Shield and the Sword and the Battel Did God break them there Was there a Fight in Zion and in Salem No that 's not the meaning but in Zion and Salem where Gods Tabernacle was those Servants of God that were worshiping of God in Jerusalem and in Zion and praying to God they got the Victory so we may say that such a place that was fasting and praying in the time of our battels there God brake the Arrow and the Bow in that place where they were praying and seeking God it was in Salem and Zion Where the true worship of God is from thence comes the good of a Kingdom And so in Isa 31. 9. Whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem The Lord is there threatning the Enemies of his people and he saith That his fire is in Zion and his furnace is in Jerusalem there God hath his furnace and from thence it shall go to destroy the adversaries And so on the contrary where Idolatry is set up and false worship maintained from thence comes evils and miseries upon us Because of your great wickedness The word is Because of the wickedness of your wickedness so the Hebrews express the suparlative degree by a genetive case the evil of the evil the wickedness of the wickedness From whence observe Other sins are great sins but this of false worship indeed is THE great sin that God is provoked against a people for Whence let us not make light account of the Worship of God for how little soever Gods Worship is in our eyes yet it is a great matter in Gods eyes and though you think that the sins against God in the matter of his Worship be but small yet God saith it is the great wickedness it is the wickedness of wickedness And great wickedness it may be call'd not only in respect of the nature of it but from many aggravations and long continuance in it notwithstanding all their means You may Note further from hence God takes notice not only of mens sins but of the aggravation of their sins Oh! let us do thus do not only look upon your sins and acknowledg your selves to be sinners but look upon the Aggravations of your sins Oh! this sin committed against so many Mercies so many Prayers and Resolutions and Vows and Covenants and so many Deliverances that I have had labor to lay the Aggravations of your sins upon your hearts and this is the way to humble your hearts before the Lord. Indeed the Saints of God they need not seek to excuse their sins be not afraid to lay the aggravations of sin upon your own hearts according to what great aggravations there may be Greaten your wickedness before the Lord do not so as ordinarily people do to extenuate your sins for if there be any extenuation that possibly can be Jesus Christ will find out that in his pleading Christ is your advocate who sits at the right hand of the Father and it is his work to plead your cause and therefore if there can be any thing to extenuate a sin he will do it you know that when he was here in this world when his Disciples did offend very much in that sleepiness of theirs that when Christ was to suffer they could not watch with him one hour that sin might have been aggravated with abundance of circumstances but saith Christ The flesh is weak but the spirit is willing he falls to extenuate and excuse Now that which Christ did there he wil be ready to do in Heaven for thou that art a Saint And then further According to greatness of sins so is the greatness of wrath great wickedness and great wrath they go together and therefore according to the greatness of sins should the greatness of our humiliation be For so it is said of Manasses That he humbled himself greatly and in Lament 1. 20. where the
Policy 2. Reason 3. Experience may be one way and yet 4. Religion and the written Word another Luther Exod. 39. 43. explained * Opinions of the Learned nor Custom nor Antiquity the Rule of Worsâ—ip but the written Word only †Nobis noÌ„ liceat saluâ honoriâ—â—centâ—a quae illis debitur aliquid in eorum Scriptis reprobare atque respuere talis ego sum in scriptis aliorum tabesque volo esse intellectores meorum August Ambrose Object Answ Luther The Scripture is both 1 the Rule 2 the exposi or to shew the meaning of the Rule How mens writings may help us to understand Scripture The written Word a singular blessing Theodores Physitian Luther Schoolmen Synodus pari pietatis affectu reverentia recipit ac reveratur Concil Trid. sess 4. decret prim Quest Answ 2 Pet. 1. 19. illustrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more sure than revelation The danger of revelations beside the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obs 1. Psal 119. 105. illustrated Use And Vers 106. An apt simile Expâ—s Law what 1. the whol word of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 docuit Multiplices Leges Scribitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70. Adoro plenitudinem scripturaruÌ„ Tertul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simile Ps 138. 2 illustrated Psal 119. 27. opened Deut. 4. 8. applyed Mat. 5. 18 explained Isa 42. 21 noted Contemners of the Law Antinomians Saints prize the Law Apoc. 6. 9. Obs 1. Deut. 17. 18. 19. illustrated Alphonsus King of Aragon Obs 2. Psa 119. 129. illustrated Isa 40. 6. illustrated Prov. 13. 13 enlightened Obs 3. Uzza a Levite Uzziah a King Nadab Abihu Ezek 7. 20. enlightened Ier. 17. 12 illustrated The Reprehension The Word accounted strange 1. As not concerning us 2. Strange in their apprehensions Luther 3. No sutableness between their hearts and the doctrine simile Prov. 6. 21. applied 4. Vse the Word as a stranger i.e. for our own ends only Obs 1. Confirmed from the late times in England Holy-daies Sabbaths Christmass God not to be imitated in his worship The Sabbath is for commemoration of al the particulars of our redemption Obj. 2. Us of Admonition The degrees of the hearts estrangment from God 1. Less frequent 2. His delight abats which is also the first degree 3. Takes up hard thoughts of spiritual truths 4. Wisheth the things in the word were otherâ—wise simile 5. Harkens to contrary doctrine simile 6. Will not search throughly into truths 7. An Engagement in som unlawful practice 8. Former weighty arguments now weak simile 9. Become open enemies Isa 5. 24. Psal 119. 18 19. Obs 3. Vs against Antinomians The Spirit of God forsaw this generation Mal. 4. 24. enterpreted Object Answ Obs 1. Aman may continue strict in duties and yet have committed the sin against the holy Ghost Expos Obs 2. Prayer Preaching Isa 40. 3. enterpreted Gifts and Parts Expol. 1. 2 The Authors Exp. Obs 3. Instance in Feastivals and Fasts Why Christmass is so zealously kept An apt simile 1 King 13 In the present War The Cause The Pay God expects Self-denial in temporal not in spiritual things Obs 4. Amos. 5. 22. Amos Hosea contemporaries consent in Doctrine Obs 5 How to exercise Faith for Pardon in holy Duties Obs 6. 1 Sam. 15 20. Sins of youth punished in age simile Use to young ones and others youth sins ages terror Ier. 2. 2. Heb. 10. 3 illustrated Obs 7. Reasons simile Gen. 21. Exod. 4. Obs 8. Exod. 32. 34. Micah 7. 4 Isa 10. 3. 1. It notes their sin 2. King 17. 4. Obs 9. 2. Their judgment Deut. 28. Obs 10. Applicat to Engl. Obs 11. Quest Answ Ier. 44. Obs 12. the answering our desires is the execution of Godswrath oftimes Obs 1. A sign of much wrath Eccles 12. 1. 1 Sam. 12. 6. To be imployed in publick service is the making of a man Obs 2 Isa 43. 7. Obs 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church is Gods palace Obs 3. Obs 4. Instanced in the late times in England Quest Answ Their sin in building Temples Hag. 2. 2â— and 4. 9. How superstition in them to build Temples what made the Temple at Jerusalem Holy and Peculiar to it No argument therfore from thence for the holiness of Churches Praying in Churches no more accepted unless with the holy Congregation Chrysost Hom. 79. ad Populum Some Heathens against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogm Zen The Persians Xerxes magi Josephus l. 15. c. 14. Paule-work Strong places to be dedicated by prayet and reformation A notable story Obs 1. Obs 2. Englands enemies should have considerrd this Expos 1. Expos 2. Obs 3. Obs 4. Gualt The time of this Prophesie Expos Observ Use for England A 3d time The time helps to understand the Prophesie Israels malignants Obs Leagues and peace wherin we much rejoyce may prove occasions of sorrow Us Be not greedy of peace before the time Obs 1. Seculi laetitia est impunita nequitia Aug. in John tract 12. Amos 6. 4. Obs 2 Obs 3. We may prosper yet have no cause of joy An apâ— simile Obs 1. Expos 1. 1. Be not taken with the worlds jolity 2. Imitate them not in waies of rejoycing * Preached in Christmass 3. Not as a people The Dolphin 4. Not prophanely 5. not having so much cause as others Obser Instanced in this Nation Obser An apt simile Luk 13. 28. A fit similitude Obs 1. Obs 2. Object Answ Object Answ No Nation but Israel forsook their gods Ier. 2. 10. explained Obs 3. A special note Obs 4. Amos 3. 2 Rom. 2. 9. Ier. 18. 13. expounded Ier. 32. 30. opened Act. 17. 1 Sam. 6. 7. with 2 Sam. 6. 3. noted Some Antinomians noted Saints should sorrow must for sin Quest Answ God hath liberty to damn one for a lesser sin and save one that is guilty of a greater Instanced in the examples of Saul and David Expicat Applicat Observ simile simile Explic. Obs 1. Obs 2 Obs 3. Obs 4 simile Levit. 18. 26. Levit. 25. 23. A meditation in our walking into the Fields Canaan the Lords Land in a special manner Reas 1. Psa 95. 7. Heb. 3. 7. c. 4. 1. 1 Chron. 16. 15. Obser England another Canaâ— Corruptors of Gods worship the ruin of the Land Obser Use 1. The happiness of Beleevers Use 2. Obs 1. Obs 2. Obs 3. Wine and Oyl in sacrifice what it signified Obs 1. Obs 2. Iudg. 9. 13 enlightned Duties of Religion a Saints recreation Delicatares est spiritm sanctus Tert. Num 19. 11. 14. The dead carcass of a beast did not somuch defile as the carcass of a dead man Numb 11. 31. What this signified Why a dead body defiled Funeral mournings Why if imoÌ„derate not pleasing to God Why they were to be so long unclean that mourned for the dead Levit. 10. 19. enlightned Deut. 12. 7. 18. Chap. 26. 13 14. illustrated Even sorrow for sin must