but meerely to mens owne soules Levit. 26.40 unto 44. if they doe accept of the punishment and humble themselves yet the land shall lie desolate and enjoy her Sabbaths The Lord grant this bee not our condition because wee have beene often threatned and afflicted but have not returned the light it is true shines very gloriously Object and it hath broke out of the clouds that covered it Answ but the Sunne shines most brightly a little before it sets Jerusalem had never better preaching then a little before its ruine then shee had Christ and the Apostles Obj. There are many that desire reformation its true Ans but looke in that place of Revel 11.7 when that the witnesse of the measure of the temple was delivered they were all slaine and Antichrist came to sit in his Throne with greater quietnesse than ever before for now all that would trouble them were taken away What would the misery of this land bee should Religion perish shall I present it to you in the carriage of Phineas wife 1 Sam. 4.20 the griefe of it made her miscarry shee is senselesse of any other griefe but the losse of the Arke and Glory sencelesse of the death of her Husband of the paines of her travell yea of the parting of her soule and body she is deaf to all comforts comforts of life of children of friends and she cryes out not as one in pains of death but going to hell The glory is departed the glory is departed Come I beseech you and stand by the death-bed of this dying Saint heare her groaning out her soul and taking her farewell of the world and all her friends and shee saith thus My life is a burden my children nothing the land a hell to mee the glory is departed the death of my Husband the losse of my Father tenderer to me then he I could have borne might I but have injoyed Religion Had I but bread and water though I had made a hard shift for my selfe and my poore children I should have been satisfied but now speake unto mee no word of comfort let me alone to dye I have lived in glory and I cannot live otherwise and dying she breathes out her soule and these words together The Arke the Arke the Glory the Glory is departed and it was not a feminine passion though that Jeremiah was made like a brasen Wall yet he saith in one place his eyes wept in secret Ier. 13.17 Si totus vertar in fletum nequaquam guttae sint lachrymarum sed abundantia fluminis non satis dignè flevero Hieron ad locum Psal 84.2 and he could not weep enough Jer. 9.1 Isaiah Isa 22.3 cryes out Let me alone I will weep bitterly I will not bee comforted David that had the heart of a Lion yet sayes My flesh cryes the word that is translated cries when as it is given to any thing but the voice it signifieth bedewed cheekes blubbered eyes pale face wasted spirits yet all this was in David because he was put from the house of God Can you can you my beloved love these sinnes that brings this losse can you love your selves who have done these sins can you part with Gods glory your owne glory your defence too and not be troubled The sin for which God suffers Religion to be corrupted and by which it is corrupted are the greatest sins because they are against Gods Crowne and Glory if these move not what will Iudg. 18.23 24. Micah could not let his Idols goe but he cryed out and can you let the Gospel go and Christ goe and not doe so much Jesus Christ who never shed a teare for all he suffered wept and could not speake for weeping when the Gospel was departing hee wept and said O that thou hadst knowne and hee could goe no farther every word hee spake was uttered with a sigh and pointed with a teare and hee could goe no further then O that thou hadst knowne at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace Shall the thoughts of it make Christ weep and not the feeling of it make you Let me but set before you as in a vision the state of soules when as the glory is gone Religion is corrupted Popery which you feared brought in one soule lyes dying in its sinne another gasping after comforts a third possest with legions of temptations a fourth bleeding to death and there is none to stanch the issue the cure that is given worse then the disease a fift looking on this side and that saying Who will give me of the waters of life O that one day of the Son of man might now be afforded one Sermon one instruction one promise opened but all in vaine the glory is gone And if this doe not melt you yet let good nature move you for when the glory is gone your defence is gone your workes shall be sleighted your walls rased your Armies discomfited your name bee rotten and corrupted your wives ravished your children murthered your houses plundered and which shall lye upon you with the losse of all and which is worst of all that all this is come because the glory hath not been regarded If ever you would have the glory stay my beloved and have it returne from the threshold into the midst of the Temple it must bee by intreaty and intreaty with teares in Ezek. 43.10 If they be ashamed of all they have done then shew them the forme of the house And so I have done with that Use Vse 3 Thirdly if upon the glory there shall be a defence be not therefore fearfull but beleeve set downe this Your purity is your safety It is an ordinary word God defend when any danger or evill is foretold God will not defend except you be a glory He will defend when you are What meane these trembling hands and shaking knees and discouraging words all will come to nothing the cause will be lost what could you doe more if you had no defence and what defence would you have if this bee not enough God Shall hee that is on a Rocke feare underminings There is nothing makes more strong then faith because it makes Gods power mans I am able to doe all things through him that strengtheneth mee There is nothing makes more weake then feare because it doth not onely put God from man who is his Help but sets God against man as his enemy the promise armes God and girds him with strength faith in the promise brings God to the use of his armes it saith unto him as Dalilah did unto Samson The Philistines are upon thee shew thy selfe or as God speakes in the Prophet pursue and follow and destroy so saith Faith Now they are in armes rout them ruine them now they have lift up their hands against thee make an utter end of them doe what thou canst who canst do what thou wilt It is worth your observation the Israelites had never met with so many
you shall find there first that they had finished their testimony and as all Christs enemies could not put him to death one moment before his houre was come neither could all the adversaries of the Churches these witnesses before they had spoken the last word when they had finished their testimony Vers 7. Secondly you shall find they devoured their adversaries even as the fire that came out of the Over and Furnace in the Booke of Daniel devoured those which stood before it In the 11. Verse you shall finde that they could not be overcome and in the the 13. Verse when as the Popish partie thinke that now they have none to trouble them then shall there come an earthquake a part of this defence such civill warres as shall be their utter ruine but the advance of these witnesses againe to renoune and glory Now we have done altogether with the Explication of the Text I come to the Application of it Vse 1 Vpon all the Glory there shall be a defence First see the reason why God doth expose his people the people called by his name to so many troubles why he lets in crosses calls in enemies disheartens and disables these that are on his side they have defiled his glory and therefore he will not defend them God will take his owne peoples part in nothing that is evill as is it with a Diamond if it be not right it is worth nothing or a picture if it be not to the life it is of no value and so it is with the ordinances of God if they bee not pure and after Gods minde That which is said concerning one ordinance the ministry is true concerning all if they have lost their savour they are not fit to be kept but to be throwne out to the dunghill What would you have God to doe my beloved would you have him defend the people called by his name when they are but so called but are enemies to his glory would you have him imbrace his Spouse when shee hath playd the harlot and brought forth to strangers would you have him keepe his house when the devils haunt it for so in 1 Cor. 10.21 that which is not done by the word in Godsworship is done unto devils because he is the appointer of it would you have him defend these that oppose him who ever they be that corrupt his worship or are corrupt in his worship they shame God they disgrace God nay they doe as much as they can to make God unhappy to take from him his glory and therefore upon them there shall bee no defence Use 2 Secondly let this point strike the Rocke and streames of teares burst forth let it open a spring in dry places for the staines that have beene and that are on our glory on our Religion that so we may prevent the ruine and desolation which if it be not timely lookt unto will come on us First mourne for the corruptions which have beene in Religion so Nehemiah did in Nehem. 9.16.17.26.28 Verses and yet some of these sinnes were committed many hundred yeares before he was borne A man is guilty of all the sinnes he knowes and doth not grieve for because all those he likes How hath it beene I beseech you with us in this land the face of Religion was growne wan and pale unto the death her beautie gone her favour changed her countenance so smutted mangled blurd that you could scarce know her her owne children were afraid of her and therefore fled from her as from her in the story that would have put them unto death her speech was changed she spake she knew not what in stead of Minister she said Priest for Sacraments Sacrifice for Table Altar her heart was wounded her fundamentall doctrines rased her worship mingled originall sinne denied the will of man was made supreame over God and God a servant unto it Christs precious blood made common shed without respect unto any ones good in particular and for ought that either Christ or God the Father knew for all his death no man should bee saved by it for all was left unto mans will and of a fallible cause there can be no certaine and infallible knowledge When God had beene at all the cost of Christs blood and at the putting forth his right hand to worke grace in mans heart yet still man was at his owne will so that he could make all this cost of God in vaine Hee certainly is not God who is so unwise they might as well have said there is no hell for if this bee a naturall power to will the things which are contradictory no man can bee damned for it for what ever is naturall is good and the putting forth of a naturall power cannot be of such ill desert The deitie of God was denyed and as you may find in the last Canons as great penaltie put upon one that should not say that Bishops were Jure Divino as on him who denyed that Christ or the Father were not God The person of the Holy Ghost was questioned I might send you the parts of Religion as the Levites Concubines quarters were sent abroad unto all the Tribes give me leave to represent it to you like Tamar Ammons sister with her hands on her head thrust out of doores and complayning in the streets with teares thus They have ravished me and forced me to their wills and ends they pretended love to mee but intended Popery and Atheisme they have corrupted mee and now they cannot abide me some of my children have beene starved for want of food some have falne into diseases because the food they had was not wholesome and some were forced from me to the howling Desart and Wildernesse Who can now abstaine from teares Looke on the present corruption Christs body is troden under feet by Swine in the Sacrament the Sabbath prophaned puritie nicknamed reformation feared more than vassallage Never never was the glory so neere departing as it is now it is on the threshold taking the wing we are at that passe they were Joel 2.14 who can tell whether God will returne and leave a blessing behind him and therefore it is time to rend your hearts and turne unto the Lord Religion is a going persecuted by Papists hated by the ignorant unkindly used by her owne friends Object It s true indeed that people have offered themselves willingly unto reformation 1 Chro. 29. Answ but David you know and the people did so long before God built the Temple Object It s true there are many righteous among us never kingdome afforded so many Answ but yet scarce will Abrahams ten be found to the number of other prophane persons Object it s true there are that humble themselves in dust and ashes Answ but there are as you heard to day that make these dayes of mourning like dayes of slaughter Isaiah 22.13 and if there were none such there is a time when mourning prayers teares humbling will doe no good
Bishop over the Ministers and that brought in a Pope for by the same reason there ought to bee one Minister over another to keep them in Order there ought to be one above al to order al * Cum clim pro universa Graecia in Marathone quondam pericliti essent c. Cirill contra Iulian lib. 6. To bring on the Heathen to Christianity they thought it best in former times to have Feast dayes and to give such names unto the things of the Gospell as they gave unto their owne Worship but it brought not the Heathen in but Heathenisme It is the greatest policy in the world to defend and save a tottering State and that is no way done so as by thorough Reformation Policy may be considered two wayes 1. Either as an Orderer or ranger of things into their proper place and season and so Religion is subject unto policy because they have both one end the publike defence or else 2. Policy may be considered as the Lord and Religion as subordinate and so it must not be subject to it for Religion is supreame the end of all things There is a naturall worship which depends on the nature of God and that a man must doe though he dye presently as a man must beleive and a man must acknowledge God though the point be at the brest the dagger be at the heart but there is secondly a worship of God which onely doth arise from the will of God instituted Worship as Divines terme it where the things are not good in themselves but in order to Gods will as there is nothing in the bread nor in the Wine but what is in ordinary bread but as the Character of Gods institution comes on it In things of this nature the rule is I will have mercy and not sacrifice Exod. 8.26 Moses professeth he would not sacrifice among the Aegyptians because they would stone him presently 1 Sam. 5.12 the Kingdome was established in Davids hands all things were at quiet before he would bring in the Arke c. 6. In tumultuous times it is dangerous to alter any thing in matters of Religion of this sort more then needs like the giving of a purge to one in a Feaver it may perhaps bring death for it both puts a new Title on the quarrell and divides among the Friends too and acquaintance of the cause not to change is not so much policie as religion and Religion will never thrive the worse for it the Gospell tells us there is a leavening time wherein the leaven is put into the meale before such time as it is kneaded up the sum is policy must not make any thing hinder our Confession policy may and is a just ground why men should forbeare the profession of some things that are good but that is the first thing 2. Would you make a thorough Reformation take heed to the Lawes whence is it that there are so many Non-Residents that doe not feed but starve the Flock we have a Law for it whence is it that men are forced to prophane the Lords Supper and to eat and drinke their owne damnation But because you have a Law that men of sixteene yeares of Age must come to the Sacrament A Law like the Spaniards Practice who forced the Indians into the River to be baptised and then cut their throats a lesse evill then this drinking of damnation whence came it that the ceremonies grew to be like clouds so many were introduc't that the glory could not bee seene but because there was a Law of retaining such as were among the Papists apt to stirre up the dull minde of man to the remembrance of his dutie by some notable signification whereby he might bee edified as you may finde it in the Booke of Common Prayer Take heed unto the Lawes I had almost said if I might crave pardon for the word take heed what Lawes you make in matters of Religion for if the thing should fall out to be evill as what man is there that erres not when once it is a Law it will be followed Hos 5.11 they willingly followed the commandement of worshipping the Calves the counsels of Jeroboam and his perswasions prevailed much Micah 6.16 but the statutes of Omri found no opposition Suppose the thing bee good a Law will bee a Ne plus ultra beyond which men will not goe and so it may either hinder or make a future reformation harder Not to be contented to doe what is injoyned by men of wisedome that will bee accounted unquietnesse of spirit at the best and to goe any further then the Law will bee esteemed pride if not disobedience Moses gave the Law of Divorce and you shall finde that men stucke so unto that that Christs interpretation of it would not passe yet that you may not be mistaken consider that the things of Religion are of severall sorts First some are such as consist in indivisibili which admit of no variation such as are knowne to all Saints in one degree or another such in which there is no possibility of alteration afterward let mee adde unto this such as the common light of all Christians reacheth unto as the observation of the Sabbath the Low c. and divers other things and let me adde unto that such things as doe immediately and properly concerne the Weale publike these ought to be established there should be such Rules for these as all men should goe by But there are some other things in religion wherof a good and godly man may have no knowledge the knowledge whereof is rather a priviledge unto some then a propriety unto all Saints Rom. 14. the Text saith there expresly that these were to be received into the Church who held for Jewish Ceremonies at that time lawfull I say at that time though they held them not necessary for salvation In things of this nature God is tender and man should be so too and yet the weale publike not be hindered Thirdly in Reformation doe not make reason your rule nor line you goe by it is the line of all the Papists God say they hath not lesse care of his Church in the New then he had in the Old Testament there he gave them one high Priest who should infallibly determine all controversies and therefore now there should be one Bishop who should have the same light and power You shall never read in Scripture where any man walkt after the imaginations of his owne heart but by and by you shall read he did doe wickedly In the point of worship of God the Text saith clearly Exod. 20.4 thou shalt not make unto thy selfe that is by thy owne wit any thing which may as an image be like to what God hath appointed as an image is to the person any thing which may keep God in mind or keep or stirre up affection to him as a picture doth to him it represents nay it reacheth further then that the greatest reason in the world of