17. 8 13 14 15. but rejected the counsel of his Prophets till the wrath of the Lord broke forth and there was no remedy as you may see 2 King 17 7 to 24 where you have Ephraims sins and Ephraims punishment fully set forth Now what could the Lord do less than root up such a people so obstinate under reproofs so unthankful for mercies so incorrigible under judgements so uncapable of repentance so impatient of remedies so impenitent under all the means of grace which God had afforded them Let us now reflect upon our selves and see whether Ephraims sins bee not Englands sins if so parity of sins will bring parity of judgements if our sins run parallel with those of Ephraim wee may justly expect Ephraims downfall It is said of Lot that his righteoussoul was vexed with the sins of Sodome 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. the word is in the original his soul was wracked and tormented when hee saw the abominations of the Sodomites These twenty sins which abound in England and abode some judgement approaching should even wrack and torment our souls with grief that so wee may bee marked for mercy when judgement comes Ezek. 9. 4. Hab. 3. 16. The counsel which the Lord gave to Ephraim shall I give to England Hos. 14. 1 2 3. Return O back-sliding England from thy Atheism Apostasie Heresie Blâ—sphemy Hypocrisie Formality Ingratitude Witchcraft Security Anarchy c. and take with you words of sincere confession and turn unfeignedly to the Lord so will hee receive you graciously and accept both of your persons and performances If any would see more Land-destroying sins let him peruse D. Corn. Burges on Ier 4. 14. p. 38 39. preached 1642. Perkins 3. Vol. p. 420. D. Gouge his Arrows on Numb 16. 46. Sect. 46. p. 79. and 139. Mr. Case his Sermon on Exod. 5. 22. p. 11 12. preached 1646. D. Peter Smiths Fast Sermon on Psal. 107 6. p. 30 31. preached 1644. Lastly their Rulers were corrupt their Kings Princes Judges were Idolaters Revolters Violaters of the Law Bribers c. Hos. 4. 18 19. and 5. 10. and 9. 15. and the people were corrupted by them for where the head is rotten the members cannot bee sound Of all the twenty Kings of Israel after the division of the State there was not one good from first to last they were all Idolaters which serves to clear and vindicate the Justice of God in the utter overthrow of those Kings and their Kingdome who had for the space of two hundred thirty seven or two hundred and sixty years say some abused the goodness and patience of the Lord and since there is none that I know of that hath distinctly described these twenty Kings of Israel in any set Treatise I shall briefly describe the men and their manners and give some useful and seasonable Observations from them A brief History of the twenty Kings of ISRAEL AFter the death of Solomon the twelve Tribes were divided into two Kingdomes under Rehoboam and Ieroboam Rehoboam Solomons son reigned over two Tribes viz. Iudah and Benjamin and this was called the Kingdome of Iudah because the Tribe of Iudah was the principal part of it A parte praestantiori fit denominatio This Kingdome continued in Rehoboam and his successours the posterity of David three hundred seventy two years even till the time of the Babylonish Captivity which was about six hundred years before Christ. In which space nineteen Kings of the same stock succeeded each other All their Acts and wayes are succinctly but fully published by a very good hand I shall therefore give you onely their names and the Texts with Stars on the good Kings and Daggers on the Hypocrites the rest were wicked Samuel was the last Judge of Israel and Saul the first King Note that Saul David Solomon reigned before the Kingdome was divided between Iudah and Israel 1 Saul hee reigned ten years 1 Sam. 13. 1. c. and slew himself 1 Sam. 31. 4. 2 * David reigned forty years 2 Sam 2. 4. c. 3 * Solomon reigned forty years I King 11. 42. 4 * Rehoboam reigned seventeen years I King 14. 21. 5 * Abijah reigned two years 1 King 15. 6 * Asa reigned one and forty years 1 King 15. 9 10. 7 * Ieâ—osaphat reigned five and twenty years 1 King 22. 42. 8 Iehoram reigned eight years 2 King 8. 17. Q. Athâ—liâ—h Ahabs daughter and Iehorams widow usurped the Kingdome for six years 2 King 11. 1 3. 9 †Ioash reigned forty years and was slain 2 King 11. 4 c. 10 †Amaziah reigns nine and twenty years and is slain 2 King 14. 2. 11 Uzziah alias Azâ—riah was slain 2 King 15. 1 2 13. 2 Chron. 26. 3. hee reigned two and fifty years 12 * Iotham reigned sixteen years 2 King 15. 33. 2 Chron. 27. 13 Ahaz reigned sixteen years 2 King 16. 2. 14 * Hezekiah reigned nine and twenty years 2 King 18. 2. 15 * Manasseh reigned five and fifty years 2 King 21. 1. 16 Amon reigns two years and is slain 2 King 21. 19. 17 * Iosiah reigns two and thirty years and in slain 2 Kings 22. 1. 18 Iehoahaz reigned three months 2 King 23. 31. 19 Iehojakim reigned eleven years 2 King 24. 1. 20 Iehojachin three months 2 King 24. 8. 21 Zedekiah reigned eleven years 2 King 25. 1. The other ten Tribes over which Ieroboam reigned was called The Kingdome of Israel which continued about two hundred thirty and seven years till they were carried into captivity by the Assyrian about the sixth year of Hezekiah when Hoshea the last King of Israel was carried away captive So that the Kingdome of Israel ended one hundred thirty and three years before that of Iudah In this time there were twenty Kings of Israel of ten several stocks whereof one destroyed another Ieroboams stock was cut off by Baasha and Baasha's by Zimri and Tibni's by Omri and Omri's by Iehu and Iehu's by Shallum and Shallum's by Menahem and Menahem's by Pekah and Pekah's by Hoshea and Hoshea with his were captives to Salmaneser King of Assyria The most of these Kings were cruel Tyrants and Persecutors which bred sad commotions and transported the Kingdome from one family to another Whereas in Iudah where purity of worship was preserved and the godly Kings joyned with the Prophets there were nineteen Kings of the same stock orderly succeeding each other So good it is walk in Gods waies and to take in his Ministers with us A CATALOGUE of the KINGS of ISRAEL 1 Ieroboam reigned two and twenty years 2 Nadab his Son succeeds him hee reigned two years and is slain 3 Baasha of another stock succeeds him and reigns four and twenty years 4 Elah his Son succeeds him and hee reigns two years and is slain by Zimri 5 Zimri of another stock reigns seven daies and burnt himself 6 Tibni of another stock reigns about four years and dies as it is conceived a violent death 7 Omri of
his Armies bee routed his plots defeated the loss of his Kingdome and utter destruction of him and his be foretold yet hee is Jeroboam still and persists in his wickedness after all this 1 King 13. 3 4 5 33. Besides hee could not bee ignorant how severely God punished the Israelites for the very same sin of worshipping the golden Calf But wilful sinners are judgement proof no plagues upon themselves or others can work upon them It is this that aggravated Jeroboams sin and made it out of measure sinful that hee did not through infirmity but wilfully hee sets up Idolatry and therefore hee is said to devise a worship of his own head the better to destroy the worship of God and draw men from his Temple at Jerusalem 1 King 12. 28 33. Now the more contrivement there is in sin the worse it is as wee see in David the kilsing of Vriah lyes as a blot upon him more than all his other sins because there was more deliberation and contrivement in that than in any of his other sins 1 King 15. 5. 15 The tolerating of such contemptible men as are neither called nor qualified for the work of the Ministry to usurp the Ministry is a God-provoking sin Ieroboam makes Priests of the lowest of the people and this provokes the Lord to root up both him and his posterity 1 King 13. 33 34. 16 Wicked men bring a curse on their posterity The poor children many times fare the worse for the fathers wickedness not onely is Ieroboam cut off but all his posterity perish with him 1 King 15. 29 30. Of this see more before on vers 16. Obs. 12. 17 Carnal policy is meer folly One grain of sincerity and real honesty will outweigh many mountains of shisting subtilty It is hee onely that walks uprightly that walks surely It is ill when Rulers are more careful of the State than of the Church of civil policy than the matters of God When they dare not promote Religion for fear of troubling the State God oft punisheth such selfishness with the loss of all Ieroboam for politick respects and self-ends sets up Calves as suiting better with his carnal projects than the pure worship of God hereby hee thought to get the hearts of the people and settle the Crown faster on his head and thereby hee lost all His Calves deceived him and cast him off Hos. 8. 5 14. hee need not to have used such indirect courses for hee had Gods hand for it that hee should bee King 1 King 11. 31 35 37. But hee like a Machiavellian trusted more to his own policy than to Gods promise and hee prospered accordingly for hee had war all his dayes 1 King 14. 30. And many of the Priests and people forsook him and went to Ierusalem and joyned with Iudah where they might worship God in purity 2 Chron. 11. 13 16. When men make Religion ftoop to their politick ends and use it no further than it may either obtain retain or augment a Kingdome such self-seekers are self-destroyers their end is miserable 1 King 14. 9 10 11. Carnal plots and projects may bee kindled with hope kept up with miserable shifts but their end is doleful 18 Idolatry brings war When men chuse New Gods then war is in their gates Iudg. 5. 8. If Ieroboam forsake God and set up Idols hee shall have war continually 1 King 14. 30. So had Bâ—asha his Idolatrous Successor 1 King 15. 32. 19 It will not excuse wicked men in the day of wrath to say their Rulers lead them in wicked paths Such Ieroboams shall bee punisht and Israel shall suffer with them 1 King 14. 15 16. Wee may not follow great men nor any men further than they follow Christ unless wee mean to perish with them See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 9. Obs. 1. p. 190 191. 20 When the enemies of the Church are most high then God cuts them off When Ieroboam is lifted up trusting in his Idols and in the multitude of his armies hee sets upon Iudah both by force and fraud intending to destroy him but in the Mount the Lord appears hee affrights the Israelites and makes them fly so that Iudah slew five hundred thousand of them and the Lord struck Ieroboam that hee died not an ordinary death but hee died by a special hand of God 2 Chron. 13. per totum Wicked men shall not alwaies escape their sin at last will finde them out 2 Ieroboam being dead Nadab his Son succeeds him both in the Throne and in his sin and therefore in the second year of his reign hee was slain 1 King 14. 20. 15. 25 to 29. Obs. 1 That wicked Parents many times have wicked children Usually like Father like Son malus corvus malum ovum As they inherit their Fathers Lands so many times their vices too God often visits the sins of the Fathers upon their Children because they are apt to imitate their sin and to plead the example of their Ancestors and Fore-fathers especially in Idolatry Ier. 11. 9 10. As a good man may have a wicked childe but the promise is for him that God will bee his God and the God of his seed So a wicked man may have a good son as Ieroboam here hath a good Abijah 1 King 14. 13. but the curse is due to him and his seed hee hath no promise of such a blessing 2 Wicked Rulers reign not long They have many temptations to wickedness and have more opportunities to vent it than inferiour persons have and so are sooner ripe for ruine as wee shall see in the following Kings 3 Baasha having slain Nadab gets into the Throne himself and to make sure work hee first cuts off all the house of Ieroboam as the Lord had threatned yet because hee had no command from God to do it as Iehu had nor was inwardly incited by his Spirit to do it as Ehud was but traiterously for base self-ends to get the Kingdome to himself hee slew him and therefore God chargeth him with murder and saith hee killed him 1 King 15. 7. yet God is said to raise Baasha from the dust for though the treachery and murder was Baasha's yet the power and disposing of the Kingdome was from God In his daies lived the Prophet Iehu Hanani and Azariah yet hee hath the common But and Blot put upon him That hee also did evil in the sight of the Lord and walkt in the way of Ieroboam and made Israel sin 1 King 15. 29 30 33 34. Hee overthrew the house of Ieroboam and God over-threw his house according to the Prophecy of Iehu 1 King 16. 1 2 3 4. Hee reigned four and twenty years Obs. 1. God wants not instruments to punish wicked men If Ieroboams posterity must bee rooted up hee hath a Baasha at hand ready to do it Though this wicked man had ambitious ends of his own yet hee doth Gods work 1
Baasha slayes Ieroboams posterity and Zimri slayes his c. Thus it was amongst the Romans Iulius Caesar roots up Pompey Brutus and Cassius Iulius and Augâ—â—tus roots up them The Senate pursued Nero Otho Galba Vitellius Otho Vespatian Vitellus Domitian Titus Nerva and Trajan Domitian Tyrants seldome dye in peace 8 Obs. Rulers must destroy all the Monuments of Idolatry It is not sufficient that they destroy Baal but they must down with his Temples Images Groves Priests and all his appurtenances so doth Iohu here and so did God command Deut. 12. 2 3. Yee shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations served their gods c. Every word hath its weight Yee shal destroy utterly destroy the places all the places where menserved Idols you shall overhrow their Altars break their Pillars burn their Groves hew down their Images and abolish the very names of their gods What can be more fully spoken So Num. 33. 52. They must destroy not one but all their Pictures and pull down all their high places When one demanded why in King Henry the eighths dayes they pilled down the Monasteries It was answered That the very nests of such rooks must be pulled down that they may build there no more Wee are to bless God for this here in England that in our dayes hee hath not onely rooted up Idolatry but hee hath cast out all the rags and remnants of it there is not a hoof not a cross not a crucifix not an Image left behinde The greater is their sin then that in these dayes of Reformation have not onely leaped out of the Surpless but out of the Ministry and out of the Church too They have not onely cast out the Font but the Infant also The Ceremonies are gone and some are casting the substance after them Set forms are gone and now they would have no prayers at all Oh the folly and madness of this licentious age Do wee thus requite the Lord O foolish and unwise Is this the thanks wee give him for all his Ordinances Mercies and great deliverances to separate from the Assemblies of his people to contemn his Ordinances the pledges of his love unto us to vilifie his Ministers and hate the paths of purity and peace The Lord hath born long with this Athestical brood but hee will not alwayes bear The Lord will wound the head of these his enemies and the hairy pates of such as walk on in such paths of libertinism and prophaneness 9 The service that men do for God shall bee rewarded If Jehu cut off Ahabs posterity destroy Baal and his worshipers and execute Gods commands though it be but hypocritically yet it shall be rewarded with a temporal reward answerable to his service his sons shall sit upon his Throne to the fourth Generation 2 King 10. 30. Ahabs hypocritical humiliation obtained a reprival The King of Babylon though a Heathen yet is rewarded by God for the service hee doth him Ezek. 29. 18 19. 20. yea and those wicked ones Mal 1. 10. but especially such as serve him sincerely shall bee rewarded fully Numb 14. 24. Rev. 14. 13. Hee never sayes to the seed of Jacob seek my face in vain Isa. 45. 19. Wee cannot lose though wee should lose all by serving him Not onely For but In the very keeping of his Commandements there is great reward Psal. 19. 11 All the good wee have done in secret shall at last bee acknowledged and openly rewarded even to a cup of cold water Matth. 6. 6. and 10. 41 42. Pharaohs Butler may forget the kindness of Joseph and the Saints themselves may forget the good which they have done but their God doth not Mal. 3. 16. Matth. 25. 34. c. 10 God may reward men for the matter of their service yet punish them for the manner of doing it Iehu was commanded to destroy the house of Ahab and God commends him for it and rewards his service for the act in it self was good yet because Iehu did it hypocritically and by halves and though hee destroied Ahabs house yet hee followed him in his Idolatry and did cut off the posterity of Ahab for self-ends viz. to settle the Kingdome on himself and his posterity the surer and did not primarily look at Gods glory therein therefore God calls it Murder and threatens to avenge the blood of Ahab on the house of Iehu Hosea 1. 4. Because hee did not Gods work for God but for himself to settle the Crown faster on his own head and so did Gods work for base self-ends his great care was to settle the State and Kingdome and that hee did thorowly but when hee came to reform the Church that hee did haltingly and halvingly Hee destories the Priests and Idols of Baal but not the Priests and Idols of Dan and Bethel hee was not sincere in what hee did hee pickt and chose his way so as might best stand with his own politick interest hee supprest one false way and did tollerate another and therefore the Lord puts a But upon him 2 King 10. 31. But Iehu took no heed to walk in the way of the Lord with all his heart for hee departed not from the sins of Ieroboam who made Israel to sin This But spoiled all A man may do much go far and shew much zeal for God as Iehu did here and yet bee nothing How fat an hypocrite may go is abundantly shewed by others The Papists boast much of their zeal in converting the Indians when they pervert them rather and turn them from one kinde of Idolatty to another and under the Name of Christ draw them to Antichrist flaying and massacring those poor souls in a most inhumane barbarous manner seeking their gold rather than their good as appears by History 11 The better men are the longer many times they live Iehu was one of the best Kings that ever Israel had since the Tribes were divided and hee reigned longer than any King of Israel before him did and but one after him that reigned longer and that was Ieroboam the second Iehu's grand childe who reigned one and forty years when Jehu reigned but eight and twenty Piety hath the promise of long life Prov. 22. 4. And if such as honour their natural Fathers shall have their daies prolonged how much more such as honour their heavenly Father 12. Death spares none Jehu valiant powerful politick active successful Jehu dies No priviledge nor prerogative can preserve men from the grave Death is that great Leveller which laies all in the dust it is the way of all flesh and therefore wee should prepare to meet it 12 Jehoahaz the Son of Jehu succeeds his Father both in his sin and in the Throne hee reigns seventeen years over Israel and hath the usual brand set on him which his predecessors had viz. that hee did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord in following the sins of Jeroboam who made Israel sin This
but Christ by his death destroyed his Kingdome and became more glorious by dying like another Sampson hee slew more at his death than in his life So that now wee are more than Conquerers even Triumphers through Christ that loved us Hee hath triumphed over death and all the enemies of our salvation and wee in him our head triumph 2 Cor. 2. 14. Col. 2. 14 15. by lying in the grave hee hath sweetned our graves for us so that now wee may sleep in it as in a bed of down Isa. 57. 2. and our flesh may rest in hope of a glorious Resurrection Psal. 16. 9. Now if ever wee may sing that Triumphant song O death where is thy sting It is destroyed abolished gone This strong man armed is overcome by a stronger than hee It is not the pleasures of life nor the pains of death neither the height of prosperity nor the depth of adversity nothing now can separate us from Christ Iob 5. 20 21 22. Rom. 8. 35 c. Death may dissolve our corporal marriage but it is so far from abolishing that it perfects our spiritual marriage killed we may bee but conquered we can never be Christs victory is our victory and all his Conquests ours Quest. If Christ by his death hath destroyed death why then do the godly dye Answ. Christ did not dye to deliver us from sickness and death but to free us from the curse that is in these By his death hee hath pulled out the sting of death the death of the body still remains but the sting and that which is penal is taken away so that it cannot hurt us and therefore the Text doth not say I will free you from death sedâ—è manu mortis but from the destructive power of death so as it shall have no dominion over you to hurt you nor bee able to separate you from Christ. As the Apostle saith of sin it is in us but it doth not reign in us so dye wee must but death hath no dominion over beleevers as it hath over wicked men it gets the victory over them they dye and dye eternally but a beleevers death is neither Total Penal nor Perpetual 1 It is not Total it seizeth onely on the body the carcass the outside it goeth to its dust but the spirit returns to God that gave it Eccles. 12. 7. 2 It is not Penal but profitable in the grave wee put off our filth deformities defects infirmities and mortality it self It is our attiring house to fit us for immortality and glory 3 It is not perpetual it is but a sleeping till the general Resurrection Rom. 8. 10 11. our conquest over death is inchoate in fieri and partly fulfilled in this life but it shall bee consummate in facto and fully compleated at the Resurrection Then shall they awake and sing that dwell in the dust Isa. 26. 19. This upheld Iob in the midst of all his sorrows I know that my Redeemer lives my comfort is though I dye yet I have one to right mee that lives for ever Iob 19. 25. David comforts himself with this that God would redeem him from the power of the grave and from the hand of hell though riches cannot redeem the rich yet God would redeem him Psal. 49. 15. Object I must part with Wife Children Friends Pleasures Answ. All these losses will bee made up in a better kinde as you may see at large in Mr. Byfields Cure of the fear of death p. 745. it is in the end of his Marrow And B. Halls Balm of Gilead p. 141. Use. Fear not death with a slavish fear Christ dyed to free us from such a fear of death Heb. 2. 15. A religious prudential fear doth well fear it so as to arm your selves and prepare for it but not so as to bee dejected under it No wise man will fear a conquered enemy if you truly beleeve in Christ the Conquerour of death you need not fear death Think on Christ when you think on death and then you may in a holy sarcasm and contempt say O death where is thy sting Christ hath unstinged it and as it were disarmed it so that now wee may safely put it in our bosomes buz it may about our ears as a drone Bee but sting it cannot for Christ hath taken away the guilt of sin and hath made that which was sometimes a curse to become a blessing of a foe hee hath made it a friend of a poyson a medicine of a punishment an advantage Phil. 1. 21. of the gate of hell a passage to heaven It is now like the valley of Achor a door of hope that which was sometimes the King of Terrours is now become the King of Comforts as making way for the enjoyment of the highest comforts Wee part with a life of misery to enjoy a life of glory Wee use to say Change is no Robbery but such a change is our great advantage Hence it is that the Apostle summing up a Christians priviledges and riches sets down Death as part of it 1 Cor. 3. 22. not onely life but Death is yours hee that can truly say I am Christs subject and servant may as truly say Death will bee my preferment and high advancement So true is that of Solomon Eccles. 7. 1. The day of a mans death is better in many respects than the day of his birth Then and never till then shall wee rest from our labours Iob 3. 17. Rev. 14. 13. and bee perfectly freed from sin and all its concomitants Look not therefore on death with Philosophical eyes as if it were the end of all our comforts but look on it with Christian eyes as the year of Jubilee the day of our Coronation and consummation of the Marriage between Christ and our souls A natural man that looks upon death with an eye of sense sees nothing but horror and terror in it but a gracious soul that looks on it with an eye of faith seeth life in death light in darkness and comfort in discomfort though for a time hee must lye in the grave and death seems to have dominion over him yet hee as certainly sees a Resurrection as if hee were already in possession of it and therefore hee triumphs already in assurance of a total conquest through Christ death is already swallowed up by him in victory Isa. 25. 8. Christ was his life and therefore now death is his gain Hee lived holily and now hee dyes happily hee lived unto the Lord and therefore hee now dyes unto him Rom. 14. 7 8. 2 Cor. 5. 15. His care was to keep a good conscience and now hee hath the comfort of it 2 Cor. 1. 12. Let Atheists then and worldlings and wicked men fear death who know no better life but let the righteous who hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. imbrace it and bid it welcome as the Martyrs did who went as joyfully to their stakes as
two and forty of Ahaziah the King of Iudahs Brethren 2 King 10. 13 14. And destroies all the Idols Priests and Worshippers of Baal down go all his Monuments hee burns his Images destroies the house of Baal and makes it a draught-house 2 King 10. 25 26 27 28. This was good service and such as God had commanded and approved of and therefore the Lord promiseth him a reward for his service viz. that his posterity to the fourth Generation should sit upon his Throne 2 King 10. 30. Yet this But lies on him as a blot that hee countenanced and practised that part of Idolatry which consisted in the faise worship of the true God brought in by Ieroboam who set up the Golden Calves 2 King 10. 29. And for this God punisheth him 1 In his own daies God smote him in all the coasts of Israel 2 King 10. 32 33. And because his heart was not sound in what he did but hee sought himself and the setling of the Kingdome upon himself and his posterity and did tollerate Idolatry therefore God threatens to punish him in his posterity after his death and to avenge the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu Hos. 1. 4. Hee reigns eight and twenty years and then leaves the Kingdome to his Son Obs. 1 God transfers Kingdomes from one family to another as pleaseth him Hee takes it from Ioram and gives it to Iehu his servant 2 King 〈…〉 Wee may not therefore free and murmure at Gods dispensations but must bee dumb and silent since it is hee who is King of Kings that doth it Hee pulls down one and sets up another in the Throne and none may say unto him what dost thou Dan. 2. 21. 4. 35. 2 The hearts of men are in the hand of God and hee turns them as pleaseth him If hee set up Iehu hee will give him in the hearts of the people It is wonderful to see that a Captain should so suddenly and so unanimously become King of Israel 1 The souldiers they proclaim him at the City of Ramoth Gilead 2 King 9. 13. 2 Hee goes to Iezrâ—el and it yeelds 3 Hee bids throw down Iesabel and the Eunuchs presently do it 2 King 9. 32 33. 4 Hee summons Samaria and it submits 5 Hee calls for the heads of Ahabs seventy Sons and they are given him hee can but ask and have as it is said of Caesar Veni vidi vicâ—â— hee no sooner came but hee overcame Thus shall it bee done to those whom God will honour 3 What ever God threatneth or promiseth shall certainly come to pass They are all Yea and Amen true and infallible Heaven and E 〈◊〉 shall fail before one jot or tittle of Gods word shall fail 〈◊〉 all bee fulfilled Matth. 5. 18. God threatned vengeance on the house of Ahab and see how it is fulfilled in every particular 1 The Lord threatens that where the doggs lickt Naloths blood there they should lick the blood of Ahab see this fulfilled 1 King 22. 38. 2 That the doggs should eat Iesabel in the field of Iezreel see it fulfilled 2 King 9. 35 36. 3 That God would cut off Ahabs posterity for his Idolatry and wee see Ioram and the seventy sons of Ahab all cut off whereupon Iehu calls on the people to consider the truth of Gods threatnings 2 King 10. 7 10. God hath threatned many judgements against disobedient ones Deut. 28. 16 c. And there is not one of them but first or last will light upon the heads of those that go on still in their sins 2 The Lord promised Iehu that his children should sit upon his Throne to the fourth Generation and wee see it punctually performed for after him reigned his four Sons Jehoash Joash Jeroboam and Zechariah The Kingdome continued in his family about an hundred years 4 Though God for a time may defer the fulfilling of his threatnings and promises yet in his due time when men think hee hath forgot and imagine that God is like to them and approves of all their doings hee will arise and fulfil what ever hee hath said Though hee seldome come at our time yet hee never fails his own Hab. 2. 3. Heb. 10. 37. Hee lets Ahab reign two and twenty years suffers Jesabel to stone Naboth to slay his Prophets to persecute his people I but see what havock Jehu makes amongst them and how God recompenseth his patience with the fierceness of his fury and suffers not one word to fail that hee spoke against them by the Prophet Elijah Let us therefore firmly beleeve the Word of God and let us not faint in a time of trouble for then our strength is but small Prov. 24. 10. And let us not envy the prosperity of wicked men nor fret when they seem to carry all before them for they shall soon bee cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Psal. 37. 1 2. 5 When God hath great works to do in the world and great changes to make hee raiseth up Instruments fitted for the work and gives them a spirit of activity wisdome and counsel to effect it If God will have Ahab Jesabel and Baal down hee hath a Jehu at hand ready to perform it God can no sooner command but Jehu executes Hee shoots Joram slaies Ahaziah kills Jesabel cuts off the house of Ahab and conquers all before him No doubt but many cursed and mis-called him for this great slaughter and change but hee came to do Gods work and will and hee doth it strenuously and successfully in despite of all opposition that lay in his way So good it is to act for God in our places and callings 6 Idolatry is attended with war and misery Jehu walks in Jeroboms Idolatry and see what follows 2 King 10. 31 32 33. In those daies the Lord began to cut Israel short and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel hee burnt their Cities killed their young men slaies their children 〈◊〉 ripped up the women with childe and then the Moabites distress them on the other side 2 King 1. 1. and 3. 5. and 13. 20. 7 Obs. Sin besots men that they cannot see the misery which is coming on them Iehu knew how Gods hand was upon Jeroboam and his posterity and Baasha and his posterity and Ahab and his posterity for their Idolatry yea and Jehu himself was an executioner of Gods wrath upon the house of Ahab for this sin and yet hee lived and dyed an Idolater himself and brought a curse on his posterity as his predecessors had done on theirs It is strange that men should punish others for illegal exorbitant courses and breach of priviledges and yet themselves bee notoriously guilty of the same crimes The Devil and the ambitious desire of a Kingdome had so blinded them that they walked in the very steps of those wicked Kings which they had but newly slain Hence God in his just judgement made them executioners of his wrath one upon another
his praying and preaching did more for the defence and safety of Israel than all their Armies could do 1 Obs. It is dangerous following our fore-fathers in sin Iehoash doth so and is punished for his pains People are so besotted with the example of their Parents and Ancestors especially if Idolaters that they will after them what ever come of them 2 King 17. ult which made the Lord to adde that commination to the end of the second Commandement which hee doth to no other Commandement against those children which should walk in the steps of their Idolatrous fore-fathers and often forbids that sin as fore-seeing our proneness to it Ezek. 20. 18 19 20. Psal. 78. 8. Zach. 7. 4. and bids us to the Law and not to Examples Isa. 8. 20. If Ioash would have followed his Predecessors hee should have set before him the example of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and not of Ieroboam an Idolater that had mis-led so many into sin and misery Wee may follow our fore-fathers so far as they followed Christ and no further But such is the bewitching power of Superstition that when once it hath got possession and rooting in mens hearts it is seldome ever rooted up again but runs from generation to generation till all bee cut off Idolatry hath so many flesh-pleasing pompous Rites and Ceremonies such seeming sanctity and devotions such splendor of Temples Images Organs and other allurements as are very taking with carnal men besides the fat Bishopricks Denaries Cardinal-ships and Kingdomes with which they intice many from Christ. This was that which made all these Kings of Israel keep up the worship of the Calves that they might keep the people from going from them to Ierusalem 2 Obs. Men may conquer others and yet not conquer themselves Ioash here beats the Syrians three times recovers many Cities from them takes the King of Iudah prisoner and yet himself is a prisoner to sin hee pillageth Jerusalem and the Devil pillageth him Hee is called the Saviour of Israel and yet himself was not saved from his iniquity for hee lived and dyed an Idolater So true is that of Solomon Prov. 16. 32. Hee that can rule his own spirit is better than hee that taketh a City Alexander that could conquer others yet Wine and Women conquered him 3 There is none so wicked but there is some good in them Joash here a wicked King yet visits the Prophet in his sickness sympathizeth with him and weeps over him in his affliction considering the great loss that the Church and State would receive by his death hee gives him honourable Titles savouring of much respect to him How would some Atheistical Sectaries amongst us have railed at this King for calling the good Prophet Father and stiling him The Chariot of Israel i. e. The Shield and Buckler the best defence that Israel had Those Sots and Satans whom the Devil hath blinded and strongly deluded are not worthy of an Answer yet if any would see them answered let them peruse my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 17. p. 296. Wisdome is justified of her own children and though this ungrateful world vilifie Gods Ministers whilst living yet when they are dead they are ready to adore them 4 There is no loss in shewing kindness to the Prophets of God The King comes to visit the Prophet in his sickness and the Prophet by way of gratitude assures the King of a threefold victory which hee should have against the Syrians 2 King 13. 25 c. The Lord takes the kindness which wee shew to his Prophets as done to himself Hee that honours them honours him whose Embassadors they are Ebedmelech that shewed kindness to Ieremy hath his life given him for a prey Ier. 39. 17 18. Hee that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and shews kindness to him upon that account because hee is a Minister of Christ shall have a Prophets reward Mat. 10. 41. i. e. Hee shall have an eminent reward fit for such a one as hath promoted Gods service in a high degree Gaius lost nothing by such guests as Iohn nor the Shunamite or Sareptan Widow by entertaining Prophets of such Christ seems to say as Paul did of Onesimus if hee owe thee ought put it on mine account I will repay it 5 Hee died The most potent puissant successful Conquerors of the world are conquered by death As I have shewed before 14 Jeroboam the second succeeds his Father Joash and reigns one and forty years not one of his rank reigned so long hee was one of the most prosperous successful and victorious of all the Kings of Israel since the division of the ten Tribes Hee recovered the antient borders of Israel from the Syrians and made them tributary to himself The ground of all this goodness is given 2 King 14. 23 25 26 27 28. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was none shut up or left nor any helper left therefore the Lord out of his wonted mercy raised up Jeroboam to bee a Saviour to them Yet hee is stigmatized with the old brand that his predecessor had before him vâ—z That this New Jeroboam was a chip of the old block for hee did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and departed not from all the sins of old Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who made Israel sin 2 King 14. 24. And that which aggravates his sin is this 1 That hee sinned against great Light for in his daies preached Jonah Amos Hosea three very famous Prophets 2 Against great Love for the Lord sent Jonah to prophesie of victory and good success unto him 2 King 14. 25. But since hee profited not by this Prophets Ministery the Lord sends him to Niniveh the chief City of the great Empire of the Assyrians Obs. 1 When a Nation is in its most prosperous and flourishing condition it may bee nearest ruine Israel never flourisht since the division of the ten Tribes under any King as it did under this Joash and Jehoahaz had done valiantly before but Jeroboam excells them all Under him the Kingdome flourisht in riches honours victories and great success But after this its honour and power still decaied till it was totally ruined It was in this Kings reign that Hosea fore-told the destruction of Samaria Hos. 1. 1. And Amos fore-told the ruine of Jeroboam and his house Amos 1. 2. and 7. 8 9 10 11. Idolatrous Kingdomes cannot stand long Babylon may think to sit as a Queen but sorrows shall at last surprize her and no worldly pomp or power shall bee able to keep off Gods judgements from her Rev. 18. 7 8. All Kingdomes have their rise and ruine and when they bee at the height then they decrease and moulder away as wee see in the Assyrian Babylonian and Persian Monarchies what vast Dominions had they yet all are vanisht and come to nothing This should keep us humble in the midst
with the Prophets to intermingle comforts with their threatnings to keep Gods people from despaire So Hos. 1. and 2. and 11. Amos 9. 8 to 15. Before he had threatned destruction to the wicked now he comforts the Penitent In the words we have 1. The deep distress that Gods people were in they were in the hand of the grave and in the jaws of death i. e. they were as 't were dead and buried in captivity The word Sheol signifies both the grave and hell 1. 'T is taken for the grave so Gen. 37. 35. â—rov 30. 16. 2. For hell Metaphorical i. e. some deep distress Psal. 86. 13. 3. For the local hell Prov. 15. 11. Wee may take in all these for Christ hath Redeemed us from them all and triumphed over them on the Cross Colos. 2. 14. 2. Here is a Promise of their Redemption from this their misery I will ransom them from the power of the grave What is that why exegetically 't is added I will redeem them from death i. e. I will bring my Elect out of their captivity where they lay for dead as 't were and this deliverance shall bee to them a pledge of their Resurrection to eternal life 3. Here is the manner how this shall bee done set forth by a Prosopopeical Apostrophe to death and the grave whom he brings in as some living enemy and therefore calls to him saying O death I will bee thy death O grave I will bee thy destruction q. d. O death thou seemest to be mighty and powerful but I will disarm thee of it all I will not only bite thee but destroy thee 't is not morsus as the Vulgar but exitium an utter destruction of these enemies of our salvation 4. Here is the certainty of this deliverance drawn from the constancy of God in keeping his Promise and from the immutability of his decree Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes q. d. I will never repent of the mercy which I have promised them but my goodness to them shall be firm and unalterable This sense suits best with the Original and with the context wherein God promiseth a choice mercy to his people The Vulgar and the seventy render it consolation is hid from mine eyes 't is true the word in the Original signifies consolation as well as repentance but to render it as a threatning here as if God should say I am fully determined to destroy my people for consolation is hid from mine eyes This is very improper here for it confounds the context and the scope of the Verse which is to comfort and not to disquiet Gods people In it the Prophet the better to strengthen the faith of Gods people doth highly extol Gods Almighty power for when wee are in straights wee are very apt to question that Num. 11. 13 21 22 23. Psal. 78. 19. To an eye of sense Gods people lying in captiviy were as dead men and past all hope of recovery I but saith the Prophet though ye were dead yet God can raise you again for hee 's Lord of death and hell and hath a sovereign power over them all though death conquers all yet hee conquers death though it be mighty yet God is Almighty and there 's nothing too hard for him he will be the death of death and if none will redeem you thence yet he will Quest. The Question is of what Redemption and deliverance doth the Prophet here speak whether of a corporal or spiritual Redemption Ans. Of both 1. Literally the Lord promiseth to free his Elect and penitent people from the grave of their captivity Banisht men are counted as dead men especially in a civil sense and the place of their banishment is as the grave Now many of the remainders of Israel after the destruction of their Kingdom joyned themselves to the Jews and with them came out of Babylon Though for their Idolatry and ingratitude hee threatned perpetual banishment to them yet for the comfort of his people that then were and after should arise hee promiseth a Redemption for them Hos. 1. 10. which was fulfilled about two hundred years after that Samaria was taken when Cyrus proclaimed liberty to the Jews to go build the Temple Ezra 1. 2. Typically it alludes to our Spiritual and eternal Redemption by Christ and our conquest over death and hell by him By Adams sin death came upon all men Rom. 512. but Christ by his Resurrection hath freed us from the power of death and hath led it captive which formerly led us captive Ps. 68. 18. Eph. 4. 8. This is the Redemption saith Zanchy which is principally and properly here meant for though the people of Iudah after seventy years captivity in Babylon did return again out of it yet the people of Israel after that Samaria was taken never returned again to their own land for it was laid waste and inhabited by strangers 'T is usual with the Prophets to use such Metabases sudden digressions and passings from their history to Christ who was their scope delight and love so that every hint and shadow in the Old Testament brought him to their remembrance and then from Christ they fell to the continuance of their history again Thus 't is here and so Esay prophecying of Câ—rus who should deliver Israel out of Bâ—bylon in the same Chapter prophesieth of Christ the Redeemer of his Church Esay 45. So Ezekiel having enveyed against Idle and Idol Shepherds presently turns his speech to Christ who is the true Shepherd of his people Ezek. 34. 2 16. so Zach. 9. 9. and 13. â— 7. In this Verse the Prophet brings in death and the grave as it were two tyrannical enemies to whom he speaks in the Name of the Lord Christ as the Apostle expounds it 1 Cor. 15. 55. as a Conquerour saying O death I will be thy death Or as the Apostle from the Septuagint though in this Text the Apostle in some things varies from the present Septuagint and so do the allegations in the New Testament which shews the folly of those who do equalize it with the Original Hebrew O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The first Adam brought death into the world but the second Adam hath abolish'd it There is some difficulty in the words and therefore I shall open them particularly and break every clod that I may finde out the golden Oar. In these words we have a glorious triumph over death and a notable Enconâ—ium of the Resurrection of the dead Piscator and others read the words Interrogatively thus O death where are thy plagues O grave where is thy destruction 'T is an insulting and triumphing Interrogation q. d. They are no where to be found for Christ hath removed them and taken them out of the way of his people so that now there is no hurt in death This various reading comes from the ambiguous signification of the word Ehi which is rendred truly ero I
will be others render it ubi where So the Septuagint render it by 〈◊〉 ubi and the Apostle following the Septuagint speaking to Greeks and that in Greece alledgeth a Greek text as being most familiar and best known to them The Apostle gives the sense and meaning but not the words which is frequent in Scripture the Pen-men being intent on the matter were not curious in the words but did adde and alter what might explain and clear them yet the Prophet and the Apostle are easily reconciled thus O death I will be thy Plagues i. e. I will pull out thy Pestilent sting O grave I will be thy destruction i. e. I will get the victory over thee q. d. I the Lord Christ for to him the Apostle applies this text will redeem them from death by paying a valuable price for their Redemption this none could do but I yea I will bee the death of death I will bee its plagues and destruction it shall never prevail against my people for I will restore them to life again 1 Cor. 15. 26 54 55. 'T is not I am or I have been but 't is Ehi I will bee thy destruction Now in Hebrew the Future Tense doth oft express both the Present Tense and the Preterperfect Tense it implies not only the time to come but also the time present and the time past q. d. I am I have been and shall bee for ever deaths destroyer Christ was Virtually the Lamb â—lain from the beginning of the world and so was deaths destroyer but actually he conquered death and the grave by lying dead in the grave and by his Almighty power raising himself thence again so that death hath now no more dominion over him and his Act. 2. 24. O death I will bee thy plagues not one or two but many plagues even so many as shall destroy thee Thou didst destroy my people but now I will destroy thee thou didst triumph over them but now I will triumph over thee and lead thee and all the enemies of my people in triumph at my Chariot wheeles Psal. 68. 18. Ephes. 4. 8. for under death and the grave is Synecdâ—chically comprehended the conquest of all the enemies of our salvation as sin death heâ—â— Satan banishment prisonment poverty sickness tribulation persecution famine sword c. over all these wee are more then conquerours even triumphers through Christ that loved us Rom. 8. 35 37. Hee names only death because death is the last enemy that shall bee destroyed 1 Cor. 15. 26. yet by an Argument a Majore ad minus from the greater to the less he comforts his people thus If I can deliver you from death and the grave then much more from banishment and captivity O grave I will bee thy destruction or I le bee thy rooting out and cutting off The same word is used Deut. 32. 24. Psal. 91. 6. I say 28. 2. q. d. Thou didst destroy my people but now I will destroy thee so that they may now sing triumphantly O death where is thy pestilent sting wherewith thou wast wont to torture and torment us 't is gone 't is destroyed by Christ who is thy death O death and thy utter destruction As a man that drinks a cup of poyson drinks that which will bee his ruine so the grave by swallowing and devouring Christ was conquered and killed by him Of old they did celebrate the Victories and Triumphs of Achilles Hercules Alexander Iulius Caesar and the rest of the great conquerours of the world but alas alâ— those dyed and were conquered by death Only Christ the King and Saviour of his Church and people by his death hath conquered sin Satan and death and hath made full satisfaction for us to the Law and Justice of God So that what the Prophet speaks here of the restauration of the Jews in particular the Apostle applies to the general Resurrection of the dead when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptioâ— and this mortality shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in Victory O death where is thy sting c. 1 Cor. 15. 54 55. Where the Apostle alledgeth two Texts and 't is usual with the Pen-men of the New Testament to alledge divers Texts out of the Old Testament and compose them into one in the New So doth Peter speaking against Iudas Act. 1. 20. 't is written in the book of the Psalms let his habitation be desolate and his Bishoprick let another take the former part is taken out of Psal. 69. 26. and the latter part out of Psal. 109. 7. So Mark 1. 2 3. the former part is taken out of Mal. 3. 1. the latter part from Esay 28. 16. So Christ himself Mat. 21. 13. alludes to Esay 56. 7. and Ier. 7. 11. So here the Apostle cites one text out of Esay 25. 8. he will swallow up death in Victory The other is Hos. 14. 13. The seventy render it thus devorabit mors praevalens Death devours all but this is contrary both to the sense of the Prophet and the Apostle who speak not of the prevailing power of death but of the power of Christ over death Death is swallowed up in Victory and that great devourer of all is by Christ devoured This promile is now fulfilled in the death of Christ who hath already destroyed the power of death for his people and shall bee compleatly fulfilled at the Resurrection of the dead when all corruption and mortality shall bee totally taken away and death shall bee swallowed up in Victory for ever In the sense of this mercy the Apostle breaks forth ravished as it were with the contemplation of this conquest over death into a triumphant song which all the Saints shall sing at the last day when they shall bee totally freed from the captivity of death and the grave then shall they insult over subdued death and say O death where is thy sting wherewith thou hadst wont to wound all creatures O grave where is thy victory by which thou hast hitherto kept the dead under by force which now thou must render again as not being able any longer to hold them under thy power Rev. 20. 13 14. It is onely sin by which death hath power over us and it is the just rigor of the Law which inflicts death upon us for sin But thanks bee to God who hath given us the victory over sin which is the cause of death and over death which is inflicted for sin through Jesus Christ our Lord by whom wee obtain an immortal and incorruptible life Thus the Apostle hath faithfully given us the sense of the Prophet though not his very words The summe and substance of all is this Though Ephraim hath been an unwise Son and hath delayed his returning unto mee yet his impenitency and security shall not retard or disanul my faithfulness and truth unto my people I
wee are cut off Yea the Prophet himself staggered and was non-plust verse 3. the Lord asked him Son of man can these bones live Is it possible that ever such dry bones should live again The Prophet answers Lord thou knowest q. d. it passeth my apprehension to conceive how this should bee I know not how it should bee effected but Lord thou knowest what thou hast to do and to thee nothing thing is impossible This the Lord doth in his wisdome to out us of our selves and all creature-confidences that in an holy desperation wee may say with repenting Israel Ashur shall Not save us neither will wee ride upon horses nor say any more to the work of our hands Yee are our gods for with thee the fatherless finde mercy Hos. 14. 3. 6 Obs. God in his due time will deliver his people out of the deepest distress Hee is Omnipotent hee can and will redeem Israel not out of one or two but out of all his troubles Psal. 25. ult Art thou weak Hee can strengthen thee Art thou sick Hee can heal thee Art thou dark Hee can insighten thee Art thou dead Hee can inliven thee Hast thou lain in thy grave till thou stinkest again so did Lazarus Hast thou lain till thou art rotten so did Israel in their Babylonish Captivity and yet were restored Ezek. 37. 11 12. So in desertions wee are apt to bee despondent when wee walk in darkness and can see no light neither Sun-light nor Moon-light neither Star-light nor Candle-light but are like unto dry bones in a Sepulchre without life without spirit without strength without comfort and see no way of deliverance Aye but now is a time to live by faith and not by sense Isa. 40. 27 28 29 30 31 and 50. 10. Such is our weakness that wee are apt to limit the holy one of Israel and to think that hee can help us in lesser trials and bring us out of petty crosses but when some fluctus decumanus some great waves of Tentation come then wee are apt to question Gods power and promises and to say with David I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. Wee are apt to say with Martha If Christ had come a little sooner hee might have raised Lazarus but now saith she he stinks and is past help Ioh. 11. 39. Aye but it is the better for that for now Christs power will bee the more manifested and his Father the more glorified The more grievous thy disease the greater will the praise of thy Physitian bee in thy cure and wee shall love much when wee see how much is forgiven and therefore David makes it an argument to move the Lord to pitty him because his sins were great Psal. 25 11. Remember it is Gods usual course to let men bee dead and buried as it were in misery and to bring things to extremity and then appear Gen. 22. 14. Psal. 461. when trouble comes then hee comes too Wee read of three persons that Christ raised from the dead One was dead but not carried out Maâ—k 5. 41 A second was dead and carried out Luke 7. 14. A third was dead carried out buried and lay till hee stunk in his grave and that was Lazarus Christ speaks but the word Lazarus come forth and hee lives God is never nearer to his people than when to a carnal eye hee seems furthest off As wee see in the three young men that were cast into a fiery Furnace and Daniel into the Lions den Sense and carnal reason would have said God had now forsaken them and there was no help yet even then did they finde the greatest help so good it is to trust in God 7 Obs. Death in it self is a formidable enemy and considered as a curse due to impenitent sinners it is very terrible even the terriblest of all terribles as Aristotle calls it It is armed with stings and plagues and is therefore called an Enemy 1 Cor. 15. 26. And the King of terrours even such a terrour as is the chiefest and greatest of terrours Iob 18. 14. Hence dreadful calamities are set forth by the shadow of deaâ—h Job 10. 21 22. and 16. 16. and 24. 17. Psal. 23. 4. Ier. 13. 16. and the messengers of death Prov. 16. 14. and the snares sorrows and terrours of death Psal. 18. 4 5. and 55. 4. It is this that snatcheth men when they least think of it from their dear Relations Pleasures Riches Recreations Mansions Honours c. which they love as their lives and this must needs bee terrible to a natural man who hath no assurance of better things when he dyes Hence such are said to be in bond age and a slavish fear of death all their life long Heb. 2. 15. whilst wicked men look upon death at a distance and think it far off they fear it not but when God shall open their eyes by sickness and summon them to appear before him then like Pashur they are Magar-missabib a terrour to themselves and all that are â—ound about them Ier. 20. 3 4. Saul though a King and a 〈◊〉 man yet when hee heard that death was at the door and hee must dye to morrow was so dis-spirited with this dismal news that hee fell into a deadly trance and was not able to bear it the fear of death had well nigh ended him before his death came 1 Sam. 9. 19 20. So Belâ—hazzar a mighty Monarch in the height of his mirth is all amort his countenance is changed his thoughts trouble him and his joynts are loosed but whence came all this terrour and amazement why it is for fear of this King of fears Death which suddenly after surprized him Dan. 5. 1 2. c. This puts an end to all a wicked mans comforts and hopes conscience shall now bee awakened and hee must give an account of his Stewardship This made Lewis the eleventh King of France to command his servants in his sickness that they should not once mention that bitter word Death in his hearing Yea even the godly in a temptation for fear of death have not acted like themselves at other times as wee see in three of the greatest-Worthies that wee read of in the Scriptures first Abraham famous for faith Gen. 12. 12 13. 20. 2. 11. And David famous for valour 1 Sam. 22. 12 13. And Peter for courage yet to save his life denied his Lord. 8 Obs. Death is a conquered Enemy Christ hâ—th disarmed him and taken away his sting Hee hath redeemed his from the power of the grave and swallowed up death in Victory Christ by his death hath destroyed death and him that had the power of death the Devil Heb. 2. 14. by suffering of that death which was due to us for our sins hee hath destroyed the power of Satan and taken away that advantage which hee had against us by reason of sin whose wages is death Satan thought by death to destroy Christ
heightens wrath by adding sin to sin 3 The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father if hee depart from the fathers iniquity and do not walk in his steps Ezek. 18. 14 17. If a man beget a son that seeth all his fathers sin and feareth and doth not the like hee shall not dye for his fathers iniquity But if the son tread in his fathers steps hee shall bear his own iniquity and becomes accessary to his fathers sin by imitation and approbation of it Matth. 23. 32. Luke 11. 48 50. the blood of former generations had not been required of that generation if they had not been as bloody as the former But where old sins are continued and approved of by new acting of them there the old sins as well as the new are justly punished So that the threatning is not to bee understood absolutely but conditionally viz. If the children do persist in their fathers sins and walk in their wicked wayes 4 The son shall not bear the personal iniquities of the father in reference to eternal punishment God will not damn a son simply for the sin of his father it is a mans own sin which is his everlasting ruine yet hee may lay many temporal chafâ—isements upon a good son for the sin of his father The Lord in Ezek. 18. 20 23 32. seems to speak of eternal and not of temporal punishment 1 This should make Parents fearful of displeasing God lest they bring miseries not only on themselves but also on their children their Idolatry may bring a curse upon their childrens children to many generations No children in Scripture are threatned like the children of Idolaters In none of the Commandements doth God threaten to visit the sin of the fathers upon the children but onely in the second Exod. 20. 5. It is well observed by a pious and precious Divine that there are eight sins which do more especially bring Judgements on a mans Posterity whereof the first is Idolatry 2 Adultery 2 Sam. 12. 14. 3 Covenant-breaking 2 Sam. 21. 13. 4 Persecution of the godly Matth. 23. 31. to 36. Psal. 137. 7. 5 Murder 1 King 21. 21. Jer. 15. 4. 6 Oppression Job 20. 19 26. Hab. 2. 9. 7 Contempt of Magistracy and Ministry Num. 16. 32. 41. 49. 1 King 13. 33 34. 8 When men pretend Reformation and intend themselves as Iehu did Hos. 1. 4. God is very pittiful and tender over Infants as appears in that hee would not destroy Nineveh for the Infants sakes that were in ti Ionah 4 11. and in the sacking of Cities hee commands them to spare Infants Deut. 20. 14. but it is the sin of Parents which many times hardens Gods heart against them and makes him to delight in the destruction both of them and theirs yea and it hardens mens hearts against them so that they cannot but act such cruelty against them as they never intended as wee see in Hazael 2 King 8. 11 12 13. when the Prophet Elisha wept and told him what mischief hee should do to Israel viz. that hee should kill the young men and dash the Infants against the stones and rend in peeces the women with childe Am I a dog saith Hazael that I should do such things as these Hee then thought it a base and barbarous thing when hee was King Benhadads servant to act such inhumane villany upon the mothers with their infants the Prophet onely tell him that hee shall bee a King vers 13. and then when hee had changed his condition hee would also change his manners and commit all the abominations which hee mentioned Let Parents then labour for grace that they may leave a blessing and not a curse to their posterity Gen. 17. 7. Exod. 20. 6. Psal. 112. 2. If you will not pitty your selves yet pitty your little ones let not them fare the worse for you It is ill-being a wicked mans childe yea their very beasts faâ—e the worse for them Iosh. 7. 24 25. Achan was stoned and his cattel with him Wicked Egyptians bring a Murrain upon their cattel Exod. 9. 3. As a good man is a publick good the Family City Kingdome fare the better for him yea his cattel are spared for his sake Exod. 9. 4. The Lord shall sever between the cattel of Egypt and the cattel of Israel there shall nothing dye of all that is the children of Israels God blesseth the very cattel of his people and if the creature could speak it would desire to serve those that serve God Most Parents provide Inheritances for their children but oft-times they leave their sins with them too It was a sad Legacy that Ioab left to his children that one should bee a Leper another a weakling a third beg his bread 2 Sam. 3. 29. So many a man to one childe hee leaves his Murder to another his Adultery to a third his Usury to a fourth his Swearing Gehazi left a Talent of silver behinde him to his posterity but hee left the Leprosie with it Better want such mens lands and inheritances than thus to inherit their sins too 2 Let children bee humbled then for their forefathers sins that they bee not imputed to them Lâ—v. 26. 41. So did Nehemia ch 1. 6. and David Psal. 79. 8. Remember not against us iniquitates praecedentium saith the Original the sins of our forefathers Hee that sees the sins of his Predecessors and is not humbled for them approves of them and so becomes accessary to them Hence the Lord blames Belshazzar for not humbling himself for his fathers sin and punishment which hee knew of Dan. 5. 22. Let us therefore acknowledge our selves to bee the children of sinful parents and say with him Deut. 26. 5. A Syrian was my father ready to perish and with David Wee have sinned with our fathers Psal. 106. 6. and with Daniel ch 9. 8. Deprecate the punishment which is due to uâ— for their sins So Ier. 14. 20. 3 Admire the patience of the Lord that hath born so long with us who have been sinners from the womb If little ones who never sinned against the patience of God as wee have done indure such pangs sorrows sickness and death what may men of years look for who have added to original corruption a numberless number of actual transgressions If this bee done to the green tree what shall bee done to the dry If Infants who are Innocents and righteous comparatively shall scarcely bee saved where shall the ungodly and rebellious sinner appear If hee spare not little ones that lye in their mothers bowels but suffer wicked men to drag them thence where oh where shall those wicked parents appear that have been the primary cause of all this mischief and sorrow to them and have been the authors and actors of that wickedness which hath brought this misery on them It should therefore bee matter of great humiliation to us all when wee see the sharp and sore judgements that oft light upon little ones
another stock reigns twelve years 8 Ahab his Son succeeds him who reigned two and twenty years and is slain by the Syrians 9 Ahaziah his Son succeeds him and reigned two years 10 Iehoram Ahaziahs Brother and a second Son of Ahab succeeds him hee reigned twelve years and is slain by Iehn 11 Iehu of another stock reigned eight and twenty years 12 Iehoahaz his Son succeeds him and reigns seventeen years 13 Iehoash or Ioash his Son succeeds him and reigns sixteen years 14 Ieroboam the second his Son succeeds him and reigns one and forty years 15 Zachariah his Son the last of Iehu's race succeeds him hee reigns six months and is slain by Shallum 16 Shallum of another stock reigns one month 17 Menahem of another stock having slain Shallum reigns ten years 18 Pekahiah his Son succeeds him hee reigns two years and is killed by Pekah 19 Pekah of another stock regins twenty years and is slain by Hoshea 20 Hoshea the last King of Isruel reigns nine years and is carried into captivity with his people by Salmaneser King of Assyria 1 Ieroboam their first King came in by Rebellion Israel rebelled against the house of David and chose Ieroboam for their King 1 King 12. 19. hence the Lord complains that they set up Kings viz. Ieroboam and his successors but not by him Hos. 8. 4 they did it without asking his advice or staying for his command for though hee had decreed to rent the ten Tribes from Solomons race yet because they did it not in an orderly way but tumultuously therefore hee calls it rebellion and saith that hee knew it not viz. so as to approve of it and though God had fore-told that Ieroboam should bee King yet because hee came to the Crown with a proud aspiring rebellions disposition hee is called a Rebel 2 Chron. 13. 6 7. This Ieroboam the Son of Nebat so called to distinguish him from Ieroboam the second the Son of Ioash 2 King 14. 23. was Solomons servant a valiant active subtil man and so more fit to bee the head of a faction Solomon hearing that the greatest part of his Kingdome was given to Ieroboam hee was offended with him and sought to kill him Kings cannot endure corrivals Upon this Ieroboam fled into Egypt where probably hee learnt the Idolatry of the Calves for the Egyptians were great Idolaters 1 King 11. 28 40. No sooner is hee in the Throne but hee sets up a new Religion in his new Kingdome Hee begins ill the very first step hee takes is out of the way hee sets up two golden Calves and draws all Israel to worship them This crafty Achitophel fore-saw that if the people should go up to Ierusalem to worship there the glory of the Temple might allure them and the true Priests of the Lord would bee drawing them to adhere to their lawful Prince of the house of David 1 King 12. 27. hee therefore useth all means to keep them from having any thoughts of Ierusalem though this fear was vain and needless for hee had Gods promise that if hee would cleave to him and worship him onely that then hee would preserve the Kingdome to him and his posterity 1 King 12. 38. To this end hee invents a more easie and plausible kind of worship pretending that it was too much cost and pains for them to go thrice a year up to Ierusalem they should have gods of their own at home Two golden Calves to represent God to their eyes These hee sets up one in Dan a City in the North and the other in Bethel a City in the South Hee sets not up Horses or Rams but Calves as the Israelites in Egypt had done before him though to their cost Exod. 32. 4 c. The Idol Apis is worshipped by the Egyptians in the shape of an Oxe or Calf and it should seem Ieroboam here imitates them and the rather peradventure out of a politick device to ingratiate himself with Shisac the King of Egypt that hee might the sooner help him against Rehoboam and as if this were not sufficient instead of Gods Temple at Ierusalem hee set up houses of pretended devotion wherein hee appointed God to bee worshipped in his own Idolatrous fashion Hee also ordeined new Priests men that were of base condition and not of the Tribe of Levi for the Levites had left him and his Calves and went to Ierusalem 2 Chron. 11. 13 14. men of his own party and such as joyned with him in carrying on his state-design Like Lettice like lips fit Chaplains for such Calves or rather Devils as they are called 2 Chron. 11. 15. Quest. But what saith the Lord to all this Answ. Why this became a sin to the house of Ieroboam even to destroy it from the Earth 1 King 13. ult It was a sin a sin with a witness a notorious hainous complicated sin that had many other sins in the belly of it it was a sin committed against great Light for hee had the Prophets Ahijah Semaja and Iddo to instruct him and against great Love for the Lord had raised him from a servant to be King and that over his own people Israel and had instructed him what hee should do and how hee should walk that hee might prosper yet hee most ungratefully forsakes the God of his mercies to follow Calves and Devils contrary to the express command of God that they should nor make any graven Image to worship it It was also against the Judgement of God on their Progenitors whom they knew God had cut off for making such an Idol as the golden Calf Besides hee changed the time the place the manner of Gods worship 1 King 12. 32 33. and to incourage the people the more in these exorbitant waies hee himself usurps the Priests Office and offers upon the Altar which none but such as God had set apart for that work might do Yet more this sin was a scandal and ruine to all Israel it drew them from God and made the Lord to divorce them Hos. 2. 2. Yea some of Iudah also were infected with this Idolatry 2 King 17. 19. and therefore Ieroboam is so often famed with that infamous Title and branded to posterity with a This is that Jeroboam the Son of Nebat that made Israel to sin This is hee that by his Example Precepts and Power drew the people from God Hee was the first Author of this Idolatry others were but Accessaries This was that indelible sin which could never bee removed from him nor his house nor from Israel till it brought them all into captivity OBSERVATIONS 1 Idolatry rents a Kingdome in peeces Solomon fell to Idolatry and now ten Tribes fall from his immediate Successor Rehoboam his Son to Ieroboam his Servant 2 God is most true in his Threatnings Hee threatned to rend ten Tribes from Solomon for his Idolatry and here hee performs it 1 King 11. 31 33 â—5 3 A mutinous body cannot long
King 22. 20 21. and fulfils his will wicked men oft break the will of Gods Commandement and yet fulfil the will of Gods Decree They serve his purpose and providence Materially when Formally and Intentionally they seek themselves As Iosephs Brethren did in selling Ioseph and the Babylonians when they carried the Jews into captivity and the Jews in crucifying Christ Act. 4. 27 28. Per accidens they did Gods will but perse their own 2 God often warns even wicked men before hee simte them God sends the Prophet Iehu here to tell Baasha of the evil that shall befall him before it comes 3 Wicked men are ungrateful men Baasha here sins against God who had exalted him from the dust and raised him from a contemptible condition to bee a Prince over Israel But hee instead of worshipping and acknowledging the God of his mercies worships Calves This sinning against mercy is often noted as a sad aggravation of sin As in Saul 1 Sam. 15. 17. In David 2 Sam. 12. 7 8. and Asa 2 Chron. 16. 7 8. 4 God is most true in his Threatnings Not one of them shall fall to the ground unfulfilled God threatned to root up the house of Ieroboam and now it is done Hee threatned to root up Baasha's posterity and it is done 1 King 16. 3 11. As all the Promises of God are most true and shall in due time bee fulfilled so all his Threatnings are most true and shall in their time bee fulfilled 5 Idolatry brings judgement upon a mans posterity No sin sooner than this as appears by the second Commandement Ieroboam thought to have setled the Kingdome on his posterity but his Idolatry roots up his family and the Kingdome is transferred to another stock So true is that Isa. 14. 20. The seed of evil doers shall never bee renowned Bildad speaking of the calamities of the wicked saith They shall neither have Son nor Nephew amongst the people Job 18. 19. Their fruit shall bee destroyed from the Earth and their seed from amongst the children of men Psal. 21. 10. 37. 28. 109. 13. 6 Parity in sin brings parity in punishment Baasha walks in Ieroboams steps and meets with Ieroboams plagues his house is ruined as the house of Ieroboam was Baasha cut off Ieroboams seed and Zimri cuts off his 1 King 16. 3 4 9. 4 Baasha being dead Elah the wicked Son of a wicked Father succeeds him Hee reigns two years current and is slain by his servant Zimri in the very act of drunkenness 1 King 16. 9. and that there might none bee left to avenge his death Zimri slaies all his house friends and kindred v. 11 12. and this hee did presently that hee might not bee prevented as indeed he had been for within few daies himself was burnt v. 13. Quest. But why was Elah thus punisht Answ. For the sins of his Father and for his own sins wherewith hee made Israel to sin v 13. Obs. 1 God sometimes smites wicked men dead in the very act of their sin So hee did Elah here in his drunkenness so hee did Amâ—â—â— 2 Sam. 13. 28 29. And Belshazzar Dan. 5. 2 30. When wicked men are most secure then judgement is nearest when men least dream of death then it comes and arrests them Luk. 12. 20. It is infinite patience that the Lord bears with any of us The Angels sinned but once and they were cast out of Heaven â—dam sinned but once and was cast out of Paradise wee have multiplied transgressions and yet behold wee live Admire the riches of Gods patience and let it lead us to repentance else that God which slew Elah in the act of his sin may also slay thee hee that slew Zimri and Cozbi in the act of uncleaanness if thou act such wickedness may slay thee hee that made the Earth to devour Corah and his followers for their opposing Moses and Aaron will not alwaies bear with our revilers of Magistracy and Ministery Obs. 2 When wee rebel against God then men rebel against us If Elah rise against his Lord and Master in Heaven Zimri his servant shall rise against Elah his Lord and Master on Earth So Ioash and Ammon two wicked Kings of Iudah were slain by their own servants All creatures are Gods servants if their Lord bee against us they are against us if hee bee for us they are for us This is the reason why subjects are more seditious and rebellious in Popish and Heathenish Countries it is because their Rulers rebel against God and therefore God in his just judgement stirs up some to rebel against them 3 Idols are vanities Elah provoked God to anger with his vanities vers 13. i. e. With his Idols Idol-gods in Scripture are oft called Vain things 1 Sam. 12. 21. and Vanity Deut. 32. 21. Jer. 8. 19. Isa. 41. 28. Nothing 1 Cor. 8. 4. An Idol is something Materially it is wood stone brass or gold but Formally it is nothing They have nothing of a God in them their Deity wholly consisteth in the Idolaters vain opinion 2 They can neither do good nor evil they can neither hurt nor help and so are nothing Psal. 115. 5. and Isa. 41. 23. and therefore the confidence that is placed in them is a vain confidence and they that serve them are bereft of true understanding in which respect they are said to bee vain 2 King 17. 15. 5 Zimri having slain his Master gate into his Throne Hee had been but seven daies in it when to save the Executioner a labour hee burns himself with the Royal Palace that neither hee nor it might fall into his enemies hands This may bee counted in our daies Roman but it is no Christian nor commendable valour When dangers beset us wee should humble our selves before God and beseech him either to mitigate the affliction or to give us strength to bear it and then bee it what it will wee may bid it welcome Obs. 1 Tyrants and Traitors usually reign not long Zimri's date is but seven daies The Roman Emperours were cruel and tyrannical of sixty three onely six of them died a natural death As if they had been exalted to those seats for no other end saith one Nisi ut â—itius interficerentur that their daies might bee shortened No violent thing is permanent wee seldome see an old Tyrant though for a time by fraud and force they may shift yet in the end divine Justice findes them out 2 Wicked men are Gods Rod. And when it hath done Gods work the Rod is burnt So it was with Zimri here God raised him up to cut off Baasha's stock and when that is done himself is cast into the fire 3 No fortifications can preserve wicked men from destruction Zimri gets into Tirzah a fortified City and then into the Kings Palace there and there hee burns Had wee all the power and policy of all the Princes and Politicians of the world for
us yet if God bee against us these cannot help us Prov. 31. 30. There is no wisdome nor counsel against the Lord. 4 Such as have been cruel to others are oft-times cruel to themselves Zimri had slain his Master and now hee slaies himself Saul a bloody Persecutor at last becomes his own Executioner 1 Sam. 31. 4. So did Nero Dioclesian Sardanapalus and others Murderers especially of their Relations and Masters seldome escape in this life without some signal hand of divine Justice against them Even Iesabel could say to Iehu Had Zimri peace that slew his Master 2 King 9. 31. i. e. hee had no peace nor did hee enjoy the benefit of his conspiracy for hee was soon cut off The Question then will bee Whether it bee unlawful for a man to kill him self by fire water sword or halter c Answ. It is utterly unlawful and that for these Reasons 1 It is against the Law of God which expresly forbids killing of others much more of our selves 2 It is against the Law of Nature which teacheth every creature to love and preserve its own life 3 It is against the Law of Nations which sets a brand of infamy upon such as rob the Common-wealth of its subjects in this kinde Achitophel and Iudas with others are branded to posterity for it 4 Wee are not Lords of our lives to dispose of them as wee please but wee are all set in this world as in an army where every one must keep his station till the great Lord general of us all shall call us thence See more in Syms against Self-murder Downams Warfare l. 2. c. 2. p. 70 to 82. B. Halls CC. Dec. 2. c. 10. p. 150. Brochmand CC. Tom. 2. p. 130. Sayrus CC. p. 425. Basenbanum CC. in sextum Praecept p. 213. 5 Wicked men are dis-ingenuous men They deal unworthily oft-times with those that advance them to honour Elah had made Zimri Captain of half his Chariots 1 King 6. 9. and hee to requite the favour kills his Lord and Master and that cowardly when hee was full of drink and so unable to help himself and cruelly for dying in his drunkenness hee was a means to kill both body and soul. Men hardly care what they do so they may get Kingdomes swear and forswear poison Fathers slay Brothers kill Masters do any thing for a Crown The Popes of â—ome what witchcraft and wicked practices did they not use to get the Popedome 6 Wicked men may plot and project but God disposeth Zimri cuts off all the house of Elah even his kindred and all that so hee might enjoy the Kingdome quietly without molestation and when hee hath done all hee misseth it God gives it to another Zimri beat the bush but Omri caught the bird 6 Tibni is chosen King by the people that sate at home who disdained that the souldiers in the field should without the consent of the rest of the people set up a King they therefore would not submit to Omri whom the souldiers made King and the souldiers would not depart from their choice thereupon they were divided which division and contest lasted about four years till Tibni died as it is conceived an untimely death and then the souldiers being armed and too strong for the people set up Omri 1 King 16. 21 22 23. Obs. It is no new thing to see States and Kingdomes divided The people are for Tibni and the souldiers for Omri one is for a King another for a Council one for a Protector another for a Free-State one for a Dictator another for an Emperor c. So it was oft amongst the Romans and so it is now amongst us Mobile Vulgus the Vulgar are alwaies like themselves unstable as water 7 Tibni being dead Omri reigns quietly hee buyes the Hill of Samaria and builds a City thereon which came to bee the Mettopolis of the Land and the place of the Kings Court and residence for Zimri having burnt the Royal Palace in Tirzah Omri resides in Samaria which was stronger than Tirzah as appears by the three years siege which it endured This wicked man being exalted to the Throne walks in the steps of his wicked predecessors and exceeds them in wickedness for the Text tells us That hee did worse than all that were before him 1 King 16. 25. 1 Because hee persisted in his Idolatry notwithstanding all the judgements of God which hee had seen upon his predecessors 2 Because hee did with more violence force and press the people to Idolatry hence wee read of the Statutes of Omri viz. concerning their Idolatrous worship of the golden Calves Micah 6. 16. Obs. 1 There is no stability in earthly things They are vain uncertain mutable One while the Royal Court is in the City of Sechem anon it is removed to Tirzah and then to Iezreel and at last Samaria is the Metropolis 2 King 8. 29. 2 The successors of wicked men many times exceed their predecessors in wickedness Omri here is worse than all that were before him So the Scholars of Arminius and Socinus have out-erred their Masters The Anabaptists and Separatists of our times are far more erronious than they were in Episcopal times Errbrs in the first concoction are not amended in the second As good men do improve the choice notions of their predecessors to Gods honour so wicked men do improve the corrupt principles and practices of their wicked predecessors to God dishonour 3 Wicked men are obstinate in sin Nothing works upon them Let Ieroboam Nadab Baasha Elah Zimri bee plagued both they and their posterity for their Idolatty yet Omri stirs not unless it bee to evil but hee is Omri still as Idolatrous as vile yea worse than ever 8 Omri after twelve years reign dies and Ahab the wicked Son of a wicked Father succeeds him Hee reigns two and twenty years and is a Non-such for wickedness All the Kings of Israel before him and after him were bad but none so abominable as Ahab who sold himself to do evil 1 King 16. 30 31 32 33. A good man may bee Passively sold under sin against his will as Paul complains hee was Rom. 7. 14. But Ahab here Actively sold himself wittingly and wilfully as a slave to the service of Satan the lusts of the flesh and the cursed plots of his wife So that I cannot but wonder at a learned Commentator of our times who makes Paul to bee like Ahab that sold himself to wickedness Rom. 7. 14. No man had better Prophets in his daies to instruct him as Elijah Elisha Micah and a hundred which Obadiah hid by fifty in a cave from his wives fury nor more Miracles to convince him nor more signal Victories and deliverances to endear him yet this Ahab thus blest sets up Idolatry stones Naboth gets his Vineyard persecutes the Prophets and people of God counrenanceth eight hundred and fifty false Prophets to Ieroboams Idolatry hee adds the
per mulieres capi non posse Hee would not bee ensnared by women 8 The God whom wee serve is a bountious God There is no man shall serve him for nought what ever wicked men say to the contrary Mal. 3. 14. If Ahab one of the wickedest men that ever lived an Idolater an Oppressor a Murderer a Persecutot yet if this wicked man do but humble himself though it bee but hypocritically and onely for fear of punishment hee shall have a reward answerable to his service the evils threatned shall bee deferred and hee shall have a temporary deliverance answerable to his temposary humiliation Wee should have thought if so vile a wretch should have rent his flesh torn off his hair and wept rivers of tears yet God should rather have killed him than spared him But Gods thoughts are not like our thoughts if the shadow can do so much what will not the substance do if God so far reward an unsound what will hee not do for sincere service Again wee see here that grief is not alwaies a sign of grace Ahab rends his cloaths but not his heart hee puts on sackcloath but not amendment hee walks softly but not sincerely worldly sorrow causeth death Happy is that grief which makes the soul holier 9 Our God is a patient God Hee bears long with the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction what man could have born two and twenty daies with Ahabs provocations yet the Lord lets him reign two and twenty years The ninth King of Israel is Ahaziah Ahabs Son who reigned ill two years walking in the waies of Ieroboam Ahab and Iesabel and those waies were as bad as bad could bee 1 King 22. 52 53. Hee rebels against God and Moab rebels against him in his sickness hee sleights the true God and goes to Baal-zebub the God of Ekron for help hee persecutes Elijah and dies 2 King 1. 1 2 3 9 15 17. 10 Iehoram alias Ioram a second Son of Ahab succeeds his Brother Ahaziah who had no children Evil hee was yet not so evil as his Father and Mother for hee pulls down the Image of Baal 2 King 3. 1 2 3. Yet there is a But and Blot upon him vers 3. But hee persisted in the waies of Ieroboam Hee is wounded by the Syrians and slain by Iehu after hee had reigned twelve years 2 King 9. 24. Obs. 1 Where there is but some goodness and some reformation God takes notice of it and commends it Hee takes notice nor onely of mens vices but also of their virtues if Abijah the Son of Ieroboam have but some good in him it shall bee recorded and rewarded 1 King 14. 13. Many like flyes pass over the sound flesh and light upon that which is galled or like Beetles they flye over all the flowers in a field and if there bee any dung in it that they creep into So it is with most they pry into mens infirmities but pass by their Graces But Christ did commend the Churches for what was good in them as well as reprove them for their failings Rev. 2. 3. Christ takes notice not onely of the grown fruit but of the green buds and tender Grapes even of the beginnings of Grace in young converts Cant. 2. 13. Hypocrisie is sullen sowre and censorious especially to young beginners but true Grace is meek merciful and tender It is our duty to acknowledge Grace where ever wee finde it be it in Jew or Gentile in rich or poor old or young Where ever wee finde but aliquid Christi some seeds of piety and the fear of the Lord wee should love and cherish it Hence Christ commends Natharael that had but some seeds of Grace for his sincerity Iohn 1. 47. The Centurion though a Gentile yet Christ commends him for his Faith Matth. 8. 10. Christ took notice of such as did improve their Talents and calls them good and faithful Matth. 25. 21 23. And Christ testifies of Mary that shee loved much Luk. 7. 47. Sad then is the condition of those that are so blinded with malice that they cannot see the graces of God in others without indignation like Cain that hated his Brother because hee was better than himself 1 Iohn 3. 12. Or like Ioshua that was envious at Eldad and Madad for prophesying in the Camp Numb 11. 29. Wee may not bear false witness against our neighbour but must acknowledge the Grace of God in them to his praise Our eye must not bee evil because Gods eye is good It is the Devils work to bee the slanderer and accuser of the Brethren let him do his work himself Iob 1. 9 10. Rev. 12. 10. But let us imitate our Saviour who hath a tender care not onely of his strong rooted Oaks and bright burning Tapers but also of his weak bruised Reeds and smoaking Flax though as yet it flame not Mat. 12. 20. Yea where there is but civility and common good Christ takes notice of it and commends it when the young man came to Christ though hee had no true grace yet it is said Christ loved him Mark 10. 21. Hee also took notice of that discreet answer of that Scribe Mark 14. 34. and said to him Thou art not far from the Kingdome of God This should incourage us to bee active for Christ who covers our infirmities takes notice of our services and will reward them openly 2 Hypocrites reform to halves Iehoram suppresseth the worship of Baal but continues the Idolatry of the golden Calves Herod will reform many things but his Herodias hee will not part withall It is said of Naaman the Syrian that hee was a valiant man But hee was a Leper So many go far have good gifts make great shews But they are covetous But they are disobedient and will not do Gods will Ezek. 33. 31. These Buts spoil all They must have their Reservations their Dispensations their Dalilahs their beloved lusts though they perish with them 11 Iehu the Son of Nimshi for now the line of succession is again changed having slain Ioram the Son of Ahab gets up into his Throne Hee is anointed King by a young Prophet at Elisha's command 1 King 19. 16. and 2 King 9. 6. 2 Chron. 22. 7. The reason why hee onely of all the Kings of Israel since the division was anointed with Oyl was this because his work was hard and extraordinary and therefore the Lord to make him the more couragious and confident assures him by this visible sign that hee had called him and hee would keep him in his office Hee being an active valiant politick man Commander in Chief over the Army in the City of Ramoth Gilead and so highly esteemed amongst the Captains and souldiers was raised by God to execute his vengeance on the house of Ahab Having slain Ahaziah King of Iudah 2 King 9. 27. Hee then cuts off Iesabel 2 King 9. 30 33. Causeth the seventy Sons of Ahab to bee beheaded 2 King 10. 6. Slaies
Orbs aâ—d Spheres for their Creators praise onely man rebels against him 2 All these Kings followed the example of a wicked Ieroboam against the Rule 3 They perisht not alone but drew their subjects with them into perdition yea Iudah was in part infected by them 2 King 17. 19. 4 They acted all this against the warnings of Gods Prophers against signal mercies and judgements all which serves to clear the justice of God in their total extirpation and ruine wee may stand amazed at the stupendious patience of the Lord who bare above two hundred years with such a succession of Idolaters and evil doers when if his patience had not been infinite and every way like himself hee would not have born two hundred daies with them Great places corrupt many â—carce ever better any It is folly therefore for any ambitiously to seek Kingship and high-places from whence so many have broke their necks We should rather pitty and pray for great men than any way envy them since they are exposed to so many dangers and great tentations 2 The end of wicked men is miserable What ever the good mans beginning may bee bee it never so blustrous and rugged yet his end is peace Psal. 37. 37. On the contrary let the wicked mans beginning bee never so pleasant and plausible yet his end is sorrowful A good man begins like a Tragedy but ends like a Comedy but a wicked man begins like a Comedy and ends like a Tragedy Of those twenty Kings of Israel eight of them at least if not nine died violent and untimely deaths the other twelve though they died in outward peace yet had they no true inward peace how could they when their Idolatries and spiritual whoredomes were so many The higher men are the more hurt they do and so are neerer to judgement The Kings of Iudah as they were generally better men so they lived longer than the Kings of Israel did and came not to such untimely ends but few of them viz. four Ioash Ioram Ammon and Iosiah Besides in the time of the twenty Kings of Israel there were but eleven over Iudah and of those Asa by name reigned in the time of eight several Kings of Israel and those of five several stocks and Uzziah reigned in the time of six other Kings of Israel of which four were of other stocks It will bee our wisdome to take heed of those rocks against which so many have ruined themselves Sit aliorum perditio tua cautio Let us live by Rule not by Example and then peace will bee our portion Gal. 6. 16. The godly Kings of Iudah that kept purity of worship and went hand in hand with the Prophets they flourisht and were victorious So good it is to walk in Gods way and keep to the Rule Iosh. 1. 8. But the Kings of Israel had loss upon loss and vexation upon vexation by enemies within and without till they lost Life Land and all So ill it is to walk in carnal by-paths against the Rule 3 That Succession Antiquity Universality are all but vain without Verity The Idolatrous Israelites here might have pleaded all these for their Idolatry it doth not therefore follow that it was just and good Genebrard confesseth that of fifty Popes in order succeeding one another there was not one good They were all Apostatical not Apostolical 4 Such as partake with wicked men in their sins shall also bee partaker with them in their plagues Israel here follows their twenty Kings in Idolatry and now they must follow them into captivity and ruine if you would not partake of others plagues bee sure not to partake with them in their sins Rev. 18. 4. HAving shewed before that Impudency in sinning is a forerunner of some judgement approaching I shall now give you an instance of the Impudency Anarchy and Blasphemy of our times The bare reciting of this sinful sensâ—less Pamphlet is confutation sufficient Here you may see what is the fruit of that New-light so much cried up by some it teacheth men to disturb Congregations in Gods worship to bring Pockets to Church and openly to sow them on the Lords day to rail on Gods Messengers and call them lyars to lay their Bastards at Gods Door and father all their abominations on Gods Spirit The Spirit moved and the Lord saith this deluded hardened wretch â—tirred him up and commanded him c. And shall not the Lord visit for these things if Rulers will not hee certainly will These talk much of the Spirits leading them but certainly it is an ill spirit that leads them for God is the God of order and not of confusion his Spirit is the Spirit of Peace and Purity and teacheth men to act according to the word and not according to their own brain-sick deluâ—ions As for his vain scrupulosity in not daring to use the ordinary names of our months and daies you may see this excellently confuâ—ed by the learned Dr. Reynold in his Commentary on Haggai Ser. 1. p. 8 9 10. In the year 59 in the fourth month the last day of the month being the fifth day of the week THe presence of the Lord was felt within mee and in his light hee let mee see what his pleasure was with mee it was clearly shewed mee that I should go to the Steeple-house in Aldermanâ—uâ—y the first day of the week then following and take with mee something to work and do it in the Pulpit at their singing time At which sight I found much unwillingness in my self yet sitting still with â—rembling there came upon mee a very great weight pressing mee to obedience yea a heavy burthen was felt till I had consented to obey I felt the weight to encrease oh how hard my unwilling will was to yeeld but the Lord strengthened mee and having consented I found a little ease yea I did resolve in the power of the Lord to go on I purposed to carry with mee a Pocket to sow So the first day morning being the third day of the fifth month after the eighth hour one of the Doors being open I passed in thinking to get into the Pulpit to hide my self there till their singing time and then get up and work The Sexton spying mee took mee by the arm said friend wee do not open yet for it was their Communion day as they call it but the time I was in I found that the Galleries were higher than the Pulpit and I should have been discovered before their song began I see the Clerk giving Tickets so about the ninth hour their Doors were opened I passed in as one of their own crowd the throng came in very fast I gat into one of the Galleries to spy if possible to get in the Pulpit some way but I found none at that time so they began to read and I came down and finding no way to get into the Pulpit I came to the Table that is prepared so that troop I thought to get upon