Dr. CONANT's SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domest Mart. 14. 1692 3. SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions By JOHN CONANT D. D. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard and at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey over-against Stocks-Market MDCXCIII TO THE INHABITANTS OF NORTHAMPTON AND More especially to those of the Parish of All-Saints there Christian Friends and Neighbours THough my great Age and the Infirmities attending it have lately constrained me to quit my relation to you yet I still account my self obliged to endeavour to promote your spiritual welfare what I may In order whereunto I here lay before you some few of those plain and practical Sermons which I formerly preached unto you hoping that they may take better effect than when you heard them from the Pulpit which that they may so do is the unfeigned desire and earnest Prayer of Your truly loving Friend and Servant JOHN CONANT THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER IT may be expected by those that knew the Reverend Author of these Sermons and the publick Station he was in for several years in the University of Oxford as Divinity Professor there that he should have gratified the World with another sort of Work I mean his Lectures which he there read and were composed with great Learning Accuracy and Judgment But that it seems is not so agreeable to his native modesty who chuses rather to live and die in a kind of obscurity than be set as a city upon an hill and values himself more upon the relation he had to a Parochial Cure and the Capacity he was in of doing good to the Souls of men than of being in one of the most publick Stations in the Church And in which since by the privation of his Sight and other Infirmities of Age he has been no longer able to serve he thought by publishing some Practical Discourses preach'd in that Auditory he might though he be in a sense dead yet speak and be useful among them The Discourses are such as he usually composed plain and practical and suited to the meanest Capacity And if there be any thing that is not of that nature as there is very little and which the Author had he had the last perusal would have revised the Error is to be imputed to the Publisher to whose care and choice they were committed The Discourses sometimes are large and comprehend several Sermons though under the title of one but it was not well to be prevented and which the Reader however may well dispence with The Two last Sermons are Occasional but the occasion such as will render them profitable to all John Williams THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOHN III. 19 20. AND this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Pag. 1. PART II. Verse 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light pag. 25. SERMON II. JER XIII 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil pag. 59. SERMON III. EPHES. V. 15 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil pag. 89. SERMON IV. 3 Ep. JOH Ver. 3. Beloved thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers pag. 183. SERMON V. PROV XXII 2. The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all pag. 219. SERMON VI. 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humhled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers And prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God pag. 257. SERMON VII 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and his people but they would not hearken c. pag. 337. SERMON VIII LAM III. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 403. SERMON IX LAM III. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 463. SERMON X. EZRA IX 13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping SERMON XI HAG. II. 6 7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts The First Sermon JOHN III. 19 20. And this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved I May take it for granted That by light here we are to understand the light of the Gospel And yet hereby Christ is not excluded who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light in the seventh and eighth Verses of the first Chapter of this Evangelist and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true light v. 9. Both these lights may well go together Christ the Sun of ousness and the Gospel the Rayes which he sends forth to enlighten the dark World Besides as Christ conveyeth to us the Gospel so the Gospel conveyeth Christ unto us and offers him unto the World in both which respects it's called the Gospel of Christ Gal. 1.7 Gal. 1.7 he being as the Author so the principal subject of it Now both these Lights are come into the World Christ by his Incarnation and together with
of his Judgments If such impudent and daring Sinners should be still found amongst us it were enough to set the Town on a light flame once more Let such persons tremble to think what awaits them if nothing will reform them Lastly Be you all in general persuaded to lay aside your mutual Animosities and Contentions which have been and still are the great reproach of this place Be kindly affectionate one towards another with brotherly love as the Apostle exhorts Be all of one mind study peace and the things that make for peace Live in peace and the God of peace and love shall be with you The Eleventh Sermon HAG. II. 6 7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts WHen God turned the Captivity of his People The First Sermon Preached in the New Church at Northampton Rebuilt after the Fire brought them out of Babylon and once more settled them in the Promised Land they for a time wholly minded their own private Interests and Concernments but the publick Worship of God as if that had been no man's concern was no man's care The settling of their own Affairs and the building and beautifying of their own Houses so took them up that the building of the House of God was little regarded It was long before this work was begun and after it was begun and some progress had been made therein it met with several difficulties and interruptions and went on very slowly as for the most part Church-work doth Two great obstructions there were that did not a little retard and set back this work the one from without the other from within 1. The Enemies from without omitted no endeavours left no Stone unturned whereby they might hinder the building of the Temple And what by their own Power what by their Interest in the Persian Court they so far prevailed as to put divers stops to the work 2. The obstruction from within was their lukewarmness and indifferency their want of Zeal and forwardness for promoting and carrying on the work Now as well for their encouragement against the Enemy as for rousing them up and exciting them to more Zeal and Activity in promoting a work in which the honour of God and the happiness of that people were so much concerned God was pleased to raise up and imploy two extraordinary Persons the Prophet Haggai and the Prophet Zechary The Prophet Haggai having reproved them for their slackness and negligence for their minding their own private Interests and Affairs with the neglect of what referred to the honour and publick worship of God and having laid before them the several Judgments which for this their Sin God had inflicted on them doth assure them of God's gracious presence assistance and blessing in this weighty undertaking if they should in good earnest engage therein and pursue it with that Zeal Vigour and Industry which in the managing and carrying on of so important an Affair was requisite Now to the end that all objections against it might be answered and whatsoever was or could be matter of discouragement might be removed the Prophet in the words that I have read doth meet with the principal things which carnal Reason might pitch upon and make use of for the cooling of their Zeal the rebating of their Industry and the slackning of their Endeavours Were the Adversaries and Opposers of this work numerous and potent How many and how potent soever they were the Lord of Hosts would be with his People and stand by them He would exert and put forth his Almighty Power in the behalf of them he would shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land He would make all things give way to yield and stoop to his design and rather than any thing should hinder the accomplishment of what he had undertaken to do for his People he would turn the World upside down Now upon their late return from Seventy years Captivity in Babylon was their outward condition strait poor and low Were they altogether unfurnished with those rich supplies which were necessary for carrying on so costly a work That this might not trouble or dishearten them God tells them the Silver is his and the Gold is his He had all the Riches of the World at command and could plentifully furnish and supply them if he saw good Now that the platform of the House was drawn out and the Foundations of it were laid did the meanness of it discourage rhem Did it seem a poor and contemptible thing in comparison of Solomon's Temple How mean and despicable soever it might be in the eyes of any of them and how far short soever it was likely to be of the Splendor and Magnificence of Solomon's Temple yet God promiseth to fill that House with Glory and that the Glory of that latter House should be greater than the Glory of the former Were the frequent commotions and changes of the World and the inconstant and variable state of things in those parts of the World such as promised them little quiet and satisfaction in the enjoyment of God's publick worship when the Temple should be finished For allaying of these their fears as the close of all that God had promised he tells them that he would give peace in that place And in regard that these were great things and such as an oppressed people that had been long under hatches and had but of late begun to put up their Heads could not easily belive God ingageth his Omnipotency and Faithfulness for the performance of them within the compass of four verses five times repeating that solemn form of words Thus saith the Lord of Hosts So I have given you the main Intendment and Scope of these words In the handling of them I must take them in order as they lye And because there are many things contained in them which might take up some Hours if they were treated of at large I must with all convenient brevity speak to Particulars and pass on from one thing to another as lightly and speedily as I can But as I go on where the matter will admit of it and as far as it shall be capable thereof I shall endeavour to bring it as near the present occasion as I may Though the words will scarce admit of any genuine proper and convenient division yet such a division as they are capable of you may thus take 1. We have a prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World
before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
light that it shine not in upon us to our conviction humiliation and conversion but he makes him shuttings to do it of our own darkness prejudices false Principles and corrupt Affections I now proceed to the third Objection taken from Matth. 11.25 where God himself is said to hide the Mysteries of his Gospel from the wise and prudent Before I say any thing to this Objection I must premise That God in this matter as in other things hath a Prerogative which he makes use of and according to which he acts where and when he sees good He being the Supream Lord of Heaven and Earth as our Saviour styles him in the place whence this Objection is taken may dispose of the knowledge of the Mysteries of his Kingdom as he pleaseth freely vouchsafing it to some and withholding it from others For what can restrain him but that he may do with his own as he pleaseth Matth. 20.15 as in the person of the Householder he argues This good pleasure of God is it into which our Saviour expresly resolveth his hiding the Mysteries of the Gospel from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.26 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight So then reserving unto God his Prerogative I answer That yet however God's hiding the Mysteries of the Gospel from men may very much and in many cases though not universally be resolved into the sins of men For whereas there are chiefly three ways by which God may be said to hide the Mysteries of the Gospel from men namely by denying to them or removing from them the means of knowledge or by with-holding the effectual influences and operation of his Spirit to accompany the means or by permitting Satan to blind them upon consideration of the matter we shall find That the sins of men have frequently very much to do therein and contribute much towards it though even here the good pleasure of God must also be acknowlegded who permits it so to be and doth not powerfully interpose to hinder it as he might do if he saw good 1. If God deny the Gospel to men 't is often through their thrusting it away and keeping it off from themselves when 't is approaching towards them How often do men oppose themselves against it How often do men decline the light and chuse to live in places of darkness where there are no means or as good as no means of knowledge So if God remove the Gospel from a People is it not most commonly not only for their own sin but by their sin that 't is removed God for their unfruitfulness and unthankfulness for their manifold sins against the Gospel most righteously gives them up to be active and instrumental themselves in putting out the light and sending the Gospel far away from themselves 2. If God continuing the Gospel and the means of grace to a People with-hold the powerful influences and co-operation of his Spirit what is this in effect but a leaving them to themselves suffering their lusts prejudices love of sin and hatred of holiness so far to prevail in them as to shut and bar up the Soul and forcibly to keep out the light or so far to weaken the influences and impressions of it as nothing to purpose is done upon them 3. If God hide the Mysteries of his Kingdom from them by giving them up to Satan to be blinded and deluded by him the thing is still upon the matter one and the same for as hath been at large shewed Satan effects his purpose much by their own sin and makes use of their Corruptions as the Weapons of his warfare against the Soul to keep it under the power of darkness Now to apply what hath been spoken VSE 1. This gives us a true account of the reason of several Practises of the Church of Rome As 1st Of their vilifying and disparaging the Holy Scriptures as defective and imperfect as obscure and uncertain and no better than a Nose of wax that may be turned any way at pleasure that may be moulded and shaped to every man's fancy as one of that Party wickedly and and profanely reproacheth it In short Their making the word written insufficient to inform us touching the matters of our belief and practise and to lead us in the way to Heaven without the help and supplement of Human Traditions 2. Of their refusing to bring their Doctrines Worship and Practises to the Test and Touchstone of the Holy Scriptures alone and of their setting up another pretended Infallible Judge of Controversies not admitting the Scriptures to be the common Umpire and Determiner of them 3. Of their shutting up the Book of the Holy Scriptures and forbidding it to be read by the People so taking away from them the key of Knowledge What 's the reason of these their ungodly and abominable Practises but this He that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to it lest his deeds should be reproved Their Principles are unsound and rotten wicked and abominable their Doctrine false their Worship Idolatrous their Usages vain and superstitious and therefore they hate the light of the Scriptures that discovers their Errors Cheats and Juglings therefore they decline the light and run away from it they defame and reproach it they shut it up and imprison it they do what they can to extinguish it and keep men in darkness wheresoever they have power to do it But blessed be God that we are not yet brought into bondage by them they have not yet prevailed to deprive us of the light of the Gospel we have free access to the Holy Scriptures the Bible lies open before us in our Mother-tongue O! may we never by our unthankfulness our not improving the mercies we enjoy and our other sins so far provoke God as that he should suffer the Land of our Nativity to be again overspread with that worse than Egyptian darkness VSE 2. This discovers the true reason why many that frequent Publick Ordinances love and affect such Preaching only as comes not too near the Conscience meddles not with their spiritual estate toucheth not their own particular darling and beloved sins A smooth and general Discourse that descends not to the concernments of their own Souls or it may be a serious and smart Sermon that reproves the sins of the Age or the sins of some particular Persons known to them those sins which they thomselves are not guilty of all this they can hear with much patience and perhaps with some delight Mar. 6.20 as Herod is said to have heard John Baptist gladly But if any man shall lay open and set before them the great evil of their own sins the unsoundness of their spiritual Estate while they continue in them the extream danger of their present condition the absolute and indispensable necessity of Regeneration of sincere and universal Repentance of sound Conversion
well-furnished House and I shall not need to go far to shew you a poor man's Cottage and so on the contrary And indeed 't is needful it should so be for as I have just now shewed neither of them could be without the other 4. The rich and the poor meet together in respect of the care and good Providence of God that is alike extended to both They are both under the same gracious Providence that looks after provides for preserves safeguards and protects them both though in ways somewhat different The rich cannot say that God only regards them and fixeth the eye of his Providence on them alone neither can the poor complain that God disregards or neglects them The Lord is good to all Psal 145.9 his mercy is over all his works And so far is he from having denied the poor the benefit of his gracious Providence that in consideration of their destitute disconsolate and helpless condition he hath many ways expressed his particular and tender care of them above others as may elsewhere be shewed Many Laws he hath made in behalf of them many promises he hath made to them he hath laid many charges on the rich to be helpful to them and made many promises also to encourage them thereunto 5. The rich and the poor meet together in the same possibility and capacity of exchanging Conditions with one another As the rich is capable of becoming poor so the poor is capable of being made rich The high Possessor of Heaven and Earth dispenceth outward things as he sees good and to whom he pleaseth He can fill the hand of the poor and empty the hand of the rich whensoever he will He can reduce the rich to such a condition as that the same hand that was wont to give relief shall receive it and he can advance the poor to such a condition as that the same hand which received relief shall give it Such strange turns of God's Providence we often see God according to his good pleasure putteth down one and setteth up another Psal 75.7 He raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with princes even the princes of his people Psal 113.7 8. And he maketh those that were brought up in scarlet to imbrace dunghills Lam. 4.5 And this leads me to the second Proposition The Lord is the maker of them all Which when I shall also have spoken unto I shall then make application of both together This latter Proposition may also be diversly understood The rich and the poor may be considered either as men or as distinguished from one another by the different adjuncts of Riches and Poverty Now take them under which of these two Considerations you please the Lord is the maker of them both 1. If you consider them both as men so God is the maker of them all And this whether we look back to the first origine of Mankind or whether we consider them as taking their beginning from their more immediate Parents If we look unto the Rock whence we were all hewen and to the Pit whence we were digged if we look back to our first Parents Adam and Eve in them we all came out of the hands of God by creation he framed the first man out of the dust of the Earth and the first Woman out of the Rib of Man and breathed into them the breath of life endued them both with an immortal Soul In this Divine Original in the honour of this miraculous beginning the poor man hath an equal interest with the rich man the rich cannot claim nearer kindred to Adam and Eve than the poor the poor can call Adam Grandfather and Eve Grandmother by as good right as the rich Again if we consider them with relation to their more immediate Parents as they derive their beginning from them setting aside for the present the external and accidental considerations of Riches and Poverty Honour and Dishonour and the like which will come to be spoken of afterwards so God is the maker of them both neither hath the Rich and Noble considered merely as a Man any preeminence in his birth above the poor and ignoble They both are alike fearfully made Psal 139.14 15 16. and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in their Mother's Womb In God's book were all the members of them both written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And when the Body was by the concurrence of admirable Wisdom and Power fitted to receive and entertain the Soul and made a meet Receptacle and Instrument for so excellent a Being God infused the Soul into the Body by his immediate Almighty Power giving it a being out of nothing and in a wonderful manner far transcending our apprehension united the one to the other And all this expence of Wisdom and Power he equally bestows upon the Rich and the Poor And then they both endure the same confinement and imprisonment in the Womb the Infant of the rich and Noble hath no more room there nor is it sooner at liberty than the Infant of the Beggar And so at the length the same Wisdom Power and Goodness sends them both alike into the World the Infant of the meanest the lowest doth not put the Mother to more pains in the birth than the Infant of the highest it may be to a great deal less And how different soever their entertainment is when they are come into the World yet God sends them both into it alike the Infant of the Prince that sits upon the Throne is as naked and shiftless as the Infant of the poorest that imbraceth Dunghills And thus we have seen that God is the maker of them both considered as men and that as such God makes the rich and the poor alike putting no disserence between them nor being at any greater expence of Wisdom and Power in making of the one than he is in making of the other 2. If the rich and the poor be considered as they are distinguished by those adjuncts of Riches and Poverty so likewise God is the maker of them both 'T is God's Providence that puts these external Differences between men The Lord maketh poor 1 Sam. 2.7 and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up as Hannah sings 'T is neither by chance nor by man's skill or industry alone that men become rich but by the blessing of God upon skill and industry and his over-ruling Providence that gives out and distributes these things by no other rule than the good pleasure of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Eph. 1.11 The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill Eccles 9.11 It is God that giveth men power to get wealth Deut. 8.18 This we see by
their Heads before he brings his Judgments upon them This is the usual Course of God's Providence he is not wont to surprize Men with his Judgments before he gives them any notice of the Danger they are in but he first warns them calls them to Repentance and threatens them if they shall still continue in their Impenitency and when all his Warnings are slighted then he strikes Thus he warned the old World and called them to Repentance by the Preaching of Noah all the while the Ark was a building Thus by the Prophets he called the Jews to Repentance and threatned them with the Captivity if they repented not Thus Christ himself called them to Repentance and in case of their Impenitency still persisted in threatned the utter Desolation and Destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem by the Romans Now the Reasons why God is pleased thus to deal with Sinners why he thus calls them to Repentance and gives them warning before he strikes are principally these two 1st That by their timely Repentance and Reformation they may prevent his Judgments and that he may have no Occasion of using that Severity against them which if they repent not will be necessary both for the Vindication of his Honour and in order to their Humiliation and Reformation God doth not afflict willingly Lam. 3.33 nor grieve the Children of Men. He takes no Delight in severe Courses unless where there is a Necessity of them in regard that gentler Means do no Good 2dly He gives Warning calls to Repentance and promises Mercy upon Repentance before he strikes to the End that if Men will take no Warning if sin they will and persevere still in their Sins whatever it costs them the Justice of his Proceedings against them may be cleared that the Sinners themselves may be rendred inexcusable and every Mouth may be stopped or be enforced to acknowledg that he is righteous even when he punisheth them most severely Vse 1. If God be so gracious as to call to Repentance and give Warnings before he strikes let us not be unconcerned at such Warnings let us not flight them or contemn them neither let our Hearts fret or rise against them but humbly patiently and thankfully entertain them and carefully improve them If God's Design in them be to prevent Punishments let not us by our slighting and disregarding them draw those Evils upon our selves which they are designed to keep off 'T is a dangerous thing not to take Warning when 't is given us when God gives it that he may bring us to Repentance by it The Admonition that Ely gave his Sons and the Representation that he made to them of the Danger of their sinful Practices was in effect a Warning from God but they regarded it not and what was the Issue but their Ruine The Spirit of God saith 1 Sam. 2.25 That they hearkned not to the Voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them Psal 68.21 God shall wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of every one that goeth on still in his Trespasses And the making good of this Threatning may They above others expect that still go on in their Trespasses against Warnings and especially if they still go on against many Warnings Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Do we believe this If we do how should we hasten to make our Peace with God especially such of us as have long gone on in our Sins against all Warnings and Calls to Repentance We may think perhaps that because we have been long warned and threatned and yet still God holds his Hand and forbears to strike we are in no Danger it may be the long Patience which God hath exercised towards us makes us regardless of his Warnings and now at length we begin to make account that we may safely enough go on in our old Ways there is no such Danger as hath been pretended But let us take heed how we thus abuse the Patience and Long-sufferance of God Whatever our present Thoughts are or how much soever we may now flatter our selves these two things we shall certainly find in the end 1. That how long soever God may bear with us yet he will fulfil his Threatnings in the end unless by our Repentance we prevent them Heaven and Earth shall rather pass away Mat. 24.35 than any one Word that he hath spoken shall fall to the Ground 2. The longer God is pleased to bear with us and wait for our Repentance the more severely will he handle us at last if still we refuse to be reclaimed Long-continued and abused Patience usually ends in Fury I kept silence said God to the wicked Man the obstinate Sinner that would not be reclaimed I had long Patience with him And thou thoughtest that I was such a one as thy self My Forbearance of thee made thee think that I was much of thy mind and had no great dislike of thy evil Ways Psal 50.21 22. But I will reprove thee and set thy Sins in order before thee Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you As if he had said Though I have born long with thee yet thou art much mistaken if thou thinkest that I will always bear with thee The longer I stay the more terrible and irresistible will my Judgments be when I reckon with thee and come upon thee at last Vse 2. If God be pleased to call Sinners to Repentance and to give them Warning before he punishes them then let all such as are punished justify God and acknowledg that they suffer justly and that they have no reason to complain of God but of themselves For having offended and deserved Punishment God gave them Warning before he would correct them but they would not take Warning If they be punished they may thank themselves they might by their Repentance have prevented it but they would not Vse 3. The same Consideration should also perswade Sufferers to bear with Patience what God is pleased to lay upon them for their Sins They have wilfully made themselves Sufferers and drawn those Evils upon themselves which God would never have inflicted on them if any Warnings would have made them sensible of their Danger and have reclaimed them if any Calls and Invitations to Repentance and Offers of Mercy would have prevailed with them taken them off from their sinful Courses and gained them Is there not all the reason in the World that they should undergo with Patience those Evils which they would bring upon themselves notwithstanding all the Means which God made use of to keep them off Hab. 2.10 Thou hast consulted Shame to thy House said God to the King of Babylon When impenitent Sinners will take no Warnings when they will not be perswaded to take that Course by which alone Punishments may be prevented they
Persons of higher Place shall make use of their Power to the wronging and trampling under their feet such as have no power to resist them and when they shall abuse their Abundance to Drunkenness Gluttony and Excess and to the accommodating and furnishing themselves with what may supply and feed their Pride and Vanity they take the ready Course to be despoiled and stripp'd of all those Blessings which they so horribly dishonour God by making them the Instruments of their Sin and turning them into Fewel for their Lusts And so I have done with that Observation In the next place Whereas Manasseh's hiding himself in the Thorns did him no service stood him in no stead at all whereas even in the Thorns where it was not likely that a Prince should have hid himself he was found out seized on bound with Fetters and thence carried to Babylon we may observe That when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means which they can make use of shall secure them from his Judgments This is a Truth that no Man can question who believes and acknowledgeth the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God and the Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty that he hath over all his Creatures 1. He being Infinite in Power can do whatsoever he pleaseth If he will work Isa 43.13 who can let him as he himself speaks Isa 46.10 My Counsel shall stand saith he and I will do all my Pleasure 2. He being Infinite in Wisdom as well as in Power knows how to contrive and order to dispose of and direct over-rule and govern all the Means conducing to their Punishment so as all the Wisdom of Men and Angels shall not be able to devise or contrive any thing that may counterwork his Counsels or hinder the Accomplishment of his Designs 3. He moreover having an Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty over all Creatures and they being all at his Command he can either imploy them as he pleaseth for punishing such as he will punish or forbid them to be helpful to them and restrain them from doing any thing whereby they may be rescued from Punishment Wherefore 1. When God will punish Men when he will have them suffer for their Sins he will sometimes disenable them to make use of any Means whereby they may help themselves When they should run away from Danger they have no Power to do it but stand still as Men confounded and astonished till their Fears overtake them and come upon them when they should act to secure themselves against the Evils which threaten them they cannot find their Hands as the Psalmist speaks Psal 76.5 When they should be casting about and contriving what may be for their Safety and Security they are at their Wits End and cannot make use of their Reason to relieve themselves in their Distresses Their Wisdom faileth them Eccl. 10.3 as Solomon speaks 2. Sometimes again when they contrive and consult for their Safety God blasteth their Counsels and turns them into Foolishness when they make use of Means God makes the very Means which they made use of for their Preservation an occasion of their Ruine As Sisera betaking himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life Judg. 4.15 16 17. lost it and met with that Destruction there which by running thither he sought to avoid while he flies from the Sword he meets with a Nail that pierced through his Temples If they escape one Judgment they are overtaken by another Thus Sennacherib having escaped the Peril of the Sword abroad 2 Chron. 32.21 is slain at home in the House of Nisroch his God by those that came out of his own Bowels Thus God threatning wicked Men saith it shall be with them Amos 5.19 as if a Man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the House and laid his Hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Much to the same Effect God threatning Moah saith Jer. 48.43 44. Fear and the Pit and the Snare shall be unto thee He that fleeth from the Fear shall fall into the Pit and he that getteth out of the Pit shall be taken in the Snare When once a Man hath by his Sins made himself obnoxious to the Justice of God whither can he flee from his revenging Hand Whithersoever he goes he is sure to meet with an incensed God Whithersoever he withdraws himself he cannot run away from him who is omnipresent Can any hide himself in secret Places saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 23.24 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy Presence Psal 139.5 8 9 10. saith the Psalmist If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me If a Man be your Enemy and seeks to do you a Mischief you may possibly get you away from him and retire you to some Place or other where he shall not be able to find you or where he may not reach you Though Kings have long Arms as we say and can by themselves and by their Ministers and Instruments reach a great way yet they cannot reach so far but that sometimes such as have offended them makeâ— shift to get them out of their reach But if a Man shall have offended God if he shall by his Provocations have made God his Enemy whither can he betake himself where he may be without the reach of his Justice Surely he must go out of the World that would go away from God And if he should so do yet would he meet with God in the other World and even there would he fall under his Sin-revenging Justice Hence it is that God often speaks of himself as of one that hath such a powerful Arm and such irresistible Might that no created Power can rescue any out of his Hand when he hath determined to make them Instances of his Justice and of his fierce Indignation against Sin by inflicting exemplary Punishments on them Having threatned severely threatned to reckon with the wicked the obstinate and impenitent Sinner that in the height of his carnal Security thinks God to be altogether such an one as himself he at length concludes Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Yea before the Day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand Isa 43.12 13. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand For I lift up my Hand to Heaven and say I live
sure to perform his Promises you may depend and build upon it that if you be not wanting to your Duty he will never fail to deal with you according to his Word Heaven and Earth shall pass away Mark 13.31 but his Word shall not pass away What God hath spoken shall certainly take Effect 3. This is the best Course indeed the only Course which you can take to be satisfied concerning your Election When you find in your self the Work of Grace and the Fruits of true Faith and sincere Repentance true Holiness and universal Obedience a studious and holy Care and endeavour to please God in all things and to decline and avoid whatsoever is displeasing unto him when you find these things in your self you may thence certainly and infallibly conclude that you are one of those who belong to the Election of Grace for these things wrought in the Heart are Fruits and Effects of God's electing Grace and can be found in none but such as are his Children his Elect ordained to eternal Life Acts 13.48 Eph. 1.4 1 Thess 1.4 5. 2 Thess 2.13 Rom. 8.29 30. Col. 3.12 So then the Graces of the Spirit and that holy Change which is wrought in the Hearts of all sound and sincere Converts are Evidences of their eternal Election as may be gathered from the Scriptures last mentioned and therefore he that shall lay aside and neglect his known Duty and resolve to do nothing towards his Salvation until he knows his own Election must unavoidably perish because his Election cannot be known but by the Fruits and Effects thereof appearing in the Holiness of Mens Lives and Conversations 4. How many thousands perhaps Millions of glorified Saints may there be in Heaven who never made this Scruple or at least never suffered it so far to prevail with them as to hinder and withhold them from giving all Diligence to make their Calling and Election sure by an earnest Endeavour after Faith Repentance Holiness and all other Graces accompanying Salvation And so I come to the 6th and last thing in the Words namely What Manasseh gained or what he learned by all this Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God We may not think that Manasseh was wholly ignorant of God before some kind of Knowledg of God he had but he had no such experimental and effectual Knowledg of God as by these God's Dealings with him he attained That Knowledg of God which neither works upon the Heart nor reforms the Life and Conversation is little better than perfect Ignorance of God It is said of the Sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2.12 that they were Sons of Belial and knew not the Lord They knew not the Lord to any purpose they knew him not in such a manner as they ought to have known him and this was Manasseh's Case while he went on in his sinful Courses and would not be reclaimed he knew not the Lord. Whatever Knowledg of God he might have it signified nothing in God's Account But Manasseh by those sore Afflictions which God brought upon him gained an experimental Knowledg of God's Power to subdue and humble the most stout and obstinate Sinners of his Justice and Holiness in punishing Sin of the Truth of his Threatnings and Denunciations of Judgments against Sinners of his gracious and merciful Disposition to pardon Sin and to be reconciled to the greatest Sinners upon their sound Humiliation and sincere Repentance of God's absolute Dominion and uncontrolable Soveraignty over the highest among Men pulling them down laying them low and raising them up again as it seems good in his Eyes The experimental Knowledg of all these things in God and relating to him did Manasseh gain by that severe Course which God took with him for bringing him home to himself when gentler Means would not prevail All this may be implied in those Words Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God Now to apply this very briefly Vse 1. This should reconcile us to Afflictions and make us willing to come under that severe Course of Discipline which is so beneficial to us and by which we gain so much Vse 2. It should also teach us to improve our Afflictions so as we may profit by them and to observe what we gain by our Sufferings for Gainers we shall be if we be not wanting to our selves This is apparently God's End in bringing them upon us who as a wise and careful Inspecter and a gracious Father orders all things to our Advantage And it becomes us to observe the same Method and accordingly to improve what he so graciously intends for our Good to be humble and patient to submit to his fatherly Chastisements and to repent of those Sins he chastises us for The Eighth Sermon LAM 3.39 40. Wherefore doth a living Man complain a Man for the Punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. THE main Scope of these Words is to direct us how we should carry our selves in time of Affliction The Direction which is here given us consists of two Parts 1. We are informed what we must not do we must not complain 't is most unreasonable and unlawful to complain whatever our Afflictions be So much is at least implied in that interrogatory Form of Speech Wherefore doth a living Man complain a Man for the Punishment of his Sins 2. We are taught what is to be done and what Course we ought to take when we are afflicted We must search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. So then the former part of the Direction is negative the latter affirmative As to the former of these some apprehend there is a special Emphasis in those Words Wherefore doth a living Man complain But all do not understand and explain that Emphasis in the same manner Wherefore doth a living Man complain that is as some conceive why doth any Man living complain of his Troubles and Afflictions seeing 't is the common Lot and Condition of all Men while they live here to be subject to Afflictions Man being born unto Trouble Job 5.7 as the Sparks fly upward as Eliphaz sets forth the Calamitous Condition of Man in this World Why should any Man living complain of that which befals all others as well as himself and which none may ever hope to be exempted from as long as they live upon this Earth Others explain the Emphasis thus Why doth a living Man complain say they forasmuch as while he is alive whatever his Sufferings be he is mercifully and favourably dealt with If he were treated according to the Desert of his Sins he should no longer be a living Man he should be cut off from the Land of the Living and cast into Hell Either of these Senses is agreeable enough to the Analogy of Faith but of the two the latter best sutes with the principal Intendment of this Place and with what follows in the latter Clause of the Verse
Though we may in some Cases take the Liberty of humble and reverent Expostulation with God yet we must take heed of any unmeet Reflections upon his Justice or Goodness and still remember our Distance from him that God is in Heaven and we are upon Earth as Solomon speaks Eccles 5.2 And that he giveth not account of any of his Matters as Elihu excellently represents him to Job chap. 33.13 So then all these sorts of Complaints being allowed us the Complaint condemned in the Text is that which either proceeds from or is joined with Impatience under God's Hand and Discontent with his Providence 't is the Complaint of an unquiet and sinfully disturbed Spirit which the Scripture sometimes expresseth by murmuring so here the Word in the Original may properly enough be translated and so the same Word is rendred Numb 11.1 Now the Evil and Unreasonableness of this kind of Complaint under the Hand of God may appear several ways 1. 'T is long before God takes the Rod in Hand to correct he bears long even with the vilest of Sinners and exerciseth much Patience towards them He is slow to Anger and of great Mercy Psal 145.8 He is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness Exod. 34.6 He takes no Delight in Severity further than we provoke him thereunto He doth noâ— afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men Lam. 3.33 And should noâ— this Consideration be of Force to suppress all our discontented Complainings and Murmurings that God is so unwilling to use Severity against us that he is so hardly drawn on to chaster us and that he never doth it till we have given him much Cause so to handle us 2. When we by our many Provocations have put the Rod into his Hand he is soon prevailed with to lay it aside again He is not of that implacable Temper that he can never be reconciled to those against whom he hath once taken up any Displeasure Upon our humble Submission to his Corrections and sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to reform what hath been amiss he is graciously inclined to lay aside his Displeasure He is ready to forgive Psal 86.5 most ready to shew Mercy as soon as we are in any measure fit for Mercy He doth not always chide Psal 103.9 nor keep his Anger for ever Was this only David's particular Experience and is it not ours also Do not we find how easy he is to be entreated and how ready to pardon Have we not had manifold Experiments thereof in the Course of our Lives And should not this perswade us quietly and patiently to submit to his Corrections while he is pleased to keep us under his chastning Hand 3. While he judgeth it fit to correct us he lays no more upon us than our Sins deserve When we are most severely handled and are apt to complain we have hard measure yet even then do not his Severities in the least exceed the Demerits of our Sins God doth us no wrong nor is it possible that he should for his Will is the Rule and Measure of Righteousness The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his VVorks Psal 145.17 The just Lord will not do Iniquity Zeph. 3.5 What Cause then is there or can there be of complaining where no Wrong is done With this the Church of God silenceth her self and stops her own Mouth when under the most dreadful Effects of God's Displeasure Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous saith she for I have rebelled against his Commandments And with this God stoppeth the Mouth of his People VVhy criest thou for thine Afflictions Jer. 30.15 Because thy Sins were increased have I done these things unto thee 4. When God afflicts most grievously his Severities are far short of what our Sins deserve Under the heaviest Weight of Punishment Ezra's Acknowledgment in the Name of the Church must be ours Ezra 9.13 VVe are punished less than our Iniquities deserve Our Sins deserve not only all the temporal Plagues and Judgments which we are capable of undergoing but Hell the unutterable and endless Torments of the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Wherefore whatever our Sufferings be in this World so long as we are on this side Hell so little Cause have we to complain that we have great Cause to be thankful that it is not far worse with us than it is 5. How much soever God is pleased to afflict us yet still we enjoy many Mercies in the mean time by which the Bitterness of our Afflictions is much allayed and the Smart of them much abated For one or two Crosses we are compassed about with Variety of Blessings In Sickness we have the Pity and Compassion of Friends and Acquaintance we have all that Service and Assistance that many Hands about us can afford us we have all those Means of Relief that either Love or Art can supply us with And all this besides those inward and powerful Supports which we have more immediately from God Again if it so be that God afflicts us in one of our Relations we have Matter of Comfort in divers others of them If we have Losses in our temporal Estate yet our spiritual and better Concernments are safe and untouched If Man be at Variance with us yet we have Peace with God How sadly soever we may in our Afflictions represent things to our selves God never stirs up all his Wrath against us at once nor suffers his whole Displeasure to arise God never so mingles the Cup which he puts into our Hands but that there are some Ingredients of a benign and friendly Nature to qualify the Malignity of the rest The Malignity did I say There is indeed no real Malignity in any of the Ingredients of that spiritual Physick which God administers to his All things have a kind and beneficial Influence for promoting our Good and furthering our highest Interest And where now is there any Place left for complaining Amidst so many Mercies can we yet find in our Hearts to complain Be it so that some things are not only unacceptable but very grievous to us Shall we receive Good at the Hands of God and shall we not receive Evil Shall we bear nothing at the Hands of him who is so good and gracious so kind and bountiful to us many other ways Let us not suffer two or three Afflictions so to imbitter our Spirits and vitiate our Palats as that we should not relish the Sweetness of any of those Mercies which in our most afflicted Condition we still enjoy 6. Add to all this that God hath a Sovereignty of Power and Dominion over his Creatures by virtue whereof he may deal with them as he pleaseth According to this his absolute Power though the Creature had never sinned yet God might expose it to such Miseries as exceed not the Benefit of that Being he has given it He that made the Creature out of nothing as he might turn it into
in time of Affliction 3. In time of Affliction we have some special Advantage towards the searching after and finding out of our Sins which at other times we are destitute of 1st Afflictions abate the Vanity and Lightness of our Spirits and make us serious and so more fit to reflect on our selves and consider our Ways At other times our Minds will not be so easily fix'd and our Thoughts held in and kept close to a Work which is not very pleasing to us and which we are apt to recoil from 2dly Affliction makes our Hearts soft as Job speaks it makes Impressions of God's Displeasure upon our Hearts and makes us sensible of his Anger When God several ways lays his Hand upon you then you say with them Deut. 31.17 Are not these things come upon us because God is not amongst us Because he in Displeasure hath withdrawn from us 3dly Affliction makes us teachable and willing to be informed of what is amiss it makes us desirous to understand what 't is for which God hath a Controversy with us God speaks to Men in their Prosperity and they will not hear as he complained Jer. 22.21 But Affliction as God sanctifies it to them makes them willing to hear and learn wherein they have offended Then they beg of God that he would teach them as Job did in his Affliction saying Make me to know my Transgression and my Sin chap. 13.23 Then God shews them their Work and their Transgressions that they have exceeded and openeth their Ear to Discipline ch 36.9 10. 4thly God in his Wisdom oft-times makes choice of such Afflictions to correct Men with by which he as it were points at their Sin When Absolom and Adonijah both of them their Father's Darlings rose up against their Father it was no hard Matter for David to discern what Sin of his God thereby intended to correct He too fondly treated both the one and the other and used much more Lenity and Indulgence towards them than was meet and by God's wise and just Permission they requite him accordingly This his Miscarriage David could not so well see before for inordinate Affection and fond Love are blind but now no doubt he saw and was made sensible of his Error in the Education of his Children That God's Judgments and Chastisements are often such as the Sin which he punisheth or correcteth for may be known by them is most agreeable both unto Scriptures and Experience How frequently may we observe that such Children as have been stubborn and undutiful to their Parents have afterwards been punished themselves with undutiful and rebellious Children that false and unfaithful Servants have met with such themselves when afterwards they have had Families of their own that unthankful Persons have met with as ill Requitals from those who have received Kindnesses from them that false and treacherous Friends have been betrayed by those on whose Friendship and Faithfulness they most depended It seems good to the Wisdom of God so to order and dispose of the Circumstances of his Judgments or Chastisements that either the Time or the Place or the Instrument or the Manner or the Matter and Object of them have often some Correspondence with and Relation to the Sin which he chiefly aims at 1. God sometimes points out Mens Sin by the time he takes to punish them A Man hath it may be often offended in the same kind and God hath for the most part still discovered his Displeasure more or less by somewhat that the Sinner hath met with or hath befallen him either at or presently upon the renewed commission of that Sin At length he offends in the same kind more notoriously and immediately thereupon some more severe Stroke lights upon him from the Hand of God than ever at any time before When thus it is what other Construction can a Man make of God's dealing with him but that he is chastned for such a Sin And as for Chastisements so for the Judgments of God they often light on Men either in the Act or presently upon the commission of their Sins When Nebuchadnezzar was saying in the Pride of his Heart Dan. 4.30 31 32 33. Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the House of my Kingdom and by the Might of my Power and for the Honour of my Majesty While the Word was yet in the King's Mouth there fell a Voice from Heaven saying O King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken The Kingdom is departed from thee They shall drive thee from Men and thy Dwelling shall be with the Beasts of the Field and they shall make thee eat Grass as Oxen. And the same Hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar So afterwards when Belshazzar was profanely carouzing and drinking Wine in the Golden Vessels of the Temple and praising his Gods of Gold and Silver Dan. 5.3 4 5 30. of Brass and of Iron and of Wood and of Stone In the same Hour came forth Fingers of a Man's Hand and wrote upon the Plaister of the Wall that Judgment which God had decreed should light upon the King and which accordingly that same Night was put in Execution And thus Herod as soon as he had finished his Oration and received the Applauses of the People crying out It is the Voice of a God Acts 12.21 22 23. and not of a Man Immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the Glory and he was eaten of Worms and gave up the Ghost 2. Sometimes the Judgments or Chastisements of God light upon Men in the very Place where they formerly had offended So God threatned to requite Ahab in that Plat 2 Kings 9.26 in that very Plat of Ground where he had sinned So whereas the Israelites had highly provoked God to Anger by building high Places in Tophet for their Idolatrous Worship and by burning their Sons and their Daughters in the Fire there God threatned there to punish them for their Idolatry and Cruelty Thus saith the Lord Jer. 7.31 32 33. The Days come that it shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom but the Valley of Slaughter for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no Place and the Carcases of the People shall be Meat for the Fowls of the Heaven and for the Beasts of the Earth and none shall fray them away 3. The Instruments by which God punisheth Men are sometimes the same which were the Instruments of their Sin Judg. 7. Thus the Sichemites whom Abimelech made use of as his Instruments and Assistants in slaying his Brethren were afterwards through God's righteous Judgment a Means of the Destruction of Abimelech himself 4. God often punisheth Men in such a manner as bears some Resemblance with their Sin The Scripture is full of Instances hereof If Jacob deceive his aged Father and make him believe he is his eldest Son Esau and so steal away the Blessing from his Brother