effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places See how the Holy Ghost addes one word to another to shew that true peace is in the wayes of righteousnesse When mens counsells for peace are crooked counsells when they seek to company for their own ends when the honour of God is not their chiefe ayme it is just with God to dash all their counsels Esay 59. 8. The way of peace they know not saith God there is no judgement in their goings they have made them crooked paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace Wee know the going of the serpent is a crooked going it windeth up and downe so many of our Counsellours of peace have gone like the serpent winding up and down in their carnall policies they have not studied reformation but have gone in crooked paths and therefore they have not brought forth the true effects of peace But one place more Jer. 31 22. 23 there the Lord speaks concerning his people when he was about to deliver them from captivity How long wilt thou goe about that is you doe not goe on the right way you compasse about you have fetches because you meet with difficulties in your way you thinke by this and the other meanes to avoid troubles but you shall goe on by a right line what followeth The Lord blesse thee O habitation of justice and mountaine of holynesse Apply your counsels that way to be the habitation of justice and the mountaine of holinesse and the worke is done execute justice upon Delinquents that are in your power and set up the Ordinances of God in the right way of worship this is the way of peace but all this while you have gone about Oh that the Lord would deliver our great Councellours from going about They shall lye down safely Hence the note is onely Gods great peace bringeth safety if we patch up a false peace upon base unworthy terms we must not thinke to lye downe safely but when God promiseth peace a fruit of the Covenant then it followes they shall lye downe safely And I suppose none of you would have any other peace but such a peace as you may lye down safely and how is it possible do you think to lye downe safely except the Lord destroy the evill beasts out of the land Levit. 16. 5. I will give peace in your land and you shall lye down none shall make you afraid and I will rid evil beasts out of the land What is the end of our war at present but to rid the evill beasts out of the land that so we may lye downe safely Can you thinke to dwell safely so long as so many evil beasts are in the land so exasperated in the highest of all their rage Certainly if a false a patched up peace should be made we were in a mosticle hazardous condition especially those who have appeared for the Cause of God those who have shewed themselves most faithfull can they lye down safely in the confidence of such a peace If you have the hearts of true English-men you would never desire any other peace but such as that you and your brethren your Ministers those Worthies in Parliament and all that have appeared for you might lie down safely Acts 27. 13. 14. we reade of a soft south-wind that did blow but the Text saith that not long after there arose a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon So if we have a false peace it may blow as that south wind did softly and still but certainely the Euroclydon the most terrible East-wind will follow after 2 Chron. 20. 30. Jehosaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest Suppose we should be quiet and our owne base counsells and our own complyances should give us rest our quiet would never be security to us there will follow dismall things afterward but then is a people quiet safely when we have the peace of God together with the God of peace Phil. 4. 7. The peace of God which passeth all understanding keepe your hearts c. Then presently ver 9. The God of peace shall be with you We would be loth to be without the God of peace then let us be loth to have any peace but the peace of God You all desire Peace and so the adversary pretendeth take heed you be not deluded with vaine words that which is your end in your thoughts is their means to drive on their designes and what good will such a peace doe you you will be no more secure then you are nay your danger will be far greater Lastly It is Gods owne gift to his people to lie down safely this is a further blessing then to have the sword and bow broken We may be delivered from our enemies but the Lord may afrighten our consciences with visions in the night hee may terrifie us a thousand wayes and take away our security therefore he addeth this I will breake the bow the sword and then I will make thee lye down safely This is a precious mercy it is recumbere faciam in fiducia dormire faciam fiducialiter I will make them lye down in trust and confidence that is to go to bed without any feare of evill to befall us afore morning We little thinke what a mercy this is we have many nights lain down safely and slept quietly and have risen up comfortably you have little thought of the giving God the glory of this mercy Many of our brethren in divers Countries would prize such a mercy now when they goe to bed they are afraid of every little noice and can scarce have a nights sleep but are scared with Alarums What would some of our brethren give for one nights rest in safety that when they goe to bed they might say Well I hope this night I shall have quiet rest I shall not be troubled in my sleep In many places they are faine to sleep in the day and to watch in the night It is true here in the City you can go to bed sleep quietly rise quietly Oh think of those that want this mercy and give God the glory of it while you have it It is a mercy of God a great priviledge for the Lord to quiet our spirits in these dangerous times in these trembling dayes when every mans hands are upon his loyns Many who are free from their adversaries yet through the timerousness of their spirits they cannot have one nights quiet they turmoyle themselves without own thoughts Oh what will become of us hereafter It may be the enemies will come and we shall lose our lives and all will be rent-from us and this makes them that they cannot lye downe safely though danger be not yet neere them but when God is pleased to quiet the heart in the most troublesome times of all that you can lye down securely this
of the Church the Church and those that they beget must still be called the only sons of the Church But how are his children said to be children of whoredomes for suppose his wife were a wife of whoredomes yet being marryed to her wherefore should the children be called children of whoredomes To that is answered first some think upon this ground because the children when they are grown up would â—ollow the way of the Mother as it is an usuall thing for children to doe Therefore you need to take heed how you enter into the state of marriage for your childrens sake for they will follow the way of the Mother Or rather this because though they were begotten after marriage yet they will ye under suspition as those that are illegitimate the children of one that hath been a whore are always suspected and so in repute they are the children of whoredome and fornication so saith God these people are to me as if their children were accounted the children of fornication For the whole land hath gone a whoring from the Lord. In going a whoring they goe a whoring Or as Arius Montanus reads it In going a whoring they will goe a whoring They not only Have but Will they are set upon it they are stout-hearted in the way of Idolatry and it is the land that hath done it the people of the land But why the land It is a secret check to them and upbraiding them for their unthankfulnesse that when God gave them so good a land the land of Canaan that flowed with milk and honey the land of promise that was given to them for that end to nourish up the true worship of God yet they made this land of God this land of promise to be a land to nourish up most vile Idolaters Gone a whoring from the Lord. From Jehovah The more worthy the Husband is the more vile and odious the adultery of the Wife What to goe a whoring from God the blessed God in whom is all beauty and excellency and turn to blind Idols What change the glory of the invisible God into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse with what indignation doth God speak it Oh you that go a whoring after your sinfull lusts this one day will lye most dreadfully upon your consciences that it was from the Lord that you departed from that infinite glorious eternall Deity the fountain of all good to cleaye to whoring after base sinfull and unclean lusts Who is this whore and what are the children that are begotten to Hosea by her So he went saith the Text He obeyeth We must obey God in things that seem to be never so much against our reason and sense He tooke Gomer the daughter of Diblaim The word Gomer here commeth from a word that signifieth perficere and defiâ—ere perfection defection and so it may be applyed both ways Some apply it to perfection that is a harlot that was perfect and compleat both in her beauty and in her fornication and wickednesse The word likewise signifieth rottennesse corruption and consumption so indeed are all things in the world as soon as they grow to any perfection they begin to decline quickly to corruption All things but spirituall do so they indeed grow still higher and higher This Gomer we will take rather in the second acceptation of it as it signifieth rottennesse and consumption Who was this Gomer She was the daughter of Diblaim The signification of that is according to so me one that dwelleth in the desart in reference to that famous desart Diblath of which we read Ezek. 6. 14. noting the way of Idolaters that they were wont to goe into woods and desarts and there to sacrifice to their Idols But rather according to most Diblaim signifieth bunches of dryed figs that were the delicacies of those times so Oecolampadius from which hee hath this note That rottennesse and corruption proceedeth from voluptuous pleasures from delicacies and the like Though the pleasures of the flesh be very contentfull to you yet destruction is the fruit of them destruction is the daughter of sensuall pleasures and delights of all your delicacies so saith the Scripture Rom. 8. 13. If you live after the flesh you shall dye Phil. 3. ult whose God is their belly whose end is destruction But to apply it to Israel Israel was as Gomer the daughter of Diblaim that is the people of Israel were now neare to destruction and were the daughters of sensuall delights they gave over themselves to sensuall delights and pleasures It is the usuall way of Idolaters those that forsake the true worship of God to give up themselves to the pleasures of the flesh Sensuality and Idolatry doe usually goe together When the people of Israel sacrificed to the calves what did they They eate and dranke and rose up to play that was all their worke and good enough for the worshipping of such a god a calfe You know the more we began to decline in the worship of God we began to be so much the more sensuall there must be Proclamation to people to take their sports and delights upon the Lords day And indeed it is that which doth usually accompany defection in the way of Gods worship False worship doth not lay such bonds upon mens consciences for the mortifying the lusts of the flesh as the worship of God doth Therefore those men that love most to take liberty to the flesh they are those that are soonest enticed to ways of superstitious worship Jerem. 24. 9. there Jeremy setteth out the state of those naughty Jewes that were in Captivity by that similitude of a basket of rotten figs sutable to this and the more confirming this interpretation that Israel was as Gomer the daughter of Diblaim that is rottennesse the daughter of sensuality Thus for the Mother But now the son that is begotten of this mother it is Iezreel Call his name Iezreel The Prophet must give a name to his son It is that which belongeth to Parents to give names to their children Godfathers and Godmothers as they call them are of no use for this or for any thing else that I know and in such holy things as Sacraments are we must take heed of bringing in any unusefull any idle things But here we are to enquire First the signification of this name Secondly the reason why the son of Hosea must be callied by this name Iezreel You shall find a great deale in this before we have done with it For the first Iezreel signifies the scattered of the Lord. For the second there are five reasons may be given why the sonne of this Prophet must have this name put upon him Iezreel First that hereby God might shew that he did intend to avenge that blood that was shed in Iezreel Secondly to shew that Israel had lost the honour of his name and was no more Israel but Jezreel There seemeth to be much neernesse
himself did never plead against Christ or any of his wayes but with some colour or other And surely these men they judge thus by looking into their own hearts because they know that if multitudes should come to them it could not be but their hearts would be lifted up and so they judge accordingly of others But suppose it be so for men are men that they through corruption should have any such workings of pride yet do they say anything that is not justifyable do they preach any thing that is not according to Christ If they do not then thou shouldest encourage that which is good and for that which is evill leave it to the comming of Christ except thou canst by prayer and instruction helpe it have it I say till then It is worse to envy at multitudes now then it was for the Jewes to envy Paul for multitudes following him for they thought they could contradict him in what he said and therefore for multitudes to follow such as should preach false doctrine as they thought Paul did they had some colour to contradiet it to envy at the multitudes following of him But here it is nothing else in the World but meerely because multitudes come to heare the world for though men first preach in corners privately where they have but a few auditors they will cry out of that well if they preach publikely and multitudes come to hear them then they cry out of that too Nothing at all will please them nothing can please envious malicious spirits If we keep our selves retyred that hath exceptions enough and then if we come in a publicke way they have exceptions at that too Here the grosse malice of Satan appeareth because when the thing it selfe cannot be excepted against he runs to the intention of the heart and to mens inward aymes and bringeth an argument of that which he knows no man can confute him in For who can say that that is either true or false that men have inward aymes of pride and vaine glory and selfe-seeking in multitudes flocking after them Here is the wisdome of the serpent too because if they goe upon other objections they may be answered by all the world that there is no such thing as they pretend but put them from those and you may be sure to have such objections as no man can answer Oh but say they their hearts are lifted up and they have ill aymes and ill intentions Who can answer this objection no body can confute this Nay suppose we professe before the Lord Christ as we desire to stand before him and answer it at that day what our aimes are this will not serve the turne Why then my brethren if men will choose such an argument as cannot possibly come to be answered before the coming of Christ and so make a stumbling-block there is no help but men must stumble and fall and many do stumble and fall and break their necks How ever let wisdom be justified of her children Let the Saints rejoyce in this that multitudes come in to the ministery of the word and to the Ordinances of Christ Be careful and wise in this and give no just occasion and therefore give all due respect that possibly can be to those you have the most relation unto This you see is the promise that there shall come in such multitudes to the Church But marke then how the promise runnes As the sand of the sea Rabbin Ezra makes an allusion from hence as the sand saith he keepes the waves of the sea from breaking in and drowning the world so Israel so the Saints keep the world from being drowned by the waves of Gods wrath I doe not say that this is the intention but surely the intention of God is mainly this to signifie the multitudes that should come into the Church Onely this allusion we may make use of as being a comfortable and pretty allusion and it is a truth that Israel is as the sand of the sea not onely in respect of multitudes but as the sand to keepe in the waves of Gods wrath from drowning the world and indeed were it not for the Church of God the waves of Gods wrath that are abroad would overflow all the world and the world would quickly be confounded So saith hee When the waves of Gods anger seeme as if they would overflow all the world they doe but see Israel and they returne back presently they retire and are not able then to overflow the world as they do desire The Fift Lecture HOSEA I. the middle part of the 10. verse and so on And it shall come to passe that in the place where it was said unto them Yea are not my people there it shall be said unto them Yee are the sonnes of the living God Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together c. ACcording to the division of the Chapter that Luther makes in his Comment upon this Prophet we are already in the second Chapter for he makes the second to begin at this tenth verse From that to the end we have the promise of mercy to Israel that was to come and both to Israel and Judah together Some part of Gods promise of mercy to Israel we finished the last day now wee are to proceed And it shall còme to passe in that place c. In that place This according to some hath reference to the very land of Canaan it selfe that God will have a very glorious Church there specially in Jerusalem before the end of the world come and many Prophesies seeme to encline that way as Zach. 12. 6. Jerusalem shall be inhabited againe even in Jerusalem This cannot be meant onely of their returne out of Captivity that was in Cyrus his time for the Text saith In that day thee feeble among them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as the Angel of God God will poure upon them the spirit of grace supplication and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and the like It shall be in that day when Jerusalem shall be inhabited even in Jerusalem The return of their Captivity at first was not so glorious there was not such a glorious spirit put upon them then for if you read the story of it you shal find that even all that while they were in a contemptible condition before the nations about them But God speaks here and in other places of a glorious returne of their captivity coming into their own Land The Jewes have a tradition Buxtorfius hath it in his Synagoga Iudaica That there is a time that all the Iews where ever they dye shall come through Meatus terrae and rise againe at Jerusalem and therefore some of them when they think they have not long time to live they will sell all their possesions and goe and live neere Jerusalem at least to prevent the trouble of coming
Thes 2. 3. And Rev. 1. 3. 3. All the world wandred after the beast and ver 2. The dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority and Rev. 17. 1. The whore sitteth upon many waters ver 15. these many waters are interpreted to be peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues The whore doth sit upon them that is doth use them vilely and basely sits upon the very consciences of them in a base manner as if a whore should sit upon you and keep you under And who doth she sit upon upon peoples and multitudes It is not an argument then of a true Church though they are multitudes though they be as the sand of the sea though they be gathered together for they must be gathered under one Head under Christ Secondly Neither is Unity a sufficient argument of the verity of the Church They shall be gathered together they shall be joyned together in one way with one consent yea but if it be not under one Head it is like Simeon Levi brethren in iniquity It is not enough that we be one unless we be one in Christ and that is a blessed union For a great deale of unity there shall be under Antichrist Revel 17. 13. These have one minde saith the Text and they shall give their strength power to the beast And Chap. 18. 5. Her sins reach unto heaven Their sins cleave together and so get up to heaven A union of persons and a union of sins there is amongst them The Turks have as little dissention in their Religion as any they are allunited in one But well may that garment have no seame that hath no shape And a notable place we have in Ps 83. 3. 4. 5. c. They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee There are two or three things exceeding observable in this Scripture about the union of the wicked First you have ten Countreys joyn together against the Church there is the Edomites the Moabites c. And it was not by accident that they joyned but in a deliberate way They consulted together and not onely consulted together but consulted together with one consent or heartily for that which is translated there with one consent the word in the Hebrew is with heart together their very heart was in the consultation but mark it was against thy hidden ones so ver 3. Let them consult together let ten of them consult together and consult with their hearts yet the Saints are Gods hidden ones Esay 54. 15. They shall surely gather together but not my me whosoever shall gather together against thee shal fall forthy sake My brethren Peace though we should all desire it yet so as not to have it too chargeable Peace is then too chargeable when it costs us the losse of any truth Take heed of any such costly Peace There may hand joyn in hand together in wickednes yet they shal not be unpunished Pro. 16. 5. And Nah. 1. 10. While they are folded together as thorns they shal be devoured as stubble fully dry Wicked men they are as thorns to prick the people of God yea they are thorns â—â—lded together there is a peace amongst them yet though thâ—â— be folded â—â—gether they shall bedevoured they shal be 〈…〉 division that comes by truth is beter then the union that comes by 〈…〉 a noble speech of Luther Rather then any thing should fall of the Kingdome of Christ and his glory let not onely peace 〈◊〉 but let heaven and earth goe too so wee should love peace The Sixth Lecture HOSEA 1. the middle of the 11. verse And appoint themselves one head and they shall come up out of the land FRom the tenth verse to the end you have heard that God promiseth mercy to an Israel that he will in time raise up although for that Israel to whom the Prophet spake they shall go into captivity and shall not returne as Judah did Secondly Mercy to Israel and Judah both together and that first In the multitude that shall be gathered secondly In the excellency of the state of the Church at that time above that which was before before they were People but then they shall be Sons Thirdly In the unity of them Israel and Judah shall be both gathered together under one head Some time was spent in the last exercise about unity and the excellency of the unity of the Churches wherein we laboured to convince you that uniformity in judgement and practice is not necessary for unity in the Churches for unity of hearts It is a false principle that runnes in the world that all men must needs be brought to believe and doe the same thing or else there can be no peace If we would have light let in to us we must so prise it as to be willing that in the discussion of truths there should be some hazard of some differences in lesser things If a man have a house closed on every side with a thick brick-wall and he is so desirous to keepe his house safe and stronge that he will rather all his dayes sit in the darke then be at the trouble to have a hole digged or a few bricks broken to let in any light wee would accuse that man of folly It is true indeed we must not be so desirous of light as to break so much of the wall as to indanger the house we must keepe that safe but yet it is hard to let in light but there will be some bricks taken away and there must be some trouble A childe when he sees the work-man with his tooles breaking the wall and making a deale of rubbish hee thinks he is pulling down the house but a wise man knows it is but a little trouble for the present to let in light that shall be for the beauty of the house afterward Unity in the Churches is lovely But it must be under one head They shal be gathered together and appoint themselves one head Agreement in errour is farre worse then division for the sake of truth Better to be divided from men that are erroneous then to agree with them in the wayes of their arrour A company gathered without the covenant of peace without the observance of Gods law is a headlesse multitude saies Bernard it hath much of Babylon but little of Jerusalem What is this Head I finde both the Jewes and divers of the â—â—cyents Theodoret Cyrill and others that would make this head to be Zerubbabel and onely to have reference to the returne of the people from their Babylonish captivity But this certainly cannot be upon these two reasons to name no more First Because both Israel and Judah are here to joyne together and to returne out of the land there it was Judah and not the ten Tribes that were delivered from their captivity Secondly Compare this Scripture with others that are but a Comment upon it and we shall finde that
what should be the way of my worship in the purity of it oh say you that is novelty a new thing and you will not have it thus you answer not any arguments but you cast it off and say you will not have it wel saith God go and serve your idols if you will not heare me if you beset upon your will go and serve your idols and take your fill of your own wayes And Psal 81. 11. My people would not hearken to my voyce Israel would have none of me they were all upon their will they would not and they would not Marke what followeth so I gave them up unto their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne counsels You will have your owne counsels and your own will and so God giveth you up to them and then woe to you you are undone Secondly you that are set upon your wils in that which is evil know God is and will be as wilful toward you as you can be toward him Marke that notable Text Jer. 44. 25. that setteth out the notorious height of wickednesse that was in the people of those times who were so wilfull You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths fulfilled with your hand that which is evill you vvill not say onely you will doe it but will doe it indeed Well saith God you have done so you have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands saying We will surely perform the vowes wee have vowed we have vowed it and we will do it we have vowed to burne incen use to the Queen of heaven and to pour out drinke-offerings unto her you will surely accomplish your vowes and surely performe your vowes you will goe on in your false wayes of worship mark what followeth in vers 26. Therefore heare ye the word of the Lord I have sworn saith the Lord you have vowed and I have sworne I have sworne by my great Name that my Name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt and vers 27. Behold saith God I will watch over you for evill and not for good and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be confirmed by the sword and by the famine untill there be an end of them God will be as resolute as you for your hearts as the stoutest sinner that liveth you will and God will who shall have their will think you Answer to this you stout hearted that are farre from God answer to this you stout children and stout servants and stout wives you will and you will A wilfull man never wanteth woe If you will be resolute in any thing my brethren be resolute in that which is good be resolute in the work of repentance say with David Psal 32. I will confesse my sins indeed I had many thoughts to come and shame my selfe and open all unto God but I could not get it off at length I grew resolute and said I will and I have sworne to keepe thy righteous Precepts and as they Mic. 4. we will walke in the name of the Lord our God and as Joshua I and my Louse will serve the Lord doe you what you will wee are resolute that wee will serve the Lord. This is a blessed wilfulnesse indeed Oh that 〈◊〉 â—outnesse and wilfulnesse of many people might be turned to this resolution for God and for his truth especially carry this note home with you you that have had such often expressions of your will you will and you will and turn it unto the willing of that which is good I will follow my lovers sayes the Apostate from God I will follow my Beloved who is altogether lovely let every gracious soul say Fourthly For she said She profest what she would do Profest sinnes are shamefull sins It is an evill for sin to lye lurking in any ones heart but for sin to breake out into open profession this certainly is a great evil This is to prove that she had done shamefully because she said she would doe so and so There is a great deceite in the hearts of many men they are ready to say I were as good say so as thinke so I say so and perhaps others think so it were as good for me to speake it as to keepe it in my heart My bre thren there are two deceits in this kind of speaking First you suppose that when you speak so that therefore it is not in your heart and you make this comparison of what is in other mens hearts and in your mouthes as if the evil were in your mouthes onely and in their hearts onely as if the comparison lay thus they think and doe not speak and you speak and doe not thinke Here is the deceit for if you speake you have it in your hearts too you both speak and think for so the Scripture telleth us that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh if you speak maliciously you have a malicious heart if you speake uncleanly you have an uncleane heart if oathes be in your mouthes you have a profane heart Secondly here lyeth the deceit as if you should have lesse in your heart because you vent it as your passionate people will say I were as good vent my minde and then I shall be quiet Thou deceivest thy selfe the venting of the corruption that lyeth in thy heart will never lessen it but increase it It is not with the corruption of our hearts as it is with liquor in a vessell that the more is let out the lesse is within it but as it is with a fire in a house that when it is kindled within and burstech out there is not lesse within because it bursteth out no the more it bursteth out and flames the more still bâ—rneth within and as it is with water in a fountain when it bursteth out of the fountain there is never a whit the lesse water in the fountain it may rather have the lesse by stopping and fire may be lessened by smothering Know therefore that professed wickedness it is aggravated wickednesse It is true secret sins may be more dangerous in regard of the cure but they are more abominable to God in regard of the open dishonour that is done to him by them The aggravation of the blood that was shed by the people that God speakes of Ezek. 24. 7. it is set out thus The bloud that was shed saith the text it was not poured upon the ground to cover it with dust that it might not cause fury to come up to take vengeance you did not conceale the blood you did not cover it but set it upon the top of a rock what then Not being co vereâ— but being professed and lad open this did cause fury to come up with vengeaâ—â—â— against them Gods anger would have been against them if they had shed blood though they had covered it but to shed blood
looking upon God when we pray to him as a God of mercy and we present our selves in our humiliations before the mercy seat but know this that the mercy seat will doe us no good without the blood of Christ faith must take this blood of Christ and sprinkle it tender it up to God his Father for the atonement of our souls and procuring mercy to us and not only so the blood of the Bullock the Goat must be sprinkled upon the Mercy seat but before the Mercy seat we must not only thinke there can be no mercy obtained from God but by the blood of Christ but we cannot so much as have accesse to Gods Mercy seat without the bloud of Christ we must not dare to enter but by the bloud of Christ by him we have accesse to God we must all know that all sinners are banished from the presence of God and must not have accesse to Gods presence as they are in themselves Lastly this day divers times is called A Sabbath of rest that is A Sabbath of Sabbaths so it is in the Originall as one of the principall Sabbaths that they had I did not handle it amongst the Sabbaths because it comes in now more fully amongst these solemne Feasts there must be more rest in the days of atonement then in other of their solemn days There was that permitted in other solemn days that was not permitted in that day this may teach us that in the dayes of fasting above any dayes we must get our souls now separated from the world there must be a rest in our hearts a rest from sinne a rest from the world it must be a Sabbath of Sabbaths unto us Now notwithstanding God had given this solemne charge for this day of atonement yet Theodoret tels us that in his time they did so degenerate that they spent this day in sports and made it a day of mirth God grant that the ordinariness of our days of atonement do not grow to this abuse as in some places it is amongst us the most solemne things that ever God gave charge of yet in time degenerates this is the wickedness of mens natures One note more from this Feast of Expiation it is very probable that the Grecians did use yearly in expiation of their Cities in this manner from this we find amongst the stories of the Grecians that yearly they were wont to have a kind of Expiation in imitation of the ways of the Jewes the Devill is Gods Ape for their Cities there was this custome amongst them certaine condemned persons were brought forth with garlands in manner of Sacrifices and these they were wont to tumble down from some steep place into the middst of the Sea and so offer them up to Neptune the God of the Sea with these words Be thou a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for us The like was used by them in the times of publique infection when they had a publique plague in their Cities they used such a custome to make an atonement betweene them and their gods there were certain men brought to be sacrificed to their Gods for an expiation for ther whole City and they were caled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word was used to signifie that that man that was to expiate for all the sins of their Cities to their gods ing all their sins upon him was as filth and 〈◊〉 scouring and from these two words it is probable the Apostle in the first to the Corinthians 4. 13. hath that expression by which we may come to understand the meaning of those two words there We are saith he made the filth of the world and off-scouring of the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these alluding to the manner of the Grecians We for our parts saith he are made as despicable and odious in the sight of the people and are as much loaded with the curses of the people as those condemned persons that had all the sins and curses of the people put upon them and so were offered to their Gods for expiation The Feast of Tabernacles The history of this Feast is Leviticus 23. 34. soon In this Feast the Iews were to take boughes off the trees and make booths of them and those that write the history in their manners they tell us they used to carry boughs in their hands because they could not make booths Tabernacles for all the people therefore some of them thought it sufficient to carry boughs in their hands and those boughes they carried in their hands they used to call Hosanna Do thou fold or prepare the Hosanna so they used to speake therefore when Christ came to Ierusalem they cryed Hosanna to the Sonne of David the meaning was not a prayer Save us O thou Son of David as some would have it but Hosanna to the Son of David that is we hold forth these boughs to the honour of the Messiah the Son of David the Feast of Tabernacles was to point at the Messiah now for those boughs ver 40. there was a command of God they should be goodly trees palme trees or willowes of the brooke but why so it noted that thereby they were to acknowledge Gods goodnesse to them that whereas they had lived forty yeares in the wildernesse in a dry place they were now brought to a fruitfull land that had much water which was a great matter in those hot countries and therefore they were to bring the willows of the brooke and goodly trees those that might most testifie the goodnesse of God to them in delivering them from the wildernesse and in bringing them to a land filled with sweet and pleasant brookes Things observable in this Feast are First The end why God would have this Feast kept he aimes at these three things chiefly First God would have them to blesse his name for his mercies to them in the wildernesse when they dwelt in boothes it was appointed by God that they should once a yeare call to minde the great mercies of God while they were in the wildernesse and there dwelt in boothes and had no houses for so was the dispensation of God towards his people for forty yeares they were to be in the wildernesse and not to have a house in all that time but dwelt in Tabernacles this was a mighty worke of God and manifested his exceeding protection over them and provision for them and his providence every way to provide necessaries for them even as well as if they had had the strongest houses that so many hundred thousands should live forty 〈◊〉 and never have a house built all that time was a great work of God God â—ould declare thereby that the Church in this world is not to expect any certaine habitation any setled condition but to be as men that dwell in tents removing up and downe and so seeke after a City that hath foundations as it is said of Abraham At this Feast the Jewes were wont to reade the
that Wherefore when they were freed from these three things they sung and they had cause so to doe Secondly they sung when they came out of the land of Egypt because they were not only in bondage in Egypt but in bondage under such a King as they were For consider who it was they were in bondage unto and then to be delivered from such a one you will see a great deale of cause of singing First They were bondslaves to a King of another Nation Sometimes Country and kindred sake moves compassion but being they are another people to whom I have no relation but only to serve my own turn of them it is no matter what becomes of them let become of them what will I will have my will satisfied Secondly They were bondslaves to a King that ruled by an arbitrary government there was but only his will for the Law he would impose what work and taskes he pleased how many bricks they should make and when he pleased take away their straw and yet tye them to the making of so many He governed them not by Law but by Will Thirdly They were in bondage under a cruell King for the King of Egypt in the Scripture is called a Dragon for his cruelty Ezek. 23. 3. I am against thee Pharaoh King of Egypt the great Dragon Fourthly They were in bondage to a King that was an unnaturall King unnaturall in this that whereas the predecessors of the Israelites had saved Egypt from perishing saved the King and his family from destruction yet now without any regard to what was done in former times by their predecessors having this power over them he oppresses them in such an unnaturall way so as not to care what becomes of them Fiftly they were in bondage under a King that extreamly hated them that is a sad thing The text saith Gen 43. 32. The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is abomination to to the Egyptians Sixtly They were in bondage under a wilfull King under one who was extreamly set upon his will we scarce read of any one that ever was so set upon his will as this King was therefore they expresse this in their song which they sung when they came out of Egypt Exod. 15. 9. blessing God that they were delivered from such a wilfull Prince as he was In the 9. ver four times he saith I will I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoile I will draw my sword and the 5. time my lust shall be satisfied upon them but of this before to be slaves to such a one so wilfull was a very hard condition the like wilfulnesse hath beene already noted of the King of Babylon and none the like to these two the Text speakes from their deliverance in part from under the King of Babylon also as if he should say you did sing when you came up out of Egypt merrily and joyfully because you were delivered from such a cruell wilfull King you shall sing so again for you shall be delivered again from as cruell and wilfull a King as he was for though not all the ten Tribes came back yet it was in part fulfilled by many of them Lastly They were in bondage under a suspicious and jealous King lest they should grow to a head and so rise against him one that thought he could not confide in them It is a sad thing when there are such suspitions between King and people or people and King that they cannot tell how to confide and trust one in another VVell might they sing therefore in the dayes of their youth when they came up out of the land of Egypt Thirdly They sang when they came up out of the land of Egypt because they were freed from what hindered them in the exercise of Religion Hence Moses told Pharaoh that they must goe three dayes journey in the wildernesse to sacrifice unto the Lord their God they could not sacrifie in Egypt therefore when they got freedome to sacrifice to God this being a great mercy they sang praises Fourthly They sang because their deliverance out of Egypt was wrought with a mighty hand The Lord hath triumphed gloriously hath been gloriously glorious so the words are And ver 6. 7. marke what the Text saith Thy right hand O Lord is become glorious in power The hand of God is God strength but the hand of God in power is a greater expression Thirdly Gods right hand in power Fourthly the right hand of God is glorious in power this is a mighty expression surely great was the work of God in their deliverance Yea and further ver 16. it is said by the greatnesse of his arme not onely Gods hand but his arme and the greatres of his arme was in this work And ver 7. In the greatnesse of thine excellency Mulititudine celsitudinis excellentiae superbiae elationis in the greatness of thine excellency in the multitude of thy height of thy elation of the lifting up of thy self in a kind of pride for the word that is translated excellency there signifies pride too Now God did this in the multitude of his excellency that is he did such a work toward his people as had a multitude of glorious works in it which if you could analyse anatomize you should find a multitude of glorious excellencies in it Well might they sing when God did manifest himself thus All these will afford us excellent and sweet observations by and by Further they sang when they came up out of the land of Egypt because this mercy was the fulfilling of a promise made long before Therefore the Scripture telleth us That at the end of 430. years even the selfe same day the hoasts of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt which hath reference to a promise and sheweth us that God kept his word to a very day Hence in vers 2. of that 15. of Exod. He is my God I will prepare him an habitation my fathers God and I will exalt him As if hee should have said O Lord thou didst make promises to our forefathers now thou hast fulfilled those promises thou art our God and our Fathers God This made them sing so merrily 6. It was a mercy that was got by much prayer for Exo. 3. 7. it is said they cryed unto God by reason of their afflictions there were many cries sent up to God before their deliverance and now being delivered this made them sing 7. It was a mercy that came after a sore and long bondage Lastly It was a mercy that they had in order to that great mercy of leading them into Canaan therefore this they mention as the especiall cause of the joy of their hearts in the 13. vers Thou hast guided thy people in thy strength to thy holy habitation and ver 17. thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountaine of thine inheritance The holy Ghost speaks here as if the thing were done already
in by this great weight Yea bnt saith God to the end you may be farre off from the sinne of injustice I require you that you shall not have them in your bag God would have us keepe off from the very verge of that sin much more from Idolatry which is the worst of all other sins Esay 65. 4. God chargeth upon them not onely that grosse sin of eating swines flesh but the having the broth of abominable things in their vessels They might say we will not eate the flesh but the broth no you must not have the broth of abominable things in your vessels you must keep far off from that defilement As the Lord speakes concerning corporall whoredome Prov. 5. 8. Remove thy way farre from her come not â—igh the doore of her house If one should say we will not commit uncleannesse but saith God you must remove your way farre from her and you must not come nigh her no not nigh the door of her house We must not come nigh Popery we must abstaine from the appearance of that evill Certainly it hath beene a great distemper in many of your hearts that you went so nigh to Popery as you did especially at such a time when the Tyde was comming in upon you for a man to stand just at the edge of the water when the Sea is comming in especially if you were in some places as in the Washes in Lincolneshire is a dangerous thing to stand at the edge when the tyde is going away is not so dangerous Many of you when the tyde of Popery and superstition was comming in you stood upon the very edge of the water this is a sin you ought to repent off Fifthly The Church of God must not worship God after the manner that Idolaters doe They must not so much as make mention of the names that they did certainly then not worship God in the way they doe in those orders and ceremonies they doe Marke that place Deut. 12. 30. Take heed to thy selfe that thou be not snared by following them and that thou enquire not after their Gods saying How did these Nations serve their Gods even so will I doe likewise thou shalt not doe so unto the Lord thy God then verse 32. VVhat thing soever I command you observe to doe it thou shalt not adde thereto nor diminish from it Thou shalt not so much as enquire how others serve their gods what their rites and ordinances and manners of serving their gods are thou shalt not worship me so How then Lord as if they should say Whatsoever thing I command you observe to doe it thou shall not adde thereto nor diminish from it you must keep to that and not think to worship me as others worship their Idols The Lord stands much upon this though the thing in it self may be a lawfulthing yet because it is the way idolaters have taken up therefore it must be rejected Ezek. 44. 20. there is a comandement to the Priests of the Lord that they shall not shave their heads nor suffer their lockes to grow long but they shall round their heads so the words are rendred in the old Translation and Arius Montarus translates them thus They shall clip equally their haire all of a length that is the meaning of the words as they are in the Hebrew the old Translation They shall round their heads is according to the Hebrew the reason is this because the idolatrous Priests according to the several ways of worshipping their Idols some did shave their heads others wore long hair as women some kind of Idols being worshipped one way some another all in excessive ways Now saith God to his Priests they shall doe neither so that it is the injunction of God to his Ministers there to be Round-heads Certainly the Devil forgate that place of Scripture when he raised up such a name to reproach men by which we have the expresse word in Scripture for the injoyning it And on the other side when the Scripture would describe the enemies of God it describeth them by the contrary the hairy scalpe I remember I have read of the Lacedemonians when they would reform excesse in apparell which was much amongst them at length their consultation came to this result that there should be a law made that none but harlots should weare pompous and rich cloathes and by this meanes they thought to get all women that regarded their credites or chastity to goe in meane or plain cloathing by this they attained their end If by the light of nature once a thing come to be in fashion with harlots grave and sober Matrons will never meddle with it then what Idolaters take up in worship the Church should abstaine from if there must not be a conformity betweene Matrons and harlots there must not be a conformity between the Church of God and Idolaters Arius Montanus in a Treatise he hath De Templi fabrica saith that the Jews report of 13. tables of stone that were in the outward court of the Temple at which men were wont to pray all of them were made saith he so as some looked to the North some to the South and some to the West but not one toward the East And so God built his Temple that the Holy of holiest was not to look toward the East but toward the West Hence Ezek. 8. 16. it is said that â—â—â—se that worship 〈◊〉 the Sunne with their faces toward the East they had their backs upon the Temple so that it appeareth plainly that the Temple stood west-ward and upon this ground because there were so many among whom the Jews lived that were worshippers of the Sun and in their worship they would ever look Eastward upon that very reason the Lord would not have the Holy of holiest built Eastward Now all your Chancels in England are built Eastward and it was wont to be the order and way of your superstitious worshippers evermore when they came into such a place to look Eastward and bow solemnly themselves not only to the Altar but Eastward I have seen my self a Bishop who when the Communion table was set down in another place he neglected that and goes to the East end of the Chancell and boweth himself though his back was upon the table And you shall observe it in all your burials the corps are laid East and West for this end by some that when Christ comes to Judgment they may be ready to look him in the face it being a trodition that he shall come from the east You must not think that those who do not follow the old customes of superstition do it out of crosness of disposition it is the same way that God brought his people up in when they saw Idolaters worship one way they should worship another way we must take heed of borrowing from the Egyptians if you borrow from them you may think it riches but you may get their