lightnings or bring to their assistance the stormy wind and tempest Can they Marshal out the host of heaven or put the Constellations in array or command the stars in their courses to make resistance for them Can they bind the influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion or bring forth Mazzaroth or conduct Arcturus and his sons Are they able to stand before a jealous God and to support themselves in the presence of a consuming fire When a fire is kindled in his anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the earth and set on fire the mountains Are they able to sustein the fierceness of his anger Who among them can dwell with the devouring fire who among them can dwell with everlasting burnings Briefly and plainly to lay the case before you This people had heard with their ears of the drowning of the old world Their fathers had told them of the fire and brimstone which devoured the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha They had been witnesses of the plagues brought upon Egypt They beheld the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu They stood by when the earth opened and swallow'd up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram Thousands had fallen beside them and ten thousands at their right hand for their ingratitude and rebellion and yet they behave themselves so as hath been represented Judge in your selves was it wisdome thus to requite the Lord Were they or were they not a foolish people and unwise We have now seen the case of Israel the wickedness of their folly and the folly of their wickedness hath been in some measure displayed before us And who is it that doth not feel his indignation rise against this people Ah sinful people ah people laden with iniquity ah Seed of evil doers O ingrateful stiff-necked brutish nation do they thus requite the Lord that made that redeemed that established them Shall not his soul be avenged on such a nation as this Let God arise let his enemies be scattered It is but just and equal That he should consume them in a moment and blot out their remembrance from under heaven Nay but who art thou O man that judgest another and dost the same things thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God Alas how easy is it in a figure to transfer all that hath been spoken to our selves to our selves of this Auditory to our selves of this Kingdome in every capacity private and publick Ecclesiastical and Civil 1. Hath not God dealt with us as he dealt with Israel 2. Have not we requited him as they requited him come now and let us briefly reason together For Gods dealing let us examine our selves upon the heads of enquiry here propounded by Moses in this song Hath he not 1 made 2 redeemed 3 established us in every sence and every capacity 1. Hath he not made us is not he the Creator and preserver of every individual person is not he the disposer of nations the ordainer and orderer of Governments the framer of Churches in the world In every one of these respects it is evidently true which is delivered by the Psalmist It is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture As for our personal being and better being was it not from him that we received our bodies our Souls our Christianity all things pertaining unto life and Godliness His eyes did see our substance yet being imperfect and in his book were all our members written He poured us out like Milk and curdled us like Cheese cloathed us with skin and flesh fenced us with bones and sinews he breathed into us life and spirit saying unto us Live he stamped his Image upon us and made us live the life of men he commanded and we were born of Christian Parents and baptized and regenerated into the life of Christians Hath he not made us Nay doth he not make us and that every moment by susteining and upholding our being by the word of his power by reteining our spirits and preserving our souls and life by his perpetual visitation by his protection and by this provision There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retein the spirit All the wit and industry and ability of all men upon earth nay of all creatures in Heaven and earth cannot make one grain of any one of that infinite variety of things which are of necessity or of convenience to the being or preservation of men And this is so evident upon the shallowest consideration that S. Paul at Lystra when the Priest of Iupiter supposing him to be Mercurius would have sacrificed to him appealed to this instance as Gods witness against the depth of heathenish darkness He left not himself without witness in that he gave rain from Heaven filling our hearts with food and gladness So that in this respect our case is parallel Hath not God dealt with us as with Israel Hath he not made us as to our personal and private condition Again if we consider our selves in our national publick capacity in reference to the political frame of our Government Civil and Ecclesiastical hath he not made us It was in reference to this that Moses asked this question and to help their understandings in the consideration of it for an answer in the words immediately following he calls upon them to search into their antiquities to reflect upon their original and their progress Remember saith he the days of old and consider the years of many generations Ask thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy Elders and they will shew thee And now I say unto you Have you not heard long ago how he hath done it and of ancient days how he hath formed it How he hath formed the state of this Island and reformed it how he never gave over working hewing and fabricating the inhabitants thereof till he had framed them into a glorious Christian Kingdom from a most barbarons savage scattered heathen people How oft did the Almighty Potter bring the stubborn matter to the wheel overturning overturning overturning To civilize the Britains he brought in the Romans then tried the Britains again When that would not frame to his hand he brought in the Saxons and upon them the Danes then tried the Saxons again and lastly he brought in the Normans nations oâ— various tempers customs religions languages caused nation to rise against nation c. he committed them one with another and among themselves he mixed and blended them by many a terrible combat and collision he polish'd the roughness of them by the leaven of the Gospel he fermented and matured and sweetned them till by his powerful word light was brought out of darkness out of a multitude of disorders and confusions sprang forth a noble well-tempered form of Government System of Laws Civil Ecclesiastical equal at least to those of any other people harmoniously conspiring if
of softning or breaking the hearts of men have hardened them yet more in a course of desperate impenitency Felix trembled and said Go thy way When Belshazzar had plundered the house of God and was making a debauch in the bowls of the Temple the finger wrote upon the wall MENE We read that his countenance was changed and an horrible trembling seised upon him The joynts of his loyns were loosed his knees smote one against another But we do not read that he repented As plagues were multiplyed so Pharaoh's heart was hardned and he vowed he would not let the people go When the King of Moah was in anguish and in great distress it was a warning to repent but he took his eldest son and offered him for a sacrifice upon the wall When the Philistines made war upon Saul and God was departed when he was sore afraid and his heart greatly trembled who would not expect that he should have turned unto the Lord But he betook him to the witch of Endor Of Ahaz it is said that in the time of his afflictions he trespassed yet more this is that King Ahaz And we read that when a great hail fell from heaven Men blasphemed God because of the hail But if single mercies and judgments will not do perhaps an intermixture of them may prevail and indeed for a rational and probable means to bring men to repentance the imagination and apprehension of man can go no higher than to such a case where signal and remarkable judgements are brought upon some and others are reserved and set as it were upon a Scaffold or a Theatre in safety to behold the destruction and plagues brought upon their Neighbours Turbantibus quora ventiâ— Eterra magnum alterius spectare laborem So Israel beheld the Egyptians drowned in the Sea and Corah and his complices swallowed in the Land This is the case of those whom God preserves from plagues and famines and desolationsâ— making them survivors and spectators of the destructions brought upon the world And this was the case of the persons in the Text this one would think should never fail When he slew them then they i. e. the remnant sought him and turned them early and sought after God Nay but even this hath also too often failed for even these did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble The Israelites that were spectators of the drowned Egyptians within three days fell to their wonted murmurings The Spectators of Corah within one day returned to their rebellion The Prophet Amos in the name of God complains of those that had escaped famine and pestilence and sword I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha and ye were as a fire-brand snatched out of the burning yet have ye not turned unto to me saith â—he Lord. And this was the case of the persons in the Text they were a remnant of men which were not killed by the plagues brought upon others yet they repented not Notwithstanding the wonder according to reason we have seen the truth and observed the frequency of such mens impenitency in common experience it remains that we consider the consequence and issue of it observable from the Text as it stands in relation to the Antecedent parts and the Catastrophe of this Vision They repented not And the seventh Angel sware that there should be time no more no more time for repentance no longer reprieve of vengeance III. Such an obstinate impenitâ—ncy is the gâ—eat provocation of the wrath of God such a final impenitency is the certain forerunner of final ruine and destruction Though the Lord be patient he is not of wood or of stone though he be slow to anger yet he can be angry and who can stand before him when he is angry It is true that the Lord is strong and patient and our God is provoked every day he is long-suffering and abundant in forbearance though we do evil an hundred times he prolongs our days He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss He considers that we are but dust and as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Many and many a provocation on he passes by for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Bâ—hold he stands at the door and knocks By his word and by his works and by his spirit striving to reclaim the sons of men that he may keep their life from the pit and their soul from perishing But if all this cannot prevail what can reasonable men expect or what would they have him do His Spirit shall not alway strive with men his aâ—used lenity and his affâ—onted longanimity will be turned into jealousie and fiery indignation For to him belongeth venâ—eance as well as mercie and the God to whom vengeance the God to whom vengeance belongeth will shem himself God will arise and his enemies shall be scattered He will awake as one out of sleep he will rouze himself up as a Gyant refreshed with wine He will smite his enemies in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame Thus saith the Lord of hosts the mighty one of Israel Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Concerning persons the Apostle tells us of a certain state wherein there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement Concerning Nations our Saviour tells of a certain measure of iniquity Fill ye up the measure of your fathers so false is that conceit so dangerous is that imagination that men can repent at any time at leastwise whensoever they shall have a mind to it They shall call saith God but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired of by you Saul enquired of the Lord he answered him not neither by prophets nor by Vrim nor by dreams Esau sought for repentance but he found no place for repentance though he sought it even with tears I gave her space to repent but she repeâ—ted not behold I will cast her into great tribulations This is a case which I tremble to insist upon What tongue can express the misery of such a person or such a people How dreadful is this place surely this is none other than the gate of Hell the entrance of all the miseries of this world and of the world to come 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual and 3. Eternal 1. The Lord shall send upon them cursing and vexation and rebuke until they be destroyed and perish quickly They shall be cursed in all their interests and concernments in their estates in their credit in their relations in their persons Cursed shall they be in the city and cursed in the field cursed in the basket and in the store They shall become an astonishment and a proverb
Prophet brings men to the consideration of the love of a mother to her child can a Mother forget her Child c The love of Man to God holds no proportion to his Excellency and his goodness and the heart in judging of it is obnoxious to mistakes and very deceitful therefore the Apostle helps us towards an apprehension of it He that loves not his neighbour whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen So seeing the turpitude of mens ingratitude towards God is ineffable and inconceivable it will be requisite to speak a little of the unworthiness of Ingratitude towards men and leave you to work out this proportion Look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth so great nay infinitely greater is the unworthiness of ingratitude towards God And here I shall not go about to Philosophize or to demonstrate the turpitude of ingratitude from the nature of it à priori The immediate and evident corollaries of natural principles admit only of jejune and inconsiderable reasonings in that kind of demonstration The odiousness of ingratitude is such a corollary naturally and immediately flowing from that universal maxim quod tibi fieri non vis c. which runs thorow all morality and is not only the last resolution of Philosophy but of the Law and the Prophets and of the Gospel Luke 6. 31. As therefore when an abstruse proposition in matter of speculation is resolved into an evident principle or the contrary position into a plain absurdity the demonstrator goes no further but hath said all that can be pertinently spoken so when a piece of doubtful Morality is once resolved into this grand absurdity Omnia dixeris there is no more to be added all the rest is diminution It is said that Lycurgus made no law against ingratitude because Nature had made one to his hand So some Divines have observed that there is no direct precept against ingratitude in the Scripture though many testimonies in effect against it because it was needless as being supposed from the light of nature and below the Majestie of the spirit breathing in the scriptures to insist upon it according to that of our Saviour If ye love and do good and lend to them that love and do good to you what thanks or reward have you do not Sinners or Publicans even the same To that spirit which commands us to return good for evil to love our Enemies c. it were a kind of whiffling to command the return of good for good or prohibit the return of evil to those that have obliged us Now of these two sorts of ingratitude the former is branded in Scripture with an everlasting brand in the case of Pharaoh's Butler to Ioseph the Israelites to Ierubaal and the like But the ingratitude in the text being of the latter kind and of a deeper die and because the easiest Criterion of turpitude is the detestation of all the sons of men I shall endeavour à posteriori by some Scriptural instances of the resentments of that kind of ingratitude to shew the turpitude of it in the judgment of mankind We read when Ioash had commanded Zachariah to be stoned who was the son of Iehojada who had preserved him in his minority from Athaliah and made him King his own servants conspired against him and kill'd him in his bed because he remembred not the kindness of Iehojada but slew his son When Abner apprehended ingratitude in Ishbosheth whom he had made King consider his resentment he was very wroth he said am I a Dogs head who do shew kindness to the house of Saul God do so to Abner and more also except I translate the Kingdome from the house of Saul He swore he would do it and he did perform it It may be objected that the resentment of these men was not so considerable as that the Judgment of Mankind should be collected from it those that conspired against Ioash were Zabad the son of an Ammonitess and Iehozabad the son of a Moabitess and we read not any great praise either of the piety or morality of Abner Consider then the resentments of Gideon of whom it is said the Lord was with Gideon and of David the man after God's own heart When the men of Succoth dealt ungratefully with Gideon he said that he would tear their flesh with the thorns of the Wilderness and he took the Elaers of the City and the thorns of the Wilderness and with them he taught the men of Succoth i. e. he taught them better Morals When Nabal had upon a good day the shearers feast refused to give a little something that should come to hand and put a scorn upon David who is David c. then David said Surely in vain have I kept the goods of this fellow and he hath requited me evil for good so and more also do God to the enemies of David if I leave of all that perteineth to him before the morning light any that pisseth against the wall But it may be said that these be men of war and those enraged and these might be the resentments only of their passions Proceed we therefore to the resentments of Prophets and righteous men let us have recourse from David the Captain to David the Prophet and the Psalmist when he was composed and when he was composing Had it been my open enemies then I could have born it but it was thou my friend and my acquaintance it was an act of Treachery and Ingratitude let death seise upon them and let them go down quick into hell And again They rewarded me evil for good let them be confounded let them be as the dust before the wind let their way be dark and slippery and the Angel of the Lord persecute them Shall evil be recompensed for good saith Jeremy I stood before thee to speak good for them and they have digged a pit for my soul Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by force of the sword c. Briefly because it may be objected that all these were the resentments of a legal and Mosaick spirit consider the resentment of the lamb of God the son of man the man Christ Jesus when he denounced a woe upon Corazin c. Woe unto thee Corazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre c. Therefore it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for thee Consider his resentment when he pronounced a judgment upon Ierusalem O Ierusalem Ierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee How often would I have gathered thy children and ye would not Behold now your house is left unto you desolate From what hath been spoken of the resentments of men the wickedness of Israels ingratitude against God though it cannot be