they would willingly be rid of you and think it would be better with the land when you are gone and they say Let the Lord be glorified they have pretences that they desire nothing but the peace of the Church and the glory of God they say even your brethren that cast you out they say Let the Lord be glorified but God shall appear for your glory and for their shame the Lord will honor you in that way of his Worship that you take up which is according to his Word though you suffer for the present much ignominie and contempt for it and though they may ruff it out for a while and seem to carry al before them having that which is countenanced more publickly but the Lord will appear at length to their shame the Lord will make them ashamed of their sacrifices Causes of shame There are four things that principally cause shame First Disrespect from those we desire honor from that is shame When one comes to any to a superior and expects respect from him and finds that he is cast out this is a great shame So they shall be ashamed of their sacrifices they make account that I should honor their sacrifices that they should have honor from me by reason of their sacrifices but I will cast shame upon them they shall have nothing but arguments of disrespect from me In 1 King 2.16 when Bathsheba came to Solomon to ask a Petition of him deny me not saith she the old Latine hath it Ne confundas faciem meam do not confound my face do not make me ashamed the Hebrew is Ne avertere faciem meam do not cause my face to be turned that is do not make me ashamed by giving me such disrespect when I expect such honor from thee When God doth cast off the sacrifices of men and shews disrespect unto them that causeth shame it doth confound or should confound their faces Secondly When a man takes a great deal of pains and it comes all to nothing that causeth shame and so all superstitious waies will bring shame at last In Colos 2. it is said of all superstitious ceremonies that they perish in the use of them there comes no good of them Idolaters take a great deal of paint in their waies of false worship but all will come to nothing when they shall stand in most need all their waies of superstition and Idolatry will leave them shiftless and succourless and helpless and so cast shame upon them Thirdly Disappointment of hope brings shame Psal 119.116 Let me not be ashamed of my hope saith David If I hope for good and be disappointed this will bring shame Divers Scriptures we have to shew this So when those that are superstitious and Idolatrous shall raise up their hearts with great expectation of good from God in their waies of false worship and shall be disappointed of all their hope in this God will cast shame upon them Fourthly When God discovers that to be worthless and vile which a man hath gloried most in that causeth shame So Idolaters that glorie in their Idolatrous waies the Lord in time will discover them to be base and vile and worthless things for indeed they are all but poor apish and beggarlie things and they ate fitter to please children than God God will discover this If it be objected Object Oh but they seem not to be such poor and weak things they seem to be more glorious and pompous a great deal than the waies of the true worshipers of God The true worship of God in it self seems to be a poor and mean thing The answer is Answ That the institution putteth a glory upon the waies of worship now they not having an institution upon them they are looked upon as apish and foolish and beggarlie things And then a word of promise and an engagement of Gods presence in his Ordinances puts an honor upon them which the waies of superstition have not Use Admonitions to the defiled with superstitious worship to take shame to themselves It is good for those who have been guilty in this kind of superstitious waies of worship even to prevent God by casting shame upon themselves for if they do not God will cast shame upon them he will make them to be ashamed That is our best way to come in and to prevent God and to lie down in our shame to take shame unto our own souls to lie down therein God knows how we have defiled our selves even all of us in waies of superstitious worship and the truth is God is casting shame upon all those waies at this day and doth cast shame upon them Happie are those that before these times did take shame to their own souls for all their defilements in the waies of false worship Howsoever before God doth yet further force it upon us it will be our wisdom to take shame to ourselves Ezek. 43.11 that text is a famous text for this purpose first in the tenth verse Shew them the bouse that they may be ashamed shew them the true way of my worship that they may be ashamed The truth is if we did but understand the beauty the excellency the true beauty of holiness in the waies of Gods Ordinances in the purity and simplicitie of the Gospel that were enough to make us ashamed if there were nothing else we would even be very vile in our own eyes to think that while our hearts have been taken up about such vain and vile waies of false worship that such glorious Ordinances of God that beauty of holiness that is in his Ordinances hath been neglected by us shew them the way of my house that they may be ashamed But further in the 11. vers If they be ashamed of all that they have done shew them the form of the house and the fashion thereof and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof and all the forms thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and all the forms thereof again and all the Laws thereof and write it in their sight that they may keep the whol form thereâ—f and all the Ordinances thereof and do them First shew them my house Ezek. 33.10 11. opened Let them have some kind of knowledg of my waies and Ordinances in the general perhaps that will make them ashamed And at this day we know though there be but a little light let out unto us to shew us a little more of the waies of Gods worship than we saw before we do begin to be ashamed of what we have done Note But now if indeed we be throughly ashamed before God of all our false waies of worship of all our sacrifices then mark what a promise here is then saith the text if they be ashamed of what they have done then shew them the forms of the house and the fashion of the house c. Note Thus here is one word heaped upon another to shew that this is the mercy
indeed in this heavy judgment that is upon us 2. tearing of Gods Name never was Gods Name so torn as now it is by bloody Oathes and hideous and unheard of blasphemies And what do our adversaries desire but to tear the Saints and to trample them under their feet My brethren time it is for us all to rend our hearts even to tear and rend our very hearts within us because the Lord is come out against us as a tearing Lyon rending and tearing this way and that way The Jews were wont when they heard the Name of God blasphemed to rend their garments presently We hear of the dreadful blasphemies of our adversaries rending and tearing of the Name of God Oh how should we rend our hearts rather than our garments It is dreadful to hear of the tearing of mens estates and bodies but much more dreadful should it be to us to hear of the tearing of the Name of God It 's time then for sorrow to be in our hearts and not ordinary sorrow neither but rending of our hearts now and now we should even be ready to tear the heart out of our bowels to see that we have been no more affected hitherto than we have And the rather because we have scaped for the present our estates and bodies are yet whole Our sins have had an influence into the miseries of our brethren our sins have been those claws and teeth that have torn our brethren Thus the Lord is raised from a moth and worm even to a tearing Lyon Obs 2 And note Though the Assyrians and cursed Babylonians did this yet saith God I will be as a Lyon to tear them Hence another observation That God hath a righteous hand in the worst actions of men We cry out of men that they are thus and thus Oh never such vile and wicked men But you must look upon God He hath a hand in all The most horrid wickedness that ever was done in the world the betraying of Christ and the crucifying of the Lord of life Act. 2. the Scripture saith it was done by the fore-determined counsel of God Therefore let those that have been sensible of the tearing of their estates and have had their husbands and their children torn from them by wicked men let them not only cry out of such vile and ungodly men but let them know that the Lord hath had a hand in it Though men be wicked yet the Lord is righteous let them justifie God in all This is Gods glory that He can have a hand in the most hideous wickedness in the world and yet remain righteous notwithstanding Therefore He saith here I even I will do it He doth not only own it but He would have people to take special notice that He hath a hand in all Oh the use that we might make of this to our selves if in all those dreadful judgments that are upon us if in all those tearing judgments that some of our brethren have felt we could but take notice that the hand of God hath done it I even I I even I have done it here is the Emphasis in this And in this one verse here is I four times together Let the thing be never so hideous unto you yet know that I am the great orderer and disposer of all and I have some great thing to bring to pass in all this that is come upon you And certainly though the misery be great that some parts of the Kingdom endure yet because Gods hand is so much in it therefore we must know that God hath some great thing to bring to passe by this that He hath begun to doe amongst us What the wicked Assyrians and cursed Babylonians did that God is said here to do Hence observe That God hath a righteous hand in the worst actions Obs 3 As in the sin of Judas the most horrible that ever was Act. 2.23 God doth not only permit but order all and so far as an evil of punishment works in it and so far as any natural action is in the sin as in opening the mouth the natural act of speaking drawing the sword the natural act towards fighting c. This is Gods glory and yet to be free from the evil of sin Many knots there are about this that men exercise their wits to untie but cum veneit Elias as the Hebrews use to say when they are gravel'd when Elias cometh we shall understand there is a time when all difficulty shall be easie to reconcile let us look to Gods hand not cry out on such and such wicked men You whose estates have been torne from you and it may be many of your dearest friends consider that it is God that is the Lyon tearing From the duplication of the words we may observe this Note That the hand of God is more imediate in some judgments than Obs 4 in others and the more imediate the more remarkable there shall not only come judgments upon you but I will bring them they shall be such that you shall see that I am in them In some judgments upon men God makes so much use of the creature that sinners can see little of Gods hand in them but in some others they can easily see the hand of God in them Belshazzer trembled at the hand-writing and his thoughts were troubled within him why so the hand struck him not at all only he saw it to be the hand of God the hand of the Deity was in it Dan. 5.5 6. and this made him to tremble Gen. 6.17 Behold I even I do bring a floud And that wrath which is out against us at this time especially our adversaries is the hand of God in a special manner God may well say to us Applic. England I even I wil tear ye O England O how hath God manife-fested Himself to us in these latter yeers since the wars began As we ought to take notice of Gods tearing and rending Kingdoms so also in familes and particular persons God would have us take notice that it 's He as a godly heart takes notice of Gods hand in mercies and then they are most sweet so on the contrary he takes notice of Gods hand in every judgment to be humbled under it I will establish my Covenant with you Gen. 9.11 and Isa 43.19.25 I even I am he which blotteth out thine iniquities Mercies are then most sweet when we see them come from Gods immediate hand in a special providence Gods hand-remarkable in judgments must be taken notice of For Reas 1 1. Hereby the heart comes to be humbled when it considers that 't is God which appeareth against him It humbleth not devils nor men but God that God upon whom I live and enjoy every mercy that I have this it was that troubled Christ more than all the wrong which the Scribes and Pharisees did to him when he considered that it was His God My God my God why hast thou forsaken me
yet there is a way to bring Him down again Psal 18.9 Psa 18 9. opened God was shut up in the Heavens and His people cryed to Him in their distress then the Lord bowed the Heavens and came down Let me make hast saith God I must go to the help of My people therefore that I may make speed let the Heavens bow before me So in Isa 64.1 2. the Church there cries out Oh that thou wouldst rend the Heavens and come down 't is true Lord thou art in Heaven and there is thy Majesty and glory Prayer but oh that thou wouldst come down and help us Prayer as it will rend the Heavens to get up to God so it will rend the Heavens for God to come down to man Lord if thou wilt go to thy place then what wil become of thy glory In the world thou hadst service and honor done unto thee by the creature thy Sainss offered sacrifice to thee though sometimes God seemeth to answer I care not for this I can and will have honor to my self in some other way Further we may observe When wicked men are in perplexity Obs 4 then God enjoys himself in his perfection Ezek. 18.4 When they are in wrath and sorrow and God hath not that service froÌ„ them in external worship which he hath had but I care not I will return unto my place and enjoy my self in my glory and in this is the misery of the damned in Hell Dâ—mned we are herein eternal torments and horror but what doth God lose by this He is in his glory and enjoys Himself in perfect rest But how long will it be before God return Expos will he alwaies absent Himself No. Till they acknowledge their sin From the Connexion of these words with the former we may observe That God sometimes turns his back upon sinners until they return Obs 1 unto him and acknowledge their sin And this is the best way for God to deal with some kind of men let them but feel a little of the smart of trouble and then they will consider as many men who are wilful they wil do so and so their wils shal be their law now the best way to tame these men is let them see what will come of it and the evil which will follow upon their wilfulness wil be the best convincement to them So saies God My Prophets and my Messengers can do no good upon them therfore let them alone According to that 1 King 8.47 If they will bethink themselves and repent And this is a most prudential way to deale with men who are wilful and stubborn Till they acknowledge their sin Note That when God comes Obs 2 to his people as in his judgment so in his waies of mercy he leaves his place and maâ—esty He humbles Himself to behold what is done upon the earth 't is a kind of self-denial in God to meddle with man at all As 't is a mighty condescention in a Prince to com from his throne to visit and comfort poor men in dungeons and prisons simile Surely such prisoners need honor such a Prince for he coms from his throne to visit them how much more then had we need to honour God for his love towards us Expos But to come more close to the words in the original they are Till they become guilty in their own hearts and acknowledge themselves to be so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signâ—fies to offend to be guilty to be desolate and to sacrifice for sin all these significations this word Asham will bear Vntill they become guilty Were they not guilty before Would God have them more guilty No but God would have them convinced of their sin to be guilty of it to accuse themselves for it and cleer God in all and to behave themselves as guilty persons with sorrow and shame and lastly to acknowledge themselves as guilty persons before God and men 'T is true assoon as ever the sin is committed the person is bound over being guilty but then in special he is said to be guilty when he acknowledges himself to be so Quest But here 's a Question Wâ—en was this disposition wrought in them hath it ever yet been or is it still to be fulfilled and accomplished Answ I answer That it was in part made good at their coming out of Captivity Hence Daniel chap. 9. vers 5. in the name of the whol Church speaks after this manner We have sinned and done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts c. What heaps of expressions hath he there to set out their turning Also Ezra 9.13 15. it was fulfilled and in Nehe. 9.16 all these 3. Prophets prophesied after Hosea though in our Bible placed before him This text is fulfilled again in Jer. 31.18 Ephraim was then guilty when he was found bemoning himself Again it was fulfilled when Christ was preached Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were pricked in their hearts Calling of the Jews And certain it is this Prophesie had an aim at Christ But this Scripture shal principally be fulfilled at the calling of the Jews then they shal become guilty Zach. 12. They shall look on him whom they have pierced c. Obs 2 That such is the pride of mens spirits by nature That so lâ—ng as they prosper in their sins they will even contest with God Himself Malac. 3.7 But ye said Wherein shall we return Is not this the speech of many proud spirits being taxed about any crime they presently answer Wherein have they done such and such things Remarkable is that of Saul 1 Sam. 15.13 when he told the Prophet he had performed the commandement of the Lord then Samuel labors to convince him of his sin saying What meaneth the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen yet in the 20. verse he is at it again I have obeyed the commandement of the Lord. It was otherwise with David when the Prophet came to him I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 12.13 't is a good sign of a soul truly humbled when it can joyn issue with the word Affliction sanctified brings men to see their sins and to acknowledg their guiltiness God in afflictions marks men out and then Conscience will prey upon a man as Simeon and Levi fell upon the men of Shechem for then they were sore and unable to resist in time of affliction then thou shalt find conscience hard enough for thee what pangs of conscience have men in their sickness saying as he in Prov. 5.12 How have I hated instruction and my heart despisâ—d reproâ—f Oh what a deal of guilt is opened and discovered in an affliction afflictions are to the soul as earthquakes to the ground which open the graves and discovers abundance of filth It is a sign of a very hard heart not to confess in affliction when Gods hand is upon us Pharaoh would do thus and 't
house and from his labor that performeth not this promise It is a judgment to be shaken out of our labour but to be shaken out of such an office whereby we draw so nigh unto God as to be the mouth of God unto the people and the mouth of the people unto God again this is a sore evil Again whereas it may be said Israel had no true Priests therefore it was no judgment for them to be rejected out of that Office But to be cast out of what we seem to have that is likewise a judgment of God Luk. 8.18 Seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of God I will also forget thy children You have forgotten the Law You live so as you shew that you never think of the Law of the holiness equity and authority of it and the threats annexed unto it for if you remembred these you could not go on so quietly in a sinful way but you have cast off all the remembrance of the Law it is even worn out of your memory The book of the Law of God was lost for a long time in Judah surely in Israel much more I will forget Etiâ—m Ego even I. It is a sad thing to be forgotten by our friends when we are in misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh that such a deer friend such a father or such a mother should forget me but how sad a thing is it for God to forget you Yea I will forget your children That is there shall be no succession in the Priestly office This was threatned against Eli his house 1 Sam. 2.20 It is a blessing for children of godly Ministers being godly to succeed them in the Office Observ and the contrary is a judgment Your children shall not succeed you in this Office but they shall be forgotten by me The families of wicked Ministers thorough Gods judgment are many times forgotten You have forgotten me Obser I wil forget you and your children I will not here speak how the child may suffer â—or the fathers offence we often meet with it Only now as it concerns the posterity of wicked Ministers they are thorough Gods judgment often forgotten But let not the families of Godly Ministers especially if their children be godly too Oh let not them be forgotten It is a judgment threatned upon these wicked Priests that God would forget their children therefore though men forget them it is not so evil but if there be any that have been faithful Ministers God forbid their children should be forgotten after they are dead This City hath been honored for their respect to godly Ministers but have you never forgotten their children their families that have been left behind When they were with you and preached among you you seemed to give mighty respect unto them but are there not many that belong unto their families now with you that live in a hard condition yea their children and families that are godly their widdows too how are they forgotten If the children of godly Ministers that are godly too should go unto God and complain thus would it not be a sad thing Lord thou threatnest Idolatrous Priests that forget thee that thou wouldest forget their children but Lord my father in the City was a faithful Minister he remembred thee and he was a faithful remembrancer for thy people yet we are forgotten is this according to thy Word shall the judgment that is threatned upon the children of Idolatrous Priests be the judgment upon us that are the children of faithful Ministers that we are thus forgotten though our fathers forgot not thee Look therefore into the families of godly Ministers look after their children for their fathers did not forget God do not you forget them let not the judgment that is threatned upon the children of wicked Ministers be upon them but let there be a distinction made between the children of faithful and godly Ministers and the children of Idolatrous Priests Verse 7. As they were encreased so they sinned against me therefore will I change their glory into shame THe Lord is here further charging these ten Tribes but especially their Priests he aimeth at them most in this his Charge They had before rejected the knowledg of the Lord and the Lord threatned rejection of them The knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that knowledge Scientiam illam that knowledge of God in the way of his worship that he was to be worshiped at Jerusalem alone that truth was a suffering truth thereforâ— that truth they did reject they rejected others but especially that And in this seventh verse here is some ground of their rejection of the knowledg of God As they were encreased so they sinned against me God had encreased them they were grown first into a great multitude and as their number encreas'd so their sins encreas'd But especially that which I take to be the meaning of the holy Ghost here is As their prosperous condition encreas'd they were grown up to an height of prosperity and that was the thing made them sin against God and reject the knowledg of God The first is not to be rejected viz. As they encreased in multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Seventy turn it according to their fulness And it may be turned both waies fulness of number or fulness of their prosperous estate Obser It is a usual thing where there is encrease in number to be encrease in sin The more meat there is in the pot the more scum ariseth simile So in great Cities what a great deal of filth is there filth of sin moral filth Where there is any confluence of people at Fares and Merkets in the Country or in any Corporation what abundance of filth is there continually As there is any encrease in number usually there is encrease in sin In Churches though when they are but small at their first beginning a few called Saints they can agree wel together and go on sweetly in their way but ordinarily as they increase in number when Churches grow to any number they begin to corrupt and increase in sin They should encrease so much the more in godliness but this is the corruption of mans heart every one bringing in some corruption Therefore as there is an increase in number so in sin But because that is not the scope but the second to speak to that a little As they encreased in their prosperous estate For we are to know that at this time the ten Tribes were in a very prosperous condition they were grown rich and great and so they were increast and especially the Priests for they had the favour of Jeroboam and of the Princes For their main design was to uphold their false worship and the Priests served for their turns most therefore they countenanced those Priests of Dan and Bethel the Priests of the Calves and they flourished at this time in the Court and in the Countrey and were much increast in their prosperous estate And as
they increast so they finned This is mans vile disposition Obser that encrease of mercies should be the encrease of their sin Thus was it with the Church when the Church was in a lower condition then there was more holiness and more sincere love to the truth when it began to flourish in outward prosperity it began to decay in true Piety And therefore Ecclesiastical histories tells us that when the Church received their donations from Constantine of great preferments then there was heard a voyce in the air Hodie venenum infunditur c. To day poyson is powred forth into the Church when great livings and great estates were given to the Ministers of the Church then poison was powred forth into the Church It was a good speech of Boniface the Martyr Boniface when one asked him whether it were lawful to receive the Communion in woodden Chalices his Answer was Time was when in the Church there were woodden Challices and golden Priests but now there are golden Challices but woodden Priests And the answer of Aquinas Aquinas was fit for this to Innocent the third when he shewed him a table of gold and silver saying we have no need to say as Peter once did Silver and gold have we none Aquinas answered presently neither can ye say Arise and walk as you have more money than they had so you have less gifts than they had you have not so much of the Spirit of God as they had It was so in the encrease of the prosperity of the Church And usually it is so in the encrease of their prosperity simile spleen As it is with the spleen the greater it grows the less the body is so the more prosperity the leaner and lanker are the spirits of men Deut. 32.15 Thou art waxed fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the God of his salvation How many when they were low and poor in their estates were more holy and gracious and more spiritual than now they are It is true in particular persons in Churches and Countries but most true in Ministers It was once a complaint that was made to a Prelate here that he had a kinsman that was a very zealous preacher in the Countrey well saies he I 'le silence him and his silencing was this he gave him two livings and that stopped his mouth Jerome Quando Ecclesia ad Principes christianos venit factam fuisse opibut pleniorem sed virtutib minorem ait when he came once to have fatted livings then his zeal quickly abated And Hierome in the life of Malachus hath this expression when the Church saith he came to Christian Princes and there had countenance we may well say of it that indeed it was fatted with riches but it was less a great deal in vertue and godliness God threatneth here that seing they did abuse their prosperity as they did encrease they sinned more that therefore he would turn their glory into shame he would cast dirt into their faces God doth love to stain the pride the haughtiness of men He would turn the glory of the people and the glory of the Priests but especially the glory of the Priests for so it is meant but we must take in all into shame Either first he would in stead of glory bring shame or secondly he would make that wherein they did most glory to be their shame First That he would bring shame in stead of glory So God useth to do If any one glory in beauty God brings that which makes them contemptible many times in stead of that beauty That is a notable text for women that glory in their beauty and in their bravery Isa 3.16.24 Because the daughters of Zion are hauty c. therefore there shall be destruction upon them and ver 24. There shall be burning in stead of beauty and instead of well-set hair baldness and in stead of their brave dressing sackcloth If any will glory in parts the Lord justly brings shame upon them blasting of their parts Albertus magnus nec literas sciret ita ignoramus fuit as it is said of Albertus Magnus that great Scholer that for five yeers before his death he did dote and was so ignorant that he did not know letters he could not reade God can soon blast the parts of men that glory in them and turn that to shame If any glory in riches God can soon turn that into shame too As histories tells us of an Earl of Exceter Earl of Exceter that married the sister of King Edward the Fourth and yet Philip de Commines reports of him that he was seen begging of his bread in the Low Countries barefoot God can soon take away the riches of men and turn that their glory into their shame And then if any boast in honor glory in that God can soon turn that into shame as in that example of Herod that gloried in the applause of the people when they cried out the voice of God and not of man and presently he was consumed by worms And much shame comes unto men that glory in these things Mark it according to the glory of men in external things so is their shame when God takes them away Here is the difference between the Saints losing these outward things and wicked men When the Saints lose these outward things there is not much shame comes to them because they did not much glory in them when they had them but carnal hearts because they know no higher things than these things are therefore when they are taken from them there is much shame comes upon them for their glory was in them when they had them Secondly God makes the very things they glory in to turn to their shame He doth not only take away their parts and bring ignorance and dotage instead of their parts but he makes their parts to be their undoing he makes use of their parts to bring them to shame He makes their very riches and honors to be their shame and their glorying in their success he makes that thing turn unto their shame As now when men shall glory in this that they had such success such a victory upon such and such a time and upon this they gather an argument surely God is with us and blesseth us and owneth us in this they glory well God turns this into their shame when he comes to be against them and blasts them that they shall not have success that it shall appear unto all that though they have outward means for advantage yet they go by the worst now where is the argument of Gods owning their cause success where is the argument of glorying with them if that were a good argument that God was with them because of their success Those that shall make that the only or principal argument that God is with them how doth God turn their glory into
that is neer to you not only in place but in nature or affection that is superstitious take heed of being defiled by such Oh how many have suffered shipwrack of their faith by this means that they have had some kinsman some Uncle some acquaintance that have been very neer unto them and they have drawn them aside from the waies of God Hence is the reason of that severity that God would have used against a brother or a friend that seeks â—o draw away from God unto Idolatry because the Lord sees there is so much danger in it Deut. 13.6 Deut. 13.6 If thy brother or the son of thy mother or the son of thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul Opened entice thee secretly to go from God thou shalt not consent unto him neither shall thine eye pity him neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him but thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death Though he be thy brother or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend that is as thine own soul thou shalt not pity him but thou shalt seek the very death of such an one if he seek to draw thee unto â—aies of Idolatry Because God saw what danger there was in this that is the reason of the severity Thirdly Judah was in great danger to be drawn aside by Israel because that Israel was the greater number Israel was ten Tribes but Judah and Benjamin those two Tribes little Benjamin together with Judah were but a few in comparison of Israel It is a great argument that Idolaters use to draw others unto the waies of Idolatry because of the number of those that go that way Obser The whol World admire after the Beast the World doth the Nations do and that is a mighty argument to draw the greater part of people they think that â—â—is way of worship is the best way there are but a few anâ— considerable number that are in another way No question but it was their argument here as if they should say what do not ten Tribes know the mind of God as well as those two Is there any reason why we should think that the greater part of the children of Abraham of the Jews ten Tribes should not know the mind of God It is the argument at this day say many that are superstitious and would go on in their old way of Idolatry They that are against such waies they are but a few an inconsiderable party but the chief the great ones and the most of all sorts you see which way they go We are to take heed of this Oh let not Judah though Israel be the greater part follow a multitude to do evil Fourthly Israel was rich and in a flourishing estate therefore there was danger that Judah might be carried away by them Israel carried things before them in outward pomp and glory and we know that way that thrives in the world men will soon be brought to close with Obser and the way of Israel when Hosea prophesied did much thrive and prosper Israel prevailed mightily in the world When Ephraim spake there was trembling therefore it was a wonderful grace of God to keep Judah from following their example We find it by experience let a way be persecuted yet let it be but once countenanced in the world men will cry it up do we not see at this day that those things that heretofore men would not profess because of persecution that now on a sudden their minds are changed and now they cry it up The same thing that heretofore have been persecuted if they once be but countenanced by great ones and by multitudes how will men cry it up Things that their hearts were against things that they would argue and reason against yet now because they have more publick countenance their judgments are changed here is the deceit of mens hearts that way that hath most countenance in the world that way they will go on in especially in the worship of God Fiftly Israel had many colours and pretences for what thâ—â— did and that might endanger Judah to be led aside by tâ—â—â— for Israel they did not profess themselves Idolaters and superstitious No they profest that they did serve the Lord the true Jehovah and the difference was not great between them and Judah they would tell you it was but circumstances in place you must worship God at Jerusalem and we would have you worship at Dan and Bethel and those Images that are set up are but to put you in mind of the same God you worship Obser The neerer any come to you in what is the right worship of God yet if they retain any corruption there is so much the more danger that they should draw you from that which is right for Israel did come neerer to the true worship of God than the Heathens did now the Prophet doth not say though the Heathens be Idolaters yet let not Judah be so too but though Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah offend There was more danger that Judah should be drawn aside by Israel than that they should be drawn aside by any of the Heathen And so there is more danger that we at this day should be drawn aside by those that joyn with us in many things that are right than by Papists they are hateful to us Applic. we see their waies to be abominable Papists and Heathens there is not so much danger especially for those that profess godliness to be drawn aside by them but the danger is in this to be drawn aside by their brethren and that by their brethren that joyn with them in many things that are right and that come very neer to the true worship of God Well Judah must not do so though Israel doth As there were many things wherein Judah was in great danger to be drawn aside by Israel so there were many arguments why Judah should not do as Israel did Exposit As First God had graciously differenced Judah from Israel Reas 1 in abudance of mercy Judah must not now make himself like Israel in sin seeing God had made them unlike in mercy God had in mercy made a difference between Judah and Israel let not then the wickedness of their hearts make themselves to be all one God had kept Judah to the house of David and to his Temple to be his own people Secondly Judah had more means than Israel had therefore Reas 2 Judahs sin would be more vile than Israels was For Judah had the true Priests of God to teach them Judah had the Temple among them Judah had the Ordinances of God in the right way with them therefore for Judah to be drawn aside to the waies of Israel this would be a greater sin in them Whatsoever Israel doth that have none but superstitious Idolatrous Priests amongst them Priests made of the lowest of the people Israel
them alone From hence there are these two Notes that are of mervailous use First That God hath a time to give over men to themselves to say Obs 1 that his Spirit shal no longer strive with them Oh many a man hath felt the Spirit of God drawing strugling striving with him to draw him from such and such a wicked way he hath felt I say Gods Spirit mighty and strong what will you still go on in this way of wickedness uncleanness drunkenness oppression injustice profanation hypocrisâ—e self-seeking and the like but he hath been striving against the Spirit of God and his lusts have even gotten the victory over the Spirit so that God saith My Spirt shall no longer strive I will not struggle in vain but let him go on and have his own waies Oh it is dreadful when the Lord shall say of a drunkard of an unclean person of an hypocrite I have been strugling so long with them but yet their hearts have been opposite to me let them alone in that wicked way and let them go on and satisfie themselves in their wicked devices Psal 81.12 They would none of me saith God they would none of my waies So I gave them up to their own counsels Oh this is a dreadful gift Many men that will set their counsels against Gods counsels and will do it so long as that God at length gives them up to their own counsels You will set your thoughts against my Truth your counsels against mine well take your counsels satisfie your selves in your own waies And you know that place in the latter end of the Revelation He that will be filthy let him be filthy still Saith God Let him alone wil you be filthy be filthy then And that in Ezek. 24.13 Because when I would have purged them they would not be purged therefore they shal be purged no mâ—re saith God I will let them alone I will never seek either by my word or by my works to do them any further good they shall be purged no more And the reason of this is Reas 1 1. Because God hath no need of men God doth this to shew that he hath no need of you Indeed he seeks by his Word to draw you to obedience to his service and you stand off and draw from him and will not come on At length God will manifest himself that he hath no need of your service he can honor himself without you though you perish as filth and dung everlastingly Reas 2 2. God therefore will let men alone in their sin because he doth know how to fetch out glory to his own Name from their sinnes You will go on in your wicked waies you will be stubborn and stout saith God do you think to hinder me of my glory that way well do you take your fill of your lusts I know how to glorifie my self out of that sin of yours that you do so much against my glory therefore take your fill of it Obs 2 Secondly which is the chief It is the most wofull judgment of God upon any people upon any person when God shall say in his wrath Let him alone go on The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is as much as to say Let him be quiet and Tranquillus that quiet will prove a dreadful storm You know what the wise man saith Wo to him that is alone Oh wo to him that God saith Let him alone that is thus alone Many men bless themselves when they are let alone and desire it Let us alone say they Oh but when God shal say Let them alone this is a most dreadful thing indeed It was a fearful evil it proved at least to be a fearful evil to Adam in Paradise when God let him alone when God left Adam to himself what became of him he undid himself what in him lay and all his posterity when he was but left to those natural abilities he had it proved in the conclusion dreadful enough Yea and when God shall but leave his own Saints that have grace in them shall but leave them for a little while unto themselves Oh what mischief comes of it As in 2 Chron. 32.31 Hezekiah was left to himself but a while and what a deal of misery did he bring upon himself when God did but leave him to himself to try what was in his heart What are there such evil consequences upon Adam in Paradise left alone and the Saints left alone here Oh what a dreadful thing is it then when God shall leave a sinner alone I mean one that hath nothing else but sin in him a wicked wretch that hath no grace at all in him First This is a testimony of very great disrespect in God of Reas 1 his creatures in this that he accounts them not worthy of any further medling with he loves them not so well as to meddle any further with them it is a sign I say of great disrespect of God unto them as if God should say well there are others indeed that are ill enough that are very great sinners but I have mercy for them I intend to draw them to my self I intend to shew them thâ— evil of their waies and to turn them to me that they may be saved but as for these I have nothing to do with them saith God I have no mercy for them let them alone let them shift for themselves as well as they can Secondly The evil is great because they are then let alone Reas 2 when they are going a pace unto misery To let a man alone when he is at home in his house and all things convenient about him is not so much simile but if you should see a man in a mad humor running to the water to drown himself and then to let him alone this were a great judgment Though when a man walks in the street in an ordinary way no man will meddle with him but let him alone but if you should see a man running into the fire or running to cast himself into a Well or a Pond no one then would let him alone But now the Lord sees sinners running headlong into misery inâ—â— the bottomless pit and even then God saith Let them alone Reas 3 Again They were in the midst of abundance of dangers and yet God saith Let them alone When a man is in safety among his friends and you let him alone it is not so much but suppose you should know of one that were invironed round about with adversaries or that them were wild beasts round about him ready to devour him and this message were brought to you Oh there is such a friend of ours in great danger and you should say what if he be let him alone lâ—â— him shift as well as he can So we are to know that all sinners that are going on in their evil waies they are in woâ—ul danger dangers on every hand and the Lord sees and takes noâ—â—câ— that they are
in the midst of dangers yet saith God Let them alone they shall not have my protection and help And this is a just punishment of God upon wicked sinners that will go on in their wicked waies Reas 4 Fourthly When God saith Let them alone he intends this as the making of way unto some fearful wrath that is to follow after Let my mercy and goodness let them alone but it is that they may fall into my wrath and that will not let them alone that will trouble them howsoever they cannot enduâ— to be troubled by my Word by mâ— Messengers by my Spirit but my Wrath shall trouble them afterward that shall not let them alone as in that place Ezek. 24.13 before quoted Thou shalt not be purâ—â—â— from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury â—o rest upon thee they shal not have any means to trouble them for a while but at length my fury shall rest upon them When the Lord shall seem to be quiet toward men and let them alone it is but to make way for fearful wrath that is coming after Reas 5 Fiftly If God once inflict this judgment upon sinners to say Let them alone if God will not vouchsafe to speak unto them any more he will not then vouchsafe to hear them speak unto him any more If God once shall take away his Word from them If once the Lord shall say they would not hear me they shall never hear me more Let them alone God will then likewise say I will not hear them let them cry in the anguish of their spirits I will let them alone that is certain When God shall let sinners alone in regard of his mercy then he will let them alone too when the greatest wrath shall be upon them As thus when they shall come under the greatest affliction the most dreadful miseries and torments in this world and eternally in the world to come when they shall then be crying and roaring and yelling out in the anguish of their spirits unto God Oh that God would now have mercy upon us God will let them even then alone I will bring them into the fire saith God and then I will leave them there Oh think of this when you feel that there was a time when God was stirring and striving with your hearts but now it is not so as before yet you are worse in your lives than before And then further It is a dreadful sign of reprobation Reas 6 for God to say of a people or of a person thus Let them alone For first What is reprobation Reprobation what Reprobation certainly is not for God to decree to damn men you mistake in that that is not the first act of God upon any man but thus reprobation is this for God to decree whereas there are some that he hath set his heart upon he is resolved to do them good there are others he doth not presently decree to damn them but he doth decree to leave them unto themselves that what they Earn they shall have and no more Earnings he will deal with them according to their works he will do them no wrong he will not be unjust to them Justice he will not damn them but for their sin he never decrees to damn any but for sin but he decrees this he will leave them to a course of justice I will give them what is sit for them to have in creation I will make such a covenant with them and then I will leave them unto themselves and what they work for they shall have this is then another kind of reprobation and worse than that first Reprobation that is reprobation for God to decree to leave a man to himself when he had no sin in him as God did not make man with sin at first suppose you were now made according to the Image of God without sin yet if God should decree to leave you fully and eternally to your self you were but a reprobate but now when God sees a man in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity now for God to leave him to himself this is reprobation of the second Edition this is a most dreadful reprobation indeed Secondly There is a reprobation in it in this regard That God now doth manifest that he doth intend to fetch his glory from this sinner out of his ruin he manifesteth no other now for thus Certainly God will have glory from every creature howsoever you may resist God in his glory God will have it he will fetch it out from you Well but now on the first hand God he would have his glory from his creature in the waies of obedience and service but they deny this to God they will not give him this glory they will have their own will they will set up themselves in Gods Throne Well saith God I have used such and such means to draw their hearts from those waies to my self but they stand out Let them alone now As if he should say thus I have thought now of another way to fetch out my glory from them as he reasoned in the Gospel when he could not provide for himself one way I know what I will do saith he so saith God I am denied my glory one way well I know what to do I have another way that is to glorifie my infinite Justice and the power of my infinite wrath they have refused to give me glory by obedience and coming in to me I will not have my glorie that way but now I will rather chuse to have my glorie from them in their everlasting misery they shall be spectacles of my wrath and justice and it shall be known to Angels and men unto all eternity what my infinite justice and power is able to do therefore let them alone to that saith God Reas 7 And further When God shall say of any Let him alone it is a greater judgment than if he should inflict all the outward judgments of this world upon them Too many of you are afraid of sickness of being spoild of your goods that God should let the enemy in upon you and all should be taken from you this were a great judgment Oh but this judgment here in the Text is a greater judgment than if you were stripped of all the comforts in the world and brought into the miserablest condition that ever any creature was upon the earth in regard of outwards you were not under such a dreadful judgment as thiâ— for God to say Let them alone better any judgments than spiritual judgments As the spiritual blessings of God bestowed upon the Saints are the greatest blessings Ephe. 1.2 Oh blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that hath blessed us with al spiritual blessings in heavenly things so the judgments of God that are spiritual judgments they are the most dreadful judgments of God in the world Oh that we could have our hearts possest with a
others hearts in time of prayer when we have been offering up that sacrifice unto God and we have seemed to be very devout in our prayers yet Oh the vanity of our hearts Oh the vile thoughts unclean wicked ungodly foolish thoughts that have run up and down thorough our hearts in the time of our prayers If God should write our prayers before us and interline our prayers with all our vain thoughts and then bid us reade our prayers and bid others reade our prayers interlined with such vain thoughts would we not be ashamed of our sacrifices the best sacrifice that ever we tenderd up to God in al our life we would be ashamed of it God hath a time except al be pardoned in Christ and covered in him to make men that lay such weight upon their prayers to shew them such an ugly form and fashion of them as to make them ashamed of them Obs 3 Again In al our duties performed with a carnal heart there are many mixtures of our own base ends We seem to draw near unto God and we would honor and worship God Oh but the hypocrisie of our hearts what vile and base ends are there to give content to this and the other to set forth our parts and abilities in services these things have been plain before God and except we be ashamed of them now and repent and get them pardoned in Christ God will set all our base ends before Angels and men together with our sacrifices and shall we not then be ashamed of our sacrifices Obs 4 Again How foul and vile have our hearts been in our services and how have our sacrifices been defiled with them Not only by actual sin mixed with them by base thoughts and ends but our services have come from unclean hearts we have had very filthy and unclean hearts our hearts have been as sties and sinks of evil and it is impossible that out of such unclean hearts there can come any thing that is clean our sacrifices have been extreamly defiled by our filthy base and worldly hearts And then when God shall shew the infinite holiness of his Majesty and how infinite just and righteous he is and how infinitely worthy of other manner of sacrifices than ever we have tendered up unto him Oh then how shall we be ashamed How will our hearts be overwhelmed with confusion and shame Use when apprehending the infiniteness of the glory of the great God when we shall see how infinitely unworthy all those duties were that we have tendered up unto him of that infinite excellency and Majestie of his Oh that will make us ashamed Men think highly of their sacrifices that they tender up unto God because of their parts they shew in them but they do not know with what a God it is they have to do when the Lord shall shew unto us the lustre of his glory and the greatness of his Majestie as it will appear unto us one day when the glorious appearing of the great God will be then we shall see how unworthy all our services were of such a God as he is and that will make us ashamed if we have not been ashamed heretofore nothing will be more grievous and more confound the hearts of men than to be put to shame for their sacrifices Oh the miserable perplexity that their hearts will then be put unto You will say then Quest What are those sacrifices we should tender up unto God that we shall never be ashamed of God will mak superstitious people ashamed of their sacrifices and all carnal people shall one day be ashamed of their sacrifices this will be a dreadful thing one day when it comes Oh then what are those sacrifices the Saints of God shall never be ashamed of First If you would offer such sacrifices unto God as you Answ 1 would never be ashamed of Be sure they be his own worship God in his own way It is not what you think wil please God what you think is brave and excellent but look to the word be sure it is his own Answ 2 Secondly Let your hearts be acted by Divine Principles let it come from faith and whatsoever comes from you to be tendered up unto God look to your principles rest not in the action that is done but consider from what principles those services come you tender up unto God Answ 3 Thirdly Let your ends be high in all your services Oh take heed of base and low ends in all your sacrifices It is too too much that men should have base and low ends in their outward affairs they should have their hearts high upon the glory of the great God in their natural in their civil actions but when they come to their sacrifices and holy duties then sursum Corda then lift up your hearts indeed be sure then your ends be high and holy Answ 4 Fourthly Let your whol strength be taken up in those sacrifices so as to sanctifie the Name of God Let the whol soul be carried unto God for God is worthy of the whol if you had ten thousand times more strength than you have God is worthy that it should be put forth in the services you tender unto him Answ 5 Fiftly Offer up your selves as a sacrifice unto God do not content your selves to offer up a prayer unto God as a sacrifice or alms or such duties only but be sure together with these sacrifices to offer up your selves as a living sacrifice to God as the Apostle speaks Rom. 12.1 I beseech you by the mercies of God that you offer up your bodies a living sacrifice unto God God cares for none of your sacrifices except you offer your selves to be a sacrifice unto him That is a very observable place in 1 King 8. the latter end of it there you shall find that Solomon offered two and twenty thousand Oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand Sheep here was a great sacrifice to be offered at one time unto God but mark though this sacrifice was great what God saies unto him in the 9. chapter presently so soon as the sacrifice was done verse 4. If thou wilt walk before me as David thy father did to do according unto all that I command thee and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments c. God puts it to an If for all this for all these sacrifices If thou thy self in the constant obedience of thy life wilt be a constant sacrifice then will I do thus and thus but verse 6. If thou at all turn from following me if notwithstanding all these sacrifices thou at all turn from following of me I will do thus and thus Many of us think when we have been in a day of fasting and spent a whol day in it and our hearts have been let out and we have been enlarged and have offered up a great sacrifice to God that we may take the more liberty afterward No though you offer twenty two thousand Oxen and an hudred
then can that stubborn heart of thine stand out against them Let us not be troubled my brethren Use nor discouraged at the stoutness of Idolaters They have been alwaies stubborn and stout against the rebukes of God in his Word and therefore let us not think it much though they stand it out now against the evident truth of God and aginst the works of God that apparantly make against them Revel 16.9 They were tormented with the wrath of God but repented not to give Him glory Many men are ready to think that their cause is good because their spirits are so stout against all that appear against them and slighâ— them Let not us have higher thoughts of them because of this for it hath alwaie bâ—â— the course of Idolaters to stand out stoutly against all the rebukes of God in His Word and Works because the Lord haâ—h an intent to destroy them Observe Sin after â—ebukes is very sâ—â—ful It is too much 〈◊〉 stanâ— out agaiâ—st Gods commands Observ Sin after rebuke but to stand out against any intimation of God displeasure is a greater evil God expects that the heart of sinners should melâ— before him upon anâ— expression of his displeasure And it was the commendation of JOSIAH That when the LAW was read his â—earâ— melted And indeed an ingenious spirit is soon rebuked But when the heart of a sinner is got above all rebukes then it hardneth exceedingly and then it treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath We our selves cannot bear it in others to standout against our rebukes we cannot bear it in a child or in a servant if we rebuke a child or a servant and they care not for it and their spirits rise against it how do we hate such how do our spirits rise up against them Nay if we rebuke a dog and the dog cares not for it we cannot bear it How shall the Infinite God bear our slighting of his rebuke Use Oh let us charge this sin upon our spirits How often hath God rebuked me in his Word and in his Workâ— and yet the Lord knows this wretched and â—â—uâ—born heart of â—â—â—e hath stood out against it Certainly this standing out â—â—â—inâ—â— rebukes will lie heavy upon thy consciencâ— one daâ— Nothing will make sin mâ—re heavy upon thy conscience than this that I have sinned and that in my â—nâ— have stood out against the rebukes of God As in Pro 5.12 13. At the last when thy flesh and thy hoâ—y is coâ—sumeâ— tâ— u st 〈◊〉 mourn and say How have I hâ—ted instruc 〈◊〉 i 〈◊〉 n and my 〈◊〉 â—â—spised reproof The words are spoken of a gallant a brave â—oâ—ing gallant that bluâ—â—ereth it out in the world and carries all before him and cares for nothing that is said but when the hand of God is upon him and his flesh and body is consumed then he falls a lamenting his condition Oh how have I despised reproof and have not enclined mine ear to them that instructed me This is the aggravation of â—in indeed And that we may humble our souls for our standing out against Gods rebukes ad but this consideration to it That God hath such rebukes as will force us to yeild unto him in spight of our hearts If we stand out against His rebukes in hiâ— Word and lesser chastisements against his loving rebukes let us know that God hath furious rebukes so they are called in Ezek. 5.15 and 25.17 When thou comâ—st to the Word oâ— when thy parents or thy goveâ—nors or thy friend rebukes thee for thy sins God rebukeâ— thee in them and thâ—se are loving rebukes but thou thâ—t art a child oâ— a servant or any wicked and ungâ—dly man thou rejâ—ctest those â—â—buâ—â—s Know God hath furious rebukes for thee one day yea rebukes with flames of fire so they are called Esa 66.15 I have been a rebuker of them all This if you apply it to the Prophet for he must not be excluded he is meant here as well as God shews the Prophets impartiality And from thence the Note is That Prophets rebukes must not be like cobwebs to take small flies and to let the great ones go thorough Obser Prophets rebukes they must be impartial rebukes Oh how many Prophets have sharpned their rebukes against those that have been most conscientious and have sadned their hearts even out of their Pulpits but they let those that are loose go quiet away nay not only quiet but rejoycing When the hearts of the Saints have been sadned they have sharpned their rebukes against these but the looser of the parish or many times the great ones have gone away rejoycing Thus if you take the words actively I have been a rebuker of them all But if you take the words passively as some do that is thus They have rebuked the Prophet as if he should say 2. Passive they have been profound in their Idolatrous waies and I have been faithful in preaching to them and what hath been my recompence All of them have rebuked me All of them not only their Priests have rebuked me cryed out against me not only their chief and great men have rebuked me they indeed their Priests and their Magistrates would bitterly inveigh against me for pleading against their Idolatry But all the people have done it too I have been a rebuke to all the people they have all been bitter against me and sharpned their very tongues against me Oh say they here is one that likes not our way of worship he must have another kind of Religion he tells us that we must all go up to Jerusalem and worship there and nothing will serve turn but that Thus they scorned him and rebuked him and even flew in his very face From thence the Note is this It is a hard thing for a few men to stand out against a State or multitude in matters of Religion in matters of the worship of God Obser Opposition of a multitude If there be but some few unto whom God hath shewn another way and the generality go a different way Certainly those few are like to meet with hard measure and like to be a rebuke not only to Ministers but generally unto all the people they must expect to be under the rebukes of all sorts Thu it was with the Prophet and with al that went his way he was a rebuke unto them all VER 3. I know Ephraim and Israel is not hid from me c. I know Eprhraim This is Notitia judicialis non approbationis A knowledge to judge not a knowledge of approbation Exposit I knâ—w Ephraim that is I know all his shifts I know all his evasions all his cunning devices all his plots all his pretences all his base ends These may be hid from men but I know them they are not hid from me Mark first I know Ephraim and then I know Israel Ephraim First Ephraim By Ephraim as you have heard heretofore we are to understand
is that which God râ—quires Joshua bids Acan Give glory to God my son and confess Confâ—ssiâ—n giveâ— glory to God and when thou standest ouâ— in this thing thou opposest God in his glory Lâ—timer reports of a man in his time who was to be executed at Oxford for some villany being brought to the place of execution much means was used to him that he would confess the act but none could prevail being turnd off and after a space hanging he was cut down and when he was cut down they peâ—ceived he was not quite dead they carrying him to a fire and by means used came to himself and then he confessed all of himself to the full This example may shew us thus much not alwaies to conclude men are not guilty when they confess nothing there is that stoutness in the hearts of men that they will rather venture damnation than yeild to men Obs 3 God will have his glory from us If we do not acknowledg our guiltiness by lesser judgments he wil continue them and ad more to them till we confess and give glory to him This is the reason that we are so long under trouble because we wil not confess when we are cald for to do it Use sin in the conscience lies as filthy corrupted matter in a sore which throbs belks and akes till it be opened and let out so in the consciences of men there is much guilt and that lies throbing in the conscience no ease can be got God calls for confession but it will not be and no true peace can be enjoyed any other way Oh therefore sinner confess and give glory to God How many are there who have lain a long time under anguish of spirit till they have taken this course freely and fully to confess sin committed lying heavy and burdensom upon the conscience Neglect not this duty when you are cald to it it is an Ordinance appointed by God for the easing of troubled souls and when you cannot get peace any other way having used other means and yet God withholds the light of his countenance then are you cald to confess to others see what course David took and how he sped Psal 39.2 3 4. I was dumb I held my peace I roared and was vexed but I said I would confess my sin and shame my self for them and then thou forgavest the sin of thy servant Mark here there was some sin which lay upon Davids conscience and he could not get peace in again what course takes he I said he did but say I would confess and then thou forgavest my sin thou diddest then seal a pardon to me Oh take this course and thou shalt have the like success God comes to thee in a sicknesâ— and saith sinner Guilty or not guilty give God then the glory of an humble confession 'T is true to confess offences against men to men there may be danger in it making us liable to trouble but confession of offences against God never causes trouble Expos And seek my face that is my Favour my Son and my Ordinances for in the general Gods face is nothing else but Gods manifestation of himself in his Love in his Son in his Ordinances and 't is a most blessed thing thus to behold Gods face Revel 22.4 this is that which David so earnestly praid for Lord lift up the light if thy countenance upon me one sight of God is better than all the world To see God any way is sweet but to see him in Christ this is most excellent In the world we have nothing of God but his very footsteps but in Christ there is the chief manifestation of the wisdom mercy and love of God to poor lost man and in the Ordinances there God chiefly lets out himself in an especial manner These are the Three things which shew unto us the meaning of those words And seek my face The Notes from them are these 'T is not enough to acknowledg our sins but we must seek Gods Obs 1 face The heart in the work of humiliation must be active ConfessioÌ„ without reconciliation insufficient that soul which is truly humbled before God must be lively and active after God else our humiliation is worth nothing in the sight of God When the heart is sullen lumpish and sinking in its humiliation God looks not at it Ezek. 33.10 we reade of some who are said to pine away in their sin Many men when God begins to afflict them with their sins Dulness under affliction an ill sign and put them into some trouble of spirit they pine away in their iniquity it is a very ill sign when humiliation makes men dull sullen and unserviceable hindering them from dutie when men lie down under their trouble discontented and melancholly therefore here 's the tryall of our trouble of conscience whether it be right or no if from melancholly it duls the heart puts it out of all spirit and activity disabling it wholly from service but if true it enlivens the heart and puts activity into the spirits though naturally dull and lumpish it puts the soul in waies of activity for God when they have to do with God this is a very good sign that such trouble for sin is right and good simile The melting of Lead consumes the Lead but the melting of Silver doth but refine and purifie it so the trouble of a carnal heart melts and consumes it but a gracious spirit will abide the fire and comes out purified and bettered therefore repentance is set out by a word of activity Isa 55.1 2. Come buy wine and milk Mat. 11.20 Come unto me The frame of a true repenting heart is in an active coming posture fitted for any service Obs 2 God leaves in his people at his parting impressions to seek him When God leaves his people he leaves something behind him which causeth the heart to make after him The soul hath her eyes upon God looking after Him Therefore much are they to be reproved who are so full of their sad conclusions and desperate speeches from such as these the Lord is gone and he will never return again I am undone and lost for ever there is no hope to Hell I must go but a gracious heart in the darkest night of sorrow and trouble can see some glimps of light and comfort saying as that good man Ezra 9.2 Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing and as the Church in Isa 42.24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned What then yet O Israel fear not Use 2. consolation Let us lay up this for sad times to support our spirits withall we know not what sad and black daies we may see yet know that we cannot be in a sadder condition than Ephraim was in here to have God to be to us as a moth and as a Lyon to tear and devour us many make
it is against God ibid Obs 5. The more directly a sin is against God the greater is the sin Page 688 VERS XIV Opened Page 689 Obs 1 The vilest men will assemble to prayer in publick miseries Page 691 Obs 2 When hypocrites assemble 't is for themselves not for God ibid Obs 3 Hypocrites seek God more for sensual things than for others ibid VERS XV. Obs 1 It is God only can bind up broken arms Page 693 Obs 2 To be sinful after mercies is a great aggravation of sin ibid Obs 3 It is an excellent thing to glorifie God after strength is restored ibid Obs 4 A true repenting sinner should have God alwaies before his eyes Page 605 For then 1 He would be serious ibid 2 He would abhor himself ib. 3 He would see the infinite evil of sin ibid 4 There is no standing out against God ibid 5 God is worthy of all he can do ibid 6 Slight sorrow will not serve the turn Page 696 7 God hath power to raise the soul ibid 8 There is enough in God to make him blessed ib. AN EXPOSITION Of the PROPHESY of HOSEA CHAP. VI. VERSE I. Come and let us return unto the LORD for He hath torn and He wil heal us He hath smitten and He wil bind us up IN this Chapter we have these things considerable First Parrs of the Chap. The work of Israels true repentance from the first verse to the third verse Secondly A sad complaint of the overly repentance of many in Israel in the fourth verse Then here is a further upbrading of Israel for their unkind dealing with God The first part sets out Gods peoples resolution to return to Him who had smâ—tten them their confidence in His mercy and their blessing themselves in their happy condition now they were returned to him To come to the first verse Come and let us return c. These words are an excitation of the mind not the body to return to God as also they shew the mighty spirit which came upon this people at this time what a turn there was in them as if they had said Well our Princes have deceived us and our Prophets have deluded us and led us aside we have been false in our worship wrong in our practises for which God hath been displeased with us but now Come and let us return we are resolved to fall down and humble our selves He hath smitten us and he will bind us up The Seventy Translators and also Hierom take these words from Chyrurgions which use to put deep and long tents into great sores Septuag Hierom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the common Septuag saith not this word but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former is in Hierom. simile who intends not to skin but throughly to heal it by eating out the corrupt flesh and filthy matter so that these words note Israels dangerous disease and their great corruptions and that in their afflictious but God would not let them die of this disease or perish under his hand in the curing but he would heal them and that throughly A woman whose breasts are sore must be throughly tented before it be healed and she bids the Chyrurgion cure her well and thoroughly though it be long and painful So saith God this people are very sorely wounded but I will take them in hand and heale them but their cure will be very long and teadious sore and painful Now saith this people seeing it is thus Come let us return it matters not though our healing cost us dear and it be painful it is enough that God will heal us Let our disease be never so grievous Come and let us return A man that hath a mortal wound about him what pain will not he be willing to endure in healing so he may be sure of cure This people conceived themselves so wounded that if God had not taken them to cure they must have perished but in that God had undertaken the cure they were confident they should be healed When Gods time of mercy is come to a people He puts a mighty Obs 1 spirit upon them to seek to Him Gods time was come for Israels deliverance now God put an active stiring spirit into them therefore they say Come let us return before their spirits were dull and lumpish like unto men in a Lethurgie but now they have a spirit quickened for God like unto those in Isa 2.3 And many people shall say Come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. The like prophesie we have Isa 60.1 and 44.3.5 they shall come off very willingly cheerfully and subscribe themselves by the name of Jacob simile As a Ship which is filled with a full strong wind in the sails goes against all oppositions of wind and stormes there is such a spirit put into them as the Apostle prayes to be in the Colossians chap. 4. ver 12. that ye may stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Now is reformation like to go on to some purpose Fall of Antich At the time of Antichrists destruction God hath promised to put such a spirit into the hearts of the people that all his tyranny shall not be able to stand before them God will blow upon the spirits of men and they shall be very powerful Now considering Gods power let not us despair concerning the great Works adoing in our times Use Let men be never so base and perfideous yet when Gods time is come He will speak the word for deliverance What a miserable sottish condition was the world in a little before Luthers time But when he came what a spirit was raised in the people And what a spirit hath there been raised amongst us and that on a sudden To consider what bondages we were in and greater like to fall into and that we were not made for slavery to be slaves and vassals subjected to the wills of some Twenty or Thirty men And what a spirit did God raise in our brethren of Scotland when he was about to do them good and to break the neck of the yoke of their tyranny Oh then what a cursed thing is it for any to quench keep under or resist such a spirit as this when it arises in people A joynt turning to God is very honorable to God Come and let Obs 2 us return It is much honor to God when but one soul is turned to him but when many are converted there is much glory a multitude of praises then are offered up to God aâ— in Revel 5.11 And the number of them which stood about the throne was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands And so Revel 19 6. The multitudes of voices saying The Lord God reigneth Allelujah to the highest Obs 3 Times of mercy are joyning times Oh 't is very sad when men will go every one their own way but when men joyn
decree with day and night morning and evening cald a Covenant because it is sure and certain so also is the Covenant which God hath made to Christ and to his Church firm and sure and this is a ground of strong consolation to the Saints to consider that mercies which they want are set and decreed mercies therefore with patience wait for them Obs 6 The Saints in the night of their affliction can comfort themselves in this That the morning is a coming It is night yet but the morning will come 't is approaching the assurance the morning is coming upholds the Saints spirits in the night of their sorrows the Marrener in tempestuous storms in the dark night the traveller in his wearisom and dirty journy comforts themselves with this the morning light is a coming 't is far better to be in darkness and know the morning light is a coming than to be in the light and to know or fear that darknesse is a coming and light never to returne more Obs 7 A little before the Saints deliverance out of their greatest disturbances of miserie and trouble the darkness of their night is the greatest As a little before the dawning of the day the darkness is the thickest and the most terrible thus it was in Egypt a little before Israels deliverance and their return out of captivity and this should mightily encourage us not to be disheartned in these times though our miseries should encrease for the darker the cloud is and the bigger it grows the neerer it is to its period therefore wait with patience Obs 8 Gods delivering of his Church is gradual by degrees not all at once as the day breaks by degrees so the Saints shine gradually in their lives answerable to the light which God hath let into them We would have deliverance at an instant light and perfect noontime presently but this is not Gods way of dealing with his people a child does not know that it is day till it be very light indeed simile but wise discerning men can see day at a little hole as we use to say Oh that we were so wise to discern Gods dealings in the workings of providence towards us It follows His going forth is prepared as the morning Text And he shall come unto us as the rain God glories much in this creature of Rain Rain in so much that he wonders when men do not fear him who is the giver of rain They did not say in their hearts let us fear God who gives rain there is so much of my glory in this very one creature that mens hearts must be very hard that will not give God glory for it Jer. 5.24 God is stiled the Father of rain this speech the mention of it here hath reference to that country in which the Prophet spake to Canaan where they had rain not so frequently as we have but twice a yeer especially viz. at seed time to soften the ground and a little before harvest to plump and fill up the Corn in the ear The Apostle James seems to allude unto this Jam. 5.7 Jam. 5.7 illustrated The husbandman waiteth patiently for the fruits of the earth so should we for Gods time of delivering his people Gods deliverances to his people shall be as seasonable as the former and the latter rain The Notes of observation from these words are Look what the rain is to the Corn so is Gods blessing to his people Obs 1 We have the same dependance upon God for blessing mercy that the seed hath upon the rain for growing and encrease without the rain the Corn will be but as the parched ground in the wilderness which is the curse and brand upon wicked men Jer. 17.5 6. hence we may see what poor creatures we are having our dependance upon such a poor creature as the rain is in its self and by the dependance which we have on this creature we should learn to consider what dependance we have upon the infinite God for all the good things which we enjoy Obs 2 As the Church is parched and dried up without the rain of Gods blessing so on the other side all the earth and flowers in the field are refreshed and a beauty there is put on them by the rain that coms from the Heavens it makes them to encrease And as the earth is not unthankful for the rain Use but sends forth Corn Grass and Flowers so should we alwaies after the receiving of mercies return unto God in duties we would think it strange if the earth after all the cost man hath bestowed upon it and after the sweet and seasonable showers of rain it should be barren and fruitless Oh man condemn thy self the word is compared to rain and how many times hath the sweet showers and droppings of the word lighted upon thee and yet thou barren all cost hitherto being lost upon thee Deut. 32.2 Obs 3 Gods mercies to his people are both seasonable and sutable this promised in the text They should come as the latter and former rain The Lord comes to wicked men in a general way of providence but to the Saints as rain in seed-time and harvest with much fulness how should this teach us our duty to wait with patience upon God with the husbandman Jam. 5.7 for the appointed weeks of harvest so should we till mercies come seasonably if mercies should alwaies come when we would have them they would prove judgments to us that which in its self is a mercy coming untimely proves an affliction God sent his people Israel Israel a King but he proved a heavy judgment to them simile if a woman should be delivered upon every pain and throwing she feels what mishapen birth would she have It is Gods mercy unto you to prolong your births till the full time we cry out Oh our troubles are great and continue long we had thought to have seen a period to these times our wars at an end and peace setled in our Kingdom Oh know that if they had ended sooner when we would have them what a plague would it have been to us Saints experience in this how many that observe Gods dealings can say that if such a mercy had come when they desired it they had been undone by it it had ruined them therefore Gods time is the best time hence we find that the Saints have often blessed God when he hath crossed them in their desires and hath denied them the thing which they so importunatly desired The Lord hath sent us the former rain at the begining of the summer in its season to prepare the earth for fruit but now there are scorching heats in the Kingdom heats of displeasure in the Country in the City nay almost in every family Now let us with patience wait and the latter rain in its season will assuredly come Is God so seasonable in his mercies for us Let us be seasonable and sutable in our