practice and lives without God in the world if knowing of God as he pretends yet notwithstanding does not study to glorifie him as God but in his works does deny him But in Zech. 12.10 In that day I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of prayer and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn over him c. In that day that is when Ierusalem shall be a cup of trembling to all the Nations round about and shall be like a torch of fire in a sheaf Now it is well known unto most men who are at all skilfull in the Scriptures that they never were as yet a terror unto any people since they were led away captive by Nebuzaradan into Chaldaea But ever since that time they have been tributaries unto one or other or else by the good providence of God it may be they have had rest for a time as they have in some places at this day But it was and is an unquiet and doubtful rest and at this time they are in bondage with their children under people and nations which neither they nor their fathers have known and therefore this time is still for to come But secondly God will pour out upon them the spirit of prayer and this will be as miraculous in their eyes as it was amongst those in the Acts which had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost but yet it shall be so powerfull a spirit that when the Lord hath breathed it on their souls it will make all rough places plain and the parched ground shall then bring forth pleasant fruit Indeed so long as the heart is rocky and stubborn the aquaduct or conduit-pipe thereof will be stopped whereby grace should be conveighed to the souls of poor sinners but when the word of the Lord which is sharper then a two-edged sword shall beat upon this same that is harder then the neather milstone it doth presently change its nature milstone it doth presently change its nature even contrary to nature like unto Moses his causing of water to proceed out of the barren rock This is part of those effects which the terrible voice of a holy God produceth in an unholy people so as to think the time past of formality too too much for to spend so vainly And now all old things will be done away and all things will become new in their hearts and this will be the initial of the Hebrews regeneration I am perswaded that those which live to see these days of Israels glorious defence will cry out and that with the same amazement as the Jewes said of Paul Was not this he so Were not these they which did so hate Christ and now they do preach Christ and as the primitive Christians were exceeding joy-full to hear that the Gentiles had received the Gospel and were baptized even so I doubt not but all good Christians will rejoice to hear and to see what great salvation Israel hath obtained But thirdly another sweet effect of this good spirit of God is by causing them to look upon him whom they and we have pierced And though they shall do this with an eye of faith yet intimating as if they now beheld their King and their daily expected Jesus suspending on the Cross and their fathers nailing of him and themselves piercing and thrusting his sides through with the spears of sin And here is faith going out from them before repentance for they are perswaded and doe believe that which they now deny and then they begin to look up Christward with teares in their eyes resipiscentiam agentes and mourn over him with a bitter weeping and mourning like unto the mourning of Hadradrimmon every family apart It will be more then a tear-shedding lamentation yea rather it will be a heart-affecting and an-inexpressible sorrow too unconceivable for any but those who have tasted how gracious the Lord is It will be as I conceive that same sorrow which the holy Apostle deemed unlawful to be repented of because it is only a quick passage out of a barren Kedar into a fruitful Canaan No man can come to the Manziel of Goa before he pass the dangerous shoals of Quiloa And then they shall turn to the Lord with their whole heart and then God will make good that promise I will and you shall and none shall then dare to disquiet Israel any more But the true worship of God in Christ will be established amongst them and then they shall be called the faithful and chosen people the true worshippers of the Father in spirit and in truth And in Jer. 31. what sweet expressions do we find concerning their future estate as in the 9 verse saith the Lord With weeping and with supplications will I lead them in the wilderness God did not thus lead them nay they were then for the most part so far from entreating the Lord for any mercy as that they did demand for this thing and that vanity and that in a murmuring manner so that the Lord did make a great slaughter amongst them for their many prevarications wherewith they provok'd the eys of his jealosie to anger against them And the Lord promiseth further that he will cause them to walk in a streight way wherein they shall not stumble Indeed formerly so long as they did or as any man doth walk loftily and proudly they were and any man is more apt to fall and stumble then he which with the Publican useth to look low and carry his heart humble before the Lord but it shall be otherwise Now God having promised to be their guide and that in a streight way surely there needs not the least distrust for Israel to have concerning their Elohim and Adonai and this is great matter of hope and comfort to Israel that when as in the dayes of old God calling them the fewest in number amongst all the Nations did yet love them above all Nations with a peculiar distinct love So though they themselves doe at this present day conceive that there is no people so scarce the Aramaspi except yet God doth still own them and doth acknowledge Ephraim to be his first-born and therefore he promiseth to be a Father to him But 2. I shall clear it a little by shewing you the consent of the Fathers in believing of this truth And first Augustine writeth Quomodo adhuc mors christi apud Judaeos maledicta est sed proculdubio Deus illuminabit oculos eorum salvos fierent in die salutis That is that although the death of Christ unto this day is held accursed amongst the Jews yet doubtless in the fulness of time God will open their eyes and bring them home to himself even then when he shall take away their sins and put his law in their inward parts then and not till then is their hour of salvation 2. John Chrysostome saith in his book which he wrote against
find or bring that back which in mans capacity was lost Now Bernard writing of Gods omniscience saith Scrutari hoc temeritas credere verô pietas c. And therefore it follows that the Lord having found this scattered and lost sheep of Israel he will in the next place take it up and bring it home in his arms and that with great glory to his holy name like the Prodigal that was loft but is now found that was dead but is now alive which is the great cause of much joy amongst the Angels in heaven It had been better for us if our predecessors had not driven them out of England doubtless the Lord will not leave punishing of us untill we do leave remembring of their faults freely to forgive them and to forget even by receiving of them again to inhabit amongst us For is it not the Proverb Humanum est errare But perhaps some may say Let them come where they will they grow richer then you can do although you taxe them highly For this I do confess that I find one place where it is said in Ezek. 11.18 how that let Israel sojourn where they will being thither dispersed by the providence of God and notwithstanding the Lord was exceeding wroth with them yet he promiseth for to be a little sanctuary to them but it is not here meant of an Italian fabrick built of wood and stone only made for to shelter manslayers from the vertue and righteousness of the law of God which is that he that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed But it is in short that their God will be a covert to them and a hiding place for them until his indignation be overpast He will provide either an outward Hester to help them in time of trouble or else his own arm will save them And so the Father saith well At favor in magno saepe dolore later So that if God had no more mercy nor respect to them then man I do believe where they would be driven away by reason of that present incredulity and God-mistrusting thoughts which are in the hearts of English Protestants I wonder what is become of our Publike Faith whereby our Nation did once submit unto the providence and various dispensations that happened-amongst us Now I say that if we are the people of God and if we do love God surely all things yea even the increase of Jewish riches will work together for our good But were our Saviour upon earth again here preaching amongst us certainly he would call us a faithless generation for our actions as concerning this do testifie that we live in most flavish fear of the worlds inconstancie and mutability and are so perplexed at any outward cross far more then the degenerate Turks are at this day By this we may see for all the specious and glossie pretence of Christians now adayes the paucity of Job-like or Micah-like spirits that will trust God with their lives as well as their estates This is now a great sign of an hypocrite when he dares trust in God no longer then he is showring down earthly blessings on his head but if the Lord do but hide himself in a cloud a while presently he distrusts God and it is in vain to serve him c. But 3 saith the Lord I will strengthen that which was sick Truly was ever any people sicker is any sorrow like unto their sorrow The whole head was sick and the heart also waxed feeble The remembrance of former dayes is enough even to deject them into an utter estate of mourning and lamentation What we that once at whose making mention of the Nations trembled and shook and now to be servile and subject to the proud and scoffing wills of uncircumcised infidels Oh this is that which strikes deep into their affections She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the people is now become tributary Ah poor Israel that now where-ever thou art thou beholdest not any of the sons of men to smile there is none that will appear to comfort thee And therefore with thy Countryman Jeremiah we may cry out Vnto whom shall we liken thee But be of good cheer this is testified of thee that he which did wound thee will also cure thee He only is able to bind the broken-hearted and he will strengthen the feeble knees But for England I shall say nothing but hard-hearted for I cannot otherwise call her when although our Saviour speaking of the good downright Samaritan which being only for our example in this case left this precept behind him saying Do ye likewise As if so be he should have said You that think to have a share in my glory you will in your converse and in your comerce whilst you are in this world often meet with many of my poor sick despised ountrymen and therefore be sure that you let no opportunity slip but doe as this man did as soon as you see them have compassion on them And as God shall shew men mercy in the day of blackness even so let Christians shew mercy to the poor ignorant Jews I am sure there never was more need then now even when they are ready to despair their habitation is become desolate so that she is called by the Prophet but as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and that all men know to be but very disconsolate But in Amos 9.9 Thus saith the Lord for lo I will sift the house of Israel with a sive but the least grain shall not be lost God will not cast away the very poor of his flock It may be they shall have anguish of soul for a time in all nations and be tossed and shaken to and fro as sometimes it would trouble any Christian heart but to know of their troubles how that on a sudden you shall have by the instigation of some malicious spirits a decree come forth by one Prince or other that within 2 or 3 days time all Hebrews shal be banished such a town or place and then oh miserable what wringing of hands what sighs and sobs will come from these poor creatures what supplicating of Princes giving all to the very clothes of their backs that they may have but a poor village to shelter them in As now the King of Poland will have them prohibited from coming or dweling any longer in Vkrain The Lord knows how ill gotten these riches are meerly for no other end then to extort mony or goods from them which although many times they scarce have yet if not they must expect banishment And next unto this will I adjoin that hellish sarcasm of a German Christian who some years ago boasted That as the Heathens did act their tragedies in the Theatre with Christians and beasts so the Nobles in some parts of Germany made up their sports and pastimes by the abusing some Jews or other And thus let men brag over them and use them as they will yet their
God hath said it that he will not lose one of them though a small grain a microcosm indeed so little that proud looks take no notice of him Like unto some expressions of a Blade in the late wars that when he hath been shewn a poor Highlander to run towards a dike to save his life from out of the battel he would say that he was such a poor rogue not worth murdering that he would forbear to run him through Even so are the Jews become despicable in the eyes of many prophane Christians but the living God hath sworn by himself that he will renew his covenant with them and give them a heart of flesh ready to receive any impression that may please him the Searcher of all hearts to put upon it although for the present ignorance and blindness hath so overshadowed their understanding as that they are insensible of their condition and of their unbelief This is that time which all good Christians should long to behold for then when God shal1 change their vile spirits though for the most part ignorantly vile then and not till then it will be that Israel will loath himself for all his abominations so that God will accept them for a sweet smelling savor and give such pleasant rest in their borders so that they shall be afraid of the nations no longer but God will be a wall of fire round about them a God that never sleeps nor slumbers but is the living God and now because he lives he is able to know and to hear the groanings of his people and because he is the Lord he changeth not and therefore both they and we are not consumed nor cut off from the earth for as Zanchy saith In Deo nihil est quod non sit ipse Deus Now the Lord doth and hath promised speaking of the idle Shepherds of his flock which did lead his people astray both before in and after the captivity under the Chaldeans that in that day meaning their day of restauration he would set over them but one Shepherd even my servant David This is that much desired time for here by David we do understand Christ as it is often in Scripture-sense rehearsed So that now when they shall accept their Saviour for their King God promiseth that they shall never more be a prey to the heathen Indeed to day not only Turks and Infidels but also many hypocritical Christians do serve themselves of them and prey upon them But because of these things let not men affirm them to be utterly rejected untill they have well and cautiously understood that blessed Apostle of our Lord S. Paul who cries out in Rom. 11. after a strange manner What then hath God cast away his people As if he should have said taking the Context immediately preceding What because my Country-men were a rebellious and stiffnecked people and did withstand and turn the deaf ear unto the former Prophets hath God therefore utterly forsaken them is there no more sacrifice for sin belonging to Israel He doth thus answer himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said No it is impossible or it cannot be For he shews the reason of it because their stumbling was not such as could cause a total falling away There are indeed some men though but few here amongst us in England who by pinning their unusual charity upon old Father Origen's authority do believe that the redemption purchased by our Saviour will at the last extend it self even unto the damned but the truth of this I will not dispute But however if the Origenists do account of it as a sin to leave the Devils without hope I am sure it is a far greater sin for any to leave the Jewes in a state of despairing No they have indeed fallen with a great discent from their original condition but yet do but see in the second chap. of Luke and there old Simeon prophesieth that Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel Here the just man foresaw that Jesus Christ would be a stone of stumbling unto many of them but yet he should be laid a chief corner-stone tryed and precious for the rising of many again in Israel and though they fall they shall arise And doubtless Jesus Christ is a stumbling block not only to many Jewes but also to the curious sophisters of the world whose wisdom the Apostle S. Paul writing to the Grecians and not to the Jewes at that time said God would confound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore asks them by way of exprobration What does become of you smooth-tongued Corinthians is not your wisdom meer foolishness with God So that for all their present reproaches God will at the last exalt his people Israel above other Nations He will the Text saith yet chuse the foolish and despicable things of Jacob and have mercy on the things that are not which are such as mortal men just wordlings and no more dare not say that they have a being And of this sort are the ten Tribes who in some sense nay carnal reason affirmeth not to be Yet these nothings as you say God will prefer before the worldly-wise before the mighty and noble things of this sinful age and then will that promise be fulfilled in Jer. 19.22 how that from that time forward they shall know and that of a truth that the Lord their God is with them and so to abide for ever It may be now they know that God is with them although it be but darkly or behind the vail For though they did in the wilderness perceive only in the daytime a thick cloud yet they did believe that their God was there as well as in the pillar of fire by night Israel hath yet a little faith though I fear England hath less and they have so great assurance by what former mercies they have received from the Lord that shortly they shall not see as through a lattice but as Job sayes cum his meis oculis so with their very eyes they shall see the desires of their souls accomplished So in Jer. 30.11 For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee yea though I make a full end of all nations yet will I not make a full end of thee Now here is a gracious promise that God will be unto them as the saving Angel that did hasten and pull Gods people out of the midst of fire and brimstone which fell upon that wicked City This is a faithful saying That although the Lord should scatter us with the rest of the Nations and should give us the fruits of our doings in fury yet he will not destroy them alluding to the plagues of Egypt that although they conversed one amongst another yet not one plague would seize upon them It will be the same case once more and then what a terror will it be for all Jew contemners to behold Israel in such felicity and themselves in so
although for the present he lets them live peaceably under his yoke Now this I do but suppose and not give it out for an Hypothesis being altogether unwiling to captivate any mans experience But however I am sure it will be no damage but profit for to let them live amongst us It will be a rare exchange to give them our carnal things and we to reap benefit by their future spiritual and extraordinary gifts and graces which I am sure they shall enjoy when the Lord shall ingraft them in again It would be worthy of great praise if that England would but set apart some special time to seek for these things that with Jeremiah we might mourn and that our eyes might run down with water because that the Comforter even the man Christ Jesus hath not as yet relieved his antient people Doubtless this will be very pleasing and acceptable unto our God God may perhaps have mercy on us for their sakes when he shall overthrow the Nations in his fury Did not the Lord bless not only the house of Pharoah but the whole land of Egypt for Josephs sake Was not the harlot saved for that she did hide some of Gods people from the fury of the King of Jericho Was not Meroz cursed bitterly because the people thereof did not come forth to help the Lord and his people And by this we may see how that God will punish a City or a Nation as wel for neglecting to help forward his work as he will those that strive to oppose it And let all men know assuredly that in such real projects as this is where there is concerned much of Gods glory even to help the poor outcasts God being pleased to put this price into Englands hand let us I say detest the neutrality of Meroz because in such a matter he that is not for their deliverance must of necessity be against it Or else we may expect then end of Meroz which was Gods heavy and bitter curse that which the Apostle speaks of one in a near case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For we do not find that they did like Sihon King of the Amorites withstand the Israelites but Neuters-like they came not to the work and therefore came this bitter curse upon them Do not we read how that godly people were always troubled to hear of the afflictions of their brethren In the 5. of Judges v. 15 16. we see it there twice repeated that because of the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart Now the other tribes at the first wondred why Reuben came not over Iordan but alas when they heard how they were dejected in spirit and how God had by his providence caused breaches and schisms amongst them it did prick them to the heart It is a sweet exexpression the Text saith they had great thoughts of heart or careful were their cogitations which way they might comfort them or help them So that true Christians scorn idleness nay Augustine calls Christians indeed non solum benevolentes vero eitam beneficientes par Angelis more like unto Angels then men in respect of their care and ministring help which they afford unto all they can Let us but take that blessed advice of our Saviour a little before his passion which he gave unto an over-confident Peter That after he was converted he should strengthen the brethren not weaken them But shall any of us be made so great in Gods favour as to be raised out of our sad natural estate and shall not we love and study to strengthen our poor despised brethren that are for the present in so weak a condition Now Reader I am perswaded that man which harbors an Israelite in his house a poor distressed outcast shall find that God hath increased his riches both in soul and in body Well then shall Israel be such a famous people and such transcendently excellent Christians in the last times Then let me dehort all men from reviling them any more Such as use that common by-word He is as hard-hearted as a Jew and You do hate such a man as bad as you hate a Jew that base people that crucified the Lord of life c. Now thou dost here compare Gods beloved people with it may be the most vile of men the very brats and darlings of Satan Not minding what the Apostle demands when he saith What art thou O man that boastest thy self against the true Olive-tree As if he should have said Art thou a Christian or art thou above a Christian For the interrogation admits of no mediocrity but either this man must be below or else like some of our dayes above Christianity and Christian duties No he is far below that blessed estate for it is the alone property of a Carib to laugh at the dejected condition of another man And therefore in few lines I will set forth what such a man is And first he is a transgressor of the 5. Command as that he doth neither honour them as his superiors neither doth respect them as his equals but doth upbraid them as the lowest of his enemies And first that they are our superiors I shall make good by that place in Luke 24.47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations Item Beginning at Jerusalem So that were we not willingly blind we might see unto whom next Christ we owe honour and good will The Lord Jesus did come primarily to the Jews even then when he seemed unwilling to give their bread unto such godless and hopeless dogs as we then were Nay the Lord saith in another place that our salvation is of the Jews which I will unfold in my ensuing discourse But oh ingratitude is it not so in the abstract For such is the stubborn age in which we do now converse that not untill now is that Scripture perfectly fulfilled in Isa 51.18 There is none to guide her of all the sons whom she hath brought forth c. Now that I were but able to set this out in extremes for so it doth deserve For first our Religion sprang forth and craves its birthright from Betlehem a Town of Judaea from one of whose inhabitants according to the flesh Christ came and afterwards it was confirmed and ratified by Jewish Teachers such as Paul and Peter those excellent and spiritualized Sophists and by them deliver'd to the Gentiles throughout all parts and to this day the same is continued So that this being put together all will confess that Jerusalem was our Mother Nurse and Tutor Now if they be our parents where then is these mens fear that honour them not I can liken such men to none better then to those rebellious children unthankful Negro's at the Cape of Good-Hope who after they are hatcht up being able to flie abroad or help themselves having their own turns served they hate none more then those which brought them up nay further when old age seiseth on