are under condemnation for if the least sin be not pardoned there is condemnation but this cannot be I do not say the sin is pardoned before it is comitted for that is a harsh improper speech for when we speake of pardoning sin we speak of a work applyed to the creature not of that which is in God a pardon is laid up to be applyed by God when ever the sin is commited so that there shal be no instant of time wherein the sinner is unpardoned so under condemnation Then surely he can never fall off from Christ for what doth endanger the falling off from Christ but commission of sin Christ hath as well merited at the hand of God pardon for any sin that is to come as he hath merited pardon for sin past do not say this opens a gap to licentiousnesse then we need not care No the grace of Christ hath no such malignity in it in saying thus thou speakest against thy life The second soul-staying argument for perseverance is that perseverance is a spiritual mercy purchased by Christ as well as any grace Ephes 1. 3. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ Now you will say Faith is a blessing and Humility is a blessing and Joy is a blessing we have in Christ why is not Perseverance a blessing a spirituall blessing too Christ hath as truely and as really layd down his bloud to purchase the perseverance as to purchase thy pardon as to purchase any thing he hath purchased for thee That which Christ hath laid down his blood to purchase surely must be had the purchase of Christs blood shall not be frustrate Is there any thing thou hast by vertue that purchase Thou mayest be as sure of perseverance for Chrst hath laid down his blood to purchase that also Christian then satisfie thy soul in this God gives the comforts in this world but he gives them not for ever but when he betrotheth thee unto his Son he betrotheth thee for ever Perhaps the Lord in mercy hath made thy life here in this thy pilgrimage very comfortable in giving thee a comfortable meet yoke-fellow in this thy betrothing thou art happy but this happinesse is not for ever thou canst looke upon thy yoke-fellow as a mercy of God unto thee that makes thy pilgrimage sweet but there must be a dissolution between thee and her but thy union with thy Husband Christ is for ever there shall never be dissolution of that Perhaps some of you have lost comfortable yoke-fellowes death hath come and snapt asunder the union between you and you complain never woman lost such a husband never man lost such a wife as I have if you be godly you have a husband that you shall never lose it is he that will fill up relations he saith Thy maker is thy husband Esay 54. 5. And further this is mutuall I will betroth thee unto me for ever I will give thee a heart that thou shalt cleave unto me for ever This will afford unto us another usefull meditation viz. When the Lord chooseth any soule to himselfe as he setteth his own heart for ever upon thar soul so he gives unto that soul a principle of grace to cleave unto him for ever too to give up himselfe unto him in an everlasting covenant Psal 119. 112. I have inclyned my heart to performe thy statutes alwayes Is not that enough No he must have another word to expresse the thing alwayes even to the end Davids heart was much taken with the statutes of God O Lord through thy mercy my heart is inclined to keep thy staâutes yea and it is so alwayes yea and it shall be unto the end It is a kinde of pleonasme or rather the expression of the fulnesse of his heart in his resolutions never to depart from God But what are those riches Christ bestoweth upon his people whom he betrotheth to himself the bracelets and ornaments hee putteth upon their necks and upon their hands are these I will betroth thee unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will ever betroth thee unto me in faithfulnesse aud thou shalt know the Lord. There is much of the Gospel in this In righteousnesse This according to some is understood as opposed to dissimulation Sine fuco without any dissembling in this he assures his people that they shall finde his dealings with them altogether right and equall and so I expect from you and will cause it in you that in your dealings towards me you be right and equall there shall be nothing feigned betwixt us all shall be plain right and just You know there is often a great deale of dissimulation in marriages great prâffers and promises and overtures of what one should enjoy in the other and when they meet not with what they expect it causes great dissention between them and makes their lives exceeding uncomfortable But now saith God there shall be no dissimulation betwixt you and me I will deale with you in the plainnesse of my heart and you shall deale with mee in the plainnesse of your hearts So the word righteousnesse is taken in Scripture Isa 48. 1. They make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousnesse one expounds the other I will receive you againe though you have departed from me in the very integrity of my soule doe not feare me doe not suspect me doe not thinke though he make a shew of love unto mee and of great favour yet hee intendeth to cast mee off at last These are the jealous thoughts of many troubled consciences Indeed I heare of mercy and God is working toward me as if he intended mercy to me but I am afraid he will cast me off in the conclusion No saith God do not feare do not suspect me this mercy I offer is bona fide it is in the very truth of my heart therefore let there not be such suspitious thoughts betwixt you and me you may be sure that what is fit and right for you to have from such a husband as I am that doth belong to such a Spouse as I professe to take you to be you shall certainly have it you need not be afraid for you shall have plain and upright dealing with me This I take to bee one part though not all of the meaning of the holy Ghost here I will betroth thee unto me in righteousnesse that love I professe to you I do not do it to mock you saith God but I do it in truth From whence the notes which are very usefull may be First guilty hearts are full of suspitions of Gods reall meaning in all his expressions of love and mercy They judge God by themselves As they first slight sinne because they judg of God by themselves they see not such a dreadful evill in sinne they think God sees it not so after they have sinned they judge of
if I shall thus set it a part so devote it for such a businesse as it may not without sin to me whatsoever falleth out be used to any other occasion And secondly when I have set it apart I shall put so much in it as if the same holy actions be performed to another time they shall not be accounted so holy as at this time although that time hath as much natural fitnesse in it now I sanctifie time to my selfe but thus I cannot doe without sin You shall finde that there are these two things in all holy feasts and indeed in all things that are accounted holy First it was a sinne for them to make use of that time for any other thing or any other wayes then God had appointed Secondly the actions that they did at that time were such as were more acceptable to God then if they had done the same thing at another time Yea it was so in their very days of humiliation that were once a yeere a day of Expiation this day must not be used for any thing else and if they humbled themselves or fasted upon another day that would not have beene so acceptable to God as upon this day So wee shall see it in all superstitions of men when they set apart either dayes or places or things they put these two upon them As for places They say we appoint a place for people to meet in a religious way yes but when comes it to be superstitious Thus first when it comes so to be set apart so as I shall make conscience of using it to any other use but this Secondly when I shall be perswaded in my conscience that God accepts of service done him in this place better then in any other though as decent as this So for superstitious garments You will say may not Ministers be decent I have heard a great Doctor give this argument for a surplice somtime saith he I ride abroad to preach and my cloake is dirty is it fit for me to come into a Pulpit with a dirty garment and therefore there is alwayes appointed somewhat to cover it it is decent Suppose it be so but if it be so that this garment must be made use of for nothing but such a holy exercise and secondly if I thinke the wearing of it doth honour the service and that God accepts of the service performed in such a garment rather then in another this is superstition as in one place in Suffolke when that garment was lost there was a strict injunction to the poore countrey men that there might not be any service or sermon till they had got another for which they were appointed ten dayes and this being upon a friday there were two Sabbaths without any service therefore it is apparent they put the acceptation of the duty upon it So for days for any man to set apart a day so that it shall be a sin that a mans conscience shall condemne him before Ged as sinning against him if he doe any thing upon that day but such holy duties Secondly That though the same holy duties be done upon another day they shall not be accounted so acceptable to God as done upon that day this is superstitious Yer certainly of this nature have many of our dayes been for if you opened your shops what a deale of disturbance was there in the city It was a profaning of the day every Proctor and such fellowes had power given them to molest you 2. did not they account it a greater honour to God for to have service read that day then to have it read upon an ordinary teusday or thursday yea preaching upon a Lecture day that was not one of their holy dayes they accounted not so acceptable unto God as service upon that day Here comes their institution their institution puts upon it more then God puts upon it so it cometh to be sinfull So if you should set apart this time you call Christmas so as you should make conscience of doing any other service or worke that day and besides you should think that to remember Christ and to blesse God for Christ upon another day is not so acceptable to God as to doe it upon that day here comes in the evill of thus putting mans institution upon dayes Well but this is not cleareâ except we answer another objection But doth not the King and Parliament command dayes of fasting and dayes of thanksgiving and are not they of the same nature Will not you say it is sin for us to open shops upon these dayes I answer our dayes for fasting and thanksgiving have not those two ingredients in them for first if God by his providence call any particular man to any particular businesse in his family then let this man take heed he doe not appeare in a way of contempt he need not have his conscience condemn him though he spend all that day in that businesse They may set apart a day to be spent publickly yet with this limitation not to enjoyne every particular man that whatsoever Gods providence calls him to in particular businesses he must leave off all make as much conscience of doing this as upon the Lords day You will say upon the Lords day if we have any extraordinary thing fall out we may go a journey or doe businesse as a Physitian may ride up and down workes of mercy may be done therefore this makes no difference betweene Gods day and these of mans appointment I answer Though a Physitian doe a worke of mercy upon the Sabbath day yet he is bound to doe it with a Sabbath dayes heart as a work of mercy whatsoever calls him off from those services that are Gods imediate worship he must doe that thing with a Sabbath dayes frame of heart he is bound in conscience to doe it so and he sinneth against God if he rides up and down to Patients with such a heart as he may doe it upon another day he may follow it as a businesse of his calling upon another day but not so now but if he do it with a Sabbath dayes frame of heart as a worke of mercy he keeps the Sabbath in that But if there were a necessity upon a Fast day to ride a mans conscience need not to condemne him before God if he went about that worke as the worke of his calling at that time It is not therefore so dedicated but Gods providence may take us off to doe other civill actions and that as the works of our calling Secondly Neither is it so sanctified as if the same works done at another day were not so acceptable to God as done upon this day As our fast dayes set upon the last wednesday of the Moneth to thinke that the worke done upon another day were not so acceptable to God as done upon that day this is a sanctification of the day and such a sanctification is sinne The same answer may be given for dayes of
of Hamath unto the Sea of the plain And ver 28. He recovered Damascus and Hamath which belonged to Judah for Israel This Hamath that he speaks of was of great use it was the in-let of the Assyrians and for Jeroboam to conquer that place land to recover Damascus and to add that to the Crown of Israel which belonged to Judah it shews that after their bitter affliction God granted a great mercy by Jeroboams means and that now Israel flourished greatly and grew exceeding prosperous There is much of Gods mind held out to us in this As in that the people of Israel had been under sore affliction and delivered yet God sent Hosea to them to shew them their horrible wickednesse and to threaten destruction Hence see the perversenesse of the children of men that after great deliverances granted them from bitter and sore afflictions yet they will continue still in their wickednesse and rebellion The Lord grant this may not be true concerning us God hath delivered us in great measure from those sore and bitter afflictions and heavy oppressions under which wee lately vvere and many gracious liberties are restored to us Now have we not need of an Hosea to be sent unto us to rebuke us and to threaten judgment for the evill of our wayes This is a sad thing Further God may let a sinner continue a long time in the way of his sin and when he hath flourished many years and thinks surely the bitternesse of death is past then God may come and threaten judgment Jeroboam reigned 4â years and it cannot be but that Hosea prophesying so long after Jeroboams death came in the latter end of Jeroboams time Jeroboam might think what doth he come to contest with me and to tell me of my sin and wickednesse and to threaten judgment have not I continued these 40 years King and have prospered and surely God hath been with me Well a sinner may hold out long and yet afterward judgment may come Thirdly A people in a flourishing condition when they prosper most and overcome their Enemies and have all according to their hearts desire even that may be the time for God to come out in his wrath against them So it was here therefore we must not judg our Enemies to be happy nor feare them because of their flourishing estate for the present neither let us be secure our selves because of the mercies wee enjoy God doth not alwayes so but sometimes he is pleased thus to deale with sinners to stay till they be at the height of their prosperity and then to come upon them as here he did Sometimes God is more sudden it is like Zechariah the son of this Jeroboam thought he might venture as well as his Father his Father prospered in such wayes 41 years and why may not I No God came upon him in six moneths 2 King 15. 8. Fifthly Hosea when he came to prophesie against Israel he saw them in their prosperity and yet continueth to threaten judgment against them It was a further argument of the Spirit of God that taught him and of a speciall insight he had into the mind of God that he should thus prophesie destruction to them when they were in the height of their prosperity It is true if Hosea had come afterward in Zachariah his dayes when the Kingdome was declining or if Hosea had pophesied in Shallums time and others after him then he might have seene by the working of second causes that the kingdome was going downe indeed No but he comes in Jeroboams time when there was no appearance of second causes at all of their destruction and then prophesieth destruction unto them It is a sign of speciall insight the soule hath in the wayes of God that can see misery under the greatest prosperity The Prophet did not think Israel in a better condition because of their outward prosperity A signe his prophesie was from God Yet further this being in the reign of Jeroboam when they were in great prosperity surely their hearts were exceedingly hardned against the Prophet and it cannot be imagined but that they entertayned his prophesie with scorn and contempt for it is an usuall thing when men are in the height of their pride and in their ruffe then like the wild asses colt to scorn and contemn all that comes against them It is nothing for a Minister of God to deale plainly with people in the time of adversity when they are down the wind but when men are in the ruffe of their pride and in all their jollity to deale faithfully with them then this is something and thus the Prophet Hosea did That their great prosperity did raise up harden their hearts with pride against the Prophet it appears plainly if you will but read Amos 7. 10. for we must finde Gods minde by comparing one place with another there you shall find what the fruit of Jeroboams prosperity was for Amos and Hosea were contemporary When Amos was prophesying Amaziah the Priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee the land is not able to beare his words This was said of Amos it is like that Hosea did not meet with better measure then this Amaziah the Priest of Bethel did this If there be any enemies against the faithfull Ministers in a place they are the Priests of Bethel idolatrous and superstitious Ministers And what course doe they take They send to the King to the Governours O they have conspired against the King they are seditious persons factious men that keep a stirre in the kingdome and break the peace of the Church the Land cannot bear their words Such a message as this you see did Amaziah send concerning Amos he turns off all from himself to the King and all the punishment that must be inflicted upon Amos must be in the name of the King And mark the 12. ver of that Chap. Also Amaziah said unto Amos O thou seer goe flee away into the land of Judea and prophesie there We are not holy enough for you forsooth we are Idolaters we doe not worship God aright we are no true Church get you to Judah among your brethren and prophesie not any more here at Bethel why Because it is the Kings Chappell it is the Kings Court It seems then in those times that the Kings Chappell the Kings Court could not beare with a faithfull Prophet And what was the ground of it but because at this time Jeroboam prospered in his way and the kingdome was in such a flourishing condition as it never was before Here then was the tryall of the faithfulnesse of Hosea's spirit yet to goe on in the work of his Prophesie Yet further In that Hosea did prophesie in the time of Jeroboam by that it will apppear that he was the first Prophet that ever brought these hard tidings to them of the utter destruction of Israel It will appeare by that
was good and the land that it was pleasant and he bowed his shoulders to bear became a servant unto tribuâe And when mens spirits are effeminate in regard of the civill state they quickly grow so in regard of their consciences and religion too Purity of religion in the Church cannot stand long with slavery admitted in the State We read Rev. 4. 7. of 4. Ages of the Church set out by four living-creatures the 3. living-creature the Text saith had the face of a man and that was to note the state of the Church in the time of reformation they began then to be of manly spirits to cast off that yoke of bondage that was before upon them to enquire after what liberty God had granted to them Not then like those we read of Isa 51. 23. that would bow down to such as would say to their soules Bow downe that we may goe over them This my brethren hath been the condition of many of us there hath bin that effeminateness of spirit in us that we have bowed down our necks yea our souls to those that would go over us yea as it is there in 51. Isa they made themselves the very street to them that went over them their very consciences were trampled upon by the foot of pride and all for the enjoyment of a little outward accomodation in their estates in their shops and in their trading Oh they must not venture these rather yeeld to any thing in the world And truly we were afraid not long since that God was calling us by the name of this daughter Loruhamah in regard of our effeminateness of spirit that the Lord was departing from our nation But blessed be God that now here hath begun to be a rising of spirit among us especially among our worthies in Parliament and their warmth vigour life hath put warmth vigour spirit and life into the whole Kingdome Now our Kingdom will never bow downe and submit their Consciences nor Estates nor liberties to that bondage and oppression that heretofore hath been No they had rather die honorably then live basely But why do I make such a disjunction dy honorably or live basely Had we spirits we might free our selves and posterity from living basely and we need not dye at all for the malignant party hath neither spirit to act nor power to prevail if we keep up our spirits and be strong in the Lord we are safe enough yet we shall not have our name Loruhamah but Ruhamah the Lord will have mercy upon us 1 King 14. 15. God threatens to smite Israel that they shall be as a reed shaken with the wind and then mark what followeth and then he would root them out of this good land which hee gave to their Fathers If this judgement be upon England that our spirits be shaken as a reed with the winde that wee bow and yeeld to any thing in a base way the next may justly follow that the Lord may root us out of this good Land As it was with Israel before their destruction they grew effeminate so it was with Judah too before theirs Isa 3. 3. when God intended judgment against them you may observe there that He took away the mighty man the man of war the prudent and the ancient the Captain the honourable man the Counseller men of truly noble spirits were taken away their Nobles became to be vile and sordid to yeeld to any humors and lusts then they were neer the ruine and ver 12. the Text saith women rule over them for women that have many spirits to rule is no judgment at all but for women of revengeful spirits to rule over a nation is a most fearful judgment But so much of the first that it is a daughter that is here born to Hosea What is this daughters name Call her name Loruhamah Non dilecta so some Non misericordiam consecuta so others both come to one either not beloved or one that hath not obtained mercy for Gods mercy proceedeth from his love I will no more have mercy I will add no more mercy Nothing that God had shewed abundance of mercy to Israel before but now he saith I will not adde any more I will shew no further mercy to them But I will utterly take them away Tollendo tollam so turned by some In taking them away I will take them away Levaho levando so others I will lift them up that I may cast them down so much the more dreadfully The old Latin hath it thus Obliviscendo obliviscor forgetting I will forget And this was upon a mistake of the Hebrew word because there is little difference in the Hebrew between the word that signifieth to to forget and that which signifieth to take away The 70. setting my selfe against them I will set my selfe against them Well the name of the child must bear this upon it that God will have no more mercy upon them Hence then first Sometimes the very children of families and in a kingdom do bear this impression upon them that God will have no mercy upon this family upon this kingdome One may my brethren read such an impression upon the children of many great families in this Kingdome when wee looke upon that horrible wickedness of the young ones that are coming up how different from their former religious Ancestors we may see with trembling hearts such an impression of wrath as if God had said I have done with this family I intend no further mercy to this family As sometimes when we see in a family gracious children gracious young gentlemen noble men we may see the impression of Gods mercy to that family Ruhaniah I intend mercy to it It was not long since that we might and we thought indeed wee did see such an impression upon the young ones of this kingdome the young ones in the City the yong ones in the chief families in the Country that we vvere afraid that Lornhamah to England was written upon them for oh the rudenes and wickednes of the young ones But blessed be God that we see it otherwise now now in regard of that graciousnesse that forwardnesse of so many young ones amongst us we may see written upon them Ruhamah to England mercy to England God hath taken away his Lo and writeth only Ruhamah mercy to you this great change God hath made For the great ground of the hope we have for mercy to England is the impression of God upon the young ones When God hath tender plants growing up in his Orchard certainly he will not break down the hedg or dig it up Secondly Call her name Loruhamah for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel There is a time when God will not have mercy upon a kingdome or upon a particular people Gather your seves together oh nation not worthy to be beloved before the decree come forth There is a
time for the decree to come forth against a kingdome when God will not be intreated a time when though Noah Job and Daniel should stand before him yet he will not be intreated though they cry cry âarly cry aloud cry with teares cry with fasting yet God will not be intreated Gods mercy is precious and he will not let it run out to waste he will not be prodigal of it a time wherein God will say Now I have done I have done with this people mercy hath had her turn It is true except we had that immediate revelation that the Prophets had we cannot now determine of the particular time yet by examining Gods way toward his people in former times the truth is that those that laboured most to search Gods minde in his word they were even afraid that this decree had been gone out upon us in England It is true God hath seemed for the present to tell us that hee hath a prerogative and he will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy But yet neither are those altogether to be blamed that even in their own hearts determined as it were that mercy was gone except they did wholly limit God and left nothing of prerogative at all to him but because it was Gods ordinary way and except God had wrought with us in a way of prerogative otherwise than ever he did with any nation before they did then conclude that the decree was gone forth and so it might be true and what God may do with us yet we do not know But this we can say if the decree be not gone forth if there be mercy for us God hath shewed his prerogative that he will now goe on in such a way otherwise than formerly he hath done in the world and if God will do so who can say against it A time there is likewise for God to say against particular persons he wil not have mercy upon them a time when God will say those men that were bidden shall not tast of my Supper he that will be filthy let him be filthy still my spirit shall no longer strive with them God hath no need my brethren that we should receive or entertain his mercy we had need that God should grant it God many times is quick in the offer of his mercy Goc and preach the Gospel he that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned A quick worke God makes many times in the effects of mercy Yet 3. I will not have mercy This is pronounced as the most dreadfull judgment What not have mercy upon them then indeed is a State or a Kingdom in a dreadful condition when God shall say of them that he will not hve mercy Wo to you saith the Lord when I depart from you wo then to you when my mercy is for ever gon then all judgments miseries must needs flow in upon a nation or a particular soul when the Sea-bank is broken up then the waves will all flow in Isa 56. 9. All you beasts of the field come to devour yea all you beasts in the forrest why what is the matter His watchmen are blind c. I argue thus from thence if the prudence of the watch-men being taken away which should stop misery then all evils come flowing in upon a Nation What then if the mercy of God that should stop misery be taken away whither should the poore creature goe if mercy be gone to what creature should it look for help if it cryes to any creature the creature saith I can afford no comfort because God affordeth no mercy what shall uphold the heart then when it hath no hope at all It must needs sink I will not add mercy saith God shewing that what good they had received before it was from his mercy though they would take no notice of it well saith God you shall have no more you have taken no notice that it was my mercy that helped you before but when my mercy is gone then you will know it but then I will not add more Men best know what the worth of mercy is when mercy is taken away from them when God addeth no more Again I will not adde mercy God doth not use to take away his mercy fully from a people or from a soul but when mercy hath been shewed and abused after much mercy hath been received and that being abused then God saith hee will not adde more You have a parallel place to this Iudg. 10. 16. I will deliver you no more saith God I have delivered you many times my mercy hath been abused I will deliver you no more It is just with God when mercy is abused that wee should never know farther what mercy meaneth Mercy as it is a precious thing so it is a tender thing and a dangerous thing to abuse it There is nothing that more quickly works the ruine of a people or of a soule then abused mercy But further I will utterly take them away Before it was only that they should be scattered the name of the first child before was but Iezreel that they should be the scattered of the Lord but the 2. is Loruhamah that they shall have no more mercy from the Lord. Gods 2. strokes usually are more dreadfull then the first God beginneth first with the house of Correction before he bringeth to the gallows There is branding first before hanging there are warning pieces before murthering peeces God makes way for his wrath by lesser afflictions before hee cometh with destroying judgments I remember Mr. Knox in his History of Scotland hath this story of one Sir Iames Hamilton that having been murthered by the Ks. means there he appeared to him in a vision with a naked sword drawn and strikes off both his arms with these words Take this before thou receive a finall payment for all thy impieties and within 24. hours 2. of the Ks. sons dyed God cometh to nations particular persons with a sword cutteth off arms before he takes their lives he commeth by degrees upon them As the Lord when he cometh in a way of abundance of mercy lesser mercies make way for greater mercies When Manna was rained down the dew ever came before it So lesser judgments to the wicked are forerunners of and makers way for greater judgments first they are parboild before they come to be rosted in the fire Further I will not adde mercy to the house of Israel He doth not say I will not adde mercy to this or that particular man of Israel but to the house of Israel A Multitude of sinners with God is no argument for their escape of judgment It is a rule indeed with man Multitudo peccantium tollit peccatum Multitude of offenders take away their offences Men know not how to execute the offenders when they are in Multitudes here and there some of the ring-leaders may be taken for example sake But it is no
concern the outward man except God will come in with his owne institution But when it cometh to the ordering of the heart and there is a spirituall efficacy expected as in all Church ordinances there must be and that authority by which they are executed giveth a great influence into them now nothing can goe beyond its principle therefore it must have a divine institution to give it its efficacy It may here be demanded whether hat not God appointed over us a particular civill government as he did over the Jews That our government and all lawfull government of other Nations is appointed by God we must conclude is a certain truth But not so appointed by God as the government of the Jewes was And the reason is this because the Church and Common-wealth of the Jewes was involved in one and therefore the Apostle speaking of the Church hee saith they were Aliens and strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel It was meant of the Church state There was such a kind of Paedagogy under the Law that the Church and State were involved in one for Christ would be the head of the Church and Common-wealth too and appoint them lawes And so their government was imediately from heaven Now for us That we should have a government according to the rules of wisdome and justice that indeed is appointed by God God would have us have a government But he leaveth the ordering of that government to generall rules of prudence and justice So that now it is lawfull for any Kingdome or Country to agree together and according to the rules of wisdom and justice to appoint what government they wil as vvhether it shall be a Monarchy or an Aristocracy or a Democracy and to limit this according to Covenant of agreement as whether that the fundamentall povver shall be vvholly put out or any part reserved hovv farre this or that Man or society of Men shall have the Managing of it and the like then so farre as it is agreed upon vvee are bound in conscience to obey either actively or passively but no further are vvee bound to obey any Man though he be in authority yet vvee are not bound to obey him either actively or passively conscience is not tyed Though those men be in authority yet it is no resisting of authority at all not to do what they would have Yea though the thing be lawfull they would have yet if it be not according to the law of the kingdom to the first agreement I may be bound by the rules of prudence to save my selfe but it is not authority that binds me to obey out of conscience For we must of necessity distinguish between men in authority and the authority of those men Wherefore so long as wee seeke but to keepe authority in the right channell that it flows not over the banks we cannot be charged for resisting the government God hath set over us though we do not obey the wills of those who are set over us and therefore there is no cause that we should fear that God should say to England upon this ground Loruhamah hee will have no mercy To proceed But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah The people of Israel they might say Hosea thou art a Preacher indeed what preach nothing but judgment nothing but wrath to be utterly taken away Is there no mercy at all Is not God a mercifull God Yes saith the Prophet though you be taken away God knoweth how to glorifie his mercy he hath others that he can make to be objects of his mercy though you be destroyed From whence first you see that though God utterly reject some yet in the mean time he hath others to shew mercy unto Therefore it is no plea for any sinner to say thus well I have sinned indeed but God is mercifull What if God be mercifull so he may be though thou be damned and perish everlastingly Yea whole kingdoms nations may perish yet God may be mercifull God hath stil infinite ways to glorifie his mercy Many people in desperate moods lay violent hands upon themselves certainly there is a kind of spirit of revenge in it as if they thought there would be some trouble about it and so God should lose some honour But if you will have your will in this or in any thing else though you be dead and rotten and your souls perhaps in chains of darkness God will have wayes to be glorious in his mercy whatsoever come of you But 2. I will have mercy upon the house of Judah God will alwayes have a Church he will never destroy his Church at once the Lord loveth publique worship in the world Though he will utterly take away the house of Israel yet he will have mercy upon the house of Judah Again Israel might say what will not God be mercifull to us why I pray you what doth Judah get by her worshipping of God in that which you say is the only right way Judah indeed keepeth her selfe to Ierusalem keepeth her selfe to worship in the Temple but what doth she get by it for ought we see Iudah is in as hard an estate and in as low a condition as we nay as we shall see afterward Iudah was in a lower condition than Israel and certainly such kind of expressions as these they would be ready to have against the Prophet Well saith God let Iudah be what she will I will have mercy upon her Though carnal hearts when they look upon the low condition of the true worshippers of God think that there is no difference between those that are in a good way and themselves that are in the ways of sin yet God will make a difference I will have mercy upon Iudah but not upon Israel Many carnal men please themselves with this I see others that are strict that pray in their families that run to Sermons and wil not do thus and thus as others do yet they are as poor in as mean a condition as any others what do they get by their forwardness in religion Are not we in as good a condition as they Well friend though thy carnal heart think there is no difference between him that serveth God him that serveth him not God hath a time to manifest a difference There shall a time come saith God Mal. 3. 18. that you shall returne and discerne between the righteous and the wicked between him that feareth God and him that feareth him not I will not have mercy upon Israel but I will have mercy upon Iudah Fourthly Judah had at this time many grosse and fearful evils amongst them yea scarcely delivered from Sodomy it will aske a great deale of time to shew you the state of Judah in regard of the horrible wickednesse that was in it yet God saith I will have mercy upon the house of Iudah What is the reason of this Because though Iudah had many grosse evils yet Iudah kept
to the right way of worshipping God kept to Ierusalem to the Temple so farre they kept the worship of God pure Hence we see God will favour a people exceeding much though there be many weaknesses yea many wickednesses among them if they keep the worship of God pure It is true there are many spirits that are most bitter against those that seek to worship God in the right way if they can but get them tripping in any small thing they follow it against them with all their might with all the bitternesse that they can possibly This is not like unto God God will favour those that worship him in a right way though for other respects hee may have many advantages against them But this you will say seemes to contradict what you said before for you said the nearer any are to God the more he hates their sinnes and the sins of those that make a shew of worshipping God in a pure manner are worse than the sins of others It is true But as their relation to God in the nearnesse of his worship is an aggravation of their sins so their relation to God is a foundation of their hope of mercy from God How is this It makes their sin indeed worse so as to provoke God to punish them sooner and perhaps bitterer yet their relation to God keepeth this ground of faith that God is their God still and will have mercy upon them at last But the wicked though God spare them longer than his own people yet when he cometh against them he rejecteth them utterly so he did Israel Iudah indeed was punished but yet Iudah had mercy at last but saith God I will have no more mercy upon the house of Israel but will utterly take them away Fiftly Israel had prevailed a little before against Iudah for if you read in 2 King 14. 12. you shall finde that Iudah was put to the worst before Israel the Text saith They fled every man to their Tents and Iehoash the King of Israel took amaziah King of Iudah and came to Ierusalem and brake down the walls of Ierusalem from the gates of Ephraim to the corner gate four hundered cubits And he took al the gold and silver and all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the Kings house and hostages and returned to Samariah And this was but a little before this time Israel had thus prevailed against Iudah and brought Iudah under yet now saith God I will have mercy upon Iudah but not upon Israel What should we note from hence God sometimes sheweth mercy to poor afflicted ones and yet rejecteth those that are greater enjoy more prosperity in the world Many that are poor people poor souls that are in a low afflicted condition God looks upno them and sheweth mercy unto them when brave ones that carry it out and thrive and live gallantly in the world are many times rejected of God Mark what God saith Zeph 3. 12. I will leave in the middest of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. God lookes not at the brave and gallant ones of the world but at the poor and afflicted ones and they shal trust in the name of the Lord. We must not then judge at the happiness of men according to their successe in the world For you may now be delivered and others kept under affliction yet afterwards you may be rejected and the others received unto mercy Further Hosea was the Prophet of Israel he was sent to the ten Tribes yet Hosea tells them whose Prophet especially he was and God would have no more mercy upon them And he speaks to Judah he was not sent to them and he tells them that God would have mercy upon them Here we may learn how impartial the Ministers of God ought to be in their work they must not goe according to their particular private engagements though they are engaged more to such a people in divers regards yet if they be wicked they must deale faithfully and plainly and denounce the judgements of God And if others though strangers to them be godly they are to give to them that comfort that belongs unto them My brethren partiality in those in publick places especially of the Ministery is a great evil It was for this that God said he had made the Priest and the Levite contemptible and base before all the people Why because they were partial in the Law Malac. 2. 9. 7. It is a great aggravation of the misery of some that God sheweth mercy to others For it is here set down as a part of the threatning against Israel I wil have no more mercy upon Israel but I wil shew mercy to Judah To aggravate the misery of Israel God manifesteth his mercy to Judah Mark how God in Esay 65. 13. makes it a part of his threatning against the wicked that he will shew mercy to his servants Behold my servants shall eate but you shall be hungry my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirstie Behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but yee shal crie for sorrow of heart howle for vexation of spirit These Buts are cutting ones to the heart of the wicked And observe it here is the word Behold three times used in setting out the difference that God will make between his servants and the wicked and how God will aggravate the misery of the wicked by shewing mercy to people because it is a thing much to be considered A like place you have Mat. 8. 11. Many shal come from the East West and shal sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob but the children of the Kingdom shal be cast out into utter darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mark they shall gnash their teeth when they shal see how they are rejected and others received gnash their teeth for envie and vexation of spirit for it is a great aggravation of mens misery And is it not fulfilled this day How do many bite their nailes and gnash their very teeth to see the mercy that God sheweth to his people in giving them liberty and encouragement in his service while he casteth shame contempt upon their faces bringeth them forth to answer for their wickedness and to suffer condigne punishment Wicked mens spirits vex at this it is that which they cannot possibly beare it is that which galleth and fretteth the very gaul of their heart to see the mercie of God to his people now in these dayes to see such an opportunity as this to meet together with this liberty to exercise our selves in the word when they are caged up This they gnash and grind their teeth at It is observeable that which you have in Acts 22. 21. Paul was speaking there a great while to the Jews they
satisfied yeeld to them gratifie them in what you will this is the first temptation what will you be so strict and rugged and yeeld to them in nothing but if they prevaile with you to begin to yeeld they will never have done they will still encroach upon you Hezekiah yeelded to Senacherib even to take away the gold of the Temple doores yea a little while after he cometh againe with a great host so that Hezekiah said it was a day of trouble and rebuke Chap. 19. Nothing will quiet them but the ruine of the Church they must needs have that Downe with it downe with it even to the ground nothing else will satisfie them To this low estate and sad condition was Iudah brought not long after Israel was taken away and yet God promiseth mercy to Iudah for all this VVhat shall we learne from this This profitable lesson for our present condition God may intend much mercy yea God may be in a way of mercy to a people yet may bring that people into very great straits difficulties The promises of Gods mercies are alwayes to be understood with condition of the crosse If we thinke that upon the promise of mercy we shall be delivered from all trouble affliction we lay more upon the promise then the promise will or can beare It is a great evil that proceedeth from much weaknes of spirit and distemper of heart for people though God hath done great things for them yet if there come any rub in the way and difficulty any trouble Oh now we are gone now vve are all lost now God hath left us we hoped that there would have come mercy we looked for light and behold darkness now the heart sinketh and all is presently given for gone Know my brethren this is an evil and an unbeleeving heart an evil and an unthankful heart God hath indeed done great things for us yet how ready are wee though God be in such a way a glorious way of mercy if we hear of any difficulty of any little rub any combining of the adversaries together we must expect nothing now but blood and bid farwel and adue to all our peace we thought to have had happy dayes but now the Lord is coming out against us and all that is done must be undone againe Why why are you so full of unbeleefe Surely this is unworthy of Christians that professe an interest in God unworthy of all the good that God hath done for us Peter though before he had walked upon the seas through the power of Christ yet when the waves came now Master save me or else I perish Hath not God made us walk upon the waves of the sea all this while wrought as great a Miracle for us in England as he did for Peter Yet when a wave doth but rise a little higher then before we are so distressed in our spirits that we can scarcely cry Oh Master save us but we look one upon another and discourage one another hearts and in stead of crying unto God wee cry out one to another in a discouraging way and so pine away in our iniquities Certainly God is exceedingly angry at such a demeanour as this and yet this is ordinary both in regard of nations and particular persons Of nations It was so high with Judah for I desire to keep as close as I can to the work I am about though God had made this promise to Judah here yet if we look into the 7. Isa Isaiah was contemporary with Hosea it was not much after the making of this promise wee shall see how they were troubled with fear saith the Text When it was told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim the heart of the King of Judah and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the wood were moved with the winde they were afraid and shook as the very leaves of the tree shake both the king of Judah and all the people Well but God speaks to the Prophet in the 8. Chap ver 11. and it was at this time when they were so troubled because of the enemies coming against them God I say in that Chapter speaks to the Prophet saith the text he speakes with a strong hand saying say not ye a Confederacy a confederacy Oh the King of Israel the king of Syria are confederate together what shal we do we are undone we are lost for ever say not ye A confederacy neither fear ye this fear nor be afraid but sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear Thus God would have his Saints do not when you hear of confederate enemies or any ill tidings abroad Oh the papists are linked together A confederacy a confederacy do not say a confederacy fear not their fear but sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself let him be your fear and let him be your dread he shal be for a sanctuary to you and mark the resolution of the Prophet afterward ver 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him Oh that this were the disposition of our hearts Take that note away wiâh you amongst many though you cannot remember all when you hear so many rumors of fears and troubles as if all were gone and there were now no more hope Let this be your answer I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his facè from the house of Jacob for God is in a way of mercy and mercy certainly we shall have let us look for it And for particular persons how ordinary is it though God be in a wonderful gracious way of mercy towards them yet if they do but feel their corruptions stirring never so little all is gone presently I was indeed in a good way but God is gone Christ is gone and Mercie is gone all is gone surely God intendeth no thoughts of good to me Oh be not unbeleeving but beleeving For this is the way of God though he promiseth great mercie yet in the meane time he may bring into great afflictions I will not have mercy upon Israel but I will have mercy upon Judah and will save them For a people to be saved when others neare them are destroyed this is a great setting out of Gods goodnes to them as to stand upon the shore safely see others suffer shipwrack before us is a great augmentation of Gods mercy towards us When the people of Israel could stand upon the banks and see the Egyptians tumbling in the Red-sea and their dead bodies cast upon the shoare then saith the Text sang Moses and the children of Israel unto the Lord. And this kinde of mercie the Lord hath granted to us in England for while our neighbouring nations have been in a combustion and many of them spoiled we have sate under our own vines under our own fig-trees and our greatest afflictions have
been only the hearing of what our brethren have suffered yet do suffer Whereas all about us is as the fiery furnace and we walk in the middest of it like the three children our garments not touched nor the smell of the fire passed on them when as we see all Countreys as Gideons fleece bewetted with the tempest of Gods wrath yea with their own blood behold we are dry aud the sun-shine of Gods mercie is upon us the blackness of the misery of our brethren is the brightnesse of our mercie I will save them It is the Lord that will save them This is an upbraiding of Israel Oh Israel you think to be saved by your owne policy you have got a fetch beyond God you are afraid that the people should go up to Jerusalem to worship therefore you have set up the two Calves to save your selves But Judah shall be saved and saved after another way Iudah need not go to such carnall setches and policies to save themselves for the Lord shall save them Though carnal hearts thinke and endeavour to save themselves onely by their own policie and carnall waies yet let Gods people know that they have a stronger means to save them then all the policie in the world So long as the wisdom the power the mercy the faithfulnesse of God is for them they need no other string to their bow but that I will save them by the Lord. VVhat is the meaning of this This by Interpreters is carried concerning Christ That God the Father promiseth to save by Christ As Dan. 9. 17. we have such an expression in prayer Now O Lord hear the prayer of thy servant for the Lords sake that is for Christs sake So here God wil save by the Lord that is by Christ A sweet lesson we have from thence viz. That the administration of Gods grace to his people is given into the hands of JESUS CHRIST It is Christ that doth save the people of God and hath saved them in all former times in all ages It is true in the merits of Christ all are saved that every one will grant as Zach. 9. 11. By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit All the prisoners of Gods people ever since the world began that have been sent out of the pit it hath been by the blood of the covenant by the merits of Christ and not onely so but Christ in the administration of all hath been the chiefe he hath been the Angel of Gods presence that hath stood up for his people in all their necessities he hath been the great Captain deliverer the Saviour of them all Let Christ then have the honour of a Soveraigne to us in regard of our salvation in outward deliverances Let us look up to him then for salvation in all our straits And if Christ was the Saviour of his people in all ages and still will be then surely those ages and places where Christ is most known and honoured may expect the greatest salvation And this is for our comfort far above all the ages that ever was since the world began Christ is most known and honoured in this age and of all places in the world here in England and amongst our countrey men and if Christ will be a Saviour of those places where he is known and honoured surely England may expect a salvation England hath had it and as England is peculiar in the way of the knowledg of Christ so England shall be peculiar in a way of Gods grace to her I will save them by the Lord their God Not your God oh Israel but their God Thus he upbraydeth the people of Israel that they had forsaken their God that Iudah had kept their God but Israel had not It is a great upbrayding of a people when it can be said of them that they have forsaken the Lord. It is a wofull thing not to have God to be our God at all that conscience can charge this upon a man that Daniel did upon Belshazzar That God in whose hand thy breath his whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified but that conscience can charge this That God that thou hast chosen that thou hast entred into covenant withall Oh thou apostatized soule thou apostatized Nation thou hast forsaken him he is not thy God This is a sore and heavy charge indeed Again The Lord their God It seemes he is the God of Judah though Judah had many evils but not the God of Israel Those then that do not worship God in a right way God will not acknowledge himself to be worshipped by them at all The people in the wildernesse proclaimed a fast to Jehovah and yet the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 7. calleth them Idolaters and it is said they sacrificed to Idols because they worshipped God by the Calfe and not in Gods way Though we may think we worship God yet if wee doe not worship him in his own way he doth not own himself to be worshipped by us at all Again The Lord their God This could not but sting Israel that Judah should be thought to have more interest in God then Israel had It is a stinging thing to carnal hearts and much bitternesse of spirit it must needes be entertained withall that any one should but think of challenging any peculiarity of interest in God Thus they scorned at Christ Oh he trusted in God he thinketh he hath more interest in God then others now let his God come and save him I remember in the book of Martyrs we read that the Papists were much vexed against the protestants because they used to say our God and our Lord they were knowne by this speech and the Papists were inraged against them for this because they seemed to claime more interest in God then others And indeed what is the cause of the quarrel in the World against Gods people but because they thinke they claime more peculiarity and interest in God than others and this is the reason that soule-searching preaching cannot be endured because it makes a difference between the one and the other and shewes that some have an interest in God more than others Hence it is that in no places in the world mens spirits so fret against preaching as in England why because there is not such soul-examining such soule-distinguishing preaching in the World as in England Yea that is the reason of the bitternesse of one professor against another because one is a Protestant at large and the other manifesteth more power of godlinesse is more strict in his course and seemes to claime a greater share in God than the former Profession in England is a more distinguishing profession than in other places I will save them by the Lord their God God is the God of Judah still therefore God will save them So long as God is our God we need not fear our adversaries Yee
as usual when we are in adversity to forget all promises When wee hear of mercy to Gods people we are taken up and never thinke of Gods wrath and on the other side when we heare of his wrath on unbeleeving hearts are taken up as wel and never think of his grace and mercy We ought to sanctifie the name of God in both when God is in away of justice look up to his grace and when he is in a way of grace look upon his justice and sanctifie that name of his likewise And for that end I shall give you two notable Texts of Scripture there are many of this kinde but two I shall give you that are as famous as any I know in the book of God the one that declareth to you that when God expresseth the greatest mercy yet then hee doth expresse greatest wrath and the other when God expresseth greatest wrath he then expresseth greatest mercy And I shall shew you the name of God oughto be sanctified in both The first is in that 34. of Exod. 6. 7. The Lord there when he passed by before Moses proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands for giving iniquity transgression and sinne What abundance of mercy is here exprest Now it followes And that will by no meanes cleare the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Here is an expression of great wrath And then for our sanctifying of Gods name in this it followes ver 8. And when Moses heard this he made hast and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped before the Lord. Thus we must bow and worship before God in our sanctifying his Name in both together both his mercy and justice On the other side Nahum 1. 2. and soon God is jealous and the Lârd revengeth the Lord revengeth and is furious the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies dreadful expressions yet ver 8. The Lord is slow to anger there is a mittigation at first Then he goeth on still in expressions of wrath But he is great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked and ver 5. The mountains quake at him and the hills melt and the earth is burnt at his presence yea the world and all that dwel therein who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the feircenesse of his anger his fury is powred out like fire and the Rocks are throwne downe by him What more terrible expressions of wrath then these that come from God here Now marke ver 7. The Lord is good and a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth those that trust in him What a strong expression of grace is here observe it my brethren that in the middest of Gods anger yet God is good still a gracious heart must acknowledge God though he be provoked to anger yet to be a good God still and it is a good signe for the soul to fall downe before God when he is in the way of his wrath and to say the Lord is good As that good old man Eli did after the denuntiation of that dreadful sentence against him and his house by Samuel The word of the Lord is good let him doe what seemes him best All of you will say when God bestoweth avours upon you The Lord is good oh blessed be God he is a good God but when God revealeth his greatest wrath truely then the Lord is good Luther saith he will acknowledge God to be a good God though he should destroy all men in the world much more then is he to be acknowledged in a day of trouble when indeed he appears most graciously to his Saints The Lord is good and a strong hold in the day of trouble Is God a strong hold now when such wrath is revealed yea and specially now a strong hold to his Saints in the day of trouble and he knoweth those that trust in him for all his wrath is abroad in the world he knoweth those that trust in him Many men when they are angry they scarce know the difference betweene their foes and their friends Many when they go abroad if any displease them they come home and are angry with their wives with their servants with their children with their friends with every one about them they know not then who is a friend and who is not when they are in their passion their wives and children and servants wonder what the matter is with them Sure some body or other hath displeased my master abroad to day he is so touchie so angry upon every little thing My brethren It is a dishonour to you in the eyes of your servants and it layes low your authority in your families for them to see you come home in such a per that you know not how to be pleased though they have done nothing to displease you God doth not so though he be never so angry yet hee knowes those that trust in him Let Gods anger be never so publick and general abroad in the world if there be but a poor soul in the world that lies in a poor cottage in a hole that is gracious the Lord knowes it and takes notice of it and that soul shal know too that God doth know it It is true when the wrath of God is revealed abroad in the world seemes as if it would swallow up all those of the Saints whose spirits are weake and fearfull they are then afraid of Gods wrath that they shall be swallowed up in the common calamity be of good comfort God knowes those that trust in him even when his wrath is never so dreadful and general abroad in the world It is in this case with Gods children as it is with a childe in the mothers Armes if the father violently layes hold upon his servant and beates him and thrust him out of doores for his demerits there is such a terrible reflection from the fathers anger against the servant upon the childe that the poor childe falls a crying So it is with the children of God when they see God in a terrible way âaying hold upon wicked men to execute wrath upon them they cry out they are afraid lest some evil should befall them too Oh no be of good comfort The Lord is good and a strong hold in the day of trouble and knoweth them that trust in him when his anger is never so great and general So it is here though this Israel be not my people yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the Sea for all that so you shall find it in the 15. ver of that first of Nahum Behold saith the Text upon the mountains the feete of him that bringeth good tidings What at this time though Gods way be in the whirl-winde
and so terrible yet now behold the feete of him that bringeth good tydings that publisheth peace God abroad publisheth war yet he hath a messenger to publish life and peace to some Is it not so this day It is true the wrath of the Lord is kindled the wrath of the Lord burneth as an oven and it is hot but it is against the ungody but peace shall be upon Israel And let us sanctifie the name of God in this too for so it followes in this very Chap. of Nah. ver 15. Oh Iudah keepe thy solemne feasts performe thy vowes for the wicked shall no more passe through thee And because God revealeth such rich grace in the middest of judgement let this engage your hearts to the Lord for ever Yea a little further because it is an instraction of great use in these times and may be yet of further use in times we may live to see not onely when God threatneth judgements let us sanctifie Gods name in looking up to promises but when judgements are actually upon us Suppose we should live to have most fearful judgments of God upon us yet even then we must look up to promises and exercise our faith and have an eye to God in the way of his grace at that time this is harder then in threatnings You have an notable place for that in Esay 26. 8. In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy name Oh blessed be God my brethren the Lord calleth us to wait upon him in the wayes of mercy for the present It is true there was a time not long since that the Lord was in a way of judgement toward England and there were some of Gods people when he was in the wayes of his judgements amongst us yet would wait upon God and keepe his wayes though there were many because Gods judgements were abroad and they saw that they were like to suffer departed from God and declined his wayes Much cause of bitterness of spirit and of dread of humiliation have they that did so But others may have comfort to their soules that in the very wayes of Gods judgments they waited for him they can now with more comfort wait upon God when he is in the ways of his mercy But if God should ever come untous in the ways of his judgments let us learne even then to wait upon God keep his way And yet another Text that may seeme to be more notable than this for this purpose and that is Iere. 33. 24. Consider est thou not what this people have spoken saying the two families which the Lord hath chosen he hath even cast them off thus they have despised my people that they should be no more a nation Marke the low condition the people were in at this time Oh God hath cast them off they are despised contemptible not worthy to be accounted a nation This condition was very low but though they were brought low in a condition contemptible yet now God confirms his Covenant with them at this time For observe ver 25. Thus saith the Lord. If my Covenant be not with day night and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven earth then will I cast away the seed of Iacob ond David my servant As if God should say let them know that whatsoever their condition is now yet my love my mercy my faithfulness is toward them as sure as my covenant with day night and as the ordinances of heaven and earth An admirable Text to help not onely nations but particular persons when they are cast under contempt by wicked ungodly men yet at that time the Lord is most ready to confirm his covenant with them to be as sure as his covenant with day night and heaven earth This bringeth honour to God when at such times we can looke up to God and exercise our faith And indeed this is the glory and dignity and beauty of faith to exercise it then when Gods judgements are actually upon us But what promises are these They were not promises to any that then lived the promise that is here made was to be fulfilled in future Ages yet it is brought in by the Prophet as a comfort to the people of God living then in that time Hence this excellent note that nearly concerns us Gracious hearts are comforted with the promises of God made to the Church though not to be fulfilled in their dayes If the Church may prosper and receive mercies from God though I be dead and gone and rotten in the grave yet blessed be God When Jacob was to die saith he unto Joseph Behold I dye but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers he will fulfill his promises to you though I am dead Our fore-fathers that generation of the Saints that lived a while since how comfortably would they have dyed if God before their death had revealed to them that within 3. or 4. or 7. yeares so much mercy should come to England as we now have seen in these dayes Yea how comfortably should any of us have died I appeal to any gracious heart here suppose God should have taken thee away but this time two yeares and he should have said thus to thee Go and be gathered to thy fathers in peace within these two years such and such things shall be done for England as we now live to see would not we willingly have dyed would it not have been comfort enough against the fear of death but to have had revealed to us what should have been done in after time to our posterity what mercy then is it now that it is not onely revealed to us but enjoyed by us That is the second Note But thirdly What was this promise This promise was that Israel should be a multitude that the number of them shall be as the sand of the sea shore VVe shall examine the excellency of the mercy of God in this promise by and by Onely for the present enquire we a little why God would expresse himselfe in this that his grace should be manifested in this to multiply them as the sand of the sea shore If we compare Scripture with Scripture we shall finde that God therefore promiseth this because he would thereby shew that he did remember his old promise to Abraham for that was the promise made to Abraham that God would multiply his seed as the starres of heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore and now God along time after commeth in with renewing this promise Hence we are to observe this Note That the Lord remembers his promises though made a long time since God is ever mindful of his Covenant as it is Psal 111. 5. When we have some new and fresh manifestations of Gods mercy our hearts rejoyce in it but the impression of it is
when they were in the darke for those three dayes together they stirred not from their stooles there was no noise among them shall the light be blamed because afterward when it came every one stirred and went one one way and another another so when we were in grosse darknesse we saw nothing we knew nothing Now light begins to breake forth and here one searcheth after one truth and another after another and yet we cannot attaine to perfection shall we accuse the light for this Yea but we see too apparently that those that seem the strictest of all that would worship God as they say in the purest manner in his Ordinances yet there are woefull divisions and distractions even amongst them How then is the Gospel a Gospel of peace But a word in answer to this To satisfie your consciences that the Gospel may not be blamed for indeed where the Gospel comes there is promised peace Consider this one reason that may be given for it Because so long as we are here we are partly flesh and partly spirit Yet those that have the Gospel prevaile with their consciences they come to be of this temper that they cannot move any further then they can see light for and their consciences will give them leave But now other men they have more liberty they indeed quarrel not one with another why because they have wide checker lyther consciences having ends of their owne they will yeeld to any thing for the attaining of those ends so that here they have this advantage that if they see that the contention will bring them more trouble then they conceive the thing is worth they will condescend though it be against light of conscience But other men upon whom the light of the Gospel hath prevailed have that bond upon conscience that though all the world should differ from them they must be content to lye down and suffer they cannot yeeld though you would give them all the world they cannot go against that light But indeed they may search and it may trouble them that their apprehensions of things should be different from the apprehensions of their brethren and that they cannot yeeld to that which their brethren yeeld too It is true they should be humbled and suspect their hearts and look to themselves and fall down before God and pray and use all means for advice and counsell and consider of things again and again Well but suppose they have done all this and yet the Lord doth not reveale to them any further light though it be a sad affliction to them yet they must lye down under it for they cannot yeeld one known truth is more then all the world therefore unlesse others will beare with them in their infirmity they must suffer whatsoever men will lay upon them True indeed the world calls this stoutness and stifnesse and being wedded to their own opinion But they know it is otherwise they can appeal to God and say Lord thou knowest what a sad affliction it is unto me that I cannot see what my brother sees and that I cannot yeeld to what my brother yeelds to thou hast hid it from me I ãâã wait upon thee till thou shalt reveal it in the ãâ¦ã and not make disturbances in the places vvhere I come but pray ãâ¦ã for light and that thou wouldst incline the ãâã of my brethren unto me ãâã they may not have hard thoughts of Do but thus thou shalt have peace with God and in thine own heart howsoever But again marke Judah and Israel they shal be gathered together So soone as any are converted to the faith they are of a gathering disposition They desire to gather to the Saints presently Every childe of God that is converted is a gatherer as Solomon is called Ecclesiastes so in the Greeke but the Hebrew word is interpreted by some a soule gathered because it is in the faeminine genger None in the world love good fellowship so much as the Saints of God They fly as doves to their windows doves you know use to fly in great flocks thousands together The more spirituall any one is of the more joyning uniting nature he is Thousands of beames of the Sun will meet together in one better then the beams of a candle will doe The Saints of God in the Apostles times when they were converted it is said they were added to the Church they gathered presently So in Esay 66. it is an observable place ver 20. the Text saith They shall bring their brethren as an offering to the Lord out of all Nations upon horses and in chariots in litters How comes this There shall be many that dwell a great way off they shall not make that their excuse for their not joyning to the people of God because they are afar off It is a great journey No but there be horses to be got But it may be some cannot ride Then get Charets But some perhaps are so weake that they can neither ride on horses nor in Chariots then they will get litters and litters you know are to carry weake sick persons This shews the intention of spirit that is in the people of God to be gathered to the Church either to be carryed on horses or in Chariots or in litters one way or other they will come and joyn themselves to the people of God For there is the presence of Christ and the protection of Christ and the comunication of Christ in their union and communion and where the carcasse is there will the Eagles resort O they love alife to be going towards Sion gathering one to another as in Psal 84. 7. They walk from strength to strength and at last they all appear before God in Zion From strength to strength that is thus From one place of the Country perhaps there comes halfe a score or twenty to go toward Zion and perhaps before they come to such a town or turning they meet with halfe a score more so they grow stronger when they are a mile or two further perhaps they meet with another town coming and they joyn presently are stronger and so they go from strength to strength comfortably together till they come before God in Zion They shall appoint themselves one Head Although they be multitudes be as the sand of the sea yet this is no great matter unless they come under one Head a right Head too It is not multitudes that is a sufficient argument of truth A multitude coming under one Head under Christ as one Head they are the true Church The Papists they give this Note of the Church Universality that there are so many Papists in the world We must not regard people how ãâ¦ã they are but under what Head they are They shall be gathered undermine Head looke to the Head they follow for so S. Paul tells us that there shall be an Apostasie before the revelation of that man of sin 2
should see the thicker skin bubble he might thinke t is harder to be broke then the thinner skin but if a Cannon should be shot off nay if it be but a Fillip it makes no difference Now the afflictions of Gods people they are to this right hand of Gods power and the arme of his strength but as a bubble of water before a mighty Cannon Yea if there be not help at all to deliver Gods people in time of affliction yet God can create helpe He will create Jerusalem a rejoycing and their people a joy Yea suppose their condition be such as yet never was the like since the beginning of the world yet Isa 64. 4. Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the care âeither hath the eye seene what God hath prepared for them that waite for him And as the greatnesse of the Churches deliverance is no hinderance of Gods power in delivering them so it should be no hinderance to the work of our faith Common prudence and reason will go a great way to uphold us under some affliction but when the affliction comes to be sore and grievous and long prudence reason then sinketh under the burthen but then should faith lift up it selfe and cast an eye upon this right hand of Gods power this arme of his strength that he hath sworne by and exercise it self in the glorious acts of it For certainly faith is appointed for such a time as this when the Church is under grievous extremities The ordinary afflictions of the Church do not call for such a work of faith but when they come to extraordinary that requires such a power of God for their deliverance then there is called for a worke of faith proportionable as Alexander when he was in great danger Now saith he there is a danger fit for the spirit of Alexander to incounter withall So when the Church comes to be in any great danger all the members of it should say here is a danger here is a trouble fit for the spirit of Christians fit for the spirits of those that are able to exercise the most noble and glorious acts of faith This glorious exercise of faith I may even say we are scarce yet for the present put to it for reason and sense sees much help they see that the cause of God at this day hath the better of the adversary reason I say and prudence may see far this way Let us not look upon every difficulty as a thing that calleth for such a mighty glorious worke of faith whereas men by reason and prudence and may carry themselves under such difficulties much better then most of us doe But we do not know but the Lord may call us unto such difficulties and dangers as requires such a faith as hath such a kinde of work as I have spoken of Let us therefore lay up this Instruction for the time to come Again for great shall be the day of Jezreel If the words be read thus as they are in your Bibles and yet have reference to the calamitous time and grievous extremities of the day of Jezreel then there will be these two excellent meditations from thence The first is That Gods bowels of compassion do work toward his Church because of the greatnesse of their affliction When their afflictions shall be very great and the greater they are the more do Gods bowels of compassion work toward them We know the misery of Gods people in Exo. 3. was a marvailous quickning argument to the compassion of God as I may so speake I have seene I have seene saith he the affliction of my people and their sorrowes and therefore am come down to deliver them If the greatness of the affliction of the Church move the bowels of Gods compassion then let not the greatnesse of affliction hinder our faith Let not the greatnesse of trouble reason down our faith but rather let it reason up our faith for so indeed it should and so the Saints of God heretofore have done by the greatness of the trouble we must reason up our faith as thus It is ââme for thee O Lord to work for men have almost destroyed thy law yea the high time is come for thee to have mercy upon Zion for thy people begin to favour the dust thereof What was this a good argument Have mercy upon me and pardon my sin for it is very great to move God withall Surely then this is a good argument Deliver us in our afflictions for they are very great for sin makes a great deale more distance betweene God and us then afflictions yet if the greatness of sin shall come to be put as an argument for Gods mercy and compassion to work much more the greatness of afflictions Yet this is the grace of God in the second Covenant that even the sins that before made the creature the object of hatred those sins come now to make it an object of compassion So afflictions that before were part of the curse they come now to be arguments for the moving of the bowels of Gods tender compassion toward his people Another note if you read it so for great is their affliction is this the promise is the only support of the soul and that which carrieth it thorow the greatest affliction Afflictions are as leade to the net the promise is as the corke the promise keepes above water when the lead pulls down But I leave these meditations though I finde many interpreters run this way And I rather take it as a further expression of Gods wonderfull mercy unto his Church For great shall be the day of Jezreel That is God hath a great day of mercy for Jezreel That is the meaning they shall appoint themselves one head they shall be gathered together and be made one they shall come up out of the land why for God hath yet to come a great day of mercy to his pepole A grâââ day of Jezreel And herein therefore God makes use of the name of Jezreel in a good sense They that carry it the other way would carry the signification of the name thus for great is the day of scattering of the scattered people so Iezreel signifieth as you heard in the beginning of the Chapter But Jezreel signifieth likewise the seed of God Before God made use of their name in the worse sense that he would scatter them according to their name now he makes use of their name in the best sense they are the seed of God and there is great mercy from God for them When God is reconciled unto a people he takes all in the best sense and makes the best acception of every thing as he doth here of the name Jezreel We have onely these two things to consider of in this expression 1. That the Saints of God and the Church they are Gods Jezreel That is they are the seed of God 2. That there is for this
prepared to meet Christ their Bride-groom when he cometh Marke that place Ezek. 40. 4. It is spoken of the glorious times of the Gospel especially of these times I am speaking of where God saith to the Prophet Behold with thine eyes and heare with thine eares and set thine heart upon all that I shal shew thee And what did God shew him hee shewed him the measure of the Temple and all the glorious things that there should be in the Church in future times So I say to you my brethren concerning that I have spoken of the great day of Jezreel behold with your eyes look into Gods book and see what is said there for I have named but little and heare with your eares and set your hearts upon what hath been set before you So in Isa 41. 20. You have a place somewhat like this speaking of the mercies of God to his Church in latter times saith the Text That they may see know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it Mark how one word is heaped upon another that they may see know and consider understand what God would do for his people And when God came to reveale the glorious things he intended for his Churches in future times in the book of the Revelation which is the special book that declareth this unto us Mark how the Lord beginneth It is said that God gave this first to Christ secondly Christ to the Angel thirdly the Angel to Iohn and then there is pronounced a blessing to him that reads and hears the words of this prophesie and understands it What a solemne way of blessing is here There is not such an expression in all the book of God where have you a blessing so solemnly proclaimed to the reading and hearing of any of the bookes of God as to that book Therefore though they are things that seeme to be above us yet certainly God would have us to inquire into these things It is the fruit of the purchase of the blood of Christ to open these seales Rev. 5. 9. we reade that there was no man in heaven nor in earth that was able to open the book and to loose the seales thereof only the Lambe that was slaine and that hath redeemed us unto God by his blood he was onely worthy to open the seales It is a fruit I say of the slaughter of Christ of his blood and therefore cry to him for the opening these things to thee And though thou beest very weake in regard of parts and thinkest with thy self How can I understand such things as these know that it is Christ that through his blood comes to open these seales and seeing it is a fruite of his blood it is no matter whether thou art weake or strong if he come to open them to thee as Ier. 13. 2. saith God to the Prophet Call unto me and I will shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not so I say to you be a praying people call upon God and he will cause you to understand great and excellent things that you have not known And my brethren seeing these things shall be thus O what manner of persons ought wee to be how heavenly our hearts should rise up from the earth seeing God intendeth to do such great things for his people As it is Isa 60. Arise arise shake off thy dust for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee So I may say to the Churches now Arise arise shake of the dust of your earthly affections for the light of God is now ready to arise upon you Now sur sum corda now lift up your hearts above the things of the world VVee reade in Rev. 4. of the foure living creatures that appeared unto John the first was like a Lyon and the second like an Oxe and the third had a face as a Man and the fourth was like a flying Eagle They are according to the interpretaâion that reverend Brightman gives to set out unto us the foure states conditions of the Church The Primitive times were Lyon-like for their valour the second age like an Oxe to beare the burthens of Antichrist the third had a face as a man that stood for their liberties and would not be under such slavery and they are but times and then the fourth as an Eagle that sored aloft In the state of the Church hereafter they shall be like an Eagle have heavenly hearts no such drossy base earthly hearts as we have now Labour we even now to be so that we may be fit for that day And let us all prepare for the Bride groome against his comming How shall we prepare The cloathing that then shall be shall be white linnen which is the righteousnesse of the Saints That great Doctrine of our justification by the righteousnesse of Christ shall be the great businesse of that day in which the glory of the Saints shall much consist and they shall be clothed with that it shall be clearly understood of all men they shall be ashamed to rest upon duties and ordinances as now they do Let us study the Doctrine of the righteousnesse of Christ afore-hand for that is like to be our clothing at that day that is the white linnen of the Saints which shall be their glory Let us prepare our Lamps and keepe them all burning and shining the oyle not onely of juâââcation but sanctification active stirring in our hearts that so we may ãâã to entertaine the Bride-groom whensoever ãâã ãâ¦ã And all of you labour now to instruct your children in the knowledge of God and of Christ bring them up in the feare of the Lord that they may be seed for that day Acquaint them with these things for though perhaps you may be dead and gone before this great day yet they may live to see it therefore catechize them and instruct them and drop into them those Principles that may fit them for the meeting of JESUS CHRIST their Bridegroome To conclude all Let us be all praying Christians It is that which is charged upon us in Isa 62. 6. All you that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish till he make Jerusalem apraise in the earth God hath a day to set up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole earth Oh be praying praying Christians every one of you and give God no rest till he effect this And remember God of all his promises search the Prophets search the book of God and urge God with his promises to the Church in this way And you that are the weakest be not discouraged in your prayers and you may be a meanes to further and hasten this great day of Jezreel Psal 102. 17. The Psalmist had spoken before of Gods building up Zion and certainly that Psalme is a Prophesie of the glorious times
of the Church that shall be marke what the Text saith The Lord shall regard the prayer of the destitute and shall not despise their prayer speaking of those that shall live in those times a little before this day of Iezreel shall be The Lord shall regard the prayer of the destitute the word that is translated destitute it signifieth in the Hebrew a poor shrub in the wildernesse a poor shrub that the foot of every beast is ready to tread downe and that poore shrub that perhaps is despicable in the eyes of the world and despicable in his own eyes yet saith the Text the Lord shal regard the prayer of that poor shrub Is there ever a poor shrub though never so destitute so despicable in the eyes of the world or in thine owne eyes yet be thou a praying Christian a praying soul praying for those things and God will regard thy prayer he will not despise thy prayer Perhaps thou art ready to despise thy prayers thy self but God will not despise them let all our hearts be lifted up and let us all cry with the Church Come Lord Jesus Come quickly O let this day come for great shall be the day of Jezreel HOSEA CHAP. 2. The First Lecture CHAP. 2. VER 1. 2. Say ãâã your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ruhamah Pled with your mother plead for she is not my Wife neither am I her husband c. SOme joyne the first verse of this Chapter to the end of the former and according to a sense that may be given of the words agreeable to the scope of the latter part of the former Chapter it may seem more fit to be made the end of that then the beginning of this In the latter end of the former God was in a way of promising mercy to his people that those that were not his people should be his people and those that had not received mercy should receive mercy Now he calleth upon all whose hearts were with God to speake to one another of this great favour of God to his people foâ their mutuall encouragement and for the praise of his Name As if he should say Well you have been under dreadfull threats of God your sins have called for dreadfull things but my grace is free and it is rich powerfull therefore you that were not my people and have deserved to be for ever cast off from being my people you that had not obtained mercy shall obtaine mercy Say to your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ruhamah that is O you that are godly speak one to another and telâ one another for the quickning of one anothers hearts of this great favour of God of his free grace Oh say Ammi Ammi the people of God Ruhamah Gods mercy We were not his people but now Ammi again God hath promised to make us to be his people we were rejected from mercy but mercy is come again now Ruhamah O the mercy of God O that free grace of our God that wee that have beene so vile so provoked the eyes of his glory we that have so sinned against mercy it self yet mercy should thus follow us to make us his people and to save us from his wrath It is a good thing to speake of the loving kindnesse of our God Psal 92. 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to be telling of the goodnesse of God in the morning and his faithfulnesse every night That Psalme is appointed for the Sabbath It is a work of the Sabbath to be speaking one to another of the goodnesse of God Especially in this case when a people were afraid that they should have been for ever rejected that now God should call them againe Ammi my people and say now againe that he will have mercy upon them Psal 145. 4. 5. One generation shall praiss thy name to another and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works Mark what the wayes of God are toward his Church when he commeth in the wayes of mercy they are wondrous works of God they are the mighty acts of God they are such wherein the honor of God appears yea they are the honour of his Maâesty yea they are the glorious honour of his Majestyâ There is Majesty honour of Majesty glorious honour of Majesty mighty works of God wonderfull works of God When these appeare these are to be declared indeed And for them to be able to say to one another Ammi and Ruhamah it was to declare the wonderfull works of God and the glorious honour of his Majesty Yea it followeth further in that Psalme verse 6. Men shal speake of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declaâe thy greatnesse And verse 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodnesse Eâuctaâuât so Arias Mântanus renders it they shall not be able to keep it in but break âorth in the memory of thy goodnesse Happy are those people that God gâants such subjects of discourses unto that they may say one to another to their brethren and sisters Ammi and Ruhamah It was not long since that when we met with our brethren we could not have such a subject of discourse as this is but usually when Christians met together after their Salutations their first question was Oh! what shall we do what shall we doe what course shall we take All the Newes almost that was in the Kingdome and the subject of discourses specially among the Saints was this Such a Minister silenced in such a place such a one banished in another place such a one imprisoned in another place such a one High-Commissioned in another place such signes of the wrath of God upon us we are afraid that God is going if he be not quite gone already we are afraid that he will not onely reject us from being his people but reject us from being a people upon the facâ of the earth But blessed be God he hath changed the subject of our dâscourses Now Gods wayes have begun to be towards us as if he intended to make us again to be his people Now we may when we meet together have plentifull subjects of discourses about Gods grace mercy to say Ammi Ruhamah O the Lord manifesteth goodnes to an unworthy Nation we have hope that yet he will owne us to be his people we have hope that yet he will shew mercy to us though never so unworthy Who would have thought ever to have seene and heard of such things as we have seene heard who would have thought ever to have seene the hearts of the adversaries so daunted their power so curbed their rage so quelled the wicked in their own workes so ensnared their hopes so disappointed who would ever have thought to have seene the Saints so rejoycing their liberties so inlarged their hearts and expectations so raised This is the free grace of God
Ammi Ruhamah we have obtained mercy God hath dealt with us in abundance of grace This we must not discourse of when we meere as matter of newes onely but we must speake of it to the praise of God for the sanctifying of our hearts Our brethren in Ireland have another subject of their discourses at this day When a brother or a sister meet this is the subject of their discourse Oh my Father my mother taken such a day by the Rebels and cruelly masacred such a kinsman such a kinswoman taken such a day and fearfully murthered such houses were fired such Cities and Towns were taken and with what gaftly visages doe you think they look one upon another when they are thus relating these sad things The word of God came out against England but it hath lighted upon Ireland O unworthy are we of these mercies we enjoy if when we meete together our discourses be frothy and light about vain and trivial things when God hath given us such a subject of discourse as he hath done by such gracious and wonderfull and glorious wayes of his mercy towards us in this latter age Say to your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ruhamah The mercies of God are to be inculcated upon our spirits we should not onely tell them one to another but again and again inculcate them upon our hearts Indeed Gods mercies at first they seeme to take impression upon our spirits but the impression is soone vanished Say to your brethren This is according to some Let Judah to whom God shewed special mercy say to Israel to the ten Tribes that were more threatned then Judah for Judah was not so threatned as Israel was to be cast off from being the people of God Let Judah rejoyce in this that their brethren are received again to mercy A gracious heart should rejoyce in Gods mercies towards others Gods mercies are an infinite Ocean there needes no envying there no grieving for that which others have Indeed when one man is richer then another another is ready rather to envy him then to rejoyce A Courier is ready to envy the favour that another hath why because these are narrow things But when we come to Gods mercy there is roome enough there that soul that hath beene made partaker of mercy counts it a great happinesse that any way the mercy of God may be magnified Say to your brethren and sisters c. These whom God hath received unto mercy we should receive into brotherly affection Hath God shewed mercy to such and such well may wee account them our brethren and sisters then If God takes them to mercy we must be ready willingly to take them into brotherly society But now if we take these words as the beginning of the second Chapter then we shall see them carried in some different way And taking of them so as most doe I shall first shew you the scope of the Chapter in the parts of it and then shew in what sense the words may be carried as the beginning of this Chapter The scope of thiâââond Chapter is much according to that of the first viz. ãâã shew unto ãâã their sinne and their danger and secondly to promise Gods aboundant grace and mercy again The first is especially from the beginning to the 14. verse and the second from the 14. verse to the end of the Chapter Yet this is not an exact division neither can we give an exact division of this no more than we could give of the other Why Because things are so intermixed for they are the patheticall expressions of a loving and yet a provoked husband and therefore when he is comming to ââââvince his spouse who hath dealt falsely with him and to shew her her sin and danger whilst he is manifesting of his displeasure the bowels of his compassion begin to yerne and he must have some expression of love in the middest of all then when he hath had some expressions of love he falls again to rebuke her and to shew her her sin again and then his bowels yerne again and he commeth to expressions of love again We have found it so in the former Chapter and shall find it so in this For though the beginning of this Chapter to the 14. verse is specially spent in convincing of sinne and threatning of Judgement yet in the sixth and seventh verses there is promise of mercy and favour and expressions of love and then in the eighth verse he goes to threatning againe and in the 14. ver begins to express mercy again As God doth in this case so should we When we rebuke others that are under us we should so rebuke them as yet to manifest love to them and when we manifest love to doe it so as yet to take notice what is amisse and to reprove them Many parents know not how to rebuke their children but they do it so as that there is nothing but bitternesse and they know not how to manifest their love but they do it so as that there is nothing but cockering and immoderate indulgency God mixeth both together Say to your brethren c. Take it for the beginning of the first part of this second Chapter for the shewing of them their sinne and rebuking them What then must be the sense and scope of the words Say to your brethren Ammâ c. Then it is carried thus Some thing must be supplied for the making up of the full sense As if God should have said Oh Ammi you whom I have reserved to be my people you to whom I have shewed mercy there is yet remaining a handfull of you while you remaine to be may people and others cast off and you obtayning mercy and others rejected let it be your care to exhort perswade convince use all the meanes you can to bring your brethren and sisters on to that grace of God you have received Say to your brethren say it is not expressed what they should say but by that which followeth wee may understand what the meaning of God is when hee saith Plead with your mother c. that is you that have received mercy and are my people there is a remnant of you do not you think that so long as you scape and are well enough your selves no great matter what becomes of others oh no but let your hearts be much toward your brethren and sisters let your bowels yerne toward them oh seeke if it be possible to draw them unto God that they may receive mercy too labour to convince them say and speake to them that they may not yet stand out against God and be obstinate say to your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ruhamah you that are Ammi and you that have received mercy do you speake to your brethren and sisters And this affordeth unto us many excellent Observations As First That in the most corrupt times of all God doth use to reserve a people to deliver some
from the guilt of the generall corruptions of the place where they live For so this Ammi and Ruhamah were a remainder that God did deliver thorough his grace from the generall corruptions of the place where they were for otherwise they had not beene fit to have said to their brethren or to have spoken to their sisters in this sense Secondly those whom God delivers from the guilt of generall corruptions are to be acknowledged the people of God such as have receivââ mercy from God in a speciall manner It is free grace that hath made this difference between you and others Augustin in his second book concerning preservation has a good note upon that Scripture 1 King 19. 18. I have left me seven thousand in Israel God sayes not there are left 7000 or they have left themselves but I have left It is the speciall work of God to preserve any for himselfe in evil times Thirdly the Lord takes speciall notice of such who are thus by his grace preserved in evill times Ammi Ruhamah There are a people amongst these that are Ammi my people that have obtained mercy from me mine eyes are upon them my heart is toward them there are a number that have kept their garments undefiled even in Sardis and I will remember this for ever for their good Noah was a just man prefect in his generation Gen. 6. 9. and what then Chap. 7. 1. Come thou and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seene righteous before me in this generation Fourthly Such as keep themselves from the corruptions of the times wherin they live they and onely they are fit to exhort and reprove others Those that are not guilty themselves as others are are fit to speak to others to say to their brethren and to their sisters They are fit to exhort who performe the duties themselves that they exhort unto We say it is a shamefull thing for one to be teaching if he be guilty himself he cannot with freedom of spirit say to his brethren and sisters Fifthly It is the duty of those whom God hath delivered from the corruptions of the times to seeke to draw all others to God to seeke to convince others of their evil wayes and so bring them in to the truth We âeade Levit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour not suffer sin to lye upon him Surely those who have obtained mercy have the impression of Gods mercy upon their spirits they are farre from having hatefull hearts now it is hatred for any to suffer sinne to lye upon his brother and not to doe what in him lyeth to help him It is desperate pride for men to triumph over others in their falls and it is wicked cruelty to suffer others to lye down when they are fallen if they can raise them ãâã faring men who are delivered themselves from shipvvrack and all is ãâã with them if they see another ship ready to sink in the sea and those on ship-board shoot out to have them come to helpe to save them though they be never so farre remote yet if it should be knowne that they decline to goe out to help them all the sea-men would cry out shame on such and be ready to stone them for etting a Ship sinke when they might have helped Certainly the same case-it is with those to whom God hath shew ed mercy if others lye in their sins they do not what they can for their help 6. Say to your brethren and to your sisters The neerer the relation of any is to us the more should our compassion be towards them in seeking to deliver them from their sins There is more likelihood of prevailing with your brethren and sisters Hath God converted you and have you a brother or a sister not converted or any of your kindred goe and say to them tell them of the danger of their evil wayes tell them of the excellency of the wayes of God exhort them to come in to make tryall of the blessed wayes of God When a brother speaks to a brother or a sister to a sister it is the bringing a hammer of gold to work upon gold and of silver to work upon silver Lastly Say to your brethren and sisters Exhortations unto and reprehensions of others should be with much love and meekenesse Say to your brethren and sisters yet look upon them as brethren and sisters though they have not yet obtained the like mercy that you have Saint Paul 2 Thes 3. 15. speaking of one that walketh inordinately from whom we are to withdraw in respect of any private familiar society yet saith he admonish him as a brother Those who reprove and admonish others with bitternesse of spirit and evill speaking are like a foolish fowler who seekes to get the fowle but he goes on boysterously and makes a noise the way if he would get it is to goe on quietly softly and gently so the way to gaine a brother is not by boisterousnesse and violence but sofness and gentleness It is observed by some of the Jews out of that 25. Exod. ver 3. where the matter of the Tabernacle is said to be gold and silver and brasse you doe not see nor hear of iron to be required for the building of it No iron rigid severe hard dispositions are not fit either to be matter of the Tabernacle themselves or to draw others to be the matter of it Yea but if saying will not be enough to doe the deed then there followes pleading That is the second Say to them admonish them exhort them but what if that will not doe doe not leave presently but Plead yea and Plead with your mother too not onely with your brethren and with your sisters but with your mother Plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife c. Pleade Litigate so some Contendite strive the old Latine hath Iudicate Iudge your mother It may seeme to be a hard and harsh phrase at first but we shall labour to acquaint you with the minde of God in it Here is an exhortation even to the private members of the Church to all one oâ other to plead even with their mother to plead even with the Church of which they are members and so to plead as to deale plainly and to tell her that she is not the wife of God Pleade with her First here we see Gods condescension that he will have us pleade the ease betwixt others and himselfe as Esay 5. 3. Iudge between me and my Vineyard faith God This sheweth the equity of Gods dealing Pleade the case perhaps some of you might thinke I deale hardly with your mother in so rejecting of her in bringing such judgements upon her No not so but plead you the case plead rather with her then complaine of me for my dealing with her Secondly Plead with her When exhortations and
admonitions will not doe we must strengthen our selves and falla pleading If there be any way more powerfull then exhortation and admonition we should take that way and not presently give over for though it is not said here Pleade with your brothers and sisters yet they are included in this when he saith Plead with your mother Thirdly It is a hard thing to convince Idolaters of their sin and of the Justice of God comming against them for their sinne Plead with your mother plead shee will not acknowledge it she will stand it out and say she hath not done so ill shee is not worthy to be cast off you had need pleade and plead hard with her she will stand out else Idolaters have so many distinctions so many evasions so many shifts and pretences that it is a thousand to one ever almost to prevaile with them When you deale with Papists about worshipping of Images they will have such distinctions of worship perse and worship per accidens of honouring the creature Propter se propter aliud Proprie improprie and a hundred of such kinde of distinctions and evasions till they distinguish out the truth and scarce understand themselves what they meane by their distinctions Hence Idolaters scorne at judgements threatned they thinke onely a company of foolish timorous people fear such things they cry out say they that we are Idolaters Idolaters and grievous judgements of God are comming ââon us a company of foolish melancholly people they feare their own ãâã Was it not so heretofore when we were going on in the wayes of Idolatry space Was it not the jeere and scorne of all such spirits If any did seeme but to make a question about Idolatry they would never be convinced of such a sinne nor never feare any judgements hanging over our heads Though God hath prevented it through his grace and hath shewed his preroâation in the ways of his mercy yet certainly there was signe enough of dreadfull wrath hanging over us and what yet may be we know not Fourthly Plead with your mother pleade It is a ãâã of forensecall word and carrieth with it such a kinde of pleading as must be a convincing a powerfull pleading God loveth to have people dealt withall in a convincing way The Lord doth not cry out to the Prophet or to these other good people that were free from that Idolatry that the people of Israel were generally corrupted withall he doth not say I say bid them go and terrifie them and cry out of theâ ãâã speake bitterly unto them but ãâã and pleadâ the cause with them seeke to convince them doc not goe and ãâã upon ãâã ãâ¦ã them God loveth to have people dealt withall in a convincing way Let not therefore any thinke it enough either Minister or other that they can speak terribly to people and cry out of the sinnes of the people but let them labour to convince them to deale with them as rationall creatures and to take away their secret objections and their secret shifts and to make their sinnes plaine before their consciences A convincing Preacher and a convincing Christian is such a one as may be very usefull and doe aboundance of good to the Church of God Fifthly Pleade with your mother It is very fit that God should have some to pleade for him to pleade his cause as well as the devil hath to pleade his The devill never wants pleaders When was there ever such an ill cause came to a Bench or to any society in any publique way but found some that would pleade for it A shame that the worst cause in the world should have pleaders for it and many times the cause of God suffers by mens being mute that should pleade for it God will take this very ill at their hands It is true God saith hee will pleade his owne cause and wee are bound to pray according to that of the Psalmist that God would arise and pleade his owne cause And indeed if God had not risen and pleaded his owne cause better then we did his cause would have been in the dirt before this Though it is true God is raising up his own cause no thanke to us wee have cause to lay our hands upon our moâthes as guilty in that we did so basely and cowardly let the cause of God suffer and God appearing so immediately and gloriously is the rebuking of us because we did not wee would not before stand up to pleadâ his cause Sixthly When any have found mercy from God the sweetnesse of that mercy so warmeth their hearts that they cannot endure to see that blessed God be dishonoured Pleade you Ammi Ruhamah what my people those to whom I have shewed mercy what though it be your mother what though it be any deare to you what though they be great ones though they be a multitude yet pleade plead for me against them this note is grounded upon the title that God giveth them who should plead Ammi and Ruhamah those that are Gods people those that have found mercy from God Gods mercy is so sweet it doth so inflame them that they must plead for God against any in the world Seventhly Pleade with your Mother That is with the Church called a Mother because as the Mother is as it were the roote from whence children come divideth her selfe into branches so the community of a Commonwealth or a Church any community is called in Scripture a Mother and the particulars they are as severall branches that growe from that roote they are as children Therefore you have such expressions in Scripture as the daughters of Jerusalem oftentimes and there is no great difference between calling Jerusalem that is the State Mother or Jerusalem that is the Church Mother for indeed the Church and State were mixed both together From this expression we learne that it is lawfull for children to plead with their parents Though it is true this aimeth at a higher thing then what is between natural children and their parents yet from the expression this is intimated and implied That it is lawfull for children to pleade with their parents If children see their parents in an ungodly way they may lawfully pleade with them and their parents are bound to hearken to their pleading Gods cause It is a speech of Tertullians the begetter is to be beloved and we may adde he is to be honoured but our Creator is to be preferred Children must give due respect to their parents yet so as preferring the Lord before them and if the parents goe against God even their children must plead against them As it is a great sinne for parents to prefer their children before God so it is a great sin for children to prefer their parents before God Do not think I come to set children against their parents in this be but content to heare to the end though I will not be long in this observation and you
Lord and I will receive you againe Gods mercies are beyond mans It is a most excellent and usefull observation that we have from hence There is no such dreadfull threatning against any in the word of God for any of their sins only we except that sin against the holy Ghost but there is a dore of hope left for those sinners Here seemeth to be the greatest sin of Idolatry and forsaking of God as could be the most dreadfull threatning she is not my wife shee is divorced from mee Yet here is insinuated a hope of mercy I will give you one Text which is as notable for this as any I know in the booke of God that is in Judges 10. 13. 14. compared with ver 16 In the 13. and 14. verses saith God You have for saken me served other gods What then I will deliver you no more I am resolved against you now I have delivered you often but now I will deliver you no more Go your wayes Cry unto the gods you have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation One would thinke this people to be in an ill case of whom God saith thus much For observe these foure things here First God chargeth them with the greatest sinne that could be they had forsaken God and turned themselves idols Secondly This great sin is aggravated with the most aggravating circumstance almost that could bee implyed here this they had done notwithstanding God was wonderfull mercifull to them and had often delivered them yet they had still forsaken him served other Gods Thirdly Here is one of the most peremptory resolutions against shewing mercy that we can imagine saith God I will deliver you no more now I have delivered you so oft Fourthly Here is a most bitter Sarcasme a biting upbrayding taunting speech for their serving other gods As if he should say what doe you come now Now do you cry howle to me now you are in trouble in your prosperity I was no God for you you leât me then for other gods and now I will be no God to you to other gods I leave you go now and cry to those other gods and see whether they will help you Put these together and one would thinke this people were in a hopeless condition Is there any help for this people yet Are they not a lost people Is not repentance too late for this people No for all this repentance is not too late for such a people as this for mark the Text saith in the 15. ver And the children of Israel said unto the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us what seemeth good unto thee and ver 16. They put away their strange gods from among them and served the Lord. They do not now lye downe sullenly in their sinnes and say there is no help therefore we were as good go on in our sinfull wayes but they venture to put away their strange gods and crye unto the Lord and tell him that they had sinned What then the Text saith The soul of the Lord was grieved for the misery of Israel Though he had thus pronounced against them yet his soule was grieved for them they were not the same they were before It is true I will deliver you no more you impenitent ones I will deliver you no more but God did not say he would not give them repentance but when they had put away their strange gods though they had grieved Gods Spirit with their sinnes yet God was grieved for their affliction now and though God had thus threatned them yet his bowells now do yerne towards them and hee comes in again with mercie and subdues their enemies under them the children of Ammon were conquered and God gives them twenty of their Cities as Chap. 11. 33. God never threatneth any people but the condition of mercie upon repentance it is either expressed or implyed It is therefore the frowardness and the fulness of the hearts of sinners to give over all upon the thought of the greatness of their sins or the severity of Gods threatning against them O no you great sinners that have beene guilty of many horrible sins come in and repent I may say to you as Secaniah did to the people in another case of a grievous sin Ezra 10. 2. There is hope in Israel concerning this thing It is the cavill of many carnal hearts against many faithfull and Zealons Ministers that they do nothing but preach judgement and they threaten damnation and say people shall be damned and go to hell aud the like This they speak against them not mentioning at all the conditions upon which damnation and hell is threatned Certainly there can scarce a Minister in the world be found that threatneth damnation or hell absolutely but upon those termes of impenitency I will give you one Scripture to shew you the most absurd perverse spirits of men in this kinde how they will take a piece of the words of the Prophets and separate the threatning from the condition on purpose that they may cavill at the word it is in Jer. 26. 4. saith God to the Prophet there Thou shalt say to them Thus saith the Lord If you will not hearken to me to walke in my Law which I have set before you âo hearken to the words of my servants the Prophets whom I sent unto you then will I make this house like Shiloh and will make their Citie a curse to all the nations of the earth See how fairely the words of the Prophet go If you will not hearken to me to walke in my lawes and the words of my Prophets whom I sent unto you then I will do so and so The Prophet delivers his message as faire as can be But see now their perversnesse in the 8. ver It came to passe that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speake unto all the people that the Priests and the Prophets and all the people tooke him saying Thou shalt surely dye What is the matter Why hast thou Prophecyed in the name of the Lord saying This house shall be like Shiloh They leave out if whereas he said If you will not return and heare the words of the Lord this house shall be as Shiloh They come and lay hold upon him with violence Why hast thou said this house shall be like Shiloh and leave out the other This is the perverseness of the hearts of men Well then the conclusion of this Observation is this that the worst pleading against any for their sinnes it is not to sinke the hearts in despaire but to turne their hearts towards God that they may receive mercy Let her put away her whoredomes Secondly Let her put away her whoredomes After such a kinde of pleading that included a most dreadfull threatning in it She is not my wife yet God exhorteth Hence the Observation is this While God is pleased to speak to a
an Hittite at that time There are two most usefull Observations that flow from hence before we proceed any further in the explication of the words Israel though they had been 400. years in Egypt under grievous afflictions yet they continued exceeding abominable and wicked The fire of their affliction did seeme to harden their hearts as much as the fire of the furnace did harden the bricks Their hearts were clay foule dirty hearts and were hardned by their afflictions And secondly when God came to deliver Israel out of Egypt God found them to be in a very wicked condition then then their Father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite then they were thus vile when God came to deliver them in the day wherein they were borne for their deliverance is their birth Oh the freenesse of Gods grace God often told them that his grace was free and so indeed it was if hee found them thus as he did for so you shall finde if you read the story of the people of Israel that when God sent Moses unto them they were a very wicked and stubborn people even at that very time when God came with his deliverance Let us then raise up our hearts and looke up to the free grace of God even toward us We are vile we are wicked mercies christisements have hardned us and yet all this hindreth not the free grace of God for the deliverance of a people God hath begun in a way of deliverance to us and when did he begin it Certainly England was never since it was borne since it was delivered out of spiritual Egypt out of the bondage of Popery it was never in a worse condition then when God came in with his mercies of late to us Then if ever it might be said of us that our father was an Amorite and our mother an Hittite we were then in the very high way towards Egypt again when God came with his free grace to deliver us As hee dealt with his own people so he hath dealt with us magnified be the free grace of God towards us an unworthy people Further Thy Navill was not cut That is the expression how he was in the day wherein he was borne First Thy Navill was not cut The loathsomenesse of their condition is set out by that Naturallists observe that the nourishment that the childe hath from the mother it is by the navill as afterward the childe sucks of the breasts and so is battned but all the while it is in the wombe it is nourished by a string in the navill that draws nourishment from the mother Now Israel even when God did deliver them from Egypt had not their navill cut that is they did even still seeme nay not only seeme but still they did draw their nourishment from Egypt they did batten themselves suck out the Egyptian manners and customes and superstitions and in their growth up they did seeme rather to have their nourishment from Egypt then from God so God himselfe chargeth them Ezek. 23. 8. Neither left she her whoredomes brought from Egypt saith the Text her navill was not cut shee drew she sucked still the Egyptian manners customes and superstitions It is not thus in part with us Let me a little speake of this by way of allusion at least Is our navill cut to this very day It is true God hath delivered us from Popery from Egypt as he did Israel but still do not we continue sucking drawing nourishment from our old superstitious wayes of Popery we seeme to live still upon them and to have our hearts delighting in them Oh how just were it with God to come in a violent way and cut our navill even by the sword it is mercy he commeth not thus to cut it and so to take from us all those secret hankerings that wee have after the old Egyptian customes Yet again seeing it is such a full allusion wee may apply it to those that seeme to have a new birth to be borne again those that seeme now to make very faire profession of Religion and to forsake many evill wayes that formerly they have delighted in but yet their navill is not cut neither they do secretly suck sweetnesse and battning from their former lusts the curse of the serpent is upon them upon their bellies they doe goe and dust they do eate their bellies do even cleave to the dust Neither wast thou washed in water This also sets forth the wofull condition of Israel when he was borne he was not washed The infant when it commeth first into the world cometh from blood and filth in which it was wrapped that as Plutarch saith it is rathâr ãâã a childe killed then a child born so bloody and polluted it is that were it not that there were a natural affection stirring in parents they would even loath the fruit of their wombes It is true parents may see that with their bodily eyes but there is more polution in their soules they are wrapped up in original sin and filth more then their bodyes are wrapped up in blood and filth in the wombe Therefore infants are washed but thou wast not washed thou wast let goe in thy filth I have read of the Lacedemonians that when their children were borne they used to throw them into the river to consolidate their members and parts of their bodies as they say to make them strong that was the custome of that barbarous people Thou wast cast out in the open field What is the meaning of this We cannot understand it fully without examining what the custome of the people was in those times We finde in Histories that the custome of divers of the Heathen was when their children were borne to observe by their countenance by the making of their members whether they were like to be usefull to the Commouwealth or not and if not like they threw them away and if they were like to be usefull they nourished them up They nourished up no other children but those that they judged by their countenance or making would do good to the Common-wealth We finde it in divers Histories Strabo tells us that the Indians and Brachmanes had certaine Judges appointed for that very end their Office was that when any childe was borne to judge by the countenance and parts of the body of the childe whether it were like to do any good in the Common-wealth so either to save it or cast it out So likewise AElian in his Various Histories telleth us of the Thebanes that there was an express Law made among them in these words That none of them should cast out their children noting thereby that it was wont to be the custome aâângst them So Clemens Romanus telleth us that indeed the Jews as a thing peculiar to them amongst them the children are not cast out So that the holy Ghost alludeth to the way of the Gentiles and barbarous people and telleth Israel that
they were as a childe cast out such a one as the countenance and feature promised no good Thou wert cast out in the open field because they never hoped to have any good of thee and indeed as if God should say if I had regarded what I saw in you I might have past this judgement upon you too there was little hope of good from you But what though the child be cast out in the field yet there may come some by accidentally as Pharaohs daughter did that may pitty the child and have compassion on it No saith God thou wast not onely cast out but worse then so thou wast cast out and so cast out as no eye pityed thee You have sometimes bastards poor childred laid at your doors and left there some in baskets otherways yet when you open them see a child and a childe weeping there is some pity in you and you will take care some way or other that it may be fed brought up But saith God to Israel You were cast out in the open field no eye pityed you that is all the heathen were against you and others in the land rose up against you the Egyptians they came out to destroy you you had the sea before you and them behind you none had pitty upon you This was the condition wherein you were borne Now see what ornaments God had put upon them They were in a sorry condition you see when they were borne But marke that fore-named place of Ezek. ver 8. I took the saith God and entred into covenant with thee and then becamest mine That is the way of a peoples becomming Gods his entring into covenant with them The Lord hath begun to enter into Covenant with us and we with him in former Protestations and if any farther Covenant binding us more strictly to God be tendred to us know that God in this deals with us as he did with his own people We are as children cast out in the open field and no eye pityeth us but many plot against us and seeke our ruine If God will be pleased now to enter into Covenant with us and give all the people of the Land hearts to come close to the Covenant to renew their Covenant with him and that to more purpose then in former Covenants the Lord yet will own us The Covenant of God was the foundation of all the mercy the people of Israel had from God and we are to look upon it as the foundation of our mercy and therefore as in the presence of God willingly and cheerfully to renew it with him After Gods taking this people to himselfe as his own it followes ver 11 12. I decked thee also with ornaments I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chaine on thy necke And I put a jewell on thy fore-head and ear-rings in thine ears a beautiful crown upon thine head Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver and thy rayment of fine linnen and silk broidred worke and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty Thus God did with the people of Israel he had added to what they had when they were born Miserable they were when they were borne but the mercies of God toward them are thus set out And nowhee cometh to threaten that he will strip them naked and set them as in the day wherein they were born Yet further for the opening of this we must know that it was the custome among the Jews when any married what they brought to their husbands and their dowry was written down in a table and if afterward he should divorce his wife except there could be proved some grosse and vile thing against the woman though she should go away yet she was to go away with her Table with her dowry and what she brought she must not goe away naked But if there could be proved some notorious villany that shee had committed then she was sent away Sine Tabulis naked without those tables wherein her dowry and other things were written and destitute of all things as being unworthy of them because she had played the harlot Thus God threatneth this people She is not my wife but unlesse she put away her whore doms from before her face and her adultery from between her breasts I will strip her naked as in the day wherein she was borne She shal be seâââay without any tables naked and wholly destitute And thus you have thâââpening of the words The Observations follow The first is The beginnings of great excellencies are sometimes very low and meane This plainly riseth up from the opposition of her condition when she was borne and what she had gotten from God afterward I will strip thee naked and set thee as in the day wherein thou wert borne Therefore it is cleare she was born in a very mean condition gotten up to a very excel lent condition though now they be high glorious yet once they were very low mean God many times raises up golden pillars upon leaden Bases the most glorious works of God have had the lowest beginnings This beautifull frame of heaven earth was raised out of a Chaos of confusion darkness This is true personally or nationally and that in regard of outward conditions or spirituall How poor and low and meane have many of your beginnings beene even in the world who could ever have thought that such low beginnings could have beene raised unto such high things as some of you have beene raised unto in the world It was not long since when you came hither to this City which may be said to be the day wherein you were borne for your civill estate though not your naturall you were low enough meane enough you had but little to begin withall you came hither with your staffe and now behold two bands It is sometimes so likewise in regard of the spirituall estate You may remember not long since Oh what darkness and confusion was there in your mindes and hearts what poore low meane thoughts had you of God and the things of his Kingdome what unsavory spirits when at first God was pleased to worke upon you Oh what a poor condition were you in then though you had some light put into you yet you were as a childe new borne wrapped up in filth and blood many noysome distempers and boisterous lusts there were in your hearts as it is usuall with new converts like a fire newly kindled where there is a great deale of smother and smoke that afterwards weareth away But now behold the shining of Gods face upon your soules Oh the abilities that God hath given you to know his minde and doe his will Oh the blessed communion that you have with God the sparkling of that divine nature the glory and beauty of the divine nature is put upon you So for Nations we will not goe further then our owne How low and meane were we at first
every thing and prize every little mercie Oh the tenth the hundreth part of that will not serve your turne now you vvould have been glad of then and blessed God if you had had it But now you know not your selves your hearts are raised up as your estates are VVell it is good for you to looke to the condition that once you were in vvhen you were low As vve reade of Agathâcles that King that was a Potters sonne and after advanced to a kingdom he vvould alwayes be served at his table in earthen vessels to put him in mind of that condition he was in before certainly if in any place in England it be seasonable to speake of this it is here in London where many that have been Potters children and in a low degree have been raised up high and have gotten great estates Let them remember in what condition once they were that they may be humbled and so may prevent that danger of being brought thither again Many put others in mind of it in a taunting vvay I know vvhat you were not long agoe I know vvhat your father vvas c. But doe you put your own soules in mind of this in an humbling way This is the vvay to continue mercies But now apply vve it a little to our selves for the generall and then vve shal conclude all Let us vvork this upon our hearts Look vve back to vvhat we vvere lately and let us check our hearts for any discontent in our present estate Not long since vvould not many of us have beene willing to have laid dovvn our lives to have purchased that mercy we have had this yeer or two God hath granted to us our former mercies raised us from our low condition of free cost hitherto God hath been afore hand with us and what if those mercies that are to come will be at some vvhat a dearer rate then those vvee have had already Those mercies vve have had already have been very precious and sweet but surely they that are to come are more precious and sweet and therefore vve may be content though they cost us deare Yet hovv vile are the spirits of men in forgetting the condition the sad condition they lately were in forgetting the Taxes and Monopolies and uncertainty of enjoying an thing that was your own and now if there be but a little charge comming you presently fall a murmuring and repining Oh these are heavy burthens the Parliament burthens the kingdome and the Couutrey and as good have ship-money and other taxes as these burthens Oh unworthy unworthy are you to live to see the goodnesse of the Lord in these dayes unworthy to have thine eyes open to see what God hath done and thus to murmur Thou shouldest magnifie Gods mercies and not murmur at his proceedings VVe have a notable parallel to this Numb 16. in the story of Corah Dathan and Abiram those murmurers when they were but in a little strait they come to Moses and say ver 13. Why hast thou brought us up out of a land that floweth with milks and honey What land was that that Moses brought them up out of that they said flowed with milke and honey It was the land of Egypt the land of their bondageâ indeed they were promised a land of Canaan that should flowe with milke and honey and they put that upon the land of Egypt though they had been in bondage and slavery in Egypt and were now going to Canaan yet when they did but indure some trouble in the vvay and had but some opposition and were put to some straits then Egypt was the Land that flowed vvith milke and honey and who would come out of Egypt So though God be bringing us to Canaan to a blessed Land that floweth with milke and honey yet because there are some straits in the way some difficulties some oppositions that may cost us somewhat now how doe men cry out we vvere better before you talke of Reformation and such and such things but for our parts would vve might have but vvhat we had before and be as quiet as vve were then why will you bring us out of a Land that floweth with milke and honey Oh base murmuring and discontented spirits that forget what once they vvere and rather prize the bondage they were in before then are thankfull for Gods present mercies For us not to look back to Gods former mercies it goeth to the very heart of God God hath an expression that it frets him to the very heart You have it in Ezek. 16. 43. Because thou hast not remembred the dayes of thy youth but hast fretâed me in all these things It is a thing that frets God at his heart to see a people so unworthy of mercie when God commeth in such wayes of mercie to them as he doth My brethren God hath done great things for us whatsoever others say and thinke Let them murmure and repine and say what they will let us say God hath done great things for us Let us lay to heart the condition we lately vvere in that so we may be stirred up now to seeke after God that wee may never be brought into that condition any more if they would have it again much good may it do them but for us let it be our care to seeke God and to use all lawfull meanes to prevent our bringing back to it again For even the very straits we now are in are an aggravation of our former misery and present mercie it should not therefore make our former misery or present mercie seeme lesse but greater How is that you will say Thus If now wee have so much helpe and power to hinder a malignant party that seeke our ruine yet they have so much strength and resolution what would have become of us if this had been before when we had no way nor no meanes to help us If men complaine now what vvould they have done then Therefore whereas we make use of our straits to make us thinke that our former misery was lesse and we are now in a sadder condition then before rather let us make it an aggravation of Gods mercie towards us and if wee be in such straits now when God hath raised up such meanes beyond all our thought to resist the flowing in of misery upon us Lord whether were wee a going what would have become of us if the streame which hath been so long a swelling had broke in upon us when there was no meanes to have resisted it VVe may well see now that if their intentions and resolutions be so strong for mischiefe as will not be hindered notwithstanding the present strength God hath granted us to oppose them surely they had most vile intentions and dreadfull things were determined against us which would have brought us low indeed and have made us the most miserable people upon the earth if God had not come in so mira culously for our help as he hath done at this
day Therefore as we read of Jeremiah Chap. 37. 18. Let my supplication saith he to the King I pray thee be accept able before thee that thou cause me not to returne to the house of Jonathan the Scribe lest I dye there So let us present our supplications to the King of heaven that wee may not be sent back to that condition we were once in that God may not strip us and leave us naked Wee have many blessings Lord do not strip us doe not strip us of all the ornaments thou hast put upon us And would you not have God strip you of your ornaments be you willing to strip your selves of your ornaments Ezod 33. 5. God calleth upon the people there Put off your Ornaments from you that I may know what to doe unto you This is true and seasonable at this time in the literall sense you are called now to strip you of your Ornaments Strip from your fingers your gold-rings now when there is neede of them perhaps one gold-ring that you have upon your finger would serve to maintain a souldier a month or five weeks or more and yet you may have the benefit of it againe afterward Strip your Cup-boards from that pompous shew of plate that was wont to be upon them It is much if you should not be willing to have your fingers stripped naked when we are in danger to have the State stript naked of all our comforts and ornaments Is it such a great matter to have your cup-board naked of plate now what if a white cloath were upon it and all that glistering shew taken away were that such a great matter now when God is about to strip us naked and set us as in the day wherein wee were borue certainly all of you that shall keep your plate now for the pompous decking and adorning of your cup-boards you cannot but be ashamed of it in these times surely you must rather keep it up in your trunkes and hutches it cannot but be both a sin and a shame to see such glistering pomp and glory in such times as these are Strip your selves of your ornaments that God strip you not and not only outwardly but strip your selves of your ornaments by your humiliation for that is the meaning of that place in Exodus Oh come and humble your selves and come now with naked hearts before the Lord open your hearts before God bring them naked and sincere before him lest he strip you and the Kingdom naked Crie unto God for mercie O Lord thou knowest what a vile heart I have had a base time-serving heart yet Lord I desire to take away all those clokes now and to rend and bring this heart naked before thee though it be a filthy heart yet open it Lord thou knowest those vile things those innovasions those superstitions those horrible wickednesses that were in danger to be let into the Church and Comman-wealth yet they were things that could goe down very well with me I could make shifts to swallow them and I had distinctions to colour them but Lord it was my base heart that I could not trust thee but now here I open it naked before thoe O Lord for these Ordinances of thine in the purity and power of them that others spake so much of they have bin things unsavory to me I had no skill in such things Thou knowest I had a neutrelizing spirit I looked which way the wind blew how just were it for thee to give me upto be of a desperate malignant spirit Now Lord I come as a naked wretched creature before thee in the shame and guilt of my sin and here I acknowledge thou maiest justly strip me naked of all the comforts of my estate and leave me in the most miserable condition that ever poor creature was left in And now my heart is open before thee doe but shew me what I shall doe and if thou doest reserve any of my estate and comforts which I have forfeited in testimony of my humiliation for my former sinnes I bring it before thee and am willing to give it up for the publique good and to prevent that evill and mischiefe that I am sure my sinnes call for for my sins cry for wrath against the Land that thou shouldst strip it naked and if all had beene such base spirits as I have beene what would have become of the Land by this time In testimonie therefore of my humiliation for my sins here I bring in this of my estate though indeed if I had not been guilty of such sins yet out of common prudence and respect to my own security I might bring some part in but here is so much the more of my estate because my conscience tells me of my former guilt And Lord for the time to come I am resolved to doe the uttermost I can for Thee and thy Cause And those Worthies that carry their lives in their hands for me God forbid that I should have the least hand in betraying them in withdrawing my hand and assistance from them Lord here I give up my self to thee and my estate I surrender it to thee in an everlasting Covenant This is to come with a naked heart indeed before the Lord. Were it not better that we should be willing to strip our selves naked then that God should doe it by violenee that God should send Souldiers into our houses to strip us naked as they have dealt with our brethren in Ireland they took not away their estates onely but all their clothes and sent them in droves as naked as ever they were borne VVee know wee have deserved the like If you will not strip your selves of your super ââuities God may justly by them strip you naked as ever you were born and not onely bring you into the same condition you were in but into a far worse for so he threatneth in that 28. Deut. You shall not onely be carryed backe againe into Egypt but there you shall be sold for bondâmen and no man shall buy you they should be in a worse condition the when they were first in Egypt So if there be any of you that are willing to sell your consciences in hope of preferment Oh the other side may get power and prevaile and so out of hope to be preferred to sell your consciences you may be disappointed not only be brought into as ill but into a far worse condition perhaps though you would have sold your selves yet no bodie will buy you if the Papists corne to have the power of your bodies and estates you may misse of that preferment that you thinke of So saith Ezra Chap. 9. 14. after he had spoken of Gods mercie in giving them liberty and remitting their captivitie Shall we saith he yet continue in sin break the commandements of the Lord would he not be angry with us till we were utterly destroyed And certainly if God do not awaken the hearts of people now if God do
have many sweet promises of the Gospel revealed unto them many blessed manifestations of Gods free grace and goodnesse in his Christ made known unto them but they slight and disregard them But when God shall bring them into the wildernesse when God shall cause them to be under the torment of a scorching conscience when conscience shall be burning and scalding then perhaps they may long Oh that I had one drop of water one promise out of the Word to comfort me Oh that I might have but never so little refreshing Oh that I might heare againe those things I have heretofore heard and neglected But then God may deny one drop of water to coole their scorching consciences and stay them with thirst slay their soules with thirst at that time And thus many poore creatures are slain with thirst that did so little regard those rivers of consolation that in the time of their prosperity they might have had Ver. 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children for they be the children of whoredoms I confesse at the first view looking upon this verse I thought I might quickly passe it over the rather because we had some such expressions in the former Chapter where God threatned that he would have no more mercy upon them But the Scripture is a vast depth and there are many excellent treasures in it there is alwayes aliquid revisentibus something for those that come to see again and looke again and this something will appeare to be much that we shall see out of these expressions further then before hath been observed And I will not have mercy This Particle And hath much in it it is a most terrible And. This conjunction many times in Scripture is as a pleonasme and doth not serve for much use but here in this place it is of great use and it is filled with terrour as full as it is possible for such a little particle to hold I know there may be many curiosities sometimes in observatious of particles of conjunctions but we shall not meddle with any curiosity but speake of that which is plain and the intention of the Holy Ghost here I say this And is a most dreadfull And marke the conjunction you had foure And 's before saith God I will strip her naked And set her as in the day wherein she was borne And make her as a wildernesse And set her as a dry Land And slay her with thirst Is not here enough Oh no there cometh a fifth And and that is more terrible then all the former foure And I will have uo more mercy upon her children This addeth terrour to all the rest Suppose that all the other foure had beene and if this had not come there had not beene such a grievous threatning If God had said I will strip her naked set her as in the day wherein she was borne and I will make her as a wildernesse and set her as a dry land and slay her with thirst yet if there might be mercy in all this their condition had not beene so miserable but saith God I will doe all these And I will have no more mercy upon them Oh this hath that terrour in it that it is impossible for the heart of a man that apprehends it to stand under it And for the opening of this I shall shew you how that all the former foure not only may stand with Gods mercy but they have stood with Gods mercy that God had heretofore shewed mercy to them when they were in such a low condition in which they were borne when they were in the wildernesse when they were in a dry Land yea when he did slay them he shewed mercy unto them But now he saith he will do thus and thus and shew no mercy unto them So that then though this And be conjunctive in Grammar yet here in Divnity it is a disjunctive and a most dreadfull disjunctive to part them and mercy a sunder yea and to part many of them and mercie eternally asunder To shew you therefore the soure former that though they were in such a condition heretofore yet God did shew them mercie now what a condition is that God will shew them no mercie As First In the day wherein they were borne that as you may remember I shewed you out of the 16. Ezek. what a low and pittifull condition the people of Israel were in they were cast out in the field they were in their blood and not washed and the like But mark in the 8. ver I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold the time was a time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea I sware unto thee and entered into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Here are the highest and the fullest expressions of Gods grace that could be First I looked upon her and then the time was a time of love and then I spread my skirt over thee and I entered into covenant with thee and thou becamist mine Here are all these expressions of mercy even at that time when they were cast out as forlorne in the open field and no eye pittâed them but now they are threatned to be cast out into the open field againe and no eye to pittie them in heaven or in earth no nor the eye of God to pittie them now God threatneth to cast them off for ever so as he will see them in their blood but it shall be no more a time of love but a time of wrath and he will no more enter into covenant with them neither shall they be his 2. When God brought them into the wildernesse God there shewed them mercy for that you have a marvellousfull Text Deut. 32. 10. Hee found them in a desart land and in the wast howling wildernesse but mark he led them about he instructed them he kept them as the apple of his eye Though they were in a wast howling wildernesse yet they were as deare to God as the apple of his eye Yea further ver 11. As an eagie stirreeth up her nost fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead them It is the note of Paulus Fagius citing for it Rabbi Solomon upon this as the Eagle carries her young ones not as other birds for other birds it is observed carry their young ones in their claws the Eagle bears hers upon her wings and this is the reason that is observed because the Eagle is more tender of her young ones then other birds are why for other birds carrying their young ones in their claws if any shoot at them they hit the young ones and kill them first but may misse the old one but the Eagle carries hers upon her back upon her wings that whosoever shoots at her young ones they must shoot through her first So saith God I carried you in the wildernesse as the Eagle carries her
otherwise our Governours had in their hands hearts to bring to passe As 2 Chron. 20. 33. it is cleere there Howbeit the high places were not taken away why For as yet the people had not prepared their hearts to seeke the God of their Fathers Why should they have pulled down the high places no but they should have beene in a preparation for the pulling of them downe Certainly this is the great cause why our high places are not pulled downe why Reformation hath gone on no better then it hath and why we have so much evil remaining amongst us because the people have not prepared their hearts they are not in a disposition to receive the mercie that our governours have hearts to bring unto us They have hearts to work for us but when we speake to them of what is fit to be done their answer is but is England in a fit disposition to receive such a thing as that is so that the truth is although you are ready to cry out of your Governours you say they have power in their hands why doe they not reforme things yet the guilt in great part devolves upon the people they are not in a fit dâsposition to receive such reformation therefore God threatneth the childâen the peoâle here Again further It may be it is from you that the Governours that are evil are so much incouraged and abetted in that which is evill though you doe it not yet you so much incourage them as the guilt redounds upon you Yea lastly If you do but obey them in any thing that is evill in doing of that the guilt devolveth upon you for you should not do it but rather obey God then man Many thinke to make this their plea they are commanded to doe thus and thus and Governours would have them doe it and it is Law and the like and they thinke upon this plea they may do any thing in the world This will not secure you God may come with judgement without mercie upon the children as well as upon the Mother And if Gods wrath should come in nationall judgements against England let the people know that they are like to smart most dreadfully for never was their a time in our dayes nor in our fore-fathers dayes that so much depended upon the people as at this day never were they called to that help as now they are called to at this day So that the people now may have reformation they may have blessings if it be not through their own default As Cant. 7. 1. The Church is there described in her beauty and it beginneth at her feete How beautifull are thy feete And Cant. 5. There Christ is described in his beauty and it beginneth at the head His head is as the most faire gold God sometimes makes use of the people to be great meanes and perhaps the beginning of means to bring beauty to the Church though they cannot perfect it Heretofore private persons could doe little Alas though they were under grievous oppressions they knew not now to help themselves Many men that had purses and strength and heads and hearts and all yet they knew not what to doe but to make their moane one to another and to heaven but now it is otherwise now you may do somewhat else besides making your moane one to another yea besides making your moaâe to heaven for you that have purses now you may see waies to employ them for the publique good for Religion for liberty you that have strength of body may know what to doe you that have head-pieces I mean parts you are called to help you may joyne together for God and the good of your Country you may do much more then heretofore could be done Wherefore now if you should desert the Cause of God and desert those that you have trusted you must expect the most dreadfull wrath of God and that without mercie even upon the people that ever was upon any nation since the beginning of the world for never any nation that we know of had more depending upon the people then there is at this day upon the people of England O consider of it and oh that all the people of the land did but know what God would have them to do in such a time as this Again I will not have mercy upon her children upon particular private persons in the society One note more upon that It is a dangeraus thing for men in any societie to do as the most doe If they be in a civill societie to give their votes and to do as the greater part doth if you be in a Church societie to do as the greater part doth without any examination of it this dangerous For though the greater part the communitie may doe that which is evil you shall not be excused by that for you to say why what could I help it whân the most doth it God commeth upon private and particular men upon the children even every one of them And why For they are the children of whoredomes That is either passively or actively passively because they were begotten of whoredomes and brought up their education hath been in whoredome they have had it from their parents Or else they are the children of whoredomes actively they live in the same whoredomes their Mother did From hence First There is little hope of children brought up in wicked education who have wicked parents also If the dye have beene in the wooll it is hard to get out of the cloth If wickedness if evill principles have beene dropped into children there is little hope of them for good especially of those children that have been brought up in wayes of superstition and Idolatry their hearts being so soyled and defiled and hardned in superstitious and idolatrous wayes they seldome come to any good Therefore that which hath been mentioned is very good namely of wayes to take the children of Papists to bring them up in the education and knowledge of the truth Yet Secondly This shall not excuse children though they be the children of whoredomes It is no excuse for them to say they had it from their Parents and they did as their Parents have done and as they bade them and according as they brought them up No it excuseth not at all for the wrath of God commeth upon them that are the children of whoredomes Then what a mercie is it for us to be brought up in the truth to have Parents that doe professe the truth and for our education to bee in the way of truth It is a mercy that we do not consider of to give God the glory of it How dangerous is it to have superstitious Idolatrous Parents and to have such kind of education there is not one of ten thousand that altereth his religion If they have Turks or Jewes or Papists to their parents and such education it is not one of tenne thousand I say that altereth his religion
world can we cannot be so cunning to contrive such plots tricks and devices for our owne ends as the men of the world can but wee have received the Spirit of God we can understand things there through Gods mercy to eternal life There are many men cunning for their own destruction they can find every secret path of sin though sin be a labyrinth they can goe up and down in it finde out ever by-path in that way When the waies of God are propounded to wicked men there is a mist before their eyes they cannot see when the wayes of sin are propunded to the Saints God in mercy cafteth a mist before their eies that they cannot see Eccles 10. 15. The foole knoweth not how to goe to the City wicked men they know not the path to the Church of God to the Ordinances of God they talke much about such and such Ordinances and setting up of Christ in the way of his Ordinances but they doe not see the way of it they know not what the true worship of God meaneth No a foole doth not understand the way to the City of God he cannot finde out that path But the Saints though they know not the wayes of sinne yet they can finde out the paths of God they know the way to the City Possidonius tells us a Austin that when there was wait laid for his life thorough Gods providence he mist his way and so his life was preserved and his enemies disappointed So many times when you are going on in such a way of sin perhaps you little thinke what danger there is in it God in mercy therefore casteth a mist before your eies and you misse that way and save your lives Ver. 7. She shall follow after her lovers but she shall not overtake them c. The Observation is Untill God subdues the hearto himselfe men will grow worse and worse in their sinnes yea even Gods Elect ones to whom hee intendeth mercy at last yet till God commeth with his grace to subdue their hearts they may grow worse and worse they would before goe after their lovers and now here commeth afflictions upon them yet still they will follow their lovers and that with more eagernesse of affection and with more violence then before Afflictions in themselves are part of the curse of God and there is no healing vertue in them but an inraging quality to stir up sinne till God sanctifie them by his grace God may suspend for a time the sanctifying worke of his grace to those he intended good to at last Isa 51. 20. The Text speakes of some whose afflictions were not sanctified That they lye as a wild bull in a net in the streets and they were full of the fury of the Lord They were full of the fury of the Lord and yet lay like a wild Bull in a net in a raging manner This distemper of heart proceeds from two grounds 1. When outward comforts are taken away by affliction the sinner having no comfort in God he knows not where to have comfort but in his sin if conscience be not strong enough to keep from it he runs madly upon it 2. Because he thinks that others looke upon him as one opposed by God for his sin therefore that he may declare to all the world that he is not daunted at all nor that he hath no misgiving thoughts though perhaps hee hath nipping gripes within yet he will put a good face upon it and follow his wayes more eagerly then formerly A second observations She shall follow but she shall not overtake A man may follow after the devises of his owne heart and may be disappointed he may not overtake them There is a great deale of difference betwixt following Gods wayes and our owne wayes there was never any in the world that was disappointed if he knew all in following Gods wayes but he got either the very thing he would have or something that was as good if not better for him but in the wayes of sinne in our owne wayes we may meet with disappointment why should we not then rather follow God then follow our own desires The desires after sin as they are Desideria futilia so they are Desideria inutilia as one speakes as they are foolish so they are fruitlesse desires they doe not attaine what they would have How hath God disappointed men in our dayesâ they have not overtaken what they greedily sought after Our adversaries blessed themselvs in their designes they thought to have their day they propounded such an end and thought to have it but how hath God disappointed them But whether God hath done this in mercy to them as it is spoken of here that we know not we hope God hath crost some of them in a way of mercy though perhaps he may deale in another way with other of them But further Disappointment in the way of sinne is a great mercy As satisfaction in sin is a judgement of God and a fearfull judgement so disappointment in sin is a mercy and a great mercy Prov. 14. 14. there you shall find That the back-slyder in heart shall be filled with his own wayes A dreadfull threatning to back-slyders and apostates when God hath no intention of love and mercy for backsliders God will give them their owne devices they shall have their fill in their owne wayes you would have such a lust you shall have it you shall be satisfied to the full and blesse your selves in your owne wayes This is the judgment of God upon backsliders but for the Saints when they would have such a way of sin God will disappoint them they shall not have it We account it ordinarily very grievous to be disappointed of any thing and many times I have had this meditation upon it What doth it trouble the hearts of men to be disappointed almost in any thing Oh what a dreadfull vexation and horror will it be for a man to see himself disappointed of his half hopes Remember when you are troubled at any disappointment what will be the terrour then and anguish of spirit if it should prove that any of you should be disappointed of your hopes for eternity But those whom God doth often disappoint in the way of sin they may have hope that God will deliver them from that great disappointment And againe yet further Shee would have her Idols but God will take them away shee shall not have them saith God though shee follow after them and have a great mind to them yet they shal not overtake them God will remove them from their Idols or their Idols from them that is the meaning they should not come to their Dan or Bethel they should either be removed far enough from their calves or the calves from them Thus it should be with Governours they should take such a course as to take away Idols and superstitious vanities from those that will be worshipping of them
and sinning against God by them Either take them away from those vanities or their vanities from them they should not so much as suffer those things to stand to be inticements and snares for the hearts of people though they be very brave and abundance of gold and excellent artificiall work be about such things yet Deut. 7. 25. Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein but thou shalt utterly destroy it and thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing You shall not look upon the bravery of the worke of their Idols and upon the great cost that is bestowed upon them and therefore spare them because of that oh no but take them away that men may not be insnared by them So God will do Further in the fifth place They shall follow after their lovers but shall not overtake them Idolaters hearts are after their Idols when they cannot get them Though they cannot get them yet they will be following of them It is of an excellent use for us so it should be with us in the pursuing after Gods ordinances though perhaps for the present we cannot enjoy the Ordinances of God yet be sure to keep our hearts working after them Many deceive themselves in this they think we would have all the Ordinances of God but we see we cannot and so upon that we sit still mind no more seeking after them neither doe they labour to keepe their hearts in a burning desire after them and hence many times it is that the opportunities of enjoying them are let slip But now if thou canst not have the beauty of an ordinance if thou keepest thy heart in a burning desire after it in the use of all means for the attaining it know then that the want of an ordinance is an ordinance to thee You shall finde in the English Chronicle of Edward the first that he had a mighty desire to goe to the holy land and because he could not goe thither he gave charge to his sonne upon his death-bed that he should carry his heart thither and he appointed 32000. pound to defray the charges of carrying his heart to the holy land out of a superstitious respect he had to that place though hee could not attaine it his heart should Thus should our hearts worke after Ordinances And now we come to the close and that is the blessed fruit of all this she shall follow after her lovers but she shall not overtake them and shee shall seeke them but she shall not finde them VVhat followeth after all this Now commeth in the close of mercy for saith the Text Then shall shee say I will goe and returne to my first husband for then was it better with me then now Now they shall returne at length they shall bethinke themselves Hence we have likewise many sweet and excellent Observations As First In times of affliction the only rest of the soul is to return to God They keepe a rigling and a stirre and a shifting up and downe to provide for themselves yea but they could finde no rest in what they did but as a poor prisoner that is shakled keeps a stir with his chaines but instead of getting any freedom he galls his legs but when the poor soul after all shiftings and turnings and vexings comes to thinke of returning to the Lord and of humbling and repenting it selfe before him now it findes rest Returne to thy rest O my soâle so the words are Remember after all your afflictions here is your rest in returning to the Lord. Secondly Then they shall say that is when they are so stopped in their way that they cannot tell in the world what to do when they are hedged and walled and cannot overtake their lovers then they shall returne to the Lord. Hence the Observation is so long as men can have any thing in their sinfull way to satisfie themselves withall they will not returne to God There is that perversnesse of spirit in men Onely when men are stopped in the way oâ sinne that they can have no satisfaction nor no hope then they begin to think of returning to God This is the vilenesse of the spirits of men they never or very rarely will come off to God till then As the Prodigall what shift did he make hee goes to the farmer to the swine to the huskes to fill his belly and it is likely if he had had his belly full of them he would never have thought of going to his father but when he came to the huskes and could not tell how to fill his belly there when he was in a desperate estate then he beginneth to thinke of returning to his father So you have it Isa 57. 10. Yet saidest thou not where is no hope thou hast found the life of thy hands therefore thou wast not grieved thou wast not brought to such a desperate stand as to say the is no hope that noteth that till men be brought to such a stand that they can say certainly there is no hope or helpe this way they will seldome thinke of returning to God Thus is God infinitely dishonoured by us It is very strange how the hearts of men will hanker after their sinne this way and that way till God take them quite off from hope of comfort by it they will never have a thought to returne unto God God is faine to be the last refuge we account our selves much dishonoured when we are the last refuge when no body will I must It seemes God is saine to yeeld to this when no body will give satisfaction to the soul then men come to God and God must But you will say will ever God accept of such a one Marke the next observation returning to God if it be in truth though it be thus after wee have sought out for all other helpes yet God is willing to accept of it This is an observation full of comfort the Lord grant it may not be abused but it is the word of the Lord and it is a certaine truth that returning after men have sought other meanes and can finde no help though they are driven to it by afflictions yet it may be accepted by God It is true man will not accept upon these termes but the thoughts of God are as sarre above the thoughts of men as the heaven is above the earth It is true indeed some time God will not nay God threatneth Pro. 1. 28. though they call upon him he will not answer though they seeâe him early yet shall not finde him God is not thus gracious to all therefore you must not presume upon it God some time at the very first affliction hardneth his heart against men that he will never regard them more for his mercy is his owne but those that are in covenant with him though they come to him upon such termes yet they may be
accepted of him therefore take this trueth for helping of you against this fore temptation when you are in affliction which will be apt to come in Oh I cry to God now in my affliction I should have done it before surely God will not heare me now This may be a temptation I confesse I cannot speake in this point without a trembling heart lest it be abused but the Text presents it fairely to you and you must have the minde of God made known unto you though others abuse it Psal 88. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction Lord I have called daily upon thee This is spoken of Heman and God did accept of him as it is apparrent in the Psalm yet he cryed by reason of affliction and Psal 120. 1. In my distresse I cryed unto the Lord and he heard me though it were in my distresse yet the Lord heard me Onely take this one note about it It is true Though our being stopped in all other wayes may make us cry to God and God may heare us but when God doth hear us he works more then crying out by reason of that affliction though at first our affliction be the thing that carryeth ns unto God yet before God hath done withus and manifest and any acceptance of us hee workes our hearts to higher aymes then deliverance from our affliction Againe further I will goe and returne A heart effectually wrought upon by God is a resolute heart to returne to God As they were resolute in their way of Idolatry I will follow after my lovers so their hearts being converted they shall be as resolute in Gods wayes she shall say I will returne to my first husband When God will worke upon the heart to purpose he causeth strong arguments to fasten upon the spirit and nothing shal hinder it no not father nor mother nor the dearest friend Perhaps the Lord beginneth to worke upon the child and the father scornes him and the mother perhaps saith What shall we have of you now a Puritane This grieveth the spirit of the child yet there are such strong arguments fastned by God upon his heart that it carryeth him thorough he is resolute in his way he will returne Further Those who have ever found the sweetnesse of Christ in their hearts have yet something remaining that though they should be apostates will at length draw them to him Christ hath such hold upon their hearts as at one time or other he will get them in again there will be some sparkes under those embers that will flame and draw the soule to returne againe to Christ Therefore if any of you ever had any friends in whom you were verily perswaded there was a true work of grace though they be exceedingly apostatized from Christ do not give over your hope for if ever there were any true tast of the sweetnesse that is in Christ Christ hath such a hold upon their hearts that he will bring them in again one time or other Further I will return to my first husband for them was it better with me There is nothing gotten by departing from Christ You goe from the better to the worse when ever you depart from him What fruit have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed I the Lord saith God Isa 48 17. teach to profit sinne doth not teach to profit you can never get good by that but the Lord teacheth to profit It may be you may think to gaine something by departing from Christ but when you have cast up all the gain you may put it into your eye and it will doe you no hurt Job 27. 8. It is a notable place What is the hope of the hypocriâe though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Perhaps a hypocrite that is departed from God a back-flider that was forward before in the way of godlinesse and now like Demaâ he hath forsaken those wayes and cleaved to the world he thinkes he hath gained and perhaps is grown richer and liveth braver then before yet what hope hath this back-slyder this hypocrite when God taketh away his soul then he will see that he hath gotten nothing As it is said of the Idolater Isay 44. 20 A deceived heart hath turned him aside he feeds upon ashes that he cannot deliver his soul nor say Is there not a lye in my right hand What shall there be more in a lust then in the blessed God then in JESUS CHRIST who is the glory of Heaven the delight of Angels the satisfaction of the Father himselfe Can a lust put thee into a better condition then Christ who hath all fulnesse to satisfie the soul of God himself certainly it cannot be Againe There must be a sight and an acknowledgement of our shamefull folly or else there can be no true returning unto God I will goe and return to my first husband for then it was better with mee then now As if the Church should say I confesse I have plaid the foole I have done shamefully I have loft by departing from Christ it was better farre then it is now Ier. 3. 25. We lie downe in our shame and our confusion covereth us for wee have sinned against the Lord our God saith the Church there so it should be with all that come in to return to Christ they must lie downe in their shame This I note as very seasonable in these times we have many now who not long since have been very vile apostates they have gone with the times they saw preferment went such a way and their hearts went that way Now they see they cannot have preferment in that way they went and God of his mercy hath changed the times they will bee Converts Wee have in England many parliamentary Converts but such as wee are not to confide in Why should wee not confide in them If they will repent and returne God accepteth them and why should not we It is true such an one was before an enemy and followed superstitious vanities but now he is grown better and preacheth against them and why should not wee receive him To that I answer It is true if deep humiliation have gone before that reformation if together with their being better they have been willing to shame themselves before God and his people to acknowledg their folly in departing from God and be willing to professe before all that knew them and have been scandalized by them It is true God began with mee and shewed me his wayes when I was young I began to love them and to walk in them but when I saw how the times went and preferment went the Lord knows I had a base time-serving heart I went away from God they were no arguments that satisfied my conscience but meerly livings and preferment and now I doe desire to take shame and confusion of face to my selfe Woe unto me for the folly and falsenesse of my heart it is
the infinite mercy of God ever to regard such a wretch as I. If they do thus take shame to themselves and acknowledg their folly this were something We read in the Primitive times of one Ecebolius who when he had revolted from the Truth he cometh to the congregation and falling down upon the threshold cryeth out Calcate Calcate insipidum salem tread upon me unsavory salt I confesse I have made my selfe unsavory salt by departing from the Truth let all tread upon me This was a signe of true returning when this went before we have done foolishly it was better with us then now Againe I will goe and returne for it was better with mee then it is now Hence Though acknowledgement must goe before yet returning must follow that It is not enough to see and acknowledg but there must be a returning For as reformation without humiliation is not enough so humiliation without reformation suffices not And I speak this the rather because these are times wherein there is a great deale of seeming humiliation and wee hope true humiliation but you shall have many in their fasting days will acknowledge how finfull how vile how passionate they have been in their families how worldly what base selfe-ends they have had and they will make such catalogues of their sins in those dayes of their humiliation as causes admiration the thing itselfe is good but I speak to this end to shew the horrible wickednesse of mens hearts that after they have ripped up all their sinnes with all aggravations acknowledged all their folly of their evill ways against God yet no returning after all this as passionate in their famâlies as froward as peevish as perverse as ever as earthly as ever as light and vaine in their carriage as ever They will acknowledge what they have done but they will not returne Remember humiliation must goe before reformation but Reformation must follow after Humiliation But the chiefe point of all is behind that is The sight of this how much better it was when the heart did cleave to Christ over it is now since departure from Christ it is an effectuall meanes to cause the heart to returne to him This is the way that Christ himselfe prescribed Rev. 2. 5. Remember whence thou art falne and repent Thou wert in a better condition once then now thou art oh come in and return and that thou maist returne remember whence thou art falne I will give but a little glimpse of what might be said in this point more largely The reasonings of the heart in the sight of this may briefely bee hinted thus Heretofore I was able through Gods mercy to look upon the face of God with joy When my heart did cleave to him when I did walke close with God then the glory of God shined upon mee and caused my heart to spring within me every time I thought of him But now now God knows though the world takes little notice of it the very thoughts of God are a terrour to mee the most terrible object in the world is to behold the face of God Oh it was better with me then it is now Before this my apostasie I had free accesse to the Throne of Gods grace I could come with humble and holy boldnesse unto God and poure out my soule before him such a chamber such a closet can witnesse it But now I have no heart to pray yea I must be haled to it meerely conscience pulleth me to it yea every time I goe by that very closet where I was wont to have that accesse to the throne of grace it strikes a terrour to my heart I can never come into Gods presence but it is out of slavish feare Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before Oh the sweet communion my soule enjoyed with Jesus Christ one dayes communion with him how much better was it then the enjoyment of all the world But now Jesus Christ is a stranger to mee and I a stranger to him Before oh those sweet enlargements that my soule had in the ordinances of God! when I came to the word my soule was refreshed was warmed my heart was inlightned when I came to the Sacrament oh the sweetness that was there and to prayer with the people of God it was even a heaven upon earth unto me but it is otherwise now the Ordinances of God are dead and empty things to me Oh it was better with mee then then it is now Before oh the gracious visitations of Gods Spirit that I was wont to have Yea when I awaked in the night season oh the glimpses of Gods face that were upon my soule what quicknings and refreshings and inlivenings did I finde in them I would give a world for one nights comfort I sometimes have had by the visitations of Gods Spirit but now they are gone Oh it was better then then it is now Before oh what peace of conscience had I within whatsoever the world said though they rayled and accused yet my conscience spake peace to me and was a thousand witnesses for me but now I have a grating conscience within me oh the black bosome that is in me it flieth in my face every day after I come from such and such company I could come before from the society of the Saints and my conscience smiled upon me Now I go to wicked company and when I come home and in the night Oh the gnawings of that worm it was better with me then then it is now Before the graces of Gods Spirit how were they sparkling in me active and lively I could exercise faith humility patience and the like Now I am as one bereft of all unfit for any thing even as a dead logg Before God made use of me and imployed me in honorable services now I am unfit for any service at all Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before I could take hold upon promises I could claim them as mine own I could looke up to all those blessed sweet promises that God had made in his word and look upon them as mine inheritance But now alas the promises are very little to me before I could look upon the face of all troubles and the face of death I could look upon them with joy but now the thought of affliction and of death God knows how terrible they are to me It was better with me then then it is now Before in all creatures I could enjoy God I tasted the sweetnesse and love of God even in my meat and drinke I could sit with my wife and children and see God in them and looke upon the mercies of God through them as a fruit of the Covenant of grace Oh how sweet was it with mee then But now the creature is an empty thing unto mee whether it come in love or hatred I do not know It was better with me before then now Before I was under the protection of
party utterly uncleane for the plague is in the head there is not that utter uncleannesse any where as when the plague is in the head So I may say here when a man falleth off from the wayes of God by some strong temptation or unruly affection this man is uncleane verily he is uncleane but when it commeth to the head that his judgement is against the wayes of God and so commeth to contemne them and those that follow them and to thinke his own wayes better this man is utterly unclean for the plague is in his head The Lord deliver you from that plague The Sixth Lecture HOSEA 2. 7. 8. For then it was better with me then it is now For she did not kâow that I gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplyed her silveâ and gold which they prepared for Baal c. THere remaines onely one Observation from the 7. ver and the taking a hint of a meditation from thence concerning our present times of which briefly Upon returne unto God Apostates may have hope of attaining their former condition to be as well as ever they were I will return to my first husband for then was it better with me then now by returning I hope to recover to be as I was then that is the meaning In this Gods goodnesse goeth beyond mans abundantly Ier. 3. 1. Will a man when his wife hath committed adultery and he hath put her away will he return to her again But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return againe to me saith the Lord Hence ver 22. the Holy Ghost exhorteth to return upon this very ground Returne ye back-sliding children and I will heale your back-slidings Is there any back-sliding soul before the Lord God now offereth to heale thy back-slidings thou knowest that it is not with thee now as heretofore it hath been loe God tendereth his grace to thee that thou maiest be in as good a condition as ever O that thou wouldest give the answer of the Church there Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God truly in vaine is Salvation hoped for from the hils or from the multitude of the mountain truely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel It is true God might justly satisfie thee in those present wayes of Apostacy wherein thou art as sometimes he doth Apostates The back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes he shall have enough of them and Pro. 1. 31. They shall eate the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devicss But behold wisedom it selfe calleth thee now to returne again and makes this faire promise Pro. 1. 23. Turne ye at my reproofe behold I will poure out my spirit unto you There is not onely a possibility of being received into thy former condition but Christ doth wooe thee and calleth after thee hee promiseth to poure forth his spirit unto thee yea and there would be triumph in heaven upon thy returning But let me say thus much to thee though there be a possibility of comming again into as good a condition as thou wast in afore yet first there had need be a mighty work of Gods Spirit to raise thy heart to beleeve this It is not an easie thing for one who hath that fearfull sin of Apostacy setled upon him by God to beleeve that ever God should receive him and returne in the wayes of mercy and comfort as before Yea second Though there be a possibility to be recovered to mercy yet you must be contented to be in a meaner condition if God shall please you must come unto God with such a disposition as to be content to be in the lowest condition that can be onely that thou mayest have mercy at the last as the Prodigall Let me be saith he but as one of thy hired servants And know lastly that if you doe not return upon his gracious offer God may give thee up for ever take thy fill and there is an end of thee He that will be filthy let him be filthy still Yet further this expression doth strongly present occasion to digresse a little in the comparing our present times with former times to examine whether wee can say it was better with us heretofore then it is now In these dayes there is much comparing our present times with times past and divers judgements there are about present times some complayning and crying out of the hazards and dangers wee are in in these present times much better was it heretofore say they then it is now To such as these let me say first as the holy Ghost saith Eccles 7. 10. Say not thou what is the cause the former dayes were better then these thou dost uot enquire wisely concerning this thing Certainly those people who make such grievous complaints of present times comparing them with times past doe not wisely enquire after this thing It is true there are many sad things for the present amongst us things that our hearts have cause to bleed for such mis-understanding betweene King and Parliament some blood shed already and danger of shedding much more yet perhaps if we enquire wisely concerning this thing we shall find that notwithstanding all this we have little cause to complaine that it is worse with us now in comparison of what was before Consider first that which men do most complain of which makes the times hardest now it is but the breaking out of those mischievous designes that lay hid long before would have done us a great deale more mischiefe if they had been kept in Now they breake forth and breake forth as the desperatenesse of the hopes of those who had such designes because they could now goe no longer underhand but being brought into a desperate passe they are faine to see what they can doe in wayes of violence and this certainely is better then that mischiefe should work secretly under board Secondly by this we have a discovery of men which way they stand what was and is in their hearts and this is a great mercy Thirdly with the breaking forth of these things God grants that helpe now to England that it never yet had in the like way so fully and putteth such a faire price into the hands of the people of England that never yet was put into their hands Yea and consider farther that the more violent men are now the more doth it tell us what a lamentable time was before for if now when there is such means of resistance and yet the adversaries prevaile so much what would they have been by this time if this means of resistance had not been What a case were we in then when they might do what they would and we had no means to help our selves what a danger were we in then Certainely things then lay at more hazard then now Fifthly though there be many sad things amongst us yet God hath been before-hand with us we
the Lord himselfe that supplyeth all outward good to his people he doth not onely prize the soules of his people but hee takes care of their bodies too and outward estates Psalm 34. 20. He keepeth all his bones Yea he takes care of the very haire of their heads The bodies of the Saints are very precious in the eyes of God the most precious of all corporall things in the world The Sonne and Moone and Starres are not so precious as the bodyes of the Saints how much more precious are their soules VVe have an excellent note of Austin upon Psalm 63. 1. where the Text saith My soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee c. Upon this he hath this Note If the flesh hath any need of bread of wine of money or cattell seeke this of God for God giveth this too for marke Those who thirst for God must thirst for him every way not only their soules âârst for him but their flesh must thirst for him for saith he did God make the soul and did the devills or any idols make the flesh No he that made both soule and flesh he feedeth them both therefore all Christians must say My soule longeth after thee and my flesh also If then we can trust God for our soules and our eternall estates that hee will provide for them we must trust him for our bodies also for our flesh for our temporall estates that he will provide for them also Secondly thus All that we have all our supply that we enjoy in this world it is the free gift of God They did not know that I gave them corne and wine c. All of us live upon the meere Almes of God the greatest man in the world is bound to goe to Gods gate and beg his bread every day though he were an Emperour over all the world hee must doe it to shew his dependance upon him that he lives wholly upon almes Men thinke it hard to live upon almes and because they have maintenance so much comming in by the yeare such an estate in land they thinke they are well provided for many yeers But what ever estate thou hast though by thy trading thou hast gotten so much by the yeare coming in yet God requireth this of thee to go to his gate beg thy bread of him every day so Christ teacheth Give us this day our dayly bread And certainly if we did but understand this our dependance upon God for all outward comforts in the world we could not but feare him and seeke to make peace with him and keepe peace with him and it would be a meanes that our hearts would be inlarged to give to others who need our almes and seeing every man and woman of us is an Almes-man and an Almes-woman Thirdly It is our duty that we owe to God to know and take notice of God as the author of all our good They know not that implyeth they ought to have knowne This is a speciall duty of that worship we owe to God it is the end of Gods communicating all good to us that he may have active glory from his rational creature as well as passive glory and there is no creature else in all the world that God hath made capable of knowing any thing of the first cause but only the rational creature therefore it is the excellency of such that they do not onely enjoy the good that they have but they are able to rise up to the highest and first cause of all their good There is a great deale of excellency in this It is observed of Doves that at every pick of corne they take in their bill they cast their eyes upward and in the Canticles you shall finde the eyes of the Church are called Doves eyes because they looke so much up to heaven upon every good they receive They have not dogs eies the men of the world have dogs eies dogs you know looke up to their Masters for a bone and when they have it they presently looke downe to the ground so the men of the world they will pray to God when they want but whân they enjoy what they would have they look no more upward but all downward This taking notice of God to be the Author of all our good and to give him praise is all the rent we pay to God for what we enjoy therefore it is fit we should doe that and if we doe any thing for God be sure God takes notice of that to the uttermost yea though it be himselfe that enableth us to do it yea though it be but a little good mingled with a great deale of evill God takes notice of it and will reward it surely then we should take notice of the good that he giveth out to us This sweetneth our comforts to see that they all come from God and for that observe the difference betweene the expression of Jacobs blessing and Esaus blessing when Isaac came to blesse Jacob hee expresseth himselfe thus Gen. 27. 28. God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatnesse of the earth and plenty of corne and wine c. Now when he commeth to blesse Esau marke his expression then verse 39. Thy dwelling shall be the fatnesse of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above but hee never mentioneth God in that It is not Esaus blessing God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatnesse of the earth though it is true Isaac meant so but yet he doth not mention the name of God so in Esaus as in Iacobs blessing Certainly my brethren the seed of Jacob count their blessing to be a double a treble blessing that they can see God in it carnall hearts do not much regard God if they can have what they would have if they can have their flesh satisfied in what they desire from what hand it cometh that they doe not much care but a gracious heart a child of Jacob rejoyceth more in the hand from whence it commeth then in any good he can possibly enjoy Fourthly They did not know God doth a great deale of good in the world that is little taken notice of or laid to heart Many of Gods dispensations are invisible the Angels Ezek. 1. are described with their hands under their wings God doth great things somtime so invisibly as he cannot be seene And when he doth great things that we might see yet through onr neglect stupidity and drossinesse of our hearts we doe not see them The most observing eye that is in the world that takes the exactest notice of Gods mercy and hath the greatest skill to set forth the riches of Gods goodnesse to himselfe and others yet alas it is but very little that he takes notice of no not of that he might doe It is with the quickest sighted Christians as with a skilful Mathematician a skilfull Mathematician takes notice of and understands many parts of the world
and is able to set out the several parts distinctly to you in such a Climate in such a Countrey but yet when he hath done all he leaveth a great space for a Terra incognita for an unknown world and that unknowne world for ought we know may be five times bigger then the known world So they that have the most observant eye of Gods mercies and take the most notice of them that can best set out the mercies he bestoweth spiritual mercies temporall mercies preventing mercies past mercies present mercies delivering mercies c. yet when they have done all they must leave a great space for the Terra incognita for the unknowne mercies of God The truth is those mercies of God that are obvious to our knowledge every day one would thinke they were enough to melt our hearts to breake them in pieces but besides these mercies we take notice of there are thousands and thousands of mercies that we know not of As we daily commit many sins that we know not of so daily we receive many mercies that we know not of likewise And as in our confession of sins we should pray to God first to pardon our sins we know and so to name them in particular and when we have done then Lord forgive us our unknown our secret sins So in our thanksgiving first blesse God for the mercies before us and when we have done Lord blessed be thy name for all thy unknown mercies that I have little taken notice of We soone grow cold and dead if we doe good and men take no notice of us neither what we know nor what we doe is any thing to us except others know it too but this is the vanity and pride of mens hearts it is Gods prerogative above his creatures to doe all for himselfe for his owne glory and yet he doth much good in the world that none knows of we are bound to deny our selves in that we doe not to seeke our own glory The most excellent peece in the most excellent of our workes is our selfe-denyal in it why should we not then doe all the good we can doe cheerefully though it be not known we should doe good out of love to goodnesse it selfe and if we would doe so we should be encouraged in doing good secretly Fifthly and which commeth yet more fully up to the words They did not know c. In Gods account men know no more then they lay to heart and make good use of The Schooles distinguish of want of knowledge there is Nescientia and Ignoratia Nescience is of such things as we are not bound to know it is not our sinne not to know them but Ignorance is of such things as we are bound to know and that ignorance is two-fold there is an invincible ignorance let us take what paines we can wee can never know all we are bound to know and there is an affected ignorance when we do not know because out of carelesnesse we doe not minde what is before us and when we have minded it so farre as to conceive it yet if we lay it not to heart as we ought still in Gods account we know it not if we digest not what we know into practise God accepteth it not As God is said not to know when hee doth not approve I know yee not saith he so when any man hath a truth in notion and it doth not get into the heart when it is not imbraced there God accounts that that man knowes it not Therefore you have in Scripture such an expression as the Seer is blinde It is a strange expression it seemes to be a contradiction such a thing as we call a Bull The Seer is blinde But it is not so here because God accounts those that have never so much knowledge yet if it doe not sanctifie the heart so as to give him the glory they are blinde blinde as a Beetle The knowledge of the Saints is another kinde of knowledge then other men have We have saith Cyprian no such notions as many of your Phylosophers have but we are Phylosophers in our deeds we doe not speake great things but we doe great things in our lives 1 Thes 4. 9. You have an excellent expression for this you are taught of God to love one another what followeth And indeed so you do That is an evidence that you are taught of God when it pâevay leth with your hearts when it may be âaid indeed so you doe VVho is there in the world but knowes that wee should love one another but men are not taught of God to love one another untill it may be said of them that indeed so they doe There is nothing more obvious to the understanding of a man then the notion of a Deity that there is a God we may as it were grope after him as the holy Ghost speakes but yet 1 Iohn 2. 4. He that saith he knowes him and keepes not his commandements is a lyar and the truth is not in him Any man who ever he be though the greatest Schollar in the world if he saith he knowes God and keepes not his commandements he hath the lie told him to his teeth hee doth not know God at all though this of God be the most obvious thing to be understood that possibly can be and yet Christ saith no man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and to whom the Sonne shall reveale him Hence it is when a soul is converted you shall heare these expressions I never knew before I never knew what an infinite Deity meant I never understood the infinite soveraignty and Majesty of the great God I never knew what sinne meant before yet if you had asked him afore he would say I know God is a Spirit that he is infinite and eternall I know that sinne is the transgression of the law I never knew that Christ was before yet before hee would have told you that Christ was the sonne of Mary and came into the world to dye for sinners I remember an expression of a Germane Divine when he was upon his sick bed In this disease saith he I have learned what sin is and how great the Majesty of God is This man though a Preacher and doubtlesse he could preach of sinne and of the Majesty of God yet hee professeth he knew not these things untill God came powerfully upon his heart to teach him what they were The Hebrews say words of sense carry with them the affections or else they be to no purpose when men have notionall knowledge onely that comes not down into the heart they are like men that have weak stomacks and weake heads when they drink wine all flyeth up to the head it makes them giddy but if the wine went to the heart it would cheare warme it so all this mans knowledg flyeth up to his head makes him giddy whereas if it were digested got to the heart
it would warme and refresh yea ãâ¦ã The Text saith of Elies sonnes 1 Sam. 2. 12. that they knew not the Lord they were Priests of God yet they were sonnes of Belial and know not the Lord. Be not offended at great Schollars who have skill in the tongues Arts and Sciences do not you say these men that are great and knowing men would they do thus and thus if things were so as you speake they are not knowing men God saith that Elies sonnes did not know the Lord the things of God are hid from them I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid thess things from the wise and prudent c. Sixthly They did not know that I gave them c. Affected ignorance comming thorough distemper of heart is no excuse but rather an aggravation It is a high degree of ingratitude not to prize Gods mercy but not to take notice of Gods mercies Oh what a high ingratitude is this That which shall be part of Gods charge against sinners can be no excuse of their sinne it is a part of Gods charge that they did not know therefore their ignorance cannot be their excuse God threatneth to cut people off to have no mercy upon them for want of knowing as well as for not doing They are a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will have no mercy upon them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Esay 27. 11. Ambrose hath this expression Thou doest sinne greatly if thou doest contemne the riches of Gods long suffering but thou sinnest most of all if thou doest not know it From the word for as depending upon the 5. ver for so it doth The Observation is The not taking notice and considering of Gods mercies and laying them to heart is the cause of vile and shamefull evils in mens lives Therefore they did shamefully therefore they went after their lovers because they did not know the cause of almost all the evill in the world it is from hence They that know thy name will trust in thee those who know the Lord will feare him and his goodnesse Esay 1. 4. Ah sinfull nation saith God God fetcheth a sigh under the burthen of it his spirit is laden and troubled with it Ah sinfull people c What was the matter The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider they were more stupid then the brute creatures Oh sinfull soul this is the cause of all thy inordinate walking of all thy profanenesse of all the ungodliness in thy wayes because thou dost not know thou dost not consider thou dost not lay to heart the wayes of God towards thee Ier. 2. 5. God chargeth his people that they were gone from him and ver 7. that they had made his heritage an abomination What is the reason that is given of both these It is in the 6. ver They did not say Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt c. They did not take notice of what the Lord had done for them therefore they were gone far from him c. If thou hadst but a heart to lay to heart what God hath done for thee it is impossible that thou shouldst goe so farre off from God as thou dost For these deductions are easie and obvious to any from such a principle 1. Justice common equity requires living to God seeing we live by and upon God 2. Common ingenuity calls for requiring good with good the Publicans and Heathens will do good to those that do good to them 3. If all be from God then all still depends upon God 4. How much good is there in God from whence all this good and mercy comes when God shall shew another day to men and Angels how hee was the fountaine of all good it will confound those who have not laid it to heart 8. She did not know that I gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplyed her silver and her gold God is more bountifull to his people then the Idols can be The Idols by their owne confession gave them but their bread water and flax and oyle c. but God giveth them wine silver gold God gives them better pay a great deale then the Devill doth yet the Devill usually hath more servants to follow him then God hath though his wages bee lesse and worse It is usuall for men to get souldiers from adversaries by givâng them more pay This is the way God takes he offereth a great deale better pay to those that will follow him then they have that follow the Devill yet God can get few to follow him This shews the vilenesse of mans heart against God 9. She did not know that I gave her c. which she prepared for Baal When men get abundance then they soon grow wanton When I gave them corn and wine and oyle and multiplyed their silver and their gold then they followed Baal This is the reason of so many solemne charges of God Take heed when thou art full that thou dost not forget the Lord. As they that are neerest the sun are the blackest so those to whom God is neerest in regard of outward mercies are many times blacker then others It is observed that the fatter mens bodies are the lesse blood and the fewer spirits they have so the fatter mens estates are many times the lesse spirit they have to any thing that is good God hath lesse spirit from them sinne hath much more We read of the sunne melting the Manna that fell downe but the same Manna was able to bear the fire so many a mans heart is able to beare affliction and the affliction doth good prepareth for much good as Manna was prepared to be eaten by fire but prosperity melteth them makes them useless Many men when they were poor and in a low condition were very usefull but when they grow high and rich they are of very little use in the places where they dwell Trajan the Emperour was wont to liken a man growing to a great estate to the Spleene in the body for as the Sâleene grows big the body growes lesse so when mens estates grow bigger they grow lesse usefull Euagrius noteth it as a speciall commendation of Mauritius the Emperor but notwithstanding his prosperity he retained his ancyent piety it is a very rare thing to see men advanced to high places do so 10. I gave her corne and wine and oyle and I multiplyed her silver and gold which they sacrificed to Baal Even those creatures that wicked men abuse to their lusts God gives them Though he doth not give them for that end yet those creatures that they use for such an end are given of God If thou beest a drunkard that wine or drinke that thou dost sacrifice to that lust of thine who giveth it thee Is it
which drinks up their spirits Oh the happy advantage the Saints have in their afflictions over that the wicked have in theirs They have spirits indeed that well may be called brave spirits that can stand under the greatest weight of affliction and that with joy in the midst of them Paul can rejoyce in tribulation yea and glory in it too They have comfort in the creature but they are not beholding to the creature for comfort they depend not upon the creature for comfort their joy is a great deale higher That is precious light indeed that no storme can blow out See an example of a brave spirit that way that in the midst of affliction can have the light of joy Habak 3. 17. Although the Figtree shall not blosome neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall faile and the fields shall yeeld no meate the flocke shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stals What then Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation All their joy shall not cease perhaps in times of affliction in sad dismall times they may abate somewhat of their outward joy but all their mirth shall not cease there shall be joy within though none without Lastly I will cause all the mirth to cease All our mirth depends upon God he can take it away when he pleaseth God is called in Scripture The God of all consolation Joy is Gods propriâty he gives it when he will and takes it away when he will Tou have an excellent Text for Gods hand in taking away joy from the hearts of men when he pleaseth it is Lamen 3. 65. Give them sorrow of heart thy curse upon them Marke it Now that word that is translated sorrow of heart I especially take the note from thence A word that comes from that that signifies a helmet or a shield to fence of any thing or to cover a thing as a thing is covered by a shield and helmet And it doth note to us that disease which Physitians call Cardiaca passio a kinde of disease whereby the heart is so opprest and there is such a stopping that it is as it were covered sicut scuto as with a shield there is a lid as it were put over the heart a shield to keepe out all things that should comfort and to fence off all things that may be taken to be any refreshments to the spirits let the most precious Cordials in the world be given to those that have that disease they cannot be refreshed by any of them and so the heart comes to be suffocated with sorrow This is the meaning of the word here Lord give them sorrow of heart Put them into such a condition as that their hearts may be so stopped and stifled with sorrow that what ever meanes shall be used to bring any comfort to them let it be kept off that no creature in the world may be able to afford the least refreshment to them They were wont to shield and fence off thy VVord when thy word was used to be delivered to them wherein the treasures of thy mercies were and they heard the sweet promises of the Gospel opened yet they fenced off thy word as with a shield Now when they are in affliction let their hearts be choaked so and let there be such a fence put upon their hearts that though there be never so many promises brought to them they may be fenced off by the secret curse As Doe we not finde many wretches who have lived under the Gospel and fenced off the treasures of mercies opened to them when they have beene in affliction they have beene in horrible desperation and whensoever any thing out of the Gospel hath been spoken to them for their comfort they have had strange kinde of fences to put off such things As those that reade the story of Spira may wonder what a cunning fencer he was to fence off all comfort that was brought to him This was from the Lord Lord give them sorrow of heart that is Lord put such a shield upon their hearts as all comfort may be fenced of from them We see my brethren how we depend upon God for comfort we all cry out for comfort let us know and take to heart our dependance upon God for it God can fence our hearts from comfort when he pleaseth let us take heed we doe not fence of his word form our hearts I will cause all her mirth to cease her feast dayes These two are put together for the hearts of men when they enjoy a more liberall use of the cheature then ordinary and are amongst cheerfull company are warmed raised and inflamed at such times If the heart of a man be gracious and hee feasts in a gracious way his heart is warmed and cheered and inlarged in things that are good so the heart of the wicked when they are at their feasts all their lusts are warmed and their spirits are raised strengthned in the things that are evil You have a notable example of the cheering and raising of the hearts of men in good things in the time of feasts 2 Chro. 30. 21. the feast that Hezekiah made for the people of Jerusalem in that great Passeover the Text saith that they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven dayes with great gladness and vers 23. the whole Assembly tooke counsell to keep other seven days they kept other 7 dayes with gladness Now mark how their hearts were raised and mightily up upon this Chap. 31. ver 1. When all was finished all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Iudah and brake the images in pieces and cut down the groves and threw downs the high places and the Altars out of all Iudah and Benjamine in Ephraim also and Manasseth untill they had utterly destroyed them all Their hearts being up and their feasts being in a gracious way they were so inflamed that now they tooke upon them a mighty courage in doing great things for God It were well if it were always so with us when God calleth us to feasting as sometimes he doth though not now that our hearts were alwayes up in our feasting warmed and inlarged to do much good It is that which hath been the honour of this Citie that in their Companies feasting yearly they were wont heretofore usually when they had rejoyced one with another when their hearts were up to consult together what good to do for their countries in which they were borne and then to resolve to send the preaching of the Word to such a great Town where most of them were bred and to such another Towne This was a gracious feasting and for this they were much envyed at And though these feasts were prohibited upon other pretences yet the hindering this good done at those times lay in the bottome of that prohibition Feasting also warms the lusts
regard of Religion and godlinesse in regard of their debts then others It is true there is a complaint of many that are godly that they have little care and conscience in paying their debts the justnesse of that complaint I know not but there may be a slothfulnesse in many if not unfaithfulnesse and if there be carelesnesse unfaithfulnesse in some it is enough to cast an aspersion upon all that are godly but though those that are godly should be more carefull of paying their debts then others but if they cannot you are bound to be more mercifull unto them then to others because they are godly and not to seeke to take advantage the rather upon them because they are godly this is a vile and a wicked heart to take advantage so much the rather if thou seest them godly laborious in their calling and it be meerely a providence of God and not any negligence of theirs thou art bound to shew much commiseration unto them In that forenamed place Deut. 15. 9. Beware there be not an evill heart in thee to be lesse merciful to thy poore brother because of the seventh yeeres rest of the ground or because the debt was to be released that seventh yeere but verse 10. thou shalt surely give it him and thy heart shall not be grieved because for this thing the Lord thy God shall blesse thee in all thy workes and in all that thou put test thy hand unto Notwithstanding there must be a cessation of plowing and sowing and vintage in the seventh yeer yea and notwithstanding thou wert bound to release thy debt in the seventh yeer yet you must doe this and not do it grudgingly you must not murmure and say what doth God require of us that we must neither plow uor sow and that we must release our debts and give too nay and give and not have our hearts grieved too that we must not complaine of this Oh my brethren God loveth exceedingly cheerfull givers and hearts inlarged with bowels of compassion he doth no love hearts grumbling and objecting against giving Many men have no quicknesse of understanding in any thing else but against workes of mercy how quick are they in their objections and can finde such subtle wayes to save their purses that a man would wonder at it against this there is a solemne charge Deut. 15. 11. Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother to the poore and needy in the land The third thing to be done once in seven yeers was the release of servants too they must goe free and they must not be sent away empty neither as ver 18. of that Deut. 15. It shall not seeme hard to thee when thou sendest him away free from thee you must give them liberty as ver 14. It is true we are not bound to the letter of this every seven yeers to doe thus but there is a morall equity in it when servants have done you faithfull service you must not think that it is enough that you give them meate and drink and cloth but you must be carefull of your servants how they should live after they are gone from you This was the first sabbath of yeers But the second was most famous and that was the rest that was every seven times seven yeers the fiftieth yeer which was called the yeere of jubile from that trumpet that they were wont to proclaime that yeer by which as the Jewes tell us was a Rams-horne In this yeere there were divers of the same things done that was in the seventh yeer as the release of debts the release of servants But there are some things observable that were done at this time beyond what was done every seventh yeer As for servants the release of them was not onely of such servants as had then served seven yeers yea if they had served any time they were then to be released but besides there was order taken by God for release of some servants that would not be released in the seventh yeere for when the seventh yeer came though all servants might then be released yet there were some that would not be released and there was an order taken by God for that Exod. 21. 6. if there were a servant that loved his master and would not goe free then his Master should bring him to the post of the door and with a nayle bore his eare and then the Text saith he should serve him for ever Now that for ever is by Interpreters interpreted but for a time of Jubile and then he should have rest Here it is to be understood of the 50. yeer the yeer of Jubile There are some kind of spirits that are so slavish that when they may have liberty they will not they deserve to have their eares bored to be slaves to the fiftieth year if not for ever Many amongst us this day have such spirits God offereth us a release from bondage how many of us love servitude still It is just with God that we should have our eares bored and that we should be slaves even for ever but we hope there will be a Iubile come at length for our deliverance God would have a Iubile even to deliver those that were of the most servile spirits and might justly be left to serve for ever It is true when God began with us in the beginning of our Parliament like the seventh year God offered to us a release and we refused it then and since we deserve that our ears should be bored but God is infinitely mercifull though we be of servile spirits and know not how to pitty our selves we hope the Lord will pity us and grant us out of free and rich grace a Iubile even to deliver those who have a mind to be bond-slaves I am sure God doth so spiritually If God should not deliver those that are minded to be slaves he should deliver none It was a great mercy so to provide for servants that they might be delivered The greater because servants then were not as they are now there was a great deal of hardship that servants indured then more then now they were bought and sold not only other nations but the Hebrews were bought for servants also so you shall find it Exod. 21. 2. Besides servants were in such bondage then as if the Masters did beat them with a rod untill they killed them yet they must only be punished they must not have blood go for their blood yea though he died under his hand yet he was but to be punished and if the servant lived but 2. or 3. days after the Master was not to be punished at all so you have it Exod. 21. 20 21. If a man smite his servant with a rod and he dye under his hand he shall be surely punished notwithstanding if he continue a day or two he shall not be punished for he is his money Oh that servants would consider of this and bless God for the
we were mourning before him There was amongst our brethren in other parts a kind of trumpet of Iubile blown the Lord was then working for us what great deliverance did God grant that very day at Chichester God shews that the mourning of his people doth make way for joy Yea further then indeed is the sound of the trumpet of Iubile sweetest when we are most afflicted for our sins When we are most apprehensive and sensible of the evill of sin then the joy of God the comforts of the Gospel are sweetest to the soul When the trumpet of Iubile is blown in congregations if it meets not with hearts afflicted sensible of sinne they are not delighted with the sweet sound of this trumpet it is not melody in their ears it rejoy ceth not their hearts But let a poore soul be brought down and made sensible of the evill of sinne and Gods wrath then let but one promise of the Gospel be sounded forth how sweet how joyfull is it Again pardon of sin is the only foundation of all Jubiles For this tenth day of the seventh month wherein the trumpet of Jubile was to be sounded was a day of Atonement What is that A day of covering for so the word is of pardon of sin to the people of God Many men keep a continuall Jubile live merrily and bravely doe nothing but eate and drink and play and dance and laugh and cannot endure these fadde melancholy people What is the foundation of this thy Jubile Art thou sure there is an Atonement made between God and thy soule Art thou sure thy sin is pardoned Is this the foundation of thy rejoycing Know it will not last it is not Gods but the Devils Jubile except there be an atonement made between God and thee as the foundation of it Yet further in that the sound of the Jubile was at that time when the day of Atonement was Note this When God hath pardoned us then our hearts are in a fit frame to pardon others Now comes the Jubile and now you must release your lands your debts and forgive those that owe you any thing This is the day wherein God testifieth his mercy in pardoning your sinnes and they might well say Now Lord command us what thou wilt in shewing mercy to our brethren we are ready to pardon to release them to extend the bowels of our compassion towards them for thou hast pardoned our sins The reason of the rigidnesse of the cruelty the hardness of the hearts of men and straitnesse of their spirits to their brethren is this because God hath not witnessed to their souls the pardon of their own sinns an atonement between God and them Their solemn feasts Among their feasts they had three that were especially very solemn feasts more then others And they were The Feast of The Passeover Pentecost Tabernacles These three were very solemn especially in this one regard wherein they are all three united in one thing that is upon these three Feasts all the Males were to ascend up to Jerusalem to worship to the place which God did choose and so you have it Deut. 16. 16. Three times in a yeere shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shal choose in the feast of unleavened bread that was the Passeover and in the feast weeks that was Pentecost and in the feast of Tabernacles But how could the ten Tribes then keep these Feasts for they went not to the Temple You may as well say how had they an Ephod of which Chap. 3. Jeroboam was wise enough to keep the feasts though not in that way God appointed he could tell them the going to the Temple was but circumstance of place From this connection of these three together in this solemnity upon which these three were especially called their solemn feasts there are divers things to be noted First we may see a reason why there were sometimes so many beleevers at Ierusalem An argument is brought by some from that place Acts 21. 20. to prove that there may be in one Church more then can possibly assemble together in one Congregation for the Text saith there Thou seest how many thousands of Iews there are which beleeve how many millions it is in the Originall now say they there could not be so many millions to joyn in one Congregation The answer to this is cleare that the time of which this place speaketh was when the people of the Jews were all assembled together at Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost for Chap. 20. vers 16. the Text saith that the Apostle hastned if it were possible for him to be at Ierusalem the day of Pentecost now reading the story on it plainely appears that in that journey in which he did so hasten he did get to Ierusalem at the day of Pentecost and being there at that time no marvail that they said Dost thou not see how many thousands of Iews there are that beleeve For all the males of the people of the Iewes were got together at Ierusalem according to the institution so that they were there by reason of that Law that as yet they submitted to they were not in a Church state at Ierusalem therefore there is no strength in that objection against congregationall Churches Secondly where there is a nationall Church there must be an uniting of them in some way of Nationall worship There is this Nationall worship that the Iews by institution from God were united in three times in a yeare to go up to the Temple to worship And except there shonld be some such kind of individuall worship not in the same species that is as others are praying so are we and as others are hearing so are we for so all the Churches in the world may be joyned but to joyne in one act of worship together as that was of going up to the Temple there must be such a thing And that made the Iews a Nationall Church because we have no such institution now no Nation in the world can in a proper sense be said to be a Nationall Church as theirs was in some figurative sense we may so call it but not in that proper sense as it was among the Iews Thirdly there are some Ordinances that cannot be enjoyed but in the way of Church-fellowship The Iews could not enjoy these feasts as they ought indeed it may be Israel the ten Tribes would make a kind of patched up feast but they could not feast so as they ought unlesse they went to Ierusalem in that way God appointed As among the Iews there were some Ordinances they might enjoy in their Synagogues and private houses but some which they could not enjoy but in the Temple so there are some Ordinances we may enjoy in our families but others wee cannot enjoy but in Church-communion which Ierusalem is a type of A fourth thing observable is these three times wherein they were to go up to Ierusalem
the Church set out by the Jewish way of Feasts though there be mention of the Passeover and new moones and Sabbaths and of the Feast of Tabernacles yet there is no mention of the Feast of Pentecost no mention of keeping a Feast for blessing God for these things Not but that they should doe so but that their hearts should be so carryed up with abundance of spirituall mercies that then all for Christ and for heaven and for eternity their hearts should be wholly set upon spirituall things 7. It was a great ingagement to them to use the creatures when in the first beginning they had dedicated them unto God and in the conclusion of harvest they had solemnized his mercy in giving them the creatures For God did thereby teach them that they might be further engaged to use all creatures for his service As it is a mighty engagement to any man if God give him a heart to dedicate the beginning of a mercy unto God and when he hath got the mercy fulfilled then in a solemne manner he blesseth God for it to make use of this mercy for Gods honour Certainly the reason why many are so loose in their conversations and doe not employ the creatures of God to his glory is because they do not in a solemn manner blesse God for that they enjoy As in your trading suppose you have some comfortable Incomes perhaps you take these comforts and thanke God in a slight manner for them how doe you use them afterwards onely for your selves and for the flesh But when you heare of Incomes of riches flowing in upon you if you can then presently take the first Fruits and give some part to Gods service as a testimony of thankfulnesse and in your families and closets in a solemne manner give God the glory for the good successe you have had in your estate this will be a mighty ingagement to you to use your estates for his service 8. Mark at the first in their preparation they were to bring but a sheafe but afterward Levit. 23. 17. they were to bring two loaves in the first they were to offer one he-lambe without blemish but afterward seven lambes a young bullocke and two Rams c. both burnt-offerings and sinne-offerings and peace-offerings when they had received the full harvest Thence learne though you be forward to give God glory when you are young the first fruit of your years yet when you come to be old you should flourish in the Courts of Gods house First they offered but a little unto God afterward abundance Doe you so I appeale to all old men that are here this day if God did give you any heart to give up your young years to him blesse God for it but now when you are old are you as forward as ever you were You ought to be not onely so but much more abundant in the work of the Lord. Nay cannot others witnesse against you that there was such a time wherein you were more forward and that now you begin rather to temporize The LORD forbid this should be spoke of any old men God expects more afterward then at the first fruits and though nature may decay yet their is a promise that in their old age they shall flourish in the Courts of Gods house and shall manifest the graces of his Spirit much more VVe are ready at the first Fruits to offer unto God some what when his mercy commeth first but when mercy comes afterward more fully we should be more in our offerings You will say what is the meaning of this that there is a burnt offering a sin-offering and a peace-offering in the Feast of Pentecost what is the difference of these three offerings The difference is this The burnt offering was in testimony of their high respect to God they wholly had respect to God in the burnt offering that is they tendred up something to God as a testimony of the high honoraable esteem they had of his Majesty it was wholly to be given up to him Now in the other they had respect to themselves the sin-offering was not to offer a sacrifice meerly to testifie respect to God but to be a typicall signification of Christs sacrifice for sins they were to looke through their sacrifice to Christ and their sin-offering was to be an atonement for their sin The Peace-offering was in thanksgiving for a mercy or when they would petition to God for a further mercy All this must be done in the day of Pentecost But besides this end of Pentecost to solemnize the mercies of God in their harvest there is an other that is constantly affirmed by the Jewes and I finde many Divines making no question of it but I finde it not so clearly laid down in the word They say God in this feast did solemnize the giving of the law and this is their ground because fifty dais after their coming out of Egypt was the time of Gods giving the Law and so they say Pentecost was appointed to blesse God for giving the law The Iews say that God dealt with them as a King should deale with a poor man in prison first hee releaseth him of his bondage and withall tells him that after such a time he will marry him to his daughter now say they will not this man count every day long untill this time come So when God did deliver us out of AEgypt he told us that after such a time he would give us his law and marry us to his daughter which is the law and this is the reason why wee count so disigently the very weeks nay the days as longing for that time when we are to be marryed to the law when the Lord shall grant to us such a mercy From whence we may note that we are not only to keep Gods law but to rejoyce in Gods law not only to look at what is commanded as a duty but as a high priviledg and so blesse God for the law It is a higher thing to love Gods law and rejoyce in it then to obey it Great peace shall they have that love thy law David profest that he loved the law of God more then silver and gold that it was sweeter to him then the honey and the honey combe The Iews at this day do much reioyce when the law of God is read and in their Synagogues when the law of God is brought out they lift up their bodies in a kind of exlatation reioycing that God gave this law unto them Further the time of their Pentecost was the time of the descending of the holy Ghost upon the Apostles as God at that time gave the law by Moses so the Spirit at that time came by Christ to shew that we are in the Gospel to receive the Spirit of God to inable us to fulfill the law They had the letter of the law but in comparison of what we have they had not the Spirit
the Pagans were here in England they had their Flamins and their Archflamins London was one and Yorke was another and when they were converted to the Christian Religion yet still keeping some of their Heathenish customes instead of their Arch-flamins they made Arch-bishops and of their Flamins Bishops and that in their very places as London and Yorke and some say Chester they kept their Bishopricks still This is the very ââund of the antiquity of them therefore my brethren let not us be put off with such arguments as these men delude you they baffle you by these arguments The Tenth Lecture HOSEA 2. 11. And all her solemne Feasts c. WEE began the last day to speake something of the Feast of Trumpets you shall finde the institution of it in Leviticus 23. 24. You shall have a Sabbath a memorial of blowing of Trumpets Now there were divers ends of Gods institution of this Feast I have spoken of one the second reason of that Feast the Hebrews thinke was a remembrance of Isaacs deliverance when he should have been sacrificed and the Ram caught by the hornes to be sacrificed in his stead they drew it from this argument because that Feast is called A memoriall say they to remember the deliverance of Isaac and it must be by the Trumpets of Rams hornes to call this to remembrance the deliverance of Isaac and a Ram sacrificed in his stead this is the Iews opinion of it but it seemes to be farre from the meaning of the holy Ghost A third reason of the Feast of Trumpets some say Cajetan amongst others was instituted for a memoriall of Gods giving the lay by sound of the trumpet that is not likely neither because this Feast was not kept at the time of Gods giving the law if there were any time for the celebration of giving the law it must be at the Feast of Pentecost A fourth it was for a celebration of a memoriall of Gods goodness to them in the time of war for all the mercies of God unto them in their wars which was declared by the blowing of the trumpets But I rather take another reason to be a maine and principall reason of Gods institution of this Feast to be a preparation to the Feast of atonement and expiation and therefore saith Calvin it is called a memoriall Levit. 23 for this reason to put them in minde to humble themselves before God to afflict their hearts in the day of atonement and secondly a memoriall before God that God may remember them for mercy so the Iews observe from the seventh day of the first moneth unto the tenth day there was more then ordinary exercises in giving of almes in praying in going to their synagogues they were very devout for those ten dayes in way of preparation for the day of Atonement of Expiation From whence note It is of this use to us to prepare for the day of Fasting Ministers should blow their trumpets to the people to prepare them for that day God hath accepted of those poore kinde of fasts that we have kept abundance of mercies we have received on them there is scarce any one Fast day that is kept but we presently hear good news after it if we had kept Fast dayes as we ought if we had been prepared as we should O what might we have obtained of God by this time if God accepts such poor things as we do as God knowes they are poore and meane if we had every time a trumpet blown before us to prepare us for the day of atonement what atonements might England have made with God before this time to reade understandingly those things you reade about the Feast of Trumpets The next Feast was the feast of Expiation in the tenth day I thought not to have spoken of that because the Feast of Expiation is a Fast rather then a Feast but that is meant here as well as any of the other for this reason though it were a Fast yet the Hebrew word here that is translated solemne Feasts signifies onely a setled stated solemn time And Secondly It was a great mercy to them to have such a day of Fast though the day of atonement be a day of afflicting themselves yet it is the cause of rejoycing to a nation that God grants them such a day of atonement it is the speciall meanes to make way to the joy of a nation and therefore this is included amongst the other now the history of that you have in these two famous Scriptures Levit. 16. and Levit. 23. In this day of atonement the tenth day of the seventh month there are divers things very observeable and usefull for these times The first is The solemn charge that God gave for the afflicting mens souls upon that day you shall finde in a few verses three severall times a solemn charge to afflict their soules to humble their souls Levit. 23. 27. 29. 32. God appointed one day in the year for all the Jews to afflict their souls to make an atonement between God and them in a day of Fast and they were charged to be sure to afflict their souls then and that soul that did not God threatened to cut it off The second thing observeable is that the Priest was to goe into the Holy of Holies where he was to go but once a year Levit. 16. the beginning and the latter end compared together you shall finde it This may teach us thus much If ever we are to looke upon JESUS CHRIST in the presence of God to go into the Holy of Holies making intercession for us it is in the day of atonement in the day of publick Fast of the Kingdome then are we to exercise our Faith upon Christ as entring before God into the Holy of Holies for us after we have charged upon our souls our sins and afflicted our souls we must likewise cast up an eye of Faith beholding Jesus Christ our high Priest at that day before the Father making intercession for us The third thing observeable is at that day the Priest was to make an atonement for all the holy things in Lev. 16. 20. When he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place the Tabernacle and the altar c. the Priest was not only to seeke to make reconciliation between God and the people but to reconcile the holy places even the Holy of Holies had a kind of pollution in it and must be reconciled then and the Tabernacle and the Altar all of them had a kind of pollution upon them so infectious is the sin of man and all these were to be ãâ¦ã a day of atonement ãâã teacheth us That in a day of Atonement of Fâsting we are then ãâ¦ã speciall care to scâââ mercy from God to be ââconciled to us in regard of all our holy things our holy duties and offerings we are to seek then to get the best services that ever we performed in all our lives to be
comforts lest ere long there followes a destroying judgement a cutting to the very roote Doth God come in your families and cut off a branch or two a childe or two Humble your souls before him he may cut downe the tree stub up the root ere long he may come to the Mother or the Father and so roote out the family So in a Nation it is a very remarkable place that you have Ezekiel 21. 27. I will overturne overturne overturn when was this spoken and to whom It was spoken unto Israel and to Israel when they were in captivity and yet God threatens them thus even there I will overturne overturne overturne Whereof she hath said these are the rewards that my lovers have given mee The word that is translated reward signifies Merces meretricia it comes of the Hebrew word that signifies hired with wages but such wages as are given to harlots and yet she is so impudent as to make use of that very word these are my rewards the word she useth here might upbraid her but so impudent doth Idolatry make men to bee If we be guilty of whoredome we have our rewards of whoredome then say they Whoremasters use to give rewards unto their whores whoredome is a costly sin to many a man Many men secretly wast and consume in their estates and their neighbours wonder how they come to be so low Uncleannesse is as a Gangrene as it will consume the body so the purse it beggars many men when the world little thinks of the cause Secondly These are my rewards these that you call Idols give mee liberall rewards I have what I served them for God may suffer men in wickednesse to prosper to gaine their hearts desire Thirdly It is a dangerous thing for sinners to look back to their sins committed and then to blesse themselves as if they had gotten by them Indeed before a sin is committed the sinner by temptation may be perswaded there is much gaine to be had in that way and in the very act of comission the sinner may find some flashie false contentment and delight but usually after the act is over when the sinner looks back he sees nothing but shame guilt and horrour Sinners scarce dare look back to their sinnes after they are committed except such as are most desperately hardned in their sins they dare not think of what they have done but here you see they look at what they have done and blesse themselves as if they had got a goodly reward by it As the sight of the evil consequences of sin is a means to humble so the apprehending of gayning by sin is a speciall meanes to harden in sin Judas thought it a brave thing to get the thirty pieces yet when hee saw the evill fruit that his sin produced he looked with horrour upon his sin his soule sunk under the burden of it If a Judas looking after sinn hath his spirit filled with horrour what hope is there then of such a one as looking after it blesseth himselfe as a gainer by it If a man either prospers at that time he sins or prospers more a little after he hath committed a sin then he did before or so prospers as that he conceives his sin to be some way instrumentall to bring in that gain that was got this hardens exceedingly Fourthly These are the rewards that my lovers have given me It is a provoking sin to attribute the blessings of God to our own wicked sinfull ways and thereby to harden our hearts in those ways It is too much to attribute any of Gods blessings to second causes to our lawfull endeavors to our industry to our care to any instruments but to attribute them to our wickednesse this is abominable God expects glory in the acknowledgement of every mercy and improvement of it unto him where then there is not only a deniall of this to him but a giving it to his enemy to wickednesse to the Devill whom he hates this goes exceeding neer to the heart of God It is a great part of our sanctifying of Gods name in the use of all the creatures to acknowledge him in all that all depends upon him and thereby to be quickned in his service but to thinke all depends upon that which is contrary to God and therefore if we want what we would have to begin to think we have not served our lust enough and to be put on to serve them more this exceedingly provokes I le give you one notable example of this wretchednesse of mans heart and indeed it is a very dreadfull one I had very credible relation from a Minister who being at Hamburgh hee was told this story There was a consultation of many of the Ministers of Germany at that Town in the time of the sorest distresses and calamities that were in Germanie the Ministers were Lutherans they consulted to find out what might be the cause why the hand of God was so heavy upon Germany in those parts where they lived that so they might reform what was amisse and make their peace with God the isse of their consultations came to this that the reason of their calamities and troubles that were upon them was because the Images of their Churches were not adorned enough because there was not cost enough bestowed upon them they were not decked as they thought they should have been and therefore for the preventing of the continuance of those calamities in those parts of Germany they unanimously consented to improve all the strength they had to beautifie and adorn the Images in their Churches more this was a sad thing for Ministers who professing against Popery as the Lutherans do they indeed keep Images in Churches But could it be thought that they should be thus vaine yea wicked as to attribute the want of their Vines and fig-trees to the want of their superstitious vanities and to bring up their consultations to this conclusion that if they were more zealous of the one they should the more prosper in the other was not this a sore and grievous evill going neare to the heart of God Many attribute the increase of their estates to their lying to their over-reaching their swearing and rejoyce in this this I have got by these wayes Zeph. 1. 9. God threatens to punish those that leape on the threshold and fill their masters houses with violence and deceit That is the servants of great men who by oppression and by fraud bring in gain to their Masters houses and then they leap upon the threshold for joy applauding themselves in the successe they have had in their wicked wayes It is usuall in whatsoever ways men are if they meet with any prosperous success to bless themselves as if this success came in the rather because of those ways let the ways be never so wicked Of late have not some made the world believe they have had great success have made an argument that their ways
have been good and God hath blessed them because they have done as they have though we know their ways to be such as brings most fearfull guilt upon themselves and their families and we have all cause to have our hearts tremble within us to think of them and if it be through seducement and not through a worse principle to pray to God O Lord forgive them for they know not what they doe and for the success they boast of who would not if he might wish such success to his Enemy But if Idolaters can encourage themselves in those ways they are in from what good they suppose they have by them for their rewards how much more then should the Saints encourage themselves in the rewards that they have from their lover from the Lord Christ Psal 129. 56. This I had saith David because I kept thy word this is the reward I have had from my lover I blesse God I have in some measure got my heart to breake before the Lord and to melt after him and the Lord hath come in mercifully to me though indeed there be no worthinesse in what I have done yet the Lord hath beene gracious he hath encouraged his poose servant in his way these and these mercies the Lord hath given me as a fruit of seeking him he hath not said to the seed of Iacob seeke ye me in vaine I have sought for comfort for peace and at last it is come I will call upon the name of the Lord as long as I live we should consider of Gods mercies we have and rejoyce in them as the love-tokens that come from our beloved These are the rewards these are the love-tokens that come from our dearly beloved Hereafter when the Saints shall come to heaven how will they blesse God and blesse themselves in their God for those glorious things those blessed rewards that they then shall receive from their beloved and enjoy for ever with him then they shall triumphingly say the world said heretofore What profit is there in serving of the Lord But blessed be God that I went on notwithstanding in the wayes of God and now I see there is profit to purpose O these joyes O this glory O this crowne this happinesse these are the rewards that I have from my beloved A fift what any man gets by sin or lookes upon as gotten by sin or uses as a meanes to harden himself in sin the curse of God is in it and it will rend it from him he shall not ever enjoy it I will destroy their vines their fig-trees whereof they have said these are the rewards that my lovers have given me 1 Kings 21. 16. you shall finde that Ahab blessed himselfe in getting Naboths vineyard by the device of Iezebel the text saith He rose up to goe to take possession but verse 9. Thus saith the Lord hast thou killed and also taken possession in the place where the doggs licked the blood of Nabeth shall doggs licke thy blood even thy blood What you have got an estate now you have got the vineyard you have got possession how got you it by wickednesse though you blesse your selves in it now as a reward of your vile wayes certainly the Lord will either force you in the anguish and terrour of your soules to vomit up those sweet morsells againe you shall not hold them or some fearfull judgement of God up-you will rend them from you that which many have got by unjust and sinfull wayes they have indeed rejoyced in for a while but after a while that estate hath beene in their consciences as drops of scalding lead in the very apple of a mans eye so terrible hath it been unto them For this I will onely give you an example a late one that came to my owne hands in restoring that that was wrongfully got many yeeres agoe from one neere my selfe I shall the rather name it because the partie desired that the thing might bee made knowne to the glory of God He sends that that he had wrongfully got divers yeeres after with a letter with these expressions Many a throb of conscience had I about it many an âking heart and many promises have I made of restitution and thousands of times have I wished unto you your silver againe what shall I doe to keep it it is to continue in sin to give it to the poor alas it is not mine owne or at least the evill purchase of gaine hourded up in the stuffe of my iniquity to send it home the owner is dead I would to God I had sent it before that it might not have layne so hard upon me but seeing that is past and cannot be recalled here I sent it you I aske God forgivenesse and pray you fayle not to pray for me Sweet Jesus forgive me It was kept divers years but was biting all the while in the conscience of the poor man and at length it must breake forth in such expressions as these are Consider of this every one who hath got any thing by a sinfull way and have blest himselfe in it this is the reward I have got by such a cunning device and such an unjust and deceitfull way you got it cleverly and have enjoyed it and been merry with it well one day it may thus lie grating in your conscience O then how rerrible will it be to you this is the best way to be rid of the rewards of sin when they begin to cause aking in your consciences cast them out your selves all your praying to God for forgivenesse will never ease you without this way if you be able to restore but if you will not doe it this way God may come by some hideous judgement and force them from you in spite of your hearts and then how terrible will it be to you when you looke upon them as going from you as being rent by God from you O now I must part with all that gaine and sweetnesse that such and such wayes of sin have brought me in the gain the sweet is gone but the guilt the curse the dregs the filth that remains upon my spirit and for ought I know must stick by me to all eternity Gods judgements will be upon you one day but as strainers to let out whatsoever is sweet delightfull to you and to keepe in the filth and dregs Remember this you that have got rewards by sinfull wayes your rewards of sinne may now delight you but there is a time you shall have rewards for your sins that will not please you I will make them as a forrest God threatens his people to make them as a forrest the Seventy they reade it otherwise I will put those things as a witnesse you will say here is a great difference I will make her as a forrest and I will put those things as a witnesse Those things that is those rewards they rejoyce in the rewards that they have had of their
of God and hence are put to it so much to make a connection betweene that that went before and this therefore but wee need not go so farre the right knowledg of the fulnesse and the riches of the grace of the Covenant will help us out of this difficulty and tell us how these two the greatnesse of mans sin and the riches of Gods grace may have a connection one to another and that by an Illative therefore I confesse the Hebrew word is sometimes conjunctio ordinis rather then causalis a conjunction that only sets out the order of a thing one thing following another rather then any way implying any cause but the reading here by way of inference I take to be according unto the scope of the Spirit of God and it gives us this excellent note Such is the grace of God unto those who are in Covenant with him as to take occasion from the greatnesse of their sinns to shew the greatnesse of his mercy from the vilenesse of their sins to declare the riches of his grace And the Scripture hath divers such kind of expressions as these as Gen. 8. 21. The Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake VVhy For the immagination of mans heart is evill from his youth A strange reasoning I will not curse the ground for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth One would have thought it should have been rather I will therefore curse the ground for mans sake because the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth but the grace of God knowes how to make another manner of inference then we could have imagined So likewise Isa 57. 17 18. For the iniquity of his covetousnesse was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes saith God Now one would have thought that the next word should have been I will therefore plague him I wil destroy him I will curse him but mark the words that follow I will heale him I will ãâã him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners I will create the fruit of the lips peace to him This is a consequence at least if not an inference David understood this reasoning to be indeed the true reasoning of the Covenant of grace and therefore he pleadeth thus with God Psal 25. 11. Pardon my iniquity for it is great Lord my iniquity is great therefore pardon it Hearken you Saints hearken I say this is the great blessing of God unto you who are in Covenant with him whereas otherwise your sins should have made you objects of Gods hatred your sins now render you objects of his pitty and compassion this is the glorious fruit of the covenant of grace I would only the Saints heard me in this thing but why doe I say so I will recall my word let all sinners heare me let the vilest the worst sinners in the world heare of the riches of the grace of God in this his Covenant that if they belong to Gods election they may see the fulnesse the glory of Gods grace to be inamoured with it their hearts ravished with it that they may never be at rest till they get evidence to their soules that God indeed hath actually received them into this his Covenant If then God be pleased in the riches of free grace to make such an inference therefore let us take heed that wee make not a quite crosse inference from the greatnesse of our sins nor on the other side from Gods grace As thus You have followed your lovers you have forgot me therefore will I allure you An unbelieving heart would make this inference I have followed my lovers I have followed after vanity and folly and therefore God hath rejected mee therefore God will have no mercy upon me therefore I am undone therefore the gates of mercy are shut against me unbelieving heart do not sin against the grace of God he saith you have forgotten me therefore will I allure and speake comfortably to you doe not you say I have forgot the Lord and therefore the Lord will for ever reject me these discouraging determining despairing therefores are very grievous to the Spirit of God God would have us have all good thoughts of him It is a maine thing that God intendeth through the whole Scripture that his people should have good thoughts of him and that they should not think him a hard master It is an excellent expression of Luther saith he the whole Scripure doth principally aime at this thing that we should not doubt but that wee should hope that we should trust that we should believe that God is a merciful a bountifull a gracious and a patient God to his people It is an excellent expression that I have read of Master Bradford in one of his Epistles saith he O Lord sometimes me thinks I feel it so with me as if there were no difference between my heart and the wicked a blind mind as they a stout stubborn rebellions spirit a hard heart as they and so he goes on shall I therefore conclude thou art my Father nay I will rather reason otherwise saith he because I do believe thou art my Father I will come unto thee that thou mightest enlighten this blind minde of mine that thou mightest soften this hard heart of mine that thou mightest sanctifie this unclean spirit of mine I this is a good reasoning indeed and is worthy of one that professes the gospel of Jesus Christ Again as the inference of this unbelieving heart is grievous to Gods spirit so the inference of a prophane heart an unbelieving heart makes his therefore from the greatnesse of sin against Gods mercy and the prophane heart makes his therefore from the greatnesse of Gods mercy to the hardening of his heart in his sins what shall God make his therefore from our sin to his mercy and shall we make our therefore from his mercy back again to our sins where sin abounds grace abounds but where grace abounds sin must not abound because God is mercifull to us who are very sinfull let not us be very sinfull against him who is so mercifull God takes occasion from the greatnesse of our sins to shew the greatnesse of his mercy let not us take occasion from the greatnesse of his mercy to be emboldened in greatnesse of our sins Therefore behold Behold Here is a wonder to take up the thoughts of men and Angels to all eternity even that that we have in this inference behold notwithstanding all this yet you men and Angels behold the fulnesse the riches of Gods grace I will allure her what will not God cast us away notwithstanding the greatnesse of our sins let not us reject Gods ways notwithstanding the greatnesse of any sufferings we meet with in them there is a great deale of reason in
humbled us broke our hearts before him but when wee began to bee delivered a little out of our bondage the Lord brings us into the wildernesse and follows us with afflictions to this day that he might throughly break us and yet we hope all this while it is but making way unto Canaan But in the second place take it as you have it here I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse Then wee may take the scope of it to be not the afflicting part of the wildernesse but only the manifesting this unto Israel that he would shew unto them great wonderfull works of his power wisdome and goodness as he did unto their forefathers in the wildernesse What ever your conditions shall be into which you shal be brought yet you shall have me working in a glorious way for your good and comfort as ever I did for your forefathers when they were in the wildernesse and this exposition is rather strengthened from that we have ex Thargum Ionathae I will work miracles and great wonderfull famous things for them such as I did work in the desert hath God wrought gloriously for his people hitherto in the wayes of his mercy if reconciled to him they may expect the fame wonderfull works of God for their good even to the end of the world We may read the stories of Gods wonderfull power in deliverances of his people in their straits in the wildernesse and make them to be our own and pleade with God that he would shew forth that old that ancient power and wisdom and goodnesse of his as he did unto his people formerly this is the ground of that excellent prayer that we have Esay 51. 9. 10. Awake awake put on strength O arme of the Lord awake as in the ancient dayes in the generations of old Art thou not it that hast cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Art thou not it that hath dryed the sea the waters of the great sea Awake awake thou art he who hast done such great things formerly it is a great help to our Faith to consider what God hath done for the Church of old But further Poreus saith this expression is taken from the condition of a poor man that is drawne aside out of his way by a thief a thief comes and entices him out of his way and carries him into some desolate place when he hath carried him thither then the manbegins to bethink himself where he is and sees himself in a sad condition and knows not what in the world to do and yet at that time there comes in supply comfort and help for him so saith God I will bring you into the wildernesse that is I will put you into the same condition that such a poor man is put into I will allure you as the thief allures I will make proffer to you of abundance of good and by that I will draw you into such and such wayes wherein you shall meet with very great straits for a while and you shall be put into an amazed condition as not knowing what in the world to do and when that is done then I will come with the fulnesse of my grace and speake comfortably to your hearts Thus though God speakes of bringing into the wildernesse yet still it is with an intention of shewing mercy there and is not this just to a very haire for all the world our condition have not the ways of God toward England for these two or three years been alluring wayes God hath made proffer unto us of a great deale of mercy and raised the hopes of his people and the Ministers of God have spoken encouraging words to his people that surely the Lord intends great goodnesse to us and because Gods wayes have been such towards us as they have been we have endeavoured God knowes to follow him in those ways of his to do that that for the present those present ways of his called for and yet we are even brought into the wilderness now even into a kind of desolate condition that for the present we even are at a stand we see afflictions to be round about us the very beasts to be ready to come teare us and pull us in pieces and yet we can say to the comfort of our hearts Lord if we be deceived thou hast deceived us for Lord thou knowest that whatsoever we have done it was our duty to doe and although we be brought into great straits for the present yet we repent not of what we have done nor of what we have said for thou hast allured us into this condition thy gracious wayes of mercy towards us in the beginning of the Parliament and so on hath allured us and hath brought us into what we have done Wee will not therefore say what is now become of all our hopes but wee expect God even in this wildernesse to speake comfortably unto us let not men upbrayde us for what wee have done we would doe as we have done if it were to do again for God hath brought us into these wayes and if he hath allured us into the wildernesse the next words shall be made good unto us he will speake comfortably to us if we be in no other then that wildernesse he hath allured us into then we may expect fully that he will speake comfortably to us Here is the difference betweene men bringing themselves into trouble or being brought by the Devils or worlds allurements and by Gods In the one we cannot expect comfort but in the other we may confidently Further There is yet another interpretation that I think is most genuine and full For the ground of that I shall say in this we must know that from the beginning of this part of the Chapter to the end God is expressing himselfe unto his people in a conjugall way that is whereas his people had gone a whoring from him yet he would receive them againe into a conjugall affection and communion all along God expresses himself thus from the fourteenth verse to the end Now this being laid for a ground In this expression of Gods bringing into the wildernesse the Prophet alludes unto the custome of the Jewes that they had in their marriages Their custome that I reade of was that the Bride-groom used to take his Bride and carry her out of the City into the fields and there they had their nup tiall songs and delighted themselves in some place there one with another afterward he brought her back againe leaning upon him into the City to his Fathers house and there they rejoyced together and solemnized the further nuptials now these fields are called the wildernesse either because they might be some champion dry fields that were about the City or otherwise let them be what they will be yet because he would allude unto the mercy of God in bringing of his people out of Egypt into Canaan and would put them in minde of
was but to believe in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ came to pardon sinners c. when he came upon his sick bed he was in great torment of conscience and grievous vexation and cryed out bitterly of his Apostacy there came some of his acquaintance to him and spake words of comfort and tells him that Christ came to save sinners and he must trust in Gods mercy c. At length he begins to close with this and to apply this to himself and to have a little ease upon which his companions began to be hardned in their ways because they saw after so ill a life it was so easie a matter to have comfort but not long before he dyed he brake out roaring in a most miserable anguish O! saith hee I have prepared a plaister but it will not sticke it will not sticke wee shall find though the grace of God be rich and the salve be a soveraign unlesse God be pleased to make it stick by speaking to our hearts nothing can be done From hence further learn this note As when God speaks comfortably to his people he speaks to their hearts so Gods Ministers when they come to speak in Gods name should labour to speak so as to do what they can to speak to hearts It is true indeed it is impossible that any man of himselfe can speake to the heart of another but yet he may endeavour and aime that way there is a kind of speaking that God doth assist so as to bring it to the heart of his people What speaking is that you will say That that cometh from the heart will most likely go to the heart though I know God can take that which comes but from the lips and carry it to the heart when he pleases yet ordinarily that that comes from the heart goes to the heart therefore Ministers when they come to speak the great things of the Gospel they should not seeke so much for brave words and enticing ways of mans wisdome but let them get their own hearts warmed with that grace of the Gospel and then they are most like to speak to the hearts of their Auditors It is a good note that I have met with from Ribera let Ministers remit saith he of their care of fine curious words of brave neate phrases and cadencies of their sentences but let them bend their studies to manifest humility and mortification and to shew love to the soules of people otherwise though they speake with the tongues of men and Angels they shall become but like the sounding brasse and the tinckling cymball this is an expression even of a Jesuite it were then a great shame that Gods Ministers should not labour to speak so as that they may speak to the hearts of people you must be desirous of such kind of preaching as you find speaks to your hearts not that that comes meerly to your eares how many men love to have the word jingle in their ears and in the mean time their hearts go away and not one word spoke to them but when you finde a Ministry speake to your hearts close with it bless God for it and count it a sadd day when you goe from a Sermon and there is not one word spoke to your hearts in that Sermon From the connection of these two I will bring them into the wildernesse speak unto their hearts if we should take the wildernesse for bringing into affliction because there are so many interpreters that are very godly men learned men go that way I dare not wholy reject it but that there may be some intention that way Hence the first note is Afflictions make way for Gods word to the hearts of sinners there are many obstructions at the hearts of men while they are in prosperity but when afflictions come God by them opens those obstructions and so gets his word to their hearts afflictions cannot convert the heart but they can take away some obstructions that did hinder the word from coming to the heart Many of you have heard thousands of Sermons and scarce know of any one that hath come to your hearts but when God casts you upon your sicke beds and you apprehend death then you feele the same truthes that you were not sensible of before they lie upon your hearts the threatning word of God that went but to the ear before now it is got to the heart now it terrifies now you cry out of your sins and rellish the sweet promises of the Gospel that afflictions make way for I remember an expression that I have read of Bernard he had once to a brother of his who was a Souldier but riotous and prophane Bernard gives him many good instructions wholsome admonitions and counsels his brother seemed to slight them he made nothing of them Bernard comes to him and puts his hand to his side one day saith he God will make way to this heart of yours by some speare or launce he meant God would wound him in the Wars and so hee would open a way to his heart and then his admonitions should get to his heart and as he said so it fell out for going into the Wars he was wounded and then he remembers his brothers admonitions they got to and lay upon his heart to purpose It God should let the enemy in upon us their swords or bullets may make way to our hearts that so Gods word may come to have entrance there the Lord rather pierce our hearts by his spirit then that way to our hearts should be made thus Secondly when we are brought to great affliction that is the time for Gods mercies This should make us not to be so afraid of afflictions how afraid are we how do we hang back when we see afflictions coming why art thou so loth O thou Christian to come to affliction the time of affliction is the time for God to speake to the heart of a sinner many sinners may say that their condition hath been like Jacobs he never had a more sweete vision of God then when he lay abroad in the fields with no other pillow under his head then a stone it may be God will take away all your outward comforts and when they are all gone then may be Gods time to speake comfortably to your heart Thirdly the words of mercy O how sweet are they when they come to the heart after an affliction Psam 141. 6. Thy Judges shall be overthrown in strong places they shall he are my words for they are sweet If the words be taken for bringing into the wildernesse that is for Gods wonderfull workings for the good of his people then the note is When God works great and wonderfull things amongst a people then God speaks to the heart of that people then surely God hath spoken to our hearts for he hath done great and wonderfull things amongst us he did not more wonderfull things amongst his people in the wildernesse
if you be in such a condition and such a condition but doe something presently set upon the work presently and so engage your hearts to God if once you be engaged by doing something the worke will goe on It is a great matter when we can engage the heart of a man to God in any businesse suppose a man promise to doe this or that yet if all this while he have done nothing he lookes not upon himselfe so really engaged as when something is done he therefore sooner flies off again but if together with his promise he be brought to do hee will not so readily flye off God doth so with you he together with his promise gives some real evidences of his love Againe After God speakes to the heart and then restores vineyards then they are blessings then they are sweet indeed for then God restores them as fruits of reconciliation with him Many a poor afflicted soul know what belongs to this comfortable note I thought my sinfulnesse forfeited all my comforts all mercies and God indeed tooke away this and the other comfort from me but it pleased God to come in graciously upon my heart and to speake to my heart and in some measure to breake it and to humble it before him so that I hope peace is made up and notwithstanding those great offences of mine he hath now restored mercies he took away a childe but he hath given another a beââeâ he hath took away one mercy he hath given a better this I can though with holdness yet with humility say it is as a fruit of my reconciliation with my God O how sweetly may such a one enjoy that mercy from God! If after the meltings of thy heart after God he then comes in with mercies to thee thou mayest take them as tokens of love to thee now thy house is a comfortable blessing to thee thy yoake-fellow thy children about thee O how comfortable blessings are they yea the meat on thy table is sweet with a double sweetness when thou canst looke upon all as the fruit of Gods reconciliation with thee As the Christians Acts 2. 46. 47. when they once believed in Christ they did eate their bread with gladnesse singlenesse of heart praising God We may enjoy all our common mercies in another manner then other men can they will be blessings doubled yea a hundred fold encreased I will speake to her heart and then I will give her her vineyards Perhaps God hath given thee an estate in the world more then thy neighbors more then thy brother But hath God spoke to thy heart Are Gods blessings upon thee as a fruit of Gods speaking to thy heart in away of reconciliation with thee otherwise it is but a flat dry comfort to have an estate and not to feele God speaking to our hearts I will restore unto you your vineyards from thence From whence From the wildernesse There the Note is God can bring vineyards out of wildernesses Let us not be afraid onely let us make up our peace with God and then though we be in a wilderness God can from thence bring us vineyards Our brethren have found vineyards in the wilderness and many of Gods people in the midst of their straits have found abundance of mercy Further From the wildernesse they shall have more love mercy working more strongly for them now it seems then they had before They had vineyards before but they had none in the wildernesse Now God will dravv mercies out of those things that were unlikely he will bring forth good unto them out of things that seemed to goe quite contrary to them the Lord hath done so for us out of those things that seemed to goe quite contrary to us God hath brought much good to us as if hee had made vineyards to spring out of a wildernesse But the close of all is Those mercies that come to us out of great difficulties and seeme to be raised out of contraries are the sweet mercies indeed those we are to rejoyce in and therefore it followes and they shall sing Deut. 32. 13. God made them to suck honey out of the rock and oyle out of the flinty rock When did God doe so where did you ever reade that God did cause his people to suck honey out of the rock or oyle out of the flinty rock wee reade indeed that the rock was smote and the water did gusb out of it but when did we reade that ever oyle or honey came out of the rock there was never any such thing that we reade of but the meaning thereof is because they being in necessity God brought forth water yet being brought out of the rock by such a mighty hand of God it was oyle it was honey to them it was as good as if God had given them oyle and honey Why because it came out of so much difficulty So all the mercies that God gives to his people when he brings them out of difficulties and straits they are sweet and glorious mercies Let us be patient a while though we seeme to be in the wilderness and we see nothing to fetch out water from but onely rocks stones and difficulties yet God at length will bring mercies out of those difficulties and they will be honey mercies to us then we shall sing and praise the name of our God with joyfull hearts The Thirteenth Lecture HOSEA 2. 15. And the valley of Achor for a doore of hope c. THe words are an excellent expression of mercy to Israel For the opening of which these three things are to be enquired into 1. What this valley of Achor was 2. The reason of the name 3. Why this is said to be a doore of hope For the first Achor was a very pleasant delightfull fruitfull rich valley and lay neer Jericho The first place that Israel came into in the entrance upon and taking possession of the land of Canaan Esay 65. 10. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lye down in for my people that have sought me First it is joyned with Sharon Can. 2. 1. I am the rose of Sharon that was a sweet pleasant place Secondly It is said to be a place for the herds to lye downe in a fat pasture that they shall even tumble in And thirdly It is promised as a blesâââ ãâ¦ã the Lord. The reason of the name Achor That hystory we have Iosh 7. sheweth Achan who 1 Chron. 3. 7. is called Achar having taken the accursed thing God left the Campe and Israel fell before the men of Ai which was the first battell that ever they fought for the possession of Canaan upon that their hearts were exceedingly troubled as if the whole worke had been at an end so fraile is mans nature so soone discouraged when it meets with opposition notwithstanding all the experiences of Gods mighty
power going along with them so lately bringing them over Jordan so wonderfully and given them Jericho so miraculously yet now at the losse of 36. men their hearts begin even to faile Ioshua falls with his face upon the earth and Josephus in his hystory of the Jewish Antiquities sets down Ioshuahs prayer at large these are some expressions Beyond all expectation having received an overthrow being terrified by this accident and suspitious of thy promises to Moses we both abstaine from war and after so many enterprises we cannot hope for any successfull proceedings by thy mercy relieve our present sorrow and take from us the thought of despaire wherein we are too farre plunged Now God comes to him and askes him Why he lay upon his face and bad him get him up for Israel had sinned in the accursed thing upon search made Achan was found out whereupon Joshua tells him that he had troubled the Hoast of Israel and God would trouble him upon which they stoned him and from thence it was called the valley of Achor vers 26. that is Vaââis tribulation is the valley of trouble The third thing is the principall why this valley is called a doore of hope Herein two things First how it was a doore of hope to Israel then when they first came into Canaan Secondly how it is promised to be a doore of hope to repenting Israel in after-times For the first It was a doore of hope to them in two respects First because it was the first place wherein they tooke the possession of Canaan when they began to have outward means of substance to eate of the corne of the land all the while they were in the wilderness although God provided wonderfully for them by sending them Manna from Heaven yet because they had no way of substance by ordinary means they always feared lest they should want upon any strait they were brought into their hearts began to sinke Now in this valley God gives them outward means this raises hope in them that their danger was over and that they should do well enough This is our nature when ordinary means fayle our hearts fayle yea though in regard of Gods extraordinary workings we have never so many gracious encouragements and when God grants means againe then we hope Secondly God made their great trouble there a means of much good unto them for by that they were brought to purge their Campe they learned to feare the Lord and were prepared more then before for so great a mercy as the further possession of that good land The Septuagint instead of those words a doore of hope have these to open their understanding for there indeed they learned the dreadfulnesse of God who for one mans sin was so sorely displeased there they understood to purpose that the God that was amongst them was a holy God and that he would have them to be a holy people But how should this valley of Achor be a doone of hope to Israel in after times First the Jews think that Israel shall return into their own country againe yea and the same way they shall come again into Canaan by that valley which shall be a door of hope to them Secondly but rather by way of Analogy as God turned this valley of trouble to much good unto them so he would turn all the sore afflictions of Israel in after dayes to their great advantage grievous afflictions should make way for glorious mercies Thirdly But especially thus in this expression God followes the Allegory of marriage now it was the custome of the Jewes in their marriages that the Husband gave his Spouse according to his quality as a dowry some peece of ground rich as he was able and this he gave as a pledge of his love to her to assure her that whatsoever was his she should have the benefit of it so saith the Lord although you have gone a whoring from me and may justly expect that I should for ever reject you yet I will marry you to my selfe and I will fully perform all marriage rights for the expression of my love towards you to the uttermost you shall know that you are marryed to a Husband who is rich I will give you a rich and plentifull dovvry and this but as a token and pledg of further love mercy riches that you shall enjoy by me it shall be that valley of Achor that rich delightfull fruitfull valley By this he means he would bestow some speciall choise mercy upon them at his first taking them into his favour again and that should be a pledg of and making way to much more mercy that he intended for them a doore of hope to let in greater things as the first fruits of all those glorious things that he had treasured up for them From this valley of Achor as it concerned Israel before First Sometimes when God gives men their hearts desires when they think themselves happy as if all trouble were past then he comes in upon them with great and sore afflictions Secondly although God hath been humbling mens hearts with sore and long afflictions yet just before he bestows great mercies he afflicts againe to humble and break their hearts yet more Thirdly sin will make the pleasantest place in the world a place of trouble Fourthly the afflictions of the Saints do not only go before mercies but are doors of hope to let in to mercies means to further the way for mercies God commands light to shine not only after darknesse but out of darkness Josephs prison Davids persecution Daniels den made way for glorious mercy God had in store for them that which once The mistocles said to his children and friends the Saints may much more say to theirs I had beene undone if I had not been undone had it not been for such a grieyous affliction I had never come to the enjoyment of such a mercy Hence we must learn not only to be patient in tribulation but joyfull But the especiall thing intended in this expression is this When God is reconciled to his people then present mercies are doors of hope to let in future mercies the Saints may look upon all mercies received as in-lets to further mercies to be received Every mercy a door to another mercy and all mercies here put together are a door to eternall mercy When Rachel had a sonne she called his name Joseph Gen. 30. 24. saying The Lord shall add to me another sonn Every mercy the Saints have may well be called Ioseph it brings assurance of mercy to be added this is the high priviledge of the Saints every mercy that a wicked man hath he may look upon as his utmost as his all he may write a ne plus ultra upon it one misery one judgment upon a wicked man makes way toanother but not one mercy howsoever God in his bounty may lengthen out mercies to him
yet it is more then he can expect he rather hath cause to wonder he hath so much then expect more but God ever draws out his loving kindnesse to his Saints Psal 36. 10. Draw out thy loving kindnesse unto them that know thee and thy righteousnesse to the upright in heart First the good that others have from God is bounty patience but that which the Saints have is loving kindnesse Secondly that which others have is no ways tied to them by promise but that which the Saints have they have by promise it is righteousness Ps 23. Thou makest me lye down in green pasture thou anointest my head with fresh oyle my cup runneth over Here is a great deal but is here all no ver 6. surely mercy goodnesse shall follow me all the dayes of my life That we read of David 2 Sam. 5. 12. is very observable from Gods prospering him in his present way he draws an argment to confirm him in the assurance for the future that his Kingdome was established to him why did not Saul prosper at the beginning of his raign as well as David yet it was no evidence of his establishment but David could see Gods mercy coming to him after another manner then Saul could all mercies the Saints have come from the covenant in which there is a rich treasure of mercies a blessed connexion of the mercies The covenant between David Ionathan was 1 Sam. 20. 15. That loving kindnes must not be cut off from the house of Ionathan The covenant between God and the Saints is that loving kindnesse shall never be cut off from them but the links of mercies shall be fastned one to another so as they shall reach eternity Mercies to the Saints come from love amor nescit nimium love knows no such thing as excesse The Saints understanding this mistery in the way of Gods grace towards them hence they follow God in seeking his face then especially when he is most in the way of mercy whereas the men of the world who know not this seldome seek after mercy but in times of affliction when God is in a way of justice and wrath this is their folly Infinite reason there is O ye Saints of the Lord that one duty should for ever make way for another seeing on mercy makes way for another here lyes a great difference between doing duties from the strength of common grace and from sanctifying grace in the one the spirit by doing some things is wearied and thinkes now it may rest but in the other the very doing still encreaseth strength and puts the heart upon doing more But may not security promise continuance of mercy Yes but if so then when affliction comes the heart will sinke for feares of continuance in misery as well as before it hoped for continuance of mercy When then may we assure our selves that our mercies are doores of hope to further mercies First When they are created mercies wrought by a more imediate hand of God generation may be imperfect but creation never omne creatum est perfectum Esay 26. 12. Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us What is the argument for thou hast wrought all our workes in us Secondly When they are spirituall mercies Ezek. 39. 29. Neither will I hide my face any more from them VVhat is the argument For I have powred forth my spirit upon the house of Israel but is not this your private opinion that this argument will hold No the words following are Thus saith the Lord God Thirdly When mercies carry us to the God of mercy and are turned duties as if we can turne our duties into mercies that is account every duty a mercy that is a good argument that we shall hold out in duty when wee can turne mercies into duties that is make every mercy an engagement to duty that is a good argument that mercy will hold out But are there not interruptions many times in the wayes of Gods mercy to his own people VVe sometimes think there is an interruption when if we knew all we should see a blessed concatenation but it must be granted that there may sometimes be some kinde of enterruption in such a particular After Israels returne from captivity and beginning to build the temple there were such enterruptions as it was seventy years before it was finished but though there may be enterruptions for a time yet not a quite breaking off there is yet a strength in the grace of the covenant that carries the work on and perfects it at last by ceasing in one way of mercy God prepares for another the very ceasing in such a way may be a mercy we our selves at this day are a sad spectacle of the interruption of the wayes of Gods mercies towards a nation Mercy that ere while shined in her beauty upon us hath now seemed in a great measure to have withdrawn the beames of her glory our doore of hope that we thought to be so wide open seems almost shut against us I dare not say that it is shut lest I should wrong the present grace of God yet continuing to us But First Sinne yea our many and fearfull sins lyes at this our door Gen. 4. 7. Secondly And now a crowd of difficulties seeme even to stop up the door they come thronging still to it as if they would certainly stop it up against us Thirdly As the Prophet Ezek. 11. 1. 2. saw at the door of the gate five and twenty men amongst whom there were some chiefe ones who devised mischiefe and gave wicked councell in the city so may we at this day see many even of the chiefe ones devising mischiefe and giving wicked counsel by which they labour to shut yea to lock and bolt up this our doore of hope Fourthly VVe hoped that this our door of hope would have been like the doors that entred into the oracle of which we read 1 Kings 6. 31. made of the olive tree yea the side-posts and lintels were of olive tree carvings of palm trees cherubims all overlaid with gold but now our door seems to be of Iron the way to our help and mercy must be through the Iron gate we must get to it by suftering hard things 5. Our door that was wide whereat mercy began to come flowing in apace freely now it seemes to be straitened it is now the strait gate we must be content to strip our selves of a great part of our estates of many of our outward comforts yea we must venture them all and well if possibly at length we may crowd in 6. Yea our door-posts are like the Israelites in Egypt besprinkled with blood the keeping up of our meanes of mercy hath cost much blood and may cost more 7. Now when we knock when we would step in the dogs bark at us and are ready to flye upon us yea it may be the servants yea some of our
brethren are discontented at us frowne upon us speake against us 8. Alas we have rejected the right key that should have opened this our door no marvaile then though we stand blundring at it and it opens not unto us VVhat is that right key that would have opened it before this time had we made use of it That key of David that we reade of Apoc. 3. 7. That openeth and no man shutteth This key the Church of Philadelphia had therefore it followes ver 8. I have set before thee an open doore that no man can shut But what is this key of David It is the ruling power of Jesus Christ in his Church David in his government was a speciall type of Christ the first godly King over his people that ever was Government is emblematically set forth by a key Esay 22. 22 God promised Eliakim to commit the government to him by that expression The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder Esay 9. 6 7. The government is said to be upon Christs shoulder and he sits upon the throne of David that is observable that to Eliakim there was promised but the key of the house of David but to Christ the key of David himselfe the one was to governe but as a steward the government of the other was to be Princely If we had been the Church of Philadelphia united in brotherly love and had had this key of David amongst us we might before this time had had a door set open amongst us that no man could have shut against us but woe unto us how many amongst us say of Christ We will not have this man to rule over us Mr. Brightman more then thirty years since paralelld this Church of Philadelphia with the Church of Scotland he made it in a typical way to set forth the wayes of God towards that Church in after times and indeed they have been very like one another divers wayes and God ways towards the one hath been the same with his ways towards the other in many things 1. They are both Philadelphians united so in a brotherly covenant as no Churches in any kingdome more 2. It was said of Philadelphia it had but a little strength and yet it kept Gods word VVhat Churches in any Nation have beene more contemptible then those in Scotland They have beene accounted a poore beggerly people despised of all and yet God hath enabled them to doe great things 3. God hath caused their enemies to come and bow before them and to know that he hath loved them even those who said they were lews and were not that they were the onely Church when indeed they were the Synagogue of Satan they have rejected false government and have received much of the government of Christ the key of David is more received among them then in any kingdome in the world no marvaile then though their doore be so opened that none could shut it thorow Gods mercy our Houses of Parliament have cast away the false key The Lord deliver them and us for ever medling with it any more whatsoever come of us They have further professed their desires to enquire after the true key This door of hope we hope will open to us in due time so as none shall shut it 9. We have lost many opportunities for the opening this door never had a people fairer opportunities for mercy then we have had we cannot looke back upon them without trembling hearts we may see cause to lament the losse of them with teares of blood even this hath cost much and is yet like to cost more blood 10. Yea woe unto us out father comes forth and seemes to be angry with us and bids shut the doore against us yea hee shuts us out himselfe is not that complaint of the Churches Psal 80 4. truly ours O Lord of Hoasts how long wilt thou be angry with the prayer of thy people If God be angry with out knocking what shall we doe 11. And well may God bid shut the doore against us for we have shut it upon our selves This our doore of hope hath a spring lock it is easily shut too but it cannot so easily be opened againe we have stood wrangling and strugling one with another and have clapt to the doore upon our selves before we were aware That Scripture Hos 7. 1 is as truly ours as ever it was Israels When I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered and the wickednesse of Samariah VVhen the Lord would have healed England then the iniquity thereof hath been discovered more then ever There is the vilest spirit of malignity against godlinesse against the Saints against the way of Christ in his Ordinances that ever was upon the face of the earth Now men care not though they ruin themselves though they bring themselves and posterity to be bondslaves so they may but have their wills upon those that are godly to suppresse them The controversie now is almost grown to that height that the kingdome divides it selfe into those who have some shew of Religion and the haters of it Those times complained of in Micah are even ours Chap. 7. 5. Trust ye not in a friend put no confidence in a guide keepe the doores of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosome Yea it is almost come to that in the fourth verse The best of them is a bryar the most upright is sharper then a thorny hedg There is much frowardnesse much perversnesse even in the best many contentions and grievous breaches even amongst them they cannot endure you should be jealous of them and they give cause of jealousie daily This generation for a great part of it shew themselves to have such sullied such puttid spirits so defiled with superstitious vanities so imbittered with a spirit of malignity that we may feare God hath no pleasure in the generality of it yea Moses and Aaron have sinned the best have so sullied themselves with Antichristian pollutions that just it were with God that this whole generation should be first taken away and that the young generation that is comming on who have not so defiled themselves should have this doore that lets into Canaan opened to them that they onely should goe into and possesse that good land but our carcasses should fall in the wildernesse You who are godly young ones whose hearts began betimes to yerne after Jesus Christ know the heart of Jesus Christ yernes after you and although some of you may fall in fighting for your brethren so be received to heaven yet you are of that generation God will open this door of mercy unto you shal go in possesse Canaan all this valley of Achor is but a door of hope to you continue you on in your sincerity God will reveale himselfe more fully to you then he hath done to us if we be cut off before those treasures of mercy that God has ready for
his people be opened we must accept of the punishment of our iniquity and even beare this indignation of the Lord because wee have sinned against him 12. Yea the Lord hath strucke us with blindnesse at the doore we grope up and down and we cannot finde it as Gen 19. 11. Never were a people at a greater losse in a greater confusion then now we are every man runs his owne way wee know not what to doe nay the truth is we know not what we doe 13. Yea many because they have found some difficulties at the right door they have gone away from it and have sought back doors to help themselves by even base false shifting treacherous ways seeking to comply for their own private ends as if their skins must needs be saved whatsoever becomes of the publique 14. This is yet a further misery that we are groping up and downe at the doore and night is come upon us stormes tempests are rising dangers are approaching and yet God opens not to us 15. Above all our misery this is yet the greatest that even our hearts are shut up too there lyes a stone rowled at the doore of our hearts and such a stone as is beyond the power of an Angel to rowle away were it that after all our hearts were but open our condition yet had comfort in it Oh now what shall we doâ 1. Let us resolve to waite at this doore ââaite upon God in those wayes of helpe that yet in mercy he affords unto us Certainly we are at the right doore let us say with Shecaniah Ezra 10. 2. We have sinned against the Lord yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Let us resolve whatsoever becomes of us not to goe from our fathers door if we perish we will perish at his gates 2. Let us worship the Lord at this our doore though we be not entred in yet let our hearts bow before the Lord in the acknowledgement of his greatnesse power dominion that he hath over us to doe with us what he pleaseth as Ezek. 46. 2. it is said The Prince shall worship at the threshold of the gate and the people of the land shall woâship at the doore 3. Let us look in at the key-hole or at any crevise that wee can to see something of the riches of mercy that this door opens into Within on the other side oâ the door we may see what liberty of conscience what enjoyment of Ordinances the blessing of Gods worship in his own way we may see the wayes of God and his Saints would be made honorable in this kingdome yea in a higher degree then any where upon the face of the earth yea we may see many sweet outward liberties the free enjoyment of our estates peace plenty prosperity in abundance all these and more then we can think of if this door were but once opened to us howsoever it is good ãâã looke in to quicken our hearts and set on our desires and endeavours the more strongly in the meane time Oh how happy were we if we had these mercies 4. Let us yet knock lowder and cry lowder at our Fathers doore But did not you tell us our Father seemed to be angry at our knocking Mark what we have in that very Scripture where the Church complains that God is angry with her prayer Psal 80. 4. How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people Yet ver 7. Turne us againe O God of Hosts and cause thy face to shine And ver 14 Returne we beseech thee O God of Hâsts look down from heaven behold visit this vine ver 19. Turne us againe O Lord God of Hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 5. Let every one take away his sinnes that lye at this door let every one sweep his owne door Zech. 8. 15. 16. Again have I thought in these âââyes to doe well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Iudah feare not But yet mark what followes These are the things that ye shall doe Speake ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates Let none of you imagine evill in his heart against his neighbor Both private men and men in publick place must reforme How far are we from this Never more plottings more heart-burnings one against another those in publike place neglect the execution of judgement they would have their policies beyond Gods wisdome God puts these two together and commends one as a meanes to the other the execution of judgement and peace but they have a further reach they will not exe curâââdgement for feare of a breach of peace It is just with God that we should never have peace till we can trust God for it in his own way 6. Let us seek to God againe and call to him for the right key Lord reveale the way of thy worship and thy government to us and we will yeeld our selves unto it 7. Stir we up our selves against all difficulties Things are not yet so bad but we may help our selves if we have hearts Our Father heares us he can command many Angels to come to help to rowle away the stone yea he hath opened divers doores to us already We are indeed come to the âron gate the Lord can make that at length flye open of its own accord as Acts 20. 10. The Church was praying and after the prââon dooâes were opened to Peter and he had passed the first and second gate he came unto the iron gate that led into the City and there he found as easie passage as any where else In the mount will the Lord be scene 8. Let us exercise Faith in the blood of Christ let us as it were besprinkle this our door with the blood of the Lambe yea looke we up to Christ as the true doore to let into all mercy let Faith act as well as Prayer 9. Let us now especially watch all opportunities of mercy and take heed we neglect no more as we have done many very foulely lest hereafter wee knock and cry Lord open to us and it proves too late 10. Let us open to God who knocks at our doores it wee would have him open to us God knocks at the doore of every one of our hearts open we to him fully set all wide open for him Openye gates stand open ye everlasting doores let the King of glory come in These who doe thus are the true generation of those that seek the Lord let England open for God yet stands at the doore and knockes and if we will yet open to him he will yet come in and suppe withus and we shall suppe with him It is true God rebukes and chastens severely so he did Laodicea at that time when he stood at her doore and knocked Apoc. 3. 19. 20. if any Church be or ever was like to that of Laodicea we have been luke-warm as that was a mixture of Gods
shall be much more glorious The last time this prophesie aymeth at is the great calling of the Jewes then the Scripture saith Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain gladnesse and joy and all sorrow and mourning shall flee away They shall so sing as never mourn more in this world in regard of any malice and rage of their adversaries This was not fulfilled at their return out of the Babylonish captivity therefore there is yet a time for the fulfilling of it and the Scripture is clear about the fulfilling it even in this world that place Rev. 21. 4. is a repetition of that prophecy he saith there God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more sorrow nor crying When Jews and Gentiles shall joyne together then they shall siug indeed to purpose as they did in the dayes of their youth when they came up out of the land of Egypt First it is a great mercy for people to be delivered from outward bondage It will be found a great mercy when the world shall be delivered from their outward bondage when men shall see they were born free-men and not slaves though Subjects yet not slaves when men shall see that the world was not made for twenty or thirty to doe what they list and they to account all the rest as beasts yea dogs as if it were not so much for the lives of thousands of them to goe as for their humours and lusts not to be satisfied but when men shall know that they are men and not beasts and so shall live like men and not like beasts to be at the will of others this will be a great mercy But to be delivered from Antichristian bondage is a greater mercy then it was for the children of Israel to be delivered from their Egyptian bondage For First when they were in the Egyptian bondage we reade not that their consciences were forced that they were forced at all to any false worship Pharaoh did not this but Antichrist forced to Idolatry Secondly Though Pharaoh layed heavy taskes and burthens upon them yet he did not kill them indeed at length they killed their first borne but the people of Israel themselves might have their lives still though with hardship But Antichrist thirsts for blood Papists are bloody men Thirdly It was the affliction of Gods people to be in bondage in Egypt but it was not their sin But to be in bondage under Antichrist is not onely an affliction but it is sin and that of a high nature too 4. Though they were under Egyptian bondage yet they were delivered from Egyptian plagues but those that are under Antichristian bondage shall come under Antichristian plagues Come out of her my people lest you be partaker of her plagues You must not think to escape so as they escaped out of Egypt if you stay in that bondage you will be involved in their plagues With what an eye therefore should we look upon those who would bring us into this bondage againe when God hath begun to give us a little reviving Jer. 37. 20. O my Lord the King saith Jeremy let my supplication I pray thee be accepted before thee that thou cause me not to returne to the house of Ionathan the Scribe lest I die there So let us ery to the King of heaven and earth O Lord our King let our supplication be accepted before thee since wee are begun to be delivered from that bondage doe not cause us to returne to that house againe The second is A reconciled condition is a singing condition When there is a harmony between heaven and the soul between God and a sinner there is a sweet melody indeed there may well be singing Esay 35. 10. The raâsomed of the Lord shall returne and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads And Esay 44. 23. Sing Oye heavens for the Lord hath dâne it sâout yee lower parts of the earth break forth into singing ye mountains We being justified by faith having peace with God saith the Apostle we not only rejoyce in hope of glory but we even rejoyce and boast in tribulation Having peace with God though war withall the world we rejoyce Thirdly It is a great mercy when Magistrates and people shall generally joyne together in praising God when they shall sing as they did in the dayes of their youth for that is the promise How is that Moses beginneth and Miriam followeth the leaders of Israel and then all the people joyne together and answer one another in their singing When that day shall come that God shall stirr up the hearts of Magistrates and great ones that there shall be singing Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb for evermore and when God shall generally move the hearts of the people that they shall answer one another in their singing and so joyne in a sweet melody this will be a blessed time indeed Now perhaps in one place there is singing and blessing God for what is done in another place there is cursing and cursing those that do sing Some mens hearts are rejoycing in the great things God doth other mens hearts fret and rage when they heare of the great works of the Lord this makes no melody in heaven Perhaps now in the family the Husband singeth and the wife frets perhaps the wife singeth and the malignant husband is inraged the servant rejoyceth and the master chafeth the children sing and the parents vex this is harsh musique This is our condition at this day there are better times coming when Moses Aaron and Miriam and all the people shall joyn in singing praise to our God 4. Thankfulnesse to God for mercy cannot be without joyfulnesse A grumbling pensive sadde dumpish disposition cannot be a true thankfull heart as it ought God will not accept in this sense of the bread of mourners It is grievous to the Spirit of God that we should be pensive and sad in the midst of abundance of mercies 5. They shall sing there There where at the door of hope in the valley of Achor You may remember in the opening of that valley of Achor I gave you what might be understood by it according to the most that is that God would make the greatest trouble and affliction of his Church to be a door of hope to bring mercy to them And if you take it in that sense here rises an excellent observation When God brings into straits yet if he shall sanctifie our straits making them means of good to us we have cause to rejoyce You have an excellent Text Isa 35. 6 7. For in the wildernesse shall waters breake out and streams in the desart and the paâched ground shall become a poole and the thirsty land springs of water Those things that seem to goe most contrary to you I will work good unto you out of them saith God VVell what
is the fruit of this This is set as the reason of the words immediately before Then shall the lame man leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb sing Because the Lord shall make the parched ground become a poole and the thirsty land springs of water this shall make the lame to leap as an Hart the tongue of the dumb to sing Though our tongues be dumb yet it should make us sing when we see God working good out of contraries when wee see things that of themselves tend to our ruin and would bring us to misery that are as the valley of Achor yet God working good out of them if wee have the hearts of men in us much more the hearts of Christians though we were dumb before this should make us sing Yea all this is brought in as an argument to strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees and as a reason why those that have weake hearts should not feare because God workes good out of that which seemeth the greatest evill vers 4. Say to them that are of a fearefull heart be strong feare not and then followeth this in the 6. verse Are we in the valley of Achor a place of trouble and straits wee have cause to sing even in this valley of Achor for we have not yet been brought into any straits but God hath brought good out of them he hath turned the parched ground into a pool and the thirsty land into springs of water It is our great sin that when God calleth us to singing we are yet concluding of rejecting we are ready to think if we be brought into the valley of Achor we are presently cast off Oh no God calleth you to singing nothwithstanding you meet with difficulties Isa 49. 13. Sing O heavens saith the Text there he joyfull O earth breake forth into singing O mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted But mark now the next words But Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me my God hath forgotten mee At that very time when the Lord was calling for singing even then they were concluding of rejecting Take we heed this be not our condition But take the words as then I told you as I conceived them to be the meaning of the spirit of God that this valley of Achor was some speciall mercy that God gave at first as a door of hope to further mercies he would give afterward and there they shall sing Then the observation is When the Lord is beginning with his Saints in the ways of mercy though they have not all that they would have yet it is a singing condition Though you be but yet brought into the valley of Achor and be but at the doore of hope and not entred into the door though you have not yet got the possession of all the mercy God intendeth for you yet God expects you should sing You must not stand grumbling whining complaining and murmuring at the door because you have not what you would have though God makes you wait at the door you must stand singing there It may be said of Gods mercy as of his word in Psal 119. 130. The entrance into thy word giveth light so the entrance of Gods works of mercy giveth light Psal 138. 5. Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. In the ways of the Lord they shall sing though God be but in the wayes of his mercy and they have not what they would have yet they shall sing This is certainly one great reason why our doore of hope is not yet opened to us as we desire or at least that we have not that entrance that we would have at that door because we stand murmuring yea we stand quarrelling one with another at the doore whereas God expects that we should stand singing and praising his name there Though wee have not what wee desire yet let us blesse God that ever we lived to this day to see so much of God as we have done though we should never see more though the mercy we look for should be reserved for the generation that shall follow yet we have cause to blesse God while we live that we have seene and do see so much of God as we have done daily do Let us stand at our Fathers door singing and if we must sing at the foot of Zion what song shall we sing when we come to the height Ier. 31. 12. They shall come and sing in the height of Zion they shall flow to the bountifulnesse of the Lord. If there be any one with whom God is dealing in a way of mercy though you can see but a little light thorough the key-hole yet you should sing there There are many poor souls with vvhom God is beginning in very gracious ways yet because they have not their minds inlightned their hearts humbled as they desire power over corruptions abilities to performe duties as they expect they are presently ready to conclude against themselves surely the Lord will not have mercy we are rejected They think they have nothing because they have not what they vvould O unthankfull heart This is the very thing that keepeth thee under bondage because when the Lord is setting open a door of hope unto thee thou wilt not take notice of it but art presently murmuring and repining because thou hast not all that thou wouldest Wouldest thou enter in at this door and have God perfect the mercy he hath begun take notice of the beginnings and blesse God for what thou hast This would be an observation of marvey lous use to many a drooping soul if they would learne by this dayes coming hither to sing hereafter at the doore of hope Yet further They shall sing there as in the dayes of their youth It is the condition of Gods own people many times when first they enjoy liberty then to be in a singing condition but afterward to lose their joy At first indeed when Gods mercies were fresh to them in the dayes of their youth O how their hearts were taken how then they sung merrily and chearfully Moses and all the people but in processe of time it appeareth they had not kept up this singing this harmonious this melodious heart of theirs therefore God promiseth they should sing as in the dayes of their youth We finde it so in people when they first come to enjoy liberty out of bondage Church liberties Oh how they rejoyce in them how do they blesse God for them O how sweet are these mercies at their very hearts they rejoice that ever they lived to this time but within a while the flower of their youth is gone and they soone have the teats of their virginity bruised At first indeed O the sweetnesse but stay a while and you shall finde contention or scandoll arising amongst them or deadnesse of heart befalling them Oh the blessed
condition that God hath brought us to to have these liberties and ordinances according to his own way but within a while we may say as the Apostle to the Galatians Where is the blessednesse you spake of They would have pulled out their eyes for Paul What is become of all now All their beauty glory is quite damped let us take heed that when our hearts seem to be raised and mightily affected with mercies we do not soon loose our vigour heat It hath been so with England when they have had fresh mercies at first they rejoyced in them exceedingly I have read of the City of Berne when they were first delivered from Antichrist they wrote the day of their deliverance upon pillars with letters of gold Was it not so with us here in England I will only instance in that deliverance upon the fifth of November how mightily was both King and Parliament affected with it their hearts were exceedingly up then there was blessing God for their deliverance from Papists then there were prayers and thanksgivings set forth and in them this expression against Popery Whose faith is faction whose Religion is rebellion whose practice is murthering of soules and bodyes When the mercy was fresh how did their spirits worke then they profest against all kinde of Popery Reade but the Proclamation about the solemnity of that time and the expressions of the prayers then set forth and one would have thought verily then that Popery should never have prevailed in England again who would ever have thought it possible that a Popish Army should ever have had any countenance in England more Certainly if a Popish Army had been raised at that time when mens hearts were so up all the people of the land if it had been but with clubs would have risen and beaten them to pieces It is so with many young people when God first beginneth to worke upon their hearts O how are they for God! then their spirts are mightily up for Christ Psal 90. 14. O satisfie us early with thy mercies and then we shall be glad and rejoyce all the dayes of our lives It is a sweet thing when the latter part of that prayer followeth when God satisfieth young people with his mercy and that satisfaction abideth so as they rejoyce all the dayes of their lives afterward The Lord doth many times satisfie young ones with his mercy but they quickly grow dead and cold and their hearts are soone hardned and polluted and they doe not rejoyce all the dayes of their lives Another Observation that restored and recovered mercies are very sweet and precious mercies They shall sing as in the dayes of their youth They were once in a blessed sweet singing condition they had lost it but now God promiseth to recover them Iob 29. 2. O that I were as in months past as in the dayes when God preserved me when his candle shined upon my head and when by his light I warlked thorough darknesse as I was in the dayes of my youth when the secret of God was upon my Tabernacle Iob desireth this earnestly that he might have restored recovered mercies What a happy condition should I be in then saith he if it were now with me as in the dayes of my youth May not many in this place say so God hath been gracious to them in former dayes he hath given many sweet manifestations of his love many soule-ravishing communications of himself unto them but how have they lost them They may well say O that it were with us as in the dayes of our youth Oh that God would restore to us what mercy we once had what a blessed condition should we be in then But God here giveth a gracious promise that he will restore them that he will give them that which is the petition of David Psa 51. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation Lord I have lost it O that I might have it againe How happy should I be So Ps 132. 1. By the Rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept there when we remembred Zion we hanged our harps upon the willowes They were in this sad condition but if one should have come to them and have said what will you say if you shall be restored againe and goe to Zion to Jerusalem againe and have songs there as much and as delightfull as before their hearts could not have held in them This mercy would be like that wine mentioned Cant. 7. 9. that is so sweet that it causeth the lips of those that are asleepe to speake If there be any life left such a mercy will raise and actuate it Psal 126. 1. 2. When the Lord turned againe the captivity of Zion our mouthes were filled with laughter and our tongues with singing when God granted them a recovered mercy As a poore prodigal that hath left his fathers house and afterward is come to beggery and misery and is under bondage is almost starved he sitteth down under a hedg wringing his hands falleth a lamenting the losse of his Fathers house and considering what comfort he had in his Fathers presence cryeth out of his folly and madnesse but if one should come and say to him what will you say if your Father should be reconciled to you and send for you home and promise to put you in as comfortable a condition as ever O how would this cause singing in his heart Thus God promiseth to his people that he would restore them to that singing condition they had lost They shall sing as in the dayes of their youth That which made this mercy so sweet was because it was a promised mercy Hence this Note Promised mercies are sweet mercies Luke 16. 61. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a home of salvation to us in the house of his servant David as he spake by the mouth of all his Prophets And ver 77. To performe the mercy promised there is the cause of singing Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that hath performed the mercy promised Giving out of a promise is sweet to a gracious heart it can sing then much more sweet is the promise when it cometh to be fulfilled 2 Chron. 20. 17. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord there is the promise Mark now how Jehosaphat and the people were affected with the promise And Jehosaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Iudah and the Inhabitants of Ierusalem fell before the Lord worshipped the Lord. And the Levites and the child en of the Koathites the children of the Korhites shall stand up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voyce on high And ver 21. He appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise the beauty of holinesse and to say Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Jehosâphat had not got the promise fulfilled it was only
made they had not got the victory over their enemies but onely a promise that God would be with them presently Jehosaphat all the people fell a singing A gracious heart seeth cause enough to sing if he have got but a promise but much more when he hath got the performance If the promise of a mercy hath such sweetnesse in it what sweetnesse then hath the mercy of the promise But the promise was not only barely fulfilled but fulfilled with a high hand and that made them sing This may be another Observation When God appeareth remarkably with a high hand in delivering his people then the mercy is to be accounted a precious mercy indeed and all the people of the Lord should sing and praise him Esay 43. 19. 20. mark there when God had told of an extraordinary hand of his in a way of mercy saith he I will plant them in the wildernesse and so goeth on Then saith he shal this be that they may see and know understand consider that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it When Gods imediate hand doth a thing when it helps a people in an extraordinary way he expects that they should see and know and consider and understand together All these expressions are heaped one upon another And if any people be called to this we are at this day God hath appeared extraordinarily to us Oh that we had eyes to see Oh that we had hearts to consider and understand that we might give God the glory that is due to him The Fifteenth Lecture HOSEA 2. 15. 16. And she shall sing there as in the dayes of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt And it shall be at that day saith the Lord that thou shalt call me Ishi and shalt call me no more Baali SOme few Observations are to be added to the 15. verse Mercies that have been much sought for that have had many cryes sent up to God to obtaine when once they are granted should cause singing forth the praises of God The people of Israel cryed much before God granted them deliverance from Egypt Exodus 3. 7. I have heard their cryes saith God And God sayes here They shall sing as they did when they came out of Egypt Psal 22. 26. They shall praise the Lord that seek him The more we seek God for any mercy the more we shall praise God when we have obtained that mercy Psal 28. 6. 7. Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voyce of my supplication my heart trusted in him and I am helped What followeth Therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth and with my song will I praise him Because God had heard the voyce of his supplication therefore with his song he would praise him Those mercies that we get by crying unto God those are singing mercies indeed Such mercies as come to us only through a generall providence without seeking to God they are not such sweet mercies as Hannah said to Eli concerning her son whom she had got by prayer and therefore named him Samuel Sought of God As thy soul liveth this is the son this is the child that I was here praying for and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him This she spake triumphing in Gods goodnesse Mercies got by prayer may be triumphed in When you want a mercy pray much for it the more you pray for it the more you will sing when you have it and the lesse prayer went before the lesse singing will follow after Further Mercies that make way for the enjoyment of Ordinances are very sweet mercies singing mercies They shall sing as they did when they came up out of the land of Egypt Why did they sing when they came up out of the land of Egypt Because that mercy that deliverance from Egypt made way to that rich mercy of the injoyment of Gods worship in his Ordinances How doth that appear Thus Exod. 15. where they sung when they came out of Egypt ver 2. I will build him an habitation saith Moses together with the people they rejoyced in that that now they were going on in the way to build God an habitation but more ver 13. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation as if Moses and the Israeliâes should say this indeed is a great deliverance that we are delivered out of bondage but what is this but in order to a higher mercy that we looke at yet further that is guiding of thy people in thy strength to thy habitation we looke upon this present mercy of our deliverance for which we doe now sing and give thee praise but in order to the guiding of thy people to thy habitation and that in thy strength as if Moses should say Lord there will be a great many difficulties between this and our comming to enjoy thy habitation but thou wilt guide us in thy strength thy strength shall carry thy people along till it bring them to thy habitation this was that which made them sing so chearfully as they did And again v. 17. Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountaine of thine inheritance in the place O Lord which thou hast made for thee to dwell in in the sanctuary O Lord which thy hands have established This was that that made them so sing So David Psa 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord to enquire in his Temple That is a choice mercy therefore all mercies that make way for that mercy are indeed sweet mercies So we should looke upon all our deliverances from outward troubles and whatsoever peace God giveth us to enjoy as sweet and comfortable in order to this mercy of enjoying Gods mountaine of living in Godâ habitation that we may dwell there all the dayes of our life A third Observation is New mercies should renew the memory of old They shall sing as in the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt that is I will grant to them yet further mercies and that mercy that I shall grant shall renew the memory of all the former mercies they have enjoyed from me As new guilt renews the memory of former guilt so new mercies the memory of former Hath God delivered you from any danger now were you never delivered before if but when you were a childe those deliverances you now have should bring into your memory what then were So in a nation doth God grant to a nation any new mercy this new mercy should bring into the memory of that nation all the former mercies that ever that nation hath received Psal 68. 26. Blesse ye God in the congregatations even the Lord from the fountaine of Israel Not only
with them that sweetnesse and makes firme the mercy when they goe up and down the field and the beasts come not upon them to destroy them they can looke upon their present safety as enjoying it in the Covenant You will say the wicked can walke up and down in the fields and the beasts not destroy them Though they doe yet a godly man hath more sweetnesse in this then he in that he can see this his safety from the Covenant when he rides a journey his beast is not made an instrument of Gods wrath to dash out his braines perhaps it is so with his wicked neighbour that rides with him but that from whence the preservation is is different it is a mercy to the godly man form the Covenant that God hath made with him to preserve him in all his wayes it is but generall providence to the other wicked men may have the same mercies for the matter of them that the godly have yet there is a kernell in the mercy which onely the Saints enjoy There are two things observable in a mercy comming by Covenant 1. It is more sweet 2. More firme More sweet Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keepe his covenant This is a sweet promise a soule-satisfying promise more worth then all the riches of your City even that one promise all the passages of Gods ordinary providence are mercy and truth to those that keepe his Covenant Marke perhaps they are mercies to you there is a generall bounty you have in your ordinary preservation but they are not Mercy and truth to you there is the addition they are Mercy and truth to the godly that is they are such mercies as are bound to them by Covenant Therein David rejoyceth therefore saith he in the beginning of the Psalme I will lift up my heart unto God as amongst other reasons so for this that all the paths of God are not onely mercy but mercy and truth You have beene preserved and have had many mercies from God Well they are Gods mercies unto you but are they mercies and truth to you that is Doe they come to you in a way of promise Looke to that there is the sweetnesse of a mercy and it is a good signe of a gracious heart to looke more to the Originall whence mercy commeth then to the outward part of the mercy Secondly They are more firme Esay 54. 10. The mountaines shal depart the hills be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee Why For the Covenant of my peace shall not be removed That mercy that you have I give it in a way of Covenant and the hills and mountaines shall depart rather then that kindnesse of mine shall depart 5. Is it such a blessed thing for God to make a Covenant with the beasts for us VVhat a mercy is it then for God to make a Covenant with our soules the Covenant that God makes with his people is a Covenant in Christ there is mercy It is a very observable place we have Gen. 17. concerning Abraham you shal find there that in ten verses of that Chap. God repeateth his Covenant which he made with Abraham thirteen times to note thus much that that was the mercy indeed that must satisfie Abraham in all his troubles sorrowes and afflictions as if God should say be satisfied with this Abraham that I have entred into Covenant with thee and thy seed I am a God in Covenant with thee And 2 Sam. 23. 5. there is a notable Text Although saith David my house be not so with God as I desire as I expect yet the Lord hath made me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation all my desire although he make it not to growe Take this Scripture Christians take it I say and make use of it in these times of trouble though things doe not go as you desire yet say as David did yet the Lord hath made a Covenant with us ordered and sure in all things ands all our this isalvation and all our desire 6. Is this a mercy for God to make a Covenant with the beasts for his people what a mercy is it then for God to make a Covenant with his Son for his people It is that we are to blesse god for that he will make a Covenant with brute beasts for our good but that God will make a Covenant with his owne son for our good for our eternall good That God should bring the second person in Trinity to be the head of the Covenant for us what a mercy is this Tit. 2. 1. the Apostle speaks there of eternall life that was promised before the world began Why what promise was there ever made before the world began to whom was this promise made who was there before the world began for God to make any promise unto It was onely the Son of God the second person in Trinity and there was a most blessed transaction between God the Father and God the Son for our everlasting good before the world began and upon that dependeth all our salvation and our hope When we reade the promises of the Gospel that the Lord hath given to us as branches of the Covenant of grace made with us we are ready to think we are poore weake creatures we cannot keepe Covenant with God we cannot performe the conditions of the Covenant But Christians know this thy peace the salvation of thy soul doth not depend so much upon a Covenant God hath made with thee as upon the Covenant he hath made with his Son there is the firmenesse the original the foundation of all thy good thy salvation and though thou art a poore weake creature that doth not keepe Covenant with the Lord yet the Son of God hath kept Covenant with the Father and hath perfectly performed all conditions the Father required of him the worke hath been perfected by the Son and here is our comfort Raise your drooping hearts by this meditation The second part of this peace and that is a promise of deliverance from hoftility from the enemy I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth First Peace is a great blessing it is a great mercy to have the bow and the sword broke It is a part of the Covenant that God makes with his people to take away the instruments of hostility Esay 2. 4. God promiseth the breaking of swords into plough-shares and spears in pruning hooks You finde the contrary when God threatneth judgement to a people Joel 3. 10. he threatneth thus to beate their plongh-shares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears then they are in a sad condition It is a great deale better that their swords should be beaten into plow-shares then that the plow-shares should be beaten into swords that the speares should be made pruning hooks then that pruning
should have said Though you think such a thing can never be you see nothing but cause of doubting and discouragement in your selves but I wil doe it yea I wil doe it and it is thus repeated to note also the excellency of the mercy that is in it It is an excellent mercy indeed that the Lord will take a people into so neer a communion with himselfe from this mercy floweth most glorious mercies I will doe this saith God I need say no more here is mercy enough to satisfie any soule living I will doe it I will doe it I will doe it But will this mercy hold will it hold I have already apostatized from the Lord I have still an apostatizing heart am like to fall off from God againe and so may condition is like to be worse then ever yet it was no saith God I will betroth you unto my selfe for ever my heart shal bee for ever towards you and your heart shall be for ever towards me there shall never bee any breach of conjugal love and communion betweene you and I any more But the Lord is a righteous God he is a God of infinite justice and I have most fearfully sinned against him oh the hideous sins that I stand guilty of before him how shall that infinite justice of God be satisfied for my sinnes this is the care of a repenting heart not onely to obtain mercy for pardon but how shall that justice of God be satisfied Yes saith God I will have a way for that too though you have been very sinful yet when I receive you to mercy it shall be in such a way as I will be righteous as wel as gracious I wil doe it in righteousnesse it shal be no dishonour at all to my righteousnesse that I take you again to my self And I wil put such a righteous frame into your hearts that it shal be no scandal unto me before the Nations that I have betrothed such a one as you unto my selfe But what reason can there possible be that God should do thus how can it be imagined that ever the Lord should do such a thing as this God hath ten thousand wayes to honour himselfe though we perish for ever no people have ever provoked him as wee have done saith this repenting Israel Well saith GOD though you know no reason why it should be done yea indeed though there bee no reason at all in your selves yet that which I will doe I will doe it in judgment too I know a reason why I will do it it is not a rash thing that I shall do I will do it in judgement it is no other thing that now I promise you but that I have exercised my wisdome about from all eternity it is not onely a worke of my grace and mercy toward you but it is a work of my wisdome too and there will one day appeare a glorious shine of wisdome in this my work of taking you unto my selfe again I know what I do in it yea and on your part though hitherto you have seene no such excellency in my wayesto cleave to them but you have departed from them and followed other lovers yet I shall when I come in wayes of mercy to you convince you so of the vanity of all other things your hearts runne after and of that fulnesse of good there is in me to satisfie your soules for ever that you shal see infinite reason to joine your selves unto me in an everlasting covenant You though there were some more specious shews in wayes of false worship but when you shal be reconciled you shal see there is infinite reason in those wayes of worship your soules have heretofore rejected you shal not only have your affections a little stirred and have some heate for the present but that change that shal be in you shal be out of judgment I will betroth you unto me in judgement in judgement on my part I will have reason for what I doe and in judgement on your part you shall see reason for what you doe you shal see so much reason in comming in to me that you shall admire at the former folly of your hearts when you departed from me and sought your comforts else-where The workings of my heart shal be in judgment toward you and the workings of your hearts shal be in judgment toward me But take it at best that my heart doth indeed come in to God yet I shall remain a poor sinful weak creature there will hang upon me many infirmities that will be grievous to the Spirit of the holy and just God Well saith God I will betroth you unto me in loving kindnesse I wil deale gently and favourably with you I will not take advantage of your failings and infirmities I will remember you are but flesh I will have a tender respect to you But it may be there will not onely bee some ordinary infirmities which may be grievous enough to the Spirit of God but I may perhaps fall into grievous offences that will provoke the Spirit of God bitterly against mee and so I shall fall into as woful yea worse condition then before No saith God I will betroth you unto me in mercy as well as in loving kindnesse my bowels of mercy shall yearn toward you not only to passe over lesser infirmities but to swallow up greater iniquities And accordingly I will worke in you gracious dispositions of loving kindnesse towards mee you shall have a most sweete and ingenuous disposition of spirit you shall doe what you doe for mee out of principles of love out of abundance of sweetnesse in all your ways that perverse surly crooked sowr spirit of yours towards me shall be changed into a sweet gentle gracious frame And this sweetenesse and loving kindenesse shall be in you toward one another you shall have your hearts changed that were so rugged and so harsh and peevish toward one another afore when I am once reconciled unto you you shall be reconciled one to another And you shall have bowels of mercy as my bowels shall yerne towards you so your bowels shall yern toward me as it shall pity my soule to see you in misery so it shall pity your soule to see me dishonoured and you shall have bowels likewise one toward another pitying one another and helping and relieving one another in the greatest straits I will betroth you unto me in loving kindnesse and in mercy But there are many glorious promises that we find God made to his people surely according to what wee read in his word there are great things to be done for them shall ever these promises be made good unto us If wee may have mercy though we be never so low if Gods loving kindnesse be manifested unto âs in a way of reconciliation though wee be but hired servants if we may be Spouses though we be kept hardly it will be well with us But saith God there are glorious promises made
well pleased with it Esay 53. 10. Why was God pleased with it Because the Lord saw this was the way for him to communicate himself in the fulnesse of his grace unto his Church and therefore though it cost him so deare as the death of his own Son yet he was well pleased with it And as for Christ he takes delight in letting out himself to his people after he had suffered the Text saith he was satisfied when he saw of the travell of his soul As if Christ had said O let me have a Church to communicate my self unto though I see it hath cost me my blood it hath cost me all these fearfull sufferings yet I am satisfied I thinke all is well bestowed so I may have a people to partake of my love and mercy for ever Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes Then for the Saints the delight they have in communicating themselves unto Christ is unutterable Stay me with flaeggons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love saith the Church Cantic 2. 5. Psal 63. 5. My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatnesse and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate of thee in the night watches Take this note the more fully you lay out your selves for Christ the more comfort you shall have in your lives Here is the great difference between hypocrites and others in the comfort of their lives It is impossible that any hypocrite can have that comfort in his life as a gracious heart can have upon this ground because a hypocrite reserveth somewhat of himself for something else there is not a full comunication of himself unto Christ he alwayes keepes somewhat back and thereby loseth his comfort But a gracious heart fully letting out himselfe into Christ from thence cometh the comfort sweetness that he hath in the ways of Christ above all hypocrites in the world Perhaps you thinke that the onely comfort you can have is by receiving some benefit some mercy from God you are much mistaken the comfort of letting your hearts out to God is a greater comfort then any comfort you have in receiving any thing from God And now Oh how happy are they unto whom Christ is thus espoused How comfortably may you live being made sure to Christ and how comfortably may you die It is our work to seeke to draw soules to Christ to allure soules to be in love with him Gen. 24. 35. You may see what course Abrahams servant took in drawing the love of Rebekah and her friends to his Masters son he begins wiâh telling them that he is the servant of Abraham and that the Lord had blessed his Master greatly so that he was become great and that the Lord had given him flocks and herds and silver gold and that he had an onely soone that was to be heire of all this This is the work of Ministers to tell people what riches of mercy there are in God and that all the treasures of those infinite riches of the infinite God are in JESUS CHRIST and to be let out in him this gaines the heart Yea it is not onely the work of Ministers but it should be worke of every gracious heart thus to seek to draw souls to Christ as Rev. 22. 17. not onely the Angels there say Come but the Bride saith Come and let him that hea eth say Come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely VVere I not in such a way of explication as I am surely wee could not get off such a point as this but that which I shall say for the present is onely this Know that it is not want of any worth in you that can hinder communion with Jesus Christ doe not reason in that manner I am a poor wretched sinfull creature will ever Christ be married unto me It is not thy sinfulnesse it is not thy base condition that can hinder thee Christ never joynes himselfe to any because they are worthy but he joynes himself to them that they may be worthy hee makes them to be worthy in joyning himselfe unto them The woman is not married unto the King because she is a Queen but the King maryeth her to make her a Queene And further know if your hearts be not taken with Christ to joyne with him in his holy mariage if he be not your husband to enjoy conjugall communion with you he will be your judge to condemn you But besides this betrothing between Christ a soul there is a betrothing between Christ a visible Church especially the Church of the Jews when they shall be called God shal appeare in his glory when this maryage shall be between Christ and the Jewish Church the King will then be in his Robes if a man of estate have a sonne to marry and intends to solemnize the maryage according to his estate if he have any better cloathes then other he puts them on that day so at the calling of the Jewes the King of heaven will be in his robes God will appeare in a most glorious manner to the world then ehe did since the creation Yea and you know the Bridegroome too will be very fine upon the mariage day so Jesus Christ will then appeare whether personally or otherwise wee say not but certainly hee will gloriously appeare at that day Tit. 2. 15. We looke for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour jesâs Christ And 2 Thes 1. 10. Christ shall come so as to be admired in all them that believe the Church likewise shall then be arrayed in her fine cloaths shee shall be then cloathed in white cleane and fine liânen as it is Rev. 19. 8. all in the righteousness of Christ the great doctrine of justification by Christ shall be made out full and cleare Yea and the creatures her servants shall put on the best rayment as in a great marriage the servants in the house have new cloathes at that day there will be a change in all the creatures and another kind of face in the world then now there is Then will be the marriage supper and happy shall those be that shall then be found worthy to enter into the bed-chamber let us now love Christ let us now cleave to him let us now suffer for him we may perhaps be some of those who beside our eternal enjoyment of christ in heaven may enjoy him in this mariage upon the earth But we must leave this argument we spake something of it in the end of the first chapter And I will betroth thee unto me for ever For ever This adds to the mercy to make it glorious this for ever makes a misery though never so little an infinite misery and a mercy an infinite mercy This betrothing for ever shall be fulfilled
Gods mercy by their own they think thus if any had offended us so as we have offended God though we might say wee would be reconciled to him yet wee could not bring our hearts fully to come off to it something would remain in our hearts they therefore think so of God they suspect God that he doth not mean really in his expressions of love and mercy to them But take heed of this doe not judge of God by your selves though you have a base and cruell heart and cannot be reconciled to those that provoke you it is not therefore so with God There are these two evils in sin first in the nature of it there is a departing from God secondly it causeth jealousies and suspitions of God and so hinders the soul from coming unto God again Secondly God is very carefull to prevent all these suspitions in the hearts of his people God desires that you should have good thoughts of him and this is that we plead with you for and do often open the riches of Gods grace to this end that you may have good thoughts of God and to take off your jealousies and suspitions of him as if there were no reall intention in all the proffers of mercy he makes to you doe not thinke that all those riches of Gods grace are meer words they are certaine intentions of Gods heart towards you I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness And for your parts I will give you a heart you shall return to mee bona fide you shal do it in the plainnesse of your hearts There was a time indeed as Psal 78. 34 35 36. God complained of his people that they sought him and returned unto him neverthelesse they did flatter with their mouth and lyed unto him with their tongues there was no reality in their returning unto him they made great promises that whatsoever God should say unto them they would do it but there was no reality in it yea but saith God there shall come a time that you shall have righteous hearts and that which you promise to me you shall promise really there shall not be that falsenesse in your hearts those shews and overtures that were heretofore but you shall return to me with all your hearts in righteousness God hath made adoe at first with us to make us believe that he is in good earnest with us in his proffers oâ mercy and much adoe there is before our hearts can be gotten to work towards God in good earnest Further note this is one reason why God doth betroth for ever because he doth it in the plainnesse of his heart and this is also a good reason why the Saints continue for ever because what they do to God is in the plainness of their hearts Those who return to God in an hypocriticall way will fall off but they that return in uprightenesse will hold constant with him Prov. 8. 18. it is said of Wisdome that with her are durable riches and righteousnesse they are put together where there is true righteousnesse in the heart there is durable riches But yet there is another thing in this betrothing in righteousnesse and that I thinke hath more in it then the former God will be so reconciled to his Church as yet he will manifest himself to be a righteous God In the works of the riches of his grace he will manifest the glory of his justice too I will doe it in righteousnesse though indeed the Lord intendeth to glorifie rich grace yet so as he will declare his righteousnesse to men and Angels that in this very work of his he shall be acknowledged by them unto all eternity to bee a righteous God GOD will make such a way for this his love and goodnesse as that hee will have satisfaction to his justice in it That place Rom. 3. 25 26. is remarkable for our purpose Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood How To declare his righteousness for the remission of sinnes Marke it it is not that he had set forth Christ to be a propitiation to declare his mercy in the forgivenesse of sins you will say What is there in the forgivenesse of sins but only the mercy of God Yes there is somewhat else there is righteousnesse too and the Lord doth declare his righteousnesse in the forgivenesse of sins and therefore it is that he hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation that hee might declare his righteousnesse If the Lord should have said but thus Well you are great and grievous sinners I will be content freely to forgive you all your sins this would have declared Gods mercy but not his righteousnesse but now when the Lord hath set forth Christ as a propitiation and forgiveth sins through the blood of his Son in this God declareth as much righteousnesse as grace This text Luther had a great deale of do to understand and he prayed much before he could get the right meaning of it yea it is repeated again To declare I say his righteousnesse that he might be just the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus not that he might be mercifull in justifying him that believeth in Jesus but that he might be just in justifying him that believeth in Jesus And this is the great mystery of the Gospel this is that which the Angels pry into the Saints and Angels shal admire blesse God to all eternity for the reconciling riches of mercy and infinite justice both in one This was that which set the infinite wisdome of God on worke from all eternity how to find a way to save sinners and to be infinitely righteous notwithstanding If all the Angels in heaven and all the men in the world had been put to it to find out a way to answer this question How shall sin be pardoned the sinner reconciled unto God and God glorifie his justice they could never have done it but God in his infinite wisdome hath found out a way to doe it This cost God dear it cost him the heart blood of his own Son and that was a sign that Gods heart was much in it and indeed we are not Christians untill in some measure we see and have our hearts taken with the glory of God in this mystery We must looke at righteousnesse in our reconciliation as well as to loving kindnesse and mercy When God is reconciled unto a sinner there is not only his mercy glorified but in that way that God hath found out to save a sinner hee hath the glory of his justice as much yea more then if the sinner were eternally damned in hell How is that you will say I make that good three ways First when God appointed a surety his Son and charged his debt upon him to satisfie his justice in that God would not spare this Sonne of his the least farthing token I mean not the least degree of punishment he would not remit any thing to
of God VVould you be so Learne then to exercise faith much about the infinite riches of the mercy of God in Christ this will fill you with all the fulness of God you complain of barrennes and emptines in your hearts and lives it is because you exercise so little Faith in these mercies of God in Christ God betrotheth his Church unto himselfe in mercies in bowels Let us learne to pleade these mercies before the Lord to pleade them when we are in any strait to pleade with God for bowels Esay 63. 15. Looke downe from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holi esse and thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of the bowels and of thy mercies towards us are they restrained Lord hast thou not said that thou wilt betroth thy Church unto thy self in bowels Where is the sounding of thy bowels Lord let us have these bowels of thine in which thou hast betrothed us through Christ Oh what confusion will there be one day unto those that shall misse of all these mercies of God in which the Lord hath betrothed himselfe unto his Church VVhat will you content your selves now with crums that God casteth to dogs with the fruits of Gods generall bounty and patience when you heare of such glorious mercies as are in Jesus Christ These things should so raise our hearts that wee should protest as Luther did I protest saith hee God shall not put mee off with these things of the world with my portion here Oh no the Lord hath shewed me greater riches though I be unworthy of any yet I know his mercy is free why then should not I have my portion in these glorious things Come in then come in oh sinfull soule be in love with Jesus Christ the ways of godlinesse know that all these mercies are tendred unto thy soule this day to break thy heart even that hard heart of thine and they are as free for thee as for any There is nothing more pleasing unto God then for thee to be taken with the glory of the riches of his mercy Thou canst perform no duty so acceptable unto God as this to have thy heart break upon the codsideration of his bowels to have thy bowels yern again and to come in and close with this infinite rich and glorious grace of his Which if thou dost know that the first moment thou art united to Christ thou dost lanch into the infinite Ocean of mercy now thou breathest in the element of mercy now thou livest upon nothing but mercy Is it so Then know God expects a mercifull disposition from thee too God betrotheth thee in righteousnesse and putteth righteousnesse into thee in judgment and gives thee judgment too in loving kindnesse and makes thee loving and kind likewise in mercies and putteth mercies into thee bowels into thee also First toward himself Why can we be mercifull unto God what good can wee doe to God God expects you should have bowels toward him How Thus Dost thou see the name of this blessed God thy husband to be dishonoured in the world Oh thy bowels should yern thou shouldst have bowels working now What doth God look upon thee in thy blood in thy misery and doth his bowels yern toward thee Canst thou look upon God in his dishonour and his cause trampled under foot and do not thy bowels yern toward him It should pitie thy soule to see this blessed God to be so much dishonoured in the world as he is to see that there are so few in the world that love and feare this God who is thy God and hath done thee so much good VVhat is there any good cause up wherein the name of God should be honoured Thy bowels should work presently toward it Cant. 5. 4. My beloved put his hand by the hole of the doore and my bowels were moved for him VVhen Christ did but begin to open a door put but in his hand when there was any good but beginning to be done Oh my bowels were moved saith the Church and I could never be at quiet untill I had enquired after yea and found my beloved Is there any beginning to let in Christ into the Kingdome in his government amongst us Dowe feele him putting in his hand at the door certainly if we be skilled in the way of Christ we may seele him putting his hand in at the door Oh that our bowels would yern and cause our hearts to flow to the boântisulnesse of the Lord and joyn with Christ in that blessed work of his that he is about Our bowels must also be toward the Saints It is extreamely against the spirit of Christ for a Christian to be hard-hearted toward his brethren Christ expects bowels And as you would account it âgrievous misery to have your bowels rotten to have diseases in your bowels know it is as great an evill to have your hearts unmercifull that is to have a disease in your bowels so the Scripture phrase is Amos 1. 11. He cast off all pitie his anger did tear perpetually so it is in your bookes but the words in the Originall are And corrupted his bowels their bowels were corrupted when they were not pittiful toward their brethren in misery It was a grievous condition that Iehoram was in 2 Chron. 21. 15. when his bowels came forth by reason of his disease An unmercifull heart is a worse disease then this What are wee and who are we that Gods mercies should be shewen towards us why not our mercies toward our brethren then The Scripture calleth exceedingly for mercy in the Saints toward one another Col. 3. 17. Put on as the Elect of God bowels of mercy and kindness VVould you have an argument unto your selves that you are Gods Elect put on bowels then Never was there time since you lived or your forefathers lived wherein God called for bowels more then now Do you hear of the miseries of your brethren their goods spoiled houses burnt wives children ravished themselves imprisoned their bodies wounded and yet no bowels all this while what you hard-hearted in the meane time Are you the elect of God why I pray you what is your flesh more then the flesh of others what are your comforts more then the comforts of others why should you lie soft and safe more then others Is there any such difference betwixt you and your brethren that they should be in misery and you must be pampered and scarce feele the very wind to blow on you and yet in the meane time your hearts hardned towards them It is true God it is that hath made the difference you will say and God may make a difference where he pleaseth I grant it and it would not grieve God to make such a difference betweene you and them if he saw your bowels yern towards them But if God layes such afflictions upon your brethren who are better then you and have done more for him then
must not onely feare God but trust in his faithfulness Mat. 13. 58. Christ did no mighty works there because of their unbelief And Maâk 6 5. He could not doe no works because of their unbelief One says he did not and the other sayes he could not When we have a promise let us put on to get the goodnesse of God to work which is by believing For that I will give you as notable an example as any I know you have in the book of God of a believing heart catching hold upon a promise upon Gods faithfulnesse to work it out 1 Chron. 17. 23. and so on In the former part of the Chapter you shall finde God had promised David to establish his house to build him a sure house Well as soone as David had got the word mark how hee improves it how hee works upon Gods word As if he had said Seeing I have got his word I will hold to it he shall not goe from it saith he Therefore O Lord let the things thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever and doe as thou hast said Thou hast spoken do as thou hast said Ver. 24. Let it even be established I expect it seeing thou hast been pleased in such a gracious way to promise me thus I will relye upon it let it be even established that thy name may be magnifyed for ever I will plead thy name in it if there be any thing to be pleaded more then other I will plead it before thee but is not this enough Vers 25. Thou O Lord God hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee He had said before that God had spoken it here he goes over it again as making much of Gods word thou hast told me and I pray for nothing but what thou hast told me Nay yet still David encroacheth more upon God Ver. 26. Now O Lord thou art God thou hast promised this goodnesse unto thy servant I have not to deal with a man that will be fickle and inconstant wavering and unfaithfull but thou art God and I will trust in thee as a God thou art God and thou hast promised this goodnesse it is thine owne goodnesse now therefore do it See how he followeth God upon his promise And mark what admirable effects followed upon this Chap. 18. ver 1. After this saith the Text he prospered when his enemies came against him he took a thousand charets and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand footmen from Hadarezer and when the Syrians came to help that Hadarezer he slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men After this mark the connexion of that Chapter and this after David had improved the promise hee might have what he would thus the loving kindnesse of God was laid up in a promise but wrought out by Davids faith This is our evill that we do not improve this faithfulnesse of God wee lose abundance by it It is an argument that wee have base spirits It is a great evill between man and wife when they cannot confide one in another but are jealous how can such live comfortably together So we are jealous of God we lose our comfort in him Jealousie comes oftentimes from much basenesse of spirit and selfe-guiltinesse because we are of such base hearts our selves that is the reason we are so jealous of God Where there is much love between man and wife there cannot be much jealousie and if there were intire love in the Spouse of Christ there would not be jealousie You have an excellent passage for that John 5. 40. You will not come unto me that you might have life you will not believe in me that is the meaning then ver 42. I know you have not the love of God in you Is there any thing in the world more tedious to a Husband then that the Wife should be jealous of him think of it the same tediousnesse it is unto the Spirit of Jesus Christ that thou shouldst be jealous of him and not confide in his faithfulnesse Surely if we did trust in Gods faithfulnesse wee would not think to compound with him so as we do but wee would improve his promise to the utter most As you that are Merchants and have much owing you all the while you confide in your debtors you will not compound with them for less then your debt if you should come to one that ows you money and say I pray Sir pay in my money and I shall be content to take ten or fifteen in the hundred the party would think himselfe disgâaced what do you distrust me Do you think I will break No I will pay you every penny he stands upon his credit The truth is we poor wretches because we have not Gods promises presently fulfilled we would compound with God that is if God would give us any little comfort for the present we would be satisfied rather then waite for that which is to come though it be infinitely more this is a great dishonour to God and an argument of our unfaithfulnesse It is an argument of little faith if thou canst be satisued should God give thee tenne thousand worlds for the present if God should say what will yon have would you have your enemies destroyed would you have your peace and your trading in the world your ease and quietnesse Is this all This is to compound with God for twelve pence in the pound as it were No saith a gracious heart Lord thou hast promised mercy I expect it to the full I wil not abate the least farthing of it God loveth we should stand with him for his promise unto the uttermost farthing No but I hope God give me Heaven at last yet I doubt hee will leave mee here in the world This is to compound with God another way there are some who perhaps will pay eighteene or fifteen shillings in the pound but it is a dishonour to God to abate one shilling in the pound therefore we must not onely believe in God for heaven but for earth and for safety and comfort and that in times of greatest trouble God is well pleased with such kind of holy impudence as we may say that is to follow him for the uttermost and to urge him upon his word again and again to pay what he is ingaged for Again had we faith in God we would set upon great things though we see but little meanes Many of you who have but little stockes yet if you have rich friends that have given you encouragement and that you know will be faithfull to you you will trade for great things with your little stock because you know you have those friends will stand by you So though we have but little strength if God call us we should be willing to set upon great things because God hath stock enough and he hath
I will sow thee there shall come a blessing upon thee and though thou beest scattered up and down in the earth yet in all places thou shalt be as seed from whence my Church shall spring Hence the notes are First that Gods people are the seed of the earth But of that before in the latter end of the first Chapter onely I will adde a note of Ribera about it The seed saith he lies under the clods and at length fructifies so should the Saints be content to lie under the clods and though they may seem in regard of their afflicted condition to be dead to be rotten yet they shall be glorious and fructifie afterward Before the time of the Churches glory times of great calamity and distresse come which this rotting of the seed before the fructifying sets out unto us Secondly every godly man should so live as either in life or death hee should be as a seed from whence many may spring he should be a meanes that many should be begotten to God It is reported of Cicilia in the history of the Church a poore Virgin that by her gracious behaviour in her mattyrdome she was the means of converting four hundred to Christ As in the Indies one corn bringeth forth divers hundreds so we should labour to convert as many as wee can that some that live after may continue to beare up the name of Christ and the profession of his truth Especially be carefull of your children leave them as seed to hold up the name of God in thy family when thou art dead and gone And further I will sow her to my selfe The Saints are sowen unto Christ they are seed for Christ therefore all their fruit must be given up unto Christ Christ must have all the fruit we bear who should have the fruit but he that soweth it Therefore Cant. 7. 13. All manner of pleasant fruits new old which I have laid up for thee O my beloved Are we able to bear any fruit Let us lay it up all for Jesus Christ for it is he that soweth us unto himselfe we must not sow to our selves not to the flesh for then wee shall reap corruption but all for Christ And I will shew mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy Divers things about Gods shewing mercy after rejection were spoken of in the first Chap. Only these notes for the present There are none so rejected as that they can conclude that they shall never have mercy those that have committed the sinne against the holy Ghost excepted though Israel had not obtained mercy though they were cast out yea cast out to the beasts to be devoured yea saith God I will shew mercy upon her 2. Children of wicked parents may at length obtain mercy from God Though Israel be cast off yet her children shall have mercy A comfort to us in regard of the Idolatry of our fore fathers yea a comfort in the regard of the children that are to come Our fore fathers have broken the Covenant why may not we obtaine mercy But suppose we should be the generation of Gods wrath and not obtaine mercy yet we may have hope that the posterity following shall have mercy Thirdly Mercy after it is thought to be past if then it come Oh it is sweet mercy indeed when she seemed to be utterly rejected then to have mercy shewed this is sweet Fourthly Mercy is the cause of all the good the Saints have One Scripture for it Psal 57. 3. Send from heaven saith David David was in the Cave in a poor condition hunted for his life persecuted by Saul I see little hope from earth saith he therefore O Lord send from heaven What shall God send Angels from heaven to deliver thee David No but mark what followeth God shal send forth his mercy his truth as if he should say Lord though I have no help in earth though I see no Angels from heaven to helpe me yet let me have thy mercy and truth and that is enough This satisfies a gracous heart if he may have Gods mercy and his truth that is Gods mercy revealed in a promise Lastly God hath a speciall day of mercy for his people for his Churches I will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained mercy Let us cry to God for the hastening of this day let us open the miseries of our own Kingdome and of Ireland Oh when shall this day come that thou wilt shew mercy to thy owne people which thou hast told us of Oh that that day may hasten Come Lord Jesus come quickly And I will say to them which were not my people This is that we had in the first Chapter onely with some differences there it is In the place where it was said yee are not my people And I shewed you when I opened that place both out of the Romanes and out of Peter how the Apostle makes use both of that in the first Chapter and this here in the second onely take a hint of the truths in it First God hath a special interest in his people they are his people they are called his peculiar people Tit. 2. 14. The word hath this emphasis in it God lookes upon all other things as accidents in comparison and his substance is his people they are his very portion as Deut. 33. 19. and Exod. 19. 5. they are his peculiar treasure above all people in the world and Esay 19. 25. Assyria the worke of my hands and Israel mine inheritance I have made all people but Israel is mine inheritance This is the happines of the Saints therefore they are not as other people are Num. 23. 9. This people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the Nations this is a great ground of prayer Lord leave us not we are thy people called by thy name we have an interest in thee Againe This is an argument to walke so as God may not be dishonored by us for we are his people If those in a mans family walke disorderly it is a dishonour to the Master of the family it is no dishonour to him for a stranger or one who hath little reference to him to walke disorderly It is not so much dishonour to God for the wicked to walke disorderly as for the Saints in regard of their neerenesse to God And besides their light is as I told you three story high and if they sin they sin against a greater light then others doe their sin is greater then the sinne of the wicked in that regard Further I will say to them which were not my people thou art my people I will own them before all the world It is a great mercy for God to make it knowne to the world that his people are his people The world will not beleeve it they think they are a poor contemptible people but there shall come a day that I will make it knowne they are
mine And amongst other things by which God will make all the world to know that his people are his this is one in sâtting up the beauty of his Ordinances amongst them Ezek. 37. 27. My Tabernacle also shall be with them yea I will be their God and they shall be my people and the Heathen shall know that I the Lord doe sanctifie Israel when my Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them Thus they shall know saith God that they are my people and that I am their God when I have set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for ever Were it that the Ordinances of God might be set up in their purity amongst us in England were Reformation perfected and the Saints walked humbly peaceably as they should the whole world will be convinced that these are indeed the people of the Lord and that God is amongst them And they shall say thou art my God God must begin withus we cannot begin and say Lord thou art my God but God must begin with us first and say You are my people There are a great many who say God is their God but God never said they are his people Joh. 1. 12. it is said of those who beleeved in Christ that God gave them power to be the Sonnes of God the word signifies authority that they might with authority acknowledge themselves to be the sons of God and call God Father they had the broad Seale for it Will you call God Father where is your ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã your authority if God call you children if he say you are my people you may give the Ecchoto Gods mercy and say thou art our God Secondly When God speakes mercy to us we must answer according to it Doth God say you are my people we must answer Lord thou art our God This is a great fault amongst Christians God manifests himselfe to many a gracious heart in abundance of love and mercy they give an answer to God in a way of dispaiting and discouragement Gods ways toward thee speake thus and say thou art one of my people but thy heart works as if God were none of thy God Hath not God done much for thee thou thinkest it is all in hypocrifie that thou dost whereas the truth is it is the fruit of his love and kindnes to thee He speakes aloud in what he hath done for thee that thou art one of his people and yet thy heart thinks that he is thy enemy that he haââs thee and will cast thee off at last The wayes of God are full of mercy to thee and he hath set his stampe upon thee by his ways of love he tels thee that thou belongest unto him O unbeleeving soul answer Lord thou art my God! lay aside these discouraging sinking thoughts of thine O that thou wouldst goe away with such an answer in thy mouth Doe not answer Gods loving kindnesse and his gracious dealings towards thee with discouragement and sinking of heart this is dishonorable to him and tedious to his Spirit Thirdly God works an answerable disposition in the hearts of his people unto him This is thy duty but God will work it in time if thou belongest to him As thus doth God chuse us to be his people then the hearts of the Saints chuse him to be their God Doth God say you are my people the Saints say Lord thou art our God Doth God say I will dwell with them they answer Lord thou art our habitation Doth God say I delight in them they say Lord our delight is in thee Doth God say I will rest in them for ever the Church saith O my soule returne unto thy rest Here is a sweet answer a rebound of all Gods loving kindnes Lastly the Saints must professe God to be theirs It is not enough to beleeve with the heart but thou must confesse with the mouth professe it outwardly of this before Further This is the highest happinesse of the Saints that God is their God when they can say this they have enough If we could say this house is mine this street this Lordship this City this Kingdome this World is mine What is all this A Christian comes at length and saith this God that made all is mine As it is reported of the French Ambassador and the Spanish meeting together saith the Spanish Ambassadour my Master is King of Spaine my Master replyed the French is King of France my Master said the Spaniard againe is King of Naples and my Master said the French is King of France my Master is King of Portugal and my Master is King of France still he answered with that my Master is King of France as being enough to answer all the several Kingdomes of the Spaniard So one saith I have this house this land this stock this estate this trade yea but saith a Christian I have God God is mine Surely having him thou hast enough And if God be thy God he will be a God to thee 1 Chron. 17. 24. The Lord of hosts is God of Israel even a God to Israel So it must be with thee if thou beest a Saint of God be a Saint to God Are we a people of God then we must be a people to God Blessed are the people that are in such a case yea happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Thus we had opened the gracious manifestation of God to his Church in part fulfilled spiritually to spiritual Israel here but more sensibly to be made good at the great day of Jezreel that is when the Jews shall be called then the Spouse of Christ in a visible way shall be thus married unto him and the Lord will be their God Jerome saith upon the Text All these things that are here promised to the Church the Jewes expect it at the end of the world after the time of Antichrist And I make no question though in a spiritual sence this Scripture is made good for the present unto the Saints yet in a more visible and sensible way all this Scripture will be made good to the people of the Jews the Gentiles then joyning with them even literally the glory of the Church shall be visible and apparant More whereof in the next Chapter HOSEA CHAP. 3. The First Lecture CHAP. 3. VER 1. 2. 3. Then said the Lord unto me go yet love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteresse according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who looke to other gods and love flaggons of wine So I bought her âo me for fifteen pieces of silver and for an homer of barley and an halfe homer of barley And I said unto her thou shalt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot and thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee THe close of the former Chapter had much mercy in it and this Chapter containes the
First they should be in a contemptible condition they should be valued but at halfe the price of a slave Secondly they should be fed but meanly and basely even as slaves or rather as beasts this homer and half of barley should be for their sustenance in which they should be used very hardly for along time And that you may see how this hath been fulfilled for it did not only refer to the time of their Captivity before Christ but to all the Captivity they have been in ever since Christs time to this day and shall be in untill their calling the mean condition they were in before in the time of their first Captivity you may see Lament 4. 5. Those that were clothed in scarlet embraced the dung-hill they either lay in filthy places that had dung in them like beasts or else they were imployed in carrying dung up and down And to this day Histories tell us that generally the Jews have a most stinking savour and we know that they are the vilest people in the esteeme of others that are upon the face of the earth An Historian tells us of an Emperour travelling into Egypt there meeting with some Jews he was so annoyed with the stink of them that he cryes out O Marco-mani O Quadi c. At length saith he I have met with worse with viler men then such and such reckoning up divers of the basest people that were upon the face of the earth And to this day the Turks will admit of no Jew to turne to the Mahumetan Religion unlesse he first turne Christian they have much more honorable esteeme of the Christians they think that Jesus Christ though he was not God yet he was a great Prophet but for the Jews they have such vile thoughts of them that they think it a dishonour to the Turkish Religion that any of them should turne Turk unlesse be first turned Christian And we reade of the Romanes that when they conquered other Nations they would permit them to call themselves Romanes after they had conquered them but they would never permit the Jews to call themselves Romanes though the Jews would comply never so much with them and be their servants Augustine hath it upon Psalme 58. lest there should be some blot stick to the glory of the Romanes by that odious people Thus we see what shame hath God cast upon that nation even unto this day that they are counted as the very off-scouring of all nations Suetonius tels us that in the exactions that the Romanes require of people they put upon the Jews more then upon all people This that we reade of in histories that which we finde by experience of the base condition these people are in is the fulfilling this Scripture that I am now opening unto you she shal be bought for fifteen pieces of silver and fed with barly she shall be in a very low base and meane condition untill Christ shall come and marry her to himself Notes from hence are First A people who have been high in outward glory when they depart from God make themselves vile and contemptible God casts contempt upon wicked men especially upon wicked men who corrupt his worship Do we not see it at this day Mal. 2. 9. It is threatned that the Priests who departed from the law corrupted their waies should be base and contemptible before the people Hath not the Lord done thus at this day even those that not long since gave themselves the title of the triumphant Clergy and the triumphant Church and went up and downe jetting as if they would out-face heaven it self They feared all men with the High Commission Court But what shame hath God cast upon this generation the people loath them and we hope in time the Lord will sweepe away the proud and haughty of them as the reffuse of the earth Yea our whole nation hath been a proud nation what vaunting hath there been of what a glorious Church we had never such a one upon the earth we sate as a Queen amongst the nations we have been a haughty people and God may justly cast contempt upon us The Jewes were so the Temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord but God hath now made them the vilest nation upon the earth And the truth is God hath begun to cast much shame upon this nation The time was when the Kingdom of England was a terror to other people of late they have been the scorne and contempt of other nations When Ephraius spake there was trembling he exalted himselfe in Israel but sinning it Baal he died he became as a dead poor vile contemptible people Hos 13. 1. The Lord loveth to name the pride of men How many have you known who have been proud and lofty and the Lord hath cast shame and contempt in their saces even before those whom they looked upon heretofore with contempt they have now been made objects of contempt Secondly Though a people be under contempt yet Gods heart may be towards them to doe them good at the latter end There is the love of Gods election still to this people God remembers them and intends good unto them for all this VVho knowes what contempt God may cast upon us Perhaps he may let our proud adversaries trample us under their feet but we hope he will not because he sees their hearts so proud as they are But if he should we should not despaire we must not conclude God hath quite cast off England though he should bring all his people under contempt so as to betrampled under the foot of pride And if there be any of you whom God hath so humbled as he hath made you contemptible doe you humble your selves before God but do not despaire the Lord may yet have a love to you though you are now under shame and contempt who knowes but that this was the only way that God had to humble your hearts God putteth his ovvn people under contempt and yet it is all out of love unto them and vvithan intent to do them good at last Thirdly which is the most especial note hence After many promises of Gods mercy and of a glorious condition which he intendeth his people he may yet hold a very hard hand over them a great while God having promised so much mercy in the former Chapter Israel might quickly grow vvanton and say it is no great matter though we be vile and wicked yet God will marry us to himself and we shall be a glorious people and what need we take care Nay saith God stay here though my heart be toward you yet this generation shall suffer and the next generation the next generation after that shall suffer hard things you shal be brought into the most vile condition that ever any people was brought into yet my promise shall be fulfilled at the last Here we see what care God taketh that people should not grow wanton
with his mercy and think Oh we are in covenant with God and God hath pardoned our sins what need we care take heed of growing want on thou maist suffer fearfull things in this world Though God may save your souls yet you may be brought into as wofull a condition in your ovvn apprehensions as ever any creature was upon the earth And for England though it is true we have as many arguments of the love of God to ãâã as ever any nation had but yet who knows what this generation may suffer that hath so sullied it self with superstitious vanities We may be brought into vvefullslavery and then God may raise up unto himself another generation upon whom he will be stow the mercy intended Fourthly Those who will take their fill of delight to the flesh in a sensual use of the creature it is just with God they should be cut short be made to live meanly and basely to be made to feed with course fare with barley The Jews had their delicates before they fared deliciously now they must be sed worse then their servants and eare that which was meate for beasts How many hath God thus dealt withall who not long since had their tables furnished with the choysest sare with variety of dishes now perhaps are glad of a harley loafe for themselves and their children Again If God will not utterly destroy a people as he might but reserve mercy for them at last though they have never such a meane subsistence for the present yet they have cause to blesse God Though this here be a threatning yet there is a promise in it The people of Israel if they knew all had no cause to murmur at Gods dealing but to admire at his mercy though they had but a little barley to sustaine them And suppose God should bring us in England into a low condition so as we may be glad of a barley loafe we know famine commonly followes warre it was wont to be a phrase browne bread and the gospell is good fare and God may bring that upon us in another way then ever yet we or our fore-fathers were acquainted with but yet if the Lord do not cast us off utterly from being his people though he feed us with brown bread though we have never so mean a subsistance for the present we shall have cause to blesse his name Lastly It is the way of God to humble those he intendeth good unto to prepare them for mercy by cutting them short of these outward comforts If the Lord hath dealt so with any of you you have lived full-handed perhaps wives have brought good portions to their husbands and now they are broke and all is lost perhaps you had good friends in the Countrey many of them are plundered in their estates now you are faine to fare meanly and if you have bread for your children you think it well but consider this Is not God now humbling me and thereby preparing my heart for himself Oh blessed be God for this my condition this bread is sweeter to me then all the dishes I have had in my life VVhen you sit in your houses with your wives and children and have nothing but barley bread to feed upon have these thoughts I hope God doth this in love mercy he is making this my condition the best condition I was ever in the greatest blessing to me Verse 3. And I said unto her thou halt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot and thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee You shall not only be in such a low condition as a slave and worse then a maid servant and be sed with barley but you shall abide thus abide thus many dayes Thus they have abode these sixteene hundred yeares since Christs time besides their former captivity The Lord would have a full experience of Israel that their hearts were throroughly humbled before he would take them to mercy again There was never any people dealt more falsely with God in their humiliations then they had done before How often when they were in misery did they come with their seeming humiliation cryed for mercy and God âââwed them mercy and assoone as they were delivered they fell off againe and went after their Idols and then being in misery again they cryed to God and he delivered them and then presently to their Idols again Well saith God I will not deale so with you hereafter I will not trust you so as I have done you have beene in misery and I have delivered you when you cryed to me and then you have fallen to your sins againe but now you shall be humbled to purpose you shâl be âow many yeers in this low and meane condition and then your hearts ââll be thârowly broken so that when you shall returne to me againe you shall never fall from me God hath dealt so with many of you you have been in affliction God hath delivered you you have gone to your sinnes again you have been in affliction againe and he hath delivered you you have fell to your sins again and thus you have dallyed with the great God God may bring a fore long affliction upon you that you shall be so thorowly humbled that you shall never goe back againe to your sins as you have done This is the meaning abide many dayes When we would scoure purge a filthy garment thorowly we do not onely wash it but wee lay it a soaking a great while and a frosting many nights the Jews have lyne a soaking frostning many hundred yeeres this is the hardnesse of mans heart afflictions wil not work presently though many wedges be put into many blows struck upon knotty wood it stirs not some metals are long in melting yea though the fire be very hot Againe Here we see it is Gods ordinary way when he promiseth mercy to seeme to goe quite contrary to a people to seem as if he would quite destory them I will marry my self unto them in loving kindness and in mercies but yet I will let this people be above sixteen hundred yeers in this forlorne condition And so it hath been in all Gods administrations since the beginning of the world When God comes to humble sinners they must be content to be humbled Gods own time they must not out of a sudden furious humor say Lord how long I have been thus long in a sad condition I have prayed thus long Is your sadness affliction eternal Oh no a yeer or two perhaps but you have deserved eternity of misery Thou shalt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee That is in all this time you must have a care of your self that you do not seek after other lovers let me have experience that you will now worship the
the meaning of that First in their captivity saith God though you shal be long in captivity and in a low condition be content do not take any other god to be marryed unto as your husband I will be content I will stay I will have no other people upon the earth but you all the while you are in captiviây But how doth God abide for Israel now God hath chosen the Gentiles how theâ doth he stay for them Yes certainly God stayes for Israel to this day thus First all the Gentiles that are called they come into God as being joyned to the people of the Jews God honoured the Jews so farre as that all the Gentiles that doe come in are to be made the Israel of God But rather further thus God abides for the people of the Iews to this day in this sense God never hath taken nor never will take to himselfe any Nation upon the earth to be a nationall Church as the Jewes were and as it is probable the Jews shall be at their calling again though God takes the Gentiles that are converted and severall Congregations to be Churches but to marry himselfe to a whole Nation in that way as the Iews were that is if a man be born of that Nation it shall be sufficient to make him a member of the Church this God did never do since the Iews rejection and never will do it till the Iews be called again though God takes Kingdomes and so in some figurative sense a Nation perhaps may be called a Church but to speak properly and strictly to be a Church so as the Iews were there is no such nationall Church nor never will be till the calling in of the Iews again then God will be marryed to that Nation in a more glorious manner then ever God abideth to this day for that glory which hee intendeth for Iesus Christ untill they come in And this I take to be a great reason why God for the present suffers his Churches to bee persecuted so much as they are herein God suffers himselfe as well as they the Church ever since Christs time hath been in a low and persecuted condition the wicked have prevailed What is the reason God abideth for this people of the Iews and hee is pleased himself to undergoe many sufferings in the mean time do you abide for me I will be content to suffer much dishonour my selfe many shall come in to Christ but yet they shal be a poor contemptible people the wicked of the world shall prevail against them shall scorn them shall contemne them so that I shall not appear to the world to be their Husband untill you be called again I shall be as it were without a wife but when the time shall come that you shall return to me then I wiâ manifest my selfe indeed you shall be a most glorious Church and then there shall be such a full marriage between us that all the world shall acknowledge it then they shall all come and say Come behold the Bride the Lambs wife This is the scope of this Scripture from whence these Observations First Husbands should not require of their wives any thing but what they will answerably do for them God doth so here Abide for me saith hee and I will abide for you there shall be parpari like for like Many husbands will require hard things from their wives but will doe little themselves and on the other side wives expect great things from their husbands but do little themselves There must be a proportion betweene what the wife expects from the husband and what shee doth to or for her husband and so mutually 2. In our sadde condition God suffereth as well as wee This may helpe us in our sufferings we should thinke though wee suffer much God suffereth as much as we why then ââould we think much the people of the Iews if they had hearts might see it now God stayes for his honour till they come in So in all the persecutions of the Church doth not Christ suffer in that the great work of Reformation doth not go on It is true we are grieved ãâã Spirit of God is grieved as well as we and suffereth as much as we God âoth as it were abide for us and stays for his glory Wee desire it is true âhat God would come in and manifest himselfe then we shall be happy and âejoyce but so long as God stays our happinesse he stays his own glory What abundance of glory doth God lose in those praises hee should have if the Reformation were presently perfected but God hath other ends God is content to stay for his prayses let us be content to stay for what we desire to have it concerns God to hasten the work as much yea farre more then it concerns us to desire it we suffer something for want of it but God suffers more 3. That people or that soul that endureth hardship a long time for God and resolveth to reserve it self for him so as if it cannot have comfort in God it will have none elsewhere may assure it selfe that God reserveth himselfe for it Certainly nothing shall take off the heart of God but there will be a blessed marriage between that soule that people and him Is there ever a poor creature here is in a sad condition God seemeth to deal hardly with it yet hee findeth in himselfe this frame of spirit well though God seem to leave me and I am thus desolate yet if I can have no comfort here I will have none elsewhere I wil be content to stay and wait no creature shal have my heart It is true I am not able to guide my selfe but I am resolved the Devil shal never guide me I am not able to do the will of God but I will never do the wil of the Devil and if God should leave me never so long nay leave me eternally I wil never have any other husband I wil rather dye a widow I wil never let out my self to any if he doe not come in and marry himself to me I wil be without comfort as long as I live Is thy heart in this frame Peace be unto thee certainly God intends thoughts of mercy to thy soule there wil certainly be a marriage betweene God and thy soule And this frame of heart where it is oh how wil it help against temptation when a poor soul is in distresse and it may be God seemeth to go off further further I have prayed long and long and yet God seems not to heare afflictions they prevail why do you pray any more why do you come and heare any more you were as good leave off at first God wil never come you were as good take your pleasure for a while you can but perish at the last This temptation many times comes very sorely upon poor distressed soules But now when the heart can answer it is true the Lord indeed seemeth to be
tabernacle of David that is convert the Gentiles to the profession of Christ But you will say how is this quoted right for that was James his intention in the Assembly and it concerns those who are of such a grave Assembly as that was to speake what they speake to purpose But how doth James here speake to the purpose for the point he was to speake to was that the Gentiles were to be called and he proveth it by that Scripture where it is said that God would raise the Tabernacle of David how doth that prove that God would call the Gentiles You may see if you looke into the prophesie whence this was quoted that this text was right to the purpose The Prophesie is Amos 9. 11. 12. there it goeth thus after he had said that he would raise the tabernacle of David it followeth that they may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen which are called by my Name So that the Tabernacle of David indeed is the Tabernacle of Christ and it shall be raised to this end that he may possesse the remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles that were to be called by the name of God David is Christ because he was his type and Christ was the seed of David The second Question but why is David rather named then any other rather then Abraham Isaac or Jacob others were types of Christ as well as he and Christ was their seed as well as Davids The reason is because David typified Christ especially in his Kingly power over his own people David was the first godly King that ever was over Gods own people Melchisedech was a King King of Salem but over the people of God David was the first type of Christ Thirdly Why doth the holy Ghost adde this to seeking the Lord that they shall seeke David Why was it not as full if the holy Ghost had said When Israel these ten Tribes for he speakes of them especially when they shall return they shall seeke the Lord and the Messiah but that they shall seek the Lord and David The reason is the expression is brought to this end to put these Tribes in minde of that great sinne of theirs in their defection from the house of David there was an intimation in this expression of that defection they had from David when they shall repent this will lye neere their hearts they will mourne for this their sinne when they choose Christ to be their King they shall do it under the name of David As if they should say we indeed have cast off the house of David sinfully but we now come and choose the Son of David to be our King Thereby putting us in minde of this note of instruction True penitents in mourning for their sinne and returning to God will go to the roote of their sin as much as they can to their first defection mourn for that and labour what lies in them to reforme in that very thing wherein the root and beginning of their sin lay The fourth is why seeking the Messiah under what name soever is here joyned to seeking the Lord the very marrow of all the Gospel is in these words they shall seeke Jehovah and David their King It is added for this end to shew us that none can seek God rightly but through Christ they must seek God in Christ This is eternal life to know thee and thy Son to know God alone is not eternall life but to know God and his Son so to seek God alone is not eternal life not will it ever bring to eternal life except there be a seeking of God in Christ seeking Jehovah and David putting them together Grace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ those must goe together no grace from God the Father but from him through Christ so no seeking of God the Father Jehovah but it must be with seeking of David likewise it is not only dangerous but it is a horrible thing to think of God without Christ the very thought of God not through Christ is a most dreadfull thing to the heart of any who knows God Indeed there are a company who have bold presumptuous hearts who will go into Gods presence though reeking in the very guilt of their sin lately committed and seeke to God for mercy and never think of Christ the Mediator they understand not the necessity of seeking God in Christ because indeed they know not with what a God it is they have to deale but that soul that knows what God is dares not think of God much lesse come into his presence seek him but only through Christ It was wont to be the way as Plutarch in the life of Themystocles reports of some of the Heathens the Molossians when they would seek the favour of the Prince they tooke up the Kings Son in their armes and so went and kneeled before his Altar in his Chappell so Themystocles did when he sought the favour of King Admetus It should be the way of Christians in seeking the face of God the great King to take up his Sonne in the armes of Faith A notable speech Luther hath in Psal 130. Often and willingly saith he doe I inculcate this that you should shut your eies your eares and say you know no God out of Christ none but he that was in the lap of Mary and sucked her breasts he means none out of him We must not we should not dare to looke upon âod but through Christ and seeke him together with David This is the Evangelâcall way of seeking God when we have sinned if there be any way of help it must be by seeking this mercifull God thus farre nature goes and most people goe no further yea most Christians though they have the name of Christ in their mouths yet the worke of their hearts is no further then natural principles carry them on But the seeking God in Christ is the true supernaturall way the Evangelicall way that is the mystery of godlinesse to tender up a Mediator to God every time wee come into his presence I feare that many of our prayers are lost for want of this There is much Fasting and Prayer thorough Gods mercy amongst us and I would to God there were no abating that way but though wee thinke will God leave his people when there is such a spirit of Prayer If it be not a seeking of God in his Son know it is our own spirits rather then the Spirit of God VVee may be earnest in prayer and cry mightily to God yet if we take not up his Son in the armes of faith and tender him to the Father thousands of prayers and fasting days may be all lost for want of this The truth is wee must not depend so much upon our prayers though we are to rejoyce and to blesse God that there is so much prayer but Gods wayes towards us seeme as if hee would take us off from means
and make us look up to free grace not take us off from the practise of any but from relying upon any onely to rely upon free grace in Christ As this is the supernaturall seeking God so it is the most powerfull way of seeking him It is not enough to seeke God by vertue of a promise except vve seek him by vertue of Christ who is the foundation of all the promises VVe seek him because he is mercifull that is one way yea we seek him because he hath promised mercy this is a higher degree but we must go higher yet we must look to his Son in whom all the promises are Yea Amen otherwise though we seek him never so earnestly though we chalenge his promises and cry to him to remember his promises yet if we do not act our faith upon his Son wee may misse in all And herein we sanctifie that great name of God in that which is the great work of his his master-piece as we may say or the great designe hee hath to honour himself in the world here and everlastingly hereafter Certainely though God hath made the creature for his own glory expects we should honour him in beholding him in the creature yet the great design God hath to honour himselfe in and by is in that glory of his that is manifested in his Son to have the children of men behold this his glory and reflect it upon his own face except you give God his glory in this he cares not much for what soever glory you can give him otherwise You must not therfore expect when you seek God that you must have good things from him meerly because he is mercifull you must not thinke that the mercy of God serveth to eike out our righteousnesse Perhaps some will say it is true we are poor sinfull creatures and what can wee expect from God being fin full but we hope that God will pardon our sin and so will accept of the poor services that we perform This is the way that most goe they do as it were imploy Gods mercy in such a worke that God never intended it for that is they would make the mercy of God to eike out their owne righteousnesse and so both put together they think they will serve to be a means of atonement No you mistake Gods mercy the worke of Gods mercy is not this but it is to shew us our unrighteousnesse our misery our unclearnesse to shew us Jesus Christ to draw our hearts to him to emptie us of our selves that wee may wholly rely upon that righteousnesse that is by faith in him and tender up that to the Father for sanctification and attonement that is the work of Gods mercy when it hath this work then it hath the true genuine work indeed The fifth is why here added King True wee must seeke the Lord and Christ but why Christ the King The reason is because Christ in the latter dayes shall be fully honoured in his Kingly power they shall looke upon him not only as Prophet and Priest but as King Hitherto Christ hath bin much honoured in his Propheticall and Priestly office but not so much in his Kingly but in the latter dayes when God shall call home his people the Jewes then Christ shall be fully honoured in his Kingly office The Tabernacle of Christ was raised in the Primitive times according to that speech of St. James we had before Acts 15. 16. God shall raise the tabernacle of David hee puts it as fulfilled then but there is a time when God shall not only raife the tabernacle of David but the throne of David Christ the King shall appeare in glory Ezek. 37 24 25. And David my servant shall be King over them It was spoken upon the union that there should be between Judah and Israel then David my servant shall be King over them David was dead a great while before there is a time that David must again be King that is Christ upon the union of all the Tribes together And againe David shall be Prince for ever when they are brought againe into their owne land David shall be Prince over them for ever saith the Text surely this prophesie is yet to be fulfilled And Luke 1. 32. The Lord shall give him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his kingdome there shall be no end I know we usually think that this is meant only of his spirituall reign but there is a mistake in it certainly there is to be a fulfilling of this prophesie in a reign that shall outwardly appeare before the children of men which will appea more in comparing this with other Scriptures Revel 11. 15. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord his Christ and so he shall reign for ever and ever VVhy in a spirituall sense the kingdoms of this world are always the kingdomes of the Lord and of Christ but there is spoken of some famous notable time when the kingdomes of this world shall appeare to be the Lord and his Christs and then he shall reigne for ever and ever after another manner then now he doth Revel 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my throne as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne Mark this Text as one of the most notable of any wee have That kingly rule that Christ hath for the present is upon his Fathers throne he is not yet upon his own in comparison of what he shall be the kingdome that Christ hath now is the joynt reigne of him with the Father but there is a time for Christ to have a Throne himselfe Now that Throne of Christ it may be you will thinke it is in heaven at the day of judgement but we finde 1 Cor. 15. 24. that at that day he comes to refigne the kingdome the words do not seeme to import as if hee came to take it but that then hee doth give up the kingdome unto God the Father therefore there is a time for Christ himself to have a Throne with whom the Saints shall reign Matth. 21. 9. The children cryed out Hosanna to the sonne of David because they looked upon the sonne of David as one who was to reign In these latter dayes CHRIST shall breake the Kings of the earth who stand against him as indeed many yea most of the Kings of the earth have ever stood out to hinder this kingdome of his There will be a mighty shaking of the kingdoms of the earth when this shall be Heb. 12. 26. Whose voyce then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth onely but also the heaven quoted out of Hag. 2. 6. 7. God in giving the law shooke the earth but he will shake the earth and the heavenâ which some Interpreters expounds thus not only the meaner power of
Religion no God forbid yea she so promised that the story saith no man would or could misdoubt of the performance But afterward when she came to get the power in her hand the Suffolk men came to make supplication to her that she would be pleased to performe the promise she made them she answered them thus Forasmuch as you being but members desire to rule your head you shall one day well perceive that members must obey their head and not looke to beare rule over the same And not only so but to cause the more terrour a Gentleman one Master Dobs that lived about Windsor who did but in an humble request advertise her of her promise made to the Suffolke men he was three times set on the Pillory and others for the same cause were sent to prison We may see what hold hath been heretofore in the promises of those who had power to breake them you know what temptations they have to withdraw their hearts from what they have ingaged themselves unto But when this our Prince comes David our King we shall finde the sure mercies of David we shall finde nothing but faithfulnesse in all his dealings And they shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes They shall feare the Lord. The words are they shall feare to the Lord pavebunt ad dominum The feare of God is much upon the heart of a sinner in his returne to God Such a sinner hath high and honourable thoughts of God They shall returne and feare the Lord. The slightnesse the vanity of his spirit the boldnesse of his heart it is taken off and the feare of God ruleth in it The Majesty the power the authority of the great God is strong upon him when he comes to worship him the feare of God makes him to worship God as a God and in all his conversation he walkes in the feare of God even all the day long you may see written upon his life the feare of the great God And this not a servile slavish feare but a holy reverenticall filâââ feare Jsaac had such a feare of God that God hath his dominion from Isaacâ feare He is called the feare of Isaac This is a most precious feare others feare poverty feare imprisonment feare disgrace feare men but saith a true repenting heart I feare the Lord this feare is the well-spring of life to him it is the very treasure of his soul Esay 33. 6. I shall speake of the feare of God here onely as it concerns this place the intent of bringing it in here that is to shew that in the time when this glorious Church shall be when God shall call home his own people the Jewes and bring in the fulnesse of the Gentiles then shall the feare of God mightily prevayle upon the hearts of people more then ever and the greater Gods goodnesse shall be the more shall the feare of God be upon their hearts this we shall finde almost in all the Prophesies of the glorious condition of the Church which is very remarkable there is ever speaking of the feare of God that should be upon the hearts of people One would rather thinke there should be speaking of the joy that they should have that there should be nothing but mirth and triumph in those times but the Scripture speakes exceeding much of feare that shall be then and more then then at any other time Thus Revel 11. 18. a most famous Prophesie of Christs comming and taking the kingdomes of the earth and bringing his reward with him he shall come and give a reward to those that feare him And Revel 14. 7. I saw an Angel flee in the middest of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth saying with a loud voyee feare God and give glory to him Marke an Angel when he comes to preach the verlasting Gospel how doth he preach it what now cast away fear and rejoyce in this everlasting Gospel No preaching this everlasting Gospel saith with a loud voyce feare God and give glory to him So Rev. 15. 3. 4. There is the song of the Saints when they are delivered from the power of Antichrist what is it be jocund and joviall No Great and marvailous are thy workes Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints who shall not feare thee O Lord and glorifie thy name for thou onely art holy for all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgements are made manifest And again Rev 19. 5. And a voyce came out of the Throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and yee that feare him both small and great But feare the Lord now in these times why so Upon these foure grounds First Feare the Lord now because of the glory of Christ their King they shall behold their King in that glory that shal cause fear Rev 19. 12. Christ is described with his eyes as flames of fire and on his head many Crownes cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood at wo-edged sword out of his month and on his vesture and on his thigh written King of Kings and Lord of Lords Thus they shall behold Christ and therefore they shall feare Secondly in those times the feare of God will much prevaile in the hearts of people because of the great workes of God that shal be then the heavens shall depart like a scrole and the elements melt with fervent heate This is meant of the time when there shal be new heavens a new earth which referreth to the Prophesie of Esay and it is apparantly and so generally Interpreters carry it meant of the estate of the Church then the heavens shall depart like a scrole Heb. 13. 26. quoted out of Hag. 2. 6. The Lord did shake the earth once but he hath promised saying Yet once more I shaâ not the earth onely but also heaven There shall be wonderfull workes of God in the earth when those dayes come therefore there shall be much of the feare of God Thirdly Much of the feare of God then because of the holiness of the worship of God and of his Ordinances the purity of them shall cause fear Did we see the Ordinances in the true and native purity and holinesse of them it would strike much feare in us Some have but seene the execution of that one Ordinance of Excommunication in a solemn gracious way and it hath daunted their hearts it hath struke feare in a most proud profane stubborn wicked heart the beholding then of all the Ordinances and all duties of worship in their true native purity holiness and glory cannot but cause much feare Psal 68. 35. O God thou art terrible out of thy holy places God will be terrible out of his holy places and out of all his holy Ordinances Fourthly Much feare there will be at that day because of the holiness of the Saints there shall be so much holiness that shall
thâ Church and State as children towards the mother Obser Sin causeth shame False worship ãâã shamefull thing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The more full of beauty Gods Ordinances are the more shamefull it is to decline to waves of false worship Obser Omnes libros tam veteris tam novi testamenti nec non traditionis ipsas pari pietatis affectâ ac reverentio suscipit ac veneratur Idem honor debetur imagini exemplari Governers and parents must take heed of putting their servants ãâã children to too much ãâã Obser ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obser Aelianus variar historâ Bodily and spirituall whoredom makes men very wilful in their uncleannesses Obser Ego in ea opinioâe sum Monarchias longe diutius duraâuras sâ Monarchae hoc unum pronomen Ego omisissens Luther in Psal 127. Tolle voluntatem non erit infernus Bern. It s a fearefull iudgement for a man to hee given up to ones owne will Professed wickedness is shamefull wickedness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Adaras Iovis aut Veneris adorare ac sub Aâtichristo fidem occul tare Zuin. ep 3. It is not enough to have goodnesse at the heart but we must professe it Ans 1. Association with those of a different Religion is dangerous Obser Wee must keepe good thoughts of God Obser If we prize Christs love hee will prize ours Obser ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obser The enâes of false worshippers are very low and meane A true child of Abraham hath a high spirit Obs Men love that Religion that brings them most corne and wine c. Fac me pontificem et Christi anus âro Novi hominâm non ex vna canoni catu nebilem commonstrantem digito delicatiorem penem vin m quod prestan iâsimum erat oppositum haec in quit sunt quae faciunt ut hoc vitae genus dejerere non libeat Triobojare Beneficium Magis soliciti de meroquam de vero ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã magis amantmân di delitiâs quam Christi divitias Obser It is a shamefull thing to subiect Religion to corn wine and flaxe and wool âermâns illa bestia non curaâ aurum Quasi vero deus nolit darelanem ecclesiae suae aut satius sit asathana peâera Obsre Prosperâty in evill wayes hardens Obs God reserveth propriety in all that he giveth unto us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vadam ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã persequa ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sâudiose quaârensâ Summae conatuam bulatione pedibuââ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obser Isa 27. 4 ver 9. The difference of Gods aims in afflicting his Saints from his aims in afflicting the wicked Obs 1. There remains much of slaviâh disposition in the godly Obser God studies what may do his people good Obs A mercy to have stumbling blocks laied in the way of sin O inâaelices et miseros quando relinquit Deus homiones sibi ipsis nec resistiâ eorum fureri et cupiditatibus sed vae illis ad quorum peccata conniveâ Deus Luther Obser Much brutishness remains in the hâarts even of the godly Obser 2. Obser 3. Afflictions are âods hedges If our way be Gods wee must breake through all difficulties Obser Wicked men will suffer much for their lusts Obs God keeps many from thit sins in a way of violence whether they wil or no. Obser Obser God strikes wicked men with blindnesse It is a good blindnes not to find the paths of sinne Obs Obser Obs Obs Obser When wee cannot enjoy all ordinances vet our hearts must be working after them Obs Obs Cum ne mi ni ob trvdi po test itur da me Obs God accepts of us when we come to him in our affliction Obser Rom. 6. 21. Nothing got by departing from Christ Obs Object Answ Humiliation must go before reformation Obs Lect. 6. In vaine to be humbled except we reform Obs The reasonings of heart in a repenting Apostate Obser Obser Pro. 14. 14. Lect. 6. Apostates seeming mercy must observe three things Examination whether times before were better then they are now The weakness of the argument taken from the opinions and practises of learned godly men Creâo vera purfecta fide quod Deus creator gubernator susteu ator sit omnium creaturarum quod idem ipse operatus siâ omnia operetur adhuc inaeternam operaturus sit Buxtorf synag Iudaic. c. 1. Benedictus sis Domine Deus noster rex mundi quod fructum vitis condidisti Synag Iud. c. 7. Benedictus esto Deus qui dulcia bene volentia crearis c. Buxtsynag Iud. cap. 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What Baal was Obs God provideth for the bodies of his people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Si opus est corni paâe si opus est aqua si open est vinâ si opus est nummo si opus est jumento a Deo petere debet nan a daemoniis idolis qui Deo sitiunt undi que debent sitire anima carne Nunquid animam tuam Deus fecit carnem damonia fecerunt qui fecit ambas res ipse pascet amlias Aug. in ãâ¦ã longeth for thee ãâ¦ã Obj. The greatest man in the world must beg his bread at Gods gate every day Obs The sweetnesse of a comfort is that it comes from God Obs Many and great are Gods unknown mercies Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter Obser We know no more then we lay to heart philosophi sumus factis noâ verbis nec magna loquimur sed vivimus Cypr. de patientiâ Mat. 11. 27. Hoc morbo didici quid sit peccatum quanta majestas Dei Gasper Olevianus Verbâ sensus denotant affectus Obs Affected ignorance is no excuse Graviter O homo peccas si divitias dei longanimitatis contemnis gravissime si ignoras Ambroâ Obser Obs Obser Prosperity makes men grow wanton Obser Obs An evill thing to fight against God with his own creatures ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obs Obs Lect 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obser 1 Obs 2. Abuse of mercies causes God to take them away Obser 4 Gratiarum actio ipsa confessio donum est acceptum quanto magis ipsa dona Luther postquam locuplitati sumus bane âidesam particulam addimus ego geci Obs 5. When God takes away a mercy then conscience troubles foâ the abuse of that mercy Obser 6 Obs 7. wrath from God when wiked men least think of it Obs 8. how far wicked men have right to the creature Obs 9. Substantiâ caro nostra incorporetur Sanctis nt in âis ad gloriam resurgat non peccatoribus in illis enim resurgât ad âehenam Obser ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Obser Prosperity hides much filth Obser Lect. 6. Reâtaining some good covers much evill Obser Obser Lewdnes of men must be discovered
effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places See how the Holy Ghost addes one word to another to shew that true peace is in the wayes of righteousnesse When mens counsells for peace are crooked counsells when they seek to company for their own ends when the honour of God is not their chiefe ayme it is just with God to dash all their counsels Esay 59. 8. The way of peace they know not saith God there is no judgement in their goings they have made them crooked paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace Wee know the going of the serpent is a crooked going it windeth up and downe so many of our Counsellours of peace have gone like the serpent winding up and down in their carnall policies they have not studied reformation but have gone in crooked paths and therefore they have not brought forth the true effects of peace But one place more Jer. 31 22. 23 there the Lord speaks concerning his people when he was about to deliver them from captivity How long wilt thou goe about that is you doe not goe on the right way you compasse about you have fetches because you meet with difficulties in your way you thinke by this and the other meanes to avoid troubles but you shall goe on by a right line what followeth The Lord blesse thee O habitation of justice and mountaine of holynesse Apply your counsels that way to be the habitation of justice and the mountaine of holinesse and the worke is done execute justice upon Delinquents that are in your power and set up the Ordinances of God in the right way of worship this is the way of peace but all this while you have gone about Oh that the Lord would deliver our great Councellours from going about They shall lye down safely Hence the note is onely Gods great peace bringeth safety if we patch up a false peace upon base unworthy terms we must not thinke to lye downe safely but when God promiseth peace a fruit of the Covenant then it followes they shall lye downe safely And I suppose none of you would have any other peace but such a peace as you may lye down safely and how is it possible do you think to lye downe safely except the Lord destroy the evill beasts out of the land Levit. 16. 5. I will give peace in your land and you shall lye down none shall make you afraid and I will rid evil beasts out of the land What is the end of our war at present but to rid the evill beasts out of the land that so we may lye downe safely Can you thinke to dwell safely so long as so many evil beasts are in the land so exasperated in the highest of all their rage Certainly if a false a patched up peace should be made we were in a mosticle hazardous condition especially those who have appeared for the Cause of God those who have shewed themselves most faithfull can they lye down safely in the confidence of such a peace If you have the hearts of true English-men you would never desire any other peace but such as that you and your brethren your Ministers those Worthies in Parliament and all that have appeared for you might lie down safely Acts 27. 13. 14. we reade of a soft south-wind that did blow but the Text saith that not long after there arose a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon So if we have a false peace it may blow as that south wind did softly and still but certainely the Euroclydon the most terrible East-wind will follow after 2 Chron. 20. 30. Jehosaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest Suppose we should be quiet and our owne base counsells and our own complyances should give us rest our quiet would never be security to us there will follow dismall things afterward but then is a people quiet safely when we have the peace of God together with the God of peace Phil. 4. 7. The peace of God which passeth all understanding keepe your hearts c. Then presently ver 9. The God of peace shall be with you We would be loth to be without the God of peace then let us be loth to have any peace but the peace of God You all desire Peace and so the adversary pretendeth take heed you be not deluded with vaine words that which is your end in your thoughts is their means to drive on their designes and what good will such a peace doe you you will be no more secure then you are nay your danger will be far greater Lastly It is Gods owne gift to his people to lie down safely this is a further blessing then to have the sword and bow broken We may be delivered from our enemies but the Lord may afrighten our consciences with visions in the night hee may terrifie us a thousand wayes and take away our security therefore he addeth this I will breake the bow the sword and then I will make thee lye down safely This is a precious mercy it is recumbere faciam in fiducia dormire faciam fiducialiter I will make them lye down in trust and confidence that is to go to bed without any feare of evill to befall us afore morning We little thinke what a mercy this is we have many nights lain down safely and slept quietly and have risen up comfortably you have little thought of the giving God the glory of this mercy Many of our brethren in divers Countries would prize such a mercy now when they goe to bed they are afraid of every little noice and can scarce have a nights sleep but are scared with Alarums What would some of our brethren give for one nights rest in safety that when they goe to bed they might say Well I hope this night I shall have quiet rest I shall not be troubled in my sleep In many places they are faine to sleep in the day and to watch in the night It is true here in the City you can go to bed sleep quietly rise quietly Oh think of those that want this mercy and give God the glory of it while you have it It is a mercy of God a great priviledge for the Lord to quiet our spirits in these dangerous times in these trembling dayes when every mans hands are upon his loyns Many who are free from their adversaries yet through the timerousness of their spirits they cannot have one nights quiet they turmoyle themselves without own thoughts Oh what will become of us hereafter It may be the enemies will come and we shall lose our lives and all will be rent-from us and this makes them that they cannot lye downe safely though danger be not yet neere them but when God is pleased to quiet the heart in the most troublesome times of all that you can lye down securely this
is a choyce mercy it is a fruite of the Covenant This mercy the Lord promiseth Pro. 3. 23. Then shalt thou walke in thy way safely thy foot shall not stumble Mark the 24 ver When thou lyest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lye down and thy sleepe shall be sweet be not afraid of sudden feare for the Lord shall be thy confidence c. This made good to one in these dayes is a Text worth gold indeed So Ps 107. 3. So doth the Lord give his beloved rest others they labour and toyle and they eate the bread of carefulnes and are mightily perplexed but so doth the Lord give his beloved rest that is the Lord takes away care and thought from his beloved and gives them rest so that they can lye downe quietly as it were in his bosome There is a false âest and security of the wicked when they make a covenant with death and with hell as Esay 28. 16. Ye have said we have made a covenant with death with hel when the overflowing scourge shal passe through it shall not come unto us for we have made lyes our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves This text is as proper a text to our adversaries as any I know in the Scripture they promise to themselves all security and safety they make a Covenant with hell death but how they make lyes their refuge and under falshood have they hid themselves Here is a security and it is by a covenant with hell death but this Text holds forth a lying down safely by vertue of another Covenant even the Covenant of God therefore it followes ver 16. Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone aprocious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste It is an Observable Text concerning our times there is a security upon that ground the overflowing scourge will breake down all but saith God I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth shal not make haste you may be secure though your enemies doe vaunt themselves and will boast in their own wayes they have made a covenant with hell death yet for you I lay in Zion a stone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste Although God doth not come with his deliverance for the present yet you who believe quiet your selves lye downe safely and do not make haste A horse saith the Scripture Psal 33. 17. is a vaine thing for safety they trust in the creature ver 18. but behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him they have a greater safety then if they had Troopes of horses lye about them to defend them and ver 20. Our soule waiteth for the Lord he is our help our shield so Pro. 21. 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battel but safety is of the Lord. Let us the resore cry with the Psalmist Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance vpon us then will we lye down in peace sleep for thou only makest us dwell in safety Would you have quiet sleepe in these troublesome times make your peace with God if there be peace within then you may lye downe safely notwithstanding all the rumors and tumults of war abroad but if there be no peace in the heart though you should live to see outward peace your sins would dog you they would pursue you the terrours of the Almighty would be upon you and you should not have one nights rest But Lord what is all this except we may have communion with thy selfe except we may have communion with JESUS CHRIST This is the voice of a gracious heart therefore follows that blessed promise as a further fruite of the Covenant that God would make with his people saith the Lord I will betroth thee unto my selfe I will be yours too there shall be a most blessed union and conjugall communion between you and me you shall enjoy me in all the sweetnesse and love that the wife enjoyeth the husband in though you have most wretchedly departed from me yet behold I will betroth you unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement in loving kindnesse and iu mercies The Seventeenth Lecture HOSEA 2. 19. 20. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgement in loving kindnes in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness thou shalt know the Lord. BUt how betroth this phrase seems to be very strange she had been the wife of God before and was gone a whoring from him though God should be reconciled to her one would have thought it should rather have been I will receive you againe No but I will betroth you The reason of the phrase is to note that God would receive her with that love as if she had been a pure virgin and he would never upbraid her former departing from him you have beene an adulteresse beare your shame but for my own Names sake I will be content to receive you again No but I will beâroth you unto me you shall be as now taken to me and your sins shall be no more remembred they shall be as if they had never been committed When God pardoneth sin he will remember it no more the Lord will never charge upon sinners their former sins And if God will not remember the sins of his people of his repenting people to charge them upon them we should not remember them to up brayd them for them what ever they have been before if now converted it is too much boldnesse in any of us to upbraid them for any of their former sins I remember Beza tells of himselfe that the Papists upbraided him much for the sinnes of his youth for his lascivious Poems he made before his conversion but Beza answers them thus Hi homines invident mihi graciam divinam these men envy me the grace of God I will betroth thee unto mee yea I will betroth thee unto me I will even betroth thee unto me The repenting Church might say How is it possible that such an adulteresse who hath been so vile who hath been so impudent in her wayes of forsaking the blessed God her glorious husband who hath so long continued in filthy whordoms should yet expect to receive mercy What this mercy to be betrothed to God to be taken as if she were a chast Spouse before him Yes saith God I will do it and therefore it is repeated three times for the assurance of the humbled repenting Church that God will again betroth himselfe unto her and that with some Emphasis I will betroth yea I will betroth even I will betroth there is betrething and betrothing and betrothing and I and I and I shewing how much the heart of God is in this thing As if God