the Devill Babylon was the Malignant Church the Sinke of Sinne the stall of Beasts the Throne of Idols the Temple of Devills and mother of confusion No place more infamous for their pride and tyranny their cruelty and Idolatry well might Sion be weary of such a loathsome prison and noisome dungeon which could not but be offensive by its stench and darknesse even as Babylon the great is the Habitation of Devills the Strong hold of foule spirits Rev. 18. 2. The 3d. Reason is taken from the Terminus ad Quem the place unto which they were called unto Ierusalem unto Sion Every motion takes its denomination from its Terminus ad Quem but here even the Travailers themselves who were to move take their Title from that Place unto which they moved The people are called Sion because they were called forth to goe to Sion Deliver thy self O Zion Sion was a place beloved of God and all his people the people were in love with Sion with respect to Gods Election institution Promise Blessing God had chosen that place for his Seat of speciall Residence and did there exhibite himselfe to his people by a visible presence Moreover God had by a speciall Institution recorded his name and set up his ordinances in Sion and therefore the Temple was to be built againe on that mountaine the Jewes were confined to a certaine place to Sion Some parts of publique worship were so appropriated to that place that they were to be performed there and no where else Deut. 12. 13 14. Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest but in the place which the Lord shall chuse in one of the Tribes there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee The particular offerings are more distinctly specified in the 11. verse of the same Chapter Your burnt offerings and your sacrifices your tithes and the heave-offering of your hand and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord Finally God had promised a blessing to all them who came up to Sion to worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holinesse At first there was a generall promise given Exo 20. 24. In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and I will blesse thee But when God had chosen Ierusalem for the Seat of Royalty the place of Justice and Sion as the Mountain of Holinesse and place of publique Worship then all the Tribes were to go to Ierusalem for Justice and to Sion to sacrifice Psal. 122. 4 5. Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord For there are set Thrones of Iudgement the Thrones of the house of David The poor people had long been deprived of the benefit of Iustice and the liberty of Religion but now God had promised by his Prophet Zechary that their Common-wealth should be setled their Church established their City and Temple both new builded Zech. 1. 16 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Ierusalem with mercies my house shall be built in it saith the Lord of Hoasts my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem The first Temple was as glorious as Art and cost could make it but God who hath gold and silver heaven and earth at his disposing had passed his word to them that he would shake heaven and earth sea and land and fill the latter house with the glory of the Lord Jesus who is the desire and glory of all Nationa Haggai 2. from the 6. verse to the 9. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hoasts the silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hoasts the glory of this latter House shall be greater then of the former c. The Prophet you see had good reason to invite them to new Jerusalem here below a kinde of heaven upon earth to Sion the habitation of Iustice and mount of Holinesse the praise of the Jews the glory of the Gentiles the House of God and Type of Heaven Fourthly God had now removed all rubs he had opened the Kings heart and the prison doors if they would be active it was in their own power to deliver themselves and therefore the Prophet calls upon them to use their power and to take that fair opportunity which was offered for their deliverance and their glory Deliver thy self O Zion Why Zion wilt thou be a Felo de Se thy shackles are knockt off the Poâ—ts are open the Commission is now sealed come be not cruell to thy self what wilt thou be thine own tormentour thine own prisoner Before the seventy years were expired thou wast detained in Babylon thou wast a prisoner there but now thy time is out and therefore if thou stayest longer yet thou are not a Prisoner but a dweller in Babylon Deliver thy self O Zion that dwellest in Babylon There 's the Emphasis and strength of the Prophets exhortation The Use of this Point is to stirre up the Christian Zion all true Protestants to deliver themselves from Antichristian Babylon from the Babylonish army the Babylonish Church The Iâ—wish Zion had a miraculous deliverance from the Assyrian Babylon though God be the Lord of Hosts and hath all armies at his command yet Zion was to be delivered not by might or by the power of an Army but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts by the Immediate hand of God Zech. 4. 6. But I doe not find that Christian Zion shall be delivered upon such easie termes from Antichristian Babylon doe not â—latter your selves with vaine hopes our deliverance will cost bloud 1. This is cleare to any man that hath studied the booke of the Revelation what upon prayer study God hath revealed by the clear Texts of the Revelation I will this day deliver unto you though I were sure to die S. Iohns death or to be banisht into S. Iohns Iland The God of heaven give us a further Revelation of this Revelation that it may be interpreted by the same Spirit by which it was written S. Iohn tels me that the Spirits of Devills shall go forth to the Kings of the earth of the whole world to gather them to Armageddon to the battel of that great day of God Almighty Rev. 16. 14. 16. Secondly I know it is a great while yet to that great battell yet the Spirits will be Scouting out long before And sure these Spirits have been at worke of late in Ireland England Scotland too the Babylonians are active must the precious sonnes of Sion be meerely
Passive No they must all List themselves under the King of Kings whose vesture will be dipt in Anti-Christian bloud For as S. Iohn shewes that the whore the beast the false Prophet the Kings of the earth and the Devill joyne forces and gather their armies together So will the Omnipotent Lambe whose name is the Word of God judge in righteousnesse and make war Rev. 19. 11. He will overthrow the spirituall Iurisdiction of Anti-Christ by his Word and Spirit by that sharpe sword which goes out of his mouth ver. 15. the consciences of men shall be so convinced by the powerfull preaching of the Gospell that Anti-Christ shall no longer sit as God in the Temple of God in the consciences of men which are the peculiar Temple of God and for this reason the Anti-Christian faction doth so violently oppose all powerfull preaching But then for the Temporall dominion of Anti-Christ Iesus Christ hath prepared a Rod of Iron which shall breake in pieces all his usurped power and dominion like an earthen vessel because he hath his power from earth and not by any ordinance from Heaven Christ will come and over-rule him with a Rod of Iron and tread the Wine presse of the fiercenesse wrath of Almighty God Rev. 19. 15. and in that day of wrath Christ will have an army in the field Rev. 19. 19. And I saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth their armies gathered together to make war against him that sate on the horse and against his Army Behold the Noble Army of the Lord â—esus and observe further that it is such an Army as is stirred up to fight from Scripture motives not from Politique consideratious and therefore it is added in the 21. ver. That their bodies were slaine with that sword which proceeded out of the mouth of Christ yet it was a bodily slaughter for it followes all the Fowles were filled with their flesh and no marvaile if these souldiers were encouraged to fight up-Scripture-motives if you consider what kinde of souldiers they are who doe the deed Men Chosen and Faithfull For when the Kings of the earth have given their power to the Beast these choise-souldiers will be so faithfull to the King of Kings as to oppose the Beast though armed with King-like power So S. Iohn These Kings have one minde and shall give their power and strength to the Beast These shall make war with the Lambe and the Lambe shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are Called and Chosen and Faithfull Rev. 17. 13 14. You see the faithfull people make no scruple at all of fighting against the Beast though their enemies were like enough to say that by fighting against the Beast they did rebell against their owne Kings who had given their power and strength unto the Beast Mark what that Text saith they were called to this service chosen and pickt out on purpose therefore they had not been faithfull had they deserted the Cause and refused the service Nay they are encouraged to war by a promise of victory and therefore are resolved to fight against the Beast though hee come armed with the power and strength of ten Kings so S. Iohn I could now tell you a long story of the King of Spaine another of the King of France but the times call upon me to speak plain and home and yet I will not speake Treason neither To what end should we waste time about a discourse of Hull and the Militia Come speake to the point If a King of the Protestant Profession should give his strength and power to his Queene a Papist and she give it to the Iefuits to the Beast it is neither Rebellion nor Treason to fight for the King to recover his power out of the hand of the Beast I say for the King that the power being regained may be setled upon the Kings Royall person and posterity and then it is to be hoped that the King they will take warning and beware how they trust out their power another time We are engaged to fight against the Anti-Christian faction by our very Baptisme Vocati sumus ad hanc Militiam Dei vivi iam tunc cum in Sacramenti verba respondimus as Tertullian to the Martyrs But the Socinians and Anabaptists so much complained of do here cast in a scruple We Christians say they are called to faith charity and therefore it doth not become us to go to war It is true Christians are called to faith and therefore to desend the faith they must contend earnestly for the faith and be valiant for the truth The Apostle reckons acts of valour amongst acts of faith Through faith they waxed valiant in fight c. Much more is it an act of faith to be valiant in the defence of the faith an act of Justice and Religion so Augustin And if you talk of charity consider that of the Authour Omnes omnium charitates Patria complectitur Cic. off l. 1. give me leave to say Christus complectitur That is not true charity which will not consist with faith Be charitable to thine own soul and the Church of God Love thy Countrey thy Religion and thy Saviour better then thy estate thy life thy friends be out of charity with the Whore and the Beast they are fitter objects of thy hatred then of thy charity nay we must hate the Whore and burn her flesh there is no mercy to be shewen to this Whore she will never be quiet till she is burnt It concerns the Governours of Sion who are as the * Angels of the Lord to thrust in their sickle into the Romish vineyard cut down vine and grapes and all because it is the Vine of earth it is not the Vine of heaven all the Antichristian clusters must be gathered together and thrown into thegreat Wine-presse of the wrath of God and when once the Wine-presse comes to be troden beleeve it blood will spring up to the very Horse-bridles for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs Revel. 14. 19 20. This prophecy hath reference to that great slaughter which shall be made Revel. 19. when the Lord Jesus shall come to tread the Wine-presse vers. 15. You may guesse further yet at the greatnesse of the slaughter by the invitation of the fowls of heaven to supper at the latter end of the day Come gather your selves together unto the supper of the great God verse 16. You may read the bill of fare in the 18. verse Come ye fowls of heaven Come eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great This Prophesie shall not be fulfilled till the pouring out of the last vial for this is the last
blow it will prove a bloody and a fatall Day for the seventh Angel pours out his vial and cries the deed is done 't is finished when all the Babylonian troops shall be gathered to Armageddon the destruction of troops as the word imports The Beast shall receive many a wound before but this blow shall dispatch him he shall never hold up his head more Deliver thy self then O Zion Christ is the great Deliverer but though Christ be Principall we must be Instrumentall in this great work of our own deliverance Deliver thy self O Zion and if thou canst not be delivered without fighting fight for thy deliverance 1. Consider that Rome is Babylon St. Iohn never speaks one good word of Rome quite thorowout the book of the Revelation he calls it Egypt or Sodom or Babylon the throne of the Beast the strong-hold of foul-spirits the habitation of Devils Rome was once the Spouse of Christ but behold she is not onely turned an whore but the mother of Harlots and fornications the Metropolis of Apostasie and mystery of Iniquity the great whore Revel. 17. 1. a blasphemous whore in the third verse a whore in purple verse the fourth an impudent whore that hath her beastlinesse written not onely upon her Cell but upon her Forehead verse the fifth a drunken whore a bloody whore in the sixth verse I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints with the blood of the Martyrs of Iesus We need not run to Antiquity to ask their opinion what whore and what beast this is or where this whore dwells St. Iohn speaks so plain that the * Jesuits themselves are forced to confesse that this whore was to domineer at Rome It is the City which is built upon seven Hills which had had so many governments five of which were fallen before St. Iohn writ this Book Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvirs Dictatours one remains still saith St. Iohn namely the government of Emperours and the other that of Popes was not then come And that we might be sure not to mistake St. Iohn tells us that it is the great City which reigned over the Kings of the earth in his time Revel. 17. 18. 2. Consider who is the Generall or the Commander in Chief of the Babylonian Army St. Iohn hath set him forth like a God of the world with Titles enough the Serpent the Dragon the Angel of the bottomlesse-pit for 't is he that gives all the orders and directions to Antichrist He advises him to lay claim to a Power which belongs not to him Irenaeus long since hath clearly shewn that the Beast with two horns and the False Prophet are but one and the same Beast Learned Mr. Mede hath shewn that the Beast with ten horns doth signifie the Secular Power of ten Kingdoms who by the impious subtilty of the Dragon combine together to make a Body a Romish Common-wealth the Beast with two Horns is as you use to call it the Ecclesiasticall Power The ten Kings or Kingdoms were to make up but one Beast of burthen for the Whore to ride upon that is they all joyn together to support the Whore and therefore these ten Horns are all placed upon the seventh Head that is they strengthen the last government the Popish government Now as the great Dragon did manage the whole businesse whilest that Heathenisme was supported by the power of the Romane Emperours as St. Iohn shews in the twelfth Chapter of the Revelation so doth the Dragon over-rule the whole businesse in the time of the Antichristian Popes as St. Iohn shews in the thirteenth Chapter for the Dragon gave the Beast his Power and his Seat and great Authority Revel. 13. 3. and they worshipped the Dragon who gave power to the Beast verse the fourth and therefore the Beast is said to ascend out of the bottomlesse pit Revel. 17. 8. If you look upon the Pope as Bishop of Rome so he came up out of the earth his Ordination was not from heaven but if you look upon him as Pope as Universall Bishop a Temporall Monarch a King even of kings we say he had 〈◊〉 blacker Institution he ascended out of the bottomlesse-pit Take it thus then Satan had his Seat in Heathen Rome but he hath his Throne in Popish Rome ever since the Romane Court hath had the confidence to call it self the Catholique Church it hath offered more violence and done more mischief to the true Church of Christ then ever was done by the Romane Empire and therefore as the 7. trumpets did sound an Alarme against the Romane Empire so the 7. vials are all to be poured out upon the Popish Empire the Anti-christian State 3. Consider that where the Pope and his Agents prevail by a Babylonian Army there they do constantly exercise a Babylonian Tyranny When the people were so mad as to prefer Caesar before Christ God gave them into the hand of the Romane Emperour and he tyrannized over them and God would not deliver them just as he threatned before-hand by his Prophet Zechary 11. 6. I will deliver the men every one into his neighbours hand and into the hand of his King and they shall smite the land and out of their hand will I not deliver them The Emperour did smite the land indeed but the Pope of Rome will tyrannize far worse then the Emperour If ever God for our sins sell us into the hand of that Man of sinne he will not onely tyrannize over our bodies and estates but over our consciences too If ever he enter England with his tripple-crown with his sword in one hand and his keyes in the other he will tyrannize like a Pope he will curtall our Creed and yet enlarge it I beleeve in the holy Catholike Church that is as they interpret it too often in the Pope that must be our onely Creed and we shall finde that a large one We must a swear obedience to the Popes Commands they say that vow of obedience is implied in their Baptisme and therefore they name the Trinity but for fashion sake and do indeed baptize their children in the name of Antichrist Now if the Popes Commands are in force and the Commands of God dispensed with the Commands of the Pope will soon justle out the Commands of God You know the Pope hath by the b Plenitude of his power struck out the second Commandment and by the same authority he may when he please strike out the first Commandment and by consequent all the rest and then he may make a new Preface and a new Decalogue if that number will content him he may say as the c Extravagant saith that he himself is the Lord our God who desires to bring us into the land of Aegypt the house of bondage he should do well to put in that where we shall have no other God but the Pope for he exalts himself above all that is called God
present estate we have no reason at all to communicate with him but all the reason in the world to separate from him 3. Deliver your selves from Babylon by a thorow Reformation Do not wonder that I talk of a Reformation after separation for you must separate before you can reforme there is an untoward generation which will never be reformed take St. Peters counsell Acts 2. 40. Save your selves from that untoward generation and then reforme and consider withall that you are like to finde a great many men that will be forward enough to separate and yet unwilling to reforme Do you think there are no States-men who love the Mount of Moriah better then Mount Sion they would prefer the State but no matter for the Church they care not if it sink and perish I could wish that these Secular men just of Gallio's temper would consider that when the Iews thought they might preserve their State if they did curry favour with the Romanes and reject Christ God made them slaves to the Romans for rejecting of Christ 〈◊〉 need not apply In the 11th Chap. of our Prophet Zechary we read of two staves the staffe of Beauty and the staffe of Bands When the people broke Covenant with God by disobeying the Ordinances of God and rejecting Christ then God cut his staffe of Beauty asunder and broke that Church-Covenant the externall Covenant which he had made with that people ver. the tenth he did unchurch them deprive them of his Ordinances which are the strength the beauty the glory of a Nation and therefore are called the staffe of Beauty Observe a little farther that when the staffe of Beauty was broken it was not long ere the staffe of Bands was cut asunder Then I cut asunder my other staffe even Bands ver. 14. Then When Why when they undervalued the Lord Jesus they thought him worth but 30. pieces a goodly price read the 12. and 13. verses Then I cut asunder my other staffe I broke the brotherhood between Judah and Israel they were in a word deprived of Gods Ordinances and given up to Civill-wars the ninth verse of that Chapter doth sufficiently expresse their misery Then said I I will not feed you that that dieth let it die and that that is to be cut off let it be cut off and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another If that be not full enough read the sixth vers I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land saith the Lord but lo I will deliver the men every one into his neighbours hand and into the hand of his King and they shall smite the land and out of their hand I will not deliver them A sad Text Learn from hence That when a people are Un-churched they are undone if you desire to preserve the State be sure to preserve the Church and if you desire to preserve the Church O then reform it and do it suddenly too for fear the disease grow too strong for Remedies Beleeve it that part of England which adheres to the Babylonish faction and will not be reformed that part must be deserted there is good ground for it Jerem. 51. 9. We would have healed Babylon but she is not healed forsake her that's plain-English But what needs a Reformation say some were not our Fathers wise and honest men what need we be more wise or pure then they were they lived happily here on earth in peace and plenty and they do now triumph gloriously in heaven what can be desired more 1. I answer Many of our Fathers were honest and some of them very wise in their generations considering their light and their means we enjoy their labours the fruits of their wisdoms and God be praised a more glorious light and therefore no marvaile if we see some things more clearly then our Fathers did 2. Again our Fathers saw many things amisse which they were not able to reform 3. Had our Fathers enjoyed the same happy light which shines round about us and those fair opportunities which God hath let fall from heaven into our lap there is no question but they would have reformed more in one year then we have done in two Parsons observes that the Parliament of England in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reign rejected the Catholike Doctrin Popish Doctrins he means but saith he they retained something of the Catholike use in the whole government of their Church and therefore Mr. Cartwright found fault with them and shewed them what was yet farther to be reformed but Scotland saith Parsons Holland Zeland and some parts of France followed Mr Cartwrights way but Bishop Bancroft was the principall opposer of this faction he meanes Reformation in England You see Mr Cartwright did what he could but Bishop Bancroft and the Babylonian faction were too potent contrary to the judgment of Sion of the Reformed Churches abroad Bancroft prevailed for he suggested that this discipline of Sion would not onely overthrow the Babylonish Monarchy but the English Monarchy also But it should have been considered and let it be considered now 1 That the government of the Church is not a Monarchicall no Monarch save Christ alone is Head and King of the Church though every Monarch that 's truly Christian be a King in the Church For it is one thing to be a King in the Church and another to be King over the Church 2. Every King as a member of the Church is in an Ecclesiasticall sense subject to the discipline of the Church for such a kind of subjection will well consist with his Civill Soveraignty because it is not a Civill Subjection Judicious b Camero was a man very tender of pitching upon any conclusion which might be prejudiciall unto Kingly power and he useth an excellent similitude to illustrate this point As it is in the cure of the body so is it in the cure of the Soule now a King for the Cure of his body must patiently yeeld himselfe to his College of Physitians for though he rule over them as a King yet he must be ruled by them as a patient In like manner a wise King will and every King ought to be perswaded by the College Ecclesiasticall in point of discipline to obey the Rules and orders of Iesus Christ for the King in this point doth not obey the College but Christ himselfe 3. It is well knowne that Kings and Emperours have beene subjected to Episcopall and too often enslaved by Prelaticall power Who knowes not that the Bishop of Millaine c would not admit the Emperour to the Communion till he had repented of that outrage and bloudshed at Thessalonica which was occasioned by the Emperours passionate Command It is generally confessed that Ambrose did well in rejecting the Emperour from the Communion and that the Emperour was no lesse an Emperour and a farre better man by submitting to a Minister of the Gospell preaching and administring some part of the discipline of
see what reason we have to Protest against that Babylonian sacrifice in the Masse You have now received the knowledge of this truth and if you sinne wilfully after you have received the knowledge of the truth it is principally meant of this truth there remains no more sacrifice for sinne because ye have wilfully and maliciously rejected the Onely All-sufficient Sacrifice of Jesus Christ trusting upon some other Sacrifice that of the Masse or the like and done despite to the Spirit by a most malignant contempt of the witnesse of the Spirit What argument can be more prevailing to perswade us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith the Protestant Faith lest we fall from a coldnesse and neutrality in Religion into a desperate malignity and unpardonable Apostasie Away with Babylonish Gestures Names and Titles Rites and Ceremonies away with Babylonish Garments too our professed Babylonians begin now to air the mouldy Copes they wear the Babylonish Garment that they may have the wedge of gold and in their own phrase they dissemble under a Cope and are if you will beleeve them Protestants in their Hearâ—s Our Prophet Zechariah will informe you how to deal with these men Put them into an Ephah that they may be kept within compasse within their bounds by severe discipline and clap a talent of lead a weighty censure upon the mouth of the Ephah Zech. 5. 8. Let the Ephah be lifted up on high between heaven and earth verse 9. that is let the sentence be so Publike that all may take notice of it and then let the Ephah be carried away quite out of Sion and let an house be built for it in the land of Shinar that is Babylon ver. the 11th let their Habitation be there from whence they drew their Corruption for there they may settle upon their own Base their own Lees their own corrupt Principles If such as are Notorious and Incorrigible were Excommunicated by an Assembly of Divines and some Civill-punishment inflicted upon such as are within your reach by an Ordinance of Parliament the sinne would not be Nationall men would see and fear and do no more so wickedly in England For the sharpest punishments are inflicted onely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by way of Prudence for terrour and reformation not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by way of retribution for no punishment inflicted by man can possibly countervail a sin against God 2. Make Gods Authority your Foundation build upon it it is an Impregnable Rock though the windes blow the rain beat the waves roar and dash themselves into Foame yet your House wil stand and your Orders can never be disanulled if built upon the Rock Make Gods word alone the Rule of Reformation and keep close to your Rule and then all your Orders will be acknowledged to be Responsa prudentum and such as deserve to be Rescripta Principum this is the way to make your Orders prevail not onely by your Authority but by their Own Authority 3. Pray for the Holy Spirit for the Spirit gives both Light and eyes You will meet with so many new sinnes new dangers new temptations new mercies new troubles that you had need beg hard for a spirit of Prayer that you may be able to make new Prayers every hour severall Prayers upon severall occasions Sion must prevail by Prayer Sion was the Mount of Prayer there was the house of Prayer this is as they use to call it in some Reformed-Churches a Prayer-day but every day must now be a day of prayer extraordinary prayer we must spend more time then ordinary in our private devotions Get ye up to Mount Olivet and there pray for Mount Sion joyn heads and purses and forces and prayers together Josuah's sword will not prevail without Moses his prayer Be of good comfort though your enemies can out-swear you yet they cannot out-pray you If they be a thousand thousand strong and march against you with all their might Call upon the Name of the Lord and rest upon your God Asa did so and by the prayer of faith prevailed against a thousand thousand Ethiopians and three hundred Chariots 2 Chron. 14. 9 to the 12th verse Oh send to France and Ireland and Germany for their experimentall Prayers 4. Humiliation is an excellent Preparative for Reformation and there is no duty more pertinent to the Text and proper not onely for this day but for these times In those dayes and in that time saith the Prophet Jeremy the 50. Chap. and the 4. verse what times what dayes why when the children of Israel shall come out of Babylon they and the children of Iudah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God Honourable and Beloved let us this day seek our God with tears if ye would be Princes with God and have power with him as Prince Jacob had you must weep and make supplication in Bethel the house of God there God will be found and there here he hath spoke with you to day read the twelfth of Hoseah the third and fourth verses Blessed be our great God who did put it into your hearts to draw up a Catalogue of the sins of this Nation O that you would weep over every sin in that Catalogue before you sleep O let us read our sins in those miseries which are come upon us We have nourished Malignant lusts within us which rebell against the spirit and fight against the soul we have made sport past-time with those sins which shed the blood of the Lord Jesus O let those sins draw tears from us which drew blood from Christ We have grieved the holy Spirit and therefore well may the Spirit refuse to comfort us who haue grieved him Well may the God of heaven bathe his sword in our blood and make the land â—at with our carcasses for we have forfeited our very Estates and lives we do not deserve one bit of bread or drop of water justly may God feed us with the bread of sorrows and give us tears to drink We would not serve God with joyfulnesse for the abundance of all things and therefore well might God send us to serve our enemies in the want of all things Deut. 28. 47 48 Behold the heaven is as brasse and the earth as iron because we have had a brazen brow and there is an iron sinew in our necks we have gone on impudently and stubbornly in our sinnes Gods Doctrine hath dropped as the raine and distilled as the dew but not as the dew upon the tender herbe for our hearts have not been tender our lives have not been fruitfull well might our unfruitfulnesse be the cause of the lands barrennesse We have abused Gods blessings for the maintenance of our pride luxury wantonnesse we have sought against God with his owne blessings and therefore he hath good reason to disarme us Oh let us weepe for Ireland weepe for England weepe for the King
Tim. 5. 24 25. In the last place let us make it our saddest businesse to reform our own particular persons Honourable and Beloved are there no sinnes amongst you even amongst you Quis custodiet ipsos custodes Have the Reformers no need of Reformation turn your eyes inward tell me sadly what do you discover there are there no Babylonish Inmates protected there such as can never be defended are there no unruly passions no unmortified lusts no self-ends or sinister respects such as beg your priviledge and enjoy your favour These these are the Brats of Babylon O happy thrice happy shall he be who takes these Infant-lusts before they are grown up and dasheth them against the Rock as it is in Ps. 137. ver. 9. This is the proper work of a Fast What have you done to day You have sate here five or six hours and missed a dinner Is this the Fast that God hath chosen is this all that he requires of you Doth he not command you to humble your souls to break your hearts to afflict your spirits to mortifie your lusts deny your selves reform your lives take up your crosse and follow Christ Will you cut off your right hands and pull out your right eyes Will you take Christs yoak upon your necks his burthen upon your shoulder Will you lay down your honours your estates your lives at the feet of Jesus Christ Will ye live to him and if he calls you to it will you die for him If you have wrought your hearts to this temper to day then you have fasted to the Lord God takes notice of your zeal you beat down Crosses and Images but take heed you do not leave some idols standing in your own bosomes Is there no lust of covetousnesse or lust of uncleannesse no pride ambition envie malice enshrined within your hearts Down down with these You know there are Idola saeculi as well as Idolatemplâ— {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sunt {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} all your lusts must be Anathematized Cursed that they may like the fig-tree after it was cursed die and wither at their very root Tell me is not selfe-love an Idoll is it not the great Whore is not lust a Beast a Monster with many heads and horns Oh hate this Whore mortifie selfe-love and you stab the Beast to the heart for self-love is the very heart and soul of Originall sinne it is the last enemy which will be destroyed it was primum vivens and it will be ultimum moriens Come then let us beat down our bodies and cry to God to humble our souls and beat down our corruptions let not onely Reason Vote down your lusts but Faith and Zeal pray them down The precious sons of Sion are most troubled with this same Babylon within and therefore they do make most frequent and penitent complaints against themselves and put up most zealous prayers to God to give them power and victory over their head-strong and stomackfull corruptions and in their prayers their faith ever closes with such promises as assure them of grace enough to resist temptations and mortifie their corruptions this is the way to keep a faithfull penitent holy zeaelous heavenly Fast This is to fast as our Saviour did who made it his meat and drink to do the will of his Father Be pleased to consider that you must not only beat down Babylon but build up Sion Sion is built by faith and holinesse In the first place then 1. Look to your faith The walls of Babylon like the walls of Jericho are battered down by faith all the faithfull prisoners in Babylon whose hearts were sprinkled by the blood of the Covenant were prisoners of hope and therefore were sure to be delivered from the bottomlesse-pit in which there is no water for Babylon was a type of Hell As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water Zechar. 9. 11. Beasts live by sense Heathens live by reason Christians must live by faith they must mortifie their lusts renounce their merits rest onely upon Christs perfect obedience and full satisfaction for their justification for we cannot be Constituted righteous but by the obedience of Christ Rom. 5. 19. In this faith let us live in this let us die 2. Study Holinesse Holinesse is the beauty of Sion for there they were to worship God in the beauty of holinesse there can be no beauty in our souls no glory in our Congregations without holinesse Sion was the Mount of holinesse Zech. 8. 3. Holinesse is the end of Humane society Vtque alios alii de Relligione docerent Contiguas Pietas jussit habere domos Certainly this Age is even grown Barbarous or else Holinesse which is the end of Humane society and the life of Christian society would never be contemned and despised as it is now adayes in this wicked generation O what a base thing is it for a Nation to be ashamed of its glory and to glory in its shame Men think it a base thing for to be holy and yet God himself is glorious in Holinesse Exod. 15. 11. Certainly if this Nation would be glorious in Holinesse Gods right hand would be glorious in power and dash our enemies to pieces Exod. 15. 6. Without holinesse we cannot have any intimate acquaintance with God or good men We long for Peace but Peace is a Iewell which God gives to none but those that are of his acquaintance Iob 22 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace thereby good shall come unto thee A godly life is the life of God those that were strangers to a godly life are said to be alienated or estranged from the life of God Ephes. 4. 18. They then that strike at holinesse strike at the life of God and have a kinde of Atheisticall murther in their thoughts they would lay the Church a bleeding let out the very heart-blood of Religion and take away the life of God If England will not be holy it cannot be happy if we continue in our lukewarmnesse and profanenesse Wo wo be unto us though it go well with Sion it will go ill with us Sion was preserved even when Ierusalem was destroyed and England may be destroyed for its unthankfulnesse unfruitfulnesse heresie idolatry lukewarmnesse and profanenesse c. and yet the Church preserved for the Church is not confined to any place It concerns us then to be such manner of men in all holy conversation 2 Pet. 3. 11. such pilgrims on earth and citizens of heaven that it may appear that we seek a better Countrey an Heavenly and then God will not be ashamed to be called our God Heb. 11. 16. But if we go about spirituall duties with carnall hearts and worldly mindes if we lie at catch waiting for a fair opportunity to return into Egypt the God of heaven will be ashamed to own us for his people Heb.