Almighty God that he of his great Goodness and for the sake of our dear Lord and Saviour would be pleased freely to pardon and forgive us our great Wickedness that makes such a great separation and distance between us and our God That we may call for and seek to procure a supernatural Assistance from above to keep us from being born away with such a black Stream and Tide of Wickedness as is now ready to break in upon us That we may all be awakened out of our carnal and vain Security and prepare for such an extraordinary coming of Almighty God among us That every one may make clean his own Door against this signal Approach that no Wickedness which is so loathsom to God may be found thereat That Warning may be given and such a Preparation made do I purpose by God's help to say something upon these words of the Prophet wherein this Warning was to be given to the Jews of the Day of the Lord being at hand to them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land Tremble for the Day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand In these words we may observe these three Particulars First That the Trumpet was to be blown and an Alarm to be sounded in God's Church and among his People Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain Secondly That all were to hearken to and regard the sound thereof and to be moved to fear and trembling upon it Let all the Inhabitants of the Land Tremble And Thirdly The Reason of it because a great Visit and Judgment of God upon them was then at hand for the Day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand I purpose to say something to every one of these Particulars but to begin with the last first I. For the Day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand I intend not to trouble my self nor you with any deep Inquiry what Day of the Lord this was which the Prophet here declared to be coming and nigh at hand The Day of the Lord as it is a day and season of Terror and to be prepared for doth signifie several Days and Times 1. The Day of the Lord doth point at the great and final Day of Judgment when our Lord and Saviour shall come in a most glorious manner to judge the whole World and to reward every one according to his works when the Heavens shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat when the Earth and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up as St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 3.10 And when all sinners that repent not of their wickedness shall be given up to that everlasting Fire that was prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matt. 25.41 This is the most eminent and dreadful Day of the Lord of all 2. The Day of the Lord in the Scriptures doth often respect some Temporal Judgment and Calamity that God doth bring or is bringing upon a Land or Nation for the great sin and wickedness thereof And such doth this Day of the Lord here seem to be 3. The Day of the Lord may be referred to particular Men tho' the Scripture doth not seem often to use the Day of the Lord with respect to single Persons only When God doth send some great Judgment and Calamity upon single Persons it may be looked upon as a Day of the Lord's wrath to them And the day of their Death may well be accounted as such And indeed a terrible day of the wrath of God will it be to them if they be surprised and snatch'd away in their sins without Repentance We may see what a miserable case the Fool in the Parable was in who was snatch'd away in the midst of his Jollity when he was singing Requiems to his Soul and promising himself great joy and happiness to come Luke 12.20 But God said unto him Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Like a Dream and a Vapor will all such Worldly confidence and trust leave Men and into this Fool 's Paradise will such be brought The things wherein they trust like the Morning Cloud will soon vanish away and they from their high confidence will drop into the Pit of Destruction We read of the Rich Man Luke 16.22 That he died and was buried and immediately after it follows That in Hell he lift up his eyes being in Torments We may see that the day of Death especially to sinners that die without Repentance may well be looked upon as a day of the Lord and a dreadful one too to them But here the words of the Prophet do seem to respect some temporal and publick Judgment and Calamity of God upon the Jewish Land and Nation and are to be ranked in the second place But what kind of Judgment and Calamity this was which the Prophet here gives this Warning of is not agreed Some do conceive that this day of the Lord here in the Text was a sore and grievous Famine and Calamity brought upon the Jews by Locusts Catterpillers and the like Creatures And some places in this Prophecy of Joel do seem to give testimony this way Joel 1.4 saith the Prophet That which the Palmer-worm hath left hath the Locust eaten and that which the Locust hath left hath the Canker-worm eaten and that which the Canker-worm hath left hath the Catterpiller eaten And v. 18. How do the Beasts groan The Herds of Cattel are perplexed because they have no Pasture And Joel 2.25 And I will restore to you the years that the Locust hath eaten the Canker-worm and the Catterpiller and the Palmer-worm my great Army which I sent among you These and such places do give countenance to this Interpretation that this day of the Lord was a sore judgment of Famine upon the Land of the Jews occasioned by Locusts Catterpillers and such Creatures and that by Famine and other ways they were sorely afflicted by them And we may see in the Book of Exodus chap. 10. That Locusts were one of the great Plagues and Judgments that God sent upon the Egyptians And with a plague of Locusts doth God threaten to scourge his People the Jews if they should revolt and fall from him to Idolatry Deut. 28.38 42. Again some do conceive that this day of the Lord might be some great Destruction and Waste that was to be brought upon them by the Armies of the Assyrians and Chaldeans c. that they were to be plagued and scourged by them And some places in this Prophecy do agree herewith Joel 1.6 For a Nation is come up upon my land strong and without number whose teeth are as the teeth of a lion and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion And Joel 2.2 A great people and a strong there hath not been ever the like
Reason offereth and make Men's hearts to fail them and recoil back upon them and turn all into confusion and disorder without and within too These fill Men's minds full of horror and amazement and make their Faces to gather blackness and set their Limbs a tottering and quaking And this farther shews how dreadful and astonishing these Judgments of God will be when they surprize Men in this manner when they are careless and secure and do not prepare themselves against them by clearing their hands of all wickedness and by calling upon God for pardon and mercy and help Secondly We may see as for matter of Fact that God hath often sent great and dreadful Judgments upon the Inhabitants of the World for their great Sin and Wickedness when they have been ripe for Judgment We may see that God hath often brought the days of Vengeance upon them when they have in a manner totally revolted from him and become rebellious against the Light And we may see that the Wicked and Unrighteous have been surprized with such Judgments when they thought not of them or believed them not and have been swept away with the Beesom of Destruction when they expected it not For the great wickedness thereof did God destroy the old World and swept them away with a prodigious Flood of Water Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth And Gen. 7.21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth both of fowl and of cattel and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth and every man This heavy judgment did God send upon them for their Wickedness when they were so wholly given up to it and made this total riddance of all Mankind but Noah and his Family And with this Deluge of Water were they all surprized when they expected it not as our Lord sheweth Matt. 24.37 But as the days of Noe were so shall also the coming of the Son of man be For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be In this unexpected manner were they all wrapt up in destruction before they were well sensible of it In a prodigious manner with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven did God destroy the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the grievous Sin and Wickedness of them Gen. 28.20 And the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous And Gen. 19.13 For we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it And v. 24 25. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground In this astonishing manner did God destroy these Cities for their egregious Wickedness and consume them with the Fire of his Wrath And the very Ground where these Cities stood is turned into that Lake which is called the Dead-Sea or the Sea of the Plain And in this terrible Destruction were all these Sinners surprized and thought not of it till the Flame was all about them and had seized upon them Luke 17.28 29. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all Here our Lord doth shew how they were surprized with this Fire from Heaven when they thought not of such a thing but were busie in pursuing their Sins and worldly Concerns For their wickedness did God send sundry Judgments and Plagues upon the Egyptians as we may see in the Book of Exodus And at the last in a surprising manner overwhelmed them in the Red Sea Exod. 14.23 And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the Red Sea even all Pharaoh 's Horses and his Chariots and his Horsemen And v. 27. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the Sea and the Sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared and the Egyptians fled against it and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea This surprising destruction swallowed them up at the last For the great wickedness and high provocations of the Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan did God bring a heavy Judgment upon them to destroy and root them out of their own Land by the Children of Israel God delivered the Kingdoms of Sihon and Og to Moses and he Destroyed the Inhabitants thereof Numb 21. And Joshua destroyed 31 Kings on the other side Jordan Joshua 6 And we may see that this heavy judgment of the Sword came upon them to their utter ruin for their great wickedness and abominations Gen. 15.16 saith God to Abraham concerning his Posterity But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Hereby intimating that when their Iniquity was full ripe for Judgment they were to but cut off for it And saith Moses Deut. 18.12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee It is clear that they were driven out and destroyed for their great wickedness and abominable practices And we may see that God's own People the Jews were often scourged by other Nations and sold into their hands for their own wickedness and for revolting from God Judges 2.13 14. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the hands of their Enemis round about so that they could not any longer stand before their Enemies And we may read that God did often punish and afflict them with the neighbouring Nations for their wickedness towards him With the Mesópotamians and Moabites and others Judges 3. with the Canaanites Judg. 4. with the Midianites and others Judg. 6. with the Philistines and Ammonites Judg. 10. With these and others did God often scourge them and afterwards let the Assyrians and Chaldeans carry them away Captive out of their own Land for their Rebellion towards God and backsliding from him and one part of them returned
no more and the other was kept in Captivity for the space of seventy Years as we may see in the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles And as our blessed Lord had told them when they were fallen to great wickedness again That except they repented they should perish as the Galileans did so for want of their repentance and amendment did God send a most heavy Judgment upon them about 38 or 39 Years after our Saviour's Death and the Romans did destroy and root them out of their own Land in the end The Sword of the Enemy without and Famine and Pestilence and intestine Broils within did make most miserable havock of them The Famine was so sharp in Jerusalem that they eat their own Children through extream hunger as Moses long before had told them And the slaughter of the Jews of all sorts that died first and last in the compass of a few Years by Sword Famine and Pestilence was so great that there perished above fourteen hundred Thousand Persons as it is reported By these and the like Examples we may see that God hath often sent very sore and heavy Judgments and Calamities upon the Inhabitants of the World for their great Sin and Rebellion against him And now as for our selves we can plead no exemption from such Judgments of God We have no cause to believe that our Age and our Nation should be free from the Scourges of Divine Providence and the Lashes of God's Rod when others have smarted so sorely under it and been punished in this dreadful manner if we commit Sin and Wickedness as they have done When our sins grow clamorous towards Heaven and ascend up like the Cry of Sodom and call for Judgment upon us we may well expect that God will hear the cry of them and be moved to wrath and come down in vengeance upon us We are to know that our condition is the same with others and that these menaces and threatnings of Judgments and Calamities to others are to be such to us when our sins and transgressions grow great as theirs did and wax ripe for punishment And these Judgments and Plagues that have fallen upon others are to be Warnings to us what we are to expect if we become great transgressors like them as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 10 5-11 Now all these things happened unto them for Examples and they are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come And the 2 Pet. 2.6 And if we do but seriously mind how black and dark our Land is grown with all kind of wickedness and how little Light appears in it how bold and daring Sin and Profaneness is grown and what high Affronts and Provocations are offered against Heaven we may well conclude that the righteous God above will not always keep silence but that his patience and forbearance will be tyred out and that he will come in wrath to revenge himself and to still such Clamors and hideous cries that will not let him rest and to ease himself of his Adversaries and to vindicate his Honour and Worship and Dread here among Men. We may see that the unprofitable Husbandmen were to be destroyed and the Vineyard to be let out to such Husbandmen as should render the Fruits thereof Mat. 21.41 And if we observe how little the blessed word of God is regarded how some have not patience enough to hear it and that others lay it but little to heart and let it have but little influence upon their lives to lead them accordingly we may justly fear that God will not suffer his blessed Word to be so slighted and contemned by us but will remove our Candlestick and his blessed Word and Light from us and leave us to grope in the dark a while that we may know the better how to value such a Mercy when we have suffered a while for want of it And if we do not repent but proceed on in wickedness and add new sins to our old ones if besides our former transgressions and provocations we fall to that gross Idolatry which is in the Roman Church which God declares he so much detests and abhors we may well expect that the Beesom of Destruction will sweep us away in the end and that the Sword or some other Instrument of Divine Vengeance will cut us off at the last And what Judgments soever befall us we are to know that the hand of God is therein and that he suffers them to light upon us for our sin and wickedness And that Men may be prepared against such dreadful Judgments of God and not surprized with them that they may repent and provide for their escape and security at such a time is Warning usually given and so we see it is here II. Here we see that Warning was to be given in the Church and among his People that this dreadful Day of the Lord was coming and nigh at hand to them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain for the Day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand Here the Prophet useth Metaphorical Expressions alluding to the Camp and Military Affairs as I conceive when he bids the Trumpet to be blown and an Alarm to be sounded The Trumpet indeed was used among the Israelites for other purposes besides Martial Affairs viz. to assemble the Congregation for the worship of God and for Consultations c. But here the Prophet having joined the Alarm with it he seemeth to allude to Martial and Military Affairs when the Trumpet is blown and an Alarm is sounded at the sudden and unexpected approach of an Enemy that they might put themselves into as good a posture of defence as is possible for the reception of them that they might be able to stand valiantly against them and not be overcome by such a sudden Assault and be beaten and routed by them And so here the Prophet sheweth that as the Trumpet is to be blown and a loud Alarm to be founded at the unexpected coming of an Enemy so was Proclamation to be made and Warning to be given at the approach and coming of this dreadful Day of the Lord. And this was to be done in Zion that is in Jerusalem the chief City of the Jews for Zion was a part of this Renowned City and in God's Holy Mountain that is where the Sacred Temple of his Worship stood or rather in the Land of Judea where God's peculiar People dwelt which seems here to me to be called God's Holy Mountain From hence I shall endeavour to shew how God doth usually give Warning to all but especially to such as will hearken to his voice and take Warning when such a Day of Judgment and Tribulation and Destruction is coming upon Men that they may prepare for it and for their own safety and security in it Such is the wonderful Love of God to Mankind that he desires not the death of sinner but is earnest with them
warning of this Judgment I doubt not but that he should have had warning that he might have been saved and preserved from this Judgment But such are the ways of those that are hardened in their wickedness and have sold themselves to work evil that no warning of Judgment will work upon them as we see it would not upon Lot's Sons in law And saith Abraham in the Parable concerning the Rich Man's Brethren Luke 16.31 If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead And if the contemners of God's Word will not be persuaded to repent by one rising from the dead and warning them of the fearful Judgments of God in another World which he hath been an eye witness of we may be sure that the temporal Judgments of this Life though dreadful enough will not be able to work upon them but that they will be surprized still with them after they have had fair warning as Lot's Sons in law were When God destroyed the Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan they seem to have had warning of it by the Armies of the Israelites approaching towards them and abiding near them and by that fear that God sent upon them And we may see that Rahab the Harlot that feared God took warning hereat and made preparation that she might escape this Judgment of God upon them Joshua 2.9 And she said unto the men I know that the Lord hath given you the Land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the Inhabitants of the Land faint because of you for we have heard how the Lord dryed up the water of the Red Sea when ye came out of Egypt and what you did unto the two Kings of the Amorites And upon her hiding of the Spies saith she v. 12. Now therefore I pray you swear unto me by the Lord since I have shewed you kindness that ye will also shew kindness unto my Father's house and give me a true token And that ye will save alive my Father and my Mother and my Brethren And saith the Apostle Heb. 11.31 By faith the Harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the Spies with peace The Harlot Rahab sheweth that they had warning of this Judgment of God upon them and she took warning and escaped When God was determined to destroy the Ninevites if they had not repented he sends the Prophet Jonah to warn them that the Judgment of God was coming upon them that they might repent and amend and so prevent their ruin and destruction Jonah 3.1 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying Arise go unto Nineveh that great City and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. And v. 4. And Jonah began to enter into the City a days journey and he cryed and said Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown This warning did God give them of their approaching ruin and destruction that they might prepare against it and by a general Repentance and Reformation prevent it And here we may see that the Ninevites took warning and repented and turned from their evil ways and so prevented this Judgment of God from coming upon them after it was denounced against them Jonah 3.5 And if the old World and the Inhabitants of Sodom would have done so there is no doubt but that they might have prevented the heavy Judgments of God that befell them God sufficiently declared his proneness to Mercy in the matter of Sodom when he told Abraham Gen. 18.32 That if he found but ten righteous Men in Sodom he would spare the whole City for their sakes Again we may see that the Jews had warning of that Judgment and Destruction that came upon them after our Saviour's death by the Romans Our Saviour warned them of it when he was with them Luk. 13.1 and told them that they should perish as the Galileans had done if they repented not And in several places we may see that he warned his Disciples of it Matth. 24-32 Now learn a Parable of the Fig-tree when his branch is tender and putteth forth leaves ye know that Summer is nigh so likewise ye when ye shall see all these things know that it is near even at the doors Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled And the fiery Sword that hung over them some time before and such signal Acts of Providence did warn them that what our Saviour had foretold was coming upon them And by these and some Divine Admonition which the Christians had as some conceive at the withdrawing of the Roman Armies from Jerusalem the Christians took warning and fled all from thence beyond Jordan and were preserved and there were no Christians in Jerusalem when Titus came against it and besieged it as is reported By these and such Examples we may see that God doth give notice and warning to his People and Servants and such as will take warning and usually to all others when he is bringing any Judgment and Destruction upon a place that they may repent and provide for their Security at such a dreadful time And righteous Men do take Warning and are preserved using the Means that God ordereth for their preservation and some do repent at such a time and so avoid the Judgment that is coming upon them But some will take no warning but still proceed on in Wickedness and after all the Warning that is given them will still through their unbelief be surprized with Destruction before they are well sensible that it is coming upon them And as for our selves besides what I have said before Archbishop Usher that Reverend Prelate hath long since told us what a dreadful Time is coming upon us and the great preparations that are made for War and the Noises of Guns that are heard and the several Attempts that have been made and other Occurrences wherein there seems to me to be something of the Finger of God do admonish and warn us that Misery and Destruction are ready to come upon us and call us all to a speedy and deep Repentance And by all these let us be awaked out of our Carnal Security and Vain Confidence that we may not be surprized like blind Fools but may be wise betimes and provide for our own Preservation and Salvation that we perish not And III. We have here the Duty which the Prophet exhorted them to upon the coming of this Day of the Lord upon them briefly in these Words Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble And this Duty he more largely insisteth on in this Chapter And here we see that the Exhortation is general and all are to be concerned and moved to fear and trembling at the coming of this Day From hence I shall endeavour to shew something of the Duty which we
have been destroyed because they were not Righteous but Wicked And this will farther shew that it is our Duty and will be a great Encouragement to us to set then earnestly upon all the works of Righteousness at the apprehension of a dreadful Day coming upon us that we may then escape and find Mercy This God shews to be the Reason why Noah was to be saved from perishing with the Inhabitants of the Old World because he was righteous before God Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation This was the Reason why he was to be saved by the Ark when the rest of the World were to be destroyed by a Flood of Waters because God saw him to be righteous When God destroyed Sodom all the righteous Men were to be preserved and if there had been fifty Righteous yea if there had been but ten righteous Men therein they and the whole City too had been spared for their Righteousness sake Gen. 18.23 And we may see that righteous Lot was delivered at that time and that he was delivered because he was a just and righteous Man S. Peter sheweth 2 Pet. 2.6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished Here we may see that Lot was delivered because he was a just and righteous Man and that pious and godly Men from this Example and that of Noah are to be encouraged that God will deliver them from Temptations and Trials and Dangers But that the Unjust must expect to be reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished for their Unrighteousness When the Israelites were to be consumed and to have their Carkases fall in the Wilderness and not to come into the Land of Canaan because they murmured and sinned against God Joshua and Caleb were then delivered from this Sentence because they were righteous and wholly followed God Num 14.20 and Num. 32.10 And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time saith Moses and he sware saying Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from twenty years old and upwards shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob because they have not wholly followed me save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite and Joshua the son of Nun for they have wholly followed the Lord. By the Works of Righteousness did the Harlot Rahab escape Destruction and perished not when Jericho was taken and destroyed when she concealed the Spies and sent them away in peace because she believed them to be the Servants of God By faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11 31 the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace And saith S. James 2.25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way By Works was she justified and by her works of Piety and Mercy was she saved from this Destruction and perished not with the Inhabitants of Jericho By these and such Examples we may see that righteous Men have been delivered in the Days of Vengeance for their Righteousness sake when others have perished and this may serve as a farther Argument to shew that it then behoves us especially to set earnestly upon the works of Righteousness whensoever we apprehend such a terrible Day of the Lord to be coming upon us And what it is that is Good and God requires the Prophet sheweth Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These are the things that are Good and which God requires of us at all times but especially at such a time That we should be just and upright in all our dealings with others and do as we would be done by and rather wrong our selves than over-reach and deceive another That we should be so far from grudging at charitable Works like the Miser that we should love them and take delight in all acts of Mercy and Goodness and chearfully communicate to all the Needs and Necessities of others and be joyful and glad when we can relieve and succour them in their Miseries and Wants That we should be prone and forward to forgive all others that have done any Harm or Hurt to us and contentedly to pass by all the Injuries and Wrongs that have been done to us by others without seeking any Revenge and with Good to overcome all the Evil and Malice that is offered to us by any That we should walk humbly before God in a deep Sense of our own Unworthiness and Vileness and of God's great Goodness and Mercy to us and the continual Dependance that we have upon him and of his dreadful and glorious Majesty These are the things which God requires of us and such works of Righteousness and Mercy and Kindness are we especially to set upon when a dark Day is apprehended to be near at hand And then are we to be more frequent and zealous at all our Services and Devotions to Almighty God But Fourthly Then are we also more particularly to cry mightily to Almighty God upon this very account of his Day of Wrath being coming upon us Then are we to make our earnest addresses to Almighty God in this very Respect and to make Supplications to him that he would have mercy upon us and deal with us according to his great Love and Goodness and not according to our Sins and Iniquities That for his own Name sake and for his dear Son Christ Jesus sake he would be pleased to avert and turn away his Judgments and Wrath from us if it may consist with his Divine Will and Pleasure and if not that we may be covered and preserved in the Day of Wrath and sheltered under the Wings of his good Providence and find Mercy and Salvation in that day And 1. That we are to cry and make great Supplications to Almighty God and to seek to attone him and turn away his Wrath from us at such a time by earnest Prayers we may see by several places of Scripture Our own Nature and Reason will dictate this to us and so do the sacred Scriptures This the Prophet Joel prescribes here 1.14 Sanctify a fast call a solemn assembly gather the elders and all the Inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord. And Joel
2.17 Let the priests the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar and let them say spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people where is their God The Prophet here doth give command to cry and pray to God upon this very account and doth here give direction in what form and manner the Priests were to address themselves to God wherein the People also were to join viz. To intreat Almighty God to spare them who were his peculiar People and not to suffer them to be made a Reproach by the Heathen and to be domineer'd over by them and to have them to ask others in scorn and derision where their God and Saviour was in whom they trusted And this divine Direction of the Prophet seems to me to be no less adapted and fitted for us at this day than it was for the Jews in the Prophet Joel's time And this was David's Resolution to have Recourse to God and to call upon him in all Distress and Danger 2 Sam. 22.4 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine enemies And Psal 55.16 As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice And Psal 86.7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me This is the Psalmist's Resolution to make his earnest addresses to Almighty God and hereby he hoped for Mercy and Help in the needful time of Trouble and Distress And this is God's Command by the Psalmist that we should call upon him at such a time and if we do it as we ought he hath promised that he will hear us and deliver us Psal 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me We are humbly to sue for mercy at such a time before we are to expect it and after we have received it not to forget to return Almighty God his due laud and praise for the same And Solomon in his prayer in 1 Kings 8. doth shew that it is our Duty in all Distresses to make Supplications to God in an extraordinary manner when he there requesteth that he would hear such prayers and supplications that are made to him by his people in their afflictions and distresses and doth shew that they are like to be heard and relieved when they seek and cry to God with all their Hearts And saith God by his Prophet Jeremiah 29.12 Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turn away your captivity And it is our blessed Lord's Command to his Disciples when he foretold them of that Judgment and Destruction that was coming upon the Jewish Nation to be constant and fervent at their prayers to Almighty God that they might obtain Mercy then and be saved and not perish with the Wicked Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man By Watchfulness and Constancy and Earnestness at Prayer to Almighty God are we to prepare our selves that we may be accounted worthy of Mercy and to escape the Judgments of God and to stand before the Son of God whensoever he shall come in an extraordinary and eminent manner to Judge and Punish the Inhabitants of the World for their great Wickedness By these and such places we may see that it is our Duty whensoever we apprehend a Day of the Lord's Wrath to be coming upon us to cry mightily to Almighty God and to make Supplications to him for Pardon and Mercy and Help and Protection at such a Time when a Day of Wrath and Revenge is coming upon Men. 2. We may see that this hath been the practice of several Persons at such times of anguish and distress to cry to Almighty God and to supplicate his Divine Majesty for mercy and succour and that they have often prevailed hereby and this will farther shew it to be our duty at such a time and a perswasive to it to call upon God in a more earnest and extraordinary manner for the averting of such Judgments as we have just cause to believe do hang over us and are ready to fall upon us and for the procuring of Mercy for our selves When the Fire of the Lord consumed the People Moses prayed unto the Lord and the Fire was stopt Numb 11.1 And when the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp And the people cryed unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched When the Children of Israel were sold into the hand of the Mesopotamians for their sin and wickedness which they did in the sight of God in forgetting him and serving other Gods in their misery they cryed to God and he sent them a deliverer Judes 3.9 And when the Children of Israel cryed unto the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer to the Children of Israel who delivered them even Othniel the Son of Kenaz Caleb 's younger Brother In their distress did God hear them notwithstanding their former backsliding and had respect to their Prayer and this may be an encouragement to us sinners to do the like When the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord when they were oppressed and afflicted by Eglon King of Moab he heard their cry and shewed them mercy and delivered them out of his hand Judg. 3.15 But when the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud the Son of Gera a Benjamite When the Children of Israel were sold into the hand of Jabin the Canaanite for the evil which they did in the sight of the Lord they cried unto the Lord in their distress and he delivered them Judg. 4.3 And the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord for he had nine hundred Chariots of Iron and twenty years he mightily oppressed the Children of Israel And God did then deliver them out of his hand by Deborah and Barak as we may there see afterward And several other times did God deliver them when they returned and sought him and cried and made Supplications to him notwitstanding they had often revolted from him When King Abijah and Judah were beset on both sides with their Enemies the Israelites they cried unto the Lord in their distress and he heard their cry and delivered them 2 Chron. 1.14