of meekness and forbearance c. but what was this for to what end did the Lord do all this was it for their spiritual good no it was in Judgement that they might fall baâ—kward be broken and ensnared there are no people liable unto such terrible Judgements as they that live under Ordinances and whose plagues flow from them Heb. 6.6,7,8 There are many that live under the Gospel and by the grace of it they come unto the highest pitch of common works they are inlightned and taste of the heavenly gift and are made partakers of the holy Ghost taste of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come yet afterward they fall away and that with a malitious and final Apostasie with despight and revenge the reason is given of it For the ground that drinks in the rain and brings not forth fruit answerable is nigh unto cursing for the curse is answerable unto the blessing and therefore they that live under the offers of the greatest spiritual blessings if they be neglected and are unfruitfull under them they are neerer to cursing then other men which is the reason why in judgement they are given up after such great and common works to apostasie and final impenitency because they have drunk in the rain of Ordinances and influences and have not brought forth fruit meet for him that dressed it as it s said of Christ Luk. 2. it is true of the Gospel also it is set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the fall as well as the rising of many in Israel and let me tell you the more spiritual Ordinances are the more spiritual shall the judgments be as we see it in the Ordinances of the Gospel as they were more spiritual so were the judgements that were executed by them more spiritual as the more spiritual any mans light grows the more spiritual will his temptations grow so the more spiritual Truths grow in any Age the more spiritual Judgements grow for answerable to the measure of spiritual blessings such shall be the measure of spiritual plagues and as the more spiritual Ordinances are the more desirable so the more spiritual they are if abused the more dangerous Secondly there are no Judgements of God like unto spiritual Judgements those are of all other the most dreadfull Isa 13. Why should you be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Hos 4.14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom nor your Spouses when they commit adultery c. Impunity in sinning is the greatest punishment that can befall a sinner but the people that do not understand shall fall that is shall sin without restraint without controul Drusius He that is filthy let him be so Drusius And the grounds of it are these First because every spiritual Judgement is in it self a sin it is a judgement as from God but in us they are sins also now as there is not a worse evil then sin for sin is the greatest evil so it cannot be punished with any thing worse then it self the Apostle cannot call it by a worse name then it self Rom. 13.7 sinful sin and God cannot inflict a greater punishment then it self and therefore after this life though the demerit of sin shall cease the obligation of the Law ceasing as binding unto further punishment when a man is actually under the sentence of condemnation yet there is an obligation to the precept of the Law still for thou art bound to the precept as thou art a creature and to the curse only as thou art a sinner now the nature of sin shall remain though the demerit of sin hath an end after this life and yet in Hell pertinet ad damnationis poenam As all holiness and obedience in heaven pertinet ad beatitudinis praemium The one is a part of a mans torment as the other is part of a mans reward Secondly because of the subject on which it lights is the soul the soul is far more precious then the body and as any mercy to the soul is far beyond any blessing unto the body so if the soul prosper and the inward man be renewed it is no great matter what become of the outward man though there be crus in nervo si animus in coelo for it is in the soul that the Lord dwells and in the excellency of the soul that he doth delight therefore let the hidden man of the heart be adorned there is no adorning like it Tertul. Bernard Aliter pigmentatae sunt vestes Indutus purpura cum conscientia pannosa And if the beauty of the inward man be so glorious then there is no defilement like to that of the inward man nor no punishment I ke to that upon the soul as the Schoolmen say of Spiritual it is to be preferred before corporal Aquinas Eleemosyna cordis major quam corporis spirituales Elcemosynae sunt corporalibus simpliciter praeferendae So may we say of Spiritual Judgements there are no judgements of God so much to be feared as Spiritual Judgements as there are no mercies so much to be desired as spiritual mercies the prosperity of the soul should be unto a Saint the measure of all prosperity and the misery of the soul and judgements upon it should be the measure of all miseries and Judgements whatsoever Thirdly Spiritual Judgements are an argument of the greatest wrath and displeasure of God its true its a judgement that God doth sometimes inflict upon his own people Isa 63.17 Why hast thou caused us to erre from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear but yet it is a greater testimony of his displeasure then God doth shew towards the men of his good will there is no such evidence of his wrath in the world as this is and so it is to wicked men also for God to give them up unto their own hearts lust and to deliver them to Satan as we see Christ did Judas Austin Parcit iratus iratus Deus dat amanti quod male amat Austin Jerome Magna est ira Dei quando peccantibus non irascitur Deus Jerom. In the afflictions of his people Emendationi instat Deus It is to restrain us and reclaim us c. But in spiritual Judgements the Lord doth give a man up to sin and leave him in the power of sin and under the dominion of sin as if he did never intend to do him good more Fourthly it s the saddest evidence of a mans reprobation and a most dreadfull earnest of a mans damnation First it s a sad evidence of a mans reprobation for there are three consequents of reprobation and both of them are spiritual Judgements 1. Permissio peccati the permission of sin 2. In peccato derelictio the being left in sin 3. Traditio Satanae to leave a man in the power of Satan to give him over unto Satan to carry him captive at his will and all these are spiritual
a state of Nature are under a Covenant of works for though this Covenant were broken in the fall yet it was not abolished but stands in force still unto all unregenerate men to the end of the world its true that being become weak through the flesh it can give life no more Rom. 8â—3 but it commands duty as perfectly as it did unto Adam in the state of innocency and so far as a man falls short of perfect and personal obedience so far he sins and it threatens a Curse as dreadfully now as it did in the state of innocence and it is by vertue of this Covenant that sin is bound upon the Consciences of ungodly men for ever and by vertue of this Covenant the Curse comes upon them in this life in a degree and hereafter in the perfection thereof Neither is that Arminian Doctrine to be received Lex prima cessabat primo foedere rupto per inobedientiam primi hominis that men being constituted under the Curse the first Covenant being broken all the debt of legal obedience which the creatures did owe unto God did immediately cease for then there should have been no sin after the first sin for if the Law ceased there could be no transgression neither is it any way answerable unto Reason or Scripture that because man had lost his ability to obey therefore God should lose his authority to command Now in the first Covenant God dealt with man by way of retaliation Gen. 4.7 if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted the best services must needs be rejected for the least fayling therefore in the creatures departing from God he will also depart from him and by the terms of the Covenant he is bound if they forsake him he must also forsake them his Justice and truth do bind him unto it and according to that Covenant it is bonum ex integro constat malum ex quolibet defectu 2 There are some men in a state of Grace and the change of their estate depends upon the change of their Covenant such a mans state is as is his Covenant under which he stands He that is in a state of Grace is therefore translated into the Covenant of Grace and then all the dealings of God with him are answerable unto the tenor of the same Covenant and this Covenant is an everlasting Covenant for he will write the law in their hearts and put his fear so into them that they shall not depart from him Jer. 32.20 and therefore he will never forsake them utterly for he hath said he will never turn away from them to do them good We are far from that Doctrine as to conclude from hence that the interchange of members between Christ and Satan is frequent and ordinary and that as Christ takes members from Satan so doth Satan also take members from Christ that a man may be a member of Christ to day and a child of the devil to morrow now in a state of Grace and by by in a state of sin beloved of God to day forsaken of God to morrow for we read that whom he loved once he loved unto the end for he loves them not with a temporal but with an everlasting love and as in reference unto a mans eternal condition there is a gulf fixed which notes Calv. aeternitatem status so there is in reference to the change of a mans Covenant a gulf fixed and it is as possible for the creature to pass from Heaven to hell as it is for a man according to the rules of the word of God who is under the Covenant of Grace to pass afterward or ever to return into the Covenant of works yet under the second Covenant though there be not a final forsaking yet there may be a real and a gradual desertion as well as affliction is compatible with the state of a son I will visit their offences with the rod but my loving kindness I will never take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail I was wroth and smote him and hid my face c. my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone c. and there is a real displeasure though it be Cant. 5. Ira paterna non hostilis and there is a desertion not onely in point of consolation but in point of sanctification also that when a man comes to resist sin or to perform duty he shall not finde the same presence nor the same assistance that he formerly had men may go forth in the strength of Grace received and they may with Samson think to do as in times past but if they turn aside from the Lord they shall finde that the Lord is departed from them for it is not being in a state of Grace that carries the actual presence of God with a man but it is acting those graces that he has received and walking answerable unto that estate Joh. 14.23 If a man love me and keep my words my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him he will love him we cannot love him unless he love us first there is a love of benevolence which begins in God and hath respect unto nothing in the creature but there is a Love of complacence which though it flow from free Grace yet it is acted answerable unto the Image of God in the creature and as the creature walks with God and is serviceable unto his great ends there is a presence of God with us answerable to our care of keeping Communion with him if a Godly Magistrate shall with Solomon have his heart departing from the Lord though the Lord have appeared to him twice and hath given him formerly very gracious and signal testimonies of his presence with him if he shall turn aside unto crooked ways he will surely fail of his former presence and assistance in his Government a mans right Arm will wither and his right eye will be put out he shall neither have that wisdom in his Government neither shall he have that Authority and ruling power in the hearts of the people and the reason is because God is not with him as in times past but he having forsaken God he is forsaken of God and if a Godly man whose soul is become an habitation of God through the spirit shall now forsake the fountain of living waters and shall dig to himself broken Cisterns shall let his heart go out to the Creatures and shall forget the Lord and his heart sit loose from him he shall finde that the Lord will withdraw himself that he shall not have that assistance in services nor that comfortable and fruitful presence in all his ways but he shall in a measure walk without God in the world even as the men of the world do and if a state that have had a glorious presence of God with them that the Lord hath made bare his Arm in the sight of the Nations so that the fear of them hath
but because it is not but he hath a rule without according to which every stroke must be regulated therefore unto that he must take heed specially if we consider in this rule these four particulars First it is a straight rule there is no turning no defect for the Law is holy Rom 7.12 perfect Psa 19.7 it omits no duty it bears with no sin it is a straight gate a narrow way Mat. 7.13,14 there is no rule that ever man made but it hath still been too short and there hath been something in particular not determined by that rule it s not so here neither in the actions words or thoughts of the heart therefore David saith I have seen aâ—… end of all perfection look upon the most perfect and exact Laws of men and there be defects in them a man may be able to look to the end of them and see where they do fail but thy commandment is exceeding broad it reaches to all persons places times actions and thoughts he could see no end thereof wherein it was defective it had such a latitude Psal 119.96 and the more straight the rule is the more we ought to take heed least we strike aside to the right or lest hand therefore in respect of this rule if in any thing that counsel of Solomon is to be taken let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye lids look straight before thee Prov 4.25 Secondly it is also a spiritual rule the Law is spiritual Rom. 7.12 directs not only the motions of the body but also of the Spirit it is the candle of the Lord the Spirit enlightned by this rule searching the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20.27 opening the treasures of darkness discovering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden things of darkness and the counsels of the Lord 1 Cor. 4.5 dividing between the soul and the Spirit the joynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the secret purposes and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 Now the soul of man being the act of the body is far more active then the body and the thoughts and motions of it are infinitely more in number and more suddenly and unobservedly break forth then those of the body therefore he that will keep close unto the rule had need as the Apostle exhorts give heed to it 1 Pet. 1.19 Thirdly Consider also the universality and reality of the Law the Holy-Ghost calls it therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 2.8 that which is in all things the highest Judge from whence though quatenus habet rationem foederis there is yet quatenus habet rationem regulae there is no appeal from the Law in the point of the Covenant and curse there is but in point of obedience there is no appeal So that there is now but one Law one God and one Judge and one Hell to the highest as well as to the lowest and there is no appeal from it this Law binds Kings in chains and Nobles in fetters as well as the meanest Psa 149.8 Now had not a man need to give heed to such a Law from whence there is no appeal but if a man be cast to the same Law he must still stand Fourthly Consider further the harmony and coherence of this rule they are like Ezekils wheeles they do one involve and include another Jam. 2.10 he that breaks one is guâ—…y of all the whole Law and the same authority is wronged and the same disposition of heart manifested in one that would be in the breach of them all and would surely shew it self if there were occasion and opportunity to draw it out and it is the want of this right knowledge of the rule that makes men set light by many sins and count them small because they look not upon the Law broken in respect of its harmony and dependence and so see not themselves guilty of all but that man that sees the greatest transgression in the least and sees the whole Law broken in every deviation will say that he had need take heed that he transgress not in one least he make himself guilty of all Thirdly yet to press it farther Consider the person who thou art that dost perform the service and if thou be but well-acquainted with thy self thou shalt see great reason to be exceeding heedful when thou comest before the Lord and that in these particulars First Consider by sin we are become unprofitable Rom. 3.12 dross and chaff fit for nothing and unto this add our enmity unto God we are naturally enemies in our minds through evil works Col. 1.21 and this takes off a mans heart that as by sin he is made unprofitable so he hath no mind to do God service for he is an enemy in his mind now what a mans mind is not on unless he give diligent heed he will quickly vanish in his own thoughts and tender to God but his labour and bodily exercise and no more Secondly in all our services unto God we are full of ignorance we know not how to pray or what to ask Rom. 8.26 therefore Christ offers daily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.7 for the ignorance of the people in the services that they do perform Now the less acquaintance a man hath with any thing the more heed he had need to take else immediately he is like to miscarry for ignorance is the mother of error no man wonders to see the blind go out of the way Thirdly there is in all our services much forgetfulness in respect of the things we do know ye have forgotten the exhortation saith the Apostle Heb. 12.5 I thought good to put you in remembrance though you have known been established in the present truth as 2 Pet. 1.12 therefore a man had need recollect his thoughts and take in the whole rule that so he may not afterward say it was an oversight and his conscience condemn him in his own account Fourthly even in those things that we do remember and actually Consider yet there is much dulness and deadness and unmoveableness in the affections towards them ye are dull of hearing Heb. 5.11 therefore a man had need take the more heed to stir up himself and to awaken these as Deborah doth Awake awake Iudg. 5.12 and as David Awake my glory awake lute and harp c. Psal 57.8 therefore a man had need to whet and sharpen the rule upon himself as well as upon others See Deut. 6.7 the word signifies to whet sharpen to repeate often and with intention Fifthly there is much rashness and inconsideracy in all things that a man puts his hand unto specially in the service of God and therefore Solomon well saw it to be an evil and our nature was prone to evil for he would never have given that preventing Physick Eccl. 5.2 be not rash with thy mouth Whereas he saith the heart of of the Righteous teacheth his mouth Prov. 16.2,3 he speaks that specially because Gods word in his heart he
imagine that when the cup of fury that is in the Lords right hand hath gone round and all nations have tasted of it and yet that we shall not drink thereof Ier. 25.15 may it not be as truly said of us as of our brethren Ezek. 12.4 thou hast caused thy dayes to draw neer thou art come even unto thy years there is a time for Judgement the text tels you upon a Nation and he that is wise shall know and discern both time and Judgement Eccl. 8.5 Now as I have before shewed you thâ—… Ministers are Servants so also they are the Prophets of the Nation and therefore preaching is called prophecying and the Ministers of the Gospel are called Prophets 1 Cor. 4.32 though not in so full and compleat a sense as the Prophets antiently were yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quadam by a true resemblance and analogy though not a fore-telling yet a fore-speaking things to come for that God that had made all things by his word doth uphold all things by the word of his power Heb 1.3 governing all things by the rules of the same exactly dispensing punishments and rewards according to the tenour of the promises and threatnings therein recorded so that as he hath appointed the Sun Moon and Stars to rule by day and by night over this natural world Psal 19. so he hath stretched forth the Expansum of the Law over the rational world Rom. 10.18 all things being ordered according to the precepts promises and threatnings thereof Now as a man that is skilful in the one by observing and calculating the influences and aspects and conjunctions of the one can foretel in many things what is to come in the natural world So the other by observing the promises and threatnings and the special aspects that is in them both can in a great measure fore speak what is like to come to pass in the rational world also sutable hereunto the Prophet here tels â—s that there is First a time for Judgement Secondly that this time may be known Thirdly the ignorance of this time makes a man more bruitish then the unreasonable creatures For the scope of the place seems to be this that such is the wisdom of unreasonable creatures the Stork Crane and Swallow that in winter they flie from cold and hard places unto those where there is a more temperate and moderate air they knowing the seasons and the appointed times for this they flie away before and by the instinct of nature to make provision for a natural life Now God had made man wiser then the Beasts that perish above the beasts of the field and he hath appointed a time for Judgement and he hath foretold it shall come and yet man is not so wife for himself as either to prepare for it or to flie from it and this is meant by not knowing the Judgement of Jehovah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Judgement of God is either Directive as the Law written in the Book or the Law written in the heart as Mat. 12.20 bring forth Judgementto Victory Secondly Corrective Thirdly Destructive and this last is meant here it is spoken of the Judgement of utter ruine and desolation upon whom the former Judgements neither the directions of the word nor corrections of Gods rod had taken its due effect its proper work Neither is it meant of the Judgement it self only that it should be utter destruction the fatal blow the last and utter ruine of that people but also the time of this Iudgement which was at hand and this the people knew not and so much the word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies tempus certum constitutum a certain and an appointed time Gen. 17.21 My Covenant will I stablish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at this set time in the next year and this seems to be intimated by the subjects the Stork and the Crane know their times but my people know not the Judgement that is not only the Iudgement it self but not the time of Iudgement that is at hand that which the Prophet had so often told them and that which they were continually admonished that it was neer cum in re tam clara dilucida coecutirent therefore here the Prophet doth justly complain that they were more bruitish then these unreasonable creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they know not verba sensus significant cum affectu effectu In the count of the Holy-Ghost in Scripture a man knows no more then he believes and is affected with and makes use of they knew not they considered not believed not were not affected with neither did they make use of it either the Iudgement it self nor the time of the Iudgement either to fear it or to flie from it so that the Iudgement and the time of Iudgement was appointed this they should and they might have known believed and been affected with but they were more unwise for themselves and for their temporal and eternal safety then the unreasonable creatures they knew not the Iudgement of the Lord. Hence the observations that I purpose to insist upon are these two First that there is unto a sinful Nation a set and an appointed time of Judgement Secondly that this time may and should be known or else in vain are they blamed for not knowing it First Doctrine Doctrine There is unto a sinful Nation a set and an appointed time for Iudgement a time when Iudgement shall infallibly come and God will bear with them no longer God being the antient of dayes he is the Lord of time and the great Land-lord of the world and he hath set unto every thing a season or an appointed time to every thing under Heaven Eccl. 3 1. but in reference to the point in hand it will be requisite that we consider of a six-fold time appointed by him that is Lord of time First there is a time of sinning a set and an appointed time for there is First a fulness of sin appointed by God that it shall have its period it shall not grow in infinitum Gen. 15.16 The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and as there was a fulness so there is a time appointed to fill up this measure to fill the Ephah Zach. 5.6 where the measure of the sin of the people of Israel is set out for the greatness of it by an Ephah the greatest dry measure amongst the Iews and there was a time for the filling up of the Ephah before it was carried into the Land of Shinar Secondly there is a measure of wrath which every vessel of wrath shall treasure up for all shall not have the same measure and the Reason is because all do not treasure up the same measure unto themselves Rom. 2.4,5 Now seeing it is a Treasure that doth grow by degrees and several additions there must be a time for the filling and the gathering of this Treasure some Exchequer daies