THE Best of Remedies FOR THE VVorst of Maladies OR Spiritual Receipts and Antidotes for the Preservation of a Plague-sick Sinfull Soul Wherein is shown Sin is the Cause and Repentance the Cure of the Pestilence Seasonably Published by a Lover of Peace and Truth and one that desireth that all would though the Lords hand seems to be withdrawn as to the late universally raging Pestilential Disease forsake those Provoking Sins which call for Vengeance and Judgements on the Sons of Men. R. A. LONDON Printed Anno 1667. THE CAUSES CURE OF THE Pestilence THe first Sin which I shall insist upon so highly provoking unto the Lord to send the destroying Pestilence among a people is the sin of Oppression When the Supream Powers and Authorities of a Nation do exercise a Usurpation or Oppession over the Bodies and Consciences of the people of God This was the sin of Pharoah who tyrannized not onely over the Bodies but over the Consciences also of the Children of Israel He sets Task-masters over them to afflict them with their burdens And the Egyptians made the Children of Israel to serve with rigour and made their lives bitter with hard bondage in Morter and in Brick and in all manner of service in the field all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigour By reason of which bondage the Children of Israel sighed and cryed and their cry came up unto God Exod. 1.11 13 14. comp with Chap. 2.23 So Chap. 3.7 The Lord said I have surely seen the afflictien of my people which are it Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows And in the 9th Verse Behold the cry of the Children of Israel is come up unto me and I have also seen the Oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them This was an oppression that Pharoah and his cruel Task-masters did exercise over their bodies The oppression that he exercised over their souls and consciences did evidently appear in this The Lord he called and commissionated Moses to go unto Pharoah and he with the Elders of Israel were to say unto him The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us and now let us go we beseech thee three days journey into the Wilderness that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God Exod. 3.18 This they often prest upon him And the reason wherefore they so much urged it is very observable in the 3d. Vers of the 5th Chap. Let us go we pray thee three days journey into the Desart and sacrifice unto the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with Pestilence or with the Sword That is Lest he slay us and destroy us with Pestilence and with the Sword as in Judges 8.21 Pharoah he hardens his heart and is disobedient unto the word of the Lord. And Pharoah said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go They be idle saith he therefore they cry saying Let us go and Sacrifice unto our God Exod. 5.2 8 17. But the Judgments of God pursuing him at the very heels and the greivous swarm of Flies coming into his house and into his servants houses and into all the Land of Egypt so that the Land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of Flies then he calls for Moses and Aaron that they might go and Sacrifice to God but where in the Land that is in his own Land the Land of Egypt But what said Moses It is not meet so to do for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God Lo shall we Sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us We will go three days journey into the Wilderness and Sacrifice unto the Lord our God as he shall command us It is not meet or it is not right so to do as being not so appointed of God who called into the Wilderness to Sacrifice Exod. 3.18 Shall we Sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians That is The Beasts which the Egyptians do worship and do abhor to kill or to see killed for Sacrifice And the Sentence twice repeated may imply two senses 1. Shall we Sacrifice to our God such things as the Egyptians Sacrifice that would be an abomination to the Lord Or 2. Shall we Sacrifice such things as God requireth that would be an abomination to the Egyptians The Scripture often calling the Gods and Services of the Heathens Abominations As Deut. 7.25 and 12.30 31. 2 King 23.13 Ezra 9.1 Isa 44.19 Now the principal Sacrifices of the Hebrews were Oxen and Sheep Gen. 15.9 And all Shepherds or Sheep-keepers were an abomination to the Egyptians Gen. 46.34 For the Egyptians abstained from Sheep and Sacrificed Goats By all which it is very evident that Pharoah denying the Israelites to Worship as God had appointed them did oppress them not only in their bodies but in their Consciences likewise which drew down the dreadful Judgments of God upon him and his Land among which this of the destroying Pestilence For proof whereof see Exod. 3.19 20. I am sure saith the Lord that the King of Egypt will not let you go no not by a mighty hand And what follows I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders c. So Exod 9.13 14 15. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews Let my people go that they may serve me for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart c. and especially in the 15. Vers For now will I stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with Pestilence and thou shalt be cut off from the Earth And in the 12. Chap. and 29. Vers See what a dreadful slaughter the Lord made accordingly in the Land of Egypt And it came to pass that at Mid-night the Lord smote all the first-born in the Land of Egypt from the first-born of Pharoah that sat on his Throne unto the first-born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon and all the first-born of Cattel and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a House where there was not one dead See further the severity of God in punishing this sin of Oppression Jer. 34.17 Therefore thus saith the Lord ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother and every man to his neighbour Behold I proclaim a liberty for you saith the Lord to the Sword to the Pestilence and to the Famine and I will make you to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the earth So highly displeasing it is unto the Lord for a people to be oppressed either in their civil or spiritual liberties and enjoyments according to that in Psa 12.5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him at safety from him that puffeth at him And
come near to you to Judgement and I will be a swift witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against False-swearers O that these things were seriously laid to heart by the prophane Cursers and Swearers and False-swearers and the Damme-creatures of our times O that they would consider how their cursed hellish hideous new-invented unheard of Diabolical oaths do now make the Land mourn and those that dwell therein to languish and how near the Lord is come unto them in the terribleness of his judgment Is it not very evident that the Lord for these things hath a controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land 7. The seventh Pestilential destroying sin is the sin of Adultery Fornication and such like corporal uncleanness See this in that 25. of Num. 1 6 7 8. verses When Israel abode in Shittim it is said the people began to commit Whoredome with the daughters of Moab And Zimri and Cosbi being taken in the very act of uncleanness Phinehas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest when he saw it he rose up from amongst the Congregation and took a Javelin in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the Tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly So the Plague was stayed thereupon from the Children of Israel yet those that died in the Plague as was mentioned before was no less then Twenty and four Thousand So in the 12. of Gen. 14 15 17. When Abraham came into Egypt with Sarai his wife a fair woman to look upon and she was no sooner beheld by the Egyptians and the Princes of Pharaoh but they commended her before Pharaoh and saith the Text the woman was taken into Pharaohs house that is she was taken away from Abraham into the Royal Seraglio or Palace to be fitted and prepared there according to the Custome of those Countries that the King might take her to Wife as Hest 2.9 In the mean time God provided for Abrahams entertainment and his Wives chastity together for Pharaoh entreated Abram well for her sake And in the 17. verse is is said The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his House with great Plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife What kind of plagues those were is uncertain but doubtless they served as well to hinder and obstruct the abusing of Sarai's body as to punish the King and his Domesticks and Courtiers trespass This great deliverance David celebrateth in Psal 105.14 When they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm But this is observable that if the Lord was so severe to punish this filthy sin of Adultery or Uncleanness when it was but designedly or intentionally committed and Pharaoh knew not that Sarai was Abrams wife with what severity may we think will he proceed against such who deliberately knowingly delightfully and impudently live in the perpetration and commission of it and when did this sin of Whoredom Adultery and Fornication ever walk upon down so brazen-faced with such an imperious worish forehead as in the men and women of our generation so unsatiable they are in their filthiness and uncleanness Upon which account may not the Lord say to this City of London yea to the Land and Nation in general as he did to Jerusalem in the Prophet Jeremy's time How shall I pardon thee for this thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods When I had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses They were as fed horses in the morning every one neighed after his neighbours wife Through lustfulness like wanton horses And mark what follows Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Go ye up upon her walls and destroy but make not a full end take away her battlements for they are not the Lords c. Jer. 5.7 8 9 10. And may we not think the Lord may justly have a controversie with the inhabitants of this Land as he had with the children of Israel in the Prophet Hosea's time And wherefore Because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land But by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish c. Hos 4.1 2 3. So that good Prophet Jeremy Mine heart saith he within me is broken because of the Prophets all my bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine hath overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness For the Land is full of Adulteries Jer. 23.9 10. And in Jer. 13.27 I have seen thine Adulteries and thy neighings the lewdness of thy Whoredoms c. What then Wo unto thee O Jerusalem This though it may have reference to their sin of Idolatry as before which may be called spiritual Adultery yet it cannot exclude that which is corporeal which God will severely punish For Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge as such who shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Heb. 13.4 and Eph. 5.5 Thus we see how highly provoking this sin of uncleaness is for the bringing down of National judgements even this of the Pestilence among a people 8. The Eighth Sin that provokes the Lord to send the Pestilence among a people is the sin of Infidelity distrust and murmuring against God notwithstanding the great and marvellous works which the Lord hath wrought for the salvation and deliverance of his people See to this purpose the 13 and 14. chapters of Numbers There were certain men the heads of the children of Israel who by the commandment of the Lord was sent to search and spie out the land of Canaan and being returned they made a rehearsal thereof to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation and brought an evil report upon the land which they had searched saying The land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature And there we saw the giants the sons of Anak which come of the giants and we were in our own sight as Grashoppers and so were we in their sight This evil report caused all the congregation to lift up their voyce and cry and to murmure against Moses and Aaron saying Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better
will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat between the two cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony verse 22. Now this Mercy-seat on which God did thus sit between the wings of the Cherubims was a figure of Christ by whom our transgressions of the law are forgiven and covered who is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 And therefore called the Propitiatory Rom. 3.15 To this glorious seat where Gods presence with his Church was manifested the Throne of God is answerable in the Christian Church in the presence of which Throne his people are and serve him day and night in his Temple Rev. 7.15 17.8.3.21.3 5. Now this Ark being thus a type or figure of Christ and of his Church and of his glorious presence with the same it s no wonder if the Lord shall so severely punish the prophanation of it when men shall set it in the Temple of Dagon Surely if the Ark stand there Dagon must fall yea and it shall fall before the Ark of the Lord which is called the Ark of his strength Psal 132.8 And when the Ark set forward then Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee God cannot endure to have his holy things prophaned that the abomination of desolation shall stand in his holy place that men shall set their thresholds by Gods thresholds and their posts by Gods posts by defiling his holy name with their abominations Wherefore saith the Lord I have consumed them in mine anger No surely the place of the soles of his feet where he will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever and his holy name he will not suffer to be defiled but he will beautifie the place of his sanctuary and make the place of his feet glorious Isa 60.13 comp with Ezek. 43.7 8. Let men take heed then of offering strange fire before the Lord which he commandeth them not lest there comes out fire from the Lord and devoureth them as in the case of Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron who for this cause died before the Lord. And what said Moses to Aaron thereupon This is that that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified Lev. 10.1 2 3. So likewise when men will be presumptuously and unwarrantably prying into the secrets of God see how severely the Lord hath punished this evil as in the case of the men of Beth-shemesh said whom the Lord sorely smote because they looked into the Ark of the Lord even he smote of the people Fifty thousand and threescore and ten men and the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter And the men of Beth-shemeth said Who is able to stand before the holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6.19 20. So dangerous a thing it is to be over-curiously presumptuous in looking into the Areana Dei the secret and hidden things of God which he hath not revealed Therefore it was that the Lord had commanded that Aaron and his sons even they and not others should take down the covering vail and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it And thus do unto them saith the Lord that they may live and not die when they approach unto the most holy things Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered lest they dye Numb 4.19 20. See also Levit. 8.35 So exact was the Lord for the keeping of his charge It is sad to consider how wise some men have seemed to be above that which is written calculating persons and things and times for the meridian of their own brain like those lying Prophets which the Lord sent not nor spake unto wherefore he complained that they prophesied unto the people a false vision and divination even a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart Jer. 14.14 So in Ezek. 13.6 7 8 9. They have seen vanity and lying divination and they made others to hope that they would confirm the word See now the severe punishment of the Lord against such Behold I am against you saith the Lord God and mine hand shall be upon the Prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel neither shall they enter into the land of Israel But setting aside such gross lying Prophets it is sad to think how many professing the fear and knowledge of God have been over-curiously prying into Gods secret counsels and the hidden purposes of his minde limiting and prescribing the holy one of Israel advancing and extolling the idle phantasies and enthusiasmes of their own brains more then the declarative mind and will of God contained in the Scriptures of truth But whatever may be mens pretensions to high inward unscriptural revelations of God let us not be believing every such spirit but trying the spirits whether they are of God or no and for this reason Because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 And what saith Peter We have also a more sure word of prophesie more sure then the voice which they heard to come from Heaven when they were in the Holy Mount whereunto ye do well saith he that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the Day dawn and the Day-star arise in your hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 Ever remembring that in Deut. 29.29 That secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever 15. The fifteenth and last thing that I shall briefly speak of as a Pestilential destroying sin is that of Adding or Diminishing from the Word of God for which the Lord Jesus hath threatned such dreadful plagues and punishments For I testifie saith he unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophesie of this Book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this Prophesie What solloweth then God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this book That man may be said to add that shall mix other things besides what the Lord Jesus hath revealed by his Angel He addeth that adjoyneth a lye For whatsoever is patched to the Scriptures of mens inventions that it might be accounted as divinely revealed or the pure Oracles of God is a lye Such are the Papal unwritten traditions or other writings of men whatsoever which are made with them of like Authority with the written word of God and which added
unmortified corruptions Ephes 6.18 By it Crosses are prevented removed or sanctified yea all things are sanctified unto us and we are so kept and preserved that we fall not into temptation 1 Tim. 4.5 Mat. 26.41 Yea often times we obtain much more good then we desire or expect Solomon begged onely of the Lord an understanding heart and God gave him both riches and honour which he asked not 1 King 3.13 So able is the Lord to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think Ephes 3.20 So that of Prayer we may say it is a Key to open the door of Gods treasure house a present remedy for an oppressed mind a giver of strengh to the weak and an especial means to make a man fit to live knowingly fruitfully and serviceably to God in every state and condition Col. 1.9 10. What shall I say of it but as one saith well and truly It is Consolatio flentium cura dolentium sanitas aegrotoraem A Comfort for them that mourn the joy of the sorrowful and health for those that 〈…〉 force and efficacy what will 〈…〉 hath it not done It goes through the 〈◊〉 and ceaseth not until it come unto the Lord and if entreaties will not do it will with reverence be it spoken lay commands upon him Isa 45.11 Yea it doth as it were bind up the hands of the Lord and hinder him from executing his judgements overcoming him that overcometh all things Let me alone saith the Lord to Moses or suffer me that my wrath may wax hot against them to wit the Israelites that I may consume them Exod. 32.10 Abrahams prayer had saved Sodom from being destroyed had there been found ten righteous persons therein Gen. 18. Yea it is very observable that the Lord did not leave granting till Abraham left off petitioning By prayer Jacob was delivered from the wrath and fury of his Brother Esau Gen. 32.11 Jonah out of the Fishes belly Jonah 2.10 The three Children from the fiery Furnace Daniel from the Lions Den Dan. 3.6 Jonahs and Pauls Mariners from the danger of the Seas and Joseph and Paul and Silas and Peter and others out of Prison Act. 5.16 By Prayer Eliah stayed the Rain three years and six months and again obtained Rain so that the earth yeilded her fruit James 5.17 By Prayer Elisha had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and procured Bears to destroy the mocking Children 2 King 2. raised from death to life the Shunamites Son So Chap. 4. Had the eyes of his Servant opened so that he saw Mountains full of Horses and Chariots of fire round about him and smote the Syrians with blindness which came to take him Chap. 6. By Prayer Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still in the midst of Heaven until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies Josh 10.12 13. By Prayer Isaiah brought back the Sun ten degrees in the Dial of Ahaz 2 King 20 11. By Prayer David frustrated the wicked counsel of Achitophel and often put his enemies to flight 2 Sam. 15.31 and 16.23 and Psa 56.9 by Prayer Hezekiah was delivered from the King of Assyria and his health restored unto him again Isa 37. and 2 King 18. The Ninevites were delivered from the judgements threatned against them Jonah 2. Peter raised Tabitha and Paul Eutichus that had fallen down by sleeping Act. 9.40 and 20.10 The Centâ—rians Servant the Cananites Daughter and Lunatick persons were healed men blind received their sight the stammering and deaf were made to hear and speak Lepers were clensed and certain persons being dead were restored to life again So much availeth Prayer with the Lord if it be servent But to bring it a little more close as to the present visitation of the Lord See of what force and efficacy it hath been with the Lord to appease his wrath and stay the execution of his judgments When the Children of Israel fell a murmuring and had greatly provoked the Lord by their unbelief insomuch that the Lord threatned to smite them with Pestilence and disinherit them Moses falls a pleading and interceeding with the Lord for them Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word Numb 14.12 19 20. So that only those men who brought up the evil report upon the land dyed by the Plague before the Lord vers 37. So in the case of Korah Dathan and Abiram when the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying they killed the people of the Lord This so greatly incensed the Lord that he bad them go up from the congregation that he might consume them in a moment Hereupon the Text saies they fell upon their faces and Aaron according to the command of Moses takes his Censer and puts fire therein from off the Alter and put on Incense and made an attonement for the people for there was wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague was begun And Aaron stood between the dead and the living and the Plague was staid Numb 16 45 46 47. This sheweth how greatly the Prayers and actions of Gods Servants do prevail with him when they are faithful fervent and according to his will Jam. 5.16 1 John 5.14 and foreshewed also the power and efficacy of Christs meditation for poor sinners who is represented by the Angels standing at the Altar having a golden Censer and much Incense given unto him to offer it with the prayers of all Saints Rev. 8.3 For God heareth him always John 11.40 And he it is that makes intercession for the transgressors Isa 53.12 and is the attonement or propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.1 and for his sake God before whom the Pestilence goeth in wrath remembreth mercy Hab. 3.2 5. And as the blood of the Paschal Lamb figuring the blood of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 stayed the Angel which destroyed the Egyptians from touching the Israelites Exod. 12.23 Heb. 11.28 So the smoke of Aarons incense figuring the meditation of Christ Psa 141.2 Rev. 8.4 Stayed the Plague here from the Israelites which survived That as it is written of the Pestilence in Davids time The Lord repented him of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed the people It is enough stay now thy hand 2 Sam. 24.16 So in this verse the further efficacy and effect of faithful fervent prayer for the removal of this sore visitation of the Lord is clearly held forth in that Prayer of Solomon at the Temples dedication If there be in the Land Famine if there be Pestilence whatsoever Plague whatsoever Sickness there be what Prayer and Supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and
further in Isa 49.25 26. A dreadful place to all cruel Oppressors of Gods people saith the Lord there I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I will save thy Children And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine And Amos 2.6 Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof Why Because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes So Isa 52.4 5 6. Thus saith the Lord my people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause Now therefore what have I here saith the Lord that my people is taken away for nought they that rule over them make them to bowl saith the Lord and my name continually every day is blasphemed Therefore my people shall know my name therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. By which it is very evident that the Lord does not onely intimate unto us how sorely he plagued the Egyptians because they had grievously afflicted and oppressed his people which voluntarily and of their own accord went down into Egypt but also that he will much more grievously plague the Assyrians that carried them away out of their own Land the Land of Canaan which he had given them for an Inheritance and there dealt so cruelly and unmercifully with them So sorely displeasing is it unto the Lord when those that rule over his people shall make them to howl that is to cry bitterly to mourn and lament so ely as it is rendred Jer. 4.8 and Ezek. 21.12 To this agrees that in the 50th Chap. of Jeremiah and the 33 and 34. Verses Thus saith the Lord of Hosts The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah were oppressed together and all that took them Captives held them fast they refused to let them go Their Redeemer is strong the Lord of Hosts is his name he shall throughly plead their cause that he may give rest unto the Land and disquiet the Inhabitants of Babylon What we may understand by the Lords pleading of the cause of his people here and disquieting the inhabitants of Babylon that oppressed them that of Jerem. 51.35 36. doth evidently declare The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon shall the Inhabitants of Sion say and my blood upon the Inhabitants of Chaldea shall Jerusalem say Therefore thus saith the Lord behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee and I will dry up her Sea and make her Springs dry When the Lord shall plead the cause of Sion then will he take vengeance for her that is he will avenge himself of his and her cruel oppressing enemies According to that which the Lord of Hosts the mighty one of Israel speaks in Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries and avenge me of mine Enemies This is the time when he will make his Arrows drunk with blood and his Sword to devour flesh And then what follows Rejoyce O ye Nations with his people for he will avenge the blood of his Servants and will render vengeance unto his Adversaries and will be merciful unto his Land and to his people As it is in Deut. 32.42 43. This is that time which is called by the Prophet Isaiah The day of the Lords vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversies of Sion Isa 34.8 called by Jeremiah the vengeance of the Lord our God the vengeance of his Temple Jer. 50.28 And take notice then how severe the Lord will be He tells us that his Sword shall be bathed in Heaven and it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the people of his curse to Judgement By Idumea we are to understand Edom or the Edomites who were the highest Kindred of the Israelites but notwithstanding they were their greatest enemies and oppressors And therefore said the Lord by the Prophet Obadiah Vers 10. For thy violence meaning the Edomites against thy Brother Jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever And these are a Type and Figure of all the enemies of the Church of God who indeed do boast and brag that they are descended and born of the Church crying up the Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord setting up a Worship of their own devising and are in the practise of Sacraments and Ordinances as the true Church and Spouse of Christ yet indeed and in truth do hate persecute and oppress the true spiritual and sincere worshippers of Jesus Whereby it is very evident what dreadful plagues and punishments the sin of oppression doth bring upon a Land and Nation 2. The second Pestilential sin is the sin of Persecution and hatred against God and his people As God hath his Arrows of his deliverance for the preservation of his people against their enemies 2 King 13.17 So he hath the Arrows of his Indignation and wrath which Job being under a spirit of desertion and temptation apprehended were within him the poison whereof he said did drink up his spirit Job 6.4 So David in the like condition That the arrows of the Lord did stick fast in him and his hand pressed him sore Psal 38.2 And the Prophet Jeremy in his Lamentations He hath bent his bow saith he and set me as a mark for the Arrow He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins Lam. 3.12 13. I say whatever might be the apprehensions of these holy and righteous men yet surely the Lord has his arrows of his sore displeasure and wrath which as the instruments of death he hath prepared and ordained against the Persecutors Psal 7.13 And this of the destroying Pestilence is one of the sorest and sharpest of them as reckoned amongst his four sore judgements Ezek. 14.21 And as the wicked do bend their bow and make ready their arrows upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart Psal 11.2 So the Lord he has his bow and arrows and his Bow is bent also and his arrows he hath ready Psa 7.12 which he sends out and scatters his enemies with Psal 18.14 With these he breaks their bones and pierces them through Num. 24.8 yea makes them drunk with their blood Deut. 32.42 These are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies Psal 45.5 The Instruments and means that the Lord makes use of against his enemies are piercing yea so piercing that the heart the closest and strongest part even that wherein life consisteth shall be peirced thereby The arrows of the Lord are like the swords of Saul and Jonathan which did execution and returned not empty 2 Sam. 1.22 You think by flying away and hiding your selves in the thickets of the forrest you shall be secured from the stroke of these arrows of Gods vengeance but know if
you are Gods Enemies and persecutors his hand will find you out yea his right hand will finde out those that hate him and he will make you as a fiery oven in the time of his anger Psal 21.8 9. For wickedness burneth as fire and it shall devour the briars and thorns and shall kindle in the thickets of the forrest and they shall mount up as the lifting up of smoke for through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts the land shall be darkned and the people shall be as the fewel of the fire no man shall spare his brother Isa 9.18 19. I say if you be the Lords Adversaries then if the Scriptures be true and cannot be broken you shall assuredly be broken in peices yea out of heaven will the Lord thunder upon you 1 Sam. 2.10 And if that will not do he will throw you into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters as he dealt with the persecutors of his people Neh. 9.12 I cannot let pass those dreadful imprecations which the Prophet David thundereth out against his and the Lords Adversaries under the person of Judas Set a wicked man over him saith he Let Satan stand at his right hand let him be condemned and his prayer become sin and his days few and his children fatherless and vagabonds begging their bread and such like prophetical direful wishes And why all this Because that he remembred not to shew mercy but persecuted the poor and needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart Psa 109. to ver 17. so Psa 69. verse 22. and onward Let their table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their loins continually to shake Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Let their habitations be desolate and let none dwell in their tents Add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come unto thy righteousness Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous Now what 's the reason that David devoteth his and the Lords enemies to such dreadful destructions why even for this cause For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded By all which he meaneth that the wicked laid grievous afflictions and punishments upon such whom the Lord in his fatherly love had chastised whether you understand it of Christ or of his afflicted and persecuted members This is a sin that is highly provoking unto the Lord drawing down the wrath of God to a Kingdoms inevitable desolation and destruction as upon Judah and Jerusalem 2 Chron. 36.15 16. where it is said That the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers or prophets rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy or no healing because on the one side the people repented not and on the other side Gods Justice required that their impenitency should be most severely punished It s a similitude taken from sick bodies that are incurable For as Stephen said truly whom they stoned which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just one meaning Christ of whom saith he ye have been now the betrayers and murderers Acts 7.52 And therefore it was that our blessed Saviour took up that sad lamentation and complaint O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not And what follows Behold your house is left unto you desolate Matth. 23.37 38. Persecution is the certain fore-runner of a Nations desolation and destruction And God does usually retaliate the sin of persecuting and destroying men upon their own heads Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Psal 35.6 As the fire burneth the wood and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire so persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name O Lord let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them be put to shame and perish That men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Psal 83.15 16 17 18. And who are they whom the Psalmist imprecates these dreadful judgments to fall upon but Gods Enemies and Persecutors For lo thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head they have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones They have said Come let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance God has his hidden ones such whose life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 whom the Lord esteems as his jewels keeping them in faithful and safe custody hiding them in the secret of his presence from the pride of man which betake themselves to the Lord for refuge to be hid and secure under his tuition and protection Psal 27.5 and 31.20 And these are they that the enemies of God did consult and conspire against even to extirpate them and to root them out of the land But see how just the Lord is in the exeution of his righteous and terrible judgements upon such Thou shalt take up this proverb saith the Lord against the King of Babylon and say How hath the Oppressor ceased the golden City ceased the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the Scepter of the Rulers He that smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke mark that he that ruled the Nations in anger is persecuted and none hindereth Isa 14.4 5 6. O that this were seriously laid to heart by the persecuting spirits of this generation whether Gods controversie with the Kingdom at this time in this sore visitation of the Plague among us doth not in a great measure spring from this evil and bitter root so heinous and provoking sin it is unto the Lord. 3. The third pestilential destroying sin is the sin of Murder and Blood-shed that is exercised upon the people of God See Jer. 50.11 12 13. the dreadful threatnings of the Lord against Babylon for this very sin Because ye were glad saith the Lord because ye rejoyced O ye destroyers of mine heritage because ye aro grown fat as the heifer at grass and bellow as bulls Mark they were the destroyers of Gods heritage that was their sin and now what must be their punishment
the earth render a reward to the proud So highly provoking is it unto the Lord for any to have a hand in the destroying of Gods heritage As the Psalmist saith When the Lord shall make inquisition for blood he will remember them and not forget the cry of the humble or of the afflicted 4. The fourth pestilential and highly provoking sin is the sin of Idolatry which is the worshipping of false Gods or the true God in a false manner This is that sin that hath greatly incensed the Lord to send this sore Judgement of the Plague or Pestilence and the Sword among a people Judg. 5.8 It is said they chose new gods then was war in the gates When Israel forsook the Lord and his true worship and fell to the worshipping of the Idol-Gods of the Heathen then the Lord ever and anon punished them with war And as the Sword so the Pestilence brake in among them for this very sin Psal 106.28 29. They joyned themselves also to Baal-Peor and eat the sacrifices of the dead Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the Plague brake in upon them See Num. 25.2 to which this in the Psalmes doth referre It is said they called the people to the Sacrifice of their Gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods And Israel joyned himself to Baal-peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel so that there died in the Plague no less then four and twenty thousand and many more had been destroyed had not Phinehas stood up and executed judgement and turned away the wrath of the Lord and so the Plague was stayed as in the 30. verse of that 106. Psalm comp with Num. 25.11 Baal-peor was the Idol-god of the Moabites and the Daughters of the Moabites they called or invited the people to the sacrifices or offerings of their gods they allured the people by fleshly baites to defile their bodies and souls with whoredom and idolatry and the people they participated or communicated with them in their idolatry which sin God in a special manner had forewarned them of Exod. 34.12 13 14 15 16. Take heed to thy self lest thou make a Covenant with the Inhabitants of the Land whither thou goest lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee But ye shall destroy their Altars break their Images and cut down their Groves For thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God Lest thou make a Covenant with the Inhabitants of the Land and they go a whoring after their gods and do sacrifice to their gods and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice and thou take of their Daughters unto thy Sons and their Daughters go a whoring after their gods and make thy Sons go a whoring after their gods And hence it was that the Apostle Paul dehorted the Corinthians lest they should be guilty of the like sin and so incurre the like punishment 1 Cor. 10.8 Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed meaning spiritual as well as corporal uncleanness and fell in one day three and twenty thousand though there was four and twenty thousand fell in all but three and twenty thousand of them fell or perished in one day So when Moses was in the Mount with God and the People had made them a Molden Calf and gave it Divine Adoration saying These be thy gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt How did the wrath of the Lord begin to wax hot against them for to consume them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them yet saith the Lord Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them And the Lord plagued the people because they made the Calf which Aaron made See Psal 1◠23 comp with Exod. 32.4 and 35. verses 〈◊〉 whence was that dehortation of the Apostle likewise in that 1 Cor. 10.7 Neither saith he be ye Idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sate down to eat and drink and rose up to play The word is used for laughing or rejoycing Gen. 21.6 here it is meant of their singing and dancing about the Golden Calf they had made as in the 18. and 19. verses of Exod. 32. as aforesaid So Jer. 19.3 4 5. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Behold I will bring evil upon this place the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle And wherefore will the Lord be so severe Because they have forsaken me saith the Lord and have estranged this place and have burnt incense in it unto other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known nor the Kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of Innocents they have built also the high places of Baal to burn their Sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal which I commanded not nor spake it neither came it into my mind Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that I will cause them to fall by the Sword before their enemies c. and their Carkases will I give to be meat for the fowles of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth and I will make this City desolate and an hissing every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the Plagues thereof So Ezek. 33.25 26 27. Wherefore thus saith the Lord ye eat with the blood and lift up your eyes towards your Idols and shed blood and shall ye possess the land c. Thus saith the Lord God As I live surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the Sword c. and they that be in the Forts and in the Caves shall dye of the Pestilence For I will lay the Land most desolate and the pomp of her strength shall cease Hence it is said that in Horeh they provoked the Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry with them to have destroyed them Deut. 9.8 And Deut. 32.16 to 21. They provoked him to jealousie with strange gods with abominations provoked they him to anger They sacrificed to Devils not to God to gods whom they knew not to new gods that came newly up whom their Fathers feared not Of the Rock that begat them they were unmindful and had forgotten God that formed them What then And when the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters And he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be For this sin of Idolatry it was that the Lord brought evil upon the house of Jeroboam smiting all his house in so much that he left not to him any that breathed but took them away as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone for saith the Text He made him other gods and molten Images to provoke the
for us to return into Egypt and they said one to another Let us make a Captain let us return into Egypt But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneth which were of them that searched the land rent their cloaths and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying The land which we passed through to search it is an exceeding good land if the Lord delight in us then he will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey Only rebell not ye against the Lord neither fear ye the people of the land for they are bread for us Their defence is departed from them the Lord is with us fear them not this so greatly incensed the congregation that they badestone them with stones But see how highly provoking was this unto the Lord And the Lord said unto Moses How long will this people provoke me and how long will it be ere they beleive me for all the signs that I have shewed among them And mark what follows I will smite them with the Pestilence and dis-inherit them verse 12. I the Lord have said I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there they shall die And further it is said That the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the congregation to murmure against him by bringing up a slander upon the land even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died of the Plague before the Lord vers 35 36 37 of the 14. of Numb And the Lord renders the reason why their carkasses should fall in the Wilderness v. 22. Because all those men which have seen my glory saith he and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness have tempted me now these ten times and have not hearkned to my voyce surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it So greatly displeasing it is unto the Lord for a people who have seen the wonderful works of the Lord and his miraculous preservations to cherish a murmuring distrusting and unbeleiving spirit against the Lord not beleiving his promises nor relying on his mighty power and outstretched arm to defend them And therefore saith the Psalmist was the Lord wroth and a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel Because they beleived not in God and trusted not in his salvation Ps 78.21 22. So in Heb. 3.17 18 19. With whom was he grieved forty years was it not with them that had sinned whose carkasses fell in the wilderness And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that beleived not So we see that they could not enter in because of unbeleif For this cause it was that the Lords wrath was kindled against them so that he excluded them out of the good land Because they beleived not in God nor hearkned unto his voyce but murmured against him after they had seen his glory to wit his glorious works and the miracles that he did in Egypt and in the wilderness See Exod. 16.2 3. comp with Nehem. 9. from the 10th to the 18th verse O then that this might be seriously laid to heart by all such who having seen the wonderful outgoings and appearances of God in this latter age of the world and had a deep share in the glorious deliverances which God had wrought have yet through a heart of infidelity and distrust departed from God thereby brought up an evil report upon the good land even the good and honourable ways of the Lord shaking hands again with a carnal corrupt interest and longing after the flesh-pots the Onyons and Garlick of Egypt have turned again to the weak and beggarly elements or rudiments of the world whereunto they are as in Egyptian bandage again captivated and enslaved For I intend not here by this spirit of Infidelity and Unbeleif such carnal unbeleiving and regenerate persons to whom as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. the Gospel is hid and are lost and whose minds the God of this world hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ cannot shine into them but such rather who with open face having beheld as in a glass the glory of the Lord even the glory of his grace in the Gospel and the glory of his great and wonderful works in the world do yet through base fear and distrust of his power and promises suffer their hearts to depart and turn aside from the Lord. And this was the sin of Asa who when the Lord had delivered into his hand a huge host of the Ethiopians and Lubims because they relied on him did afterwards rely on the Kings of Syria and not on the Lord his God For which he received so sharp a rebuke from the Lord 2 Chron. 16.7 8 9. 9. The ninth Pestilential sin is the sin of Discontent accompanied also with a spirit of distrustfulness and unbeleif When a people will not be content with Gods allowance but will loath his blessings and his provisions and fall a lusting after evil things to satisfie their inordinate desires This was Israels provoking sin Numb 11.4 The multitude that was among them fell a lusting and they wept and said Who shall give us flesh to eat We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely the Cucumbers and the Melons and the Leeks and the Onyons and the Garlick but now our souls is dried away there is nothing at all besides this Manna before our eyes Though it was the corn of heaven and Angels food that they eat and such as did prefigure Christ himself his word and grace Joh. 6.31 32 33. and 1 Cor. 10.3 yet now they look upon it and count it but as a despicable thing and nothing noâ— would satisfie them but flesh and this to satisfie their lust And therefore it is said in the 78 Psalm and the 18th verse They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust yea they spake against God and said Can God furnish a table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed Can be give bread also Can be provide flesh for his people Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel c. Well nothing would satisfie their lusts but flesh and flesh they shall have with a witness till it come out at their very nostrils and was loathsom unto them so they did eat and were filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust but while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed The wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the
Lord smote the people with a very great plague And the name of that place was called Kibroch-hattanah that is the graves of lust because there they buried the people that lusted Hence it was that the Apostle treating of the bountiful dealings of God with the children of Israel said That with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness Now these things saith he were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted 1 Cor. 10.5 6. This is a sore evil an intestine evil a sickness indeed that gnaws and torments the very heart called therefore the Plague of Discontent which many of the people of God themselves as well as the men of the world are too too often infected with when not contenting our selves I say with the mercies and blessings which God affords us we fall a lusting after evil things as the Israelites hereafter flesh to satisfie their lusts loathing the heavenly Manna which God gave them And our desires oftentimes are so inordinate after them that like unto Rachel in the case of her barrenness though otherwise blest with many comfortable enjoyments we are crying out Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 I cannot live my life will be a burden unto me if I have not this or that I must have it whatever it cost me though I part with half of my estate nay with Herod it may be to the half of the Kingdom for his Herodias sake because she pleased him and to satisfie this lust Off must go John Baptists head Mark 6.22 23 24. Or like unto Haman who though he was so highly promoted in King Ahasuerus Court Yet saith he all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate Hest 5.13 Mordecai could not bow the knee nor do him that reverence as his proud ambitious heart panted after and this sowres all other his great advancements and enjoyments and now nothing will satisfie him less then his destruction and the total destruction of all the Jews Hest 3.9 So violent are persons set upon the satisfying of their lusts oftentimes though it be to their own hurt This was the sin of the Israelites they could not content themselves that God was their King and that he should reign over them but they must have a King to reign over them like unto other Nations rejecting the Lord and his Government who himself had saved them out of all their adversities and tribulations 1 Sam. 8.5 6 7. and chap. 10.19 And how great this wickedness of theirs was in the fight of the Lord the signal testimonies of his displeasure did evidently declare it 1 Sam. 12.17 So is it not just with God when a people falls a loathing of the heavenly Manna of Gods Word and where hath the Gospel been more powerfully preached and more obstinately contemned then in England that the Lord should send a famine in the Land if not a famine of bread and a thirst for water yet a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord Amos 8.11 O that this was seriously laid to heart and fruitfully applyed both by Professors as by the propbane persons of this Nation So dangerous and destructive a thing it is to cherish a carnal dissatisfied and discontented spirit against the Lord. 10. A tenth Pestilential and God-provoking Sin is the sin of Pride and Ambition and a trusting in an Arme of flesh not relying on the mighty power and faithfulness of God This was Davids sin in of numbring the people which was followed with a sore Prstilence among them See the second of Samuel 24. Chap. comp with 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan he provoked David to number the people that he might know how many valiant men there were in Israel that could draw the sword And questionless Davids heart was lifted up hereby when Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto him there being in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand And what should move David to such a thing but a proud ambitious desire to know the strength and number of his men of war accompanied with a distrustfulness of the mighty power of God and his All-sufficient arme which had so often saved and delivered him out of the hands of Saul and from the hand of all his enemies As in the 18th Psal wherein he praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous deliverances For this Davids heart smote him acknowledging that he had sinned greatly in what he had done and prayeth that the Lord would take away his iniquity for he had done very foolishly Yet the Lord would shew his justice make all the world to see and know that he will not indulge sin no not in his dearest Servants and most beloved Saints but if they sin they must expect to suffer and smart for it As Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And therefore he puts David upon his choise of three things whether the Famine the Sword or Pestilence he would make choise of and this did put him into a great streight but he chose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men for that the mercies of the Lord are great So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba Seventy thousand men And when the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem ready to destroy it it is said the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed the people It is enough stay now thy hand This also was Edoms sin Jer. 49.16 17 18. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee the pride of thine heart O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock That holdest the height of the hill though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee down from thence saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation every one that goeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss all at the plagues thereof As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour Cities thereof saith the Lord No man shall abide there neither shall a Son of Man dwell in it This was King Asa's sin before mentioned in the 2 Chron. 16.7 8 and 9. vers so sharply reproved and punished by the Lord. For this was a dreadful wo denouned against the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Isa 30.1 2 3. Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that they may adde sin to sin That walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow
Christ but are now again intangled therein and overcome turning with the Dog to his own vomit again and with the Sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire Let such know That their latter end will be worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. 12. The twelfth Pestilential and highly provoking Sin is the sin of Rebellion and Obstinate Disobedience against God and his Commandments Levit. 26.23 24 25. And if ye will not be reformed by these things saith the Lord but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant and when ye are gathered together within your Cities I will send the Pestilence among you and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy So Deut. 28.15 16 20 21. If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandments and his Statutes c. These curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field c. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thy hand for to do until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly And wherefore Because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me The Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee until he hath consumed thee and the Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and with a Feaver and with an Inflammation and with an extream Burning and with the Sword and with Blasting and with Mildew and they shall pursue thee until thou perish So in the 58 and 59. vers If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this Book that thou mayst fear this glorious and fearful name The Lord thy God Then the Lord will make thy Plagues wonderful and the Plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance So Deut. 29.22 23 24 25. The Generations to come when they shall see the Plagues of the Land and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it and that the whole Land is Brimstone and Salt and Burning c. like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah c. with the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath Even all Nations shall say Wherefore hath the Lord done this What meaneth the heat of this great anger Then men shall say Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers c. To this agrees that of the Prophet Jerom. 29.17 18 19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts Behold I will send upon them the Sword the Famine and the Pestilence and will make them like vile figgs that cannot be eaten they are so vile And I will persecute them with the Sword with the Famine and with the Pestilence and will deliver them to be removed to all the Kingdomes of the Earth to be a Curse and an Astonishment and a Hissing and a Reproach among all the Nations whither I have driven them And wherefore will the Lord be so severe against them Because they have not hearkened to my words saith the Lord which I sent unto them by my servants the Prophets rising up early and sending them but ye would not hear saith the Lord. So Ezek. 6.11 Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel for they shall fall by the Sword by the Famine and by the Pestilence He that is far off shall die of the Pestilence and he that is near shall fall by the Sword and he that remaineth and is besieged shall dye by the Famine Thus will I accomplish saith the Lord my fury upon them Ezek. 7 11. The Sword is without and the Pestilence and the Famine within he that is in the Field shall dye with the Sword and he that is in the City Famine and Pestilence shall devour him And why Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness v. 11. The rod hath blossomed pride hath budded So Ezek. 14.19 21. If I send a Pestilence into that Land and pour out my fury upon it in bloud to cut from it Man and Beast though Noah Daniel and Job were in it As I live saith the Lord they shall deliver neither Son nor Daughter they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness For thus saith the Lord God How much more when I sent my four sore Judgements upon Jerusalem the Sword and the Famine and the noysome Beast and the Pestilence to cut off from it Man and Beast And when will the Lord execute this great severity and be so inexorable the 13. vers declares it When the land sinneth against me saith the Lord by trespassing grievously I shall conclude with that in the Prophet Amos Chap. 2. ver 4 5. Thus saith the Lord For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof Because they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept his Commandements c. And what follows I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem So Amos 4.10 c. I have sent among you the Pestilence after the manner of Egypt your young men have I slain with the Sword and have taken away your horses and I have made the stinck of your Camps to come up into your Nostrils yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. So incorrigible hard-hearted and un-reformed were they under all the sore Judgements that the Lord had inflicted upon them Yet before he will make an utter destruction he invites them once again to repentance Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Thus you see what a high provoking sin it is to rebel against God and his Commandments As Samuel said to Saul when he disobeyed the Word of the Lord. Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and Stubornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.23 And if God was so severe to punish the transgressions of the law with what severity will Christ proceed against the willful contemners and disobeyers of his Gospel according to that of the 2d of the Heb. 2 and 3. vers If every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward that is of punishments inflicted on them How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation that is the Gospel which is called a Ministry of the spirit and of life whereas the law is a killing letter or the ministration of death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3.6 7 9. And the wrath of God cometh upon the children of Gospel disobedience Ephes 5.6 13. The thirteenth pestilential and highly provoking sin is the sin of Insurrection and rising up against
the Lords lawful Governours and Government whether Civil or Ecclestastical in Church or Commonwealth This was the sin of Corah Dathan and Abyram and their copartners mentioned in Num. 16. God had chosen Moses and Aaron to be the cheif Leaders and Governors of his people and placed the Government in their hands both as to the Civil and Religious administration thereof Korah and his companions gather themselves together against them and told them they took too much upon them seeing all the Congregation was holy every one of them and that the Lord was among them wherefore then should they lift up themselves above the Congregation of the Lord But see how highly incensing and provoking was this unto the Lord Separate your selves saith he to Moses and Aaron from among the congregation that I may consume them in a moment and now the Lord he will shew who are his and who are holy and a strange work will he do these men must not dye the common death of all men nor be visited after the visitation of all men but a new thing will the Lord make The earth must open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they must go down quick into the pit and so they did and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation Nor did the punishment of this Insurrection end here but the Lord causes a grievous Plague to break in upon the Congregation And Moses said to Aaron in the 46. verse Take a censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on Incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an attonement for them and why all this haste For there is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun And Aaron did so and stood between the dead and the living and the plague was staied Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred besides them that died in the matter of Corah So highly displeasing is it unto the Lord for persons to oppose his lawful Authority and Government which he hath put into the hands of his faithful Ministers and Servants Under which consideration undoubtedly must those Scriptures be comprehended that enjoyn subjection and obedience whether to the Lords Civil or Ecclesiastical Rulers and Governors Rom. 13.1 Tit. 3.1 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. 1 Thess 5.12 13. Heb. 13.7 17. O that this were seriously and timously considered and laid to heart by all such who flye in the face of Christ and carry themselves contemptuously against his lawful Governours and Government which he hath set in his Churches I mean the Churches of Christ making unjustifiable and dishonorable rents schisms and divisions in the body whereof they are members which should be as the seamless coat of Christ woven from top throughout Joh. 19.23 Of such who despise the Lords Government or Dominion I may say without wronging or injuring of them as Peter of some scandalous backsliding Professors in his time who were spots and blemishes in their feasts of Charity Presumptuous are they and self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities 2 Pet. 2.10 13. And while they promise themselves liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption vers 19. They despise Dominion The word it seems signifieth a removing of a thing from its place with some scorn and indignation They would remove the Lords Governors or Rulers over them with scorn and indignation And whereas they are said to despise dominion that is more then to despise their Rulers for they despise not only the Lords Governors but the Government it self And to speak evil of Dignities or to reproach Dignities is in the Original it see us to blaspheme Glories to speak reproachfully of Dominions which are placed in glory amongst men or which are set over them by the Lord in eminency power honour and authority Hence it is that lawful Magistrates ruling in the fear of the Lord are said to be Gods Psal 82.6 And the Lords Ministers and Messengers of Churches are said to be the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 And as stars in his right hand are the Angels of the seven Churches Rev. 1.20 All holding forth that Glory and Dignity which the Lord hath conferred upon them And for any persons to rise up as Korah and his complices did against Moses and Aaron though it be in a presumption of their own holiness Numb 16.3 Such are like to perish in the gainsaying of Core as Jude expresseth vers 11. of his Epistle It being very observable how the Psalmist does express this act of Korah's Insurrection or rising up against Moses and Aaron to be no less then an envying of them They envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked Psa 106.16 17 18. That example also of Miriam and Aarons speaking against Moses is not to pass without its due observation neither Numb 12.1 7 8 9 10. The Lord giving that testimony of Moses his servant that he was faithful in all his house Wherefore then saith he were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and Miriam became leprous as white as snow Let such therefore who are guilty in this matter consider how provoking a sin this is unto the Lord and whether they may not have a hand in pulling down this sore visitation among us 14. A Fourteenth Pestilential and highly provoking sin is the sin of Prophanation of Gods holy things and an Over-curious presumptuous speculation and prying unwarrantably into the Secrets of God This was the sin of the men of Ashdod for which the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon them visiting them with greivous plagues when they took the Ark and brought it into the house of Dagon the Temple of their Idol-god and set it by Dagon so sore was the hand of God on them that he smote them with Emrods and destroyed them and such a deadly destruction there was throughout all the City insomuch that the cry of the City went up to heaven 1 Sam. 5. The Ark was a Chest or Coffer which was made of Shittim or Cedar wood overlaid round about with gold whose cover called the Mercy-seat was also of pure gold on which was two glorious Cherubs of gold from whence God gave his oracle Numb 7.89 These Cherubims were placed at the the two ends of the Mercy-seat and they spread out their wings on high which covered over the Mercy-seat with their face one to another Exod. 37.1 2 6 7 8 9. In this were the two Tables of the Law or Testimony put written with the finger of God Exod. 25.16 21. Deut. 10.3 4 10. Between the Cherubims God was said to sit Psal 80.2 There will I meet with thee saith the Lord and
to the Scriptures are lies So he takes away that not onely derogates from the Divine Authority of Gods book but he also that any ways changeth or maliciously perverteth or contradicteth any thing therein written Christ will have the integrity sincerity and sacred Authority of this Prophesie to be faithfully preserved in the Churches and that the contemners falsifiers and corrupters thereof be no way suffered under the pain of Anathema or dreadful curse For if falsifyers of Coin are lyable unto the civil curse of the law much more shall the Anathema of eternal damnation be inflicted upon the corrupters of the Scriptures which are the words of God These with the Beast and the false Prophet shall the Lord cast into the Lake of fire burning with brimstone Rev. 19.20 This is a dreadful sin drawing down the Lords severest plagues and punishments Therefore take we heed that we add not unto the word which God commands us nor diminish ought from it but that we keep the Commandments of the Lord our God which he commandeth us Deut. 4.2 And mark well the reason that Solomon giveth Every word of God saith he is pure he is a shield to them that put their trust in him And consider what follows Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a lier Prov. 30.5 6. Having now spoken of the several Sins which so highly provoke the Lord to pour down his sore Judgements even this of the Plague or Pestilence among a people I shall now come to speak of some special spiritual Remedies which may be fitly applied and made use of as Soveraign Antidotes and Preservatives to prevent the further spreading of this pestilential contagious disease among us 1. THe first spiritual Receipt that I shall then prescribe unto thee who ever thou art that gettest in thy hand and readest this little tract Consider seriously and let thy thoughrs dwell long upon those Sins that I have insisted on as such which are the procuring Cause of this so sore a visitation from the Lord and entring into a diligent scrutiny and examination of thine own heart and ways Consider how far thou hast been or art a partaker of those sins which have so highly provoked the Lord to send down this National Judgement of the Plague and Pestilence among us For if we stand guilty of the same Sins how then shall we think to escape the like punishment This was the way and course the Apostle took when speaking of Gods displeasure against the Israelites whereby many of them were overthrown in the Wilderness how does he bring it home by way of special application Now these things saith he were our Examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted Neither be ye Idolaters as were some of them c. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one Day three and twenty thousand Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents Neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the Destroyer Now all things happened unto them for enamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10.5 6 to the 11 and 12. ver So say I as from the Lord. As to the first Pestilentiall sin of Oppression Did the Lord plague Pharaoh and his Land with sore and dreadful plagues even this of the destroying Pestilence for his cruel oppressions which he exercised over the bodies and consciences of Gods people Take heed then that thou art not found an Oppressor of the true worshippers of Jesus the spiritual Israel of God Take heed of exalting thy self against God in seeking still to hold the spiritual Seed under Egyptian captivity and bondage See that thou lets them go to sacrifice to the Lord God as he has commanded them Take heed of ruling over them with rigour and making their lives bitter with hard bondage Take heed ye rich men that ye do not oppress the poor Know that the Lord surely looks upon the afflictions of his people and hears their cry by reason of their Task-masters and will come down to deliver them Exod. 3.7 8. So to those that are the Bishops Elders and Overseers the Spiritual Rulers and Leaders of the flocks of Christ Take heed that ye be not Lords over Gods heritage but examples to the flocks See that ye feed the flocks of God taking the oversight of them not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 3. Take heed that ye do not exercise a dominion over their faith but are helpers of their joy 2 Cor. 1.24 Take heed that ye do not eat the fat and cloath you with the wool and kill them that are fed Take heed that with force and cruelty ye rule not over them So then to all that oppress whether in one kind or another see that ye undo heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free and break every yoke else surely the Lord will visit for these things and his soul will be avenged on such a Nation as this 2. So for the Sin of Persecution and Hatred against God and his people Hath the Lord ordained the Arrows of his Indignation even the Instruments of Death against the Persecutors and will he strike them into the hearts of his Enemies O then take heed that thou art not found a hater of God and a Persecutor of the people of God lest the Arrow of the destroying Pestilence that flyeth at noon day do light upon thee and the Angel of the Lord persecute thee 3. So for the Sin of Murder and Bloodshed Hath the Lord threatned his sore plagues against the Destroyers of his heritage and will he avenge the blood of his Servants at the great whore of Babylons hands and is there a time when the Lord will make inquisition for blood Then beware that thou hast not a hand in killing and destroying the Saints of the most high God And take heed that thou partake not of Babylons sins lest thou receive of her plagues For the Lord will avenge the blood of his Servants and will render vengeance to his Adversaries and will be merciful unto his land and to his people Deut. 32.43 4. So for the fourth Pestilential and highly provoking Sin of Idolatry Was the anger of the Lord so kindled against Israel when Israel had joyned himself to Baal-peor that no less then four and twenty thousand died in the plague And did the Lord plague the people because of the Calf they had made Then beware that ye be not Idolaters as were some of them and provoke the Lord to anger with your inventions For surely the Lord our God is a jealous God his glory he will not give to another neither his praise to Graven Images Isa 42.8 5. So for the Sin of Covetousness and a greedy desire after gain Is
it a sin so abhorring unto the Lord does the wrath of the Lord come upon the Children of disobedience because of it Has the Lord denounced so many woes against it and threatned to smite with his plagues and punishments for it O then beware of Covetousness and being greedy of gain lest thou be a troubler of thine house Prov. 15.27 6. So for the Sin of Cursing and Swearing and False-swearing Is it that because of Swearing the Land mourns and the Lord had a Controversie with the Land because of it And that the Curser shall be cloathed with his Cursing as with a Garment and it shall come into his bowels like water and the Curse shall enter into the house of the False-swearer O then beware that thou art not found in these sins lest these dreadful Judgments of God fall upon thee 7. So for the seventh Pestilential destroying Sin namely the sin of Adultery Fornication and such like corporeal filthiness and uncleanness Did the Lord so severely punish the sin of Zimbri and Cosby who were taken in the act of uncleanness that no less then twenty four thousand died in the plague And did the Lord plague Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife Then beware thou beastly Adulterer thou filthy Fornicator and unclean Liver lest the like severity of God take hold of thee Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jud. 7. 8. So for the Sin of Infidelity Distrust and Murmuring against God the eighth provoking Pestilential sin Did those men that brought up an evil report upon the good Land distrusting God for all the Signs that he had shewed among them dye by the plague before the Lord And did the Carcasses of those who murmured against the Lord fall in the Wilderness so that that they could not see the promised Land O then take heed how thou cherish a murmuring distrusting and unbeleiving heart against God Take heed of rasing up an evil report upon the good land thereby weakening the hands and discouraging the hearts of those who would be found walking in the beautiful paths of the Lord and be faithful in their generation 9. So for the Sin of Discontent loathing Gods blessings and his provisions and lusting after evil things to satisfie their inordinate desires the ninth provoking Pestilential sin Did the Lord smite the people with a very great Plague for this very evil Then take we heed that we lust not after evil things as they also lusted 10. So for the Sin of Pride Ambition and Vain-glory trusting in an arm of flesh and not relying on the mighty power and faithfulness of God Did the Lord for this sin of David send a Pestilence among the Children of Israel so that there dyed of the people Seventy thousand men O then take we heed of a proud vain-glorious spirit and that we trust not in an arm of flesh 11. So for the Sin of Apostacy Back-sliding and Revolting from God Did the Lord often threaten that for this sin he would consume them by the Sword the Famine and the Pestilence O then take we heed that we do not Apostasie and Back-slide in our spirits from the Lord. 12. So for the Sin of Rebellion and Obstinate Disobedience against God and his Commandments Did the Lord for this sin threaten that he would send the Pestilence among them and make it cleave unto them until he had consumed them O then beware that thou sin not against God and his Commands with an Obstinate Rebellious and disobedient heart 13. So for the Sin of Insurrection and rising up against the Lords lawful Governours and Government Did the Lord so severely deal with Corah Dathan and Abiram and their Complices and Co-partners for this evil not visiting them after the common visitation of men causing also the Plague to break in among them so that there died thereof Fourteen thousand and seven hundred O then take we heed of this so highly provoking Pestilential sin 14. So for the Sin of Prophanation of Gods holy things and an Over-curious Presumptuous speculation and prying unwarrantably into the secrets of God Was the hand of the Lord so heavy upon the men of Ashdod and also upon the men of Beth-shemish for this sin so that he smote them with a deadly destruction even of the people Fifty thousand and threescore and ten O then see that we are not guilty of this so highly provoking Pestilential sin 15. So for the last Pestilential destroying Sin of Adding or Diminishing from the word of God for which the Lord hath threatned such dreadful plagues and punishments O take thou heed of this so highly provoking sin lest the Lord add unto thee his plagues and take away thy part out of the Book of Life Having now seriously considered what those sins are that so highly provoked the Lord to send down this sore visitation of the Plague or Pestilence among a people see I say that thou enter then into a diligent search and examination of thine own heart and ways to find out the sin or sins which thy Conscience shall tell thee thou standest guilty of before the Lord Whether it be the sin of Oppression Persecution Murder Idolatry Adultery Covetousness Cursing or Swearing Infidelity Discontent Pride Apostacy Disobedience or any other of the forementioned provoking evils And see that thou art very exact and not slight and superficial in this manner of self-examination This is the exhortation of the Lord by his Prophet Zephaniah Chap. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired thus is it rendred in our Translation but other Traslations read it thus Search your selves narrowly yea search your selves narrowly O people not worthy to be desired Before the Decree bring forth before the day pass as the chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you I finde the Hebrew word signifies thus much First To gather your wits together that was before dispersed upon vanity Secondly To frame your selves to purge away your spiritual chaff Thirdly To search narrowly as for a lost jewel or hid mine The true sence is Enter into your selves search try and examine all your ways and doings that ye may rightly understand how heavily and greivously God must needs be offended with your great and manifold sins And mark the reason why they should be so diligent and industrious in this work Before the Decree bring forth That is before that doth come to pass which is decreed by God against you Gods Decree is then said to bring forth when it cometh to be executed As the bringing forth of a woman doth not follow presently after the conception but in the appointed due time So also is the Decree of God not brought to light by the execution of it until the time determined and appoined by
and frame of spirit was David in when he could not perform the fervent desire he had to serve God among the faithful How bitterly does he bemoan his being deprived of the comfort of the publick worship of God during his exile and the blasphemies of his enemies which caused his spirit even to be overwhelmed As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Meaning in the House of the Lord the Tabernacle where the solemn worship of God was celebrated and the Ark of the Covenant was where God dwelled 2 Sam. 6.2 or where the Lord gave visible signs of his presence And mark what follows My tears saith he have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God His tears were as his bread he fed and fillid himself with tears as if they were his onely food and sustenance according to that in the 80. Psal 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Meaning his own people oftentimes who are at his very foot praying and supplicating at the throne of grace And such a frame of spirit shall be found also in them as shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward They shall be going and weeping and in this spirit of mourning they shall go and seek the Lord their God All which doth evidently shews forth what will be the temper and spirit of all right-repenting souls and what a frame of spirit the Lord expects his people to be found in when his hand is lifted up even in this time when he sends the destroying Pestilence among us Now consider in what frame of spirit art thou before the Lord this day Hast thou found thy heart broken as it were into shivers for thy sins Has the sight of thy sins made thee to sigh for thy sins and to mourn kindly before the Lord for thine iniquities Hast thou ever shed a tear before the Lord for thy secret sins or thy more open and notorious abominations Surely if in such a day as this when the Arrows of the Lords Indignation are flying abroad if thou shalt be found in a Carnal Light Frothly Frolick Voluptuous Vain-spirit a lover of thy pleasures more then a lover of God putting far away from thee the evil day and causing the seat of violence to come near like those the Prophet Amos complains of Who were at ease in Sion and trusted in the Mountain of Samaria That lay upon Beds of Ivory and stretcht themselves upon their Couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall That did chaunt to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of Musick like David That drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the chief oyntment but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph I say if in such a day as this under such a severe and sore visitation as this thou shalt be found in such a spirit and temper as this sad and deplorable will thy condition be For mark what the Lord threatned those carnal fleshly sensual rejoycing ones Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Amos 6.1 to the 8. vers So dangerous and highly provoking a sin when the present dispensations of God together with thine own personal evils do call for a mournful frame of spirit that then thou shouldst be found in a spirit of carnal merriment and rejoycing As the Lord complained by the Prophet Isa Chap. 22.12 In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye This they spake in a scoffing manner as if they had said our Prophet tells us that we shall soon be destroyed and slain or carried into captivity let us then be jovial and merry as long as we may But mark how hainously did the Lord take it at their hands And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts Meaning that it should never be forgiven unto them unless they did cease from sinning For so the word till or untill in Scripture phrase does usually hold forth Gen. 28.15 2 Sam. 6.23 Matth. 1.25 I shall add hereunto that in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2d where the Prophet setting forth the terribleness of Gods approaching Judgements in the 12th vers he exhorteth them to this repenting and relenting frame of spirit as the only means to pacifie the Lords wrath and indignation from breaking out against them or for the removal of it Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil So in the 15. vers Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctifie the Congregation c. 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 thy heritage to reproach And mark what follows Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people This was that spirit also that was found in the people of Nineveh when destruction was threatned upon Jonahs preaching Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. It is said they believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least yea the King himself arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and caused it to be proclaimed that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God and turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that was in their hands and saith he who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not See what signal demonstrations were there here of the inward sorrow and compunction of their hearts O how will this Example of Nineveh repenting and sorrowing for their sins rise up in judgement against the men of this generation Luk. 11 32. Where is the covering of sackcloth to be seen Any outward demonstrations of a relenting spirit to be discerned Where
not allow it self in any known sin though accounted never so little since the very least are committed against so great a God and bring upon us so great a danger It will not excuse extenuate mince or hide sin as Adam nor cast it off himself upon others shoulders as Saul 1 Sam. 15.21 But it would willingly be divorced and separated both in spirit conversation and affection from all and every the pollutions and defilements of sin which if wilfully and willingly lived in he knows will expose his soul to inevitable ruine and destruction Consider then hath the wrath of God Almighty and the everlasting wo denounced to all impenitent sinners made thee fear and tremble Have thy tremblings been seconded with a true and hearty sorrow for thy sins Hath thy sorrow been such as hath brought forth hate and loathing of sin so that sin hath appeared ugly and abominable unto thee Hath there then followed an humble confession and laying open of thy sins before God begging pardon and remission of them with a desire to be rid of them and a real purpose and resolution to abandon them and forsake them This will evidence that thy service of sin hath given up the ghost and that thou hast a firme resolution of leading a new life and returning unto the Lord with all thy heart which is the fourth and last particular to be insisted on in this subject of sound Evangelical repentance For what is Repentance indeed in the true definition of it but a change of the mind or a coming to a mans self again to a right understanding after a man hath erred consisting in a turning of the whole heart from Satan and Sin unto God that is to serve God in newness of Life because he that lives in sin serves the Devil and belongs to his jurisdiction This definition you shall find full and whole in our Saviours words to Saint Paul when he appeared to him going to Damascus Act. 26.18 as Paul himself reporteth them namely That he would send him to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified Which voice Paul theresaith he was obedient unto and thereupon went and shewed first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance So that according to the definition Repentance hath two parts An Aversion or turning away from Satan and Sin that is the first then a Conversion or turning unto God by Newness of Life that is the second part but I proceed Fourthly The last thing that will evidence the sincerity of that Repentance which will be prevalent with the Lord to avert his wrath and quench the fire of his indignation that is broken out among us is a returning unto the Lord with all the heart Jer. 3.12 Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Onely acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed and repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions saith the Lord so iniquity shall not be your ruine Ezek. 18.30 In the 2. of Joel the Lord threatning the terribleness of his Judgements in referenece to his great Army how that the Earth should quake before them and the Heavens should tremble the Sun and Moon should be dark and the Stars should withdraw their shining In the 12. verse the Lord exhorteth them to a thorough repentance as the only means to stop the currant of this devouring and sweeping Judgment Therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil And this Exhortation is urged by divers Arguments 1. By promise of temporal blessings namely plentiful fruits of the earth even to the reparation of all their former losses by the Famine and removal of the Northren Army from them vers 18. to 28. 2. Of spiritual Evangelical priviledges whereof those temporals were but an imperfect pledge viz. plentiful pourings out of his spirit and his gifts upon all flesh Gentiles as well as Jews ver 28 29. Salvation and deliverance of an elect remnant in his Church after the Lord hath manifested by dreadful signs the terrour of his coming vers 30 31 32. 2ly This Exhortation is urged by threatning of destruction against all the oppressing enemies of the Church These are the blessed fruits among others of that repentance that is a returning unto the Lord with all the heart Suitable to which is that of the Prophet Jeremy If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remove Jer. 4.1 Then shalt thou not wander thou shalt not go into exile Which foregoing places do imply that God is not pleased with shews or flying thoughts or loose purposes or half a heart but requires an upright turning away from evil and a thorough conversion to himself and that which is good and not to idols or any other vanities whatsoever There is a special place to this purpose in Deut. 4.29 30. It speaks of the Lords scattering of them among the Nations and how they should be lest few in number among the Heathen whither the Lord should lead them But if from thence saith the Lord by his servant Moses thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn unto the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto his voice For the neglect whereof see what a bitter complaint the Lord took up against Israel Amos 4.6 How he had given them cleanness of teeth and want of bread in all places and had sent among them the Pestilence after the manner of Egypt and had overthrown some of them as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and they were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning yet did they not return unto the Lord. But mark what follows Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel And what did he threaten he would do unto them for their obstinacy and incorrigableness if they repented not The 2. verse declares it The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness that lo the days shall come upon you that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish-hooks What 's the meaning of that understand
that like as great fishes are pull'd and drawn up out of the Sea with hooks so he would cause them to be pulled out of their Land by the enemy how loath and unwilling soever they were to quit it To prevent which the Lord exhorts them that they would prepare to meet him with true conversion as a special means to appease his wrath and prevent their ruine When Ephrahim was turned and had repented how was the heart of the Lord taken with it Jer. 31 18 19 20. Hos 11.8 9. O then what shall I say what arguments shall I make use of to excite thee O England to a speedy return unto the Lord surely thou hast had many gracious invitations in the day of thy prosperity and peace but thou wouldst not hearken thereunto Many premonitions and forewarnings of this day that is now come upon thee by the mouthes of the Lords faithful Messengers and Servants And upon this account may it not be said of thee as is recorded and declared concerning the Lords merciful dealings with his own people and City of Jerusalem where he had placed his name and worship notwithstanding their great and manifold provocations Yet the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But now how did they requite the Lord for all his kindness and long sufferance towards them they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy 2 Chron. 36.15 16. no healing no help their sores were so putrified and festred that they grew incurable As the Lord by his Prophet Isaiah complained chap. 1. verse 4 6. The whole head became sick and the whole heart faint From the sole of the foot even unto the head from the lowest to the highest from the Beggar upon the dunghil to the King upon the throne there was no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores which could not be bound up nor mollified with ointment The whole body of the State and Nation was so universally corrupted and depraved that the Lord calls them A sinful Nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that were corrupters and such as had forsaken the Lord and provoked the holy one of Israel unto anger and had gone backward And tells them further that the was even weary with smiting and punishing of them Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more Yet see for all their great and greivous provoking sins and that general depravation and corruption that was among all sorts from the highest to the lowest of them as the 21 22 and 23 verses of that Chapter do clearly demonstrate the truth of it How does the Lord notwithstanding invite them again to repentance by gracious promises of pardon and the bestowing of all good things upon them Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgement releive the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow intimating wherein they should manifest the sincerity of their repentance and returning unto the Lord And then mark what follows Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be like crimson they shall be as wool If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land But if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the sword O the great indulgence and forbearance of the Lord towards this so generally depraved corrupted and unreformed a people Which is further notably set forth in that of the third of Zephany Wo to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing City she obeyed not the voyce she received not correction she trusted not in the Lord She drew not near to her God Her Princes within are roaring lions her Judges are evening wolves they gnaw not the bones till the morrow Her Prophets are light and treacherous persons Her Priests have polluted the sanctuary they have done violence to the law And what follows I have cut off the Nations their towers are desolate I made their streets waste that none passeth by their Cities are destroyed so that there is no man that there is no inhabitant I said Surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction thou wilt now be warned by my judgements upon the Nations round about thee so their dwelling should not be cut off howsoever I punished them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings The filthy leprosie and contagion of sin had so overspread and infested the whole Nation whereby she became now ripe for destruction And therefore did the Lord wound her with the wound of an enemy with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of her iniquity because her sins were increased Jer. 30.14 And now the wrath of the Lord breaks out and it could not he appeased For he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their youngmen with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand 2 Chron. 36.16 17. They would not take example by the judgements of God which he executed upon the heathen round about them and now God will make them the examples of his fierce indignation and wrath Patientia loesa fit furor His abused and worn out patience is now turned into implacable anger His Spirit will not always strive Gen. 6.3 Jerusalem had her day Luk. 19.42 God would have gathered her but she would not and now her house is left unto her desolate Matth. 23.37 38. Wilt thou then O England take a view of thy sins and see whether they do not equal if not overpass the sins of that Nation Are not thy sins grown epidemical and spread through the whole body may it not be said of thee as of that Nation that the whole Head is sick and the whole Heart faint Can the Throne plead an exemption from this universal contagion Can the Prince or Peasant the Nobility or Gentry the Laick or Ecclesiastick Have not all sorts and degrees of men and women deeply corrupted themselves and turned aside from following the Lord When did sin and transgression more abound then in this our age and generation when did it walk up and down with a more impudent and brasen face when did you ever see Pride to be prouder Oppression more oppressive Adultery more adulterous Luxury more luxurious Cruelty more cruel Unrighteousness more unrighteous and all manner of disobedience to God and his commands more disobedient When was Drunkeness and Prodigality Swearing Cursing and Blaspheming Ranting and Roaring Atheism and Epicurism more abounding When
were not carnal but mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons which they used by the Gospel of Christ to convert men and to bring them under the Kingdome and obedience of Christ were not carnal that is such as natural and worldly men are wont to make use of either by eloquence or deceit or by force to bring others in subjection under them but mighty or powerful through God in moving and convincing of the hearts of men by his Spirit Act. 16.14 Surely if these things were seriously laid to heart we must needs acknowledge that the sins of professing people as well as others have been highly provoking unto the Lord as to the drawing down of this sore visitation of the Plague among us And this may put us to silence that we murmur not and will justifie the righteousness of God in the way of his severity as he now comes forth against many of his own people For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3.23 And what says the Lord by the Prophet Amos. All the sinners of my people shall dye by the sword which say The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us Amos 9.10 So the Lord by the Prophet Jeremy complains For among my people are found wicked men they lay waite as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch men As a Cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich They are waxen fat they shine they overpass the deeds of the wicked they judge not the cause the cause of the fatherless yet they prosper and the right of the needy do they not judge And mark what follows Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 25.26 27 28 29. And who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient unto his law And consider well what follows Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Jsa 42.24 25. So Jeremy the 12.7 I have forsaken mine house I have left mine heritage I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies And what may we gather from all this Surely thus much That no near relations as to God or any external priviledges can yeild a protection from a sin-deserved correction Remember Lots wife Luk. 17.32 Vengeance closely waits on disobedience Punishment doth dog impiety For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep saith Paul to the Church of Corinths speaking of eating and drinking unworthily at the Lords Table 1 Cor. 11.29 30. God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity with any approbation or tolleration as to his own peculiar people If his children forsake my law speaking of David and his seed as a Type of Christ and the true spiritual seed and walk not in my judgments If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments What then says the Lord Then will I visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89.30 The Lord hath laid righteousness to the rule and waighed his justice in a ballance and his judgments are right and in faithfulness he doth afflict Psal 119.75 His sentence is past forth and stands irrevocable Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil Rom. 2.9 If we sin we shall suffer How Aut a Deo vindicante aut ab ipso homine penitente as one says excellent well Either from God revenging or themselves repenting For he that repenteth himself of his sins doth punish himself for his sins And now O England if thou repent not let me say unto thee as the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 10.2 to the men of that generation What wilt thou do now in the day of thy visitation and in the desolation that shall come from far To whom wilt thou flee for help and where will ye leave your glory O then bethink thy self yet before it be too late before the wrath of the Lord break out so that their will be no remedy O gather thy self together O Nation not desirous before the Decree bring forth before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon thee before the whole Land be devoured by the fire of his jealousie before he make a speedy riddance of all that dwell in the land As the Lord by the Prophet Zephaniah exhorts Chap. 1.18 Chap. 2.1 2. O then return unto the Lord thy God for hou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take unto you words and turn unto the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously Hosea 14.1 Suitable to which is the Churches exhortation Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Hosea 6.1 This is the way the Lord himself propounds for the removal of his sweeping devouring Judgments Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him Joel 2.12 13. Let the King lay his robe from him and cover him with sackcloth and sit in ashes let man and beast be covered with sackcloath let there be some demonstrative tokens of a more then ordinary sorrow and humiliation for each and every ones so highly provoking sins Let all cry mightily to God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not This will move Gods repentings towards us this will divert his wrath Jonah 3. and the latter end Jer. 31.20 And that you may not question the truth and certainty of it in the least will you consider that the Lord stands engaged by his unalterable word and promise to make it good If I shut up heaven saith he that there be no rain c. Or if I send Pestilence among my people if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways What then will he do Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land 2 Chron. 7.13 14. Wherefore let that counsel be acceptable to all which Daniel gave to King Nabuchadnezzar O King break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility Dan. 4.27 As if he had said If thou wilt follow the
Ezod 18.8 11. This was the Argument that good King Jehosophat used in prayer with the Lord when a great multitude of enemies came against him O Lord God of our fathers art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the Kingdomes of the Heathen and in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy freind for ever O our God wilt not thou judge them for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee And the Lord did thereupon shew forth his mighty power and that this great multitude was not able to withstand him For he set ambushments against the Children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir that came against Judah and they were smitten and every one afterwards helped to destroy another 2 Chron. 20. O then be acting faith in this great and powerful Jehovah that he would make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the Nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God Isa 52.10 Fear and tremble before him whose mighty power hath limited and bounded the proud and imperious waves of the Sea that hitherto shall they come and no further and here shall its proud waves be stayed Jeremiah 5.22 comp with Job 37.11 Fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell Matth. 10.28 It is he that makes the pillars of heaven to tremble and to be astonished at his reproof Job 26.11 And learn to depend on this Almighty being for preservation in all streights and exigents whatsoever who can preserve without means as Elijah forty days and forty nights 1 King 19.8 by strange and miraculous means even by the help of Ravens that fed him 1 King 17.4 by the ministery of Angels vers the 5. and the 6. of that 1 King 19. Chap. By small means as the widows meal in the barrel and her little oyle in her cruse 2 King 17.14 Against means as Daniel in the Lions den Dan. 6.22 By ordinary means wherein his powerful blessing is to be desired else we may eat and not be satisfied Hag. 1.6 And let us praise him withal our strength for his almighty power Rev. 4.11 Worthy art thou O Lord to receive glory and honour and power Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory 1 Chron. 29.11 And let us be speaking of his power to make known to the Sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and whose dominion endureth throughout all generations And for the adversaries of the Lord let them know that they shall be broken to peices and that out of heaven God shall thunder upon them 1 Sam. 2.10 And that his power and his wrath is against all them that do evil Ezra 8.22 And let it be matter of consolation and encouragement in our prayers that we call on that God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think Eph. 3.20 In our perseverance That the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth who fainteth not neither is weary will renew our strength that we shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Because he upholds us in our integrity Psal 41.12 The Garrison that keeps us is the power of God 1 Pet. 1.5 And none can take us out of his hand because he is greater then all Joh. 10.29 In times of Temptation For our strength is in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6.10 't is he that strengthens us in the inward man And when God shall help us with a little help Dan. 11.34 then our strongest temptations shall not prevail but we shall be more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 In times of Affliction Know that he that is Almighty orders them for the kind whether on our souls or bodies names or estates Amos 3.6 For the measure whether great or small Jer. 30.11 The time sometimes but an evening heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the mourning Psal 30.6 Sometimes ten days The Devil shall cast some of you into prison and ye shall have tribulation ten days Rev. 2.10 Sometimes our sorrows shall be for years Psal 90.15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil He orders the Deliverance there is an appointed time for that also Josephs feet must be hurt with fetters and lye in irons until the time that the word of the Lord came and tried him and then the King sends and looseth him and makes him Lord of his house and Ruler of all his substance Psal 105.19 20 21. There is a time when the Prisoners shall be loosed out of their pit and turn to their strong hold even the Prisoners of hope Zach. 9.10 11. Lastly what great consolation doth this minister in respect of death our bodies shall not always rot and consume we must awake and sing though we dwell in the dust Isa 26.19 And our vile bodies shall be chaanged and fashioned like unto his glorious body even by the mighty and absolute power of Christ according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 All created powers being derived from him and subordinate unto him 1 Chron. 29.12 and 2 Chron. 14.11 2. Act faith in the mighty power of God and that in times of sickness and of this sore visitation of the Lord. Know that this is the Lords prerogative royal to kill and to make alive to bring down to the grave and to bring up again 1 Sam. 2.6 This the Lord challengeth as his own sovereign peculiar right I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deut. 32.39 In Psal 90.1 2 3 Saith the Church there Lord thou hast bin our dwelling place in all generations Before the mountains were brought forth c. even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God And what follows Thou turnest man to destruction and sayst Return ye children of men The consideration of this mighty power and the Churches acting faith in the same did put her upon pious thoughts of returning unto the Lord Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up And what follows After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Hos 6.1 2. Consider then in the first place whoever thou art that art thus under the chastising hand of
furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O King They served God and they knew that God was able and of power sufficient to protect them in the service of him Dan. 3.1 11 16 17. To this purpose when our dear Lord would encourage his Apostles and the subsequent Ministers of the Gospel to be faithful in the execution of his commands and the trust committed unto them He tells them that all power was committed unto him in Heaven and in Earth And therefore go teach all Nations and Baptise them c And teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you allway even unto the end of the World Mat. 28.18 19 20. As if he had said Do you faithfully and couragiously execute the Commission I have given you and be assured you shall never want my all-sufficient power and presence to support you I will make all the power I have in heaven and earth concurring in a way of serviceableness unto you O come let us sing unto the Lord saith the Psalmist let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation Shall we fear to serve that God who is the Rock of our Salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving c. Why For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods in his hand are the deep places of the earth the strength of the hills is his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry land If the Lord whom we serve is so great a God so great a King above all Gods above all Angels Princes and Potentates of the World and above all that is called God O then with what thankfulness and chearfulness of spirit should we come into his presence O come let us Worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Why for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands whom he makes to lye down in green Pastures and leadeth besides the still waters Psa 95.1 to 7. So in Psa 96.6 it is said Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary Where is the beauty of Gods face seen and his power and strength displayed as in his Sanctuary to wit his Tabernacle his Temple the Congregations and Assemblies of his Saints God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence by all them that are about him and why why who in Heaven can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord Psa 89.6 7. And therefore it is that the Lord hath spoken saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Lev. 10.3 When a fire went out from the Lord and destroyed Nadab and Abihu the Sons of Aaron for offering strange fire before the Lord Lev. 10.1 2 3. To which I suppose that place in the Hebrews hath a special reference where the Saints being exhorted to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear urges this as a strong motive thereunto for our God saith he is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. Thus you see how requisite it is to be acting Faith in the power and soveraignty of God when we draw nigh to him in the solemn duties of his Worship and service and what an encouragement it is to be fearing the Lord and serving of him in sincerity and truth with all our hearts considering what great things he hath done for us 1 Sam. 12.24 5. Act faith in the mighty power of God in times of suffering So the Apostle James speaking of the cruelties that were exercised against the Saints in those days how they had condemned and killed the just and they could not resist them He exhorts them to be patient to the coming of the Lord and why to the coming of the Lord Because when he comes he will come with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 When he comes hee 'l take to him his great power and reign Rev. 11.17 When he comes he will come with ten thousand of his Saints What to do To execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed c. Jude vers 14 15. When he comes he will come with fire and with his chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire Isa 66.15 When he comes he will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you Isa 35.4 And then the hand of the Lord the power of God shall be known towards his servants and his indignation towards his enemies Isa 66.14 So the Author to the Hebrews when he exhorts the Saints to a patient suffering and undergoing of the Cross of Christ what Argument does he use even this For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 The Apostle would have all the suffering Saints to be acting faith in a powerful Redeemer even in him who is mighty to save That will tread down the people in his anger and make them drunk in his fury and will bring down their strength to the earth Isa 63.6 So the Apostles when the Priests and Rulers of the people had laid hands on them and put them in hold for teaching the People and Preaching through Jesus the resurrection from the dead and had further threatned them for speaking any more in the name of Jesus and had let them go what Arguments in Prayer do they use Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said why did the Heathen rage and the people imagine vain things The Kings of the Earth stood up and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done And now Lord behold their threatnings Act. 4. Though they had to deal with great and potent Adversaries yet they well knew that God was above them and that their rage and fury was not so much against them as against the Lord Jehovah himself and against his Christ whom he had anointed to be the chief Priest and Prophet and King of his Church who could easily break them with his rod of Iron and dash them in peices like a Potters Vessel They knew that the Lord whom they served was able to deliver them as Daniel out of the Lions mouths So it is said of Moses and laid down as a singular act of Faith in him that he forsook Egypt and feared not the wrath of the King for
trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river whose leaf shall be green and shall not cease from yeilding fruit Jerem. 17.7 8. Pro. 28.25 And as David Psal 40.4 Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies 3. A mans House or Habitation is the place of his Secresie Where does the Husband and the Wife or a man and his freind unbosome themselves communicate their thoughts and the very secrets of their hearts each to other but usually and for the most part in their Houses in their private Chambers and Closets So it is with the Man or Woman that makes God their habitation They 'l go to God and in their Closet and close retirements with the Lord how will they unbosome themselves and lay open their very hearts and most secrets thoughts and spread them before the Lord. So did Hanna in the bitterness of her soul she prayed and wept sore and in her secret retirements she poured out her soul before the Lord 1 Sam. 1.10 15. meaning the trouble and anguish of her heart So David when his spirit was overwhelmed within him then he cried unto the Lord and poured out his complaint before him and shewed him all his trouble Psal 142.1 2 3. So Jeremiah 20.10 11 12. when he lay under evil reports and defamation and his familiars watched for his halting what course does he take He goes to God and opens his cause unto him or discovers his cause unto him as to an Advocate or Patron O Lord of Hosts saith he that triest the righteous and seest the reins and the heart let me see thy vengeance on them for unto thee have I opened my Cause So is it said of Hezekiah when he had received the Letter of railing Rabshekah and read it he goes up into the House of the Lord and spreads it before the Lord in this manner O Lord God of Israel which dwellest between the Cherubims thou art the God even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth thou hast made heaven and earth Lord bow down thine ear and hear open Lord thine eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacharib which hath sent him to reproach the living God This hath been the manner of the Servants of the Lord who have made God their habitation they go to God in secret and pour out their souls before him O saith Job that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments Job 23.3 4. Holy Job even now a Proverb or a Prodigy rather perceiving his freinds discourses were fuller of reproaches then consolations neglects to answer them and resolves to get him to God the onely support and refuge of the miserable The soarest strokes cannot drive away gracious souls from God but rather draw them nearer unto him they seldome or never think themselves near enough unto God its Sun and Sheild and Center O that I knew where to find him that I might come even to his Seat And Gods Judgment-seat where he sits to hear and determine Causes is not terrible or unapproachable to a Beleiver who knows it to be a Throne of Mercy as Job did here And happy are all that can say so For we must all appear defore the Judgment-seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 11. and it will be terrible to all those that do not often resort thither before hand And it is good to have our hearts and mouths fill'd with Arguments when we come to plead and expostulate and reason out our great concernments with our God who hath all good things lying ready by him and waits only for Prayer to come and fetch them away Not that God stands in need of our informing him concerning our necessities which he knows better then we but because hereby we give some proof that we are not altogether strangers at home as many careless ones are but know something of our selves and our own cases and of him and his dealings towards us If our mouths then be fill'd with arguments we may be sure of an Answer God will not sit still and say nothing he will not sit like an Image like a dumb Idol as the Abominations of the Heathens their Dii Stercorei their Dunghil Gods as they are called Deut. 29.17 must of necessity do they can do no otherwise though men fill their mouths with Arguments and empty their veins of their blood before them 1 King 18.28 Go boldly then to the Throne of grace plead with God and fill your mouthes with arguments spread thy complaints before him and open thy cause unto him for when ever you do so beyond all peradventure God will answer There 's no fear that he will interpret this sawciness and presumption in thee and so answer thee with his fists about thine ears or with his foot to kick thee out of his presence there is no fear that he will smother thee under the waight of his greatness or dazle thee with his beams or burn thee with his flames or drive thee from the judgement seat as Gallio did the Jews Act. 18.16 No he never beats his people lower then their knees and thence suffers them yea helps them to rise again nay he will lay his hand upon thy head yea under thy feet to do thee good he will stroke rather then strike a pleading soul He will strengthen thee and put mettle into thee He will not plead against thee with his great and absolute power So he dealt with Daniel a man that had great intimate acquaintance with God Chap. 10.19 How was he strengthened when the Angel touched him The Righteous may plead and dispute with him even at the bar of Equity and Justice and the Judge cannot but pronounce and pass sentence in their favour Thus righteous Jeremiah pleaded with him Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee Jer. 12.1 And he invites his people to come and plead freely Isa 43.26 Put me in remembrance saith the Lord let us plead together declare that thou mayst be justified if thou haste any thing to say for thy self say on Yea Idolaters shall have this permission to plead for themselves and their dumb Idols if they have any thing to say for them Isa 41.21 Produce your cause saith the Lord bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Jacob Shall Idolaters have this liberty and not the true Worshippers that worship him in Spirit and in truth The wicked shall they have it and not the righteous Yes doubtless this is that boldness of speech 2 Cor. 7.4 mentioned as the great priviledge of the Saints especially now under the new Testament Heb. 4.16 Accedamus cum loquendi ubertate ad thronum gratiae Letus come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb. 10.19 Having
an hill therefore when the Apostle presseth Gospel-obedience he bids us lay aside every weight that we may run with patience Heb. 12.1 The old Adam is a clogg to our obedience and weights easily pull us down and if down to rise again it is up-hill work What a do have we to get up our hearts unto true Gospel-sorrow for our sins Oh what a hard work it is to bring our hearts up to a beleif of the promises to trust God in difficulties c. Oh how difficult to get up the hill of Gospel-obedience what pains must we take to get to communion with God in the Spirit Gods call for our obedience is like his command to Moses Deut. 32.49 50. Go up to Mount Nebo and dye there So go up into thy Closet and kill thy corruptions there let thy dearest lusts dye there pluck out thy right eye there and cut off thy right hand there and we had as live dy as do such a thing such verily is our natural stubbornness against God When God bids us up and do this or that oh how irksome and unpleasing is it to flesh and blood When the Gospel bids us look above all things Father Mother Wife Children Lands Houses Life and and leave forsake and hate them all and then thou shalt be a Disciple of Christ upon the account of Gospel-obedience Are we not ready to say with those Disciples of Christ This is a hard saying who can bear it Joh. 6.60 Yet I say the soul that is carried upon the wings of faith and love and strengthened with might by the Spirit of the Lord in the inward man can chearfully and willingly conform to such harsh difficult and unpleasing commands considered as to flesh and blood But I shall come a little closer as to the thing in hand to excite thee to this evangelical obedience Consider first how acceptable and well-pleasing a thing it is unto the Lord in that he prefers it above legal Sacrifices whatsoever As Sumuel said to Saul Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voyce of the Lord Behold to obey is better then Sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams For rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft and stubbornness is as iniquity and Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.22 23. Hos 6.6 So Jer. 7.22 23. For I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices But this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear but walked in the counsels and imaginations of their evil heart and went backward and not forward c. And because they rejected the Lords Prophets he sent among them and would not hearken unto the Lord nor incline their ear but hardned their neck and did worse then their Fathers Therefore the Prophet Jeremy was to say unto them This is a Nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God nor receiveth correction truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth Object But did not the Lord command their Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices after he had brought them out of the Land of Egypt were they not things of his own appointment Answ Yea Surely the Lord did command and injoyn their sacrifices and it was their sin to omit them but the meaning is this as if the Lord had said This was not the chiefest thing that I commanded them as ye Hypocrites do conceive and imagine but it was their sincere obedience which they have not yeilded unto me and you have yeilded me less then they I did expect that your forefathers should have obeyed my voice in all other things that I had enjoyned and commanded them to do as well as in matters of burnt-offerings and sacrifices but seeing they disobeyed my voice and yet would come and sacrifice unto me with impure hands and unclean hearts rebellious and disobedient spirits their Sacrifices and Offerings to me were as if I had not commanded them at all my soul did loath them and abominate them and so they do yours so long as you hearken not to my voice but walk in the counsells and imaginations of your own evil hearts The Prophet Hosea gives much light into this understanding of the mind of God in Hosea 6.6 and so doe our blessed Saviour referring his speech thereunto For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more then burnt-offerings See Mat. 9.13 and 12.7 that is I preferred works of mercy before Sacrifice and the knowledge of God as it is joyned with obedience to the will of God before burnt-offering The outward bare offering considered in it self without faith and repentance the Lord highly reproved and rejected See to this purpose Psa 50.12 to 17. So Isa 1.11 to 15. See there how the Lord did abominate their offerings notwithstanding he had instituted and appointed them To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt-offerings of Rams c. bring no more vain oblations incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even your solemn meeting your new Moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear And why Your bands are full of blood will ye kill and murder my servants the Prophets and shed the blood of mine innocent ones and come and think to appease my wrath with your hypocritical offerings And therefore he exhorts them to repentance Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment releive the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason togeather saith the Lord when these things are done then come unto me then bring your offerings unto me then shall they be accepted by me then we will reason together then I will hear your prayers and pardon your sins and not before Hence it is that Solomon saies The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15.8 So Prov. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind It is always evil but how much more abominable is it when he brings it with a wicked mind or with a wicked intent expresly intending to effect or accomplish some wicked act or enterprise thereby and as it were calling upon God to be an help to advance and set