earth-quakes all these should be but the beginning of sorrows Secondly God expects from men that though they be not sensible of his threats yet when he begins with them in way of execution of his wrath they should begin a little Oh! it were well with us if we did prevent Gods heavy wrath by our repentance Numbers 16. 46. Moses said unto Aaron Take a Censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on Incense and go quickly to the Congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague is begun Oh! how should we all make hast we cannot say only the plague is begun the plague of Civil War which is the greatest of all kind of plagues but it hath gone on a great way But to proceed VER 11. Because Ephraim hath made many Altars to sin Altars shall be unto him to sin IT was the Charge of God in Scripture That there should be but one Altar for Sacrifice and there was another Altar that afterwards was made for Incense and no further in Deut. 12. 3. and 5. ver There we have the Charge of God that there should be none other made You shall overthrow their Altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and you shall hew down the graven Images of their gods and destroy the names of them out of that place c. And then Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt offering in every place that thou seest but in the place which the Lord shall chuse c. And in Deut. 27. 5. Thou shalt build an Altar to the Lord thy God an Altar of stones thou shalt not lift up an Iron tool upon them And according to which Joshua did in Joshua 8. 30. and hence in Joshua 22. 11. Now for the Altar of God I shall first shew you a little the meaning of them and then the reason why God would have but this one Altar in Exod. 20. 24. there is an injunction of God for the Altar of Sacrifice An Altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offering c. Here observe that That when God would have an Altar made for sacrifice it must be but an Altar of earth but if it should be of stone Take heed that thou liftest not up a tool upon it Why one would think that to carve and paint the stones and do any thing to make it brave would do better than to have the stones rough No saith God whatsoever you may think that to make my Altar brave by carving of it and painting it If you do but lift up a tool upon it you polute my Altar all mans devices in the worship of God though they be never so pompous they do but polute Gods Worship And they must not go up upon steps quite contrary to our high Altars that their nakedness be not discovered therein Noting that when we come into the presence of God we should take heed of our spiritual nakedness and the pride and vanity of our spirits in prayer God would have them make an Altar so as they might not go up upon steps lest their nakedness should be discovered But now in Exod. 27. 1 2. there you shall find an Altar of Shittim wood overlaid with Brass you will say Why was the first with earth and the other with brass The reason was because that the one was to be made when they were in an unsetled condition and the other to be made afterwards when they were in a more stated condition than formerly and that it might endure a long time But mark it must be according to Gods direction except God doth reveal that it should be of Shittim wood and overlaid with brass they were not to do it And then the second Altar was the Altar of burnt Incense and that you have in Exod. 30. 1 2 3. verses and that was to be overlaid with pure Gold that of brass it was because there was sin offerings to be offered upon it but now the Altar of Incense it was the Altar that was just before the Vail against the Mercy-seat where there was only Incense offered which was to signifie the Intercession of Jesus Christ presenting his Merits and the Prayers of all his people to the Father the prayers of the Saints are compar'd to Incense and there 's many things observable about the Altar of God it is said that there should be four horns and in Revel chap. 9. ver 13. I heard a voice from the four horns of the Golden Altar which is before God Now Saint John speaks of after-times that should be he heard a voice from the four horns of the Altar that is from all the prayers of the Saints that were in the four corners of the earth there came a voice from them all and did sound and did great things in the world Certainly my Brethren the prayers of Gods Saints in all the corners of the world is that that makes the world ring It was a Speech of a learned man If there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart it fills the ears of God so that God hears nothing else nay that 's observable in Revel 8. 3. about this Altar of Incense And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne Thus we see that in our time we are to make use of this golden Altar that is before the Throne all our prayers are to be offered up upon that which was a Type of Jesus Christ and our prayers except they be mingled with the Incense which Christ did offer himself upon the golden Altar cannot be accepted and likewise that 's very observable about it that we reade in Exod. 30. 3. that there was a Crown of Gold round about it to typifie the Intercession of Christ and the prayers of the Saints you may see by this that Christs Intercession and the prayers of the Saints that came from faithful hearts are accounted the very glory of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ accounts it his dignity and glory to make Intercession for his People and to take the poor prayers of his People and present them to his Father he makes account that his Crown is set upon his head when you exercise your faith upon Jesus Christ that Christ might present your prayers with his Intercession to the Father then you set the Crown upon Jesus Christs head but when you think to be heard your selves and do not exercise your faith upon Christ you do as it were take off the Crown from the head of Jesus Christ And that 's very observable the difference between this Altar that was here enjoyn'd to be made by Moses and so was afterwards made and the Altar that we
expects yet he is content to venture himself as much as he did before God is in this man certainly when he can do a work and deny himself that work And truly we should be willing so to do Why because God doth not require of us self-denial that shall do us any hurt God would never have us deny our selves in things that immediately concern our communion with himself and our eternal good God expects self-denial but it is only in those things that concern this present life now when God is so propitious to us in requiring duty that he will let us sometimes enjoy our selves and when he requires self-denial it is in things that are more inferior we should not much stand upon in denying our selves in them It follows But the Lord accepteth them not As if he said I would not have them I was not pleased with them Whatsoever our services be If self be regarded all is rejected not only if sin be regarded If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer but if self be regarded our services may please our selves but not please God and for this you have a famous Scripture in Amos 5. 22. I will not regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts and this text in Amos hath a special reference to this very thing and Amos was contemporary with Hosea and so met with the very same thing that here Hosea did this text in Amos may help us to understand this in Hosea I will not accept the offering of your fat beasts but observe it they are their peace offerings he doth not say I will not accept the burnt offerings of your fat beasts but of your peace offerings because in their peace offerings they eat part of it themselves and saith God let your offerings be never such faâ— beasts yet I will not accept of them so let your duties be never so zealous and abundant yet if they be only in respect of your selves God accepts them not It follows Now will I remember their iniquities Why they did offer their sacrifices to the end that their sins might be done away and had they exâ—â—rcised faith upon Christ the true sacrifice their sin should have been done away yea but they offering in regard of themselves he saith I will remember your sins for all this From thence the Note is That many men may perform great services may exercise themselves much in holy duties and yet have their sins as much upon the file before God as before they began all their services And this is a sad thing for a man to kneel down and pray with woful guiltiness upon his spirit and rise up with the same guiltiness that he kneel'd down withal and perhaps he hath gone on and prayed and received the Sacrament for these many yeers together and every sin that was upon him when he first began is upon him now whereas those that in holy duties exercise their faith upon Christ their Mediator and with the act of faith tender up him to the father whatsoever sins were upon them before are now done away The second thing is observable viz. That God will remember them and he will remember them now Hence note That however God may forbear to come upon wicked men for their sins for a time yet God hath his time to remember them all to remember that is by his Judgments to make it appear to them that he doth remember them when they think that God hath forgotten them 1 Sam. 15. 20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts I remember that which Amaleck did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt I remember what he did why this was four hundred yeers ago that he spoke of We may commit a sin when we are young and feel nothing of it till we come to be old and then God may remember it against us as many a man or woman takes a surfet when they are young and they feel nothing when their bones are full of marrow and their veins with blood they feel it not for the present but when they come to be old Oh! then it aches in their flesh and bones and then they remember their licentiousness and carelesness in their youth and so many young people they commit sin and conscience never troubles them for it and they they think all is forgotten Oh! but many yeers after the sin is committed God remembers it and makes them remember it too Joseph's brethren had committed that sin against their brother and it was 22. years before we reade of any remembring of that sin Many things might be said to this point which I cannot now insist upon only this thing take with you Let all you that are young ones yea and others too take heed what you do in sinning against God for that which you do now may be remembred against you many yeers after perhaps twenty thirty fourty yeers hence God may come upon you for what you do at this present me thinks this should be unto young men a mighty strong motive to take heed of wicked lives Youths sins may prove to be ages terrors Oh! is it not a great deal better that God should remember the kindness of thy youth than the sins of thy youth Jer. 2. 2. Oh you that are young begin to be godly betimes that God may remember the kindness of your youth And oh the blessed condition the Saints are in in comparison of the wicked You have so many expressions that God will remember their sins no more that he will bury them in the bottom of the Sea there are at least a dozen expressions in Scripture and I had some thoughts to speak of them all but I see it will be too long to speak of them now Of Gods casting away their sins the sin of his People But further Now will I remember them That is in the time of their Holy Duties Now this is a sad thing that God should not only remember a mans sin but even then when he is about to offer sacrifices to God as in Heb 10 3. it is said that the sacrifices of the Law did bring sins into remembrance that is It was a note of their guiltiness every time they came to offer sacrifice and their sacrifices did not do away their sins fully Now I will remember them Then when they offered sacrifices in in a careless and ungodly way surely these sacrifices would bring their sins into remembrance indeed Hence observe God remembers the sins of wicked men in the performance of Holy Duties in a special manner and that upon these two grounds First Because we come into Gods presence There we come before his eyes in a more especial manner we are in Gods eyes alwaies but in Holy Duties the Scripture speaks of it aâ— a more especial drawing nigh to God If a
and those that have oppressed us that they should have their full power over us again oh our bondage would be seven fold more than it is And yet what cause have we to have our hearts tremble and shake when we think of our abuse of the beginning of Deliverance that we had but of all judgments let us pray to be delivered from that judgment that we may never go back again to our prisons But just with God it is that those who inherit their progenitors sins they should inherit their progenitors judgments You continue in their sins you shall have their Judgements also But were they ever carried into Egypt was this threat ever fulfilled No They were not carried captive into Egypt but they fled into Egypt for Refuge and there they lived and died miserably Hence observe All places are places of misery when God forsakes a people As all places are comfortable when God is with a people Many men take their course to seek to refuge themselves to help themselves and perhaps they have what they would have in part but when they have had what they would have even the having of what they desire proves to be the executiō of the wrath of God upon them you have a mind to go to Egypt you shall return to Egypt saith God It follows in the last verse VER 14. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker THEY have forgotten their Maker but I 'le remember them saith God When men think least of God then is Gods time to come upon them for their sins when they are in the greatest security of all whereas if you would remember your sins God might forget them or if you would remember God your sins should not be remembred but you forgetting God your sins are remembred It is an abominable thing for us to forget God by whom we had our memory by whom we are remembred we should never have been thought of if God had not given us what we have and therefore for us not to think of God it is a vile sin Now God is forgotten when he is not honored minded as our confidence help refuge our only good when he is not obeyed if we do but remember sin we cannot but honor him How many forget what manifestations once they had of God they are passed by from them and other things take up their thoughts Oh! what an appearing was there of God to many of your souls heretofore and what conference between God and your souls what lustre of Gods Spirit upon you and you thought you should never forget those things but now other things are in your hearts Oh! such men and women have cause to fear that they are under much wrath that they should forget their Maker God challenges remembrance under this title Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth There 's no creature but the rational creature that can reflect upon the cause of their being the first cause and therefore God would not lose the honor from this creature Indeed the Ox knows his owner and the Ass his Masters crib the beasts can take notice of those that bring them good things but to reflect upon the cause of their first being I say that 's proper to the rational creature and therefore it is an honor that God expects from you and will not lose it The word here Creator their Maker it is not now meant for Gods giving them their being but Gods advancing and blessing of them so as to bring them to that happy condition that now they were in They have forgotten their Maker Oh they have forgotten that God that hath advanced them So I find the words used in 1 Sam. 12. 6. The Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron but the words in the Original are the Lord that made Moses and Aaron that is when God call'd them to the publick work God made them Indeed for a man to be call'd to publick service is a great honor that God puts upon a man God makes a man then as many times we use that Phrase our selves if a man be raised to any preferment we say such a man is made for ever Oh that man which God casts his favor upon and delights to use in publick service that man is a made-man But they have forgotten the Lord that made them That 's the Note from hence It 's Gods favor that makes a man You have an excellent Scripture for this in Isa 43. 7. I have created him saith God for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him Here 's these three words together God doth not satisfie himself in this I have given him his being or all that he hath but he makes use of of these three several words to signifie how all our good comes from God I do not know such an expression we have in Scripture I have brought him out of nothing then secondly I have formed him I have put beauty and glory upon him yea and thirdly I have made him I have raised him to the height of all God hath created us all but hath he formed us We are to look at Gods forming as well as at his creation how God forms and fashions us unto his own will They have forgotten God their Maker That should have been the other Note That the greater height of excellency God raises any man to the more vile and wicked is the sin of forgetting God when they are advanced Many men will remember God when they are low but when God hath advanced them then they forget him and that 's worse But it follows And have built Temples How is God forgotten and they build Temples to the honor of God You accuse us of forgetting God our Maker What People in the world doth rememember God so as we do when we are at such charges as we are at The word that is translated Temples it signifies Palaces The Church is indeed Gods Palace but note from hence That when God is worshiped in any way but his own then God is forgotten Papists they set up Images and they say it is to put them in mind of God but the truth is they forget God in it Again When mens hearts depart most desperatly and furthest off from God they are many times very forward in superstitious worship As we know it in the primitive times the hearts of men did close most with the power of godliness and were more sincere in their worship but afterwards when they came to have peace in and after Constantines time when they had Temples then they forgot God most and grew superstitious When the Christians worshiped God in Dens and Caves of the earth they remembred God more than when they had glorious Temples built for them Men that have departed from God and have guilty consciences they must have something to satisfie their consciences Of late our Kingdom how desperatly was it departing from
them from mixing with the Heathen but now saith God All is gone let them go saith God and eat unclean things as for the Covenant with me it is wholly abolished I will own them no more than the very impure Heathen they would make Leagues with the Assyrians wel they shal partake w th them and be filthy and unclean as he and they defiled Gods Worship by mixing heathenish polutions with it now God gives them up to all Heathenish uncleanness as they were like the Heathens in inward uncleanness so let them be saith God in outward uncleanness There is these two Notes First Those that will make Leagues with wicked men it is just with God that afterwards they should come and be inthrall'd in all the wickedness and abominations of those wicked men They were indeed at a distance from them before but when once the peace is made they come now to be all one with them But the main is this That when men are inwardly unclean God doth not care for their outward cleanness Thus many professors of Religion defiling their consciences and becoming like the wicked in inward sins at length God leaves them up to themselves that there should be no difference between them and the wicked in their outward abominations Have you not known some examples in this kind Lastly If it be such a judgment to eat unclean things with the Gentiles even meat to satisfie thier hunger Certainly then it is a fearful evil for any of the Saints to partake with ungodly men in unclean wicked worship There might be as much excuse for this as one could imagin why Lord they might say shall we starve True they might no question eat that which was unclean rather than starve but yet it was a great misery that they were in that they could have nothing to eat but that which was unclean but now the other is not only an affliction but sin and indeed the moral of it is to shew the great evil that there is in joyning with any way of false worship to joyn false worship it is a great evil and an argument that when God leaves us to this he disclaimes us Cyprian dehorts Christians from communicating with wicked Ministers from this place Ne sibi plebs in hoc â—â—andiatâ—r cum pro Hoseam Prophetam comminetur dicat censura Divina c. I do not speak of not joyning in Worship if there be unclean ones there Ministers or People And I am perswaded if it be throughly weighed there will no body be found to be of that mind for it is impossible that any Church in the world but in time there will be some that are wicked which will be present but this is not that that causes many to forbear not the presence of wicked men but find the uncleanness of the Worship some things that was done actually there that their consciences told them to be sin Secondly Because they could not do their duty as they should but if they can have liberty to do their duty and the Worship be not polluted I think upon serious consideration there can be no question made although there should be some that are unclean admitted yet if there be in the Church any order and government that the unclean may be cast out and libertie that every one may discharge his duty as to go and admonish and take two or three and then tell the Church and so to deliver his own soul no doubt but they may communicate VER 4. They shall not offer Wine-offerings to the Lord neither shal they be pleasing unto him THE Prophet in the Name of God proceeds to further threatning of Israel and this in the 4 th verse is a very dreadful one They shall not offer Wine offerings to the Lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him In their offerings there was wont to be Wine and Oyl to note cheerfulness in Gods service thus in Numb 15. 5. The fourth part of an Hyn of Wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare and for a meat offering thou shalt prepare two deals of flowr mingled with the third part of an hyn of Oyl But now al joy shal be taken away there shal be nothing but sadnes and sinking of spirit under their misery no Wine offering Hence note That those who abuse their joy to their lusts when they have it it 's just with God it should be taken from them that they should have none to give to God though they would never so fain Secondly This makes an affliction to be bitter and grievous indeed That all joy and comfort in Gods service is gone for that 's the scope They shall offer no Wine offerings all their joy in the service of God shall be gone they shall not only have sorrow in their outward afflictions that are upon them but every time they come to think of any service of God their hearts shall be dejected all their joy in the service of God shall be taken away there was a time when some of you were wont to offer Wine offerings to the Lord that is to have much joy and comfort in the service of God but is not all gone where 's your Wine offerings to the Lord you can now perform duties but your hearts are heavy and dul in the performance of them there 's no sweetness there 's no enlargement of spirit in holy duties all the Worship of God is a burden now unto you Now there is no burden of affliction so great a burden as when the duties of Gods Worship comes to be a burden The Saints so long as they have a Wine offering for the Lord in holy duties so long as their spirits in holy duties can be free and joyful their afflictions are not very burdensom they are well enough this is more delightful to them than all the Wine in the world for they can say of Gods love They love is better than Wine so they can say of their love to God again That our love unto him is more comfortable to us than any Wine in the world Now though they be in afflictions their estates are gone that they have no Wine to drink themselves yet they have a Wine offering to offer unto the Lord. It 's no great matter though we have not Wine as we were wont to have at our Tables but when we go to worship God we have a Wine offering for him at any time and this makes glad the hearts of the Saints more than the hearts of all the men in the world can be glad when their Corn and Wine and Oyl encreases They shall offer no Wine offerings neither shall they be pleasing unto him they shall not be sweet to him whatsoever their offerings be Now that they offer to the Lord God will take no delight in them they will be but sowre things unto the palate of God the offerings of the Saints in Gods way they do cheer the very heart
if they have not mercy if they have not a Righteousness beyond their own If mercy comes not in to plead for them wo to Abraham Isaac and Jacob if mercy comes not in to plead for them if at the great day if they have nothing to tender up to God but their own righteousness they are certainly lost and undone for ever Al that we can do is infinitely unworthy of the Majesty of God Oh! the text that you have in 1 Chron. 29. 14. when the people did offer so much to God for the building of his Tabernacle Mark how David was affected with it Who am I saith David and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things came of thee and of thine own have we given thee And when David in 1 Chron. 22. 14. when David had provided a thousand thousand Talents of silver and an hundred thousand talents of gold for the building of the Temple of God besides brass and iron without weight yet when all comes to all Out of my poverty have I offered this so Arias Montanus turns it In your books it is In my trouble have I done this but the same word that signifies trouble and affliction signifies poverty likewise and saith David after al this yet in my poverty have I done this whereas this was a mighty thing that was offered I remember Sir Walter Rawleghâ— it is in the 17. Chap. of his 2 d Part and 9 th Sect. he reckons up the sum of what David did there prepare for the Temple of the Lord he makes it more than any King in the world is worth he makes it to come to three thousand three hundred and thirty and three Cart-load of Silver allowing two thousand weight of Silver or six thousand pound sterling to every Cartload besides threescore and seventeen Millions of French Crowns and yet when he had done all Out of my poverty have I done this As if he should say Lord what is this in respect of thee who art the great God If thou wilt but accept of this I shall be infinitly bound to thee Oh my brethren let us learn for ever after all our duties not to be proud keep your hearts low and humble before God Hath God enabled thee to sow in Righteousness our hearts are puft up presently Oh no thou must keep thy heart still under Alas such is the proudness of our spirits if we be but enlarged a little in Prayer we are ready to be puft up presently Oh! what 's this to the service that a creature owes to the blessed and eternal God hadst thou spent all thy daies since thou hadst any understanding night and day in the work and service of God hadst thou been the greatest Instrument of Gods service that ever was in the world yet thou hast cause to lie down at Gods Mercy-seat and cry Mercy Lord Mercy for a poor wretched vile Creature after thou hast done al we are so unable to do any thing our selves It 's an expression of Luther The very Act of Thanksgiving is from God And therefore be humbled and cry Grace grace to al that hath been And let all Publick Instruments not take too much upon them but lie low And there 's a man that 's worth his weight in Gold that can be an Instrument of great and publick work and yet lie low before the Lord. Oh! did we but know God we would be so after our duties we would be low There 's a notable story I find concerning Cyprian when he came to suffer martyrdom and you will say that was a great service to lay down his life for God In his last prayer he had these two expressions which are remarkable in it The first expression was this Lord saith he I am prepared to powr forth the very sacrifice of my blood for thy Name sake yea Lord I am prepared here to suffer any torment whatsoever These two expressions he had You will say Now surely this man might stand upon his terms with God But he goes on But when thou doest lift up thy self to shake the Earth Lord saith he under what clift of the rock shall I hide my self to what mountain shall I speak even to fall upon me As if he should say Lord though I be here ready to give up my body to be massacred for thee to give up my blood to be an offering and to suffer any torment yet when I consider what a God I have to do withal if thou shouldest deal with me as I am in my self Oh! I must cry to the Rocks to cover me and the Hils to fall upon me Oh! this should teach us to keep our hearts low and humble after we have done the greatest work whatsoever I remember one of the Germane Devines when he was full of fears and doubts when he was to die say some to him You have been so imployed and have been so faithful why should you fear Oh! he gives this Answer The Judgements of man and the Judgments of God are different I am to go before the great and Al-seeing God though it 's true God would not have us daunted with any terrible apprehensions of him but yet he would have us be possest with reverence so as to be humbled when we think what a God it is we have to do withal you must reap in mercy Oh! this shall be the song of the Saints to all eternity Mercy Mercy Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be the praise And then the other Note from that expression that we have there is That God will give abundantly above our works Oh! it 's a point that hath very much encouragement to poor troubled sinners that are low raise up thy faith it 's not what thy work is though it be low and mean and though there be many failings in thy work yet is there uprightness are they seeds of Righteousness that thou hast sown thou shalt reap according to what shall honor the mercy of an infinite God at last I remember Alexander when he was giving a gift to a poor man Oh! the poor man dar'd not receive it it was too great yea but saith he though that be too great for thee to receive yet it is not too great for me to give So I may say to poor souls when they hear of the glorious promises to poor people Oh! their hearts are ready to think this is too good news to be true it is too great a mercy for thee to receive as thou art in thy self but if God will give according to the proportion of his mercy it is not too great for him to give Now that 's the way that God will deal with those that are in Covenant with him that have all their fruit to come from the seed of righteousness Christ in the heart I say there the Lord will