Election the Spirit of God departed from Saul and rested upon him He had power in his hand he was set over the men of War accepted by all the people all Israel nd Judah loved him After all this you know his Provocations his Advantages and his Behaviour he durst not touch the Lords anointed and when another pretended to have done it at Saul's entreaty in extremis he revenged his death and lamented over him Ye mountains of Gilboa c. 2. But that other Pretence that after a lawful Sovereign is established according to the Supposition of my Text and my Discourse the power still remains in the people in the diffused body of them or their Representatives to alter the Government as they please it is in respect of Policy and Government what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is to Religion it destroys the foundations of the peace and safety of men and makes that to be the Artifice of man which is the Ordinance of God How much God abhorred this Pretence will appear in the Case of Corah and his company When God sent Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt he sanctifyed him and put his Name upon him Thou shalt be to him instead of God and when he had brought them forth he made him a Prince and a Law-giver over them The supreme Power was in Moses who called to his assistance a Senate or Parliament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consisting of the Heads of the Tribes of Israel In this Council Nature soon began to work some envied Moses whom God had chosen and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Eliab Heads of Families in the Tribe of Reuben thought both the Civil Power and if that must be transferred from the first-born to one Tribe the Priesthood also was due to them being Eldest Brethren of the Eldest Tribe Korah an eminent man amongst the Levites was offended that the High-Priests Office went beside him and was settled upon Aaron and his Posterity These were their secret griefs for a redress whereof they make a party in the Parliament they gain to them two hundred and fifty men famous in the Parliament men of renown and in order to their ambitious Designs they remonstrate against Moses Vers. 13. and their Declaration was this Pretence which we are upon that all the Congregation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Holy and that Moses and Aaron had lifted up themselves above them that is that their power was a contrivance of themselves not an Ordinance of God that notwithstanding what God had done to settle the Civil and Ecclesiastical power it remained still in the people or their Representatives assembled together Now the Scripture tells us that since the world began God was never more highly provoked then upon this occasion when he heard this he was wrath and greatly abhorred them he invented a new thing in the world for their sakes for the Earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the Congregation of Abiram I have now done with these Pretences and my endeavour hath been to vindicate Religion from the charges of unbelieving Politicians and indeed to shew that it is not a Spirit of carnal Compliance but the true and genuine Spirit of Christianity which runs through the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England After what hath been spoken I hope I may presume to say with the Apostle Do we now make void the Laws through Faith yea we establish the Laws We have seen the Christian Theory doth the Philosophical Theory provide better for the safety of Princes and the estabishment of Government It tells us in effect that Might is Right that every thing is just or unjust good or evil according to the pleasure of the prevailing Force whom we are to obey till a stronger then he cometh or we be able to go through with resistance That in reference to this life Obedience is a matter of Wit and Prudence and after life there remain for us no Concernments How stramineous is this Theory compared with the Christian Theory which speaks in this wise Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers c That this is the genuine Christian Theory hath in some measure been demonstrated so that indeed it may be wondered from whence these Prejudices have arisen But alas that my head were waters They have one grand Objection to which having spoken I shall conclude If this be the Doctrine of Christianity how comes it to pass that those who pretend the highest to Religion and profess themselves the onely Christians the Bigot and Jesuited Romanist the frighted and transported Reformist have been authors of the most horrible Treasons and Rebellions On the one hand what mean the Catholick Leagues On the other the Solemn League and Covenant forced upon Subjects renitente Principe On one hand what means shall I say the lowing of the Oxen or rather the roaring of the Bulls the thundring of Excommunications the absolving Subjects from their Allegiance the Actual Murthers of Princes the attempts for blowing up King Lords and Commons at one clap What is the meaning of the noise of the Bells of the claps of Squibs and Fire-works which we hear On the other hand what was the meaning of that black and terrible dispensation which will cause the ears of all Posterity to tingle It is but a little while since the anointed of the Lord the holiest the wisest the best of Kings was taken in the snares of men pretending to reformation and sacrificed to the fury of men possessed by an evil Spirit from the Lord. He was offered as a Lamb that is dumb or rather like the Lamb of God to the rage of wild fanatical Enthufiasts It is but a very little while since the Lamentation of Jeremy was in the mouth of all the faithful in the Land Our Kings and our Princes were amongst the Gentiles provoked to serve other Gods the Law was no more the Prophets also received no vision from the Lord. And all these things were brought to pass by men pretending wonders in Religion And they would know the reason of all these Dispensations But who art thou O man who pressest into the secret of Gods Pavilion How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out such knowledge is too wonderful we cannot attain unto it It may be these things have been done that the Sayings of our Saviour might be fulfilled It cannot be but offences will come but wo be to them by whom they come and It were better that a milstone c. It may be the Gunpowder-Treason was permitted to be designed that the disappointment might be had in everlasting remembrance and celebrated as it is this day Son of man write the name of the day even of this same day the King of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day It may be God fuffered the late Rebellion to prevail
things continue as they were before And for the manner and Apparatus of his coming Our God shall come saith the Psalmist and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a devouring fire and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him Behold the Lord will come with fire saith the Prophet and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch and the dust thereof into Brimstone the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night and shall not be quenched compare Revel 6. with Esai 34. The Kings of the Earth shall tremble the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly asraid the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains And soon after all this The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl the Earth and the Elements shall melt away for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth Have not all these things come upon us the men of this Generation Is it weakness is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance Have we no reason at all to apprehend the approach of a General Judgment either upon the World or upon our sinful Nation Do we not now envy those despised souls which have made their accounts ready We thought it madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises and macerate themselves with mourning We thought it folly which they called Conscience for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoyments of the World We fools counted their life madness and their latter end to be without honour But the time is coming when they shall be comforted and we shall be tormented Because he hath called and we have refused he hath stretched out his hand and we have not regarded He will laugh at our calamity and mock when our fear cometh When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon us May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts and surrender up our souls unto Despair so Israel said there is no hope we will follow every one the devices of his heart after 20 30 or 40 years continuance in our courses 't is in vain to think of turning from them Our arrears are so far gone that there is no hope to discharge them and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account Nay that which must come let it come and what is a few days respite to Eternity Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us go forth as at other times and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy Yes and fall perhaps and spew and rise no more Nay but I beseech you stay a little and consider consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Who among us can dwell with a devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Such careless and desperate resolutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at that he may sear our Consciences and seal us up in a final obduration But there is another kind of advantage which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel and the Ministers aim at That advantage which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men And now what is it that they would perswade us that we will be contented to part with the tormenting fears of Judgment that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come that we will not neglect so great salvation nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Behold God calls upon us Turn you turn you at my reproof why will you dye O House of Israel As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of sinners Our Lord Christ calls upon us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you In the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles he stood and cried Saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The Spirit sayes come and whoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Behold I set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead I pray you be reconciled to God take his yoke upon you his yoke is easie and his burden light embrace now the tender of the Gospel only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you your King to govern you your Priest to save you and you shall be saved Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by it s own witness Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Confidence We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth near This is the way of save our own souls from perishing which is the General design of all our Preaching And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us and to preserve our Nation from destruction which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation whereof I am yet to speak THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us his wrath hath been kindled it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture and he hath plagued our Nation very sore His Judgments have been multiplied his strokes have been redoubled and for all this his anger 〈◊〉 not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Wars and Pestilences and those other fore-runners of Christ's coming to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us and now when these have not been able to prevail To awaken a drowsie people to rowse up a Lethargic Nation to ferment a people setled upon their Lees God has made a new thing in the midst of us he hath wrought a work in our dayes which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger he hath swallowed
wrought a trein of mighty signs and wonders in the land of Egypt for their deliverance And all Israel saw the great works which the Lord did upon Pharaoh and his host and they sang with Moses that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath triumphed gloriously the horse his rider hath he thrown into the Sea for he brought forth his people with joy because he had a favour for them 3. He was not their maker and their redeemer only but their establisher he perfected deliverance and followed them with all things perteining unto life and godliness He was their conductor in the wilderness in the day time he led them with a cloud and all the night with a pillar of fire He was their Protector As an Eagle flutters over her young ones and spreads abroad her wings so he stretched out his everlasting arms for their defence he suffered no man to do them wrong and drove out the nations before them He was their provider of meat drink and cloathes he smote the stony rock and the waters flowed he gave them Quails and Manna from Heaven so that they did eat Angels food he led them 40 years in the wilderness in all that space their cloaths did not wax old upon them nor their shooes upon their feet And lastly he was their establisher formed them into a Church and State and dictated to them laws for their perpetual establishment he gave testimonies unto Jacob and appointed a law in Israel a law written by the finger of God delivered by the mediation of Angels He set before them life and death he confirmed the Covenant made to their fathers he entred into a Covenant with themselves he spake to them sundry wayes and divers manners and finally to take away all pretences of ignorance or infidelity he appeared often to their fathers by the name of El-shaddai to Moses by his name Jehovah to themselves he came down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai he often filled the Tabernacle with his glory and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people These are some few instances of Gods dealing with this people Now for their requital the Scripture tell us their behaviour toward Moses and Aaron the instruments and toward God himself the Author of all their mercies of their deliverance Many a time they murmured against Moses and Aaron in Egypt and in the wilderness before they were out of Egypt they quarreled at Moses for attempting their deliverance within three days after their triumphal song they murmured at Marach about six weeks after the whole congregation murmured again and wished that they had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt they murmured at their very Manna and cried out in remembrance of the fisb that they did eat in Egypt the Cucumers and the Melons the Leeks and the Onions and the Garlick When the spies returned from Canaan they made a down right mutiny they said one to another Let us make us a Captain and let us return into Egypt They sided with Corah Dathan and Abiram in their rebellion and after the earth had opened and swallowed them up they still owned the rebels and adhered to the good old cause on the morrow all the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord still persisting in an opinion that they were Patriots and godly men But what do we speak of Moses or of oblique and consequential actings against God the Scripture tells us of their stupidity and infidelity they understood not his wonders in Egypt How long saith God will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have wrought among them neither signs among them nor signs upon them could cause them to believe He smote them for their unbelief and for all this they sinned still and believed not for all his wondrous works It tells of their forgetfulness they forgot God their Saviour which had done so great things for them they soon forgot his works and his wonders of their falseness and treachery their heart was not set aright their spirit was not stedfast when he slew them they would seek him for a while but they did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble with their double hearts It tells of their base idolatry they changed their glory for the similitude of a calf yea they offered their sons and daughters unto devils of their pride and scornfulness they despised the pleasant land they were a provoking generation a stubborn and rebellious nation How often did they provoke God in the wilderness and grieve him in the desart Many a time did he deliver them but they provoked him with their Counsels He divided the Sea for their passage and clove the rocks for their sustenance and covered them with a Cloud for their protection and they sinned yet the more They tempted him they spoke against him they provoked him at the sea even at the red Sea they turned back and tempted God and limited the holy one of Israel In one word they were a rebellious house a stiff-necked people they kept not the Covenant which themselves had made they would none of his precepts they despised his promises and his threatnings their neck had an Iron sinew and they had a brow of brass This was their behaviour even then when Gods miracles were fresh and Moses was still among them And God foresaw that after his decease they would provoke him yet more This was that requital which stirred and inflamed the spirit of Moses and quickned him to that abrupt Expostulation the first general part of the text whereof I have hitherto been giving an account Do ye thus requite the Lord You have seen some part of Israels ingratitude it follows that we consider the Turpitude and the Imprudence of this ingratitude which gave occasion for the censure here passed upon them O foolish people and unwise And first of the Turpitude of their ingratitude whereby it will appear that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now to set forth the unworthiness of their in gratitude against God in all the aggravations of it it is a task too heavy for me nay even for Angels and Moses when he was inspired and in the height of his rapture did not attempt it but making a chasme and drawing a veil over that part insinuates it to be unexpressible I shall not therefore offer at impossibilities but follow the method which the Scriptures have provided for us in like cases It is the manner of the Scriptures in things concerning God which are incomprehensible to bait the mind and train it on by exercising it in the Analogy of things familiar The love of God to his chosen people is incomprehensible to give us therefore a little notion of it the Prophet brings men to the consideration
be collected It remains that we consider the imprudence of it O foolish people and unwise III. I may not I need not insist long upon this Argument There are as I conceive but these five suppositions which possibly might exempt them from the censure of the text 1. If their God were like the gods of the heathen and did not know their behaviour toward him Or 2. If he were the God of Epicurus and did not resent it Or 3. If they could escape from him Or 4. If they could excuse themselves to him Or 5. If they were able to support themselves against him If none of these were in the case they will stand convicted of horrible imprudence it will then be manifest that they were a foolish people and unwise Of these things briefly 1. Did not God know their behaviour The Psalmist indeed tells of a brutish people which wrought all manner of wickedness and yet they said The Lord shall not see it neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But O ye fools saith he when will ye be wise He that planted the ear shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall not he see He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth beholding the evil the good For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings He penetrates all things and searches all things If they say per-adventure the darkness shall cover them then shall the night be turned into day the darkness is no darkness with him but the night is as clear as the day 2. But it may be though he knew their behaviour yet he did not concern himself about them it may be he did not much resent their dealings with him Neither if they be righteous is he the better neither if they be wicked is he the worse Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the son of man but if thou sinnest what dost thou against him and if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him Nay but did not he concern himself for them what meaned then the sounding of his bowels toward them what mean such pathetical exclamations as these O that there were such an heart in them that they would keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their seed for ever Again O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end O that they had hearkened what iniquity have they sound in me Did not he resent it when they made the calf He said Behold I have seen this people and it is a stiff-necked people let me alone that I may blot out their name from under Heaven When they murmured I will come in the midst of them in a moment and consume them at once When they rebelled against Moses Get you up from among them that I may consume them in a moment When they tempted him and questioned his power He heard it and was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel Many a time would he have destroyed them had not Moses stood in the gap to turn aways his anger 3. But possibly for all this there might be some way to escape from him and to conveigh themselves out of the sphere of his activity There have been those who have conceived the God of Israel to be a topical God a God of the mountains only and that the valleys were out of his power and jurisdiction true but because the Syrians said that he was not God of the valleys he delivered them into the hands of Israel who slew a hundred thousand foot-men in one day Nay but Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contein the God of Israel he filleth all things Shall they escape for their wickedness Whither can they go then from his Spirit or whither can they flee from his presence If they could ascend into Heaven he is there if they could make their bed in hell behold he is there 4. But though they cannot escape out of his reach possibly they may plead something in excuse of their doings which may mitigate his indignation perhaps they were ignorant that God was concerned ignorant of his will and of his ways they had no instruction they had no warning of their danger But I say unto them Had they no Caveats Take heed saith Moses keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen When thou shalt have eaten and be full then bew are lest thou forget the Lord thy God Had they no memento's How often doth God command them to bind his precepts and his prodigies for a sign and a token and a memorial upon their hands for frontlets between their eyes to write them upon their posts and their gates to teach them their children lest they should forget them Did they not know I call heaven and earth to record this day against you saith Moses that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing Had they no warnings of their danger If thou do forget I denounce this day that thou shalt surely perish and this song was made to testifie against them Had they not heard had they not seen Yes that which had not been heard and seen since the foundation of the world from one side of the heavens to another Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire and live They saw Thundrings and Lightnings Noise Trumpet Mountain smoaking Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu the Seventy Elders the Nobles the People saw the Lord and the sight of the glory of God was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel so that they were without excuse 5. And the only remaining consideration is this whether they were able to resist the Lord to support themselves against him or at leastwise to endure the utmost of his indignation What is their hope that they behave themselves proudly that they kick against the Lord or wherein lies their confidence that they rebell against him Who art thou O man that strivest against God Canst thou overturn immensity or circumvent omniscience or grapple with omnipotence The Lord is a man of war great and terrible is his name who can stand before him when he is angry Behold the Nations are as the drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are counted to him as Grashoppers nay less than vanity and nothing Where were they when the foundations of the world were laid and a line was stretched upon it Can they command the thunder or furnish out the lightnings or bring to their assistance the stormy