after it or look upon it that I heare a childe crying as if it had lost a Father or his fatherly providence and preservation Can God prepare a Table in the wilderaisse I am weary of my life what good shall my life do me who shall raise up Jacob for he is small thy breach is great like the Sea who can heale thee all joy is darkened the mirth of the Land is gone Wo is me now for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow I fainted in my sighings and have no rest When I cry and showt he shutteth out my prayer The anger of the Lord hath divided them he will no more regard them Is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth The Lord hath cast off his Altar abhorred his Sanctuary Our bones are dryed our hopes are lost we are cut off These are the sad groans of an asslicted family the broken speeches of perplexed Sion we are chastised and the rod will never be hung up we are brought to a mourning condition and we must moisten our graves with our dying teares we are the footstool of the earth and all the Angels of heaven cannot remove this trampling foot our collar is loosened and we shall never be girded again with strength we are carried away to Babylon and we shall never see Sion again they which have dominon over our bodies rule over us with rigour and God hath forgotten us the earth is a Correction-house and heaven is no Sanctuary for us Barth Bonon in ejus vita yea as Antonius Vrceus Codrus for a little Chamber which he had burnt down went against the perswasion of all his friends and lived in the Woods and after that returning he lay the first night upon a Dunghill and when he entred into the City he could not be drawne to live in his owne house or in any other house of quality but lived six moneths in a mean mans house as if all were lost and he were never able to rise againe So if a few sparkes be fallen upon our estates or we but fired out of a little meanes we think we are never able to repair these losses no we are punished and we shall perish Porus King of India Justin lib. 12. when he was vanquished by Alexander he took it so heavily that though he had his life given him yet he would not for a great space eat any meat suffer his wounds to be dressed or be perswaded to live So if we be but crosed in any of our designs and cannot enjoy that liberty and fulnesse which formerly we had or carry any cuts about us we would even starve upon accidents or suffer our wounds to rankle we are unwilling to live or despaire ever again to live happily But oh sigh gently speak softly chide not with providence roare not under casualties fret not your selves into your graves for are ye the men that maintain a Creed and stand up to the Creed what one true article of faith have ye howsoever do ye believe a God what thus to loosen all the joynts of a Christian dependance to distrust a God oh remember that ye have suffered nothing but what the wisedome of God held convenient and the providence of God is able to restore double for it Moses fled for his life and kept sheep and afterwards became a mighty Ruler Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen thâ— end which the Lord wrought Jam. 5.11 Howsoever do ye suffer any thing out of Gods sight no his eye is upon all your trialls all your miseries are scored up in heaven he doth keepe a Catalogue of all your sufferings oh therefore take courage lift up your hands which hang down strengthen your feeble knees witnesse patience expresse confidence for why should ye be a fainting people under a knowing God no when ye are ready to complain and murmur and vex restrain these distempered passions by calling to mind that ye have a seeing and a searching God that hath taken notice of all your sorrows he can tell you all your losses reckon up all your injuries and indignities repeat to you all your extremities and exigences ye know not better how many eyes ye have in your heads nor how many fingers ye have upon your hands then he can bring in the full tale of all your distresses That he is such an observing and intelligent God ye may see herein Nineveh he can number out to her all her thousands and the surplus Wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons Secondly This doth serve to represse sin for oh that thou darest trespasse before such a knowing God canst thou doe any thing in such a close reserved manner that he shall not have cognizance of it I know there are a company of men which are all upon the point of secrecy and laying snares privily saying Who shall see them Psal 64.5 Yea a generation of men that have set their mouthes against heaven which say How doth God know and is there knowledge in the most high Psal 73.11 But these men shall hear God ere long answer them in thunder and tell them I know your manisold transgressions and your mighty sins Amos 5.12 Yea these things hast thou done and I kept silence then thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such an one as thy selfe but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Psal 50.21 Oh Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thought asar off Thou compassest my path and my â—ed and art acquainted with all my wayes There is not a word in my tongue but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me Psal 139.1.2 3 4 5. God could tell Adam of his eating the forbidden fruit Cain of murthering his Brother Abel Saul of sparing Agag and taking a part of the prey David of slipping in to his neighbours Bed and covering the fowlnesse of that guilt with the skin of a dead Husband Asah of trusting in his Physitians Hezekiah of shewing his treasures to Merodach Baladan the Scribes and Pharisees of their secret lusts which deserved stoning Aâ—anias and Saphira of their keeping back part of the price what then unto God can be undiscovered no he hath not only a multitude of about spies thee but he himself is the constant visiter of all thy actions Mercury feared not Gallus not Vulcan nor all the Gods so much for the discovering his close passages with Venus Natales Comes l. 2. Myth c. 6. as the Sun so this Sun is shining into all corners to reveal the most hidden passages yea God will beat the woods to make the birds fly out of their secret nests and smoak the dens and burroughs to make the beasts which are earth'd under ground to appear thine own dogs shall bark in thine ears thine own corrupt
to fall upon you Jer. 3.12 I have heard Ephraim lamenting thus Thou hast corrected me and I was chastised as an untamed Heifer convert thou me oh Lord and I shall be converted for thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I converted I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Is Ephraim my dear Son or pleasant Child Yet since I spake unto him I still remembred him Therefore my Bowells are troubled for him I will surely have compassion upon him saith the Lord. Jer. 31 18 19 20. Israel doth no sooner take unto him words but he is answered with a promise of divine favour I will heal their rebellion I will love them freely formine anger is turned away from him Hos 14.5 Jonah doth but make his Prayer in the dark Chappell the bowells of the Whale and he is cast upon dry land as a pardoned Creature the Publican doth but go up to Gods house for a little Sinners Ointment and he doth depart out of the Temple justified The Penitent doth no sooner move the Court but his Petition is granted or bend his knees but mercy doth come flying from Heaven upon Cherubims wings to him The matter of repentance is sin and strange it were that repentance should not be exquisite about her own matter to heal the Ulcer that she is intent to cure yes a Paetentia est de praeteritis peccatis Sylv. prier as it is of forepast sins so that which is forepast hath by repentance lost the future being it doth bring it to such an utter waste that there is the b Paenitentia est ad destructionem remissionem peccatâ— Navar. destruction of sin and the remission of sin I confesse repentance doth not this as a passion but as a vertue and not as a positive but a dispositive vertue and so it doth not only take away the act but the offence of sin for by c Dolor est displicentia seuâ—eprohatio facâ—icum intentione removendi sequelam ejus sâ— offensam dei reatum poene Tho. 3. p. q. 85. art 1. displicency there is a reprobation of the fact and by remotion there is a purging away of the guilt for as it is contrary to all sins so according to the nature of Opposites it doth cause an utter expulsion and that not only of the pravity but the noxiousnesse of sin for repentance working in the vertue of Christs passion there is no sin which Christ suffered for but repentance is able to abolish it yea it doth hall to the Crosse both the crime and the criminality of sin that is the curse d Paenitentia est immutatio Voluntatâ—s Repentance is a motion for it doth cause an alteration now mans will is no sooner changed but Gods will is changed with it that as man doth cease to transgresse so God doth cease to be incensed c Offensa directè opponitur gratiae in hoc enim dicitur aliquis offensus quod repellit eum à gratia sua graâ—ia autem gratum reddit Tho. 3. p. q. 86. art 8. for as an offence is against Gods grace so repentance doth restore a man again to that grace and grace presently doth make man acceptable For though sins have not in them a connexion as vertues have for vertues draw a man from a multitude to unity that is God but sinnes draw a man from unity to a multitude namely his severall delights f Vnum peccatum non dimittitur sine alio hâ—c enim est contra misericordiam Dei quae est perfecta Debitum culpae contra iatur amicitiae ideò una culpa vel offensa non remittitur sine altera Si dâ—â—pliceret illud peccatum quia est contra Deum super omnia delictum quod requiritur ad rationem verae paenitentiae sequeretur quod de omnibus peccatis paeniteret Tho. 3. p q. 86. art 3. yet a man repenting in particular of some grievous sins which burthen his conscience and in generall of all sins that he conceiveth he may have committed this shall procure him a full remission for one sin is not forgiven without another So that it doth appear that pardon of sin is an inseparable effect of repentance for as sin in those that have the use of reason cannot be forgiven without repentance so it cannot but be forgiven by repentance for repentance hath ever grace annexed to it and that grace doth confer justification Was it ever heard that a justified person had yet a new reconciliation to make No justification is from one contrary to another that is from a state of wrath to a state of favour to be accounted innocent and made righteous is the formallising act of repentance What then shall repentance be a project which depends wholly upon event or an experiment whose issue is in the successe or a lottery where blanks or prizes may be drawn shall a man abhor himself and not know whether he shall be rejected or accepted shall a man turn to the Lord with all his heart and have no assurance whether God will shew his face or turn his back upon him This were then an anxious vexation yea repentance to be repented of but the imposthume which breaketh out kindly is past the danger penitent Nineveh is to be spared Can God professe emnity where men desire to take away the ground of discord No Acquaint thy self with God and be at peace Job 22.21 g Nudus sermo sed immensitatem salutis continens Miserâ—re meî Châ—vs de muliere Chanan Hom. 12. Recurrunt ad Dominum Dominus ad eos Bern. de consid l. 2. c. 1. Can he turn off Suitours and despise Suppliants No to cry Lord have mercy upon me is a naked speech but it doth contein in it infinite comfort Can God seek up them by vengeance which are already come home to him by repentance which live not at a distance but are returned with all their heart 1 Kings 8.34 No They have made their recourse to God and God to them God cannot disgrace men with their errours nor put them to the blush where they are ashamed of their iniquities Ezech. 43.10 nor march out with his trained bands where men prepare to meet their God Amos 4.12 Nor scowre with plagues where men wash and make cleane Esa 1.16 nor smite hippe and thigh where men knock upon their breasts Luk. 18.13 For what were this but for God to insult upon the prostrate and to set his face against them that seek his face yes it were to wring the sinne-offering out of the sacrificers hand and to kill men at the sides of his own altar God can try no masteries with them that submit nor lay them gasping for life which are already halfe dead in spirituall anguish for then he should lay his axe to the root of the fruitfull tree and make a waste upon
Gods providence is as consummative as operative he would not onely be the God of comforts but the God of constancy not the God of Aydes but the God of Ages I am that I am immutable invariable And is this nothing to have interminable felicity Yes Ever to stand and never to fall is a divine and miraculous thing Yet this might be our fixed state if we would perpetuate our obedience we might weave out our web to the last thred write Decades of felicity God would never disturb or interrupt our happinesse if our sinnes did not molest or disquiet him Oh what a diuturnity and indesinency of bliss might there be even from generation to generation See it in Nineveh it had been happy it is happy Wherein are Secondly This exhorts us to preserve our felicity we are not yet deprived of blessings no Wherein are What are and are not are we weary of welfare do we begin to loath Mannah have we dwelt so long in Canaan that we know not the worth of a Land of promise Yes we are even satiated with comforts and nauseate our present state we do what we can to grieve providence and to exasperats a blessing-God to make gaps in our own hedge and to pluck down the sticks of our own nest to drive away Angels from watching over us and to force God which hath thus long dwelt among us to turn his back upon us and to leave our coasts with distaste and displeasure Oh the horrid sinnes which are committed amongst us as if we would invite in Devils and make this Land a Cage of unclean spirits we are sick of our happinesse and doubtlesse do desire a change It is said of Alexius Comnenus that when upon the day of his inauguration he subscribed the Creed in a slow trembling manner it was an ominous sign to all what a wicked man he would prove Nicer l. â— and how nigh the ruine of the Empire was at hand so we which have thus violated the faith and are come to such a sloathfulnesse and lukewarmnesse in Religion it doth presage that our very inwards are corrupted and the foundations of our welfare shaking When Philip the last King of Macedonia Plut. in Fluminio a little before the great battel which he faught with Flaminius stepped up upon the top of a sepulchre to make an Oration to his Souldiers it foretold a sad event of the issue of the fight so we which have trod upon so many dead heads of famous Martyrs which at first conveyed unto us our faith and worship it is a kind of prediction that this at last will be fatall to our Church Is this the way to preserve blessings no it is the high way to blast every thing which hath been flourishing amongst us Are we not happy and may we not still be happy then why will we compell happinesse to swim over Sea and to carry so many blessings along with it as we would be glad again with wringing hands to recall them and regain them oh I speak to you in a timely hour your sinnes I hope have not yet made God to abhor the excellency of Jacob nor left you naked before the Lord no ye have yet much in your keeping preserve that which is in your possession all is not gone no your blessings are in your eyes ye may yet feel them if ye be not insensible with every joynt of your singers Wherein are Thirdly This doth serve to teach us constancy for is providence constant and not obedience is God unchangeable in mercies and not we in sincerity is God no back-slider and shall we be Apostates no if he doth retain his vigilancy let us retain our integrity if his heart be firm let not us forsake our first love Oh that we were as indeclineable as he is immutable He doth not vary but are not we sickle doth Judah yet rule with God and is faithfull with the Saints Hos 11.12 No if ever we were good Religion must now passe upon a Postdate if there were some eminent things in us yet can we say there are Oh that unclean shew-bread did not stand upon the Table of the Lord that the pure mettall were not taken out of the golden Candlestick that we had not made breach of wedlock and sued out a Bill of divoroe What pillar of the house hath not been shivered what foundation hath not been shaken Now is there any thing more injurious to God or scandalous to profession then inconstancy who put these new hearts into our bosomes who taught our tongues these strange soloecisms Those things deserve disgrace Vituperationem generant quae in mediis conatibus aegra deseruntur Cassiod lib. 4. ep 21. fides vera non est si non sit perpetua Amb. in 2. Cor. c. 6. which wax saint in the midst of their endeavours That is no true saith which is not perpetuall My soul doth tremble at that speech of St Augustine They which fall and perish were never in the number of the predestinate The firm Christian is the memorable Christian oh therefore preserve your Religion as ye would your Fathers inheritance nay as ye would the first eyes with which ye saw why should ye not be as firm in faith as God is in providence he doth give blessings and doth continue them Nineveh is as rich in them as ever Wherein are Persons 3. Now let us come to the Treasures Persons From hence observe That these Persons are the worlds perfections God the Former of all things and the inimitable and incommunicable Creator who by a finger of Omnipotency out of a rude Chaos nay an unshapen un-ented Nothing hath set up and set forth this specious and spacious Universe after the had made his coorse peeces brought forth at last Man as his Master-piece the beam and beauty of the Creation which had not onely the excellencies of all creatures in him but a superiour excellency above all Creatures insomuch that he that had seen man had seen not onely all the rest but he that had seen him had seen that which elsewhere no eye could behold no Pearl nor Star like unto him for indeed he was the precious Pearl and the bright Star of the whole Creation taken out of the Chaos but with a particle in him derived from the shining heap the rare extract or Elixir of all created things yea the twist of things visible and invisible a natural Phoenix a supernatural Seraphim closed up in one skin God made him the Apex of all other Creatures and made him to culminate with the sublime spirits that though his altitude was not equall yet he came but a few cubits beneath them a little lower then the Angels Psal 8.5 A little lower for if they were intellectuall he was wise if they were indeficient he was immortall if they were shining he was bright Crowned with glory and honour if they had heaven he had paradise if they reverlations he mysteries if they joyes he