be if it be not done before the hand strike vs to death It is not then a temporall but an eternall plague for heereafter there is no hope of helpe Delay is one of the Deuils most dangerous assaults vvhereby he gets too much aduantage of the soules of men vvhile they dally vvith Gods iudgements and therefore Hodie To day if you will heare his voice harden not your hearts yet a little while is the day with you the night commeth vvhen no man vvorketh Seeke the Lord while hee may bee found call vpon him while hee is neere Esa 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of saluation 2. Cor. 6.1 The time is now ours vve haue right in it that which is to come is the Lords to iudge the mis-spending of this Reuel 10.6 The Angell sweares by him that liueth for euermore that time shall be no more that is after this time no more time for repentance no more time for attonement therefore doe that you ought to doe for your owne good quickly This day this houre this time Now there is roome there will be none hereafter It will bee too late to knocke with the silly Virgins when the doore is shut Goe quickly They haue a rule in sauing pollicie for auoyding of the Plague and it consists in three words Citò Longè Tardè Goe quickly Goe farre enough Make no haste to returne I would we would be perswaded to vse them not in sauing Pollicie but in sauing Piety And first to begin with Citò for that I find in the Text a rule prescribed by the Holy Ghost to flie vnto God quickly not from him for alas whither shall a man flie from him the wings of the morning are too slow the bottome of the depth is too shallow the fathermost part of the earth is too neere to keepe vs from him Secondly Longè for that implyed in the attonement not farre from his Iustice seeing it is to swift for vs and will soone ouertake vs wheresoeuer but farre from our sinnes that haue called out his Iustice that by our repentance and amendment we may stay the course of it Lastly Tardè that is not to returne in hast to our sinnes againe for sinnes returned vnto prouoke a worse iudgement Sinne no more least a worse thing come vnto thee was the after dyet that hee gaue vnto the sicke man Ioh. 5.14 The tree that is twise dead is neere vnto cursing No Leper in Scripture is twice cleansed no Prodigall is twice receiued no lost Sheepe is twice brought home no dead man is twise raised no Deuill is twise cast out The relaps of sicknesse is dangerous but the relaps of sinne is more dangerous Goe quickly to God goe farre from sinne make no hast to sinne againe Goe quickly to the Congregation That 's the next circumstance the place where for albeit euery man should endeauour in his secret closet to reconcile himselfe vnto God and to commune with his owne heart euen in his Bed-chamber as the Psalmist aduiseth Psal 4.4 yet where all men are sinners and the hand of Gods wrath seemeth to bee stretched out in generall without respect of persons age or degree All men are bound to one and the same worke that with one consent and one act the Lord might bee intreated by the whole Congregation For howsoeuer the Lord is well pleased with euery particular mans seruice in prauate yet that which hee shall doe in publicke is de meliore bono and much more acceptable There was a Law made for it Deut. 12,5 In that place which the Lord your God shal chuse amongst all the Tribes to set his Name in in that his habitation you shall seeke vnto him Neither was this a Law Iudicicall or Ceremoniall that bound the Iewe onely for a time but morall and perpetuall that binds the Christian for euer nor was it a Law for the Iewish Synagogue onely wherein they taught and offered vp their Incense Sacrifice and Oblations on the Sabbath dayes but for the Temple vnder the profession of the Gospell also that as God is to be praised in the great Congregation so he was to be pacified in the great Congregation Therefore as the Prophet said well I will praise thee O Lord in the great congregation in much people will I giue thankes vnto thee Psal 35.18 So Moses did here aduise as well that what Aaron did herein he should doe it in the Congregation In the banishment of the Isaraelites by the waters of Babylon where they sate and wept Ierusalem vvas vowed to be their chiefest ioy not for any other thing but that there they might worship the Lord in his holy Temple and in the Congregation of his Seruants And vvhen Christ gaue the promise to two or three it is euident that he intended not priuate meetings so much as publicke Congregations in the Church as appeareth by the connexion of the Text Et ero vobiscum vsque ad confirmationem saeculi Mat. 28.20 Is a promise to the Assembly in the Church where vvith one mind and one mouth God may be serued glorified Rom. 15.6 vvhich vvas the Apostles exhortation Ephe. 3.21 That praises might be giuen in the Church through Iesus Christ vnto all generations for euer So that the fitnesse of place hath heere in Moses direction a good correspondence vvith the fitnesse of time as most acceptable to God and most apt for men to make their attonement in And therein vve fall vpon the third Branch the Medicine for the malady Goe quickly vnto the Congregation and make an attonement for them c. The vvhole need not the Phisician saith Christ but the sicke These people were sicke and sicke vnto death the vvay to cure them vvas to make an attonement for them the manner how it vvas to be done vvas by offering vp Incense vvhich albeit it vvere a ceremoniall action yet vvas it alwayes ioyned vvith a religious acte of deuotion in prayer and penitence To vvhich purpose the Prophet prayeth Let my prayer be set before thee as incense Psal 145.2 And indeed it is a most apt resemblance for as the vse of Insense vvas to sweeten that vvhich vvas vnsauory euen so the vvicked thoughts of our hearts and the vncleane actions of our liues which yeeld an vnsauory smell in the nosthrils of the Lord are sweetned by no other meanes but by the Incense of our prayers therefore to shew how the one is resembled by the other it is said that while the Incense was in burning the people were without at their prayers Luke 1.10 And in Reuel 8.3 the sweet odours that were offered in the golden Censers were offered with the Prayers of the Saints So that the first Ingredience for the Attonement was prayer but not prayer alone For as Mary Magdalene came not to Christ with the Boxe of precious Oyntment and sweet perfume onely but shee brought withall a sorrowfull heart and penitent teares for the sinne of her Soule So to the action of
prayer must bee ioyned the worke of penitence for such was the practise of Gods people euer 1. Sam. 7.3 The Arke of the Lord being taken by the Phylistines the Prophets exhorts them to repent and turne vnto God and hee would deliuer them and the euent prooued the promise to bee true Which example albeit it concerne a case of warre and so not improper for our times yet the practise may serue as well for this of sicknesse The same Order did Daniel obserue in the Attonement that he made with GOD Dan. 9.5.6 Together with their prayers there is the acknowledgment of their sinnes We haue finned and haue committed iniquity and haue done wickedly yea rebelled and departed from thy precepts and thy iudgements And then he shewes wherein For wee would not obey thy seruauts the Prophets which spake in thy name to our Kings to our Princes to our Fathers and to all the people of the Land Wherein he confesseth that euery one had sinned accusing all excepting none a Congregation of sinners and of sin and therefore all had need of attonement in the Congregation albeit no doubt of it but some had offended more grieuously then other some yet all were guilty So the Prophet Ioel calleth all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord to offer vp their prayers and their Penitence Ioel. 1.14 Without which no maruell it is that there can be no attonement but that God doth still keepe man vnder with his heauy hand Iam. 4.2 In another calamity he saith You fight and you warre and you get nothing What 's the reason Because you aske not that 's primus error the first defect Againe you aske and you receiue not why so because you aske amisse that 's the next defect there wants somewhat to their prayers to make vp their attouement The Prophet Ezechiel in his fourth Chapter speakes plainely to the poynt That euen the prayers of the most godly are not aproued of God vnlesse they for whom they pray doe repent Although Noah Daniell and Iob these three men stood vp yet shall they onely saue their owne soules in their righteousnesse So saith God Iere. 15. If Moses and Samuel were before me I would not yet regard this people So that for the Act of attonement albeit the praiers of the faithfull are powerfull yet are they not so powerfull as to releeue impenitent sinners therefore did God Iere. 7. borbid the prophet expressely not to pray for the Israelites Pray not for this people neither lift thou vp thy voyce for them So God reiected the prayers of Samuel for Saul Vpon which followeth this conclusion That if the penitence of the people be not ioyned with the prayers of the Priest the attonement will not be made and so wee must consider of the person of the Priest and no otherwise Which is the fourth circumstance obserued that although 〈…〉 principall Agent to offer vp the Incense of prayer for the people yet not hee onely for them but they with him and for themselues must desire the Lord not to correct in his wrath according to their sinnes but to remember them according to his owne goodnesse True it is that the Commission is deliuered here to Aron but the Congregation were to ioyne with him in the execution The Minister of God is a principall man singled and set a part for the execution of the will of God the declaration of his word the direction of obedience and all religious actions But all the burden of Gods seruice doth not lye vpon him and therefore the wisdome of our Church did well ordaine that in the service of God the Minister should not performe all But that the people should ioyne in the open confession of their sinnes and in the prayers for remission or at the least say Amen to euery sacrifice of Prayer and of prayse performed in the Congregation and yet though they were tyed to this still the chiefe care and duty lyeth vpon the Minister nor must hee bee defectiue whatsoeuer the people be but say as good Samuel sayd 1. Sam. 12. God forbid that I should sinne against the Lord in ceasing to pray for yon And so much in one word may suffice for the attonement and the person Now followeth the reason For there is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun In such a case as this was the first and principall thing that is to be sought out is to enquire into the Cause that brings it on The cause in this chapter as you haue partly heard was an iniury offered vnto the Priesthood and the presumption of Corah in vilifying both Moses and Aron I take no pleasure in applying the sinne by way of comparison I onely pray that the Sacriledge of this City bee not the principall sinne layd to their charge in this Plague We haue heard enough if any thing he enough God giue vnderstanding hearts to apply and to lay the finger vpon the right soare For too sure we are the wrath of the Lord is gone out The Iudgements of God for sinne and against sinners as they are many in number and diuers in kind sometimes secret sometimes open so they are euer iust and vpon good cause Oculta multa iniusta nulla saith Saint Augustine Yet many to too many are to seeke for the true cause as well as for the consideration of the person from whom Iudgement commeth making rather euery thing then their owne sinnes and euery cause in the course of nature then the God of Nature and the cause of all causes the Author of their punishment Whereof it comes to passe that men thinke all iudgments to be ordinary and none extraordinary or to be the rodd of Gods Vengeance wherewith he punisheth sinners and so neuer apply the punishment either to themselues or their sinne or once cast vp an eye to the Lord that punnisheth Where as indeed two things are principally to be considered in any Epidemicall disease or publicke misery First the cause wherefore and then the hand that smiteth Wherein the iudgement of the World that lookes all to second causes rather then the first and principall is so fowly corrupted that men know not well either where to aske counsell or how to behaue themselues being surprised with any danger taking still the wrong cause for the right and the second for the first Whereas the true cause is the corruption of manners that corrupts our bodies and rottennesse in sinne that brings rottennesse in the flesh But as the Physition for the body hitting vpon the right cause of the disease doth with better iudgement and happier successe cure his Patient So we when we shall finde the true cause of Gods wrath shall the better know what to doe in that affliction and how to auoid it Wherein the first thing to be done is to looke into the Motiue that called out wrath and then vnto the hand that doth execute it For the first that sinne is the
maine cause of Gods displeasure it needs no farther search then the guilt of our owne consciences and the iniquity of the times beyond measure sinnefull So that the wrath of God is reuealed from Heauen against the vngodlynesse and vnrighteonsnes of men Rom. 1.18 It s not this or that Coniunction of the Planets or the sundry Ecclipses of the Sunne and the Moone that wisards fondly immagine but the Lord of heauen and of heauenly creatures of the earth and all that therein is that so draweth the sword of his wrath that the very ayre and breath of our life shall be our poyson for the sinne of the Soule and where he is not preuented and that quickly with an earnest inuocatiou of his name and vnfained repentance of our sinnefull liues The very dreggs of his wrath will be powred out because men are setled in the lees and dreggs of their sinnes Let not men then looke to the right hand or the left and like the corrupted sonnes of Adam conceale their owne faults and lay them vpon others but let them turne their eyes inward and looke into the blots and staines of their owne vncleanenesse Search and trie their owne hearts and they shall soone finde the cause of the breach betweene God and Man The sinne certaine of the first man was the first breath and euer since as sinne hath increased and a bounded so hath God and man bene separated and diuided And howsoeuer in the aboundance of his merecy he hath such a regard of sinnefull man that he is reconciled in the attonement made in his onely Sonne and mans alone Sauiour yet such is the condition of his Iustice that as his mercy wants not abundant clemency so the same wants not due seuerity Nor can he endure the thing that is euill nor can his eyes that are pure eyes behold any thing that is vncleane in it selfe or by the blood of the vncleansed but still he pnnnisheth with iustice the sinnes of the wicked And though there bee no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus Rom 8.1 Yet there is correction due to such as liue after the flesh ond not after the spirit And though the blood of Christ were an Attonement sufficient for all our sinnes and by his death hee appeaseth his Fathers wrath and payd the prise of our Redemption yet that blood of his left no liberty to build our sinnes vpon his death for that is sucking of the blood of CHRIST to fast and turning the grace of God into wantonnesse For though God was reconciled vnto man by his Sonne yet that reconciliation neuer reached so farre as to make a peace betweene God and sinne True it is that great sinnes are forgiuen in the Attonement made betweene God and his Sonne in the penitent yet doth hee punnish euen small sinnes still in the sonnes of men that are impenitent and albeit his mercy doth alwayes flye and cry about his Throane yet it doth not so cry as that he can heare no other cry against vs. For the cry of our sinnes will goe vp as here it did and neuer fease crying in his eare for Iustice till they awake him as it were out of the sleepe of his long suffering and patience Abels blood will cry against Carne Gen. 4.10 Dauids sinne of Adultery and Murder will call for Iustire 2. Sam. 12. Gehesies corruption will draw on a Leprofie 2. Kings 5. And the very Stone will cry out of the wall of Oppression Hab. 2.11 So that howsoeuer for our comfort he hath an eare of mercy for crying sinners yet to restraine our corruption and to keepe vs in awe that we sinne not he hath also an eare of Iustice for crying sins and no euill doth at any time befall vson't it is the punnishment of some sinne and whereas God doth many times forbeare many and like Ionathans Bow shoots short of vs or on the right hand or the left or beyond vs yet that forbearance is no acquittance but makes his punnishment more grieuous when it comes For as it is impossible but the all-seeing eye of God should see the sinnes of the Sonnes of men so it is impossible that seeing in the end he should not punnish and though it be certaine sure that non nisi coactus percutit he neuer strickes but when he is vrged and then Castigat nolenter as Gregory Nazianzene saith Yet when hee is vrged and our sinnes force him therevnto he will punnish with a witnesse where men then haue made a couenant with Death and a league with Hell its high time to make an Attonement with God for if he once beginne without that he will surely make an end And if his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put there trust in him Psal 2.12 But if a great deale then woe bee to all those that prouoked him His iudgements are not terriculamenta nutricum Collusions of Nurses to keepe children in awe but confusions of men abounding in sinne If the wrath of God fasten vpon vs but in this world we shall finde it like the Brand in Caines face that cannot be rnbd out like a botch or a blaine that all the Balme in Gilead cannot cure for its a fearefull thing to fall into the bandes of the angry God and if his wrath be once gone out its time to make hast For the word of his wrath in the course of the Scriptures is neuer vsed but in the full measure of iniquity and the full measure of his Iustice For till the sinnes of Israel came vnto prouocation and hardning of hearts he neuer sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest Psal 59. and the last verse It s the execution of Iustice in the highest degree which God himselfe testifieth Deut. 32.21 They haue prouoked me to anger with their vanities but I will moue them For fire is kindled in my wrath and shall burne vnto the bottome of Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase I will send plagues and bestow my arrowes vpon them they shall be consumed with a bitter destruction In a word the terrour of Gods wrath is so terrible as no man can expresse it for who knoweth the power of his wrath Psal 90.11 Whereby we see how great a danger it is for men when his wrath is gone out against them I say when it is gone out For though it be wrath and the wrath of the Lord yet so long as it is suspended by the Omnipotency of his power or the aboundant grace of his mercy ouerruling his Iustice and so concealed from vs or at the least not gone out against vs the feare and the danger is the lesse But if it bee gone out then it s more then time to looke about For if the pillers of heauen as Iob saith tremble and quake at his reproofe Iob. 26.11 What shall Sinners on earth doe It s a great mercy of God that their is a suspention of his Iustice
for it is his mercy that wee are not all consumed But if that mercy bee abused then the wrath of the Lord is no longer restrained but euen from heauen it selfe from whence commeth the influence of all good blessings to the sonnes of men euen from thence shall his wrath be sent forth and when men poyson the Ayre with sinne then God will poyson men with the Ayre and the very breath of one man shall bee the baine infection and death of another which is not onely the going out of his wrath but the execution thereof the last circumstance in the Text. The Plague is begun and therein we shall doe well to enter into consideration not so much of the nature of the Punnishment as of the second thing to bee thought of in the Iudgements of God which is the hand that smiteth Wherein howsoeuer naturall men seeke out naturall causes as I haue said yet hee that sauours of any Religion cannot but say Digitur Dei est this is the hand of God himselfe so witnessing of himselfe Esay 45 7. I am he euen I which make peace and create euill Malum paene he meaneth the euill of punnishment naturall causes being no causes but onely meanes which God vseth to chastice the sinnes of men hee being the principall and the efficient of all iudgements The Scripture is both plentifull and plaine shewing in direct words That as all punnishment comes from God so this of the plague especially and therefore the Prophet prayed Psalme 39.11 Take away thy Plague from me for I am euen consumed by meanes of thy heauy hand And King Dauid acknowledgeth in his choyse that the punnishment of the Pestilence comes from the immediate hand of God So the Scripture calles it Exod. 9.3 The Sword of the Lord 2. Chron. 21. And the Arrowes of his vengeance Psalme 91.5 Fulmen coeleste the Thunderbolts of heauen and Bellum Dei contra homines as some doe call it no ordinary iudgement The reason because the sinnes that call for it are no ordinary sins For as the sinne here was no ordinary sinne So if the sinnes of our age though they be too common are no common sinnes but equall if not transcend that of Corah and his confederates of which at large in the former part of this Chapter VVho can thinke that a common death is a sufficient punnishment and not rather looke that the earth should open her mouth and swallow vp the offenders aliue and they goe downe quicke into the pit as in the 30. verse This Generation of ours being too obdurate and hard harted to be moued with ordinary iudgements Wherevpon the Lord is forced extraordinarily to punnish and as it were immediately by his owne hands For it is he that doth cast into the bed of sicknesse Reucl. 3.12 Iob the exact patterne of patience and mirrour of Affliction looked farther and vnto higher matter then Winde and ayre storme and tempest the Sabeans or Satan himselfe and said Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit So that we must learne not like beasts to looke after the Stone but after the right arme that threw it and not so much to seeke to flye the persons and the places infected as their owne sinnes which such an infection followeth For when men haue done what they can doe either to preuent it before it come or to cure it when it s come and the careful prouision of the Magistrate is approoued good and euery seuerall mans care not without good cause yet it s the Lord that must blesse the meanes of our safeguard and that hee may blesse let men say what they will there is no such Physicke as Prayer and Penitence thereby to make an Attonement betweene God and our sinnes For as God will be knowne in his Iustice so he will be knowne in his Mercy and hee will heare them that call vpon him faithfully For it is the grace of his mercy and the mercy of his grace that farre exceedeth all the grace of Herbes and Drugges all the vertue of Simples and Compounds in the World for the cure of those Soares that Sinne doth make To the obtaining whereof Let vs quickly euery man for himselfe and all one for another flye vnto the Lord of mercy by the feruent Deuotion of our prayers Let vs desire the Lord to turne our hearts vnto him that he may turne his Plague from vs That vnto our Prayers wee may ioyne our Penitence and with our Penitence the amendment of our liues that wee may thereby enter into a serious Meditation of our owne sinnes that haue prouoked his Wrath and of his wrath that doth punnish our sinnes acknowleging and that feelingly that the things that we suffer are most iustly due to the sinnes that we haue committed seeing hee that suffers most cannot suffer so much as he doth deserue In one word let vs desire the Lord of all mercy to be mercifull vnto vs and to giue vs grace to stay the course of our sinning that he may withall stay the hand of his punnishing That albeit he haue begunne yet that he would goe no farther but say it is enough That among all the blessing and fauours bestowed vpon this Church vpon our most Noble King vpon his right worthy Counsellors the whole State and his people hee suffer not the measure of his Iustice to exceed the measure of his mercy least we bee consumed in his wrath and brought to nothing in his heauy displeasure Spare vs good Lord spare vs we beseech thee For the graue cannot confesse thee the dead cannot praise thee but the liuing yea the liuing shall glorifie thy name in the multitude of thy mercies as we doe this day yealding vnto thy glorious Maiesty all power praise glory and thankesgiuing the rest of this day and for euermore Amen FINIS