DELAY OF REFORMATION PROVOKING Gods further Indignation Represented in A SERMON Preached at WESTMINSTER to the Honourable House of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT at their late solemn Monethly Fast April 29. 1646. By JAMES NALTON Minister of the Gospell and Pastor of Leonards Fosterlane London LEVIT 26.23 24. And if ye will not be reformed by these things but will walke contrary unto mee Then will I also walke contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sinnes LONDON Printed for Samuel Gellibrand at the signe of the Brasen-Serpent in Pauls-Churchyard 1646. TO THE HONORABLE HOVSE of COMMONS now Assembled in PARLIAMENT Noble SENATOURS I See You are pleased to have not onely Bezaleel's and Aholiab's a Ex. 31.2 6 choyce and skilfull workemen in that reverend Assembly of Divines imployed in purging and beautifying the house of God but you will have some other poore Labourers also set on worke to bring stones and mortar to the building And truly had not I looked above my selfe at that great God who when we are faint and feeble doth gird us about with strength b 1 Sam. 2.4 The waight of the worke together with the sense of my owne extreame unfitnesse to carry the Name of God before such an Auditory might have overwhelmed me with sinking discouragments But if Gods power may get glory by my weaknesse I will rejoyce in my Infirmities c 2 Cor. 12.9 I hope there is none shall have so low a conceit of my poore parts or paines but I my selfe shall have a lower The marke I levelled at in this plain homely piece now presented to your view was the pressing and promoting the Worke of Reformation which how it ha's been retarded since we entred into that Solemne sacred League I need not tell you Sure I am if either Atheists or Papists Neuters or Hereticks Sectaries or Seducers Hypocrites or carnall Gospellers can doe the Devils worke viz. either persecute the Woman or stifle her Childe in the birth or devoure it as soone as it shall be born d Rev. 12.4 this Male-childe of a long expected much desired Reformation shall never be brought forth to light But looke about you for God looks on you nay God looks within you Hee exactly views as my Text will tell you every one of you how you Act your parts on the Stage where he imployes you The Lord ha's holpen you to carry on your Worke the preservation of a poore distressed distracted Kingdom Therfore he now expects that you should help him to carry on His Work even That for which you have lifted up your hands to the most high God Let it never be said of any of you sitting in that honourable Assembly what was said of the Nobles of Tekoah e Neh. 3.5 They put not their necks to the work of their Lord. God forbid that occasion should be given to fasten that complaint on any of you which the Apostle utter's with some regret f Phil. 2.21 All seeke their own not the things which are Jesus Christs Certaine it is the more we seeke our selves the more we lose our selves the more we deny our selves and our own ends and our owne honour the more will God honour us both in our persons and in our places O that the zeal of Gods house might even eat you up g Joh. 2.17 O that your hearts were so fired with a burning Love to Jesus Christ and his Government that you might say with David h Psal 132.4 5. I will not give sleepe to mine eyes or slumber to mine eye-lids untill I finde out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Never was Parliament so lifted up to heaven in extraordinary discoveries of Gods providence and protection which have beene as a Pillar of a cloud by day and a Pillar of fire by night to conduct you through the Wildernesse of a Bloody Warre bringing you from Shittim to Gilgal i Mic. 6.5 even to the skirts of Canaan Therfore that which Joshua spake to the Israelites when upon the fresh memoriall of God's miraculous mercies towards them he renewed a Covenant between them and their God k Josh 24.25 27. This Stone shal be a witnes to us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us The like may I say to you All the Mercies Victories and Deliverances vouchsafed to you all the Promises Protestations Covenants and Engagements lying on you wil witnes either for you or against you at the great day of your Account The Lord Jesus Christ still stand by you Let his everlasting arms be alwayes under you and so establish your hearts in his truth and feare that he may delight in you as polished shafts in his own quiver and happy instruments of further advancing Temple-work the compleating whereof will be to you a Name of Renowne and to us the joy of our hearts and the crown of our hopes It is and shall be the constant prayer of The weakest and unworthiest of them that serve you in the Gospell James Nalton A SERMON PREACHED TO the Honourable House of COMMONS on the Monethly Fast-day April 29. 1646. JEREM. 13.27 I have seen thine Adulteries and thy Neighings the lewdnesse of thy Whordome and thine abominations on the Hils in the Fields Woe unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane When shall it once be THIS Text may well be called an awakening Trumpet sounding a loud alarme in the eares of an impenitent unreformed people Many warnings had God given to Judah and Jerusalem before they felt that fatall blow in the Babylonish Bondage One among the rest is proclaimed in this Chapter ver 14. I will dash them one against another even the Fathers and the Sons together yea I will dash them in pieces like bottles of Wine ver 12. Alas alas poor England in this bloody intestine Warre ha's made a sad Comentary on this mournfull Text Upon this warning God cals them to a deep Humiliation ver 18. Observ Say unto the King and to the Queen humble your selves and sit down Great ones and Nobles Senatours and Statesmen in a day of Humiliation must forget their greatnesse fit downe in the dust and lye low before the Lord as well as the meanest of the people They notwithstanding this Summons are so farre from Humiliation that they are entertaining thoughts of self-justification ver 22. Wherefore come these things upon me Hereupon the Lord deales more sharply with them evidently convinceth them of their sinfulnesse and severely threatens them for their stubbornnesse I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings c. The Text will spread it selfe into three Branches I. An undeniable conviction I have seen thine adulteries c. II. A dreadfull commination Woe unto thee O Jerusalem III. A patheticall expostulation Wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be Observ In the first God silenceth their complaining that they might
against a people call for a speedy Repentance and Reformation I shall begin with the first point as it lyes in order Doctr. God takes precise and speciall notice c. For the proofe of this the Scripture is abundantly plain and pregnant I have seen this people saith God r Deut. 9.13 and behold it is a stiffe necked people Stubbornnesse of heart is not obvious to mans eye for God and onely God knowes the hearts of all the children of men saith Solomon 1 Kings 8.39 yet God takes notice of it The Lord tels this Prophet Ieremy speaking of the dissembling Jewes ſ Jer. 16.17 Mine eyes are upon all their wayes they are not hid from my face neither is their iniquities hid from mine eyes We may think to thrust God out of our sight When God is not in all our thoughts t Psal 10.4 but we cannot thrust our selves out of Gods sight v Te mihi latere possum non me tibi The Elders of Israel because they committed wickednesse in the dark every man in the chambers of his Imagery therefore they said w Ezek. 8.12 The Lord seeth us not But Gods takes away this Covershame Jer. 23.24 Can any man hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill Heaven and earth saith the Lord Darknesse hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day x Psal 39.12 Reas 1 For first God hath an eye of omniscience he knowes not only our works and ways but the inward frame temper of our hearts y Prov. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more then the hearts of the Sons of men And if the very windings and shufflings of our trecherous hearts are obvious to his eye then certainly our outward actions and enormities are much more conspicuous and apparent Doth not the Apostle say All things are naked z Heb. 4.13 and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Mark the expression a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is fuller then one word can render it it is a metaphor frō a Beast whose skin is flay'd off and cut up by the chine bone that you may see all his entrals which the Heathenish Priests in their Sacrifices were wont to doe when they did to use Lucian's words b Lucian de Sacrif 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. exactly view and take notice of them the Lord sees our very reynes as if the thoughts and secret workings of our hearts were unbowelled before him Object But doth not our Saviour say concerning wicked men Depart from me I never knew you c Matth. 7.23 It seems then that God doth not know all men and all things upon the earth Ans God knows not the wicked with a knowledge of approbation for so he knows the righteous only d Psal 1.6 but he knows them and all their actions with a knowledge of observation The whole frame of their hearts and all that their heart frameth e Gen. 6.5 all their desires and designes intentions and inventions plots and practises are observed by his alsearching eye and shall be accounted for before the Tribunall of Christ at the great day Reas 2 2ly The Lord takes notice because he hath an eye of jealousie He is a jealous God f Exod. 20.5 very apprehensive of any conjugall unfaithfulnesse and ready to revenge it As a tender husband the more dearly he loves his wife while shee is loyal to him the more grievously he is offended if she prove trecherous This is that which God complaines of by his Prophet g Ier. 3.20 Surely as a wife trecherously departeth from her husband so have you dealt trecherously wiih me O House of Israel And God makes this an aggravation of their offence h Ier. 31.33 They brake my Covenant though I was a husband to them saith the Lord. Reas 3 3ly As he has an eye of jealousie so he has also an eye of justice having appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse i Acts 17.31 and bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evill k Eccl. 12.14 And the Prophet makes this one reason why he observes and takes notice of all the ways and works of the Sons of men l Ier. 32.19 Thine eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings But this point will not need so much confirmation as application Vse 1 For instruction there are two lessons hence arising by way of inference which may much conduce to our Humiliation in the presence of God this day The first is this Gods patience towards us is infinite The second this Our presumption in sinning against him is intolerable Instruction 1 For the first see and admire at that Patience and long-suffering which Heaven and earth men and Angels may stand amazed at that the Lord of glory whose power and purity omniscience and omnipresence justice and jealousie doe dazle the eyes of the very Angels should see all the abominations committed under the Sun heare all the execrable oaths and blasphemies that are belched out against him observe the insolency scorne and rage of presumptuous sinners that set their mouths against the Heavens and their tongue walks through the earth m Psal 73 90 yet doth not all this while set the world on fire about our ears or thunderbolt us from Heaven or take us away with the stroke of his hand n Job 36.18 Doe but consider these 〈◊〉 remarkable things in God A piercing eye and A powerfull hand The one to spye the other to punish and withall seriously weigh that infinite and unconceivable holinesse and purity of his nature that he cannot endure iniquity o Hab. 1.13 and then break out into admiration and say O infinite patience and long-suffering that thou O God shouldest support us in our being at that very time when we are fighting against thee by our provocations and rebellions whereas didst thou withdraw thy hand but one moment we should drop downe to hell Would any King endure to see a Traytor abuse his Titles villifie his person revile his children contemne his lawes and doe as much as in him lyes to cast his Crowne downe to the ground yet this our God endures with unwearied patience May not we say with the Prophet p Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Oh that we could now begin to admire the boundlesse bottomlesse Ocean of that mercy and loving kindnesse which swallowes up all our thoughts and will be matter of gratulation and admiration to all eternity saying q Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his
away our leprosies yet abide upon us there is yet as much swearing and lying deceiving and dissembling as much pride and covetousnesse self-seeking and self-confidence discord and dissention among Brethren as there was before the warre began so that God may justly and angrily speak to England as he doth to Jerusalem in the Text Wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be Yea the Lord may justly take up that complaint of us which he doth of the Jewes in Jeremiah's time a Ier. 6.28.30 They are Brasse and Iron base and drossie mettall good for nothing the bellowes are burnt the lungs of my messengers are spent with speaking to them the Lead is consumed of the fire the Founder melteth in vain for their wickednesses are not plucked away all the paines and labour that hath been spent about refining of them is lost Therefore reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Blush O Heavens and stand amazed O Earth that a people should have so many instructions corrections warnings and awakenings woundings and breaking blowes yet should remaine so unreformed God speaks in anger yet we heare not roares from Heaven yet we feare not smites us with his rod yet we feele not yea stroke upon stroke yet we lay it not to heart For this should our eyes drop downe teares and we should in the bitternesse of our spirits cry out with Ezra b Ezra 9.15 Behold O Lord we are before thee this day in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this Vse 2 Exhortation In the second place let a word of Exhortation take hold on your hearts and what I preach to others the Lord grant I may practice in my owne soule Let us study a particular Reformation in our hearts and houses let us doe as God adviseth Jerusalem c Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved Let every one of us doe as Jacob did when God called upon him to pay his vowes which he made in the dayes of his distresse Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said unto his houshold and to all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments Oh that Joshuah's resolution were fixed and fastned on the hearts of all that heare me this day d Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The City would soone be cleane if every man would sweep at his own doore Motives Thinke with your selves therefore that ye see God waiting that he may be gracious to you e Isa 30.18 He waits till ye meet him with repentance that he may meet you with deliverance If ye were but fitted for mercy he would bestow a full mercy on you Thinke that ye heare him this day wooing intreating inviting beseeching you to come in and stand out no longer We are Ambassadours for Christ as if God did beseech you by us c f 2 Cor. 5.20 O admirable and unheard of condescention that the Ceator should beseech the creature that the King of eternity whose glory is lifted up above the heavens g Psal 8.1 should intreat wormes and dust to be reconciled Nay yet more Looke on God not onely intreating but expostulating or reasoning the case with you as he doth with Ephraim h Hos 6.4 O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O England how shall I deale with thee Have ye beene uncleane and will ye be so still Are your former iniquities and provocations before the warre began too little for you but that you will adde iniquity to iniquity and rebellion to rebellion As the tribes of Israel reasoned in the like case i Josh 22.17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not clensed untill this day but that ye must turne away from following the Lord and make him wroth with the whole Congregation Lastly looke upon God not onely expostulating with you but also lamenting your folly and losse k Isa 48.18 O that thou hadst barkned to my Commandements then had thy peace beene as a river and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the Sea It is Chrysostoms observation upon my Text that when God was now about to punish them he do's pitty them l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryso in locum he do's as it were weep over them and compassionately mourne for them When O when will it once be just as a tender-hearted father that ha's but one Sonne and that Sonne untoward and untractable he takes the Rod into his hand but withall he ha's teares in his eyes saying How shall I scourge thee my Son How shall I give thee up to Ruine O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee into the hand of thine enemies O Israel How shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me and my repentings are kindled together * Hos 11.8 Doth all this nothing move us nothing melt us Are we in love with wrath and death and danger Are we willing to perish to be made a hissing a reproach and an astonishment to all other Nations Know ye not that one sin unrepented unreformed will doe us more mischiefe then all our enraged Enemies can doe us One sinne in forcing the Levites Concubine to death it is one of the saddest Stories that ye meet with in all the Scriptures occasioned the slaughter of LXV THOUSAND MEN m Judges 20. and that is more I beleeve then the sword hath devoured in this Kingdome these three yeeres Know ye not that without Reformation there will be no Pacification Ye read in Isa 9.12 that though the Syrians before and the Philistines behinde had devoured Israel with open mouth yet Gods anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still But why would not God be pacified after all that calamity which fell upon them the reason followes verse 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hosts So long as we have a rebellious hand to stretch out against God so long will God have a revenging hand to stretch out against us If he doe not bend us he will breake us Nay yet more without Reformation we can expect nothing but a desolation Be thou instructed O Ierusalem saith God n Ier. 6.8 lest my soule depart from thee or be difioynted from thee as the Hebrew phrase emphatically expresseth it o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest I make thee desolate a Land not inhabited Observe here though a people be as neere to God as the Arme is to the shoulder-blade yet if they doe not heare the rod and learne instruction and be reformed Hee will be loosed or disioynted from them cut them off from his hand and make them desolate And tell me Sirs are ye willing to tyre out Gods patience that do's
have nothing to object against the equity of his proceedings I have seen thy guiltinesse God will have every mouth to be stopped and all the world to become guilty before him a Rom. 3.19 In the second he foretelleth their misery now ready to fall upon them that they might tremble at it and be affected with it Observ God would have his people deeply apprehensive of the sad signes and symptomes of his displeasure In the third he reasons the case before he proceed to execution Observ God had rather glorifie his mercy in our reformation then his justice in our ruine and condemnation Let me first break up the Text in the tearmes of it and then deale out the observations I have seen thine adulteries The great sinne that God chargeth on them and whereof he doth convince them is Idolatry which is here aggravated 1 By the Titles given to it 2 By the severall circumstances of it The Titles First the Titles are these it is called adultery whordome abomination First Idolatry is called adultery and whoredome because it is a sinne that defiles the conjugall Bed cuts the marriage knot between God and his people and provokes the Lord to give them a bill of divorce b Jer. 3 8. When backesliding Israel committed adultery I put her away and gave her a Bill of Divorce Secondly it is called abomination the Hebrew word comming from a Root c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to loath or detest as being that sin which God most detested and abhorred And there is an Emphasis in the Affix thine thrice repeated in the Text Thine adulteries thy whordome thine abomination Observe here all the idolatries and abominations practised on the Hils in the Fields and in the Villages round about Jerusalem they are all charged upon Jerusalem they are thine abominations why so Because Ierusalem was the Metropolis or Mother-City of the Kingdome There sate the Sanhedrim and there were the Courts of Justice d Psal 122.5 they had power in their hands to suppresse these abuses but they did not make use of their power for that purpose therfore saith God they are thy sins and shall be put upon thy account Note It is worth the noting When Magistrates are carelesse in suppressing abuses these abuses shall be charged upon the Magistrates When the people gathered Mannah on the seventh day the Lord chargeth the sinne upon Moses e Exod 16.28 though Moses himselfe was not guilty The Lord said unto Moses How long refuse ye to keep my Commandements and my Lawes The Circumstances Secondly the Circumstances aggravating their Idolatry are four First it was a sinne not once but often committed thine adulteries in the plurall number And a sinne the ofter it is committed the greater it is as a cloth dyed red if it be dipt againe it is dyed yet redder Secondly it was a sinne committed with greedinesse an great delight therefore it is expressed in this terme Neighings a bruitish transgression hath a bruitish expression and it is observable Wicked men by sinfull courses become bruit beasts unmanning themselves losing not onely their conscience but their reason also So was it with this people here in the Text They were mad upon their Idols as it was said of the Caldeans f Jer. 50.38 Even as mad as pamperd frolick horses are in the heat of their lust Yea the same Hebrew word g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to neigh signifies also to shout for joy as Ier. 31.7 Sing for gladnesse and h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shout among the Nations where the same word is used So that it was a sin committed with great delight And this is certaine the more delight we take in our sins the lesse delight God takes in our soules Thirdly their hearts were so taken up with this sinne that God had no room there like an unchaste woman that thinks of nothing but her lustfull Lovers i Quemadmodum mulier impudâ—ca nihil aliud cogitat quam spurcos suos amatores Calv. in locum This is implied in the word Lewdnesse or the Thought of thy whoredome so the word k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies and so judicious Calvin renders it l Cogitationem scortationis tuae Fourthly they committed this sinne in publike view not onely privately in a corner but on the hils and in the open fields Vpon every high hill and under every green tree they wandred and plaid the harlot m Jer. 2.20 Impudency in sin is one of the highest aggravations of sin Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination Nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush n Jer. 8.12 Now saith God I have seen all this with an eye of Jealousie and an eye of justice I have seen it to censure it I have seen it to revenge it for so it followes Woe unto thee O Ierusalem As if he should say O unhappy Ierusalem that art so desperately sinfull and dost not yet repent nor reforme to this day great misery and calamity doe I denounce against thee as one devoted to destruction Wilt thou not be made cleane I know the words are diversly read by Interpreters but quotation of Authors is a Theefe in an Auditory Some read the words without a question thus Thou shalt not cleanse thy selfe hereafter o Septuag Hoeron A. Montan But this reading suits not so well with the last words * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After how long yet Some read them thus Thou wilt not be cleansed by turning after me Thus mistaking a vowell in the Hebrew word for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After me but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After or hereafter But the sense is plaine enough as reverend Calvin an Interpreter instar omnium does well expresse it Wilt thou not be made cleane As if he should say Is thy heart sohard that thou canst not yet repent nor reforme after all exhortations invitations woes and warnings The pressing piercing interrogation addes great strength to the expression p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When will it once be or After when yet or How long yet q Post quantum adhuc tem poris Jun. that is how long wilt thou continue unreformed How long shall I wait till thou be cleansed how long wilt thou delay and take time with me from day to day The words being thus opened many observations might be thence deduced but I will not pluck every cluster that this fruitfull bough doth hold forth There are three speciall points suitable to the three parts or branches which I named even now that will draw forth the strength of the Text. Doct. 1. God takes precise and speciall notice of all the sins and abominations of a people that are in covenant with him Doct. 2. These sinnes and abominations provoke him to expresse his anger in dreadfull Comminations Doct. 3. Those dreadfull Comminations denounced
anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Instruction 2 For the second our presumption in sinning against him is intollerable because all our sinnes admit of this aggravation that they are committed full in the face of God r Isa 65.3 It is a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face This is that which may prick our hearts and wound our soules in all our confessions and humiliations when we can say with David Å¿ Psal 51.4 Against thee thee have I offended and done this evill in thy sight Thou hast been an eye-witnesse of all my stubbornnesse and undutifulnesse of all my trechery and hypocrisie of all my wandrings and backslidings This was one thing that let the Prodigall blood in the heart-veyne and stroke him with penitentiall remorse viz. That in his wandring from his Father he went into a farre Country t Luke 15.13 v 18. as thinking to be out of the reach of his Fathers eye but when he returnes he bewailes this ver 18. I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Mark the phrase Before thee he looks on his sinne as committed in his Fathers eye all the time It were an intollerable impudency for a wife to dally with a stranger in the presence of her husband or for a villaine to offer violence to a Queen while the King looks on Will he force the Queen also before me in the house saith Abasierus concerning Haman v Ester 7.8 Or a Theefe to cut a purse in the Face of the Judge sitting on the Bench or for a Subject to set the Crowne on anothers head when the King himselfe is standing by Yet thus deale presumptuous sinners with the Lord every day and is not this a provocation intollerable What an aggravation was that of Nimrods sin x Gen. 10.9 he was a mighty Hunter before the Lord so desperately bold was he in his boystrous tyranny that he was not afraid to act it before the Lord And are there not some that dare call Heaven to record for ther fidelity in the publick cause of Religion when God and their owne conscience know the contrary Are there not some like Ephraim of whom God saith y Hos 12.7 8. He is a cunning Merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand and he loves to oppresse yet as if he would mock the God of Heaven to his face he saith I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin As if he should say God makes me prosper though it be in a way of injustice and oppression therefore he hath no quarrell with me at all Oh the horrible hellish Atheisme that doth possesse our hearts Are ye offended at the harshnesse of the expression Ye must know there is an Atheist in affection as well as in opinion z Job 21.14 They say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes There is an Atheist in practice as well as in profession a Tit. 1.16 They professe they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Are there not many of us that professe we know God and in our tongues dare not deny him yet in our life and conversation carry our selves as if God had but the eye of a picture without life or motion in it Are there not many of us who make of the great God of Heaven with reverence be it spoken no better then a Baal a sleepy senslesse carelesse God that neither regarded iniquity nor rewarded duty Are there not many who as much as in them lyes put out the al-seeing al-searching eye of his omniscience and cut off the arme of his revenging justice as if he would neither see nor censure any of their transgressions If pilfring Achan had thought that the eye of the Lord had followed him as Elisha told Gehazi that his heart went along with him when he received the present at Naamans hand b 2 King 5.26 durst he have stollen the wedge of gold and Babylonish garment and so have transgressed in the cursed thing If those two loose professors Ananias and Sapphira could have reasoned as holy Job did c Job 31.4 Doth not the Lord see my wayes and count all my steps durst they have lyed unto the holy Ghost If traiterous Judas had thought the eye of his Master had watched him durst he have nibled money out of his Masters bag If we in our actings for God our seekings and services did but really think that the frame and temper of our spirits our very ends and aimes are as obvious to the eyes of God as our actions are to the eyes of men were we but fully perswaded of this that he observes whether we be sound at heart or rotten at core durst we lye unto the Lord and cozen the world and in the end cozen our own soules But we think it not I say it againe to our shame we think it not We have poore low thoughts of God and of his greatnesse majesty power and glory we are ready to think wickedly of God That he is such a one as our selves d Psal 50.22 In stead of raising up our thoughts to God we pull downe God unto our thoughts This is our Atheisme this is our Presumption let us see it and bewaile it and be humbled for it Vse 2 exanation Let the second Use be for Examination Take occasion to enter into the Closet of our owne hearts to see how the case stands between God and us This should be a day of self-scrutiny and self-reflection wherein we should smite upon e Ier 31.19 our thigh with Ephraim and be ashamed yea even confounded before our God It should be a day wherein we should plough up our fallow ground f Ier. 4 3â— ransack every corner of our soules and turne the inside of our hearts out unto the Lord. Let us therefore search our hearts and sift our lives whether there be not those sinnes and abominations among us which the Lord beholds with an eye of jealousie True it is that Kingdome killing sin of Idolatry which God so deeply chargeth on them in the Text is in a great measure suppressed among us and blessed be the Lord who hath put it into the heart of this honourable Parliament to purge out the dregs of that leaven which the Lord hates in his very soul and to pull down that proud oppressing PRELACY and those prelatical popish Innovations which were the props and pillars of Idolatry But are there not other God-provoking Heaven-daring wrath-procuring sins yet unpurged out which in the sight of God are very odious and abominable May not God speak to his Ministers concerning England as he does to Ezekiel g Ezek 16.2 Son of man cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Let me instance in some particulars Abomination 1 First is there
not abundance of swelling pride and that is one abomination for every one that is proud in heart is abomination to the Lord saith Solomon h Prov. 16.5 We have yet as lofty looks and scornfull carriages and ambitious aspirements pussing at Superiours trampling on Inferiours high conceits of our selves low conceits of others as we had before this bloody war began God hath pul'd us downe in our estates but he hath not pul'd downe our pride we are brought upon our knees but our hearts are not humbled Abomination 2 Secondly is there not abundance of Hypocrisie among us which is another provokefull abomination for the Hypocrites in heart heap up wrath saith the Scripture i Iob 36.36.3.13 Now we are for the generalla hypocriticall Nation and therefore a people of Gods wrath as God spake of the Jews Isa 10.6 We are a Nation full of wit and therfore full of craft and guile God may say of us as he did of Ephraim k Hos 11.12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lyes and the house of Israel with deceit We can give good words they cost us nothing just as the Israelites did whom the Psalmist mentions l Psal 78.34 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned early enquired after God c. But they did but flatter him with their mouth and lyed unto him with their tongues for their heart was not upright with him neither remained they stedfast in his Covenant Here is a lively Image or representation of our double-dealing with our God in the time of our straights We doe not seek God for God but for our selves we doe not so much serve him as serve our own turns of him we pretend a willingnesse to be reformed but when it comes to the quick to take Christs Yoake on our neck to have purity of Ordinances and power of godlinesse meet together to have strictnesse of Sabbaths and strictnesse of conversation kisse each other to have plain powerfull convincing heart-humbling soul-healing preaching now we shrink and draw back and are afraid of a refining Reformation this argues the dishonesty of the heart The truth is we would faine have Religion and our lusts together we would have a Reformation that might suit with our owne humours ends and interests and make Religion a shooe fitted to our owne last is not this to be hypocriticall in our ends and aimes We come to heare Sermons just as they did in Ezekiel's time m Ezek. 33.31 Son of man this people sit before thee as my people they heare thy words but they will not doe them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousnesse So at this day many of you will give us the hearing but ye will doe what ye list Ye come to judge the Sermon not to be judged by the Sermon as the Apostle speaks in the like case Jam. 4.11 If thou judge the Law thou art not a doer of the Law but a Judge Ye would have witty Sermons and reproofe at a distance and love not the jewell of plain-dealing Look as men commend the sweetnesse of Rosewater but start and turne away if they be bespinkled with it so ye love to heare the truth and commend it but like not that it should touch ye or come too close unto you Ye come on such days as these to hear your ways reproved but have no serious purpose to have your wayes reformed we may preach what we will ye wil practise what ye please Is not this a piece of hypocrisie which the Lord abhorreth Abomination 3 Thirdly is there not a great deale of impenitency and stubbornnesse under Gods corrections Me thinks I heare the Prophet Jeremy complaining of us as he did of the Jewes in his time * Ier. 5.3 O Lord thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder the a rock they have refused to return There is a spirit of insensiblenesse * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11.8 seized upon us that we do not lay to heart one of the sorest of Gods plagues one of the sharpest of his arrowes this man-devouring land-destroying sword that hath eaten so much flesh and drunk so much blood and is not yet put up into the scabberd We are like the Drunkard that Solomon speaks of n Prov. 23.34 35. that sleeps on the top of a mast and lyeth downe in the midst of the Sea they have stricken me saith he and I was not sicke they have beaten me and I felt it not Oh how provokefull is this to our God and to the eyes of his glory to see us a people so stupid so senslesse so lockt up in our owne hearts that neither sins nor miseries nor meanes nor mercies nor word nor sword can work upon us Ye shall read of some of Gods servants recorded in Scripture that have been more affected with an evill threatned then we are with a judgement inflicted Look on godly Josiah he hath his heart tender and melting when he heard the words of the Book of the Law o 2 Kin. 22.11 Look on Habakuk he hath his belly trembling and lips quivering and rottennesse entring into his bones p Hab. 3.16 Look on Isaiah his loynes are filled with paines pangs took hold on him as the pangs of a woman that travelleth he was bowed downe at the hearing of a hard vision he was dismayed at the seeing of it q Isa 21.3 These holy men were deeply affected with a calamity that was but like to come upon them but we are not sensible of a dreadfull judgement that is already come upon us I pray God a deep fleep from the Lord be not fallen on us such a one as fell on Saul and his Army r 1 Sam 26.12 when the Lord purposed to deliver Saul into Davids hand r 1 Sam. 26.12 for we bear off all Gods blows with head and shoulders as Jerusalem did when she said s Ier. 10.19 Woe is me for my hurt my wound is grievous but I said Truly this is a griefe and I must beare it as if shee should say It is a burden and I must beare it as well as I can Doe but examine our thoughts consider our speeches look into our houses observe the generall deportment and carriage of men under this heavy judgement of a Land-wasting war and you may see that literally fulfilled in our times which the Prophet speaks of concerning Israel t Isa 42.25 He hath powred upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of Battell and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew it not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Abomina ∣ tion 4 Fourthly is there not a great deale of injustice and oppression yet among us And this is a crying abomination v Iames 5.4 The cryes
to fight against Amurath He for a while prevailed and had like to have got the victory but Amurath seeing the great slaughter of his men plucked the writing out of his bosome wherein the League was contained and holding it in his hand with his eyes lift up to heaven said Behold thou crucified Christ This is the League that thy Christians in thy Name made with me and now have violated If thou be God as they say thou art Avenge the wrong done to thy Name and unto me Instantly after in the very same Battell was Vladislaus that had broke the League slaine and his Head carried on the poynt of a Launce through their Cities as a token of the Turkes Trophee Now is it so dreadfull a sinne to breake Covenant with men What is it to breake Covenant with that God who can cast Soule and Body into hell fire Certainly if we breake our Covenant our Covenant will breake us Helpe 3 Thirdly Let us get more publicknesse of spirit to say with the Psalmist e Psal 137.5 If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning Let all private interests be drowned in publick concernments looke as when publicke men have a private spirit it is a great curse unto a Kingdome so when private men have a publick spirit it is a great blessing let that be our honour which was Davids f Acts 13.36 to serve our generation to be be usefull in the times and places whereinto God ha's cast us Helpe 4 Fourthly study unity and unanimity that in the cause of God and Gospell ye may all have one heart and one hand and one minde and one mouth Doe as the Tribes of Israel did in a publicke cause g Judg. 20 8. They all arose as one man Sure it is there is not one plot or project wherein the Devill more labours or bestirs himselfe then this How he may cast in a bone of Division blow the coles of contention and breake the band of unity among Brethren Therefore looke how farre any man nourisheth the spirit of discord and dissention in his brest so farre I dare tell him from the Lord he is Instrumentall to the Devill Boards joyned together make a Ship disioyned they cause Shipwracke Agreement among Christians builds up Jerusalem disagreement puls it downe In the building of Solomons Temple there was no noyse neither hammer nor axe nor any toole of iron was heard while it was in building h 1 Kings 6.7 O that in setting up the building of Reformation for which we have lift up our hands to the most high God there might be no noyse of jars or janglings crossings or thwartings envyings or hart-burnings Helpe 5 Lastly Get your hearts fired with a burning love to Christ and an enflamed zeale for his honour and advancement of the worke of Reformation that ye may be fervent in spirit i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seething hot Rom. 12.11 a peculiar people zealous of good workes k Tit. 2.14 and remember this for your encouragement If every thought of your hearts were a rapture and every word an extasie and every action a sacrifice If ye had a thousand lives to spend for Christ and ten thousand estats to lay down at his feet If ye did spend and were spent in his service He is able abundantly to recompence you both here and hereafter Your labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord l 1 Cor. 15.38 To draw to a conclusion Let me winde up the three Doctrins on one Bottome Particular Application to the Members of the Honourable House and so addresse my speech to you Noble SENATORS whom God ha's honoured and betrusted with so great a Worke as the steering of our Ship in a storme and the setling of a poore tottering trembling Kingdome Ye have heard That God See's all our Provocations a 1 Point That God Breath's out against us his comminations b 2 Point That God Cal's aloud for speedy Reformation c 3 Point I beseech you as a poore Messenger of Jesus Christ lay these things to heart and apply them to your owne Soules For example First Do's God see all your wayes with an impartiall eye for he accepts not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore m Job 34.19 Then give me leave to propound that question to you which the Prophet Oded did to the men of Israel 2 Cro. 28.10 Are there not with you even with you sinnes against the Lord your God I come not hither either to accuse or to censure any of you There is a witnesse within you will doe the one there is a Judge above you will doe the other But ye will suffer me to intreat you to Beseech you by the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him at that great day To be true to your owne spirits to look into your owne hearts and to watch over your own wayes that ye give no occasion to the Lord to say I have seene the provocations of these or these Parliament men Take heed therefore lest by the dignity of your places your hearts be lifted up above your Brethren and remember the greater your places are the greater must your reckoning be Be carefull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the Apostles phrase n Gal. 2.14 to tread with a straight foot to walke uprightly according to the truth of the Gospell Remember that speech of Job o Job 13.27 Thou lookest narrowlly to all my paths thou fettest a print upon the beeles of my feet If ye doe but tread awry or step out of that way that God hath appointed you to walke in Shall not God search this out for he knowes the secrets of the heart p Psal 44.21 Let there be none among you that drive on your owne particular designes and serve God and his cause no further then they serve your owne ends and interests Do not spare those whom God would not have spared It cost Ahab dear when he spared Benhadad q 1 Kings 20.42 God tels him Thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people Doe not discourage those whom God would not have discouraged Beware lest out of Cowardize or carnall feares out of sinfull complyance and conformity to the wils of men ye TOLERATE what God would not have TOLERATED for I conceive it worthy the consideration of the wisest whether the Devill would not thinke he had made a good bargaine and gained well by the Reformation if he could exchange the Prelacie for an Vniversall Liberty Take heed lest there be any found among you that are zealous for vindicating Civill Liberties but when Church-government comes to be setled ye shrinke and start and withdraw the shoulder as being afraid of a Reformation that will be too strict Ye have of late caused the Scriptures to be searched desiring that the minde of Christ in point of government and
what therein will beare the stampe of divine Authority may be represented to you And ye have done exceeding well in this matter the Lord of heaven prosper you in your proceedings But let me put you in minde of a sad Story that ye meet with in this Prophesie Jerem. 42. The people come to the Prophet very demurely r Jer. 42.3 5. Desiring that God would shew them the way wherein they should walke and what he would have them doe and they make a solemn profession and protestation ver 5. The Lord be a true and faithfull witnesse betweene us if we doe not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us Well the Prophet do's inquire and brings them a Message that they doe not like ver 10. viz. That they should abide in the Land of Judah and not goe downe to Egypt What say they to this Message You may see Chap. 43.2 They are extreamly angry with the Prophet and give him the lye to his face Thou speakest falsly The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Egypt to sojourne there Whereupon the Prophet tels them plainly Chap. 42.20 Ye dissembled in your hearts when ye sent me to the Lord to inquire for you Observe here If the Prophets counsell had suited with their owne Principles ends and interests then they would have followed his advice but because it did not they scornfully reject it Now God forbid that there should be any among You that should thus double and dissemble with God in your inquiry But if there be any such among ye or if this or any of these secret sinnes before named doe cleave to your hearts or lives I testifie to you in the presence of God what Moses did to the Reubenites s Neh. 32.23 Behold yee have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sinne will finde you out Againe Doe our sinnes yet threaten us with a Woe Then let me beseech you Honourable and Beloved study to be so many Moseses to stand in the breach t Psal 106.23 between God's wrath and a sinfull people I know it is Christ alone that can doe this meritoriously for Moses in this was a type of Christ but ye may doe it instrumentally as Phinehas did by executing judgement Numb 25.11 Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel while he was zealous for my sake among them Shall I speake my feares to you Truly I feare Though God ha's brought us to the skirts of Canaan to the Havenmouth of our deliverance yet we are still so unreformed that we lye under that Woe which is denounced against the Cherethites v Zeph. 2.5 viz. That the word of the Lord is against us even that word which I spake of before in Isa 8.12 13. His anger is not turned away because we turne not to him that smites us Now if the Word of God be against us it is more then if France and Spaine and Germanie and all Christendome were against us Therefore that Gods anger may be turned away by a speedy Reformation do ye endeavor to promote it with all your might follow the example of that godly King Hezekiah w 2 Chro. 31 21. Whatever he did in the service of the house of God and in the Law and in the Commandements to seeke his God he did it with all his heart and prospered Say to that God who ha's beene your shield and buckler to whom ye stand infinitely indebted and engaged as Elisha did to the Shunamite x 2 Kin. 4.13 Behold thou hast beene carefull for us with all this care in preserving us from the rage of those that rose up against us What is to be done for thee Remember the eyes of the Kingdome are upon yee nay the eyes of all Christendome are upon ye as a Parliament saved by the Lord neere unto him in the bond of love and the Bond of a Covenant O did ye but live up to the height of your mercies and engagements what a renowned Parliament would you be Therefore Doe worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem y Ruth 4.11 Think with your selves ye heare the whole Kingdome crying to you as the man of Macedonia did to Paul z Acts 16.9 We are desperately sicke with sinne as well as misery Come heale us come helpe us Yee have the broome of Reformation in your hand for the Lord Jesus sake doe something to cleanse us sweepe the Church as well as the Commonwealth To this end take order that Obstructions may removed ye in your wisdome can finde them out Take order that Ministers may be encouraged in their work Thus did godly Hezekiah a 2 Chro 31.4 He commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the Priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. Let those that are faithfull have such honourable b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5.17 maintenance that their persons may be fenced from contempt He spake as an Oracle in your House that said c Sir Ben. Rud. A scandalous maintenance is the cause of a scandalous Ministry Doe not starve the Nurse lest the Nurse starve the Childe Let there not be one penny of that which is called the CHURCHES REVENEW diverted to any other use then for setting up of a godly consciencious Ministery in those places especially where the people are ready to perish for lack of vision and were they but sensible of their owne misery would cry out as the Prisosoners at Ludgate Bread for the Lords sake Bread for the Lords sake TAKE ORDER That errours and heresies be discountenanced and suppressed stop the spreading of this Gangrene before it over-run the whole body of the Kingdome O that I might make it my request to this honourable Senate on my bended knees that ye would take some speedy course to stop this Flood-gate least we be drowned for the Lord Jesus sake shew us that favour that the earth did to the woman when the Serpent cast water out of his mouth as a Flood to drown her the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood d Reve. 12.15 16 TAKE ORDER That our differences may be compounded Here let me turne my Exhortation into a Lamentation O that we had some mourning Jeremie's that could doe as he did in this Chapter e Jer. 13.17 My soule shall weep in secret places for your pride for onely by pride comes all our contention f Pro. 13.10 and mine eye shall weep sore and run downe with teares O that we could quench this flame of contention with our teares but since we cannot Lord Jesus doe thou quench it with thy blood As concerning the present difference lying before ye I will not undertake to loose that knot Blessed be God ye have an Assembly of as reverend learned pious judicious Divines to consult with as this present Age can afford Onely let me beg two things at your hands Beare with me it is the first time that ever I spake to you in this place First Be not jealous of your friends that have stood by you and stuck to you and have strengthened your hands in God as Jonathan did Davids in the day of his distresse g 1 Sam. 23.16 Let us speak our hearts to you God and our consciences will witnesse for us that we seek for Purity more then Power and if Christs honour may be advanced though in the ruine of our owne we doe rejoyce and will rejoyce In briefe if ye give us a power more then Christ gives us it is our sin to accept it if ye give us lesse take heed least God be angry The second thing I beg is this Hasten a setling We know ye are going on yet because the Church of Christ is running to confusion beare with us if we be a litle impatient of delay and cry out as Sisera's Mother did h Judg. 5.28 Why is the Charet so long in comming why tarry the weels of the Charet or as the Text sounds in your ears When O when will it once be Doe not say as the people said in Haggai's time i Hag. 1.2 The time is not come the time that the Lords house should be built for this made God so angry that he did not blesse but blast their labours till this were done k Ver. 9. To conclude remember ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement l 2 Chro. 19.6 your authority is from him your support is by him and your account must be rendred to him therefore protect the oppressed punish the offender encourage the godly discourage the prophane Be an eye to the blind a foot to the lame a father to the poore and the cause ye know not search it out as holy Job did m Job 29.15 16. In one word be so valiant for God so couragious for his truth so zealous for his glory so vigilant in your places so wise in your deportment so impartiall in your proceedings so constant in your Covenant so faithfull to your trust that the eye which sees may blesse you and the eare which heares may give witnesse to you That the wisdome of God is in you to doe judgement n 1 Kin. 3.28 If it be thus and O that it might be so then not onely we but all the Churches of Christ about us will bring in their votes and say This is a Parliament that the Lord hath blessed This is a Parliament that the Lord hath crowned FINIS