and speaking of vanity mentioned by the Prophet v. 9. which seems to denote that there were Scoffers and open Mockers among them whose insolent boldness when it proceeds to derision of Religion jearing at holy things and playing even with the Word of God it self it is the heighth of impiety the filling up of a Peoples iniquity There is no Prophet now among us who can confidently charge these Crimes upon this Nation or tell us how far it is guilty of them But if they abound every where they will certainly render our Sacrifices unacceptable unto God And therefore let every one descend into his own Breast and make a strict Inquisition there into the state of his own Soul and when he is acquainted with it IV. The next thing in a Fast to the LORD is in genuously to confess and sorrowfully bewail in the bitterness of our Souls those sins of which we find our selves guilty An example of which you meet withall in the days of Samuel who in a great destress gathered all Israel to Mizpeh where they drew water and powred it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there We have sinned against the LORD But I cannot stand to open that place and many more in the books of Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel which relate to this matter because there is something further and more considerable which requires my care to explain and press upon your hearts V. And that is a sincere purpose of forsaking our Sins and reforming our Lives according to God's holy Word Which must accompany all the foregoing acts of Religion to make them effectual For to what end do we examine our selves unless it be to correct and amend whatsoever we find to be amiss It is an unprofitable labour to confess and bewail what is past unless it move us to do better for the time to come Nay to pray to God for mercy while we continue to provoke him to anger by our transgressions is a perfect contradiction and accounted by him no better than a piece of gross hypocrisie Which the Psalmist calls flattering him with our mouth pretending that fear and reverence of him which is not truly setled in our heart Therefore see what he replies to this people when they cryed to him saying Thou O LORD art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not XIV Jerem 9. Thus saith the LORD unto this people thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their feet therefore the LORD doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquities and visit their sins Then said the LORD unto me Pray not for this people for their good when they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer burnt offerings and an oblation I will not accept them c. v. 10. 11 12. When there was no true repentance and resolution to turn from their evil ways you see the Prayers of the Prophet himself were of as little avail for their safety as their own Prayers and Sacrifices which they offered to him And more than this he expected their holy purposes should be performed and that they should not content themselves with good resolutions which many times are as soon broken as they are made When the people therefore in their distress lamented after the Lord the good man tells them 1 Sam. VII 2 3. if you do return to the LORD with all your heart then put away the strange Gods and prepare your hearts unto the Lord to serve him only and he will deliver you That is Let us see the proof of your unseigned sorrow for what you have done amiss let your fair promises and good purposes bring forth fruit meet for repentance And accordingly you read v. 4. Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the LORD only i. e. they did according to their resolutions But one place may serve instead of a great many XXXIII Ezek. 3. 6. where the Watchman is commanded to blow the trumpet and warn the people when he saw the sword coming What was this but to call them to Fasting and Humiliation to Repentace and forsaking their Sins So you find it explained v. 7. 8. as you may read at your leisure and observe how the Prophet is directed to treat with them in these terms v. 11. Say unto them as I live saith the LORD God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel This conversion from their evil ways was the only means to save them to which therefore the Prophet most earnestly importunes them And thus Maimonides a most learned Writer among the Jews describes one of their fasting-fasting-days in his Treatise upon this Subject * In Taaniâ—oth cap. 4. An Elder saith he is appointed who stands and calls upon the people to turn unto the Lord speaking to this purpose O my Brethren it is neither your fasting nor your Sackcloth nor your Ashes which will be able to turn away the anger of God from you but your Repentance and good works must ensue to do the business Do you not find it so in the case of Nineveh How do you read in their story Look into the Book of Jonah and observe how they proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest to the least III. 5. And the King caused it to be proclaimed throughout the City saying Let neither man nor beast taste any food let them be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands v. 7 8. And what the effect was you may find v. 10. God saw their works and that they returned from their evil ways and God repented of the evil c. Observe Brethren he doth not say that he saw their Sackcloth and took notice of their Fasting but that he saw their works and that they returned from their evil ways And so God speaks by the Prophet Joel Turn ye unto me with all your heart and with fasting weeping and mourning Rend your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the LORD your God for he is gracious who knows if he will return and leave a blessing behind him This saith Maimonides the Elder was required to speak with all his might that he might humble their hearts and turn them with a perfect Repentance And after they had thus spent the Day in Prayer hearing the word of God and other Duties which I shall mention in the next particular all the People he says were wont to go into the Burying place and there they wept and prayed again And one spake to them in this manner Behold ye shall all die and perish like those whose Graves here lie before you unless you be converted from your evil ways Which is
much what such a saying as that of our Blessed Saviour's in the Gospel for this day XIII Luk. 3. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish You see then what is the great work of this day Wherein no Exhortation is more proper than that of Jeremiah to this People in his Lamentations III. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the LORD Do not presume of mercy without this though you should perform all the other But fear rather lest that should be verified in us which was said to the Jews I. Isa 15. When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you when you make many Prayers I will not hear you A very lamentable case to lose the favour of God and all this labour likewise to obtain it What should they do then What course would God have them take He informs them in the very next words Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine Eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the LORD now I am willing to be reconciled though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow c. From which words I am directed to another necessary part of a Solemn Fast which is the last I shall mention VI. And that is doing publick Justice upon Notorious Offenders by inflicting those Punishments upon Vice and Wickedness which the Law requires Judge the Fatherless The Prophet speaks to the Rulers and Governors of the People that they should see right done and Abuses corrected And accordingly you find that upon their Days of Humiliation this was a considerable part of their care For when Samuel gathered all the People to Mizpeh where they kept a Fast as I showed before and confessed their sins c. the Day concluded with this 1 Sam. VII 6. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh When Ezra in like manner mourned and did neither eat bread nor drink water he summoned all the People to come to Jerusalem upon pain of forfeiting all their Goods if they did not and when they appeared he examined who had taken strange Wives contrary to the Law and he caused them to be put away as you read X. Ezra 6 7 c. And thus Maimonides tells us in aftertimes their Ib. Cap. â— manner was upon their Fasting Days occasioned by any Publick Trouble for the House of Judgment as their Phrase is to sit in the Synagogue of every City and there examine the Lives of the Citizens after Morning Prayer until Noon And so they removed saith he the Stumbling-blocks of Transgression They inquired for instance after the Men of Violence those who had been Extortioners and Oppressors of others whom they Excommunicated They sought after the Scorners and those that despised the Law whom they humbled with all the like Offenders And then from the middle of the Day till three a Clock they recited the Blessings and Curses that are in the Law according to what the Wise Man says My Son despise thou not the Chastening of the LORD III. Prov. 11. And then having read such Reproofs out of the Prophets as were most suitable to the present strait wherein they were Evening Prayer began in which they spent the remaining part of the day crying unto God with all their might This certainly very much concerns all the Magistrates and Officers of Justice among us in this Kingdom Who should blush to be found more remiss than those who lived under a lower Discipline I wish I could lift up my Voice and speak so loud as to awaken every one of them to chastise all Publick Offenders to do Justice strictly upon those who dishonour God and are a Scandal to Religion Stir up yourselves and be Zealous for your God as the Scripture speaks Let not the Drunkards the Blasphemers the Prophaners of the Lord's-Day who despise his Worship and Service go unpunished See good order kept in all Houses of Publick Entertainment Find out and suppress all places of noted Uncleanness Make a strict Inquisition after false Weights and deceitful Measures Discountenance Make-bates and sowers of Discord among Brethren And execute the severity of the Law against all open wickedness This would be indeed to keep a Fast unto the LORD This would be the ready way to make us an happy People For though there might still be a great many sins committed among us Yet they would not be National sins nor be imputed to us as the guilt of the Kingdom but every Man should bear his own Iniquity Whereas without such Reformation as this or an hearty and honest endeavour after it our Fastings and Prayers and Lamentations will serve only for marks of our insincerity and of the mean Opinion we have of God As if he could be moved with such Services wherein we have respect only to our selves and not at all to him Who is not honoured while Prophane Wickedness openly appears to the high affront of Piety and Religion without check or Controulment This bold Commission of Sin without Correction He will account the Sin of the Kingdom And it will lie more especially at the door of the Magistrates and Officers of Justice if they can and yet will not redress such Impieties For it was always an acknowledged Rule That he who doth not forbid sin when it is in his power doth in effect command it and he that doth not punish it when it is in his power incourages and upholds it As we expect then the Blessing of Heaven upon us as we wish the happiness of these Kingdoms and desire that the great designs which are now on foot may thrive and prosper let us every one in our several Conditions Relations and Places set our selves seriously against Vice and Wickedness and labour to root it out For not only our Eternal but our Temporal Interest is concerned in this as I shall now endeavour briefly to demonstrate by showing how rational and necessary it is to perform this Duty of which I have been treating in the full extent thereof That you may remember was the Second thing which I undertook to do when I entred upon this part of my Text. And I shall not press you by general Reasons but such only as particularly relate to those who are in a State of War Who ought to consider in the First place I. That as Fasting and Prayer are an open acknowledgment that God is the Soveraign Disposer of all Events so it is never more necessary to make this acknowledgment than in a time of War when his Over-ruling Power and Wisdom is most eminently apparent For it hath been frequently seen that a little Chance as we call it hath disordered mighty Armies A small Accident hath turned the fortune of the Day The mistaking of a word in Fights at Land the shifting of the
the Prophet Jeremiah speaks as if it was the thing for which fasting was immediately designed XIV 12. When they fast I will not hear their cry He doth not say he would not regard their fasting but give no Audience to their Prayers Which it appears by this was a great part of the imployment of such a day And therefore when the Prophet Joel had called upon them to blow the trumpet proclaim a Fast gather all together Elders and People great and small in the place before mentioned he subjoyns these words v. 17 to shew what it was for Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say spare thy people O LORD and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them Wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God For that purpose we are now assembled on this fasting day to put up our humble and fervent Petitions unto the Divine Majesty to cry earnestly to him for his Grace and Mercy for his help and assistance for good success of our Forces by Sea and Land for a blessing upon our selves and upon this whole Kingdom A very great work A most weighty imployment For which we had need seriously 〈◊〉 whether we be well prepared Are we fit to appear before the Lord of Heaven and Earth To be intercessors for a whole Nation To bespeak his favour in those great actions that are on foot among us and in the neighbouring world Can such as we hope to prevail for a gracious Audience of such important suits May we not rather fear that he should hide his face from such obstinate sinners That he should cover himself with a cloud as Jeremy speaks in his Lamentations III. 44. that our prayer should not pass through and that he should turn away from us when we spread before him our necessities or dangers and implore his pity on us Let us inquire and make a diligent search into our hearts whether we have not brought something along with us into his presence which may obstruct the passage of our Prayers to the Throne of Grace and render them ineffectual Which leads me to the third thing III. On their fasting days every man who hoped for acceptance with God was bound to search and try his ways to enter into the very secrets of his Soul and see what he could find there displeasing unto God which might cry louder for Vengeance than his Prayers could do for Mercy For which end their iniquities were declared and set in order before them by the Prophets if there were any and those that instructed them So I we read that Jeremiah sent Baruch in the place before named to read the words of the LORD in the peoples ears on the fasting day And this charge is given to the Prophet Isaiah as you will hear in the first Lesson appointed at Even Prayer LVIII Isa I. Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins When you have considered the Chapter you will find he speaks of the day of the great Fast which was a Sabbath of rest to them on which they were to afflict their souls XVI Levit. 30 31. upon which he was to imitate the Trumpet which had called them together to sound a new Alarm in their ears to rouse them from their security to awaken them to a sight of their sins and move their Hearts to set themselves against them with all their might And of what sins doth he admonish them In the first place he takes notice of their vain pretences to Religion For though they sought God daily and heard the Law and observed the Ordinances of Divine Worship yea took delight in approaching to God as you read v. ◠yet they continued in their open disobedience to the rest of his commands For they were notoriously unjust Nay many miserable Souls proclaimed their unmerciful Dealing and Cruelty Thy were full of Strife and Debate Hatred and Contention And so given over to voluptuousnes that on the very day of their Fast they sound pleasure as well as exacted all their labours v. 3 4. and could not forbear to speak evil one of another when they were all confessing their Sins to God Their hands were defiled with blood and their fingers with iniquity their lips spoke lies and their tongues uttered perverseness c. as you may read in the rest of the Chapter and in that which follows These Sins therefore the Prophet proclaimed in their Ears with a loud voice and told them it was in 〈◊〉 to Fast and Pray while these Iniquities continued and separated between them and their God so that he hid his face from them and would not hear LIX ◠And do not our iniquities in like manner testifie to our faces as another Prophet speaks V. Hos 5. that is Are they not notorious though we should seal up our Lips and say nothing of them Nay search and examine I beseech you whether we be not worse than they Do we seek the Lord daily Dare we affirm this of our selves which the Prophet acknowledges they did Do we delight to know his ways as a Nation that doth righteousness and forsakes not the Ordinances of their God Can we say as he confesses of them that we ask of him the Ordinances of Justice and take delight in approaching unto God Alas alas these I fear are not become National Vertues but too many of us are like that People in Malachi's time who said of the Divine Service What a weariness is it What a burden is such a Day as this to us And what great numbers may we justly fear are now wallowing in their Sins when they should be rather humbling themselves before God in Dust and Ashes But let us suppose better things that we are a People who do not forsake the Ordinances of their God Yet Can we say that our Religion hath made a general Reformation of our Lives How often have we approached unto God and become no like◠to him How many Fasts have we observed and forsaken no one Sin Are we not still as unjust and uncharitable as those that know not God Or Are we not lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God Oh this love of Pleasure How easily doth it bewitch Mens Hearts and draw them from their Duty Idleness and Sports are apt to swallow up the most of their time Besides the Gluttony and Drunkenness the Filthiness and Uncleanness that are wont to attend upon a negligent and careless Life The Quarrels also and Contentions nay the Blood-shed and Murders which they many times commit when they are crossed in their Sinful Pleasures or contradicted in their Drunken Humours And what shall I say of the Oaths and Blasphemies where with such Mens Mouths are too often filled And there is still a worse thing behind which is putting forth of the finger
a go when we were not able to deliver our selves nor deserved to be delivered by him But so it is that our angry fits of discontent because we were not delivered in our own method and after our way have made us not to take sufficient Notice of the Deliverance it self and of that mighty hand of God which as we sing in our daily Hymn which I wish we would mind hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts It is hard to find a greater instance of this any where than here in this Nation where men that had proudly projected the alteration of the whole frame of our Government and of our Religion and in their own opinion had laid their design so strongly that they thought it could not be defeated were scattered and dispersed in a moment and all their towring imaginations confounded and brought to naught This was certainly the LORD's doing which ought to have been marvellous in all our eyes And when it is then He will still work wonderful things for us in righteousness as the Prophet speaks and Crown our deliverance with a Conclusion suteable to its Beginning Besides all this Lastly We must consider that God is not wont to pour out his indignation all at once even upon those whom he intends to destroy But consumes them by degrees Whence that remarkable Phrase very frequent in the Prophets who are said to drop when they were sent to denounce God's Judgments against a People XXI Ezek. 2. Son of man set thy face toward Jerusalem and drop toward the holy places So it is in the Hebrew which to make out the sense we translate drop thy word and Prophesy against the Land of Israel The like you read II. Micah 6. where the People said Prophesy not to them that prophesy In the Hebrew as the Margin of the Bibles tells you it is drop ye not c. Thus Amos speaks also VII 16. Thou sayest prophesy not against Israel and drop not against the house of Isaac Upon which words St. Hierom hath this pertinent Observation This is the Idiom of the Scripture Quod non totam Dei simul inferant iram c. because the Prophets do not denounce the whole anger of God at once but threaten it by little drops So patient is the Goodness of God that he doth not presently suffer his whole displeasure to arise but punishes those by little and little whom he intends to ruin That they may have time to repent and save their Souls though they shall by no means save their Temporal Estate Thus he dealt with all the proud Tyrants of old with those for instance of Niniveh and Babylon And it may give us some account of the Method wherein it 's likely he will proceed against the grand Oppressors of this Age particularly him in these Western parts of the World Whose Humiliation which so many Nations groan for is not to be expected perhaps by a sudden pouring of the Vials of God's Wrath upon him all at once But drop by drop as the Prophets speak Till the time come that the sins of that insolent Nation be ripe And then God no longer proceeds in this leisurely Method but is wont to pour out his Indignation in larger measures to a speedy destruction If you please for a conclusion look into the Prophecy of Nahum Where you will find all this declared more fully and admirably expressed He was sent to denounce utter destruction to the Ninivites who had abused the Patience and Goodness of God in the days of Jonah by returning to those wicked works which for a time they reformed upon his Preaching Therefore this Prophet tells them from the LORD 1. 9. He will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up a second time That is one blow should strike them down and there should be no need of a second to perfect their overthrow But hitherto it had been much otherwise as you may see in the beginning of that Prophecy Which is very remarkable for the account it gives of the way of the Divine Providence in the description he makes of the Divine Nature v. 2. God is Jealous that is he cannot alway endure to behold his Friends oppressed and his Enemies triumph but will in due time take Vengeance as he three times repeats it in the words immediately following to shew the certainty of it God is jealous and the LORD revengeth the LORD revengeth and is furious that is can do it suddenly and easily when he pleases the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath till the time proper for it for his Enemies The LORD is slow to anger i. e. to execute his displeasure and great in power to do it when he thinks good and will not acquit the Wicked i. e. not suffer them to escape though he long forbear them And when he doth come to execute his anger it is in a terrible manner after there hath been long forbearance So it follows The LORD hath his way in the Whirlwind and in the Storm c. the mountains quake at him and the rocks are thrown down by him c. with an overflowing stood will be make an utter end of the place thereof and darkness shall pursue his enemies The Prophet that is could not tell how to represent the dreadful vengeance God took of those who had tired his long suffering Goodness better than by Storms and Hurricans Deluges and Inundations which sweep all before them with such an irresistable violence as is impossible to be opposed So he concludes in the very next words what do ye imagine against the LORD to hinder that is the execution of his wrath and to escape his vengeance Alas all your contrivances to avoid the stroke will prove vain imaginations foolish devices when he designs to ruin you So it follows in the next words which I read at first He will make an utter end and affliction shall not rise up a second time Which he repeats again v. 12. Though I have afflicted thee by various sorts of punishments I will afflict thee no more But this once that is for it shall be a concluding stroke that shall utterly confound thee Thus the Lord did with that Great King as he would needs be called the King of Assyria And thus we may rationally expect he will treat all other haughty Tyrants who assume to themselves the name of Great only because they are so strong as to be able to crush their weaker Neighbours For it still remains true what the next Prophet saith concerning the Chaldaeans who succeeded the Assyrian Tyrants The LORD is of purer eyes then to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity 1. Habakk â—â— that is he cannot approve of the Violence and Cruelty of such Oppressors Who deal treacherously as it there follows and devour the men that are more righteous than themselves For how bad soever the Israelites were in those times the Chaldaeans were much worse And I hope I may say the same of this sinful Nation with respect to our injurious Neighbours Vnto whom the Cup of the LORD 's right hand shall at last be turned and shameful spewing shall be upon their glory II. Habakk 16. Then let them set their cunning wits on work to imagine and devise all the means they can invent to save themselves from drinking of that Cup they shall not be able to turn it away but be so intoxicated with it that they shall Reel and Stagger and Stumble at noon day being unable to see the things that belong to their peace Then shall all the fine Politicks of that subtile Nation quite fail them They shall not be able to serve themselves by any of their wonted Artifices and Illusions but only expose themselves the more to shame and disgrace by trusting to such falshoods and impostures as those whereby they have long amused and deceived many of their Neighbours For there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD XXI Prov. 30. All whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase IV. Dan. ult For he loveth righteousness but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth XI Psal 6 8. And will preserve the faithful and plentifully reward the proud doer XXXI Psal 23. In which humble confidence let me conclude as he there doth v. 24. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the LORD To that great LORD Father Son and Holy Ghost three persons and one God be Glory and Power and Dominion both now and for evermore Amen FINIS
The Bishop of ELY's FAST-SERMON BEFORE THE QUEEN April 8. 1692. A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL April VIII MDCXCII BEING THE FAST-DAY APPOINTED By Her Majesty to implore God's Blessing on their Majesties Persons and the Prosperity of their Arms both at Land and Sea By the Right Reverend Father in God SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY Published by Her Majestie 's Special Command LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCII A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN NUMBERS X. ix And if ye go to war in the Land against the enemy that oppresseth yon then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets and ye shall be remembred before the Lord your God and ye shall be saved from your enemies THE World we see is made up of Vicissitudes and Changes there being a season for every thing a time to every purpose under heaven a time to kill and a time to heal a time of war and a time of peace as Solomon speaks in â—â—â— Eccles 1. c. One of those doth but make way for the other the true use of War being to seek a good Peace and the ill use of Peace being wont to beget a War My Text makes mention of both their going to War being supposed in the beginning and their being saved from their enemies and so setled in Peace being promised in the conclusion of it For it consists of three Parts A Supposition a Duty and the sucoess of its performance 1. The Supposition is double that the Israelites as well as other people might be oppressed by their Enemies and that in this case they might lawfully go to War with them 2. The Duty is single though containing many in it which is to blow an alarm with the trumpets 3. The Success is again double to be remembred before God and to be saved from their enemies I. I shall say little of the first of these which is as true now as it was then Unless all the world would become Christians and those Christians likewise obey the Gospel there will be such Injustice and Oppression Violence and Rapine as will make War necessary for the safety and preservation of those who are innocent In an Ill-natur'd Angry and Covetous World we must not expect that all men will be our Friends and some people love themselves so much that they have no affection left for their Neighbours Nay this very thing makes them hate others because they love themselves so inordinately They cannot be their own Friends they imagine unless they be other mens Enemies Their own well-being consists in making others miserable And they never think themselves to have Riches Honour Dominion and Greatness enough if there remains any of these to their Neighbours Now what greater service can be done to these ravenous Oppressors than to broach such a welcome Doctrine as this that the hands of good Christians are so tyed up by their Religion that they may not oppose their Ambition Rapin and Cruelty by force of Arms nor demand reparations by that way when all other fairer means are ineffectual for all the damages they have sustained and are likely without remedy to endure forever A fancy so absurd that I do not think it worth the Confutation But shall only note that the Israelites extended this liberty of going to War which the Law gave them a great deal too far as Christians since have been apt to do For they did not confine it to their necessary defence or seeking redress of wrongs and the casing themselves of the burden of Oppressors but there being two sorts of War which they managed one by the Divine Commandment which was only against the seven Nations in the Land of Canaan whom God for their abominable wickedness had doomed to utter destruction and made the Israelites the Executioners of his Vengaence the other at their own choice against any other people as occasion should require their Doctors fancied it a sufficient reason for this later sort of War upon their Neighbours merely to advance the Glory and Dominion the Empire and Majesty of Israel as their V. Seld. de Jure Nat. L. V. c. 12. phrase is though they had done them no manner of injury Whic is the very notion by which the Grand Oppressor of this Age governs himself and justifies his Wars But the antient Christian Doctors have taught us better than those old Masters in Israel or the new Christian Politicians Among whom St. Austin fears not to call such a War Grande Latrocinium a greater sort of Robbery L. IV. de Civ Dei Cap. 6. a publick Burglary as I may call it in the language of our Law which is so much the more Villanous because committed by Authority Nay it is an ancient Tradition recorded by Eusebius Epiphanius * In Anâ—oraâ—â— and others who received it from the East that when Noah divided the Earth among his Sons and Nephews he bound them by an Oath not to Covet nor invade each others Territories and whosoever transgressed the Law of this Oath was solemnly cursed by the very words of it with all his Posterity to utter Perdition These were the old principles of Religion unto which blessed be God their present Majesties closely adhere that Wars are not to be undertaken but for the defence or the necovery of our rights II. In which case there was a duty incumbent upon the old Israelites before they began the War which shall be the Principal Subject of my Discourse together with the Success or Fruit of it when Religiously performed It was to blow an alarm with the trumpets which is the only phrase in my Text that hath any difficulty in it and must be explained a little before any useful Instruction can be drawn from it You read in the beginning of this Chapter that God commanded two Silver Trumpets to be made which served for two uses for the calling together of the Assembly and for the journeying of the Camps as the words are v. â— When they did merely blow with them that is with a long continued equal breath then they were to understand that the Assembly was summoned to meet together In which there was this difference that if they heard them both blow then all the Congregation was to assemble if one only then the Heads or Captains alone of the thousands of Israel were to gather themselves to Moses at the door of the Tabernaele as you read v. 3 4. If they did not merely blow but blow an alarm that is with a short concife and interrupted breath not continuing the sound but often breaking it then it was for the journeying of the Camps as you read v. 5 6. So here was a Civil and a Military use of them Besides which there was also a Religious Which was twofold likewise either to give notice of a Fast or to give notice of a Feast to call them together to pray and humble themselves before God or
to excite them to rejoyce in his praise and giving him thanks Of their sounding for a Fast you read II. Joel 15. Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctific a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people c. And in the like terms the Psalmist proclaims a Festival LXXXI Ps 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast day For this was a statute for Israel c. The like you read XCVIII Ps 6. And thus my Text and the following words are to be understood if we will follow the interpretation of the best of the Hebrews who vouch it to be the sense of the Eldest times For if blowing the trumpets here were not for a Religions purpose how could the effect of it be God's remembring them so as to save them from their Eemies Could the bare sounding with them procure such a blessing Without doubt there was something more in it to which God makes such a gracious promise And therefore though Moses speaks here of blowing an alarm because it concern'd the Souldiery yet the Hebrews understand thereby the calling all together unto a Fast that they might humble themselves before God and seek his face i. e. his favour when they were forced to betake themselves to their Arms and appeal to Heaven for the deciding by this means the controversie between them and their Enemies And then in the beginning of the next verse when he adds in the day of your gladness ye shall blow with the Trumpets some of them understand that Clause of their thanksgiving to God for Victory over their Enemies Which was as reasonable as their sounding upon their other solemn days and in the beginning of their months and over their burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of their peace-offerings which are there likewise mentioned As they were to blow with the trumpets proclaim a Fast that is when they went to War So they were to blow with them again when the War was happily ended that is proclaim their thankfulness to God for giving them such success as they desired This exposition I shall follow which makes these words you see an injunction to the Israelites for solemn fasting before they took in hand so weighty an Affair as making War upon their Enemies For which end we are now here assembled and I pray God we may perform this duty according to the full intent and meaning of this Injunction For then we may hope God will remember us in the day of Battle and Crown our Arms with such success against our injurious Neighbours as he promised to the Israelites against their Enemies Now by solemn fasting you all know is meant the setting some day a part for this purpose which was always of two sorts One private which pious people enjoyned themselves of their own accord with respect either 2 â—am 12. 16. IX Dan. 3. to their own particular or to the common concerns of both which we have examples in Scripture The other was Publick enjoyned by the supreme Authority and those either stated and ordinary at certain times of the year of which we find only one enjoyned by God in XVI Lev. but four more enjoyned by the Elders during their Captivity in Babylon VIII Zech. 19. or extraordinary and unfixed in time of some imminent danger or great distress of which we have many examples Tertul. de Jesuiâ— not only in Scripture but also in Ecclesiastical Story XX. Judg. 26. 2 Chron. XX. 3. VIII Ezra Of such a Publick Fast and of this latter sort my Text speaks For the blowing with the trumpets signified the calling all the people together as appears by the place before named in the Prophet Joel V. 16. Gather the people sanctifie the congregation assemble the elders gather the children and those that suck the breasts c. All were to appear before God to Implore his Compassion by their Cryes and Tears I say before God because they were to be gathered together at the Tabernacle while it was standing and afterwards at the Temple Which is the reason of that expression XXXVI Jerem. 9. Proclaim a fast before the Lord to all the people of Jerusalem That is at the Temple where his Majesty dwelt and where they came together for Religious Worship And accordingly he bids Baruch v. 6. to go and read the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the Lords house upon the fasting day After which example we are all here now assembled before the Lord in the place of his Worship and Service And that we may understand what our business is I shall as briefly as I can shew you First what the Scripture means by fasting before the Lord and consequently what will obtain his Blessing upon our Forces Secondly how fit and necessary it is at such a time as this to imploy our selves in this holy duty I. Now the word Fasting in its ordinary signification imports no more than abstinence from all sorts of Food for such a time as was appointed to that purpose But being designed for a religious end they used it no doubt as a Token and a sort of Confession that they were not worthy of the common supports and comforts of life not so much as of a bit of Bread and consequently not worthy to live They intended also thereby to afflict their Soul as the Scripture speaks to put themselves if not to trouble and pain yet into a state of Sadness and Mourning as a just chastisement for their sinful pleasures For which reason the Jews understand by solemn fasting a great deal more than it literally expresses viz. not only abstinence from all manner of refreshment by so much as washing their Faces or any thing of that Nature but putting on sackcloath next their Skin on some great occasions especially lying in Ashes rending their Garments and such like acts of Humiliation But we shall be very much mistaken if we think this was the whole business of a fasting day to deny themselves the comforts and refreshments of Nature There was something more and more excellent in it and that which was properly the worship of God which were abstinence from food is not And therefore II. The intention of such a day was to make solemn addresses to the Almighty by Prayer and Supplication which is frequently joyned with fasting and when any blessing was obtained never separated from it I could direct you to a multitude of places both in the Old Testament and the New and the Apocryphal Books * XII Tobit 4. IV. Judith 9. 10. c. VI. Judith 21. also to this purpose but a few may suffice In the Chapter now read for the first Lesson 2 Chron. XX. 3. you find that when news was brought to Jehosephat of an invasion by a great multitude of several Nations He feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah This was so much the business of such a day that
not death it self The righteous says Solomon are as bold as a Lyon XXVIII Prov. 1. they can look dangers undauntedly in the Face Whereas all the natural courage and boldness which abundance of natural spirits in a vigorous constitution of Body and Health may indue some men withall will grow faint and languish whensoever the terrors of an evil Conscience seize upon them and their guilt starts up and stares them in the face If a wicked man chance to reflect upon this one thing alone that he is issued forth into the field of danger without God more confident in his own strength than in the Power of the Almighty whom he doth not seriously acknowledge nor study to ingage it will amaze his spirit and quench his courage This will daunt him more than all the Enemies in the World and strike a greater terror into him than the noise of Cannon and the shrieks and groans of dying men And what man on Earth is there so resolute and confident so high spirited and a despiser of danger as to be able to secure himself from these invisible strokes of Heaven which will trouble and confound him and baffle him in all his enterprizes It is necessary then to make a man a throughly good Souldier that he have first conquer'd himself He that would fear nothing must in the first place fear God Unto which if we would all apply our selves with due seriousness we should have reason to expect that God would remember us as my Text speaks that is own us for his Friends and save us from our enemies Which he can do either by overcoming them or by overcoming their Enmity and making them Friends which is the best way of all For When a mans ways please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him XVI Prov. 7. III. This is the last part of my Text of which let me beg your patience while I give a short account It is possible indeed that success may wait upon the wicked but as they cannot reasonably hope for it so they will be in fear and dread whensoever they reflect upon their wickedness that at last they shall miscarry Whereas truly good men can never fail to have a good hope in God that whatsoever success they meet withal at present he will not abandon them utterly but turn even Crosses to their future advantage And who so happy as he that lives not in suspence and doubt about the final issue of things but can commit himself to God and to his wise Providence with an assured confidence that it shall go well with him at the last though his Faith and Patience be exercised a while with dubious or with adverse events It is the Observation of Isocrates * In Aâ—chidaâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in several places of his Orations and he lived almost to an hundred years of age and so could the better take notice of the carriage of things in his own Country that the conclusion of all the Wars in Greece were not according to the strength of their Forces but also according to the justice of their Cause For though there were different successes in the intermediate Acts which made some men doubt which side was in the right yet the Catastrophe as they speak the Conclusion of those tragical Commotions declared the righteous Cause Victorious and they who were unjustly oppressed were vindicated into their ancient liberties But however that be there is no greater truth than what was said by Cassius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing gives a man such Apud Aâ—ppian hope in War as to have right on his side God and my right is the best inscription that ever was in any Escutcheon and the greatest support of a Christian Prince But of all the stories you ever read or heard of there is none like that which reports the confidence and assured hope of Jehoshaphat King of Judah in the first Lesson this day which I have often mentioned Where after he had proclaimed a Fast and made a most admirable Prayer to God in which he briefly sets forth these two things his trust in God and the justice of his cause he was so mightily incouraged that he ordained the people to go singing when they went to fight with their numerous enemies A marvellous confidence in God's Power and Goodness which inspired them with such hope of success that they sung their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or song of triumph beforehand as you read 2 Chron. XX. 21. When he had consulted the people he appointed singers unto the LORD that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army saying Praise the LORD for his mercy endureth for ever They had a Prophet indeed who came and assured them of Victory but they who had none have done the same and it 's probable from this example For Cedrenus tells us that the ancient Christians used to sing in their Battles as if they would praise God for assured success before the Victory was obtained This was the issue of a pious Fast in those old times and we might see the same again did we not merely forsake our food on this day but likewise our sins If we would not only humble our selves before God to day but alway walk humbly with him I might with some confidence use the words of the Prophet in that place v. 17. and say Stand ye still and see the salvation of the LORD fear not nor be dismayed for the LORD will be with you He will certainly remember us and we shall be saved from the hands of all that hate us Not so speedily perhaps as we may desire but as soon as we are fit for the mercies he intends to bestow upon us and with such speed as is consistent with the wonted methods of his most wise proceedings We expected I remember to have seen Ireland reduced that year his Majesty went over thither and thought it very hard that after so much expence we did not see our enemies elsewhere humbled the last year But were we a much better people than I can suppose we are God might justly deferr the accomplishment of such hopes and yet be as good as his word here in my Text and in other places First That he may keep us in a continued dependance upon him and quicken us to pray with all prayer watching thereunto with perseverance and patiently waiting till he have mercy upon us Secondly That he may work in us a through Repentance Which alas is very imperfect and therefore so is our Deliverance Let us compleat the one and God will finish the other But while our Repentance remains so defective it is rather a wonder that God hath done so much than that he he hath done no more for us Particularly Thirdly God may justly defer to do all that I hope he intends till we become more sensible of what he hath done already He wrought a mighty deliverance for us not long