the spirit of God the Interpreter of al Gods works and Gods Word Ioel 2 28. poured out in greater abundance to expound his riddles Again did Israel sin against greater love then other Nations and doth not England sin against greater love then Israel Love exceeding Israels love Surely there be two kinds of love which Israel had not at lest not in such a revelation of them as we have And they are 1. Gods Christ-giving-love 2. His glory his Heaven-giving-love Alas Christ and Heaven were but obscure notions dark riddles among them hardly understood of one of ten thousand among them unless it were their Heroes the Patriarchs and Prophets and yet even of them says our Lord Iesus He that is least in the Kingdom of heaven i. e. in the Gospel Mat. 11 11. is greater then He that was greater then the greatest of them then John the Baptist sc in regard of the full and cleer discovery of Christ and glory Alas an earthly Canaan and a temporal Messiah one that should king it over them in terrene state and greatness was the top of their ambition witness the very Disciples themselves Acts 1.6 even when Christ was ascending to take possession of his heavenly Kingdom As for a saviour of souls and a Kingdom of eternal glory these were things which few of them could hardly spell out but clearly and with open face revealed to us in the Gospel Life and immortality are brought to light in the Gospel 2 Tim 1 10. Englands danger for her adulteries And to be guilty of all these treacherous departures from God and Christ under such a glorious revelation of Light and Love what may we expect But even that the jealousie of the Lord should break forth like a devouring fire and I pray God it be not already kindled which shal burn down to the very foundations of the Land Even 1. A stripping-jealousie that shal strip us not only of our corn and wine but of Word and Sacraments even of all our Gospel-ordinances and turn our garden of Eden into a desolate wilderness 2. His withdrawing-jealousie that God shal say of England as once of Israel Ier. 12.7 I have forsaken mine house I have left mine heritage I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies 3. His divorcing-discovenanting-jealousie that God should call England as once he did Israel Lo-ammi and Loruhamah and cast us out of his house and out of his presence for ever 1 Thes 2 16. You see the wrath which he threatned upon Israel and Judah he hath poured it out to the uttermost What he spake with his mouth he hath fulfilled it with his hand as at this day But let me tel you this when ever the Lord shal enter into controversie with England for her whoredoms the furnace will be heated seven times hotter then it was for Israel the judgment wil be much more intolerable on us then it was on them By how much our light and our love hath been more transcendent then Israels by so much wil our condemnation be greater Oh for an England a people that have been clothed with scarlet and adorned with jewels to be strip'd naked as in the day wherein she was born For a people that have known the joyful sound and have walked in the light of Gods countenance all the day along that have sate as it were in the bosome and embraces of the Lord Iesus for God now to be a stranger in their land and as a way-faring man that turns in but for a night For a people that have sat at the top of heaven in Gospel-vision to be cast down to hell into a kind of utter darkness For a people that have been in the bed of divine loves feasted at Gods table sate as a Queen in the Pallaces of Ivory to come to be divorc'd kickt out of doors and a Cains mark as it were set upon them to wander up and down to be a shame and a Curse and a Proverb among the Nations as it is with Israel at this day The tongue of man is not able to express the heart of man is not able to conceive the misery and anguish of such a condition Prognosticks of dicovenanting wrath Gentiles and Pagans are not capable of such a judgment as this is Truly there be many sad fore-runners and Prognosticks of this approaching jealousie amongst us scil 1. Taking off of our wheels Exo 14 24 25 1. God begins to trouble us our wheels seem to be taken off we drive heavily In all our motions we drive heavily and ye know when it was so with the Aegyptians wrath was neer 2. Contempt 2. God hath poured out contempt upon us the Lord make us sensible of it unspeakable contempt upon the Parliament Contempt upon the faithful Ministry of the Land Contempt upon the City Contempt upon the whole Kingdom England once not only a terrour among the Nations but the glory of all the Churches now the shame of Christendom and the scorn of al the world Ier 2 16. It was one of the fore runners of old Israels rejection and divorce 3. A Spirit of division and confusion let loose upon as Councels divided 3. Division Divide impera An hous divided cannot stand and Ministers divided City divided and Kingdom divided not one limb hardly hanging to another the envious man hath done this through the wrath of the Lord the Jesuit and the Divel have almost attained their design so that without infinit mercy we are like water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again we are broken all to pieces 4. All the four great plagues and judgments threaten us 4. Gods four sore judgments Ezek 14 21. sword plague famine and euil beasts 5. Yea that which is a thousand times worse God seene to be departed from the ordinances the conuerting presence of God is gon from the word It was the sad emblem and symptom of Gods departure from Israel 5 God departed from the ordinances Ezek 10 4. Chap 11 23. Ezek. 10.4 The glory of God fil'd the house but God was upon the threshold And the next news we heare of him he was upon the Mountains It is sad and ominous when God begins to recede by degrees from a people or person 6. The power of godlines is departed from the generality of professors 6. The power of godliness is gone Alas that savour sweetness that life and activity which was wont to be in the people of God and in their Christian meetings wherein they did admonish and comfort and exhort and strengthen one another in the Lord their God comparing their evidences and communicating their experiences praying with and praying for one another alas where are these things to be found is not this a sad fore-boding of Gods jealousy 7. Spiritual plagues 7. And then in the last place Spiritual plagues begin to succeed and overtake
him commit adultery against him 3. Sometimes it comes to pass that Gods Israel whilst she lieth under the guilt of whorish departure from her God in stead of being affected with and afflicted for her whoredom in stead of mourning and judging her self before the Lord doth securely and sinfully let out her heart to carnal comfort and rejoycing 4. An Israel under adulterous departures from God hath least cause to rejoyce and more cause to mourn and lament then any nation or people under heaven In these 4 Doctrinal Observations you have the sence and soul of this Scripture I begin with the first intending but a brief transition through the 3 former that I might sit down and enlarge my self upon the fourth and last I begin with the first Doct. 1 A Nation or Kingdom in external Covenant with God stands in a conjugal relation unto God Thy God There you have the Covenant so it runs I wil establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee c. To what end To be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Gen. 17 7. And so again v. 8. I wil be their God Where ever the Scripture saies thy God it implyes a Covenant Fallen man having lost his God can never come to say my God again but it must be by vertue of a Covenant Thou hast gone a whoring that implyes as I have shewed you the conjugal relation unto God Wheredom being the sin of wedlock the violation of the sacred bonds of marriage Into this neer relation doth God take a nation or people when he brings them into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 So run the words of the Covenant I wil betroth thee unto me for ever I wil betroth thee unto me in righteousness I wil betroth thee unto me in faithfulness Desponsabo Hos 2 19 20. They are I say the words of the Covenant which God speaks not only to * Rom. 9.26 old Israel when the vail shal be taken away from their hearts but to the Gospel-Israel also even to whatsoever nation or people God shal say * Hosea 2.23 Thou art my people and they shal answer thou art my God Witness the Apostle S. Peter who in his first Epistle 2. Chap. 9.10 verses applyes it to the Gentiles as wel as the Jews * 1 Pet. 2 9 10 But ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marveilous light Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy Speaking to the * Chap 1 1. strangers i. e. strangers by nature though not by grace by generation not being of Abrahams seed though not strangers by regeneration being of Abrahams faith for so it follows Scattered through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bythinia I But there is no more national Churches since Abrahams seed ceased to be a Church Say some Object There is not indeed a national Church in that sence that Israel was a national Church And truly if this were but wel observed Answ it would cut off a great deal of needless Controversie whereof comes nothing but strife and contention I say there is not a national Church as Israel was a national Church that is to say 1. Quà such a mans seed they were a Church as coming out of Abrahams loynes for if there were any Prosolites among them they were reckoned unto Abraham for a seed So we know no national Church in the times of the Gospel 2. Nor which follows upon the former quà such a nation Israel was a Church quà Israel England is not a Church quà England nor Scotland quà Scotland c. 3. Nor thirdly do we assert or know a national Church exclusive as Israel was Israel was a Church so that there was none else in all the world besides In Iudah was God Known Psa 76.1 2. his name was great in Israel In Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion i.e. So as he had no dwelling place else it is by way of exclusion to all the world besides Thus I say and in this sence we own no National Church under the Gospel But now take a Nation or people as in external Covenant with God h.e. 1. As God offering to them his Covenant of life and gráce by Iesus Christ revealed in the Doctrine of the Gospel and ratified by the Seals thereof affixed 2. And secondly such a Nation or people as generally accepting of and closing with this Covenant thus revealed and Sealed and professing faith in and obedience to this Covenant thus offered And this offer on Gods part and acceptance on theirs makes them a National Church in a Gospel-sence yea notwithstanding ye should suppose all in that Nation do not profess it and but very few do savingly embrace and beleeve it For what if some do not beleeve shal their unbeleife make the faith of God i.e. * Fidei nomen hic propria et omnibus scriptoribus usitata significatione accipitur pro dictorum conventorumque constantia et veritate Beza in loc The Doctrine of faith or of the Covenant without effect It is the Apostles argument in a like dispute it is general Reformation not personal saving conversion which makes a National Church Rom. 3.3 If any man shal demand of me to shew a National Church in the N.T. 1. Though I might as wel demand of him to shew me such a thing as a Nation in Adams family we cannot shew things til time bring them forth 2. Yet whosoever wil impartially consult these Scriptures * Psa 22.27 All the ends of the world shal remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shal worship before thee * Is 19 24 25 In that day shal Israel be the third with Aegypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the land Whom the Lord of hosts shal bless saying Blessed be Aegypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance * Isa 52.15 So shal he sprinkle many nations c. * Isa 55,5 Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not and nations that knew not thee shal run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy one of Israel for he hath glorified thee Rev. 11.15 And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voyces in heaven saying The kingdomes of this world are become the kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ and he shal raign for ever and ever and the like may find such a thing as a national Church in the Prophesy And if the history of the Gospel reach not far enough to shew the accomplishment surely the progress of the Gospel doth 3. In the mean time as it is no
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Apology or excuse Rom 1 20 how much more wil that knowledg of God held forth so distinctly and fully in the Church leave Israel without a word to speak for it self in the day of her Apostacy and revoltings from the Lord her God 2. Israel hath more knowledg of Gods wil His wil Rom 12 2 Israel knows or may know what that good and acceptable and perfect wil of God is Israel is the servant that knows his masters wil if he do it not this aggravates deeply 3. Israel knows more of the evil of sin The evil of sin Rom 3 20. Rom 7. by the law is the knowledg of sin yea the law makes sin appear exceeding sinful the Gentiles scarce know what sin is but in some very obscure and confused notions and yet sin is sin in them surely where it appears exceeding sinful there it must needs be exceeding sin 4. Israel knows more of Gods hatred of sin Gods hatred of sin Ier 44 4. how much his soul loaths it oh do not this abominable thing saith God to Israel which I hate And therefore if Idolatry be a sin in the Gentiles who think it to be a worship which God loves what is it in Israel to whom God hath expresly sayd my soul hates it If any man draw back draw back from my truths draw back from my worship draw back from my Commands c. my soul shal have no pleasure in him Heb. 10 38. Now Israel to the attaining of this knowledg of God hath a three-fold advantage Israel hath the book of the Word Psal 19 1. Verse 7 Ps 147 19 20 Psal 19 7 8. 1. Whereas other nations have but what knowledg the book of * works can dictate to them Israel hath the book of the * word He sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and judgments unto Israel And the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Commandement of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes The word doth not only give light but gives eyes too He hath not dealt so with any nation And if God hath not dealt so with any nation as with his Israel in dispensing light then can no nation deal so with God as Israel in sining against it 2. A second advantage that Israel hath above nations to know God is his works his works of special Providence The book of special Providence In Iudah is God known c. how by what mediums Why there brake he the arrows of the how the sheild the sword and the battel All the power Psal 76 3. and artillery of the enemys that came against his Church though upon mighty advantage There is more of God manifested in the goings forth of his power and wisdom for the preservation of his Church and the ruin and destruction of the enemys thereof then in all the world besides So that in reference to this the Psalmist sings Psal 31 19. oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men what goodness why his preserving goodness to his Church and people Verse 20. thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion c. Oh the ways of God in preserving and hiding his Church from the pride and power of men are secret mysterious ways which the world cannot discover 3. And then the third and last Advantage is The Spirit as an Interpreter Israel hath an Interpreter greater then one of a thousand to expound both these books unto her even the Spirit of God which the world knows not We have received 1 Cor 2 12. not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit that is of God that we may know the things that are freely given unto us of God And again eye hath not seen c. i.e. the natural eye Verse 9 10. the natural eare c. But God hath revealed them to us by the Spirit Indeed the word expounds the works and the works of God do interpret the word it is a fine skil to make works and word face one another and answer over one to another but this cannot be done without an Interpreter that is a secretioribus dei Gods privy-Counceller and that is the Spirit which the world knoweth not and receiveth not and therefore is both the book of the word some fragments whereof the Gentiles light upon sometimes and the book of the works a sealed book which they cannot open or not read if they could open Now therefore the Church and people of God having this three-fold advantage to a more cleer and ful discovery of God and his wil of sin and his hatred thereof then all the world besides Israels sin hath hereby an aggravation upon it of which theirs is uncapable an aggravation of light If ye were blind ye should have no sin Iohn 9.41 no sin Comparative but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth i.e. it remaineth inexcusable it remains aggravated And this is the first aggravation The second aggravation that Israels sin is Capable of is An aggravation of love a manifold love First Israel sins against Gods distinguishing his separating love Members of the Visible Church they sin against that love of God which distinguish'd them from the rest of the * Deut. 32 7 8 world members of the invisible Church they sin against that love which distinguish'd them from the rest of the Church his electing-love his Adopting-love his effectually-calling-love Oh this must needs go deep in sin You only have I known of all the families of the earth Amos 3 2. i. e. Known with a Conjugal distinguishing knowledg I have known you of all the families of the earth to distinguish you from all the families of the earth this makes their sin become exceeding sinful it is the other branch of the Apostles argument Gal 4 9. or rather are known of God Know God there is their light known of God there is Gods love his distinguishing love sins against distinguishing love are distinguishing sins 2. Israel sins against his correcting love which is allways managed with the wisedom and moderation of a father In measure c. And for profit Isa 27 8. Heb 12 10. that we might be partakers of his holyness The thought of sinning against this love melts down holy Ezra to the very bottom And after all this is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass Ezra 9 13 14 seeing thou our God hast punish't us less then our iniquities deserve should we again break thy Commandements c. And so it should do with every ingenuous heart 3. Israel sins against Gods repenting-love Psa 106.45 He remembred for them his Covenant and repented c. Amos 7.3 6. The Lord
is not only a degree to it but a spice of it In all the bed-roll of sins there is none found vile enough to make a shadow or representation of departing from God but this sin of whoredom the fittest emblem for that purpose in as much as it is a base and treacherous apostacy from the marriage-bed and the Covenant of God for so is the adulteress described Prov 2 17. She forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the Covenant of God Oh that as God hath set such a brand of abomination in the forehead of this sin this peccatum non nominandum this sin that should not be so much as named among Christians i. e. with complacency or delight Ephes 5 3 there should not be so much as word-obscenity among Christians I say oh that as God hath set his brand upon it so Authority would set their brand upon it too and make it as odious and formidable in the punishment as it is and should be to us in its own nature When the government was immediately in Gods hands he punish't it with death and why it should not be so in our polity I know not I am confident that law as it hath been often propounded so it had been long since established in this Kingdom had not guilt and love of that abominable filthiness stood in the way But 2. Hence we have to confute that lewd opinion that the Saints according to the new stile which all new opinions do write need not mourn for sin need not be humbled for nor troubled with any sin if at lest they can sin which is improved to that height that conferring of sin and mourning for sin is the greatest sin a Saint can be guilty of When alas the Spirit of God tels us here that no people in the world have so much cause to mourn and lament for sin as they have and you have seen the Doctrine made good by Scripture grounds and demonstrations As for those that can wipe off all this with the jeer and blasphemy of an old Testament Spirit I dare be bold to say and fear not the breach of charity in it let them be who they wil whether Teachers or Taught Doctors or Disciples they be of the number of the Apostles Separatists Iude 18. mockers walking after their own lusts sensual having not the Spirit they have not the Spirit neither old-Testament-Spirit nor new-Testament-Spirit for it was but one and the same Spirit of God that dictated both Testaments to the pen-men thereof all Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given by inspiration 2 Tim 3 16 the breathing of God even the old as wel as the new For Prophesie came not of old time by the wil of man but holy men of God spake as they were inspired by the holy Ghost As for them that can wipe out an whole Testament of divine truth 2 Pet 1 21 with a wet finger without which the other may wel suffer a deleatur also the punishment of their blasphemy is Prophesied before hand without repentance God shal blot out their name out of the book of life Rev 22 19 I should talk more with these men who thus boldly and blasphemously deny humiliation for sin but that it would keep us too long from the work it self which is the work of the day and the Third Vse An use for humiliation 3. Vse Hunuliation Have not the Prophets of England as much cause to cry in the eares not of this Congregation only Englands Whoredoms 1. All sin and the improvements thereof whoredom drunkenness swearing Sabbath prophanation but of the whole nation Rejoyce not oh England for joy as other people for thou hast gon a whoring from thy God Surely they have witness first not only the continuance but the monstrous improvement of all manner of sin among us whoredom and drunkeness and swearing and Sabbath breaking and all kinds of prophaness is broken in upon us like another deluge and a worse deluge then that of water for better it is a thousand times better to see a people lie drown'd in waters then to see a people lie drown'd in sin yea better to see a people lie weltring in their blood then to behold them lie wallowing in their lusts Did the pride of Israel testifie to his face and doth not the pride of England testifie to its face Pride of Men Surely it testifies to the faces of men in that gallantry and bravery sumptuousness and gaudiness of apparrel that scurrility of hair I may truly call it loftiness and wantonness of gesture and that in these sad times of Jacob-troubles that England never equall'd in her most peaceable and prosperous days I say it testifies to the faces of men Women And it testifies in the faces of our women the Gentry and Ladies of our times I cannot say they are Black-Mores or Ethiopians Ier 13 23. for they can change their skins they can change their skins by painting but I may justifiably cal them Leopards for they wil not change their Spotts Spotted beasts they are and are not afrayd to come with their Spotts into the Congregations of God yea to bring them to these days of solemn humiliation wherein they should rather come Sprinckled with ashes and girded with Sackcloth Surely as an ancient Divine was wont to say they cannot expect that God should know them they do so un-make themselves from what he made them and if God shal say to them hereafter depart from me I know ye not these are not the faces which I made they are undone for ever Interim God may in a just judgment smite them with a Spot that cannot indeed be changed or healed with all the art of the Physitian and rend their faces and skins with an incureable scab as they now rend their faces with painting It is threatned by a God able to make his Word good for this sin of pride Isa 3.17 Therefore the Lord wil smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret parts And what shal we say for other sins doth not robbery and oppression cruelty and injustice cry in the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Iames 5 4. Surely there is such an increase of all manner of sin and prophaness as if the windows of hell were opened and the flood-gates of the bottomless pit were pull'd up hell it self broke loose But alas if we look upon those sins which more properly and peculiarly are branded in the shoulder with the mark of whoredom How may we take up the Prophet Isaiah's lamentation and wonder How is the faithful City the faithful Kingdom become an harlot Isa 1.21 She that was accounted the chastest among the Churches for fidelity to the worship and doctrine of the Lord Jesus how is she degenerated into an Adulteress For 1. is there not Idolatry found among us Ye have pul'd down Idols
in the Churches Idolatry and ye have done wel but oh Idols are multiplyed in the Land every mans opinion is become his idol which he adores and worships with highest veneration we have cause to be humbled for our old Popery and our old Popish Ceremonies You our Honourable Senators told us so once in an Ordinance of Parliament and ye did wel but Popery was but one way of false worship There be a generation of men in the Land that stand up for all kinds of false worship that every man may worship God after his own conscience or if they wil not own it in words at length they wil have it in figures And if they may not are ready not only to cry but to act persecution and that to purpose for while they cry persecution gladio oris they are ready to act persecution ore gladij I pray God it may never be English'd In the second place Is there any thing refused and opposed so much as Reformation Opposing of Reformation Oh that Popery were so much oppos'd as Reformation Oh that Blasphemies were so much oppos'd as Reformation Oh that Antichristianism and Atheism were so much oppos'd as Reformation Happy we then Would ye know when all these abominations are broke out in England Oh it is in a time of Reformation In a time of the breaking out of Gospel-light and liberty such as the world never saw since it was Christian In a time when we had sworn our selves to God by Covenant to extirpate Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaness and whatsoever shal be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness Alas we run in such a contrary motion that a man might almost think there was a word in the Covenant mis-printed and the next errata should bid the Reader read establish in stead of extirpate Oh! God may say of us when I would have healed England then the iniquity thereof was discovered England was never so bad as in a time of a Reformation Witness thirdly Heresies the numerous and numberless increase of errors and heterodox opinions even to blasphemy among us Heresies even â—o blasphemie The world once wondered to see it self turn'd Arrian England may wonder to see it self turn'd Anabaptist Antinomian Arminian Socinian Arrian Anti-trinitarian Anti-scripturist what not Alas what were Ceremonies to these things but as Calvin once call'd them tollerabiles ineptia childrens sport in comparison how much less an evil was it think ye to bow at the Name of Jesus then to deny to blaspheme the Name of Jesus 2 Pet. 2.1 If any man shal demand a proof of these things I shal say nothing else but this that is to be feared that man himself is a proof Hereticorum est omnia dubitare Arnobius It is the trick of Hereticks to beleeve nothing no not that there is such a thing as Heresie Oh England Is this of thy whoredoms a smal thing that thou should'st sell the pretious truths of Jesus Christ so cheap which our fathers and we our selves yea the Lord Jesus Christ bought so dear even at the price of blood As for covetousness and worldliness Coveteousness alas it is death to consider after a little suspension of trading and straitning of our estates a little blood-let in our superfluous abundance whereby God would have taught us that lesson that riches have wings and fly away Prov. 23.5 and thereby would have weaned our hearts from the world and have winged our affections for an higher flight even the pursuit of more excellent treasures the things above I say it is death to see and consider on the contrary how people do with the Israelites after they had fasted an whole day fly upon the spoil and eat with the very blood running about their lips the blood of the widdow the fatherless and oppressed What feathering of nests what heaping of preferments and places What scraping for the world as if the dust thereof would not serve every man for an handful What enriching of menselves upon the poverty of the Kingdom What building as of old houses with blood and raising of families with oppression And can all this go without creature-trust and carnal confidence Carnal confidence Wo unto us for surely we make flesh our arm and our heart is departed from the living God we have made any thing our God but God Alas Fathers and Brethren my spirit doth fail me in relating these things Did I ever think I should have had occasion to have made such sad complaints in England of England Who could have beleeved that England could so soon have made an Apostacy from her God! Who could have beleeved that England could have so soon forgotten her Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ Especially having so lately re-espoused her self unto him by Solemn Covenant Jer. 2.12 13. Be astonished O ye heavens at this Jer. 2.12 13. and be ye horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord For England Gods people the spouse of Iesus Christ hath committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living water and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water Vers 10. Vers 10. Pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be such a thing So may I say go over to Spain and France and Rome Yea pass ye over to Constantinople and Aegypt c. Have any of these Nations changed their religion which was no religion and forsaken their gods which were no gods But England hath changed her glory for that which doth not profit These are some of the whoredoms that are found in England but what are the aggravations Aggravations of Englands Whordomes Are Israels whoredoms ours and are not Israels aggravations ours too Yes Israels aggravations are aggravated among us Did Israel sin against more light then the Nations England sins against more light then Israel Light exceeding Israels light Gospel-light doth as much exceed that of the Law as the light of the Sun doth the light of the Moon as the light of seven days exceeds the light of one They saw in types and vails and curtains Isa 30.26 2 Cor. 3.13 Heb. 10.1 2 Cor. 3 18. so that they could not see things for shadows We see with open face the glory of the Lord. It is eminently observable look with what expressions the Apostle doth commend and celebrate the vision of glory above the vision of the Gospel 1 Cor. 13.12 In the very same language doth he commend the vision of the Gospel above the vision of the Law in this 2 Cor. 3.18 Doth not this aggravate their aggravation of light I am sure above all this we have one book which they had not the Book of the Revelations wherein specially the whoredoms and plagues of the Antichristian state are clearly discovered that so Gods people might come out of her Rev. 18.4
temporal judgments Unbeleif hardness of heart contempt of the word and ordinances mocking of the messengers of God c. When so it was in Israel the text tels us there was no remedy a Spirit of delusions to beleeve lies and that which is the perfection of all 2 Chron 36 16 2 Thes 2 10 a Spirit of slumber a deep sleep of security doth possess us who is there that fears and trembles who is there that takes notice of these things to lay them to heart the whole nation is a sleep with the kingdom on sire about their eares Wel Honorable Is 42 1. and Beloved Christians this is our estate I may say to you as Iosiah did once to Isaiah Enquire of the Lord for us for great is the wrath of the Lord that is gon out against us What is to be done 1. Why rejoyce not O England i. e. Weep and mourn it is the work we are about this day O that we would do it to purpose O that this day we could do as Israel did 1 Sam 7 6. draw water and powre it out before the Lord. O that we could make the place where we are a Bachim And oh that the Lord would powre out upon us a Spirit of grace and supplication that we might look upon him whom we have pierced and mourn for him as one mourneth for his only sonne Zech 12 10 and be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born We have trflied with God in these days of publick Humiliation so that we may fear he takes them us more with good wil at our hands Mal 2 13 Truly we may fear lest our solemn humiliations be not become solemn provocations and our very prayers turned into sin Our fasts have not bin altogether so good as Israels bulrush humiliations Isa 58.5 We are impatient of bowing down our heads for a day O let us cry mightily to God and with Iacob-like importunity resolve not to let him go til be bless us 2. Yea secondly let us mourn in secret as Ieremiah did I sate not in the assembly of the mockers nor rejoyced I sate alone because of thy hand for thou hast filledme with indignation O that God would teach us to make good that Prophesy surely it hath an eye to Gospel-times Zech. 12.11 12 13 14. In that day shal there be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon And the land shal mourn every family apart the family of the house of David apart and their wives apart the family of of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apars The family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart the family of Shimei apart and their wives apart All the families that remain every family apart and their wives apart The family of the house of David i. e. the royal family the house of the Prince The family of the house of Nathan i. e. the Prophets families The family of the house of Levi i. e. the Preists families the family of the house of Shimei i. e. the families of private men in their several callings O that God would indeed poure out from on high such a Spirit upon England that the King and Queen might humble themselves sit down Ier 13 18. and lie in the dust before the Lord that the Princes and Nobles Magistrates and Ministers with the whole people of the land from the highest to the lowest would humble themselves greatly before the Lord and cry mightily to him every family apart and their wives apart who knows whether the Lord might not repent of the fiereness of his wrath Ioel 2 14. and return and leave a blessing behind him 3. Labour to possess a mourning frame of Spirit take heed of letting out your hearts to take your fill of creature-comforts take heed how you give up your selves to carnal mirth and rejoycing It was Israels sin here in the text and a posture ill becoming a people that have gone a whoring from their God It is a sin at any time to feed our selves without fear much more when God is angry Jude 12. It was a seasonable and severe check God by the Prophet Ezekiel gave unto the unseasonable mirth of that besotted people Ezek. 21.9 10. Thus saith the Lord say a sword a sword is sharpned and also fourbished it is sharp to make a sore slaughter it is fourbished that it may glitter should we then make mirth And I could wish that as Jerome sayd of his surgite mortui c. so this voyce might sound continually in our eares to check and restrain our vain and unseasonable rejoycings in the creature yea in our sins for what doth the Lord require at our hands but to do justly and love mercy Mich 6 8. and walk humbly with our God Else wicked * 1 King 21 27. Ahab and heathen * Ionah 3 5 to the end Nineveh shal rise up in judgment with this generation and shal condemn it The Lord awaken us and teach us to behave our selves as a people whose God is angry angry even to jealousy to know in this our day the things which belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes 2. Vse Exhortation Vse Exhortation There is a word of Exhortation behind and I beseech you suffer it First to you Honorable and Noble Patriots 1. Branch to the Honorable Parliament who are called to be the Reformers and Healers of a poor broken kingdome I would humbly move these 2. things First that you would exert that power and authority which God hath given you to the punishing and suppressing of the Adulteries and whoredoms of the land which do stare heaven and earth in the face and do provoke the jealousy of God even to give England a bil of divorce and put us away arise I say oh ye Rulers and Governors of England Psa 45 4 gird your sword upon your thigh and ride on prosperously because of truth and righteousness and let your right hand teach you terrible things You know what Phineas did in the case of Corporal whoredom committed in the face of God and the Congregation Psa 106 30 Then stood up Phineas and executed vengeance or judgment and you remember how wel the Lord took it at his hands The plague was stayed and it was imputed to him for righteousness 31 Oh that the Spirit of Phineas may come upon you that you may sheath your sword in the bowels of these monstrous whoredoms of all sorts Corporal and Spiritual which are committed in the sight of all Israel yea in the sight of all the Churches round about us that the blessing of Phineas may come upon you and the plague may be stayed Doth not indeed the punishing and suppressing of Spiritual whoredoms against God Idolatry Heresie Blasphemie and the rest doth it not belong unto you as welas the
punishing of bodily whoredoms theft murder c. Doth it indeed belong to you only to look to the Civil peace and to let Religion and truth and the worship of God stand or fall to their own master fight God fight Divel fight Christ fight Antichrist catch that catch can you have nothing to do but to stand by and look on Say so then speak out publish it in your declarations to the world and let the people of England know that it is the right and liberty to which the subjects of England are born that every man hold what he please and publish and preach what he holds that it is the birth-right as some would have it of the free-born people of England every man to worship God according to his own Conscience and to be of what religion his own Conscience shal dictate do so and see fathers and brethren how long your Civil peace wil secure you when religion is destroyed how long it wil be ere your Civil peace be turned into Civil war for no doubt if this once be granted them but they may in good time come to know also there be them that are instructing them even in these principles too that it is their birth-right to be freed from the power of Parliaments and from the power of Kings and to take up arms against both when they shal not vote and act according to their humours Liberty of Conscience falsly so called may in good time improve it self into liberty of estates and liberty of houses and liberty of wives and in a word liberty of perdition of soules and bodies Right Honorable and worthy Gentlemen I cannot stand to dispute this only would I know of you are Idolaters and Heretiques and Blasphemers and Seducers are they evil doers if so then look to your Charge Rom. 13.3 4. Rulers must be a terror to evil doers unless ye mean to bear the Sword in vain verse 4. And if you wil God wil not and if God take the Sword into his own hand once as he seems to be a doing of it he wil smite to purpose he wil execute vengeance throughly both upon the evil doers and upon you that have not bin a terror to them Oh therefore up and be doing that you may deliver the kingdom out of the hand of the Lord for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb 10 31. O let not your patience I hope it is no more all this while be interpreted a Connivence and your Connivence be taken for a tolleration it may be the kingdoms ruin but it wil be your sin 2. As you should punish the whoredoms of the land so I humbly call upon you in the name of the Lord this day that you would awaken and stir up your selves to prevent the further whorish departures of this our Israel from the Lord. And that first by setting up your government do it I beseech you and do it to purpose do it and do it so as it may be able to answer the ends for which you set it up That it may not be mock't out by prophane persons on one hand nor by Sectaries on the other as it is at this day fill your government if you are in good earnest with a life and soul power and strength whereby it shal be able to act as wel as to speak And Secondly prevent the further departure of the land from God by keeping out Seducers those Seducing Malignant Popish Prelatical Priests whom you have cast out who have bin one great cause of the Apostacy of England The sins of the teachers have bin the teachers of sin they are the men who with Hananiah and Zedekeah have taught rebellion against the Lord. Certainly if ye did wel in putting of them out ye wil do extreamly ill in taking of them in again Hath the Kings army bettered them hath Oxford changed their principles I call heaven and earth to witness this day that if ye suffer them to recover their stations again or who ever of you shal for favor reward relation or any other respects whatsoever use your interest to re-invest them again into their places Gal 2 18. you destroy what ye have builded and wil be found transgressors and translate the bloud of poor souls upon your own heads Wel strengthen your hands Honorable and much Honored Patriots strengthen your hands in God thus to suppress and prevent the Adulteries and whoredoms of the land If you shal not give me leave to tel you ye wil bring a six-fold aggravation upon your neglect Aggravations First All the Sermons which have bin preacht before you and by your command have bin publisht to all the world 1. Sermons wil rise up in judgment against you for they wil testify to the present and to after ages to the coming of Christ and in that day that you have had Prophets among you who have not seen false visions and causes of banishment Lam 2 14. but have dealt faithfully with you Acts 20.27 in declaring unto you the whole Councell of God 2. All the blessed and glorious opportunities lost when the poor kingdom neer giving up the Ghost 2. Opportunities shal groan out her last complaints thus the harvest is past Iet 8 10. the summer is ended and we are not saved What opportunities Why 1. rare abilities and parts both of learning and grace among your selves I dare say a riper harvest was never gathered into those walls 2. Strange and excellent impressions many times upon your Spirits 3. Victorious armies subduing and conquering the kingdom before you 4. A Ministry neither ignorant nor unfaithful nor driving their own interests to serve you to bring in the hearts of the people to you which till some taught them otherwise they did with such success that 5. Your interest in the affections of the Subjects was such that you commanded their purses and their persons their lively-hoods and their lives with as much freedom as ye did the wives of your bosoms or your hired servants Oh that is were with you as in the days of old 6. The prayers of all the faithful at home and of all the Churches abroad which were round about you as an army of banners Oh to have all these come in against you wil be an Aggravation indeed 3. So wil in the next place the deep obligations which God hath laid upon you 3. Obligations from God your plenty peace preservations even miraculous both Publique and personal I hope you have not forgot them Admirable successes in your own kingdom seasonable and honorable assistance from the neighbouring kingdom of Scotland in a brotherly league and Covenant with you Your malignant neighbours abroad God hath found them Work of their own that they have not bin able to disturb you nor hath he suffered the Plague at home in seven Summers together to scatter you There hath not an hair of your heads fallen
to the ground Are these smal things in your eyes 4. Self engagements Surely they cannot 4. What say ye to the Engagements which you have layd upon your own soules by your enquiry at Gods oracles Declarations Sacraments vows the Solemn league and Covenant Oh wilnot these speak lowd in Gods eares I and in your eares one day in case of neglect 5. Iustice executed on delinquents 5. The judgment of God executed by you upon offenders for their delinquencies against the state against religion I should be sorry their bloud should ever cry against you Yet I must tel you Jehu carryed the matter so in destroying the house of Ahab though God commanded it that while Jehu writes Justice God writes down murder I wil avenge the bloud of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu Hosea 1 4. Jeroboam rescues ten tribes and an half out of the Tyranny of Rehoboam and then betrays them to Idolatry he sins and makes Israel to sin Amaziah destroys the Edomites for their Idolatry and then worships their Idols 2 Chro 25 14. In all these you shal find it was not love of justice that did edg their sword but self-interests Reformation was not indeed their end but the setting up of themselves upon the ruin of an opposite party so dangerous a thing is it to dally with God 6. And lastly What say ye to your prayers 6. Prayers and in special to your late day of Humiliation for the spreading of Heresies and Blasphemies in Print now to all the world Wil ye fast for Heresies and spare them when ye have done Wil ye humble your selves for Blasphemies against God and Christ and the whole blessed Trinity and suffer men to blaspheme on What wil this be when it is interpreted Surely though fear may make men mince it at home the Churches abroad wil not be afraid to call it hypocrisie and mocking of God And be not deceived saith the Apostle God is not mocked Not mocked What is that That is 1. Not undiscovered Gal 6 7. There is neither clouds nor darkness wherein treachery or prevarication can hide it self from the piercing eye of God There is no imposing upon the Almighty And 2. God is not mocked impune No man shal mock God and scape scot-free What a man sows that shal he reap it is the Apostles own exposition of the place Fathers and Brethren let me not be mistaken I come not this day as your Accuser but as your humble remembrancer I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie the Lord knows you are dearer to me then that blood which runs next my heart and might it do Christ and you any service I could I hope as freely sacrifice it as eat my bread when I am hungry I know you have had many obstructions and hinderances But now I beseech ye gird up the loyns of your mind set your selves with all your counsel and strength to the staying and stoping of the grievous apostacy and whorish departure from God in the Kingdom and to reducing of it back again to the Commands Worship Truths and Government of the Lord Iesus Conclude this with your selves there is no work lies upon your hands of such concemment as this And for your encouragement know that though your troubles and distractions be great yet you have a mighty God to stand by you who hath promised that Jerusalem shal be built and the wall shal be raised Dan. 9 25. even in troublous times It relates as wel to Gospel-Reformation as to the full and final return of the Jews and the Lord make it good to you and by you 2 Branch of Exbortation to Ministers I would speak a word in the second place to the faithful Ministry of England Do you set your selves with the Prophets of old to the bringing back of this poor Kingdom so fearfully gone a whoring from God To that end 1. Take heed of healing the hurt of the daughter of this people sleightly by crying peace peace where there is no peace Take heed of daubing with untempered morter Take heed of false visions and causes of banishment but be faithful in discovering the iniquities and whoredoms of the Land If they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words Ior 23 22. then they should have turned my people from their evil way and from the evil of their doings Behold this is the way to save the Land speak while ye may speak and I pray God it be not ultimus singultus morientis libertatis 2. Stand in the gap with Moses plead with Elijah pray and cry with Jeremy God hath not yet said to us pray not for this people if he had surely with reverence be it spoken we should not beleeve him Jeremy would not but even after the Lord had enjoyned him silence * Ier 14 11. pray not for this people he is at his intercessions again and again in the 13.19 20 21 22. Verses and all over his Prophesie Oh therefore Ye that make mention of the Lord ye that are the Lords remembrancers by special office and designement give him no rest till he establish and make this our Jerusalem a praise in the earth Thirdly and lastly 3 Branch of Exhortat to all Here is a word of Exhortation to all the people of the Land and that in the language of the Apostle Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief Heb 3 12 in departing from the living God In departing from the living God in his Truths Worship Commands Promises But in all these respects let us say with repenting returning Israel I wil go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me then it is now And for the encouragement of Parliament Ministers People let me remember you of that gracious invitation and promise They say if a man put away his wife and she go from him Ier 3 1. and become another mans shal not that land be greatly polluted but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord. There is much treasure in the place but the summa totalis is this God wil accept of a returning people or person upon those terms that the dearest husband in the world wil not It is very observable that when Christ was withdrawn from the spouse Cant. 2.17 she cries but once to him Turn my beloved but when she was gone from him he cries four times return to her Chap. 6.13 Return return O Shulamite return return Christ is four times as desirous and glad of our return to him as we are or can be of his return to us The Lord speak effectually to us that we may know and all the Churches may know that he is the Lord God 2 Kings 18 37 and that he hath turned our heart back again Amen FINIS