against Gods patience God was not patient towards them but as soone as ever they sinned hee cast them into hell Deus non expectabat Angelos as Bernard saith but we sinne against the blood of Christ and the patience and long-suffering of God which is very great towards mankind 3. The Devils never sinned against any example For they were the first that sinned and were made the first example but wee have had divers examples of Gods wrath against sinne the example of the Devils and of the punishment of the old world of Sodom and Gomorrah many hundred such like and yet we sin notwithstanding al these examples In these three respects to sin against the mercies of God is more than diabolicall It is a sinne that takes away all excuse and will so confound a man at the day of Judgement that it will make him speechlesse This is excellently set out in the 9 chapter of Ezra the 6 7 8 9 10. verses O my God saith Ezra I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee O my God for our iniquities are inâ—…reased over our heads c. For we were bondmen yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage but hath extended mercy to us c. And now O our God what shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy Commandements What excuse shall we bring What shift shall we plead What shall we say That is we have nothing to say This interrogation is an emphaticall negation Had I not come unto you saith Christ ye had had no sinne but now ye have no excuse Had not God shewne such mercies to England it might have had some Apology to plead for its contempt of the Gospel for its pride for its adultery and drunkennesse but now it hath no excuse To sinne after mercy shuts up all defence What shall we say after this O our God for we have forsaken thy Commandements This Doctrine is a blacke bill of indictment against all those that are not ashamed to sinne against God notwithstanding the mercies they have received from God God hath done mighty things for this Nation he hath heaped deliverance upon deliverance We have had more deliverances than there are Commandements And yet notwithstanding are there not many of us that sinne in the midst of mercies That are like the Horse and Mule that have no understanding Psalme 32. As a Horse the more it is pampered the more it kickes against the rider so there are many the more they are fed to the full with mercy the more they rebell against the God that feeds them Like unto the thicke vapours which are first exhaled by the Sunne and afterwards when they come into the Aire stop the light of the Sunne from shining upon us There are many such vapours whom God hath exalted and lifted up in â—…nour above others that make no other use of their honour but to darken the glory of God and to hinder the light of God from shining upon us Let conscience speake Are we not as proud as covetous as blasphemous as adulterous as ungodly as ever notwithstanding all that God hath done for us May I not say to you as Moses to the Israelites Doe ye thus requite the Lord O ye foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father that bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee Is not he the God that hath multiplyed mercies upon us The Lord humble us this day for this sinne There are divers sorts of men come under this reproofe 1. Such as sinne notwithstanding mercies 2. Such as sinne under mercies at the same time when God is shewing mercy unto them Of these David speakes Our Fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the Sea yea even at the Red Sea This was a great aggravation They sinned at the very place where they were delivered and at the very time when they were delivered at the Sea even the Red Sea And as it is at the 13. verse They soone forgat his workes the word in the Hebrew is they made haste to forget his workes This is our condition God hath brought us into the schoole of mercy but are there not many among us that turne this schoole of mercy into the schoole of iniquity that remaine irreformable in a yeare of Reformation that not onely hate to be reformed but hate the very Reformation it selfe that sinne under mercies even under mercies 3. Such as sinne with the mercies of God that like the Spider sucke poyson out of those flowers out of which a Bee suckes honey that sucke their damnation out of those mercies out of which the godly sucke their salvation that make a golden calfe of the jewels of mercy and sacrifice their sonnes and daughters unto devils that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse that improve their honours learning wealth parts to make themselves more active to sinne against God to be Ingeniose nequam facundi sed malo publico As Basil saith of Eve That God gave her to be a helper to Adam and made her of the rib of Adam but the devill tooke this rib and made a dart of it and with this dart shot at Adams heart and wounded him to death Per costam petit cor so God hath bestowed mercies upon us to helpe us to serve him more chearefully more liberally but there are many that play the devils part and that take these mercies and make darts of them to shoot against God and his cause Non hoâ—… quae situm munâ—…s in usâ—… There are thousands in the world that are worser for the mercies they receive from God that are like unto a dunghill the more the Sunne of mercy shines upon them the more they stinke and putrifie in all sin And as the clay is hardned by the Sunnes shining upon it so there are many the more health the more wealth the more honour the more mercy they receive from God the more they harden their hearts against God like Elies two sonnes the kindlier their father dealt with them the worser they were like Absalom that as soone as ever his Father received him into Jerusalem then he began to conspire against him Of these David speakes Because there are no changes in their lives therefore they feare not God because they meet with no crosses and Psalm 73. 5 6 7 8 9. Because they are not plagued like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as a chaine they have more then â—…eart can wish therefore they speake wickedly and loftily and set their mouthes against the Heavens c. like Dionysius that because he prospered in his voyage by sea after he had robbed a Temple boasted and said Behold how the gods love sacriâ—…edge I beseech you Right Honorable let us examine whether we be not guilty of these sinnes â—…or they are such sinnes which we are all very prone
Sermon EDM. CALAMY A SERMON PREACHED AT A FAST Before the Honorable House of COMMONS EZEK. 36. 32. Not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your owne waies O house of Israel WE are here met this day to keep a day of humiliation to out-cry the cry of our sinnes by the cry of our Prayers and teares to wrastle with God with our hearts and with the devill With God for a blessing upon England Ireland with our hearts to get and keep them in a frame sutable to the worke with the devill least he steale away the benefit of this day Now as the Wiseman saith Who knowes what a day may bring forth Who knows what a mercy such a day as this may bring forth Who knows what a rare successe this day may have throughout all England The Lord give a blessing unto it To help you in the work of this day I have chosen this Text It is the skill of a workeman not only to make good work but fit worke A garment is not well made though never so good if not fit made This hath been my care to choose a fit text It cannot be denyed but that God hath done much for England and that England hath done much against God Now my purpose is to lay the sins of England against God in one scale and the mercies of God to England in the other scale and to call upon you this day to be humbled and ashamed and broken in heart before the Lord that ever you should sinne against such a God There are but two wayes to breake a stony heart As there are two wayes to cure a stone in the bladder either by cutting out the stone or by dissolving it with soft medicines So there are but two wayes to cure a stony heart either by the heart-cutting threatnings of the Law or by the heart-melting mercies of the Gospell I have this day chosen the latter way I will not carry you up to Mount Eball or Mount Sinai But to the Mount of Blessings And I shall labour by the heart-dissolving mercies of the Gospell to breake your stony hearts It is the duty of a Minister to follow God in his providence When God sends judgements upon a Nation then must we preach judgements to that Nation But when he sends mercies then must we preach mercy Now God hath brought England into the schoole of mercy and hath placed it in the highest forme and hath made it Captaine of the schoole And it is my duty to teach you what lessons you are to learne in this schoole This Text holds forth one lesson which is the proper lesson for this day and that is to be confounded and ashamed that ever we should sinne against such a God I read in the second of Judges that there came an Angell of the Lord from Gilgall to the people of Israel in Bochim and preached a Sermon of mercy in which he commemorates First Gods kindnesse in bringing them out of Egypt and into Canaan and secondly Their unkindnesse in disobeying of God And all the people when they had heard this Sermon lifted up their voyces and wept in so much as the very place was called Bochim that is Weepers This Angell was not an Angell properly so called but a Minister as most thinke And therefore he is said to come from Gilgall not from heaven The Rabbines say it was Pbine has the sonne of Eleazar God hath sent me hither this day as his Angell upon the same Embassage I am to reminde you of Gods merciâ—…s to us And of our ingratitude against him O that it might have the same effect That we may all of us lift up our voyces and weep and that the Church may be called a Bochim a place of weepers In the words themselves we have foure parts 1. A mercy supposed in these words I will do this which intimates That God had promised to do something for the house of Israel 2. The Author of the Mercy proposed in these words I will do this saith the Lord God 3. The false reason of this mercy deposed by way of proclamation in these words Not for your sakes do I this be it knowne unto you O house of Israel 4. The true use of the mercy imposed in these words Be ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes O house of Israel 1. The mercy supposed I will do this If you looke backe into the Chapter you shall find that God promises many rare and great mercies to the house of Israel Mercies in Folio Mercies unspeakable God promises to gather them out of all Countries And to bring them backe to their owne land To cleanse them from Idols And from all filthinesse To sprinkle cleane water upon them To give them a new heart and a new spirit And to take away their hearts of stone and to give them a heart of flesh And to multiply all outward blessings upon them c. Observe from hence That God doth sometimes shew mercy to a Nation when it least deserves it and least expects it This is apparent out of the text When Ezekiel wrote these words the house of Israel was in the house of bondage Captive in Babylon Their condition was so desperate in regard of their misery that Ezekiel compares them to dry bones in the grave chap. 37. And God demands of Ezekiel Can these drie bones live He answers O Lord God thou knowest for my part I know not Their estate was hopelesse and helplesse And it was as desperate in regard of sinfulnesse as appears in the 17 18 19 20. verses of this Chapter When they were in their owne land they were as abominable before the Lord as the uncleannesse of a menstruous woman And when they came into Babylon they were so wicked as that the holy name of God was prophaned by them while the Babylonians out of scorn contempt said These aâ—…e the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land And yet behold God doth here promise to performe rich and unexpected mercies to such an undeserving Nation My desire is that this Doctrine may be a Looking-glasse for this Nation in which we may behold the severall miracles of mercy that God hath bestowed upon us A Nation not worthy to be beloved and yet beloved above all Nations of the world God hath made us like Saul taller by the head in mercies than all other Nations There was indeed a time when this Island was called Albion ab albis Rupibus but at that time it was black and defiled worshipping of stockes and stones even the Devill in stead of God We had our Druides our Flamines and Archiflamines We offered our Sonnes and daughters alive in sacrifice Non ad honorem sed ad injuriam religionis Our religion was Tristissimum superstitionum Chaos as Cambden saith but it pleased God presently after the death of
way Whereas other Nations have travailed through blood to a reformation All things are managed among us without blood-shed blessed be God Thirdly to doe it in a praying way not by the weapons of war but by the weapons of the Church Prayers and Teares In stead of fighting we have Fasting and in stead of the enemies drummes we have Aarons bels sounding in our eares Our people have prayed up a reformation Fourthly to doe all this for us when we were in a most desperate condition when all our faithfull Ministers with one lippe preached desolation and destruction when thousands had left us as Rats Mice doe a house when it is ready to fall when we lay among the pots fullyed with superstition for God then to begin to make us as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold to make us a glorious Church to purge out our drosse and whatsoever gives just offence and to make us white as the snow in Salmon It is reported of Salmon That it is an high hill shadowed with trees darke and full of pits but when the snow is upon it it is white Our condition was like the hill of Salmon we were in darke and dismall condition full of pits and snares but God is making us white as the Snow in Salmon and all on the suddaine contrary to all expectation is opening a doore of hope for us when we were in the valley of Achor This is an admirable circumstance Fiftly to doe all this for such a sinfull Nation as England a Nation which hath ingrossed all those sins for which God hath destroyed other Nations as namely Contempt of the Gospell Countenancing of Idolatry loathing of Manna Crying downe Preaching 〈◊〉 the Idoll of England preaching against Preaching Teaching for good doctrine That Bishops and tithes are Jure Divino and yet the Lords day is but Jure humanâ—… crying up the holines of Churches and at the same time crying downe the frequency of Preaching in these Churches exalting the holines of places and at the same time depressing the holinesse of persons and the holines of the Christian Sabbath A nation guilty of Apostasie Opposition to Reformation Bitternesse against the people of God loaded with blood-guiltinesse blasphemies adulteries oppression drunkennes covetousnes and such like sinnes Sixthly And to doe all this for such a Nation and not for other Nations Not for Germany not for Ireland Although we drinke as deepe of the cup of sinne as they yet that God should give us no cup but a cup full of mercy to drinke off to make us like Goshen when all other Protestant Nations are plagued as Egypt O what a rare Circumstance is this These mercies and these circumstances are so great and so wonderfull as that if I had as many tongues as haires on my head they would not all suffice to set out the praises of God for them And indeed I can hardly forbeare from turning this day of humiliation into a day of thanksgiving Surely God requires a thousand thousand Hallelujahs And that we should blesse him upon a thousand stringed Instrument Here is fewell enough The Lord kindle a great fire in every one of our hearts to burne out all our lusts to infiame our cold hearts with the love of such a God and to make us ashamed and confounded that ever wee should sinne against him The second part of the Text is the Author of these mercies in these words I will doe this saith the Lord God Here I observe That the deliverances that come to a Nation come from Jehovah Adonai Nationall mercies come from the God of Nations And that all the world may take notice that mercies come from God he ordinarily doth two things First he delivers Nations at suâ—…h times and when they are in such straites as that none but a God can deliver them Thus he delivered his people out of Egypt when they were in their worst estate Cum duplicantâ—…r lateres tunc venit Deus thus he delivered his people out of Babylon when they were as dry bones in the grave past hope this is a time fit for a God to worke as it is Deut. 32. 36. The Lord shall judge his people and repent himselfe for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone and that there is none shut up or left Hee delivers Nations by such wayes and such meanes that none but a God can doe First By little meanes Thus he tels Gideon The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands lest Israel vaunt themselves against me saying Mine owne hand hath saved me and therefore he brings the Army from 32 thousand to ten thousand and from ten thousand to three hundred and afterwards delivers them without the helpe of these three hundred by Trumpets Pitchers and Lamps Thus he delivered Israel from a huge hoast of Philistims by the help of Jonathan and his Armor-bearer And in 2 Kings 3. 22 23. he makes a fancy to be the foundation of a great victory the Sun shines upon the water and the Moabiâ—…es conceive it to be the blood of the Israelites and by this fancy were vanquished Secondly By unlikely meanes Thus God preserved Noah by an Aâ—…ke wherein he was buryed as in a darke sepulcher dwelling among wilde beasts floating on the waters without a Pilot to guide him onely the Text saith God shut him in and by his power kept him from sinking Thus God made the Jaylor an unlikely Instrument to wash the stripes of Paul and Silas and Revel. 12. 16. he makes the earth to helpe the Woman that is the basest and the most unlikeliest of the people Thirdly By contrary meanes Thus Jonah was preserved from drowning by a Whale and was kept vivus in sepulchro thus Joseph was made Lord of Egypt by being cast into prison and the blinde man cured with clay and spittle a way more likely to put out his eyes than to cure him Fourthly Without any meanes at all And thus God delivered his people out of Babylon For when God turned againe the captivity of Sion saith David they were like unto them that dreame now men know not what they shal dreame of when they go to bed we dreame of strange things wee doe not study our dreames such was their deliverance out of Babylon a strange unsâ—…ught 〈◊〉 for deliverance just as a dreame now God doth all this that it might appeare that deliverances come not from secondary causes but from his owne arme and power Let this Doctrine be an other Looking-glasse for this Nation Englands mercies come from the God of England we may truely say with David If the Lord had not beene on our side if the Lord had not beene on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed uâ—… up quicke and the streames had gone over our soules There is not onely the finger
silken halters to hang himselfe withall and ponds of sweet water to drowne himselfe withall gilded poysons to poyson himselfe withall O let not your honors and riches c. be silken halters to strangle your soules let not your pleasures be ponds of sweet water to drown your soules let not your preferments be gilded poysons to poyson your soules Say as Nabal did but in a better sense shal I take my health which God hath given me to sin against my God with it God forbid Shall I take the wit that God hath given me to plot against God and his cause with it God forbid 3. Consider the patience of God towards us This is an argument that should drive us to repentance Rom. 2. There is no sin but it is committed in the very bosome of God For God fils Heaven earth and sees all your curtaine abominations And he is able to destroy you he is just and must wound the bairy scalpe of those that goe on in their wickednesse and he is a holy and a pure God that hates your iniquities from his very heart And yet behold how patient this God is towards you At such a time when thou wert in the act of adultery he might have sent thee to hell in the very act he might have made thy tongue to rot the last oath thou sworest Nothing with-held him but pure mercy O let this melt our hearts What a mercy is it to be out of hell Many in hell have not sinned the sinnes that we have done It is his free grace that we are delivered We might have been weeping in hell at this instant And then our teares should have beene our hell but now they will prove our heaven if God worke them in us 4. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ and his love in dying for thee If thy heart be as hard as an Adamant the blood of this scape Goate will soften it There were five men met together that asked one another what meanes they used to abstaine from sinne The first answered That he continually thought upon the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time of death and that made him live every day as if it were his last day The second meditated of the severe account he was to give at the day of judgement and of the everlasting torments of hell and this kept him from sin The third of the vilenesse and loathsomenesse of sin and of the excellency and beauty of grace and this made him abhorre sinne The fourth of the everlasting rewards and pleasures provided for those that abstaine from sinne and this prevailed with him The fifth and the last continually meditated of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his love and this made him ashamed to sin against God This last is the greatest motive of all If the pacification betweene the two Nations of England Scotland will not affect us let the great pacification that Christ hath made for thee between God and thy soule move thy heart to be ashamed to offend God It is the greatest argument I can use to say For Jesus Christ his sake be ashamed and confounded for your evill waies 5. Consider the long enjoyment of the Gospel the powerfull and plentifull preaching of it joyned with peace and plenty And let us mourne for our Gospel sins for our unprofitablenes and unfruitfulnesse under such fruitfull meanes that we have beene like a barren ground which no plowing will make good Let us mourne for our unbeliefe and impenitency Let Gospel sins produce Gospel sorrow Teares are made onely for sin If we mourne our eyes out for worldly losses we cannot profit our selves But if we weep for sin this will quench the fire of hell There are 2 sorts of sins and 2 sorts of curses legall sins Gospel sins legall curses and Gospel curses Legall sins will bring legall curses But Gospel sins unlesse there be Gospel sorrow will bring a Gospel curse which is above al legal curses Of this curse the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha that is accursed for the present reserved for the vengeance which Christ will render to all unbelievers when he comes to judgement This is curse upon curse And this is the curse due to them that abuse mercies The Lord deliver us from this curse 6. Let every man consider the personal mercies that God hath bestowed upon him in particular take all these mercies lay them to his heart they wil dissolve the stone in his heart let our hearts be as wax these mercies as the sun to melt them into godly sorrow Make a double Catalogue One of thy sins The other of Gods mercies to thee binde them about thy heart to bring it into a religious frame Thus I have named six other mercies My humble suit is That you would pâ—…nder consider seriously what hath been said unto you Consider what I say saith the Apostle and the Lord give you understanding The Thessalonians had never understood what Paul had said if they had not considred it No more shall we profit by this Sermon if we do not consider what hath bin said And this consideration must have foure ingredients 1. We must consider these mercies distinctly and deliberately If a man hath a sweet Cordiall in his mouth and swallow it downe whole he wil not taste the sweetnes of it but if he chew it by degrees it wil be very pleasant to his taste So these mercies will doe us no good if we swallow them down without serious meditation But if we chew them and consider them distinctly and deliberately one mercy after another they will exceedingly affect us 2. We must consider them with reflexion upon our selves and application to our selves As it is reported of Plato that when he did walk in the streets if he saw any man disordred in his speech or any other way he would say to himselfe Num ego talis Am I such a one as this is So must we say Num ego talis Have I abused these mercies Have I sinned with these mercies And as the Apostles severally asked Christ Master is it I So mâ—…t we aske our hearts Am not I the man that ought to be ashamed and â—…nfoundid for my sins against mercies 3. We must consider these mercies in as neere a propinquity as we can possible It is a true saying of the Philosoper Things that are seen far off are as if they were not A great man a far off seems little or nothing An enemie a farre off or a serpent a farre off doth littâ—…e trouble us So it is with mercies If we looke upon them at a distance they will seeme little and little affect us but if we take them neere to us they will seeme as they are very great and will mightily worke upon us 4. Consider these mercies devoutly with prayer unto God to make them heart-melting
You must be as carefull to appropriate all the glory to God as Joab was to preserve the glory of David when he sent for him to come to Rabbah and take it least if Joab had taken the City it should have beene called by his name Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him that gloryeth glory in the Lord It was the last speech of dying Chrysostome Glory be to God from all creatures Let the Jesuites at the end of their Bookes subscribe Laus Deo beatae Virgini Praise be to God and the blessed Virgin Let this be the badge of the Beast But let every true Protestant subscribe Soli Deo gloria to God onely be praise for so Christ hath taught us Thine is the Kingdome the power and the glory And therefore to him onely be glory And as we must give God the glory of his mercies So we must give glory to God with all his Mercies We must improve Englands mercies to the glory of the God of England England is an Island incompassed about with foure Oceans An Ocean of water And of late yeares an Ocean of dangers And now I am sure with an Ocean of sinnes and an Ocean of mercies O let us adde one Ocean more an Ocean of service and obedience as God hath done singular and extraordinary things for us so let us do some singular and extraordinary service for God He hath made England a miracle of mercy let England be a miracle of obedience A Christian in England must not onely servire Deo sed adulari as Tertullian saith He must be rich in good works as God hath beene rich in mercy We must eight wayes improve Englands mercies First let us make these mercies Motives to obedience and service As God made the deliverance out of Egypt a motive to the keeping of the ten Commandements I am the Lord which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage therefore thou shalt have none other Gods but me Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image c. So let us make Englands mercies a Motive to the keeping of Gods Commandements I beseech you by the mercies of God offer up your bodies a living â—…rifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonabâ—…â—…vice â—…et the great turne of times move us to turne to God Let us not take Gods name in vaine after so many mercies Let us not prophane Gods day commit whoredome make our lusts our lawes our money our God after so many mercies Secondly let us make these mercies as so many cords and bonds to tye us fast to God and his will Gods mercies saith Austine are like to a Needle that sowes two peeces together that are rent and torne asunder Man and God by nature are separated but his benefits and mercies must be used as Needles to sow them together and to knit them to God in obedience It is Gods promise I will draw thee unto me with the cords of love Now God hath reached out many cords of love to this Kingdome O let these golden cords draw us unto him Let us not be like Sampson that burst all his cords in sunder I read of a man in the Gospell whom no cords could binde but I read also he was possessed with a devill It is a signe that the spirit of the devill is in you and not the Spirit of God if these Cable robes of mercy will not draw you to the obedience of Gods will Thirdly let us make these mercies as so many Memorandums to put us in minde of our duty As Ahashuerus on a certaine night when he could not sleep called for the Chronicles and there was read to him a good deed that Mordecai had done and presently he asked what honour and dignity had beene done to Mordecai for this So must we make a Catalogue of Gods mercies and keepe them by us and be ever and anon reading of them and saying What honour hath God had for all my honour and riches and other mercies received from him And when we begin to forget a duty then run to our Catalogue As God commanded Moses to keepe the pot of Manna for a Memento to put the Israelites in minde of his great mercy in giving them Manna so must our hearts be as the Arke to keepe Gods mercies to put us in mind of God and our service to him when we are ready to forget him Fourthly let us make these mercies Looking-glasses to see God in and not wals to separate betweene us and God God never appeared more in his wisdome power goodnesse and mercy then in these dayes And not to see God in good workes of his providence is a curse and will bring a curse That it is a curse appeares Jeremy 17. 5 6. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his Arme and whose heart departeth from the Lord for he shall be like a heath in the desart and shall not see when good â—…mes And that it brings a curse appeares Psal. 28. 5. Because they regard not the workes of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Fiftly let us make these mercies as so many footstools to raise us up to higher mercies Let us use these mercies reflexively not terminatively And say as good Fulgentius did when he saw the glory of Rome Sitalis est Roma terrestris qualis est Roma caelestis If Gods mercies be so rare here in the valley of teares what are they in the mountaine of joy Sixtly let us make these mercies as so many bridges to lead us over to better mercies to such mercies which are at Gods right hand and in his right hand and which are the mercies of his right hand All temporall mercies are the mercies of Gods left hand which he gives to many whom he will put at his left hand at the day of Judgement Spirituall mercies are the mercies of his right hand and mercies in his right hand For his right hand is full of righteousnesse Let us be earnest Petitioners for those mercies which whosoever hath shall be placed at the right hand of Christ at the day of Judgement and shall be made partakers of those everlasting pleasures which are at Gods right hand Let us not be like that woman that when â—…er husband sent her a jewell as a token of his love to put her in minde of him fell in love with the jewell and forgot her husband Let us not make these mercies our God but bridges to lead us over unto God Seventhly let us make these mercies as so many Cordials to comfort us in all distresses and if God at any time should bring this Nation into new straites and dangers Let us say as Manoahs wife did unto
kindnes of David towards him So when we consider how neare we have beene to destruction and how often God hath spared us when he might have destroyed us let us lift up our voyces and weepe for our sins against such a God Observe how Mephibosheth was affected with Davids mercy in 2 Sam 9. David had cause to be revenged upon the house of Saul but he freely shewed kindnesse to Mephibosheth restoring him all his fathers lands and causing him to eate bread at his Table continually And this Mercy did so melt his heart that he cryes out What is thy servant that thou shouldest looke upon such a dead Dog as I am O let the contemplation of Gods love towards us make us to loath our selves for our abominations and say What am I a dead Dog an impure Swine an uncleane Leper that the Lord my God should doe so much for me Beloved in the Lord it is my comfort that I preach this day to those that are Noble and ingenuous My humble suite is That you would appeare to be such indeed and in truth An ingenuous spirit is more wrought upon by love than feare This Fast might have beene in blood the Land might have beene in confusion this day Let the goodnesse of God drive you to repentance Let the love of Jesus Christ constraine you to obediâ—…nce There is a constraining power in love Though a stubborne and slavish spirit is more wrought upon by judgements than mercies yet a gracious and godly heart is more wrought upon by mercies than judgements And indeed in its owne nature Merâ—…y workes more powerfully more kindly more inwardly and deepely than judgements 1. Mercy workes more powerfully than judgements And therefore the Apostle Paul beseecheth us by the mercies of God he doth not say I beseech you by the judgements of God And in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all the defilements both of flesh and spirit He doth not say having these threatnings let us cleanse our selves c. Let a Cart loaded goe over a River frozen with Ice the Cart breakes the Ice but it remaines Ice still but let the sun shine upon the River and it will melt the Ice and dissolve it into water so as nothing of the Ice shal remaine The Judgements of God may break a hard heart but it will remain hard still as a Rocke broken in peeces remaines a Rocke But the Sun-shine of Gods mercy and the consideration of Gods love to us in Christ will breake the heart to powder and make it not onely a broken heart but a soft and contrite heart Have you not seene a Malefactor at his condemnation and place of execution when without hope of mercy carrying himselfe desperately and obdurately in sinne and afterwards when informed that there was a pardon provided for him hath beene exceedingly melted and broken in heart at the consideration of the graciousnesse of the King towards him 2. Mercy workes more kindly and sweetly than judgements As a thicke Clâ—…ud that is melted by the Suns shining upon it distills downe sweetly into a fruitfull showre but the cloud that is broken with a thunderbolt makes a mighty cracke and teares the cloud in peeces So the mercies of the Gospel doe kindly worke upon the heart opening it as it did the heart of Lydia and sweetly melting it into teares after a blessed and comfortable manner But the thunder-bolt of Gods judgements makes an earth-quake and a heart-quake as it did upon the Gaoler Act. 16. As the blustering winds teare up the Trees by the rootes So doe the judgements of God rend and teare the heart quite in peeces but mercies will kindly dissolve it 3. Mercies will worke inwardly Take a piece of gold beate it with a hammer never so much and yet you shall never separate the drosse from the gold by beating of it but put the gold into the furnace and the fire will separate the drosse from it The hammer of the Law will batter and bruise the soule but the drosse still remaines in it but the fire of the Gospell the furnace of Gods love will separate a man and his lusts and purge out the filth that is inwardly got into the soule The Sun by its hot beames made the Traveller as it is in the Fable put off his Cloke when the blustering winde made him gird his Cloke faster about him Thus you see how mercy workes more powerfully more kindly more inwardly Oh that it might appeare in our hearts this day that this doctrine that I preach is true I read that Caesar upon a certaine time with a booke in his hand was hearing of Cicero pleading and was so taken with his eloquence and listened so attentively that he let fall his booke Oh that the Lord would so affect you with the consideration of Englands mercies that your sins may fall away from you as Caesars book did from him That you that write may blot your bookes with your teares and you that look upon me may look with teares in your eyes Let us shed penitent teares this day for the sins of many yeares Let us study the duty of this Text let us be ashamed and ashamed for our sins There be many men saith Chrysostome that are ashamed of what they should not be ashamed and not ashamed of what they should be ashamed are ashamed to confesse their sins but not to act their sins not ashamed to be seene at a Play-house but ashamed to be seene at Gods House upon a weeke day ashamed of Christ and his cause ashamed to be accounted precise but not ashamed to be wicked and ungodly And as the same Author saith many men are not ashamed to sin but ashamed to be known to sin not ashamed to commit adultery but to be knowne to commit it not ashamed to be sinners but to be called sinners not ashamed to be covetous but ashamed to be called covetous This shame comes from the Devill and will bring us to the Devill Let us pitch the act upon the right object Let us be ashamed of our evill and not of our good doings Shame is the daughter of sin If there had not beene sin there never had beene any shame But God hath appointed the daughter to devoure the mother As the Worme eates up the tree that bred it so let shame devoure sinne There is no creature capable of shâ—…me but man Bruit beasts are capable of feare and sorrow but not of shame God forbid any here present should be so bruitish as to be past shame To sinne and not to be ashamed of it is Limen inferni the next doore to damnation The Heathen hath a saying Erubuit salva res est As long as there is shame there is hope O let us be confoundâ—…d and ashamed and let Mercy be the Midwife to bring forth this shame and sorrow The Apostle commands us That if our enemies hunger we should feed them if they thirst we
not the chiefe Butler remember Joseph but forgot him 2. Be ashamed to contenme and despise the mercies you have received from God There are many like the Israelites in Babylon that liked their habitations in Babylon so well that when Cyrus gave them leave to goe to Jerusalem they would not leave Babylon to goe to Jerusalem So there are many that like their former condition under the innovation so well that they had rather continue in Babylon still than accept of the reformation offered That begin to say of Mannah We have nothing but this Mannah and to wish for the Garlicke and Onions of Egypt againe This is a grievous abomination God was very angry with the Israelites for this sin he sent plagues upon plagues among them for it And when at last they brought an evill report upon the land of Canaan and as David saith Psal. 106 despised the holy land refusing to go into it God was so provoked with this sin that he would not pardon it but set them back again 40. yeares and destroyed their carkasses in the wildernesse Would to God I could not say that there are some among us that raise up an ill report upon the reformation intended as if the Parliament had a purpose to bring in an Anarchie to reduce every thing into its first Chaos to leave every man to do what is good in his owne eyes as when there was no King in Israel And upon this false rumour they despise the blessed Canaan that we are going into Oh let us be ashamed and confounded to commit this sinne This will make God carry us backe againe to the wildernesse 3. Be ashamed to distrust God and his power in time of great difficulty having received so many and so great deliverances We are for the most part like the children of Israel who although they were by a mighty hand brought out of Egypt and through the red Sea c. yet upon every strait they began presently to murmure and to thinke of making a Captaine to returne to Egypt never considering the iron bondage they endured in Egypt God hath brought us out of the Egyptian bondage and carried us through a red sea of dangers and yet when wee meete though but with the news of any Giants or Anakins we begin presently to distrust and to say Can God prepare a table in the wildernesse can God make a way through the hoasts of the Phiâ—…istines And some of us begin to wish that things had remained as at first This is a horrible sinne after so many mercies As Austin saith of Jesus Christ He that will not beleeve in Christ after so many miracles without a new miracle he himselfe is a great miracle So he that will distrust God after so many miraculous mercies is himselfe a miracle of unbeliefe How often hath God appeared in the mount these two last yeares as if he had resolved to take up his dwelling there How many mountaines of opposition have melted before you as mountaines of snow before the Sun Be ashamed be ashamed O house of England to distrust God after so many mercies 4. Be ashamed to be cowardly and faint hearted in the cause of God that hath so mightily appeared for us I remember the storie of Nehemiah Chap. 6. It is there said That when the enemies heard that the worke of the building of the Temple prospered beyond their expectations thâ—…y accused Nehemiah of treason against the King and when that plot did not succeed they bore him in hand as if some Assassinat had conspired his death And all this was done to make him afraid But he was above all feare shall such a man as I fly saith he shall such a man as I feare and finished the worke insomuch as that when the enemies heard thereof they were much cast downe for they perceived that this worke was wrought of God Remember that the fearfull are put not onely among unbeleevers murderers whoremongers sorcerers Idolaters c. but in the forefront of them all Be not afraid to incounter difficulties When Peter came up to the iron gate it opened to him of its owne accord 5. Be ashamed to abate and coole in the worke of the Lord God will spue out a lukewarme Christian When Moses let downe his hands Amaleck prevailed if you coole but a little the adversaries will waxe hot There are many that labour to cast water upon your zeale but remember the cause is Gods and say with David It is before the Lord I will be more vile still The people of God will honour you though Michol scoffe at you It is a great mercie that God hath kept us from blood God hath left our blood in our veines let it boyle up in the cause of God 6. Be ashamed to injure the instruments by which God conveyes these mercies unto us When Corah and his company rebelled against Moses and Aaron then came the plague As we must not idolize so we must not injure the golden pipes through which these mercies flow unto us 7. Take heed of being ashamed of the cause of Christ God hath not beene ashamed to appeare for us let us not be ashamed to appeare for him Remember that thundring speech Mark 8. 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of mee and my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the Sonne of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels It is not enough not to be ashamed of Christ in a good generation but we must not be ashamed of him in an adulterous and sinfull generation 8. Let us neither pride our selves in our mercies nor waxe wanton in our mercies It is recorded in the French History that when the Protestants of France began to grow wanton of their peace and prosperity and began to affect a vaine and frothy way of preaching theâ—… came the cruell massacre upon them 2. I will briefly name some speciall and heroicall Uses which we are to make of Gods mercies besides this use in the Text 1. Do something O house of England for the honour of the Lords day which hath beene much prophaned not onely in our practises but in our Doctrines Christ Jesus hath two dayes The day of the Lord which is the day of judgement And the Lords day If you looke to appeare with comfort at the day of the Lord honour the Lords day There is a day of the Lord for those that abuse the Lords day Do something to make this day more honourable by way of spirituall satisfaction 2. Do something to purge the Land more and more of the innocent blood of the Martyrs in Queene Maries dayes by the Lawes that were then established Oh that in our publike Fasts a clause might be interlaced To command the Land to be humbled for that bloody sinne that so the Nation might be freed from the guilt of that blood This will be an heroicall worke worthy