to seek God In their affliction they will seek me early saith the Lord But so soone as he takes his hand off from them they cast all care away as if now according to that homely proverb the devill were dead and no further use of any feare or diligence were to be once thought upon till with Pharaoh they come under a worse plague than before and as if God had delivered them to no other end but to live as they list to cast more dung into his face and to dishonour and provoke him yet more than ever before I appeale to the consciences of many who heare me this day and I require them from the Lord to witnesse truly whether it be not even thus with them If the plague knock at their doore if death get in at the window and begin to shake them by the hand there is then some apprehension of wrath and judgement some humbling some hankering after God Then Oh what would not these men do what would not they promise on condition to be delivered from their present anguish and feares But once deliver them and God shall heare no more of them till they be in the same or worse case again They turne Covenanters Nay leave that to the Puritans For their parts they think more of a Covenant with death and hell for God is not in all their thoughts Had there been upon the discovery of the Powder-Treason which this Honourable Assembly hath cause above all others to preserve eternally in fresh remembrance and to think more seriously what God looks for at all your hands upon such a deliverance hâ—d there been I say no possibilitie of escaping that Blow what would not men have then done Oh what prayers what fasting what humiliation should we have seene But when the snare was once broken what followed A Covenant with God Nothing lesse for so soone as ever the danger the feare the amazement at such an hellish project and the neere approach to the execution of it was a little over the Traitors themselves fell not deeper into the pit of destruction which themselves had digged than generally all sorts of men did into the gulfe of their old sins as if they owed more to Hell than to Heaven for so great a deliverance And is it better now Where is the Covenant such a Covenant with God that so wonderfull a deliverance deserveth and requireth These men may please themselves and feed sweetly upon a vain dreame that there is no harme in all this but the Apostle brings them in a sad reckoning after a sharp chiding for it Rom. 2. 4 5. What saith he Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance The end of all Gods goodnesse in forbearing advancing and giving thee prosperitie and of his long suffering in sparing thee when thou hast abused prosperitie and of all his mercy in delivering thee out of adversitie is to lead thee to repentance to draw thee neerer to Himself even in an everlasting Covenant And if it have not this effect on thee the Apostle hath said it and the God of Heaven will make it good that thou despisest the riches of his goodnesse c. Thou tramplest all mercies under thine impure feet when they do not raise and scrue thee up so neere to thy God as to enter a solemne Covenant with them And what then Thou wilt not stay there but fall into more sinne and under greater judgement and after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath that is more and more wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God This is the end of all who make not the Goodnesse of God a prevailing motive thus to joyne themselves to the Lord they fall into moe and greater sinnes and abominations and so adde daily to that great heape and to those Sea 's of divine wrath that hang over their heads to overwhelme and confound them for ever 2. Others if after some time of lying under the weight of many pressures of the Church and State they arrive at some hopes and opportunities of easing themselves of those burdens and of freeing the Land of the great Instruments of all their evils they conceit strongly that if this be done all is done If but some of the Nimrods who have invaded their Laws and Liberties be pulled down Which is an act of Justice how do the Mâ—ny who do nothing towards any Reformation of themselves rejoyce and promise to themselves great matters Now think they there will be an end of all our miseries and we shall see golden dayes Iudgement shall run down like waters and righteousnesse like a mightie streame Oh Brethren deceive not your selves If this be all you look at if upon opening this doore of hope this be all you ayme at to make use of the time to secure your selves against oppressors and never thinke of closing with God or but thinke of it you may perhaps goâ— farre in pursuit of your owne designes in providing against the evils you sigh under and this Parliament may do great things this way But let me tell you from God that this will never do the deed till the Covenant we have been all this while speaking of be resolved on and solemnly entred into by all those that expect any blessing from that High Assembly Nor this nor all the Parliaments in the world shall ever be able to make in happy in such a degree at least as we expect till the Lord hath even glewed and marryed us all unto himself by mutuall Covenant It is not only the making of good Lawes to remove our present griovances no nor the cutting down of all the evil Instruments in our State or Church at one blow that can secure us against the like yea worse evils for the future but rather as one wave follows another so one mischiefe will still tread on the heeles of another and greater plagues will ever crowd in after the former till we close with God by such a solemne Covenant The people of Palestine or Philistia made themselves marvellous merry when any of the Governours or Kings of Israel or Iudah such as Sampson David Vzziah c. that had sorely yoked and hampered them were removed by death and others come in the roome that could do but little against them When such an one as Ahaz who never wonne battaile of them but still went by the worse swayed the Scepter oh how joyfull were the Philistines But make what a damp God cast in among them in the midst of all their mirth Rejoyce not thou whole Palestina because the rod of him that smote thee is broken that Vzziah and other Potent and successefull Kings are taken away and weake unhappy Ahaz come in the roome for out of the Serpents root shall come forth a Cockatrice and his fruit
God and that with a resolution to enter into Covenant with Him and such a Covenant as should never be forgotten but daily remembred and carefully performed You now see the Context Should I now divide the Text I might shew you here First an Act expressed by their industry in setting upon a long and tedious journey to Zion They shall aske the way to Zion Secondly the manner how they manage this journey it is 1. With all intention of spirit they aske the way to Zion with their faces thitherward 2. With fervent charitie towards and mutuall zeale for each other to quicken and inflame one another to the same work saying Come Thirdly the end of their journey which with so much intention of spirit and inflamed charitie calling and crying to one another in such a manner they set upon all was for this Let us joyne our selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten I might easily also cast out these generals of the Text into many lesser branches but it is not now a time to trifle or to play with a Text Yea I shall not distinctly prosecute all the parts already laid out but as the dutie of this day requireth insist rather upon that which is the maine and bring in the other as subordinate thereunto by occasion afterwards in explication of the principall point For we see troopes in the Text bound for Zion and so hasty thitherward that they salute not any man by the way nor so much as looke aside any way they goe with their faces thitherward all the stay they make is but to call others along with them and amongst these us saying Come And what is the businesse the end of all this hast Nothing but this Let us joyne our selves unto the Lord in an everlasting Covenant c. This however it were last in execution yet was it first in their intention in the undertaking of this journey and therefore now must be principally insisted upon You see here a people loosed from the Babylonish captivitie and returning to Zion and in their returne to have this in their hearts in their mouthes and in their endeavours namely upon the receipt of this mercy to make speed to their God to enter into a new Contract and solemne Covenant with him So that now the chiefe and only point of instruction which I shall recommend to and presse upon you and mine own heart with you is plainly this that When God vouchsafes any deliverance to his Church especially from Babylon then is it most seasonable and most necessary to close with God by a more solemne strict and inviâ—lable Covenant to be his and only his for ever In prosecuting this point wherein I resolve to be plaine and in earnest I shall first shew you the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of it that it is so Next the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} if you will how and in what manner this must be done Thirdly the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the grounds and reasons of it and so proceed to the Application For the first the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that it is so this will appeare 1. More generally upon receipt of any deliverance 2. More specially upon any deliverance from Babylon above all other 1. In generall that this use must be made of any deliverance appeares both by precept and example in holy Scripture We shall carry them along together In Deut. 29. you shall finde Moses requiring the people to enter into a speciall Covenant with God beside the solemne Covenant which he made with them and they with him in Hâ—reb To induce them thereunto Moses tefresheth their memory with the repetition or representation of the many deliverances God had given unto them out of Egypt and in the wildernesse by the space of fortie yeeres together with the wonders and miracles which he daily wrought for them And in the seventh ver. he tels them that when ye came into this place that is into the Land of Moab Sihon the King of Heshbon and Og the King of Bashan came out against us unto battell and we smote them c. What then Here is deliverance upon deliverance and the inference is Keep therefore the words of this Covenant and dâ—e them vers. 9. But that is the Covenant on Gods part you will say True but that is not all He therefore presseth them to an actuall personall Covenant on their parts and that upon consideration of so many deliverances This was his maine businesse with them at the Lords own command Therefore in vers 10. he thus be speaks them Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your Captaines of your tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and thy stranger that is in thy Campe from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water That thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day And in vers. 14. he addeth Neither with you only doe I make this Covenant and this oath but with him that standeth here with â—â— this day before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us this day Thus you see a Covenant required strickâ—n and ratified by solemne Oath of God and his people mutually to one another they binde themselves by solemne Oath to him as he by Oath had bound himselfe to them Thus then it was in the time of Moses No eminent deliverance went before but a solemne Covenant followed after * And To sweare a Covenant is no new device no humane invention nor arbitrary Action I will give you but one instance more among many of this kinde and it is that of Asa that good and religious King of Iudah When Zerah the Ethiopian infested his kingdome with an huge army even 1000000 and 300 Chariots a Chron. 14. Asa falls to praying God heard him they joyned battell Asa obtained the victory and carryed away very much spâ—â—le What was the issue Another Covenant For in Chap. 15. you shall finde that presently upon this God addresseth a Prophet to Asa Azariab the sonne of Oded to tell him and the people The Lord is with you while ye be with him And to encourage them to close with God he addes in vers. 7. Be ye strong therefore and let not your hands be weake for your worke shall be rewarded They must not only worke for God but be strong to his worke and that they might be so there was no way like to that of entring into a Covenant with him For so Asa understood it as appeares by the next words where it is said Asa when he heard these words tooke courage and although he had before done much in purging the Cities of Judah of
Idolatry and Idols of high places Images and groves yet now he goes on to a more thorough reformation and put away the remainder of abominable Idols â—ut of all the Land of Iudah and Bâ—â—jamin and out of the Cities which he had taken from 〈◊〉 Ephraim and renâ—wed the Altar of the Lord for ever where Idols goe up Gods Altars goe downe therefore he pulleth downe the one and setteth up the other And not this alone but he offered â—nto the Lords great sacrifes and both himselfe and his people 〈◊〉 into a Covenant to seeke the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soule that whosoever would not seeke the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman and they firme unto the Lord with a loud voyce and with shouting and with trumpets and with Cornâ—ts And all this immediately upon the deliverance and victory which he had obtained for in vers. 11. it is said expressely that they offered unto the Lord the same time or in that very day of the spoilâ— which they had brought 700. Oxan and 1000. Shâ—â—pâ— meaning of those which they had carryed away from the Ethiopians that came out to battaile against them So that now you see another solemne 〈◊〉 entred into not by Asa alone but by all the people of God â—â— Covenant solemnized in publique by Sacrifiâ—â— by Oâ—th and under the highest penaltie of death it selfe to all that should not observe it In pursuit of which Covenant see what he presently did He spared not his owne Mother that regarded it not For when he perceived that notwithstanding thiâ— Covenant the Queene his Mother 〈◊〉 would needs retaine her puppet Gods still and amongst the rest one abominable Idol in a grove so obscone as it is not fit to be named 〈◊〉 a obseâ—â—â—th that it was Priâ—pâ—â— and conjectureth thencâ— that shâ— was not only a grosse Idolatrosse but an abominable stumpâ—â— b for ordinarily Idolatry and adultery spirituall and bodily fornication goe together c It is said that â—â— removed her from being 〈◊〉 because she had made â—â— Idol 〈◊〉 grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stampâ— iâ— and 〈◊〉 is at the brooke 〈◊〉 vers. 16. Which passâ—gâ— iâ—â—â— prest with an emphasis iâ— 1 King 15. 11. Als◠〈◊〉 his Mother eveâ— Her â—â— removed from being 〈◊〉 Although a Queene although a Mother * yet ever her he deposed from her dignitie This he did and this he must doe not only by reason of that voluntary Covenant into which he had entred but by vertue of the speciall Command of God himselfe in what ever relation she had stood unto him Yea in Deut. 13. 6. the Law was more strict for though she had been neerer than a Mother even the wife of his bâ—some yet if she were an Idolater and should entise him secretly saying Let us goe and serve other Gods she must have been put to death and his own hand must have been first upon her vers. 9. You now see the point proved in the generall that thus it is with Gods people upon any notable deliverance * they enter anew into solemne and strict Covenant with God 2. But more especially ought this to be the care of the Church when God gives her deliverance out of Babylon out of that servitude and bondage which of all other was most heavy and lay longest on her See this in some instances both on Gods part ayming at this in giving deliverance and on his peoples part performing this after deliverance from Babylon On Gods part first This was foreshewed under the similitude of the basket of good figs Jer. 24. 5. There it is said by the Lord the God of Israel Like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carryed away Captive of Iudah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Chaldeans for their good for I will set mine eyes upon them for good and I will bring them againe to this Land c. And in the seventh verse it followeth I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and I will be their God for they shall returne unto me with their whole heart He will give them an heart to know him to returne and become his people which cannot be without a Covenant Againe That this is that which Gods heart is exceedingly set upon and full of namely that he never meant to bring his people backe from Babylon but upon this very condition albeit it was a great while ere it was done and therefore they thrived accordingly as we shall shew anon will yet further appeare by many other passages of the Prophecy of Ieremy to passe by sundry other Prophecies uttered by Isaiah Micah and others In Ier. 30. 18. we shall finde a Prophecy that this should be done and I shall shew by and by that it was afterwards performed Behold saith the Lord I will bring againe the captivitie of Iacobs tents and have mercy on his dwelling places c. and in vers 21. I will cause him to draw neere and he shall approach unto me and then as one assured of it and admiring at it he presently adds for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord That is both Governour and people all of them should binde and engage themselves not their outward man alone but even their very heart and soule also by solemne Covenant to be the Lords That this was the meaning is cleare by the next verse Ye shall be my people and I will be your God For it was such an engaging of their hearts aâ— that out should say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himselfe by the name of Israel Isa. 44. 5. So againe in Ier. 31. the Lord having first promised to bring back the captivitie he subjoynes Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah nor according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I tooke him out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes faith the Lord I will put my Law in their inwâ—rd parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people Here is a Covenant God begins the 〈◊〉 but his people follow They imbrace the Covenant and joyne themselves by mutuall Covenant to him He puts his Law into their hearts for this very purpose Once more In Ier. â—2 â—7 there is a promise that God would gather his people out of all countries whither ther he
delivered of her third sonne Levi thus saith to the women about her Now this time will my husband be joyned * unto me because I have born him three sonnes That is now shall my husband be more arctly united to me in all love and in all demonstrations of it and that in the most free full and intimate way of expression that possibly can passe between those who are coupled together in so neere a relation So then lay both these together and you have a cleare view of this joyning of our selves to the Lord by Covenant He that enters into Covenant with God doth not only bind himself as the needy borrower to the Covetous Vsurer for a time but as the wife to the husband to be wholly his for ever without any reservation limitation or termination till death dissolve the bond As the wife hath interest in the goods estate and person of the husband and all that he hath is hers so by this joyning of our selves to the Lord He becomes ours as well as we become his and both are mutually conjoyned to each other by an indissoluble bond for ever All the power wisdome goodnesse mercy grace glory that the Great God hath to communicate to the creature is now assured and made over to every soule that thus engageth himself unto him And on the other side all the wit strength industry wealth honour friends life and all that this man hath he makes over and resignes up actually totally absolutely and for ever unto the Lord to serve and honour him withall and that with all his heart and with his whole desire to have nothing to do nothing to be nothing but for the Lord though all the world be against him for it This I take to be the full latitude of the Covenant for the Matter of it 2. Touching the forme of this Act of joyning our selves to the Lord it is expressed in the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Covenant A Covenant is nothing else but an agreement or bargaine between two or moe persons and ratified ordinarily by some externall solemnitie or rites that may testifie and declare the agreement and ratifie it whereby it becomes unalterable Therefore it is that among the varietie of ratifications of Covenants mentioned in Scripture still there is somewhat of outward solemnitie reported to have been used at the making of them to strike the bargaine thorough Sometimes they were made by Sacrifice Psal. 50. 5. sometimes by Oath Deut. 29. sometimes by an Oath and a curse Neh. 10. 29. sometimes by subscription of their hands sometimes by sealing it with their seales also Sometimes by all these and by what ever else might most firmely inviolable knit men unto God And as it was then so must it be still To strike a Covenant is not in a private or publique prayer only to goe to God and say Lord I will be thine I here enter into a Covenant with thee be thou a witnesse of it c. but it is to stand and make it publiquely before the Lord by some speciall solemnitie that may witnesse it to all the world as Iosiah * Asa and all the Godly ever did even as in â—n entring into bonds or as in solemnizing of matrimony men use to doe Whether by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by fasting or by ought else whereby they may become so firmely and arctly joyned to the Lord that they may not only be no longer sui jurls to depart away from the Living God but not so much as to sit loose from God or to stand in any termeâ— of indifferency which might leave them at libertie to serve or not to serve God in any dutie how difficult or dangerous soever And thus have you the Substance of the Covenant opened 3. Take we now a short view of the properties of this Covenant and they are two perpetuitie and heedfulnesse 1. It must be an everlasting Covenant in regard of continuance In the Originall it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Covenant of Ages And the 72 Interpreters render it to the same purpose {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is such a Covenant as no time shall terminate till they who make it cease to be Some understand this of engaging themselves to stick close to him in the due celebration of his Legal worship so long as he should continue it in his Church which was till Shiloh came without those mixtures wherein formerly they had been too bold and for which God had spewed them out of his Church and hurled them as farre as Babylon Others conceive it to be meant of the Covenant of Grace that God had sealed to them in the bloud of his Sonne But neither of these are ful For it is clearly meant of an Act of theirs towards God whereby they bind themselves to him and that not for a definite time only but for ever It is such a binding as that of the borrower to the Usurer whom nothing can satisfie but full payment Or rather such a closing with God as is that of the wife to the husband called in particular reference to the nuptiall knot the Covenant of her God Prov. 2. 17. She must be his for ever that is so long as she liveth Rom. 7. So that for men to bind themselves by an everlasting Covenant to the Lord is to bind themselves never to step out from him to Idols to their base lusts to any creature in any strait upon any occasion or tentation whatsoever nor with the dog to returne any more to their vomit of any kind They are in Covenant as the wife to the husband for they are marryed unto the Lord for ever Hos. 2. 2. It must be heeded and minded else it will be to small purpose to be so lasting It must be a Covenant that shall not be forgotten A Covenant quod non tradetur oblivioni as Tremelius well that is that shall not be cast behind their backs It is but a plaine mockery for men so to enter Covenant with God as young Gallants enter into bonds to the Usurer never thinking more of them till the day of payment be past and the Sergeant ready to attach them Vnto the wicked saith God what hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou castest my words behind thee Psal. 50. Only they rightly performe this dutie who so joyne themselves to the Lord as to remember and minde the obligation they have sealed As a poore man that meanes honestly if he be necessitated to take up money upon his bond he can hardly eate walke sleep do any thing be in any company but that still his minde runs upon the obligation and day of payment he complaines he is in debt he hath given bond for so much money and all his care is how to pay his debts or to get longer time so it is with
or sentence You would then think when you come to manage debate vote any Question I am the Lords not mine owne not my friends will this I doe stand with my Covenant will it please God will it be profitable for the State is it agreeable to Justice and equitie Then on with it no man shall divert or take me off But till then one will entreate for his friend another for his one will make you one way another would draw you another way and they are both your friends and you knowe not how to deny either and thus are you even torne in peeces betweene them in so much as you sometimes resolve to be absent or to siâ— still and say nothing or to gratifie him that hath most power with You be the Cause what it will But when once the Covenant is sealed all this will be at an end You will quickly stop your eares against all perswasions that may hinder Justice and Reformation and when this is known men will soone forbeare also to trouble You with such solicitations Againe fourthly Wicked men stick not at a Covenant with death and hell it self so they may but satisfie their Lusts though they know the end thereof will be damnation Oh then shall not we much more make a Covenant with our God to do his will which will be beneficiall and comfortable both here and hereafter and procure a full torrent of his mercies bountie grace and eternall life to flow in upon us 5. Consider that the Devill himself will have a Covenant from all his vassals that expect any extraordinary matters from him else he will not be engaged to be at their Command There is not a Witch that hath the Devill at her beck but she must seale a Covenant to him sometimes with her bloud sometimes by other rites and devices and perhaps he must suck her too as in those hellish bargaines you know they use and then he is for her during the time agreed upon And shall we think God will be so cheap as to be with revenence be it spoken at our Command to help direct assist deliver and save us who will not do so much for him as Witches and Sorcerers will do for the Devill In the 45 of Isay vers. 11. there is a stâ—â—ng expression this way Thus saith the Lord the Holy one of Israel and his Maker aske of mee things to come concerning my sonnes and concerning the work of my hands Command ye mee It is not to be thought that God complementeth with his people but is free and heartie in the expression of what they shall really find him But make it concernes his Sonnes that is those that are truely in Covenant with him This priviledge is for none else So that the way to have God at Command with humilitie be it used is to be his sonnes and daughters by Covenant For to whom it is said I will be their God and they shall be my people to them is it spoken I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almightie 2 Cor. 6. 18. And to them he saith also Command ye me 6. Consider that it is the proper and chiefe businesse of a Fast to enter into Covenant with God You see it to be the practise of the Church in Nehemiah's time And where this hath been omitted the Fast hath been lost God never accounted any of those foure annuall solemne Fasts before mentioned that were so long in use among the Jews to be fasts unto him but calles them fasts to themselves Zach. 7. 5 6. Why but because they looked no further in their Fasts but to afflict their soules for a day to bow down their heads as a bullrush and to spread sack-cloth and ashes under them and there an end But they lost all their labour getting nothing from God but a chiding and contempt And in trueth when will we thus joyne our selves to the Lord if not at a Fast Then are our hearts in more than ordinary tune for such a work when we are brought to set our sinnes before us and humbly to confesse bewaile and renounce them when we have taken some paines with our Soules to soften and melt them before the Lord especially if then they be in any measure raised up towards Him with any apprehension of his love in the pardon of so many and great sinnes even when the Soule is most cast down for them Then I say strike through the Covenant or it will never be If you let slip this opportunitie you may perhaps never obtaine the like while you live but either your selves may be cut off or your hearts shut up in desperate hardnesse like unto Pharoah whom every deliverance and new experience of Gods favour in taking off new evils hardened more and made worse 7. In the last place and let it not have the least force of perswasion remember and consider that this day even this very day the 17. of November 82. yeeres sithence began a new resurrection of this Kingdome from the dead our second happy Reformation of Religion by the auspitious entrance of our late Royal Deborah worthy of eternall remembrance and honour into her blessed and glorious Reigne and that from thenceforth Religion thrived and prospered under her Government with admirable successe against a whole world of oppositions from Popish factors at home and abroad So as the very Gates of hell were never able to extinguish that Light which God by her meanes hath set up amongst us Consider I beseech you that it is not without a speciall Providence that this your meeting was cast upon this very day for I presume little did you think of the 17 of November when you first fixed on this day for your Fast that even from thence one hammer might be borrowed to drive home this nayle of Exhortation that the very memory of so blessed a work begun on this very day might throughly inflame you with desire to enter into a Covenant and so to go forward to perfect that happy Reformation which yet in many parts lyes unpolished and unperfect Oh suffer not that doore of hope by Her set open this day to be again shut for want of a Covenant If you would indeed honour Her precious memory yea honour God and your selves and not only continue the possession of what she as a most glorious Conduit pipe hath transmitted to us but perfect the work set upon this duty of joyning your selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten And so have you the Motives 2. I shall now shut up all with some few Directions to help us in it And here passing by what hath been al ready spoken touching the preparatives to it the Substance of it and the properties required in it I shall only give you these sixe subsequent Directions 1. Give a Bill of divorce to
THE First Sermon PREACHED TO THE HONOVRABLE HOVSE OF COMMONS now assembled in Parliament at their Publique Fast Novemb. 17. 1640. BY CORNELIUS BURGES Doctor of Divinitie Published by Order of that House LONDON Printed by I. L. for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith at the signe of the Golden Lion in Pauls Church-yard 1641. TO THE HONOVRABLE HOVSE OF COMMONS now Assembled in PARLIAMENT WHen first it pleased You to require our service in Preaching at Your late Publike Fast we resolved to close our eyes against all Clouds of discouragement arising from our owne unworthinesse and insufficiency and to set our selves wholly to seek what the Lord would command us to deliver in his Name at such a time to such an Honourable and awfull Assembly with a totall deniall of our selves And albeit we should have beene glad to have beene spared this exposing of our selves to the publike view yet You appointing other wise we hold it equall that the joynt entreaty of the Representative Body of the whole Communalty of the kingdome should be regarded and have chosen rather that others should censure us of weakenesse than You should charge us with Disobedience Your Request being no lesse than a command and Your acceptance sufficient to give value to things of themselves both meane and worthlesse Wherefore according to our Duty so willingly as the consciousnesse of our slender performances would permit we obey Your Order and doe now although somewhat late humbly offer these two plaine Sermons for who expects other in a Fast at the footstoole of Your Tribunall as a lasting Monument of Our Gratitude for Your encouraging Approbation of and solemne Thankes for our weake endeavours in the preaching of them If in some places we have taken that just liberty which all others have done before us we trust it shall not be imputed so long as in the most materiall passages we have kept to the very words which at first wee used so farre as was necessary and have not wittingly swerved an haires bredth from the sense and substance in the residue Wee have indeed pared off some Repetitions which in speaking had their use the more to inculcate and the better to set on the matter but would not have been so gratefull in Writing because Readers account every thing too long that hath any thing too much We have likewise contracted some expressions which in discourses of so much length could hardly be so concise as wee desired Memory being not alwayes at hand to give birth to every Conception of our minds in such formes as wee intended And some few things we have added where straites of time or defect of memory made some balkes in the first delivery What ever our performances be we humbly leave them in Your hands and under Your Honourable Protection which we are bold to expect because they are by Your owne Act drawne from us and that in a time so queasie and distempered as can hardly beare that food or Physik which is needfull for it Seldome doth a wise Reproofe a necessary Exhortation or wholsome Doctrine meet with an obedient Eare The God of Heaven steere all Your weighty consultations by his own Counsell to his owne Glory cover You still under his own Wing and make You the most accomplisht best united most successefull glorious house of Commons that ever sate in that High Court but chiefly in the effectuall endeavouring of a further Sanction of and stronger Guard about our true Palladium the true Religion already established among us in the perfecting of the Reformation of it in the erecting maintaining protecting and incouraging of anable godly faithfull zealous profitable Preaching Ministery in every Parish Church and Chappell throughout England and Wales and in the interceding to the Kings sacred Majesty for the setting up of a Faithfull Iudicious and Zealous Magistracy where yet the same is wanting to bee ever at hand to back such a Ministery without either of which not only the power of Godlinesse will soone degenerate into formality and zeale into Lukewarmenesse but Popery Arminianisme Socinianisme Prophanenesse Apostacy and Atheisme it selfe will more and more croud in upon us and prevaile against us doe You all You can by all other meanes And now commending You to God and to the Word of his grace which is able to build You up further and to give You an inheritance among all them which bee sanctified and these our Labours to his further blessing whereby all may speedily be brought under the line of his Covenant which is our safety that hee may continue with us which is our Glory and wee with him which is our happinesse we rest Yours most devoted to the service of Your Faith in all Dutie Cornelius Burges Stephen Marshall The Preface used in Preaching before the Text was read THat great Apostle Saint Paul when he had to doe with wise men held it a point of wisdome to passe by some things which he would not have wayved among meaner capacities His practise shall be now my president This honourable Assembly having designed me to beare so great a share in this weightie Worke I hold it my dutie to consider that how weake and unworthy so ever I my selfe be yet I am now to speake to Wise Men who need not so much to be Catechised touching the Nature as to be incited and quickned to the principall Use of a Religious Fast which consisteth not solely in such drawing neere to God by extraordinary Prayer and Humiliation as may produce a totall divorce from our deerest Lusts but also and that more principally in a particular formall solemne entire engaging and binding of our selves by an indissoluble Covenant to that God whose face and favour we seeke and implore And this I apprehend to be a subject more necessary by how much this dutie appeares to be lesse heeded and regarded by the greater number of the choycest Christians For as it too often falls out even among the best in participating that sacred and dreadfull Ordinance of the Lords Supper whereof also we are shortly to communicate that moe labour more to discerne and feed upon his blessed Body and Bloud spiritually by faith to make Christ their owne which must be done too than actually totally and absolutely then to devote resigne and yeeld up themselves unto him in the act of receiving to be his servants So it doth not seldome happen in the exercise of holy Fasting that not a few of that small handfull which desire to approach the presence of God in trueth are more conversant in searching confessing bewailing of sinne and in craving of mercy all of which are necessary duties than in working up their hearts to that indispensable pitch of heavenly resolution sincerely to strike through a religious and inviolable Covenant with their God Whereas without this all their labour will be utterly lost their expectations frustrate they take the glorious Name of God in vaine
provoke the eyes of his Glory more against them causing him infinitely to loath and abominate both their persons and service nor shall they ever by all their crying and sighing no not by whole rivers of teares be able to draw down an arme of Mercy from Heaven to come and save them The more effectually therefore to provoke both my selfe and you at this time to the due performance of this most neglected but most necessary dutie I have thought fit in a very plaine and familiar way sutable to the nature of this exercise which ought to be as serious as solemne to worke and chafe into all our hearts the strength and spirit of that good Word of God which you shall finde written for our instruction in Jer. 50. 5. They shall aske the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyne our selves unto the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten WHich words are part of a Prophecie terrible to Babylon but comfortable to the Church uttered and penned by the Prophet Ieremy about the fourth yeere both of the Babylonish captivitie and of the tributary reigne of Zedekiah The occasion this The Prophet having laboured about thirtie yeers to humble Judah by continually ringing in her eares the dolefull tydings of a sore captivitie approaching could not be beleeved But when once the quick and sad sense of their bondage under the Chaldean yoke had forced from them an acknowledgement of the truth of his prophecies he found it as hard a taske to worke their hearts to any hope of deliverance For as it is a worke even insuperable to possesse a people ripe for destruction that any evill is neere them till the wrath of God breake in upon them and overwhelme them so is it a businesse of little lesse difficultie to hold up the spirits even of Gods owne people once cast under any great extreamitie with any hope of rescue This was Iudah's case Before the Babylonian had laid this yoke on their necks God had plainly revealed and often inculcated that it should lye upon them just 70. yeeres and no longer after which they should have libertie of returne to their owne Land againe Howbeit the weight of their misery the absence of God who had cast them out of his sight together with the insolence and crueltie of their proud oppressors had throwne them downe so low in a disconsolate condition that nothing which God could either now say or doe was sufficient to raise up their hearts to any assurance of returne The same strength which Lust hath to draw men from obedience it will surely have afterwards to drive men from beleeving in their greatest necessities of living by faith The maine beame which stucke in their eyes to hinder ther sight of deliverance promised was the greatnesse and invincible potency of the Chaldean Monarchy then in her pride and more especially the strength of Babylon the Queene and Mistresse of that puissant Empire How could they hope to be delivered when she that commanded the world detained them Shall the prey be taken from the Mightie or the lawfull captive delivered To cure them therefore of this desperate desponsion of minde the Lord stirred up this Prophet to foretell the totall and finall subversion and ruine of Babylon and of that whole Monarchy and further to declare from God that the desolation thereof should be the dissolution of the captivitie of Iudah in it The better to assure them of all this Ieremiah wrote the whole Prophecy against Babylon contained in this Chapter and the next following in a Book by it self which he sent to Babylon by the hand of Scraiah Lord Chamberlaine to Zedekiah and now going in an Embassie from his Master to Great Nebuchadnezzar with Command from the Prophet that after the reading thereof to the captives he should binde a stone unto it and cast it into the midst of Euphrates with this saying pronounced over it Thus shall Babylon sinke and shall not rise c. But to hasten to my Text In the five first verses of this Chapter the Prophet summarily compriseth the substance of his whole Prophecy against Babylon declaring 1. her destruction 2. the Meanes 3. the consequent thereof to the people of God And first he makes Proclamation and an Olyes as it were to all the world to come and behold the Great Worke he was to doe against Babylon the chiefe Citie of the Empire against Bell the chiefe Idol of that Citie and against Merodach the glory both of that Citie and Empire yea though the King then reigning when God meant to destroy it should prove as potent as that great King the first of that name who for restoring the declining Empire to her ancient Splendor and for translating the Imperiall Seat from Nineve to Babylon was by posteritie worshipped as a God and transferred his name to all his successors as the name of Pharaoh to the Egyptian Kings of Benhadad to the Syrian Monarchs and of Augustus to the Romane Emperours Although all these should be joyned together to withstand the downfall of that Monarchy yet desolation should be brought over them all they should all be confounded and removed for ever Vers 1 2. and all to make way for the deliverance of the Church But what should be the meanes of such an unexpected destruction This was to be done by an Army from the North that is by the Medes and Persians both of which but more especially the Medes were situated towards the North from Babylon and therefore ominous That these were the men appeares more fully by their description in the residue of this and of the 51. Chapter This Northern Army should be the confusion of Babylon the confusion of Babylon should prove the restoring of the Church vers. 3. And the restoring of the Church should produce a Covenant with God For behold the issue and consequent of the ruine of Babylon was the return of the captive Jews from thence to Jerusalem and a renewing Covenant with him that had shewed such mercy on them vers. 4 5. For in those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Iudah together going and weeping they shall goe and seek the Lord their God They shall aske the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyne our selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten This began to be fulfilled at the end of 70. yeeres determined when the Empire was first over-run and subdued by Cyrus the Persian For he made Proclamation of libertie to returne in the first yeere of his reigne And when they returned this was their deportment they went weeping and to seeke the Lord their God They goe not so much to repossesse their ancient patrimony and inheritance and to grow rich in the world as to seeke and finde the Lord their
his willingnesse to be in Covenant and to be first in it as by deliverances as we shall see more in the next reason great reason therefore men should then second him by mutuall stipulation It is an hard case when men will not follow where God leades 3. In deliverances God more especially manifesteth his fidelity in keeping Covenant with his people even when they have broken Covenant with him and forfeited all into his hands When God delivers a people out of any straite doth not that usually suppose some folly of theirs going before provoking him to cast them into that affliction whence upon their cry he is pleased to deliver them And when they have so farre and so long broken the Lawes and contemned the Counsel of the most high and dealt unfaithfully in his Covenant as that he hath bin even compelled to throw them into darknesse and the shadow of death yet if then upon their humiliation he be pleased to deliver them out of all their distresses this is to give them fresh experience of his infinite love in Keeping Covenant and mercy with them that kept no Covenant with him This is called a remembring of his Covenant with his people after that their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and that they accept of the punishment of their iniquity when God should have cast them out of their land among their enemies as afterward he did So that in a deliverance that which is most predominant in God and should be most sweet and pretious to his people and most eyed by them is his fidelity mercy and unchangeable Love in bringing out that Covenant he once made with them and spreading it before himselfe and making of it good even when they could not exspect it nor durst to plead it Hence that passionate speech of God to rebellious Ephraim Is Ephraim my deare sonne is he a pleasant child As if he should have said surely he cannot conclude so yet my love by vertue of the ancient Covenant betwen us makes me still so to account him witnesse that which followes for since I spake against him that is as resolving to cast him off for ever I remember him still I remember I am in Covenant with him therefore my bowels are troubled for him I wil surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Thus deliverance is a thread drawne out of the bowells of his Covenant Great reason therefore that in this case his people should think of renewing their league and Covenant with the Lord on their parts when they have so shamefully broken it and yet he goes on in so much mercy to manifest his fidelity in remembring and keeping the Couenant on his part by giving them deliverance Againe fourthly and lastly All our hopes of a full deliverance of complete happinesse will be delayed if not frustrate and the next deliverance will stick in the birth and want strength to bring forth if we come not up to a Covenant for deliverances already received If God have delivered us once he will do it no more or if he do somewhat to hold us up by the chin that we sink not yet will he hold us down from the throne that we reigne not till we come up actually and fully in this point of Covenanting with him It is only to those that take hold of his Covenant that he gives an everlasting name which shalt not be cut off Isay 56. 4 5. He that hath obtained most and greatest deliverances will ere long stand in need of more Now one thing is necessary to draw down more and to moue God to command further deliverances for Iacob yea to powre out his whole bosome into the laps of his people and to crowne all deliverances and blessings receiued with this assurance that he that hath delivered will yet again deliver and that is to enter into a solemnâ— Covenant with the Lord upon consideration of what he hath done already how ever he should please to deale with us for the future or for removing any present pressures that lye upon us Although God begin to deliver yet he will never perfect the deliverance till this be done The people which returned from Babylon found God to keep touch with them to a day So soone as the 70. yeeres determined their captivitie was dissolved and somewhat was done the foundation of the Lords house was laid but the building went slowly up the reformation of Church and State went heavily on and they were never in a thriving condition till Nehemiah by the good hand of God lighted upon this course Some Fasts they had kept before yea very many but they never thrived till he added to their publique and solemne Fasting the fastening of them to God by a solemâ—â— Covenant Then the worke of Reformation and establishment went on merrily then they prospered Thus farre the Reasons concluding for a Covenant upon receit of deliverances in generall 2. The Reasons inducing us thereunto upon deliverance from Babylon in particular are these 1. Because Babylon after once the Church was put under her power had alwayes been the most insolent heavy bitter bloudy enemy that ever the Church fâ—lt The violence of Babylon was unsupportable her insolency intolerable her bloud-thirstinesse insatiable Hence the Church is bold to challenge all the world to match her misery under the yoke of Babylon Behold and see if there be any sorrow like â—nto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me that is by the heavy hand of Babylon in the day of his fiâ—rce wrath Lam. 1. â—â— This was sosore that it hath been by some Fathers and others conceived to be the fullest and most lively typicall expression of that matchlesse agony and extremitie which our Lord himselfe hanging upon the Crosse sustained when he bare all our sinnes and the wrath of God due to us for them so farre as to make a full satisfaction to the Justice of his Father in behalfe of all his people And as it was with old Babylon so it is and ever will be with the new I meane mysticall Babylon to the end of the world might she so long continue Even she also delights in no other drink but the bloud of the Saints as you shall finde in Rev. 17. 5. where the very name written upon her forehead sufficiently sets out her nature Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of harlâ—ts and abominations of the earth And what of her I saw saith Saint Iohn the woman drunken with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus and when I saw her I wondred with great admiration vers. 6. And well he might A woman and drunk And if drunk would no liquor suffice but bloud no bloud but that of Saints and Martyrs She is never in her element but when she is swimming in bloud So insatiable is she that like the horse-leeches daughter she never saith it is enough Therefore when God
gives any deliverance from thence there is more than ordinary cause to close with the Lord in a more solemne and extraordinary manner giving him the praise and glory of so great a mercy But then more especially when God works out the full deliverance of his Church by the totall and finall ruine of Babylon Oh then then is the time when all the people in heaven must sing Hallelujah ascribing salvation and honour and power unto the Lord our God Revel. 19. 1. And againe Hallelujah vers. 3. as if they could never sufficiently expresse themselves to God for such a deliverance such a mercy such a vengeance 2. Againe When God delivereth from Babylon there is more than ordinary cause of entring into solemne Covenant with him because the very subjecting of the Godly under that iron yoke argues more than ordinary breach of Covenant with the Lord in time past which stirred him up to deale so sharply with them as to put them under the power of Babylon The Provocation was exceeding great too much to be endured even by infinite Patience it selfe else the People of God had never been cast into such a furnace It was for such a fault as dissolved the very marriage knot between God and his people it was for going a whoring from him For this it was that God first put away Israel giving her a Bill of divorce Ier. 3. 8. And for this it was that he afterwards cast Iudah also out of his sight 2 King 17. 19 20. And as it was in former times so in later Ages of the world What was the reason that so many millions of soules have been exposed to the butchery of Antichrist in Mysticall Babylon and to be so hood-winckt and blinded by strong delusions as to beleeve nothing but lyes even that Great Great soul-killing Lye that they might be damned Saint Paul tells us it was this They received not the love of the trueth that they might be saved but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2 Thess. 2. What unrighteousnesse Is it meant of every unrighteousnesse that is in the nature of it damnable which is to be found in the world Surely no but signanter of that unrighteousnesse whereby men turned the truth of God into a lye Rom. 1. that is by corrupting the true worship of the true God and afterwards falling off to down-right Idolatry even within the pales of the Church it self Most of you are well seene in the History of the Church and can soone point with your finger to the times wherein Babylon began to besiege Hierusalem and Antichrist began to pull of his vizzard in the Churches of Christ even then when Pictures and Images began first to be set up in Churches for remembrance then for ornament then for instruction too and at last for adoration and worship Then God suffered her to be over-run and over-spred by Babylon as by an hideous opacum or thick darknesse and to be exposed and prostituted to all manner of whoredomes and filthinesse so as the slavery of the Jewish Church in old Babylon was scarce a flea-biting in comparison of the miseries of the Church Christian under the New which makes havock and merchandise not of the bodies only but even of the soules of men Revel. 18. 13. Now then when God pleaseth to deliver a people from such bondage and to awaken them effectually to look up and to reflect even with astomishment upon those great and gastly sins of theirs which had cut asunder the cords of the Covenant between God and their Soules and provoked God to subject them to so much bondage and that they must either renew Covenant or be obnoxious to more wrath and be laid open to more and greater temptations and sins this cannot but exceedingly work upon their souls causing their hearts to melt and their very bowels to yearne after the Lord to enter into a new an everlasting Covenant that shall never be forgotten This is that which God by his servant Ezekiel spake touching the deportment of the remnant of Israel which should escape the sword among the nations and countries whither they had been carryed captives Ezek. 6. 9. They should upon such a deliverance remember God not only with griefe but resolution also to joyne themselves to him more firmely in a perpetuall Covenant For of them he saith there they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me and with their eyes which goe a whoring after their idols and they shall loth themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations And of the same people he saith afterwards * that upon their returne home They shall take away all the detestable things and all the abominations thereof from thence And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh that they they may walke in my Statutes and keep mine ordinances and doe them and they shall be my people and I will be their God So that here is a full Covenant striken and that upon this ground viz. the Consideration of those great sinnes they formerly committed whereby they had broken their first Covenant and departed from their God So farre the Reasons and Grounds of the point I shall now as breifly as I can endeavour to bring home and set on all by some Application which I shall reduce to 3. heads namely to matter of Reproofe Information and Exhortation For if When God vouchsafeth any deliverance to his people especially from Babylon it be most seasonable and necessary to close with him by a more solemne firme and inviolable Covenant to be onely his forever Then 1. How may this reprove and condemne of great ingratitude and folly many sorts of men among us that are farre from making any such use of the deliverances which God hath wrought for them O beloved Should I but give yóu a Catalogue of the many great stupendious and even miraculous deliverances which God hath given us the personall deliverances he hath often given to each of us apart the publique eminent glorious deliverances he hath given to us together with the whole State that in 88. and that of 1605. I meane from the horrid hellish Gun-powder-Treason but especially and above all the rest our happy deliverance out of Babylon by the blessed Reformation of Religion begun amongst us some good number of yeeres by past the time would faile me But alas What use have we made of them Hath this use ever been so much as thought of by us Nay verily For 1. Some thinke it bootlesse thus to close in with God after an evill is over When Gods hand is heavy upon them sense of smart compels them to thinke it then a fit season to do somewhat to confesse their sins to humble themselves and
shall be a siery flying serpent Ahaz shall leave an Hezekiah behind him that shall pay all his Fathers debts upon the Philistines and plague them yet more than all that went before him And have not we seen this verified also neerer home Have not some in former times been taken away who have been great Oppressors and Instruments of many sore pressures And how have men rejoyced at their falls Nor know I why they should not if Justice in a just way have cut them off But alas what Good in the issue hath followed or can be yet hoped for so long as men continue Philistines enemies to God his Church Anti-Covenanters even with Hell rather than true Covenanters with God Whether is our Condition any what better now than heretofore when those Leviathans were alive and in their height I appeale to your selves And the reason of all is this that men mistake the meanes of Cure or at least fall short of it The cutting off of evill Doers how necessary soever it be is not all nor the maine requisite to make a people happy unlesse also there be a thorough joyning of themselves to God by Covenant If you therefore that be now convened in Parliament should si so long as you desire even these 7 yeares if your businesse should require it and think you would make such Examples of men that have violated the Lawes and invaded your Liberties and enact so many wholesome Lawes to prevent the like presumptions for the future as should put us into a new world causing men to admire the happy state and frame of Government which you would set up yet all this would never produce the expected effect but prove as a meer dreame of an hungry man who in his dreame eateth aboundantly but when he awakes is empty unlesse you also not onely resolve upon but execute this maine duty of entring Covenant with your God Againe thirdly others can roare like beares and mourn sore like doves when they find themselves disappointed of their hopes when Parliaments have been broken up in discontent when they have looked for Iudgment and there is none for salvation but it hath bin farre from them then they have howled like dragons not onely for afflictions but perhaps for sinnes also especially if deliverance upon deliverance hath been snatcht from them even when it hath seemed so neer that they had begun to take possession of it yet silly men that they are their evills haunt them still and prevaile more and more after all their fastings humblings and strong cryes to God their Redeemer For alas what will all this doe without a Covenant without taking hold of God and joyning themselves to him to be his for ever you may see such a State of the Church as this described by Isaiah good were it for us to take warning by it We all doe fade as a leafe and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away And why all this The next words will tell you there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himselfe to take hold of thee say they to the Lord who had hid his face from them and consumed them for their sinnes Not that they did not at all call upon God but because they did not so call upon him as to stirre up themselves to take hold of him by Covenant therefore is it accounted no better than a not calling upon him at all Thus men lose not onely their opportunities of deliverances offered but their duties also by which they desire to further it against another time 4. Some it may be goe yet further Vpon the hearing of such a duty so much pressed and inculcated they begin to be a little stirred they are convinced that it is is indeed true such a Covenant is fit to be made but here like Ephraim an unwise sonne they stand still at the breaking forth of the Children of the Covenant They faine would but loth they be to go thorough with the bargaine They begin to come on and then fall back againe They are so long a cheapning treating complementing disputing how safe it may be for them how well it may stand with their profits projects ends interests relations that they coole againe never come up to a full resolution Oh sayes one this is a good course and sit to be taken but my engagements callings Alliance company service will not consist with it Another sweares he could find in his heart to make triall of it but that he should be jeered scorned and perhaps lose his place or hopes for it another he is for it but at present he cannot enter upon it Thus one thing or other still keepes this duty without doores and holds most men off from the worke for ever But beloved take heed of this dallying What ever you think it is no better than a departing away from the living God that springs from an evill heart of unbeleife when being fully convinced of the weight necessity and commodity of the duty you will yet while it is called to day adventure so farre to harden your hearts as not to set upon the work instantly and to go thorough with it Heb. 3. Woe unto all such dodging Christians they shall find to their cost that God will write them Lo-ammi Hos. 1. 9. and pronounce of them They are not my people and I am not their God If any think what adoe is here what meanes this man to be so earnest would he have us all turne Covenanters yes with God Why what if I doe not Then never looke for good from him how faire soever thy hopes be No sayes another I le try that sure I have seene many a good day in my time and hope to see more though I never swallow this doctrine therefore he resolves to goe hence as he came hither as he lived yesterday so he will to morrow though this day he doe as his neighbours doe keeping some order much against the will of his base lusts that ring him but an harsh peale in his eare for this little abstinence yet tomorrow he will be for his swearing drinking whoring any excesse and riot as much as ever and yet by grace of God he hopes to prove all these words to be but wind and to doe as well as the best of them all when he comes to die But woe worth the day that ever such a man was born that when he heares God calling him with so much importunity to stand even this very day before the Lord to enter into Covenant with the Lord his God and into his Oath shall so harden his neck and harbour such a roote of gall and worme wood within his heart as when he heares the words of the Curse upon all those that will not enter into Covenant or entring into it shall not keep it he shall blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walke in the
resolves and sets upon a more thorough Reformation of all these but could never effect it till beside the proclaiming and holding of a publique Fast he and all the people lighted upon this course namely of entring into a publique and solemne Covenant with the Lord subscribed sealed and sworne unto as before you have heard and so from that time forward the worke prospered and the Church was purged of many abominations wherewith till that time she was defiled Behold here Quantae molis erat dilectam condere Gentem how great a work how long a businesse to perfect a Reformation even of Gods deerest people Their captivitie in Babylon lasted not halfe so long time as was spent after their returne thence ere their Reformation could be brought to any to lerable perfection And why so Did they omit prayer and fasting and seeking early after God surely no For in Zach. 8. 19. we read of foure severall publique Fasts * The fast of the fourth moneth the fast of the fifth moneth the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth moneth which they held not only by all the time of the 70 yeeres captivitie in Babylon but many yeeres after their return thence Zach. 7. 3. and vers. 5. But all this labour was in great part lost for want of this addition to all their humiliation and prayer namely The joyning of themselves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant not to be forgotten And when God once directed Nehemiah to this course see how all things began to thrive and come on a maine Now not only the Temple but even the walls of Hierusalem were built up and that within one twelve yeeres after this Covenant was smitten which before lay wast many scores of yeeres Let us now reflect upon our selves and the State of Religion and progresse of Reformation in our owne Church that we may make up the Parallel Some beginnings of our deliverance from Babylon we received by King Henry the eighth For he threw out the Pope His sonne King Edward the sixth came after and cast out Popery in the body and bulke of it A great work and a large step for the short time of his infant reigne And indeed he had many excellent helps that way beside the zeale of his own pious heart an Excellent Archbishop a Prudent and vigilant Protector beside others else he could never have done so much Notwithstanding the potency and secret under-minings of those mightie Factions then prevailing hindred the work not a little so that it exceeded not an inlant-Reformation yea through the immature death of that Iosiah it soone prov'd abortive The Princesse that came after quickly turn'd the Tide before it was half high water and she set all the Gates wide open againe both for Pope and Popery to re-enter with triumph and to drink drunk of the bloud of our Ancestors till God discharged her and released his people from her crueltie So that when Queene Elizabeth that glorious Debâ—rah moâ—uted the Throne although her heart was upright and loathed the Idolatry of the former Reigne yet found she worke enough to restore any thing at all and to make any beginnings of a Reformation She soone felt when she would have throughly pluckt up Popery both root and branch superfluous Ceremonies and all remaining raggs of superstition as well as grosse Idolatry that she had to do with an Hydra having such a strong partie of stout Popelings to grapple with at home and such potent and dangerous abetters of them to cope withall abroad I need not name them I might adde hereunto some difficulties arising from the interests and engagements of not a few of those though good and holy men that underwent voluntary exile in the heat of the Marian persecution who while they were abroad had a large share in the troubles at Franckford too eagerly perhaps pursuing the English Formes of Worship and Discipline and so when upon their returne they were advanced to places of Dignitie and Government in this Church they were the more apt and forward to maintaine and hold up that Cause wherein they had so farre appeared and for which some of them with more heat than Charitie had so openly declared themselves in forreine parts And so what by one impediment and what by another we see it hath been a long time ere our Reformation can be thoroughly polished and perfected as were to be wished and desired for there is nothing so perfect here but is capable of more perfection Nay so farre are we become now from going forward with the work notwithstanding the pietie and care of our Princes since the last Restitution of Religion in this Kingdome that as it was in Iosiahs time though his own heart were for God yet there was a pack of rotten men both Priests and People very great pretenders to Devotion but indeed mad upon Images and Idols we begin to fall quite back again and not only to coast anew upon the brinks of Babylon from whence we were happily delivered but even to launch â—ut into her deepest Lakes of superstition and Idolatrâ— under pretence of some extraordinary pietie of the times and of some good work in hand What is the reason of all this but that not so much as once since the first beginning of Reformation of Religion in this Island we never for ought I know entred into such a solemn publique universall Covenant to be the Lords as he requireth for those beginnings already given us but have sate loose from God and so have not joyned together as one man zealously to propugne his trueth and Ordinances and to stand by him and his Cause as becomes the people of God in all just and warrantable wayes against all opposers and gain-sayers So long as we please our selves in this libertie of our holding off from a Covenant with God we may feed our selves with vaine hopes of redresse of things amisse but shall speed no better than those libertines and back-sliders in Ier. 14. who lookt for great matters from God but came short of all and then seemed to wonder at the reason For thus they bespeake him ver. 8. O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the Land and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry onely for a night Why shouldst thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name See here how they are put to it They acknowledge his Power Goodnesse Presence yet they are not saved He seemes to be like Sampson with his Locks cut off as if he were not able to save or would not do it and this they wonder and stand amazed at as a thing incredible and impossible But God makes them a short and sharp answer which may also serve us vers. 10. Thus saith the Lord have they loved
to â—ander they have not refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them If God be as a wayfaring man sometimes with a people more often gone from them sometimes blessing sometimes crossing them and suffering them to fall under heavy pressures and never keeps an even and setled station or course of proceeding with them it is but that he hath learnt from themselves as I may so speake they will be their own men they will not be tyed to him so strictly they will have some libertie for their lusts for the world for the devill for any thing and loe here is the fruit of it God will not be bound to nor walke with them he will not draw out that strength that goodnesse that compassion which might deliver them from the evils they howle under He will neither heare them nor any body else for them not Ieremy himself vers. 11. not Noah Daniel and Iob Ezek. 14. Nothing therefore but a more solemne and strict Covenant with God will put us into a posture and condition capable of perfect redresse of our grievances how faire so ever either now or hereafter we may seeme to be for it This is the second use Thirdly suffer I beseech you a few words of Exhortation The returning Iewes you see call upon all their Nation to enter into Covenant Give me leave then to call upon You the Representative Body of this whole Kingdome who stand here before the Lord this day to humble your soules and let me also prevaile with you all to joyne your selves even this day to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten Make this day a day in deed a day of Covenanting with God and God shall Covenant with you and make it the beginning of more happines than ever you yet enjoyed Beloved mistake me not my meaning extends not to engage you in any Civill Covenant and Bond for defence of your Municipall Lawes and Liberties No doubt you will be able to find meanes enow by the blessing of God to setle those things in a legall way especially if you be carefull to Covenant with God Much lesse is it my purpose to draw you into that late Ecclesiasticall Oath and Covenant enjoyned by the late Canon which in my apprehension is little lesse than a Combination and Conspiracy against both King and State My businesse is meerly to perswade you into a Religious Covenant with God as himselfe hath prescribed and commanded and his people in the best times of Reformation have readily admitted namely every man to stirre up himself to lift up his Soule to take hold of God to be glued and united to him in all faithfulnesse sincerity care and diligence to be onely his for ever This if we doe we need not care much for other Covenants God will provide for that and make a league for us even with the beasts of the field and with the stones of the street he will make our Exactors peace and our Officers righteousnesse violence shall no more be heard in the Land nor wasting nor destruction within our borders our very walls shall be salvation and our Gates praise He will be a God of Covenants and take care for our estates Lawes liberties lives children and all that belong to us when once this is done Therefore I beseech you yea I require you in the name of the God of heaven whose you are whom you serve before whom you stand and from whom you expect salvation in the midst of the Earth as well as in heaven that you forthwith enter into this bond Expect no assistance no successe in any of your Consultations in any Lawes that you agree upon till you have fully brought your hearts to this point to follow the Lord fully to be no more for your selves than you would have the dearest wife of your bosome to be for any other man in the world but to be wholly for the Lord to imploy and improve all your wit abilities industry Counsells actions estate honour and lives to promote his service and honour what ever become of your selves and yours for doing of it Say not as some Jeerers of whom it is hard to judge whether their malice or ignorance be the greater doe that there needes no more Covenants than what we made in Baptisme and that all other Covenants savour strongly of fâ—ction and the Puritan Leaven For so Gods people of old made a Covenant by Circumcision and after by Sacrifice that is in every sacrifice which they offered they did renew their Covenant begun in Circumcision Neverthelesse God thought it necessary often to call them out to strike another solemn Covenant with him besides the former You have already heard that so soone as the Israelites were gone out of Egypt entred a little way in the wildernesse he put them upon a Covenant When he brought them neer to Canaan he required another solemne Covenant of them And when Ioshuah had brought them into Canaan and divided to each of them the lot of his inheritance he drew them into another solemne Covenant Iosh. 24. So that here was Covenant upon Covenant and yet can no man without blasphemy charge it with any Puritan humour faction or any thing superfluous or uncomely for the Greatest on earth to submit unto That I may a little more enforce this duty and quicken you to the imbracing of it give me leave to present you with some Motives further to presse you to it and with some few Directions to guide you in it 1. For Motives Consider 1. how many great admirable and even miraculous deliverances God hath given us What great things he hath done for us No Nation under heaven can say more to his praise in this kind than we have cause to do Our Great deliverances out of Babylon from the Spanish Invasion from the Gun-powder Treason and from many other evils and feares do all call upon you for a Covenant Yea even the present Mercy and Opportunitie of opening that Ancient Regular and Approved Way of cure of those publique evils that threaten confusion and desolation to all pleades hard for the same dutie But among all these I desire You of that Great and honourable Body of the Parliament to reflect sadly upon that Stupendious Deliverance from the Gun-powder Treason which more especially and immediately was bent against You. For albeit the ruine of the whole Kingdome was in their Eye who were the Cursed instruments of Antichrist and of the Devill his Father in that hellish Designe yet no blow could have come at us but through Your sides And albeit some of You that have the honour to be members of this present Parliament were then unborn yet had that Plot taken effect scarce any of You had been this day â—â— being to have sate there now but had long since been covered and buryed under the ashes of confusion Thinke now whether
a Godly man that hath entred Covenant with the Lord he hath sealed a bond and he knows it must be satisfied or it will be put in suit Therefore he beares it in minde he is alwayes casting about how he may performe and keep touch with God I will never forget thy precepts saith David I have inclined mine heart to performe thy Statutes alwayes even unto the end Psal. 119. 112. This is one expression Againe It is a Covenant to be remembred as that of the wife whereby she stands bound to her husband she must ever remember it It is the note of an harlot to forget the Covenant of her God The chaste wife will so remember the marriage bond that if she be solicited to unfaithfulnesse to uncleannesse c. she ever hath this in her thoughts that she hath given her self wholly away to an husband and is bound to keep her only unto him during life this makes her to be even an impregnable wall against all assaults that might otherwise draw her to folly So must it be in the case in hand The Covenant must still be in the heart and in the memory In every action of a mans life in every passage and turning of his estate and condition in every designe or engagement this must not be forgotten viz. I have entred into Covenant with God as a wife with her husband will that I am now doing or going about stand with my Covenant Is this to performe Covenant with God c. If he be solicited to uncleannesse to fraud oppression any evill whatsoever this still runs in his minde There is a Covenant between me and the Lord I am bound from such courses by the strongest bonds How then can I commit this great wickednesse and sinne against God What was it for which Iudah and Israel became Captives but the breach of the Covenant They kept not the Covenant of God saith the Psalmist And how so Because they did not remember it As they soone forgot his workes so it was not long ere they forgot God their Saviour himselfe too and then no marvaile if at the next boâ—t they forgot his Covenant also Psal. 106. He then that would not breake Covenant must not forget it but mind and performe it Otherwise it is like vowing unto God and not paying which is worse than not to vow at all Thus have I dispatcht the Second generall the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and shewed you how and in what manner this Covenant must be striken first in regard of the disposition and preparation of the Soule unto it it must be with serious seeking the face of God humbling the soule before hand it must be with all intention earnestnes with fervent Love and charity to draw others the same way Next in regard of the Covenant it self it must be an act firm joyning and binding our selves the Lord as of the borrower to the Lender of the wife to the husband and that by some solemne Act which may testifie it to all the world and be a witnesse against us if we keep it not And all this thirdly for properties must be of everlasting continuance and had in continuall remembrance so as it may be continually performed of all that make it 3. I proceed to the third and last branch the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Grounds and reasons why upon receit of any deliverance but more especially from Babylon people should enter into such a covenant with God And these respect deliverances either in generall or from Babylon in speciall 1. The reasons why this must be done upon any deliverance in generall are these 1. Because God at no time so much as when he bestowes upon his people some notable deliverance gives such cleere hints and demonstrations of his willingnesse to strike an everlasting Covenant with them No sooner had the Lord delivered Israel out of Egypt but within 3. Moneths after he commanded Moses to tell the people from him Ye have seene what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on Eagles wings and brought you out unto my selfe Now therefore if ye will obey my voyce and keep my Covenant then yee shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people Exod. 19. 1. and verse 4 5. God himselfe you see was now earnest for a Covenant It is the nature of God where he bestowes one benefit to adde moe and still to rise in his blessings Where he once opens his hand to take a people into his protection he opens his heart to take them into his bosome Where he puts forth his power to rescue a people he puts out his heart to make them his owne if then they have eyes to discerne the opportunity See this most excellently demonstrated Ier. 32. from ver. 37. to the 42. His gathering them from their Captivity first warmes then melts and after inflames his heart towards them making it even then to glow as it were upon them to become restlesse till he have bestowed himselfe wholly on them by solemne Covenant to be their God for ever Now then shall God at such a time be so willing and desirous to enter Covenant with men and shall they think it too much for them to be in Covenant with him Shall he be fast bound to them and they left free to sit loose from him Indeed this is that which our corrupt nature would willingly have People would faine be their owne men which yet in truth is to be the greatest slaves Necessary therefore it is for men upon receit of any deliverance to renew Covenant with God who is pleased to honour them so farre as to be in Covenant with them For these two are relatives and ever goe together I will be their God and they shall be my people God is not the God of any people but of his owne Covenant-Servants The rest he stiles Lo-ammi Hos. 1. 9. for yee are not my people saith he and I will not be your God They will not enter into Covenant with me and I will make no Covenant with them That is the first reason 2. As God is pleased to enter into Covenant with his people so is he first in the Covenant God requires no man to bind himself by Covenant to Him till the Lord first strike a Covenant with his Soule As we love him because he loved us first so we enter into Covenant with him because he first entreth into Covenant with us I will be their God he is first bound and seales first and then and not till then it followes they shall be my people This is the constant tenor of the Covenant And shall he begin and we think much to follow Can there be a marriage consummated where onely the man is first married to the woman and the woman will not after for her part be married to the man Now God no way so much declares