be if it be not done before the hand strike vs to death It is not then a temporall but an eternall plague for heereafter there is no hope of helpe Delay is one of the Deuils most dangerous assaults vvhereby he gets too much aduantage of the soules of men vvhile they dally vvith Gods iudgements and therefore Hodie To day if you will heare his voice harden not your hearts yet a little while is the day with you the night commeth vvhen no man vvorketh Seeke the Lord while hee may bee found call vpon him while hee is neere Esa 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of saluation 2. Cor. 6.1 The time is now ours vve haue right in it that which is to come is the Lords to iudge the mis-spending of this Reuel 10.6 The Angell sweares by him that liueth for euermore that time shall be no more that is after this time no more time for repentance no more time for attonement therefore doe that you ought to doe for your owne good quickly This day this houre this time Now there is roome there will be none hereafter It will bee too late to knocke with the silly Virgins when the doore is shut Goe quickly They haue a rule in sauing pollicie for auoyding of the Plague and it consists in three words Citò Longè Tardè Goe quickly Goe farre enough Make no haste to returne I would we would be perswaded to vse them not in sauing Pollicie but in sauing Piety And first to begin with Citò for that I find in the Text a rule prescribed by the Holy Ghost to flie vnto God quickly not from him for alas whither shall a man flie from him the wings of the morning are too slow the bottome of the depth is too shallow the fathermost part of the earth is too neere to keepe vs from him Secondly Longè for that implyed in the attonement not farre from his Iustice seeing it is to swift for vs and will soone ouertake vs wheresoeuer but farre from our sinnes that haue called out his Iustice that by our repentance and amendment we may stay the course of it Lastly Tardè that is not to returne in hast to our sinnes againe for sinnes returned vnto prouoke a worse iudgement Sinne no more least a worse thing come vnto thee was the after dyet that hee gaue vnto the sicke man Ioh. 5.14 The tree that is twise dead is neere vnto cursing No Leper in Scripture is twice cleansed no Prodigall is twice receiued no lost Sheepe is twice brought home no dead man is twise raised no Deuill is twise cast out The relaps of sicknesse is dangerous but the relaps of sinne is more dangerous Goe quickly to God goe farre from sinne make no hast to sinne againe Goe quickly to the Congregation That 's the next circumstance the place where for albeit euery man should endeauour in his secret closet to reconcile himselfe vnto God and to commune with his owne heart euen in his Bed-chamber as the Psalmist aduiseth Psal 4.4 yet where all men are sinners and the hand of Gods wrath seemeth to bee stretched out in generall without respect of persons age or degree All men are bound to one and the same worke that with one consent and one act the Lord might bee intreated by the whole Congregation For howsoeuer the Lord is well pleased with euery particular mans seruice in prauate yet that which hee shall doe in publicke is de meliore bono and much more acceptable There was a Law made for it Deut. 12,5 In that place which the Lord your God shal chuse amongst all the Tribes to set his Name in in that his habitation you shall seeke vnto him Neither was this a Law Iudicicall or Ceremoniall that bound the Iewe onely for a time but morall and perpetuall that binds the Christian for euer nor was it a Law for the Iewish Synagogue onely wherein they taught and offered vp their Incense Sacrifice and Oblations on the Sabbath dayes but for the Temple vnder the profession of the Gospell also that as God is to be praised in the great Congregation so he was to be pacified in the great Congregation Therefore as the Prophet said well I will praise thee O Lord in the great congregation in much people will I giue thankes vnto thee Psal 35.18 So Moses did here aduise as well that what Aaron did herein he should doe it in the Congregation In the banishment of the Isaraelites by the waters of Babylon where they sate and wept Ierusalem vvas vowed to be their chiefest ioy not for any other thing but that there they might worship the Lord in his holy Temple and in the Congregation of his Seruants And vvhen Christ gaue the promise to two or three it is euident that he intended not priuate meetings so much as publicke Congregations in the Church as appeareth by the connexion of the Text Et ero vobiscum vsque ad confirmationem saeculi Mat. 28.20 Is a promise to the Assembly in the Church where vvith one mind and one mouth God may be serued glorified Rom. 15.6 vvhich vvas the Apostles exhortation Ephe. 3.21 That praises might be giuen in the Church through Iesus Christ vnto all generations for euer So that the fitnesse of place hath heere in Moses direction a good correspondence vvith the fitnesse of time as most acceptable to God and most apt for men to make their attonement in And therein vve fall vpon the third Branch the Medicine for the malady Goe quickly vnto the Congregation and make an attonement for them c. The vvhole need not the Phisician saith Christ but the sicke These people were sicke and sicke vnto death the vvay to cure them vvas to make an attonement for them the manner how it vvas to be done vvas by offering vp Incense vvhich albeit it vvere a ceremoniall action yet vvas it alwayes ioyned vvith a religious acte of deuotion in prayer and penitence To vvhich purpose the Prophet prayeth Let my prayer be set before thee as incense Psal 145.2 And indeed it is a most apt resemblance for as the vse of Insense vvas to sweeten that vvhich vvas vnsauory euen so the vvicked thoughts of our hearts and the vncleane actions of our liues which yeeld an vnsauory smell in the nosthrils of the Lord are sweetned by no other meanes but by the Incense of our prayers therefore to shew how the one is resembled by the other it is said that while the Incense was in burning the people were without at their prayers Luke 1.10 And in Reuel 8.3 the sweet odours that were offered in the golden Censers were offered with the Prayers of the Saints So that the first Ingredience for the Attonement was prayer but not prayer alone For as Mary Magdalene came not to Christ with the Boxe of precious Oyntment and sweet perfume onely but shee brought withall a sorrowfull heart and penitent teares for the sinne of her Soule So to the action of
prayer must bee ioyned the worke of penitence for such was the practise of Gods people euer 1. Sam. 7.3 The Arke of the Lord being taken by the Phylistines the Prophets exhorts them to repent and turne vnto God and hee would deliuer them and the euent prooued the promise to bee true Which example albeit it concerne a case of warre and so not improper for our times yet the practise may serue as well for this of sicknesse The same Order did Daniel obserue in the Attonement that he made with GOD Dan. 9.5.6 Together with their prayers there is the acknowledgment of their sinnes We haue finned and haue committed iniquity and haue done wickedly yea rebelled and departed from thy precepts and thy iudgements And then he shewes wherein For wee would not obey thy seruauts the Prophets which spake in thy name to our Kings to our Princes to our Fathers and to all the people of the Land Wherein he confesseth that euery one had sinned accusing all excepting none a Congregation of sinners and of sin and therefore all had need of attonement in the Congregation albeit no doubt of it but some had offended more grieuously then other some yet all were guilty So the Prophet Ioel calleth all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord to offer vp their prayers and their Penitence Ioel. 1.14 Without which no maruell it is that there can be no attonement but that God doth still keepe man vnder with his heauy hand Iam. 4.2 In another calamity he saith You fight and you warre and you get nothing What 's the reason Because you aske not that 's primus error the first defect Againe you aske and you receiue not why so because you aske amisse that 's the next defect there wants somewhat to their prayers to make vp their attouement The Prophet Ezechiel in his fourth Chapter speakes plainely to the poynt That euen the prayers of the most godly are not aproued of God vnlesse they for whom they pray doe repent Although Noah Daniell and Iob these three men stood vp yet shall they onely saue their owne soules in their righteousnesse So saith God Iere. 15. If Moses and Samuel were before me I would not yet regard this people So that for the Act of attonement albeit the praiers of the faithfull are powerfull yet are they not so powerfull as to releeue impenitent sinners therefore did God Iere. 7. borbid the prophet expressely not to pray for the Israelites Pray not for this people neither lift thou vp thy voyce for them So God reiected the prayers of Samuel for Saul Vpon which followeth this conclusion That if the penitence of the people be not ioyned with the prayers of the Priest the attonement will not be made and so wee must consider of the person of the Priest and no otherwise Which is the fourth circumstance obserued that although 〈…〉 principall Agent to offer vp the Incense of prayer for the people yet not hee onely for them but they with him and for themselues must desire the Lord not to correct in his wrath according to their sinnes but to remember them according to his owne goodnesse True it is that the Commission is deliuered here to Aron but the Congregation were to ioyne with him in the execution The Minister of God is a principall man singled and set a part for the execution of the will of God the declaration of his word the direction of obedience and all religious actions But all the burden of Gods seruice doth not lye vpon him and therefore the wisdome of our Church did well ordaine that in the service of God the Minister should not performe all But that the people should ioyne in the open confession of their sinnes and in the prayers for remission or at the least say Amen to euery sacrifice of Prayer and of prayse performed in the Congregation and yet though they were tyed to this still the chiefe care and duty lyeth vpon the Minister nor must hee bee defectiue whatsoeuer the people be but say as good Samuel sayd 1. Sam. 12. God forbid that I should sinne against the Lord in ceasing to pray for yon And so much in one word may suffice for the attonement and the person Now followeth the reason For there is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun In such a case as this was the first and principall thing that is to be sought out is to enquire into the Cause that brings it on The cause in this chapter as you haue partly heard was an iniury offered vnto the Priesthood and the presumption of Corah in vilifying both Moses and Aron I take no pleasure in applying the sinne by way of comparison I onely pray that the Sacriledge of this City bee not the principall sinne layd to their charge in this Plague We haue heard enough if any thing he enough God giue vnderstanding hearts to apply and to lay the finger vpon the right soare For too sure we are the wrath of the Lord is gone out The Iudgements of God for sinne and against sinners as they are many in number and diuers in kind sometimes secret sometimes open so they are euer iust and vpon good cause Oculta multa iniusta nulla saith Saint Augustine Yet many to too many are to seeke for the true cause as well as for the consideration of the person from whom Iudgement commeth making rather euery thing then their owne sinnes and euery cause in the course of nature then the God of Nature and the cause of all causes the Author of their punishment Whereof it comes to passe that men thinke all iudgments to be ordinary and none extraordinary or to be the rodd of Gods Vengeance wherewith he punisheth sinners and so neuer apply the punishment either to themselues or their sinne or once cast vp an eye to the Lord that punnisheth Where as indeed two things are principally to be considered in any Epidemicall disease or publicke misery First the cause wherefore and then the hand that smiteth Wherein the iudgement of the World that lookes all to second causes rather then the first and principall is so fowly corrupted that men know not well either where to aske counsell or how to behaue themselues being surprised with any danger taking still the wrong cause for the right and the second for the first Whereas the true cause is the corruption of manners that corrupts our bodies and rottennesse in sinne that brings rottennesse in the flesh But as the Physition for the body hitting vpon the right cause of the disease doth with better iudgement and happier successe cure his Patient So we when we shall finde the true cause of Gods wrath shall the better know what to doe in that affliction and how to auoid it Wherein the first thing to be done is to looke into the Motiue that called out wrath and then vnto the hand that doth execute it For the first that sinne is the